First Teen Wolf fic! Hope you all enjoy it!

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For Derek Hale, high school was just a combination of all things ironic and cliche in the world. Beacon Hills High School was not an exception to the rule; place a few hundred teenagers in a confined space for 5 days a week and voila, you have yourself the Lord of the Flies with axe-body spray and lipgloss. The hierarchy was clear. There were the popular kids who ruled the school one way or another and the less fortunate ones who just did their best to graduate within the typical four years in hopes of becoming someone once they were out of there.

Then there was Derek. A complete nobody. He wasn't bullied or anything, but no one bothered to pay attention to him either. He did everything alone and didn't mind. Well, didn't mind enough to actually make the effort to get along with anyone anyway. He knew he was a broody, angsty teenager, but he felt that he had the right to be. His parents had passed away in a car accident a few years back, leaving him and his sister Laura under his uncle's care. He was born with the lack of basic social skills and was more than twice the recommended weight for his height. And to top if off, he was gay. It was like he couldn't catch a break.

He groaned inwardly at the sound of Lydia's voice, chatting away incessantly with her best friend Allison. Those two were definitely in the upper penthouse of the hierarchy, alongside Lydia's asshole jock of a boyfriend Jackson who was standing next to the girls looking bored out of his mind. Derek's eyes automatically landed on Danny, who was laughing at something Jackson said.

Derek had been so preoccupied with staring at Danny that he bumped right into someone else, and he had to suppress a groan as he watched the papers in his hands go flying everywhere. And by now, all students in the vicinity was watching him in amusement and surprise. Derek snapped his head up, ready to give the other a scathing warning, when he saw exactly who he had run into.

Stiles Stilinski.

Of all the goddamn people. Stiles Stilinski.

Stiles was the standing exception to all the rules of high school. He was the popular kid at Beacon Hills, even ranking above Jackson and Lydia, and he wasn't even the captain of the Lacrosse team. He didn't have an attitude. In fact, Stiles just spent his days always laughing, doing something equal parts genius and stupid and getting himself into trouble. Stiles didn't date anyone popular, and as far as Derek was concerned, he wasn't driving around a Porsche like Jackson did, but somehow, he was still at the very top of the food chain. Simply put, Stiles seemed to like everyone and everyone loved him back.

Except for Derek anyway.

Derek let out a sigh as Stiles stood there with his mouth open.

"Sorry, man! You OK?" Stiles asked, looking genuinely guilty as he eyed the papers now scattered around the hallway. Instead of answering, Derek bent down and began picking his assignments up, wanting to leave the scene as soon as possible. He was starting to grow uncomfortable with the attention, especially now that he could see Jackson sneering at him from the corner of his eyes.

He groaned inwardly when he saw Stiles starting to pick up the remaining sheets. Of course he would. Of course Stiles would help him out instead of just walking away like everyone else.

"Here," Stiles said as he handed Derek the papers he had managed to pick up. "Sorry about that," he continued with a lop-sided, apologetic grin. Jesus, the kid had a big ass smile. Derek took the pile without as much as a syllable of response and just rushed off to his next class. Stile watched the retreating figure, scratching his head in confusion.

"What died up his ass?" Jackson snorted, approaching Stiles. The latter just shrugged in response. He knew of Derek Hale. Most people in the school knew of the aloof teen without actually knowing him. It was hard to miss him, really. He was huge. Both vertically and horizontally. He didn't speak much (the only time anyone heard Derek speak was during presentations) and had no known associates within the school. Stiles and he had History together, and that was as far as their interaction went.

He was just about start making his way to his class when he saw a piece of paper by the lockers. He bent down to pick it up and saw a neatly written "Derek Hale" at the top right corner. It was their history assignment. Figuring that Derek would probably appreciate his homework being turned in on time, Stiles placed the paper in between his history textbook so that he could return it to its rightful owner. He was going to get some mad karma points for this one.

As soon as Stiles entered the history classroom, he could see Derek in the way back rummaging through his binder, looking to be in quite a state of distress. Stiles grinned and carefully pulled out the assignment he picked up and approached the other nonchalantly.

"Perhaps you're looking for this?" he asked, waving the piece of paper in front of Derek's noise. The other scowled and snatched it away, eying Stiles warily instead of an audible thank you.

"You're welcome!" Stiles only continued with a surprisingly satisfied smile on his face. He was certain that he had just managed to secure enough karma points to counter act the loss from eating all of Scott's fries during lunch - Score! Derek watched as the smaller teen skipped, yes skipped, to his seat a couple of rows ahead of him and then stared at the paper in his hand. He suddenly felt guilty about not having thanked the other properly.

He pushed the niggling thought aside when the teacher walked in, looking prim and proper as always.

"Alright, you'll all be working on the next project in pairs."

A collective noise of approval shot up at the statement. Derek, on the other hand, wanted to strangle the man.

"Not so fast. I'm pairing you guys up."

The noise of approval was quickly overturned by a much louder noise of protest. Derek still wanted to strangle the other man. He couldn't care less who he was paired up with. He just didn't want to do anything with anyone else other than himself, and that was that. He waited for his name to be called, keeping himself entertained by watching the looks of disgust, relief and hope flashing across other students' faces.

"Derek Hale, you're with Stiles."

The entire room went completely silent, and Derek hadn't quite realized that his name was called out until he saw half the room staring at him, while the rest was shooting Stiles a sympathetic look. Derek scowled, knowing exactly what everyone was thinking. The Kennedy of Beacon Hills High was now forced to work with someone who's believed to sacrifice baby goats the first day of every month (Derek still had no idea how that rumor got started). No one gave a shit about Derek Hale, but the moment he's paired up with Stiles Stilinski, everyone loses their shit.

Derek spared a glance at his new partner and saw the teen flash him a dorky grin with a thumbs up, which made Derek question his mental state. No one should be happy to work with him, and he wasn't even being self-loathing. Even he wouldn't want to work with someone like him. It was just a simple fact.

Once the information regarding the project was explained, the teacher gave everyone 10 minutes to share their contact details and make arrangements. Derek predictably remained glued to his seat, while Stiles predictably bounced towards him, his phone already in his hand. Stiles saved Derek's number after giving the brooding teenager a call to leave his own.

"So, your place or mine?" Stiles asked as he pushed his phone back into his pocket.

"The library," Derek answered gruffly.

"Come on! You can't even talk in the library and I'd really rather not spend any more time than absolutely necessary in that place," Stiles countered with a pout, knowing that the librarian was out to club him if he ever caused another commotion in the sacred shrine that was the school's library. It was already a miracle that he wasn't blacklisted yet.

"Fine. My place." Derek was definitely not going to subject himself to spending time at anyone else's house.

"Awesome. Hey, do you really sacrifice baby goats every first day of the month? Because you know, today's May 1st, and I'm not saying I'm judging you for it, because hey, if that's your thing, that's cool, but I personally just prefer not to be around when it does happen? And I'm not sure if I'm required by law to report it and I don't do well with blood, so...?"

Derek stared at the other incredulously. Is he being serious? Derek tried to find evidence of mockery in the pair of wide, brown eyes staring back at him, but instead found only genuine concern and macabre curiosity. Something was severely wrong with Stilinski and he wasn't even sure if he wanted to know.

"I'll wait till you leave to do it then," Derek answered sarcastically and resisted the urge to slam his head against the desk when he saw a look of apprehension and shock spread across Stiles' features. He opened his mouth to correct himself but decided against it, partly because he couldn't be bothered and partly because he was sort of enjoying the outright look of horror on the other's face.

"My dad's the sheriff," Stiles began, leaning back a little. Derek just looked at him as if to ask what the point of that was. "He'll know if you kill me."

Derek rolled his eyes but didn't make a retort.

"So I'll see you after school? In front of the library?" Stiles asked, recovering surprisingly quickly. Either the kid caught onto the joke or had a severe case of ADHD. Derek's money was on the latter.

"Yeah."

"Cool. Just a head's up, I suck at history."

Derek only snorted at the common knowledge. Everyone knew that Stiles was pathologically incapable of memorizing dates or connecting who did what in the grand scheme of world history. Derek, on the other hand, had always been a bit of a history geek and had it down to memorizing the name of Napoleon's favorite horse.

Derek was so not looking forward to this assignment.

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As soon as school was out, Stiles was in front of the library after bidding his friends good bye. The rest of his group seemed to already know about the assignment (Stiles didn't see why it was such a hot piece of gossip) and either asked him to stay strong or take pictures if he did see baby goats at the Hale residence. After a couple of minutes, he saw Derek approaching him from a distance.

"Hey," Stiles greeted with a smirk as Derek spotted him. "So I'll follow you with my car?"

"Whatever."

Stiles trailed after Derek, who was walking at a brisk pace towards the parking lot. They got into their respective cars an eventually arrived at the Hale residence. The place was a typical picture perfect house, and when Stiles entered the house, he had to do a double take. It was so...normal. Too normal. White, clean with floral arrangements and nice pictures adorning the walls. He had expected coffins and walls painted in black and red, with baby goats in cages and chains everywhere, and a part of him was actually disappointed.

Derek rolled his eyes at the other teen's expression and just headed upstairs. Stiles promptly followed suit, taking in everything that was apparently Derek Hale's house. It was too clean, too pretty, and when they entered Derek's house, he just didn't know what to think anymore.

The room was not only spacious but spotless. There wasn't even a single article of clothing on the floor or hanging loosely off a chair. The place looked straight out of some magazine under the article This is probably what a rich lawyer's room looks like.

"This is your room?" Stiles asked incredulously, running his hands all over the DVD and album collection adorning one side of the room (all without permission of course). "You live here?"

"Yes. Now can we get started?"

"Come on! We just got here!" Stiles whined, now roaming freely around the room with his mouth agape. Derek suppressed the urge to grab the other by the throat and instead settled for looking over the assignment guideline. He doubted Mr. ADHD was going to be much help anyway.

After about 5 more minutes of gawking and vocalizing his random observations (which Derek promptly ignored), the two were finally dividing up the work. It lasted for 4 minutes 28 seconds, when Stiles shot Derek a sly grin..

"What?" Derek asked roughly, getting increasingly annoyed by the second.

"So Derek, seeing anyone you like at school?"

"No," he answered defensively, turning his attention back to the paper in front of him.

"You sure?" Stiles pushed, leaning forward.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Are you really, really sure?"

"Can we just get back to this?" Derek let out an exasperated sigh, knowing that the answer wasn't going to be a yes.

"You sure?" Stiles' lips stretched into a sneaky little grin, and Derek wondered if he could get away with attempted murder. "So, which way do you swing, Mr. Hale?"

"What?"

"A little birdie told me that you had a thing for Danny boy."

Derek really wanted to know how these rumors got around. First off, he hardly knew Danny. Secondly, he didn't even know that people gave a shit about who he liked. But the important thing was the history assignment. He didn't care what others thought. So he just answered with a curt "yeah" and went back to reading.

"Hey, I'm cool with it," Stiles continued, putting his hands up with a shrug. "Just didn't' know you're gay."

"Well now you know, can we focus?" Derek replied through gritted teeth. It wasn't that he made efforts to hide his sexuality. It was more like, people never asked and he never answered. And as far as his high school went, it was one of those rare schools where homosexuality was accepted unanimously, so he wasn't going to have too much to worry about even if Stiles did decide to blab his mouth. Stiles looked thoughtful as he continued to stare at Derek, a small crease between his eyebrows.

"Hey, do you find me attractive?" Stiles asked with a serious expression, and Derek wasn't sure if he was joking or not. Either way, he wasn't going to dignify that with an answer, so he turned back to dividing up the assignment.

00

The following day, Stiles insisted that they work together with a rather persuasive argument that he wasn't going to get much work done alone. With much self-control and reminding himself that Stiles' lack of productivity was going to hurt both their grades, Derek yielded. They were back at Derek's room, with Stiles browsing through his DVD collection as if he owned the damn thing. Derek had come to realize and accept (against his will) that Stiles had very little or no grasp on the concept of the following two things: personal space and personal belongings.

Derek figured he'd let it slide as long as he didn't start stealing shit.

"Can we watch a movie before we start?" Stiles asked, his eyes still glued to the collection.

"No."

"Please?"

"You came here to get work done, so do it."

"You're no fun," Stiles pouted and plopped onto Derek's bed. Derek cringed at the action. He had issues with anyone other than himself on the bed. "Alright, if you aren't willing to watch a movie, then let's talk."

"No, let's work."

"Come on, we can work later. School just got out."

"Don't care."

"So I was thinking," Stiles began, looking quite contemplative as he rolled onto his stomach and faced Derek.

"What a surprise," the other muttered under his breath.

"I think we can mutually benefit from this situation."

"That's the point of group assignments."

"No man, this is so much more than that."

Derek could feel a migraine heading his way. He decided it'd be more efficient to just entertain Stiles for a couple of minutes and then delve into the assignment instead of fighting it.

"How about we make a deal."

"What deal."

"You help me with history because I'm pretty sure I'm barely scraping by with a C in that class, and I help you get close to Danny."

Derek stared at the other as if he had just suggested salsa dancing naked outside.

"Think about it! It's a win win! I get my grades up, because I know you're like some history genius and you get a shot at scoring Danny, who by the way has a really great body. I've seen him in the lockers and I'm telling you. It's like top tier stuff right there, and look, I'm even comfortable enough to admit it."

"Will you just work on the damn assignment if I agree to it?"

"Yes."

"Fine then."

"Awesome!" Stiles looked awfully pleased with himself as he rolled out of bed. "I won't let you down, man."

"Oh, yay," Derek drawled sarcastically. Yup, the migraine was definitely there now.

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Next day, Stiles was in Derek's room, on Derek's bed, playing with Derek's wolf figure while munching on Derek's bag of chips. Derek decidedly ignored the crumbs Stiles was leaving on his otherwise freshly washed blanket, having long accepted the fact that it was better for his blood pressure to turn a blind eye when it came to Stiles Stilinski.

"Here's the plan," Stiles began, all business, looking as if he was preparing himself to break into Fort Knox. Derek grunted in response, letting Stiles get whatever it was in his head out of his system if he was going to salvage any chance of them getting work done in the next couple of hours.

"We're going to go jogging every morning."

Derek stopped highlighting his notes and stared at Stiles.

"Look, I'm not trying to say that outer beauty is more important than inner beauty, but it's probably going to help you to you know, get in shape."

Despite himself, Derek looked down onto his body and grimaced. He had really let himself go over the last few years after the death of his parents and still wasn't anywhere near making full recovery. He then looked at Stiles, who was all lean muscles (still a bit on the skinny side, but whatever) from Lacrosse and general hyperactivity.

"So I'll come by every morning at...let's say...6? We'll go jogging then go to school and I can even help you with weight training after school."

Derek wanted so badly to flat out decline the offer, but the way Stiles was looking at him told him that Stiles wasn't going to give up on it no matter what.

"Fine," Derek muttered finally. He vaguely registered the fact that, when it came to Stilinski, he ended up just agreeing to whatever came out of his mouth.

"Awesome! I bet you're a good looking man underneath all that..." Stiles trailed off and cleared his throat. "I'm not saying you're not good-looking now, but-"

"Can we just focus now?"

"Yes, sir."

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Derek scowled when he realized that he had actually gotten up early and gotten ready for the jogging Stiles had promised him. He was immediately in a foul mood when he realized that he had followed instructions given by Stiles Stilinski of all people. Stiles arrived surprisingly right on time, already having jogged all the way to Derek's place, and Derek couldn't believe how chirpy the other teen was. At 6 in the goddamn morning.

They ran side by side, Stiles giving Derek a break every once in a while. Derek grimaced at how out of shape he was. He used to be able to run miles after miles without breaking much of a sweat, but now he was struggling to keep himself upright. He just had to find comfort in the fact that he turned to stress-binging as opposed to getting himself addicted cocaine. Losing weight was going to be a lot easier than getting over a substance addiction.

"Well that was fun!" Stiles commented as they approached the Hale residence again. Unlike Derek who was cursing gravity, Stiles looked at complete ease. "So I'll see you in history!"

Derek watched Stiles bounce off and began to wonder how all this even came to happen. One day he was the lone guy, completely happy with being cut off from the rest of the school, and before he knew it, he was hanging out with Stiles Stilinski every single day. Before letting his thoughts wander off, he shook his head and pushed it aside. He needed to take a shower quickly if he didn't want to be late to school.

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Ah I'm nervous about this...continue?