Suffer Well (Sterek)

It hurts

It had been almost five days since Stiles had walked out of Derek's life and it hurt more and more each day. Derek's phone was painfully silent despite the amount of calls and texts Derek sent. He'd considered just showing up at Stiles' house, but he didn't have the guts to be verbally rejected by Stiles again.

Every day Derek would send Stiles a text telling him how sorry he was and how much he regretted what he did. And every night Derek would send a simple text that just said goodnight. It hurt Stiles to receive those texts. He knew he was hurting Derek by not responding but he just couldn't bring himself to.

Today was no different than the last four. Stiles heard his phone ding with a text message. He opened it to see it was, of course, from Derek.

Hey, Stiles. It's day five without you around...It's killing me, still. I wish you would talk to me. I know what I did was stupid, I should have thought that through more. I am sorry, really. Please call me, please. I miss you.

Stiles clenched his jaw before deleting the message. He learned the hard way that if he didn't delete the messages he got from Derek, he would read them over and over and it would only hurt Stiles more. He had decided that he didn't need to have Derek in his life. It was too hard. He cared about him too much and Derek made it very clear that he didn't want to be with Stiles, despite their feelings for each other.

"Him again?" Isaac asked gently.

Stiles only nodded before tossing his phone on the bed.

At that moment there was a knock at the door. Stiles tensed. The only people that ever came over were Allison, Scott and Isaac and they all knew to just walk in. Besides Isaac was already there and Scott and Allison were at her house.

"Do you want me to get it?" Isaac offered sensing Stiles' unease.

Stiles nodded nervously. He wasn't ready to see Derek, not yet.

Isaac caught the scent of someone familiar yet also very unfamiliar. He was pretty sure before opening the door, it wouldn't be Derek standing there.

Sure enough the man at the door wasn't Derek but he looked just like him.

"You must be a Hale," Isaac said eyeing the man.

"You must be Scott," The man responded.

"Isaac, actually."

"Isaac? Derek never mentioned you," The guy frowned, "You're a werewolf."

"Yeah, it was an agreement between Derek and I," Isaac answered carefully.

"You're Derek's beta?" The man's eyes widened in shock.

"Are you going to introduce yourself or..." Isaac narrowed his eyes.

"Right, sorry. I'm Dominic." He gave a small smile.

"Oh, you're Dominic," Isaac nodded slowly.

Dominic shifted uneasily, "I take it you've heard of me."

"Of course, Stiles always spoke highly of you." Isaac smiled a bit. He was trying to decide if Stiles would want to talk to Dominic or not. He'd specifically said not to let Derek in if he showed up, but this wasn't Derek.

"So can I see him?" Dominic asked glancing passed Isaac and towards the stairs.

"Ummm," Isaac hesitated.

"Please," Dominic sighed, his tone sounding defeated.

"Fine, but if he says leave-"

"I'll go," Dominic agreed quickly.

Isaac lead him up the stairs.

"Was it him?" Stiles asked when Isaac stepped into his room.

"No, but..." Isaac moved aside allowing Dominic into the room.

"Dom," Stiles relaxed a bit, smiling slightly.

"Stiles," Dominic smiled widely pulling the human into a hug, "We've missed you."

"I know, I've missed you too," Stiles sighed pulling back, "Did he send you?"

Dominic shook his head, "He doesn't know I'm here. I came because I wanted to see how you were doing."

Isaac wasn't sure if he should leave the room and give them some privacy or stay and make sure Stiles was okay. He opted for the latter.

"I'm fine," Stiles lied.

"Still trying to lie to werewolf I see," Dominic chuckled lightly.

"It's better this way," Stiles said, dropping his eyes.

"Do you really believe that?" Dominic asked.

"He doesn't want to be with me, Dominic. I was willing to be friends with him and give him the time he needed, but-"

"I know," Dominic nodded understandingly.

"I can't be friends with him if he's never going to give me a chance. It hurts too much," Stiles glanced at his phone.

"He's afraid. He lost the only two people he's ever cared about. I'm not saying what he did was okay but give him a chance to make it right. I know he wants to. He cares about you, Stiles," Dominic put a hand on Stiles' shoulder causing the human to look up at him.

"Yeah, well I love him and I don't think he'll ever feel that strongly for me. I miss him, I miss you all, but it hurts so damn much. I did everything for him, and I was willing to ignore my feelings for him, give him time, as much as he needed, but it wasn't enough. He tried to take away the option of ever being with me, I can't pretend that didn't hurt," Stiles bit down on his bottom lip, willing the tears not to fall.

"I get it, I just want you to know that he's a wreck without you. At least talk to him," Dominic dropped his hand and turned toward the door.

"Tell everyone I miss them," Stiles asked, "Everyone except Derek...please," Stiles corrected.

Dominic nodded sadly before walking out.

Isaac walked over and pulled Stiles into him. He could smell the regret, guilt and sadness.

Dominic heard Stiles' quiet cries as he closed the door behind him. He squeezed his eyes shut. He hated to hear how upset Stiles was. It was in his nature to want to protect those he cared about and yet there was nothing he could do to help Stiles and it killed him.

*AN*
Another update for you. 😊