This whole prom thing is honestly shaping up to be more stress than it's probably worth, Scott thinks to himself as he stands outside the door to Derek's loft, hand raised mid-air, fingers balled into a fist as if frozen mid-knock.

He takes a deep breath and steels his resolve, calms his nerves and gathers his courage before gently rapping his fist against the door.

It takes a few moments for anyone to answer, and it takes every ounce of his self-control not to turn around and run away right then. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, the door opens and there's Derek, standing in front of him in reading glasses and sweatpants and a book in hand.

Scott is momentarily taken aback at how casual and laid-back he looks, and it takes him a few seconds to collect his thoughts as Derek raises an eyebrow at him.

"Scott, come in. Is there something you needed?"

It's now or never, Scott thinks as he slinks into Derek's loft, silently cursing Lydia for making him do this in the first place.

She had immediately shot down the proposal to use her lake house ("Absolutely not," she had stated firmly. "Not after last time. And we're selling it soon, anyway") and this is kind of their only other option.

No matter how he looks at it, he can't imagine the answer he'll receive will be very pleasant.

"Uh, Derek? Could I ask you a favor? I mean, you can say no of course. I don't have to tell you that, obviously, I mean—it's just that Lydia put me in charge of finding somewhere to hang out after prom, you know, it'd just be a small group, just the pack, really…anyway, she'll probably kill me or something if I can't find anything and…well I was wondering—"

"You want to use loft for your after party."

It's not a question, and while Derek's eyebrows are raised and his arms are crossed, he doesn't actually seem mad. Just incredulous and maybe even a little bit…amused?

Scott blinks and clears his throat, trying to carefully plan out what to say to make this work. "Well, yeah. It'd be like we were renting it for the night, you know, we just need the space—I'll make sure everyone cleans up after themselves and you could join us too if you want, or if you don't want to stay you could crash at my place for the night— my mom wouldn't mind— and we won't touch your stuff and I'll pay you and everything; it would be as if we were renting out an apartment room or something, and—"

"Scott," Derek cuts him off again, and this time Scott's sure it isn't just a trick of his imagination—that's definitely amusement he hears in Derek's voice.

"It's fine if we can't use it, I totally get it, especially after the whole stunt that Ethan pulled with the black light party and—"

"Scott," Derek repeats, this time more firmly, resting a hand on Scott's shoulder, "you don't have to pay me to use the loft."

Scott blinks at him owlishly and stares blankly, mouth slightly agape, unsure of what to say—because however he was expecting Derek to react, it wasn't at all like this, all calm and quietly amused and, well, not mad.

"Scott, you're like family. I'm not going to make someone who I consider family pay to use my loft for a night. I mean, after everything you've done for me, it's honestly the least I can do."

Derek is blushing as he says this, full-out turning red and coughing a little to hide his embarrassment.

The words 'like family' echo through Scott's mind and he marvels for a moment at how far they've come. Sure, he's thought of Derek as family for a while now, as more than just pack and as something like a brother, but he never knew… didn't really realize or stop to think that Derek felt the same way about him.

And it feels really, really nice.

Scott is so touched that he does the only thing that he can really think to do—he steps forward, closing the space between them, and wraps his arms around Derek, engulfing him in a hug that's been a long time coming.

And as it turns out, even though he's a little stiff and awkward and clearly still getting used to this whole 'physical affection' thing that Scott is so fond of, Derek Hale is a very huggable person.

"Thanks, Derek. I really, really appreciate it. And I'm really glad you consider me family, too."

"Of course," Derek mumbles awkwardly as they break apart, and even though he still looks slightly embarrassed and he's clearly trying to maintain some of his cool, gruff exterior, he can't hide the fact that he's smiling bigger than Scott's seen him smile in a long time.

"So, are you going to join us?"

Derek scoffs, taking up his usual sarcastic attitude.

"Please, don't you think I have better things to do than hang out with a bunch of teenagers on a Friday night? I can just stay over Braeden's place."

As soon as the words are out of his mouth he knows he's made a mistake, and he groans at the sudden spark of interest in Scott's eyes.

Scott nudges him and grins mischievously.

"Braeden, huh? I knew you two had a thing," he says, waggling his eyebrows.

Derek glares back at him.

"Yes, okay? She's...she's…yeah."

"You've always had a way with words, huh?"

Scott continues to grin at him until he catches on that Derek isn't amused. He quickly drops the smirk and adopts a more thoughtful tone, sensing that this is delicate territory he's treading on and not wanting to ruin their moment.

"No, seriously though, I'm really happy for you, dude. She seems awesome."

At this Derek can't help but smile. "Yeah, she really is. Thanks, Scott."

They stand in comfortable silence for a few seconds before a thought suddenly pops up into Scott's head, and his eyes light up as he blurts it out to Derek.

"Hey, even If you don't join us for the after party, you should totally come over beforehand— you know, if you want. You could help me get ready and all. My mom is going to have a lot on her hands dealing with me and Isaac; I'm sure she'd appreciate the help, and it'd be like having an older brother there, or something. You don't have to, obviously, but I think it might be nice."

Derek looks stunned at this sudden invitation, and his voice wavers a little when he replies.

"I'd love that. I don't know if I'll be busy, but I'll definitely do my best to try and come. I really wouldn't want to miss it."

"I really hope to see you there. And thanks again," Scott says, smiling warmly, "for everything."

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"What do you mean you're not going?"

"I mean I'm not going. I'll be the only one there without a date and I don't like dancing and—and I'm just not going. I don't want to."

"Dude, you can't just not go. Come on, you don't need a date. We're all going to be there—all your friends. Just hang out with us. You're seriously going to be missing out if you don't come."

But Isaac just shakes his head and refuses to budge.

Scott sighs, loudly and dramatically.

"Erica and Boyd are going to be there. They just got back from their trip abroad and they said they were going to try to sneak in. Do you really want to miss that? I mean, we haven't seen them in ages. Dude, even Cora is going!"

Isaac perks up, almost despite himself, at the mention of Erica and Boyd.

"Erica and Boyd and Cora…everyone really is going to be there, aren't they?"

"Yeah, and it won't be the same without you. Come on, I want all my best friends to be there, and you definitely fall under that category. And we could all use a day to just have fun and act like normal teenagers for a change, you know?"

Isaac looks like he's having some sort of internal battle as he tries to make up his mind, and Scott watches the different emotions flit across his face.

Sensing that his friend might need another push in the right direction, Scott puts on his best pleading expression, complete with puppy-dog eyes and bottom lip jutted out in a pout and all.

"Please come— for me? For your friends? It would mean a lot. If you're really not comfortable with it you don't have to, I won't force you, but I really think you'd have a lot of fun. Much more fun that sitting in alone shut up in your room while all of us are out, for sure."

Isaac carefully avoids Scott's eyes as he considers this (he knows that the second he looks at him, he's a goner) before finally letting out a long sigh.

"Fine. I'll come. But if I end up having a horrible time, I'm blaming you."

Scott grins and drapes an arm around Isaac's shoulder. "Thanks, man. I promise you're not going to have a horrible time. Just don't go into it with that attitude and you'll have a blast."

"Yeah, okay," Isaac replies doubtfully. Scott can tell that he still doesn't really believe him, and silently vows to prove him wrong.