"Really? Again? Who'd you piss off this time, Sourwolf?" Stiles Stilinski asked as he woke up. Mini Derek just stared back at him blankly.
"Do I know you?" The mini-wolf asked him. Stiles sighed.
"Yes of course- wait. Where are we? This isn't my room?" Derek blinked at him, confused and looking a little concerned.
"No, this is my room." Stiles's eyes widened and he wrenched himself away from Derek, scrambling out of the bed. Suddenly, hearing the commotion, an older dark-haired female walked into the room.
"Derek," She said calmly, "who is this?" He shook his head.
"I don't know." Stiles was floored. This woman was Derek's mom. Talia Hale.
Instinctually, he bowed to her and said formally, "Alpha Hale, I regret this confusion. I am Stiles Stilinski. It seems that I've been cursed." Talia was immediately on guard at this information.
"You know who we are?" She asked the boy.
"Yes. I know Derek in the future." She gasped, but neither wolf heard a lie in his heart. Derek looked confused but Talia looked shaken.
"Could you please take me to Alan Deaton?" He asked the she-wolf.
"Mom, what's going on?" Asked a sleepy female voice from the doorway. Stiles went completely pale, and the wolves looked worried.
"Laura?" He whispered, and the girl nodded, confused. His eyes filled with tears, but he covered it up with a cough. The last time he had seen Laura Hale it had been upon finding half of her buried outside the Hale house.
"You know me?" She asked him.
"Yes. Look, I'm telling the truth. I know your secret. I'm friends with Derek, but in probably about 8 years. The last thing I remember was hunting a witch with Derek and then I wake up here. I don't want any trouble, I just want to get back to my own time." Stiles said, and the Hales nodded.
"His heart shows no lie," Talia stated. Derek still looked skeptical though.
"You said we're friends?" Stiles nodded at him. "Prove it. Tell me something only a friend would know about me." Stiles racked his brain. He wracked his brain for something because this Derek was very different from his sourwolf.
"Okay. I remember you telling me about the first time you reached your shift. You were in the forest with Cora, and a rogue omega attacked you. She was only 7 years old and you were so scared. So you wolfed out and shoved your claws into his stomach hard enough that you and Cora had enough time to run home and get help." Stiles said, remembering the night Derek had opened up to him about his family. They had been at a pack night, and the wolves were all drunk off of wolfsbane-infused beer. They were sitting on the front porch, getting air, and Derek had just opened up to him. They sat there for hours telling stories back and forth until they passed out together on the couch. He smiled at the memory. Derek nods at him.
"It makes sense. He smells like me, mom. I think we can trust him." Talia stared at her son and then visibly relaxed.
"Okay. Let's get you to Deaton, although I don't know how much help he'll be." Talia said.
"Oh, so he was always a cryptic asshole?" Stiles laughs. She nods at him. "Oh um. Can I ask a weird favor first?" They all stare at him and he squirms before they agree.
After his favor, Talia and Derek drive him to the vet clinic. Deaton is exactly the same, except some of the stress and age hadn't worn in yet. He raises his eyebrows at the guests but greets them amicably.
"Alpha Hale, Derek. And who might this young man be?"
"I'm Stiles." They shook hands. Dragons eyebrows raised and his eyes widened.
"Young man, you seem to have a very powerful spark."
"Yes, you've told me that." Deaton's face scrunched in confusion and Stiles sighed.
"Look, I've been cursed by a witch and need to get back to my own time. I need your bestiary and some mountain ash." Deaton looked at him like he was crazy, but Talia and Derek nodded, so he accepted his fate and grabbed both from the back.
"Derek, I'm gonna need you for this." He said as soon as Deaton rejoined them with the materials. "You're the only common link I've had since I've been here so I'm going to use your energy as an anchor channel to focus on so that I can get back to my Derek and therefore my world." Derek nodded, but Talia looked skeptical.
"You can't use me for this? What if he gets hurt?" The scent of sadness filled the room, and Stiles shook his head, a sharp stab of pain for Derek hitting his heart.
"It won't hurt him." He said, offering her no explanation. He couldn't interfere with time like that. He grabbed Derek's hand and held it tightly. He sprinkled the mountain ash in a bowl and mixed it with mistletoe and lavender. Making a cut in his hand, he rubbed the mixture in and focused on channeling his spark. He clung to Derek's hand, and a second later the vet's office only had 3 people standing in it.
He stumbled into the loft, disturbing the pack as they stood around and discussed plans. He ended his fall on the floor, cut still bleeding, and he laughed when Derek ran over. "You're big again!" He said joyfully. The pack looked him over in concern, and he laid his head back down on the floor and promptly passed out. He woke again in Derek's bed, warm and cozy with his cut bandaged. He came downstairs to Derek making eggs and bacon, coffee waiting for him. He smiled at the man and attacked him in a hug.
"I'm glad you're big." He mumbled into the wolf's shoulder. Derek hugged him back, and then released him to flip the bacon.
"What does that mean, Stiles? You just disappeared and I thought- I thought the witch killed you." He said, choked. Stiles drew him into another hug and then sat at the counter.
"No, but she did curse me. I woke up in your bed 8 years ago. I thought you had gotten yourself de-aged until- until your mom walked in." Derek drew in a sharp breath at that.
"You saw her?" He asked quietly, gaze down.
"She was beautiful. She was a good alpha." The room went quiet, and suddenly Stiles perked up.
"I have something for you."
He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a photo. It was one of all of the Hales, smiling and happy.
"I didn't know if any had survived the fire, so I asked your mom and she gave me this."
Derek was floored. His expression was blank and there were tears forming in his eyes.
"Oh no, did I overstep, I just thought-" He was cut off as Derek threw himself into Stiles's arms, climbing onto his lap and shoving his face in his neck. He let the tears flow over and sobbed into Stiles's neck. Stiles circled his arms around the man and pulled him in even more. He didn't know how long they had been sitting there until Derek's tears dried up.
"Thank you." Came a little whisper, and in return, Stiles tightened his arms. Derek fell asleep in his embrace, and Stiles moved them so that Derek was lying on his chest. That's how the pack found them later, Derek laying on Stiles's stomach with his arms up his shirt and Stiles drooling into the couch. Pictures were taken, but Stiles and Derek didn't say anything, just smiled at each other when they woke up.