so! super fun story! for @fandomtrumpshate i bid on @seanchaidh7 (and won! woot woot!) however, i had no idea that ash also bid on me 🥰 we won each other’s bids and decided to work together. and thus, we have this!
ash, i was seriously so happy when i won your bid and then to find out that you bid on me too i was all 🥺 it was so awesome to work with you, and i absolutely love the art you created for it (seriously, y’all are gonna wanna see it!)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Lydia Martin, Jackson Whittemore, Malia Tate, Kira Yukimura, Peter Hale
Additional Tags: POV Derek Hale, Canon Compliant, Future Fic, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Stiles Stilinski, Oblivious Derek Hale, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Fandom Trumps Hate 2022, tropevember 2022
Summary:
ob·liv·i·ous
/əˈblivēəs/
adjective
lacking active conscious knowledge or awareness.
…or the one where the pack helps Derek realize that he’s in love with Stiles.
"Vampires aren't real," Stiles mutters, leaning casually against the newly patched wall, but Derek can tell he's tired. There are bags under his eyes, and he keeps shifting his weight—likely in an attempt to keep moving so he doesn't fall asleep. They've been at this for a few days, so it's no surprise. None of them are really sleeping well with a new 'big bad' on the loose.
Scott rolls his eyes and gestures around the room to the pack. "Yeah, well, supposably werewolves aren't real either!"
Derek pinches the bridge of his nose. Air rushes from the worn pleather cushion as he falls into the oversized armchair in the corner of the living room. "Supposedly. The word is supposedly. And Stiles is right, some things are just myth."
Scott mutters something about supposably being an actual word, but he's cut off by Stiles, who pushes away from the wall, exclaiming, "Thank you!" as he throws his arms up. "There are similar creatures, though."
Lydia flips through the Bestiary. "Yes, I've read something… Just let me find it." After a few moments, she perches on the edge of the couch and drops the book onto the coffee table, sliding it to the center. "Mandurugo."
Derek makes a noise of acknowledgment. "Philippines, right?" When Lydia nods, he continues, "They're beautiful young women with wings called kinnari. Typically, gentle creatures, loyal to the human men they take as lovers. However…if that man is foolish enough to break the kinnara's heart, then this pliant lover becomes a terrible mandurugo."
Stiles rolls his eyes. "This is like the kanima all over again. You've known what we're dealing with this whole time?"
This time, Derek rolls his eyes. "No," he says incredulously. "I only recognized the name." Then he glares at his uncle. "But Peter probably did."
Peter shrugs, throwing an arm along the back of the couch. He twirls a few strands of Lydia's hair around his finger until she brushes his hand away.
She flips her hair over her shoulder. "Don't touch me."
"How do you know about them?" Stiles asks.
"Considering they're supposed to be beautiful, I think we can hazard a guess as to how." Jackson plops himself down between Peter and Lydia, shooting a glare at Peter. His eyes flash blue, then turn to a slitted yellow, likely reminding Peter that he still has some of his kanima traits. "Just tell us anything else you might know."
Peter clears his throat as he stands. "They have a sharp, barbed, hollow tongue that can pierce flesh and suck blood."
"Okay, so we're dealing with a woman scorned." Malia shrugs like it's no big deal. "Since Peter has experience with them, I say we use him as bait."
"You would really sacrifice your father that way." Peter places a hand over his heart and pouts.
Malia looks around the room before narrowing her gaze at Peter. "That's funny, I don't see him here."
Kira wraps an arm around Malia's waist and lays her head on Malia's shoulder. "Ignore him."
"Children. Let's play nice," Stiles calls out. "Besides, it's not a sacrifice when you won't stay dead."
Derek covers his laugh with a cough.
"Et tu, nephew?"
Before Derek can retort, Scott interrupts, "So, what's the plan?"
After thirty minutes of everyone talking over each other, Derek's had enough. It's bad enough that Peter keeps making snarky remarks, which only serves to set Malia off, but Stiles has probably yawned thirty times in the past two minutes. If Derek has to watch him jolt awake one more time—
Stiles stretches. He holds his arms high above his head and practically stands on his tiptoes as he stretches, and it must feel good because the groan he lets out is damn near erotic. It goes straight to Derek's dick.
Derek glances away, shifting to the edge of the armchair as he adjusts himself. He refocuses on Scott and the plan, though his skin prickles in awareness as Stiles walks up beside him. But Stiles is on his lap before he can glance up with a questioning gaze.
Stiles.
Who's apparently an octopus now with the way he wraps his arms and legs around Derek. Or maybe it's a koala since he doesn't have eight limbs. Either way.
Stiles.
Is on.
His lap.
Derek's hands instinctively land on Stiles's hips, gripping him gently, and he can't help the thrill that runs through him as Stiles snuggles close. His breath tickles Derek's neck as he lays his head on Derek's shoulder, and it doesn't take long for his breathing to deepen, signifying that he's fallen asleep.
Jackson opens his mouth, but Derek glares him to submission.
"I was just going to say that I knew you guys were close, but this looks…cozy," Jackson says with a smirk.
"We're not that close." Except that's not true. Over the past few years, Stiles and Derek have been drawn together more often than not, turning their reluctant friendship into something…more.
"That's not true." Lydia's brows furrow as she looks at him. "Do you remember that one lacrosse game? The one when you guys were looking for this." She gestures at the Bestiary. "I sat in my car, crying. I waited for hours because Stiles said he was coming back. But he didn't, did he?"
No, he didn't. Stiles didn't go back to Lydia because he was with Derek. Sure, he was doing Scott a favor by looking for the Bestiary, and then the kanima showed up. But Derek told Stiles to run. Only…he didn't. He could have, and he should have. Stiles should have run from the room and back to the girl he'd been in love with for years. And who knows? Maybe that would have been the start of an epic romance if he had.
Instead, Stiles spent hours holding Derek up in the pool. Just like he spent hours with Derek when he was poisoned with wolfsbane.
"She's right, nephew," Peter says, rubbing a finger over his lips. "And Stiles was your first choice to help look for Erica and Boyd when the alpha pack came."
"Yeah, well, it was either ask him to help or he'd have gone off on his own." Derek turns his head, inadvertently rubbing his cheek against Stiles's. "He's an idiot."
"Still."
Yeah…still.
Every day for nearly four months, Stiles was at Derek's side, searching for the missing betas. Every day for nearly four months, they followed every lead, every clue, every trail. They argued at every dead end. But still, Stiles was there.
And that's not even including the fact that Stiles was the only one who could comfort him after he was forced to kill Boyd. Stiles's hand on his shoulder anchored him in a way no one's been able to since his family was killed.
But that's just what they do for each other. Derek knows Stiles isn't a stranger to death. He's watched Stiles retreat into himself over the years, getting lost in grief. His mom. Erica. Allison. Over every person they weren't able to save. Sometimes they just sit together in the cemetery, reminiscing. Other times, they distract each other by doing something mundane like going through the Hale vault or playing games. Derek's newly discovered love for StarCraft II annoys Stiles when they play custom campaigns. Mainly because Derek wins all the time—much to Stiles's chagrin.
"That doesn't mean anything. It's nothing."
"Are you sure?" Jackson asks, his gaze locked on Stiles. That's when Derek realizes that his right hand has drifted to Stiles's back, rubbing up and down in a soothing manner. "Doesn't look like nothing."
Derek freezes.
"You've always protected him." Kira's words are soft.
For some reason, his mind latches onto a teary-eyed Stiles, asking Jennifer where his father is. Derek's not sure why he believed Stiles over his own girlfriend, but he did. There was never a doubt in his mind to question her after Stiles accused her of taking the sheriff.
He's pulled from his thoughts when Kira speaks again. "The nogitsune. Chris mentioned how you didn't want to kill him. Void," she clarifies.
Derek swallows thickly. "Because it would have killed Stiles." And despite everything that happened, there was nothing worse than that. "I—"
But nothing comes out. Derek's never been particularly verbose, especially when it comes to his emotions. Besides, it doesn't matter how he feels. Derek resigned himself long ago that he's not meant to have a happily ever after.
"It's not just you, Derek." Malia walks to the kitchen and pulls a carton of juice from the fridge, drinking straight from the container before putting it back.
Kira cringes. "We're still working on some things."
"What? I was thirsty," Malia says, confusion etched across her features. "Anyway…am I the only one that remembers La Iglesia? Stiles and I might not have been together anymore, but I was still a little jealous. He never looked at me like that when we were dating, and I almost died. In his arms."
Derek wraps his arms around Stiles, hugging him tightly. If he closes his eyes, he can see the worry and fear in Stiles's eyes the day a berserker stabbed him. Stiles froze as Derek lay against a rock, struggling through the pain.
Never in his life would Derek have thought that anything would make Stiles hesitate in rushing to Scott's side.
'Go,' he'd said. 'Go!' But while everyone else ran, Stiles didn't move.
It wasn't until Derek implored, 'Hey. Hey. Save him,' that Stiles finally ran off. But not before stopping in his tracks to cast Derek one last glance, his face full of regret.
The familiar grate of the wheel tracks startles Derek, snapping him back to the present. When he looks around, everyone's gone. There's a note on the table in Malia's familiar scrawl.
Went to sacrifice Peter. Don't wait up.
Derek can't help the snort he lets out, only frowning when Stiles inhales sharply. He doesn't want Stiles to wake up and move away from him. He doesn't want anything to break this little bubble where Derek's allowing himself a bit of happiness.
But it's too late. Stiles shifts, his lips dangerously close to Derek's neck before he sits up. Stiles's eyes cross as he blinks into focus, and a bit of drool is on his cheek. It really shouldn't be cute.
"Hey," Stiles says. The word is almost a whisper. He hasn't climbed off Derek's lap, and the owlish look on his face makes Derek's chest bloom warm with hope.
"Hi." Derek unwinds his arms from around Stiles's waist but settles his hands on Stiles's hips. "So," he says after a moment, but apparently, all his nerves decided to take up residence in his throat, so he coughs to clear it. "This is…new."
He knows he doesn't have to explain when the corner of Stiles's mouth quirks into a shy grin. "Surprised you didn't throw me off."
"I…" Derek takes a deep breath, then slowly exhales. "I don't mind it."
That shy grin turns into a beautiful smile, lighting up Stiles's entire face. Gone is the tired-looking man from earlier as his amber eyes shine bright. "Finally realized you like me, huh? Glad you finally caught up there, big guy. I was beginning to wonder if I'd have to get one of those planes to fly a banner across the sky."
"Or…" Derek counters. "You could have said something."
"I've been slowly getting you used to the idea of us. You're not an easy guy to woo, Derek Hale."
Derek raises a brow. "You've been wooing me?"
"Not really," Stiles says with a shake of his head. He pokes at Derek's raised brow. "Put that away. Besides, I don't think that'd work with you anyway."
Derek huffs a laugh. "Probably not."
"So…where is everyone? Did you guys come up with a plan?"
"Kind of." Derek holds Stiles close with one arm while he leans forward to grab the note from the table.
"'Went to sacrifice Peter,'" Stiles reads after Derek hands it to him and then scoffs. "And I'm missing it?"
"Probably won't be too exciting." Derek doubts it'll even get that far, considering Peter knows what to look for, thanks to his prior experience with them. As Stiles asks what exactly the pack's plan is, Derek glances around the loft, quickly realizing how immersed Stiles is in his life.
There are Funko Pops on the entertainment center. An entertainment center—complete with surround sound—that Derek bought for his new TV because Stiles likes to watch movies, and Derek got tired of listening to him complain that the laptop was too small to fully enjoy anything.
One of Stiles's hoodies hangs from a dining chair at the dining table. Another thing Derek bought because he knew it would make Stiles happy to have a proper place to eat.
It was Stiles who helped him patch up the drywall.
It was Stiles who bought him the bookcase that's now home to more of Stiles's books than Derek's.
It was Stiles who helped him toss out the old, dilapidated couch and went with him to replace it, picking out their comfy, new couch and armchair. And coffee table and end tables.
And Derek knows for a fact that Stiles's laptop is on his nightstand because he stayed over last night.
He stays over a lot of nights, actually.
Derek stands abruptly, though he sets Stiles down gently before walking to the spiral staircase. "You have a toothbrush in the bathroom."
"Yup," Stiles says, popping the 'p'.
"You stay over a lot."
"I told you." Stiles stands up and walks over slowly, hands raised as if approaching a skittish animal. "I was getting you used to the idea of us. Together."
"You…you practically live here." Derek presses against the railing, gripping it tight. When Stiles is in his space, Derek hauls himself up, except it doesn't stop Stiles from stepping between his legs. Finally, Derek relents. It's not as if he wants to escape Stiles anyway.
Derek doesn't have to freak out, no matter how overwhelmed he is. This is Stiles, after all. If Derek fucks up—which he will—they'll work through it and move on. That pressure to be perfect isn't there when it comes to Stiles. He already knows Derek's not perfect and accepts him anyway. He always has.
Stiles lays his head on Derek's chest, just under his chin, and Derek sighs, breathing in Stiles's scent. His eyes flutter closed as Stiles stands there, grounding him.
"I was wrong before," Derek whispers.
"Hmm?" Stiles tilts his head back, looking up at him. "What was that?"
Instead of answering, Derek leans down and presses a kiss to Stiles's lips, hoping it conveys everything he can't bring himself to say.
Thank you.
I want you.
I need you.
I love you.
And it must, because when Stiles pulls back, his smile is soft and tender and laced with so much love that Derek's heart trips over itself.
This. Fucking. Guy.
Stiles Stilinski. So fiercely loyal and protective of everyone he cares about. Stiles, who wears his heart on his sleeve and wields sarcasm like a weapon. The one person who knows Derek best, who can read him so well, and—
He's mine, Derek thinks. My happily ever after.
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