Work Text:
Stiles was such a big boy! Last year, he’d gone to kindergarten for half a day, but this year, he was six years old and he was going to be in the first grade and go to school for a whole day! He was a little sad that he wouldn’t be home as much with Mommy and his hoard, but he was so excited and Mommy and Daddy were so proud of him, he didn’t feel bad for long.
He did hope that he would get to see Derek at school, though. He was going to be in the third grade, and his sister, Laura, was so big that she’d be in the fifth grade, which was almost middle school.
Derek was his bestest friend. He was still the only person besides Mommy and Daddy who could be near his hoard. They played together lots of days. Sometimes they even had a sleepover with sleeping bags and everything. Sometimes some of the other kids in Derek’s family played with them, too.
“Derek and Laura may not have a lot of time for you when they’re in school,” Mommy told him. “You’re going to spend most of your time with the children in your class, and that’s okay. They’re still going to be your friends, even if you don’t see them as much.”
“Even Derek?” Stiles was worried. Nobody could ever take his place.
“Especially Derek.”
**********
Stiles’ first day was kinda fun, but kinda not fun, too. Most of the kids in his class he’d never met before, but that was okay. He loved his new teacher, he was going to learn some cool new stuff this year, and he got to have a seat by the window so he could look outside whenever he wanted. But what wasn’t so fun was that at recess, he tried to play with some of the kids in his class, but they told him to go away. He cried when he told Mommy and Daddy about it when he got home.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Mommy said as she hugged him. Mommy’s hugs always made him feel better. “I know you want to make new friends. But sometimes other people aren’t going to want to be your friend.” She looked sad. “And you can’t make them, because friendships are because both people want to be friends. Do you understand?”
Stiles nodded through his tears.
“It’ll be okay, son,” Daddy said, ruffling his hair, causing Stiles to smile. “You can try again with other kids tomorrow.”
He didn’t think about how sad he was again for the rest of the night and had fun with Mommy and Daddy.
**********
The next day at recess, Stiles saw a boy who was just sitting by himself. He remembered hearing that the boy couldn’t run around too much or else he couldn’t breathe. But just because he couldn’t run a lot didn’t mean that they couldn’t be friends. He walked right up to the boy and said, “Hi, my name’s Stiles!”
The other boy looked up at him. “I’m Scott!”
“You wanna play with me?”
Scott looked unsure. “I can’t run, and I gotta have my inhaler.”
Stiles didn’t know what an inhaler was, but it didn‘t matter. “That’s okay! We don’t have to run. We can do something else!”
Scott beamed. “Yeah, let’s go!”
And so Stiles made his first friend in his new class. Scott didn’t know what Star Wars was, but that was okay because he was still a lot of fun. They played on the swings, threw balls to each other, and lots of other stuff. Stiles missed Derek a whole lot less when he was playing with Scott.
After school, Stiles was waiting for Mommy to come pick him up when he noticed Laura standing around . “Laura!” he cried out, running over to her.
Laura grinned at him. “Oh, hey, Stiles! You looking for Derek? He should be along any minute.”
“Yay!” Stiles beamed, bouncing from foot to foot.
He didn’t wait long before Derek showed up. “Dereeeeeeeeeek!” he shrieked happily, wrapping his arms around the older boy.
“Hi, Stiles!” Derek grinned down at him as he hugged him back. “How do you like being in the first grade?”
Stiles happily told Derek everything he liked and didn’t like about school until Mommy came to take him back home.
After that, Stiles waited after school every day with Derek and Laura for their mommies. It was the best part of Stiles’ day!
**********
Once in a while, the whole school had recess at the same time. On those days, Stiles said goodbye to Scott and ran around looking for Derek so they could play together. There hadn’t been a day yet where Stiles didn’t get to spend those recesses with Derek.
One day, Stiles was sitting on the ground playing with Derek when some bigger boys who were probably part of Derek’s class came over to them. “Hey, Hale,” said one of them. “Ditch the shrimp and come hang out with us.”
Stiles was a little worried that Derek might want to spend time with the other boys instead of him. But he tried to remind himself what Mommy said, that it was okay for Derek to have other friends just like he had Scott now.
It turned out that Stiles didn’t have to worry at all. Derek smiled over at him, then turned to the other boys. “Nah,” he said. “I’m playing with Stiles today.”
“He’s just a little pipsqueak!” one of the other boys said, poking at Stiles’ arm. It kinda hurt, but Stiles didn’t want to cry out and look like a baby.
“Leave him alone,” Derek stood up and growled at the other boys. His eyes flashed a really pretty gold.
Instead of being impressed by Derek’s awesomeness, they laughed. “What? You think you’re so special because you’re a werewolf?” the leader laughed. Then his teeth got really long and his eyes flashed green.
“Maybe Hale wants to play with the baby because he’s just a baby, too!” another boy said, causing them all to start laughing again.
Stiles had enough. Nobody could make fun of Derek! He stood up too and walked right up to the leader. “Don’t you make fun of him!”
The boys stared at him at first, then they laughed harder than ever. “Hale, you’re so pathetic, you have a baby standing up for you now?” the leader asked Derek.
Stiles was getting really mad now. Everything started looking fuzzier than usual, except for the bullies, who were very clear. “Leave. Him. Alone. NOOOOW!” he screamed, and his voice was sounding an awful lot like a roar.
Then there was screaming and people shouting out “Dragon!” and “Awesome!”, but Stiles couldn’t really think anymore. He just fell over and everything got all black…
**********
“…and then his eyes went all reptile-like, and he got scales and everything! And he blew smoke! He’s so awesome, Mom!”
Stiles slowly blinked his eyes open. He looked up into the eyes of Mommy, and he could hear Derek, Laura, and Miss Talia talking nearby.
“Stiles!” Mommy hugged him tightly when she realized he was awake. “Are you okay?”
Stiles nodded. “I’m okay, Mommy, but what about Derek?” His eyes widened. “There were boys that were being mean to him, and they can’t do that!” He looked into his mother’s eyes and tried to let her know how very important this was.
Mommy laughed. “Derek is fine, Stiles. Those boys apparently ran screaming from you, because you did such a good job protecting him.”
“I did?” Stiles stared up at Mommy in awe.
“Yes, you had your first partial shift!” Mommy looked so proud of him. Stiles felt so big and important.
“Your first shift?” Stiles recognized the voice of Miss Talia, who was coming over to them with Derek and Laura. “That’s very impressive, Stiles!” She smiled down at him.
“Yeah, I was protecting Derek!” Stiles puffed out his chest proudly. “Did I get scales? Did I get wings? I don’t ‘member it.”
“You blew smoke, Stiles, and you got some scales by your ears!“ Derek told him excitedly. “You were awesome!” His face was turning red and Stiles thought that made him look really cute.
Stiles was so happy. Derek liked being with him and not just because he had to. And he was looking at Stiles kinda like Daddy looked at Mommy, and that made Stiles more happy than anything in the entire world.