Title: A Good Thing (1/1)
Author:
lostyoursoulRating: PG-13
Pairing: Derek/Jackson
Spoilers: Season 1
Word Count: 1704 words
Summary: Jackson was unhappy about something, whether he admitted it or not and Derek wasn’t going to ignore it until it blew up in his face.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, I'm not making any profit with this.
Notes: Just a short fill for
this prompt at Teenwolfkink.
At first, Derek thought it was an aftermath thing. Jackson would snuggle into his side while he came down from his orgasm, his skin still flushed and his heart racing. An arm sneaked around Derek’s chest and he used his shoulder as a pillow, falling asleep in mere seconds.
Jackson was always restless in his sleep, murmuring incomprehensibly, a deep furrow between his eyebrows, taking up most of the space in his bed and occasionally kicking Derek’s shins when he was in the way but snuggled together like this, he was much calmer, holding on to Derek like a lifeline. Like he was keeping Jackson’s bad dreams away and it wouldn’t surprise Derek if he actually was.
Derek wasn’t a cuddler, he really wasn’t, but he didn’t have the heart to push Jackson away either.
And they were always separate again by morning, each lying on their respective sides of the bed, the only contact being their legs tangled together or Jackson’s hand sneaking under Derek’s shirt to wake him for some morning sex. So Jackson wasn’t doing it on purpose, Derek thought.
Until one night, he woke up to Jackson carefully scooting closer to him, wrapping his arms around Derek’s waist and arranging Derek’s arm until it served as the perfect pillow again.
“I’m cold, okay?” Jackson murmured grudgingly when he noticed that Derek was awake and watching him. “Forgot to turn the heat on and you’re like, a furnace.”
But sleepy Jackson wasn’t a particularly better liar than awake Jackson, so Derek just grunted his consent and rolled on his side, wrapping the teenager in a firm hug.
When Derek woke up that morning, Jackson had left for school early.
- - -
“You’re such a weird couple.” Lydia suddenly commented one day when they were all hanging out in Danny’s living room. His parents were out of town and although Danny wasn’t supposed to invite friends over when they were gone, he’d called people as soon as the front door had fallen shut behind them.
There was so much he wasn’t telling his parents lately, with two of his new friends being werewolves, his best friend dating a werewolf and that best friend’s ex-girlfriend having been sort of bitten by a now dead werewolf, while her friend was dating one of said werewolves, so he probably thought having some friends over for beer and home-made pizza was tame in comparison.
“Weird?” Derek echoed with a frown. He liked Lydia, he really did and he knew exactly what Jackson had seen in her when they were dating but that didn’ t mean he didn’t want to bite her for some of her snide comments.
Jackson noticeably tensed up next to him, his knuckles white around the bottle of beer he was holding.
“Yes, weird. If I didn’t know you’re dating, I’d never notice. You haven’t touched once this entire evening and I’ve never even seen you kiss. Do you kiss? Ever?” She tapped one fingernail against her lips in thought, actually expecting a serious answer to that question.
Derek hated Lydia.
“Lydia!” Allison laughed from where she was sitting on Scott’s lap in one of the armchairs. Scott had his arms slung around her waist and was currently leaning his forehead against her back to hide his grin. “Not everyone likes to kiss in front of other people. Why do you care?”
“What the fuck, are you watching us?” Jackson snapped at her, from zero to sixty in point two seconds and he couldn’t have been more obvious about this being a touchy subject for him if he tried. “It’s none of your business-”
“Hey, guys, no fighting in my living room.” Danny interrupted them, throwing a chip at Jackson to shut him up but Lydia wasn’t finished.
“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t think it’s weird.” she said to Allison before regarding Derek and Jackson pensively. “Seriously, show us some kissing! I bet it’s totally hot.”
Well, at least she seemed to be over Jackson now.
Stiles and Scott groaned in unison while Danny looked mostly curious but Jackson was this close to exploding, Derek could feel it, so he sent a good glare in Lydia’s direction and pushed at Jackson’s shoulder.
“Go see if the pizza’s ready.” he ordered, earning him an annoyed look but no protest as Jackson grudgingly disappeared into the kitchen, slamming the door shut behind him.
Then Derek turned to Lydia who’d followed Jackson with her eyes in confusion.
“One more word and your parents won’t find your body.” he growled and Lydia tried very hard not to look scared but Derek could hear her heart beating a little faster and that was enough for now.
“I wasn’t trying to rile him up. . .” she murmured, avoiding Derek’s gaze and fumbling with a strand of her hair.
There was a loud clank coming from the kitchen as Jackson pulled the baking sheet out of the oven and Stiles grimaced. “Do you think he’s spitting on the pizza now? Anyone hear any spitting?”
He looked at Derek and Scott questioningly and Danny sighed, pushing himself up from the floor. “I’ll go talk to him.” He collected some of the empty bottles while he was at it and disappeared into the kitchen.
The conversation quickly switched to prom outfits, thanks to Allison, and Derek zoned out since he wouldn’t be caught dead at a high school prom and he wanted to listen in on Danny and Jackson talking in the kitchen anyway. It probably wasn’t a nice thing to do but it wasn’t like they didn’ t know that he and Scott could hear them, so.
“You okay?” Danny asked, followed by several quiet sounds as he put the beer bottles on the kitchen table. “Lydia can be a bitch, you know that. Since when does it bother you so much?”
“I just don’t like it.” Jackson grumbled back, shuffling around in close proximity of the oven. “Derek and I. . . it’s good. It’s a good thing and I don’t want her to stick her nose in it.”
“Okay.” Danny drawled, his clothes sliding against the fridge quietly. “So you guys are good everywhere? I mean. . . about what she said-”
“Yes, we kiss!” Jackson snapped at him. “We kiss a lot, actually. We also fuck a lot if that’s what you wanna know. Just because we don’t cuddle in front of everyone, like Allison and Scott do all the freaking time-”
“Scott can hear you, you know.” Danny threw in with a chuckle.
“-doesn’t mean, I don’t get any action. Okay? Happy now? You want details?” Jackson made his knuckles crack, something he always did when he felt insecure and Derek contemplated calming him down himself but scrapped the idea when he heard Danny put a hand on Jackson’s body, probably on his back, before he replied.
“That’s not what I meant, okay? I just wanted to make sure there’s nothing wrong. As long as you’re good-”
“We are good.” Jackson insisted.
“Cool. Can you cut the pizza? I’ll tell the others that it’s ready.” The kitchen door opened with a squeak and Derek shifted his attention back to the conversation in the room which had changed to Stiles’ attempt to find a job for the summer.
Everyone followed Danny into the kitchen to get their dinner, while Derek stayed seated for the moment.
Jackson left the kitchen a few moments later, carrying two plates and gave one to Derek before sitting back down next to him. He balanced the plate on his knees, taking a big bite from his pizza
.
“You okay?” Derek asked quietly, so the others wouldn’t hear them over their fight over the best pizza toppings in the kitchen. “If it bothers you that we never touch in front of them, you can say so.”
Neither of them were the type to talk about their feelings. Most of the time, they didn’t have to. Derek wasn’t sure whether it made Jackson uncomfortable to do so or whether he thought it unnecessary.
“No, come on.” Jackson rolled his eyes and took another bite of pizza, chewing with more force than necessary. “I don’t like that cuddling stuff, okay? I’m fine with how things are. It’s Lydia who has a problem. . .”
Derek frowned when he heard the lie in Jackson’s words. He’d assumed that Jackson knew that he didn’t have to lie to Derek. Not about this, not about anything.
“Okay. Good.” he grumbled and ate the last of his pizza before putting the empty plate on the table in front of them.
Then he sat back and put his arm around Jackson’s shoulders, pulling the boy close to his side and rubbing his hand up and down Jackson’s arm until he relaxed. They stayed like that until just before the others entered the living room, with Stiles carrying the piece of pizza with the most cheese in front of him like a prize.
- - -
After that, things changed. Or rather, Derek changed things. Jackson was unhappy about something, whether he admitted it or not and Derek wasn’t going to ignore it until it blew up in his face.
So he didn’t wait for Jackson to cuddle into his arms when he thought him asleep but pulled the other boy close from the moment they lied down together, ignoring any and all protest from him. He made sure to greet him with a kiss when Jackson opened the door and his parents weren’t there to watch. He always sat close enough to him that their legs touched underneath the table, unseen by any of their friends.
One night, he even tricked Jackson into holding hands, not letting go when he pulled him up from where they’d been sitting on Jackson’s front porch. It took several minutes for Jackson to notice while they were talking and then he turned his eyes away and gently squeezed Derek’s fingers.
Derek called that one a win.
- - - The End - - -
Short and plotless, I know! But it's been running around in my head for weeks and I needed it out. Thoughts?