What Are We Supposed To Be?

CH 17

Notes: apologies I know it's been forever but I hope you didn't mind too much!

Stiles parked his jeep in front of the old Hale house and sat in the idle vehicle for a moment. Looking at the trees surrounding the large residence, he wondered why the vegetation seemed to get thicker and wilder in this part of the town.

As he was pondering all this and wondering if he could get any studying done in the quietest place he had ever been in, the front door swung opened and a scruffy guy stepped out onto the front porch. Stiles did a double take before realizing that it was his once well put together boyfriend; now unrecognizable with his mouth full of some form of junk food and a serious case of bed head in place of his usually well coiffed hair. He waved and bounded down the stairs in loose fitting sweat pants and a ratty Star Wars t-shirt, and as he approached, Stiles was able to make out a large hot dog in one hand.

"Forget to put on underwear today did we?" He observed as Derek bounded down the stairs.

"Babe it's the weekend and I'm in sweats. No underwear required." Derek reasoned going in for another hot dog flavored kiss.

"You better be hungry" Derek nodded towards the house taking another bite of the hot dog, releasing a huge dollop of mustard and ketchup which splattered onto his shirt in a gooey reddish-yellow mixture. "I got a bunch more dogs grilling. Here." He pushed the hot dog near Stiles' mouth. "Taste my meat" he insisted with a lopsided grin.

"Really?" Stiles deadpanned making Derek laugh goofily. "What? You never complained before." He responded wiggling his eyebrows.

"Ha Ha." Stiles observed trying not to crack a smile. "So what have you been up?"

"Living life babe. Living life…" Derek grinned, cajoling Stiles' backpack out of his hands and walking towards the house following the smell of food leading them to the kitchen, which had once been meticulously clean. Now it was full of dirty dishes and utensils, while several empty pizza boxes lay stacked up against a towering pile of take-out containers.

Derek had the propriety to look chagrined at the state of the place. "Haven't had much time to clean up recently. But, I wrapped up Call of Duty one to three" he reasoned, turning his fingers into a rifle and firing off a few imaginary shots.

"Nice" Stiles replied not knowing who he was talking to.

"Anyway, keep your cute behind there so I can get you something to eat" his boyfriend grinned, stealing a kiss before heading out and returning with a massive platter full of bratwursts, chicken legs, and steak.

"You mind whipping up a salad?" He gestured towards the fridge as he placed the platter on the table. "There's a bunch of stuff in there."

Stiles set about making a salad while Derek began to clean up the kitchen, tossing out the trash, and running the dishwasher that was definitely crammed to capacity. Stiles took the time to talk.

"Der?"

"Yeah?"

"Summer's almost here. Are you going to retake some classes to stay on track?"

"Nah."

"Are you thinking of transferring?" Stiles inquired, looking up from the massive salad bowl he was filling with lettuce and tomatoes.

His boyfriend shrugged as he began stacking plates. "Haven't thought about it. It's a while away anyway."

"So. What do you plan on doing?" Stiles insisted, the concern now resonating in his voice.

"We are going to have an awesome summer" Derek concluded placing the plates on the kitchen table and nodding appreciatively as Stiles dropped some peppers and onions into the mixed greens.

"But aren't..." Stiles was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and voices outside.

"Yo! Baby bro! You here?!" Dean's voice boomed through the house. "Isn't that Stiles' jeep out front? Hope you guys finished doing the nasty. We're starving!" He finished.

"Wow your house is huge!" A female voice came through, followed by the sound of more people entering the front door.

"Dude, where do you want these kegs?" Another voice bellowed. "They're heavy as fuck" followed by the sound of bags hitting the floor.

"Over in the corner" Dean replied. "Baby bro?" His voice called out again.

"In here!" Derek yelled back and a moment later Dean entered along with a pretty brunette and a built guy wearing a Lakers' jersey.

"Hey baby bro. Stiles." He smiled with a polite nod. "This is Jen and Steve."

"Hey." Stiles smiled back as they both did the same.

"Oh wow, you guys got grub!" Steve enthused staring at the mountain of food on the kitchen table.

"We're starving!" Jen added with a nod.

"Help yourself" Derek grinned toothily handing both of them a plate, making Stiles raised an eyebrow furtively. He caught someone's eyes on him and he found Dean staring at him with a pointed expression on his face.

"Thanks" the duo echoed, taking the paper plates and digging in.

Derek tugged at Stiles' shirt "hey you think you could help me clean up the grill before we eat? It'll be a mess if we leave it to cool."

"Sure" Stiles nodded before heading out with him.

XXXXX

The air outside was warm but a cool breeze came in through the surrounding trees making him close his eyes for a moment. "It's nice out here." He mumbled to himself as he felt two arms encircling him and his boyfriend's stubble rubbing against his cheek.

"I thought you were going to help me clean, not fall asleep on the patio" Derek husked against the shell of his ear.

"Ok." Stiles sighed, trying to forget all the studying he still had yet to do before the weekend was over.

"I'm glad you're here." Derek insisted pressing himself against stiles' back

"Der" Stiles blushed, feeling something growing behind him. "There are people inside."

"I know" his boyfriend replied, unrelenting, moving his hips against stiles. "You ever wanted to try it outdoors?"

"Der. What are you going to do about school?" Stiles managed and his boyfriend grunted in annoyance. He released him and went to the grill and began wiping down the metal grate with a paper towel while Stiles watched him, waiting for an answer, feeling a tad guilty that the topic had been such a boner kill.

" I haven't thought about it" Derek shrugged tossing the paper towel aside and wiping down the hood of the barbeque clean.

"Boyd and the other guys have been asking me what you've been up to." Stiles continued.

"I told them already. I'm just taking things as they come. Why is it such a big deal to everyone?" Derek's voice rang out defensively.

Derek stopped what he was doing and turned to him. "I'm still trying to figure it out. Everything is up in the air right now; I need to see what it looks like when the dust settles."

"I know." Stiles responded gently, rubbing his back.

The door opened and Dean stepped out. "Hey, don't mean to break up any romantic moments here but the crew wants to head out to Tahoe this weekend, you guys down?"

"I'm so down" Derek replied, with a grin.

He looked at Stiles for confirmation and Dean bit back a smirk, making Stiles feel horrible. He was not that guy. He didn't play that role in any relationship.

"You guys'll have a blast" he grinned, not even blinking an eye.

"Yeah?" Derek asked, obviously looking for confirmation. "You're going to come too right?"

Stiles shook his head. "I got to study for finals. Next time."

Derek looked awkward, like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place so Stiles shot Dean a look and he took it from there. "Alright little bro, be up and ready to go by 11 tomorrow morning."

"Will do." Derek nodded, looking excited.

"Yeah we're going to go grab dinner later tonight and then hit the hay early." Dean disappeared back into the house with a grin.

Derek turned to Stiles with an almost apologetic look on his face. "You sure you cant come? Just for a day?"

"I would love to but it's my forensics final. It's worth more than half of the final grade. Beside, you don't need me to tell you whether you can or can't go somewhere. He added quietly.

"Now aren't we going to eat? I'm starving." He grinned, tossing a wad of dirty tissues at Derek.

XXXX

The time in the top corner of the laptop screen read 3:30AM as an incoming video chat message came on with a bright chime. Derek rolled over at the sound, waking slowly until he realized how important the call was. He got up and pulled on some boxer shorts and a t-shirt, pulling the covers around Stiles who sleeping soundly next to him.

He picked up his laptop and muted the sound, slowly shutting the door behind him and making his way through the house which was now littered with sleeping college students that had come with his brother. He couldn't find an empty area so he finally acquiesced to the garage where he sat in the back seat of his Camaro.

He unmuted the sound and accepted the video call. A moment later a rocky outcrop of hills and mountains appeared on the screen. He could hear the sound of pick axes hitting stone and voices talking and yelling in the distance in a foreign language, most likely South American dialect. A moment later a small black bird with orange feathers on its breast landed and stared at him inquisitively. It pecked at the screen while flitting back and forth intermittedly.

"Jingo!" He heard his uncle call out. "Jingo get away from the screen. No pecking!" A moment later he saw Uncle Peter appear on the screen.

"Hey Der." He smiled warmly.

"Hey Uncle Pete." He responded as a series of chirps met his ears and the small bird returned.

"Ignore him. He's a curious little fella that lives somewhere near our research site. He's adopted our team." He spoke fondly as the bird chirped at his uncle and flew off. "How are you doing?" His uncle asked, his voice full of question and concern.

"I'm good" Derek grinned widely, though his eyes gave him away.

"Der Bear. Talk to me" his uncle encouraged, his own eyes showing concern.

Derek sighed. "I have no clue what to do now. I feel so stupid."

"No you're not stupid" his uncle responded.

"All that time" Derek sighed, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. He felt so exhausted." It was a waste."

"Do you really feel that way?" His uncle spoke quietly.

Derek closed his eyes. He couldn't look his uncle in the face. "I don't know. He spoke after a moment. I don't have an answer anymore." He admitted, feeling a surge of fear rush through him.

"Derek. No one has all the answers. Most people just do their best. I think it's time for a new plan. So take your time and come up with something new. Something that makes you just as happy."

Derek nodded, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Now this is what you should do if you don't want to go back to baseball. Ok?"

"Ok." He replied quietly.

"You know what. I'm going to come back to make sure you're alright." His uncle spoke after a moment.

"No. I'm fine" Uncle Pete Derek protested quickly.

"No. No I've been gone way too long. I'm sorry. I thought since both of you were busy with school…but I want to see you again."

"Ok" Derek replied quietly ignoring how much he sounded like a little kid at that moment.

"Besides, one of the excavation sites caved in. we're going to be delayed for a while. So instead of you coming down to meet me, I'll be back home to see you and Dean. We'll figure this out." His uncle affirmed. "How's Styler?" His uncle asked cheerfully, trying to change the subject to a happier tone.

"He's good." Derek smiled, not having the heart to correct him.

"He's not there is he?" His uncle continued. "I mean it's fine if he sleeps over, just as long as you guys are in separate rooms. Or you take the couch." He finished sternly.

Derek frowned sheepishly. "Uh"

"Well at least you're honest" Uncle Pete sighed. "How about your brother? What's he up to?"

"Uh." Derek began again.

"Never mind. I don't want to know" his uncle shook his head. "You're the good one. He's the fire cracker."

A voice with a heavy accent called out from the distance "Mr. Hale. Another one!"

"Now what?" his uncle spoke loudly, making Jingo fly off into the bushes.

"Der? "

"Yeah."

"I got to go. I'll see you in a week alright?"

"Alright." Derek grinned.

"Bye." His uncle waved.

"Bye." Derek smiled and a moment later the video call disconnected.

XXXXX

Once inside his room, he laid his laptop on his desk and stripped off his shirt and boxers before crawling into bed where Stiles lay, snoring quietly. As he got comfortable, his feet got tangled in his boyfriends, making Stiles jerk.

"You're feet are cold" Stiles mumbled sleepily making him chuckle.

"Sorry." He whispered planting a kiss on his forehead. "Better?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around him, grinning when Stiles snuffled his response. Derek settled in, closing his eyes when stiles squinted at him, sleepy eyed.

"Why were your feet cold?"

"I went to the bathroom" Derek attempted.

"Derek" Stiles replied, "you're a terrible liar."

He sighed." I talked to my uncle."

Stiles thought it over, the wheels in his head turning. "Did you tell him I was sleeping over?"

"Well" Derek tried. "He kind of figured it out."

"Oh my God" Stiles muttered groggily, he hadn't even met his boyfriend's only father figure and the first impression of him was that he was sleeping in the same bed as him with no supervision.

"He was cool with it." Derek tried

"Sure he was" Stiles muttered rolling over and looking at the ceiling.

"He's coming home. "

Stiles looked over."That's a good thing right?"

"Yeah." Derek nodded.

They were silent for a moment.

"I'm nervous" Derek spoke quietly, his words accentuated by the silence.

"I know." Stiles drew himself close. "But you got people on your side, whatever you want to do. "

"What if I don't want to go back?" Derek's voice came through the darkness.

Stiles took a breath "I'll be behind you a hundred percent. We all will"

"Yeah?" Derek's voice sounded unsure.

"Of course" stiles confirmed gently nuzzling his boyfriend. The silence filled the room again and the gentle sound of the night entered the room. He thought about how much things had changed over the past few months and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

XXXXX

An alarm went off early in the morning and Stiles groaned when it kept ringing in his proximity. He hit the snooze button as he crawled over Derek's sleeping form and headed downstairs to get a glass of water. He grinned at the sleeping college students scattered around the first floor; they'd partied so hard that there would be no chance of them getting up until well into the afternoon.

He grabbed the last clean glass from the cupboard and was filling it up from the faucet when he heard the sound of a siren approaching accompanied by a familiar voice groaning like the dead behind him.

"Turn this off" Dean protested with a groan, holding out his phone to Stiles who unlocked it and shut off the alarm.

"Thanks" Dean muttered.

Stiles handed the glass of water over to his hung-over companion. "You know where the aspirin is?"

Dean pointed while he downed the glass and Stiles handed him two white tablets from the container, which he immediately swallowed with the remainder of the water, letting out a massive belch afterwards.

"Nice" stiles muttered.

"Why are you up?" Dean inquired, his eyes still squinting.

"Needed some water" he explained pointing to the glass.

Dean took a moment, scratching his head. "You two are adorable" he chuckled with a grin.

"What?" Stiles asked confusedly

"Look at you. All worried about baby bro. " He refilled his glass and took another swig. "How does it feel?" He continued quietly.

Stiles didn't know what to say but shrugged awkwardly. "Sounds like someone's just as" Dean flicked his phone which made the sound of a cracking whip, as he chuckled before walking out of the kitchen.

"Night Stiles." He grinned as he walked back to his room.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Notes: apologies I know it's been forever but its progressing, hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!