(fuck you Torah, right to hell. Haven’t written them in YEARS and I have no idea what happened after 3a but here ya go, have some dorks):
“Hey um, been a while,” Stiles said, awkwardly punching Derek in the arm.
It didn’t hurt, but Derek rubbed the spot on his arm and glanced away. “Yeah, it has.”
“So like,” Stiles scratched the back of his head, trying desperately to think of something to say. This was beyond awkward even for Stiles. He had saved this man’s life more times than he could count and he’s been covered in Derek’s blood almost the same amount of time. That was a level of intimacy that he hadn’t quite reached with anyone, not even Scott. This should be easy. “Were you dead?”
Derek looked back long enough to give Stiles the most unimpressed stare before walking away. Stiles trailed after him immediately.
“You could have been dead! I mean, I’ve been dead… kinda… I think? I’m really out of touch these days,” Stiles stammered. “But, I mean, I’m glad you’re not?”
Derek inhaled and Stiles had to bite back a smirk when he sighed as loudly as he remembered. No matter how much time and distance came between them, Derek was still Derek.
“You know, I had all these fantasies of contacting you, bringing you back here. Some of it involved throwing rocks at your head. I’ll admit I was more violent back in those days. I could still be, jury’s out.”
Derek kept walking but he slowed down and his head was tilted toward Stiles. It almost made Stiles’ heart beat faster, in the kind of way that Derek’s hearing would tell you it was most certainly beating faster.
“Anyway dude, I’m glad you’re back. Things have been crazy around here. There’s all kinds of new people, I know how much you love making new friends so that’ll be fun to both see and record on video.”
“Stiles,” Derek said in the specific tone of voice that had conditioned Stiles to shut up instantly. Stiles stopped walking and pursed his lips together. He knew it was too soon, that they weren’t on equal footing anymore. Too much had changed, they had both become different people over the years and now… now Stiles had no idea how to communicate with Derek. Not that he ever did that successfully before but they had a rhythm, a weird way of half-communicating that worked. This… this wasn’t working.
Stiles nearly jumped out of his skin when Derek put his hands on Stiles’ shoulders and gripped tightly. When Derek didn’t say anything, just kept squeezing, Stiles risked looking up to find that Derek was smiling. Actually smiling. Not the dumb, cocky smirk that he may or may not have fallen in love with. An honest, genuine, toothy smile.
To hell with Stiles’ heart, it could go into cardiac arrest for all he cared, this was the best he was going to feel for the foreseeable future. “Dude,” Stiles laughed awkwardly, squirming out of Derek’s grip, “Scott is gonna flip when he sees you smile like that. I’m so proud of you, learning how to be a fully functional person. Keep that up and I might not have to drag you out of a fairly deadly plothole this year.”
“Have the roads in Beacon Hills really gotten that bad?”
“Yeah, let’s go with that. Definitely said pothole.”
Derek narrowed his eyes and pushed Stiles to continue walking, “You’re still weird.”
