Stiles fled the coffee shop when Cora showed up. He liked Peter and he was looking forward to watching more movies with him and he really hoped that Peter would stay true to his word and that they would have more animalistic sex but Stiles was not ready to meet the family. Especially not the Hale family.
The other day Stiles had made small-talk with Cora and she was okay, he guessed, but he didn't want to hang out with her. So he excused himself and left it to Peter to deal with her. In the car, Stiles made double sure that he had his bag with him, which he had with library books and everything, before he drove off. Not that he would have walked back into the coffee shop if he'd forgotten his bag again. Just no.
Stiles threw one last glance at the window where he could see Peter and Cora talking animatedly but then he started the car and left.
He stopped by John's house to pick up some fresh clothes only to find out that John hadn't gotten around to do the laundry. Cursing under his breath Stiles loaded the washing machine and then he was sitting on the couch in his underwear, releasing some of his frustration in a round of Call of Duty. Here at John's Stiles had a rather nice setup with a PlayStation hooked up to John's large TV, which John had gotten solely for that purpose no matter what he said, and sometimes Stiles spent a whole day here just playing some video games.
He got so absorbed in the game that he almost forgot to put the wet clothes in the dryer but eventually he left the house with a bag of clean clothes. They were even half-heartily folded.
On his way back to the lake, Stiles made a little detour to stock up on energy drinks and snacks and since he had to do the laundry he'd earned himself a cheeseburger and a large curly fries with cheese.
At the lake, Stiles took his food out to the pier. It was old and rotten and Stiles had to be careful to not break through the boards with his foot but it was still stable enough. Maybe he could get John to repair it. Or rather set up a new one. Either way, it would be a bigger project and John hadn't even gotten the time to repair a simple door. Or to do the laundry. Maybe he should ask Peter instead, Stiles mused.
He sat down at the end of the pier, feet hanging over the edge but the surface was still a few inches under his shoes. It wasn't warm enough for wet feet.
Stiles left the fries for last and attacked the burger first.
There was something under the surface, a shadow moving around which could have been a fish but Stiles knew better. He didn't even blink when a head broke through the surface.
"What are you doing out here?" Derek asked.
"Eating." Stiles held up his burger. "I have curly fries if you want some. With cheese." He had gotten a large, he had enough to share. More of Derek emerged from the water and with one smooth move he hoisted himself up to sitting next to him. Stiles got the food out of the way before Derek could soak it with the water dripping off him.
"Here." Stiles offered him the bag with the fries. Derek didn't need to eat but he did it from time to time to humor Stiles. Stiles had the suspicion that Derek did enjoy the food but he didn't call him out on it.
After a second of hesitation, which was not fooling Stiles, Derek did reach into the bag. The cheese was deliciously stringy, Derek had to catch it with his tongue before he could put the fries in his mouth. Stiles bit back a laugh and returned to his burger.
They were quietly sitting there, watching out over the lake while Stiles was slowly munching his way through the remaining fries. They did this sometimes, just sitting here or at the shore, sometimes they talked, sometimes they didn't. Stiles liked these rare occasions.
"You're going to see that werewolf again, aren't you?" Derek asked. Stiles had told him when he'd left the other day for his date with Peter. In case that Derek had to come and get him, he didn't want him to be surprised by Peter being there as well.
"Thursday, most likely." Stiles fished the last fry out of the bag. "We have quite a few movies to go through." At least Derek got the concepts of movies. Not like with doors. Stiles had forced Derek to watch a few movies with him before but Derek was not good movie company. Or the best, it depended on the point of view.
Derek would sit there the whole time with his arms crossed over his chest and glare at the screen as if the people in the movie were personally offending him. It was kind of hilarious, especially with comedies but horror movies were even better. Watching a horror movie with a literal monster was just the best. That was the reason Stiles sweet-talked him into watching something with him once or twice a year.
"You sure it's a good idea to get involved with the Hales?" Derek asked. "They hurt you."
"Not the ones living today," Stiles reminded him. "But yeah, I don't want to get involved with them." That had been the main reason he'd left the second Cora had shown up. He didn't like the Hales and he didn't want that to change. Peter was the exception he was willing to make.
"Why him?" Derek asked.
"I don't know. I like him." Romantic feelings were also something Derek didn't understand but he got friendship. He and Stiles were friends and he was kind of friends with John as well. But that other kind of relationship? That was a foreign concept to Derek. Stiles wasn't even sure if he understood sex.
But he was always supportive. When Stiles wanted to have things like this, Derek was always telling him to just get it. Because that was a concept Derek understood way too well. If he wanted something, he took it. It was in his nature. Sadly, the things he wanted were the things he regretted later. He never wanted to murder anybody but if someone was dumb enough to come out to the lake for a swim, Derek couldn't help it, he wanted to take that person. The urge was so overwhelming that he couldn't even try to fight it. Stiles had seen it often enough. And he was the one who had to help Derek to pick up the pieces afterward. So yeah, Derek knew exactly how it felt to want something.
"On Thursday I'll try to stay away for as long as possible," Derek promised.
"Thanks, man."
Derek slipped off the pier and landed in the water with a splash, Stiles barely managed to keep his feet dry.
"You coming with me?" Derek asked.
"Na, I'll stay in the cabin for a little while." Stiles gathered the trash and stood. "See you later." He waved at him but Derek had already disappeared under the surface.
The next day, Stiles felt restless so in the early afternoon, he drove into town to entertain himself. Beacon Hills was not that big but it had a nice mall. Stiles liked to go there just to watch the people but maybe he could watch a movie or try out some new games.
At first, Stiles was just wandering around, he had no real determination in mind, and just enjoyed the people around him. There were families and couples, people alone or in groups. Stiles soaked it all up while he was walking by. He wondered what kind of lives these people would go back to later. If they had work or school tomorrow. If they were just aimlessly drifting. Like him.
"And now I'm sad," Stiles muttered under his breath and pushed himself off from the banister he'd been leaning against. From here he had a good view on the people on the floor below him.
"Stiles?" Suddenly somebody behind him spoke up.
"Are you stalking me?" He asked when he turned and found Cora standing behind him.
"I was here with a friend." She dismissed him.
"Was?"
"She had to leave." Cora let out a sigh and braced her forearms on the banister just like Stiles had a second ago. "But she bought me this." Her face lit up and she showed him the necklace she was wearing. "It's an arrow."
"It's nice," Stiles said because it was a necklace, what was he supposed to say to that?
"She likes buying me things. The other day she got me this cute top." She twisted around to show off her top.
"Sounds like more than just a friend."
"Maybe?" She blushed and turned back to looking down at the floor beneath them. "I don't know."
Stiles just smiled at that. Teenagers, how adorable.
As if you're any better, he could almost hear Peter's voice in his head.
"So," she said with a glance at him. "You and Peter?"
Now it was his turn to become all flustered.
"Also a maybe," he finally admitted. "We're just trying out if we fit. Did you know that he hasn't seen most of the Marvel movies?"
"What?" She sucked in a breath.
"My point exactly. But I'm going to change that." Stiles nodded to himself.
"So that's what you two are doing?" She asked."Watching movies? And having coffee dates?" The way she was asking, as if there was more to that question, made him perk up but he couldn't read her expression.
"Yeah." Stiles made. He was not going to tell her about Peter's claws on his dick. Or that he was looking forward to what Peter had promised him.
Cora had the advantage of being a werewolf so she had more to go on than just his expression and Stiles was pretty sure that she knew exactly that movies and coffee dates were not all they were doing.
"Stiles? How old are you?"
Shit. Stiles wanted to slap his forehead, he hadn't thought about that.
"Eighteen," he answered which was even kind of the truth. But at the same time, it was a flat out lie and she caught on to that.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She almost growled at him but she caught herself before it became a full out growl. It was kind of unfair that he knew that she was a werewolf but she didn't know that he knew and that he wasn't plain old human either.
But for one, they were in the middle of the mall with people all around them, Stiles was not going to have that conversation here, and second, he had no desire to explain himself to the whole pack. Peter had confessed that he'd told Talia about him and Stiles was okay with that. Talia was the alpha, she needed to know at least the part about Derek, not the dating Peter part. Stiles was not okay with the whole pack in the know. He wanted to walk around town without getting pitying looks from every member of the Hale pack.
So Stiles chose to not explain himself and went back to watching the people downstairs. There was an uncomfortable silence hanging over them now and it didn't take long for Cora to back off.
"Gotta go," she said. "See you around?"
"Yeah," Stiles said. If things with Peter became more serious he would see her around more often. And most likely the rest of the pack as well. He was not looking forward to that.
She ducked into the crowd and Stiles wondered what she thought of him and Peter now. Statutory rape was a term coming to mind. He did not want anybody to think of Peter in terms like that but he couldn't do anything about it.
Stiles went to check what movies were on but nothing caught his eye so he started to wander around aimlessly again.
He passed a store with sporting goods right when a guy on his phone came out without looking. He almost slammed into Stiles and didn't even seem to notice.
"Hey!" Stiles called out. "Watch were you're going."
The guy didn't spare him a glance and just hurried off, still talking on the phone.
"I know that that ammunition won't do shit," the man said. "Ask Argent to hurry up with the wolfsbane bullets. And if he doesn't get the …" The rest of the sentence was lost to Stiles, the man already too far away, but the bit he'd heard made Stiles change directions.
There had been a few hunters coming to Beacon Hills over the years. Sometimes they had even looked past the werewolf pack and had a closer look at the lake. Stiles had his encounters with them, he knew the type. Besides, who else would be talking about wolfsbane bullets? And would be dumb enough to just blurt out stuff like that in a crowded mall?
Stiles followed the man.
