┏━━━━⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆━━━━┓

SOFT

DEREK COULD PINPOINT THE EXACT MOMENT WHEN THINGS STARTED TO CHANGE.

He thought about the events from the abandoned mall often enough, but it was the aftermath that really lingered at the forefront of his mind as of late.

Since he first met her, all Derek did was use Emerson Avery. If he needed a favour, he knew who to ask, and if he needed help, he knew how to find her. It was a rather selfish plight at first, the man seeing the obvious advantages of having her around, and he was incredibly aware of just how many favours he owed her in return.

Emerson, with her snarling demeanour and brash threats and all of it, was compassionate. She had to be, considering the amount of times she leant Derek a helping hand when he certainly didn't deserve her charity. Yet, he never expected her to turn her back on Deucalion for him... not when so much was at stake for her.

Hannah's life was in Deucalion's hands, and Emerson was the only person who knew just how serious that implication was. In helping Derek, the blonde all but abandoned her uneasy alliance with Deucalion. She didn't have to help him when she stumbled up to her car on the brink, because really, most of the problems with the alpha pack would fade if Derek wasn't around for them to seek out.

She didn't have to, but she did— she did because she was as selfless as they came. That was a thought that well and truly dawned on him when he'd woken up the night she helped him heal.

Derek remembered waking up, limbs sore and the wound on his chest only just beginning to heal. His eyes scanned the room, picking up on the gentle beating of her heart from across the room. He pushed himself upward, breathing sharply through his nose before finding the strength to hobble over to the couch.

He looked at her for a moment, noticing the twitching of her hand and the furrow of her brow. She looked like she was in pain, like she was the one with deep wounds on her own chest.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that she'd taken his pain. Of course she had.

"You're such a brat," he murmured lowly before he lowered himself onto the ground right next to the couch.

Derek instantly reached for her hand, black veins crawling up his own arm dully.

Her hair always looked so soft.

Without a second thought, his hands reached out once more. This time, it wasn't because he was repaying a favour— no, he brushed some of her hair away from her face. Because he wanted to.

And shit, it was as soft as it looked, he thought. His lip quirked up when her brow softened ever so slightly.

The moment was gone the minute her heartbeat sped up, indicating she was waking up. His hand retracted at the same time that his face neutralized again. The Hale man watched her blink a few times, consciousness returning to her while his hand seemed to tingle.

"You should be resting," she whispered, the back of her hand groggily going to rub at her eyes. "Y'know, lying down as opposed to sitting on the concrete."

Always a smartass, he thought while withholding the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he opted to address the elephant in the room. "I got your voicemail."

She pushed herself to sit upright, gesturing for him to take a seat next to her just so she didn't have to look at him head on. It took him a moment to rise, but he complied.

"I'm sorry," she said, staring at her fingers that she was wringing in her lap. That was a nervous tick she had, one he hadn't seen often, but knew from the few times she let herself show such an emotion around him. "I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was wrong."

He couldn't find it in himself to fault her for what she'd done. "I know why you did what you did," he responded earnestly, staring at her as she dodged his gaze, "but I wish you would've let me help you."

Emerson had denial on her lips already. "You were so busy with Boyd and Erica and Cora," she stressed, the frown deepening on her face. "I didn't want you to worry. I thought— I thought I could handle it."

"Weren't you the one who said we needed to work together to deal with the alpha pack?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, and he caught the roll of her eyes at his rhetorical question.

"I did," she muttered, almost bitterly, in return, "but I had the chance to save yo— your pack, and Hannah, and I had to take it. If he wasn't such an asshole who valued specifics, it would've worked."

Derek couldn't help but chuckle, wincing slightly as he did so. "He is an asshole," he agreed, because that was one that they were all certain of when it came to Deucalion. Though, the somber look on the girl's face made him sober up.

"You're nothing like him."

Emerson's eyes closed on their own, disbelieving of his words. "You should hate me," she responded, eyes opening just to stare at the space in front of them in frustration. "For what I did. For who I am. You should be yelling at me right now— why aren't you yelling at me?"

Derek could tell she was getting worked up over this— over the entire situation. She hadn't asked for any of this, none of them had, and if anyone knew what it was like to be dealt a shitty card by the universe every once in a while, it was him.

His hand went to her knee, sluggishly garnering her attention. Their eyes connected, and yeah, that had been the moment when things started to change.

Beneath the brashness that he'd grown accustomed to was softness. Selflessness. Someone who took care of others when she'd already spent all her time taking care of herself.

"I could never hate you. Not for this. Not for anything, if I'm being honest."

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He was the first to wake up that morning in the cabin, registering that one arm was strewn across the Avery girl's torso while the other was beneath the pillow that her head was planted on.

Her breathing was still evened, and perhaps if it wasn't— if she'd woken up right when he did, he would have half a mind to shuffle away from her. But in that moment, he could only bring himself to brush the hair from her face again.

Deja vu hit him square in the face, though she showed no signs of waking just yet. This time around, she looked like she was at peace, the stress faded from her face completely.

Soft.

The cabin seemed to bring out the best in her, and Derek could admit that it was bringing out the best in him, too. He could mourn at his own pace, lick his wounds without the others poking and prodding at him, reminding him of Kali's promise to return. If she got to him, Boyd and Erica would've died in vain— would've died for nothing.

He could also admit that it was nice being with Emerson when they weren't fighting for their lives. It gave him a semblance of normalcy, seeing her without research books or mind maps or battle plans.

She really did look so soft in this light, in the glow of the rising sun that was streaming into the room from the window.

Shit, she was making him soft.

He held back a smile at the fact that she would completely belittle him if she found out. Would use it to her advantage, or tease him, or simply rub it in his face. She'd gotten friendlier with him, sure, but was no way she would ever return any of the sentiments he was feeling.

A yawn pulled Derek from dwelling on the pit that formed in his gut, followed by the upticking of Emerson's heart.

The arm beneath her head stayed, but the one on her torso was quickly removed. Sure, she had kissed his cheek just the night before, but Derek assumed it was just Emerson being nice. An eye for an eye sort of situation. He had no reason to assume otherwise, and the last thing he needed was to turn their excursion into something else entirely.

Things like that never turned out well for him, anyway.

"Jeez, you're up early." If she noticed their closer proximity, or the arm beneath her pillow, she didn't mention it. Derek didn't know whether to be thankful she didn't or whether to mourn that fact.

"I always wake up early," he responded with a shrug.

Emerson scoffed. "Bull-shit," she said, emphasizing the individual words. "You're a night owl; you're telling me you never sleep in?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he retorted with a raised eyebrow. "You don't seem like a morning person to me."

She laughed, the sound pleasantly ringing around in his ears. "Villains work best at night, so I've noticed that we're usually on their schedule," she explained. "I stopped trying to be a morning person a long time ago."

He mulled over what she said. "That... actually makes a lot of sense," he agreed with a mutter. Derek pulled himself upright, taking his arm that was beneath her pillow with him as he rose. His bare feet hit the cold ground, his shoulders rolling back. Though, he did a double take at the fraction of a frown on Emerson's face. "Hey, you okay?"

In the blink of an eye, the look on her face was replaced by an easy smile. "Oh, totally," she dismissed, going to sit upright as she rubbed at one of her eyes with the back of her hand. "Just thinking about breakfast— we could do pancakes if I run to the little shop we passed on our way in."

It was obvious she was deflecting from something, but even Derek knew it was far too early to be poking around in her business. So, he only agreed with her idea.

"I'll drive."

That got her rising to her own feet in an instant, and it subsequently made Derek very aware of the short little pyjama bottoms she must've changed into during the night. "Hell no," she denied, rounding the pullout in search for the car keys she had left in the kitchen. "You're not driving my car."

His eyes narrowed in her direction. "I let you drive mine during the summer," he reminded her blandly, "twice."

Based on the sound of victory she let out, followed by a distinct jangling sound, she'd found them. The blonde faced Derek once more, a playful smirk on her face. "You know you can never actually say no to me," she teased, pocketing her keys into the pocket of her hoodie. Before Derek could even swallow, or give a response, or anything, she was marching off in the direction of the bedroom. "Let me change and then we'll go, yeah?"

The door clicked behind her, and Derek found himself releasing a breath before he was making his way over to his own bag, pulling out some clothes for the day.

Emerson had no idea how right she was, how hard it was to say no to her. Even before she'd helped him heal only a few days ago, Derek always let her get what she wanted at the end of the day.

He never thought too long on the reason why over the summer, the pair far too busy tracking the opposing alphas down, but now? Now, especially as he changed, he could allow himself the time to think. Now, he could let himself think of the way he liked her.

Yeah, Derek Hale liked Emerson Avery.

The blonde in question returned, emerging from the bedroom in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Some strands of hair fell away from the ponytail she'd tossed her hair up into, but to him, she looked just fine. More than fine, he thought aimlessly.

"Do you like chocolate chips in your pancakes?" she inquired curiously. "I'm more of a blueberries kind of girl, but I just realized I don't know how you take your pancakes."

She made it seem like his pancake order was a big deal. To him, it wasn't, because it wasn't like he ate pancakes frequently enough to even have a specific order. Though, the fact that she even asked such a simple damn question had him clearing his throat.

He tried to play it cool, offering up a shrug. "Whatever you want is fine by me."

The smile that his statement earned him made his heartbeat stutter, only briefly, on its own.

"I like the way you think, Dere."

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

[ wyn's note ]

they're so cute bro :( DEREK'S CRUSH ON EMMY = CONFIRMED TEHEHEHE

thanks for 120k guys!! sorry for the slower chaps, but we're nearing the end so i wanna stick to a one chap a week moment (maybe even more when i have the time, schools kicking my booty rn lolol)

all my love !! xx