A/N: I don't hate vegans. They are great. But Derek is Derek, so he probably does. Admit it.

I do not own Life With Derek, yada yada, blah blah.

Players:

Casey - starting to really get confused

Derek - restless, impatient as f*ck, and totally stressed out

QUEENS - CASEY'S DORM: Midnight

Enter the 'lovebirds in denial', walking down the hall in silence. Derek rubs the back of his neck, and Casey swings her purse mechanically.

It's awkward when they return to Casey's dorm, and neither of them say anything for a few moments when they reach her door. (Derek is praying that she invites him in, because damn, he wants things to happen tonight, and he wants to finish that conversation from earlier).

She fiddles with her key. "Surprisingly, I actually had a good time tonight," she says. (Cue: the goodbye speech). "I had a lot of fun at that club."

His heart drops a little bit, because he knows she's gonna send him away now. "Me, too." His hands slide into his pockets and he leans against her door frame. "You're better company than I remembered." (By 'better company', he means to say that she's always been the best company he has ever had, but she wants to avoid the inevitable conversation at all costs, so he plays along).

She punches him playfully. "And you were pretty civil."

His shoulders lift. "It was part of the act." (Yeah, the act on top of another act. And it's getting tiring).

She smiles. "I'm sure it was."

"Anyway," he breathes, speeding things up. "I guess this is it."

She bites her lip (and Lord Almighty, he wants to kiss her). "I guess it is."

Wait... Is she looking at his lips, too? (She totally is). His heart starts beating profusely. Did she want to kiss him, too? (Probably not, but a guy can dream).

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Casey says, and when she does, she turns her body away from him, and inserts her key into the lock.

"Yeah."

She looks down at her feet. (Since when was she this awkward around him?) "I usually eat lunch around one. If you wanna meet me down the street-"

"I'll pick you up."

And she nods at the interruption, and he smiles at the ground (and remember the Facade that they had built so many years ago? The one that was in ruins? Yeah, it's just about rubble by now).

"Good night, Derek," she whispers, and when he looks back up at her, he almost loses control, because her eyes are literally shining, and her smile is almost as wide as his.

"Good night, Case."

He doesn't move as she opens her door and goes inside, and he's just far enough in the way that her arm brushes against his chest (Cue: the shivers), and he breathes in her perfume and drinks her figure in one last time before she closes the door and the sight of her is gone from view.

Maybe he should just get counselling. (I mean, that's one solution). Because he's fallen completely and utterly down a deep dark hole, and instead of climbing out, he's trying to pull her down with him. And in many people's books, that borders on psychosis. (But he's never cared before, so why should he start now?)

It takes a few moments before he regains feeling in his legs, and he pushes off of the door frame, and begins walking back down the hall, over to the staircase. He's not paying much attention to the world around him, and almost runs into another late-night couple making their way back to their own dorm. By the looks on their faces, they're about to indulge in an activity that Derek is yearning to do, but it's just not the right time.

But he's willing to wait... even though his body is in complete flames.

He sleeps well. (Too well).

And he actually pays attention in class. (He scares himself sometimes).

And he's started Stage Two of Covert Operation Purple Fog 2.0 already. (And he's really scaring himself, because he's never planned anything out in such detail before now). The next step is to spend as much time with Casey as possible (and without ripping each other to shreds), and to annoy her until she can't take it anymore, because that's when she (usually) gets so frustrated and heated that she (usually) bursts into his room and pushes him backward on the bed. (And that's the exact position Derek wants to be with her, because that's where all sorts of feelings like to manifest).

Casey's room is open when he arrives the next day, and when he knocks on the ajar door, she lifts her head from her books. She looks frazzled, and if Derek didn't know better, he would have thought she had been crying.

"Finally, you're here," she mutters, and gets up from her desk.

No 'hello', no 'hey, how ya doing?', just a quick acknowledgement of his arrival, and rushing out of her dorm. (Typical).

He's a little miffed (make that a lot), because he thought they had ended on (really) good terms last night. (But maybe he had been hallucinating, because when had that ever happened before?)

"Nice to see you, too," he jabs, and nearly has to jog to keep up with her.

(Was she upset at him or something?) "We've got to eat fast, because I have a class in twenty."

His eyes roll right up to the ceiling. "Okay, why didn't you tell me to come earlier, then?"

"Because I mixed up my days."

He gasps in exaggeration. "What? Casey McDonald made a mistake?"

"Shut up."

(Not a chance). "I'm shocked. This hasn't happened since grade eleven."

"Don't even start-"

"Maybe you can skip the class and tell the prof that your dog Bob The Second died suddenly, and you had to seek solace with your only relative on campus."

At least she smirks, but wipes it off quickly as they exit the building. "Please. I will never tell a lie like that again."

(Don't buy it).

"Su-ure."

They decide to eat at some weird, hipster cafe that Casey loves hanging out at on campus, and he can't exactly protest. After all, he was doing it to be with her, so it shouldn't matter if the place is horribly overpriced for ridiculous menu items. (But he is kind of ticked, because apparently everything they serve is natural, organic, gluten-free, vegan, and absolute garbage).

"How about tomorrow, I pick the eats," he says when they sit down to two big bowls of (revolting) tofu salad (which he only agreed to eat because it was the only thing that didn't look like it came straight out of a sofa cushion).

Casey taps her fingers on the table. "Hey, this is supposed to be a favour to me, since I so generously did one for you."

"It doesn't mean you have to drag me to places like this. Don't you like eating real food?" he responds, waving his fork around in front of her face, a piece of tofu impaled on the end. (It's jiggling when it moves, which makes it all the less appetizing). "Like steak?"

She lifts her nose high in the air. "Of course. But sometimes I like to eat something that doesn't have such an impact on the environment."

(Snort). "Good one."

"It's true. Did you know that cows-"

"Taste absolutely delicious?" he interrupts. "Why yes, I did."

Her shoulders slump, because she knows there is no way (in Hell, or Heaven, or any other place) that she is going to convince Derek to eat more consciously. "I like Rib eye," she says quietly, like other people in the dump might hear her and disown her. (Vegans are known to do that). "Medium rare."

And (shit), there goes his blood rushing again. All he does is smile at her (because Victory is Sweet), and manages to swallow down a bite of tofu. (He wants to show that he is - somewhat - sensitive). "Tomorrow, we eat steak."

She laughs. "Okay." Quickly, she scarfs down the rest of her food (faster than Derek, and he's been known to make entire chickens disappear in three seconds), and then shoots up out of her chair. "Gotta get to class."

He nods. "Physiology, right?"

Her eyes narrow. "How did you know-"

"Sources, remember?"

And she rolls her eyes. "I'm never talking to Marti again."

"As if."

Commence Casey's exit - the one where Derek waits until she's out of sight before he spits out whatever bits of inedible junk are in his mouth, and tosses the contents of his bowl in the garbage.

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