Derek watches as Braeden packs. He can't really force himself to feel sad that she's leaving. It's not that he doesn't like her but it's not fair with either of them to try to keep their relationship. "You know you don't have to leave right now. Stay the night, you can leave tomorrow morning" Braeden looks at him and gives a sad smile, putting her gun on her bag. He smells something akin to anguish coming from her, not being able to stop himself thinking it is for what they never were "I'm serious. You can even have the bed."

Closing her bag Braeden looks up. "It's okay, Derek. I'm going tonight. It's better this way." She walks up to Derek and gives him a kiss on his cheek "I'll never forget our time together but it's time for me to move on. And I know you can never love me because your heart belongs to another" Derek's ready to argue but she doesn't give him time to "There's no need for you to say anything. I don't know for sure who has your heart, but I know that whoever it is they better deserve you." She picks up her things and walks to the door. "Goodbye, Derek."

The door closes and Derek looks around the apartment. After a couple of seconds he realizes that he's not looking for signs of Braeden, he is looking for signs of Stiles. Shaking his head he goes to the kitchen to make some coffee. His eyes fall on Stiles cup and without really thinking takes his phone out.

From: Derek

7:40 PM

Braeden just came to the loft and broke up with me. Said we would never work out.

Giving up his coffee, Derek walked to his bed and laid down, his head on the pillow that still smelled like Stiles and his phone on the pillow next to him. He takes a moment to think about how he looks lovesick just waiting for an answer. A minute passes and Derek can't stay laying, so he gets up and walks to his couch. He looks at it for a second before deciding he doesn't where it is, so he carries it to the other side of the living room looking at the rest of the furniture before moving the coffee table closer to the couch.

From Stiles

7:45 PM

Shit, man. R u ok?

Derek looks at Stiles text, sits on the couch he just moved and reaches for the remote control. Turning on the tv he logs on Netflix.

From Derek

7:46 PM

I'm fine. Was thinking of breaking up with her for a while. I can't give her what she wants and she's not really good for me.

7:46 PM

Did you get home ok?

From Stiles

7:46 PM

It's hard anyway

7:46 PM

Scott and I got into a fight

7:47 PM

He can't understand how close we've gotten

From Derek

7:48 PM

He said something like that to me too. We were talking when the spell exploded.

From Stiles

7:50 PM

He's gonna have to deal w it.

7:50 PM

Can we stop talking about Scott and talk about how awesome I was w the spell today?

Finally choosing to watch House, Derek gets comfortable on the couch, silently praising himself for the perfect placement he had chosen for the furniture.

From Derek

7:52 PM

Well, if you want to talk about him you know you can talk to me, right?

7:53 PM

Yes, Stiles, you were amazing.

From Stiles

7:54 PM

I don't really want to talk about him. But I may be about to do something stupid.

Derek pauses the episode he was only half watching so can give Stiles his full attention. He calls the younger boy and the phone barely rings once before Stiles picks up. "Something stupid how?"

"Nothing that's going to get me killed" Derek let's out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding "Hopefully I won't get hurt at all" Derek looks at his phone, wondering if Stiles can feel the glare. He takes a deep breath before talking.

"Hopefully? What are you doing, Stiles?" He hears Stiles hesitation from the other side of the line and wishes he was close to the boy so he could smell what he was feeling. Just so he could have some clue about what he was planning on doing. Giving up the idea of having his question answered he tries to keep the worry from his voice, even though he knows it's too late "Okay, just tell me if it's something dangerous or something I can help you with."

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna get hurt. It's just something I've been meaning to do for a while and the fight with Scott finally gave the courage I needed to do it." The hesitation hasn't left the boy's voice. "Depending on how it goes I'll go see you so you can smell me and touch me to feel that I'm okay like the wolf you are, ok?"

"You better" Stiles hangs up without saying anything else and Derek feels the worry grow in his chest. What the hell was Stiles going to do?

It's after 10 PM when Stiles opens the door to the loft, with a key Derek still doesn't know when he had made, walks up to the couch and sits next to Derek who pauses the show still playing on his tv. They stay like that for a couple of minutes, Derek just waiting for Stiles to explain why he was smelling like anxiety and tears. "So... I just broke up with Malia." Stiles' voice sounds rugged when he finally speaks, he clears his throat before continuing. "Am I even allowed to feel like shit right now?" He turns to look at Derek, his eyes shining with unshed tears "I'm the one who broke up with her. Damn, I don't think I even wanted to date her in the first place. I just did it because..." He gets up and starts pacing, his hands going through his hair every few seconds. "She was my first just like I was hers. Even though sometimes I question if that decision was 100% mine." He sits on the coffee table and Derek has to hold himself not to complain about it. The table doesn't match the loft anyway. "I was her first. Her first everything, actually, and it felt like an obligation being with her. Or at least give it a try." Stiles gets up again and goes back to pacing. "I'll sound like an ass, and honestly I feel very much like one, but it felt good to have someone so much more messed up then I so close. It made me feel like I wasn't so bad. Having someone I could fix made easier not to think about what was messed up with me."

Derek just looks at the boy pacing I'm front of him, letting him vent before commenting anything. "Scott probably knows by now and I know he will call to ask why I did it" Stiles sits back on the couch, head thrown back "I don't feel like he's going to understand breaking up with her. His relationships always feel so easy, he meets the girl, falls in love and they fall in love with him. It makes everything seem so simple. I don't think I've ever been in love, not even with Lydia. What I felt for her was a infatuation, the idea of this beautiful, popular girl being with me was tempting, she looked perfect in every way. I won't lie, that was over as soon as she brought Jackson back. How could I stand between a love like that?" Stiles turns to look at Derek, his eyes showing all the emotions he was feeling. "I'm sounding crazy aren't I?"

Derek stays silent a bit longer, waiting to see if Stiles wanted to say something more. When the younger man said nothing he started talking. "You're not sounding crazy, and I happen to agree with you breaking up with Malia. You never smelled happy around her and it always felt like you were with her to fix her, help this girl to fit in your world. About Lydia I can't really say anything, you are the only one who would know if you were in love with her. But when you talk about her it's like you are talking about this perfect woman who would change the way other people looked at you. Or that being with her would fix whatever you thought was wrong with you. That actually sounds a lot like what I felt for Kate, and we both know how that ended." Stiles looks ready to complain, and Derek feels like he should explain himself "I'm not saying she's like Kate, I'm saying what I felt for her sounds like the same thing you felt for Lydia."

Stiles looks at Derek in silence and Derek prays that Stiles didn't misunderstand him. "First I just gotta say how much of a creeper you sound like when you say stuff like 'You never smelt happy around her' and I guess it makes sense." Stiles gets up and sits back in the coffee table, looking deep into Derek's eyes "You don't have to answer but... How did you meet Kate? She looked older than you. How did the two of you ended up dating?"

Derek gives him a small smile and gets up "It's okay, even though I haven't really talked about it... Well, except for that time you barged in here demanding that I explained to you how did Kate know so much about my family" He opens a cabinet in the kitchen and takes two bottles of wine from it. "I honestly haven't talked about all that mess. First I was grieving" He opens another cabinet and takes out two wine glasses "Then I kept wondering how was I going to explain to Laura that our family was dead because of me?" He walks back to the living room, sitting on the couch, in front of Stiles. "Then it had been too long and there wasn't a point in telling and reopening old wounds" Derek opens one of the wine bottles and looks back at Stiles "There are only two ways for this conversation to work, one would be with a lot of sweets and the second one is with alcohol. I don't have sweets, not even ice cream, so alcohol it is." He pours the wine in one of the glasses and hands it to Stiles his face serious "Don't tell the Sheriff that I gave his underage son alcohol. The man already thinks I'm a criminal. Less then he used to, but still a criminal"

Stiles gives him a big smiles and takes a sip "Shit, this tastes good" He sips again and watches as Derek opens the other bottle and pours in the other cup. "I thought alcohol didn't work on wolves. I figured it had something to do with how fast your liver filters things" Stiles gets up from the coffee table and sits on the couch, one of his legs under him, the other one hanging to the side, his back to the arm of the couch. Derek moves and mirrors his position.

"Well, we don't really feel the effects of it." Derek takes another sip "But there is a special kind of wolfsbane that can be used in the fermentation of wine. It leaves a slightly bitter taste, and it can give humans a mild poisoning, but for werewolves it just slows our metabolism. Well, enough that we can get drunk, but not too drunk." Stiles nods, drinking again "Now, Kate" Derek drinks the rest of his wine and refills his glass "I met her when I was 16. About a year after Paige. I was walking through the reserve one night when I heard someone asking for help. I ran towards the voice and found her on the ground. She had her hand around her ankle and she was bleeding. Honestly she looked beautiful. I carried her to her car and drove her to the hospital. She kept talking about how strong I was, and why was someone my age walking around the preserve at night." Stiles looks at him unblinking. He would drink from his glass but never take his eyes from Derek. "After that night I started seeing her everywhere. I felt like it was the world's way of telling me it was time to move on. So I promised myself that next time I saw her I would ask her out. Two days later I was playing basketball with my friends and she walked by. I ran after her and asked if she wanted to go out. And she said yes."

Stiles reaches out and touches Derek's knee. "It must have felt amazing. Having this older woman agreeing to go out with you." Derek touches Stiles hand and nods. He refills Stiles cup, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the intensity of Stile's stare. "I mean, I know what she did, but at the time, when she looked at you and said yes... You must have felt like you could take over the world."

"I remember getting home and wanting to tell everyone about my date. But I didn't. My mom was talking to Laura about how it wasn't a good idea to take this college boy to prom because we knew nothing about him, and that he could be wanting to use her. I got scared and didn't tell my mom. If I could go back..." Derek goes to take another sip and realizes his glass is empty, so he refills it "She was wrong about Laura's date. He's actually the one who helped us after the fire. He and Laura didn't work because she was broken and had a little brother who spent 4 months without speaking glued to her on top of everything. He helped us going to New York, finding a place to live. He stayed around for about a year, but they ended up breaking up." Derek looks down at the glass on his hand and he feels like throwing it against the wall. "The second time I went out with Kate we went to the rock, you know the make out place? I don't even remember much of it. One second we were making out on the front seat and the next we were in the back seat and she was riding me. The next day I was floating. I had lost my virginity to this beautiful older woman, I was the king of the world" Derek fills his glass again and notices how light the bottle already is "There isn't much to say after that. A month later I was getting home to a burnt out house and no family."

Stiles gets up and makes his way around the couch. Derek follows him with his eyes, moving only his head. "I'm gonna hug you now, I'm gonna hug you tight until you feel how sorry I am that all this happened to you." Derek feels Stiles arms around him. It's warm, tight, Stiles' smell comforts his wolf and he feels, for the first time in a long time, that he's home. "I'm so sorry that you never told anyone about everything that happened between you and Kate, I'm sorry you had to go through all that after everything that happened to Paige."

Derek holds on to Stiles' arms, letting his guard down, feeling the heat coming from Stiles' body. They stay like that for a few minutes, somewhere along the way Stiles lowered his head, so his cheek is resting against Derek's hair and everything feels calm. Stiles and Derek's breath is synchronized and it felt like nothing could disturb their peace. And just as Derek felt like he could fall asleep in Stiles' arms he hears Stiles' phone ringing. Even though Stiles knows it is Scott he seems reluctant to let go of Derek. The phone stops ringing but the moment is broken, so Stiles straightens up and walks to the other side of the couch, picking up his cell and his glass before sitting down, and Derek feels slightly awkward about how awkward things aren't.

Stiles calls Scott back and Derek gets up to find them something to eat. He focuses on the sounds outside not to hear their talk. He stays in the kitchen until he hears Stiles hanging up and getting out of the couch. He picks up two other bottles of wine and starts to walk back to the living room when Stiles enters the kitchen. "Hey, where do you keep your music? I want to listen to something different" Derek smiles at Stiles and goes back to the living room. He picks up his phone and hands it to Stiles.

Stiles sits on the couch and Derek follows him, and they sit on the same positions they were before "My mom used to love having albums. We had shelves upon shelves filled with them in the house. Some even survived the fire. Laura and I put them on the vault, I was planning on going there and bringing them here, but there was never the time" Derek grabs his glass of wine and a couple of pretzels "Did you find anything you'd like to hear?

Derek can't read Stiles expression when he looks up "You have the most beautiful, random music taste I've ever seen and it is amazing!" He grabs a few pretzels and keeps going through Derek's music "You have Folk music, you have top 40 music, you have Rock, Hugh Laurie's albums, you even have RDJ's album in here." Stiles puts the pretzels on his mouth, looks at them weirdly, shrugs and keeps going through the songs "A lot of Adele songs. Although I'm not really sure that surprises me, since they are all good brooding songs" Derek gives him a look and grabs some chips "What? You're gonna tell me you didn't brood when we met? Honestly? I mean, you were always standing alone, positioned in dark places. Damn you went to a cemetery at night to recruit Isaac!" Derek opens his mouth, ready to disagree "You have got to be kidding me, you have Miley Cyrus songs here? Seriously, Derek?"

Derek feels his skin getting hot and he knows he is blushing. "Can I blame that one on Cora and just leave it be?" Stiles keeps looking him wide-eyed, mouth hangging open and he knows the younger man won't let it go "Okay, for the record, it's only three songs, none of them are from the Hannah Montana era, even though I don't really think that is a plus in this situation" He says the last part mostly to himself "And I don't think listening to Miley is any worse than listening to Lady Gaga"

The moment the words are out of Derek's mouth he regrets saying them. Stiles jumps from the couch and reaches for the cable, to connect the phone. His face is glowing with joy. "Lady Gaga, Derek? You do know I'll never let you live this down, right? I promise you I'll only make fun of you when we're alone, but damn, Miley and Lady Gaga is too much for me. Do you have any more divas here? Am I going to find Mariah Carey and Madonna songs? Do you sing Believe in the shower? Will I find you singing My Heart Will Go On one of this days?" Stiles finishes plugging the phone and Derek hears the familiar beat of Alejandro and can't help but smile. He grabs the wine bottle and fills his glass at the same time Stiles fills his "Come on, Derek! Let's dance" Stiles turns up the volume and starts moving to the beat, his moves weirdly perfect "Don't be a Sourwolf! It's just us here! Come on!" Stiles walks to the couch, finishes the wine in his glass and pulls Derek up. Derek shakes his head one last time, gulps his wine and gets up. Stiles holds both his hands and starts moving Derek, pushing and pulling the older man's arms. Derek gives in and starts moving, pulling Stiles closer to him. They move in sync, letting the beat lead the way. Stiles lets go of Derek's arms and hugs him from behind, singing with the music. The song end and Derek starts to pull away, but Stiles refuses to let him go. The next song starts and Derek can feel Stiles smile widening against his neck. "I love this song!" Stiles voice sound weirdly rough and sends shivers against the older man's skin.

Stiles lets go of Derek and jumps on the coffee table. By this point Derek is laughing in a way he hadn't in years, back when he still had a big family. Stiles grabs Derek's hand again, this time he guides the older man spinning him around the table, he is screaming the chorus as loud as he can and even Derek is singing a bit. They both scream Manicure in time with the song and Derek sends a silent thanks to the universe that he doesn't have neighbors. Derek spins one last time and pulls Stiles to his body, raising the smiling man. Stiles clasps with the song, the smell of happiness coming from his skin makes Derek even drunkier than the wine. The song ends and Derek puts Stiles back down, their bodies sliding against each other. The next song playing is You and I so they sit down, Stiles breath fast and his smile so big it seemed to take over his face.

They refill their glasses and Stiles reaches out for the chips, he puts them in his mouth and looks oddly at Derek. "What? They are organic. The man on the supermarket said they tasted just like the normal ones. And before you say anything I did realize they don't, but it's the only thing I have that can be eaten as snack" Stiles just shakes his head at Derek and keeps eating. "Now let's talk about how you were making fun of me and yet you new the lyrics to all the songs"

"Well, for one I've never said I didn't like it, second I've got no shame when music is the subject. The teasing will come because you look like an ex con, with your leather jacket, brooding all the time, hiding in dark corners and your eternal 5 o'clock shadow and you not only know who Lady Gaga is, you know the lyrics to her songs. That, Sourwolf is why I'm gonna tease you." Stiles gives Derek a cheeky smile, raising his glass and eats some of the chips.

The song ends and Stiles picks up the phone, going trough it again. "I feel like listening to something different... What do you suggest?" He raises his eyes and Derek feels his heart skip a beat because the smell coming from Stiles, of pure happiness is not something he ever thought would be caused by him. "What's Bigbang?"

"It's a Korean pop band. I love their songs... If you feel like dancing just play Bang Bang Bang or Fantastic Baby" The song starts playing and Derek feels himself smiling. Stiles starts to move the upper part of his body, drinks the rest of his wine and gets up. "We're not dancing again, are were?"

Stiles dances his way around the table and stops on front of Derek, his moves in time with the song "Of course we are" The boy then leans against him, arms on each side of his head, face coming closer to his without breaking eye contact. When their noses are almost touching Stiles opens up a gigantic smile "Let's have a dance party Derek!"