Chapter Text
All Stiles was trying to do was put up the giant painting that Lydia had given him and insisted he hang up in his new apartment. The problem was the thing was bigger than he was and a little hard to maneuver. He knows the smart thing to do was probably wait and have someone help him put it up, but Stiles was determined to do this on his own if only to prove that he could. He was making his way across the room with the painting, not really able to see where he was heading when he tripped. He tried to steady himself which lead to a lot of flailing and the next thing he knows the painting is crashing through the wall and he’s on his back on the floor.
Stiles looks up from his position on the floor to the new hole his living room wall, where a scowling man is peering through at him. A scowling man who just happens to be very naked and who’s dick Stiles has an excellent view of thanks for his position on the floor. Stiles shakes himself, looking back up at the man’s face, and tries to think of a way to make this less awkward. Stiles being Stiles does the only thing he can think of in this situation, he grins and waves introducing himself "Hi, I'm Stiles!"
The man’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, as he reaches behind him to grab a pillow to cover himself "Derek."
Stiles is momentarily distracted by Derek's voice, which sounds nothing like he would expect it to. It's so much softer. And wow those eyes. If he hadn't just busted through this guy’s wall... No. Not the time for that.
"Look Derek, I'm really sorry about this. I just moved in and was trying to move a painting and tripped, which if you knew me you'd know leads to a lot of flailing. Which is how this" Stiles points to the wall "happened. I'm really sorry and I'll..."
"Stiles." Derek raises his hand, while still keeping one gripped to the pillow covering himself, and interrupts Stiles' rambling "It's fine. We'll get it fixed. Things happen. It's no big deal."
Stiles shakes his head "No, it is. I busted through your wall dude. I'm going to make it up to you."
"You really don't have to."
"Nope. No arguments. I'm going to. It’s the least I can do."
Derek tries to argue more but Stiles waves him off, already standing up and deciding to find as many ways possible to make this up Derek. And if that means he gets to spend more time with Derek, well that's a bonus.
XxXx
It starts with little things. Stiles bakes Derek cookies, brownies, banana bread, and other assortments of baked goods and brings them to him and at least once a week. He helps Derek carry up his groceries when he sees that has a big load to carry. He even helps Derek put together a table from IKEA when after he sees it being delivered and then hears the frustrated cursing from Derek's apartment through the hole in the wall. He even regularly helps Derek when he has problems with his computer. Which winds up being often, but lucky for Derek Stiles knows a lot about computers so it's not really an issue.
At first they had to communicate while the wall was getting fixed, but pretty soon they just start hanging out together. Sometimes talking about books, since Derek has an impressive collection and Stiles has found he loves to hear Derek excitedly talk about his favorites. His eyes light up and sometimes he even rambles when he’s truly passionate about the book he’s discussing. Stiles loves it. So maybe he’ll purposefully bring up Derek’s favorite books just to hear him talk about them. That’s something new too. They’ve spent enough time together for Stiles to actually know what Derek’s favorite books are.
Stiles also discovers that Derek has never seen Star Wars. Stiles couldn't let that one go. He showed up the next day he he knew Derek had off with pizza, junk food, and his movie collection and made himself comfortable on Derek's couch. At this point Derek didn't even question it, just rolled his eyes and made himself comfortable next Stiles on the couch. They sat there pressed together, sharing popcorn, while Stiles pointed out his favorite parts to Derek. When it was getting late Stiles offered to put off watching the rest if Derek wanted to sleep but Derek just shook his head and got more comfortable on the couch content to watch the rest of the movies.
XxXx
One day, about 6 months after they started hanging out, Stiles overheard Derek talking to his sister Cora about a book he’s been looking for but has been having trouble finding. After that Stiles made it his mission to track down the book so that he could give it to Derek. He also kept checking in with Cora to make sure Derek hadn’t found it yet. Which wasn't that weird since Stiles had met Cora a few weeks after him and Derek started hanging out and they had hit it off. Derek pretended to be annoyed by their friendship but Cora had told Stiles that Derek was actually pleased they got along so well.
Finding the book was hard work but after 3 weeks of searching and then waiting for it to arrive, Stiles successfully had the book in his hands. Now that he had it though he was a little bit nervous. They had long since gotten passed the time where Stiles was trying to make up the hole in the wall to Derek. They were friends now, maybe even best friends. But Stiles knew it was more than that. Scott had been Stiles’ best bro for years and he loved the dude but he didn’t know if he would randomly put in the effort to find some rare item he wanted. Maybe for Christmas or his birthday but for no reason? Probably not. But Derek. Derek was different. Stiles had long ago accepted that his feelings for Derek were much more than friendship. This book showed that. He got it just because he knew it was something that would make Derek happy, and Stiles loved seeing Derek happy. He was just worried that Derek would realize that and things would be ruined. He has no idea what Derek feels for him and he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship if he doesn’t feel the same way.
Stiles is shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of a knock on his door. He knows it’s Derek. Stiles had invited him over to watch movies a few hours ago. Stiles is surprised Derek even bothered knocking. The two of them had long since gotten passed knocking on each other’s doors, normally just walking in and announcing themselves.
Before Stiles can make his way over to the door Derek walks in with a smile on his face “Hey Stiles.”
“Hey Derek.” Stiles says, looking around the room trying to see if there’s any place he can hide the book before Derek sees it.
Derek notices however and raises an eyebrow, gesturing to the book in Stiles’ hands “What’s that?”
“This? Oh, this is nothing. “
“It doesn’t look like nothing. It looks like a book.” Derek steps closer, peering at the title. His eyes widen when he notices what it is. “Is that…? I’ve been trying to find that book for ages!”
Stiles smiles, seeing how excited Derek is and hands the book over to him. He’s already seen it so there’s no point in hiding it. “I know. I may have overheard your conversation with Cora and then tracked it down with her help.”
“You did that? For me?” Derek looks up from where he’s studying the book “Why?”
“Because I wanted to do something nice for you.” Stiles says, rubbing the back of his neck and keeping his eyes focused on the floor.
“As a way of making it up to me for the hole in the wall? Or something else?”
“You know we’re passed the whole hole in the wall thing. This was…” Stiles takes a deep breath and decides he might as well just be honest “I love how excited you get about things you love, especially books. You whole face just lights up and you talk with so much passion. Your walls come down and you always look so happy and beautiful and I just wanted to be the one to make you look like that.”
Derek smiles, stepping even closer to Stiles “You already do.” Stiles’ eyes widen when Derek cups his cheek and continues speaking “Sure, talking about things I like makes me happy. But it's even better when I'm discussing them with you. And getting this book in general would have made me happy. But I love it even more because it came from you. I love spending time with you Stiles. I just… I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Then they’re kissing, slow and chaste, a promise of things to come. That is until Stiles takes the book from Derek’s hands and puts it down on the table, freeing up his hands to do other things like grip the back of Stiles neck and pull him closer.
“You know what I think is unfair?” Derek asks, between peppering Stiles’ neck with kisses and bites. Which, wow. Stiles is having trouble focusing on anything other than the feeling of finally having Derek’s lips on his skin.
“What?”
Derek pulls back to look at Stiles, smirking a bit “That you’ve seen me naked but I haven’t had the same privilege with you.”
Stiles grins “I think we should change that don’t you?”
“Definitely.”
Stiles starts walking backwards towards his bedroom, too wrapped up in kissing Derek to be paying attention to where he’s going. Which is why he gets his foot caught in the rug and winds up once again falling on his ass, this time pulling Derek along with him. He would be embarrassed but Derek just laughs and kisses him again.