Sterek Stories - A Collection - I

Summoning a demon - part 9

The lovely weather pushes the pandemic more and more to the background. It's not gone, yet the strict regulations are eased and slowly but surely life returns to something that resembles the way it was before the pandemic hit. Stiles' classes are still online, yet students are allowed to come together for projects and the college library opened again too. With the library up and running again, Stiles could return to his job as assistant-librarian, if it weren't for Covid derailing his plans. He still tires easily and is out of breath from walking up the stairs, although he has to admit it had been worse before. However, picking up his job is not in the cards yet, he has trouble enough to keep up with school in between his mandatory naps.

One thing he has been able to do, twice even, has been going back home to visit his dad for the weekend. First weekend his dad picked him up with his car, so he didn't have to sit in a cramped bus with dozens of strangers for most of the day. Scott drove him back and stayed for a night, before driving back the next morning. It was nice. Stiles isn't too proud to admit he cried when they had to say goodbye again.

The second weekend Stiles did take the bus, refusing to have his father or Scott drive him. It was another glorious weekend, especially because his father had most of the weekend off. He had a night shift Sunday night, one of the reasons for Stiles to refuse to let his father drive him back to his dorm the next day. He only let the man drop him off at the bus station, ensuring him he'd be fine sitting on the bus for about eight hours.

And he was fine, mostly because he slept most of the time. He woke up just outside the city, mostly rested but for the annoying crick in his neck. The bus was stuck in traffic, stretching the last part of the journey from what should've been fifteen minutes to well over an hour. Stiles texted his displeasure to Scott, who luckily had some time to text back and forth to keep the boredom at bay.

Still, Stiles is more than ready to stretch his legs when he finally gets to his stop. He pulls his bag from the luggage compartment and swings it over his shoulder, already looking around for the signs that will point him to the nearest subway station. He might be back in the city, that doesn't mean that he's back at his dorm yet.

"Need a ride?"

Stiles turns on his heel, startled and almost swinging his bag at the person who spoke up right behind him. He's confronted with black leather, aviator glasses and lips that smugly tilt into a smirk on one side. His stomach flips and dissolves into butterflies. "What are you doing here?!"

Derek shrugs. "Line 11 and 25 are out because of repairs to the track." He halfway turns, ready to walk away and fully expecting Stiles to follow him. Which he does. The demon leads him to a black sports car, shiny and sleek, and pops the trunk with a button on his car key fob.

"You want me to ride in the trunk?" Stiles blinks bewildered at the empty boot of the car. It isn't all that big, this is not a car for practical people.

Derek rolls his eyes. "Your bag, Stiles."

"Oh. Yes. Of course." With a blush on his cheeks that is completely deserved - and probably unbecoming - Stiles puts his bag away and closes the trunk. He gets into the car without prompting, his mind running a mile a minute. Derek came to pick him up. His demonic friend waited for him, even though his bus was late and Stiles only mentioned in a passing text yesterday evening which bus he would be taking the next morning.

Stiles is still too flabbergasted to speak much when he stands on the sidewalk in front of his dorm and watches Derek's car drive away. The demon refused to tell Stiles how he got the car and if he even had a human driver's licence and they hadn't exchanged a lot of words on the ride to Stiles' place. Still, it didn't feel awkward. Well, maybe a little bit, but that was mostly on Stiles' side and because he had trouble untangling his jumpy thoughts. The demon was his usual self: slightly surly, yet calm and gracious, with a touch of sarcasm. Just how Stiles liked him. And Derek came to pick him up.