"I'm gonna make some tea, you guys want any?" Malia asked with a smile as she got up from the huge, insanely soft couch.

"Make enough for all of us," Peter answered with a small smile on his lips, his eyes never leaving the tv screen; they were watching Scrubs and apparently it was Peter's new favorite thing since he hadn't gotten up from the couch for the last five hours.

"I don't need any," Derek said quickly before Malia had the opportunity to disappear from the living room. "I'm leaving soon."

Those were the magic words that made Peter turn away from the series they were watching, and focus his eyes on Derek instead. "The hell you are," he said with a laugh as he tilted his head a bit. "He'll have tea with us", he said after staring at Derek for a while, and then returned to his original position to continue watching whatever it was that was happening on the screen.

Derek rolled his eyes with a sigh; he knew there was no point in arguing with his uncle. He gave a nod to Malia as a sign that he'd do as Peter wanted and stay for a little longer. It wasn't like he wanted to leave, he just wanted to… well, leave. He had spent three days with the two of them already, and he was kind of homesick already. He, of course, enjoyed their company and was happy to visit every once in a while, but he was a lone wolf and needed his space.

And if Derek was being honest with himself, which he wasn't, he also wanted to leave because of Malia. He liked her, he liked her a lot and was happy that she and Peter had gotten as close as they had, but whenever Derek hung out with Malia he heard news from Stiles. And he didn't want to. Not because he hated Stiles or didn't want to hear from him, it just hurt all too much. Even hearing the name made his heart clench in a way that made him want to cry.

At first, it had been because of the fact that he had lost Stiles. He had lost the love of his life because of one stupid mistake, but it had been a crucial one, and Derek had known right away he would never see the man again. Seeing anyone after that had been awful because everyone had known what he had done, and how it affected Stiles. All the judgmental looks and angry talks he had gotten from their friends had been too much for him, and he had decided it was better to disappear for a while, so that was exactly what he had done; he had left the country for a while so that everyone would maybe forget what he had done.

When Derek had come back home a year later, he had thought everything would be even a little bit better, and he had been more right than he could've ever imagined. The first thing he had heard was that Stiles had moved to Virginia for six months right after their breakup, and the remaining six months of Derek's year away Stiles had lived with Lydia. Apparently, they had been happy. Stiles had been happy; "happier than ever" had been Scott's exact words.

Knowing that Stiles was happy had made Derek feel extremely sad, and extremely happy, all at once. He still loved Stiles, so of course he had been happy to know Stiles was doing good after everything. But the fact that he loved Stiles also made him sad, even a little bit angry, to know that Stiles was happy with someone else.

As time had passed, Derek had done all he could to avoid talking about Stiles with people, but it always came up. Scott had been constantly going on and on about how awesome it was to see Stiles and Lydia get married, how great it was when they had all moved back to Beacon Hills, how exceedingly happy Stiles had been to become a deputy. Having to constantly hear about Stiles had eventually made Derek leave the country again; it had been a lot easier to live with his feelings without someone telling him how happy Stiles was without him all the time.

And still, even though Derek had left the country and decided to live in a bubble where Stiles didn't even exist, he had called Peter every four weeks to ask about Stiles. He had only asked if everything was still okay, if Stiles was still happy, and after Peter had told him Stiles was still perfectly happy, he had hung up the phone.

But then, there had come a year when Derek hadn't called, not even once. He had been busy helping Argent hunt down Kate, and since Stiles had been doing so good for so long he had figured he could trust in things staying that way. But when he had eventually made the call and asked about Stiles, Peter had hesitated for a bit, and Derek had instantly known something was wrong. Stiles' father had died and Lydia had left Stiles.

Derek had been ready to return home, he had wanted to go to Stiles and offer his help, but Peter had disagreed. Peter had reminded him of what had happened between him and Stiles. "The last thing he needs right now is a reminder of what happened back then," Peter had told him. And he had agreed, so he had stayed away and focused on other things instead.

He had never forgotten about Stiles, and his feelings had never disappeared, but when Derek had finally come back home it had been surprisingly easy to stay away from Stiles. The only times he actually thought about going back to the man he loved so much was when he heard Malia talk about Stiles. Peter had learned not to talk about it, and the others Derek saw so rarely that they never had the time to even mention Stiles.

And now, Derek just wanted to go back home so he wouldn't have to face the situation where Malia would talk about Stiles again. "Thanks for the tea," Derek said with a smile after finishing his drink, and put his now empty cup down on the table. "I'll be going now."

"Already?" Peter asked without looking away from the tv, but Derek could hear he was disappointed.

"Yeah," Derek mumbled as he dragged himself to the front door. "I'll see you in a few weeks." Before Peter or Malia managed to answer him, he walked out to the rain.

It wasn't a long trip to home, and he was more than happy to be back at the Hale house. He had renovated it after the first time he had been away, and lived in there now; he had given the loft to Malia and Peter to live in because he enjoyed living in the woods instead. There was nothing better than a rainy night when he could stare out the window into the darkness and just listen to the raindrops hit the walls; just him and his thoughts.

Laying in bed, listening to the rain had been his plans for the evening now as well, up until there was a knock on his door. With a confused frown, Derek got up and made his way downstairs. He had no idea who it would be, and why. He knew Scott had just come back from Japan with Kira, but he doubted they would visit him that late. He knew it wasn't Liam, because Liam never came without Scott, and Derek couldn't even come up with any reason for Liam to pay him a visit.

Derek opened the front door, and his heart missed a beat as he realized who the soaking wet man standing in front of him was.