Chapter Text
Beacon Hills wasn't a huge town, really. But, people tended to choose a side of it and stick there. Stiles, for one, tended to stay toward the southern end of town since that was where work (he still wasn't entirely certain how he'd gotten into marketing... and gotten good at it) and home (still living with his father at 25) were. The town only had one high school so he had gone to school with virtually everyone his age, but most of them stayed to the northern end of town. That's where all of the good things were, anyway. The money, the clubs... Stiles was fine where he was, but he couldn't say with any kind of certainty that he didn't just want more sometimes.
He stopped at a different grocery store than he normally did on the way home, figuring that a quick beer run wasn't something worth bargain hunting for. He grabbed something on sale that he remembered being decent and headed up toward the registers, groaning at the fact that only one register was open and there were a few people with full carts in front of him. Setting his beer down on the floor, he picked up a magazine and started to read since it was better than letting his mind go over what it was that made people buy the products they were buying. It was just his luck that the person who got behind him in line was Jackson Whittemore, something of an ex-friend from high school. "Hi," he forced out, not wanting to get into the awkwardness of pretending not to remember Jackson.
Jackson lifted his chin, haughty, and smiled at Stiles. "Hi. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"What, five years?" Stiles glanced at the shoppers in front of him and tried not to sigh at how much still needed to be processed before it was his turn. "What are you up to now?"
Shrugging one shoulder, Jackson leaned against the cooler that held drinks by the register. "Lydia and I got married and now I'm helping to manage her law firm."
"Oh." Stiles flipped through a few pages of his magazine without looking at them. He'd had a huge crush on Lydia forever, had even worked his ass off in high school to go to the same college as she had, and had confessed all of that to Jackson years ago when Jackson said he couldn't understand her appeal. And then Stiles had run into them on a date together. It had taken him everything he had to keep going to finish up that last semester of school. "Uh, I'm working in marketing. I'm chief of my department." He didn't think it sounded impressive in the face of, well, anything Jackson did.
Jackson twisted his basket of groceries in his hand, letting it hit against his leg and drawing attention to the gold ring on his finger. "Good. You've always been great at showing other people what they want." Stiles' heart seemed to stop at that phrase. "And are you seeing anyone finally?"
Stiles waved his magazine in the air as he answered. "Yeah. I'm actually buying this magazine because my boyfriend's in it. The beer's to celebrate."
Jerking the magazine from his hand, Stiles' brow furrowed. "You're dating Derek Hale?"
Grabbing back the magazine to see that local hotel tycoon Derek Hale did indeed feature on the page he'd flipped to, Stiles smiled, because his marketing company was trying to lure Hale Hotels as a new client, but he'd never even seen their CEO around town. "Yeah. We're not public about it, so don't say anything, but he's just amazing. I can't believe how lucky I am!"
"A guy like that'll date a guy like you?" Jackson's jaw was set firm as he looked Stiles over. "Hmm. Maybe you should join a bunch of us this Saturday for a drink. You don't have plans with Derek, do you?"
Stiles was finally able to put his beer and magazine on the conveyor belt at the register. "If I promise to spend extra time with him on Sunday, I'm sure he won't mind me skipping out just this once. You'll have to give me your number again, though. I've switched phones so much that I think I lost yours."
Handing over a business card a moment later, Jackson nodded. "Great. I'm sure Danny will be happy to see you, too. And to hear all about Derek." He winked and put his basket down behind Stiles' things. "Good seeing you, Stilinski."
Waving one hand back to Jackson, Stiles pulled out his wallet and proceeded to hurry through showing his ID and paying for his items, smiling as he left the store while silently cursing as the bag with the magazine swung in one hand.
At home, he let himself drink two beers while leafing through the magazine, draining the last of the second bottle as he got to the profile of Derek Hale. "You're too good-looking," he said loudly to the page. "Handsome and rich and influential... You could have anyone you wanted, so you're probably a useless playboy. Maybe I just won't call Jackson after all." He paused to purse his lips at the page, dragging a finger over the stubbled jawline printed on the page. "But, it would be nice to see Danny. Maybe just the once. And I'll come clean that it's a joke." He thought back to the ring on Jackson's finger and the time he'd caught him with Lydia. "Maybe... Maybe a little bit after that."
He fell asleep on the couch and woke with the magazine stuck to his cheek as his father walked through the door, back from his overnight shift at the Sheriff's station. "Son, did you forget how to recycle again?"
Stiles rubbed at his cheek where the page had peeled away, realizing that he must have drooled on the magazine some. "No? I just... I ran into Jackson last night and ended up having a pity party."
Patting Stiles' shoulder roughly, his father smiled. "Save the parties for the weekend. You've got work in an hour."
Checking his phone quickly, Stiles' eyes went wide and he fell off the couch in his rush to get upstairs.
When eight o'clock arrived, Derek Hale entered the lobby of the Sacramento branch of Hale Hotels and began examining it for the precise criteria he demanded they maintain. The people were dressed correctly (though not quite to the standard he held himself to), there was no dust accumulation anywhere that he could find, and the customer complaining about her room was being handled deftly. Everything was well until he actually heard the customer speak. "I came here for my wedding party and they dare to not give me enough towels? If your CEO wasn't so busy dating that boy, maybe things would be better."
Brows furrowing, Derek moved closer to the woman and bowed his head toward her to get her attention. "Pardon me, madam. I couldn't help but overhear your problem. We'll be happy to send up a maid with as many towels as you'd like, as well as a complimentary bottle of champagne for your hassle." He paused briefly, trying to find the words he wanted to use. "I'm sorry to intrude, but as the CEO, I take great pride in maintaining a good atmosphere here. I'm not dating anyone, though, so any problems are merely a failing of my own."
"Oh? But my friend overheard a boy in the grocery store last night saying he was dating you. He's... I think she said he's the Sheriff's son?" The woman looked mollified by the champagne, though, and her anger was ebbing.
With a nod, Derek patted the counter to get the attention of the girl working the desk. "Do take care of the towels and champagne, Sarah. I'll be in my office if you need me." He turned to the customer and put on his best smile. "Have a wonderful wedding, and please let us continue to take care of you here at Hale Hotels." He gave her a small wave and moved over to the elevators, inserting his special key card that would override the rest of the controls and take him directly to his office on the 15th floor off from the business lounge area. He stalked over to his assistant, Erica, and undid the button of his jacket as he glared at her. "I just heard from a customer that the Sheriff's son is going around telling people that I'm dating him."
Erica shrugged and pulled a nail file from her drawer, beginning to slowly shape her nails. "So?"
"So, send Isaac over to make sure that stops." Derek raised an eyebrow at her. "And tell my uncle I'll meet him for lunch at noon in the restaurant downstairs. Their business has dropped slightly and I want to make sure it's not because the quality has."
"Got it, boss." Erica smirked. "You want me to send him now?"
Shrugging off his jacket, Derek nodded. "Problems must be taken care of quickly, Erica. That's how my business continues to run well."
"Right." Erica put down her nail file and reached for the phone, dialing the number for the workroom where Isaac, her assistant, was sorting through mail. "Get to your desk, Derek. You've got papers that need signing."
Putting on his sunglasses, Isaac got out of his car and headed into the sheriff's station, looking around awkwardly before realizing that taking off the sunglasses was probably the best idea because he couldn't seem to read the signs with them on. He pulled them off again and tried to walk cooly toward the desk. "Hello," he said with a bright smile. "I need to find out where I can talk to the Sheriff's son?"
"Probably at his house," the man at the desk said as he scribbled a note on a Post-It, his shaggy hair curling attractively against his forehead.
"And, where's that?" Isaac forced his smile a little more.
The man at the desk sighed, shifting so that Isaac could read his nametag: Officer McCall. "I cannot give out the address of a private citizen just because you want a date with him or something. Try the karaoke bar over on Lincoln if you want a one-night stand. They like the suited type over there."
Isaac clenched his teeth together and put his palms on the counter in front of him. "Look, he's been going around saying he's dating a guy and I just need to find out if it's true or not."
Officer McCall stood, and Isaac's eyes went wide as a thrum of attraction ran through him. "If Stiles is dating a guy, the guy's lucky. Now, if you don't actually have a reason to be here, I suggest you leave before I'm forced to find something to charge you with."
"Do you go to that karaoke bar?" Isaac pulled his sunglasses from his pocket, playing with one of the arms. "I'm asking about that guy for my boss, but I'm asking about you for, well, me."
Peeling off the Post-It he'd just written on, the officer scribbled something else and slapped the new Post-It down in front of Isaac before looking past him and yelling, "Next!"
Isaac grabbed the yellow paper and left the building, smirking when he got in his car and finally looked at the paper to see a name and phone number. Scott. It took him a long moment to realize that Scott had inadvertently given him the name of the Sheriff's son. With a few minutes of Googling, he found the address of Stiles' marketing company and headed over.
The girl at reception gave him a bored look when he asked to speak to Stiles, but picked up the phone and barked off an order to someone else. "He'll be down in twenty minutes or so. He's in a meeting." She snapped a picture of him with her phone and smirked. "I'm sending him this picture of you, so feel free to wander a bit and he'll find you."
"Has he mentioned a boyfriend to you?" Isaac cocked his head, wondering if he should have asked that of Scott.
"Mr. Stilinski doesn't talk about anything but his job when he's here. He's very professional." She pointed to a table in the corner of the room where a coffee maker was set up. "Feel free to help yourself to coffee, sir."
After two cups of surprisingly good coffee, a man came down the stairs and looked around before beelining toward Isaac. He held out his hand and gave Isaac a warm smile. "Hi. I'm Stiles Stilinski. Susan said you were here about the potential Hale account?"
Isaac's mouth dropped open and he looked down at his name badge and then back up at Stiles as he shook the man's hands. "You're in charge of the new Hale Hotels marketing campaign?"
"I wouldn't say I'm in charge, but I'm the head of the team you're going to want to confer with first." His eyes narrowed as he looked Isaac over. "They haven't already chosen the other company, have they? Because we've got a proven track record and a dedication to confidentiality that is unsurpassed by our competitors."
Clearing his throat, Isaac shook his head. "We're just checking in on things to make sure that everything is progressing as it should."
"Oh, of course!" Stiles gave Isaac an easy smile as he pulled a business card from a holder in his pocket. "Here's my information so that you can contact me more easily next time. I apologize that the information wasn't made available to you before. Those oversights are not typical of our organization and I'll see to it that it won't happen again. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"
Isaac pocketed the business card. "I... I guess that's it for today. I'll be in contact soon."
"Have a good day, Mr. Lahey." Stiles shook his hand again and took a moment to grab a cup of coffee as Isaac walked away. Surely someone had made a mistake?
Back at the office, Isaac scratched at his chin as he walked past Erica and knocked on Derek's door, walking immediately inside, but waiting until Derek gestured to him to speak. "I think someone got confused or something when listening to that guy? He works at one of the places we're looking at contracting for our next round of advertising and everyone had very positive things to say about him. And, I mean, he's the Sheriff's son. You told that woman you weren't dating him, right? So, that should be the end of it."
Derek frowned. "Did you ask him directly?"
"No... He was all business and assumed I was there about the account. I didn't want to potentially ruin anything there." Isaac forced himself to stand straighter. "Should I go back?"
"No." Derek shook his head. "Just keep an eye on the situation." He tilted his head. "Now, get back to work."
Isaac smiled and did just that.
Stiles slammed his hand against his phone on Saturday morning, attempting to shut off his alarm without having to look at it, but was forced into opening his eyes when he sent the phone halfway across the room. Groaning, he got out of bed and picked up his phone, shutting off the alarm only to realize he had a text waiting. His stomach seemed to drop away when he realized it was from Jackson about getting together that afternoon. He briefly considered changing his number and moving, but immediately vetoed that because he couldn't leave his father. He could fake one more day of dating, and then fake a breakup later. No one would question Derek Hale dumping him when they were too busy questioning how Derek could like him in the first place.
He took a long time doing everything that day. He read the ingredients list of everything he ate, made sure that every nook and cranny of his English muffin was full of peanut butter, let his coffee get cool by the time he finished the last sip. He carefully considered a few trades for his fantasy baseball lineup, answered a few emails that he'd been putting off, and spent 45 minutes looking at sheets online because he'd had the vague idea that he wasn't going to be satisfied with the ones he'd find in stores. After ordering some that were guaranteed to feel soft fresh out of the packaging, he glared at the time on his phone. It was almost 1pm and he had three more hours to kill. In a fit of pique, he threw on clothes and went shopping. A guy dating Derek Hale wouldn't be wearing sweatpants and a graphic tee.
With his ratty weekend clothes shoved into a bag in his car, and wearing a shirt, tie, waistcoat, and a pair of slacks, Stiles stopped at a cafe to grab a quick half sandwich before meeting everyone since he hadn't bothered with lunch and wasn't sure if dinner plans were included in what they were doing. As he wiped mustard off of his hand, he paused and looked up to see the jewelry store across the street. If he was going to sell it...
It didn't take long to pick out a simple gold ring that fit his general likes. It did take him nearly twenty minutes to commit to buying it, though. He'd just dropped a few hundred on the new outfit, and the ring... That brought his day's totals up to closer to $1000 than he really wanted to think about. It was a lot to spend on a lie, but then he remembered the way it looked when he caught Jackson kissing Lydia. It made it so much easier to hand over his credit card with a smile.
With the ring on his finger and his thumb rubbing at it already, Stiles drove to the address that Jackson had sent him, not terribly surprised to find that it was Jackson's house. When he pulled into the driveway, he forced himself to take a deep breath and walked to the front door. When the door opened, Stiles' mouth went dry. "Stiles?"
"Uh, hi. Lydia. I'm here to hang out with Jackson and the guys, I guess?" He tried not to catalogue the changes the years had made to her, but it was proving difficult.
"Oh! That's great." She smiled broadly and gestured him inside. "I'm heading out for a girl's night myself, but it's good seeing you." She stepped past him and pointed inside. "They're just down the hall. Bye!"
Stiles stood there for a long moment, fiddling with the ring on his finger and watching Lydia leave, then forced himself to close the door and walk down the hall toward where Jackson and whoever "the guys" consisted of. It proved to be Danny Mahealani, Vernon Boyd, and another guy he'd played lacrosse with... Greenberg? "Uh, hey. Lydia let me in."
Danny was the first one to smile at him, dimples going deep as he gestured Stiles over into the seat next to him. "Hey, man! When Jackson told me you were coming, I thought he had brain damage. But, I'm glad you're here."
Vernon, no... He went by Boyd, didn't he? Boyd just smirked at him and nodded, but he'd always been a quiet guy. Greenberg had his mouth full of something and just gave a little wave. That left Jackson to push over a shot glass and hold up a bottle of whiskey. "A toast to the guy who landed that Derek Hale dick?"
Stiles waited until Jackson had the glass filled, then picked it up with his left hand to show off the ring. "Did I ever strike you as someone who just wanted the D?"
Letting out a little whistle, Danny grabbed one of the other shot glasses that Jackson was filling. "So, what's he like in the sack? Because, he seems like a wild animal."
Tapping his glass against Danny's, Stiles slammed back the whiskey, wincing at the burn as he put the glass down. "I don't really like to talk about that, but it's good. Very good. Each time is like a new best." It wasn't really a lie since you couldn't really compare nothing to nothing.
Jackson's jaw shifted to one side as he inhaled before downing his own shot. "Where are you living these days?"
"With..." Stiles paused and looked around the group, knowing he couldn't say 'with my dad'. "Derek. I just moved in with him, actually."
"Into that place uptown with all of the weird lighting?" Greenberg leaned forward, suddenly interested. It made Stiles remember that the guy had been all about architecture in school. "It was featured in a magazine a few months ago."
Stiles coughed. "Uh, I don't know. He's got a few places, but the one we're in right now is done very monochromatic?" He wondered just how much he was making up about Derek Hale.
"I didn't even know he was gay." Danny sighed dramatically. "If I had, I might have gone down a different career path. Where'd you meet?"
"We ran into each other. Running. There around the preserve? He scraped his knee and I happened to have a first aid kit." Stiles grabbed the whiskey bottle and refilled his glass. "But, that's all boring stuff. Tell me what's up with you guys!"
Everyone told a little about themselves. Danny had just broken up with his bartender boyfriend ("So, excuse me if I need to live vicariously through you for a bit."). Boyd had just started a new job ("Just opened my own ice rink. It's no hotel chain, but I've got a sweet Zamboni."). Greenberg was working toward a Masters degree in Architecture ("I want to design amazing apartments. You should let me come visit yours sometime!").
And then there was Jackson. "I'm doing great at my job and Lydia is amazing. The sex is fantastic, by the way. Thought you should know."
Downing a third shot, Stiles gave Jackson a tense grin. "I guess. I mean, Derek was really reluctant to even let me come today because he wanted to just stay in bed, but maybe it's just that we're still pretty new together. I guess later he'll be more open to hanging out with friends."
"So, he's possessive?" Danny traced his finger along the rim of his glass, leaning in slowly.
"More like perpetually horny." Stiles gave Danny a lecherous grin. "He's very difficult to wear out, but damn is it fun to try."
Jackson coughed loudly and held up the whiskey bottle. "Enough about sex. Who wants more?"
They ended up ordering pizza and playing poker which actually made Stiles feel better about the whole ordeal. He won $200 off of the other guys, even pushed a bit past tipsy, and managed not to get any pizza on his clothes. When he got a text, he fumbled with his phone and looked it over, frowning. "Geez, he wants me home now?"
"I guess Derek must love you," Danny said wistfully. "My ex didn't even notice when I went out of town for the weekend."
Stiles decided not to clarify that it had been his dad texting. "Yeah, well, it was nice seeing you guys. Next time, I'll try not to take all of your money."
"Yeah, Stilinski." Jackson glared up at him for a moment before his face softened with a hint of smile. "Next time."
Driving slowly even though he was reasonably certain he'd metabolized enough of the whiskey to no longer be considered drunk, Stiles cursed himself the whole way home. "Yeah, sure. I'm fucking nesting with Derek fucking Hale and we're two little lovebirds who can't get enough sex. That's totally going to end in disaster really soon." When he parked in the driveway, he slammed his head against his steering wheel, sighing when it set off a sharp blast of the horn.
That night, Stiles walked over to his best friend's house, and knocked on the door. When Scott opened the door, Stiles held up his hands in a praying gesture. "Please tell me that you are up to the challenge of getting me utterly wasted while also telling me that I can do this thing that I really shouldn't be doing."
"Dude, you know I would, but Allison's on her way over and-" Scott stopped himself. "I'm sorry, dude. I'm off on Thursday so if this can wait until Wednesday."
Stiles sighed. "You owe me."
Scott smiled. "Anything, dude. I know I'm being a dick, but I finally got her to even talk to me again. I don't want to ruin things so soon." He coughed. "And I just realized I forgot to put on deodorant and she'll be here any second. Later, Stiles!"
With the door closing in his face, Stiles forced a smile on his face and turned back toward his own place, intent on drinking without supervision.