Act 1: Daydreams
PART SEVEN
The sun was beginning to drop below the horizon as a cold breeze blew through the woods. Only the sounds of animal life and a light clicking could be heard. The cool breeze maintained its flow, tracing along the assortment of trees.
Derek leaned against the bark of a Ponderosa Pine, his leather jacket pressed to the tree and his head leaning slightly back. He tried to focus on anything that wasn't Stiles sitting on the dirt. The task proved to be more difficult then he had first presumed.
Stiles drew Derek's attention as he nervously texted Scott. Derek watched Stiles bite at his lip as he rapidly tapped his foot against the ground. He looked like a nervous wreck, and that made Derek question himself. If he were given a second chance, would he still bite Scott and Stiles? He did find the two awfully peculiar. His gaze fell back on Stiles, the teen had started gnawing on the end of his sleeve. Derek dropped his head a bit; he knew he would. Something about Stiles struck him as endearing.
Stiles looked up at Derek, his cell phone in hand, like an extension of his arm. "Scott's not answering.. I'm sure he has his phone, he never forgets it." Something about the way Stiles spoke seemed hostile, like he was harboring some unpleasant feelings about his friend. Stiles changed his tone before speaking again. "I don't know, maybe it's on silent?"
Stiles ran his hand over his face. Derek sighed, crossing his arms at the same time. He looked towards the sunset, crepuscular light gently hitting his face. He started evaluating his options. At most he had an hour to get Scott away from the general public. That was plenty of time, but he still had Stiles to worry about. If he had to choose, he'd prefer Scott was on the loose as opposed to Stiles. Something about Stiles also struck him as weak-willed, this something made Derek watch Stiles more than Scott.
"What happens if he doesn't get here in time?" Stiles asked his eyes still dead locked on Derek.
Derek could hear the worry in Stiles' voice. His face emphasized the emotion. Derek stood up straight. He wanted to soothe Stiles. He contemplated taking a few steps toward Stiles, but decided against it. He didn't want to come off as intrusive.
"Hopefully nothing bad, but if he gets caught by hunters or if he kills someone, I don't know what I'll have to do. I don't know what the hunters will do to him." Derek lightly rubbed his hand against the back of his neck. He realized this wasn't making Stiles feel any better, but he didn't know what else to say.
Stiles frowned as he stood up, wiping off the dirt and sticks that had stuck to his jeans. "Who are these hunters? And why do they hunt werewolves? How do they even know about werewolves?" Stiles ran his hands over his face again.
Derek took notice to the other boy's strange behavior. Stiles was asking too many questions and he seemed more distressed then usual. "There are a lot of people who hunt werewolves, with a lot of different backgrounds, and they go by a lot of names. You never really know who they are. Sometimes they even drag innocent people into this. It's their way of having collateral against us. If one of us were to accidentally hurt an innocent bystander, in their eyes that gives them every right to kill us. Until the moment arises, they wait, looking for some other excuse to get us."
Stiles bit his bottom lip before speaking again. "Have you ever dealt with them?"
Derek took a moment before answering. Weighing out the possibilities. He wanted to be honest with Stiles, but he knew there was only so much that could be said before Stiles lost all respect he had for him. "No. Not personally, but they killed most of my family."
Stiles mouth fell slack. "Did they start the fire at your house three years ago?" Derek silently nodded. He kept his focus on Stiles the entire time, watching some realization dawn upon him. "My dad tried to prove it was arson for months, why didn't you step foreword and say something?"
Derek narrowed his eyes at Stiles. "And tell him a group of radicals murdered my family because we were a pack of werewolves living in the woods?"
Stiles tilted his head to the side, he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came put. He hadn't thought about logistics of the situation. He took a beat before speaking again. "Where did you go, after.. I heard you lived with your uncle for a while."
Derek nodded. "Yeah."
Stiles stayed silent, waiting for Derek to continue. It wasn't long before he realized Derek had no intentions of furthering their conversation. Stiles suspected he was crossing his boundaries, but he had to be sure. He was curious as to how much he could ask Derek before he told him to stop talking.
"Did you stay in California, or did you go somewhere else?"
Derek glared at Stiles. "Why do you care?" Stiles shrugged, making Derek roll his eyes, but eventually sigh. "I went to New York for a while, but I mostly stayed in California."
"Can I ask what happened to your sister?" Derek ignored Stiles. Now he'd gone too far.
The pair stayed quiet. Stiles focused on the sounds of the wilderness, he heard birds chirping and mice scurrying, and possibly a set of hooves in the distance. He tried to relax, but the sky was darkening, the moon was impending upon them, and Scott still hadn't shown up. Stiles didn't want to feel anxious, but worrying about Scott made him that way. The last thing he wanted was for Scott to get hurt or die. Then there was the incident with Mr. Harris from the night before.
Stiles then focused his attention on Derek, relieving some of his tension. He admired the way Derek stood, like he could take on the world at any given moment. Stiles found himself wanting to be more like that, or some kind of feeling close the it. He brought his arm up to mouth and began gnawing on his jacket again, that also relaxed him.
Derek couldn't stand the silence anymore. He looked back at Stiles, their eyes meeting. He had caught his undivided attention. "When did you last talk to Scott?"
"Last night. We went to Jackson Whittemore's party." Stiles said lowering his arm. The way Derek looked at Stiles made him feel like there was a pit in his gut and he was going to implode. In all honesty, Stiles wasn't sure if that was him worrying about Scott or about getting caught staring at Derek.
"Are you and Scott friends with Jackson Whittemore?"
Derek witnessed a sudden rush of blood flow to Stiles' face. Stiles frantically took a dozen steps toward Derek. "No. How would I even know Jackson Whittemore? I don't know him."
"Why would he invite you to a party if he didn't know you?" Derek didn't understand Stiles' reaction, as far as he knew it was only a simple question.
"Well, um, I know Jackson, but I don't know him. He's just this guy that I happen to go to school with." Stiles tried to play it off as nothing, but he couldn't even convince himself. "Well, everybody knows who Jackson Whittemore is. His father is the most sought after lawyer in town. So of course I know Jackson Whittemore. That's it, though."
"Okay." Derek said perfectly content with ending their conversation there.
Stiles dropped his head. He was lost in own mind again and hadn't heard Derek. "It's complicated, he kinda hates me.. And Scott too, but mostly me. I mean, if it wasn't for me, he'd probably just ignore us at school, instead of going out of his way to be a completed jerkass."
"What did you do?" Derek leaned back against the Ponderosa again, he figured he'd humor Stiles and keep the conversation going.
Stiles scoffed, "What makes you think it was something I did?"
"You already said it was."
"Right.. It was my fault, but I didn't... " Stiles began seriously contemplating whether or not he should tell Derek about the poem. He didn't want to face judgment, but he didn't want to be forever burdened by the secret either. "Near the end of my sophomore year I wrote this poem for English class, it stupid, but my teacher liked it and submitted it for some literary contest and I ended up winning. So junior year she had me read it to my class. Nobody's really let me live it down."
"What was the poem about?" Derek stood up straighter, he wasn't necessarily interested where the story was going, but by the way Stiles told the story. He made it seem so painful, like it physically hurt him to talk about it, yet his gesture remained so energetic and vibrant. Derek was also captivated by Stiles' expressions.
While Derek's reaction was surprising to say the least, Stiles hadn't expected him to actually care, he thought they were only making mindless small talk. "Well.." Stiles started having second thoughts, like he shouldn't tell Derek. He lightly shook his head and decided to go for it anyway. How much could it really hurt? "Well, it was about my—"
Stiles phone vibrated, cutting off his story. He took it as a sign. Last year he held his own private burning of the wretched paper. Now he was sure, what was dead should stay dead. He looked down at the screen of his cell phone, Scott had finally texted him back.
"Scott says he's at the bridge, he wants to know where we are." Stiles said. He looked up at Derek, relieved but slightly disappointed, a part of him had hoped Scott wouldn't show up. He liked this 'Derek and Stiles time,' it had taken his mind off of the previous night.
"Tell him we're a good mile further up north." Stiles nodded and did as he was told. Derek watched him carefully. "I'll go find him. You stay here."
"You can't leave me by myself."
"Why not?"
Stiles thought it over, he wasn't sure why Derek couldn't leave. He supposed there was no reason for him to stay. "Never mind."
Derek took off running. He listened for Scott, waiting to hear him take a breath, or step on a broken branch. Derek finally heard an unusual amount of leaves crunch and immediately ran in that direction. Scott was indeed making his way toward Stiles' current location.
"Scott." Scott jumped a little at the sound of Derek's voice. He hadn't expected someone to find him.
"Hey, Derek. Where's Stiles?" Scott asked, nervously looking around.
"He's this way." Derek started walking back. Scott reluctantly followed. He remembered what Allison had said about him, but he had to listen to his alpha.
·
The sun was gone, but the moon had only risen so far into the sky. The trio looked up admiring its path.
"I think I feel it" Stiles said, holding his hand to his chest. He felt his heartbeat increase. Maybe it was his ADHD, but he felt like running for pure sake of running. His legs ached with restlessness. He had to hold himself back from panting. The other two looked at him. "I am supposed to feel something, right?"
Derek nodded. The moon shone brightly, illuminating a good portion of the woods. Stiles could easily see Derek's silent response. "You'll feel powerful, but you'll feel like your body needs to start moving and you can't stop yourself."
It was Scott's turn to nod. He ran his hands over his head, messing up his hair, a distressed look in his eyes. Derek felt a tinge of pain in his chest just looking at Scott. He knew how waiting for the moon felt. Stiles took a few steps closer and rested his hand on Scott's arm, hoping to relieve some of his tension, but it only seemed to make his worse.
The two teens watched Derek longingly; they waited for instructions or some kind of help. They didn't want to feel this way anymore. Derek could hear their breaths, frantic and shallow. He looked up at the sky one last time. He'd never been good at school, but atmospheric climate concepts had been an easy learn. Not that it mattered, but if he had to guess, he'd say the moon light was as close to hitting the Earth at 90 degrees as it was going to get without driving the pack stark raving mad.
"Go." That was all Derek had to say. The boys ran in two separate directions, with no real intent, they only listened to their instincts. The primitive, animalistic feeling they'd tried so hard to contain.
Stiles ran until his legs gave out and he fell to his knees. The unbearable pressure in his jaw came back and his hands pulsated. The feeling he'd experienced only a few days before had come back, but this time ten fold. He could hear himself yelping and crying out for help, but nobody came. He could hear Scott yelling for the same, but it was of little consequence to him.
Derek stood between the two. He was acutely aware of the fact they had no idea how close they were to each other, he found it better this way. He didn't believe relying on others would ease the pain. No, quite the opposite. Derek refused to rely on others, and he was going to ensure his pack did the same.
Once the transformation was complete, Scott and Stiles were gone; monsters, taking their form, had replaced them. Derek let them to roam the woods, free to a certain extent. He watched them swiftly scamper around and was reminded him of his first full moon.
From a young age, Derek had gone out with his family on the full moons, thinking it would prepare him for what was to come. It didn't. His transformation was the most painful moment of his life. That was including the night a majority of his family had died. Nothing could compare to having his body broken and put back together at the tender age of 12.
From the look on their faces, Scott and Stiles would probably agree, if they even remembered the night. Derek had met a few bitten wolves who couldn't remember their first full moon. It was more common than people liked to admit.
After an hour or so, Derek began to find the two boys a bit boring. Once they'd expended their initial energy, they mostly wandered around smelling trees and staring into the deep parts of the creek, trying to fish out small water creatures. Every once and a while Derek had to call them back if they went out of his sight, but that was about all. It was quite odd, considering that they hadn't pledged their loyalty to him, they were relatively well behaved and obedient. Derek almost found himself wishing they would put up a bigger fight.
The two boys were very unusual.
Derek held off shifting as long as he could, but he felt himself give in around midnight or so. It wasn't as if he needed to shift like the two boys did, but shifting had become habit for him. He hadn't missed a full moon since he'd turned 17. It had been a great distraction from his family and all the unfortunate events that seemed to plague him.
He ran with the boys until their energy had completely run out. They eventually found a nice resting spot by the creek, a good ten miles from the outskirts of town. Together the three of them slept on the ground, peaceful and tuckered out.
·
Stiles woke up to the sweet sound of birds chirping. Sunlight gently hit his face, warming him up. Not that he was cold, he had this warmth engulfing his torso and his head rested against a soft surface. Stiles found himself instinctively rubbing his cheek against the support. It only took a moment for him to realize it was a human arm.
All of his senses came back and Stiles turned his head to see Derek Hale sleeping beside him. Derek had an arm wrapped tightly around him. Stiles shut his eyes, wishing he would fall back asleep. Praying that just maybe this was a dream. Eyes still shut, Stiles felt down to Derek's arm. The soft and fleshy appendage was still there.
Stiles opened his eyes, but this time lifted his head. Scott was curled up at their feet, fast asleep. As long as Stiles had known Scott, he could sleep through anything. Stiles gently rested his head against Derek's arm again.
Never in a million years would Stiles have thought he'd sleep besides the Derek Hale. Stiles turned his head toward Derek again. He watched Derek lie there, more silent and vulnerable then he would have ever assumed possible. Derek's mouth had fallen ever so slack and his chest slowly rose in tune with his barely audible breathing. Stiles wasn't sure why he found this so mesmerizing, but he did. He silently watched him, completely fixated on his mouth. He felt his heartbeat begin to rise.
A cold breeze swept over the trio. Somehow during the night, Stiles had lost his jacket. Maybe that was why Derek was holding on to him? He couldn't remember. Never the less, Stiles inched a bit closer to Derek, for warmth purposes only.
As they laid there, Stiles remembered it was Monday. He and Scott had school. They had Chemistry class. How was Stiles going to face Mr. Harris? His teacher had probably, most likely, kissed his neck the other day. Stiles felt the blood rush to his head. His face burned up. He wished he could wake Derek or Scott up and talk out his anxiety.
Stiles focused his attention back on Derek, wishing that Derek was the source of his embarrassment. No. The thought had only crossed Stiles mind for a moment, he refused to acknowledge it any further, he did not want Derek to make him 'blush.' that would be weird and no, he didn't want that. Not at all.
Stiles stared up at the sky, trying to compose himself as best as he could. He ran his hand over the top of his head. The motion jolted his brain. He had to go home and change. He had to go home and be far away from here. He didn't want to think of it as being far away from Derek, but maybe that was best.
He looked at Derek one last time, biting his lip. This feeling felt like déjà vu, like he was reliving the emotional instability he endured sophomore year and Derek was his Jackson. Stiles lightly smacked his palm against his forehead before removing Derek's arm from his waist. He was able to silently stand up. He looked back at his pack's resting spot and wondered what it must have looked like to an outsider. He hoped it was awe-inspiring.
·
When Scott woke up it was to Derek taping his back.
"What time is it?" Scott asked, rubbing his face. He still felt tired.
Derek looked around their surroundings before turning his attention to Scott. "About 7:30"
Scott jumped up. "Damnit!" School started in less than half an hour. Scott grabbed his jacket that he had used as a makeshift pillow and threw it on his shoulder. "Wait, where's Stiles?"
Derek shrugged. "I don't know, I woke up and he was gone."
Scott face quickly shifted into one of terror. "You don't think he got caught by hunters, do you?"
Derek shook his head. "No. He was with us when we fell asleep, I'm sure of it." Derek said, running a hand over his face. "He probably went to school already. You should be there too."
Scott nodded and took off. Derek waited until he was sure Scott was gone before standing up. He walked back to the original clearing the pack had started at. He picked up Stiles discarded jacket and his own car keys that had just happened to fall within close proximity.
A/N:: Sorry for any and all spelling/grammatical errors this is not beta'd.. :/
Aw shucks, so much for an extra chapter. Maybe next week, I won't be as swamped with schoolwork. Well I hope everyone enjoys the chapter. Have a good week! :)
