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ACE AND DEREK went back to the Hale loft that night. Derek hadn't stayed there in months, not since he left Beacon Hills after the pack took a trip to Mexico earlier on in the year. The place looked pretty abandoned, as no one had been living there for months.
All they had to light up the place was a very dim lightbulb hanging solo from the ceiling. It had been about half an hour since they got back now, and Derek was sat on the edge of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees as he waited. He directed Ace to the bathroom when they got in, handing him a towel and some spare, regular clothes for him to change into.
The two hadn't talked much since Derek's proclamation in the cell. The drive home had been quiet with Kira and Malia in the car, seeing as Derek didn't have his own car to drive them back. And once they got back to the loft, Derek offered him a shower to which Ace just nodded, and smiled.
Derek was just about to stand up and begin pacing nervously again, when he heard footsteps incoming from the direction of the bathroom.
"So when was it?" he heard Ace speak up, and Derek turned around to find him leant against the doorframe of the bathroom, dressed in some of Derek's own clothes, his arms crossed against his chest and his face expressing intrigue.
"When was what?" Derek asked, his tone coming out a little nervous, which was rare for the man to feel.
"The moment you knew," Ace shrugged, smiling smugly, as though he was back to his old self already. "You know, the moment you realised you were in love with me too?"
Derek chuckled, turning away as he smiled like a little kid, as Ace just smiled as he slowly made his way over from the bathroom door.
"I..." Derek hesitated, nervously gathering his words while Ace just laughed at him, drying off his longer hair with a towel Derek had lent him. "I, uh..."
"I wanna know where you were, what you were doing, and the look on your face when it hit you." Ace said, shrugging with a very smug smile still on his face, his eyes lighting up every time he looked at the Hale man.
Derek looked up at Ace, smiling but hesitant to say anything. The feeling in his stomach was something he hadn't felt in so long, that fluttery feeling in his stomach that frankly made him feel a bit queasy.
The last time he remembered feeling this way may well have been with Paige back in high school.
"I was, um..." Derek hesitated, "I was actually in my therapist's office."
Whatever answer Ace had been expecting, that definitely wasn't it. Ace's eyes widened ever so slightly, and his hands froze while he was in the middle of shaking the tower in his damp hair.
At first, he thought Derek might've been joking, but when he saw how nervous the man seemed, he realised it was true.
"Derek Hale, talking about his feelings to a stranger..." Ace said aloud, raising his eyebrows as he made an amused face, chuckling to keep the mood light, "Never thought I'd hear that..."
