It was a quiet day outside, the woods quivered as the breeze rolled in. Outside on the porch Derek sat and inhaled and exhaled deeply. He felt amazingly peaceful. Almost 6 months ago, this wouldn't have been the case. He kept his eyes closed as he took in the earthy smell. "How long do you plan on sitting out here?" Laura asked. Derek just sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Derek didn't like to be crowded or feel like he's been trapped.
Laura made him feel that way, since she's made a living of embarrassing him constantly. She would get the hint when he sat outside on the porch. He sighed once more before standing and dusting himself off. "You have some weird anxiety attacks when you talk with me," Laura laughed as she headed back inside. "Help me move these boxes into my truck," she kicked some boxes as Derek made his way to the door. "Is this all?" He asked, but didn't get a response. As expected. He lifted to boxes and headed down the porch steps to Laura's car.
"I've got to more up stairs, but that's all," Derek felt somewhat hateful towards his sister, "You know you've spent forever here, why move out now?" Derek asked as he heard Laura's heals crunch the leaves. "Derek, I'm almost 30, you need your own space, and I can't be babying you you're entire life." She smiled as she gave a quick clap of Derek's back. "That's not what I meant," Derek scowled.
They didn't speak another word until all the boxes were moved out and they sat at the dinner table. "I left all the money, expect what I made this year, I've taken my name off all the bills," she paused as she played her fork around her pasta, "Even though I never did them," Derek scoffed. He found it amusing that she was trying to clear up what he's been doing for years now. "Laura, stop," Derek half smiled at her. Laura smiled back, trying to amuse herself. They both felt the emptiness start to sink in.
"Alright, I'll visit when I can, and I will always be a call away, alright?" she pointed her long, thin index finger at him "So don't pull that 'I don't want to bother you' crap on me," she laughed, but it sounded so stoic. Derek nodded as he took another bite of his pasta. "Hey," she began to sound like the sister he grew up with; "It's been 6 months, alright," Derek gazed up at her, rather painfully. "6 months or not, I just-" He stopped and stood up, "Derek," Laura said rather motherly, "You're going to have to leave the house and meet new people," Derek just glance over as he set his plate down.
"Don't Der-" She didn't get to finish; Derek was out the door and already heading away from his sister. Derek didn't want to talk anything that related to anything personal. Especially when he was talking with his sister; he just didn't want to, he didn't want to talk about it.
He walked as far as just getting into town. He walked the sidewalks, he could've taken his motorcycle, but he wanted to walk. "I shouldn't have sold my car," he sighed. He walked into a small super market. His pocket buzzed, but he knew who had texted him. He didn't have many friends here. It was a ghost town to him. Though there are, what seems like it, millions of people around. He walked around the aisles, not sure about what he wanted. Or why he was even there.
He wasn't paying attention and rammed into someone's cart, he put his hands on the cart "I'm sorry, I wasn't-" he looked up to see a wide chocolate brown eyed boy in front of him. "I wasn't paying attention," He straightens himself out. Derek didn't know if he should walk away or just stare at him. At this very moment he was being a creepier. "It's alright, I wasn't really looking either," He gave a wide smile. Seeming completely unbothered in the fact that Derek just shoved the cart into the boy's hip. "But you weren't moving," Derek said. Not realizing that he looked rather stoic in appearance, "So you were paying attention?" the boy gave a small smirk as he tried to reach for something on the top shelf. "I wasn-" Derek saw the struggled as the boy tried to reach for what seemed a box of 'Corona,'
Derek walked over and reached for the box. "This?" He asked as he touched it. He nodded. "I'm Stiles," he said as he took the box from Derek.
Stiles could feel a little intimidated in the way Derek seemed a little aggressive but sweet. "What?" Derek raised an eyebrow, "Stiles, my name," He smiled. Derek wasn't sure how to respond, so he just forced a smile. Stiles stared for awhile before he laughed, "That looks painful," Stiles didn't understand the awkward around this guy. It made him laugh though. "It's alright, you don't have to say anything else. Thank you for reaching," Stiles nodded towards the beer and then walked away with a small wave without looking back at Derek.
Derek didn't even bother continuing in the store, he Left. He pulled out his phone and dialed Laura's number.
"Hey, you called, I just wanted-"
"Not important, did you leave the house?" He asked. "Well, yes," she said rather hesitantly, Not sure as to why he would sound so rushed. Derek sighed. "Have a safe trip, Bye," He said and hung up. Derek looked back at the doors for the super market. But just shook his head. He thought he'd want to see him again. Maybe if he waited out there long enough he could. Wait, what was he thinking? What was he thinking? He didn't know if he was being creepy or really creepy. Maybe both.
Derek shook his head and headed home.
Stiles parked his jeep, staring out into the lights of the town. He smiled with a sigh. He pulled the keys out of the ignition, and walked out of his jeep.
He wasn't sure what he was shopping for, but he wanted something. As he walked in a cashier wave with a smile, a friend from high school, he thought. He grabbed a cart and just walked around the aisles. He figured he could buy some dog food. That was the least he could do for his pal. "I'll just buy some dog food and head out," He sighed.
He ended up staying there longer then he played. With his cart hoarding ice creams, chips, some canned black olives, and a bag of dog food. Stiles looked at his choice in foods; he shook his head in shame. When he looked down at his watch and realized what time it was. He found it rather amusing thinking about all the weird stares he's going to get when he pays for his things.
He walked to the beer aisle and looked around for Scott's favorite beer. He couldn't lie, he likes it too, and he just doesn't like drinking it as much as Scott does. And since Scott rarely came over – Allison, of course – Stiles, out of habit, buys beers and he'll drink then alone. Well he looked around and the ones he wanted happened to be on the top shelf. Stiles began thinking of ways to get to his beer, uh, Scotts beer.
He tries reaching for it when he suddenly feels his cart ram into his hip, "Sorry, I wasn-" Stiles looked at the tall man in front of him. "Wasn't paying attention," He finally said. Stiles saw him straighten himself then just stand there. "It's alright, I wasn't paying attention either," Stiles smiled. 'Is he made of stone or something?' Stiles thought. This guy was just standing there, "But you weren't moving," He said, Stiles gave him a witty grin "So you were paying attention?" He laughed. Stiles then went back to his plan, trying to reach that damn beer.
As he tried "I wasn-" He hear the guy say, but didn't give a chance to respond. He was right next to him touching the box he wanted. "This?" He asked, looking rather annoyed, all Stiles could do was nod, he felt his skip a beat as he got a closer look at this guy's face. He had some five o'clock shadow going on. His eyes seemed a grayish ember. This made Stiles swallow air that wasn't needed.
"I'm Stiles," he said as he took the box from the other guy's hands. Stiles felt slightly scared that this guy had an effect on him, he didn't understand if he was flirting, or if he was just talking to a stranger. "What?" The guy said, he seemed rather . . Lost. He raised an eyebrow at Stiles, "Stiles, my name," Stiles waited for a response but all he got as a really painful looking smile. He couldn't help but break out in laughter, "That looks painful," He taunted.
Stiles understood that he must have felt really awkward or uncomfortable with the situation, just by his air. It was rather hysterical to Stiles; he now knew he wasn't the only awkward one in town. "It's alright you don't have to say anything, Thanks for reaching," Stiles smiled as he walked past him and waved without looking back. Stiles felt his heart racing; he played it cool back there.
But was it cool enough to make that other guy think about telling Stiles his name. As Stiles went to pay, he felt a little disappointed. "What's wrong Stiles?" Isaac, the casher/Stiles' high school friend, asked. He looked a little concerned about him. "Nothing, I'm just really tired," Stiles gave a wary smile. Isaac just gazed at Stiles, "$22.50," Isaac said, Stiles handed him some cash, "keep the change," he smiled and pushed the cart out towards his Jeep.
He'll admit it to himself; he thought that he'd see him outside or something. It seemed like he was long gone. Stiles back everything in and then headed home. Where he knew Bruno would wait with a warm welcome.
Derek made it home. He didn't want to be back here, because something felt off, out of place, missing. Derek had to face it. His sister left him the fortune and the house. What was he going to do? He worked. He didn't need much to get by. Derek walked in to the house. He looked up at his loft, above the living room, then down the hall to a door, he knows will never open again. He felt a little sick. He went to the couch and just plopped down on it. "Hmm" He hummed letting out a sigh. He saw them again, those wide chocolate brown eyes. As soon as his closed, there they were. He sat up, "No," he said to himself, he didn't think about it much, but he could almost see the boys face.
A strong jaw line, and expressive one, his eyebrows shaped the round of his face. His nose was a little short, but seemed . . . Dare he say it. 'Cute,' Derek shut his eyes tightly, "Forget it," he mumbled. He sighed; there wasn't any way that Derek was going to like him. There wasn't anything special about him anyway. He had a decent face and let's face it, he was rather petite.
Derek laid down and decide to just stop thinking about it. He was just going to drift into peaceful sleep, that is, after he locks his door and takes a shower. He groaned and went off.
Stiles carried all his bags, just so he wouldn't have to make a second trip. He managed to open the door with his foot. He could hear Bruno, he's blood hound, bark as loud as a fog horn. "I'm coming," He laughed, a little relieved that at least Bruno loved him. He shut the door with his foot and went into his kitchen. "Aren't you just glad dad gave us the house, Imagine the rent I'd have to pay for you," Stiles laughed. Bruno sat a foot away, swaying his tail at Stiles.
Stiles sighed, he felt empty, and he felt a little lonesome. Bruno jumped at Stiles, "I know, boy, I know," Stiles petted Bruno's head and walked off upstairs. "Bed time, Bruno!" He called, Bruno ran, his nails tick tacking the ground as he made his way upstairs with Stiles.
Everything was quiet, it all felt way to quiet. The house was too big for just him ad Bruno. Though he was grateful and didn't want to leave, he still felt like something was just out of place, so to say.
After a long hot shower, Stiles walked out of his shower to find Bruno taking half of his bed, He shook his head in disapproval. But Laughed. He liked Bruno's company, and that was enough for him. "Scoot, Bruno," Stiles chuckled as he tried pushing the giant blood hood to the other side or the mattress. "Night," He rested his head down and soon found sleep.
"What a strange dream," Stiles whispered, he had woken at 3 am, this dream didn't frighten him. Or even give him the creeps. He woke up because he was crying. Not the violent crying he was usually waking to, it was a peaceful crying.
Stiles wiped his cheeks and his chin, He stared out his window, how the moon light shined right through, casting beautiful shadows across the whole room. "Bruno," Stiles look down at the sleeping dog, "I think Mom wanted to talk to me," his voice cracked a little. Bruno lifted his head, as to actually listen to what he had to say. Stiles reached over and gave him a scratch behind his ear. "I don't remember what she said," He paused, his eyes shined a little with the glisten of tears.
He fought back the tears, "But she looked happy, and she smiled a lot," Stiles tried to laugh, but all that followed his attempt was a stream of tears, He curled his knees up to his chest and he hurled him himself into himself. He cried, silently. Bruno sat up, trying to paw at his side, so that Stiles would open up and let him lick his salty cheeks. But He didn't.
Derek couldn't sleep. There was something keeping him awake, he couldn't really pin point it. He walked around the empty house and laid on his bed, he hung his feet from his loft, he roamed around. Looking for something to do; He wanted something. He wasn't hungry, he wasn't thirsty . . . Did he want company?
Laura would help with Derek's night raids, when he couldn't sleep. She'd make Sundays, she'd buy bags of chips and they'd watch movies until dawn. Derek knew that without Laura, he wouldn't do that. He's lived with her and her form of mothering since-
Derek shook his head. "Not tonight," he muttered. He wasn't having it. It wasn't worth the pain that he didn't want to feel. Derek sighed and went around opening the curtains of all the windows. He saved his loft of last. As he got up there, he stared at the moonlight trying to get in from the dark curtains. He thought about it. "I-" he stopped himself, he regretted nights like this. Where he just had enough of feeling the way he did.
Would he call Laura? No, there was no way he'd bring himself to call her. What time was it anyway? Derek looked around for his clock.
"3 am," he rubbed his eyes. He just flopped down on his bed. He left his thoughts just drift into the recesses of his memory bank. Derek slowly drifted into sleep.
When morning came, Derek had only sleep a good 2 hours. He's woken up around 5 or so, just to find he had nothing to do. It was a weekday, but Derek didn't feel like going into his mechanics shop. He just didn't want to deal with the high classy bitches that come in with their attitude.
Derek pulled his phone out and looked through his contacts. He dialed the only man who was up for opening up shop. "Hey, Peter," Derek said in a low raspy voice. "I need you to open up shop for me, I won't go in today, Alright?" Peter just agreed, Peter was Derek's uncle, though Derek will never say so himself. Derek prefers it just to be Laura and himself left of the Hale family. But, he ended up stuck with his uncle as well.
Derek circled his phone in his hand. He had a whole day to himself, "What do I plan on doing now?" He scoffed. He shook his head grabbed his keys and his helmet. He was headed into town, to that super market. There wasn't any chance that he'd run into that Stiles character. But it couldn't hurt to try. Wait, What? No, Derek when to find parts for his Yamaha, right? What parts could he find there that weren't already in his shop. As he pulled into the parking lot, he thought about, what was he really doing here?
Derek grunted inside his helmet, He headed off down to his shop. As he settled his Yamaha right outside, he saw Peter walking towards him while he was wiping the grease from his hands with an old red rag. "I've got a fixer for you," Peter smiled at him. Derek pulled off his helmet and saw the lined up of cars. Most of them women who usually come just to bother him while he worked; his shop wasn't big, but it had a waiting room where he stocked water and magazines for them. But they all chose to sit outside and gawk at him. Throwing little comments about his clothes, his eyes, so on so forth. Derek hated Tuesdays. Derek glared at all the customers, the women that is. "Which one is it?" Derek head off into the shop and slipped into his blue jump suit, tying the upper half around his waist.
Derek threw off his leather jacket. Peter laughed "Going to walk around with just the wife beater? You fit the hot mechanic stereo type," Derek just glared at his uncle, "Which one?" He asked as he gave Peter an angry look. "That Jeep, it's got this jack stuck in the belt of the clutch," Peter walked him to it. Derek looked it over, The faded colors of white and baby blue, "Have you already looked over the engine?" Derek lifted the hood. It almost made him quiver; this jeep was so abused it wasn't funny.
Derek grunted, this wasn't even a fixer. This was a project. But Derek needed to fix this and get every other customers out of the way. "Who's Jeep?" Derek asked as he shut the hood. Peter grinned "The only one inside." Peter pointed towards the building entrance.
Derek nodded then started his work. As he pulled apart what he could and had the help of his uncle, he tried to repair what was the original problem. "It was just the belt, Derek," Peter huffed. "We could've been done. You're going to have to talk to the owner," Peter leaned on the nose of the jeep. Derek looked up from the engine "While you complain," Was all Derek said. Peter just raised his hands and raised his eyebrows.
"Ladies, whose car is next?" Peter liked being single, he's stopped taking rejection personally. Derek admires this. He sighs as he heads towards the doors.
He walks in and sees a young boy facing away from the work that is taking place. "That jeep, is it-" The boy looked up.
There they were again, those big chocolate brown eyes. "Oh! It's smiley!" Stiles said, ". . . ?" Derek raised an eyebrow. Stiles just shook his head with a smile, "Sorry, I didn't get your name our last meeting, so I stuck to calling you smiley," Stiles stood up, "Yes, the jeep is mine," Derek just stared at the boy, he seemed rather happy and carefree, like a small child.
"I had to pull out some parts and put it back together, sorry that it has taken so long," Derek wasn't sure why he felt like he needed to apologize, he rarely did it with anyone. So why did it mean so much that he did?
"Oh, I figured, I know my jeep," Stiles crossed his arms, "She'd been acting up for awhile and I figured that I'd take her to this shop," Stiles looked around seemingly unsure about what he should say next. "Derek," he said, sounding rather choked up, "Huh?" Stiles smiled and raised an eyebrow, "My name," Derek said, "I'll be done as soon as I can be," Derek walked out, he felt rushed, his heart felt like it was going to explode if he didn't get out of there.
It wasn't beating faster, it ached. It ached so painfully.
It almost took all day for Derek to finish Stiles' jeep. It was hard work, and Derek didn't really want to be there. He felt enclosed, trapped and maybe a little isolated. That is until he could feel someone stare at him. "Is that's what's been causing a problem?" Derek wasn't too sure what made him uncomfortable, the fact that he was practically alone with him, or that he didn't know what to say to him.
"Yeah," He muttered. Hoping he'd leave. It was Stiles' jeep, and it still needed some work. Derek was as fast as he could, and still didn't seem fast enough. What really made him uncomfortable, was he even uncomfortable?
What that what he was feeling? "How about you call it a day," Stiles said, "I'll walk home," Stiles smiled as Derek looked up towards him.
"I'll take you home," Derek stood up to see Peter walking towards then. "Peter," Derek almost growled.