"Why are you being so nice about this?" Stiles asked frowning unsure of where he stood with Derek. Derek was being nice and supportive and Stiles wasn't expecting that at all. He knew he should be grateful that Derek understood but it was weird. "No. Don't be nice. You wouldn't be nice to Isaac if he backed talk to you, so don't be nice to me when I do it."
Derek's eyebrows went up as Stiles frowned at him, and his grip tightened on the boy's hand. "...you're mad at me for being nice to you," he repeated. "Unbelievable."
"Because you wouldn't be nice to Isaac!" Stiles protested knowing he was being an idiot but he couldn't stop himself. He wanted Derek to treat him like a normal slave. A normal slave wouldn't be able to get away with the things he has said and done.
"You have got to be kidding me right now," Derek huffed, pulling his hand back and turning his back to Stiles. "Where do you even come up with these fictions?" Did he really come off as that much of a dick, that a near stranger thought he was abusive towards his own slave?
"What would you do if Isaac started to talk to you like I did? Or one of the other house slaves?" Stiles asked frowning as Derek turned his back to Stiles. He didn't think Derek was abusive. Just that he was going easy on him which wasn't going to help him learn in the end. And Stiles wanted to learn.
"They wouldn't," Derek shot back. And that was the major difference. Isaac and the house slaves knew better than to talk back, but more importantly, they knew how to talk to Derek and Laura and the other Masters when they did have a problem. And it wasn't by yelling insults at them.
"And why wouldn't they, Derek? Why won't they talk back?" Stiles asked as he moved around the werewolf so they could talk face to face. "Is it because you will be nice to them and reward them for doing something they didn't want to do in the first place? Because if it is then they would be talking back more."