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Lying face down on the bed in the room they had been sharing Stiles sighed into his pillow. He knew he should be more upset, he really should. His boyfriend of two years has just summarily dumped him, and not even gently. They were literally in Hawaii right now supposedly celebrating their anniversary, not exactly the best time for a breakup meltdown. Didn’t seem to matter to Steve though.
The thing is that Stiles knew things weren’t good between them, honestly, it’s not like it’s a surprise or even something he hadn’t thought about it doing himself more than once in the last six months. What does upset him is that Steve had been the one who was pushing to go on this trip, trying to get things ‘back on track’ between them he’d said.
Then in the middle of dinner tonight, literally their last night before they were due to fly home in the morning, he blurts out like he can’t hold it in any longer that he wants to break up.
Actually, it’s less that he wants to ‘break up’, and more that he’s already been screwing other people and has finally decided that he doesn’t want to bother screwing Stiles any more. Fan-fucking-tastic.
So now Stiles is stuck in Honolulu at this beautiful resort that Steve shelled out for with his ridiculous trust fund, feeling like shit for not being good enough for someone who basically treated him like a doormat.
How did this happen? He knew that he wasn’t exactly a prize himself, he talked too much and moved too much; he was stubborn; and obnoxious, but really is there ever any reason good enough for someone to cheat? Not to Stiles.
As unhappy as he had been the last few months, with Steve snapping at him and disappearing all the time (hello Stiles, clue’s you should have picked up on – your dad is a sheriff!), he had never even considered sleeping with someone else.
After wallowing in his own self-deprecation and pity for a couple of hours, and drinking more of the tiny bottles of alcohol from the minibar than he could possibly afford to pay for on his teaching salary, Stiles felt marginally better.
He called Scott, his best buddy in the whole wide world, who didn’t seem as surprised as he probably should have (really weren’t paying attention recently, huh Stiles?). Scott made him feel better about himself, and they spent a good thirty minutes listing all the ways that Steve had been a crappy boyfriend, and before he knew it Stiles was just plain angry.
How dare this guy, this idiot who never even treated Stiles well to begin with, break up with him on vacation and then just walk off.
He was probably banging the pool boy by now, if Stiles was honest with himself he had definitely seen them making eyes at each other during the last five days, and now Steve didn’t have to make excuses for where he’d be.
Oh my god! The second night they were here Stiles wasn’t feeling great after dinner and begged off early, and Steve, oh so caring boyfriend that he was, had sent him off to their room with the promise to follow up when he finished his drink. Stiles had passed out and when he woke up Steve was asleep next to him, but that was hours later so he could have disappeared anywhere!
Feeling indignation rise up inside him, Stiles decided he needed to get some revenge. Scott was so very on board for that suggestion and after spit-balling ideas for a while, they finally came up with a good one.
Not that stealing Steve’s dog (he was going to miss that fluff ball more than her owner), or staying in Hawaii indefinitely on Steve’s dime wasn’t also good. But this one was far more achievable, and also not something his dad would have to arrest him for.
All of this led to Stiles pulling out his laptop, searching the internet for Craigslist, and setting up the following ad:
‘Wanted – someone to help punish my asshole of an ex. I land tomorrow afternoon at LAX and my boyfriend has broken up with me while we are on vacation. Apparently he has been cheating on me for months. I need an attractive male, who is willing to meet me at the airport and pretend to be someone who has been pursuing me desperately, but I have been turning down! Must be willing to be dramatically over the top, and ideally with a lot of hair (because the ex is really insecure about his lack of it!)’
Immediately after posting his add, Stiles downed another miniature bottle of alcohol (tequila this time, not that he could taste it any more) and promptly passed out on top of the covers with his laptop open next to him.
*************
Laura was surfing on Craigslist looking for furniture for her new place when she came across possibly the best (and also saddest) listing she had ever seen.
Having been through her share of breakup’s, a couple of which were for similar reasons to this poor soul, she felt immediately like she needed to help this person. And fortunately, she knew a certain ‘attractive male’ who happened to possess ‘a lot of hair’ and whom she could usually bully into doing things he didn’t want to do.
The drama might be a little difficult for him, but being that his last serious partner had cheated on him and then blamed him because he was bisexual (apparently she assumed that meant that he was sleeping around also) she thought she could probably get him to put his usually quiet demeanour aside.
Of course, first, she had to check out this stranger and make sure they were legit, right now she didn’t even know if it was a man or a woman! Laura hit the button to reply to the advertisement and sent an email to the requester saying that she might know someone for the job and asking for more information.
Minutes later she received a rambling email from a man named ‘Stiles’. She now knew all about his relationship with his crap bag of an ex-boyfriend and was more convinced than ever that she needed to help him.
They exchanged messages for a while and as she got to know a little more about him she also called Derek and left him a message telling him to come over as soon as he was up. Stiles sent over a picture of himself so that Derek would be able to recognise him at the airport. Laura was just about to open the photograph when Derek strolled into her apartment as if he owned it.
“Lau, what’s going on? Is this an actual emergency, or an emergency like the time you couldn’t get the tin opener to work?”
“Hmm… somewhere between the two, but definitely closer to the latter than the former.” She replied gleefully.
Derek gave her a hard stare, but she wasn’t intimidated by those heavy, dark eyebrows. After all, she had a set of her own, and she was older than Derek by 3 whole minutes, so she had been using them to effect longer than he had anyway.
“You might as well relax the brows of doom Derek, they aren’t going to work on me and you know it. Besides we don’t have a lot of time so get your ass over here and let me tell what’s up.” She insisted, patting the couch beside her and turning back to her laptop content that Derek would do as she asked like always.
With a sigh Derek trudged over and dropped down onto the couch, praying that whatever scheme his sister was cooking up now wouldn’t be too painful or humiliating. Seriously if he ended up in another beauty parlour getting something waxed against his will he was going to have to move out of state to make sure she couldn’t keep convincing him into things.
He honestly didn’t know how it happened, he was a strong-willed guy in every other aspect of his life – he certainly didn’t take any crap from his team at work which was one of the reasons he was made Captain of his squad at the fire station a few years back. But for whatever reason when Laura asked him to do something, and she really wanted him to do it, he almost always ended up caving.
If he was honest with himself he knew that it was because she never really pushed him to do anything he wouldn’t have wanted to try if he had only been brave enough (even the waxing, which honestly had been nice once it was done but not worth the pain of getting done again unless it was for a special person). So he took a deep breath and nudged her with his elbow gently to remind her she was supposed to be filling him in.
“Huh?” She said looking up from the screen where there appeared to be multiple emails open at once and shaking her head as if just remembering her brother was there. “Oh right, okay so you are free this afternoon, right? If not I need you to be, we have a damsel in distress to help and you are about to be a knight in a leather jacket!”
“What the hell are you talking about Laura?” He interrupted as she grinned at him and then began muttering on a tangent of whether damsel was politically correct.
“You have to read these emails.” She told him, shoving the laptop into his lap and rising to walk towards the kitchen. “This guy just got royally screwed by his ex-boyfriend, and not in a good way, and is in need of an assist to save his dignity,” Laura called over her shoulder as she disappeared through the door and then reappeared a moment later with two mugs in her hands, and Derek took one gratefully before turning back to the emails in front of him.
They sat quietly for a few moments drinking their coffee as Laura bounced up and down next to him impatiently waiting for him to finish reading the email exchanges so that she could talk again. Honestly reading the emails Derek felt for the guy, his Ex really sucked and the whole situation was bringing up memories of Jessica and her assumption that bisexual meant the same as ‘open relationship’. Still, he wasn’t sure that heading to the airport to fake a scene with a man he had never met was something he could do.
“No,” He said turning back to Laura when he finished reading the last email. She opened her mouth to argue with him but he cut her off. “Absolutely not Laura. I don’t know this guy, and I feel for him but you are only getting one side of the story. He might be ass himself. And even if he isn’t, I’m not exactly an actor you know, I don’t think I could pull this off.”
“Of course you could! Come on Der-Bear. You have to help this Stiles guy out. It’s like an hour out of your life, but it will make his whole year better because he can save face with this absolute dickhead of a man and move on without feeling so pathetic. Please?”
Already Derek felt himself caving, but he continued to protest purely out of habit and they went back and forth for several minutes before Laura finally put her hands up in placation and said.
“How about this? I haven’t opened the picture he sent yet, let’s look at it together and if you think he looks like a jerk or a psycho, then you don’t have to do it. But if he looks like a normal guy then you go.” She offered, trying to placate his main concerns.
“I’ll look at the picture, but no promises because I don’t know how you plan to tell from a picture if he’s ‘normal’,” Derek responded rolling his eyes and handing her back the laptop to open the file in question.
She found the email with the attachment quickly and then turned the screen so they could both see clearly before double-tapping to open it up. It seemed to take a long moment to open (maybe Laura needed a new laptop, honestly he was pretty sure she had this one longer than they had been living in LA). When it did finally open Laura’s jaw popped open in surprise and she turned to Derek as a sly smile took over her face as he deliberately avoided her gaze.
Fuck.
This guy was literally text-book definition Derek’s type. The photograph was of his upper torso and face only, but you could tell from his arms that he was tall, and possibly he had taken it when she had asked because he seemed to be shirtless and laying in a bed. His skin was milky and covered in moles that Derek immediately wanted to trace with his tongue, and his face was so adorable that it was almost impossible for him to look away.
“You’re doing this,” Laura said next to as Derek attempted to school his face in a look resembling something suitable instead of naked lust and to refrain from drooling. He nodded, still unable to drag his eyes from the screen, there was no point pretending anymore. If he had his way he would be showing up at that airport and then leaving with this guy’s number if not the man himself.
*************
When Stiles woke up the next morning he had a pounding headache and it felt like his stomach was about to revolt. He rolled over to check the time and nearly knocked his laptop off the bed. Frowning he tried to remember why it would have been IN the bed with him (had he been having special Stiles time??) and after a moment it all came screaming back in technicolour.
Oh my god. He had basically hired someone (was it hired if you weren’t paying them?) to pretend to be waiting for him at the airport to sweep him off his feet now he was single.
Or at least he thought he had. Now that he was remembering he realised that the last exchange he had with this guy’s sister had been him sending his picture so that he would recognise Stiles at the airport, but he hadn’t gotten a response after that before he had passed out about 5 am. God knows what that picture had looked like since he was definitely drunk, and definitely shirtless when he took it.
It was now 10:30 and he really needed to get moving because they would be expecting them to check out in around 30 minutes but first, he needed to know if this guy was planning to show up at the airport this afternoon or not.
Quickly plugging in his laptop which had, of course, died from being left on all night, Stiles moved gingerly to the bathroom and hopped in the shower as quickly as he could manage after taking a couple of painkillers from his wash bag. By the time he came out ten minutes later he was feeling much more human and desperately in need of food.
His laptop had enough charge to be turning on now so he quickly threw on some clothes and shoved everything else into his bag before sitting down to check his email not entirely sure if he was hoping to find that the man in question was planning to show up or not. It had seemed like an excellent plan to his alcohol lace mind last night, but in the cold light of day, Stiles was questioning his intelligence.
What if this guy was awful when he turned up? Stiles didn’t know anything about him, and at this point, he had to leave in ten minutes and head downstairs to be picked up by the taxi they had arranged to head to the airport so there wasn’t time to get a picture of him back. Not to mention he had given WAY to much information to actual strangers and he could end up with some kind of stalker situation!
Holding his breath he found just one new email in his inbox from the woman he had spoken to last night, Laura she had said. He opened in to find a short message confirming that ‘Derek’ would be there to meet him at LAX later today and was ‘looking forward to showing up the idiot who thought cheating on you was a good idea.’
Stiles breath came out in a rush, he didn’t know if he was relieved or terrified, but the message was reassuring in that it sounded like this guy was pissed on his behalf and that seemed like something that a decent person would be feeling.
Crossing his fingers and hoping for the best, Stiles shot of a quick reply to confirm the time the flight was supposed to land and say thank you, and then shut down his laptop and tucked it away with everything else just as a pounding came at the door.
It confused him for a moment before he realised that Steve would be needing to pick up his bag too before they could leave. Fortunately, he was a stickler for tidiness and had packed up all of his stuff the day before so he wouldn’t need long to grab the few things left since they were definitely being picked up soon.
Steve didn’t wait for Stiles to answer (he did have a key after all) and barged in a moment later. He gave Stiles and the room a once over but didn’t comment on the bottles littering the bed.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he felt like he had to ask “Where were you last night? Where did you sleep?” he said quietly, reluctant to hear the answer but needing to confirm for himself that what happened yesterday had been for the best.
“I stayed with someone, someone I met here,” Steve replied shrugging without an ounce of shame and without even making eye contact with Stiles as he walked over to the bathroom to collect the rest of his stuff.
“That didn’t take long. Although I suppose I should be grateful that you didn’t do it before we broke up.” Stiles replied stiffly, feeling the anger from last night surge through him again. “You know like the other night when I wasn’t feeling well.” He ventured as Steve re-entered the room and froze halfway to his suitcase.
Well, that was as good as an admission.
“Wow. Really? Okay well, I guess that just tells me everything I needed to know about our relationship doesn’t it.”
“Stiles…”
“No, you know what, we have to share a cab to the airport and our seats are together so it’s not like I can get away from you right now, and since you didn’t respect me enough not to cheat on me constantly do you think you could just shut the hell up until we get back to LA, please?!”
Steve nodded, looking at least a little chagrined which Stiles supposed was something but was cold comfort at this point. But he was glad that he had found out, it made him relieved to have gotten out of this relationship without any further emotional baggage and that he had set up his little display for when they landed at home.
Though he wasn’t even sure at this point if Steve would actually care that Stiles had someone waiting for him, though ironically enough he had been very jealous any time someone had shown any interest in him before now, it made him feel less pathetic to know that he wouldn’t assume Stiles had gone home to cry into his pillow.
Blessedly Steve didn’t try to talk to him on the ride to the airport, and they sat apart as they waited for their flight to be called.
Once they took their seats Steve glanced over at Stiles as though he might start talking, so Stiles immediately jammed his headphones on to his ears and played his music loud enough that he wouldn’t hear anything else until they landed.
*************
Derek was nervous. It was ridiculous, he didn’t even know this man, but just from the emails he had sent Laura he seemed funny and sweet, and he was stunning, really just gorgeous. So yeah he was nervous to meet ‘Stiles’ whose flight was supposed to be landing any time now apparently.
Stiles had given them the information for what time to meet him and where he should come out, but not the flight number which was probably smart on his part because he didn’t know them from Adam. The only problem was that if there was a delay or anything there was no way for them to know.
Still, Derek stood at arrivals gate waiting at the allotted time, hoping that Stiles would appear and equally nervous that when he did Derek would be frozen and unable to ‘act’ appropriately. He had never done anything like this before, and he didn’t want to let Stiles down.
Aware that he had definitely become overly invested in this situation, and that when Stiles did arrive there was no guarantee that he would be interested in Derek, especially given the circumstances and his extremely recent breakup, but unable to help himself Derek paced up and down beside the partitions as Laura stood off to the side sipping from the coffee she had bought on the way in. Derek wasn’t allowed a coffee, he was too hyped up already so it was probably a smart choice on her part.
“Derek!” Laura called out from behind him. She had been on the lookout since Derek pacing up and down probably wasn’t the easiest way for him to see when Stiles arrived. He spun around quickly, catching her wide grin briefly before looking straight towards the exit ahead of them.
There he was, and after 5 hours on a plane next to a man who had broken his heart he didn’t exactly look happy but he still looked gorgeous. His hair was sticking up in places like he had run his hands through it several times, and his lips red from biting probably because he had been sitting next to someone who he was aggravated with, but it all just made him look like something out of a particularly good dream Derek sometimes had.
Derek shook his head slightly reminding himself he had a job to do, and hoping that Stiles would look a lot happier before they left the airport. He positioned himself right in front of the exit so that Stiles (and hopefully his Ex) would have to walk right by him to get out, and then took a deep breath before calling out to a virtual stranger.
“Stiles.” Derek raised his voice enough to be heard over the hustle and bustle but realising that he didn’t actually know what Derek looked like he raised his hand as well hoping to draw his attention without it being obvious they had never actually met before.
There was a man next to Stiles who turned at the same moment he did, and based on the scowl on his face and the general lack of hair on his head this was the idiot Ex - Steve. Derek gave him no more than a passing glance before walking directly towards Stiles, eyes locking together as the other gave him a slightly awed look as though he wasn’t exactly what Stiles had been expecting. Hopefully, that was a good thing and not a bad one.
“Derek.”
He wouldn’t have thought to hear his name said by a literal stranger could affect him, but wow Stiles was already holding some sort of power over him and it made his heart race. This was going to be easier than he had thought, ‘pretending’ to be hung up on Stiles wasn’t exactly going to be a hardship, or even really acting at this point.
“Stiles, hey I was hoping to catch you before you left the airport. Scott told me when you were landing I hope that’s okay.”
Stiles had mentioned his friend Scott in one of his emails and Derek figured that was as good an excuse as any for his turning up unannounced. He didn’t want Steve thinking that Stiles had asked Derek to be here and accusing him of anything.
“It's fine, but I mean what are you doing here?” Stiles was good at this, he seemed nervous but more because the situation was unexpected than anything, and he was going along without missing a beat.
Derek decided it was time to kick things up a notch so he walked closer and took Stiles’ hand in his, reached over and moved the suitcase he had been dragging off to the side and then took the other hand too before looking back to Stiles's face.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see Steve, frozen in place and looking disgruntled at this interaction – hypocrite.
“Stiles, I heard about what happened while you were away.” He spared a dark glance for the ass next to them at this point but quickly looked back to Stiles who was looking back and forth between their joined hands and Derek’s face.
“I’m sorry that he did that to you. But I’d be lying if I said I was upset that you two broke up. I know this might not be the best time for this but I’ve been keeping it to myself to months and I have to tell you now before someone else gets there first.” Derek decided at that moment that making it seem like he felt like he had competition for Stiles’ affections could only help in this situation and also he didn’t want it to seem like Stiles had known about his ‘feelings’ before now and set Steve up to make a wrong assumption.
“What are you saying, Derek?”
“I’m in love with you, Stiles. You deserve so much better than that asshole and I will do anything to make you happy. If you’re not interested I’ll understand, I know you just got out of a bad relationship.” Derek heard an indignant sound from off to their left and scoffed himself that Steve could really be feeling offended right now.
“I can wait if that’s what you need, or we can still be just friends as long as I get to be in your life.” Derek continued looking into Stiles's eyes. The other man looked absolutely gobsmacked, as he should do really. Derek had laid it on thick, but honestly, he didn’t regret it for a second, it seemed to be having the desired effect.
“Derek, I, I don’t know what to…” Stiles began, squeezing Derek’s hands gently as if to reassure himself that he was real. But he was cut off and suddenly they weren’t holding hands any longer. In fact, Stiles’ case was knocked to the ground with how quickly Steve had pulled him around by the arm and turned him away from Derek.
“Stiles, you cannot be buying this shit! Seriously this guy? Don’t be ridiculous. You know that there is no way someone like that is this into you.” Steve is practically screaming in his face now, totally losing control and Derek wants to step in but he feels like he needs to give Stiles a chance to have his say now.
“Wow Steve, tell me what you really think of me. I honestly cannot believe I stayed with you so long but now that we’re done let me just tell you that I don’t give a fuck whether you think someone that hot could be interested in me because it is none of your business any more. As a matter of fact, given how you treated me it would have been excusable if I had been fucking Derek the entire time we were together, but I would never do that to someone.”
Stiles turned away from Steve and picked up his suitcase as his ex-boyfriend stood their gaping. He straightened and turned to Derek, his face full of apologies and Derek couldn’t take it any more. This seemed like an amazing guy, and he really wanted to show Steve just how wrong he was about this. So he took one more step forward and put his hands on Stiles’ hips.
“He is full of shit you know. You’re amazing and gorgeous and any guy would be lucky to have you.” He took a deep breath and moved them close enough for their foreheads to touch. “Please tell me I can kiss you right now, or I think I might go insane.” Derek huffed out, no longer caring if Steve could hear him or not. He wasn’t acting any more, he really wanted to kiss Stiles, maybe more than he had ever wanted anything in his life.
“Yes,” Stiles whispered back, already leaning forward to touch their lips together. Derek’s eyes fell closed as he deepened their kiss, quickly moving from PG13 into NC17 territory. Stiles's hands had moved into his hair and he moved his own around Stiles's waist and pulled him up flush against him crushing their mouths together in a more heated kiss than he had intended, hotter than anything he had experienced until now.
Moments passed slowly like liquid as they continued to kiss, and then Derek heard a slight cough behind him which he recognised was probably his sister reminding him that a) he was in a public place right now and boarding on public indecency, and b) he had literally just met the man he was making out with 5 minutes ago.
Slowly he withdrew but stayed close enough that he could still feel the puff of Stiles’ breath on his face. Derek opened his eyes and found Stiles still had his closed and his face was flush, his mouth still slightly parted. It took more willpower than he would have expected to take a step further back and not just sweep the beautiful man in front of him into another endless kiss.
But he did step back, and Stiles opened his eyes then though he still looked hazy and unbalanced for the moment, Derek couldn’t help but feel a little proud of that. Laura called out from behind him and he answered but found he still didn’t want to look away from Stiles yet.
“Great work guys,” she said walking up closer to them and Derek frowned, she was kind of giving the game away. Her next words relaxed him “He’s gone, by the way, in case you hadn’t noticed.” He could practically hear the smirk in her voice. Stiles eye’s pulled away from Derek, much to his disappointment, and landed on the 5’6 dark-haired spitfire who had just walked up beside them.
“Hi, Stiles! I’m Laura.” She greeted and his confused frown faded to a small smile of gratitude. Then he seemed to register what she had said and glanced over his shoulder to where Steve had been standing and found nothing but a bustle of strangers passing through.
“He stood and watched your little ‘display’ for about a minute, getting redder by the second, but when he realised he wasn’t about to get your attention back he stalked off in a huff.” Laura cackled a little as she relayed the story and Derek found himself smiling too, pleased that their rouse had worked so well.
Then his face fell a little as he realised what that meant. Steve was gone, his job was done, so Stiles was about to leave. If he didn’t do something soon this man was about to walk out of Derek’s life forever and that was simply unacceptable.
Before he could pull his thoughts together enough to make some sort of move, Stiles was speaking.
“Wow. Well, I guess that worked better than I would have ever guessed. Thanks, both of you” he said looking between the two of them and hovering only slightly longer on Derek’s face as his eyes slipped to his mouth, which was likely reddened from their earlier kiss.
“Your welcome,” Laura replied when the silence dragged on a moment and she realised Derek wasn’t about to speak. “We were happy to help.”
Stiles looked away from them and down to his suitcase, grabbing it by the handle, and Derek took another step backwards as he realised the Stiles was likely about to move. He was starting to feel desperation well up inside him, he didn’t want Stiles to leave, and he definitely didn’t want him to leave before Derek had a chance to make sure he would see him again.
“Well, I guess I should get going. Gotta grab a cab back to my apartment. Thanks again for this. See ya.” Stiles shrugged uncertainly, clearly uncomfortable.
He straightened up, still looking a little lost but seemingly not able to think of any reason to hand around now that the deed was done. Stiles turned to walk away and Derek was still frozen, unable to think of a way to keep Stiles here or even ask for his number, without coming across as some kind of creep.
Laura elbowed him sharply in the side, clearly realising that he wasn’t planning to do anything and Stiles had now begun walking away although he seemed to be moving slowly, as though he too was looking for a reason to stay. Those two things combined managed to shake Derek out of his stupor and he stepped forward himself, catching up to Stiles in a few long strides and calling his name again.
“Stiles.” The man in question turned quickly, like he had been considering doing it already and just looking for an excuse. Derek barrelled on, talking fast before he could change his mind, and hoping that Stiles wouldn’t think this was too bizarre.
“Look, I know that we just met. And this might be the absolute weirdest way for two people to meet honestly. But from what I read in the emails you sent my sister, and just meeting you today, I really want to get to know you better.” Derek looked down at his hands now, realising that he was really putting himself out there and there was a fairly good chance Stiles would think he was completely nuts and run as fast as possible.
Still, he had already made an ass of himself, may as well ask the question, he just couldn’t bring himself to look at Stiles’ face while he got rejected.
“Could I maybe get your number? Take you for coffee or something, get to know one another better?” Derek asked in an almost low tone, preparing for Stiles to laugh, or at least let him down gently given the circumstances. But still, he couldn’t quiet that little sliver of hope, that kiss had been something else, so maybe, just maybe, Stiles felt that too.
“Derek, would you look at me?” Stiles asked after a moment, unable to answer while Derek was still staring at his feet so dejectedly as though Stiles had already said no. Once the dark eyes rose to meet him he let out a sigh, could he be any more adorable if he tried.
“I will absolutely give you my number. In fact, if I weren’t so rank from the plane journey I would take you up on that offer for coffee right here and now! When you showed up I was blown away and that kiss was amazing so, how could I not give you a chance? Especially after you just rescued me from utter humiliation with my ex-boyfriend.”
Derek’s head shot up as he realised that Stiles was actually saying yes, making eye contact to check that he wasn’t hallucinating. He found Stiles beaming at him, and nodding his head in reassurance and felt his own face breaking out into a grin that he couldn’t contain.
He already knew that Laura was going to mock him endlessly for being so sappy and chasing after a guy, but it would be worth it if Stiles was as amazing as he seemed (and Derek was pretty certain he was going to be).
Before Derek could decide on a response, since he was grinning too widely to even think about talking right now, Stiles held out his hand (the one not holding his suitcase handle) towards Derek and jerked his head towards the coffee shop by the entrance to the airport where Laura had grabbed a coffee on the way in.
Derek only hesitated a moment, and only because he was still having trouble wrapping his head around the situation before he took Stiles hand and nodded swiftly. They turned together and started walking towards the coffee shop before Stiles called back over his shoulder to Derek’s sister.
“Nice to meet you Laura, think you can leave your brother in my excellent hands?” He winked cheekily at Derek and already he was realising that he was in far deeper than he realised and wasn’t going to be letting Stiles go if he could help it as his heart skipped a beat and he felt his own cheeks redden in response to the attention.
“Sure thing Stiles, Derek will just have to let me drive his precious Camaro home and catch a cab back later!” She called back to them, and while normally this might have given Derek pause (Laura was a terrible driver, and he really loved that car), right now he couldn’t care less.
“See you later Laura.” He called, glancing back to see her gape for a moment at the fact he hadn’t objected, then smirk at him in a way that told him the mocking was going to be even worse than he had anticipated.
Derek looked back at Stiles then, and saw he had a soft smile on his face watching the two siblings interact and he thought “Worth it.”
“Seriously? You actually went through with that idea?!” Scott asked Stiles incredulously, “We were both wasted, that could have backfired so badly!”
“What can I say Scotty-boy, I didn’t exactly think it through at the time! But it worked out didn’t it?” Stiles replied, glancing over at Derek who was sitting by the pool chatting to another of Stiles’ friends. Seeming to sense eyes on him, Derek looked up and caught Stiles gaze, giving him a wide smile that lit up his face and made Stiles melt.
He didn’t know what it was between them, and he wasn’t going to question it, but ever since he saw Derek approaching him in that airport he had felt this surge of attraction and interest that had hooked him. This gorgeous man who had come to try to salvage his reputation was the best thing that had happened to Stiles in a long while.
It had been two weeks since that day at the airport, and they had seen each other every day since. A coffee here, dinner or lunch there, they didn’t seem to be able to go a day without keeping in contact and if there was time to spend together why wouldn’t they?
This was the first chance Stiles had gotten to see Scott since his return, and truth be told Stiles had been putting off telling him about this thing with Derek until he saw him in person. He wanted to let things settle a little between them first, and give Scott a chance to meet Derek and realise how great he was before he told him how they met. So Scott and Allison's anniversary barbecue seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone.
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Once he got over the initial shock of how HOT Derek was, he was just amazed by his kindness and the wonderful things he said to help Stiles who was literally a stranger. Walking away after they shared that amazing kiss was really difficult, but he made himself do it because there was no logical reason for him to stay (no matter how badly he wanted to get to know Derek).
Stiles was so relieved when Derek called out and asked him to get coffee that he decided to take him up on it immediately, not wanting to give the older man a chance to change his mind. They talked in that coffee shop for two hours, before Stiles was yawning in-between each sentence and Derek insisted they had to get him home to rest.
They had shared a cab home, it turned out they only lived a few miles apart, and even shopped at the same supermarket regularly, and continued talking as Stiles struggled to keep his eyes open. Eventually, he found himself leaning over further towards Derek in the back seat and ended up with his head resting on the muscular shoulder next to him.
It should have been weird, they had barely known each other three hours at this point, but Stiles could only feel warm and comfortable and when Derek wrapped his arm around him to pull him in tighter he felt sure that they were on the same page.
Stiles drifted off while they drove and awoke when Derek nudged him to tell him they had arrived back at Stiles apartment building. After a blurry moment trying to wake up enough to understand, Stiles realised that this meant they would have to say goodbye. And he really didn’t want to.
“Can I get your number?” Stiles blurted out, realising they had somehow skipped that step, and aware that if he walked away right now all he had was Laura’s email address to go off of – not exactly an easy way to get hold of the man he was already beginning to fall for.
“Of course,” Derek told him, holding out a hand for Stiles’ phone as the cab driver huffed at their delay. Stiles rolled his eyes, it’s not like the meter wasn’t still running jeez.
“You know,” Derek started, glancing up from Stiles phone where he was adding himself to the contacts, “I realise that you literally just got out of a pretty crappy relationship, so if you want to take things slowly or you know just be friends even, I would totally understand.” He looked back down as he finished talking.
Stiles shook his head with a grin, of course, he was being selfless about this, of course.
“Man – until you just brought him up, I hadn’t even thought about Steve since I sent him packing at the airport. I know this all seems complicated, but honestly, I’ve known it was over for months and was just dragging my feet about doing something about it. I was hurt to find out he’d been cheating on me, but honestly not as surprised as I probably should have been. I am in no way hung up on him.” He offered as sincerely as possible, willing Derek to believe him.
Derek glanced up again and handed Stiles back his phone, Stiles took a deep breath but figured at this point he didn’t have anything else to lose.
“I know it might not seem like the best time to be starting something with me, and I would understand you being hesitant. But I really enjoyed getting to know you today, and I feel like I would regret it if we didn’t try you know?” He finished with a shrug, letting Derek think for a moment.
“I just, I already really like you.” Derek said, staring into his eyes, “And if rushing into this means that I end up just being some kind of rebound that would be… disappointing for me.” He finished finally, trying not to put Stiles off by coming on too strong but also wanting to be clear that he wasn’t being casual.
“Honestly, I have never felt like this so fast. It’s a little scary, but there is absolutely no way that I am going to be able to be casual about this. So you should just know that now, and if that’s too much for you then I understand, but definitely do not be worried that I am going to rebound and move on. Pretty sure that I rebounded the moment I saw you standing in that airport.”
Stiles gave him a shy grin and leant forward to bring their faces closer together, Will Smith’s sage voice whispering in the back of his mind ‘You go 90, let them come the last 10’. He held his breath hoping that Derek was willing to go that last 10% for him.
Luckily Derek was more than willing, and closed the distance between them, pulling Stiles in by his shoulders as their mouths moved together as smooth and sure as if this was their 200th kiss instead of just their second. They sunk into each other, keeping the kiss light because there was still a cab driver a foot away, but drawing it out with soft brushes and sweet pecks until Stiles drew back and forced himself to leave the back seat.
He leaned through the door and pressed one last fast kiss to Derek’s lips and promised to call him the next day before turning on his heel and pulling his back up the sidewalk to his building. Stiles allowed himself just one glance back to see Derek raise a hand as the cab drew away from the curb and then he turned and pushed his way inside with a smile on his face that he couldn’t will away if he tried.