Work Text:
Blowing is Better
Professor Stiles’ Entry Level Class on Modern Technology 101
Fall had finally reached Beacon Hills. The air was crisp; just to the point where it caused a moments hesitation at the door wondering should I grab a jacket?. Stiles was at such a point in his life. With the Alpha pack vanquished (because that would always be how Stiles would tell it), Boyd and Erica back with the pack, and Cora and Peter randomly disappearing and reappearing things were as back to normal as possible. And that was why on a perfectly good Saturday with no strange beastie knocking down his door Stiles was finishing up yard work. His father was stressed enough with all the bloodshed, so Stiles had blown all the leaves out of the yard and quickly bagged them up. It turned out his high energy level was good for something after all. Since he had finished, Stiles decided to drive over to Scott’s to see what his best friend was doing.
Sure enough Scott was still in his boxers curled up in bed playing video games.
“Dude, you have got to get out.” Stiles prodded as he sat down on the end of the bed.
Scott made a depressed moan and Stiles rolled his eyes. “Allison is gone for a month, she will be back. Don’t be such a drama queen.” Stiles would be thrilled to have such problems to complain about but alas, lack of love life equals lack of love life problems.
Scott sat up in bed and paused the game. “She said she needed some time to think. What does that even mean?” He bombarded Stiles with accusing yet wounded puppy dog eyes.
Stiles sighed deeply before stealing the controller and restarting the game. He always explained things better when he had something to do with his hands. “It means she couldn’t think logically while you two were in the same town letting off ‘do me’ pheromones.” Stiles explained taking a sharp turn up a ramp to collect extra points.
“And she had to go to Europe for that?!” Scott exclaimed.
Stiles shrugged. “Sorry buddy but I would be more than happy to use relationship problems as a way to visit Europe. Besides, it gives her more time to bond with her dad.” Granted her dad was a monster-killing hunter, but he was still her dad.
Scott let out a huff of frustration before stealing the controller back. A brief moment of silence settled over them before Scott said “so how was yard work?”
Apparently their session of “Love Advice from Dr. Stiles” was over for the moment. “Eh, not too bad. At least we have a small yard.”
“Did you help Mrs. Smith again?” Scott asked with a grin.
Stiles glared at his best friend. “Of course. I help her every year. I don’t see why it’s such a big deal.”
Scott laughed. “You know whenever mom goes over there to help her with her medicine all she talks about is that cute neighbor boy that lives across the street.”
Stiles flopped back on the bed and grabbed a pillow. “Dude, the lady is like 100 years old or something! She’s got nobody, so I might as well do the neighborly thing and help her with her yard work.”
Scott shrugged, “Hey, it’s your business what you do with the geriatric population of Beacon Hills. I just thought you would want to know she thinks you have a nice as-“ Scott didn’t finished the sentence as Stiles began pummeling him with the pillow.
“I give I give!!!” Scott yelled as Stiles finally let up.
“Geriatric population. When did you even learn such a big word Scotty?” Stiles asked sarcastically, sticking out his tongue for emphasis.
“Oh shut up.” Scott replied dismissively. His phone went off and he reached for it. A frown crinkled his forehead and Stiles quirked an eyebrow. It wasn’t quite as expressive as Derek’s eyebrows. The man could teach a second language with those things. He could go to the Amazon and communicate trade routes between the different tribes with just one dark brow! He could- “STILES!!!” Scott bellowed.
“What?!” Stiles yelled back, jarred out of his thoughts.
“I was asking if you could go check on Derek?” Scott said typing something on his phone.
Stiles eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”
“Because I asked you?” Scott asked his voice going high and unbelievable at the end.
Stiles got off the bed and crossed his arms, giving Scott his best “I’m the sheriff and I demand to know everything” stare.
“Derek is doing some kind of project at the house and he needs help.” Scott folded quickly.
“Why aren’t you going?” Stiles asked, his eyes narrowing as he increased the intensity of his stare.
Scott avoided all eye contact. “With all this ‘true alpha’ crap we aren’t really sure where we stand with each other.” Scott looked up at Stiles and there was sincere worry in his eyes. “I don’t want to be Alpha Stiles, I’m not ready for that. I’m not even sure what Derek wants but, I don’t want to take anything away from him. He’s already had so much destroyed and I feel like if I was to become Alpha then our pack would-“ Stiles quickly interrupted the Hallmark worthy monologue.
“Ok, ok, ok!!!! I will go and check on Broody McBroodyson!” And with that he was out the door completely missing Scott’s unnaturally sly look as he typed out “It worked” into his phone and sent it to his compatriots….maybe Stiles was right, he was getting a bigger vocabulary!
Derek stared out at his yard feeling miserable. Not that he didn’t normally feel miserable, but today it just seemed crushing. Part of the problem was that his yard was full of leaves. Correction; not full of leaves, his yard was the forest. Having property that bordered the reserve was a blessing and a curse. For a werewolf it was nice to be so close to nature, to be able to go out and hunt. But as a human with a yard that must be raked and all the leaves bagged and destroyed before winter arrived….well it really sucked. With a deep sigh Derek pulled out his cellphone and sent texts to some of the pack. He would never admit that he didn’t know how to send a group text because Stiles had spent over an hour explaining how to just simply send a text message and that was not a lesson he ever wanted to repeat. Stiles was a good teacher but that kid wouldn’t shut up! Derek’s eyes narrowed as he got practically instantaneous responses back. Erica and Boyd were on a date. Lydia and Jackson were on a date. Scott was mourning Allison’s vacation, and Isaac was planning to stop by and see if he could cheer Scott up. Teenagers; useless, pheromone chasing, teenagers. Derek thought to himself.
And so with a heavy heart Derek found the rake and began the momentous challenge of raking up all of the leaves.
Derek was half way done (maybe a quarter finished at best, honestly who needed this big of a yard?!) when he heard the Jeep. Stiles’ Jeep had an unmistakable sound. It was like the vehicle so desperately wanted to die, but Stiles’ unwavering love for it kept it alive. The Jeep parked in the driveway and so help him if that gravel from those stupid tires hit his Camaro Derek was going to be pissed. Derek waited uneasily as Stiles made his way out of the Jeep and around the house.
Stiles looked around. The house was still being remodeled, or so Derek had told the city council so they wouldn’t condemn it. If Stiles had anything to say about it, he would have guessed Derek hadn’t done a damn thing. As Stiles walked around the outside of the house a window shutter broke and crashed down on to the ground right next to him. Then again, Derek had done something, he had tore down one shutter. Stiles winced as he looked around. The house needed so much work. Surely it would be easier to just tear the damn thing down than to let this decrepit shell continue standing.
“No it’s not, the foundation is still good so it can still be repaired. And besides, it’s MY home.” Derek growled.
So apparently Stiles had said some of that (dear God hopefully not all of it!) out loud. “Errr yeah, sure. I’m sure it will work out great.” Stiles scrambled rubbing the back of his head nervously.
Derek glared at Stiles, clearly not impressed. Then he looked at the broken shutter beside the boy. “Did you tear off one of my shutters?” Derek accused, dropping the rake and stalking towards him.
Stiles looked surprised and then looked at the shutter and up to the THIRD floor where it had come from. He turned back to Derek to find the werewolf two steps away. “Yes, clearly I climbed up the outside of the house to the THIRD floor and tore it off with my bare hands.” Stiles bit out sarcastically as he gave Derek a look of disbelief.
Derek halted and glared at Stiles as if he were trying to decode each word Stiles had said.
Stiles sighed and said “Dude, I’m kidding. You know I can’t do that. Me? Pathetic weak human? Yeah sorry Mr. Alpha but no house repairs for me today. Besides, Scott said something about you fixing something and needing help…or something.” Stiles rambled as he began looking around to see what exactly Derek was suppose to be doing.
Derek looked a little shocked as he said “Scott sent you over to help?”
Stiles wasn’t sure if it was the emphasis that Scott had sent him or what, but he couldn’t help feeling a little offended. He scoffed. “Yes, Scott sent me because you are apparently desperate.” If Derek wanted to be an ass about this, fine, he could be an ass too.
Derek shrugged and it was a jerky movement as if he wasn’t used to shrugging casually.
“What exactly is it you need help with?” Stiles asked. Then he watched as the strangest thing he had ever seen occurred; Derek’s ears began turning red. Not Hellboy red or anything supernatural, it was almost as if…was Derek blushing??
“Umm, the leaves. The leaves are everywhere and the city council said if the house and property don’t start looking better they are going to do something. So the leaves. They need to be raked. So I was trying to rake the leaves.”
Stiles had never seen Derek so flustered. He also hadn’t expected an Alpha Werewolf to have so many problems raking leaves either. Wait a minute, rake? Stiles stumbled around in a circle and looked at the massive amount of leaves in the yard. Rake? RAKE?! Derek thought he could rake all of this? A laugh bubbled out of Stiles’ throat before he could stop it.
Derek’s blush (or ya know allergic reaction to human emotion, whichever) disappeared and his threatening glare returned. “What? What are you laughing at?” He growled.
Stiles looked at him and gestured around the yard. “This?? Allllll of this, is what you think you can rake? Dude, you live right by the woods.” He stopped and reassessed the situation. “I take that back, this is the woods. You are like a woodland creature out here.” Derek growled so he hurriedly improved that statement. “A large woodland creature with big big teeth and a bad attitude. Anyways, seriously, you can’t rake all of this.” That stopped Derek in his threatening growl of doom.
“What do you mean? We used to rake it.” And wow, Stiles was going to have a hard time with this if Derek was bringing up his deceased family.
“Well, um, yeah, but back then you know, there were,” he cleared his throat and braced for impact. “A lot more of you then. So it wouldn’t take as much time.”
Derek took it like a champ and simply nodded. Stiles quickly moved on.
“So now, it’s just us. And I don’t really see a lot of us. So there’s just you and me, and we,” he motioned back and forth between himself and Derek “can’t do this. I don’t care if you are He-Man wolf wonder of the universe or not, it just doesn’t work like that.”
Derek’s growl was low and Stiles was sure it was making his spleen vibrate. “The leaves have to be taken care of. Winter is coming and the council-“ Derek stopped as Stiles started laughing at him again.
“Dude, you can’t just say that! Who else knows you’re a Game of Thrones fan?? ‘Winter is coming’, I had no idea you were a Stark at heart. I mean I can totally see it now. Really what other family would you be? A Tully? Maybe, but they just don’t have the emotional angst like you’ve got trademarked.” Stiles ranted.
“Stiles.” Derek cut in as the teen finally, finally stopped to breathe.
“What?” Stiles asked.
“Shut. Up.” Derek bit out.
Stiles cleared his throat. “Erm, righty-o back to the leaves. Yes we need to get rid of them but this, “ He indicated the rake Derek was holding. “Won’t work. Let me introduce you to the modern world of technology.” And with that, Stiles was off walking towards his jeep leaving Derek in a whirlwind of confusion.
Stiles walked back to his jeep muttering things like “ridiculous sour wolf” and “who even rakes anymore” until he popped open the back of his vehicle. Inside was the leaf blower his father had bought a few years ago. Battery operated and honestly the best thing since sliced bread. Stiles grabbed it and walked back over to Derek. Derek of course stared at the piece of equipment like it was a robust alien come to take over Earth, so with a deep sigh Stiles set it down and began to explain.
“This is a leaf blower. It blows leaves. It will move a leaf from point A to point B in fewer seconds than it takes to rake.” Stiles stopped and looked at Derek to make sure he understood the concept of a leaf blower.
“I can move leaves that fast.” Derek scoffed looking at the contraption.
Stiles glared up at Derek. “Listen Gaston, I’m not going to sit here all day and tell you how this is a great resource and it makes so much more sense to use.” He stopped to breathe and looked at Derek. Yeah, apparently he didn’t get the Beauty and the Beast reference, oh well. “What I need you to do is to just accept that my way, for once in your wolfy life, is better!” And with that Stiles walked over to the leaves.
“But it’s not.” Derek said before Stiles could turn on the leaf blower.
Stiles stopped and turned around to look at Derek. “What?”
Derek shrugged, again with the jerky movement.
“It’s not, what?” Stiles asked.
“I can still clear this faster by myself than you with that, that, that thing.” Derek said.
Stiles rested the leaf blower on his hip and felt himself remembering the first time he watched Evil Dead, the original one mind you, and thought it was a little ridiculous to use a chainsaw to slaughter the undead. Now he accepts it. Especially now, with how his life has changed.
“It sounds like you are proposing a duel.” Stiles said slowly.
“What?” Derek looked flustered.
“My name is Inigo Montoya you killed my father, prepare to die!” Stiles exclaimed as he rushed into the yard turning on the leaf blower.
Derek looked confused for a moment before he realized that Stiles was making amazing progress blowing leaves across the yard. Then he rushed to the other side and began raking them. He raked them from one side of the house all the way to the other and into the woods. When he had finished he stood panting and annoyed in the middle of the yard.
“About time you finished your half.” Stiles called as he came out of the house carrying…lemonade?!
“Wh-what?” Derek asked as Stiles walked over to him and handed him a glass.
“I figured you were too hot and bothered for a glass of apple cider and I was feeling citrusy fresh, so I just made lemonade.” Stiles shrugged.
Derek looked around wildly and noticed the leaf free yard. “How, how did you?” He asked stumbling over his words.
Stiles shrugged, “dude, it’s modern technology, it always does what it’s supposed to do. Besides, it’s just a leaf blower.” Stiles said as he walked back to his Jeep.
“Right.” Derek muttered looking around the yard again.
Stiles opened the door and slid onto the seat. He looked across the yard at Derek and smiled. “Hail to the King, baby.”
It wasn’t that he was impressed with Stiles, Derek told himself as the Jeep started up and rumbled down the driveway. It was the simple fact that a human could accomplish so much, so quickly, while he; a werewolf was still struggling.
Derek scratched along the back of his neck as the sound of the Jeep faded away. Such resourcefulness, and from Stiles of all people…Derek’s eyes narrowed. Perhaps his human was worth more to him than met the eye.