Present ...
"I know you're here." Stiles shouted as he stepped into the burnt out hallway of the old Hale house. He stopped to listen for a reply, but none came. "Ignore me all you want, I just came to warn you," he continued, knowing the werewolf was somewhere close and that he could hear him. "The bus driver is dead, Scott blames you."
"Tell me something I don't know."
Stiles span around to see Derek at the top of the stair case, he couldn't see his face since it was obscured by shadows. "He still thinks you were the one that bit him. I know Scott, he's hot headed - he'll confront you."
"Let him, I'm not afraid of him." Derek said dropping down a step out of the shadows to reveal himself in his shifted form.
Stiles wasn't intimidated even as the piercing blue eyes fixed on his; he headed up the stairs and stopped on the step in front of Derek. "Please don't fight with him."
"I have no desire to fight, but I will defend myself." Derek replied. "I want this sorted once and for all, I'm sick of being blamed for everything. When you told him that it was my own sister that had been murdered I thought he'd dropped his prejudices against me - clearly I was wrong."
"He's just not thinking clearly, he'll come round - he knows it doesn't make sense to blame you, he just wants to and he hates being wrong." Stiles said knowing his friend was blinded when it came to Derek. Stiles's eyes swept over Derek's wolfed out features, taking in the pointed ears and the deep ridges of his brow. "So it's true then, you really can't shift fully?" he asked reaching out and touching the hair that had grown down the side of his jaw which he found course, not soft and glossy like he remembered his real wolf hair to be.
Derek stepped back out of Stiles reach and Stiles saw an almost wounded expression cross his features.
"Please don't fight with Scott, I don't want you to get hurt." Stiles begged. "... Scott either. I don't want either of you to get hurt." he stammered quickly blushing when he realised that his concern had only been for him and that Scott's safety hadn't even entered his head despite him being the less experiences werewolf.
"He can't hurt me." Derek scoffed. "He's just a kid, he doesn't know how to control his new powers whereas I've been trained to fight and defend myself my whole life."
Stiles did not like the mocking tone to Derek's voice as he spoke about Scott. "Well Mr Confident maybe it's Scott I should be warning then." he said crossly. "I don't know why I came since you've obviously got this all figured out."
"You came because you care." Derek said grabbing Stiles by the elbow as he turned to walk away. "No matter how much I push you away you keep coming back." he said to Stiles who refused to look at him. "How much harder do I have to push for you to get the message?"
"Not much." Stiles growled.
Derek's eyes snapped toward the door when he heard heavy, determined footsteps crunching through the leaves on the path up to the house. By the smell he could tell it was Scott approaching and he sure was angry. "He's here." he said fearfully, not for himself but for Stiles. Stiles could not be here, not now, it was going to get messy - he could feel animalistic desire to fight radiating off of Scott. "You've got to go, out the back door now." he said grabbing hold of Stiles's arm and pulling down the stairs and through the house.
"I'm not going anywhere." Stiles said tugging himself free from the werewolf's grasp. "I'm going to make sure you two don't tear each other apart."
Derek knew Stiles cared enough about both he and Scott to risk getting between the two of them if their confrontation did indeed lead to a fight and this was something that was sure to get him seriously hurt or worse killed. "You're not going to leave are you?"
"No." Stiles said standing his ground.
Derek sucked in a deep breath. "Then I'm sorry." he said and before Stiles could utter another word Derek produced a pair of handcuffs from the back pocket of his jeans and cuffed Stiles by the wrist to the handle of the huge arger at the back end of the kitchen.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Stiles cried yanking at the cuff in outrage. "Did you steal these from my these dad?" he asked glancing at the handcuffs.
Derek didn't reply. "Are you going to stay quiet or do I have to gag you too?" he asked producing a piece of material from his pocket.
"You dare." Stiles warned.
One look in Stiles's eyes and Derek's knew that he had no intention of keeping quiet - even if it meant having to explain to Scott how he'd come to be in the Hale house in the first place. "So be it." Derek sighed.
"I'll never forgive you for this." Stiles hissed watching as Derek tied a quick knot in the material. "You knew I'd come didn't you?" he asked realising that Derek wouldn't just happen to be carrying a pair of handcuffs and suitable gag in his pocket.
Derek nodded slightly - as soon as he had heard about the bus driver death over a police radio he'd stolen years ago he knew Stiles would come to find him and that Scott would follow not long after. "You used to say I knew you better than you knew yourself." he said pushing the gag into place, trying not to look Stiles in the eyes. "You don't have to forgive me, it's better for you to hate me anyway."
Stiles swallowed hard when he noticed the sadness in Derek's eyes and the lingering touch of his fingers on his neck as he checked the gag was secure; he whined slightly - pleading with Derek to let him go; his eye holding his gaze and silently telling him that if he just let him free now then he would forgive him.
Derek just shook his head - he could hear Scott's heart beat now, signalling that he was close. Derek turned away and made his way back through the house knowing that he'd have to keep the fight well away from the kitchen so that Scott wouldn't see Stiles. He was pretty sure that Scott's anger toward him would distract him enough so that he didn't catch Stiles's scent if he'd even learnt to master that skill in the first place which Derek doubted because the teenager seemed more concerned about playing Lacross and dating Allison than harnessing his new powers.
Stiles bit down on the gag and shook his head from side to side but it was no good - he could not loosen the knot. Inside his head he screamed in outrage, he couldn't believe Derek had done this to him!
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Past ...
"You sure you're ready to go back?" Derek said watching as Stiles pulled on his jacket and grabbed his school bag from the sofa. It was Monday morning, a few days had passed since the funeral and Stiles had text him the night before to say he was planning on going back to school.
Stiles nodded. "I have to go back eventually." he said heading out of the house with Derek following close behind him. "Besides my dad has gone back to work today so I couldn't really stay at home on my own."
"But if you're not ready ..." Derek urged.
"I'll be okay Der." Stiles smiled reassuringly. "It will be good to have something else to think about."
Derek sighed. "OK if you're sure." he said watching as Stiles locked up the house before heading down the steps.
The two of them climbed into the car waiting outside the house Stiles smiled at Cora who was sitting in the back and Talia who was in the driving seat; he was a little surprised to see Peter in the passenger seat - Derek's uncle had never accompanied them on any of their school runs before.
"Hi Stiles." Cora smiled pleased to see her classmate.
Stiles sat beside her. "Hi, so what have I missed?" he asked her.
Derek watched as Stiles and Cora chatted about school work and gossiped about their classmates; he noticed how Stiles's eyes lit up when Lydia Martin's name was mentioned and tried to ignore the jealousy boiling in the pit of his stomach.
Derek knew that his Uncle Peter was trying to catch his eye but he ignored him - he knew why he had accompanied them that morning and was trying to avoid him.
When they reached the school Derek, Cora and Stiles climbed out of the car and waved Talia and Peter goodbye; they started to walk off but Derek heard the slam of the car door and footsteps behind him.
Peter grabbed him by the shoulder. "Whoa there, hold on a minute." he said taking a glance around to make sure the other kids were out of ear shot. Cora and Stiles hadn't noticed Derek being held back and were already lost in the wave of kids entering the school.
Derek swallowed hard. "What do you want?" he muttered.
"You do remember the plan don't you?" Peter said in a low voice, his claws resting on the skin of Derek's shoulder. "You need to start playing nice with pretty little Kate Argent."
Derek sucked in a deep breath. "This might not work, what if the Argents have already started training her? She'll have nothing to do with me."
"Well find out, and if that's the case you'll have to make her fall for you."
"How?!" Derek cried.
"Come on Derek she's 15 years old, school girls develop crushes all the time - all it takes is a little charm."
Derek huffed under his breath. "Maybe this isn't such a good plan." he said having no desire to get close to an Argent, innocent or not, Kate's family were responsible for his father's death and they were close to killing Stiles too that day they'd been shot at in the woods whether that was intentional or not.
"I decide the plan Derek, you follow orders got that?" Peter hissed, his nails now painfully digging into Derek's shoulder. "You do want to keep Stiles safe don't you?"
Derek tensed. "You know I do." he growled his eyes flashing yellow in warning - he did not like his uncle using his friend as a bargaining tool. "Keep him out of this."
Peter smiled once more. "Just stick with the plan Derek." he said releasing his grip and shoving him toward the school.
Derek trudged into the building glancing at his shoulder where he saw spots of blood forming on his t-shirt; he quickly made his way to the bathroom knowing he'd need to wash it up and clean up the wound before classes started.
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Present ...
Stiles's head snapped up when he heard the kitchen door open; he looked over to see Derek enter, he was in his human form now and looked exhausted. Stiles almost felt sorry for him but then quickly reminded himself of what Derek had done.
Derek rushed over and quickly removed the gag and the handcuffs, he didn't want Stiles to be held by either of them any longer than he had to be.
Stiles rubbed at his sore wrists. "I can't believe you did this." he muttered crossly when he felt Derek's eyes on him - he knew he was wondering where they stood.
"To protect you." Derek said hoping a small part of Stiles understood that what he'd done was for his own good. It was too dangerous for him to try and intervene between two scrapping werewolves. Derek knew that he and Scott wouldn't have been themselves, during the fight they'd have tapped into more into their animal side than their human one. Derek knew he would have kept control because of his training and his wolf would never have hurt Stiles but Scott's wolf wouldn't have hesitated to hurt Stiles to get him out of the way. And if Scott had hurt his mate, Derek was pretty sure he'd have lost control and he'd probably have ended up killing him.
"Is Scott worse off?" Stiles asked noticing Derek's torn and bloody clothes.
"He's okay." Derek assured him. "And he knows the truth now, he knows I'm not the Alpha, that I didn't bite him or kill Laura or the bus driver."
"He believed you?" Stiles asked a little surprised - Scott seemed so blinded when it came to Derek that he was surprised that he had come round to the believing the truth.
Derek just nodded.
Stiles's eyes once again tracked across the bloodstains on Derek's shirts. He was still angry with him and wanted not to care but of course he couldn't. "Did he hurt you?" he asked fighting the urge to reach out and touch him and check for himself.
Derek shook his head. "I'll heal." he replied. "He was stronger than I expected and he has more control than I anticipated too." he admitted. "Look Stiles I'm sorry about what I did." Derek said still feeling Stiles's anger and resentment toward him. "But I couldn't risk you getting involved."
Stiles didn't reply, he didn't know what to say and was tired so he simply decided to leave. He grabbed the handcuffs. "I'll return these to my father." he said before heading out of the kitchen.
Derek didn't make a move to follow but watched from the window as Stiles climbed into his jeep and drove off without so much of a backwards glance; he couldn't help but let out a mournful whine when he disappeared from sight.
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Stiles drove to Scott's house but as he pulled up outside he noticed Allison just heading up to the front door; Stiles glanced at his phone - not one text or call from Scott despite all that he knew had happened. Stiles sighed heavily, started the jeep's engine once more and drove away - clearly he wasn't needed.
"Alright kiddo?" The Sheriff asked when Stiles entered the living room, flopped down on the sofa and let out a heavy sigh.
"Yeah." Stiles replied glumly. "Can we order pizza tonight?" he asked.
The Sheriff chuckled. "OK who are you and what have you done with my son?" he asked.
Stiles rolled his eyes wearily. "Dad - please?"
The Sheriff frowned slightly - Stiles wasn't his usual self and it concerned him. "Sure I'll go find a menu." he said getting up from his armchair; he laid his hand on Stiles's shoulder and glanced down at him. "You OK?" he asked. Stiles glanced up at the worried look on his father's face and just nodded. The Sheriff's eyes rested momentarily on his son's and he realised that the teenager wasn't in the mood for talking. "Meat feast?" he asked. Stiles smiled and nodded eagerly. "Think I should order some for Derek? Have you seen him today?"
Stiles shook his head. "Nope." he lied.
"OK, well I'll order enough for him anyway." The Sheriff replied before heading to the kitchen to find a takeaway menu.
A/N: So for fic purposes I've made Kate Argent the same age as Derek, not sure if/what the age difference between them is in the canon. So at this point they are both 15 during the flashbacks.