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Stiles was having a peaceful night. He had the house all to himself because his dad was out on a night shift. That also meant he didn’t have to worry about healthy food for his father but could finally just enjoy some amazing take out: the cheesiest pizza ever with some chicken wings and some curly fries on the side.
Okay, he may have gone just a little bit overboard with the amount of fastfood, but in his defense, he hadn’t had any in ages. His dad had been around for dinner a lot lately, which Stiles couldn’t exactly complain about. Because that meant that for the last month he’d actually been able to regularly spend time with his dad instead of hoping to just catch a quick glimpse of him in the morning after his dad got off his late shift and just before Stiles had to go to school. So hell no, Stiles wasn’t going to complain about getting his first serving of pizza, wings and curly fries in a month.
In the end there was a lot of pizza left over, mainly because Stiles got too consumed by his video game to waste time on such trivial and boring things like actually shoving food in his mouth instead of keeping his fingers on the controls. Sacrifices had to be made if he wanted to improve his score. So, yes, because of the game being too interesting, Stiles was left with an almost completed game and half a leftover pizza at 3 am.
Despite knowing full well that his dad would find – and devour – the pizza first tomorrow, stiles left it on the kitchen counter. His dad had been good about following his diet (Stiles had checked with the deputies who were burdened with the task of keeping an eye on his dad) the sheriff deserved a treat.
After all, it couldn’t be too much fun to let your 18-year-old son control your eating habits. But well, there was no way the sheriff didn’t hear all the ridiculous PSAs about cholesterol levels and the risk of they were for senior citizens. And if his dad had heard them and didn’t see the error of his ways or worse, didn’t care enough to properly take care of himself, then Stiles would just have to stand up and volunteer for the job. Because he didn’t see anyone else do it.
It must have been about 3:45 am when the call came in and woke Stiles up. He’d only fallen asleep 20 minutes before that, but a call at such a late hour couldn’t really mean anything good, so the fear quickly shook him out of any traces of sleep that could still be remaining in his brain. The fact that it was an unknown caller ID didn’t help him be any less scared of the reason of this phonecall.
Stiles’ voice was surprisingly not sleepy when he answered the phone “Hello, Stiles speaking,” he said as he sat up straight in his bed.
“Hey, Stiles, it’s Melissa. I don’t want you to freak out okay,” no, no, no.
That’s the absolute worst thing you could possibly say to a person when you’ve just called them in the middle of the fucking night. Sure don’t freak out was enough to make anyone freak out in the bright light of day, but when it’s said by a nurse of the local hospital who’s just called you in the dead of night, that’s the worst. It’s enough to send a chill down your spine, make your palms sweat in fear and make your heart stop for just a second or two. Because guess what? Those words make you freak the fuck out!
“Your dad’s been shot, but he’s okay. The bullet made a clear trajectory through his arm without hitting anything vital. We gave him some anesthetics because we didn’t know how bad it was when he came in. So he’s asleep but he’s going to be just fine.” Fuck. Fuck no. Stiles’ breathing was becoming more labored with each slowly passing second and no, no, no! That is so not what he needs right now!
He needs to fucking breathe and go to his dad. He can’t afford to sit here and have a fucking panic attack! That’s not something that’s supposed to happen when your dad gets shot. Okay, well, it’s probably one of the more logical moments to get a panic attack, but definitely not a practical one!
“Stiles, I need you to bre-“
“I’m Fine. I’m fine. I’m on my way, Melissa.” He said as he rushed to put on some pants while still holding the phone.
“No, Stiles, you shouldn’t be driving like this. I’m sending Scott over to give you a ride.”
He grabbed his car keys and stormed out the door. “Already on my way!” and he hang up.
Stiles didn’t bother about speedlimits or any kind of traffic rules really. He was just about able to stop in front of a red light, but that was it. As long as he didn’t put other people in dangers and he got their faster, what was the harm? And it’s not that there were a lot of other people around at 4 am. Stiles was about halfway there when a sound not unlike a gunshot came from the front of his car. It shocked him so much he was barely able to keep the car on the road. When smoke started coming from underneath the hood, he knew it was time to call it quits though.
When he pulled over and tried to find out what the problem was he couldn’t even see anything but the dark smoke. Great. His dad was shot, and he was never going to get to the hospital. Stiles was stranded on the side of the road while his dad was injured and hopefully recovering in the hospital. The one freaking time his father needed him and Stiles wasn’t there.
He took his frustration out on a rock laying by the side of the road. Quite a heavy rock and he kind of regretted kicking it that hard. Definitely when it “Oh shit…,” almost “thank God.” Hit a very expensive looking car.
A very expensive looking car with a window down.
No. Stiles, even for you that would be a low. Nope, not going to do it. He’s not going to steal a car. No sir. Even though his dad was the sheriff, especially because his dad was the sheriff. He should be acting like an upstanding citizen and an upstanding citizen would not steal a car. Except for when that upstanding citizen really needed that car because of some kind of emergency, then maybe that upstanding citizen wouldn’t necessarily steal the car but… borrow the vehicle. Yep, that was totally within the realms of possibility for an upstanding citizen.
If there was such a thing as an upstanding citizen who had perfect knowledge of how to steal a car without setting any alarms of.
Luckily Stiles was able to find just what he needed in the back of his jeep. Okay, so maybe he was just really prepared for the zombie apocalypse and with such a crappy jeep – sorry, Roscoe – he couldn’t leave out a kit with all the necessities to steal another car. Hey, he never claimed to actually be an upstanding citizen, he said he should be one. Big difference!
Yes, he could’ve just called Scott, but it would have taken him at least 15 minutes to wake the guy up and then it would have taken Scott at least another 20 minutes to get to where Stiles was right now and then another 20 minutes to get to the hospital. While Stiles knew for a fact that he could break into this car and get it started in under 5 minutes. He’d practiced on his dad’s patrol car a lot. It may be a strange hobby, but see, it was totally coming in handy now. He couldn’t wait to brag about this to his dad. … okay maybe he should refrain from telling his dad, he really didn’t need to worry about having to put his own son in jail, he should just be worrying about healing.
In the meantime Stiles had managed to get into the car and he was just about to take apart the dashboard and force a kickstart with the cables when he noticed the keys were still in the ignition. Why would anyone do that? Who leaves such a nice car behind with the windows rolled down, the keys in the ignition. That’s just asking for it. Stiles huffed and didn’t feel all that bad about the whole ordeal anymore. Because this was just all kinds of stupid.
He pulled out of the parkinglane and started heading to the hospital with his new fancy ride and no one else on the road to bother him about it. It was perfect. Except maybe for the guy sitting in the backseat, he looked kind of scary.
Fuck. Stiles did a quick double take in his rearview mirror and yep, there was definitely a possible serial killer sitting in the backseat of the car he just stole. Of fucking course, if Stiles was going to steal a car it would be the car of a serial killer. That’s why he never bought a dog, trusting his luck, the thing would turn out to be a werewolf or something equally crazy.
“So erm… this isn’t what it looks like?” Stiles tried as he did his best to drive even faster. Hell no, he was not going to pull over. Serial killer or not, he was going to get to his dad.
“You’re stealing my car.” Oh wow… his eyebrow game was strong.
“Borrowing actually. I don’t think it can be considered stealing if I’m not actually taking it away from the owner. You have a great car by the way, dude, really smooth ride.”
“Pull over.” The guy wasn’t really moving much, he looked still kind of sleepy and Stiles hadn’t seen a gun or a knife yet.
Stiles tried to swallow the nervous lump in his throat. “Yeah about that… that’s not going to happen for about another 15 minutes give or take a few.”
“If you’re not going to pull over right now, I’m calling the police.” Yep, still no gun or knife, there was the light of a cellphone screen though.
“Oh thank god, so you’re not a serial killer. I mean, serial killers wouldn’t call the police, right? Right?” The guy didn’t answer, but he did start dialing a number on his phone. “Okay, dude, please don’t call the police. I’m really, really sorry for stealing your car, but mine broke down an-“
“How about you call a tow-truck then? Or call a friend?” yep, yeah, he really should’ve called Scott.
“Dude-“
“And stop calling me dude. Pull over, right now.” Oh fuck… this wasn’t good. This guy was going to call the cops and Stiles was going to end up in jail and his dad would be all alone and he just fucking needed to get to his dad.
Great, now his breathing was getting all screwed up again.
“I just… my dad… dude you don’t understand…” Now that apparently did get a reaction from the guy in the back.
“Hey, breathe, or you’re going to get us both killed.”
“You’d think if it… was that easy… to just… breathe… then maybe… I would.” Okay, so Melissa was right, he really was in no condition to drive. If he didn’t get the panic attack under control than his vision would blur and… nope, not okay, definitely not okay.
“Pull over. I won’t call the cops. Pull over and let me drive.” Stiles really couldn’t pay attention to all those stupid requests right now. He didn’t have enough oxygen to keep up a conversation, how did that guy not get it?
Still, he tried to protest because this guy really just didn’t understand. “No! No I need… my dad… he’s-“
“I will get you to your dad. But you’re not going to get anywhere alive if you keep driving. I will give you a ride, wherever you need to be.” Ohw… well… that was a good option.
Stiles stepped on the breaks way too suddenly and without even checking if there was any traffic behind him. Luckily for him it was 4 in the morning. While the guy got out and opened the door on Stiles’ side, Stiles crawled over to the passenger seat. He was so not going to risk this guy leaving him behind in the middle of fucking nowhere.
“Where is your dad? Give me an address.”
“The hospital. Beacon Hills General.” As the guy took off in the right direction, Stiles focused on his breathing again.
“You okay?” Stiles swore that this dude’s facial expression was 90 percent eyebrow game.
“Do I look okay? I stole… a freaking… car.”
“I take it you don’t normally spend your nights committing crime.” The sarcasm was so unexpected that Stiles huffed out a laugh. Which funnily enough helped him with the whole breathing thing.
“No. My dad would kill me, he’s the sheriff.” As always that statement came with more than a little bit of pride from Stiles. Hell yes his dad was the sheriff, and he was good at his job too, no matter what anyone said. That was Stiles’ freaking dad going out every day fighting bad guys.
“He… he got shot, and my car broke down and I didn’t know what to do. If I’d called Scott it would’ve taken me at least another 45 minutes to get to him and your car was right there and the windows were open and I just.. I just had to get to my dad. I’m sor… no, I’m not sorry. I’m really not fucking sorry that I stole your car because-“
“It’s fine. I’d probably do the same.” So he was a very nice possible serial killer. “If I knew how to steal a car. How did you do it anyway?”
“Well your window was open, so all I really had to do was reach inside and pull up the thingy to unlock the door. Otherwise I’d have had to go in with my lock-out tool kit. And you made the hard part really easy by leaving your keys in the ignition.” Stiles accompanied that last part with an accusing glare.
“Hey, I was still in the car!”
“And that totally stopped me from stealing it. Right.”
“You can’t steal it if you’re not taking it away from the owner.” The guy grumbled.
“Correct. Which is why you’re definitely not going to press charges, right?”
“If I was planning on doing that, I wouldn’t be giving you a ride in the meantime.”
“Good, in that case, nice to meet you. I’m Stiles, thanks for the ride.” He could already see the hospital, so it was about time he thanked the poor sucker who’d been woken up by a hyperventilating carjacker.
“Derek,” he said curtly before his eyebrows knitted together in something that looked a lot like worry. “Is anyone in there for you besides your dad?”
“No, well… Melissa’s there but she’s on her night shift.” Stiles eyed Derek wearily. “Why?”
“Mind if I come in with you? I wouldn’t say no to a cup of coffee even if it’s the crappy hospital stuff.” Oh my god. Scary-looking dude totally wanted to look out for Stiles.
“No, I don’t think I’d mind that.”
Stiles didn’t regret that decision at all. His dad was still sleeping off the anesthesia and he knew waiting alone would have killed him. Even if Derek wasn’t the most talkative person, him just being there was oddly calming… oddly because he really didn’t know the guy at all. But the light did help, because the guy definitely didn’t look that scary anymore. Not scary at all actually. Handsome though, he was very very handsome. The gruff beard really worked on him, and his arms were… freaking massive. And nope, Stiles wouldn’t mind taking a nap on that chest. Stiles wouldn’t mind at all.
“Hey, why were you sleeping in your car anyway?” Stiles finally broke the silence when they’d both settled down with a cup of horrible coffee and each a packet of M&Ms from the vending machine.
“I just moved here the bathroom wasn’t finished yet, when they tried to put in the toilet they busted a pipe, flooded the whole apartment. It should be fixed by tomorrow night and I just didn’t want to spend the night in some filthy motel.” Derek shrugged.
“Fair enough. You moved into that new building on the corner of 8th and Carpenter?” Derek nodded. “Fancy. Why’d you move to Beacon Hills?”
“Do you always ask this many questions?”
“Son of the sheriff, dude, investigating and questioning is kind of my thing.”
Derek huffed. “Sorry I keep forgetting that, I think it was the whole carjacking thing that’s kind of screwing the whole “Sheriff’s kid” thing up in my head.”
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“Well you haven’t actually tried to make it up to me, have you? Didn’t even offer to buy me a cup of coffee.” Stiles cringed, okay that was bad.
“Sorry, man, do you want some coffee?” Derek just gave him a deadpan stare.
“Oh yes please, I always like to hold two cups of coffee at once to keep my balance.” Stiles couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You know, I never thought I’d meet someone with the same level of sarcasm as me. Okay, so having determined that I’m a massively inconsiderate jerk, and please keep that in mind while you carefully choose your answer to my next question. How about I buy you dinner to make up for the fact that I… borrowed your car?”
Stiles started fidgeting nervously as Derek seemed to give it some thought, but in the end he responded with a question instead of an actual answer. “So would that just be a “sorry I stole your car”-dinner or would it be a “let’s get to know each other”-dinner?” Oh… oh
“Well, if it was up to me I’d make it a “thanks for letting me borrow your car, now let’s get to know each other better while my dad’s not sleeping in the next room because I’m hoping this dinner doesn’t stay PG-rated”-dinner. But that’s just me of course… so, would you be up for that kind of dinner?”
Derek smirked. God damn it, that was too pretty. “Sounds good.”
“Oh you can’t be serious…” Of fucking course his dad would decide to walk out of his room right no-…
“Dad! Oh my god! Get back in that bed! You shouldn’t be walking! Fuck I’m so glad you’re okay.” Stiles rushed it all out as he stood up and ever so carefully hugged his father.
“I’m fine, son. Just a flesh wound. So, care to introduce me?”
Derek stood up and held out his hand for the sheriff to shake. “Hello sir, I’m Derek Hale. Good to see you’re doing okay.”
“So how did you two meet?” John eyed Derek wearily.
“Well… that’s kind of a funny story, dad…”