#something something eli fixing the jeep is his way of keeping dereks memory alive

[barnesbartons]

as much as the movie grossed me tf out

i do like the idea of derek holding onto stiles' jeep when he starts the auto shop, fixing it for his friend who he occasionally talks to (remember how he's the first person to bring up stiles in the movie), not quite sure why he's so fixated on keeping the jeep in shape when he knows stiles isn't coming back, that stiles himself abandoned escaped beacon hills & that the jeep was another thing that was left behind.

but stiles is still derek's anchor, and derek will fix the jeep, if only to maintain some connection at first. then he finds out about eli, and his anchor shifts, because another hale child, when he thought his family was all but gone. but there's still a part of him that wants some part of stiles in beacon hills to live on, so he continues fixing the jeep. and derek's annoyed at himself, cause he talks to stiles, he knows there's no chance of stiles returning, but fixing the jeep is another chance to talk to stiles outside of consulting the fbi.

(eli never really learns about stiles, just that there was someone in his dad's life that was always there, but not really. for some reason his father never lets him into his office when he's doing consulting work. it's always "scott and his friend saved me from getting my arm chopped off", "scott's friends helped me save your aunt cora," but eli doesn't know who stiles actually is, doesn't know who the jeep belongs to, not until-)

derek dies. the stupid jeep is in his auto shop yard and sheriff stilinski has the keys after eli's stolen it for the umpteenth time, and he gives the jeep to eli. and tells him about it being stiles' jeep, about how his dad had complicated feelings about the jeep. and then eli realises that all those times that derek was smiling on the phone, was annoyed in the yard fixing the hunk of junk over and over again, might've been for someone something other than just a project he could never get rid of.

stiles doesn't find out derek's dead right away. the sheriff doesn't feel like it's his part to tell his son that his friend died. not until eli shows up at his apartment and stiles just knows that there's no longer going to be any calls from his 'friend from the hometown'. and stiles thinks about the goddamn jeep and how it's no longer going to be taken care of, that the jeep is just going to be abandoned like stiles originally did. but stiles steps outside and sees his jeep behind eli and realises that it's in new hands now.

stiles tells eli stories about derek from a whole new light, keeps the memory of derek alive, with the jeep in the front yard gleaming. they grieve together for the loss of a loved one.

(because all this time stiles was waiting on the other end of the phone, excited to hear about his jeep, the sheriff, eli, about derek. all this time stiles was waiting on "i found another roll of duct tape hidden in your engine, goddamnit stiles", knowing that he couldn't go back to beacon hills, but he could wait for derek to figure it out and come to him)

(derek doesn't, but his jeep does.)