Story: Hide and Teeth
By: Ruby Lis
Pairing: Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale (making a connection; pre-Sterek)/Danny and Isaac
Rating: Should be suitable for most; some flirting, very slight innuendo
Summary: Stiles decides to prove to Derek that he should be included in the pack meetings.
Disclaimer: Teen Wolf and its characters belong to Jeff Davis and MTV. Written for the MTV/TW fanfic contest.
"You know this is a bad idea, right?" Stiles' grip on the steering wheel tightened as he glanced over at his best friend, Scott. They sat in Stiles' truck outside of the old, burned out Hale house. "Not like 'bad werewolf, no cookie' kind of bad." Stiles couldn't keep his eyes from drifting back to Derek standing with arms crossed, back against his sports car, waiting for them. "This is serial killer on the loose, you're home alone, hear a noise in the basement decide to check it out while ominous 'you are going to DIE' music gets louder and louder in the background kind of bad."
Scott laughed as he unfastened his seatbelt. "Dude, it was your idea."
"Exactly. And it's a bad one." He kept his eyes fixed on Derek as he unfastened his seatbelt as well. "A really, really bad idea."
"Look-" Scott turned in is seat to face Stiles. "-you wanna be in on the pack meetings, right?"
"Right."
"You can't go unless Derek respects you."
"Right."
"You're not gonna win an alpha's respect unless you stand up to him."
"Are you sure? 'Cause I'm thinking a few pounds of raw meat and a spiffy new flea collar just might work. Look at him. All that black leather screaming for rhinestones."
"Stiles…"
"Right. I can do this."
"You can do this."
Stiles shrugged out of his red hoodie, turned it inside out so the gray lining was on the outside and put it back on. He pumped his fists, psyching himself up. "Grrr! "
"Grrr!" Scott echoed, cheering him on.
Stiles ripped into the bag of pine scented air fresheners he had brought. He started taping the fresheners to his hoodie. "I am a lean, mean, werewolf outrunning machine!"
"Who looks like a chew toy."
"Scott?"
"Yeah?"
"Seriously not helping."
"Seriously not trying to." Scott winced as the pungent smell of fake pine filled the truck. He got out and waited for Stilinski to join him. They both walked towards the house.
Derek quirked an eyebrow at Stiles as the two teens approached. He noted the inside out
sweatshirt. The air fresheners. A flag football belt. He did a double take. Snowshoes? He was torn between laughing and getting psychiatric help for Stiles. "Your text said you wanted to challenge me?"
"Yep."
Derek scoffed. "What makes you think I'll accept?"
"'Cause I've got a handful of mountain ash with your name on it. A circle here. A circle there. You'll be all wolfed out and nowhere to go."
Derek's eyes flashed red. "So, you're ready to challenge an alpha?"
Stiles stepped forward "No red hoodie for you to spot. No eau de Stilinski for you to sniff." He held a foot up, grinning. "And no footprints for you to track. Yeah, bunny breath, I'm ready."
Derek rolled his eyes. "Rules?"
"I go in the woods and try to make it back here before you stop me. If I make it, I'm included in all the pack stuff." Stiles tapped the two red flag football tags. "If you grab one of my tags first, I'm out."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"Fine, I'm in." As Stiles turned to give Scott two thumbs up, Derek quickly snatched one of his tags. "You're out." He smirked, pleased with himself. "Game over."
"Wait. What? No!"
Derek got into his car. He dangled the red tag out the window as he peeled out, leaving Stiles open mouthed at being defeated.
A week later, Scott and Isaac sat together in the school cafeteria after Stiles, Lydia and Danny had politely but firmly banned them from their table. He watched Jackson approach Lydia and receive the same treatment. Jackson appealed to Danny but was shut down a second time. He didn't bother asking a third time. Instead, he joined Scott and Isaac, slamming his tray down in frustration. "What the hell's going on?"
"They wanna challenge us," Isaac said, clearly amused by the idea.
"Seriously?" Jackson glanced at Stiles in disbelief, secretly wondering if he had taken a few too many hits on the lacrosse field.
Scott shrugged. "He wants in on the pack meetings. Derek said no. He thinks if he can beat us, Derek will change his mind."
Lydia's laughter caught Jackson's attention. He growled as he watched Stiles joking with his girlfriend. "He wants a challenge? Let's give him one." Jackson was halfway out of his seat before Scott grabbed him. "What? Derek's out of town tracking the alpha pack. It's the perfect time." He jerked free. "I'm doing it."
Scott looked to Isaac, silently pleading for his support. Isaac shrugged. "Sounds like fun."
After school, the teens met as arranged at the Hale house. Stiles, Lydia and Danny faced off against Scott, Jackson and Isaac as they drew names to determine what pairs would compete against each other. Stiles groaned when he was paired up with Jackson.
After Danny drew Isaac's name, he offered a friendly handshake. "Hey, man, good luck."
"We don't shake hands with what we hunt." Isaac playfully snapped his teeth at Danny. "We eat it."
Danny smiled, unfazed. "Can't eat what you don't catch."
Scott had already hidden three gps traceable little pig toys in the woods. Any human who got his pig back to the porch without losing his football tag won. This time, Stiles made sure they wore green tags that would blend with the trees.
"If anything happens, use the air horns for help," Scott reminded them and Stiles, helpfully, sounded his horn for emphasis.
Jackson quirked a patronizing smile at Lydia. "You know we're not giving you a head start, right?"
"Then I guess we'll have to take it." She nodded to her teammates. "Ready, boys?"
As one, Lydia, Stiles and Danny blew powdered wolfsbane into the werewolves' faces, temporarily paralyzing them. Knowing the effect wouldn't last long, the three humans quickly bolted into the woods, putting as much distance between them and their predators as they could.
They ran hard and fast, finally slowing only when their lungs began to burn for air. As they caught their breaths, Stiles checked the gps app on his phone. He located the pigs, pleased that they were closer than he had hoped. And, as luck would have it, the pigs appeared to be grouped together. "This way."
Danny looked around at the endless trees, impressed by how easy it would be to get lost in the forest. "Did you and McCall really find a dead body here?"
"Worse things than dead bodies," Stiles answered distractedly, focused on picking up their pace and reaching the pigs before the wolves recovered.
Danny fell back a step to whisper to Lydia, "What's worse than finding a dead body?"
"Being the dead body that gets found, " she answered.
"Oh." Running with werewolves suddenly seemed a lot less appealing.
"We're here."
They used Danny's lacrosse stick to knock the little pig figures out of the tree where they were hidden and they each took one. Stiles slid his backpack off, shrugged out of his hoodie and handed it to Lydia. He grabbed a bag of curly fries from his pack and shoved those in her hands as well. She made a face but stuffed the fries into the hoodie's pockets.
"You think they're coming yet?" Danny whispered nervously.
Lydia checked the time on her phone. "We have five minutes, more or less." They heard howling in the distance.
"Less." Stiles said as another howl sounded. "Definitely less. Danny, go! We got this."
He quickly kicked his sneakers off and tossed them to Lydia. Danny hesitated only a second before scooping up his pig and lacrosse stick and running off to the right. Stiles watched Lydia shove her feet into his shoes even as he pulled out another, larger pair from his supplies, stuffed socks in the toes and yanked them on. He shrugged out of his shirt, hurriedly pulled another shirt out of a plastic bag and then shoved his own shirt into the bag and then the bag into his backpack.
"Oh!" Lydia made a face as she caught a whiff of the sweat soaked, oversized t-shirt Stiles had put on. "Someone seriously needs to introduce Derek Hale to the joys of laundry."
Stiles grinned. "Do I smell like an alpha wolf?"
"You don't smell like anything I want to be chasing."
"Good enough. You ready?" Lydia nodded. Stiles held out a hand and helped her to her feet.
"Good luck!"
They took off in opposite directions, Lydia veering left hoping to lead Jackson further into the woods and Stiles making a larger path to the right to circle back to the house.
The werewolves had the advantage of knowing where Scott had hidden the pigs and quickly arrived at the same tree where their classmates had been moments before. They caught the scents they were sniffing for.
"Fries, farts and fear. Gotcha, Stiles!" Jackson loped off following the tracks of Stiles' sneakers and the scent of his hoodie.
"Danny," Isaac snarled, ears twitching in his eagerness to hunt. He ran off to catch Danny.
Scott took his time, sifting through the scents, puzzled when he couldn't immediately pick up Lydia's trail away from the area. He stood. This time, he used his other senses as Derek had taught him to. The wolf within fidgeted, anxious to be part of the chase, too. In the distance, he could see Jackson gaining ground on Stiles in his red hoodie. Something about that struck him as wrong.
The red hoodie.
Stiles had been careful to hide the red before. Scott glanced down at the too easy to follow tracks on the ground. Stiles had tried to hide his footprints before, too. And his scent. Why was he being so obvious now? Scott closed his eyes, shutting out the sight, sounds and smells of Jackson and Isaac chasing their prey. Trust your instinct. He could almost hear Derek's voice in his head.
It wasn't Stiles. Scott's eyes snapped open. Lydia. They had switched places. Everything in his gut told him his hunch was right. Which meant Stiles was probably heading back towards the house.
"You mother…" Scott laughed softly to himself, amazed at his best friend's cleverness and pleased with himself for figuring out the plan. He headed back towards the Hale house wondering how Stiles planned to avoid Isaac.
Once he had Danny's scent, Isaac closed in and cornered his lacrosse teammate in minutes. To his credit, Danny didn't go down without a fight. He feinted to the right then quickly zigged left, leaving Isaac to fall face first into the leaves. Danny gained a few yards before Isaac slammed into his back and took them both to the ground. Grinning, Isaac pinned his prey and leaned over Danny's face, playfully baring his teeth. "You smell good enough to eat."
"Dude, are you flirting or salivating?"
"A little of both."
Isaac tensed, the sound of running and the smell of the person passing by sent conflicting messages to his senses. "Derek?" He twisted his head around until he spotted the figure. Small. Male. Derek's scent but definitely not the alpha. He looked at Danny, puzzled by the pleased look on the other teen's face. "What are you guys up to?" Isaac's keen sight honed in on the runner. "Stiles!"
Isaac started after him but Danny jerked him back, rolled him over and held him down. Isaac laughed, incredulous. "Danny, Danny, Danny. We both know I can flip you like a pancake."
"Yeah, maybe. If you wanted to." Danny flashed a dimpled grin as he leaned into Isaac's chest.
"Is that what you wanna do with me, Isaac? 'Cause if not-" His eyes fell to the other boy's slightly parted lips. "-you'll have to think of something else."
Jackson howled as he closed in on his target. This. This was what he had dreamed of when he demanded the bite from Derek. Speed. Strength. Agility. Eyesight and hearing far beyond any human's.
Lydia's heart raced as she heard Jackson crashing through the woods behind her. Gaining on her. She was thrilled at the changes that had come over him. He was happy. Relaxed. She was curious, though, about how the physical transformation actually occurred. She speculated on the possibility that lycanthrope saliva contained an interstitial cell-stimulating hormone that increased testosterone production. Before she could pursue that thought, she felt well-muscled arms wrap around her and force her to stop.
Jackson growled triumphantly as he tugged the red hood down then recoiled in surprise. "Lydia?" He scanned the immediate area. "Where's Stiles?"
"Not here, obviously."
Stiles pounded through the forest as fast as he dared. He saw a blur , to his right and closing fast. Scott. The Hale house loomed only yards away. Stiles grabbed his little pig toy, jammed it into the netting of his lacrosse stick and prepared to make his move as soon as he broke into the clearing. He'd only have one shot to get it to the porch. He reached the front yard and aimed.
Scott's scream broke his concentration.
Stiles froze, goosebumps pebbling his skin from that horrific cry. He watched, stunned, as his best friend stumbled into the yard and collapsed. Stiles shook himself. First, he sounded his air horn alerting everyone else. Next, he took a small spray can from his backpack and ran to Scott. He quickly sprayed a circle of light, powdery substance around both of them. As he finished, the rest of his friends arrived. "Lydia, Danny, protect the wolves!"
Immediately, Lydia and Danny followed Stiles' example, each taking out their own spray cans and creating circles around Jackson and Isaac. Isaac grabbed Danny's hand, growling a soft warning. "Trust me," Danny said calmly. Isaac nodded and allowed him to close the circle.
"What happened? What'd you do to him?" Jackson darted forward but Lydia grabbed his elbow.
"I don't know." Stiles knelt next to Scott, one hand reaching for his shoulder. "I think he was attacked or something."
"Or something," said Derek as he stepped into view. "Now, Scott." Scott sat up and snatched
the football tag from Stiles' belt. Jackson took Lydia's. Isaac yanked Danny's free as well. "You lose, Stiles. Again."
Stiles couldn't keep the angry, betrayed look from his face as he glared at Scott. "I thought you were hurt!"
"You didn't think," Derek spoke sharply. "You acted on emotion."
"I acted on instinct." Stiles lifted his chin, defiant.
"Your instinct led all of you into a trap!"
"Mountain ash," Stiles said, stepping out of the circle he had created.
"Mistletoe." Danny followed.
"Rye, " finished Lydia as she, too, stepped out of the barrier she had created around Jackson.
Stiles smirked at Derek. "Now who's trapped?"
Derek rushed Stiles, furious, grabbing him up by his shirt. "Is this what you wanted, Stiles?
To prove you're a threat to my pack?"
Stiles paled, not realizing how his actions must look to the wolves. He swallowed against the lump in his throat then shook his head. Derek released him. He stumbled backwards. "This? This wasn't to threaten you." He knelt down and broke the circle, freeing Scott. "This was to prove you could trust us to have your backs." He chewed his lip, bitterly realizing how badly he had screwed this up.
He brushed past Derek and headed for his truck. Lydia swiped her palm over the layer of rye, releasing Jackson. She threw Derek a dark look as she followed Stiles. Danny erased his mistletoe. He murmured a quick, "Nice shirt, Miguel." as he hurried to catch up to the other two.
Stiles sprawled on the bed, fast asleep, still wearing Derek's t-shirt. A cheesy puff dangled from his half open mouth. The rest of the bag had spilled to the floor. Derek's gaze fell on the books and papers littering the bed. Hex symbols. Protection spells. Defensive Wards. Page after page of internet searches. He leaned over and picked up a legal pad dangling from Stiles' limp hand. Something tightened in Derek's chest as he read the notes:
How To Protect Your Werewolf (in 10 not so easy lessons)
1. Find a werewolf.
2. Convince said wolf not to eat you.
3. Earn werewolf's trust.
He grinned at the second step but the third one, the third one made him think. The first two had been crossed out and checked off. Accomplished. Number three had newly added red underlining. He could smell the freshness of the ink. He frowned at the also recently added side comment, "Is this even possible?" with several arrows pointing to the last line.
Stiles snorted on the bed, waking up with a crunch as his mouth closed on the stray cheesy puff. He shoved the rest in his mouth, chewed and swallowed as he glared at Derek. "What do you want?"
"My shirt."
Stiles grabbed the hem of the tee, angrily yanked it up to his shoulders and then, after a bit of awkward struggling, managed to pull it off and throw the wadded material at Derek.
"Sure you don't want me wash it first, get the disgusting human reekage out of it?"
"You don't smell disgusting."
"What do I smell like? Failure?"
Derek paused as he was pulling the shirt on and sniffed it. "Cheese puffs." Stiles threw the alpha's shoes at him. Derek easily caught them both midair. "And courage." He walked over to the windowsill but lingered. "About the pack meeting," he flashed a wolfish grin, "new guy brings the chips and salsa. Don't be late. I'm less charming when I'm hungry."