A/N: Oh boy, you Sterek shippers are gonna love and hate me for this chapter *evil grin* Danny and Isaac (Dansac? Isanny?) shippers are probably gonna squeal a bit.
Stiles is still texting Jackson's parents when Allison shows up.
"They know he's missing, Stiles."
"What? How-" Stiles paused in realisation. "They're tracking the phone. Shit." Stiles gave her the phone. "Chuck it, I'll move the van!" He ran to the van, turning the engine on and driving through the forest slowly to be careful.
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Isaac entered the hospital room with a polite smile to its residence.
"Hey, Danny." He said nervously, so used to being shy around the guy before he was bitten. Before he became more confident in himself.
"Isaac? Hey man." Danny chuckled. "It's been a while. You haven't been at school recently."
"Yeah, I just got back a few days ago..." Isaac felt butterflies infest his stomach at the thought of Danny missing him, noticing he was even gone.
"That's good. I'm sorry about your dad. I didn't get to give my condolences."
"It's alright. I, uh, I'm actually here to ask you a few questions. Curiosity." Like the fact Danny had been at a gay bar looking for a boyfriend when Isaac was right here. Completely single and ready to mingle with anyone with the name 'Danny'.
"Oh, sure, Zac."
"Zac?"
"Uh, sorry, it's a nickname. Like how Stiles calls me Dans. Must have made a habit from him." Danny laughed, hiding his face in embarrassment.
"I thought Danny was your nickname."
"It is."
"Oh."
"Yeah, Stiles." Danny chuckled, ending it with a sigh as he looked back at Isaac. "Ask away."
"I was mostly just wondering if Jackson could have been mad at you recently? He seems on...edge." He picked at his nails as he sat down in his seat.
"Not really...I was actually doing him a favour recently, helping him fix a video." Danny shrugged.
"Can I ask what was on the video?"
"I don't know, what do I get in return?" Danny joked, teasing Isaac who felt heat in his cheeks.
"Well, you could have a lovely night with your right hand, or you could get your fake ID back and hit the club?" Or you could totally do me in the back of your car instead of going to a club. Yeah, best not to say that out loud.
"Okay, okay, so I didn't watch all of it, but it was really important to Jackson. It was just him...sleeping though, two hours cut from the film around midnight." Danny explained. "I sent it to Jackson, and that was it."
"Thanks, Danny." Isaac smiled gratefully, standing to leave.
"Going already?"
"Uh, yeah. You wanna rest, don't you?" Isaac gnawed his bottom lip, waiting for his answer.
"Well...It gets pretty lonely in an empty room. I'd like your company if you can stay." Isaac beamed, grinning wide and shy.
"Yeah. Yeah, that would be cool."
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Derek, Allison and Stiles stood by the cliff overlooking Beacon Hills, just outside the van. They had been discussing the Kanima's motives for a few minutes now and Stiles was trying to place it all together.
"Is the Kanima even actually trying to kill us though? It didn't kill me back at the garage. Maybe it was just trying to keep Derek and I in the pool?" He theorised, trying to connect the dots.
"There's something else going on here, that none of us understand. I say we kill him." Derek shrugged.
"What? No!" Allison looked at Derek like he was insane.
"I second that." Stiles didn't want to kill Jackson if he could help it. He was an ass, but he was their ass at this point in time.
"Jackson helped take down the Alpha before, we have to give him that." Allison reasoned.
"Well, I mean, he only really did that so he could get the bite." Stiles shrugged awkwardly, silence prevailing between the three. Stiles took in a deep, audible breath before letting out his thoughts. "He doesn't know what he's doing." He defended. "Just like I didn't when I first bitten. I mean, I had Derek. Derek helped me keep form killing, and sure in the end I killed Peter, but he was the bad guy. Jackson has nobody. He's never really had anybody. He doesn't even say I love you to his parents. A guy who can't even say that, he must one lonely person."
Inside the van, Jackson listened to the three talk, a few stray tears marring his face before he quickly wiped them away with scaly hands.
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It was just Derek and Stiles after Allison left, standing watch in the darkness of the woods. Stiles sucked his lips between his teeth, awkwardness settling thick in the air between the two. Stiles hated this. This awkwardness, the anxiety, the constant soft jealousy and regret at confessing.
Stiles can't take it back though, and that's probably why he brings it up.
"You know, you never really rejected me that night."
"What night?" Derek inquired, trying to avoid the conversation.
"You know, Derek. The night I told you I loved you."
"Loved? Past tense, huh? You got over that quickly. Like any other teenager." Derek mused.
"Ha, you have no idea, do you? I'm not over it. I don't think I'll ever be 'over it'." He said, using his fingers as quotation marks. "Move on, maybe, but I'm not over you, Derek. I still love you."
"And I should care why?" Derek looked down at him, and he can see the distance he's trying to place between them. Remove Stiles as a big part of his life.
"Because I think you're just denying the fact that you could be feeling anything but anger or pain or misery." Stiles jabbed his fingers against Derek's chest thrice in show.
"People don't love me, Stiles. They tolerate me. That's how the world works. I'm not some Prince Charming for your fairytale day dreams."
"I'm not expecting you to be!" Stiles snapped. "You're damaged. I won't deny it. Behind that pretty rugged face is endless nights of nightmares, are years of guilt and anger at the world. You lost your family. Then your sister was gone, and your uncle was a vegetable. When you finally found your sister, she was dead, killed by your uncle. Then he came back, and you had to watch me claw out his throat. You're alone in the world, Derek. You've believed that for so long you can't see love as anything else but tolerance. I can see it, even when you hang out with the pack, you still look so outcasted. You know when you don't look like that?"
Derek swallowed thickly, staring intently at Stiles as he awaited the answer.
"When you were with me. Each day, you looked better, Derek. They were dark days, but I could see it. You became soft, and now that someone cares about you like you care everyone else, you're pushing them away. Pushing me away."
"Stiles..." Derek breathed.
"Why is it so damn hard for you to let someone in?! Why don't you get that I like you? I care about you, Derek."
"Because no one has ever cared about me before." His words are soft and insecure and Stiles can feel his heart break.
"Yeah, that was before. Are you seriously going around thinking you're not loved? That no one cares? Because you're dumb as fuck if you do! The pack loves you. I love you. I care." It's in the deadly silence that Stiles is sick of that he takes the leap.
He cups Derek's face and he's sprung up on his toes, and he's kissing the beta for all its worth. It's slightly misplaced and sloppy, but Stiles hasn't ever really kissed anyone before, unless you count Sally from sixth grade and that awkward seven minutes in heaven.
Derek has though, and it shows in the way he controls the kiss, hungry and passionate as he pressed Stiles up against his jeep. No escape, not that Stiles wanted one. He had Derek were he wanted, right in his arms, lips on his and strong hand on his hip as the other cupped the back of his neck.
Stiles has his curled in the fabric of Derek's jacket, the iconic leather that Stiles admits he has a total kink for. Or maybe he just has a Derek kink over all, cause he's being the typically horny teenage when he buries a hand in Derek's inky black strands and tilts his head just enough to lick into his mouth, almost laughing when he feels the slight bump of canines.
"Woah!" Stiles stomach flips when Derek lifts him up onto the hood of the jeep, fingers inching just under Stiles' blue hoodie as their lips moved in sync. His stomach quivered, and it felt so much more intense than with Dylan, the shiver running through his whole body at the feel of Derek's cold finger tips against his warm stomach.
Derek broke the kiss, pressing a few lingering kisses along Stiles' neck, specifically the few moles that he had and Stiles bit back a giddy giggle at it all. Only, the whole lovely illusion was shattered when Derek spoke, forehead pressed against the dip of his neck.
"This is...only a one-off." It takes all of Stiles' self control not to scream in furious malcontent.
"You...Fuck you." He says instead, shoving Derek away from him. He was not some sampling platter. It was all or nothing. "You, Derek Hale," He slipped off the hood of the jeep, shoving past him. "Are a fucking coward." He hissed with all the hatred he could muster, stomping towards van to check on Jackson and forget the silent Hale watching him.
Only, Jackson isn't there.
"Shit!" This has to be the worst night of his life.
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When Allison and Isaac arrive to the scene, they're as shocked at Stiles and Derek.
"You were supposed to keep watch! What were you two doing?!" Allison burst, looking around frantically.
"Making mistakes." Stiles muttered, quiet enough for only Derek to hear. Oh, and Isaac, not that he wanted him to.
"That's it. We have to tell our dads, Stiles." Allison concluded.
"Our?"
"Yes. Your dads sheriff, mines a hunter. We have to tell them."
"I, I know I just..." Stiles was scared. Revealing everything to his father...His father would know he had killed, would know he had turned innocent teenagers into 'monsters'. It was a terrifying thing.
"Stiles." He turned to Isaac, who seemed to understand instantly. "I'll show him. You don't have to reveal yourself yet, but I can. I'll help him understand and believe in werewolves. I promise."
"Thank you, Isaac." Stiles hugged his beta and friend.
Looks like Isaac didn't need to though, because when they got there, Jackson was already there with his father...An attorney.
Meanwhile, Allison was finding out that friend could easily be mistaken in translation. Instead, friend could mean master.
28 BITES