Miles away, Stiles didn't even resist the urge to bounce impatiently as his mind drifted back to his therapy sessions. A few weeks ago he'd found out that another guy in the group, the genius FBI agent, Spencer, was gay. The next week he'd found out that his boyfriend was named Derek too. Today they'd talked about their boyfriends in group. The weirdest thing had happened while they were sharing stories and jokes and special things about their respective boyfriends: the older man had begun to cry. The group leader had taken control at that point to ask about sharing feelings or whatever, and Stiles couldn't look away from the slim genius with the shaggy hair, so much like himself with his abnormal intelligence, shyness under his air of confidence, even the way he twisted his hands when he was nervous- but different too, a genius who was a little rough around the edges with social interaction, while Stiles could practically get anyone to fall in love with his awkward charm. Still, the similarities shocked him. He realized that he'd been staring when the man began to speak, "I tell all these stories about Derek and how amazing he is, but I tell them to other people. He sees me at my worst. He sees me upset after a hard case or difficult night more often than he sees me happy. He knows when he upsets me, but I don't know if he realizes just how much everything he does means to me. He's sitting outside right now, waiting for me, and if I come out in a bad mood, even snap at him, he'll take me home and look after me anyway." At this point Stiles had felt the stinging of tears in his eyes as he'd realized that it was much the same with him and his Derek; sure, Stiles was affectionate, but did he ever let Derek know just how much he meant to him? "And, with our job – we work together – we're always running around dealing with the newest criminal and people that need to be saved, and we see so much shi- stuff… sorry… that we have to be unemotional and strong all the time, so that's the part of me that Derek usually sees. He's in my personal life now too though, and I think I need to let him in. I'm so scared of making myself vulnerable… I had some friends that lied to me about something huge and hurt me a lot… My job is dangerous. I could very realistically be killed any day. And…" the man sniffled a bit here, "so could Derek. And if something happens to either of us… I don't want something to happen without Derek knowing that I love him. He tells me that he loves me and that he understands that I've been hurt too much to say it back right now. But, I do love him. I love him. I need him to know that I love him."
"Stiles, you seem pretty affected by that" the group therapist prodded, and Stiles realized that he had tears running down his cheeks. He looked up at the therapist, but had instead turned to meet Spencer's eyes. "Thank you. The similarities between us are getting… well, bizarre actually. But I haven't told anyone I loved them since I told my mom right before she died. It's dumb, but I'm scared that if I tell someone that I love them… it doesn't make any sense, I know… but if I tell them I love them then they'll die. And, the thing is, Derek tells me he loves me every night. He knows I can't say it back and doesn't want to put me in that position, but every night when he thinks I'm asleep I hear him murmuring it to me. Things are really crazy for us, and I don't want something to happen before I've told him that I love him."
"Stiles?"
His attention was quickly brought back to the present.
"We're home… can we go up to your room?"
Stiles gulped and nodded.