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Stiles had no idea how he'd come to associate Derek with Lady Gaga. He had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with having the new album on repeat while he studied werewolf business. Whatever, now whenever he heard Lady Gaga's 'Hair', his first thought was Derek Hale.
The song was totally inappropriate, as far as he knew. He was pretty sure Derek's parents hadn't punished him with haircuts, and Derek's ambition was probably not to live as free as his hair, judging by the amount of gel he put on it (and yes, Stiles got that it was a metaphor, but this was Derek Hale!).
The one similarity might have been that he wanted to be loved for who he was, but then Derek didn't really seem to want to be loved. He didn't seem to give a shit what anyone thought about him, not even his pack. Isaac liked him well enough, as far as Stiles could tell, but after Isaac's dad, anyone would be a step up.
The idea of Derek made him chuckle whenever he heard the song, mostly because he loved the thought of Derek with red highlights and had a lovely time picturing what the red highlights would look like in the Alpha form.
He didn't hear the song that often once the novelty of the new album wore off, so he didn't realise that this train of thought meant that he was just occasionally thinking about Derek with something approaching affection. Not often, but clearly just enough. He had noticed Scott giving him some funny looks, and he'd also noticed that both Isaac and Derek seemed to be being a bit…well, Isaac seemed to be nicer occasionally and Derek kept…staring at him. Not the same sort of death-glare that Stiles was used to receiving, but a more contemplative expression, with a fair side order of puzzled. Stiles took to giving him detailed updates about everywhere he'd been during the day in the hope that that would stop the staring, but it didn't seem to work – if anything, Derek seemed to stare more.
Everything suddenly became clear when he was driving Derek back to his apartment after a truly disastrous encounter with a ghoul. Derek sat slumped in the passenger seat, eyes closed, and Stiles flipped on the radio because he just couldn't handle the thought of sitting in silence for another four blocks. He didn't recognise the first song, but the second song that played was 'Hair.' Stiles felt himself smile involuntarily, a huge grin of amusement and affection, and because he was right there, he turned and directed the full force of that smile at Derek.
"Pull over," Derek said in a low voice.
"You can't be going to barf, you're already healed!" said Stiles.
"I said, pull over," Derek growled, and Stiles pulled over to the side of the road with a scowl. He was expecting Derek to reach for the door handle. He absolutely was not expecting Derek to reach out towards him, fist one hand in his shirt and draw him in for an absolutely amazing kiss. The angle wasn't the greatest at first, but when Stiles managed to take his hands off the wheel and get them on Derek, things improved considerably. Derek's hands were hot against his skin and Stiles slid one hand up to tangle in Derek's hair.
Both of them were breathing heavily when they finally pulled apart.
"Woah, what brought that on?" Stiles asked, because he could never miss the opportunity to put his foot in his mouth. "Not that I'm not completely on board with doing that again, perhaps somewhere slightly more comfortable," he backpedalled hastily. "Just…" he waved a hand vaguely between them.
"You smelt good," Derek said, after a moment. Stiles raised an eyebrow and Derek winced. "You smelt all…and then you smiled at me," he said. "Obviously I was going to kiss you!"
"Oh my god!" Stiles said, beginning to laugh. "Derek, I was thinking about you singing that stupid song!"
Derek stared at him blankly, waiting for him to stop laughing.
"You are totally ridiculous," he said, when Stiles showed no signs of stopping soon. "That song is now banned."
"If it'll get me more kissing, I can live with that," Stiles said, so that was the first and last time he listened to that song with Derek in the room. (He listened to it occasionally when Derek wasn't there, but Derek pretended not to know.)