Payment (revised)

Chapter 21

I was able to re-edit/re-write this ch in the last hour and a half so i decided to get it to you as quick as possible
Thx for all the nice comments I appreciate them even if I often forget to respond
As usual all the kinks will be sorted out eventually and spelling is all on me
This ch is short bc it leads into the next one which is pure smut so there's that to look forward to
As always thx for reading

edited: 5/13/20

edited: 8/13/23

He would never be able to scrub away the image of Derek building up his walls. Stiles had spent so long breaking the man down brick by brick, and he hated that he was the reason it was going up again.

He stood in the building's entrance, waiting; Derek had been unresponsive so far, but Stiles knew it was only a matter of time before the Alpha infected the space around them.

To some extent, Stiles knew he would take his punishment without excuse. He wasn't a boy anymore, and he was proud to stand behind the choices he made. Even if he ultimately turned around, nothing would have changed if he had stayed.

Still, Stiles had left.

He had worried the entire pack, and forced them all into a panicked frenzy instead of talking the problem through. His regret was resigned to the lecture he knew was coming, expecting it to borderline bloody.

But the explosion never came.

Stiles, who was paying vivid attention to Derek's every move, startled as the Alpha's focus shot to the side. The long line of his neck was tense with barely controlled rage. A shiver settled at the base of Stiles's back.

The boy's gaze dutifully followed Derek's own, and understood why the Alpha was holding himself together.

Lurking in the shadows were their friends, Erica at the front. Whether they were there to mediate the situation, or to listen in on the argument, Stiles never found out.

Derek turned back to him, sharp eyes paralyzing Stiles and making him feel smaller than he had in a long time. Stiles fought a grimace, but he kept the Alpha's gaze.

Erica had been right about one thing at the very least, he was drawn to danger.

Even as Derek glared at him, his earlier words of how he loved Stiles fading from mind, Stiles still loved him.

He didn't think he could ever stop.

A cry wanted to catch Stiles's throat but he gulped around it. He wouldn't break in front of the pack, and most certainly not in front of Derek.

The Alpha's eyes trailed up and down Stiles's body one last time before he turned away from the boy and made his way to the winding staircase.

The unspoken order, that Stiles follow, blaring.

Which led him to the present moment.

The door closed behind Derek with a soft click. Not with a heavy bang or the groan of strained wood, but with a soft click. Somehow that was so much worse.

Now there was no barrier to keep Derek from losing his composure, but he still kept quiet.

For the first time in a long time Stiles felt out of place. This was the room he had lived in for months now with the man he had shown his most vulnerable parts to, but it felt like he had walked into a stranger's home. Everything was the same as when Stiles had left, but the relationship between the two people who shared its space had monumentally changed.

"Derek," Stiles finally broke, needing to fill the silence.

The Alpha wouldn't even look at him, hand still on the doorknob like he was thinking of fleeing and leaving Stiles to suffer in his own misery. That would be the worst punishment of all.