andavvs replied to your post “K so I dunno where the fuck this came from BUT: lets say after HS...”
Stiles as the only one with Derek's number and refusing to give it to anyone until they're sure it's Talia. Hiding his phone constantly. And she's miffed that this kid is keeping her from her son, but also grudgingly respects him for it.
Yes!! He would absolutely hold that number hostage until he’s sure this isn’t some kind of trick that’s going to destroy Derek’s heart.
Because he knows what it’s like to lose a mother, and he knows what he would feel if she were just to reappear unexpectedly, and how completely it would destroy him if it all ended up being a lie.
He won’t let that happen to Derek. Especially when Derek’s finally started sounding happier during their conversations, finally sounded like he’s taking care of himself and at peace with himself, and is starting to let go of the guilt that’s been gripping like a vice over his heart the entire time Stiles has known him.
So he can’t tell him yet. Even if Derek hates him when he finds out Stiles has been single-handedly responsible for keeping this from him. It’ll be worth it to have made sure life doesn’t get the chance to knock Derek down again.
(Talia wouldn’t let Derek stay mad at Stiles, though. She’d take his hand and tell him firmly that he has someone in his life who was willing to take on the world to look after him. And Derek would blink away the shock and sting of betrayal, and realize exactly how much effort Stiles had gone through to look out for him.
(He wouldn’t want to leave his mom’s side but he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about making things right with Stiles, and Talia would just wave him off to work things out with his boy. And they would make up and make out and then Derek would have two precious people in his life that he’d been sure he had lost forever.)