fic: You've got wings
Author: froggydarren
Title: You've got wings
Rating: G
Pairing/s: Derek/Stiles
Character/s: Derek Hale, Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin, Melissa McCall, Scott McCall, Isaac Lahey, Natalie Martin, John Stilinski, Jordan Parrish
Summary: The day of Sheriff Stilinski's retirement came sooner than anyone expected, and all plans to give him a proper send-off had to be abandoned. Derek, however, had something in mind.
Warnings: n/a
Content Notes: future fic, inspired by Gilmore Girls
Submission Type: Fic
Word Count:2470
Prompt: #196 - desperate
Author's Notes: Whoops, this is only remotely related to the prompt, but a Gilmore Girls gifset was on my dash and I remembered Babette's weather prediction and the panic and desperate measures it caused. Thus, Luke/Lorelei-ing of Sterek ;) This isn't Betaed and it's heavily inspired by GG. Please forgive the indulgence.
Everyone in Beacon Hills was rallied in the high school’s parking lot, armed with supplies of all kinds. There was a truck with a collection of mismatched plastic and wooden chairs, another one with tables, and one more with crates of drinks. Several others were carrying bags with dishes and napkins and whatever else that they’d need.
In the middle of it all was Derek, armed with a list he compiled the day before and distributed to everyone else after the small meeting with Melissa, Scott, Natalie, and Lydia. They were all by his side, and Lydia stepped forward when it seemed like everyone was there.
“Okay people, we only have the afternoon to set this all up, so we need to work fast,” she spoke to the rest of the gathering. “We have tables and chairs to put out first, and everyone who has food will come to Derek and Scott to add it to the list so we can plan accordingly. For now, put it all by the stairs there,” she said and pointed to the staircase leading towards the school doors.
Everyone murmured in assent, and when she fell back next to Derek, they started moving to unload the furniture.
“We’re good, it seems like we’ll have enough food for everyone,” she said as she eyed the bags that people set where she told them to.
“Tables?” Derek asked, glancing over her head at the trucks.
“Those will do, not everyone will need to sit down at all times anyway. And there are the stairs and benches around,” she told him. “You two will be good? I’ll go check with Mom about the drinks.”
“Yeah, go, I’ll be the one writing,” Derek told her, knowing as well as she did that Scott’s handwriting was not helpful for any sort of lists. Especially not ones that would need to be read later on.
“Hey!” Scott said in very weak protest.
Derek sent him a glare, and then nodded towards the stairs, since it was the best place to have space and it would be close to where people were already moving with the food supplies. He barely glanced to see if Scott was following him, and he pulled out a notebook before he even sat down. One by one, bags and boxes and trays were left around him and Scott, and Derek wrote them all down, trying to already figure out where everything would go. It took less time than he expected, and he was just going over the list with Scott when his phone beeped with a text message.
RED ALERT, RED ALERT, PATROL INCOMING!!!
Looking over Derek’s shoulder, Scott cursed and set off across the parking lot, half-wolfed out before Derek had a chance to react. There was a moment of panic and a murmur through the area at Scott’s sudden departure, and Derek frowned as it distorted the sounds he wanted to hear. Seconds later, everyone went back to setting up though, and Derek focused on where Scott disappeared to.
“Hey there, Parrish,” Scott said with relief.
“Put the fangs away, Scott, you’re good,” Parrish said, amused. “I talked the Sheriff out of patrolling today, so you’re safe.”
Derek, satisfied with what he heard, turned back to the notebook, and frowned. There was definitely enough food, and setting it up would be easy, but something about the whole thing was still bugging him.
“Did nobody think to get curly fries from the diner?” Lydia asked from behind him, and Derek startled.
“Your damn powers are getting too good,” he mumbled. “And I’m getting those at the end, that way they’ll be fresh.”
“Good thinking,” she smiled at him sweetly. “Glad Melissa thought of the salads, and veggie burgers.”
Derek glanced at the list, and tried to fight off the blush that was creeping into his face. It wasn’t Melissa who thought of those, or any of the other healthy alternatives to what was mostly junk food. Lydia looked up from the list and smirked at Derek like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Just then, as she opened her mouth to say something that Derek knew would not end well for him, Melissa rushed towards them, calling Derek’s name.
“We’re in massive trouble,” she said when she stopped next to him. “I know you checked for the weather, but apparently that’s all old news and my joints were right like I told you they would be.”
There was a beat, and then Derek’s face fell. He knew that Melissa’s weather predictions were usually accurate, but he’d hoped that this time the official forecast would’ve been more reliable.
“Storm incoming, radio just warned for it,” Melissa told him. “It’ll be here by seven, just when this is supposed to start,” she added with a wave of her hand at the parking lot.
“Well, that’s that then,” Scott, who just jogged up as Melissa was speaking, said with defeat in his voice. “We gotta pack up.”
Derek looked around the place, his eyebrows scrunched together in a frown. Melissa and Scott were looking at him with expectation, obviously waiting for a decision. They all already knew that there was nowhere sheltered to set up, they’d asked the school and were declined, and the only other place with a big enough space was out of question.
“No,” Derek muttered, and then he looked back to Melissa. “No, we can’t cancel.”
Melissa’s expression showed surprise, but she only lifted an eyebrow instead of speaking.
“Look, can you…” Derek glanced over to Scott, then turned back to her. “Do you still have the tarp from last year, when we painted the house?”
“I do,” Melissa said with a nod. “But that’s nowhere near big enough…”
Derek shook his head to interrupt her.
“I know, but we also have some in our basement, I’ll text Isaac to get it,” Derek said, already pulling out his phone out of the pocket. “Ask Lydia too, they’ll have something in the lake house.”
“Coach will have some in the school, I’ll go ask him,” Scott said as he obviously caught on to Derek’s plan.
“John has an old gazebo, I’ll… yeah, I’ll figure out how to ask him without…” Melissa said, and she rushed off before Derek could say as much as thank you.
Scott followed right behind her, and Derek muttered a ‘thank you’ that he knew would be heard. He texted Isaac to get the tarp and whatever else waterproof that he could find, and then he went to find Lydia.
“I know,” Lydia told him before he could even speak when he reached her. “Already have Mom looking for the tarp. And string to tie it together.”
Of course she already knows what the plan is, Derek thought.
“We only have a few hours, but it’s manageable,” she continued, her eyes on the phone in her hand. “I can’t do it though, I still need to…”
“I will, it’s fine,” Derek interrupted her, and her head snapped up to him.
“You have…”
“I’ll do it,” he repeated firmly. “Just get everyone to get the sheets and everything to the loft. The food is all listed, and I arranged the set up here,” he hands her a notebook.
“Okay, go,” she said, taking the notes and glancing towards the stairs. “Be back in time.”
“I will,” Derek said, already turning.
By the time he was at his car, Isaac texted him that he had the tarp, and a few more pieces, including a gazebo and some poles that Derek didn’t even ask him for. He sent back a text to get Isaac to drop it all off at the loft, and then he got in the car and pulled off.
With Isaac on other errands, no one was keeping an eye out for patrols or keeping track of Stiles and John, so Derek wasn’t surprised that he spotted the Jeep away from the Stilinski house. It was by the diner, where Derek would have to stop on the way back to the school. He shot a quick message to Scott, so he’d run interference, and then he sped back to the loft. Isaac was already waiting, and when he helped Derek with the tarp, he rushed away to keep Stiles occupied. Derek immediately started putting together the sheets, tying them with strings and some wire that Isaac also left.
He only had a few hours to get it all done, to build something to keep the rain off the tables and chairs. He’d worked on the plan for days now, ever since Stiles first mentioned his Dad’s retirement. It was the last day that John had as the Sheriff, and Parrish would take over until the election day in a few weeks. They were leaving the next day, since Stiles booked plane tickets to Poland for a visit to John’s family that they’d been putting off for years. Today was the only possible day to hold a party for John, to see him off like the town wanted to. So when Derek came to Melissa and Natalie with the plan, they all enthusiastically agreed to help him with setting up the party. That was why it was such a disaster to know that it would rain just as they were supposed to start.
He fielded texts and phone calls as he put the tarp together through the afternoon, and just as he was loading it all into the trunk of his car, Lydia’s name flashed on his screen.
“I’ll be there in twenty,” he said when he answered the call, before she could even say hello. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t anyway, since they were running on a tight schedule.
“Make it ten, Isaac’s picking up the diner order,” she told him. “Jordan can hold back John for another half hour with paperwork and packing and goodbyes, but then Stiles is driving them home.”
“On my way,” Derek said, slamming the door and starting the engine.
The twenty minutes after he arrived at the parking lot were a blur of activity, and he straightened the last pole holding up the tarp tent just as the first few drops began falling onto it. Melissa’s face reflected satisfaction at being right, but it was mixed with disappointment at the timing of the downpour. Derek didn’t get a chance to say anything though, because he heard the Jeep’s engine approaching. He knew Scott and Isaac did too, by the look of alert in their eyes. They grabbed an umbrella each and moved to the edge, close to the road that the Jeep was coming from. When it appeared, they both rushed across the parking lot towards it, umbrellas open.
Derek watched as Stiles and John got out, both looking shocked and confused, but they let Scott and Isaac guide them towards the makeshift tent, where the whole pack and a bunch of other people were waiting. He didn’t explain, instead as per their agreement before he let Melissa and Lydia speak. They told John that the party was to celebrate his retirement, something he thought he wouldn’t get to do as they were leaving the next day. Derek stayed on the sidelines when everyone else gathered around John and Stiles.
It wasn’t until quite some time later -- he busied himself with the food on the tables and helping Natalie and Isaac with the chairs -- that Stiles found his way to Derek’s side.
Neither of them spoke for a while, and Stiles automatically began helping with pouring drinks into the plastic cups set out on one of the tables. It gave Derek time to think for a while, to stand beside Stiles like they used to when planning for various things in the past with the rest of the pack.
He thought back on how they worked together then, how there was always something in their interactions, something that neither of them pursued. He remembered how Stiles always managed to spend some time in the loft even when he was in college, how he always found time for Derek.
“So,” Stiles started when they finished up with the drinks, and neither of them moved to do anything else.
Derek looked at him, waiting to see where the conversation would lead.
“I’ve been told that you’re responsible for this,” Stiles said quietly, barely loud enough to be heard over the noise around them.
“Well, Lydia and Melissa…” Derek tried to say, but Stiles’ fingers found their way to his, and the words died on his tongue.
“They were the ones who told me it was your idea,” Stiles said, his expression soft in a way that Derek didn’t remember seeing before, especially not directed at him. “And that you made the tent,” Stiles looked up as he spoke, the tarp above their heads dipping with the weight of the water.
From the corner of his eye, Derek saw Isaac and Scott trying to get the water out to the sides, laughing when it didn’t work. He glanced down at his hand, surprised at the way his and Stiles’ fingers seemed to fit together.
“Thank you,” Stiles whispered, and Derek thought at first that he only imagined it. “Dad says thank you too. I was… I wanted… thank you for setting it up for him,” Stiles said then, loud enough to be heard. “I didn’t want to leave without him getting a send-off, but…”
“I just…” Derek said quietly, and then he cleared his throat, trying to shake off the nervousness. “I knew it would make both of you happy,” he said. “That’s all I wanted, to make you happy.”
Stiles’ eyes widened, and Derek didn’t miss the way they shone with tears -- the scent of the salty drops carrying to his nose -- nor the way his smile brightened at Derek’s words.
“I’m gonna kiss you,” Stiles said, and he stepped forward, into Derek’s space. “If that’s okay?”
It was a question, hesitant and quiet, and Derek almost laughed because there was no way the answer would be anything but a resounding yes. Instead, he brought his free hand to Stiles’ cheek, and he pressed his lips against Stiles’ soft ones.
When he pulled away and Stiles tugged him closer and into a hug, Derek caught sight of John watching them. There was a smile on his lips, almost as fond as Stiles’ earlier, and he nodded in Derek’s direction. Then shook his head as he looked away, still smiling.
“When we get back,” Stiles muttered into Derek’s shoulder, “you’re taking me out for dinner. And then I’ll start paying you back for this.”
Derek replied by wrapping his arms around Stiles’ shoulders, and burying his face into the crook of his neck. Because Stiles was coming back, and that was everything Derek needed to hear.
Title: You've got wings
Rating: G
Pairing/s: Derek/Stiles
Character/s: Derek Hale, Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin, Melissa McCall, Scott McCall, Isaac Lahey, Natalie Martin, John Stilinski, Jordan Parrish
Summary: The day of Sheriff Stilinski's retirement came sooner than anyone expected, and all plans to give him a proper send-off had to be abandoned. Derek, however, had something in mind.
Warnings: n/a
Content Notes: future fic, inspired by Gilmore Girls
Submission Type: Fic
Word Count:2470
Prompt: #196 - desperate
Author's Notes: Whoops, this is only remotely related to the prompt, but a Gilmore Girls gifset was on my dash and I remembered Babette's weather prediction and the panic and desperate measures it caused. Thus, Luke/Lorelei-ing of Sterek ;) This isn't Betaed and it's heavily inspired by GG. Please forgive the indulgence.
Everyone in Beacon Hills was rallied in the high school’s parking lot, armed with supplies of all kinds. There was a truck with a collection of mismatched plastic and wooden chairs, another one with tables, and one more with crates of drinks. Several others were carrying bags with dishes and napkins and whatever else that they’d need.
In the middle of it all was Derek, armed with a list he compiled the day before and distributed to everyone else after the small meeting with Melissa, Scott, Natalie, and Lydia. They were all by his side, and Lydia stepped forward when it seemed like everyone was there.
“Okay people, we only have the afternoon to set this all up, so we need to work fast,” she spoke to the rest of the gathering. “We have tables and chairs to put out first, and everyone who has food will come to Derek and Scott to add it to the list so we can plan accordingly. For now, put it all by the stairs there,” she said and pointed to the staircase leading towards the school doors.
Everyone murmured in assent, and when she fell back next to Derek, they started moving to unload the furniture.
“We’re good, it seems like we’ll have enough food for everyone,” she said as she eyed the bags that people set where she told them to.
“Tables?” Derek asked, glancing over her head at the trucks.
“Those will do, not everyone will need to sit down at all times anyway. And there are the stairs and benches around,” she told him. “You two will be good? I’ll go check with Mom about the drinks.”
“Yeah, go, I’ll be the one writing,” Derek told her, knowing as well as she did that Scott’s handwriting was not helpful for any sort of lists. Especially not ones that would need to be read later on.
“Hey!” Scott said in very weak protest.
Derek sent him a glare, and then nodded towards the stairs, since it was the best place to have space and it would be close to where people were already moving with the food supplies. He barely glanced to see if Scott was following him, and he pulled out a notebook before he even sat down. One by one, bags and boxes and trays were left around him and Scott, and Derek wrote them all down, trying to already figure out where everything would go. It took less time than he expected, and he was just going over the list with Scott when his phone beeped with a text message.
RED ALERT, RED ALERT, PATROL INCOMING!!!
Looking over Derek’s shoulder, Scott cursed and set off across the parking lot, half-wolfed out before Derek had a chance to react. There was a moment of panic and a murmur through the area at Scott’s sudden departure, and Derek frowned as it distorted the sounds he wanted to hear. Seconds later, everyone went back to setting up though, and Derek focused on where Scott disappeared to.
“Hey there, Parrish,” Scott said with relief.
“Put the fangs away, Scott, you’re good,” Parrish said, amused. “I talked the Sheriff out of patrolling today, so you’re safe.”
Derek, satisfied with what he heard, turned back to the notebook, and frowned. There was definitely enough food, and setting it up would be easy, but something about the whole thing was still bugging him.
“Did nobody think to get curly fries from the diner?” Lydia asked from behind him, and Derek startled.
“Your damn powers are getting too good,” he mumbled. “And I’m getting those at the end, that way they’ll be fresh.”
“Good thinking,” she smiled at him sweetly. “Glad Melissa thought of the salads, and veggie burgers.”
Derek glanced at the list, and tried to fight off the blush that was creeping into his face. It wasn’t Melissa who thought of those, or any of the other healthy alternatives to what was mostly junk food. Lydia looked up from the list and smirked at Derek like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Just then, as she opened her mouth to say something that Derek knew would not end well for him, Melissa rushed towards them, calling Derek’s name.
“We’re in massive trouble,” she said when she stopped next to him. “I know you checked for the weather, but apparently that’s all old news and my joints were right like I told you they would be.”
There was a beat, and then Derek’s face fell. He knew that Melissa’s weather predictions were usually accurate, but he’d hoped that this time the official forecast would’ve been more reliable.
“Storm incoming, radio just warned for it,” Melissa told him. “It’ll be here by seven, just when this is supposed to start,” she added with a wave of her hand at the parking lot.
“Well, that’s that then,” Scott, who just jogged up as Melissa was speaking, said with defeat in his voice. “We gotta pack up.”
Derek looked around the place, his eyebrows scrunched together in a frown. Melissa and Scott were looking at him with expectation, obviously waiting for a decision. They all already knew that there was nowhere sheltered to set up, they’d asked the school and were declined, and the only other place with a big enough space was out of question.
“No,” Derek muttered, and then he looked back to Melissa. “No, we can’t cancel.”
Melissa’s expression showed surprise, but she only lifted an eyebrow instead of speaking.
“Look, can you…” Derek glanced over to Scott, then turned back to her. “Do you still have the tarp from last year, when we painted the house?”
“I do,” Melissa said with a nod. “But that’s nowhere near big enough…”
Derek shook his head to interrupt her.
“I know, but we also have some in our basement, I’ll text Isaac to get it,” Derek said, already pulling out his phone out of the pocket. “Ask Lydia too, they’ll have something in the lake house.”
“Coach will have some in the school, I’ll go ask him,” Scott said as he obviously caught on to Derek’s plan.
“John has an old gazebo, I’ll… yeah, I’ll figure out how to ask him without…” Melissa said, and she rushed off before Derek could say as much as thank you.
Scott followed right behind her, and Derek muttered a ‘thank you’ that he knew would be heard. He texted Isaac to get the tarp and whatever else waterproof that he could find, and then he went to find Lydia.
“I know,” Lydia told him before he could even speak when he reached her. “Already have Mom looking for the tarp. And string to tie it together.”
Of course she already knows what the plan is, Derek thought.
“We only have a few hours, but it’s manageable,” she continued, her eyes on the phone in her hand. “I can’t do it though, I still need to…”
“I will, it’s fine,” Derek interrupted her, and her head snapped up to him.
“You have…”
“I’ll do it,” he repeated firmly. “Just get everyone to get the sheets and everything to the loft. The food is all listed, and I arranged the set up here,” he hands her a notebook.
“Okay, go,” she said, taking the notes and glancing towards the stairs. “Be back in time.”
“I will,” Derek said, already turning.
By the time he was at his car, Isaac texted him that he had the tarp, and a few more pieces, including a gazebo and some poles that Derek didn’t even ask him for. He sent back a text to get Isaac to drop it all off at the loft, and then he got in the car and pulled off.
With Isaac on other errands, no one was keeping an eye out for patrols or keeping track of Stiles and John, so Derek wasn’t surprised that he spotted the Jeep away from the Stilinski house. It was by the diner, where Derek would have to stop on the way back to the school. He shot a quick message to Scott, so he’d run interference, and then he sped back to the loft. Isaac was already waiting, and when he helped Derek with the tarp, he rushed away to keep Stiles occupied. Derek immediately started putting together the sheets, tying them with strings and some wire that Isaac also left.
He only had a few hours to get it all done, to build something to keep the rain off the tables and chairs. He’d worked on the plan for days now, ever since Stiles first mentioned his Dad’s retirement. It was the last day that John had as the Sheriff, and Parrish would take over until the election day in a few weeks. They were leaving the next day, since Stiles booked plane tickets to Poland for a visit to John’s family that they’d been putting off for years. Today was the only possible day to hold a party for John, to see him off like the town wanted to. So when Derek came to Melissa and Natalie with the plan, they all enthusiastically agreed to help him with setting up the party. That was why it was such a disaster to know that it would rain just as they were supposed to start.
He fielded texts and phone calls as he put the tarp together through the afternoon, and just as he was loading it all into the trunk of his car, Lydia’s name flashed on his screen.
“I’ll be there in twenty,” he said when he answered the call, before she could even say hello. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t anyway, since they were running on a tight schedule.
“Make it ten, Isaac’s picking up the diner order,” she told him. “Jordan can hold back John for another half hour with paperwork and packing and goodbyes, but then Stiles is driving them home.”
“On my way,” Derek said, slamming the door and starting the engine.
The twenty minutes after he arrived at the parking lot were a blur of activity, and he straightened the last pole holding up the tarp tent just as the first few drops began falling onto it. Melissa’s face reflected satisfaction at being right, but it was mixed with disappointment at the timing of the downpour. Derek didn’t get a chance to say anything though, because he heard the Jeep’s engine approaching. He knew Scott and Isaac did too, by the look of alert in their eyes. They grabbed an umbrella each and moved to the edge, close to the road that the Jeep was coming from. When it appeared, they both rushed across the parking lot towards it, umbrellas open.
Derek watched as Stiles and John got out, both looking shocked and confused, but they let Scott and Isaac guide them towards the makeshift tent, where the whole pack and a bunch of other people were waiting. He didn’t explain, instead as per their agreement before he let Melissa and Lydia speak. They told John that the party was to celebrate his retirement, something he thought he wouldn’t get to do as they were leaving the next day. Derek stayed on the sidelines when everyone else gathered around John and Stiles.
It wasn’t until quite some time later -- he busied himself with the food on the tables and helping Natalie and Isaac with the chairs -- that Stiles found his way to Derek’s side.
Neither of them spoke for a while, and Stiles automatically began helping with pouring drinks into the plastic cups set out on one of the tables. It gave Derek time to think for a while, to stand beside Stiles like they used to when planning for various things in the past with the rest of the pack.
He thought back on how they worked together then, how there was always something in their interactions, something that neither of them pursued. He remembered how Stiles always managed to spend some time in the loft even when he was in college, how he always found time for Derek.
“So,” Stiles started when they finished up with the drinks, and neither of them moved to do anything else.
Derek looked at him, waiting to see where the conversation would lead.
“I’ve been told that you’re responsible for this,” Stiles said quietly, barely loud enough to be heard over the noise around them.
“Well, Lydia and Melissa…” Derek tried to say, but Stiles’ fingers found their way to his, and the words died on his tongue.
“They were the ones who told me it was your idea,” Stiles said, his expression soft in a way that Derek didn’t remember seeing before, especially not directed at him. “And that you made the tent,” Stiles looked up as he spoke, the tarp above their heads dipping with the weight of the water.
From the corner of his eye, Derek saw Isaac and Scott trying to get the water out to the sides, laughing when it didn’t work. He glanced down at his hand, surprised at the way his and Stiles’ fingers seemed to fit together.
“Thank you,” Stiles whispered, and Derek thought at first that he only imagined it. “Dad says thank you too. I was… I wanted… thank you for setting it up for him,” Stiles said then, loud enough to be heard. “I didn’t want to leave without him getting a send-off, but…”
“I just…” Derek said quietly, and then he cleared his throat, trying to shake off the nervousness. “I knew it would make both of you happy,” he said. “That’s all I wanted, to make you happy.”
Stiles’ eyes widened, and Derek didn’t miss the way they shone with tears -- the scent of the salty drops carrying to his nose -- nor the way his smile brightened at Derek’s words.
“I’m gonna kiss you,” Stiles said, and he stepped forward, into Derek’s space. “If that’s okay?”
It was a question, hesitant and quiet, and Derek almost laughed because there was no way the answer would be anything but a resounding yes. Instead, he brought his free hand to Stiles’ cheek, and he pressed his lips against Stiles’ soft ones.
When he pulled away and Stiles tugged him closer and into a hug, Derek caught sight of John watching them. There was a smile on his lips, almost as fond as Stiles’ earlier, and he nodded in Derek’s direction. Then shook his head as he looked away, still smiling.
“When we get back,” Stiles muttered into Derek’s shoulder, “you’re taking me out for dinner. And then I’ll start paying you back for this.”
Derek replied by wrapping his arms around Stiles’ shoulders, and burying his face into the crook of his neck. Because Stiles was coming back, and that was everything Derek needed to hear.