okay, so i just had a really angsty idea for a sterek fic, here me out:
derek breaks up with stiles, and he doesn't do it nicely. stiles, in his pain, casts a spell to make himself forget derek and the break up, however, the spell goes wrong and reverses and now no one knows who stiles is, and they never remember him for longer than 24 hours. the only way stiles can remove the broken spell and fix everything is to work with the original object of the spell, derek, and recast it properly, but with his consent.
so the angst is that stiles now has to work with derek to be able to get over him, and derek doesn't remember him, so its all fresh but obviously it hurts stiles to no end. and for some reason, derek starts to be able to remember stiles past the 24 hour mark (love, duh). and here's the best, most angsty part. derek didn't break up with stiles because he stopped loving him, it was a self-sabotage thing where derek doesn't think he's worthy or being happy and would ruin stiles' life and/or get him killed. typical derek bullshit, blah blah blah, yada yada yada, derek's a dummy!
so as they are working together to try and reverse the spell, derek is kinda falling for this stiles guy, and trying to flirt and shit. stiles hasn't told him the reason he needs his help, just that its magic. but every time derek thinks he's getting somewhere, stiles shuts down and gets really sad. (of course derek helps him, because derek is a saint, and that doesn't at all fuck with stiles' head/heart that derek so readily trusts and offers to help him...)
it culminates with them being about to reverse the spell (maybe with a bit of life or death danger present?), and stiles has to finally explain the spell and everything leading to it, to get derek's consent. and it crushes derek, to learn the truth, because at this point, under the forget-me spell, he is fully gone on this stiles guy, and the thought of having to forget him? and then hearing what real derek did in the past that he obviously can't remember, and he thinks he himself was a dumbass idiot. it would basically end with stiles just cancelling the spell all together and the two of them getting together/back together, and once the spell is completely broken derek gets his memories back and they both start to cry and are just hugging each other so tight, and derek is whispering apologies, and stiles can't breathe he is so happy and crying so hard and just so fucking glad that derek stopped being an ass and just wanted stiles again, and derek spends the rest of his life trying to make it up to stiles, trying to make him believe that he never stopped wanting him
