A/N: Okay, so this ended up a little longer than I thought it would, I just wanted to fit the party into the one chapter and there was a lot going on... of course the party isn't over yet, it's only just begun!
~ ~ ~
Lydia set her socialite skills to work as soon as possible, by Sunday night people were already talking about this up-and-coming event. The fact that it was taking place in a loft surrounded by old warehouses made it that much cooler.
Friday night was all set to be one of the hottest nights of the social calendar and hopefully it would bring them one step closer to figuring out this new pack.
Communications between Erica and Boyd were tenuous. He didn’t know why she took the rap for him and she was still annoyed at him for seeing Daisy – even if he hadn’t seen her since Erica caught the two of them together. He was, however, meeting Daisy at their secret place by the lake that night, this time without Erica’s interruption.
No one really heard from her over the rest of the weekend, no one except Stiles, but the only one to really talk to him was Derek, and Scott, though his texts weren’t quite the same. Derek was anxious to see him after the weekend away. He would claim that it was because he missed the feeling of having him around, which was still the truth, rather than the humiliating fact that he just didn’t want Stiles to be gone for college.
He knew that the two of them wouldn’t be back until later that night, much later, being twelve hours away and all. He waited until about ten to head on over to their place on foot, waiting around for them to get home. It was almost an hour before he heard the familiar hum turning into the street and even before they had the doors open in the driveway Derek could feel Stiles’ scent embracing him.
“Oh my god I forgot what the ground felt like.” He chuckled as he heard Stiles groan the instant he was out of the car.
“We took a rest stop four hours ago.” His father griped. “Quit your whinging.”
“I will the second I feel my own bed underneath me.” He said, searching for his keys in his pocket.
“Oh you’re complaining about that? I was the one sleeping on a motel couch the last two nights.” The sheriff said as Stiles managed to get the door open.
“Yeah, yeah, quit your whinging…” The door shut behind them and Derek heard the tired laugh of the sheriff as they flicked the lock and both headed straight upstairs.
Derek waited a few minutes, almost worried that Stiles would just collapse into bed without even a text but it wasn’t long before he heard him prop the window up and the springs on his bed creak and bounce.
He smiled to himself as he crossed the road and climbed easily up the side of the house and onto the roof, slipping in silently through the window. He leant against the wall and folded his arms. Stiles rolled over with a big dopey grin on his face.
He swung his legs over and hopped up to throw himself into Derek, propelling him slightly off balance and kissing him hard on the mouth. Derek was still smiling and let out a laugh as he pulled his arms out from between them to wrap around him.
“Ouch, Derek, you’re stronger than you look.” He said, squeezing back.
“Not by much.”
“Good to see that arrogance hasn’t faded since I’ve been gone.”
“How was Portland?” Derek asked, still not letting him go.
Stiles shrugged. “It was good, kind of rainy but good. I swear I’ll have to sleep for two days to get over those car trips though.” He groaned.
“You have school in the morning.”
“Yeah, okay dad.” Stiles scoffed.
“I’m not your dad.” Derek shifted his eyebrows cockily.
“No, no you most certainly aren’t otherwise what we did last night was so totally crossing a line.” Derek shook his head. “I mean majorly ridiculously―”
Derek pressed his lips into him again and Stiles stopped his talking in an instant. He took in the feel of him, the taste of him; the way his lips felt so smooth in contrast to his stubbled cheek and chin.
“Hmm, you know I would love to continue this train of thought but I am way too tired to even think about―”
“Stiles?” Derek said after he pulled his sleepy lips back.
“Yeah?”
“We have all the time in the world for that. Just get into bed so we can sleep.” He said, reluctantly letting him go.
“And here I was thinking you had some big sexy ‘welcome home Stiles’ plans for me.” He chuckled, stepping back and plopping down onto the bed again.
“I’ll use them to wake you up in the morning… before you go to school.” Stiles groaned. “I just wanted to see you.” He added quietly.
“Good, missed you.” He mumbled, already lying back on top of the covers.
“Not even going to take your shoes off?” Derek asked, staring down at his dozy human adoringly.
Stiles held his arms out with his eyes closed. “Help me.” He groaned playfully.
“You’re a sad little person did you know that?” Derek said, reaching down and starting with his shoes.
“And you’re the weirdo that loves me, so what does that make you?”
“I don’t know, a ‘weirdo’ I guess.” He said.
Slowly he pulled him out of most of his clothes, leaving him in just his thin tee and boxers – boxers that were slightly tented.
“I thought you were way too tired for that.” Derek said with that arrogant tick on the side of his mouth.
“Oh I can't control that… it’s just that when you’re undressing me… it gets ideas.” Stiles drawled.
“It?” Derek asked with an eyebrow raised as he pulled off his leather jacket and kicked off his shoes.
“Would you just get in here with me?” Stiles snapped and rolled onto his side.
Derek smiled, lastly taking off his jeans before climbing in beside Stiles and pasting himself to his body, wrapping an arm around him and holding him in place.
Stiles let out a contented sigh. “Why are you always so warm?” He mumbled.
Derek shrugged. “Wolf thing, go to sleep.” He murmured in his ear.
“Missed you.” Stiles said again softly.
Derek kissed him just below his earlobe and nuzzled into him without saying another word. He knew there would be enough words to say when he told him about Katherine.
The next day at school Stiles spent most of it just yawning and doodling on bits of paper in class. It was going to take another night’s sleep to shake off the travel sickness crap he was feeling, not to mention the smack in the face from Derek that morning.
He was still kind of pissed about that, mostly at the fact that no one had said a word about it. Nothing. Not even Scott for crying out loud. He was first to the cafeteria for lunch so he took a seat at one of the bigger tables and planted his head firmly on his arms and closed his eyes.
“Dude, you don’t look so good.” Jackson said as he and Lydia sat down opposite him.
“I’m tired from all the god-damn driving.” He grumbled. “Among other things.”
Lydia pouted her lips and rubbed her thumb about the shiny side of her apple as she avoided talking about what she knew he was griping over.
“Not even going to ask.” Jackson said, not too worried over Stiles’ troubles.
Scott and Isaac joined them a few moments later; Stiles still hadn’t moved from his slumped position.
“What’s his problem?” Isaac asked.
“He’s tired.” Lydia said.
“Among other things.” Jackson mocked.
“How was Portland?” Scott asked.
“Fine.” Stiles said.
“Well what was the college like?”
“Nice.”
“Stiles?”
“Why is it that no one decided to tell me that this she-wolf came raining down on the whole damn parade?” Stiles said, his head snapping up quickly – which he regretted instantly.
Allison and Erica sat down at that moment and exchanged glances. “Maybe we should have picked a different table.” Allison said.
“Look I wanted to tell you but Derek―” Scott started.
“Yeah I know I heard the story from him earlier and yeah he put all the blame on himself but seriously, am I really that useless as the token human here?” He asked.
“Excuse me, there are two other humans here and I wasn’t involved in the whole thing either.” Lydia said with a shrug.
“Oh come on, you might not have been there but I have heard like three people talk about this ‘super awesome loft party man’ already and no one can organise a bash better than you can. Why does my head hurt so much?” Stiles squinted in the light.
“Are you really that pissed about it?” Erica asked.
“Yes!” Stiles groaned. “Don’t worry though, I’ll be over it after I get a good night sleep and find a way to make Derek apologise by means of―”
“Okay, I’m going to be the one to shut you the fuck up before you make this worse.” Jackson said through a mouthful of sandwich.
“So basically you’re just bitching?” Isaac asked.
“And why was I the last one to find out about this party? I had to hear from freaking Greenberg, seriously, that’s lame, you could have at least told me that bit.”
“Didn’t Derek tell you?” Scott asked.
“Maybe, I don’t know… shut up, I’m too tired for this.” He whined and dropped his head back down onto his arms again.
Allison shook her head and Lydia let out a short giggle.
“Hey, where’s Boyd?” Isaac said.
Erica scoffed. “He needed some time alone with his thoughts. He had a rough night.”
“Did you have a rough night with Aiden? That why you’re so cranky?” Jackson asked with a smirk.
Erica looked up with a firm glare on her face. “Bite me Jackson.” She said before getting up and shoving her lunch tray into the middle of the table and storming off.
Allison kicked him under the table. “Hey, what was that for?”
“Clearly she doesn’t want to talk about it.” Allison said.
“Hey, she was the one who told everyone about it so she needs to suck it up and deal with the fact that I am going to give her crap about it.” He shrugged.
Allison rolled her eyes but didn’t protest anymore.
“I seriously missed some stuff didn’t I?” Stiles mumbled into his arm.
“Probably more than we can explain dude.” Scott said.
Boyd walked along the corridors, following her scent and knowing that she was trying to outrun him. He just wanted to talk to her, after last night he just had to find out what was going on. She had been so cryptic.
He locked onto her trail and quickened his pace so that he could corner her by her biology classroom. She avoided his eyes and backed herself up against the wall as he closed in and soon enough he was only inches from her.
“Daisy―”
“Vernon, please don’t.” She said.
“I need you to explain it, please, I just don’t understand what you meant when you―”
“I meant it exactly the way it sounded. Vernon we can't do this anymore.” She said, her eyes betraying something more than her words were offering.
Boyd reached his hand out to take hers but she pulled it back, her eyes almost full of fright as they glassed up and looked over his shoulder. “Just explain it to me.”
“Please, don’t ask me to tell you anything more.” She whispered.
He just couldn’t understand it, days before she had been so different and free, now it was like she physically couldn’t bring herself to tell him.
“There a problem here?” An arrogant voice broke Boyd out of his trance and he felt his eyes give that flash of gold before he looked up to see Aiden leering at the two of them.
“Aiden, don’t.” Daisy said in a voice more forceful than either of them had heard from her.
“No problem.” Boyd said through gritted teeth, turning to square his chest with Aiden.
“I heard about this little party you’re having this weekend, seems like you already know the way to get my brother into something and I suppose you were here trying to… entice Daisy?” He said with a perpetual smirk.
“Aiden it’s nothing, let’s go.” Daisy said again.
“Well I didn’t expect you to be the one running away scared but if the shoe fits then I guess you’ll be wearing it.” Boyd growled.
Aiden’s nostrils flared. “Well I’ll consider that a formal invite then. Someone has to make sure Daisy keeps out of trouble.” He said with a glance in her direction.
She rolled her eyes and gave Boyd a desperate look before shoving past the both of them and off down the hall.
“You better keep your eyes open.” Aiden said before turning on his heel to follow her.
“You better keep your loud mouth shut.” Boyd growled, staring after them.
Neither of them looked back.
He let out a sigh. That was not how he wanted that conversation to go.
He thought back to the night before, trying to find any reason for Daisy to say the things she did but he had nothing.
Boyd walked into the forest, between the trees and along the usual path to meet with her. He could smell her already, her sweet and floral scent filling the air and leading him to the exact point that she stood.
When he reached the clearing he saw her. She stood with her back to him, her bare arms folded over her chest, perhaps to shelter from the cold as she still wore just a light summer dress. The wind passed over her as if she were a part of the forest, letting her blonde locks whip around her face with such ease.
“Sorry I’m late.” He said with a smile, walking over to her.
As she turned to face him he saw that her eyes were glassy and red, a tragic wreck under the moonlight.
“Daisy? Daisy what’s wrong?” He asked, walking over to her and cupping her cheeks with his hands.
Her own small palms clutched at his face, pulling him in for a fraught kiss before she pulled back and shook her head.
“Vernon…” She whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“Daisy, I’m here.” He said. “What’s wrong?”
She pulled herself out of his grip, wiping her eyes and taking a deep breath to compose herself. She turned away, looking back out over the lake and shaking her head. Boyd just waited, waited for what could possibly come out of her parched lips.
“All I ever wanted…” she began, her voice shaky. “Was for you to trust me.” She said.
“You know I trust you Daisy.” He said, knowing that it was truer than he intended.
“Well that’s just the thing… I’m not sure that you can anymore.” She said, firming up her gaze.
“Daisy… what do you―”
“I have to go.” She said, taking quick steps to pass him.
“Wait, what are you talking about?” He called, following her into the tree line.
“Just let me go Vernon! Please, I don’t want to do this!” She turned back for a moment before breaking into a run and leaving him with nothing but the howl of the wind to answer his questions.
* * *
Stiles eventually forgave Derek for keeping him in the dark about the Katherine situation. Of course it took a lot of grovelling but grovelling for Stiles involved things that he had already intended to do with him so it didn’t hurt his pride too much.
With the confirmation from Boyd that Aiden and Ethan were definitely coming to the party they all knew that they had to be on high alert for an appearance from Katherine. On Friday night half of them were meeting up at the loft before everything began, the others were showing up later on, trying to make it look less like a trap.
Peter was of course banned from attending, and not only were they keeping an eye out for that rogue alpha but they were also trying to keep the uncle from hell out of there.
“So we’re going to take turns watching the outside of the loft?” Jackson asked, leaning on the bench with the sleeves of his expensive shirt rolled up and his arms crossed.
“Relax party-boy, I’ll do most of that. The last thing I want is to be stuck in here all night with the rest of you.” Derek said.
“Well can I take an early shift so I can start drinking after that?” Jackson asked.
Derek just glared over at Isaac. “Sounded like a good idea to have a party, huh?”
“Yeah, yeah it’s too late to complain now.” Isaac said.
“I take it you don’t need me, I mean I wasn’t here for the planning of the event so―”
“Stiles, shut up.” Derek said. “If anything looks suspicious, I hear about it instantly.”
They all gave nods and slight eye rolls as Derek headed upstairs for the last time before people started invading his space.
“I’m just going to make sure he’s okay.” Stiles said.
“Seriously? What could be wrong with him? Isn’t that just his regular behaviour?” Jackson said.
Stiles shook his head and followed him up, opening the door to his bedroom to see him sitting on the side of his bed. “Hey, you sure you want to go through with this tonight?” He asked softly.
Derek just looked up at him. “I don’t want any teenagers leaving used condoms behind in my bed.” He said.
Stiles chuckled and sat down beside him. “Oh come on Derek, they’ll probably be too drunk to use protection anyway.”
“Stiles.”
“Derek.”
“You know I only kept everything from you so you could enjoy your weekend.” He said.
“Hey…” Stiles said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. “I know, I was just being a little bit of a drama queen. You were being a little bit of a martyr though.” He smiled.
“Oh was I?” Derek said, twisting his arm around to take him by the waist.
“You know, not wanting me to be away but wanting me to stay there for my own good.” He teased.
“I want you to pick the college you want, based on your observations from as many places as possible.” Derek said.
“That’s some big words there Derek. Can’t you just say I love you, I want you to be happy, like a normal boyfriend?”
“Stiles don’t―” He sighed and turned away. “Can you just make sure you make the choice for you? Don’t worry about what I say.”
“So… in the future when you get angry at me for wanting to check out another college that’s out of state I should just refer you back to this conversation?” Stiles asked.
“Yes, if you think it would help.”
“Well maybe next time you could come with me―”
“I’m not going out of state to look at colleges with you.” Derek said flatly, refusing to even put it on the table as an option.
Stiles bit down on his lip and nodded a little. “I guess you’re not that much of a martyr then.” He mumbled.
“We can talk about this later.” Derek said, pulling his body away and leaning back on the base of his hands.
“Can we?” Stiles asked? “Or is this one of those things that we’ll forget tomorrow morning?”
Derek looked up and straight into his eyes, not expecting the sharpness to his tone. He didn’t really have an answer for him though; he didn’t really know it himself.
“Uh, I don’t mean to intrude or anything, but the DJ wants to know where to set up.” Jackson said poking his head through the door awkwardly.
“DJ?” Derek asked.
“If anyone left you to plan this thing it would be catastrophic. So yeah, DJ.” He smirked and Derek rolled his eyes, getting up to follow him downstairs without a look back.
Stiles sighed and flopped back down on the bed.
“You alright?” He looked up moments later to see Isaac in the doorway looking over at him.
“Yeah Isaac I’m fine. I’m guessing you heard most of that anyway so don’t hold back. Come out with whatever you’ve got to say.” Stiles said, not bothering to even move into a sitting position.
Isaac shrugged. “It’s not my relationship, what do I care?”
Stiles scoffed a little before letting out a long sigh. “Thanks.”
“Though I do have one question…”
Stiles sat up and stared over at him. “I knew there’d be something.”
“Why are there still good sheets on your bed? I mean seriously, I covered my bed in those ten dollar sheets that stain just looking at them. I don’t want to have to deal with sleeping where a stranger’s had their junk.”
Stiles laughed and shook his head. “Well, yeah, that definitely made me feel better. What’s up with the scarf?” He raised an eyebrow at Isaac’s choice of large grey scarf hanging loosely from his neck.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing, it’s just… why?”
“Okay do you want me to start talking about your relationship? I’ll do it you know.” Isaac said.
“Maybe you should focus on your own relationship. Is your friend Cassie still coming tonight?” He asked.
“As far as I know, why? Has Scott said something to you?”
“Oh he’s said plenty, just none of it to me, most of it while I was in the same general area and happened to be within earshot. That boy is stupid jealous man.” Stiles grinned as if it was amusing to him.
“It worries me that I might have been that jealous of Allison when me and Scott were first starting up.” Isaac said.
Stiles grinned. “Dude, you were worse.”
“Yeah I was afraid of that.”
“Well come on then, help me get these sheets off.” Stiles said jumping off the bed.
“So that they can soil your mattress? Don’t bother dude.” Isaac said, smiling as if it amused him.
“Why are we even doing this?” Stiles complained.
“To figure all this shit out, also to drink and have fun and basically run riot.” Isaac said, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking about as suave as Jackson.
Stiles nodded. “Good enough for me.”
In less than two hours the loft was full of hormonally rampant teens and Derek was outside watching them all file in while keeping his senses trained on the rest of their surroundings. He didn’t want to miss anything.
He had climbed up to the roof, it gave him a full three-sixty view of the space around the loft. Scott saw him when he showed up, so did Boyd. He thought Erica might have seen him by the tick in her jaw but she didn’t look up. He didn’t dwell too much on it, he knew she was almost always angry with him about one thing or another.
He liked being outside and away from all the noise, but he was probably the only one.
Inside the place was like a live wire.
Everything was moving, alive and thriving with vivacity. People were absolutely everywhere and if Derek could see it he would cringe to within an inch of his life.
Stiles was sitting up on the kitchen bench with a beer in his hand while Scott leant up against the cupboard door. Jackson and Lydia were standing next to them, his eyes wandering around the place waiting for Danny to show up with Ethan.
“Do you ever think it would be easier to just… tell him?” Stiles shouted over the deafening music.
Jackson’s head snapped over to him. “Do you ever think that maybe you can pick a sexual orientation and stop looking down my girlfriend’s dress?”
Lydia rolled her eyes but she seemed not to be worried at all and possibly even flattered by the whole sentiment. Scott just looked from one to the other with an amused expression on his face.
“Okay, to start with, no, I refuse to be classed into parameters defined by someone else when that person clearly has no idea about human desire or emotional attachments, and two, I wouldn’t have to check out your girlfriend if you took two seconds out of your ‘searching for your boyfriend’ time to do it yourself.” They all looked up at him and knew that he had already had too much to drink.
“So much for the notion of losing brain cells with the more alcohol one drinks.” Lydia said.
“I just have a problem with keeping my smart-ass quiet when I drink.” Stiles smiled. “By the way, Danny just walked in.” He said, pointing to him as he walked through the crowd and waving over at him overenthusiastically.
He gave the group of them a nod and walked over, hand in hand with Ethan. Jackson’s entire body stiffened up and Lydia stepped back from him to stand near Stiles.
“Where the hell did you find this place, it’s amazing.” Ethan said, a smile on his lips that played the part of sweet, carefree boyfriend very well.
“It’s his boyfriend’s place. The real question is how did you get him to agree to have a party here?” Danny asked, smiling over at Stiles with his perfectly white teeth.
“It involved a lot of time on my knees.” Stiles said and Scott closed his eyes and pursed his lips.
“I think we need to cut you off.” Jackson said, no element of playfulness in his voice.
“Hey, chill out, okay?” Scott said, eyeing Ethan for a moment.
There were a handful of cold glances being distributed and Danny started to wonder what was going on. “Is everything okay?” He asked.
“I was just about to ask Ethan if his brother came with him tonight.” Jackson said, not taking his eyes off Ethan.
“Oh no, not with me. He’s bringing Daisy along later.” Ethan said.
There was more static on the line and Danny looked from Ethan to the others with confusion. “I think we need to get a drink or two into you. Come on.” Danny said, nodding to the direction of the drink coolers in the corner.
“Wait up,” Scott said, reaching around behind Stiles for the bottle of whiskey that they had been sharing between the pack. “Ethan?” He offered.
“And don’t let Danny drink that stuff, he’s easy enough without it.” Jackson smirked and Danny shook his head before punching him in the arm.
“You’ll never know.” He said. “Besides, I’m not much of a whiskey drinker anyway.”
Stiles snorted. “Not from what I saw last time.” He said.
“Okay, that’s enough for you.” Lydia said, taking the beer bottle from his hand, he didn’t protest.
Ethan looked distrustful of them offering him alone some of their private stash. Jackson just rolled his eyes and poured some more into his cup and a fresh one for Ethan, taking a sip and smiling derisively.
“It’s not going to poison you.” He said quietly so that Danny couldn’t hear.
Ethan scoffed. “No way in hell I’m going to take that one off the bat.” He said, taking a sip now that the possible threat was neutralised.
“I’m going to see if Allison is here, and let’s hope she didn’t stash her crossbow…” Lydia said, walking away from them and disappearing into the sea of people.
“I’m going to go talk to Derek.” Jackson said. “If I take watch now I can save room later for more of this.” He said as he put the bottle back on the counter top.
As he walked away Erica stormed past him, not really caring who her shoulders clashed with on the way.
“That Derek’s stash?” She said, pointing to the bottle that Jackson had just had his hands on.
“Uh… yeah, why are you―” Scott began but she already had her lips around the bottle and was gulping down way too much in one go. “Whoa… you okay?”
She put the bottle back on the counter and pulled a face. “Never better.”
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that drinking doesn’t solve all problems?” Allison said, walking over to them and eyeing Erica with the slightest bit of reverence.
“Lydia was just looking for you.” Scott said.
“We’ll never find each other in this mess.” She said.
They stopped for a moment to observe the party, locking their eyes a few times on Ethan who was wrapped up in Danny. It was hard to see him posing any threat but they weren’t taking any chances.
“You don’t happen to have a crossbow on you, do you?” Stiles asked her with a smile.
She grinned and let out a small chuckle but she didn’t actually answer the question.
“Who’s that with Isaac?” Erica said, looking over to a space between the crowds of people to where he was standing.
Scott’s jaw clenched and Stiles smiled. “That’s his rather beautiful friend Cassie.” He said, causing Scott to shoot a fiery glare his way.
Isaac saw them and put his hand on the small of Cassie’s back to guide her towards the others, her blue eyes standing out against her pale skin and tight black dress.
“Wow, she is pretty.” Erica mumbled, folding her arms over her ample chest.
“Hey guys, Erica, Allison, meet Cassie. We knew each other back when she lived in Beacon Hills.” Isaac said.
“Cassie Calhoun, nice to meet you.” She said with a smile.
“It’s just Erica.” She said with a forced smile.
“Allison, Argent.” Allison held out her hand for Cassie to shake and she took it.
“Argent, is that French?” She asked.
“Uh… yeah, yeah it is.” She smiled, the dimples in her cheeks showing up willingly.
“Sorry, I – that must have seemed a little weird. I’m kind of obsessed with the language and the country.” Cassie shrugged with an ‘I’m sorry’ face on.
“Oh, no that’s okay, do you speak it?” Allison asked.
“Mais bien sûr.” Cassie said with a smile.
“Bon, j'ai manqué d'avoir quelqu'un pour parler comme cela avec.” Allison grinned.
“Eh bien je suppose que nous pouvons avoir nos propres conversations privées sans méandres oreilles.” Cassie said with a wink.
“I like her already.” Allison said. “Anyway, I had better find Lydia before she does something she’ll regret. It was nice to meet you.” She said, giving them all a smile as she left.
“I didn’t know that you spoke French Miss Good First Impressions.” Isaac smiled.
“Took a class.” She said, nudging him with her hip.
Erica and Stiles exchanged amused looks while Scott smiled through his gritted teeth.
“So I heard you were studying at Denver?” Erica said. “You want a drink?”
“God yes, and right in there at UD Colorado, yeah.” Cassie said, holding out a glass as Erica poured her a drink.
They launched into a great big conversation about college and classes and frat parties, and every time Isaac looked from Scott back to Cassie, Stiles could see him seething.
“Dude, green is not the best colour on you.” Stiles whispered in his ear and Scott rolled his eyes up at him.
Erica and Cassie seemed to get along ridiculously well. Erica almost looked like she was having a good time and Stiles would have believed it if he didn’t know better. He didn’t say anything, partly because he was too tipsy to say anything worthwhile but mostly because he had no idea what the problem was anyway.
“No you should!” Cassie said, tapping Erica lightly on the arm. “You should all come up to Denver for the weekend to check out the campus. Pretty sure I already told you to.” She pointed to Stiles.
“Well I’m in, it’s closer than Portland which is good freaking news.” He said.
“Isaac, Scott, come on, it’ll be fun and neither of you know what you’re doing for college yet.” Cassie said.
“I don’t know, I don’t really want to leave the state for college anyway. I mean you guys could still go.” Scott said.
“Oh come on, it could be really fun.” Isaac said, nuzzling into Scott’s neck.
“Uh, I think I’ll have to pass, but I bet Erica has nothing else planned.” He said.
“Sure, because I would never have anything planned.” She said sarcastically.
“Maybe she had plans with Aiden.” Isaac said with a chuckle.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Yeah, that must be it.” She turned to give Cassie a smile. “It was nice meeting you.” She said before walking out of the kitchen with a shake of her hips.
“Is she okay?” Cassie asked.
“Don’t ask.” Stiles said.
“So… are we doing this? Next weekend, come on, college road trip.” She said.
“Well I’m totally in, so long as Derek doesn’t decide to chuck a fit.” Stiles rolled his eyes.
Isaac looked to Scott who gave him an approving nod.
“Well alright!” She put her hand up and Stiles gave her a high five, followed by Isaac and then – reluctantly – Scott.
“Speaking of Derek, I’m going to go and make sure he’s not freezing to death.” Stiles said and Scott slapped him in the chest. “Oof, internally, internally freezing to death because he’s an emotional cripple.” He slid off the counter and Scott took him by the arm to make sure he was okay to walk before they headed off to make their way to the roof.
“Sorry about that.” Isaac said with a light laugh.
“Totally fine, who’s this Derek guy?” She asked.
Isaac shrugged, “Derek Hale, Stiles’ boyfriend. He’s the one who owns this place.” He took another sip of his drink and looked around, his eyes catching Aiden walking in with Daisy by his side.
“Did you say Hale?” He heard Cassie ask.
“Uh… yeah, why?” It was only now that he thought it might not have been a good idea to do that.
“Uh… nothing.” She said, taking another drink.
“Cass?”
She rolled her eyes and looked up at him a little guiltily. “Well, I totally didn’t know that you knew him so well, and if I did I probably wouldn’t have looked through the file of that fire quite so hard. It’s just that… arson isn’t really a thing here in Beacon Hills so it sort of sticks out. I mean you haven’t read the case but it is really fascinating, and then there’s the whole thing about his sister surviving only to get killed literally like the day she got back into town. Do you think he would want to talk about the whole thing?” She looked up hopefully and Isaac smiled.
“You heard what Stiles said, he’s an emotional cripple, and that’s coming from his boyfriend.” He said. “I think it would probably be best if we just keep this between us.”
She nodded. “Hey, worth a shot isn’t it? Do you know any other people with interesting backgrounds that might be willing to talk to me?” She grinned.
“You are way too into your whole study thing, did you know that? Besides, I don’t really know him all that well.” He shrugged.
Not that well at all, apart from being his beta, living in his house and spending his spare time hanging out with him. They were practically strangers as far as anyone outside the pack needed to know, they all knew it was safer that way.
“So how the hell did he and Stiles meet? I mean there’s got to be some big age difference there right?” She asked.
“Well… they were uh, trespassing on his territory― land, on the private property that his house used to be on.”
“They?”
“Him and Scott, I don’t really know all the details, just that at some point later on Stiles’ dad arrested him and Stiles ended up housing him as a fugitive.” He smiled.
“That is quite the love story right there.” She smiled. “Shit, that sounds like an amazing story.” She seemed to sigh a little.
“Is Cal coming tonight?” Isaac asked.
She looked up with a wry smile. “Cal. I’d almost forgotten about him.”
“Forgetting about your boyfriend, that’s probably the last thing he wants to hear.”
“Cal and I have… an agreed upon relationship. We work together, we work well together. If there’s one thing that can ruin that, it’s a relationship. I mean it’s always going to end up difficult when it’s just the two of us so much, so we agree that we are free to do whatever – or whoever – we like and it won't affect either of us. We present ourselves as a couple but mostly it’s just about having someone there, you know?” She said.
“And you can handle having a relationship like that?” He asked.
She scoffed. “Cal’s nice, but I don’t love him and I’m not going to start anytime soon. Love complicates things.” She looked up at him with a warm smile which he shot right back.
He didn’t feel Scott’s eyes burning into the back of his skull.
Erica needed to get away from the choking air of the party downstairs. Jackson was keeping an obviously close eye on Ethan and she had nothing to do as of yet so she walked up the spiral staircase, trying to drown out some of the noise but werewolf hearing was not so great when it came to trying to avoid things.
She sighed heavily as she slowly paced, listening to the click-clack of her shoes on the wood floor and trying to shut her mind off for just five minutes. Five, that’s all she wanted.
“Now what is a girl like you doing all alone up here?” The voice made her jaw clench and her whole body stiffen as she turned around to face him.
Aiden was staring at her from the landing with his arms crossed over his chest and an arrogant smirk firmly plastered on his lips.
“Trying to get away from jack-holes like you.” She said with a flick of her eyebrows.
“So, what was the purpose of this little charade? Don’t tell me you just threw a party for the hell of it.” He said.
“Can’t a girl just want to have fun?” She asked.
He huffed out a laugh. “Not a girl like you.”
“Oh and what exactly is a girl like me because I would love to know your thoughts on that?” She said, stepping closer and narrowing her eyes at him.
“Whoa, whoa, easy Blondie, it is a party after all.” He said, still smirking.
She didn’t know what happened in that moment. She didn’t know whether it was the fact that she had no purpose here or whether it was because it was what people already expected of her, she just knew that something inside her gave in.
“You’re right, it is a party. You busy?” She asked flatly.
“Well that depends.”
“You want to have some fun or do you want to be the jack-hole mouthing off in the corner all night?” She said.
“What did you have in mind?”
She took a few steps back and kicked the door to Isaac’s room open, her arms still folded and an eyebrow pointing toward the sky. Aiden shrugged and slowly walked past her and into the empty room before Erica closed the door behind them.
Scott was seething. He watched the way Cassie looked at Isaac as they talked, the way her hand would occasionally brush his arm when they laughed or the way she would keen over and touch his shoulder with her forehead when he said something particularly funny.
It couldn’t possibly be that funny, Scott thought to himself. They didn’t look like they were ever going to separate and at that point it seemed like it would be Scott’s knuckles to separate first from squeezing them too tight.
He cursed himself for feeling so stupidly jealous but that part of him consumed with it told him that it was more than just petty jealousy, that there was actually something to worry about.
He had taken Stiles up to the roof to see Derek but he was down by the elevator entrance, funny that none of them had even seen him head in that direction. He didn’t seem too interested in hanging out with Stiles either. Scott thought it was mainly due the fact that he would let his guard down but the looks on their faces said there was probably something more to it. He didn’t really want to get involved.
After ten minutes of watching Cassie and Isaac though, he was going to get involved. He stalked over to them and they both turned to face him with a smile.
“Hello again Scott, did Stiles find his emotionally-crippled former-fugitive boyfriend?” Cassie asked and Isaac held back a laugh.
“Yeah, he did. Isaac can I talk to you for a minute?” He asked.
“Uh sure… you going to be okay?” He asked Cassie.
“I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.” She winked. “Go, have fun.”
Isaac went to take Scott’s hand but Scott was already gripping his arms tightly and dragging him to another corner of the party.
“Ouch! Scott… what the hell?” Isaac said as his fingers dug into his skin.
“Don’t you see what’s going on here?” Scott said.
“I see that you’re manhandling me for no apparent reason!”
“She is completely all over you, how are you not seeing that?” Scott hissed.
“She is my oldest friend Scott, she was kind of my first friend since I was a kid.” Isaac said.
“Can’t you smell the fucking arousal on her skin? Seriously, the whole place stinks of it.” Scott growled.
“She’s been drinking, everyone here probably smells exactly the same you’re just noticing it on her because you’re too blinded by jealousy to see anything else!” Isaac said.
“I am not blinded by jealousy!”
“You are! If you weren’t you’d be able to see that the only person here that has even crossed my mind tonight, in the last few months, is you Scott. How many times do I have to tell you that?” He said, leaning in to grab Scott’s shoulders.
He shook his head and rubbed his face with his hand, feeling Isaac’s hand press against his hip and force him back painfully into the wall. “Isaac―”
“Do I have to prove it to you? Huh? That all I want is you?” He asked, drilling his eyes straight into Scott’s.
He stared back up at him with a fierce look, never breaking their stare as he reached out and pulled Isaac into him by his belt. Isaac braced one of his hands against the wall and stared down at Scott hungrily, his eyes flashing golden.
“Careful.” Scott said quietly.
“I don’t think that’s going to work for me.” He growled, taking a handful of Scott’s shirt in his hands and began dragging him away.
They pushed through people in the crowd and made it to the stairs, climbing them quickly with Scott still being dragged behind him. Instead of heading for his bedroom Isaac pulled Scott into the bathroom and threw him in shutting the door behind them and locking it.
Once they had their little fortress of solitude they launched at one another, a clash of teeth and tongues and frantic pawing at one another as they raced to get their clothes off. Isaac trailed his hands slowly down Scott’s bare chest, hooking his fingers in his loosened jeans and forcing his lips to leave his mouth so that he could pull them down around his ankles and kiss him just under his hip bone.
Scott let out a breathy sound and a whimper as Isaac grazed his teeth against the muscles of his stomach. Taking hold of Scott’s boxers he pulled his arms apart as wide as they would go, ripping the cotton apart and freeing Scott’s aching cock.
He didn’t wait to wrap his mouth around it, taking all of it in with one long wet mouthful. Scott’s knees buckled under him and his hand raced to the curly mop of hair on his head.
“Holy god…” Scott moaned as Isaac pulled his hips back and forward to meet his mouth.
Isaac pulled back with a loud pop, “No, say my name.” He growled, licking a stripe from the base of Scott’s cock until he was swirling his tongue around the tip.
“Fuck― Isaac!” Scott’s voice croaked with the way his tongue was tantalising and teasing him.
The music from downstairs travelled all the way up to them, the beat pounding in their ears and making every wave of pleasure that rushed through Scott’s body feel more like jolts of pure energy.
Isaac pulled back, kneeling up and rummaging through one of the drawers to find a condom. As he stood he pressed his body into Scott’s and kissed him again, licking at his lips and mouthing his way down over his neck, lightly scratching him with his teeth.
Scott’s fumbling hands pulled down Isaac’s jeans and he tore open the packet and began to roll it down over himself, the touch on his own cock making him groan slightly.
“Is there any―” He started.
“Don’t… just do it, just do me okay? I can take it.” He panted and Isaac bit down on his lip as he grabbed Scott’s thighs and lifted him up so that he was pinned between him and the cold tiled wall.
“You know I’m not thinking about anyone else right now? It’s all you Scott.” He breathed into his ear.
Scott just growled back, shifting his body down slightly so that he was rubbing his entrance against the hot tip of Isaac’s dick. Isaac let out a stifled groan before beginning to push himself slowly inside.
His body resisted him at first and Scott’s face bore a grimace of pain until he was able to open him up and fit himself perfectly inside. He started with slow gentle thrusts but Scott assured him that if he didn’t pick up the pace he was going to have to make him. He adjusted his hands on Scott’s hips to pull him down into each thrust, making him let out a loud yelp each time, his voice calming down to whisper Isaac’s name each time he hit that perfect spot.
By the time they were both close to climax they were sure someone had heard them and there was most definitely some broken things in that bathroom but neither of them cared as they came undone almost in unison, pulling apart only so they could slump to the floor in a mess of sweat and heavy breathing.
“Okay… maybe I don’t mind so much if you’re jealous…” Isaac panted with a laugh.
“I only have one thing to complain about after that.” Scott said.
“Yeah, sorry if it hurt to start―”
“Not that – fuck – the whole thing was amazing, but did you have to completely shred my boxers?” Isaac let out a laugh and leant over to kiss him.
“Yeah, I sort of did. You make me crazy did you know that?” He smiled.
“Well if it wasn’t already obvious, same goes for you.” Scott said.
“Come on, we better get back out there before Derek finds us and absolutely slaughters us for taking a moment to ourselves.” Isaac said, standing up on shaky legs and helping Scott to his feet.
The two of them got dressed, Scott minus his underpants, and tried to look a little less wrecked as they slowly opened the bathroom door with grins on their faces. Just as they were shutting the door behind them the door to Isaac’s room opened and Erica stood in its frame, pausing when she saw the two of them standing there.
She looked almost ashamed, disappointed that they had seen her with her hair a mess and a smudge of lipstick on the corner of her mouth.
They were about to question her when Aiden walked past her, adjusting his jeans as he did so and giving the two of them a smug grin before winking at Erica and heading back downstairs. She looked away from their eyes as they gave her an incredulous stare.
“You know I almost didn’t believe it when you told us.” Isaac said.
“Just be thankful you changed the sheets.” Scott muttered.
Erica breathed in deeply and looked up, shaking her head before walking straight past them and down the stairs. She didn’t stop to look for Boyd like she was planning to; she didn’t even stop to talk to Stiles who was calling her over. Instead she headed for the fire stairs to walk down to the ground floor to take over from Derek on the watch.
He saw her walking over purposefully and gave her a strange look.
“I’ve got this for a while. Go inside and see your drunken boyfriend.” She said.
He walked past her slowly without a word and she avoided his gaze too, not wanting to see or hear from anyone.
“You smell like him you know.” He said.
“Yeah I got it, can I get the lecture later please?” She asked, trying to avoid a crack in her voice.
“Erica,” Derek said, making her turn to look at him.
“What?”
“I just hope you know what you’re doing.” He said before turning towards the door and disappearing in the elevator to head upstairs, probably to Stiles like she suggested.
She sighed, looking around and began walking around the perimeter under the guise of surveillance. Really she was just looking for an excuse to avoid the sound of the laughter and bass and everyone’s judgemental eyes.
Her heels clicked on the pavement as she did one lap of the place and then another. On her third lap she heard something in the distance, something coming closer until she could smell it, feel the presence of it not far behind her.
She stopped in her tracks and let out a heavy breath as her heart pounded faster.
“Well, well, if it isn’t just the girl I was looking for.” The cool voice said, cutting through the wind.
Erica turned slowly with her fists clenched and a look on her face that she hoped was stronger than she felt on the inside.
“Hello Erica.”
She gave her one quick look up and down, “Katherine.”
~ ~ ~
A/N: Okay, a lot longer. Please leave your comments, I love to read them and I will work on the next chapter ASAP!