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come home to me
“Scott, you don’t understand! I have Derek right here,” a guy says suddenly. His voice sounds tired and worn. Derek. Must be him.
Derek can hear his feet pacing on the hardwood floor and he exhales a little, opening his eyes to look at whoever sounds so distressed. Derek lifts his head a little and frowns. Whoever this guy is, well, he’s certainly attractive. He’s waving a hand around in the air as he says, “No, you don’t get it. He was there. On the side of the road alone. I couldn’t just leave him there! Ugh, I know. I know. It sucks.”
Derek frowns. Is this guy talking about him? He was on the side of the road? He stretches his fingers out, finding them stiffer than usual. His frown deepens. And this guy thinks it’s sucks that he had to help him. Well, fuck.
He wants to leave but shifting on the bed turns out to be harder than he expects. His body aches and he’s pretty sure his stomach is throbbing but he doesn’t know why.
“Scott! No, you can’t just leave me here with him. He’s your–” the guy stops speaking when his eyes land on Derek. “Whoa, he’s awake. Okay. We’ll talk later.”
Derek grunts, pulling himself so he sits upright and the guy rushes over after hanging up.
“Whoa, whoa, there buddy. Be careful, okay?” he says, eyes filled with concern. The guy sits down on the edge of the bed and his hand gently presses on Derek’s stomach. His eyes flash down to see that he has a huge gaze patch taped to him. “You don’t want to go and open the wound now.”
“Um,” Derek starts. His throat is dry, so he coughs and then attempts to clear his throat. It’s hard. He swallows and manages between heavy breaths, “Who are you?”
“Who are–? Who am I?” the guy sputters. His eyes widen and Derek takes a second to scan his over his moles. He’s even prettier up close like this. “Who am I? Oh my god, this isn’t happening. This shit only happens in movies! Do you know who you are?”
“Derek,” he says after a moment.
“What do you remember about yourself, Derek?” he asks, frowning. “Do you remember your family or–?”
“No. I just–you said my name earlier.” Derek feels exhausted. This is ridiculous. “What happened? Where are we? Who are you?”
“Scott’s going to kill me.”
“Okay,” Derek says. He’s not sure that’s supposed to mean anything to him or not.
Stiles snorts. “Normally, you’d be attacking me for saying one bad word about Scott. Uh, I’m Stiles. Stiles Stilinski. We’re cops who go undercover, and right now, we’re working with Scott McCall. Your cover must have been blown, because the drug lords dropped you on the side of the road.”
Derek tries to process everything that he’s saying, but it’s hard because his lips move so fast and Derek’s head hurts. Stiles seems to give him a moment to take it in though, and Derek’s eyebrows come together. “It sucks that you found me on the side of the road because it means that we lost the drug lords?”
Stiles shrugs. “It was either I keep tailing them to wherever the exchange is or pick you up. I thought picking you up was the better choice, although if you could remember anything, you’d probably yell at me.”
“Why?” Derek asks, confused. Was his job more important to him than his life? It must be if he’d be upset for Stiles helping him…maybe even saving his life.
Stiles snorts. “I really don’t want to break this to you, because I’m enjoying this side of you, but you kind of really hate me dude.”
“Hate you,” Derek repeats. How could he hate this guy though? He’d given up learning the location of an exchange that was clearly important to him to save his sorry, forgetful ass. “And Scott?”
“Scott’s on his way.” Stiles reaches out and squeezes his hand. “You’re going to be okay, Derek. We’ll bring you into the hospital to get checked out.”
Derek nods, unsure why that doesn’t make him feel any better.
♚◉♞◉♚◉♞
When he meets Scott, his face heats up. He wonders if they can tell. Scott is gorgeous too. Derek’s not sure why he’s surprised. Didn’t his sister once say that gorgeous people stuck together?
“I have a sister,” Derek blurts when he realizes what thought just crossed his mind.
The two men turn to look at him. One of them looks impressed; the other looks excited like a puppy. Scott beams at him and says, “Yes, you do! Several actually. Well, two, but still.”
“What do you remember about her?” Stiles asks, sounding cautious. It’s as though he’s afraid to push Derek too much. He shrugs, because really, that’s all he remembers. Stiles seems a little relieved, and goes back to packing Derek a bag of sorts. He calls out from another room, “Yo, Scottie, do you know where Derek keeps his moisturizer? Once he gets his memory back, he’s going to be pissed that we didn’t pack if for him!”
Derek’s confused. Why would Scott know where his moisturizer is?
Scott doesn’t hesitate when he shouts, “Third shelf behind the mirror in the bathroom!”
Derek’s head swivels to look at him. Is he…is he with Scott? It would explain why he kept looking at Derek like he might break when he arrived and Stiles explained the situation. He groans, because he’d moved his head too fast, and rubs his temple.
Scott pouts at him. “Are you okay, Der?”
“I–yeah,” Derek says. How does he ask are we together? Because he had briefly wondered the same about Stiles when Stiles had grabbed his hand, despite Stiles claiming that Derek hates him. Maybe he was dating Scott and cheating on him behind his back. Derek closes his eyes and lets his head fall back on his pillow. He hopes not. He wants to be a good guy. What if he’s not a good guy?
“Alright, we’re set!” Stiles says, his voice coming back from the other room. “I even grabbed his nail clippers because he gets a little nasty when they get too long.”
Derek opens one eye to look at him. Why would Stiles ever know that about him?
“So true. I called in and explained what happened to Lydia, by the way. She said you and I can try to get in on the next exchange,” Scott tells him. “Derek? You think you can sit up again?”
He groans.
“He’s such a dramatic puppy,” Stiles mumbles, but Derek thinks he senses a tone of amusement. “C’mon dude, make this easy for us.”
Derek sits up slowly, his head feeling heavy as he does. Scott gently helps him put his legs over the edge of the bed before he tucks himself underneath Derek’s arm, with his hand around his back. “Stiles?”
“Got it,” Stiles says, adjusting the bag on his other shoulder so he can slip under Derek’s other side. “You good, dude?”
“Yeah,” Derek says, breathless. How did he ever work undercover with these two? He’s pretty sure that he’s far too warm to be touching themboth. “I’m good.”
“Alright, tough guy,” Stiles says, as they all stand up. Derek groans.
“Why didn’t you take me to the hospital directly?” he asks Stiles for the third time.
“Because I didn’t want to raise suspicions in case we were being followed. And I didn’t think you hit your head! You rolled so smoothly when they pushed you out of the car,” Stiles defends. “It’s okay, alright? You’re going to be okay. I’ve got your back.”
Derek looks at him, wondering again what that means. Because they work together? Because they’re screwing? Because–Derek’s thoughts are stopped in their tracks when he feels Scott gently move his thumb in a circular motion on his side. He turns to look at Scott. They must be dating. They just must be. His stomach flips at the idea.
“Me too,” Scott whispers. “We’re going to take care of you.”
“Um, ‘kay,” Derek can only manage.
♚◉♞◉♚◉♞
“Alright, we have to go back in,” Scott tells Derek a few days later. They’re back at the place that he woke up in - his apartment, apparently. Derek looks up from the table; he’d been reading the newspaper to catch up on the things he’d missed. He still doesn’t have all of his memories back, but he gets flashes and thoughts every so often. They decided to keep his amnesia quiet because, apparently, if people found out, Derek would be overwhelmed. He’d agreed.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Derek asks, his voice a little dark. He had been enjoying the past forty-eight hours. He was always with either Scott or Stiles, sometimes both of them. Occasionally, Scott would brush his fingers along Derek’s skin casually to comfort him. Stiles sometimes gave him looks that made his body tingle. Derek couldn’t figure it out. He feels awkward asking them about the situation, because what if he’s not dating either of them?
He huffs, annoyed at the thought of not being able to be with either of them.
“Derek, this is our job,” Scott tells him, walking over to join him at the kitchen table. He sits close to him. “It’s important. Last week you thought that they might be doing more than serious drugs and into human trafficking. We need to go back undercover. There are lives at stake.”
Derek understands, but he wishes he didn’t. He nods, looking down at his paper. Scott reaches out, putting his hand over Derek’s wrist. He looks up at him again.
“It’ll be okay. Think you can manage to stay in the apartment while we’re gone? We’ll check in every few hours,” Scott tells him quietly. “We don’t want to leave you but…”
“Lives are at stake and you’re heroes,” Derek finishes.
Scott shrugs. “We’re all heroes. You got pretty deep. I don’t know what triggered them to kick you out of the car. We’ll tread carefully, okay?”
“Okay,” Derek whispers, looking down at Scott’s hand on his wrist. It doesn’t feel out of place. He wants to turn his hand over and intertwine their fingers together.
A moment later, Stiles opens up the loft door and Scott pulls his hand away. “Hey guys, miss me while I was gone?”
“You were out for an hour tops,” Derek comments.
“So you desperately missed me, huh?” Stiles says, giving him a big grin as he walks over. He sets a bag on the table and pushes it towards Derek. “I figure you might be hungry.”
Derek pokes his head into the bag and smiles. “Curly fries?”
“Yep. Five orders,” Stiles says, grinning. “Our favourite.”
Scott takes the bag to hand out a rocket of fries to each of them. “Don’t believe him. Curly fries are his favourite.”
“What are mine?” Derek asks, looking at them. He takes a bite and smiles. “Because I think I like these the most.”
“I knew it! I fucking knew you loved them!” Stiles shouts, pumping a fist in the air. “I called it.”
Scott sighs. “Oh great. Once you get your memory back, you’re going to be kicking yourself for that.”
Stiles hesitates before he asks, “Did Scott tell you?”
“Yeah. He did. When do you leave?”
“Tonight around seven,” Stiles says, sighing.
“I thought we had until nine?”
“Lydia’s sources say that the big boss is arriving around seven. We’ll just go hang out with the others first and see if we can get a meeting with him,” Stiles tells him, shrugging. “It sucks, I know. But you’ll be okay, Sourwolf?”
“Yeah,” Derek says. He’s not sure what else he can say. Except that he doesn’t know why Stiles has a pet name for him and that he doesn’t want either of them to leave. “You’ll be safe?”
Stiles smirks. “Wow, Derek’s concerned about me? That’s a first.”
Derek frowns. “Um, Stiles? Scott? Can I ask you something?”
Stiles and Scott share a look. Then they both nod at him.
“Sure buddy; you can ask us anything,” Scott says, his soft voice soothing.
Derek frowns, folding up the newspaper and staring at his hands. Quietly, he asks, “Um, am I dating either of you?”
There’s a heavy silence. When he looks up, they both seem disappointed.
“Ah, no, you’re not. Why?” Stiles asks, speaking first.
“Oh. I just…I’m confused. Because I didn’t know if I was with one of you or…”
“None of us are dating,” Scott informs him. “It’s been hard; being undercover and all. But we’ve been very close for the past eight months. I’d like to think we’re friends.”
Derek frowns. “Oh.”
“Did you, ah, did you want to date one of us?” Stiles asks, after clearing his throat.
“Um,” Derek starts. He ducks his head again. “Both.”
“Both?” Scott breathes.
“Yeah. I don’t know if it’s because I can’t remember anything but I have feelings for you both,” Derek mumbles.
“Both,” Stiles repeats.
“Like the three of us would all date each other?” Scott asks.
Derek shrugs. It’s stupid.
“I’m in. But only once Derek’s regained his memories,” Stiles says, “and he says he still feels the same way.”
“I’m in too,” Scott says. “I like those terms.”
Derek’s eyes are wide when he looks back up at them again. Stiles and Scott are holding hands across the table. He lifts his hands onto the table and finds them both filled in seconds. He smiles. “You promise you’ll both be safe?”
“We’ll do our best. We have a stud muffin to get our asses back to,” Stiles says, smiling.
“You’ll be okay to spend the night alone?” Scott asks, for the eighth time that day.
Derek nods. “As long as I know you’ll be coming home to me.”
♚◉♞◉♚◉♞
Derek wakes up a few days later and he remembers everything. His memories had come back in flashes and flickers while he had been sleeping, so it’d been a pretty restless night. But when his eyes open, he feels weird. As though he’d been living in someone else’s body for the past few days. He rolls over and sighs.
Scott and Stiles had been out all night undercover. Neither had returned. His heart pounds a little more. He remembers bantering with Stiles; arguing about the dumbest stuff because it gets under Stiles’ nerves. He remembers late night conversations with Scott about Stiles, about how tough this life is, and how lonely it can get. He remembers being drunk with them one night when they were on off-duty and wanting to messily make out with them both but going home alone.
Derek doesn’t want to worry, but he does. They’re both tough, smart, and cunning undercover cops. But the guys they’re up against are bad,bad people.
Then he remembers why he had been kicked out of the car and calls Lydia to report it so she can get a hold of Stiles and Scott.
♚◉♞◉♚◉♞
They don’t come home that day or night. Derek checks in with Lydia four times before he goes to sleep. They’re okay, Derek. Calm down. They’ve got this.
When he wakes up in the morning, he slams his hand down on the alarm to shut it off on the other side of the bed.
Derek rolls back over, pulling the duvet comforter closer to his face, and catching sight of a piece of paper on the night stand beside him.
He reaches out to read it.
Derek,
We’re in the kitchen.
We broke the case.
Come celebrate, Sourwolf.
S & S.
He smiles, tossing the cover off himself. He bets they were up all night having to do a report and notes, dealing with all of the frustrating parts of closing a case. Derek walks into the kitchen in his boxers, grinning widely when he realizes that they ordered in breakfast.
“Morning.”
“Got our note?” Stiles asks, lifting his head with a smile.
“You did it, Derek! You’re the reason we got that jerk!”
Derek nods at them, swooping in for a quick peck on the lips with Stiles. Then he turns to Scott and does the same. “And guess who remembers everything?”
“Yeah?” Stiles says, grinning.
“Wow, Derek, that’s great!” Scott says, smiling brightly.
“So?”
“I’m in.”
“Me too.”
“Good, because I’ve wanted this for a while,” Derek says as he sits down at the table. “I guess it just took me losing everything to realize it. And I still enjoy potato wedges more than curly fries.”
“Traitor!”
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