Stiles Stilinski + Derek Hale

masquerade: a false show or pretense.

Derek hated his mother's parties. Not because they were badly organized, but because he hated socializing with the uptight guests that were invited.

On this particular evening, Derek's mother was hosting a masquerade ball. He tried his best to convince his mother to let him stay home but she refused.

"I refuse to be bombarded with questions from our guests concerning the whereabouts of my son. You will be there Derek. Just like the rest of us," she had said.

"Mom, it's a masquerade ball. Just point in a random direction and no one will question that it's not actually me."

Talia Hale was not one to tolerate Derek's sly comments and gave him a light tap on the back of his head.

Before the guests arrived, Derek was fiddling with his mask while his little sister Cora played with his bow tie.

"Calm down Der. It's only a couple of hours. Plus you can hang with me at the bar."

Derek rolled his eyes, "If mom sees that I've given you alcohol, she'll kill me."

Cora snorted, "The worst thing she'll do is maim you. I don't think she'll really care if you give me a glass of champagne or two."

Derek pushed his sister's hands away from his tie to straighten it himself.

"Fine, but you have to stop Laura from trying to set me up with some random guy again."

"You strike a hard bargain, dear brother."

Derek nodded in her direction and helped Cora slide on her own mask.

"As do you, dear sister."

One by one his mother's guests trickled into the ballroom. Some Derek could recognize but others did a good job of selecting masks that were able to obstruct their identities.

After about thirty minutes, Derek recognized his sister Laura running towards him as fast as her stilettos allowed.

"Okay I know we agreed that I wouldn't try to set you up with anyone but there's a really cute guy here that I know is JUST your type."

"Laura everyone is wearing masks, you can't even see his face."

Laura hit her brother's shoulder, "Trust me. He's cute."

Derek pulled away from his sister. The last time she had said that, he ended up on a date with Stiles, the Sheriff's kid, and that relationship ended in flames.

"Laura-"

Laura stepper closer and grabbed his hand.
"Not everyone is like Stiles, Derek. Do you really want to be miserable and alone forever?"

"Maybe," Derek grumbled, but in reality both he and Laura knew that wasn't true.

Derek followed his sister through the crowd to the opposite side of the ballroom where he saw a tall and lanky stranger standing by the bar. He had unruly dark brown hair and a stripe of black lipstick painted down the center of his lips. He wore a metallic black mask that covered the top of his face and ended just below his nose.

Derek didn't want to admit it to Laura, but she was right. He was attractive.

Laura gestured to the stranger, silently telling Derek to go over there.

He obliged but not before clearing his throat and running his hands through his hair.

"Care to dance?" Derek asked the man.

The man initially looked shocked but quickly covered it up. He set down his whiskey on the bar and accepted Derek's open hand.

"I'd love to."

Derek guided the man to an open area on the dance floor and placed one hand on his waist and the other in his hand.

"What a lovely party, Mr. Hale," the man said.

Derek wasn't exactly surprised that the other man recognized him. It was like Derek's mask was the most concealing.

"My mother organized the whole thing. I'd love to say that I helped, but I'm rather useless when it comes to this sort of thing."

The man laughed. The familiarity of the laugh struck a cord but Derek couldn't quite remember why the laugh was so familiar to him. He must have been a frequent guest at his mother's parties.

"And your name?" Derek asked.

"St-Stuart." The man, now Stuart, replied.

After several dances and drinks, the two were laughing in the corner of the ballroom, discussing their secret hatred for events like these.

"You know, it's funny-" Derek said, "-my ex used to hate these things. But he loved my mother so he would suck it up and come to every single one."

Stuart froze, "I just realized I was supposed to pick up my dad from work. I'll see you next time Derek."

Stuart stumbles through the crowd and back to the entrance. Derek followed him outside to the courtyard.

"Was it something I said? I shouldn't have mentioned my ex, I'm sorry. That was a douche move — Stiles?"

Stuart had ripped off his mask, thinking he was alone, revealing himself to be Derek's ex.

"Derek-"

"What the fuck?"

Stiles ran his hand through his hair. It had grown drastically from the buzz cut that he had when he was dating Derek.

"Were you trying to break my heart again, Stiles? Was this a joke to you?"

Stiles's shocked face turned to one of anger.

"I thought you recognized me jackass. I didn't realize two years apart would make you forget me entirely."

"But why would you dance with me? YOU broke up with ME."

Stiles flailed his hands. "I don't know! I miss us, I guess. I miss you."

Derek backed away from Stiles, closer to the door. "No, you don't get to say that. You don't get to want me back. If I really mattered so much to you, you wouldn't have broken up with me."

Stiles frowned. He was sad. "Derek the only reason you were hesitant on going to get your masters was because you didn't want to put a strain on our relationship. I didn't want you to pick me over your education. And I know that's not a good reason to break up with you, believe me, but I just didn't want you to do anything that you would later regret."

At this point Derek had started crying.

"Why am I not mad at you?" He whispered. "I want to be so fucking mad at you."

Stiles opened the door to the car that had pulled up in front of the courtyard.

"If you still have my number, text me later. I miss you Der-" Derek flinched. "-But if you decide you never want to ever talk to me again, I'll understand."

Derek watched as Stiles climbed into the car and pulled the door shut.

He was going to yell at Laura.

A/N:
WOW. two days in a row. That never happens.
Uh so I wrote this bc of the song Trampoline by SHAED. I literally have no idea why but it was giving me such masquerade ball vibes.
Plz comment I'm desperate.