notes: written for the leather jackets & backflips network secret santa exchange on tumblr. also on ao3.
Seeing Derek standing outside her dorm hall was not what Kira had expected. When she'd called Allison earlier to tell her that her car had broken down so she wouldn't be able to make it to the holiday party the pack was throwing, and Allison had told her she'd have someone come get her, Kira had thought she'd meant Lydia or Scott. Definitely not Derek.
Not that she was upset. In fact, she was the opposite of upset, if a little bit nervous.
He was wearing a beanie, hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket, and Kira felt something in her chest clench.
She'd only realized she had a massive crush on Derek about a month ago when they'd been playing Mario Kart. Kira had launched a blue shell at him, knocking him out of first place and taking the lead, and in retaliation he had leaned across the couch and tickled her until she dropped the controller and they both lost the race. They'd ended up breathing heavy and grinning at each other and she'd felt her pulse jump in a way that was definitely new which she'd tried to cover up by coughing and then sprinting to the kitchen for more snacks.
It had been pretty downhill from there.
He looked up as she approached, an easy smile on his face.
"Hey you," he said, pushing off the stair railing.
"Hey," she greeted. "I wasn't expecting you. I figured Allison would make Scott drive all the way out here."
He lifted a brow at her. "I offered."
"Oh." She blinked, trying to quell the feeling in her chest. Friends did stuff like that all the time, it's not like it was a big deal that Derek wanted to be the one to pick her up.
"So, should we go inside then?" Derek asked after a silent moment, motioning to the door with his head. His beanie-covered head. He looked adorable.
"Yeah," she replied, digging her key card out of her coat pocket. "I just have to drop off my books and grab some clothes and we can go."
She unlocked the door and led him through her dorm hall. Derek had helped her move in at the beginning of the semester, along with some of the other pack members, but he hadn't been over since. Usually she just went back to Beacon Hills to hang out since she was only an hour away.
She suddenly remembered that, in her rush that morning, she had tossed clothes all over the place looking for the right pair of jeans and never bothered to pick any of it up. Well, it was too late to do anything about it now, she just hoped that there weren't any bras out in the open somewhere.
They were halfway to her room on the fourth floor when she heard her -Danielle.
Danielle lived a few doors down from her corner single. She was a nice girl, they'd had a few classes together, but she'd also spent most of the semester setting Kira up on blind dates and herding her towards her available friends.
It was sweet, really, but also incredibly obnoxious. Kira had been avoiding her for the past two days after bailing on a double movie date. And now the sound of her voice was coming down the stairs towards them and there was no way she could evade her.
"Crap," she muttered.
Derek looked down at her. "What's wrong?"
Kira shook her head. "Just this girl, Danielle, she's been trying to set me up and I bailed on the last date we were supposed to go on with these guys. I've been trying to avoid her. I didn't even have a good excuse."
"Do you… have someone already or…?" He let the question trail off and hang between them. It felt strangely heavy, like her answer might mean something to him, but there was a good chance she was projecting.
"No," she replied. "I just didn't feel like going."
He let out a small breath and smiled at her, just a little tilt of his lips, but it made her feel tingly and she smiled back.
And then Danielle was on the stairs in front of them, eyes widening when they landed on Derek. Kira understood; he had that effect on people the first time they saw them.
"Hi Danielle," she greeted. "This is Derek. Derek, this is my friend Danielle."
"Hey," Danielle said, glancing between the two of them, brows knit together like she was thinking.
"Nice to meet you," Derek said. "Kira says nice things about you."
That was a lie, Kira never really talked about people from school when she was in Beacon Hills, but she appreciated Derek pretending like she did.
"Yeah, she does about you, too," Danielle replied and that wasn't a lie. And of course Derek would know that, stupid werewolf senses.
Not that it was weird to say nice things about your friends. Of course people said nice things about their friends. That was normal. She was being paranoid.
"Kira," Danielle said, switching her attention. "You missed the movie the other night. Aaron was disappointed."
Kira bit her lip. What was she supposed to say to that?
"My fault," Derek said, grabbing her hand. His skin was warm against hers and she silently willed her palms not to start sweating.
"We went out to dinner, very last minute," he continued, pulling her a little bit closer as he spoke so that their sides were pressed together.
Danielle's eyes widened. "Oh. I didn't realize you guy were a thing. I never would have-"
"It's okay," Derek interrupted, "it's pretty new."
Kira's heart was pounding so fast she felt like it was going to spring free of her chest and flop around on the stairs in front of her. What was Derek doing?
"Well congratulations," Danielle said, her voice barely registering while Kira's brain worked a million miles a minute to figure out what was going on. Was she dreaming?
Derek nudged her with his elbow, forcing her back into real time.
"Oh, ah, thanks," she said, letting herself lean on Derek a little more. She was still confused but if they were going to pretend to be dating then she might as well try to sell it a little bit. It was probably the closest she was ever going to get to the real thing.
"We should go," Derek said, squeezing her hand and looking down at her, affection all over his face. It made her chest ache.
Danielle stepped out of the way so they could get by. "Nice to meet you Derek. Have a good holiday Kira, I'll see you next semester."
Kira nodded. "Yeah, see you."
They parted, Derek still clinging to her hand as they made it the rest of the way to her floor. Her nerves felt like they had been electrified and she was grateful for all the extra training her mother had put her through to control her kitsune powers before she went to college. If she hadn't, there definitely would be sparks flying, quite literally.
She thought Derek would let go of her hand when they reached the landing but he didn't, instead holding tight while they walked down the hall to her room, neither of the speaking. Kira felt like she should say something but everything she could think of sounded stupid.
"Thanks," she said finally, and yeah, that had sounded pretty lame. "I mean, you didn't have to do that."
Derek shrugged. "I know, but I figured if she thought you were dating someone she wouldn't be mad you blew her off."
"Smart thinking."
"I have my moments."
She laughed and he smiled and before she knew it they were outside her door and she had to take her hand back to fish her key card from her pocket. When she switched the light on she was grateful not to see any bras strewn about but the room was still pretty trashed.
"Sorry about the mess," she said, kicking a pile of towels out of the way. "I have to clean I just haven't had the time with finals."
"Aren't you supposed to be packing up for the break?" Derek asked, pushing a few shirts out of the way so he could sit on her bed.
"Yeah, but I have one more final on Monday so I'm going to do it after that."
"How are you moving your stuff if your car is broke? Are you having someone look at it?"
"My dad had it towed earlier, it's in the shop. I'll probably just get my mom to help me move."
"I'll help you."
Kira glanced up from where she was stuffing some clean clothes into her backpack. "Really?"
He shrugged. "Sure. I've got the truck so it's not like I don't have the means."
"Thanks," she said. "For everything, Moving, and the thing with Danielle…"
"Well I have something to admit about that," he said, eyes suddenly trained on his feet. "I, uh, was kind of hoping that when you come home we could… go out maybe."
Kira stared at him, lips parted in surprise. "Like on a date?"
This had to be a dream. There was no way this was real life. She should pinch herself just to check but if she wasn't she didn't want to wake up.
"Yeah." He looked up to meet her gaze and she was briefly lost in the green of his eyes. Derek had stupidly pretty eyes. And a stupidly handsome face. And everything really.
"Kira?" he asked and she realized she'd been silent too long. He sounded nervous now.
"I'd love to," she said, smiling wide, trying to contain the giddiness that was surging inside of her.
"Oh good," Derek said, the tension leaving his shoulders as he rubbed his palms on his jeans. "It would have been really uncomfortable if you'd said no."
She laughed. "Would have made for an awkward car ride home."
"You'd have to find another ride," he said, grinning.
She threw a shirt at him, laughing when it hit him square in the face. He could have dodged it, easily, but he hadn't and that was probably one of the reasons she loved him so much.
It was too early for that though, so instead she just let him pull her into a hug, resting her head on his shoulder and grinning into his shirt. Her heart sang right, right, right.