Fic: Discovery Channel (3/12) Part 1
Title: Discovery Channel
Author: kayevelyn
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Pairing: Stiles/Derek
Rating: Overall R
Warnings: eventual knotting
Summary: Stiles is the best werewolf ever. fork in the road au. (were!stiles)
Notes: Let's just not talk about how I wrote all of this chapter on Saturday and surprised myself when I came out of the writing coma and saw the chapter was 12k OTL
[Read on AO3]
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
School didn’t look any different when Stiles pulled up, Scott and his bike in the jeep with him because it had opened up and started pouring. He was a good friend for picking Scott up with a change of clothes in a bag, just like he kept telling Scott. So he didn’t understand why Scott wouldn’t be more supportive of his plights.
“Just- just try to be attracted to me for one moment so I can figure out what attraction smells like?” Stiles pleaded as he pulled into a parking space. He narrowly avoided dinging the car he was parking next to, and he made a face as he tried to straighten himself out.
“Why can’t you wait for Derek to teach you this stuff?”
“Because! I am going to try to flirt with Danny today and knowing if he actually likes me or not will help greatly.”
Scott looked at him. “Why can’t you just do it like normal people and like,” he waved his hands around, “watch body language.”
Stiles fake laughed and slammed the jeep into park. “I’m a werewolf, Scott. I am going to need these skills anyway. Better to start practicing them in relatively harmless situations. The worse that could happen in this situation is getting turned down.”
“And punched by Jackson,” Scott reminded.
“I got thrown into a tree by Derek, who is like, definitely ten thousand times more awesome than Jackson. I’d love to see him try.” Stiles took a deep breath, looking at the downpour. “Ready to go in?”
Scott looked at his bike, crammed into the backseat. “Can I leave that here?”
“Yeah, sure.” They nodded at each other and made a run for the front door.
Stiles stripped off his hoodie once he got into the school, just like everyone else was doing. He finished shaking himself off and he looked over at Scott to see if he was finished. Scott was staring at him, trying to hold back his laughter. Stiles chucked his wet hoodie right in his face.
“Very funny. I hope it smells.”
Stiles rolled his eyes while Scott just took a deep breath of the sweater. “Just like at the clinic.”
“Haha,” Stiles said, grabbing his hoodie back and wringing it out. He still took a sniff of his forearm, just to make sure he wasn’t actually starting to smell like wet dog. That would be awful, and not at all the impression he wanted to leave with Danny. He looked up to see Scott already heading to homeroom and he jogged to catch up with him. “Hey, wait up.”
Scott turned around suddenly and Stiles found himself pressed up against the lockers. A scent was rolling off of Scott, something Stiles couldn’t identify, but he recognized. It wasn’t as sharp as what he had smelled on Danny in the video store, and it was tainted in a way. He could tell right away that he didn’t like the scent.
“Stiles,” Scott said, voice dropping. He was staring right at Stiles. “I- I really find you attractive.”
Stiles burst into laughter as Scott dropped his arm, laughing as well. They were getting looks from people passing by them, but Stiles didn’t mind, as he wrapped Scott in an embrace. Scott’s scent had gone back to normal, the nice, safe smell that was Scott, and brother. Stiles took a deep whiff of it, still laughing as they broke the hug.
“That was terrible. Never, ever do that to me again.”
Scott laughed. “But you asked.”
“And I completely regret it. Oh my god, do I regret it.” Stiles flung his arm around Scott’s shoulder as they kept walking to class. “I think we can safely say that if we make it to senior year without ever dating someone, I am springing for a night at a strip club before we try kissing each other, because that is just going to end terribly.”
Scott elbowed him in the ribs. “Hey! I wasn’t that bad!”
Stiles looked at him like he was crazy. “It was pretty awful. I might have nightmares.” He grunted as Scott elbowed him again. “Hey! That could bruise!”
Scott shrugged off his arm as they walked into class and took their seats. “You’ll heal.”
Stiles had no retort but to stick out his tongue. The scent that Scott had given off had been similar to Danny, though. Stiles didn’t know what that meant. He didn’t know if that scent meant arousal, or annoyance, or what. But he definitely knew when it was coming off of Scott he didn’t like it. Stiles wondered if that meant he was destined for someone. He knew wolves mated for life, and there was always lore on soul mates.
When his English teacher had his back turned Stiles pulled out his cellphone and sent a text to Derek.
Explain werewolf mating to me.
He got a reply within minutes, which made Stiles feel slightly better, because Derek could have been sleeping.
no
Stile stared at the text before snorting. Of course Derek would suck at all forms of communication.
Either you explain or I do this by trial and error!
Derek’s reply came slower this time. no >:|
It took all of Stiles control not to burst into laughter, and as it was he accidentally managed to kick the person in front of him. He apologized and looked back at the text.
Did you just use an emoticon on me?
did it distract you from asking stupid questions
Stiles bit down his laughter again. Nope! See you after school! Meeting at your place or the woods?
He counted it as a win that Derek just replied with an affirmative on the woods, and didn’t press about the mating anymore.
So now all he had to do was wait to talk to Danny.
The plan had been to wait until History, or even Math class, when he had Danny completely to himself, but when Stiles got to Chemistry and saw that no one else of importance was there yet minus him and Danny, he couldn’t stop himself from sliding into the seat across from Danny.
Danny looked up, and even as he gave Stiles an inquisitive look, Stiles could smell his scent changing. It was much better than Scott’s forced change from earlier.
“Hey,” Stiles said, swallowing nervously. He had this, though. He was a badass werewolf. “So… how are you?”
Danny’s smile brightened just a little. “Okay. Do you need something?”
Stiles couldn’t stop himself from acting like an idiot and practically throwing himself on the table so he could be closer to Danny so the people coming into the classroom wouldn’t hear him make a fool of himself. “Well, you didn’t answer my question. The one at the video store. The question I asked before Derek was a jackass and dragged me out?” He looked hopeful, even as Danny laughed a little.
“I was gonna ask about that?”
“What? The question? Or Derek? Because I can tell you right now that Derek is totally not open to relationships. He told me so when I tried to set him up with someone later that night.” Stiles rubbed his forehead reflexively, the pain from Derek slamming him into the dashboard coming back. He looked at Danny hopefully. “I just was curious? Do you find me attractive?”
Danny opened his mouth when a shadow fell over the table. Stiles sighed as he felt himself being dragged off the table and turned around to face Jackson.
“What are you doing here, Stilinski?”
Stiles grinned brightly. “Oh, you know, just having a friendly chat with my friend.”
Jackson glared. “Cute. Now get out.”
Stiles looked at Danny, who was covering his mouth to stop himself from laughing. He smelled delicious. “Sure thing. See you seventh period!” He shrugged off Jackson’s hand, and then fumbled as he went back to his seat. He stopped after he tossed his backpack on the desk next to Scott because he’d forgotten something. He dug his hand in his pocket and pulled out the paper he had scribbled his number on before, because he was smooth. He turned back to Danny’s table and tossed the crumpled up paper on his desk.
He grinned when Danny snatched it before Jackson could, and he made the universal “call me” sign before turning back to Scott. The full force of what he had just done hit him like a ton of bricks when he saw Scott’s face. His eyes went comically wide and he opened and closed his mouth a few times.
He, Stiles Stilinski, had just given his number to someone. And they hadn’t punched him, or laughed at him (too much), and from what he could smell he thought they might be have been receptive?
He didn’t need to turn around to hear Danny and Jackson whispering back and forth.
“Give me the paper, Danny.”
“No.” There was a rustle, and Stiles could hear a number being put into a cell phone. His heartbeat picked up, but he didn’t risk glancing back.
“Danny. Throw out that number.”
“No.” Stiles glanced back just in time to see Danny stick his tongue out at Jackson, who looked pissed.
He grinned and turned to Scott, who still looked shocked as he wrote down the notes on the syllabus. When Stiles was pretty sure no one was paying attention he poked Scott in the side, and they silently freaked out together because he’d given his number to someone.
***
Jackson knew his flaws. He had to if he was going to ever get better. So he knew he was possessive, easily jealous, and protective beyond all belief. Especially for family. Because he didn’t have a large family; not one he wanted anyway. To him his family was Danny and Lydia, because he had chosen them, and they had accepted him, and they loved him, and he loved them. That was his family. And he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to them.
Danny had a horrible habit of dating the worst possible people ever. Jackson had always known this, but Lydia had made a list after the disaster that had been Stan-the-Murderer-Man. They’d presented it to Danny, thinking it would make him see the error of his ways, and then he’d immediately started dating Seth-the-Divorce-Lawyer and it had all been downhill from there.
“Give me your phone,” he ordered as they went to his locker to drop off their books before gym.
Danny just laughed, because he was a brat with no self-preservation at all. “Jackson, it’s okay. It’s just Stiles. He’s harmless.”
“Yeah, and so was Stan-the-Murderer-Man, but then we found out about his hacked up family in Arizona.”
Danny winced, opening the locker and holding his hands out for Jackson’s books. “Do you still call him that?”
“Yes. Listen, you just broke up with what’s his name-“
“Rob,” Danny said with a sigh.
Jackson nodded. “That one. I’m just saying, do you really think it’s a good idea to start dating so quickly? And with someone like Stilinski?”
“Who’s dating?” Lydia asked, coming up holding her books. She pushed herself between Danny and the locker to give Jackson a hello kiss, but he returned the kiss half-distracted.
“Some guy gave Danny his number today.”
Lydia’s eyes narrowed, and she pulled back to look at Danny. “What did we just talk about in Latin?”
Jackson watched as Danny’s shoulders dropped. Lydia had that effect on people. “Stiles is perfectly harmless. He’s the sheriff’s son. What harm could he cause?”
Lydia blinked and looked at Jackson. “Who’s Stiles?”
“Some third rate lacrosse player,” Jackson supplied at the same time Danny said, “the one in History who did the report on Shakespeare’s plagiarism.”
To Jackson’s horror Lydia didn’t look enraged, or appalled. She looked contemplative. “And he gave you his number? Out of the blue?”
Danny shut the locker and Jackson could only watch the train wreck of Danny and Lydia conspiring. “Well, we’d run into each other at the video store on New Years. And we had this really bizarre conversation which ended with, I guess someone who’s not his boyfriend dragging him out of the store before he asked me out? So he did it today?”
Lydia looped arms with Danny, steering him towards the gym. “I see.” She looked over her shoulder at Jackson. “Jackson? Are you coming?”
Jackson groaned and slammed the locker just to get out some of his frustration. He could see he had already lost this battle. He’d just have to be prepared to pick up the pieces of Danny’s broken heart, and hope it didn’t come with more dead bodies.
***
Stiles had left lunch early because Scott had to go bring Finstock the note about his asthma that he had forgotten about during Economics. This just meant that he had time to settle himself down in History, and prepare himself for Danny. He’d been getting glares all throughout lunch anyway, and even with his healing factor he wasn’t sure if Jackson’s death glare was going to leave permanent damage.
He pulled out his cell phone and sent Derek a text.
I saw you creeping outside. Get a job hippie.
shut up
Stiles grinned and sat up to see out the window. Derek was lounging in the backseat of Stiles’ Jeep. He rolled his eyes.
If you broke my lock you have to pay for it.
it was open
Stiles snorted and was about to reply when the scent of Lydia Martin entered the room. He slouched back in his seat, because Danny usually followed after her and he was man enough to admit he was a little worried that he might get rejected.
Stiles blinked when Lydia ignored her normal seat and walked right to him, dropping gracefully in the seat right in front of him. She spun around and fixed him with a glare.
He hadn’t been at the receiving end of that look in a long, long time. Like, sixth grade long time. Stiles swallowed.
“Why did you ask out Danny?”
Stiles stared. “Because I… like him?”
“Well, isn’t that reassuring. You’ve answered my question with a question.” She looked at him. “Try again.”
“Because I like him?”
“Still a question.”
Stiles swallowed and sat up straighter. His heartbeat was picking up and he tried to calm it. “I like him. Kinda always have had a crush on him.” He held back the added comment that he’d always liked her as well. “I just… didn’t know he was interested.”
“What made you pick now?”
Stiles shrugged. He had not been expecting the Spanish Inquisition over asking Danny out. “New year. New time to take risks.”
Lydia looked him up and down. “Have you ever murdered someone?”
“What?”
“Standard question.” She scrunched up her face. “So? Have you?” The bell rang to signal the end of sixth period and Stiles jumped. “Answer the question.”
Lydia was a lot scarier than Stiles thought. “No! What makes you think I’ve killed someone?”
She was still watching him, like she was trying to find a weakness. She sniffed. “You’d be surprised what kind of faces psychopaths hide behind.” She turned in her seat as their teacher came into the class, followed by Danny, who brightened when he saw Lydia and Stiles.
Stiles couldn’t say anything as Danny took the seat next to him and started to pull out his notebooks.
His phone vibrated and Stiles looked down at it, expecting to see a text from Derek asking if he was okay. Stiles knew his heart had spiked about 3,000 times in that last conversation, and he was surprised Derek hadn’t come running to make sure everything was okay.
It was a number he didn’t recognize. Are you free Friday?
Stiles looked at Danny, who smiled a little shyly. Stiles broke into a wide grin, even as he saw Lydia roll her eyes and mutter something distasteful about young love under her breath.
He nodded, at the same time he was texting back. Yes!
Stiles pressed his phone to his chin just in time for their teacher to see.
“Mr. Stilinski! Put that phone away!”
Stiles flailed and dropped his phone. He caught it before it could hit the floor, and he flashed a winning grin to Danny, who was staring at him.
He had this.
The math teacher was absent, so during their last period Stiles and Danny were actually able to talk. He didn’t admit to having no clue what to do, but Danny seemed to have guessed it was one of his first dates, if not his first one, pretty quickly, and had taken over any planning.
A quick look at the movie selection in the local theatre had left both of them uninspired.
“Tangled?” Stiles asked, going down the list.
“Lydia already made me see it,” Danny said.
Stiles pointed to the next movie, “The Tourist?”
“Lydia.”
“Is there a movie you haven’t seen yet?” Stiles asked, only half serious.
“Yogi Bear.”
Stiles made a face. “Yeah, I’ll pass.”
Danny looked at the clock. They still had half an hour left in school. “Well, we don’t have to go see a movie this week. We could always just rent one.”
Stiles thought back to Danny’s film selection, the small taste he saw at the video store. “I’m not exactly in the mood for thrillers and gore.”
Danny laughed. “Oh. Yeah.” He rubbed his neck. “I don’t normally watch horror movies. That was a therapeutic watch.”
“What do you mean?”
Danny shrugged, looking sheepish. “I tend to want to watch horror when I’ve just broken up with someone.”
Stiles blinked, and then laughed. “Okay. Well, that’s good to know. What’s your normal genre when you aren’t living out fantasies of killing your exes?”
“When you put it like that it just sounds awful.” Danny shook his head. “I don’t know. Usually I get my choices overridden by Jackson and Lydia.”
“Well then on Friday you can pick the movie out, fair enough?” Stiles watched as Danny blushed and he thought that this date might not be as horrible a disaster he was worried it might be.
“What did you do?” Derek demanded the moment Stiles climbed into his Jeep.
He was very proud of himself for not jumping in fear. That was mostly because he’d known that Derek was still in there, like a creeper.
“Oh my god! Can’t you get a job?”
Derek glared and he pushed Stiles out of the way as he climbed into the front seat. “Stop avoiding the subject. What did you do?”
“Well, for starters I told Finstock that I was quitting the lacrosse team so I could spend more time with my crazy werewolf-brethren running around naked in the woods.” Derek snorted. “And then I may have asked Danny out on a date.” He muttered the last part but Derek still heard him.
He slammed Stiles’ head into the steering wheel hard enough that the horn went off.
“Oh my god are you deranged!” Stiles looked around at all the people staring at them. “Great, now everyone is staring at us. I hope you’re proud of yourself and your abusive tendencies.”
“Shut up and drive. We are having a long conversation about how I don’t just say things to say them.” Derek folded his arms over his chest and glowered.
“I really don’t see what’s so bad about a date, Derek! One date! It’s not like I’m going to mate with the guy!”
Derek just growled. “I’m going to make you run suicides all day.”
Stiles patted his knee. “I know you don’t want your little brother to grow up but we all reach that age where we need to.”
Derek didn’t respond to the taunt and Stiles removed his hand, turning on the radio and singing along obnoxiously until Derek had relaxed even a little. He’d win Derek over soon enough with this idea of dating.
***
New schools sucked. Allison adjusted her bag on her shoulder. She was already late, she couldn’t find a pen, and she was pretty sure her hair was a mess because the only scrunchie she had brought had snapped while she was in the car. And of course her parents couldn’t let her start on the first day of the new semester, because they were still getting everything organized, so she had to start in the middle of the week.
At least it wasn’t the middle of the semester, her mom had reminded her as Allison had run out the door.
She’d left twenty minutes early and still managed to get lost and become late for class. Allison ran her hands through her hair, messing it up even more, and just kept reminding herself that no matter how the day could go, it would never beat her first day at Junior High in Mattoon when she’d gotten mud all over her dress from a passing car.
Yeah, that was a good thought. She laughed nervously as she went looking through her bag for a pen. She had the sneaking suspicion that she didn’t have one, and wasn’t that just great. Well, like her mom would say! Just a reason to talk to someone and make new friends!
It never got easier each time she moved, but her dad had said this would be one of the last stops for a while, whatever that meant.
Allison looked up and greeted the Vice Principal, a tall man with a friendly smile, who showed her around, gave her her schedule, and brought her to her first class.
Everyone stared at her when she came in, and she ducked her head.
“Please introduce yourself to the class,” the teacher was saying, and Allison hadn’t even looked at her schedule to see what class this was. Great.
“Hi. I’m Allison.” She waved awkwardly, and hurried quickly to the only empty chair, behind a boy with an uneven jaw and messy brown hair.
The teacher started to talk and Allison looked frantically around for a pen. No luck. She sucked in a deep breath and glanced at the people around her. There was a girl next to her who was asleep, and the guy sitting next to her was already taking notes.
She tapped the uneven jawed boy. He turned around loudly, earning looks from the surrounding classmates, but their teacher just kept talking about their first essay.
“Hey. Do you have a pen?” She whispered, actually looking at the boy. He was cute in a deer-in-the-headlights kind of way. Maybe if he wiped the look off his face he’d be even cuter.
“Uh. Uh. Hold on.” He kicked the boy sitting next to him, and got the pen the boy was holding thrown right at his head. Uneven jawed kid fumbled with it before handing it to her. “Here.” He smiled at her and Allison found herself blushing.
He was really cute.
She could see his friend rolling his eyes, but he seemed to be ignoring it.
“I’m Scott.”
“Allison.”
They stared at each other for a few more moments before Scott seemed to realize what he was doing and frantically turned around. Allison smothered her laugh behind her hand.
She had gym right before lunch, and she had no idea where she was supposed to be going. Allison knew that the Vice Principal had shown her where it was, but she had completely blanked. So instead she was standing by her locker, staring dumbly at the map the Chemistry teacher had drawn, like it helped at all.
A girl with red hair that Allison recognized from her Chemistry class came up to her with a huge smile on her face. “I really like your coat.”
Allison blinked, and looked down the coat she was holding in her hand. “Oh. Thanks. My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco, and she picked it up there for me.”
The girl’s eyes crinkled as she smiled and Allison couldn’t tell if it was sincere or not. “You and I are going to be very good friends, I can tell. Do you need help? I saw Harris draw you that map.”
Allison let out a sigh of relief. “Oh yeah. Thanks, I’m going to gym next.”
“Oh! Great, that’s where I’m headed! Come with me.” The girl started walking and Allison jogged to keep up with her.
“I’m Allison. Kinda new here.”
“Lydia Martin. Stick with me and I’ll make this the best high school experience of your life.” Lydia flashed a huge grin at Allison, and she couldn’t help but smile back.
“Thanks. And after gym I have lunch-“
“You can sit with me and Jackson!” Lydia was still smiling. “Jackson is my boyfriend. He’s captain of the lacrosse team. Our lacrosse team is kind of a big deal.”
“I’ve never seen a game.” Allison admitted, starting to feel wrapped up in a whirlwind of Lydia as she kept walking briskly towards the gym.
“Well, we’ll definitely need to fix that. The team is still doing conditioning, but we can go and watch today if you’re free after school.”
“I should be?”
“Excellent!”
Lydia was talkative, and bubbly, but Allison was glad to have someone with her throughout gym, and then on the walk to lunch. Lydia showed her where to buy food, and pointed out where they would be sitting while they waited in line.
Allison sat down next to Lydia, who was beaming as a tall, handsome blond boy came and put his tray down next to them. Allison could only assume this was Jackson the perfect boyfriend Lydia had mentioned. Another boy put his tray down next to Jackson’s, he had darker hair but was just as built and Allison wondered if she had stepped into some twilight zone where everyone was suddenly greek gods and she’d been left out.
“Allison,” Lydia said, distracting Allison from her thoughts. “This is Jackson, who I mentioned before. And this is Danny. He’s the goalie for the lacrosse team.”
The darker haired boy, Danny, smiled. “I’m not goalie just yet.”
Jackson snorted as he started to eat the apple he had. “Like coach would pick anyone else. You were second line last year just because of Dalton, and he graduated.”
“We’ll see what happens,” Danny said, looking around, and then he was waving someone else over.
Allison watched as Jackson’s face darkened, and Lydia grabbed hold of his hand, as if that would stop him from pitching a fit.
Two more boys sat down next to Danny.
“Thanks,” said the boy with a shaved head, but Allison’s attention was on the second boy, Scott from her first period class.
“Hey,” he said, looking right at her.
“Hi.” She felt so awkward, not sure what to say. She opened her mouth to thank him for the pen, and she should probably return it, but any chance of starting a conversation was stopped by Jackson speaking to his friend.
“What are you doing here, Stilinski?”
The boy sitting next to Danny smiled winningly. “Eating lunch. With my friends.” And he ducked his head when Danny looked at him. “And my boyfriend. Got a problem?”
Allison watched as Jackson fumbled with something to say, while everyone looked at him. He grumbled a little but didn’t add anything, going back to furiously eating his apple.
Danny and his boyfriend fell into a conversation about movies, and Allison could only guess they were doing something on Friday. She looked at Scott, finally able to get a word in edgewise.
“Thanks for letting me borrow the pen.”
“No problem,” he said around a mouthful of food, and then he realized what he had said and he covered his mouth. “Sorry.”
Allison laughed. “Do you want it back? Or to uh, give it to your friend?”
Scott looked at his friend, and then shrugged. “Stiles has like an arsenal of pens. I don’t think he’ll miss one.”
Allison nodded and took a bite out of her food as Jackson and Stiles started to snark at one another. Lydia was watching the fight and sharing an amused look with Danny. Allison gave another look at Scott, who was watching her. She grinned at him. School wasn’t looking that bad.
***
It was around 6 PM on Friday when Stiles realized that he had no idea what he was supposed to wear for a date. He was driving back from the woods, covered in dirt and a few minor bruises because Derek didn’t pull his punches, when it hit him. He was having Danny over his house in an hour, and he had no clue what to wear, or what to eat, or what to anything.
He didn’t even know if his dad was going to be home.
Stiles slammed his head on the steering wheel in frustration and drove faster. His dad’s car was still in the driveway and he cursed before he went running inside.
“Hey dad! Gotta shower! Are you working tonight?” He called as he tried to run up the stairs without his dad noticing. He didn’t think the bruises on his face were noticeable anymore, but he was still covered in dirt.
“Stiles. Stop.” Stiles froze mid-step. “Turn and explain.” Stiles turned and saw his dad wearing his uniform. He let out a sigh of relief because that meant his dad was going into work soon.
“Uh. Explain what?”
“Why you look like you just spent the last hour rolling in leaves.” His dad gave him a look.
Stiles looked at himself. “Well, Derek was helping me with lacrosse.”
“I thought you quit the team.”
Stiles shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I don’t like picking up a game here and there.”
His dad was looking at him oddly. “So you’re still hanging out with Derek?”
Stiles nodded. “I left you his address on the refrigerator door. And I’m actually doing something with someone else in about an hour so I really need to go upstairs and shower.”
“Someone else isn’t very descriptive.”
Stiles jumped from foot to foot. “You know Danny?” His dad nodded. “Well, I kinda asked him out? And so he’s coming over and we’re going to watch a movie.”
His dad crossed his arms. “You asked out Danny?” Stiles nodded. “And he’s coming here?” Stiles nodded again. “Why can’t you kids just do what normal kids do and go to the movies?”
Stiles let out a breath. “We tried, but all the movies out right now really suck. That or Danny already saw them, so instead he’s coming here.” Stiles moved a bit more frantically. “Can I go and shower now?”
His dad sighed. “You couldn’t have given me a little advance notice about this date?”
“It didn’t cross my mind! Do you disapprove?”
“Danny’s a good kid.” His dad shot him a look. “I expect you to keep your curfew of midnight. Don’t make me wake up Mrs. Minchin from next door just to make sure you’re in bed.”
Stiles shuddered. “Dad! I’m sixteen! I can put myself to bed without you needing to wake up Old Lady Matilda.”
His dad gave him a look that said he didn’t believe him. “Go and shower. This is your first date with Danny, right? I don’t need to break out the sex talk yet?”
“Oh my god!” Stiles shouted, running upstairs before the conversation could go any further. He heard his dad laughing as he turned on the water. Stiles ignored it, washing and jerking off as quickly as he could. He really didn’t want anything to go wrong.
He wasn’t expecting anything. Sure, during school he and Danny had gotten along pretty well. They talked, and texted during class, and after school he had sat with Lydia and Allison watching the team practice. But that didn’t mean that would translate to one on one comfort. And Stiles knew he had the risk of wolfing out. He always had that risk.
That was part of the reason he had spent the last three hours wrestling with Derek in the woods. His wolf was exhausted. It allowed him to have a bit more freedom with what he could do with Danny, not that he was expecting anything. They had both been awkward with the hugs, resorting to hand shaking like losers every time they met up and left.
Stiles had been dressed for about five minutes when the doorbell rang, but Stiles had felt Danny since he’d walked onto the street. He didn’t have a car, and Stiles cursed himself for not offering to drive him.
He bounded to the door and opened it with a grin, which died immediately at the picture Danny made. He was dressed in nice black jeans and a tight grey t-shirt, and while it wasn’t any different than what he normally wore, the air of nervousness made the whole thing hang different on him. He wasn’t the confident teen Stiles was used to.
Stiles held open the door, beckoning Danny in silently. He didn’t know what to say, so his eyes locked onto the stack of DVDs Danny was holding.
“What did you bring?”
Danny followed his eyes, and grinned self-consciously. “I really like, uh, watching movies and critiquing all the ways they use computers wrong.” He waved WarGames and Independence Day. “And sometimes how they get it right,” he also acknowledged when Stiles looked at The Italian Job. “It’s sorta… my thing?”
He looked nervous and Stiles blinked. “Sounds awesome. I love me some MST3K.” He stepped back, walking towards the living room. “I had no idea if you’d eaten or what? We don’t really have much food unless I grocery shop?” Stiles looked at Danny who just shrugged when handed the pile of take out menus. Stiles nervously took a seat on the couch next to Danny, looking over the movies he had brought.
He had no clue what he was doing, and he wasn’t even sure how they had ordered food, or how they put in the DVD, or how they managed to suddenly be watching something, and talking about it like they were having a conversation.
Stiles barely noticed the time pass, even though he was hyper aware of Danny the entire time. He noticed how they got closer together, until their hands finally laced together while Will Smith was dragging an alien around the desert, and they curled up next to one another by the end of the film. When Stiles went to switch the movie for the next and realized it was almost 11:30 he couldn’t believe they had gone through two movies that quickly. He also couldn’t believe it had taken him that long to work up the courage to hold hands with Danny.
He hovered with putting in The Italian Job, because he had comments prepared for every scene Seth Green was in but he decided not to. He didn’t want to test his dad on his promise about making Matilda come over.
Stiles looked back at Danny, still curled up on the couch. “I didn’t realize it was so late.”
Danny blinked and looked down at his cellphone. “Oh, wow. Well, that’s no problem. I promised my mom I’d be home by one.”
Stiles grinned, sliding back onto the couch, his body fitting back in with Danny’s. The room was dark except for the blue light from the tv. “That sucks, cause my dad said my curfew was midnight.”
Danny stuck out his lower lip and Stiles really, really wanted to kiss it. He could feel his skin getting hotter as Danny and he sat so close together and breathed in the same air. It wouldn’t take much to kiss, and then they could spend the next half hour doing that. They wouldn’t get much further, Stiles didn’t think. Nothing that would make him even risk losing control.
Danny pressed their foreheads together. “Yeah. That does.” He smiled, his hand coming up to stroke Stiles’ cheek. “Thanks for tolerating my comments.”
“It was a pleasure. Next time we are definitely getting to ‘The Italian Job’ though.”
“A personal favourite of mine,” Danny whispered.
Stiles swallowed. He could sense the anticipation in Danny’s voice, and that scent of arousal was back. If Stiles pressed closer, kissed Danny, and pushed their bodies together, he could be positive if it was actually arousal or not. He was starting to heat up, and he could feel the wolf getting closer to the surface. He closed his eyes in frustration, trying to will the wolf down, or to at least have it work with him. Something that didn’t make his fingers feel like claws, or his teeth feel like fangs.
“I can drive you home,” Stiles whispered back, and he could smell the disappointment on Danny.
He knew that wasn’t the right thing to say, but he couldn’t say anything else or else he’d risk losing control. He was sure Derek was hovering near enough that he’d be there before any real damage was caused, and by real damage, Stiles meant Danny’s death, because showing he was a werewolf was damage enough.
“Okay.” Danny said, and it was obvious he was trying not to sound upset. He pulled away, and Stiles missed the warmth. “We should definitely do this again soon.”
Stiles nodded. “Definitely.”
Danny pulled on his shoes, and Stiles handed him back his DVDs. “I had a surprising amount of fun,” Danny said as they walked to Stiles’ jeep.
“Me too.”
“Next time maybe you can bring out some movies?” Danny asked and Stiles laughed.
“Unless you want to listen to me complain about Lord of the Rings for twelve hours of your life, we can stick to your movies for now.”
“Lord of the Rings sounds like it could be fun.”
“You say that now. Just wait until we get to the middle of Two Towers and I’m still crying over Boromir.”
Danny grinned. “I’ll let you cry on my shoulder, if you need.” His smile turned sly. “I have to do that for Jackson every time we’re forced to watch The Notebook with Lydia.”
Stiles laughed gleefully. “Are you kidding? You better not be kidding because that’s priceless.”
Danny nodded. “I mean, they are usually tears of man pain, but they are tears nonetheless.”
“I’ll take man pain tears.” They rode the rest of the way in silence, holding hands. Danny’s hand felt good in his, and Stiles gave it a squeeze just to feel Danny tighten his fingers around Stiles’.
He let out Danny out, and it was awkward, because it was obvious both of them wanted to kiss, but Stiles couldn’t. His wolf was still too close to the surface, and he couldn’t risk that. They settled for an awkward hug, and Danny snuck a kiss on Stiles’ cheek, before bolting out of the Jeep and up to his house.
Stiles stared after him, and brought his hand up to his cheek. He blinked and was unable to stop the grin breaking out across his face. He was so awesome! Tomorrow he was going to hound Derek about how to control himself some more so that next time he could actually kiss his boyfriend.
***
Stiles smelled like lust when he showed up at Derek’s apartment, and his friend Scott wasn’t much better. Derek didn’t ask, because he really didn’t want to know. He’d already had to suffer sitting outside Stiles’ house the night before, listening to make sure that he hadn’t lost control. He was glad that nothing had happened, because Derek really wasn’t sure he would have been able to sit through listening to that.
He did a lot of things for pack, but listening to mating was not something he was interested in at all. Stiles seemed to be very self-aware though, and in enough control to know when he needed to stop. Now if only Derek knew how to say that he was proud of Stiles without admitting that he had been listening to his heartbeat all last night just to make sure he didn’t lose control.
There wasn’t really any way to do that, so Derek didn’t say anything.
Except ask what the hell Stiles had in the back of his Jeep.
“It’s a sofa.”
Derek stared at the beige loveseat that Stiles had somehow manage to fit into his backseat. It had involved rope, and leaving the rear window open, but it was there. “I can see that. Why is it here?”
Stiles rolled his eyes as he had Scott help him open the back of the jeep. “Because I bought it for you, you idiot.”
Derek looked confused. “But why?”
Scott looked between them. “Because your house sucks, that’s why.” He didn’t wither under the glare that Derek shot him, which impressed Derek to be honest. He had thought the I’m about to piss my pants expression was permanently fixed to the kid’s face. Scott shrugged as he watched Stiles pull the sofa out of the back of his Jeep. “You don’t have anywhere to sit. Cardboard boxes don’t count.”
Derek gave Stiles a look, and then sighed, helping him move the sofa down. He knew Stiles could hold the weight, but it didn’t hurt to have someone else there. The sofa was awkwardly shaped, and Stiles was holding it in such a strange manner. Derek saw someone coming out of the apartment building and he grabbed the other end of the sofa before anyone noticed how odd it was that Stiles could carry a sofa by himself.
“So you bought a sofa?” He asked. “How?”
“Well you see, Derek. This may be a strange concept to you, but you can go to something called a thrift store, and buy what is referred to as furniture.”
Derek looked at the sofa. “You bought me a used sofa.”
“You say it like it automatically has bed bugs or something. Which it doesn’t! I did a full sniff,” Stiles said as they set the sofa down in the living room.
“How did you even afford this?” Derek was pretty sure Scott was the only one who worked, and he was pretty positive Stiles wasn’t mean enough to manipulate Scott into buying him a sofa.
Stiles shrugged. “I had a new flat screen tv I bought for Black Friday. I didn’t need it anymore so I sold it for a ridiculous amount of money. I have a table, another sofa, two bookcases and a couple stools waiting back at the thrift store for me to pick up.”
Derek stared at him and then rubbed his hand over his face. “I could have done my own furniture shopping, you know.”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t buy you a bed or anything for your den. I’ll let you decorate that by yourself.” Stiles grinned, while Scott just looked at the two of them.
Derek sighed. “Let me get on my shoes so I can help you make the trips shorter. We can fit the stools and table into my car.”
Stiles threw his hands up in triumph. “Success!”
“I’m also doing this so I can veto anything I don’t like.”
“Whatever,” Stiles said. “I have awesome taste.”
Derek had to admit having all the books put up in a shelf was useful. He hadn’t unpacked anything he had salvaged from his house, and he honestly wasn’t sure he was capable of doing that yet, but he had gotten all the books he’d brought back from New York that Laura had collected. After they had finished unpacking them Stiles had grabbed one of the older ones and collapsed onto the sofa, curling up and flipping through the book.
Derek didn’t know what he was looking for so he just let him be. Scott had to leave for work early in the afternoon and Derek had a feeling that once Scott was gone Stiles would actually talk about what he wanted to talk about. It was just a feeling that Derek had. It had been the same with Laura, and some of his cousins, just being able to tell when someone in the pack was brimming with news.
Stiles waved goodbye to Scott and the moment Derek heard the outer door close Stiles had tossed the book to the side.
“Derek, you have got to help me with this control thing.”
Derek took in a deep breath. “I told you this was a bad idea.”
Stiles glared. “Nothing happened, but I could feel like it was going to happen.”
“This is why you need to end it.”
“Derek, I’m sixteen and this is the first person who likes me!”
“You think it’s something that is worth losing your pack to?” Derek closed his eyes, trying not to remember the fire. “If you lost control, if something happened, I might not be able to protect you.”
Stiles looked at him, and Derek wondered if Stiles could see what he was thinking. “Derek, what do you think is going to happen? I’m just worried I’m going to wolf out mid-kiss and Danny will see, and I might hurt him. You make it seem so much worse.”
Derek stared at him, suddenly speechless. He closed his eyes, feeling bad. He hadn’t realized what he had been doing. He’d been pushing all his fears and insecurities onto Stiles, who didn’t even know everything. Or anything. Stiles was just a stupid sixteen-year-old in lust with another stupid sixteen-year-old. Derek knew that whoever Stiles was with couldn’t be a Hunter. He’d done a sweep right after he had moved into his apartment, and no Hunters popped up. He was still keeping a low profile, but he knew some families (the Argents his mind whispered) kept names on a radar, and he couldn’t be positive he wasn’t being monitored.
He had to be careful.
“We live in a dangerous world now, Stiles,” Derek said instead. “Maybe the worst that happens is you hurt your boyfriend, but what do you think he’s going to do? Take the news of werewolves in stride?”
Stiles looked cowed, but when he spoke Derek could tell he wasn’t giving up. “Can you help me or not? I refuse to live in fear of something that I should have control over.”
“Fine. But if you ever feel like you’re going to lose it, you stop.” Derek said as Stiles perked up, nodding frantically. “Now sit down and shut up while I try to think of a good way to explain this.”
“You’re the best, Derek, and I will give you my first born son.”
Derek snorted. “Daughters work better for our ritualistic sacrifices.”
“Ha-ha-ha,” Stiles said, but Derek could feel that he was relaxing. He hated it, but he could feel himself really beginning to trust Stiles. He kept trying to clamp it down, his mind telling him that it was too soon, but each day Stiles did something else that made Derek want to trust him with everything he was. Derek had known it was going to happen eventually, but the intensity kept knocking him for a loop.
***
Lacrosse practice was starting to get underway. The first cuts to the team were taking place, and Stiles was pleased to see that Scott had missed getting cut by a wide berth. He had originally had plans after school, but then Danny had asked if Stiles could stay and watch, and maybe they could hang out after practice.
Stiles had said yes before he had even cancelled on Derek. He felt bad about it, but when he got the text back saying it was fine he felt slightly better.
He knew Derek was searching for the Alpha, as much as he could, but Stiles didn’t know what else he did during the time they were apart. He hoped that his skills would improve fast enough that he could help Derek.
Stiles practiced them while he watched the lacrosse team, and he also practiced the calming methods Derek had brought up on Saturday. Stiles was pretty sure he would be ready if anything happened today, or tomorrow, or sometime later this week. He felt like he could be a little spontaneous, which is why when Danny waved him down from the bleachers after practice Stiles followed him into the locker room.
Jackson shot him a dirty look, and even as everyone else filed out slowly, Jackson stuck around. Stiles made sure that the only thing Jackson saw was him smiling as he and Danny talked.
“Hey, I’m pretty sure Lydia is waiting for you to take her home,” Danny said as he headed to take a shower.
Jackson glared and once the shower had turned on he spoke to Stiles. “I don’t know what you did to him, but whatever you did you need to stop.”
Stiles blinked. “What?”
“You heard me. He’s been chipper this entire weekend.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Stiles asked, but Jackson seemed to be on a roll.
“I don’t know what he sees in you, because last year you were just scum on the bottom of my shoe, but if you hurt him I will destroy you.”
Stiles’ mouth hung open, unable to say anything as Jackson packed up his bag and left the locker room. He had no idea what had just happened. He was pretty sure he’d just been threatened by Jackson, but the threatening seemed to imply that Jackson was okay with them dating? Stiles shook his head, his mind immediately going to Danny in the shower.
The water shut off and much too quickly Danny was in front of Stiles, toweling himself off.
“Did he threaten you?”
Stiles looked up, trying to look at Danny’s face and not linger too long on his chest. “Threaten? Yes. But I also think he gave me his stamp of approval? He used a lot of big words I wasn’t used to hearing from him.”
Danny laughed and dropped his towel, reaching for his shirt. He was already wearing the gym shorts he would wear home and Stiles watched as he finished getting dressed.
“Do you need me to give you a ride home?” Stiles asked.
Danny grinned. “Depends, what are you doing right now?”
Stiles shrugged. “I kinda cancelled plans with Derek, my uh, guy who was at the video store with me,” Stiles explained at Danny’s confused look. “So I mean, I was gonna head over there later to make sure he didn’t get into too much trouble.”
“Oh. Cause my mom wasn’t going to be home for a couple of hours and I figured we could stop by there? Do a little homework?”
Stiles’ heart picked up and he nodded dumbly. “Yeah, no that sounds like a good plan.”
Danny perked up. “Yeah?”
Stiles nodded, turning to Danny. “Yeah. Listen, I had a lot of fun on Friday.”
“Me too,” Danny said with a smile.
“And I really, really should have done this then, and not right now.” Stiles said, and before he could lose his nerve he leaned forward, pressing his lips to Danny’s.
They stayed like that for a moment before Danny moved, kissing him back. Stiles relaxed, moving his body closer to Danny’s as they continued to kiss. It wasn’t an ideal situation, or the ideal place, but Stiles needed to do it just so he could see if he could.
Danny’s hand came up and cupped his jaw, tilting his head a bit to the side to change the angle. He let a moan escape as they broke apart, and he felt himself trying to chase after Danny, even as they were both panting.
Stiles rested his hand on Danny’s shoulder as he opened his eyes, searching to see if he had done something wrong. Danny was smiling and Stiles couldn’t help but return it.
“I’m really glad you did that,” Danny whispered.
“Me too,” Stiles said. He could feel the wolf rushing through his veins, but it wasn’t the crazy need he had had on Friday. He was beginning to think he had this under control.
Part 2
Author: kayevelyn
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Pairing: Stiles/Derek
Rating: Overall R
Warnings: eventual knotting
Summary: Stiles is the best werewolf ever. fork in the road au. (were!stiles)
Notes: Let's just not talk about how I wrote all of this chapter on Saturday and surprised myself when I came out of the writing coma and saw the chapter was 12k OTL
[Read on AO3]
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
School didn’t look any different when Stiles pulled up, Scott and his bike in the jeep with him because it had opened up and started pouring. He was a good friend for picking Scott up with a change of clothes in a bag, just like he kept telling Scott. So he didn’t understand why Scott wouldn’t be more supportive of his plights.
“Just- just try to be attracted to me for one moment so I can figure out what attraction smells like?” Stiles pleaded as he pulled into a parking space. He narrowly avoided dinging the car he was parking next to, and he made a face as he tried to straighten himself out.
“Why can’t you wait for Derek to teach you this stuff?”
“Because! I am going to try to flirt with Danny today and knowing if he actually likes me or not will help greatly.”
Scott looked at him. “Why can’t you just do it like normal people and like,” he waved his hands around, “watch body language.”
Stiles fake laughed and slammed the jeep into park. “I’m a werewolf, Scott. I am going to need these skills anyway. Better to start practicing them in relatively harmless situations. The worse that could happen in this situation is getting turned down.”
“And punched by Jackson,” Scott reminded.
“I got thrown into a tree by Derek, who is like, definitely ten thousand times more awesome than Jackson. I’d love to see him try.” Stiles took a deep breath, looking at the downpour. “Ready to go in?”
Scott looked at his bike, crammed into the backseat. “Can I leave that here?”
“Yeah, sure.” They nodded at each other and made a run for the front door.
Stiles stripped off his hoodie once he got into the school, just like everyone else was doing. He finished shaking himself off and he looked over at Scott to see if he was finished. Scott was staring at him, trying to hold back his laughter. Stiles chucked his wet hoodie right in his face.
“Very funny. I hope it smells.”
Stiles rolled his eyes while Scott just took a deep breath of the sweater. “Just like at the clinic.”
“Haha,” Stiles said, grabbing his hoodie back and wringing it out. He still took a sniff of his forearm, just to make sure he wasn’t actually starting to smell like wet dog. That would be awful, and not at all the impression he wanted to leave with Danny. He looked up to see Scott already heading to homeroom and he jogged to catch up with him. “Hey, wait up.”
Scott turned around suddenly and Stiles found himself pressed up against the lockers. A scent was rolling off of Scott, something Stiles couldn’t identify, but he recognized. It wasn’t as sharp as what he had smelled on Danny in the video store, and it was tainted in a way. He could tell right away that he didn’t like the scent.
“Stiles,” Scott said, voice dropping. He was staring right at Stiles. “I- I really find you attractive.”
Stiles burst into laughter as Scott dropped his arm, laughing as well. They were getting looks from people passing by them, but Stiles didn’t mind, as he wrapped Scott in an embrace. Scott’s scent had gone back to normal, the nice, safe smell that was Scott, and brother. Stiles took a deep whiff of it, still laughing as they broke the hug.
“That was terrible. Never, ever do that to me again.”
Scott laughed. “But you asked.”
“And I completely regret it. Oh my god, do I regret it.” Stiles flung his arm around Scott’s shoulder as they kept walking to class. “I think we can safely say that if we make it to senior year without ever dating someone, I am springing for a night at a strip club before we try kissing each other, because that is just going to end terribly.”
Scott elbowed him in the ribs. “Hey! I wasn’t that bad!”
Stiles looked at him like he was crazy. “It was pretty awful. I might have nightmares.” He grunted as Scott elbowed him again. “Hey! That could bruise!”
Scott shrugged off his arm as they walked into class and took their seats. “You’ll heal.”
Stiles had no retort but to stick out his tongue. The scent that Scott had given off had been similar to Danny, though. Stiles didn’t know what that meant. He didn’t know if that scent meant arousal, or annoyance, or what. But he definitely knew when it was coming off of Scott he didn’t like it. Stiles wondered if that meant he was destined for someone. He knew wolves mated for life, and there was always lore on soul mates.
When his English teacher had his back turned Stiles pulled out his cellphone and sent a text to Derek.
Explain werewolf mating to me.
He got a reply within minutes, which made Stiles feel slightly better, because Derek could have been sleeping.
no
Stile stared at the text before snorting. Of course Derek would suck at all forms of communication.
Either you explain or I do this by trial and error!
Derek’s reply came slower this time. no >:|
It took all of Stiles control not to burst into laughter, and as it was he accidentally managed to kick the person in front of him. He apologized and looked back at the text.
Did you just use an emoticon on me?
did it distract you from asking stupid questions
Stiles bit down his laughter again. Nope! See you after school! Meeting at your place or the woods?
He counted it as a win that Derek just replied with an affirmative on the woods, and didn’t press about the mating anymore.
So now all he had to do was wait to talk to Danny.
The plan had been to wait until History, or even Math class, when he had Danny completely to himself, but when Stiles got to Chemistry and saw that no one else of importance was there yet minus him and Danny, he couldn’t stop himself from sliding into the seat across from Danny.
Danny looked up, and even as he gave Stiles an inquisitive look, Stiles could smell his scent changing. It was much better than Scott’s forced change from earlier.
“Hey,” Stiles said, swallowing nervously. He had this, though. He was a badass werewolf. “So… how are you?”
Danny’s smile brightened just a little. “Okay. Do you need something?”
Stiles couldn’t stop himself from acting like an idiot and practically throwing himself on the table so he could be closer to Danny so the people coming into the classroom wouldn’t hear him make a fool of himself. “Well, you didn’t answer my question. The one at the video store. The question I asked before Derek was a jackass and dragged me out?” He looked hopeful, even as Danny laughed a little.
“I was gonna ask about that?”
“What? The question? Or Derek? Because I can tell you right now that Derek is totally not open to relationships. He told me so when I tried to set him up with someone later that night.” Stiles rubbed his forehead reflexively, the pain from Derek slamming him into the dashboard coming back. He looked at Danny hopefully. “I just was curious? Do you find me attractive?”
Danny opened his mouth when a shadow fell over the table. Stiles sighed as he felt himself being dragged off the table and turned around to face Jackson.
“What are you doing here, Stilinski?”
Stiles grinned brightly. “Oh, you know, just having a friendly chat with my friend.”
Jackson glared. “Cute. Now get out.”
Stiles looked at Danny, who was covering his mouth to stop himself from laughing. He smelled delicious. “Sure thing. See you seventh period!” He shrugged off Jackson’s hand, and then fumbled as he went back to his seat. He stopped after he tossed his backpack on the desk next to Scott because he’d forgotten something. He dug his hand in his pocket and pulled out the paper he had scribbled his number on before, because he was smooth. He turned back to Danny’s table and tossed the crumpled up paper on his desk.
He grinned when Danny snatched it before Jackson could, and he made the universal “call me” sign before turning back to Scott. The full force of what he had just done hit him like a ton of bricks when he saw Scott’s face. His eyes went comically wide and he opened and closed his mouth a few times.
He, Stiles Stilinski, had just given his number to someone. And they hadn’t punched him, or laughed at him (too much), and from what he could smell he thought they might be have been receptive?
He didn’t need to turn around to hear Danny and Jackson whispering back and forth.
“Give me the paper, Danny.”
“No.” There was a rustle, and Stiles could hear a number being put into a cell phone. His heartbeat picked up, but he didn’t risk glancing back.
“Danny. Throw out that number.”
“No.” Stiles glanced back just in time to see Danny stick his tongue out at Jackson, who looked pissed.
He grinned and turned to Scott, who still looked shocked as he wrote down the notes on the syllabus. When Stiles was pretty sure no one was paying attention he poked Scott in the side, and they silently freaked out together because he’d given his number to someone.
***
Jackson knew his flaws. He had to if he was going to ever get better. So he knew he was possessive, easily jealous, and protective beyond all belief. Especially for family. Because he didn’t have a large family; not one he wanted anyway. To him his family was Danny and Lydia, because he had chosen them, and they had accepted him, and they loved him, and he loved them. That was his family. And he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to them.
Danny had a horrible habit of dating the worst possible people ever. Jackson had always known this, but Lydia had made a list after the disaster that had been Stan-the-Murderer-Man. They’d presented it to Danny, thinking it would make him see the error of his ways, and then he’d immediately started dating Seth-the-Divorce-Lawyer and it had all been downhill from there.
“Give me your phone,” he ordered as they went to his locker to drop off their books before gym.
Danny just laughed, because he was a brat with no self-preservation at all. “Jackson, it’s okay. It’s just Stiles. He’s harmless.”
“Yeah, and so was Stan-the-Murderer-Man, but then we found out about his hacked up family in Arizona.”
Danny winced, opening the locker and holding his hands out for Jackson’s books. “Do you still call him that?”
“Yes. Listen, you just broke up with what’s his name-“
“Rob,” Danny said with a sigh.
Jackson nodded. “That one. I’m just saying, do you really think it’s a good idea to start dating so quickly? And with someone like Stilinski?”
“Who’s dating?” Lydia asked, coming up holding her books. She pushed herself between Danny and the locker to give Jackson a hello kiss, but he returned the kiss half-distracted.
“Some guy gave Danny his number today.”
Lydia’s eyes narrowed, and she pulled back to look at Danny. “What did we just talk about in Latin?”
Jackson watched as Danny’s shoulders dropped. Lydia had that effect on people. “Stiles is perfectly harmless. He’s the sheriff’s son. What harm could he cause?”
Lydia blinked and looked at Jackson. “Who’s Stiles?”
“Some third rate lacrosse player,” Jackson supplied at the same time Danny said, “the one in History who did the report on Shakespeare’s plagiarism.”
To Jackson’s horror Lydia didn’t look enraged, or appalled. She looked contemplative. “And he gave you his number? Out of the blue?”
Danny shut the locker and Jackson could only watch the train wreck of Danny and Lydia conspiring. “Well, we’d run into each other at the video store on New Years. And we had this really bizarre conversation which ended with, I guess someone who’s not his boyfriend dragging him out of the store before he asked me out? So he did it today?”
Lydia looped arms with Danny, steering him towards the gym. “I see.” She looked over her shoulder at Jackson. “Jackson? Are you coming?”
Jackson groaned and slammed the locker just to get out some of his frustration. He could see he had already lost this battle. He’d just have to be prepared to pick up the pieces of Danny’s broken heart, and hope it didn’t come with more dead bodies.
***
Stiles had left lunch early because Scott had to go bring Finstock the note about his asthma that he had forgotten about during Economics. This just meant that he had time to settle himself down in History, and prepare himself for Danny. He’d been getting glares all throughout lunch anyway, and even with his healing factor he wasn’t sure if Jackson’s death glare was going to leave permanent damage.
He pulled out his cell phone and sent Derek a text.
I saw you creeping outside. Get a job hippie.
shut up
Stiles grinned and sat up to see out the window. Derek was lounging in the backseat of Stiles’ Jeep. He rolled his eyes.
If you broke my lock you have to pay for it.
it was open
Stiles snorted and was about to reply when the scent of Lydia Martin entered the room. He slouched back in his seat, because Danny usually followed after her and he was man enough to admit he was a little worried that he might get rejected.
Stiles blinked when Lydia ignored her normal seat and walked right to him, dropping gracefully in the seat right in front of him. She spun around and fixed him with a glare.
He hadn’t been at the receiving end of that look in a long, long time. Like, sixth grade long time. Stiles swallowed.
“Why did you ask out Danny?”
Stiles stared. “Because I… like him?”
“Well, isn’t that reassuring. You’ve answered my question with a question.” She looked at him. “Try again.”
“Because I like him?”
“Still a question.”
Stiles swallowed and sat up straighter. His heartbeat was picking up and he tried to calm it. “I like him. Kinda always have had a crush on him.” He held back the added comment that he’d always liked her as well. “I just… didn’t know he was interested.”
“What made you pick now?”
Stiles shrugged. He had not been expecting the Spanish Inquisition over asking Danny out. “New year. New time to take risks.”
Lydia looked him up and down. “Have you ever murdered someone?”
“What?”
“Standard question.” She scrunched up her face. “So? Have you?” The bell rang to signal the end of sixth period and Stiles jumped. “Answer the question.”
Lydia was a lot scarier than Stiles thought. “No! What makes you think I’ve killed someone?”
She was still watching him, like she was trying to find a weakness. She sniffed. “You’d be surprised what kind of faces psychopaths hide behind.” She turned in her seat as their teacher came into the class, followed by Danny, who brightened when he saw Lydia and Stiles.
Stiles couldn’t say anything as Danny took the seat next to him and started to pull out his notebooks.
His phone vibrated and Stiles looked down at it, expecting to see a text from Derek asking if he was okay. Stiles knew his heart had spiked about 3,000 times in that last conversation, and he was surprised Derek hadn’t come running to make sure everything was okay.
It was a number he didn’t recognize. Are you free Friday?
Stiles looked at Danny, who smiled a little shyly. Stiles broke into a wide grin, even as he saw Lydia roll her eyes and mutter something distasteful about young love under her breath.
He nodded, at the same time he was texting back. Yes!
Stiles pressed his phone to his chin just in time for their teacher to see.
“Mr. Stilinski! Put that phone away!”
Stiles flailed and dropped his phone. He caught it before it could hit the floor, and he flashed a winning grin to Danny, who was staring at him.
He had this.
The math teacher was absent, so during their last period Stiles and Danny were actually able to talk. He didn’t admit to having no clue what to do, but Danny seemed to have guessed it was one of his first dates, if not his first one, pretty quickly, and had taken over any planning.
A quick look at the movie selection in the local theatre had left both of them uninspired.
“Tangled?” Stiles asked, going down the list.
“Lydia already made me see it,” Danny said.
Stiles pointed to the next movie, “The Tourist?”
“Lydia.”
“Is there a movie you haven’t seen yet?” Stiles asked, only half serious.
“Yogi Bear.”
Stiles made a face. “Yeah, I’ll pass.”
Danny looked at the clock. They still had half an hour left in school. “Well, we don’t have to go see a movie this week. We could always just rent one.”
Stiles thought back to Danny’s film selection, the small taste he saw at the video store. “I’m not exactly in the mood for thrillers and gore.”
Danny laughed. “Oh. Yeah.” He rubbed his neck. “I don’t normally watch horror movies. That was a therapeutic watch.”
“What do you mean?”
Danny shrugged, looking sheepish. “I tend to want to watch horror when I’ve just broken up with someone.”
Stiles blinked, and then laughed. “Okay. Well, that’s good to know. What’s your normal genre when you aren’t living out fantasies of killing your exes?”
“When you put it like that it just sounds awful.” Danny shook his head. “I don’t know. Usually I get my choices overridden by Jackson and Lydia.”
“Well then on Friday you can pick the movie out, fair enough?” Stiles watched as Danny blushed and he thought that this date might not be as horrible a disaster he was worried it might be.
“What did you do?” Derek demanded the moment Stiles climbed into his Jeep.
He was very proud of himself for not jumping in fear. That was mostly because he’d known that Derek was still in there, like a creeper.
“Oh my god! Can’t you get a job?”
Derek glared and he pushed Stiles out of the way as he climbed into the front seat. “Stop avoiding the subject. What did you do?”
“Well, for starters I told Finstock that I was quitting the lacrosse team so I could spend more time with my crazy werewolf-brethren running around naked in the woods.” Derek snorted. “And then I may have asked Danny out on a date.” He muttered the last part but Derek still heard him.
He slammed Stiles’ head into the steering wheel hard enough that the horn went off.
“Oh my god are you deranged!” Stiles looked around at all the people staring at them. “Great, now everyone is staring at us. I hope you’re proud of yourself and your abusive tendencies.”
“Shut up and drive. We are having a long conversation about how I don’t just say things to say them.” Derek folded his arms over his chest and glowered.
“I really don’t see what’s so bad about a date, Derek! One date! It’s not like I’m going to mate with the guy!”
Derek just growled. “I’m going to make you run suicides all day.”
Stiles patted his knee. “I know you don’t want your little brother to grow up but we all reach that age where we need to.”
Derek didn’t respond to the taunt and Stiles removed his hand, turning on the radio and singing along obnoxiously until Derek had relaxed even a little. He’d win Derek over soon enough with this idea of dating.
***
New schools sucked. Allison adjusted her bag on her shoulder. She was already late, she couldn’t find a pen, and she was pretty sure her hair was a mess because the only scrunchie she had brought had snapped while she was in the car. And of course her parents couldn’t let her start on the first day of the new semester, because they were still getting everything organized, so she had to start in the middle of the week.
At least it wasn’t the middle of the semester, her mom had reminded her as Allison had run out the door.
She’d left twenty minutes early and still managed to get lost and become late for class. Allison ran her hands through her hair, messing it up even more, and just kept reminding herself that no matter how the day could go, it would never beat her first day at Junior High in Mattoon when she’d gotten mud all over her dress from a passing car.
Yeah, that was a good thought. She laughed nervously as she went looking through her bag for a pen. She had the sneaking suspicion that she didn’t have one, and wasn’t that just great. Well, like her mom would say! Just a reason to talk to someone and make new friends!
It never got easier each time she moved, but her dad had said this would be one of the last stops for a while, whatever that meant.
Allison looked up and greeted the Vice Principal, a tall man with a friendly smile, who showed her around, gave her her schedule, and brought her to her first class.
Everyone stared at her when she came in, and she ducked her head.
“Please introduce yourself to the class,” the teacher was saying, and Allison hadn’t even looked at her schedule to see what class this was. Great.
“Hi. I’m Allison.” She waved awkwardly, and hurried quickly to the only empty chair, behind a boy with an uneven jaw and messy brown hair.
The teacher started to talk and Allison looked frantically around for a pen. No luck. She sucked in a deep breath and glanced at the people around her. There was a girl next to her who was asleep, and the guy sitting next to her was already taking notes.
She tapped the uneven jawed boy. He turned around loudly, earning looks from the surrounding classmates, but their teacher just kept talking about their first essay.
“Hey. Do you have a pen?” She whispered, actually looking at the boy. He was cute in a deer-in-the-headlights kind of way. Maybe if he wiped the look off his face he’d be even cuter.
“Uh. Uh. Hold on.” He kicked the boy sitting next to him, and got the pen the boy was holding thrown right at his head. Uneven jawed kid fumbled with it before handing it to her. “Here.” He smiled at her and Allison found herself blushing.
He was really cute.
She could see his friend rolling his eyes, but he seemed to be ignoring it.
“I’m Scott.”
“Allison.”
They stared at each other for a few more moments before Scott seemed to realize what he was doing and frantically turned around. Allison smothered her laugh behind her hand.
She had gym right before lunch, and she had no idea where she was supposed to be going. Allison knew that the Vice Principal had shown her where it was, but she had completely blanked. So instead she was standing by her locker, staring dumbly at the map the Chemistry teacher had drawn, like it helped at all.
A girl with red hair that Allison recognized from her Chemistry class came up to her with a huge smile on her face. “I really like your coat.”
Allison blinked, and looked down the coat she was holding in her hand. “Oh. Thanks. My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco, and she picked it up there for me.”
The girl’s eyes crinkled as she smiled and Allison couldn’t tell if it was sincere or not. “You and I are going to be very good friends, I can tell. Do you need help? I saw Harris draw you that map.”
Allison let out a sigh of relief. “Oh yeah. Thanks, I’m going to gym next.”
“Oh! Great, that’s where I’m headed! Come with me.” The girl started walking and Allison jogged to keep up with her.
“I’m Allison. Kinda new here.”
“Lydia Martin. Stick with me and I’ll make this the best high school experience of your life.” Lydia flashed a huge grin at Allison, and she couldn’t help but smile back.
“Thanks. And after gym I have lunch-“
“You can sit with me and Jackson!” Lydia was still smiling. “Jackson is my boyfriend. He’s captain of the lacrosse team. Our lacrosse team is kind of a big deal.”
“I’ve never seen a game.” Allison admitted, starting to feel wrapped up in a whirlwind of Lydia as she kept walking briskly towards the gym.
“Well, we’ll definitely need to fix that. The team is still doing conditioning, but we can go and watch today if you’re free after school.”
“I should be?”
“Excellent!”
Lydia was talkative, and bubbly, but Allison was glad to have someone with her throughout gym, and then on the walk to lunch. Lydia showed her where to buy food, and pointed out where they would be sitting while they waited in line.
Allison sat down next to Lydia, who was beaming as a tall, handsome blond boy came and put his tray down next to them. Allison could only assume this was Jackson the perfect boyfriend Lydia had mentioned. Another boy put his tray down next to Jackson’s, he had darker hair but was just as built and Allison wondered if she had stepped into some twilight zone where everyone was suddenly greek gods and she’d been left out.
“Allison,” Lydia said, distracting Allison from her thoughts. “This is Jackson, who I mentioned before. And this is Danny. He’s the goalie for the lacrosse team.”
The darker haired boy, Danny, smiled. “I’m not goalie just yet.”
Jackson snorted as he started to eat the apple he had. “Like coach would pick anyone else. You were second line last year just because of Dalton, and he graduated.”
“We’ll see what happens,” Danny said, looking around, and then he was waving someone else over.
Allison watched as Jackson’s face darkened, and Lydia grabbed hold of his hand, as if that would stop him from pitching a fit.
Two more boys sat down next to Danny.
“Thanks,” said the boy with a shaved head, but Allison’s attention was on the second boy, Scott from her first period class.
“Hey,” he said, looking right at her.
“Hi.” She felt so awkward, not sure what to say. She opened her mouth to thank him for the pen, and she should probably return it, but any chance of starting a conversation was stopped by Jackson speaking to his friend.
“What are you doing here, Stilinski?”
The boy sitting next to Danny smiled winningly. “Eating lunch. With my friends.” And he ducked his head when Danny looked at him. “And my boyfriend. Got a problem?”
Allison watched as Jackson fumbled with something to say, while everyone looked at him. He grumbled a little but didn’t add anything, going back to furiously eating his apple.
Danny and his boyfriend fell into a conversation about movies, and Allison could only guess they were doing something on Friday. She looked at Scott, finally able to get a word in edgewise.
“Thanks for letting me borrow the pen.”
“No problem,” he said around a mouthful of food, and then he realized what he had said and he covered his mouth. “Sorry.”
Allison laughed. “Do you want it back? Or to uh, give it to your friend?”
Scott looked at his friend, and then shrugged. “Stiles has like an arsenal of pens. I don’t think he’ll miss one.”
Allison nodded and took a bite out of her food as Jackson and Stiles started to snark at one another. Lydia was watching the fight and sharing an amused look with Danny. Allison gave another look at Scott, who was watching her. She grinned at him. School wasn’t looking that bad.
***
It was around 6 PM on Friday when Stiles realized that he had no idea what he was supposed to wear for a date. He was driving back from the woods, covered in dirt and a few minor bruises because Derek didn’t pull his punches, when it hit him. He was having Danny over his house in an hour, and he had no clue what to wear, or what to eat, or what to anything.
He didn’t even know if his dad was going to be home.
Stiles slammed his head on the steering wheel in frustration and drove faster. His dad’s car was still in the driveway and he cursed before he went running inside.
“Hey dad! Gotta shower! Are you working tonight?” He called as he tried to run up the stairs without his dad noticing. He didn’t think the bruises on his face were noticeable anymore, but he was still covered in dirt.
“Stiles. Stop.” Stiles froze mid-step. “Turn and explain.” Stiles turned and saw his dad wearing his uniform. He let out a sigh of relief because that meant his dad was going into work soon.
“Uh. Explain what?”
“Why you look like you just spent the last hour rolling in leaves.” His dad gave him a look.
Stiles looked at himself. “Well, Derek was helping me with lacrosse.”
“I thought you quit the team.”
Stiles shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I don’t like picking up a game here and there.”
His dad was looking at him oddly. “So you’re still hanging out with Derek?”
Stiles nodded. “I left you his address on the refrigerator door. And I’m actually doing something with someone else in about an hour so I really need to go upstairs and shower.”
“Someone else isn’t very descriptive.”
Stiles jumped from foot to foot. “You know Danny?” His dad nodded. “Well, I kinda asked him out? And so he’s coming over and we’re going to watch a movie.”
His dad crossed his arms. “You asked out Danny?” Stiles nodded. “And he’s coming here?” Stiles nodded again. “Why can’t you kids just do what normal kids do and go to the movies?”
Stiles let out a breath. “We tried, but all the movies out right now really suck. That or Danny already saw them, so instead he’s coming here.” Stiles moved a bit more frantically. “Can I go and shower now?”
His dad sighed. “You couldn’t have given me a little advance notice about this date?”
“It didn’t cross my mind! Do you disapprove?”
“Danny’s a good kid.” His dad shot him a look. “I expect you to keep your curfew of midnight. Don’t make me wake up Mrs. Minchin from next door just to make sure you’re in bed.”
Stiles shuddered. “Dad! I’m sixteen! I can put myself to bed without you needing to wake up Old Lady Matilda.”
His dad gave him a look that said he didn’t believe him. “Go and shower. This is your first date with Danny, right? I don’t need to break out the sex talk yet?”
“Oh my god!” Stiles shouted, running upstairs before the conversation could go any further. He heard his dad laughing as he turned on the water. Stiles ignored it, washing and jerking off as quickly as he could. He really didn’t want anything to go wrong.
He wasn’t expecting anything. Sure, during school he and Danny had gotten along pretty well. They talked, and texted during class, and after school he had sat with Lydia and Allison watching the team practice. But that didn’t mean that would translate to one on one comfort. And Stiles knew he had the risk of wolfing out. He always had that risk.
That was part of the reason he had spent the last three hours wrestling with Derek in the woods. His wolf was exhausted. It allowed him to have a bit more freedom with what he could do with Danny, not that he was expecting anything. They had both been awkward with the hugs, resorting to hand shaking like losers every time they met up and left.
Stiles had been dressed for about five minutes when the doorbell rang, but Stiles had felt Danny since he’d walked onto the street. He didn’t have a car, and Stiles cursed himself for not offering to drive him.
He bounded to the door and opened it with a grin, which died immediately at the picture Danny made. He was dressed in nice black jeans and a tight grey t-shirt, and while it wasn’t any different than what he normally wore, the air of nervousness made the whole thing hang different on him. He wasn’t the confident teen Stiles was used to.
Stiles held open the door, beckoning Danny in silently. He didn’t know what to say, so his eyes locked onto the stack of DVDs Danny was holding.
“What did you bring?”
Danny followed his eyes, and grinned self-consciously. “I really like, uh, watching movies and critiquing all the ways they use computers wrong.” He waved WarGames and Independence Day. “And sometimes how they get it right,” he also acknowledged when Stiles looked at The Italian Job. “It’s sorta… my thing?”
He looked nervous and Stiles blinked. “Sounds awesome. I love me some MST3K.” He stepped back, walking towards the living room. “I had no idea if you’d eaten or what? We don’t really have much food unless I grocery shop?” Stiles looked at Danny who just shrugged when handed the pile of take out menus. Stiles nervously took a seat on the couch next to Danny, looking over the movies he had brought.
He had no clue what he was doing, and he wasn’t even sure how they had ordered food, or how they put in the DVD, or how they managed to suddenly be watching something, and talking about it like they were having a conversation.
Stiles barely noticed the time pass, even though he was hyper aware of Danny the entire time. He noticed how they got closer together, until their hands finally laced together while Will Smith was dragging an alien around the desert, and they curled up next to one another by the end of the film. When Stiles went to switch the movie for the next and realized it was almost 11:30 he couldn’t believe they had gone through two movies that quickly. He also couldn’t believe it had taken him that long to work up the courage to hold hands with Danny.
He hovered with putting in The Italian Job, because he had comments prepared for every scene Seth Green was in but he decided not to. He didn’t want to test his dad on his promise about making Matilda come over.
Stiles looked back at Danny, still curled up on the couch. “I didn’t realize it was so late.”
Danny blinked and looked down at his cellphone. “Oh, wow. Well, that’s no problem. I promised my mom I’d be home by one.”
Stiles grinned, sliding back onto the couch, his body fitting back in with Danny’s. The room was dark except for the blue light from the tv. “That sucks, cause my dad said my curfew was midnight.”
Danny stuck out his lower lip and Stiles really, really wanted to kiss it. He could feel his skin getting hotter as Danny and he sat so close together and breathed in the same air. It wouldn’t take much to kiss, and then they could spend the next half hour doing that. They wouldn’t get much further, Stiles didn’t think. Nothing that would make him even risk losing control.
Danny pressed their foreheads together. “Yeah. That does.” He smiled, his hand coming up to stroke Stiles’ cheek. “Thanks for tolerating my comments.”
“It was a pleasure. Next time we are definitely getting to ‘The Italian Job’ though.”
“A personal favourite of mine,” Danny whispered.
Stiles swallowed. He could sense the anticipation in Danny’s voice, and that scent of arousal was back. If Stiles pressed closer, kissed Danny, and pushed their bodies together, he could be positive if it was actually arousal or not. He was starting to heat up, and he could feel the wolf getting closer to the surface. He closed his eyes in frustration, trying to will the wolf down, or to at least have it work with him. Something that didn’t make his fingers feel like claws, or his teeth feel like fangs.
“I can drive you home,” Stiles whispered back, and he could smell the disappointment on Danny.
He knew that wasn’t the right thing to say, but he couldn’t say anything else or else he’d risk losing control. He was sure Derek was hovering near enough that he’d be there before any real damage was caused, and by real damage, Stiles meant Danny’s death, because showing he was a werewolf was damage enough.
“Okay.” Danny said, and it was obvious he was trying not to sound upset. He pulled away, and Stiles missed the warmth. “We should definitely do this again soon.”
Stiles nodded. “Definitely.”
Danny pulled on his shoes, and Stiles handed him back his DVDs. “I had a surprising amount of fun,” Danny said as they walked to Stiles’ jeep.
“Me too.”
“Next time maybe you can bring out some movies?” Danny asked and Stiles laughed.
“Unless you want to listen to me complain about Lord of the Rings for twelve hours of your life, we can stick to your movies for now.”
“Lord of the Rings sounds like it could be fun.”
“You say that now. Just wait until we get to the middle of Two Towers and I’m still crying over Boromir.”
Danny grinned. “I’ll let you cry on my shoulder, if you need.” His smile turned sly. “I have to do that for Jackson every time we’re forced to watch The Notebook with Lydia.”
Stiles laughed gleefully. “Are you kidding? You better not be kidding because that’s priceless.”
Danny nodded. “I mean, they are usually tears of man pain, but they are tears nonetheless.”
“I’ll take man pain tears.” They rode the rest of the way in silence, holding hands. Danny’s hand felt good in his, and Stiles gave it a squeeze just to feel Danny tighten his fingers around Stiles’.
He let out Danny out, and it was awkward, because it was obvious both of them wanted to kiss, but Stiles couldn’t. His wolf was still too close to the surface, and he couldn’t risk that. They settled for an awkward hug, and Danny snuck a kiss on Stiles’ cheek, before bolting out of the Jeep and up to his house.
Stiles stared after him, and brought his hand up to his cheek. He blinked and was unable to stop the grin breaking out across his face. He was so awesome! Tomorrow he was going to hound Derek about how to control himself some more so that next time he could actually kiss his boyfriend.
***
Stiles smelled like lust when he showed up at Derek’s apartment, and his friend Scott wasn’t much better. Derek didn’t ask, because he really didn’t want to know. He’d already had to suffer sitting outside Stiles’ house the night before, listening to make sure that he hadn’t lost control. He was glad that nothing had happened, because Derek really wasn’t sure he would have been able to sit through listening to that.
He did a lot of things for pack, but listening to mating was not something he was interested in at all. Stiles seemed to be very self-aware though, and in enough control to know when he needed to stop. Now if only Derek knew how to say that he was proud of Stiles without admitting that he had been listening to his heartbeat all last night just to make sure he didn’t lose control.
There wasn’t really any way to do that, so Derek didn’t say anything.
Except ask what the hell Stiles had in the back of his Jeep.
“It’s a sofa.”
Derek stared at the beige loveseat that Stiles had somehow manage to fit into his backseat. It had involved rope, and leaving the rear window open, but it was there. “I can see that. Why is it here?”
Stiles rolled his eyes as he had Scott help him open the back of the jeep. “Because I bought it for you, you idiot.”
Derek looked confused. “But why?”
Scott looked between them. “Because your house sucks, that’s why.” He didn’t wither under the glare that Derek shot him, which impressed Derek to be honest. He had thought the I’m about to piss my pants expression was permanently fixed to the kid’s face. Scott shrugged as he watched Stiles pull the sofa out of the back of his Jeep. “You don’t have anywhere to sit. Cardboard boxes don’t count.”
Derek gave Stiles a look, and then sighed, helping him move the sofa down. He knew Stiles could hold the weight, but it didn’t hurt to have someone else there. The sofa was awkwardly shaped, and Stiles was holding it in such a strange manner. Derek saw someone coming out of the apartment building and he grabbed the other end of the sofa before anyone noticed how odd it was that Stiles could carry a sofa by himself.
“So you bought a sofa?” He asked. “How?”
“Well you see, Derek. This may be a strange concept to you, but you can go to something called a thrift store, and buy what is referred to as furniture.”
Derek looked at the sofa. “You bought me a used sofa.”
“You say it like it automatically has bed bugs or something. Which it doesn’t! I did a full sniff,” Stiles said as they set the sofa down in the living room.
“How did you even afford this?” Derek was pretty sure Scott was the only one who worked, and he was pretty positive Stiles wasn’t mean enough to manipulate Scott into buying him a sofa.
Stiles shrugged. “I had a new flat screen tv I bought for Black Friday. I didn’t need it anymore so I sold it for a ridiculous amount of money. I have a table, another sofa, two bookcases and a couple stools waiting back at the thrift store for me to pick up.”
Derek stared at him and then rubbed his hand over his face. “I could have done my own furniture shopping, you know.”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t buy you a bed or anything for your den. I’ll let you decorate that by yourself.” Stiles grinned, while Scott just looked at the two of them.
Derek sighed. “Let me get on my shoes so I can help you make the trips shorter. We can fit the stools and table into my car.”
Stiles threw his hands up in triumph. “Success!”
“I’m also doing this so I can veto anything I don’t like.”
“Whatever,” Stiles said. “I have awesome taste.”
Derek had to admit having all the books put up in a shelf was useful. He hadn’t unpacked anything he had salvaged from his house, and he honestly wasn’t sure he was capable of doing that yet, but he had gotten all the books he’d brought back from New York that Laura had collected. After they had finished unpacking them Stiles had grabbed one of the older ones and collapsed onto the sofa, curling up and flipping through the book.
Derek didn’t know what he was looking for so he just let him be. Scott had to leave for work early in the afternoon and Derek had a feeling that once Scott was gone Stiles would actually talk about what he wanted to talk about. It was just a feeling that Derek had. It had been the same with Laura, and some of his cousins, just being able to tell when someone in the pack was brimming with news.
Stiles waved goodbye to Scott and the moment Derek heard the outer door close Stiles had tossed the book to the side.
“Derek, you have got to help me with this control thing.”
Derek took in a deep breath. “I told you this was a bad idea.”
Stiles glared. “Nothing happened, but I could feel like it was going to happen.”
“This is why you need to end it.”
“Derek, I’m sixteen and this is the first person who likes me!”
“You think it’s something that is worth losing your pack to?” Derek closed his eyes, trying not to remember the fire. “If you lost control, if something happened, I might not be able to protect you.”
Stiles looked at him, and Derek wondered if Stiles could see what he was thinking. “Derek, what do you think is going to happen? I’m just worried I’m going to wolf out mid-kiss and Danny will see, and I might hurt him. You make it seem so much worse.”
Derek stared at him, suddenly speechless. He closed his eyes, feeling bad. He hadn’t realized what he had been doing. He’d been pushing all his fears and insecurities onto Stiles, who didn’t even know everything. Or anything. Stiles was just a stupid sixteen-year-old in lust with another stupid sixteen-year-old. Derek knew that whoever Stiles was with couldn’t be a Hunter. He’d done a sweep right after he had moved into his apartment, and no Hunters popped up. He was still keeping a low profile, but he knew some families (the Argents his mind whispered) kept names on a radar, and he couldn’t be positive he wasn’t being monitored.
He had to be careful.
“We live in a dangerous world now, Stiles,” Derek said instead. “Maybe the worst that happens is you hurt your boyfriend, but what do you think he’s going to do? Take the news of werewolves in stride?”
Stiles looked cowed, but when he spoke Derek could tell he wasn’t giving up. “Can you help me or not? I refuse to live in fear of something that I should have control over.”
“Fine. But if you ever feel like you’re going to lose it, you stop.” Derek said as Stiles perked up, nodding frantically. “Now sit down and shut up while I try to think of a good way to explain this.”
“You’re the best, Derek, and I will give you my first born son.”
Derek snorted. “Daughters work better for our ritualistic sacrifices.”
“Ha-ha-ha,” Stiles said, but Derek could feel that he was relaxing. He hated it, but he could feel himself really beginning to trust Stiles. He kept trying to clamp it down, his mind telling him that it was too soon, but each day Stiles did something else that made Derek want to trust him with everything he was. Derek had known it was going to happen eventually, but the intensity kept knocking him for a loop.
***
Lacrosse practice was starting to get underway. The first cuts to the team were taking place, and Stiles was pleased to see that Scott had missed getting cut by a wide berth. He had originally had plans after school, but then Danny had asked if Stiles could stay and watch, and maybe they could hang out after practice.
Stiles had said yes before he had even cancelled on Derek. He felt bad about it, but when he got the text back saying it was fine he felt slightly better.
He knew Derek was searching for the Alpha, as much as he could, but Stiles didn’t know what else he did during the time they were apart. He hoped that his skills would improve fast enough that he could help Derek.
Stiles practiced them while he watched the lacrosse team, and he also practiced the calming methods Derek had brought up on Saturday. Stiles was pretty sure he would be ready if anything happened today, or tomorrow, or sometime later this week. He felt like he could be a little spontaneous, which is why when Danny waved him down from the bleachers after practice Stiles followed him into the locker room.
Jackson shot him a dirty look, and even as everyone else filed out slowly, Jackson stuck around. Stiles made sure that the only thing Jackson saw was him smiling as he and Danny talked.
“Hey, I’m pretty sure Lydia is waiting for you to take her home,” Danny said as he headed to take a shower.
Jackson glared and once the shower had turned on he spoke to Stiles. “I don’t know what you did to him, but whatever you did you need to stop.”
Stiles blinked. “What?”
“You heard me. He’s been chipper this entire weekend.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Stiles asked, but Jackson seemed to be on a roll.
“I don’t know what he sees in you, because last year you were just scum on the bottom of my shoe, but if you hurt him I will destroy you.”
Stiles’ mouth hung open, unable to say anything as Jackson packed up his bag and left the locker room. He had no idea what had just happened. He was pretty sure he’d just been threatened by Jackson, but the threatening seemed to imply that Jackson was okay with them dating? Stiles shook his head, his mind immediately going to Danny in the shower.
The water shut off and much too quickly Danny was in front of Stiles, toweling himself off.
“Did he threaten you?”
Stiles looked up, trying to look at Danny’s face and not linger too long on his chest. “Threaten? Yes. But I also think he gave me his stamp of approval? He used a lot of big words I wasn’t used to hearing from him.”
Danny laughed and dropped his towel, reaching for his shirt. He was already wearing the gym shorts he would wear home and Stiles watched as he finished getting dressed.
“Do you need me to give you a ride home?” Stiles asked.
Danny grinned. “Depends, what are you doing right now?”
Stiles shrugged. “I kinda cancelled plans with Derek, my uh, guy who was at the video store with me,” Stiles explained at Danny’s confused look. “So I mean, I was gonna head over there later to make sure he didn’t get into too much trouble.”
“Oh. Cause my mom wasn’t going to be home for a couple of hours and I figured we could stop by there? Do a little homework?”
Stiles’ heart picked up and he nodded dumbly. “Yeah, no that sounds like a good plan.”
Danny perked up. “Yeah?”
Stiles nodded, turning to Danny. “Yeah. Listen, I had a lot of fun on Friday.”
“Me too,” Danny said with a smile.
“And I really, really should have done this then, and not right now.” Stiles said, and before he could lose his nerve he leaned forward, pressing his lips to Danny’s.
They stayed like that for a moment before Danny moved, kissing him back. Stiles relaxed, moving his body closer to Danny’s as they continued to kiss. It wasn’t an ideal situation, or the ideal place, but Stiles needed to do it just so he could see if he could.
Danny’s hand came up and cupped his jaw, tilting his head a bit to the side to change the angle. He let a moan escape as they broke apart, and he felt himself trying to chase after Danny, even as they were both panting.
Stiles rested his hand on Danny’s shoulder as he opened his eyes, searching to see if he had done something wrong. Danny was smiling and Stiles couldn’t help but return it.
“I’m really glad you did that,” Danny whispered.
“Me too,” Stiles said. He could feel the wolf rushing through his veins, but it wasn’t the crazy need he had had on Friday. He was beginning to think he had this under control.
Part 2