This day could not be going any worse for Stiles. He'd been up since four o'clock in the morning and at the bakery since five. The air conditioning was leaking in the right-hand corner so they'd had to rope that off and put trash cans under it and call for a repair man ten times, who still hadn't shown up. There'd been a mix-up and the night baker had had almost nothing ready for the day so Stiles had been forced to run around double time to get everything out when it was finally ready.
The entire time there was no air conditioning in the middle of a heat wave so everyone was dying and the customers all complained, as if it was all Stiles' fault. Of course, most customers were rude any day of the week so Stiles should be able to brush it off, but today it was just one thing too many.
So when an out of towner ordered a cherry danish Stiles had done exactly what he was supposed to do and put the pastry on a plate with a knife and a few napkins. It was when he tried to hand it to the customer that there was a problem.
"How am I supposed to eat that?! Huh?! How am I supposed to eat that?!" the man yells into Stiles' face and for a moment Stiles is stunned, the only thing he can think of is the fact that he's really glad that the bakery is empty right now, for the first time this morning. "With my fingers?!"
But he gathers his thoughts pretty quickly. "Would you like a fork, sir?" he asks, trying to keep his voice even and polite. When all he wants to say is 'yeah, actually, you are supposed to eat it with your fingers, asshole.' But Laura probably would not be happy he said that.
"Yes I want a fork!" the customer snaps back, still yelling and Stiles goes to grab a fork, noticing as he does that the bakery is not, in fact, empty. Derek Hale is standing in the doorway, having obviously witnessed what had just happened. Stiles fights back a blush, unsure why he's embarrassed and pretty sure it's just because he's so pissed off right now.
"Here you are, sir," Stiles says as he hands the fork to the customer, who just snorts and stomps off to sit at one of the little tables in the corner opposite the leak. He can't avoid it and turns to face Derek, who has now actually approached the counter. "Hi Derek, what's up?"
"Laura was supposed to set aside some pastries for me to bring into the office, do you have them?" Derek says, completely ignoring Stiles greeting. Which should piss Stiles off even further, but it's normal for Derek so it actually makes him feel a bit better.
"Yeah, here you are. There's knives and napkins in the bag. Did you need anything else?" Because Stiles is nothing if not professional today.
"No, I'm good," Derek says and then raises his voice so that it fills every corner of the room, "Because you are actually supposed to eat the pastries with your fingers." That makes Stiles break out into a smile, a real one for the first time that day. And Derek honest-to-god winks at him before turning and heading out, calling over his shoulder "see you around, Stiles."
That moment carries Stiles through the rest of the day (even when the register breaks when there's a line out the door).
A/N: Fun Fact: this part is actually based off of one of my days at work. Basically everything that happened to Stiles in this chapter, happened to me. Only I didn't have a Sourwolf to defend me. And on another note, thank you once again to all those who have reviewed, favorited, or followed this story! Every time I get a new notification it makes me so happy!