[ As prepared for deployment as he thought he'd be, Derek figured out pretty fast that skype calls and forced facebook accounts were not enough contact. But he reminds himself every time he has to sign off that it won't be forever, that he'll come back just to make sure that Stiles doesn't get it in his head to hijack any outgoing planes to Afghanistan just to come and kick his ass if anything happens to him. (And he's downplayed everything that's ever happened to him, even when he was hiding the fact he was bleeding through his stitches after one nasty scrape.) His platoon gives him shit for every skype call and status update, but it's not as if he can't do the same to them. Nevermind the fact that they heckle Stiles just as often as they heckle him.
Which sort of got worse when it was time to head home and he told them to keep it quiet. It came down to making them swear not to say anything on a public feed, something a whole hell of a lot harder than getting in contact with Sheriff Stilinski about a surprise trip home. John at least was all for it being a surprise, which made it so much easier to make arrangements.
He's thankful that he comes back on a weekday, since that means he can head home and surprise his parents and siblings-- get knocked flat on his ass by his sisters and brother in one fell swoop, more like it-- before he gets kicked out and told that he's a horrible person for surprising them, and he should go inflict that cruelty on his boyfriend before Stiles has an aneurysm about the contact blackout.
Not that they have to tell him twice, because his fingers are itching to find Stiles and he can feel the jetlag getting pushed down by the very thought of just seeing him again.
Setting aside the past six months for a moment, he makes his way down the halls of Beacon Elementary to where he knows Stiles' classroom is. His BDU's catch a few eyes through the classroom windows and doors he passes, but his attention is devoted to just one door decorated in kindergartener's crafts and an ungodly amount of glitter everywhere. Derek stops in front of it, considers a moment, before he just opens the door. Keeping his hand on the knob, he leans his opposite shoulder in the doorframe, expression softening instantly. ]
ehehehen.
Which sort of got worse when it was time to head home and he told them to keep it quiet. It came down to making them swear not to say anything on a public feed, something a whole hell of a lot harder than getting in contact with Sheriff Stilinski about a surprise trip home. John at least was all for it being a surprise, which made it so much easier to make arrangements.
He's thankful that he comes back on a weekday, since that means he can head home and surprise his parents and siblings-- get knocked flat on his ass by his sisters and brother in one fell swoop, more like it-- before he gets kicked out and told that he's a horrible person for surprising them, and he should go inflict that cruelty on his boyfriend before Stiles has an aneurysm about the contact blackout.
Not that they have to tell him twice, because his fingers are itching to find Stiles and he can feel the jetlag getting pushed down by the very thought of just seeing him again.
Setting aside the past six months for a moment, he makes his way down the halls of Beacon Elementary to where he knows Stiles' classroom is. His BDU's catch a few eyes through the classroom windows and doors he passes, but his attention is devoted to just one door decorated in kindergartener's crafts and an ungodly amount of glitter everywhere. Derek stops in front of it, considers a moment, before he just opens the door. Keeping his hand on the knob, he leans his opposite shoulder in the doorframe, expression softening instantly. ]