Out Of Milk

16

The buzz of his phone caught his attention as he walked to class. He thought about ignoring it – his head was thumping, he felt woozy and nauseous. Sliding his finger over the screen, he saw it was from Derek. 'You Feeling Okay? ' the text read.

"No. head killin me. How u no?" He managed to text back. He really didn't think he was going to be able to manage through his next class. His phone buzzed almost instantly.

"You Forgot To Drink The Tea. Bringing It To You. 10 Minutes. CarPark."

Stiles walked through the crowds – everyone seemed to be getting in his way this morning – and did they really need to be so damn loud? He managed to get to the car park at the back of the school around the same time the black Camaro pulled up. He'd never been so pleased to see a thermos in his life. Derek climbed out of the driver's seat and slammed the door behind him – holding out the grey thermos that his dad sometimes used. He grabbed it with both hands and swayed slightly, so close to passing out.

"Is this stuff addictive?" Derek said, looking at him strangely.

"No. This is what I'm like if I miss my medication. I think as long as I'm drinking it, my body hasn't noticed I'm not taking my ADD meds." Stiles opened the thermos with shaking hands and (despite knowing how much it pissed Derek off) scooted onto the hood of the black muscle car. He was sitting there, cross legged and sipping directly from the thermos, when Derek leaned back against the hood of the car beside him.

"The flooring is going in." He said, looking out at the school building. "Looks good so far."

"Picked colours yet?" Stiles asked, watching as the tea took effect and the red marbling flowed over his hands. He had missed talking to Derek. The last couple of months had been difficult. They seemed to have fallen back into their old routine after spending the day in the city.

"I took Reevers advice and hired someone to do it. I think she was worried that I'd end up painting the whole place black."

Stiles laughed, the first time all day – he was already feeling better. "Or grey." He grinned, taking another sip. The tea was almost gone, but he really didn't want to walk in to Chemistry at all, never mind late. He hated his teacher – which was cool because his teacher hated him. "There are other colours in the spectrum, you know. It's not just greyscale."

"I don't doubt you'd have the place looking like the inside of a rainbow." Derek grimaced. Stiles leaned forward and punched him on the shoulder, grinning.

"I'll have you know, people like my bright and careless attitude to colour." He laughed. "Aside from Erica, who said I give her a migraine when I get to pick my own clothes."

"I'd rather my house didn't give people headaches."

"Please." Stiles managed to look offended. "You wound me!" Derek shot him a disbelieving look over his shoulder that had the effect of creasing Stiles with laughter.

"You're going to be late for class." Derek said, but made no motion to move.

"I'm already late for class. I'm not going." Stiles said, pretending to take another sip. The tea was gone. "Missing one class isn't going to kill me, and Isaac knew I was feeling like shit anyway, so he'll cover for me."

"Well, you can't stay here." Derek said. "All it takes is for one teacher to look out the window and you are busted."

"If I go down, I'm taking you with me." Stiles retorted. "All I need to say is…'This dude who looks like a drug dealer was bringing me my magic tea' and I'm sure they'd just totally believe me."