#and fourth of all because i have to make everything about sterek

[zsphoenix]

It's been forever and 1 times since I last wrote fanfiction. Here is a little bit of a come back. Hopefully I can make this in 3 parts.

Sterek, university professor/student Au!

Part one

-

The first time that they saw each other, they were crossing a bridge going on opposite ways. Their eyes met, they recognized each other; Derek waved his hand while talking to a colleague that walked along beside him, Stiles smiled and said "Hey, professor!".

That was the first time they saw each other in person, though. They met a year and a half before, during class.

It was 2020, Stiles was starting his second year as a Master student. He had chosen professor Hale's class because he was interested in folklore and magic, and the professor specialized in urban myths.

Due to the pandemic, all classes were online, so Stiles was following more lectures than recommended -but oh, how he was happy to do so! So much content! Knowledge for ages!

He opened the zoom app and prepared for the class. Slowly but surely he and his colleagues started to be accepted into the conference room, where the professor's camera was turned to the side and Stiles could only see half his arm, with sound off. As soon as everyone was connected, prof. Hale appeared on screen, turned on the audio and smiled.

Stiles' brain stopped working.

He blinked a couple of times, watching one of the most gorgeous people he's ever seen -including Lydia AND Jackson- speak about the semester ahead. Those green eyes were hypnotic, and better yet, he could listen to the man speak forever -he had such a nice voice... but quick enough he got his head back into the game and started taking notes about the class. He was considering asking professor Hale to be his Thesis Advisor, therefore he had to do his best and Be Present in class. And maybe impress him a little on the way wouldn't hurt.

-

The semester passed fast, but time seemed to stop during Magic and Floklore classes. Stiles got the attention of professor Hale, as he wanted, by making controversial remarks that made the professor reflect and exchange ideas with the students. After the fourth class, professor Hale started to invite Stiles to reflect upon the lecture's topic of the day, and they often exchanged smiles. Once or twice they even joked around in front of the other students, for prof.Hale's late mortification.

-

Derek liked Mr. Stilinski.

He liked how he held himself -very confident even when his point of view was a questionable one, and he was amenable to discussing different perspectives. It was important for someone that studied mythology to have an open mind.

He enjoyed their exchanges in class, mostly because so many students were quiet and teaching through zoom was depressing. He missed being in the classroom, full of new blood.

It didn't hurt that Mr. Stilinski was handsome to top off his brain. He had luminous eyes and a mouth that had been plaguing Derek's dreams for almost a month. His salvation was near, though, because soon exams would come and go -hopefully Stiles would take them on the first round- and then he wouldn't have to worry or avoid (very, very hard) fantasizing about him.

-

As predicted, exams happened.

Stiles studied a lot. He was confident that while professor Hale liked him, he wouldn't make it any easier for him.

And he was right.

Professor Hale gave him a 9.5/10. Probably because Stiles didn't mention the article professor Hale had written.

Oh well, it's not a bad grade! Now all Stiles has to do is prepare his research topic for next month.

-

"Hello, Mr. Stilinski, tell me everything", Derek said to the student on the other side of the zoom call. The young man gave him a small smile and moved on his chair.

"So, I was wondering what do you think of rural legends and their influence in urban myths as a research topic. Is it feasible?"

Derek touched his beard, thinking.

"Well it depend on which legends you want to use. You'd have to chose samples in order to be able to compare them, the way you speak about it is a bit broad".

Stiles kept moving in his chair, side to side, biting his lips. He nodded.

"Cool, I'll find a few samples".

They stared at each other for a moment. Derek had a suspicion of why this was coming up.

"Is that all?" Is not that Derek wanted to be rude. He just likes to be direct. Besides, those lips were A Problem for him. At the hair? It looks like someone passed their fingers through them and tugged. Did Mr. Stilinski got out of bed directly to the call?

"Eeh, I was wondering if you'd like to be my thesis advisor?"

There it is.

Fuck.

Think, Hale, think!

Derek breathed deeply.

"I could be, if you think your topic will be this one". He shrugged, pretending to be nonchalant. He wouldn't abandon a student just because he wanted to taste his lips, fingers on his hair.

"Yes, I'm sure. I have been handling legends in urban areas all my life, coming from Beacon Hills and-"

Beacon Hills? What a coincidence....

He must never know.

#sterek #sterek fic #derek hale #stiles stilinski #part one

[152glasslippers]

just had the most awful thought that. what if when derek was turned into his 16yo self and then turned back into his 23(?)yo self he got back memories about his family he'd lost since the fire. like. he'd forgotten how his dad had handed him his lunch that morning and kissed his cheek and messed up his gelled hair. the sound of his little brother's laugh when their mom groomed him in her full shift. how his youngest cousin's first word was 'der'. the way cora followed their older brother around demanding he read her favorite book over and over because he was the only one who could do the voices right. how her twin brother was never far behind. his mom seeing all the kids off in the morning waiting by the front door and scenting them as they passed. every friday his aunt picked them all up from school and took them out for ice cream. or that one time peter signed him out of school early for no reason other than a day trip to the beach. how his younger cousin always hid laura's butterfly clips and snuck them into his pockets so she'd blame him. or the way his dad's hugs felt. the way his youngest sister lit up whenever she saw him. how his grandma always had room in her rocking chair for him and stroked his hair as she taught him a different language. how his grandpa hummed old rock songs in the kitchen. the way his uncle made midnight snacks with him while everyone else was asleep. he'd remembered all the large pack gatherings and holidays and full moon runs but forgotten the little things over time. memories he wants to share with peter who shuts down every time he tries. memories that cora herself doesn't remember. memories he takes when he visits laura's grave, sharing them with his older sister, who will listen but never reply or jump in and finish them, filling in the blanks. memories he tells malia, letting her know family she never knew but lost all the same. memories he hoards to himself when no one can remember with him.

brb sobbing all of this is canon now

#first of all you are such a beautiful writer #so creative and imaginative #second of all #i'm not kidding this is canon now i fully believe this happened #third of all #choosing to believe the peter picking derek up from school and taking him to the beach #is inspired by ian bohen and tyler hoechlin's real life shenanigans #and fourth of all because i have to make everything about sterek #one day derek tells stiles the truth about that day #and stiles takes it in silently #replaying that day in his head #and everything that happened that day seems so different with this new information #when he finally speaks all he says is #do you want to tell me about them someday? #and after he does stiles remembers with him #also while we're talking about young derek #can we just take a minute to appreciate the actor who played him #and how he manged to recreated every single one of tyler hoechlin's mannerisms as derek PERFECTLY #right down to the exact same eyebrow arch #anyway #please enjoy this essay in the tags #i love when you dump hale family feels in my inbox #also i'm sorry i didn't respond last night #i was listening to (wasted) on the moon and soaked on repeat and dancing around my room under my twinkle lights #derek hale #teen wolf #agentmmayy #asks

[thehollowprince]

Queerbaiting vs. Fan Service

For whatever reason, I decided to take a stroll through The Falcon and The Winter Soldier tags after the second episode, and I was slightly distressed (and mostly annoyed) with how many people were labeling the interactions between Sam and Bucky as queerbaiting. You can imagine my confusion.

Now, as a gay man, nothing would please me more to see a relationship between two men in a big budget action franchise, even if it is just the MCU. Ignoring the reality that this is Disney and that they'll probably never have a gay or bisexual main character in anything, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is not the place to draw that line in the sand.

I've been on this app for about eight years now, and I can't tell you the number of times I've seen people make and reblog posts about the desire to see more men be friends with one another, to not fall victim to the toxic masculinity. How many times have you opened opened this app and seen posts about "let men cry" or "let men be intimate with each other without making it weird"? And yet, every time, almost as if on a timer, the moment two guys (either in a show or actual people) look at each other for longer than .05 seconds, a ship is born.

Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with shipping. Especially when you factor in the fact that same sex romances are severely lacking in modern media. I myself am attracted to the idea of SamBucky, because they have foundation there that if the producers decided, could be used to build a relationship off of. I did the same with Steve and Bucky in the MCU. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with shipping, but some people take it too far. In this instance, I've been seeing too many people claim "queerbaiting" because Sam rescued Bucky from falling to his death under a moving truck or because of the therapy scene where they had to face each other and get real close.

That is not queerbaiting.

For starters, it's been two episodes. The show isn't even halfway over. Not that I expect Disney to actually do something like that, but it's precisely this need to jump the gun and declare something that makes the problem worse within the fandom. And more to the point, I'm not entirely sure many of you know what the term queerbaiting actually means.

Queerbaiting is when a show or movie or whatever, sets up a relationship between two people of the same sex, has everything point in the direction of them becoming a romantic pairing, only to, at the last second, have one or both of them enter into a heterosexual relationship or be killed off.

A great example of this, and the first that pops into my mind, is The Magicians, specifically Queliot. Now, anyone who followed me, especially when the show as airing, knows I'm not the biggest fan of that ship, but in the fourth season of the show, they spent a great deal of time setting up Quentin and Eliot finding their way to each other, only for the production to kill off Quentin in the finale of the season. One could even argue that having Quentin chose Alice for a reconciliatory relationship after they did everything to set up Quentin and Eliot is another form of queerbaiting, eschewing the same-sex romance in favor of a heterosexual one.

Now, circling back to The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, what we have here is not a case of queerbaiting. Production of the show, and the MCU in general, more than likely scour Twitter and Instagram and whatever else and see the fandom reaction to certain ships/pairings, and specifically make scenes or scenarios where those two characters have to interact. That is called fan service, an entirely different animal.

A great example of fan service would be Teen Wolf. As anyone who has been following me knows, I've been talking about this topic a lot recently, thanks to one particularly persistent anon. If you've ever interacted with the Teen Wolf fandom, you know that the big ship that dominated it was Sterek, despite it being something that wasn't based at all in canon. Jeff Davis, after seeing how fans reacted to the few interactions of Derek and Stiles in season one, gave the fandom a more in season two, such as the pool scene, or when they were both paralyzed by Kanima venom in the sheriff's station, the dream sequence at the end of season three, or the ride to Mexico in season four. Hell, even the comedic sequence in the final season of Stiles "rescuing" Derek from the FBI to make it back to Beacon Hills for the final showdown was fan service. What it wasn't, was queerbaiting, because Sterek wasn't something that the show set up. It was something that the fandom set up, which more power to them, but with that being established, people still got mad because the show didn't go the way they (the fandom) decided it should have gone.

This same thing happened with Stucky. The idea of Bucky and Steve was appealing. If either one of them had been a woman in the MCU then their relationship would have very easily been interpreted in canon as romantic, but as it stands, that's not the case. They were just two very close friends.

Brining it back to my original point, we have Sambucky, and no matter how much fandom kicks and screams and demands, it won't happen in the show. It's alright to ship them, because I do see the appeal, but at the end of the day, too many people are getting upset about something that fandom made up and that canon doesn't deliver on, despite the two being unaffiliated. You want to ship Sam and Bucky, I fully support you in that endeavor. I myself like the idea of it, and often tag posts as such, but calling it queerbaiting in an attempt to shame people for not supporting it is misleading.

Bottom line: queerbaiting is a very specific thing and there are actual shows out there that are perpetrators of it. Please try and actually understand what queerbaiting is before you simply throw the term out at every inconvenience.

#queerbaiting #fan service #sambucky #tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier

[themoonslore]

Arranged Marriage Teen Wolf Fan Fic Rec Part 3

The wrong Hale by dexterous_stinstrous 

Word Count: 77577 Chapters 7/7 Steter and Sterek

“I apologize,” Stiles started.

“You apologize often,” Derek commented.

“It's expected,” Stiles explained. “But I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I haven't seen … I haven't seen much in life.” His heart was beating fast with excitement.

“And you're here to see much?” Derek softly asked, curious why such a perfect creature would be hiding away when a ball carried on elsewhere.

“I'm here to meet someone,” Stiles replied.

In which, Stiles and Derek find themselves in a star-crossed predicament.

The Pack Comes First by Rebk1tten

Word Count: 39796 Chapter 15/15 Steter

The Hale Pack and the McCall Pack have bordering territories and both can benefit from being affiliated with each other. And the surest way to do that is for a mating between a member of each pack.

Of Political arrangement and romantic gifts by areiton

Word Count: 25589 Chapter 15/15 Sterek

The wedding of Governor Derek Hale to the beloved Prince Stiles Stilinski of Beacon is the first of its kind, after the war. The first Alpha werewolf to marry one of the recently deposed aristocracy. It’s for the good of their people. It’s an arrangement, one Stiles loathes. But as Stiles learns more about werewolves and his grumpy husband. As Derek watches his proud, clumsy prince-- Maybe an arrangement isn’t all it can be. Maybe what’s good for the people can be exactly what both of them need.

With the Ring by snarkasaurs

Word Count: 7578 Chapter 1/1 Sterek

Stiles always knew he was going to wind up married and mated to the Hale Alpha. There was a legal contract and everything. He just didn't plan on it being Derek Hale, or for it to feel like this.

Jus Primae Noctis by xcaellachx

Word Count: 10489 Chapter 1/1 Steo and Sterek

This medieval ritual meant a lord or high ranking officer could take a virgin on his/her wedding night, take his/her virginity and then give them back in the morning.

Derek, the Wolf Prince, shows up at Stiles’ wedding with a plan.

lights gone low by d1sclosure

Word Count: 4938 Chapter 1/1 steter

Liam plants a hand on his shoulder, pulling him up short. “Scott,” he says earnestly. “I am telling you this because I care. And also because you’re my Alpha, so. Respectfully. You need to think long and hard about how you want Stiles to react and how he is actually going to react. I mean, seriously. You’ve pretty much just sold our Emissary off to a guy you’ve never even spoken to, to solve a beef we have with a pack Stiles has literally never met. If I were him. . .” he trails off, shaking his head. “Well. You should probably renew your health plan, is all I’m saying, ‘coz damn is he going to make you hurt.”

The fourth Prince of the first realm by rebak1tten

Word Count: 18748 Chapter 1/1 Steter

“My god, Peter, only you!” Derek whispers. “You didn’t rescue just any old fairie, you rescued their Queen!”

“Am I supposed to apologize? I didn’t ask for credentials before I helped her, you know,” he hisses back. “See, this is what happens when you do something nice, it just bites you on the ass.”

** Peter rescues the fairie queen and as a reward, he's told he'll marry her son. It's not an option.

part 1   part 2   part 3   part 4

#teen wolf #teen wolf au #sterek #steter #arranged marriage #teen wolf fic rec #AMTW #fic rec

[parkkrys]

Marry me, I'm serious

A Sterek tumblr prompt requested by @borkistumblin sorry it is so late! Life has been crazy heh. Hope you all enjoy

Also read on A03 here

-------------------------------------------------------

Stiles would like to say he had a lot of patience. Sure, there are a couple times he was impatient, but when it came to Derek he would wait forever for the man. But the man could be so damn oblivious it hurt him painfully sometimes. 

Derek for the longest time had said he didn’t deserve love, and Stiles had laughed and said you watch me and had slowly pieced Derek back together so he knew damn well he was loved. Their relationship wasn't as fast and furious as others thought it was. It was more gentle, slow and stupidly sweet. 

It was perfect. So utterly perfect and Stiles could talk about how amazing Derek was, not only in his looks, but in his personality, how soft the man really is. It doesn’t hurt that Derek was beautiful every time he blushed. 

Which is why he wanted to make the man his in marriage. But proposing was harder than he expected. 

The first attempt, he took him to the preserve. Derek adored the preserve, it was his home and Stiles thought it was the perfect place to pop the question. Everything had gone perfectly, Derek was smiling, they had hiked and he let Derek show him his favourite places. 

“This place will forever be my home Stiles, and I want to make more good memories then bad,” Derek was saying as he stared over at the pond and Stiles had known, this, this was the perfect time. 

Stiles grinned as he had gotten done on one knee, his hand slipping into his pocket to grab the ring box that had been hiding there for the past few weeks, his speech on the tip of his tongue when Derek turned around and frowned. 

“What are you doing down there?” 

Stiles grinned, “Well-” 

“If this is another grab a stick and make a dog joke I will throw you into the pond.” 

“What?” Stiles spluttered as he blinked, alright so maybe he had made that joke here or there but not that often. 

“Come on, I want to take you somewhere else, get off the ground,” Derek huffed as he took his hand and heaved him up and Stiles stumbled. 

Well, that didn’t work. By the end of the day he had tried another two times, both being a bust and he was not in a great mood when Derek smiled at him as they drove home. But that smile, he couldn’t stay mad at him after that smile. 

He smiled back and figured, another day he would try again. 

The second time, or was it the fourth at this point? He wasn’t sure but it didn’t work any better. He had woken up before Derek, which didn’t happen often. His wolf always woke up early, either for work, to exercise or because he was a morning person while Stiles was not. It didn’t happen often. 

But when it did, Stiles could watch him for hours. Derek looked so soft like this, peaceful. If Stiles could draw, he would draw him like this but he couldn’t draw to save his life so instead he settled with studying him as much as he could to memorize his features. 

Derek was always tense, had his guard up so to see it down like this was breathtaking. Stiles could never take advantage of this, he would never hurt his wolf like so many others have before. If he could kill them all he would. And wasn’t that a thought? Many would be horrified with themselves, but Stiles had time to accept his darker side. 

The nogitsune had only brought it out and made it more likely for him to act on it when he got mad, whenever someone tried to hurt his family. Scott had looked at him horrified but Derek only settled him and accepted him through and through. He didn’t look at Stiles like he was a monster and Stiles had fallen even more in love with him then. 

He moved a hand to gently run a hand over Dere;s cheek, smiling at the little sigh that escaped his wolf before Derek was blinking his eyes awake. 

“And you call me a stalker for watching you sleep,” Derek grumbled and Stiles shivered at the roughness of his voice. 

“I think I get it now.” 

Derek only hummed as he moved his body closer, burying his face deeper into his pillow before he cracked one eye open to look up at him. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Stiles whispered and Derek only rolled his eyes before he buried his face into his pillow, “Hey now, don’t hide on me.” 

“Stiles stop it.”

“Never,” He chuckled as he managed to get Derek to reveal himself before he stole a morning kiss. 

“Morning,” Derek rumbled and Stiles hummed. 

“Marry me?” 

Derek only rolled his eyes at him while Stiles froze; that was not meant to slip out. 

“Only if you have a ring,” Derek teased before he rolled out of bed, giving him a wink before he was out of the room and Stiles just blinked. 

“Wait,” Stiles said quietly before he rolled over, opening his nightstand. But in his haste, he had fallen off the bed and Stiles landed on the floor with an oof. 

“Stiles, get off the floor.” 

“But-” 

“No buts, come on up and at them,” Derek teased before he was once again, out of the bedroom and Stiles groaned as he flopped back onto the ground. God dammit. 

Now this time, this time couldn’t go wrong! After countless fails, after countless times that Derek just looked at him fondly before he walked away, Stiles was a hundred and ten percent confident that this one was going to work. 

Derek had been stressed, the pack had him running around non stop, the people in Beacon Hills asking for his help and Stiles wanted to do something special for him. HIs plan was to make a nice dinner, one of Derek’s favourites of course, and a snuggle in a bathtub full of hot water. 

He could totally throw in a proposal in there somewhere. 

He smiled as he pulled out the roast from the oven, humming to the soft music he was playing to fill the silence as he checked on the potatoes. Everything was going perfectly and he couldn't be happier, everything was going to plan. 

“Stiles! I’m home!” 

“Hey, how was work?” Stiles asked as soon as he ran out of the kitchen, watching as Derek kicked off his shoes with a sigh. 

“Busy, I just want to sleep for three days and never leave our bed.” 

Stiles hummed as he helped Derek take off his coat, wrapping his arms around him to hold his wolf close and Derek only melted, “I made dinner, figured we could eat then maybe a hot bath before bed?” 

“Sounds good love,” Derek smiled and Stiles couldn’t help but to steal a kiss before he ushered him into a chair before he was off in the kitchen again. He was quick to have dinner on the table and soon enough Derek was ranting about his day while Stiles frowned. How could people be so mean to his wolf? He shall never know. 

“They are still giving you trouble?” 

“Of course they are,” Derek sighed, “They still think I am a criminal.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Derek whispered before he took his hand into his own, “The last few years were wild but we got through them.” 

“And now its peace and quiet,” Stiles teased and Derek smirked. 

“Well, not here at least.” 

“Don’t start something you can’t finish mister, now eat,” Stiles laughed and Derek only beamed. 

It was so noticeable the difference between Derek years ago compared to who he is now. He was softer, more open. He actually smiled. God Stiles loved him. 

“So, I wanted to ask you something and-” 

Stiles never got to finish his question as Derek’s phone rang loudly, demanding attention and Derek only gave him an apologetic look before he left to the kitchen to answer it. Okay, it could wait, Stiles supposed as he huffed angrily. 

It was only a few minutes before Derek came back, his mood even darker than before and Stiles frowned. 

“Sorry about that, what did you want to ask?” 

Was this even a great time to ask now? Stiles hesitated but Derek raised a brow and Stiles panicked. 

“Marry me?” 

Derek only stared at him before he huffed, “Very funny Stiles. I know I haven't been the greatest to be around lately but thanks for the attempt at a joke really, I appreciate it.” 

“But-” 

“You know what I want? A hot bath with you. Come on, you promised one.” 

Stiles sighed as he nodded, okay, looked like this one was a bust as well, he was not going to lose it. 

After a few more failed attempts Stiles was tired. So, if he can’t be blunt without Derek realizing that yes, he was trying to freaking propose than fine. He shall just leave it on the kitchen table for the wolf to find. Stiles sighed as he flopped into the kitchen chair, resting his arms on the table as he stared at the ring box that has been haunting him for the past three months. 

The ring was simple, a silver band with the triskelion carved onto it. He knew Derek never wanted anything fancy, it could catch the eye of the next monster of the week so he had settled on something that was simple but still had that touch to it. Stiles was actually really proud of it. 

Now if only he could get it on Derek’s finger. 

That had been his struggle. He only perked up when he heard Derek pad out of their bedroom, the nerves getting the better of him as he started to fidget. Derek only stopped and took one look at him before he looked around. 

“Everything okay?” 

“Yep, all is good,” Stiles squeaked and Derek only gave him a confused look before he walked towards him only to stop, his eyes locked on the box that sat in front of him. 

“I’ve been trying to propose for the last couple of months and well, they didn’t work so I figured-” 

“Wait, all those times you have asked me to marry you?” Derek asked in a small voice and Stiles nodded.

“Yeah, was actually serious.” 

“Oh Stiles, I-” 

“None of that hey now,” Stiles said as he got up quickly, “Not your fault wolf.” 

“But-” 

“No buts!” Stiles reassured as Derek only stared at the box again before he sighed. 

“Ask me?” 

Stiles only grinned before he grabbed the box, flipping it open as he held it out. 

“Derek Hale, my grump sourwolf, the one who stole my heart, the-” 

“Yes.” 

“I wasn’t finished!” Stiles accused and Derek only laughed

“Marry me?” 

Derek only kissed him softly, wrapping an arm around him before they broke apart. 

“Yes.” 

Stiles beamed as he softly and carefully took the ring out of the box, bringing Derek’s hand as he gently slid the ring onto his ring finger. 

“You’re stuck with me now, no take backs Derek. I’m serious.” 

Derek only laughed loudly and Stiles grinned. This man was going to be his and god damn Stiles never thought this would happen. 

#sterek #teen wolf #derek x stiles #parkkrys writes #marriage proposal #stiles stilinski #derek hale #fluff #all the fluff

[satashiiwrites]

Make a list of your favorite ships with your favorite tropes for them.

Tagged by the lovely @radio-chatter​—thanks for the tag!

1.  MReyder (Mass Effect Andromeda) is going to forever be my favorite ship of all time and the one i go down with until somehow BioWare retcons everything in some horrible way (please don’t take that as a challenge). I think the fact that we just get the barest of bare outlines of Reyes and Scott is my preferred Ryder sibling to play as… yeah.  None of the other ships compare.  I’m not big on having Scott date within his team and Reyes just has so much potential.  He’s a character that lives in the shadows and has unclear canon goals. So yeah… of course i’m going to write a 600k and counting fic about them (An Andromeda Tale). If i had to pick a favorite type of thing it’s probably some of the quieter moments between them. I kinda see them as not being showy about who they are to each other in public due to their respective political affiliations/positions. Another thing I really adore in fics is when Reyes goes absolutely feral because someone did something to Scott—either because of his relationship with Reyes or just because he’s the pathfinder…. I’m not picky here.  I mostly don’t read a ton of other writers fics nowadays but if i’m daydreaming of fic ideas it’s 90% of the time about these two. 

2.  Buddie (911) is the other ship that’s been preoccupying too much brain space as of late.  Like what seems the majority of tumblr, I too have become a regular watcher of this little wee-woo show about first responders and Evan Buckley and Edmundo Diaz are my preferred couple (non-canon).  If i got pushed for canon couple i suppose it would be Bathena but really i’m just a sucker for Buddie family stuff and don’t go looking for anything else.  Or NavySeal!Buck fics hence Family, Familia, ‘Ohana.  I’m blissfully about half a season behind on this show and my brain likes to be stuck back on either their first meeting in 2x01 or the tsunami and it’s aftermath. Someday i might move on to more recent events but there’s just so much to explore….

I also seem to have a thing for shower sex scenes… see Exposure Therapy or the Kiss Cam series.

Comfort fic recs: Leading with the Left by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels; Those Two Firefighters by Dark Fairytale; Leave the Light On (I’ll be Coming Home) by HMS Lusitania

3.  McDanno (Hawaii 5-0).  *sigh*. Why couldn’t they have been canon?  I’m going to pretend like the majority of like the last three seasons doesn’t exist okay?  The carguments.  The saying ‘i love you’ casually.  The calling each other pet names. The freakin’ cuddling on the couch together. The way that Danny likes to sit on the counter and talk to Steve.  The heart-to-heart discussions on the beach… the way they met and Danny got Steve’s respect by punching him…    That being said i still think my favorite episode is the one where Steve sneaks onboard the Missouri (I think it was the Missouri) and the old vet asks him if he’s talking to his wife (IIRC this is like the third or fourth episode…) and he’s just talking to Danny.  Some of my favorite comfort read fics that I still circle back to are about these two impossible idiots. I also adore them in crossovers with Buddie. 

Comfort reads: Signal Fire by Kaliadawn; War Dogs by Cattraine; Love’s a Battlefield (and the Navy Didn’t Train Steve for this Shit) by Cyerus  

4.  Sterek (Teen Wolf).  I mean… who doesn’t have their vampire or werewolf phase?  I’ve had both.  When it comes to TW there’s a lot out there but the only thing that I really look for is Sterek when i’m in the mood.  I’m also not a huge fan of Scott in general.  I could potentially go for more peter/Chris/sheriff stuff but there’s not much out there. My ideal Sterek fic is usually either an AU or set in the future where Stiles and Derek are older and finally get together after everything they’ve been through.  I also prefer Alpha!derek and Emissary!stiles in general with a side of not Scott friendly because woof dude… you’re a terrible best friend. Oh—another side couple there’s not enough of would be Dackson (Jackson/Danny) and I’m not opposed to Marrish in general either. But Sterek for life *waves flag*

5.  Bradnate (Generation Kill, HBO war).  Mostly because Stark Sands and Alexander Skarsgard just know how to stare at each other in the most intense marine way. My favorite fic out there is the one where Brad visits Nate in graduate school and Nate’s entire study group thinks they’re together when they’re not.  Cue the whole fic being where Nate finally figures out Brad’s okay with being more than just friends (Tiptoe Through Our Shiny City by Dira Sudis).  It’s just perfect okay??  Also there’s not enough fic out there. 

I have a bunch of other fleeting attractions in other fandoms but these would be the ones that i read the most of.  Other vague trips i’ve taken in the past include Mark Watney/Chris Beck from the Martian, Bagginshield, Stony, Ironhawk, ineffable husbands, Nathan Stark/Jack Carter from Eureka, anything from White Collar, Brian O’Conner/Carter Verone from the FF series, Brian/Dom, 00q, then there’s that whole Suits thing I had for Marvey that didn’t last…yeah.  Everyone has there random asides. 

Tagging whoever would like to play along… 

#tagged #replies

[lifebeginsbyleaving]

Everything but the kitchen table

The Hale house holds so much pain from the past for Derek, but it also holds so much potential for the future. Is he willing to let go of the charred remains in order to open the door and see it rebuilt? And what if all that pain and guilt is the only thing keeping him from the one thing he always gets lead back to. Is he really ashes in the ground or will Stiles be able to show him that he's a phoenix only in need of a spark?

This is part two to Totem poleing through the woods 101. This is also for sterek week 2019 the prompt movie night, but it kinda got away from me.

Derek heard something faintly coming down the driveway, so he turned his blaring music down. He was surprised to hear the old jeep rattling quite close to the house. Stiles was on bed rest for at least another week. The pack had been taking turns keeping him occupied during the days, and everyone found out quickly, operation 'keep Stiles off his sprained ankle' was no fun. Issac still will not speak of the day he ran out of adderall because he forgot to call the pharmacy. It was only two before the sheriff could run them his back up he kept at his office, but Isaac still gets a look of horror if you say 'I'm bored'.

It wasn't Derek's turn for a couple more days and Stiles wasn't supposed to be driving.

Derek quickly took off his dust mask, goggles, and dropped his sledgehammer while he heard squeaky breaks and gravel flying.

Derek took the steps two at a time, but by the time he opened the door Stiles was already out of his jeep and leaning against it.

"Oh haei erig. Ow es et oing?"

"What are you doing here? What have I said? Wait for help stupid!"

Stiles glared, and considering he was carrying a giant bag, filled with curly fries and burgers by stuffing it in his mouth, it lost some of its intended harshness. "Ood. I ough fouud."

Derek took the slightly slobbery bag of food out of Stiles' mouth.

"Ahh thanks man." Stiles, with one hand, kept stuffing things into a duffel bag that some how exploded mid drive, the other he used to keep his nonexistent balance.

"I'm not sure if whatever you just tried to pass off as words were words, but if they were, was it the answer to my question?"

Stiles stilled his shoving. "Derek it is too early in the morning for you to be confusing me like that. That was too many Ws for eight in the morning on a Saturday."

Derek rubbed his face in annoyance. "Stiles. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" He gestured wildly except for 'you' he pointed at Stiles and for 'here' he pointed at the ground.

"And like I said before, Rude! I brought food." Stiles resumed his one handed shoving.

"Okay so you came over here to bring food, for yourself, to eat in front of me?"

Stiles looked offended. "I, unlike you! Have manners. I brought your favorite."

Derek rolled his eyes. "That is from a burger place on the edge of town. We've never been there together, and the teens that work there get cranky when you order more than seven burgers, so we don't do it for pack night. You don't know my favorite."

"Double cheese burger, no pickles, no mustard, extra onions, and ranch to dip it in. You heathen. Large vanilla shake with a medium regular fry. Bitch."

Derek looked stunned. "How do you possibly know that? We've neve-"

"I'm magic."

Derek gave him the 'oh yeah and I'm the king of leather jackets' eyebrows.

Looking back he didn't know why he named them that, he is the king of leather jackets. Hot damn.

"Erica mentioned it once. The no pickles thing really makes her distrust you, me, I'm more concerned about the ranch thing." Stiles finally finished packing and put the bag over his shoulder. He tried reaching his crutch in the back, but it had shifted in the drive. He couldn't quite reach it. Derek opened the back door and as Stiles' fingertips barely grazed it Derek pulled it out and brought it up to him.

"I had it. But thank you."

He propped himself up with the crutch, then he started looking for his phone which disappeared.

"Alright. Okay, off track. Why did you come to eat here? Why did you leave? You aren't supposed to be driving. I told you if you needed anything to text! I would've brought you food. Wait who was with you today?!"

"Here's the thing, I know your order and you don't know mine. Because you're a selfish prick that doesn't care about me." Stiles stuck out his bottom lip.

"Oh shut up Mr. Two large curly fries, diet coke, and bacon cheese burger! And I don't need you here if you'r- wait... Uggh, Stiles! You did that on purpose. You're trying to distract me, or trick me. You tried to make me angry on purpose!"

Stiles looked back up at him from where he was bent over to look under the seat. "Making the other angry is a defining characteristic of our relationship." He turned back. "And I don't see wh-"

"I want to know who you conned to get here, and I want it to be the next thing out of your mouth."

Derek could smell that Stiles was uncomfortable before he sighed and began speaking. "It was supposed to be my dad, but his days off don't always go as planned. Since he could be called in, Scott was on standby. So my dad Facebook messaged him, don't even ask why he won't text, and Scott still has all of his passwords as Allison soooo..." Stiles had been searching for an obviously not under that seat phone, conveniently crouched in a place Derek couldn't see his face.

"You logged on, pretended to be him, and deleted the messages to play Bueller. That still doesn't explain why you're here, this isn't the sears tower."

"Actually the dad not texting story is pretty funn-"

"Stiles!"

He leaned up quickly. "Fine! Okay. I just couldn't handle being in that house anymore it was driving me crazy. And I know they were only trying to help, but the pack babysitting me got on my nerves. I have a sprain, I didn't loose the bottom half of my body. And you're the only one that doesn't make me feel like I'm broken. I mean, you worry more than my father does, but you still let me do what I can without letting me do what I can't. Or letting me convince you I can actually do it."

Stiles scratched the back of his head. "And I knew you would start here today, so I wanted to be here. For you. You shouldn't be alone for this. So I came to listen, or to talk. Whatever you need. Whatever you want. If you want. I mean you might not want me to, but too bad. I'm here now. And I brought movies."

Derek took a deep breath. "Okay. Fine."

Derek paused in a defeated silence.

"Is that why there's a blow up mattress strapped to your roof?"

"I figured you still wouldn't have power yet, and I didn't think you would let me use the generator for it." He would have.

"Right. Do I even want to know how you got that up there?"

"No, not really."

"Okay. Inside."

Three mission impossibles later, Derek knew why it took Stiles so long to repack it, and why it looked so full. His old living room, and the air mattress that occupied it, was covered with stuff. There was candy all over, half eaten bags of chips scattered, and cords running from a battery bank to his computer and phone. Not to mention the surplus of blankets, sleeping bags, and quilts he must've mugged an old lady for that wrapped him in multiple layers like a mummy.

It was starting to get late and he was sweaty and dirty from the dust and work of knocking down the ruined walls of the left side of the house.

This was only the beginning of a long process, but Derek did feel like it was starting to heal him. The first few days after they got back from the woods that night, Derek watched over him and took the pain Stiles insisted was nothing. Even though he knew Stiles was joking when he said it was Derek's fault, he still knew Stiles wouldn't have been out there if it wasn't for him. He went out there for him to make sure he was okay, so the least Derek could do was stay with him to do the same. To keep him occupied they talked a lot, and Stiles kept bringing up the old Hale house and before the fourth day Derek had a contractor scheduled to come look at it by the next Thursday. Stiles had said something that had stuck with him and he couldn't sleep without it nagging him so much he had eventually called. The next day Stiles handed him papers on where to rent equipment and an industrial sized dumpster without Derek even saying anything and his words rang in his head once again.

'It's only closure if you're really closing something off. I don't think you ever really had closure with that house, because that book hasn't ended yet. Maybe the chapter did, but I don't think you're ready for it to be the end of the Hales. Are you ready to close that book when Cora or your pack could help you carry it on? They could be your future. Hell even Peter could. Derek, do you really want that to be where your story ends, or are you just too scared that looking at the next page is going to hurt knowing what isn't going to be written there. Who won't be there. Maybe you have to let go of them to hold on to who you have, and even what you could have. If you want it."

Stiles was right. He had been holding onto burning corpses for so long he forgot how to hold anything else. His hands were either too sensitive from the healing that it hurt him to hold on, or he chased people away with the callouses of scarred, harsh skin.

Stiles understood him in a way only his family ever had. Derek forgot what it like to trust someone to have your back and be able to take care of themselves before Stiles kept getting thrown in his path.

There was a small nagging part of him that thought maybe that made Stiles his, that maybe he had been resisting all this time for nothing. If he was being honest he had thought Stiles had been his the moment he jumped in that pool, but he needed to be sure.

Stiles was right he wanted to rebuild his future, he'd yearned for it for a long time, but he had to make sure it was the right one and that he had the right people. He had thought he was building something with people that only ever tore him down, so he was cautious. Maybe slightly over cautious, but the pack, his pack was involved.

He wouldn't trust the wrong person twice. Stiles wouldn't hurt him, but his past was like an old wound pulling his shoulder tight as his arms tried to reach out. It felt like a warning, reminder, and punishment all at the same time. Even as he tried to push the paranoia down he had to be sure. He wouldn't let silence fall on his pack again, even if he'd never been more sure of anything.

"Are you seriously starting the fourth one? Turn that off. I'm going to drive you home."

Stiles' eyes blinked rapidly to adjust from the computer screen to the dark. "Derek. Whoa! When did it get so dark?"

"It's like eight thirty. Get ready."

Stiles took a moment to focus. "No. I told dad I was staying at Scott's overnight, because it's too much moving to do just for a day. Plus he knows our gaming nights are always overnighters and most likely the whole weekend."

"Alright fine. You can come to the loft." Derek started gathering the duffel bag back together.

"No. I want to stay here."

"Stiles I'm not letting you stay here. It's cold, unprotected, and you're hurt."

"Well too bad it's not up to you. A shame really." He smoothed the blankets out on top of himself to prove his point, the little shit.

"I'm not letting you stay in this house yet. It's a disaster, it's not fit to stay in."

Stiles looked up defiantly. "This house is wonderful. I'm not going to get cold. The minute I got settled you boarded off this entire room to keep the heat from the heater in. It's not cold. Besides I came prepared, you are looking at every blanket in the Stilinski house except my dad's comforter. It's not unprotected, you're here, and so fucking what if I'm hurt? And what do you mean not fit to stay in? You stayed here! I mean I know it was a part of your holy self flagellation crusade to punish yourself, but you're still kickin so it must be okay. I'm staying here, are you?"

Derek sighed deeply, that was his 'I'm not changing my mind and you'll have to listen to me' voice. It sounded a lot like his regular voice to him. "Fine, but I get the big blue fluffy sleeping bag if I'm sleeping on the cold floor." Derek moved to grab the end of it to pull it from Stiles like a magician would a table cloth.

"Ah uh." Stiles shook his head them lifted the top corner of the layers of blankets. "I said it wasn't cold, not that it was warm. Come on, super heat please."

Derek internally debated till he saw Stiles start to lower the covers. "Fine. Only because your scrawny ass would freeze, and your dad has multiple guns."

"Atta boy."

This wasn't a couch, but with Stiles falling asleep next to him he easily imagined this happening more just like he had imagined that night in the woods. No matter how much of Stiles he got he always wanted more.

They watched a few more movies before Stiles' battery bank ran out and they both were tired. They both had seen them before so they talked throughout them about how the contractor said the only part that has to be completely demolished and rebuilt was the left side of the house which he was currently working on, what the next steps were, and they argued about whether or not Stiles would be staying tomorrow to watch more movies and occasionally shout, 'Oh nice one. I felt the walls rattle over here.' and 'Derek this is a good part!' while eating snacks.

He would be.

As they settled to go to sleep in the darkness Derek spoke, "Thank you. For today. The burger, the company, and the movies. I needed it and I didn't even know it, but you did. So thanks."

Derek heard Stiles's pillow rustle and he knew Stiles was looking where his human eyes thought his face was. It was oddly sweet that even now he wanted to show he was being sincere. "I'll always be here Derek."

There was a silence, then his pillow rustled again. "I'm like gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe, I'll stick around till you scrape me off."

Derek smiled into the darkness. "Goodnight gum eternally stuck to the bottom of my shoe."

"Goodnight inconvenient shoe that stole me from my sidewalk."

There was another pause.

"Good night Derek."

Derek's smile turned from amused to loving even if no one saw. "Goodnight Stiles."

Derek fell asleep with the soothing rhythm of Stiles' heartbeat and the pattern of his breathing in his ears.

Derek awoke from his slumber sensing danger. He half shifted and looked out with red eyes about to spring up. He searched his side of the room before turning and looking over Stiles.

His eyes caught a raccoon across the room that must've been used to this place being abandoned. It was snacking on a half eaten granola bar Stiles left out. Stiles turned in his sleep and drew the attention of the raccoon. It's beady little eyes were looking right at Stiles' sleeping face. Derek didn't like it. He pulled Stiles to his chest while growling with once again red eyes. Derek couldn't tell if the territorial tone of his growl was restaking his claim on the Hale property, or telling the raccoon to keep his grubby little paws off his Stiles. Either way it got the message, scampering away with the granola bar and snagging a bag of chips on his run out.

"Derek!"

Derek had just finished clearing out the charred remains of one of his cousins rooms and the dust was clouding his eyes and blurring them, even through his goggles, when he heard the shout. He made his way back to the room Stiles was in.

Stiles had called him at least a dozen times and Derek had come in to take breaks and catch parts of the movies when he got too tired or overwhelmed. Each time he would get whatever the other needed, and then each time Stiles would say what he needed to hear.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where my sour cream and onion chips are?"

Derek fought a grin. "By now? Eaten probably."

"I knew it! You ate my chips, you know they're my favorite! You bastard!"

"Second favorite, and I don't like sour cream and onion chips."

"Well then who took them? I bet you've been lying this whole time, so the pack trusts you and then bam! You steal their snacks. You fiend!"

Derek deadpanned. "Drats I've been caught. I've been lying this whole time to steal chips I could just buy myself."

"Seriously Derek I can't find them."

"I'll get you more. I have to go get some stuff for dinner anyway."

The theft was forgotten. "Will you get chicken fajitas?"

Derek nodded from where he was putting his mask back on. "Yeah I'll get some extra too, so you can take some for your dad tomorrow."

Stiles was taken aback by just how much that meant to him. Derek had sent Melissa flowers after she patched him up once and he sent all the cats of the little old ladies that seemed drawn to him and wouldn't stop talking about how worried about mister snuffles they were, over to Deaton to get them to stop talking, but this was him going out of his way to take care of his father. That meant the world to Stiles. It also didn't go unnoticed that Derek didn't put up a fight about Stiles staying again. He felt overwhelmed by all the feelings and the hope building in his chest.

"I love you."

Derek froze in his path back to the room he was working on.

"Shit no I- I meant thank you! Thank you that was very sweet."

Stiles noticed his tense shoulders slump.

"Yeah no problem." Derek resumed his path back towards the steps.

Oh fuck Stiles didn't mean to do that either. He basically said I love you then took it back. Shit. He couldn't let Derek misunderstand him.

"I do though."

Derek's arm stilled on the banister.

"I do love you." Even with the annoying dust mask blocking his view he could tell Derek was slightly smiling while he nodded softly. "You are a great alpha, a great friend, an-" Stiles hesitated for a moment that gave away what they both wished he could say next. "And a great contractor so go up there and show those walls who's boss!"

Stiles stayed the night again and watched the entire Bourne series. Derek caught the last two and they argued about their differing opinions about Jeremy Renner's acting choices. They both tried to pretend this wasn't going to become a thing.

Derek woke up wrapped around Stiles again and he couldn't possibly imagine how he thought he'd be strong enough to resist this.

After packing up his stuff Derek drove him back with the leftovers. He tried carrying Stiles up the steps, but that was met with threats of shoving a crutch somewhere it should not be. They did laugh again after Stiles said he wasn't two. Derek swore he could listen to that laugh forever and he could happily spend the rest of his life trying to cause it.

They didn't speak again until it was Derek's day. Then it was like the floodgates of planning opened.

Stiles told Derek he was bored and had nothing to do so he researched rebuilding houses and everything they needed to know. Which was a lot. He did have Derek fill in some holes though. How long do you want this to take was met with, I want the house ready as soon as possible, but there is no deadline. His various questions about the type of contractors  he wanted were more in depth. Then, when Stiles asked what the budget was Derek said I wasn't an issue. Stiles insisted he needed at least a guess estimate. Derek blankly told him he had five point five million dollars worth of life and homeowners insurance policies to cash in and if that wasn't enough he could get more. The way he said it told Stiles he hadn't touched the money yet, but he wanted as much of it used for this as possible.

Stiles swiftly moved on to showing Derek other things he had planned, like maybe a game room/den. There was something scribbled out next to it and Derek tried really hard to pretend he didn't read playroom with question marks by it, but he did and he was sure the next time he dreamed about Stiles they would have a little three year old in a room surrounded by toys.

Stiles was thorough, he said he was already planning the movie schedule. He outlined what movies would go best with which tasks. He even color coded how enjoyable the tasks would be to determine how great the movies had to be each day.

Derek was overwhelmed with just how much thought he had put into it, and how close this was to perfect. How close this was to Stiles and him building a home and future, together, for their pack. How close, 'You should do this.' was to, 'We should do this.' How close 'It's your house man.' was to, 'It's my house too babe!' This was the 'Hey I want one of the rooms right next door to yours.' kind of close, and Derek wanted nothing more than to just close that distance.

He snapped back to reality when Stiles showed him something about the plans.

"Why do the movies drop down to only two after two weekends?"

"Well I figure we'll be too tired to stay up for more than that, and I, unlike you, am not okay with just listening to movies even if I have seen them before."

"Why wouldn't you be able to watch them?"

Stiles looked at him like he was stupid. "Because I'll be helping. By then my leg will be healed completely."

Derek hadn't thought about his leg being healed. He was more disoriented than when wolf's bane was blown into his face.

He thought he was just coming over to get away from everyone else, once his leg was fine he didn't expect him to come back. He thought Stiles was just bored like he said, but he actually wanted to be involved. Stiles wanted to build a house with him. Stiles was in this for the long haul, and that meant something entirely different. Stiles was going to help him build a house. A house for his pack. He was stunned into silence as Stiles rambled for the rest of the day about plans. He couldn't imagine anything he wanted more than to hear Stiles talk about their future.

Stiles was a sweaty panting mess. There was dust covering him head to toe. He could barely get out his words. "I'm- I'm gonna ta- take a break. Water. Go and find water." Stiles pointed over his shoulder as he spoke like Derek needed a clue as to where he was going to find a water bottle.

Even down stairs he could still here him panting. Knowing he wasn't going to get any work done without maiming himself he went to take a break too.

When he walked into the room Stiles instantly smirked.

"What?"

Stiles didn't reply he just put both of his hands high into the air pointed towards Derek and made a grabby motion. Derek looked confused as he came closer. His hands moved to keep aimed at his head and Derek leaned his head down towards Stiles. He was still surprised when he felt fingers thread into his hair, then ruffle his hair.

"You looked like an old man with how much dust was in your hair."

He leaned up to catch sight of Stiles smirk.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Stiles threw him a water bottle.

"We could make today a half day, go get some lunch. You sound pretty tired. How bout we call it a day? You're human and still healing."

Stiles nodded as he swallowed a big gulp. "Yeah, I was thinking about that, what if we had more nonhuman muscle? And shut up I'm healed just fine."

"You mean the pack?"

"No, I was thinking of harnessing the workforce of the legion of dwarfs hidden in the forest."

"Oh I heard they unionized. Dang huh."

Stiles threw his hands up in disbelief. "Well, there goes that plan. I guess we could see if the pack is busy... If that's okay with you. It's totally fine if not, but we could use the help and I think they should be a part of this." Stiles tried to seem nonchalant, but he knew what he looked like when he was analyzing someone.

Derek wasn't wrong before, because he could never have imagined how great Stiles wanting to build a future with him and his pack was. "You'll have to factor them into your plan."

"I made two."

Derek nodded. "Okay. I think they should be here too."

"Great! Let's get back to work." Stiles jumped up with a surprising vigor.

Derek only rose an eyebrow and smirked at Stiles as he heard vehicles approaching a half hour later.

"What?"

"You brought your dad's extra sledgehammer in case one broke, huh?"

"I believe I said, 'Just in case one breaks, or something.' Consider this or something."

"What if I would've said no?"

"I knew you wouldn't."

"No you didn't."

Stiles rolled his eyes, then met Derek with a look so intense, even through two pairs of ridiculous goggles, he believed him when he spoke. "Yes I did."

That weekend the pack knocked down the rest of the scorched walls and watched Indiana Jones. The pack found some extra rope lying around and dared Jackson to use it as a whip and swing from a tree like Indy. When the rope slipped from the tree Stiles laughed as hard as Isaac did when Scott took down a walk by bursting through it like the kool-aid man. Everyone was in awe as Erica effortlessly used it to land perfectly on a branch, after tying a small log to the end. Stiles shouted that's my catwoman before everyone was yelled at to get back to work.

The pattern Stiles set was Derek was to work through the week and then the pack would help Friday nights till Sunday and watching movies after each day.

The next week they spent the entire time planning while watching the Ocean's movies, and were stunned to find out Lydia had taken an online introductory college course into architecture and structural support in freshman year.

"Wait, how? You had a full course load already."

"Well, technically Natalie Martin has the credit, but I was bored and I like mathematically correct buildings."

The rest of the weekend was filled with pizza, movies, and Lydia Martin looking at them like aliens for suggesting moving windows. She proved her genius status though, because as they argued back and forth she put together a beautiful plan that made everyone happy.

The first floor changes started as soon as you walk in the door, the mudroom was requested by Derek so they didn't track in as much dirt, and knowing them, eventually blood. As you looked straight the big set of stairs were going to be there. To the right was a living room that led into a large open concept kitchen, with a pantry tucked under the tall stairs. To the right on the other side after you walked into the front door, led into a library/ pack meeting room, with a bathroom tucked by the corner of the room and the stairs. From the library through elegant French doors was the dining room, right where the original was. Something Derek insisted on going into the plan. Off the dining room was an office sharing a wall with the pantry, also under the stairs.

The stairs to the second floor would lead up to a broad picture window to let in light, which was Allison's idea. There was a hallway in the shape of a lower case n, which the stairs were in the top part. Down the left side of the hall there were to be two bedrooms that shared a Jack and Jill bathroom. Going around the banister of the stairs the master bedroom was in the empty middle part of the n, which had an en suite. The right side mirrored the left in all except in the corner just as you turn right coming up the stairs the spiral stairs from Derek's loft were going there.

Something Stiles had fought them all for and ultimately used a pack decision veto for. Lydia said they were stupid which made Stiles scoff and go off about how cool they were. Malia and Cora agreed, but Boyd brought up they could be dangerous if there ever were any little kids, which brought a pause when all the couples looked at each other. Isaac then said they could wrap them in bubble wrap, with that the awkward pause was quickly pushed past.

Up and around the stairs on the right side of the house led to the same as below them, but in the middle instead of space for a large grand stairway and a master bedroom there was a regular sized bedroom and closest to the stairs a den. The den didn't have doors, just two entryways that led right through it to the other side of bedrooms and their bathroom. Jackson, Isaac, Erica, and Scott all thought that was stupid that there was no other way to get to the other bedrooms besides through the den, but were eventually overruled. The fact that that's where the gaming consoles would go had nothing to do with their opinion, even if it was brought up right before they took issue.

The basement was accessible by a door in the side of the stairs on the first floor and had a laundry room, but there were no further plans for it just yet and no one commented.

All of the ten bedrooms were on the upper two levels. However, after fights broke out Derek made it very clear that no decisions about who got what room were to be made till the house was further along, even if by Sunday everyone would call unofficial dibs on a room. Since no rooms were for sure they decided to wait on figuring out decoration and paints, one thing at a time.

With the plans made Stiles went to the station on Monday and brought his father a horrendously greasy burger and side of fries which he snatched and pointed an accusing finger.

"What did you do? If there's a body I don't want to know where it is, just that you've taken care of it."

Stiles out his hands up placatingly. "Whoa, whoa! Pops I would never, ever, and I mean ever, tell you if I did kill someone."

He squinted his eyes and his mouth gaped a little. "That's a great comfort Stiles. I can feel my blood pressure lowering. Seriously though son... do I need to go get a loan to pay somebody off, because the bank clos-"

"Come on, can't a son just come to visit his old man? Who is looking pretty great today. Eh eh? Did you do something different with your hair? It looks great."

"A son can, and even you can. When you bring me something leafy and green and disgusting, but with that burger you're up to something. What is it?"

"Oh yee of little faith. I am merely appreciating my wonderful father. Who loves me very much and wo-"

"Miezyslaw!" He used his authoritative sheriff father tone. Which was scarier than his father tone and his sheriff tone.

Stiles shoulders deflated and he dropped the overly happy face. "I need a small favor, or rather the pack needs one. You know your old friend from school Normand? Lovely old fellow. Would invite you to dinner all the time and to play golf, and-"

"And wouldn't shut up about how many properties he owned and couldn't stop speaking for two seconds, and wouldn't take no for an answer, and wouldn't let me leave for hours?"

"And the one on the committees in charge of planning permission and building permits."

He sighed. "No. Whatever it is no. It took me a year to slowly phase him out of talking to me. A year! He doesn't get a hint. I'm not putting up with him again."

Stiles slumped into his chair and looked utterly dejected. "Okay fine. It's no problem, really. It wasn't even that big of a deal. It was just for the pack, that's why it was important to me."

John looked away from Stiles' big sad eyes quickly. He riffled through the bag and it had a large fry and a double bacon cheese burger in it. Looking back up to asking if Stiles really did kill someone was a mistake. Stiles was pointedly not looking at the sheriff with almost teary eyes and a lip pouting out. Damn it.

He knew this con, Stiles pulled it when he was eight. He sat looking sad on the floor until he came over and asked what happened. He had given Scott his bumblebee toy after his parents had a big fight to cheer him up, but now he had nothing to play with besides his hundreds of other toys. Stiles looked at him with little innocent eyes as he told him he was just happy Scott was happy, but he did wish he could've given him the new optimus prime toy instead because it was his favorite and Stiles' was the bumblebee he had given away. It was two weeks later before he realized what happened and it was too late to take the toy back because Stiles had already given it to Scott and lost his. He knew he was going to fall for it again. Damn it.

Lately, sometimes when he looked at his son he didn't even recognize him, but right now with his big brown eyes shining and his pouty lips he looked as much like his mother as he had when he looked at the world with nothing but hope and mischief.

He sighed. "What do you need him for?"

"You know the old Hale house? The one Derek's family tragically died in when he was young?"

He looked at him flatly. "I think I know the one Stiles."

"Okay well recently I convinced Derek to rebuild it, but we hit a road block. Since it was burned down, you know tragically, the committee has the right to seem it unsafe and not worth the time and money to rebuild and force us to tear it down. Buuut they wouldn't know that a bunch of werewolves are rebuilding it, sooooo..."

"It sounds like they might not even do that, and you are very convincing when you want to be. Believe me, I know."

"Buuut daaad once they deem it unsafe we can't overturn it! And Derek has been getting really excited about it. He hasn't said, but I can tell." Stiles' voice got softer. "And I think this is good for him. Finally moving on. I think it's good for all of us. We've had so much going on lately and I think the pack just needs a place that they can be themselves-"

"And a place that isn't mine where they eat all of my food, while blaring back to the future. Friggin werewolves."

"We watched it one time dad. They always appreciated you letting us have pack stuff there. But we do need a bigger place, one where everyone can be safe. It would do us and Derek good being able to be close."

His son's tone betrayed a too personal note when he talked about safety for his liking. "Do you not feel safe here? Do I not allow you to be yourself?"

Stiles looked ashamed. "It's not my safety I'm worried about." Stiles looked away from him. "I couldn't live with myself if- if someone came to the house looking for me an- and they-"

He circled the desk swiftly and folded Stiles into a hug. "Hey, hey. You stop that, I'm supposed to be the one looking out for you. Besides if someone comes looking for trouble I've got an entire clip dipped in wolf's bane waiting in my nightstand for them. Now that I know the truth that is." He said the last bit scolding even as he was scared to death of the world his son was wrapped up in. He wanted nothing more than to yank his son out of it and into safety, but he knew with the people he cared about still in it Stiles would run right back.

Stiles' voice came out muffled and stuffy from where he was pressed against his dad's shoulder. "You did before too. I took it when you were sleeping."

He pulled back and looked at those brown eyes once again, but now the tears were falling and his nose was running.

"You're always taking care of your old man. When and how did you grow up from that scrawny little kid into a strong man that takes care of everybody else?"

Stiles wiped his snot and shrugged. "I just watched you."

And there it was. He was getting worried he'd never see that look of youthful adoration in his eyes again. He pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "Even if I'll never stop, I don't think it's just my job to watch out for you anymore, maybe I should start watching you instead kid."

"Maybe you could start watching after we get the permits. We could use some help once it's time to start working on the basement. I don't- I don't think he should be there. We need the help, I mean I know you've got brittle old man bones bu-"

"Hey!" His hands shot down to Stiles' ribs and as he started tickling Stiles jumped away with a laugh.

They smiled at each other before he spoke. "You wouldn't mind it? Or would they? Having your dad around? Isn't this project a pack thing?"

"I would love to have you there, and so would they. Erica absolutely loves you. It is. You're pack to me so you're pack to them. That's how it works. And if Derek can invite Peter, I sure as hell can invite you."

John looked touched. "I'll get in touch with Normand, don't even worry about it. Tell me the time. I'll be there son."

Stiles smiled at him.

"One last thing. When you say it would do us and Derek good to be close do you mean, like you and him us or you and the pack us?"

Stiles squinted not understanding. "Boooth? It would be good for all of us."

"No son. Look would you be getting your own room?"

"Of course I wou- Oh! Dad no! I won't be moving! I wouldn't leave you by yourself! I'm not go-"

"Gee thanks for making it seen like I'm a two year old that can't fend for myself. That's still not what I meant." He looked uncomfortable as he looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked back up. "Would you be getting a room to yourself... or would you be sharing... with Derek?"

Stiles blinked a few times before he flailed.

The permit took a long four weeks to get approved, so good thing gutting was a long process. They had to take all of the old unusable walls, flooring, wiring, plumbing, HVAC, and insulation out. It was a good thing the house was built with such quality materials otherwise the process would be a doze and build from the ground up. Most of the fire burned hot and fast on the left side, and the right side was only in rough shape because of the smoke and neglect. Still he wanted everything possible, that had ash and burned air in it gone, while keeping as much of the bones as they could.

Gutting was strenuous so they were too tired to watch more than one movie. They watched one movie out of the underworld series, each night they all worked, for three weeks. Except the night they watched the shorts they spent most of the night debating whether or not the movies were offensive or so horrendously inaccurate that it was funny. Either way Stiles spent a good amount of time talking about how hot Michael Sheen was, and is in good omens.

On the fourth weekend there was nothing they could do, so Stiles went home. He spent some quality time with his dad, he complained about the pack and his dad complained about having to talk to Normand.

True to his word after he helped grease the wheels he showed up for adding support to the basement. Although he did decline staying for a movie. That might've been because he saw Stiles grab mean girls, and everyone had been wearing varying shades of pink, even Derek. He saw socks that looked strikingly familiar as he leaned up to hold a beam in the air. He had watched that movie so many times it wasn't even fetch, no thank you.

It was good having his dad there even if he knew with work it wouldn't happen often.

It was just Stiles and Derek now cleaning up.

"So how was today?" He was worried about Derek even if the pack wouldn't let him anywhere near the basement the whole day. He just cut the beams and helped with other things.

"Other than the disturbing fact that my uncle can quote Gretchen Weiners, not bad."

Stiles hip checked him as he went by with handfuls of garbage. "Are you sure? I was worried about it. That wasn't the best way to start off the project."

"Is that why you kept asking the contractor if we could start supporting the building from the bottom up somewhere else other than the basement? It was fine Stiles. Good even. Like he said, 'Kid if you want anything you build to stay up you've got to start at the bottom and support up.' Pretty good advice."

"Okay. Do you want to stay up to watch a different movie?"

"Nah I better get to sleep for tomorrow. You should too, are you staying?"

"Boo you whore. Yeah I think I will. It's too late to drive back now."

The after one weekend of Lydia commandeering movie choice to watch Nicolas Sparks movies, they watched John Mulaney specials the next, while finishing rebuilding the left side of the house's support, foundation, and walls. Even Peter showed up, although Derek cringed when he understood millennial humor better than he did. John shocked everyone when he quoted, 'Eat ass, suck a dick, and sell drugs.' They stared at him till Stiles explained he really loved when he showed him the Bittenbinder method and then became obsessed.

When the pack finished all the rebuilding of the frame of the left side, they watched both Mary Poppins in celebration. Isaac was ecstatic, because of his giant man crush on Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Allison spoke up after the first one, "We have to have a Julie Andrews marathon. I loved the princess diaries so much I only ate pears for a week. My dad had to cut me off, because I got stomachaches."

"Aww babe that's so cute!"

The dimple fest was as sickening as eating only pears for a week.

"Yes you're both adorable. Shut up. I think we should have a Anne Hathaway marathon, eh batman?"

He smirked. "Of course. She is my favorite."

They watched both of the princess diaries the next Friday night, and Scott and Stiles slid down the blanket covered stairs on the air mattress. Then they stayed up late to watch all three Christian Bale batmans. On Sunday when they were finishing putting the framing for the new walls up and nailing the outer boards to close all the holes in the house with a layer to keep the rain and cold out temporarily, Stiles couldn't stop quoting the movies.

"Stiles I asked for a cola two hours ago." Cora stared in disbelief.

Stiles merely held the soda out and lifted his chin. "A queen is never late, everyone else is simply early."

"More like drama queen." Derek muttered under his breath.

Stiles gasped and then smirked. "But I'm a cute drama queen I make all the other drama queens go rawwwr."

Several quite witty quotes, if Stiles had to say so, later and he could tell he crossed the, 'haha that's funny.' line into, 'I'll kill you if you say anything about pears again.'

"Stiles hand me the nail gun."

"'He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.'" Stiles quoted as he held up a hammer and some nails.

"Stiles this is heavy."

"Dude you're a werewolf. Suck it up. Besides, the air compressor is out of air. It needs a minute, so 'He's the hero Goth-'"

"Swear to god Stilinski if you quote Batman one more time-"

"Don't worry your pretty little head... the eagle has landed for the last time." Stiles dashed out of the house and Jackson after him.

"I swear to god Stilinski I'm gonna nail gun your mouth closed."

"It's a good thing the compres- oof!"

They heard him get tackled to the ground.

"Guys! Help!"

Malia yelled, "Don't break him, we still need him to work. But make sure he can't quote anything else."

"Scott!"

"Sorry bud. Even I get sick of batman."

"Traitor! Derek!" There was a pause. "Come on, you complete me!"

"You know I was considering it, but just for that one you're on your own."

Stiles started laughing hysterically. Through the breathless laughs he tried to speak. "Catwoman! Come help me!"

"Sorry darling, cats come when they feel like it. Not when they're told."

By the time he escaped they looked like they were almost done.

The roof needed to be replaced next to complete the rough dry in before they could start on internal things. Peter apparently drove over to help Derek prep the roof before the weekend, because when they showed up it was ready to be done and Peter was creeping close by. Well, Stiles imagined he showed up out of a ominous cloud of mist and whispered I'm here, but his car was there so it's anybody's guess.

Roofing went horrible. It was three stories up and as soon as Stiles convinced them to let him up he nearly fell off reenacting the scene from avengers went  Thor says, 'You want me to put the hammer down?!' He was then confined to the ground and drink duty. They watched Aristocats and Finding Nemo and Stiles with Erica's help made caramel puffcorn, rice crispies, and crème de la crème à la Edgar at the sheriff's house before bringing it over. Malia said it was just warm milk and Jackson scoffed.

"I'm the leader I'll decide what it is."

Stiles gaped at Jackson. "Seriously!" He flailed. "After all the shit you gave me! You asshole."

Jackson shrugged. "It was always one of my favorites." He looked like he was about to bolt and he wouldn't look anyone in the eyes.

Stiles nodded. "Good choice dude. It's a great movie."

Jackson nodded and he was biting his lip as he looked down.

Derek asked Cora to help him with installing the windows and doors the following week. Stiles was happy for their sibling bonding time, but then once the pack got there on Friday there wasn't much to do. They didn't end up watching any movies. Which disappointed him, but he did blare waving through a window and love is an open door on repeat till Malia threatened to smash his phone. Cora and Derek seemed happier with each other and closer, so Stiles was glad.

They picked a stone grey for siding and a beautiful day to put it up. It was sunny, but with a slight breeze to cool everyone off.

Stiles dad was able to make it. Argent even came, because he had to drop Allison off while her car was in the shop and he decided to stay and help. Stiles thought it was because he felt guilty that the whole reason it had to be rebuilt was his sister. Derek thought he was using it as an opportunity for an olive branch for the sake of his daughter. It was probably both, but Stiles still was impressed that Derek could let an Argent other than Allison back on his territory, even if he was tense every time he saw him. Peter was the same way except Stiles thought his eyes were watching his ass a little more than necessary and with too much appreciation for it to all be suspicion. They were so going to have angry hate sex, Stiles was calling it now.

Stiles made sandwiches, Lydia brought fancy blackberry lemonade that was delicious, Erica made a pasta salad, Derek made an old family calico bean recipe, John brought dessert, and Jackson brought chips and dip.

The day was filled with work, play, and so many laughs they could all get used to peace like this. Stiles was shocked nothing had happened yet.

They were all busy outside with putting up the siding and messing around. Stiles' father came up to him.

"Hey kiddo. Are there other drinks inside?"

"Oh yeah. I'll go grab you something." Stiles started putting what he was doing down.

"No, no. I'll go."

Stiles looked nervously at where Derek was alone in the kitchen. They were still on rocky ground, since he arrested him and Stiles wasn't sure if he blamed Derek for Stiles being involved in a lot of the danger he was. He started to protest again.

"Relax. I'm not going to arrest him... again."

The sheriff stalked into the house with purpose.

"Sir." Derek nodded.

"Derek."

"Soda?"

John raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay with Stiles seeing you handing me a soda?"

"He's busy, I'll take my chances."

"So has everything been quiet in town sir?"

"Let's cut the small talk. I'd rather not talk about my job or the weather."

Derek's nerves rose. "Is there something you want to talk about sir?"

"This pack bond thing. How does it work?"

"There's a lot to it, and I think you want to know something specific. Right sir?"

"You being the alpha they protect you right? With their lives?"

"In some packs, yes, but not normally, no. I'm their alpha it's my job to protect them, I care for them, provide."

"Hence the house." John used his hand holding his soda to gesture to the house around them.

"Yes."

"But they do don't they? They protect you with their lives."

"They do."

"Is it because of the pack bond are they forced to?"

"It's a little complicated-"

"It's a simple question Derek, are you using these kids as human shields or not?"

Derek looked startled. "I-I um." Derek let out a breath and nodded his head while looking apologetic. "Yeah I guess I was. In the beginning when I just wanted power to protect myself, but they changed me. When you're bitten the alpha that bit you can force you to obey him, but if you choose an alpha willingly it has to be because you feel they are worth protecting, worth dying for."

Derek looked out at everyone.

"I don't think I'm worth any of their lives, hell not even all of them put together. I just want to protect them, to me they are worth dying for. Every last one of them chose to be in my pack, I still don't know why, but I'll be damned if I let anything happen to them. I'm not living through that again." Derek spoke every word with conviction and emotion.

"And does that go for all of them? Do you have the bond with the humans? Can you force them to do what you say too?"

"The lore isn't clear how the pack bond translates to humans. Some people say yes, some say no. I don't think I could force Lydia, Allison, or Stiles to do whatever I said even if they were my betas."

"Is it different because Stiles is a witch?" He waggled his fingers.

"He's a spark. And no. He's more human than wolf so that doesn't effect it."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, what do you feel? Would you protect them like the rest of your pack? Would you protect Stiles?"

Derek looked John dead in the eyes. "I would protect him with everything in me sir. It's different with pack when you lose someone I wouldn't let it happen."

He nodded. "How so? How does it effect them if you die or get hurt?"

Derek thought for a moment. "My betas would be crushed. Some are even known to go mad with loss or kill themselves. It is an overwhelming feeling losing your alpha. It feels like you are lost and have no meaning, like you failed, and are utterly alone without guidance. But the humans, they would react like a regular person. They would feel the loss, but they would be okay."

"And you? If you lost one them?"

"I wouldn't live with myself. When you lose any pack it isn't like you lose someone close to you. It's like you lose a vital part of yourself. For an alpha it is tenfold. The worst pain I could think of."

"Okay that's all I needed to know. But I need to tell you some things."

Derek nodded. "Yes sir?"

"If someone hurts him, you'll feel it. I know that now, you'll take care of him. But if you hurt him-"

"You have wolf's bane bullets?"

"No. I have every faith you would pull the trigger before I ever could. If you hurt him, know that as his father, who has been a cop long enough to see too many horrible people do atrocious things, I could never make you hurt the way all the blame and guilt you put on yourself does. I know I can't stop him from getting into trouble as much as you can't. And now with all this crazy stuff he's in I can't be his big strong dad that can rescue him from anything. I haven't been for awhile, but I don't think he needs me anymore. I think he needs you, all of you. Even if he still will get into trouble. Just promise me you'll be there when he does."

"On my life and my mother's memory, nothing in this world could stop me from protecting him."

He seemed pleased with that. "Okay then I guess we're done."

They both started to walk away.

"Oh one last thing. If I ever, I mean ever, like twenty years from now you're married and have kids together ever, find out you had sex with my underage son under my roof, I will shoot you in the kneecaps with wolf's bane bullets."

Derek's eyes were wide and his mouth gaping. "What?! No! Sir I would never- me and him aren't ev- we're not! Never! I mean your son is a good man, but no!  Why-"

"Slow down there kid. I know. But I also see how you look at each other. I used to have a set of whiskey browns that looked at me the exact same way. And you're right, if he was any other son in the world I would correct you, but you're right. He is a fine man, he hasn't been a boy since he stepped up to deal with all of this shit. You can stop acting like he is one, he's almost eighteen and frankly he's been smarter than me for a long time And somehow wiser since birth. Even if he can be dumb as shit. So under my roof no sex. Clear?"

"Crystal, sir." Derek nodded like a toddler trying to convince an adult he didn't eat the missing cookie.

"But Derek, up until a point, what you do under your own roof is none of my business, once you get a whole house under it that is."

"Um sir?" Derek looked confused.

"One last word of advice son, everyday I wish I could've met her sooner so I could've loved her longer. You've met him, so what are you waiting for?"

Derek looked sure. "For him to be ready and for me to deserve him."

"I'm not saying you have to sodomize my son immediately, do not get me wrong. Just let him know how you feel at least, he's been ready for that a long time. Also you don't have to wait to deserve him, you're waiting until you feel you do. If Stiles chose you, you deserve him."

They shared a sincere silence, before John clapped him on the shoulder and continued, "God help your soul son."

They both walked out with wide grins, and John's hand was still on Derek's shoulder.

As soon as his dad went to help Scott and Boyd, Stiles flew over to Derek.

"What did he say to you!? What did you talk about?!" Stiles whisper shouted.

"You." Derek teased.

Stiles squinted. "I can't tell if you're being serious. I don't like it."

Derek rolled his eyes and pulled Stiles into a hug, before pulling him behind him by the hand back to work.

"Derek Hale did you give my father a soda!"

Once they had the bare bones of the house with exterior enclosing walls it was finally time to start actually building the inside of the house. Stiles couldn't wait to start the rest of the movies he had planned.

Derek did a walk through with the three contractors for the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems so everything went smoothly and no one got in the way of each other. Stiles insisted on being there so none of his research got forgotten and all of his questions got answered. Derek regretted letting him as soon as he saw the twenty something hot electrician and the in surprisingly amazing shape thirtyish year old plumber. Luckily the HVAC specialist was a portly old man who should've retired long ago to pass down the family business to his daughter long ago.

As soon as Stiles started to stutter out his questions Derek wanted them out immediately. When he caught Stiles ogling the perky bubble butt, that should've been an unattractive hairy plumber's crack, of the man bent over to take a measurement he squinted his eyes and almost growled at him. He put a hand on Stiles' lower back to guide them into the kitchen where Harrold the HVAC man was trying to keep their attention while smirking. Stiles was still staring back and Derek was resolutely staring right at Harrold, so they both missed the man also supervising the measurement taking he ran Stiles right into. The man turned bright red and stuttered apologies. Derek heard an almost inaudible chuckle from back in what would be the living room. Derek wanted nothing more than for them to be a couple, hell he'd be fine with one of them banging the other right on his floor in front of them if it stopped Stiles' drooling. Knowing him there'd end up being a lake though.

He was ecstatic when it was over. Well, that was until Harrold said he thought it was really beautiful that they were rebuilding the house together and that it was a really great project to take on together. In spite of their confused faces he continued and asked what they were going to do with such a big house and if they planned on adopting or fostering. Recognition struck their faces as they tried to back pedal, but he was already convinced that they made a lovely couple.

Most of the plumbing, electrical, and the HVAC systems would take a long time and had to be installed by 'Harrold and the hotties' as Stiles referred to them, so they decided to start a big movie series, the MCU.

Since they got out of the work they camped the weekend out at the loft to marathon as many movies as they could. When they watched the first Thor they teased him for nearly falling off the roof then, he made a joke about how the, 'Seriously jacked.' plumber should've been the electrician because he had the body of, 'A thunder God of super hotness and muscle.' to distract them. Derek made a point to exercise shirtless the next morning while Stiles was making breakfast in Derek's kitchen to show him, 'Seriously jacked.'

The swarm of contractors that invaded the house took roughly a month and a half to finish the rough in for the massive house. In the beginning they didn't  think they would finish all of the movies on time, but as their time off dragged on they flew through them. Derek couldn't even remember him many times everyone hit Stiles with their pillow because he kept saying Captain America's lines before he could. During Winter Soldier Scott put a hand over his mouth and didn't even flinch when Stiles licked him, but when he bit him Scott let out a yell.

"Damn it Stiles. Remember what your dad said!"

Good god were they actually five?

Cora suffocated him with a pillow, till he kicked her in the head and when that proved ineffective, shot sparks into her leg.

Stiles could tell Derek was getting a little stir-crazy having his pet project routine interrupted. He tried to come over as much as possible to keep him company. They were supposed to be finished on a Thursday, but due to a last minute plumbing problem it was pushed till Monday. They watched Flushed Away, then Ratatoullie Friday night and laughed so hard. Saturday and Sunday they watched The Pirates of the Caribbean series.

From that weekend on, anytime someone would hear someone coming in they would get in their way and screech like the slugs. Derek caught Stiles coming in with a bunch of tools and they got in a screaming match that lasted ten minutes.

Once they had the all clear the next job was insulation and drywall, since it had to be done in stages once the mud dried they came over weeknights after school to help for two weeks.

It was a lot of work because they decided to insulate the interior walls a little bit as well as the exterior walls for just a bit more soundproofing. Derek insisted on his bedroom being soundproofed completely, which made the pack tease him mercilessly, but in the end they wanted the rooms they had unofficially picks out soundproofed as well. Everyone agreed in a house filled with werewolves there are just some things you don't want to hear.

They only had time before they had to get home to watch movies on the weekend, so they watched Venom and another Nickolas Sparks movie one night, and then both Deadpools. Stiles thought ahead and made tater tot casserole, bought tissues, and there were unicorn pillows, blankets, and plushies he had gotten at the dollar store. Allison quoted every line about tater tots, which was pretty much the whole movie. Everyone grumbled loudly that Lydia got to choose another movie that nobody else liked, and they were about to switch it when Boyd spoke up and said he liked it. They were all too shocked they didn't realize they were watching it still till it was to late and they were reaching for tissues because Bobby died.

Boyd left the room halfway through with teary eyes, and when Erica and Derek both didn't follow him Stiles did.

The night air was warm on Stiles' face.

"You didn't have to come out here, I'm fine, Erica and Derek didn't because they know I'm fine."

Stiles put his hands in his pj pockets and nodded while rocking back an forth slightly on his feet. "Okay. Maybe they don't need to come out here because you're fine, or maybe because you've always been the strong one they believe you to be so strong you don't need help. But, Boyd sometimes when you're always the strong one you feel you aren't allowed to be weak. You are. You're allowed to be hurt, and break, and wake up tomorrow and be strong again. Everyone is weak sometimes. If you don't want to talk to me about it that's fine, just let them know when you aren't alright. They can help you."

"And do you?"

Stiles looked confused. "Do I what?"

"Let them help you. Sure when we're in a fight you are protected, but when you're hurt or worried do you let people help you? For the longest time you didn't tell you're dad anything, and even still you shield him from so much. You are constantly tired from researching to keep the pack safe, you could ask Lydia to pause her college prep to help you. When you have nightmares do you tell your best friend? When you have a problem do you go to your alpha before trying to solve it yourself? No you don't do any of that. Because out of all of us werewolf, kanima, banshee, hunter you, Stiles Stilinski are the strongest of us. You take more pain than all of us combined to keep us from hurting. So do you allow yourself to be weak?"

Stiles seemed to take it all in. He nodded. "Fine. Fair enough. I still can't watch Halloween movies because I used to watch them with my mother and now they just make me sob." Stiles shrugged his shoulders.

Boyd looked away. "Fine. My sister used to pretend to love Disney princess love story movies so I could watch them with her, and I used to pretend to love action movies so she could watch them with me."

"Fine." Stiles nodded again.

Boyd sniffed a bit and Stiles could tell he was trying not to cry. He pulled the massive man into a hug and held him tightly against himself. He felt tears against his neck and shoulder.

He whispered with a small stuffy voice against the smaller man. "Fine."

When they came back Derek gave him a quizzical look, Stiles just brushed his arm as he went by with his hand to tell him everything was fine.

The next week each day after school Boyd went over to help Derek rebuild the front porch. Stiles thought it was so they could talk one on one, and he was proud of Derek for doing it.

Then they had another weekend of discussions about design. Although this time it was less about rooms and more about what they wanted the rooms to look like. Lydia had swatches and samples spread across the entire room.

Derek wanted all of the bathrooms to look similar, but not identical. They took a vote and the rooms would all be varying shades of grey with black or silver fixtures.

Everyone got to decorate their own room however they wanted. Erica said she was going to make her room a sex dungeon then and Derek did not look impressed.

The den on the third floor was to be a light beige with an enormous sectional couch.

The dining room was going to be a classy white to compliment the chandelier that was originally there.

The office was to be a light pastel yellow to not be too distracting, while the pantry was to be a bright pink because Scott asked and Derek didn't care. The stairs the rooms were under were set to keep their original wood just sanded and restained. The loft stairs were to stay as is per Stiles' request.

The library's color scheme choice was dueled out between Lydia and Peter. Lydia wanted a luxurious aubergine purple with a delicate pearl. However Peter won out with a bright, deep, and dark cobalt blue paired with a rich leather brown color, because they all agreed they were better for the mood of a library. Peter also requested they have a rolling ladder attached to the wall so they could built the bookshelves all the way up to take advantage of the first floors high ceilings.

The kitchen and living room were open concept, so the two rooms had to match well. For the kitchen Derek wanted clean colors, so they chose whites, greys, and touches of black with all stainless steel appliances. Isaac said they should get a large island with butcher's block on the top and everyone agreed. The floor was going to be a light grey tile with darker grey marbled in and dark grey grout to make it pop. The back splash was a simple white subway tile, and the counter tops were going to be soapstone. Since the kitchen was so nuanced the living room could be a bit bolder.

Stiles fought tooth and nail for a dark emerald green and they eventually had to concede. He bombarded them with color psychology. He went on about how green is known for health, calm, peace, growth, and safety. He also mentioned it was the color of nature and the natural world, plus it would go with the view out huge window out into the woods. He told them some researchers even found it improves reading ability, which would be great for the bay window they planned on putting in.

Lydia looked back through her notes there was no mention of a window seat, but by the time she was done looking and was going to interject Derek had agreed to both.

They had varying types of counters for the bathrooms that matched each room's back splashes and fixtures. Each Jack and Jill had two sinks, a shower, and a toilet. All the sinks were going to be white with those fancy faucets that had part of the pipe gone so you could see the water coming, because Cora thought they were cool.

For flooring they decided to do the bathrooms a grey tile with black striped in, similar to the kitchen. The mudroom would also be tile. The library, den, office, and stairs were going to be all wood. The hallways and living room were quickly agreed to be carpet, but once they got to the bedrooms things got a little heated.

"I will slaughter your first born if you even think about putting tile in my bedroom!"

Lydia looked at Stiles half crazed. "You are a man of intellect Stiles, you can at least on some level agree that tile or wood has practical reasons fo-"

"I agree with him. It makes no sense."

Stiles gestured to Allison like, 'Ha, there!'

"It does look nicer."

Stiles squinted and pointed an accusing finger at Scott. "You are dead to me."

"What if you want to lay on your floor? Carpet is way more comfortable." Isaac usually stayed quiet during arguments, but lately he's become more comfortable speaking up.

"Lay a blanket down."

"Great reason for a stylish rug."

"Why would you lay on the floor next to your bed?"

Boyd, Lydia, and Jackson spoke up, respectively, at the same time.

"You wouldn't have to worry about it if you just got carpet!" Stoke practically yelled.

Lydia responded in kind. "Carpet is hard to clean, and it makes your room look like a van from the seventies!"

"Cold feet end of story, bitch!"

"Wear socks you bastard!"

Derek stared in horror at his pack, which was about to tear each others throats out over flooring. "Okay everyone just calm down! It's late and we got a lot figured out today. How bout we stop here, everyone go home, and we'll pick it up tomorrow."

They slowly all trickled out. Only Derek and Stiles were left. Stiles was finishing up folding the blankets when he realized he hadn't seen Derek in awhile.

"Derek?" He called out.

"Up here Sti." The nickname gave him pause. He had only ever called him that when he was bleeding out, or needing comfort.

He went up the stairs and found him staring deeply in one of the rooms.

"What's up Der?" Stiles took advantage of the moment to call him a soft nickname back.

Normally he would protest and say he's fine, but he didn't. Stiles didn't know if he should take it as he really needed to get it off his chest that bad, or if it was because he was trusting Stiles more.

"This was Lillian's room."

Stiles didn't need any clarification. He knew all of Derek's family, but Lillian was the only one he'd heard of just from the Hale fire files. Lillian was Peter's oldest, she was three. Stiles guessed that they were really close. Stiles put his hand on Derek's shoulder.

"We can leave this one empty."

Derek smiled. "No. This is Scott and Allison's room."

"They can pick a diff-"

Derek turned the eyes Stiles thought would be misty, to face him with not a tear in sight.

"Stiles do you want to know why I wouldn't let them pick rooms before?"

"Because they were fighting?"

Derek tipped his head back and forth. "Yes, and no. Because while they were fighting about who got the room with the best window, or the one with the tree, or the one closest to the stairs, I kept thinking, 'That isn't your room, it's Lillian's so uncle Peter and aunt Darcy can be close to her! That isn't your room it is Laura's, so she can use the tree to sneak out. That room isn't yours it's Nan and Pop's, so they can look at the back yard.'"

Stiles felt horrible, maybe this all was a mistake. Maybe Derek wasn't ready yet.

"Do you know what I see now?"

"No. Tell me?"

"I see Allison looking out this window while drinking her morning coffee. I still see me and Lily on the floor playing horseies, but I feel this isn't her room anymore. This isn't their house anymore, it's ours. With some of the other rooms it's hard, to remember the old good memories, and to picture the new ones. In this one though, I know it's what she would've wanted. Sh-she ah-" Derek's voice was filled with emotion and he had tears in his eyes. "She used to make me promise to play with her ponies when she wasn't home so they wouldn't be lonely." Derek had a wistful look till he nodded with a look of certainty. "She wouldn't want her room to be lonely." He smiled. "I see Allison and Scott here."

Stiles hugged him and let his cries be muffled by his shirt. Once he calmed Stiles pulled back and took his hand to lead him.

"Where are we going?"

Stiles stayed silent till they were at the doorway of a room on the other side of the stairs. "What is your favorite memory in this room?"

"What?" Derek looked confused.

"You said it's hard to picture the good memories in some of the rooms, well I think you should try."

Stiles gave him time to think.

"This was my older brother's room. He taught me how to make paper air planes. One day we kept testing them by flying them out the window. We were having so much fun trying to out fly each other, we weren't paying attention to how many we flew." Derek let out a short laugh. "When we heard mom yell both our full names we knew we were in trouble. There had to have been a hundred paper airplanes scattered in the yard being blown around by the wind. We were chasing after them to clean up for hours."

Stiles' fond look mirrored Derek's. "Did she scold you about littering?"

"For weeks. It was respect the land this or you boys are so messy that."

Stiles nodded. "That was a good memory. What about something you picture happening here?"

"I picture teaching Isaac how to fly the perfect paper airplane."

Stiles grinned. "I think he would like that."

They went around the entire house like that. Derek remembering the old while picturing the new. Sometimes Stiles would say what he thought would happen in a room and Derek would say he agreed, but mostly he just listened. His favorites were that he once hid under his grandparent's bed till it was time to go to sleep, because Laura and aunt Darcy had dressed him up in a princess dress and put make up on him, but then they got a camera out. His Nan screamed so loud when he came out that his mom burst into the room in her beta shift. His other favorite was when they got to what would be the den, he said playing with our kids. When he heard him he nearly died, but then he clarified the packs kids. Stiles' subconscious still stubbornly hung on the fact that Derek and his kids would be considered pack kids, even as he drove home.  

The next day they invaded multiple home improvement stores, cabinetry places, mattress stores, and furniture shops to order what they would need. They had to go to a special place to get the island Isaac wanted, but then they got to have it made uniquely for them. Derek told them they could pick out their rooms and what kind of flooring they wanted, when it was time to decide.

The next week Erica came over alone after school to help with the next project. Her dad was an electrician, so she knew how to install the outlets, light fixtures, and fans. They still had some left on the weekend, and Erica said they would just he in their way, so they only came over to watch a movie Sunday night. Lydia brought The Notebook- again.

The next Monday Derek was surprised by a phone call when he was about to take a break for lunch. He put his paint roller to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi this is Beacon Hills high school. We are calling about one of the students here. They said th-"

Derek's stomach dropped out. He hurriedly grabbed his jacket.

"Are they okay?" Derek demanded.

"It's in regard of Jackson Whittmore. He apper-"

"Is he okay?!" Derek interrupted once again while starting his car.

"Yes, but-"

"I'm on my way."

"If you would let me get a word in sir, this young man struck another student. We can't release him till we talk to a parent or guardian. Both his parents are unavailable due to a work trip, but after many questions he finally told us he was left in your care. Is that true?" She spoke harshly.

"He is in my care."

"Well I can't see why he would do such a thing as to strike another student with such a polite man's example to follow." She sneered.

"I'll be there soon." He hung up on her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't have anyone else to call." Jackson was folded in on himself in the corner of the room. The receptionist was all smiles once he got there in person, but as soon as she realized he wasn't interested she went on lunch. The other student and his parents were in the principal's office with Lydia's mom. It was just them in the room.

Derek summoned his best alpha voice. "You hit another student?"

Jackson shrunk. "I listened to what you and Stiles said. I controlled my strength. I only hit him like a regular human."

Derek gave a withering glare. "That isn't better! Jackson you need to sto-"

Just then the door burst open and the pack and Danny came flooding in. Erica ran up to Jackson and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. Derek barely heard the whispered thank you.

He glanced at Stiles with a look of utter confusion. He motioned for him to come over to the side of the room. When he met him over there Stiles started to speak.

"That douchebag in there was showing the old video of Erica having a seizure. Derek's eyes widened in understanding. When looked back he saw Erica pulling back from Jackson a bright red lipstick mark on his cheek.

Everyone looked to where Lydia's mom was exiting her office. She asked Derek and Jackson to come in.

"It wasn't his fault!"

"He deserved it!"

"Mom just let us explain."

The pack all started talking at once the room descended into chaos. Natalie looked overwhelmed, Derek yelled over their voices.

"That's enough!"

They fell silent.

"If you would please follow me Mr. Hale and Jackson."

The pack started yelling again.

Stiles interjected. "I think you might find it better to just speak out here. Does anyone object to having this conversation where multiple eyewitnesses can correct the narrative?"

The parents looked smug. "I don't see why not."

Natalie looked like she knew how to pick her battles. "Very well, but if you are too disruptive I will send you all to the cafeteria."

Stiles nodded.

"We are here because Jackson struck another student, Preston. It was a violent action that this school will not endorse nor tolerate. He-"

Stiles interrupted once again. "How about a student showing a video showing another student having a medical reaction? Does this school tolerate that? Does it endorse it?"

Natalie looked shocked, Stiles assumed Preston left that little tidbit out. His parents looked at him appraisingly, as if to figure out if he did.

"How bout a student mocking another by following them down the halls pretending to have a seizure?"

Preston replied indignant. "That wasn't today!"

Stiles turned to him sharply. "So you admit you did it?"

He turned beet red and tried to deny it.

His parents started yelling at him. Natalie tried to calm them.

"Alright, alright. Even if Preston did do those things, which this school does not endorse or tolerate, Jackson still used violence. That canno-"

Stiles nodded. "Yes that is true, and he will be properly scolded. By us, and his parents when they get back. You did call them didn't you? Mrs. and Mr. Whittmore the two premier lawyers in the county?  I'm sure they would want to know the situation immediately! That their son hit a boy for only mocking and publicly humiliating a fellow student because of a disability." Stiles played it off like it was nothing. "I mean what is that? Just a prosecutable hate crime, nothing warranting violence for heavens sake!" Stiles looked scandalized. "Yes they would want to know right away."

Preston's parents blanched, before his dad started blundering. "I-I think we can settle this now? I mean lest we bother them."

Natalie smirked privately at Stiles.

Stiles continued. "Oh wonderful! Now he did use violence so I think one week suspension is a necessity, and since Preston was the primary aggressor two weeks and detention for the rest of the month after he gets back. You know, to give him a taste of what a life of crime will get you, and to discourage him from this path further."

Preston started to object, but his other leveled him with a glare. "Yes I think that is adequate."

Stiles turned to Natalie. "Does that fit school guidelines?"

She nodded.

"Well, then I think that is all we need from Preston, thank you for coming in to resolve this with us." He stared at them till they got the hint and scurried out.

"Mr. Whittmore I better stop seeing this type of thing from you, you were doing so well." She halfheartedly scolded him. "I thought this change was brought about by good influences, I hope you stick by their side. It's good to have people to defend you and to defend."

Jackson nodded.

"Miss Reyes you may be excused from classes if you like."

Erica shook her head. "I'm good."

"Very well. Mr. Hale you're all set to take him home. He will be due back for school next Tuesday, and make sure his parents get in touch as soon as possible. The rest of you are dismissed back to lunch."

They all started to file out. Natalie called out. "Oh and mister Stilinski..."

"Yes ma'am?"

"You negotiate just like your mother."

Stiles smirked. "Thank you."

Once they were in the hallway Jackson spoke, "Thanks Stilinski."

He saluted before going to lunch with the rest of them after Erica gave one more grateful look.  

"I am sorry Derek. Our maid is on vacation. I didn't know who else to call. I didn-"

"Listen to me Jackson, you call me. Always."

"Still I know I'm not your problem."

"You're my beta, that means your mine. My problem, my happiness, my duty, my friend, my responsibility, my everything. So if you need something, you call and I'm there. No matter what. I'll always be there."

Jackson's eyes were rimmed with tears. "Th-" He cleared his throat. "Thanks."

"Now how bout some ice cream?"

"Ice cream?" Jackson looked confused.

"Yeah. When I punched Gary Getzucci's smug little face off the swing he was sitting on after calling Laura a whore, my alpha took me for ice cream. Admittedly she didn't use me for free labor afterwards to prime the wall of her house, but you know."

Jackson spent the week priming the walls with Derek so they would be ready to paint on the weekend.

They entire time they were painting they were making fun of the noobs and saying things like, 'No like this.' They had the audacity to give each other long suffering looks when Stiles did something wrong.

Friday they watched 13 Going on 30 and Stiles shared his razzles with everyone except them. Then The Proposal.

The next day Stiles played music again, and when "Get Low" came on they belted out the lyrics from the various rooms they were painting and laughed so hard they had to take a break. Stiles blared T swift and Fergi and no one even complained.

They were painting the library when Derek realized Stiles wasn't singing along. Derek looked behind him where Stiles was supposed to be painting. He was beaming at his phone like the fucking sun. Derek frowned. Everyone the Stiles would text was in the house. His father was still anti-text.

"Something happen?"

Stiles didn't even slow his giddy texting.

"Stiles." He looked up after he finished his text.

"What?"

He was widely grinning at him, but knowing it wasn't meant for him it felt like he was frowning at him and had him responding in kind.

"Who are you texting?"

Stiles put his phone in his back pocket. "Nobody."

Derek furrowed his eyebrows. "Nobody must be pretty funny."

"What?"

"You were grinning like when Scott fell down the steps."

"Oh." Stiles seemed content to not give further information.

"Yeah." Derek turned to continue painting and to not have to look Stiles in the eyes. "New girlfriend?"

"No."

"Boyfriend?"

Stiles snorted. "After what he did for me, I'd marry him if he asked."

Derek's roller paused mid pass.

"I don't think it's likely though, so just friends."

"What did he do for you?" Derek asked while resuming painting.

"He found something for me."

Derek spun around. "Why didn't you ask me!?"

Stiles looked like a deer in headlights. "Uhhh, I don't think it's something you could've found." Stiles looked at him questioningly.

Derek seemed to process his outburst was unwarranted. He continued nonchalantly. "I just mean super senses. It would've been easier for me to find it, unless they also had them. Which they'd have to be a werewolf and-"

Stiles heartbeat sped up.

Derek's eyebrows rose. "-they're obviously not a werewolf, right?"

Stiles was quiet as he focused on his paint. "Why would I need a werewolf to find something?"

A question couldn't be a lie, he was hiding something.

"Right, right. And why would you ask a different on when you have a pack, an alpha? I mean it's not like you would go to a werewolf we knew for something I could do for you."

Stiles heartbeat ticked up. So we knew the man.

"And it's not like you would go to meet a werewolf not in your pack without telling your alpha."

Another uptick.

Stiles stopped painting with a groan. He yelled. "Scott, Derek is doing the heartbeat lie detector thing we said you guys can't do!"

"I was just as-"

"What dude?"

"Derek is being mean. He's reading my heartbeat!"

"Stiles is not telling the truth about his other werewolf friends."

"Dude! What other friends?! Not cool. You should tel-"

Stiles gave a meaningful look to him, and in order to be meaningful to Scott it was obvious to Derek.

Scott's face flashed recognition. "Oh. Oh! Yeah dude, not cool. Don't read heartbeats. We said that wasn't okay."

Wow, the best friend knew. Derek racked his brain trying to find the signs that Stiles had a boyfriend for long enough for it to be this serious. Scott never knew anything, but he knew this before Derek. Stiles must not trust him.

Derek turned to resume painting once again. "Okay, I won't pry."

Stiles' jokes and jabs went unanswered the rest of the day, as Derek was glumly pouting. Stiles had a boyfriend, and he didn't even tell him.

Afterwards they couldn't stay because of the paint fumes, so Stiles suggested they just go home.

Probably to text his boyfriend, Derek thought.

The next week after the paint had aired out enough he asked Malia to help him with putting the carpet in. When Malia mentioned the text at lunch it puzzled Stiles. Why Malia?

"Did he say why?"

Malia shrugged. "He mentioned it's easier with two people. Oh, and he had said that he could help me with social studies for the big test."

Stiles nodded. Derek was probably trying to bond with his cousin. It was nice of him, but Malia didn't get along with many people.

Stiles was shocked on Friday when the carpet Isaac picked out was beautifully installed and Malia was resting against a laughing Derek in the living room.

They helped them finish a few of the bedrooms before watching both Now You See Mes. On Sunday they had a studying day, and Malia was practically teaching Isaac.

Stiles had thought it was a little strange when he asked Malia to do a project with just him, but when he asked Scott to lay the wood and finish the stairs during the week he thought it was straight up weird.

Saturday while they painted the banister of the steps, Stiles drug Scott upstairs to a room.

He shut the door behind them. "What did you guys do?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's been doing a project with every pack member! I thought Peter, just showed up for the roof, but now I think he invited him. Boyd and him built the porch, Erica did the lights, Jackson primed the walls with him. Which I thought was just a coincidence because of the suspension, but I asked Erica and apparently Derek dropped him off, and planned on picking him up already. Now you with the floors. You didn't even know how to install wood flooring!"

Stiles had a crazed look in his eyes. "Oookay I'm going to need you to dial the conspiracy theorist down a few notches. Dude you're being crazy."

"Am I Scott? I overheard Derek and Allison talking- there's talk about Argent and my dad helping tile. My dad, Scott! And Argent! And Derek! And nobody else! Tiling!"

"By overheard you mean eavesdropping. Bro listen to yourself. There's talk? Who cares who helps him tile? He's probably just sick of having to work by himself during the week."

"Who cares?" Stiles flailed. "I care Scott! Guess who hasn't gotten in on the little paired project cult? Me!"

"Your dad and Argent won't be alone."

Stiles bawlked. "Of course not! My dad arrested him Scott! And Argent's sister is friggin Kate! Of course he's got a buffer!"

"Stiles you're being crazy and I'm going to leave now."

"You're in on Derek's freaky one on one project cult and it's not fair you won't tell me."

"Goodbye."

Later when Derek went to the kitchen to get more paint he felt Stiles creeping behind him.

"Yes Stiles?"

"It never stops sucking that I can't sneak up on you."

"Did you sneak up on me just to lament you can't sneak up on me orrr.."

"What did you and Scott talk about?"

Derek squinted at him. "Why do you want to know?"

"Why don't you want to tell me?"

"Why do you want me to tell you?"

Stiles groaned. "Because I want to know what you talked about."

"Why do you-" Oh Stiles wanted to know if Scott spilled the beans about Stiles' boytoy. "If you're worried about if Scott told me about your secret, don't worry he didn't." Derek brushed past him, leaving him to his thoughts.

What secret? Did he currently have a secret? He wasn't worried Scott told him a secret until now, now he was very worried.  Scott knew too many secrets about him for him to not know which one he told Derek. It better not have been the one about Kansas. He would kill him if it was. What other secret could it be?

"SCOTT!!"

After multiple assurances Scott told him nothing, not even that thing with the turtle and Mrs. Mia, Stiles still didn't believe him. Stiles stuck his tongue out across the room while cuddling Allison. Scott gave defeated puppy eyes at having lost both of his cuddle buddies for romcoms. They watched 21 Dresses and The Fault in Our Stars. Scott was making the best of cuddling Isaac though, he carded his fingers through his hair till he fell asleep.

Sunday they painted the porch, put in all the bathtubs, and went out to see Joker.

The next week tiling with Derek, John, Argent, and no body else was started.

Wednesday the sheriff came home to spaghetti dinner, with meatballs, and no zucchini noodles, he let out a sigh. "Kid, I'm tired. I just got done tiling Derek's house. I have to work in the morning. If this is a bribe it can wait till morning. If this is an apology I forgive you. If this is anything else I'll ask you who you are and what you've done with my son."

"It's neither of those, I just want to talk about my lovely father's day." Stiles had been worrying all day.

John appraised him. "Well then, I actually had a more eventful day at the office. Janice brought in-"

"Long john donuts. Yes I know. She does every Wednesday. I know what happens at the station. Were there any other eventful parts of your day?"

"If you count Argent cutting off Derek's hand with a power saw eventful, but Janice br-"

"What!?"

"Oh relax. It wasn't on purpose and he healed."

Stiles fumbled for his phone. "Just like the jackass to not call."

"I don't know why he didn't. His hand grew back like a dammed hydra, he has three hands he coulda picked up the phone with now."

Stiles narrowed his eyes. "Apparently someone isn't too tired for jokes, wiseass."

"Relax Stiles. It's been going well. Jesus I don't think your mother stressed this much about me spending time with your dziadek, and we were dating already."

"Dad!"

There were jokes on the first Saturday about how quickly grout dries that made all three men laugh, and nobody else got.

Stiles tried to commiserate with Allison about how weird it was, but she thought it was cute.

It was a torturous three weeks.

The first week they watched The Matrix series. The second they watched The Avengers and Age of Ultron, then Infinity War and Endgame, because Chris had never seen them. That was another thing, sometime during the weeks Argent had become Chris.  

They still had to do a couple more bathrooms before they were done, but there could only be a couple people working at a time so the rest played cards. Once they were done they all joined cards, then they watched The Lone Ranger. Peter hadn't stayed for any of the movies since Mean Girls and had been busy a lot of the times they asked for his help, so Stiles was pretty sure he came and stayed because Derek said Argent was going to be there.

Sunday they put in all the toilets and shower fixtures. With all the flooring done Derek thought it looked like an actual house, almost like the original, but different. Not better or worse, just different, new was almost the right word.

The next week Derek asked Allison to help him with the trim and library, and Stiles tried really hard to not be offended he still hadn't been asked yet. Saturday they pulled up  the driveway to Allison excitedly teaching Derek how to throw knives, he failed at not being offended that he hadn't had his bonding moment yet.

The weekend they finished the third floor and watched The Expendables.

Stiles made a plan for the next week. It was Isaac's exclude Stiles week and they were getting and  putting up blinds. It wouldn't take them all week, and Issac had evening classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays so it was perfect. Stiles would show up Wednesday to drop off food for them, forgetting about Isaac's classes and boom! They would plan their project. It was perfect.

Well it was until he walked in on Lydia and Derek in the middle of a hard core design and decor planning session. They already met constantly to shop and talk, but apparently they needed even more time. They said it was perfect timing because they needed his opinion on some things. He answered quickly, dropped the carbonara off, and made his excuses to leave.

Well that was it. Everyone in the pack had officially had a week or project, except him. A tiny part of him whispered that maybe Derek was saving the best project for him, or maybe Derek viewed the planning and research as his. That was quickly squashed by the bigger part that was angry.

Derek had asked if they could push them meeting there Friday till Saturday since there was nothing much to do till the furniture was delivered on Saturday and Sunday, the pack agreed. Stiles had cooled down a lot, someone had to be last why not him. Also maybe there was some big super important task left, one that Stiles was completely forgetting even after racking his brain all night. That was entirely possible. Likely even. There was no reason to be mad. He decided to go early with a peace offering of cake to make up for leaving Wednesday so early.

When he walked in Friday night to see Danny installing TVs and a surround sound system with Derek, he walked right back out. He went home and ate the entire cake, so he didn't feel as bad about lying to the pack about being sick because he really did feel sick then.

With all of the texts he got from the pack in the morning he wasn't getting out of the day.

"Dude are you okay? You look like shit."

Scott's words were comforting, especially since he wasn't even fucking sick. "Gesh Scottie you really know how to make a gal feel special." Sure he hadn't slept much, and he had cried as much as something that makes you eat an entire cake warrants, but other than that peachy.

"You sound nasally."

Thank you Cora. Maybe he was a little stuffy and had a cough, but there was so much dust it's to be expected.

Derek came up to him and felt his forehead. "You feel hot."

"Whoa is batman sick?"

"Stop it. I am not sick."

"You were sick yesterday."

"That was different."

"I'm sorry mister mucus monster if you could repeat that?"

"Haha." Stiles deadpanned. "I-I'm not s-si-Aa...CHEW! ick."

He was sick.

Derek tossed Boyd his keys and wallet. "Get some duchess soup from Mamma Tammi's, and pick up some flu medicine too." Jackson walked out the door with him.

"I don't have the flu!"

Derek looked him up and down. "Okay, try convincing me when you aren't about to eat your own snot."

Stiles wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"And some tissues!" Allison shouted.

"That is disgusting." Cora sneered.

"I remember a time you ate your boogers."

Isaac laughed and Cora turned red. "You jerk!"

"It's perfect that you're here though batman, so we can take care of you. While we watch movies of course."

Stiles squinted. "What if I don't want to watch movies?"

Erica pouted. "You always want to watch movies."

Stiles raised an eyebrow.

"Uggh fine. We want to try out the new surround sound. Derek wouldn't let us try it without you."

"He needs rest."

"Do not, sourwolf."

Derek rose an eyebrow at him. "Sure."

"Besides this is the perfect opportunity to get Scott to watch Star Wars."

After a few more protests they settled in with the original trio. All of the pack was snuggled into him somehow, damn werewolves not being able to get sick, except Allison on a chair and Lydia across the room. When he walked past to get to the bathroom she covered her mouth with her shirt and sprayed him with Lysol. With how cozy he felt he drifted off. He woke briefly when the mattress people got there and Derek had to get up, he remembered being happy hearing they would set them up so nobody had to move before drifting back off as he heard Yoda say something about no trying and doing. If he wasn't so tired he could think of it. He woke back up again when they moved the air mattress to get the couch in. With all of them moving the two giant sectionals, various chairs, and end tables Stiles started to shiver. Even under layers and layers of blankets. The werewolves made quick work of the heavy furniture, but they still weren't back soon enough for Stiles' liking. As all the pack passed the slightly deflated mattress in favor of the new comfy couch he made grabby hands towards Derek.

"Come. Heat. Cold."

"I'm glad in those eloquent words there was a please."

Stiles frowned cutely at him. "Please."

Derek crawled under the covers and gathered Stiles against his chest. Stiles drifted back to sleep with his second favorite badass Padme scene playing in the background. Sunday passed similarly, with Stiles dozing and the pack fussing over him while watching space battles. The desk for the office and the table and desk for the library arrived along with lamps for around the house. Later the nightstands for their bedrooms came with Derek's personal bookshelf, despite having an entire library. The man making the island called to say it wasn't ready yet, which disappointed Isaac.

Stiles' dad didn't want him to come home and get him sick so he stayed with Derek while everyone else left. Monday he was feeling better. They were eating breakfast Derek went out to get when someone knocked at the door. Derek opened the door to see Deaton loaded down with boxes of books.

"This should be enough to get you started. I have the truck loaded down."

Stiles got up urgently. "Is there something that needs to be researched? Did something happen?"

Deaton peaked around the boxes. "Ah Stiles. I wasn't aware you would be joining us."

"For what?"

"Derek didn't tell you? We're stocking his library with some of my old lore books. He asked me to help arrange them."

"Sorry I forgot that was today."

Un-fuckin- believable! Deaton even got something before he did!

"Did he now! Well that's great! Well I should probably get going."

Derek moved closer. "Are you sure? This will only take a bit. Are you up to driving yet?"

"I'm sure." Stiles walked out without a single sign there was anything wrong.

"Okay, What was wrong with you?" Derek spoke while climbing through his window effortlessly.

Stiles kept his face neutral. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"That." Derek pointed to his face. "And definitely all of this." Derek made a circular wide sweeping motion that gestured to his entire body.

Stiles looked down at himself. He was laid on his bed with his back against the head board. His legs were neatly crossed running down the center of the bed, and his hands were delicately intertwined and sat on his lap. "To what are you referring? Did you perhaps missmell a chemo signal? Even sniffer dogs are only right half the time."

Whoa mean dog jokes, he was pissed.

"What did I do?"

"You  didn't  do anything." No heartbeat jump. The truth.

"Are you mad at someone else?"

"I'm not mad at anyone." Heart jump, okay so he was mad at Derek. Otherwise he would've said no.

"Was it something I said?"

"You  didn't  say anything." There was that weird way he was saying things again, but apparently it wasn't something he said.

"Was it something you did?"

Stiles shot him a nasty look, and he immediately put his hands up.

"Okay so it's definitely me." Stiles wasn't saying anything about him reading his heartbeat, so he must've wanted him to figure it out. "Was it something I didn't mean to do, but did on accident?"

"You  didn't  do anything Derek ."

Why was he saying it li- Oh. "Was it something I didn't do?"

Just like that Stiles' arms and legs came uncrossed, and he was sprawled on the bed. "I don't know Derek what didn't you do?" Stiles was hoping he would be all like, 'Oh yeah I forgot to invite you for our super awesome bonding week, where we get closer like the rest of the pack. Were going to bedazzle the house walls.'

"I forgot to brush my teeth this morning?"

Not the time for jokes, I repeat not the time for jokes. Stiles flailed flail number 47, 'You done fucked up and I'm done.' he knew this one, he hated this one. It was a barely there flail, blink and you miss it. It reminded Derek of a dead fish's last flop. "You're right. I'm mad because of halitosis." Stiles turned away from him and pulled the covers up. "Turn my light off when you leave."

Stiles wasn't just mad, he was also hurt. What in the hell had he done?!

Derek moved closer to the bed and slid in behind Stiles. "I don't know what I didn't do yet. Can you tell me so I can apologize?"

"It's fine. I'm upset over nothing." The blankets rustled and Derek could tell that Stiles wiped tears away with his blanket.

"It's not nothing if you're upset." Derek burrowed into Stiles to try and stop his crying, but it only made it worse. "Tell me." Derek placed a kiss to the side of his neck. "Please?"

"Why didn't you want to do a project with just me? I mean I know it's silly, but you did one with literally everyone else."

Derek felt relieved. This was perfect, he could invite Stiles right now without it being weird. "Is that all this is about? Well then how about tomorrow? I've been meaning to swing by Ikea. It won't take long we can just pop in and out."

Stiles' tears were gone instantly.

To be replaced with rage. Pop in and out? What, were they getting throw pillows?! Oh wait no, Lydia gets those with her project. One that's taken almost a much time as the reno itself, and resulted in them saying things like, 'That back splash with that paint? Oh hunny no.' Maybe TV brack- oh no. Danny already installed those. Danny! HE ISN'T EVEN IN THE PACK! Argent tiled the god damn house his sister burned down, and Stiles gets a quick pop in Ikea?!

Stiles got up. "Actually, I think I'm going to lay on the couch. Lock the window on your way out."

That was something he said when he was done. Like I don't want to even see your face done. They both knew he couldn't lock the window from the outside, it was something Stiles said when he wanted him to know he wasn't welcome.

Stiles didn't even look back before slamming his door.

Derek was just back from his morning run and pouring himself a cup of coffee when he heard the doorbell. That's odd. Even if someone did try it out he was expecting them to just walk right in.

He opened it to see Stiles. An overly cheerful Stiles. "Mornin, mornin Derek! Can I come in?"

Derek's stomach rolled. "Of course, you can always come in. You know th-"

"Great. Cute bell. Last night?"

"Yeah." Derek eyed him warily.

"Cool, cool. Did Natalie help you install it? I mean you're trying to involve everyone right?" Stiles scrunched his nose and any other time it would've been cute, but not with the way his face was plastered with a fake smile.

"Nooo? I did it myself. Stiles, not that you aren't welcome, but why are you here? The counters aren't du-"

Stiles flailed number 78, 'I'm about to pretend to be fine, when I actually want to rip your face off.' "I'm here for Ikea silly."

Derek didn't think this was the best idea. "Are you sure you stil-"

"Great. Go get dressed."

Derek could tell there was no room for argument. So an hour later there they stood in Ikea.

"So Derek, what are we picking up? I mean you and Lydia already picked out the dishes and the silverware an-"

"The dining room table."

Stiles looked confused. "What happened to the one you ordered?"

Derek looked straight ahead. "I didn't order it."

"What!? Why not? It was perfect. Everyone loved it, it had enough space, it came wit-"

"You didn't like it."

"Yeah, but everyb-"

"You didn't like it."

Stiles stopped his protests. "Okay." Derek was pleased that Stiles seemed satiated with that.

"Good thing we didn't get it too, the dining room floor Scott picked wouldn't look as good with it."

He was back to grumpy. Derek just couldn't win.

Every time he would suggest something Stiles would grumble something practical, but harsh. All of his attempts at peace were misconstrued, and even his jokes and attempts at pronouncing the furniture were ignored.

Derek sighed. "Look we aren't finding anything. How about we eat quick and head home?"

"I'm starving and want to leave, perfect." Stiles pushed past him to where the cafeteria was.

Derek hung his head and let out a breath before following him.

"This food is good isn't it?" Derek tried to make small talk about a safe subject.

"I guess." Stiles pushed around his meatballs and gravy.

Derek tried to get him to meet his eyes. "What are you talking about, you love this kind of thing. Weren't you hungry?"

"I guess not."

Derek couldn't take this any longer. "Alright I'm done. I'm done coddling you! What did I do?"

"You di-"

Derek interrupted. "Oh don't start that 'You  didn't  do anything.' bullshit! What happened?! Tell me or stop acting like it's a big deal! I think you're making something out of nothing!" Derek whisper shouted, clearly not wanting to make a scene.

Well too bad. He started this, but Stiles would be damned if he wasn't going to finish it.

"You don't think it's a big deal?! Something out of nothing?!" Stiles shouted, drawing the attention of near by people. Derek blanched realizing his mistake. "I'm sorry if I'm a little upset that you're inviting everyone to do little fucking bonding projects when I'm the one you started this with! And then when I tell you this you just," Stiles lowered his voice to mock Derek. "'Oh, we could quick pop down to Ikea for a table.' Like I'm just some cheap whore you could take to olive garden to impress!"

Everyone that was staring quickly looked away and went on with their business, except one lady on the opposite side turned her chair around and held her tray in the air to eat while watching.

"Stiles can we do this at home?" Derek ducked down to whisper.

"Oh will that be my project?! Yelling at each other at home?! Or is it even my home?"

Derek saw red, Stiles knew that wasn't something to joke about. "Of course it is! You're the whole reason I'm building the damn house!" Derek was shouting back.

"Oh so now I forced you to build it, and you don't even want to have me involved anymore!"

"Stiles you're being ridiculous! You helped with the walk though with me! Of course I want you involved!"

"Oh really?! Then why does it feel like exclude Stiles from having a bonding week with Derek is your guy's inside joke?! And I was only there because I made you! That doesn't count! Danny even did the TVs! Danny! Deaton spent yesterday organizing the library! You don't even like Deaton!"

Derek scoffed. "I like Deaton just fine."

"Still! Deaton gets the library and I get a quick pop down to Ikea! You've already been here with Lydia! How come you didn't ask me to help with something bigger?! Am I not important enough?!"

The lady oooed and slurped a noodle.

"Oh yeah well how come you didn't ask me to help you find whatever you needed?! You still haven't told me what it was! You asked some other man to help you! Your little secret boyfriend!" Derek pointed an accusing finger.

Stiles looked confused, and the lady's mouth dropped open.

"My what?"

"Oh don't play dumb, I saw you smiling at your phone. It's another..." Derek was pulled out of the moment enough to catch his almost slip. "man like me! And Scott knows, but you didn't tell me!"

"I'm not dating anyone, and if you could pull your head out of your ass for two seconds, you'd see that."

Derek could hear his heartbeat so he knew it wasn't true, but he said it anyway.He knew it would get to him. "Whatever, Lydia thinks you are to get back at me. I believe her, because you're a liar."

Stiles face went wide with rage. He stood still till he used his spoon to flick a meatball at Derek in spite.

It hit him in the cheek and it left a gravy trail where it rolled down.

The rest of the cafeteria scattered like roaches once they started slinging food, but the lady just laughed and dodged a frisbee thrown cookie.

Turns out globby mashed potato hair and gravy face goes perfectly with a lifetime ban from Ikea. No really, the staff insists. Strongly. All the way to your car.

They didn't speak for several moments while they leaned against the car. Finally Stiles whirled on Derek and pointed a finger, before he could speak though a glob of mashed potatoes fell from his hair and landed on the floor with a splat. The both looked down at the poor pile of mashed potatoes and when they looked back up their eyes met.

They both burst out laughing. In between laughs they could barely get out scraps of sentences.

"Gravy-"

"Rolling meatball-"

"Banned from Ikea." After that one they laughed so hard they had to support themselves against the car.

They slowly stopped laughing. Their eyes again. They stood there staring and smiling at each other.

"We look ridiculous."

"And we definitely are not getting in my car like this." Stiles nodded. Derek unlocked his car and went around to the passenger side. He came back with a stack of napkins. He laid the rest on top of the car before starting to clean off Stiles' face. He gently grabbed Stiles' chin to keep him in place.

Stiles stared into his eyes as he wiped the gravy from his face.

He spoke in a soft voice. "I was mad because I felt excluded. The whole time it felt like this amazing pack thing, like we were all getting closer. And when you started doing individual projects I was happy that you were getting solo time with them, but then I didn't. The house was almost done and it felt like everyone had put finishing touches on the house, that made the house theirs, except me. I saw how close them doing things with you made you guys and I wanted that."

Derek's wiping stopped. "Sti, you are the only reason I even had the courage to start this. This whole thing is because of you. Yes, I did want everybody to have something they did to include them, but I never meant to exclude you. I was saving you for last. I wanted to get the table with you bec-"

"You just last minute threw that idea out there." Stiles rolled his eyes, and tried to look away.

Derek held his chin in place. "I didn't get that other table because you didn't like it. I decided when all was said and done I would ask you to pick out a table with me. The rest of the jobs were either they knew how to do it or it was just convenient, but with you I wanted to pick out the table. Because no matter what, no matter who was fighting, who was busy, who was tired when I was growing up we sat around the table for dinner. We were always brought together for dinner. We sat around that table and ate as a pack, even when we didn't want to be family. We sat around that table while we were at war with a rival pack. We did homework at that table, we made things, we helped my Pops with special dinners. We did everything at that table, and I wanted you to pick out this one because that's what you do. You bring us together. You brought me together, when I didn't even know this was something breaking me. No matter what is happening, you do every time. You help the pack with their homework, you teach Jackson how to make grilled cheese sandwiches, you, Stiles bring us together. So I wanted you to pick it out. That was your project. And you did it. I've never felt closer to the pack. I'm just sorry you felt excluded from that."

Derek let go of his chin and Stiles looked down. Derek could smell the tears salting the mashed potatoes on the ground.

"So- so what you're saying is, you got everything in the house but the kitchen table... because I'm the table?"

Stiles looked back up at him with tears in his eyes and an amused smirk, he still had mashed potatoes in his hair.

Derek didn't know how someone could be so beautiful.

"Yes. You're my kitchen table, Stiles."

"I have never wanted to kiss someone covered in gravy as much as I do now."

Derek froze.

Stiles kissed his cheek and got frosting on his lips. "But you still aren't ready, and that's okay."

Derek looked down at the pink frosting on his lips, and Stiles licked it away.

"Someone told me that even if I'm not ready for some things I should still tell you how I feel. I feel like I really want to kiss you right now, even if I don't feel ready for it." Derek still needed to know without a doubt. He knew Stiles wasn't Kate or Jennifer, he just needed to know that he wasn't Paige. Her loss changed him forever, but Stiles' would kill him. He needed to know that he was actually being led to Stiles and that this wasn't just another wonderful thing he would loose. He had lost too many things to not be sure.

"Alright. Let me know when you're ready."

The entire next week everyone was constantly in and out of the Hale house. Everyone showed up to help finalize. Everyone was moving their things into their rooms, and putting the finishing touches on the house. Cabinetry and counter tops arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday, then Thursday all the kitchen appliances arrived, even Scott's specially ordered toaster. Stiles tried to not let his dad lift any of the counter tops, but when Argent and Peter started snickering he stared into Stiles' eyes as he helped lift it.

Friday they decorated. When Derek found out that Stiles' 'secret boyfriend' was actually an alpha that knew his mother that Stiles got a picture from, he nearly cried. When he walked up to where the picture was hung in the mudroom he did cry. He hadn't seen a photo of all of them together since before all their photo albums burned up in the fire.

"I know I said you had to let go but I didn't mean forget. I thought that even if you can't hold them it might be nice to wave at them. Just to let them know you still think about them as you walk through the house."

Derek spoke with a voice filled with emotion. "Ho-how did you?"

"I used a spell to locate it. When I sensed the location housed the supernatural, I asked Deaton and he put me in touch with the alpha there. This was taken wh-"

"When we brokered a treaty with them." Derek's fingertips ghosted over the photo with reverence. "Lillian was so little." He smiled looking at her. "Thank you Stiles. I could never repay this."

He shrugged. "It was nothing."

Derek looked at him with teary eyes. "It means everything to me. Not a single thing you do means nothing, to me. This is everything."

After Derek turned back to the photo he could tell he should leave.

He went to go through to the living room, but Peter caught him by the arm.

"Peter wh-" He hauled him into a hug.

"Thank you for letting me see them again."

Stiles would think he was never there if he didn't have a lingering wet spot on his shirt and clear sight of Peter walking over to hug his nephew. After Derek called Cora over he took one last look at them all leaning on each other remembering their family before he got back to work.

After a hectic Saturday morning, the pack thought they would be all set for their first night in the house. They had a peaceful quiet lunch. Afterwards they filled all of the cabinets with the dishware, silverware, pots and pans, cooking utensils,and other miscellaneous things they had gotten. Allison and Lydia were putting throw blankets and pillows in the living room while DJing. Issac and Cora installed the fridge yelling lyrics of duets and songs they made into duets to Boyd and Scott who were making all of the beds upstairs.

Stiles was grinning down at an equally happy Derek while he was handing him fancy plates to put on the top shelf.

"They're crazy. How is our pack so crazy?"

Stiles looked down from where he was stood on a chair with a fond look before speaking. "You wouldn't have it any other way, sourwolf."

Derek paused handing him the next plate, before setting it down. "No I wouldn't." Derek lit up like a Christmas tree, before getting a devilish glint in his eyes.

"Der- WHOA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Derek picked him up by the back of his legs. "Put me down!"

"No we're in the pack too. We have to be crazy too!" Derek started waltzing around in circles while holding Stiles up high.  Cora and Issac started laughing.

"Come on Stiles they finally played Christmas music for you, sing!"

Stiles shook his head. "You're so weird!"

"AND ALL THE LIGHTS ARE SHINING, SO BRIGHTLY EVERYWHERE!" They both laughed as Derek sang loudly and twirled them into the living room. "AND THE SOUND OF CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER FILLS THE AIR!" Lydia and Allison laughed like witches as they danced around with them.

Stiles belted out the next lyric. "AND EVERYONE IS SINGING, I CAN HEAR THOSE SLEIGH BELLS RINGING!" Erica and his dad came to watch them with grins and cameras.

They nearly ran into Jackson and Malia on their way to the steps.

They sang the next lyric together. "SANTA WON'T YOU BRING ME THE ONE I REALLY LOVE, WON'T YOU PLEASE BRING MY BABY TO MEEEE!"

Stiles sang the next lyric to Peter and Argent where they were working on a bathroom.  "I DON'T WANT A LOT FOR CHRISTMAS, THIS IS ALL I'M ASKING FOR! NO I- Whoa!" Stiles grabbed the back of Derek's neck for balance.

Derek ran them over to the doorway of the room Scott and Boyd were working in and continued the song. "STANDING RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR!"

Stiles joined back in.

"I JUST WANT YOU FOR MY OWN." Stiles gestured to Boyd and then Derek motioned to Scott. "MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER KNOW! MAKE MY WISH COME TRUUUE!" They went even louder for the finale.  "YOU KNOW THAT ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS," Scott and Boyd reached out for them. They sang the next lyric even louder. "IS YOUUUUU!!!" Right as they did Scott and Boyd turned and reached for each other.

Stiles went to look down at Derek in disbelief, but when he did Derek looked up and sang the next lyric to him softly. "Is youuu." Stiles smiled back at him.

Promiscuous started playing.

"Derek get your ass down here! Batman had his turn, put him down! This is our song! You better not miss your next part!" She went immediately into singing. "You lookin' for a girl that'll treat you right, you lookin' for her in the daytime with the light."

Derek's singing was terrible while holding Stiles and running. "You might be the type if I play my cards right, I'll find out by the end of the night."

"You expect me to just let you hit it, but will you still respect me if you get it?"

"All I can do is try, give me-"

"DEREK! THE CEILI-"  

"One chance."

"THUNK THUNK THUNK!"

"OW!"

There was no more dancing while holding people in the air near ceiling fans.

Once Stiles was back on the ground they laughed as he held his head.

"Oh my gold that is gold Stilinski!"

"I'm sorry." Derek could barely get it out in between laughter.

"Laugh it up jackasses." Even Stiles was smiling.

They were all doubled over in laughter so long they had to restart it for Erica and Derek.

Later Scott and Stiles sang islands in the stream, while everyone rolled their eyes.

They just had finishing touches to do before they could start the movie. Derek was listening to his pack belt out the lyrics to happy, when he realized he was. He was truly happy in a way he hadn't been since the fire. He felt complete and at peace, like he had finally healed. Looking over to where Stiles was singing into a bottle scrubber, Derek felt it. All of this was because of him, he healed him. He made him want to be better. He made him want to deserve to be happy, to deserve him. He had never felt something as sure as he did that Stiles was meant for him. He was meant to be his, he knew it now.

He got up to make his way to the kitchen determined.

"I'm so happy happyyy!" They were surprisingly in tune as they all sang.

"Hey Alli your phone is ringing."

"I'm happy happy!"

The gleeful mood was cut through like a knife as Allison's chemo signals became discordant with theirs by flooding anxiety and discomfort.

The wolves noticed immediately.

Derek paused his walk to the kitchen.

Boyd turned down the music.

"Babe what's wrong?" Scott looked concerned.

"It's some old friends of my dad."

The room instantly was silent.

Isaac spoke. "Don't answer it!"

Peter came storming down, pissed. Derek guessed his own moment was interrupted. "I agree with the cub, don't answer it."

Her dad came trailing after. "What am I missing?"

"Dave and Maria."

Argent looked down at her phone with understanding.

"Hang up!" Jackson urged.

"Well maybe not. What if they want to see if she's in for a hunt, say for us? We could use the heads up!" Lydia spoke logically.

"They aren't like that! They're some of the good ones."

Peter spoke while edging away from Argent. "You want to answer it!"

Allison looked shocked. "NO!"

Scott came to her side. "She's not like that, you know that Peter. Back off."

Derek was overwhelmed with how fast the peace had turned to chaos. He didn't know what to say.

"Well then why hasn't she hung up!"

"They keep calling, it could be important."

"Not your problem. You picked your side princess, or did you ?" Peter snarled.

Argent pushed Peter back. "Cool it. If I remember correctly you also didn't have a side once."

The sheriff moved his hands up and down to calm them. "Settle down everyone."

"How can we?"

It was all too much. He felt like everything was crashing down. He felt the building crumble beneath him. He felt a warm hand slide into his. He looked and he saw Stiles. He held his eyes as he nodded up and down reassuringly.

Derek turned back to the argument. "Answer it."

All eyes turned to him.

"Derek are you sure? I won't if you don-"

"Answer it. I trust you." He nodded.

It was tense as she answered the call and spoke for several moments. When she hung up there was silence till Derek spoke again.

"Go."

Stiles pulled his hand from Derek's and stood in front of him. "What?! No! She didn't say anything. You told her to answer it! Alli what was it about?"

"Maria was in a hunting accident taking down a rogue omega a couple towns over. Dave needs to be with her, but they don't have anyone to watch the kids."

"Sure a rouge omega. Next thing you know we're classified as a rogue pack!"

"They aren't like that! They investigate. See both sides. They are good!" Allison defended herself from Peter again. "They wouldn't just kill someone." The last part she pleaded to Derek.

"Okay. I believe you. Go."

"Nephew! I-"

Derek roared. "Enough Peter! Even if they were those kinds of hunters, they are just children. Wondering where their mother is. Scared and alone. Are you willing to burn the innocent to punish the ones you think guilty?" They all listened the words, but what they heard was, 'Are you like the one that took everything from you?'

Peter settled and seemed ashamed.

Derek turned back to Allison. "Nous protègons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protèger eux-měmes. Go. Protect them."

"Thank you. You can tell me about the movie tomorrow." She hurriedly grabbed her things.

Stiles spoke up. "You're pack. We can't have pack movie night or the first night in the pack house without you. We'll do it tomorrow."

Argent and Allison left in a hurry, soon followed by Peter. Lydia and Jackson left with a mutter about extra time for college prep. Boyd and Erica offered to drop Issac and Cora off at the loft so Derek could stay behind and check a few things. The sheriff left after stealing another soda. It was just Scott, Stiles, and Derek. Once Scott left Derek could finally talk to Stiles.

"Oh shoot. Alli was my ride."

"Don't worry bro, I can drop you off."

"Thanks man."

Derek would talk to him tomorrow apparently.

The night stretched on, and tomorrow took forever to come. He laid awake wanting nothing more than to just talk to Stiles, but if it was right he could wait. It was right, he knew it.

Stiles took forever to get there, so by the time he did there was talk about going shopping to fill the empty pantry and cabinets. After they talked with Allison, they were off to the store.

"I swear to god if you guys don't decide on what cereal you want, nobody is getting any!"

"Why do we have to pick one, Stiles?" She whined.

"Because otherwise you eat all except half and open another one!"

"You're no even the one that's paying." Isaac brought out.

They all looked at Derek. He looked in between the pack and Stiles. "You can pick four cereals."

Stiles threw his hands up in the air.

"Does oatmeal count?" Scott asked.

Derek looked at Stiles as he crossed his arms. "Oatmeal counts." He looked slightly appeased.

By the time they finally got home it was early afternoon. Then they had to put everything away, so they were exhausted. They took a nap to test out the new couch. If Derek hadn't been awake almost all night he would've stayed awake, but slowly his eyelids drooped.

Derek awoke a couple hours later to see Stiles drooling on Malia. He sleepily smiled. Seeing him like that made him ache to talk to him, but it was right so he could wait.

They slowly woke up they wanted to start the new movies they got, once Stiles did he demanded the new Aladdin.

It was right. He could wait till the everyone fell asleep to talk to him.

"Hey  guys what if we did an all nighter? You now for the first night in the new house. Like a sleepover."

Derek was about kill Scott and shoot down the idea when-

"I've never had a sleepover." Curse Isaac and his adorable puppy eyes.

"Well me and Scott are pros so we'll teach you."

It was past midnight and Derek was crawling out of his skin. It didn't help that they were watching the notebook. Again! The sheriff, Argent, and Peter were long asleep, which he wished everyone but Stiles would follow. He went to the kitchen to get a drink.

"What do you really not like romantic movies? How could you not, we've only watched this one three times." Stiles started to pop another bag of popcorn.

Derek turned to give a tight smile. Oh god now that he was here this was so difficult. What if he said it wrong? What if Stiles didn't feel the same way anymore?

"What's wrong?"

Derek sighed and turned to lean back against the counter as he crossed his arms, which Stiles thought should be illegal for him when he's in joggers and a black tank top. His head hit the cabinets, but not before Stiles saw his face that means, 'I want to have an important conversation, but I'm emotionally constipated.'

With the quiet hum of the microwave Stiles settled against the counter opposite of Derek. "Are we going to talk about why you have constipated face? Orrr..."

"What would you say if I wanted to go for a run?" Derek's head was still tilted to the ceiling.

"I'd say that's something you normally would do even if I didn't know you, just because of what shape your body is in."

"No, not like a normal run."

"What? Do you mean now?" Stiles scoffed, but Derek didn't move.

"You mean now. Derek it is like two and pitch black out."

"The moon is out. And tonight is the best night for it. The only night."

"Why?"

"Well... I mean- uhh because I can feel my wolf pacing and it feels like it's clawing at my brain. I just- I have something on my mind and-and I need to know something. I need to do something, to prove something I've believed for a long time."

Stiles looked like he was trying his best to understand. "Okay. Then go. I'll make sure the pack is okay, and I'll clean up. I'll wait up to make sure you get ba-"

"No. No I don't want to go alone."

"Wait I don't understand? Do you want- Oh oh okay. You want the pack to come. This is like a wolf thing. Gotcha. Cuz for a second I thought-"

"No this-" Derek seemed reluctant to slowly interrupt.

"you meant me."

Derek stopped talking, so he continued.

"Which of course is crazy. I mean why would just you and I-"

Derek collected himself. "Stiles of course I meant the pack don't be stupid. And you're right it's a wolf thing."

"Okay. Yeah. Right. Alright let's get them then."

Derek looked like he was crazy. "Stiles it's the middle of the night they aren't going to want to just go out. It's cold out and they're in the middle of a movie."

Stiles rolled his eyes and scoffed with an air of superiority. "It's about tactics sourwolf. Also no one likes that movie except Lydia and Boyd. Watch and learn."

Stiles sauntered out of the room and Derek helplessly followed.

Stiles got the remote and clicked pause to be met with two disapprovals and a chorus of oh thank God.

"Alright pups I have an alternative to movie night. Who wants to-"

"Shut up Sti. It was finally my turn to pick a movie and I will not-"

"Who here wants to sign up for the mutiny against Lydia Martin's dictatorship over always doing The Notebook for her movie choice? Show of hands."

Lydia shot a glare at Jackson as everyone in the room except Boyd raised their hand.

"Okay. I propose a more exciting activity."

"Strip poker?"

"No, not exactly. Who wants to go for a run?"

Everyone looked at him like he had two fluffy ears and glowing eyes suddenly.

"What?"

"Oh come on it'll be fun!"

"Yeah sure whatever, but you Stilinski? You hate when coach makes us run more than literally everyone else in the school. And, oh I don't know, it's night."

"Well you know what they say, a good pitch black night is the best for a run."

"Sorry Stiles honey, but no. Now play my movie before I make you."

"Okay I didn't want to do this, but fine. Scott you're going. I could do this the long way and convince you, but we both know I will so just do it on good faith and awareness of the past. Allison you'll go because Scott is and because you love the woods at night. Derek's going so Isaac will. Erica you will go because you love me and because I agree to that favor you asked me, but I said no last Tuesday. Boyd you'll follow Erica. Malia you're always down for a run. And that leaves Lydia, you'll do this because of the business manager that I drove you to that night, neither of us will ever, and I mean ever, be able to forget that image, but I could've rejected your call but I didn't. So imagine this as pay back because you needed my car and for some reason to emotionally scar me. So Jackson will come because you do. Now are we all in agreement? Or do I need to repeat myself?"

Everyone sat in shock.

"And come on who hasn't wanted to go for a run as a pack in the middle of the night? It'll be fun. Like a secret party. Just us running with a thrill coursing through us. Now I'm going to run upstairs and grab my hoodie, last one ready to go and outside that door has to stay behind for five minutes and then catch up." Stiles dashed off.

They sat in silence.

"I don't know if that was scary or impressive." Isaac whispered slightly like maybe he could hear him through the floor.

"Both darling, but that's Batman for you."

Everyone still sat in quiet till Allison spoke, "Do you think he's joking? Or are we all going? Is he serious? He can't be serious."

Jackson spoke next, "This is so ridiculous. Why would we all just go running off into the woods in the middle of the night? It makes no sense. It would be stupid."

There was a shout. "I don't hear movement. Shall I make it ten? I've made it ten."

Derek could tell they needed a push. "You're right. You all wouldn't do such a thing. Especially with school tomorrow. What kind of childish, foolish group of kids would run in the woods this late?" Derek added one last thing. "It would be totally irresponsible."

Everyone scrambled up at once. There were shouts, shoves, and people slinging coats and scarves every which way. The door flung open as they all raced outside.

Lydia was the only one besides Stiles left. She walked up to him.

"Oh Derek? I totally know what you did there, but I am choosing to ignore it. M'kay?" She patted his cheek twice before turning and stalking out of the house.

Stiles was zipping up a coat from Derek's closet as he walked down the steps.

"Well that went well. I thought I would have more persuading to do once I got down here, but the elephant circus I heard down here was surprising and welcome. Thanks."

"Thank you, you're the one that did most of the convincing for me."

"No problem, but I do need forty bucks for the thing Erica asked me to do. Oh, and I hope you don't mind, I borrowed a jacket. Although I do hope this one isn't also the last thing you have left from a dead relative."

"Peter gave it to me so you're safe there. The bastard just won't die."

Stiles chuckled. "Alright well let's go. Don't want to be late."

"You already are. You're gonna be the last one out."

"Who says?"

Derek mock looked around. "They're all out there."

"You aren't."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure I can get out the door faster."

Stiles brazenly gave a wide knowing grin. "Really? Want to bet on that?"

"No magic?"

"No magic."

"Well then, I don't have to."

"Good man. Not betting on a losing horse."

"I fail to see my disadvantage." Derek smirked and crossed his arms.

"Really do you? Well, would you like to? You see, your disadvantage comes from the same place as my knowledge that I could get my hoodie on, search for the right coat, find my hat and gloves, tie my laces, and still get out that door before the last person."

"And where is that place, oh wise one?"

Stiles smirked and tapped his head. "I know you Derek. And I know one other thing."

"Really? Should we put that knowledge to the test?"

"Ready on three big guy?" They both were starting intently into each others eyes, both challenging the other. "One. Two. Three."

Derek was gone in a flash as Stiles fake flinched his own dash to the door.

Derek was leaning on the door frame with his forearms, having yet to cross the threshold. He could hear the pack a little ways off talking intently.

Derek finally heard a squeak in the floorboards that he didn't cause. "You see Derek, I know you..." Stiles ducked under his arm, and stayed close to him once he'd reached the other side. He gave him a fake coy smile. "And I knew you'd wait for me." Stiles patted his chest twice before turning away from him with a flirty wink. Stiles called without turning back, "Besides, my alpha has speed. You'll catch up, won't you?"

Derek closed his red eyes and took a few calming breaths before heading to his car.

When he finally got to the group Jackson asked, "So what? Are we just all going to run? What about the humans? I like winning, but up against Stilinski it's not even a game."

Stiles shot back. "It's not a game. It's pack bonding."

Derek spoke up. "Well actually it is a sort of game." At that the pack perked up and looked interested. "There will be two groups, and each team is made of pairs. One group will be seekers and one group will be hiders. And-"

"Okay it sounds really great so far and sorry for interrupting, but like what are those?" Stiles pointed to what Derek was holding.

"I was getting there. These are occaeco. They ar-"

"I might not speak archaic Latin, but I speak regular Latin and know what those plants and herbs are for. Occaeco. It means I make blind." Stiles looked puzzled even if he had figured out his question.

"Right. They are occaeco, mystical necklaces used in many rituals and practices."

Scott looked wary. "Um Derek, if you were looking for a way to make this totally tense and awkward, you found it dude."

"I am not putting something super witchy, that literally means to make blind around my neck."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Jackson my family and I used these all the time. My four year old cousin wore one for godsake. It's a family tradition, and no one has ever gone blind from it..." Derek suddenly looked contemplative. "Well I guess there was my great great uncle, what was his name? Jacob? No, Jack? Jackson that was it."

Everyone felt the shift in the air at his cousin being mentioned, and even jokingly.

"Okay fine."

"I promise they are harmless. They just make you undetectable to werewolves. They mask your scent, and muffle your heartbeat."

"What? Derek! Don't you think we could've used one of these when, oh I don't know, the alpha pack was attacking us!"

"Oh gee Stiles I never thought of that." He deadpanned. "They take a lot of time and energy to make. You need certain ingredients, and they have to be made with intent for a certain purpose. They're meant more just for fun though."

"What is this game called?" Erica asked with a competitive glint in her eyes. She always knew the right thing to ask.

"I-it's a complicated Latin name."

"Sourwolf I don't even need to know your heartbeat to know that was a lie."

Derek sighed. "It's called alphas and betas."

Snickers could be heard in the darkness.

"Like a werewolf cops and robbers? Oh my god this is the best!" Erica squealed.

"Shut up, and pair up. There should be at least one wolf per team. It should be with someone you are deeply connected with. Someone you think you could find even if you lost all of your senses."

Talking and arguing ensued.

"Hey bud do you want to be on my team?"

"Scott, I appreciate what you are doing here trying to be a considerate best friend by making sure I'm not the last kid picked for dodge ball, but if you and Allison were any more perfect for each other I'd throw up."

"Are you sure?"

"Go Scott."

"Me and Alli are a team."

"So are Jackson and I."

Derek handed them out as teams were called.

"Team sluts is a go. Sorry batman. Boyd also would like everyone to know he was not consulted on the name just subjected to it."

Cora spoke up. "We have odd numbers and I've played before, so I'll be the omega. If there's odd numbers the omega goes around trying to find the hiders before the seekers can."

Isaac started to speak. "I'm with-"

"Stiles is with me." Everyone looked with shocked faces to where they heard Derek's voice. Derek always paired with Isaac, so he didn't feel left out.

"But-" Derek brushed a reassuring arm up his.

"Isaac you're with Malia. You've been studying a lot together lately, right?"

They didn't need to see in the dark to know what red cheeks Isaac had, or how upset Cora was.

"Hey sourwolf, if you were looking for subtle you found it. And kept on driving right past it for several miles."

"Ugh whatever. As long as he wears the necklace."

"Did you make one for hi-" Stiles started.

"I knew she wouldn't wear it." Derek answered.

"Okay the game is won when the first team to find their teammate roars, but it continues till all pairs are found. Once you find your pair or are found you and your partner will head back to the house. If anyone gets lost take off your occaeco so we can find you."

Allison was messing with a necklace. "How do we figure out who's going to the alphas to find the betas in each pair? Does the alpha have to be a wolf?"

"That's not how the game works. You get your title at the end. The alphas are the first person to find someone and the last person found. The rest are betas. The seeker doesn't have to be a wolf."

More arguing ensued for several minutes.

"Okay is everyone final in their decisions? Okay great. Allison, Malia, Jackson, Erica, and Derek are the seekers, and me, Scott, Lydia, Boyd, and Isaac are the hiders. Hiders get a staggering twenty minute head start, thirty in my case."

"What?"

"No fair!"

"We never agreed to that rule."

"No ifs, ands, or buts. Derek was the last one out of the house. I didn't even know the game when I said it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pleased. Alright go!" With no further warning Stiles was off, quickly followed by the rest.

Stiles could feel his breath hammering out in harsh big breaths, the cold felt like knives with every lung full of air.

He kept moving swiftly through the woods, even though his legs felt on fire. He had heard Malia and Jackson's roars and Allison's yell as they started their hunts earlier. In what felt like seconds later Derek let out a booming roar that caused Stiles' feet to carry him even faster with a thrill. He should've been panicked, but he was darting and twisting through the woods with a focused purpose.

He heard a, "Erica, Boyd is over here!" before snickering.

"Malia you ass! That's not how the game works!" Boyd's slowed steps turned to a dead run as Lydia yelled.

"What? I thought it was predators vs prey?"

There was a rapidly departing stoic voice, "No, that's not how it works."

Stiles held in his laughter as he continued running and leaving fake paths.

Everything was quiet for awhile. It had been awhile since Stiles had heard any hoots or hollers from the pack. Earlier he had heard a startled yell from Scott and then Allison's yell once again. He thought she would be the first one to find her pair, she'd been tracking since she could walk. He was surprised when Erica's victorious roar cut through the air. Malia had survived on her own so her roar, awhile later, came as no surprise. He had seen Cora go by from where he was hiding behind a tree and he had held his breath. She followed one of the fake paths, and he let it out. Stiles smiled thinking he might even have a shot at being the last found, and how mad Jackson would be.  He wondered how Derek was doing.

Derek could feel the frustration in the form of fangs biting into his lip. He couldn't find Stiles. He couldn't help losing control. He heard Allison, then Erica, and even Malia. Malia and Isaac weren't even close! Isaac was only studying with her because they both needed the help and Cora seemed to pay more attention to him then! Derek had asked Stiles to do this to find answers, but now he was wishing he just stayed home. The game was a great cover for what he actually was trying to find out, but he wasn't ready to lose this badly. It hurt. He was so confused. He had been so sure before, so this was like a slap to the face. Maybe he was wrong.

Jackson's roar sounded. Derek lashed out and punched a nearby tree. He felt tears of frustration prick his eyes. His anger settled back to confusion and anguish.

Derek looked back up to the sky for what felt like the hundredth time. "Please. Just if you aren't leading me to him, stop. Please just stop making me think he's mine. I thought he was mine? Either show me to him or show me the truth. I want you to lead me to him. I might not deserve him, but I want him. He knows me. He knows my truth. Let him be my path or let me leave this one that keeps leading me to him."

"Mom?"

"Yes my darling?"

"Are moonmatches actually real?"

"I think so. Your dad is mine. Why sweetheart?"

"Do you think I will ever find my moonmatch?"

"Yes. I think you will. Why?"

"Because I've tried and I don't think I'll ever be able to find them. How do you know how to follow the moon when you find dad?" Derek's already quiet, sleepy voice turned to a whisper. "Does dad ever take off his occaeco so you can find him faster?"

"No he doesn't. It's not about knowing how, it's about knowing you will. And I'll let you know one other secret. You don't follow just the moon."

Derek's little eyebrows scrunched up.

"What do I tell you to say if you're scared, unsure, or alone?"

"The sun, the moon, and the truth."

"That's right little cub. The sun that lights the way, the moon that reflects the path, and the truth which carries the weight of the distance. One very important truth."

"What?" Derek covered a yawn with a tiny hand.

"I can't tell you that. Your truth is different than my truth. Just as your moon is different. I can tell you that you will find them though. I know you will. And my cub I promise you when you find them, you will know too. My little beacon of the sun. Your eyes shine too bright to not guide them home to you. You will find them and they will know your truth unlike any other ever could." Talia smoothed his blankets. "You will know when the time is right. Now sleep my little cub."

Derek was still looking at the sky as he remembered his mother all those moons ago.

What was his truth? What else would he follow if not the moon?

Derek was so frustrated. He pulled on his hair and squeezed his head. Why couldn't he think! Why didn't he know by now?! He self-deprecatingly thought that in his position Stiles would know.

Wait.

Stiles would know.

His mother said he would know who his mate was, but his mate was the one that would know the truth not him.

But then how was he supposed to find Stiles if Stiles is the one that knows his truth?

How was he supposed to find someone that is the person that knows where they are? It was all so complicated and he just wanted to find Stiles. But he couldn't find Stiles because he didn't know his truth. Even if according to his mother he didn't need to know his truth because Stiles knew it. By that logic he wouldn't need to find Stiles either because he-

Because he would find himself. Stiles would find himself.

This whole time he shouldn't have been looking for the moon to guide him, or the truth. He should've been following Stiles, and like he said at the doorway, 'I know you Derek.' Stiles knew him. He didn't need to find the moon, the truth, or even Stiles. This wasn't about finding out where Stiles would go, this was about where Derek would find him. Stiles would go somewhere Derek would.

Derek sprinted off in a dead run.

Trees were blurring by and branches were trying to slow his path. His chest was heaving. Finally his feet slowed once he saw a familiar place.

He heard a familiar voice too. One so familiar he would swear it was his.

"If that is anything other than Derek, you might as well eat me now because I'm not running. If it is, what took you so long?" Stiles spun around with a grin. Derek had never in his life been so happy to find such a smug bastard. Stiles grin fell. "You're hurt."

"You're here."

"I asked you first." Stiles had a fond smile.

Derek smirked. "Neither of us asked a question."

"Okay smart ass. Why are you hurt?"

"Because I couldn't wait any longer to do this." Like the glue keeping his feet in place had magically disappeared, Derek ran to Stiles.

Stiles held his breath waiting for the moment his lips would finally meet Derek's.

Derek wrapped him in a hug.

Stiles felt himself deflate. "Not that this isn't nice because this is really nice, but I thought you were going to kiss me. You know how badly I want you, so if we could not play with my feelings like that it'd b-"

"Stiles."

"Yes?"

"I want you too. But not like that. Not right now, not for this moment. I don't want you in the big grand moments, I want you in the small ones. The ones where you're quoting Captain America like breathing. The ones where you settle my pack by knowing the right words, the ones you settle me with the right words. The ones you drool on Malia, or bribe Erica. I don't want you in one grand ephemeral beginning, I want you in one long amazing middle, and when the end comes I'll want you in that too. I don't want you in one big finally there kiss. I want you in a hug that means I'm finally home. I don't want the momentary bliss of feeling your lips against mine. I want to hold you so tight we forget we aren't one, that we are actually just two people wound so closely together we forget that we are meant to be anything other than together. I want you. Forever. Not just now. But if you don't I und-"

Stiles gripped him impossibly closer. "I built a house with you. How much more forever could you get, stupid."

Derek let out a chuckle.

"I will love you Derek. For one long amazing middle. I can wait to kiss you until you're rea-"

Derek sweetly kissed his lips. "I'm ready."

Stiles understood now. He thought he did before, but he does now. That one small moment was worth ten thousand big dramatic kisses in the rain. That kiss told him Derek would be there always. It said Derek would take care of him. It was a kiss that said I want to spend everyday of my life rebuilding myself so you have a home for your heart. It told him Derek would lazily kiss his neck when he was mad he didn't put the milk away on sleepy Saturday mornings. It said I love you in a way that takes years to feel the magnitude of its intensity. It said to him, I will love you in little bits for the rest of our lives to show you that even broken down so small our love is still the greatest thing either of us will ever experience.  

Stiles never believed that there was such a thing as too much of a good thing. He hauled him in for another kiss. A kiss that said I will love you every day of my life. I will start loving you today, and I will never stop. It told him I love you when you laugh. I will love you in the small moments to such an extent that you think they are the big moments. It said I will spend my life being loud so you will never know the pain of silence again. It said there are not enough stars in the sky to thank for the privilege of being able to love you. It said I will never stop loving you in big grand ways because you deserve it, and I want to show you you do. It said I will never stop loving you in big ways in small moments. It said I will never stop loving you this intensely and I want every time you are quietly reading a book while rubbing my feet to know.

When they got back all of the pack was asleep in the living room.

Stiles smiled at them. Derek smiled at him.

"Should we wake them to tell them to go upstairs?"

"No, let them sleep."

"Yeah that's a good idea. They're already goi- Why are you staring at me like that?"

Derek smiled. "Nothing, just our pack, our house. I feel like I've waited all my life to finally have you." Derek kissed Stiles' hand. "Ours. Finally ours."

Stiles smiled back. "I feel like I've always been yours. I was just waiting for you."

"Now you have me."

"No. Forever I have you."

"Alright yoda."

"Love you I do."

Derek laughed quietly so he didn't wake the pack. He pulled him towards the couch and the sleeping pack that occupied it. Derek pulled Erica away from the side of the couch and slid into the spot, then he pulled her back to his side. He motioned Stiles closer. Stiles brought a blanket and covered them all after laying on top of Derek.

"Goodnight yoda I could spend the rest of my life loving."

"A goodnight my darling, you will have."

"Goodnight Stiles. I love you." Derek kissed him on his forehead.

"Goodnight Derek. I love you."

This was a hefty bitch. Sorry it is late but this beast had a mind of its own just ask @halevetica​ whom without I would’ve gone absolutely batshit. Thank you as always my darling. I hope you liked it!!!

#sterekweek2019 #sterek #sterekweek #sterek fanfiction #sterek fluff #stiles x derek #stiles stilinski #spark stiles #derek x stiles #magic!stiles #pack #hale pack #pack house #hale house #pack house reno #hale house reno #just a lot of reno #like honestly this is just a reno fic #renovation #i did way too much research for how basic this is #slow burn #werewolves #werewolf #derek #derek hale #cora hale #peter hale #vernon boyd #erica reyes #scott mccall

[the-cookie-of-doom]

What is one of the most memorable fics you have read?? What about the most memorable you have written??

GOD okay, yes, there are a few, and I really should make a rec list some day... but off the top of my head:

Croatoan by TheDamnRiddler I cannot recommend this fic enough; it’s platonic/gen, and it is the scariest thing I have ever read. I didn’t understand how horror novels could be scary until I read this fic. One scene actually kept me up for almost a week straight, it’s amazing. I had to read it all in one night with the lights on because I could not put it down, and I occasionally go back to it. 

Under the Songbird’s Wing by mia6363 ( @mia6363 ) This fic hurts me, okay, but it’s wonderful. It deals with themes of sensory deprivation, which is something I love, especially in regards to Peter. It also has some really great worldbuilding/backstory for Satomi and Deucalion and werewolf culture in general, and a really great take on the True Alpha myth. 

Your Vision Borrows Mine by hazyascent This is a Sterek Post-Nogitsune fic (sidenote, I change my answer to the last ask; Post-Nogitsune is my favorite AU to write ;_; ) And it’s so, so sad, but also a really beautiful fic. And I really love the alternate endings. It’s a difficult fic to read because it deals with child abuse, but I really love it, and I’ve probably reread it almost 10 times. 

Anthracite by LupusScintilla This is THE fic to read in the Sterek fandom, I stg. I’ve never seen a fic go more in depth to what we could have had from the show; there is so much excellent world building with the werewolves and magic, actual pack dynamics and traditions, and the character relationships are amazing. 

Everyone Around Here Gets a Little Strange by skoosiepants Okay. This is the fic that I go read when I just feel awful, because it is so fucking cute. And it has almost all of my favorite things: Sterek, Stargate Atlantis AU, MITCH is there as Stiles’ doppelganger and that whole dynamic is just wonderful. It’s my favorite, I adore it with my entire soul. 

And finally, because I meant to only post a few fics but then while going through my bookmarks I found MORE...

Painted Wooden Letters by DiscontentedWinter ( @thisdiscontentedwinter ) Everything Disco writes is wonderful, it is known. I would actually post like. Almost all of her works, but this is probably my... third or fourth favorite (After Sanctuary, Hunger & Empty), and it was actually somewhat of the catalyst to me writing Neverland. More specifically, the scene where Stiles gets caught/picked up by John after running away again as a teenager, and Stiles says he wants John to help him. It really whet my apetite for runaway AUs I must say. Now I have a bunch of runaway/drifter AUs lurking in my drafts TT_TT

As for the most memorable I have written... I have no idea. I think probably Estranged, because it represents a lot of things for me, I reached a lot of miles stones through that fic. But for my previous fandom, I would say the most memorable is Bonding Time, since everyone refuses to let me forget it xD

[batwynn]

Suicide Bones

Sterek drabble about being overwhelemed to the point of breaking, and the ‘Maybe We Can Make It Out.’ 

Trigger warnings: Suicidal thoughts/ actions, depression, anxiety, ADHD/ADD, death, body horror.  His mother sometimes said he was a the wrong size skeleton inside his flesh suit, to which his father warned that ‘this is going to shape his sense of humor in weird ways.’ He was right, obviously, but so was she. 

Stiles never fits in his skin. 

He‘a too long, too weird, too wild. He jumps from too high, digs in the dirt, sings too loudly, and knows entirely too much about everything before he was ten years old. Sometimes, late at night when his brain refuses to shut up, he bends his knees as far as he can just to watch his skin stretch over his bones. Sometimes he wants it to rip open, so he could be free. To be fully himself, and not feel smothered all the time. But it doesn’t, and he goes back to listing the elements of the periodic table until he falls asleep.

It isn’t until his mom is buried deep in the dirt he used to play in that he realizes there is one sure-fire way he can escape the flesh. One absolute in life that could solve all his misfit problems. The only issue is that he has people that need him to stay. They need his bones encased in skin and muscle, tendons and fat. They need his bad singing voice, and his endless curiosity. It keeps his dad going, it keeps Scott safe, it keeps his teachers happy, it makes the barista smile, it keeps his neighbor’s garden watered. 

So grit your teeth and stay, Stiles. Ignore the growing pains and all the wrong, wrong, wrong. 

He throws himself into helping. He pushes his face right into the snarling, rabid face of death and smirks. Stiles fights his instincts every day, to force that stupid fight or flight to land firmly on fight every time. Every time. He can’t back down, he can’t stop. He has to help. That’s his purpose. That’s who he is: Ill-fitted bones and sarcastic remarks. But, god, he will fucking help you. 

He will, and he does. 

He thinks he does? 

“I don’t need your help, Stiles!” 

“I think you do, wolf-boy,” he sneers, flicking the map stretched across the table in front of them. Derek outright snarls, which means he’s either about to give in or throw Stiles out on his ass. 

“I know you have some sort of issue with your self-worth,” Derek begins, voice not at all soft. 

Stiles narrows his eyes, daring him to continue. “It’s funny how this didn’t come up when you needed me to use mountain ash.” 

 “Because that’s when you were useful!” 

Stiles rolls his eyes back as well as his head. The ceiling is dark and stained with old factory grease. He wonders, for a brief second, why Derek resides in these kinds of places. They’re like prisons, where he’s guarding himself. 

“I can help you find Erica and Boyd,” he says at last, drawing his attention back to Derek. “I know this town better than anyone.” 

Derek‘s voice grows quiet, “my family founded this town.” 

“And a lot has changed since then. I know it how it is now.” 

Whatever fight was in him seems to fade to the usual rumbling discontent that’s always present as Derek looks over the map again. See, this is why Stiles volunteered to help him find them. He doesn’t even like Isaac, Erica went mean, Boyd barely acknowledged him, and he and Derek have a very low tolerance for one another. But right now, Derek’s stupidly pretty eyes are looking at buildings he doesn’t know and new streets, and showing how hopeless he’s really feeling. Derek doesn’t think they’ll find them. 

“Okay,” Derek says at last.  In his heart, Stiles believes they will. That’s why he’s here. That’s why he’s helping. His bones, though. They already ache with the loss. 

Stiles scrunches up his nose, and points to a potential area on the map. He’s ignoring his bones, for now. 

“Okay.” 

*

It’s not when Scott hurts him—not the first time, no, but the worst time—that he realizes things have changed. It’s not when Derek-STUPID–Hale has another plan fall through that would have worked if he had just listened to Stiles. It’s not when some other creature is riding his bones and damaging him and everyone around him for fun. No, it’s not even when an awful lot of his friends die. It’s much later, when they save that stupid stump, save Scott, save the town, save everyone they can. It’s not until Derek leaves and comes back all soft-looking, and god his anger issues weren’t as hot as he thought because that fucking sweater—

It’s then that he realizes that everyone has grown up from needing him. Scott’s doing his own thing now, and hasn’t called for Stiles to go over his homework or love letter or help deal with a monster in months. His dad has been dating, actually dating, and isn’t home as often as he used to be. He doesn’t call up to check on Stiles twice a day, or demand Stiles give him an idea of his whereabouts as often as he used to. His teachers—well, they (mostly) know he’ll be fine in college. He went through hell and still got A’s. The neighbor moved during the first wave of wolfy-like problems. That barista, well, she was killed two years ago. One of the ones they couldn’t save. 

And Derek? He’s so much better. Really, he’s better. He went out and healed, and now he’s building something for himself in the town his family founded and died in like it’s just fine and normal and—

Stiles stretches, feels his scars ache. His bones pop and protest inside him. Soon now. Soon, he promises them. 

Because no one needs him anymore, and he’s built up a value based on that need. Now it’s all useless facts at one am and tired—so tired—promises to himself to find a vocation where all that he is will be applicable. Where he can weather the aches and misshapen bones because it will be worth it, again. But there’s nothing. College seems pointless, busy work and knowledge he’s already long since devoured. A job—where? He’s such a mess he doesn’t trust himself to cook at home anymore, never mind providing food or service to other people. Will he break down and cry at the first rude customer? Will he hallucinate his way through a shift at Home Depot? When will they notice? When will they see that he’s a skeleton of what he used to be? 

When will they see he isn’t a person anymore? 

Soon, he mutters to his bones. Soon.

*

“Have you talked to anyone?” Is the first thing he says when he finds Stiles sitting on the stump with a bottle of whiskey stolen from his dad’s dusty liquor cabinet. 

Derek, looking settled and grounded in ways Stiles hasn’t seen since he was nine or ten years old. Those few times he ran into the younger Hales in town before most of them died. Derek, his eyes actually honest on the first try instead of the second, third, or fourth.  

Honestly worried. 

“Talk to who?” Stiles slurs, cracking an easy smile that sends pain all the way through him. 

“Someone,” Derek replies as he sits down next to him. “Anyone.” 

“Why should I? Why?” 

Derek stares at him without answering. Stiles wants to push his face closer, jut his jaw out and fight. 

“Why, Derek?” He challenges, not looking away. 

“Because... it helped me,” he says, sounding sure and steady. “Because I was just pushing myself through whatever shitty thing happened next and never looking back unless I needed the anger to fuel me.” 

Stiles lets out a shaky breath and looks away. He can’t say anything now, not like that. 

“It’s not easy, either,” Derek continues, calmer than Stiles has ever heard him. “I clammed up a lot; lashed out even more. I hated everything and everyone more and more until I wanted to kill random strangers I saw on the street with no provocation.” 

Stiles raises a brow to himself, because yeah, that’s a bit different than the Derek who kind of died to save everyone more than a few times. But maybe not so different than how he’s feeling right now. Derek lets out a huff of a laugh, and Stiles feels something hard and bitter inside him start to melt. Just a little. 

“More than that, though, I just wanted to die. I wanted god or whoever to kill me already, and stop pushing me to do it myself. Put the blood on their hands for once, not mine.” 

Stiles pulls his lower lip between his teeth and bites down. He’s not going to talk. He won’t. 

“But it never happened. And stupid shit keeps happening, but...” Derek trails off for a moment, “But I can handle it a little better now. I can drop my mom’s favorite cup and it sucks—it still sucks—but it’s not the last straw anymore. It doesn’t make me want to claw my throat out, or scream until I lose my voice.” 

Stiles hiccups quietly and tries to cover it up by taking a swig from the bottle. He refuses to look at the asshole opening up next to him. He can’t do this, he’s too tired. He can’t open up again and spend the time, and effort, and love it takes to matter to someone and be dropped like he’s nothing. Not again. Please, not again. 

“I’m not telling you this because I think we’re exactly the same,” Derek continues, sounding less solid and more sad now. “I know we’ve lived different lives and lost in different ways. It’s going to be different no matter what, I’ve found out.” 

“Why?” Stiles croaks out. 

“You know why.” 

Stiles glares into the surrounding trees and hates himself a little bit more for rising to the bait. Of course he fucking knows why, but it doesn’t matter. 

“It doesn’t matter,” he mutters out loud. “None of it does.” 

“Why not?” Derek asks quietly. 

Stiles gestures broadly to their surroundings, to the giant stump they’re sitting on, to himself. He can’t find the words, really, to sum up everything that’s led him here. There’s too much bad, and not enough good. Too much bad, too fast and too often. Too much everything. 

“That’s not an answer,” Derek says, and Stiles finally turns to glare at him. 

“Not everything is so fucking literal,” he snaps. 

Derek shrugs it off. “Sometimes it is.” 

“Then tell me what makes it worth it, okay? Tell me why dropping my mom’s favorite cup after most of her stuff got destroyed is shitty, but it’s fine,” he spits, his insides burning. “I should just be fine about all this shit and smile through it.” 

Derek shakes his head, and says, “That’s not what I’m saying at all.” 

“Then what?” 

“You don’t have to smile, Stiles. You don’t have to be fine. You can be upset and hurting, or angry... I’m still angry, you know?” Derek smiles ruefully and looks away again. “but I needed to talk about it all to realize what was external and what was internal. I didn’t even think about what I could fix versus what I couldn’t. I didn’t know there even was stuff I could fix.” 

Stiles keeps glaring, but that hard part of him is melting out his eyes and nose now. He hates that. He hates crying because it doesn’t do anything for him. It never did any good. 

Derek doesn’t seem to mind that he’s dribbling all over himself now, or that he’s still not opening up. Stiles doesn’t know what that means, or what he’s supposed to do now. 

“Find a therapist,” Derek says, turning back to him with a soft smile. “And remember not to feel guilty for unloading on them. They’re being paid for that.”

  “I d-don’t know if I can afford that,” Stiles chokes out, half laughing, half crying. What a fucking mess. 

“I could cover it?” Derek offers tentatively, almost as if he knows Stiles will refuse. 

But. 

But maybe he won’t. Not this time. Not when he’s this close to cutting his awkward, aching bones out to be free. 

“O-okay,” he sniffles, wiping his nose on the end of his sleeve. “I’m t-tired, though.” 

“Yeah,” Derek says, and reaches a hand out. Stiles takes it. He doesn’t know what else to do. “Yeah, I know. Put some of that weight on someone else for a little while. See if it helps.” 

Stiles looks at their hands, linked there between them like that’s normal and fine. “What if it doesn’t?” 

“Then we come back here and brainstorm some more.” 

Stiles watches at Derek’s thumb brushes over his hand. It should probably be huge, but for now it’s just fine. “Y-yeah?” 

“It’s what we’re good at,” Derek replies. He smiles at him. “Okay?” 

Stiles hesitates. His bones say he won’t make it. They’ll end up here again, messier and more misshaped. But he’s tired and someone is finally noticing. Someone is looking and seeing that he’s being crushed under  the weight of everything. His heart, though. His heart says maybe. Maybe. Maybe. 

“Okay,” he says. “Okay.” *

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Call: 1-800-273-8255

Or  Text HELLO to 741741 for the crisis text line. 

#Sterek #Depression #Teen Wolf #stiles stilinski #Derek Hale #drabble #tw: body horror #Tw: Suicidal thoughts #tw: Depression

[fantasticworldoffanfics]

DEREK/STILES

                                            ——— (part 6) ——–

Fandom: TeenWolf

Even a longer list of fanfics :)….

top favourites, more top favourites, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5

Down in Flames Series

Author: standinginanicedress

Part 1: So, Hey, Let’s Be Friends

Summary: Stiles has been fucking obsessed with famous werewolf author Derek Hale since he was fifteen years old and the first book came out. Like, embarrassingly obsessed. Like, had a poster of the guy hanging up on the wall above his bed, obsessed. When Hale moved back to Beacon Hills, Stiles just figured he'd hole himself up in his rebuilt mansion, writing his fourth book, never to fulfill Stiles' endless daydreams about running into him and having the alpha fall madly in love with him.It's completely fucking improbable and nonsensical, would never happen in a million years, so of course Stiles somehow winds up in a no-strings-attached agreement with his literary idol, all while eating chicken McNuggets out of his pocket at random intervals and plotting the demise of the McFlurry mixer.

Part 2: How This One Ends

Summary: “And Stiles,” he's addressed directly for the first time since this whole thing started, and when all eyes land on him this time, he just squeezes Derek's hand and squares his shoulders. He can act like this doesn't bother him. Derek can do it, and Derek's here. He'll be okay. “...how does it feel to know that millions upon millions of people are going to read intimate, private details about your life with Derek?”“It doesn't bother me,” Stiles says with a shrug, going for nonchalant and feeling like he's doing it pretty well. “I knew what I was getting into. Besides – everyone wants Derek Hale to write about them, right?”

Part 3: If It’s Torture

Summary: “I’m – I’m working on my next book.”That, out of everything, anything on the face of the god damn planet, is not what Stiles had expected Derek to say. After everything that’s happened, after Spark and the mess that it was, and after Derek firing then rehiring Lydia, and after Derek pointedly avoiding his office study for months upon months, and after Stiles not hearing a word about any new projects, never seeing Derek writing anything down… Stiles would have thought that aliens invading was a more viable possibility than Derek writing a new book.He’s made his money, more than anyone else needs in a lifetime, and Stiles thought that meant that he would be done. Maybe Stiles forgot that money isn’t why Derek does what he does, after all, and that’s not fair to him. “Oh,” Stiles says, because he honestly can’t think of anything, not a single thing else, to say.

Red Velvet and Fur (A Hanky Code For Gay Werewolves)

Author: orphan_account

Summary: In which Stiles in unrepentant in his (somewhat accidental) quest to get Derek to knot him, Derek is oblivious and sexually frustrated, and Lydia is the incredibly attractive devil on Stiles' shoulder who has nothing but terrible, amazing ideas. Who knew there was a hanky code for werewolves?

Except What Has Been Forgotten

Author: suzvoy

Summary: In which Stiles wakes up with a shiny new case of amnesia and it's immediately obvious that his best friend is lying to him - which might have something to do with the (hot) guy who keeps appearing his room. What the hell has he been doing for the past 18 months?

Seaside Framed in Glass

Author: mrecookies

Summary: "I'm going to name you Derek," Stiles announces, still looking cross-eyed at the puppy in his hands. It's looking back with a confused and sad expression, probably asking Stiles in some baby dog language why it's being named after a brooding werewolf. "It's because you're always sulking, even though I got you a nice basket and biscuits and everything," he says sternly. The puppy whines and hangs its head.

Is That a Gun in Your Pocket, or are You Just Happy To See Me

Author: goodnight_tinyhumans

Summary: Stiles might be a little sick of unrequited feelings or lust or whatever. The situation with Derek- Deputy Hale, he has to keep reminding himself, because he’s never actually told Stiles his name and that’s getting into creeper territory pretty quickly- has gone past the merely-wanting-to-jump-his-bones stage and well into die-hard-crush, complete with inappropriate fantasies involving handcuffs and roleplaying. And the problem with that, of course, is that he tends to resolve situations like these one of two ways: going out and getting drunk, or staying home and getting drunk.

You Don't See Straight

Author: annber

Summary: Stiles finds himself in a secret werewolf community to participate in a mating run. Sterek happens. Side OC's.

Devoted

Author: Jerakeen

Summary: Stiles expected the incubus to be something ethereal, otherworldly, inhumanly beautiful. This guy looks like a lawyer.

**sidenote: you need an AO3 account to view this fanfic

Practice Makes Perfect Series

Author: blacktofade

Part 1: Practice Makes Perfect 

Summary: In his sophomore year, Stiles gets dragged to lacrosse tryouts by Scott and ends up practising alongside the senior captain, Derek Hale. Stiles just wants to live long enough to become a junior.

Part 2: Picture Perfect

Summary Two years later, Stiles and Derek are still together, but there's 200% more sex and too many miles between them.

**sidenote: you need an AO3 account to view this fanfic

Bodice Ripper ‘Verse Series

Author: Stoney

Part 1: The One With The Scottish Wolf Lord

Summary: The Hales are alive and a royal family in Scotland; Stiles is the waif sent to work in the kitchens, elevated to personal attendant/servant to the young Lord Hale. Who happens to be a wolf who can't shift back.

Part 2: The One Where Stiles Reads The Scottish Wolf Lord

Summary: This is about the actual book and how Stiles - canon-compliant universe set in the future - is reading it in Derek's loft. Derek is very curious as to why Stiles would be interested in such a thing.

Part 3: The One Where They're Forced To Marry in Ye Olden Times

Summary: Due to the destruction of House Hale and the debts incurred in their survival and search for justice, the King (blah blah, make believe world) arranges a marriage between Derek and Stiles, eliminating all debts the Hales may owe. Derek is very unhappy. Stiles is pretty shocked at who he's being matched with, but he's certainly not unhappy. It's pretty clear from the start Derek doesn't share that feeling.Stiles passes the time by hunting with his falcon, Derek broods. Until...

Part 4: The One With The Mail-Order Bride

Summary: Wolves aren't meant to be alone. Laura tells Derek this repeatedly. Which... is why Derek knows he's losing his mind, as Laura has been dead for more than six years. Wolves aren't meant to be alone.And so he sends away for a companion. JUST for a companion, not for a mate. The universe, however, has a different plan in store for him.

**these are more separate stories than a continuous fic

A Strong Heart and a Nerve of Steel

Author: lupinus, uraneia

Summary: Stiles and Derek wake up married in Vegas. Well, they would have if it was legal.In which Stiles is the president's son, Derek is his bodyguard, and Papa President orders them to pretend to be in love for the sake of gay rights. Or in which uraniea and lupinus combine meeting the Hales, President Papa, waking up married, fake/pretend relationship, First Boy Stiles, and bodyguard Derek into one fic.

**sidenote: you need an AO3 account to view this fanfic

The Importance Of Turning Around Three Times Before Lying Down

Author: otter

Summary: It’s like this dog has walked out of all of Stiles’ childhood dreams and into the real world just because Stiles wanted it hard enough. He is the most awesome dog ever, and he and Stiles have a bond. A deep, unbreakable bond because this animal is his soul mate, obviously. Now he just has to convince the dog of that.

Pack Up, Don't Stray

Author: the_deep_magic

Summary: AU – Werewolves are an enslaved underclass, collared and tagged by human masters. Detective Stilinski’s on duty the night they bring in an untagged stray.

(Sacred) In the Ordinary

Author: idyll

Summary: The Pack, after college, graduate school and the starting of careers, comes back to Beacon Hills. Nothing's gotten less complicated after all this time.Based on a kink meme prompt that grew legs and got serious.

We Are So Intimately Rearranged

Author: secondstar

Summary: A High School AU where there are no werewolves and no hunters. Stiles is getting ready for his senior year when he meets Derek at the coffee shop he works at.

The Sanctuary

Author: chase_acow

Summary: Stiles runs away during his first heat, right into the waiting and ambiguously scary arms of the Alpha's nephew, Derek Hale. He doesn't have any choice except to submit, but along the way, he digs up a mystery that threatens his family and even the town's safety.

The Hazards (and Benefits) of Channel-Surfing on Friday Nights

Author: herbeautifullie

Summary: He's watching TV over the edge of his laptop when Scott brings up the fact that he's still a lonely loser in his third year of college without a boyfriend which, while being completely true, is really fucking unappreciated. It sparks a desperate need to save what little manhood Stiles has and, before he knows it, he's blurting, "I totally have a boyfriend, dude. Shows how much you know."How was he supposed to know Scott would doubt him? It's not Stiles' fault that someone named Derek Hale really exists. It's also not his fault when his lie grows legs and runs so far he can't find it until it's too late – too late and standing right in front of him, gorgeous and annoyed and not at all the person Stiles made him up to be.Yeah, this could get bad.

Grounded on Living Skin

Author: otter

Summary: The tattoo parlor didn’t look like much. The apprentice who was supposed to be inking Derek's new magical tattoo wasn't immediately confidence-inspiring either.

Cocktails and Dreams

Author: popfly

Summary: Derek is a bartender who works in a dive bar but loves craft cocktails. Stiles just wants a drink.

Open the Door

Author: eternalbreath

Summary: Derek gives Stiles his jacket.

Every Step You Take

Author: Nokomis

Summary: Stiles accidentally ends up magically bound to Derek. It’s super.

Darling Its No Joke

Author: thehoyden

Summary: The first thing Stiles thinks when he opens the door is that it’s not his birthday, but someone has sent him some kind of cop stripper.

It's Been like Years Since it's Been Clear

Author: sirona

Summary: It's six-thirty in the morning, but there are warm lights behind the floor-to-ceiling, de-boarded windows, and the 'For Sale' sign on the door has disappeared along with Stiles' memory of where he'd been headed just moments before. The coffee shop is, apparently, open for business once more.

Love Comes in Spurts Series

Author: talktowater

Part 1: Love Comes in Spurts

Summary: Stiles has always had sort of a hero worship thing going on with Scott's step-brother Derek so moving into a house with him freshman year was basically fulfilling a childhood fantasy. Discovering how Derek was putting himself through college, well that was a whole other fantasy that Stiles didn't even know he had.

Part 2: Now Your Smile Comes Over in Your Voice

Summary: Part two of Love Comes in Spurts series.

Milk Vetch Series

Author: silverlining99

Part 1: A Little Less Sixteen Candles

Summary: In which Derek fails at wooing, and Stiles fails at catching a clue. Isaac & co. are there, but otherwise not season 2 compliant.

Part 2: For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic

Summary: n which Derek has a sweet tooth and a crush, Erica has a rom-com collection and all the win, and Stiles has some catching on to do.Season 2 compliance is willfully haphazard.

Part 3: A Slow Dive, A Fast Distraction

Summary: In which Derek opens up in more ways than one, and Stiles could really use a road map to this relationship business.

The Art of Dying Well

Author: kinneas

Summary: "You said we're friends.""Whoa, way to hold what a guy says in the heat of the moment against him," Stiles replies automatically, but... that's not what he wants to say, not at all, not to the quiet contemplation that is Derek Hale on his living room sofa. So he adds, "I guess, yeah."Derek doesn't speak for a long moment. "Then it's inevitable.""Wow," Stiles whistles, "you are the biggest downer."

A Flooring Romance

Author: rlnerdgirl

Summary: After being steamrolled by some rough and vindictive career competition, Derek is finally getting back on his feet when he and his sister purchase Hale's Hardwood, their very own hardwood flooring shop. To Derek's dismay, some eccentric guy, who goes by Stiles and has a buzz that makes him look ridiculous and far younger than he has to be, opens up a tile shop right across the way.

more fics: part 7

#teenwolf #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfics #fanfic rec #sterek #derek hale #stiles stilinski

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

I think Tumblr ate my ask but idk so sorry if your seeing this twice? But any good Sterek with Nerd!derek (like wearing glasses and blushing all the time Nerd)? Thank you! You guys are amazing

AND

Anonymous said:I just finished reading stilinskisparkles’ Losers fic and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it *^* so I was hoping if you could recommend me some popular jock!Stiles and shy, awkward, nerd!Derek? Thank youuuuuuuuu

AND

Anonymous said: Hi, can I ask for a Sterek fic recommendation wherein Stiles is the popular kid at school and Derek is the shy/nerd/quite kid at school who has a secret crush on Stiles? We have so many popular/jock Derek and I want to switch it up a bit for a change xD Also, totally a plus if Stiles has a not-so-secret crush on Lydia at the beginning and then develop feelings for Derek,

I do love nerdy!Derek. It’s a nice change. Here’s the tag.  - Anastasia

Losers by stilinskisparkles

(1/1 I 34,234 I Explicit)

Where Derek is new to college, eager to spend his time learning, and Stiles is everything he didn’t want in a room mate. He’s loud, he’s into sports, and he keeps trying to make Derek do things.

Or, the one where Derek falls for a jock, Erica will cut you if you disturb her studying, and Jackson is a closeted romantic who pretends to hate everything.

***

[podfic] you in that dress (my thoughts I confess) by reena_jenkins

(1/1 I General)

Derek Hale is the hot guy in color guard. (He’s the only guy in color guard.) 

A Thing of Chemistry by auroreanrave

(1/1 I 638 I Explicit)

Because nothing says ‘I love you’ like screwing on your chem lab table.

Te Amo, Je T'aime, I Love You, Ich Liebe Dich, Etc by AnonymousActions

(1/1 I 1,084 I General)

Derek is a nerd and likes to tell Stiles he loves him as much as possible in as many languages as possible. Stiles seems oblivious.

True Love by anglophilia

(1/1 I 1,409 I Not Rated)

Stiles is at a party and falls in love with Derek’s butt.

Action and Reaction by orphan_account

(1/1 I 2,299 I General)

“Stiles intrigued Derek, and because Derek thought everything had a formula, that everything was action and reaction, he wanted to know what Stiles was reacting to.

The whole punk thing? It was a social commentary. It was someone standing up for something, and Derek wanted to know why Stiles thought he had the right to stand up for when everyone else was just trying to get through the day.”

Have Yourself A Nerdy Little Christmas by AsagiStilinski

(1/1 I 2,858 I General)

He was on his fourth weird cucumber-cracker… thing…. and generally wishing Lydia would just serve desserts and pizza bites like a normal college student, when he happened to glance up at just the right moment

And all of a sudden, his entire night turned around

“PUG!”

The guy in the ugly Pug themed Christmas sweater jumped, turning to Stiles with what could only be described as a look of utter fear in his eyes

Here We Lie, Outstretched by redeyedwrath

(1/1 I 3,455 I Teen)

“I couldn’t sleep,” Stiles says, and he shrugs, twiddling with his thumbs. The moonlight catches in the hollows of his cheekbones.

Derek snorts. “So you thought that if you couldn’t sleep, neither should I?”

Or, in which Derek and Stiles are neighbors and they’re Make Out Buddies

Strut into Your Heart by Brittanica2015

(3/3 I 4,059 I Not Rated)

Derek is a college freshman who’s working as a barista in order to get enough money to satisfy his book addiction. Everything is fine until one day his favorite model, Stiles Stilinski walks in and completely changes his life.

all i want for christmas is you by haleofStilesheart

(1/1 I 4,140 I General)

The annual Christmas office party at Hale and Associates Law Firm was one of Stiles’ favorite times of the year.

flawless by bibliosexual

(1/1 I 4,919 I Teen)

“I know you and I are, like, werewolf-married, but dude, if I ever met Lydia Martin in person … All bets are off, is all I’m saying.“

It’s not like Stiles really means it (does he?), but it still makes Derek’s hands clench into claws on the steering wheel.

“Yeah, if,” he says, and keeps his eyes on the road.

Approximation by inatshej

(1/1 I 6,638 I Explicit)

Derek’s type is a self-confident, blonde girl. Her grin is almost dangerous, her laugh’s loud, and she may seem arrogant – but if anyone has a reason to be arrogant, it’s her.Stiles’ type is a genius, strawberry blonde girl. She looks perfect no matter the time of a day, her taste’s impeccable, she’s popular as well as respected – but taken.They turn to each other, struggling with the choices and people around them.

atom to atom by jadore_hale

(2/2 I 8,983 I Teen)

“So, you’re telling me that you hate Derek so much that you wouldn’t leap at the chance to jump his bones?”

“That’s different!” Stiles cried.

“How exactly?”

“Because unfortunately for me, Derek’s hotter than the Earth’s mantle. All we need is one rough hate-fuck— Preferably in the chem lab, role-playing sexy chemist while he bends me over one of the tables—and I’ll get him out of my system. That’s as far as our relationship will ever go.”

Stiles glanced across the cafeteria to where Derek was still fail-eating his lunch and sighed so put out.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make fun of Derek eating organic baby carrots.”

Bid on Me by Stereksale7

(2/2 I 9,471 I Explicit)

“Don’t celebrate yet. I’m only bidding on him if no one else does. Which will never happen because everyone wants him.” Derek said, smirk turning triumphant at Erica’s exasperated expression.

“Oh come on Der-” Erica started to whine, but quickly cut herself off when the auctioneer (Derek was pretty sure he was the frat’s president) called out “And one of our last auctions of the day, Stiles Stilinski!”

Derek’s heart dropped to his stomach in anticipation, waiting for the moment where some hot busty blonde or some Calvin Klein model guy bid on Stiles and won.

Except. It never happened.

“Shit Der, are you magic or something? Does everything you predict turn out to be wrong? Quick, say ‘Erica will not suddenly be handed a million dollars’ out loud for me”. Derek rolled his eyes and waved Erica off, watching as the auctioneer listed off qualities of Stiles, dropping the starting bid from $50 to $30 to $25, all the way down to $5.

Derek was drowning in secondhand embarrassment. And judging by Stiles’s badly concealed hurt expression and pink cheeks, he was suffering from a whole lot of first hand embarrassment.

These Stars Will Guide Us Home by anodyneer

(1/1 I 9,937 I Teen)

Derek fell for Stiles from the first time he saw him in a crowded planetarium, and the feeling was definitely mutual. For as well as they got to know each other over the weeks that followed, Derek still couldn’t help feeling like a piece of the puzzle was missing - namely, the piece involving Stiles’ home life. When Stiles disappears just before Thanksgiving break, Derek learns the truth about his boyfriend - and it’s crazier than anything he could have imagined.

A Love Like Religion by alisvolatpropiis

(1/1 I 10,696 I Explicit)

“Derek, my man, you missed an epic party on Saturday. Seriously, dude, I know morning Mass is like, your thing, but come on. You’re missing on out so much life has to offer, bro.”

Big hands land on shoulders with a thump and a squeeze while Derek stands at his locker, loading his gigantic calculus book into his backpack. He gives his best friend a practiced sidelong glare, which of course just encourages him. “You’ll change your mind when I tell you who sucked me off in Lydia Martin’s bedroom,” Stiles snickers into his ear.

Despite himself, Derek is curious. He tries to hide it by focusing on his books, but he knows the heat in his cheeks betrays him. “Who,” he asks, giving in, knowing he will eventually.

Falling in Love is a Free Action by rainproof

(1/1 I 37,252 I Teen)

Derek had a gaming group. A gaming group! After long months of playing the quiet outlier in BHHS’s nerdiest clique he considered a tabletop game to be a serious step up the social ladder.

So the game wasn’t a system he was familiar with… that was alright. Derek had played Traveler and GURPS, White Wolf and Star Wars with his group back in New York, but never straight-up Dungeons and Dragons. He could make it work. And sure, his character was a little ridiculous – a snarky, badass, leather-wearing werewolf version of himself…but that was okay too.

Because he had a gaming group, and it was being headed up by Stiles Stilinski, undisputed nerd-king of Beacon Hills High School.

If You Wanna Be My Roomie (Lover) by Stereksale7

(23/23 I 65,056 I Explicit)

Realistically, Stiles knew that the local University’s popularity and commonality meant that many members of his graduating high school class would be starting the Fall 2016 semester alongside him, but he never expected his longtime crush to be one of them. Even more so, he never expected said crush to be assigned as his roommate…oh boy.

Put Down in Words by paintedrecs

(31/31 I 203,776 I Mature)

“Oh,” Stiles said, his voice coming out low and breathy, “fuck me.”

“I don’t think that’s on the syllabus, but we can check to see if there’s a spot open in any of his classes,” Scott said, grinning.

“This isn’t an actual professor, though,” Stiles insisted, unable to resist brushing his thumb over the sharp line of the man’s bearded jaw. He was laughing at something off-camera, the shot taken in three-quarters view, his coat collar casually rumpled and opened to reveal a sliver of a simple grey t-shirt. The whole thing was deliberately calculated to lend him a more accessible feel, and god help him, Stiles was falling for it.

*

When Stiles signed up for Dr. Hale’s intro to history class, he had two goals: knock out the credits his advisor was bugging him to complete before he graduated, and spend a few hours a week daydreaming about his sexy professor’s salt and pepper beard.

Derek, a few months away from turning forty and not sure when his life had started feeling so damn lonely, had never encountered someone like Stiles before. Bright-eyed, sharp-tongued, determined to throw Derek’s carefully cultivated world into disarray…and absolutely the last person Derek should be falling in love with.

#teen wolf #sterek #stiles stilinski #derek hale #nerd!derek #nerd!stiles #jock!stiles #anon #podfic #submission #teacher!derek #teacher/student #scott mccall #oblivious!stiles #oblivious!derek #erica reyes #fratboy!derek #lydia martin #misunderstandings

[hazelandglasz]

"I am interested in you but you are surrounded by hyper protective and slightly scary Drag Queens with very high heels" As sterek please!

oh my god yes

Sorry it took me so long /)**(\

On AO3

So inspired by this …

As hard as he may try, and he doesn’t even try that hard to begin with, Derek cannot look away from him.

The young man got his attention the moment he entered the club.

Derek certainly didn’t come to Jungle to flirt or find a date, or nothing of the romantic variety really, but it’s not that often that he finds someone who pushes so many of his buttons at once.

Truth be told, Mister Tall and Lean over there matches every wet dream Derek ever had about men.

He sips on his drink, eyes once again darting to Tall and Lean unconsciously..

The man is laughing energetically, head thrown back in a move that reveals the long expanse of his neck, all that pale skin and tendons exposed to Derek’s eyes and--

“Easy on the glass, big guy.”

Derek tears his eyes away from the delicious sight to glare at bartender. “Beg your pardon?”

The bartender smirks at him. “Lose the grip on the glass, baby, and go get him.”

Derek relaxes, and he did have a deadly grip on the poor glass of Planteur, before shrugging. “Have you missed his bodyguards?”

The bartender laughs and replaces his almost empty glass with a new cocktail. “Ah, that’s our Stiles.”

“Your what?”

“Stiles. That’s his name.”

“Stiles …” Derek repeats, swivelling in his seat to look at him again.

Stiles has his head bowed now, a flush to his cheeks and neck, and the group of Drag Queens around him are standing closer to him, whispering in his ear in turns.

Lucky bitches.

“He’s our little mascot,” Bartender continues, shaking cocktails like there is no tomorrow. “Ever since he turned eighteen and tried to slither in, all wide eyes and plump lips--” Derek can’t exactly deny it, “the girls have taken a special interest in his well being.”

“Which explains the guard.”

“Bullseye.”

Derek sips more of his cocktail and sighs in his glass.

“Oh, your poor brooding baby, what’s weighing on your little heart like that?”

“Nothing.”

“You prefer to brood on your own?”

“...yes.”

“Than going over there and ask him out and get to eat each other’s face and other body parts?”

Derek raises one eyebrow. “Not a very likely outcome.”

“Oh?” The Bartender leans over the bar, fingers crossed under her chin. “And what is the most probable outcome, hm?”

“Me going over there, me making a fool of myself, me getting kicked in the nuts with those very high heels, me not being able to brood anymore, …”

“That’s a lot of me talk, my fledgling emo.”

“Excuse me for being concerned about what happened to me if those Queens decide to have my head!”

“Scared of the Queens?”

Derek nearly jumps off the stool in his surprise, as the question didn’t come from the Bartender, who is grinning from ear to ear, but from his right.

Where Stiles is standing, Drag Queens guard-less.

“A-a healthy dose of fear, yes,” Derek manages to stammer. “Born from respect.”

“And experience?”

“I do have a older sister who likes wearing heels.”

“Ah.”

“And why are you afraid the Queens might attack you?”

Derek takes a deep breath. “Because I was apparently admiring you from afar.”

“Like a loser,” Bartender adds generously.

“I think you’re being overdramatic, Shirley,” Stiles tuts as he hops on the stool next to Derek.

Their knees bump and Derek’s heart hiccups.

“After all, I don’t think Mr. Dark and Handsome here could be a loser.”

Handsome?

“That’s where you’re wrong, Bambi,” Bartender--Shirley--retorts. “The more gorgeous they get, the dorkier they hide.”

“Which makes me?”

“The most gorgeous of them all, darlin’.”

Stiles laughs again as a blush colors his cheeks and neck.

Derek wants to follow that coloring with his tongue.

“So you were ogling me from the bar?” Stiles says as Shirley gives him a drink.

“So you think I’m handsome?” Derek replies with a smile.

Now that he got over the close proximity and the embarrassment, he can put himself back on track. Now, Derek can flirt back.

Well, he can try, and that’s something.

“Well, it’s not a matter of thinking it as much as it is a simple observation, since I have eyes and I get to use them,” Stiles says with a smirk. “While the reason behind you ogling me is confusing at best.”

Derek frowns, and somewhere down the bar, Shirley coos at them. “I don’t appreciate you talking down the man I admire from afar.”

Stiles’ blush intensifies. “Well, whatcha gonna do about it?”

Derek stands, bracketing Stiles against the bar. “Ask you on a date and make sure your confusion is gone by the end of it?” he proposes, before his earlier nerves make a comeback. “That is,” he says, taking a step back, “if you agree to go on said date.”

“Hm, gee, I don’t know,” Stiles says, his long fingers tapping his chin in contemplation, “what do you think, ladies?”

Derek snaps his head to look around them, and surely enough, the guard of Drag Queens surrounds him.

“That hunkbunny wants to take you out, Bambi?”

“Hunkbunny?”

“Hubba hubba, I say.”

“And if he doesn’t treat you right--”

“--you know who you gonna call.”

“Ballsbuster!”

Stiles waves them away, his hand landing coincidentally on Derek’s forearm. “Alright, alright, I think you’ve successfully whipped him into behaving like a gentleman. Now go before he runs for the hills.”

Derek swallows down his nerves and takes Stiles’ hand in his to press a kiss to his knuckles. “Not without you.”

All the Drag Queens coo and wolfwhistle at them, but Derek keeps his eyes on Stiles.

The flush has taken a turn for the burgundy, but Derek doesn’t think it lowers Stiles’ level of attraction.

Quite the opposite actually.

“You’re serious,” Stiles says softly.

“Always.”

“No, I mean, you’re serious. About wanting me. Wanting to date me. Whichever suits you, really, ‘cause I’m not going to be picky here, if you want to fuck me, I’ll ask how, and if you want to date, me, I’ll ask how, and why, maybe a couple of times, bare with me okay, it’s not every day that a hunkbunny--”

“What is up with that nickname?!”

“--that a hunkbunny asks me out without having a group of friends laughing behind him so, yeah, okay, sure, whatever floats your boat, man, I’m down for it.”

That ramble makes Derek just a bit dizzy, but he focuses.

“I want to fuck you, yeah, but only after the third date and if we both feel comfortable and down for it, as you put it,” he replies, sitting back on his stool but not letting go of Stiles’ hand. “And when we get there, I’ll be the one asking how you want me. Deal?”

Stiles lets out a disbelieving laugh, but he nods, his fingers wrapped around Derek’s. “Deal. Now, tell me, can I get you something to drink?”

“Yes you can.”

((They do wait for their fourth date before Derek takes Stiles back to his place, and he does ask how, and he makes sure to communicate as much as his appreciation for Stiles’ everything.

Not with words, because Derek is more of a nonverbal communicator, but the message gets through.

He makes sure of it.))

#sometimes i write #sterek au #human au #flirting with drag queens around oh my #fluff

[littlebloogirl]

20 Questions

@a-sirius-crush-on-moony tagged me in this!! Ily Hannah

1: what do you prefer to be called name-wise?

Atlas, like the Titan.

2: when is your birthday?

January 5th

3: where do you live?

The U.S 🤠

4: three things you are doing right now?

Right now: Watching Kitchen Nightmares, FaceTiming Lizzie ( @chaoticgarbagepailsister ) and texting my gf

5: four fandoms that have piqued your interest?

I’m answering how Hannah answered, fandoms that I’m not a part of that interest me. Supernatural, as someone who was here in like 2016 oh my god these past couple of months have been entertaining. Teen Wolf only bc I’ve heard the Sterek timeline and I am so sorry for you all. Homestucks are interesting, but they intimidate me and I am too lazy to get into that and I don’t really think I want to. I don’t have a fourth so one that I recently got into is Hannibal and I love it so much. Chilton is my absolute favorite and his luck is really shitty and I just wanna give him a hug, although right now that probably hurt worse for him-

6: how has the pandemic been treating you?

Absolutely terrible. I got super depressed over summer “break” and basically never talked to my gf, only to Lizzie about Harry Potter bc that’s all that was keeping me afloat. This caused my gf and i to take a break shortly after school started back bc even though we saw each other now it was still strained. We’re together still though and everything is so much better, I even got her into Harry Potter!

7: a song you can’t stop listening to right now?

Our Word from 36 questions. It’s the only song I’ve heard from this musical but it’s been stuck in my head.

8: recommend a movie.

I don’t watch many movies, but the IT movies for horror fans are really good imo. Enola Holmes is also super good.

9: how old are you?

16

10: school, university, occupation, other?

I’m in high school, I’m physical because online school absolutely killed my grades. It’s really weird, we all wear masks and have a block schedule. Three classes a day, each 1 hour and 40 minutes and one of the days sucks a lot.

11: do you prefer heat or cold?

Cold bc I hate sweating and I can never be comfortable if I’m too hot

12: name one fact others may not know about you.

Uhhh friends know this but I’m 99% sure I have ADHD (causing my hyperfixations and a whole lot of other shit) but my parents won’t get me diagnosed.

13: are you shy?

Kind of? I’m shy around new people but really loud with friends, social anxiety gang

14: your pronouns?

They/Them

15: biggest pet peeves?

People inserting themselves into my relationship or making assumptions abt it when they haven’t had/have barely had relationships of their own.

16: what is your favorite “dere” type?

Himedere

17: rate your life from 1-10.

Uhhh 7/10 I love my gf and Lizzie but quarantine can go to hell

18: what’s your main blog?

This one

19: list your side blogs and what they’re used for.

@spookybloogirl is used to reserve my Halloween/October username

20: Is there something people need to know about you before becoming friends?

I’m loud and opinionated, and you can’t be mean/harsh with me when I’m excitedly talking about one of my interests bc I’ll get upset.

I tag @chaoticgarbagepailsister bc her and Hannah are my only mutuals here

#🖤 post

[isthatbloodonhisshirt]

Tutoring the Tutor

For @sterekgala‘ s Sterek New Year’s Extravaganza.

Ao3 Link on the collection.

It was starting to get a little annoying, if he was being quite honest. He was getting a little frustrated and knew that he was going to start snapping soon, which he felt would’ve been entirely within his right.

“Come on, then. Give us a look.” Isaac leaned into him heavily, attempting to see over his shoulder as Derek tried valiantly to keep his parchment away from his friend. “Derek, it’s due in ten minutes, just a quick peek!”

“You’re not going to be able to peek during your NEWTs, you might as well start anticipating failure now.”

“That was harsh,” Isaac insisted with a small pout. “After all we’ve been through together.”

“All the detentions you got me, you mean.”

“Half of those were Erica,” Isaac argued, pointing to the girl in question, who was lazily turning pages in her book, head held up in one hand, and her boyfriend Boyd pointedly ignoring them.

Derek just rolled his eyes and kept his parchment hidden away from Isaac. Really, it was his own fault for not having worked on it sooner, he knew how strict McGonagall was. He should’ve known better.

Isaac was still trying to fight him for his homework, Derek managing to keep it to himself mostly, when he heard someone say his name. He turned and saw their Head of House, Professor Sprout, waving him over from the other end of the library.

Wrenching his homework away from Isaac, he rolled it up and gathered his books, telling them he’d see them in class, and then headed for Sprout. She smiled at him as he approached, and then motioned out of the library.

He followed without a word, a part of him wondering if maybe he’d done something wrong, but he knew that couldn’t be right. Isaac often got them both in trouble, but it was never anything that he worried would get him expelled. Whatever Sprout wanted, it was likely nothing.

He followed her outside the library and she asked what his next class was before slowly heading in that direction. He figured she wanted to speak with him while making sure he wasn’t late for class.

“How are your studies going?” She asked kindly while they meandered slowly through the corridors.

“They’re fine, I think. Just trying to focus on the harder courses so I’m ready to take my NEWTs in the spring.”

Sprout looked at him fondly. “I remember your first day here as if it were yesterday. I can’t believe you’re already seventeen, in your final year. You were such a quiet little one, it’s amazing how far you’ve come.”

Derek tried to squash the embarrassed flush creeping up the back of his neck. He had always liked Professor Sprout, and he remembered being extremely pleased when he got sorted into Hufflepuff. He hadn’t ever felt like he suited any of the other houses, and he actually liked being in Hufflepuff a lot, even if he was stuck rooming with Isaac, who literally did everything in his power to get them in trouble.

Derek’s immediate family was actually one of the only ones who’d hit all four houses, none of them having been sorted into the same one.

His mother had been in Ravenclaw when she’d been coming to Hogwarts, and after having married their father—who was a muggle, and extremely patient for being stuck in a house with four magic users—they had had three children.

The eldest, Laura, had been sorted into Gryffindor. When she was in her second year, Derek had arrived and been sorted into Hufflepuff. Two years later, with Derek a third year and Laura a fourth year, their youngest sister Cora had started her first year and been sorted into Slytherin.

One family, four houses. Derek felt like he got the best deal.

“I’ve a favour to ask of you,” Spout said after another bout of silence.

“All right,” Derek said, frowning slightly at his professor.

They stopped at the end of the corridor in one of the open areas. People were talking and milling about, some of them heading for their next class while others headed for the Great Hall or the library.

“I’ve got a student in my Herbology class. Brilliant student, very talented, but it seems he’s expressed concerns with professor Flitwick about his struggles with Transfiguration. He’s concerned he won’t pass his OWLs and get into the classes he needs for sixth year.” She smiled sadly. “He’s a good lad, just easily distracted. Professor Flitwick said the student mentioned speaking to professor McGonagall about her best seventh year student, and she told him that it was you. I was wondering if you might be so kind as to help him with his studies this year. I know you have your exams to consider in the spring, but look at it as additional revision. Everything he needs for his OWLs, you will also likely need to review for your NEWTs.”

Tutor? Derek wasn’t exactly the best person to be tutoring someone else. He was grumpy and quiet and impatient. He hated slackers, despised skivers, and mostly liked to just stick to his own group of friends.

If he agreed to this, then he would be missing out on a lot of time with Isaac, Erica and Boyd.

Well, maybe not Isaac, since they roomed together.

But at the same time, everyone knew he wanted to go into teaching. Some of the professors at Hogwarts were going to retire in the next few years, and Derek was interested in seeing if he could get one of the teaching positions. Dumbledore wouldn’t even consider him if he didn’t show he could do this. Tutoring would be a good stepping stone to teaching.

And Sprout was right, tutoring someone else would help him study at the same time, so it wasn’t a terrible idea.

“Sure,” he finally said. “I can try for a bit.” He figured if the guy didn’t work hard enough or sassed Derek, he could always just drop him.

“Great. He’s a Ravenclaw fifth year named Mieczyslaw Stilinski, but everyone calls him Stiles.”

Derek almost groaned but managed to refrain. He knew the name, mostly from Cora. They were close friends, but the Hale siblings all did their own thing in school, so he didn’t really know Stiles, he just knew of Stiles.

He also remembered the first time he’d met him. It had been on the Hogwarts Express, when Derek and his friends had chosen a compartment on the train and had gotten settled. Halfway through the trip, the wall between Derek and Erica’s heads exploded, a hole forming connecting their compartment with the neighbouring one. When Derek had angrily put his face into the opening to tell off the moron who’d done it, he was greeted by a howling Cora, a terrified dark-haired first year, an annoyed redhead and a grinning Stiles holding a wand.

He’d angrily snapped for him to watch what he was doing before he took someone’s head off, and then had been forced to listen to the idiotic conversations from the next compartment over for the remainder of the trip, since the giant hole in the cabin wall made it impossible for them to keep their two compartments separate conversation-wise.

Of course, he should’ve figured Cora would stay friends with him. Despite her being sorted into Slytherin, and Stiles being sorted into Ravenclaw, they were like two peas in a pod and it drove Derek crazy because all he ever heard when they went home was Stiles this, Stiles that, Stiles is so amazing. Laura had teased her for a few years about them being together, and Cora insisted it wasn’t like that. It hadn’t been until this past summer, when Laura had been particularly nasty in her teasing, that Cora had shouted, “Fuck off, Laura, Stiles is fucking gay!”

He knew she hadn’t meant to blurt it out, because she looked horrified with herself for having done so, but it didn’t end up being a problem since Stiles had basically announced it earlier that year. Cora had probably come clean and Stiles had figured it would be best to say so himself before it spread on its own.

Which was ridiculous because who was Derek going to tell? Literally no one. He’d have to care enough about Stiles to talk about him to other people.

“Derek?”

He focussed back on Sprout, who was staring at him with concern, and cleared his throat.

“Sorry, yes professor. I’ll touch base with him in the morning and do what I can.”

“Excellent.” Sprout grinned. “I’ll inform professor Flitwick. He can let Stiles know to expect you in the morning.”

Derek nodded, bid the woman farewell, and headed off to class where he knew Boyd, Erica and Isaac would be meeting him.

He could do this for a little while. If Stiles ended up being as idiotic at his tutoring as he was in general, Derek would just drop him and tell him to figure his own shit out.

No big deal.

“What do you know about Stiles?” Derek asked Boyd while they headed for breakfast the next morning. Isaac and Derek had left the Hufflepuff dormitory early and headed in the direction of the Great Hall, but Derek had wanted to meet up with Boyd first because once Erica showed up, it’d be impossible for them to speak.

Namely because the Slytherin would attach her face to Boyd’s and try and suck the oxygen right out of his lungs. Derek still didn’t know how a Slytherin and Ravenclaw had gotten together, but he didn’t dwell on it. Erica was great, even if she was annoying.

“He’s smart,” Boyd said in his low, deep voice. “Good kid. Causes a lot of trouble, which loses us house points, but he also almost always earns double back for us.”

It was true. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw seemed to be neck and neck for the house cup more often than not since Stiles’ arrival, though his friend Lydia helped, too. They were both eager beavers, and both in Ravenclaw.

“Isn’t your sister best friends with him?” Isaac asked. “Why don’t you just ask her?”

“Because it would mean talking to her.”

“You’re a right wanker,” Isaac said with a grin, the three of them heading for the Great Hall. They’d barely reached it when Erica appeared and, as predicted, she latched herself onto Boyd and they snogged in the doorway while he and Isaac just headed inside. They’d have to split for the tables anyway.

“Save me a spot,” Derek said, heading away from Hufflepuff and towards Ravenclaw instead.

It was easy to spot Stiles, because he was the most animated person at the table, and had a group of fangirls around him, sighing wistfully with their chins in their hands, staring at him with practical hearts in their eyes.

Derek didn’t get it. Especially since everyone knew he wasn’t into girls, but he figured they were just hopeful.

He walked right up behind him and interrupted him mid-sentence.

“Stiles.”

The student in question cut himself off and turned, staring up at Derek and grinning. “Hey Derek! What brings you here?”

“Sprout said she’d tell Flitwick,” he insisted grumpily. “I’m your tutor for Transfiguration.”

“Tutor?” Lydia asked, having been reading beside Stiles while eating her breakfast. “What on earth do you need a tutor in Transfiguration for? Aren’t—”

“Tell the whole school, why don’t you?” Stiles cut off, hissing the words at her while scrambling out of his seat on the bench and motioning for Derek to follow him away from the table. Sighing internally, he followed him to a more secluded area. Stiles crossed his arms defensively, shifting his weight and eying Derek.

“Thanks, I guess. For helping. Um, what time works for you?”

“I’ve got Quidditch practice on Tuesdays after five. Do you have any activities?”

“Nope, I’m cool with only one type of ball flying at my face.” His eyes widened at his own words and he rubbed at his face with both hands. “Ignore I said that.”

“With pleasure,” Derek grit out. “We can set up a schedule for you. How about a few hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Meet in the library after supper and I can help you for a few hours.”

“Sure.” Stiles half-smiled. “Sounds good. So, today too, then?”

“No time like the present.” Derek turned to leave, but Stiles grabbed his sleeve and tugged lightly.

“Derek?” He turned back to him. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Just don’t waste my time.”

Derek moved away from him once more and headed for his table. He found Isaac easily enough and took the empty seat beside him, the other chatting away at him the moment he sat down. He ignored him for the most part and went about eating his breakfast.

After they’d all finished eating, they headed off to their various classes. Derek saw Stiles a bit ahead of him, along with Lydia. They met up quickly with Cora, and another boy from Gryffindor, whom Stiles immediately put into a chokehold just for fun.

The kid was an idiot. He was still a child, despite being a fifth year, and apparently failing a class, which was ridiculous. How Boyd could insist he was smart, Derek had no idea. There were much harder courses than Transfiguration.

They reached their first class relatively quickly, and took their various seats. Derek spent a majority of the day trying to plan the study schedule for Stiles. He paid attention to his lessons, and took notes, of course, but there were some parts of the lessons he already knew extremely well and he used that time to try and organize his thoughts.

The day passed quickly, and after he finished with supper, he bid his friends farewell and headed back to the dorm to grab some of his books, then went to the library.

Stiles was already waiting for him, books open in front of him and the Ravenclaw taking notes on a piece of parchment. Derek had to at least give him credit for looking like he was trying.

Wandering over to him, he dropped his own books across from him, Stiles jumping before glancing up. He grinned when he saw Derek, straightening and putting his quill down.

“Hey.”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Derek said while taking a seat. “I’m doing this as a favour to professor Sprout, nothing more. If you slack off, if you don’t show any improvement, and if you waste my time, I’ll drop you and leave you to fail your OWLs, understand? I only have a few months before my own exams, and I won’t waste time on a hopeless cause.”

Stiles seemed a little startled at his words, but he just nodded emphatically, saluting Derek.

“Yes sir, Derek sir! Understood. Shall we begin?”

Derek grunted and asked Stiles what chapters he was struggling with. The first night of tutoring had mostly just been Derek trying to figure out what Stiles needed help with, and taking notes on his various errors and grades—the ones Stiles remembered, anyway. Derek suggested they try some practice wand movements, but Stiles had immediately dismissed that and reminded Derek of the hole in the compartment wall.

Derek didn’t want to lose his eyebrows, so he agreed perhaps the practice could come later and to focus on the academic side first.

All in all, it had been a good lesson. Stiles had been attentive, though he fidgeted a lot, playing with his quill, tapping his fingers, jerking his legs up and down. It was clear sitting still wasn’t his forte, but he’d listened to everything Derek had said, and when the Hufflepuff told him he was assigning homework he expected done for the following day, Stiles had just nodded and agreed without complaint.

After three and a half hours, he decided it had been long enough and they began packing away their things.

“Thank Derek,” Stiles said with a huge grin. “I appreciate your help.”

“Sure,” Derek replied, watching Stiles walk away with a bounce in his step. He just rolled his eyes and gathered his own things, getting to his feet. He turned and almost walked right into Cora, who was standing right behind him, glaring with her arms crossed.

“What are you doing?”

“What does that mean?” Derek demanded, side-stepping her and beginning to head for the exit. She kept up right behind him, poking him insistently in the back.

“I mean what are you doing? Why were you hanging out with Stiles?”

“I wasn’t ‘hanging out’ with your friend,” Derek snapped, turning to glare over his shoulder. Was she worried that Stiles would drop her for him or something? “I was tutoring him.”

“Tutoring him? You?”

“Something wrong with that?” he demanded while they exited the library, Cora moving so they were walking side by side now.

“Why on earth would you be tutoring Stiles? In what class?”

“Transfiguration.”

“Transfiguration?” Cora echoed. “You?”

“Is there an echo in here? Yes, Cora, I’m tutoring him in Transfiguration. Sprout came to me saying he needed help, and I’ve got the best grades in my year for McGonagall’s class, so I was asked to help him out so he didn’t fail his OWLs.”

Cora frowned at him, looking thoughtful. “Huh.”

She turned down another corridor without explanation and Derek just chalked it up to her being worried he was stealing her friend. Cora didn’t have very many, mostly just the same group Stiles hung out with. Stiles himself seemed to be fairly popular, so he always had people around, but he seemed to prefer the company of Cora, Lydia and his Gryffindor friend. If Cora thought Derek was encroaching on her territory, she would be a pain in his ass to deal with.

Derek didn’t hear from Cora again, and when he saw her with Stiles the next day before breakfast, they seemed perfectly normal. The only change was that it looked like Cora was teasing him a lot more than usual, and his face would go pink before he batted away at her. Derek didn’t pay them any mind after that, going back to Isaac’s inane chatter and eventually leaving the Great Hall for class.

When he went back to tutoring Stiles that evening, he found he’d done his homework, as requested, and was somewhat surprised at some of his answers. He hadn’t done horribly, but he hadn’t done great, either. Derek spent a majority of the evening explaining the part where he’d gone wrong and Stiles took meticulous notes, nodding along and listening attentively. They parted around nine, Stiles grinning broadly and thanking him before gathering his things and exiting the library.

This continued on for close to a month, and Derek found Stiles was improving little by little, which was really rewarding for him, because he was obviously making a difference. He still got frustrated at some of the insane errors Stiles made, but he fought for patience and just explained them to him again.

By the second month, Stiles was improving further, but had also gotten a bit chattier. When Derek set him up with some worksheets to do, which would allow Derek to still tutor him while also doing some of his own homework, Stiles had started speaking to him.

He never said anything interesting, mostly just asked him questions about his plans for the future, what courses he was taking, what life was like living with Cora, things like that. He asked him about weekend plans a lot, and Derek assumed it was because he wanted to study some during the weekend, but Derek needed time to study and do homework, too, so he always responded as such.

It was weird listening to Stiles speak sometimes though, and despite his better judgement one day, Stiles said something that reminded Derek of Erica and Cora, and he said,

“You really sound like you should’ve been in Slytherin.”

Stiles looked pleased to have Derek engaging in conversation and had leapt on it, quickly saying, “You know, the Sorting Hat actually wanted to put me in Slytherin. It really, really did, but my best friend from back home, Scott, well he ended up in Gryffindor. He got sorted before me, so that was a done deal.” Stiles drummed his fingers against the table while he spoke. “It’s a known fact that people sorted between Slytherin and Gryffindor, even if they arrive as friends, they always leave as enemies.” Stiles shrugged. “I didn’t want to leave Hogwarts having lost my best friend, so I kept telling the Hat nope, nope, not going to Slytherin, you can put me anywhere but there, I don’t care, you can even put me in fucking Hufflepuff if you want.”

Derek glared at him for that comment but Stiles just grinned, clearly teasing, and continued.

“It eventually gave up and put me in Ravenclaw.”

Now that Derek thought about it, he actually did remember Stiles taking a while to be sorted. It was probably because the Hat had been adamant that he’d do well in Slytherin but Stiles kept insisting he didn’t want that.

“Do you really think you and your friend would’ve ended your friendship just because of the houses you’re in?”

“You should see Cora and Scott go at it,” Stiles insisted, eyebrows shooting up. “If Lydia and I weren’t there to mediate, I’m pretty sure they’d have killed each other by now. It makes me sad, but as long as I get to keep them both as friends, that’s what really matters to me.” He shrugged again, then grinned. “But don’t tell anyone about the Hat’s accuracy, okay?”

Derek snorted. “Oh yeah. You definitely should’ve been in Slytherin.”

“Why do you think Cora and I get along so well?” Stiles winked at him and Derek snorted, then they went back to what they were doing.

He found as time passed that he didn’t mind Stiles so much. He was a little loud and rambunctious at times, but still funny and very kind. He’d started bringing by various Quidditch related items once a week when he’d found out who Derek’s favourite team was. His mother apparently used to work for the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, so he had connections with most of the teams in the league. He often brought by either things from Derek’s favourite team, or various good luck charms for when games were around the corner.

Derek thought it was extremely kind of him, and when his mother had sent over some home-made sweets, he’d brought them to the tutoring session and offered some to Stiles.

“Aw, yes!” Stiles had instantly grabbed a handful of treats, shoving them into his mouth. “Dude, your mother makes the best cookies!”

It hadn’t occurred to Derek that Stiles would’ve already been exposed to his mother’s baking, but he was friends with Cora, so he should’ve figured.

Halfway through the second month of sessions, Derek was in the process of correcting Stiles’ worksheet while the other drummed absently on the table, looking around. He was doing better, but still not as good as Derek had been hoping.

“So,” Stiles said while Derek’s quill scratched away, “I was wondering, are you doing anything this weekend?”

“No,” Derek said, pleased when he saw Stiles answer one of the sections he’d previously been struggling with correctly. “Studying, probably.”

“Oh, cool. Cool.” Stiles’ hands drummed a little louder, causing the librarian to shush him. He mouthed an apology, Derek letting out a small laugh. Stiles was silent for a moment, then continued. “So. Uh, it’s a Hogsmeade weekend. I was uh, I was thinking—”

“Is it?” Derek asked, interrupting him without entirely meaning to, his mind half on what he was correcting and half on the conversation. “I wouldn’t know, I don’t go to Hogsmeade.”

“Oh, right.” He glanced up when he heard Stiles’ voice seem to deflate, but the other propped it back up and grinned at him when he saw Derek looking. “Yeah, of course. You’re a seventh year, you’ve probably been like, a bazillion times.” Stiles laughed and rubbed awkwardly at his arm.

Derek just went back to what he was grading, finishing up and handing it back to Stiles to look over. It was getting late, so he said they could go through everything on Monday when they had their next session and Stiles nodded.

He smiled and thanked Derek like he always did, but he didn’t look as bright and excited as he usually did when he left him. Derek frowned at his retreating back, then shrugged and started packing away his things. Someone slid into the seat across from him, and he looked up to see Erica there, giving him a look.

“You’re an idiot. He was trying to ask you out.”

Derek blinked at her, surprised, and wondered how long she’d been there. He saw books in her hand, and figured she’d been looking for something for one of her classes.

“No, he wasn’t,” he insisted, finishing up with his things but not standing, since Erica was still giving him a look.

“Derek, he was totally asking you out.”

“Trust me, he wasn’t. He asks me about my weekends all the time.”

“Then he’s either clued in to your stupidity, or really bad at taking no for an answer, because I can tell that kid is crazy about you.” Erica flipped some hair over her shoulder, then grabbed her books. “I can ask Cora, if you want.”

“No,” Derek said sharply. “He’s not into me, don’t be stupid.”

“You’re the stupid one, but if you say so.” Erica shrugged and stood. “Boyd and I are going to Hogsmeade, by the way. Isaac has detention. Hope studying is more interesting than a date with Stiles.”

“It wasn’t a date invitation!” Derek insisted after her when she walked away. The librarian shushed him angrily and he winced, turning back to his things and gathering them up before standing to head back to the Hufflepuff dormitory.

Derek slept badly that night because his brain wouldn’t turn off. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Erica had said, but it seemed insane to consider. Stiles was extremely popular, and not only in his own house. Yes, Derek knew he was gay, but he felt certain that if Stiles was interested in him, he would’ve been a lot more direct in asking him out. Stiles had nothing to worry about, he was more coveted than Derek was, and everyone knew Derek didn’t discriminate.

He’d dated a girl in first year, two different guys in third year, and had alternated between both genders for a majority of his time at Hogwarts. He wasn’t as popular as Stiles, but Derek knew he was attractive. He usually got involved with people because they thought he was good looking, and then they got tired of his prickly personality and dropped him. Which he was fine with, really, because if he was going to be with someone, they had to be able to put up with him whether he was in a good mood or not.

Stiles seemed to be pretty good at that, though. No matter what kind of mood Derek was in, Stiles always stuck around. Even nights where Derek knew he was being intolerable and insisted they cut things short so he didn’t say anything he’d regret, Stiles insisted it was fine and stuck it out, despite Derek’s terrible attitude.

“Hey Isaac,” Derek asked while they headed for class the next day. “Do you think Stiles likes me?”

“Probably, nobody can stand to spend that much time with you otherwise.”

Derek gave Isaac an annoyed look, but didn’t say anything. They just sat down in their Transfiguration class and took notes as always. They had a few practice sessions throughout the course of the lesson and Derek realized one of the items they were working on was the same one Stiles had been struggling with a few days ago but now seemed to have improved on.

When class ended, he hadn’t exactly meant to linger, but he found himself packing up more slowly than usual and he waved for Isaac to head out without him. When the class was empty save himself and McGonagall, he headed over to her hesitantly and stopped in front of her desk.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Hale?” she asked, lowering her glasses slightly and looking at him over them.

“I was just—I was wondering if you could tell me how Stiles is doing,” he said cautiously.

“Why, may I ask, would you like to know?”

“Well, I’ve been tutoring him for the past two months, and he’s really improved lately, so I was just curious how he’s been in your classes since we started.”

McGonagall was silent for a while, staring at him, then pulled her glasses off and said, “What are you talking about, Hale? Why would Mr. Stilinski need a tutor for my class, he’s got the highest grade in the entire school in Transfiguration.”

Derek stared at her for a long while, and found it somewhat comical that a small part of him had expected this to happen. Ever since Erica’s comment the night before, he’d remembered the way Lydia had reacted when Derek had wandered over to tell him their tutoring schedule. He remembered Cora’s incredulous reaction to the same news, and how she’d wandered away without a word. Even Boyd had said Stiles was smart when he’d asked him about him.

Stiles didn’t need tutoring at all. He was just using that as an excuse to spend time with Derek.

Holy shit, Erica was right! Stiles liked him!

“Forgive me, but can I ask you how Stiles is doing academically overall?” Derek asked.

McGonagall leaned back in her seat, eying him for a few moments, then said, “It’s not appropriate for me to share another student’s grades, but I feel comfortable telling you that Stiles is one of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever seen come through these doors. Every few years we encounter a student with exceptional skills, and Stiles is definitely at the top of the list. He wants to be an Auror, like his father. I dare say he won’t have any problems achieving that goal.”

Derek felt like a fucking idiot.

“Thank you, professor.”

She nodded, put her glasses back on, and went back to whatever she was doing.

Derek left the classroom, feeling stupid and almost angry. Stiles had essentially been wasting his time with this stupid tutoring business. Sure, it was good for Derek, because he was studying a lot while tutoring him, but if Stiles was so fucking smart, surely there were other ways for him to get Derek’s attention?!

He walked right into someone in his anger, and heard a shout. Grabbing at the arm of who he’d almost knocked over, he scowled angrily when he noticed it was Cora. She glared back, peeling Derek’s fingers off her arm and turning to gather her fallen books.

“Walk much?” she demanded.

“How long have you known Stiles likes me?” he blurted out.

Cora froze for a moment, then slowly turned her head to look at him. She eyed him warily, then finished gathering her things and stood, sighing.

“Look, Derek, it might have escaped your notice, but people have known about his crush on you for two years.”

Two years?! What?!

“He’s tried getting your attention in the past. He tried to talk to you a few times on the train, or at Quidditch games, but you always just brushed him off as that moron who’d blown a hole in the compartment wall in his first year. When I found out you were tutoring him, I went to ask him what the hell he was doing, because Stiles is a fucking genius. He just said that, to date, it was the only way he’d gotten you to talk to him.” She shrugged. “He wasn’t trying to be malicious or anything, he just wanted to spend time with you. You wouldn’t give it to him, so he found another way to do it. He told me he was asking around with the professors on who their best student in their classes were for the seventh years, and McGonagall was the first one to say it was you. So he went to Flitwick and said he was having trouble with Transfiguration, and obviously that wasn’t going to work for Flitwick because Stiles is his favourite, so he went to see Sprout to ask about getting you to tutor him since Stiles told him he’d spoken to McGonagall and she’d recommended you.” Cora shrugged. “You have to give him credit, he wanted this bad enough he risked the professors talking to one another and finding out he was full of shit.” She punched him lightly in the arm. “Give him a chance. He’s awesome, and you’d love him if you just stopped seeing him as the idiot who blew a hole in the wall.”

“He invited me to Hogsmeade,” Derek said with a small scowl.

“He told me. You said no. Shocker.”

Derek glared at her and she just rolled her eyes.

“I didn’t know it was supposed to be a date.”

“Well, now you do. And now you know what lengths he went to in order for you to just talk to him.” She shrugged again and started walking backwards. “Just give him a chance, would you? Stiles is amazing, and he’d be good for you. And hey, maybe he can tutor you in your shitty classes.”

Derek threw a book at her but she just ducked and laughed, running away from him before he could do any real damage.

Derek was still mad the entirety of the day, but the more he ranted about it to Erica, Isaac and Boyd, the more he realized that he honestly hadn’t noticed how hard Stiles had been trying to get his attention. His friends remembered, though, and were quick to give him all kinds of examples of things that he hadn’t even remembered happening.

The year before, he’d gotten an incredibly amazing and thoughtful Valentine’s from an anonymous source. He hadn’t asked anyone if they knew who it was from, figuring whoever it was would’ve told him by now, but Boyd admitted that he’d known it was Stiles because he’d seen him working on it in the common room. He hadn’t said anything because Derek had never asked, and he figured it wasn’t his place to give away Stiles’ anonymity.

Erica reminded him of the insane Hufflepuff support their Quidditch games always had from the Ravenclaw stands, even when the games were being played against Ravenclaw house itself.

There were just little things that all of his friends had noticed about Stiles that Derek hadn’t even realized. The more they talked to him, the less angry he became and he realized Stiles truly did just want to talk to him, and Derek had never given him the time of day. Of course he’d had to resort to drastic measures, Derek was in his last year at Hogwarts, and that made this Stiles’ last chance. He probably thought Derek was incredibly dense for not realizing he liked him and, honestly, Derek himself did feel pretty dense.

When he woke up the next morning, he made sure to do so with plenty of time to get breakfast and head to the Entrance Hall. He changed quickly, ignored the snoring Isaac who was definitely late for detention, and went to grab some breakfast. He chatted with some of the other people in his house, and then headed for the doors when the Hogsmeade visits would start.

He was one of the first ones there, and he handed his permission slip to Filch without even looking at him. He headed down the stairs and waited at the bottom, feeling somewhat anxious and shoving his hands in his pockets.

It was getting a littler cooler out, but not enough to need more than a jumper, so he just shifted his weight from foot to foot to keep himself moving and kept an eye on everyone exiting the castle. After almost fifteen minutes, Derek saw Stiles walk out, talking animatedly to his Gryffindor friend Scott. Lydia and Cora were behind them, speaking quietly to one another, the four of them walking down the steps.

Cora saw him first and Derek tensed, expecting some kind of comment, but she just grinned happily and nudged Stiles, motioning Derek. When Stiles turned to look at him, Derek waved awkwardly and only felt better when Stiles turned almost embarrassingly red in the face. He said something to his friends, almost tripped the rest of the way down the stairs, and hurried over to where Derek was.

“Hey,” he said breathlessly, smiling brightly.

“Hi,” Derek replied. Before he could say anything else, Stiles continued.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “About the tutoring thing. But I just didn’t know what else to do, and I figured that tutoring me would also help keep your brain active for your own courses, and it would help with your NEWTs and I mean, those are still so far off, we’re only just about to start our third month of classes, so—”

Derek reached out and covered Stiles’ mouth with one hand, making him stop speaking immediately.

“I was mad at first, but people helped put things into perspective.” He lowered his hand when it became clear Stiles wouldn’t start yammering again. “I’m sorry for how I treated you before. I guess I couldn’t get the image of the first year who blew a hole in the train out of my head.”

Stiles laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah. Dad wasn’t too happy about that. He still brings it up when I try and argue how he’s lucky I’m such a great kid.”

Derek smiled slightly. “Well, I might bring it up, too, but I’m willing to spend a bit more time with you, if that’s what you’d like, though not as a tutor.”

“Yes!” Stiles nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, absolutely!”

“Great.” Derek motioned down the path with his elbow, hands in his pockets again. “Want to go to Hogsmeade?”

Stiles beamed at him and nodded, the two of them walking slowly down the path. Derek had no idea where this relationship was going, but as Stiles spoke animatedly about Quidditch and the ways to improve flight on an older model broom, he realized that he was more than willing to give Stiles a chance.

He may have lied, but he’d had good intentions. And he’d apologized.

Besides, Derek would never admit this aloud, but he’d kind of grown fond of his sister’s idiotic Ravenclaw friend.

By the time they reached Hogsmeade, their hands were linked together, and they both had ridiculous smiles on their faces.

Derek was okay with that.

END.

#teen wolf #TW #Stiles Stilinski #Derek Hale #Sterek #sgalahp #isthatbloodonhisshirt #isthatbloodonhisshirt works #isthatbloodonhisshirt SNYE

[sterek]

I love Omega!Stiles, can you rec me some of your fav fics with this trope??

Sure can! :)

You Smell Like Mine by bleep0bleep [13k, E]

People talk about the alpha instinct, an alpha's head being swayed by a nice-smelling omega, or the desire to drop everything and show off. Derek's never felt any of that. He's just not that kind of alpha.

Then he meets Stiles.

Fight Fires In Your Best Clothes by standinginanicedress [67k, E]

The key isn’t actually being confident, he repeats in his head in Lydia’s breathy voice. It’s faking the hell out of it and looking as sexy as possible while you do it. For omegas, it’s easy. There’s a natural charm to all of us that only takes seconds to engage, and barely takes practice.

Walk into the room, he chants in his head. Own it, and look people in the eyes. Find the best looking alpha, have them buy you a drink, and the rest is easy.

Worth the Wait by Dexterous_Sinistrous [13k, E]

Stiles always had a thing for Derek, but then again, so did everyone else. Stiles just wanted to be seen as different, which was why he waited.

But maybe he waited a little too long.

The Fox & The Wolf by Dexterous_Sinistrous [79k, E]

The war between the fox and wolf clans has raged for centuries, ignited in a time before anyone can remember. Now both clans—tired of the bloodshed and hate—are searching for a way to end the war.

Crowned prince Stiles Stilinski—heir to the fox clan—has agreed with his father to meet with the Hales, the ruling royal family over the wolf clan. Under the counseling of the Druids, both clans are presented with a solution to the war: unite the Stilinski and Hale clans through marriage. To quell their people's anger, both Stiles and Derek—eldest living Hale Alpha—are urged to accept the other as an equal; as their mate.

For the sake of their people, both houses make the ultimate sacrifice by choosing duty over love. But, out of what was first assumed to be compromised, quickly turns to be a better match than either could have hoped for. But not all is easy for either clan, as some members refuse to believe that the war could end so easily.

Empty by DiscontentedWinter [48k, M]

Jordan Parrish is the new sheriff of Beacon Hills, a town haunted by its past.

(Note: it has Parrish’s pov but it’s Sterek and it’s brilliant!)

Leaving Paradise by NARKOTIKA [43k, E]

A boy dreams of freedom, a broken man finds home, and they learn to love in a world where it feels more impossible than water falling from the sky.

A Change of Plans by sunnydalewerewolf [12k, E]

Stiles and Derek had been best friends since they were babies, their parents having all been friends since college. Growing up, it had seemed very apparent that Derek would be an alpha and Stiles an omega. Stiles had just kind of always assumed they would end up together, and he thought Derek had assumed the same. No one ever said anything about it, but that’s just the way things would be.

So when they both end up being omegas, things get kind of complicated.

Flower Bomb by rispacooper [6k, M]

When an eligible omega glanced your way, you were supposed to glance back. Derek could hear an echo of his mother’s voice in his head, gently reminding him there were alphas who would kill to find themselves the focus of an omega’s interest.

Derek didn’t have the dominating personality or drive necessary to be classified as alpha, and there was no bright spark of appeal about him to say he was omega. He was tall and in good shape. He had a pretty face, dark hair and light eyes, good bone structure. But he had no need to get in fights or conquer the world. He didn’t even like arguing with his family. He was solidly beta, and wouldn’t have minded, never had minded, except for when Stiles was near.

You're a Mess, But You're a Catch to Me by jsea [11k, E]

The laws are clear: omegas are required to have an alpha guardian. So when the sheriff gets shot, Derek is roped in to stepping up as Stiles' temporary alpha while he recovers.

Derek knew it was going to be a bad idea, but he never could have predicted all of the ways that Stiles would end up turning his life upside down.

Someday Came Today by Fatebegins [81k, E]

"March 2, 1810. . .Today, I met the man I’m going to marry."

At the age of eight, Genim “Stiles” Stilinski showed no signs of Great Beauty. And even at eight, Stiles learned to accept the expectations society held for him--until the evening when Derek Hale, the handsome and dashing Alpha of the Hale pack, solemnly kissed his hand and promised him that one day he would grow into himself, that one day he would be as beautiful as he already was smart. And even at eight, Stiles knew he would love him forever.

But the years that followed were as cruel to Derek as they were kind to Stiles. Stiles is as intriguing as the Duke boldly predicted on that memorable day--while Derek is a lonely, bitter man, crushed by a devastating loss. But Stiles has never forgotten the truth he set down on paper all those years earlier--and he will not allow the love that is his destiny to slip through his fingers.

I Still Believe by IAmAVeronica [111k, E]

War is hell.Falling in love with enemy solider Derek Hale, secretly mating him, and then accidentally being left behind by him when the war suddenly and violently ends is a special kind of hell apparently reserved for one human omega Stiles Stilinski.But Stiles is determined to find his mate again, because Derek left more than just Stiles in a war-ravaged and werewolf-hating country - and with danger at every turn and nothing but Derek's gun and his own wits for protection, hell hath no fury like Stiles now.

Fire, Fury, and Flame by IAmAVeronica [124k, E]

Stiles Stilinski was never going to be the omega who got knocked up right after high school, and then he's accidentally artificially inseminated with a stranger's sperm.Awesome.And the father of Stiles's baby just so happens to be Derek Hale. Half-feral, quite possibly a murderer, and pursued by a gleefully sadistic band of hunters who are only too eager to use Stiles and his baby to hit Derek right where it hurts.Joy.

a mountain to climb by grimm [126k, E]

"Don’t do it,” he mutters. “Don’t do it, please, don’t do it.”

But there it is, a soft pink line appearing right next to the control. Stiles’ legs give out from under him; he sinks to the bathroom floor, hands shaking, his entire body shaking. It’s hard to breathe, his vision blurring around the edges. There’s a knock on the door behind him and then it opens and Scott sits down next to him.

“I’m fucked,” Stiles gasps, tears prickling at his eyes. “I’m fucked!"

The Chase by saltandbyrne for Akuneko42 [10k, E]

Derek's fourth Chase will be his last if he doesn't catch an omega this time. He's starting to doubt this whole soul-mate thing anyway, at least until someone from his past shows up and gives him the run of his life.

Commands and Contrasts by ravingrevolution [88k, M]

"Collared Alphas are Careful Alphas"

Seriously? What the hell was that? Because putting a collar on someone was supposed to make them manageable or something? Sure thing.

Or: "Mated Betas are Better Betas"

Again with the control issues. But then again betas were by far the most common classification type, so Stiles assumed that was mainly posted to keep things kind of even.

His least favorite was definitely: "Keep Omegas Pure - Report Uncollared Unmated Alphas Always"

Just wow.

Stiles attended all the home economics classes, like a good omega, and took all his pills, like a good omega, and outwardly submitted to authority, like a good omega, but he didn’t buy into the whole structure dynamic thing. He just didn’t.

In the Solstice of our Hearts by ravingrevolution [73k, E]

"You're not putting that up your butt," Scott told him flatly and Stiles couldn't stop the pissed off whine he made, but his friend continued. "Stiles, you can't put that up your butt, you know that. Your butt won't be ready for anything to go in it until-"

"Okay, okay!" he said, flailing his hands to stop his friend's lecture. "Message received, no butt stuff until I'm pounced on by some freaking animal in the forest and ravished to within an inch of my life. Got it. Thanks, Scotty, I mean heaven forbid I actually try to take control of my life and give myself a fighting chance or anything."

"Not all alphas are animals," Scott said quietly.

Maybe he was right, but Stiles wasn't holding his breath.

Ssshhh! (or the voice in my head will have to shout) by mirrorkill [20k, E]

Things in Beacon Hills are always weird, but Deputy Derek Hale is pretty damn sure he's getting the brunt of this week's insanity. There's a serial killer in town getting their kicks by posing people weirdly and maybe the local coven is to blame. His mom's setting up his sister with his new boss's cute son. There's some guy talking in his head. Oh, and his heat kicks in, four months too early. Also: he's pretty sure cell phones are the worst thing on the planet.

This is Derek Hale's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. All he wants is to enjoy his new apartment in peace. But you can't always get what you want. And if he tries real hard, will the voice in his head help him get what he needs?

The One With The Mail-Order Brides and A/B/O Dynamics by Stoney [16k, E]

Wolves aren't meant to be alone. Laura tells Derek this repeatedly. Which... is why Derek knows he's losing his mind, as Laura has been dead for more than six years. Wolves aren't meant to be alone.

And so he sends away for a companion. JUST for a companion, not for a mate. The universe, however, has a different plan in store for him.

Hello, Heartbreaker by astoryaboutwar [18k, E]

It’s a popular joke among Alphas: fuck an Omega, get heartbreak on your hands. Omegas are fragile little emotional things, needy and whiny. Stiles refuses to become that, or to believe that he’s anything like that.

Stiles and Derek have been fuckbuddies for a while when Derek loses his memories of the past three years - and them - in an accident. (Also - everyone's a werewolf, and everyone's alive.)

an exaltation of larks by llassah [25k, E]

There are times when he feels as if they could fall into bed together, easy as breathing. If Stiles were not highborn, if he were an omega without connections, Derek would be sorely tempted. As it is, he resists. Derek wants, he yearns, but he resists. Still, the sight of Stiles in his cot is enough to test him, even now that it is familiar. At the end of each lambing season, he sleeps for a week, worn down by months of hard work, of relentless struggle. He doesn’t know how he’ll feel by the time Stiles leaves, how he’ll feel after long days and longer nights spent resisting the insistent tug of Stiles’s scent and the inclinations of his own foolish heart.

All Derek wants is to get through the lambing season with his body and spirit intact. He had thought that the blizzards would be the main danger, not a highborn omega with beautiful eyes and a stubborn streak.

Settle Down by wearing_tearing, whatthehale [153k, E]

Stiles is a struggling author barely making ends meet.

Derek is a successful architect whose biological clock is ticking.

Enter a surrogacy agency, two packs, and a particularly sticky and toe curling heat week and you get a match made in heaven.

The Sanctuary by chase_acow [24k, E]

Stiles runs away during his first heat, right into the waiting and ambiguously scary arms of the Alpha's nephew, Derek Hale. He doesn't have any choice except to submit, but along the way, he digs up a mystery that threatens his family and even the town's safety.

Consort to the King by Ember [26k, E]

King Derek, alphas of alphas, ruler of the realms, lord of the city of Beacon Hills, has just asked newly discovered omega Stiles to be his consort and mate. And Stiles, being the lowly commoner that he is, has no choice but to say yes. Will the King's past allow him to love again? Will Stiles ever escape the confines of his new mate's possessive will? Can there be love once more in the castle? Or perhaps, yet again, another betrayal?

#rec list #i probably missed some but! here you go! #eternalsterek #omega!stiles #abo #Anonymous #asks

[anodyneer]

Tagged by @cobrilee, @gollyderek, and @smowkie! Thanks so much to all three of you! <3

1) How many works in progress do you currently have in progress?

If I’m only counting the ones that I’ve worked on recently, I have three - my ESSS17 fic (obviously Sterek, but will also include a brief mention of a tentative Peter/Sheriff relationship), a Sterek White Collar AU, and a Starrish road trip fic. I also have bits and pieces of a few others, plus the first Sterek fic I ever started writing.

2) Do you write fan fiction?

Yep, that’s basically all I’m writing now. I have some vague ideas for originals, but I have so little time to write nowadays that all of it is devoted to fanfic.

3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks?

I definitely prefer paper books. Lately, most of the reading I’ve been doing has been on my phone (fanfic), but I still love that feeling of having a physical book in my hands. Once we finally move to our homestead, I’ll be devoting plenty of time to reading physical books.

4) When did you start writing?

Sometime in elementary school, though I can’t recall exactly when. I have very vague memories of writing some kind of long story that involved gymnasts in space, maybe? (I wanted to be an astronaut, so everything in my over-active imagination involved space in some way.) That would probably have put me at 9 years old; lots of kids had a fascination with gymnastics after the 1984 Summer Olympics.

5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with?

Not at all. I wouldn’t call it a trust issue, though, so much as a me issue. Not sure if it’s because of my social anxiety or Asperger’s, but the idea of having someone read something I’ve written before I’ve decided it’s 100% ready to be posted is mortifying. Makes my chest tighten just thinking about it...ugh.  6) Where is your favorite place to write?

I rarely get to do it anymore, but my favorite place is out on our second floor back balcony. It’s a little awkward with the tablet and keyboard propped on my knees/legs, but until our homestead is finished, it’s the best I can do. Once our home is finally built, I plan to set up shop on the screened porch. :)

7) Favorite childhood book?

Not sure if I can pick a favorite. (I’m almost 43...it was a looong time ago.) I remember enjoying Jack London and Jim Kjelgaard, and some of the kid classics like Where the Red Fern Grows, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and A Wrinkle in Time. Bridge to Terabithia was another, though the ending was a gut punch the first time I read it. I also started getting into Stephen King in elementary school (5th grade, maybe?) and really loved a lot of his stuff - favorite back then was probably the novella, The Long Walk.

8) Writing for fun or publication?

I’d love to do both, but for now, it’s just for fun. :)

9) Pen and paper or computer?

Computer. I wrote long-hand some as a kid, but even back then, I also had a children’s typewriter (a blue Buddy L Easy Writer), and I used that until I got my first computer in the late 80s.

10) Have you ever taken any writing classes?

No. Writing is pretty personal for me, and I don’t know that it’s something I’d necessarily want to bring into any type of classroom setting. I developed my style on my own, and it’s still evolving all the time. I’d rather just keep it that way.

11) What inspires you to write?

Usually prompts or headcanons. Sometimes, though, I’ll just hear a line in a song and think, “that should be Sterek’d.” Or I’ll see something in passing on my feed and will take a screenshot of it to fic at a later time. My favorite is definitely being prompted, though, both in my previous fandom and this one. I really love a good photo/art prompt, but I also enjoy getting written ones. <3

I’ll do my usual open-ended tag invite here. If you haven’t done this yet and would like to, please claim a tag from me (and tag me so I can read your answers)!

#writing meme #about me