CHASING NUMBER ONE
Author: Metamorphosis2011
Summary: Meet Derek Hale, the world tennis number one and a "gift from god" for the sport. The 'Iron Man' from the US, four years at number one, unchallenged, with an unrivalled run of victories. Enter Stiles Stilinski, the 17 year old wunderkind from Germany, hot on his tail, chasing his spot at number 1. Surely there is no time and place for the small complication that is romance in the competitive world that is performance tennis. Definitely not if everyone else has their say!
Info: 18k | Mature | Human!AU, Tennis!AU, Pining | Warning: Homophobia
Notes: I swear to freaking God people, this is one of the fandoms hidden gems. I mean it came out 2013 and the kudos ain't even 4 digests?! THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE, PEOPLE.
I don't really like sports in general or tennis in particular, but take my word for it when I say that this is one of the most heartwarming, grounded and devastatingly sweet pieces of fanfiction I've read in quite a while! The suspense throughout the story was killing me, much like it killed Stiles, and the author has a way of making freaking tennis seem interesting. READ IT. -M
Sneak Peek:
And then it was all over. Stiles really couldn't tell where the last two hours had gone. He was sure one minute he was saying 'head' and the next minute he found himself at the net shaking hands, a firm big warm hand, with Derek Hale, who leaned in and whispered something that sounded vaguely like 'well played' and 'your time to win a grand slam will come soon' or something along those lines, into his ear and then he sat himself down on the bench towel over his head as he let the last two hours slowly come back to him.
For all intent and purposes he had just been given a master class by Derek Hale. There was no other way of saying it, or trying to put a positive spin on it. Three straight sets in just under two hours. The usurper safely put in his place. Stiles could already see the headlines in the papers the next day. But no time to worry about that too much. First he needed to get through the gruelling routine of interview after interview, press conference and stupid questions as to what he thought he could have done better and where he thought he had gone wrong. This was the part of his career Stiles hated. As much as he loved tennis, and everything about it, this whole dance with the media left him more exhausted every time than a 5 set match ever could.
