crack_van | "Lodestar" by paxlux (Mature)

Fandom: Teen Wolf
Pairing: Derek/Stiles
Length: 16,524
Author Website: paxlux
Author's Summary: It’s a long drive. It’s a long drive and they have many miles to go before they sleep.
Why this must be read: This fic has some of my favourite things, road tripping, full wolf transformations, Stiles and Lydia being casually kickass. There's a quiet loveliness to the story and this is an AU that I could watch as a show on its own.

When Derek unlocks the front door, the sheriff is awake, in uniform, and he doesn’t say a word from his newspaper until after Derek gets Stiles up the stairs, into bed (Stiles just tilts over and there he is, facedown in a pillow), and then comes back down.

They watch each other for a moment, then Sheriff Stilinski sighs, drags a hand down his face.

Derek feels so young in this moment, nervous in front of authority as if he’s twelve and trying to steal fireworks, so he shrugs, he doesn’t know what else to do. “I’m returning this.”

“You got a receipt?”

“Nope, sorry.” He shrugs again. “I didn’t—“

“Oh, I know, I know. I’ll punish him later. After his hangover.” The sheriff smiles, tired, and Derek smiles too. He wants to apologize, Stiles drunk in the woods with his hands and gaze so much older than the rest of him; none of this should’ve happened to them, they have pictures on the walls with big smiles and the future in their eyes, nothing but sunshine. He wants to apologize, but he isn’t sure if it’s welcome and he doesn’t know how.

He smiles, shrugs a third time, then gives a wave, headed out the door.

“I owe you a box of donuts,” the sheriff calls. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Lodestar