Title: Two Ways It Could Have Happened, and One Way It Did
Rating: K+
Pairing: Derek/Casey
Summary: Two ways Derek Venturi could have met Casey McDonald, and the way he actually did. Short one-shot. Dasey.
Disclaimer. Hah, like I own anything.
One:
(This is how it could have happened.)
Derek and Casey grow up next to each other. She's the girl next door that he teases and torments, whose pigtails he pulls and whose shins he kicks. She's one of the first people he looks for on the playground every day, and whatever crazy scheme or prank he'll pull, she'll be right there beside him. (always bleating about the rules and getting into trouble, but still there.)
She's his best friend in the world, although he'll rarely admit it out loud.
This state of affairs will last until they are fifteen, where Derek will take a look at his best friend and will realize that a) she's beautiful and b) he's crazy about her.
(he'll wonder when on earth either of those things happened.)
Then for the next six months, Derek will brood, try and push Casey away only to end up pulling her even closer, and he'll scare away any guy who even thinks of coming within a foot of her.
This will last until Marti discovers the magical properties of mistletoe at Christmas-time.
Casey will blush adorably and his brother Edwin (who's been teasing him about their cute neighbor for years now) will hoot from the staircase he's spying from, and Derek (will grin like an idiot) smirk and pull her close again.
They'll be declared the It couple at school and be named Prom King and Queen and Derek will never be able to picture his life without her.
(That's not how it happens.)
Two:
There's a new student who just transferred in from some private school at Toronto, and Derek's practically drooling from the minute he sees her. It doesn't even matter if she's got a rep as the super-keener to end all keeners, she's hot.
Unfortunately for Derek, in addition to being a megahot super-keener, Casey McDonald is maybe the one girl who won't give in to the Venturi charm.
What follows is a comedy of errors where he tries (often with disastrous results) to get past her defenses and she stonewalls him at every opportunity.
Before he knows it, he's really and truly fallen for a girl.
Funnily enough, finally copping to that fact (easily the hardest thing he's done yet) is what gets Casey to give him a shot.
His family's thrilled--his dad thinks Casey'll be a good influence, Edwin approves, and Marti idolizes Casey.
Derek does his level best to charm the hell out of Casey's mom and sister, and it works pretty well too.
And the thing is--despite his friends' crowing about Derek being whipped--he's honestly happy.
(That also is not what happens.)
Three:
Derek Venturi meets the girl of his dreams at a dinner where he is supposed to be meeting the new soon-to-be members of his family.
It takes him a few months (and his best friend crushing on Casey) before Derek finally realizes what's happened, and by then it's too late--to change anything, to stop anything, to do anything but push his feelings down and cover as best as he can.
(he'll never let himself wonder if Casey maybe feels the same way, because that is the road to further insanity and very bad things in general.)
Derek does his best to deal, tries not to get too jealous when Casey ends up dating another loser that doesn't deserve her, and keeps his guard up so that no one will ever know (not his parents or his siblings or his friends, and especially not Casey) and he waits for the day when he can look at Casey McDonald and feel nothing. He's still waiting, although he hates to admit it.
(and this is really how it happens.)
End.