Human is Just a Word 21/?
Chapter 21
When he woke up in the morning, Stiles was alone in his bed. The side where Derek had slept was cold but the comforting smell of wolf still lingered in the covers. Along with an impressive amount of wolf hair.
"Great." He mumbled, nose buried in the pillow that also still smelled like Derek. What he should think of last night he didn't know, only that having Derek right next to him was a thing he could get used to. And not only in his wolf form. But that was a train of thoughts he really shouldn't jump on.
When he came down the spiral staircase, following the mouthwatering smell of coffee, he found Derek engrossed in his work at the kitchen table again.
"Did you have breakfast?" Stiles asked. There were no dirty dishes in the sink and Derek had only his coffee mug next to him. Which was almost empty so Stiles filled it up again while he was at it.
"No." Derek answered without turning his gaze from the screen but he did reach for the fresh coffee.
Stiles made them French Toast and for that Derek even put his work aside for a moment.
"I'm fine." Stiles said around a bite of toast as an answer to the question he read in Derek's eyebrows. "Wolf cuddles are very therapeutic. And comfy. Do you know how soft your fur is? And you're radiating heat like a werewolf oven. But I'll never get the wolf hair out of the sheets. I'll have to change the sheets before I can sleep in my bed again. I don't mind the wolf smell but those hairs are going to be itchy as hell and they will end up in places I don't want them to end up."
Derek drew his eyebrows together as if he was trying to make sense out of Stiles' rambling or as if he was about to tell him to shut up, Stiles wasn't sure which one it was this time. Usually it was a mixture of both. Topped with annoyance.
After breakfast Derek went back to work and Stiles kept himself busy with the laundry.
Living with Derek wasn't that much different from living with his dad. With his dad working at ridiculous hours Stiles had taken over a lot of the chores at home. Stiles was eating Derek's food and hogging his office, not that Derek had told him that his room used to be his office but it was kinda obvious with Derek working at the kitchen table and his office stuff crammed into his bedroom. It felt only right to help around the house.
However, most of the time Derek insisted on doing his fair share as well. Which wasn't exactly fair in Stiles opinion but the alpha just gave him a stern look every time he brought that up. And Derek with a vacuum cleaner was a sight to see, Stiles had to give him that.
By the time Stiles was done with the laundry, Derek was still working, Isaac was at campus and Boyd and Erica were at work. Nobody left for Stiles to bother.
His new school had sent over some stuff and he hadn't really have a look at it so he went back to his room to see what the school wanted him to do over summer.
The days went by like that. Derek worked sitting at the kitchen table until three or four in the afternoon and Stiles kept himself busy with school work and internet. When one of them forgot the time, the other one made food and in the evening Stiles cooked and Derek did the dishes. Stiles spent the evenings either with Derek, watching TV, or with Isaac and his PlayStation.
It was nice.
By now Stiles could tell how far away a member of the pack was by the feeling in the back of his mind alone. If they were too far out, the feeling faded away until there was nothing left but a loose end. It was somewhat like a hangnail, nothing major but once you've noticed it you just can't leave it alone. Boyd and Erica's company was within the limits but with their jobs one of them was out of reach almost every day. How the others hadn't gone mad a long time ago Stiles didn't know. It was either a werewolf thing or they got used to it over time. He was hoping for the latter.
His bond to Derek was the strongest in his mind and not only because he was his alpha. Stiles liked being around Derek. He liked it probably a bit too much. The fact that Derek wasn't body shy in the slightest and more often than not changed forms in the middle of the living room didn't help either.
When the first day of school rolled around, Stiles was almost relieved to get out of the loft for a while. Doing the groceries and walks in the park didn't really cut it. And he didn't have the money to hang out in coffee shops all day.
Since it was a new school year he wasn't the only new kid but joining classes with people who had known each other their whole lives was strange.
He didn't make instant friends like he had when he'd first met Scott but it was okay, he never had many friends to begin with. There was this one guy, Sean, who sat next to him in Biology who had deemed himself Stiles' best friend and school guide and he was nice, no question about that, but they would never have what he had with Scott. Stiles knew that five minutes after the guy had leaned over and introduced himself in Biology. And it had only taken that long to come to that conclusion because Stiles had given him the benefit of a doubt for four minutes and fifty-five seconds.
For lunch Stiles followed Sean to a table of people who weren't exactly the popular kids but not the outcasts either so that was okay, too.
Sean introduced him to the rest. Three girls and two guys and none of them sparked his interest. They were nice but a solid group by now and Stiles wasn't sure if it was worth it to try to cut in. This was the last year of high school anyway and after that, who knew?
There were the usual questions of where he was from and why he was here now which he answered with an easy "We moved here, you know work."
After that was covered and Stiles didn't reveal something interesting, the conversation went back to normal. It was the usual after summer catch up stuff: Who broke up, who was together now and whose parents got a divorce. The big thing was an upcoming party next weekend and suddenly Stiles was invited as well.
Stiles went home that day with a good feeling.
"How was your first day?" Derek asked when they came together over dinner. It was such a dad thing to say that Stiles had to swallow against the sudden lump in his throat.
"Okay, I guess." He answered and hoped that his heart-beat didn't give him away. "Some of the teachers seem to be interested in actually teaching their stuff and I met some of the other students." He paused, remembering the invitation. "There's a party this weekend." He said, glancing at Derek without lifting his head.
Derek just put another fork of food in his mouth and started chewing.
"I'd like to go, if that's okay with you." God, he sounded like a twelve year old asking for permission. He was seventeen and Derek wasn't even his dad.
No, he's your alpha, a little voice in the back of his mind provided. And technically he can just lock you up in your room if he feels like it.
Not that Derek had shown any sign that he felt like it over the last few weeks. But the lingering fear was still there sometimes. They hadn't spoken about it and for all Stiles knew Derek expected him home right after school.
Now Derek looked up from his plate and studied Stiles from under knitted eyebrows.
"You know that you don't have to ask." He finally said. "You can go to a party if you want." He thought about that for a moment. "I am your official guardian, I would prefer to not get a call from the police in the middle of the night, though. If you're too drunk to drive, call me."
Stiles just stared at him. This didn't go as expected.
"Stiles." Derek put his fork aside. "You're free to do whatever you want." He said to drive that point home. "And just in case, if you want to invite a friend over, just do it." He paused again, thinking. "I would like to have a little warning if somebody stays over night but that wouldn't be a problem either."
"Dude, did you just gave me permission to have sex under your roof?" Stiles gaped at him. But then he thought about enhanced werewolf hearing. "What would you do? Listen to us? That's not creepy at all." Stiles shuddered at the thought of Derek listening in to him having sex with somebody. Not that people were lining up to have sex with him but it was still creepy on an hypothetical level.
Lately his fantasies had revolved around one certain werewolf so if Stiles ever had his way, which would never happen, he knew that, Derek wouldn't have to listen in from the outside ...
Stiles was so caught up in his thoughts, that he almost missed Derek's: "I'd crash at Isaac's, you pervert."
Stiles went to the party.
He had fun and got to know a few more people. Somebody was always there to hand him a new beer the second he had finished his. It was awesome.
Later that evening, when everybody was more or less drunk, a girl he'd just met that evening, slung her arms around his neck and gave him a messy kiss.
Stiles' brain was still frozen with the realization of Holy fuck, she kissed me! when she patted his cheek and then crashed on the couch. He sat down next to her but she was out cold.
Sitting there, nursing his beer, Stiles compared this kiss to the ones he had shared with Derek. He liked Derek's better.
He hadn't meant to drink this much but around two in the morning he was in no condition to drive home. Hell, he didn't even know which direction home was. He looked around for people he knew but the only one left was Sean who wasn't anywhere near sober either. And he was busy making out with an equally drunk girl.
Not knowing what to do, he felt kinda lost among all these people he didn't know, Stiles stepped outside and called Derek.
The alpha had said that Stiles could call him but he had never intended to take him up on that offer. The guy wasn't his father, it wasn't his job to drive his drunk ass home in the middle of the night.
When the black Camaro pulled up in front of the house, it got quite some attention. People turned their head to see who the car belonged to and who the lucky one was to get in said car.
"Thanks, man." Stiles slumped in the seat and shut the door, cutting them off from people staring at them. They were probably waiting for a kiss. Not that Stiles would mind kissing Derek, quite the opposite, and he almost told Derek that much. Or, you know, just kissed him, those lips looked really kissable if anybody would bother to ask Stiles. Which of course nobody did.
"I'm drunk." Stiles proclaimed with a broad grin.
Derek just shook his head and drove them home.
Chapter 22
Masterpost