Tag: ish

annabethlemorte:

I took a prompt from this list.  Strangely, this ended up being decidedly smut-less, and more hurt/comfort than anything else.  PLUS, it’s shockingly not the pairing I’ve been writing the most of lately.

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“Hey, Derek?”

Derek looks up from his book, and over to where Stiles is curled up on the opposite end of the couch.  “Yeah?”

“Can I ask you something?”  Stiles’ voice is quiet, almost as if he doesn’t really want to speak.

“Sure.”  Derek slips a receipt between the pages of his book to mark his place, and sets it aside.  He turns towards Stiles, giving him his undivided attention.

Stiles’ fingers are toying with the seam of the closest throw pillow.  He’s quiet long enough that Derek wrongly assumes he isn’t going to ask his question after all.  “Do you think someone can be unloveable?”

Derek blinks in surprise.  Of all the things that Stiles could ask him, this is decidedly not what Derek was expecting.  He swallows back his initial response, asking instead, “Why do you ask?”

“No reason, really.”  Stiles’ shoulders move in what looks like a shrug.  “I just,” he sucks in a shaky breath, “it’s just something someone said.”

Ah.

“About you?”

Stiles lifts a hand to rub at his right eye, “Maybe?”

Derek takes a moment to think of how to answer.  If someone has said something to Stiles to make him even consider the question, Derek is sure that it’s been bothering him.  He himself has often felt that way, so he knows that simply brushing Stiles’ concern aside with platitudes will do more harm than good.  “I think that there is someone for everyone.  People love differently, and we just need to find that one person that just…gets us.”

Stiles’ brows lift, “Wow, that was decidedly poetic.”

Derek laughs, “Yeah, well,” he shrugs, ducking his head to hide the blush he can feel flooding his cheeks.

“Never thought I’d ever be talking to you, of all people, about this kind of stuff.”

The words sting a little; more than a little, if Derek is honest with himself.  He gives Stiles a tight smile, “I guess I deserve that.”

“What?”  Stiles blinks in confusion for a few seconds before he realizes what he just said.  “No, that’s not what I meant!  I just mean,” he drags a hand over his face, “god, I’m such a dick.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s really not.”  Stiles waves his hand in the air, “What I meant was: we’ve never really been friends, and yet I feel completely at ease discussing this with you.”

“I don’t make friends easily.”

Stiles nods, “Yeah, me either.  I’m a lot to take.  Hell, I made it through four years of college with no real friends.  If it wasn’t for your weekly pack Skype sessions, I think I would have spent the majority of the time in a drunken frat boy stupor.”

“You?  A frat boy?”

“Hey!  I could have been a frat boy, if I wanted to, fuck you very much.”

Derek smirks, “Of course you could have.”

Stiles makes a face at Derek, flipping him off in the process.

“You make it sound as if you never got out of your dorm room.  I know for a fact that’s not true.”

“Aforementioned frat parties don’t count.” Stiles yawns, “late night hook-ups in dark hallways aren’t nearly as fulfilling as all that.”

“You had more than that though.  What about that blonde from freshman year?”

“Blaise?”  At Derek’s nod, Stiles waves a dismissive hand, “she only dated me to  make her ex jealous.”

“Really?”  Derek shakes his head, “that’s a shitty thing to do.”

Stiles laughs softly.

Derek frowns, “What?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you cuss before.”  The look Derek levels on Stiles, only serves to make him laugh more, “it’s cute how you think you can intimidate me after all these years.”

“I am not cute.”

Stiles grins, “I never said you were.”

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