The Brain and the Bass Guitarist (Sterek AU)

Chapter Eight

Stiles doesn't want to go back to Derek's, so he stays in the library for hours. It's fun, Stiles thinks, and this library is a lot bigger than the one at Stiles' university at home. He easily finds more books to use for his research and he hums happily to himself while he reads. He doesn't know how he feels about Derek having lunch with another person that he used to date, and he doesn't want to think about it. He's worried about being embarrassed for the future, no matter how many times Scott assures him that everyone is going to forget about him two seconds after the divorce Stiles is still worried about it.

His notes are spread all over the table, and doesn't pay attention to the person taking pictures of him. Stiles writes down notes in his notebook, and he smiles to himself when he reads something interesting, and he writes down somethings before moving onto something else. His phone vibrates some, but he ignores it for now so he can focus on his work. He had to turn off his notifications for Twitter and Instagram, not that Stiles pays to much attention to that, and he writes on while he reads.

Stiles misses his books. His room back at his and Scott's apartment is full of books, wall to wall and on the floor. Scott would often trip over them, he'd yell at Stiles before feeling guilty and then help buy him more books, and Stiles hopes that he's dusting them and keeping them clean. He makes a mental note when he Skype's Scott later to remind him to do that, and he hums to himself. Stiles looks up when someone clears their throat, and he smiles at what looks like a thirteen year old girl. "Yes? Do you help with something?" Stiles asks, and the girl giggles.

"Are you Stiles Hale?" She asks, and Stiles gives her a patient smile since she's just a kid. She's hopping on her toes while she looks at him. He notices that she has on a shirt that says "Mrs. Hale" and he smiles to himself at how adorable she kinda is. He knows that most of Derek's fans are teenager and preteens, and although Derek's not necessarily a good role model, the rest of Unknown Artist are good role models. Especially Erica.

"It's still Stilinski for the time being." Stiles tells her, and she nods her head as she pulls out her phone. He's never changed his last name, he doesn't know if he has to do it legally here and there's no point in being a Hale for ten more months.

"Can I have a picture?" She asks, and Stiles blinks at her in surprise before nodding his head. He doesn't understand why she wants his picture, he's not the famous one, and she moves to stand next to him before crouching down. Stiles smiles at the camera and she takes the picture before looking at it. "Thank you so much. I just love Derek so much, can you tell him? My name is Holly." She asks, and Stiles smiles before nodding his head.

"I will." Stiles promises, and she smiles at him before reluctantly turning around but she moves to look at him.

"What are you doing? If I can ask." Holly asks, and Stiles smiles at her before he moves some of his things so she can sit down. He loves kids her age, old enough to talk to like an adult but young enough to not be jaded by the world, and he show her his notebook that is almost full. "That's a lot of notes." She says, and Stiles nods.

"Yeah, and this is the tenth one I'm about to fill up." Stiles tells her, and she gapes at him before asking why. "I'm writing a really long paper to get my doctorate in linguistics. It's the study of language and what makes up a language." Stiles tells her, and she looks at him in shock.

"How old are you?" She asks, and Stiles chuckles softly at her.

"I'll turn twenty in a month. I didn't go to high school, I just got my GED and then went to college." Stiles tells her, and she just looks at him in awe. "So, you know, school's hard but stick with it." Stiles tells her, trying to impart some wisdom on someone young.

"That's awesome!" Holly says, and they get shushed making them giggle softly to each other. Her phone pings and she looks down before looking up at Stiles to give him an apologetic smile. "My mum wants me home. Thank you for taking a picture with me and talking to me." Holly says, and Stiles smiles at her.