Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf or any of the characters.
He's in the grocery store picking up food that Cora will eat when he overhears it.
"…The Sherriff was at the station when the fire started, but his boy was at home," a red haired woman is telling her friend.
Derek's breath catches painfully in his chest as if someone has hurtled into him from behind, violently knocking the air out of his lungs. The shopping basket in his hand clatters noisily to the ground and Derek doesn't even notice the sharp sound of jars smashing against the tiled floor of the supermarket as he bolts out of the building. His mind is void of all thoughts bar one: 'Stiles'.
He doesn't wait long enough to hear the woman say, "Thankfully it was just a small kitchen fire and the kid's fine."
Derek runs the entire way to the Stilinski household, having forgotten all about his car that is still in the parking lot outside the grocery shop in his haste to get to Stiles' house. It takes him less than five minutes to get there but it still feels like far too long. He sniffs the air outside of the house and immediately recognizes the thick, acrid stench of burnt wood and melted paint. It's a smell that still fills him with horror and nausea.
The next thing he notices is that from the outside, the house looks normal; nothing like the scorched shell that had been left of his house and the smokey smell isn't terribly strong. When he strains a little he is able to pick up the familiar, steady thump of Stiles' heartbeat. But Derek still doesn't let himself be soothed by that, relief doesn't flood his bones in the way that it logically should. He won't relax until he has seen Stiles for himself.
Derek walks around the Stilinski house until he is under Stiles' window and leaps up. The window is open like the rest in the house are, and Derek guesses that it's to air out the smoke in the house. He climbs in through Stiles' window and sags in relief at the sight of Stiles lying on his bed, sound asleep and safe.
When Stiles wakes up, it's to the feel of hands on his biceps and something heavy on his chest. The last thing he expects to find when he opens his eyes is Derek Hale with his ear pressed to Stiles' chest.
"Dude!" Stiles exclaims, voiced laced with sleepy confusion as he scrambles to pull himself up into a sitting position. "What the-"
Derek cuts him off and pushes him back down onto the mattress and moves his ear to the other side of Stiles' chest.
"I'm checking that your lungs are clear," he grunts. "I heard about the fire."
"Uh, thanks?" Stiles begins dumbly from where he's still being pinned to the bed by Derek. "But they did all that at the hospital, I'm fine. And it was barely a fire, the toaster caught fire and ruined my Dad's curtains but I got out fast and the fire brigade had the flames out before it could spread to the other rooms."
Derek raises his head to look at Stiles suspiciously, as if he doesn't believe him, doesn't believe that he's fine even though he is right in front of the guy without even a singed bit of hair on his head.
"The house was smokey as hell though," Stiles continues before fixing Derek with his own suspicious glare. "Why do you care anyway? You always act like you'd love a Stiles-free life, which doesn't make sense to me because I know I'm pretty awesome but-"
Derek cuts off his rambling by saying dryly, "I'm used to you now."
Stiles grins and punches at Derek's shoulder which in turn earns him a small, warning growl from the alpha but Stiles knows that there's no real heat behind it.
"I knew you loved me really," Stiles jokes.
"I couldn't deal with another one of you dying," Derek blurts, voice suddenly raw and honest. "Not after Boyd."
And Stiles gets it. He remembers the way Derek had looked completely gutted as he'd knelt in the water next to his beta's lifeless body. Stiles had been unable to resist the urge to reach for Derek then and he feels that same electric pull again. He reaches out and curls his fingers around Derek's forearm and says firmly but gently, "I'm okay, Derek."
Derek stays silent for a long moment and wraps his hand around Stiles' wrist and lets his fingers rest over the pulse point there. Stiles feels his heart rate quicken at the intensity of the situation and bats away the embarrassment that comes with knowing that Derek can feel it as well as hear it.
Stiles watches Derek in silence until the werewolf lets his wrist go, seemingly convinced that Stiles is really okay. Gently, Stiles pulls his hand back from Derek's skin and flops back down onto the bed. He is expecting Derek to leave now that he knows Stiles is safe but to his surprise Derek lies down next to him.
He reaches out and rearranges Stiles' body until they are facing each other before throwing a leg over him and pulling him close enough that Stiles' chin is hooked over Derek's shoulder. Derek wraps his arms tight around Stiles' middle and begins to rub his stubble-rough cheek over Stiles' hair.
"Not that I'm not a fan of cuddles," Stiles squeaks in utter shock. "But this has never been our thing, dude."
"You smell of smoke, I hate it," Derek tells him gruffly and tightens his grip on Stiles' body. "And if you call me 'dude' again I'll rip your throat out."
Stiles snorts at the threat but considers what Derek has said for a moment before thinking to hell with it and relaxing into the embrace and tentatively resting his hand on Derek's back. It's just another change in Stiles' life, another turning point, but it's less terrifying and life threatening than all the others so he'll take it.
A/n: If anyone has tumblr my url is warriorhale!