A/N: So it's obvious to everyone that the issue is Derek doesn't know Stiles' real first name, and people are getting frustrated that it's such an obvious fix and these two dumb boys aren't communicating. I get that frustration, totally. But if you think about it from the perspective that this is teaching them to grow and strengthen their relationship and learn how to fight for each other even when they think it's pointless, that they'll never get to have each other the way they want, isn't it kind of beautiful? They refuse to give up on each other. Think about that when you're getting frustrated, because I can tell you, this is only chapter five and they don't figure it out until the chapters hit double digits. Happy reading! :)

Stiles hated that Derek was dating. Hated it. In a weird way, though, it made him feel better. He'd wondered if he would feel like the world's biggest ass to be dating while Derek holed up in his apartment all alone; he'd learned that, despite initial appearances, Derek was more of a loner and didn't really encourage friendships or spending time with anyone else.

The first time he'd met Scott (and, quite honestly, every time thereafter), he'd bristled and gotten really quiet. Stiles had tried to facilitate easy communication between his two best friends, but Derek was monosyllabic and Scott had written him off as a jerk before ten minutes had passed. It had frustrated him at first, but now he mostly just rolled his eyes at their "top dog" posturing with each other whenever they had to tolerate the other's presence.

Now that Derek had, apparently, become a social butterfly, Stiles didn't see him as often. He'd managed to convince himself that that was the reason Derek's dating bothered him so much, not that he was out there potentially finding his soulmate. After all, that was what he was doing, how could he begrudge it of his best friend?

Until he found out Derek was only dating people who didn't have his soul mark initials.

"What the fuck, Derek?" he grumbled one night when Derek was describing how his date with Alyssa Neville had been a bust. Three nights earlier he'd gone out with a guy named Kellen Bartlett, and the weekend before that it had been a girl named Elodie Rivera. No rhyme or reason to the initials, to the genders. He just seemed to go out with anyone and everyone. "Are you just trying to be the biggest manwhore possible?"

"Aren't you the one who's all about sensitivity and not shaming people for their sexuality?" Derek replied mildly. "Calling me a manwhore isn't very sensitive."

Stiles glared at him. "You know what I mean. You're not even trying to find your soulmate, are you?"

Derek smirked. "Not even a little bit," he confirmed. "Not all of us are so hellbent on skipping every possible relationship in the search for our One and Only," he added darkly, eyebrows drawing together in a brooding stare that he focused downward into his coffee cup.

"How can you still possibly be holding that against me?" Stiles fumed, throwing his hands up in the air and waving them around in frustration. "Most people want to find their soulmate!"

"But most of them aren't so dead-set on it that they refuse to give anyone else a chance!" Derek shot back, and Stiles expelled an annoyed breath.

"Can we not do this right now? We're actually friends again and every time this comes up, we get pissed off and circle each other and sulk and we waste another couple weeks we could be hanging out and having fun," he grumbled, and Derek rolled his eyes.

"Sure, Stiles. That's going to work perfectly."

"You're a jackass sometimes, you know that?" Stiles snapped, and Derek unexpectedly shot him a brilliant smile that actually didn't look forced at all, and Stiles couldn't help it, he started laughing. It just served to remind him that even though it was hard sometimes-and boy, was it really hard sometimes-he wanted Derek in his life. He was an awesome friend, and Stiles wasn't willing to give that up. Even though quite frequently he fantasized about them being the kind of friends who made out a lot and had sex.

Derek's smile faded into something a little more natural and Derek-like, and Stiles breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He knew it was just as much his fault as it was Derek's, but he hated it when their mutual interest was brought up because it constantly made him wonder if he was doing the right thing. It was inevitable that a relationship with Derek would end in heartbreak, and Stiles was terrified it would be his. On the flip side, he was sick at the thought that it would be Derek's; he never wanted to cause his friend that much pain. Even if he was the one who found his soulmate first, doing that to Derek would crush him despite whatever happiness he might gain.

It didn't mean he didn't wonder sometimes if it might be worth it. It certainly wasn't doing him any good to scout out any guys with the initials DH he could find and ask them out, most of whom were not gay, or even bi. He'd met a handful who were interested enough to say yes, though, and he'd parted ways with all of them after anywhere from one to three dates, once they got to the point where they were comfortable divulging the initials inked on their skin. They were all nice enough, though a couple were boring as fuck, but despite that he hadn't felt a keen desire to keep them around regardless of the soul male incompatibility, not the way he had with Derek.

They fell into silence as they got back to their homework, which had been interrupted when Stiles made the mistake of asking Derek about his most recent date, in an effort to prove he could be a supportive friend. Clearly that hadn't worked out well for them, so Stiles continued to research his Neurobiology paper while Derek fought with the design program he was using to build a model for his Transportation and Land Use Planning class. After about the third time Derek swore at his laptop under his breath, Stiles glanced up, eyebrows quirked in amusement.

"Do you need help over there?"

Derek scowled at the computer, shoving it away from him. "You can take this program and blow it up for all I care. 'User friendly' my ass."

"Your ass is too glorious to be compared to that program," he murmured unthinkingly as he came around to peer over Derek's shoulder at the screen. Derek stiffened and Stiles felt the change in temperature. "What?"

"You can't say shit like that," Derek gritted out. His shoulders were tense almost to the point of shaking and Stiles felt horrible. Derek continued to rail out. "You want to know why I've been dating anyone I can get to go out with me? Because I can't stand watching you date your way around half the frats on campus and feel like I'm watching my life go by in the same breath."

He shoved away from his desk and stalked his way toward the kitchen. Stiles started to take a step in his direction but he whirled around and glared. "You're dating to find your soulmate. I get that. I'm dating because I don't want to find my soulmate. Ever."

Stiles blinked at him, feeling like he was watching a foreign movie without subtitles through, like, a fish tank. It made no sense and it gave him a headache. "How can you not ever want to find your soulmate?" he protested.

"Because soulmates are bullshit," he snapped. "Who we fall in love with is our choice, and the initials don't mean a damn thing."

"You can't seriously believe that."

"I can, actually." He wilted, turning away and blowing out a harsh breath. "I've known a lot of people who loved someone who wasn't their 'soulmate'. They didn't need some mystical mark to tell them who to fall in love with."

"Did it last?" Stiles' voice was quiet and it silenced Derek.

It took him a moment to answer. "No. But that doesn't invalidate how happy they were while they were together."

"That's the thing, Derek," Stiles countered with a heavy sigh. "I know we could be happy. I would love the hell out of you, and we'd be one of those disgustingly perfect couples. And when it ended, it would destroy me. I'm pretty sure it would destroy you. I don't want that for either of us. Do you?"

Derek opened his mouth and then immediately snapped it shut, staring at Stiles with his lips pressed together in a thin line, and Stiles knew his point had been made. "I don't know if we can keep doing this," he said finally, and Stiles bit his lip.

"I don't know, either," he replied honestly. "Isn't it worth trying, though?"

"Of course it is," Derek muttered in frustration. "But how long do we keep trying when we're not succeeding?"

Stiles thought for a few moments, rolling possible options around in his mind. "Let's make a pact not to bring our thing up for two weeks," he finally decided. "Not once. We don't snipe at each other about it or make sarcastic comments about the other's dates. We act like actual friends who aren't interested in each other."

Derek shrugged. "It's as good a plan as any," he conceded. He gave Stiles a half-smile. "Now that that's settled, think you could help me with this fucking program? I'm about to go Office Space on my laptop."

Stiles returned the smile tentatively. "Your pop culture references warm my cold, dead heart," he remarked, and made a mental tally mark when Derek didn't comment about how warm Stiles' heart was for him. It gave him sudden hope that they'd be able to stick to their pact, and eventually it would become easier until they really were "just friends".

A/N 2: Because I have been seriously remiss in mentioning it, thank you all a ridiculous amount for the love and praise you've showered on this. I love this story so much and I'm so happy that it's resonating with my readers as well. :)