Stiles didn't know why he had assumed that Derek didn't have any friends outside the pack; okay well that was a lie. It was probably due to the general mopeyness and surly attitude that came off the wolf in waves.

It wasn't that Derek was a bad guy, it was just that…well he wasn't the kind of guy you really expected to have friends. He seemed like a loner; A one man wolf pack if you will. Derek didn't seem like best friend material. That is why when they ran into Sam at the diner down town well, Stiles was a little shocked.

"Derek, is that you?"

Stiles' had whipped around, because even if they weren't calling his name this couldn't be good. The only people who ever wanted to talk to Derek were the pack, people who wanted to kill him, and the cops, which occasionally overlapped with the second subset. But seeing as he didn't recognize this voice, he began to worry.

He, however, came face to face, alright so maybe not face to face, more like face to chest with a very tall brown haired man. If that wasn't surprising enough, he was pretty sure he almost had a heart attack when he glanced at Derek and saw him smile.

"Sammy, it's been a long time." Derek replied. Stiles was fighting the urge to jump off a building because clearly he was dreaming and the only way to wake up was to die, right?

"Don't know what you expected when you fled the state." Sam reached out to clap Derek's shoulder grinning and ignoring Stiles' existence completely. Which was a lot easier to do when he was stunned into complete silence, But really, what was he supposed to say.

All that was running through his head was, -Derek has friends? And it wasn't like he could really say that because of course Derek had friends. Everyone had friends, hell even Stiles had friends and he wasn't the most pleasant company to be around most the time.

Derek laughed. It sent up a flag in Stiles' head because he wasn't really sure he had ever heard Derek laugh before. Not really anyway, he had heard the evil chuckle the guy did sometimes when he seemed to be feeling particularly malicious but he wasn't actually sure he had heard him honest to god laugh because he was happy. Derek happy, that was an interesting thought.

Stiles stared at the stranger awestruck, only slightly aware of the conversation going on between the two until he was dragged into it.

"So is this your boyfriend?"

If Stiles had been drinking water he would have done a spit take all over the man's sweatshirt.

"No, no, no, no, no, no." he insisted holding his hands out defensively, "gay guys don't find me attractive, and as far as I know, Derek isn't even gay." He said.

Sam laughed turning back to Derek, "still in the closet I see."

Derek scowled, and Stiles almost sighed in relief because this was the Derek he knew and lo… well the Derek he knew.

"Bi and gay isn't the same thing Sam."

Sam laughed, "Sorry for outing you, again." He nodded to Stiles, "so not boyfriend, must make him pack right?"

Stiles could have sworn at that moment that his jaw hit the dirty floor of the diner, "ah, wah…uh…" his eyes bugged out of his head, "excuse us." He said pulling on Derek's sleeve in an attempt to drag him off into the corner of the restaurant. He realized that if Derek hadn't complied that it would have never happened but the wolf had decided to humor him just this once and he wasn't going to question it.

"who the fuck is that?" Stiles demanded when they were a reasonable distance from the giant; okay so he wasn't really a giant like not in the supernatural sense but he was freaking huge and made Stiles feel like a kindergartener.

"I do have friends." Derek replied.

"Yes I know that, but I don't know him, but apparently he knows about werewolves and pack and, Derek who the hell his he anyway. Why does he know?" Stiles asked slightly disturbed, wondering if he was going to have to deal with another alpha werewolf because there was no way that man would ever be a beta and he had all the alphas he could ever deal with in one lifetime thank you very much.

"He was," Derek scratched his neck awkwardly, "he was my best friend in high school, before the fire." He supplied.

Oh.

Stiles had never given much thought to Derek's life before the fire. Like he knew it had to have been much better than the life after the fire but he hadn't really considered that Derek might have had friends. A best friend even someone who he told all his secrets to. He hadn't ever thought about the fact that Derek would have had a Scott. Or more likely, a Stiles because who are we kidding here, Derek would never be Robin, no matter how fucking awesome Robin might be.

"Oh."

He said quietly thinking it over, so he wasn't a werewolf, that was good. The less supernatural creatures he had running around beacon hills the better. Honestly there were so many creatures of the night skulking around this place it was surprising that everyone in the town wasn't aware of the truth behind everything that went on.

Stiles smiled, "well go on then, go catch up." He said shooing Derek in the direction of his friend.

"We still have to get dinner." Derek responded.

"I've got it, go talk." Stiles said grinning and pushing him towards the man. "and don't think we aren't talking about this whole Bi thing, you've gotten out of questioning on the basis that I thought you were straight but don't expect to slide under the radar anymore mister, I will know if I am attracted to men who are not exactly straight!"

Stiles laughed positioning himself back in line so he could order the take out the pack had dictated for tonight. He would probably need Derek to carry things but he could cross that bridge when he came to it. For now he was just going to mull over the weirdness of this situation. Derek had friends. Like real friends. Like he had Scott, and Danny, and Isaac.

Derek had this Sam guy, he didn't know why but Stiles had always thought of Derek as more of a machine than a man. It might have been the permanent scowl painted onto his features or perhaps the emotionless responses he always received but either way Derek had never struck him as this human before. Now it was glaringly obvious that Derek wasn't actually that different from him.

Yeah he was a werewolf with the ability to rip out his spine and use it for a toothpick without even breaking a sweat but he was still a person. With secrets and feelings no matter how deeply they were buried and to be honest, Stiles wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.