Chapter 3: Left me torn.

Danny can see Derek's jaw clench after hearing his request and he can see through Derek's eyes that the last thing he wants is to leave. Danny isn't sure how to feel about that. Seconds ago, Derek had his best friend pinned to the wall with one hand around his throat. Danny truly feared for his best friend's life and sort of hates Derek for hurting Jackson. If anything, Danny can conclude that Derek's wanted status might not be completely off and that he shouldn't be anywhere near him.

"Please leave, now," Danny repeats himself, stressing on the last word and helps Jackson get back on his feet. "Are you okay?"

Jackson nods in silence, his face still a little flushed, tears in his eyes. Danny feels like a fool, harboring a fugitive and actually sharing a bed with a murder suspect.

"I'm sorry," Derek says, his eyes pleading for forgiveness, his words lost on Danny. Derek's still shirtless and it's weird that Danny has seen him without clothing more often than not. He can't help but look though; he's only human. But now that he takes a good look at Derek's abdomen, it looks…way better than it did yesterday, the skin is nearly intact, Danny can barely see small scars, vestiges of last night's bigger slashes. Healing that fast isn't natural and Danny is no doctor but he can at least tell that. Which begs the question, Who or what the hell is Derek?

"You healed," Danny says, frowning and gestures at Derek's stomach. Derek catches Danny's hand, pulling him forward and puts it on his smooth, warm skin, sending shivers through Danny's fingertips.

"Thanks to you," Derek says in all seriousness, his damn blue eyes never leaving Danny's. Danny could swear the corner of Derek's mouth lifts up briefly, causing Danny to break into a shy smile despite himself. God, he's acting like a teenage girl, it's fucking embarrassing.

He hates how Derek affects him. It's beyond his own willpower, this…this thing, whatever it is between them, it's too intense, sensual, even the littlest touches get Danny undone. There's no denying it, Danny wants Derek, wants him bad, even though he shouldn't; the dominant logical streak in him is screaming at him that Derek is just bad news. This is just physical attraction, pure and plain physical attraction with the added bonus of reciprocation. It's always harder to resist when the object of your desires shows just as much interest—if not more, in this case. The worst part being that Danny's pretty sure they were cuddling at some point in bed and that he actually enjoyed it. Loved it, even. He's usually in and out of consciousness towards the end of his sleep cycle and remembers having arms around him and legs entwined with his. He had never slept so well in his entire life. Being the only out gay kid in a small town can be pretty lonely. Everyone around him couple up, every teenage couple he sees on TV are straight couples—save for some rare unrealistic exception—everyone has someone but him. And then comes Derek, gorgeous and interested in him. It almost seems too good to be true, now that Danny thinks about it. God, Danny's so confused; he doesn't know what to think of Derek, what stance he should take. How can Derek be strangling his best friend one moment and be so gentle with him the next? But still, potential killerhere, Danny, remember ?

Jackson coughs conspicuously behind him, interrupting their moment—yes, it's ridiculous to even think of it as that, Danny scolds himself—and snapping Danny out of his thoughts.

"Uh…you can borrow one of my shirts, they should fit you better than Stiles'," Danny offers with a softer tone, taking his hand back and points at his closet. Derek grabs a simple gray tee—that fits him perfectly, if Danny might add—and walks up to Danny, cupping his face and catching him by surprise with a tender kiss. Danny kisses back instinctively, remembering how it felt kissing Derek yesterday and yet feeling like it's so new. Danny's afraid he's already in too deep.

"Woah, hey, what's with the PDA, huh? Quit it!" Danny hears Jackson say but could care less, all he sees are Derek's lips mouthing a silent thank you, his eyes communicating just as much. Jackson abruptly grabs Danny's shoulders from behind, pulling him away from Derek. Jackson looks upset, leaving Danny even more confused now. Could it be this is just Jackson being uncomfortable around two guys kissing? Is Jackson actually that homophobic? Danny would rather not think that his best friend's actually a homophobic asshole—he's had his doubts every now and then—because that's just not something Danny can tolerate. Danny doesn't think that's the problem though, Jackson had seemed pretty cool with Danny being gay when he came out a couple years ago.

Must be Derek then. Right, psychotic killer wanted by the entire state, Derek. It's looking bad already that Danny has to remind himself every five minutes that the guy he's attracted to is less than respectable. Jackson seems to know Derek, his earlier questions suggesting he even knows him better than Danny does—which wouldn't be difficult, in retrospect, Danny really doesn't know much about Derek. It's too many questions though and Danny only woke up a few minutes ago, he's definitely not ready to deal with this without at least his usual fix of coffee.

"I'm leaving," Derek says, thankfully not upset by Jackson's interrupting them, and Danny nods, almost regretting his decision of making Derek leave, which he really shouldn't. He should be glad that Derek's leaving, giving him a chance to forget about him and hope that he will never have to deal with him again.

"You still owe me some explanations," Danny reminds Derek before he can stop himself, as Derek crosses the threshold of his bedroom.

"I haven't forgotten," Derek replies, turning around one last time to look at him. "I'll be back."

Danny watches Derek leave for good and lets out a breath of relief, not realizing until now how tense he actually was. He turns his attention back to Jackson, only noticing now that his best friend's whole body is trembling, his face marred with terror.

"Hey, Jacks, you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"I'm fine," Jackson replies but unconvincingly. Danny takes his best friend in his arms, hugging him tight and apologizing for getting him hurt. Jackson relaxes in his arms eventually, hugging him back. He's really at a loss now, even more so than yesterday. Jackson and Derek looked ready to rip each other's throat; Danny has rarely seen Jackson so riled up. And Derek's assault on Jackson only confirms what Danny had feared about the man he saved yesterday. Derek is killer material, Danny's already established that fact; the way Derek had his hand on Jackson's throat? It was definitely scary. He still doesn't understand why Derek attacked Jackson so violently though, Jackson had barely touched his arm. "What was that all about?"

"You should stay away from that guy," Jackson warns him, pulling away sitting beside Danny on his bed.

"That's what I was telling myself," Danny heaves a sigh, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "But honestly, if anyone should stay away from him, it's you Jacks."

"What was he doing here in the first place anyways, Dan?"

"Uh, last night, I bumped into him near my house, he was badly hurt," Danny replies, recalling last night's events, how surreal it all seems now to him.

"And you just decided to help him out of the blue? A stranger? That you let sleep in your bed?"

"I uh…I thought he was Stiles' cousin," Danny explains, avoiding Jackson's scrutinizing gaze, not comfortable talking about their make out session at Stiles'. But then, Jackson already knows about that aspect of his relationship with Derek—if he can even call it like that. "We…kind of made out when we first met."

"Unbelievable," Jackson says, sounding exasperated.

"And how, exactly, do you know him?" Danny asks him, wondering just why they were so hostile towards each other, to the point where Derek was strangling Jackson. Danny recalls the scene, the details still a little fuzzy because of his haze post waking up. All he remembers clearly is Derek strangling Jackson, setting Danny on full alert.

"I don't," Jackson answers vaguely and sighs, lifting down the collar of his tee shirt at his nape. "Remember those marks?"

"Yeah," Danny remembers Jackson shrugging his questions off, refusing to tell him anything. The last few weeks have been…tense. Jackson had been pulling away, distant. It hurt, to say the least, Danny's not afraid to admit that. Jackson has been his best friend forever, they've always been close. Up until Danny's coming out. Jackson and he have been drifting away ever since and it pains Danny to think that his being gay has caused this. He's not ashamed of who he is, if Jackson and he were to ever lose sight of each other, he wouldn't work himself over it. If people can't handle the fact that he's gay, it's their loss, Danny thinks. He's a good person, he's way smarter than most people—even if he doesn't like saying it, because most of the time he doesn't feel like it—and has ambition. He's going to follow his parents' footstep, go into medicine and accomplish something with his life. He just misses his best friend.

"Derek did this to me, a couple weeks ago," Jackson admits, looking him straight in the eye.

"What? How?" Danny can't believe it, taking a closer look at Jackson's neck, he can only conclude some kind of animal did this. They look like claw marks, pretty big claw marks. "And why would he do that to you? Did you provoke him or something?"

"He's a…" Jackson cuts himself off abruptly. "I don't know."

Here we go again with the lying, Danny thinks.

"You do know, you just won't tell me," Danny says, rising his tone, all the resentment he's accumulated the past few weeks coming back up. "You won't tell me anything lately, Jacks. What's going on with you?"

"Dan…hear me out—"

"I don't understand why he'd be so hostile to you; I don't believe he'd behave like this for nothing."

"Isn't it obvious?" Jackson snorts but Danny looks at him with wide eyes, shrugging. "Because of you, obviously."

"I don't follow you," Danny's completely out of the loop now and his exhaustion catches up with him, he yawns, stretching his arms high above his head.

"He's a jealous and possessive freak," Jackson says finally.

"What? Jealous of you?" Danny lets out a chuckle at the thought. Derek being jealous of Jackson, it's just a waste of energy. Danny falls back in bed, grabbing one of his pillows and settling comfortably. Jackson joins him, lying down next to him. "That's ridiculous, you're straight!"

"I know, right?" Jackson chuckles somewhat nervously, his smile crisped. Danny notices it and can't help but be curious. Could Jackson be…? No. Danny's definitely delirious without his morning coffee. Or his 9 hours of sleep. He yawns again, looking at the ceiling above them. He could use some more sleep, it's barely 7 a.m.

"Please don't hate me for doing this," Jackson says, getting back Danny's attention who turns to look at him and suddenly Danny feels lips pressed against his.

What. The. Fuck.

tbc...

So, this chapter is all about Danny. It took me awhile, something about this chapter bugs me. I feel like it's too redundant, the thoughts Danny has. So I tweaked around several times until I was satisfied, at least as much as I could be.

Thank you dear readers for your reviews, I'm sorry I didn't have time replying but know that I appreciate them greatly, they keep me going.