Temp's Rising

"Derek, NO! I'm too sick to argue with you about this, just let Scott handle it!" Stiles yells hoarsely into the phone.  Derek pinches the bridge of his nose as he stands outside the mountain ash circle surrounding the Stilinski residence. The sheriff stands by his cruiser watching his pseudo son-in-law pace at the entrance.

"Stiles, you're my mate, I'm supposed to take care of you, not Scott! I mean, I know Scott is your alpha-"

"Derek, Scott is my best friend. He's a pro at handling Stiles in sick-mode, that's all this is. Now go away and let me wallow in misery!" Stiles hacks up what is either phlegm, or an actual demon on the other end of the line.  He sounds miserable which only serves to rile Derek up more.

"Stiles, break the line!"

"Derek, no! Go away! I don't want you to see me like this... achoo!"

Derek's eyes flash blue as he turns to the sheriff who swallows his chuckle and tries to quickly get in his  cruiser. Derek is there in a blink of an eye, crowding the beleaguered father to the door of his car.

"Sheriff, please! My wolf is going crazy, I need to get in there and take care of him." John rolls his eyes at his son's clearly lovestruck companion.

"Derek, son, listen. Stiles in sick mode is painful at best. He's needy, demanding and will only listen to Songs in the Key of Springfield by The Simpsons or Lonely Island and will only watch Friends on Netflix. Trust me, kid. You're saving yourself a lot of headache if you just let Scott handle this. You don't see me in there trying to take care of him, and hell, I created the little monster." The sheriff shrugs, but Derek grabs his jacket pleadingly.

"John, sir! I'm in love with that little monster and I have to take care of him. Break the seal." John exhales.

"Dammit, Derek! Look, I didn't want to admit this, but my kid is scarier than you. If I break that seal, I'm going to forget what red meat even tastes like, maybe all meat. It's just not worth-"

"I'm playing the card." Derek counters.  The Sheriff eyes go wide slightly before narrowing menacingly at the naive wolf.

"Really, Derek? Is it worth it?" Sheriff asks incredulously.  Derek growls (the card allows for growling) while the sheriff has disturbing flashes of a night involving sex pollen, fae, and runes that could only be disintegrated by a werewolf's ejaculate. Sheriff owed Derek big, and he can't believe the young man is cashing in such a heady card. He looks at wolf who is now shaking with anxiety and shakes his head in disbelief before walking over to the line. Derek follows closely and launches across the barrier as soon as the sheriff breaks it.

"Godspeed, son." He says looking after the kid who is both the most precious and most ridiculous person his son could have chosen to fall in love with. The sheriff resolves to change the locks to his house as soon as Stiles is well and he rushes to his car and drives away.

Derek bursts into the house and hears Stiles yelling at Scott who is in the kitchen.

"Noodles and broth, Scott! With little pieces of chicken!"

"I know, Stiles!"

"And oyster crackers! And put them in there right before you bring them up so they'll be soft, but not too soft! And I need some juice! Scott? I need juice, do you hear me?" Scott has gone quiet, Derek knows, because he senses someone else in the house. Someone who should definitely not be there.

Derek takes a step towards the stairs before hearing Scott hiss at him from the kitchen.

"Derek, no!" Derek races up the stairs as Scott goes up the back, just barely getting beaten by the older werewolf to Stiles' room. Derek plows into the room and sees his mate...

writhing in filth.

Dirty used tissues and empty gatorade bottles litter the ground around the trashcan placed in the middle of his room. By his pillow are paper plates and paper towels with half eaten piece of dry stale toast and little mandarin orange fruit cups. Stiles himself is frozen in place with wide, embarrassed eyes covered in a layer of sweat and Vick's vapor rub. He shakes himself out of his shock and points a finger that was once dripping with tapioca pudding "It's vanilla squared, Derek! The people don't know what they're missing!" at his boyfriend.

"Derek, what the fuck?!" Stiles rasps with wide regretful eyes. His lids are heavy with exhaustion and his lips are chapped, wetted only by his runny nose. He tries to yell more, but he can't because his throat is covered in sludge so he hacks it up into a previously used tissue and considers the brown congealed mess before launching the tissue in the general direction of the trash can.

Scott is standing behind Derek with a mug of soup and the next round of meds.

"Bro, I'm sorry, I have no idea how he got in here." Scott says remorsefully, but Stiles is past caring about that and more concerned with how unappetizing he both looks and feels.

"Don't look at me, Bear! I'm hideous! You'll never want to have sex with me again!" and Scott gags a little which brings a small glare from Derek who grabs the soup and meds out of Scott's hand and heads over to the bed. He wipes Stiles' hair back from his forehead and says, 

"I love you Stiles, I'd do anything for you, you know that. Besides, I've seen you worse than this. I have licked your asshole." Scott takes this as his cue to leave and slinks out the door, down the stairs and out of the house on the way to freedom.

Derek lifts Stiles' head to sip from the broth and as soon as Stiles swallows he puts down the bowl and starts picking up some of the rogue tissues. Stiles watches his paramour clean up his den of contagion and feels his heart melt with something other than influenza.

"Aww, thanks boo! I bet Scott will be happy to not have to stew in my sick filth anymore." to which Derek gives a hearty snort, "and since you think I'm still sexy, how about we use that dick of yours to dislodge some of the mucus in my throat? Hey! Where are you going!?"

THE END

Epilogue:

Derek eventually comes back, but he makes Stiles sweat a little. Sweating is good when you're sick.