Could Be Creepier Mansion, Thursday Afternoon

[justlurkinghere]

Tomorrow was the lunar eclipse and Derek had plans on how to get through it. Plans that did not involve incomprehensible plots or getting beat up by a crazy Druid because 'that was his special ability', thanks.

Plans that meant he was getting ready to bake. It involved a lot of glaring at the ingredients before he started out with the measuring.

[[Open! Specific brownie type NFB. Warnings for cannabis! That's right, I'm calling it that.]]

Comments

[justlurkinghere]

"It matters." Which was to say, 'you matter'.

[robinonadderall]

That earned Derek a small smile. "It's nothing I can't handle."

As far as Stiles was concerned that was true. He could handle nightmares. It only happened when he slept, right? No big deal, he just wouldn't sleep a lot. The internet had plenty of things that would keep him distracted. Namely porn.

[justlurkinghere]

Cade must haaaate yooooou.

"Good." He was going to punch that nemeton if only he could find it despite BEING RIGHT ON IT WHEN HE FOUND LAURA. SERIOUSLY.

[robinonadderall]

Well it was either that or he jerked off here, Derek, and you threw a hissy whenever that happened.

"I feel really bad for Allison," Stiles said. "I mean, she wouldn't go into what was happening to her, but she looks terrible."

Scott looked fine, of course. Stiles didn't know if that was due to the werewolf thing or the being Scott thing.

[justlurkinghere]

Scott thing.

"It's just nightmares, though. Right?"

[robinonadderall]

"No. I feel it when I'm awake too." And things were getting weirder there too, but Stiles didn't want to mention anything until he knew for sure what it was.

[justlurkinghere]

That sounded like just normal trauma to Derek. Because waking nightmares weren't something that was part of his guilt and self loathing filled repertoire of trauma.

"But less here." Say yes, Stiles.

[robinonadderall]

"Yeah." Sure he'd say yes if you ignored the lie, Derek.

[justlurkinghere]

You suck.

Derek huffed in annoyance, turning down the heat to not scorch the pot. "Do your thing with the dog."

That usually helped.

[robinonadderall]

"Okay." That was definitely a better option than staying there and be questioned about something that was out of both of their hands. He was almost out of the kitchen before turning around again.

"Look, if this whole thing bothers you, I can stay away." He was speaking to the floor rather than to Derek, but whatever.

[justlurkinghere]

"You shove your face at that dog every time you see him." And also he was feeling helpless about this.

Don't make him give you a gruff and manly shoulder squeeze.

[robinonadderall]

Stiles sighed, amazed at Derek's ability to avoid a subject. "I guess you have a point there."

So he'll go upstairs and do just that.

[justlurkinghere]

Derek sighed as well, staring down at the slowly turning green butter.

After more than a little internal debate, he stayed where he was, listening to Stiles closely just in case.

[robinonadderall]

Stiled trudged upstairs, smiling when Puppy Joe got up excitedly when he entered the bedroom. "Hey, buddy."

He kicked off his shoes before crawling up on the bed (he had some manners, thanks) and cuddled Puppy Joe to his chest. "I missed you."

[justlurkinghere]

And that dog missed him too. Because he wasn't carried around the house, Stiles. He'd been forced to use the stairs on his own.

Derek was a dick, you see. One whose shoulders were relaxing slightly at the sound of Stiles and his spoiled dog bonding. See? He totally knew the dog was helping out with making Stiles feel better.

[robinonadderall]

Stiles happily cuddled Puppy Joe for a few minutes. Yes, doing the thing where he unconsciously scent marked the dog. Being around him did make him feel better, and he was beginning to think Derek might had been right about things being better here than back at Beacon Hills.

Thinking Derek was right was probably his first hint that something was wrong.

Soon Puppy Joe was curled up against his chest and Stiles was pretty close to nodding off himself. That was until a noise coming from the bathroom made him jerk his head up in that direction.

At first he wrote the noise off as a draft, but just as he was about to relax against the pillows again he could hear another noise from inside the bathroom that sounded like someone was moving around in there.

With a frown he gently set Puppy Joe aside and got up to investigate.

[justlurkinghere]

Derek paused his stirring for a moment to catch what Stiles was up to. If that bathroom was defiled again, so help him...

[robinonadderall]

Well, his heart rate was going a bit faster as he approached the door, so it might have been easy to make that mistake.

He stood in front of the closed door for a few moments, listening to the clacking of heels on tile from inside the bathroom. Derek was downstairs and Mike had a bathroom of his own...Stiles liked to think Derek would have said something if he had a lady friend over. He tapped lightly on the door, just in case, but somehow wasn't surprised when there was no answer.

Stiles frowned. He was filled with this overwhelming feeling that the door should stay closed, but not investigating went against everything he was as a Stilinski. So he took in a steadying breath and pushed open the door slowly...

...only to find an empty bathroom. Stiles rolled his eyes at himself and his dramatics, immediately moving to push open the shower curtain in a fit of "you're an idiot, Stilinski, just get this over with". Nothing there too.

Shoulders slumping as the fear of danger passed, Stiles shook his head at himself. Derek had probably turned on the TV or something and the sound filtered up.

Turning to go back to the bedroom, Stiles found himself face to face with Jennifer Blake. Her throat was still bleeding from where Deucalion ripped it out, but she was smiling at Stiles.

"Should have kept the door closed, Stiles," she said, shoving at Stiles' shoulders.

Stiles screamed and fell down to the floor, landing hard on his shoulder.

[justlurkinghere]

The pan was shoved off the burner roughly as Derek rushed up the stairs. Because screaming wasn't actually a normal occurrence in the creepy old mansion. Well, not unless nightmares were involved.

Or Derek being creepy at people. Neither of which were happening as far as he knew.

[robinonadderall]

It quickly became obvious to Stiles he wasn't in immediate danger. The image of Jennifer left as quickly as it came but Stiles was still breathing heavily and was shaking slightly.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to calm himself down. Christ, he must have fallen asleep and started sleepwalking or something.

[justlurkinghere]

"Stiles?" Way to not give him privacy by just bursting on into the bathroom, Derek.

[robinonadderall]

Derek coming in caused Stiles to jump again, but he recovered quickly. "I'm fine. Sorry, I just--I'm fine."

[justlurkinghere]

"Are you?" Derek asked carefully. He reached out to pull him back onto his feet.

[robinonadderall]

"Yeah, I just had a scare and then fell over," Stiles said, trying to sound as calm as possible and letting Derek pull him up. "It was stupid."

[justlurkinghere]

"A scare." Was it a spider? Spiders were fucking scary.