Burning Slowly

Chapter 5

*WARNING DOUBLE UPDATE*

The hallway to the bedroom Stiles was sharing with Derek was dark, the Alpha had gone to bed but the slightly younger members of the pack had stayed up late playing card games and making a huge dent in the week's supply of snacks. They'd have to go grocery shopping before they left if they kept up the incredible rate of consumption. Stiles thought he could eat a lot, but two teenage werewolves and three other growing teens was a recipe for world famine. He imagined they ate a small European country's supply of Cheetos.

He cursed more loudly than he intended when he stubbed his toe on the leg of the table that decorated one side of the hallway. Stiles bit down on one of his knuckles to keep from making too much noise. Sure Derek had been nice most of the evening, if you weren't a DVD, but he didn't want to wake the sleeping wolf. He pulled out his phone. He used the screen to cast a faint luminescence ahead of him.

He made his way the last few feet to the door quitely. Stiles wouldn't say that he was a ninja but he would say that he could be pretty damn quiet despite what most people thought. Living life as a sheriff's son had necessitated the need to learn a bit of stealth. His father didn't always work late on nights when Stiles wanted to get up to a bit of mischief.

He slowly turned the handle of the door and muted the light of his phone by turning it against his chest. It was practically pitch black, a small alarm clock with a red display gave him the rough location of the bed he was sleeping in for the week.

Stiles had been surprised when Derek had let him have first pick of the beds. Derek had been amused when Stiles took the one that was not adjacent to the window without offering any explanation. There was a terrace that ran all around the second floor and their room even had a set of doors that led out to it, but Stiles thought maybe Derek wasn't comfortable unless he could creep in and out of windows. He snickered at the thought and covered his mouth with his hand. He froze in place.

No monstrous black form that could cause a child's average nightmares to soil themselves in fear snatched his heart from his chest. Stiles sighed in relief and took the last few steps to reach the side of his bed. Quiet as a mouse he set his phone down on the side of the nightstand, before pulling his shirt over his head and dropping it to the floor. Derek could bite his head off about where his clothes were in the morning. Stiles just wanted to get undressed and under the covers. Even though it was summer the California night air had a bit of a chill to it. It would suit Stiles perfectly just as soon as he was under the soft blankets.

Stiles undid his belt and let his jeans fall to the floor. He winced as the buckle made a soft thud against the carpet. He wanted to freeze in place but he was cold. He danced a little from foot to foot trying to free himself from the labyrinth of his pants and almost went head first into the nightstand. That was exactly what he needed, to have Derek find him with his pants around his ankles bleeding from a head wound on the carpet of their room. That would have been terrible, the kind of embarrassment one never lived down.

There was a brief somewhat high pitched noise and a rustling; the suddenness of it nearly caused Stiles to jump out of his skin. He clutched his hand over his heart and gasped for air in the quietest way one could do such a thing. He glanced in the direction the noise had come from. It was in the general vicinity of the bed Derek was theoretically occupying.

Stiles shook his head to dismiss it as his imagination and sat down on his bed gingerly, hoping to avoid any noise as he pulled one sock off and then the other. He dropped them on top of the rest of his discarded clothes. He reached out to grab his phone from the nightstand to set an alarm for the morning. His hand accidently brushed the picture frame he had set up while unpacking. It tilted, he barely caught it before it fell over and awakened the shadow of death that lingered in the other bed. He didn't know for sure but he figured if annoying Derek while he was awake was dangerous, annoying him while sleeping was probably a great way to throw your life away.