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As Stiles stood in the shower he couldn’t help but run his fingers over right hipbone. He was so used to tracing the orange fox so he didn’t even have to look to trace along the edge of his mark.
Stiles loved the idea of the marks and he couldn’t wait until the day he got someones mark on his body and saw his on theirs. So far, during the 16 years he had lived, he only had his own and Lydia’s tattoo. When Stiles was 6 years old, he fell in love with Lydia.
Being only 6 years old, Stiles didn’t really know what getting an extra tattoo meant. At first, he freaked out a little. He had always thought that his orange fox was awesome but getting a pink butterfly on the inside of his elbow was way too girly. Then he remembered seeing the tattoo on Lydia’s wrist and he thought that she was his soulmate. He was ecstatic!
When his parents explained the way the tattoos worked, Stiles got a little disappointed; every time you fell in love with someone, their mark would appear somewhere on your body and it would never fade. You could keep getting new marks and it wouldn’t affect your old ones. Stiles was still optimistic, though, because maybe Lydia had his fox as well (spoiler: she didn’t).
Stiles stopped his train of thoughts and stepped out of the shower, drying himself and then getting dressed. As he prepared for school, he couldn’t stop himself from imagining seeing his own mark on someone else. He had never seen his mark on another person’s skin before although he knew that - statistically - someone should have his mark by now.
When Stiles got to school the first person to greet him was Scott. He ran up, all excited and screamed “she has my mark too!” at Stiles. Stiles, of course, knew what he meant. A few weeks ago a new girl named Allison had started at their school and Scott and Allison had clicked from the beginning. A week ago a beautiful bow-and-arrow tattoo appeared behind Scott’s left ear. How Scott had found that mark, Stiles had no idea, but Scott had been a wreck since then (“what if she isn’t in love with me?” Scott always asked and Stiles’ default answer was always “she’d be a fool not to be.” And she would. Scott was a catch)
And so it was safe to say that Stiles didn’t see a lot of Scott that day. Or week, actually. Scott was too caught up in Allison and Stiles really couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t until Stiles heard that half a body had gone missing (his dad was Sheriff in the city and Stiles had his methods of getting the radio) that Scott and Stiles hung out again. They went searching for the body in the woods but it ended up with Scott getting bit.
So Scott turned into a werewolf, apparently, and Stiles turned into the awkward third-wheel-reasearch-buddy. He was still part of the Pack - a Pack that ended up consisting of a very grumpy guy (although Stiles had a theory that he was one big, fluffy marshmallow inside) named Derek Hale, Scott, kind of Stiles and then a girl named Erica (who Stiles later discovered had his mark from when she was in love with him in 6th grade), her boyfriend Boyd and another scarf-wearing dude named Isaac.
The Pack actually worked out pretty well when they got past their communication issues and when senior year started the Pack had expanded to Jackson and Lydia as well.
During Senior year Stiles, Derek and Lydia started working together a lot more. They spent at least 1 hour a day together, trying to translate and update a thing they had called the Beastiary. Stiles discovered that Derek was actually not that grumpy at all - he was funny with some very dry humor and he was actually capable of keeping up with Stiles’ banter. Stiles loved it.
And that was the problem, wasn’t it? Because one day when Stiles was on his was to bed he found a new mark on his body. It was a triskele and it was located on his right bicep on the inside. Stiles knew immediately that the mark belonged to Derek - to be honest Stiles was kind of surprised that the mark hadn’t showed up before, but he wasn’t complaining. Stiles was 100 percent sure that Derek didn’t feel the same was about him and that mark was just a ticking time bomb.
Sometime soon Stiles would forget about it and flash it at Derek and that would be the end of that friendship. Out of fear of that happening Stiles began wearing more layers - and that was saying a lot seeing as he usually wore a graphic tee and a flannel shirt (one and a half layer too many, Lydia used to say). Stiles switched the graphic t-shirts with long-sleeved shirts and he kept on wearing the flannel over. Then he had 2 layers protecting him.
Stiles tried his hardest to act normal around Derek, and for the most of the time, it seemed to work. Sometimes, though, Stiles would catch Derek looking at him with a puzzled expression, like he couldn’t quiet figure him out. Stiles hated when Derek looked at him like that. He felt so vulnerable and too easy to read.
Stiles knew that realistically, he would never be able to keep it from Derek forever. He prepared himself for when it would happen and expected the worst. When the ‘big reveal’ came, it was very different from what Stiles had expected.
Why was that, you may ask. Well, first of all because it wasn’t Derek’s mark on Stiles’ body that was flashed.
Lydia, Stiles’ and Derek’s little Bestiary-sessions always took place in Derek’s loft. Normally Stiles and Lydia would drive in his jeep after school but that day Stiles had had a test and they could leave whenever they wanted to. Stiles left at 11 a.m. and considered waiting for Lydia, but she took more advanced classes than him and had one more test that day.
Stiles made a quick decision to just drive to Derek’s a little (okay a lot) early. He didn’t really think about texting Derek before and warning him - the guy did have super hearing after all, he would be able to hear and smell Stiles coming long before he was actually there.
Stiles was used to just barging in and so he did. Usually Derek would be in the kitchen or something and Stiles would just plop down on Derek’s couch and start. Now, though, when Stiles came inside, Derek was in the middle of a workout. At the sound of the door opening, Derek turned around and Stiles stopped dead in his tracks.
His heart skipped a beat and his breath caught in his throat because… Because there, right in front of him, on Derek’s glistening chest was his orange fox. Stiles didn’t really know what to say - which was kind of ironic, seeing as he usually talked too much.
Derek seemed frozen, too, but he broke out of it before Stiles did. “I’m really sorry, you weren’t supposed to see that.” Derek said. In the blink of an eye, Derek stood beside the couch and was pulling a tank top over his head.
Stiles just began shaking his head and clawing at his flannel shirt. Soon he got it off and just tossed it beside him. “No Derek, I… See!” Stiles tried to explain as he rolled up his shirt sleeve to reveal the dark triskele mark on his inner bicep.
When Stiles finally got the courage to look up at Derek and see his reaction, Derek looked happy but a little wary.
“I… Can I kiss you?” that was not what Stiles meant to ask. It really wasn’t. But not that it was out of his mouth, he realized what a great idea it was. He really wanted to feel Derek’s lips and taste his tongue.
Derek walked toward Stiles until they stood face-to-face, but instead of going for the kiss like Stiles had expected (and hoped) Derek just touched the triskele on Stiles’ bicep like he couldn’t believe it. He made some choked sound and then (finally) he grabbed Stiles head and brought their lips together in a short kiss.
Kissing Derek was better than Stiles had imagined. When Lydia found them a few hours later, they were laying on the couch, watching a movie and stealing chaste kisses. Between kisses they had agreed not to rush things too much. Both of them wanted to do this the right way.