Second One Shot

Takes Place before Breathless

Inspired by Red by Taylor Swift

Stiles was drowning, not in water, water wasn't that thick, that cold, even at arctic climate temperatures, this was worse. It chilled to the bone, a freeze that was so quick that it actually felt like fire. And he was slowly sinking into it. It was slowly clinging to his boy like tendrils, creeping along. He was terrified, and he struggled, but there was nothing he could do. The more he struggled, the faster it climbed his body. In a panic he looked up, and he saw a hand, it was reaching down to him. Slowly the entire arm submerged into the darkness. He reached up, trying to grab it, stretching as far as he could. Somehow he was able to lift himself just out of reach, and the tendrils responded. They suddenly ensnared him, digging into his body, trying to pull him under faster, climbing in an attempt to drown him, his last sight was of the the hand reaching for his before his eyes were taken by the darkness.

He sat up in bed, only to fall to the floor, hitting it with a loud thud.

"Ow."

He stood and stretched. 1:30 am, the same time he woke from this reoccurring nightmare every night. He let out a heavy sigh and slid back into bed. His thoughts raced as he tried to remember what the hand looked like, who it might belong to. It wasn't long before he was finally back to sleep, unable to fight his exhaustion. When he woke the next morning, he could only make out the big details of the dream: The tendrils of darkness, the drowning feeling, and the hand.

He did his morning routine, which now included texting Derek. It had been a month since he left, but they had shared a moment. Something real, right before he took off. It nearly ripped Stiles to pieces when Scott told him, but for the sake of his best friend, and everyone else, he put on a smile. But Scott wasn't stupid, he could smell Derek on his best friend, he knew what they did the night before he left.

"YOU HAD SEX WITH DEREK?!"

"Oh my god, Scott! Can you be any louder?"

He was pretty sure everyone in town heard him. The morning after Derek had left, Scott had gone over to tell him, as soon as they were in the privacy of Stiles' room, Scott confronted him.

"Since when... Are you gay?"

"Bisexual, actually! I still like girls, mostly Lydia, but me and Derek confessed to liking each other for a long time before he left. I wasn't expecting to tell you, but your damn wolf super powers ruined that. Can you really smell it?"

"Yes, it smells like sex and Derek. But at least your room doesn't."

"Well that's because we did it at his loft."

The rest of the day was Stiles answering all of Scott's endless questions. He was really getting agitated until Scott decided he should go home. He was actually pretty cool about the whole thing, until the texts from Lydia started pouring in.

'OMG! Stiles you had sex with Derek? -Lyd'

'WTF? Scott Told you? -Stiles'

'Nope, Isaac was eavesdropping, he told EVERYONE! - Lyd'

'Guess this means I will never have a shot with you! ;D Lol! -Stiles'

'Honey, you never did. -Lyd'

"Ouch." Stiles didn't even bother with a reply for that one, he just tossed his phone aside and called it a night. That was when the nightmares started.

Every night would be the same dream, and he would wake up at the exact same time. It was creepy, and he had spent enough time with the supernatural to know this might be more than just a dream, but he just couldn't bring himself to tell anyone. That is when he started texting Derek. He needed to tell someone, and something deep within said it was what he had to do. The only problem was Derek never texted back.

So this went on, day in and day out for a month, and Stiles' heartbreak was not getting any easier to manage, if anything it was getting worse. So he did what any teenage boy would do in his situation, he started acting out. He got a fake ID, started going to the club with Danny and meeting all sorts of new 'friends.' He would have a few drinks, snuck to him by guys that wanted to take him home for the night. But despite letting himself get shitfaced and barely coherent, Danny made sure he never went home with anyone. Not that Stiles wanted to, he just enjoyed the attention. Before Derek came along, he didn't think he was attractive, but suddenly, every guy in the club had their eyes on him.

When he wasn't hanging out with Scott, or Lydia, or Danny, his friends from the club were dragging him to something. He didn't mind, the distractions were perfect. That was until he started staying up past 1:30. It was almost like a wave of agony hit him every time he was supposed to wake up from the dream. It was a wrenching heartache that would stick around until the next night.

Even Dr. Deaton didn't know what to say about it. He honestly had no clue what was going on with Stiles, but he said it could have been the darkness on his heart, it manifested on everyone in different ways.

So Stiles suffered through the dream.

He had actually grown accustomed to it after a month, actually using the time he was awake after to try to write down what happened, to remember every little detail. Most of the time he wouldn't get very far before his body passed out again. Soon, he just gave up on the whole thing. His life just carried on, school, friends, unanswered texts from Derek, that had become his life.

"Maybe we should go looking for him?"

"Stiles, what makes you think we could even find him?"

Stiles had called his friends over to his place and decided to ask for help. They were all reluctant, just like he knew they would be. It had been two months and he was slowly going insane, he even had Scott and Lydia sending texts to Derek every so often, or at least they let him use their phones to make it seem that way. He hated being this desperate, so clingy. He also hated Derek for leaving, but not as much as he loved him.

It was another month before his heart actually started feeling again. He had awoken from his dream again, only this time he was actually starting to pass out when his phone went off, a ringtone he thought he would never hear.

Losing him was blue like I'd never known
Missing him was dark grey all alone
Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you've never met
But loving him was red
Loving him was red

He jumped and without hesitation picked up the phone.

"Hello?" He answered, his voice raspy with sleep.

"Stiles..."

"DEREK! Uh... hi."

He heard Derek laugh, and he started hissing insults, one right after the other as quiet as he could, knowing that his dad would wake up if he yelled.

"You broke your promise, Derek. You left, you said you... you..." Stiles couldn't continue, he had started crying. He was embarrassed until Derek spoke again.

"Stiles, I'm coming home."

"Whu... what?"

"I am coming home to you."

"When?" Stiles asked, thinking it was some kind of joke.

"The day after tomorrow."

"I swear to god, if you don't show up on Friday, I will pay Chris to come find you and drag you back!"

He was a little upset at how short the conversation was, but he said his goodbye and tucked himself back into bed with a rather large smile. He was going to see Derek in two days. He couldn't be happier.