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lifebeginsbyleaving · 4 years

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Making Friends Is Easy As Pie

Derek laid down with a heavy sigh.

Stiles let out a grumble of agreement as he untucked an arm from under his pillow. He blindly flung the arm back. Derek took his hand and they laced their fingers together.

He looked at the back of his husband's head fondly. It had been a long day and the kids had wanted story after story. Thomas even told him they didn't care if he couldn't do the voices as well as papa. Stiles would snort if he told him that. He would have to tell him when he wasn't feeling so tired.

Derek brought his hand up and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. Stiles let out a pleased hum and took his arm back to turn to face him. Stiles kept his one arm under his pillow as he faced the other way with his head resting down again. Derek turned to him too and he dug his elbow into the mattress to prop his head up with his hand. They stared at each other for a moment before Derek's' face broke in a soft tired smile.

"I love you."

Stiles smiled back and yawned. "I love you too." He reached out a hand and took Derek's free one again. "Are the kids asleep?"

"Finally."

Stiles nodded and gradually started blinking slower. "That's good." He let out another yawn and Derek couldn't help one escaping too.

Derek moved closer and Stiles laid his head on his chest. They both seemed to sink into the mattress as they released twin sighs of bliss. After a busy day the warmth of the bed soothed them.

Derek's soft snores filled the air and Stiles was about to drift off when a bang alerted them both.

Derek heard a giggle and a shh sound. "The kids are up, not it. Have fun with that."

Stiles smacked his chest as hard as his tired limb could. "You ass, you're the one who didn't put them to sleep correctly."

"Right. But I tried, your turn." Derek, like the asshole he was, closed his eyes.

"You're making breakfast then." Stiles grumbled as he threw the blankets off himself.

Derek's face was smushed against his pillow so his words came out mumbled. "Like you get up before five minutes we have to go out the door."

Stiles hit his leg on his way around the bed and out the door.

Stiles took a deep breath and tried to school his expression into one of a stern parent. He ripped open the door and turned on the light as he spoke in an accusing tone, "What are you doing?!"

Stiles watched as the chests of his two perfect little angels rose and fell. Parker had the blankets she normally kicked off tucked neatly under her chin. Thomas had an easily monster grabbable arm draped over the side of his bed. Damn they were good, but Stiles was their papa. "Alright, you little con artists, you aren't sleeping. I know you are still awake."

A loud highly and completely convincing snore broke out of Thomas.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Dad told on you."

They both groaned and sat up.

Thomas spoke with a furrowed brow, "Daddy is so mean."

Stiles put his hands on his hips. "You two are the ones breaking bedtime. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Parker rolled her sassy little nine year old eyes.

Thomas huffed after seeing his sister's attitude. "We were just talking."

"About something that couldn't wait till morning?" Stiles crossed his arms.

"It couldn't wait because it's a secret."

Parker whipped her head to Thomas and he quickly slapped a hand over his own mouth. She laughed at him as he looked guiltily away from Stiles.

Thomas obviously had something he was hiding. Stiles had an internal debate about what to do. He decided to not push. Thomas was a talker, if it was a real problem, they would hear about it. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me, but if it's something serious, I do want to know. If you did something bad, daddy and I would be happy you told us even if we are upset with you about it. And if it's something small, but important to you we want to know that too." Stiles walked into the room to sit on the edge of his bed. "You know nothing you do could ever make us stop loving you, right bubba?"

Thomas avoided his eyes and scrunched his brow in thought. His forehead unwrinkled after a moment. "I wasn't naughty."

Stiles nodded his head. "Okay." He felt guilty using his pop's interrogation techniques on his five year old, but oh well. He waited for Thomas to fill the silence.

"I didn't do anything."

"Okay."

Thomas let out a huff. "I like my chair."

Stiles tried to figure out what that meant in non kindergarten speak.

"Miss Berynell is really super nice."

"She is." Stiles looked over to Parker for help, but her lips were sealed in sisterly solidarity.

"Recess is so fun. I like the swings."

"That's good."

"Schoolwork is sometimes hard, but I like when we have reading time."

"I'm glad." Stiles sat trying to piece it all together. He was listing everything he liked about school, but why? Was he just wanting to talk about school? They asked and talked about it everyday since it started a month ago, surely he would've said something by now. Stiles was glad he liked all those things, but he couldn't figure out why any of them would be a secret. Unless, it wasn't about all the things he liked, but about something he didn't.

"They have awesome crayons. Lots of blue, I like the blue ones."

Stiles tried to speak delicately, "That's good honey. Are there any parts about school you maybe don't like?"

Thomas instantly squirmed and Stiles knew he was right on the money.

"Well, um, maybe. I don't know. I like school. It's not bad. I like going."

Stiles put a hand on his arm and rubbed soothing circles there. "I know you like school. But if there was a part you don't like as much, we wouldn't make you stop going. We'd figure it out buddy."

Thomas deflated and nodded. "I don't like when Miss Berynell makes us do art together. I don't like when we have to have a recess buddy either. I don't like when I'm alone in the halls. I don't like when we have to share desks."

He thought about what all of those thing had in common. Stiles asked what he feared when Thomas seemed to be done, "Do you not like some of your classmates? Do they not like you?"

Thomas considered for a second. "I like them, but I don't know if they like me."

Stiles was ready to show up at school the next day to get everything straightened out if his baby was really getting bullied. "Why don't you think they like you. Do they do mean things to you?"

Thomas shook his head and Stiles was relieved, but confused.

"Then what is it darling?"

Thomas looked shy and unsure, which was a drastic change from his ever bubbly and enthusiastic demeanor. "Well, it's just, when we do art together everyone has to paint together. And at the end you share with someone."

Stiles remembered the first day he came home pleased as punch with something he said was a butterfly. Their fridge was now covered in unidentifiable blobs of color from every day of their first month of school. The one two days ago was one of his favorites, it was all of them together.

"And um, no one gives me their art. And at recess I don't have a buddy that likes to play with me everyday. Michael and Adam play together everyday. And Keith and Lance play lions together everyday. And when they're in the halls they hold hands so they don't get lost." Thomas looked down at his lap and Stiles watched as he uncurled his fists.

His heart broke thinking about his son alone in the halls watching all the other kids swinging their hands together. Just then Parker crawled off her bed and onto his. She laid her hand in his tiny open palm and smiled at him. He returned it before frowning again.

"You have big girl classes Parker. You aren't in the halls."

Stiles wrapped his hands around their smaller ones. "You're never alone though, Tommy. You know that right?"

He nodded. "I just wish one of them would be my friend."

Stiles pulled Thomas a little closer and he easily climbed into his lap. Stiles rested his chin on Thomas' head as Parker curled into his side. "I know Tommy. Making friends is hard."

Thomas leaned back with high eyebrows. "Don't be silly. You've never made a friend."

Stiles was almost hurt by that, but he knew he had to listen to his son first. "What do you mean by that? Yes I have."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah-uh. What about uncle Scott?"

Thomas looked at him like he was dumb. "You didn't have to meet uncle Scott. You've been friends forever."

Stiles fought a smile. "We still had to meet starling."

"No. You've been friends forever." He insisted.

"That's just something we say because it feels so long. We met in the sandbox at a park when we were four."

Thomas' eyes went wide. He scrambled off his lap to be able to look at him with rapt attention sitting cross legged in front of him. "Really? How'd you get him to be your friend?"

Stiles shrugged. "Your grandmas told us I sat down and fixed his castle so it wouldn't keep falling apart. But I don't really remember that. I just remember sitting there with him and liking how nice he was to me. We didn't really decide to be friends then, we just decided to play together."

"So I just have to play with them and they'll be my friend? You play with someone and they have to be your friend forever?"

Stiles smiled at his pure curiosity. "It's not always that simple. With your uncle Scott and I we just go along so well. Even then, we weren't friends right away, that happened later. But with your daddy and I, we didn't get along at all when we first met."

Thomas wrinkled his face again. "Daddy isn't your friend. He's your husband. That means he has to be nice to you."

"Daddy is my friend too."

"When did you make friends with daddy?"

Parker brightened and shuffled off the bed to grab her blanket. When she pulled it off the bed a thud, much like the one that caught his attention earlier, made them jump. It was a heavy book of pictures they most likely got off their bookshelf. She came back over by Stiles and covered them both with her blanket. She opened both hands and faced them towards each other. Her fingertips brushed each other as she brought them together. She did it with both hands a few more times before settling back against her father.

Stiles tried to think of a way to explain their journey to friendship while editing out the violence and fear boners. "Well, we met a long long time ago, but I didn't know your daddy then. I thought he was scary and bad." Both children giggled about the absurdity of their papa being afraid of daddy, even if he did look grumpy sometimes. "But then he started helping uncle Scott and I. We ended up saving each other from a lot of bad people. Slowly I realized that daddy wasn't a bad man, that he was actually a really good one. I found out I really liked being his friend. And then he kissed me and I found out I really liked that too. Then he asked me to be his friend forever and ever and I said yes. I also said yes to having two little stinkers who stay up past bedtime."

Stiles grabbed Thomas' ankle and shook his foot while he squished Parker under his arm. They giggled at him.

"So we didn't get to being friends for a long time, but I'm so glad we did."

Thomas huffed and threw his hands up before they smacked back down on the bed. "That won't work. I wanna friend now. When I'm little. How'd you make friends with uncle Scott? After the sandbox."

Stiles took a deep breath as he thought for a minute. Parker turned to look up at him and made the motion with her hands from earlier again. "Well, I guess there was this one time..."

Tears streamed down his face. He hiccuped out sobs and tried to see what he was doing through the blurriness in his eyes. He wiped his face and just ended up smearing more flour. He checked the clock and panicked more. His breathing was fast even as he tried to calm down.

There was no way he was going to get the pie done and clean up the disaster he created. The kitchen was covered in spilled flour and sugar. There was sticky strawberry syrup all over everything. There were so many dishes in the sink and bits of dough on the floor.

His father was supposed to help him make a pie for his mother today. He got off school that Friday excited to make the pie he'd heard so much about. His mother and babcia told him all about how his mother made it for her on mother's day when she was thirteen and then every one after that. Stiles had been obsessed ever since they left Pennsylvania after visiting babcia. Now with his mom in the hospital he just had to make it. His father said since he was only eight, he would need help. But his father got called in with an emergency. He could tell it was serious, but he didn't care. They had to make it today. They had to make it today because his dad worked tomorrow and his mom had tests. Sunday was mother's day and Stiles needed to make her the pie. He had to. So even though he was home alone he got started. His father told him to wait, but he also said Melissa would be there after her shift in three hours to watch him. That meant he wasn't coming home tonight. That meant they weren't making the pie. And he had to make the pie.

He wiped his eyes again and tried to press the pieces of the crust that were falling off back on to the pan. He sniffled and figured that would be as good as it would be. He turned and placed the pie in the oven, but as he pulled his arms back he touched one to the burning oven door. He shrieked and yanked his arm towards his chest. Tears sprung anew on his face as he felt the pain.

After a few moments the pain faded slightly and he shut the oven door and set the timer for thirty minutes.

He turned to the mess of a kitchen and tried to clean up, but every time he tried he just made more of a mess. He attempted to lift a pot he filled with water to move it out of the sink, but it was heavier than he thought. His arm went down and it banged his burn against the counter. He let go of the pot with a yell and water sloshed everywhere.

Everything was going horribly. He had to make this pie, but it was so hard. He wished his dad hadn't had to leave. He wished Melissa would come and help him. But most of all, he wished his mom was here to show him how to do it. He just wanted his mom. His mom would kiss his arm better and wrap it up. His mom would know how to clean up the mess. His mom wouldn't have let them forget graham crackers at the store even though they got extra of everything else. His mom would tell him it was okay. He just wanted her to be here. He just wanted her with him.

Stiles was crying on the floor curled into a little ball when he heard a knock on the door. He sat up and wiped his snot on his sleeve.

He decided to stay in the floor. He wasn't supposed to let strangers in. Unless, maybe it was his mom. Stiles stood up with a smile and hurried to the door.

There was another impatient knock.

"Stiles? Are you here?" A young voice called out.

The heavy wave of disappointment he felt crushed his face into a frown. Tears gathered in his eyes once again.

That wasn't her. She wasn't coming to help him. His mother wasn't coming home at all.

"Sheriff? Stiles? Let me in. My dad dropped me off early and mom's not home yet. Stiles? Stiles it's Scott."

Stiles wiped his face and unlocked the door.

As soon as he saw Stiles Scott's bright grin faded. "What happened?"

Just those two words said with concern and Stiles melted once again. He pulled Scott into a crushing hug. No matter what he wished for before, now he wanted nothing more than to be close to his best friend. He was sobbing into his neck as Scott tried to bring them both inside.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"T-the flour is-s on th-the floor an-and t-the water. And th-the crust! I-I-I did it wrong. St-trawb-berry pie ha-as graham crackers, n-not d-d-dough! The crust! I-it's wrong-g! Th-the crust S-S-Scott!"

"I'll help you, just tell me what happened."

Stiles spent the next ten minutes trying to explain everything to Scott while sobbing. Scott spent the next ten minutes trying to understand him while trying to get him to calm down.

When he was breathing normally and had explained everything, Scott just stood up from the floor they settled on and outstretched a hand. "I'm going to go over to Mrs. Sonner's house. I'll be right back."

Stiles stood up and held firmly on to his hand. He shook his head wildly. "No you can't. I have to make it! She can't help us!"

Scott nodded. "I know. I'm gonna just ask her for the crackers." He smiled at Stiles. "You can't make strawberry pie without graham crackers crust silly."

Stiles stood there in shock and awe of his friend. He knew he would help him, but he thought he would help by calling his mom or Stiles' dad. He thought he would help him clean up, but the determined glint in Scott's eyes told him he wouldn't be doing anything alone. This pie would be amazing.

"You're the best friend ever Scotty."

He gave him a crooked, dimpled grin. "I think you're the best too."

They giggled as they made a new pie, exactly how babcia and his mom had written it in the old cookbook. This time without baking it and the proper crust. They even cleaned the kitchen to a sparkle.

When Melissa walked into the house there were quiet murmurs and giggles coming from the kitchen. She walked in on a filthy kitchen and a slight trail of smoke starting to come out of the oven. But as she looked at the boys they had wide grins and were marveling at a red lumpy pile covered in what looked to be runny whipped cream like it had hung the moon. She helped them actually clean up the kitchen and take the forgotten piece of charcoal out of the oven after turning it off.

Stiles remembered having his father drop him off at Scott's house right after they came back from the hospital. He gushed about how his mother had loved the pie. The nurses raved about how good it looked and Scott was just as excited as he was about it as he told him.

Stiles tried to not dwell on the sad parts of the story and he made the disaster less desperate and more funny for them, but he still kept how relieved and comforted he was by Scott.

"Do you know what the thing I remember the most about making the pie?"

Parker shook her head and Thomas shouted out, "Eating it!"

Stiles grinned. "No. I remember being so glad Scott was there. Being so happy his dad brought him home early, even if it made your grandma mad. I remember being so grateful that Scott rang the doorbell at that exact moment. He wasn't too early, and he wasn't too late. Just like your daddy. We met when I was pretty young, but we didn't get along and that was good because it wasn't the right time yet. With auntie Lydia I wanted so bad to be her boyfriend for so long, but we weren't right for each other. By the time we became friends I realized we were better being friends. I didn't know auntie Kira as long as I have known most of my other friends, but still she came into my life when she was meant to. I'm really glad I have your daddy and uncle Scott and everybody else, but I don't wish I met them sooner. I met them right when I was meant to. Your uncle Scott built his sandcastle on the perfect day and he rang that doorbell exactly on time. Thomas you don't have to worry about making friends, they're going to find you when you need them to."

Thomas looked upset. "But you had so many friends. You weren't ever alone on the playground."

Stiles gaped at his child. It was true. He'd always had Scott. He didn't know what it was like to not have a friend.

They heard a creak and they all turned to the door.

"You're right, he wasn't. But I have been." Derek came in sleep ruffled, but with a easy smile.

He settled in the bed behind Stiles like he belonged there and Stiles leaned his back against Derek's front with Parker now tucked next to both of them. Thomas was still facing them. "I didn't have any friends growing up. We had such a big family, so I always had cousins over or my siblings to play with. But when I got a bit older, I became close with uncle Peter. He was near my age and we got along really well. I suppose in a way he was my best friend."

Thomas wrinkled his nose. "How come you aren't friends anymore? How come we go to uncle Scott's house, but we aren't allowed to spend the night with uncle Peter?"

Stiles leaned his head back and pressed it into the crook of Derek's neck. He found his hand in the blankets and gave it a squeeze.

"Well, your uncle Peter did something really bad. Actually he did quite a few really bad things, but there's one that I guess I haven't forgiven him for yet. Besides, I don't know how he would be with kids anymore. He used to be good, really good, but so much has changed. Now I don't know. I guess there's a lot I don't know about him anymore. There's so much that's different." There was a sadness starting to tinge his voice.

Stiles gave his hand another squeeze. "Daddy and I will talk about it more later."

"Right. But the reason we aren't friends anymore doesn't really matter. What matters is that sometimes you aren't always friends with someone. Your papa and uncle Scott are still best friends, but me and uncle Peter aren't. Sometimes people grow apart. It isn't always sad though. Just like people come into your life at the right time sometimes they leave it at the right time too. Even though I didn't want to lose him, he was dealing with some things, but he was hurting people he cared about. I couldn't have him around me because he was a bad man, but that doesn't mean I wanted him to leave. He was still my uncle Peter. Sometimes friends come, sometimes they have to go, but one thing stays the same. You will always find who you are meant to. And you don't always have to wait for them. Everyone can teach you something you didn't know before. Everyone has the potential to be your friend. Sometimes the thing that will mean the most to you is right in front of you and you didn't even know it."

Stiles turned his head to look at Derek, but he was already staring at him. Stiles smiled and kissed his husband.

"When I think back I never thought of uncle Peter as my best friend, but he was. He always got me just what I wanted for my birthday. He taught me all about different kinds of music. He even gave me my first leather jacket. He gave me advice. We did a different kind of baking together."

Stiles' elbow jammed back into his ribs.

"We fixed up old bikes and cars together. He actually taught me how to drive. Dad was too worried about me hitting something and mom accidentally used her alpha voice to tell me to brake, so instead of hitting the car in front of us, we got rear-ended because of how hard I stomped on the brakes. Peter was calm enough that I didn't get anxious, but cautious enough to make sure we were safe. He took me on all the back roads. He made sure I could parallel park under any circumstances. When I aced my test he took me out for pizza. Some of my favorite memories of high school aren't with my school friends or the basketball team. They're with him. Windows down, wind blowing and music blaring." There was a slight wistfulness in his eyes even if he was smiling.

Thomas put his small hand on Derek's. "I think you should be friends with uncle Peter again." Parker nodded her head sleepily.

Derek shook his head. "It's not that simple starlings."

Thomas gave him a blank look. "Why not? You said friends come and go when they're meant to. Maybe you're meant to be his friend again. I think you should be. Uncle Peter sounds cool."

Derek took a moment. "Alright, maybe I should. He was pretty cool."

Thomas seemed happy with that and let out a yawn. Stiles and Parker also let out one after him.

"Okay, monkeys time for bed."

Stiles nodded in agreement. "Yes bed."

Parker climbed out of Thomas' bed and into her own. They both stood up and tucked them in with kisses. Stiles smoothed Thomas' hair down and spoke to him, "Are you more okay with going to school and making friends now? Or were our stories too long and boring?"

He shook his head. "No they weren't. I get it. I'm gonna go to school and try to make friends, but if I don't I have Parker and you and daddy while I wait for more friends."

"Okay buddy. Get some sleep you two. We love you."

"Goodnight my stars." Derek was waiting for Stiles before turning off the light switch.

"Goodnight papa, goodnight daddy. Love youuu!" He turned his head to Parker and she nodded at him. "Parker says goodnight and she loves you too."

They smiled at them one last time before turning out the light.

As they walked back, just like every other night, he heard a soft, "Goodnight Parker. I love you." Followed by one soft tap to a pillow then four and finally three.

He climbed back into their bed with a softness in his full heart.

"I don't know how I can be so tired, and yet I don't think I'll be able to sleep for a bit."

Derek turned to face his husband in the soft lamp light. "I know what you mean. Being up for more than ten minutes destroys your ability to just fall right back asleep."

Stiles yawned. "Exactly. How long were you outside the door anyway?"

"Ever since the second thump."

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows at him. "Why didn't you come in?"

Derek shrugged. "I like seeing you with them. I like hearing you talk to them. And I didn't want to interrupt your love poem about Scott." He had a cheeky grin.

He rolled his eyes. "It wasn't a poem. It was a story, so my love story."

Derek let out a small laugh. "Oh, my mistake." He stared at him for a moment before bringing a hand up to stroke Stiles' face. "What made you pick that story? I've never heard that one before."

Stiles moved his face to kiss Derek's palm before turning it back. "That was when I knew, no matter what, that Scotty would be there for me. I wasn't a dumb kid. I knew that she wasn't coming back from the hospital. I knew it was getting really bad. One of the nurses actually told me to make mother's day special because my mom wouldn't live to see my next birthday. Looking back I get why she said it, she wanted me to make the most of my time. And she was right, she died two weeks later. But I think that was the reason I needed to make the pie so bad. I needed mother's day to be special. I needed to make the pie and it needed to be right. Even if it turned out like garbage she made it seem like it was the best pie she'd ever had. I was so proud."

Derek was frowning. "Still, that's a horrible thing to say to a kid."

Stiles shrugged. "It helped me realize what Scott meant to me. When he helped me with that pie I realized that he was my best friend and he always would be. By that day I had already figured out that I was going to lose her, but I found out that he would be there for anything I needed. I knew that even if I lost her he would be there for me. And he always has been. Through every dumb idea or hair brained scheme, he was and is always there. He was with me through high school and college, through finding out about the supernatural, the nogitsune, everything. Scotty's been the one constant in my life. He's not really my childhood friend, he's my brother."

Derek wiped away a stray tear before kissing his nose. He resumed stroking Stiles' cheek. "I'm glad you had him. I wish I would've been there though. I wish I could've wrapped you in my arms to save you from that hurt."

Stiles smiled at the sentiment. They both said it often when they talked about their families. Stiles wished he could've saved him from losing almost his entire family and his best friend in one night. Stiles wished he could've gone back in time to kill Kate or to save Paige. Stiles wished he could've somehow figured out that Peter would kill Laura and save all three of them from it. At the very least he wished to hold Derek while he cried, but that wasn't important. "We met each other exactly when we needed to."

Derek smiled and turned out the light. "Goodnight, my brilliant sun."

"Goodnight, my dear moon."

Derek kissed him and they closed their eyes.

They faded off to sleep in each other's arms. Exactly where they were supposed to be.

This was for the lovely @sterek-bingo

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