A/N I wrote this because folks wanted a companion to "Stuck Here With You" and I really didn't feel like making it a multi-chapter, so here's a companion piece instead! No beta. All grammatical mistakes are mine and mine alone.
It was a cloudy Saturday morning and Derek Hale was annoyed as usual. His beta Erica decided that he was always so grouchy because he wasn't "getting" any and that he needed to be fixed. Of course the young alpha couldn't really deny the blonde's allegations of loneliness because she was right. Derek really wasn't running around looking for some hot young thing to sleep with, not that it was hard for him. He had other things on his mind, leading a pack for one, was a tiring and tedious task but he had to do it.
He wasn't dying for companionship considering his issues with trust, and the walls he built around himself over the years so he couldn't show any weakness, these attributes weren't exactly inviting for women to just come running to him.
Despite's Derek's own protests that he was fine, Erica's perseverance eventually paid off and he was off on a date with one of her neighbors. According to his beautiful beta, the girl was a sorority sister from a near by school and she wanted some fun while she was back home. Derek only agreed for the convenience that it seemed to be a no strings attached type of deal.
Their date would be simple, dinner and a movie. Derek could do that. Then the plan would be to take her back to his house and have some of that thing called "fun" people spoke so highly of.
He made his way to his trunk, his clothes were scattered all over the place. He realized quickly that most of his stuff was bloody, dirty and ripped. His mother raised him better than to see a young woman looking like he just gotten his ass handed to him and he needed to keep up her honor even if she was long gone. The thought of his mother and everything she taught him brought a sadness to him, the way he lost them all, the violence was enough to make him angry again. He went from being a kid, to a soldier fighting a war and he was tired.
He snapped out of it quickly, the clothes still scattered all over his car. He didn't need a mother to tell him it was time to get a new wardrobe for the evening. Unfortunately he hadn't exactly been in the dating game for a while and wasn't in tune to what the women thought were presentable anymore. Actually the closest he'd been on a date in a long time was when he picked up Stiles for pizza one night when Scott was visiting family out-of-town, and they saw a movie. Although dinner and a movie with Stiles wasn't exactly the type of date he'd been looking for. For one, Stiles wasn't exactly his type, he was obnoxious, hairy, and a dude.
He had to borrow some clothes, or at least get someone to help him out so he could look okay for his date later in the evening. Unfortunately Derek didn't have many friends he could come running to. Stiles could barely dress himself, Erica's attraction to nerdy guys wasn't a good sign for her to help, Boyd wasn't into that kind of stuff... there was always Isaac, but he couldn't find him lately and he wasn't going on a lot of dates lately either. At least not with any girls, Derek said to himself.
This only left one person. Scott. He hopped into his black Camaro and made his way to Scott's house. When he got there it was quite. Mrs McCall was outside gardening, it was rare to see her out of her nurse's uniform. Her dark curls in a pony tail. She was shocked to see Derek pull up and looked taken a back as he stepped out to shake her hand and formally introduce himself. "I'm Derek Hale." he squeezed her hand, a large, toothy smile on his face. She smiled back at him.. "I know." she said, "You're the guy everyone wants dead." Derek's eyes widened and he was shocked, "I know." she smiled "..about your condition. I went on a date with your uncle too. That ended...badly." Derek laughed a nervous laugh and asked if Scott was home.
Before he went inside she stopped him quickly, asking him what he was up to, when he told her about the date situation she laughed for a few seconds before stopping to ask "and you want my son to help you? You really are a loner aren't you?" as Derek made his way to Scotts room he could hear his mother laughing outside. He felt his stomach turn when he realized asking Scott for help was not going to be a good idea after all.
He was right. When he opened the door he walked in on Scott and his best friend, Stiles sitting in a pile of their own filth. Scotts clothes were all over the floor, along with an empty pizza box and soda cans. When he walked in both of the boys looked up with shock and surprise, in exchange Derek looked at them both with disgust. "Clearly there was a junk food tornado in this room." Scott scoffed and Stiles made a face before answering back "you know, when you enter someones house you usually greet them!" he folded his arms together and look to Scott for approval. The young man looked void of any real response to the matter, and instead Derek spoke "when I walked in I said hello to Scott's mother and made small talk with her, so I did my job. You otherwise made a mess." Derek looked over at Stiles, smiling the self-assured smile he always did when he got one over on the young man. Stiles scoffed, "I made a mess? This is coming from the guy that lived in a train!" Derek wanted to rip off Stiles's head when he heard Scott's voice come from behind them, "Okay enough! First off, Stiles, what does Derek living in a train have to do with anything? Secondly, Derek, I am going to clean my mess. and thirdly, what the hell are you doing here?" Scott sounded exasperated. Derek knew why, every time he and Stiles were in a room together they couldn't help themselves.
Derek explained himself quickly, and after a lot of laughter and mockery the guys agreed that they would have to head to the mall to attempt to find something. When they got there they all felt as lost as ever. None of them were the type of guys that lingered on clothes too much, they were all t-shirt and jeans kind of men and finding nice clothes was just not in their portfolio. After an hour of staring at random button down shirts, Stiles had enough, "that's it! I am calling an expert!" before anyone could even ask, the clanking of heals consumed their ears, and Scott and Derek both turned around to see Lydia walking toward them with a smile on her face, her wavy red hair was bouncing all over the place and she looked excited to see them. The two werewolves both look at Stiles with horror and confusion, "okay so I might have texted her the moment we got here, but c'mon what do we know about fashion? Scott's mom still buys his clothes!" Scotts eyes were wide with horror, he looked like he wanted to kill his best friend.
Luckily enough for Stiles, Lydia walked up to the three guys before Scott could answer. "Help is here!" she said cheerfully, grabbing the shirt Derek was holding out of his hand and cringing at it while putting it back on the rack. "Hello to you too!" he acknowledged her with a sarcastic smile that almost looked like a scowl. "Oh, look your purse it tiny this time. Did it shrink in the wash?" he said dryly. Lydia ignored the question and walked up to him, stood on her tippy-toes so she could look at him directly in the eye, "I'm here to help you look presentable, got it? Let me do all the work, you just make sure everything fits." said to him cooly, "oh and don't try to kiss me again." she whispered at him, making sure Scott and Stiles didn't hear her. She measured him for size, and made a run for the first set of mens shirts she could find.
Derek looked at her bounce along the different racks, he was mesmerized by how diligent she was with picking out clothes, she ransacked everything in her path like a hurricane. She came back with a ton of clothes, pants, shirts, belts, he wasn't even sure he even saw half of that. But he had to admit, she was good. "Now go try everything on! Tell me what you think, and make it quick. I have homework!" she demanded of him, pushing him into the dressing room. On his way in, he gave the two guys a ferocious glare.
On his way in, he recognized the attendant at the door; it was Danny, Jackson's best friend. Danny acknowledged him as Miguel as he led him toward the first available room. He quickly tried on as many shirts as he could, he had to be on his date in only a couple of hours. Everything was going smoothly when a sudden burst of noise came from outside. His senses were quickly heightened and his immediate thoughts were that something happened. In mid undress, he could actually hear what the commotion was about. It was Lydia, demanding her way inside. "Look, I have to see what's taking so long. What if he's stuck or something? Come on Danny, you owe me!" she was loud, high-pitched, and she scared him a bit. If she was a wolf, she'd be commanding her own pack by now, whether she was an Alpha or not.
He realized what was happening and he tried to remove the shirt as fast as possible and put on his own when the door swung open and Lydia was in a huff. "Why are you taking forever?" And why is the best button down I picked out on the floor?" she had a look of fire in her eyes and Derek knew better than to mess with a passionate woman, except his head and his mouth weren't coordinating that day, because the next thing he knew he was saying exactly the opposite of what he wanted to say. "It's ugly. I am not even going to bother." she furrowed her brow at him, her tiny hands were now on his shirt trying to lift it over his head. He quickly realized what was happening, but wasn't sure he wanted to stop it. Her hands were on his stomach and they tickled a bit, she fussed about with the shirt forcing him to lift his arms over his head. A part of him wanted to stop her, but the other part knew Erica was right, he hadn't been with a woman in a while and Lydia removing his shirt was the most action he'd gotten in a while.
When his grey shirt finally came off, he saw Lydia's eyes linger on his stomach for a few seconds before she reached for the striped button down on the floor. "Like what you see?" he said with a wink and a smile. Lydia rolled her eyes, stuffing his arm inside one side of the shirt, while turning him around to get to the other one in. "I just can't believe I have to dress you." she looked exasperated.
"I never asked you to dress me. Or to come in here actually? So how about you go?" she made him so mad, so irritated, he couldn't stand it anymore. Just weeks ago they were stuffed together in Scott's closet and all she did was talk and talk. She was so loud, demanding and bossy, he didn't know how Jackson could stand her, or how Stiles could have had a crush on her for so long. The thoughts were gone when he looked at her; Her face was pale and almost angelic in the light, her eyes were bright with life. She was beautiful, that's how. "Look how nice this looks on you!" she eyed him up and down and gushed.
Derek growled at her taking the button down off fast and reaching for his shirt, "I don't like it. It doesn't fit." her eyes met his, he could see the rage forming in them and he knew he was in for some trouble, but he couldn't help it, there was something about her that he wanted to tease. There was always something about a strong woman he couldn't help but adore.
"You!" she started raising her voice, "You are like a burger. You ask for well done and it looks well done, but it's rare! that's what you are?" Derek looked down at her, confused and annoyed all at the same time. "What are you talking about?" he asked her, he quizzed her face for any sign of an answer but she just glared back at him, "You! I am talking about you. You look all nice and juicy and then you're all bloody and raw inside." he was no longer sure if he was confused or angry, but he knew one thing he needed to get out of there. If there was one thing he did want it was to be stuck in a tiny space with Lydia Martin again. "Did you just say I was juicy?" he winked at her, trying to relieve some of his own tension when she scrunched up her face and poked him in the chest "you aggravate me!" he responded just as quick "well, you're irritating I guess we're even" he said yawning at her. "Did you just yawn at me? You're going to regret that!" she was now only inches away from his face, standing on her toes once more. "I did yawn, here I am yaw-" he couldn't finish the sentence when Lydia flew up at him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, kissing him furiously. He kissed her back, his hands tangled in her hair. She jumped at him and he grabbed her legs, holding her up. She ran her fingers through his hair, massaging the back of his head.
They pulled away from each other when a quiet voice came from behind the door "Umm..Lydia, Miguel? People can hear you. You're gonna have to do that somewhere else..." the voice belonged to Danny. Finally realizing what they were doing Lydia quickly jumped off Derek, handing him the shirt, "So this is the shirt that did it for me. Okay?" she said catching her breath. Derek looked down at her and smiled to himself, he would have to get that shirt after all. Everything else was going back though, he couldn't afford all of it. He handed everything back to Danny on the way out "Shirts. No. Fit." he smiled to himself, remembering the time Stiles objectified him for his own benefit.
"So what happened with Lydia in there? We overheard the conversation, sounded like you guys were talking about meat?" asked Stiles. "Yup. She asked me to teach her how to grill a well done burger." Derek stated He looked over at Lydia who was blushing while he paid the cashier.
Scott and Stiles walked over to Scott's car on the other side of the lot, while Derek looked over at Lydia who was walking next to him, "I don't have a ride." she said looking up at him. He heard her heart beating at a mile minute, he knew girls like her, and he knew what she wanted to hear. For the first time in a long time Derek's brain and mouth finally decided to work together "I can give you a ride..." her face lit up, a big grin on her face. "Oh so I finally get to ride in that Camaro huh? Oh and cancel the date." she winked at him pulling him toward her.
"You had this planned all along didn't you?" he said, finally feeling defeated by the girls persistance. She looked up at him, her bright eyes were glowing, "Well yeah...I knew if I'd annoy you enough I'd get a ride eventually..." she kissed him once more, pulling him into the backseat and he obliged, letting her have the last word. He had a feeling she would have the last word for a long time to come.
