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“Stiles, that doesn’t look right” Lydia exclaimed over Stiles’ shoulder. He turned to look at the strawberry blonde with disbelief. These days, any look he gives her is more in an adoration sort of way, rather than a “I love you and cannot live without you” kind of way. After all these years, that kind of look is only reserved for one person.
“What do you mean Lyds? It looks exactly the same as Deaton’s”
“Ummm, no. Deaton’s was more..... a turquoise colour.” Both individuals looked at the concoction in front of them. Lydia squinted and continued talking. “That, is an olive colour at best.” Stiles’ mouth was agape as he looked again. Back and forth, from Lydia's face, and back to the swirling liquid.
“Trust me, I am the mag– “ Before he could complete his sentence, the whole room when dark. This was not good... perhaps it didn’t look exactly like Deaton’s. Who was he kidding, it looked nowhere close to the glowy, bluey-green colour of Deaton’s healing elixir.
All of a sudden Stiles hears rustling of leaves, and he opens his eyes to find himself lying in a pile of leaves, and a very handsome boy standing above his lying form. The boy’s head tilted slightly as he reassessed Stiles with his eyes. He looked concerned, but relaxed once he deemed Stiles was fine. Their eyes met, as the boy put his hand out to help Stiles up.
“Thanks, dude”
“Don’t call me dude.” The boy partially growled out, but nowhere as threatening as Derek. Just as Stiles was lifted back onto his feet, the rustling of leaves got louder.
“Oh, there you are Der Bear!” A pretty brunette girl said, as she walked through the line of trees. She paused momentarily at the sight of Stiles and then looked at the boy’s and Stiles’ still joined hands, before smirking. “Mother is going to freak when she finds out you have been sneaking out here to meet a human boy.”
In that moment, it was as if Stiles’ hand burned the boy’s, because Der Bear? Ripped his hand away from Stiles and crossed his arms.
“Don’t call me that, it is Derek. You know how much I hate when you give me pet names, Laura.” The boy, Derek scowled. “Plus I wasn’t sneaking to see this boy, I just found him” Laura looked at his seriously, but then laughed.
“Sure little bro, that is why he smells like you” Stiles was confused, as he looked at the pair. “Anyway, Mother called dinner” She then begun to walk off, but then stopped. “Oh and bring the boy.” Laura continued to walk off in the direction she came.
Now Derek and Stiles stood there in silence. The wind whistled, causing the trees to shake. Derek broke the silence first.
“Do you want to?”
“Huh?” Stiles answered confused. He was still processing the "human boy" part.
“Do you want to, come to dinner?” Oh. Stiles wasn’t sure if he should. After all this boy and his sister were strangers. Also he had to work out what happened. It was not normal he was transported from his bedroom to the forest. For all he knew he could have accidentally made a transport potion and moved himself to the other side of the world.
Yet he felt drawn to the boy, he seemed safe, and strangely Stiles felt like he could trust the guy. So with a deep breath, he nodded. It was not like he could just stand around in the forest.
Derek lead the way.... towards the old, burnt down, Hale residence.
“I am Derek Hale, btw” Stiles came to a halt. Derek?
“What year is it?”
“Wow you must have hit your head hard. It is 2000. Why?”
“Oh.” Oh in deed. Stiles thinks, he is about 5 in this reality, before his mother died, before he demanded everyone called his Stiles, before he met Scott, before the Hale fire. But all just barely. Stiles clears his voice before speaking. “I am Stiles.” Derek nodded firmly before continuing to lead the way towards the house.
The perfectly, non burnt to a crisp, house. Shoot... he just time travelled.
***
As the two walked through the door, Stiles’ senses were assaulted by delicious smells of pumpkin pie, roast and mash potatoes. Stiles could identify the similar smell as things Derek often cooked for thanksgiving, back in his time. Pack gatherings just weren’t the same without it.
“Der, there you are! You are late.” A beautiful, dark haired women announced. Stiles knows, from photos, that this woman was Derek’s mother – Talia Hale. The photos not aging like reality. “I see you brought a friend home. A very close friend” She patted the two of them on the back and smiled. “Well go clean up, dinner is on the table.” Derek coughed, coking on his own spit.
Derek and Stiles proceeded to follow the instructions. As they were washing their hands in the bathroom, Derek cleared his throat to get Stiles’ attention.
“I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend”
“What?”
“You smell like me, a lot like me.... as if you rolled around in my scent, something I will ask about later, but now I need you to be my boyfriend, to cover up the oddness” Oddness? Stiles nodded his head. This is going to be a hard one to explain.
Dinner was... pleasant. Pleasantly uncomfortable. People fired question after question towards Derek and Stiles. Obviously most of them being werewolves, they could smell the scent of future Derek on Stiles. Guess it is a blessing Derek's scent hasn't changed.
“Do you go to Derek’s school?” A little girl with pigtails asked with her mouth full of mash potatoes.
“Cora, don’t speak with your mouth full” Talia commented, but then turned to Stiles to listen to his answer. Cora shrugged, and then proceeded to shove mash potatoes into her mouth.
“Ummm, Beacon Hills High?” Stiles looked at Derek briefly, where he saw the boy nodded. “ So yeah, I go there” Stiles nervously swallowed. His tactic to get through all these questions is to not lie. After all they are all werewolves and could hear the uptick of his heart if he did. Derek in that moment jumped into the conversations.
“Yeah, he tried out for the team.”
“Did he?” A young man looked Stiles up and down. “Basketball doesn’t seem like his type of sport. Did he make it?”
“Peter... I am caption, I can let anyone I want on the team. But no, just because he is dating me, doesn’t mean he cannot be good.” The whole table erupted into laughter. A small smile found itself onto Stiles’ lips, he loved Derek’s laugh. In the future, he doesn't get to hear it much. But it seems to be a more common occurrence as the years past.
The rest of dinner was similar in nature, but after dessert, Derek announced he and Stiles will be going to his room.
“Keep the door open, son” His father said absently. Derek looked at his father, rolled his eyes and mumbled something about even if the door was closed they could hear him. But considering Stiles is not meant to know about werewolves, he believes the whispering was for his benefit. Especially when he heard Laura laugh.
***
Derek paced up and down this room, wearing a dent into the carpet.
“Time travel?”
“Yea, I know it is hard to believe – “
“It isn’t the hardest” Derek interrupted. “But that doesn’t explain my scent all over you” Derek furrowed his brow.
“In the future, we... ummmm, we are – “ but before Stiles could explain, Talia came in.
“I called Deaton, if he really time travelled Deaton can get him back home” She explained briefly about who Deaton was, and Stiles listen intently as if he didn’t already know. Also he tried to ignore the slight detail that no normal human could have heard Derek and his conversation...
When Deaton arrived 20 minutes later, he looked Stiles up and down, before examining him.
“Curious” Deaton proclaimed. “He is indeed a time traveller – “
“I time travelled, doesn’t mean I am a time traveller” Stiles butted in.
“Right. He time travelled from the year 2012, give or take a few years.” Stiles rolls his eyes at how precise Deaton’s deduction was, they could have just asked him what year he was from. “The potion he was creating seemed to have gone wrong.”
“Correct” Stiles informed the trio – Talia, Derek and Deaton.
“Okay, so how do we get his back to his time?” Talia asked.
“I can make an anti-potion of sorts, and send him home.” Talia nodded firmly and then walked Deaton to the door. By the door, the pair talked in hushed whispers, exchanging nods and shakes.
“What are they saying?” Stiles asked Derek, as they sat at the top of the stairs. Stiles had his hands in his lap, while Derek had his face pressed against the railing. His mushed face was pretty cute.
“Mother is just saying that she think you are pretty cute, and well how unusual the circumstances are.” Stiles smiled at that, and out of routine, couldn’t help asking Derek.
“DO YOU think I am cute too?” Derek’s cheeks turned pink at the question, slowly expanding across and down his neck. Derek mumbled a small yes under this breath, but Stiles heard it. It sent a giant grin across his face. He is forever holding this moment against older Derek.
The waiting game was hard, but Stiles also knew this was the best time to get to know the sourwolf more. Stiles brushed his fingers over all Derek’s basketball trophies, he took long, hard looks at all the baby pictures, he laid in Derek’s bed, burying his face into his pillow. Just because he knew all of this would burn. Just because he knows he will never know this Derek.
Derek seemed to also realise that he will never know Stiles. The boy asked questions after questions about Stiles’ life back home. But for safety, Stiles simply answered most with a “Spoilers”, however for the ones he could answer, he treaded carefully before answering.
“What are your hobbies?” Derek asked, as he threw his basketball in the air and caught it repeatedly.
“I like to do research” Stiles responded easily. This caused curiosity to burn behind Derek’s eyes.
“What kind?”
“The supernatural kind obviously” The two laughed.
Stiles stayed with the Hales in their spare bedroom. He hung out with Derek at the mall, the beach and the park. Often they were confused to be boyfriends, and every single time they both looked at each other and laughed. Stiles thinks that he hasn’t seen Derek laugh this much before, and revels in it. It all became a sort of private joke to them.
One day they were at the park like usual, with ice-creams in hand, when Stiles caught sight of his younger self meeting Scott for the first time. Being able to witness such an momentary event, made Stiles weep. Derek just held him, confused as their ice-creams dripped periodically against their pants.
Turns out ice-cream was pretty hard to get out of denim.
***
Deaton returned a few days later with a orangey red liquid.
“Have a safe trip” Laura and Cora said in unison. They hugged Stiles tightly before letting him go. Cora ran to play outside on her bike, but Laura stuck around.
“You know, you and my brother.... you guys make a great pair. Annoying, but great. Kind of like you” Laura shoved Stiles gently on the shoulder. Stiles was shocked. Derek always commented that Laura would have loved him, but hearing the actual words of partial approval seemed overwhelming, considering he knew how much Laura meant to Derek.
“Take care sweetheart” Talia said as she hugged Stiles. “I agree with Laura, you and Derek make quite an adorable couple –“
“MOM?!” Derek interrupted from Stiles’ side. Talia gave Derek a hard look, and Stiles couldn’t help smirking. Derek was such a mommy’s boy.
“As I was saying, you two make a good team. If in the future you find my son again, please give him a chance. The boy is a mystery, but he is also a loyal person.” Stiles sighed, that was something he could promise.
“Promise” Stiles smiled at Talia and gave her another warm hug.
Then there was just Derek and Stiles at the end of the stairs. Derek was not looking at Stiles, but at his feet instead. The elixir felt heavy in his hands. Despite loving his time with the Hales, he missed his pack, his family, and couldn’t wait to see them again. So with a heavy hand on Derek’s shoulder, he spoke.
“I will find you again, we have unfinished business.” Stiles laughed nervously. But Derek raised his head to look at Stiles, and smiled. Then he surged towards Stiles, pressing his lips against Stiles’. Derek’s lips were warm and tasted like mint. Stiles couldn’t help but melt into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Derek’s neck, despite being the slightly taller one. The motions were so familar and automatic.
When they broke apart, Derek sighed. That was Stiles’ cue to just drink the potion. As if it was a shot, Stiles swallowed the whole contents of the small bottle. Nothing happened.
“Nothing happened” Stiles frowned
“Maybe Deaton made it wrong, may– “
Then all of a sudden he saw a flash of white behind his lids, Derek’s voice drowned out. When he opened his eyes again, with a groan, he was faced with the most beautiful eyes. They were green with gold specks throughout. They sparkled in the light.
They looked at Stiles, with concern and those eyes scanned over Stiles’ body checking him for cuts and bruises. When he deemed Stiles fit, he smiled and spoke in a teasing tone.
“Hey there sleepy-head” Derek said. His Derek. Stiles mumbled what a douche Derek was in return. But when he heard the soft laughter he felt a rush of blood pull towards his heart, causing it to squeeze in his chest. He reached up and wrapped his arms around Derek’s neck and pulled him towards his horizontal body.
Derek fell slightly towards Stiles on the couch, before catching himself with his left arm. Then he leaned towards Stiles again and pressed his lips firmly onto Stiles’.
“I missed you” Stiles exclaimed with a dry throat.
“I missed you too” Derek answered. “Don’t go time travelling again without me.”
“No promises... I met a cute boy called Derek.” Derek groaned. "By the way, is it cheating if I kissed fetus Derek?"
"Yes... but I bet he couldn't help himself, so I blame him." God it was good to be back!