#some skitles brotp

[theshamelessmanatee]

Another sterek future fic. This time featuring idiots in love being dramatic af, a big bad of the week, and some blood.

"Derek-" Stiles begins in a small voice "You are not healing- WHY the fuck you are not healing?" 

Derek would like to know that, too. 

Fuck. Everything hurts. 

The pain is not intense per se, at least not in that way that feels like his body is drowning in it and there’s nothing else left. No, this pain surrounds Derek's body like a blanket, makes everything feel distant, diluted. Reality is slowing down and more intense.

Fuck. This is bad.

Stiles.

His senses are overwelmed by Stiles. Stiles, who’s touching him, frantically; his scent sour in worry, his heartbeat thundering in Derek's ears. There's a hunted look in his eyes and Derek clings to it like a lifeline. Can't look away, it’s the only thing that's preventing him from going under. He is so scared to let go. 

He feels the urge to tell Stiles how much he likes his eyes, big and warm. Wonders why he’d never told him before, in all the years they have known each other.

He’d also want to tell him that it's gonna be fine, but he knows he's not going to heal, not this time. He knows the wounds are too deep, the venom is too strong and he doesn't know how to trigger the healing - if the healing can still be triggered somehow.

Derek feels so, so tired.

I am dying. Fuck.

He can't say that. He can see it in Stiles's eyes, now sharply focused on his wounds, that he knows that too.

"G-go. Please, St-"

"Don't you fucking dare, Derek! I allow myself to panic for three freaking seconds and you come up with this bullshit? Shut the fuck up and let me save you."

Stiles tears his plaid shirt apart and wraps it tightly around Derek's leg and torso, trying to slow down the bleeding.

Oh Stiles, always so sharp and smart and so fucking matter-of-factly even in a crisis.

Then Stiles stills and looks away. He is expanding his wards to get some informations, because Derek feels the magic in the air, caressing him like a balm. He had always liked Stiles's spark, it had always felt right to Derek, like home and happy and safe. Again, he wonders why he’d never told him before.

Stiles turns his attention back to Derek, a mad look in his eyes. "Ok cool. My runes say the rouge bastard is still searching for us on the upper floor so we have an advantage. Scott is too far away and stuck with the minions, fuck, fuck, fuck!" Stiles looks down at Derek. "Now... I am healing you and you are not going to fight it because my magic mojo is running low...gotcha?"

Stiles is lying.

You are trembling, you don't have enough magic to heal me he wants to say but he knows it’s useless. He asks instead "Why are you lying to me?"

Stiles averts his eyes. A fucking brilliant spark and can't lie for shit.

"You are not gonna like it..." he begins in a small voice.

"Stiles-"

"Look, there's no time and I’m gonna do it anyway... S-so, please, don't fight it back"

"Fight what?"

"The healing! I won't have enough magic to mantain the barrier outside for the others and heal you if you resist it!". 

He is still lying.

"Tell me."

"There's no time." You have no time left, heavely implied.

Derek scowls at that.

"Fine! I am gonna collapse on you! Probably...Ok, maybe for sure."

Half a truth. Stiles is not exactly lying, but he's not telling him everything. Are the others in danger? He is really dying and Stiles is lying about his condition?

Derek would like to argue, to tell him to go and save himself before the monster finds them; wants to say a lot of things that would make Stiles mad. He wants to tell him how much he loves him, has loved him for years now, because fuck he does, but he is dizzy and his tongue heavy. He grabs Stiles' arm instead, hoping to convey at least a fraction of his feelings.

"Don't make me see you die if I can help it, please, Derek. Not again." Stiles’ voice is a broken whisper now, makes Derek ache. "Derek, do you trust me?"

"Yes." Derek answers, not even missing a beat. "But I'll take you with me when you collapse, ok? No leaving you behind."

Stiles beams "See you in a minute, then." and winks.

And in the next moment Derek feels so...full. There’s no other word to describe the rush of energy running through his body. 

It happens in seconds, and feels like breathing for the very first time.

Stiles’ magic spreads from the hand he’s placed on Derek’s chest through all his blood vessels; flows through every veins, reaches every capillars of his body -mending, cleaning, healing them along the way-, and then travels back towards Derek’s heart. 

With the next heartbeat the magic’s pushed through every cell of his body, regenerating him at his very core. When it looses speed, Derek hears Stiles’ heartbeat alongside his own, thundering in his ears.

Derek’s mind is focused - too much focused, too much full- to the point he can feel Stiles’ magic like it’s a palpable thing. 

He reaches for it, curious and giddy, caressing it with his new lifeforce. He senses them mixing together -not pushing it back, he promised - and it’s overwelming, intoxicating, like they are blending their souls. Derek would run away to get rid of the excessive energy, and at the same time he’d cry for the intensity of the connection.

It’s so strange. It feel so different from the other times Stiles has healed him.

It’s like he’s reborn. Kinda... whole again.

Maybe it’s the adrenaline rush - because this time he had been really close to die-, maybe this is what Stiles was lying about.

Then Stiles collapses, but Derek’s there, breaking his fall. He hugs him tightly, huffing in his ear “You fucking overachiever”. 

The beast roars somewhere close and the walls shakes by the sheer force of it. Derek grabs Stiles then, securing the boy’s arms and legs around his shoulders and waist and starts running. 

He’s following Scott's distant heartbeat to find their escape route, when he notices that Stiles’ is slowing down. And then, it just stops. There’s no time to panic, so he runs faster. 

Fuck. Don’t you dare, Stiles. Not you.

Scott howls in the distance, a mournful, broken beckon that echoes Derek's  dread.

After seconds that feel like ages, Stiles’ heart starts beating again, his pulse faint but growing steadier.

Thank god.

“You cheated” Stiles whispers when he wakes up, trying to sound annoyed and ending up fond, his smile buried in the back of Derek’s neck. 

“I helped you helping me” Derek smiles, keeps running towards Scott’s location.

“Always my hero”, Stiles snorts “-and I cant believe you didn't listen! Like always!” 

“...Hey-” Derek  begins “- thanks. I am sorry for making you go last time”.

I am sorry you had to see me dying and asking you to let me go.

It had been years since the night Derek has evolved. but Stiles adressed it earlier, and Derek feels the need to apologise. 

He remembers asking Stiles to let him go, to go save Scott because he had been sure he would have died in the next five minutes and didn't want Stiles to be there. He couldn't say goodbye to Stiles. If Stiles had stayed, Derek wouldn’t have been able to let go without breaking down. 

Derek had never thought about how much his request had hurt Stiles. Sure, everything ended up fine, but it hasn't been fair. It had been selfish asking him to go. Turns out that Derek had always been a little selfish when it comes to Stiles. 

So many years has passed, and Stiles never mentioned it before. Not in all the conversations and apologies Stiles, Scott, and Derek had shared with each others in all the years after the first Monroe's mess, when they had decided to be a pack for the very first time, the three of them being inseparable from that moment on.

There are so many things he wants to say to explain why he’d acted like that, but he can’t find the right words for it; how to explain it without confessing his love to Stiles, and he can’t ruin their relationship.

Stiles hugs him tighter, instead of replying. He knows. He always gets him, had always been.

"Now hold me tighter, big guy. I don't want to brain myself as I save the day with a super cool magic trick." Stiles wiggles his fingers in front of Derek’s face for emphasis.

Derek snorts but obliges.

-----

The rest of the thing is anticlimatic, really. They grab Scott in their flee as Stiles manages to hold the barrier until the last moment and does something complicated with his hands in the air, finishing the spell the others had set up when they were inside, all according to plan.

The monster comes out roaring, Chris and the rest of the pack waiting for it in the clearing outside the old abandoned building. Now that the spell has weakened it enough, it literally takes minutes to put it down.

Derek leaves Stiles in Scott's hands and runs towards the others to help.

-----

When Derek finally comes back to Scott and Stiles, the two are in the middle of a vicious argument. Them being them, their fighting actually involves a lot of exagerrated expressions, too many grunts, some affronted whines, and absolutely no words involved.

From the outside is a thing of marvel, because everyone can see they are having a proper conversation with each other, deciphering noises like they are complete sentences, masters of their own special language. Derek had always been a little jealous of their bond, the little scottandstiles unit he will never be part of. Sure, after years of witnessing it, he can interpret a little of their grunts and sounds, but only like a stranger recognising a word he knows in a language isn’t very fluent in. And Derek knows a lot of languages, so this is especially annoying.

He is still walking towards them when Scott breaks the silence in a furious cry. "Fuck Stiles, what were you thinking?!"

Stiles is outraged "I couldn’t let him die!"

Scott huffs, frustrated, "No! Obviously not! But you could’ve died!" he is panting now, strugglying to control himself. Scott's hands are shaking but before Stiles can retort, Scott looks him in the eyes and shouts in a broken sob, "Do you know how it felt through our bond? I couldn't do anything and I felt it, Stiles! Obviously I am grateful you did everything you could to save Derek, but you are too reckless and you can’t just go risking your life like this every fucking moment! You weren’t the only one losing someone you love, i was losing two of them! You are my brother, Stiles, and I..." 

Scott is trembling now, his shoulders slounched down "...I felt like I was losing Derek and then I was losing you too! And I was there, alone...and fucking helpless!". 

In a whisper he adds " I felt it, Stiles, you were gone...please, fuck please, don't make me lose you, too. What would have I done if-" Scott can't finish the sentence, he buries his face in his hands and starts sobbing. 

In a heartbeat, Stiles is hugging Scott fiercely, the two of them tightening the embrace more and more, grabbing whatever part of the other is closer, swaying like children, erupting in a litany of broken sobs and whispered apologies.

Derek’s conflicted. He doesn't want to interrupt their little moment but need to know what happened: why Scott is so mad, what they were fighting for. He suspects is because of him, about what happened in the building. There’s no way Stiles had just healed him. 

Still hugging like their lives depend on it, (and maybe they do), Scott and Stiles notice Derek approaching. Stiles lifst his face from the crook of Scott’s neck, looks at Derek, and with a sad smile, whispers “It was worth it, Scotty.”

“I know. Don’t do that to me ever again, though” Scott whispers back, in his usual fond tone despite he’s still trembling in Stiles’ arms.

Stiles’ words make Derek blush. God, he loves him so much.

“What happened?” Derek asks as Scott and Stiles dissolve their embrace, and turn towards him.

Scott points at Stiles with his thumb, says in a stern voice “This idiot took ten minutes off of his life to save you. You were dying.”

Stiles groans, affronted like Scott has just inflicted him a brutal low blow, Scott rolls his eyes. Derek is speechless, too mad to even formulate a thought. 

“What?” it’s all he manages to say.

“Look-” Stiles deflects “-giving the kind of life we are leading, you probably spared me ten minutes of agonizing pain..”

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Derek roars. He can’t believe how stupid that was. How stupid, selfless, Stiles is. What has he done?

“You were dying for real, Derek. What I was supposed to do?”

Scott whines like a wounded animal. Derek is utterly shocked. He ends up asking “Why?”

Now Stiles looks angry, “Why? Why, asks the asshole?!” he looks at Scott, with a shocked face that says can you believe it? “Because I had to see you die in front of me and I respected your fucking selfish wish of letting you go one time, and I promised myself it wouldn’t happen ever again, giving the chance! And then- then you lived , and not only that, you didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye to me before you run away like a bat from hell! L-like seeing you die, and letting you go hadn’t meant a damn fucking thing to me!!” Stiles is mad now, his eyes full of unshed tears. 

“And I would do it again, and again, and again! A million times over or whatever it takes if it means saving you!” 

Now Stiles moves in front of Derek and points a finger accusingly on his chest. 

“Are you mad? I don’t fucking care if you are! A-and I don't care if you won’t talk to me again or can’t forgive me! I will happily live the rest of my life with you never speaking to me again, knowing you are safe and alive, than having to bury you! Because you, having you safe and sound is worth every. Fucking. Second. Of my life!” Stiles is panting now, raw and flushed, furious. He’d never looked more beautiful to Derek. 

“I’d been ready to die with you that night in the pool when we barely tolerated each other and now, now, you seriously think now, I’d leave you for dead? Now that I l-” Stiles stops mid rant, on the verge of start crying.

That’s the moment Derek realises: Stiles loves him, too.

Stiles loves him, too.

“You love me” he says without thinking, dumbfounded.

“Thanks for noticing, dumbass!” Scott grunts.

“What he said!” Stiles turns towards Scott. “Scotty boy, thanks for being the broest bro in existence, but... could you give us a little privacy?”

Scott rolls his eyes, but his scent is happy. ”Ppft. Like I wanna see you two making out. Also, that was the angriest love confession ever.” He reaches for Derek and hugs him tightly “I am so glad he saved you, I was so afraid to lose you”. Derek squeezes him back and nuzzles his alpha’s head, scent marking him. Scott smiles and with a last pat on Derek’s shoulder leaves the two of them alone.

“I love you too.” Derek says in a rush, and it feels a damnation and a relief. He can’t even process the fact that this is real. Stiles loves him back for real. They love each other.

Stiles rubs the back of his head, flushed but happy. “Oh, thank fuck. It’d be an embarassing ride home otherwise.”

Derek huffs and cradles Stiles’ face in his hands, caressing his cheeks with his thumbs, still shocked he gets to do it from now on.

“Please tell me you are gonna kiss me, the waiting is killing me.” Stiles huffs, the scent of his nervous anticipation in the air around them.

Derek scowls. Stiles smirks “Too soon?”  

Derek snorts, but looks at every detail of Stiles’s face before coming closer. He stills just a mere inch from Stiles’ lips, and whispers. “Don’t do something that stupid ever again.”

Stiles licks his lips, then looks Derek in the eyes, feels brave enough to admit. “I can’t promise that because I’d die for you.”

“I want you to live, though.” 

“Perfect, me too! Let’s just live happily ever after, then.” 

Stiles grabs Derek’s shirt in his fists and kiss him. Derek feels Stiles’ smile against his lips. It’s perfect.