Stiles woke up the next morning, well rested and sated, his bare skin on silk sheets. He opened his eyes dazedly and stretched his limbs, enjoying the sweet soreness that came. A moment later, a door was opening into the spacious room and Stiles was pushing himself up with a smile. Derek smiled back, a tray of bagels, cream cheese, and orange juice in his hands. He was wearing black silk boxers that left little to the imagination. Not that Stiles would have needed to use his imagination anyways, since he had seen and felt everything the night before.
"Wow. Amazing sex and breakfast in bed. What did I do to get so lucky?" Derek placed the tray on Stiles's lap, leaned in for a kiss and joined Stiles beneath the sheets. "Now, just so you understand," Stiles said between bites, "I'm generally not the type of person to put out on just the third date."
Derek chuckled as he took his own bite. "Didn't you say you slept with Malia pretty much the second day you you knew her?"
"Oh, uh, yea. I forgot I told you that."
Derek must have heard the low self-esteem that hid itself in Stiles's words, because he turned to face the younger man sincerely. "It's okay Stiles. I don't think you're easy or anything," which had exactly what Stiles had been worrying about, "And I'm certainly not complaining about what happened. In fact, I'm kind of hoping for a repeat performance."
And there were plenty of repeat performances, starting that very morning before they left for work, Stiles arriving late due to having to stop at home and get changed. Then there was another performance that day after work. Stiles had ended up staying late to finish the extra work Erika and Jackson had unloaded on him in the time he'd missed by being late. When Derek had learned of this, he'd piled empty folders of work onto Stiles's desk, waiting until they were the last two in the building. They'd gone up to the CEO office and fulfilled some fantasies that Stiles truly appreciated. Because, man, Derek was hot and very attentive.
They ended up back at Derek's place Friday night, ordering in a ton of Thai food and watching Fast and the Furious. A marathon had been mentioned, but ten minutes into the second movie, they were too busy making out and tearing each other's clothes off to actually pay attention to what was playing. After a quick, passionate session on the couch, they found themselves in the bed doing the same thing at a more leisurely and gently pace.
Now Saturday was spent with Scott, because they really did need to catch up with each other's lives, and Stiles got to see some of Scott's dance moves, heard a bit more of Kira (who was apparently - in Scott's opinion - dorky, adorable, and pretty awesome), and listened about the new puppies that were being weaned at the vets. In return, Scott was told about Isaac and Malia, and overwhelmed with details shared about Derek.
"I'm happy for you man," Scott patted Stiles brotherly as they pigged out on burgers and curly fries. "You deserve someone good."
"Trust me, Derek is good. Oh, so good."
"Yea, I heard you before." There was a soft, concerned tone to his words now. "Just...this isn't just about sex, right? Because you might be loving it now, but if that's all it is, you aren't going to be happy in the long run."
"No man. It's not just sex. We're good. It's all good."
But that last part may have gotten into Stiles's head a little more than Stiles wanted to admit, either outloud or to himself. Which was why on Sunday, he called Derek up and asked, maybe a little pathetically, if the day was free to hang out. It was quite reassuring to hear Derek agree readily to spending the day together.
The older man ended up driving them an hour and a half to the pier in a fancy silver camaro. "How am I not surprised?" Stiles teased upon plopping himself down into the passenger seat. "You're kind of a stereotype, dude."
Derek cocked an eyebrow at him, but there was a smirk at the corner of his lips that Stiles was absolutely growing to love. "Don't call me dude," was the the stern response, only to soften immediately after. "I know you have a thing against expensive cars, but I've seen your jeep and didn't want to take the chance of it breaking down while we were out."
Stiles was close to questioning why Derek would think that, but stopped short by the reminder that there were few things Derek didn't know about Stiles, thanks to Stiles's unfiltered mouth. Instead, he defended himself with an undignified exclamation. "It's not the cars I have an issue with, it's the douchebags that tend to drive them." Green eyes drifted over to him, making Stiles blush and stammer. "Not that you're a douchebag. Definitely not. I was thinking more of the Jackson type of douchebag with the expensive cars." He was only eased from putting his foot in his mouth when Derek's laughter filled the air.
And that was the general energy for the rest of the car ride: Stiles talking too much and Derek smiling. It left Stiles feeling high by the time they parked and they settled onto a bench in front of the ocean, Derek's arm around him while Stiles leaned into the comfortable warmth. "This is nice," Stiles murmured, leaving a kiss on the older man's neck. He was preparing himself to brag to Scott about how Derek and him totally had a real thing, not just a sex thing. The type of thing where they cuddled up to watch the waves and shared shrimp sandwiches with coke and held hands as they walked along the docks and shared stories of their childhood memories.
Well, it was mostly Stiles that shared. The young man just couldn't stop, too much at ease with Derek at his side, smiling and holding him gently. Honestly, Stiles thought pleasantly near the end of the day, he was just grateful, as well as awestruck that someone like Derek Hale would even want to listen to Stiles talk and actually care about what was said.
Because most people didn't. Most people thought Stiles was annoying. In fact, with the exception of Scott, no one before Derek had ever had enough patience to deal with Stiles as he was. Hell, not even his dad had always had the energy to handle all that Stiles was.
So yea, Stiles was loving the attention, and despite the short amount of time they'd been together, he was sure that he was close to loving Derek. Loving the day Derek smiled crookedly. How he had a secret, playful persona behind the brooding expression he showed everyone else. How he was so sincere about genuine connection. The list went on and on.
For now though, Stiles was going to keep the extent of his affections to himself. As good as things were between them, Stiles didn't want to put any pressure on Derek by moving too fast (at least not in the emotional, commitment area of a relationship). After all, that had always been another problem Stiles had had in the past. Not just falling too quickly, but falling too hard.
It had started in elementary with Lydia, following her around like a lowly servant, worshipping the ground she walked on. When they had finally become friends at the beginning of college, she had informed him that she had ignored him all those years before because of his intensity. It wasn't until Stiles was together with Malia that Lydia could actually see him as a person, which eventually allowed them to become gossip buddies in the same company.
And the thing he had had with Malia had definitely been too fast, falling into bed together as if in love at first sight, and then staying together because at least it was some kind of connection. As Stiles had shared with Derek that very first meeting on the plane, Stiles was sad to admit that he only stayed with her because he didn't think anyone else would want him. And in hindsight, Malala had probably stayed with him because she enjoyed his complacency and her position as the alpha in their relationship. That wasn't to say that he hadn't fallen for her in the beginning - because he had, and he had fallen hard - but it wasn't in a way that allowed for much actual growth of feeling.
Stiles was dead set on not letting that happen with Derek. He didn't want to go all out in this thing between them, only to learn late that he missed out on what could have been something "real". And he certainly didn't want to entertain the thought that he may only be so invested just because Derek happened to find him intriguing.
"Everything okay?" Derek brought Stiles out of his thoughts as they slowly walked back to where the car had been parked.
"What?"
"You stopped talking for a bit. Something on your mind?"
Stiles chuckled, gripping a little tighter to the hand that he held, a lighter tone to his demeanor. "Just thought I might have been talking too much."
HIs answer received a small smile and a soft response, "I don't mind. I like hearing you talk."
It was said with such heartfelt sincerity that Stiles felt his own heart clench. Softly, and a little insecure, he replied, "You'd be one of the extreme few to think so."
He thought he might have spoken too softly for the words to actually be heard, but then Derek was releasing his hand so he could wrap his arm around Stiles's shoulder, holding him closer as they walked the last bit to the car. A chaste kiss was presented to the top of Stiles's head.
