cape_kore | 002: Ring ring, phone call for Mrs. Harvelle

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002: Ring ring, phone call for Mrs. Harvelle

Open because Stiles can't work the comm properly yet.

Uh... hey, is that Ellen?

[Behold Stiles' most charming smile. Which is actually pretty darned charming, considering how much practice it's gotten with getting him out of sticky situations.]

So, I was talking to a guy who said that talking to you would be a good place to start if I was looking into learning how not to get my ass kicked. Because not gonna lie, that would be useful information for me to have, considering my history.

I'm Stiles, by the way.

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Nope. I'm now Cape-tech savvy.

[He gives another little rolling shrug and stands.]

Unless there was anything else you could think of?

No.

[ And yet he looks as if there's something he wants to say but isn't. ]

[He lingers, despite himself and despite the grand lack of anything to say. It's weird for him, they've grown so much back home, in the five or six months since Boyd and Erica first went missing and the Alpha Pack came and screwed everything up, but this Derek is still... uncertain? He doesn't know what to call it.]

[ He stays where he is, sitting on the edge of the bed, shoulders slumped, but still very much aware of Stiles in the room.

When he realises he's hanging back, he sighs, opens and closes his mouth, and then settles with a quiet: ]

I could teach you.

...You just did. Didn't you?

[But he figures that Derek's not talking about the device, and something in him shifts. The restlessness, the pull between 'stay' and 'go' settles down. Leaving him still there.]

[ He hums, in agreement, but it's thoughtful, as if he's questioning whether or not correcting him would be the best thing or to let it go; he would never have offered at home, somehow Stiles usually the one to help him out against the odds, but he doesn't have the research advantages here, and no one can predict what's coming next. ]

I meant with training.

[He stops, his head coming up a little. He hadn't considered...]

...Really?

Is it that surprising that I'd offer?

Well, yeah, Honestly. I mean, I'm not one of your wolflet brigade.

You're an ally.

[ He doesn't realises it until the words are out, but it's true. ]

We usually know when something's coming, even if we don't know everything. But here, we don't. It makes sense for you to be prepared.

Yeah, I-

[That sentence takes on whole new meaning since the incident at Heather's party, and he can't help the flicker of a sharp little grin before he smothers the amusement.]

That was the idea. I don't... I can't pick and choose if something's gonna come after me. Hell, I got taken down by Allison's Grandpa. I don't just wanna stand around being a liability, I wanna help.

[I don't wanna just find the bodies.]

[ He frowns at the mention of Gerard, at the reminder that when Stiles drove into the kanima that night, he exited the Jeep smelling like hurt and pain. He didn't ask, because it wasn't his place, probably still isn't, but he couldn't help notice that Scott didn't seem to either. ]

You're not a liability. You find the things that the rest of us overlook. [ There's a twist to his lips that's not quite a smile or a grimace, but somewhere between; it's not unlike Stiles himself, overlooked, taken for granted, but he always pulls through in the end, even when he doesn't have to. ] You might not be much of a match against a werewolf, but you help.

[He manages a lopsided little smile. Not quite genuine, but a valiant attempt.]

That's... thanks. But let's be real, I don't actually stand a chance in a hand-to-hand fight against an Alpha. Isaac could slap me round the room without breaking a sweat.

True.

[ He pushes himself up onto his feet, taking one step closer after the other, the way he used to aim for intimidating where it doesn't seem to work any longer. ]

But you're...smart. It's not all about strength.

And if I can get the next big bad to sit down and play chess with me for the fate of the Pack, hey. Everybody wins. But funnily enough, most of the bad guys tend to go for the 'let's rip spleens out' approach instead, and I'd really like to keep my spleen where it is.

[He realises that Derek was being nice, and takes a deep breath.]

I just wanna know that, if I have to, I can protect myself. And the people I care about.

[ He nods, quiet, because he doesn't want to let it slip that having the power to fight doesn't always mean everyone will be protected, that he won't get hurt, because Derek himself is a prime example of how life doesn't work that way. But Stiles isn't him, he's made of something he could only dream of possessing. ]

I'll help. There's a lot of time to kill, we might as well put it to good use.

You don't- have to.

[But he never wants Derek to make the mistake of thinking he's not grateful.]

But if you want to, you know, then thanks.

[ He shrugs, perhaps a little too quick to brush it off, because he's considered it, what things could be like if Scott were to accept his offer into the pack, Stiles following him as a package deal. He wouldn't hesitate, then, to see to it that he knows what he's doing in combat, and drill it into him that it's only ever to be as a last resort, not to run into danger unless he's forced to. ]

You don't have to. But think about it.

Nooo, no, no thinking required. I totally wanna learn, as long as you wanna teach me. I don't wanna inadvertently piss you off and you break my arm or something.

[Yeah he heard about Isaac's arm.]

[ He raises his brow at that, but at the same time, it's not a stretch; he broke far too many bones when it came to Erica and Isaac in order to get his points across in a way he never really had to that much with Boyd. But Stiles is human, and he never forgets that; he had family members that were human, it's something his mother made sure he would never let slip, even in the heat of a moment. ]

You're human. My betas weren't. I could kill you without trying, do you really think I would offer to teach you to fight if I thought I couldn't control that?

That was a joke, Derek.

[He smiles, a slow curve of the mouth that is wholly genuine for once.]

I know you wouldn't hurt me. Much.

[ He finds his gaze lower and lingering as he watches his mouth twist with an unconscious fascinating, but as soon as he realises he's doing it, he looks back up, suddenly closer than he realised. ]

Do you?

Yeah.

[He nods, sincere.]

I do. I trust you.

[He knows what that means, knows, and that's why he doesn't ask for anything back, because Derek doesn't.]

[ You shouldn't, he thinks, a smile that looks more bitter than anything and doesn't come close to touching his eyes twisting his features. But instead he nods, like it's that simple, like it doesn't mean anything, even though it does.

I trust you, he thinks, the smile long gone and replaced with an unsettling frown, because he's not sure when it happened, but it did; he's not good with trust, thought he might even have forgotten how, and yet he was dying and there Stiles was, he was drowning and Stiles held him above water. It's begrudging, in the respect that he doesn't want to trust anyone, doesn't want to need anyone, but creating his own betas changed that as much as everything else, breaking the dam he could never put a stop to. ]

Okay.

[He knows that Derek means it, at least, he thinks he sees it in his eyes, hears it in the way he speaks, and it's enough. He smiles, nods a little jerkily.]

I'm still gonna... go talk to Ellen. Because, I kinda get the impression she has more than just badass kung-fu skills. Or, the people she knows do. I don't know, that was the impression I was getting from Raphael. But I want you to teach me.

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