The moon was up, bringing a soft light into Stiles' room, drowned out by the artificial lamp on his desk as he poured over the notes he'd taken on the monster he'd ran into today. He didn't know nor want to find out where Derek had hidden it, or where the werewolf was, as he was afraid of the frightening answer he might receive. It was late, almost midnight, and Stiles hadn't taken much of a break yet, stopping only to call Scott and then pool his resources with Chris Argent, who had had no idea what Stiles was talking about but gave him his email anyway, telling Stiles to keep in contact.

Stiles stopped for a moment to run his hands through his hair and sigh loudly, stretching his legs out beneath the desk and then stretching his back against the chair, throwing his arms up over his head and rolling his wrists in little circles to loosen the tight joints there. He then pushed the chair over to his window and opened it fully, grinning when Derek climbed through, an impressed look on his face.

"You heard me coming?" the werewolf asked as he laid a firm hand on Stiles' shoulder, letting it slip off as he claimed a seat on the nearby bed.

"I had a hunch" Stiles answered, swivelling the chair around to face Derek and pressed his fingers together gently, leaning back in his chair "What did you find out?"

"About as much as you" Derek answered, gesturing to the piles of papers with writing that was struck through with red "Nothing conclusive… were the kids alright?"

Stiles nodded "Never suspected a thing and also did not take a ride: they're smart, but not dangerously so"

"It could be worse I suppose" the werewolf admitted, falling back on Stiles' bed, arms folding over his chest "Scott would know"

"Yep" Stiles agreed, standing from the chair and joining Derek on the bed "Funny how much we've come to rely on him… remember when it was 'fend for yourself' and we were all fighting over the stupidest things instead of dealing with the dangerous ones?"

The werewolf hummed "Bull-headedness… on both our parts"

"If I had more bull-headedness maybe you throwing me around wouldn't have hurt so much" Stiles teased with a laugh, listening as Derek laughed too.

They fell silent then, listening to the house settle and the night carry on without them, the moon still shining brightly above them, filtering weak light into Stiles' room. Gently, afraid to startle the man next to him, Stiles stood and switched off the light on his desk, strengthening the moonlight tenfold. Now his room had a white glow to it, and large shadows dominated the corners further away from the window. Stiles could make out the icy blue of Derek's eyes in the dark, and when he sat back down the werewolf turned to him, the blue fading down to revert to their natural colour.

"So… you turn into a wolf now?" Stiles asked, pulling his legs up to his chest and rocking slightly.

"I… only if I want to" Derek answered, turning over onto his side and propping himself up on his forearm "I'm not stuck turning that way, I can shift in whichever way I chose to"

"Oh" Stiles responded, lying back and hanging his legs over the edge at the knee, folding his hands over his stomach and kicking his legs out rhythmically "I had this weird idea that whenever you got mad you turned into a wolf…" he laughed softly

Derek smiled fondly at Stiles, shaking his head.

Stiles sat up slightly, propping himself up on his elbows "You want me to shut up?"

Derek shook his head again "No, keep talking, I don't mind" he assured, pushing himself up into a sitting position, back resting against the head of Stiles' bed and patting the space next to him.

"We should be trying to catch and catalogue those things out there, not bonding" Stiles argued, even as he crawled up to the head of the bed to join Derek, resting his head on the werewolf's shoulder.

"You've been working all evening… this is a break" Derek explained with a smile "Now… what were you saying?"

Stiles lifted both hands in the universal gesture of 'I-don't-know' and settled into the werewolf. They were silent for a moment, and then, unpredictably, Derek started talking.

"Those six years apart from the pack was difficult" he began, eyes closed as he wrapped an arm around Stiles' shoulders "But the reason I ran, the reason I abandoned my Alpha… was because I was scared" Derek paused for a moment when Stiles shifted his position, resting his head on the werewolf's chest. "I was scared of Scott, and I was scared of what finding your parents would bring to Beacon Hills… I was scared at the lack of control I would have, I was worried that somehow my worth would go down… It was stupid but I ran regardless…. I wasn't a good Alpha, but that didn't stop me from wanting to be one… I ran because I was being selfish"

"For once" Stiles supported, wrapping his arms around Derek's waist "You were always selfless with us, putting yourself on the line for the pack, for me… even when we were at each other's throat you were saving me, putting yourself after everyone else… a little selfishness from you was probably justified" he explained, closing his eyes "To be honest I freaked out because you weren't there to be selfless, and without that gravity behind them I think the pack lost something then… it was hard for them…. That's why they reacted the way they did to seeing you again"

"Stiles…" Derek sounded chocked and Stiles opened his eyes, noting a look of gratefulness in the werewolf's gaze "I… thank you… I've spent the last six years doing nothing but regretting my decisions… you… thank you"

Stiles smiled toothlessly "Eh, it was nothing, just the average ramble"

The kiss he was pulled into was gentle and unlike what he had expected from Derek, who pressed his forehead to Stiles' firmly "It was far from average"

/

Scott returned the next day, and as soon as he stepped off of his dirt bike Stiles was talking to him, pulling him by the arm into his own house and then setting down the satchel he had strapped to his chest.

"Okay, so, here's what you missed" Stiles began, pointing at Scott when his friend looked to him with confusion "Just wait; there's more"

"You sound like an infomercial announcer" Scott noted amusedly, a smile on his face: the 'Stiles is nuts' smile.

Stiles rolled his eyes and pulled out his version of a bestiary, a large leather bound book the colour of oak which he pulled open to the most recent entry: the beast he and Derek had fought in the preserve.

"Derek and I found a pack of these things in the preserve, we fought one of them but have no idea what it's vulnerable to… we would like your superior Alpha judgment" Stiles began, holding up a hand when Scott aimed to speak "Also the estates are getting closer to the preserve, and dad has been getting reports of animal attacks starting up again, Peter agrees that it's probably these things but no one has any idea what they are… you can speak now"

"Uh… okay, I have no idea what they are either Stiles… but um, maybe if we figure out what they're vulnerable to we can narrow it down?" Scott answered slowly, moving to the side when Stiles sat down next to him and stared hard at his own crude drawings next the photos he'd gotten which had proven difficult to get.

"I've been working on that but, in reality, we won't figure it out unless we have one that's alive… and trust me Scott; that's dangerous" Stiles argued "I realise that both you and Derek have superior power-"

"And Peter" Scott interrupted, shrugging when Stiles turned to him with wide eyes: one, he'd interrupted, and two, he'd withheld information.

"You, Derek and Peter have superior shifting power and you're the True Alpha but restraining the thing without it alerting the rest of its pack would be difficult even if we do manage to chain it up" Stiles continued, hitting his friend on the shoulder "Can you tell me next time Peter gets more power? That's the sort of stuff I need to know before I go to see him alone… I knew he was being smug for a reason!"

"I didn't think I was being smug… Was I smug?"

Stiles nearly jumped five feet in the air when Peter appeared seemingly out of nowhere with his arms folded and Stiles regretted the day he had suggested that Peter begin to give Scott some advice on werewolf-y matters: it meant that the eldest Hale was everywhere Scott was when he was in Beacon Hills.

Scott only smiled and rolled his eyes, patting Stiles on the shoulder, hand lingering in a brotherly reassurance "I'm watching him… so, anyway, we need a plan"

"No, I need more information" Stiles corrected his best friend gently, glancing between the two werewolves in the room "There are two more people I can ask"

"I'll talk to Deaton" Scott agreed, nodding his head and standing along with Stiles, who tried to sigh dramatically without smiling.

"Guess that means I'm going back to high school" he relented with a smirk.

/

Beacon Hills High School, home of all of his unpopularity and the craziness of teenage life, home of between class meetings and note passing and lacrosse. Stiles sighed in a reminiscent way and almost jumped when he noted that Derek was standing next to him, hands shoved in his pockets and shoulders set.

"Can we make a pact to not sneak up on each other?" Stiles asked; exasperated, as he began walking up the steps of the school's front entrance.

"No, it's still amusing to see the brief moments of panic when I almost scare you: we're not making a pact" Derek responded, chuckling when Stiles shoved him roughly, taking one step to the side to avoid the second shove with a small smile.

"You are an awful person, I hate-love you right now" Stiles said, almost running into the students making their ways through the halls, moving closer to Derek to achieve some sort of barrier between himself and the student body.

"Hate-love?" Derek asked with a grin, pulling Stiles to him by the younger male's shirt and winding an arm around his shoulders tightly

"Well, like I said: I love you, but right now, you're annoying me, so I hate-love you… make sense?" Stiles explained, looking over to the werewolf and finding the same smile there.

"Sort of, I'll ask for an essay later" the werewolf teased, smile reaching his eyes as he opened the door to the counsellor's office for Stiles "Don't be mean"

"When am I ever mean?" Stiles asked incredulously, scoffing at the raised eyebrow he got in response.

The door closed behind him and he smiled and waved at Morell, who raised an eyebrow at him as he sat down and leant forward before stopping to reach into the satchel at his side, digging out his bestiary and flipping to the beast in question.

"Have you seen this thing before?" Stiles asked, pointing to the photo instead of the crude drawing that he had on the adjacent page.

"Hello to you too Stiles" she responded with a knowing look, glancing down at the photo for a long moment, before saying "zmutowany wilk" with a smug smile.

Stiles scoffed and stared at the older woman for a long moment "That's Polish for mutated wolf… we're dealing with a wolf mutant?"

"Yes, easily killed but just as easily created" she answered, steepling her fingers and leaning back in her chair.

"Okay…" Stiles began, glancing behind him at the knock on the door and standing, wanting to ask more but knowing how suspicious he would seem to whoever was waiting outside, taking the bestiary and dropping it back into the bag "Thanks, as weird as it was you were helpful"

"Be careful Stiles"

He was out of the door before he could get out a reply and sidestepped the teenager in front of him, re-joining Derek at the end of the hall.

He was silent for a long time, as they exited the high school Derek sighed loudly and stopped Stiles mid walk by grabbing at the collar of his shirt and yanking hard.

"What?!" Stiles half yelled, glaring at the werewolf and readjusting his shirt.

"You've got something to say" Derek responded "Go"

"It feels too easy? I would have said that when we got back you know? I mean, what with Scott and Peter being in the audience and-"

"No" Derek interrupted, giving Stiles 'the look' (The glare that said 'why am I hanging out with people younger than me and relying on them for information' – it was a good glare)

"Oh alright… Those two teens yesterday, which lost the chain? How did they get out there? Why were they out there to lose it?... there are too many variables Derek: it makes me nervous" Stiles answered, rubbing the back of his neck and gesturing to the werewolf to follow him "There's too much room for a mistake"

"We'll figure it out" Derek assured, patting Stiles on the back as they slid into the Camaro "Always do"

"I hope so, otherwise we could be in big trouble, and I'm sick of trouble and what comes with it" Stiles replied.

"What comes with it?" Derek asked as he started the car and rocketed off

"Losing people"