Breakdown Epilogue
Title: Breakdown
Writer: slythrngodss
Fic Artist: dazedrose
Rating: PG
Warnings: Ableism
Summary: When blues singer Derek Hale's angry outbursts get to be too much his manager sends him to Asklepios Health Clinic (AHC) in the hopes that they might help him come to terms with his past. He isn't looking forward to it but maybe a few new friends and an alcoholic writer by the name of Stiles will help him come to terms with that.
Masterpost
nbsp;Derek keeps in contact with Boyd and Erica and Isaac once he finally gets out. He sees a shrink every week, a man who goes by David and is probably in his early thirties. David manages to be kind even when refusing to take Derek’s shit. They spend a lot of time talking about grief and love, and less time talking about guilt. Derek spends most of his time with Laura and her new beau. Derek likes the guy, mostly because of how he makes Laura laugh. Sometimes Derek doesn’t like the guy, mostly because of the way Laura’s been looking at babies lately.
nbsp;Derek isn’t sure if he lost Stiles email address on purpose or not. He knows he could ask Boyd for it but his heart races whenever he thinks about it. Still, he misses the way Stiles’ moves and his moles and the light in his eyes when he talks about something he finds interesting. He doesn’t miss the way Stiles makes his stomach flutter like laundry in the wind, because Stiles still does. When he gets a call from Stiles’ publishing company asking him to perform at the release party for Stiles’ new book Derek can’t say no.
The party is larger than Derek thought a party for a book would be. He tries to spot Stiles face in the crowd from the low stage when he opens the night, but the place is packed and Stiles isn’t at the front. He tries to find Stiles but keeps getting stopped by editors.
“So you’re the real Derek.” They all seem to say while giving him a once over. He’s used to being objectified but the way they do it makes his skin crawl. He remembers Stiles’ distaste for the industry and finally truly understands it. After the fifth person stops him (a middle aged woman in a mauve pencil skirt, greying hair piled atop her head, and a predatory leer) he tries to find Stiles by the bar. He let’s out the breath he didn’t know he was holding when Stiles isn’t there.
He’s half-sure Stiles isn’t actually there when he finds him at the back of the room grasping at a bottled water and flanked by a floppy-haired young man and a figure cutting red-head.
Stiles is stuck somewhere between a frown and a smile and there are tired circles under his eyes but Derek just sees him standing there and can’t think of why he ever thought it was a good idea to not contact him. “I didn’t think I’d be able to find you.” He says once he realizes that just standing there drinking him is awkward and probably rude.
“I didn’t think you wanted to.” The redhead slips off at that, gesturing to Stiles other friend to follow her. He looks at Stiles for the okay and Derek is relieved when Stiles gives it. He doesn’t want to have this conversation with two people he doesn’t know listening in.
The silence that they’re left in feels gawky, the bones of their feelings to long for the space.
“I lost your email address.” Derek swallows, knowing it’s a lame excuse.
“I thought,” Stiles pauses to lick his lips and even that small move is hyped up with nervous energy. He takes a deep breath. “I liked you a lot.”
Derek can’t help but take a step into Stiles space at that. It’s probably the wrong thing to do but he doesn’t like words they don’t communicate things the way touch and raw sound do. Stiles just stares at him, eyes wide, waiting for something and Derek feels himself being drawn in, pulled into a collision course. He steps in and presses his lips against the softness of Stiles’. It feels like burning up. It feels like an asteroid breaking up in the heat of the sun. It’s not fire that’s meant to destroy it’s plasma, it’s light, it’s life sustaining. He pulls back flushed.
“That doesn’t fix everything.” Stiles isn’t smiling but the lines around his mouth are gone and his edges are smoother.
“Okay.” Derek nods before kissing him again.
Stiles calls Derek every night of his book signing tour. It makes Derek’s heart flutter and stomach tingle each time he hears Stiles’ voice, even if every day the slur of Stiles words gets worse.