triskehale | closed; thomas

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closed,
thomas

closed; thomas

Truthfully, Derek doesn't how good of an idea it is to spend so much time with Thomas. It seems like sort of a dangerous, painful road to go down, but then again, Derek isn't known for his fantastic decision making skills.

Thomas is so different that Stiles in so many ways, and Derek likes him for the person that he is dependent of what he looks like, but sometimes Derek looks at him and forgets that he can't reach out and touch him, pull him in. It's confusing, and painful, but Derek pushes past it. Thomas deserves better than to be brushed aside because he looks like the person that Derek was in love with, and he can handle it.

Derek gets up early on Friday morning and puts on running pants and a white tank, and then feeds his cat before pulling on his sneakers. He grabs two protein bars and two bottles of water, throwing them in a plastic bag before heading out the door. He makes it to the Bramford building in no time flat, not even working up a sweat. Once inside, he takes the stairs and then lets out a breath before stepping up to Thomas' door and knocking on it.

This will be fine. Totally, completely fine.

Probably.

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It'd been long enough now that Thomas's stomach had mostly adjusted to eating more than meager scraps of food. The first few nights had been a study in how fast he could get to the bathroom and empty the contents of his stomach. Slowly but surely, things had improved and he'd gotten used to having full meals on a regular basis.

He still forgot to eat sometimes, still horded stuff away in case rationing was needed but it wasn't as frequent. The skinniness would probably never go away, though. He ran too much and worried too much to really fill out.

"I'm gonna end up sleeping for a day after this," Thomas said, leaning his cheek against his hand and smiling. "It's still hard to really get that there's so much food so readily available. It just wasn't like that where I came from. We had a good amount in the Glade but nothing like this. And then, after that..."

Then, there'd been nearly starving death followed by food followed more starving.

"A nap doesn't sound like a terrible idea," Derek says with a nod. He doesn't have the truck until the evening, and he can see himself lounging in the grass in wolf form after this, dozing in the shade. His expression softens, going a little concerned, and he takes a sip of his coffee before looking at him again. "You won't go hungry here, Thomas."

Even if food weren't readily available, Derek would make sure that he had it. He knocks his shoe against Thomas' under the table, calling back the meal they shared at the movie, and settles back in the booth with his hands wrapped around his coffee.

It doesn't take long for their food to arrive, and Derek looks greedily at the plates as the waitress sets them down, and he picks up his fork as he looks at Thomas with a small smile. "Dig in."

"I think it'd be impossible to go hungry in a place like this," Thomas agreed, hiding a smile behind his hand when he bumped his shoe against Derek's in an answering gesture. He remembered when that had first happened too. It'd been a good night. The only things he could remember about the movie was the really strange looking squid and the sounds of so many different people screaming for their lives. But still, it'd been a good night.

"That's a lot of food," he remarked, looking down at his plate with wide eyes. He knew he shouldn't be surprised, all meals here seemed to come in huge portions. This was what it was like to live in a world that wasn't bombed out and left to rot. This was what it was to live in a world that was alive. Such a small thing to most but huge in Thomas's eyes.

"Well, I do have the appetite of a wolf," Derek says with a smirk, pulling his waffle over and spreading butter across it before covering it in syrup. "Whatever you don't eat, I'll gladly finish."

He winks at Thomas and then cuts off a piece of waffle, popping it happily into his mouth and licking syrup from the corner of his lips. A pleased noise escapes him and he washes the bite down with coffee, feeling utterly content. "Come on, try a bite."

Derek takes great joy in showing Thomas new things, and he doesn't exactly question why. He's just grateful that he gets the opportunity.

Before he ate anything, Thomas found himself watching what Derek topped the waffle with so he could mimic his actions. It was something he'd found himself doing a lot, watching people to figure out what to do in certain situations. Some people had caught him staring and glared but most had been pretty tolerant of the whole thing. It made it easier than outright asking someone for help when it came to simple, mundane tasks.

"I'm gonna, I'm gonna," Thomas said, sounding amused at Derek's insistence that he eat. He picked up his fork and cut a fairly good chunk from the waffle before popping it in his mouth. And while he didn't make any sounds, his eyebrows jumped in surprise at the sweet taste and he'd barely swallowed the first piece before he was stuffing his mouth with a second.

"This is good," he said, forgetting his manners and saying that around a mouthful of sticky sweet waffles.

Derek chuckles at Thomas' reaction, pointing his fork at him before cutting another bite of his own waffle. "See? I haven't steered you wrong."

He watches Thomas for a moment, smiling indulgently at him, and then looks back down to his plate. Spending time with Thomas is easy, and Derek finds himself smiling more than usual. It started off awkwardly, obviously, and it still has its moments of that, but mostly it's just nice. It's easier than Derek thought it would be, and he's glad for that.

"You might get some meat on those bones yet," Derek teases before digging into his eggs.

"That your plan?" Thomas asked, twirling his fork around between two fingers for no other reason than he could. Something as simple as that, silverware, was something that still amazed Thomas. They'd had rudimentary supplies in the Glade but most of their food had been the type that could be eaten with fingers.

"Hope you don't think I can look like you because I can't," he joked, shaking his head. Derek's muscles had muscles and yes, Thomas had noticed. He was pretty sure he'd have noticed if he'd been struck blind and been standing on the other side of the city. "I've looked worse than this so it's getting better."

Hopefully there'd never been another time like the days before the Scorch when he and the others had literally been starving to death.

"You look good," Derek says before he thinks better of it, and then swallows hard before he takes another bite of his waffle. He thinks Thomas looks better than good, obviously, but it's not like any good would come of saying so. He frowns at the thought of Thomas looking any worse, because in this case worse means unhealthy, but he shakes it off. That was the past.

"Maybe a little skinny," Derek admits, toeing at Thomas' ankle before stabbing a sausage with his fork. "But it's nothing some waffles won't fix."

"You're not gonna make me sit here and eat waffles until I'm bigger, are you?" Thomas asked, muffling his laugh with another mouthful of food. The run had apparently sapped his energy more than he'd thought. Thomas made himself slow down though, still unsure if his stomach could handle that much food all at once. He didn't want to end up sick because of his own stupidity.

"If you are, mind letting me know so I can get comfortable," he quipped, tapping the toe of shoe against Derek's foot. "It might take awhile."

"Nah, it's more of an ongoing process," Derek says with a laugh that softens into a smile when Thomas nudges at his foot. "One waffle at a time."

He takes another sip of his coffee and then holds the mug out to Thomas. "Have you tried coffee yet?"

Thomas tapped his foot against Derek's ankle a few more times before he put his fork down and sat back, giving the coffee a quizzical look. He'd tried it before but hadn't been a fan. He wasn't sure if it was that specific coffee or coffee in general that he didn't have a taste for.

"I did once before but I'm not sure I like it," he admitted, reaching for the mug anyway. He gave the coffee a sniff, letting the strong aroma waft up into his nose and all the way into his head. It woke him up even though he wasn't even tired. It gave him a little kick in the backside that he'd apparently needed. "It's kinda bitter. Is it supposed to taste that way?"

"It's definitely an acquired taste," Derek says with an amused chuckle, watching as Thomas sniffs at the coffee. "And if you get it plain, yeah. You might like it better with cream and sugar."

He shrugs and spears some of his hashbrowns on his fork. "It's funny. The caffeine doesn't even do anything to me with my fast metabolism. I just like it."

Derek resolves to take Thomas to the coffee shop at some point and get him one of those indulgent mochas with the chocolate sauce and whipped cream. There are so many things to show Thomas, and Derek is glad that he'll get the chance.

Thomas didn't make a move to drink the coffee but he did continue to hold it while he sat back and watched Derek eat. He was pretty sure Derek could put away five plates of this stuff and still have room for five more. He would not have fun in the Scorch where the only things to eat were the birds, the dirt and...the Cranks. Thomas wished that place on no one but himself.

"Can anything affect you?" he asked, suddenly curious. "Alcohol? Drugs? Anything that's supposed to make you feel like not yourself?"

"Mm, not really, no." He picks up a piece of bacon and bites off the end, watching Thomas thoughtfully for a moment. "There is a plant that's poisonous to us, and to humans for that matter. But a strain of exists that can be used to mimic the effects of alcohol in werewolves. I have it at the bar. Other than that, no. Our metabolism is too fast."

He smirks and then leans over the booth to take his coffee back from Thomas, their fingers brushing as he curls his hand around the mug. He takes a long sip and then sets it back in the center of the table before reaching for his fork again. "Any other questions?"

Thomas let the mug go and wiggled his fingers in Derek's direction after he'd felt Derek's touch. He sat back again and ate a few bites of his breakfast while his head whirled with possible questions to ask Derek. Some were a little too personal so he stowed those away for...maybe never. He didn't know if he'd ever have the guts to ask a few things but they were there, sitting in the back of his head if he ever got brave.

"Not right now," he said, shaking his head. "Can I reserve the right to ask questions later if I think of them?"

"Sure, Thomas," Derek tells him, giving him an amused little smile. Truthfully, he likes that Thomas is curious about him, and he likes teaching people about what it means to be a werewolf. Derek ducks his head to hide a smile and spears a strawberry with his fork, pointing sternly at Thomas with it. "Eat your fruit."

"You're bossy today," Thomas said, amused. He picked up a few pieces of fruit with his fork and, just before he ate them, said, "I'm not doing this because of you. I was gonna eat them anyway."

He doubted he'd clear his plate in the same way Derek did but he knew from past experience that he couldn't just eat sugar and sweets and junk. He needed things like fruit and vegetables to make sure he was healthy and in as peak condition as possible. If he slipped, he'd be slow and being slow here or back home could cost him dearly.

"I'm bossy most days," Derek assures him, and then raises a skeptical eyebrow. "Whatever you say, Thomas."

Derek likes meat and fruit, and bread, but it's vegetables that he has trouble with. He tries to make sure that he gets some at least once a day, but he often turns his nose up at anything green. He can remember Laura stomping her feet when they were little, crossing her arms and huffing at a bowl of greens.

I'm a wolf, mom! Wolves don't eat salad!

He smiles at the bittersweet memory and takes a sip of his coffee before settling back into the booth, hooking his ankle around Thomas' without really thinking about it.

Thomas was thinking about it. Thomas was definitely thinking about it. He didn't say anything and his body managed not to react beyond a small smile that he directed down at his food.

Tactile touch was still such a new concept but it was one that Thomas found he liked. It was good to know someone else was near and you weren't out there alone in a world that had it out for you. There wasn't danger and deception lurking around every corner in Darrow but he was still wary. It was a hard habit to break.

Derek rarely finds someone that he can relax with like this. There's Neil, and to a lesser extent Kate. There's Helen, but they haven't seen each other as much lately. He doesn't even think before reaching out to touch Thomas, or to hook their ankles together under the table, and that's a wonderful thing. It always seems to come easier when someone knows he's a wolf, and accepts him for it. A bond forges there, and Derek is always glad for it.

He looks up at Thomas from under his eyelashes, smiling a little and dragging another piece of waffle through the syrup on his plate. It's been a long time since he's had such a pleasant morning, and he lets out a content sigh.

Thomas didn't pull his foot back either. He kept it right there, letting the warmth inch up his leg and spread into his blood. Before the city, the few times he'd felt like that had been with Teresa in the Deadheads, sitting and talking quietly to each other while ignoring their harsh surroundings. He'd felt like that when laying beside Chuck at night, listening to his friend chatter on about everything and nothing.

He felt like that now too. Thomas tapped his fork against the plate, gathering up a few more chunks of food before eating them. The smile stayed on his face.

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