iamnotbrooding | For Causticly

For Causticly

Derek focused on the house, listening intently. The Sheriff's car wasn't in the driveway and he could only hear one heartbeat in the house so he assumed Stiles was home alone. He debated for a moment before foregoing the front door and leaping up to Stiles' window. Sliding it open, he ducked his head inside to see Stiles lying on his bed and not looking too well.

After everything that had happened with the Beast, not to mention what happened to Stiles when he was at Malia's, Derek had been worried. A shard of glass through the chest was nothing to laugh at and he'd been waiting for what felt like ages to get to Stiles and check on him.

"Hey," he said softly, sliding inside and closing the window behind him. "How are you feeling?"

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His grin softened into a small smile, his heart feeling like it melted just a little hearing Derek say that.

"I think there's some left over mac and cheese in the fridge if you want to heat it up for me?" He asked, shrugging a little. He hadn't really been that hungry the last day or two, he pain pills, when he took them, made him feel overly sleepy and groggy.

Derek nods and jumps from the bed, going to get the food Stiles will eat, even if that food is leftover mac and cheese. It takes a few minutes to find it, heat it up and grab another bottle of water. He also grabs the apple sitting on the counter before heading back upstairs.

"Are you sure you don't want something else," he asks, glancing down at the sad little bowl of macaroni. "I can order a pizza or get you something." He sets the things on the bedside table beside Stiles.

"Thanks, man," Stiles says as Derek gets up and leaves the bedroom.

He laughs a bit at that, and the look Derek gives the mac and cheese.

"Let's see how my stomach handles this first. I don't want to waste a perfectly good pizza," he says, picking up the bowl and fork.

"Dad was home this morning, so I had to take one of the pain pills. It made me a little queasy, which is why I haven't eaten." He tried, of course, but it didn't end well.

Derek nods in understanding. "Well, I'll keep the pain away and you keep eating." If the pain Stiles was in when he got there was any indication, the pills weren't doing much anyway.

"When is your dad getting home?" he asks, looking around the room, considering places he can hide if necessary. "I don't exactly have anywhere to be." The plan had been to come back and deal with the Beast, then see where things went with Stiles. Things happened a bit faster than he'd anticipated. "I meet with someone tomorrow about an apartment. In town," he clarified.

Stiles nods and starts to eat, chowing down on the food, and it seems like his stomach might actually keep it down this time.

He pauses with the fork halfway to his mouth when Derek tells him about he apartment appointment. "What, really? You are?" he asks, then shoves the forkful into his mouth, chewing and swallowing.

"Where at in town?"

"Yeah, on Kramer Avenue, the Springs. It backs up to the woods, so it'll be easy to get to when I need it. Is that okay? That I'm staying for awhile?" he asked, suddenly insecure.

"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed, not hesitating at all. "I mean, yes, of course it's okay. I just wanted to know how far I'd have to travel to see you, that's all."

Derek gave him a small smile. "Not far. Closer than the loft was anyway. I don't really need that much room anymore, just got a small place."

Hopefully someplace he could make feel more like home.

He grinned. "It has a kitchen though."

"Good, that means I can start giving you cooking lessons," he teased, smirking a little at the other man.

It sounded nice, though, a little place for Derek to have, maybe this time they can make some good memories to go along with it.

Derek chuckled. "My sister...Laura, she tried but to be honest I suck at it." He thought for a moment. "I can make eggs." It wasn't much, but it had kept him fed more than once. He liked the protein.

"So you can cook? Didn't know that."

Stiles is quiet as Derek talks- he's never heard him talk about his family before. "I like eggs," he says in reply, smiling.

The teen shrugs at that. "I taught myself after my mom died. She loved to cook, and with her gone someone had to do it. Dad was in a bad place back then, so I felt it was up to me to keep us going."

Derek never wanted to talk about his family, it was too hard. But it was different with Stiles, it felt...normal almost. Maybe because Stiles had lost someone too and he knew he could understand that kind of pain.

Derek's eyes drift to Stiles' chest. "How are you feeling? Are you hurting?" He knew it was silly, how worried he was, but taking the pain helped alleviate the guilt he felt at not being there.

Stiles takes the change of subject easily- their family is a raw spot for both of them.

"Better now that I've eaten, still kind of in pain though," he says, and then offers his hand to Derek for the werewolf to siphon the pain from him. It works a lot better than the pain pills do and it doesn't make him feel all weird afterward.

Derek takes the hand and draws out the pain, but doesn't let Stiles take his hand back. Instead, he threads their fingers together and smile.

He used to be so good at this, smooth even, and he was trying desperately to get that back. Perhaps it was knowing that he could have something real with Stiles that had him so nervous and tentative.

"So, what would your dad think if I showed up at the front door and told him I was here to take you out on a date?" he teases, brushing his thumb over the back of Stiles hand.

Stiles lets out a content little sigh and shifts to rest his head on Derek's shoulder. It's nice, just them like this. Nothing, for the moment, to worry about.

"I think he'd be surprised as all hell, then he'd give you "the talk", probably clean his gun in front of you and remind you he has wolfsbane bullets now," he says, tilting his head to grin up at him.

Derek smirks. "I think I can handle that," he says, squeezing Stiles' hand. "I don't have an intention of hurting you, so I don't have anything to worry about, right?"

He turns his head slightly to kiss Stiles quickly on the lips. "Totally worth having my life threatened."

It make him flush a little, hearing Derek say that- that he would be worth it. It makes his cheeks flush with warm color as he leans forward to kiss Derek back.

"You're definitely worth it."

"Ah, you say that now," he teases. "What about when I'm grumpy and brooding? Will it still be worth it?" Okay, so maybe he wasn't joking with the last question, despite how light he kept his voice.

"Pretty sure you were already grumpy and broody when I met you, and yet I still fell for you," he says teasingly, but also serious.

Derek nods and feels the last of his tension melt away. "Since you're in no shape for a good make out, let alone anything else, do you want to watch a movie or something? Try and forget about the last few months?"

"How is this my life?" Stiles complains. "I get a boyfriend and every time I get time with him, I'm too injured to make out."

The teen crosses his arms over his chest, pouting a little. Not that he would admit to pouting or anything. Mildly perturbed maybe.

Derek smirks and gently nudges Stiles' shoulder with his own. "It could be worse. You've lived through worse. This is just a... temporary inconvenience."

Derek wasn't usually big on restraint when it came to sex, but he'd never been with someone like Stiles either. Someone he absolutely trusted. For that, he could wait.

"Wait. Did you just call me your boyfriend?" he questions, his eyes lighting up with amusement.

"Until the next time I see you and I've broken something else," the teen complains, huffing.

Stiles completely stills at the question, then thinks back to what he said and realizes he did just call Derek his boyfriend. They haven't even gone on a date yet!

He feels flustered all of a sudden, his face pinking as he looks away, not daring to look at Derek's face. It's not like they talked about it at length or anything, so really right now they weren't anything other than friends who are pretty interested in each other.

"I- it's- it was just a slip of the tongue, I promise. That's all. So you can just... pretend I didn't say that?"

Derek uses a finger to turn Stiles' face towards him. "Stiles, I'm not upset by it. To be fair, I tend to date people who are trying to kill me, so there's that," he says, able to grin despite it. "But I'm not opposed to the title if you want to give it to me."

"You're sure?" He asks, like he needs to know that Derek really is okay with it.

"Because I think you would actually make a pretty excellent boyfriend."

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