Work Text:
♚♞♚♞♚♞
“Walkie talkies?” Derek asks. His face says everything Stiles’ needs to know. He doesn’t think this plan is going to work. Stiles huffs, and turns back to his gym bag. Not that he ever uses this bag for gym stuff to actually go to the gym. Stiles pulls out a small box and opens it up. Derek leans forward. “Strawberries dipped in chocolate?”
“For the stake out when you’re alone in the car and getting hungry,” Stiles explains. He holds Derek’s gaze. “I forgot to buy batteries for the walkie talkies, so we’ll have to stop by and pick some up on our way over. You in?”
Derek looks at all of the equipment Stiles had bought for tonight. He shakes his head and says, “This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had.”
Stiles swallows.
“Of course, I’m in.” Derek stands up and starts to pack everything back into Stiles’ gym bag with him. “But I’d like to state for the record that I don’t think this is going to work.”
Stiles snorts and says, “You always say that. But this time it will work. It’s fool-proof.”
“And when they break up and blame us?” Derek asks, glancing up.
Stiles freezes. His jaw drops and then in a second he’s all movement as he does his happy dance. Derek’s smiling because he looks like an idiot, and Stiles is shouting, “You think it’s going to work! You think it’s going to work!”
“I didn’t say that,” Derek says, amused.
“You didn’t, because you just jumped to when they break up. Not even a hypothetical, if this works, and then they break up. Nope. You totally believe this is going to work,” Stiles says, beaming. He punches his fist into the air and pulls back swiftly. “Hell yes! It’s actually not the stupidest plan I’ve had, is it, Derek?”
Derek sighs, as though he’s out of paitence for dealing with Stiles. But Stiles knows that his paitence for him is endless. Otherwise, he won’t be here right now. Stiles tosses Derek a pair of new socks. They have little wolves on them. “I also bought you these. You were complaining about the holes in your favourite ones.”
Stiles turns back to pick up the receipts that he’d dropped on the floor and misses the way Derek stares blankly at the socks in his hands. Stiles stands up straight and asks, “Do you think I should’ve picked up more candles?”
“I think you have too many as it is,” Derek says, amused. “We should head out. How long did you say they’ll be at Scott’s?”
"Until 7pm. Then Isaac is going to show up at Scott’s as if he’s drunk out of his mind and Scott’s going to suggest Boyd take Erica home,” Stiles says, glancing at the time on his phone. “We have two hours. Let’s get going, big guy.”
Derek follows Stiles out the loft door. Stiles had been planning the beginning of Erica and Boyd’s relationship for a month now. He had forgotten that he hadn’t actually asked Derek to be his helper until three hours ago when Scott called to confirm everything was good to go. He hadn’t thought it’d be an issue though. Derek never has plans unless Stiles makes them for him.
“I know that we’re all getting tired of their sexual tension, but what if they don’t want to be together?” Derek asks.
Stiles rolls his eyes. “Please, dude. Those two are going to end up married with twelve kids one day. And they’ll have us to thank for that.”
“Twelve kids? I think they’ll have to murder us for that,” Derek teases. They climb into his Camaro and Stiles rolls the window down.
There’s something to be said about quiet drives around town with Derek. Back at the beginning, when they’d first met, Stiles wouldn’t have ever thought they’d get to be here. A few years ago, Stiles would have assumed that the only reason he would be in Derek’s car is because Derek had kidnapped him. Now, Stiles spends more time at his house than he does his own.
Even Scott had commented a few weeks ago on how close they’ve become. Stiles glances at Derek. His face softens and his smile grows fond. Derek’s become his everything. His anchor, his best friend, his reason to keep fighting the world.
He admits that life hadn’t gotten easier with Derek - if anything, it’d become the exact opposite - but it’s definitely much more fun. Stiles turns his head to look out the window, his fingers tapping on the door of the car. He’d fallen in love with his best friend moments after their first real fight. They’d fought hundreds of times before, but those fights hadn’t mattered.
Then Stiles had been so damn angry at Derek, and Derek had been so damn stubborn. Stiles remembers their stupid shouting match. The rest of their friends had gone silent. Not even Scott could have held Stiles back that day. When they’d come to a loss for words, they’d been panting and trying to out glare each other.
That was the moment that Stiles knew he was in deeper with Derek than he’d ever been with anyone else before. Because as annoyed and angry as he was, he couldn’t help but notice how fucking cute Derek is when he looses his cool. Stiles had dropped his shoulders, and Derek had rolled his eyes while saying, “Idiot.”
Stiles had tossed him a beer and their first real fight had been over. Their friends hadn’t known what to do with either of them, but Stiles and Derek had ignored them to sit on the couch. The anger hadn’t left Stiles, and Derek was still sure he was right, but Stiles had known that no fight was worth losing their friendship. So they’d gotten over it.
“You’re quiet,” Derek comments suddenly.
Stiles rolls the back of his head against the headrest to look at Derek. “Did you ever think we’d make it this far when our friends told us we were becoming a group and we’d just have to get over it?”
Derek snorts. “No way in hell. Don’t you remember when Scott and Isaac started to date? Isaac begged me to play nice with you because he really liked Scott and then we met and you had that stupid, smug smirk on your face. As if you’d already assessed me and made your judgement about me.”
“I had. And I wasn’t wrong,” Stiles says, laughing. “I just was wrong about how I felt about it.”
“We were doomed from the start,” Derek teases. “All because of sixth grade.”
“Don’t even mention sixth grade to me,” Stiles says, laughing. “God, that feels like a lifetime ago. I’m glad things worked out.”
Derek glances at Stiles. “Me too.”
They fall back into silence.
♚♞♚♞♚♞
“No, no, rose petals should be here.” Stiles is pointing to the bed.
“I know that always seems romantic in movies, but Stiles, do we really want Erica to think that Boyd is just trying to bone her?” Derek asks from the doorway. “They shouldn’t lead to the bedroom. They should lead to the dinner. You didn’t buy enough for both.”
“Right. Okay. Plus they’ll end up in bed together anyway. Who wants to roll around naked with petals getting in weird places?” Stiles asks, turning to follow Derek back down the hall.
“This is such a stupid plan. Boyd should be doing this,” Derek mumbles.
“Boyd is too shy to ask Erica out,” Stiles responds. “Alright, so you finish setting up the table and I’ll spread the petals.”
Derek nods. He grabs Stiles’ gym bag and starts to get to work. Stiles wonders if Derek ever looks at him with wishful eyes. The girls have all teased him on how he looks at Derek. No one ever mentions if Derek’s looking back. But he feels pretty wishful now.
They’re building a romantic date for their friends. Because Erica and Boyd have been tiptoeing around each other for far too long. Still, Stiles can’t help but wonder what it’d be like to have a date like this with Derek sometime.
Stiles works in silence. He hears Derek humming in the kitchen and smiles. They’d come a long way. From constantly fighting and bickering, to being ditched by their friends last minute in order to force them to hang out alone, and then suddenly, they were making plans and hanging out on their own free will.
“Stiles, it’s already six forty-five!” Derek calls out a while later.
Stiles jumps. He glances around the living room. Candles and rose petals everywhere. Really sets the mood. He goes to see how Derek’s doing. The table looks amazing and there’s a beautifully written note that tells them their dinner is staying warm in the oven.
“Looks amazing.”
“Back at you,” Derek says, peeking into the living room. “I’m going to head out to move my car.”
“Okay. I’m going to go hide in the bushes. Fire safety,” Stiles says, smiling.
“And being shamelessly nosy,” Derek adds. “Alright. Has Scott texted you?”
Stiles checks his phone. He nods. “Yep. Let’s get out of here.”
♚♞♚♞♚♞
Stiles chooses the bushes and window on the side of the house to peek through. When Erica and Boyd pull up in the driveway, they won’t be able to see him.
“Anything yet,wolf boy?” Stiles asks into the walkie talkie.
“They’re pulling into the driveway now,” Derek’s voice comes crackling through the walkie talkie.
Stiles whispers, “Roger that.”
He adjusts himself to peek into the window and watches them enter the house a few minutes. Erica takes a minute to survey the room before a smile breaks out onto her face.
“So far so good,” Stiles whispers. “Erica looks so happy.”
“And Boyd?”
“Looks amused,” Stiles reports back.
Erica tosses her arms around Boyd, and he squeezes her back. That’s when they make eye contact. Stiles freezes, unsure what to do. Boyd gives him a nod of approval. Stiles gives him a thumbs-up.
When she pulls away from him, she puts her hands on Boyd’s cheeks. Then she leans in and kisses him.
“Mission accomplished,” Stiles tells Derek into the walkie talkie. “They finally kissed.”
Stiles doesn’t bother crawling out of the bushes with subtlety. He just stands up and walks across the front lawn. Boyd and Erica would be too distracted kissing to notice him anyway.
He gets into Derek’s car around the block. He smiles. “Are there any strawberries left?”
Derek snorts. “No way, dude. So, how do you feel? Your plan went off without a hitch?”
“Still think it was a stupid plan?” Stiles asks.
“Yeah. You shouldn’t be meddling in Erica and Boyd’s love life. Maybe they were taking it slow for personal reasons.”
“Like what? They’re perfect for each other,” Stiles says. “And you helped me meddle, tough guy.”
“Like they’re really, really scared. Maybe Boyd wanted to ask Erica out but he’s been rejected too many times before for reading into the situation wrong,” Derek says. “Or perhaps he’s afraid that it’ll mean they could lose their friendship. They haven’t had the easiest relationship, you know.”
Stiles swallows, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat. Derek’s not looking at him now. Finally, Stiles asks, “Erica and Boyd have been glued at the hip since the first time Scott and Isaac made us hang out. Derek, are you talking about us?”
Derek snorts. “That’d be dumb, Stiles. I’m going to drop you off at home.”
They don’t say anything else as Derek turns on the car and drives him to his house. Stiles stares at it, realizing he’s been spending so much time at Derek’s that his dad’s place no longer really feels like his. He glances at Derek and murmurs, “We’d make it through, y’know. Anything that came up or whatever. We’d make it through.”
Derek doesn’t say anything so Stiles adds, “It’s okay that you’re not ready. Nothing will change.”
He gets out of the car, but Derek doesn’t drive away immediately.
♚♞♚♞♚♞
Stiles wasn’t wrong. In fact, nothing changes between them. He still spends too much time at Derek’s, and they’re still arguing over the same stupid shit. Stiles kicks Derek’s ass in all of the video games except for Mario Kart. They cook dinner together and they even throw Erica and Boyd a Finally You’re Together party with their friends.
It’s at that party that Stiles ends up drunk as fuck and standing on Derek’s balcony. He watches the liquid in his cup as he plays with it. Damn, nothing had changed, and Stiles is starting to get frustrated.
“Hey kid,” Erica says, joining him suddenly. “I never got a chance to thank you for what you did for Boyd and I. You made us realize that we deserve to be happy with each other. Thanks.”
“No problem,” Stiles mumbles. He looks up at her now though and smiles. “I’m happy for you two. You’re great together.”
“Yeah, we are,” she says, a soft smile on her face. “Now, what’s going on with you and Derek?”
“I don’t know. I think he feels the same about me,” Stiles says, shrugging. He looks back down at his cup. “But he won’t do anything about it. Funny how we get you two out of that situation, and now we’re in it?”
Erica leans into him, squeezing his upper arm. She rests her head against his briefly. “It’ll be okay. It’ll be worth the wait.”
“Yeah?” Stiles asks.
“Yeah,” she says, softly. She takes his hand to squeeze it.
Stiles isn’t sure how long they stay like that. It’s a while though. Then Kira’s bubbly drunk voice comes from the balcony door. “Erica! We’re going to cut some cake. Come inside. You have to see it.”
Erica kisses Stiles’ cheek, and then she’s gone. Stiles wants to follow them in, but for some reason, he can’t seem to make himself move. He closes his eyes.
They pop open again when he realizes someone else has come to join him on the balcony. He turns to see Derek, and since he can’t find any words, he just nods.
“Hey,” Derek murmurs. He takes Erica’s place at his side. “We’re missing you in there.”
“Oh yeah?” Stiles asks, nodding.
“Well, I’m missing you in there,” Derek says. He looks at Stiles, searching his face. “Stiles, about last week–”
“It’s fine, okay? We’re fine,” Stiles murmurs.
“Are we? It doesn’t feel like it,” Derek says. He looks out over the street with Stiles now. “I just–I don’t want to lose this.”
Stiles keeps his voice quiet and calm when he says, “You could lose this at any time. Maybe because of your fear. Don’t you want to give it a shot? See what it all could be?”
“Is that what you want?” Derek asks. “Do you want to see what this could be?”
“Don’t you?” Stiles asks him. He turns to face Derek. “Because I do. I lie awake sometimes thinking what it’d be like to hold your hand. To kiss you. To wake up beside you. To go on dates. Actual dates.”
Derek inhales. “You think about that stuff?”
“You don’t.” It’s not a question. Stiles’ shoulders fall. “I’m sorry. I guess I thought we were on the same page but–”
“I don’t let myself,” Derek interrupts. “Stiles, you’re my person. You’re my best friend. The person I turn to when I don’t know what to do. The only person that I actually talk to about stuff. You know all my secrets, all my….you know me better than anyone else. I can’t afford to lose you. I don’t think I could handle it if you weren’t in my life. I didn’t know…I didn’t know you thought about that stuff.”
Stiles nods, trying to process the information. He can’t really get a grasp on his thoughts though, so he asks, “And if you let yourself?”
“It’d consume me more than you already do,” Derek whispers.
“I want to,” Stiles says, nodding harder now. “I want to see where this could go. Who we could be together.”
Derek says, “Okay.”
“Okay.”
And they start by intertwining their hands together.
♚♞♚♞♚♞