#fireman!derek

After Derek is the one who saves Stiles from a terrible night gone wrong, they aren't the only ones forced to overcome barriers, break down walls, and try to rebuild their lives one step at a time.

Hey @redutationswiftie. I know this one! It’s so cute.

Cupboard Love by mklutz

(2/2 I 32,682 I General I Sterek)

He’s carefully balancing the sandwiches and the two biggest tupperware containers he could find that both had functioning lids when the front door opens and he almost drops everything right there in front of the stupid fountain.

To prove his point, two guys across the room keep eyeing them up. Finally, one works up the courage to come over. Stiles counts down, “Three… two… one..” and pulls back his jacket to show the badge clipped onto his belt. The man turns and runs away, making his friend burst out in laughter. “And that one,” Stiles says, pointing at the man laughing. “Is thinking ‘I don’t mind the handcuffs’.”

Later, when Stiles goes up to the bar to order another round of drinks for him and Scott, the other man walks up to him.

“If you’re going to ask if we can play with the handcuffs, then the answer is no,” Stiles says before the man can speak.

“Actually, I was going to say you have a nice smile,” the man says.

Stiles turns to look at him. “You in the services? Army?”

“Fire brigade,” the man answers.

“Figures,” Stiles says.

“Let me guess: the three types of people you date?”

Stiles looks at him, surprised. “How did you know?”

“We get it too. They’re either services or army, unable to commit to someone who will drop anything and everything when the pager goes off, or they want the poles, the uniform, or what’s on the calendars.”

Stiles can’t help but laugh.

“I’m Derek,” the man introduces himself, holding out his hand.

“Stiles.”

They get to talking, and slowly get to know each other. They go on a couple of dates and later move in together. Derek asks Stiles about the anchor necklace he wears, and Stiles explains that it used to be his mother’s; faith, hope and charity (a cross, an anchor and a heart), and when she died, she gave it to Stiles. He lost the other two pendants a while ago and thought about replacing them, but at the same time, he likes it how it is; because no matter what life throws at you, there’s always hope.

Derek tells Stiles about how he lost his family in a fire and now he only had his sisters and his uncle, and none of them know he’s gay. Stiles tells him it’s okay, whenever his family’s around he’ll leave the apartment, or he’ll just introduce himself as his friend. He tells Derek that it’s his choice, and he can tell them when he’s ready.

On the day that Derek decides to tell his sisters, he gets called away to a building fire. The blaze is out of control and the police are called in help contain the situation. But when they get there, Stiles asks for a brief and the lieutenant tells him that they’ve evacuated the building, but they can’t get a reply from Captain Hale.

Stiles begins to panic, but picks up on something, the broken static of the receiver that’s linked to Derek’s channel. He begins to write it down, deciphering the Morse code. M-A-S-K/B-R-O-K-E/C-A-N-T/B-R-E-A-T-H-E/L-E-G/S-T-U-C-K

Stiles grabs the receiver. “Derek, listen to me. Hold on. I’m coming to get you.”

“You can’t,” the lieutenant objects. “The building’s not stable enough. You step in there and the whole thing will come down on you and Derek.”

“There’s got to be a way to get to him,” Scott insists.

“Tunnels,” Stiles says. “There’s service tunnels under every large building in the city. We can go under the building, get Derek, and get out.”

“With Captain Hale stuck in that building, I’m in charge and I can’t authorise my men to go on a suicide mission.”

“Then don’t. I volunteer,” Stiles says, walking over to one of the trucks and gathering the equipment: oxygen mask and a fire-proof suit. He runs over to the ambulance that’s waiting nearby and looks at Allison. “How ballsy are you feeling today?”

“You’re going in, aren’t you?”

“There’s a man in there. He’s pinned with a broken mask; smoke inhalation and a possible broken leg,” Stiles explains.

“I’m in,” Allison says, joining Stiles at the truck and suiting up before grabbing an oxygen mask for Derek, some medical supplies, and a stretcher.

“I’m coming with you,” Scott says.

“No.”

“You can’t carry Derek out alone; you need two people to carry the stretcher and Allison will be treating him,” he points out.

“Fine, suit up.”

At that moment, he sees a young girl go racing towards the building.

Lieutenant Parrish is quick to grab her, but she tries to fight her way out of his arms. Stiles recognises her; Derek’s little sister, Cora. She’s screaming about going in to get her brother, but Parrish tries to pull her thrashing body back towards the crowd.

Stiles calls out her name, pulling the necklace from his neck and giving it to her. “It means hope. Derek would never forgive us if you went in there. I’m going in to get your brother, I just need you to have hope.”

She takes the necklace and nods, tears trailing down her cheeks as Parrish walks her back over to Laura.

Stiles, Scott and Allison go in through the tunnels, finding Derek unconscious under a fallen beam. Stiles and Scott hoist it off him and Allison quickly goes to work trying to treat the wound in his leg where a metal bar has impaled him. When he’s stable, Scott and Stiles hoist him onto the stretcher and they get out, just in time because the building collapses.

They get him to the ambulance and Allison rushes him to hospital. Stiles goes over to Laura and Cora, telling them to follow him as he gets into his car and follows the ambulance to hospital. He waits with the sisters until Derek’s out of surgery and then waits in the hallway while they sit by his bedside.

As Derek regains consciousness, he sees the anchor necklace around Cora’s neck, gently reaching up to touch it and whispering Stiles’ name over and over again.

The grin makes his face light up; he flashes his bunny teeth, and Stiles feels like an anvil’s been dropped on top of his head.

He might’ve stopped breathing for a long, inadvisable second.

He’s pretty sure he saw a dimple.

Crap. This is totally unfair. This crush has been terrible but manageable; he hardly ever saw Derek outside of the occasional diner run-in and all the summer BBQs, and Derek always looks like being in any public setting is excruciating—his broody scowls are devastating enough, now he gets to imagine him happy.

"Did you say--" Stiles starts.

"What?" Derek growls.

"We're not a couple!" they both retort in unison.

"We're not together," Stiles insists.

But then the rest of the group filters into the classroom, and Stiles kinda just stares with his mouth hanging open wide because these aren’t real firefighters.They’re all too attractive. He’s starting to worry that he called that stripper place he’d used for Danny’s last birthday because they kinda look like the people in the firefighter and police officer porns he’s watched. But they’re wearing too many clothes, so maybe it’s just Stiles’ lucky day and he gets to drool over four fucking hot firefighters for the afternoon.

“He’s the teacher?” one of them grunts. And, oh yeah, super hot with his dark hair and scruff, but the eyebrows are arched like he’s not sure Stiles is capable of handling other people’s children all day. Stiles is absolutely capable, and certified to boot – he’s even got a Master’s in elementary education and a specialization in literacy. That makes him a T-6, the best you can be without a PhD, thank you very much Mr. McJudgey Fireman.

“Mr. S?” Lin whispers, tugging on the tail of his untucked shirt. “It’s rude to not invite them in.”

As Derek's heavy, boot-clad foot lands on the second last step, his rambling, tired thoughts are interrupted by a shrill scream filtering through the door just to his left. Derek's heart rate spikes, adrenalin soaring. His firefighting instincts kicking in, he leaps up the last steps and bolts to the door, relieved to find it unlocked. His thoughts race, imagining hundreds of horrific scenarios which all end in disaster. He runs through the doorway and towards the screeching. What he finds is not at all what he imagined.

There, standing on a chair and screaming bloody murder, is his new neighbour. He is staring, wide-eyed, at a corner of the room where Derek can see a medium sized spider hanging out, minding its own business. He takes in the scene in front of him, his eyebrows so high they could be mistaken for part of his hairline.