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Derek doesn’t want to wake up just yet. His whole body hurts and he wants to know why it still hurts. His healing should’ve kicked in by now, right? Except maybe not since his senses are flooded with the smell of antibacterial cleaners and injury. Hospital, then, that’s where he is. As he starts to open his eyes he realizes he has no idea who might have brought him here, or even where exactly here is. He groans as his eyes immediately take in bright light. Someone walks into his room soon after and gasps, turning the offending light off. He sighs in relief as he peels his eyes open further, if only to thank the person.
He couldn’t tell who the person was off memory alone but his smell was familiar; he smelled like pack. A tall young man who was definitely a werewolf like him, with kind brown eyes. “Derek, thank god you’re awake! How are you feeling, man?” The young Alpha asked. Derek didn’t know how to respond, he didn’t even know who this kid was beyond pack. Maybe a sibling?
He was about to try to form a response of some kind when another young man came running down the hall and sliding into the room, nearly falling. Forgetting his pain and moving on instinct Derek leaps out of bed to catch the beautiful man.
This man smells wonderful. Smells like worry and relief over Derek, like honey and cinnamon and mate. He wraps his arm tighter than strictly necessary around the man’s slim waist and breathes, “Hi.” The man looks at him like he’s grown a second head, although he definitely smells like he’s interested in the situation. The first man clears his throat awkwardly (Derek had honestly forgotten he was there) and the other two men turn their heads toward him. “Derek, I’ll ask again, how are you feeling?” Derek regretfully lets go of the beautiful man in his arms to address the other man. “Honestly? I don’t remember who you are.” He answers. The first man is obviously shocked and Derek turns toward the second man. “I unfortunately don’t remember you either, but don’t worry, I know you’re my mate. I’ll remember the rest soon enough.”
The two men froze, the anxious one going blank-faced while the Alpha composed himself. Derek was confused, did he say something wrong? The Alpha cleared his throat again to get Derek’s attention. “Derek, it looks like you’ve got some amnesia. Probably from the fight we had with that witch coven.” The Alpha said. “Oh, sorry, I’m Scott, I’m part of your pack and so is Stiles over there.”
So his name is Stiles. An odd name, Derek thought, but that just made him more curious about the man. Stiles still hasn’t said a word to Derek which he found strange. The Alpha, Scott, continued, “And I’m not sure what you think you remember dude, but you and Stiles aren’t a thing. You actually rejected him-“ “Scott.” Stiles interrupted, hard faced. Scott looked apologetic, “Sorry, man.”
Derek didn’t know what to think. Scott looked awkward and Stiles looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in that room. Derek’s wolf wanted nothing more than to comfort Stiles, but it seems he may have misread the situation. There’s no doubt in his mind that Stiles is his mate and he’s not sure why *Derek* would ever be the one to reject the man. He hears a phone ring with an incoming call and Scott pulls out his phone to answer it. He nearly sprints out of the room to escape the tense atmosphere, catching someone named Lydia up to speed on what’s happened at the hospital. All three men leave soon after in a beat up Jeep, Stiles driving them in silence.
It didn’t take long for Lydia and Allison to figure out the strain of wolfsbane Derek had been hit with and how to reverse it. Now that Derek has his memory back he wishes he were still without it, blissfully unaware of what exactly he’d done. The rest of the pack scattered soon after their leader was back to normal. Everyone except Stiles, that is. He had been disturbingly quiet throughout the whole thing, barely saying a word to anybody. Derek could smell the anger and hurt coming off of him in waves. He heaved a deep sigh and walked over to the couch where Stiles sat, mentally preparing himself for the worst.
Stiles spoke up for the first time in almost two hours, “So… Mates, huh?” Derek winced and nodded silently. “Does that mean what I think it means? What it means for Scott and Allison?” Stiles asked. Derek, again, nodded quietly. Stiles hmm’d to himself.
Realizing he’d have to say something, Derek tried, “I never meant for you to know.” Stiles turns to him suddenly, “Oh, is that supposed to make me feel better? Thanks so much for that.” Derek resisted rolling his eyes (not the time) and continued on, “You were too young. I couldn’t do that to you.” “Seriously?” Stiles squawked, “I specifically waited until I was 18 years old because of that!” Derek grimaced, “Just because you’re “legal”,” he shuddered, “doesn’t automatically make it okay. I would never do that to you.”
Stiles angrily opened his mouth to say something then stopped short. “Ohmygod were you worried about… taking advantage of me??” Stiles asked. “Yes, of course that’s what I was worried about! What else, Stiles?” Derek responded shortly. “So it isn’t that you don’t like me. That was just your weird way of trying to look out for me.” Stiles realized. Derek said nothing, knowing the cat was out of the bag now. Stiles was 22 now, surely he didn’t feel the same still. Derek wasn’t even entirely sure what Stiles was doing back in Beacon Hills, he wasn’t done with classes for another couple of weeks.
“Scott called me, ya know, after you got knocked out by that witch. I know I broke several traffic laws trying to get here in decent time. You know why?” Stiles said. Derek looked at him for a long moment, then slowly shook his head. Stiles continued, “Because you can’t get rid of me that easy, Sourwolf.” Derek’s heart skipped a beat at the old nickname he used to loathe but grew to secretly enjoy.
Stiles smiled and said, “I don’t know what exactly being a wolf’s mate means and you may have to teach me, like, a lot.” Derek’s jaw dropped slightly, he couldn’t believe his ears. “I also can’t promise I’ll act like a perfect mate because, well, I’m not a wolf. But,” He paused and reached for Derek’s hands in his lap, “I’m willing to give this a try, if you are Derek.”
Derek didn’t cry. He definitely didn’t, and he’ll bite anyone who said he did. On the off chance he did, however, who could blame him? His wonderful, beautiful, smart, perfect, Stiles was giving him another chance with a brilliant, watery smile. Derek leant his head forward until he gently knocked Stiles forehead with his own. Maybe losing his memory temporarily wasn’t the worst thing to happen to him lately.