"So how'd you get my number again?" Stiles muttered into his cell, laying flat on his bed. "Coach, it's like, late."
"Cut the crap, it's 7:30, you teenagers stay up until midnight. Especially three days into spring break. And you gave me your information the first day of class, Stilinski. You know, the note card you almost refused to fill out because you said it was invasion of your privacy? Last night I finally got around to checking the test we took before the last day. You failed it."
Stiles slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position on his bed, looking confused. "Wait, what? I failed? Like below above average?"
"No, like a big fat F on your test. You got everything wrong. I mean, you even spelled your name wrong. How do you manage that. Stiles. S-T-L-L-E-S, how do you put two L's? Are you on drugs, Stilinski?"
"No! I mean, I've been having a lot of stuff going on, but...I mean, I was helping Scott, and..."
"Amazingly, McCall got a B-. Look, this F will bring down your overall score to a C+, but you can bring up your grade if you ace your finals. It's not failing, but I know grades are probably the only place in your life you come out above failure, so I thought I'd give you a call and straighten this out. Don't screw up your grades the final year, Stilinski. And don't give me any shit about senioritis, it's a make up excuse to fail everything the last year. College admissions don't take excuses, and neither do I."
"I get it coach, I'll ace the finals. I swear."
"Why do you sound exhausted? You better be studying. Look, I gotta go, Stilinski. Don't disappoint me again." Stiles heard the click of the phone, and glared at it.
"Sometimes I think he cares. Then he hangs up. Tough love." He sighed and tossed his cell onto his pillow, then buried his face in his hands. "Ughhhhhh. Why am I so damn tired. I am so sick of learning Spanish and teaching Scott." This was actually the first evening Scott wasn't at his house - ever since spring vacation started, he had been grilling his friend on various subjects. All day and night this had gone on- homemade flash cards littered his floor, books were strewn about and his lights had been left on. Around three Scott said he had work, so finally Stiles had a night to take a break. The first thing on his agenda without Scott was to sleep.
He was actually surprised he hadn't heard anything from the Hales since they parted ways after the mission to save the Boyd family. Inwardly, he really wanted closure on the whole incident by talking to the Boyds or the Hales, but his father had forbidden him. And not wanting to mess up his senior year any more than it already was, he didn't want to disobey the rules like he usually did. But the fact Derek hadn't even texted him, he felt like he had been abandoned. And secretly he missed the Hales. Most of all, he missed little Luna- the night before he had dreamed about her crawling into bed with him and he kissed her head, then woke up and found she wasn't really there. Sure, she was a lot of work, but everything seemed more fun with her around. Like it was all new. Because, well, it was- she was still figuring things out, and Stiles loved watching her amazement with everything he did.
With a heavy feeling building up inside his chest, he looked towards the window and noted the sun setting. The sky was a mixture of red and orange above the trees. He stretched, yawning as he slipped off the side of the bed, but instead of his feet supporting him he ended up sitting on the floor. "God, I can't even stand, I'm so damn tired," He muttered miserably to himself, leaning his neck against the corner of the mattress as he stared at the ceiling.
He heard a clicking of the door knob.
"Dad, Scott's not coming over tonight. You're pretty early, aren't you? It's almost eight. I thought you said you weren't going to be home before ten?" Stiles looked over the bed, spotting a familiar broody looking person standing in the doorway. "Derek?"
"Yeah," He said, stepping into the light of the room. Stiles found himself inspired to leap to his feet when he witnessed the cargo Derek had with him - Luna. He smiled wide, hurrying over to where he was in the doorway to ruffle Luna's hair. "Luna! Oh my god, I missed you, you little beast. Come here. Come to Uncle Stiles." He reached out and took the baby, smiling as she clung on like a little koala. She looked sleepy.
"Dude, why are you here? If my dad comes home he's going to be pissed." Stiles said as he held Luna close, looking at Derek.
Derek shrugged, gesturing at Luna. "You don't seem angry." A knowing smirk formed on the edge of his lips. Stiles smiled, looking down at Luna.
"Yeah, well. She's hard to get over." He looked down at Luna, who looked at him with those big green eyes. "Yeah, little lady. You're the only girl I've ever talked to on my own, and you're the first one to steal my heart. You little heart breaker." She didn't understand his words, but the tone of his voice made her clutch the fabric of his shirt even more, like she knew he was complimenting her. With even strides, he approached his bed and sat on the side, patting Luna's back comfortingly. "You look so tired. You need to sleep. You bring her blanket or something?" He asked Derek, glancing up towards him. Derek shook his head as he walked over, grabbing Stiles' blanket and tugging it up on the bed.
"Just put her down in your bed, she'll sleep anywhere."
He frowned, getting up and walking over to his closet with the baby still in his arms. "One minute. I know it's here..." He shuffled around with boxes, tugging one out from the back of the top shelf. He yanked the cardboard flaps open, then dug out a soft yet old looking knit blanket. "There we go. Knew dad shoved it up in here. Look, it's a blanket. It's Luna sized." He said to her as he pulled it around her, tucking her in his arms. Then he rocked her as he stood, kissing her head as he hummed. After she closed her eyes, he looked up at Derek. Derek was staring at him with curiosity.
"What?"
"You're humming Smash Mouth, All Star." He grinned, obviously trying not to laugh. "I'm just thinking that's probably the weirdest lullaby I've ever heard anyone hum to a baby."
"It's the first thing that came to my mind, okay," Stiles said as he glared. "It's a song from my childhood."
"It's just..." Derek stared, and Stiles cut him off.
"It's just what?"
"I don't know, she likes rock." He shrugged, sitting down on Stiles' bed. "I usually put something on and she falls to sleep to it."
"So, are you saying I should sing highway to hell to her? Or rock you like a hurricane? Maybe I should go really 80s and sing enter sandman. I mean, that's a great lullaby." Stiles rolls his eyes. Derek puts a hand over his mouth, an eyebrow arched. "What?"
"Um...nothing. Sandman came out in the 90s though." He said slowly, and Stiles huffed under his breath as he walked around the bed, laying Luna on his bed where his pillow was. She laid on her stomach, curling up her feet and snuggling the blanket. He sat down on the edge, rubbing circles on his back.
"I was wondering if you'd want to...go out with me. Like to a restaurant or something." Derek asked, looking over at Stiles. Stiles glanced at him, then back at Luna, feeling his heart beat a bit quicker.
Stiles didn't allow himself to think before he offered an excuse. "I really can't, I'm grounded."
"Well, after you're not grounded. You're over eighteen, aren't you? He's still grounding you?" Derek asked curiously, obviously poking fun at Stiles' dad's orders. Stiles kept rubbing the baby's back, smiling at her tiny snores.
"As long as I live under his roof, it's his rules. My dad is the sheriff, you think I'm going to have free reign when I hit eighteen? Ha. I wish."
Derek looked away, and Stiles watched the back of his head, waiting for his response. When he didn't say anything, he looked away as well.
"I mean, I wouldn't be against going out to a restaurant. Like just me and you." Stiles commented idly, feeling Derek's eyes back on him. "But just so you know, I'm not cheap." Hey, if he was going to get wooed by a guy - he wanted the full King treatment. "I'm actually really high maintenance. I expect flowers. Well, maybe not flowers, but if you want to give me a bouquet of twenties, that'd be awesome. And when we go to this restaurant, I get to order anything off the menu. I'm not stopping at fifteen dollars. I'm going to order like, appetizers, two things off the menu, and dessert. And if they expect payment for refills, you're looking at like eight dollars just for my drink."
He could tell Derek was grinning just from the corner of his eye, because the other snorted.
"And when we go out, you have to open all the doors and pull out my seat. And I'm not putting out on the first date either, just so you're aware. You'll be lucky to get a end date kiss. I respect myself. I don't have daddy issues."
"Stiles, it'd just be hanging out for awhile. I get it."
"No, really, if you're going to woo me, do it right," Stiles said as he looked at Derek. "I expect the finer things in life though. If you go cheap on anything, I'm going to think you just want me for my looks."
"Really." Derek added, eyebrows raised inquisitively.
"Yeah." Stiles pulled his hand away, finally sure Luna was off in dreamland. He stared at Derek, knowing the other was judging him. "Don't judge me. I'm worth it."
"You are worth it," Derek commented finally, leaning over and almost inches from his face. "...so I was thinking."
Stiles felt the other's breath against his skin, and the smile disappeared from his face, quickly replaced by a straight-lined nervous look. "Yeah?"
Derek leaned closer, eyes locked on his. "My family is getting together for early Easter celebration. To celebrate the house erection," The other seemed to enjoy putting 'erection' in there, like it was a play on words. "You want to join?"
"U..um..." Stiles stuttered, squinting. "...sure?" In hindsight, he probably should have asked what was going to go on at this party, but staring at a face as attractive as Derek's really distracted him from logic. Derek smiled slyly. Suddenly Stiles felt a hand on his leg. The combination of his eyes being locked with Derek's and the sudden feeling of a hand on his knee freaked him out, and he moved in a flailing motion and fell off the bed onto his back. "...ow..." He said from the floor as Derek laughed.
"How..." Derek started, but he obviously was chuckling too hard to finish. Stiles heard Luna groan, and then saw her tiny messy-haired head peek over the side of the bed to look at Stiles. Stiles immediately got up to get her from the edge, worried she'd tumble off too. He glared at Derek, who stopped laughing long enough to get out, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Stiles admitted, trying to pet Luna's hair so it laid flat. For some reason it just popped up in its wild messy state again. "You both are going to kill me," He observed as he held Luna out to Derek, and she clung on to the werewolf, snuggling into his jacket.
"You'll always be safe with me," Derek said, and Stiles gave him a peculiar look. After all, it was an interesting response to his remark - he didn't expect something serious after they had been joking. He opened his mouth to comment, but Derek put up his hand as he stood with the baby in his other arm. "I should be going, you said your dad would be back soon. I'll see you tomorrow night? Two? Meet me outside."
"I have class at two," Stiles said with a befuddled look, narrowing his eyes again.
"I mean two in the morning. Luna will be asleep, your dad will be asleep."
"Wait, are you suggesting I sneak out at night?" Stiles said, putting his hand on his hip, "Because obviously I'm grounded and that'll have to be what I do."
"I know you do it a lot. You know, I've seen you fall off a roof or two." Derek smirked as he turned. "Bye Stiles."
It occurred to Stiles that Derek was talking about the time he fell off Scott's roof - the night that he thought he was going to die when he hit the ground. Either that, or be permanently paralyzed. Then he wasn't. It had felt like something grabbed him and kept him from plummeting to the ground, but he never could quite explain why he felt that way, because he had been alone when he came to. It finally hit him that Derek must have grabbed him and put him on the ground. The shock from his discovery after linking him to the event took him by surprise, and he just stared at Derek as he left, shutting the door.
He approached the door after a minute and opened it, then looked down the empty hallway. Of course, Derek was already gone.
"Why," He said out loud, as if Derek could answer the question from wherever he had disappeared to. He assumed he already knew the answer, no matter how much he tried to push it in the back of his mind. They hadn't exactly seen eye to eye when that was going on - why did he do it? The room suddenly felt uncomfortably empty, though a feeling of the Hales' presence lingered. He stepped back, shutting his door as he walked back to his bed, laying down where Luna had been.
He felt behind his head, sensing moisture on his neck. He arced his neck to glance at the pillow. "Ew, baby drool." His hand wandered to the baby blanket by him, and he remembered how his dad had said his mother knit it for him before he was born. With a tinge of pain in his chest, he clutched it to his face, sniffing the old smell of the yarn and cardboard. It had long lost his mom's smell. "I miss you already."