Nathan slams against the ground and releases a harsh string of coughs. "Holy crap, Dad! You freakin' trying to kill me?" The fourteen year old twin glares at his father.
Derek crosses his arms as he leans against one of the trees in the clearing where he is currently training his human son in self defense. "Well, if you would focus…"
Derek first started training his son four years ago when Nathan began to express his regret of being 'human'. The last thing he, as a father, wanted was for one of his children to feel excluded from the pack. His pack – his family – had grown so much, and he finally had a reason to be the best he could be. With a werewolf daughter, two twin boys – one a werewolf and the other not, Stiles, and the rest of the pack, being Alpha wasn't always the easiest job.
"GAH! I'm trying to focus! But with you kicking my -…"
"Nathan! Language!" Nathan and Derek are spitting images of each other, and both are as stubborn as each other, too. The two glare at one another until Derek concedes, rolls his eyes, and sighs. No other member of the pack –well, other than Stiles- would dare defy the Alpha like that, but Nathan just doesn't feel that primal instinct to submit.
"Ok," Derek begins, lowering himself to sit on the ground near his son. "Talk to me. You've been so angry lately. I want to know what's up."
The defiant teen continues to glare at his father from where he had been thrown to the ground moments earlier. He doesn't want to tell his father anything. Why should he? They've never really talked about anything before.
"What is it, Nate?" Derek places a gentle hand on Nathan's leg. The boy jerks it away, and Derek pulls back his hand as if he has been struck. "Is it school? Deaton? That magic thing you've been working on? What?"
Nathan finally looks up into his father's eyes and releases a huff of breath. "Nothing, Dad," he spits out and moves to get up. "It's nothing; don't even worry about it."
Nathan walks back toward the trail that leads back to the Hale house. Suddenly, his father is blocking his path. Derek eyes him softly. "No, I want to know." Derek watches as Nathan looks down to the ground. He gently lifts his son's chin up to secure eye contact. "How can I help unless I know what's wrong?"
Normally, when it comes to the twins, Logan comes to Derek, and Nathan goes to Stiles. Derek can easily break through Logan's sarcasm and decipher his jokes when that twin is upset, and Stiles can hurtle over Nathan's brooding walls and stubbornness when the teen is like this. Unfortunately for Derek, Stiles is gone for a three week trip. He's off somewhere with the Sheriff meeting some distant relative that wanted to talk about the 'good ole days'. He's only been gone for a week, and Derek is losing his mind. Derek started counting down the days to his return before he even left. In Stiles' absence, it's up to Derek to be in complete control and find out what's wrong with his child.
Nathan lets out another huff and turns from his dad back to the clearing. "You'll probably think it's stupid," the teen growls.
"Try me."
A few feet away, Nathan turns and glares at his dad as if to see if the offer is fake or not before spilling his guts. "It's about a girl."