Derek is quiet just long enough for Stiles to start regretting the offer,
to start rethinking hasty excuses to take it back, when Derek finally
answers. And the answer, once he parses it, isn't at all what he was
expecting. Derek is going to stay, and Erica...really? There was that brief
moment of enlightenment he'd had a month or so before they'd disappeared,
the almost conversations, but he was pretty sure that was all it was. Just
a reminder of something else he'd overlooked or ignored, been too
self-centered to see. He's trying to get better about that. To be better
for everyone: for his mom, for his disappointed and struggling dad, for
Scott who needs a practical conscience, and for Derek. Derek, who needs to
remember sometimes what it means to be human, because it's so much harder
than being wolf. But Derek wouldn't say it if it weren't true. He can be
evasive and refuse outright to answer things, but he's never lied to
Stiles. Sometimes Stiles thinks he might be incapable of it. And that's not
a bad thing, with how very good Stiles is at it.
"Yeah, well, my English teacher doesn't really accept 'knocked around by
power-hungry werewolves' as an excuse to not finish reading Camus, sadly,"
he says, finally pullung away from Derek's hands and flopping backwards on
the bed. Somehow he still ends up with one calf pressed against him, almost
an unspoken reassurance that he is doing things right. It's not his fault
Stiles is too stubborn for the both of them. "Besides, I can't sleep, might
as well be productive, right?" He didn't really mean to say it, but...well,
it's not like Derek can't tell. Not like he doesn't already know, and maybe
it's better for Stiles to say something, so Derek doesn't just wonder and
come to his own conclusions. He's really starting to think that's a big
part of Derek's problem. Maybe even part of his own, too.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2014-10-08 04:41 pm (UTC)Derek is quiet just long enough for Stiles to start regretting the offer, to start rethinking hasty excuses to take it back, when Derek finally answers. And the answer, once he parses it, isn't at all what he was expecting. Derek is going to stay, and Erica...really? There was that brief moment of enlightenment he'd had a month or so before they'd disappeared, the almost conversations, but he was pretty sure that was all it was. Just a reminder of something else he'd overlooked or ignored, been too self-centered to see. He's trying to get better about that. To be better for everyone: for his mom, for his disappointed and struggling dad, for Scott who needs a practical conscience, and for Derek. Derek, who needs to remember sometimes what it means to be human, because it's so much harder than being wolf. But Derek wouldn't say it if it weren't true. He can be evasive and refuse outright to answer things, but he's never lied to Stiles. Sometimes Stiles thinks he might be incapable of it. And that's not a bad thing, with how very good Stiles is at it. "Yeah, well, my English teacher doesn't really accept 'knocked around by power-hungry werewolves' as an excuse to not finish reading Camus, sadly," he says, finally pullung away from Derek's hands and flopping backwards on the bed. Somehow he still ends up with one calf pressed against him, almost an unspoken reassurance that he is doing things right. It's not his fault Stiles is too stubborn for the both of them. "Besides, I can't sleep, might as well be productive, right?" He didn't really mean to say it, but...well, it's not like Derek can't tell. Not like he doesn't already know, and maybe it's better for Stiles to say something, so Derek doesn't just wonder and come to his own conclusions. He's really starting to think that's a big part of Derek's problem. Maybe even part of his own, too.