Yeah, I - I had to, my time was running out.

[He doesn't know how much of an excuse that is when he's had a lot of it, and when he's been talking about trying to fight the system - he gave into it. He could blame Stiles for telling him bad things happen to those who wait, or maybe it was just the fresh and hot faced rejection from Violet that made him need someone else to say yes. And they did. He avoids looking at Derek for a moment, suddenly parched and in need of a few sips of his beer.

Then he licks his lips, eyes skittish when they glance upward.]

Kavinsky.

[Tate steels for the response he expects - that tired, frustrated look that Ben used to give him. The fury and disappointment he grew up with. The abandonment that's haunted him alongside rejection all of his life and death. He steels himself for it, eyes already misted, because he can feel it on the air. He did the wrong thing, in Derek's eyes, but it was the only choice Tate could make. That Tate wanted to make.

Pleasedon'tleavepleasedon'tleavepleasedon'tleave.]

I couldn't ask you. I didn't have other options, not after...

[He sniffs. Yeah, he's close to crying.]

After Violet.