He's having one of those dreams again. He knows it's a dream because hell if he'll ever actually be with Derek like this. Feeling the way their bodies fit together – a little awkward and a bit crooked, but so stupidly perfect. He's feeling Derek's hands gliding over his skin and leaving a burning trail in their wake. Stiles moans, can't help it, when Derek slides a hand into his boxers and just ghosts his fingers ov—
Stiles shouts and jerks awake to the sound of his phone ringing. "Jesus Christ," he mutters, trying not to think of his ridiculous hard on as he scrambles off the bed to grab his phone. "Hello?"
"Stiles, we're going to a party, get dressed. I'm riding my bike to your place."
"Scott, it's eleven o'clock."
"Yeah, I know, just hurry up." He hangs up before Stiles can argue. He's sufficiently softened by the time the conversation is over, simply because Scott's voice is really enough to kill a boner. It's not an offense to Scott, but honestly the last thing Stiles wants to hear when he's horny is the voice of his best friend. But he gets dressed and makes himself presentable and goes down the steps just when he hears a knock at his door. He opens it expecting Scott, but instead is greeted by the alpha that was so kindly about to jerk him off in his sleep.
"So you're coming too?" He says, his voice cracking a bit from nervousness when he sees the way Derek's eyes briefly flash red. Stiles gulps a bit. "I guess so." He feels like Derek's about to punch him or bite him or something when Scott thankfully saves the day and half leaps off his bike on to Stiles' porch. "So what the hell is this about, Scott?"
"That thing that was chasing us? Allison saw its face just as it changed. She recognized it as somebody from school, so we're going to go to this party and try to track it down."
"Scott, I don't know if anybody else has told you this, but you are really freaking stupid."
Turns out somebody had told Scott, but that never stopped him from continuing to be stupid. So now Stiles is being awkward and trying not to let people touch him while he weaves through this giant crowd to try and find Scott. Or Derek. Preferably Scott because Stiles hasn't forgotten the way Derek looked like he wanted to kill him earlier. But he's kind of lost because you know he's not the tallest kid in the room and he can't seem to see anything but people he doesn't know. Suddenly he feels a tug on the back of his shirt. He turns around as best he can and sees Derek behind him. The alpha jerks his head toward the front door and starts walking, doesn't give Stiles the chance to respond. Stiles huffs and rolls his eyes and follows.
They get outside and Derek keeps going. "What is it?" Stiles asks as Derek slips easily down the steps. They go around the side of the house and start towards the woods. "Derek! What a—" He's cut off as he feels something run past him. He shouts and turns in time to see Scott sprinting after it. "Shit," he mutters and starts running as well, because Derek's already gone and hell if he's standing around here like a fool.
He breaks through the edge of the trees and can barely still make out their forms running. He thanks god that Scott is wearing white shirt, so he's sort of easy to see when it comes down to it. Stiles feels his foot slick across something and he shouts and almost stumbles to the ground. He catches himself on a tree and curses. He lifts up his foot to see what he stepped in and is greeted by a glint of deep red in the moonlight. His stomach flips. Of course he would slip in blood while they're chasing down some monster. Of freaking course. He wipes it on some leaves and takes off running again.
The only reason he manages to catch up to them is because they've stopped. He slows to a walk and watches as Scott runs a hand through his hair and looks at the ground where the trail of blood ends. Derek stands behind him and his nostrils flare. Whatever this thing is needs to be stopped, and quickly. But Stiles has an idea. They all know Derek didn't turn another wolf, and it's not Jackson, but he could've…
"Can the bitten ones… bite other people and turn them? Like, is that a thing?" Stiles pipes up. Both wolves turn to look at him, Scott with unmasked confusion and Derek with subdued rage. Stiles shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs a bit wildly. "I uh right. Yeah, shutting up. Bad guy catching, let's go." He laughs nervously and scuffs his feet. The two turn back away from him, talking in hushed voices. Stiles turns his back to them in a brief bout of childish frustration. He swears he sees a pair of glowing cobalt eyes in the darkness of the woods. "Uh, guys?" They're talking too much to hear him. "Guys!" The blue eyes vanish and he huffs and flops his arms down to his sides. "Shi- nevermind."
"What'd you say, Stiles?" Scott says, suddenly behind him.
He throws his hands up. "Nothing!" Scott raises a brow, but lets it go.
"No sense in hanging around here. Let's go." Derek says roughly and pushes past them both.
Stiles stomach growls. They've been out since right after school and it's nearing midnight. If they want to ignore him, then damn it, he's going to have his way. He's hungry as hell and he's the one driving.
So they're sitting in the In 'n' Out burger and Stiles is shoving french fries into his mouth like there's no tomorrow. Scott's sitting next to him, staring at his phone.
"You know what?" Stiles starts, jabbing a fry at Derek, who sits across from him with his arms crossed and a full glass of water in front of him. "I don't think I've ever seen you eat. Do you eat like deer or something? Use the bones for wind chimes? Smoke some venison for later?" He grins at his own joke, then stops chewing as he watches Derek purposefully and slowly reach over the table, grab Stiles' burger and take a large bite of it. He sets it down and Stiles swallows. The corners of his mouth twitch a bit in nervousness as he watches Derek chew. And Derek watches him watching him chew. Well he's sort of glaring, more or less. But that's really just his face. And suddenly Stiles gets lightheaded.
"Right, well I'm full let's go back to camp." He stands up and grabs his trash (being a bag full of curly fries and half of a burger). He doesn't make it to the trashcan, though. His eyes kind of swivel back into his head and he's splayed on the floor just as he stands up.
The first time he wakes up and remembers it, he sees rusted metal rafters and broken lights. His head is in someone's lap, but he can't tell who and he can't turn his head to look. He recognizes the feeling really well. He closes his eyes again, hoping he'll wake up in bed and this will all have been a fucked up nightmare.
"Did you really like me better when I had blue eyes?" He feels the vibration of the low voice on his sternum. Knows who it is the second he opens his mouth. Stiles doesn't respond. Hopes Derek will think he's still asleep. He knows it doesn't work, but the alpha doesn't speak anymore. Eventually Stiles drops off to sleep.
He wakes up to the sound of crashing outside of the subway car. Stiles shouts and jerks up, only to feel his head swirl and his heart constrict in his chest. "What the…" He starts, but his voice drops off as he get woozy and falls back. Instead of smacking his head on the metal floor, he lands on thighs. Really muscular thighs. Which in retrospect isn't much better than landing on a metal floor. He looks up at Derek, who's cradling his head now and then turning it to the side. "What the hell are you doing?"
Derek turns his head back so Stiles is looking up and just kind of stares at him.
"What happened?"
Derek stares.
"It felt like I'd been paralyzed… Like when Jacks— when I touched the kanima's poison."
Derek keeps staring.
"What!"
"Derek, do you understand anything he's saying?" Derek looks up at the voice in the doorway then back to Stiles, shaking his head. Stiles freezes, eyes wide. "But he can understand us?" Derek nods. Stiles tries to sit up again but Derek stops him.
"Stiles, don't. Just stay." He says, putting a hand on the teen's chest.
"Shouldn't we get him to a hospital? He's not like us, and things like that are usually a lot more brain centered than supernatural." Stiles places the voice as Erica's.
Derek shakes his head. "If that kind of thing were happening, he'd know it too. He didn't even notice anything was wrong until you said something." He's looking right at Stiles now, searching his face for something. "Sleep, Stiles." So he sleeps.
He hears Scott and Derek arguing outside the subway car. He's lying on his side and his head is comfortably propped up on a pillow.
"This isn't your fault, Scott."
"Yes it is!"
"You can't protect everybody all of the time."
"He's my best friend, Derek."
"He can take care of himself."
"But he's not like that! He's not like us. This thing went after him on purpose. It knew how he would react this way!"
Stiles scoffs and rolls his eyes. He flops on to his back and stares at the ceiling and sighs. Sure, Scott. It really knew that. Maybe it just went after me because I was a convenient target. And oh jesus, why would it think that, maybe because you both had your backs to me and were freaking ignoring me. Stiles tries not to hold grudges, like, really he does try not to. But he's mad at Scott and he thinks he's allowed to be.
"You can't help him Scott. None of us can until we figure out what that creature is. We know it's not a wolf. That's a start."
"Yeah, a really small one."
Stiles hears a thud and scraping metal. He mentally pouts. Wallslamming is my thing.
"Listen to me, Scott. We can't do anything about this. Go home."
"What about Stiles?"
"Keep him here. I— We will take care of him. Go."
Stiles hears Scott growl and shove Derek away. He hears the retreating footsteps. He hears the soft sure steps of Derek coming up the stairs into the subway car. He hears an overwhelming rush of wind. He hears nothing.
The next time he wakes up, he knows he's alone. He sits up and looks around the car. It's dim, but he can tell it's not night. He doesn't know how he knows, he just does. He's glad nobody is here to tell him to lay down. He reaches up and grips the half destructed seat and pulls himself up. His head swirls, but he swears he's okay this time. He stumbles to the door and takes a step down. Stiles doesn't realize that the step down is further than he expected. He thinks that his foot contacts the concrete, but really it's just air. So he jerks and freaks out his other foot catches on the half closed door. He reaches to catch himself and slices a gash down his forearm. His blood is black. Stiles likes to think he's pretty masculine, but the sound that comes out of his mouth is anything but. He kind of collapses on the ground outside of the subway car and clutches his wrist and screams like all hell.
It's Isaac that finds him first, but Stiles can't even be embarrassed. When the beta sees him, his already huge eyes widen. For a second he doesn't open his mouth or even move. Stiles shouts at him some gibberish that he doesn't understand, but Isaac seems to get the picture.
"Derek!" He shouts, finally scrambling down to Stiles' level and grabbing his arm from him. Stiles kicks his legs and his voice goes hoarse. He thinks there might be tears staining his face, but he doesn't cry. Like, ever. The alpha comes running, shirtless and sweaty, and if Stiles wasn't writhing in pain he might have actually enjoyed the sight. Derek practically falls in front of them both. He barks orders at Isaac and takes Stiles' arm and squeezes it.
Stiles is reminded of when Erica had a seizure in the library. How he held her while Derek did this to her. For a moment, Stiles is watching the scene from above them. He can't handle this kind of thing. He swears he's never heard anybody scream this loud and he swears five times more that it's not him making those noises. And then he's back in his body, staring down at his arm. It's still bleeding, but it's red. It's red and that's all he really cares about. Stiles is now aware that he's drenched in sweat and his chest is heaving. He can only imagine how loud his heart is beating in Derek's ears. He looks up at the alpha, gasping for breath and even groaning a little. Derek's face is intense and pale and concentrated. He looks like he's done something wrong.
"Derek," he slurs. Said wolf exhales what seems to be a sigh of relief. "What, can you understand me now?" Derek nods. He has both hands wrapped around Stiles' forearm, applying pressure to try and cut off the flow of blood. Isaac and Erica come running back with what looks like a first aid kit and Stiles just kind of looks at them. He doesn't care how much of a wreck he is right now, he's just really aware of Derek's eyes on his face. He'd blush if there was enough blood in his body to do so. "You know that's good you think it might be time for me to go to a hospital because I'm feeling like that's a pretty good idea right about now 'cause I'm starting to not feel my feet or my fingers actually but that might have something to do with the fact that grumpy wolf here is cutting off the circulation to my entire life and I really think that flesh is kind of a good color on you." He reaches a hand up weakly and jabs it at Derek's chest. He thinks it makes contact with the toned muscles, but it really doesn't. His head lolls a bit and his hand drops into his lap. He's vaguely aware of the way Erica and Isaac exchange looks, but then Derek shouts something and they scramble to get him what he needs to take care of Stiles. He's also vaguely aware of the fact that there's a fucking needle in Derek's hand and he's threading it. He's out cold before he even feels the needle pierce his skin.
"What did you do to him!" Scott's voice jars him awake. Stiles is propped up in a corner with some blankets. The first thing he's aware of is the fact that he hasn't seen his dad in a while and he's not quite sure how long he's really been here.
"He fell," Derek grates it out. Stiles can tell his teeth are clenched. Why would he be angry? Right, because Stiles really fucked this up. The car rocks a bit as Scott pushes past Derek and jumps on to the car. The alpha follows close behind.
"Allison thinks she found something. I need to know how you got poisoned. Or… Whatever."
Stiles just kind of stares at him. He's feeling like a pile of shit quite honestly and couldn't care less about what Allison thinks she found. Plus, he can't really open his mouth, but he tries. "Dude, I saw the thing in the woods. And then we got food."
"Wait, wait," Derek hisses. "You saw it?" Stiles rolls his eyes.
"I tried to tell you guys that it was staring at me."
"Stiles, did you see it, or was it watching you?" Derek's intensity makes him want to cringe and flinch away from him. But he's just too damn tired.
He closes his eyes. "I turned around. And I saw its eyes. I tried to get you guys to notice, but you were too busy talking, and th—"
Scott and Derek started talking in hushed tones, their eyes both on the floor.
"Much like you are now," Stiles' blood boils a bit. He shoves off the blanket and stands up. They don't notice. "Look, I don't know what this means to you guys, and that's just fine, but my father is probably wondering where I am and I am personally really freaking tired of just being that human kid that tags along with the wolf pack. None of you trust me! None of you even care to stop and actually listen to me. And yeah this is a little selfish, but damn it guys, I think I'm allowed to be selfish every once in a while for all the shit I do for you!" Scott turns around and looks at him, eyebrows furrowed.
"Stiles, should you be up?"
Stiles kind of stares at him, lets out this noise that's just disbelief. He shakes his head and pushes between them and off the old subway car. He's walking away before either of them get out of the car.
"Stiles!"
He really doesn't care which of them is calling for him. He just shoves his hands in his pockets and keeps walking. He'd be surprised if they followed him. He isn't surprised when they don't.
