Work Text:
The title card of the video reads “Guys kissing guys for the first time!” in big, glittering bubble letters. Underneath is the neat caption, “Erica R., Gender & Society film project, Fall 2015.”
*
“Wow, I did not think this through,” Stiles laughs, running a nervous hand through his hair. “I think I’m just gonna–”
“Nope.” Erica shoves him back into the chair. The movement makes the blue sheet she hung up as a backdrop ripple. “I already paid you and you already spent it, so shut up and stop being a wimp.” She turns and adjusts something on the camera. “Okay, let’s start over. How many times have you ever kissed a guy?”
Stiles glances at the camera, then back to Erica. “Uh, never. Zero. That’s kind of the whole point, right?”
His whole face is turning a dull, rosy red.
*
“Of course I’ve never kissed a guy,” Jackson says. “Why would I ever choose a guy over Lydia?”
“You’ve never even kissed Danny? Not even a little bit?” Erica asks.
“No!” Jackson says, too quickly. He crosses his arms. “Look, I’m totally accepting of Danny’s sexuality, and he’s my best friend, but I’m just not interested in him like that.”
“Too bad,” Erica says. “It’d be hot.”
Jackson flushes and looks down at the table.
*
“What’s your favorite thing about Scott?”
“Just–his personality in general, I guess,” Isaac says easily, leaning back in his chair. “He’s a really chill guy, and he’s just so nice. Like, the nicest person I’ve ever met. I think everyone who’s ever met him just has to like him. And when he smiles, I just instantly feel better, you know? Like everything’s going to be alright.”
“That is so sweet,” Erica says. “Wow.”
*
“Why don’t we start off with a few words about Stiles. Can you describe him, just briefly? What do you like most about him?”
Derek crosses his arms over his chest, looking like a petulant four-year-old. “I changed my mind. I want forty bucks. Twenty’s not nearly enough.”
“I’m broke, remember? Be glad I’m paying you in actual cash instead of crappy coffee from the Student Center. Now tell me about Stiles.”
Derek sighs. “Fine. He’s a pain in my–”
“Need I remind you this is a school project?” Erica interrupts. "Keep it PG.“
"I never thought I’d ever hear those words come out of your mouth.”
“Believe me, I know. So. You were saying?”
“Well, he’s pretty much guaranteed to be obnoxious at all times.” Derek stares thoughtfully into the distance. “Maybe not as much nowadays as he used to be, but he still makes pretty much everything into an innuendo, and he has no sense of boundaries, and–”
“Okay, okay. What else?”
“Well. I mean. He’s smart. Probably the smartest person I’ve ever met. He sees connections between things when no one else does. It’s pretty much impossible to beat him at chess. And he’s insanely curious, so he knows at least something about pretty much everything. He’ll probably be valedictorian if he can just learn how to focus. And–he’s not nice, exactly, but.” Derek shrugs. “He’s a good person. Loyal. I trust him.”
*
“Okay, before we get too far into this,” Erica says, “how did you and Derek meet?”
“Random housing assignment,” Stiles answers cheerfully, chewing on the string of his hoodie. “We spent the first three or so weeks hating each other’s guts. There was this whole ongoing argument about whose bed got to be next to the window, and whose taste in music sucked more, and where I could put my fuc–fricking shoes, and… Well. Anyway. That’s in the past.” Stiles looks suddenly smug. “I think I’ve grown on him. Us being roommates again this year was actually his idea.”
“When would you say things changed between you?”
“Hmm, I dunno.” Stiles gnaws absently on his lip. “Maybe when the fire alarm went off at 3 AM that one time freshman year because some girl took a shower without opening the bathroom window first?”
“Oh man, I remember that, I had a test the next day,” Erica says.
“We were stuck outside in the parking lot together in our PJs for like half an hour, freezing our asses–” He winces at a glare from Erica. “–our butts off. There wasn’t really anything to do, and you know how I am with awkward silences, so, yeah. We just ended up talking. And I found out he was actually kind of a sarcastic assh–jerk–just like me, and we were both really into kale chips and Orphan Black. When we got back inside, we didn’t even go to sleep immediately, just stayed up talking. It was… nice. Really, surprisingly nice.”
*
“Have you ever found any guys attractive?”
Boyd appears to think about it. “Yes,” he says finally. “Oscar Isaac, definitely.”
“What, really?” Erica squeals, like Christmas has just come early.
Boyd gives her a knowing look. “No one’s as attractive as you, babe, but… if I ever ran into him and the opportunity came up? Yeah, I’d go for it.”
Erica mutters something about threesomes. Boyd smirks.
*
“Ever almost kissed a guy?”
“I guess there was that time Stiles and I almost kissed,” Scott says. “It was a dare. We were kind of drunk at the time. But we finally decided it would just be too weird. We’ve been best bros since kindergarten, so it would be, like, incest or something. Seriously, though.” Scott holds up his hand, thumb and pointer finger almost touching. “We were this close. It was intense. And then he barfed on my shoes.”
*
“Okay, last question before we get to the main event.” Erica grins. “Do you think Stiles is going to be a good kisser?”
“Uh.” Derek fidgets. “I haven’t ever thought about it. Well. Not much. Um. Let’s just say I haven’t and leave it at that.”
“So think about it now,” Erica says. “No cop-outs.”
There’s a long pause before Derek says, grudgingly, “He’s… Yeah, probably pretty good.” There’s another pause. “I think he’d get really into it, you know, and make these noises, and maybe cup my face with his hands? He’s got really sexy hands, and–uh, wait, can we cut that part? Erica?”
Off-screen, Erica is too busy laughing to respond.
*
“Do you think Derek will be a good kisser?”
Stiles looks like he’s trying to take the question seriously, but after a few seconds his mouth twists and he cracks up, doubling over, shoulders shaking.
“Is that a… a no, then?” Erica asks. She sounds like she’s trying not to laugh, too.
“I’m just imagining his face, oh my god,” Stiles says. “He’s going to look like he sucked on a lemon.”
“I just want you to know that if this didn’t have to be school-appropriate, I would totally be making an innuendo right now,” Erica says.
*
There’s a brief stretch of black footage, and then Jackson and Boyd are standing side-by-side, carefully avoiding each other’s eyes. Boyd looks like he’s making eyes at the camera, which probably means he’s actually making eyes at Erica standing behind the camera. Jackson looks mildly annoyed, which is how Jackson usually looks.
“Any day now,” Erica prompts, sounding gleeful.
Jackson shoves his hands in the back pockets of his khakis and finally glances over at Boyd. “No homo, or whatever.”
Boyd shoots the camera an exasperated look and leans in to deliver a quick, dry peck. He doesn’t touch Jackson anywhere but his lips, and even then just barely. Jackson makes a face anyway.
“Does that count? Are we done?” Jackson asks, not-so-subtly wiping at his mouth with a handkerchief he pulls from the breast pocket of his sports jacket.
“Yes, you’ve done the bare minimum, congratulations,” Boyd says dryly, just as Erica mutters, “Boys.”
*
“Hi,” Isaac smirks, pulling Scott in by the pockets of his jacket.
Scott smiles softly back before glancing at the camera. “Oh, um, are we good to go?”
He must get a nod or a thumbs up from Erica, because then he’s leaning into Isaac’s space, sweetly shy, and sliding his hands around Isaac’s waist. Isaac noses forward and kisses him for a long few seconds, then breaks away, laughing.
Scott rubs a hand through Isaac’s blond curls and pulls him into a hug, blushing and shrugging at the camera over Isaac’s shoulder.
*
“I think we kinda need to be touching,” Stiles says. “For this to work.”
“No, I thought we would just kiss from opposite sides of the room,” Derek snarks, but he obligingly steps a little closer.
Stiles rolls his eyes. “Oh, c'mon, we touch all the time! Last night I literally fell asleep with my head on your shoulder while we were watching How to Get Away with Murder. This is not that different.”
Derek shoots him a dubious look but hesitantly brings a hand up to rest on Stiles’ shoulder.
“There we go,” Stiles says. He settles his own hands on Derek’s waist, and Derek noticeably tenses up. Stiles sighs. “I feel like we’re at prom right now or something. No, actually, I take that back. This is middle school dance levels of awkward.”
“Everything you do is middle school dance levels of awkward,” Derek says.
“Just start making out already!” Erica yells from off-screen.
“Okay!” Stiles yells back, and Derek winces at the volume. “Okay,” he says again, softer, looking at Derek. “So I’m just gonna…”
Derek rolls his eyes and kisses him.
Stiles makes a surprised noise at the back of his throat and closes his eyes, hands sliding up to Derek’s chest and twisting in his shirt. Derek shuffles closer into his space. His other hand presses possessively against the small of Stiles’ back. Stiles tilts his head a little more, starts to deepen the kiss–
Erica makes a noise somewhere between throat-clearing and muffled laughter. They break apart.
Stiles gives the camera a startled glance like he forgot it was there, and then he’s grinning sheepishly and letting go of Derek’s shirt, stepping back out of his space. Derek blinks dumbly at the camera.
“Well,” Erica starts to say, “that was–”
Stiles turns suddenly and twists his hands in Derek’s hair, kissing him so aggressively Derek actually stumbles backwards a step, eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. His hands land on Stiles’ hips reflexively. He opens his mouth, and then there are tongues, and somewhere in the distance Erica is whooping.
“There,” Stiles says, breathlessly, nodding to himself. Derek’s whole face is bright red, his eyes still closed.
Stiles gives the camera a thumbs up.
*
“It could have been better,” Boyd says, glancing at Jackson. “Obviously.”
“What,” Jackson says, “are you suggesting we go practice?”
“I don’t know if practice would help,” Boyd deadpans, and Erica barks out a laugh.
*
“I enjoyed it,” Scott says easily, slinging an arm over Isaac’s shoulders. “I think bros could stand to kiss bros more. Kissing’s nice. It doesn’t have to be a romance thing. It can just be an ‘I care about you, bro’ thing, you know?”
“Are you going to go bro-kiss Stiles next, then?” Isaac asks with a shit-eating grin, and Scott shoves him off the chair.
*
“I mean, his face was right there,” Stiles says. “And I figured, if I’m gonna kiss him, then I’m going to really kiss him, you know? If this is the only time I’m ever going to, then I’m going to make it good.”
“It doesn’t–” Derek clears his throat, clenching his hands at his sides. “It doesn’t have to be the only time. If you, uh, wanted to, um…”
Stiles blinks at him, incredulous. “Are you serious?”
“Yes?” Derek says, and Stiles leans over and kisses him again, cupping Derek’s jaw to guide him in. Derek smiles against Stiles’ mouth.
The video ends.