[ Tate gets angry, and Derek - well, Derek's getting good at seeing it coming. There's no yelling, this time, no threats, but it hurts, nevertheless, just as it always does. Other than a dip of his eyebrows in the middle, he doesn't let that hurt show, but fuck. Just once, he wants to help. Derek takes a bit of time before he starts talking, soft and cautious. ]
Back home - it took a while for Stiles and I to get along. I kind of hated him. He acted like he hated me, too, but he was just - you know. Scared.
[ Derek side-eyes Tate, then points to his jaw. Clacks his teeth together. Big wolf, big fangs. Tate probably gets his point. ]
These two kids went missing. Two of my betas. I spent an entire summer searching for them. Stiles helped. We spent... night after night, sleeping in the backseat of my Camaro or crashing in shitty motels together. Talking. Bonding. Got to know each other pretty well.
And then - I met a girl, and I started seeing her. She was fucking with my head, making me do it. Made me believe I had feelings that weren't ever really there. A few months passed and summer started feeling too far away to talk about - Jennifer died, we all moved on. Stiles got... kidnapped, in a sense. He met a girl, too. Stayed with her. So did I. I left for good, soon after that. Didn't say goodbye to him.
[ Just - got in a car and left. Broke up with Braeden soon after, leaving her to go back to Beacon Hills alone when Stiles needed him most. He doesn't know about that, yet. ]
I haven't lived that summer yet, but - that's when we fell in love. When he fell in love with me, at least, and with how I feel about him here, I'm pretty sure it would've been mutual. We didn't ever get the chance to be anything back home, but we're getting that here.
[ And... his point. Derek looks at Tate again, worried that he's not going to be clear about all of this. Worried that he's just - bragging. Dangling something in front of Tate that he wants and doesn't have. ]
So - I don't know. I guess I just mean - there are opportunities here that you wouldn't get to have back home. Maybe this Peter guy is one of them. If you want him to be. It's cool, if you don't. Maybe just-- the freedom to consider whether you would be interested in guys like that is opportunity enough. But.
[ but. ]
I'd help. If you wanted to ask him out. I could chaperone you guys around, do something decent with my privilege as a Dom. Pretend to be deaf when you start reciting poetry to each other. Things like that. It doesn't have to be as impossible as you're making it out to be, man.
no subject
Back home - it took a while for Stiles and I to get along. I kind of hated him. He acted like he hated me, too, but he was just - you know. Scared.
[ Derek side-eyes Tate, then points to his jaw. Clacks his teeth together. Big wolf, big fangs. Tate probably gets his point. ]
These two kids went missing. Two of my betas. I spent an entire summer searching for them. Stiles helped. We spent... night after night, sleeping in the backseat of my Camaro or crashing in shitty motels together. Talking. Bonding. Got to know each other pretty well.
And then - I met a girl, and I started seeing her. She was fucking with my head, making me do it. Made me believe I had feelings that weren't ever really there. A few months passed and summer started feeling too far away to talk about - Jennifer died, we all moved on. Stiles got... kidnapped, in a sense. He met a girl, too. Stayed with her. So did I. I left for good, soon after that. Didn't say goodbye to him.
[ Just - got in a car and left. Broke up with Braeden soon after, leaving her to go back to Beacon Hills alone when Stiles needed him most. He doesn't know about that, yet. ]
I haven't lived that summer yet, but - that's when we fell in love. When he fell in love with me, at least, and with how I feel about him here, I'm pretty sure it would've been mutual. We didn't ever get the chance to be anything back home, but we're getting that here.
[ And... his point. Derek looks at Tate again, worried that he's not going to be clear about all of this. Worried that he's just - bragging. Dangling something in front of Tate that he wants and doesn't have. ]
So - I don't know. I guess I just mean - there are opportunities here that you wouldn't get to have back home. Maybe this Peter guy is one of them. If you want him to be. It's cool, if you don't. Maybe just-- the freedom to consider whether you would be interested in guys like that is opportunity enough. But.
[ but. ]
I'd help. If you wanted to ask him out. I could chaperone you guys around, do something decent with my privilege as a Dom. Pretend to be deaf when you start reciting poetry to each other. Things like that. It doesn't have to be as impossible as you're making it out to be, man.