Chapter Fourteen
Going Out
*Stiles
Stiles stumbled over a branch, for the second time and cursed under his breath. It was only because Derek refused to let him turn on his flashlight, said it would attract to much attention. Though with all the tripping he was doing he's probably be better off with the flashlight. He clutched Derek's arm and walked closer to him , trying to be as quiet as possible. He could kind of see where he was going, from the light of the moon, that really didn't keep him from stumbling though. "Are we almost there?" he asked, talking about the nemeton, because they haven't even reach that yet. They'd thought they should start there and kind of just span out.
Derek nodded slightly, "Yeah, just a few more minutes" he said with a small smile and helped try and guide Stiles, since he was the one who said no flashlight.
Stiles stayed close to Derek, holding onto his arm as they walked, he couldn't help but start thinking about the kiss again. "Derek?"
Derek looked at Stiles "Yeah…"
"About the kiss-" Stiles started…..
"What about it?" Derek asked, thinking Stiles might regret it or something.
"What does it mean?" he asked and looked up at him. "I mean, does it mean we're… or that…" he said tailing off, not really sure where he was going with this.
Derek sighed softly, not really sure how to answer that, "I don't know…. let's not…" he said trailing off.
"Oh right….. no labels got it" Stiles said with a small smile, not sure how he felt about that.
Derek was going to say not talk about it right now, but the no labels things worked for him too. "Stiles calm down" he said and smiled down at the human, "You worry too much" he said and chuckled softly.
Stiles scoffed, "Yeah, I worry too much" he said sarcastically. "You sir are the king of worrying" he said and shook his head slightly.
"And here I thought I was the King of Fire" Derek said joking, but soon went quiet. "Shhhh, we're here" he said and a few moments later they walked into a clearing with the stump of the nemeton in the middle of it. He'd forgotten out big the thing was.
"Which way should we go first?" Stiles asked after a moment of looking at the nemeton.
Derek looked around before sniffing the air, "Let's go that way" he said and pointed before pulling Stiles in the direction he indicated. He thought he smelt something strange coming from this direction so he just kind of went with it. It smelt kind of familiar too so he thought it might be the Ahzi, the bestiary said it was supposed to have a distinctive smell, though he really hadn't seen evidence of that, not since the first night anyway.
Stiles watched Derek as they walked, keeping a hold on his arm so he wouldn't trip and fall. "You got a plan for if we find them?" he asked him. "Didn't exactly fair to well with the Ahzi the last time you fought it" he said, though as he thought about it, Derek's only went up against it once.
Derek shrugged, "Don't got a plan" he said honestly and looked at Stiles for a moment. "We were caught of guard last time, didn't know what it was. Might be different this time" he said with a smile.
Stiles nodded slightly, though he really wasn't so sure "Okay" he said and looked around, though he couldn't see very far, he did want to be aware of his surroundings. "From what we know we won't be able to hear it coming" he said and sighed softly. "how exactly are you supposed to be prepared for it?" he asked.
Derek sighed, "I don't know Stiles" he said with a small frown. "Guess we'll just have to just be careful" he said with a shrug.
Stiles nodded slightly, wasn't like there was anything else they could do. "Sounds good I guess" he said. He looked around again, this time because it felt like they were being watched, hell they probably were, "Derek" he whispered, "Do you hear anything?" He asked.
"No why?" Derek asked and looked down at the human.
Stiles shrugged slightly, "I don't know, just feel like we're being watched or something." He said and shrugged again as he looked around a bit more. "Probably nothing" he mumbled, because he wasn't so sure about that.
Derek watched Stiles for a moment before focusing all his senses on their surroundings, just in case the human was right and they were being watched. From what he could tell there was nothing, not even an animal of any sort nearby. Which was strange all by itself, there should at least be something, even if it wasn't the Ahzi or Josie. He didn't tell Stiles about it though, he could already tell the guy was nervous didn't want to make it worse.
They walked around for a few hours, not finding anything, though the feeling of being watched never did leave Stiles. "Maybe we should just call it a night" Derek suggested after the third hour.
Stiles, who was breathing kind of heavily, nodded slightly "Yeah okay" he said exhausted and ready to start heading back. He leaned against Derek for a moment before making himself walk again, this time back towards the jeep. Unfortunately it would probably take another hour to get there if not longer. "We coming back out tomorrow night" he asked curiously and looked up at Derek with a small tired smile.
Derek looked down at him and chuckled softly "If you still want to tomorrow night I don't see why not" he said with a smile.
Stiles nodded slightly and decided not to think about it at the moment, he'd decide tomorrow.
It took over an hour to get back to the jeep, but it wasn't to bad. Stiles and Derek talked the entire time and it kind of made it just fly by. They both quickly climbed into the jeep and Stiles started the engine before pulling out of the grass and onto the road driving towards Derek's place, had to drop the werewolf off before he could go home.
Derek slowly climbed out of the car once Stiles pulled to a stop in front of his building. He turned to look at Stiles before shutting the door. "See you tomorrow" he said with a smile before moving to close the door.
"Hey Derek?" Stiles said a bit questioning as he looked around, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He just couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched, how Derek couldn't feel it he had no idea. "You think I could stay here tonight" he asked a little awkwardly. "Sleep on the couch."
Derek eyed Stiles not sure why the human wanted to stay, but from the elevated heart rate he could kind of guess. "Yeah sure, but you don't have to sleep on the couch" he said and closed the door.
Stiles smiled before quickly killing the engine and climbing out of the jeep. He grabbed his bag out of the back and locked the doors before hurrying around the jeep and over to Derek. He followed him up to the loft before walking over to the couch and flopping down onto it, exhausted.
*Derek
Derek watched Stiles for a moment before grabbing a pair of sweatpants out of his dresser and walking into the bathroom. He pulled off his jeans and tossed them into the dirty laundry basket. He pulled the sweatpants on before walking out and looking over at Stiles who was in a pair of his own sweatpants, guess he had a pair in the bag. "You're not seriously going to sleep on the couch are you?" Derek asked.
Stiles smiled up at Derek, "Was kind of planning on it" he said with a yawn. "You have a very comfortable couch" he said with a smile.
Derek chuckled "Okay, suit yourself" he said and walked over to the bed and crawled under the covers. "though the bed is better" he said.
Stiles smiled and watched him a moment before turning off the lights. He paused before moving, trying to decide what to do. Screw it, he thought before walking over to the bed and crawling under the covers. Derek was right, his bed was very comfortable, and with the werewolves warm body next to his he felt safe and relaxed. He fell asleep almost immediately, and so did Derek.
*Stiles
Stiles woke up the next morning snuggled in close to Derek, he groaned softly before slowly rolling away from him. He looked at the time on his phone and saw it wasn't so much morning but the afternoon. He chuckled softly and shook his head slightly before climbing out of the bed and walking into the bathroom. He closed the door behind him before actually going to the bathroom.
Once Stiles was done washing his hands he left the bathroom and walked back over to the bed. He looked down at Derek's sleeping form for a moment, just admiring how peaceful he looked before grabbing his phone off the side table and walking over to the couch. He wasn't going to just leave without a word and he really didn't have anywhere to go right now anyway. So he just went back to work, that's what he'd be doing if he hadn't spent the night anyway.
After almost an hour he heard the sheets on the bed rustle and looked up to see Derek getting up. He smiled at the werewolf, "Good Morning" he said and laughed a bit, "Or should I say good afternoon," he said a bit questioningly.
Derek smiled small, "Either would do I'm sure" he said and walked over to him slowly. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Uhh…. research" Stiles said slowly, feeling a little embarrassed about the fact that he was already working on the case and he's only been up an hour.
Derek chuckled softly, "Of course you are" he said and sat down next to him. "You find anything?" he asked before looking at him. Though before Stiles could actually answer he kissed him softly, slowly bringing his hand up to caress his cheek before slowly pulling away and standing up to go to the kitchen.
"Hmmmmmmm" Stiles hummed before seemingly getting his bearings back he shook his head slightly tease he thought to himself before speaking. "No haven't really found anything new. Just a bunch of different stuff we already know." he said and shrugged slightly before looking over at Derek. He stood up and walked over to him, he was a little sore from so much walking last night, but it wasn't to terrible. "I hope you're not planning on cooking anything, didn't exactly go well last time" he said jokingly.
"Don't know what you're talking about" Derek said and looked at Stiles with a smile. "I thought it went just fine" he said with a smirk.
"Well if you think about it that way then yeah it went great" Stiles said and laughed softly before leaning up and kissing him softly. He pulled away after a moment and stepped away, "But if you think of it any other way, then it was just a big mess and we never actually had any pancakes" he said, which made him realize he was actually very hungry.
Derek chuckled softly, "Okay fine then, what do you suggest?" he asked with a smile. "Because, if I'm not mistaken I'm pretty sure I just heard your stomach growl" he said.
Stiles smiled and nodded slightly "As true as that may be we are not a good cooking pair" he said and thought a moment. "How about you go and take a shower and I'll make something" he said.
"Take a shower….. are you trying to tell me something?" Derek asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah I am" Stiles said with a smirk, "You smell horrible, and I'm saying that with my limited human sense smell" he said and crossed his arms.
Derek laughed softly, "Yeah, okay" he said and shook his head "Better go and take a shower then. Wouldn't want my BO bothering you" he said and snuck in one last kiss before walking away and going to the bathroom. He slowly stripped out of his clothes and tossed them onto the floor before climbing into the shower.
Stiles watched him go before turning around to face the counter. He's never actually been in Derek's kitchen never had to need to be. So he quickly familiarized himself with where everything was, and what he all had, which wasn't much.
