"Hey, fasola!"
Derek squeezed his eyes shut, and groaned softly. He heard tiny snickers all around, but they faded as Stiles got closer.
He grinned and slapped Derek's back in a friendly and welcoming manner. "You got a ride home?" He asked.
"I'm walking home." Derek said, frowning. It's not like he didn't enjoy walking, it's just that he lived quite a ways away and by the time he would get to his house, there would be little to no time to work on his novel.
"Good." Stiles said, nodding his head.
"Good?" Derek asked. Good that he walked all the way home?
"Yes, good. I have practice right after school, so I'll drive you home. I plan to fully take your mother up on supper again. What are you guys having tonight?"
Derek grit his teeth. "Roast chicken."
Stiles smacked his lips and made a show of rubbing his stomach. "Sounds good. See you at practice." Stiles said, winking and sauntering away. Leaving Derek to flush at all the stares.
"I hate him." Derek seethed, glaring at the brunette who sat with his friends on the other side of the lunch room.
"I think he's hot." Erica said, twirling a lock of her blonde hair.
Boyd, her boyfriend, looked at her in shock.
She shrugged. "Not as hot as you, babe."
Derek and Boyd both rolled their eyes.
"I like the looks of his friend better." Isaac said, munching on a carrot as he stared at Scott.
At that moment, Stiles caught the group looking at him and waved in a friendly manner before turning to Scott and continued the story he was telling him, hands flailing around like he had been tased.
"I don't see what there is to hate." Boyd said.
"Everything." Derek hissed.
Erica rolled her eyes. "In kindergarten Stiles broke Derek's toy Superman." She said.
Boyd gave Derek an unimpressed look, while Isaac cackled.
"I was five! And the teacher sent a note home to my parents, saying I was being disruptive in class! They made me apologize in front of the whole class for something he did!" Derek exclaimed.
Boyd looked at Erica then at Isaac, who both nodded, validating the story before rolling his eyes. "Well, if he's so unbearable, why do you tutor him?"
Derek grumbled to himself.
It wasn't his idea, that's for sure. As a matter of fact, he didn't even get told he was going to tutor Stiles until the boy showed up at his house one day.
Turns out, Derek's parents and Stiles's dad, the Sheriff, had been talking, and when the Sheriff mentioned Stiles failing grades, Derek's parents were more than thrilled to volunteer Derek, and in their haste to do so, they forgot to ask him how he felt about it.
He relayed the story to Boyd, who simply raised his eyebrows and shook his head.
"Well, I heard the teachers talking the other day." Isaac said. "They were talking about how well Stiles was improving, and if he kept it up, there might not be any need for a tutor."
Derek's eyes widened in awe. "Seriously?"
Isaac hummed.
"But that means you have to do an even better job." Erica said.
Derek nodded. It wasn't like he wasn't trying already, but with Stiles coming in late and leaving early, added with the occasional smoke breaks and social breaks there usually wasn't a lot of time for studying.
Something would have to change.
Derek tuned out from his friends conversations after a while, because he honestly did not want to hear what Isaac wanted to do to Stiles friend Scott.
Derek didn't get the point of lacrosse.
A bunch of sweaty guys run around with sticks with nets on top and threw balls at each other and into a goal.
Then again, Derek wasn't very much into sports. Even though his father wished he was. He played basketball for a short while and was quite good, but quit so he could have more time for his writing. That being said, he would much rather be at home on his computer than sitting on the bleachers, alone, watching Stiles run around with the rest of the team.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Coach dismissed them, and Stiles jogged over.
"I'm going to the locker room to take a shower, then we're out of here." He said. He was sweaty enough that his jersey stuck tight to his skin, and Derek didn't want to have to smell that all the way home and then on after, so he followed Stiles into the locker room and sat down on the bench, keeping his eyes to the ground and trying not to look at the boys who seemed to have no shame in stripping right then and there.
"Ready to go?" Stiles asked.
Derek looked up and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
Stiles stood before him shirtless and was tugging on a pair of pants.
"Uh, yeah." Derek said, getting uncomfortable.
Stiles nodded. "Good." He said, slipping on a shirt and grabbing his bag.
They walked out to Stiles's jeep. It was a crummy, old thing, and must have the sentimental value of a million dollars, because from the way Stiles complained about the repair costs, it would be a hell of a lot cheaper just to buy a whole new car.
The ride home wasn't awkward or terrible, nor was it fun. It was tolerable. And Derek could deal with tolerable.
Stiles just hummed along to the music, or talked about lacrosse, or just tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
Derek simply stared out the window and didn't talk.
When they got to the house, Derek grunted at Peter, Cora, and Laura, took a plate of chocolate chip cookies that Laura had made for some friends but they turned out a little burnt, so she deemed them Derek worthy.
Whatever. Free cookies.
Like usual, Stiles jumped on Derek's bed and sprawled out, all content and catlike.
Derek sat down at his desk chair and sucked in a breath. "We need to talk."
Stiles raised an eyebrow and sat up slowly. "Alright.." He seemed a little put off, Derek usually just went right into studies.
"About the studying." Derek said.
Stiles nodded.
Derek took in another tiny breath. "You can't just get up and walk away every few minutes, you can't come in late, and you can't leave early. You have to actually listen to what I say, and not hum randomly, thinking I'm going to accept that as an answer. You have to start taking this seriously and carry your own goddamn books, or you're just going to have to find someone else who will put up with this."
Silence for a moment.
"Yeah, okay."
Derek blinked. "Yeah, okay?"
Stiles nodded, with a tiny grin. "Yeah, okay."
Derek blinked again. "Okay." He said, shrugging.
For the next few weeks, Stiles did exactly what Derek asked of him. He came to the house at exactly 4:30, and in the last week, had taken to driving Derek home, spending an hour or so socializing with Derek's family so Derek had a chance to write, and then at 4:30 on the dot would come up into the room. (He still flopped onto the bed, because Derek couldn't exactly expect him to quit cold turkey, now could he?) And they would begin. Stiles wouldn't move from the bed until 5:30 exactly. He literally had set alarms on his phone. 4:30 was titled, "Find Derek or die" And 5:30 was titled, "Leave Derek or die".
Talia just found that to be the cutest thing ever.
Stiles would stay over for supper occasionally, when his father was working late but that was fine.
It had almost become a norm for Derek. He watches Stiles play lacrosse, Stiles drove him home, once in a while stopping to buy some curly fries to snack on, they would get home, Stiles would stay downstairs while Derek wrote, then when the alarm went off, he would come up stairs, study for an hour, have supper, and then leave.
And then, exactly four weeks after the change, they got the wonderful news.
The tutoring sessions were over.
Derek was elated.
But for some reason, all Stiles did was nod solemnly, like they were saying he was off to a death sentence.
Strange.
A/N: Lemme know what you think! Special thanks to NikaBika for editing. Definitly go check her out she's awesome. Favorite, Follow, and leave a review. I would lvoe to hear from you guys. xx Emileigh
