Derek's Person

I Like How He Smells | 3

There were some movies that Laura could sit through watching several times a week, but Toy Story was not one of them. As Allison pushed play on the DVD, Laura thought she might need to accidentally shatter the disk the next time it happened to be in her hand.

Allison, Cora, and Malia had dragged every pillow and blanket that they owned down into the living room to create some sort of makeshift bed on the floor—despite there being a perfectly comfortable couch available for them to use.

The only pup who seemed to share this very obvious thought was Jackson, who was seated beside Laura. She figured he was sick of the movie choice, too, since he seemed much more interested in watching her fill in her coloring book instead of the TV screen. He held her box of colored pencils and handed her colors that he thought would look good on the mandala she was working on. He had some good taste in color, she had to admit. He could probably redecorate her bedroom at four years old better than she could at fourteen.

"It's freezing in here!" Stiles complained from somewhere within the heap of bedding.

The words had barely left his mouth, before Malia excitedly shouted, "Puppy pile!"

The girls immediately moved to practically smother the human. Malia managed to lay on top of him, while Cora and Allison squished themselves against his sides, nuzzling his neck and face. He happily returned the gesture, rubbing his cheeks against their hair and hugging them all the best that he could.

"I'm not doing the puppy pile with Stiles," Jackson sneered, watching them.

Sometimes Laura couldn't stand Jackson, but there was no denying that she and her cousin were the most alike out of the Hale children. She wasn't necessarily sure if that was a good or a bad thing, but at least she always had someone who agreed with her.

For example, on the unpopular notion that Stiles wasn't that great. The girls were practically obsessed with him and Derek had obviously taken some sort of weird liking to him or something that Laura hadn't quite figured out yet. She just didn't get the hype, and neither did Jackson.

"We don't want you in our puppy pile, anyway," Allison said to her younger brother, before sticking her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, Jackson," Cora agreed. "That's why you weren't invited."

"Nobody was!" He rolled his eyes. "Malia just said puppy pile."

"Shh, I can't hear the movie," Stiles shushed them.

Laura briefly wondered if he was uncomfortable under all the girls, but he wasn't letting out any distressed sounds or chemosignals, so she figured he was fine. He was even playing with Malia's hair absentmindedly while watching the screen. It honestly baffled Laura sometimes, how wolf-like he acted. It was almost like he was made to be around werewolves, the way he easily picked up all their mannerisms.

"You guys are squishing him," Derek growled, causing Laura and Jackson to flinch at his sudden appearance behind them. He had a habit of moving so silently that he seemed to appear out of thin air sometimes, which bothered Laura to no end and made her feel like a terrible future-alpha by being able to be sneaked up on so easily.

The girls scrambled off of Stiles as soon as they heard the underlying warning in Derek's voice and the young boy looked up at him with a bright smile. Derek didn't smile back, of course. His eyebrows were low and his mouth was pulled into a tight line. Laura guessed that he was chewing on the inside of his lip by the way his jaw was moving slightly.

"He was cold," Allison said, quirking an eyebrow at him in confusion. They all knew that he didn't like joining in on the cuddling sessions, but he had never broken one up before.

Laura was just glad that she wasn't the only one noticing Derek's weird behavior!

Derek tossed the charcoal gray sweater in his hand over towards Stiles. It hit the kid lightly in the face, causing him to laugh and hug it to his chest. He fumbled with the garment for a moment, before moving to put it on—but Derek stopped him by telling him, "Backwards."

"Oh," Stiles said softly as he turned it over. He pulled it over his head and smiled triumphantly as he got his arms through the long sleeves that fell past his hands and folded over his fingers. He rubbed the wool on his cheeks and mumbled, "So soft."

Laura and the pups looked at Stiles as if he had grown a second head and then turned their attention to Derek, whose face was still entirely composed as he watched Stiles get situated in the sweater.

"Did you come all the way down here just to give Stiles your sweater?" Laura asked him, sounding more accusatory than she had intended. What other reason would he have brought a sweater down? He had to have been listening when Stiles had mentioned being cold.

"No," he lied, before heading towards the kitchen.

"Thanks, Der," Stiles called after him, unphased when the older boy didn't acknowledge him. He settled back into the bedding pile and returned his attention to the television, but soon realized that he was being stared at. "What?"

"That's Derek's sweater," Malia told him, as if it was an answer. It really was one, even if Stiles didn't quite understand.

"Yeah?"

"Derek doesn't let people touch his clothes," Cora explained.

Stiles glanced around at them uncomfortably while fidgeting with his sleeves—obviously unsure of what to say. Laura didn't really think there was much for him to say... it was just weird.

"Let's finish the movie," Laura redirected, and Stiles sagged in relief as the attention moved away from him.