Chapter Three

"Stiles."

The five pencils he'd managed to stack collapsed to the table and began rolling in all directions when he flinched. Lifting his head, Stiles saw his dad standing on the other side of the desk, watching the pencils with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah? What's up, dad?" Stiles asked.

The sheriff shook his head. "I've got some people in my office, and one of them says he might know you."

Stiles slowly got up and followed his dad toward the office. "Ooookay," he said slowly. "Is it a bad kind of person? Am I gonna be in trouble?"

His dad gave a small snort. "That depends entirely on the next few seconds."

The office door opened and Stiles walked inside. Derek and Laura Hale looked up at him from their seats and Stiles took a hurried step backward. His back collided with the wall next to the door but he barely felt it.

Holy shit. Derek Hale was in his dad's office.

Holy shit. Derek Hale told his dad he knew Stiles.

Holy shit. Why?!

Sheriff Stilinski lifted a shoulder. "I assume you recognize him then."

Laura was glancing between her brother and Stiles, but Derek's eyes never left Stiles' and therefore Stiles never looked away from him either.

"Deputy," Derek started, a faint blush coloring his cheeks, "Man..bat...inski?"

What? Depu-OH

Stiles' eyes widened. "Oh my god." He was sure his face was on fire. "Oh my god, you know me by my Twitter. This is so embarrassing." He tried to hide his face with his hands and arms but ended up just flailing and smacking a knickknack from the shelf next to him. Luckily it didn't break.

Laura lifted an eyebrow. "Well I don't," she said. "Please, inform me."

Stiles glanced at her. "I-I-Um."

This was great, right? Derek, his soul mate, recognized him from their meager interactions online. But those interactions hadn't been exactly nice or beneficial toward a relationship. He wanted Derek to like him, not think he was annoying!

"Thank you," Derek said without responding to his sister or moving his eyes from Stiles, "for trying to help me."

Well that was...much nicer than he'd been on the computer. Stiles felt his heart rate slowing at last and dropped his arms. Maybe being recognized was a good thing?

Derek's expression twisted like he was fighting his words. "I appreciate it, but you shouldn't do it again." Anger sparked in Stiles' gut. "You made yourself a target in my fight. Internet hate can easily become real life violence. This is my problem and I'll be the one who deals with it."

And the anger was gone. Derek had told him to knock it off because he'd been worried for him. Despite himself, Stiles felt his heart melt a bit.

"It's not a problem," Stiles insisted, his voice quieter than he'd intended. He was louder the next time he spoke. "They were being shitty to you and I had a lot of change lying around - plenty to give two cents to a few people."

The Sheriff grinned like he wanted to laugh but didn't, and then suddenly switched his expression to one of curiosity. "For the uninformed: What happened on the internet that you got involved in?"

Stiles shot a glance at his dad before looking back at Derek when the actor began speaking.

"You already know. It's the reason that girl jumped me, and why we're in town at all," he said.

"Ah, right, your Soul Stamp got revealed and fans keep trying to prove theirs' match yours." He gave Stiles a brief look of pride. "And Stiles let 'em have it." He shook his head. "Since it's already out there, I'll ask, but don't feel you have to answer. I don't read trash mags or gossip sights, but I know people are imitating your Stamp. What's it look like?"

Stiles' heartbeat picked up again. Derek seemed to contemplate the question for a moment, then said, "A paw print."

Now the sheriff looked pensive. "A paw print?"

"A wolf paw," Stiles clarified absently, watching Derek for a reaction. His father looked at him sharply but Stiles didn't return the gaze.

"A wolf paw," the sheriff repeated slowly after several long seconds. "That's...interesting."

Now Laura decided she'd been quiet too long. "I think it's great that you two boys have met," she said, drawing Stiles' attention away from Derek at last. "You help him out on twitter, where anyone could be from anywhere, and we just happen to show up in town and meet you. Sounds like fate to me." She winked at him.

Derek growled at her. There really was no other word for it. She looked completely unrepentant. She also had no idea how right she was.

Stiles laughed weakly. "Yeah. Fate." He glanced at his dad, who had both eyebrows raised, and shook his head.

If he told Derek they were fated right now, Derek would switch from thanking him to hating him in two seconds flat. Stiles still had no idea how he was supposed to confess without seeming like a fake. He needed more time!

The sheriff shook his head and let out a sigh. "Well, if there's nothing else you need me for, I don't wanna throw you out, but I would like my office back."

Laura nodded and stood up, prompting Derek to do the same. And wow, he was taller than Stiles had expected.

"Thank you for your help, Jan," she said, pronouncing Stiles' father's name with fair pronunciation.

Stiles led them out of the station in what felt like a daze. When they were outside, Laura turned to face him.

"And thank you for defending my brother's honor," she said to him with a smile. "You didn't have to."

Stiles rubbed the back of his head. "Like I said, it's not a problem. You could say I had a personal reason for jumping in."

Now Laura looked sad. "Did your Stamp get revealed?"

"No," Derek answered for him. Stiles turned wide eyes on him. How did he know? Derek shifted uncomfortably. "You didn't mention it when you were responding to my fans. I just assumed."

Stiles couldn't help the small smile that lifted his lips or the warm feeling spreading through his chest. Derek had read all his responses? He remembered what they said? Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to tell him they shared a mark right now. Maybe now was the moment.

"Wow, Der," Laura teased. "I know I said he was cute, but I didn't think you'd actually do anything about it. When did you read his twitter page? Last night?"

"Shut up, Laura," Derek responded with a scowl.

The warm feeling had retreated and Stiles idly scratched his face.

"Uh, yeah, no," he said. "No my Stamp's still a...a secret..." But if they asked, he'd strip right here in the parking lot outside the station in broad daylight. "I just...I research. I research a lot of stuff. And once I started seeing how bad it was when Soul Stamps got revealed on large scales...I couldn't just not say something." He managed a grin. "Once I start talking, it's kinda hard to shut me up. Just ask Scott, he's my best friend. He's nearly smothered me a few times because I wouldn't stop."

Derek said, "I don't mind." Laura snorted and covered her mouth.

He didn't mind? He'd read Stiles' twitter, seen him drop an entire tray of dishes, and actually had a conversation with Stiles and he didn't mind? Now Stiles was grinning for real.

"Spend some more time with me. You'll get there," he teased.

Please spend more time with me, he begged inwardly.

Laura glanced between them before speaking. "Well, Derek. I'm going back to the hotel to call your publicist. I'll see you there?"

For a moment, Derek hesitated. He looked from Stiles, who did his best to seem open but not needy, to his sister, with her raised eyebrow, and back again. Then he frowned and shook his head with a heaving sigh. "No. I'll come with you."

Stiles' heart sank. He hunched his shoulders briefly. "Yeah I-uh-I gotta get back to-Someone probably needs something delivered or something so...I'll, uh, I'll see you on twitter. Maybe." He tilted his head and squinted for a second, then shook his head. "Yeah. I'm gonna-"

And then he spun on his heel and scurried inside with his tail between his legs.

What had he been expecting, exactly? Derek was in hiding, for all intents and purposes. Why would he want to hang out with a guy he barely knew from twitter and risk getting recognized again? Still, Stiles felt like he'd missed his big moment. Now that someone knew Derek was in town, he and Laura would probably leave by tomorrow, and Stiles would lose his chance to reveal himself. He wasn't going to tell Derek over twitter. He'd already made his opinion on that clear. But maybe, maybe they could keep talking on twitter. Maybe they'd become good friends. Then Stiles could invite Derek back to Beacon Hills and confess then.

Maybe?

...

...

Laura was pacing the hotel room as she spoke on the phone. "I see."

Derek was glad his sister was with him sometimes. It meant he could let her deal with his publicist and his manager and his agent.

"Well you'd better. Coming back to Beacon Hills was your idea in the first place."

Other times he wished she wasn't with him. Like when she embarrassed him front of people he wanted to date. Er. Not date. But people who were attractive and genuine and who he would date if he wasn't waiting for his soul mate.

Derek was sitting at the room's desk, a book open in his hands but not reading. He was remembering. The small smile on Stiles' face when Derek had talked about twitter. His teasing grin. The way he seemed to vibrate with energy when he spoke. Derek usually hated overly talkative people, but something about Stiles seemed to empower him instead of drain him.

All Derek had wanted was to spend the afternoon with him. According to google, the Presto Ice Cream Shoppe and Pizza Parlor was still open even after all these years. They served some of the best ice cream and pizza Derek had tasted on this side of the country. He would've loved to take Stiles, see if Stiles got excited watching them make the ice cream right in front of you. Or if Stiles had already been, Derek would've been happy just sharing the experience with him. Or maybe bowling. Derek had been pretty good at bowling when he was a kid, though he thought he might end up throwing the ball through the floor instead of the pins these days. But he didn't imagine Stiles would be much better. It would've been...fun. Derek could use some fun.

He closed the book and sighed. He was thinking about date ideas with Stiles. It was why he'd gone back to the hotel with Laura. Derek didn't want to date someone only to find his Soul Stamp's match later and have to hurt his girlfriend or boyfriend. Dating other people wasn't odd. It happened pretty frequently. People even married without matching Stamps. But the deepest, truest love would come when you found your match, and after enough failed relationships, Derek wanted that. He wouldn't be the one to string Stiles along, waiting until just the right moment to drop him like a rock.

Still, some good had come of today. Short as it was, the conversation with Stiles had given Derek the conviction he needed to get back to filming his next movie.

Laura's cell phone clattered onto the desk next to him. She put her hands on her hips. "We've got tickets on the 8 PM flight tonight," she said. "Miss 'Publisher of the Year' is probably gonna break down in tears when she sees you, but Gillian just apologized and wished us luck."

Gillian had been Derek's manager almost ever since he became an actor. She'd never let him down before - always making sure venues served food he liked and skillfully balancing Derek's life so he could keep doing the job he loved. It was probably Gillian who got them a plane ticket on such short notice.

Derek glanced out the window. The view wasn't anything to look at really. Beacon Hills wasn't either. But still, Derek didn't really want to leave, even though he really wanted to get back to filming.

"Aww. You look like a lovesick puppy," Laura cooed teasingly, making Derek focus back on his book. "Don't worry, I'm sure Stiles would be more than happy to continue talking to you on twitter. So don't pine for him too hard, baby brother."

Derek refused to answer her. Mostly because he knew he was pining and no matter what he said, it would only make her tease him more.

...

...

Stiles had expected "the talk" so he wasn't surprised when his dad sat down across from him that night during dinner and, instead of eating, gave him an even stare. Stiles pushed his mashed potatoes around on his plate and didn't meet his eyes.

"So," the sheriff began. "A wolf paw."

"Yep."

The sheriff hummed. "Now correct me if I'm making too big a jump here, but is Derek Hale your soul mate?"

Stiles choked on air, not expecting his dad to jump straight to the point. He pushed his mashed potatoes around more furiously.

"No," he said quickly. "And even if he was, it doesn't matter. He's a famous action star and I'm still in college. He lives in L.A. and I live in Beacon Hills. He donates to charities and the closest thing to charity I do is play gofer at the station and that's not even charity because you pay me for it," he ranted. "He's twenty-six an I'm twenty. He's been hounded by paparazzi and people from all over the world about matching his Soul Stamp so even if we were a match he wouldn't believe me when I told him."

For a moment there was quiet except for Stiles' quiet pants while he slowly laid his fork down on the table. Then the sheriff shifted back in his seat and crossed his arms.

"That's a yes then." He let out a huff. "So I understand why you wouldn't say anything over the internet, what with it being the internet and all, but you had a pretty good opportunity to talk to him this morning at the station. Why not tell him then?"

Stiles scoffed and lifted his eyes from his mushed dinner. "Didn't you hear me? You know what people are doing right now? Everyone and their cousin is claiming to have a matching Stamp." He scowled. "I've been on his twitter, dad. They've painted matching Stamps and come up with stories about them and tried to guilt or blackmail him into dating them. I don't wanna be just another twitter stalker to him."

The sheriff shook his head and took a bite of the chicken Stiles had cooked for dinner. Stiles didn't really have an appetite and spent the quiet time cutting his meat into smaller and smaller pieces and then stirring them into the potatoes.

Now his father sighed. "Look, the only firsthand experience I have with soul mates is when I met your mother," he said. "But I know that, even when we didn't really know each other, we could tell there was just something about us. I knew, from the moment I laid eyes on her, that she was...different. To me at least. There was something that drew me to her. Does that sound something like what you feel when you see Derek?"

Stiles glanced up at his dad from his hunched position. The sheriff was looking right back at him. He took Stiles' attention as the yes it was.

"Now if Derek Hale is your soul mate, then I can't imagine that he isn't feeling at least something of the same." He rubbed his hands together once and set them on the table. "Him being in town is your best opportunity to tell him the truth and have it seem genuine. Remember, there's no time like the present, Stiles. Soul mates aren't something you procrastinate on."

It felt almost like Stiles' Soul Stamp was tugging at him right along with his father's words. "Dad."

The sheriff smiled. "I'll put your leftovers away. Go."

Stiles was up and out the door before his chair finished hitting the ground.

...

...

Getting on to a plane was a hassle. You had to stand in line to have your luggage weighed and checked in and get your ticket. Then you had to walk to the boarding gates. Then you had to pass your luggage through a scanner and walk through a metal detector. Then you had to wander through little stores and find the waiting area for your gate. And when it was time to board you had to stand in line while everyone got their tickets checked. And even once you were on the plane it wasn't smooth sailing because you had to wait to get passed people who had too many carry ons or who couldn't find their seat. Then you had to go through the whole processes of getting off the plane once you landed.

Derek hated flying.

Once their luggage had been checked and they had their boarding passes, Laura grabbed Derek by the arm and led him away from the counter. She pat his arm, knowing how much he hated all of this.

"Just think. Soon we'll be in L.A. and you can brood around the house for awhile and go film your movie and soon it'll be like this whole thing never happened."

Derek scoffed. "Laura, it's the internet. It'll pop back up. Maybe not for a few months or a year, but it'll happen."

"And you can't let it get you down," Laura responded fluidly. "Just treat it like any old story. You started dating a new starlet. You broke up with a boyfriend. You were cast in a movie but got into a verbal fight with the director and she cut you out." She grinned when Derek cast her a scandalized look at her fake headlines. "The point it, whether the information is true or not, you just have to mire through it. You'll come out fine on the other side."

Derek eyed the line of people waiting to get their carry ons scanned with disdain. "I wish I was already through the other side of this, at least."

Just as Laura opened her mouth, they heard a gasped "Dere-wait!" and turned to see Stiles stumble to a stop, nearly face planting on the rough carpet floor of the airport.

Derek couldn't process what he was seeing. Stiles had his hands on his knees, gasping in air with flushed red cheeks. "What are you doing here?" Did he run here?

Stiles shook his head and swallowed, with what looked like difficulty. He probably needed some water.

"I...I tried the hotel but th...they said...you already left...I thought I missed...I have to...Holy shit I'm out of shape," he panted. Stiles gulped in another deep breath and held it for a few seconds. That seemed to help because when he let it out, his breathing was more even and he could stand upright, though his cheeks were still red and he looked a bit shaky. "I have to tell you something reallyreally important. Like lifechangingmegahugelyimportant. But I know what your life's been like recently and I don't want to make it more difficult and Iknowyou'renotgonnabelievemewhenIsayit but I've gotta at least try because you don't procrastinate on these things." He paused. "Or so my dad says."

It felt like Derek had missed something big but then again not. Stiles was talking so fast his words blurred together. He was obviously nervous but since Derek had no idea why he couldn't do anything to help. Laura still had hold of his arm while his carry on was held in his free hand, so he couldn't even reach out to him.

Laura laughed quietly. "Stiles, that was cute and all...but I didn't catch half of what you were saying," she told him, not unkindly. "Maybe slow down just a tad and try that again."

Stiles let out an aggravated huff and ran his hands through his hair. "Try it a-It's hard enough the first time!" With a huge sigh, he shook his head. "Screw it. Just-"

Without finishing his sentence or pausing, Stiles reached behind his head and pulled both of his shirts off in one swift motion. Laura gasped and shifted, and Derek knew she was fighting trying to cover Stiles back up. Derek was confused too. Who starts stripping in the middle of an airport and what the hell did that have to do with why Stiles chased them down?

Oh.

Oh.

There, on Stiles' chest, just below the collarbone on the right side, was a Soul Stamp. It was slightly uneven and the pads of the paw were reaching down toward his heart.

For a heart wrenching moment, Derek felt anger boil up inside of him. Stiles had defended him against the people who were posting about matching his Soul Stamp. He'd been actively against it. And now he was doing it too? Derek had thought better of him.

Then he really looked. The toe that reached furthest down, slightly ahead of the others, was missing a claw. Stiles' Stamp only had three claws. It was imperfect. It was perfect.

Stiles was panting again, but from a different sort of adrenaline, and he looked more nervous than Derek had ever seen him. Derek dropped his bag and stepped forward, pulling out of Laura's now loose hold. His hand reached out and Stiles tensed. With a frown, Derek ran his fingers over the Soul Stamp. It didn't move or smear or crack. It wasn't paint or a tattoo. But Derek knew all of that. He knew before he touched it.

Deputy Manbatinski. Wait til the paparazzi got hold of that one.

"Derek?" Stiles said, voice wavering and quiet. He flinched minutely when Derek's eyes snapped up to his. "My...Soul Stamp matches yours," he said needlessly. "But I didn't know how to tell you."

Derek ran his eyes over Stiles' face. His chest felt light. He'd been berating himself for wanting to date Stiles because he was waiting for his soul mate, and it turned out Stiles was his soul mate.

"This was fine," Derek said before leaning in and capturing Stiles' lips in a kiss that had the shorter male gasping in surprise and dropping his shirts.

...

...

Epilogue to come.