Anchor verse

Anchor - Chapter 4

Stiles runs away from his anger, his humiliation, his frustration and his badly concealed attempts at stopping himself from climbing into Derek like his fox has wanted him to do for the entire month. It's getting harder and harder to not give in to those instincts. His human self is attracted to the Alpha, has been for a while. Okay, a long while. When he first realised he had a crush on Derek he figured it was just hormonal teenager shit. Derek is built like those Greek statues at the museum: all muscled lines and smooth skin. His excellent physique is hard to ignore when the Alpha walks around shirtless at every other occasion. And well, Stiles isn't straight, is he? So it's only logical he is attracted to the Alpha werewolf. Yet it hasn't been purely physical attraction for some time now and maybe, just maybe, he already liked Derek before he even admitted to himself he was attracted to him. He never wanted to unpack those thoughts before and he certainly doesn't want to do it now, but his fox doesn't care about that. The fox picked Derek as its anchor, not his dad. And Stiles tried to change that, he really, really tried.

As soon as the fox takes over, all he thinks about is Derek. The first time Stiles found his way into Derek's bed after escaping from a Lacrosse training he thought it would be humiliating. Yet it wasn't. He simply woke up well rested from his nap and found his clothes neatly folded on the dresser. When he came downstairs, Scott and Isaac were playing a video game in the living room and Derek was cleaning up in the kitchen. They already had dinner, but there was a plate waiting for Stiles in the microwave. He ate it sitting on the sofa, watching Scott and Isaac play. They teased him a bit for falling into a fox hole and turning into one promptly - which wasn't true, there wasn't a fox hole where he fell down. It just felt good to tumble around in those leaves and it felt even better to do it on four legs. It also felt good to crawl into Derek's bed, where his scent permeated every inch of the bedding. Yet no-one spoke about that, not even Derek.

He also didn't say anything the second time it happened. He just woke Stiles up for dinner and let him borrow some clothes.

The third time was only a couple of days ago. And it was in the middle of the night instead of during the day. Stiles couldn't sleep, he was worried about his dad who was doing a night shift on a saturday night. It's only Beacon Hills, but even there stupid shit happens when the bars close and drunk people pour out. His restlessness drove him out of the house, into the rain and into the woods, where the fox and his instincts took over.

He found the kitchen window already open and slipping in was easy. Derek's bedroom door was ajar and from there it was only four steps to the bed. With Derek in it.

"You're not getting in wet like that," the Alpha said suddenly, breaking the silence of the night. His red eyes glowed in the dark. "Either you change back and dry yourself off, or I'll do it for you."

The fox betrayed him and stayed on four legs.

The bath towel was soft and fluffy. Derek's bed was too, once he was rubbed dry and allowed in it.

This time the fox cut Stiles some slack and he stayed in his fur until he fell asleep, sparing himself the humiliation of facing Derek naked. He just burrowed in under the blankets, rolling up in the hollow his Alpha formed for him. When he woke up, Derek had already gone for a run and he could leave the house without any awkward conversations.

Maybe that's what irritates him the most about this whole thing. The way Derek makes space for him, being all nice about it even though fox-Stiles is easily as annoying as human-Stiles. The fox even licked his face at some point and Derek wasn't bothered. The big, mean Alpha didn't care that an overenthusiastic fox climbed up his lap and licked his face. In front of Isaac, for crying out loud!

Stiles tried talking himself out of that one by saying Derek still smelled like the bacon sandwich he ate earlier. Isaac just humored him eventually and then they both gracefully acted like the fox isn't totally smitten with his Alpha.