Sorry for it being late. So, I've been watching a lot of House lately, and I think his personality somehow… leaked into Stiles' personality. I'm sorry and then again, somehow, not so much.

Disclaimer: I do not own the world nor the characters.

Chapter 6: Cooling Ocean and Burning Woods

"You did what?" Scott cried, eyes going wide as he spun towards Stiles in the passenger seat of Laura's suburban. "That's wicked."

"Except for the fact that I've felt like I'm in a goddamn claustrophobic sauna since then, yeah, I guess it was pretty cool," Stiles groaned, stripping out of his jacket to the t-shirt below. If there weren't so many females in the car, he'd be stripping down to his boxers. Sadly, he wasn't so lucky. At least half of the occupants had a person in their lap with a third of the passengers being of the female persuasion.

He just might take all of his clothes off anyway.

Derek shook his head, hooking his hand over the back of Scott's seat so he wouldn't have to shout over the radio. "It really isn't. He was screaming the entire time like someone was ripping out his spinal cord through his mouth. And the prophecy made no sense. It was useless."

"Zero, absolutely zero sense," Lydia complained sleepily from the back, staring out the window with dozing eyes, "Stupid to go through that for nothing."

"Okay, can we please change the subject!" Stiles called out, leaning his head back against the seat to fan his flushed throat. "Laura, can you open another window?"

"They're all open already, Stiles, sorry," she called back apologetically, sighing forlornly. She shoved her hand out the window, letting the wind whip it this way and that.

Stiles nearly cried. He felt like he was melting. He yelped when a frozen bottle was pressed to his exposed neck. Glancing, he said cautiously as he took the bottle, "Thanks, Danny."

"You're welcome, I just need that bottle back when you're done. It should help though," Danny said with a shrug.

Derek's eyes were focused on how their fingers brushed, how Stiles grinned brightly despite the fever, how their heartbeats sped up just a little bit. Laura wondered if she swerved the car, would Derek's head slam into the window, shoving some sense into his head, without hurting any of the others. He was such an oblivious idiot. Sometimes, it hurt to watch him bumble around Stiles like a clumsy toddler.

"So, did you guys all pass your midterms this semester?" Laura called back, grinning as each and every one of them, save for Lydia and only partly Stiles and Danny, groaned loudly.

"Don't change the subject to that," Cora complained noisily, glaring at her sister in the rearview mirror. Laura slowly grinned wider. "You're a terrible person. How are we even related?"

"Oh, I can think of a few ways," Derek muttered, glaring out the window at the woods, very fixedly ignoring Danny and Stiles who were striking up a conversation about the latest gaming software they'd both downloaded. Or something. He was trying not to pay attention, but Stiles' voice kept punching through his wall of indifference making it almost impossible.

Cora smirked, leaning over the back of his seat from where she was perched on Aiden's lap to get in her brother's face. "Aw, lover boy, missing your girlfriend already?" she cooed derisively.

Stiles fell silent, muttering an apology to Danny as he turned his face towards an open window, his poker face easily slipped over his own like a mask. The others didn't seem to notice except for Laura who glanced back to glare pointedly at her little sister.

"She's not my girlfriend," Derek spat at her, eyes flashing that unnatural shade of blue that they did when he was pissed.

"Oh, then what is she?"

"Cora," Laura growled warningly, but Derek cut her off before she could say anymore.

"She's not my girlfriend. I broke up with her," he snarled.

Cora blinked, sitting back against Aiden's chest in surprise. Laura tightened her fingers on the wheel before reaching to turn the stereo up higher. She was reconsidering swerving again, this time for Cora's thick skull. When Cora leaned forward again, she whispered urgently in Derek's ear, too quiet for the others to hear.

Frowning deeper, but not more aggressively, he shook his head.

After a moment of silence, even from the radio, Stiles leaned forward to Scott. "Hey, buddy, can we trade places? It's hotter than Satan's scrotum back here."

"Lovely description, I didn't want to know you had that much detail about Professor Peter," Scott laughed, pushing Isaac up, "Sure, come on, Isaac." There was a brief scuffle, several loud curses from both Ethan and Danny, Laura nearly swerved off the road and her siblings' heads finally smashed roughly against their windows before everyone settled into their new seats.

Stiles huffed like he was suffering from a fever dream, sweat beading across his forehead. "I can't wait to get in the water," he breathed, letting his hand drop between the seat and door. No one realized when Derek hooked their fingers together.

…..

"Ocean!" Stiles screeched as soon as Laura brought the car to a stop. It took him several tries before he could get out of the car, the first because his seatbelt jerked him back harshly against his seat. After scrambling to unbuckle, he slammed his stomach into the edge of the partly rolled down window. Laughing, Laura rolled it down the rest of the way. He fell out, stripping out of his clothes as he bolted for the water front.

Cora tore after him, grinning delightedly. Rolling their eyes, Lydia and Derek followed after them at a saner pace. Jackson glowered at Lydia's back, but didn't follow. Pushing Isaac out in front of him, Scott raced towards the water. Erica, grinning even as she coughed into a tissue, loped slowly after them, Boyd at her side. Smirking back at the last three, the twins tore past all of them, splashing into the water just behind Stiles who was tramping around in Spiderman boxers.

"Thanks, guys! I guess these two fine gentlemen and myself will just unload the car on our own!" Laura shouted sarcastically. She wasn't sure how many words got through to the others as they started to screech, hitting the water one by one.

"It's fucking freezing! How are you swimming like it's not?!" Scott cried, backpedaling towards the beach, but he fell over Isaac, sending them both crashing face first into knee-deep water. They came up screaming and laughing, teeth chattering.

Aiden, already soaked after Ethan shoved him beneath the water, sprang out in front of Lydia who had so far stayed a good distance away from the water with Derek. Running up, he plucked her screaming off the sand and took off into the water again.

"Aiden, you bag of dicks!" she shouted as she was plunged into the icy sea. Cackling, he swam away as she came up, teeth chattering. "It's cold as Professor Morrell's heart!"

"Oh, come on, it's not that cold," Stiles laughed, grinning from ear to ear. Rubbing his hands up and down her arms vigorously, he attempted to rub warmth back into her.

Sliding her arms around his waist, she grumbled, "Jesus, why are you so warm? It's like you're burning from the inside out."

Stiles shrugged, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "Maybe it's because of the prophecy. I did burn to death in it. Or maybe it still has to do with that fire hex that was supposed to cook my lungs. They could have been fed to Hannibal after that."

"That was at the beginning of the year. I don't think it had any to do with this," she mumbled, shuffling even closer.

Pursing his lips, he muttered, "Oh, I think all three are more closely related than we think. It can't be a coincidence that three heat based incidents are all separate events. Once for an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern."

"Okay, slow down there detective. I think your fever is making you hallucinate," Lydia said, pulling away.

"Never!" Stiles gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. Immediately, he was tackled into the water, leaving Lydia wide-eyed and soaked even more than she'd been before.

A frown etching her mouth, Lydia turned and stalked towards the beach. "I'm going to start a fire," she grumbled, water falling from her in torrents, "I hope you all know that I hate you."

"No, you don't!" Stiles shouted even as Derek dragged him back to the watery depths.

"Surprise attack!" Scott cried, throwing himself at the pair and sending a wave of water over the heads of the others standing close by.

"SCOTT!"

As their cry went up, Lydia snatched up Stiles clothes and went to change into them in the back of the suburban. She didn't feel like pulling out her own clothes. "Idiots, every one of you. You're all going to get sick, and I'm not going to be the one help you," she muttered, slamming the door shut.

…..

"Can I talk to you?" Danny asked, peaking into Stiles' and Scott's tent curiously, "Alone?" He glanced to Scott then quickly back to Stiles.

"Sure! I'm gonna go see if dinner is done yet," Scott said, tumbling from the tent and moving towards the fire blazing close to the water.

Laura was there, grinning at Cora while Isaac flipped chicken. Jackson was murmuring to Lydia a little ways away. Aiden and Ethan were searching for anything poisonous. Erica and Boyd were playing chicken with the waves.

Zipping up the tent flap, Danny dropped down onto Scott's sleeping bag. He watched Stiles flip out his sleeping bag before slipping Stiles' wand from his back pocket. He twirled it around his fingers, watching Stiles. "Why don't you ever touch your wand unless you're casting or threatening to hex someone? Do you realize how terrifying it is to have a sparking wand in your face?"

"You've never been subject to my sparking wand," Stiles pointed out, raising a curious eyebrow, "Your best friend on the other hand… well, he's been on the receiving end of it more weekends than there are in the school year."

Danny frowned. "I'm not sure if that's a lot or not," he said with a quiet laugh.

Stiles shrugged grinning widely as he took his wand back from Danny. It lit up with colored sparks and different colored flames. "That's why I don't unnecessarily touch my wand. It even burns through my clothes when I get flustered and I'm not touching it. It used to happen with my mother and her wand. Maybe it has to do with my ADD or… I don't know, maybe my brain is just weird." He fidgeted, twirling his wand through the air producing a thin stream of small butterflies that didn't seem to be blue or green or brown, but more of a mixture. "It's just that… even though it's been over five years, even though I'm fourteen, I still have magical outbursts and I still get panic attacks sometimes. I don't know, I just kind of want to be normal."

"You wouldn't be you if you were normal," Danny told him with a gentle smile, batting at the butterflies flitting around his head playfully.

"Thanks."

"So, I had a question to ask you." Danny's eyes stayed focused on the butterflies.

They waited until Lydia stopped screaming in what sounded to be Jackson's face before speaking. "Sure, what do you need?"

Biting his lip for a moment, Danny glanced back to Stiles. "Are you dating Derek Hale?"

'Jesus Christ! Scott, are you alright? Derek, what the fuck?!' Laura screamed, but Stiles had begun choking on his own air.

His eyes were wide as could be as he choked out, "What?! No, why would you think that?"

Focused on the shadows running back and forth across the tent wall, Danny muttered, "Because you've been sleeping together since a little while after you got hexed at the beginning of the year."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. All we're doing is literally sleeping. Why does everyone think we're having sex?"

Danny blinked slowly at him. "I don't know, because you guys seem just about ready to fuck each other every time you're even in the same hallway, like you have a hormone radar for each other. It's ridiculous."

"We're not having sex," Stiles laughed.

"I'm disappointed in you."

He shrugged. "I told Jackson you would be. I should have bet on it."

Rolling his eyes, Danny's next words nearly made Stiles choke again. "So, you're saying you're free to date? Do you want to date me? Maybe we could coax Mr. Sexy Brows into a threesome."

"I'm not sure if you're joking or not, and if you are, that's really cruel, I hope you know that."

"And what if I'm not?" Danny questioned.

Stiles eyebrows jumped high. "Th-then I-I'd have to say, uh, s-s-sure, um, totally. It would be… amazing to date you. But… why me? Why not… Ethan or someone? You said I wasn't your type."

"Types change. Do I have to have a reason?" Danny asked, shrugging.

"No, I guess not," Stiles muttered, grinning. They laughed as the butterflied used him as a landing post.

…..

"S'mores," Stiles and Scott cooed together, backs pressed against each other, legs flung over Danny and Isaac's laps. They were shoved off, but immediately replaced.

"This has to be the best thing I've ever eaten in my life," Cora mumbled around her mouthful, licking at her fingers.

"Told you," Stiles crowed, reaching to roast another marshmallow on the end of his stick. "I could live off of these."

"Don't steal what I said," Lydia reprimanded.

At her side, Laura began giggling like a school girl getting her first kiss from her crush. Her marshmallow had caught on fire. She brought it close to her nose, grinning widely. "You need to try this, Derek, they're awesome!" she said, slamming her shoulder into his. He was staring unblinkingly into the flames, and shook his head slowly. "Kill joy," she pouted. Then she set her marshmallow on fire again and was right back where she started.

Frowning, Stiles sandwiched his marshmallow and stood. "Why are you being such a sourwolf?" Stiles griped, falling down onto the log on Derek's empty side, startling him. "Eat this delicious, hand crafted dessert made just for you out of the goodness of my heart. It'll make you feel better~" he coaxed.

"Or it'll make me hex you," Derek grumbled, but still took the s'more and bit into it. He stopped for a moment, resisting the urge to hum, but he couldn't stop the thought 'Would Stiles taste this sweet?' from shoving all the others off a metaphorical cliff and watching them scream. He groaned inwardly. 'Great, not I'm thinking of Stiles in my bed-' He cut that thought's legs off while it was running.

Stiles flashed his teeth. "I'm going to take that to mean it's good! Eat more! Talk, sing, dance! Stop being a sourwolf, or I'll be forced to teach you how to tango, you clumsy, clumsy teen!" Jumping to his feet, he danced towards Scott. They laughed as he fell into his lap.

"Did someone slip tequila into your juice this morning, dumbass?" Jackson snapped, though the affect was minimized by the chocolate at the corner of his mouth, and Lydia shooting her sandaled foot into his shin.

Stiles slid back to the log and into Danny's side. "Did someone slip a broomstick up your ass this morning? Oh, sorry, that would have burned without lube, and we all know you don't like pain. Whose dick did you sit on this morning then? Not Aiden's, I hope. I hear he's as straight as an elevator shaft."

Snorting, Ethan and Erica burst into loud, unending laughter. Lydia, Cora and Laura giggled. Boyd and Isaac repressed grins. Scott and Derek simply stared at each other for several confused minutes before realizing what must have happened, but Scott was somewhat distracted by the look of lust in Derek's eyes as he turned them to Stiles.

"I'm not fucking Aiden," Jackson snarled, avoiding Aiden's eyes.

"The blush on your cheeks makes me think otherwise, Snow White," Stiles quipped, throwing his legs back over Danny's lap, "Is it Matt? Or maybe Braedon has a thing for strap-ons?"

Jackson rolled his eyes. "No one is sticking anything up my ass. I'm not you."

Stiles gasped in mock pain. "Was that a stab at me? Well, I can assure you, the only one being stabbed in this group is you. Oh, and maybe Laura because she likes to dress like a tramp on Saturdays and lure in all the lovely, unsuspecting, strap-on wielding lesbians. She's very successful at it. Could make a business for all those wanting lesbians and bisexual boys and girls at school."

Laura chucked a marshmallow at him, but laughed.

"So… you're saying you partake in Professor Laura's activities," Jackson said slowly.

"No, that would be illicit. I only do things I know I won't get in trouble for. Like this." On a whim, he turned to Danny, catching the other teen's lips. It turned dirty fast, and when they pulled apart, everyone was staring at them and Danny was dumbstruck. "Like that. See the difference?"

Standing and trying not to smirk too hard, Danny said, "You and I need to have a private talk." Leading him away, they disappeared into the moonless night.

"I'm thinking I shouldn't have slipped that firewhiskey into everyone's soda at dinner," Laura mumbled to herself, her pupils dilating and restricting as she stared into the darkness, like the lens of a camera attempting to focus.

"Whelp, that relationship moved quickly. Has Danny always wanted to fuck skinny little nobodies?" Jackson asked the group derisively.

"Who votes that Stiles is burning his V-card tonight?" Aiden asked over Jackson, smirking before going to find a soda.

Cora, Laura and Lydia's eyes flickered to Derek, but returned to their gooey desserts quickly, taking no pleasure in the teen's gloom. No one noticed when he got up and disappeared into the darkness.

…..

Stiles disentangled himself from Danny's limbs, rubbing at his eyes with a yawn. Scott had found room in Isaac and Boyd's tent early that night, so his side of the tent was empty and cold. Standing, he pulled on a shirt and Danny's sweatpants, moving out into the cold night. He could still feel the slight burn of fever, but it wasn't quite as bad as before.

Running his hands up and down his arms, he stepped onto the sand with bare feet. They'd set up camp right up against the forest's edge, but far enough on the beach that it was just sand. Sighing, he ran his hands up into his hair and started towards the water. He let it gently lap at his toes, let the cool breeze push against him off the ocean.

"Why do I feel like I made a huge mistake?" he mumbled to himself, "I'm so stupid and I don't even know why."

A howl, long and mournful and terrified, split through the darkness, far into the woods, but not far enough to be harmless. Stiles spun around, eyes wide. "What was-" he started, but all he could see was the burning treetops turning the sky orange.

The tents were gone, flames spitting out of the tree line. Heat pressed in on his front, suffocating him. More howls arose, but Stiles only saw one wolf. He was pure black and his eyes shone like the clear blue sea even as he was consumed by flames.

…..

When Stiles woke, he woke screaming, his throat tight shut, his chest burning, his limbs tangled in his blankets. Danny was gone. When the tent flap was ripped open, Derek was standing in the sunlight, and climbing through to calm him down.

I feel like a lot happened in this chapter and then again nothing at all. Certainly nothing that will concern the bigger problems later on, but might be a sooner problem. Hope to see y'all next chapter, and if you have the time, I'd love to hear what y'all think so far! Reviews and comments keep me writing!