Flirt Responsibly

Friends

Derek stood outside the front door of the school with Boyd, Erica and Isaac while he waited on Stiles.

"So let me get this straight," Erica crossed her arms over her chest. "You told Danny that you couldn't date him because there was someone else you had your eye one and you expect him not to assume it's Stiles? You talk to the guy any chance you get."

"Honestly I don't know how Stiles hasn't figured it out yet," Boyd piped in.

"Okay you guys are supposed to be making me feel better, not worse," Derek groaned, running a hand through his already tousled hair.

"I don't understand why you don't just ask Stiles out," Erica glanced past Derek to where the younger guy was talking with Scott and Allison.

"He's into people like Lydia and Danny. I can't compete with that," Derek rolled his eyes.

"You're kidding right? You're super hot and if Danny is such a catch, you must be cause he's into you," Erica pointed out.

Derek only rolled his eyes.

Thankfully the conversation didn't get to progress as Stiles reached the door with Scott and Allison in tow.

Stiles ran a hand tiredly over his face, "Ready?"

Erica very obviously scanned Stiles with a smirk on her face. "You two have fun."

"Spending the rest of my day in the school parking lot with Derek while he fixes me jeep isn't exactly what I classify as fun," Stiles rolled his eyes, shifting his bookbag on his shoulder.

Derek couldn't help but be a bit hurt by that.

"Wait til he takes his shirt off, you'll change your mind," Erica winked, nudging Stiles' arm.

Stiles' face flushed as did Derek's.

"Okay, I should get her home, she gets funny when her blood sugar is low," Boyd hooked his arm in the blondes and drug her away.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Scott gave Stiles' shoulder a sympathetic squeeze.

"Oh, Derek, I wanted to invite you to my party on Friday. Cora has the details, feel free to bring Isaac, Erica, and Boyd," Allison chimed in then. Her sweet smile on full blast.

"What are you doing?" Stiles snapped, throwing his hands up in a dramatic gesture.

"You're friends are my friends, Stiles," She said, her tone innocent and her smile just as sweet.

Scott pursed his lips to hold back a smile.

"My friends are your-" Stiles flailed again, "I'm not friends with them."

"Ouch, Stiles," Isaac laughed.

Derek gave a forced smile of his own.

"We'll be there," Isaac gave Allison a nod, clearly speaking for both him and Derek.

"Great," with that her and Scott hurried off.

"Is there a reason you didn't want us there?" Isaac asked, looking at Stiles with a frown.

"Look, you guys are great, really, but we're not actually friends. I mean we barely know each other," Stiles didn't know why everyone was so dead set on Derek being more a part of his life. Couldn't they just let him pine from a distance and suffer in peace?

"This will be a good opportunity," Isaac clapped a hand on Stiles back. "See you two tomorrow."

Stiles' shoulders slumped but he didn't say anything.

"You really hate me, don't you?" Derek snorted. His tone more disappointed than he'd intended.

"No, I'm just...people tend to get the wrong idea when you start spending time with people you wouldn't normally."

"So you're worried about what people will say about us?" Derek raised a curious brow.

"Mostly just Danny."

"Right, cause that would ruin your chances," Derek couldn't help the sneer that seeped into his tone.

"No. I know I don't have a chance with him. But he's the one person keeping me on the field during lacrosse and keeping Jackson off my back."

"What is it about him that you like so much?" Derek hated how jealous he sounded but he couldn't help it.

"What is it you like?" Stiles countered.

Derek shrugged.

"Dude, you don't even like him, do you?" Stiles asked as he led the way towards the jeep.

"What?"

"You say you like him, but you won't date him, even when he very obviously wants you to. You can't even give me a reason you like him. Seriously who was it in the hall that day?"

Derek sighed, "Stiles I really don't want to talk about this with you."

"It was my sister, wasn't it?" Stiles would have preferred if it was Danny.

"Stiles," Derek huffed, running his hand through his hair again.

"Just tell me."

"Is it gonna make you feel any better if it was? No matter who it was, you're not gonna like it cause there weren't that many people in the hall at the time and most of them were your friends," Derek snapped. He hated being backed into a corner like this.

"You're right. It's none of my business anyway, sorry. Guess I'm the asshole now," Stiles tossed his bookbag down on the grass in front of the jeep.

Derek hated how smart Stiles was. He was so close to figuring it out that maybe he should back off. He'd been pushing so hard to be friends with Stiles he never even thought that doing so might let Stiles know he was into him.

"I won't go Friday," Derek said then as he pulled a toolbox from the trunk of his car.

"What?"

"Friday, I'll tell Allison I can't make it. After this we can go our separate ways and you don't have to worry about what Danny's gonna do."

"What happened to you apologizing?" panic washed over Stiles at the prospect of seeing Derek less. He liked Derek a lot and he didn't want to stop seeing him. Even though ten minutes ago he was annoyed that he saw him so much. Emotions were complicated, cut him some slack.

"What do you want from me, Stiles? You say we're not friends and now your upset that I'm not going to a party you didn't want me at," Derek's tone was sharper than he intended but he was frustrated.

"Honestly, I don't know," Stiles threw his hands up.

"What does that even mean?" Derek dropped his toolbox harshly.

"It means I can't think straight around you. No pun intended," Stiles snapped.

Derek's brows rose. "Can't think straight around me? What did I do?"

"I just...you come back from New York and all of a sudden you're being all friendly and I don't know what to do with that," Stiles threw his hands up in exasperation.

Derek took a step back then. "Right, got it."

"Got it? Got what? I don't even know what that means," Stiles' was still flailing as he spoke.

"You're a guarded person, always have been ever since we were kids. I pushed. I'm sorry. Consider me backing off," Derek gave a sympathetic smile.

Ever since Stiles' mom died, Stiles kept everyone at a distance. He was so afraid to let anyone in again. The few people that already were got to stay but the rest didn't have a chance. Derek had never been one of those people.

Stiles stiffened at the mention of him being guarded. Nobody really brought that up and he didn't like to talk about it.

Derek lifted the hood of Stiles jeep to get to work without a other word.

Stiles sat on the ground in front of him and decided to distract himself with homework. He owed Paige a copy anyway.