The Dangers of Falling (in Love)

Chapter 5-

"Hey Derek?" Stiles calls as he knocks on the door to the hut. He knows Derek is in there. He can see the old lamp turned on inside but Derek doesn't answer the door. Great he's giving me the silent treatment, real mature. "Derek you in there?" He shouts but again no reply. "I just came to apologise man." Stiles says as he pushes the door and he freezes when the door opens, not expecting it to be unlocked.

He opens the door fully and doesn't even need to take a step in the room to find the man. The hut is only small, a bed in one corner of the room and on the other side is a small kitchen and a door which leads to a bathroom with a toilet and shower but that's it. So it wasn't difficult to spot Derek leaning on the wooden bench with his back to him. Even through the long sleeve flannel Stiles could tell Derek was tense and the way his head was hanging low he knew something was awfully wrong.

"Hey, are you alright?" Stiles finally asks realising he was staring for a bit longer than he should have.

"The photo was my families farm." Derek answers in a rough voice, almost scaring Stiles, not expecting a reply. The older man doesn't turn around though so Stiles takes a step inside shutting the door behind himself. So he was right, it is his farm, but why is he acting like this? Maybe his parents kicked him out or something, that would explain the whole living in his ute situation, Stiles thinks to himself.

"Feel free to kick me out if you don't wanna answer but why don't you work on your family farm? I mean surely it would be better than living in your ute and trying to find work all over the country side." He says watching Derek who shakes his head.

"I would if I could." Derek simply replies and now it was Stiles who was shaking his head, that doesn't even make sense.

"What do you mean? Did your parents kick you out or something?" He questions because honestly right now he was confused.

"Something happened." Derek begins to say and Stiles notices the way he grips the edge of the bench tighter, the mans knuckles turning white and Stiles knows whatever this story is it's hard for him to talk about it. "Five years ago there was a fire. My older sister and I weren't home, we were in town for the afternoon but the rest of my family were all inside." He stops talking for a few seconds taking his time to gather his words. Stiles is getting the feeling he's the first person to ever hear this story and he's pretty sure he can guess how it ends but god, he hopes he's wrong.

"The fire spread so quickly, they didn't even have a chance. By the time we got home half the house had collapsed and engulfed with flames." Derek explains and suddenly all the times Stiles had seen Derek flinch when the wood fire in the house sparked and the way Derek would stare at the flames on the gas stove until the person cooking turns it off, it all makes sense now. Derek had lost not only his farm but basically his whole family in one night due to a fire. Holy shit, he is a horrible person for asking about it and even joking about his parents kicking him out.

"Shit, sorry I didn't know that, I wouldn't have bought it up if I did." Stiles replies not knowing what else to say. He lost his mother when he was only a boy and that was beyond painful, he couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose his whole family and his farm.

"I didn't expect you to know, nobody knows. It's fine." Derek replies quietly still facing away from him.

"I lost my mother when I was kid and I hated it when people would tell me that they are 'sorry' that shit use to drive me insane." Stiles replies and Derek actually laughs.

"I know the feeling." He replies and Stiles smiles.

"I'm not gonna pretend to know what it must feel like. Yeah, I lost my mother and I remember it like it happened yesterday and I know it isn't the same but if it helps I'm here if you wanna talk about it. I'm sorta getting the feeling you don't talk about this, like at all so just saying, I'm all ears if you want to." Stiles says and Derek nods. "I'll leave now, I've caused you enough trouble, just thank you for telling me and I'm sorry I was a dick and went through your personal stuff." He says as he turns to walk out the door before Derek speaks again.