The next morning Derek is out on this morning jog, he never misses a day despite felling a little worse for wear when he woke up; his fussy head has cleared now thanks to the fresh air. On his usual route that takes him past the Beta house he spots Stiles asleep on a sun lounger. Unable to resist temptation he whips out his phone and snaps a quick picture, the bright flash startles Stiles in his sleep and he flails around wildly as he tries to work out where he is.
"Rough night?" Derek asks.
"Where am I?" Stiles replies, his voice sounded dry and cracked.
"You're in your own garden, half still in your costume surrounded by many empty beer bottles!"
Stiles groans loudly. "I suppose that photo is going on Facebook?"
"Oh no, this is for me, in case I ever need to bribe you!"
"Nice...thanks, I expect better treatment when you wake me up in the middle of the night."
Derek looks around incredulously. "It's 7am not the night!"
"7am! Why the hell am I up at 7am!"
Stiles rolls off the sun lounger and tries to stand but stumbles towards Derek. He reach out to pull Stiles up, they lock eyes for a very brief moment.
"Need some help getting inside cub?" Derek laughs.
"I think I might still be a little drunk." Stiles replies as Derek takes him to the door his arm around Stiles' shoulders.
"Let's get you up to your room." Derek says steering Stiles towards the stairs.
When Stiles gets to his room he flops down on to his bed and smiles up at Derek.
"Hey this night couldn't have been so bad, Derek Hale took me to bed!" and with those word he shuts his eyes and falls back to sleep.
"Goodnight Stiles." Derek whispers as he shuts the door behind him.
A couple of days later on his way back from class, Stiles takes his normal shortcut to the Beta house across the sports field. He spots Derek sitting on the top most row of the bleachers looking into the distance. Stiles instinctively makes his way towards him, worried something had happened.
"Hey, you ok?" Stiles said sitting down next to Derek.
Derek didn't seem to notice Stiles approaching and abruptly snapped out of his daydream.
"Sorry, I was miles away." Derek said his voice sounded full of emotion.
"Do you want to be on your own, are you ok?
Derek doesn't reply but goes back to staring into space.
"You want me to leave you alone." Stiles said getting up to leave.
To Stiles surprise Derek makes a grab for his arm and says quietly "Stay...please?" Stiles sits back down and Derek lets go of his arm.
They sit in silence for a while; something Stiles finds it impossible to do.
"You want to talk about it?" Stiles blurts out after what feels like an eternity.
Derek sighs "I haven't talked about it to anyone. Not even my sister."
"You have a sister? I'm an only child, what's her name?" Stiles presses Derek to keep him talking.
"Cora, I don't see her very much she went away after..." Derek stops speaking abruptly.
"You miss her? Do you call each other?" Stiles asked.
"Yeah, I just find it hard to talk; I have to bury stuff to be able to cope." Derek looks shocked at his own admission, like he had never really realised this himself.
"You don't have to talk, that's ok, but if you do...I'm here to listen." Stiles said with a gentle smile.
"Cora is all I have left; I lost my family in a fire, five years today." Derek had to stop a lump forming in his throat from emotion.
"Derek, that's awful...it's ok to miss them you know."
Stiles paused, when Derek can't speak Stiles continues "I lost my mum when I was younger, she was ill for a really long time, we had to watch her deteriorate it was the hardest thing ever, I miss her everyday."
Visibly struggling back tears Derek chokes out, "I'm really sorry about your mum." He falls silent unable to carry on telling Stiles the whole story.
"Thanks and thanks for telling me, I know that must have been hard for you." Stiles said. He quickly added "I wasn't trying to compare, just wanted you to know you not alone."
Derek smiled.
"You want to get coffee?" Stiles asked.
"Sure." Derek replied weakly.
They left the sports field and made their way to the campus coffee shop, Stiles decided not to press Derek to talk about anything deep, they just chatted about their house mates, parties they had been to and movies. They walked back to their houses together, Stiles leaving Derek at the Alpha house.
"Thanks for everything today." Derek said.
Stiles smiled "No probs, you feel any better?"
Derek nodded "See you around." And with that he retreated inside.
Stiles couldn't help but notice the butterflies in his tummy he had since he saw Derek on the sports field. No, crushing on Derek was not a good idea, he had helped a friend and that felt pretty good.
The next day Stiles rocks up to the Alpha house carrying a spade over his shoulder, he rings the bell and after a minute Jackson opens the door.
"Hey, Derek in?" Stiles asked.
"Derek! Stilinski has killed someone and needs your help burying the body!" Jackson shouts up the stairs.
Stiles rolls his eyes. When Derek sees Stiles and his spade a panicked look flashes across his face.
"Stiles, what did you do!?" Derek questioned.
"Relax...can you come with me? You're not busy are you?" Stiles asked suddenly feeling nervous.
Derek follows wordlessly. Finally breaking the silence he asks "What's with the spade?"
"All in good time." Stiles replies with a cheeky grin.
They make their way over to a quiet garden area of the campus.
"Dah dah!" Stiles said pointing at a small peach tree.
Derek gives him a strange look. Feeling that he should explain himself further Stiles adds "It's for your family, a memorial. Now when you miss them you can come here to remember them. I thought we could plant it together." Stiles said handing Derek the spade.
"Stiles this is..." Derek started trying to find the words to express how over come he was with amazement and gratitude.
"God, it was a bad idea." Stiles panics.
Derek grabs his hand very gently, "Thank you, this is perfect."
Stiles beams, they get to work planting the tree then stand back to admire their handy work.
"Laura would have loved this...my big sister, she loved to garden, she said it kept her calm when everything was getting too much." Derek said reminiscing.
"I'm glad she would approve." Stiles smiled.
Derek turns to face Stiles taking a step towards him. "How do you do that...you just get inside my head." Derek said quietly almost to himself.
Derek leans in a bit more, for a split second Stiles thinks he's going to kiss him but the next second the spell is broken and Derek steps back, remembering himself.
"Thanks again, this is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. I should get back; I have a paper due in tomorrow."
"Sure thing." Stiles said "Can I have your phone number...just in case I need to talk to you about the next event, you're hosting next right."
Stiles parts from Derek feeling very confused, surely he must have imagined it. Derek wouldn't be putting the moves on him, but he just couldn't help analysing the situation over and over again as he made his way home.