Human is Just a Word 22/?
Chapter 22
The first day Stiles went to school was strange. By now Derek was used to the vibrant teenager constantly being around and the sudden quiet was deafening. He'd thought that he could get some work done while Stiles was gone but he caught himself staring at the screen without actually doing something more often than not. Before Stiles had moved in, Derek would have said that he needed the quiet to focus but now he loved sitting at the kitchen table with Stiles swirling around him or sitting over at the couch, doing his own thing. Even if Stiles was up in his room, Derek could still hear the comforting noises of another person being around.
But now the loft was way too quiet. In the end Derek switched on the TV just for some background noises.
Knowing that Stiles for once couldn't just turn up unexpectedly, Derek finally made an overdue call.
"Hey, bro." Laura greeted him before he had the chance to say anything. "Did you finally figure out the meaning of a social call or is this an emergency?"
"A little bit of both?" He answered. "I have a new pack member."
At the other end he heard some rustling as if she was getting more comfortable wherever she was sitting right now.
"Did you take in another stray?" She asked but from her it sounded approving, like it was the right thing to do. "Omega or did you bite somebody?"
"Claim." Derek said, pinching the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger.
"What?" He didn't need to see her to know that she was sitting up straight now. "Who? You're that serious with someone? And you didn't tell me? Way to go, little brother. I want details."
"It's a bit more complicated." Derek took a deep breath and then told her about Stiles.
"Wow." She made when he was done. "Is he, you know, okay?"
"I hope." Derek let out a sigh. "He's settled in over the last few weeks. It's his first day of school today."
"School? How old is he?"
"Seventeen."
"Damn." She was pacing now, he could hear her steps over the phone. "What is Peter thinking?"
Derek closed his eyes and breathed in relief. She wasn't blaming him.
"I don't know. The things Stiles believed about us." He raked his fingers through his hair. "And still believes. He thought he would be my pet or something. That he would never see his father again."
"Why would he think that?" She sounded genuinely confused.
"Let's just say that Peter doesn't treat his human pack members like he should."
They talked for almost an hour and when he ended the call Derek felt drained but better. This thing had festered in his mind since he'd met Stiles and it was good to know that his sister agreed with him on this.
However, neither of them had an idea on how to stop their uncle. Peter had the biggest pack and the heart land of the old Hale territory. Established like he was human laws couldn't touch him and Derek wasn't sure if even with combined forces he and Laura were powerful enough to bring him to justice by werewolf laws. But at least Laura had promised to have a closer look on Peter's activities in Beacon Hills.
With that call out of the way Derek went back to work and he actually got some stuff done before Stiles came home from school.
Derek didn't tell him about his talk with Laura to not bring up his hopes. So far Laura had only promised to have a look.
Over dinner Stiles told Derek about school, making up for all the words he had missed over the day. Not that Derek thought that Stiles needed to catch up with his words, how he could stay quiet long enough for class, was a mystery to him.
Then Stiles mentioned the party. He was basically asking permission to go and his body language told Derek loud and clear that he expected a no. Cursing in his mind Derek told Stiles that he was free to do whatever he wanted.
The almost shy smile he got in return gave him a butterfly feeling and the urge to rip Peter's throat out.
All in all Stiles seemed to like school and he even had made some friends. He mentioned a guy named Sean a few times along with other names Derek didn't bother to remember. There was nobody Stiles had a special interest in, he noticed with some relief. Derek had said that he was okay with Stiles having somebody over but he didn't have to like it. However, so far Stiles hadn't even brought home somebody to study and it didn't look like that would change any time soon.
The day of the party Derek reminded him to not do anything stupid and that he could call him if he needed a ride home.
"I'm not five." Stiles rolled his eyes at him but the skip in his heart-beat betrayed him.
Stiles was almost an adult and Derek wasn't even his father but Derek stayed up anyway, waiting for him to come home safely. When his phone rang in the middle of the night, Derek was sure for a moment that something had happened to Stiles. Turned out that the kid had been stupid enough to get plastered but was still smart enough to not drive himself.
"Don't tell my dad." Stiles pleaded when he settled in the car while the still brightly lit up house disappeared in the rear view mirror.
"So he can shoot me for not keeping an eye on you?" Derek retorted. "No, thank you."
Being a werewolf, getting drunk was a rather abstract concept to him but he had never understood the strict laws regarding the drinking age. You could drive a car, you could shoot a gun, you could even join the army and get shipped across the world to kill other humans but you couldn't enjoy a simple beer? It had never made sense to him but a lot of things humans did didn't make sense to him.
"You need anything?" Derek eyed Stiles critically who stood in the bathroom door and was fighting with his shirt. The shirt was clearly winning.
"I'm good." Came the answer from somewhere in the fabric. "Just need to sleep it off."
After Derek had made sure that Stiles found the way to his bed safely, he turned in as well.
Just sleeping it off didn't seem to cut it. When Derek checked on Stiles at ten thirty the next morning, the teenager asked him to just put him out of his misery. Derek shook his head in amusement and drew open the curtains.
With a pained groan Stiles ducked under the covers.
"Not like this." He protested and didn't come back up. One foot was sticking out at the other end and Derek grabbed it to at least draw the pain out. He couldn't do anything about the nausea and other possible side effects, a hangover was also a rather theoretical concept to him, but at least he could do something about the headache.
"I love you." Stiles groaned from under the covers and relaxed under Derek's touch. Derek on the other hand went very still. It was just something Stiles had blurted out without meaning anything by it, he knew that, Stiles probably wouldn't even remember that he'd said those words but hearing them did something to Derek.
He wanted them to be true.
To his wolf they were true. If he had a tail right now he would wag it.
Derek let his hand linger for longer than necessary on Stiles' ankle before he forced himself to break the contact.
"Take a shower, you reek." He said and straightened up.
"Five minutes." Came the answer from under the covers and Derek was glad that Stiles couldn't see the fond smile on his lips.
"Five minutes." Derek confirmed and left the room, those three words still echoing in his mind.
It took longer than five minutes but eventually Stiles made his way over to the bathroom and took a long shower. When he finally came down the stairs, he looked more alive.
"Was it worth it?" Derek looked up from the book he was reading and watched Stiles who carefully moved around the kitchen.
"Totally." Stiles said, nibbling at a dry slice of toast. "I have to mingle with the locals, no better way than a party. At least I got invited." The last bit was so low that Derek had to strain his ears to catch it.
"You didn't get invited much at your old school?" Derek asked, paying more attention to him now.
"Me and Scott?" Stiles clicked his tongue but winced at the loud sound. "We weren't exactly part of the popular crowd." He paused, eyes downcast and his long fingers plucking apart his toast. Derek doubted he would have told him this much about himself if it wasn't for the hangover. "We weren't part of any crowd, it was just me and Scott. He was my best friend. My only friend." He let out a sigh and pushed the plate with the butchered toast away.
Derek didn't know what to say. Stiles' best friend was dead, killed by his uncle, there was nothing he could say to that. Except for maybe …
"I spoke with Laura the other day." He said carefully.
"Your sister?" Stiles rested his chin in his palm, upper body almost lying on the table.
"I told her about you." Derek came over and sat down next to Stiles. "About what Peter did."
Stiles turned his head but didn't give up his resting position.
"Yeah? What did she say?" It spoke for itself that he wasn't up and flailing and Derek was glad that he couldn't experience something like a hangover. Why were humans so keen on getting drunk if this was the price for it? And he already had drained most of the pain.
"She was shocked." Derek said, taking Stiles free hand in his. For a moment he just watched the black lines of pain disappearing in his arm. There wasn't much left and he couldn't do anything for the rest.
"I asked you to do it." Stiles reminded him, not getting the point. "If anything I was forcing you."
"She was shocked about Peter." Derek clarified. "About how he treats his human pack members. About the false information he's spreading about us."
"Is she going to do something about it?" Now Stiles perked up but not as if he thought that she would. To him Derek was most likely the exception and Peter was the norm.
"She's looking into it." Derek answered, this was the reason he hadn't told Stiles in the first place. He couldn't make promises.
"Hmm." Stiles made and let his head drop on the table. "I'll think about it when I can think again."
Derek gave him a pat on the shoulder and returned to his book.
Stiles fell asleep at the table and didn't stir for almost two hours. How anybody could sleep in that position was beyond Derek but he let him be.
In the afternoon Stiles felt even well enough to finish his homework.
"Don't want to give a bad impression right away." He commented but Derek thought that he actually liked doing homework, even when he was still slightly hangover.
On Monday Stiles left like always, talking about maybe inviting Sean over after school for that group project they had been assigned to. Once again it sounded more like he was asking for permission rather than just informing Derek, though. So Derek offered the coffee table, they would have more space there than in Stiles' room.
However, when Stiles came home, he was alone. He went straight up to his bedroom and shut the door behind him with a loud bang.
Chapter 23
Masterpost