Chapter 4
"Look it's a bug. Are you ready to be squashed?" It's the captain of the lacrosse team with his buddies at his back. Then before Stiles can offer a snarky comment, there's a voice behind him.
"No he's not, by you or anyone else." Stiles rolls to the side as two big guys collide where he was previously on the floor. One has a hood on so he can't see the person fighting against the bullies.
After two minutes of fighting with Stiles sitting on the sidelines each lacrosse player is groaning on the floor. He turns his attention back to the guy who took them down. "Thanks. Who are you?"
He turns to Stiles, taking his hood off and holds out his hand. With a smile on his face he says, "I'm Derek, nice to see you again." Stiles grabs his hand and is pulled up, almost off his feet. He starts to apologize but Derek cuts him off with, "What's your name?"
"Oh, my name is Stiles, Stiles Stilinski."
"Oh right I think we were on a few sports teams together as kids."
"How do you remember that?"
"I guess I'm just observant."
"Sure you are Derek." He replies with a smile and realizes it's the first time he has said Derek's name. It rolled off his tongue like he was meant to be saying it.
The bell rings, bringing Stiles back to reality remembering the five boys still laying on the ground as the captain of the team gets up. He asked, "Hey Derek, why the hell are you standing up for this piece of shit? He's nothing."
"No Jackson, you and your friends are. You beat Stiles up just to feel cool when in reality it makes you no better than a bug. Now Stiles has not ratted you out, you should be thankful but I will not give you the same mercy." Derek's shoulders flex and his gaze could kill, Stiles sees how much his shoulders are tensed.
"Shit! Let's go guys!" They get up and run away like the cowards they are as Derek's knees are bent like he's ready to pounce. Stiles puts his hand on Derek's shoulder, hoping it'll calm him down.
He turns to face Stiles at his touch. They look at each other for a moment and Stiles takes his hand off, looking down when he realizes how close they are standing. Then he wraps his arms as far around Derek as he can, pulling him into a hug. Derek tenses at first, surprised but relaxes and hugs him back. Stiles pulls away after a few seconds looking down as his restless hands. He says at almost a whisper, "Thanks again, nobody's really helped me before or even cared."
Derek's smile starts to leave his face as he realizes that Stiles probably doesn't really have any friends. Stiles sees this and tries to say something to make him not sound lame. But Derek just says with a smile, "No problem."