A/N: I am so sorry I delayed so long to make another one-shot for the challenge! I have been so busy it's ridiculous. Anywho, onto the next one-shot!

Homework

It was about 2 o'clock in the morning, and everyone in the Macdonald-Venturi household was sleeping very, very soundly. Well, almost everyone.

A frustrated Derek sat at his cluttered desk clutching a pencil in one hand and a fistful of his hair in the other. His mind was scattered, frazzled, and extremely distracted. On top of it all, he had an unbearable headache from staring at his French assignment for more than a few hours. He muttered obscenities under his breath as he erased and erased, over and over again at his incompetent work.

As you could tell, homework was not his forte. Especially when he was failing the class, and summer school was the alternative.

For God's sakes, he didn't even know how to say, "What's your name?" in French! How could he write a paper in the language?

As he sat with his head in his hands, Casey stirred lightly in her sleep. Her mouth was dry as a desert. Sleepily, she sat up, stumbled out of the bed, and put on her slippers to grab a drink of water. Shuffling down the hallway, she saw the light on in Derek's room, and she heard the sound of a pencil breaking.

She almost started to walk again, but curiosity got the best of her. What could he be doing this late?

"Derek?" She called quietly as she opened the door. His red-rimmed eyes stared up at her with menace. "What in the world are you doing up so late?"

"This damn French assignment." He muttered angrily.

"Isn't that due tomorrow?" Casey asked. Derek looked back at his blank paper and sighed.

"Don't remind me."

Casey felt a twinge in her chest. Derek looked so distraught, and she had never seen him like this over a school assignment. She fought against her drooping eyelids and stepped into the room.

"I can… well, help you, if you want," Casey said apprehensively. She had never willingly helped Derek before, and it felt weird putting it all together in a sentence. He looked up at her with a glint of hope in his eye. But then he scowled.

"I don't need your pity," He spat, turning back to his paper. Casey rolled her eyes.

"Suit yourself." She replied before turning to get her water.

"Wait," She heard him mumble. She poked her head through the doorway.

"Yes?"

"I guess you can help me. But what's it going to cost me?" He asked with a weak voice. He looked absolutely exhausted. Casey pondered this for a second.

"Here's the deal. It won't cost you anything if you don't make fun of me, ridicule me, trip me, or call me names for tonigh- actually, make it for the rest of the month." Casey negotiated. Derek showed an obvious feeling of discontentment towards this, but agreed.

"Okay, so what is this paper on?" She asked while pulling up a rolling chair next to Derek. They both jolted a little in their seats with Casey's bare leg accidentally brushed Derek's.

"Uh, our family. This is going to suck." Derek murmured. Casey silently agreed. Their family was definitely a complicated subject to write about.

"All right. Well, I guess you can start out with something like 'My family is very big.'" Casey said.

Derek looked at the paper for a few seconds.

"How do you say 'my family'?" Derek asked, a totally serious look on his face.

"You're joking, right? Have you been asleep all year?" Casey asked in disbelief.

"I'm sorry I'm not writing down every word the teacher says, unlike you, grade grubbe- never mind."

Casey frowned.

"Well if you don't want my help…"

"No! No, please. Just tell me how to say 'my family is big'." Derek pleaded.

"Ma famille est grande." Casey said as Derek scribbled the words down. This is going to be a loooong night. She thought.

And it was. This was basically how the whole night commenced. Casey would feed Derek sentences that he clearly didn't know, they would squabble, and then she would threaten to leave him to do it on his own. They tackled that paper until four in the morning.

"I… I better go to bed…" Casey muttered quietly. She was already half asleep on Derek's desk. She tried to make herself move, but no avail. Her body was already in sleep mode.

Derek stood up, wobbled a little, but then steadied himself. He looked down at Casey, who seemed extremely uncomfortable in that chair. After debating whether or not he thought he could make it to Casey's room without collapsing, he picked her up, placed her down horizontally on one end of his bed and put the comforter over her thin body. Making sure he was as far away from her as possible, he crawled in as well and drifted into a deep sleep.

When the alarm went off, they were just inches away. Casey was the first to scream. She jumped out of his bed, and then remembered why she was in his room in the first place.

"Uh… let's just forget that ever happened." Casey muttered as Derek nodded fervently. And with that, she stumbled into her own room, breathless.

A/N: Take this however you want! It can be seen as Dasey or it can be seen as anything else. Tell me what you think!