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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Two reasons.

[He holds up two fingers.]

One: You're not dating her. Two: If she did attack me, you could kick her ass.

I'm safer here than anywhere else in the Cape, Brigid or no Brigid. And besides, right now, I could take her in a fight.

[ He doesn't know why, but he watches as the fingers are put up, and then realises what he's said. ]

What does not dating her have to do with you trusting my opinion?

[ He snorts at that, but Brigid is weakened, so it could happen - stranger things have. ]

Nothing at all, no sir.

[His grin is all sauce.]

[ His mouth stretches out into a thin line, like he knows he's hiding something he didn't mean to quite let slip, but he doesn't see any point trying to find out. ]

Fine. Whatever. But your logic's unfathomable.

No, it's not.

[His smile softens around the edges as he turns to look at him.]

I trust you, Derek. God, the amount of times you've saved my life... I know I'm safer here than anywhere.

[ He bites his tongue rather than pointing out that Stiles has saved his more than he has his. ]

You're right, you are. Unless we're counting the angels.

You could take an angel.

[He chuckles.]

Or did you mean I'd be safer with them?

They're stronger, faster, and I know from experience they can fly.

[ Head drooping to his side so he can look at him. ]

But I don't trust them enough to think you'd actually be safer there.

Derek Hale: Doesn't trust the literal heavenly choir.

[He laughs outright at that.]

Is there anyone you actually do trust?

I have no reason to.

[ He shrugs, eyes straying away again. ]

Everyone I've grown to trust has always betrayed me in the end.

[ He wants to admit that he trusts him, but then he'll always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. ]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[And it doesn't even hurt. Not much, at least.]

If it makes you feel better, I don't trust myself either.

[ It's true, sometimes, he avoids things he believes might tempt him down a path that ends badly, but he feels a little lighter for admitting it aloud. ]

No, it doesn't.

[He smiles, just a little.]

But it makes me feel better that you care about making me feel better.

...Derek, you make some dumb choices, but for the most part, you've got our backs. I mean seriously. And I know Scott thinks you made a bad decision when it came to biting teenagers, but... I think he's wrong. I think it was a right choice.

[ He huffs, dramatic and sulky, and so much like a moody teenager. ]

I don't care.

[ But he can detect the lie from his own heartbeat, and when he talks about the betas, he looks at him again, thoughtfully and searchingly. ]

I gave them a life they would never have had otherwise. [ He honestly believes that, at this point, that the bite for them truly was a gift, even if it still wasn't enough to keep them in Erica and Boyd's case. But they were all badly off when he found them, and they had so much more potential with their new abilities and confidence to go with them. ] I have them the choice and they took it. Scott doesn't understand that because he didn't get the same option. But he will, in time.

No, he probably won't. He's kind of a stubborn butt when he gets going.

But, you know, that's not the point. It's your Pack, and if they chose it... Scott doesn't get to point fingers and tell you you're wrong. I mean, no, being a werewolf isn't a quick fix to make your life not suck, but you gave them a better life.

That's kind of important, you know.

[ He takes note of the tenses, but doesn't force himself to think too long on it, because he knows he won't find out any answers by asking, and contemplating every single thing isn't getting him anywhere. ]

Yeah. [ He looks at Stiles for a long moment, hating that he sees what Peter did when he asked, but he can't help adding. ] But it's not something you would choose.

[He stops. Breathes.]

...I would, but for the wrong reasons. And I'd know it's for the wrong reasons. So I wouldn't. I guess.

[ He thinks he knows what he means by wrong reasons, but he doesn't ask directly. ]

What would the right reasons be?

[There are a lot of reasons, but Stiles doesn't know if he can sift through and decide which ones are good and which ones are bad.]

I guess... wanting to protect people? Like, wanting to stop the darach, or the Alphas. Everything else is just...

It's about power. I mean, we're teenagers. High school sucks. We all wanna be stronger, faster... and we all wanna be part of something. You know? Part of the cool crowd. Part of something bigger.

[ The look that takes over his face shows that he does know; he used to be popular, be captain of the basketball team with friends, but he could never quite live up to it, the secret always hanging over him, and then Paige. Kate offered to open up doors for him again and he fell for it, but he's paid the price ever since, and now he's surrounded by bodies of the people he cares about. ]

You are part of something bigger. People might not know it, but you help to save lives and risk your own to do it. You make a difference.

[His smile is small, but real. Sincere. It isn't what he means, but it means more than he can say.]

Thanks. And... I guess that's why I never asked. I'm in this, have been since ground zero, and I don't need the werewolf upgrade to prove it.

[ He's tempted to roll his eyes and give some comment about not throwing himself into danger as often, but when he does, he's usually saving his ass to begin with, stumbling into it by accident. So he doesn't. ]

No, I guess not. And you'd be a nightmare to train.

Hey. Who taught Scott to control his heartbeat?

[It's there in his grin, that he doesn't take the jibe seriously.]

That was all me, buddy. Me and my trusty lacrosse stick. I could totally figure it out. In like an afternoon.

And how much damage did you cause with your trial and error?

[ His eyebrows are judging, because he knows about the keying of the car and getting Scott beaten up, and the ridiculous attempt at handcuffing a werewolf of all people to a radiator. ]

If the two of you had come to me in the first place, I could have saved you a lot of trouble.

[ But no one got hurt, so he keeps it light, teasing, the way they've grown used to since landing themselves here; it lacks the heat they used to have in Beacon Hills, but he tries not to think about that too much. ]

Eh, not much.

[His mouth quirks, and he can't even pretend at repentance.]

Yeah, you would've got him to dump Allison in a week.

[Which, in hindsight, given the obscene amount of werewolf-abuse she chose to hand out... is a decision he is not condemning out of hand.]

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002: Ring ring, phone call for Mrs. Harvelle

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