Author's note: Reviews are super welcome.
Other people's heartache
Chapter 2: Oblivion
Ten minutes into the movie.
'Well, this sucks,' Stiles admitted.
'What did you expect? It's a Tom Cruise movie,' Derek snapped. Stiles launched into a whispered, but spirited defence of A Few Good Men. Derek reacted by mocking his taste in movies and hopefully suggesting that they leave.
'I paid good money to see this,' Stiles protested, gripping his armrests to signal that he had every intention of staying.
'Correction: I paid.'
'Shush.'
The minute they'd spend arguing had apparently made them miss some vital information, because Stiles was absolutely unable to follow the movie any longer. After another few minutes he was ready to walk out too, but when he looked to the side he saw that Derek had fallen asleep. Convinced that Derek was screwing with him, Stiles watched him for a while. No dice. Derek was really asleep.
Who did that? Who fell asleep during a movie? Old people did that. I guess if you are tired, Stiles tried to reason. Except, what did Derek have to be tired about? As far as Stiles could tell, he didn't do anything. He just sat in his apartment. He didn't go out and rarely let anyone in. Stiles was the exception and he was pretty sure that this had more to do with his habit of standing on Derek's doorstep talking non-stop until the door opened than with Derek actually wanting to let him in.
While he was studying Derek's face, Stiles realised that Derek was starting to look more and more like Kristen Stewart. He had dark, purple circles around his eyes. His skin was so pale that it was almost translucent. Also, he had a near permanent expression of boredom on his face. Lately, even his insults were incredibly weak; when he mustered up the strength to deliver them. Something was obviously wrong.
Stiles decided to let the guy sleep through the movie. It was the least he could do. He kind of wished that he could do more to help, but he didn't know what. Racking his brain for clues, Stiles glanced at the screen. Some more convoluted stuff was happening.
He focused his attention on Derek again. I should be more proactive, Stiles thought. Okay, physical needs. People needed air. Derek had that. People needed to eat and drink. Stiles was going to make certain that Derek did that. Regular, nutritious meals. Lots of water. People needed sleep. Derek was maybe getting too much of that? Unless he didn't sleep at night. That also wasn't good, but Stiles had no idea how he would go about fixing that, so he shelved that for the time being.
Next. Mental/spiritual needs. This was kind of hard to figure out considering he didn't know what exactly was wrong with Derek. Stiles repressed the urge to demand to know what was going on. Knowing Derek, yelling 'I want the truth!' at him would not have the desired effect. Derek would probably clam up.
In Stiles' completely not medical and not professional opinion, Derek needed to have fun. What was fun for Derek, though? Stiles pondered that until the credits rolled. He waited until everyone had left and then he nudged his sleeping friend awake. Derek managed to look more exhausted than he had going into the movie.
'How was the movie?' he asked.
'Eh,' Stiles responded, pretending that he hadn't been busy plotting to take over Derek's life. It was time to put his poorly conceived plan into action.