Chapter 7

Waking up in a bed with someone else was a new experience for Stiles. Sure him and Scott had spent many nights together growing up but they normally camped out in the living room rather than share Scott's small bed. Something else he wasn't used to was the feeling of another person, a male person, pressed up against his back with their arm thrown possessively around his waist. Although it was something he wasn't, it felt oddly natural.

After trying to remove the arm wrapped tightly around his waist and failing he gave up deciding he might as well enjoy the feeling whilst it lasts. Pushing back further into the warmth of the firm chest behind him he froze in his place, holding his breath, when he felt the arm momentarily tighten around him before relaxing again.

Letting out a silent sigh of relief when his bed partner remained asleep Stiles closed his and inhaled the small of the older boy behind him. He felt content, calm, for the first time in weeks. Without meaning to Stiles soon fell back to sleep blissfully unaware of the inner turmoil of the boy behind him.

Derek had woken around the same times as Stiles. The younger boy's erratic heartbeat pulling him from his dreams as Stiles noticed the position they were in. At first Derek panicked, thinking that Stiles was uncomfortable with the intimacy, but still refused to move his arm as Stiles tried to remove himself from Derek's hold. However, once Stiles pushed himself closer to Derek, the older boy instinctively tightened the embrace before relaxing back into their previous position.

Listening to the younger boys heartbeat Derek waited until it had calmed enough to show Stiles had gone back to sleep before gently removing his arm and slipping out from under the covers. He froze by the side of the bed a Stiles let out a small whine, obviously already missing the extra heat Derek provided, before rolling into the warm imprint Derek had left in the bed.

Knowing there was no one around to see, Derek let himself smile at the beautiful boy stretched out like a kitten across his bed and resisted the urge to reach out and touch the sliver of pale skin showing at the small of Stiles back. Derek turned and quickly headed to the bathroom before he did something he would regret.

Rushing out into the hallway Derek was almost knocked over by Laura who was heading back from the bathroom, her long dark hair hanging damp down her back, leaving a trail of water behind her. He tried to close his bedroom door before she could get inside but she darted around him and disappeared.

Speeding back into the room he found Laura standing by the side of the bed watching the sleeping boy with a large grin on her face.

"He's adorable!" Laura exclaimed as she turned to face "Good choice little brother." She said with a wink causing Derek to fight back a flush.

"W-what do you… why would you…" Derek stuttered out as he tried to avoid Laura's eyes. He suddenly found his feet very interesting. After several moments of silence Derek risked looking back up at his sister. She was no longer standing in front of him, instead she was now looking over the objects on Derek's desk like Stiles had the night before. Derek didn't often let his siblings in his room so Laura was taking advantage of the situation. The only people who ever came to see Derek in his room were his mother and his uncle Peter although the second often forced his way in whether Derek wanted him there or not.

Walking over to where Laura was stood he found her going through the pictures of him and his ex which Stiles had found. It took her a while to notice he was by her side again and once she did it took her even longer to speak.

"Why do you still have these? I thought you were past all this?" she asked with a small frown. Derek rubbed a hand over his face as he sat on the edge of the desk.

"To be honest I didn't even know I had them still, Stiles found them last night, I was going to throw them out this morning." Derek answered her. He paused, taking a minute to look back at the sleeping boy, before continuing.
"I guess I got a bit distracted and forgot." A small smile spread across his face before he could stop it. He turned back to Laura who was watching him with a matching smile and a fond expression.

"Yeah he is kind of distracting isn't he." She said as she moved closer to the bed moving her gaze back and forth between the two boys before settling on her brother.
"You're not going to let her ruin this for you are you? You can't let Kate control your life Derek, she's already done it once before, you can't let her do it again." She said taking a step towards the dark haired boy. Looking into her eyes Derek saw the anguish he was sure was mirrored in his own as they remembered the pain Kate had put their family through. Unable to look at her any longer he returned his gaze to the younger boy.

"There's nothing for her to ruin Laura. Stiles will leave as soon as the weather clears up enough to get back into town and then I'll never see him again." Laura thought she heard his voice break slightly as he finished his sentence which proved he did care for the smaller boy whether he wanted to admit it or not.
"I just can't afford to risk letting anything happen again. Last time I let someone get close to me, well... you know what happened. I'm not putting you guys through that again." He finished. Laura opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by a mumbled groan coming from the bed below them. They both turned in time to see Stiles open his eyes.

The younger boy blinked several times until the room came into focus. Rolling onto his back the first thing he saw was two pairs of eyes watching him from the side of the bed. Yawning, he rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"Well that's totally creepy." Stiles said as he stretched "Do you always watch your guests sleeping? Because, if you do, it's no wonder you don't have many people over." He looked between the two siblings, one who was smiling widely and one who was looking indifferent, as he waited for someone to speak. After neither of them had said anything several minutes later Stiles sighed and pushed himself to the edge of the bed before swinging his legs over the side.

"So are either of you going to tell me why you were watching me sleep or are we just going to forget this ever happened?" he asked with a slight smirk. To most he would look indifferent but Derek could see the uncertainty in his eyes betraying his confidence. The siblings looked at each other before answering at the same time.

Derek snapped out a sharp "Forget about it." whilst Laura cheerfully replied with "Derek was just telling me how distracting some people are." before skipping out of the room without looking back. The two boys stood, or sat in Stiles case, in silence avoiding eye contact. Eventually Stiles broke the silence by clearing his throat before looking at Derek expectantly. Derek remained silent for another minute before taking a step away from the bed.

"Food?" the older boy asked getting straight to the point as he headed towards the hallway leaving Stiles to run after him. After tripping once then untangling his feet from the quilt Stiles hurried out of the door and down the hallways before finally catching up with Derek halfway down the stairs, rambling the entire way about poor conversational skills.

End Of Chapter