derek’s never really been talky. but since he pulled argent off stiles, it’s like he can’t stop.
right now he says, “how long has this been happening?”
and stiles should probably just keep lying about it. what? no, this is a brand new development. i don’t know, he just like, showed up tonight, and started in on me. but it’s not like… we’ve never even, like, interacted before.
honestly? i think he’s sundowning.
anything’s better than being a freaking message. like he’s mary jane, or gwen stacy, or just scott’s most punchable freaking weakness, so he better fall in line now, huh? for whatever master plan grandpa creepy’s got cooking. except that back here in reality, scott would never go along with being some hunter’s little werewolf flunky. he’d back out, get in the way, and then the next thing that happens is that scene from every superhero movie, where scott’s like, i can’t be friends with you anymore. you’re human. it’s too dangerous.
and that? that’s not freaking happening. not now, not ever.
not after a million beatings.
it’s, you know what? it’s good, actually. thick skin, right? well, stiles’ eyelid sure is thickening.
but derek doesn’t laugh. his whole face is frozen in like, pure tragedy. and who knew he cared so much, huh? like stiles is his buddy. and not just, like, an annoying scott-adjacent guy he occasionally has to work with, or shield, or save.
actually, this might’ve been building for a while.
“it wasn’t just tonight,” derek says, and stiles shrugs, and then winces, because moving is a terrible idea right now.
but derek’s already reaching for the pain. and he’s got painkillers on tap, that’s crazy. stiles has never felt so warm and fuzzy in his life.
but that’s how they get you, right? that’s how they get you talking.
“not to turn down free heroin, or anything,” stiles says, “because oh my god, that feels amazing. can all werewolves just do that? how are you not all just junkies?”
on a couch somewhere, all huddled in a big pack puddle. did one of us have work today? no, not a chance, we’re not moving.
“what are you talking about?” derek says. like he doesn’t even know.
“did no one ever do it back to you? that is so sad, dude.”
it is, really. he reaches for derek immediately. even though… obviously, obviously it’s not the same.
and derek tenses for a second, very derek-y, but then he breathes out, and breathes out, and breathes.
like it’s doing something. like stiles is the magic-hand guy in this situation.
but even without the pain-drain, it’s, yeah. it feels good, you know? cozy. and way, way less weird than stiles ever could’ve expected, if he had expectations about this at all. about… derek hale, and cuddling.
over-intellectualizing. that’s the term for it. how stiles’ mind just keeps going and going, even in sweet moments. so he stays, like, half out of it. distant, and like, observing it. from over himself, or from half a room away.
but derek’s kind of… breathing harshly, and shaking.
and every single thought exits stiles’ mind.
“whoa,” he says. “hey, what just happened? hey, look at me.”
his depth perception is kind of off, because of the whole one-eye-swollen-shut thing, and that only makes derek’s breaths even harsher. he keeps looking at stiles like he’s the most tragic thing in the world.
“hey, i’m okay,” stiles says, and derek does like a shudder-gasp combo-type thing, and… yeah, this is officially serious. “i know, i know that it looks bad, maybe… especially next to, like, instantaneous werewolf healing. but i’m gonna be fine, i swear. thanks to you, you know? how did you even find me?”
questions can be good distractions. it’s like, mind-clearing. just having that one thing to think about, and focus on.
derek takes a long breath, lets it out. “i don’t know. i just, thought—something felt wrong.”
“your wolf-senses were tingling,” stiles says, and derek looks at him, half-exasperated back to normal.
but only halfway. the rest is still, like, crushingly sincere.
“something like that,” he says. “something like—my pack was in danger.”
“i’m your pack?” stiles says, instead of an even slightly cooler reaction, like, oh, what, you care about me? what a distantly interesting piece of trivia i don’t feel any particular way about! and what’s that, you think i’m also very attractive? yeah, well, that makes sense. probably… my like, strong masculine energy.
something like that. but no, it’s too heartwarming.
“since when am i your pack? or in your pack, i guess. which is the better way to say that, by the way? like… the more accurate one, grammatically.”
the good ol’ familiar flat look is coming back to derek’s face. “either one is fine. and—i don’t know if pack is the right word.”
“family,” stiles offers, but… that feels a little incesty. in his mind, at least. “uh… close social circle.”
close might be overstating things. if not for what happened tonight.
“the word doesn’t matter,” derek says. “i just—felt something, and i knew…”
his face is way too sincere again. way too, like…
“i just had to find you,” derek says. “and stop it. whatever it was.”
werewolf guardian angel, stiles doesn’t let himself say.
it’d be so easy to completely kill the moment.
but this is… derek hale, caring about him. caring so much, half his mind is already playing it down, and spiraling.
nice try. i know a practical joke when i see one.
but the truth is… yeah, he does. and this isn’t even close to that.
no, if anything, this is like, terrifyingly sincere.
“it’s been over, like, the past five months,” he says. “since the whole… master plan thing, you know? that was kind of his first go at it.”
“his first one,” derek says, and stiles says, “yeah, he didn’t like… that his big message never made it to scott, that time.”
and, you know, what’s the natural conclusion? just keep, like, upping the ante. scott’s bound to smell the blood on him eventually, right? if stiles wasn’t in, like, such a cologne phase.
actually, no wonder derek found him this time. he’s never been more heavily scented in his whole life. he’s giving himself headaches.
if that’s not the like, recurring battery.
“why didn’t you tell someone?” derek says, and stiles looks at him. “not scott. your dad. somebody.”
“you?” stiles says, and derek says, “if you had told me about it, the first time? i would’ve stopped it five months ago.”
stiles shrugs, and regrets moving pretty much instantly. and just like that, derek’s back with the heroin hands. “i guess… i didn’t know we were close like that.”
“that shouldn’t matter,” derek says. “you’re human. you shouldn’t even be involved.”
well, that kills the warm fuzzies immediately. “yeah? well guess what, i am. because scott’s my pack, okay? and always will be. you think i give a single crap if he’s a werewolf? the world’s most agile geriatric’s been trying to get between us for five months, and it’s still just as not freaking happening. what do you think you’re gonna do?”
he’s shaking, by the end of that, breathing hard. and it’s not, it’s just too bad.
he’s in it. it doesn’t matter what keeps happening. or that he’s human, and you know what? they need a human. who’s the only one who can break them out of mountain ash? very much still stiles! and there’s more, he’s been researching. he’s saved derek’s life a few times. he’s not just some easily-panicked punching bag.
and even if he is, he’s not going anywhere.
it’s not like opting out was ever actually an option. not if you have people you still need to see survive.
but derek says, “that’s not what i… of course you’re a part of it. i’m not saying you’re not…”
but he is. that’s exactly what he’s freaking saying.
“i’m just saying, i would’ve helped with it,” derek says. “if i knew that was happening to you? that an argent—”
and, right. yeah. more argent-based bloodshed, of course derek’s re-traumatized.
“i’m okay,” stiles says, again, and derek takes one look at his messed-up eye and goes all tragic-faced again. “i’m, whatever. yeah, we can team up, no problem. stiles and derek versus the… evil feral grandpa.”
he maybe gets a fraction of a smile, for that. a cheek twitch, a glimmer in his eye.
“but it’s not gonna be like, you go in and get bloodied while i wait in the car,” stiles says. “i’m, i’ve kind of been stockpiling some stuff. there’s a baseball bat, first of all.”
he might’ve tried that on grandpa geezer if he wasn’t half-sure it’d just kill him. and then he’d have to explain, like, first-degree murder. elder abuse.
have i mentioned he’s a werewolf hunter? yeah, he hunts werewolves. but he also likes punching me! kind of on the side.
oh, show you a werewolf right now? nope, no can do. they’re all in, like, werewolf witness protection.
they’ll all be in college in a few months anyway. it’s not like argent’s gonna follow them out of state, right? right. probably.
“you should sign up as like a TA, or something,” he tells derek. “english degree, right? and then you’ll be like, local. if there’s… somethin’ weird, in the neighborhood. we won’t even have to call, you’ll just be there.”
it would be too weird, not seeing him. all fifty shades of grumpiness.
“you want me to… apply for a job at your college,” derek says. and is that way too much to ask? maybe it is.
“i just think, like, i’m too used to seeing your face, you know?” stiles says. “and we like, just teamed up officially, no, this is happening. i don’t know if you’ve realized this, but i don’t really have the easiest time letting go of people i care about.”
the i care about part just slips out with the rest of it. to be fair, they’ve been in and out of cuddling for like an hour.
plus, derek sort of just saved his life. for like, the… he doesn’t even know what time.
so yeah. stiles cares, isn’t that a surprise? what an earth-shattering secret he’s been hiding, so successfully.
derek’s just, like, looking at him. and looking, and looking.
“yeah, you too, big guy,” stiles says, and derek shudders. “c’mere, c’mon. if i can see your face, you’re clearly not wedged in close enough.”
there’s bound to be like, one open TA position. or one who deserves to be dismissed, once his life’s been a little more looked-through.
or like, a local coffee shop. or a bakery, or a library.
or maybe derek could just, like, enroll. and dorm with scott and him. that’d be too funny.
as long as he doesn’t stay here, and bleed out with none of them around.
“english tutor,” he says, a little muzzily. derek’s been doing his thing, stiles is nice and painless. any nurse who crashes this cuddling session is gonna be… very confused. “yeah. i need an english tutor, you know, i’m struggling.”
“it’s your best subject,” derek says. “clearly.”
ugh, fine. “i guess you’ll just have to teach me something else, then.”
werewolf history, maybe. all the obscure-est trivia.
“most obscure,” derek says. “maybe you do need some help with english.”
“see?” stiles says, and sinks a little more into derek’s shoulder. “‘m learning already.”
