Welcome!

It's 2024, and I'm making a Derek and Casey fanfic - you heard that correct. It's my very first fanfic in general, so be easy on me. Lol

I think it's nice that Derek and Casey are living like George and Nora in Life with Luca, raising kids together, but I'm writing this to show how it could've been a little bit sweeter.

Enjoy!

(Sorry for any grammatical errors!)

Life With Dasey (A Life With Derek Fanfic)

All it takes is one summer to change everything, but in the face of irony, one summer was all Casey McDonald needed to bring her back to reality.

Casey wasn't the type of girl to have a summer fling, so when Jesse, the cute dancer she meets at her grandmother's lodge, offered to exchange phone numbers at the end of her vacation, she obliged. The idea of getting to know Jesse for more than just a couple of weeks was exciting.

Jesse was a dancer, but what else did he like to do? What was his favorite color, his favorite dish, his favorite sport? Did he even like sports? These were all questions that plagued Casey, and in time, she hoped to get the answers.

Unfortunately, after multiple sent text messages, there was no reply from Jesse's end. Casey's dreams of running off into a transformative future with Jesse were over as the end of summer slapped her in the face with a bitter wake-up call.

It was true, Derek had warned her this might happen. He told Casey that Jesse would ditch her the second she left the lodge, and she would be left ugly crying until school started. He was undoubtedly cruel, but he was also right about Jesse - though Casey would never admit it to him directly.

For the short remainder of summer, Casey forced herself to contain her emotions around Derek and her family, but inside the comfort of her bedroom, she cried a lot over Jesse. No matter how much she occupied herself with getting ready for college, her mind wandered over the ridiculous notion that she would be single and alone for the rest of her life.

Derek, unbeknownst to Casey, could hear her muffled cries through the wall. He spent the rest of the break at home with headphones on to distract himself from her overly dramatic breakup. Jesse wasn't losing a minute of sleep over Casey, and yet, here she was, crying a room over and making his own life miserable. Derek wanted to spend all of his free time before school alternating between his bed and the recliner, and yet, how could he truly reset and relax in such a doom-filled atmosphere? Casey McDonald and her fragile heart drove him crazy!

A part of Derek wanted to call Jesse and give him a piece of his mind in order to have peace of mind, but he fought against that ridiculous urge.

He also fought for an entire week with the angel on his shoulder, telling him to console his stepsister, but he couldn't handle all of those girly tears. The angel, luckily, was squashed down like the gum on his sneakers, and eventually, Casey's puffy eyes returned to their normal shade of blue. By this time, it didn't matter if she felt better because they were leaving for college soon. Derek's relaxing break had been officially ruined.

On the upside to having summer completely over with, the next step in his life could begin far away from the noise of his family.

Derek Venturi would never have to see his overly emotional stepsister again.

And Casey McDonald would never have to see her annoying stepbrother again.

Well...

That's easier said than done.

You see, the problem arises on the day prior to leaving for college.

George Venturi, a well-known hazard to the roads, borrowed Derek's car and, regrettably, totaled it within a mile from his house. George, poor thing, needed his own bumper sticker that read: stay twenty feet away from this vehicle.

For the time being, Derek would have to use Casey as his main form of transportation until further notice. Luckily, most of everything was within walking distance of Queen's University, but he would need Casey to drive him to and from home on holidays.

Casey's car, the Princess, did its job by bringing the two safely to Queen's. Casey was so happy to be rid of Derek until the holidays that she didn't even mind that his shoes had been on her dash or that he blared his rock music the whole way there. The college experience was calling her name louder than any song or any stepbrother could ever annoy her.

Once at Queen's, the two stepsiblings immediately parted ways as if they were complete strangers. Casey was more than a little relieved to have a life away from her stepbrother, and vice versa. After their high school graduation, he teased her, saying they would be "best buds" in college, but his abrupt exit from her car proved that to be a lie, thank God.

Between her babysitting fund and the money her grandmother had given her, Casey saved enough to help pay for an apartment right next to the university. It was a single bedroom, one bathroom quaint apartment - perfect enough for her. If Derek had been careful with his money, he could have done the same, but instead, he wasted it on video games and collectible hockey cards, so he was stuck in the boys' dorm.

As she sat on her empty mattress in an empty room, Casey felt a twinge of loneliness. Her mom and George were too busy with the children to be here, understandably so, and Derek was off doing God knows what with God knows who.

Wait. It's only been a minute, and she was already thinking about Derek? This cannot be happening! Annoyed with herself, Casey started to organize her drawers and hang some pictures on the wall to make it feel more homely. But seeing pictures of her family and friends only made her feel more alone.

She left home, for what? For this? An empty apartment with no one to talk to? What once was her dream started to become her nightmare. She had to get it together!

While Casey unpacked, Derek was entering his dorm room. He hated to admit it, but he wished Edwin would have come along to get a glimpse of what college is really like. And because, well, he missed the chatter of his younger siblings begging for his attention. In other words, he felt alone.

But Casey was here. He didn't have to be alone, did he? Ugh, he couldn't believe he was thinking about Casey! The bane of his existence! The know-it-all, clean freak, diabolical Casey McDonald! Casey was his link to home and his link to normalcy. He told himself it was okay to miss her - as long as he didn't tell her that.

After having chatted with the landlord about how perfectly pristine the apartment was and then checking in with her mom, Casey continued to ready her apartment. She was in the middle of struggling with her purple fitted sheet when she felt the phone in her back pocket buzz.

She saw the name on the screen and nearly had a heart attack.

"Derek?" She answered, the fitted sheet popping up from both corners of the queen bed.

"So this is what it feels like to be the new kid, huh?"

"Why are you calling me?" Derek wasn't one for casual conversation, at least not with her, and he most definitely never called her on the phone unless the situation was dire.

"I don't have any toilet paper," he divulged.

Casey raised a brow. Who knew that lack of toilet paper was a dire situation?

"How is that my problem?" She asked, walking to her own bathroom to see if she had toilet paper.

"I need you to bring me to the store."

"Why can't you walk there? I'm busy."

"We've been here, what, half an hour? What could you possibly be doing? Oh, don't tell me; you're already studying."

"No, Derek, I'm fixing up my bedroom, which is what you should be doing," she sighed.

"I have a bed and a mattress. What else do I need?"

She knew Derek was smirking on the other end.

"Ew, Derek! You cannot sleep on an empty mattress!"

"Fine, then bring me to the store. I wouldn't want to have to call Nora and tell her we are already fighting because you don't want to help me get some toilet paper."

Casey was ready to argue, but it appeared she needed some toilet paper, as well. Plus, getting a lay of the local store early on could be beneficial.

"Ugh, fine! You better be ready when I get there."

Casey helped Derek to the store and offered to organize his bedroom essentials. She knew if she didn't make his side look presentable, he would never do it himself. Derek argued he might flunk out before the semester ends, but still, Casey couldn't bear to see the room in disarray. So technically, she was doing this for herself.

Derek and Casey would never admit it, unless waterboarded, but being with each other on the first day of college eased their loneliness.

They didn't realize it at the time, but their reliance on each other would lead to many more calls and encounters.

The first couple of months at college proved to be a difficult adjustment for both teenagers.

Despite managing to avoid each other in person, with the exception of their shared French elective, they were constantly calling one another on the phone. Derek would call Casey for help with his classes, and Casey would call Derek to unburden herself with whatever embarrassing thing she did that day. She was also his wake-up call in the morning when he overslept and wasn't in class.

Of course, their phone conversations often led to meaningless arguments, and one would hang up on the other. It was a tit for tat battle as usual, and it was in these calls that they realized that not even the distance of college could pull them away from each other.