9. Wolf's Bane

Stiles: "Get in."
Scott: "What part of laying low don't you understand?"
Derek: "Damn it, I had him!"
Stiles: "Who, the Alpha?"
Derek: "Yes! He was right in front of me, and the friggin' police showed up."
Stiles: "Whoa, hey, they're just doing their jobs..."
Derek: "Yeah, thanks to someone who decided to make me the most wanted fugitive in the entire state."
Scott: "Can we seriously get past that? I made a dumbass mistake. I get it."
Stiles: "All right. How did you find him?"
Scott: "Can you try to trust us for at least half a second?"
Stiles: "Yeah, both of us. Or just him. I'll be back here."

Scott and Stiles are in Derek's car, rescuing Derek from police and hunters both. Why? Scott doesn't take Stiles on outings with Derek unless he can't help it, but also, the only way they even knew when to rescue Derek at all was Stiles's police scanner. So this rescue is put in motion by Stiles, not Scott. Derek is actually sharing some vital information. Not all of it, but some. He is in real trouble, scared and frustrated and hunted, but he is also actively trying to solve this case.

Stiles's body language shows that he wants to be noticed. Hey! I´m here too. Look at me. First he stands up for his dad and the police. Derek glares at him but reluctantly has to agree because he knows Stiles is right. Second Stiles asks Derek to trust him. Derek tries to stare him into submission, but it only works partially and for a limited time. He finally turns away, sulking a bit, because this boy bugs him so much. Stiles spends the entire conversation looking almost exclusively at Derek. He even blocks Derek's view of Scott. Then he even touches Derek's shoulder.

Trust is the main problem. Derek doesn't trust any of them.

Stiles: "Does he know about Allison's father?"
Scott: "I don't know."
Stiles: "Okay, where's Derek?"
Scott: "Hiding, like we told him to. Why?"
Stiles: "I have another idea. It's gonna take a little time and finesse, though."

Stiles wants to be Scott's yoda. Stiles wants to be a part of this. Scott and Stiles don't know where Derek is hiding, so when Derek is waiting for Stiles in his room later, that's Derek choosing to hide right there. That's Derek looking for safety not with Scott, not in his old house, but with Stiles Stilinski, the Sheriff's son. While being hunted by said Sheriff. As for Stiles, he doesn't need Derek's help for tracing the text. In fact, it's probably more hindrance than help to have a fugitive in his room because there is always the chance that Danny recognizes him and calls the police. Maybe Stiles just really wanted to have Derek around aware of Derek's attractiveness that he couldn´t pass on the chance.

Sheriff: "Hey, Stiles!"
Stiles: "Yo, D—Derek. I, um..."
Sheriff: "What'd you say?"
...
Stiles: "I'm sor--oh!"
Derek: "If you say one word--"
Stiles: "Oh, what, you mean, like, Hey, dad, Derek Hale's in my room... Bring your gun? Yeah, that's right. If I'm harboring your fugitive ass, it's my house, my rules, buddy." - "Oh, my God!"

Derek: "Scott didn't get the necklace?"
Stiles: "No. He's still working on it. But there's something else we can try. The night we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison asking her to meet him there."
Derek: "So?"
Stiles: "So it wasn't Scott."
Derek: "Well, can you find out who sent it?"
Stiles: "No, not me. But I think I know somebody who can."

Derek smashes Stiles into the wall to make him submit. Stiles and Derek stare at each other's mouths and stand too damn close. Sparks fly and dominance is traded between them. Stiles is surprised Derek is there. He also intends to apologize for his dad nearly walking in before Derek pushes him against the wall. Derek is clearly in his "trust no one" mind-set, and probably with good reason. Derek is risking a lot coming here. But Stiles stands up to Derek's threat, not cowed at all, and that impresses Derek. He respects Stiles and agrees to his rules. For now. Stiles grins, looking a bit cocky. Derek feigns an attack. "Oh my god," Stiles yells. But this is more playful than serious. In the end they are clearly coming out as equals. This is the beginning of something. Oh, and the sheriff was very well aware that someone was in Stiles´s room. He is not stupid. But he probably thought that it was a girl that´s why he doesn´t push Stiles to let him in, avoiding to embarrass both, his son and the girl.

Danny: "Who's he again?"
Stiles: "Um, my cousin...Miguel."
Danny: "Is that blood on his shirt?"
Stiles: "Yeah. Yes. Well, he gets these horrible nosebleeds. Hey, Miguel. I thought I told you you could borrow one of my shirts. So anyway, I mean, we both know you have the skills to trace that text, so we should probably--"
Derek: "Uh, Stiles?"
Stiles: "Yes?"
Derek: "This...no fit."
Stiles: "Then try something else on. Sorry. Hey, that one looks pretty good, huh? What do you think, Danny? The shirt."
Danny: "It's--it's not really his color."
Stiles: "You swing for a different team, but you still play ball, don't you, Danny boy?"
Danny: "You're a horrible person."
Stiles: "I know. It keeps me awake at night. Anyway, about that text."
Derek: "Stiles! None of these fit."
Danny: "I'll need the ISP, the phone number, and the exact time of the text."

Did Derek and Stiles discuss this literal gay-baiting beforehand and Derek refused or Stiles came up with it on the spot? We will never know. Either way, Stiles is the dominant one here. Derek may be reluctant, but he follows Stiles' direction. A lot of their communication in this episode is silent, physical. They glare, gaze, lean and flail, push and scowl. Derek's unhappiness with Stiles using his body like this is palpable and quite uncomfortable. Danny accuses Stiles of being a horrible person. Yeah. He´s maybe a nice kid but not all the time. It's fascinating just how well Derek plays along, taking his cues from Stiles, even while he looks like he could kill him. Stiles is well aware about Derek's attractiveness in relation to guys. Danny is super uncomfortable and Stiles is actually quite aggressive, delighting in his ridiculous plan working out. Finally Danny agrees to help. Stiles stretches to hide a victory pose, and looks almost like he wants to look back at Derek but catches himself.

Danny: "There. The text was sent from a computer. This one."
Derek: "Registered to that account name?"
Stiles: "No, no, no, no. That can't be right."

Derek is wearing one of Stiles' shirts. When Stiles goes into denial/distress mode at the possibility that Melissa may have something to do with the alpha, Derek looks at him with this puzzled frown. He realizes that Stiles is maybe an asshole sometimes, but a kid who cares about people, someone who might be hurt by all this.

Scott: "Did you get the picture?"
Stiles: "Yeah, I did, and it looks just like the drawing."
Derek: "Hey, is there something on the back of it? There's gotta be something. An inscription, an opening, something."
Scott: "No, no, the thing's flat. And, no, it doesn't open. There's nothing in it, on it, around it, nothing. And where are you? You're supposed to be here. You're first line."
Coach: "Where the hell is Bilinski?"
Scott: "Man, you're not gonna play if you're not here to start."
Stiles: "I know. Look, if you see my dad, can you tell him-- tell him I'll be there, I'll just be a little bit late, okay? All right, thanks."
Derek: "You're not gonna make it."
Stiles: "I know."
Derek: "And you didn't tell him about his mom, either."
Stiles: "Not till we find out the truth."
Derek: "By the way, one more thing."
Stiles: "Yeah." - "Oh, God! What the hell was--"
Derek: "You know what that was for. Go. Go!"

They know they've found something vital and terrible and nothing good is going to happen. Derek also knows just how important that game is to Stiles, because he was right there when Stiles talked about it to his dad. He knows what kind of sacrifice Stiles is making to help Scott and to back up Derek. He could have let Derek go alone, but he didn't and he could have told Scott the truth, gotten him involved, and he didn't. This is the moment Derek really sees Stiles as a person you can like as having as your best friend. No one has loved Derek like Stiles loves Scott in a very long time. So Derek might be feeling a little bit jealous and lonely.

Derek slams Stiles' head into the steering wheel, enough to surprise and hurt, but not to injure. "You know what that was for" clearly indicates that it was retaliation for the humiliating shirt scene. Well, I´m not for violence, but I can understand a little that an older man feels the need to give a boy some pay back for humiliating him like this. Stiles knows, too, what this is all about, whining just a bit, but going along with the plan anyway. They are even.

Stiles: "Yeah, I said I can't find her."
Derek: "Look, ask for Jennifer. She's been looking after my uncle."
Stiles: "Yeah, well, he's not here either."
Derek: "What?"
Stiles:" He's not here. He's gone, Derek."
Derek: "Stiles, get out of there right now--it's him! He's the Alpha! Get out!"
Peter: "You must be Stiles."
Nurse: "What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over."
Stiles: "You...and him. You're-- you're the one who-- Oh, my-- and he's-- Oh, my God, I'm gonna die."
Peter: "That's not nice. She's my nurse."
Derek: "She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people. Get out of the way."
Stiles: "Oh, damn."

Derek's first instinct is to get Stiles to safety and protect him. Maybe he would do that for anyone, maybe he wouldn't, but the instinct is clearly strong. Derek does not like the idea of killing people, at all, and he isn't going to let anyone seriously hurt Stiles, not even his uncle. He lures Peter away from Stiles. For the moment Peter destroys whatever good has been growing between Stiles and Derek. Derek's choice to join Peter erases the fragile bond they had forged. Well. Derek had not much of a choice than joining up with Peter who nearly killed Derek himself and did kill Derek's sister. But Stiles has found one more reason to consider Derek as the bad guy, the enemy.

Oh yeah. Peter is a problem. He always will be.

Hate? I don´t know. There is definitely a lot of tension between them. Fact is in some way they do care about each other.

Derek wears a grey shirt and a black leather jacket. Stiles wears a jeans jacket and a white shirt. The next day he wears a blue-grey checkered shirt over the white one and a dark-grey jeans jacket (I think). So their outfit is almost alike in the wall smashing scene. Then Derek briefly wears the blue-orange striped shirt which makes him look like the most ridiculous werewolf who has ever lived. Afterwards Derek borrows a dark-grey shirt from Stiles which he wears in his fight with Peter. What happened to that shirt, huh? I really like to know.

Lunation