A Place to Hide Away- Sterek

Comfort in Touch

Stiles and Derek were sitting across from each other, Derek on the bed and Stiles on one of the dressers that had been upended in the earlier fight. Derek looked tired and relieved at the same time, and Stiles loved the look on him. Usually he would carry himself with tense shoulders and a serious look on his face, like if he had no choice but to carry the world on his shoulders.

The werefox stood up and walked closer to Derek whose bright green eyes flickered up to meet Stiles'. When he was close enough, Derek put two hands on his hips before sliding them around and hugging Stiles close to him, face pressing into his stomach as he breathed. The quiet in the room seemed to envelope them and Stiles ran his hands through the other's hair, almost chuckling at the way Derek seemed to melt further into him.

And that's exactly how Stiles wanted it to be. He wanted to stay here, surrounded in the warmth of Derek's arms.

"I want my memories back." Derek mumbled into his shirt, taking a deep breath before letting out an appreciate noise and burying his nose deeper into the scent of his mate. It filled him with a sense of home and belonging that he could only remember feeling in passing moments throughout his life. Like the Hale House before the fire. Or coming back from college to the small apartment that Laura had bought in New York. Or, and Derek paused in surprise, or when the pack all came together every month to binge watch whatever Stiles had decided they needed to watch.

"Well, I'm sure that we can get Scott or Peter to put the memories back." Stiles said softly, almost like if he was afraid to break the moment. "I would do it, but I don't know how, and I highly doubt that there's a WikiHow on claw memory extraction." He put his hands on each side of Derek's head and pulled him back a little. The Alpha's eyes were half lidded and he looked almost drugged as he tilted his head back, chin on Stiles' chest. The werefox laughed, leaning down to place a light kiss on his lips.

"Someone looks a little happy." He moved trailed kisses down Derek's jaw and the other tilted his head with a soft moan. Something hot settled in Stiles' gut at the sound and he placed a bite right underneath his jaw.

"Stiles," Derek half choked out, hands flying to his shoulders and said person took pity on him, leaning away as he sat down beside him. Did Stiles feel a little bit proud of how wrecked Derek looked? Maybe. Was it well justified? Oh yeah.

"So you don't remember anything?" Stiles said, mercifully changing the subject. "Like at all? Is there just like blank spots scattered in your earlier years? One second you're going to Pre-K and the next you're going to middle school." He snorted at the idea, and he pulled Derek, rearranging him until the werewolf was lying on his lap.

"No," Derek's lip almost turned into a pout, but he managed to save the expression by turning it into a scowl. "What were we like?" Stiles leaned down and nuzzled Derek's cheek, letting out a sound at the feel of Derek's scruff on his cheek.

"You were so awkward." Stiles laughed. "One time you tried to hold my hand during a scary part of the movie to protect me, but I didn't understand and gave you one of my toys to hug. And then one time, our families were hanging out during the full moon, and you kept bringing me trying to scent mark me, but I kept jumping into the river. You got so moody that you tried to ignore me for the rest of the night, but then you found a cool stone and gave it to me all excited before you remembered that you were supposed to be ignoring me." Stiles giggled. "Oh, and then Laura tried to set up a date for us, but when I tried to hold your hand, you said that I was contagious and hid in your room for the rest of the day." He laughed hard at this one.

Derek buried his face in his hands at hearing what his younger self had attempted to do in wooing Stiles. It kind of made him not want to get those memories back. How had he managed to get the reputation of a cool jock in high school if this is what his flirting had started out as?

The werefox above him seemed to find it adorable and placed a soft kiss that seemed to leave a hot imprint in the skin it touched.

"Look at you." Stiles said, trailing his fingers across the unblemished skin on Derek's face before lightly touching the bright purple bruise that was on his jaw. "You look like some kind of mafia boss that just came back from a turf battle."

"It seemed more like I was fighting some kind of huge army or something." Derek muttered, leaning into the touch. "Kate was one of the best hunters in the hunter community, and I still can't believe we managed to beat her."

"Yeah, she was so crazy. Like if I didn't know for sure that she wasn't a supernatural creature, I would've literally placed all my bets on her being some kind of were." He shuddered and Derek grabbed his hands and brought them down to his chest, letting them rest there as he breathed in, relaxing and tilting his head back onto the bed. It had been so long since he had been able to feel this relaxed and at peace around someone.

Stiles' tail came around from him and brushed against the long expanse of skin that Derek had allowed him. It tickled but Derek didn't feel any sort of apprehension, because he knew that Stiles would protect him. That Stiles would never let anything happen to him if he had the power to prevent it.

He was at the point of sleeping when he heard a small knock on the door.

"Come in." Stiles called out as Derek brought himself back into a sitting position. It was Isaac who opened the door, looking at the little space between them with thinly veiled amusement.

"Dr. McCoy said that you can come back downstairs. Your dad has already been treated and they just finished with Peter." He said as he stepped closer to Derek before pausing. The Alpha stood up and cupped his face, gently petting the top of his head, running his fingers through his beta's hair.

Sometimes after a particularly violent fight, his Betas needed the security of being around the Alpha to feel better. With Isaac, though, it was different, because while he craved to be part of the pack snuggles and comforting scent marking sessions that Derek had, the touch would trigger something in Isaac that made him shy away from touch. They had managed to find a compromise where Isaac would step closer to him when he was ready to be scent marked, and Derek would stay above the shoulders and do everything gently. It satisfied his wolf's need to make sure his pack was safe, and Isaac's wolf would be adequately comforted until he felt ready to be properly comforted.

However, this time, as Derek's scent was carefully left on Isaac, the Beta felt something in him shift restlessly. This was helping, but there was something also missing. His eyes flickered over to Stiles' who was looking at them with curious eyes. Something in him propelled him to step away from the Alpha and lean towards the werefox.

"Isaac?" Derek asked, frowning as he stepped out of his reach.

The only person who didn't seem confused as to what was going on was Stiles who immediately reached up and let Isaac take his hand before guiding it onto the opposite cheek that Derek had been cupping. Even with his nerves on edge, Isaac felt something similar to the comfort that he got from Derek fill him. If Isaac didn't know better, he would've said that Stiles was an Alpha, but that was impossible.

"Dude, this feels weird." Stiles said, and Isaac jerked his face away from his hold, feeling self-conscious all of the sudden. The werefox noticed this and hastened to correct himself. "I mean, not you. This whole being a werefox thing, like I always thought you guys were just rubbing cheeks and stuff to like to share the pack scent or something like that, but there's so much... feeling to it."

The Alpha werewolf was looking on at the two of them with strange eyes, but he withheld any comment.

"Peter." Stiles said suddenly, standing up. "I have to go see how he is."

Isaac nodded and stepped back, letting Stiles step past him and towards the door. He turned on his heel as soon as he was under the doorway, lifting an eyebrow at how neither of them had moved to follow him.

"Well, come on. The rest of the pack is downstairs, and I'm sure that they wouldn't mind a pack night or something."