Chapter Text
Stiles is twiddling his thumbs while he’s sitting on Dad’s couch as he watches Scott playing with Lego in the other room. He can hear a little of the conversation his dad is having right now on the phone, actually eavesdrops the kitchen a little.
“Alright, see you then,” his dad says, hangs off and comes out of the kitchen, shutting the door behind him with a loud bang. He sighs and looks to the floor first before he raises his eyes to Stiles and places the phone on the table. “Your grandparents are coming to visit in two days. Just, you know… be nice and try not to act like you’re annoyed all the time.”
“You mean I should ignore their comments about ‘Scott not having a mother is bad for him’? Sure, I can try to tame myself,” Stiles huffs out and immediately looks back to Scott in the other room if he heard anything.
Thank god, he’s still playing with his Legos next to the fireplace. He just looks like the little kid he’s supposed to be. All Stiles can see is his happy son. He can understand why grandma is like that, but he still thinks all of her concerns are unnecessary because Scott and he are totally fine.
“You know she only means it good, Stiles.”
“I know she does, Dad,” Stiles says and throws his head back against the couch. “It’s just… Once she’s there, I feel like I should feel ashamed for something.”
“Yeah... that’s your grandma,” Dad sighs and sets himself down on the couch next to him. Stiles crosses his arms and turns his eyes away from the ceiling to look to his dad as he gives him a small nudge and smirks. “You can go to your friends now. I’ll keep an eye on Scott meanwhile.”
Stiles looks at his watch and nods to his dad, getting up from the couch and walks to Scott. “Hey, kiddo,” he says to Scott as he sits down next to him to the warm fire, making him realize how cold it was in the dining room. Scott has his warm thick pullover and he’s only wearing a shirt, like he always does. It's winter, Stiles. Don't forget that.
“Hi, Daddy! Look what I’ve built!” Scott immediately says and holds a Lego figure in front of him. It's big and red and looks like a car.
“Aw, that’s awesome, Scott! Is that a fire truck?”
“Mmmm,” Scott hums, nodding with closed eyes and a proud expression on his face while he’s presenting it in both of his hands. “I did it on my own! Imma drive one when I’m older, just like Derek!”
Stiles laughs and ruffles Scott’s hair. “I’m sure you will—as brave as you are? Definitely.”
"Hey!" Scott tries to flee Stiles’ hand which is messing up his hair.
“I have to go now. My friends are waiting for me.”
“Derek too?” Scott asks with raised eyebrows and holds his Lego truck higher into the air. “Tell him that I built this, okay?” It’s quite obvious that Scott looks up to Derek and his firefighter stuff, just like Stiles got hooked up by Dad’s police man stuff. When Scott’s old enough, he wants to join the junior team which Derek always takes care of. They call each other brothers already, that’s how good Derek and Scott get along.
“Sure, I will,” Stiles says and kisses Scott into his forehead and gets up. “See you later, sweetheart. And don’t forget to be nice to your grandpa, okay?”
“Yeah, did you hear that, Scott? Be nice to grandpa,” Stiles hears Dad yell from the other room and hears a snort he notices is his own as he leaves the living room towards the front door. Scott’s now out of earshot which means for his dad to tease him as he gets his keys given into his hand. “Keep it easy, I don’t want to have to arrest my own son... again.”
“It was just one time!” Or two times… or three. Who even counts that nowadays?
Anyway, Stiles rolls his eyes and puts on his jacket as he gets pushed out the door into the darkness of the streets. He loves his dad. Really.
As Stiles gets into the club, he already spots Derek and Isaac at the bar, drinking their drinks while they’re talking. It seems to be a busy day for the bar tenders. It’s really crowded in here and you barely can hear the electric music under the people’s voices. It’s a miracle he found them that fast actually. They don’t see each other so often nowadays because Isaac and Derek are firefighters, Erica and Boyd are married and Stiles? Stiles has a child at home.
“Hey guys,” Stiles says as he pulls at a bar chair to sit next to them as they greet him with little handshakes and a bro hug. “Where’re Erica and Boyd?”
“They’re coming a little later as it looks like,” Isaac says, taking another sip as he places his elbows onto the counter. “Should we crash this party without them?”
“Nah, I don’t think so. We shouldn’t start without them. It's friends night,” Stiles points out.
Derek leans against the bar counter, facing the dance floor with crossed arms for a moment and turns around. “Hey Phil! Another one,” he yells to the bar tender a few meters away who is now bringing him another drink. “S'on me. Don’t worry," Derek says, shoving the glass into Stiles' hand. “After I put down a fire here, I get drinks for a lower prize, so go ahead.”
Stiles looks suspiciously at the glass in his hand and looks up to Derek. “Must be practical being a hero to everyone, huh?” he huffs out before he finally takes a big gulp out of the glass. He stares into the glass on his lips for a moment, trying to guess what’s in there. “Ah… Nothing's better than ginger ale mixed with a little beer.”
“No problem," Derek says, smirking at him.
“Hey, where’s your kid, though?” Isaac asks, turning their attention to him. “Doesn't he have school tomorrow?”
“Yeah, he has—last day,” Stiles answers, placing his drink on the counter, squinting to Isaac. “His grandpa’s keeping an eye on him and drives him home later.”
“That’s really nice of him.” It really is, Stiles thinks. His dad knows that he hasn’t much time to see his friends with Scott—not only because he’s too busy. His friends are too. “Well, I am going now. See y’all at the dance floor when Erica and Boyd are here.”
“Sure thing,” Stiles answers Isaac while Derek waves him off as he disappears into the dancing crowd and lights. There’re a lot of better things than watching Isaac’s dance moves anyway. But it also means they’re not actually together as friends now. Erica and Boyd are still on their way to the club and Isaac is alone on the dance floor—although he’ll probably find some boy toy to dance with.
“Well, there would be only the two of us, then.” Derek shrugs, looking to Stiles. “How’s your life as, you know, dad doing?”
Derek’s question is something he actually has to think about—, a lot. Seriously, how is it doing? It’s doing great. Just that they have money problems and Scott doesn’t see his dad that much because he needs to work for money, so they don’t starve. Okay... he takes everything back. It’s all, but not okay.
“S'okay. Just a little stressed by my grandma.” He lies because he just doesn't want to annoy other people with his problems, actually feels bad for having money problems since he’s the one to blame.
“Why’s that?” Derek asks, turning to Stiles with one side leaned against the counter.
“Ah… She just thinks I should look for another wife, thinks it’s not good for Scott if he hasn’t a mother.”
“Wow, that’s rude…”
“I know!” It really pisses Stiles off actually. His dad himself raised him without Mum and Stiles is totally fine—more or less. “It’s like she’s telling me that my dad did his job wrong with me. It’s…”
“Shit,” Derek finishes his sentence.
“Yeah... And she’s going to visit me and my dad on Christmas, so it’s gonna be even better,” Stiles sighs and downs his drink into his throat after he put a little more alcohol into it. “How’re you doing by the way—Still having problems with your girlfriend?”
“Ex-girlfriend,” Derek adds then, making Stiles eyes widen and jaw drop.
“Woah okay, what happened?”
“The right thing, man. She’s freaking creepy. She looked like she was going to burn down my entire family if I broke up with her,” Derek says turning up his nose. Stiles never talked or saw her, so he doesn’t know what he should think of her but that indeed sounds like a psychopath. “I just said, 'We should keep it easy and do a break because I’m not ready and want to see if we could get together after the break' or something like that. I can’t remember. I just wanted her to be gone.”
“And where is she now?”
“She left to New York and doesn’t want to see me again—expect she is. She’s going to visit Beacon Hills this Christmas,” Derek sighs and lets his head sink onto the bar counter as he murmurs into his arms, “Phil... Another one.”
It’s actually funny. No, really, it is. Both of them will probably have a shitty Christmas. It’s only funny because they’re not alone, though. Stiles don’t want to make fun of Derek’s situation, not at all, but he’s still happy not to be alone by having a shitty Christmas… Okay, who is he kidding—It is rude. “Well, guess we both won’t have a pleasant Christmas then,” Stiles sighs.
“Pretty much, yes…”
Both take a big gulp out of their glasses.
◊
Erica and Boyd show up only a few minutes after. They mostly just set around and talk, asking the other about their lives the whole evening. Even though Isaac is the only one to really dance, Stiles has fun seeing his friends again. Sadly enough the night was over and Stiles is already sitting in his car, driving back home. At least he could see his little son before the night ends.
Stiles drives into the parking lot of their house, not driving into the garage because he would have to drive out to bring Scott to school tomorrow anyway. He steps into the house, pulls his jacket off and heads to Scott’s room before he does anything else.
The lights were off in Scott’s room when he was outside the house and are off now too. Which means that Scott is definitely asleep and doesn’t try to fool his dad. Stiles actually only waits for the day Scott will do that, so he can teach him why no one is able to fool Stiles Stilinski. No one. But not now.
He’s looking around Scott’s room for a moment and stops when his eyes meet a little stature on the table. It’s the little Lego fire truck Scott built for Derek. Stiles totally forgot about it. Sure, it’s only a Lego fire truck but Scott wanted him to tell Derek about it. He looks over to Scott who’s sleeping peacefully on his bed.
“Sorry, kiddo…”
“Why sorry?”
“Scott, why are you still awake?!” Stiles actually flinches as he hears Scott’s voice and sees him jump off the bed. “It’s,” he stops, turning on the light and points at the clock, “11pm and tomorrow’s school!”
“I woke up when your car pulled up,” Scott says and immediately starts running to Stiles. “What did Derek say? Was he impressed? You know, because of the truck?”
Scott is exactly as hyperactive as he was as a kid.
Stiles actually wants to sound sorry, but can’t because of the fact that it’s 11pm and Scott isn’t asleep yet. And he knows for sure he didn’t wake up because of the car. He even sees the Gameboy on Scott’s bed blinking! He’s so going to ban TV for a week. “I’ve forgot to tell him. I’m going to do that tomorrow when you are going to turn off your Gameboy and go to sleep, okay?”
“I’m coming too.”
“What do you mean ‘you’re coming too’? I meant I’m going to call him.”
“Why don't you visit Derek?”
“Because he’ll be at work and won’t come back until late at night, that’s why. And—You’re not coming.”
“But tomorrow’s the last day of school anyway,” Scott whines and pouts up to Stiles, jumping up and down. “Pleeease!”
“… TV will be banned for two weeks.”
“Deal!”
Wait. Did that actually work? Scott prefers something to watching TV? Stiles can’t deny that a proud feeling is going through his head right now. He made it that Scott finally stops watching TV for the whole Christmas holidays. “Good. We’re going to visit him tomorrow evening. Now go to sleep,” Stiles says.
Scott nods and climbs into his bed again. Stiles turns off the lights and shuts the door behind him, sighing as he leans back against it.
Looks like they’re going to visit Derek tomorrow.