Work Text:
It was the middle of summer, so any normal person would be enjoying their time on vacation. At the very least most people would be inside to not have the sun glaring down on them, but no. Derek was outside on a field, sweating his ass off for absolutely no real reason. His job was to help Titch organise e-mails and letters, sort out deals with the farmers market or local stores and establish business relationships for the farm. He was essentially a secretary for Titch.
But why was he outside now, not sitting in the office, reading through spam emails? Simple: he was a gigantic idiot.
James had recently gotten sick, and was so annoyed at the thought of going back to work when he still wasn't feeling well, that he had booked himself a vacation. That meant Derek hasn't had to worry about running into him for two weeks now, and he would be gone for two more. Phillip negotiated with Titch to make him work less hours in the summer, poor guy came from Norway and wasn't used to the heat here. So now, Derek offered himself up to do more work and didn't even ask for a pay rise. Like a complete dumbass.
Titch didn't ask him to pick up Phillip's work, but Derek was nothing if not a people pleaser so he said he would do it anyway. Titch actually didn't really make him do much, mostly telling him to look over the numbers of their inventory and things like that. But he still felt bad about making Titch stay outside in the heat completely on his own, so he went with him.
He was used to Norfolk summers by now, but he had forgotten to drink enough water. The two of them had lost track of time, so now at 3:27pm they still hadn't had lunch. Derek was going to say something about it to Titch, but the man was so focused that he didn't want to interrupt. So now, here he was, overheating.
"Hey Derek?" Titch shouted over from where he was on the field and started making his way back to the house. "What time is it? I should probably make something to eat, right?" The closer he got, the less Derek could speak. Would Titch be annoyed that he didn't remind him of the time earlier? He started stuttering slightly. "Oh uhhh, it-it's…" He looked at his watch, like he also didn't know. "Oh, ah damn, it's-it's already past three. I didn't keep track of the time, sorry." Derek scratched his neck while throwing a couple of worried glances at his boss. He had only started working here about six months ago, so he wasn't fully sure how to talk to Titch yet.
"Ah… that's too bad…" Said man looked over Derek and furrowed his brows. "Hey are you alright?" He took off his gloves and stepped closer to Derek, who at this point wasn't really sure what to do. "Oh, what? yeah, I'm fine. Just kind of hot out right? Needed to sit down." Titch tilted his head and grabbed something from his pocket. It was a half empty water bottle that he handed over to Derek. "Don't get a heatstroke…" He seemed to be quite worried, so while Derek grabbed the drink from his hand, Titch decided to take off his hat and place it on Derek's head instead.
Caught off guard, Derek wasn't sure what to say at first, throwing out a quick 'thanks' that he wasn't sure the other even heard. Titch sat down next to him with a sigh and ran a hand through his messy hair. It was a sight you just had to stare at.
Anytime Derek was at the farm, Titch was already working outside on the field. The sun was always out and hit the land exactly, so he always wore big hats to not get sunburns. This all led to Derek frequently forgetting that Titch had curly hair. And every time he was reminded he had the same reaction: quiet pining, maybe a tiny bit of panic. It really shouldn't be as attractive as it was to Derek, Titch's hair was quite messy, he had dirt on his face and arms, and he was quite short. But sitting next to him, watching Titch run his fingers through his hair, Derek couldn't help but find it cute. He had to fight himself not to wipe the mud off of Titch's face by biting the inside of his cheek.
"How much have you checked yet?" The train of thought Derek was stuck on screeched to a halt. Titch was still trying to fix his hair, now having noticed that he got dirt in his locks as well, so he wasn't looking at him, thankfully. If he was, he'd see Derek trying to figure out what he had just said by waiting for his brain to catch up with the words spoken.
"Oh, yeah I'm almost done… the sun made it hard to read some of it." He held up a hand to his forehead to demonstrate having to shield himself from the sun, while Titch just glanced at him. "Right," Seemingly having given up on getting his hair to cooperate, Titch blew a few strands out of his face and stood back up. "You can finish that inside, I'll make something for us to eat. C'mon." He waved a hand to Derek while already heading off to go inside.
All Derek could do was follow him in surprise. Titch would give him and Phillip food, but make it himself? Originally, he had brought food for himself, usually a sandwich he made or a soup he bought from a local shop. But Titch started offering him meals the first time Derek hadn't had anything for lunch with him. He had then found out that Phillip was getting food from Titch as well, so he didn't pack anything anymore.
Now, the idea that Titch had taken the time to actually cook the food himself was confusing.
Inside, Derek carefully placed the hat down on the coffee table by the couch and followed to the kitchen. "You…cook?" He got a confused look in response. "You think the food I give you just appears on my counter?" Titch chuckled at him and Derek felt himself turn red. "Wha- no? I just thought you bought it… Do you actually make all that?" Titch had started rummaging through his fridge and threw another glance over his shoulder. "Well…yeah? I grow ingredients, why not use them?" He did have a point, but Derek still felt bad. His boss cooked meals for him every day, I mean is that normal? He didn't think so. "I… I guess you're a pretty good cook then. Your food's delicious honestly." Titch stopped and turned to actually look at him again. There was a small pause before he opened his mouth again. "You have any preference?" Derek couldn't speak. Any preference? What?
"Food wise…" Titch spoke slowly and turned away while talking to stare back into the cold food. And suddenly, Derek felt like a complete idiot yet again. What did he think the question was about?
"Oh uhh…" He awkwardly cleared his throat, still embarrassed. "I don't really know, anything is fine I think…" He tried to think of anything to say while chewing on his lip. Begging his brain to come up with anything to talk about, he sat down at the counter when he remembered something. "Oh my… my mom used to make alfredo pasta like once a week when I was a kid?" He chuckled at the memory. "It was the only dish she tried to make by hand and that made it better than anything else." He leaned onto his hand on the countertop while thinking of the disaster that his mother would cook and call it alfredo pasta. Besides him he heard Titch hum. "Do you want Alfredo? I can make some, it'll just take a bit…" Derek looked over and saw Titch fiddle with a strand of his hair. "Might need your help." Derek would love nothing more than to help, but he wasn't particularly skilled when it came to food, the cups of instant noodles in his cupboard would agree with him.
For some reason he agreed to make food anyway though. "Oh yeah I can help. You don't have to make it though, it was just a thought." Titch just shrugged, clearly unbothered. "I'm fine with pretty much anything, that's why I asked you." Without any room for argument, he went to grab ingredients, leaving Derek standing there without anything else to do. He wasn't quite sure how to help, since the only thing he's ever actually cooked was spaghetti. And even then he always managed to oversalt them. But it didn't matter. Derek was going to help cook some food, and he was determined to not fuck it up. He hoped that, since Titch was leading him through what to do, that it shouldn't be too bad. However, he was still slightly nervous to touch anything in his boss's kitchen.
"You know how to make Alfredo? I'll just show you if not." Derek looked over at Titch, who was grabbing two cutting boards from a drawer. "Ah I don't, that would help yeah…" His response was a smile and a hum from Titch.
Somehow ever since he had started this Job, Derek had been finding himself in situations that he wasn't quite sure how he had gotten into. First his boss kept giving him lunch instead of having to bring his own food, he kept doing more work than he needed to and got told to stop, and now he was slowly realising that he may or may not have some sort of feelings for his own boss. And the way he found that out? Watching him make food.
Before Derek had assumed, hoped, it was mostly just a small crush or something. You meet someone new, they're really pretty, are super nice to you, they have a gorgeous smile and the sun makes them look like an angel, and you start feeling things. It didn't happen all the time, but it didn't really mean much. This time though, it apparently did, since he was currently staring at Titch cooking lunch and he felt his stomach tighten. He wasn't even sure how to put into words what was drawing him to Titch. Something about the way he was effortlessly preparing food, he knew exactly what he was doing. Derek couldn't help but admire the confidence radiating from his face.
At work, Titch would get insanely focused and not even realise that someone was talking to him. His entire world became his work, and nothing else existed for him. It was very admirable, nothing could distract Titch when he was doing his job and Derek thought he could never do that. Not that he particularly wanted to, it seemed unnerving to be completely focused on a singular thing. But the fact that Titch was able to do his job so easily, never losing sight of things? That was impressive.
This was very different though.
While he was cooking Titch seemed to come alive in a way. Without a second glance, Derek could see that he enjoyed it and his smile was encapsulating. He did everything while showing Derek how to do it and made the whole thing look effortless. Without even realising, Derek had started slowly moving closer to him. Titch had started asking him about things he enjoyed, and he noticed that he was standing quite a bit closer than he had before. Moving away now seemed too awkward, so he just stood there, feeling his hands warm up. "Wait, so he was the villain the whole time?" Titch looked up at him from the pan he was hovering over. Apparently he just now noticed that they were only a few inches apart, but he didn't say anything about it. Just blinked a few times and closed his mouth. "Yeah… sorry I shouldn't be spoiling the whole thing, I don't know if you'd watch it now since you know the twist in the end…" Derek brushed some hair out of his face, he hadn't meant to talk for this long. Somehow he had been rambling about a movie he had seen recently and accidentally ruined it for Titch. "Hm? It's fine. You said the movie's more about the relationship between the two right? So… the reveal isn't the thing that makes or breaks the movie right?" He had gone back to looking at the noodles and Derek perked up. "Yeah, well still shouldn't have. But yeah you should watch it. I guess if you're into mysteries it's not worth it anymore though." Titch hummed and nodded his head. "I might still watch it, you made it sound interesting." Derek just smiled at him.
Over the next few days, Titch would keep inviting him to cook together. And how was anyone supposed to say no to that? So he did his best to not ruin the food, or make any mistakes. But when he did mess up, Titch would quickly take whatever Derek had in his hands, and softly push him out of the way to fix it for him. He wasn't upset about it, and would just smile at Derek when he tried to apologize.
As the days kept growing hotter and hotter, Derek slowly felt like he lived here with how much time he spent at Titch's house. At some point, Titch had started making extra food for Derek to take home with him for dinner.
And the longer this kept going the more Derek noticed a tension leaving Titch's shoulders. A tension he hadn't even realized was there before. And of course he couldn't read minds, so he couldn't be sure, but he thought maybe they had both felt uncomfortable around each other. Maybe Titch was just as awkward as he was but knew how to cover it up better. Potentially, they were getting along well enough that maybe he could even call him a friend. And wasn't that kind of sad? Derek hadn't been able to make friends that easily after graduating college, how do you even meet other adults to talk to that isn't at a job? But Phillip had been quite friendly and now Titch was acting a bit less corporate towards him. When Derek had decided to apply to work here, he did think that it meant a lot more people, considering how tough farm work seemed to be; but Titch had insisted on only hiring the bare minimum and doing most things himself. He seemed to take a lot of pride in his work, treating every tiny part of it as important as the rest. If you pictured a small town farmer who lives in a cottage, he was basically the ideal version of that person. Minus some of the cheerfulness, usually.
Whatever the case, the two men had been spending a lot of time together. James’ current assistant mostly kept to the other part of the land, but Derek had a feeling the guy was going to quit soon. Phillip had needed more breaks than ever before. Needing to be reminded constantly to drink water to not just faint. With that Titch and Derek were the only sane people left, so they obviously interacted a lot more than before. And Titch was actually starting to become more and more friendly towards everyone. Of course, he was as professional as ever, but he seemed to be in a lot better of a mood these days. Maybe it was the sun, maybe it was that they were all closer now, maybe a deal he was working out was finally done. It was probably a combination of things if Derek had to guess.
“Man, why didn't you become a chef instead? This fucks.” Every time Phillip opened his mouth, everyone around had to deal with whatever he was about to say. But Titch just laughed a bit as he took another bite. They were sitting out on the terrace by the farm eating one of Titch’s meals again. The dish of the day was a slightly spicy chicken pasta and Derek had to agree that it was great. He wasn't a food guy by any means so he didn't have anything to compare it to, but it was really nice. Apparently Titch usually added more chilli, however he was making food for two guys that can't handle their spice at all so he toned it down. He also mentioned a version of the pasta that you cook with wine, but he didn't have any. The way he said it was as if he meant that the food wasn't good now, which was ridiculous frankly. “No, I mean it, this is really good. How did you learn that?” Derek tried to not get spit on by Phillip talking with his mouth full. Titch hummed a bit and tilted his head. “M’ dad was a cook, taught me a bit before. Guess I just kept learning new things even after that. It's just a hobby though.” He furrowed his brow slightly and picked at his food. Irritated at something. “What? I thought your dad was just a farmer. Didn't he go to business school and all that as well? How did he have time for all that?” Finally having swallowed his bite, Phillip was now pointing his fork at Titch. Derek wasn't that familiar with Titch's parents but from what he had heard, his father didn't seem the type to be a chef. “mmm…” A noncommittal response. “No, not him…” He trailed off slightly, shifting his jaw around. “That's my adoptive dad, I meant before that.” Ah, yes that made more sense. “Oh…right.” Phillip shifted in his seat a bit. They had just all become friendly and were already uncomfortable again. “What stuff did he teach you?” Derek felt eyes on him, Phillip looked at him like he was stupid and Titch seemed to be thinking. “Just the basics really… but he always cooked with me when I was really young. Must've picked up things from that subconsciously.” It didn't feel as heavy as it did a second ago, maybe it wasn't a completely closed off topic. It wasn't a comfortable one by any means, but maybe it was just awkward. “He was like…” Titch scratched his chin, thinking. “He did a whole thing to show me how a kitchen worked. He was a chef ages ago, so he pretended to be running a restaurant to make me laugh when I was like four. He was basically preparing for me to go to culinary school.” He looked off onto the field with a small smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. The visual of a young Titch and his dad making food together was actually crazy to Derek. He didn't know anything about his family life before or after the adoption, so the thought that if he had followed his biological dad's footsteps he would be a completely different person was interesting. If he was honest, Derek had thought that a restaurant kitchen did seem like an environment that suited Titch well, but the idea that if he hadn't been adopted that would have actually happened, was weird. “That's so cute actually.” Phillip piped up again. “Seems like such a fun thing to do if your dad was a chef. God– his food was probably amazing right?” Titch chuckled in response. “Yeah, but he always made me eat a bunch of experiments as well. I was the test audience basically.” He brushed some hair out of his face, a smile still hanging on his lips. “Does that mean you make experiments as well? I don't know if I can survive being subject to any of that.” Phillip shovelled more food in his mouth. “It can't be that bad right?” Derek tried to not laugh at Phillip almost choking on his chicken. “I mean I'm not picky, It'd be fun to eat some weird combinations…” He felt slightly stupid saying it, but Titch's eyes were on him and looked so genuinely happy about it that he couldn't backtrack now. “If you need a test subject… I'd be willing…” Derek felt his face warm up while talking. He could blame the sun if it came up. “I haven't tried new stuff like that, my dad was the crazy combinations guy. But maybe I'll take you up on that some day.” The wind went through Titch's hair in the most gentle way and it seemed too pretty to be real life. Derek just stammered out a small “alright” in between nervous laughter and he felt Phillip nudging his foot under the table. To have an excuse to stop talking Derek just took another bite.
Maybe he was going crazy, but Derek felt like Titch was actually flirting with him. Had he gotten a heatstroke?
“No, it looks better on you.” Titch was currently tying his own tie around Derek's neck, who was starting to feel slightly insane. He had let it slip that some people from his high school were planning a reunion and Titch had offered to lend him a tie for the event. Derek didn't even know if it was the sort of event you wore a tie to, the invitation had seemed more casual than that. But who was he to say anything about that? Especially when he was getting a hot guy to tie a tie for him? They were close together and Derek had to bite the inside of his mouth to not start saying stupid things. He didn't even know what he would say, but his brain was itching to break the silence around them. Make a joke or something. But the way Titch had been acting could be flirting, and Derek didn't know what to do about that. He had been trying to subtly test the air with Titch, but he hadn't actually expected anything in return. “See? green suits you.” He took a step back and nudged Derek to look into the mirror beside him. It was his mirror, in his bedroom. Titch was currently in his flat for the first time. “Thanks…” The words were on his tongue, he just needed a push to say them. Titch tilted his head slightly. “You alright? Is the weather too hot for it?” And maybe that was all it was, the entire reason for Derek's warm face and sweaty hands. But of course that wasn't it. He knew better than that. “No…it's great.” It didn't matter really, he was going to wear the tie that Titch gave him. “You don't have to wear it…I can–” “What— no!” The look on Titch's face made Derek pause, he said that too loud. “I think you look better in green than me.” Was that even a response? Titch chuckled at him and brushed some hair behind his ear. “Thanks… but I like it better on you.” He gently grabbed the end of the tie again and Derek's brain might've stopped working. What am I doing? But it was too late he was already leaning closer to Titch. They locked eyes and Derek saw the surprise in his face. “You look good in anything…” He hadn't meant to say that either, but his brain was on strike today and he said it under his breath anyway. Titch blinked at him and Derek thought it was over. But then he felt the tug on his neck, Titch was pulling him closer by the tie and Derek practically melted into him.
They kissed, they fucking kissed.
It was still too hot outside, but they held each other close. Titch grabbed Derek's neck and his hip with the other hand. In return Derek made a small noise that he could be embarrassed about later and wrapped his arms over Titch's shoulders. They were standing weird and it took Derek an embarrassingly long time to realise that the tie was on too tightly, probably from Titch pulling on it. But it didn't matter. Time stood still and sped up simultaneously somehow, and they stumbled backwards onto Derek's bed. He pulled Titch down with him and heard him gasp in response; he almost fell on top of Derek and had to catch himself. They breathed the same hot air and moved in tandem. Derek started clumsily fiddling with the tie and Titch started laughing at him. “All my hard work.” Derek finally undid the knot and caught his breath. “You can just redo it again, right?” He bit his lip and watched as Titch started smirking a bit. “I can redo a lot of things…” He started unbuttoning Derek's shirt and Derek fucking whined. Titch caught his lips again but they were messier this time. Anytime Derek felt Titch's hands move down another button, he felt more of his brain shut off. But suddenly Titch sat up and somehow Derek was expected to think again. “Shit– your reunion—” But Derek just sat up too and pulled them together again. “Who cares?” He mumbled in between kisses but Titch wasn't listening. “Derek, you should go see your friends.” Their foreheads were pushed together and Derek was basically enchanted watching Titch lick his lips. “This is way better.” Derek practically breathed the words out and started tackling Titch's shirt. Their lips were the magnets that found each other again and Derek's fingers felt too uncoordinated to fumble with this many buttons. They both chuckled at his incompetence as Titch batted his hands away and just did it himself. He threw his own shirt on the floor and then went back to Derek's, because apparently he was now too stupid to do that himself. Derek's breath caught in his throat when his shirt was also thrown away.
Whatever was planned for the reunion couldn't be better than this and Derek would happily miss it now.