Derek met Kira the next day. She was young, socially awkward, but kind. She had obviously not intended to cause the power outage, and looked quiet embarrassed by the whole thing. Derek offered a truce with her and her parents. They agreed, and Derek found himself with his first official pack allies.

His wolf preened.

The summer months went by quickly, Kira was incorporated into many of the pack activities. Not that there were many.. everyone in the pack was getting ready for the next year. Even Isaac and Erica had found jobs already.

Stiles, as was becoming the usual, hung around the loft the most. Derek often found him reading on the couch, or cooking dinner in the kitchen. Derek wasn’t sure why, but they never talked about their increasing amount of time together. Maybe they were afraid to bring it up, because they both knew Stiles was moving away soon, at the end of August. And then there would be no more easy hang outs.

Stiles was going to UC Davis though, which was only about two hours away.. so maybe there could be..

No. No use getting his hopes up, he would just have to see what happens. Maybe Stiles would want to come home every weekend, maybe not. Derek’s not going to push his own agenda on the kid. Stiles deserved a chance at normal, just as much as the rest of the pack.

His heart aches whenever he thinks about the pack these days. They’re all leaving soon. Allison’s flight to New York is the day after tomorrow. Derek never thought he would be so sad to see an Argent leave Beacon Hills, but here he is..

Stiles has been trying to distract him for the past few days. Today he dragged Derek to an arcade. Derek appreciates the thought, but even his old friend pac man can’t distract him for long.

Stiles is persistent though. He keeps dragging Derek to the next game, blabbering non stop about anything and everything. Despite his heartache, Derek can’t help smile at the younger man. Stiles always smiles back.

Finally, after about three hours in the arcade, Stiles suggests that they make their way back to the loft. He says it like Derek hasn’t been trying to leave for the past hour. He snorts, but agrees.

As he pulls the Camaro into the lot in front of the loft, he side eyes Stiles suspiciously. He can feel the pack bonds thrumming under his skin. He can smell a number of his packmates close by.

Something is definitely happening.

Stiles just gives him an innocent grin, pulling Derek towards the building.

As Stiles opens the door to his loft, Derek freezes in realization-

“Surprise!” His whole pack shouts in unison.

“What.” Derek says dumbly, looking around the apartment. Decorations, banners and balloons fill the room. Food and drinks are piled on the tables and countertops. There’s even a keg in the corner. He catches a whiff of wolfsbane and knows it won’t just be the humans drinking tonight.

“It’s a surprise going away party!” Allison, Lydia and Erica all announce at the same time. Erica even does a little twirl… Derek suspects she’s a few drinks in already.

“Then why is it a surprise for me? I’m not going anywhere,” Derek looks at them all, frowning in confusion.

Lydia shrugged, “Stiles suggested since so many of us are going away, we should have a party for those who are staying.”

Derek looks over at Stiles, dumbfounded. This is why he was trapped at that arcade all afternoon.

Stiles smirks at him, “you didn’t think I’d let them all leave without saying goodbye to you first, did you?”

Derek doesn’t know what to say, he opens his mouth but nothing comes out.

Stiles grins widder. “Happy staying at home party, Derek,” he leans over and kisses Derek’s cheek, flushing a bright pink as he turns and walks towards the kitchen.

Derek stares after him in shock, before Jackson and Boyd are pulling him into a game of beer pong.

--

Derek likes to think he often has fun. He does things he enjoys. He has friends.. But really, this party is the most fun he has had in a really long time.

After he and Boyd beat Jackson and Lydia at beer pong, it had turned into a full on championship. They each paired off and spent quite a few rounds throwing the pingpong around. The ending match had been Scott and Stiles against Erica and Allison. It was no surprise that Allison and Erica won, given Allison’s hand eye skills, and Erica’s passion to beat the boys. It was surprising that Scott and Stiles had made it into the finals though. The two proclaimed that their skills came from hours playing video games together.

Derek couldn’t help but laugh at the two idiots as they chugged their beers in unison before shaking hands with the two girls somberly.

After that the night was a bit of a blur. All he knows for sure is that they all ended up sprawled in the living room, pillows and blankets thrown over the floor with lumps of cuddle piles on top.

Derek woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, packmates snuggled up on either side of him, and the smell of coffee already wafting out of the kitchen.

This was the happiest he has felt in a long time.

He walked into the kitchen to find Stiles there, brewing coffee and setting up multiple mugs on the counter. He also had a pile of toast already set on the table, and eggs sitting next to the frying pan, ready to be cooked.

“Hey,” Derek greeted softly. When Stiles didn’t reply, he came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

Stiles jumped, but Derek caught the mug as it slipped out of his hand. He placed it back on the counter as Stiles looked at him sheepishly.

“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was up yet.”

Derek didn’t say anything, instead he pulled Stiles into a hug before he could talk himself out of. Stiles tensed at first, before melting into Derek’s arms. Derek pulled back after a minute, giving Stiles a serious but affectionate look.

“Thank you for last night.”

Stiles nodded. He was blushing again.

Derek wanted to pull Stiles in again. He wanted to kiss the blush away, feel the soft lips against his own.

Instead he took a giant step back, because where the hell had that thought come from?

Stiles didn’t notice, he was back to pouring coffee out for everyone. Derek watched him for a moment before turning to make the eggs. Jesus, he needed to get a grip. Stiles was just a kid, Derek couldn’t…

Well, actually. Stiles had just turned 18. He was out of high school. And if the constant blushing was a sign of anything, maybe Stiles wanted..?

Derek glanced over at the mole spotted man, smiling fondly as he watched Stiles measure out sugar into each of the mugs. When Stiles had memorized the entire packs coffee preferences, he had no clue. He was focused, and didn’t even look up at Derek as he continued to stare.

Maybe Stiles did want… but Derek shook his head. Stiles was moving away in less than a week. Derek didn’t want to be the reason he was dragged back to Beacon Hills. Not when Stiles finally had a chance to leave the place.

He sighed, cracking an egg into the pan.

The rest of the pack stumbled in, taking coffee, toast and eggs with them back to the living room. Derek was pleased to see that when they thanked Stiles for the coffee, some of them even used sign language. After he had learned about Stiles impairment, Derek had forced them all to watch online tutorials, and forced Scott to help with the more difficult signs. Not that it had been difficult, Scott was more than happy to learn that more people wanted to learn sign.

It warmed his heart to see his packmates caring for each other.

Stiles didn’t seem to notice though, and Derek had to hold back a laugh. He wondered if it was because Stiles was so used to signing at home with his dad and Scott, or if he was just too hung over now to care?

He followed them out into the living room, where they all piled together to eat breakfast and watch cartoons off Netflix.

The pack stayed for the whole morning, and most of the afternoon. When they did start to leave, there were a few teary goodbyes. Everyone hugged everyone, and Derek was having a hard time controlling his emotions with every new person that walked out his door.

Stiles, unsurprisingly, was the last to leave. He kissed Derek’s cheek again, before giving him one last smile and closing the door behind him. Derek watched him go, his hand coming up to trace the spot Stiles lips had just touched. His heart gave a flutter, and Derek had to force himself to walk away from the door.

That night when he went to bed, he curled up with all the blankets the pack had used the night before. He fell asleep with the smell of pack surrounding him.

--