*****

"Stiles, why are you staring at me?" Stiles blinked, unaware of how much time had passed and confused by what Derek had said. Derek shifted, arching an eyebrow as he placed the book he had stolen from Stiles' bookshelf, page down next to him. He pushed himself up when Stiles still hadn't replied and asked, "Are you okay?"

In truth, Stiles didn't know. He had been reading up on some vampire myths to distract himself from the thought of his father potentially dismembering his once best friend but then he had gotten a call from the man himself. Noah had told him what had happened with Melissa and then told him that he had to go to work. Stiles wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel in a situation like this but he knew it wasn't "okay". So he nodded slowly and made to turn back to his research when he noticed that Derek's eyebrow was still up.

He wanted an answer to his other question, too, Stiles knew that but he didn't have one. It wasn't like he could say "Oh, I was just thinking about what my dad said earlier and analyzing all of my actions before then and yours, too!" Because that could be like admitting he had feelings for Derek that he didn't have. He was just overthinking, that was all. But he couldn't lie to himself that much; he knew that looking at Derek in the way he was wasn't what you did when you had purely platonic feelings for someone. As he watched Derek, he noticed the little things like the way his lips tilted upward when something amused him in the book he was reading or the way his feet bounced slightly as if dancing to a beat no one could hear. He loved the way his beautiful mossy-tree eyes swept across the page – not too quickly, maybe he was a slow reader or maybe he just enjoyed taking his time.

So maybe Stiles had a small crush on Derek but who wouldn't? With the way Derek seemed so in tune with Stiles to the way he treated his Pack, the man was almost perfect. Of course, Stiles knew that Derek, like all people, was flawed. But most of that had to do with his past, therefore, wasn't really his fault. Anyway, that wasn't the point, the point was that any sane person who knew Derek as Stiles did would have feelings that were more than platonic. Or maybe they wouldn't, maybe it was just him. Maybe it wasn't entirely normal to admire the way someone turned a page in a book so gracefully or the way their eyebrows creased in the middle. Okay, the crush may not be as small as he had thought.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," he said when he realised that he couldn't say any of this and had, in fact, begun to stare again.

"What about?" He could lie, it wasn't like Derek would know since he couldn't hear a heart skip if it didn't beat but he also didn't really want to lie. He had already done too much of that. Had grown to hate it, it only seemed to cause trouble, but bending the truth and being vague wasn't exactly lying.

"Nothing much," he was about to go on when he heard a knock at the door. "What's Lydia doing here?" He asked Derek after he recognised her scent. All he got was a shrug and then Derek went back to his book. Stiles rolled his eyes and headed downstairs. Trying to remember why he liked this guy before realising that that was probably a bad idea.

With a sigh, he ran a hand down his face and continued down the hall. Yanking the door open a little too aggressively, he said, "Lydia, hi." He got a quick greeting and a warm smile in return before Lydia was pushing past him and into his house. "After you." He chuckled despite himself.

"Sorry, I just have a few questions." She bounced on her heels, obviously excited; there was no need to try to read her scent but he did anyway. He regretted it when he realised her joy was tainted by worry and nerves. Before he could say anything, she started for the stairs leaving Stiles to trail after her.

~~~~~

Derek listened carefully as Stiles went downstairs and as soon as the boy was too distracted to listen, Derek let out a long breath. Having Stiles' eyes focused so intently on him made him uneasy, stomach twisting. He'd let Stiles have a minute or two before he realised it wouldn't stop without intervention so he had had to say something. He hadn't expected Stiles to look so perplexed by whatever was going on inside his head; so anxious. Derek couldn't help but wonder why – what was the younger male thinking about that had made him shift and pick at his desk chair's armrest? What had made his lips turn down and his eyes wander before fixating back on Derek as if drawn by an invisible force?

Could it be that he was thinking about Derek? Even the idea of that made the werewolf snort with laughter – there was no way, Stiles saw him in no light other than one made for friends. He would have to get over it.

That was so much easier said than done. Derek could already tell it would be near impossible to move on from Stiles. His brilliant smiles, especially the one he seemed to reserve for Derek's eyes only (a rather new thing, but it was becoming difficult to ignore) being a large factor of this. And then there were his gorgeous, bright eyes, always so full of curiosity and snarky excitement, his hair – soft and dark – and too many other aspects, minute details, all too beautiful to describe with words.

But those were just his physical features... shit. He was completely stuck on a young man who could never want him back. Why would he? Derek was nothing in comparison to what Stiles could have; in comparison to what he deserved.

Lydia strode through the open door, interrupting Derek's train of thought, Stiles stumbling after her, laughing. She grinned at him then looked over to Derek who now had his (Stiles') book back in his hands, he wasn't even sure he was on the right page but that didn't seem to matter, he had no intention of actually reading anymore.

"Hello, Derek." He nodded in acknowledgement and got an eye roll in return.

Lydia sat down on Stiles' desk chair, placing her bag on the desk and pulling it open. Stiles let out an enthusiastic "oo" sound, "You find something?"

"Maybe, I don't want to get your hopes up just yet but I think we – me and The Pack – have found something. The only bad thing is that it will take a lot of preparation." Lydia joined Stiles on the floor and cracked the deteriorating book open. "As I said, I need to ask you some questions." She quirked an all-too-perfect eyebrow at Stiles causing Derek's mind to helpfully supply that Lydia would, in fact, be a good match for Stiles despite Stiles seeming to have gotten over his thing for the girl a long time ago. This really wasn't the time.

"Yeah, of course." Stiles adjusted himself until he was lying down so he could see both the book and, if he looked slightly up, Derek. Derek smirked but other than that pretended not to have noticed. Flicking a page, he let himself get comfortable for a long night, mostly consisting of him acting like he wasn't listening when in reality he would be hanging off every word.

"Do you, by any chance, know what type of vampire you are?" Derek frowned, he had known that vampires reacted to things differently but not that they were actually different types.

"No, I've been trying to work that out... hang on," he stood up, glancing at Derek, their eyes connecting for a split second, or maybe it was just a split second too long. Derek wasn't entirely sure, as when Stiles' eyes met his own, it was like looking into pools of glee. The prospect of being human again, normal again, it was exhilarating to him. It only took half a second to see that and to Derek, seeing that was a privilege.

Stiles grabbed a piece of paper, snapping that contact, and moved to lie next to Lydia again. "Here," he unfolded it. "These, obviously, aren't their real names but weedling out names of genuine vampire species is not easy." He shrugged when Lydia laughed. "I crossed off that one," he pointed to the top of the list, "because I don't fucking sparkle." Derek couldn't help but chuckle, it earned him that smile. The small one that only he got, it was a quiet tug at Stiles' lips, a fondness in his eyes, a slight dimple in his cheek. Derek bit back a groan, he felt like a teenager. "I'm definitely not that one unless I've missed the memo on how, exactly, I change into a bat."

"It could just be you have to grow into it." Lydia offered.

"Nah, I don't think I would want to turn into a bat anyway." He paused then said, "The rest of them are just the most plausible and backed-up myths of being a vampire. Does that book say anything else on types?" Derek had abandoned his pretence and was now lying at the end of the bed, arms folded beneath his chin as he read the book upside down.

"Not many, it mentions three in total and they're just the types that this will work with." Derek finished the page but it continued to the next so he looked up to see Stiles gnawing on his lower lip. Lydia flipped to the back, "These are the characteristics and how to spot the types. I think this was written before they discovered others. Unfortunately, most of them aren't physical and there are different steps for each of the three types."

Derek could only think of one real way to test to see what Stiles was and he didn't like it, other than: "Before we do anything we should see if Deaton has a way--" he got cut off and in any other situation he would be annoyed but he was too busy worrying about what Stiles would have to go through just so he had a chance at normalcy.

"I already have." With her lips downturned, brow furrowed, Derek could tell she didn't like the idea any more than he did. And when he looked over at Stiles he was sat up, fingers knotted together. Before Derek could even think about it, he had slipped down next to the boy and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into his lap. Lydia gave them their space and Derek was silently thankful.

"It's going to be okay, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. Okay?" Stiles shook his head then buried it in the crook of Derek's neck. Derek wished he knew how to help, how to find out if this would work without having to run tests on Stiles. "We can find another way, there has to be another way."

"I've looked and looked. Like I mentioned, some of the others helped as well – it was actually Peter that found this – but there is nothing else. As soon as you told The Pack, Peter knew of a way to help but he also knew what it could entail so we scoured everything else and since I had already looked into most things..."

Suddenly, Stiles pulled himself out of Derek's lap and stood up. Eyes hard, lips pressed together, it was almost disconcerting to see Stiles so determined. Derek was used to Stiles being headstrong and used to Stiles' overbearing stubbornness but this... this was something else entirely. Stiles wanted as normal a life as he could, he didn't want to be a blood-sucker, didn't want to have to deal with urges he couldn't always control. He wanted to be able to live his life and not have to explain that he wasn't a monster – wasn't a killer. Stiles didn't need to speak to communicate that to either of them.

Both Derek and Lydia knew he hated that this had caused him to lose his best friend (for better or for worse). It made sense, Stiles had always liked the theory of mythical creatures but he very rarely wanted to be one. He already had to deal with a lot and the added stress of being afraid you'll lose control of your own body, your own mind... And after the nogitsune as well.

Everyone knew that that had left a deep scar, deeper than Stiles let on, Stiles didn't want that to happen again – no one did. And Derek could tell, just from his eyes, that he would die if that meant stopping that from happening again. Derek would do the same.

"I'll do whatever it takes." He nodded as if to convince himself, "I don't want this." He gestured at himself, "I don't want – no, I can't stay nearly eighteen forever as you all grow old. So whatever it takes."

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AN: Hi, sorry about the wait for this chapter. As always, I hope you enjoyed. If you want, comment, vote, share. It's always appreciated. Have a great day, bye!