Work Text:
Derek glares at his vegetable garden. It had been quite impressive yesterday with herbs, flowers and vegetables. The only thing left now is, ironically, a few carrots. Ironic because the rest has been eaten by rabbits. There are also leaves from the flowers (not from the herbs, they’re all gone) and quite a few stems left. He’s been working so hard on this. He’s even set up a fence to keep the darn rabbits outside, but to no avail.
“Oh.”
Derek’s eyes snap up at the sound of the obviously not adult voice. On the other side of the plots a girl stands. She’s probably around four or five. She’s wearing a set of green shorts and green shirt along with a green fishing hat. Her bare knees and arms are dirty, as is the whole front of her, as if she’s been crawling in the dirt. She has brown hair in pigtails under the hat and a splatter of moles on her cheek. If her voice hadn’t betrayed her disappointment in something, her brown eyes certainly do.
“I thought he’d be here, I followed his tracks here,” she says. Derek shakes his head, wondering how she even got into his yard. The only way in is through his house and he’s quite sure he locked the door on the other side of the house after he got his morning paper.
“No, he’s left,” Derek says, thinking it’s probably more than one though, by the looks of it, and if they’d still be here he would’ve wrung their necks. He doesn’t tell the girl this because kids shouldn’t have to hear such things, right?
“You know where he is?” she asks and Derek shakes his head.
“Have you lost your bunny?” he asks, thinking of maybe suing her parents for letting the beasts loose.
She gives him the best ‘bitch please’-look Derek has ever seen on someone under age twenty. Maybe the best ‘bitch please’-look he’s ever seen, and that’s saying something because he’s the brother of Cora.
“It’s the Easter bunny,” the girl tells him seriously and Derek tries, and probably fails, to not smile at that. He has no idea how to respond though. There’s a reason Cora and not Derek is Laura’s kids’ favorite. He can’t talk to children. Honestly, they scare him a bit.
“Did he leave any eggs?” the girl asks.
“It’s not Easter yet,” Derek tells her, earning himself another bitchy look.
“He’s been here for a week now, but no one’s seen him,” the girl tells him. “I want to see him. I wonder what he wears. You think he wears blue or green pants?”
“I don’t know,” Derek says, freaking out a bit. The girl is clearly judging him for his lack of imagination. “Are you lost? Do you want me to help you back to your home?”
“I’m not lost.” Again, with the bitch face. What has Derek ever done to deserve being judged this much by a kid?
“My name is Claudia,” the girl tells him. “I live over there,” she points to her right and as Derek’s house is the furthest down the road there are maybe ten, fifteen houses to choose from. Derek doesn’t ask her which house, because she’ll probably just say ‘the red one’ or ‘the white one’ and all the houses are red or white (Derek’s red). Derek can’t remember if he’s seen her and her parents since he moved in a month ago. He hasn’t really had time to go around and introduce himself. Not that he’s ever had any plans to do just that either.
“If you see the Easter bunny, you come find me.” It’s not a question, it’s an order, and Derek can only nod in response. The girl jerks her own head in a nod before turning around, heading towards the back of Derek’s yard. She kneels down and – fucking rabbits! – crawls under the fence where a hole has been dug.
Derek watches her hop over a stump as she makes her way along the fence in the direction she had pointed to be her house. He makes his way over to the fence and sees the clear imprints of rabbit paws and claws in the earth by the hole. He sighs and decides to go into town to buy some nets and stones to fix the hole.
The girl in the store – Erica her name tag says – laughs when Derek says he needs some net to keep the damn rabbits outside. Derek glares and she seems unfazed by it as she leads him into the store to help him find the right kind of net.
“Maybe you should call some hunters?” the girl suggests as they make their way back to the counter where she starts ringing up his supplies.
“I don’t know any hunters.”
“Lucky for you, I do,” she smiles at him. Her smile is a bit predatory and Derek wouldn’t really be surprised if she had a rifle behind the counter. Seriously, countryside people.
When Derek’s paid, Erica rips off a page from a notebook where she scribbles a name and a few numbers.
“This is the best hunter in town. I’ve heard he can hunt down basically everything.”
Derek nods and thanks her before carrying his nets out to the car. He used to have a beautiful, black Camaro, but his ex destroyed that one when they broke up – Derek had thought the break-up was mutual until the police called, saying someone had pushed his car down a cliff, but “don’t worry, there was no one in the car”. Derek kind of wished Jennifer had been in the car, instead she had painted a smiley face on the roof of it (the only part that wasn’t smashed from the 50 feet fall). She always said Derek loved his car more than her and Derek guesses she was right. When he moved to Beacon Hills, as far away from Los Angeles he could come with still being in the same state, Cora had nagged Derek that he needed a “real countryside car” and he’d given in and bought an SUV. He admits that the net is a lot easier to store in his new Toyota than his old Camaro, but… When he put his foot on the gas in the Camaro the car actually moved forward…
Derek misses the car more than the ex-girlfriend.
Derek’s fixing the hole under the fence the next day when someone suddenly clears their throat. He looks up to see the girl from yesterday, Claudia, standing on the other side of the fence.
“Whatcha doing?” she asks.
“The rabbits eat my herbs,” Derek tells her and she looks thoughtful.
“What do they eat?” she asks.
Derek shrugs. “Judging by this,” he motions over his shoulder over his still ruined vegetable garden, “everything.”
“Oh,” she says and then she leaves. Derek has no idea how to interpret their conversation so he doesn’t think much of it as he continues his work. When he’s certain he’s reinforced the fence he goes to fix his plots, pulling out all the old, ruined plants and get the plots ready for new seeds. It’s a hard work, especially as he’s already done this just a few weeks ago. He had called the amazing hunter called Chris the day before and he’d promised he’d drop by later in the day.
Derek’s just sat down on his porch, looking out over his new plots with a cup of herbal tea in his hand when someone rings the doorbell. He sighs, sets down his cup and goes to the door. A middle-aged man with light-gray hair and blue, piercing eyes and a younger woman with dark eyes and dark hair in a tight bun on her head stand on the other side. He’s wearing obvious hunter clothes, all in green and with thick, brown boots. There’s a knife attached to his thigh and he kind of look more like he’s about to go hunt something a lot more dangerous than a few rabbits.
“Hi,” Derek says, “You must be Chris Argent?”
The man nods as they shake hands.
“My daughter, Allison.”
The daughter smiles at Derek as he shakes her hand, showing off deep dimples. She seems a lot more easy-going than her father.
“I heard you had a problem that needs taking care of,” Allison says, her voice grave but her eyes twinkle and Derek suspects she knows exactly how ridiculous it sounds as they’re talking about rabbits. Chris doesn’t seem to catch on to his daughter’s sarcasm as he only nods gravely. Derek and Allison share a smile at that.
Chris starts to talk about how to hunt down the rabbits, he doesn’t like traps and Derek – thinking of horror stories from bear traps and the little girl that runs around in the woods – nods in agreement.
When Chris and Allison leave, Derek’s tea has grown cold.
Derek smiles when he first sees the small, green sprouts coming pressing up through the dirt. His net is still intact and he hasn’t even seen any rabbits in the last few days. The Argents seem to have done a wonderful job. Derek enjoys his herbal tea on his porch in the sun when a small, familiar voice calls out to him.
“Excuse me, sir!”
Derek doesn’t know if anyone has ever called him sir before. He sees the girl, Claudia, in her usual attire of green on the other side of the fence.
“Hello,” Derek calls out and sits up straighter.
“Have you seen him?” Claudia asks and Derek knows whom she’s talking about. “I found traces of him until a few days ago. I think he’s deeper into the woods, but dad says I’m not allowed to go into the woods by myself. Will you come with me?”
“I’m not sure-”
“Please? Dad’s busy with work and Scott’s got the flu so he can’t come and Ally’s out bonding with her daddy.”
Derek guesses Scott and Ally are friends of Claudia’s and he feels a bit sorry for the small girl not having anyone to play with and a dad that’s too busy for his daughter.
“Sure,” Derek says and gets up from the chair. He makes his way over to the fence and Claudia gives him her best bitch-face.
“Are you wearing that?”
Derek has never felt so judged in his entire life before! He looks down at his jeans and t-shirt, admittedly not as fancy and as hunter-y as what Claudia is wearing, but he thinks he looks just fine.
“Don’t you have any green clothes? They’re more stealthy.”
“I can change into a green shirt,” Derek sighs and Claudia nods at him to do so. He hurries to change and locks his back door as he makes his way over to the fence to climb over it.
“This way,” Claudia leads him into the woods and Derek wonders if she knows her way around in there, because Derek sure as hell won’t.
They’ve been walking for maybe ten minutes, stopping every now and then for Claudia to bend down and look at the ground – for what Derek has no idea – and Derek pretends to be busy studying the bark on a tree or the leaves of a bush, as well. On the small trail in front of them another person gets visible, a dog by the person’s side, and when they get closer Derek recognizes Allison Argent with a rifle over her shoulder.
“Ally!” Claudia screams, even though she’s complained at Derek for making too much noise (he’d only asked her what she was looking for once!) as she runs forward and flings herself into Allison’s arms.
“Hey, Clouds,” Allison smiles and makes a show of hugging Claudia tightly. “What are you doing here? And Derek. Hi.”
Derek waves a bit awkwardly at her.
“We’re looking for the Easter bunny. He’s been eating Derek’s… stuff and now he’s gone.”
Derek can see Claudia’s eyes narrowing in obvious suspicion when she sees Allison’s rifle.
“You’re not hunting the Easter bunny, are you?”
Allison’s eyes widen in guilt and Derek hurries to her rescue, as it’s partially his fault the rabbits are gone.
“Allison’s protecting the Easter bunny,” he says. “There have been sightings of other, bad creatures here so Allison’s just making sure the Easter bunny is safe.”
Claudia nods in understanding and Allison mouths ‘thank you’ at Derek who smiles back.
“Well, I’m heading back home now,” Allison says. “Should we walk together?”
Claudia nods and takes the leash of Allison’s dog before turning around and starting to walk back.
“Thanks for the save,” Allison says as she and Derek walks a bit behind Claudia, who’s talking to the dog, asking him to sniff at bushes after the Easter bunny. The dog sniffs the bushes, but Derek doubts he’s actually looking for the Easter bunny. He wouldn’t want to be here should one of the rabbits – if there are any left – cross their path.
“I feel a bit guilty for calling you,” Derek admits. “She seemed so sad when the Easter bunny was suddenly gone.”
“I’ve told Stiles that he shouldn’t feed her such stories, but he and Scott – my husband – find it hilarious.”
“Who’s Stiles?” Derek asks, because he suspects it’s actually a person.
“Oh? You haven’t met him? It’s Claudia’s dad. Claudia’s mom got up and left when Claudia was just a few months old. He and Scott are basically brothers. What is it that they say? ‘Brother from a different mother’.”
Derek snorts and Allison smiles at him.
When they get back to Derek’s house, Derek surprises himself with asking Claudia and Allison if they would want something to drink – maybe coffee for Allison and lemonade for Claudia? They both agree and Derek and Allison climb over his fence, but Claudia is stuck on the wrong side.
“You should have a door here,” Claudia points out and Derek smiles at her as he lifts her up over the fence. She hugs his neck and he had planned to let her go on the right side of the fence, but she refuses to let go so he sighs and carries her towards the porch and setting her down in the hammock.
“Do you like currant squash, Claudia?” Derek asks. Claudia looks at Derek with a thoughtful expression.
“I don’t know what that is,” she says warily.
“Then you’re in for a treat,” Derek tells her, “do you want to come into the house and help me with it?”
Claudia nods and follows Derek inside. Derek tells her about the squash he’s been making by himself and Claudia watches with huge eyes as he mixes it with water.
“Here, see if it’s too strong, we can add more water.”
She makes a face as she takes a gulp from the glass and Derek smiles and adds more water. This time she looks pleased and carries the glass with her out to the porch as Derek makes some coffee and finds some (bought) cookies for them.
Derek finds that he doesn’t mind the company of Allison and Claudia. They talk about Allison’s job at the police station and about the differences between Beacon Hills and Los Angeles. Allison can relate to Derek as she moved to Beacon Hills at age seventeen. Claudia gets bored and walks into the house, only to come back with a book on North American mammals. She leafs through the book, stopping at the hares and rabbits.
“The Easter bunny doesn’t look like this,” she says, “they’re all boring colors. He’s white and black.”
Derek shares a look with Allison, who smiles and leans in to ask more about the Easter bunny – apparently he doesn’t always wear pants.
When Claudia and Allison leave Derek finds the house and his yard empty and quiet. He realizes that he probably has missed interacting with other human beings, he has always thought of himself as a lone wolf, but maybe a bit of human contact isn’t that bad? And Allison had seemed quite nice, she lives not too far away with her husband, just the house next to Claudia’s. Derek wonders if maybe he can invite Allison, and her husband, again sometime. Maybe Claudia and her dad can come too?
Even if Derek’s new car isn’t as fast at accelerating as his Camaro, he still enjoys driving. The curves of a country side road are quite enjoyable to take at a high speed, he finds out.
“Fuck!”
There’s a flashing blue light in his rearview mirror. Derek pulls over at the cruiser’s signal, he wonders if he’ll get away with not knowing the speed limit. Probably not. He rolls down the window and gives his best charming smile. The police officer rolls his eyes at Derek and Derek feels his smile drop and his cheeks heat, he wasn’t aware he was that transparent.
“Can I see your license, please?” The officer asks. He has pretty brown eyes and pink, lush lips that make Derek think of all kinds of sinful things they could do if this was a porno. Derek thinks he’s even seen a porno starting like this. He wouldn’t mind his own life proceeding like that film had, especially not with this man.
“I’m sorry,” Derek only manages to say. The police man doesn’t really seem to buy his remorse.
“You do know that the speed limit is 55 here, right?” Derek nods sullenly.
The police officer writes something on his clipboard before handing it to Derek with a kind of sarcastic smirk – the bastard. Derek curses himself for looking for the man’s name (deputy Stilinski) before checking how much he has to pay for it.
“Do you have a first name?” he asks and Stilinksi laughs, loud and bright, his eyes crinkling and his head thrown back, exposing a long, pale throat that should be illegal.
“We’re not really on first name basis, Derek,” he says, “you’d have to buy me dinner first and if you asked me out, I wouldn’t be able to accept because it would seem as you bribed me.”
“But you’ve already given me my ticket,” Derek says and why is he giving himself away this much? Why does he show his interest so openly?
Stilinski laughs again and smiles at Derek, it seems genuine enough.
“Have a nice day and drive safe,” he says before he makes his way back to his cruiser. Derek does not watch his ass in the mirror.
The fourth time in just as many days that Claudia drags Derek out into the woods to look for the Easter bunny, Derek’s conscious reaches its limit. Or overflows. Or whatever happens when you realize that you have to do something or you’ll end up in hell. Claudia is looking for a bunny and Derek knows there are no rabbits left because he killed them. Okay, it was actually Allison and Chris, but Derek told them to. He’s just as guilty. Claudia’s shoulders are slumped in disappointment and Derek tries to cheer her up with anything he can think of.
“He has probably left, moved on to somewhere else,” he says for probably the millionth time. Claudia nods but doesn’t look convinced.
“I think he was taken by the monsters.”
“But Ally and Chris chased them away,” Derek explains. Claudia still doesn’t look convinced.
“Do you want- Maybe we could have a barbeque some day?” Derek asks, to get Claudia’s mind off the rabbit. It works; her face lights up and she smiles brightly.
“Today?”
“I don’t know. You have to ask your dad, but if he says you can come, then sure.”
“I’m going to go home and ask him now,” Claudia says and when they get to Derek’s fence she waves at him and runs off towards her own house – Allison has told him it’s the first one on the road, but Derek still hasn’t manned up the courage to actually talk to Claudia’s dad. He’s afraid her father will think it’s weird that a thirty-two year old hangs out with a five year old. And maybe it is, but truth is, Claudia is kind of the best friend he’s ever had, which might just say more about Derek’s earlier friendships than about their intelligent conversations.
Derek’s been home for about an hour when he hears Claudia’s voice drifting over. She’s talking to someone else – her voice is louder than when she’s talking to herself or an imaginary friend. Derek puts the botany book he’s been reading on the table as he sits up straighter in his lounge chair on the porch (sometimes he wonders why he even bought a whole house, he should’ve set on a trailer or something, he’s almost always outside, only using the house for sleeping). Claudia and the other person get visible and Derek feels himself blanch at the familiar face – and how could he not have realized the resemblance? They have the same brown hair and brown eyes and the moles that dot their faces. Fuck.
“Derek, dad wanted to come too,” Claudia greets as she opens the gate. She carefully shuts it as she has let her father in.
“Hi,” Claudia’s dad – deputy Stilinski – says, “I hope you don’t mind. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m sorry I haven’t been by earlier but work’s been…”
He falls quiet as they come closer and he obviously recognizes Derek.
“Hi,” Derek says after a way too long, awkward moment of silence. “So you’re Claudia’s dad, huh?”
“Yeah.” He rubs at his neck, obviously uncomfortable.
Derek has no idea how to make it better.
“My dad makes the best salsa,” Claudia tells Derek, clearly not noticing their discomfort.
“Really?” Derek asks. “I handle the grill pretty well, if I say so myself. We can do it together, if you want to.”
“Can I, daddy?” She tugs on her father’s arm and his whole face relaxes when he looks down at her, the way he smiles so lovingly and unguarded at her makes Derek’s insides feel weird. Claudia turns to Derek again. “When we grill, grandpa never lets anyone near the grill. Especially not daddy. He once almost set the whole forest on fire.”
Stiles’ cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink at those words.
“It wasn’t the whole forest, it was just some grass. And it was mostly Scott’s fault.”
Claudia rolls her eyes at him and Derek snorts on a laugh – she looks so like Stiles had done that time he stopped Derek for speeding.
“Go in and wash your hands, Clouds,” Stiles tells his daughter and she rushes off. Stiles turns to Derek and winces slightly. “Look, I don’t want this to be awkward. Claudia adores you and I would like to get to know you too. I’m sorry that I stopped you and gave you a ticket-”
“Don’t,” Derek interrupts and Stiles looks shocked. Maybe Derek’s tone had been a bit too harsh. “You were just doing your job. And I was speeding.”
“Yeah, you were,” Stiles says, a smirk tugging on his lips. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m Stiles.”
“I know.”
Derek shakes his outreached hand. His fingers are long and pale and- Derek swallows hard when he notices Stiles’ bare forearms, they’re way more muscular than his lanky frame would suggest, even if he does have quite broad shoulders.
“So is Claudia disrupting your work or something?” Stiles asks as Derek leads him inside to the kitchen. “I can tell her not to come here so often.”
“I don’t mind,” Derek tells him truthfully. “She’s been helping me with my garden. When we’re not looking for the Easter bunny.”
Derek gives Stiles a pointed look and Stiles laughs, head thrown back and god, Derek would love to lick and kiss that neck. He swallows and turns away, trying to look busy with the meat.
“It’s not rabbit, is it?” Stiles watches the meat with fake suspicion and Derek laughs.
“No, it’s not.”
“My hands are clean,” Claudia announces.
“Good girl,” Stiles says. “Will you help Derek light the grill?”
“Awesome!” Claudia exclaims as a reply, rushing out to the back. Derek makes his way there in a more leisured pace, leaving Stiles to make his famous salsa.
Despite their first awkwardness, the evening turns out pretty nice. Stiles talks a lot, waving his hands around explaining things and Derek can really see how Claudia can be as sarcastic as she is.
After that, Stiles inserts himself into Derek’s life just as easily as Claudia had. Derek finds he doesn’t mind at all. Easter is drawing near and it’s on Good Friday, just before all the shops in town close over the holiday, that Derek makes the decision to do something about the Easter bunny incident. He grabs his keys and maybe speeds a bit into town. He’s barging into the local pet store ten minutes before closing time, making the curly-haired guy who’s cleaning one of the fish tanks give him a glare.
“Sorry,” Derek says. “I just… I need an Easter bunny.”
The guy’s eyebrows disappear under his curls as he stares at Derek, one of his hands in the water of the fish tank, the other dripping water onto the floor.
“An Easter bunny?” he repeats, blinking slowly.
“Well, not really an Easter bunny, just- a bunny. A white and black one.”
“You do know that a bunny is an animal and you’ll have to take care of them? You can’t just buy one and set it on a shelf. They’d jump down and probably break its legs.”
Rude much? Derek glares back at the guy.
“I know, I’ll take care of it,” he says and the guy pulls up his hands from the tank, dries it on a towel that’s lying on top of the aquariums before motioning for Derek to follow him deeper into the store.
They step into a room filled with bunnies, guinea pigs and other rodents. The bunnies are of different colors and Derek only spots one that he thinks looks like Claudia’s Easter bunny, it’s mostly white with black ears and a patch of black on its back.
“I want that one,” Derek points to it.
“You’ll probably want two, they like company,” the guy explains. “A female is the best option, but you’ll have to neuter the male or they’ll propagate. And don’t put up the neutering, fucking like bunnies is the most accurate saying I’ve ever heard.”
“Right.” Derek vows to himself to do as the guy says. He looks at the other rabbits and settles for a white and brown female, thinking Claudia probably will like her.
“Do you have a cage?” the guy asks and when Derek shakes his head, rolls his eyes so hard Derek fears they might roll out of his head.
The guy provides Derek with more things than Derek thinks he even needs, but it’s already a quarter past closing time, and Derek feels guilty enough. Besides, it’s for Claudia and if he could he’d probably buy the moon if she asked him to.
The guy helps him carry the things to his car, and, at last, the bunnies, in a box each. Once back home, Derek sets the bunnies in the boxes on the porch as he readies the cages for them, adding sawdust and hay; filling the bottles with water and pours some food in their bowls. When he turns around from the grass where he’s been kneeling he finds that one of the boxes has been knocked over; he can clearly see that the rabbit is no longer inside. He looks around and gives a sigh of relief when he sees her – it’s the brown and white one – in the grass a few feet from the porch. He walks over to pick her up and sets her in her new cage. She hops two laps around before starting to eat. Derek goes to fetch the male and once he’s in his cage, he goes straight for the bowl with food.
Derek sleeps restlessly that night, afraid that someone will eat the rabbits and checks on them at least five times. He finally gets a few hours of sleep when it’s close to dawn and to his horror almost oversleeps. Stiles and Claudia are coming over for brunch later and Derek has just let out the bunnies onto his grass when the doorbell rings – Stiles always makes them take the front door, while Claudia prefers coming through the back. He hurries inside and smiles as Stiles hands him a bottle of wine.
“Claudia,” Derek says and kneels in front of her, “You’re a responsible girl, aren’t you?”
Claudia nods seriously, her brown eyes huge, and Derek bites his lip to keep from smiling. Stiles is watching them with a smile.
“Go check in the backyard what the Easter bunny left for you.” Claudia squeals as she rushes past Derek and out. Stiles chuckles.
“If you’ve bought her a huge egg with candy, I’m leaving her with you for the rest of the holidays.” He bumps his shoulder against Derek’s as they make their way out onto the porch. Claudia is on her knees – Derek winces at the grass stain on her yellow pants – petting the female rabbit with huge eyes. Stiles makes a choked sound and then he’s turning away and heading inside. Derek wants to hit his head into something hard, repeatedly. Fuck, he’s screwed up. It was too much. He should’ve just bought a stuffed rabbit like he’d originally thought. Claudia doesn’t even seem to notice as Derek follows Stiles. He finds the other man in the kitchen, facing away from the door.
“Stiles, I’m sorry, I’m sure the store will take them back or I can keep them, she can come visit whenever-”
Derek’s abruptly silenced as Stiles grabs his shirt, hauling himself at Derek – or hauling Derek at him, Derek doesn’t really know nor care, as their lips meet and Stiles is kissing him fiercely. Derek can’t help the moan as Stiles’ tongue meets his and Stiles pulls his body flushed against his own. Derek’s panting hard as the kiss breaks and Stiles leans their foreheads together.
“I-” Derek has no idea what to say.
“Please, stay in our life forever,” Stiles mumbles and Derek hums in agreement and kisses Stiles again.