When Stiles awakens, Derek says, "Good morning."
Stiles turns around to face him, "Morning."
"It's eight."
Stiles whirls around to check his phone, and Derek was right, "Fuck, I have to go to school."
Stiles stands up, but Derek grabs his hand. "Wait, stay here with me."
"What, and miss school?"
"Yeah, does one day really matter? We can spend it with each other."
Stiles ponders it for a moment, thinking if it would really matter. He had only missed a few days when he was sick.
"You know what, I will," and he gets back into the sleeping bag with Derek, who wraps his arms around him once more.
The two talk and tell stories for a few hours, not noticing the passing of time, until Stiles gets a text from Scott.
Scott: hey where were you today?
"Scott actually texted me first. Let alone reply to one of my texts," said Stiles.
"What did he say?"
"He asked where I was today. Oh wait, it's 2! Damn. We've been talking for ages."
Derek makes a surprised face, "Wow, I feel like a shut-in."
Stiles rolls his eyes as he gets up and grabs his clothes to dress himself.
"Are you leaving?" Derek asks.
"Yeah, and you're coming with me. I want to walk around the forest before it gets dark, so get dressed."
They are enjoying their walk, pointing out animals and plants they spot, Derek even takes Stiles' hand at one point, and he lets him hold it.
Stiles notices an old house, and insists they go inside, dragging Derek along, even though he protests the entire way there.
"I just want to look inside!"
"Stiles, it's super rundown, it could collapse at any second."
"Well... we'll be quick," Stiles said as he open the door, it creaked open for a bit, and then fell off.
"Wow, this place really is run down," Stiles says.
"No shit..."
He ignores Derek as he walks in, and all the furniture is pushed around and turned over. All the walls are painted white, ceilings too. With wood floors. The place looks like there had been thieves, but nothing of value appeared to be stolen. Stiles assumed that a group of kids from his school did it for fun.
He comes across a stair case, and ascends it right away.
"Stiles, what if the floor gives out?"
"I'll be fine, it's like a ten foot fall."
"That's not what I... whatever. Just be careful."
"Yeah, yeah."
Stiles reaches the top, and it's just a hallway, no doors or anything, besides one at the end of the hall, and it has multiple locks on it. He walks up to it, analyzing it, and deciding it wouldn't take much force to break them off at this point, considering their age. He backs up a bit, and runs at the door, jumping and sticking his feet up for two-foot kick. He smacks into the door, and it cracks at the frame a bit, but it doesn't break open, and he falls to the ground with a thud.
"Ow... Derek!" he calls out as he gets up.
"What is it?!" Derek calls back to him as he flies up the stairs to him, and then he sighs, "What did you do?"
Stiles answers Derek's question with his own, "Can you open this door for me?"
Derek glares at him, but he walks over to the door and kicks it open.
"I wish I could do that..." Stiles says enviously.
He stands up and walks through, and he sees transmutation circles all over the walls of the room, some complete, some partially done, others are crossed out, or check marked.
"This is crazy..." Stiles says as he looks up, seeing even more transmutation circles.
"Yeah..." Derek says from the doorway.
Stiles' eyes fall on a chest, and he goes over to it, but it's locked with an ancient pad lock. It was manually hammered into its shape.
"Derek..." Stiles says, summoning him to come kick the lock off.
"Thank you," Stiles says as he opens the chest, and it's filled with jars and boxes filled with elements and compounds. In the middle rested a large and rather old grimoire.
"Whoa..." he says in fascination. He picks it up, and dusts of the cover, but it's too worn to read. He opens the book, and is happy to see that the pages are intact.
"Alchemy: Apprentice Stage One..." Stiles reads out, "Hmmm..."
He tucks it under his arm and closes the chest, putting the broken lock on the latch, imitating its previous state.
"You actually want that old ass book?" Derek asks incredulously.
"Yes, I do. It's interesting," Stiles says defensively.
"Whatever, enjoy it I guess."
Stiles cuts his eyes at Derek as he walks out the door and down the stairs, and then leaves the house. Derek is right behind him though, and they walk together again. Stiles makes Derek carry the book after he realizes how difficult it is to carry it around.
"You took the damn thing, why do I have to carry it?"
"Because you kicked the lock off. I wouldn't have taken it otherwise. So it's technically your fault," Stiles retorts.
"That doesn't make any sense at all."
"Yes it does."
They go back and forth for all the way to the tent, where Stiles promptly begins ignoring Derek, and he cracks open the grimoire.
They who desire to have the most true knowledge of the greater science of the philosophical Art, let them diligently peruse this little book and often times read it over and they shall obtain their prosperous and wished desire. Listen to these things, you children of the Ancient Philosophers, I will speak in the loudest and highest voice I can, for I come unto you to open and declare the principal state of human things and the most secret treasure of all the secrets of the whole world. I will not do it feignedly and erroneously but altogether plainly and truly, wherefore use you towards me such devotion of hearing as I shall bring unto you magistery of doctrine and wisdom, for I will show you a true testimony of those things which I have seen with my own eyes and felt with my hands
"Damn, this book is old," Stiles notes.
"I could have told you that," Derek mocks.
"You're so nice," Stiles says sarcastically.
"I told you I wasn't nice, but you didn't believe me."
Stiles rolls his eyes, and his stomach growls.
"You got any food?"
"No, but we can get some."
"Great, I'm starving," Stiles says as he closes the ancient text and jumps up to walk with Derek to his car, and they discus where to eat.
They decided to eat at a local cafe, and Stiles asked Derek to take him home so he could leave the leftovers for his dad, in case he was too drunk to make food himself.
"I'll be right back, I'm just going to set it on the table," Stiles tells Derek as he opens the car door.
Once inside, he walks to the dining room, where he sees his father sitting with a nearly empty bottle of scotch.
"The school called me today..." the sheriff slurs.
Stiles is very cautious, and walks over to sit at the table with his father, and he sets the leftovers box on the table.
"Why did you miss school today huh?"
"I just skipped is all... it's not important."
His father throws the bottle across the room, and it shatters, sprinkling glass over the floor.
"It's not important?! You think you can just play hooky?!" he yells questioningly.
"It's not a game Stiles! You can't just do what you want!" he continues to yell, and he stands up and gets in his son's face.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY ARE YOU SUCH A FUCK-UP, HUH?! CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT?! EVER?!"
He pushes the table over, and continues to scream out in anger. He rips a few pictures off the wall, facing away from Stiles, who takes this moment to get up and run out the front door. He runs to Derek's car, where the door is already open for him.
Stiles gets in and Derek begins driving off immediately. He looks at Stiles, who is shaking, and looks close to tears. But he's keeping it together.
"Are you-"
"I'm fine," Stiles says, cutting Derek off.
Derek returns his attention back to the road, and can't stand that Stiles had to go through that. He heard it all, and yet he didn't do anything. He knew he should have at least walked to the door with him and waited there.
He reaches over and puts his hand on Stiles'. He grabs it and holds tight.
Derek pulls up next to the tent, and he looks at Stiles, who is in the same position he was in when he first got into the car.
"Stiles..." Derek says.
Stiles doesn't say anything, he just gets out of the car and into the tent. Derek follows after him.
He was throwing his shirt off next to his pants when Derek came in. Derek strips down and lays next to him, wrapping his arms around him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Derek asks concerned.
"No..."
"...okay," Derek says in defeat. He wants to help Stiles, but if he won't let him, then so be it.. He doesn't rest until Stiles' breathing is even and steady; signifying he's asleep.
Derek awakens to soft amber eyes studying his face.
"Good morning," Stiles states dejectedly.
"Morning," Derek returns, "You okay?"
Stiles nods, "I'll be okay, I just need something to distract myself with..." he lifts his head up and scans the tent for anything of interest. His eyes fall on his 'borrowed' grimoire.
"Yeah... sounds good," Derek agrees as Stiles gets scoots over to said book, and begins reading. Derek doesn't know what to do in this situation. It's been a while since he's had anyone to care about, and it's strange for him.
He looks at Stiles and can't help but look at his ass, which looks pretty damn good in the light gray boxer briefs he's wearing. It's quite form fitting. Derek finds that he has a second tent, this one made from his boxers. He curses himself and reaches for his pants, hoping Stiles doesn't turn around.
"Hey, Derek, can you hand me my shirt? I'm kinda cold," Stiles requests as he turns around.
'Of course he asks that now..." Derek thinks. He's is a bit hysterical and grabs Stiles' shirt and throws it into his face when he turns to him.
"Umm... thanks," Stiles says awkwardly as he turns back around, slipping his shirt on.
Derek slips his pants on and exhales in relief. He lays down next to Stiles, and reads some of the text.
There are many men too forward as deceitful boasters which after great expenses and labours, find out no effect but misery. I will therefore speak plainly and manifestly so that the unskillful, as those that are expert and skilful, shall be able to understand the secret of this mystery.
"Wow, this book really is old," Derek points out.
They both laugh, and catch each others eyes. Derek's green; Stiles' amber. Derek leans forward a bit almost touching Stiles' face, and Stiles closes the gap. Their lips meet, it only lasts for a few seconds, but when Derek pulls away, they're still smiling like idiots anyway.
Stiles goes to school for the rest of the week, reading more and more of his grimoire everyday. And Derek searches for something they can both use.
Derek found a house, which he bought right away. Turns out, the house for sale was the house they broke into before. It was exceptionally cheap, because of it being robbed, and the creepy attic. He has plenty of money to spend from the massive amount his family left behind, and he being the only heir to claim it.
When he tells Stiles, he's shocked that he can just up and buy a house, and that it's the same house they discovered before. Derek had it cleaned and refurnished, since most of the furniture was broken, and he had it properly painted, instead of the dull white it was before. The floors he had polished, as well as stained and sealed, to avoid splintering and color fade. He gets internet and cable, as well as a nice television.
"You can move in here with me... if you want," Derek offers.
Stiles of course says yes, and moves all of his clothes and important things there, such as his printer, desk, and laptop.
Stiles got up for school one morning, got ready and everything, and when he checked his phone, he remembered that today there was no school, they had a four day weekend. And now he was up for no real reason. He was about to go back to bed when he caught site of the stairs that led up to the attic. Derek hadn't done anything to it, they just let it be. But now Stiles was tempted to go up there and explore some more. He grabbed his grimoire and went up the stairs.
He walks up to the door, and it turns out that Derek had the door fixed. He goes inside and everything else is the same, which Stiles is thankful for. It wouldn't be as interesting if the transmutation circles were painted over.
He learned a lot about alchemy, and now he's actually supposed to preform it. The first step is to actually train his body before his spirit, as the book put it. But he was on the lacrosse team, he already had his body toned.
He opens the chest, and finds a few blocks of wood, what he needed for his first transmutation, and he was glad there was some in the chest. He placed them on the book, over the transmutation circle drawn on the page in front of him and did as the book said.
He placed both hands on the circle, imagined what he wanted to make out of the block, and willed it to happen. He felt stupid, and knew it wouldn't work, but then the circle glowed a light blue, and a crude wolf statute formed from the block before his eyes.
"Whoa!" Stiles exclaims. He picks it up, and is very pleased with it, however chunky and silly looking it is.
The book says to transmute it back into the basic block, which he did, and was much more successful this time, making a perfect cube. He keeps going back and forth until he feels his statue it perfect. He grins at the wolf, which is about as big as his shoe, and decides to set it on a shelf for decoration. Stiles sets it in the living room, next to the television.
Following the text, he begins practicing his drawing of transmutation circles. They have a few in the book, the more complex ones have specific uses, such as explosions, fire, botany, and whatnot, so he doesn't practice those.
An hour or so later, Derek comes out of the bedroom to the kitchen, where he sees Stiles at the dining room table. He sees that there are a numerous amount of crumpled pieces of paper on the table, and even a broken pencil.
"Uh... Stiles? What are you doing."
"I'm practicing."
"Practicing what exactly?"
"Drawing transmutation circles."
"Drawing what?"
"Transmutation circles."
Derek is silent, waiting for Stiles to explain.
"They're used to transmute something, grass for example, into something like bread. It's alchemy, Derek."
"Okay then..." Derek says, disregarding Stiles' explanation, assuming it's some new hobby of his. He didn't think that alchemy was something to be taken seriously.
"You hungry?" he asks.
Stiles realizes that he hasn't eaten anything yet, and then notices how hungry he is.
"Yes, very."
"How about some bread? Or maybe grass?" Derek teases.
Stiles looks crossly at him, getting up and grabbing a box of cereal.
Derek laughs, "I'm only joking!"
Stiles is smiling, although he pretends to still be angry. But Derek knows, and he hugs Stiles from behind, his arms wrap around his waist, and he rests his head on Stiles' shoulder.
Stiles rests his head against Derek's, who kisses his cheek before grabbing the milk for him.
They sit on the couch, watching television, eating their breakfast; Stiles has cereal, Derek a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast. Derek notices the wolf and asks, "When did we get that?"
Stiles liked the way it sounded when he said, 'When did we get that?' Implying they're a pair, that they go together.
He smiles as he said, "I made it."
"I didn't know you carved wood."
"I don't."
Derek looks at Stile for a few seconds before returning to the television and eating his breakfast.
Stiles drinks the last of his milk, and goes to the kitchen to clean his bowl, and puts it on the drying rack. He returns to the dining room table to continue his drawing, and they were getting pretty good. His circles were still imperfect, but the internal shapes were just like in the book.
He progresses through the book, making detailed shapes and even pictures with paint, as well as mixing the colors to create new ones. Derek is watching T.V. though, and misses all of it. He then attempts to separate the colors. He wasn't asked to do this from the book, but he did it anyway, as a self test.
He extracted the red, but the blue and yellow were both a little bit green still. Stiles Is satisfied even so, and cleans up before joining Derek at the couch once more.
"What were you doing?" Derek asks.
Stiles' mind is filled with the light blue glow of a successful transmutation, the way the matter just forms into what he imagines, the paint separating on the paper he spent so much time perfecting.
"Nothing, just alchemy."
Derek nods, and gets up, walking in the direction of the kitchen to get a drink.
"You want anything? Derek calls to Stiles.
"Naw, I'm good."
Derek grabs a Pepsi can, and looks over at the dining room table, seeing the paint bottles, the stack of paper, and Stiles' grimoire, he assumes that alchemy is some form of art. He doesn't know it, but his ignorance is bliss.
Stiles completes his homework at the couch with Derek. He finds it painfully easy, which is a bit of a surprise to him, considering he found it challenging a few days before. He sets his biology book into his bag, along with his completed homework.
Later that night, they retire to the bedroom, which they are enjoying greatly over a sleeping bag in a tent. They still cuddle, even though Stiles isn't cold. It's become routine, and this is one they both love to follow.