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“Dude, I’m just saying, it wouldn’t hurt to have some skills of my own.”
They had just gotten back to Derek’s loft after training with the pack, and Stiles was trying to convince Derek of the value of his latest idea.
“Stiles, you can do magic.”
“Ok, well, yeah, but - but what if I can’t for some reason. There’s gotta be some magic-blocking buzz kill beastie out there. I need to have something to fall back on! I need to be able to keep up with the pack.”
Stiles had gotten it into his head that he was behind his friends when it came to athletics. Which, you know, wasn’t totally wrong, seeing as how they were all supernatural creatures, with the strength and fitness to go with the title. But still.
“Derek, come on, even you have to see the importance of this. I need a way to protect myself - and the pack - if, for whatever reason, you with your fangs and your growls and your snarly eyebrows can’t do it.”
Stiles could tell that Derek was starting to cave. He knew it was a dirty trick to use Derek’s obsession with Stiles’ safety like that, but he had to get his point across.
Still, Derek was hesitant.
“But, yoga? Really? Stiles, you’re about as flexible as my camaro.”
“It’ll help with that! Plus, it opens the door to some serious ninja skills, man. I could totally be a ninja! A ninja with some magical inclinations. Dude, I could be like a superhero! I could be Loki! Tell me that wouldn’t be epic.”
“Loki.”
“Yeah, you know, magical Asgardian with some kick-ass moves? God, we need to have a comic education, like, STAT.”
“I know who Loki is. With you around, how could I not? I just think -- no. You know what, have it your way. I’m not above saying I told you so when you hurt yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah. Love you too, Sourwolf. And hey, think about this, flexibility is useful for more than just pack training, if you get my meaning.”
“...”
“That’s what I thought. I’ll be upstairs.”
o0oOo0o
Derek jumped when he heard a loud thud coming from up the winding staircase. He sighed and got up, putting a bookmark in his Fitzgerald novel. He paused to listen to the sounds in the loft, making sure nothing was out of place. All he detected was the hum of the fridge in the kitchen, the music trickling from the stereo, and the - somewhat erratic - breathing of his mate upstairs. Shaking his head, he went to make sure Stiles was okay.
o0oOo0o
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“Yeah, ok, laugh it up, fuzzface. Are you gonna help me or not?”
"Okay, okay, I’ll help, but - how did you even do that?”
Despite his best efforts, Derek couldn’t stifle the chuckles that kept bursting out of him.
“I was watching a tutorial on YouTube, and the instructor dude did it. It looked easy. It’s… It’s not easy.”
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t a yoga position. What would it be called, ‘chicken in pretzel’?”
“You’re hilarious, a regular Bill Cosby. Now could you help me? My thighs are starting to cramp.”
Derek wasn’t sure what Stiles had been trying to do, but the younger man had managed to get himself stuck with both legs locked behind his head and his left arm trapped between the back of his neck and his right calf. Without the support of either arms or legs, he had fallen off of the bed and onto the floor, flat onto his face.
“Hang on, let me just…”
Stiles grimaced as the werewolf untangled his limbs, massaging feeling back into them one by one before he laid them on the floor. He lay completely boneless, spread out like a starfish, waiting for his hands and feet to stop tingling.
Derek lay down next to him, face to face, with only a few inches between them. “Are you okay?”
Stiles sighed. “Yeah, my pride’s the only thing that’s really hurt. I am gonna be pretty sore tomorrow, though, so the next baddie had better just take a day off.”
“Things have been quiet lately. I think we’re fine.”
The young man ran his hands over his face.
“I just, I wanted something that I was good at, you know? Something that would make me an equal in the pack instead of just the squishy human researcher.”
Derek’s eyebrows wrinkled as he gripped his hand. “Stiles, where is this coming from?”
“Oh come on, you can’t tell me you haven’t noticed how much - how much less I am compared to the rest of the pack.” Stiles jumped up and started to pace. “I can’t fight with you, I can’t keep up with you on moon-runs, I can’t do anything to protect the people I love most in the entire world. I’m useless.”
For several heartbeats, Derek just stared at him. Then he sat up, sank his face into his hands, and said, “God, my mate’s an idiot.”
“Hey!”
“No, it’s okay, I’m an idiot too. Stiles, you are the only reason the pack even exists. YOU were the one to figure out where Deucalion was hiding Erica, Boyd, and Cora, and the one to get them out safely. YOU are the one who comforts Issac when memories haunt him, and YOU are the one who keeps Scott and Jackson from ripping each other apart. YOU are the one who maintains the wards that protect us from being hurt. God Stiles, when you use magic, it’s like you glow. It drives me wild. No one has tried to challenge us in months because they hear stories about the emissary who took out an entire Alpha pack when his own was threatened. You’ve come to our rescue so many times. I’d be dead a hundred times over if it wasn’t for you. I owe you my life, Stiles. More than that, I owe you my pack, my - my family.”
Stiles looked at Derek with awe, never having heard his boyfriend use that many words so eloquently. He blinked at the realisation that there were tears fogging Derek’s eyes, and then crumpled to the floor next to his werewolf.
“Wow. I really am an idiot.”
Derek laughed, swiping at his eyes, and then brought his hands up to cup Stiles’ face.
“I love you. I love you with everything I am. I’m thankful everyday that you’re my mate, that you are the one to be by my side. Forever”
Stiles bit his lip, then tucked his head under Derek’s, sinking into the strong embrace, letting his boyfriend’s - his mate’s strength keep them upright.
“Thank you. For everything. I - yeah. I love you, too, Derek.”
A rumble of contentment emanated from Derek’s chest, his wolf’s joy at hearing those words mingling with his own. They stayed like that, curled around each other, for a long, peaceful moment.
“Stiles?”
“Yeah?”
“I told you so.”
Laughter rang through the loft as Derek dodged the pillow Stiles swung at him.