Chapter Text
“Happy Birthday.”
“Huh-,” Stiles exclaimed in slight surprise.
“What?” Derek shrugged when Stiles gave him a look, the kind of look that said a thousand things but couldn’t be easily read.
“You – here,” Stiles waved a hand between them. “Not what I was expecting.”
“Shouldn’t you be out celebrating?” Derek asked him as Stiles closed the door to his room, dumping his bag by the door as he kicked off his sneakers.
“Shouldn’t you learn to knock?” Stiles replied.
“Never bothered you before,” Derek pointed out.
“Uh yeah, that one other time you staked out in my room until I came home,” Stiles shook his head at him in exasperation. “You could learn to use a front door now and then.”
“Can’t guarantee I’d be allowed in,” Derek said with a smirk.
“So breaking and entering is your next option,” Stiles rolled his eyes.
“Didn’t break in anywhere,” Derek told him. “You never lock your window.”
Stiles sighed, a battle of wits with Derek was often fun but he was tired, hungry and had planned on an early night.
“Why are you here?” He asked, getting right to the point.
“To say happy birthday,” Derek told him. “Speaking of which – shouldn’t you be out partying or something?”
“It’s a weekday,” Stiles said with a shake of his head. “Lydia is throwing me a party on the weekend so we can all get wasted without worrying about classes the next day. And if you were expecting me to be out partying, why are you in my bedroom?”
“Waiting for you to get home,” Derek answered.
“Uh huh, if I was out partying, you may have been waiting hours,” Stiles said, sitting on his bed heavily. “So – aside from the quite frankly weird birthday wishes, why are you here?”
Derek shrugged and pierced him with that firm, broody look that was both exasperating and exhilarating to Stiles, not that he would ever admit it openly. Of course Derek had the ability to read all his tells including increased pulse rate, hitched breath and darkening pools of his pupils as they dilated.
“You’re eighteen now,” Derek said in a husky tone, noting Stiles’ breath hitched again and enjoying how it sounded, though he doubted even Stiles was aware of it.
“Well that’s perceptive of you,” Stiles half smiled, shirking off his sweatshirt and revealing a hint of torso as he did so before it was suddenly covered again by a layer of thin material as he straightened out his t-shirt. “Now I can vote, buy a lottery ticket, get a tattoo – the old fashioned way, you know not with a blow torch – get married. I can drive an ice cream truck.”
“Have sex,” Derek interrupted as Stiles rambled on in his usual fashion. It was often the case if you didn’t cut in, he’d keep talking till he was hoarse.
“Well legally yeah,” Stiles said after a long, heavy pause of silence and not looking in his direction one but. “Not like – well it isn’t like I waited for that-.”
Derek always liked to see Stiles flustered, the way his skin blanched pale but his cheeks blushed with a soft pink and his rambling turned into gibberish as he tried to get back on track again.
“Well no, I’m not thinking you’re a naïve blushing virgin Stiles,” Derek said as he took a step nearer. “Not like I couldn’t smell those hormones all over you when you finally popped your cherry.”
“Popped my cherry? Seriously, of all the euphemisms there are, that is the one you go with? What is this, the nineteen fifties?” Stiles finally looked at him, the blush reddening further on his cheeks and Derek was well aware of much he was fighting to control the situation through his usual wit and quick mind. “And was that a dig at how I smell? Because it’s really not my fault that your kind have like super strong scent powers okay.”
“My kind?” Derek asked with raised brows.
“When your best friend makes little digs all the time, yeah in that regard I will refer to you both as ‘your kind’,” Stiles rolled his eyes at him. “Anyway uh, much as this – whatever it is – is entertaining, being insulted on how I smell isn’t the way I was wanting to end my birthday.”
“Where’s your dad?” Derek asked, pausing and listening. Though he hadn’t heard the Chief within the house, he liked to make sure, plus there was a chance he was headed home.
“Working, we did the whole birthday breakfast, exchanging gifts thing this morning,” Stiles explained. “He’s working a late.”
“Good, that’s good,” Derek said absentmindedly, catching Stiles scowl before he looked down at his hands. “I mean – well I mean we won’t be disturbed.”
“Look much as I appreciate your dropping by, spending the night of my birthday with you – not really high on my list okay,” Stiles said, standing again. “So if you want to let yourself out – door or window, whatever – thanks for coming, I’ll see you later.”
“Kind of a sad way to spend the rest of your birthday, alone,” Derek said stepping closer, enough that Stiles turned to face him with a searching, confused look. “I’d thought you’d have least been hanging out with Scott.”
“I – we did hang out, the whole pack,” Stiles explained before scowling again. “But you already know that right?”
Derek looked suitably guilty at the charge. He could smell all their scents, Scott and Isaac’s were the strongest, with the faint perfumed scent of Lydia and Kira puncturing through the haze of Stile’s own aroma. Stiles stepped closer, eyes narrowing as he began to get frustrated with him. Theirs had always been a tenuous, strange relationship, always dancing around one another, close friends but never crossing the line, a line Derek had begun to resent up until today. Today had changed everything.
“Why are you here?” Stiles asked him again, voice softer, huskier than it had been moments before.
“You know why,” Derek replied, looking him deep in the eyes.
“You think a birthday changes everything?” Stiles asked almost bitterly.
“Yeah, it changes everything,” Derek said, grasping his upper arms tightly. “You’re old enough now-.”
“I told you, it’s not like I haven’t-,” Stiles began to argue.
“I meant for me, to do this-,” Derek growled before he jerked him forward.
It wasn’t the sweetest of first kisses, on the contrary Derek was so eager to touch and taste that irritatingly witty, sarcastic, never shut up for a moment mouth that he momentarily forgot his own strength until he felt Stiles, stiff and unmoving against him pressing his hands against his chest in alarm. It was only because he relaxed his grip that Stiles was able to break the kiss with a sharp breath and he stared at him with somewhat shock and surprise. He remembered himself and his strength and let go of Stiles’ arms completely.
“I – I’m sorry,” He apologised, knowing he’d gripped too tight in his enthusiasm and sure he’d freaked Stiles out enough that he was about to be shown the door.
Stiles stared at him, gave a small shake of his head before he plundered in forcefully, throwing his arms around his shoulders and pressing his mouth against Derek’s eagerly. The second kiss was much more comfortable, if sloppy and a little ungraceful. Derek took a step back to steady them both, arms wrapping about the thinner frame of Stiles to pull him closer as they relaxed their mouths, lips parting and they got a true taste of one another.
Like all his other senses honed by years of living a life of both human and wolf, Derek’s taste buds zinged with his first tangible taste of Stiles. He’d filed away the information along with everything else about him, his looks, his tells, his touch, how he sounded, how he breathed, his different pulse rates, the flushes of his skin. Derek had spent years focusing on these points only now he could explore them deeply without fear of rejection or recrimination.
When they peeled apart they were both a little breathless and Stiles looked up at him with a cocky smile and satisfied expression in his eyes. Derek frowned in confusion, Stiles was giving him a lot of mixed signals there and then.
“But – I thought you-,”Derek began and Stiles rolled his eyes, giving him a gentle shove.
“Look the last thing I expected finding you here was for you to kiss me okay?” Stiles pointed out to him matter of factly. “We’ve spent so long dancing around one another I was beginning to think it was all in my head.”
“Definitely not all in your head,” Derek shook his head to assure him, cupping his face. “I want to kiss you again, a lot. More than that.”
“More huh?” Stiles asked, eyes going wide at the prospect. “Right now?”
“Now, later,” Derek nodded, “Whenever you let me.”
“This is a whole lot to handle from a guy who usually threatens me or looks at me like I’ve grown a second head,” Stiles grinned with a laugh.
“Had to keep you at arms-length somehow,” Derek shrugged.
“All this time?” Stiles asked him in surprise.
“Are you saying you haven’t felt the same way about me, at least some of the time of knowing one another?” Derek asked with caution, wondering how much of this he’d made up in his head, how much was real.
“About ninety per cent of the time yeah,” Stiles admitted. “I figured it was a lost cause. You always act like I’m a pain in the ass, like you wonder why everyone puts up with me.”
“You are a pain in the ass and I do wonder that,” Derek smirked. “Doesn’t mean I don’t like you.”
“I think you more than like me,” Stiles smiled.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Derek said with a smile as Stiles tugged at his shirt as he walked backwards towards the bed.
“Yes, yes I would,” Stiles told him. “Right now please. More kissing, more everything.”
Derek pulled him close again, kissing him again and liking how Stiles’ body pressed against his, their legs sort of tripping one another up until Stiles lost his balance, knees hitting the bed and he automatically wrapped his arms around Derek to save himself from falling. Derek held him tight and lowered them both to the bed more gracefully.
“This could potentially be a very bad idea,” Stiles sighed as Derek held himself up, a hand planted on the mattress as he stared down at him. But even as Stiles spoke his hands were tugging at Derek’s shirt until he got with the program, standing and stripping off his shirt much to Stiles’ surprise and delight. Stiles sat up, staring at him, it wasn’t the first time he’d seen Derek topless or even the first time he’d taken a good long look. But this time it was different, this time he didn’t have to bury down his feelings or pretend he wasn’t looking when he was. Derek tossed his shirt aside and Stiles quickly divested himself of his own t-shirt before gasping as Derek’s hands settled on his shoulders, pushing him back and following him down until they were chest to chest, kissing again, adrenaline pumping in their veins.