AN: I don't own Teen Wolf…

/Oo,..,oO\\

Stiles' eyes squinted suspiciously at his bed, covers in hand. It was the third week in a row that he woke up to the right side of his bed tousled and warm. He didn't know why, he made it a point to only ever sleep on the left. It was his good side of the bed. Maybe he had taken to thrashing around in his sleep, he didn't know. He was taken out of his thoughts by the fact that he simply stopped caring about three seconds before. It was Saturday, which meant no school! He leaped from his bed and pulled on a grass-green tee-shirt and some old jeans over his Green Lantern boxers and hopped down the stairs, happily, with a huge smile after quickly brushing his teeth, not even bothering with a shower.

Oh, the things that day would bring! He was so excited for it to start that he quickly grabbed a bagel as breakfast and flew out the door, completely blazing by the routine "I've gone to work and I'm going to be home late" note his dad left. He opened the door to his jeep and hopped inside, making the car bounce. He was so excited and he didn't know why! All he knew was that today was going to be awesome! It had to be! The first thing he was going to do was!... was… He absentmindedly tapped the bagel against his head in deep thought. What was he going to do today?

He had just remembered he had nothing to do…at all! His eyes stared at the garage as he nibbled on the very tip of the bagel in the silent car. He knew that Scott was playing lacrosse with Isaac, the jerk, and that everyone else…well, would never want to hang out with him alone unless they had to. He rolled his eyes and ripped off a huge bite of the bagel and barely chewed it before he swallowed, a little painfully. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he'd be damned if he was going to be cooped up in the house all day. He started his jeep and turned his head to back out of the driveway when his heart practically stopped and his eyes widened in shock.

"Oh my God! What the hell, dude?! How?!-Why are you in my car?!" He was face-to-face with a certain dark-haired, broody sourwolf, being assaulted with a hard scowl.

"We need to talk." He growled out. As soon as those words hit Stiles' ears he knew it. That day was going to suck!

/Oo,..,oO\\

Stiles led Derek up to his room (probably the first time Derek had ever used his front door) with a pout on his face and he stomped up the stairs like a child. Every fucking time! Every time he wanted a great, feel-good, care-free day, something like this had to come up. Stupid sourwolves with their stupid leather jackets and perfectly gelled hair… He threw himself on his bed, dramatically, and buried his head in his pillow. He heard a click as Derek shut the door behind them and moved into the room. "Stiles." Derek growled.

"Stiles isn't here right now, please leave a message. Beep!" Stiles said, his voice muffled by the pillow. He knew the werewolf could understand him though.

"All right. Hey Stiles, it's Derek. If you don't sit up right now and stop acting like a fucking child, I'll rip your throat out… with my teeth." Stiles could hear the bite in his voice. He threw his fist into the mattress before he turned over and sat up. "Real original, Derek, you really need to come up with some new material." Stiles mocked. Another glare from Derek made him throw his hands into the air with a defeated groan. "Fine! What is it?"

"Something's different." Derek said. Silence hung in the air and Stiles twitched, waiting for more, but it never came.

"You're kidding me, right? Can you elaborate?!"

"I smell something…in the air. It's something I've never smelled before."

"A smell…" Stiles couldn't help but become a little frustrated by the broody man's lack of the ability to use words. Derek huffed in annoyance. "A smell of power, a power I can't identify." Stiles snapped to attention after hearing the word 'power'. Some unidentified source of power definitely wouldn't bode well for future awesome days…if they ever came. He stood only to walk over and plop down in his desk chair, swiveling around to look at Derek again. "Alright, what do you want from me then?" Stiles asked, truly curious.

"I need you to help me find out what it is."

"What, like information? I need a little more to go on if you want me to find out what it is."

"Like what?" Derek furrowed his eyebrows and turned his head like a confused puppy dog.

"Well, do you know where this 'smell' is coming from… or who it's coming from?"

"No…" Derek said quietly, almost mumbling. Stiles let out a quick huff of breath. "Well then the first thing we should do is track where the smell is coming from." Derek narrowed his eyes.

"We?"

"Yes, dude, we. You did ask for my help."

"No. It could be dangerous and I don't feel like babysitting a hyperactive man-child." Derek turned to leave but Stiles sprang from the chair and moved in front of him, blocking his path to the door. "Derek! I wanna help!" he whined. Stiles didn't even realize what had happened until his back hit the door with a painful thud. Derek pinned him against the door, getting up in his personal space. That seemed vaguely familiar… Stiles was brought back to reality by Derek's gritty, threatening voice. "I said no." His hot breath ran over Stiles' face as he spoke.

"Come on, man! I'm not going to be cooped up in here all day with nothing to do. Let me help." Derek glared at him. "Please?" he begged, throwing in a cheesy-looking smile. He saw Derek thinking it over and soon his hand dropped from its grip on Stile's shirt. "Fine." He said in a grudging tone. Victory! "Great! Come on boy, let's go find Timmy!" Stiles slipped out the door and was down the stairs before Derek even had a chance to respond. He heard Stiles yell from downstairs. "We'll take my car!" He heard the door slam shut. Derek rolled his eyes. It was going to be one of those days…

/Oo,..,oO\\

They had been driving around for about an hour with Derek's head hanging out the window, sniffing the air. Stiles was getting bored already and the groaning in his stomach didn't help things either. He never did finish his bagel. "Dude, I'm booored! How long does it take to track a smell? You have wolf-powers for God's sake!" Derek took his head back in the car and rolled up the window. "You were the one that insisted on coming along!" he responded. An awkward gurgle erupted from Stiles and Derek eyed him. "What? I'm hungry."

"Didn't you eat breakfast?" Derek asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft and laced with something Stiles couldn't quite identify.

"Not unless you count one bite of a bagel as breakfast." Stiles quipped.

"There's a burger joint just up ahead we can go to." Stiles' face turned up with a huge grin. "A burger joint?" he mocked, with a small snicker. Derek just glared at him but Stiles kept smiling anyway. They pulled into the parking lot of the 'burger joint' and parked next to a sign sitting on top of an old, rusty barrel. "Burt's?" Stiles asked, scrunching up his face. He was met with silence as Derek got out and started walking toward the restaurant. Stiles just shrugged and followed him inside, half jogging to keep up. He coughed a little as they entered the small place from the heavy smoke in the air. The place was more of a bar than anything else, complete with a long counter along the far wall with an assortment of liquor behind it and scruffy-looking suspects occupying the stools. Two pool tables graced the right, over near the bathrooms, and Stiles observed the men playing pool, big biker men covered in tattoos and denim. There were a few tables in the left corner and he followed Derek as they seated themselves.

"This place is…nice?" Stiles tried to make small talk, but he wasn't really sure what to say about the dirt-hole he was sitting in. Derek just gave a little smirk, barely even noticeable, and Stiles almost thought it was just in his head before a bubbly woman appeared at their table. "Hey. Sweetie." She said to Derek. Stiles' heart almost stopped beating. What did she think she was doing?! No one could call Derek 'sweetie' and not get their throat clawed out! To his complete and utter surprise Derek smiled at her with a big, toothy grin. Smiled! Derek! "Hey, Pamela, how's it going?" he asked.

"Oh, not too bad. What can I get ya boys?" She asked, taking a pen from between the bun of her dirty blonde hair. The middle-aged woman took a moment to give Stiles a once-over and he blushed as he saw Derek smirk again. "I'll have the usual. Get my…friend here the same, but well-done." Derek made piercing eye contact with Stiles at the word 'friend' and his storm-grey eyes lingered for a few moments, making Stiles forget about his witty 'I can order for myself' comment. Stiles blushed a soft pink and cast his gaze awkwardly to the table, although for the life him he didn't know why.

"All right, I'll tell Burt." She winked at Derek with a smile and walked off toward the kitchens. Stiles' mouth was open like a fish's as Derek looked at him with a blank face. "What?" he asked. Stiles' mouth closed and a mischievous smirk appeared in its place. "Come her often…sweetie?" He asked, playfully, his smirk evolving into a huge grin at the last part. Derek pressed his lips together angrily and glared at him. "Oh, so she can say it but I can't?" Stiles complained. Derek didn't say anything and just kept glaring. After a while Stiles gave up, not really feeling threatened by Derek. He rested his elbow on the small, two-person table and looked up at the walls. They were covered in pictures, sports related items, and alcohol logos.

He was completely entertained with looking at the stuff on the walls, probably fueling his ADD. They even had a bull's head and a dart board! They sat in a surprisingly comfortable silence before Stiles jumped as he heard a heavy glass hit the table. "Here ya go." Pamela said, placing a mug of beer in front of Derek who accepted it with a nod. "I got you," she gestured to Stiles, placing a mug of a dark, bubbly liquid in front of him, "a Coke, hun. Your food'll be done soon 'n I'll bring it to ya." She glided away with another smile as Stiles watched her disappear through the smoky room.

He turned his attention back to Derek, his eyes lingering on Stiles' throat with his mouth open just slightly and his eyes glazed over. "Um…" Stiles said. Derek snapped his eyes up and looked away. Stiles could swear he saw some color in his cheeks but he chose to ignore it. He twiddled his thumbs awkwardly before breaking the silence. "So if you had to guess, what do you think this power is?"

"That's the whole reason I came to you, I don't know." He answered, apparently brave enough to look Stiles in the eye again.

"Humor me." Derek's face pinched together slightly as he thought.

"Well, it smells strange, like meadow flowers and death mixed in with the smell of massive power." It was an odd description, but at least it was something. "Death? That sounds…gross." Stiles said, scrunching up his nose. Another smirk met Derek's lips and Stiles couldn't help but smile in response. "It is gross, that's why I want to know what it is. Generally things that smell like death are bad." Stiles couldn't argue with that logic.

"What do meadow flowers have to do with it?" he asked.

"Everyone has a distinct smell, for instance Scott smells like salt and freshly cut grass. I'm guessing the meadow flowers are the smell of whomever or whatever we're looking for." Derek explained.

"Really? What do I smell like?" Stiles blurted out, not really thinking. Derek's eyes sunk to the table which, for some reason, annoyed Stiles a little. "Come on I want to know! What's my scent?" he pushed. Derek slowly looked up at Stiles.

"Chocolate."

Derek held his gaze and Stiles blushed again but couldn't look away. Time ticked by and Stiles could feel himself sinking into the vast ocean of beauty and mystery that were Derek's eyes. Something was in his eyes that Stiles couldn't identify and he desperately searched them for an answer. His breath slowed to the point where he was barely breathing and his heart sped up, feeling like it was going to burst through his chest. The moment hung for what seemed like an eternity and Stiles couldn't escape it. He jumped again at another clunk on the table. Two large, steaming plates were placed in front of them. "There ya are." Pamela said, "If you need anything else just holler." She practically skipped away back to the kitchen. Thank God she came when she did because that moment was getting way too heavy for his little Stiles heart to handle. He watched as Derek skewered a large piece of meat with his fork, not even bothering to use a knife, and brought it to his mouth, tearing at it with his teeth.

Stiles just registered what they were eating and rolled his eyes. "Steak? Are you serious? It's not even eleven o'clock in the morning! I thought we were getting burgers!" He threw his arms up in an outrageous gesture. Derek just eyed him from across the table with blood dripping down his mouth from his apparently incredibly rare steak, still trying to rip off a bite. "I rike Sterrrk." He said, his voice distorted by the meat in his mouth. Stiles just sighed and picked up a knife and sawed into his steak. They ate in silence, and Stiles did everything in his power to avoid Derek's gaze, not wanting to get pulled in again. Derek finished his food long before Stiles and just sat there staring at him. Stiles hesitantly brought the last piece of his incredibly delicious steak to his mouth, trying not to notice Derek staring at his lips.

"Soooo…" Stiles started to say, "Where are the bathrooms?" Derek pointed past the pool tables and Stiles audibly gulped, seeing the big, burly men that could easily rip him in half were blocking the entrance. "I'll be right back." Derek just shrugged, taking the check to pay the bill and walked off toward Pamela. Stiles hesitantly walked toward the bathrooms, coming up on the pool table. Did he really need to pee that bad? The pressure in his groin told him that, yes, he did. The best route around to the bathrooms was past the biggest man there. He was bent over, preparing to make a shot and Stiles was sure he could quickly slip behind him. He crept forward but being the awkward, clumsy person he was, tripped over his own feet and bumped into the biker.

His pool stick hit the white ball at a strange, unexpected angle and knocked into the eight ball. Stiles watched in slow-motion horror as the ball slowly rolled toward the corner pocked and plopped in. He stood there, frozen, as the huge bearded man spun around with fire in his eyes and grabbed his arm. "You little shit! You just cost me three hundred dollars!" the man ground out through gritted teeth in a vicious, out for blood voice. He squeezed Stiles' arm painfully and he could feel his knees giving out as he screwed his eyes shut. Just as quickly as the pain had come, it vanished, and Stiles cracked open his eyes to see Derek had grabbed the man's wrist and wrenched his hand away from Stiles' arm. He unconsciously moved behind Derek, grasped his shirt and buried his face into his back.

"Don't fucking touch him!" Derek snarled.

"Or what, pretty-boy?" The biker questioned, his hands balling into fists. Derek's eyes narrowed.

"Or I'll fucking kill you." His voice was ice and his eyes flashed red. That seemed to surprise the biker but after a moment he swung his fist at Derek anyway. Stiles moved away as Derek caught it mid-swing and squeezed hard. He could hear bones crack under the pressure and he winced at the sound. The biker sunk to his knees and Derek used his other fist to knock the massive man out, easily. Derek turned, not even looking at the utterly shocked Stiles as he grabbed his wrist and guided them toward the door. "See you later, Pamela!" he said, not looking back. "See you later, sweetie!" she answered acting like Derek knocking out customers was completely normal, which it probably was.

Derek finally released his wrist as they got into the jeep but instantly had his hands on Stiles arm, inspecting the already forming bruise. Stiles tried not to blush at the attention and hot hands sliding gently across his pale skin but he failed miserably. Derek pulled away after a while and looked at Stiles with a hard but concerned face. He couldn't bring himself to look at the werewolf and settled for staring at the steering wheel. "Thanks…you know, for what you did in there…stepping in I mean." Stiles bumbled out awkwardly. "It wasn't your fault, that guy was an asshole. He got what was coming to him." Derek said, his voice dripping with anger toward the biker.

They sat in silence for a minute or two, Derek staring at Stiles and Stiles staring at the wheel. He slowly raised his eyes to look up at Derek. "Derek?..." he said tentatively.

"Yeah?" His voice came out even and controlled.

"…I still have to pee."

Derek just rolled his eyes and sighed.

/Oo,..,oO\\

Stiles and Derek spent over seven more hours out on the town searching for the mysterious meadow flower power child, or whatever it was. Stiles didn't mind, though, he liked spending time with Derek a lot more than he thought he would. After searching for a few hours and finding nothing, Stiles had convinced Derek to go to the mall. It took a lot of convincing and begging and pleading for mercy when Derek grabbed his throat in annoyance, but Stiles eventually got his way like he always did.

He could clearly see by the permanent scowl on his face that Derek wasn't having a good time as he excitedly searched the isles of a gaming store and that only made it all the sweeter. "Stiles, I'm this close to actually killing you." Derek said, finally having enough. "Oh, why do you always have to be such a sourwolf?" Stiles said, never looking away from a game case he was studying. Derek lifted up his arms. They had about ten fully loaded bags from various stores hanging off of them. "Don't you think you have enough stuff?!"

"You can never have enough stuff when it comes to the mall, my friend." Stiles looked over at some girls giggling in the corner. They were smiling stupidly and pointing over at him and Derek while whispering. Derek's face had a hint of pink in it and Stiles guessed the girls were talking about them. "Stiles, can we please go?!" Stiles groaned in exasperation. "Fine, just one more store and we'll go, I promise!" Stiles happily led Derek to his favorite store in the whole world 'Simply Super'. It was an entire store devoted to superhero merchandise! How awesome, right?! He caught Derek acting a little strange in the corner if his eye but disregarded it and excitedly started to browse. Everything was so amazing and he wanted it all. Batman alarm clocks, Thor toolboxes, Wolverine kitchen knife blocks, even Power Puff Girl bed sheets! He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the most amazing thing ever across the way.

He absentmindedly walked over to it, standing next to the person that was already looking at it. It was a Green Lantern lamp. The base was Green Lantern himself with his arm thrust into the air and the light shade was the green energy pouring out of his ring. It was perfect. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a voice next to him. "Pretty cool, huh?" it said. Stiles looked up at the boy next to him. He met striking blue eyes contrasting heavily with short, thick, black hair done up into a fohawk. He looked about the same age as Stiles and wore a cautious smile. "Yeah it is! You like Green Lantern?"

The boys smile widened. "Yeah, he's my favorite. I was gonna get this for my room. I don't have much stuff, I just moved here. I don't really need it, though, so… you can take it." The boy said. Stiles saw a blush come through on his pale cheeks but shrugged it off, holding out his hand to the stranger. "Welcome to Beacon Hills, my name's Stiles." He said with a smile. "Jacob." The boy replied, grasping his hand with a smile and another blush. Stiles let out a small noise of protest as Derek swatted his hand away from Jacob's and stepped between them, using his hand to move an unwilling Stiles behind his back.

"Dude, what the hell?!" he protested. "Stiles, get away from him." Derek said his eyes never leaving Jacob. Stiles could hardly believe his ears. He knew Derek could be a jerk but that was just plain rude. "What, no!" Stiles objected again. Derek growled low in his chest. "Stiles! Get…away…now!" he said, clearly trying to control his temper. Jacob looked hurt and confused about what was going on. "Maybe I should just go…" he said, sadly.

"No! Derek is just being a jerk. Just-Can you excuse me for one second?"

Jacob just slowly nodded and eyed them both suspiciously. Stiles angrily grabbed Derek's wrist and pulled him off to the side. "Dude, what the hell?!" he whispered loudly. Derek looked at him with a serious face. "It's him."

"What?" Stiles asked, genuinely confused.

"The smell? Meadow flowers and death? It's him!" Stile's face turned even paler as he realized what Derek was saying. He threw a glance at Jacob and forced a smile as they made eye contact. Stiles pulled Derek a little further away. "Are you sure?" he asked in disbelief that the innocent-looking teen could be anything evil or malicious. "Yeah, I'm positive."

"What do you want to do?" Stiles asked.

"We need to get away from him for right now and we need to make sure that we do it in a way that won't raise suspicion."

"Well how do you suggest we do that, I was in the middle of introducing myself!"

"Just say you have somewhere to be!"

Stiles' mouth dropped in playful disbelief. "No, man, that's rude and I don't want to seem like an asshole!"

"Well until we know what he is, does it fucking matter?!" Derek huffed out in annoyance.

"Yes! I have an image to uphold as the fun and perky nice guy that I am you know." Derek pressed his lips together in thought.

"Tell him I'm your boyfriend." Stiles' breath hitched.

"Wha- What?..." he asked in shock.

"Tell him that I'm your… that I'm your boyfriend and I get easily jealous." Derek said, stumbling around the world 'boyfriend'. Stiles could not believe that what they were discussing was reality. Did Derek Hale, the master of macho-ness, just tell him to pretend he was his boyfriend? "Stiles!"

"Ok, ok!" They nodded at each other silently acknowledging the plan. Stiles spun around with a smile on his face, ready to face Jacob. His smile faded, however, when he saw that he was gone, along with the awesome Green Lantern lamp. They both frantically looked around the store, not seeing him anywhere and Stiles angrily turned to Derek and smacked him on the stomach, hand meeting rock-hard muscle. "Nice going, Derek! Not only is he gone now but you managed to make me look like an asshole!" Derek just gave him yet another trade mark glare and Stiles sighed.

"Should we follow him?" he asked. Derek looked like he was thinking. "No. He looked about your age, right? And he said he was new. That means he'll probably be at your High School, right?"

"I mean it's possible. Unless he decided to go to Midtown High, but that school is shit, so probably not."

"Good. Now listen to me carefully. Do not talk to him by yourself. Tell Scott and let him handle it. The pack wastes enough time protecting you from danger." Derek said in an almost too uncaring tone. Stiles face sunk into absolute hurt. "A waste of time? I can fucking take care of myself, asshole! How many times have I saved your ass?! Huh? How many?!" Stiles seethed with anger.

"I-I didn't mean-" Derek tried to say but Stiles cut him off.

"No! I don't want to hear it! You made me mad, dog-boy! Bad dog!" Derek glared at his use of the terms but Stiles didn't care as he continued. "Now, I'm going to make you walk home and storm off angrily in my jeep but before I do you're going to carry my stuff out to the car…because it's heavy and I don't want to!" Derek opened his mouth to protest but Stiles held up a finger silencing him. "Nope. Come on, I'm not getting any younger." Stiles said as he moved out of the store. Derek followed with an annoyed face and clenched fists. When he finished loading Stiles' bags into the car it was Stiles' turn to give him a glare and he sped off leaving Derek in the parking lot.

/Oo,..,oO\\

Stiles was mad. How could Derek say that about him?! He knew he wasn't a werewolf, that he was just a human, but he could fucking take care of himself! Right?... He had just finished brushing his teeth and getting ready for the night and he came into his room and sat on his bed.

Maybe he was overreacting; he tended to do a lot of that. He pulled off his shirt and pants, stripping down to his Green Lantern boxers and slipped under the covers on the left side of his bed.

Now that he thought about it, he was overreacting. I mean, Derek was wrong for what he said, but it did have some truth behind it. Maybe he should apologize the next time he saw Derek. A snicker slipped from his lips. 'Apologize to Derek', words he never thought he'd say. It didn't matter now, though. It was late and Stiles was tired. He rubbed the bruise on his arm from where the biker had grabbed him and remembered how Derek had stepped in to rescue him. He wasn't such a bad guy.

Stiles made up his mind, he would apologize to Derek the next time he saw him. A smile crept onto Stiles' face and his eyelids started to droop as he fell into sleep thinking about Derek.

/Oo,..,oO\\

He was such an idiot! Why had he said that to Stiles?! He should have known how much it would have hurt him and seeing the look on his face after he said it had nearly killed him. Derek walked the streets of the neighborhood in the darkness of the night. It was almost one o'clock in the morning and he couldn't sleep, just like he couldn't for the past few weeks. Every time he closed his eyes he'd think about a certain hyperactive man-child and he would become restless and irritated.

Derek walked across the lawn of a house and came to the side, looking up and the second story window. He could hear a calm, steady heartbeat and knew that the occupant of the room was asleep. He easily scaled the wall and perched on the segment of roof just outside the window, slipping his claws under the seal to pry it open. A warm familiar smell hit his senses and he could already feel his restlessness ease from him. He quietly crept inside and moved over to the bed, content with just looking down at the beautiful pale fool in the bed, but only for a moment.

He took off his leather jacket and hung it on the back of the desk chair at the end of the bed before stripping off the rest of his clothes until he was in his underwear, hard muscles glowing in the moonlight. Slowly he peeled back the covers and slipped inside, scooting up against the teen until he chest was flush against the slightly smaller boy's back. Derek draped and arm around his waist and froze when he mumbled something and squirmed against him. After a few moments the teen seemed to drift back into a calm slumber and Derek used his arm to pull the boy closer and bury his nose in the crook of his neck, breathing in the familiar scent.

Chocolate.

A smile tugged its way onto Derek's face as he could already feel himself being lulled to sleep in the comfort of the warmth in his arms.

Thank God Stiles was such a heavy sleeper.

/Oo,..,oO\\

AN: Yay! I actually had such an overload of feels while writing this chapter that I had to take a break and watch a movie and there weren't even sexy times in it… yet. ;) Anyway, tell me how you liked it so far. Don't be fooled by the shitty writing… it's been a while… The story is kind of dark later and don't expect everything to be light and fluffy, although there will be plenty of that. :D If you liked the chapter, tell me you're a Monkie! Love you my Monkies, see you next chapter. *blows kiss*