Chapter Text
“What homework do we have?” Theo asks, sliding into the seat next to Scott just as the first bell rings. Other than his momentary panic at Theo’s question, he looks near enough the same as every other kid in this classroom right now: miserable. Whoever gave them Chemistry with Mr Harris first thing in the morning clearly hates kids as much as Mr Harris does.
“Like now, or?”
“All of it.” Theo can’t shake the feeling that he’s forgotten something. And whatever that something is, it feels important, but he can’t remember what it is for the life of him.
“There’s the question set for now,” he says, almost grimacing in anticipation of Theo’s answer. He nods that he’s done it and Scott relaxes a little; it’s never pretty when people forget to do the homework in this class, or even if they do it but it’s not to Mr Harris’s insanely high - and quite frankly, unfair - standards. “Calc quiz after lunch… you submitted your English essay, right?”
“Yeah.” The previous essay that was due, subpar even by his own rapidly dwindling standards and barely reaching the minimum word count. Now he needs to start the one everyone else submitted last Friday. “What else?”
“Your history project is due soon, right? Biology-”
“Biology,” Theo groans. It’s always Biology.
“You can copy my answers dude, don’t worry.” Scott rubs his back consolingly. “Might drag your GPA down though.”
“What GPA?” Theo scoffs, dropping his head down onto the desk and groaning again. Moping about his lack of life prospects has become a pretty regular occurrence, when he’s not panicking about his lack of life prospects.
He can’t mope for long though, not when Stiles bursts through the classroom door as the late bell is sounding. His momentum has him hip-checking the stack of papers on the edge of Mr Harris’s desk on his way past and for a second things aren’t looking good, Scott half standing up next to Theo in anticipation of disaster, though Stiles somehow manages to keep them upright before crashing down into his seat. Mr Harris shoots him a withering glare but Stiles doesn’t seem to take any notice, literally vibrating in his seat.
“And here I was thinking we were about to blessed with a day without you, Stilinski,” Mr Harris drawls, some of the other kids snickering and laughing.
“Blessings are usually earned, sir. You still have time to carry out some good deeds though, don’t worry. Then again…” Stiles gives him a sharp grin, “maybe not, if your hairline’s anything to go by. Might want to make good on those good deeds sooner rather than later.”
To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Stiles gets detention for his troubles. He seems entirely unfazed by it, something Theo has never been able to understand; Theo was near nauseous the last time he got detention after being drawn into Stiles’s antics.
“There’s only one thing that could be making him this excited,” Scott says, he and Theo sharing a bemused look. “He found out what the Sheriff’s getting him for Christmas, didn’t he.”
Theo laughs under his breath. “He totally did. It must be good, whatever it is.”
Mr Harris shoots him a look that tells him one more word out of his mouth will have him joining Stiles in detention, and Theo’s very much not about that life. That’s not the end of it though, because it never is. “I don’t think you can afford to be gossiping with the state of your grades. Do you, Mr Raeken?”
“No,” he mumbles, face flaming. So he zips his mouth firmly closed and wills the knot that formed in his gut to subside. And, much like the rest of the class, he attempts to ignore Stiles’s vibrating.
Theo could cry when the bell rings, though whether it’s out of relief that Mr Harris’s class is finally over or because this was only the first class of the day, he couldn’t tell you. No matter how much he tries, no matter how much ground he covers doing homework and studying, he never seems to get any closer to catching up and confidently understanding what the hell is going on. It doesn’t help that Mr Harris makes a point of calling on people he knows don’t know the answer, because he’s the sadistic kind of teacher that gets more of a kick out of humiliating people than helping them, and more often than not Theo keeps falling into the don’t know category.
It’s no secret that Theo is behind in just about every single one of his classes right now; his crappy heart has been even less cooperative than usual this year, and although it’s only November he’s already missed so much school that summer school is looking near inevitable. Some teachers are more sympathetic than others, especially the ones who appreciate he wants to do well and is trying his best to catch up. But for every teacher like that, another one is like Mr Harris, and chronic illness is damn unforgiving in the American public school system.
“Scott! Theo!” Stiles barrels into them both from behind, the only thing preventing Theo from falling flat on his face being Stiles himself, wrapping his arms over both of their chests. “My buddies, my pals. Today is a wonderful day. You wanna know why it’s a wonderful day? I’ll tell you anyway, I-”
“Found out what you’re getting for Christmas?” Scott asks.
“You’re really gonna try and steal my thunder like that huh, Scotty. Theo would never treat me this way, would you Theo? No, of course not. So! I hacked into my dad’s online banking account-”
”Which you really, really need to stop doing,” Theo says, because he does. One of these days the Sheriff or one of his deputies will legitimately arrest Stiles, and neither Scott or Theo will be able to make bail for him.
“And you wanna know what I found?” he pulls them both to a stop right in the middle of the corridor, either oblivious or wilfully ignorant of the traffic issues he’s causing. “Guess, guess. Okay never mind, I’ll just tell you. Tickets. Two tickets. You wanna know what for? I’ll tell you what for. Next August. The Pads. The Mets. Petco Park. I’m gonna see the Meeeeeeeeets!!!” he yells, jumping up and down on the spot, jostling Scott and Theo along with him. “I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about my dad. Not that I say much bad stuff about him. But I take it back! He is literally, genuinely, the best. The Mets!”
“Ohh, buddy,” Scott grimaces, sucking a breath in between his teeth. “The Sheriff didn’t tell you? Those tickets are for me and Theo’s Christmas, not yours.”
“Think you’re so funny, huh?” Stiles says, finally releasing Theo only to jump onto Scott’s back and give him a noogie. That’s far too many uncoordinated limbs however, and Theo laughs as they both almost go careening into the lockers.
“We’re celebrating after school,” Stiles says when they all arrive at English, remarkably not too late. “Lets go skating, it’s been ages since we all went.” Once again, no thanks to Theo’s health.
“You have detention,” Theo reminds him. Stiles waves him off.
“I’ll skip it.”
“And I have work,” Scott says. That’s still something they’re all adjusting to; Scott was lucky enough to get an internship at the local veterinary clinic a few weeks ago. It’s one step closer to his dream of becoming a vet but it’s seriously eating into his free time, and by extension their hanging out time.
“Boo,” Stiles says. “It should be illegal for animals to get sick. They’re too cute. Looks like it’s just you and me, Theo.”
“I’m still so far behind with everything,” Theo says, pitching his voice a little lower. It’s hardly a secret, how sick he’s been this year, but it’s not like it’s something he wants to talk about in a classroom surrounded by a bunch of people who still barely know his name, despite living in the same town since grade school.
“You’ll catch up, it’s not a big deal. Besides, you haven’t been skating in forever. We can go to the old water treatment plant, it’s basically free real estate.”
“You mean the water treatment plant your dad banished you from ever going back to?”
“Yeah, when we were nine,” Stiles scoffs. “We’re older and wiser now though. We’re spreading our wings, gulping in that sweet, sweet sewagey air.”
“I really can’t. I need to catch up with school.”
“That’s what you always say nowadays. Don’t be lame.”
“Stiles, I said no.” What part of this does he not understand?
”And I said,” Stiles squares up to him, expression darkening as he pokes Theo in the chest, “don’t be lame.”
“Guys,” Scott intervenes, subtly yet effectively removing Stiles from Theo’s personal space. “I hate it when mom and dad fight,” he jokes, attempting to lighten the mood. Everyone knows conflict is one of Scott’s least favourite things.
Is he being lame though? Both of them know the state of Theo’s grades currently, it shouldn’t even be an argument that he needs to focus on that. But it also feels like every time Scott or Stiles want to hang out outside school, he’s giving them an excuse about why he can’t. It’s no wonder Stiles is getting frustrated. Plus it’s true he hasn’t been skating in a while…
“Fine, I’ll go. But not for long,” he adds. Stiles lights up, the past few minutes instantly forgotten.
“Great! I knew you’d come around, old buddy old pal. You’re gonna have a social life even if it kills you.”
At this rate, that’s what Theo’s worried about.