Derek groaned as his phone rang on the night stand next to him, waking him from his already fitful, precarious sleep. Stiles' name flashed on the caller i.d. and he knew that if he didn't answer the call right now, he would regret the decision for the rest of his life. Plus, the annoying kid had a habit of never leaving a voicemail in favor of calling repeatedly until Derek finally decided to pick up.
"What do you need Stiles?" Derek gritted out between his teeth. "You do realize that it is 12:30 in the morning?" He ran his hand over his eyes to wipe the sleep out of his eyes while he sat up against his headboard.
"My dad's drinking pretty heavy again and he's currently drunker than I can remember him being in years. I can hear him down stairs going from sobbing uncontrollably to throwing anything he can break against the wall. I'm pretty freaked out right now, honestly and I just needed someone to talk to, I suppose," Stiles whimpered out. Derek immediately perked up at the profound sadness he could hear in Stiles' voice and he poured all his attention into calming down the human member of his pack.
"Do you want me to come pick you up? Are you worried that he'll hurt you?" Derek asked, rapid fire. "Forget that, I'm already on my way. Put a few things in a bag, I'm coming to get you as we speak."
"Derek, it's okay. He's venting his anger at himself on the dishes and glassware. I'm locked in my room and I don't even think he realizes I'm here. I just want a voice on the other end to keep me company for a little while until he falls into his usual post drunken stupor and passes out for the night," Stiles said, trying to soothe Derek's suddenly frayed nerves.
"You are trying to calm me down when you are in a house with a drunk Sheriff with access to guns and ammunition who is currently breaking anything that's within arms range? I'm coming to get you and I'm not taking no for an answer. I'll come through your window, so make sure you leave it open," Derek ordered as he pulled on a pair of pants. He dug around his stuff in search of his keys while he listened to Stiles' controlled breathing on the other end. "Please, just let me come pick you up. I'll feel a lot better if you just let me bring you over here. I'll know you're safe for the night at least."
"He's not throwing anything now. I think he's starting to calm down. Seriously, Derek, I'm not worried about him harming me. What I want is for you to sit there at talk to me for half an hour until I can fall asleep. That will do me more than you'll ever know," Stiles sighed. Derek forced himself to still his movements and sit in the nearby chair. "How is your bestiary coming along?"
"That's what you want to talk about? How my collection of stories, myths, and fables about supposedly mythological creatures is coming along," Derek huffed out affectionately. "It's coming along surprisingly well, especially that Peter is actually being useful for once in his life. He contacted a pack out of San Francisco who e-mailed him a bunch of stuff they had managed to translate and their emissary is working on translating the other half of their books. Hopefully, we'll be getting more in the next week or two. Have you found anything interesting or have you given up trying to figure out archaic Latin?"
"The Latin part seems to be the easiest part actually. Lydia is really a good teacher when she doesn't get frustrated with me. The hard part is actually separating where the actual occurrences end and the legend begins. It's like a game of telephone; by time I get my hands on the information, the story has been told so many times by so many different people that it becomes distorted. So I have to cross reference everything I find with a second source which is always difficult to find, of course," Stiles explains, his voice low, almost wary.
"At least you are being through with everything. I appreciate you helping me with this, I really do," Derek said with a smile.
"Hey, I'm pack aren't I? Pack is supposed to help with this kind of thing and since I'm not good at fighting with claws and fangs, I might as well help everyone figure out what they are going up against when it comes down to fighting," Stiles offered. "Thank you for getting up and indulging me, Derek. It means a lot to me that you are sacrificing sleep to keep my mind busy."
"Stiles?" Derek asked tentatively.
"What's up?" Stiles quirked back.
"What are your plans for tomorrow night?" Nervousness tinged Derek's voice and it seemed that Stiles, being perceptive as usual, caught it but smoothed it over easily.
"As of right now, nothing," Stiles drew out lazily.
"Well you have plans now. You and I are going camping this weekend. No technology, no Scott, no Sheriff, just you and me actually having some personal pack bonding time," Derek offered.
"Personal pack bonding time? I believe the popular term for what you are proposing is a date. An extended, sleeping in a tent together in the middle of the woods, date. And I would love to do that because if I don't go, I'll hate myself forever for not getting more chances to see your shirtless torso pressed up against mine. What time do you want to leave?" Stiles quipped.
"Right after you get out of class. No chances for your dad to get drunk and do whatever," Derek said.
"Derek, I told you, he has never laid a hand on me," Stiles whined.
"Sober, he hadn't. But what about when he's drunk?"
"Never," Stiles scoffed.
"I'll trust you on that. But promise me, if things get worse, you will call me again. Doesn't matter if it's the middle of the night or whatever. If it's serious, or if you need to talk it out again, call me?" Derek pleaded.
"Yeah, I promise. See you tomorrow afternoon, then," Stiles said, his voice lighter than it had been the entire conversation. "I'll shove a bag in my locker so I won't even need to go home. Pick me up outside the school?"
"Deal. See you then, Stiles."
"Thank you, Derek."
A/N: This was a prompt that I found on Tumblr on officialteenwolfprompts blog. I've got a list of them that I want to do so hopefully this is the first of a few that I'll be writing in the near future.