It was Saturday, two weeks before Christmas, and the pack decided to spend the day together – at Derek's loft. Derek wasn't too pleased with this, but he was outnumbered. Mostly they decided to do it here because neither of them had enough space at their homes, and since Derek lived alone, it was just perfect.
Erica, Lydia and Allison decorated the loft beforehand and it wasn't in the slightest recognizable when the other's entered it. Christmas holly hung everywhere, mistletoes here and there, a sheepskin carpet on the floor before the couch table and lots of candles. The few surfaces that Derek's loft provided – the parts of the couch table that weren't occupied by the plates full of cupcakes, the desktop, the small counter top of Derek's almost never used kitchen unit – held an enormous amount of candles which illuminated the room with soft, warm, flickering light. Blankets and pillows filled the couch and two armchairs and Scott immediately wrapped himself in one of the blankets.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Derek said with a mocking expression.
"It's freezing cold outside, I just wanna warm up," he defended himself as Allison snuggled herself under the blanket, too.
"Sissy. 23 degree, it's not that cold." Derek let himself fall onto an armchair, glanced around his loft and shuddered. "You gonna put all of this down afterwards, don't you?"
Lydia smiled mischievously.
"Of course."
"Sooo," Erica said long-drawn-out, drawing several DVD's from behind her back. "Which first?"
Derek sighed, seeing that most of them were love movies since the girls rented them. Boyd built himself up behind his girlfriend and snatched the DVD's from her. Looking through them, he said: "We better start with the action movie, you know, to sooth us boys." He winked at her and threw one of the boxes over to Derek, who caught it and went over to the TV to put it in. As he turned around, he saw that Erica and Boyd now occupied his armchair. And because Isaac sat in the second armchair and Lydia was so kind to sit beside the lovebirds Scott and Allison, Derek had no other choice than to sit down on the floor upon the carpet, next to Stiles. He wasn't okay with this at all because he had the bad foreboding that Stiles wouldn't shut up during the movie. What's more, Stiles just pulled out a bottle of raspberry vodka and took a sip straight from the bottle which earned him a dismissive look from Derek.
"What?" he said, screwing the bottle shut. But Derek just rolled his eyes. "I can handle it, shut it," he added grinning
"If you say so," Derek whispered because the movie just began.
During the movie, Derek repeatedly shot glances at Stiles, mostly because he took another sip from the bottle, but a little bit because Stiles began to act peculiar the more he drank.
At the end of the first movie, Stiles crouched onto the couch and snuggled himself between Scott and Allison who laughed and began to tickle him.
"Stop!" Stiles cried between his laughs. "Please! Hahaha! Stop! Have Mercy!" But Scott and Allison did not stop, not until tears of laughter ran down his cheeks and he held his sides.
"I guess it's enough, Scott," Allison said laughing and they stopped torturing Stiles.
"Thank you," Stiles said, massaging his sides, leaning at the backrest, his head rested on Scott's shoulder.
"Which movie's next?" he asked Erica who had got up and attempted to put the next DVD in.
"Uhm… Crazy Stupid Love."
"Urgh. I can't stand Ryan Gosling," Stiles said and all of the eyes turned on him. "What?"
"Ryan Gosling is a sex god," Lydia exclaimed scandalized and looked at Stiles who took the next sip from his bottle.
"Just because you don't have to live up to it," he mumbled.
"Alright!" Erica said and closed the DVD box again. "Calm down, Stiles, we'll watch Juno instead."
"Okie dokie," he said grinning, apparently happy with the change, and took one of Lydia's cupcakes. "Those are out of this world, Lydia," he mumbled with his mouth full.
"Thank you," she said and took one herself, and so did Allison.
In the middle of the second movie, Stiles flopped down before Derek, blocking the view, grinning from ear to ear, cheeks blushed. Derek leaned aside to watch the movie again, but after a few minutes when Stiles did not move, Derek leaned back and sighed, looking at Stiles properly.
He was drunk, like, wasted. And… different. Not the sarcastic little prankster like usually, just grinning and happy. Too much for Derek. He didn't know how to handle Stiles because… well, he was used to the sarcastic little prankster, not the grinning, happy, raspberry-vodka and vanilla-icing-smelling ray of sunshine that now sat before him.
"Hi," Stiles grinned and looked at him absent-minded.
"Hey," Derek said insecurely, not braking the gaze.
"You know what?" Stiles asked, still grinning.
"Yeah?" Slowly, Derek began to like the drunken Stiles. Not that he every really disliked him, he just was a total pain in the ass most of the time.
"You look so snuggleable."
"You're dru…" Stiles arms had closed around him before he could finish. The smell of raspberry vodka and vanilla radiating from Stiles filled up his nostrils and the warmth of Stiles skin crept through the fabric of his sweater and it felt good. It reminded him of home, of his childhood when Cora came up to him and hugged him unexpectedly, of the times his mom made this incredibly delicious vanilla blancmange topped with raspberries, of so many good things and happy times. He felt the heat rising into his cheeks and bent his head so no one could see because he felt that all of them watched him and Stiles. But then he noticed he didn't really care.
So he hugged Stiles back, the smallest of smiles lifting the corners of his mouth.