Work Text:
“I can’t believe it!”
Derek looked surprised when Stiles came barging through the door, having left to go home merely minutes before. He waved around wildly and if Derek hadn’t been so used to Stiles by now he’d surely thought that the other man was suffering from some kind of seizure. Mindful to keep himself at a secure distance he asked:
“What’s going on?”
“My Jeep’s dead!“ Stiles half-shouted, kicking the couch frustratedly. “Dead! I had the thing serviced only last month and now it’s given up on me. Completely! And it’s fu- I mean it’s very late and I have to be at a meeting really early and I just can’t deal with all this sh- I mean stuff right now.” Dejected and out of energy Stiles sank down on the couch. “I can’t even ask my dad to pick me up because he’s at work” he murmured. “And I can’t even swear because then I’ll have to pay and I’m really broke right now” he continued, speaking lower and lower. If Derek wasn’t a werewolf he would not even have heard the last part of the sentence.
“Hey, sweetie, shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Stiles asked as Laura crawled into his lap to hug him.
“Can’t” she said seriously, rubbing her eyes. “You make too much noise.”
“Sorry, princess” he apologized and she burrowed down in his arms, not looking like she’d leave anytime soon. It wasn’t that Stiles wanted to either but he figured Derek would have something to say about bedtimes and other boring stuff.
“Um, Derek?” He extended his foot to poke the werewolf’s calf lightly.
“What!?” Derek jumped about a meter in the air, having been lost in thought since he heard about Stiles’ financial issues. He hadn’t known that things were that bad and he contemplated offering Stiles a loan. Would that be too much? Or maybe he should try to help him promote his work instead, increase the income? He was halfway through developing a business plan in his mind and therefore just looked at Stiles confusedly. The man in question seemed to be indicating that Derek should possibly do something about his daughter who was currently sitting on Stiles’ lap but since Derek didn’t even remember how she got there in the first place he just continued staring blankly at the pair.
“Derek?” Stiles said again. “Should I take her back to bed or…?”
“What? Oh, right, yes, that’s good” he said distractedly. “Why are you up anyway, sweetie?” he asked as he sat down beside the pair.
“Because Stiles makes a lot of noise” she answered and Stiles held up his hand to his heart.
“I solemnly swear to be quiet as a mouse” he promised. “You won’t even notice I’m here.” Laura giggled.
“Will anyway” she said, pointing at her nose. Immediately Stiles bopped her on the nose, she did the same thing back and before anyone knew it things had escalated into a tickle war of epic proportions and Derek had to move to the armchair to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. When Stiles finally admitted defeat he seemed it safe to approach again and scooped his kid up.
“Bedtime” he told her sternly.
“But I want to play more with Stiles” she protested, already pouting.
“Stiles needs to go home and sleep as well” Derek answered patiently, and got a sad look from Laura and an angry comment from Stiles.
“Not that I’ll exactly make it home anyway” he grumbled. “Not that it’s your fault or anything” he quickly amended and kissed Laura goodnight.
“Why?” she asked, grabbing a handful of his shirt and keeping him from moving away.
“Because my car doesn’t really work right now, sweetie, but don’t you worry about it, I’ll have it fixed in no time. Sweet dreams!” He gently tugged his clothes loose and Derek carried Laura to her bedroom.
“Daddy? Is it true Stiles can’t go home?” she asked sleepily as Derek tucked her in.
“His car doesn’t work, sweetie, but he could call someone to come here and pick him up or take a taxi” Derek answered. “He’ll be just fine” he continued, placing a light kiss on her forehead. “Sweet dreams, pup.”
“Why can’t he stay here?”
“Because…” Well, why couldn’t he? After all, Derek could easily drop him off wherever the meeting was and it was already late, it made no sense that Stiles would call someone to come get him at this hour and then have to get a lift from someone again in the morning. It was simply much more practical for him to stay the night and go straight to his meeting in the morning.
“You know what, pup, that’s a great idea” Derek all but beamed. His ma- Stiles was spending the night. Somewhere, his inner wolf made a victory dance and howled at the top of his lungs.
::
After giving Stiles a lift to his meeting, Derek dropped Laura off at school and bought himself a large coffee as a rewards for having made it through breakfast with Stiles without having an aneurysm (because seriously, he made a pretty good French toast but Stiles moaned like a porn star while eating and it was… distracting, to say the least). Not to mention that he still hadn’t washed his sheets since Stiles stayed over the last time and, even if he knew that the only reason that they’d cuddled was because Stiles had been scared out of his mind, he couldn’t bring himself to throw them in the washer and as a result, their combined scents were now slowly driving him insane. All in all, Derek figured that he’d earned a stupidly overpriced but oh so good coffee with all the extra trimmings, and an obscene amount of vanilla syrup on top. Because he was worth it.
Still riding at the remnants of the sugar rush from the coffee he then decided to take a look at Stiles Jeep to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it. Derek was by no means an expert but he’d poked around under the hood of enough cars that he could at least have a go at it, and he figured that Stiles would be grateful for not having to take it back to the garage again.
Taking in the battered state of the old Jeep he sighed. He’d need a miracle to get it working again, and only with some luck at that. He was surprised that it hadn’t fallen to pieces yet, but on the other hand, he’d been thinking that since Stiles got the damn car all those years ago. He steeled himself and then popped the hood and started his examination. What he found surprised him greatly and quickly sent him upstairs to retrieve his laptop. A few clicks later and he found a probable explanation. Further proof that confirmed his theory was found in one of the bedrooms. He didn’t know whether to curse or laugh.
Someone, that was not himself, had googled “how to make a car stop working” on his laptop and helpfully enough forgotten to erase the browser history. Said person also had bookmarked a page with a step-by-step guide on how to remove the spark plugs from a vehicle. And lastly, said person had also actually removed the spark plug from Stiles’ Jeep and hidden it in her bedroom.
Laura Hale, six years old and already a criminal mastermind, not to mention a meddling little matchmaker too. He’d have to have a serious word with his daughter. Really.
At least as soon as he’d fixed the Jeep and cashed in Stiles’ gratitude of having a working car again. After all, there was no need to tell Stiles exactly what had been wrong with the car…