You don't have to love me [McHaleinski]

Part 1

"Yes... Stiles and I are... friends, too. And we need to go home, okay?"

"I'm... I'm not supposed to go anywhere with strangers."

Shit. "Okay... what if I call Stiles and your mom? Would that be okay?"

Scott hums, his tiny mouth pursing. "Um... okay, I guess."

He fishes his phone out of his back pocket, quickly thumbing through his contacts to Stiles' number. It barely gets through the first ring before Stiles picks up.

"Hey, sugarplum. How'd the boyfriend bonding go?"

Derek has to shut his eyes to keep from rolling them. "Don't call it that. Don't call me that."

"But honeybunch! You're my boyfriends and you're bonding. What else do you want me to call it? 'Hoping my boyfriends will man up and make out?'"

He's going to kill him. "Stiles," he growls.

"That doesn't sound like Stiles," the high little voice pipes up.

"...Derek, who is that."

"Slight problem," Derek replies through gritted teeth. He clicks the phone onto speaker. "Say hi, Scott."

The child waves at the phone after a moment's hesitation. "...Hi!"

"Holy shit!"

Scott's eyes go comically wide, and then he giggles, like a perfect little cherub.

"Stiles!" Derek barks.

"Oh, like Scott's never heard that word before."

"Scott is currently, what, six--"

"I'm seven!"

"--seven, and shouldn't be exposed to that language, Stiles."

He can practically feel Stiles rolling his eyes. "Oh, excuse me. Hand me to Scott, then, Mister Proper." Derek clenches his jaw shut to avoid saying something equally damning. He passes the phone into Scott's hands. The smartphone dwarfs them now. "Hi, Scotty!"

"Hi... are you really Stiles?"

"Yeah, buddy!"

"How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen, just like you were when I saw you last. You feeling okay? You remember what happened?"

"Um... no. I don't know where I am. Or who Derek is."

"That's okay. Derek, what happened? Trap, spell, what?"

Derek leans forward just slightly. This time, at least, the boy doesn't try to back away from him. "The witch escaped. She tried to hit us with something, both of us. But Scott..."

"Don't tell me - he was very heroic and shoved you out of the way."

He lowers his head. "Yeah."

"Wow," Scott whispers. "I saved you?"

It's Stiles that has to answer. The words get caught in Derek's throat. "Yeah, you did, dude! Because Derek's my boyfriend and your Second. He's really important to us, so you can trust him, okay?"

Though Scott looks less dubious about the idea, he still hesitates. "I'll call your Mom next," Derek soothes.

"That's a good idea," Stiles agrees over the phone. "Hey, dude, can you pass me back to Derek so I can tell him about the witch thing?" As soon as the phone is back in Derek's hands, he clicks the speaker off and brings it to his ear. It's pointless, thanks to Scott's heightened senses, but the illusion of privacy is comforting. "So we have the five points taken care of. If she does try coming back, she's going to have a hard time siphoning energy from the ley lines."