Chapter Text
Stiles sat at his favorite table by the window in Beacon Hills Java. He liked this place. It had much more atmosphere than the Starbucks near the freeway. It served as a sort of haven for him. No high schoolers came here, the place was quiet except for some sort of world music they played, and it just had a nice feel. And the caffeine, combined with Adderrall, seemed to calm him when he was feeling especially unfocused.
He gazed out the window. A few people going about their business, not much foot traffic on a Saturday afternoon. He sensed something to his right and turned to face the crotch of a pair of faded black jeans.
“Where’s Scott?”
Stiles’ eyes moved up to Derek’s face. “‘Hey, Stiles, good to see ya. You doing okay? I missed you.’ Doing well, Derek, thanks for asking.”
“Funny guy,” Derek muttered as he sat down heavily in the chair opposite Stiles. “So? Where is he?”
Stiles sighed. This guy seemed immune to his witty repartee. Others found it amusing. Well, some did. Probably. “He’s coming," Stiles assured him, "relax already.”
Stiles’ phone chirped. He reached to his bag on the floor and pulled it out. A text from Scott: Cant make it. With A. Sorry, it read. Stiles looked up at Derek. “He’s not coming. He’s with Allison.”
Derek gave his Sour Wolf look and started to get up. Suddenly, the idea of sitting at this place alone on a Saturday afternoon seemed almost more than Stiles could bear. “Dude,” he said, “just chill. Have some coffee.”
Derek looked at him. If Stiles didn’t know better, he’d have sworn Derek actually looked startled. “Don’t you ever just sit back and relax?” he said quickly. “Jesus, it’s not going to kill you to sit down and have a cup of friggin’ coffee with me, is it?” He figured he’d better talk fast while Derek seemed off balance. “You know, coffee might actually do you good. You wolves are always going on about your heightened senses and all that, and caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant so it should help heighten your senses. You want heightened senses, don’t you? We can’t have you turning into a dull-witted wolf. That wouldn’t be good. Word might get around that Beacon Hills wolves are bad-asses and all, but, you know, kind of dim. Of course, I’m not saying that’s the case but if you got that kind of rep in the wolfie community, well, doesn’t seem like it would play too well. I haven’t actually researched the effects of caffeine on wolves or, well, you know, werewolves, but I could if you want me to. The Adderrall keeps me up late sometimes so I research a lot of things. It wouldn’t be any trouble. Just say the word….” Stiles wound down and just looked at Derek, whose face seemed to have softened slightly.
Derek held Stiles’ gaze for a moment. His face returned to its usual impenetrable expression. “All right,” Derek said, resignedly. “Just shut the fuck up. I’ll stay for a minute. But just a minute.” Derek walked to the counter to order coffee.
Stiles turned back to face the window, the slightest smile on his face. He wasn’t sure why he was so anxious to have Derek stay. Derek tended to scare him, but Stiles was drawn to him somehow. Just calm the fuck down, Stiles, you’ll scare him off, he lectured to himself. The idea of him scaring Derek struck him as so funny that he broke into a full-on smile.
Derek trudged back to the table, holding a large cup of café au lait. He set it on the table, sat down, took a sip, and looked up at Stiles’ smiling face. “What?”
Stiles managed to dial down his smile to a smirk. “Nothing. I just don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat or drink anything. Ever.”
“Huh,” Derek grunted, “well, now you have,” he said as he set his cup back on the table.
“Dude,” Stiles said, “you really need to work on your attitude.”
“My attitude.”
“Yeah. Seriously. ‘My attitude.’ Come on, grow a sense of humor. I know you’ve got this whole wolf mystique to maintain, but Jesus. At least make an effort. Here I am, asking you to sit and have coffee with me even though I know you’ve thought about killing me a few times. Probably more than a few times. Nevertheless, I’m extending a hand of friendship. You could at least pretend to take an interest. I know Scott’s your boy because he’s the one who can help you and all, but….” Stiles ground to a halt.
Derek continued to stare at Stiles, then said simply, “I’m interested in you, Stiles.”
Stiles didn’t quite know what to say. “You’re interested in me.”
“Otherwise, I would have killed you a long time ago. Actions speak louder than words, I’d say.”
“Dude, you just told me you’ve thought about killing me. That’s harsh.” Stiles wasn’t altogether surprised, but he didn’t really like having it confirmed. “Harshness, thy name is Derek.”
“You seem like a guy who can handle the truth. You underestimate yourself.” Derek looked thoughtful before adding, “Except when you overestimate yourself.”
“Ohhh-kay. Change of subject. No more talk of killing Stiles or Stiles’ self-esteem issues.”
“Fine,” Derek said as he took another sip of coffee and simply looked at Stiles. That was something he’d noticed about Derek. For all his secrets and lies and general mysteriousness surrounding him, Derek could be very direct: Stiles wanted to change the subject, fine. Stiles liked this aspect of Derek. It was a stark contrast to Stiles’ own conflicted way of viewing the world in which he was constantly trying to work out the meaning of things, trying to figure things out, always asking why. Derek’s ability to just accept certain things without questioning them was an enviable way of looking at the world. Stiles knew this attitude was one of the things that comforted him when he was around Derek. It was also a turn-on for Stiles. That, and Derek’s formidable physical presence in his worn black leather jacket, gray shirt stretched tight across his chest, and his ridiculously tight jeans that hugged his ridiculous thighs. Stiles felt his groin stirring and ordered himself to avoid this line of thinking. While Stiles was okay with his attraction to Derek, he wasn’t at all sure if it was reciprocated and he wasn’t interested in pressing the point with someone who could literally rip him in half.
“So, what do you do for fun?” Stiles asked.
Derek stilled his cup of coffee halfway to his mouth. “Fun.”
“Yeah, what sort of things do you do when you’re not chasing after other werewolves or terrorizing people?” It occurred to Stiles that he hadn’t given much thought to how Derek spent his time while Scott and Stiles were at school. “As far as I know, you don’t have a job, you don’t go to school. Judging from your house, well, it doesn’t look like you’re into home improvement.” Derek’s house was a sensitive subject since most of his family had died in it, but he seemed to receive the remark without reaction. “I guess you work out.” Stiles’ eyes briefly dropped to Derek’s torso before he remembered himself and quickly looked back up at Derek’s face, which seemed to be smirking slightly. Stiles’ groin was doing its happy dance again. Move on, Stiles.
“Movies,” Derek stated, without further explanation. Typical.
“Movies?” Stiles uttered, surprised. Derek’s eyebrows dropped into dangerous territory, so Stiles hurried on, “You like movies. Huh.” Stiles pondered this unexpected piece of information.
“Something wrong with that?” Menacing Derek was definitely in the house.
“Dude, no, of course not,” Stiles said quickly. “It’s just…surprising. Or, yeah, unexpected.”
“Why’s that?” Derek rarely asked questions that weren’t mocking or rhetorical, but this one sounded sincere.
“I don’t know,” Stiles said. “I’m just…having trouble picturing it.”
“When you and your little friends are at school, worrying who’s going to prom with whom, I go to movies. Doesn’t seem so unusual.” Derek’s tone sounded almost defensive.
“It’s cool,” Stiles reassured him. Stiles found the idea of his reassuring Derek both funny and absurd, but he tried to keep his expression neutral. “I’m a big movie fan, too.” It was true. Stiles went to a lot of movies but rarely got a chance to talk about them. He would go to a movie with Scott, but Scott never seemed to have many opinions about them. To his credit, Scott would usually let Stiles talk about them, but that wasn’t very satisfying.
“Really,” Derek seemed skeptical. No surprise there.
“Oh yeah, I’m kind of a movie whore. I’ll watch just about anything. Hollywood blockbusters at the theater, independent movies when I can find them, old black-and-white movies on TCM, you name it. Weird that I’ve never seen you at the theater.” There was only one movie theater in Beacon Hills, so it seemed likely that they would have run into each other.
“I’ve seen you there,” Derek said.
Stiles wasn’t sure if he was flattered that Derek had noticed him or creeped out by Derek watching him while he wasn’t aware of it.
“But I usually go to weekday matinees,” Derek continued. “Not as crowded. Sometimes I’ll have the theater to myself.” Stiles pictured Derek alone in a dark theater, the shadows flickering on Derek’s dark features. It seemed kind of sad, or lonely, or something. “And I drive to Eureka sometimes if there’s an Indie I want to see that I know won’t come to Beacon Hills. There’s an art house there that shows some pretty unusual things. They just had a French new wave retrospective that was amazing.”
Stiles didn’t quite know what to do with this new side of Derek. Derek seemed almost animated when he talked about film. And this was certainly the most he could ever remember Derek saying about anything that didn’t have to do with being a werewolf.
“Hey, maybe we could go to a movie together sometime,” Stiles blurted out, then realized it might sound like he was asking Derek on a date. “I mean, you know, we’ve found something we both enjoy. A kind of common interest. Other than Scott.” Was he asking Derek out on a date?
Derek stared at him for a moment, not speaking. He seemed to be considering.
“You don’t talk during movies, do you?” Derek asked. “I don’t go to movies to chat.”
“Dude, you don’t ever chat. That’s one area of expertise where I’ve got you beat, hands down. But no, I don’t talk during movies. Give me some credit.”
Derek returned to his stony silence. He seemed to be sizing up Stiles, considering whether Stiles was a worthy movie companion. Fuck this, Stiles thought, I should walk out of here right now.
“There’s a showing of ‘Rebecca’ at the theater in Eureka next weekend. I’ve never seen it on the big screen,” Derek said at last.
“Is that an invitation?” Stiles asked, smiling.
Derek pushed back his chair and stood up, his crotch back at eye level with Stiles. Stiles forced himself to look up at Derek’s face. Fucking ridiculous jeans!
“Yes, it’s an invitation,” it seemed to pain Derek to admit. “But I mean it, Stiles, you cannot talk during the movie. That seems to be a problem for you sometimes. Not being able to shut up.”
Stiles smiled at Derek, “Okay, yes, I’d like to go and no I won’t talk. ‘Rebecca’ was one of the first Hitchcock films I ever saw, one of the first black and white films I can remember seeing.”
“Fine,” Derek said, gruffly. “I’ll pick you up next Saturday morning at ten o’clock. There’s a one o’clock showing, but we’ll need to eat first.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Stiles tried to hide his enthusiasm but was pretty sure he wasn’t successful at it. “It’s a date,” said Stiles. Date? Had he said that? It just slipped out. Fuck.
“Yes, it is,” Derek answered as he turned and strode toward the door. He was outside and moving down the street before Stiles was fully aware of what had happened.
Date. Derek had said it was a date. Was Stiles reading too much into this? People have lunch dates all the time, that doesn’t mean they’re dates. What if it was a date? Would Derek want to have sex with him? Stiles couldn’t even begin to process that. Just slow down, Stiles. Nobody, certainly not Derek, wants your skinny ass. Just one thing at a time. Hmm, I do need to do some research on “Rebecca.” I haven’t seen it in at least a few years. I need to have something intelligent to say.
Stiles quickly bussed the table, threw some money in the tip jar, and headed outside to his Jeep. He needed to get home and do some research on all of Hitchcock’s early period. It wasn’t Stiles’ strongest suit and there was no reason to appear stupid in front of Derek. And while he was researching, maybe he’d see what he could find about human-werewolf sex. Just in case.