*Maui Voice* "You're welcome~"

Scott's waiting outside when the Sheriff pulls up into the driveway. He's sitting on the steps, and Stiles is sitting with him, probably to distract him. He doesn't look very distracted, because he shoots up as soon as the cruiser comes to a complete stop.

"Oh man, this is gonna be fun," I mutter under my breath, unbuckling my seatbelt. Sheriff Stilinski offers a sympathetic pat on my shoulder as I reach down to grab my bag of clothes.

"They just worry."

"They need to stop." I throw open the door and force myself out. Scott rushes forward, and I mentally prepare myself for what he's going to unleash. Why did you go running? Why did you stay with Derek? Why didn't you come home? Why why why.

"I know what you're going to say," I start, raising a placating hand as I meet him halfway up the driveway. "And I'm gonna need you to not-"

And suddenly I find myself with an armful of teenage werewolf. I blink in surprise, stumbling back a bit. The only reason I don't find myself on my ass is because Scott's got his arms wrapped around me in a tight embrace.

"Um." I pull my head back a bit to try and get a look at him, but he's got his chin on my shoulder, and there's no way I can do that unless I pull an Exorcist.

"You're not allowed to do that again," Scott says, not letting go. His voice sounds tight, like he's holding back tears. "You didn't answer, and Mom didn't know where you were, and I couldn't go-" He drops his head into my shoulder. A feeling of warmth, mixed with guilt, settles in my chest.

"Scott-" My voice catches in the lump in my throat, and I pull my arms out from between us and return the hug. "I'm sorry I scared you, mijo."

He inhales quickly, and it sounds suspiciously like a sniffle. "Just. Don't do it again, you stupid older cousin." He pulls away, and narrows his eyes at my clothes. "What the hell, why are you wearing Derek's clothes?"

I drop my head back and groan. Just like that, it's as if nothing ever happened.

"I have a problem," I tell Sonya and Warren. They're on the screen of my laptop, and I sit cross legged on my bed in front of them. They exchange looks, then look at me pointedly. Which I don't appreciate but can understand.

"It must be bad if you got Hubie out," Sonya says, meaning the old and faded but still perfect stuffed penguin I have cradled in my lap. A gift from my mother when I had a small obsession The Pebble and the Penguin as a little kid, Hubie had been banished to my trunk sometime during junior high school, if only for his own safety from Elisa. He only rarely was allowed out, and the habit kept even as I came to California.

"Tell us of your problem," Warren says sagely, peaking his hands together and leaning forward toward the screen. The two of them are in what looks like one of their dorms, sitting at the desk. They're pressed close together to both get in camera.

"Does it have anything to do with the fact you've been basically ghost since Wednesday?" Sonya demands, and I whine, dropping my head into Hubie's overstuffed belly. "You never did answer me about what happened, and I am not happy with you, Ares Maria."

And bless Sonya, because even when she's using my full name to get mad at me, she doesn't go for Aracely. I pick my head up a bit and glance at my door. Stiles has long since gone home, and Scott was still downstairs last, watching some show he's obsessed with on MTV. When I had gotten back - and changed out of Derek's clothes, because Scott was throwing some serious shade - the boys declared that a Disney marathon was in order.

We all cried when Baymax didn't make it through the portal with Hiro.

"I've had a pretty shitty week and don't need judgement right now," I tell her. "Just listen." She scowls, but mimes zipping her mouth shut. And so I tell them what happened. The censored version at least. Going to pick up Scott with Derek, being in the same building as a serial killer. Warren stares at me in disbelief, and Sonya looks like she wants nothing more than to Blue-Scadoodle into the screen and do someone some serious harm.

"I swear to god, you better be kidding or I'm leaving Texas tonight to kick you ass," she threatens. I don't answer, and her jaw drops. "Are you serious?!

"Jesus, Ares, why didn't you tell us?" Warren exclaims.

"I didn't want to worry you," I say, as if it justifies my actions. "I didn't even see anything wrong - that was Scott - and I had Derek with me anyway."

"Your serial killer?" Sonya asks in disbelief. "What is with you and serial killers?"

"He isn't a serial killer!" And they blink in surprise at the aggravation in my voice. "Like, yeah he's moody, and he likes his dark clothes, and before he got a room he looked like he never slept, but he's not-" I stop short at the looks they're giving me. Before they can jump to conclusions I'm not ready to reveal yet, I go on. "And then my car went to shit Friday."

"Oh, no! The Turtle!" Warren exclaims, because he's the more fickle-minded of the two and easier to distract. "What happened?"

"Fuck if I know." Which is a lie. I know exactly what happened. Kate Argent, demon spawn that she is, sabotaged it. But that can't be revealed and so it stays hidden. "It just started being weird. I had to call Sheriff Stilinski to help me. He's gonna have the guy from the impound lot look at it, but I can't drive it around until tomorrow."

"You have this look on your face that says that's not everything that's happened," Sonya says critically. This is where I would have told her about the Alpha singling me out and the problem with the Argents. But I can't, and instead inhale and drop my head on Hubie. "My dad called last night. And he mentioned Elisa, and I kinda just-" I shake my hands at them.

"Oh, Ares…" Warren says, his hands to his mouth. Sonya's brows furrow in rage. She's probably the only person that hates Elisa more than I do. Mainly because there was a time where she almost succeeded in ruining our friendship with her impossible rules.

"It wasn't even a big thing. It would have been fine, but I think Wednesday caught up with me and." I shrug helplessly. Sonya shakes her head.

"Are you okay? Have you told your siblings?"

"No!" I point a finger at them. "And this doesn't leave this call. I already got super lucky that Scott and Melissa hasn't told them anything."

She raises her hands in defense. "I don't understand why you always defend your dad," she mutters in disgust, and I shoot her a look. "So what happened? You okay?"

"I went running. And I fell." I lift my elbow and show off my elbow, scraped and bruised as it is. Melissa had poked and prodded at my hurts when she saw them, but deemed them fine, and it made me feel even more like an idiot. "And I'm pretty sure I had a panic attack. Not sure, never had one before." Sonya throws her head back and tugs at her hair.

"Are you serious?"

I sit back and let her have her minor breakdown. It's not like I can blame her; she just learned her best friend almost got killed by a serial killer, is having car issues, and maybe had a panic attack and she wasn't anywhere around to bring moral support cookies. Which. Speaking of cookies. My gaze moves past the laptop to my trunk, where purple, half empty wrapper sits, and I remember Derek's stupid sleepy face last night and how he had gotten embarrassed when I realised just where he got the cookies.

"You have a look on your face that says something else happened that makes this all either super okay or super worse," Warren says warily, and Sonya's head snaps up with Exorcist speed.

"Worse," I say, then pause. "Better?" I shove my face into Hubie and try very hard not to think about how warm Derek's hands are and how deep his eyes are. It doesn't work very well. "I have a problem." I say into the plushy, and it comes out muffled.

"Well hurry up and tell it then," Sonya snaps. I turn my head so I can see them, but still halfway hide in Hubie's belly.

"Derek Hale has the prettiest eyes and I want to punch him in the face."

They're silent for a second as the words sink in. Warren is the one that realises what's up first, and his eyes go wide and bright as a manic grin spreads across his face. He slaps Sonya's arm, hard if the sound is anything to go by, and rocks in his chair.

"You like a boy!" he screams shrilly, and only just avoiding Sonya's returning punch. Because you don't punch Sonya Langston. It just is not done.

"Shhh!" I hiss, my hand shooting out to mute my laptop. I look to the door, and when Scott doesn't immediately come barging into my room, I turn the volume back on.

"-ew you and your serial killer were a thing!" Sonya says, and when I look back to them, she's leaning forward toward the screen and typing like she has a paper due in the morning and only just remembered. "Let's see just how pretty this Derek Hale's eyes are," she says, and I realize I have made a grave mistake.

"Don't google him!"

"Facebooking him, darling," Warren says, resting his chin on Sonya's shoulder to watch her work. "Let's see, Derek Herell, Derek Hayes, Derek Hall, Jesus, does this guy not have a face-"

"DEREK HALE!" Sonya exclaims, slamming her finger on a her keyboard. "Brooklyn, New York?"

"He used to live in New York," I say before I can stop myself, and wow. Way to be a horrible friend, because these idiots I call my best friends are going to ruin his life now.

"Did he also go to Columbia?"

"Maybe?"

"This is him," she says, clicking on something. Warren blinks, leans forward, and then leans back out again.

"Ares. Aracely. Baby doll." He looks directly at the camera. "You need to lock this shit down immediately."

"This is your serial killer?" Sonya demands incredulously. "Ares. He's fucking. He's."

I drop my head on Hubie. "He smiles y los angelitos cantan."

"He smiles?" Warren frowns in disbelief. "Literally brooding in all these pictures. Must not like pictures? And they're all taken by someone named Laura?"

"His sister," I say, and leave it at that.

"You can't see his eyes in any of these, but girl. That jawline." He pauses. "There's a lot of pictures with his sister. They're always wearing sunglasses - what, are they allergic to the sun?" He gasps. "Ares, you fell into your very own Twilight."

And it takes every ounce of willpower in my body to keep my mouth shut that no, Derek Hale is not a vampire, he's a werewolf, and he once sent me a novel length text clearing that up when I sent him a screenshot of Cat-Vlad from What We Do in the Shadows. It was absolutely scathing, and I have it saved forever.

"You only just realized you like this guy? Ares, I know you don't like the whole sex thing and all, but Jesus. He's gorgeous." Sonya clicks around. "Doesn't have a lot of statuses. Mostly tagged pictures and posts."

"Oh, he's older than us, that's good," Warren says brightly. "Look, do the math, he's 23 right now." He points to the screen. "His birthday is November seventh, Ares, take note so you can get him something."

Sonya's eyes scan the screen. "Oh, my godchildren are going to be the most beautiful creatures," she says with a sigh, and I bury my face in the pillow and bite back a scream. She notices, because her next question is: "Wait, does he like you back?" I shrug helplessly. I have never been a good judge on these things. Comes with the lack of sexual attraction, I think. Shit, Sonya had to point out that Elliot was trying to get my attention, and she never forgave herself after.

"Surely he does," Warren says. "If he went to the murder school with you." I peek up at him and whine. It's not like I can tell them he only came because the Alpha was there too.

"He was just being nice," I say instead. "It's what bros do."

Sonya narrows her eyes at me, because even half a country away she knows how to pick up bullshit. "Ares Delgado, I will tell you if this guy likes you back. What all have you done together?"

Chased around a supernatural creature that wants to kill us all, avoid hunters that also want to kill us all, and try to teach my little cousin to not kill us all.

"Sometimes we get lunch at a diner?"

"Who pays?"

"We go back and forth."

She scowls, and it's not a good sign for me. "What else?"

"We go running."

Warren's expression goes thoughtful. "I mean. If he's willing to hang out with you when you're sweaty and gross…" And he would know something about that, because both he and Sonya were in track with me. I groan. If anything, seeing me sweaty and gross is a big turn off.

"This is stupid," I declare. "This is fucking dumb."

"Ares-"

"No. I don't. I don't even wanna know," I decide, and it's the farthest from the truth I can get. Because I do wanna know because knowing is the best way to put it all behind me. But it's a safe bet to assume he doesn't, and that works just as well, right? "I don't wanna talk about this anymore. It's giving me anxiety."

"But your serial killer," Warren whines.

"Is just my friend, and is gonna stay just my friend, and I don't wanna talk about this anymore," I repeat. Sonya looks like she wants to argue - probably because she wants to live vicariously through me. "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."

"Ares Delgado, don't you hang up-"

"Bye, love you."

And the look of rage in her eyes is not something I want to end this call on, but I can't handle her questions anymore. I don't want to have to think about this anymore. I close my laptop to avoid them trying to call back and throw myself back into my pillows, Hubie clutched in my arms.

Of all the assholes to like, it has to be Derek freaking Hale. Who is an absolute jerk to Scott and Stiles most of the time. Who wanted to murder Deaton the other night. Who goes around terrorizing teenagers and laughs about it later.

Who bought me sweets for not letting him die. Who smiles with his eyes on the rare occasions that he does smile. Who let me steal his bed, and went out of his way to get me cookies.

A high whine tears itself out of my throat and I roll on stomach, burying my face in the covers.

I would rather feed myself to the alpha than have to deal with this.

I just got two friend requests on fb from a Sonya and a Warren

(D)

I blink at the message, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I'm not sure when I passed out, only that I did, and either Scott or Melissa have been in here in the time being, because the comfy throw I always steal from the living room has been thrown (ha!) over me and my laptop magically transported from my bed to my trunk.

The message has a timestamp of two hours ago. It is currently eleven-forty-nine at night.

"Oh dear God."

I'm pressing call before I can think my actions through. It rings once, twice, three times, fo-

"Ares, it's almost midnight, what the hell?" Derek grumbles in way of greeting, and I would be offended if I wasn't so alarmed at the moment.

"You need to block Sonya and Warren right now," I tell him. "Like, immediately."

"That's why you're calling me?"

"Derek Hale, this is a matter of life or death-"

"I already added them."

Well. Fuck.

"You fucker, I thought we were friends." It surprises a laugh out of him. "Why would you do that? My mystery," I lament, when in reality I'm panicking over the fact that Warren can't keep his mouth shut for shit and the last thing I need is for things to get weird.

"What about my mystery? You're the one that told them about me."

I make a face at Hubie, because I can't make it at Derek. "I'm sorry for sharing the fact I finally have a friend that isn't a teenage boy or an officer of the law." He hums, and it warms my soul. "I didn't mean to tell them your last name. It kinda just slipped." I pause. "Have… have they messaged you yet?"

"They're about as annoying as you," is his answer.

"Rude!" I gasp, scandalized. "We are perfect. Golden Trio level fantastic."

"They accused me of replacing them," he goes on as if I didn't say anything.

I tsk. "I'm not replacing. I'm supplementing."

"You need to tell them that. They're of the opinion that I'm not worth your friendship."

"You probably aren't, but I have decided to bestow it upon you all the same," I say lightly, and I can practically hear the eyeroll. "I give you, like, three days before you have to block them. You should just save yourself the trouble and do it now."

"I've lasted this long hanging out with you," he says, and damn, he has a point.

"But you didn't really have a choice. You had to hang out with me. Because of Scott." Which isn't a lie. The only reason we went to the diner the first time is because he needed me to get Scott to listen to him. And the second time because Scott and Stiles sent him to jail and the alpha was hanging around.

He's quiet for a second. "You can't really think I just stuck around because of Scott." And he sounds absolutely flabbergasted, and I hate that I can't see his expression right now.

"Kinda?" I shrug even if he can't see. "It's cool though. The first time Sonya spoke to me it was to tell me I had a hot brother and it hurt my soul on a level you cannot understand because no sister wants to hear that."

He makes a noise of annoyance. "Idiot human," he mutters, and his voice is distant, like he moved the phone away. "You have a pretty shitty self esteem, don't you?"

I frown, because, wow, rude. How dare he point out my flaws. "It comes with the years of manipulation and emotional abuse," I say in annoyance, and my mouth snaps shut once I realize what I just said. Because that absolutely was not something I meant to share. "Um." He doesn't say anything on the other end. "Fuck. Just. Pretend you didn't hear that," I say quickly, panic in my voice. "Please."

And the problem with phone calls is that you can't see the person's face.

"Your friends just sent me the same shitpost you did earlier," he says finally. His voice sounds off, clipped and short, like he's holding off anger. "The one with Shrek."

I could cry. I almost do. "Where do you think I get my supply?" I ask, and have to work very hard not to choke. I clear my throat. "You're gonna hate us before long."

He snorts. "Them, maybe." He pauses. "What'd your aunt say about your ankle?"

I huff, throwing an arm over my eyes. "It's fine. I'm just a soflamera."

"Ares…"

"Though she did say we probably should have iced it." I shrug. "It's whatever. I should be running Monday if you wanna come."

"You should not be running Monday."

"Who's the certified nurse, Derek Hale? Not you," I remind him. "Melissa says it's fine. I'm running."

He makes an annoyed noise in his throat. "We're running. You're stupidly stubborn, you know that?"

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment."

"You do that."

I shouldn't be so pleased with myself, and yet.

It only took roughly 100k words and 24 chapters, but guess who isn't completely oblivious about her feelings anymore? Ares! Now to actually get them together...

Anywho! Hope you enjoy this double update, because I'm going back to hoarding chapters for a couple weeks. Next chapter will see the beginning of the episode of Scott's second full moon (drunk teenagers, yay!) so we have that to look forward to!

Thanks to those who reviewed, always love those. Ellixwolf, and anyone else interested in a Derek POV chapter: I'm currently considering doing a series of what-ifs, oneshots, whathaveyou related to this story on the tumbr, and maybe on here under a different story, and if I do, you will definitely get your Derek POV. I'm just needing life to chill a bit and learn how to better manage time (again, don't procrastinate, y'all. it's satan) If I don't end up doing the oneshots, I have a future chapter I'm considering putting in Derek's POV, but I just gotta get there first before I can decide.

That was kind of a useless answer but just know I see what you want and am working on it.

As always, welcome to the new favs/followers. Those who binge this whole thing-whoa. Those who have been here forever, get ready guys, it won't be all fluff and fun for much longer.

Okay, this has gone on long enough. Catcha on the flipside, my dudes~