wrong person to rob

late night talks

derek jolted awake around 2am, he felt the place next to him blindly in the dark, only to find it empty. his eyebrows furrowed as he pulled himself up in search of stiles. after ten minutes derek concluded he wasn't in the house, for a brief moment he wondered if stiles had ran. a flash of fear passing through him.

he shook that thought away- stiles had had plenty of opportunities and hadn't. he wouldn't now.

the open front door didn't ease his mind. derek pushed it open and scoured the dark garden for the fox. he started to jog round- coming up empty. derek growled. he was beginning to get scared. he focused more on stiles' scent and followed it like a dog until he arrived underneath a large gnarled oak tree.

much like one of their first encounters he looked up- this time no boot was there to greet him. stiles was though. he was sat on a bought, his legs dangling off the sides. the only part of him derek could see.

"stiles!"
derek half shouted. stiles jolted in shock, like he had been trapped deep in thought and peered over the bough.

"what the fuck. you had me scared shitless"
he told him off with a frown. stiles swallowed.

"i'm sorry. i'll come down"

he dropped to the floor. derek catching him at the last minute even if stiles was a fox and could land on his own two feet.

"thanks"
he whispered turning back to the house. only now did derek catch his tear stained cheeks. illumated by the moon. he caught stiles' arm and twisted him round. worry etched on his features.

"are you alright?"

he asked softly. stiles looked away.

"yeah. fine. just thinking about my family is all"

he muttered.

"well we can arrange for you to meet up with them. it would probably have to be here but you could..."
he trailed off. the bitter chuckle from stiles made him stop.

"yeah i don't think so... they uhm- they're dead, died when i was fourteen"

derek swallowed. oh. he had gone almost half a year without knowing a thing about stiles' life. who he used to be- why he turned to stealing, who his parents were... nothing. stiles turned away from him awkwardly. derek softly pulled him to the steps of the house and sat down. beckoning for stiles to copy.

"what we're they like?"
he asked carefully. not wanting to over step. a sad smile broke across his face.

"they were amazing, so kind and caring. my mother was always looking out for me- patching me up when i got in fights, scolding me as she did so"

he chuckled at the memories. his eyes becoming glossy.

"my father was a sherrif, before... his friends would often say i'm a lot like him, he was almost as sarcastic as me. he would scold me- always caught me doing shit i wasn't supposed to."

his breath hitched painfully.

"god. i miss them."

he muttered. derek placed his hand on stiles' comfortingly. he didn't speak- waiting for stiles to open up about it.

he cleared his throat after a moment.

"it was my fault yknow... if- if i had come home, if i'd listened to my dad for once..."

he started but lost his words. a single tear trickled down his cheek as he grimaced, guilt and self hate rolled off him.

"i'm sure it wasn't-"

derek started but stiles' sadness twisted into anger. he ripped his hand away from dereks.

"it was derek! it was all my fault. i shouldn't have been out that late, i- i was... was stupid. i was doing graffiti at 3:12am. i was supposed to be at home with mum- dad was out on a case and it was me who was supposed to be there. i heard gunshots and ran home- the door was open i ran in looking for my mom, all i saw was a masked man and i froze. he saw me and aimed his pistol, i couldn't move. at all, couldn't attack couldn't run, my mom pushed me out the way as he shot and it lodged into her chest. the man fled after that and my mom died in my arms. never even found out why he was there."

he stopped, to overwhelms with tears. stiles' eyes were glossed over as he stayed trapped in his memories. derek went to speak up again but stiles kept going, even with the tears pouring down his face. he never spoke of it before and now he couldn't stop.

"and- and that's not even the worst part, dad came home and saw me sat there with moms head in lap in a pool of blood. the next week was a blur. my dad didn't speak one word to me. i didn't try to speak to him, i know he didn't mean to but he blamed me and so did i. i became hell bent with finding who did it and eventually i was sure it was my dads partner... i forget his name... forgot why even even did it. so i snuck out the house one night and tried to find him- my dad was working that night so i only had to follow him really. i came to an abandoned house. my dads car was outside and i went in. they were talking heatedly as i stepped into the room with my gun. i was- i was mad and angry at him and so ducking sad. anyway... the killer saw me- my gun raised to him. i didn't stop to think about my dad and he grabbed him, holding my dad at gunpoint and threatening to shoot. i didn't hear him i was too angry... fuck! if- if i'd just taken a moment to talk. to back down nothing would happened but i moved and he shot. so i shot back, then... then they were both dead and that was that."

he stopped again. rubbing his face furiously, glaring at the floor. derek waited.

"after that i took anything i cared about from the house and ran... didn't take me long to start stealing, then i'd just hop from place to place because if i stayed somewhere too long i'd have to acknowledge everything and my plan to run from my problems was going great till... well till you guys"

derek swallowed. that was a lot. it sounded as if this was the first time stiles had ever spoken about it. they sat there in suffocating silence for a moment only the occasional choked sob from stiles.

"i- i'm sorry. i wish i had known, we can visit their graves if you'd like... and it's not your fault, it's that fucker who attacked them. it wasn't you"

derek reassured. he tried to sound strong but he was lost in how to comfort the other. stiles sighed. his head dropped between his knees.

"sometimes i just- maybe i wa supposed to die- he almost killed me twice. if i had died they wouldn't have"

derek took in a breath.

"you might not be but i'm so glad your still here. and your parents must have loved you so much"

stiles let a weak smile creep into his face. his lashes were wet with tears and he was shaking slightly. derek enveloped him in a hug and they stayed there for a moment, derek held tightly to stiles as if he could put the parts back together if he held on long enough. eventually stiles pulled away.

"and what about your family?"

he tried wiping away a stray tear. derek shook his head a little too quickly.

"save that for another night. it's late and we need sleep. alright?"

stiles nodded slowly and derek helped him up. he stayed latched to the older until they were back in their room. stiles silently slipped under the covers and pulled derek towards him. derek once again wrapped stiles in his arms. determined to keep him safe- forever.

heyyyy... hope this is alr j a bit of background cuz realises he had none uhm ngl we have around 3-5 chapters left and we're home free so... yay?