TWs/Tags: bad parent sheriff, established relationship, hurt/comfort, some slut shaming from the sheriff, invasion of privacy, Alpha Derek, protective Derek, Stiles has a panic attack, Boyd and his silent but intimidating presence.
Sometimes i think about the sheriff spying on Stiles lol like using his access as sheriff to do so. As Stiles’ dad he already has some oversight, like maybe he still pays Stiles’ phone bill and maybe he has access to his bank account.
I don’t think he ever really paid attention to those though. Stiles has been in charge of a lot of things, for a long time, for obvious reasons so he never really felt the need to keep tabs on Stiles like that.
Despite having adhd and such, Stiles was easy to raise (he had no choice but to become easy to raise).
But when Stiles starts being really shifty and starts lying a lot more and coincidently the Argents start making themselves very friendly with his department, making themselves available, offering advice, help, opinions, very pointed opinions about one person in particular, the sheriff gets very suspicious.
He pulls Stiles’ phone records, all of them, with texts transcripts and everything, he tracks his bank account activity, he installs a tracking device on the jeep. With the help of the Argents and some trusted deputies, he’s able to hack into Stiles’ laptop and see what he does on it in real time.
Stiles doesn’t figure things out. He’s just relieved his dad seems to have finally backed off a bit. He stopped trying to interrogate Stiles whenever they see each other for more than ten minutes.
Stiles is too busy trying to balance his school life, the town and the pack to really notice how his father doesn’t look at him the same anymore, that his silence and patience isn’t rooted in his trust but in something much colder and much more sinister.
The sheriff is building a fucking file on him and by association, Derek Hale because the Argents are yapping in his ear persuading him Derek is Satan reincarnated and he’s nosing around his son (he’s doing way more than that and the sheriff finds that out too of course).
The sheriff will inevitably find out about the supernatural in the process and get to learn more about it from the Argents who will be more than happy to fill in the gaps for him and influence him at the same time. It won’t be hard, the sheriff already believes Derek is a murderer so with his confirmation bias it doesn’t take much for him to eat up everything the Argents say and start regurgitating it too.
Stiles eventually starts getting worried, way too late, about just how often the Argents seem to be at the station, around his dad. He brings it up to Derek who’s torn because he kind of knows a bit more what’s happening. He doesn’t know about Stiles getting spied on or anything like that but he knows what happens when hunters starts putting on the charm with local authorities, it never ends well and he knows this time will be no different but obviously it’s an understatement when it comes to this specific situation.
He tries to explain it as gently as he can to Stiles. That the Argents are probably trying to influence him in some way if not outright bribe him since Stiles’ dad has some morals but that no matter what it’s not good.
Stiles obviously agrees but him and his dad aren’t as close as they once were not that long ago, his dad may have backed off but it also means he and Stiles have this big distance in between them now. It’s been easier that way but now Stiles really needs to have a talk with him. He needs to try and see what the Argents have been telling him to at least gauge things and maybe see if it would be a good option to fill him in on things sooner rather than later.
He has no idea that the conversation he’ll have with his dad will turn south very quickly and will break something fundamental in their relationship.
The sheriff gets so angry, Stiles hasn’t seen him angry like that in years, maybe not ever, especially not sober.
He brings the stuff he’s found out about Stiles and about Derek under his nose. About what he’s been hiding but also things that a father shouldn’t have the right to feel entitled to know about his child. Like Stiles’ private texts and pictures to the person he’s dating. About his sex life and his comings and goings.
Stiles may be seventeen but he’s still entitled to privacy and a level of trust coming from his father especially when he was the one to place him in a position of having to fend for himself at a young age and then one where he had to take care of him as well. Their relationship may have gotten better over the years, getting more balanced but that shit doesn’t just go away.
Stiles still feels like he’s independent and his dad has no say in what he can and can’t do especially when he doesn’t have all the facts.
But quickly Stiles realizes that his father is just too far gone. That the worry he had about the Argents and what they could have been telling him is coming way too late.
Everything Stiles is telling him to try and make him see sense is getting shut down firmly and dangerously, his dad getting angrier and angrier especially when Stiles gets desperate and angry himself, his arguments getting more and more emotional and less rational.
It ends with Stiles yelling that he sounds like a bigoted piece of shit and that he knows nothing about Derek and that he should keep his name out of his fucking mouth just for the sheriff to slap him across the face and asking if he likes playing the whore that much for that disgusting animal.
Stiles is so shocked and so hurt he can’t do anything but hold his face and tremble right where he’s standing. Suddenly, he’s not seventeen anymore. He’s much younger and his dad is piss drunk and yelling incoherently as Stiles has both hands tight on his ears, shrinking himself into the couch and he’s scared, he’s terrified.
His dad grabs him by the arm roughly and drags him upstairs to his bedroom and throws him in and yells some more. Stiles’ ears are ringing, he can’t really hear him but he thinks he hears the words “fucking grounded” and he blearily watches his dad take his laptop before barking at him until Stiles hands over his phone and car keys.
It’s only when Stiles hears his dad’s cruiser leave the driveway way too fast that he’s able to function again or at least enough to have a violent panic attack, the most violent he’s had in years. He keeps rubbing at his painful cheek, desperately fighting for breath.
He almost passes out and the only reason he doesn’t is because he focuses on the idea that he needs to call Derek. He needs to get downstairs and call him from the landline phone in the kitchen. He keeps reciting Derek’s cell number in his mind over and over and eventually his breathing calms and he’s able to move again.
He calls Derek, who answers after a few rings. Stiles never used this number to call him so he sounds cold and suspicious when he answers but he’s immediately concerned when Stiles says “it’s me” sounding frantic and very upset.
Stiles is hysterical on the phone, barely making sense and Derek runs out of the loft to get to Stiles’ place.
Stiles keeps repeating that his dad is spying on him, that he knows everything but that it’s wrong, all wrong, everything’s wrong.
Derek gets there and the place reeks of rage, fear and pain. One side of Stiles’ face is bright red and painful looking and Derek knows then that something fucked up happened, that things have gone very wrong and that they’ve most likely underestimated a lot of things for way too long.
Stiles refuses to let Derek touch him or take him in for a hug, to comfort him, for a long moment, he’s pacing around wildly, his eyes huge in his head and he’s speaking a mile a minute about the situation but he’s still not making much sense.
Derek gently stops him by grabbing him softly by the upper arms and starts rubbing his hands up and down soothingly and calls Stiles’ name a few times then shushes him and it makes Stiles’ words stutter for a moment and his eyes fill with tears. Then Derek whispers “It’s okay, I’m here, it’s okay.” and Stiles breaks wide open.
His face crumples and a deep heart wrenching sob wracks his body and finally he lets Derek pull him tight into his arms.
Stiles sobs and sobs, clinging to Derek in a way he’s never clung to him before, like he’s drowning and Derek is the only thing keeping him afloat.
Derek does his best to comfort him, kissing and nuzzling his hair, rubbing a hand up and down his back and running the other in his hair or keeping it at the back of his neck.
It takes a while for Stiles to calm down enough to be able to coherently tell him what happened, what was said, what was done. Derek’s stomach is at his feet and rage is boiling in his veins by the time Stiles is done. There’s no way around it, this is all his fault. He’s at the root of all of it even if Stiles doesn’t see it that way.
It’s a hard truth and not that long ago Derek would have ran for the hills, leaving Stiles, thinking it was the best thing to do for everyone but he can’t do that now. Not when he and Stiles are so entwined with each other, not when Derek has so much responsibility, not when he can stay here and be there for Stiles and actually help him.
Derek calls Boyd and asks him to come pick them up. He helps Stiles pack some clothes and things. As they pack, he hears a cruiser pull up to the house, parking at the curb.
He knows they’re here for Stiles, to surveil him but he can’t guarantee they won’t arrest him as soon as they see him come out with Stiles.
He doesn’t tell Stiles about it until he hears Boyd pull up and Stiles immediately panics but the panic comes out as anger. Misdirected and explosive.
Stiles gets out of the house like a tornado and marches up to the cruiser, Parrish and a second deputy both getting out of it to assess the situation.
Stiles starts yelling at the them both to go fuck themselves, that he knows why they’re here and that he knows what his dad has been up to, that what they probably all have been up to, that maybe they should put a tracker up his ass, that way it would be more effective.
Derek follows Stiles closely and settles a hand at the back of his neck, barely there, just a gentle pressure as Boyd gets out of the Camaro and wordlessly takes Stiles’ bag from Derek then hangs back a few steps, quiet but alert.
Stiles stops yelling at Derek’s touch but his lips wobble and he hides his face behind his shaky hands, scent muddling and unreadable. He’s overwhelmed and on edge that much is clear.
Parrish gives Derek a cold look but his eyes soften when they fall back on Stiles and he calmly orders Stiles to please go back inside and if he does they won’t tell the sheriff he tried to leave with Derek Hale.
It’s clearly a threat and Derek can’t help letting out a scoff of laughter, smirk forming. Parrish looks at him, eyes going cold again and Derek just smirks harder as Stiles drops his hands and sputters incredulously for a moment.
Derek’s hand at Stiles’ neck tightens just a touch but it’s more for himself than for Stiles.
Stiles who gets over his disbelief at what he’s just heard, starts yelling again. He points to his reddened cheek and asks if they’re seeing this? That their boss fucking hit him and then Stiles’ voice break for a second as he adds that he called him a whore.
Parrish has the decency to look troubled at that but only for a second before it’s gone. Stiles then ends it by firmly telling them that he’s not staying here and that they can go ahead and tell their boss that.
But then Derek notices the second deputy’s hand move slowly to hover at his service weapon, frustration and indignation all over his scent.
His smirk drops and he lets go of Stiles’ neck to instead grab him by an arm and pull him back quickly until he’s more or less behind him then taking a side step to block him completely and Stiles only lets out a small squeak of surprise and protest but lets himself be moved.
Parrish’s own hand immediately goes to his own service weapon, throwing his other hand out in front of him in warning.
Stiles peeks out from behind Derek and asks the deputies if they’re being fucking serious right now? at the same time Derek orders Boyd to get in the car without looking away from the deputies, the beta hesitating only a second before obeying.
Stiles gets even angrier which makes him bold and reckless. He tries to come out from behind Derek, but Derek stops with an arm around him and Stiles stays put but he pushes, his whole body shaking with his anger and starts taunting the deputies with an identical smirk to the one Derek sported a moment ago.
“What? What?! You’re gonna shoot us? Huh? You’re gonna shoot us and then what? Fucking try it! Try it and see what the fuck happens to you!”
Parrish gestures to his partner to stand down but they both still keep their hand at their weapon and he again calmly asks Stiles to please get back in the house but Stiles doesn’t even acknowledge it.
He tilts his head, not unlike the betas and Derek does often, his smirk growing, eyes fixed on Parrish.
“You both must know, right? What Derek is or my dad wouldn’t have sent you. Well let me tell you your odds aren’t great but go ahead just try to shoot us. Just try to fucking stop me from leaving.”
Parrish searches Stiles’ face with a narrowed calculating gaze for a long moment then looks at Derek’s stony face for almost just as long before looking behind him, briefly, to the waiting Camaro then back to Stiles.
Very tightly he warns Stiles again that he’ll have to tell his father he left with Derek Hale and Stiles rolls his eyes and reminds him that he already told them both to go ahead.
Derek starts backing away, pushing and pulling at Stiles as he goes, keeping his gaze on the two deputies.
Stiles turns and jogs quickly to the Camaro, getting into the passenger seat, Boyd gets out of the driver’s side and gets into the backseat. When Stiles has his door shut and seatbelt on, Derek turns his back to the deputies and rounds the car to get into it.
The deputies watch them leave with matching angry and disapproving expressions.
It’s only when Derek turns onto the next street that Stiles deflates, his anger evaporating only for the dread and panic at the root of the anger to rush forth.
He leans back into the seat and his breath hitches while his eyes fill with tears.
“This is bad. So fucking bad, Derek. I’m so sorry.” Stiles says haltingly, feeling like his entire life is falling apart and dragging everyone down with him.
Derek clicks his tongue and drops a warm hand to Stiles’ thigh comfortingly, rubbing his thumb back and forth.
Stiles chokes down a sob and covers Derek’s hand with his own and clings to Derek’s fingers tightly.
