There is a lot of fighting in this one, and even more cursing. I tried not to be offensive with the name calling and such. If I do offend any of you, I'm just gonna say sorry now.
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Chapter 7: Toxic Jealousy
"Hello, Mr. Stilinski, how was your Christmas Vacation?" Deaton asked from behind Stiles where he was walking down a surprisingly empty hallway. A hallway that lead to a passageway to Honeydukes' Cellar. "It's not like you to not be cautious and quiet sneaking out."
Settling slowly down from his near heart attack, Stiles looked around at the Headmaster. Dark smudges marred the skin beneath his eyes and they were rimmed red. He was paler than usual, but a flush colored his sweaty neck. "That was a really stalkerish way to approach someone, Headmaster."
"And that is a suspiciously large bag you're handling. Not planning on sneaking out to procure fixings for tonight's movie night, I hope," Deaton said, walking slowly beside Stiles, "How was your vacation? Seems the classes and homework are already getting to you, I suppose. It's only been a week though, and I know you are able to handle far more."
"I kind of had a stressful vacation," Stiles confessed, running a shaky hand over the back of his neck, "I haven't slept since the first day of vacation. Not really. Night terrors and cold sweats, panic attacks and fevers. It's been… eventful, I guess you could say." He stumbled, pressing a hand into the cool stone wall. He leaned into it, huffing out a heavy breath.
"Maybe you should go see Madame McCall," Deaton suggested, reaching out a helping hand to steady his student.
Stiles shook his head. "No, she's been worrying over me over the entire vacation, and I'm sure she's already got enough to deal with. I'll be fine. I just want everything to go back to normal. I'll see you, Headmaster."
"If you would, could you bring back pumpkin pasties and, if you can swing it and get your hands on some, I'd love some of that new Spiced Blood Wine. I hear there's some stored in the Hog's Head. Just remember to leave the Dunbars with reimbursement and I'll make find a way to keep Professor Peter Hale and Professor Victoria Argent off your back." Deaton turned slowly, heading back the way they'd come. "See you tonight, Stiles. And please be careful. Not everything that roams these halls is kind or sane. When you get back, be sure to see Madame McCall."
Blinking back at him, exhaustion hovered over his eyes. He could barely see straight. "Alright, Headmaster," he mumbled, "See you tonight." He blinked, and suddenly Deaton was gone. "Crazy old man," he muttered without malice, turning to the passageway.
…..
Danny frowned as he slid in next to Stiles at breakfast. Stiles had his head pressed to the table top, his fingers curled into a loose fist. Leaning over him, Danny murmured worriedly, "You don't look too good. I thought you slept last night after we finished."
Stiles rolled his head from side to side. "No, I dozed off, but my fever came back. I had to go sit in the common room to cool down. I haven't slept since Friday."
"Since you drank yourself to sleep, you mean," Danny corrected with a sigh, "And then woke up a few hours later trying to scream." He couldn't understand what had happened. Ever since he and Stiles had started dating, Stiles stopped sleeping. He didn't think it was because Stiles was distressed by their relationship. When he hit the highs of his day, he seemed genuinely happy to be dating Danny. And he responded in gusto when they shared a bed, so it had to be something else.
When Derek dropped heavily into the seat beside Scott, he thought he knew exactly why.
"Whoa, dude, you almost look as bad as Stiles. Are you two having a competition on who can last longer without sleep because if you are, I want no part of it," Scott babbled, looking over Derek's face curiously, "I can't believe you're letting Stiles beat you, though. You guys are hardcore."
Like Stiles, Derek was pale with red rimmed, bloodshot eyes and deep bags beneath them. His lips were chapped, but his hands didn't shake like Stiles' did. That told Danny that Derek had at least twenty-four more hours of sleep than Stiles had gotten since day one of vacation. Whatever was eating them was the same thing as far as he could tell. Stiles had just won the jackpot of being woken from sleep every few hours by his subconscious.
"Yeah, thanks for the observation," Derek growled ridiculously aggressively, squeezing his eyes shut and tightening his fingers in his t-shirt, crumpling the starched fabric.
Painted nails in a dangerous shade of crimson grazed the back of Derek's neck, and he curled farther in on himself. "Hey, sweetie, how was your vacation? I can tell it wasn't… enlightening or relaxing," Kate murmured, smirking close to Derek's ear.
Lifting his eyes, Stiles glared at the woman. She didn't seem to notice when he grabbed his wand from his back pocket, setting Cora's Transfiguration homework alight. Pointing his wand, he whispered, "Expecto patronum."
The patronus slammed into Kate's chest, sending her flailing backward, distracting Cora from her burnt homework and the growl rumbling deep in her chest. The wolf barked viciously, snarling at Kate as she stood, drawing the attention of the Great Hall, especially the teachers. Glaring angrily at Stiles, she turned on a heel, marching towards the front of the Great Hall.
The wolf crawled beneath the table, resting her chin on Derek's knee and thumping her tail against Stiles' calf.
His hand falling back to the table, Stiles gasped. "Damn manipulative, soul sucking, dementor, cut throat bitch," he snarled, not resisting when Danny pried his wand from his fingers, "Derek, you need to stay away from her or she's going to harvest your sperm, use it for a ritual, and then gut you, skin you, and wear you as a jacket."
"So do you," Derek whispered, exhaustion pouring from his every pore.
"I need to do what?" Stiles gasped. He was squinting, leaning heavily into Danny, gasping. His patronus was slowly fading, whimpering quietly as she did. He could barely focus. The light was getting ridiculously bright.
"Stay away from Kate." Derek closed his eyes again, pressing the heels of his hands against his temples. "I'm going to pass out."
"Why would I ever go near her?"
"It might be involuntary, and if it is, turn and run the other way as quickly as possible."
Stiles narrowed his eyes angrily. "Oh, thanks, I can take care of myself perfectly fine, no thanks to you, friend."
"Stiles, please, just listen. I know you're angry with me, but this is important," Derek groaned, cracking his eyes open just enough to see him.
"Well, I don't need your help to stay safe. I think you're the one who needs help, thank you."
"She hexed you," Derek hissed, leaning over the table towards Stiles, "You need to be careful."
All conversation around the pair died, creating a pocket of silence in the noisy Great Hall. "What do you mean?" Stiles whispered, eyes wide with shock and growing anger, "You knew who hexed me? Why didn't you tell me? How did you know?"
Derek flinched, closing his fingers over his eyes. "Fire based hexes are her specialty. She didn't deny it when I confronted her. She might try it again."
"How long have you known?" Stiles snarled lowly.
"A little while after Madame McCall released you from the Hospital Wing last semester."
Stiles leaned back, his jaw slack and his eyes incredulous. Suddenly, he leaned into Derek's face. "You- you- that night you- You'd just come from her, hadn't you? Is that what that was? To protect me?"
"No, I-" Derek tried, but Stiles jumped to his feet.
The world swam around him. "Why didn't you tell me?" Stiles screeched, Derek stumbling to his feet. They didn't get another word out. In a moment, they were both collapsing to the floor, white, sleepy light taking over their vision.
…..
Blinking into consciousness, Stiles could just barely hear Melissa talking quietly to what sounded to be Scott, Lydia, and Danny. She was whispering quietly, conscious of how loud she was and of the two resting teenagers in her clinic.
"They're going to be fine. They were just severely exhausted. You three should get to bed, that's where I'm headed. You'll be able to see them tomorrow."
"But-" Scott started.
Melissa wasn't having any of it though. "No 'buts'," she reprimanded, her voice crawling in volume before falling again, "Go to bed. You being here isn't going to help them. It's just going to exhaust you which won't help anyone. Go to bed."
Scott relented, murmuring, "Alright, but can we push their beds closer? They always seem to sleep better when they're next to each other. And at least they'll have someone to talk to if they wake up."
The four were silent for a long moment. "Alright," Melissa said. It was only a few seconds before Stiles' cot was being pushed to the left. It clanged quietly against another, coming to a stop. "Alright, off to bed with all of you."
"See you tomorrow, dude. Get better," Scott said, patting him on the shoulder.
A slimmer hand pressed to his shoulder, breath fanning across his neck. "I know you're not asleep. Whatever is wrong, fix it now. I don't want to have to charm you two to sleep again. Next time it'll be into a coma." Leaning back, she squeezed his arm, and turned.
Danny leaned in. "Fix this, whatever it is. I don't like seeing you hurt." He stole a chaste kiss from him, pulling back. "Get better. I'll see you tomorrow." In less than a minute, Stiles and Derek were left utterly alone.
Despite the rage and betrayal still simmering behind his breast bone, and how his heart seemed to be aching, he still reached for Derek's hand, twining their fingers together. Almost immediately, he began to feel warm and sleepy. Derek's pulse picked up beneath his fingertips. "Why?" Stiles whispered.
"Why… what?" Derek murmured, not meeting his eyes as he turned to look at him.
"Why would you hide that from me? Why wouldn't you tell me?" Stiles asked, hurt evident in his strained voice.
Derek closed his eyes, pain creasing his face. "I didn't want you to get hurt. I thought that if you didn't know, you wouldn't do anything drastic, that you'd be safe, that I could protect you."
"If I didn't know, I wouldn't be able to take precautions. Why did she hex me?"
"I don't know, but I'm not seeing her anymore. I'm going to protect you."
A bitter taste filled his mouth. He wanted to release Derek's hand, but his fingers refused to unlock. "How are you protecting me?" he asked just as bitterly, "Why did you stop sleeping in my bed?"
"I-" Derek tried, but his mouth seemed to have short-circuited.
"I've been miserable. I hadn't slept since the first day of vacation and I only managed to catch a few hours on Friday. You look like you've been just as miserable, I know you have been. Cora didn't stop talking to me, but you did. I don't understand. What did I do? What did I say? Why did you stop talking to me? Looking at me? Sleeping with me?" His voice dropped along with his eyes. "Why do you hate me?"
"I don't hate you! Why would you think that?" Derek asked quickly, frantically.
"I wonder why," Stiles sighed sarcastically, too tired to put any weight behind his words, "Then why?"
Derek bit at his lip hard, drawing blood. "It would be inappropriate," he explained lamely.
"Inappropriate?" Stiles asked incredulously.
His face heated with embarrassment. "You're dating Danny."
Stiles couldn't help but laugh aloud. "Is that what this is about?" Immediately, Derek shrank into himself, feeling ten kinds of mortification heating his body. Stiles reached out with gentle hands, soothing him. "Danny doesn't care. He told me in the first couple weeks that we started dating that as long as you and me don't do anything, we can continue to share a bed. He told me it doesn't bother him."
"Oh…" Derek whispered in the smallest voice Stiles had ever heard.
"You should have just come talk to me."
"I know."
They were silent for a moment, listening to the owls hooting to one another in the night sky. "Does this mean we can start sharing my bed again?" Stiles asked, a grin already forming in his voice.
Derek breathed out a sigh, "Yeah, we can."
…..
Blinking blearily into consciousness, Stiles watched Derek stumble from the Slytherin dormitories to get ready for the school day. After sleeping for forty-eight straight hours in the Hospital Wing, everything had returned to normal save for Stiles dating Danny. The only thing was that Stiles' dorm mates hadn't known that, not really.
"What the actual fuck?" Jackson growled, glaring flaming daggers in Stiles direction as he made to get dressed for the school day.
"What are you pissed at so early in the morning?" Aiden yawned, pulling back his bed drapes and crawling from his bed, "Did your wet dream not end like it was supposed to?"
Jackson stood, still glaring at a half dressed Stiles. "Stilinski, you are dating my best friend. What the fuck do you think you're doing? If you're going to cheat on him, do it discreetly or break up with him. Otherwise, I'm going to break your face," he threatened.
"I'm not cheating on Danny," Stiles said plainly, attempting to remember through his sleepy haze how to tie a tie.
"Someone actually decided to date you?" Matt asked, emerging from the bathroom fully awake and looking alive.
"Danny's too good for you," Aiden yawned, struggling to pull on pants. He fell over, pulling them up the rest of the way from the floor.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious, I already knew that," Stiles shot back sarcastically.
"Back to topic," Jackson snarled, "I don't know how you define cheating, but sleeping with someone other than who you're dating is definitely considering cheating."
"One, we're not having sex or dating, so no, not cheating. Two, Danny knows, he doesn't mind," Stiles said, snatching up his messenger bag.
"Danny doesn't care? You're fucking delusional," Jackson snapped.
"Ask him yourself," Stiles said, headed for the door. Before leaving, he threw over his shoulder, "I'm still not cheating on Danny."
…..
"What are you playing at?" Jackson asked Danny as he slid in beside his best friend before Stiles had gotten to the Great Hall.
Before Danny could answer with a question of his own, Derek came to stand behind him. "Danny, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Shrugging to Jackson with a smirk and standing, he followed Derek from the Great Hall until they found a relatively private corner to speak. "What do you need?" he asked, leaning against the wall to watch Derek pace back and forth in front of him.
"What are you playing at?" Derek growled, stopping and turning to Danny.
He threw his hands into the air. "Wow, that's the second time someone's asked me that question just today. Is it question Danny day? What the hell are you talking about? What did I do to make even my best friends ask me that?"
"You started dating Stiles without any explanation," Derek said simply.
Danny gaped at him. "You've got to be kidding me? Is that what this is about? Do I have to have a fucking reason to date another consenting human being?"
"When you're not any sort of attracted to said questionable human being? Yes," Derek said.
"What do you know about who I'm attracted to? I started dating Stiles because I'm attracted to him," Danny said earnestly.
Derek frowned, looking up and down Danny. "You're lying."
"No, I'm not," Danny insisted.
"Yes, you are." He stared Danny down, waiting for him to fold. After a long silent moment, Danny's indignation fell away leaving an indifferent shrug of his shoulders.
"You're right. I didn't start dating him because I'm attracted to him, but I am at least a little. I wouldn't have done him otherwise. I'm honestly surprised at this point that he didn't lose his virginity sooner."
"Then why are you dating him?" Derek snarled, eyes flashing blue as he glared daggers at the boy.
"Something to do to keep me entertained," Danny said nonchalantly, but guilt soured his normally pleasant scent.
Derek narrowed his eyes. "I swear on my magic, if you hurt him-"
"Oh, shut up. I don't need the father-brother-best-friend speech, alright? I already got that from Sheriff Stilinski while he was cleaning his shotgun, thank you very much. If you're so worried about it, do something about it," Danny said tauntingly, glaring just as harshly back. "Go for what you want, don't wait for it to come to you. Protect who is important to you, don't make threats and then let him get hurt." With that, Danny stalked past an utterly confused Derek. "Speaking of protecting and Stiles, do you know where he is? He usually comes in before Jackson, but I haven't seen him."
"What?" Derek asked, then shouted, "Shit!" He missed the satisfied nod Danny gave before he goes to find Jackson.
Danny frowned though. "I hope he's okay," he muttered, pushing into the Great Hall.
…..
Stiles had been minding his own business, headed to meet Danny for breakfast and possibly a morning make-out session if Scott or Jackson didn't try to stop them. He couldn't say that he had feelings beside friendship for Danny, but he also couldn't say that the sex and kissing and hand holding and cuddling weren't absolutely fantastic. Even if he had a strange feeling that he wanted to be doing all those things with a specific someone, he wasn't exactly sure who that someone was. As he'd been thinking, he had been minding his own business when he was dragged by an invisible hand and slammed into a dark corner.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Stiles groaned angrily, wrapping his fingers around his wand and firing blindly. The air around him was crackling with magic and liquid electricity.
A woman yelped unattractively, then snarled. "Stop acting like a fucking idiot, boy."
Stiles eyes popped open and suddenly he was staring at Kate Argent working to fix whatever he'd done to screw up her now lion's mane hair and soaking, turning see-through robes. "Then don't slam me against walls, soul sucking harpy," he snapped back.
"Shut up," Kate snarled, pointing her wand at him, aligning the tips of their wands. "You've ruined everything, you nasty little mudblood." She looked as if she were going through withdrawals. Her eyes were bloodshot, mouth cracked and bloodied, eyes dark. Her skin was pale and sweaty, her hair brittle.
Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm not a mudblood, you nasty old hag, I'm a half-blood. You can go choke on a dick. I haven't done anything to you besides release my patronus on you, and she was harmless. You deserved that every time I did it."
"You are a mudblood in my eyes. And you continue to ruin and muddy everything with your goddamn hands."
"Ruin what? I haven't done anything!" Stiles shouted, small flashes of lightning crackling around them.
"Everything! Everything!" Kate screeched, wild rage in her eyes, "I needed him to trust me and he did! He did trust me, then you fucking stepped in and ruined it all! He doesn't want me! He doesn't trust me! You've ruined everything!"
"What are you talking about? Who are you talking about? I haven't made anyone distrust! If anything, you did that on your own."
"You didn't have to do anything," Kate breathed through her teeth nearly breathing fire. Her wand creaked ominously with the strain she was putting on it. "That fucking idiot fell in love with you. Now he doesn't trust me!"
"I don't know who you're talking about," Stiles lied, the lightning increasing. Honestly, he did have an idea. There was only realistically one person Kate would get in his face about, the only person they had in common. "But if they are in love with me, then they probably don't trust you because you hexed me!"
"Shut up! Shut up!" Kate screamed, lifting her wand again. "I'm going to kill you, you filthy mudblood! Then he'll come running back."
"Get over yourself!" Stiles shouted over top of her, "Killing me won't bring him back to you! You drove him away!"
"I'm going to kill you!" she repeated.
"Just try!"
A curse, one that was almost certainly forbidden, was already spilling from her mouth when the pressure around them snapped, sending them both through the walls behind them into crowded hallways. Stiles groaned loudly, pushing himself up enough to see Derek pushing through a crowd of students, relief and concern twisting his face.
"I got her before she got me," Stiles whispered with a grin, dropping his head back down.
That was… an enormous amount of typing. Sadly, it will probably happen again. Hope you liked this chapter because I really enjoyed writing everyone getting in each other's faces. There was a lot of fighting in this chappy for some unknown reason, and I'm really sorry if I offended anyone with the name calling and so on!