Author:
froggydarrenTitle: define lying
Rating: G
Pairing/s: Derek/Stiles
Character/s: Sheriff Stilinski, Stiles Stilinski
Summary: "I was just bringing back the Beastiary to Derek." "The one you had with you in school." "Yeah. No. I got it last week, when I was home." "When you said were here all weekend with no one visiting." "Yeah." "So Derek brought it over." "Yes. No. Oh, crap." "So that was a lie." "That depends on how you would define lying."
All of a sudden, Stiles is overwhelmed with the feeling of deja vu. He's back with his Dad at the Hale house, and he's been caught lying. Again.
Warnings: n/a
Content Notes: Stilinski family feels. Established Stiles/Derek relationship, sort of.
Submission Type: ficlet
Word Count: 918
Prompt: #222 - lie
Author's Notes: Some weeks, there's a plan I have and then the day of posting I write a completely different thing. This was one of those weeks. Ah well. Unbetaed, apologies for grammar and English words crimes.
“We had this exact discussion before,” John says, sounding exasperated.
“What discussion?” Stiles asks, trying for innocent and failing miserably.
He remembers it all too clearly. His Dad asking about the night when Scott had been bitten, the conversation they’d had when Stiles had been caught by one of the deputies and had claimed Scott was not there, then the mistake when he admitted that Scott had indeed been in the woods that night. He knows that they both just repeated the same words almost exactly.
“The one where you lied to me, then tried to deflect by bringing up the fact that lie had two different meanings,” John says in a clipped tone. “It’s still not telling the truth, as you well know.”
“Well, I mean, it also still is reclining in a horizontal position…” Stiles starts, his voice weak by the end as he shrinks back from his Dad’s stern stare. “But I get your point,” he adds quickly, already preparing his defense. “I didn’t lie exactly.”
John continues glaring without a word.
“I may or may not have omitted some important information,” Stiles admits meekly. “Not like, super important or life threatening facts. Just, things I wasn’t sure would be need to know.”
“Kid, when it comes to you and me, everything is need to know, since pretty much everything in our lives tends to become pertinent to our well-being,” John tells him, finally dropping the anger and settling back on what Stiles knows as his exasperated face.
“Well, I mean, you know now that this wasn’t of the furry secret kind, or of the new big bad that’s inevitably going to kill people kind.”
“Not that you know of,” John snaps back.
“Dad.”
“Stiles.”
“Okay look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I wasn’t done processing that it’s real and actually happening,” Stiles rambles. “It’s not like I expected certain things to ever happen outside of my imagination…”
John cringes, and Stiles pauses to stop the tangent of thought that his mind is headed towards.
“I just… I seriously didn’t think it was going to be relevant,” he finishes quietly.
“I’m not going to repeat another conversation that we had once,” John says, and the corner of his lips turns up. “I’m well aware by now that you do have plenty of reason to be in Jungle. I’ve known since before you were old enough to go there.”
“Oh,” Stiles says, surprised at his Dad’s words.
“What I wasn’t aware of was that Derek had anything to do with that, though,” John says, and he raises an eyebrow in question.
“Oh.”
“That would’ve been nice to know before several of our neighbours cornered me while I was grocery shopping of all things to kindly inform me of the young man who only ever shows up when I’m not at home, and when you are home for breaks,” John smiles as he speaks. “And they also equally kindly provided information about how the young man is the same one they remember from wanted posters, and do I know whether he’s ever been cleared of the crimes he was suspected of?”
“Dad, I…”
“Look, kid, I don’t mind,” John says kindly. “Well, I don’t mind that it’s Derek. I just would’ve liked to have known that you two are…”
Stiles watches his Dad’s face scrunch as he’s trying to figure out a way to word what he thinks is going on between his son and Derek.
“We’re not… well, we are, kind of. Not what you’re thinking, probably,” Stiles jumps in with rambles. “I could’ve told you, but then we weren’t… it wasn’t anything at first, just Derek back in town, and it wasn’t important or enough to mention. And then he kept visiting and you know he knows when you’re not home since he’s working with you guys now. That’s how he knew when I’d be home, because he heard you or you told him, I don’t know. But then I wasn’t sure we were… we are now, but it’s new and…”
“Stiles, breathe,” John says, and he chuckles. “Kid, I’m not upset that you two are… dating? Seeing each other?”
“Yeah, that. It’s really really new though,” Stiles rushes to add. “I would’ve told you eventually, but it’s maybe not…”
“You’re severely underestimating my observation abilities, son. Because from what I’ve seen and heard, it definitely is… whatever you’re hoping it is,” John says. “You could’ve told me, instead of lying.”
“I didn’t lie,” Stiles insists. “I didn’t. I just…”
“...didn’t mention the fact that you’re dating a former murder suspect who’s several years older and also happens to be a werewolf,” John finishes.
Stiles nods.
“See, here’s the thing,” John says, now openly smirking. “With the amount of times that Derek asked about you since he came back while you were still in college and the academy, and the way he completely failed at being subtle about listening in on conversations that involved information about your visits home, I knew this was going to happen.”
“Oh.”
“Now, no more lying about your boyfriend, and please tell him he’s expected for Sunday brunch,” John says, grabbing his keys off the table. “If he’s already here by then, that’s fine, it just means that you two can make the brunch instead of me.”
With that, John walks out the front door, and Stiles is left staring at it in shock as it slams closed.
Right. Brunch. His Dad knows about Derek staying over.
Crap.