triskehale | [for thomas]

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thomas

[for thomas]

It's been nearly two weeks since they returned from that other Darrow, and Derek is beginning to settle back down. The things he saw there still haunt him, and keep him up at night, but he's almost to a point where he can ignore the memories. Derek has seen many, many terrible things, and he knows that he just has to keep on going.

He knows that everyone has been struggling, and it's his friends that have been helping to get him through it. Derek is trying to help however he can, and that's why he laces up his running shoes one morning and heads to Thomas' with a hoodie over his track pants and fitted t-shirt. Winter is drawing near, and Derek can see his breath while he walks. There's a calm sort of stillness to the city, one that only seems to come with cold, crisp mornings.

After stopping to get two coffees and breakfast sandwiches, he heads to Thomas' building and knocks on the door, listening hard as he waits for it to open. Thomas saw some horrible things, and Derek wants to make sure that he's doing okay. Feeding him and dragging him out for a long run should hopefully be a good start.

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"Hey, you brought me food and something to drink," Thomas pointed out, nodding at the sandwich and his half finished drink. "It's not my fault I can't inhale it like you can. I don't have a black hole for a stomach."

With that said, Thomas took a few more bites of the sandwich before he got to his feet, leaving everything on the table in front of them. It'd probably be cold when they got back but he didn't want to throw it away. He'd find something to do with it even if it meant eating it cold.

"But yes, we're doing this," he said, nodding solemnly. "I've been waiting to kick your shucking ass all week. I've been practicing. Feels like all I've been doing lately is running."

"Some of us are just lucky, I guess," Derek says with a laugh, finishing off his own sandwich and getting up. Thomas walks away from the table and Derek rolls his eyes and grabs his sandwich, heading for the kitchen. "Don't leave stuff like this out. It could make you sick."

He wraps it up and puts it in the fridge and grabs two bottles of water out before turning on his heel and raising an amused eyebrow. "Gonna kick my shucking ass, huh? Big words, Thomas."

Derek laughs a little and bounces on his feet a little like he's psyching himself up. "Go get dressed then. You're on."

Thomas rolled his eyes playfully and shook his head before he disappeared back into his bedroom. He changed quickly, going with pants, a long sleeved shirt and sneakers. He'd almost grabbed for his boots on instinct but remembered that he didn't have to run in those now.

It wasn't long before he reappeared, stretching his arms and stifling a yawn behind his hand. He wasn't tired but he'd been sitting and relaxing for awhile so Thomas guessed it was just leftover.

"We running the same path today?"

"I was thinking maybe we could go to the cove, like the first time," Derek replies, looking at Thomas hopefully. That's a good memory in Derek's book. Thomas had handled learning about Derek's secret so well, and he feels like that was a turning point in their friendship. He'd felt closer to Thomas after that, and more like he could trust him.

"It's not too cold yet," Derek tells him, tossing a water bottle his way. "You up for it?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Thomas said, nodding and grabbing the water bottle out of the air. A little familiarity was actually welcome. He'd spent a lot o time mapping the city just as he had the Maze so many months ago. The only difference between then and now were the the layouts and that Thomas wasn't painstakingly recreating every twist and turn he took in the city by drawing it on paper.

"I don't know if I'll wanna swim this time since it is kinda cold but running's definitely gonna happen," he continued. "Haven't been down there in awhile anyway."

"Too cold for swimming," Derek agrees, finishing off his coffee and tossing the cup in the trash before heading for the door and looking at Thomas with a smirk. "Heading out to my secret cove without me, huh?"

He pulls open the door and ushers Thomas outside with a wave of his arm. "Come on, slowpoke."

"Hmm?" Thomas asked, tucking the water bottle up into his sleeve and slipping by Derek and out of his apartment. He waited till Derek stepped out of his apartment so he could lock it up.

"I didn't know it was secret," he said, making a face. "I've been down there a few times just to sit and think. It's quiet. Kind of reminds me of the Deadheads back home except it's not full of gravestones."

"I'm kidding, Thomas," Derek tells him, reaching out to give the back of his neck a squeeze as he passes by. "Go there whenever you want. It is a really nice place."

There were little coves like that near Beacon Hills, and he would go out there to get away from all the noise back home. Sometimes he would go do his homework or read a book, or just lay there and listen to the waves. There's something inherently peaceful about the sound.

"Definitely better than the Necropolis," Derek says with a nod, pushing the lobby doors open and holding it so Thomas can pass through. It's cool but sunny, and Derek takes in a deep breath with his head tipped back, letting the sun hit his face.

"Hey, I figured as much but I didn't want to keep impeding on a place that you might be keeping secret," Thomas said, lightly smacking Derek's arm as he passed and turned around to walk backwards down the hall.

He pushed out into the cool air and stretched again, still pleased every single time he went outside and the sun didn't burn him and, now, that ash didn't fall from the sky and paint the ground grey.

"Deadheads wasn't like the Necropolis," Thomas told him, falling into step beside Derek now. "It was smaller and not as dark. No one went in there but Gladers. Necropolis isn't terrible but the Deadheads was better."

"Impede all you want," Derek says, laughing as Thomas smacks his arm. "Just don't be surprised if a big black wolf comes lumbering through."

He reaches out to lightly flick the back of Thomas' neck and then falls into step with him, heading towards the park. It has the best entrance to the woods, and to the place where most of the trails Derek has worn down over the years start. "Not a fan of the smell of the Necropolis."

Derek wrinkles his nose and shakes his head a bit. "And be careful with that old asylum. I've ran into literal monsters in there, though I think that might have been a Halloween prank by the city."

"I'm not about to go inside an asylum," Thomas promised, shaking his head. He was oftentimes stupid, sometimes insanely so, but he wasn't out looking for trouble in Darrow. He had enough troubles waiting for him back in the Scorch to build up ill will and enemies in a completely new place.

"You're probably not a fan of how a lot of places and people smell," he joked, stretching his arms over his head and rolling his shoulders. "Ever get tired of that sense of smell?"

Derek barks out a laugh at that and looks over his Thomas with an amused smile, shaking his head a bit. No one has ever really asked him that, and he wrinkles his nose a bit as he reaches up to scratch the back of his head. "It can be a pain in the ass, yeah, but I'm used to it."

He laughs again and reaches over to poke the underside of Thomas' arm before scoffing and moving into a lunge to stretch out his hamstrings. "Funny question to ask when you're waving your pits around in my face."

It's all just teasing, because Thomas smells fine to him. Good, even. It's all clean sweat and this musky earthiness that's inherent to him, like vanilla and cloves. And Thomas never seems to wear any cloying, chemical colognes that always make the inside of his nose itch.

"I took a shower and this is a clean shirt," Thomas quipped, making shooing motions at him with his hands. He uncapped the water Derek had given him and took a few gulps, letting the cold water slide down his throat before he capped it and put it away.

He rubbed the back of his neck and pushed his hair back, making it stick up with the movements of his fingers before exhaling.

"Stop smelling me, you weirdo," he joked, making a face. "I don't know if I could deal with a super sense of smell even after getting used to it. There are some things I hate smelling and I've just got the normal ability."

"How thoughtful," Derek jokes back, raising an eyebrow when Thomas tells him to stop sniffing him. He's in pretty good spirits so, just to be an ass, he leans forward and buries his face in Thomas' neck to take a big sniff before pulling away with a chuckle.

"Fresh as a daisy," he says, switching to stretch out his other leg. He doesn't really need it, but he likes the way it feels. "Though you don't smell much like a daisy at all."

Derek snorts and looks over at him as he lunges all the way down until he can press his fingers into the soft earth. "Yeah, some things are just terrible. But the good outweighs the bad, for sure."

Thomas scrunched up his shoulder involuntarily, making a face and laughing when Derek smells him and then pulls away. He hadn't ever had anyone do that to him and it's not at all bad, just new. It tickled.

"You're really lucky I did shower or you'd be hating yourself for what you just did," Thomas joked, shaking his head. Soap was one of those things that he used a lot of and he'd done so even before the other city. The Scorch had been full of nastiness that clung to you, the smell of death and dying people, of pus and blood, and decaying corpses. After awhile, you got used to it but Thomas remembered his first shower after the Scorch and how much lighter he'd felt afterward.

"You start us off," Thomas requested, bouncing up on his toes. "Let's go before I leave you in the dust."

"I've definitely smelled worse than an unshowered you," Derek says with a wry smirk. He's smelled the burning and decaying flesh of his family members. Nothing will ever, ever be worse than that.

He watches Thomas bounce and then scoffs, stretching his arms up over his head and cracking his neck. Then he grins and gives Thomas a mock salute before turning on his heel and taking off into the trees. He isn't going full speed, of course, but definitely pretty fast. The cool air whips past him and he's light on his feet, hopping over a fallen log before looking over his shoulder at Thomas. "What was that about dust?"

Thomas should have expected something like that but he hadn't. He hadn't expected Derek to take off before he'd been completely ready so he was left lagging behind, keeping up and keeping Derek's back in his sights and managing to stay close. He was running hard but his lungs didn't burn and his legs pumped quick and fast, pounding the ground and sending him closer.

"Never took you for a cheater!" Thomas called back, ducking under a branch and stepping around a few rocks and fallen logs while keeping pace as best he could.

"You told me to start us off!" Derek called back, laughing into the wind. "Is this not what you meant?"

He can hear Thomas closing the distance between them, heart beating fast as breath leaves his lungs in quick little punches. Derek has never encountered a human that can run like Thomas can, so fast and steady all at once. It's sort of amazing to witness.

Derek slows his pace enough for Thomas to catch up to him, but they're still running fast, and they move together easily through the trees. It's fun, and the trash talk isn't too bad either.

"Oh, glad to see you could make it," Derek teases once he can spot Thomas out of the corner of his eye. "Enjoy the view back there?"

"Wasn't that bad," Thomas said once he'd pulled even and settled his pace out to something that wasn't so heart pumping and so immediately at a faster pace then he'd be prepared for. Running like this was easy for him. It was like the Maze all over again save for the twists and turns the Maze threw at him and Minho.

"Saw some nice trees, some good rocks, a few spots of dirt," he joked, rubbing a forearm across his hair and loosening his stance and posture to be more comfortable as they ran.

Derek laughs at that, tossing his head back with the force of it. He turns to look at Thomas with a smirk, reaching out to jab him lightly with his elbow. "Must have been some damn nice rocks."

They settle into something steady, and Derek lets his breathing fall into sync with Thomas' as their shoes hit the dirt, kicking dust up behind him as they run. The sun shines down through the trees, dappling the trail with bright patches of warmth. It's peaceful out here, nearly silent except for the birds and the critters, their breathing, and the steady beating of their hearts, loud and healthy.

"I like it out here," Derek says, but he's sure that Thomas already knows.

"I'm not surprised," Thomas said, closing his eyes and feeling the warmth of the sun beating down on his face and shoulders. It was still a wonder to live under a sun that wasn't actively trying to kill you. It'd taken time for Thomas to really trust the sensation but now that he did, he couldn't get enough.

"You'd live outside if you could, I bet," he remarked with a laugh. "Since you probably like your bed, you do the second best thing and live in the woods in a cool house. Probably keeps the noise down."

"I did for a few months for the most part, this time last year," Derek tells him. It seems like so long ago now that he'd just had enough heartbreak to send him out into the woods. "I mean, I came out to work."

That was a dark time for him, but he had found a sort of peace in it. Things like that are easier to handle as a wolf. But it couldn't have lasted forever. Derek didn't want it to. He just needed the time.

"I love my bed," Derek corrects with a laugh. "But yeah, apartment life isn't for me. Too much noise, too many smells. So when I found that old hunting cabin, I decided to fix it up."

"Does your apartment still actually belong to you?" asked Thomas, jogging along easily now that the pace had slowed and evened out. He could feel the slight burn in his legs, could hear his heart pounding in his ears and he loved it, treasured that feeling.

"Do you keep anything there?" he wondered. "Like is it some secret workshop or a place where you keep all your extra leather jackets?"

He shot Derek a smirk at that because it wasn't something he really believed. But, Derek did have all that room and Thomas wondered if it was just empty space or if it was used for anything.

"It does," Derek tells him, and then laughs delightedly and shakes his head. "Sounds like someone has leather jacket envy. You can borrow one, if you want."

He shoots Thomas a teasing look, and then darts forward to lift a low hanging branch out of the way so that Thomas can run underneath it. "Actually, I'm moving back into Dimera for the winter. It'll just be easier. Better for the animals, and if I want people to keep visiting me, I better make it so that they don't have to trek through the woods in a foot of snow."

"I've got a good enough jacket," Thomas said, tugging on his shirt. It wasn't the jacket in question but he'd actually invested in something warm and something that wasn't falling apart at the seams. The light jacket he'd had back in the Scorch was in pieces by now. "Besides, your jackets would be too big."

He could just picture himself standing in one of Derek's jackets, sleeves hanging over his arms while the coat made him look like he was about five years old.

"I didn't even think of that," Thomas said with a snicker. "I'm sure some people would have still gone out there because they just can't resist you."

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