HELL YEAH MY FAV THING EVER (thank you so much and I hope
you enjoy!! ♥♥) it’ll be on AO3 eventually 😅😅

The Fox and the Wolf

“Hold still!” Derek tried to sound gruff but ended up landing somewhere between sheepish and amused.

Kira gasped in a breath, one hand still held firmly in
Derek’s grip. “Sorry, sorry, give me a minute.”

He rolled his eyes as Kira wiped away tears of
laughter with the back of her free hand. Once it seemed like the giggles had
subsided, Derek turned back to his task.

A camera snapped and he glanced back up, scowling. She
just wiggled the phone at him and Derek stared at the image of himself, looking
totally engrossed with his tongue poking out in concentration. He sighed.

“You’re just so cute when you’re focused.” Kira tapped
away one-handed, still smiling to herself. “I bet Stiles would agree.”

Derek’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he sighed
again, tipping Kira’s hand for better access. “I never should have told you,”
he said, bracing himself for the group chat’s responses to seeing their alpha meticulously
painting Kira’s nails in stipes of lavender and violent purple.

Huffing quietly, she scooted close enough that their
knees were touching. “You love me. I’m your favorite.”

He snorted, using a thumbnail to scape away the pit of
nail polish that had missed her nail. It was hard to meet her eyes sometimes.
Especially when they seemed to look right through him, stripping away his outer
layers all the way down to his battered heart.

“Don’t tell the others,” he said, finally satisfied
that the paint was gone.

Kira’s answering grin was bright enough that Derek swore
he could feel its warmth. She didn’t say anything, just blew on the finished
nails and offered Derek her other hand.

They sat in silence for a while, Derek focusing on
keeping the stripes even and Kira watching him work. Their friendship was easy,
comfortable. Derek never felt like he had to pretend to have his shit together
and she accepted all of his quirks with an easy smile.

It was maybe something he could have had with Laura,
if their lives hadn’t gone to hell.

Or maybe not, but Derek tried not to waste time on
what-ifs. Not when Kira was here, sitting on the living room floor with bright
bottles of polish scattered around them.

“You pick a color yet?” she asked, as he moved onto
the last nail. It’d be a bit before the polish hardened enough for her to do
things with her hands, but Derek didn’t mind.

He finished the final stripe, tilting her hand back
and forth to assess his work. Satisfied, he dropped his hold and started
sorting through the different colors. There were shades of green, orange, red,
blue, pink, and purple, along with black, white, and clear.

Kira got up and wandered to the kitchen, returning
with two cans of soda under one arm and the leftover pizza balanced on the
other palm.

Derek shook his
head. “You’ll wreck my hard work.”

“I’m hungry.” She dropped the box on the floor and turned
to give Derek access to the sodas. He popped the tops on both of the cans, then
opened the pizza box to hand Kira a slice.

Being supernatural meant eating A Lot, and Kira was
never shy about helping herself to his food. Derek would never admit how much
he loved it. Stocking up the pantry with her favorite things felt right. It felt like having pack.

He laughed as she struggled to eat the pizza without ruining
her nails, and Kira bared her teeth at him, eyes flashing orange. If anything,
the show of annoyance made him laugh harder.

“The price we pay for beauty.”

Kira rolled her entire body at that and held out a
hand for more pizza.

Derek obeyed the silent command, still grinning. “I’m
thinking this one,” he said, holding up a bottle of dark green nail polish.

“Matches your eyes,” she said through a mouthful of
cheese.

He made a face. “I really hope you don’t eat like that
around your girlfriend.”

Shrugging, Kira wiped her fingers on her jeans. “She’s
seen me electrified and covered in monster guts. I think we’re past all that.”

“If you say so.”

She snorted, reaching for his chosen color. “You know,”
she said, once she was holding his hand captive, carefully brushing the green
onto his thumbnail. “Stiles has seen you
at your worst and he still likes you.”

“We’re not talking about my love life,” Derek said,
voice flat.

“You mean lack-of love life.”

He sighed through his nose, wincing a little at the
sharp fumes that stung his olfactory glands. “It’s just not like that,” he
said, finally.

“Derek.” Kira set aside the brush, taking his hand in
both of hers. “You deserve to be happy.”

The carpet suddenly seemed like a much safer place to look
than her wide, earnest eyes. Derek grunted in acknowledgement, relieved when
she dropped his hand and picked up the other.

“And…” her voice trailed off. “And don’t you think
that Stiles deserves to be happy too?”

When Derek risked glancing up, she was once again engrossed
in her task, his nails now the same color as the trees outside.

“Soon,” Derek said, looking out at the trees. “I’ll
talk to him soon.”

Kira rewarded him with another heart-stopping smile. “I’m
glad.” She hugged him tight, careful of both of their drying manicures. “Wanna watch
dumb renovation shows?”

“Always.”

And later that night, while Kira was passed out on the
guest bed that was really more like her bed, at least while Allison was away,
Derek checked the group chat. There was the picture Kira had taken, followed by
a text from Allison asking if she should be concerned about Derek stealing her
girlfriend, the joking tone evident in the string of laughing emojis and hearts.

But further down, past Erica’s heckling and Boyd’s
eye-roll gif, was a single face with heart-eyes. From Stiles. And if Derek
replied with a winking face, then they could all just tease him about it
tomorrow.