β derek hale | teen wolf

[epistemic]

	✔ Cʀᴏssᴏᴠᴇʀs/AU ✔ Aᴄᴛɪᴏɴsᴘᴀᴍ ✔ Pʀᴏsᴇ	✔ Pɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛs ✔ Oᴛʜᴇʀᴡᴏʀᴅʟʏ ✔ Sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇʀs	♥ F/M ⏰ Uᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ

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never ever ever ever apologize

[epistemic]

Derek Hale isn't really sure what impression he gave that made the universe think that he needed to be surrounded by people who would not respect his God-given right to a laconic and isolated nature, but whatever it was, he would like to be informed so that he can never, ever do that again.

Stiles was bad enough, honestly. In fact, Stiles was about all he could feasibly handle at any given time. Then, somewhere along the way, Phoebe was (literally) dropped from the heavens, right on top of him, with a built in mission to apparently redecorate the loft.

(The loft doesn't need redecorating. The loft is fine just the way it is. These, among others, are the kinds of lies that Derek Hale tells himself to justify the fact that his bedroom doesn't have walls and there's a giant hole in one of the far areas of the loft.)

But no, a few weeks after he managed to acquire someone who baffles him even more than Stiles does, he comes home from whatever errand he was running to find that there are various patches of color rolled onto various walls and a pile of fabrics sitting on top of his desk. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where they came from.

"Phoebe?"

[fothermucker]

Derek Hale's living space is, quite frankly, depressing.

Phoebe doesn't hold it against him, really. It appears as though his entire life has been depressing, and it's natural his loft would reflect that. He is a brooding little Dumbo who has yet to learn he can fly. It doesn't mean that a giant hole should remain. Thankfully, Phoebe isn't without guardianship experience. Peter Petrelli was incredibly emo, and war criminal Jack Harkness was nothing short of a challenge.

She can handle a Hale.

She doesn't hear him at first; angel senses or no, it's difficult to hear someone when there is music music. Phoebe, donning overalls and a head bandana, is moving vigorously to the beat, all while holding on to a roller and covering his wall in brand new paint.

"Girls hit your hallelujah - wooh! Girls hit your hallelujah - "

Phoebe finally spots him, and then raises her eyebrows expectantly. She is apparently waiting for him to hit his hallelujah.

[epistemic]

Look at his face, Phoebe. Does this look like the face of a someone who's going to hit their hallelujah? You're remodeling the apartment of a buzzkill, you should know that already.

He just stares at her for a moment, before glancing to the walls and then back to her again.

"What are you doing?"

[fothermucker]

That definitely does not look like the face of someone who's going to hit their hallelujah. It is, however, a face full of possibilities. Derek may not see those possibilities for himself, but Phoebe does, and she is committed to helping and making sure Derek is the happiest and healthiest version of Derek he can possibly be.

It's never too late for anyone. She learned that with the Captain.

"I'm fixing the fact you have a gigantic hole in your loft. How do you live with yourself?"

[epistemic]

His brow furrows for a moment, before shaking his head. "It's not like I have a lot of visitors."

The only people who actually come by are the pack and they know he used to live in his burned out family home. So they're pretty much used to Derek living in squalor. That and he doesn't actually mind. He feels like it matches his mood.

"I was going to fix it."

[fothermucker]

"Were you, though?"

Phoebe props her chin on her hand, discerning and all-too-bright blue eyes fixing on him. "Were you?"

Yes, her question required that it be repeated twice. Mostly because she doesn't believe him, and how else is she going to convey it?

[epistemic]

And Derek won't dignify that question with a response (because it would probably be a lie) and just raise his eyebrows at her again, as though to say "don't impugn the validity of my claim to be redecorating."

"I got sidetracked."

By, you know, Beacon Hills and Scott's pack being Beacon Hills and Scott's pack, always finding trouble wherever they go.

[fothermucker]

"All the more reason for me to do it! One less thing on your mind."

Cheerful as ever, until she catches him raising his eyebrows at her. She sighs and makes her way over to him. She takes his face in her hands, smushing his cheeks - no, really, there is smushing - and looking at him very earnestly.

"You will always be sidetracked. But this place needs to be less depressing. For your sake and mine."

[epistemic]

Derek is still linefacing at her, even with the face smushing. It's all in his eyebrows - he mastered the art of eyebrow communication a long time ago, and he just stares at her for a moment before he tries to talk in spite of her hands.

"It's not that depressing."

[fothermucker]

The words are vaguely muffled to her ears, due to the fact she continues to squish his face in between her hands. He is officially her squishy. Unfortunately for you, Derek, Phoebe's eyebrows have game of their own. She arches a perfectly plucked eyebrow in return.

"Why would you settle for 'not that depressing'?"

[epistemic]

He makes as though he's going to say that he's not "settling." He happens to favor "not that depressing." But that's not exactly going to go over well, he has a feeling. So he opts for what (he thinks) sounds like the next best thing.

"If I were settling, I wouldn't have let the city reclaim my family home."

And when he says that, he's intentionally leaving out the "burnt out remains" that's supposed to go in front of it.

[fothermucker]

Omg, he had to bring in the big guns. Did he have to bring in the big guns.

She stifles a small squeal of frustration, letting her hands drop from his face. Even when she knows she's right, she's never going to argue against family. She technically didn't have one, but she understands that stuff's sacred.

So she collapses dramatically on the couch with her arms folded across her chest. She is officially without a project now.

"Fine. Fine, have it your way!"

[epistemic]

Derek rolls his eyes, more out of a reflex from Stiles being dramatic before moving to flop down next to her. He doesn't mean to frustrate her - as adorable as it is - but he always manages to, one way or another. He's aware that he doesn't know how to function like a person these days, but he isn't completely unaware of when he's living in squalor.

"I put the hole in the wall. I did it when I first moved in because I was still trying to decide what to do with the space. But since I own the building, other projects came up for other tenants and Beacon Hills happened, and I hadn't gotten around to finishing."

[fothermucker]

"Oh."

Her voice is soft, and almost sheepish. Derek has the uncanny ability to make her feel silly without even trying; it's mostly her own self-awareness rearing its head, and she does have some, thank you very much. Phoebe sighs, looking down at her hands, fingers playing with each other like they're caught in a web.

"I'm a fixer. I like to fix things. Not people, because that's not ... what it means to be a person." She's not here to 'fix' Derek any more than she is really here to 'fix' the wall. But she doesn't like feeling useless, and being Derek's guardian is, most of the time, an exercise in futility. She'd like to help somewhere, even if it's a dumb wall.

[epistemic]

He gets that. He just doesn't want to come home and not recognize his own living space. He went a long time without having a place that really felt like his own (the Hale house burned down and then was torn down, the apartment in New York has Laura's ghost resting in every corner, and the train car ... well, that was actually a cry for help, and thankfully he got over it). He wants this to be a place that he built for himself (and maybe Cora, if this place is ever safe enough for her to come home).

He glances around for a moment, before looking at Phoebe with a nod. It's obvious that Beacon Hills isn't really going to allow him the time to do it himself, so if he doesn't, someone should.

"Just ... run stuff by me before you make the final decision?"