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“Not-t-t funny” Stiles managed to get out despite his clattering teeth and Derek grinned widely.
“What’s the matter, Stiles?” he asked mildly. “A little scared, maybe?”
“Jackass!” Stiles huffed angrily but the effect what somewhat lost because of his wavering voice and the way he scooted closer to Derek. “I’m still mad at you” he muttered, despite the fact that he was practically walking on Derek’s heels. “I’m only this close because it’s cold in here and I didn’t bring a sweatshirt. That is the only reason that I would ever… What was that?” Stiles looked wildly around and he was so close to Derek that he’d basically tucked himself under the werewolf’s arm.
“I didn’t hear anything” Derek said, feigning ignorance.
“Seriously, Derek, I swear to God that… Oh my God!” Stiles screamed as he flailed backwards and would have fallen on the floor if Derek hadn’t caught him around the waist.
“Stiles?” Derek said patiently when the other man had regained his balance.
“Y-y-yes?”
“That was the guy who’s going to take our tickets. We’re not even inside the Haunted House yet.” Stiles whined loudly and pawed desperately at Derek’s arm.
“No, Derek, don’t do this to me” he pleaded.
“Too late now” Derek said cheerfully, handed over the tickets and entered the house, dragging Stiles along with him with a firm grip around his neck.
::
An hour later he was still shaking. He couldn’t stop. Not even after Scott had given him his hoodie and Derek had placed his leather jacket around his shoulders. Not even after a cup of hot chocolate and one of Allison’s hugs that were good for whatever ails you. Not even with Laura on his lap and Isaac’s arm around his shoulders. Every time that he heard a sound he’d jump into the air and he glanced nervously around him even at the littlest movement.
“I never thought it was this bad” Derek murmured guiltily to Scott who snorted.
“There is a reason that we never watch horror movies with the pack” he said humourlessly. “Ever. Because this is what happens. Every fucking time. He won’t be back to normal for days now.” Derek shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
“What can I do?” he asked and suddenly Scott’s default puppy dog look changed into something positively evil that would have suited Lydia a lot better.
“Laura, sweetheart?” he called out. “Would you like to come home with us and have a sleepover?” Laura and the twins nodded eagerly.
“Can I daddy? Please, please, please?” Laura asked looking at Derek and there was no way the he could deny her anything.
“Sure, sweetie.” Laura squealed and threw herself at him, hugging him within an inch of his life.
“Thank you, thank you!”
“Great!” Scott clapped his hands together. “Everyone, come along, the car leaves for the McCall residence right now!” Giggling the kids ran towards the parking lot with Allison following close behind. Scott turned to Derek.
“You take him home” he said, nodding his head towards Stiles. “You take care of him and you be nice to him. Understand?” Numbly Derek nodded and watched as Scott followed his family to the car. He scratched his head. What the hell did Scott mean? Surely he wasn’t supposed to…?
“Oh, hell no” he murmured as he suddenly realized that was exactly what Scott had meant. “For fuck’s sake.” He looked around pleadingly but everyone else was suddenly very busy and found excuses to head home.
“Well, it kind of was your fault anyway” Erica said grinning, before she sauntered off arm in arm with Boyd. “Have fun!” she shouted over her shoulder and Derek barely resisted the urge to hit her.
::
“Stiles?” Derek winced as his question was answered with a shriek and a loud clatter. He shouldn’t have moved that fast he supposed, Stiles was as skittish as a rabbit in a wolf’s den. It had been a struggle to even get him to the car without fainting or yelling and suddenly Derek understood why Scott had volunteered to have Laura stay with his kids. He didn’t know whether to hate Scott for getting the easy choice of handling the kids or if he was going to admire his manipulative skills. Either way, he was now stuck with Stiles ‘Scaredy-cat’ Stilinski and he had to move slowly and talk calmly unless he wanted to cause property damage and heart attacks. Well played, Scott, well played.
“Y-yeah?” Stiles answered, picking up the vase that he’d knocked over.
“You ready to get some sleep?” Stiles shook his head vigorously. “Maybe watch a movie?” This suggestion was met with approval and Derek settled for a drama that contained no scary elements whatsoever, supernatural or otherwise, and Stiles seemed to relax as the movie went on. Derek should have known that it was too good to be true.
::
“So how about some sleep now?” Derek suggested as he moved to turn off the lights.
“No!” Stiles shouted. “I mean, please leave the lights on?”
“Sure.” Derek went to fetch some pillows and a blanket for Stiles and threw them on the couch at the same time as Stiles emerged from the bathroom.
“Well, goodnight then” Derek said and turned to go to his bedroom.
“Wait!” Stiles sounded slightly panicked. “Where are you going?”
“To bed?” Derek answered. “I thought we were going to sleep?”
“I thought you were going to sleep here” Stiles answered and Derek looked at him blankly. “With me” Stiles clarified. “Scott usually does that and…” His voice trailed away and he really looked pathetically small and scared and all Derek wanted to do was to wrap him up in a big hug and protect him from all the scary things in the world and….
Oh, no. Oh, hell no. No fucking way that Derek was going to do that because he and Stiles together in a bed could only end in one way. With Derek making a complete fool of himself. He was already drooling over the fact that Stiles was dressed in a pair of his sweatpants so there was no way that he could make it through the night without embarrassing himself. Stiles would have sleep on the couch by himself, however scared he might be, and that was that. Sadly, it appeared that Derek’s mouth hadn’t gotten the memo since it suddenly blurted something out.
“Okay. Let’s share the bed, it’s bigger.” And before he had the time to do anything else Stiles jumped into his bed, pulled the covers up to his chin and asked Derek shakily if he could check so that there wasn’t anything under the bed.
Derek groaned, complied, declared the bedroom a monster free zone and then proceeded to cuddle Stiles through six hours of nightmares. Next time he’d take the Scaredy-cat to bloody Disneyland instead.