Admire Me

Summary: In which the pack thinks Stiles and Derek are dating and are confused (and frustrated) as to why they say they aren't doing anything for Valentine's day and figure that they must be fighting, so the pack takes matters into their own hands.

(aka: Assumed Relationships + Misunderstandings + a hint of Matchmaking)

When Derek opened his front door first thing in the morning, he was greeted with a gigantic bouquet of roses signed "you know who 3", except no, he most certainly did not know who and his nose twitched at the onslaught of scent of freshly cut roses and a hint of the strange scent (the delivery boy?) who had brought them here.

Derek turned his head to scan the rest of the hallway, but he wasn't picking up anyone else's presence (not surprising, he was the only one who lived on this floor).

Looking down at the roses again, he shrugged and picked them up to bring them inside.

When Stiles opened his front door first thing in the morning, he closed his eyes because of the blinding sunlight and his first immediate thought was to go the fuck back to bed.

He was going to do exactly that, actually, except when he turned back around and reached the stairs he remembered that he had to hand in his paper for Economics.

Sighing, Stiles walked back out to his jeep but paused at the sight of a teddy bear sitting on his windshield, its leg tethering the bear to his car via his windshield wipers.

Raising an eyebrow, Stiles picked up a stick from the ground and gingerly poked the bear a few times to make sure it wasn't a bomb or something else that he would have no surprise finding on his precious jeep.

Hmm.

Stiles sighed and dropped the stick to the ground and just picked up the bear, mentally trying to deduce who would have left it here and the best he could come up with was Scott or Kira (or both) trying to make him feel better about being single on Valentine's Day. Which sort of made him feel a little worse about his eternal singledom, but it's the thought that counts right?

Meh.

Stiles opened the door and threw the bear in the back, but it wasn't until he saw the red slip of paper still stuck on his windshield wipers that he stopped in his actions to start the car. Frowning, he went back out to see what it was and scrunched his eyebrows in confusion when he saw the message.

There's no one I love more than you!

Well, that's not something Kira would say to him so... Scott? The fact that Scott remembered him despite the lovey dovey air that was Valentine's being in the air was kinda nice.

His phone beeped and that's when he realized the time and cursed under his breath before rushing back into his car, the red paper and its weird message forgotten.

Derek was debating between buying the ingredients needed to make spaghetti or just settling for takeout again when he heard the knock on the door.

Warily, he could feel his claws lengthening as he approached the door, and didn't shift back even when he caught the scent of a human (a stranger) behind the door.

"Yes?" he asked gruffly, eyeing the man dressed in blue overalls with a pressed white shirt under it and the slogan "Bob's Balloons!" on it. Derek looked at the accompanying mass of reds and pinks and purples that the man was holding, and suddenly Derek's expression turned a lot more judgmental.

The man smiled, "Hi! I got a delivery for a Derek Hale?"

He had to be kidding. "That's me."

The man smiled again and it set Derek on edge. "Here you go Mr. Hale!" And then he thrust those fifteen balloons in Derek's face and wouldn't get them away until he accepted them.

And now he had a mass of reds and pinks and purple balloons with him and felt ridiculous.

"Oh! And don't forget the special message!"

... Special message? Derek idly thought of the way the harpy sunk her talons into his abdomen last week and wished he were there instead.

"Dear Derek! I hope you're not mad at me", the man said cheerfully as if he was completely ignorant of the seething rage that was building up in Derek. "But I just can't stand the thought of us being apart! I know balloons aren't your thing, and you're likely to find more joy in making them burst instead of letting them die off on their own-" It was at this moment that the man sent a frown towards Derek who frowned right back, "-but I just wanted you to remember me until I saw you tonight. Love you always, Stiles."

The man smiled, "Awww how sweet." Except Derek didn't hear any of it because he was too busy running his head over the fact that Stiles sent these.

Stiles. He should have known.

Derek let the balloons go (where the floated high up to the ceiling never to be seen again, he hoped), and picked up his phone to text Stiles when he remembered the man standing at the door.

Grumbling, because only Stiles would make him tip a guy for something he didn't even want, Derek took out his wallet and gave the man a five because even Derek could tell when someone was completely annoyed with their shitty job.

He closed the door and went back to texting Stiles.

12:31 PM: is this a joke?

Derek took one look at the heart shaped balloons near his ceiling and figured it was a good enough reason to order Thai.

12:34 PM: what?

12:34 PM: don't play stupid you know exactly what I'm talking about

12:36 PM: i literally dunno what ur talkjn bout

Derek roll his eyes and took a picture of the red, pink and purple concoction that he had to stare at for the rest of the day until he could get rid of it.

12:37 PM: the balloons? (Pic attached)

12:38 PM: u want me to buy u balloons? wtf

12:39 PM: no you idiot

12:40 PM: I know you sent them

12:42 PM: lmao dude I rly didnt

12:42 PM: I'm flattered u think so tho

12:43 PM: does this mean I get roses now

12:43 PM: DO YOU HAVE SECRET FEELINGS DEREK

Derek growled; he could literally feel the headache coming on.

12:44 PM: they literally had your name attached to them

12:44 PM: the "love you always, stiles" was particularly memorable

12:45 PM: dude I srsly don't know what you're talking about

12:46 PM: fine, get your ass over here

12:47 PM: yeah yeah whatever

Derek sighed and took a second to regret all of the life decisions he took to end up at this point, and then called the Thai place to order for two.

2:11 PM: dude I was kidding about the roses. wth

Derek blinked as the sound of his phone chirping woke him up from his nap. Groggily, he looked at his phone and wondered what the hell Stiles was going on about now.

2:14 PM: what.

2:14 PM: srsly?

2:14 PM: Isaac wont stop laughing

2:15 PM: now the jackass is askin when the wedding date is

2:15 PM: wtf man

2:16 PM: stiles what are you talking about

2:16 PM: THE ROSES YOU ASSHOLE

2:16 PM: THE 10 ROSES YOU HAD DELIVERED TO MY CLASSROOM

2:17 PM: COURTESY OF MY SCHOOLS STUPID SECRET ADMIRER SHIT

2:17 PM: YOU DO REALIZE THAT ITS SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRE TRIGHT

218 PM: ALSO 10?/ WHY WAS THERE EVEN 1?!

2:19 PM: stiles.

2:19 PM: what are you talking about.

2:20 PM: stfu u knw what im talking about

2:20 PM: YOU ARE GOING DOWN DEREK.

2:20 PM: i wouldn't be asking if I didn't know what you were referring to

2:21 PM: you're being ridiculous

2:22 PM: i'll show you ridiculous

Derek rolled his eyes.

An hour later Derek was interrupted from unpacking the now-cold Thai and reheating it when he heard Stiles and someone arguing outside his door.

"Stiles what are you doing—"

Derek froze, staring at the man in a red dress shirt and jeans holding three boxes of chocolate who was apparently frustrated with arguing with Stiles.

"Can I… help you?" Derek asked, glancing at the stranger and shifting his weight forward to navigate Stiles behind him.

Stiles rolled his eyes and pushed his own body forward because he had no sense of self-preservation, Derek thought irritably. "Why is this guy saying he's bringing you chocolate ordered by yours truly?"

Derek raised an eyebrow and looked at the guy who held up a small card that said "Love, Stiles!" with a red little heart on it, and then turned back to face Stiles with the same judgmental stare.

"I didn't do this!" Stiles screeched and Derek huffed, grabbing the chocolate and shoving Stiles inside.

"Should I assume you're responsible for that too?" Derek asked, nodding towards the bouquet of roses that was still sitting on his coffee table. Stiles' jaw dropped at the sight of it. "Wasn't it just last week that you told me you were broke and needed a job?"

"Dude!" Stiles said, dropping his backpack on the ground and holding his hands up. "I didn't do this!" he said, pointing to the bouquet. "Or that!", pointing to the chocolate. "Or… that!" he said, looking up at the fifteen balloons still decorating Derek's ceiling.

Derek frowned. Stiles' heartbeat stayed steady.

"Then if you didn't send me any of it, who did?"

Stiles frowned and shrugged, opening his backpack to pull out the ten single roses that he had apparently received in class. "I also got a teddy bear this morning… I thought it was Scott."

Derek sighed and dropped the chocolate boxes on the coffee table and headed into the kitchen to warm up the food. He was too hungry to deal with this shit.

"Aren't we gonna solve this?" Stiles asked, following Derek into the kitchen and grabbing a plate to warm up some of the food. "Did you get those dumplings I like from the store across from this place?"

"No Stiles, I made sure to order them and then ate them all before you got here."

Stiles scowled and threw a plastic spoon at his head after finding the dumplings. "So anyways, the gifts?"

Derek shrugged and poured some fried rice onto his plate. "It's obviously a prank, Stiles."

"A prank to make us think we're in love with each other? It's not even April!"

"I don't know Stiles!"

Stiles grumbled and grabbed some panang chicken curry to put on his plate. "Why am I even surprised to hear that."

Derek glared at him but Stiles stuck his tongue out and turned around to microwave his food.

It wasn't until a few minutes later after they were both seated that Derek glanced up at the sound of Stiles cursing under his breath. "That idiot."

"What?"

"Not you." Stiles said, distracted by texting someone back on his phone. "I just figured out why we were supposedly each other's secret admirers today—and for the record I don't know why I got the short end of the stick. I didn't get any chocolate."

Derek grabbed the first heart-shaped chocolate box off the table and threw it at Stiles. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Aww thanks snookums! And they say romance is dead." he said with a smile, only for it to turn back into a scowl when he glanced back at his phone.

"So what happened exactly?"

Stiles' scent turned bitter, almost like fury and embarrassment, and now Derek was curious.

"You're right; it was just a prank." He said looking down and poking at his food, except Derek heard the blip in his heartbeat.

"Mhm."

Derek kept taking bites of his food, carefully watching Stiles furiously text back whoever was at the other end of the line (he was going to take a wild guess and say Scott), and waited for the right moment to strike.

"Stiles can you pass me more fried rice?"

Snorting, Stiles didn't even look up, but he did put his phone down in favor of eating, and that's when Derek jumped up and grabbed the phone, looking through it before Stiles even realized what had happened. He ignored Stiles' attempts to grab the phone and went through the texts.

3:44 PM: hey! so did you guys make up?

3:45 PM: scott what are you talking about

3:45 PM: actually WHO are you talking about

3:46 PM: you and Derek duh

3:47 PM: we weren't fighting?

3:47 PM: um yes you were?

3:48 PM: I mean that's why kira and I thought you guys weren't doing anything for valentines

3:50 PM: …

3:50 PM: Scott.

3:50 PM: Derek and I aren't dating

3:51 PM: haha what?

3:51 PM: wait are you serious

3:51 PM: hold on

3:52 PM: kira says she doesn't believe you

3:52 PM: and neither does Isaac

3:52 PM: or ALLISON

3:53 PM: Allison* sorry

3:53 PM: my phone still does that

3:53 PM: pls don't tell kira

3:54 PM: WE ARENT DATING THOUGH?

3:55 PM: where did you guys get that idea

3:56 PM: ummm you guys always hang out nowadays

3:56 PM: and youre always talking about him

3:57 PM: and boyd says Derek always talks about you

3:58 PM: wait are you really not dating

3:58 PM: bc um sorry

3:58 PM: about the roses

3:58 PM: and the flowers

3:59 PM: and the chocolate

3:59 PM: SCOTT WTF

3:59 PM: that was you guys?

4:00 PM: we thought you were fighting!

4:00 PM: we were trying to help!

"Give me that!" Stiles said, kicking Derek's shin and wrestling the phone out of his grasp, but one look at Derek's face told him that it was too late.

Stiles chuckled weakly, pocketing the phone and making heavy eye contact with the ground. "Heh, funny story huh?"

Derek blinked. "You're always talking about me?"

Stiles scowled and pressed a finger into Derek's chest to try and make a point. "Hey don't twist this around on me! Apparently you talk about me too!"

Derek scowled right back, "Yeah but I thought you were in love with Lydia!"

Stiles' jaw dropped, "I haven't said that in a year!"

"So you're not in love with Lydia?"

"No! I'm in love with—" Stiles stopped and bit his inner cheek. "Chocolate. In love with chocolate. That's why I got so jealous when the delivery guy said they were for you."

Derek smiled, "Chocolate huh?"

Stiles scowled and started to say, "I'll have you know that my love for chocolate even surpasses my past love for Lydia, which as you know—" but was stopped short when Derek leaned in, placed his hands on his hips and kissed him, letting his lips coax Stiles into coming closer.

Epilogue:

"So you know what we should do right?" Stiles asked, hours later while Derek was busy being entranced by the number of moles on Stiles' chest.

"What Stiles?" he asked, humoring him despite the feeling in his gut that told him it was a bad idea to hear Stiles out on this.

Case in point: "Revenge is very sweet Derek."

He scoffed, leaning back against the headboard. "You want to punish the rest of the pack because they helped us get together?"

Stiles scowled, pulling up the sheets with him when he sat up. "When you say it like that it sounds so vile."

Derek snorted. "Well, yeah, that's because—"

"Listen. Call Kira."

"Why?"

"Because I haven't told Scott that I'm with you yet, so he doesn't know that you know, and if he doesn't know that you know, then Kira definitely won't think we're trying to trick her when you call her and say you're flattered at the flowers and the chocolates and if she wants to come over—"

"Stiles!" Derek laughed; throwing a pillow at his face and watching Stiles almost fall off the bed trying to dodge it.