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“Come on wake up goddamn it!”
Stiles shakes Derek’s unconscious body again, desperately trying to rouse a reaction from him. The flickering lights cast a pale green hue around him, and all he can hear are the sounds of his ragged breath, unnaturally loud in the silent air.
The hospital is wrecked- papers and clipboards and blankets are scattered all around, empty beds discarded along the edges of the hallway. It’s as if a hurricane had torn through, leaving only destruction in its wake. It’s an accurate metaphor for the last 24 hours of his life at least.
Stiles flicks his eyes to the edge of the hallway- they need to get out of here soon, before the cops arrive. Looking back at Derek in the elevator, he raises his arm, gives him a silent apology, and then brings his hand down hard and fast.
Slap. The sound echoes along the walls.
Still nothing.
Slap.
Stiles winces as Derek’s head lolls to the side.
Slap.
Stiles pours all his frustration, his anger at Scott, at Derek, at Jennifer, at the alpha pack, into his slap. All he’s ever done is try and help his friends, and yet all they do is turn their backs on him and leave him and his dad in danger.
He raises his hand, curls it into a fist and brings it down again.
Bam. Only this time, he’s stopped.
Derek catches his hand, only inches from his face and stares up at Stiles in surprise. His eyes dart around before focusing back on Stiles’ fist, and then Stiles himself.
“Where is she?” Derek croaks out.
Of course his first thought would be about her. Jennifer , he thinks with distaste. Not him, not Scott, not even Cora or Isaac. Jennifer.
Something wells up inside him. It’s been building for a while; the last 24 hours may have been a hurricane, but the storm's been brewing since summer.
“Where is she?” Stiles fumes. “She’s gone, and with Scott’s mom too. Not that you would care about that though, would you?”
Derek furrows his eyebrows, but Stiles ploughs on, his voice rising with every word.
“No, because even though we’ve been running around all year trying to clean up your mess with the Alpha Pack- all of which could have been avoided if you’d just told us about them during summer, rather than waiting for months until they actually showed up- you don’t give a shit about us, do you?”
“I—“
“All this time you’ve been fooling around with Jennifer, removed from the world in your stupid loft, and we’ve been out here, getting thrown about at every turn. I haven’t slept properly in weeks, Allison and Isaac are barely holding on, and now Scott’s gone and lost it and has abandoned us for Deucalion! My dad’s being held hostage by that nutjob you were so enamoured with, and now Scott’s mom is gone too! And what have you been doing all this time huh? Absolutely nothing while everyone around you has to suffer !”
Derek is caught off guard as Stiles raises his hand and slaps him hard again. Now fully conscious, he feels the full brute of it, but also of Stiles’ words.
“And after that fight with the alpha pack in the mall, we thought you were dead! We spent hours searching for you, and then hours after that trying to come to grips with the possibility that you might be dead ! And it turns out you were perfectly fine- but did you bother letting us know? No! Instead you crawled back to that evil sacrifice-crazed monster and left us to deal with the fallout!”
“Stiles-“ Derek tries again.
But Stiles carries on, voice cutting through the empty hospital. One hand is still in a fist by Derek’s side, supporting his weight as he leans over Derek, whilst the other is digging into Derek’s shoulder, gripping him with as much force as the venom in his tone.
“I bet it’s because you thought we don’t care about you. Funnily enough, we do, okay? So get that through your head- you are no longer alone. You have us. You have me! But the funny thing about having friends, about having people who are by your side, is that it’s supposed to be a two-way street. Not even in that you have to care about us, though that would be nice, but that you have to care that we care. And that means telling us when you’re alive and okay, not leaving us alone to deal with your death!
“Do you know how hard that day was for me, huh? Someone, who I thought I would trust with my life, was dead , and I had to go on that stupid cross country meet and pretend that everything was okay, pretend that I didn’t feel hollow and numb and lost on the inside. To find out later that you were fine seemed like a pretty big betrayal to me!
“And then that night I almost lost Scott. Yeah, that’s right, I bet you didn’t even know. He tried to take his own life and I had to talk him down. I remember thinking, what will I have left if he goes through with it? My best friend- my brother gone, and you, someone I’ve grown to really care about, gone. It’d be just my dad left.”
Stiles is trembling as he stares down at Derek. Only now is everything beginning to catch up to him, the gravity of it all really beginning to hit him. His dad, Scott’s mom, even Scott could be dead in less than 24 hours if they don’t do something.
“It’s getting really hard to care though when you keep leaving everyone around me to get hurt. Because you clearly don’t care!”
“Stiles! ” Derek shouts.
Stiles closes his mouth in surprise as he takes in Derek. He’s staring back at him with such intensity in his eyes. Stiles can’t quite read Derek’s expression; there’s a mix of shock and pain, but also of longing and wonder. Their gazes are locked, and everything seems to just… stop… for a moment.
“Stiles,” Derek says again, much quieter. His hand has come to curl around Stiles’ bicep and the other is hovering by Stiles’ collar.
Then, he swiftly hooks his fingers into Stiles’ shirt and pulls him down. Stiles loses his balance from where he was leaning over Derek and falls against Derek.
He’s not quite sure what’s happening because suddenly he’s lying on top of Derek and Derek is kissing him fiercely.
And Stiles kisses him back.
It’s rough and raw, full of unspoken words and unaddressed feelings, of past emotions and missed opportunities.
It’s angry and Stiles presses Derek down into the floor, and perhaps bites a little too hard.
It’s broken as Derek lies there and lets him.
It’s over all too soon as Stiles draws back, breathing heavily as he meets Derek’s eyes.
“Stiles, I care about you.” Derek’s voice is coarse, catching on the words.
Stiles is at a loss on how to respond.
Derek swallows at Stiles’ silence. ‘Come on, we need to go,’ he says, voice gruff, breaking eye contact and flicking his eyes away. He pushes Stiles up lightly, who pulls himself off Derek.
Getting up off the ground, Derek rolls his shoulders and cracks his neck, wincing at the stiffness.
“Let’s go. Where’s everyone else? Allison, Isaac, Cora?” Derek’s voice is stoic.
Stiles hurries to follow. He barely registers Derek’s question.
What the hell just happened?
~~~~~~~~
Stiles grimaces as he gingerly shoulders open his bedroom door. He’s just gotten home from the hospital- he’s a bit bruised and banged up after the car crash, but nothing too serious. Considering what could have happened, he’s prepared to deal with a bit of pain for the new few weeks. Because they’d made it. All of them. Scott was a true alpha, his dad, Scott’s mom and Allison’s dad were fine, Jennifer was dead and Deucalion had fled.
For now, he just wants to sleep. He feels he could probably sleep for a week at this point. His dad has gone out to get some food, but won’t disrupt Stiles if he’s asleep.
Only when Stiles turns on the light, he sees someone sitting in the chair next to his bed.
“Derek.”
Stiles sighs and closes the door. Derek rises and Stiles makes his way over to him.
“I-“ he starts. He swallows and looks down at the floor before looking back up at Stiles. “We should talk. About the other night.”
“Can it wait? I’m sort of really tired.”
Derek looks down again. “I-sorry, I’ll just go.” He makes to turn around, but Stiles reaches out and grabs his arm, pulling him back.
He sighs. “You’re right, we should.”
There’s a beat of silence.
“Did you mean it?”
Derek nods. “I do care. I…more than just care. And kissing you was the only way I thought I could show you and get you to believe me.”
Stiles takes a step closer. “Well, as I think I made clear, I care about you, a lot. And I’m sorry for lashing out at you, but I was angry and scared and I just couldn’t bear the thought of losing anyone else.
“When I saw you lying on that elevator floor, all alone, not moving, I was terrified. Terrified of what might have happened to you, worried that this might be the time you didn’t wake up. I wasn’t ready for that, wasn’t ready to say goodbye, because I hadn’t said yet what I wanted to say.
“You’ve crept your way into my life, and I hope you’re here to stay, because I’d really like you to.” Stiles glances away nervously. “But I need to know that it wasn’t a heat of the moment thing.”
“It wasn’t.”
Derek steps impossibly closer.
“Good,” whispers Stiles.
He tilts his head up slightly as Derek leans in, capturing him in a kiss.
Whereas their last kiss was biting and desperate, this is softer, gentler. Stiles' hands tangle in Derek’s hair and Derek holds onto Stiles’ hips, keeping him close.
It’s tender and soothing and, for the first time in a long while Stiles feels safe. Pulling back, he rests his head on Derek’s shoulder and lets Derek hold him tight in the embrace, simply breathing in the scent of Derek.
After a while, he steps back and grasps Derek’s hand. Stiles tugs them back wordlessly towards his bed, pulling them under the covers.
Derek curls protectively around Stiles, wrapping an arm around his middle and intertwining his hand with Stiles’.
Stiles’ eyes finally drift close. They’ve been fighting battles for months but now it’s finally over. Everyone’s still alive and he’s got his dad, Scott and Melissa, and now he’s got Derek.