Suffer Well (Sterek)

A little over six months

Derek was loading the dishes into the dishwasher when Dominic walked in. He could smell the irritation Derek was feeling.

"You're mad," Dominic said with a slight frown.

"Yes, I'm mad," Derek snapped in response.

"Why? Cause I invited Stiles over for dinner? Cause everyone likes him? Cause he's not afraid of us?" Dominic rattled off. Normally he wasn't one to antagonise Derek, but he didn't understand why he was so against Stiles.

"Why did you invite him over?" Derek demanded. His hands clenched at his sides.

"I like him," Dominic shrugged with a smile.

"No, you want me to like him," Derek growled.

"I just don't understand why you don't," Dominic kept his tone calm. He didn't want to start a fight, though that was the direction they were headed.

Derek huffed in frustration, "I don't need anyone, I wish you all would stop trying to force me to let people in."

"Stiles is great, he's smart, funny, gorgeous, understanding, not afraid of us, he's caring, what more could you want in a guy?" Dominic threw his hands up. He was the frustrated one now.

"I'm not interested in dating," Derek growled out. His brother should have known better.

"You don't have to date him, just be friends with him," Dominic sighed. Why did Derek insist on being alone forever?

"I don't want any friends," Derek snapped.

"You know what, fine, but I like him and so does the rest of the family, so he's gonna be around, whether you like it or not." With that Dominic walked out, leaving Derek fuming.

-

The familiar sound of Stiles' jeep pulling in, reached Derek's ears. His stomach flipped slightly. Truth was he always got anxious when Stiles came over. He was so afraid to trust him, but Derek was really starting to like the guy, despite his best efforts.

"Derek," Stiles smiled at the sight of the alpha.

Derek sighed in response, allowing Stiles in.

"I'll get Damon," Derek turned then leaving Stiles in the living room.

When Dominic walked in he saw Stiles inspecting a photo of Derek in a baseball uniform and a large smile hung from his lips.

Stiles had never seen Derek smile before, he had a beautiful smile.

"That was a couple months before our parents died," Dominic said quietly inspecting the wall of pictures.

"I've never seen him smile before," Stiles commented.

"He doesn't do it often anymore," Dominic said sadly.

"Why not?"

"When our house caught fire, we lost all of our family, not just our parents. That was hard on all of us. At the same time, Derek was dating a girl, Kate. We never met her, but Derek seemed to be crazy about her. She hurt him, we don't know how, he never would tell us. Ever since, he's been different, guarded, shut down. I think you'd be good for him. He needs a friend that brings him out of his comfort zone. You definitely do that," Dominic smiled at the human.

"Yeah, I don't think he's terribly interested in being friends," Stiles said, once again inspecting the picture of Derek.

Just then Derek walked in with Damon.

"Let's go have a look at this jeep of yours," Damon threw an arm around Stiles and led him outside.

"Derek, wait," Dominic grabbed his brother's arm, "I'm sorry about last night."