Inspired by a conversation in the Doctor Who Episode "The Girl Who Waited".
Comatose
Derek sat at Stiles' bedside for he didn't know how long. He knew it was eleven nurses coming to tell him visiting hours were over at various shift changes, but none of them pressed the issue. He knew it was Scott visiting seven times, and Isaac four, and a grand total of six visits from other friends. It was two visits from the Sheriff, who was doing everything in his power to track down the bastard who put his boy in a coma.
But Derek didn't really know how long that was. Because it felt like forever. It felt like forever that he'd been sitting there, waiting for some sign that things were going to be okay.
But there was nothing.
"Melissa says you haven't slept in four days," the Sheriff said, entering the room for the third time.
"Can't," he said in return. If he let himself sleep, he might miss something. He can't.
The Sheriff nodded, but Derek wasn't looking at him, wasn't looking anywhere but at Stiles.
"You really care about him, don't you?"
It was no secret that the Sheriff was entirely fond of the idea of Stiles and Derek, but he hadn't fought it. Stiles seemed happy, and that was really enough for his dad (even if he did keep a close eye on Hale, just in case).
"You know when you meet someone so beautiful," Derek said, still not looking away. "But then you actually talk to them, and they're as dull as a brick?" He thought back to Kate, back to the girl from the coffee shop he'd dated back in New York. How much of a mistake they had been. Beautiful, absolutely. But under that, there was just hatred and anger. Beautiful girls turned ugly by their black hearts. "Then there's other people, when you meet them you think 'Not bad, they're okay'. And then you get to know them, and they're face just sort of becomes them. Like their personality is written all over it." He thought back to the moment he first met Stiles, awkward and obnoxious. But it quickly changed, as Derek started to know him better. Stiles was made of his expressions, and his expressions told everything about him. He wore his heart on his sleeve and his feelings on his face, unable to hide anything. "And they just turn into something beautiful."
Derek finally took his eyes off Stiles for a moment and looked to the Sheriff. "Stiles is the most beautiful person I've ever met."