Archive of Our Own ^beta

Stiles had been in the library for 3 straight hours finishing up the touches on his term paper for Sociology. He was almost done actually but his concentration kept getting broken by the wonderful students who didn't seem to understand that a library generally meant silence. Silence as in no noise. Silence as in no talking. Silence as in at least whispering. He would have been in his dorm room furiously typing to energetic and encouraging music but Scott and Allison had sexiled him. Again. For the 3rd time this week.

He didn't begrudge Scott for the banishment that much since the guy was hopelessly in love with Allison and when they weren't sucking each other's faces off in front of him they were actually pretty cute together. It also didn't hurt that if he tried to put his foot down about it and demand they go somewhere else then they'd be forced to go to Allison's dorm room, which was a terrible idea because if Lydia ever got sexiled and found out that Stiles had been the cause no one would find his body. Lydia was terrifying and attractive with her strawberry blonde curls, pink lipgloss, and designer shoes, but the key point about her was that under all that beauty she was just plain terrifying. Those that got fooled by her looks learned quickly and painfully. Stiles definitely knew better.

"Hey you know that new coffee house that popped up on the corner of  Maple and West?"

"The one next to, like, that stupid dinky hat shop? Yeah. Why?"

Stiles cradled his face in his hands and slumped onto his laptop.  He wondered if saying something to these two would get him blacklisted by all the hot campus girls. Or scratched. The girls' nails looked long and lethal and painted with the blood of their enemies (or ordinary red nail polish- it was hard to tell). It was better not to risk it, since if he opened his mouth now he was pretty sure whatever would come out would get him kicked out or arrested. Plus he was still pathetically intimated by girls.

"Ugh yeah what is up with that hat shop anyways? I never see anyone going in there. Like, how does it even stay in business? Hats are totally stupid. Well, I did see Brittney Meyers walk out once, but you know. Its Brittney."

They tittered. Stiles gently knocked his forehead into the screen of his laptop. It wasn't a wall or anywhere near satisfying to the urge to scream prickling under his skin but he didn't want to pay for a cracked screen or a hospital bill for a concussion.

"Anyways that doesn't matter because I stopped in at that coffee shop and it was like AH-MAY-ZING. It was like sex for my tastebuds. Hot wet coffee action for my mouth. Totally orgasmic. Should have been served in a condom!"

That would melt you library incompetent bitch. Melt all over your cheap dime store lipstick and spray tan.

They giggled again.

"Jesus christ, Ashley. You are such a skank! I have to taste this, like right now. Lets go."

"Omigosh, yes! I just started my period today and could use a little chocolate something like an hour ago. Hey guess what? I totally saw Brittney yesterday in the store and like you'll never guess what she was wearing!"

Stiles breathed a sigh of relief into his hands and keyboard as the two chattering girls packed up and left his table. He wished they would have had that conversation an hour ago when they first sat down. It would have saved him a headache and this violent urge to choke someone. Stiles groaned quietly and realized there was no way he was going to finish his paper now and opened WoW for some therapeutic pvp.

Frost mages were OP right now after all.

===

After that infuriating close encounter of the bimbo-kind in the library, Stiles didn't stop hearing about the coffee shop. It seemed to become a strange fad on campus and he'd been hearing increasingly strange rumors about the effects of the coffee. Everyone was talking about it. Even his tiny circle of friends had fallen prey to the gossip machine.

"My lab partner's roommate said that her best friend's mom had cancer and she went in for a cup after a chemotherapy treatment and it cured her," Erica said gleefully and bit off a mouthful of the crisp red apple she was holding up to her mouth. It was a few shades darker than the lipstick she was wearing today and he was 110% sure that she'd picked it just so poor lonely relationshipless shmucks like him would take notice. Erica was evil like that.

Stiles made a face at her and stirred his macaroni around a bit jerkily. So evil. She liked to listen to the most outrageous rumors and repeat them to him just to see him react. It was a game to her. A cruel evil game that he had no hope of winning.

"One, it was probably- oh I don't know lets see. Oh! I got it- the chemotherapy putting it into remission and Two? That's ridiculous," he logically pointed out and stabbed his fork at her before taking a bite viciously.

"That's just what I heard. No need to get snippy," she snarked back and snapped off another chunk of apple as loudly as possible. She ate an apple just like Jackson did and Stiles was totally baffled sometimes that they weren't secretly twins separated at birth. They were both blonde, bitchy, and seemed to think that everyone wanted to get with them. No exceptions.

"Stiles is just cranky because some girls wouldn't shut up about it when he was writing a paper in the library. It gives him rage flashbacks." Scott said and then the traitor reached over and stole Stiles's buttery delicious roll right off his plate. 

What the actual fuck? 

"That's stupid!" he immediately denied and smacked his roll out of Scott's hand before stealing the rest of the traitor's tater tots as payment. Scott shot him a hurt confused puppy look but his transgressions in hand slapping were soon forgotten as Allison reached over to soothe the hand he was (totally dramatically) cradling to his chest. He viciously wished for the roll to be super dry and not buttery at all and then felt bad for it cause Scott was his bestie for life.

"I just think its dumb is all. It's just coffee, right? I don't understand why everyone is suddenly acting like its Twilight in a cup. Which by the way doesn't exactly improve my opinion at all," he said and stuffed all the commandeered potato goods in his mouth in one go. 

Erica laughed in his face. Mockingly. Like she thought Stiles was full of shit.

Rude.

"I dunno I thought Twilight was okay," Isaac admitted and ducked his head back into his own plate of macaroni and chicken strips to hide his face. Erica made cooing noises at him and petted his curls. Stiles didn't really blame her since Isaac was kind of adorable. Liking Twilight was not adorable though.

Boyd continued to silently judge them all and nom on pizza at the same time. Stiles wished more of his friends were like Boyd. He kind of prefers the silent judging to this.

"I'm not even going to list all the reasons about how it was in fact, not okay, and how its even more not okay for you to say in any way shape or form because I value our friendship," Stiles informed Isaac after he'd chewed and swallowed and avoided choking in disgust.

Isaac looked over at him coyly from under his eyelashes and smiled sweetly. Then he ruined their beautiful bromance moment by adding, "I went for coffee there this morning and it kind of lives up to all the hype, too."

Stiles did choke on his soda then and sprayed it all over Erica's flashy designer top and then her eyes flashied eerie yellow. He scooted back his chair with un ugly screech and ran for his life.

===

Two days later Stiles on the corner of West and Maple St. He was standing on the sidewalk staring at the glass door with 'Corner Coffee' printed on it in white loopy letters along with a much more legible and boring list of business hours. There were cozy modern looking black tables for two lined on the sidewalk along with a chalkboard sign advertising the weekly special in neat boxy letters. Someone had sketched a steaming mug in white and brown chalk under 'Deaton's Special Blend' on it. The inside was decorated in neutral shades of brown, green, and blues. 

There was a section inside made up of more of the same modern blocky table and chair sets as outside and another of mismatched loveseats, sofa chairs and a couch around a coffee table. Ha. A coffee table in a coffee house. Clever. There were framed pictures of what looked like photos and prints of Celtic artifacts hanging on the walls. He was pretty sure those were Celtic knots at least. Maybe. It looked cozy and comfortable inside. The couches inside were all full and most of the inside tables were too since it was really too cold for sane people to be sitting outside much less standing on sidewalks gawking. Only a few brave hard souls were making use of the exterior seating. 

The line wasn't very long though. He could go in and go out and once and for all put a stop to all the stupid jokes at his expense. It would take 10 minutes and if the coffee sucked then he could throw it out and make everyone who endorsed it pay him back via curly fries or something. It wasn't a big deal.

"Are you going to go in or what?"

Stiles shrieked and whirled around to face the guy who had just scared the ever loving crap out of him. His mouth was open to unleash a torrent of verbal abuse but one look at the guy had his jaw dropping open in surprised arousal instead.

The dude was around his height and encased in a black leather jacket that clung to the guy's ridiculous pecs and biceps indecently. He had short slightly upturned black hair that Stiles immediately wanted to run his fingers through and sideburns- oh those sideburns- that tapered off into a delicious amount of stubble covering his cheeks and chin. His eyes were a gorgeous light hazel and were also glaring at him. Hard. Like his muscles. And Stiles's dick.

Stiles squeaked.

The guy's nostrils flared and he glared harder. And why wouldn't he glare harder. Stiles was just standing there in his way like an idiot gaping at him like some mannerless....mannerless thing. That was named Stiles.

"..o-or,,,um...or what," he mumbled out lamely and scrambled away tosprint around the corner and out of sight. 

He sometimes wondered why he was even allowed to talk sometimes.

===

Stiles had managed to avoid Erica for four days in total since the coke and Twilight incident before she ambushed him on his way to the dorms. They both had a class at the same time in the same building on Friday afternoon, so he'd been prepared and lifted the hood on his jacket over his head before 'casually' speedwalking toward the nearest exit. He'd almost made it to the doors before a clawed hand snagged him backwards. She cackled at his pathetic flails for freedom and tugged him so the hood feel off and he was forced to look up backwards at her smirking red lips and cruel cruel brown eyes.

He should have known there'd be no way he could keep hiding from a werewolf, but nothing in the world would keep from at least trying.

"Hi, Erica." He gave her a little wave as best he could bent backwards with finger wriggles and all.

"Stiles. I almost didn't see you there. I wonder why that is? It couldn't be that you were trying to avoid me after spitting coke all over my $250 top and weasel out of making it up to me by becoming my slave for the rest of the day, right?" she said with mock concern.

Stiles shook his head back and forth as fast as he could until he felt kind of dizzy. 

"Nope. No. No that doesn't sound like me at all. I would never do that. To you. Ever," he lied. 

She just smiled in the typical cat who got the canary fashion she favored and let him go. Stiles flailed around for balance and resisted the urge to see if anyone was watching his humiliation. He was better off not knowing. 

Once he was back on two steady feet Erica hooked arms with him and pulled him in a seemingly random direction. On any other day he'd be happy to have a pretty girl on his arm but this was Erica and her idea of fun spelt pain for him. Not the good kind either. 

"Where are we going? What are you going to do with me?...Will it hurt?" 

Erica giggled and hip checked him even though she was still holding onto his arm, so mostly he just stumbled pathetically and almost sent them both into the grass.

"I'm in the mood for coffee," she replied ambiguously. 

Well that wasn't so bad actua-

No. Oh no. He couldn't show his face there again because what if he ran into that ridiculously hot guy he'd made a fool of himself in front of? No. This was not happening.

Stiles untangled himself from her and tried to flee in the other direction but apparently Erica had foreseen this with her wolfy powers because Isaac and Boyd suddenly appeared in front of him and caught him. They dragged him back to Erica and the four of them all headed toward Corner Coffee.

He tried to text Scott for help but the idiot wasn't answering his phone. Like always he was too busy sucking face with Allison to be useful. Stiles kind of figured that was okay because there wasn't much Scott could do against three werewolves that Stiles could do himself.

==

So apparently this was happening. Go figure.

Erica and Isaac each had one of their arms linked in his and held tight every time he tried to squirm away. Boyd followed behind their strange procession silently and probably there to catch him in case he did manage to slip his captors. They all sucked. Even Scott. He was going to go make new friends after this and never talk to any of them ever again. 

"I hate you all, just so you know and I'm never talking to any of your ever again," he informed them.

Isaac snorted and said, "I'm sure that'll last five minutes at best and I doubt you can find people that will put up with your babble that easily."

Erica just laughed at him and he was totally offended and it only made him want new friends more.

They led him inside the doors and the rich smell of fresh coffee and delicious baked goods filled his nose. Oh god it smelled divine in there. Okay so maybe he should have just given in and came here sooner because even if the coffee sucked there were definitely apple fritters in that dessert case and Stiles could never say no to apple fritters.

While he was distracted Erica snuck her other hand into his pocket and snatched his wallet and headed off to get in line with Boyd. Stiles could only sputter at her and she predictably ignored him. Isaac sensed his distraction and pulled him over to the couches, spun him around, and shoved him into a love seat. A love seat that already had someone else sitting in it. A male someone who had his face covered in a book. The guy's drink was thankfully sitting on the coffee table and not in his hands because Stiles kind of knocked into him a little bit thanks to Isaac's roughness.

"Sorry! Sorry! I'm sorry!" he frantically apologized and scrambled toward the arm rest as far as he could and away form the poor guy before he finally got a good look at him.

When he finally did he kind of wanted to die. Or disappear. Or die and then his corpse disappear so no one would be able to find and then hopefully forget that he ever existed.

It was the ridiculously hot guy that he had made a fool out of himself in front of. Again.

Thankfully the ridiculously hot guy wasn't even looking at him to see whatever stupid expression he had on his face because hot dude was glaring at Isaac who had sat down on the couch perpendicular from them. Isaac smiled innocently back at the hot stranger. 

Stiles slowly eased up off the cushions. Maybe if he moved slowly enough no one would notice if he slipped out the door. He didn't care if Erica had his wallet. She could cook up all the evil schemes she wanted with it. He was never going to leave his dorm room again. Not even for class. 

Apparently he didn't ease up slowly enough or whatever though because Hot Guy turned to glare at him instead of Isaac and whoa he looked even angrier than last time. It didn't make him any less hot, unfortunately. Stiles froze in the middle of crawling over the arm rest and stared back like a deer caught in the headlights. 

He heard Isaac sigh but couldn't look away from hot guys angry hazel glare to check on the state of his ex-friend. Maybe if he just stayed still enough he could pretend he was a particularly lifelike cushion someone brought in. Right. Yeah.

"Derek, stop scaring him. He doesn't know that your face can only express one emotion yet," Erica chastised as she came up behind him. She tossed his wallet onto the cushions in between him and Ridiculously Hot Guy who was apparently named Derek. Who Erica knew. And probably Isaac. Boyd too since he was here as well.

What.

Derek shot Erica a look and reached over to pull Stiles off the armrest so he would sit on the furniture like a civilized person. Stiles continued to gape at him wordlessly. Erica rolled her eyes at both of them and shared an exasperated glance with Isaac before walking back to the counter to help Boyd carry their drinks.

Stiles finally snapped out of his state of stupor and decided that talking would be a good way to distract himself from being in such close proximity with this much attractiveness smashed into one being. Derek had gone back to reading his book in an attempt to ignore everyone around him. He should probably just leave the guy alone but he was nervous and when he was nervous he tended to have diarrhea of the mouth. Badly. 

It was kind of his thing.

"So. Um. I'm Stiles," He started hesitantly and licked his lips as Derek looked away from the book to stare at him intensely (Derek seemed to do everything intensely), "You probably don't remember me but I kind of sort of met you the other day. Except not. Because we didn't really talk much. I was just there standing in your way and you- um. Asked me if was going to go inside? And then I acted like a total freak and ran away. Kind of like how I was just acting a few minutes ago and oh my god please don't hold it against me its just that you're kind of stupidly attractive and I kind of don't know how to deal."

Stiles winced as Isaac laughed at him. He was such an idiot should not actually be allowed to talk ever. He should have a warning sign around his neck that said 'Caution: Contents contain dangerous levels of stupid.' Derek's face didn't change and even though he didn't really know what that meant at least he wasn't looking at Stiles in disgust or anything.

"I remember you," Derek said while still staring at him with his weirdly powerful gaze. 

Stiles suddenly kind of found it a little bit hard to breathe. 

Erica chose that moment to save him and come back to push a large cup of coffee into his hands. Boyd handed off Isaac his coffee and sat down on the opposite end of the couch.

"Of course you remember Stiles. You've only been stalking him for 6 months," Erica said and sat down with her own coffee in between Boyd and Isaac.

"It's not stalking," Derek growled back at her.

Wait what?

Stiles widened his eyes in shock and looked to Derek for an explanation since Erica just smirked behind her coffee like a criminal mastermind. Stalking? What was this about stalking? 

Derek was making a point of not looking at him and pretending he was reading his book again, his entire body tense. He was even holding it upside down. It was super obvious. Isaac and Erica where both chortling into their coffee but Stiles didn't care because there was a slightly flushed tint to Derek's cheekbones.

He was blushing.

"I'm not stalking you," Derek said into the book.

"Okay," Stiles replied easily while looking at Derek in wonder.

"I've just seen you around a lot," Derek elaborated like Stiles didn't exactly believe him. Which he totally did because why would someone like Derek stoop to stalking someone like Stiles? Erica was just trying to embarrass them both to death for unknown reasons.

"Alright," he agreed.

"He's stalking you," Isaac gasped breathlessly in between helpless giggles. 

Derek growled at them and blushed harder.

"Its okay," Stiles said carefully still not looking away from Derek. "I wouldn't mind if he was," he continued and finally took a sip of his coffee. 

Oh my god.

Derek finally cut out his Luna Lovegood impression and snapped his eyes to Stiles's in surprise. Stiles would have said something else to him or smiled or anything really but he was too busy making orgasmic noises at the taste of the motherfucking coffee.

Stiles moaned loudly enough for a few people at the tables to glance over at them weirdly. Derek was frozen in place and staring at him like Stiles had just slapped the poor guy or something. Stiles ignored that and gestured to the cup he was holding with his free hand.

"Jesus fucking christ have you tasted this? What the hell is this? This isn't coffee. It's liquid ambrosia for the gods. Us mere mortals are not meant to ingest this. It tastes like blasphemy. Delicious blasphemy."

"Told you," Isaac chirped. 

Boyd hummed in agreement.

"It's Deaton's Special Blend and I have more restraint than Isaac so I'm not going to say I told you so," Erica said smugly.

Stiles was never going to hear the end of this. He couldn't believe he wasted so much of his life not drinking this coffee. That annoying girl in the library hadn't been kidding. Jesus Christ.

"It really is like hot wet orgasmic coffee action for your mouth," he whispered wonderingly. Derek made a strange noise next to him and he flushed when he realized that he hadn't exactly said that as quietly as he'd thought. Oops. 

Stiles peeked a glance at Derek just in time to see his eyes flash a startlingly light and unnatural blue. Suddenly the loveseat felt even smaller to him because apparently he was sitting all cozy and cute next to a fucking werewolf. He'd signed up for Lycanthropy 101 his freshman year once he'd met his group of friends so he knew a thing or two. He knew all about their super senses. Like how Derek could smell arousal and hear his heartbeat and know it was for him.

Oh god that would probably explain how Erica, Isaac, and Boyd knew him. Derek was probably in their pack.

"So you're a werewolf?" Stiles asked Derek and turned to the couch before Derek could even think about answering him. It was a rhetorical question anyways. "Is he in your pack, guys? Oh god you were totally just kidding about the stalking thing because he has super senses and can't help but notice things because you're evil and I just flirted with him and he only knows of me because of al the times I was making a spectacle of myself in public. Like I am right now. Right. Of course. Because why would someone like me show up on the radar of someone who looks like...Derek." Stiles made a gesture with both hands in Derek's general direction without looking at him. He managed to miraculously not spill coffee on himself too.

Stiles stared at the couch of his giggling friends (okay well Boyd was smirking but Stiles totally knew that he was giggling on the inside) and cringed. He was used to humiliating himself and playing it off by now, but he'd actually for a moment thought that Derek by some measure of god might actually be a tiny bit interested in him. He kind of needed to leave for a bit to lick his wounds.

"Well its been...um...lovely but I'm just gonna....yeah," he said to the coffee table and stood. Before he could leave though a hand snapped out and grabbed his free wrist. A clawed hand judging by the slight pin pricks he felt on his skin before they receded. Stiles flailed in surprise and gaped at the hand before following up the arm it was attached to and finally to Derek's totally blank face. 

What.

"Stay," Derek ordered (!?) and jerked Stiles back down to sit on the couch. Stiles was really too surprised to resist, not that he could do much against amazing (hot) werewolf strength, but the point was that Stiles kind of just bonelessly went with the movement. Unfortunately that meant his fingers went kind of boneless too he and lost his grip on his coffee about the same time he was falling into the couch. It sailed up into the air and landed in Erica's lap while Stiles landed in Derek's.

Erica's growl made the entire shop freeze in silence for 30 seconds. 

Stiles watched in horrified silence as rivulets of sticky hot coffee pooled on her lap and ran down her legs into her boots. The parts of him that weren't freaking out over what had just happened (and over being halfway sprawled onto Derek) were mourning the loss of his drink because it had just been that delicious. Derek's fist tightened on his wrist (and wasn't that funny that Derek hadn't even let go) and growled back at Erica. His eyes widened as he felt the rumble against his back. It was really worryingly sexy and he was very close to popping an inappropriate boner in public surrounded by four werewolves who could smell it.

Stiles bit back a whimper, but a tiny sound escaped him anyways. Then suddenly he was being lifted upright. Stiles looked in confusion to the furious Erica (who was still growling and half wolfed out with a lazer hot furious stare directed at him), to the suddenly uneasy looking Isaac and Boyd who had a comforting/restraining hand on Erica's shoulder. Derek jerked him around and Stiles blinked dizzily past his shoulders at the staring whispering patrons and stumbled to keep upright. 

What the fuck was going on here?

Suddenly he was being scooped up in a fireman's carry over Derek's shoulder who promptly whisked them out the door and onto the busy sidewalk.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

"Put me down! Are you insane?! Are you out of your wolfy mind? Is kidnapping helpless humans some kind of werewolf pastime they forgot to add to the textbooks? Despite what Erica and Isaac may or may not have told you I am not actually a sack of potatoes," Stiles snarked from his fine view of Derek's ass. The angle was all wrong but he would ogle what he could when he could thank you very much. He was an ogle opportunist. 

Derek growled at him and jostled him roughly. Stiles scrambled for purchase and ended up clutching the waistband of the werewolf's illegally tight jeans. He hoped it stretched them out.

"That wasn't nice. Actually nothing about you is nice right now at all sans your insanely ripped body. Where are you taking me? Why are you taking me? Did I morally offend Erica's wolvlihood by spraying liquids on her twice in one week and you're doing your packly duty by doing away with me? Because I'm not okay with that. I have a father and people who will miss me and we have something in the 21st century called drycleaning and showers. I'm sure you're not aware of since you're a werewolf caveman who cavemans," Stiles said to Derek's butt. He honestly wasn't sure if he liked it better than Derek's face since they were both stupidly attractive just like the rest of him. This caveman routine was definitely unattractive outside of sexy times, though.

"Shut up," Derek replied.

Stiles gaped at the sidewalk and seriously wondered if he could pull Derek's pants down from this position and escape in the confusion. Only a tiny part of liked than plan just to answer the question of boxers or briefs. Okay maybe more than a tiny part.

"Uh. No? You don't get to kidnap me from my friends in a public and crowded place and then tell me to shut up when I voice complaints okay, dude? That is not how it goes. You'd better be glad I gave my rape whistle to Lydia last month otherwise you'd be in big trouble, you big sour wolf. Sourwolf. That's your new name now. Congrats," Stiles said while wiggling restlessly. The blood was starting to pool uncomfortably to his head and the sidewalk was looking strangely familiar to him now. Were they on campus?

"She was growling at you," Derek explained after a few minutes of silence (which actually explained nothing at all) and walked them into a building with even more familiar flooring.

"Erica? Yeah she's a werewolf. Werewolves growl. You should know this since according to your baby blue wolfy eyes you were born this way. You're on the right track baby. There ain't no other way. Hell, you growled at me too just now," Stiles blurted out and then winced. Lady Gaga jokes? Really Stiles?

"That's different," Derek hedged and before Stiles could angrily demand how that exactly was any different Derek stopped walking and knocked forcefully on a door. Stiles sagged tiredly as he heard Scott yell, "Just a minute!" 

That answered his 'where are you taking me' question then. Stiles really had hoped that at least one of his friends wouldn't have to see him like this but the universe was just not on his side today. He groaned and rhythmically knocked his face into Derek's back in frustration. 

"Um," Scott said once he'd opened to door and saw Derek and the lower half of his best friend. (Surprise!) Derek ignored him and forced his way inside dropping Stiles onto his bed like he was dead weight. Stiles bounced and glared at him before swinging his legs over the side and sitting up. He decided to ignore Scott who was still frozen by the doorway and looking hopelessly confused like a puppy.

"I'm going to do us both a favor and assume you knew where my dorm was and what bed was mine by smell alone and not because you really are actually stalking me. Mostly because the thought of that is really more flattering than creepy to me and I'm not sure what that says about my psyche," Stiles stated. It was sadly true. Derek was just that attractive.

"Um. I'm just gonna go see what Allison is doing, okay dude? Call me later," Scott awkwardly said and grabbed his phone and keys before quietly shutting the door. Stiles watched him go before switching his gaze back to stare at Derek. Derek who standing silently with that blank expression of his in Stiles's dorm room looking deliciously out of place in the mess of clothes, food wrappers, and crumbs littering the floor.

"I'm not stalking you," Derek repeated.

"Okay," Stiles agreed.

Then took a breath for courage, ignored the butterflies in his stomach, and after a moment continued, "You know instead of not stalking me we could you know. Do something else? Something where when you see me around you actually come and talk to me instead of lurking around in the background or whatever you do. And we could go do stuff together. Have coffee? Dinner? Somewhere in this we could also have a conversation about how if you ever carry me off over your shoulder like that again without saying anything or explaining where we're going I'll punch you in your pretty face and probably break my hand on your cheekbones."

Derek's eyes flashed blue at the mention of Stiles breaking his hand, but he nodded stiffly in agreement and quietly said, "Okay." And that was great. That was wonderful.

Stiles beamed at him. Derek looked back at him a little bit lost and shocked just like he had at the coffee shop when Stiles had moaned. Stiles wasn't really sure what that look meant but he couldn't wait to find out. He couldn't wait to find out a startlingly large amount of things about Derek.

"So we should team up and buy Erica something nice to appease her so she doesn't kill us in our sleep. I'm thinking a gift card because anything we pick out she'll hate because we are men with no taste," Stiles suggested hopefully and picked absently at a stray thread on his bed spread.

"She likes steakhouses. We could go have dinner and pick one up. I'll pay since it was technically my fault," Derek offered hesitantly, still looking at Stiles in a cautious manner.

"Only if it's a date," Stiles replied bravely. He was pretty sure he wasn't wrong on this.

Derek inhaled sharply, nostrils flaring. His gorgeous eyes brightened and lost the cautious edge to them.

"It's a date," he agreed slowly while staring at Stiles intensely.

Stiles slowly grinned. 

Awesome.

===

"So did like you hear about what happened the other day?"

"No what?"

"This like really geeky dude was drinking coffee at that new coffee house, right? He ended up spilling it on this girl but that's not the point. The point is he totally ended up being carried over some super hot guy's shoulder out the door for some hanky panky and they were seen at a steakhouse the very next night. Like the hot guy was like waaaaay out of the geeky dude's league. He wasn't even in the same solar system."

"Oh my god no way! Was it like the really hot guy who wears the leather jacket? I've been trying to work up the nerve to talk to him for like weeks!"

"Ugh I hope not! He's so hot! All the good ones are like taken or gay."

"Or both."

"Ohmigod tell me about it. Oh! Look there's Brittney. Oh my god is she actually wearing horizontal stripes at her size? Do you see this?"

"Hey maybe if we ask her to get some coffee it'll like magically give her an actual fashion sense."

"Oh my god! You are so bad!"

"I know!"