Through the years

48.

Derek had left to go to the kitchen and prepare some food for Stiles when the pack decided to open the book. It was Scott who opened it for the first time in many years. He had asked if Peter wanted to be the one to open it but the wolf had refused. Scott had nodded and proceeded to check out what was inside. 

He had been quietly flipping through a couple of pages all about different creatures when a stack of papers fell down on the ground at the wolf's feet. Scott looked down and put the book on the coffee table before picking everything up and inspecting it. However he had been far from expecting to find this. 

"What is it?" Melissa asked as she noticed her son staring at the papers silently and they all waited for him to speak.

"Pictures." Scott replied quietly as he flipped through them. "Of Stiles and the Hales." he told his mother before his hands froze at the very last picture. He couldn't believe his eyes. "I think we underestimated just how well Stiles and Derek got along." he muttered and they all sat confused before Scott turned the picture towards them. "They were a bit more than close." The pack looked at all the pictures for a while, all of them dumbfounded at the sight. Peter and Cora, on the other, held those pictures with shaky hands as they stared at the faces of their long lost family members with heavy hearts. And they all kept looking at those pictures until Derek finally got back into the living room. The alpha quickly noticed the papers going from hands to hands and he frowned in curiosity as he noticed the open book on the table. 

"What did you find?" Derek asked, curious and Jackson wordlessly handed him one of the pictures. Derek took it into his hands, eyeing Jackson weirdly at his strange behaviour before flipping it over and freezing at the sight. 

It was their picture. 

His and Stiles. 

The one Laura had taken after they had kissed. They were both standing in front of the house with big smiles on their faces as they rested their foreheads together, laughing as their family had been cheering behind the camera. 

"You and Stiles were more than just friends, right?" Scott asked hesitantly to the silent alpha, staring down at the picture with shaky hands. They had never seen him so distraught. 

"Yeah." Derek said quietly, his eyes unable to leave the picture, inspecting it as if it was the first time seeing it.

"You guys were dating."

"Yeah."

"You loved him." Scott added and Derek swallowed down the lump in his throat. It had been so long since he had felt the brunette so close to him. 

He misses it. 

He could still remember how he had felt at the time the picture was taken. He could still hear his family cheering for them. He could still hear the sound of Stiles' laugh as he pulled away from the kiss. He could still feel the memory of Stiles' kiss on his lips. How good it felt to be in Stiles' arms. How he would do anything in his power to feel it again. But he knew that ought to be difficult with how badly he had treated the brunette over the years. Stiles didn't even know why he was hated all this time. How unfair to him, Derek now realised. 

"Yeah." the alpha replied to Scott who was still waiting for an answer. The pack looked at each other, stunned by the fact that his heartbeat was immaculate.

He was telling the truth.

"You still do." it was Noah who had spoken this time as the alpha had yet to look at anything else other than this picture in his hands. 

"....yeah." It took a moment but Derek finally admitted to it. His voice had been barely louder than a whisper and yet they had all heard it as clear as day. Derek didn't say anything else and keeping the picture in his hand, he left, the desire to be alone too strong to ignore. He needed some time to process things.