Derek scowled at Stiles' retreating form, unsure how to feel about Stiles' new found habit of calling him Alpha. Scott had made it pretty clear that he didn't want Derek to be his Alpha and Stiles was human, he didn't need an Alpha. So, why was he treating Derek like his?

He cursed dropping his head against the steering wheel, that boy would be the death of him, he was sure.

He took off like a shot as soon as the boy was safely in the Sheriff's home. Lingering for just a moment to hear him lock the door tightly behind him. Without even realizing it, he headed in the opposite direction of the Train Depot. Back toward the school.

He whipped the Camaro into park with a sigh, wrenching the door open and stomping back into the school, resigned that he had lost control of his life. He was the Alpha, but here he was getting ready to dive back into the pool that nearly killed him. For a cell phone. A cell phone that was water logged and very broken.

But it was the least he could do for Stiles. Stiles, skinny, obnoxious, defenseless, flailing, human Stiles, who had saved his life without a second thought. Who as of late was growing on Derek and the more he saw him the less obnoxious Stiles seemed. The more inclined Derek was just to listen to the cadence of his voice as he rambled. The more Derek wanted to wrap him up in his arms and nuzzle his face in the soft skin of his throat. To plant his scent there, for all other weres to know that the boy was off limits.

But he was a teenager. A straight teenager in love with a rude little red-headed girl. Derek just needed to get his shit together. He couldn't develop feelings for the boy. Derek was no good. People he loved died. But even if he wasn't bad for Stiles, falling for a straight guy was never a good idea.

By the time he got to the train station it was late. Or early. The pups would be there soon to train. But Derek didn't sleep, instead he just sat on the edge of his nest of blankets running his fingers over the cool edges of Stiles' destroyed phone. Contemplating what to do about the boy and about the phone.

x

Stiles stumbled down the stairs, way too early the next morning, to answer the incessant knocking. He was lucky his dad wasn't home.

He wrenched the door open in only his boxers, to reveal Lydia Martin, who raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at him, but said nothing.

"Lydia. Damn. Come in. Let me just- let me just run up and get dressed."

He flailed a bit and skipped a step hitting his shin, before finally making it upstairs to get dressed.

When he walked back into the living room, Lydia was inspecting the pictures along the mantle.

"Hey Lyds, sorry about that."

She just shrugged her shoulder delicately, and sat with him at the opposite end of the couch.

"Lydia. Do you want to tell me what's going on?" He pressed gently, after several minutes of her staring silently at her hands.

She turned to him, her green eyes large and round, tears threatening to fall. "You'll think I'm crazy." She voice was barely a whisper.

"I swear to you Lydia. I would never think you are crazy. You are the smartest person I know. We've known each other since we were six, Lyds. We may not have been friends in a long time, but Lydia, there is no one smarter than you. So if something is happening to you, I believe you. No matter what it is. Besides, nothing you could say would top the school year I've had so far. I promise."

He watched her carefully as she took a deep breath, but this time she didn't hide her gaze in her lap. She stared him right in the face and told him. "I'm having hallucinations. When we were at the rink, I saw someone frozen in the ice. A man. And purple flowers."

"Okay. Did you recognize the man?"

She shook her head.

"What about the flowers?"

"I think it was Aconite."

"Wolfsbane." Stiles' mind was whirling. Why was Lydia seeing Wolfsbane? Who was that man? Could hallucinations be a part of being bitten by a werewolf? She didn't change, so is she something else? Should he tell her everything? That was really a no brainer. She deserved to know, but he didn't have a phone to call and ask permission from his Alpha. Damn it. Well it wasn't like Derek actually considered him pack anyway.

Lydia was staring at him. He could see the gears in her own brilliant brain going as well.

"Lydia, I have some things to tell you. I don't know if it is related to your hallucinations, but you deserve to know. And I am going to seem like the crazy one, okay? But after, you can ask Allison or Scott and they will confirm everything, okay?"

She just waved a hand at him to tell him to continue, and kept a steely gaze fixed on him.

"What do you know about werewolves?"

Derek had decided to go to get Stiles' cell phone replaced, but now that he was sitting outside of the store he was unsure of what to do. That he could even convince them to let him replace someone else's phone. Was that a thing people did?

He shrugged out of his leather jacket, leaving it behind in the car. He wanted to seem softer maybe, more worthy of being friends with someone like Stiles.

When he walked into the store, there were only two sales people behind the counters and both reeked of arousal, so it seemed like he had a fair shot. He turned on his dazzling smile. The well practiced fake smile that got him most things he needed.

"H-hello. How can we help you today?" The boy behind the counter probably wasn't too much older than Stiles. He was objectively handsome, but not Derek's type, which these days included pale skin, moles, and big doe eyes.

He leaned a bit too close as he slid the broken phone across the counter. "I pushed my friend in a pool yesterday, and ruined his phone. Is there any way I could replace it?"

"Sure. Sure. I can definitely do that."

Derek turned his megawatt smile up, dimpling his cheeks for added effect. "You are a lifesaver. I feel so bad."
He allowed the boy, Tristin, to take him through the store and show him all the new phones. He chose the newest version of Stiles' phone and even chose an upgrade for himself.

"Okay. So, since you chose a new phone for him. You can pay for it now, and then he could come in and add it to his account."

Derek's face dropped. A pout planting on his lips. "Oh… Is there no way I can get it set up completely? I don't want him to have to come all the way here. Since it was all my fault."

"Well.. We really aren't supposed to…"

Derek grasped the boys forearm gently, a sad smile painted across his face. "I understand. I don't want to get you in trouble. I just feel like such a bad friend."

"I'm sure that I can work something out. Can I have his phone number so I can look it up?"

Derek spouted off the number easily. Internally blushing that he had it memorized after only actually using it the one time, when they found out Peter was the Alpha. Stiles had given it to him after the debacle with his arm nearly needing to be chopped off. Just in case he needed help, so he didn't have to walk on school grounds nearly dead.

"Stilinski."

"Yeah. Stiles. I'm not sure if he has his real first name on his file, but it's a bitch to say. I can try if you want?" Derek didn't actually know what Stiles' real first name was, just that he called it a Polish monstrosity. But he was willing to bet that if it was on this file, Tristin didn't know how to say it either.

"No. That's alright. He has Stiles written as a preferred name, plus I don't think I would know if you were saying it right. So, I can add the phone to his account and activate it and everything."

"Perfect." Derek beamed at the boy, who blushed under the scrutiny.

Derek got his new phone switched over too, before thanking Tristin with another dimpled smile and accepting his receipt that had a number scribbled on the back. Not that he would use it.

"Have a good day!" the boy called out as he left.

Derek waved and finally let the fake cheerfulness fade from his posture. He hated that people looked at him like he was just handsome and nothing else. Like they knew exactly what he wanted and how to give it all to him. But it was useful sometimes. No one expected that he was manipulating them. Not if he had a disarming smile on his face.

He headed right over to Stiles' house. Parking a block away and dipping into the forest so that no one could see him and he could come up into Stiles' back yard.

He listened from the darkness as Stiles walked to the girl, Lydia, toward the front door before vaulting into Stiles' room and leaving the box with the new phone on Stiles' desk. He was about to leave, when he paused. Grabbing a sticky note he scribbled his phone number down, signing it with just D. Stiles would know it was him. He was sure of it.

Satisfied, he took off out the window just seconds before Stiles banged into the room. He was in the treeline before he finally released the breath he didn't know he was holding.

He stayed there listening, until Stiles made a quiet noise of astonishment and murmured "Alpha" in a soft affectionate tone. Derek couldn't take hearing the reverent way that Stiles spoke his title. He took off through the trees trying to put as much distance between him and the boy as possible. He couldn't stand to eavesdrop further.