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Derek is woken up by his phone ringing. Rather rudely, he might add.
He grabs the phone quickly and nearly falls out of bed in his haste to reach it on time. If it was...if he was calling, the last thing Derek would want to do is miss the call because he was too damn slow.
Beside him, Braeden shifts a little and raises her head.
"Stiles?" she asks softly. Derek doesn't make a habit of talking about the younger human, but it's kind of obvious to her how much Derek misses him.
"No," Derek says shortly, but the dismay in his eyes doesn't go unnoticed. "It's..it's Scott?"
"Shit," Braeden says, and Derek immediately punches answer. "Is everything fine? Is Stiles fine?" he asks. Beside him, Braeden rolls her eyes. Obvious much?
Derek shoots her a scathing look, and clears his throat. "I mean. Is Beacon Hills still standing?"
"Stiles is fine," Scott says, sounding confused. "Well, I think he's fine. Since when did you care about him?"
Derek artfully ignores the question. "Why did you call me?"
"I'm actually surprised you picked up," Scott says. "I thought you were pulling one of your run-away acts again. Now that you can go full-wolf, it must be lot easier to brood."
"Scott."
"Fine," Scott says huffily. There's a long silence at the end of the line.
"Scott?" Derek prompts, and Scott lets out a long sigh.
"How did you do it?" he finally asks, and Derek gives a confused "what."
"Take care of us? The pack? Be all 'grrrrr I'm the Alpha obey me or suffer'? How did you do all that?" Scott wails, starting to sound hysterical.
"I wasn't all 'grrrrr'," Derek mutters crossly.
"Yes you were!" Scott yells. "And they listened to you! Erica listened to you, hell, even Boyd respected you in his own sort of begrudging way. What the fuck did you even do?"
"Got them killed," Derek says flatly, and he can almost hear Scott wince and bite his tongue.
"I didn't mean it like that," he says. "I mean, how do you deal with all this? With...with me? Fuck, with Stiles? How do you not want to claw our faces out?"
"Maybe I just haven't done it yet," Derek counters, and Scott gives a frustrated growl.
But really, Derek would rather chew his own arm off than claw Stiles' beautiful, beautiful face ou-
-whoops. Nearly lost his train of thought, there.
"We were so horrible," Scott groans. "I apologize for every time I've disobeyed you, and that time we got you tossed into jail. Fuck, this is karma, isn't it? Am I going to jail next? Ohmygod, am I going to grow a beard?"
Beside him, Braeden sniggers and Derek glares at her, stroking his beard lovingly. It's fucking awesome, okay.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Derek asks wearily. "What's that about karma?"
There's another long pause at the end of the line, before Scott explodes.
"Liam!" he yells frantically. "And Hayden! Liam and Hayden!"
"Who's Hayden?" Derek asks curiously, but Scott's on a roll.
"He doesn't listen to me!" Scott shouts. "He thinks I'm doing all this because I choose to, like I owe him something! Excuse me for trying to save your ass! Seriously, he doesn't get how ridiculous he's being over Hayden! She's only a girl, for crying out loud!"
"So is Kira," Derek counters. "And Allison," he adds, softer, and Scott falls silent. Derek doesn't know who this 'Hayden' is, but he's got a pretty good idea.
"Me and Allison weren't that bad," Scott says feebly.
"Scott. She was a hunter."
"A good one!" Scott argues. "They have a code!"
"That's not the point," Derek says. "The point is, you still defied me to be with her. Repeatedly, I might add," Derek says forcefully, and Scott groans loudly. "But Hayden and Liam are worse," he grouses. "She doesn't even like him! They're both so young!"
"So were you and Allison," Derek says, trying his best not to face palm. Really, werewolves these days.
"At least I didn't fall into a hole," Scott hisses. "Or run around naked on a full moon."
"Because Stiles was there to help," Derek says. "What about Mason?"
"Mason's cool," Scott says. "But ...but Stiles! Oh my god!"
"What? WHAT?" Derek half-yells, and beside him, Braeden looks up interestedly. He flaps a hand in her face crossly.
"He's so fucking paranoid!" Scott yells. "He's all glare-y and suspicious of Theo, it's so dumb! He's been brooding almost as much as you! I mean, Theo is an ally, man, there's no way he's evil. And it's ironic, y'know? Because if he ended up trusting you of all people, why not Theo?"
Well, rude. The only person Stiles should be glare-y and suspicious towards was Derek. Really, he thought he was special.
Wait. Was that an insult?
"No offence," Scott adds awkwardly. He doesn't sound very apologetic.
"None taken," Derek says dryly. "And he called me broody. Hah. Who's the sourwolf now?"
"Stiles isn't a wolf," Scott says, as though Derek is a very stupid child. "He's just being stubborn and kind of weird, honestly. He's even been neglecting Malia. Like, what even?"
Derek fights the urge to do a fist-pump, maybe jump out of bed and dance a little. He doesn't, though. No reason to give Braeden more laughing fodder.
"I want my best friend back," Scott moans. "I want my respect back. I want my life back! I spend all my time dealing with Liam and Hayden! I'm too young to be a parent!" Scott says hysterically. "No one told me being an Alpha was such a huge responsibility!"
Derek feels like blowing a raspberry down the phone. Thank god his parenting days are over. He tells Scott just that.
"Aren't the grandparents supposed to help out too?" Scott wails. "Derek, where the fuck are you?"
"Away from the kids," Derek says unhelpfully, like the asshole that he is, and Scott gives an annoyed huff.
"You need to come back, man," he whines. "I can't deal with this myself, and their grandmother isn't being very helpful either."
"Grandmother?" Derek asks carefully.
"Stiles," Scott clarifies.
"And I'm the grandfather," Derek confirms slowly, and he can almost hear Scott rolling his eyes. "Well, duh," he says.
Oh. Well. Alright then. He could work with that.
"Now you know how hard it was for us--me," Derek corrects himself quickly. If Scott notices his little slip up, he doesn't mention it.
"Come back, Derek," Scott moans. "Please. My hair is turning white. I can't deal with this. I need you to growl at my pack and scare the shit out of them before they blow up the whole town."
"I'm busy," Derek says. "We haven't found the Desert Wolf."
"They're your grandchildren!" Scott yells. "Shame on you!"
There is a pause.
"They're not technically my pack," Derek says carefully, and Scott growls loudly.
"I..I...Stiles!" he says. "Stiles!!! You can't deny he's not pack, you two were practically married!"
Dammit.
"I'll think about it," he says, and Scott whines loudly.
"Any more of this and I'll be forced to tie them all to a tree," Scott groans. "I've only done that to Liam so far."
Hmm. Derek would like to tie Stiles to a tree.
"I'll think about it," he repeats, and Scott gives a dejected whimper.
"Please," he whispers, and hangs up.
Braeden is already swinging her legs off the bed. "Beacon Hills?" she asks. Derek nods resignedly.
"Beacon Hills."