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The first time Derek Hale had grabbed Stiles' hand, it had shocked him enough to snatch it out of Derek's grip and whisper-yell at him.
"What the hell are you doing?!" He asked, a crimson blush rising to his cheeks. Derek just rolled his eyes at him and reached for his hand again. Stiles stared at the hand grasping his and tried not to think about how pretty Derek's hands were and how unusually soft they were.
'I bet he uses lotion about a million times a day, there's no way his hands are naturally this soft.' Stiles was brought out of his thoughts when Derek spoke again.
"There's a lot of people in this mall, I don't want you wandering away from me and getting in trouble." He was looking at Stiles with his usual bored expression as he began pulling them along again.
"I'm not going to get in trouble, just so you know. I'm not a child." Derek snorted at him and just squeezed his hand tighter, pulling him through the crowd at his usual fast pace. They were getting a lot of looks from people at their linked hands which caused Stiles' cheeks to flush with a pink tinge.
"People are staring... I feel like I should wave, should I wave? I'm gonna wave." As Stiles raised his hands in a semi-sarcastic wave, Derek huffed and dragged him further out of the crowd.
"Stop being embarrassing, Stiles." Was all Derek said as he continued walking along through the mall.
"I'm not being embarrassing, you're the one holding my hand and dragging me through the mall!" Stiles drawled, a small smirk on his face. Derek had the grace to look slightly embarrassed as he let go of Stiles hand.
"I just didn't want you wandering around alone. The last time I left you alone in a crowded mall Scott almost killed me. How was I supposed to know that you had his credit card?"
•••
The second time that Derek grabbed Stiles' hand was just as surprising as the first. They were on the Berkley college campus for Stiles' orientation and it was packed full of people. Stiles had been looking around excitedly, chatting to anyone willing to listen. He had jumped about a foot in the air as a hand slid into his grasp, gently pulling him towards the building.
He blushed slightly when he saw that it was Derek guiding him expertly through the mob of people. He had only recently become painfully aware of just how attractive the older man was.
He had gotten up early to cook his dad breakfast before work when he spotted Derek from his bedroom window. He was shirtless, and it was obvious that he had been running for quite some time. His body was slick with sweat and the morning light made him look weirdly fascinating. Stiles had let his eyes roam over Derek's back, taking in the taut muscles of his chest and torso before Derek moved to start running again.
Stiles had ducked back from his window before he was caught staring and he had retreated shamefully to a cold shower before falling back into bed, completely forgetting about his dad and trying not to dream of Derek Hale.
"Stiles. Stiles!" He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard his name being called loudly.
"We have to go sign you in, stupid." Derek was smirking at him and Stiles could swear that the look in his eyes was at least somewhat fond.
•••
The third time that Derek grabbed his hand had surprised him the most.
He had been standing at the side of his fathers hospital bed for hours before he felt the soft, gentle slide of a hand clutching his own. He glanced over slightly, and was surprised to see Derek standing beside him.
"Scott called me..." He explained, gently squeezing his hand, "He's going to be okay, Stiles. I promise." Derek was talking to him soothingly, trying to ease the tension in the room, but Stiles wouldn't listen to him.
"I found him like this. He was laying on the kitchen floor and he wasn't moving. The doctors say he went into congestive heart failure which lead to his heart attack. I wasn't even supposed to be home today, I just came home to surprise him. What if I hadn't come home, Derek? He could have died today... I'd be all alone." Stiles' voice was shaky and his lower lip began to tremble slightly. He barely even noticed as Derek pulled him into a tight hug and held him close. He let his head be tucked into Derek's shoulder as the tears slipped silently down his cheeks. After a moment Derek pulled away and swiped his thumbs under Stiles eyes.
"Hey, look at me. Don't think about what could have happened, focus on what did. You saved your fathers life by being there today, and that's all that matters now. He is alive and he's going to be okay. And you are by no means alone, you hear me? You have me and you have Scott and everyone else. You are not alone." Derek's voice was firm, but soft and soothing. Stiles nodded numbly before he was wrapped in another quick hug.
Neither of them noticed the small smile that appeared on the eldest Stilinksi's face.
•••
Stiles was pleasantly surprised the fourth time that Derek grabbed his hand.
Scott and Allison had invited all of their friends out to eat for a "reunion" because they claimed that they all needed to catch back up since they were all going to college and weren't home as much.
Stiles ended up across from Jackson and Lydia, which under normal circumstances would have made him jealous and uncomfortable, due to his massive crush on her, but recently he had his sights set on the opposite side of the field. And the only player on the field so far was the one and only Derek Hale, which he had gotten to sit by during dinner by some miracle. He had been talking animatedly about his classes Berkley to Scott and Allison for a few minutes when he felt a hand grasp his, stopping him from violently waving it like he had been doing as he spoke.
He stared at Derek with his mouth open in surprise before let his hand fall to the table.
"You were going to end up hitting me in the face if I didn't stop you." Derek explained, letting their hands slip under the table with a smirk. Stiles stuck his tongue out at Derek and shrugged at Scott and Allison when they looked at him strangely.
Derek played with Stiles' hand under the table, not letting go for the rest of the night.
•••
The fifth time that Derek grabbed his hand did not, in fact, surprise Stiles. It did, however, surprise everyone else.
Stiles had walked into his dad's house, completely unsuspecting of what was about to happen. He flipped on the lights and dropped his bags by the door and walked into the kitchen.
"SURPRISE!!" He jumped back against the wall as he saw all his friends in his kitchen standing next to a cake. A huge grin broke out on his face as he realized that his friends had thrown him a surprise party for his birthday.
He was wrapped in hug after hug all with choruses of, "Happy birthday, Stiles!" He hugged everyone back and accepted the glass of wine Lydia offered him with a grin. He looked around at everyone and saw that most of them already had their own glasses of wine as well.
"Now that you can drink legally, I figure I'll have someone to enjoy drinking with." She had a devious glint in her eyes that Stiles didn't even want to know what it meant, but he took an eager sip of the wine nonetheless.
He was greeted by several more of his friends before he felt a soft hand grasp his own. He didn't need to look at who is was to know.
"Hi Derek." He said, finally turning his head to look up at the taller boy. Derek had a small smile on his face which Stiles mimicked easily.
"Happy birthday Stiles. I didn't know what to get you, so I went with something I've been wanting to give you for a while now." He had moved his other hand to cup the side of Stiles' face, holding it steady as he bent his head to bring their lips together.
The kiss was short and sweet and over way too soon due to the sound of a wine glass hitting the floor and shattering. They broke apart to look and see what had happened when Stiles noticed everyone staring at them. Scott's mouth was hanging open in shock and Allison had just slapped a twenty into Lydia's outstretched palm. Stiles gaped at her.
"What? Did you think I didn't notice you too holding hands under the table at dinner a few weeks ago? Or that Derek came to be with you while your dad was in the hospital? Or that he went with you to your college orientation? Hell, I even saw you holding hands at the mall! I knew it was only a matter of time before you got together." She was smirking at them knowingly and Stiles laughed as Scott continued to gape at them.
"Scott, honey, close your mouth, you're going to catch flies." Allison said as she dragged him away, still in shock. Stiles shook his head at the pair of them and turned his attention back to Derek.
"She knew we liked each other before we even knew. Why am I not surprised?" He asked, grinning widely up at Derek.
"It doesn't really matter that she knew before we did, it only matters that we both know now." Derek had a grin that matched his own and it made Stiles happy to see him smile like that, especially at him.
"I still expect you to get me a real birthday present, you know."