notes: written for the sterek haven secret santa exchange on tumblr. also on ao3.

Stiles likes Christmas, he does, but there's only so many times a guy can hear "Jingle Bells" before seriously contemplating taking a bat to the radio and smashing it into a hundred pieces.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way to hell because that's where Stiles is right now, Christmas Hell.

Holiday hours at the mall suck.

The only upside (besides the pay of course, he certainly isn't complaining about that) is the fact that Derek Hale has recently started working as one of the security guards and walks by the store every hour or so. Stiles isn't usually one for uniforms, he's against the system and the man and all that (yeah, he knows he works in a mall but he needs money and Journeys lets him keep his lip ring) but Derek makes it work. He doesn't need x-ray vision to know that there's nothing but pure muscle under that uniform. Plus he's got this amazing scruffy beard that Stiles seriously wants rubbed all over his body, chafing be damned. And his eyes -they were the colour green that people wrote poetry about. Stiles would write poetry about them only he's crap at writing and that's a level of obsessive he's trying not to cross.

The point it, Stiles would not mind being arrested if Derek Hale is the one doing it.

Which is information he's shared with Derek, several times, whenever they happen to run into each other at the food court, both on their lunch breaks. So far he's gotten nothing but unimpressed eyebrows in return and once or twice a full on scowl.

It's not surprising. They had gone to high school together but Stiles was a few years younger and he's pretty sure he's never gotten so much as near Derek's radar. There had been a brief week his junior year when Stiles had been paired with his sister Cora for a history project, and while it had granted him temporary access to the inner Hale sanctum, Derek was never there when he was.

Stiles still considers it a small highlight of his high school career, even if Cora does terrify him.

Derek should terrify him. He's broody and surly and looks like he could probably kill a man with his bare hands. Stiles doesn't think he would, but still.

But he isn't terrified of Derek. Or he is and his body doesn't know how to properly process fear because every time he sees the guy he wants to push him against a wall and get his hands on everything that uniform is hiding.

Stiles' survival instincts aren't the best.

But Derek seems to be immune to his (albeit crass) flirting so mostly he just ogles the guy from afar. His job may suck and he may want to brain himself against the counter instead of of hearing another chorus of Jingle Bells, but at least he has that ass to look at.

Speaking of, now would be a great time for the magnificence that is Derek Hale's ass to appear because Stiles is going to go out of his goddamn mind if this lady doesn't just pick a pair of shoes and move on. She's been staring at two pairs of Vans for the past twenty minutes, picking them up and putting them down, comparing the info on the boxes while making humming noises to herself. He can feel the urge to scream mounting.

The store is closing in five minutes and Stiles usually uses this time to start cleaning (the floor currently looks like a stampede of elephants trampled over it) but he can't because she won't just buy something already.

Stiles grits his teeth and reminds himself to be patient. It doesn't do much though so he pulls out his phone and starts up another game of Angry Birds while he waits. He only has to tolerate it for another five minutes before he can (politely) tell her she has to leave. And it's not like she doesn't know the mall is closing soon -it's been announced over the main intercom at least twice.

He watches the time on his phone as the minutes tick past and it's a minute before closing when the woman finally leaves. Just leaves without either pair of fucking shoes. Stiles watches her go with his mouth hung open, flailing a bit as she disappears from view.

"Seriously?" he says to himself, rushing forward to pull the store grate down.

He listens to The Clash while he cleans and by the time he's done he realizes there's no way he's not going to be late for his hangout with Scott. They're supposed to be going bar hopping which will probably result into just going to The Silver Bullet so Scott can flirt with the pretty bartender while Stiles laments the music choices and drinks too much vodka, but he doesn't want to leave Scott hanging either way.

He pulls on his hoodie and grabs his skateboard from where it's been propped up behind the counter and lets himself out of the store. He throws a surreptitious glance around him and is pleased to find the coast clear. He sets the board down and hops on.

The sound of the wheels on the tile is loud as he rides towards one of the employee exits and he knows that mall security, wherever they are, can totally hear him. He's done this enough though to know they can't usually catch him before he makes it to the door so he's feeling pretty confident.

Turns out the confidence may have been a little pre-emptive.

He's not sure whether to call Derek Hale stepping out in front of him, appearing from fucking nowhere apparently, counts as luck or not, but he does know it hurts -because he'd tried to veer out of the way, ended up flailing a lot, and is now on his ass, his skateboard rolling away without him.

"Owe, fuck man, not cool," he whines, breathing heavily while he tries to recover from the heart attack he's pretty sure he just had. "You scared me half to death."

Derek doesn't say anything, just looks down at him with his grumpy eyebrows and stupidly cute frown. Why is his frown cute? Since when is cute frowning a thing that happened? And why is Stiles suddenly very into it?

He's about to pull himself to his feet (because while he's enjoying the view he has of Derek's crotch right now it's still kind of embarrassing having wiped out in front of the guy he was crushing on) when suddenly there's a hand in his face. Derek is holding out a hand to him.

Stiles stares at it for a moment and then looks back up at Derek who looks like he's pretty close to retracting the offer. Stiles grabs his hand and let's the other man help haul him to his feet, skin tingly and kind of sweaty from where they'd touched.

Great, he'd had sweaty palms the first time he'd ever actually touched Derek Hale.

He rubs them on his pants, glancing around for his board. Derek's just staring at him like he's a leper or something and he still hasn't said anything and the whole encounter has just been really weird.

"Dude, if you're going to bitch me out or whatever just go for it" he says after a few more awkward moments of silence.

Derek's frown deepens but he does actually respond this time so Stiles considers it progress.

"You shouldn't be skateboarding in the mall."

Derek winces like the words offend him in some way and Stiles raises his brow.

"Yeah sure, alright. Are you going to write me a ticket? Cuff me?"

Derek blinks at him. "No."

"Shame," Stiles said, not bothering to hide the appreciative once-over he slides down Derek's body. Covering up nerves with slightly lascivious flirting is a special skill of his -because he doesn't know what is happening right now but he's pretty freaking nervous. He doesn't want Derek to know that though.

Stiles drags his eyes back up to the other man's and they stare at each other for a moment, Derek's expression completely unreadable.

"Can I go then?" Stiles says. "I promise I won't skateboard in the mall again."

"Yes you will," Derek replies, and he's not smiling or anything but Stiles doesn't think he's frowning anymore either.

"True. But I will be better at not getting caught. So I'm just going to…" He trails off and motions towards where his skateboard had come to a stop about twenty feet away. Derek steps out of his way.

"See ya!" Stiles says, waving and walking backwards towards the board in a way that he hopes looks casual but probably doesn't. He thinks Derek mumbles something back but it's too low to hear and before Stiles can ask him to repeat himself he's gone, disappearing behind whatever corner he had materialized from in the first place.

The next time Stiles sees Derek is at the food court a few days later, while the both of them are in line for pizza, and Derek actually says hello to him.

Stiles blinks and just looks at him for a moment, his brain trying to catch up to the fact that Derek Hale is instigating some semblance of conversation with him. Eventually he gets there though and he grins.

"Hey dude, what's up?"

Derek shrugs. "Just work."

"Yeah right," Stiles says and he knows he's still doing the staring thing but he can't seem to stop himself. Up until the other night every conversation they'd had together had been completely one-sided with Stiles babbling awkwardly and then flirting to cover up the awkwardness while Derek frowned at him.

"Stop staring at me like that." Derek says, taking a step forward as the line moves. Stiles follows him.

"Sorry, it's just, you don't usually talk."

Derek quirks a brow at him and damn if that isn't adorable.

"To me that is," he adds. "You don't usually talk to me."

Derek shrugs again and the whole thing, the talking and the shrugging, is just so strange that Stiles doesn't know what to do with himself. So instead of saying something interesting or even remotely smooth he just stands there, pulling on his lip ring with his teeth like some kind of shy teenager.

"I'm confused," he blurts out, because he really needs to say something although that wasn't what he wanted to say at all, and he can feel his face getting red as Derek turns to look at him again.

"Nothing new then," he teases and holy fuck Derek Hale is teasing him. Teasing.

Stiles' brain is stuck and he's definitely bright red by now and Derek just grins at him before taking another step forward in line to order. And then he's saying goodbye and waving while Stiles watches him and his glorious as walk away, the words that usually tumbled so effortlessly from his mouth nowhere to be found.

The woman behind the counter clears her throat loudly and he whirls to face her, shaking himself back into reality.

"Sorry," he mumbles, shoving his hands in his pockets, eyes fixated on the pizza behind the glass.

"That's okay," she says. "That ass is worth watching walk away."

Derek talks to him more after that and Stiles has no idea why but he decides not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Who knew the key to getting attractive men to talk to you was to almost run them down with a skateboard? And also would doing it again get him a date?

Their now friendly interactions are definitely making going to work better, especially as Christmas draws closer and the customers grow crazier. And he's learning a lot about the other man during the times their lunch breaks sync up, like the fact that Derek's just moved back to Beacon Hills from New York and is going to school online to get his Master in Library Sciences. Stiles had just about swooned when Derek shared that bit of information. He kind of really has a thing for book nerds.

He also knows that Derek is staying with his family for the time being but is looking for a place of his own. The security guard job is just to help make some extra money to pay for first and last. Stiles had taken the opportunity to jot down his own landlord's number because he knew the guy had some open places in the area, scribbling his own number on the bottom of the paper before handing it to Derek. He'd taken it without comment and Stiles is still waiting to see if he'll use it.

He's thinking about asking Derek for his number to see if he can get the ball rolling, stacking shoe boxes by size on one of the displays, when Cora Hale is suddenly beside him.

"Holy fu- !" he cries, cutting himself before the swear has a chance to leave his mouth completely. He's already gotten in trouble for swearing before and there are plenty of soccer mom types around who look like they would be thrilled to report him to his manager for a slip up.

Cora grins at him and claps him on the back. "Hey there Stilinski."

"Heeeeyy Cora," he says, shoving the last of the boxes in place and turning to look at her. He hasn't really seen Cora since she'd left for college a few years ago. Stiles had chosen to stay local for school, not wanting to be away from his dad, but most of his graduating class had scattered across the country.

Seeing Cora in Beacon Hills isn't surprising given the season, but it is surprising that she's standing in front of him.

The Hale family specializes in surprises apparently.

Cora's still grinning at him as he fidgets a bit and she reaches out to poke at the small faux-hawk he's currently sporting.

"That's a good look for you. I can see why my brother's wanted all up on you for so long."

Stiles' eyes widen so much he's sure they're bound to pop out of his head at any moment.

Cora rolls her eyes and that's a Hale family trait too it seems.

"Oh please, drop the act, I know you guys are a thing or whatever, Derek told me. It's cool Stilinski, you're an okay guy. Just know that if you hurt him I will personally rip out your spine."

She's grinning again and Stiles doesn't doubt that she'll do it except WHAT THE HELL IS SHE EVEN TALKING ABOUT? HIM AND DEREK? W H A T?

"Err," he says dumbly. He has no idea what Derek has been telling his sister but it sounds like Derek wants his shit and has told Cora that he's already been all up on it.

Stiles doesn't know if he should be upset or flattered.

"Hey do you have these in a nine?" Cora asks, holding up a red Converse, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Stiles' head is exploding. Nothing in his life makes sense anymore.

"Yeah," he says after a second and points to the stack of boxes he'd been organizing before. "Should be in there somewhere."

"Thanks!" she says cheerfully and Stiles watches as she pinpoints the right box and pulls it out, bringing it to the counter to be rung up. His head is spinning. Derek has a thing for him. Or at least he'd told his sister he had a thing for him.

Stiles might have a shot with Derek Hale.

Cora leaves and he pulls out his phone. There's a message from Scott about a movie night and one from Lydia about her Christmas Eve party but nothing from an attractive security guard with green eyes and a cute frown.

Derek's not on break at the same time as him when he goes to the foodcourt and he eats his crappy Chinese food alone. He takes the long way back to the store, almost straining his neck trying to get a look into the security office to see if Derek's there. He's not though so Stiles goes back to work.

He finally gets a text while he's closing up the store, the number unknown.

hey, it's derek, can i talk to you?

Stiles heart hammers loudly in his chest and he responds immediately.

yeah, just getting off work now. shoot.

i'm in the parking lot, back entrance

Derek wants to talk. Derek wanted to talk and he'd driven to the mall just so they could do it face-to-face.

Stiles does not practically run all the way to the parking lot and you cannot prove it.

He slows down as he reaches the door and catches his breath before he goes outside. He's not parked far away and Derek's there, casually leaning against a sleek black Camaro's that's parked right next to Stiles' Jeep. He has this strange look on his face that isn't exactly a frown but kind of makes him look like he's in pain.

"Hey" Stiles says, strolling as casually as he can manage over to the vehicles. His heart is still beating about a million miles a minute and he can feel sweat collecting in his palms. Now that Derek is here, in front of him, he's suddenly sure he'd misunderstood Cora and that Derek hates him. Because there is no way Derek is into him. Was he insane?

"Hey" Derek replies, and yeah, he definitely looks like he's in pain.

"Sooo," Stiles says, rocking on his feet a bit, when it's clear Derek's not going to say anything else. "You wanted to talk?"

Derek fixes his gaze on him and Stiles bites his lip, trying to calm his nerves.

"Cora said she talked to you."

"Oh, yeah, that."

More silence.

"Look," Derek says, "I'm sorry about her, I know she probably freaked you out. And that's… my fault…"

He trails off and Stiles blinks at him. "Ummmm…"

Derek sighs and rubs his hand over his face, scratching at his beard. "My family is just really invasive and nosy and they kept bugging me about my personal life and they thought I might like… someone so they just kept pushing-"

"Ah," Stiles interrupts. "I get it. You told them you had a boyfriend and then just kind of attached my name. It's cool."

It's not cool, it actually kind of sucks because Stiles really likes Derek, and not just because he's super hot, and Stiles is just a name Derek threw at his family to keep them off his back. That is like, the definition of sucks.

Derek's frowning at him, brows scrunched together like he's thinking about something, but Stiles doesn't really want to be here anymore. He wants to go home and call Scott and play video games until four am with a bottle of Jack.

"I'm just going to go," he says after a few more moments of silence but before he can turn to unlock his Jeep Derek has him by the arm.

"Stiles wait, I'm sorry I kind of threw you under the bus with my family, it's just…"

Stiles raises a brow as he waits for Derek to finish, very aware of the hot weight that is Derek's hand on his forearm.

"I gave them your name because I've been trying to work up the nerve to ask you out anyways and I just figured why not."

"You… you've been trying to ask me out?" Stiles asks.

Derek nods and Stiles is pretty sure he's blushing. Stiles wants to kiss him.

"Can I kiss you?"

Derek's eyes go wide and it's pretty comical the way he just gapes, mouth hanging open a little. "But… I… I wanted to take you out first."

Stiles grins. "You want to take me on a date and kiss me on my doorstep?"

"You make it sound stupid," Derek says, scowling a bit. The effect is ruined though by the fact that his cheeks are still flushed a faint shade of pink.

Stiles steps forward so that there's only a few inches between them. Derek's still gripping his arm like he's not really aware he's doing it and Stiles feels something in his chest swell. Derek wants to date him.

"Dinner?"

"Right now?"

Stiles rolls his eyes. "Yes right now. Did you have something better to do?"

"We're taking my car."

"Hey, what's wrong with my car?"

Derek looks past him at his Jeep, clearly unimpressed. "We're taking my car," he repeats.

"Fine but I get to pick the music."

Derek does kiss him on his doorstep. And then again in the living room. Sprawled out across the bed. In the shower. Over pancakes the next morning.

Again and again and again.