A/N: This chapter is going to deal with the hour that Scott wasn't able to see between Stiles and Derek. Brace yourselves for this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf.

- an hour earlier –

Derek decided to get his car keys and head to Stiles' house, and, considering that he was alone, this was the best time to talk to him. When he reached his house, he was relieved when he saw that Stiles' car was parked in his driveway. He got out of his car and was so focused on seeing Stiles that he didn't care that he'd just left his car unlocked. He actually didn't even know that he forgot to lock it, because his mind was only telling him to find Stiles right now. And that's all he cared about; Stiles.

Before Derek got to his door, Stiles saw a black car driving closer and closer to his house. He immediately got up and didn't know whether he was upset or happy that this could be Derek. He found himself leaning on the door listening to the footsteps, and as he looked through the peephole, he saw that it was Derek. Derek immediately heard the boy's heartbeat and questioned, "Stiles, can I please come in?"

Stiles didn't respond. It wasn't the time for him to be stubborn, but he didn't want to let someone like that back into his life again. "Stiles, I can hear your heartbeat," Derek spoke to the door, but there was still no answer, "I know you're there, and that you can hear me."

Stiles was trying extra hard not to break. Holding grudges was extra hard for him, but he knew that Derek needed to learn his lesson here. "Stiles," Derek said, again, this time with a softer tone. Stiles kept telling himself not to break. Don't break. Don't fucking break. "Stiles, I can hear your heartbeat continuing to change," Derek repeated and sighed, "why are you so scared?"

Fuck it, Stiles thought, as he opened the door. "I'm not scared, Derek." This surprised the wolf, and he was impressed by the constancy of his heartbeat now. He really wasn't scared. His face was as straight as Stiles' face could ever be.

"Can I come in?" Derek questioned.

"Why? So you can say some more mean shit to me and make me wish I'd never been born?"

"What? Stiles—no… I just wanted to apologize."

"For what? Big bad Derek Hale is trying to practice for someone important on me? Because clearly I'm not good enough for him."

"Stiles, shut the fuck up," Derek said as he pushed the door in lightly to come in."

"I don't want you here."

"You think I don't know that?"

Stiles was shocked, "You never even tried to reach me. You didn't even ask about me."

"I tried messaging you," the wolf shouted, "you blocked my number you asshole!"

"I didn't block you on Facebook. You could've messaged me there."

"Okay, that's not fair, how the fuck was I supposed to know that, Stiles?"

"I don't know, maybe if you used your head for once in your life."

"That's not fair," he repeated, "I've been trying to come here for like 2 weeks until I gave up a few days ago."

"Trying is different than doing."

"Oh yeah?" Derek defensively argued, "That's kind of hard to do when your True Alpha best friend is blocking me from coming to you."

"Wait a minute… you talked to Scott?"

"Yes, Stiles!"

"Scott never told me," Stiles cooled down, speaking softer than he had been doing.

"Oh," Derek slowed his breathing down as well. There wasn't any more shouting between the two. "I didn't mean to shout, I'm sorry."

"I didn't mean to call you stupid."

"You didn't call me stupid."

"It was implied."

"Moron," Derek smiled.

Stiles lightly laughed, but immediately turned to a serious mood again. "So, what do you want Derek?"

"Is that even a question?" Derek asked, getting a little worked up again, "I tried texting Scott every day, asking about you. It was always "How's Stiles," and he'd respond with "I don't know." Every time I fucking asked." Stiles kept quiet to the new information. "I even came to your house a few times last week, just to find him there, waiting for me, to tell me I can't go in. I made sure you got what you wanted, but that's not going to work anymore. I need to see you, Stiles."

Stiles was shocked at what he was hearing. "But you don't want to be my boyfriend."

"I never said that."

"You took advantage of me that night that I was drunk. To do whatever you pleased. And you kissed me. And oh, so now you all of a sudden want to be my boyfriend?"

"Yes, Stiles. And I never took advantage of you. You were the one that kissed me first, remember? And I still felt guilty as hell for it." Stiles ignored him. "As for wanting to be your boyfriend, I've always wanted that. I broke up with Braeden."

"And I broke up with Malia. Doesn't mean crap. You're just an asshole that made me lose it that night," Stiles continued, interrupting Derek, who was getting worked up and trying to speak as well, "you were an asshole, Derek." Derek grunted and was having an internal fight with himself, trying not to yell. "You still are an asshole, actually."

"Wow, Stiles, thanks so much for th—"

"I'm not done." Derek shut up again and exhaled heavily. "You're so blind. I tried so hard to trust you. I wanted to trust you. Do you know how long I've waited for someone I could trust?"

"Well, there's Scott."

"Yeah, well, Scott isn't always into learning my deepest secrets."

Derek stepped closer, trying to cool off. "I am."

"You're what?"

"I want to know your deepest secrets. You can trust me, Stiles," Derek half-shouted as he moved back and motioned his arms towards himself.

"You want me to trust you? Careful what you wish for."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Stiles raised his eyebrows as he rolled up his left sleeve to show the gauze. Derek was confused. As Stiles removed the gauze to show the dried up blood, Derek wasn't sure of what he was feeling. He was filled with sadness and anger, and he just needed to punch something. "See this, Derek?" Stiles pointed to his arm, "This is all because of you." Derek immediately asked, "Stiles, what have you been—" and he was disrupted yet again. Derek looked at the ground and clenched his jaw, as he closed his fists. His anger was building up, but he still kept quiet. "You're the reason. You do all of this shit to me and you don't even know it. I waited and waited for you to come, but you wouldn't. I ended up losing it and neared another panic attack. Hell, I don't even know if I did have a panic attack that day, that's how bad it was." Derek looked into his eyes. "It's all because of you," Stiles pointed at Derek.

"Seriously?" Derek somehow still kept his voice soft, even though he was so angry inside. "I come here to try and apologize to you, and this is how you repay me. You tell me—sorry—you show me that you've been cutting. And then you try to get my pity by telling me it's what I did to you?"

"I'm not trying to get your—"

"Save it. It's my turn to talk." Stiles began to tear up. Derek moved closer and pointed at Stiles. "It's your entire fault. You do this to yourself, Stiles. You're fucking pathetic," he told him, as he'd done before. "It's what I did to you? How about what you've done to me, considering you shut yourself out from me, and then decide to cut yourself, because you're a coward and you can't face the truth that people care about you."

"You're doing a hell of a job telling me you care about me," Stiles barely spoke, as a tear fell down his cheek. Derek still could hear him whispering, and immediately felt like a dick for saying that stuff to him, knowing, now, that he's suicidal.

"Stiles, I—"

"Just get out, Derek," Stiles said as he pushed him away and opened the door for him to leave. They'd been standing in place for a while, just arguing and barely moving back and forth to point fingers at each other.

"Stiles, I didn't mean to say all of that, you know I didn't—"

"But you did. It's okay. Just," Stiles exhaled with a soft laugh as more tears came down, "get out, Derek."

"Stiles—" Derek reached for his face.

"Please don't make it worse than it already is," said the boy, dodging his touch. Derek held on to his shoulders though. "Just, get out," he said for the third time that day, backing away.

"I'm not leaving," Derek pulled him into a hug. "Not until you hug me back." Stiles just stood there, neutrally, as Derek brought him in for a hug and closed the door. He didn't hug him back. His arms were just dangling by the wolf's sides as his head was rested on his left shoulder.

"Stiles," Derek spoke to his ear, "I'm sorry."

Stiles wouldn't respond.

"I'm a dick." No response. "I'm an asshole, I'm an ass-wipe, I'm an idiot, I'm a dumbass, I'm just an ass, I'm whatever you want me to say I am if that means you could talk to me again." Stiles chuckled on the inside, but Derek couldn't hear or feel it. Stiles kept his cool and his serious face never turned into a grin. "Stiles," Derek said again. No response for a few seconds. A big sigh came out of the wolf's mouth.

"Say you're a shithead."

"Excuse me?"

"You said you'd say anything," Stiles laughed, but still not hugging back, "Say you're a shithead." After Derek still wouldn't say it, Stiles pulled out of the wolf's grip and pouted in front of him, in the most serious fashion, as he crossed his arms.

"Seriously?" Derek asked. Stiles looked around, as he waited for him to say it. "Alright, alright. I'm a shithead," Derek laughed before Stiles chuckled. "Better?"

"Better," answered Stiles as he pulled the wolf in for a hug and held him close as he gripped his upper back, while Derek held his waist. They both closed their eyes until Stiles had to shed a few tears again.

"Stop crying," Derek softly spoke as he pulled back and wiped his tears away with his thumbs.

"Why are you here, Derek?"

"Are you seriously still asking me that?" they looked at each other's lips, no one making the first move, though. "I like you. Okay? I really, really like you, and seeing you like this really hurts. And I've missed you. So much. 2 weeks without you has been torture, and I— ugh, sorry. I was never good with words."

"I know," Stiles hugged him again, "you were doing so good until that point." Derek smiled while his head rested on the boy's shoulder. After several seconds of silence, Stiles decided to tell Derek the truth. "I've missed you a lot, too."

"Listen," Derek pulled back and held his hands, "just because you don't want to miss me, or whatever it was, it doesn't make it okay for you to do this to yourself." Stiles felt ashamed. "In fact, whatever it was, you're going to tell me. Everything. No lies. No joking about any of this."

"Okay. I'll tell you everything."

"Go."

"Like right now?" Stiles was nervous. Derek didn't respond, expecting the teenager to know the answer.

"Well, I guess I have to start from the beginning. Um," Stiles ran a hand through his hair, "back when I was about 8 or 9, I discovered cutting. My mom had just died, and my dad was becoming more and more of an alcoholic. No one was there for me, and I needed to do something."

"Stiles—"

"And, um, this recent one was because I was so in love with the fact that you were going to come save me from doing it, but you didn't."

"Stiles, I—"

"And, uh," he began to cry after tearing up for the past few minutes, "I just am too in love with romantic scenarios honestly. I think that's what my problem is. This is real life. It's not a movie where I can wait for someone to come save me from myself. It doesn't work like that. I just wanted someone to fight for me for a change, but it's disappointing because life's not a movie."

"Stiles," Derek said as he pulled him in, "come here." Derek broke the silence after several seconds of hugging Stiles, who'd been quietly crying. "I fought for you. And I still do."

"It's just a shame that Scott never told me."

"Don't hold it against him, he was trying to be a good friend," Stiles sniffled and exhaled. "I'm here, aren't I? Isn't that a sign that I've fought for you?" Stiles lightly hummed a "mhmm." "So, you're not going to do this again, are you?"

"Well I wouldn't say ever again," Stiles looked at the ground in shame.

"Stiles."

"What? Who knows what the fuck can happen in the future, I'm not going to make a promise I can't keep, Derek."

"Fine, but if you ever feel like that again, I'm just a phone call away," Derek tried to be clever, "unless you're in a ten mile radius, then you can just scream."

Stiles laughed, "What a dork."

"So, I, uh, owe you a shift of night watch, then."

"Yes. Yes, you do."

"Do you want to go now rather than later? I have plans later tonight."

"You do?"

"You do too," said the wolf as he winked towards Stiles.

"Um, okay," Stiles replied, "wait, what?"

"You'll like it," Derek assured him, "I promise."

"Okay. So are we going to find this thing, or?"

"Careful what you wish for," Derek repeated what he'd had said to him. "Do you need anything? More gauze?"

"I'll go get it."

"No, you stay here, I'll go find it. Where is it?"

"Bathroom, third drawer on the left."

"Okay. Please stay."

"I'm not going anywhere," Stiles promised, clutching tighter to his hands. They wanted to kiss each other, but Derek didn't want to take advantage of his vulnerability again. Stiles began to move closer and was staring at his lips, but Derek let go of his hand and said, "I'll be back, just let me find it for you."

Stiles looked at the ground and nodded as he put his right hand behind his neck and scratched the back of his head.

About a minute later, Derek came back with the gauze in his hand. "Hold your arm out," he said to the now-sitting Stiles. Stiles didn't want to be treated like a baby, so when he asked for the gauze himself, Derek shook his head and said no and repeated for Stiles to hold his arm out. Stiles finally gave in to Derek's commands, and he thought it was cute that Derek was taking care of him, so he smiled to himself.

When they were done, Derek asked Stiles if he wanted to go, and Stiles said yes, quietly. He deep down really wanted to kiss Derek, for real this time. No intoxications or bad feelings. He just wanted to kiss him. Derek wanted to, too, but he felt like it was too early for that emotional tether between them. Besides, there's always danger lurking in Beacon Hills, so this had to wait. No matter how much they'd both wanted it.

When they got near the woods, Derek heard a scream and immediately stopped the car. Stiles looked at him and asked, "What is it?"

"You didn't hear that?"

"No, what?"

"Someone screamed," Derek clarified.

"Where?"

"Over there," Derek pointed towards a bunch of trees in the woods that were a little further down. He got out of the car after turning the ignition off and opened the door for Stiles.

"I don't have a good feeling."

"Me neither," Derek held him close, "so stay close and don't go off on your own."

"Okay," Stiles grabbed his hand.

As they went down more and more into the woods, Stiles let go of Derek's hand at one point to open a text. "Stiles," Derek looked farther ahead and motioned behind him to try and get Stiles' hand again. When Stiles wouldn't grab his hand, Derek turned around and said, "Stiles!"

"What?! Sorry," Stiles grabbed his hand again, "Allison just texted me. She'd been looking at the bestiary and she said she knows what it is."

"Well, what is it?" Derek asked after a few seconds of silence.

"She said the situations in Beacon Hills right now with tree branches extending and impaling people could only be explained by one thing," Stiles said and waited for a response. When all he got was a mean stare from Derek, he told him, "a kitsune."

"Another trickster?"

"An earth one."

"This doesn't make any sense," Derek tried to get it through his head, "I haven't sensed another kitsune. Unless they've been hiding it well… which still doesn't make any sense."

"But, don't they have tails?"

Derek paused to think for a moment. "Yeah… if they have tails, that can mean they're only stronger with the more they have." Derek stopped in his place now. "If this earth kitsune can conceal him or herself that well, I think they must have a lot of tails, which is gonna lead to eventual chaos in the town." Stiles looked at Derek. "More chaos than we'd thought."

"Very good, Derek," a voice said behind the two. As they turned around, they were immediately surprised.

"Or was it Miguel?" He nodded towards the teenager, "Stiles."

"Danny."

A/N: Nothing left to say but BOOM, betcha didn't expect that.