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Peter had learned to be good at masking his feelings and true emotions. He had learned it very early on. Hiding what he thought or felt behind a facade of coolness and languidness. People would only ever get to see his true emotions if he let them. Or on the rare occasions that he lost his cool, dropped the facade.
Derek was one of the few people Peter allowed a glance at his feelings, every now and then.
Not when it came to Paige though. He despised the girl with a passion and the whole reason was that she stole Derek from him. Derek. His nephew. His best friend. His first kiss. His first love. His Derek.
“Do you love her?”, he asked as he wrapped an arm around Derek's middle, the two of them curled up in Peter's bed.
Derek thought about it for a moment. A moment that made Peter hope for a stupid moment. “Maybe,” he decided eventually, making Peter's heart drop. “I don't really know. But I also don't know how to figure it out.”
Peter just hummed in response. He didn't know either and even if he did, he probably wouldn't tell Derek. For his own selfish reasons. “What do you like about her?”
“Everything.” That was an easy answer.
Peter snorted. “Everything. Yeah, right.”
“No, really. I mean it.”
Now Peter couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes.
Derek sighed. “She is awesome. She's intelligent, she's sweet. She has the most adorable smile and she comes to all of my games, even though she doesn't even like basketball. She really cares about me and the things I enjoy without making fun of me for them. And she's pretty. I mean, have you seen her? The brightest eyes I've ever seen.”
“Brighter than this?!”, Peter asked, flashing his golden eyes at Derek. “Because I don't think so.”
“That doesn't count. She's human.”
“Exactly!”
Derek frowned. “What are you trying to say?”
“She's human, Derek. How would that ever work out?”
“Why wouldn't it?”
“Just think about it. Do you honestly think she could ever truly understand us? She can't and she won't. You have to be prepared for the possibility that you might lose her once she finds out,” Peter explained but reached out to brush his fingers through Derek's hair. “I just don't want you to get your heart broken, pup.”
Derek frowned but didn't say anything.
“Just think about it. Wouldn't everything be much better, much easier if you were with someone who understood? Someone who's just like you? Like us?” Peter's features softened, displaying concern that he wasn't actually feeling.
“But I really like her. I don't care that she's human.”
And Peter was able to hear the worry behind Derek's words. That was all he needed to know that there was the tiniest bit of concern or doubt.
“I'm not telling you what to do. I just know from experience, these kinds of things never end well,” he told his nephew. “Trust me, pup.”
“I trust you. I really do.” Derek sighed. For a while he was quiet then looked back up at Peter. “I could make sure she gets the bite. Then she'd be just like us and it wouldn't be an issue anymore, right?”
Peter clenched his jaw. This was definitely not what he had been going for. But maybe, just maybe this opened some other possibilities for him. “Is that something you want?”, he asked as calmly as possible.
Derek nodded slowly. He was still not fully convinced, so now it was up to Peter to be smart about it. If he wanted Derek all to himself again, he had to make sure Paige wasn't in the way anymore.
“I think I know someone who can help,” Peter said. “If you just leave this whole thing to me I will take care of it.”
Derek looked up at him with those big, innocent eyes. “Promise me?”
And Peter just nodded, a plan already forming in his head. “I promise, pup.”