Chapter 2

What an asshole. Stiles was quick to run off and Derek was done with it. He was even contemplating going back to class because missing out on an entire afternoon for no good reason seemed like a waste. The again, he had the note and... oh shit, the stupid notes! He still had Stilinski's as well, which needed to get signed by a parent. At first he thought it was the other's own fault for running off like that but as he finished dressing, he knew he had some part in it as well. With a deep sigh and a resounding whine, he knew he was going to need to go to the sheriff's house and drop off the stupid note. So much hassle for one ball. It was so not fair.

Why did he even care? It wasn't like he owed anything to the other boy. He liked Stiles though, and had secretly been looking forward to spending some time with him, see his room, get to know him without curious eyes watching them. Life sucked. Put upon, he packed his bag and was determined to get this over quick but it was a little quicker than he thought when he spotted Stiles slumped against his car. Thinking the worst, because what did he know about bruised noses, he ran over, assuming Stiles had gotten dizzy or something.

"You're such an idiot! Running off when you were told to take it easy! What are you even thinking, you stupid stubborn human...?" Derek ranted on as he checked the pulse which was racing when he pushed his fingers against the wrist. Uh... He had no idea what he was doing. "Do I call like 911?" Did he need an ambulance or should he drive him to the ER? Take him back to the nurse?

Stiles should've expected to be found like that and the second he heard Derek's voice and felt that touch on his wrist, his pulse quickened for sure. Not because he was feeling sick, but he did suddenly get dizzy from the closeness.

"You're the idiot..." he managed to rasp out. He knew it was a weak comeback but sue him, Derek Hale was all over in his personal space again. Fuck his life... again.

With a sigh he freed his wrist – pointedly ignoring that he could practically feel his skin burning where Derek had touched him – and pulled himself up, holding onto his Jeep's door. "No need to make a 911 call. Dad would freak anyways. I'm f... Whoa!" He wanted to say he was fine but nearly lost his balance for a moment, head getting a bit dizzy again. Maybe the headache and the dizziness were indeed signs of a mild concussion.

"Okay, fine... you know what? It might be safer if you drove me home..." he finally gave in, because it seemed Derek was a persistent fucker who probably would just yell at him until he let him. And yelling was something his throbbing head didn't particularly liked at the moment. "Not leaving Roscoe here, though... My Jeep. She's called Roscoe," he provided with an eye-roll to the questioning look and fished his keys out of his jeans pocket to press it into Derek's hand. "Be gentle with her. She is fussy sometimes," he grumbled as he carefully walked around the Jeep to get in on the passenger seat's side, his foolish heart still beating all over the place, palms suddenly all sweaty.

There was a super doubtful look thrown at Stiles when he exclaimed he was fine and didn't need medical attention, only to sway on his feet. What kind of a nurse would even let a kid go when he couldn't even walk to his Jeep without nearly passing out? Derek was doubtful of a lot of things right now and maybe the dad had reason to freak out. Derek was already freaking out!

Also, who even named a car, and gave it a gender and then made it female with a male name?! So many questions with that one and the super doubtful look turned into a judging one.

"Maybe Roscoe is fussy because she's got gender issues," the Hale muttered as he took the offered keys, not that there was much of a choice since Stiles had already parked his ass in the passenger's seat. Leaving the teen to look at the keys in his hand a little dumbfounded before he took his bag, plopping it on the backseat too.

"I know how to drive a car, you know." And promptly managed to make the Jeep protest when Derek didn't put it in gear. "Shut up."

He could feel the look thrown at him as he blushed brightly, managing to get them out of the parking spot without the Jeep's engine shutting off. Derek didn't even ask for directions, he knew where Stiles lived. Everybody knew the sheriff's house, because it was pretty important to know when one was a teenager in a small town with nothing to do but throw illegal parties. Which he went to because his friends went. Alcohol didn't work on him and he didn't like the taste of beer. Pretty sure nobody liked it and they all drank it because they weren't allowed to yet.

Parking the car in front of the house, Derek handed the keys back over. Didn't look like there was anybody home.

The car ride was awkward enough, but Stiles focused on trying not to let his headache blind him too much. The warming up ice pack at least helped a bit on it. But he'll need some pills and could nearly hear his bed's siren call. Anyway, he refrained from more snarky comments since Derek was helping him despite their little fight in the locker room. So yeah, he was trying to appreciate that and only sent a few glares at him. After all, who was Derek Hale to judge his choice of a name for his car?! He probably thought Stiles was an even bigger loser than before. Why couldn't he stop blabbering out embarrassing stuff about himself?

And if the ride was awkward, the sudden silence once the Jeep's engine was shut off, became even more awkward. Stiles took the keys, listening to the familiar sounds of the engine cooling off.

"Well... thanks for driving my asshole self home..." he cleared his throat, fidgeting a bit nervously in the seat. In teen movies this was the point when the main characters would look at each other and share their first kiss. But this wasn't a chick flick so yeaaah... that'd be even more embarrassing. Instead Stiles reminded himself of his manners – which suspiciously sounded a lot like his dad's voice in his head.

"I guess... you could come in for a soda or coffee if you like... for helping me. I'll need a few pills for my head, to be honest... like yesterday," he pressed the pack against a temple. "And a new ice pack. Sorry, I'm usually not this whiny. I just hate headaches. It makes everything even more jumbled up in that chaos called my brain," he chuckled a bit nervously and why ooooh why can't he just shut up?!

Derek was probably keen to split. Especially now that he had to walk all the way back to school on foot. Stiles didn't even think about that... Serves him right though for yelling at him earlier.

"Oh... and we shouldn't forget my note this time?" he glimpsed at Derek and couldn't look away all of a sudden. Man, he was beautiful... Maybe that ball did more damage in his head than Stiles first thought.

The lingering silence in the car was uncomfortable and Derek had been pretty sure Stiles was about to tell him to go. But there was a reluctant invitation to come inside for a soda, said in a way he wasn't even sure if he was supposed to say yes since Stiles could barely look at him.

"I've never had a headache." So he wouldn't know about jumbled thoughts and everything. It was a weird thing to say, though, and he didn't even know why he had told the other.

Clearing his throat, the eyes were finally on him with an intensity Derek didn't know how to interpret. "Yeah, it's in my bag, I'll dig it out inside." Good luck on Stiles telling him to go when he was inside. Derek could be nice to be around if he tried. Stiles was going to see that, maybe. The engine ticked from the heat as it worked on cooling down, silence stretching again. Since neither of them moved, Derek took the first step, getting out and grabbing his bag.

He had to wait for Stiles to get out too and open the door, curious to see the inside. Derek never took anybody home, it was safest that way and it wasn't like any of his friends minded. They usually hung out away from their homes anyways, unless there was a party.

Wow, this was so awkward, even in Stiles' standards but at least they were on the move again. He carefully got out of the car too to grab his own bags then headed towards the house on a bit steadier legs than before.

"How come you never had a headache? I never heard about anyone who was lucky enough not to experience the little goblin fuckers hammering away inside their skull..." he babbled – again – despite scolding himself before. Well, he had no mouth filter and he was known for that. It put him in trouble all his life.

"I guess I was lucky..." Derek settled on to answer the never having a headache question. It was pretty vague but not too weird an explanation. There were kids who never were sick or gotten anything injury-wise. It was possible, right? Pretty glad about that too because Stiles didn't make it sound like something Derek'd ever want to experience.

The Stilinski home was nothing special. A nice looking house in the suburbs of Beacon Hills. Not too big or too small. He was told it was inherited by his father from his parents once they had passed, but basically the Sheriff did grow up in that home. Noah and Stiles did a few improvements on it during the years, but left most of the things his mom had once decorated the way they were. At least having her touch on their surroundings made it easier to feel her still close.

Stiles dug out his damp towel and bloody clothes from his bag and tossed them into the small laundry room then pointed Derek towards the kitchen. "Soda, water and lemonade are in the fridge. Serve yourself while I find some pills in the bathroom," he said then shuffled in that direction, letting Derek have his fill of looking around downstairs.

The human sauntered off to get these pills he mentioned while Derek dropped his bag and wandered into the kitchen. It was a small kitchen compared to the one in his house, but then again, the Hale house was huge because of all the people living there. This house was only for two so it no doubt felt huge.

The fridge was kind of empty food-wise, but plenty of drinks to pick from. Settling on a coke, Derek opened the can and sipped, looking around as he walked to the living room. There were some pictures but nothing recent and there was dust lingering, tickling at his nose. Near the TV were lots of DVDs which he guessed were Stiles' and there was paperwork spread out on the dining table in the corner. Guess they didn't use it that much, just the smaller one in the kitchen.

At home, dinners were a family thing. Everybody knew what time it was served and those at the house would be there – kids had no choice anyways. Had to be nice to not have that daily, but maybe Stiles was alone a lot. Derek was never alone, because the house was filled with kids and pack. And coke wasn't something they had, only juice and tea and water and homemade lemonade. Which was always way too sour.

There was a picture of Stiles' mom, and Derek remembered her, kind of. She had been a really nice lady, very active in the community and her smile was nice. Stiles looked like her, same wide eyes, same curious glint in them. It was kind of sad and it made Derek want to stick close to the younger kid. It felt so lonely.

It took Stiles only a minute or two to find the pills in the bathroom and he downed two with a few sips of water straight from the tap. Then he finally dared to look at his nose and hissed from the sight. It was swollen and red and all the surrounding area was already starting to color. Well, it didn't take a lot for injuries and bruises to show on his pale skin. Gently pressing down on the edge of the bruising he sighed. This is going to be visible for a while and his dad will probably freak out when he sees him. And people at school will laugh and call him a loser among other names. And Stiles will smirk and agree with them so they'd move to something more interesting that much quicker. Because if there was one thing Stiles had learned during the years, it was that putting on a good face often worked better than showing his real feelings.

"What am I supposed to do now?" he whispered to his reflection which looked back at him just as clueless. Very helpful. Of course, it wasn't about the next round of humiliation at school, he was going to get through it as always. The question was about Derek Hale in his house...

He probably thought it was lame and poor and a bit run down. Stiles knew that the Hales had a big ass mansion at the edge of the Preserve and that a big family lived there, though he hasn’t really seen many of them in town. They were a bit strange as far as families went, keeping more to themselves, but they were also the founding family of the town. Loaded and well-respected, so everyone gave them their privacy. So all this just made it even more awkward that one of them was now probably sipping on some drink and silently judging on things he saw... Or at least many would do that. Stiles had no real idea how Derek would react. He didn't know the boy that much since he's been able to ogle him only from afar in these last months.

But now he was here... Waiting on Stiles. He should get back to him. Should he give him a tour of the house? Offer him something to eat? Not that there was a lot of food at home. He was supposed to go grocery shopping after school to cook dinner for dad. But once the painkillers will kick in, Stiles knew he was going to get knocked out. Sorry, dad...

Either way, he adjusted his hair and clothes a bit in the mirror before he joined Derek in the living room.

"I know this place is nothing like your house and it's not much, but it's home. Should I... give you a tour now or something? Only ever Scott comes over so we don't have a lot of visitors aside from him and his mom. Do you know Mrs. McCall? Melissa? She is such an awesome mom and a superb nurse at the hospital! I love her no bullshitting attitude," he started babbling in his embarrassment. "Oh... I should get another ice pack too," he chuckled with flailing arms and moved back towards the kitchen to dig out a pack. But there were none so he simply used a pack of frozen peas instead, having to hold onto the edge of the kitchen counter as a wave of dizziness washed over him again from straightening up too fast.

"Whoa... Or maybe I should just lay down upstairs..." he mumbled more to himself.

Stiles came back, ranted a while, disappeared into the kitchen and then mentioned something about laying down. Derek blinked a few times, then a few times more and decided it was probably a good thing to get to the kitchen as well, finding the human hunched over. Maybe brain damage wasn't that far off?

"I don't think you're supposed to sleep for long with concussions so you should set your alarm." Should he stick around? Would be weird to stay in a house Derek didn't even know when Stiles was asleep? But it didn't look like there was anybody else to help around. He could do his homework, ask for the Wi-Fi password to entertain himself on his laptop. As in searching how long somebody was allowed to sleep before being woken up when having a head injury. "I can stay if you want."

It wasn't the hanging out Derek had imagined they'd do, but that was his fault for lugging a ball into somebody's face. And probably the only way he was allowed to stay with Stiles, who only seemed awkward around him and not too happy to have him as company. In all his fantasies about how they'd meet, he not once had considered that Stiles wouldn't even like him much. Not that giving him a bruised face and brain damage had been part of those fantasies. All of it made Derek want to groan and hide in his room.

"When is your dad home?"

Glimpsing bewildered at the clock on the wall, Stiles blinked most of the dizziness away. "In like... four hours if nothing comes up at work..." he muttered. He was shocked that Derek would offer to stay. Why would he? What was in it for him? Did he want something in return? Because Stiles believed that nothing was free. Or rather he wasn't used to people – aside from the handful who were close to him – being kind to him for no reason. So yes, his guards were still up, even if he wanted to let them go down around this boy so badly...

"Are you sure? I mean... I could just set the alarm on my phone... I already fucked up your day enough, haven't I?" he asked unsure as he finally moved his head enough to glimpse at the other boy again. "But... okay... if you want to..." Stiles blushed a bit, his voice soft and kinda shy this time. And he was hoping that he wouldn't make Derek angry at him again. It was something he had quickly decided that he hated.

"Thanks... Melissa is at work and Scott will be at school and lacrosse practice for a few more hours so..." There was no one else who could help. That's what Stiles didn't say out loud. "I guess it'd be safer this way if I do have a mild concussion..." he trailed off and picked up his glass to pour some water in it. He quickly drank half of it to shut himself up before he'd say something offensive or too personal or would chase off the object of his affection.

Instead he moved towards the stairs, keeping a hand on the railing as he started carefully climbing. He guessed Derek would follow him up to his room. Shit! Derek Hale was going to set foot in his messy room!!! That called for some mini panic attack right then and there.

Derek wasn't sure if he was supposed to come with or not, but he did anyways because Stiles didn't seem like he was capable of finding his bed on his own. He might fall on the floor next to it or something. Climbing the stairs, the teen wondered if he was doing the right thing here. He felt weird to stay but it felt weirder to not stay when there was nobody to look after Stiles. They were old enough to be on their own, sure, but not when one of them was injured.

The door to the room was opened and Derek looked around, again curious. The bed was weirdly placed in the corner, taking up a lot of room like that but it was probably because of gaming and the TV. Gaming was obvious. There was a steering wheel for racing in the corner and a gaming chair near the bed. Posters littered the wall, littered because there was more poster than wall and they didn't make much sense. Music, gaming, anime, festivals... There were books tossed everywhere and a desk with a laptop. It wasn't a big room but it breathed Stiles. Literally. Stiles' scent was all over the place, drenched it and Derek had to take a step back from it. Because he was pretty sure Stiles would find it weird if Derek rolled around in his bed a little to soak the scent in.

"Can I get you anything? How many hours from now should I wake you?" Stuffing his hands in his sweater pockets, Derek pretended like he wasn't snooping when he totally was. He wanted to talk about games and music but Stiles looked ready to pass out so maybe some other time. Maybe next time he could use a smaller ball to hit Stiles with so their time together wouldn't be with Stiles passed out and looking like he was going to star in Rocky.

It didn't make him ugly, it just looked painful. But on the bright side, Derek had made a lasting impression?

Putting the half-full glass on the nightstand, Stiles discreetly pushed a bunch of clothes under his bed with his foot and glimpsed at the armchair in the opposite corner, glad that there weren't used clothes on it at least. So he toed off his red Converse sneakers and took off his plaid shirt. He hesitated about his jeans, but then reasoned with himself that Derek had already seen him with less clothes on than just a T-shirt and boxers, so in the end he dropped them on the floor too along with his socks and got under the dark-blue cover with a slight blush.

"Sorry for the mess. I was meaning to clean my room. A week ago," he chuckled a bit nervously and very out of his depth with the gorgeous Hale standing in the middle of his room, looking around with interest. At least not with disgust. "And I'm obviously a huge geek..." he continued, biting his bottom lip then sighed satisfied once he was finally in a horizontal position.

"I'm good, thanks. And once an hour is enough," he answered without hesitation, like a person who know this way too well. "It's not because sleep would cause any damage. It's to see if neither of my sides are going numb or to avoid possible seizures and other symptoms one might develop while asleep," the mole-dotted boy explained with half-closed eyes.

"I'm sorry for... well, all of this. It's very... nice of you to stick around and make sure I'm okay. Not many would do that." He was glad Derek Hale was one of those people. It would've been such a bummer and disappointment if it turned out that he was nothing like how Stiles had imagined he might be... "There's some food in the kitchen or you can order in if you get hungry. But seriously... feel free to raid the fridge. I was supposed to buy groceries today, but oh well... Wi-Fi password is on a sticky note by the laptop..." he mumbled, his eyelids suddenly weighing like a ton each. Hooray, the pills were finally kicking in, easing the pressure in his head. "Might pass out now... sorry..." he mumbled.

Wait, possible seizures? Sides going numb? Derek's eyes widened at that. He wasn't ready for that! Sure there were humans in the pack but they never got hurt and he had no idea what he was supposed to do with any of it. Good thing Stiles had his eyes closed so he didn't see the look of pure panic on the young Hale's face.

"Get some sleep, I'll set my alarm," he managed to stutter out as the human fell asleep and Derek? He ran downstairs to dig out his phone from his jeans. He'd call his mom but she was probably busy, but luckily Laura was at home since she had a week off from college. She was going to the one in San Francisco and came home on the weekends anyways.

"Hey Derbear!"

Ugh, he hated that nickname, but she always used it even though he had told her so many times not to call him that. "I hit Stiles in the face with a basketball and now I'm at his home and his nose is all bruised. And I have to wake him every hour and there's like nobody here!"

"Ooooh Stiles. Isn't that the Sheriff's son you've been crushing on for over a year? I mean, if he's out cold..."

"Ewwww, Laura no! I don't want to kiss him when he's passed out."

"So you do want to kiss him! I knew it. That's so cute."

Derek had no patience for Laura's teasing right now. "Laura! Come on! Tell me what to do here! He's human and he could be seriously injured."

His older sister laughed and laughed and laughed, taking forever to be even remotely helpful. He had no idea why he called her, he should have called Peter. But, eventually, she explained about the human injuries and if Stiles would not wake or slur badly or react in any way not like himself, to call her and she'd come get them with dad.

"So I didn't seriously injure him?" He had to make sure.

"He's fine, Der. You got any money on you? Give me the address, I'll order you some pizzas." That wasn't Laura. Nope, this was speakerphone and of course all the Hales had to enjoy his misery of having to injure his crush. So now his freaking dad was going to order them pizzas so Derek could stay longer to 'work his charm'.  At which Peter laughed at and asked what charm that possibly could be.

"I hate you all." The teen sighed and hung up on them. Yes he came out to his parents when he had realized he liked a boy and yes he did moon over Stiles a lot the past year but sometimes his family was just a little too much up in his business. He set his alarm clock and found a bag of chips in one of the kitchen cabinets. It wasn't stress eating when he was hungry. Nope.

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