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“Later, I promise, okay sweetheart,” Derek said. “I’ll call you soon.”
The line disconnected and Stiles lowered his cell, staring blankly for a full ten seconds before blinking and going over their conversation or rather, the last ten seconds of the conversation. Sweetheart? Derek hadn’t ever called him that before. There’d been a ‘baby’ maybe once, ‘babe’ a couple of times but never any other kind of endearment. Stiles hadn’t even given it much thought, just figured they weren’t the kind of couple who had pet names, which was fine by him because he wasn’t sure what he’d call Derek - ‘Honey’, ‘Darling’, ‘Hot Stuff’ ? – but Derek had said it so gently, apologetic in not being able to talk for long and extremely apologetic that he’d had to change their plans that evening, that it had caught Stiles unaware.
He could feel himself blushing, the kind of hot flush that Derek usually created when he was there, hands all over him, mouth exploring every inch of skin he could access. Stiles hadn’t ever felt like that merely because of a word, but it was the way in which Derek had said it, the tone, the endearment. Like he meant it – Stiles wasn’t sure what he thought of that, other than it was incredibly overwhelming, but incredibly warming too.
“So – he coming tonight or what?” Scott asked impatiently, bringing Stiles back to Earth with a bang, having gotten lost somewhere in the atmosphere the moment his boyfriend had dropped a pet name into conversation without a hint of sarcasm attached.
“Huh, oh uh, he – he’s running late,” Stiles babbled quickly as he busied himself at his locker. “May not make it.”
“You okay?” Scott asked, peering at him closely and obviously sensing something was wrong as Stiles felt his heart race with embarrassment. He so wasn’t going to explain to his best friend that his boyfriend had a) used a pet name and b) it made him all flustered and bashful, because it was quite frankly the sweetest thing in the world right now and Stiles kept turning it over and over in his mind.
“Fine, I’m fine,” Stiles replied adamantly. “Phew, it’s hot in here right? I mean they got the heating on or something?”
Scott’s brows knitted together as he looked at him closely, “It’s the locker room, the AC’s on and are you sure you’re okay? Maybe you’re coming down with something.”
“Yeah, maybe, whatever, so tonight, I can meet you, don’t know what time Derek will be there though,” Stiles said quickly, tongue stumbling over his words. “Guess he’ll be there when he’s there right? Kay so – I’ll be round about six, okay? I gotta go. Later. Bye.”
~
“Derek’s here,” Scott smiled as he glanced over at Stiles, sensing Derek before he even reached the house. “Guess he could make it.”
Stiles shot up and headed for the door before Scott could say any more, but his heart hammered in his chest and he felt himself flush. It was ridiculous, people had called him pet names before but this was stupid. He couldn’t get it out of his head and now he felt nervous to see his boyfriend and knowing that boyfriend would pick up on his emotions when he saw him didn’t help the situation.
“Hey you,” Stiles declared, opening the door when he saw a shadow on the porch as Derek approached. It wasn’t the single most awkward moment of his life, but it felt close. He kept one hand on the door and the other he sorta, kinda waved in a weird motion as Derek came to a pause and gave him a confused stare.
“What’s wrong?” Derek immediately asked.
“Nothing,” Stiles shook his head, trying to lean on the door only it moved and he stumbled before regaining his stance and looked as normal as he possibly could. “What’s wrong with you?”
Derek frowned deeper and stepped closer, “What’s going on?”
“What’s with all the questions?” Stiles admonished, feeling himself flush. He grabbed Derek by the arm and pulled him closer. “C’mere.”
At least the kiss felt normal, that was something Stiles could get on board with. Derek steadied himself with a hand on his hip as he kissed him softly and Stiles began breathing normally again. When they peeled apart he grinned.
“So, you hungry? I kept some pizza for you,” Stiles informed him as he ushered him through the door.
“Yeah I’ll have some,” Derek nodded, slipping off his jacket. “Then later you can tell me what’s got you so tense.”
“I’m not tense!” Stiles protested much too loudly.
Derek frowned again, rubbing a hand up and down his arm, “Okay one, you can’t lie to me. I mean you’re a terrible liar to begin with but, you know, I can tell when anyone is remember? Your heart rate is way elevated, you’re breathing funny, your cheeks are flushed, you’re acting weird. Have you done something? Did I do something?”
“No you didn’t do anything,” Stiles shook his head, hating how his body betrayed him and feeling stupider and sillier by the second that such a trivial thing as one word could cause so much worry.
“So I did do something,” Derek frowned deeper, sighing. “Just tell me, because honestly I can be pretty clueless with this whole relationship stuff and if I did something that’s got you so weirded out I need to know so I don’t do it again.”
“No really, it’s nothing, seriously,” Stiles took his hand and dragged him into the den, feeling the need for a little privacy. “Honestly it isn’t anything Derek.”
“Then why are you all - you know-,” Derek waved a hand in his basic direction, completely confused by the signals he was picking up on.
“Oh god, seriously,” Stiles scrubbed a hand over his face, hating himself, hating Derek’s supernatural senses, hating that this all had become some major thing. It was a term of endearment for Christ sake. Before he could stop himself he blurted out, “You – you called me sweetheart okay!”
Derek stared at him for a long time before blinking, frowning again, “You’re freaking out because I called you sweetheart?”
“No – no I am not freaking out,” Stiles shook his head violently before taking his hands. “I – it caught me off guard is all and hello, you’ve known me for how long now, you know how my brain catches on to things like a dog to a bone. I haven’t stopped thinking about it all day.”
Derek didn’t understand and shrugged his shoulders, “Why? Was it – did I cross a line? Tell me if I did.”
“No, no seriously,” Stiles moved as close as he could be whilst still looking him in the eye. “It was nice, but like I said, I wasn’t expecting it. We’ve never done the whole terms of endearment stuff so I – it felt good okay and then I felt stupid because of the way it made me feel because it’s only a freaking word and why would anyone feel like this because someone called them a pet name.”
“How did it make you feel?” Derek asked him quietly with a small smile.
Stiles smiled bashfully and glanced down at their hands that were caught between their chests, “Uh – good I guess. You know, it felt nice, I liked it. Stupid right?”
“Not if it made you feel good,” Derek shook his head. “Not stupid at all. Sweetheart.”
“Okay you don’t need to drop it into conversation all of the time,” Stiles rolled his eyes at him.
“Maybe I like using it,” Derek said, letting go of his hands to cup his face instead. “You’re adorable you know that?”
“One of the many reasons you go out with me,” Stiles smiled in reply. “A whole lot of crazy, wrapped up in adorable.”
“Only you would go all ‘Stiles’ over a pet name,” Derek chuckled lightly. “You had me really worried for a few minutes. I thought I’d done something to fuck all of this up.”
“Nah,” Stiles replied with a laugh. “Not today anyway.”
~ fin ~