Til The Dawn [Midnights #1] ✓

chapter 30

From where Derek was sitting in Coach Finstock's office, he could hear Stiles and Scott moving around in the locker room right outside the door. Joking and laughing. And it brought a smile to Derek's face before he had time to stop and question it. Which he'd decided earlier in the week to quit doing altogether.

This situation wasn't a normal one. His life had almost never been. And applying the usual laws of physics and reason to things that happened to him were bound to drive him absolutely mad one of these days.

Yes, Scott and Stiles being around gave him purpose. Yes, it made him smile when they acted like a couple of idiots. And no, he didn't want to look into it any deeper than that. There wasn't a point to it, and shockingly, Peter had been the one to remind him of this.

Also, from where he was sitting, he could hear every bit of their conversation, as if it was any of his business. Everyone else had been gone for at least half an hour, including Finstock, so their discussion on werewolf matters honestly didn't concern him.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't turn off the part of his brain that told him to stay alert. Just in case.

"Congrats, man," Stiles gushed. "Co-captain. You excited, dude?"

Derek didn't need to be standing there next to them to know that Scott had given his best friend a shrug in return. For one thing, that was his go-to response for almost everything. It also helped that Derek had figured out that this was how Scott had chosen to deal with his new life. Usually by ignoring it. And when he couldn't anymore, because Stiles wouldn't let him, Scott shrugged. It showed he was listening, but he wasn't willing to accept it either.

Both infuriating and endearing. To a degree. Mostly infuriating, though.

"I dunno," Scott finally admitted with a deep sigh. "I mean, kind of... I guess. But am I the only one who thinks Jackson is still being weird about all this?"

Stiles scoffed. "I wouldn't worry about it. He's a weird dude. And he, like, just got attacked by what we know was definitely a werewolf, man. Sure, he has no idea that's what it was, but he has a right to be freaked the fuck out, you know?"

Derek grinned wide at Stiles' assessment of Jackson's attitude. Leave it to him to break everything down so succinctly, pulling Scott's focus back to the real matter at hand. Werewolves. They were now officially living in a world where werewolves were real and Scott was one of them. And Derek sort of loved Stiles for doing this. It kept Scott grounded. It guaranteed he stayed present. The exact thing that Scott had fought against for so long.

It also showed that Stiles was paying attention during their practice sessions with Scott, and it was a huge relief to him. Because even if Derek wasn't around, someone who could help Scott was, and that meant that this all might not result in mass hysteria and chaos on the off chance that his newest pack did lose control one day.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Another deep, languorous sigh from Scott. Another roll of the eyes from Stiles. Well, the second thing Derek couldn't hear, but sometimes it felt like he could. If he concentrated hard enough. Stiles did it as often as Scott shrugged anyway. Seemed like a sure thing.

Derek stood up finally, stretching wide, and no longer caring to be a passive participant in their conversation. It was time to break up the monotony and get the hell out of here before it got too dark.

He came around the corner of the lockers and folded his arms across his chest as he smiled down at the pair still sitting on the bench changing back into their regular clothes.

"You guys wanna come over for dinner? Peter's buying."

"Ah, big boy, are you finally asking me out on a date?" Stiles quipped.

"You guys," Derek repeated, playfully kicking at Stiles' cleats. "And do you really think I'd ask you on a date where Peter is paying for it?"

Stiles chuckled and shook his head as Scott looked up at Derek, concern written all over his face. "Can I, uh, ask you something?"

Derek's brows pulled in the middle. "Yeah, sure. What's up?"

He let his hands drop to his sides, putting them in his pockets quickly. Derek knew he was intimidating on his best day, and often did very little to help matters, but he hated the idea that Scott would be scared to talk to him about something, which he clearly was right now.

"Can we, uh, go easy on training for the rest of the week?" Scott muttered.

"Sure," Derek repeated. "Everything okay?"

Scott nodded, but didn't look up from the bench he was still sitting on. "It's just that I have dinner with Allison's family tomorrow night. Which isn't fucking terrifying or anything. And now I have this co-captain thing with Jackson..."

"Don't worry about it," Derek interrupted. "I'm going to be out all day tomorrow with Peter anyway. Now that, uh, everything has escalated, and whoever bit you probably also killed someone, we have to find them. See if we can figure out what's going on." Scott finally peered up and Derek offered a small smile. "Besides, you're doing way better. You deserve a break. I'm proud of you, Scott."

Derek knew that wasn't something that Scott heard all that often. Possibly not ever. Unless you counted his mom, obviously. But she wasn't around that much and everyone else seemed to overlook him. Except Stiles. His best friend was about as constant as anything could be, but Derek couldn't really see him telling Scott what a good job he was doing either. Way too corny, Stiles would probably complain.

And Derek didn't mind being that for him. He was the Beta, after all. His role, though less defined than Peter's as the Alpha, was still easy to slip into on occasion.

"I thought we weren't supposed to talk about supernatural business in the locker rooms," Stiles grumbled.

Derek chuckled and tapped his nose. "I can smell that everyone is gone except us. But nice try."

Stiles rolled his eyes and Derek's heart warmed. It was nice to see that he really did know him that well. That there was another person on this Earth, besides Peter, that he'd opened up to, even in this small way. That he'd learned someone else's little quirks.

It was a tiny, insignificant thing, but it meant more to Derek than he'd ever be able to express. Because, as Talia had put once, finding a daily is almost more important than being born into one.

"And you were just talking about werewolf shit two seconds ago," he retorted.

Stiles stuck out his tongue, making Derek snort his laughter.

"What's for dinner?" Scott asked, cutting back into the conversation.

Derek shook his head. "Uh, no. Equipment duty first. Dinner second. You two don't get off that easy. Make sure it's perfect before we leave. I still have paperwork to finish up."

He started back to the shared office, though it was just him in there a majority of the time. Not that he blamed Finstock. The minute he'd discovered that Derek didn't actively hate all the more tedious aspects of the job, he dipped out whenever he could.

"Come on, Derek," Scott whined. "I'll come in early and do it. Swear!"

"Do it now, Scott!" Derek called back. "We both know you'll never make it here that early, and so does Stiles."

"Sourwolf," Stiles murmured.

"I heard that!"

Scott and Stiles' laughter reached Derek's ears as he sat back down and smiled wide again, realizing that even though this isn't the family he would've chosen for himself, he couldn't see how there might be a better one out there for him either.