Title: Every Moment I'm With You
Pairing: Scott/Derek, non-romantic Scott/Everyone
Rating: G
Word Count: 7,415
Disclaimer: I make no profit from this
Summary: written for the following prompt:
Everyone is a little bit in love with Scott and Scott has a lot of love to give. Whether it's romantic-forever-love with Allison, codependant-basically married-best friend love with Stiles, almost brotherly puppy love with Isaac, or rivalry-UST love with Jackson, everybody wants a piece of dopey but kind-hearted McCall.
Derek denies it but when one of their arguments get's a little out of control, his argument is shot to hell.
Top!Scott would be great.
Notes: I didn't really manage to get a whole lot of smut in, so not really much top!Scott I'm afraid. Also, there's mainly platonic Scott/Allison and Scott/Stiles, everyone else is just alluded to. Hope it's still what Anon wanted!
She'd had her chance.
Allison opened her locker, hiding behind it as Scott came into view. He was alone, Stiles nowhere to be seen, but she was pretty certain that despite her evasive measures she'd still been caught looking. When they were dating Allison had thought that the reason Scott was so attuned to her heartbeat was because...well, because they were dating. It was romantic and thoughtful and showed a level of commitment that had spoken straight to the part of her that was tired of moving, tired of the nomadic life their family led.
Scott was loyal and he played for keeps and he was dependable. Allison was a sucker for dependable. Then, of course, there were those beautiful brown eyes and he also had really great pecs. And arms. Let's not forget the arms. Oh, and his hair. Scott had such soft hair. Really, he was just a very, very beautiful man. She wasn't the only one to notice of course. That whore Erica hadn't been the first girl to eye Scott, she'd just been the only one to be so brazen about it. From what he'd told her, Scott had been quickly overlooked before the bite but Allison thought that he'd just been too much of a guy to notice the girls that had been looking. Then he'd made co-captain of the lacrosse team and everyone had taken notice. Even he couldn't miss that.
When they'd been together, his eyes had never once roamed. Even when Erica was doing her whacked up version of flirting, pushing him against lockers and running her hand up his thigh, Scott had only ever looked uncomfortable. And a little pissed off. A girl like Erica gets all sluttied up and comes on to him and the only emotion Scott could summon up was discomfort? He was the kind of boyfriend you dreamt of. Even after that whole fiasco with Gra...Gerard, he'd been totally supportive and understanding even when she didn't deserve it. He'd promised to wait for her and Allison knew that he meant it. He hadn't dated anyone else even though she was pretty sure he'd had offers, multiple offers even.
Peeking through the slits in her locker door, Allison saw Scott rapidly approaching and she quickly buried her face in her books, pretending to be searching for something as he passed her by. She felt Scott hesitate slightly, as if he was going to stop and talk to her, but then he was moving on again and she let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him, exactly the opposite actually. She missed Scott like she'd never thought she'd ever be able to miss anything. She missed his steady, reassuring presence and the way he always knew exactly what to say. She missed the way he'd look at her like she was the only person in the world that mattered. She missed the way he touched her, always so eager and yet mindful of his strength. Allison missed Scott almost as much as she missed her mother and losing the two of them was sometimes more than she could take.
But there was a reason she had broken up with Scott. A reason she actively avoided him at school. She was his weakness. She loved him and he loved her but it was that same love that had been used against them time and again and always by her family. First Kate and then Gerard. Her own mother had almost killed him, in a manner so calculated and cold that Allison shuddered to think of it. She didn't want to become that. She didn't want to become like Kate and her Mom, unable to see past the bite. She didn't want to become a hypocrite like Gerard and if she stayed with Scott she was afraid that that was exactly what she would become. After her Mom had died, Allison had been so willing to do whatever it took to take down Derek Hale, so willing to just bulldoze past any and all obstacles in her path. Any and all, except for one.
Even then, when her mind had been clouded by grief and a cloying, suffocating need for revenge Allison had known that she could never truly hurt Scott. That sort of double standard was exactly what she wanted to avoid. Of course, she knew now that Derek had not actively set out to bite her Mom. He hadn't even actively set out to injure her. All he'd done was save Scott's life and for that...for that Allison really hated how she couldn't hate him. He'd forced her mother to take her own life but only because he was whacked out from the wolfsbane her Mom had been using to kill the love of Allison's life.
If there was one thing that the past few months had taught her, it was that she couldn't ignore her family and it's history. She couldn't run from responsibilities that she'd never asked for but were hers nonetheless. She couldn't go back to being weak, ignorant, helpless Allison and if she got back together with Scott that was exactly what she'd become.
Scott was just so...so Scott. He was so willing to shoulder the burden of responsibility, so willing to do everything in his considerable power to help the people he cared about and it was so, so easy to let him. To just let Scott do what he wanted and handle any and all danger that came their way. He was pretty good at it too, as the way he'd dealt with Gerard had shown. It was that whole dependability kink rearing it's head and Allison both loved and hated it. She loved that she could depend on Scott, even now, even after all she'd done. But she hated the girl she became when she did depend on him. She became almost helpless and Allison Argent was many things, but helpless was not one of them.
So she kept out of Scotts way and watched people fawn over him from afar. Scott was a magnet for troubled souls. It was like other people instinctively recognised his strong morality, his willingness to protect and do what was right, and they were drawn to that. Everyone from Stiles to Erica and even Jackson. He'd probably throw on that bitch-face of his if it were ever mentioned to him but really, Jackson had a pretty big Scott-shaped dent in that overly large ego of his and it only had a little to do with his unresolved parent issues. Yeah, what had happened to him was tragic but there were thousands of orphans in the world, most of whom weren't fortunate enough to be adopted by mega-wealthy parents. He needed to get over himself already.
Allison closed her locker, flattening her palm against it as she heard the lock click back into place. Down the hallway Scott was helping someone pick up the books they'd dropped and Allison couldn't help the fond smile that curved her lips. She'd had her chance and she'd purposely given it up. How could she begrudge anyone else for wanting the reassurance that practically oozed out of Scotts every pore? How could she begrudge anyone else the heady, addictive protectiveness and comfort rolled into one super-hot package that was Scott McCall?
~O
"Yo! Dude!" A guy that Stiles vaguely recognised as being in his history class raised his hand to bump fists with Stiles as he passed him in the hallway.
"Dude," Stiles managed a weak smile and half-heartedly echoed the gesture. "Yo."
Then the guy was moving further down the hallway and Stiles turned to Scott, his expression one of comic disbelief,
"What did you expect?" Scott smiled and pushed the textbooks he needed into his backpack. "You single-handedly won us the championship. You're a hero, Stiles."
"You know," Stiles said as they moved towards their next lesson. "My dad said something similar to me after the game. I didn't believe him then and I don't believe you now."
"So someone else scored those three goals? An unknown twin maybe? Hey, your dad could've been hiding him in your basement all this time!" Scott grinned at Stiles, broad and dopey but it faded when Stiles only managed half a smile in response.
"Hey," Scott's brow's furrowed in concern, brown eyes settling on his friend. "What's going on with you?"
"Nothing," Stiles shook his head and the corners of his mouth quirked briefly upwards. "Nothing, it's just...kinda surreal you know? I mean, I spent my entire high school life wanting to make first line and then it happens and I kick ass and all I can think about is that there's an entire pack of alpha's out there gunning for you."
"Actually," Scott corrected. "They're gunning for Derek."
"So why are we getting involved again?" Stiles asked. "Because the last time you had a run in with them it took you three days to fully heal."
"Stiles," Scott's tone carried with it all the long-suffering weariness that repeating the same conversation over and again brought. "We've talked about this."
"I just don't get why you have to get involved," Stiles argued. "The Hales have brought you nothing but grief, Scott. Why not let them solve their own problems."
"Because it's not right," Scott argued. "They're our friends, Stiles. How can we not help?"
"They're not our friends!" Stiles voice came out louder than he expected, garnering a few interested glances from other students and he took a deep breath, calming himself before continuing in a softer tone.
"They're not our friends."
"Yeah," Scott insisted. "They kinda are."
And then the tardy bell rang and Scott sent one last, apologetic look towards Stiles before turning away, hurrying to class before he got into too much trouble and the thing is, Scott was right. At least partly because for all the grief the Hale's had brought upon them, Derek Hale had also helped Scott. Begrudginly but indesputably. And he had saved Scott's life which, to Scott, definitely made them friends. Of sorts. And if Derek was Scott's friend then he was also, ah hell, he was also Stiles' friend. He was friends with Derek Hale. And wasn't that just something.
The thing was, though, Stiles wasn't the least bit surprised by this at all. Scott was, well he was like the guy that passed a scrawny, filthy, flea-ridden puppy on the road and turned back and took the diseased thing to a vet. He worked at the vet for Christ's sake! The whole good samaritan thing? Scott pretty much wrote the rule book. He was the quintessential nice guy, the one who held the door open for people and had a smile for everyone. Except Jackson but nobody liked Jackson. Except for Danny but Danny was...well, that was a topic for another time. Seriously, before the bite Scott had been unpopular for a reason. The good guys always come last and, fucked up as it was, in high school being nice but otherwise unremarkable didn't get you a whole lot of friends.
Stiles though, Stiles was fully aware of the power of Scott's particular brand of wholesome. As two boys raised by busy single parents, they'd always had a lot in common. But then, as they grew up, and Stiles started to use his mouth and dry sarcasm as a defense more often, he started to realise that Scott was the one person who didn't look at him like he was a freak for doing so. Scott was the one person who not only smiled in the face of Stiles' non-stop, smart-ass quips, but who also came back for more. Stiles was intelligent and his brain worked fast and his mouth worked even faster and very, often without a filter. He was also scrawny and had no talent for sport. So it was unsurprising that he'd spent the first sixteen years of his life with only one person in the entire world that he could truthfully call a friend.
To be fair, Stiles was a pretty awesome friend in return. Not everybody would have stuck with Scott through all the werewolf and hunter and kanima shit that had been turning their lives into one big clusterfuck, let alone had the sheer genius to save Scott's scrawny little ass on more than one occasion. Okay so he wasn't so scrawny anymore but the point still stood. And Stiles didn't put up with stuff like that for just anyone. Scott was...well he was Scott, you know? Dopey, optimistic, lovable Scott who saw the good side to everyone. Even creepy, psychotic werewolves who had done nothing but hurt him.
Okay so lately Derek had actually been pretty good to Scott, consulted with him about the alpha pack, promised to do all he could to protect Scott's mom but made no such promises about the Argents. Nobody had expected him too of course because the Hales and the Argents? There was so much wrong between those families, so much hurt done on both sides that Stiles didn't think they'd ever be able to even look at each other without wanting to cause bodily harm.
And Scott, he merely accepted the hostilities, played go-between and peacemaker and sometimes even the voice of reason and he did it all without complaint. His mom and Coach Finstock were constantly on his case about his grades (which were actually improving pretty quickly) and Derek was constantly on his case about the alpha's and Erica had turned from 'the epileptic' to 'the slutty one' to 'the slightly unhinged' one after her encounter with said alpha's (which Boyd did not return from) and Peter was...Peter was just a creep. Through it all Scott just listened and yeah, he got frustrated and lost his temper sometimes, but mostly he was just being really grown up about it all.
So Stiles sighed and resigned himself to the fact that things were never going to be the same again. It was never going to be just him and Scott, two losers against the world and, yeah, that kinda sucked. But Scott had been there when Stiles was a short, thin, easily-bullied little kid and had stayed there all these years, always ready with a smile and a joke and to lend some much needed support. Scott had been Stiles' friend, through everything and everyone and now he was just doing the same to other people who also desperately needed a friend.
Stiles knew the feeling too well, was still sometimes too overcome with pathetic gratefulness that his best friend was such a naive leech who wouldn't know how to turn his back on someone if his life depended on it to ever want anyone else to know the same feeling. Yeah the rest of them all had werewolf superpowers or freak hunter ninja skills to call upon but Stiles recognised loneliness when he saw it. He also knew first hand that Scott McCall was a pretty damn awesome cure to loneliness and that Scott would never, ever turn away someone in need. It was what made Dr. Deaton trust him, it was what made Chris Argent learn to trust him, it was what made Derek Hale begin to trust him.
It was what made Stiles so sure that maybe, just maybe, in like a few decades time sort of maybe, the Hales would begins to approach something resembling normal. Maybe. With someone as pig-headed and blindly optimistic as Scott on their side, well who knew what was possible? And Stiles, well he was going to be there through it all, through thick and thin because he knew, with absolute certainty, that if their positions had been reversed Scott would have done the same.
~O
"Dude, what's your problem?" Scott frowned, trying to brush past Jackson. School was out for the day and Scott was running late for work but Jackson was being an ass. As usual.
"You McCall, you're my problem," Jackson said, getting right up in Scott's face. "I want your scrawny, pathetic ass off my team."
"Why?" Scott asked, genuinely curious. "You're a werewolf now, you can reclaim full captaincy."
"Of course I can," Jackson replied. "Because now that you're no longer cheating and we're all on an even playing field, everyone's gonna find out just what a fake you really are."
"That doesn't even make sense," Scott said. "Aren't you cheating then as well?"
Jackson's jaw clenched and he pushed Scott, lips curling in a snarl and eyes flashing a stunning, electric blue. Jackson opened his mouth, undoubtedly in preparation to say something suitably cutting and egotistical but they were interrupted. Scott had the brief sensation of being airborne before his back and head were hitting against the school wall. His vision swam, black spots blocking his view of what was happening but he caught a brief glimpse of heavy leather boots before fingers threaded roughly through his hair, knocking his head back against the wall and Scott, thankfully, blacked out.
When he came to he was chained to the ceiling of a dark, windowless room. His arms were pulled up and his feet dangled off the floor. There were chains twisted around his ankles, keeping his legs together and holding his body suspended and rendering Scott unable to do more that twist ineffectually against his bindings.
"Looks like the little baby beta is awake," a voice said and Scott blinked, turning his head to meet the gaze of another werewolf.
He was tall, around Derek's height but with a more slender physique and with him was a woman, her long hair dark and loose and with heavy liner making her blue eyes seem almost...supernatural. They both smirked as they came to stand in front of Scott, gazes raking down his body in a manner that left him feeling almost...sleazy.
"What do you want from me," Scott growled, keeping a tight reign on his wolf. These were alpha's and Scott was pretty reckless but even he knew better than to provoke them whilst he was unable to defend himself.
"From you," the man scoffed, "nothing. From your alpha...well."
"Derek's not my alpha," Scott informed them, frustration putting a growl into his words. It seemed like all he'd been doing lately was telling people how he didn't belong to Derek Hale.
"You actually believe that," the woman tilted her head, looking at Scott with something akin to open curiosity.
"If you really have no pack, pup, then why fight so hard to defend Hale against our comrades? Why fight for someone whom you have no allegiance to?"
"I never said I had no pack," Scott replied. "And I never said I had no allegiance to Derek. He's my friend."
"Friend?" The man laughed, openly derisive. "Werewolves have no friends."
"I'm tired of this," the woman said as she turned to the man. "Hale should have been here by now."
"Well," the man sneered and brought out his claws. "Maybe we should give this pup's friend a little incentive."
Then he slashed at Scott's chest, claws cutting deep into his skin and the woman laughed as Scott couldn't contain his howl of pain. Then the man slashed again, and again and Scott prayed that Derek had the good sense to at least bring backup. Preferably Chris and his wolfsbane bullets.
Derek had no such sense. Peter, thankfully, did. Under his guidance and with Deacon's politely phrased question of how he was going to help Scott if he got himself killed, Derek agreed to wait and break Scott out when the opportunity arose. The alphas weren't hunters after all. They wouldn't actually kill Scott. By the time the pack left to hunt the Argent's had shown up and the ragtag group of werewolves and hunters had a plan in place.
Scott was being kept in the basement of the house, a room that was accessible only from the ground floor. There were four guards, all on the first floor and all occupying different rooms. Chris and his friends attacked first, throwing wolfsbane bombs through the window (devices in whose construction Lydia had had significant input after she'd realised that the alpha pack wouldn't heistate to hurt Jackson as well). Then the wolves stormed the house, oxygen masks over their faces to keep them safe from the gas.
Derek was the first one down to the basement and the sight that met him caused his howl of anger to echo through the forest. The rest of the alpha pack heard it and immediately started back to their base but by the time they arrived it would be too late. Derek was too wound up to be able to release Scott from his bindings without hurting him but Isaac and Peter were quick to aid. Allison let out a stangled sob as she came down the stairs and saw Derek supoorting Scott's bloody and slashed up body. None of the wolves paid her any heed, and Derek rearranged Scott into a more comfortable position, trying not to aggravate his wounds.
"I've got to get him to Deacon," he said to the room at large before moving, disappearing up the stairs and out the door while the rest of them finished off.
It seemed to take forever to reach the vet, Derek's panic increasing the weaker Scott's heartbeat got and he burst into the vet's surgery, thanking whatever deity was listening that Deacon lived at his place of work.
"Quick, get him on the operating table," Deacon order and Derek hurried to obey, lowering Scott with a gentleness even Derek himself would have been surprised to know he possessed.
"Is he going to be alright?" Derek asked, more to break the silence that had fallen than anything else.
"Let's hope so," Deacon didn't look up from what he was doing. "I think you got him here just in time, Derek."
"Good," Derek inhaled. "That's good."
He sat back then, watching as Deacon worked on Scott, cleaning the cuts on his body before treating and wrapping them. Eventually he stopped, draping a cover over Scott before washing his hands.
"Well that's all I can do, for now," Deacon said and met Derek's gaze. "Can I trust that you'll watch over him?"
"Sure," Derek nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay, I'll see you two in the morning then." Deacon smiled his goodnight before leaving the room and Derek sighed, his gaze inevitably shifting to where Scott lay.
Scott's skin was pale, his hair flopping over to one side in that ridiculously preppy style he insisted on sporting. Without realising what he was doing, Derek raised his hand to brush back the thick, soft strands. His gaze drifted over the slant of Scott's cheekbones and his full lips before landing on the steady rise and fall of his chest. Derek's hands drifted downwards, pressing over Scott's heart, and his eyes fell closed when he felt the steady thump that matched the sound reaching his ears.
He stood like that for long moment, simultaneously listening and feeling Scott's heartbeat. Relief, thick and heavy, flooded through Derek and for a moment he thought his knees would give out from the strength of emotion. What's more was that it surprised him that he wasn't surprised. Right from the start, Derek had been extraodinarily interested in Scott. At first he'd put that down to the instinctual need to find a pack but, after turning Isaac, Erica and Boyd, the need hadn't faded. Scott still dominated his thoughts. He'd put that down to Scott's involvment with the Argent's and his stubborn refusal to give up on Allison.
To be fair, she seemed as head-over-heels for Scott as he was for her but their relationship had been doomed from the start. Regardless of their feelings for one another, they had two worlds against them and they were still so, so young. Yes okay, Scott had matured...had been forced to mature, pretty quickly. He was a far cry from the impulsive and reckless young wolf he'd been in those first few months after the bite. Now, now he was dedicated, motivated, dependable. Now Scott was an example, someone to look up, someone to follow. Now Scott was more of an alpha than Derek had ever been.
Derek had experience and the sort of knowledge that came from being born into a family of wolves but all he'd really done was intimidate and bully people into getting his way. Scott had done research, he'd planned and consulted with people older and more knowledgable than he was and, most importantly, he'd protected his pack. Scott had been the one Isaac turned to when he was in doubt. Scott was the one both Peter and Deacon had urged Derek to trust. Scott was...well Derek was starting to realise that Scott was very, very precious to him.
~O
It crept up on him, a slow and steady build that grew over time.
When Scott had first met Derek Hale, his first impression had been one of awe. Physically, Derek was an impressive sight, all broad shoulders and that thousand yard stare. Then he'd opened his mouth. Still, that first impression, that awe, had never truly faded.
Allison's arrival in Beacon Hills had grabbed Scott my the throat and proceeded to shake any and all logic out of him. Allison was beautiful and funny and smart and she actually liked Scott, like really liked him. It was so unexpected that the hot new girl would even look twice had him that Scott had been totally blinded to everyone else. Then he'd gotten to know her and had fallen hard and fast. Allison was his first everything and Scott knew that she would always, always be special to him.
However, he couldn't lie to himself any longer. He wanted to. God knew he wanted to because admitting the truth, even to himself, was going to turn his already complicated life into something...something even more complicated. Admitting the truth would mean admitting that, while the mere thought of Allison was always enough to bring a smile to his face, Scott just didn't get the same rush of emotion when he passed her in the halls. He still thought about her most of the time, still had the urge to spend his free periods with her, still missed the way she felt in his arms. However instead of feeling like he was caught up in a tornado whenever he was in her presence, being blown in all directions by the feelings Allison evoked in him, these days Scott felt more like he was in...very strong winds.
The feelings were still there, they would probably never fade, but they just didn't overwhelm him anymore. With this new found reprieve from all things Allison, Scott was starting to notice the people around him more and more. Like the way Erica would get this look in her eyes sometimes, this horrible blank look that sent shivers down Scott's spine. Or the way Isaac would smile at him, shy and grateful and a little hesitant, so at odds with his new take-no-prisoners attitude, or the way Stiles was being even more protective than he normally was. As if Scott was the one that needed protecting. Even Peter was behaving strangely, getting this thoughtful look whenever Scott was around, like he was honestly curious about something and not just plotting some sort of complicated and cruel deception. Jackson, well Jackson had always been a little too intense and the whole ordeal with the kanima had just probably brought every deeply hidden insecurity right back into the light so Scott could forgive him for being a little...strange.
But then there was Derek. Derek who was as annoying and peverse as he'd always been but who was still so quick to jump to Scott's defense. They all thought Scott hadn't noticed. He'd even heard Erica and Isaac talking about it when they thought they'd moved out of earshot. Scotts senses were growing by the day though and he had heard and he had noticed. Derek seemed to take every insult Jackson threw in Scott direction personally, lips curling back in distaste and a low growl (one deep enough that only Peter and Scott noticed) running through his chest.
Peter had said that being a werewolf got easier with time and practice. That your strength and senses grew the more you used them and Scott had been using his pretty damn often over the past year or so. It made him notice things he never had before, like the way Derek sometimes seemed to have to work to keep his breathing even, or the way he frowns more around Scott or the hushed conversations Derek had with Peter. Scott can't always make out exactly what they're saying but his name does come up with alarming regularity. Yeah, they hadn't figured out that Scott could hear them either.
Then there are the training sessions Derek puts his pack through. Scott is only sometimes included in this because he mostly trains with Peter, who forces him to use strategy in addition to honing his strength and agility. Scott does sit in on most of them though, textbooks open around him as he tries to catch up on missed homework. He sees the way Derek is rougher than he should be with Isaac and Erica but he also sees need to protect and something in Scott twists in understanding.
"You could try being a bit more patient with them," Scott says to Derek one evening after Erica and Isaac have left for a bit of alone time.
"They need to learn," Derek turned to face Scott, his eyes extraordinarily green in the dim light. "They have to be able to protect themselves."
"They are learning," Scott tried to reason.
"Then they need to learn faster!" Some of Derek's anger bled into his voice and into his expression, his eyes turning red and Scott's response was instinctive.
His hackles rose, lips pulling back in a snarl and a warning beginning to rumble through his chest. In the next moment Derek had him pinned to the wall, a strong forearm pushed against Scott's throat and their bodies so close they were almost touching. Scott's heartbeat sped up, which could have been explained away as a response to Derek's aggression but there was also the way he was hyper-aware of Derek's closeness. The way Scott's gaze dropped to Derek's lips and the way the only response his mind could form was the sudden need to taste the long lines of Derek's throat and feel the strong pulse thrum beneath his lips.
"There are alpha's after us," Derek snarled, the event of recent weeks wearing his admittedly slim patience down to something almost non-existent. "And they went as far as torturing you Scott! Or have you forgotten about that already?"
"I haven't forgotten," Scott shoved Derek away from him before Derek could pick up on his body's tells. "I just think that pushing them this hard is not going to help. They've been through a lot Derek."
"I know that, but we do not have time to hold their hands!" Derek practically shouted and Scott blinked. "What will happen if they go after Erica or Isaac next? Huh, Scott? Do you think they'll stop at torture?"
"You think they'll kill them?" Scott asked, worry creasing his brow.
"I think the only reason they let you live is because..." Derek trailed of suddenly, blinking as if he was just coming back to himself.
"Because of what?" Scott prompted.
"Nothing," Derek lowered his gaze, turning away from Scott. "It doesn't matter."
"Like hell it doesn't," Scott snarled and there was no way they were doing this again. "Derek why did they let me live?"
"Can't you just be happy you're not dead?" Derek rolled his eyes, trying to deflect Scott with sarcasm. He should've know better because Scott's best friend was Stiles. He was an expert at dealing with sarcasm.
"No," Scott replied. "Because you're keeping secrets again." He reached out and grabbed Derek's shoulder when it looked like the alpha was going to move away.
"Derek," Scott insisted. "Tell me what's going on."
"Nothing's going on," Derek turned to face Scott once more but neither man noticed when Scott's hand stayed where it was. "Nothing that you need to know about at least. Trust me, Scott."
"I do trust you," Scott said after a moment's pause, his voice soft but sincere and Derek's eyes widened slightly, surprised but pleased.
"I trust you Derek, and I need you to do the same to me. Tell me what's going on."
Derek breathed in deeply, unable to meet Scott's gaze. He stepped back and Scott's hand dropped back to his side but still Derek didn't waited but the silence grew between them until it became increasingly obvious that Derek wasn't going to be very forthcoming. Scott sighed and turned away, his shoulders slumping.
"Never mind," Scott murmured and shouldered his bag. "See you tomorrow, Derek."
Derek opened his mouth to speak, to say anything at all as long as it kept Scott from leaving, but before he could Scott was disappearing from sight and Derek had to bite back a curse of frustration. He waited until he was sure Scott was out of range before turning and putting his fist through the wall, feeling the satisfying crumble of brick and mortar beneath his hand.
"Wow," Peter let out a low whistle. "You really do know how to drive people away. Don't you, Derek?"
"Shut up," Derek snarled out the order without looking at his Uncle and snatched up his jacket, following Scott out the door.
It took Derek longer than it should have to realise that he should have caught up to Scott ages ago and then something like dread is curling in his gut because Scott is missing. Again. It takes everything Derek has to hold back his transformation and when did anger stop becoming his anchor? When did that job start falling to Scott instead?
They call up the Argents instead and everyone keeps shooting Derek worried looks. He ignores them all and tries to work with Stiles and Deacon on finding possible locations of the alpha pack's new base. His senses are on hyper alert and Derek is too aware of the sounds around him, the hearts all beating out of sync, the scent of sweat and perfume and the last vestiges of dinner, the footsteps and rustle of clothes, the breathing and hushed voices and all the noise.
He strides out of the room, letting the door slam behind him and doesn't stop until he's outside. The sounds and scents are still there but they're marginally feinter and that's something. Derek breathes in deep lung-fulls of the evening air and tries to convince himself that this was not happening. Surely they couldn't have already figured it out already when it had taken Derek months to notice.
"He likes you, you know," A voice interrupted and Derek turned to find Allison approaching him. His eyebrows lift in surprise because Allison Argent was the last person on earth Derek thought would be seeking him out.
"Scott," Allison continued when Derek didn't say anything. "He really likes you."
"I have no clue what you're talking about," Derek told her, blunt and a little harsh because he wasn't in the mood to indulge to whims of teenage girls.
"I've seen the way he looks at you," Allison rolled her eyes. "And the way he talks about you. It's the same way he was with me except...except softer. More natural."
Derek was silent for a long moment, staring at Allison and letting her words sink in.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asked after a while.
"Because Scott is Scott, you know?" Allison glanced at him then, her eyes glistening with unshed tears and Derek could smell the hint of salt in the air. "He deserves to be happy and if you can make him happy, well," Allison shrugged and wrapped her arms around herself but didn't finish the sentence.
They don't speak after that but if Allison is a little less tense around Derek, a little less snappy, nobody says anything. When they find the alpha's hideout Scott has been missing for three days. The resulting fight is long and bloody and they all sustain injuries of some sort. The others are still fending off the alpha's downstair when Derek finds Scott in an upstairs room, weak and starving but otherwise unharmed.
"You...you're hurt," Scott managed to rasp out when he sees Derek, squinting at the alpha through hazy, hooded eyes.
Derek scoffs and scoops Scott into his arms because yes, there's blood everywhere but Scott is the one on the verge of collapse. Derek vaults out of the window, landing lightly on his feet and letting out a howl to let the others know he has Scott. Their escape strategy has been well planned, using the combined genius of Chris, Peter and Deacon and things go off semi-smoothly. They all manage to escape the alpha's alive anyway and get Scott back to his house when Deacon pronounces him in need of food and rest above all else.
Everyone heads back to their own homes to get cleaned up but Stiles stays with Derek, makes awkward introductions to Scott's mom who takes one look at Derek before pushing towels and a pair of Scott's baggier sweatpants into his arms and ushering him into the bathroom for a shower.
When Derek gets out, Stiles has left and Scott's mom has left food for two in Scott's room. Just sandwiches and a juice but Derek eats anyway, more for something to do while he waits for Scott to wake up.
"So you're Derek," Melissa McCall says and Derek turns his head, pretending to only notice her now even though he'd been aware of where she was ever since arriving at Scott's.
"Yes M'am," Derek manages to say because he was taught manners. He just chooses not to waste them on teenagers.
"Oh I like you," Melissa grins and steps further into the room. "Scott talks about you a lot, you know?"
"He does?" Derek asks because he didn't know.
"Yeah," Melissa nodded. "He does. And I think that this is the part where I'm supposed to ask you what your intentions are towards my son, or warn him about the age difference between you two or something else appropriately parental but what I'm starting to realise is that Scott is actually pretty resposible. I don't know how that happened, seriously, I don't but I'm glad it did and you seem like a very...serious kinda guy so, I won't lecture. I won't be that kinda mom, but I will remind you two to be safe, okay? Use protection and be safe and let's never have this conversation again."
Derek's eyes are wide by the time she finishes and he merely nods his reply, not trusting himself to speak.
"Okay," Melissa nods and smooths down her pants. "Good, so long as we understand each other." Then she pats Derek on his shoulder and leaves the room, closing the door softly behind her.
"You can stop pretending to be asleep now," Derek says to Scott once he hears Melissa retreat into her room.
"I'm sorry for her," Scott says and pushes himself into a sitting position, accepting the plate of sandwiches Derek hands him.
"Don't worry about it," Derek says, and it comes out casual but the look Scotts sends him tells Derek that the teen is not convinced.
The next few minutes pass in silence as Scott slowly eats as much as he can and Derek is content to thumb through some of the sports magazines on Scott's desk. Eventually though, Scott sets the plate aside and clears his throat. Derek glances up from the magazine and his heart skips a beat when he notices the steady intensity in Scott's gaze.
"So," Scotts says. "Those alpha's said something kinda interesting while I was with them."
"Really," Derek carefully keeps all traces of emotion from his face but the corners of Scotts lips curve upwards anyway.
"Yeah," Scott replies. "They said you'd scent marked me. That it was some kind of courtship thing."
"You shouldn't believe everything you hear," Derek averts his gaze but Scotts just laughs, soft and low and Derek can't help but glance back at him.
"You could have just told me, you know," Scott says and beckons Derek over. Against his better judgement Derek finds himself obeying, settling down on the bed beside Scott and stretching his legs out in front of him.
"I know what scent marking is," Scott admitted. "Stiles came across it when he was doing research. I just don't get why you didn't tell me."
"Because," Derek took a deep breath to steady himself. "It was an accident. At least, I didn't realise I'd done it until a few weeks ago. It's not permanent you know. It'll fade in time."
"What if I don't want it to fade?" The question was so soft, so hesitantly spoken that Derek blinked, unsure if he'd heard correctly.
"Scott," Derek says and turns to face the younger man more fully. "Are you..."
"Yeah," Scotts interrupts and the word comes out in a rush, like he had to say it now before he lost the courage to do so. "Yeah, I am. I want the scent marking, Derek. And maybe other kinds of marking too."
For a long moment, Derek just stared at him. Allison had tried to tell him Scott might feel this way and just now Scott's mom had hinted as such too but Derek wasn't exactly known for trusting other people. He hadn't picked up any sort of signal from Scott but he was wondering if maybe it was because he hadn't been looking that hard.
"Would you say something?" Scott urged, shifting restlessly.
Derek did one better. He moved so he was hovering over Scott, bracing himself on one elbow while his other hand curved around Scott's head and held him steady as Derek kissed him. It was a statement of intent kind of kiss, slow and thorough and deep and Scott easily matched him. Soon Derek had given up on keeping his weight off of Scott and lowered himself onto the younger man, knowing he could take it. Scott arched up into Derek, winding his arms around his shoulders then pushing up with his hips and rolling them over so he lay on top of Derek.
Not giving Derek time to rectify the change in position, Scott mouthed at Derek's throat, nipping and sucking at the veins there and delighting in the low, guttural groan that hummed through the alpha. Derek's hands stroked over Scott's back, smoothing down the long lines and over the curves to settle on his ass and squeeze. They spent long moments like that, Derek making sure that things didn't go much further than simple making out. Scott was still pretty weak and would need a few days to get his strength back up again.
"So, we're really doing this?" Derek asked while Scott traced Derek's jugular with his tongue.
In reply Scott ground his hips downwards and bit lightly at the spot he'd just licked.
"Guess so," Derek chuckled and tangled his hands in Scott's hair, bringing his head up for a kiss.
It had taken him a while to realise exactly what Scott meant to him, and it had taken Scott a while to get over the intensity of his first love. Perhaps he wasn't even fully over Allison yet but Derek didn't care. Scott was his now and Derek was not a seventeen year old girl. He knew exactly how rare it was to find someone as open and caring as Scott and Derek was never letting him go. Ever.
Now all that was left was for them to get onto those other kinds of marking.