Semi-Lucky

Nice, But He Still Annoys Me

Disclaimer - I own nothing, blah blah blah.

Chapter 3

DEREK'S P.O.V.

I sensed, rather than heard, him at first.

I had no idea why he had come here. I recently discovered that he was terrified of the woods.

If he had been aiming for a stealth approach, he'd failed; I could hear his deep breaths, pacing feet and constant reminders of "Why am I so scared? Derek isn't such a tough guy…who am I kidding, the guy could break me in half if he wanted to. No, pull it together, Stiles, you're braver than this…", as if he were in my room with me. He was debating whether or not to come inside. It was rather amusing, actually, hearing him hold his breath, ready to knock, then drop his fist dejectedly and thump down the stairs onto the leaves, then turn around and walk back yet again, only to stop in his tracks, too afraid.

Typical.

Finally, after five minutes of arguing with himself, Stiles opened my front door and said, "Derek? Don't pretend you're not home, because I saw you go inside like, 15 minutes ago."

He'd actually hidden in the forest waiting for some courage to show up? What a pansy. I rolled my eyes and remained lying on my bed, hands resting under my head comfortably.

"I'm not afraid of him, I'm not afraid of him." He kept whispering to himself. Ironically, he gulped nervously. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he called. "The act isn't working; I'm not gonna go away. You only intimidate me a tad bit, especially when you glare and don't smile. Which is always."

An awkward silence followed.

"…If you're upstairs, can you come down here? This is lame, I feel like I'm talking to air."

Groaning, I leaped off my bed and landed silently on the ground. I walked out of my room, grabbed the railing and said, "I think the air has more interest in what you want to say than I do." Stiles turned around spastically, looking up at me with wide eyes. I jumped over the upstairs railing, shifted into wolf form in mid-air, landing with a loud 'thud' as I hit the ground right beside him, baring my teeth.

Not such a graceful landing.

Oh well, the kid wanted to help Scott and me? He needed to become more comfortable with werewolf behavior. …This was all for his benefit, of course.

"Jesus, Derek!" he yelled, clutching his heart. He backed away 'til he was pressed flat up against the front door. I shifted back to human form and stared at him, expectantly.

After seeing the lack of fur on my face, he sighed with relief and placed his hands on his knees.

"That's twice in like three days! I am NOT gonna die from a heart attack , nuh-uh. It's gotta be something noble and valiant. If you ever want visitors again, you're gonna have to stop doing that."

I remained emotionless. "Then I'll make sure to keep doing it."

I didn't really mean to be so hostile. Stiles was helpful with the werewolf stuff, but other than that, he was exceedingly annoying and never stopped talking. Also, I didn't like visitors, because their reactions were always the same upon seeing the inside of my house; fear, discomfort...pity.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Oh thanks. That was really nice. And why the hell can't you just approach people the normal way?"

"Because I'm a werewolf, and everything about me screams, 'Abnormal'. …Kind of like you at your high school. Why did you come here?"

"First of all, the remark was cruel and unnecessary. I should have you know that some people seem to think I got into a legit fight 'cuz of the cuts and bruises, and they almost respect me! No one's called me a loser for two days straight, now. Well, not to my face at least. But that's a whole other story that I don't really feel like getting into right now."

I almost felt sorry for the kid.

Then he looked over across the room into the mirror, touching the bruise on his jaw that he received two days ago gingerly and said with a high-pitched voice, "I actually look so cool like this!"

…Almost. "Anyways, what was I saying?" He was still admiring his face in the reflection.

"I don't care." I replied, which was the truth, seeing as it made me very uncomfortable to have people inside my house. Plus, have I mentioned that Stiles is exceptionally annoying?

But then he remembered. "Oh right. Second, this house is even creepier than I originally thought. You should seriously check into getting an exterminator."

He shuddered at the sight of a miniscule spider on the ceiling and took a step back. What a girl. "Thirdly, you should appreciate just how scary the forest leading to your house is. I had to drive here all alone and it was kinda like being a paranoid schizophrenic for 20 minutes; my head was whipping back and forth looking out for a hungry wolf, or a skunk…that's some terrifying stuff." He finally closed his mouth and said nothing further.

"…Just tell me why you're here or get out of my house."

"Hey now. That was rude. There's this new thing called 'manners'. Well I guess it'd actually be, 'there's these new things called -'"

"Which part of, 'I could kill you right now, if I really wanted to.' did you not understand?"

Stiles looked genuinely confused. "I don't remember you saying-" but he stopped at the expression on my face, which must have been a threatening one.

"Okay, okay, I get the message!" he raised his hands and took a step away from me. "Jeez, calm your face."

As I folded my arms, contemplating whether or not I should toss him from my house just for that, he took a deep breath and began. "I'm here to suggest that you take yourself to the doctor, because I was reading that lots of people get internal bleeding after sustaining an injury and don't even know about it. You probably won't listen seeing as you like to fend for yourself most of the time, but I felt it was my duty to tell you, because if you hadn't come along to absolutely destroy those guys," his face lit up, as if he was remembering something really exciting. "they would've killed me." And his face dropped. "So the least I could do was warn you, even if you don't take my advice, since I'm the reason you got hurt. And if you died from internal bleeding, I would somehow get pinned for it. So yeah."

"I didn't get hurt. I held my ground perfectly fine and sustained a black eye. I've had worse injuries."

I guess I shouldn't have said that.

"Really? Like what? I bet it was something cool while you were on the run from hunters. Or maybe you smashed into a tree while in wolf form because you were looking behind you and didn't see it! Sounds like something I would do…"

I grabbed the back of his jacket and dragged him to the door. He barely even stopped for a breath.

"Was it when you were bitten? Like, did you get a permanent scar or mark? No, it was probably while doing something dangerous and reckless before you became a wolf. Wait, when did you become a wolf? 12? 15? That's weird, to think of you as a kid. Some people just seem like they were born as adults; never had a childhood." I yanked open the door and pushed him roughly outside. "Or were you talking about internal injuries?" He looked curiously up at me, his voice somehow less annoying. He honestly wanted an answer this time, instead of just rambling off his big mouth for no reason.

I wasn't about to give him one.

"Go home, Stiles." I had my hand on the inside doorknob, ready to slam it in his face if he started talking again.

"Wait, I'm sorry. For all the questions. I guess you really aren't much of a talker, eh?"

I said nothing, and the irony made him grin. "Okay, just tell me how I can make it up to you. You saved my life, I mean, so I'm kinda in your debt."

I didn't waste any time. "I know what you can do that will settle the debt right now: Go away and don't tell anyone about what I did the other night."

He opened his eyes in mock shock. "Heaven forbid someone find out that you actually did something nice for someone!"

"Okay, I'll tell you what's going to happen: I'm going to close this door in your face, you're going to drive home, and you're never come back here again. Get it? Got it? Good."

SLAM.

I didn't even wait to see him open his mouth for a response. I turned around, killed that miniscule spider on the ceiling, and went back up stairs.

The silence sounded amazing.

I guessed it was fair that the kid was worried about my health, seeing as he was the one who unintentionally caused it. But Stiles wouldn't understand that a guy who works out every day doesn't react to injuries as pathetically as someone like him would. And besides, the only thing I did get was a black eye. Nobody goes to the doctor's for a black eye. Stiles, on the other hand, had cracked ribs, a dislocated jaw and a concussion. That is a good time to see the doctor.

Deep down, I know I saved his life. I'm all too familiar with what hunters are capable of, and it isn't pretty. It also felt good knowing I had saved an innocent life that night.

…But I am not one to talk about feelings, so let's all move on with our lives.

Stiles and Scott were both safe, and not out risking their lives somewhere.

I actually liked how the black eye made me look (although I'd eat my right arm off before admitting that to Stiles, or anyone else, for that matter)

I was finally alone in my house, with no annoying teenagers to disturb me.

I was in a good mood.

But I, better than anyone, should know that something always comes and screws anything awesome up.