Scott watches Stiles set up his side of the room in the basement, aka Scott's suite - his private suite, trying his best not to pout. His best friend, being the genius he is, had suggested without input from Scott that they should room together to give Derek a proper room with a proper bed that didn't leave the houseguest tossing and turning from discomfort at night.

Of course, Scott wants to help out Derek. He really does. But rooming with Stiles puts Scott in a very awkward situation. He was no stranger to sharing a bed with Stiles. They had done so throughout the years when spending the night at each other's house. But there is a big difference between now and then. And he can't tell Stiles why he doesn't want to share his space. He can't tell anyone.

"Oh, uh, Stiles. What're you doing down here?"

Scott whips his head to see Kira at the bottom of the stairs, surprise clear on her face.

'Crap!' Scott thought. He had been so focused on finding an excuse to stop Stiles from moving in with him, he forgot to inform Kira. Or anyone else.

"Hey, Kira. Me and my buddy here are gonna shack up for a while. Derek's gonna taking my room." Stiles informs causally, too busy assessing where he wants to place his things so he doesn't need to barge into his former room, now Derek's room, anytime he needs his clothes, school books, or a movie from his DVD collection. Scott knew Stiles will have an almost daily movie session now that they were living in the same room.

With everything Stiles is bringing down, it's fortunate that the basement is spacious enough to accommodate the two best friends. Depending on who you ask.

"I see. That's nice of you." Kira responds.

Scott hopes Stiles doesn't catch the hollowness in her voice.

And he doesn't. "Did you need something from Scott?"

"Me? No!" Kira clears her throat and lowers her voice when she speaks again. "No. I, uh, just wanted to say goodnight. Goodnight, Scott." She adds a goodnight to Stiles.

Scott, with his back facing Stiles, mouths a 'sorry' to Kira and then echoes a goodnight. Stiles follows Scott's lead in saying goodnight to Kira, thankfully unaware of the disappointment looming between Kira and Scott.

Scott exhales pitifully as Kira climbs the last step back upstairs, closing the door behind her. He tells himself Stiles bunking with him will only be for a short time. But it doesn't change his mood. Because honestly, he has no idea when Derek will be able to move out. After Stiles's dad told them the fire was intentional, Derek discovered until the investigation was clear that his insurance wouldn't pay him. And Derek's building manager was in the same boat and couldn't start renovations until they were compensated.

Everyone was stuck waiting with no end in sight.

"Scott, you okay there? Scotty?"

He mumbles an answer that he hopes will appease Stiles but it doesn't. And now Scott feels worse for bumming out his friend.

Scott had looked so miserable. And Stiles knew it was because of his bright idea. Stiles was so dead set on helping Derek that he hadn't considered Scott's feelings. He shouldn't have forced his best friend to cohabitate together.

Once again Stiles took the decision out of Scott's hands and canceled his plans to move in the basement with him. He knew made the right call after seeing the dark cloud over Scott dissipate. Scott's cheerful disposition returned instantly.

With that problem solved, there was still the matter of Derek. The master bedroom Stiles occupied had a king-sized mattress that would leave a nice enough gap between two people if needed. And that was perfectly acceptable to Derek when Stiles explained it to him.

"Are you sure you're okay with this? I feel bad. Like I pulled the rug from under you."

"You're letting me - a stranger - share your bed after already sharing your house with my family. You have nothing to feel bad about."

"Yeah, but I promised you that-"

"Stiles, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but shut up." Derek says with no heat.

Stiles does as told, making a motion of zipping his lips shut, and gets ready for sleep. He quickly changes in the adjoining bathroom, shedding his jeans for thin pajamas pants and keeping his Forces of Destiny long sleeve that he did not buy in a girls' XXL. But his agreed silence doesn't last long before he's apologizing again when he returns.

"I am sorry though."

The two work together to replace the linen on the bed, Stiles would now share with a relative stranger, as his mouth moves on its own.

"I think the real reason Scott didn't want to bunk with me is because he has a special lady friend in his life.

"I haven't seen him all mopey like that since his last girlfriend dumped on prom night. It's gotta be because of a new girlfriend he's sneaking down there. It's the only thing that I can think that caused him to act like it's the end of the world. I mean, he couldn't be me. I'm awesome. And he loves me."

Derek smirks at that.

"It is weird though that he wouldn't tell me. I mean, he's never kept a relationship secret before. And Scotty would always tell me every detail. Like this one girl who liked to eat cake while Scott used his fingers to-"

Derek snaps his end of the bed sheet to even the bed cover as it drifts down to the mattress. The sharp sound interrupts Stiles to Derek's relief. "I get it! You and Scott are close. A little too close…" He lowly adds the last part.

"Exactly. So that means whoever he's dating, he's ashamed of. Maybe a married woman. What do you think?"

"Me?" Derek freezes.

Stiles huffs in annoyance and leans forward over the bed to grab the pillow out of Derek's hand, the solid stone statue not doing his share. "Yeah, I can't really talk to my best friend about a problem I'm having with him."

Derek wishes Stiles would. It's not that he didn't want to help Stiles. He does. But Derek felt in a weird position since he harbored a secret from Stiles as well. What kind of advice can Derek give that wouldn't make him feel like a hypocrite?

"I think… people are entitled to their secrets and if you trust Scott then you'll wait until he's ready to share with you. He is an adult after all." Derek rationalizes.

Stiles smoothes out the wrinkles on the fresh pillowcases, deep in thought.

Derek fears he made a mistake. It was the best he could offer that didn't make him feel he was steering Stiles in the wrong direction.

Stiles leaves the now wrinkle-frees pillowcase alone and sighs in defeat. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that but you're right."

Derek breathes easier and feels like he can move again.

"Y'know, you're not so bad at giving advice. I might have to come to you more often."

Stiles scratches his head as he realizes the preparations for the bed are done. Nothing left to do but to get into bed. With Derek. The man he's known for maybe two weeks. This plan seemed less daunting when it was in Stiles's head. But Derek's fine with it, so Stiles should be too.

Right?

He can feel himself backpedaling on this plan. So Stiles does what he does best when he's nervous. He talks himself through it. "Hey, this will kinda be just like sleepaway camp"

"Never did that." Derek responds, taking his steps for bed.

Stiles nervously watches him take off his already loosened tie and unfasten his watch. Derek had another late night at the office and didn't get home until an hour ago and is already going to sleep. Poor guy is really burning both ends of the candle.

"Me and Scott actually met at camp. Fresh air camp. Between his asthma and my allergies that place was a godsend."

Derek does the same as Stiles did and goes to change in the bathroom. When Derek comes out, Stiles is treated to a full frontal view of Derek wearing a pair of black boxer briefs that leave little to the imagination. He quickly turns away but it makes no difference because the sight, however brief, is not going away anytime soon. If ever.

"Oh my bad, dude. Do you need some pajamas or something?" He offers, remembering that Derek lost most of his clothing.

"No thanks, this is how I sleep, sometimes with a tank top. My body runs hot when I sleep." Derek explains.

How has he never noticed that Derek slept like this before?

To be fair, Stiles never sees Derek in the morning until the older man scraps his tired feet into the kitchen. And Stiles doesn't see him at night before sleep either.

"Look, if you want I'll put on some clothes if it's really a problem. I want to be respectful of your rules."

Stiles scoffs and realizes he's scoffing at a window, his back facing Derek. He knows Derek has to be reading how uncomfortable he is right now. So he turns around and because he is a bit uncomfortable, starts to babble. "No, no. It's fine. It's just skin, right? The human body is a beautiful work of art." He catches himself before his eyes lower dangerously low down Derek's body as he says it. "We're both adults."

"Some more than others." Derek smirks, pointedly looking at Stiles's shirt.

Stiles drops his jaw with exaggeration. He lets the teasing go by, happy that Derek feels comfortable with their unusual situation. It put Stiles at ease. He went from housing a newly homeless family to bunking with a half-naked stranger in a week's time.

Stiles feels can handle this. He'll be fine. He's played lacrosse in high school not so long ago and had to change in the locker room with absurdly ripped teammates. This was no problem.

And it really wasn't a problem.

After sliding in bed with Derek by his side, and a healthy gap between them, the weirdest thing of all is how not awkward and weird it feels to share the bed together.

The light is shut off and a funny thought comes into Stiles's mind.

He decides to share it with Derek. "Isn't funny how we're sorta raising our kids together and now we're sharing a bed together. It's like we got married but without all of the cool wedding gifts and the other fun stuff. The naked fun stuff." Why did Stiles decide to talk?

"Stiles."

"Yeah, big guy?"

"Remember the point of this whole sleeping arrangement?"

"Of course. It was my idea so that you could get a good night's sleep... Oh right, shutting mouth now."

"Good night, Stiles." Derek waits for a response but doesn't hear one. "Stiles?"

"Sorry, I had my mouth locked tight for the night. Rest easy, Derek. Re-locking lips."

Derek didn't bother fighting the smile widening on his face, hidden by the cloak of darkness.