Stiles wasn't quite sure why but his head felt like it'd just been trampled by a herd of elephants. And come to think of it he was struggling to breathe. Was one of the elephants stood on his chest or something? Jesus Christ. He opened his eyes slowly expecting to be blinded by light but was slightly disappointed that there was only a dull glow. Where was he? No. First things first: fix the breathing problem. He attempted to shift himself onto his side but found himself pinned with his back to the ground. Stiles looked down to his chest and found a hulking mass draped over it. An unconscious, hulking mass also known as Derek Hale.

"Well this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I said that I wouldn't mind him on top of me." Stiles mumbled to himself. He moved the body, which was now beginning to suffocate him, off with a rough push and shuffled backwards to regain his breath. Derek was still alive by the looks of it; he was starting to move around.

"What the-" Derek flung himself to his feet, claws out, face furry and ready to cut a mother up. Stiles scrambled further back to avoid being Derek's next victim. He wasn't scared or anything. Well. Not really. Okay maybe a little but who could blame him? He had an ex-alpha werewolf going all growly four feet away from him.

"Derek! It's cool! Just you and me. I think. Wait... Is that even a good thing? You don't still wanna kill me right? Because that would be a bad thing." Stiles' back was against a wall, he used it as leverage to push himself to his feet. The wolf across the room relaxed his stance, retracted his grizzly bits and looked around. Stiles figured that he should probably do the same.

The room was empty, other than the two occupants, it seemed pretty normal. Four walls, a ceiling and a door. They were all made of wood panels; Stiles thought it looked like the inside of a cabin. It wasn't a particularly big, by Stiles' judgement about ten feet square.

"Are you hurt?"

Stiles looked at Derek, who still looked very unhappy. That wasn't really his fault though, they had just been kidnapped by hunters and dumped wherever they were. "My head feels like it's about to explode, other than that I'm fine. You?"

"I heal, remember?" Derek was clearly not in the mood for exchanging niceties, again kind of understandable. Although they didn't seem to be in any sort of mortal danger. At the minute.

"They do have wolfsbane bullets, remember?" Stiles' head hurt too much to be dealing with Derek's shit.

"I will hurt you." Derek's eyes narrowed on Stiles.

"I wouldn't recommend that. Let's just remember that you're a beta now. The Alpha, who also happens to be my best friend, is a True Alpha. We remember what that is right? Stronger than you. So yeah, you can hurt me but I would hate to be you when he found out." Stiles' heart was thundering, he really hoped Derek wasn't going to call his bluff.

Derek snorted, moving to the door he tried the circular doorknob. He felt a force repel his hand before it even reached it. He tried again, harder this time, and received the same result.

"Having a little trouble there?" Stiles smirked.

Derek gave him a flat look before sighing impatiently. He took a step back and then lunged forward, putting all of his body weight into a punch. It landed on the wooden panelling of the door with a crash. Stiles dove to the side, barely avoiding the flying body of the werewolf. Apparently Derek's little plan didn't go as smoothly as hoped. The door was still completely intact, not even dented, and Derek was writhing on the floor. Not a bad look. Especially the trail of hair that was peeking out from where Derek's shirt had risen. Stiles couldn't think that. No. He was not attracted Derek Hale's perfect body, incredible cheekbones and he most certainly did not want to run his fingers through Derek's permanently in-place hair. At least not whilst he was in a room with a life-long werewolf that may or may not be able to smell attraction. Or lust. Maybe both.

"Okay, so what the hell just happened? I'm guessing that's not normal wood and I have to ask, what was wrong with the doorknob?" Stiles needed to figure out how to get out as fast as possible so that he didn't have to risk getting torn to shred because of teenage hormones.

"Rowan... Wood." Derek was breathing heavily, clearly hurting.

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific than that big man." Stiles was slowly making his way towards the door, not really waiting for an answer, he could probably guess that it had something to do with mountain ash.

Derek regained his breath, "Mountain ash." Bingo. "Rowan wood is where mountain ash comes from. And that doorknob? It's infused with more mountain ash." Derek moved slowly into a crouched position.

"Okay. So for a group of hunters they aren't so smart. I mean, they remember that I'm not a werewolf, right? I can just-" Stiles reached for the handle but as soon as his fingers curled round it he began to spasm.

"Stiles!" Derek dashed across the room and tore Stiles away from the door. The two of them fell to the concrete floor. Stiles was still shaking uncontrollably. Derek moved on top of Stiles, straddling his stomach to stop the shaking as much as possible before cupping the human's face. "Stiles, can you hear me? Stiles? It's Derek. Stiles?" The shaking stopped and Stiles went limp. Derek's eyes went wide and he honed his senses and listened for a pulse in the younger man's body. Silence. His human instincts kicked in and he began pumping on Stiles' chest trying to restart the teen's heart. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

"OWWW MY GOD! WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU?! OW! GET OFF!" Stiles tried to scramble back but instead he winced in pain, "Jesus Christ! I don't have werewolf super healing like you! God dammit! I think you've cracked a rib! What the hell were you doing?!"

"You died!" Derek snapped before standing up and turning his back on the wriggling teen.

"Oh..." Stiles face softened, "Uh... Thanks, I guess."

"The doorknob is electrified as well as infused with mountain ash."

"So they have all bases covered?" Stiles shuffled in a cross-legged position. "You can't break through the walls or door because they're made of rowan wood and I can't because I don't have superhuman strength. I can't use the doorknob because it's electrified and you can't because of more mountain ash."

"Pretty much." Derek turned back to Stiles with a badly hidden look of guilt on his face.

"Looks like we better get comfortable whilst we wait to be rescued. Or killed." Stiles leant forward and tapped the ground in front of him in a gesture of invitation for Derek to sit.

Derek sat down and crossed his legs like Stiles had done. Stiles was pretty sure that he couldn't have looked more uncomfortable if he tried.

"So what now?" Derek asked dejectedly.

Stiles squinted, "What's your favourite colour?"

Derek's jaw fell open slightly, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh! Let me guess: black!"

Derek sighed, "Green."

"Um... So- uh... Derek? I figure since we are stuck in here for the foreseeable future and I need to pee we should probably designate a toilet area." Stiles fidgeted with the pull string on his hoodie whilst looking towards the ground trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Hold it." Derek rolled his eyes.

Stiles threw his arms outwards indignantly, "Dude. Seriously? When a guy's gotta pee, a guy's gotta pee. There is nothing I can do about that."

Derek stared at Stiles with an intensity that didn't help Stiles with his overloaded bladder situation, "If you don't hold it in and stop being a child then I'm going to use your head as a battering ram to break the door down."

Stiles slid down the wall he was leaning on and gave a deflated huff. "I thought we were past the whole physical violence part of our relationship. And by relationship I mean friendship. Because we aren't a thing."

"Stiles, I have superhuman healing and your pathetic rambling is still giving me a headache. Shut. Up." Derek was still sat cross legged in the middle of the box, acting as their prison.

"I talk when I get nervous and I get nervous when I need to pee so I can't help it." Stiles shrugged.

"Get over here."

"No way. You just threatened me for needing to pee. For all I know you want to use me as your new chew toy." Stiles was shaking his head whilst turning down the corners of his mouth to make a frowning face which ended up looking more like a fish.

"I need something to lean on, now get over here."

"Hmm." Stiles wasn't convinced, but nevertheless, he crawled over to where Derek was and sat face to face with the block of muscle that posed as a werewolf. "Oh my-" Stiles flailed wildly as Derek reached over and turned him. Still sat down Stiles now had his back to Derek and was beginning to fear for his life when he felt a wall of warmth press against him.

Derek was using Stiles' back as a personal backrest. Probably because he couldn't touch the walls, Stiles wasn't totally sure why he wouldn't just lie down but he wasn't going to complain. He hated to admit it but he definitely had a tiny- major- crush on the older man.

"Knock, knock."

"What?" Stiles was suddenly very confused as to what was going on.

"Knock. Knock." Derek was emphasising every sound as if Stiles was some sort of elderly person who was hard of hearing as well as unable to understand English.

"Okay... Who's there?" Stiles was going to play along but he wasn't sure how he felt about this.

"Interrupting werewolf."

Stiles sighed, he knew exactly where this was going and he was already so done with it. "Interrupting were-"

"Hhhooowwwwwwllllllll" Derek started chuckling to himself and Stiles couldn't help but to laugh along. Derek's little howl reminded Stiles of the time that they were at the school and Scott was trying to call Peter, although they didn't know that at the time, to them with the howl. And it sucked. Royally.

"That was a terrible joke by the way." Probably the first and last joke he'd ever hear from Derek.

"Couldn't have been that bad, you laughed."

"Yeah, I laughed at how bad it was." Stiles shook his head at how ridiculous this entire situation was. He was trapped in a room with attractive werewolf, Derek Hale, and the grumpiest wolf on Earth was cracking jokes.

"Okay, how about this one; what's a werewolf's favourite holiday?" Derek looked over his shoulder at Stiles.

"I don't know, Derek. Why don't you tell me?" Stiles was trying to ooze sarcasm to prove how much he hated these jokes.

"Howl-oween. Haha! Get it? Halloween, Howl-oween." Derek shook his head, clearly suffering from oxygen deficiency to be finding these jokes funny.

"Yes Derek. I understand." Stiles dropped his head into his hands. He didn't know what was worse, Derek's jokes or the fact that Derek was making jokes.

"I don't hate you." Derek's voice was soft.

"I know that, man." This experience was just getting weirder by the second.

"I'm just- I know I can be rough with you but it's because you're human. You can't heal like everyone else, you can't fight. You're breakable." Derek was strangely still, Stiles could tell he was uncomfortable.

"Dude," Stiles round Derek so that they were looking at each other, "I get it. I'm not as durable as the rest of the pack. I'm going to get hurt from time to time. But that's what I get for running with a pack of wolves, it's not down to you to toughen me up. You're not the Alpha anymore."

"If anything happened I would never forget myself." Derek's eyes dropped to the ground.

"I blamed myself when my Mom died ya'know." Stiles laid on his side and rested his weight on his forearm. "She died of cancer but I still blamed myself. I thought that if I'd been better... We can't blame ourselves for what happens to other people. You know that right?" Stiles didn't have superhuman senses to know that Derek felt guilty.

"What if we did something and if we hadn't done it something terrible wouldn't have happened?" Derek's face drew a grim look.

"Derek, most people think that there are two types of people that go into a crucible; those who grow stronger from the experience, who survive; and those who die. But there's a third type; the ones who learn to love the fire. Those who choose to stay in their crucible because it's easier to embrace the pain when it's the only thing you know anymore." Derek looked up, his hazel eyes piercing Stiles' soul. "Derek, you have to let go and stop blaming yourself or it is gonna to kill you."

Derek didn't say anything, he just leant forward slowly. Stiles could feel the bigger man's breath warm his face, he was holding his own. His heartbeat racing. Was Derek going to kiss him? Was this real? He had to be dreaming? Holy shit this was totally happening. Stiles started to lean towards Derek, lips centimetres apart when they both flinched back.

Gunshots.

Derek was on his feet by the door, ready to pounce. Stiles was right behind him. If someone was going to get hurt it was sure as shit going to be neither of them. The gunshots continued. Thuds spreading the noise out. Everything went quiet. Stiles felt Derek tense in front of him. Someone must have been coming towards the door. Stiles heard it now. Someone was putting a key in the lock. There was clicking as the key turned. And the door slowly swung open.

Stiles and Derek were blinded by the light that flooded the room. They couldn't make out anything more than a silhouette.

"Stiles! Derek! You're alive!" It was Scott! He'd found them! Stiles knew they were friends for a reason and this was one of many. "Wait. Were you two alone in here the entire time?"

"Yeah, why?" Stiles didn't see his point.

"And you didn't kill each other?" Stiles' eyes had adjusted now and he could make out Scott's genuinely surprised face.

"Well I nearly killed Derek but I figured that I'd be kind." Stiles stood up straight and gave his best sheriff nod. He'd learnt quite a bit off his Dad.

"Shut up, Stiles." Derek grabbed his arm and pulled him out past Scott and towards a sleek black car which happened to be Derek's Camaro. Stiles shuddered when he realised that Scott must have driven it there. He could only see that conversation ending messily. Derek tore him from his thoughts by shoving him against the side of the car and locking his lips over Stiles'.

Stiles' mind went blank. All he could think of was the heat of the kiss. The rasp of Derek's stubble over his chin. The way Derek's t-shirt felt as Stiles' grasped it to pull the muscular man closer. Stiles opened his mouth slightly to lick out with his tongue. He tasted Derek's lip and withdrew it only to be pursued by Derek's own tongue. They fought a little war for dominance before Stiles gave up, totally content with tasting Derek at all. He still couldn't believe this was happening when he felt Derek's thigh press against his groin. He instantly felt his dick twitch as he began hardening. This was so happening. First things first though. Stiles separated their mouths and smiled at the longing noise he heard escape Derek's throat.

"This is totally going to continue shortly, but I still need to pee."

Fin.