Chapter Text
Mischief and Derek are best friends, closer to each other than they are to anyone else, even their families. It hadn’t taken long for their families to realize this fact and just follow suit, so the Hales and the Stilinskis became pretty much one huge family, Stiles loved having his best friend and family so close all the time, even with all their weird mannerisms that he hadn’t really seen before meeting Derek and the other Hales.
He loves the Hales, every single one of them, truly he does, but he does have favorites even if it’s not fair to pick favorites. But he just can’t help it, Derek, Peter and Cora are his favorites, with Micheal just barely missing out on being in the top three. There is just something about them all that calls to something deep inside of him, something he can’t quite get a grasp of no matter how hard he tries. Maybe with age he’ll be able to figure it out, but for now it’s a mystery.
Leaning further against Derek he pushes his thoughts away, focusing back on the game that they were playing before he got distracted. Rolling his eyes affectionately at Laura’s attempt at charades, knowing that no one on her team is likely to get it, despite him knowing what she’s trying for. He and Derek told her that she would want to be on their team, but of course, she felt above working with ‘little kids’, so now she’s just going to lose to them instead.
Forcing himself to lose himself as best he can in the moment, he pushes the worries to the back of his mind, or at least tries to, not wanting to miss out on any of this. Fearing that it may all be gone soon, something eating at him, telling him things will fall apart. Not that he can pinpoint exactly what it is that is causing him to feel that way, leaving him to merely push it away and hope for the best. Hope that he’s wrong or that one of the adults will pick up on whatever he is.
Cuddling further into Derek’s embrace he tries his best to shove his fears away, to lock them away in the back of his mind. Not willing to ruin this time, just in case his fears are right, the last thing he would want is to ruin the time he has left for these kinds of moments. Taking comfort in their families surrounding them, he lets himself relax for the first time in probably weeks. Feeling like nothing could happen to them as long as they’re all together, that together they’re safe.
“Mischief, it’s your turn, come on.” Laura snaps slightly, tone torn between affection and frustration, not taking the loss as well as she probably should, considering that she is close to being an adult, a few months away from eighteen.
Chuckling he leaves the comfort of Derek’s arms, replacing Laura in front of the group, finally genuinely losing himself in the moment. Just having fun with everyone, finally able to push his fear away, for now. Just savoring the time with his friends, no not friends, his family.
He knew something was wrong, he could feel it, he’s known it for months. But it doesn’t make truly learning that his mom is rapidly becoming someone he can no longer recognize, and that she doesn’t recognize him either, any easier. This is not what he thought was coming, and if he’s being honest he’s pretty sure this isn’t the only way they’re going to be torn apart. The fear eating at him is too much for him to think that this was all that it was foretelling.
Wanting nothing more than to sink into the arms of someone, he immediately runs away to the Hale’s house. Still shaking from what just happened, needing to be somewhere he can feel safe, he finds his way to the Hale house. Knocking softly at the door, he hopes with every part of him that Derek or Peter is the one to open the door. Sure that those two he can trust with this part of himself, the pain overwhelming him, needing someone to help shoulder it.
The comfort that he can take from those two would probably be the only thing to allow himself to pull himself together after… After what his mom just did… Helpless to stop his shivering he waits anxiously for one of the Hales to open the door for him, to allow him the safety that he needs. Hoping that they will let him stay until his dad is back home, not able to even consider going back home alone…
“Mischief… What are you doing here?” Derek asks far more distantly than Stiles is prepared for.
“Der… I… My mom… There’s something wrong with my mother and… I…Just… Can I talk to Peter and your parents?” he stutters out, not feeling up to deal with whatever mood Derek is in, hoping that the others will help him through this.
“Um… Sure? I guess… Come on in… They’re in Mom’s office, do you need me to lead you there or are you good to make it there on your own?” Derek responds strangely, breaking Stiles even more, but he can’t let it affect him, not with what happened, he’ll need the Hales to get through it.
Shaking his head, still shivering, he makes his way quietly to Talia’s office before knocking softly at the door. Hoping that no matter what that they will help him, even if just for the night. Because he can’t deal with this alone, not like this, not after… The door opens and Peter pulls him into the office, carefully shutting the door, pulling him into a hug. Clearly seeing what Derek must have missed. He melts against the man, soaking in the comfort being offered to him.
“Oh my, Mischief…” Peter starts sadly, cutting himself off momentarily when the boy flinches at the name, “What’s going on, darling? What has you shaking like a leaf and running all the way here? Are you okay, darling?” he finishes, saving the question about the reaction to the name for later.
“Mom tried to drown me… Something is wrong with her… She… She… She doesn’t remember me… She thinks I’m just a demon sent to kill her… I… I couldn’t be alone with her any longer… I’m scared, obrońca …” he explains as best he can around the sobs wrecking his body now that he’s safe, unable to hold them back any longer.
“She… She fucking what?!” Peter responds angrily, growling in a way he rarely lets show around the young boy in his arms, but doesn’t surprise Stiles, not anymore, not with all the hints he’s noticed about what the Hales truly are.
“Peter!... Honey, can you tell us exactly what happened? Just so we know what to say when we talk to your dad in the morning about why you’re going to be staying with us for a while.” Talia says, tone steely and tense despite her efforts to hide her own anger from the young child clearly seeking sanctuary with them.
“Okay, I should probably start at the beginning, so you have the full picture… It started slowly, a few months ago she forgot to pick me up from school. It didn’t really matter then since Peter just came and got me instead. But it… It got worse from there… She’s been forgetting more things as time goes on…
It’s only been the past month that she… That she started to forget that she ever had a son, that she started to no longer know who I was… This isn’t the first time that she’s lashed out at me, but… It was different… Normally she would just slap me when I startled her, or showed up in her space…
But this time… This time she pretended to remember me… Made me think that she was my mother, truly, not… Got me into the bath and the second my guard was down she pushed my head under the water. I… I don’t even know how I got away from her… The only thing I could think is I had to get here, I had to go where I know that I’m safe…” he explains as thoroughly as he can, knowing that they need the full story if Talia is talking the way she is.
“How did we not notice anything? How did your father not notice anything? How did we all fail you so badly?” Micheal asks brokenly, the first of the adults to recover enough to speak, even if brokenly.
“It’s not your fault… You guys couldn’t have known… I did everything I could to keep it away from anyone else… I never thought that it would get to this point… I would have… At least I’m pretty sure I would have said something had I known. But this was not what I expected so I kept quiet…” he responds honestly, not willing to hide from the Hales any longer, especially if it will stop them from blaming themselves for this when he was doing everything to hide it from all of them.
“Even if you hadn’t wanted to go to your father about this, why didn’t you come to us? Or even just come to me about it? Just in case something like this happened, so that at least someone would have known to be concerned.” Peter asks shallowly, pretending that it would hide the hurt in his voice, but everyone there can hear it just the same.
“It would have made it real… Someone else knowing… It would have made it real… I couldn’t… I needed to… It wasn’t supposed to be real… I thought, hoped, it was just the fear and anxiety I have been feeling for the past few months playing with my mind…” he says honestly, trying to keep the break out of his voice but failing much like Peter had.
“How long? The anxiety. What is it about and how long has it been happening?” Talia asks worriedly, but it’s clear that there is something more there, something that makes Stiles worry that there was truly more to his feelings than simply his mind racing.
“It’s… Well about that… Since like three weeks before our last game day that we played charades… It started out small, just a slight feeling of something being wrong… But by now it feels so much more like the world is on the edge of falling apart completely and it’s all my fault. Or it’s up to me to try and save us all from it. But I have no idea how to even start trying to figure it out. I don’t know what to do, or what it is about. But I know it’s not just about my mother, something worse is still coming…” he confesses, letting them know as much as he knows how to share of it, of all the chaos in his brain.
“What are you meaning when you say that you feel like the world is on the edge of falling apart? And are you saying that you feel that we’re specifically involved with whatever it is that you are feeling? That it isn’t just about your mom and whatever that is going to entail?” Micheal asks softly, clearly trying to ask without causing more anxiety for Stiles, but it doesn’t help, it only makes it more obvious that there is more to this than typical anxiety, at least in their minds there is .
“It feels like there is a part of this that is about you guys as well and I don’t think it’s only about Derek pulling away from me out of nowhere. That’s far too small to be what this is about… I had hoped it was nothing, but it seems like there might be something coming, something really really bad… I… I don’t know what to say to explain what it is that I’m feeling exactly, but whatever it is, it’s bad, genuinely bad.” he answers honestly, feeling no reason to hide it from them at this point.
“But what kind of bad? Like the same bad you’re feeling when it comes to your mom? Or is it different?” Peter asks leadingly, clearly trying to get an idea for what it could be that Stiles is sensing that none of them are..
“It feels like… Well… It feels like everything is going to fall apart and I’m going to lose every last one of you, but it doesn’t feel like all of it is going to be… Some parts feel small, like this person is going to hate you soon, but most of the rest… Most of the rest feel like there is something awful coming… Something that feels like complete and utter destruction…” he admits softly, worried about telling them, but aware that he needs to if he has any hope of saving them.
“You’re saying you feel like many of us are going to die aren’t you?” Talia asks bluntly, not allowing Stiles to avoid the full truth of what it is that he’s feeling.
“Yes, well overall, honestly it feels that most of you are going to be killed, not just die, but be killed by someone. It feels like there is a target on many of your backs… Some feel like they’ll survive whatever it is, but it feels like many of you are living on borrowed time now…” he answers honestly, being as open about the feelings as he can bring himself to be, feeling the weight of his own words like a noose around his neck despite his best efforts to ignore it.
“So you’re telling us that you feel like most of us are going to be murdered?” Micheal asks carefully, looking sick at the thought but pushing through despite that fact, all of them aware that this is something that needs to be addressed.
“Yes… I… That is what I’m saying…” he answers brokenly, no longer able to hold it together, having finally addressed what has been going on inside his head for months, the worries now feeling valid and like a tangible noose around all of their necks.
“Okay, darling. Come on. Let’s get you to bed. You can stay in my room tonight, okay? And I’ll be there soon, just go lay down and I’ll meet you there when I’m done talking to Talia and Micheal.” Peter says soothingly, clearly trying to keep Stiles calm despite the topic.
“Okay, obrońca…” he responds quietly, pulling out of the hug to look at the adults around him, feeling the air leave him at the nervousness on all of their faces, telling him that they are taking his anxiety far more seriously than he could have ever been prepared for…
He hugs all three of them tightly, doing all he can to show them that he loves them. Hoping that they know that he never wants this feeling to come true, that he wishes he didn’t have these feelings. But there is nothing he can do to truly comfort them, not right now at least. So he just tries to let them see that he loves them and would do anything he possibly could to protect them. That he will be there for them through whatever comes as best he can.
Since they are likely all he’s going to have come morning… Confident that the knowledge of what his wife did, what it means, is going to take his dad away from him too. It’s just what he knows is likely to happen. Because his father won’t be able to deal with all of the stress that will come, on top of the stress of being a deputy. No matter how much he loves his parents, he knows, without a doubt in his mind, that neither of them are truly going to be his parents the same way ever again.
Steeling himself, he leaves the office, heading to Peter’s room, hoping that no one comes across him on his trek there. Not able to even consider dealing with people at the moment. Everything just feels much too overwhelming to be able to deal with anything else. Thanking the gods when he makes it to Peter’s room without incident, grateful he was allowed at least this one thing. Laying down in Peter’s bed he quickly, probably too quickly, falls asleep, safely tucked in bed.
Shooting upright in bed, he can feel that something is very wrong, it takes him only a short time to become aware of what is likely happening. The pain ripples through his chest, telling him far more than he is prepared for. The anxieties that have been swirling in his head calming for the first time in months, making him feel like he’s the worst person in the world. Knowing what that has to mean, but still a little grateful for the reprieve despite himself.
Taking a deep breath he drags himself out of bed, knowing that he needs to get there. He has to try to help or he will never forgive himself, so he doesn’t bother changing, merely runs out of his room. Heading out of his house and racing towards the Hale house, praying that he makes it there in time to maybe help. Needing to try to help them, unable to consider ignoring it, despite the risk to himself. Not caring what it is he pushes himself to get to the house.
The closer he gets though, the more he understands what exactly is happening and the worse the pain in his chest gets. Nearly in too much pain to keep going, he grits his teeth and keeps running to the house as fast as he can. Hoping that he will be able to do something, anything, to help the people who have come to mean so much to him. Heedless to his own safety in the face of his family, his Pack, suffering, he tries to get into the house.
Trying to find a slightly safe route to get to the people he loves so dearly, he sprints blindly around the house, searching for something to do to get inside, to help them as much as he can. Catching sight of Peter fighting against an invisible wall, he realizes this is worse than he even believed it to be. Racing toward the partially shifted man, he breaks the dimly glowing line around the house, not understanding why, but just knowing it’s what he needed to do.
Praying that he’s not too late, he carefully guides Peter out of the way, away from the flames, before charging in. Searching for any of the others, hoping that he can save any of them, but the longer it takes the more he loses hope. Heart shattering at the sight that meets him in the actual basement, bodies piled all together, pushing it aside to look for any sign of life. But he finds none, looking around for Derek, Laura or Cora hoping maybe they are still alive…
“No. No. No… I need to find them. I… I can’t lose them all… Where are they?!” he complains aloud, hoping that maybe hearing him would be enough for the others to show, but there’s no sound outside of his own and the raging fire.
Hating himself for it, but knowing that he has to, he runs back outside, knowing that if he stayed in there he would do no one any good. Likely he would have died along with them, so he quickly makes his way back out to Peter. Checking if the man who has always taken care of him, always protected him, is still alive. Pushing himself to run once he hears the sirens, knowing that he has to leave before anyone else gets there.
Taking comfort in the fact that Peter is still breathing and that three of the Hales weren’t with the others, he races back home. Hoping that he can make it back before his dad heads out for the scene, needing to be there. No matter the outcome, he needs to know, needs to be there. There is no other choice for him, he can feel that it’s something he has to do. So he pushes himself to make it home in time to catch his dad on the way out.
Getting home, he sneaks back into the house, when he hears his dad’s room door crack open, he takes a deep breath. Pulling himself together as best he can, he pretends to be getting a drink of water, hoping that his father is too tired and hungover to notice anything amiss with him. Not surprised when he hears his dad check his room, he waits for his dad to make his way down the stairs. The rapid steps down the stairs tells him that his dad is worried.
“Son! Where are you?!” John asks semi frantically, clearly distraught.
“Dad, what’s going on? I was getting a drink of water… Dad… Dad… Why do you look like that? What is it? What’s wrong? Why do you…? Dad…” he questions both seriously and to sell the fact that he knows nothing about what is going on.
“Son… I don’t know if I should tell you this… But you’ll find out anyway… The Hale house caught fire tonight. I have to go to the house and figure out what happened, you’re going to want to come with me aren’t you?” John responds with much more honesty and understanding than Stiles was expecting.
“I have to go, dad. They… Please?” he begs, hoping that his father truly will allow him to go.
“Okay. I… If you get ready to go before I finish making my coffee, you can come along.” John concedes, knowing that his son would just sneak into the car otherwise.
“Thank you, dad.” he responds quickly, before racing off to change.
Quickly throwing off the clothes that already smell like smoke, he changes into outside clothes as fast as he can. Making sure that his dad has no reason to leave him behind, since he couldn’t handle not being there, in case one of the other three get home only to find that there is no longer a home there. Because no matter how distant he and Derek have gotten, he knows that his presence would help.
It wouldn’t magically make things okay, that’d never be what he expected, but it would hopefully calm Derek enough not to do anything stupid. Since at the end of the day, the best way to make it through this horrible situation is by being together, by helping each other through it as best they can. Supporting each other through it the best that they can is the only way to get through it. Just like after his mother got admitted to the hospital, to spend the rest of her days.
Pushing that away for now he finishes getting dressed and races back downstairs, unwilling to risk getting left behind. Knowing that even if only for himself he needs to be there, needs to see it again, needs to know if anyone in the house survived despite his checking. Hoping that maybe, maybe, all the death was a bad dream, despite being well aware that he was awake. Since he could feel the flames licking at him when he was there.
“Come on, kiddo, let’s head out.” John says finally, leading his son out to the cruiser, ignoring how strange it will look to the others.
Easily settling into the passenger seat, he quietly waits for his dad to drive there. Part of himself is hoping that it won’t be as bad as he remembers it being, but he’s well aware that none of this bodes well. He knows how bad things are, he was just there, but despite that he still holds onto hope that things are okay. No matter how much he knows that isn’t the case, he can’t help hoping for it to be…
Staring out at the house all of his hopes are dashed, he can see that it’s even worse than it was before he left. And that’s without taking into account the body bags lining the front of the house. Counting them he prays that Peter and the three he couldn’t find aren’t amongst them. Feeling darkly grateful, he takes comfort in those four not joining the others in the time that he was gone. Hating that this happened, hating that he couldn’t stop this, that he couldn’t save them all.
What use was the warning if he still just failed to protect them? Heart breaking further, he can feel Derek nearing the house, making him feel the need to get out of the car. But well aware that he’s going to have to wait until Derek is visible to them all, not willing to make anyone suspicious of him by acting too soon. Watching Laura pull up and barely stop the car before both of them are out of the car, sprinting to what’s left of their home.
“This is going to only get worse I can already tell.” he whispers quietly to himself, catching both Laura and Derek noticing him, he gets out of the car carefully.
Hoping that they won’t notice anything amiss with him, he approaches the two mourning Hales carefully, aware of how badly this could go if he isn’t careful. The closer he draws towards the two, the more a deep fear takes root inside of him, leaving him little space to even consider this not going south. He can tell that his hope for getting through this together just isn’t in the cards, despite how much he may wish for it. It’s clear they don’t consider him…
“This is your fault! If you were in the house they wouldn’t be dead! Fuck you for abandoning my entire family to die!” Derek says viciously, grabbing Stiles up from the collar of his shirt, growling darkly in his face.
“Derek, I… If I could have saved all of them you know good and well that I would have. I love them all and you damn well know that, so don’t you blame this on me! I’m not the one that lit the fire! Be mad at the person or thing that actually killed them, not me when I’m just trying to be here for the two of you. You can’t push me away for months and then blame me for not being at the house that I barely have felt welcome in recently. I’m sorry for your loss, I really am, you both know how much I love your family, but this is not my fault. If I could have you know, you have to know, that I would have done anything to save them.” he responds far more angrily than he meant to, but the accusation after trying so hard to save them, and the way Derek has treated him recently, is just too much for him to let go this time.
“Hey now, both of you stop it. This is doing nothing other than making all of us feel worse about this. It’s none of our faults, it’s whoever the fuck burnt our family to death, this is not Stiles’ fault and you shouldn’t blame him for this, not with everything else he’s going through. I get you're angry, we all are, but you don’t get to take it out on either of us. Neither of us did this so you don’t get to blame us for something we just didn’t do.” Laura responds firmly, but you can feel how broken up she is about the events that have transpired this night, despite her trying to fill the hole their mother, Alpha’s, death left in their lives.
“But, Laura, if he had been here they wouldn’t have died!” Derek responds forcefully, lashing out at both of them now.
“Or he would have died along with them, is that what you’d want? Stiles to die alongside them? Losing your best friend on top of almost our entire family?” Laura responds, not giving Derek the room to shift the blame onto the human, despite her slight agreement, knowing it’s not on Stiles.
“But he…” Derek starts angrily, but Laura cuts him off before he can continue however he was going to.
“But nothing, Derek. This is not Stiles’ fault. Don’t blame him for this. This is on whatever hunters came after our family, not a human kid that loves our family. Stop now.” Laura cuts in, already tired by the justification of Derek being an asshole to someone so important to the family.
“I’m not wrong!” Derek responds angrily, making Stiles question things he very much would rather not, hopefully seeing signs that aren’t really there, unwilling to trust it until he gets confirmation.
Grasping Laura’s hand for a moment, thanking her without words, he walks away. Unwilling to stand there only for Derek to continue to blame him. Especially after the way he has risked his life, the danger he was so willing to throw himself into on the off chance that he could make even a slight difference in the outcome of this night. Willing to do anything to save the only family he felt he had left, loving them enough to try no matter how futile he knew it was.
“You had no right to act that way, Derek.” Laura scolds as soon as Stiles leaves, clearly angry with her younger brother.
“You had no right to tell him that we weren’t human.” Derek responds just as angrily, challenging Laura despite the fact that she is now his Alpha.
“He already knows, moron, he’s the only reason Peter survived, he broke the line…” Laura responds exasperatedly, frustrated with how little her idiot little brother uses his godsdamn senses.
Helplessly turning back to look at the duo, he catches the heartbroken look that Derek sends him, but he can’t allow himself to fall for whatever is going on. Accepting that at least for now the three of them are no longer Pack, this broke them, just like he had feared. He just hopes that Peter doesn’t go down that same route when he wakes up, unable to even consider fully losing Peter either to death or hatred. Needing at least one Hale to stay in his life, anyway possible.
Three months… It’s been three months since he last saw or heard from Derek and Laura… Three months of loneliness and worry. He hates that this is how things turned out for them, this is never what he would have wanted to happen. Laura and Derek abandoning him and Peter is not at all what he could have expected, but despite understanding, he hates them for leaving the two of them to fend for themselves. Leaving him to attempt to heal Peter all on his own.
His life feels like nothing less than a complete nightmare… His mother is dying more with each passing day, his father is buried so deeply in the bottle that he’s surprised he’s still alive, the Pack, his Pack he likes to consider them still, left him in one way or another, either death or abandonment, and Peter, his protector, is locked inside his own head and he’s sure that it couldn’t be good for the man. Alone, he’s completely alone now, he has no one now.
Leaving the hospital room where his mother lies dying, he sneaks his way into Peter’s room, much more comfortable being around the Wolf than his own mother. Still remembering the way she tried to murder him, despite how strongly he’s trying to push it away and forgive her for what happened, he’s still too scared of her to spend long alone with her, even while she’s sedated the way she is recently. Laying a hand on Peter, he hopes his presence comforts the man even now.
“Obrońca …Gods I miss you so much. I really wish that I could have saved you all from what happened, none of you deserved that. Honestly I hadn’t expected Laura and Derek to abandon you, but a dark part of myself is glad to still have you close. I’m so sorry for failing you guys. I should have been able to do something more. I knew something bad was coming, I should have figured it out.
I’m so sorry that I didn’t. And you guys had focused so much on me, on my problems that you forgot to worry about you guys. Derek wasn’t wrong… It’s my fault that you guys were able to truly get attacked that way, I should have done something with the warning that I had, but I didn’t.
I’ll never forgive myself for that. I love you guys all so much and I will never forget a single one of the Hales. No matter what happens, you guys will always have a part of my heart.” he whispers to Peter, but also just the Hales in general, feeling like he needs to atone for the ways he has failed them, though he just also needs them, all of them if possible, to know how much he loves them all.
Laying his head carefully against Peter’s chest he seeks the comfort of the man’s heartbeat, reminding himself that despite the odds against him, Peter is still alive. Thanks to his actions, Peter was able to survive the fire. It might not be the best outcome, but it’s better than adding another Hale onto the list of the ones lost. He couldn’t imagine losing any more of them to that senseless murder.
Tears run helplessly down his cheeks, landing on Peter’s chest, part of him hopes that his tears could help heal the Wolf, to actually make them worth something. Instead of just an empty gesture that is more about him than the ones lost. It’s just another way he’s selfish, another thing to add onto the list of reasons that Derek was right about him… He failed the Hales, no matter his reasoning, he still failed them…
Slowly, he falls asleep on Peter’s chest, praying that Peter will be healed by the time he wakes.
Walking through the Preserve once more with Scott, after the poor guy was bit, isn’t how he expected his day to go. Letting his curiosity get the best of him last night was clearly not the best idea he’s ever had, but they’ll just have to deal with the consequences later. For now he’s going to help Scott look for the inhaler that he no longer is going to need considering the fact it’s clear that he was turned last night and it’s all his fault.
Part of himself hates the merging of worlds, his two worlds, but it was bound to happen eventually. Something in his gut telling him that this was just something that was going to happen one way or another. He hopes with everything that he is that they will get through this without any complications or suffering. Does he know that hoping for that is useless? Yes, yes he does, but he can’t help it. He’s more than aware of the ways this world works.
Teaching Scott about it is going to be a challenge, but one he thinks he will be up for. He just hopes that the feeling of familiarity churning inside of him doesn’t mean what he’s scared of it meaning. Not able to even begin to consider what it would mean for any of them, unwilling to go down that route until he knows for sure. Feeling eyes on them, he prays that he’s wrong, that he isn’t going to look up and find Derek Hale watching them…
Appearing in front of the two, Derek ruins Stiles' hopes of being wrong, saying “What are you doing here?” he pauses, waiting for one of them to respond, continuing when neither of them does, “Huh? This is private property.”
“Uh, sorry, man, we didn't know.” he responds dumbly, unable to even consider addressing the last time he saw the man, hiding his broken heart as best he can, unwilling to show that level of weakness to someone who blamed him so strongly.
“Yeah, we were just looking for something, but…” Scott starts, cutting himself off at the glare he’s receiving from the older Wolf, before continuing on to say, “...Uh, forget it.” he finishes hesitantly.
Derek, ever the drama queen, just silently throws Scott his inhaler, the younger Wolf catches it without a thought. The elder Wolf turns in his tracks, walking away from them like he wasn’t ever there. Leaving he and Scott staring dumbly after the man, for two very different reasons, but both of them are unable to stop themselves. Scott seemingly forgets that he’s even there with him, clearly sensing something other about Derek, to be so distracted by the man.
Turning to walk away, Scott says, “Um... All right, come on, I gotta get to work.”
Grabbing his best friend, stopping the new Wolf in his tracks, he can’t help himself, saying, “Dude, that was Derek Hale!” catching sight of the blank look on Scot’s face causes a dark part of himself to rear its head, continuing, “You remember, right? He's only like a few years older than us, well you technically. ” he finishes, feeling a dark satisfaction of bringing this up where he knows that Derek can hear him.
“Remember what?” Scott asks confusedly, a frown covering his lips, not quite understanding why Stiles is talking about this guy like he should recognize him.
“His family. They all burned to death in a fire, like, ten years ago.” he says exaggeratingly, doubling the amount of time it has actually been, trying to make it seem like he hasn’t counted the days since it happened, not willing to show that level of vulnerability with Derek near.
“I wonder what he's doing back…” Scott wonders out loud, clearly curious, but there is an undercurrent of concern at the knowledge of what happened to the Hales, well most of them at least.
“Come on.” he says, leading Scott away from the other Wolf, sure that this can’t mean anything good.
Knowing that if things were okay or normal that it wouldn’t be Derek popping up at them for being on the Hale land that way. Stomach sinking he prays that what he thinks is going on isn’t what it is. Not wanting to even think about what it all could mean…