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The sense of relief is almost overwhelming. He feels like his bones are suddenly hollow and brittle, his muscles mere threads of cotton, incapable of holding him up anymore. His skin is on fire and freezing at the same time. He reaches blindly for Stiles’ hand and threads their fingers together.
“Are you sure about this?”
Stiles smiles, and it’s an open, free, beautiful thing that sends Derek’s heart thundering in anticipation.
“I’m so beyond sure. You?” Stiles gives his fingers a squeeze.
“God, yes.” A laugh bubbles up and he lets it free, basking in the joy radiating from Stiles as he pulls him close and licks at his lips. “Let’s do this.”
The first stop they make is at the Stilinski-McCall house. The Sheriff and Melissa are sipping coffee after dinner, relaxing and chatting quietly about each other’s day. They’re both thrilled to find out that Stiles had been accepted to Columbia, complete with scholarship. They’re less happy when they find out Stiles got the letter months ago and that he and Derek are planning to leave immediately.
“Derek still owns the apartment he and Laura shared, so we wanted to go and get the place set up. It’s been vacant since…well. We’re already packed. We started the day I got my acceptance. All we have to do is load up the car.”
“I don’t understand why you have to leave right now, son. That’s…it’s too fast.”
Stiles smiles and gives his dad a long look. “I really don't think so, Dad.”
Melissa’s smile softens in understanding and she nudges the Sheriff until he grumbles an agreement out. They stay for another cup of coffee and a somewhat tearful goodbye before heading upstairs to gather the boxes lined up against the wall of Stiles’ room.
Their next stop is Allison’s. Scott and Isaac are there, celebrating the end of their high school careers. The conversation takes a similar direction.
“Why are you leaving so soon though? We just finished classes yesterday.”
Stiles is glad Scott has grown out of the floppy-puppy look he had through sophomore and part of junior year. As adorable as it was, it made it difficult to take him seriously sometimes. Now, Scott looked like a man. A not very happy man.
“Derek, you don’t have to leave, you know that, right? This is still your territory. We’re all pack.”
Derek leans into Stiles’ shoulder a bit. “Scott, we both know it isn’t that simple. I go where Stiles goes. And this town…I can’t be here anymore.”
“We have too many bad memories and too many scars from this place, Scott. We’re getting out.” Stiles slides an arm around Derek’s waist, pulling them closer together. “You know we’ll always be here if you need us. But we need to move on. We’ve needed to for a long time.”
“Yeah, I guess I can see that,” Scott sighs and pulls Stiles in for a back-thumper bro hug before clapping Derek on the shoulder.
“Good luck,” Allison smiles and kisses each of them on the cheek.
They hug Isaac, who remains quiet, and after another round of emotional goodbyes, they make their way to Derek’s car. Stiles nudges Derek against the driver’s door and cages him in with legs and arms, running his nose up Derek’s neck to nip at his earlobe. He pulls back and stares into Derek’s eyes.
“Ready?”
Derek tugs Stiles forward and seals their mouths together for several moments. “Fuck yes.”
Stiles laughs and rests his forehead against Derek’s. “Let’s get going, baby. I wanna reach Reno before we stop for the night.”