The next morning Stiles woke up feeling like he got hit by a freight train and unable to remember most of the night before. He was still in his clothes from the day before and no strangers were in bed with him, he was grateful for that at least. There was a trash can next to his bed and a glass full of water sitting on the floor next to it. Stiles grabbed it immediately and chugged it down reminding himself to thank Scott later.
By the time the pregame practice rolled around Stiles was feeling somewhat better, just extremely tired and groggy. He met up with Scott in the locker room, "Hey man, where have you been all day?"
Scott was on the bench cleaning out his cleats, "sorry, I ended up going home with Allison last night. We pretty much stayed in bed all day puking."
Stiles looked confused, "you didn't go back to the room at all last night?"
Scott shook his head, "Allison's was closer, so we just walked."
Stiles was racking his brain trying to remember, "how did I get home? I didn't drive, did I?"
Scott eyed him curiously, "you really don't remember?"
"I can't remember much after the second cup of that shit," Stiles wanted to vomit just thinking about the sickly sweet juice.
"Derek took you home."
Stiles put a hand to his forehead and groaned. When he drank he tended to get super touchy feely, and that was not something he needed to be around his secret crush. Who knows what he did or said to Derek last night! "Is he around here?"
"I haven't seen him yet, but he's probably already on the field." Scott shrugged getting back to work on his shoes.
"Of course. Even on the days he doesn't play he's still the first one here." Stiles muttered and threw on his uniform.
Derek was out on the field taking batting practice. Stiles walked onto the field and watched him for a few minutes while he stretched. Even though Derek wouldn't be playing in the game that day, he would be sitting on the bench watching everything that Stiles would be doing, and that thought was enough to send butterflies through the young catcher.
He wanted to say something to Derek before the game, maybe apologize for anything he may have done, but Chase, the pitcher for that game, came up to Stiles and wanted to go throw a few rounds. Stiles sighed and followed the older boy to their warm up section, though he kept Derek in the corner of his eye the whole time.
They did pretty well for most of the team still being hung over from the night before. Stiles even surprised himself by getting a couple hits that day as well as throwing out a base runner at second. In between innings Derek ignored him, sitting alone as usual on one side of the dugout. Stiles didn't want to bother him because he looked to be in game mode, like when he was pitching, and everyone steered clear.
They won that game, and the cheering from the crowd as well as the excitement in the dugout was just as strong as the first game they had won. Stiles decided he could definitely get used to this. After the last strike out was called to win the game he ran over to his pitcher and gave him a quick pat on the back.
"Great game, Stiles," Chase, the junior pitcher said smiling at Stiles.
"You did all the work, I just sat back there and enjoyed the win," Stiles laughed as they walked into the dugout together. It was kind of nice having that pitcher catcher relationship with somebody again, Stiles didn't think he would be getting any of that with Derek after all.
"No man, you kicked ass out there, very impressive." Chase gave him one last toothy smile and then went to collect his things.
Stiles looked around the dugout but didn't see Derek anywhere. He walked over to Danny, "have you seen Derek?"
Danny looked around and shook his head, "not since before the inning, why are you looking for him?"
"I just wanted to thank him for taking me home last night after getting completely smashed."
Danny laughed, "yeah, you were pretty gone. Not a bad dancer though." He winked at Stiles who groaned and hid his face in his glove.
"You guys let me dance?" He asked mortified.
Danny just continued to laugh, "If you're looking for Derek though, he could be in the coach's office. I think he likes to go over the book after each game."
Stiles gave him a quick grin, "thanks man. And, let's never talk about my drunk dancing again, alright?"
Danny shrugged, "if you say so."
Stiles did eventually find Derek exactly where Danny said he would be. He was in William's office scribbling down stats and examining the game book. Talk about dedication.
Stiles knocked on the open door softly. Derek didn't turn around but growled out, "what do you want?"
"Um. To say thank you, I guess." Stiles said, he wished Derek would turn around and make this a little less awkward.
"No need," Derek responded quietly and continued scribbling numbers.
Stiles narrowed his eyes at Derek's back, "do you even know why I'm thanking you?"
"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me anyways."
"Will you please turn around?" Stiles snapped. Derek stopped what he was doing and, shockingly, turned to look at Stiles with an annoyed face. He took a breath to compose himself, "I wanted to thank you for taking me home last night."
"It's fine."
"Because, you really didn't have to, I could have crashed on their coach, or Danny or someone else could have-"
Derek cut him off with a sharp, "Stiles!" The younger boy shut up immediately. "Really, it was fine."
Stiles nodded and turned to leave but then stopped and turned back to Derek, "also," Derek sighed angrily and looked up from his work once again, "I should apologize if I did anything stupid," Stiles' voice trailed off quietly.
Derek looked at him, "like what?" he asked.
Stiles shrugged, "just if I said or did anything stupid."
Derek licked his lips and raised an eye brow at him, "what would you have said or done that was stupid?"
Stiles tried to swallow but his mouth was suddenly very dry, "just regular drunk stuff I guess," he choked out. Was Derek teasing him?
"Besides puking in my car, you were like every other drunk I've taken home."
"Oh my god, not the Camaro," Stiles moaned. And then the rest of Derek's sentence hit him, just how many drunken people does he take home? "Send me the bill to get it cleaned out, I'm really sorry."
"Again, it's fine. You should probably go home and get some sleep though; you have an early game tomorrow." He nodded towards the door, an invitation for Stiles to leave.
Stiles nodded, "yeah. I'll see you tomorrow then." He turned and left when Derek didn't say anything in return. He walked back to his dorm racking his brain for what had happened the night before and kicking himself for whatever he did to make Derek angry with him. He knew there was something wrong with Derek because he wasn't yelling or threatening Stiles, was he seriously upset about him puking in the car?
TWTWTW
The next game did not go as well as the others. Either Stanford finally got their heads in the game, or Fresno's minds were elsewhere, but Stanford murdered their team with an embarrassing 10-1. Even Stiles made a horrific error on a text book play. He went to throw the runner stealing second out but Derek's form at the lip of the dugout caught his eye and he over threw second. The only thing Derek said to him after that inning was, "you better not do that in my game." And Stiles felt like shit.
TWTWTW
Stiles sighed looking at the big 120 on his hotel door. He looked down at the paper in his hand that listed assigned rooms one more time just in case it decided to magically change. He had been expecting to room with Scott on their first away series, in fact that was all they could talk about on the bus ride up, but once the coach had handed out the room assignments Stiles saw that he would be rooming with Derek instead. He had tried getting out of it by talking to the coach, but was assured that the room pairing would help their relationship.
He opened the door and peered inside slowly. There was movement from inside of the bathroom, and Derek's things were placed neatly on the bed closest to the door. Stiles entered the room and dumped his bag on what he assumed was automatically his bed. Most of the team was going to be headed to the hotel pool before the game that evening and Stiles briefly wondered if he would have enough time to grab his swim trunks and leave the room before Derek could catch him.
No such luck, Derek walked out of the bathroom at that moment and walked straight to the bag on his bed without looking up at Stiles.
Stiles didn't know if he should be offended or relieved that Derek wasn't acknowledging him, maybe he could escape the room after all. He grabbed his trunks and was heading out the door but then stopped, he felt a little guilty.
He turned to Derek, who still had his back to Stiles and asked, "So, some of the guys are going to the pool, if you wanted to go," his voice trailed off and he felt awkward for asking.
Derek turned and looked at him with a dead stare, "I'm pitching." He said simply and then turned back to unpacking his things.
"So is that a no then?"
This time Derek didn't even bother to turn around as he spat out, "that's a no."
Stiles shrugged, "fine. Suit yourself." He turned and left the room.
Luckily no other hotel patrons had wanted to use the pool at that time, because Stiles was for sure that no one else would be able to fit. They played a game of water basketball and chicken and had a competition on who could make the biggest splash by jumping into the water. But once most of the excitement had worn down Stiles and Scott and a few others decided just to hang out in the shallow end.
"So, Isaac and I were pretty shocked when you showed up at the pool." Scott said casually.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Stiles asked.
"We were for sure that Hale was going to make you go over plays all night in that room."
"We didn't think we would see you at all this trip except at the games," Isaac laughed.
Stiles pouted, "don't get too excited yet, we've still got two more days."
Brink, their second baseman and also a junior piped up then, "I wouldn't be too worried about it."
Everyone looked at him curiously. Then Stiles asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Brink shrugged, "I mean about Hale holding you hostage. He's never around at night anyways."
Sometimes talking to Brink was like trying to pull teeth. "What do you mean?" Stiles pushed.
"We've all shared a room with the guy at some point during the season, and everyone seems to agree that he just disappears at night. He leaves the hotel and won't come back until morning, sometimes later."
"He always does that?" Danny asked, his face matching everyone's with confusion.
"Yeah. Every away game."
"Where does he go?" Stiles asked. Something was strange about this.
Brink shrugged again, "nobody knows. Nobody asks." He then moved in closer to the group, looked around, and then said quietly, "A couple years back our water boy struck up the nerve to ask him, confronted him about it and threatened to tell the coaches. Well, no one knows what exactly went down, but needless to say the kid quit the team the very next day and dropped out of school."
Stiles furrowed his brow. That couldn't possibly be true. Could it?
"How could the coaches not know about that though?" Scott asked skeptically.
"Who's going to rat him out? He's a hell of a pitcher and we need him on our team. Who the fuck cares where he goes at night as long as he is back for the game the next day!"
"Okay, but where does he go?" That question seemed to bother Stiles most. None of this was making sense to him.
"Girls maybe. He probably goes out to bars or clubs and hooks up with people, God knows he doesn't do it at school."
Their conversation was cut short by the coach entering the pool room to inform the team that they needed to be dressed and at the bus in an hour. Everyone grumbled a little but eventually made their way back to their rooms. Stiles, Scott, Danny, and Isaac walked back to their floor together and discussed this new information.
"If it's true, I bet the partying theory is right. He seems like the type to love 'em and leave 'em, how easy is that on the road?" Scott said. Stiles didn't want to think about that.
"There's only one way to find out." Danny said eyeing Stiles.
Stiles shook his head, "no way man. I am not following him!"
"Why not? Apparently he gets away with it pretty easily, you could too!"
"The last kid that even asked him about it had to leave school cause Hale probably would have killed him! What do you think he would do to someone that follows him?" Stiles asked wildly waving his arms around.
"Alright, don't follow him. But you should stay awake all night and find out if he does actually leave." Scott suggested.
They reached Scott and Isaac's room at that point and they said their goodbyes. Danny and Stiles continued on down a few doors.
"Do you believe all that stuff?" Stiles asked him curiously.
"I don't know. There are a lot of rumors about him and he doesn't exactly go out of his way to deny them." Danny shrugged.
Stiles sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but the only way he would be getting any answers was by seeking it out himself, and hopefully not getting caught by Derek in turn. "See you on the bus," he said and entered his room.
TWTWTW
They won their game that night, but it was close and went into the 11th inning. It was a tough game to say the least, and Derek was hard on Stiles behind the plate. Several times Stiles called time just so Derek could yell at him at the mound to get it together. He was trying, he really was, but Derek was just more wild then usual that day. He ended up getting pulled in the seventh inning and a reliever was brought in and after that Stiles felt he did much better, plus he could relax a little more without Derek's constant disapproving gaze on him. And with a three run homer in the seventh they were able to tie it up and go into extra innings.
Derek had stormed off the field when he was pulled and Stiles didn't see him in the dugout for the rest of the game, no one knew where he had gone off to, but he had overturned the water cooler and punted a batting helmet across the dugout on his way.
Stiles wanted nothing more than a hot shower and his bed after that game, but he actually kind of dreaded having to go back to the room because Derek would be there. He was almost certain Derek could easily smother him with his pillow while he slept and not think twice.
He gingerly entered the shared hotel room. Derek had not been on the bus ride home, which meant he had left early, where he was or how he got there was a mystery to Stiles. However the shower was going in their bathroom and Derek's baseball stuff was strewn across the floor. Stiles pushed the question of how he had gotten back to the hotel out of his mind and instead trying to brace himself for the fury Derek was sure to throw at him once he was out of the shower.
Stiles leaned back on his bed and thought about all the things he was going to say to counter what Derek would yell at him for. He would stand his ground and yell back just as loud as Derek would. If Derek tried to hit him, he would fight back. He had gone over several different scenarios in his mind, all of which ended with him being the victor and Derek begging for his forgiveness, when the door to the bathroom opened and Derek walked out.
Holy shit. Derek walked into the room with nothing but a towel wrapped and hanging low around his waist. He glared briefly at Stiles before sauntering over to his bag lying on his bed. Stiles' mind went completely blank and he couldn't remember a single thing that he had planned on saying to his pitcher. He knew he had wanted to yell something at him, but all of the sudden all he could think about doing was licking the water droplets off of his shoulder blades and running his hands down that muscled chest, down under the towel-
"Stiles!"
Stiles blinked several times and raised his eyebrows at Derek. The older boy had said something to him but he hadn't heard.
"Don't you ever fucking listen?" Derek asked annoyed with the younger boy.
"Not usually, no." Stiles answered hoping that it wasn't too obvious that he was pretty much molesting Derek with his eyes.
"Well you played a shitty game out there tonight."
"Well maybe that cause you were throwing some shitty pitches." Later Stiles would kick himself for not coming up with something cleverer to say, but he blamed it on the fact that at that moment Derek removed his towel. Of course Derek's damn bag was in the way of all his glory and Stiles couldn't see anything and didn't want to strain his neck and look like a creep. He did see a little side thigh action, and that was enough to make his heart speed up and his mouth go dry.
"If you're going to catch me, you better learn how to take a couple balls in the dirt." Derek said as he pulled on his jeans. Had he put on underwear first?
Stiles blushed. He didn't realize how hot it had gotten in the room and suddenly his pants were tight and uncomfortable, "shower," was all he managed to get out before he grabbed his clean night clothes and bolted into the bathroom.
Needless to say his shower was incredibly cold. And he jerked off in record time. Twice. His head was much clearer once he was out and pulled on his pajamas. He was ready to march back into the room and give Derek a piece of his mind. Once Stiles entered the room, however, Derek was gone. Stiles got into his bed and flipped on the television, it was possible that Derek had gone to get ice, or to one of the other guys' room.
After an hour of anxious waiting, the conversation they had had early with Brink seemed more and more likely. If it was true, Derek would not come back until morning. Stiles flipped off the television and scrambled out of bed and peered out the door into the hallway. It was quiet; no one was coming or going. He closed the door quietly and walked slowly towards Derek's bed, his eyes on his bag.
His mind started racing to all of the rumors about steroids and he bet that if Derek was doing any sort of drug they would be in his bag. Stiles came to a halt, hovering over the big black bag and hesitated. He couldn't go through Derek's things; that was a new low, even for him! However, wouldn't it be his duty to report any sort of substance abuse? He let out an agitated growl and jumped back into his own bed and turned off the light. He spent the rest of the night tossing and turning and waiting for Derek to come back.
The next day at batting practice Stiles made a beeline for Scott, Isaac, and Danny. "He was gone all night," he said coming up on them.
"Derek?" Scott asked.
"Of course Derek!"
"Do you know where he went?" Danny asked.
Stiles made a face at him, "how would I even know that? I got out of the shower last night and he was just gone. I heard him come in around six this morning, but he just immediately got into the shower and didn't say a word to me at all."
The boys all looked at one another in silent thought.
"I almost went through his bag," Stiles whispered looking around to make sure no one was near them.
"You didn't?" Isaac asked his eyes widening.
"No of course not! But all this talk about drugs and shit's really got me curious. I mean, what the fuck?"
"You should've," Danny said back in an equally hushed tone.
"What?"
"The guy is obviously hiding something. And if he leaves it there, why not just have a look while he's gone? He'll never know."
"Unless he's one of those people that would a sock is out of place and then murder me while I sleep." Stiles shot back.
"Look, obviously you don't have to go through the guy's stuff," Scott butted in trying to cool Stiles down, "you should just keep an eye on him."
"Why me? Why is this my job? Danny can do it!" Stiles argued.
"I'm not the one that Derek is constantly checking out at practices." Danny said back.
There was a long quiet pause as Stiles struggled for words. "He…doesn't...check me out…" He managed out slowly, hoping the heat in his cheeks wasn't noticeable.
"Oh come on, everyone's noticed the special attention he's been giving you." Isaac said folding his arms across his chest.
"I'm his catcher." Stiles defended.
"I'm sure he'd like you to catch for him in every sense of the term."
Scott broke in before things could get too heated between Stiles and Isaac, "Enough guys," he turned to Stiles, "It's not a big deal. Some of the guys have just noticed that he's been acting different lately."
"What do you mean different? And why am I just now hearing about this?" Stiles was appalled that Scott would keep this from him.
"He showed up to that party because you asked him to go. Nobody has ever seen him go to anything like that before."
Stiles glared at Scott, "So that automatically makes him gay for me?"
Scott's hands shot up defensively, "No one's saying that!"
"I am," mumbled Isaac, but he shut up when Scott shot him a look.
"Nobody's ever seen him with anyone before, guy or girl. So, I mean, if he lets you get close." Scott's voice trailed off and he gave a shrug.
Stiles shook his head and pursed his lips, "I'll let you guys in on a little secret, Derek Hale hates me. He's even gone as far to say those exact words to me. So I'm sorry, but all this 'special attention'," he signed quotes with his fingers, "is complete bullshit. He stares at me 'cause I'm pretty sure he wants to kill me."
"Just forget it. It's not a big deal. We are all just curious, but you're right, it's probably nothing." Scott said.
"Thank you," Stiles said throwing his hands into the air.
"I mean if by chance we make it to the championships this year and it's discovered that Hale is in fact using performance enhancers and we get disqualified, I'm sure no one would blame you."
Stiles glared at his best friend, "low, dude." Scott gave him a an innocent smile and shrug and Stiles groaned, "fine! I'll do it. Goddammit."
"That's my boy!" Scott laughed clapping Stiles on the shoulder.
"It'll be easy. He won't know a thing." Isaac smiled.
Stiles seriously doubted that. How did it suddenly become his job to be the team mom and make sure that everyone was playing fair? And how could anyone have interpreted Derek and his interactions for anything other than what it really was? Sure, Stiles got a crazy hard on every time Derek was around him, but that didn't mean Derek did. It certainly didn't mean that Stiles wanted to be with him Derek, quite the contrary, he can't stand that asshole! He looked across the field, and sure enough, Derek was with the other pitchers, staring at him. The other boys turned too and sniggered a little. Stiles growled and stormed off into the dugout.
TWTWTW
It was the top of the third inning when Stiles finally got up the courage to go talk to Derek. He had hit a pop up to their catcher for an easy out and was headed back to his seat in the dugout when Derek caught his eye. The older pitcher was sitting alone as usual in the corner of the dugout, Stiles turned and made his over to him and sat down right next to him. The act caught the attention of several of the players around them, including Scott who gave him a secretive wink. The only one who didn't seem to notice was Derek himself, either that or he was just ignoring Stiles. Sometimes Stiles wondered what went through Derek's head. One minute he would be ignoring him, and the next he wouldn't stop staring at him, Stiles wished he'd make up his mind.
With two outs still left to go in the top half of the inning, Stiles busied himself by slowly putting on his shin guards. "I didn't hear you come back to the hotel last night."
"What are you, my mom?" Derek asked not bothering to look at him.
"No. I was just curious where you went?" Stiles trying to act casual just did not go well.
Derek finally turned and looked at him and Stiles kind of wished he didn't because sitting this close he could make out the faint freckles on Derek's nose, and see the perfectly shaved stubble on his chin, "why do you care?" He asked darkly eyeing Stiles.
Stiles shrugged and tried to come up with something to say but he couldn't. He had no reason that he should care, and the question "are you out buying or partaking in recreational drugs or sleeping with hookers?" just didn't sound right. They watched Danny get a double and their left fielder strike out looking before Stiles tried again.
"Have any plans for tonight?" He heard Derek let out a sigh.
"None that concern you."
"Well, I just figured we could order a pizza or something and watch some television, I'm sure there is some sort of game on tonight." Derek shot him the 'I would rather kill myself' look, "Or not. That's cool too." This was so awkward. Stiles almost cheered when their next batter struck out for out number three and he had to go back out onto the field.
"How'd it go?" Scott asked catching up with him
"Fuck you, that's how it's going." Stiles growled at him. Scott laughed and turned to take third.
Isaac hit Stiles' shoulder with his glove, "keep trying lover boy!" He grinned mischievously and ran out to center field before Stiles could retaliate.
Stiles continued sitting next to Derek every half inning after that but didn't attempt at conversation. Just the fact though that he could tell he was making Derek a little uncomfortable was gratifying enough.
TWTWTW
Stiles got out of the shower later that night after they had gotten back to the hotel and sighed when Derek was gone. He was going to have to start taking morning showers or something if he wanted to keep an eye on Derek. But not only was his pitcher gone, but also his bag. Not that Stiles had decided that he was going to go through it or anything, but maybe Derek had left it behind by mistake the previous night and there really was something worth hiding in it. Did he think Stiles had gone through it? He ran a hand through his wet hair and sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought.
A/N: Sorry guys it took a while to get this out! Crazy busy week! Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review and tell me what you think!
LPI3
