derek/stiles

1 Stiles almost groans when he spots the werewolf three rows away in his freshman English class. For the first time, it isn’t because he’s being forced to take freshman English. No. This groan is because there’s a werewolf sitting three rows away. He’d gone to college to get away from the supernatural. Okay. He can do this. There is no reason for the girl to pay him any attention. He’d taken at least ten showers in the past few days in the hopes of scrubbing the stench of werewolf off of him....

Prologue It wasn’t until the Great Pack Schism that Stiles realized that he didn’t understand werewolves nearly as well as he thought. It’s probably because he has two alphas to compare, when before he’d only had Peter and Derek to compare. And despite how not great Derek was at the whole alpha thing, he looked like a saint next to Peter. Then the whole alpha pack mess started, Scott is suddenly the True Alpha, and werewolves were choosing sides....

“How’s Stiles doing? He out of the hospital yet?” Parrish asks him. Noah is taken aback, because as far as he knows, Stiles isn’t in the hospital. He clears his throat, “Yeah, he’s doing better.” A vague answer because Noah doesn’t want to make it look like he doesn’t know. Especially if Stiles actually is in the hospital. Parrish smiles and nods. Noah goes straight to the hospital. He tracks down Melissa and before he can say anything, she asks, “Are you here to see Stiles?...

Stiles tells people that he ‘used’ to have panic attacks. As if it were past tense. It isn’t. He still has them. He just learned how to have them quietly so that he wouldn’t worry his dad anymore. After his mom died and his dad lost himself to grief for a while, Stiles didn’t want to add anything more to his dad’s plate. So after he’d been pushed into therapy, he pretended that they went away....

It was hard to miss that Derek was one of the most beautiful people Stiles had ever seen in real life. Which is saying something given the supernatural hotness he’s constantly surrounded by. But he’d never been attracted to Derek. Not until this exact moment. They’re at the loft and Derek is wearing one of his fairly ubiquitous v-neck shirts. Whatever. Same old same old. What’s new are the curls of hair peeking out from the collar....

Derek’s not even sure why he’s so nervous about picking up Stiles for prom. They’ve been boyfriends for almost the entire four years of high school. His parents love Stiles and, heck, the sheriff likes him. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s wearing a suit and he’s really not used to dressing up. He feels awkward and out of his element—even though his mom insists that he looks very handsome....

Stiles didn’t realize how much he counted on and needed Derek’s protection until the day it was gone. And he had no one but himself to blame for the cold, empty dread he was currently experiencing. Because he was alone and pretty sure he was about to die. Alone. It fucking sucked. Derek was growling and yelling at Stiles about being reckless. Stiles wasn’t really listening since he’d heard it all before....

It’s after they’ve graduated and Stiles is about to leave for college when he comes to Derek’s loft. He knocks. Something he’s been doing and Derek can’t quite remember when it started. It still strikes him as odd, since Stiles always used to barge in. Derek opens the door. Stiles’ heart is elevated and he smells nervous. It makes Derek worried. “So, um, I’m heading off to college and I wanted to tell you something before I go… Okay, I’m just going to blurt it out....

It started with a very bloody and very dead rabbit on his front step. It said something about Stiles’ life choices that the sight of something that might’ve once made him throw up, just set off a low current of dread in his stomach. Hard to be super grossed out by a dead rabbit when you’ve been on the verge of cutting someone’s arm off. Or seen that same person gutted on his feral uncle’s claws....

The only time Stiles feels safe these days is when he’s with Derek. So, he’s been spending as much time with Derek as he can. He feels safest, no question about it, when he’s in Derek’s arms. He can’t tell if his favourite is when Derek spoons him. Holding him close with inhuman strength; a warm, solid presence at his back. Or when Derek lies on top of him; a warm, heavy, solid blanket....