Stiles Stilinski loves many things. Many, many things. English class, however, is not one of them. He's a smart guy, one of the smartest people you'll ever meet, but nothing can make him go insane like an hour in a room with Mrs Blake. She isn't a mean teacher, she is rarely a bitch, but holy fuck she can't go two minutes without saying something. If it isn't for his friends, he would've either gone completely nuts, or he would've thrown something at her. Preferably something which would hurt. A lot. Seriously, he's thought about it several times. Like, an amount of times where anybody who doesn't know Stiles would actually consider sending him to the guidance counsellor for some serious help.

Derek Hale on the other hand, hates the majority of things. Including this class. His friends are the only thing he cares about. He's a popular guy, very few people knew how to hate him; except himself. He'll never tell anyone, but he hasn't been happy for as long as he could remember. He has everything: looks, money, popularity. You name it, he has it. But none of those things make it any better. He still hates himself with every fibre of his being. He still dreams of his own death. He still spends nights alone and bleeding, in the hopes of forgetting about how shitty he feels. It doesn't work, but at least his friends can keep him distracted in the daytime.

The two boys are complete opposites. Stiles is the light in the day, Derek is the darkness in the night. Even so, they are good together. Friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Nobody is really sure how they got so close, not even them – Derek is the popular one, Stiles just has his small little group of friends. Derek is the guy everybody wants to be or to be with, Stiles is 147 pounds of pale skin and fragile bones, and basically nobody even knows so much as his name. In spite of all the reasons they shouldn't work, they do, and anybody can see how close they are. Even if they don't spend their lunches together, even if they aren't together 24/7, anybody can see how much they care for each other, and how much they laugh around each other. So it isn't a surprise when Mrs Blake pairs them for the next English project.

"Everybody, this project is on Shakespeare. I will assign you all a partner, and you will all research Shakespeare himself, and a novel of your choice. Your work can be presented however you wish, as long as it as detailed as possible, and," the brunette pauses to glare at Greenberg before continuing, "it must actually be readable." A few members of the class laugh for a second, remembering his last project, and how nobody could even begin to decipher his messy writing since he'd clearly done the whole thing in a matter of 10 minutes. The teacher then proceeds to read out the already decided pairs, ending with Stiles and Derek.

And boy, is Stiles happy. He'd never admit it, but for the past 2 years, he'd seriously started questioning things. Namely, his sexuality. Until he was 14, he'd always thought he was straight. But after he became closer friends with Derek, things began to change. Since third grade, it'd been all about Lydia. He was obsessed. And then at age 14, he was in the hospital waiting room while his dad was having a few scans for some sort of liver disease. He didn't have it, but that's beside the point. Derek was also in the same room, since his little sister Cora had something wrong, Stiles never found out what. The two boys sat together for the next hour and a half, starting with small talk about the weather, and ending in knowing many things about each other, like their favourite movies and songs and what makes them happy. After that day, they just kind of stuck. But now that he knew the real Derek Hale, Stiles couldn't help but fall for him a little more every time they spoke. Within a couple of months, it'd gone from them never speaking to them being close and Stiles falling for Derek's hair and eyes and smile and voice and the way he walked and oh god he'd never been so in love with anybody, not even Lydia. Thinking about it now, he should've known he was bisexual right from that day in the hospital waiting room. And he tells Derek everything, but he'll never tell him this.

"Bonjour, bitch!" Derek shouts to Stiles from across the room. Mrs Blake calmly tells him to not use that kind of language in the classroom, but is quickly interrupted by Stiles scream-singing his new version of Derek's current favourite song, Hello by Adele.

"Hello, it's Stiles,

I was wondering if after all these hours you'd like to meet,

to go over Shakespeare,

they say Macbeth's supposed to be bad,

but Othello is better,

Hello, can you hear me,

I'm across the room yeah, dreaming about Julius Caesar,

and when Shakespeare was here,

I've want to know how it felt before the world fell at his feet"

After Stiles' little performance, Derek can barely breathe, the rest of the class are hysterical, and even the teacher is struggling to suppress her laughter. He takes a seat next to Derek, face remaining completely serious.

"So I was thinking, Romeo and Juliet. You good with that?" He says without even a hint of a smile, while Derek is still laughing so hard he's almost crying. "I'll take that as a yes then. Romeo and Juliet is!" He smirks, mouth slightly turning at the corners at the sound of Derek's happiness. While the taller boy calms himself, Stiles looks around to see who is working with who, and whether anybody else is as entertained as the person next to him. Scott is sat with Allison, surprise surprise. Despite being best friends, Scott is usually with his girlfriend instead of with Stiles. Not that he's complaining, since it often means he has more chances to work with a certain someone else. Scott and Allison have both moved back onto their work. Looking at the other pairs, Lydia and Jackson, Liam and Isaac, and Kira and Greenberg - which isn't surprising either. Mrs Blake was pretty smart to put the neatest in the class with the messiest - he can see that nobody else is still bothered about his song, only Derek, which for some reason makes him pretty happy and even proud. Possibly because the person he wants to make happiest, is the happiest one there.

Once Derek has composed himself, he looks at Stiles and remembers the project. Okay, Romeo and Juliet. He can work with that. It's a good job he was paired with Stiles, because if he was with anybody else, he might go out of his mind. Somehow the boy sat beside him can make things seem worth it, even when all he wants to do is die, and oh crap, now he's thinking about dying. But at least it'll be soon. He has plans. If things go how he wants for once, he isn't going to wake up tomorrow. Nothing is going to change his mind, not even Stiles. But can he really do that to Stiles? Fuck. No, he can do it. He will do it. Stiles doesn't care about him. He is nothing, not even to the people he considers friends. They wouldn't even notice his disappearance.

"Derek? Derek, you there? You okay?" Stiles' voice brings Derek back to reality, and he realizes he's been completely zoned out for the past 5 minutes. Stiles wasn't actually worried, right? Of course not. He wasn't worth worrying about. Trying to distract himself from his thoughts so he could focus on seeming normal like usual, he pressed lightly on his sleeve, on his wrist where he had cut the day before. Thank fuck the other boy didn't notice.

"Yeah I'm fine, just slightly sick. I probably shouldn't have even come to school today," he said. Wow. Nice lie. Original. Somehow, Stiles seemed to buy it.

"Yeah, I figured. You're pale as fuck, dude. You should probably ask to go home, you literally look ready to throw up. No offence or anything, but I don't really cope well with vomit," Stiles said, looking concerned but also chuckling at the last part.

"Yeah, I'm gonna ask now. You sure you can do the hour alone?" He asked. He didn't want to leave his friend on his own, but maybe going home would actually be a good thing. The sooner he could be alone, the sooner he could end everything. And besides, he's pretty sure he's bleeding through his shirt right now, not that it's too much of a problem since his shirt is black. After thinking of the pros of going home, he decides it's best to do so, and gets out his seat. He walks over to the teacher, and hopes for the best.

"Derek, what can I help you with?" She asks, voice sounding way too happy to be genuinely nice.

"I don't think I should be in school today, I really don't feel well. I feel like I'm going to throw up," he says, trying to sound as honest as possible. It is actually kind of true though, so it's easy for Mrs Blake to believe him.

"Yes, you do look sick. You can get your stuff together and go, if you want to go now. I can tell the office later, if that's okay?" She tells him. He agrees to do so, so he makes his way back over to his and Stiles' table.

"You going now?" The boy asks, looking sadder than Derek expected. Can he really do it? No, stop questioning it. You're going to do it. You have to, Derek thinks to himself.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow if I'm any better," he lies, packing his things away into his bag. He leaves, taking a moment to look at Stiles one last time. He walks out the door, refusing to have any more second thoughts about his plans. However, he fails to notice the notebook falling out of his bag before he leaves.

"Derek!" Stiles calls, when he notices it, but it's too late, as he's already gone. He sees the bookmark sticking out, and Stiles being Stiles, just has to read it. He pauses, what if it's super private? But then again, doesn't Derek tell him most things anyway? He chooses to read it, considering it's likely something he already knows.

"Everybody has a time, right? A time they're supposed to die? This was my time."

Stiles hesitates to read on. This isn't right. No, it can't be right. Derek was so happy only half an hour ago, wasn't he? Stiles hopes this is just a story or something. Derek has to be fine, he's always been fine.

"I waited for this for so long, but it never felt right. But that changed. It felt right now. If anybody is reading this, then I'm not sorry. I didn't want to hurt anybody, but I'm not sorry. I didn't regret this. This was what I wanted. On the 12th of January, I gave up. It won't affect anyone, I was nothing, but still, if it matters at all, stop. Forget me. Goodbye. - Derek Hale"

No. No, no, no, no. No. Today is the 12th of January. Stiles wasn't okay with this. Derek Hale and suicide don't go together. They don't belong in the same sentence. The thought alone is enough to leave a bitter taste. Stiles reread the page twice, and he swore he was going to have a fucking heart attack. Is that blood on the corner of the page? He doesn't even want to know. But what he does know is that it's all in past tense. Derek has to still be okay, right? He can't have done anything yet, right? Yet.

"Dude, earth to Stiles! What's wrong? Why are you crying? Stiles!" Scott is gradually having to raise his voice, but Stiles still isn't hearing anything, not until Allison has to literally shake him out of his state. Stiles shoves all his things into his bag, including the notebook. He goes as quickly as he possibly can, ignoring all the questions and everything else from his friends. And then he runs. He runs faster than he ever has before. If Derek wasn't possibly dying, he would be pretty fucking proud. But he has to get to Derek. He has to.