Work Text:
‘Hey, Stiles.’
Stiles turns around so fast he feels a little dizzy. When the world stops moving Laura Hale’s grinning face comes into focus.
‘Hey, Laura,’ he says cautiously. It’s not that he doesn’t like her, but when she’s smiling like that it usually means she’s up to something.
‘What a coincidence, me running into you here.’
Stiles squints at her. It doesn’t sound like Laura thinks it’s coincidence. It sounds like this is the opposite of a coincidence, the furthest away from a coincidence this can get, in fact. He glances around for Scott, not wanting to get dragged into one of Laura’s schemes by himself, but his friend is nowhere to be found. He was just here, looking picture frames with him.
‘And lucky, too.’
And he’s in. He can’t help himself. He has to know. ‘Why lucky?’
‘Because now you can help me find Derek,’ Laura says, schooling her expression into something that could easily be mistaken for innocent by people who don’t know her.
‘Can’t you just…’ Stiles gestures at his nose.
‘Too many people around.’
And now Laura is looking lost and sad with her big green eyes. Damnit.
‘Okay, fine,’ Stiles sighs, mostly because he can’t for the life of him figure out what Laura could possibly gain from him helping her find Derek in an IKEA. ‘How did you lose him anyway? He’s huge, like a hunky caveman. Don’t you dare tell him is said that,’ Stiles adds when he sees the glimmer in Laura’s eyes.
‘What happens in IKEA,’ Laura says, miming zipping her lips shut. ‘I don’t know. We were looking at lamps, and then he was gone.’
‘Right, because losing a twenty-two year-old, built like a god, with a face Michelangelo wouldn’t be able to make improvements on, and the presence of a comfy warm blanket, is totally possible. Especially with your superpowers,’ Stiles says as they start walking. He can find Scott later.
‘You’re not a very trusting person, are you?’
‘Not when it comes to you, no. You once tricked me into giving you my ice cream.’
‘That was like ten years ago,’ Laura waves away.
‘And you made me and Cora clean your car, because we thought we were the ones who’d muddied it. And this was two weeks ago.’
‘Did I ever thank you for that, by the way?’
‘No. You did not.’
Laura hums, but doesn’t say anything else. Just rounds the corner into the living room department.
‘Okay, so where do we need to start looking for your GQ model of a bro– Ha. Hi, Derek,’ Stiles squeaks. His face immediately feels like it’s on fire. He stumbles back into Laura, who shoves him forward so he almost falls into Derek.
‘Hey, Stiles,’ Derek says.
Stiles doesn’t move. He barely dares to breathe, because there’s no more than a foot between them and he can smell Derek. It’s a nice smell. He looks up at Derek, and immediately realizes he shouldn’t have done that either, because the look on Derek’s face clearly shows he heard the GQ model comment. There’s something very complicated going on with those eyebrows, part confusion and part something that Stiles isn’t sure how to identify.
‘You like how I look?’ Derek asks.
‘There was also a comment earlier about your presence being like a warm, comfy blanket,’ Laura supplies.
Stiles turns and glares at her.
‘You said you wouldn’t tell him!’
‘No, I said I wouldn’t tell him you thought he looked like a hunky caveman.’ Laura’s grin can only be described as diabolical. ‘Oops. Hey, there’s Scott. I’m gonna go say hi.’
Stiles looks after her as she walks to where his friend who miraculously popped up at that moment. He was probably in on this, Stiles realizes.
‘You find me comfortable?’ Derek asks.
‘Yes?’ Stiles says, turning back to face him. He peeks up from underneath is eyelashes. Derek is looking at him with wonder and happiness, his eyes wide, the tips of his ears a little red. Stiles’ heart is racing, and he’s never felt this brave. ‘And, because of that, I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me?’
Derek is smiling now, the brightness of it almost blinding Stiles.
‘I would love that.’
‘Good. Awesome. That’s great,’ Stiles grins back. He can’t look away from Derek, and Derek isn’t looking away from him. Stiles is more than happy to stand here forever, staring at Derek’s beautiful smile, in the middle of IKEA, but there’s a tap on his shoulder and a harassed looking woman with three children hanging off her looks at him with pleading eyes.
‘Sorry,’ Stiles says, only now realizing they’re standing in the middle of the path. He grabs Derek’s arm and pulls him in the direction Laura and Scott disappeared into.
When they’re moving along with the stream of people moving through the store, Stiles drops his hand, letting it brush against Derek’s. A warm tingle shoots up his arm.
‘I can’t believe Laura used her evil for good once,’ Stiles says.
‘I wouldn’t be too sure of that,’ Derek snorts. ‘She’s probably gonna make us repaint her house, or redo her garden, or something.’
Stiles looks up at Derek, who is already looking back at him, and shrugs.
‘Worth it.’
Derek links their pinkie fingers. ‘Definitely.’