Chapter Text
“Stiles, Scott! Hurry up or I’m gonna be late!” Stella hollered from her car window as she waited for the two hyperactive maniacs to finish chatting and get in her car.
Stella was Stiles’ cousin and the two were practically inseparable, being only children, and the fact she was currently living with Stiles at his house while she was figuring out her future. Stella was a couple of years older than Stiles and Scott which apparently meant she was more trustworthy to bring the two boys home, hence why she was picking them up from school.
“Okay we’re coming, God!” Stiles exclaimed, hoping into the passenger seat and putting his seatbelt on, Scott doing the same in the back.
“Where are you going anyway?” Scott asked, being so close with Stiles naturally meant a two for one deal with his best friend, Scott becoming almost like a second brother to you.
“Yeah where are you going that’s so interesting at 4 o'clock? The elderly citizens bingo hall club?” Stiles asked sarcastically and laughed to himself at his own joke while Scott shook his head and smiled a little at his friend’s antics.
“No actually I’m going round Lydia’s house to show her my new underwear set I’m wearing, hope that’s not a problem?” She replied equally as sarcastically as Stiles while making direct eye contact with him when they were stopped at a red light.
Stiles looked over at his cousin with a face of stone and merely said, “That’s not funny,” in a serious tone, not even looking over to chastise Scott about laughing at Stella’s response and not his or to tell her to shut up after looking over at him with a shit eating grin on her face.
“Derek’s coming round after school for a pack meeting, are you staying long enough for that?” Scott asked from the backseat.
Stella curled her lip in slight disgust at the thought of having to see Derek’s stupid face, his stupid handsome face, his stupidly handsome face.
“I don’t know, I’ll see when I’m ready to leave."
The rest of the drive home was fairly uneventful, Scott and Stiles stuck in their own world of conversation while Stella thought about what to wear tonight, she was going to a party at a local club; might meet someone, have some fun, hopefully.
They made it to Stiles’ house in one piece, just about, and they split off in their separate directions.
"Alright idiots, I’m off to get ready. Don’t destroy the house or set anything on fire cause then I’m getting the blame.” She warned them playfully, going up the stairs to her own room while the boys went straight to the cupboards and fridge to source food.
23 outfits on the floor, 4 makeup wipes and two hours later, Stella was ready. She collected her things in a matching clutch to her outfit and started down the stairs where her friends were waiting for her outside.
“Bye Stiles, bye Scott, good luck at the meeting!” She called through to where they were doing various detective works in the lounge.
“Bye, have a good time!” Scott yelled through waving her goodbye. Stiles looked up from where he was grossly staring at his laptop and squinted his eyes suspiciously.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. If anyone at all touches you, get a description and I’ll get Scott to beat their ass and then Dad will arrest them.” Stiles threatened.
“I won’t do that if it’s a woman though, if you don’t mind.” Scott interrupted Stiles sheepishly.
“What why?-” Stiles flicked his head so fast to stare at Scott in betrayal they were all surprised he didn’t have whiplash- “What happened to equality of the genders?"
"I’m still not hitting a woman Stiles!” Scott exclaimed.
“Even if they hit Stella?” Stiles interrogated his best friend relentlessly.
“Okay, bye then!” Stella fit in before Scott could launch a tirade of arguments against Stiles defending himself and pointing out “If I just go up and hit a woman, I’ll be the one getting arrested!” and Stiles saying, “If it was a woman dipped in salsa and guacamole you wouldn’t be saying that, all your little werewolfy senses would be on fire; you and your obsessive love of Mexcian food!”
~~~~A few hours in after Stella left, she’s at the party with her friends.~~~~
Stella was getting exhausted. She had been partying, dancing and drinking for two hours straight. She weaved her way through the crowd and went to order a drink; at this point she wasn’t completely drunk, just a little buzzed.
That could not be said for everyone at the party though. This weird guy had been following her, what he thought was subtly but actually constituted running into bushes and knocking piles of drinks over, since she arrived. So when she left the safety of her friends, he thought it was his time to strike.
“Hey baby.” He said, slinking up next to her and trying to put an arm around her, but failing miserably. Stella let out an aggravated sigh at seeing the same guy again.
“Dude seriously, fuck off! I can literally make it no clearer to you.” She took her drink and walked around, trying to loose the guy who was still following her, and find her friends or someone that would scare him off.
He’s still following her when she spots someone that might be able to help; however, he might be even worse.
Derek Hale.
Every fibre in her body was screaming to keep walking in the opposite direction to the both of them, since Derek had now turned and made eye contact with her, perhaps after smelling her anger and panic mixed with her regular perfume. But the weird guy was now getting closer and seemed even more aggressive now that she’d made a point of trying to get rid of him, so she really only had one choice.
Her footsteps led her across the room and her heartbeat increased considerably in hesitation and worry, what if this didn’t work?
Stella reached out and linked her fingers with Derek’s, causing him to furrow his eyebrows but not pull away, maybe smelling her hesitation.
“Just play along, please.” She pleaded in a whisper, looking up to him first and then darting her eyes to look at the guy, seeing that he’d followed her all the way to Derek.
Unfortunately, Derek had followed Stella’s eyeline after smelling the underlying and rising panic in her chemo-signals and hardened his stare as he realised what was happening. Derek tightened his grip on Stella’s hand and pulled her closer to him as the guy approached, making her stumble into his side and rest her hand on his chest to steady herself.
“Who’s this Stel? You’ve never introduced us before?” Derek played, gesturing towards the stalker with a harsh glare thrown in at his direction. Stella immediately caught on to Derek’s plan and played along just as convincingly.
“Oh I actually don’t think I know your name, what was it again?” She asked pointedly.
“It’s Jamie, who the hell is this guy?” He motioned with his head towards Derek but stopped himself from coming any closer to them.
“This is my…” Stella faltered, she didn’t know whether Derek would kill her for saying he was her boyfriend or whether he thought this was just a friends thing. Apparently, and luckily, Derek caught on to her sudden apprehension and continued her sentence for her.
“Boyfriend, Derek. And from what I’ve seen tonight you’ve taken quite an interest in Stella here.” Derek pointed out with withering patience. Something must have shown itself more prominently in Derek’s face because Jamie started backing away from them a few small steps at a time like he was trying to do it without them noticing.
“Hey man chill, I didn’t realise she had a boyfriend I was just trying to get to know her a little. That’s all.” Apparently Jamie’s sobriety was now coming back to him all of a sudden.
“Well how about this, Jamie-” Derek started, moving forwards to get closer to him making Stella’s hand drop from his chest (she was a little mortified she’d let it stay there for so long without realising) but kept his hand tightly interlocked with hers- “You go around here or any party for that matter and try to ‘get to know’ anyone and I hear about it; I’ll rip your throat out. With my teeth.” Derek showed his glowing red Alpha eyes to firmly get the point across which worked well considering Jamie ran so fast it’s a surprise there wasn’t a trail of smoke following him.
Derek turned back to Stella with his usual firm expression and looked down, making Stella follow his gaze and see they still had their hands together. It seemed reality kicked in for both of them at that moment and they separated like each others touch stung them.
“Uh thanks, for that I mean.” It seemed to be a Stilinski trait to ramble when they were nervous, Stella sounding worryingly like Stiles when she spoke then.
“It’s no problem.” Derek replied stoically in his classic Derek way. Silence wafted over them as neither quite knew what to say to each other; up until tonight their exchanges in conversation were bitter remarks and hurtful insults.
“Uh would you like to go and get a drink maybe? With me, I mean. It’s totally cool if you don’t want to I completely understand I was just wondering if-"
"Oh my God you are so related to Stiles. Yes, I will go and get a drink with you as long as you stop the rambling, such a Stilinski.” Derek whispered the last part under his breath, leading the way through the crowd to a semi-secluded area of the bar and ordered them both a drink.
“Um excuse you but I think you’ll find some people find the Stilinski ramble quite endearing!” Stella argued and sat down next to him, watching him roll his eyes as he took a sip of his drink.
“Do all these people happen to be deaf?” Derek retorted, nearly making Stella choke when she took a sip of her drink.
“The Derek Hale just used sarcasm in a conversation, what?! Since I’m so surprised I’ll let the deaf comment slip for now.”
Derek smirked and shook his head a little. It seemed he preferred this laid back conversation over the normal back and forth arguing between them.
“So what are you doing here anyway, Scott said you were meant to be at their pack meeting tonight?” She asked curiously, knowing what a bollocking both her and Stiles have gotten in the past just for being late, let alone not showing up at all.
“This is one of the only places where I can buy alcohol that actually gets me drunk.” He explained, taking another drink.
Stella nodded her head in understanding and chugged the rest of her drink, Derek watching in surprise as she then calmly placed the glass back on the bar and waved the bartender down to order another.
~~~~A lot of drinks later.~~~~
“Okay so back to you,” Derek said through a slightly intoxicated laugh, “why are you here getting drunk? Shouldn’t you be helping Stiles crack some murder mystery?"
"Well actually Mr Hale, there are times when I like to forget and have a good time on my own instead of having Stiles, and occasionally Scott, breathing down my neck."
"Forget what?” Derek asked her quizzically, picking up on her use of present tense as well.
“My life dude, the plane crash.” Stella blurted out, expecting Derek to know exactly what happened just by a brief selection of words.
“What plane crash?"
"The one my parents died in.” The bomb dropped. Derek now looked suddenly serious as he watched Stella’s face intricately for any reactions. “You’ve never wondered why I live with Stiles and Sheriff? I transferred around a lot afterwards, couldn’t get settled in anywhere. It’s kind of hard to when everyone who you think is your friend is just there because of pity; they were all fake. Same with any boyfriends, all ended badly when they couldn’t put up with me anymore. But then, I moved here, Beacon Hills with Stiles and I’ve never been better. Its like I finally feel like I belong somewhere, you know? It feels like… I don’t know, like…”
“Like home.” He finished for her, knowing what feeling she was trying to convey. It was the same one he felt after coming back home after the fire.
“Yeah, you got it.” She encouraged him, seemingly unaffected by the story because of the alcohol blinding her feelings.
“You want another drink? Its on me.” Derek offered, waving down the bartender when Stella nodded her head yes with a dopey smile.
After that last drink, they left the party once Stella tracked down her friend and said she was leaving with Derek. Given that they were both drunk, Derek walked Stella back to his loft so that she didn’t injure herself trying to walk back home (although the short walk to Derek’s place was a little precarious at times). He had his arm wrapped around her middle so she was supported as she wobbled along, seemingly unworried in her own little world, just letting Derek lead the way.
It did somewhat surprise Derek that Stella didn’t say anything when they reached his place, just followed him along and into the loft, taking off her uncomfortable shoes and sitting, literally, on the ground.
“Uh Stella, don’t you think the bed would be more comfortable than the ground?” He offered.
“Well obviously, but I can’t walk all the way over there. I’m much too tired.” She yawned, stretching out her limbs like a tired kitten.
In response to Stella, and not wanting to trip over her in the night, Derek stooped down and picked her up, holding her under her legs and transferring her, and her shoes, to the bed; he gently placed her down once she let go of him.
“Thanks, D.” She said quietly, looking up at him from her perched position.
“You’re welcome.” Derek sat next to her, keeping eye contact as he sat down.
A few seconds passed and Derek lifted his hand, tentatively placing it on Stella’s clothed thigh. His eyes flitted to where his hand made contact with her leg for milliseconds before snapping back up to her eyes, only to find them already watching him.
Slowly he began stroking his hand up and down, fingers brushing her inseam as he went. Stella shuffled just a little closer, careful not to disrupt Derek’s lovely ministrations. With his free hand, Derek reached up and moulded it around the side of Stella’s face, pulling her close and flicking his eyes down to her full lips that he just needed to have against his.
“If we start this now,” Derek barely whispered, looking deep into Stella’s eyes,“I may not be able to stop later on."
"That’s okay. I don’t want you to."
"You’re sure?” He checked again in a soft voice as to not break the moment, but was already leaning closer still and tilting his head, tempting her further to give in to him. His hand on her thigh was now moving more confidently upwards, getting closer and closer to the present ache she was beginning to feel there. "You’re telling me, you want me to take your clothes off, revealing your beautiful skin to me, have me lick and kiss every new inch that gets exposed to my gaze, get you nice and relaxed with my tongue and fingers, then have me fuck you however you want until you cry. Is that what you’re saying, Stella?“
Stella was breathing hard now but trying desperately not to let it show. She swallowed hard and regained herself a little, the buzz she felt from the alcohol giving her an extra edge of confidence. Her lips were so close to his, dying for a taste; all it took to connect their lips would be a cock of their heads at the right angle, that’s all.
"Yes, I want you Derek.” She whispered against him, feeling him smile at her words.
With his hand that was wrapped around Stella’s face, Derek stretched his thumb to rest on her chin, pulling her closer still until their lips grazed, but didn’t let them fully connect yet. Using his thumb, he pulled her chin down a little to separate her lips from where she had her mouth closed, moving forward and slotting his lips between hers to take Stella’s bottom lip and suck on it, closing his eyes.
Stella caught up straight away, moulding her own mouth around his, reaching a hand up to hesitantly play in his hair; a little too hesitant for Derek’s liking. He pulled away from her mouth only far enough to tell her “pull harder,” and then dove straight back in.
One pull was all it took for Derek to loose his restraint, kissing her harder and pulling Stella into his lap, securing their crotches tightly together through the layers of clothing they wore and rutting upwards to create a marvellous friction that benefited the both of them. The hand previously on Stella’s thigh travelled up to hold her waist tightly, holding her still and in place as they passionately kissed.
After not too long, Derek began removing clothes, starting with his classic leather jacket and Stella’s small coat she’d worn, throwing them across the room somewhere. He didn’t care where they landed, Derek was more focused on getting Stella’s lips back on to his, which he promptly took care of.
Stella gasped at a particularly hard thrust up into her after she pulled on Derek’s hair again, inducing her to pull her shirt off as fast as possible, to which Derek growled appreciatively at the sight and flung the both of them around so Stella’s back landed on the bed, but managing to never disconnect their hips; the beauty of being an Alpha werewolf.
“How about we start on that list of things you wanted me to do to you, hmm?” Derek said tauntingly, leaning his body over Stella and pinning her in place with his weight. When he received a half-moaned half-whined yes he kissed a small channel through her chest and down to the top of her jeans, starting to undo them and tug them off with alarming ease.
Lets just say for the rest of the night, Derek talked the talk and walked the walk.
~~~~The morning after.~~~~
“Oh crap.” Stella muttered to herself, holding Derek’s bedsheet up to cover her chest. She looked around and saw her clothes thrown around the entire loft. Literally, all over the place.
Derek was sleeping like the dead next to her so she stealthily stood and began collecting and putting on her clothes, grabbing her clutch on her way to the loft door and gently squeezing through the little gap she made to leave.
It was a long walk home to her house and she spent the entire time in what felt like a trance state, remembering everything that happened last night and berating herself for getting drunk; in this town, she knew better.
Stella begrudgingly unlocked the front door, took two steps inside was immediately swarmed by Scott and Stiles who were stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Scott didn’t really look like he wanted to be stood there but Stiles looked at her with faux disappointment in his features.
“And just where have you been all night missy?” Stiles started, looking suspiciously at her over his mug of coffee.
“How do you know I haven’t been out for breakfast and come back?"
"Well for one, you’re in the same clothes and I know if you would’ve come home you would’ve changed, and for two, bold of you to assume I actually went to sleep. I mean seriously…"
As Stiles rambled on about his distinct sleeping patterns Stella could see Scott sniffing the air, like he was looking for a scent. As discreetly as she could, Stella made small sharp shakes of her head at Scott so he wouldn’t blurt something out about why her scent was different, specifically Derek Hale different.
Luckily Scott noticed her begging and nodded in agreement to not say anything.
"Stiles! I’m sorry I didn’t come home last night, but I’m super tired and I would like to sleep.” Stella told him.
Stiles shrugged and went back to the kitchen to look for food while Stella took off up the stairs, reaching the comfort of her room and taking her shoes off as she sat on the bed. There was a knock at the door and Scott poked his head round, asking if he could come in. She beckoned him in and Scott sat next to her on her bed.
“Why do you smell like Derek?” Scott leapt straight in with the questioning, not bothering to beat around the bush.
“Well, he caught me walking home last night, I was pretty wasted and it was really late so he offered to let me stay at his place.”
“That sounds very unlike Derek.” Scott commented, never knowing Derek to even let him stay, and he was meant to be his adoptive beta-in-training.
“Yeah well, I guess I must’ve been pretty wrecked.” Stella nodded her head, hoping silently Scott would take the hint and leave her be; which thankfully, he did.
After Scott left her room, she flopped back on the bed and sighed. She didn’t know what her next interaction with Derek would be like, but some part of her hoped she got to see the casual, easy going Derek she was talking to last night.
~~~~A week later.~~~~
It turns out, Stella was not that lucky.
A few days after their encounter together Derek held a pack meeting at his loft where he was back to his usual brooding self; which Stella didn’t mind considering everyone was there, its not like she was expecting him to leap up and bury her in a hug or anything.
So the meeting happened and everything was very professional, until Derek asked Stella to stay behind for a moment. He waited until all the wolves were out of listening range before turning back to Stella with an expression she knew all too well.
“It didn’t mean anything.” She guessed before Derek even opened his mouth. “Is that what you’re about to tell me?"
Derek didn’t reply like he was thinking of an excuse or something, so Stella went on.
"So where do we stand now, did it really mean nothing?” Again the Stilinski ramble burst through as soon as she got nervous.
“Why are you so upset over this?” Derek interrupted her questioning.
“Oh I don’t know, I thought maybe you cared? That maybe you wanted something with feelings because we had sex and are going to be around each other with the pack and things? That you felt the same way I did?”
Derek turned around so he wasn’t facing Stella when he started his speech. “I’m sorry you got that impression Stella, but I don’t feel the same. You’re just Stiles’ irritating cousin to me, no more than a pack member."
Stella didn’t say anything, she couldn’t. All she could do was focus on her breathing. Derek could tell she was crying silently, could smell the salt of tears in the air and her distressed chemo-signals.
"So you’re no different then,” she spoke through a sniff, but kept her voice strong and stony, letting Derek now how much he hurt her. “Good to know."
Before Derek could do anything to try and get them on level ground again, Stella was out of the loft door and barrelling down the stairs, finally letting her tears go as she ran home.
Stiles came into her room that night after not seeing her for dinner, something Stella never missed, and went to check on her. Ever since she got home she’d gone straight up to her bedroom and shut the door, not even saying hello to the boys on the sofa. When Scott mentioned to Stiles he could smell how upset she was, Stiles panicked to say the least.
As soon as Scott left he ordered a bunch of Stella’s favourite food and waited for it to arrive, hoping the food would coax her out of her room. But when he called up to let her know it arrived, she just said to start without her; that led them to now, Stiles stood outside her door and knocking quietly.
"Yeah?” He heard her muffled voice through the door.
“Can I come in? Its Stiles."
"Okay.” She agreed.
Stiles walked in and saw his cousin wrapped up in her quilt like she hadn’t moved since she got home.
“Hey Stell bell, missed you for dinner.” He said as friendly as he could, approaching her cocooned form and sitting on her bed next to her.
“Sorry, didn’t feel like eating.” Stiles didn’t need to have werewolf senses to hear the wavering voice and tell tale signs of crying no matter how much Stella wanted to hide it.
“Hey its okay, I left yours in the fridge for whenever you want it. So what happened?” Stiles asked, wanting to know immediately what or who had caused his cousin (in his mind though, sister) to cry.
“Nothing really, just some dick who I thought liked me like I liked him but it turns out he’s no different. I guess I just really wanted him to be, you know?” Stella explained best she could without giving too many details away.
“Well maybe its best to not be with this guy if he is so much of a dick, maybe he’s bad news that you should stay away from if he can hurt you this bad.” Stiles suggested, rubbing Stella’s back in comfort.
She wormed her head out of the layers of quilt she had covering her, looking up at Stiles.
“You know what, you’re right. Thank you, Stiles.” Stella sat up and hugged him tightly, Stiles returning it with just as much gusto.
“Anytime Stells, anytime. Now how about some Mario Kart and food binge?” He suggested, knowing the way to make her feel better by heart now.
Stella smiled broadly and nodded, getting up and following Stiles downstairs. If Derek didn’t feel the same, so be it; Stella could go back to how they were before, not a problem.