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It wasn’t that Derek was jealous or anything. Really, there was nothing to be jealous of, Stiles spent every waking moment with him, so it wasn’t so much a feeling of jealousy as it was a feeling of exclusion. And not because Stiles was being an asshole! Derek had absolutely no illusions that Stiles was suffering and trying his best to make do with this terrible situation, but it felt like he was spending time with him without actually spending time with him.
Really, at first, it had been kind of funny. Stiles had come home furious because he’d been feeling itchy and uncomfortable for a day or so, and then spots had appeared on his skin. Of course, him being human, Derek had freaked out because what the fuck was happening? So, Stiles had gone to the doctor, like normal humans did, and come home even more furious to discover he had to take time off work because he had the chickenpox!
At twenty-five years old.
His father had been both amused and concerned, because the older people got, the more severe it could be, but Stiles promised the doctor said he was fine and he just had to stay home and away from anyone who might not have had chickenpox themselves. Which was why he was spending so much time at home with Derek.
And Derek loved having him around all the time. He worked from home, so it got lonely sometimes, and having Stiles with him all day was a nice reprieve from the loneliness. They ate breakfast, lunch and dinner together. Whenever Derek needed a brain break, he went to bug Stiles and they had some coffee together while sitting on the couch. Derek gave Stiles oatmeal baths in an attempt to soothe the itching. It was nice.
Of course, Stiles was fucking miserable, but his complaining wasn’t any worse than usual so Derek didn’t mind. And besides, Stiles was mostly distracted except whenever it was mealtime or Derek asked for some quality time. Stiles was always more than happy to give him some quality time, but Derek still felt... he didn’t know.
He wanted to spend more time with him, but since getting the chickenpox, Stiles had needed a way to entertain himself while Derek was working all day. It had taken him two days to get bored of television and research, and that was when he was re-introduced to his first love.
World of Warcraft.
Derek had never played. Growing up, it wasn’t one of those things he’d ever been interested in. He supposed it was because he was a Werewolf, and he tended to be more active in his youth. Once he stopped being active, he was more interested in reading than anything else.
So WoW had never really been one of those things he’d found any interest in. But now, he felt a little... lonely. Even when Stiles was there, he was always just typing away and clicking furiously, and cursing under his breath. He made time for Derek, of course he did, but for the most part whenever Derek wasn’t asking for his attention, Stiles was focussed on the game.
Derek wanted to be a part of it with him. He wanted to play it with him so that they could do it together, but he didn’t know anything about it. And when he’d been watching over Stiles’ head once just to see if maybe he could learn it on his own, he’d been thoroughly confused about what Stiles was even doing. On top of that, Stiles’ character was a high level character. Derek didn’t know if that was a pre-existing character from when he was younger that the game had just maintained, or if he just knew the game so well that he’d levelled up exceptionally fast.
He couldn’t ask Stiles to start over again, it wouldn’t be fair, so he just said nothing. He sat on the couch after dinner, watching TV, while Stiles continued to play at his desk, muttering angrily about an Orc killing his Draenei.
Derek didn’t even know what that meant.
He knew what an Orc was, he’d read Lord of the Rings, but what the actual fuck was a Draenei? He supposed whatever that character Stiles was running around as, but he didn’t get a lot of the terms Stiles was using, either. Sure, he knew what a healer was, but he wasn’t entirely positive on what a tank was. It took him almost two days to figure out a tank was someone who actively taunted enemies into paying attention to them so that the other characters could finish them off while the healer only had to focus on the one player.
Derek didn’t get this game, but he really, really wanted to so he could play it with Stiles.
When he went to bed that night, he’d barely laid down for some shut-eye when he heard Stiles climbing the stairs. He turned when his boyfriend fell onto the bed, resting his chin on Derek’s shoulder.
“You didn’t say good night,” Stiles said, pretending to pout.
“Sorry, you were busy.”
“I’m never too busy for good night kisses,” Stiles insisted, sitting up a bit more so he could lean over and kiss Derek lightly. “You seem kind of down lately, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Derek said. “I just didn’t want to bother you.”
“You never bother me.” Stiles frowned, sitting up properly and staring down at Derek. “Why would you think you’re bothering me?”
“I don’t know.” Derek sighed and sat up as well. “I guess I figured with you stuck at home, we’d spend more time together.” When he saw Stiles open his mouth, clearly about to say he’d stop playing WoW, Derek gave him a look. “You’re having fun with your game, don’t even start.”
“But I want to spend more time with you!” Stiles insisted, slapping at his arm a few times like an annoying toddler trying to get their parents’ attention. “I just didn’t want to bother you while you were working and WoW is keeping me distracted so I stop scratching myself!” Stiles was already starting to rub at his arm even while he sat there and Derek smacked his hand away. At least rubbing was better than scratching, but still.
“I’m glad you’ve found something to entertain you. I guess I just wish we could do it together.”
“We can,” Stiles said, sounding confused. “Why wouldn’t we? Are you Horde or something?”
Derek stared at him for a few seconds, because he had no idea what that meant. What the fuck was a Horde? Was that another race or something? Or like, a class? Derek had no idea, this wasn’t his wheelhouse.
“I’ve never played.”
Stiles blinked at him. “What?”
“I’ve never played the game.” He winced, feeling bad for asking, but said, “Teach me how to play?”
He’d expected Stiles to begrudgingly agree, mutter about figuring out a new character, bitch a little bit about how he’d have to start at the bottom.
He didn’t.
Stiles’ entire face lit up. “Oh my God, really? Yes! Dude, that’s amazing! I totally thought you were just Horde and that was why we were having this awkward conversation but like, even if you had been, I’d have just made a new character and switched servers. But this is even better! Yes! Okay. Let’s plan then. Are you okay sticking with Alliance? What am I saying, you know nothing about the game, you don’t care either way, so we’ll stick with Alliance. It’s better this way anyway because if we stay in my server and we hit a snag somewhere, I can just hop onto my higher level character and come help you out to level you up faster so you can get out of the boring areas and do the more interesting quests. What kind of class do you think you’d like? And race? I figure we should try and balance each other out, like, if I’m gonna be a healer or something, you should be a melee player or a tank or something. Oh! I kind of think you’d have fun being a Death Knight, but that’s way down the line, and I’ve never been a Druid so maybe that’s something I could look into and—”
“I take it back,” Derek said, cutting Stiles off. “Never mind. You go and have fun. I’ll keep watching TV.”
“Yeah right!” Stiles grinned shoving him lightly, even as Derek let out a small laugh at Stiles’ obvious excitement. “You actually tired, or do you wanna come down and get started? I can move to the couch and we can work out your character so we can get you at least familiar with the game.”
“Sure.” Derek smiled, throwing his legs over the side of the bed. “Let’s go.”
“Loser,” Stiles insisted, shoving at his boyfriend before heading down the stairs. “If you wanted to play with me, you could’ve just said so.”
“I play with you all the time,” Derek teased.
Stiles let out a bark of laughter, punched Derek in the shoulder, and told him to get himself comfortable on the couch while he went to unplug his laptop.
Derek just smiled, pleased he’d said something, and infinitely glad that Stiles honestly seemed just as excited as he was to play WoW together.
END.