Stiles' English, and Totally Accurate Bestiary Chapter 25, a teen wolf fanfic

Chapter Twenty-Five

Stiles had been staring at the ceiling for what he presumed was about half an hour.

There wasn't much to stare at really, not since the sun went down and the only source of light left was the flickering glow from the fireplace; casting hundreds of dancing shadows along the mostly sooty and water-stained roof. It was pretty, but also kind of uninspiring.

The teen paid no attention to the roaring wind and the creaking, unsteady frame of the presumably once magnificent Hale House. Nor did he notice the chill steadily getting colder and harsher as the sun's last rays of warmth faded, the black of night and magic of a winter spirit mixing to create a deadly storm.

No, Stiles paid mind to none of these things- couldn't really, as his mind was focussed on- well, being fucking plain confused.

Fucking plain confused in the sense that Derek Hale had kissed him.

HIM. Stiles Stilinski. Dork extroadinare. Fail by day and unconscious-fail by night.

And it had all been to explain...to explain why Derek hadn't liked the actions of Stiles' previous fling? (If you could call getting seduced and heart-broken in a rapid succession a "fling")

Stiles groaned, rubbing at his eyes and hoping the fresh sight would bring him clarity. But no, it just brought him the same old sight of the ceiling he'd been staring at a ceiling that held no answers, as most ceilings don't.

The kiss- was it a deceleration of intent or, a confession of some sort? Or maybe it was just some sick game Derek was playing in hopes of shutting Stiles up.

No. Derek wouldn't do that. Not to him and not after both Kate and Jennifer.

Stiles sighed. So it had to be intent then. But since when had Derek ever felt anything for him other that grudging acceptance and overwhelming annoyance?

There weren't any signs that- wait. No. If Stiles thought about it, there had been some things Derek had done that, in hindsight, could indicate something more than just a feeling of forced alliance.

Like the touching. Derek did touch Stiles more than anyone; even Isaac and (before she moved away) Cora. Like that time in the hospital, actually both times in the hospital; a brush of fingers over Stiles' forearm- a farewell during battle, or when Derek had grabbed his arm as Stiles was about to punch him awake...the man had held on for a bit too long, maintaining some kind of tense eye-contact that Stiles didn't fully understand.

And the life saving. Yeah Derek was almost as heroic as Scott these days, but looking back on it that night at the police station when Isaac had gone bis-erk- Derek had seemed furious at the boy for going after Stiles. And Peter in the hospital. And Matt when he'd almost choked Stiles to death. Or the twins, Jennifer, Toby, the Kanima, Hell even Erica got a beat-down after that whole 'knocking Stiles out with his own car parts' thing.

Jesus, and it had taken Stiles this long to notice? No wonder Derek had been so frustrated, even before the kiss.

The kiss.

That's what it all came down to. An event that forced Stiles to be aware. No more obliviousness and certainly no more ignorance. He had to face it.

The truth was though, he didn't know how.

He hadn't- well, admittedly he had thought about it once or twice. C'mon, what bisexual teenager faced with an chiselled and alarmingly cliche anti-hero wouldn't spare a moment to think about it. The truth was that he hadn't considered it, at least not with anything other than a jerk-off fantasy or a daydream.

However now that Stiles had been confronted with the possibility that not only was Derek not as deadly straight as the teen had thought, but he also apparently had a thing for spastic, brown-eyed Sheriff's sons; Stiles had a lot more things to think over other than "nah, that's completely unrealistic".

So, A) Derek was attracted to him? As in 'more than just platonic or hate-fused feelings'. B) Stiles, now that he allowed himself to think about it, was definitely100% attracted back. Jeez, there may have even been the slightest bit of affection there too that Stiles hadn't before admitted to. And C) Stiles had to do something about it.

"Ugh." he groaned, looking into the fireplace and glaring at it like the hot coals were the cause of all his problems.

This was freaking rediculous.

"Derek could you come back down please?" Stiles knew the werewolf could hear him. especially if he raised his voice. The problem was would Derek listen?

He'd been skulking up there for almost quarter of an hour ever since The Kiss, and Stiles only had the creak of pacing on unsteady floorboards to assure him that the wolf was even there.

Stiles waited for a few moments, listening out for the sound of a door opening, or feet travelling down stairs. After a while he'd still heard none of these things.

"Derek I'm not mad." Stiles raised his voice to go over the sound of whooshing icy wind and crackling fire.

Stiles waited. "Or-or sad! Or upset in any way- Okay, well I'm a bit upset that I've essentially only myself to talk to, but I'm not upset with you!."

Still no answer.

Stiles sighed, running his hands through his hair in hesitation. "Yeah, okay, I get why you're hiding up there with your tail between you legs-," on second thought dog jokes probably weren't going to help the situation. "- but I mean- dude you kind of just planted one on me. Like, there was no warning at all. It was friggin' surprising and kind of confusing but- but you can't just ignore it."

Stiles groaned, "And I'm sorry- about that thing, where I said we weren't friends...or implied it anyway. I just- I never knew you felt that way. My comments...they weren't reflected on me- I don't- I like you. I just, I kind of thought you hated me?"

Stiles chuckled a bit, "I mean, dude you glare at me every time I walk into the room- and yes, now I understand that may have been a 'pigtail pulling' kind of situation but- but dude." God he needed to stop saying dude.

"But Derek. You can't just- you can't just act like you hate me one minute and fucking kiss me the next. It doesn't work like that." Stiles still had heaps more to say after that, but it was hard to get it out- weird talking to himself about such strong things.

"What does it work like then?" The suddenness of a voice other than his own caused Stiles to flail and almost fall off of the couch.

The teen whipped around, gasping, to see a very unimpressed Derek standing behind the couch; arms crossed and eyebrows casting a shadow over his face in the firelight.

"Uhh..." now that Derek was actually physically present Stiles had no clue what to say.

"What does it work like then." Derek repeated, looking angrier than usual- but not in an aggressive way, more of a hopeless way.

Stiles swallowed and started sweating even with the obvious lack of heat in the room. "Well- uh. It- you should have said something!" he burst out, "Or- you know, atleast indicated that you felt anything other than annoyance towards me."

Derek raised unimpressed eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak, but Stiles cut him off. "Oh don't you even Hale. When one has a crush on someone they don't usually slam their crush's head into a freaking steering wheel! That is not a way to gain affection!"

Derek frowned, "I- I don't have a crush on you." he argued, his arms crossing around himself even tighter.

"Oh really?" Stiles mocked, "Then why did you kiss me huh? Because you don't seem like the kind of guy to do stuff without a reason."

Derek glared at him then, a cold and nasty thing. "Look- I get that you don't- that you don't feel that way about me. And I also get that you just love to mock people. But could you at least try to be less of an ass about this?" towards the end of his little speech, Derek's harsh tone turned almost pleading.

Stiles was genuniley taken-aback by that, his mouth hanging open in a commical 'o' and his eyes open wide and shocked.

"I- now who says I don't have feelings for you?" he asked, his own temper raising slightly.

Derek snorted harshly, taking a step forward, the firelight reflecting more now of his sneering face. "Really Stiles? You obviously think I'd believe you if- no. You know what? Let's just forget this ever happened, okay? I'll get over it and eventually you'll stop being such a dick."

"I-," Stiles frowned, getting up from the couch hurredly and clumbsily to stand and look streight into Derek's eyes, "I don't want to forget it though." he stated; trying to covey how serious he was.

"What." it wasn't even a question, more like an utterance of confusion on Derek's part.

Stiles nodded quickly, taking a step around the couch and towards Derek, now only a foot away. The step took him away from the warmness of the fireplace though, which was a bummer.

"Yeah." Stiles said, "In all the time you've been crushing- because lets face it dude I've gone over the evidence and you've been pining since at least that time at the police station- In all that time did you ever really ask me- or even consider that I might feel the same?"

Derek, confused and shocked, just shook his head with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth- his bunny teeth just making an appearance.

"Well it's a night for revelations isn't it?" Stiles asked rhetorically, stepping further into Derek's space.

Now only an inch apart, Stiles could feel the other man's breath- as well as feel the small tremors Derek was making, and somehow, Stiles guessed- the tremors had nothing to do with the cold.

His own nerves were making him sweat a bit, but Stiles took a deep breath and tried to ignore them for the time being.

"You're- this isn't one of your jokes is it?" Derek whispered breathlesslly, looking still a little unsure.

"Derek; read my heartbeat. I- am being- totally- serious." Stiles breathed, suspecting that in such close quarters that raising his voice too much would ruin the moment.

Derek audibly swallowed, "No lie." he breathed- looking for all the world awed.

"So what're you going to do about it?" questioned the teen, nudging a bit closer until their breaths mingled and their noses tickled against eachother.

In response Derek lunged forward into their second, and by far greatest kiss.