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Derek loves to read. Anyone that knows him knows that. He just doesn’t spend that much time at the library. There’s usually too many people there for his liking. That and he much prefers to own the books he’s reading rather than only getting them for a limited amount of time. This had worked out fine for him until he couldn’t find the next book in the series he’s reading anywhere nearby. Sure, he could have ordered it online but that would have taken too long, even with express shipping. He needed the book now.
Which is why he finds himself at the local library prowling the shelves hoping they have the book he’s looking for. After a few minutes of hopeless searching he decides to suck it up and go ask the librarian whether they even have the book he’s looking for. When he gets up to the desk there’s already few people in line ahead of him so gets in line and tries to patiently wait his turn. He takes the time to look around the library and take in his surroundings. There aren’t nearly as many people hanging around as he expected, they probably just get their books and leave like he’s planning to do. As Derek gets closer he gets a view of the man working at the desk. He has messy brown hair, glasses, and moles scattered across his face and neck.
He's torn out of his musings by a throat clearing. Derek startles, looking around to see he’s next in line and the librarian is watching him with an amused smile. “First time here I take it?”
Derek nods, walking up to the counter. “Uh, yeah. I umm… I usually buy my books. But I couldn’t find the one I was looking for so I was hoping you would have it here.”
The man, Stiles Derek sees from his name tag, nods and starts doing something on his computer “What’s it called? I can see if we have it.”
Derek gives Stiles the name of the book and Stiles fingers pause, hovering above the keyboard. He looks up at Derek with wide eyes and grins “I don’t have to look to know we have that book. I love that series. We have all the books. I can show you where they are. Come on.”
Before Derek can even respond, Stiles is coming out from behind the desk and setting off across the library. Derek follows him as best he can, unused to having to weave his way between tables and shelves the way Stiles is. Stiles stops in front of a shelf where all the books are proudly displayed underneath a heading saying “Stiles Recommends.” There are a few other books on display as well, but every book in the series Derek is looking for stands prominently in the center. Derek smiles and picks up the book he’s looking for, stroking the cover gently. It’s not until he hears a quite laugh behind him that Derek remembers he’s not alone. Derek spins around to find Stiles watching him, grinning.
“Don’t worry dude. I do that sometimes too.” Stiles says, walking up to the shelves and lightly touching on of the books. “Especially with these beauties. It’s nice to meet someone who appreciates the series like I do. I’m Stiles.”
Stiles extends his hand for Derek to shake, as if his name tag doesn’t clearly state his name. Then again, he could have been one of those people that wore name tags with the wrong names. Derek’s seen it happen. Derek takes Stiles’ hand “I’m Derek.”
“Nice to meet you Derek. Now why don’t we go get you taken care of so you can start reading this bad boy?”
Derek nods and follows Stiles up to the desk, where he gets Derek set up with a library card. “Enjoy the book. Hopefully I’ll be seeing you again soon.”
Derek nods, accepting the book from Stiles, and starts to head towards the door. He pauses halfway there, looking around the building again and taking in all the comfortably looking chairs. Not wanting to waste any more time Derek picks out a chair that’s a little bit away from everyone else. If it just so happens to also have a perfect view of the circulation desk and Stiles, well that’d Derek’s business.
After that day Derek finds himself spending more and more time at the library. He had originally intended to just read the one book from the library and order the others online so he could read from home. After meeting Stiles, however, Derek finds himself drawn to the place. He did order the series online just so that he could have them, but he still found himself going to the library and checking out the books there. His sisters both think it’s hilarious that he spends so much time at the library reading books he already owns but he just ignores them. It’s not like he goes every single day, just three or four or five times a week.
The next time Derek had entered the library after his first visit Stiles had smiled brilliantly at him and started hounding him with questions about the books. What his favorite part was. Who his favorite characters are. Whether he’s heard any interesting fan theories. It goes like that with every visit after that, though they have expanded their conversations to other topics ranging from other books, to television shows, to movies they both like. When the library isn’t that busy Stiles will almost always come and join Derek where he’s sitting, sometimes to talk and sometimes he pulls out a book himself and they just read in silence.
The more time Derek spends with Stiles; the more Derek finds he likes him. He likes how when he’s excited about something he uses his hands to emphasize his point. How when he laughs he throws his head back exposing his neck and his body shakes from the force of his laughter. How he’s almost always smiling but he can be serious when he needs to be. Derek saw this one first hand one day when a little girl ran up to him crying. Turns out the little girl was his goddaughter and her brother had taken the book she was reading away from her. Stiles had tracked down the culprit and gotten the book back for the little girl, wiped her eyes, and sent her on her way.
It's then that Derek realizes just how screwed he is. He finds himself smiling fondly as Stiles helps the little girl which leads to him picturing how Stiles would be with children of his own. That road leads him to wondering what it would be like if they were their kids. Derek shakes his head. He shouldn’t go there. Sure, they’ve known each other for months now and sometimes text but they’ve never once seen each other outside of the library. In fact, Stiles is the one who is usually working when Derek comes in. Does he ever even get time off?
“Do you ever get time off?” Derek is voicing the question before he can stop himself. When Stiles looks over at him confused Derek continues. “It’s just that you’re always working when I come in here. And I don’t always come at the same time and the same days. But you’re always working.”
Stiles looks down at his hands, and Derek notices there is a slight pinkness to his cheeks as he quietly says, “I may have started taking a lot of extra shifts recently.”
“Recently? I’ve been coming here for 6 months and you’ve always been in here.” Derek knows that he would have been a little disappointed if Stiles hadn’t been here but he doesn’t say that part out loud.
Stiles looks up but refuses to meet Derek’s eyes, instead looking over at the shelves next to him, and runs a hand along the back of his neck, “I started taking extra shifts shortly after you started coming here.”
“Why…” Derek starts to ask but then stops himself, the realization hitting him. Oh. Oh! “Oh.”
“Yeah I know. It’s weird. I’m sorry. I’ll just...” Stiles starts to stand up but Derek’s hand shoots out, stopping him. Stiles looks from where Derek’s hand is gripping his arm up to Derek’s face.
Derek doesn’t let go though. He can't. Not until he says what he needs to say. “Remember how when we first met I told you I never came to the library and preferred to buy my books?” Stiles nods. “Why do you think I suddenly started coming here so often after that? It wasn’t for the books Stiles.”
“But if it wasn’t for the books then…”
Derek smiles, moving the hand that was holding Stiles’ arm down to take hold of his hand. “I was only coming here to see you.”
Stiles smiles and laughs so loud that a few people shush them. Stiles offers an apology before turning back to face Derek. “We’re both idiots. We could have been together for weeks. Not that we are now… I’m not expecting…”
Derek cuts him off with a quick kiss, “I want to be with you Stiles. If that’s what you want.”
“Yeah that’s what I want.”
It’s Stiles that kisses him this time, a lot less chaste than their first time. It’s around the time that Stiles is trying to crawl onto Derek’s lap that a throat clears in front of them, bringing them back to the reality of where they are. Derek looks up to see both Laura and Cora grinning at him.
Laura shakes her head, fighting a laugh “We came here to meet the mysterious Stiles that you’ve been talking about Der, but I see your mouths are both otherwise occupied.”
Derek groans, hiding his face in Stiles’ shoulder “Go away please.”
Stiles laughs and Derek feels him move slightly. He lifts his head a bit to see Stiles shaking both of their hands, “It’s nice to finally meet you both. Granted I hoped it would be under different circumstances.” He looks back to Derek, grinning, “Wait, you talked about me?”
“Oh yes.” Cora says, not even bothering to hide her laughter “We heard all about the gorgeous librarian with the moles and infectious laugh.”
Stiles hadn’t turned away from him so Derek gets to see his eyes widen at Cora’s words, “You think I’m gorgeous?”
Derek nods “I do.”
Stiles kisses again before jumping up and pulling Derek along with him, “My shift is almost over so we’re going to get something to eat. I need to go back to the desk and take care of a few things.” He looks at Cora and Laura on his way up to the desk “You two can come along if you want.”
Laura shakes her head, “Nonsense. Wouldn’t want to cut in on your first date.”
Stiles stumbles a bit and he looks back to Derek with wide eyes. “First date?” When Derek just shrugs and smiles, Stiles smiles in return “First date. Yeah, let’s do that.”