Jackson got out of his father's car and walked slowly towards the yellow, wooden house with the bottle green door. He ran his fingers through his hair and failed to notice, when his father smirked at Jackson's adorable display of nerves. He steeled his resolve, he wasn't nervous about the older man who Lydia called Dad, no wait he'd never actually heard Lydia call him Dad. That meant he was laid-back and cool, not intimidating, he was also the guy who kissed his father's boo-boo. They'd laughed about that for hours and were still having fun with it, every time his father appeared to be forgetting about the kiss, they'd ask him when he was marrying Stiles. At the time of the incident Jackson wanted to say "Get A Room", or other words to that effect but he was too busy laughing.
The sound of the door wrapping was so gentle, that Stiles would have missed it if he hadn't been in the hall at the time. Opening the door he saw Jackson Hale, he cheeks slightly flushed, pale pink, and eyes directed downwards in an attempt to avoid making eye contact with Stiles. It was completely adorable and Stiles seeing how nervous poor Jackson was made a conscious effort, not to chuckle. Jackson went to speak, but his voice chose that moment to betray him. He sighed and made another attempt, his voice was clear and possibly a little higher in pitch than he might have wanted.
"Hello Sir, I'm here to work on a Chemistry project with Lydia." Jackson continued to look at the ground.
"Jackson come on in, and stop looking so nervous. I'm not going to bite your head off, I'm glad Lydia's made friends with somebody so soon."
"Thank you, sir."
"And less of this sir nonsense. I'm grateful that you're trying to be so polite, but neither one of us is an army man so call me Stiles, or at the very least Mr Stilinski."
"Yes, Mr Stilinski." Jackson spoke softly, as he continued to stare at the ground like he was looking for a 20 dollar bill.
Stiles entered the Kitchen to get some juice boxes for himself and Danny, he was sharp enough to notice Jackson jump out of his skin and budge further away from Lydia before. His dark, practically black, sense of humour prompted him to find this development hystrically funny, he maintained his composure while he made a mental note to continue finding reasons to return to the Kitchen. He admitted it wasn't fair to attempt to give the 13 year old boy a heart attack, but nobody had ever found him intimidating before and now that it finally happening, a part of him was finding it deeply satisfying.
"So Jackson, Lyds, what's the project."
"Oh, we have to calculate the number of protons, neutrons and electrons in each of the elements."
"Right Lyds, I was good at chemistry if you need help. Jackson are you OK? You don't look too well."
"Fine sir, uh Mr Stilinski, sir." Jackson mumbled.
"OK then! Need help, give me a holler. Better get Danny his juice box before bedtime.
Stiles got the juice box and walked out of the Kitchen, trying not to appear too satisfied at the look of guilt/terror on Jackson's face. The next time Stiles went to the Kitchen, Jackson appeared to be willing the ground to open up and swallow him, or possibly willing the ground to open up and swallow Stiles. Anyway, Stiles decided he was going to try and approximate the behaviour of an actual adult and leave the poor boy in peace. He clearly wasn't about to die of embarrassment, but his dignity had left the building and Stiles felt guilty he was at least partially responsible for that. So he decided to extend the boy an olive branch.
"Jackson could I have your father's phone number please. If you and Lyds are going to be lab partners and friends, me and you father should probably be able to contact eah other, in case of emergencies."
Nervously Stiles dialed the number that Jackson had given him, he wasn't looking forward to this conversation. Since he was perfectly content to just let Derek Hale forget he even existed and get on with his life. The kids were going to make that impossible though, it was early days but Lydia and Jackson were almost certainly going to be girlfriend and boyfriend. Then Danny seemed to like 'Mr Wolfman', shy little Danny who never engaged anybody without knowing them for at least a couple of months before hand. Their children had thrown down a gauntlet and it seemed the best thing to do was graciously accept the challenge.
"No Laura, I haven't spoken to him it probably wouldn't change anything. It didn't mean..."
"Derek, it's Stiles Stilinski here.
"Sorry, I thought you were my sister. I guess I should have let you speak first."
"That's alright, I got your number off Jackson and I just wanted to clear the air. After yesterday! I could say it could happen to anybody, but in all honesty it could probably only happen to me."
"Look, it was a honest mistake. I remember Jackson and Allison being 4, having to kiss their cuts and bumps. There really is no need to clear the air."
"Thank God you said that, I was afraid you were going to punch and that I might have to move again. I've actively been avoiding you all day, it's ridiculous. I've been like a teenager with a crush, only without the crush."
"Well, that's weird."
"Anyway, I thought I should you know... because I think Lydia and Jackson are going to be more than just lab partners in a months time and I figured we should bury the hatchet. Because if my suspicions are correct and they usually are, we'll be seeing a lot more of each other, courtesy of our lovely children. So we should be friends too... or at least on speaking terms with each other."
"I agree and I think we should cement this friendship with drinks tommorrow... or you know whenever, if you can't get a baby-sitter on such short notice.
"No, I'm sure I can sort something out. I guess I'll see you tommorrow, well I've got to put Danny to bed so... uh good night I guess. I'll run Jackson home for you... Bye.
"Yeah, Bye Stiles."
Well that's what happens when you torment the teenaged son of your crush. You get to go out with your crush and spend the night secure in the knowledge that he just sees you as a friend. You get to spend the night carefully monitoring how much you drink, so you don't do something massively inappropriate. Like sticking your tongue down the throat of said guy, who just wants to be friends. This was karma! 15 years from now Stiles was going to attend Lydia and Jackson's wedding and Derek would still be the guy he wanted to be fucked by, who just wanted to be his friend. Cruel twist of fate and all that.
