[Sterek] Cupboard Love (boyxboy) (complete)

Chapter 43

With a few days left before new semester starts, Stiles works up his nerve on a Thursday and texts Derek. What do you want to eat this week?

He gets a reply only a few minutes later. Come outside. His pulse speeds up a bit, but Stiles toes into his shoes and heads downstairs anyway and comes face to face with his Jeep, purring along at the curb with Derek in the driver's seat.

He smiles and turns off the engine, slides out of the seat and tosses Stiles his keys. Stiles barely manages to catch them, he's just so happy to have his baby back.

"Oh my god, she's aliiiiiive!" he cheers, and runs his hands over the hood. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Did you go all the way to Beacon Hills to get her? How did you get back? How much do I owe Elliot?" Stiles can't help but get his hands all over his car, checking the tires and the gas tank (mostly full, even) and admiring how weirdly, incredibly clean it is. He doesn't drive that much, other than his few trips home and the drive to and from Derek's place, but having a car means having the freedom to go anywhere he wants, and he's pretty attached to her.

"Becca came and picked me up so I could drive it back here for you," Derek explains, looking rightfully proud of himself. "And the bill is taken care of, don't worry about it."

"Wait, what?" Stiles pauses, hands pressed to the driver's side door and turns back to look at Derek. "What do you mean it's taken care of?"

Shifting his weight a little, Derek almost looks a little uncomfortable. "I wanted to do something for you, to say thank you." He pauses, stepping closer and keeps his eyes on Stiles'. "I don't think I can pay you to cook for me any more," he continues, which is just completely out of left field. "It's great - you're great, and I love your cooking but it's maybe a bit weird to be paying you when I want to kiss you."

Stiles can feel a stupid, stunned expression on his face but he's still reeling from the loss of income and the sudden confession that his brain is stuck, scrambling to keep up.

"More than kiss you, really," Derek continues. "I want to wake up to you in the morning and fall asleep next to you at night. I want to take you out to baseball games and stuff ourselves with ballpark hot dogs. I want you and your Dad to come to every Thanksgiving and every Christmas and I'll go home more often if it would make you happy to be there. I," he scrubs both hands through his hair leaving it mussed, "Stiles, I even want to go shopping for a new computer with you. So I- I can't be your client any more when all I really want is... all of you." He shrugs, helplessly, and just stands there while Stiles fails to do anything but gawp at him.

"Right, well I guess, uh, I'll head home now. Thanks for everything," Derek says, sounding resigned and starts to walk away. Stiles darts forward and grabs his hand before he does.

"Wait I - my brain is kind of - the thing is I'm kind of stupidly in love with you," Stiles manages to get out, tripping over his own words. "Like a lo-mmph."

Derek yanks him forward and ducks his head just slightly, cutting him off with an ecstatic kiss, half smiling into it, bringing one hand up to curl against Stiles' cheek.

It's kind of a terrible first kiss, really, what with Derek's teeth hitting Stiles' lips, but after a minute he gets himself under control and just bites gently at Stiles' lower lip, smoothes over it with his tongue and falls into a series of short, tantalizing brushes of lips until Stiles' knees are about to give out. When Stiles pulls back, gasping for air, Derek moves on to press a trail of gentle kisses up his jaw, behind his ear, down the column of his neck.

"Oh my god," Stiles gasps, clutching at Derek's shoulders, "You're going to kill me like this."

Derek huffs another laugh right up against Stiles' ear, making him shiver. "If being in nature instead of nature-adjacent didn't kill you, a few kisses won't hurt," he says cockily, as if he isn't sucking what will probably be an enormous hickey onto Stiles' neck so it will still be there when he starts classes again.

A sharp wolf-whistle makes them jump apart guiltily, and Stiles spots his landlady leaning out the ground level window. "Stilinski, make sure you move your car out back before you get all caught up in your tall, dark, and handsome there. It's twenty minute pick up/drop off parking only!"

Stiles drops his head to Derek's shoulder to laugh, only a little hysterically, before he waves an acknowledgement to her. "Will do!" He takes a deep breath and grins up at Derek, still overwhelmed and overflowing with so much raw feeling that he's sure he could power half a city block at least right now. "Want to stay for lunch?" he offers and Derek tangles their fingers together, kissing him briefly again, so obviously pleased.

"Always."