Trying to do his homework while waiting to go to Derek's was probably the worst idea Stiles has had in a while. It was simply not working out. He couldn't stop fantasizing about the boy. He couldn't stop thinking about the way Derek carries himself, the way his hair never seems to move, his eyes... Oh god, those eyes. According to Stiles' brain, Derek's eyes were 'a magical mixture of green and grey, that sparkled like a thousand suns'. His words.

40 minutes of daydreaming later, Stiles looked at the clock and started to full on panic. He still couldn't believe this was actually happening. He ran upstairs to his room and started looking at all his clothes. Stiles wanted to look nice, but not too nice; make it look like he cares, but not that much. It was then that it hit him; he was still wearing Derek's hoodie. In his daydreaming-yet-panicked state, he completely forgot about the article of clothing.

He let the sleeve run softly against his cheek, taking in the scent. Derek's pheromones began to overwhelm Stiles' nose. He tried to memorize the hoodie's aroma, even though it wasn't strong as when he got it. Sandalwood, cinnamon, and a little bit of smoke.

Okay... I've hit an all-time low now, he thought.

Knowing it'd be weird to show up in Derek's hoodie, Stiles started going through his drawer. He finally pulled out a decent looking red shirt, smelled it to make sure it didn't reek, and put it on, making his way downstairs.

He was about to go sit in his Jeep when he remembered he should probably grab his chemistry material, so he ran back upstairs.

The drive to Derek's was one filled with anxiety, dread and well, more anxiety. Stiles kept trying to calm himself down, which sort-of worked right up until he arrived at his destination.

Now the Hale residence wasn't exactly a mansion, but it was quite a large estate. Large trees surrounded the house and the area, spanning acres upon acres. There was a beautiful veranda in the front of the house, the walls a beautiful creamy beige color. Different shades of gray masonry surrounded the lower part of the house. A short flight of stairs was in the front center, leading up to a sizable pair of wooden and glass doors.

Stiles was busy taking in the scenery when the front door opened, demanding his attention. A girl with long brown hair stepped out. She looked just a few years older than Stiles. She was wearing a light-yellow blouse and black jeans, her hair falling over her shoulder in beautiful waves and curls.

She started walking over to Stiles' jeep, her hands crossed. "This is private property, kid," she said in a commanding voice.

"Oh, um, I know," sheepishly responded Stiles.

"Step out of the car."

The boy blinked twice before responding. "What?"

"You heard me," she replied, "get out of the car."

Stiles had no idea what was going on, but she looked like the type that wouldn't take no for an answer, so he did as he was told.

The girl eyed him up, taking in his presence. It made Stiles rather uncomfortable, not sure what to say or how to react.

The brunette was about to say something when the front door opened again and Stiles was met with a familiar face; Derek.

He came marching outside, looking like he was about to explode. "Laura! Get away from him! Now!"

The girl apparently named Laura, cackled and extended her hand. "Nice to meet you, Stiles, I'm Laura, Derek's big sister."

"No," Derek interrupted as he walked in between them. "You do not say another word to him. Mom said go help her with dinner."

Laura winked at Stiles and started walking back into the house. "See you later, Stiles!"

The door closed and Stiles noticed Derek relaxing a bit. He felt like this was the time to speak up. "So, uh, you have a sister."

Green eyes met his own. "Two, actually," Derek responded. He looked like he wanted to say more, but chose to keep it simple. "Come on, let's get started on the project."

Stiles followed the other boy through the front door. His nose was filled with a lovely scent; he couldn't quite describe it, but it felt very warm and inviting. The sound of laughter could be heard in a room down the hall, the sound of a television from another. Yes, Stiles would describe the atmosphere as homey... a feeling he hasn't experienced in quite some time.

"My room's upstairs," said Derek, already halfway up the stairs when a voice unfamiliar to Stiles came from the other room.

Stiles turned around and was greeted by the sight of the lovely looking woman. She had long auburn colored hair, her eyes the same color as Derek's. She was wearing a simple wine red blouse and black jeans. Guess that's where Laura gets her style, he thought.

"Derek, how rude of you! Are you not going to introduce your guest?" the woman teased.

Derek groaned and walked back down the stairs. "Stiles, this is my mom. Mom, this is Stiles Stilinski. The end."

The woman let out a small laugh. She extended her hand for Stiles to take, "My name is Talia Hale. It's nice to meet you, Stiles."

"It's nice to meet you too, ma'am," Stiles responded with a smile, shaking Talia's hand.

"Oh, please," she chuckled. "Call me Talia, please."

The boy simply nodded.

Derek rolled his eyes and grabbed Stiles by the shoulder, which totally didn't raise Stiles' heartbeat. "We have work to do," he chided, practically dragging Stiles up the stairs.
Talia just watched the scene unfold with a warm smile, her heart warm knowing that Derek is finally reaching out to new people.

As he was walking up the stairs, Stiles noticed how it was filled with various memorabilia; photographs in varying sizes of the past. He didn't have time to look at them in detail, but he was pretty sure he saw a young Derek (around 7 or so) on a bike smiling. That was definitely worth remembering.

Stiles wasn't completely sure what to expect from Derek's room. He imagined the walls were either black or gray, maybe a picture or two on the wall, everything in its correct spot.

What he wasn't expecting though was a room with blue walls, posters of different sci-fi movies hanging on the walls, even some stuffed animals on the dresser. It had the boy gaping a bit.

"What's wrong with you?" Derek asked in a nonchalant manner. He went and sat down on his bed, which was in the right corner of the room, a poster of Spiderman hanging above it.

"I'm… Just shocked," answered Stiles honestly.

The other teen raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well," the brunette started, "for starters, you have a Spiderman poster hanging above your bed. And a plush wolf on your dresser."

Stiles didn't miss the glare Derek was sending him. "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that! I love Spiderman! And wolves are super cool!" he stammered.

The dark-haired boy simply sighed and pulled out some books from the backpack next to his bed. He spread them in front of himself on the bed. He then looked at Stiles, as if he should have already figured out what to do.

Stiles gulped and set down his own backpack. "Where do you want me to sit?" he asked, trying not sound too nervous.

"Bed," Derek responded, already looking for something in one of the books.

He obviously meant the spot next to him, but Stiles suddenly couldn't think straight. Derek Hale just offered him, Stiles Stilinski, to sit next to him on his bed. Sure, it was for school, but the brunette wasn't really thinking of anything else other than the fact that Derek sleeps in that bed.

So he obliged and sat down next to Derek. He opened his notebook, looking over the minimalistic notes he took in class. It really wasn't his fault. Stiles' brain just somehow completely stopped working when listening to chemistry. That never happened to him before. Sure, he didn't have the best grades in other classes but he was doing completely fine.

And it's not like he was ever going to need chemistry. He hadn't told anybody yet, but Stiles wanted to be a photographer. It's what he was most passionate about. What makes an object beautiful? How can that same object be shown in a different light? How has the camera evolved throughout the last century, and what impact have these changes had in the world of art? Stiles wanted to have answers to all those questions and more. As a photography major, he could contribute to the art world and create pieces that he thought were beautiful.

Stiles was snapped out of his daydreaming when Derek flicked his head. "Ow! What gives?!" the teen protested, covering the spot with his hand.

"Can you focus? We have a lot of work to do," the black-haired boy insisted.

Stiles was sort-of glad that Derek was like this. He really needed someone that knew what had to be done. Thus, he decided to give it a try. "Fine, but you're gonna have to explain this stuff to me. I have no idea what Harris talks about in his classes, and when I try to ask him he just ignores me," he explained. He was chewing on his lip before continuing to speak, "I'm sorry. You probably never have this problem, and I don't wanna tank our grade, which is also your grade, and I know you have good grades, not that I keep track of or anything. I just… Um… Want to do good."

That earned him a weird look from the other boy. Honestly, Derek did sympathize with Stiles a bit. He never really had that problem; he had top grades in all his classes, all the teachers loved him, he understood all the material.

Stiles silently cursed himself. "Sorry, I babble a lot."

Derek knew that Stiles wasn't stupid. He knew the boy had good grades in other subjects. Not that he kept track of them. "Alright," Derek said slowly, turning his chemistry book to the beginning page. "We'll start from the beginning then."

Stiles couldn't read Derek's face. He pretty much always had the same expression, so he had no idea whether Derek was okay with this or not. He figured it wasn't worth the time to think about it too much, seeing as they had a lot of work to do.

Derek was looking at his book for a bit, trying to come up with some questions to test Stiles' knowledge. He hummed in contempt when he finally found something. "Chemical reactions."

"What about them?" Stiles retorted.

That earned him a glare from the other boy. "I'm getting to it. Can you explain to me what a chemical reaction is by definition?"

Stiles squinted his eyes and looked at the floor; apparently, that was him thinking. "It's a process in which the identity of at least one substance changes, right?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" Derek asked with a smirk.

"You're worse than Harris, you're aware of that, right?" Stiles responded.

Derek simply gestured that he was still waiting for an answer.

"Um," the brunette started, "it's a… statement."

Derek raised his eyebrows, pleased with the answer. "Alright, not bad, Stilinski."

That caused Stiles to beam up a bit. Maybe he could do this!

"Okay, next one. What's the difference between reactants and products?" Derek asked.

Stiles raised his eyebrow and thought for a second. Use your logic, his inner-self said. "Well, reactants are the substances that are changed in a chemical reaction, while products are the substances that are produced."

Derek nodded and started coming up with more questions. He thought he should keep it simple at first, have Stiles grasp the basic of chemistry, then they could devote their time to their project.

The Hale boy gave Stiles some chemical equations to solve, very basic ones of course. In the meantime, he would catch up on his own work, but every now and then he would find himself looking over at Stiles', sort-of mesmerized by the boy's facial features.

Wait, what?

"Hope you two are decent," a voice said outside Derek's room before the door was swung open by Laura who had a mischievous smirk on her face, earning a glare from her younger brother.

"What do you want, Laura?" Derek spat through his teeth, obviously annoyed by his sister's presence. Stiles had no idea why Derek was so tense around her, but seeing as he was an only child he figured he would never understand.

"Oh, just checking up on my baby brother," she nonchalantly responded, leaning against the door frame and checking her nails. "Making sure he's behaving. Not doing anything he shou-"

"Laura!" Derek practically barked.

His sister snorted and started closing the door. "Mom said to tell you dinner will be really in 5. Bye, Stiles!"

Stiles looked over at Derek, who looked like he was about to murder someone. He was silently praying it wouldn't be him.

"Uhh, guess I should go now," Stiles started, picking up his books. "Thanks for the help, by the way," he sheepishly said, "I, uh, think it really helped."

Derek smiled softly at that. He was glad Stiles was starting to get the material. Not surprising, though, he did have a great teacher.

"Yeah, whatever," is what he responded with, though, earning an eye roll from Stiles.

Derek accompanied Stiles to the front door. The Hale boy was about to say something when his mother appeared from the other room. "Stiles, oh good, I've caught you! I wanted to ask you to join us for dinner!" Talia said warmheartedly.

Stiles froze up. Join the Hale family for dinner? Derek's family? Hell no! "Oh, um, that's okay. I really need to get going, but thank you, Misses Hale."
"Nonsense!" Talia dismissed. "You have to stay! I made more than enough."

He gave it another thought, weighing his options in his head; go home and order pizza while waiting for his dad, or stay for a nice home cooked meal with the Hale's.
"Alright… I guess I can stay for a bit," he answered, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks.

He followed Talia and Derek to the dining room. Upon entering the room his nostrils were filled with a mix of delicious aromas, his stomach growling in response, earning him a chuckle from Talia.

The table was set beautifully, no doubt Talia's work. It was a very modern setting, but with a touch of something that made it feel very homey.
Stiles noticed the 5 plates on the table; so that meant him, Derek, Talia, Laura… and Derek's dad, right?

His question was answered when a girl around his age walked into the room, her hair a light brown color in a high ponytail. She was wearing a black t-shirt with a logo from one of those bands Stiles heard on the radio. She stopped in tracks when she saw him and raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?" the girl asked.

"Uh, I'm Stiles," he answered, stretching his arm out.

"What kind of name is Stiles?" she replied, looking genuinely confused. She wasn't the first one. "I'm Cora, by the way."

"Our dear baby sister," Laura chimed as she entered the room with two trays of food. "Go sit, we're almost done."

The teens did as they were told, Derek and Cora each sitting on one side of the table. Stiles sat down next to Derek, trying not to make it too obvious that he was almost having a panic attack.

If someone told him a month ago that he'd be having dinner with Derek Hale and his family, Stiles would have laughed until he died, yet there he was. Looking over at the other boy Stiles noticed that apparently the plate had grown a mouth and was telling Derek something because he seemed that interested in it.

"Dig in," Talia said and everyone started taking pieces of the food.

Stiles wasn't really sure what he was looking at, pretty much all of the presented food was a mystery to him. He was used to take-out and simple dishes; basically, what he was capable of making.

"Stiles, you should try some of the baked potatoes," Laura suggested before taking a bite. "They're really good."

"Uh, sure," he responded with a lopsided smile.

A few minutes or so passed with no special conversation topics; the Hales mostly talked about school stuff, Talia talking about her work. Stiles found out that she was a lawyer.
"So, Stiles," the woman started, "how's your chemistry project going?"

Stiles quickly swallowed the food in his mouth before answering. "Oh, yeah… Um… It's going good, I guess. I'm not that good at chemistry but Derek's been teaching me a bit and I think I'm starting to get it."

Talia smiled. "That's nice. I'm glad Derek is able to help you."

The mentioned boy didn't say a word, just stared at his plate.

"Yeah," Stiles continued, "I'm still learning new things." He hadn't meant just about chemistry. He was surprised how normal and friendly Derek's family was. Thinking about it he wasn't exactly sure what he expected; surely they wouldn't all be dark and broody too, right?

The rest of the dinner was filled with trivial small talk. Stiles didn't get many words in but he didn't mind. He was really enjoying himself. He couldn't remember the last time he had a proper family dinner; something he realized he missed more than he thought.

His mother died when Stiles was very young. He remembers holding her hand while she was dying; the smell of the hospital, it smelled like ethanol. He couldn't get rid of the smell for a week, it was like it was lodged in his nostrils reminding him of his last moments with his mother. He hates that smell.

"Stiles?"
He snapped back to reality, realizing Talia was talking to him. She seemed slightly worried. "Is everything alright, dear?" she inquired.

"Uh, yeah," he answered. "I'm fine." Cue the fake smile. "It was really lovely and thank you so much for having me over, but I really should be going. My dad likes to check up on me every now and then and if he doesn't find me he's gonna call the CIA," Stiles continued, only half joking.

"Well, if you say so," Talia responded, standing up. "Give me a minute, though, I'll give u some of the leftovers, we're never going to eat all of it."

Stiles pondered the idea but nodded in agreement. Who was he to say no to free food?

He waited by the front door, his backpack thrown over his shoulder, clutching it with one of his hands. Derek was standing a few feet away from him, hands in his pockets, looking at the ground. The Hale boy hasn't said a single thing to him the entire dinner. Even when he talked it was only a response to a question from his mother or one of his sisters. Stiles wasn't sure if it was because he was there. Derek invited him to work on their chemistry project, not bond over baked potatoes with his family.

"Here you go," Talia chimed as she entered the hall, holding 3 plastic containers. "I added a little extra chicken for your father, I hope he isn't a vegetarian," she laughed.
"No," Stiles chortled. "That's the last thing he is." He was always trying to get his father to eat more vegetables, with not much success. "Thank you. For everything."

Talia smiled warmly. "My pleasure. Any friend of Derek's is always welcome at our house."

Stiles subtly nodded. "Well, I, uh, have to go now. Thanks, again. Good night," he politely said, looking at both the Hales.

"Drive safely," was all Derek said before he ran up to his room.

He wouldn't admit it but Stiles did blush.