It's been weeks since Stiles and Danny decided they should try going out on a date. Not a word since. That had to mean something, right? Stiles nodded. Right. No. Yes. Maybe? He tried to think about it analytically.

To be fair, two of those weeks, Danny was out with his family for the holidays, so maybe they don't count?

On the other hand, school's started back up and Danny is more inclined to actually make conversations with Stiles instead of rolling his eyes, but that was happening even before the break. It's been the occasionally hanging out and studying they've been doing for a couple of months now. Stiles is…confused (and maybe just a little disappointed).

But he understands, really. It's cool, Danny could do better and it's not like Stiles is pining or anything. It just would have been nice. Danny is a good, attractive guy. Fun to hang out with, great sense of humor, and probably a great kisser, but he was also way out of Stiles' league. He had probably only really said yes because he was too nice to say 'No', so this was a way for him to sidestep the issue.

(Stiles determinedly ignores the little voice in his head saying Danny was hardly a saint and that he would have said 'No' if he meant it; the voice sounds oddly like Scott.)

"So, yeah, it's fine," Stiles announced to Scott one day, a week after Danny had gotten back. They were heading to his Jeep after practice. Coach was pushing them even harder (those of them that got to play, anyways) since the semi-finals were looming. "I asked him out, nothing happened. It's cool."

Scott looked confused. "I thought he said yes."

"Yeah, well, you know," Stiles rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, looking to the side. "It's been weeks and he hasn't mentioned anything. Message received."

"Didn't he spend two of those weeks on holiday?" Scott persisted, climbing in the car. "Hanging out with his family in Hawaii?"

"Yeah, but still. That would just make it more awkward to bring it up now. So I'm just not going to think about it." Stiles said, silently wishing Scott would stop talking about it. Before the other teen could say anything more, he said, "Hey, look there, a change of subject!"

Scott nudged Stiles' shoulder gently. "Just talk to him, man. Also, we should get food. I'm starved."

"Ugh, you're always starving. At this rate, you're going to have to get a second job to help your mom pay for the bill," Stiles said, even as he turned to head to the local burger place.

"Well, if you didn't eat half my paycheck, too. Or, hey, maybe you could get a job!"

"Psshhh, what? Let's get you some food, you're talking crazy."

Over burgers, Scott just kept encouraging Stiles to ask Danny about it (clearly Stiles still needs to work on his misdirection skills. Or Scott's just grown immune).

"Dude, just, ask him," Scott says, picking up their conversation.

"I already asked him," Stiles protested. "I made the first move, so it's his turn right? It's like chess. I move, he moves, then I move again. He has to move before I can move again. He's not moving, so that's it. Game over. No big." He takes a vicious bite out of his burger.

Scott raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of his drink. "That's…really stupid. It's a date, not a game."

Stiles defensively shoves some curly fries (mmm, curly fries) in his mouth. Maybe if he doesn't engage Scott, he'll drop the subject (he won't. Stiles knows this, but hey, hundred millionth times the charm?).

"Look, you've already asked him out. He's already said yes. You like him, he likes you. Why not just ask him again?"

Swallowing, Stiles tries to answer. "The thing is…the thing is…" He trails off. Well, the thing is Stiles isn't sure he has a good reason not to try again (it's not like he hasn't had practice with this sort of thing). Things with Danny were maybe driving him a little crazy, because, despite Stiles determination NOT to think about it, sometimes his brain latched onto things. He had been second-guessing his interpretation of events all week.

Had he really asked Danny out? Maybe it had just been a really vivid dream. That wasn't entirely implausible, Stiles heard that delusions like that could occur with recurrent head injuries (thank you, neighborhood werewolves and hunters).

Maybe he had some sort of dementia or something. He even spent some time writing a paper on dementia, instead of the history of the Spanish Inquisition, as an excuse to do some research on it. He ruled it out, eventually. In all likelihood, he had asked Danny out.

So he spends the next week reviewing their interactions since asking Danny out, looking for signs of one thing or another.

Was Danny giving signs he was waiting for Stiles to make the next move? The second move? Was this like chess, where it was Danny's turn to move? Or was it still Stiles' move? The online guides on this were…not at all helpful (more and more, Stiles was thinking maybe Scott had a point).

Were their friendly good-bye hugs more awkward? Was it because Danny was uncomfortable with Stiles' feelings? Because Stiles could totally put those feelings in a box. He was good at that, too.

And sometimes their conversations sort of trailed off and there was just this weird...lull. A conversational gap. One of them would eventually clear their throat and say something else, to get the conversation restarted. What did that mean? Did it mean anything? The lulls didn't happen before Stiles had opened his big mouth.

By week four post-date-asking, Stiles makes a decision. In for a penny, in for a pound.

"Hey Danny. Can we talk for a minute?"

So, Danny was maybe a little disappointed. He wasn't entirely surprised of course, because, really, at this point, he should be used to it. But, all the same, just…a little disappointed. It's been three weeks since Stiles had asked him out on a date and, well, nothing had happened since then. The two of them had hung out a few times, enjoying the slow first week back. But nothing date-like.

At first, Danny figured Stiles would bring it up in the first few days after he got back. Danny wouldn't have been surprised if Stiles had greeted him with a complement of plans and options for their first date; Stiles seemed like a planner, when he wasn't being impulsive. Danny admitted to himself that he had been looking forward to it.

But there's been nothing (so far, his treacherously optimistic mind added).

Normally, with another guy, Danny might have pushed, made a move of his own. But this time, Danny suspected that Stiles was regretting the date idea. The guy had a tendency to leap before he looked and, well…it wouldn't exactly be the first straight guy Danny had fallen for. Or even the first guy that had asked Danny to help with a little experimentation.

True, usually it was more like something quick and secret, but it's not like Stiles was exactly subtle about anything. Danny would be surprised if he could even hold onto a secret; the guy couldn't tell a convincing lie to save his life.

So, here was Danny. A little disappointed, but not too surprised. He tried to convince himself it was fine, that at least he had a friend to hang out and watch Red Dwarf with or discuss the awesomeness that is Terry Prachett, except now things were getting kindof awkward. Whatever his brother said, he was not moping.

"Admit it, little bro," Brian said, sitting down next to Danny. "You're moping."

Sitting down on his other side, Nick added, "It's not a good look on you. Did you and Stiles have a fight?"

Groaning slightly, Danny hunched down into the couch more, keeping his attention on the television. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Aren't you guys supposed to be in school?"

"Nope! College semester system. We're here for another few weeks," Nick said happily.

"Plenty of time for you to bring Stiles around for that family dinner," Brian said pointedly, "It's about time you brought him around to officially meet us. The two of you have been sneaking around the past couple of weeks, so you must have finally gone on your date, right?"

Danny doesn't say anything, but he doesn't have to.

"Oh…" Nick said, looking at Danny's face (Danny didn't want to know what his face looked like). "Oh man." Nick stands up, blocking Danny's view of the TV to study him. "Wait, wait, wait. Brian. I think. I think Danny really likes this guy."

Brian looks between his brothers. "What?"

"When was the last time Danny actually spent time pining over someone?" Before Danny has a chance to protest, Brian "hmm's" in agreement.

In his head, Danny groans; once his brothers' get going, there's no stopping them. They've always been overprotective of Danny, being so much older than him. It's sweet, but…kind of annoying right now.

"I'm not pining," Danny says, trying to glare through Nick. "He doesn't want to go out with me and it's fine. We can be friends."

"But, seriously, Danny-o?" Brian asked, incredulously. He had never been the tactful one in the family. "Seriously, no date yet? What are you guys waiting for, a gilded invitation from the sky or something?"

Frowning at Brian, Nick asked a little more gently, "I thought you said you guys were going on a date when you got back?"

Danny huffs in response. "Same old story. He had a change of heart and there's been nothing since. Just another straight dude going through a gay panic slash questioning phase. Whatever."

"Wait a minute. Did he actually say that?" Brian asked suspiciously. "Because, on the porch before we left? There were no signs of panic there. Kind of…no, definitely the opposite," he said with all the (possibly misplaced) authority of a first-year psychology graduate student.

Danny kind of wants to glare at his brother until he goes away (he won't), but, he maybe has a point. Of course, Brian just sighs at Danny's silence. "Seriously, little bro? I thought we taught you better than that."

"I think you need to, you know, talk to him," Nick agrees. "Be a man," he adds with a grin.

"And I think you guys need to leave it alone. I'm fine, he's fine, it's fine." Danny says. His phone beeps at him. Glancing at the screen, he waves it at his brothers. "See? Stiles and I are friends and he's coming over to hang out. It's fine."

His brother's don't look convinced, but neither of them say anything else. Danny gets up to open the door when the doorbell rings. Stiles and he will hang out, go see that Shakespeare in the park thing he mentioned in his text. Whatever. It's fine.

Danny opens the front door, revealing Stiles standing on the porch, bouncing on his toes slightly, his coat unzipped to show his usual shirt and graphic tee. "Hey Stiles. Lemme grab my coat and then we'll head out okay?"

Stiles bobs his head rapidly, oddly silent. He seems a little nervous. "Hey Danny. Could we talk for a minute?"

Picking up his coat from the family room (and ignoring the look his brothers exchange), Danny steps outside, nodding slowly at Stiles. "Yeah sure. Wanna sit down?" he asks, gesturing to the bench on the porch. Nodding, Stiles goes to sit down. Pulling the door shut behind him, Danny follows and sits next to the teen. "What did you want to talk about?"

Stiles looks at him, then away, taking a deep breath. "So…before you left for your trip, I asked you out on a date. And you said yes."

Danny's head fills with a white roar. Slightly stunned, he nods a little.

Stiles looks up, pinning Danny with warm brown eyes before continuing, "So, I get if you've changed your mind or whatever. But, I have to ask: did you just say 'yes' because you didn't know how to say 'no'? Because I get it. I do. I just…I want to know."

Danny blinks at Stiles, still speechless at the way Stiles is plowing through this conversation. Part of him wonders if Stiles will ever stop surprising him; most of him hopes he doesn't.

Stiles is still looking at him, obviously waiting for an answer. Swallowing around the sudden lump in his throat, Danny shakes his head. "No." Danny clarifies, "I mean, no, I meant yes." Stiles still looks confused.

Shaking his head again in frustration, Danny forces himself to spit it out. "I'd like to go on a date with you. But I get it if you don't; I mean, I've seen it happen with a lot of straight guys and it's okay. We can be friends."

Stiles studies Danny for a few, long moments. Danny looks back, a rebellious part of him feeling hopeful, trying to drown out the rational voice in his head. Mostly, though, his head fills with that nervous, white roar. Finally, Stiles nods decisively at something he sees in Danny's eyes. He stands up, holding his hand out. Blinking in confusion, Danny takes his hand and lets Stiles pull him up.

"C'mon, let's go."

Nodding slightly, Danny follows Stiles; he hasn't let go of Danny's hand (it feels nice). Danny is confused. "Where are we going?" he asks.

Stiles throws back his thousand-watt grin. "On a date. You and me. I've heard there's a cool Shakespeare in the park thing, then I was thinking we could get some dinner."

Danny nods, the white roar slowly fading. "Dinner and show. It's a classic date."

Somehow, Stiles grin grows even bigger. "What can I say, I'm a classy guy."

Danny snorts. "Right," he says, pointedly taking in the cartoon on Stiles' shirt. "Classy."

Stiles laughs, squeezing Danny's hand briefly before letting go to move over to the driver's side. "What can I say? I've got layers."

"Like an ogre."

"Exactly."

The white roar fades away in the face of their familiar banter. Danny maybe admits that maybe the situation was fine before, but, well, this? This is way better than fine.

A/N: I feel like I needed to put this in the series, because the way this story fits into the show's timeline, the first two stories ended around the start of the winter holiday season, which wouldn't give them much time to talk about dating. And they're teenagers, so it's kind of weird that they would be talking about it over the break versus just ignoring it and hoping for the best. So I wanted to address that awkward stage involved in getting a relationship started.

Well, really, this entire series is about all of the weird, terrible, surprising, and awesome parts of being in a relationship. I think most of the series for me is just a set-up for the final story, but hopefully it'll be a fun journey for everyone.