for meanttobeabeta: late summer 2013
Jan. 5th, 2014 06:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wannabebatman'Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to--'
Okay, that's it. He can't do this, he can't read this freaking book, every time he tries he just wants to punch this stupid kid in the face, and then his eyes start glazing over and he realizes he's been reading for half a chapter and hasn't retained any of it, and then he has to reread, and its just all too much. "Uggggh," Stiles groans loudly, pulling the open book down over his face as he sprawls on his bed. "I can't do this any more, freaking summer reading is driving me nuts, and this stupid book--" The last sentence is punctuated by him hurling the paperback across the room. And of course, brilliant Stilinski aim has the book flying unerringly right for his window, where a familiar dark head is just poking through the open window, uninvited.
"Crap--"
Sorry, Derek. It's unintentional, he swears.
Okay, that's it. He can't do this, he can't read this freaking book, every time he tries he just wants to punch this stupid kid in the face, and then his eyes start glazing over and he realizes he's been reading for half a chapter and hasn't retained any of it, and then he has to reread, and its just all too much. "Uggggh," Stiles groans loudly, pulling the open book down over his face as he sprawls on his bed. "I can't do this any more, freaking summer reading is driving me nuts, and this stupid book--" The last sentence is punctuated by him hurling the paperback across the room. And of course, brilliant Stilinski aim has the book flying unerringly right for his window, where a familiar dark head is just poking through the open window, uninvited.
"Crap--"
Sorry, Derek. It's unintentional, he swears.
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Date: 2014-01-23 11:38 pm (UTC)Bad choice of words. He knows that, he just wasn't thinking right. That scowl makes him wince a little, one hand lifting to rub the back of his neck, the knots of tension that always seem to settle there. "No, of course it's not good , I just meant--well, obviously they didn't mean for this to happen, and neither did you, so at least it's gonna be easier to find them. And this time, they'll be safer. You aren't the worst alpha ever. You just--need practice." He almost said 'have no idea what you're doing' there, and while true, he doesn't think that's what Derek needs to be reminded of. Again.
"I'll grab the yearbook, we can copy some photos to take around. Get started tomorrow, and maybe we'll get lucky. The alpha pack can't stay quiet forever, especially if they're planning something, right?"
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Date: 2014-01-26 04:52 pm (UTC)"Yeah." He settles his hand on Stiles' knee, comfort with no real thought. Apology for the not quite accusation. Thanks for the not quite praise, ridiculously grateful for the fact that it's not outright condemnation of his incompetence, like he knows Scott would provide given the slightest opportunity. He finds himself looking at Stiles, at those too-weary, too-old honey-brown eyes and sharp features starting to show the man beneath the boy, and wonders just how much he's taking away from him like this... and realizes that it doesn't matter, because he's not strong enough to walk away and do this functionally on his own.
"Yeah. Tomorrow's good," he finally answers, too low and too rough. "And... I'll try to beat some more information about the alpha pack out of Peter," he concedes, reluctant but determined. "I'm sure he knows more than he's saying."
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Date: 2014-01-27 04:53 am (UTC)The hand on his knee he could ignore. He's starting to adjust to all the little touches, learning to put them all in a little box in the corner of his mind where everything else he doesn't want to think too hard about goes. So he doesn't think about the hand on his knee, ergo doesn't think about the body it's attached to, or the person it belongs to. So, no hormonal reaction, by sheer force of will. At least that's what he's deluded himself into thinking. But the way Derek looks at him? That he can't ignore, feeling uncomfortably exposed as the silence stretches. And still, he can't look away from those eyes he still can't quite figure out. Green and grey at the same time. But they were blue when he wolfed out, when he was still a beta. Eyes that look at him like they almost know what they're looking at.
He looks away just as Derek speaks again, a catch in his voice Stiles can't quite decipher. "Okay, so, tomorrow." Wow, hello puberty, we thought you were over. His voice hasn't cracked like that in...at least six months. The mention of Peter gives him an excuse to try again, clearing his throat and snorting. "Because he's always been a veritable fount of knowledge. But yeah, okay. Anything we can learn is better than nothing, right?" He's always thought that. Information is never a bad thing, just another tool to be used.
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Date: 2014-01-30 12:21 am (UTC)"I'll see you tomorrow, then." He pushes to his feet, squeezing Stiles' knee one more time as he rises.