Stiles pulled on his jacket a little tighter as they walked down the pier. It was an unusually cold night for California summer and Stiles almost regretted his suggestion of a walk down the beach. Except, when he’d suggested it, none of the pack but Derek had said yes and Stiles would do anything to spend a few minutes alone with him.
“Are you cold?” Derek asked. “We can go back if you want.”
Stiles leaned on the railing as they reached the end of the pier. “Nah, this is good. I missed the ocean.”
The last time he’d been near the coast was driving to and from college back to Beacon Hills. It was a nice trip, but most of the time, he didn’t have time to stop and just take in the ocean as he was doing now. Besides, if they went back now, they’d probably find the pack mid board game and Stiles was developing an adverse reaction to the feral competition between Lydia and the rest of the pack. Lydia still won most of the time; Jackson got madder every time it happened.
“I didn’t think you came here often,” Derek said.
“I don’t. I just drove past it many times.” Stiles looked at the vast expanse of the ocean in front of them, the sound of the waves the only indicator that there was more than just darkness around them.
They stood there in silence for a while, Stiles was used to it. Secretly, he thought Derek only brought him on this road trip to appease Scott, who has been insisting Stiles is part of the pack for years now. Derek has yet to confirm that assumption to Stiles himself.
It’s not that they hate each other, in fact, they’ve moved past their snarling and posturing into a more comfortable place of collaboration for years now. Derek came to him when he needed research, but also when he needed a second opinion on how to deal with something supernatural who threatened their territory. Jackson once asked why some things weren’t discussed as a pack, only to have Derek shut him down saying it had been discussed (Jackson didn’t need to know that it had apparently only been discussed with Stiles).
If Stiles didn’t know better, he’d say Derek saw him as his second-in-command, but that didn’t make sense. Stiles wasn’t even officially a part of the pack.
“What are you thinking about?” asked Derek suddenly.
Stiles’ stomach tightened. You, he wanted to say, but that wasn’t true. He was thinking about how complicated the pack dynamics were and how easily they could change if Stiles said the wrong thing. The last thing he wanted was to scare Derek away and have him cancel their ridiculous road trip because Stiles messed things up with his complicated feelings.
“I don’t know. Nothing, I guess.” It wasn’t a full lie, so he hoped it would go undetected by the wolf’s ears.
“That’s new,” Derek mocked, his arm brushing against Stiles’.
As usual, Stiles was painfully aware of the places where their bodies touched. They didn’t need to be so close, yet it kept happening everywhere: a shoulder touch here, a brush of their fingers there. It was maddening to say the least.
“What are you doing once we’re back in Beacon Hills?” Derek asked.
“I don’t know, Derek. There’s not much use for a criminal justice degree except joining the force, maybe.”
“I thought you wanted to be a field agent,” he said.
“That was four years, a lifetime, ago.”
Stiles didn’t need to look at Derek to see his eyeroll. “There are other careers, Stiles. You could go back to school, even.”
“You know, I didn’t think I would get a career counseling session on this trip. I thought the point of it all was to disconnect.”
Stiles felt him tense next to him. “It’s not like you’ll listen to me anyway,” he said.
“That’s unfair and you know it. I do listen to you, it’s hard not to when you only reach out when you need help.”
Derek turned to look at him then. “That’s not true.”
“It is.”
“Then what are we doing here?”
“We’re on a road trip because our mutual friends are little shits.”
“I meant, here, at the beach. With you.”
Stiles turned to look at him then. If he didn’t know better, he’d say Derek was blushing, but it was probably just the cold making his cheeks rosy.
“Is something going on back home?” Stiles asked.
“I wouldn’t leave Beacon Hills unprotected if there was a threat going on. Don’t you know that by now?”
Stiles did. It just didn’t make sense to him. Derek only came to him with pack stuff and the occasional invitation to hang out at his place while the wolves were out on a run.
He found himself nodding at Derek’s question, then turned to look at the ocean one more time. If he looked at Derek long enough his heart would do its funny thing where it hammered inside his ribcage as if he was being chased, except, instead of numbing terror, heat spread to his face.
Derek followed suit, his hand so close to Stiles that he could take it if he wanted to. Leaning forward on the railing, Stiles breathed in the salty ocean air and closed his eyes. What would happen if he took his hand? Would it be so terrible? The worst thing that could happen was that Derek wouldn’t be into him. Would that be the end of the world? Stiles survived his crash and burn relationship with Lydia, he could survive his crush not being reciprocated.
Before he could do or say anything though, a warm, calloused hand covered his. Stiles’s heart immediately went into overdrive. Derek could certainly feel his pulse on the tips of his fingers.
Stiles opened his eyes and glanced at Derek, then at their hands. Derek spoke before Stiles’ brain was able to form a coherent sentence. “You make it so difficult to flirt with you.”
A fuse blew in Stiles’ brain.
“What?”
Derek frowned, moving his hand away, but Stiles turned it the right way to grab it before he completely pulled away.
“You’ve been flirting with me?” Stiles asked.
“Have been for over a year, but thanks for noticing.”
Stiles’ mind quickly went through anything that could be defined as flirting: the glances stolen in pack meetings, the brush of their shoulders as they walked through the Preserve together, calls that got longer because Derek kept asking him interesting questions that Stiles needed to know the answers to. Then he thought of all the times they’ve hung out together without the pack and he wondered if those were supposed to be dates.
“Oh my god, it’s been right under my nose the whole time.”
“Well, not the whole time. I didn’t realize the annoying feeling I had when I was with you was because I liked you until about a year ago. I would’ve made a move sooner but you kept ignoring me, I thought there was someone else.”
Stiles felt himself gaping. A year. They could’ve been— they should’ve been dating this whole time. He could’ve had Derek’s lips on him so many times over the course of the last few weeks only.
“Well, I do like you,” said Stiles. “In case it wasn’t obvious by the way my heart’s trying to beat out of my chest.”
Derek smiled. It wasn’t that Stiles never saw him smile —in fact, there was plenty of smiling when he teased him—, it was that Derek’s smile was often guarded, rough around the edges. Not this time though, it was as bright and blinding as the sun.
“Say that again,” Derek said.
“I like you. So much.”
There was a short pause, not enough time for anything to be awkward, when Derek’s hand came up to Stiles’ chin and tilted his head up. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t move either, as if he was gauging his reaction first. Stiles nodded and a second later Derek’s lips were on his.
Instead of spiraling, his mind went quiet. All he could focus on was the way Derek’s lips fit against his, moving slowly, without any rush, as if they had all the time in the world. When Stiles ran the tip of his tongue against Derek’s lips, they opened immediately, welcoming him in as he deepened the kiss.
Stiles didn’t know how long they stood slowly kissing at the pier, all he knew was that at some point it wasn’t enough, all he wanted to do was kiss him senseless until they were both panting. After some sort of silent agreement, they both pulled apart. Derek’s beautiful, just-kissed mouth shined with spit under the moonlight, making him look unattainable and god-like.
“God what the fuck,” Stiles said.
Derek frowned, a worried look in his face.
“We could’ve been kissing like that for an entire year? I might be stupid.”
“Maybe I was too subtle, have you thought of that?” Derek asked, his frown smoothing with a warm, happy expression.
“Maybe.” A thought crossed Stiles’ mind. “Hey, you don’t think the guys know, right?”
Derek leveled him with a look. “As much as I like to mock them for not using it properly, the wolves have a nose.”
Ah, crap.
“We’re never gonna hear the end of it, right?”
Something glinted in Derek’s eyes then, an expression Stiles had never seen before and it made blood rush to his face.
“We could take my car, you know?”
Stiles’ heart beat faster at that. They could do it. They could go somewhere else, anywhere, and it wouldn’t matter because they’d be together.
“Okay.”
Later that night, Stiles shot Scott a message saying don’t wait up. Its quick reply was only a string of celebratory emojis. He put the phone away to glance at Derek’s profile as he drove, enamored with the smile that made itself at home on his face since their kiss at the pier.
Stiles would do anything to keep it there for as long as he’ll have him.