To Build a Home

Chapter 5

“Children,” Stiles had stated with a smile, though it was more a question than anything else. He and Derek were tangled in the covers, exhausted from moving into their new house on Archer the day before. This was one year before Isaac had come into their lives, six months into their marriage when the prospect of children was still an open topic.

“No,” Derek had said as he loosely held Stiles’ hand, late morning sunlight streaming through the window and illuminating their bodies.

“Really?”

“Yes. Next topic.”

“Why not?”

“You told me that you were going to work on letting topics I was uncomfortable with go, and I’m holding up my end of the bargain by asking you very kindly to drop it.”

“Have you at least thought about it?” he asked, ignoring Derek’s statement.

There was the weight of Derek’s end of the comforter on Stiles just before he heard Derek’s feet pad heavily across the wooden floor. The bathroom door slammed loudly a moment later.

 x 

The topic hung between them for the rest of the day, tension finally causing Derek to explode with, “Because I can’t imagine myself being responsible for someone else, okay?” in the middle of dinner. He glared at Stiles from across the table, fork hanging awkwardly from his hand over his plate.

“But you’re an Alpha now,” Stiles said mid-chew, confused.

“It’s different.”

Stiles swallowed his food. “You literally take care of, like, four people that act like children on a daily basis. How would having your own be any different?”

“It’s easy for you to want kids. You work with first graders,” Derek groaned as he pushed his string beans and mashed potatoes around his plate with his fork.

“My job isn’t the reason I want children,” Stiles explained.

“You call your students your kids all the time.”

“Yeah, and I get to send them home at the end of the day. It’s different,”

“Exactly. Just like being the Alpha is different.”

Stiles had just groaned, unable to think of a witty come-back, and let the topic drop.

It wasn’t until a six months later, when Derek came to the elementary school to help with a field trip after a class parent called in sick, that Stiles saw him interact with children for the first time.

“Thanks for coming so quickly. I owe you big time,” Stiles said as he handed Derek a plastic baggie with a bottle of Benadryl and a lime green box that read Epi-pen Jr. before corralling four first graders around him

“What’s this?” Derek asked as he held the bag up, eyebrows lifting.

"Jake’s got a peanut allergy,” he explained as he looked away to do a last minute head count.

“I can’t do this, Stiles.” Derek was shaking his head, pushing the bag back at him.

“Mr. S,” Stiles corrected him as he pushed the bag against Derek’s chest. “And yes, you can.”

“What if-” Derek started but was cut off when Stiles initiated some kind of attention-grabbing game that had the kids following his Simon-Says-like directions. The hallway quieted almost immediately, smiles spreading across the sea of first graders.

x

“You were really good with them,” Stiles smiled as he handed Derek a cold water bottle once the bus circle had emptied and it was just the two of them back in the classroom. “I didn’t hear a peep from your group during the tour.”