Chapter Text
They ride in companionable silence for awhile and he can practically hear Stiles’ lungs bursting with the need to speak.
“So I’ve never even seen a porn flick in a library. I mean god, what about the mess? I get the whole sexy librarian trope but seriously once all is said and done those tables have been used by tons of people. Did you know I knocked down a shelf in the library once? So not sturdy for uh..for pushing against. Although I suppose if you were strong enough to-“
“Stiles!”
Stiles glanced over at him maniacally, wetting his lips nervously. “Yeah, yeah I know. Shut up.”
Derek scrubbed his hands over his face. “Stop the car.”
“What, here?” he gestured dramatically to the expanse of trees on either side of the deserted road.
Derek just kept his face in his hands.
“Okay, ‘here’ it is. You know, if you were planning on taking a forest run anyway couldn’t you have started from town? Not that your conversation isn’t sparkling, but – wait are we under attack? Is there an Alpha pack out there?” He eased over to the side of the road but locked his door, staring into the shadows of the trees.
“I can’t believe you stopped the car.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Jeez Stiles, if you’re in a car with a werewolf and he says ‘stop along this nice deserted property’ you don’t DO IT! You push your foot to the floor and speed into somewhere with witnesses, lots and lots of witnesses and preferably people with the proper guns!”
“The amount of sense you're making tops out at 0. Are you planning on killing me?”
“That’s not the point.” He slammed out of the door and stomped towards the tree line.
“Derek! Hey, hey wait a second here. I trust you. I pulled over because you asked me to. If Peter had asked me to pull over, after he somehow wrestled his way into my vehicle, I would scream bloody murder and drive us straight through the wall of the police station. So what gives? Should I not trust you?”
Stiles stood there, chest heaving next to the jeep as Derek stood with one foot into the forest.
“Can I trust you? Derek!”
“Yes.” A simple word, said quietly. For Derek it was an apology as he looked at Stiles and tried to convey that by force of mind alone.
“Do..Derek, do you trust me?”
For a moment he just stared. Stiles, this stupid kid standing on the side of the road, standing there looking like he could fall over at any moment, arms out to the side as if to keep him balanced, wearing that stupid t-shirt and with his face as open as it could ever be, asking him for a bond of trust. What an idiot. Why does his chest hurt.
“Yeah Stiles, I trust you” he murmurs quietly before loping off into the woods.
Stiles stares at his form until he’s over the ridge. “Yeah bitch, I’m Aladdin” he laughs shakily.