Archive of Our Own ^beta

Maybe he had been cursed. Maybe that was the thing. It had all started to go downhill when he had killed his first girlfriend at the age of 15. Maybe then, he should have understood that he wasn't supposed to love. That every time someone piqued his interest, he should ignore them.

It was too late now to come to this conclusion, the guy had ran off with his wolf.

His sisters sighed when he told them. Being his pack, they already knew something was wrong even before he came back to their appartment.

“I already called someone. I thought you were dead.”, Cora said after a full minute, she oddly looked wary of Derek's reaction.

“And you did well.”, Laura intervened with a posture of authority and finality before their brother could say anything.

The man lowered his gaze and almost bowed before his body remembered him how human he was.

“I'm sorry.”

“Keep that in mind and behave once he's here.”, his alpha commanded before going back to work.

Derek was left with their little sister who seemed nervous. The young woman was supposed to study for her finals, not worry about her stupid brother who kept coming back with new threats every two years.

There was an awkward silence, where neither dared to even look in the other's direction. Derek knew he had screwed up once more. Everything was his own fault, again. So why was Cora so afraid that her brother would get mad? He no longer had his heightened senses but he knew his sister well enough to tell that if he didn't say anything, something could go terribly wrong. Their mother always told them that communication was the key to all matters.

“I'm sorry. You tried to warn me and I didn't listen.”, Derek tried.

Yes, Cora had never liked his lover for the whole six weeks they had been together.

Someone who doesn't share anything about their personal life, who manipulates people into getting what they want, who hides their true intentions behind a blinding, dishonest smile... sounds familiar, right?

But Derek hadn't wanted to listen. After all, that description fitted him well too.

“I called Stiles.”

For an instant, everything came to a halt. Stiles? Who was-

But then he remembered the teenager who had always been by Cora's side and who Derek could never stand. Cora's 'best friend' as they pretended. Derek would always find the bastard in her room, on her bed or leaving his scent almost everywhere in the house. He thought she had stopped seeing him. At least, she had stopped mentionning him or inviting him after high school. Hell, she no longer smelt like him anymore and had been for years. Derek had wrongly presumed, apparently, that she had got rid of him.

“Why?”

Derek hadn't been able to control the rising anger in his voice at the mention of the annoying kid. Of all the people they could ask for help, Cora had called that stupid, annoying human.

He finally looked in his sister's eyes, feeling lost without his senses. He could see that she was all kinds of emotions. They had both stepped on a landmine. She probably had hoped that Derek would change his attitude towards her 'friend'. But it was stronger than him.

“Because, unlike you, I like helpful and trustworthy people.”

Being left human when you've been a werewolf your entire life is... indescribable. Derek wanted to growl in frustration about how lost he felt without his senses, weak without his strength and stupid with his choices.

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“Long time no see babe! Oh my god, I missed you so much.”

Derek's hair immediately rose up hearing the voice coming from the entrance. He didn't want to get up from the couch, he had fusionned with it two hours ago.

“So what happened this time?”, Derek heard heavy footsteps, only a pair though, but both voices were coming his way.

“Another bitch manipulated him.”

“And where is the big bad wo- human.”, Stiles interrupted himself when he noticed Derek on the couch.

Cora was a dead weight with her arms wrapped around his neck. Stiles narrowed his eyes and was staring at the other man as if he was personnally offended by his presence.

“You... I hope the sex was good.”

Cora bursted out laughing and finally let go of him. For an instant, Derek thought the human would come to him and try to shake hands, but he only made two steps in his direction and crossed his arms.

“So she took your wolf.”

“He.”, Cora corrected him instantly. “Alexander. Remember? I told you about that guy and you said to stay away from him.”

Stiles' head whipped around, his attention back on Derek's sister.

“And you didn't?”

“Derek didn't want to listen.”

“Of course he didn't want to listen.”, Stiles went around the room, messing with his hair and muttering other things Derek couldn't catch anymore.

“I tried to expose him really, but I never caught him doing anything suspicious.”, Cora answered to whatever he was saying.

“It's not your fault.”

It's mine., Derek thought.

But Stiles didn't say it.

“I should have told you why. Alexander uses dark magic. There is no real evidence, we can't connect him to anything but, we know. I've personnally never met him, of course, but I heard a lot.”,

Stiles' attention was back on Derek now. His hair a complete mess, the sleeves of his plaid shirt rolled up around his elbows let see, now that Derek really looked at the guy, dark lines that looked like crop circles.

“Since when do you have magic?”

Stiles made a strange face and the man quickly looked at his feet to hide it.

“Your first words after four years, and you choose to ask that...”

“Ten years, dumbass. Stiles has been part of our pack just as much. Well, mom's pack.”, Cora sighed with fatigue.

Stiles left the room without adding anything.

“Oh no, not Peter...”, Cora muttered after a few seconds. “Happy now? He's calling Peter.”

Stiles went back into the room, on the phone. He stretched on a “please” and then hang up. “He will be here in an hour. Pack up, we're going on a trip.”

It took Derek a little while to realize Stiles was talking to him. And it also took him a death glare from his little sister to comply.

When he came back from his room with his bag, Stiles and Cora were on the couch, Cora's arm thrown over Stiles' shoulders while he read aloud one of her textbooks to her.

How Derek didn't know the kid was in their pack? How did he not know Stiles had powers? He didn't know anything. Everything he thought he knew about the guy seemed completely false. Who was this guy Derek hated so much? Why did he hate him so much? Derek sighed and went back to his room to curl up on his bed and think.

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Five minutes before Derek's uncle arrived, Stiles stopped helping Cora with her studies and gave all his attention back to her brother. He knocked on his open door and waited for a response.

“What?”, Derek sighed without moving to look at the guy, facing the wall opposed to the door.

“Peter is near and I need you to find which way to go.”, Stiles answered with no heat, as if the once-upon-a-time wolf hadn't messed up every of their encounters.

“I don't know where Alex is.”

Stiles growled in frustration and Derek felt the mattress dip behind his back. The movement made him jump from his bed and crouch on the floor, ready to fight back.

Stiles was kneeling on the bed, his palms up, showing no threat.

“If I wanted to, I could kill you. And I could have done it years ago. It's been ten years, I think you can start trusting me.”

Stiles was right. Derek had been thinking about it for a full hour now. Something was wrong with him. If he had been pack all this time, Stiles was probably the most trustworthy person aside from his family. Was it only because he was a poor judge of character? Derek stood up but didn't move forward.

Stiles was so frustrated, Derek could almost taste it.

“You don't seem to know anything about me. I've been Cora's best friend since middle school, my mom died when I was ten and your mom and sister have been of great support since then. And I learned about the supernatural when I was twelve. And, apparently, you don't remember but you're the reason why I'm friends with Cora. You're the one who took her to school on her first day and she didn't want to approach any of the kids, so you pointed me and said 'This one seems good.'”

Derek was slowly remembering the story as the man was telling it. He did remember Cora's first day in middle school. Cora had been so excited at first to finally be able to hang out with humans her age ; wolf Hales were homeschooled up until they were capable to anchor themselves, usually around ten. But once they had arrived, she had been very disappointed, they were loud, they were gross, Derek vaguely remembered a quiet kid who had seemed lonely. And indeed, he had told Cora to go talk to him or something like that.

He didn't know how to feel about this new piece of information.

“And just so you know, I'm the sheriff's son. Stiles is a nickname, my last name is Stilinski. You must be the only person in Beacon Hills who doesn't know it. Now, let me approach you so I can save your ass once again.”

Once again? Derek thought, he only remembered Stiles as a high schooler and he definitely didn't remember him helping him in any way.

Derek finally obeyed. And Stiles took no time in rolling the sleeves of his henley up to put his hands on each of his forearms. His hands were so hot, Derek flinched, thinking he would get burns, but after only a few seconds it was almost pleasant.

“Have you always been this hot?”, Derek asked and regretted instantly his phrasing.

“I get that a lot.”, Stiles answered with a big devilish smile.

The older man remembered the last time they had been this close, it had been in his family house, Derek had slammed him against a wall so hard the wall had cracked. He didn't even remember why. But he remembered Cora crying and yelling. She had climbed on his back and choked him to make him let go.

And now that he knew the kid had been the sheriff's son all along, he wondered how in the hell he had never been arrested for it.

“Focus on your wolf.”, Stiles whispered at some point since Derek had been doing nothing but stare at his closed eyes and think about the past.

Derek stared down thinking that maybe Stiles could read his mind but then he noticed the other man's forearms. His tattoos were glowing a bright orange, like fire.

“For fuck's sake, focus.”

The doorbell rang and Stiles cursed again, he didn't let go though. He just looked in Derek's eyes and lifted an eyebrow until the man closed his eyes and focused for real.

Derek was sure Peter would barge in and make a comment about their current position, but nothing happened until Stiles eventually found what he was looking for. The younger man was still on his knees on Derek's bed, so he used his grip on Derek's forearms to get up from the bed without stepping on it with his shoes and left Derek's bedroom to greet Peter. When Derek stared down at himself, two handprints, red as sunburns, were now starring on his forearms. It didn't hurt though, when he passed his fingers over them, it only tingled.

When he came back in the living room, he had only missed the usual greetings between the two other men.

“It's about time you stop dating, nephew.”, Peter said with a smirk and a disapproving shake of the head.

Stiles clapped his hands suddenly and cleared his throat, bringing the attention back to himself and said: “Let's hunt that bitch, we have to go north. He's quite far away so let's not waste more time.”

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“Go north? That's all we get?”

They were in Derek's dad's SUV, Peter was the one driving even though he had always sworn he would never drive “that mom car” that Patrick had bought a few years ago. Stiles had retrieved his emergency backpack from his car, an old blue jeep Derek remembered from four years ago, to put it with Derek's and Peter's in the truck. Stiles had called shotgun for the whole trip and had been karaoking by himself the whole time to the songs from the thumb drive he had connected to the car. They had been driving for an hour and Derek was sick of looking out the window at the fast-moving everything, of staring at his uncle's neck and of hearing Stiles' horrible singing.

“You thought you would get a precise location?”, Stiles sighed, staring out his window. “No, we work like a compass.”

How was the younger man not sick? Derek had to roll down his window a little, he missed how his vision used to be able to slow everything down.

“So, you're just following magnetic fields?”

“Yup. I'm the needle, you're the magnetic field. Since it's been less than 24 hours that your soul has been broken into two, your connection is still strong and easy to follow.”

It was the first conversation they had without any mishap. It felt odd. Derek closed his eyes and pressed the back of his head into his headrest. Everything felt odd, so... odd.

“Peter, pull over, now.”, Stiles said suddenly, Derek opened his eyes to stare back at worried, amber eyes.

It took his uncle only a few seconds and Stiles made it quickly out off the car and by Derek's door to open it, just in time for Derek to vomit on his sneakers.

“Disgusting. Seriously?”, Peter commented. “You better not go back inside with those. Throw them away.”

Stiles remained silent though, he back-tracked to get something in the trunk and then came back with a bottle when Derek had stopped heaving.

“To rinse your mouth.”

His shoes and even his pantlegs were covered in vomit, and yet he didn't say anything about it.

“Peter, move the car a little so Derek can get out.”, Stiles ordered before closing Derek's door and stepping aside.

They were on a dark, sinuvy road, many cars were passing by them. Stiles didn't seem to care about getting hit by one even though Derek was pretty sure it would be lethal, hell, even as a werewolf he wouldn't do it. And now he was supposed to get out too?

Peter moved the car, mumbling about the awful smell. Once the car stopped, Derek still got out of it without knowing what for. But quickly, Stiles asked the werewolf to switch places with his uncle.

“What? Why?”, Peter exclaimed without making any move to open his door.

Stiles was now pressed against the open trunk and taking his shoes off.

“Unless you want your dear nephew to throw up all the way up to Oregon, he will drive. Human Derek is carsick,”, the human explained, he was now putting his shoes away in a plastic bag that had been lying around in the car and sealed it.

“He can take your seat. Anyways, I'm not sitting in the back.”

“If I sit in the back, Derek will look over his shoulder every five seconds and get sick or have a car crash.”

Stiles was now changing pants with a pair he had in his backpack. Peter sighed, defeated and finally obeyed and settled on the backseat.

“You're throwing the shoes and pants. I don't want that around. Derek will pay you new ones.”

“Of course he will and as soon as we find a trashcan on our way, I'll throw this stuff.”

Stiles left his smelly clothes in the trunk and climbed back up inside onto his seat, now by Derek's side, he sat cross-legged to cover his socked (probably cold) feet and made a motion for Derek to start driving, which he did. However, after a few seconds of awkward silence (well, it could be considered silence since Stiles was no longer singing to the music), Derek realized he hadn't said anything.

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't sweat it, you've done worse.”, Stiles mumbled with no heat.

“Way worse.”, Peter added while holding Derek's glare in the rearview mirror.

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Peter had left them at a mall. When it was not for himself, his uncle hated shopping. He had found a coffee shop with great ratings on his phone and said he would wait for their call there, after filling the tank.

Stiles was still walking with socked feet, yet nobody bothered him for it. In fact, no one seemed to notice. Opposed to Derek, something in Stiles' behaviour made people look up.

“You can go shopping on your own or go have a coffee with your uncle.”

Derek rolled his eyes. It was the third time Stiles was proposing to him to go somewhere else and leave Stiles to shop by himself. 'You can stay outside, have some fresh air. I'll be quick.' he had said and 'There is also a coffee shop here if you like.' Derek had shrugged those off.

“If you want to get rid of me, just say so.”, Derek answered this time.

Stiles sighed in frustration and stared at the ceilings, no longer caring about running into people.

“Do you actually want to follow me around while I'm looking for clothes?”

“It's just one pair of khakis, sneakers... and socks.”, Derek added looking down at Stiles' socks, they probably used to sport little brown puppies on a blue background. “Plus, I'm the one paying for them.”

“You don't have to, I was just joking. I can pay for my own stuff.”

“I owe you.”

Stiles finally stopped walking around aimlessly and actually went inside a shoe shop. That was the end of another conversation that went pretty fine.

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Derek had to admit, Stiles wasn't that bad. Before he would have said the guy was a snake, a rat, a nosy and manipulative bastard who didn't know his place. Apparently, he had changed or had never been this way in the first place. Maybe it was the consequence of seeing him with new eyes, maybe once his wolf was back, he would want to rip his throat out all over again. Derek surprised himself thinking, for a second, that staying human may be best.

No way. No fucking way. He wouldn't stay human for fucking Stiles. What was going on with him?

They had just arrived at a diner, the waitress was ready to take their orders but Derek hadn't even looked at the menu yet. She had said her name was Wendy even though she had a nametag on her chest. She was also smiling too much and staring too intently at Derek.

“I don't know what I-”, Derek started but was interrupted by his uncle who was seated across from him and Stiles.

“Hello Wendy, I'm Ian. This is my cousin Tyler and his fiancé Dylan.”

Derek was used to his uncle's lies, but he still managed to feel speechless and blushed. Stiles though, went along with it easily without looking up from his menu.

“It's pretty new,”, he patted Derek's shoulder while talking to the waitress. “Tyler will take a mushroom burger, Ian a chicken salad and I'll take two chicken wraps. For dessert, we'll all take the pie.”

Wendy gauged Stiles for two seconds, her smile faltering a little. Stiles' attitude seemed rude but Derek only noticed that he had actually chosen meals that fitted their tastes.

“Huh. Drinks?”

“Ice tea for Tyler and I, tap water for Ian. Oh and can we get the cheese fries to start with, please?”, Stiles ordered and gave her a dazzling smile that made her blush and stutter an 'okay' before leaving their table.

After a few seconds of silence, Derek noticed that Stiles' hand hadn't left his shoulder, it was unsettling how settling the warmth felt through his tee-shirt. Derek stiffened.

“Sorry, my bad.”, Stiles whispered immediately taking his hand off.

Was Stiles apologizing for touching him longer than necessary or was it for touching him at all? The older man decided to stay silent and focus his attention on his smirking uncle. The guy seemed to want Stiles all to himself but at times he seemed to enjoy playing the matchmaker between them both.

“I don't like that smirk,”, Stiles said with disgust. “Stop it.”

But Peter's grin only grew more devious.

“Since you two seem to finally get along, it may be time to... change alphas.”

“No one wants that. Plus Derek is human, that's why he hasn't tried to kill me yet.”

Derek felt his ears heat up and looked away from both men, pretending to be somewhere else, hoping to be.

“As soon as he's fixed, I'm out of... here.”

Derek couldn't help but notice the quick motion of Stiles' hand towards his self when he said the word.

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Derek felt uncertain. They were going blind. They didn't have any plans. And they were three. Hell, could he even count himself when he didn't know how to be human? How to fight like one, with precaution? He felt as if anything could kill or break him at any seconds. What if he got sick? How was his immune system working now?

But more than anything, what would happen once they found Alexander?

“We should have taken the pack with us. We don't actually know who we're up against. What if Alexander has allies?”, he finally voiced out when they were in the backseat of the car with Stiles, as Peter was driving on a highway.

Stiles was currently pretending to sleep but Derek knew better. He sighed and opened his eyes.

“I'm actually counting on it. I've been thinking about the reason why a dark druid would want to take a wolf,”, he said, straightening his self a little to look out Derek's window, he never really looked in Derek's eyes unless he had to. “And it doesn't really seem that apetizing, even if you're a born wolf. If Lexy (that was how Stiles was calling Alexander now) had taken an alpha, it would have made more sense. It's more powerful. So unless he's growing a collection for himself or someone else and he doesn't really care about the kind of weres he's robbing, I think you're bait. To catch your alpha, two even, since you have Laura and Talia, two powerful alphas, as family. Or he can also be baiting both packs.”

“So it definitely means that he's prepared to fight more than three people. We will be outnumbered.”, Derek concluded, feeling dread crawling up his neck.

“It means that he's prepared to fight wolves. Not me. Wolvesbane, mistletoe, mountain ash and all that jazz won't do anything to me. And, no matter the number of people he has on his side, if they are not ready to fight something like me then they will be useless.”

“What if they are?”

“Why would Lexy know about me? You didn't even know I was part of your pack. You couldn't have said anything, you didn't know anything. It's more plausible that he's after the alphas who can make full shifts.”

Derek wanted to protest. He knew they hadn't explored all the options. But Stiles seemed so confident that maybe he was acting too paranoid for once. Indeed, he had never mentioned Stiles and Alexander had never asked any details about his family.

In fact, he had never asked anything... maybe he already knew everything.

“Stop the overthinking, that's my job. Everything will be fine. You'll have your wolf back, your family will be safe, I promise.”

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To be hit on by people who were most probably underage was something Derek would never understand and always feel awkward about. He didn't know how to react, what to say and what he could do without drawing attention to himself or without upsetting someone. He should have resisted his urge to take a walk while Peter was on an errand for Stiles while the guy was resting in their car.

He should have stayed by the car.

“Miguel. Juarez. Cincua. Tiago. How dare you?”, Derek suddenly heard, it was Stiles' voice, he looked around and found him staring at him. “How dare you? You swore you'd never do this to me again! What about the kids? Our turtle?”, Stiles was coming closer to them, without lowering his voice. “I knew I should have signed that prenup. My father was right. Your mom was right. Oh my god! Erica, Isaac and Boyd will be so disappointed in you. I want a divorce Paolo! What were you planning to do anyway? Fuck all of them? I bet that's why you don't touch me anymore. We used to do it all the time, but now you don't even want to be my little spoon. I only cheated on you a few times, but you've done more, that's not even revenge at this point! I'm not seeing your uncle anymore, it's been ten years already! That's it, I'm calling off the wedding. And I'm taking the TV!”,

The three girls who had been harrassing Derek for five long minutes had left halfway through Stiles' melodramatic outburst. People who were passing by were looking at them, probably wondering if there were any hidden cameras involved.

“So are we married or not?”, Derek whispered trying not to laugh at all the stupid things Stiles had said. “And my name is Miguel or Paolo?”, he used all his strength to keep a poker face, only lifting his eyebrows. “Also, can I keep the turtle?”

“Unbelievable, you don't even try to explain yourself.”

“Why would I? You fucked my uncle, that's pretty sick. I would never touch you after that.”

“I also had a threesome with your sisters. But that was before our engagement.”, Stiles added defiantly.

“Why did I even propose to you? What with all my previous relationships, I should have known better.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?”

Derek jumped out of his skin when his uncle interrupted... whatever that was. The werewolf was right behind him and Stiles had shown no warning signs.

“And Stiles, it's very unsettling of you to be such a good liar,”, his uncle added making a gesture to show his hearing. “You and I: never happening. No matter how much you want it.”

“Shame.” Stiles said with a snort.

The two men had probably found him at the same time, if not together, and Stiles had decided to have some fun making a scene while Peter watched.

“So where is my ink?”, Stiles asked when Peter didn't do anything apart from staring at them with wonder.

“Oh, yes. Here.”

Stiles had said he needed it for Derek. The reason why Stiles was not purchasing the item himself was because he wanted to 'keep a low profile'. And that's all Derek knew about the deal. In fact, Peter seemed to already know why he was the one to make errands.

Once they were back by the car, Stiles asked Derek to strip.

“What?”

“Take your shirt off.”

Stiles was looking at him expectantly and added a 'please' when the other man only stared back.

“Why?”

“Show me your boobs. I need to write something.”

“To find my wolf?”

“Sort of.”

Why was he shy all of a sudden? He used to wander shirtless anytime he had the chance. Stiles had probably seen him shirtless before.

But maybe it was the difference between taking his shirt off on his own volition and being asked to do it. People who had asked him to undress had always betrayed him.

He finally settled on getting his shirt off with one quick gesture as to not think too much of it. Stiles was safe, Stiles was helping.

“Oh, you're... hairy.”, Stiles said staring at his bare chest, pinching his mouth.

He ran his warm fingers over Derek's heart thinking for a moment without realizing what it did to Derek's head. For the few seconds that it lasted, Derek wished he had shaved so Stiles would not be disappointed. And he fought the urge to facepalm when realization hit him like a brick. He was attracted to this man and it was onesided.

“The abs, then.”, Stiles sighed without looking at Derek's face and letting his fingers slip lower on his body to pad at his upper abs. When he opened the little bottle of ink, an awful smell surrounded them immediately and Stiles brought it to his nose, inhaling it deeply with a strange look on his face.

“I missed this smell. Smells like death, decay and urine.”, he said smiling but then he choked and almost puked making both Peter and Derek laugh at his antics.

Stiles put the bottle on the hood of their car and took the seringe that came with it. Derek thought it was for the ink, that he was going to inject it inside Derek's body for whatever effect it would have, but Stiles rolled up his own sleeve, revealing the crop circles and stabbed himself with it. His blood was a bright red, a shiny red even. He only filled a quarter of the seringe with it before emptying the liquid inside the ink. The mixture instantly started to boil, the smell amplified for a second then completely vanished.

Derek frowned, staring at the smoke coming out of the bottle. Stiles blowed on it then dipped his index finger in the liquid, his finger came out with a dark brown and gooey matter.

“What are you going to do with it?”,,Derek couldn't help but ask.

“Why? Are you afraid or disgusted?”, Stiles responded drawing his finger towards the older man's face with a childish grin.

Actually, that stuff still smelled a little and Derek backed away reflexively, almost stepping on his uncle who had moved right behind him.

“Don't worry. It will be super warm but not burning warm.”, Stiles assured him lowering his hand and waiting for Derek to stop fidgetting to press his finger on his abdomen. “Well, I think it won't.” he then added and promptly started to draw a pattern before Derek could react. His uncle forced him to stand still when he flinched at the contact.

It was not burning actually, but it was still very hot and uncomfortable. As if something was crawling under his skin and creeping its way through his muscles to settle in his bones and organs. The pattern was not very complicated. Stiles was done pretty quickly and Derek only get a brief glance before it disappeared. Just like a tattoo on a werewolf skin, were they supposed to burn it then?

“Great, it worked!”, Stiles exclaimed wiping his finger on a cloth that strangely looked like Derek's tee-shirt.

“Hey!”, Derek reacted a little too late.

“It's black, no-one will notice.”, Stiles claimed with a shit-eating grin.

But before Derek could say anything back about the smell, dizzyness hit him so suddenly he stumbled and the words died in his throat.

“You're okay, breathe. Derek. Don't panic.”, he heard Stiles say but his voice was getting distant.

For an instant all his senses started acting up, as if his wolf was back again, then nausea came and he blacked out.

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He woke up in a motel. After having 'slept' in the car for three days, the crappy motel was more than welcomed. Even for Peter with his fancy tastes. The werewolf was right beside him on the double bed and for a second Derek thought they would sleep together. He raised a quizzical eyebrow without saying anything.

“One bedroom each.”, his uncle said finally. “Stiles asked me to stay until you woke up.”

“Where is he?”

“Missing him already, huh?”, the werewolf said but without teasing further, he still answered. “He's... channeling.”

“What is he? I've never smelt magic on him.”

He had never dared to ask aloud, and now that he was finally alone with his uncle, his curiosity had to be satisfied. Derek sit up and blinked a few times to stop the room from spinning.

“But you've smelt something. I personnally think that's why your wolf kept attacking him.”

Peter didn't seem to want to expand on the subject. And did it really matter? Knowing what Stiles was or why his wolf didn't like him would not fix the damage already done. Even though Stiles was acting all nice and friendly, Derek could see that the second his wolf was back, the younger man would disappear.

His uncle stood up eventually but before closing the door behind his back, he added: “Stiles is precious to our family, that's all you need to know.”

Derek was now resting on his bed, half dressed, half relaxed after his shower. He wanted to move, he wanted to run but he was also tired as fuck. He also wanted to go to Stiles' room, check if the man was back.

He was staring at his forearms, the handprints were fading. He felt weird about it. Thinking about Stiles so much. Thinking about his hands. Thinking about being marked. Once his wolf was back, would he feel the same? Would it be better to hate him again? Catching feelings for Stiles was pointless. There were so many reasons to crush them. Nothing would come out of it. Stiles was nice, Stiles was funny, Stiles was kind, he could finally see it, but Derek had fucked up so many times, Stiles would never reciprocate. Even if he did, one day, even if Stiles forgave him, Derek would never ever deserve his attention. With his luck, he would just get him killed anyway.

In fact, Stiles had said it himself, after this, they would not meet again. The only thing that was left to do was to apologize and thank him. There was so much to apologize for that Derek didn't even know where to begin with.

He rolled on his side to switch off the lamp on his nightstand, when he heard something at the same time. Something that sounded like an explosion. He stood up immediately in the dark of his room, heart pounding in his chest, and a few seconds later his uncle was banging against his door.

“We have to find Stiles.”, Peter said hurriedly when Derek opened.

He took his nephew by the arm, not caring about Derek's lack of shirt and shoes, and yanked him outside. They were near the woods, Stiles could have gone in any directions. They would have to sniff him out, Peter had to. Derek could only look for smoke, flames, anything that could have shown where the explosion had been. Except that there was no sign of it ever happening.

It's Peter who found him. It was quite far from the motel, about two miles away, and considering that Derek was human and barefoot, it took him a while to join them.

Stiles was crouched on the ground, his arms covering his head, he was breathing herratically. Derek noticed the unconscious man beside him only when Peter asked him to check on the stranger.

“Who is this?” he asked but no one answered.

His uncle was too focused on calming Stiles down and Stiles was too unfocused.

“Stiles, look at me, Stiles.” Peter was saying.

He had his hands hovering over the young man, not daring to touch him. On his side, Derek didn't know what to do with John Doe. His face and clothes were slightly burned, he looked dead and it was freaking him out.

“He… came out… of nowhere.”, Stiles finally hiccuped.

Stiles' irises were a bright orange, his skin a dark red, his whole body seemed to be burning from the inside. Peter took his face between his hands and forced him to look him in the eyes, breathing slowly in his face.

Derek still didn't know what to do with the other guy though. He started to move after a full minute and took his time bending over the body, trying to see without touching if it was a dead one. Aside from the burns, the man's face was still a little unsettling. It lacked something. It made him think of a portrait, a statue, as if the face had been modeled with clay or wax. It was soulless.

“Say three things you can touch.”

Derek looked away from the weird creature that laid on the ground and focused back on the two other men. Stiles' eyes were almost red, a deep burning orange.

“You.”, Stiles answered out of breath.

“What's my name?”

“Peter.”

“What else can you touch?”

“I don't – I don't know.”, Stiles said closing his eyes. “Flames, everywhere, I'm burning!”

“No, Stiles you're not-”

“The house!”

“No, Stiles, calm down. We're in the woods, in Oregon.”

“The fire... in me!”

“Mischief!”

Stiles stopped yelling and fidgeting and his lower lip wobbled.

“What's your favorite food?”, Derek asked out of the blue, surprising even himself.

Stiles opened his glowing eyes and looked in his general direction. “Pizza.”

“Your favorite animal?”, Derek continued.

“Dogs.”

“Cora's eye color?”

“Brown.”

Stiles' breathing was starting to slow down but the young man was still somewhere else. Derek was about to ask another question but it died in his throat when the stranger beside him started to wake up.

“Derek, continue with Stiles. I'm taking care of that thing.”, Peter said as Derek was about to touch it.

They switched roles just in time as the thing tried to launch itself at Derek. Peter took the hit for him and started to fight with the creature that was looking less and less human. So Derek tried to get Stiles' attention back on him.

“Stiles, stay with me.”, he pried, blocking the young man's view with his body.

Unlike Peter, he didn't dare touching the man's face but put his two palms on his shoulders. Stiles' eyes were somewhere on the ground with his hands.

“Stiles, do you have a mantra? To calm yourself.”

Stiles shook his head.

“So what's your favorite movie?”

“Star wars.”, Stiles answered with a strangled voice.

“Your birthday?”

“April 8^th.”

“Your best friend?”

“Scott.”

“What about Cora?”

“Both.”

Stiles didn't seem to care about what he was saying, the questions were too easy compared to the ruckus inside Stiles' head or behind Derek's back.

“My birthday?”, since he didn't know anything about Sti-

“November 7^th.”

“My favorite food?”

Stiles was quiet for a second but then: “Burgers.”

Frustrated, he stared at Stiles' hands since the other man was doing so and saw that they glowed like fire. And then he noticed that Stiles was mumbling. “... you... go... flames... burn... go... leave... I'll hurt you...”

“Stiles, I'm not going anywhere. We need you, look at Peter.”, never letting go of Stiles' shoulders, Derek looked over his own. “He's fighting that thing that keeps dodging his attacks, he's not making any progress other there. And I don't even know what this-”

“Changeling.”, Stiles said suddenly with a calm voice. “An adult.”

Apparently, having a creature to fight and packmates to help, was all Stiles needed to stop his panic attack. Derek let go of the man who stood up immediately with a resolute look on his features.

When Peter saw Stiles coming to his rescue, the glance he gave Derek didn't need any explanation.

The adrenaline was welcomed for Derek's bare feet. The second explosion resonated through the forest only a few seconds later, the violent gush of wind that followed sent Derek flying in the air and made him land heavily on the ground, about fifteen feet away. He had never felt more humanely powerless and breakable till this very moment. And yet, he was able to pick himself up pretty quickly after. He checked himself, his heartbeat was all over the place but nothing seemed to be broken. Only a few scratches and bruises, his feet were killing him but, he was okay.

“Derek? Derek?”, he heard Peter call. His voice getting closer, he followed it and his uncle crushed him in a bear hug as soon as they found each other.

“I'm fine.”, the nephew reassured his uncle patting him on the back awkardly, Peter was not a hugger. Well, not with him at least.

Peter seemed to realize what he was doing and let go of him to look for Stiles. The young man was exactly where they had left him, laying on the ground, unconscious next to a fully burned shapeless creature.

“Okay.”, Peter sighed while he assessed the mess. “You take care of our precious boy and I take care of the body.”

Derek didn't do anything for a second, staring at the creature. It was the only thing that had burned. Nothing else, not even the dead leaves on the ground. And even though there had been an explosion, not a single tree or shrub or anything had been damaged. How did Stiles' magic work?

He then looked back at the young man who didn't look ready to wake up, was he supposed to lift him up? As a werewolf, he wouldn't have questionned it. Derek made a step toward his sister's best friend and winced when something sharp was pressed under his bare foot. Nevermind having to lift Stiles' weight all the way back to the motel, he needed shoes. And Stiles' would do.

Stiles started to wake up halfway, Derek was carrying him on his back, a little out of breath, sweating and cursing his human body when the magic user started to mumble, adjusting himself slowly to get a grip around Derek's shoulders and waist.

“Hey. You okay?”

Derek snorted unvoluntarily at Stiles' inquiry. Actually, now that the man was no longer a dead weight, he started to feel better.

“Did I hurt you? Where's Peter?”, he continued asking ignoring the fact that Derek was not really in condition to hold a conversation.

He only grunted in response.

“You should take a rest, I'll be okay in a few minutes.”

Derek almost dropped Stiles the second he had finished his sentence. But he took the time to stop walking and help the younger man get safely on the ground. The fresh air of the night, when Stiles' heat was no longer against his bare skin, made him shiver unvoluntarily.

“Thanks.”

Stiles lied down with a sigh, resting his hands on his stomach and closing his eyes. Derek stood still for a second, not sure what to do. Well, he had two options, leave or stay with the young man. He chose to sit down beside him and stare away in the shadows of the trees. Ignoring how cold he was, now that Stiles was too far, now that he was human.

Apparently, for once Stiles was okay with the silence, Derek was not.

“What are you?”

“I'm amazing.”, Stiles answered automatically.

Patience was not Derek's forte and yet Stiles would still try it. They both sighed at the same time, certainly not for the same reason. And the younger man eventually caved:

“What I am, doesn't matter. There is no name for it anyway.”

Derek looked his way, his eyes were still closed and there was no particular emotion on his face even though, the statement transpired loneliness.

“Doesn't matter? So I'll never know? Is it payback or something?”

“Where are my shoes?”, Stiles asked as he suddenly sat up and pointed at his shoeless feet, wiggling his toes through his socks.

Then, he seemed to realize that Derek was shirtless and had borrowed said shoes.

“They fit?”

Derek took them off and gave them back as an answer. If Stiles didn't want to tell him what he was, it meant Stiles didn't care about making friends eventually. He got up and tried to walk as fast as he could, ignoring the cold, the pain in his muscles and now his bare feet.

“Wait!”

Maybe he was just being a child about the subject but he was pissed at Stiles, pissed at his uncle and his family. Why was he not aware of Stiles being part of the pack and why wouldn't they tell him what he was exactly? Why was Stiles so precious to them? He seemed like a good guy, okay, he was a great guy, but why were they so secretive about him? Why would they let Derek hate him for no reason?

Derek's wolf had sense something dangerous about him on multiple occasions. And yet, nobody else seemed to be affected by it.

“Hey Grumpy!”, Stiles caught up to him way too fast. “Aren't you supposed to look after me? You didn't notice the weird creatures that creep in the woods.”

“And what would I do exactly? You're the one they should be scared of.”

“Aw, you're flattering me. But I'm sure that your eyebrows could scare them off pretty easily too.”

Derek could not keep on with the bantering Stiles was so keen of. He'd had enough of it for the past few days, thinking that maybe they would get along.

“What was that thing? You said changeling, but it can't be.”

“I know, changelings are supposed to be children. Someone is playing with dark magic.”

“Alexander?”

“I guess. That means we're close.”

“Shouldn't you know that already? With the compass.”

“It's not working anymore.”

Derek slowed his pace for a beat, Stiles had indeed stopped doing their ritual, he had instead marked him earlier without any explanation.

“But what you did with your blood and the ink...”, he could still feel a weird sensation, a thrum and it was not unpleasant but he didn't know what it meant.

“That... that was to... sooth your soul?”, Stiles stuttered a little, not really convincing. “Well, something like that. I mean...”, he stared at Derek's disbelieving face and sighed with frustration. “Your soul has been split in two, I could sense that the more you would go without your wolf side, the more you would go mad. Okay?”

“So what does that thing do ? I can feel a buzz.”

“It's like a band-aid.”

“And you had to use your blood?”

“It was either that or a blowtorch.”, Stiles answered too quickly. He hadn't meant to say that outloud, even with the poor lighting of the moonlight, Derek could see the way he instantly bit his lower lip with regret.

So Stiles' blood was like fire.

Derek was scared of fire, having his house almost burned to the ground did that to some people. Maybe the wolf inside him had felt threatened by it. Peter had made an allusion to it.

Stiles quickened his pace, distancing Derek easily.

“Anyway! We find Lexy and you won't have to worry about my doings anymore!”, he yelled over his shoulder without looking his way.

Derek didn't want that. He wanted to know Stiles, to finally appreciate him. But how could he say that when he had once again missed the occasion to apologize for his past behavior?

Even though he was finally on a bed and exhausted, Derek didn't sleep any better than he did in the car with Peter and Stiles. First, his feet hurt too much. Second, he kept thinking about Stiles. His powers were fire oriented but he didn't smell like it, if Derek remembered correctly, the boy had never smelled like anything in particular. But his skin was warmer than a wolf, its shade could turn red and his eyes could change in a color so bright it was like staring into the burning sun. But Derek was too tired to really try to make sense of it all.

More so that they were getting closer to Alexander and from what Stiles was saying, it meant that they would soon never see each other ever again. Having spent four days with the man, getting to know him and starting to understand what had set his instincts on edge made him want to take his time. It made him want to convince Stiles that he would behave, that they would be able to finally hang out.

Once everything was over, he would ask Stiles to forgive him, to give him another chance. He was ready to beg. Stiles was part of his mom's pack. It wasn't like it would be too hard to find him anyway, right?

When someone knocked on his door, Derek felt like he had just closed his eyes for a few seconds. But he could now see the sunlight piercing through the green curtains. His feet were still raw from the events of the night before and Derek hissed in pain when he moved from his bed to the door.

Stiles and Peter stared back at him, they seemed to have had a goodnight sleep.

“Being human doesn't really suit you, nephew.”

“Thanks.”, Derek deadpanned, his eyes almost completely shut due to the too harsh sunlight.

Stiles stayed quiet.

Derek turned around and fiddled to find a tee-shirt in his duffle, then socks.

“We'll wait in the car.”, Stiles finally said after a few moments and Derek saw him drag his uncle by the elbow.

Maybe begging would not be enough.

Five minutes later, he joined them in the car. For once Stiles was behind the wheel and Peter in the passenger seat, which meant Derek would be in the backseat again even though he still wasn't very used to it. But it probably also meant that the drive wouldn't be long.

“Stiles found him.”, is all Peter said before said guy started the car.

The silence that followed was deadly and awkward for Derek, he had a thousand questions. No music, no small talk, nothing. Derek was able to wait about ten minutes before asking his first question.

“What's the plan?”

For an instant, he thought no one would answer, but then Stiles' shoulders sagged and the man whispered. “I don't know.”, Peter didn't look surprised. “But it's okay to have no plan,”, Stiles continued. “Most of the time, they are useless. Nothing can be planned when we don't know where we're going or what we are up against exactly. So...”

“So we're fucked.”, Derek provided or Stiles would have kept on his bullshit. “This is a bad idea. We should give up.”

Let me die. What was the point anyway? He was a burden. He kept bringing trouble to his family, they'd be better off without him.

“No.”, Stiles and Peter said at the same time and his uncle finally turned Derek's way to show how serious he was about to be. “Don't you ever think that you're not worth a fight. And Lexy can't be powerful enough to beat Stiles anyway.”

“What if you get killed? What if I get killed and you've done all that for nothing?”

“No one is going to get killed on my watch!”, Stiles interjected. “Except that bitch.”, he added and then turned the music on.

Half a hour later, Stiles pulled on the brakes near an abandonned warehouse. Of course, so cliché.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

“How many heartbeats?”, Stiles asked Peter.

“Five.”

“He must have expanded his coven. I can feel a demon.”

“Wait. He has a coven?”, Derek almost cried, heart pounding in his chest.

“Yup. Got a call last night. My friend told me about Loreleï, his second and his creepy identical twins. I guess no one knows about his latest acquisition yet.”

“We're outnumbered.”, the younger Hale remarked as though it would change Stiles' mind.

“We? You're warming the bench, big guy. And it's only five people.”

“Including one demon.”

Stiles snorted. “If you insist, the demon will be the first to go. You're staying outside the building and you wait for my signal to either come inside or flee. Here, the car key.”

“What signal?”

They all stepped out of the car and Stiles gave him an eyeroll. Peter gave him a pat on the shoulder and both of them walked towards the warehouse as if it were a casual errand. Derek cursed under his breath and followed suit, but stopped at the entrance.

Then he was alone. Not being able to hear what was going on inside was killing him. So he tried to find a window or any kind of opening that would allow him to have a look inside. The building didn't really seem abandonned. It was deserted and quite old but nothing was falling apart. Almost all of the high windows were intact. Almost. If he could just find a way to climb to one of them then...

Just as he was about to complete his round around the warehouse, he heard a roar. One that was not coming from a wolf. A long, guttural howl that made the ground and the whole place shake. And his feet brought him immediately back to the entrance. He knew it was stupid to go through that door. If asked, he would say he thought that was the signal. Stiles and Peter were inside because of him, he had to be there.

Derek went through a hall entrance and found the group immediately after, in the main area of the warehouse, it was empty for the most part, there were a few shelves here and there. Alexander must have deemed them useless for a fight and asked his coven to push them in the back.

Stiles and Peter had their back on him and the coven was gathered in a semi-circle facing them. Alexander's grin widened at the sight of Derek and Stiles stepped to the left to block his view. The movement allowed him to see a woman with long braided red hair. Loreleï, she was too focused on Stiles to even care about his entrance. Derek got the same treatment from the two identical black men and the demon. He had never seen a demon before. The drawings in the books he had studied always seemed grotesque, emphasizing their features. But that thing was hideous. It had no skin, no eyelids, no lips, except for its too many sharp teeth and glowing red eyes, it looked like a decaying dead body.

“Don't make this more difficult than it has to be.”, Derek's eyes went back to the head of the clan, failing since Stiles was still in the way.“You felt it, didn't you? As soon as you entered.”

Peter tensed, “What is he talking about?”, he said in a low voice.

“If you think you found a way to control it, don't. You're just stupid.”

Realisation fell on Peter all of a sudden, his body went stiff.

All Derek could understand from their exchange though was that it had never been about his self. He was just bait to get to Stiles. Why though? Derek had never talked about Stiles, he didn't even know himself that Stiles had any magic in him. But more importantly, having Stiles to help him was unpredictable.

“If a 10 year old-”

“12,”, Stiles corrected.

“- was able to control it, I don't see how an experimented magic user wouldn't. Come on, Stiles, you're already dying.”

“No one can control it. I don't.”

Stiles was dying? That couldn't be true. Why was Stiles not denying it? Derek looked his uncle's way, the man was already gauging his reaction. Peter knew. Of course. Why was he even surprised anymore? He was the only one who wasn't in the know.

“I'm surprised you even know about me.”, Stiles remarked, his voice was muffled by the ringing in Derek's ears.

“Of course I know. Did you actually think a huntress would use the Wildfire on her own? Kate reached out to me to get rid of that pack.”, Alexander started to walk towards them, only two steps, and everything accelerated.

Stiles fell on his knees and his hands touched the floor for support, the concrete cracked in the direction on their opponents. It cracked and splitted enough to make them all stumble backwards. But Alex didn't wait to regain his balance and with a quick movement of the hand, he sent the two Hales flying against the wall on their right. They didn't get the time to do anything as Loreleï created roots to encircle their limbs and pin them to the wall.

“Why the rush? I have a few years left. What's your plan?”, Stiles said with a voice slightly too low to be his only.

“I've waited ten years. It took me quite some time to understand what had happened with Kate and why the Hales were still alive. They hid you. Not well enough. Then I had to lure you, you had to hear about me...”

Derek stopped listening. Huntress. Kate. Fire. Derek was now struggling to get a breath. He was beginning to understand. Kate had used something called the Wildfire ten years ago to burn his family but somehow Stiles had absorbed it. And it was killing him. Everything was his fault. He had dated Kate, he had opened his house to her. He had thought she had left him because he had lost his house and didn't want to have to confort a teenager. And he had been dating her accomplice. The one who had elaborated her plan.

“-rek. Calm down. Derek.”, Peter's voice was barely noticeable through his nephew erratic breathing.

His heart was pounding. He had never sweat so much in his life.

“Let the wolves leave.”, Stiles ordered, his whole body was shaking, his skin was crackled like the concrete underneath him, but inbetween the cracks fire was ready to be unleashed. He was crouching as if he were about to jump at the druid's throat like a wolf. “And why would I do that?” Loreleï said.

She stepped forward to be by her leader's side, daring Stiles to do something about it. And he did. The demon caught fire as suddenly as a spontaneous combustion. Its scream only lasted two seconds before a pile of ashes took its place.

The twins, who hadn't seemed really interested in the conflict, flinched away from the demon's ashes but when their eyes landed back on Stiles' crouched figure, they did not shine with fear or anger, but with amazement and envy.

Derek had wrongly thought Stiles would burn them all alive in one go. Why only the demon?

Stiles' whole body was shaking, liquid fire was bleeding through his skin and pooling around his self like a protective shield.

“See! Even a demon couldn't handle the heat!”, Stiles almost shouted.

“Then how did you-”

“I didn't! The fire chose me when I entered the house!”

“You sacrificed yourself.”, Loreleï murmured with astonishment, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

“For wolves.”, Xander added with a grimace. “Why would a child-”

“Because we were his family,”, Peter explained to Derek, over the druid's voice. “We took care of him when his mother died and his father was... grieving.”

Thankfully, the coven weren't interested in them. The fire that had destroyed the demon was now crawling towards their roots, eating at it slowly. If it was Stiles' doing, he didn't seem to have his focus on it.

“If you let the wolves go, I'll kill you quickly.”, the man offered.

The rest of the coven gathered around him, not caring about what he had just said. The twins even crouched on the floor about to touch to hot liquid, too pressed by their curiosity, but as one voice, Alexander and his second hissed at them.

“Egbo! Urhie!”

They immediately stood right back up like children getting scolded by their parents.

In the meantime the roots around Derek and his uncle were starting to crack and split. But the noises didn't alarm the ennemies. Peter could probably break them now and go help Stiles, but when Derek gave him a look suggesting just that, Peter shook his head in return as if that was the stupidest idea ever.

Their opponents were now all hovering over Stiles. Alexander was holding a golden cup and whispering but Stiles was just looking the Hales' way. Then it was the redhead who was holding the cup and Alexander a dagger. The twins, were holding hands, there were so still that Derek wondered if they were actually doing anything.

“Tell Stiles if you can feel your wolf.”, Peter whispered so softly Derek almost didn't catch it.

If the coven had heard him, all of them were too busy on their task to care. And Stiles was still looking their way. Derek couldn't find it in himself to care about his self. He had screwed everything up. He didn't deserve any more saving.

“Derek.”, Peter growled when he noticed his nephew was shaking his head.

“Derek!”, Stiles shouted then with frustration.

“The demon!”

It took only a second for Stiles to understand that it had been the one to have it, and another to feel the pendant buried under the pile of ashes. The whole coven was wearing one, but the demon's had Derek's missing piece of soul in it. Alex had most certainly traded it to get the demon's services. Stiles did something with his fingers, he drew a quick pattern with the liquid fire on the floor then slammed his hand on it. One of the twins tried to stop him but got splattered with it. He screamed in pain, turned to his twin for help and his face was already melting. The brother didn't know what to do, the screaming quickly stopped and the man collapsed in his arms. When the pendant exploded, Derek felt like he had been hit by a wall. He felt attacked by the smell of burning flesh and ashes, screams from the remaining twin, but before he could think and sort everything out, Peter was pushing him towards the exit.

“No! Stiles! We have to-”, Derek growled through his haze. “Stiles!”

When he looked Stiles' way, the man was laying on his back, his skin on the verge of melting, his eyes fixed on their retreating figures and tears in his eyes. The dagger was glowing, planted in his chest and Loreleï and Alexander were still chanting, louder than ever.

That image was the last thing he saw when his uncle closed the door leading to the hallway and the warehouse filled with an explosive gust of fire at the same second.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

The building did not collapse. When Derek woke up in the hallway, he immediately pulled the door, its hinges gave way and the door fell to the floor, nearly hitting the werewolves. Derek had expected bodies around Stiles' hunched form like before in the forest with the changeling. There wasn't. The room was empty of any kind of body. The windows had been blown away. The floor and the walls were cracked and covered with dark crop circles like those on Stiles' forearms. The air was thick with ashes and death.

“He's dead.”, Peter's voice was muffled by the ringing in Derek's ears.

Derek almost jumped out of his skin when his uncle put a hand on his shoulder. But he kept staring at the spot where Stiles had been just a minute ago.

'sallmyfault'sallmyfault'sallmyfault'sallmyfault'sallmyfault'sallmyfault'sallmyfault'sallmyfault

Peter had to fight him to drag him out of the building. Derek had shifted and wouldn't budge. But being out of control made it easier for Peter to find his weaknesses and get him out.

“Derek. Derek, we have to go.”

Derek could hear the tears in his uncle's voice, he could also hear the sirens coming their way. Their location wasn't as secluded as he had originally thought.

“I'm not going back.”, the werewolf heard himself say.

He wouldn't be able to face his family. He felt like a traitor. He had killed their precious boy. Twice. And this time he would not be protected from the truth. This time he would not be protected from his horrible decisions. A kid had sacrificed himself to save his family, controlled by a powerful force, shortening his life expectancy, all the while being threatened and mistreated by the one teenager who had screwed up. Stiles had been selfless all this time, making sure that Derek's family was safe, even Derek himself.

Peter grabbed his nephew by the arm, trying to get him inside the car, but Derek didn't comply. He took the car key from his front pocket of his jeans and handed it to him.

“Get inside the car, now.”, the older wolf said with anger but only sadness filled the air between them.

“Tell them I'm sorry for everything.”

“Tell them yourself.”

Maybe he was being selfish, but at that moment, he thought he was doing his family a favor.

The sirens were getting closer, searching the source of the explosion that had been heard, but with no smoke nor fire nor screams, maybe the police would not find the right location.

Peter stood still for two seconds then slammed the side of his fist against the side of their SUV, leaving a dent and gave up. He retrieved Derek's duffle bag out of the trunk and let it drop to the ground. Both men didn't say or do anything about the brown backpack that belonged to neither of them when Peter closed the trunk.

Once the older Hale was out of sight, Derek crumbled under the weight on his shoulders. He wasn't crying. He was too stunned to even blink. He didn't care if the police found him like this, near a building ready to collapse on itself. Maybe he should get back inside and wait.

The sirens seemed to be getting more distant though and the warehouse was no longer making any cracking noises. It was almost quiet except for some small animal, a rat maybe, rummaging somewhere, and a heartbeat. It took Derek about two seconds to realise the beating heart didn't belong to the rat, neither his own. He blinked and focused on that sound, he had goosebumps running all over his body as hope was invading him. He rose up from the ground so fast that he stumbled all the way to the entrance of the warehouse where he landed on his knees, his ears ringing as he opened the door. Inside there was a dark cloud made of ashes at the exact same place Derek had last seen Stiles. The heartbeat was louder, the smell of death and ashes thinner and the cloud got thicker as it was reshaping itself into a human form.

He progressed on all four, for an instant feeling like he had fully shifted or maybe on the verge to. It took a few moments for the wolf to tear his eyes away from the dark mass to notice the crop circles on the walls and the floor were gone and to deduce that the cloud was probably made of them.

The process must have lasted less than two minutes but for Derek, it felt like time had been stopped. Then, the haze disappeared to reveal Stiles' naked body laying in a fetal position on the concrete floor. His skin was pale, dotted with moles, human. A strangled cry came out of Derek's closed mouth and Stiles moved. He lifted his head up and his beautiful brown eyes met with the wolf's.

“Hey.”, Stiles croaked as if he was awakening from just a nap. “I guess it wasn't my time, yet.”, he added sitting up and stretching his arms.

When realisation finally hit Derek, he didn't say anything, he didn't try to touch the human, he tilted his head back and howled to call his uncle back. He had never howled like this before, he had never had the need, the urgence to. The young man beside him swore and covered his ears, then punched his shoulder once he was done.

“The fuck, dude!”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah, warn a guy next time!”

“I'm so sorry. For everything. It was all my fault.”, Stiles tried many times to interrupt Derek's apologies but he would speak louder, covering his voice. Now that he had finally said the words, he had to let everything out before it was too late again. “I killed you. You sacrificed yourself, you suffered and I attacked you over and over while all you did was protect my family and myself. I'm so sorry, you never should have to go through all this crazy shit. I even got you killed a second time, I'm so so-”

“STOP IT!”, Stiles had to shout. “Enough! That's exactly why I asked everyone to keep Kate and the wildfire secret from you! It wasn't your fault! She didn't really need you to get inside your house. She was a psycho and a pervert. And Alex could have used all kinds of means to trap me. I should have told your sister, hell, I should have told you myself what was going on with him. I should have told you at least parts of the truth so you would understand and know a little about me.”, Stiles paused to catch his breath and Derek heard their car coming back. “I just thought it wouldn't matter since I would die before I hit 25.”

Peter arrived midway Stiles' last sentence.

“Blaming one another will do us no good, but if you want culprits, they're all dead now. Now Stiles, cover yourself and come give me a hug.”

The younger Hale stayed quiet and looked his uncle's way. The man had clearly cried either on his way home or on his way back to them, or both, but now he had the most genuine and soft smile Derek had ever seen on him.

“I call backseat!”

Derek stared at the two men in front of him. Stiles was already getting in the car while his uncle was looking at him expectantly, daring him to stay back. But, come on, they would be better off without him, right? Why would Stiles being alive change anything?

“What's going on?”, Stiles sighed in the SUV after a few moments.

When no one answered he climbed out of the car. “Wait a minute,”, something seemed to click in his head, his hands pointed between the werewolves and the car. “You, you left.”, Stiles said gesturing Peter and the car. “So, why were you still here?”, he then asked Derek.

No answer, the human crossed his arms over his chest and waited. The younger Hale's eyes fell on his uncle again but the man was in the same posture. Being one against two made him feel ridiculous.

“I'm not going back.”, Derek said slowly but surely.

“You're going back.”, Stiles argued.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Peter rolled his eyes and walked toward the car during this stupid exchange, he leaned against it, leaving Stiles in charge of the negotiations.

Derek was about to talk but Stiles interrupted him instantly.

“You-”

“I'm not leaving you behind because you supposedly fuck up. Never. Now get in the car. Or I swear to god, I'm gonna punch you in the face.”

“Do it.”

“Oh yes, please.”, Peter whispered, crossing his fingers behind Stiles' back.

Stiles made two wide, determined steps, closing the distance between the two young men, Derek was ready to get hit. Stiles' heart quickened suddenly and frustration gave way to fear once they were close enough to touch. Derek bowed his head in shame for scaring the man. Stiles' feet bumped against his and then arms surrounded him. Derek froze and closed his eyes, on the verge of tears. Stiles' heat was now regular, lower than his own werewolf's body even, yet he felt warmer. At first, he didn't hug back, but when he did, Stiles shivered and pressed his body even closer. Derek's face ended up in the crook of the human's neck and he vaguely remembered the kid he had told Cora to befriend. A nice scent.

The werewolf was starting to relax when the human slowly pulled away from him, his nose brushing against Derek's unshaven jaw, Stiles was flushed and looking anywhere but the wolf's way.

“You stink.”

Indeed, Derek had sweat a lot. He thought the younger man would step away, farther from him, but his heartrate picked up again and suddenly their eyes were on the same level. Derek felt a shiver run all over his body. Adrenaline made him forget all about his doubts, guilt and insecurities and made him brave enough to kiss Stiles' plumped lips. He both hoped Stiles would kiss back and reject him. Being rejected would have made things easier, he would have stayed back.

Stiles' hands were on his face, his hair and his shoulders, keeping him in place. His mouth was hungry, kissing Derek's lips, nose, jaw, cheeks, even his eyebrows. The werewolf could only held on the human's t-shirt, completely lost to such display of affection. How could Stiles be so tender towards him after everything that had happened?

“Don't cry, puppy.”, Stiles whispered in between kisses when he caught a tear rolling down Derek's cheek with his lips.

Derek hugged him, almost squeezing too hard for the human to breathe. “I don't deserve it.”; he muttered.

Stiles made a sound between a sigh and a growl, and pushed Derek from him. “Sorry to break it to you like that but, I've been in love with you for years, so now I'm never letting you go.”, he said matter-of-factly, he then took Derek by the hand and pulled him towards the car where Peter was patiently waiting behind the wheel. “So if you think you need to be punished, that's your punition. You're stuck with me.”

Stiles gestured the door he had left open. “Now, I'll deserve a nap with my head resting on either your shoulder or your thigh, your choice.”

Even though the human seemed relaxed giving Derek orders, his heart was all over the place and his hand was sweaty and his eyes were begging Derek to comply. The wolf took a shaky breath and the scents of fear, love and frustration were all was needed to shatter the remains of his resolve.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Epilogue

Stiles felt like a curse had been broken. He was no longer burning, no longer dying. His body was his own, he was free, free to think about the future. The human would live. Relief had washed over their friends and family too, happiness filled them when he declared Derek and he were a couple. But also sadness when the werewolf told them he knew the whole truth.

After two months, everything seemed to settle. Derek was learning how to love himself and for once in his life, Stiles was making plans. Would he go to college? Would he finally become Laura's emissary? Was it too soon to look for an apartment to share with his favorite sourwolf? Probably when Stiles was still the one to initiate any of their interactions. Not that Derek lacked interest. Their make-out sessions were very steamy (they hadn't had sex yet but it was only because they wanted to take their time). The man just never dared to make the first move, still thinking he didn't deserve to be happy. It could be hard at times, but it was worth the effort. When the wolf forgot about his guilt, even for the tiniest moment, their time spent together was so much more intense.

“What are your plans?”

Stiles was in his father's living room, seated at the dining table and staring at his laptop with all kinds of document scattered around him, some of them had fallen on the carpeted floor. He looked at his father who had just gone back from a shift and had taken a seat opposite him. He hadn't noticed his return.

“Um... For the night?”, Stiles answered.

Noah gave a sigh and whispered his son's name.

They stared at each other for a few seconds without saying a word. Until Stiles caved.

“So many plans...”, he started but stalled.

The sheriff tilted his head to the side and waited for him to say more.

“I want a steady job. Maybe go back to college. I... I don't know.”

His father pointedly looked at all the pieces of paper between them and picked one randomly. It was a job offer from a library out of town.

“Okay, I know. You are supposed to be quiet and discreet in that kind of area but, I'm very knowledgeable.”

“You know a lot of random... stuff. Half of that is supernatural. I'm not saying you can't do it, in fact, I think you can do everything you put your mind to. You do absorb knowledge like no one.”

“Thanks.”, Stiles acquieced with relief.

But, the man of the law was not done and purposefully chose one particular sheet and raised an eyebrow. It was an add for a cannabis dispensary on sale.

“Okay... that one is because I thought I could buy something like that, a shop, not particularly this one but,”, Stiles was sweating now, great, “to sell drugs, medicinal herbs, I mean! Like um... have stuff for humans but also, in a secret, back area I could also have the supernatural... stuff.”

His dad chuckled, obviously messing with him. “Okay, this looks more like you. But do you have that kind of money?”

“Yup... I mean no, but I could call in a few favors. I do have like a quarter of the budget this would represent. But I know a lot of people that could either provide me with a shop or loan.”

Stiles knew the sheriff would have loved to get more details but had to refrain from asking since his son had a lot of secret connections from his supernatural activities.

“And what about the agency? Do they want you back?”, the man asked instead.

Stiles let his head dramatically fall in his hands and mumbled. “Stop calling them that... they are still mad about me going on a rampage and they having to clean up my mess.”, then he stopped hiding his face and decided to clean his actual mess a little while continuing their discussion. “I resigned but I told them they could still ask for my help if needed.”

“What about Derek? How is he?”

That question was probably the toughest to answer. When they had returned from their trip a month ago, Derek had expected Noah's wrath, he had craved for it. And of course, he had gotten none of that, Stiles' father had took him in his arms with tears in his eyes telling him how glad he was they were both okay. Since then, Derek had avoided him. Too ashamed to look the father in the eyes when he thought he only deserved to be punished.

“He's doing better... I guess. He's more willing to talk to the new psychiatrist.”

“But?”

“He doesn't trust himself. When he used to hate my guts before, now he seem to only trust me and my judgement. He doesn't want to make anymore decisions. So I'm scared to tell him about my plans because I know he'll just follow me with a blindfold.”

Stiles closed his laptop and put the stack of papers on top of it and sighed.

“Well, he still makes decisions though. He chooses to believe you. He chooses to avoid your father. He didn't like the first psychiatrist so he didn't talk to-”

“Well, that was Lydia. I originally thought it would be a good idea since she already knew a lot about me but-”

“She's your ex-girlfriend.”

“Yeah.”

“He's making small steps,”, the sheriff provided. “even if he follows you, it's not blindly. Maybe he's taking a break in his decision making but, he will come around... and I hope he will come tomorrow.”

Stiles got up from his chair and chuckled. “I'll find a way.”, he clutched his belongings close to his chest and went for his room upstairs. “Thanks, pops.”

Stiles gave a start when he opened his door and found Derek seated at the foot of his bed, staring back at him.

“Fuck!”, he exclaimed under his breath almost dropping what he was holding.

The werewolf stood up and took the laptop and pieces of paper anyway to put them away on the human's desk.

“How long have you been here?”

“You were telling your father about your resignation.”

“Okay...”, Stiles said slowly. He was a little confused by the werewolf's behavior. The man wouldn't show up unannounced. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to your dad but I chickened out.”

Small steps, small steps..., Stiles prinned inside.

“Do you want to train with me?”, the human offered.

“I don't know. Maybe I should try again tomorrow. But it's your birthday and it should be all about you... so I that's why I thought I should do it today. But when I got here, I thought I would have time to speak with you first, you know to calm myself before his arrival, but he was already here.”

Derek was probably spending too much time with Stiles if he was already rambling like him after one month.

Stiles was about to propose a solution to Derek but closed his mouth rapidly thinking that the werewolf should be making the decision for himself, except that the man was now looking at him expectantly.

“So... what do you want to do now? You're here, my dad's here, I'm here.”, he said tentatively trying not to lead him in any direction.

“I don't know, tell me.”, the werewolf said crossing his arms.

When crossing his arms used to be a not-so-disguised threat towards Stiles to tell him to fuck off, now it seemed to always mean that he wanted to be touched. And Stiles obliged every time. What else could he do? He had always had a crush on the man, even when said man hated his gut. He had understood, even four years ago, that it was the fire in him that always sent the wolf off.

“What do you want to tell my dad?”, Stiles asked once his werewolf was returning his embrace.

Derek remained quiet, inhaling Stiles' scent, kissing his ear, his hair, his neck... Stiles wanted to mirror him but knew better than to transform Derek's baby step toward his father into another make-out session. So he stroke his back and wait for the werewolf to sort out his emotions.

“I want to tell him... how grateful I am that he didn't shoot me, even after I begged him.”, he finally said.

“Well, as a Sheriff, whenever he uses a firearm, he has a lot of paperwork to do after and he's not a big fan of it.”

“I need serious Stiles back.”, Derek grumbled squeezing the human harder in retaliation.

“Sorry. Go on.”

“I also want to tell him how serious I am about you. And whatever your projects are for the future, of course I'll follow you, not as blindly as you think. I'll follow you to make sure we're both safe and happy,”, Stiles' heartbeat started to quicken, Derek's words started to sound like a proposal and that was a big decision - a very big step - it was getting very serious and Stiles really wanted to lighten the mood with some humor, he was biting his lips as to not say anything stupid, “because I trust you and I'm in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Stiles had to stay quiet and breath slowly now or he would start crying. A month ago, he was dying, he had no future. Now, he was no longer burning, he was melting.

Derek released slightly Stiles from his death grip and the human used the opportunity to launch himself at him and kiss him with passion. The older man enthousiastically kissed him back, hands flying everywhere, manoeuvering Stiles to his bed. When Stiles let himself fall on his back on the mattress, Derek was smiling with mischief and Stiles knew he had too much influence on this man.

“I hope your dad will have the same reaction.”

They both bursted out laughing at that, making all kind of faces and laughing even harder.

“Ew. My dad?”

“What? You can fuck Peter and my sisters and I can't kiss your dad?”, Derek added laughing still.

“What?”

It wasn't Stiles who spoke, they both turned towards the door to look at Noah who was standing in the doorway, his hand still on the doorknob. He must have heard the laughters and come check on his son.

Derek paled and then got red in the face almost all at once.

“It's an inside joke, dad!”, Stiles exclaimed pushing Derek gently aside to sit up on his bed while the werewolf was covering his face in shame. “I'll tell you later. Can Derek stay for dinner?”

“Oh, okay... of course Derek can stay...”, Stiles' dad said with a confused smile, “as long as he doesn't try to kiss me.”, he added after a bit, with a big smile addressed to Derek.

And Stiles was doubled up with laughter so hard he almost fell off his bed, while the werewolf was crouched on the floor still covering his burning face.

THE END :)