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When Derek realised that Stiles wasn’t going to save him from being pushed out the door by the Sheriff he allowed himself to be steered towards the cruiser. He had to admit that getting to ride in the passenger seat was a nice change from being handcuffed and stuck in the back of the car. At the memory he glanced towards the older man as he climbed in on the driver’s side.
“If you’ve known all this time about us why did you handcuff me that day?” He asked before he could stop himself. John merely laughed for a moment before starting up the car.
“It’s called keeping up appearances Son. You should try it once in a while because clearly the whole ‘I’ll murder you in your sleep’ look you have going for you isn’t working out so well,” he said with another laugh as Derek flushed.
Derek didn’t even attempt to say anything else for a long time worried that he would suffer another horrible case of foot mouth disease. It wasn’t until they pulled up to the first place that John wanted to show him that he came back to himself. When he noticed that there was no sort of ‘For Sale’ sign or anything of that nature he almost asked if it was all right be to checking it out but he managed to stop himself from looking like as ass when he remembered that he was with the damn sheriff! As soon as they got inside though Derek’s nose wrinkled right away.
“Do I even want to know what the hell died in here?” He grumbled out while resisting the urge to cover his nose.
“Huh, I guess wolves do have a better sense of smell,” John said sounding clearly amused before ushering Derek back out of the house. “We’ll try the next one and I promise, no one died in it.”
Derek merely scowled at the man before climbing back into the car. Three places and three disgusting smells later Derek was pretty sure that John was trying to torture him through his nose when the man finally took him to a pretty decent looking loft. They walked around it checking it out for a while before Derek finally nodded his head silently agreeing to the choice. John grinned at him and Derek gave him an uneasy smile back.
“Do I make you nervous?” John finally asked and if Derek had been dealing with anyone else other than Stiles’ dad he probably would have been surprised by the bluntness of the question.
“I’m not sure how to deal with all of this sir, I’m used to people wanting something in return,” he explained honestly. He couldn’t help but find it strangely comforting to once again be dealing with someone he knew he couldn’t lie to.
“First off it’s John and second whether it’s how you planned for things to go or not you’re going to be family once you and Genim are fully bonded, so the way I see it kid, I owe you,” the man explained. “Derek do you even care for him?”
“He’s pack, he’s always been pack!” Derek said quickly but John shook his head.
“I mean romantically, do you love him?” He said with a huff, annoyed that he hadn’t quite gotten his meaning across the first time. The question surprised Derek a little but he supposed it should have been one he expected.
“I could and I care about him, I wouldn’t do this otherwise,” He said. “I was attracted to him even when I thought he was human but because of what happened… before I mean with…” John merely held up a hand and nodded to show he understood. “My wolf wouldn’t settle for the idea of being mated to a human,” he finally managed to get out.
“I understand Son, I really do and thank you for being honest with me about that, just keep in mind I meant what I said last night,” John said leaving Derek to look quizzically at him for a moment as his mind played over everything from the night before.
Derek’s confusion was short lived as he suddenly found himself pinned up against the wall. He watched in shocked amazement as John’s hands became clawed and black lines almost like cracks in his skin started to form all over revealing hints of bright red skin underneath. Lastly he noted that the man’s eyes were no longer endlessly dark pits as he could pick up burning red irises forming.
“I meant that if you hurt my son I will destroy you in ways you couldn’t even begin to imagine,” John growled out revealing an impressive set of fangs.
“I’d let you if I did,” Derek snapped out, having shifted himself in reaction to the threat. John quickly let him go at this though and smiled as he shifted back.
“Good answer kid, now let’s get Deaton’s ass over here because protection isn’t my strong suit like it is his and Stiles,” Derek just mutely nodded at this not really all that sure what the hell it was that had just happened and really feeling brave enough to ask questions.
As the evening drug on all Derek knew was that both he and his wolf were freaked out being left alone in the same room with the other two men. There was way too much magic being flung around for his wolf to be happy and way too many horror stories being told by Deaton to John about him when he was a kid for his human side to happy. Never again was this happening! If he thought he could get away with it he would have tried to sneak out.
Eventually though Deaton finally finished and John released Derek for the night, though Derek was more than certain he was only letting him go because he knew he’d successfully scared the hell out of him in regards to Stiles and his well-being. He never actually thought he would be so happy to see the run down station he currently called home! As he headed in he noted that Isaac was still out and he was perfectly content to spend the rest of the evening alone until he picked up on Scott approaching.
“All right, thank you, before chewing asses,” he heard the teen mutter to himself which caused his brows to dart up.
“The hell Scott?” Derek asked completely confused.
“Stiles said I should start with thank you before I begin chewing ass!” Scott exclaimed as if what he just said had made all the sense in the world.
“I’m not even going to… what do you want Scott?” Derek said shaking his head figuring it was probably better that he didn’t understand whatever it was that Scott was talking about.
“I just wanted to thank you for looking after Stiles, keeping him safe when I was being an ass, you know?” Scott said sounding a little lost but sincere.
“I’ll always protect him,” Derek said simply because he didn’t think there was really anything else to say about it. Not because it wasn’t important but because he’d never protected Stiles for Scott, he protected him because he’s wanted to, needed to, if he was being honest.
Derek honestly thought that was the end of the conversation so he was a little shocked when Scott suddenly punched him in the jaw. Derek wolfed out at this and glared at the teen.
“You’d better have a really good fucking reason for that pup!” He snarled out.
“That’s for lying to me you asshole! Stiles told me there never was a cure!” Derek’s head was starting to hurt at how all over the place Scott was being right then but it only took him a moment to realise what it was that he was talking about.
“Of course I lied to you Scott you were so worried about Allison that you weren’t focused on anything else going on. You could have gotten yourself killed!” He snapped back and Scott actually seemed to deflate a little at that.
“That’s what Stiles said,” he mumbled.
“If you’ve already had this conversation with Stiles then why the hell are we having it again?” Derek asked while pinching the bridge of his nose.
“We’re not, I just wanted to let you know what a dick move I thought that was and to warn you that if you hurt Stiles I’ll find a way to kick your ass!” Scott shot back and Derek merely nodded his head to appease the teen.
“Got it Scott, anything else?” He asked shooting a ‘are you serious right now’ look at Scott.
“I’m still thinking about the whole pack thing, I’ll let you know.”
With that being said Scott was gone as quickly as he’d shown up leaving Derek confused, amused and annoyed all at the same time. Heading into the train car he pulled out his phone to see a message.
Stiles: Dude what the hell happened with my dad today he wouldn’t tell me anything when he got home.
Derek stared at his phone for a moment, typed out his response and sent it before he could change his mind.
Found a place. Moving in at the end of the week. Don’t ever leave me alone with your dad again… and why the hell did Scott yell at me about chewing asses?
He supposed he wasn’t really surprised when Stiles didn’t respond.