Insufferable Teacher's Pet

Chapter 18

Neither of them texted the other the rest of the weekend. Stiles was in class Monday, but didn't look at Derek at all. Just sat quietly next to Scott, who was also avoiding looking at Derek. He'd concluded Scott probably knew at this point, and Derek wasn't bothered by it. Stiles needed someone right now, he needed his best friend. Derek had hurt him enough already, he wasn't about to tell Stiles to continue keeping things from Scott. Especially since it was over now. Whatever they had was over...and Derek didn't even end it this time. But it was better like this. Stiles would get over it and he'd meet someone else and he'd fall in love and then Derek would be nothing more than the story of the first guy Stiles had ever been with. Just a memory.

Tuesday and Wednesday were also uneventful. He'd given everyone optional bonus assignments in all his classes that had a chance to boost their grades if they didn't do well on finals next week, or even if they did well it'd just add on as extra credit. After his final class of the day Thursday, Derek was typing out an email when Scott walked into the room. Derek looked up at him with a puzzled expression. "Scott? What are you doing here?"

"He loves you, y'know?"

Derek froze in place. "What are you –"

"He'll probably kill me for talking to you and saying this, but it needs to be said. He's in love with you, and you broke his heart. I don't know the details of everything, but I know enough to say that you shouldn't have toyed with his emotions like that."

"Scott you have no idea what you're talking about. You should go to your next class."

"I will. But I just wanted to tell you that. He doesn't just like you, Professor Hale, he loves you. Maybe that means something to you, or maybe it doesn't. Either way, I just thought you should know," Scott explained before leaving the room.

Derek saved the draft of his email and closed his laptop slowly. Stiles was in love with him? Stiles was in love with him. And Derek...didn't know what he was feeling. He quickly left the building and went to his car, the pulled out his phone to text Jordan before driving home.

DH: hey, are you busy tonight?

JP: my shift ends at 7, why?

DH: wanna grab a drink?

JP: sure, I can meet you at the bar around 8. Gives me a chance to get home and get out of my work clothes

DH: perfect, see you then.

He had about 5 hours to kill before meeting Jordan at the bar. Derek drove home and changed into some basketball shorts and a plain tee, then went for a run. It was pretty warm out, and after 20 minutes he was beginning to regret running outside. He should've just gone to the gym. But the gym usually had other people in it around this time, and he needed to be alone right now. Derek wasn't sure how long he'd been running for, but he ended up jogging through the woods, down a winding path until he got to his childhood home. The home that his family died in. What was once a beautiful white house with a pretty red door and a porch swing was now a charred, empty shell. Still standing, but just barely. Breathing heavily from both the exercise and anxiety, he slowly walked up the steps and inside. The last time he was in here was right before he ran away at 17. Derek was never a strong believer in the supernatural, but he came here hoping that maybe his mom was a ghost. That he'd see her and she could give him advice, tell him all would be okay. She didn't though, because ghosts weren't real.

But now here Derek was again, 9 years later, touching the blackened banister of the staircase and wishing ghosts were real. Wishing that he could see his mom, or his sisters, and just touch them one more time. Hug them. Listen to Laura tease him and make jokes about his thing with Stiles. Have Cora ask him a dozen questions. Except nether of them would be kids anymore. They were immortalized as kids, but if the fire never happened they would both be adults, just like Derek. He never really thought about it; never thought about what his sisters would've done with their lives if the fire never happened. "what if" questions were pointless. They wouldn't change anything. Why go down that rabbit hole knowing no good can come of it?