Derek could hear the jeep pull up to the loft from his bed as it crunched against the leave on the ground. Every night for the past two weeks, Stiles would come to the loft for a multitude of reasons. Mostly due to a lack of sleep or a nightmare he didn't want to confide in anyone about.
Derek was no stranger to insomnia, so when he heard the tires, he would pull himself out of bed and head downstairs to make some tea he had found after that first time with lavender, vanilla and chamomile in it. They never ended up speaking about what had prompted him to drive in the middle of the night, but it usually knocked Stiles out until he had to drive himself to school.
But when he came downstairs to start boiling the water in his electric kettle, the other thing he bought after that first time, he stopped short when he saw Stiles sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, the pained chemo signals hitting him like a brick.
"Stiles?" He kept his voice steady as he approached in order to avoid spooking him, "did you get hurt?"
"No," his voice was low and strained as he continued to keep his forehead firmly pressed against his palms, "just a headache."
"I'll be right back with your tea." He told the teenager, waiting for a nod before he returned to the kitchen as the water finished boiling, but he grabbed the peppermint tea instead and started to steep it in the white ceramic mug before going to the medicine cabinet.
It mostly had supernatural remedies in it, but after he and Scott started getting along and it brought in Allison, Lydia and Stiles, he had made the choice to stock up on Ibuprofen, Tylenol and Benadryl as well as a first aid kit in order to make sure that all of the pack was okay, not just the wolves.
He grabbed two Tylenol pills out of the bottle after putting two spoons full of sugar into the tea and brought them to the main room before sitting next to Stiles on the couch, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder to let him know he was back.
"Take these," he insisted as he pressed the pills into Stiles' palm, "and your tea is peppermint, figured it might ease the headache a bit."
"What are these? Some sort of magic pills?"
"Tylenol. Take them?"
"Why do you have Tylenol?" Stiles questioned before swallowing the pills and washing them down with the warm tea.
"Because there are humans in my pack. Specifically a human who drives to my house in the middle of the night. It's best to make sure everyone's okay."
He could see something in Stiles' face twist as he finished the drink, but whatever it was didn't end up being spoken as Stiles laid down on the couch after setting the mug down on the table; Derek chose that moment to stand, putting the empty mug in the sink on his way to the laundry room and grabbing a cloth that he soaked in cool water before returning to the main room.
"Can I do something?"
"Sure." Stiles' voice sounded tired but less strained with pain so Derek took the cloth and placed it on Stiles' forehead, watching as his muscles loosened up. "Thanks, Derek."
"You're welcome." Derek responded before sitting down in the chair facing the couch and let his eyes flutter shut.
When he awoke next, the sun was shining through the windows and there was no trace of Stiles except a hand written note on the coffee table.
'Thanks for helping me out last night. I owe you one.'