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"Stiles. How many times have I told you..." Derek trailed off, frustrated. It was annoying when Stiles just came into the loft without warning. A simple knock would be appreciated.
He was already annoyed by the jumble of stuff he had just discovered in his closet. He usually was neater than that and was trying to figure out which of the betas had been pawing through his closet. The clothing didn't smell of anyone in particular, so he'd have to ask when he saw the others. So Stiles just coming into the loft without warning pushed his annoyance to a higher level than usual.
Although now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Stiles for a couple of days. It had been quiet around Beacon Hills and there hadn't been a Pack meeting. Not that he'd admit to missing Stiles. Much.
Stiles stopped just inside the door he had closed behind him, looking lost and woebegone. He had on a ratty t-shirt and threadbare sweatpants. He had a duffle bag in one hand.
Derek looked closer to see a bit of scruff on Stiles' face. Like he hadn't been taking care of himself. Derek had to stop himself from wondering if it was as soft as it looked. He stuck his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't reach out and touch.
"What's wrong?" Derek asked softly.
"How do you do it?" Stiles asked. His head tilted to the side as he studied Derek closely.
"Do what?" Derek was puzzled.
"When you shift to a wolf. How do you do it?" Stiles asked, waving a hand vaguely.
It seemed important to Stiles, so Derek took a second to concentrate on the process. He just transformed, he didn't really think about how he changed. He had to think back to the lessons his mom had tried to give. He hadn't been ready, back then.
"I concentrate on my wolf," Derek said slowly. "I let the animal part of me loose. Paws instead of hands. Fur instead of hair. Once it starts, I don't think about it, I just let it happen."
"And changing back?" Stiles asked.
"Pretty much the opposite but less thoughtful since my wolf doesn't think the same way I do," Derek replied. "More getting in touch with my human side and, well, for everyone it's different but I think about thumbs." Derek felt himself blushing. "It's kind of silly but it works for me."
"Okay, then how do you explain this?" Stiles asked. He dropped the bag on the couch and moved in front of it. He kicked off his sneakers to reveal his bare feet.
Then there was a blur of red and... it was a fox! A classic red fox with a huge, bushy tail. Stiles was larger than a fox would be, his shoulders came up to the edge of the couch.
"Stiles!" Derek breathed in surprise. "That is amazing. What happened? How did you do that?"
Fox-Stiles chittered and turned in a circle. He sat down and gave a sharp bark.
"You do that so well!" Derek said. "How???" He thought for a moment. "Oh. The Nogitsune?" Maybe this wasn't such a good thing. The Nogitsune had left behind too much heartbreak.
Another bark.
"Can you change back?" Derek asked, suddenly worried that Stiles might be stuck. He wasn't sure if he could help Stiles turn back.
Another bark. Stiles trotted over to the side of the couch.
"Stiles? What's wrong?"
Fox-Stiles sat down and chittered again. There was another blur of red and...
"Whoa!"
Stiles was naked! Not that it offended Derek. In fact, Stiles looked really good. Slim but toned. Like the runner he always had been.
Stiles stepped behind the couch to preserve a modicum of decency. He reached for his bag. He dug out a different ratty t-shirt and worn sweatpants. He dressed quickly. Derek wasn't going to think about Stiles not having put on any underwear.
"Stiles! That is so amazing," Derek said. "I'm assuming it's from the Nogitsune?"
"Yeah. The first time happened at night, three days ago," Stiles said. "I woke up tangled in the sheets and had a devil of a time focusing enough to change back. Then I practiced a bunch and it became easier and easier. Now I can do it whenever I want."
"I'm amazed and proud of you for figuring it out on your own," Derek said.
"Well, I've been hanging around with you guys long enough that I picked up some tips," Stiles admitted. "And after the first time, I did a lot of reading about it. Although there's not a lot online. I found some things in the books I took... uh, got from Peter."
Derek laughed. "I won't tell."
Stiles dropped on the couch with a huff. "Do me a favor. Can you change into your wolf for me?"
"Sure," Derek said easily. Stiles was looking for information on something and Derek would always be glad to help. He reached down to take off his shirt.
"No!" Stiles called. "Umm.. sorry. Can you do it with your clothes on?"
"It's kind of tangled if I do that," Derek said. "Let me at least take the shirt off?"
"Okay." Stiles looked down. "And take the socks off, so I have kind of a comparison."
"Sure," Derek said easily. He stripped off his henley, then pulled the socks off his feet, and threw everything on the couch. He was down to jeans with boxers underneath.
"Yeah, like that," Stiles nodded. "As a... test of a theory."
"Okay," Derek said. "But if I get tangled, you have to help."
Stiles shrugged. "Not a problem."
Derek's wolf was larger than Stiles' fox, so he took a few steps back to move to the middle of the living room. Derek did what he had described. He focused on the wolf and let the transformation flow over him. He went from two-legged to four-legged in a long breath.
His jeans and underwear were hanging on his back legs. He shook himself to try to loosen the clothing from his body. He gave a small whuff in Stiles' direction.
"Yeah. That's what I thought," Stiles sighed. "Okay. Let me help you with this." Stiles took the jeans and underwear off his back legs. He dropped Derek's clothes on the couch and sat down there.
Derek pranced in a circle for a moment. Everything felt different as a wolf and Derek took pleasure in those differences. Smells were brighter. Sight was sharper but flatter with no color.
Derek went over and put his head in Stiles' lap. His wolf stood almost to the top of the couch, much taller than Stiles' fox had been. Stiles scratched behind his ears, something Derek didn't want to admit felt good.
Stiles smelled... odd. Resigned? Melancholy? Not quite sad but definitely not happy. Derek was confused. He leaned over and licked up the side of Stiles' face.
"Blechh!" Stiles said but gave a small laugh.
Derek backed away from Stiles so he was back in the middle of the room. He thought about his human side -- and thumbs -- and he was human. And just as naked as Stiles had been.
Stiles threw his pants at him. "Okay, put some clothes on. You're way too distracting when you're naked."
Derek knew Stiles had been around the Pack enough that he wasn't totally shy about naked bodies. But because he wasn't... well, hadn't been a shifter, Stiles was still self-conscious about his own nudity among the Pack.
Derek pulled on his clothes but left the socks off. He sat on the couch next to Stiles.
"What's wrong?" Derek asked.
"It's the clothes," Stiles sighed. "Whenever I shift into my fox shape, my clothes disappear! And they don't come back when I shift back to human form. They're just gone!"
Derek bit back a laugh.
"Oh, sure, laugh it up!" Stiles moaned. "I've disappeared like all of my underwear, a couple of good t-shirts, and two pair of jeans. And my comfy sleep pants."
"You didn't find them anywhere?" Derek asked with a frown.
"Nope," Stiles replied. "I finally went to the second hand store to get t-shirts and sweat pants that I don't mind losing." He waved a hand at what he was wearing.
"I wondered, since it's not quite the sort of thing you wear," Derek nodded.
Stiles sighed. "But when you shift, your clothes hang around. It's kind of unfair."
"If I had to guess, I'm going to say it's because you're doing a magical transformation," Derek offered. "Well, a different magical from mine."
"That's what I thought," Stiles agreed. "I was just hoping there was maybe a reason, or something. I'm just tired of losing all my clothes."
"Can you still shift if you don't have any clothes on?" Derek asked.
"Sure, and if there's time, that's the best option," Stiles replied. "But I know us and we don't always have time to think about what needs to be done and we just do it."
"Too true," Derek agreed.
"Oh, well. I guess I'll keep shopping at the second hand store until I figure it out," Stiles said.
"Come on, let's get some food," Derek offered. "I think you need some curly fries."
"Yes!" Stiles fist-pumped. "Curly fries for the win!"
Derek laughed.
Derek had hung out with just Stiles before but today seemed... special, somehow. They laughed and Derek teased Stiles, gently, about his clothes.
"Have you talked to Scott or anyone about this?" Derek asked once Stiles had a large plate of curly fries in front of him.
"No one besides you and Peter, well, there is Malia, can do the full transformation," Stiles replied. "I know it's a Hale thing. But there are enough stories about full shifters that I know it's not strictly limited to Hales. But never a bitten 'were. That's consistent across all of the reading I've been able to do."
"Peter would help," Derek offered. Peter would be fascinated.
"I know," Stiles nodded. "I agree with your thought that it's a magical thing and Peter knows the most about magic. Just... it's not awful, more of a nuisance."
"If you need help with anything," Derek said, "just ask."
"Oh, I will!" Stiles grinned.
The next night was the full moon and Derek looked forward to being able to run fully shifted with Stiles. Peter was the only other member of the current Pack that could shift fully since Malia was off 'finding herself' somewhere. Derek had always known that running with another full shifter was always good but Stiles made it even better.
Derek was right, Peter was fascinated. Scott mostly ignored it as a Stiles thing, still not totally convinced that the Nogitsune wasn't lying in wait inside Stiles. Stiles and Scott's current compromise was to ignore each other. Derek could live with whatever kept the peace.
Derek had tried not to get too obviously territorial as Peter peppered Stiles with questions. There was a gleam of speculation in Peter's eyes when he finally broke off.
"Are we ready?" Derek asked, to put an end to the interrogation.
"Lead on!" Stiles said, disrobing and quickly shifting to his fox form. Derek and Peter shifted to their wolves and the rest to their Beta forms. They group set off into the woods in high spirits.
The morning after the run, Derek woke in his wolf form wrapped around Stiles' fox. It was comfortable in a way he had not been in a long time. Derek nosed Stiles to wake him up. Derek figured -- hoped?? -- Peter had taken the rest of the Pack off somewhere else.
He made his way back to the Loft, which fortunately was empty so he knew that Peter had taken the rest of the pack elsewhere. Stiles followed Derek, and they transformed back to human form. Stiles had left a bag at the loft in anticipation of such an event.
"Breakfast?" Derek offered.
"Oh, yes!" Stiles nodded. "I could eat a horse."
"I have something better than that," Derek said, grabbing some pans from the shelf. "Take a shower, if you want. This will be a few minutes."
"Can I help?" Stiles asked.
"When you're done with the shower," Derek said. "If you need something else to wear, there's a bag in my room with some stuff that I seemed to have accumulated from the Pack. See if there's anything there you can use."
"Oh, good," Stiles said. "It gets expensive replacing clothes all the time."
Derek knew Stiles wouldn't take a direct offer of money from him, so the second hand things in his closet was a reasonable compromise.
A few minutes later, Stiles was standing in the entry to the kitchen with a handful of t-shirts.
Derek glanced over and nodded. "Sure. Take it all if you want," he offered.
"Derek. These are my clothes."
Derek frowned. "What?"
"These are the clothes that have been disappearing when I shift," Stiles said slowly. "I didn't look but it seems to be everything I'm missing."
Derek turned off the burner and moved closer to look. "They didn't smell like you." He didn't say he would have kept them if they did. "I thought it was the others just messing around and leaving random things in my closet."
"These are my t-shirts," Stiles said with a frown.
"I don't know what to tell you," Derek said helplessly.
"Can I try something?" Stiles looked thoughtful.
"Sure!" Derek agreed immediately.
Stiles put one of the t-shirts on, setting the rest on a chair. He shifted to his fox form and then shifted back. Naked again. Stiles had gotten better about casual nudity in the past week and he absently pulled a t-shirt on. Not that Derek minded watching Stiles' pert rear end as he moved determinedly down the hall.
"It was there!" Stiles said, holding up the t-shirt he had just had on.
"Okay," Derek was puzzled. "Your clothes are appearing in my closet. Is that what is happening?"
Stiles nodded. "It seems so."
"What does it mean?" Derek asked.
"Well, first of all, it means I won't have to go broke buying new clothes," Stiles grinned.
"I would have..." Derek started but stopped.
"Thank you, but I would have managed," Stiles put a hand on Derek's arm.
"Just... always here to help," Derek said.
"I know," Stiles grinned.
"And?"
"And... I think I need to think about this for a minute," Stiles said easily. "Let me get that shower and you can get back to making breakfast."
Knowing Stiles would talk when he was ready, Derek went back to making their breakfast.
Derek caught Stiles looking at him speculatively over breakfast but let Stiles be.
Whatever Stiles was going through didn't force him from the loft immediately after breakfast, which Derek was grateful for. Stiles stayed until he had to go to make dinner for his father. There was something about Stiles becoming a shifter that made him special to Derek.
Oh.
Derek groaned. Stiles was always special, from that first meeting. Bright, inquisitive, loyal, maddening, gorgeous, and... Derek was so screwed.
Unexpectedly, Stiles knocked when he came by three days later. He looked especially nice today, cleanly shaved and dressed in a polo shirt and khakis. Now that Stiles knew where his clothes went, he could afford to look nice.
"Hey," Derek said. "You didn't have to..."
Stiles shrugged. "Felt like something I should do at least once." He gave a small grin.
"Well then, come in," Derek invited. "Did you come by for anything special?"
"Umm... yeah," Stiles admitted as he followed Derek to the kitchen.
"What do you need?" Derek asked.
"Can I try something?" Stiles asked nervously.
"Sure."
Stiles moved cautiously into Derek's space. He placed his hands on Derek's hips and Derek was somehow surprised that he and Stiles were the same height.
Stiles leaned in and pressed his lips against Derek's. Stiles started to move away when Derek's head caught up with what was happening. Derek moved his hands to Stiles' shoulders and pulled him close. Derek started kissing back.
Stiles sagged with relief and wrapped his arms around Derek's waist. The stood close, exchanging soft kisses.
"Wasn't sure..." Stiles mumbled.
Derek laughed softly. "I just realized myself a couple days ago."
"Oh. Well. Good then," Stiles replied. He returned to the kissing.
They ended up with their foreheads resting together, just breathing each other's air.
"I kind of freaked out when I realized my magic was telling me that I should be with you," Stiles admitted. "But maybe it's smarter than I am."
"Maybe," Derek grinned.
"Hey!"
"Does this mean all of the rest of your clothes are going to end up in my closet?" Derek asked.
"Probably," Stiles said.
"I'll just have to get a bigger closet then." Derek leaned in for another kiss.