Ten Years Ago
"Derek!" Talia called from the kitchen of the exquisite house in the woods.
Derek's ears picked up from out in the yard, which was basically just the surrounding forest, and he ran up to the porch to where his mother stood.
"Yeah mom?" He asked.
"Can you go and find your sister? We need to leave soon." She said.
Derek groaned. "Maybe we can leave her behind. Don't we see enough of her anyway?" He gave his mother a sassy smile and she gave him a good case of the Hale raised eyebrow.
"Go on then." She walked back into the house and Derek gave a playful roll of his eyes.
He was fourteen years old and even though he loved his family more than anything, these camping trips could sometimes be excruciating, especially when his little sister Cora tried to join the older kids. She was only seven so they all saw her as a child. She was feisty for such a young girl, but that comes with the werewolf gene which she had so very adorably inherited from her mother.
So Derek set out in the woods to find his sister, not Cora, but his older sister, Laura. Sixteen years old and finally finding her feet in her werewolf skin. Aside from his uncle Peter, Laura was the one he was closest to in his family. That didn't stop her from annoying the hell out of him.
He did what his mother had been teaching him and focussed all his energy on his senses, smell, sight, hearing… on the last one he picked it up, the fuzzy sounds of music playing through a set of headphones.
He rolled his eyes and started running towards the sound. As he got closer it got louder and with his wolf senses turned right up he found her with her Walkman, spinning and flicking her hair around to the tune of the song.
Not even to the song, just wildly and completely out of control, her head bobbing and a wicked grin on her face. She saw him staring at her through the trees and wiggled her fingers at him.
"Oh no." Derek said, stepping back.
She just laughed and ran forward to grab him by the wrists and began to make him dance, forcibly. Swinging his arms back and forward madly and laughing with her bright smile. Derek couldn't help but join her, cackling along and tuning in to the song playing in her ears.
She let him go as they twisted and bobbed and spun one another around. She reached out and fluffed up his hair before they started singing to the familiar chorus. They played out the song and when it was coming to an end Derek tackled her to the ground to which she countered by pinning him down easily.
"Not today little brother." She panted.
Derek squirmed and pulled a face up at her as she looked down, her chestnut hair framing her rosy grinning face.
"That would be right, I send one child out to find the other and lose you both." Talia stood behind them with her arms folded and a smile on her lips.
The two of them stopped trying to best one another long enough to stand up and give their mother a pair of innocent smiles.
"Laura, have you got a bag?" She asked.
"Mom, you've been on my back all day, so yes, I have it packed and I had a few spare minutes so I went for a walk.
"Both of you get back to the house so we can get going, you don't want to keep the rest of the family waiting do you?"
"We practically live together half the year anyway… is Uncle Peter coming this time?" Derek asked.
"Yes, I know you've missed him."
"Mom…" Derek said, rolling his eyes.
"Aw, don't be embarrassed baby brother."
"I'm not a baby."
"Do either of you hear me when I speak or have you learnt to drown me out?" Talia asked.
"The last one." They both said together and she batted them away and back to the house.
"Very cheeky." She whispered with a smile.
It took far longer than it should have but soon enough the three children and their parents were loaded into the car and they drove out to the secluded camping spot that they had claimed as their own.
Talia's sister's family was already there, which consisted of her husband and two young boys. Her husband and one of their sons were not wolves but they knew in very intimate detail about the family secret and were just as determined to keep it.
Derek complained about their camping trips but he loved to spend this time with his family. His mother had said that they might not be able to get out there anytime soon after this. Derek had a feeling that something was going down but it didn't concern him and quite frankly he didn't want to know. If his mother thought it important enough to keep a secret then he wouldn't question that. He just wanted to have fun anyway, be a teenager, get the girls, and of course make first string on the Beacon Hills basketball team.
He did that every year of course. There was no point in having werewolf abilities if you couldn't use them to show off.
He sat on a fallen log and stared out over the town that he loved so much. He had never lived anywhere else and if he never did he would be happy.
His appreciation of the town was interrupted by Cora tapping on his shoulder.
"Mom says that you have to share a tent with me tonight." She said in her squeaky seven-year-old voice.
"What? No, you're sharing with Laura." He shrugged her off and she tapped at him again.
"Not this time." She sang.
"I'm not sharing with you." He said.
She pouted her lips and opened her bright eyes even wider than they already were.
"Don't think that's going to change my mind." He grinned in a way that made her get angry and grow fluffy little sideburns.
Her brow jutted out and her small but sharp fangs grew over her teeth. Derek laughed as she let out a meagre growl at him and put his hands up in surrender.
"Okay, okay! But only because you're so terrifyingly adorable." He grabbed her in a wolf-grip hug and she squirmed.
"Hey! I am not adorable!" She squealed as she giggled, trying to get free.
Talia looked over at her only son playing with his little sister and smiled. She couldn't have hoped for a better litter of children, they were all such beautiful little souls.
"Are you admiring the brood again?" Her husband slipped his arms around her waist and she smiled.
"How could I not?" She knew that all of their ears could pick up the conversation if they wanted to.
One of the rules in her house had always been if you want to keep a secret, keep it quiet, because nothing that you said in the big house in the woods could be kept to yourself. There was always someone listening, unintentionally or otherwise.
Peter finally showed up, dressed far too well for the occasion.
"What's with the blazer?" Derek asked.
"This, my dear nephew, is what we like to call fashion." He grinned in his charming way. "I've come straight from a date to be here with the lot of you so you should feel quite important I should think."
"Yes, yes, we all feel so very loved when you're around." Talia pulled him in for a brief hug which he leant into only slightly.
The sun was almost ready to set and Derek had agreed to a game of hide and seek with his sisters and cousins, even though he thought he was too old for all of that now.
He and Laura sat perched in one of the aging trees staring out at the view.
"You think he's ever going to find us?" Derek whispered quietly.
"We'll give it another ten before he gets sick of it then show him some mercy." She smiled.
Their cousin wasn't equipped with werewolf abilities and so when his turn came around he always had the hardest time finding them.
"Do you think you'll ever leave this town?" He asked, gazing adoringly over the buildings between the hills.
Laura shrugged. "Maybe, I always wanted to see a big city."
"Why? Do you really think a werewolf would do well in a place like New York?"
She smiled wryly, "anyone would think you wanted to keep me around little brother."
"No…" Derek muttered. "I just don't know why you'd ever want to leave. I can't imagine being somewhere else."
Laura looked over at him and tilted her head. He had so much hope for the future and she couldn't wait to see what he did with his potential. She was sure that there was more for him outside Beacon Hills but if this was where he wanted to stay then she was in no position to try and talk him out of it.
She looked down at the palm of her hand as she let her claws extend. Derek noticed and looked up at her.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm making sure that we never leave Beacon Hills." She said, raising her index finger to the bark on the tree.
Slowly she carved out the letters in the trunk, deep enough for them to last.
Laura Hale.
"There, that's me done." She looked at him expectantly and he smiled, drawing out his own claws.
Derek Hale.
He carved out his name below hers and they stared at it appreciatively.
"Now we can never leave." She grinned. "And you know what? I'm glad I'll be able to watch that sunset every night." She sighed and they looked out over the glowing horizon.
"You think we should put him out of his misery?" Derek asked, staring down at their cousin who was starting to look rather annoyed.
"Yeah… you first!" She said as she shoved him off his branch.
He landed with a thud on the ground and looked back up with a snarl but the laughter radiating from her smiling face was enough to make him forgive her, this time.
Derek's memories slowly faded to black and he was left staring into the dying embers in the circle of dark stones. The morning had come quickly and they had packed everything up into the jeep ready to head off again.
Stiles saw the look on his face and gave him a few minutes to be alone with whatever was running through his head. When he saw his shoulders give a heavy sigh he walked over and leant his head on his shoulder.
Derek's head rested on his and he closed his eyes, trying to get rid of those memories before even more surfaced and he was forced to face them again.
"Come on, let's go." He said, pulling himself away from Stiles and walking back to the jeep alone.
Stiles watched him walk away for a moment and sighed. He wished Derek would tell him about his family, he knew that was what he was thinking of. He could tell by the way his eyes glazed over and turned cold.
Stiles looked around at all the trees in the clearing and wondered which one held the names of him and his sister. He couldn't imagine Derek as a child; maybe that was just because any child that could have been left inside him died in the fire with the rest of his family.
With one last look over at the town he turned to walk back to the jeep with Derek.
The first part of the drive seemed to draw out in silence. Derek was clearly deep in thought, or trying not to think, and Stiles didn't want to make him angry by trying to get him to talk.
Hardly anything was said for the first hour of driving out of Beacon Hills. Derek looked over to Stiles who was staring out through the window and sighed to himself. This really wasn't what he had intended.
"I'm surprised you haven't been asking 'are we there yet' this whole time." Derek said with a smile to the side.
"I figure we'll get there when we get there." He said, not looking up.
"Okay, what's wrong?"
"What? Nothing." This time Stiles looked up at him.
"I know you weren't so fussed on the camping thing-"
"No! No, that's not it, I actually found it pretty awesome… I just, you seemed like you wanted some silence is all."
Derek had to smile at that. "Since when does that stop you from talking?"
Stiles laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Derek made a turn off to the right and Stiles tried to figure out where exactly they were going.
"So, is this one of those romantic secret places too?" Stiles said eliciting a growl from Derek.
"It's nothing fancy if that's what you were hoping for." Derek said.
"I was actually just hoping for something." Stiles smiled and Derek tried to stop himself from doing the same. "So… are we there yet?"
Derek groaned and wished he hadn't said anything.
They drove for only about another hour before they reached their destination. They pulled into the parking lot of a single level hotel/motel and Derek cut the engine. Stiles opened the door and climbed out, looking over the place and nodding.
"No too shabby sour wolf, not too shabby."
Derek glared at him and slammed his door as he slung his back over his shoulder. With a grin Stiles followed him to the lobby.
They got the key to their room and Derek tried not to stare too long at Stiles' beaming face. It wasn't much, but there was a spacious bathroom and a rather comfortable looking queen sized bed.
Stiles dumped his bag by the desk in the corner and jumped onto the bed. "Oh yeah, this is nice."
Derek rolled his eyes and heard Stiles' stomach rumble loudly.
"Hungry?" Derek said.
"Of course, I'm always hungry." Derek shook his head to which Stiles replied with a smile. "Know what I'm thinking?"
"I'd be pretty uncomfortable if I did."
Stiles was about to complain but shrugged instead, knowing that he did have a pretty freaky mind sometimes. "Room service."
They ordered in enough food for three people and finished every last bit of it. Derek took the keys and left to get them something to drink for the night and Stiles tested out every button and switch in the room. Nothing interesting happened really; he just managed to figure out how to work the TV, not that there was anything good on.
When Derek came back through the door with a bag full of food and booze in one hand and his phone in the other Stiles took his chance to raise his eyebrow.
"Who are you talking to?" He asked and Derek put down the bag without even looking up from the small screen.
"Erica's trying to move in to my loft." He said grouchily.
Why is everything always about those damned werewolves? Stiles thought. "So?"
"So? I already have one teenage misfit housed in there I don't need another one." He said.
"Okay you know what?" Stiles jumped up and snatched the phone out of Derek's hand.
He gave him an exhausted look. "What are you doing?"
He took his own phone from his pocket and put them both on the bedside table.
"Tonight there will be no werewolf stuff, okay?"
"You don't really have the presence to-"
"Hey! I said no wolf stuff so there will be no wolf stuff!" Stiles said with his best what-you-going-to-do-about-it face on.
Derek's lips twitched into a smile. "Fine, I take it you're hungry again."
"Yeah you're going to need to feed my like six times a day." Stiles grinned and rustled through the bag for some chips.
He found a bottle of whiskey and grinned at it to which Derek snatched it away and shook his head. They were not having a repeat of the last weekend. Stiles threw himself back on the bed, satisfied now with his food and Derek took a seat at the desk.
They chatted on and off while they leisurely watched the TV.
"What's it like being a werewolf?" Stiles asked seemingly out of the blue.
Derek just looked at him for a moment. "Why?"
Stiles shrugged. "I don't know, just what's it like?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know, seriously? Derek don't be a douche."
Derek shook his head. "I've been one my whole life so maybe you can answer what it's like to be human."
"It sucks. You're squishy and weak and pretty lacking in the facial hair, not to mention the fact that if my leg breaks I'm stuck in a cast for six weeks and have to get used to walking again. If that happened to you you'd be standing in like ten seconds."
"Are you saying you want to be a wolf?" Derek asked, a little surprised.
Stiles thought for a second. "No, no I think I'll just stay my squishy, vulnerable, human self." He nodded but Derek didn't completely believe him.
"When you put it like that you could say that being a wolf forces you to stay in constant control, makes you want to tear out throats once a month and you hear everything, even if you don't want to hear it." He said.
Stiles smirked a little. "Greener grass Derek, greener grass."
Derek just chuckled.
He poured them out a drink each and Stiles grinned.
"Never have I ever…" He said, shooting Derek his smile.
"Really?" Derek said.
"Scaredy-wolf." Stiles said and Derek was almost stunned at the amount of wolf puns Stiles came out with.
They went a few rounds with Derek naming anything to get Stiles to drink, purely and simply to show Stiles who the alpha was. Stiles was worse at this game. Almost everything he said Derek just grinned at him and it was on to his turn again.
"Never have I ever taken drugs… unless you count prescription, does that count? If it does I should probably-"
"It doesn't count Stiles. You know what you meant." Derek said with a smile and took a casual sip of his glass.
Stiles almost missed it but he paused and gave Derek a look. "Did you just drink to that?"
Derek just gave him a look.
"Oh my god you totally did." Derek rolled his eyes and Stiles bobbed his head up and down. "What a badass you are Derek." He said sarcastically. "When? Where? What?"
"Okay, you are far too interested in this." He said.
"Oh come on, I didn't think you would actually drink to that. Tell me."
Derek sighed, he should have just lied. Stiles gave him a little smile that he thought was cute, and it kind of was.
"It was about six years ago, in the city, and it was something you've heard of." Derek said.
"Which city? Are you really going to make this a guessing game for me?"
"No, I'm just going to leave it at that because it was a long time ago."
"Six years ago huh?" Stiles said slowly.
"Stiles, you don't need to connect the dots, okay?" He could see that Derek didn't want to talk about it and from the look on his face; he was right about his theories.
Six years ago Derek's family burned to death in his house in the woods. Six years ago he had left Beacon Hills with his sister Laura after being unable to face what had happened. He was distraught, broken and convinced that his relationship with Kate had something to do with what happened but unable to tell Laura about it. He thought that the fates of his family fell on his shoulders and it took its toll on the sweet boy that used to live inside of him. He was eighteen when it happened, he was hardly a child, but he had also taken the life of his first real love, Paige.
Even at eighteen all of that weight fell hard on him and crushed him to the point where he became unrecognisable to his sister. She had become hard and tough after losing everything but she hadn't lost herself as completely as Derek had.
He had gone on a bender that lasted so long that he lost a year of his life in memories. Too bad he couldn't lose the memories that he was trying to burn. He had taken some hard-core stuff in the city. He wasn't even sure which one anymore; Laura dragged him all over the country trying to break his habit. In the end she almost killed him to save him from his destructive path.
He had never been addicted, his wolf stopped him from succumbing to something physical like that, but mentally he needed to forget, he needed to try. Laura pulled him back over the edge. She tied him in their hotel room for a week, tightly enough to hold him, and sat with him.
She bombarded him with the memories he had been running from. She shifted and clawed him until his clothes were tattered and torn and the tiled kitchen floor was covered in his spattered blood. Most of all she cried. She cried and begged him to come back to her, because she felt like it was him who died in the fire along with all the others.
When that didn't work, she left. She untied the ropes and left. He didn't know where it was that she went or if she was even coming back. After two weeks of waiting for her, the sinking feeling hit home. He had pushed her so far that she wouldn't come back, she was gone.
He kept paying for the room, he paid three months up front and they came and went without a sign of her. He wouldn't leave; he couldn't leave in case she came back for him.
Safe to say he didn't touch the drugs he was on after that, once in a while he drowned himself in a bottle of whiskey and refused to leave the room but his days of substance abuse were done.
When he ran out of the money she had left him with he lived in and around the hotel, wherever he could find a place to sleep because he had to wait for her to come back. Maybe it sounds weak for a nearly twenty year old man to be sleeping outside a cheap hotel when he could be finding a job and somewhere new, but he had no other way of finding Laura, not anymore.
It was on the eve of his twentieth birthday when the familiar scent filled his nostrils and he was sure he had starved to death or frozen in the wintery rain. He squinted through the pouring droplets and the blurry silhouette bent down to push the damp fringe out of his face.
Derek… she had whispered before carrying him inside and paying for a room. He blacked out and the next few days were a blur. When he awoke, Laura was by his side and he vowed that he wouldn't let anything be his downfall. Anything or anyone.
She made him promise that they protected one another and never put anything before themselves, because that was the important thing now. Next time I'm gone, you take care of yourself. Screw everyone else. I need to know that you're safe. Derek agreed and to seal their vow they got matching triskellion tattoos between their shoulder blades, covering their backs.
"Derek?" Stiles said, slightly worried that Derek had drifted off into his own world again.
He looked up, confused and raw from his memories. Instead of trying to destroy them he now used them to make him stronger. The more pain he let himself feel the stronger he became.
"I said sorry." He shrugged a little sheepishly, now sitting on the edge of the bed.
Derek shook his head. "It was after I left Beacon Hills with Laura, after-"
"Don't." Stiles said and Derek gave him a strange look. "I don't want you to tell me because I've been bugging you. If you want to tell me you can tell me when we get back."
Stiles stood up and walked over to give Derek a warm, wet kiss on his lips.
Derek sighed and closed his eyes. "You're just saying that because you're hungry again."
"Maybe." Stiles mumbled into his cheek.
Derek rolled his eyes. "Come on."
They headed out for dinner, not even realising how late it had become. The sun was just about to drop under the horizon as they headed into the city for something to eat. Stiles, of course, couldn't decide so Derek had to make the choice.
By the time they got back to the hotel it was late and the two weren't so worried about what to watch on the TV anymore. Stiles was lying on the bed after just having kicked off his shoes and looked up at Derek who was staring at him in a way that he was sure wasn't meant to be sexy but definitely was. He climbed over him and kissed him hard on the mouth. Stiles put up his leg to let Derek press his hips down into his own and smiled as he groaned. He reached down to squeeze Derek's ass to which he replied by nipping at his bottom lip.
After all this time of sleeping together Stiles still didn't get tired of the feeling of Derek's body pressed against him. His lips made their way over his jaw and down to his neck where they sucked ever so lightly and tortuously. Stiles slipped his hands under the hem of Derek's shirt and began to breathe heavily before Derek's phone began to ring on the table beside them.
Derek pulled away and rolled over to see who was calling. Stiles groaned loudly and to make a point but Derek ignored him.
"It's Scott." He said, about to answer it.
Stiles leapt up and lay over Derek's back, grabbing his wrist tightly. "Oh no you don't! You said no wolf stuff so you are going to put that down right now."
Derek chuckled. "Oh really?"
"Yes." Stiles said, snatching the phone from him and swiping the little red button.
He pressed it down on the table and let go of Derek. He rolled onto his back and gave Stiles a look with a shake of the head. "Satisfied?" He said.
"Uh, nowhere near it, not yet anyway." He straddled Derek's hips and leant in to kiss him again.
It was only about a minute later when the phone rang again. Derek reached out to take it but Stiles, getting particularly annoyed at Scott, pinned down his wrist. Derek looked up at him.
"What did I just say?"
"Are you going to stop me?"
"Yeah, I said no wolf stuff, and I meant it." Stiles reached for the phone and shut it off.
Derek looked up at him with a dark look on his face and his lips curled into a seductive smile.
Holy crap, is this working? Stiles thought to himself, his heartbeat racing. He held down Derek's wrist and reached out to grab the other. Derek wasn't resisting and as much as he could overpower Stiles if he wanted to, he wasn't. Stiles' tongue ran slowly over his bottom lip as he stared down at Derek underneath him.
"Take off your shirt." He said, releasing his wrists.
Holy shit this is working, Stiles thought as Derek reached down and pulled his shirt over his head. He traced his fingertips over Derek's sculpted chest and shimmied back, hands shaking as he began to unbuckle his belt. Derek closed his eyes and leant his head back, listening to Stiles' elevating heartbeat as he took control.
Stiles pulled his jeans down and off his ankles, dropping them on the floor behind the bed. There was a large bulge in Derek's boxer briefs and Stiles was starting to get even more aroused at the way Derek was letting him take control of his body, of the moment.
He leant down to run his hot tongue over the cut marks under his hips and Derek let out a low groan at the touch. He gripped the waistband of his underwear with one hand as his tongue continued its assault on Derek's skin. Using the palm of his hand he rubbed the swollen member in slow pulses making Derek groan louder this time as he reached out to tangle his fingers in his short hair.
His still trembling hands pulled down his underwear, eyes darting up to see the look on Derek's face. His lips were parted and his eyes were closed, his fingers gently circling on the back of his head.
Once the boxers had joined his jeans on the floor Stiles took Derek's rigid cock in his hand and wet his lips to take the tip between them. Derek let out a gasp at the touch and became far less restrained the further Stiles took. He gently pulled at the head with his lips a few times before taking more of him in. He inched his way down and Derek had to bit his lip painfully to stop from bucking himself in further.
Derek's panting grew sharper as Stiles was able to take more of him, and he moaned quite loudly when Stiles took in his whole length. His free hand gripped tightly to the bed sheets as he switched from slow and torturous to quick pumps. He tightened his grip in his hair as he felt himself getting closer to his peak and made a low whimpering sound as he pulled away.
He looked up at Stiles' face, which was now hovering inches above his as he panted, his eyes full of shameless desire.
Stiles had a look of confidence on him that Derek had never seen before. It could have been because he had let him take the reins for the first time, or it could be a hidden side of him that hasn't shown itself until this point. Either way, Derek found that he was actually enjoying having him tell him what to do. He was enjoying it immensely.
"Turn over." Stiles demanded, voice ragged with unrestrained lust.
Derek rolled onto his knees and heard Stiles removing his shirt and jeans quickly before pressing his body against him and leaving a trail of white hot kisses up his spine.
He was determined not to let himself give in to the satisfaction. It was one thing to have the control, to take control of the moment and to bury himself in Stiles but it was another to relinquish that, to let Stiles in. To let Stiles take from him everything that made him an alpha, his strength and his dominance, his power, to subdue them and reveal his weaknesses, to show him the weakness inside of him.
And what made him weak was his inability to control himself around Stiles, and to submit was to reveal much more to himself and Stiles than he ever intended to. The inability to control his desires and hold off this submission came with the close of his eyes and the parting of his lips in an agonised groan as Stiles nipped hard at the back of his neck, and in that moment he let himself submit.
Stiles reached down to grab what he needed from Derek's bag and kissed Derek in his lower back, sending a shiver back up his spine. He reached back to pull Stiles into his hips and he knew that Derek wanted him, was ready for him. He pressed himself against his entrance and forced himself only an inch inside.
Derek's groan sounded more like a growl and Stiles could see his extended claws tearing at the sheets as he slowly pushed himself deeper inside, his own body convulsing at the feeling of Derek's heat surrounding him. As he picked up the pace, his hands on Derek's hips to pull them back into him, Derek lifted one hand to hold the headboard and the other to grip tightly to Stiles' fingers.
He leant down to kiss Derek, right in the centre of his triskellion tattoo and let out a strangled grunt as he felt the earth-shattering pressure building inside of him. Derek's eyes glowed red as he gasped and he let go of his restraint.
He gave Stiles the control over him that he had been resisting until this moment. He had tried to hide from himself and the things that he wanted because how could he let him know exactly what he felt, exactly what that meant? He wasn't supposed to have this flaw; he had promised Laura that no one would make him weak. But he would release himself to him anyway and Stiles knew what it meant.
How many times had he tried to push something with Derek only to be shut down? His urge to keep himself guarded and hidden from anything he could possibly be feeling was being denied in this moment because feeling something felt better than he ever thought it could.
The optimism he would need to believe in that was long gone and for all Stiles knew, it would only be one night that Derek allowed himself to get lost in what he was feeling. It was something he swore he would never do again, not after everything, and bristling in his core he knew that it was a mistake.
Little did he know just how right he would be.