Dating Derek really isn't what everyone seems to think it is. They still bicker constantly, always pushing each other's buttons but that's usually around the pack. Derek isn't as harsh as people think he is, it's really only when Derek needs something done that the fangs come out. He isn't as mean as they make him out to be. Sure, he still threatens people to get what he wants but underneath it all he's oddly noncommittal. He's actually kind of normal.
And the sex is fantastic, no doubt about it. Sometimes it's rough and needy, usually after an attack on the pack or Stiles gets hurt. Sometimes it's all shoving up against walls and rough hands that leave faint bruises on his body the next day. He doesn't mind, he likes the intensity and the aggression because it reminds Stiles of how they were when they first met. But more often than not it's slow and intense. Slow wandering hands, lips that mark every inch of his body. Derek likes it slow and intimate. He likes to drag it out, it's not about immediate gratification. It's about the journey not the destination. Stiles doesn't mind because in those moments it is like time stops, like he and Derek are the only ones who exist.
But the biggest oxymoron about Derek is that for as possessive and controlling as he is in front of people, he's a complete push over in between the sheets. Because believe it or not, Stiles and Derek aren't having hot sex all the time. As much as Stiles likes to climb Derek like a tree, he likes to just lie in bed with him. He likes that Derek will let Stiles wrap himself around the werewolf and listen to him babble. Occasionally Derek will tell him a story about his family or his past and it's always in low slow tones. Sometimes they don't talk at all and Stiles spends hours in bed with Derek with his ear pressed to Derek's chest. Stiles listens to his heart beat while Derek traces patterns on his bare back with light brushes of his finger tips.
But no one really knows this because they don't see it. They see the aggressive alpha and the clumsy human who can't keep out of trouble. They see what they want to see. But that's okay because Stiles likes that they have a secret. Something that is theirs that no one else can have.