First friends

Summary: How did Stiles recognize Derek so quickly in the first episode? Here's one possibility. Mild spoilers through the season finale, "Code Breaker".

EDIT: Teen Wolf and its characters are all the property of MTV and its creators. I claim no ownership of their materials.

Derek ran through the woods. He ran past trees, in and out of the light of the half-moon. He ran with the wind blowing around him, with the gentle sounds of the wildlife around him. Chest heaving, he tried to run away from the past; he tried to run away from memory, thoughts, and feelings, from helping the newly bitten Scott, fighting his crazed uncle, seeing her again, finding Laura. From the knowledge, that it was just a few months until the anniversary of...

"No!" Derek thought to himself. He ran faster, pushing himsef harder, testing the limits of his new Alpha abilities. "Don't think. Just run. See, hear, smell…" Empty his mind, like his father had taught him, all those years ago.

Listen to the sound of the leaves crackling under his feet, the feel of the soil shifting with each step. Dodge between trees, knocking aside their branches. Focus on the smell of the fresh earth after the recent rains. Hear the sounds of nature, far from any other people; find the hooting of the owls, winging silently and deadly through the night, of small creatures burrowing into their dens.

Tsssk.

Derek stopped, breathing heavily. What was that noise? It sounded like...

Tsssk.

...like a bottle of soda being opened. Growling softly to himself, Derek headed towards the sound. Damn people, trespassing on the Hale property. He was NOT in the mood to deal with them. Sniffing the air, he followed the scent of grape soda, standing out like a sore thumb amidst the forest.

There.

Walking into a clearing, Derek paused at the sight and sighed.

Of course. Stiles Stilinkski - the annoying and annoyingly present teenager. Admittedly, he was a loyal ally. That almost balanced out his incessant blabbering. Derek found the direct approach usually worked best with the boy.

"Leave. You're on private property."

Stiles didn't even look at Derek, just continuing to stare at the night sky. He was on his back, a bottle of soda on either side. "Heeeey Derek. How's it going? Nice night out, huh?" Though said nonchalantly, Derek heard the jump in heart rate. Not in the mood. With a growl, he repeated himself.

"I said leave."

Stiles finally looked at Derek. There was something in his eyes tonight, something...different. It was mixed in with the usual fear and amusement that Stiles seemed to carry around Derek. Before Derek could analyze the look, Stiles looked away and asked, "You want a soda?" as he took a sip of his own.

Something about the look in his eyes gave Derek pause. It felt...familiar somehow. Why? And why was he here by himself? There was no sign of anyone else in the clearing. Something was going on. Something about Stiles seemed off tonight. And that's saying something, considering Stiles was always a little off. Tonight, though, there was an edge to it.

Maybe it was some lingering effect of being a pack-less Alpha. Or maybe he saw something in Stiles' eyes that he recognized. Or maybe Derek just needed to take his mind off of thinking about the coming anniversary, about the chaos of the past months. Whatever the reason, he found himself walking towards Stiles and sitting down. He reached for the free soda to the teen's left.

Stiles grabbed Derek's wrist. "Not that one."

Again, that something sparked in Stiles' eyes. Something familiar, that tugged at Derek. Stiles got up and went to the cooler, opening it. "What do you want? We've got some more grape soda, but I know you don't...I don't know if you like that. Don't care much for it myself, but it's kind of a tradition now. A way of remembering, I guess." The last was said softly, like he was talking to himself.

Derek caught the hesitation. How did Stiles know that Derek didn't like grape soda? Derek leveled a glare are Stiles. He wasn't in the mood for games. Whatever the impulse was that made him sit, faded. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"

Stiles looked at Derek. He seemed to be studying him, looking for something, still with that emotion in his eyes. Searching now, but for what? A long moment stretched between them. Derek felt something stir in his brain response. Something about those eyes tugged at memory, long buried. Something from the past. But Derek did not want to think about the past tonight. The staring was growing uncomfortable. If the kid didn't speak up soon, Derek was going to-

"You don't remember me, do you?"

Derek blinked, frown deepening. What was he talking about? "Don't be an idiot, Stiles. It's hard to forget someone as annoy-"

Stiles cut him off. "No, I mean from before that. This. All of...this," he said, waving his hands, trying to encompass the past few months.

From before...?

Stiles shook his head. "I guess there's no reason for you to remember Richard's annoying little buddy" he said, half to himself.

Richard...

The name brought up images, memories that Derek had tried to bury. Chestnut brown hair, blue eyes. A grin, with a missing bottom tooth. An annoyance. The little brother Derek had never really wanted, but had gotten anyways in his little cousin. Back then, Richard was his dumb, human cousin. As though that would matter now...

Shaking his head against the memories (teaching him to climb trees...), "What did you say?" (a little boy, trying to keep up with the wolves) There's no way Stiles... "How do you know Richard?" (...helping bandage a scraped knee, while tears fell on his hands...)

Stiles just looked at him. Amidst the memories, Derek finally recognized that something in Stiles' eyes. Hurt. Loss. Sadness. But what did that have to do with Richard?

"I guess I should have known you wouldn't recognize me." He grinned a little. "I was a lot cuter then. And short. I had just lost my mom. And Scott had gone away on a family trip for a few weeks, leaving me by myself. I had run away, because I didn't want to..." Stiles shook his head at his own memories. "Richard found me in the woods."

Richard had brought home a friend one day. A little boy, lost in the forest. "He was lonely," Richard said when asked who the boy was. "Can we go play now?" he asked, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. And just like that, the two of them had become the best of friends for the weeks that Richard had stayed with the Hale's.

"I wasn't 'Stiles' back then. I hadn't changed my name yet. I was still Genmin." He blushed a little at the name. "Or as Richard always said..."

"German. His name's German. Kind of a silly name, huh?" Richard grinned at Derek, like he was bringing home a gift for everyone.

The young boy smiled shyly, biting his lip, pushing back his dark brown hair. "It's actually...Genmin," he said, blushing again. Derek's mom had just smiled at the two of them and said they must have been hungry after all their playing. She had just made cookies. She asked if the boys wanted to share with Derek.

At twelve, Derek wasn't too keen on spending time with his eight-year-old cousin and his annoying buddy. He wanted to be out, learning about being a wolf with his sister and dad. No way could these babies keep up with them. But he grudgingly shared cookies. They were his favorite kind after all.

"You're…?" Derek stared at Stiles, trying to see the little boy in him. His hair was much shorter now. Stiles grinned at him, all of his teeth present and accounted for, cheeks tinged pink. No longer the gap-toothed grinner. His hair was shorter. And…he hadn't quite lost that boyish cuteness.

Derek blinked away the memory. It had been a long time, maybe too long, since he had thought about the better times with his family. "Stil-…Gen-…Germa-…how…?" Derek looked up, seeing an empty blanket. Where did he go?

"Oof!" Derek fell as something slammed into his side. Falling to the ground, he looked up to see…

…to see a laughing, ten year old boy, with his two front teeth missing, brown eyes full of light and laughter and triumph.

Derek was sitting alone in the forest, trying to learn to control his instincts. At fourteen, he was getting better at controlling himself and his instincts. He could feel his senses sharpening. They were certainly sharp enough to hear the two boys whispering in the bushes nearby.

"German…"

"I told you, it's Genmin!"

"Shhh! He's going to hear you! Now listen!" Derek smirked a little at the whisper- shouting. He knew what they were planning; they had been planning this since Richard came back for the family reunion. Still, he was confident they wouldn't be able to take him.

"You remember the plan right? I figured out his weakness! We can take him this time!"

"Yeah but…but…"

"C'mon! We can do this! Look, he's not even paying attention!"

Derek held back a smile at that. If only they knew. But what did they mean by his weakness?

"Okay, ready? One…two…THREE! GET HIM!"

Derek heard two pairs of feet running at him, carrying the two ten-year-old boys near him. Richard reached him first, ready to tackle Derek to the ground. But Derek was faster, catching the boy and putting him into a bear hug.

"Not quite fast enough," he said with a grin. "You two talk way too mu-…OOF!"

Derek fell forward as something slammed into the back of his knees. Richard wriggled out of his arms, shouting "Good job German!"

"I told you, it's Genmin! Get it right!"

While Derek was still stunned, his cousin began attacking his armpits with his wriggly fingers. How did they know he was ticklish…LAURA!

"Okay, now hold onto his legs! We've got him this time!" Derek was helpless against the assault. The tickling didn't stop, never giving him a chance to catch his breath. Oh he was going to get them…!

Faster than Derek would have expected, the two boys managed to climb on top of him and were just heavy enough to pin him down.

"HA! WE GOT YOU DEREK! YES! WE FINALLY DID IT!" Laughing gleefully, Derek could feel the boys congratulating each other on their victory. Something about their happiness was infectious, so Derek decided not to throw them off. Even though he could have easily done it. If he wanted to. They certainly didn't have him pinned. No…

"Now, are you going to make us sundaes, like you promised?"

"Alright, alright. A deal's a deal. I can't believe you two still remember that." He rolled his eyes. Their little "bet" had been going on for a long time now. He was surprised how long they had held onto that deal.

Happily, the boys rolled off their "big brother" and helped him up, wrapping him in a giant hug, already shouting demands of what they wanted on their sundaes.

"Brownies!"

"M&M's!"

"Cookies!"

"Snickers!"

Derek was not looking forward to the sugar high that would follow. He decided that would be Laura's job to deal with, since she was the one who suggested the deal in the first place. But first.

"Oh, and boys?"

The two boys looked up at him with a grin, that slowly faded as they took in his expression.

"Run."

They booked it, trying to find the safety of the house (and hoping for those promised sundaes). A deal was a deal, but Derek was going to make them work for it.

"Got you again Derek!" Stiles said, happily. "You must be getting slow in your old age."

Derek blinked and Stiles was Stiles again; sixteen, short haired, and still short. Scowling, Derek was about to yell at Stiles to get off (or else…), when another memory floated up. Stiles couldn't have changed that much…

Stiles was suddenly apprehensive at the look in Derek's eyes. Was that...mischief? Uh-oh…

"I remember…that you REALLY enjoyed it…when someone…did THIS!" Derek's hands leapt up, fingers running up and down Stiles' unprotected sides.

"Noooo! No, no, nononononono!" Stiles screamed between laughter. Damn, apparently Derek did remember him, him and his weakness for tickling. Soon the tides had turned, with Derek pinning Stiles down and tickling him until he was breathless. "Nooo! Stop! HEEELLLPPP! SCOTT! HELP!"

Derek looked up to see a bemused Scott standing at the edge of the clearing. Pausing to catch his breath, Derek and Stiles both looked at the teen wolf.

Stiles, still a little breathless, said, "Scott! His armpits! They're his weak-" He was cut off when Derek attacked his sides again.

Directing his best scowl at Scott, he said, "Don't. You. Dare." But it was too late. The teens' eyes began to glow gold above a giant grin before he dashed in to join the fray.

Derek Hale was NOT ticklish. And he CERTAINLY wasn't going to let the boys get away with this. No one pinned Derek Hale down and tickled him.

"SCOTT! STILES! I'm going to GET YOU!"

"Scott!" Stiles said, laughter still in his voice. "RUUUUN!" Taking his own advice, Stiles bolted for the trees, laughter floating back. Scott leapt off of Derek and ran in a different direction.

"You two had better run! When I get my hands on you…!"

Derek let out a howl of laughter and smiled to himself as he gave chase. "Oh Genmin," he thought. "You never forget your first friends."