[ it's been a month or so since Derek Hale arrived back in town, and Stiles still has mixed feelings about it. Ten years is a long, long time--ten years ago, Stiles was sixteen and stupidly in love with him and trying to pretend he wasn't. He'd spent much of his time running around and arguing with Derek as a teenager, and tried to pretend that he wasn't hurt when he left.
It gave him time to remind himself that thing he'd had for Derek must have just been subconscious. There was Lydia, after all, Lydia, who'd been his focus for most of his life, but when they dated, it fizzled out almost instantly. Stiles spent the rest of his time in his work, and when he was elected sheriff just after his father retired, well--this town always needed a Stilinski in the sheriff's office. And that was just one more thing for him to throw himself into, honestly. Derek Hale had become a memory, ten years later--Stiles went to his best friend's wedding, to Allison and Isaac's, and joked that he was married to his case files all along. Just when he'd started to really pick up the pieces and move on, he came back.
And not just back, but with a kid on his arm.
Now he knew some of the story. The woman was obviously gone, for some reason, and Derek had come back to Beacon Hills to try and put down the roots where his family's had been torn asunder. Stiles guessed, anyway (he'd always been a pretty good guesser), and he resolutely tried to tell himself he didn't care. That Derek could come back here all he wanted, but he didn't--it didn't matter.
They could just go on, as a member of the town and his sheriff. Stiles could be bitter in quiet, over a beer and Buffy reruns, berating his stupid heart until the cows came home. But no matter how cordial he tried to be towards Derek--and oh, how often he succeeded--his son, Liam, was a completely different story. He adored Stiles, for reasons unknown, and Stiles, well--his second choice in careers would have been a kindergarten teacher.
So he brings him presents. Tries not to act like things are weird with Derek. It's not the best arrangement, but it works.
The sheriff bumps the door of the diner open with a cheerful ring, calling out-- ] Doris, I am starving, please tell me you have some of that freakin' awesome cherry pie on you--
[ and pausing as he realizes that Derek is sitting right there, with Liam on his lap. His stomach does a stupid swoop and Stiles tries to pretend that's not attractive, as he reconsiders sneaking out when they've apparently noticed him and swoops over to literally pick Liam up off of Derek's knees and throw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. ] Nevermind, I was just leaving.
[ When Laura had come with him to make sure he'd gotten settled, citing that she had business to finish up in New York and was still deciding whether she wanted to tag along with him-- had to convince the husband, had to take care of the territory, the little niche they'd made, the pack there-- she had eyeballed Stiles and then looked over at Derek and just... at first he'd caught something sad in his sister's face, but then she'd smiled and clapped her hands together and invited Stiles to dinner.
It had been awkward as hell. He does not want to repeat that experience again.
But he knows why she'd had something sympathetic, maybe pitying, in her eyes. Because it was no real secret that Derek Hale and "Stiles" Stilinski had something between them, once upon a time. Ten years ago, they had been at each others' throats in all ways but one, and it was really a way that he'd been wanting for a long time. But the moment his family was ripped apart, razed to the ground, Laura had hauled them out of their hometown before the embers had really died out. It was awful, and without warning, but they couldn't stay here.
Especially not when it had all been Derek's fault, in the end.
Coming back, he's not sure what he's really doing. But all the same, he tries to do what he can for Liam, setting things up so that he can find some sort of home in the wreckage, as far from his mother as possible. Whether Laura's ready or not to come back doesn't quite matter to him, despite the ache of being away from his sister and packmate, because he's finally letting himself actually want something that he thinks is real.
Even if it involves seeing Stiles again, trying to pretend that there isn't something between them still, trying to pretend that they can be civil and cordial because they're grown men who should have moved on from high school crushes. (He thinks this, while pretending that he doesn't hear an upswing in his heart, doesn't catch the shift in his scent every time they're around one another.) It's almost depressing that he recognizes the crunch of his car in the parking lot, the heavy footsteps, the jackrabbit racing of his heart.
Senses not quite honed yet, Liam practically yips when he notices Stiles, which is all of five seconds before he's being plucked out of Derek's lap and not when he walks in the door as his father does. The older wolf is going to astutely pretend that he's not perfectly relaxed when it happens, as compared to when other people come close to his son, reach to touch his hair or pinch his cheeks. If it weren't for the fact that they're teaching him to hide what they are from those around them, he'd absolutely encourage biting those fingers that come near Liam.
But with Stiles, Liam is two seconds shy of shifting out of excitement, wiggling delightedly in his arms and against his shoulder as giggles bubble out of him. It looks like he's trying to wag with his entire body, and he makes grabby hands at Derek as Stiles gets closer to the door.
Calmly rising from where he's seated, he follows after the sheriff to casually grab him around the middle, hefting him up to carry him back towards the counter where Doris watches in amusement. ] I think you have something of mine, officer. I'd like to have it back, if you don't mind.
[ Stiles mostly chooses not to question it, the way Liam is fussy with pretty much everyone--even Laura, when she was here--but the minute Stiles picks him up, he practically melts into putty. He's done it half on autopilot before, seeing him crying only to pick him up and soothe him a little and for him to go quiet. He's gotten used to the kid's snuffling in his neck, brings him presents from the department, buys him milkshakes.
Pretends that he's not still pretty much completely in love with his dad. Yeah, that's his life.
He can also pretend he's not grinning when he hears the chair creak, even as he parades across the diner with his new child shaped package kicking into his chest and wrinkling his brown uniform. He hoists Liam like he's going to open the door, but is stopped because-- ] Oh my god!
[ Because he's being picked up. Stiles squawks and clutches onto Liam to make sure he doesn't fall, immediately more concerned for the kid, but kicks his feet to try and get Derek to put him down. ] Assaulting an officer, assaulting an officer!
[ Is what comes out of his mouth, and now it's pretty much undeniable that he's smiling. Doris is judging him a little right now, tbh. ]
Going to arrest me for it? [ Hardly bothered by Stiles kicking his feet, Derek adjusts his grip so that he's got one arm around Stiles' middle and is holding him close. It's one part making sure he can't weasel away, one part keeping him stable with his own body to make sure that Liam doesn't go anywhere. Not that he's worried-- instinct hasn't flared up once around Stiles, hasn't caused him to react without thinking, hand snapping out to stop him from touching his pup. Honestly, he has to wonder if his own reactions to Stiles have influenced Liam any, or if the kid is just attached to him for some unknown reason.
He never acted like that with his mother. Rarely ever calms for Laura. The only person that he's ever been soothed by has always been Derek, up until Stiles came into his life. He's fairly certain that Liam's future career path is going to be heavily influenced by Stiles at this point, because he's been given so many random presents and has an innate fascination with the sheriff's badge.
Liam squeals in delight, laughing and patting his hands at Derek's face while laughing out "pa, pa--!" It's not as if he hasn't learned words, but at this point in the young werewolf's life he's more interested in communicating by other means. His senses are coming into place now, and he's vocal in growls, yips, whines. Everyone thinks it's just a childish phase, but, well. They can keep thinking that.
Derek is just going to enjoy it, enjoy the fact that he can briefly be close with Stiles again before he drops him to sit in the same chair that he had just vacated. ]
Technically it is a crime, so, technically, yes! [ Stiles' squawk is nothing but indignant, considering he can hear the other patrons of the diner snickering at him--but at the same time, something he's tried so hard to suppress since Derek's return to Beacon Hills is rearing its stupid, ugly head in his stomach, and Stiles tries to focus on Liam's excited squeaking, not Derek's ridiculously strong arm wrapped around him or anything like that.
He hits the stuffed leather seat with a dull thump, child still in hands, and shoots Derek a Look with a capital L, huffing as he adjusts Liam to sit in his lap and turning his attention to him. ] I'm gonna arrest your daddy, and you're gonna help me, okay?
[ He does have something on him, though, and Stiles fidgets around in his pockets. They usually keep things in the station for kids when they come in to do tours, for career days, and Stiles snagged one of the extras from the last tour for Liam because...because he genuinely enjoys making him light up, because the kid loves him, and because Stiles loves Liam way more than he should.
He makes an exaggerated face, and then presents Liam with a shiny golden pin on sheriff's badge. ] Since I need a deputy to do a real arrest.
[ Making sure that Stiles doesn't fall off the seat once he's dropped into it, he ignores the indignant squawking in lieu of smirking at the sheriff as his son attaches himself to him bodily. Derek is just going to take the moment to recompose himself, tucking away that warm feeling that springs in his chest with such close contact. It doesn't leave, considering the fact that he takes another seat only to watch Stiles and Liam.
Liam settles comfortably in Stiles' lap, fingers fisted in his shirt as he looks up at him with big, crystal clear green eyes. It practically punches Derek in the gut, the way that his pup looks at him-- and then he lights up when he's presented the badge, and then he's breathless with the damn adoration that the toddler has for the man that hasn't changed at all in ten years. ]
What, going to take him into the academy while his old man rots in jail? That's really nice of you, sheriff. I appreciate it, making him the second youngest cadet that they've ever seen. [ Still, he reaches to pluck the badge out of their combined grip, ignoring the way his fingers brush Stiles as he calmly moves to pin the badge to his son's chest.
Liam practically shatters his eardrums with the excited squeal that leaves him, and he watches as he pulls his tiny shirt out to look down at the new accessory before he launches forward to hug Stiles fiercely around the neck. ]
Whoa--hey, buddy! [ stiles laughs, a loud, bright thing, and catches the excited, tiny child in both of his arms, rearing backwards so he can give him a big, tight squeeze. he knows about liam's obsession with the police and everything in it; hell, he's babysat him just to take him around for rides in the cruiser, which seemed to amuse liam endlessly. (up until one of his deputies gave him a weird look for screwing with the siren in the station lot. whoops.) he looks up with derek in a gleam in his eyes, clicking his tongue and winking at him, pretty shamelessly. ] What can I say? I know a good officer when I see one.
[ turning him around, stiles puts liam down on his knees and turns to face derek in the chair, so their knees brush. it definitely doesn't make stiles's heart skip a beat. then, conspiratorially, he leans downwards, looks at the guy he'd loved for so long and was starting to learn to love again, and works all of that pent up affection into the little boy on his lap.
stiles picks up one of liam's chubby hands and fixes it into a point, holding it out to derek. ] Now say, "You're under arrest for being a poophead."
[ liam squeals with laughter and stiles beams behind him, ducking his head down and saying, in a high pitched voice: ] You're a poophead, daddy!
[ Derek gives Stiles an impressive roll of his eyes in response to the wink, but it's contradicted by the fact that he absolutely smiles at the display in front of him. There's no two ways about it, if he didn't suffer from extreme bouts of separation anxiety when away from his son for too long, he would let Stiles keep him for a solid week if it meant that they were like this. It's probably a bad thing, to let Liam think it's always going to be like this.
Hell, it's probably a bad thing for his dad to want it to always be like this. Stiles doesn't make it easy on him. ] Good to know he has a secure career path at nearly two.
[ He shifts in his seat, bumping their knees together as he watches Liam get settled on the sheriff's lap. He looks perfectly content, and much like he'd be wagging his tail. There's a soft gleam in his eyes, but thankfully he's not flashing them or popping a fang - something he's been slipping up on recently, as he starts to develop to the point that he can do it in the first place.
An abrupt snort escapes him as Stiles basically calls him a poophead, of all things, the first time. And then it turns into a bark of actual laughter with the shrill voice, head cocked back. Of course his son is pleased with the development, despite the fact he has no idea what's going on. With his 'pa' laughing and Stiles there, why wouldn't he be? ]
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It gave him time to remind himself that thing he'd had for Derek must have just been subconscious. There was Lydia, after all, Lydia, who'd been his focus for most of his life, but when they dated, it fizzled out almost instantly. Stiles spent the rest of his time in his work, and when he was elected sheriff just after his father retired, well--this town always needed a Stilinski in the sheriff's office. And that was just one more thing for him to throw himself into, honestly. Derek Hale had become a memory, ten years later--Stiles went to his best friend's wedding, to Allison and Isaac's, and joked that he was married to his case files all along. Just when he'd started to really pick up the pieces and move on, he came back.
And not just back, but with a kid on his arm.
Now he knew some of the story. The woman was obviously gone, for some reason, and Derek had come back to Beacon Hills to try and put down the roots where his family's had been torn asunder. Stiles guessed, anyway (he'd always been a pretty good guesser), and he resolutely tried to tell himself he didn't care. That Derek could come back here all he wanted, but he didn't--it didn't matter.
They could just go on, as a member of the town and his sheriff. Stiles could be bitter in quiet, over a beer and Buffy reruns, berating his stupid heart until the cows came home. But no matter how cordial he tried to be towards Derek--and oh, how often he succeeded--his son, Liam, was a completely different story. He adored Stiles, for reasons unknown, and Stiles, well--his second choice in careers would have been a kindergarten teacher.
So he brings him presents. Tries not to act like things are weird with Derek. It's not the best arrangement, but it works.
The sheriff bumps the door of the diner open with a cheerful ring, calling out-- ] Doris, I am starving, please tell me you have some of that freakin' awesome cherry pie on you--
[ and pausing as he realizes that Derek is sitting right there, with Liam on his lap. His stomach does a stupid swoop and Stiles tries to pretend that's not attractive, as he reconsiders sneaking out when they've apparently noticed him and swoops over to literally pick Liam up off of Derek's knees and throw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. ] Nevermind, I was just leaving.
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It had been awkward as hell. He does not want to repeat that experience again.
But he knows why she'd had something sympathetic, maybe pitying, in her eyes. Because it was no real secret that Derek Hale and "Stiles" Stilinski had something between them, once upon a time. Ten years ago, they had been at each others' throats in all ways but one, and it was really a way that he'd been wanting for a long time. But the moment his family was ripped apart, razed to the ground, Laura had hauled them out of their hometown before the embers had really died out. It was awful, and without warning, but they couldn't stay here.
Especially not when it had all been Derek's fault, in the end.
Coming back, he's not sure what he's really doing. But all the same, he tries to do what he can for Liam, setting things up so that he can find some sort of home in the wreckage, as far from his mother as possible. Whether Laura's ready or not to come back doesn't quite matter to him, despite the ache of being away from his sister and packmate, because he's finally letting himself actually want something that he thinks is real.
Even if it involves seeing Stiles again, trying to pretend that there isn't something between them still, trying to pretend that they can be civil and cordial because they're grown men who should have moved on from high school crushes. (He thinks this, while pretending that he doesn't hear an upswing in his heart, doesn't catch the shift in his scent every time they're around one another.) It's almost depressing that he recognizes the crunch of his car in the parking lot, the heavy footsteps, the jackrabbit racing of his heart.
Senses not quite honed yet, Liam practically yips when he notices Stiles, which is all of five seconds before he's being plucked out of Derek's lap and not when he walks in the door as his father does. The older wolf is going to astutely pretend that he's not perfectly relaxed when it happens, as compared to when other people come close to his son, reach to touch his hair or pinch his cheeks. If it weren't for the fact that they're teaching him to hide what they are from those around them, he'd absolutely encourage biting those fingers that come near Liam.
But with Stiles, Liam is two seconds shy of shifting out of excitement, wiggling delightedly in his arms and against his shoulder as giggles bubble out of him. It looks like he's trying to wag with his entire body, and he makes grabby hands at Derek as Stiles gets closer to the door.
Calmly rising from where he's seated, he follows after the sheriff to casually grab him around the middle, hefting him up to carry him back towards the counter where Doris watches in amusement. ] I think you have something of mine, officer. I'd like to have it back, if you don't mind.
no subject
Pretends that he's not still pretty much completely in love with his dad. Yeah, that's his life.
He can also pretend he's not grinning when he hears the chair creak, even as he parades across the diner with his new child shaped package kicking into his chest and wrinkling his brown uniform. He hoists Liam like he's going to open the door, but is stopped because-- ] Oh my god!
[ Because he's being picked up. Stiles squawks and clutches onto Liam to make sure he doesn't fall, immediately more concerned for the kid, but kicks his feet to try and get Derek to put him down. ] Assaulting an officer, assaulting an officer!
[ Is what comes out of his mouth, and now it's pretty much undeniable that he's smiling. Doris is judging him a little right now, tbh. ]
no subject
He never acted like that with his mother. Rarely ever calms for Laura. The only person that he's ever been soothed by has always been Derek, up until Stiles came into his life. He's fairly certain that Liam's future career path is going to be heavily influenced by Stiles at this point, because he's been given so many random presents and has an innate fascination with the sheriff's badge.
Liam squeals in delight, laughing and patting his hands at Derek's face while laughing out "pa, pa--!" It's not as if he hasn't learned words, but at this point in the young werewolf's life he's more interested in communicating by other means. His senses are coming into place now, and he's vocal in growls, yips, whines. Everyone thinks it's just a childish phase, but, well. They can keep thinking that.
Derek is just going to enjoy it, enjoy the fact that he can briefly be close with Stiles again before he drops him to sit in the same chair that he had just vacated. ]
no subject
He hits the stuffed leather seat with a dull thump, child still in hands, and shoots Derek a Look with a capital L, huffing as he adjusts Liam to sit in his lap and turning his attention to him. ] I'm gonna arrest your daddy, and you're gonna help me, okay?
[ He does have something on him, though, and Stiles fidgets around in his pockets. They usually keep things in the station for kids when they come in to do tours, for career days, and Stiles snagged one of the extras from the last tour for Liam because...because he genuinely enjoys making him light up, because the kid loves him, and because Stiles loves Liam way more than he should.
He makes an exaggerated face, and then presents Liam with a shiny golden pin on sheriff's badge. ] Since I need a deputy to do a real arrest.
no subject
Liam settles comfortably in Stiles' lap, fingers fisted in his shirt as he looks up at him with big, crystal clear green eyes. It practically punches Derek in the gut, the way that his pup looks at him-- and then he lights up when he's presented the badge, and then he's breathless with the damn adoration that the toddler has for the man that hasn't changed at all in ten years. ]
What, going to take him into the academy while his old man rots in jail? That's really nice of you, sheriff. I appreciate it, making him the second youngest cadet that they've ever seen. [ Still, he reaches to pluck the badge out of their combined grip, ignoring the way his fingers brush Stiles as he calmly moves to pin the badge to his son's chest.
Liam practically shatters his eardrums with the excited squeal that leaves him, and he watches as he pulls his tiny shirt out to look down at the new accessory before he launches forward to hug Stiles fiercely around the neck. ]
remember when liam wasn't a character on the show
[ turning him around, stiles puts liam down on his knees and turns to face derek in the chair, so their knees brush. it definitely doesn't make stiles's heart skip a beat. then, conspiratorially, he leans downwards, looks at the guy he'd loved for so long and was starting to learn to love again, and works all of that pent up affection into the little boy on his lap.
stiles picks up one of liam's chubby hands and fixes it into a point, holding it out to derek. ] Now say, "You're under arrest for being a poophead."
[ liam squeals with laughter and stiles beams behind him, ducking his head down and saying, in a high pitched voice: ] You're a poophead, daddy!
Everyday. Fondly.
Hell, it's probably a bad thing for his dad to want it to always be like this. Stiles doesn't make it easy on him. ] Good to know he has a secure career path at nearly two.
[ He shifts in his seat, bumping their knees together as he watches Liam get settled on the sheriff's lap. He looks perfectly content, and much like he'd be wagging his tail. There's a soft gleam in his eyes, but thankfully he's not flashing them or popping a fang - something he's been slipping up on recently, as he starts to develop to the point that he can do it in the first place.
An abrupt snort escapes him as Stiles basically calls him a poophead, of all things, the first time. And then it turns into a bark of actual laughter with the shrill voice, head cocked back. Of course his son is pleased with the development, despite the fact he has no idea what's going on. With his 'pa' laughing and Stiles there, why wouldn't he be? ]