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Derek felt like a failure of a dragon. His hoard was pathetic. It wasn’t that he couldn’t hoard more valuable items that what he has; it’s that he doesn’t want to. He always feels compelled to collect his strange little baubles and scraps of paper and he doesn’t know why. He wants to ask his mom, one of the most powerful dragons in the country, what’s wrong with him but he’s too embarrassed. He knows his treasure wouldn’t compare to even the most inexperienced dragon. Even though a dragon’s hoard was a deeply personal thing, there wasn’t much privacy with a family as large as his and over the years he had some idea of what his siblings treasure chests were filled with. You might not know it just by looking at her and certainly not by her personality but Cora was obsessed with color. When they were younger she hoarded crayons and Crayola markers, which annoyed Derek to no end when he wanted to color or he had to make a poster for school but now she moved on to bottles of bright nail polish and eye shadow, colored crystals and beaded necklaces and bracelets. Laura was more of a traditionalist when it came to her hoard. As a child she’d pick up dropped pennies and spare change and she always had a fair amount of plastic tiaras that she got at party favors at birthday parties. Now that she’s a young adult with her own job she collects silver and gold coins, vintage diamond jewelry, she probably has a real tiara or two. But he wouldn’t know for sure because a dragon’s treasure is a very private thing. Which is why when Derek’s basketball practice ends early for once he is shocked to find his two sisters sitting on his bed looking through his treasure chest and laughing.
“What are you doing!” he screeches as he storms in his room and attempts to gather up his hoard and put it back in his chest.
Cora stops laughing and looks contrite but Laura just grins wickedly; “We were going to snoop and look at your hoard but all we found was a bunch of trash.” She picks up a pile of papers from the bed “Really, Derek, a bunch of receipts and movie ticket stubs? This is a lame hoard, little bro.”
“Laura…” Cora gasps.
Derek lunges at her and grabs the papers from her hands. A paper rips in half during the struggle. It appears to be a doodle of Derek, if the eyebrows are anything to go by. Tears are threatening to drop in Derek’s eyes and he holds a piece of the paper in each hand.
“I didn’t mean to do that.” Laura attempts to placate him, her hands raised in surrender.
Talia, apparently listening to that sixth sense most mothers get, went to check on her children. “What is going on in here!?” She only had to quickly glance around the room to get a good idea of the situation. “Laura! Cora! Go to your rooms! I cannot believe you girls would behave so disrespectfully to Derek and his hoard!”
Talia lead the girls out of Derek’s room and closed the door. Derek was thankful that his mother’s intuition was so strong because she knew without asking that he really needed to be alone now. He spent the next couple of hours carefully repairing the crude doodle with tape and putting his treasure back in his chest in the correct order.
A button with a picture of a frizzy-haired Erica from when she ran for class treasurer in the eighth grade, a worn skateboard wheel from one of Scott’s old boards, a ticket stub to a movie he went to see with Boyd and Isaac, a clarinet reed Paige gave him before she moved away, one of Allison’s arrows he stole from her when she was practicing, the throwing star Kira gave him last Christmas when she was his secret Santa, a fashion magazine Lydia gave him hoping it would help him improve his wardrobe, a receipt from IHOP when they all went out to celebrate Jackson’s birthday, and the doodle. It was a couple years ago and Derek stupidly insulted the Mets within earshot of Stiles and he refused to talk to Derek for a week. It was one of the worst times in Derek’s life and he wasn’t sure it was ever going to end. But after he sat down in math class a week after the incident, he was hit in the head with a paper airplane. Once he unfolded it Derek immediately recognized Stiles’s handwriting. He had drawn a vaguely human shaped blob with a scowly face and harsh eyebrows with a speech bubble saying “METS RULE!” Derek recognized this as Stiles’s way of accepting Derek’s apology and agreeing to be friends again without actually having to say anything, because feelings were awkward and Derek could understand Stiles’s desire to avoid emotions whenever possible. After that event, Derek vowed to never piss Stiles off again and that crappy doodle became one of his most important pieces in his hoard.
But that wasn’t the only thing of Stiles’s in his treasure chest. He also had an empty pack of his mint mojito gum, a Reese’s peanut butter cup wrapper, a keychain Stiles gave him from when he and his dad went to the Grand Canyon, some chemistry notes he left at Derek’s house, and a strip of pictures they two of them took in a photo booth.
His mom knocks on the door just as he’s getting the last of his hoard in order. “I just wanted to see how you were doing” she says from the doorway. Derek shrugs. “I grounded Laura and Cora for a week and we had a long talk about respecting boundaries. They said they were sorry but I told them to apologize to you tomorrow; I figured you’d want some space.”
Derek shook his head. “I’m not mad at them, mom. I’m just embarrassed that now everyone knows how stupid my hoard is. And that I’m…” Derek’s voice was breaking and tears were welling up in his eyes. Talia sat beside him on the bed and began to rub his back. “I’m a failure of a dragon.”
Talia pulled her son into a hug. “Oh no honey, no you’re not. I know you’re not a failure but let me see in your chest so I know what you’re talking about.”
Derek opened the lid and Talia reverently picked up some items; the drawing, the arrow, the skateboard wheel, and put them back. “Honey, this is all very normal. It looks like a great hoard! Your sisters just don’t understand because you all value different thing. Laura looks for things of great monetary value. Cora collects things that are aesthetically beautiful. You value things that are tied to your friends and your emotions. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about that.”
Derek wipes his eyes and looked at his mom. “I guess I never thought about it that way.” He started to smile. “Thanks mom.”
Talia smiled back at her son, “Since your sisters are grounded this weekend, why don’t you invite Stiles over to hang out.”
“That’s a good idea.” “Maybe you could show him your hoard?” “MOM! That’s too personal… he’ll think I’m weird.” Talia sighed, “I just said you were perfectly normal, Derek. Besides, I think you and Stiles are close enough for that. He’d probably really like to know how much of his stuff is in there.” Derek felt his face flush, “Oh my God, Mom! We’re just friends!” “Well you don’t have to be…” Talia said on her way out the door leaving Derek to sit and stutter all alone. But, of course, he texted Stiles and invited him over after his blush went down and he stopped being so flustered.
*.*.*.*.*.*
“Derek! I can’t believe you’re hoarding this!” Stiles was holding his old doodle and Derek winced. “I mean, I can draw so much better now!” Stiles turned to face Derek. “Seriously, I have watercolors at home; I could have brought them with me.” He looked at Derek and motioned to his bed, “Lay down.”
“What? Why?” To say Derek was confused was an understatement.
“Well lying down would make for a more interesting drawing than just standing there, dontcha think?” Stiles said as he rummaged through his backpack looking for his sketchbook. "You deserve a better drawing than that for your treasure!"
When Stiles stood back up, Derek was right next to him. He grabbed Stiles’s shoulders and before he could even ask what the hell he was doing, Derek kissed him. Just a quick and chaste peck on the lips. Well, that’s what Derek intended but Stiles quickly caught on and grabbed Derek’s shoulders and deepened their kiss. When the two finally surfaced for air, they were both smiling. Stiles’s was big and bright and Derek’s was small and shy, but they were both honest and happy smiles. “Ya know, on second thought, drawing is boring. But kissing is fun, let’s do more of that!” Derek agreed.