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Stiles is… bored, because who knew that fighting monsters, and planning things would involve so much waiting around. Or maybe that’s just because Stiles is human. Maybe because he’s human and weak, they don’t want him running around in the woods. But Allison is human. Okay, so maybe Allison is different; maybe she gets to run around in the woods at night because she’s a bad-ass hunter. But Stiles isn’t, so maybe that’s why he gets left alone.
It’s late and he’s home alone because his Dad is working late and the Pack is out hunting yet another monster. Stiles is alone, his homework is done and there is a pile of research still in the printer tray. He’s scrolling through Wikipedia and different news sites when he comes across a site called buzzfeed.com. It’s got a few news articles, but it’s mostly these little count-down things and then Stiles gets an idea.
Stiles opens a new word document and starts to type.
26 Reasons Why Derek Is The Sexiest Monster.
Stiles goes through his phone looking for pictures of Derek. He finds quite a few, some his taken himself on the sly and some the Pack have sent him. He can’t stop laughing as he types and adds the pictures, because this is ridiculous. It’s hilarious but it’s still ridiculous.
When he’s finished he makes himself an account on buzzfeed.com, LittleRedRidingWolf, and uploads the whole article. He laughs so hard for twenty minutes that by the time he emails the link to Scott, there are tears in his eyes.
***
Stiles isn’t sure what time he passes out, but when he wakes up and the clock reads 11:15 he’s glad it’s a Saturday. What he’s not glad to see is Derek sitting at his desk, the computer open in front of him. Stiles thinks he’s going to have a heart attack, because he suddenly can’t remember if he shut his computer off last night.
“Heeeey…” Stiles says, drawing the word out, voice sounding hoarse. Derek looks over his shoulder, eye brows furrowed, and oh shit this means trouble because Derek’s eyes are red.
“What is this Stiles?” Derek is all seriousness and Stiles prays, fucking prays that it’s not what he thinks it is. Stiles climbs (falls) out of bed and crosses the room to stand behind Derek’s shoulder. And it’s exactly what he was dreading, Derek is looking at the buzzfeed article. Shit.
“How…” Stiles’s heart stutters in his chest. “How did you find this?”
“Internet History, I was looking for new research.” And of course Derek would have gone straight to Stiles’s computer rather than looking in the printer.
“Dude, really?” Stiles is so screwed, Derek swings around in the chair and looks up at Stiles, eyebrows still furrowed. “I mean, I always print the stuff I give you. I hate to think how many trees I’ve killed for you.” Stiles grabs the papers and sort of just shoves them into Derek’s chest. “I mean, shit Derek, I was bored. And I had nothing else to do… It… It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Derek stands, puts the papers down on the desk and Stiles watches the way Derek’s shirt stretches over his shoulders as he twists. Then Derek is stepping towards him and Stiles can’t hold back a shudder, his breath catches in her throat.
Derek’s hand presses against Stiles’s chest, when had Derek gotten so close? It’s hot, like a brand even through Stiles’s shirt. Derek pushes and Stiles falls back onto the bed, gasping as his back hits the bed. Derek follows him down, one knee rising up onto the mattress and his hands, big and rough, bracketing Stiles’s head.
“Would you really let me bite you?” And of course that’s what Derek got out of the whole thing, of course that’s the first thing he would ask.
“Derek…” Stiles fists clench then unclench at his sides, scratching at the covers with his nails. “Fuck, it was stupid, okay? I was bored, you guys were all busy. I mean, what am I supposed to do when the Pack goes off and hunts bad guys? Sit here and worry.” Stiles lifts one hand and shoves against Derek’s chest, wanting him to move back, wanting space so he can breathe. But Derek doesn’t move and Stiles can’t stop talking. “I really don’t think so, I hate it, hate that you all go off and I have to sit here alone. It’s not fair… It’s… It’s not fucking fair, Derek!” Stiles shoves against Derek with both hands, just pushing and clawing at his shirt like he can push all his frustration, his worry, his fear into Derek and get rid of it. “I have to fucking sit here almost every night and worry that you’re going to get hurt and I’m not going to be there to help! God Derek, how can you expect me not to want it when this is what I have to live with? That I’m weak and no good to anyone, how can you expect me not to want to be part of the pack?” Stiles focuses on Derek’s face now, his breath slows and he finally takes in the expression on Derek’s face. His eyes have faded back to their normal green and his eye brows have lifted. He looks… Derek actually looks concerned.
“Stiles…” Stiles shakes his head, partly at himself and partly at Derek.
“No. Just don’t, okay, please. Just let me up.” Stiles pushes at Derek again, but when Derek doesn’t move Stiles just sighs and drops his hands back to his sides.
“Stiles, I…” Derek sighs, his eyes close and his head drops forward. “If you want the bite, I will give it to you.” Derek looks up, eyes open and almost… pleading. “But I don’t want to.” Stiles bites his lip, feels a flare of rejection. Derek can probably smell it on him. “I like you just the way you are Stiles.”
“Weak…” Stiles says before he can stop himself.
“No… Because you’re human Stiles. You’re smart, and stubborn, and we would be lost without you.” Derek leans down and presses his forehead to Stiles’s. “You keep us grounded Stiles… You keep me grounded, just by being human.”
“Then why do you keep leaving me here?” Stiles sounds half way between frustrated and sad, he hates the way it makes his voice sound.
“To keep you safe,” Stiles flinched, tries to turn his head away, but Derek cups the side of his face and makes Stiles’s look at him. “Because if you get hurt Stiles, if you die…” Derek grits his teeth. “Then I will lose my mind and the Pack will fall apart.”
“You don’t believe I can protect myself?”
“I know you can…” Derek’s eyes close and his hand tightens on Stiles’s face. “I know you can, I’ve seen you do it.” Derek pulls away but doesn’t remove his hand, just looks at Stiles. “You’re calm in a crisis, you think well on your feet, you see patterns no one else would. But I don’t want to see you get hurt Stiles.”
“That’s not fair Derek, you can’t tell me I’m Pack and then not let me be there.” Stiles puts a hand to the side of Derek’s neck.
“I know.”
“Then why? Why push me away?” Stiles’s hand tightens on Derek’s neck and he fists his other hand in the covers on his bed.
“Because I’m selfish.” Derek drops his head then, presses his face into Stiles’s neck and just breaths. “I’m sorry.” Stiles strokes Derek’s hair and they sit in silence for a long while. It takes a while, but Stiles finally finds the words.
“Fuck you Derek Hale.” Stiles says softly, there is no venom in his tone, he says it like it’s a statement of fact.
“I’m sorry.” Derek goes to pull away, put Stiles holds onto him, won’t let him pull away.
“No, you do not get to fuck off and leave me alone, Derek Hale. You get to man the fuck up and let me help. If you need me so much then you can let me fucking help. Stop trying to be such a fucking martyr.” Derek falls sideways, taking Stiles with him until Derek is sitting against the head board and Stiles is in his lap. Stiles smiles, cups Derek’s face, squishing his cheeks softly. Stiles had to laugh, Derek’s eyebrows lowered in a frown and his cheeks squished up between Stiles’s palms.
“Stop it,” Derek growls, but it sounds more like ‘stoop it’, it’s actually pretty funny and Stiles giggles. Derek grabs Stiles’s wrists and pulls his hands away. “This isn’t funny Stiles.”
“It kind of is,” Stiles laughs, leaning forward and pressing their foreheads together. “I like you too, just so you know. I mean, I like you, you like me, it’s reciprocal.”
“Stiles,” Derek reaches up, hand tangling in the hair at the nap of Stiles’s neck. “Shut up.”
“O-,” Stiles goes silent when Derek kisses him, mostly because he has to, especially when Derek’s tongue flicks into his mouth. Stiles groans and presses closer, his hands hover hesitantly over Derek’s shoulders before he drops them, slides them down Derek’s chest and wraps them around he’s waist. Stiles isn’t really sure what he’s doing, he hasn’t kissed many people, but Derek goes slow. Lips gentle, tongue tracing slowly over Stiles’s lips and teeth scrapping over his bottom lip. Stiles tries to match him, sliding his tongue against Derek’s, he must do something right because Derek groans. Derek shifts and pushes Stiles back on the bed, pinning Stiles beneath him again. Stiles wraps his legs around Derek’s waist and gasps into Derek’s mouth. Stiles can’t breathe, but he can’t pull away either, Derek is hot and heavy but it’s wonderful. When Derek pulls away Stiles has to take a minute to just breath. “Wow.” Stiles breathes out, “Okay, I wasn’t expecting that.” Derek is grinning, actually grinning and it kind of looks ridiculous but Stiles is so proud of putting it there.
“So…” Derek is still grinning and Stiles kind of wants to punch him. “About the article…” Stiles groans, “Do you really think I’m hot?”
“Oh, fuck off Derek.” Stiles shoves him hard but Derek just laughs, flopping down onto Stiles and burying his face in Stiles’s shoulder. He just wraps his arms around Stiles’s waist and laughs into his shoulder, making Stiles whole body shake with it. “You’re an idiot.” Derek kisses him, still laughing and Stiles grins back.
“You like me anyway.” Derek smirks and Stiles grins back.
“Yea, I guess I do.” Derek lifts an eyebrow, the smirk shrinking but the amusement is still there in his face.
“You guess?”
“Yea,” Stiles kisses him, soft and closed mouth. Stiles gets the feeling that they’ll work it out, eventually.
***
The next day there is a new article posted by LittleRedRidingWolf; 26 Reasons Why Stiles is Not Weak or Alone.
Number 26 reads; Because he’s Derek’s Mate.
Derek gets exiled to the couch that night while Stiles sleeps in his bed, spreading his scent over the pillows and covers. Stiles is pissed that Derek didn’t tell earlier, that he used an article on the internet to do it and they fight about it but by the time Derek sneaks into bed with Stiles later that night, Stiles has mostly forgiven him.
“Next time, just tell me.” Stiles says as he rolls over, burying his face against Derek’s chest.
“Okay,” There are going to be worse fights than this, but Stiles gets the feeling that they’re always going to end up making-up. Even if it’s in the weirdest ways, because they’re both idiots, but at least they can be idiots together.