studmuffin | → there's just a few things I think that you should know

[ He feels helpless for a second. Sure, monsters he can hit until someone saves him, but this -? It makes a horrifying sense - the way that Derek is, like the people he keeps around him could twist the knife in at any moment and Stiles doesn't know how to make him see.

Kate was a psychopath. Peter's insane. That doesn't mean everyone else is, that doesn't mean Stiles wants to hurt him, or that Isaac does, or that the rest of the pack do. They're dumb, lost kids and they don't know what they're doing, but it's never malicious.

Shoulders sagging. What else can he do? ] Let's go home.

[Derek hates the way that this happened, he didn't want Stiles to come back out of pity, but he can't - he won't fight this, he just nods and slips his jacket off. He still has his sweater on, and his body temperature still ratchets higher than Stiles' ever will.

He just gruffly passes it over]

Here, wear it.

[ He blinks slightly but takes it, hands trembling as he shrugs it on. But it's warm and he feels so cold inside he might as well do what he can for the outside of him. ]

I don't hate you. [ Not looking at him. ] I try really, really hard to sometimes but you're always there when we need you. I guess it just got easy to blame you for it because you were always there when we needed you.

[ It wasn't Derek who turned Scott in the first place. And if Stiles hadn't wanted to go out into the woods maybe they would have never run into Peter - maybe they'd be the same dumb teenagers crushing on women they could never, ever get. He doesn't know. ]

That's what pack is.

[He's so mad at Scott; so mad that it burns sometimes, because he kept saying he was pack, and then he wasn't - why couldn't he just tell Derek the truth? - but he was never that mad at Stiles.

Stiles was always more collateral damage, and Derek hates that.]

Yeah, but I didn't get that, okay? [ Huffing, starting to walk the way back to the woods. ]

I don't have the same wolfy feelings you do, you need to explain that crap to me in ways I can understand. [ Pack means family -- you get so pissed you want to scream bloody murder, but you attempt bloody murder if anything threatens it. He would have understood if he could have seen passed the haze of distrust and otherness. He's human, he already feels two steps behind. ]

[They're at the border, now, and Derek stops.]

Do you want the bite, Stiles?

[ He stumbles for a second, vision not as epic in the dark and it had come out of nowhere. ]

Peter asked me. Before. He told me it could have easily been me that night. [ Not looking at Derek. ] He said I was lying when I said no and maybe I didn't even know it myself. But it kind of looks like as much as the cool stuff is awesome, being a werewolf, it drives you crazy. I don't think I need anymore craziness in my life.

[He catches Stiles, first. It's reaction, instinct. He takes a moment, nods, and is about to keep going when the tree above them grows mistletoe, and he pulls Stiles up to kiss him again, his hands going to the teenager's hips to pull him up and closer, his mouth almost bruising]

[ Derek kisses like a desperate man and Stiles can't help himself with the first twist of magic, he presses up, kisses back. But he's -- guilty's not the right word, it's something else, a sudden and feirce need to protect. He pulls away, steps out of Derek's reach. ]

I'm not ... [ Kate. He refuses to let the City do this, not right now. He wants Derek, has spent days trying to dissect it but he can't. Derek doesn't want him the same way. That doesn't mean he can walk away. ] Mistletoe sucks, huh? [ A weak laugh. ] Isn't it poisonous?

[Derek looks up and glares at it, the twisting parasite]

And a parasite.

[He just shakes his head. He knows how much Stiles wants him. He can smell it, feel it taste it.

But it's not that easy for him. Stiles isn't Kate but Derek doesn't - he can't be that selfish. Not again.]

This is why we should not be living in the woods. [ Hands in the sleeves of Derek's jacket, chin tipped down to see where he's going. ]

Green stuff is probably more inclined to grow out here. [ Forgetting the apartment building for a moment. ] We should totally be living with civilisation.

[Derek shrugs and ducks under a low branch]

I don't really like the smells.

[It reminds him of Laura, actually, being trapped in New York, holed up in the only place with no pack]

Okay.

[ Tomorrow he'll go back to normal, go back to the way things were with his comments and his jibes and trying to get under Derek's skin and make him react. Tonight everything feels too fragile. ]

Watch your head.

[Another low branch. Don't get concussed.]

Hey, thanks.

I need like, nightvision goggles or something.

[He stops for a minute]

Close your eyes.

Um.

[ He wants to ask why, what Derek needs from him if his eyes are closed. But this whole thing has been ridiculous and fine, fine, maybe Stiles owes him a little trust.

So he does. ]

[He waits about a minute.]

Okay, open them.

Your pupils should have dilated at least a little more. Better?

Oh fine, Jedi mind trick me.

[ Waving a hand in Derek's direction. ]

[Derek raises both majestic eyebrows and leads on]

[ Stupid, sexy, emotionally constipated asshole.

Following. Because fuck it. ]

[The cabin is surprisingly warm and actually it's kind of pretty in all the snow.]

You first.

[ He pauses just before the door, breath fogging up. ]

Hey, thanks. For coming to get me. [ Rubbing the back of his neck. ] And one day you're maybe gonna trust me enough to talk to me about ... about stuff. I just wanna extend that offer in advance in case you get there and don't think you can.

→ there's just a few things I think that you should know

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