Authors note: This fanfiction contains the lyrics to this song: ( /2tMKO_9SD1Y) , which I don't own and will never own ever. Enjoy!
Stiles pulled up to Derek's shell of a house, just like he had done almost everyday for the past couple of weeks. After he and Scott had decided Derek was more help than harm, he and Stiles had started to get along pretty well, in between the sarcastic insults and the awkward invasions of personal space. In fact, they began to hang out by themselves, as Scott spent most of his time with Alison. Derek was also doing a great job at getting Stiles' overactive mind to focus on homework, mostly due to threats and his gorgeous green eyes. So for the past month or so, Stiles would study with Derek after school. Today was different though, as Stiles was early (not really on purpose, but what did a few missed stop signs hurt anyone?) He walked at a brisk pace up to the front doors, and conquered the steps in one leap. Walking through the front door, he called out to Derek, but got no response, which stopped him in his tracks. "Derek? You here?" He called out tentatively as he walked around the main floor. Suddenly, he heard a noise directly above him, from upstairs. Circling around to the grand staircase, he walked up, slowly this time. As he reached the top, the noise became more clear, and was easily recognized as music, coming from his left. Stiles had only come up the staircase once, and had never really looked around, so when he walked in the direction of the melody, he was surprised to see the state of the hallway around him. This part of the house was almost untouched from the tragic fire, at least from the inside. Old fashioned looking wallpaper was slightly curling at the edges, and there was some gorgeous moulding. He had never really thought about where Derek slept, but he had had some funny mental images of him using a giant dog bed. Stiles located the door that the music was coming from, but it was closed. He slowly opened the old oak door, stopping when he was able to peek in. A quick look around showed an plain looking bedroom, with soft blue walls, a chest of drawers, and a frameless bed on the floor, with clothes folded in certain corners. When he looked in, the melody had stopped, and he saw Derek, sitting in front of an electric keyboard, flicking through his ipod. His large and expensive-looking headphones explained why he hadn't answered Stiles earlier. As Stiles watched, Derek seemed to come to a decision on a certain song, then turned in his chair to face his keyboard again. Stiles held his breath as Derek lifted his hands over the keys, eyes closed. After a short second, began to play a few chords that Stiles thought he recognized, but what happened next made his heart stop. Derek was singing. Not loudly or showy, but barely loud enough to be heard, and perfectly on key. His voice became rougher when he hit the lower notes, and right when Stiles thought he would faint from happiness, he recognized the song.
"It's been a long time coming since I've seen your faceI've been everywhere and back trying to replaceEverything that I had 'til my feet went numbPraying like a fool that's been on the run..."
The normally distracted teen knew this song by heart. After hearing it the for the first time he loved it so much that he had looked up the lyrics as soon as he could. For a kid that normally listened to music older than him, that was a surprise. So Stiles, leaning against the doorframe of his werewolf crush's bedroom door, in his half burned house, quietly began to sing along.
"Heart's still beating but it's not workingIt's like a million dollar phone that you just can't ringI reached out trying to love but I feel nothingYeah, my heart is numb..."
Derek had his eyes closed this whole time, but as the chorus came, they opened slowly, and they held the look of a man millions of miles away, lost in his own memories and music. A full smile suddenly grew across his face, stretching from ear to ear, and it colored his voice as he sang.
"But with youI feel againYeah, with youI can feel again
Yeah."
Then Derek grinned as he leaned into the keyboard, his hands running along the keys in complicated patterns that sounded to Stiles like something straight from his heart. Stiles realized that he had been smiling too, just as big, because Derek looked so carefree and electrified, and he just couldn't take belted out the next words with his eyes closed, still lost in his improvised solo.
"I'm feeling better ever since you know me!I was a lonely soul but that's the old me!It's been a long time coming since I've seen your faceI've been everywhere and back trying to replaceEverything that I broke 'til my feet went numb Praying like a fool just shot the gun"
At this point, Stiles had begun to tap his foot, because it was all he could do to keep from jumping down in the chair next to Derek. He unconsciously began to sing louder, as he crescendo'ed with Derek's rough voice.
"Heart still beating but it's not workingIt's like a hundred thousand voices that just can't singI reached out trying to love but I feel nothingOh, my heart is numbBut with youI feel againYeah, with youI can feel again!"
At the next part of the song, Derek sang the main vocals, and Stiles felt like he just had to sing the backup. Their voices pulled together, with Derek singing low and Stiles just a little higher, He felt so light that he could drift off into the afternoon sky.
"But with you(I'm feeling better ever since you know me)I feel again(I was a lonely soul but that's the old me)Yeah, with you(I'm feeling better ever since you know me)I can feel again(I was a lonely soul)"
Derek kept playing with the same level of energy, head nodding along with the music, and Stiles knew this part was mostly background, so, lost in the music, he belted it out:
(I'm feeling better ever since you know me)(I was a lonely soul, but that's the old me)(I'm feeling better ever since you know me)(I was a lonely soul, but that's the old me)(I'm feeling better ever since you know me)(I was a lonely soul, but that's the old me)
Derek suddenly turned his head and saw Stiles, now with one whole foot in his bedroom, singing loud enough to be heard over noise-canceling headphones. Stiles' jaw snapped shut, and Derek ripped off his headphones, eyes as big as dinner plates, jaw clenched, and every muscle in his body tense as iron. Stiles quickly flung up his hands and began gesturing madly as he opened his mouth.
"HeyuhI'mreallysorrytoscareyouIjustwalkedinthedoor andyoudidn'tanswerwhenIcalledandIwaswonderingwhere youwereandthenIheardsomethingandIthoughtmaybeyouha dmusiconandIdunno-" "STILES." Derek shouted, his body just as tense. Stiles froze and shut up. The room was silent except for the music still coming from Derek's headphones. "Can you PLEASE just go downstairs." The teen nodded and had already stumbled down the staircase when he heard Derek quickly turn off the piano and head for his door. When Derek finally reached what was considered the living room, Stiles had all of his homework out in front of him on the floor, where he had his face contorted into the concentration of a straight A student. Derek sighed and sat down beside him as Stiles began to rapidly tap his fingers against an open psychology book. "Do you remember the definition of hindsight bias?" "Stiles... it's okay-" "Oh yeah, it's that thing that makes people think they're psychic and shit, like with selective memory or something..." Derek was silent, with his hands folded and elbows on his knees as Stiles scribbled something about overconfidence on his note sheet. "You know... you were really cute when you were singing." Derek said as he dropped his head. Stiles pencil ripped through his paper. Derek quickly got up and murmured something about more paper, but the blushing teen on the couch grabbed his wrist. "Don't... uh." He took a deep breath and let go. "Y-you're an amazing singer... and I... never knew you could play the piano like that..." Derek stared at him for a second before he sat back on the floor laughing. "Um thanks, it's just," he laughed, "no one's really heard me before. I'm usually really private about it, even though I like it a lot. You just got here kind of early, and I uh... I wasn't expecting you for a while..." He trailed off and looked over at a slowly calming Stiles. "You looked so far away," He turned to face Derek's smirk. "What were you thinking about?" This was Derek's turn to fidget, as he struggled to come up with an answer. Inspiration struck him only a second later, he would see if the one who caused this awkward situation could figure it out. "More like who, I would think..." he said as he stared thoughtfully at a crumbling wall. Stiles suddenly felt a jab in his gut. Of course, he should have known this was about Her. Ever since she had been added to Derek's pack, she had a special place in conversation, ignoring everyone except for her beloved leader. She must be the one that made him smile like that, the gorgeous bombshell was always with Derek when he was away from his house. Stiles finally responded to Derek, with a little sadness and the tiniest bit of spite in his voice. "So you and Erica have finally sorted everything out?" Derek whipped his head around and proceeded to display the most confused face Stiles had ever seen on him. " ...You...are the most...unobservant person I have ever known, Stiles." "What?" " Don't you ever look out your window? Or even around you? At pack meetings? School?" Stiles only became more confused. He tilted his head and squinted at the older werewolf. "Okay, I thought we were talking about your love life as opposed to your creepy stalking tenden-." His eyes widened as his jaw dropped in a sudden moment of realization. Derek had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing as his ears turned the tiniest bit red from embarrassment. " But- That- ...YO. You..." He pointed at the others face. "...Like...me?"Derek looked down to the floor again. " Ha, yeah. If uh, you don't mind that..." he glanced up at the teens shocked face with a slight grimace. " Oh Jesu- uh no! No no no! Uh...um. Well. I kinda... uh... I kinda..." The next few words were mumbled into his own chest as he looked down and ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry, but I couldn't hear you, and that's a pretty impressive feat." Derek scooted a few inches closer to Stiles on the floor, and tilted his face up into his. " I ..." He took a deep breath, " I...like...you, um... too...yeah." He pulled his chin up from his chest to look directly into those green eyes. He had never seen them look so open and...were they...no way...nervous? "Well... Mr. Stilinski, would you give a certain wolf the chance to... maybe... take you to a movie? Or something?" He glanced up from the floor to see Stiles hiding a grin behind crossed arms. He then pulled his head up from behind his arms into an almost regal position. "Mr. Hale, I think that you've got more than just a chance from me." Derek's face cracked into the biggest smile Stiles had ever seen on him, and he was barely surprised to notice his face was doing the same thing. Derek's expression changed the tiniest bit, and suddenly he sat up, his face only a few inches away from Stiles'. Then he closed his eyes, and, barely loud enough for Stiles to hear, he sang, gently:
I'm feeling better ever since you know meI was a lonely soul but that's the old meA little wiser now from what you've shown meYeah, I feel againFeel again...
As he sang, he slowly moved his face closer Stiles, and as he finished their foreheads were touching. He opened his eyes to see Stiles staring into his, with a dark, soft brown that he loved so much. That brown was filled with so many thoughts and words and songs, the only thing Derek could think to do was close his eyes, and kiss him. So he leaned forward, closed his eyes, and brought his hand up to hold Stiles' face. Stiles, for the first time in his life, had nothing to say, and as his lips touched Derek's, all he could think to do was wrap his arms around his first boyfriend and smile into his first kiss.
They did eventually break from their embrace, but only after Stiles' dad texted him to inform him he was working late, at around 5. Derek laughed when he saw how long they had sat and talked, kissed, laughed, and held each other on the floor. They began to collect up Stiles' books and notes when his phone rang. "Hello?" " Hey It's Scott, you're not still at Derek's are you?" "Um actually yeah, we, uh, got a lot of stuff done, ya know?" Stiles heard a voice in the background, but continued. "Did you want me to come over or something?" He looked back at Derek, who was trying to look interested in a world history textbook. "No it's fine, but I was just wondering where you were, I thought you were gonna go bowling with us tonight. I mean, you weren't specifically invited, but when I told you about it, I thought you would come, uh, like usual." " OmyGod! I totally forgot! Give me like ten minutes, I'll be right ther-!" "Dude, dude, it's okay! If you're getting stuff done you don't have to come, I know how hard it is to get you to focus." There was more laughing in the background. " Oh, uh yeah, I'll be fine with staying," he said way too fast. Suddenly someone was shouting on the other side of the phone. " We told you, I friggin told you! Hand over that money!" Alison? " Are you serious? That's so not enough proof!" Scott? What? " Here just let me- Stiles! You there?" Derek had looked up from the textbook. " You and Derek were totally just making out right?" " Lydia?! What- no, not... uh, not exactly?" " Boom, there it is! Jackson, dish it out!" " Stiles! Hey! I'll see you tomorrow, alright? You have fun, and bring fifty bucks to school tomorrow. I lost a lot on you." " Um, OK? You too, Scott..." " By the way, Alison had me tell your dad you're staying at my house tonight, and my mom's working late, so yeah, have fun!" Scott had hung up so Stiles turned to face Derek, who was looked very angry but was trying not to laugh. Stiles was still confused. "Did they just...?" "Bet on us? Yep." Stiles grinned and then they were both just straight-out laughing. After a few minutes, Stiles was right next to Derek on the floor again. " But did you hear what he said?" asked Derek. " Your dad's not expecting you home this evening..." Stiles blushed from his scalp to his collarbone, and Derek leaned towards him, a smirk on his face. "So... do you want to pick out a movie upstairs while I order Chinese?"