Okay, so it's been five days since we made this bet and I am literally freaking out. How is Derek so damn good at this? I'm his trigger and he is coping better than I am. Maybe that's because he is totally avoiding me.

Probably because he can't stand to be around me but damn it I wish he would. Why did I have to make this stupid bet? It's hard enough to keep him around without making him defend his pride.

Who am I kidding? He is never going to cave on this.

I was headed out to the mall to meet Lydia; for some reason she thinks now that I'm with Derek I want to go out shopping with her for shoes and crap. Not that I'm complaining, Lydia is… pretty amazing.

I know, Derek is pretty much the only one I want to be with but that doesn't mean that I don't still love Lydia. Like I said, she's amazing. Not to mention it drives Jackson crazy and whenever I hang out with her. I mean I know he could do some pretty serious damage to me but it's worth it. Plus, he's a hell of a lot nicer to her after she spends time with me than he normally is. I'm glad I can do that for her.

"He's just been staying completely out of the picture. He's so shifty; what is it with werewolves and being shifty?" I asked as she browsed through a rack full of dresses.

"I suppose they just get used to it." She said, never looking up.

"So what the hell am I supposed to do?" I leant against the rack, which made it quake so I jumped back.

"Isn't it obvious?" She paused and looked up at me.

I stared back at her and raised an eyebrow. "If it was obvious I wouldn't be asking you!"

She rolled her eyes and handed me the dresses that she had been slowly gathering. I was about ready to have an aneurism. Why can't she just come out and say what she meant?!

She trotted off to another rack and I just followed her, seriously about to go crazy.

"Are you really telling me that you have no idea how to manipulate a man?" She said.

"Well I've never had to do it so why would I?" I take back what I said about loving her. She's annoying and cryptic and I swear she's doing it on purpose.

"Take me for example, when I want Jackson to do something that I want, he does, but not without significant effort from me." I waited for her to continue but instead she picked up a skirt and held it against her hips.

"Lydia! English, please!" I said, my fuse shortening quickly.

She sighed and looked up at me. "You give him no other option other than to react." I was still staring at her blankly so she rolled her eyes again. "Jealousy, you make him jealous. If he thinks that something else is more important to you than him or that you want someone else then he is going to have to do something about it. If he doesn't, then he probably doesn't like you as much as you want him to." She shrugged, the dimples in her cheeks showing.

"That's your advice? Really?" I said.

She nodded and smiled with her cheeks. "Yep."

"Yeah, I don't even know if that'll work with Derek."

"It works with Jackson."

"Really? He doesn't just laugh and… snort derisively?" I asked sceptically.

She popped her hip and tilted her head at me. "I can promise you that he's hanging around here to see what I'm doing. Even Jackson gets jealous and you know that he's no good at controlling his emotions." She chuckled to herself and led me to the changing rooms.

"Do you seriously need all of these?" I asked as I hung them in her cubicle.

"Obviously, now get out so I can change." She shoed me with her hand and I shook my head as I stepped out of the dressing room.

Make him jealous? How the hell am I supposed to make Derek jealous? That is so not even going to work. He has far too much werewolf-itude to be affected by jealousy. Me on the other hand, now that is a different story.

Hey SW am I going to see you later?

I sent him a text just to see if he would reply. Naturally, Lydia had tried on half of her chosen items and he still hadn't replied.

Hello? Stiles to Sour Wolf do you copy?

I sent another, just for good measure. Nothing.

"Stiles!" Lydia hissed, poking her head out from behind the curtain.

"What?" I asked, spinning around to face her.

"I can feel the walls shaking from all that tapping you're doing. Cut it out!" Her head disappeared back into the changing room and I sighed irritably.

I get fidgety when I'm bored, or restless, though I suppose I wouldn't be restless if I wasn't fidgeting but maybe I just didn't take enough Adderall this morning. It could be that last one.

Derek, starting to think you're avoiding me because you can't take the heat. A bit of challenge too much for your little werewolf butt to take?

I pushed a little more, hoping I could get him to snap and reply.

"All done, you can hold on to these ones." Lydia practically threw a small pile of clothes into my arms as she dumped the rest on the counter with a rather annoyed looking retail assistant.

"Are you telling me that out of all of those clothes you only picked these ones? This is like, less than a quarter of what you had." I said, following her out.

"I had to be sure didn't I?" She shrugged and I snorted as we walked to the cash register. "I think we should get juices after this."

I think Lydia could use some of my Adderall.

"So, wait a minute, going back to what we were talking about before, are you saying that you dragged me all the way out here to make Jackson jealous?" I said, my train of thought wandering from Derek, to jealousy, to Lydia and back to Jackson.

"I… well…" She stammered for a moment before I dropped my jaw.

"I feel so used…" I shook my head and blinked slowly as she rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Well you're the one who needs to learn so maybe you should be taking notes." I was about to counter when I realised that she had a good point.

What is with Lydia and having pretty good points lately? I hate it when she's right, and she's almost always right.

She paid for all her crap, which looked the same as everything else she owns but whatever, and then we headed out to the food court for juice. I made her let me pay for hers, and trust me that was harder than it sounds, before we sat down and she picked up her phone to check her texts.

"Huh, what do you know? Two missed calls and a voicemail… I wonder who they're from." She muttered the last bit with way too much self-satisfaction.

I pulled out my phone to check if Derek had replied.

Not even a text.

Seriously? I mean really, come on.

"You know you've been checking that thing all day." She said as her thumbs tapped away on the screen.

I opened my mouth to say something, my eyes squinting as my brain overloaded with responses that were just plain stupid. I shut my mouth and slid down in my chair, my thumbs ready to give Derek a piece of my mind.

Derek, answer my messages or I will begin to call.

Incessantly.

Derek.

Oh Sour Wolf!

I'll give you one more chance before I hit the little green phone.

Sure I said I'd give him a chance but it was more like three seconds before I sent another text.

Time's up, it's on SW.

I was about to click on his contact icon to leave him a strongly worded voicemail when I felt the phone buzz. I almost dropped it out of shock.

STILES. I'm busy, quit messaging me.

He can't seriously question my calling him Sour Wolf when he sends texts like that.

What is so important that you can't even reply?

I just did.

That so doesn't count. What are you doing?

Derek?

Tell me!

If you don't stop making my crotch vibrate I swear I will turn the damn thing off.

Is that a challenge? And I thought you liked that ;)

Stiles, enough. I'll call you later.

Yeah, whatever SW.

He didn't even reply with a complaint about the nickname, or the fact that I abbreviated the nickname. What the hell was going on with him?

"Stiles?" I looked up at Lydia who was staring at me. "Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, of course, why?" I put the phone down on the table and crossed my arms.

"You have a serious wrinkle in your brow and if you don't get rid of it soon it might end up being permanent." She smiled.

"It might end up that way anyway." I muttered.

"Lydia!" We both looked up to see Jackson striding over with Danny behind him.

He gave Lydia a grin before giving me a pretty shady look over. "Stiles." He said flatly.

"Jackson, what a lovely surprise, won't you join us for some sarcastic banter and condescension?" I said dryly as Danny and Lydia chuckled.

Jackson scowled at me before he sat down next to Lydia and possessively put his arm around her shoulders. Danny slumped into the chair beside me and gave me a smile.

"Shouldn't you be with your little boyfriend rather than out dress shopping?" Jackson asked.

"Sorry I missed that, was that condescension or sarcasm?" I said… obviously in a sarcastic way.

His nostrils flared and Lydia put a reassuring hand on his chest.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, boyfriend? Am I missing something here?" Danny said with a raised eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes a little and Lydia did a quick scroll through her phone gallery to find a picture she had taken of me and Derek. It was outside the old Hale house and I was being a bit of an idiot, as per usual, and Derek was looking away, clearly uncomfortable and as always he was broody as hell.

"Wait… I thought this guy was your cousin." Danny looked over at me questioningly and I almost forgot what the hell he was talking about but then it clicked.

I needed Danny to look up some info for me and sort of kind of used a shirtless Derek under the guise of him being my cousin to get him to do it. That was probably the first time I noticed just how fit Derek really is. I mean… he is… really into his ab work, I can tell you that.

Lydia and Jackson looked confused and I sighed. "Yeah, that was a little bit of a lie. His name is Derek and I was sort of harbouring his fugitive ass while he was on the run from the cops so lying seemed like a safer option than the truth."

"The cops being your father?" Danny grinned as if the whole thing was hilarious.

"I know it sounds like a ridiculous idea-"

"It sounds hot." Danny laughed and looked at the picture again. "Seriously though, how'd you land a guy like him? I mean dude, he looks like he'd rather kill you than screw you." He said, still staring at the picture.

I chuckled to myself a little, "you have no idea." I mumbled.

"But really, how did you get a guy like him?" I snatched the phone away from him.

"Alright! I get it, he's hot and I'm… something." I said, not really knowing how to describe myself.

"Hey! I'm not saying you couldn't I'm literally asking for pointers." He grinned again and I let out a light laugh.

"I honestly have no idea."

"Maybe it's your pheromones." Jackson smirked over at me and I pulled a face back at him.

"Speaking of naturally occurring bodily secretions there is far too much testosterone floating about over here." Lydia pulled a disgusted face and stood up. "Watch my bags while I use the little girl's room won't you?" She kissed Jackson's cheek before she walked away.

"Why are you here?" I asked once she was out of earshot.

"To see my girlfriend." He said flatly.

"I thought we were catching up seeing as someone has been overly distant lately." Danny said.

"That too."

"You're totally jealous… you have no idea how hilarious that is for me." I laughed.

"I am not jealous." He said through gritted teeth.

"And of me, of all people, seriously, that's freaking hilarious." I grinned as I stared over at him.

Probably not a good idea to provoke him, what's that saying? Don't poke the bear? I guess it probably applies to werewolves too.

"Shouldn't you be out with your boyfriend or is he sick of you already?"

"If that's the case then do you think he'd be interested in me?" Danny beamed and reached over to take a sip of my juice.

"Dude…" I said and just put my hands up when he offered it back to me. "Keep it."

"I'm surprised you're not out with him, isn't he buying a new place?" He said.

If he is that's news to me. Surely he would have told me if he was doing something like that.

"I don't believe so, no." I said defensively.

"Oh really, so Isaac was… what? Misinformed by Derek about his visits to a real estate agent?"

"Isaac told you that?" I asked, suddenly not so sure about it all.

He would have told me if he was buying a place. Why would he tell Isaac and not me?

"Yeah, in fact I think Derek was supposed to be there… oh, look at that, right about now." He pointed to his watch.

I thought about it, he had been disappearing for hours at a time, not answering texts… maybe Jackson was right. I've got to talk to Isaac.

"Tell Lydia that this was fun and that she can always call me when she needs to vent out her Jackson troubles." Danny laughed and Jackson just snorted as I stood up and got out of there as fast as I could.

Isaac – you and I need to have a little chat. Meet you at Derek's place in like 15. Stiles.

I felt the reply almost straight away as I headed to my jeep.

Why do I get the feeling I'm in trouble? See you there.

Isaac –

I was waiting at the old Hale house for Stiles to arrive. I don't know exactly what he wants to chat about but something tells me that it has something to do with Derek.

What am I saying? Of course it does.

Derek told me not to tell Stiles about his house hunting and I didn't, I sent a text to Scott who must have mentioned something to one of the others because I made sure to tell Scott not to tell Stiles.

Okay, I don't want to try and think all of that through again.

I don't really know why Derek didn't want to tell Stiles about looking for a new place but I guess he has his reasons. He can be pretty closed in sometimes.

I probably didn't make things any better by blabbing, especially to Scott. I know he can't keep a secret, not one that doesn't really seem like a big deal anyway.

I heard the squeaking breaks on Stiles' jeep in the distance and walked down the porch steps to lean against the railing. When he pulled into the clearing he got out of the jeep and walked straight over to me.

"Is it true that he's looking for somewhere else to live?" He asked straight away.

"First of all, hi, and I'm fine, thanks for asking." He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Sorry, hi."

"Hi." I coughed a little but I figure there's no point in keeping it a secret anymore. "And yeah, he's looking for somewhere new."

His brow crinkled and he looked as though he was really trying to nut out why Derek hadn't told him.

"Look, all he said was not to say anything and I think that's just because he's a private person." I said.

"He told you didn't he?"

"That's… a good point, but we spent the whole full moon together so I guess he thought it was a way to keep the conversation away from awkward silence." I shrugged, trying to make him feel like it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Yeah and I spend most nights with him… not that we talk much-"

"Yeah, I'm going to stop you right there because trust me, I know exactly what you guys do when you're alone." He smiled cheekily.

"What did you guys talk about that night?" He asked and I could tell from the quickening of his heartbeat that he had been wondering about it since it happened.

"Nothing much, just… trigger stuff." I said.

I wasn't lying either. I mean we talked about a bunch of stuff to keep my mind focussed but we talked a lot about the whole trigger thing.

"Right, you've got the same problem that he has." He said.

I nodded. "Yeah, first full moon with a trigger and I was sort of having trouble controlling myself I guess. That's all. If he had said anything important about you then I would have told you. We're friends… I think." I wasn't really too sure about Stiles, me and Scott have become a lot closer these last few weeks and Stiles and I bonded over the whole hiding the relationship thing but I wasn't really sure that we were friends in that sense.

"Why wouldn't we be?"

"Well, I don't know, I guess I just didn't know if we were or not."

"Well I consider you a friend."

"Alright, cool. Good. That's… I'm glad we cleared that up." I said before we left room for an awkward pause.

Finally he said something. "Do you know where he is?"

I was going to say no but I couldn't lie to his face, not when he was giving me such a betrayed look with those big brown eyes. I sighed and nodded.

Derek was definitely going to tear into me for this.

Stiles and Isaac climbed into the jeep and Isaac gave directions to the agent that Derek had been going to. He apologised a few times for not telling him but Stiles wasn't blaming Isaac, he just wanted to know why Derek had wanted this to be a secret from him.

He specifically said 'don't tell Stiles' and he wanted to know why. They pulled up outside the store and Isaac looked inside.

"Yeah, I can see him in there." He said.

Stiles felt like a blind man next to a werewolf and his super-sight but he took Isaac's word for it. They hopped out of the jeep and walked over to one of the windows to peer inside.

There was Derek, sitting at one of the back tables chatting pretty comfortably with a pretty young girl who was going through something on a piece of paper. Stiles clenched his jaw.

Look at how charming he's being! He is almost never that charming with me so why is he all smiles and flirting with her? He thought to himself.

"Uh, well I think my part here is done so I'm going to go for a walk, I'll be back here a bit later. Also, you might actually have to use the door if you're going to go and talk to him about it." Isaac said before clapping his hand, a little painfully, on Stiles' shoulder before looking around and walking off towards the path by the road.

Stiles had his eyes narrowed as he looked over at them, laughing and carrying on like it was just a casual coffee between friends. He walked away from the window and over to the front door, debating whether or not to go in.

"Hi there can I help you?" Stiles jumped at the perky voice of a middle aged agent, or at least who he assumed was an agent, how did she manage to sneak up on him like that? From outside?

"Uh, I just saw… a friend of mine in there and I was thinking about going to say hi." He said.

"Well come on in." She opened the door for him and he stepped awkwardly through it.

Oh damn, now he would have to let Derek know he was here. Not that he needed to say anything, almost as soon as the door had opened Derek looked over to see him standing there. The familiar intoxicating scent invigorating his nostrils and there was no mistaking it.

The agent that he was talking with stopped to look over at Stiles, rather annoyed that he had interrupted their little chat.

"Derek, what a coincidence it is to see you here." Stiles said sarcastically.

"It's an oddity if anything, what are you doing here?" He said with a smile that stiles found almost creepily bright.

This was not the Sour Wolf he was used to.

"I was around and I saw you here so I thought I would come and say hi. What are you doing here? Buying a new place are you?" he said stiffly.

"We're in the middle of ongoing discussions, yes." The young brunette at the desk said curtly, a little annoyed to have been interrupted with the charming and sexy customer.

"Stiles, this is Amy, she's been such a great help." He grinned over to her and she practically melted.

Stiles pursed his lips and they exchanged pathetic little grimaces.

"I didn't know you were thinking of moving, funny how these things just uncover themselves isn't it." He grinned in a way that was so fake, it hurt.

Derek could see that this was not going how he wanted it to he turned to Amy with a smile. "How about I give you a call and we can figure out another meeting? I think it's about time I got going anyway." He said and she looked disappointed but agreed.

Derek grabbed his leather jacket off the seat and began to walk out with Stiles on his tail.

"She seems nice, totally desperate but nice." He said bitterly as they walked out the door.

"What are you doing here Stiles?" He said.

"I don't know Derek, maybe you could tell me." He turned around to face him as they stopped a few metres from the store.

Derek sighed. "Are you really that angry that I didn't tell you? What does it matter anyway?"

"Why wouldn't you tell me? Buying a new place is something I thought you might, I don't know, bring up in casual conversation." He said.

"It's in the early stages, I haven't even found a place I like yet."

"Is that because you're too busy admiring other things?" Stiles hissed and Derek gave him a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" He said.

"I'm talking about the insane amount of flirting you were doing with that girl back there. You actually had a smile on your face for once."

"Of course I was flirting, I want her to find me a good deal and charge me less on commission." Derek muttered back.

"Oh so that means totally hitting on her?"

Derek looked taken aback. This escalated quickly from his secret keeping to the flirting with the estate agent. Stiles wasn't confused anymore; he was completely jealous.

"I wasn't hitting on her, I was being nice. What do you think I'm going to do; start a relationship with her just to get a cheaper place?"

Stiles shrugged in a passive-aggressive way and Derek rolled his eyes.

"Would you come here?" He grabbed Stiles by the arm and dragged him back to the jeep in the nearly empty parking lot.

He opened the door and shoved Stiles into the middle before following him in.

"What?" Stiles said before Derek planted a hard kiss square on his mouth.

Stiles pulled back, it was his turn to look confused.

"What are you doing?"

"Jealousy looks good on you, it really does, but you have no reason to be jealous." Derek said, his legs pressed up uncomfortably to Stiles' in the small space of the front seat.

"I am not jealous of anything I'm pissed." He said.

"Stiles, you're jealous, and you know it." Derek said, the look of amusement way too obviously set on his face as his hand firmly rubbed up and down over Stiles' thigh.

"I am not jealous." He repeated.

Derek shook his head. "You are, and I wish you'd stop pouting so much because it's starting to get to me." Derek's hand pushed a little further up.

"There is no pout and I don't care if my face is making you angry." He retorted.

"Not angry, Stiles." Derek grabbed his wrist and pulled Stiles' hand into the throbbing erection under his jeans.

Stiles let out a sharp breath. "Oh…"

"Yeah, so do you believe me when I say that you have no reason to be jealous?"

"You could have been hiding that since we left the building." Stiles muttered and Derek shook his head.

"Only after you walked in." He dipped his head to kiss down Stiles' neck and for a second he gave in before pushing him back.

"I'm still mad at you for keeping this a secret." Derek groaned and leant back against the inside of the door, closing his eyes.

It's funny how the urge to kill coincides with such an incredible lust.

"But…" Derek felt Stiles running his fingers up over his thigh until they reached the hem of his shirt.

He slipped them under the soft fabric and tucked his fingertips into the waistband of his jeans until he could press his palm into the solid mass of heat that strained against the black denim. Derek let out another groan but this one had no undertones of annoyance.

Stiles pressed down gently and made circles with his hand as he leant in to kiss Derek's parted lips. They widened even more so that he could sate some of his hunger with a clash of tongues and teeth as his hand reached up to grab Stiles' side.

Both hearts were beating faster and it was almost inevitable that things were to be cut short by a knock on the front windscreen.

They pulled back quickly from one another to see Isaac smiling at them from outside. Derek rolled his eyes while Stiles leant over to wind down the window.

"You know it's not like your windows are tinted Stiles." He said cockily.

"I thought you went for a walk." He grumbled.

"I did but Scott texted me, there's a storm coming and I don't really want to be caught out in it and you're my ride so…" Stiles rolled his eyes and Derek made room for him to climb into the cramped back seat that almost never gets used.

Derek sat with his eyes closed in the front, trying desperately to rid his body of the desire that was just pulsating through it. Stiles grinned over at him as they headed back to his place.

"How you going Sour Wolf?" He teased.

"I hate you." Derek didn't open his eyes as he responded.

Stiles laughed. "I guess I'll have to get you jealous at some point right? You know, seeing as that seems to be a weakness of yours."

"I don't get jealous. You get jealous."

"Yeah, and it makes you hot and so much easier to break." Stiles grinned.

"You guys know that I'm sitting right here don't you? Because I seriously think that this is more of a private conversation." Isaac said from the back.

"What he means is 'shut up Stiles'." Derek muttered.

Lydia sure was right about jealousy and if it worked this well with Stiles being the one affected surely it would work far better if he could get Derek to feel envy.

Either way, he was going to get Derek to break; that was non-negotiable.