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Stiles crashed through the undergrowth and Derek turned around and glared at him. Stiles just glared right back because the sun was barely up and he’d dragged Stiles away from a very comfortable bed and a pretty amazing dream featuring a slightly less clothed Derek that Stiles really didn’t want to think about right now with Derek less than a foot away from him.
If Derek had wanted someone with stealth he should have brought one of his betas, or Allison, or even Lydia, who was surprisingly stealthy, even in 5 inch heels. Especially in 5 inch heels. Really Derek should have just brought anyone except Stiles. Which, why did he even bring Stiles?
“Why did you even bring me?” Stiles asked after he tripped over yet another root and was only saved from sliding down a ravine by Derek’s reflexes.
“Obviously because I enjoy the pleasure of your company,” Derek said deadpan. Laughter exploded out of Stiles at that, pure and unguarded, cutting through the early morning silence in the forest. If they hadn’t known someone was coming before, they definitely knew now.
“But seriously,” Stiles said when the laughter had finally subsided, “Why did you bring me?”
“I was checking the perimeter earlier and I felt--,” Derek frowned, trying to find the right words. “It like there was a…shift in the air.”
“A shift? In the air?” Stiles frowned in confusion then thought of something. “You mean like a breeze?”
“It wasn’t a breeze,” Derek snapped. “I was walking and suddenly it felt like the air was…moving differently through the trees.”
Stiles opened his mouth then closed it again. “Ok seriously, dude, that sounds like a breeze.”
Derek cuffed Stiles on the side of the head lightly and glared. “It wasn’t a breeze. It was...it was like when you close a circle, like all this energy snapping into place. Only bigger.”
“Magic?” Derek nodded and Stiles rolled his eyes. “Dude why didn’t you just say magic to begin with?”
“I did,” Derek said through gritted teeth.
“Uh, no, you said a shift in the air,” Stiles corrected him. “Which is totally a breeze by the way, you didn’t say magic. Magic I can understand. Magic I can do.” He’d been seeing Deaton twice a week for a little over two years by now. Magic was his bitch.
“Not if I rip your throat out you can’t,” Derek pointed out and pushed Stiles gently forward.
“Do you even know where we’re going?” Stiles asked as he navigated around trees and over roots. Derek hooked his finger in Stiles hood and pulled, forcing him to stumble back and tilt his head up. Derek pointed up and Stiles followed his finger to a plume of smoke that was rising above the trees just a few yards in front of them. “Could just be campers.”
“This is private property,” Derek huffed, releasing Stiles’s hood and pushing past him to go ahead.
“I swear to God, if you called me out here to help you scare some kids off your lawn—“ Stiles slammed into Derek’s back, grabbing onto the sides of his jacket to steady himself before looking up to see what had caught the Alpha’s attention.
In the middle of the clearing, on the other side of the stream, perfectly situated under a large tree, was a cottage. A perfect little stone cottage with an honest to God thatched roof. There was a soft light flickering through the windows which Stiles assumed was coming from the fire that was pouring the smoke out of the top of the little chimney.
“So not campers,” Stiles offered dumbly.
“Huh,” Derek said. “That wasn’t there yesterday.”
“Seriously?” Stiles asked him, eyebrows edging dangerously close to his hair-line. “An entire house pops up in the middle of the forest over night and all you can say is ’huh’?”
“It’s a cottage,” Derek corrected him and Stiles threw his hands in the air in exasperation.
“Yeah cause that’s the important thing here,” Stiles practically screeched.
Derek tossed him an unimpressed look and took a step toward the stone path. “Dude, are you insane?” Stiles grabbed Derek’s arm and pulled him back. “Did your mother never read you fairytales. You never ever ever go into a cottage in the woods. There’s probably a crazy old witch in there just waiting to lure in unsuspecting passersby and shove them in the oven.”
“How many unsuspecting passersby do you think she’s going to find in the middle of a wildlife preserve?” Derek asked.
“Two!” Stiles said pointing to Derek and then himself. “There are two right here.”
“We’re hardly unsuspecting,” Derek pointed out. “Besides, that’s the wrong fairytale. It’s probably just a poor, old, defenseless grandma, waiting for her grand-daughter to visit with a basket of goodies.” Derek looked pointedly at Stiles’s chest and he followed Derek’s gaze, taking in his favorite red hoodie.
“Fuck, yeah, of course, cause that’s my life now,” Stiles said almost resigned.
Derek smiled, stepped right into Stiles’s personal space and reached behind him to pull the hood up onto his head. “My what big eyes you have,” Stiles couldn’t help mumbling and Derek’s lips twitched in amusement before stepping back and giving Stiles a shove.
“Fine,” Stiles glared and walked down the stone path and to the cottage door, “But if there’s a wolf in there dressed in a nightgown and bonnet, and it eats me—“
“I will give a very touching eulogy at your funeral,” Derek offered.
“No! No. You will go get and get an axe and you will cut me out!” Stiles hissed before he grabbed the door knob and pushed.
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Scott and Isaac looked up as Derek and Stiles crashed through the trees onto the front lawn of the Hale House. “Go, go, go,” Derek panted, one hand pressing hard against his stomach, the other fisted in the back of Stiles’s hoodie pushing him forward.
“Dude, I think we lost him,” Stiles doubled over, collapsing on the steps of the porch with a wince as he tried to catch his breath.
“Are you guys ok?” Scott asked, eyes wide as he took in the blood pouring through Derek’s fingers.
“Do we look ok?” Derek growled out and Scott shook his head.
“What happened?” Isaac crouched down next to Stiles and pushed his hoodie out of the way to check out the three gashes in his hip. There wasn’t a lot of bleeding, Stiles jeans took the brunt of the damage. He wouldn’t need stitches but butterfly bandages weren’t going to cut it.
“Obi Wan here felt a disturbance in the force and dragged me out of bed at the ass crack of dawn to check it out. By the way, if you were ever wondering who would win in a fight between a werewolf and a bear, the answer is the bear,” Stiles panted.
“He didn’t win Stiles, I made a strategic decision to retreat,” Derek leaned against the railing on the porch. He pulled his hand away from stomach and checked to see if his insides were back on the inside yet. They weren’t, and he wasn’t going to be able to heal if he didn’t get them back in soon.
“Cause he was winning,” Stiles pointed out.
“You lost a fight to a bear?” Scott asked.
“First off I didn’t lose. Secondly, I think it’s important to note that he wasn’t a normal bear, he was a magic bear conjured from a fairytale,” Derek pointed out.
“Yeah, that doesn’t make it sound any better,” Isaac winced.
“I’m just saying, if it was a normal bear that fight would have been over in seconds,” Derek grumbled and Stiles snorted in disbelief. “You don’t believe me? I’ll go out there right now and find a bear and kick his ass.” He pushed himself off the porch railing and started down the stairs. His knees gave out halfway down and he stumbled into Stiles’s side.
“I believe you buddy,” Stiles clapped him on the back. “You can go out and get me a shinny bear pelt tomorrow, but right now I think we need to go see Deaton.” He nodded for Isaac to get Derek’s other side they pulled him to his feet and dragged him to Stiles’s Jeep.
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Stiles sat out in the waiting room, the salve that Deaton had put on his hip was itching like crazy and he was resisting the urge to sit on his hands to stop himself from scratching it. Derek was getting his insides stuffed back where they were supposed to go and Stiles told Scott and Isaac he’d wait so they could go off and do whatever it was they did together. Stiles didn’t like to think about it too much.
The door opened and a woman walked in with a little girl at her side. The girl pulled herself up into the seat opposite Stiles and her mom dropped a bag on the table next to her. “I’ll pick you up in an hour ok sweetie?” The woman dropped a kiss on the girl’s forehead then walked out of the office.
Stiles frowned at the retreating form of the woman then turned back to the girl who had settled in and was staring at him. “You visiting a sick pet?” Stiles asked confused, because why else would a parent drop their kid off at a vet’s office.
“No,” the girl said. “What happened to your leg?”
“Bear,” Stiles shrugged and she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Bear’s don’t just attack people,” she said almost accusatorily.
“Well to be fair, we did interrupt his dinner,” Stiles offered thinking about the three bowls of porridge that had been sitting on the table at the cottage when he’d gone in and realized he hadn’t stepped into Little Red Riding Hood after all. The girl stared at him for a few more seconds before deciding he wasn’t worth any more of her time and pulled a book out of her bag.
Stiles stared at the cover in disbelief, there in perfect detail staring right back at him, was the little cottage in the woods. Everything exactly the same, down to the little purple flowers growing along the side of the house. “No way,” Stiles breathed out, looking from the book to the girl, his eyes widening. “You like Goldilocks and the three bears?”
The girl glanced at him over the top of the book. “It’s my favorite.”
“Right,” Stiles nodded. “And you’re not here for a pet? Dog? Cat? Bird maybe?”
“I don’t have any pets,” the girl said then narrowed her eyes. “Do you?”
“Nope,” Stiles shook his head. They studied each other, both of them probably thinking the same thing. If you didn’t come to the vet’s because of a sick animal, there was only one other possible reason.
“Meredith,” Deaton’s voice startled the both of them and Meredith put her book down, jumping out of her chair. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Why don’t you head to the back room and get down the blue box down. I’ll be with you in just a minute.”
Meredith sighed but nodded, mumbling, “I hate crystals,” as she passed Stiles.
“You and me both kid,” Stiles offered and Meredith smiled at him. Crystals were the worst. Working magic with crystals required a lot of concentration for very little pay off in Stiles’s opinion. Deaton said it would help Stiles work on his focus, but all it ever really did was give him a headache.
Derek stepped to the side to let Meredith pass him but she stopped and turned, staring up at him with an inquisitive eye, then turned to Stiles. “I thought you said you didn’t have any pets.”
“I—“ Stiles’s eyes went wide and Derek’s eyebrows went up ridiculously high. “I don’t.”
“But this is your wolf isn’t it?” Meredith asked innocently.
“Oh my God,” Stiles wasn’t quite sure which part of that sentence to latch onto first. The fact that she could tell with one look what Derek was, or the fact that she thought he belonged to Stiles. Stiles stole a look at Derek who wasn’t looking at the girl but was instead giving Stiles a look he didn’t have the energy to decipher at the moment. “He’s not…I don’t…” There was something stopping Stiles from flat out saying that Derek wasn’t his, and he really didn’t have the energy to figure that one out either.
“Meredith,” Deaton interrupted their strange little stand-off. “The blue box please.”
Meredith sighed and went into the back room while Deaton walked Derek and Stiles to the door. “Derek filled me in on your problem in the woods. I’m not quite sure what we’re dealing with yet but there are few things I can look into.”
“Yeah I don’t think that’s gonna be necessary.” Stiles said, picking up Meredith’s book and tossing it to Derek.
“That’s the cottage,” Derek looked up at Stiles surprised.
“Have you talked to Meredith yet about intent of will?” Stiles asked and Deaton nodded in understanding.
“No,” Deaton took the book from Derek and studied the cover. “I think maybe we’ll leave the crystals for next week.”
“Probably for the best,” Stiles nodded.
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“You’re telling me that the cottage and the bears appeared in the woods because a five year old girl believed they were there?” Derek asked when they pulled up to the Hale house.
“Belief is a powerful thing,” Stiles shrugged. “To do magic, you have to push your will into that belief, to make it real. That’s the spark.”
“But she did it by accident?” Derek asked.
“I think with kids it’s different,” Stiles said. “They believe in things so easily, so completely, in a way we can’t anymore after we grow up.” Deaton told them that he would explain to Meredith what she’d done and stress the importance of not doing it again, and assured them that the cottage and the bears would be gone by morning.
Derek nodded in understanding and moved to get out of the Jeep but Stiles grabbed his arm. “Hey look, what she said, back there, about you being mine.” Stiles said. “I didn’t tell her that, I would never—“
“I know Stiles,” Derek rolled his eyes and got out of the Jeep, slamming the door. “Besides if either of us belongs to anyone, you’re mine, not the other way around.”
Stiles gaped at him before glaring, “In your dreams.” He huffed putting the Jeep in gear.
“Occasionally,” Derek shrugged, offered Stiles a wink then pushed himself off the side of the Jeep and walked up to the house.
“That’s not—“ Stiles turned and watched him take the porch steps two at a time, “You can’t just—“ Derek didn’t even pause, just walked straight into the house and closed the door. “You owe me a bear pelt!” Stiles screamed, knowing that Derek could hear him.
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Two weeks later Stiles woke up, twisting and turning in bed, trying to get comfortable but he was stifling. He grabbed the comforter to throw it off of him and gets some fresh air on his sweat soaked skin when his hand slid into soft, silky fur. He blinked and opened his eyes, looking down at the black bear skin pelt that had been laid over his comforter and smiled.