To Live a Coffee Shop AU

Stiles is totally okay with his job.

Seriously.

Sure, it's a quiet little coffee shop – cliché of clichés, right?

It's not like he's expecting to meet someone insanely perfect and fall in love with them in the cheesiest of ways, to subtly flirt with them every time they come in to order a cup of coffee (or, God forbid, cocoa, because how cute would that be?), and they would – hypothetically – come in a lot.

He doesn't. Really. He would swear it on his goldfish's grave. (Because, well, it was a lie, and he didn't mind committing perjury by Sparky. Plus they flushed the little guy down the toilet. Surely it doesn't actually count, cause he doesn't have a grave!)

Even if he did, no girls – or guys, because he recently found that he batted for both teams. Found was actually the wrong term, actually Lydia- you know what? Story for another time – had wandered into the store who really caught his eye.

Except Lydia Martin, but he didn't view her as much more than a sister nowadays.

One day someone amazing would walk through those doors, though. Someone amazingly pretty, with eyes you could get honestly lost in would slide into a seat at the little bar (which was quite cute. The owners set it up to look like an actual bar) and grin up at him and oh shit he has a customer.

"Sorry!" He ducks below the counter to grab a ticket and pen. He looks up with a smile that quickly fades into an open-mouthed stare. The man in front of him is, is... amazingly pretty, and insanely perfect.

"Um," Mr. Perfect raises an eyebrow and Stiles jumps.

"Sorry! Can I do you?" At the guy's shocked look, he quickly adds, "How... Your coffee. How can I do your coffee?" Nice save. The guy is still quiet, eyes wide. "Though the offer still stands."

Great, subtle flirting, check.

After a moment, Mr. Perfect collects himself, "Actually, I wanted some hot chocolate."

"That's cute," Stiles blurts, the thought of the admittedly big guy sipping on a mug of cocoa was too much. "I mean, cool, I'll... do that."

He hits his forehead against the cocoa dispenser as he presses a mug against the latch. "Whipped cream, cinnamon, marshmallows?"

"All of the above," The guy sounds like he's scared Stiles is going to confess his undying love for him. Well, he won't. Not yet.

"Really?" He can't help teasing him, though. "Got a bit of a sweet tooth?"

"I hear no end of it from my sisters."

He gets an extra marshmallow for existing, Stiles decides, sliding the guy his drink and the sugar cookie, which goes with the drink, and is not in any way an extra marshmallow kind of deal. He wants to ask more about the guy's sisters, but the bell above the entrance rings, and Scott walks in.

This is the first time in his life he wishes his friend would leave, but he's also grateful for a relief from scaring the guy by talking without thinking.

He leans across the bar and whines to his best friend, "Dude, I want to kiss him."

"What?" Scott cuts off in the middle of his order, which he doesn't even need to make, because Stiles is already working on his regular.

He inclines his head towards Mr Perfect and lets out an exaggerated sob. "I completely made a fool of myself, Scotty. I am never going to speak again."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Scott grins, but Stiles shakes his head, miming zipping his lips and locking them, then throwing the key on the ground.

He then proceeds to stomp angrily on the key.

Scott slides over five stools with the grace of a newborn puppy as his friend silently begs him to not say anything, Scott Henry McCall if you keep it up I am dumping you as a friend. That's it, seventeen years of friendship down the drain. Is that what you want, McCall? I will beg, okay? Please stop.

"Hey!" Scott effectively throws away his friendship with Stiles as the barista knows it.

"Hi." The man replies, leaning ever so slightly away from Scott.

"I'm Scott." The boy greets, and Stiles huffs loudly as his drops Scott's coffee on the counter.

"Derek." The guy replies, and behind the bar, Stiles pretends to polish the espresso machine.

"Cool!"

He's never going to see Mr Perfect – Derek – again.

XxX

Derek comes to the coffee shop again the next day.

XxX

And the next day...

XxX

Stiles is beginning to notice a pattern here.

Every day Derek comes into the shop and orders cocoa.

He sips his hot drink and gives a little more information about his life every time.

He's a veterinarian, he has two sisters, they live with his uncle, he really likes dogs. It takes everything Stiles has not to jump for joy the first time he says "my ex-boyfriend". He dates guys! How cool is that? Stiles is a guy! What a coincidence.

Stiles tells Derek about himself, too, how he's studying to become a cop like his dad, a little about his mom, a lot about Scott, and he makes absolutely sure to tell about the time Lydia pulled him aside and asked him if he seriously hadn't noticed he was bi? Derek laughs at that, just a little. He tends to be pretty sullen all the time, though, so Stiles counts it as a win.

They get closer over the next couple of weeks, and one day Stiles is almost completely sure that they are mutually into each other, so, after they finish laughing about a story about Derek's husky, Talia, Stiles picks up the man's empty mug and busies himself with cleaning it. Derek's phone chimes, and he picks it up.

"You know, when you first came in here, I had a huge crush on you," he presses his lips together and keeps his focus on the dishwater. "Wow, that was probably obvious, huh? I mean, can you believe how awkward I had been? I'm still awkward now, but that's a part of my charm, then it was cause, well, cause you're hot. I'm still pretty, uh, I still feel that way, though, so do you-" Stiles looks up. Derek is white as a sheet, eyes fixed on his phone's screen. He fumbles it and hops off his bar stool.

"I have to go," he mumbles, collecting his jacket from the back of his chair and practically running out of the shop.

Stiles watches the door for a minute before letting the mug fall into the sink. He sinks to the floor and groans, head in his arms.

He was royally screwed.

XxX

Stiles didn't see or hear from (he had gotten Derek's contact information a while back, go him) Derek the next day.

Or the next.

Or for a week after that.

By then the boy had stopped being upset about the nature of his rejection and moved on to being pissed.

Lydia shared in his anger when he told her, and took him out for drinks, Allison listened to him curse all his stupid crush's stupid perfect features, and Scott offered to beat the guy up (the sentiment was appreciated, but really, that only made Stiles laugh).

Who walks into the café a week and a half later but the devil in leather himself, and it was perfect timing, too, because all three of his aforementioned friends were there.

"Is that him?" Lydia doesn't even whisper, or sound spiteful, only wowed (as wowed as Lydia Martin can be), but Stiles really can't blame her.

Scott turns away when Derek tries to say hi, quite obviously upset.

"Hi there." Stiles grumpily mutters when the extremely confused guy greets the barista and asks for some hot chocolate. Damn him and his adorable tastes.

"Are you mad at me?" Derek looks incredibly concerned when his cocoa hits the bar with a thud.

"I don't know. Why would I be?"

"I... I'm not sure,"

Stiles and all his friends turn to him with gaping mouths. "You're not sure?"

"No." He sounds sort of defensive, like he's really not sure if he should be sorry or not.

"Really?" Stiles scoffs, "You don't think it might be because when I told you I had a crush on you, you looked like I had sentenced you to death and ran away?"

"You... you what?"

Stiles throws his hands in the air, "I was trying to ask you out! And you very literally ran away. It sucked, Derek. You could have, I don't know, just said 'No' like a normal person?"

"I don't remember you..." He pauses and stares at his mug for a long moment. "You mean last time I came in here, you...?"

"Yes!"

Stiles turns to Lydia, who looks completely exasperated. He snorts as she dramatically rolls her eyes and resumes sipping her mocha.

"I, um..." Derek doesn't look confused anymore, but slightly angry. "I didn't hear you. I was a little preoccupied."

"With what?"

The guy clenches his fist and looks up at Stiles, scowling. He practically growls, "My little sister's boyfriend ran away from home because his dad was abusing him. I was at the police station helping them file a report."

Stiles stumbles backwards, leaning against the back wall's counter. Well, he feels like shit. "I'm sorry." is all he can manage.

Derek still frowns, staring at his cocoa. He finishes it without a word, and Stiles can't figure out how to speak until he hears the bell above the door tinkling and sees Derek leaving.

He leaps over the counter with absolutely no grace and darts out the door, grabbing Derek's arm and somehow managing to turn him around.

"Derek, listen, I am so sorry, I should've called or something, and it was really stupid of me not to, I just figured that you were totally weirded out by me, and I didn't want to call if you were just going to laugh at me and say something like that I'm way too lame for someone like you and wow was I ever dumb for not calling, I'm sorry, um..."

Derek doesn't look mad anymore, just amused.

"You... Are you going to yell at me or what?"

The guy shakes his head and stuffs his hands in his pockets. "So," He arches an eyebrow and suppresses a smile. "You like me, huh?"

Stiles stands in stunned silence for a moment before rolling his eyes dramatically, grinning. "Yeah, gonna do something about it?"

He pretends to take it into consideration, then shrugs. "Maybe."

And then Stiles may or may not jump him.

His arms fly around Derek's neck and he presses his lips against the older man's, who quickly kisses him back.

"Gross, dude!" They turn to see Scott, Allison and Lydia staring at them from the coffee shop's entrance.

To spite his best friend, Stiles kisses Derek again, then wiggles his eyebrows at the trio. When he returns his attention to the man he's hugging, he snickers.

Derek raises an eyebrow and releases him slowly.

"So, uh, what time do you get off work?"

I hope you enjoyed! Please enter your thoughts in the little box below, cause that would be cool. Any thoughts at all! Praises, critiques, your thoughts on the weather or favorite breakfast food.

Also! I am looking for a beta reader, currently! You wouldn't have to beta anything but what you're into, and I promise to not pressure you on hurrying up or anything.