Sleeping like the dead really hadn't been how Stiles expected the next few hours to go, but he woke up to sunlight coming through the windows. He was curled on his side and another body was curled up against his back. It took his foggy brain a while to remember who it was.

"Good morning," Derek greeted against his neck.

"Morning," he mumbled back and realised he had just had the best night's sleep he had had, well, since his mom died at least; he had to have been asleep for ten hours at least.

"How are you feeling?"

He had fallen asleep after being invaded by an incredible amount of energy and he could feel it under his skin, but it wasn't pushing at him or anything. Everything wasn't settled, he could sense that, but it was better than he had felt since the sacrifice.

"Good," he said, turning so he could see Derek.

Clearly Derek had been awake a while because there was no trace of sleepiness in his features.

"How about you?"

"Good too," was the short response.

It was only as he moved again that Stiles caught up with the fact he was not wearing all the clothes he had been when he fell asleep. He was in his t-shirt and his boxers, but his jeans, socks, shoes and shirt were gone.

"You undressed me?" he asked the obvious question.

"Sleeping in clothes isn't fun," Derek replied; "I hope you don't mind."

Stiles shook his head; he couldn't say he did. The fact Derek was wearing a t-shirt and sweats helped, because it didn't feel too weird.

"And you're a cuddler?"

"It's a werewolf thing," Derek said with a shrug.

"Me too," Stiles said, "a cuddler I mean. Mom and I used to sit on the couch and cuddle up and fall asleep watching movies, Dad too sometimes, but not since..."

He stopped talking before he dug himself into a black hole he really didn't want to visit.

"I thought you were straight," he barrelled on.

"Bi," Derek said.

"Never would have guessed," Stiles admitted; "you give away no clues, dude."

"Don't call me dude," Derek replied and it almost sounded as if they were having one of their normal conversations, "and it was probably the alpha instincts. An overriding need for an alpha is to expand their pack, either by the bite or breeding; because I'm bi not gay that will have overridden any interest I have in the same sex. If I'd stayed alpha longer my natural instincts probably would have reasserted themselves eventually."

"Sounds confusing," he said, trying to imagine what it must have been like for Derek.

He had glimpsed what pack instincts were like over the last few days so he had a fair idea how suddenly being an alpha might have messed with Derek.

"Different, but less confusing actually," Derek explained; "the instincts are there to help, even if some of them are difficult to deal with when trying to be civilised."

That made Stiles' brain flick back to his own revelation.

"I could have said no," he blurted out.

Derek frowned at him.

"Sorry," he apologised, "talking about instincts you just reminded me, last night, when you proposed, I realised I could have said no. It made everything okay."

The way Derek nodded suggested he knew exactly what Stiles was talking about and that made everything easier as well. Being a born wolf seemed to help a lot in the current situation if Stiles was any judge.

"So you've done this before," he checked with a completely unnecessary, hand wavy gesture to indicate what he was talking about, "with a guy?"

Derek simply nodded.

"When Laura took us to New York," Derek replied. "For a while after," the pause told Stiles all he needed to know about what they were talking about, "I didn't want anyone near me, but then I met a boy. He was a year older than me and so different from...her... that I wasn't afraid anymore. We were together for a year and we learned a lot with each other."

"Why'd you break up?" Stiles asked before he thought better of it.

"We were teenagers," Derek replied with a shrug, "we drifted in different directions and I didn't want to tell him about the wolf stuff. We parted friends, but he knew I was hiding something."

"Sucks," he commented.

Derek didn't look overly cut up about it, however.

"So," Stiles said, "what next?"

"What do you want to do next?" Derek countered with a question of his own.

It took a force of will, but Stiles managed not to follow any of the hundred and one trains of thought that offered him.

"Um," was the most sensible thing he could think of to say. "Well, what would count to complete what we started?"

Mentally he was cursing himself for suddenly feeling so nervous. It wasn't as if he hadn't considered this.

"It's a mating bond so we probably have to go all the way," Derek said and Stiles stomach disappeared in a whole flock of butterflies.

"And who has to top?" he asked.

Facts, he could deal with facts.

"Both of us."

That was not the answer he had expected.

"Really?" Some of his nerves were forgotten as his curiosity was piqued.

"You're very powerful, Stiles," Derek told him, "and I'm your ground; we have to be equals in this. We don't have to switch all the time if you don't want to, but to formalise the bond it would be a good idea."

Something inside of him relaxed a little at that information. The darker parts of his mind had had visions of Derek having to fuck him into submission or something.

"So which do you normally prefer?" he asked, because they were having an adult conversation and he could do this.

"Never really cared," Derek revealed.

"Wow, you're not really alpha at all are you?" he said before his brain caught up with his mouth. "Shit, sorry," he apologised almost immediately.

Surprisingly his verbal diarrhoea drew a smile out of Derek.

"No," Derek replied, "I'm not. That was never really me."

"You seem much more relaxed now," he commented with about as much tact as ever.

"I am," was the honest response.

Stiles smiled; he was glad.

"Right," he said after a moment, "back on topic. How ... um ... what..?"

"A shower?" Derek suggested.

Part of Stiles sighed in relief, part of him panicked.

"Okay," he said, hoping he didn't sound as out of his depth as he felt.

He was nearly seventeen, but he felt like a kid as Derek climbed off the bed and then offered him a hand. He took it and tried to smother his nerves with the anticipation that was swirling in his belly.