Word: Zephyr
...
The wind is cold, blowing in from the west, and there's no amount of thermal lined clothing that will be able to keep his body warm. He's only human, and this wind a zephyr is not. It's the wind before a storm, building up before a hurricane, the cold that swirls down from the Arctic, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop feeling it. Even his werewolf friends have huddled together in a pile inside the loft, bodies stacked atop one another in front of the stone fireplace. Everyone pretends not to notice Peter flinch any time the wood cracks, and Stiles doesn't know if it's good or bad that they're not acknowledging what seems to be a legitimate fear.
Stiles is a big advocate of the whole 'ignore a situation until it's no longer a situation' plan himself, but this doesn't feel right. Which is something Scott should be saying, really, because Scott's the good one between them. He's the angel and Stiles is the devil, just like it has been since they were kids and Stiles convinced Scott to climb up to the big kids' monkey bars with him. But that devil became a bit too literal recently, and he hurt the angel beyond repair, and there's nothing he can do to fix that. Scott doesn't mean to flinch when he looks at him, Stiles knows he doesn't, but it's reflexive, like Peter and the fireplace.
In fact, Scott flinching when he looks at him is the main reason Stiles is out on the balcony freezing his ass off. He doesn't think anyone's noticed his absence yet, they're all too mesmerised by the movie that's playing and the warmth they're feeling. He can't blame them, really, but tonight even Star Wars won't be enough to pull Stiles out of his mind and his thoughts. The window opens and someone else steps out onto the balcony, moving to stand beside Stiles without actually touching him.
He breathes in relief when he sees that it's Derek. Just like Scott and Peter, Derek has an automatic flinch too; his is when someone touches his bare skin. He's okay with clothes, mostly, but if it's directly on bare skin he flinches back. It's something that Stiles hadn't even noticed until he looked for everyone's flinch points, but now that he knows about it, he's careful not to set Derek off. They all have a different point: Boyd flinches at the cold (and he works at the ice rink, Stiles could write a freaking thesis on that), Isaac flinches at the very thought of small spaces (and completely freaks out if he's put in one without an escape, which Stiles can't blame him for at all), and Erica flinches any time they drive past the hospital (or even when she sees the word itself; he's seen her turn away at the sign for the hospital before). Allison's still in France with her father, so Stiles can't see what she flinches at, but he can probably guess.
Stiles has yet to figure out what his own flinch point is, but he thinks it might be something to do with disappointment. He hates the fact that he can hear pure disappointment laced into his father's words and in his expressions, he can see it on his teacher's faces, and he can see it in the others when he refuses - yet again - to become a werewolf. They're all disappointed in him, and he doesn't like that, so Stiles thinks that he would probably flinch at that. It makes sense, at least.
"Cold out here tonight," Derek says finally, and Stiles nods in response.
He doesn't talk much when it's just him and Derek, and it's relaxing to not have to keep up the constant chatter like he does with the others, unwilling to see that he's anything other than the usual hyperactive kid that rambled at a drop of a hat. It hurts his throat now, but Derek doesn't push for conversation, and Stiles is grateful for that.
"You're missing the movie," Derek says, and he can feel his body warmth even though there's still space between them.
"Seen them hundreds of times before. Don't feel like it tonight," he adds softly.
"All right. Want to have a nap in my room? It's been a long day, and no one will notice if we're gone," Derek offers.
Stiles looks at him, pleased when Derek doesn't flinch. He doesn't seem disappointed or upset in any way, he just looks like he needs to sleep. It's something they worked out a few weeks ago. Stiles usually wakes up with nightmares when he's home, and Derek wakes up feeling like he can't breathe, but after taking a nap on Derek's couch while watching TV (neither one focusing on the screen itself, which is probably why America's Next Top Model was playing), they woke up feeling rested. Not screaming, not suffocating, and that was enough. It didn't always work, sometimes Stiles still woke up with a scream or Derek woke up with a gasp and hand on his burning chest, but the times that it did work was enough to make them feel like they had before. Before the fire, the nogitsune, the flinching.
"All right," Stiles replies, following Derek back inside, to his room, and into his bed.
This night, they sleep without interruption, and outside the west wind blows through the preserve, scattering leaves in the night.
...
End of word challenge.
Thanks for reading!
