#asdkjfal;sdfa

[sparkandwolf]

You Love Me Then? (read on ao3)

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale Rating: General Summary: “I don’t like Scott,” Derek repeated, turning toward the TV to incorrectly guess the Jeopardy answer he should have known the answer to.

Stiles laughed and whispered, “Oh, you love him then?” Derek tackled him onto the floor, hoping that would be enough to finally have his mouth closing, but Stiles just grinned and smirked and Derek had never wanted to kiss him more.

For @sterekvalentineweek day three: Secret Crush

“You like Scott, right?” Stiles said out of the blue causing Derek to choke on the egg roll he hadn’t finished chewing yet. Once he could take a deep breath and refill his burning lungs, he threw a fortune cookie at Stiles to get his attention. 

“You think I like Scott?” Derek asked, hoping the incredulity in his tone was clear enough for Stiles to know he was actually insane. 

Stiles shrugged, “I mean, yeah. Isn’t it obvious?” Derek gaped at him, but before he could argue, Stiles rolled his eyes and gestured to the dorm room around them. “This place is practically Scott and I’s home and it’s rare that you don’t have his favorite snacks in the cabinet. You always have a fridge full of that gross energy drink he practically lives off of and--” 

“You like all those things, too!” Derek argued, holding out his hand in a lame effort to beg Stiles to stop. Stiles shook his head and raised his eyebrows. Derek hoped he didn’t catch on to what his words could have indicated. 

“When they’re here, yeah. I would much rather prefer some pretzels or other salty goodness,” Derek smacked him when he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, but that didn’t stop him from continuing, “and those energy drinks are good when we’ve got our all-night study sessions but would it kill you guys to keep some Gatorade or seltzer in here?” Derek shook his head lamely as Stiles rolled his eyes again. “And to top it all off, every time we’re here, you rush to get a seat next to Scott and force me to sit next to Isaac. Not that I don’t love the guy but…” Stiles trailed off, linking his fingers and placing them with finality on his lap as if waiting for Derek to retort. 

“I don’t like Scott,” Derek repeated, turning toward the TV to incorrectly guess the Jeopardy answer he should have known the answer to. 

Stiles laughed and whispered, “Oh, you love him then?” Derek tackled him onto the floor, hoping that would be enough to finally have his mouth closing, but Stiles just grinned and smirked and Derek had never wanted to kiss him more. 

In truth, Derek couldn’t like Scott because he liked Stiles. He even thought he loved Stiles. Derek had bought those snacks and drinks because he thought Stiles had loved them, too, and he always took a seat next to Scott because he wasn’t sure he would be able to resist wrapping an arm around Stiles’ shoulders or threading his fingers through the hair Stiles had let grow out during his Freshman year. Looking down at Stiles at that moment led him to believe it was quite possibly the dumbest thing he had done all year. 

“Isaac likes Scott,” Derek said, shaking his head like he had let his friend down. He hadn’t, as Isaac wasn’t exactly shy about his crush on Scott, but Derek knew he should have told Stiles how he felt right then and there instead of scapegoating off his roommate. 

“I knew it!” Stiles cheered, pushing Derek off of him and thrusting his fist in the air. “Scott likes Isaac, man. We’ve gotta do some meddling!” 

“Absolutely not,” Derek said immediately, but Stiles silenced him by grabbing his face in his hands. Stiles was so close; all Derek had to do was lean just a smidge forward and their lips would connect. He could say it was an accident, that his back gave out or he got a shiver he couldn’t hold back or--

“Our two best friends are oblivious idiots, Derek.” Derek could only think, They’re not the only ones. “It’s our job to give them the happiness they deserve with each other, right? Right?” Stiles prodded, shaking Derek’s face with each question. Derek sighed, closed his eyes in quiet resignation, and nodded slowly. 

“And what do you suggest we do?” Derek regretted the question immediately as Stiles pulled out his phone and opened his notes app that already contained a bulleted paragraph titled, Scotty Doesn’t Know (cause he’s stupid). 

Stiles left excitedly a few hours later, deciding that both of them needed a good night’s sleep so their plan could start the following morning. Derek barely got a word in edgewise, but he knew he wasn’t about to say to Stiles when his smile lit up so widely. Instead, he leaned his back against the door and looked up at the ceiling, cursing his own stupidity and trying to figure out how to tell Isaac what was gonna happen. 

----------------------------------

“It’s been three weeks, Derek!” Stiles complained as he barged into the room where Derek had his nose pressed into the textbook, studying for his rather important quiz in the morning. 

“And?” Derek asked with a sigh as Stiles sat next to him, pushing the textbook aside to rest his head in Derek’s lap. Three weeks might not have been enough time for Scott and Isaac to figure their crap out, but it was definitely enough time for Stiles to get even more comfortable with physical contact. Part of Stiles’ plan was for him and Derek to always partner up together on their group excursions and to sit next to each other during movie and video game nights, and Stiles had apparently taken that in the most serious manner a person could. He was consistently pressed against Derek’s side or resting his head or feet in Derek’s lap and it was only a matter of time until Derek snapped. 

“And?!” Stiles yelled, smacking Derek’s chest with one of his hands. Derek caught it and held it there, seemingly to stop the assault, but mostly because he wanted to hold Stiles’ hand. “How could they be so stupid?! I mean, we’ve left them alone for minutes, even a half hour that one time where we got distracted by the arcade--” 

“You mean, you got distracted and made me pay for almost 10 games so you could be in the number one slot again?” Derek interrupted, flicking Stiles’ nose with his free hand. It was a mistake as Stiles turned his face into Derek’s abdomen, hiding it from any further abuse. 

“I wasn’t about to let some preteen who-- That doesn’t matter,” Stiles waved his free hand, “because even when we were gone, nothing happened. How do two people who are so madly in love spend so much free time together and not even know it?!” Stiles groaned, pushed off of Derek’s lap to walk to the mini fridge. He reached in to grab a red Gatorade from the top shelf, glancing at it for a moment too long. Derek felt his heart racing when Stiles looked back. 

“What?” He asked dumbly, hoping his feigned ignorance would convince Stiles there was nothing further to think about. 

“Uh, nothing? Nothing,” Stiles decided, shaking his head as he twisted off the cap of the drink and took a large gulp before settling it back in the fridge to keep its cold temperature. “Isaac even bought him a gift card from that stupid Boba place Scott likes so much, enough for their two favorite drinks. Like, he couldn’t be any more transparent!” 

“Yeah, he’s-- Yeah,” Derek agreed because he wasn’t sure what else he could say when Stiles was this heated. 

“I feel bad for Isaac, you know? He’s made it so obvious he has more than friendly feelings and Scott just hasn’t--” Stiles froze, his words halting as he pulled out the makeshift snack drawer. Derek could see the wheels turning in his head as the assortment of pretzels and salty goodness - as Stiles had so eloquently described it - came into view. 

“Stiles?” Derek asked cautiously, standing to make his way over to Stiles before resting a hand on his shoulder. The touch seemed to snap him back into reality as he shoved a small bag of pretzels at Derek’s chest. 

“Please tell me that I’m not imagining things,” Stiles said, kicking the mini fridge open and reaching in only to toss the half empty Gatorade at Derek who caught it by dropping the pretzels on the ground. “You-- I-- Oh my god, am I the stupid one?” Stiles asked, seemingly to himself. 

Derek chuckled and muttered, “You’re not stup--” 

“That wasn’t a denial! Oh my god, you like me! All this time - the last three weeks at least - I’ve been so focused on Scott and Isaac, I didn’t realize that you had been-- I’m the one who couldn’t see what was right in front of me…” Derek could see Stiles’ brain checking off boxes on the list they had made for Scott and Isaac and internally chastising himself. For a moment, all Derek could see in his face was rejection and it broke his heart. 

“You don’t have to feel obligated or anything, just-- I’m glad you know now and we can move on--” Stiles reached his hand into the snack container and chucked multiple bags at Derek, smacking him in the face and chest. Derek held his arms up to protect himself, but Stiles grabbed them in retaliation, pushing him against the wall so they were chest to chest. That feeling Derek had those few weeks ago where he could just lean in and kiss Stiles and make his feelings known was back, but he couldn’t be the one to make the move. His cards were laid out on the table - or the floor, more accurately, that was currently littered with bags of salty snacks and a bottle of Gatorade - and it was Stiles’ turn. 

“How do two people who are so madly in love spend so much free time together and not even know it?” Stiles repeated that time in a whisper, as if considering his earlier sentiment toward Scott and Isaac.

“Well, I thought you weren’t into me and Scott thought Isaac and I were a couple up until last night and Isaac was convinced Scott was into you…” Derek trailed off as Stiles’ eyes narrowed. 

“You knew all of this and you did nothing?” Stiles asked. Derek could only shrug lamely, spreading his fingers the best he could through Stiles’ tight grip on his wrists. 

“I told Isaac what you said but he didn’t believe me!” Derek argued, trying to move his arms so he could stop feeling so out of control with Stiles so close to him. “Will you let me go so I can explain?” Derek pleaded, letting his arms fall limp and his back sag against the wall, powerless against Stiles in more way than one. 

“No,” Stiles said simply, running his fingers down Derek’s arms until they rested on his chest. He patted the thin t-shirt softly, licking his lips before glancing up at Derek. “I’ve got something I’ve gotta do first,” Stiles said, pressing somehow even closer to Derek, a question in his eyes that Derek would never say no to. 

Derek nodded frantically before Stiles crashed their lips together. He was still backed up against the wall, Stiles’ hard body pressed against every inch of his, when his arms finally caught up with his brain. Now that they were free, he wound them around Stiles’ neck, one threading through his hair as he had always wanted to do, while the other cupped Stiles’ jaw, his finger resting against the rapid pulse beating under his skin. It calmed him to know that Stiles was just as excited, just as nervous, as he was. He was so focused on the way Stiles’ skin felt underneath his palm and the way his hair smoothed through his fingers that he had to pull away to remind himself to breathe. 

“God dammit,” Stiles said, pushing off of Derek to put unwanted space between them. 

“I-- What?” Derek asked, his chest heaving with emotion and his lungs burning as they tried to regain the oxygen Stiles had taken from them. Stiles ran his hands through his hair and burst into laughter, surprising the hell out of Derek. He thought Stiles was angry, frustrated, maybe even pissed, but the joy that echoed through the room knocked him off his feet as he slid down the wall. 

“I can’t believe we’ve both been putting all our effort into pushing our best friend’s together when we could have been doing this,” Stiles complained as he leaned down to grab the Gatorade from the floor, downing the rest of it in a few long gulps. 

“Do you feel bad for me, too?” Derek teased, grinning when Stiles raised an eyebrow at him. “You said you felt bad that Scott is such an idiot and still doesn’t know Isaac’s in love with him, so now do feel bad for me? Cause you’re such an idiot?” Derek explained. Stiles glared at Derek but there was no heat in it. When Stiles went to smack him, Derek grabbed onto his arms and tackled him to the floor, hovering over him until he broke the silence. 

“Oh, you love me then?” Stiles retorted with a wide grin splitting across his face. Derek nodded, his eyes losing their humor as he agreed wholeheartedly. 

“Yeah, I guess I do.”