#derekweek21

[usermischief]

Derek Hale Appreciation Week 2021

Day 1: Pre-Canon Years // Colors

[princecharmingwinks]

Derek Hale Appreciation Week Day 6: Happiness --- File 427746377: Derek Hale

After everything that has happened, Derek doesn’t do feelings. He knows he is meant to be alone forever. Why else would he be without a pack or mate or anything slightly resembling peace? He’s ok with it though. Why try and force something that just isn’t meant to be. Derek Hale will now and forever be a lone wolf.

Except…he’s not.

One morning Derek is startled awake when he finds a very familiar face staring at him. After finally being convinced she is real, Erica explains her reasons for haunting Derek’s loft. She has a mission to complete, helping Derek to find his supposed ‘happiness’. He just wasn’t prepared for all the fluorescent signs and coloured graffiti and chaotic energy that is Erica: The Guardian Angel.

Derek: Tell me again why you’re here?

Erica: Look, heaven can have moments of boring and while I love having all the time in the world to explore every inch of Boyd. I needed something else. So, they gave me their most difficult client.

Derek: Me? You’re meant to be my guardian angel?

Erica: Oh, aren’t you so lucky! I’m here to stay until you remember how to love yourself as well as recognize the love others have you too, like Stiles.

Derek: Like….Stiles?

Erica: Man, I really have my work cut out for me

Sooo I’m actually working on this as a full fic and without the context some of these images for the moodboard don’t 100% make sense. But I still wanted to put something together. I am currently on the Derek x Erica friendship train and not looking like hopping off anytime soon. This fic was meant to be cute and funny (and I’m still hoping to have moments) but it has since moved into territory of feels with Erica helping Derek to realise he does deserve happiness. Stay tuned for whenever I get to actually finish it! Thanks as always to @softranswolves​ for creating this event. 

[softranswolves]

Derek Appreciation Week: Character Study of resident werewolf through the seasons

+ bonus

[tabbytabbytabby]

For Day Seven of Derek Hale Appreciation Week: Dealer's Choice

Derek’s walked through the preserve more times than he can count. He grew up in these woods. There's not a place here he hasn't explored. Or so he thinks. Then one day he comes across a stone arch in the middle of a clearing. One that looks ancient and as though it should have been here for centuries. But it hasn't. Derek knows it hasn't. So what else is there for him to do than to step through it? What he finds on the other side turns his whole world upside down, and sends him into a new world full of dragons and magic and things he never thought possible.

[amatchinwater]

For Derek Hale appreciation week!!

For Day 2: Missing moments/Quotes

I did quotes for Derek and then a list of my favorite quotes he's said ❤ @softranswolves

Favorite Quotes:

"The bite is a gift."

"I may not be an Alpha anymore, but I can still fight like one."

"We don't like you. Now shut up and help us."

"No, I was evolving. Something you'll never do."

"Stiles, this no fit."

"Does anyone want to try not being completely predictable?"

"I'm a predator. But I don't have to be a killer."

"I'm gonna rip your throat out. With my teeth."

"I'm not teaching you how to fight. I'm teaching you how to survive."

[thebigoblin]

i'm young, i know, even so

love hurts

ooh, ooh, love hurts

insp: Love hurts by Nazareth

Gif Edit for #derekweek21 (@softranswolves), Day 3, November 24: Lyrics.

[emrysofstorybrooke]

Derek Appreciation Week Day 3

Prompt: Lyrics

Inspired by the song “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” by Meghan Trainor

Read on AO3 Here

The night was absolutely perfect. All was still and quiet save for the two people walking through the forest, the soft moonlight shining through the thick canopy above them. Derek loved the atmosphere it created, the peace that he so rarely got to experience. It was beautiful, and it made the wolf in him feel more at home than any other environment ever could. It made him feel strong, almost invincible.

Derek loved the way that the pale light looked on Stiles’s face as he walked hand in hand with him through the empty trails of the Preserve. It sharpened the lines of his jaw and cheekbones and brought out the amber of his eyes. Derek felt his heartbeat quicken at the sight, and he almost wished that Stiles could hear it, could know exactly how much love Derek felt for him in this perfect moment.

After a few moments of Derek staring at him fondly as they walked, Stiles finally caught his eye and met his gaze with a light blush and a shy smile. There wasn’t much time for the moment to progress, though, as a loud noise suddenly sounded in the distance, perhaps someone tripping over a branch. Reacting quickly, Derek turned towards the noise, making sure Stiles was behind him in case whatever it was turned out to be dangerous, poised and ready to attack should the need arise.

No other noises followed, though, and Derek didn’t detect anything else out of the ordinary, so he let himself relax at the realization that it was most likely some ordinary creature out of its home later than normal. He turned around to check on Stiles, only to find the space behind him disconcertingly empty. He immediately started to panic, looking around frantically for any sign of the man or of which direction he might have gone.

There was nothing. No footprints, no disturbed plant life, no broken branches, nothing. It was as if Stiles had just disappeared into thin air, and Derek had never felt more alone in his life.

“Stiles!” he called, hoping for any sort of response at all. “Stiles!” He started running, letting his wolf take over so that he had the advantage of speed and heightened senses. “Stiles!” he called again, more of a growl this time. “Stiles, where are you?”

There was no response, no sound other than the wind blowing through the trees, and as the moonlight seemed to dim, Derek fell to his knees, sinking into an all too familiar pit of despair.

He had no idea how long he had been there, shivering and sobbing on the ground, before he heard it.

“Derek!” someone called suddenly, pulling him out of his stupor slightly, but the voice sounded far off. It almost sounded like Stiles, but that couldn’t be right. Stiles was gone, Derek knew that. He feared that he would never come back, that they would never be together again. In fact, maybe Stiles left on purpose because he didn’t want to be with Derek. Not that Derek would blame him. He knew all too well how broken and damaged he was.

“Derek!” the voice called again, sounding much closer now. “Derek, come on, wake up!”

That got his attention. Wake up? But Derek was awake.

Even as he had that thought, though, the world around him began to lose shape, gradually descending into blackness. He felt his panic rise even more.

“You’re dreaming, Derek, it’s just a nightmare!” the voice insisted. “Come on, you have to wake up!”

And he did.

Wakefulness slammed into him like a freight train, his eyes jerking open suddenly, and he startled badly at the hand on his shoulder and the face right above him. He jerked away immediately, needing to get away. He was supposed to be alone. Everyone was gone, and he should be alone. There shouldn’t be anybody here. Somebody must be trying to kill him again. Yes, that was it. It was the only explanation that made sense.

Luckily, before he could properly act on the fear of an attack, the voice spoke again, much more softly this time. “Shh. Derek, you’re okay, it’s just me.”

Derek stopped trying to get away for just a moment, not quite relaxing, but pausing just long enough to take in his surroundings. His training was coming back to him, and he knew he had no chance in a fight if he didn’t know what he was up against.

The first thing he noticed was the scent. The scent of Stiles. The warm, heady, perfect scent of Stiles.

He looked then, really looked, at the person lying next to him in his bed. He let out a strangled sob at the sight of the man he loved. “Stiles?” he asked, still breathless from panic, but daring to let in a shred of hope.

“Yes,” Stiles assured him, hesitantly reaching for him as though he was afraid Derek would try to get away again. “Yes, it’s me.”

In the span of a moment, the fear that had overwhelmed Derek so completely was replaced with relief. “Thank God,” he said, his voice broken. “I thought I had lost you.” He became aware of the tears streaming down his face as Stiles, reassured that Derek was with him again, drew him into a tight embrace. Derek gratefully returned it, burying his face in the crook of Stiles’s neck, letting the contact and the scent comfort him. “I thought you were gone,” he whispered again several minutes later, after most of his sobs had subsided.

At that, Stiles pulled away just enough so that he could meet Derek’s eyes, his own serious and intense. “That will never happen, Derek. I’m not going anywhere.”

And Derek wanted so desperately to believe him. Wanted it like he had never wanted anything before. But he couldn’t quite silence the memories of those who had come before. Paige, who had died at his hands well before her time. Kate and Jennifer who had betrayed him. Braeden, whose job had taken her away from him. His betas who had all died or left because of danger he had put them in. Even his family, who… Well. They had all left him, in one way or another. Why should Stiles be any different?

Apparently, his silence conveyed more of these fears than he had intended, because then Stiles was speaking again. “I mean it, Derek. If I have any say in the matter at all, I will never leave your side as long as you want me here.”

Derek took a moment to study his face. There was nothing there but open, brutal honesty. Stiles wasn’t saying anything Derek didn’t know, that Stiles hadn’t proved to him time and time again. But they both knew that Derek needed to be reminded. He carried more trauma than any one person should have to carry, and Stiles was the only one who could truly pull him through it. He was the only one who gave him any sense of hope for the future, that he could be happy.

But those fears still plagued him. “You might not have a choice,” Derek said bitterly.

Stiles sighed, drawing him even closer. “I know.” There were no platitudes, no attempts to convince him that he was wrong, and Derek was grateful. Stiles had also been through far too much, and he knew the pain and the fear of loss better than most. He knew it wasn’t something to be discounted. He was plagued by the trauma too, and Derek knew that.

Neither of them said anything for a while, simply drawing what comfort they could from each other. But then, Stiles continued, sounding intensely vulnerable. “Just… Just promise me you won’t give up on us, ok? Don’t push me away.”

It was a fair request, but the implication and the fact that Stiles felt the need to say it still stung a bit. He wished that he had never given Stiles any reason to doubt him, but it wouldn’t be the first time Derek had tried to push him away, convinced that he was safer on his own so that nobody could break his heart again. But Stiles, stubborn, perfect Stiles, never let him. It was just one of the many reasons Derek loved him. He’d never had anybody, except perhaps for his family, who had loved him so completely and unconditionally, and he never wanted to take it for granted.

“Ok,” Derek replied, and he felt Stiles relax next to him.

Neither of them said anything for long enough that Derek knew Stiles was close to being asleep again, but he needed to say this, suddenly feeling like the world might truly collapse around them if he didn’t. He needed Stiles to know. Running his fingers gently through the hairs at the nape of Stiles’s neck, he spoke quietly into the silence. “I love you, Stiles, more than anything. You know that right?”

Derek felt more than he saw the smile grow across Stiles’s face. His response would be barely audible to most, but Derek heard it clearly, and he felt warmth radiate through him at the mumbled, “I know. And I love you too,” just before Stiles fell into sleep.

Derek vowed right then and there, though not for the first time, that he would never let Stiles go a day without being reminded of how loved he was. There would be countless more nights like this, he was sure, where one of them was plagued with nightmares, completely overwhelmed by their fears, but Derek knew they would always be there for each other, to comfort and to guide each other back home.

And, well, if Derek were to lose Stiles unexpectedly, he would make sure that it wasn’t because he had any doubt about how Derek felt about him.

@softranswolves

[princecharmingwinks]

Derek Hale Appreciation Week Day 3: Lyrics --- Let me worship you

Derek doesn't believe in luck or fate or God. He doesn't believe in happily-ever-afters and storybook endings. He doesn't believe in heaven when most of his life has been a living hell.

Then he met Stiles. While he still doesn't believe there is a higher power watching over him from beyond the clouds, he does know that he cannot imagine a day without Stiles.

Stiles is his equal, his friend, his greatest love and his true purpose for being. Stiles is strong and brave and oh so warm. He is worthy of adoration and devotion. And after Stiles said yes to his proposal, Derek intended to worship Stiles for the rest of their lives...starting with tonight.

While Derek may not believe in much, he does believe in Stiles.

Am I late? Yes. Am I excited to be involved in my first ever official event? YES YES YES! I recently found this song and instantly thought of Derek. He just needs someone to love and be loved by. Ta da - Stiles appears. <3 Thanks for putting on this event @softranswolves​ !