I'm Going To Make This Place Your Home
"Hale, don't shut it off." Derek heard a male voice coming from the front door. "It's game night."
"Sure." He answered.
"Boy, do I need a beer. Can I get you one?" Sheriff Stilinski asked Derek over his shoulder. Derek was sitting in the chair in the living room, he was about to go to bed, or whatever it was.
There had been a couple months since he started living with the Stilinskis. After him and Stiles made it clear that they were together, Stiles refused to let Derek live alone in that big, old house. Derek went over how he wasn't going to live with them and how he couldn't but Stiles had been reductive. Derek even confronted him as to the place where he was going to sleep. Stiles had been cool about it, playing it off and saying "We'll get you a dog house, don't worry".
Actually, Derek wasn't really ready for that family routine at all. He had spent so much time alone he even forgot what was like to live with someone anymore. Deep down, Derek was afraid they would think the fire broke him or something, because it was just impossible for him to have chit-chat conversation or social interaction that didn't involve veiled dead threats. However, Stiles had been undefeatable about the whole ordeal. That's when Derek knew no matter how much he tried, he would end up living with him either way. It was funny, in a twisted way, that Derek was this tough, sour guy that soon discovered himself somewhat whipped by this boy.
Truth was, Derek felt alone countless times in his life, and so did Stiles, they understood each other in a degree that not even werewolf bonds could reach. Stiles had his dad, but somehow, he felt like he was all by his own. And Derek, well, Derek had nothing else. Stiles grew to be more than just someone, Derek often times saw himself turning into the younger boy who would stare at him with kind, warm light brown eyes. Soon enough, Stiles made the hole Derek carried more bearable. And instead of filling this hole with Stiles, Derek created another space for him. A space that was only Stiles' inside his heart. Or what was left of it.
So now, of course Derek felt fond of the boy who was resonating on the couch all snuggly with the blanket that Derek had covered him in.
"Rough day at the station?" Derek asked the Sheriff.
"Well, there isn't one quiet day. But it's good. Keeps the job interesting. How's our boy?" Sheriff Stilinski made his way contouring the couch where Stiles lied, quickly stroking the boy's hair with his hand.
"Oh, you know, he's Stiles." Derek looked down at the boy. The Sheriff observed that scene and couldn't help but feel happy about it. He knew what Derek went through, or at least some extent of it, and he knew what Stiles went through, he could see it. And somehow, what he thought it wouldn't be a good idea turned out to be the best of all ideas. Of course that, as a father, the Sheriff took some precautions about Derek living with them, such as relocating Derek to the minuscule guest room in their house. If he would let his son's boyfriend live with him, then he wouldn't make it easy for them. But he knew he couldn't let Derek live in a half-burned house with only himself and whatever ghosts from Derek's past were still there.
He was glad he allowed letting the boy live here with them. Sheriff Stilinski knew exactly what kind of kid Stiles was. And he knew as much as he wanted to, he couldn't just suppress the love that was lacking from Stiles life. He was always too selfless to admit that his dad had failed him in this department, but the Sheriff knew he did. And he was sorry about it. So when Stiles told him he was seeing Derek, at first he was shocked, but when Stiles actually introduced them to each other, Sheriff Stilinski would catch Derek looking with endearment, even though through a calm and collected mask, at his son. And that made him feel a little warmer about the guy. He appreciated the efforts Derek did to be at least rather chatty and he grew more and more protective of him, though he knew well enough Derek didn't need any protection.
The only thing Derek needed was Stiles. The boy would portray a safe place to him. And Derek would now recognize that his house was that old, partially burned mansion in the woods, but his home was here, in the small, yet comforting house, with the old tube tv that Sheriff Stilinski bought in the early 90's, with the leaking sink they had on the kitchen, with the light in the room where Derek slept (and sometimes he would sneak out of it to go into Stiles' when the Sheriff worked late nights) that he had to flick the light switch twice before it turned on, with the Sheriff's badge on the coffee table and with Stiles jumping around from his bedroom to the couch and into Derek's room. His home had become ultimately where Stiles was. The boy was home to him. And then a quote he once read in his English class back when he was in high school popped into his mind, he thought at the time the quote was somehow nonsense, but now he got it perfectly. It said: "Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place?"
Derek knew now that home was never a place. Home was where he felt loved, so home was Stiles.
The Sheriff sat down on the other chair across from Derek.
"I should take him upstairs, I mean, he's not going to be up until tomorrow, I guess." Derek said, hesitantly. He heard Stiles snore and bit back a laugh.
"You probably should." The Sheriff agreed "He's drooling all over the couch."
Derek did as he said and took Stiles upstairs, laid the boy in his bed and placed the covers carefully over him. After he did it, he went downstairs again and regained his old position on the chair. The Sheriff looked a bit pensive, like he wasn't paying attention to the game at all. Then he did something Derek never thought he would do, he put the TV on mute and turned to him:
"Derek, I've been meaning to say something to you."
Derek was caught off guard and just waited what the Sheriff had to say with inquiring eyes.
"I just… Thank you. For being here. For being with Stiles."
Now he was even more surprised and didn't know what to say.
"You know, he's a great kid and I love him. But I feel like maybe I failed him somewhere. And you being around it's just so much better. Thanks for taking care of him for me. I know you do that because you love him and all, but I'm really so much relieved knowing he has you. He says he doesn't but I know he felt alone sometimes, and when you came around that changed. So what I'm trying to say is: thank you."
"Okay. Well, thank you for letting me live here. You know, I can't say it's just one-sided. He takes care of me too. I mean, Stiles saved me. And not just literally." Derek said admitting.
"It's just something that I had to say. As a father."
"I understand." Derek cleared his throat "I would appreciate if my father done that for me."
The Sheriff stretched his hand out and Derek shook it. Then he took the TV out of mute and both of them turned their attention to the game.
"You know what? I think I'm going to accept that beer." Derek let out.
"Yup, I thought you would."
Derek went to the kitchen and got the beer from the freezer. He opened it up, sipped on it and looked Sheriff Stilinski yelling instructions at the team. Derek smirked. Like he said, that was his home.