Hangover

Chapter One - Part 6

Stiles and Derek's game of True-or-False continued for another hour or two.
Apparently, Stiles had told him a whole bunch of stuff. Like "I'm AWESOME at Lacrosse" or "I am suuuupers smart... Like, Einstein-smart!". Even "u can't handle my... Penis". Most he'd said just to impress Derek. Meaning, they were not entirely true.

At first Stiles had been laughing. Then, when he realized who he was talking to, he'd been blushing. Like, a full on, red-as-roses blush. The Derek ha started laughing at him, and, soon enough, Stiles'd joined him. Now, they were just coming down from the attacks, and trying to be serious. Which felt quite impossible at the moment.

"Dude, did I say anything that was actually true?" Stiles asked, wiping his eyes clean from tears.

"Well... I wouldn't know." Derek said, his voice coming back to normal. Or, normal to Stiles might not be what normal was to Derek, but he didn't sound like he was going to laugh out loud no more today. "I don't know you that well, so I... really don't know." Derek continued.

"Then, what else did I say?" Stiles said. "I really don't remember, sooo...?" Derek just avoided to look Stiles in the eyes. He could practically see how the wheels in his head was spinning like crazy. "Come on! Spill it!"

Until now, Stiles was unaware of their new location. Because, somehow, they had moved from standing somewhere around the table, to sitting on a bed. Derek's bed. Derek's very big and VERY comfortable bed, and they were now sitting across from each other.... On a bed.

"I don't..." Derek began, then he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Or something. 'Cause, to Stiles notice, he looked kind of upset. Sad, even, and confused. "Is... Is your mom... Dead?"

Wow. Stiles froze. You could almost reach out with your hand and touch the tension that occupied the room. Stiles hadn't prepared himself for that at all. He'd gotten this question before - he was used to it, he knew how to deal with these kind of things - but still he felt very insecure. Most people in Beacon Hills High knew about him and his mom, and they never brought it up like this. But Derek, he had no clue.

"Yeah. Yeah, she is." Stiles said, finally receiving a look from Derek, who'd kept his gaze on the floor. "She, ah... She had this disease. It's called 'frontotemporal-dementia'." Stiles broke their connection, and focus of this clutched hands in his lap. "It, uh, it's just basically a shrinkage of the brain. It makes you less and less you. You just, slowly... Looses yourself and, eventually... You die. And there's no cure." Stiles made a sniffing noise, trying his hardest not to cry in front of this gorgeous man."

Stiles didn't realize that his gaze had been wandering, nor that his hands had started shaking a little, his knuckles white from his hard grip. Suddenly, Derek leaned over and covered them with his own, holding them, not hard, but enough to stop them from shaking. Stiles, surprised of this sudden, genuine touch, looked up and into Derek's eyes dark forest-green eyes staring back at him.

"Stiles, I'm sorry." He said, his voice extremely soft, and actually very comforting.

"Yeah, well... It was a long time ago." Stiles said, and sighed. "But, you know... It-"

"Still hurts." Derek finished, and Stiles' eyes shot up again. "Yeah I do know." Derek said, sounding not-finished. "There, uh... Not that long ago, I..."

It was obviously Derek was having a hard time expressing himself. Stiles almost felt like he should say something reassuring, like: 'It's okay' or 'you can tell me' or 'you don't have to tell'. But at the same time, he felt like it wouldn't matter much.

"Before... A few years ago, me and my family lived in this... Really big house, out in the woods.mAnd we were a really big family." Derek gave a little laugh. "Then... There was a fire." Derek squeezed Stiles hands gently in his own, his voice ragged. Still soft and genuine, but almost as if he were about to cry. He didn't though. "It burned to the ground. I wasn't there, I had convinced my parents to go out with my big sister, Laura. Just for some groceries, or something, doesn't matter."