Advent Calendar 2016: Day 6
The ballet was good, properly seasonal. The performance of Swan Lake I saw a few years ago was WAY better, though. I saw The Nutcracker but it was a bit altered in places. Someone from the production came out to speak before it started and spoke about a couple of the changes they made, like modernizing some of it (like, a couple of the toys presented by the uncle and at one point it looked like the dance moves were hip-hop-y. The fuck?), and using candy canes in the battle scene instead of swords. Okay, I guess.
It also seemed truncated and way shorter than it should have been. It was also aimed at kids (it IS The Nutcracker, I guess) and some of the parts were played by students from the local dance school. I understand why they do that and it's great for the students but as an audience member I found it took me out of the moment to see the difference in performance quality. I dunno. I feel bad for saying it but it was jarring. I found out that Swan Lake is coming back in February so I'll see that again.
D loves doing stuff like this so she's excited I'm up for it and vice versa. She has tickets to a streaming showing of an opera out of Toronto on Saturday (live stream at the movie theatre??) so she asked if I want to go to that. I've never been to the opera so I was like, Why not? Getting my culture on this week!
Guys. Christmas is in TWO AND A HALF WEEKS. WHAT THE FUCK?!
Christmas eve will find me
Pre-Stiles/Derek, PG, 1250-ish words
Boss!Derek, matchmaker!Laura, snowed in, NYC
For batmarg who asked for Sterek and "I'll be home for Christmas" which... this sort of is? I think I can continue it on another day so this isn't done and will likely have a better payoff later. But I listened to at least 15 versions of the song on Spotify while I wrote, then settled on the Sarah McLachlan version which was very melancholy and fit with the feeling of this fic so there is some connective tissue there, LOL.
Claim a day on my Advent Calendar!
"It's snowing."
"Winter tends to do that," Mr Hale replied and if Stiles wasn't losing his mind he would think that was a slight smile on his lips.
"It also tends to cancel trips home when it piles up like this," Stiles shot back hotly.
"No no no no nononono," Stiles whispered to himself as he thumped his head lightly against the window.
He heard someone clear their throat awkwardly behind him with a polite ahem and he turned to see --
"Mr Hale," Stiles said weakly. Usually, Stiles felt like a bumbling idiot around Mr Hale. He was well-spoken, so smart that Stiles felt dumb, exceedingly polite but decisive. He was five or six years older than Stiles and had his shit together. Oh, and hot. Model-hot. So hot that his attractiveness definitely didn't help Stiles in the "feeling dumb" department.
"Problem, Mr Stilinski?"
Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat and shook his head. He highly doubted one of the company heads would care about his problems. That they were even still in the office a day and a half before Christmas was surprising enough to him.
Instead, Mr Hale raised his eyebrow and stared Stiles down with a dubious expression. Stiles sighed and gestured to the staff room window.
"It's snowing."
"Winter tends to do that," Mr. Hale replied and if Stiles wasn't losing his mind he would think that was a slight smile on his lips.
"It also tends to cancel trips home when it piles up like this," Stiles shot back hotly, then frowned and looked down.
"Oh," was all Mr Hale said and he shifted on his feet, looking highly uncomfortable in his casual henley and jeans that likely cost as much as Stiles' part of the rent for the month. "You were going home for the holidays."
"That was the idea," Stiles replied glumly. He sat down heavily in a hard plastic chair and propped his head up in his hand as he tried to figure out the best supply closet he could take a moment to fight the urge to cry in.
"Maybe it'll clear?" Mr Hale tried to say but his tone suggested he didn't believe it even as he was saying it.
"What will clear?"
Stiles looked up and suppressed a labored sigh because he didn't have it in him to deal with both of the partners at the moment.
"The snow," Mr Hale said to his sister who insisted that Stiles call her Laura.
She insisted that everyone call her that at the social media company the Hales owned, along with their uncle Peter Hale. Mr Derek Hale, however, didn't insist on anything. He mainly kept to his office and dealt with the editorial team, far on the other side of the floor from Stiles and the other IT staff.
"Mr Stilinski is stuck until the weather gets better," Derek explained somewhat stiltedly. Laura gave her brother a look before turning to Stiles.
"That sucks! I'm so sorry, Stiles. You were going home, I take it?" Stiles nodded. "Do you have somewhere to go?"
Stiles shook his head. "Nah. This'll be cool, though. I'll get to see New York at Christmas, you know?" Besides the people he worked with Stiles only knew his roommates. He'd moved to New York City out of college to work for Alphaworks, the Hale family's company.
Laura eyed him for a second, then shot a sly glance at Derek. "No."
"What?" Stiles and Derek asked in unison.
"You're coming to our house. If the weather gets better and clears up in time to get you on a plane home we'll get you there. Sound like a plan?" Laura explained excitedly.
Stiles fumbled with his words. "But--what, no. I mean, I couldn't --"
"Don't push him into something he doesn't want to do, Laura," Derek chimed in and seemed to be annoyed at the idea from the way he emphasized his words to his sister.
Laura waved her hand and grinned at her younger brother, then turned to Stiles with an earnest expression. "Seriously, Stiles. I don't want to pressure you but I hate the idea of you being alone for Christmas. We have a huge house just outside the city our family gets together at and it's no bother. Our younger sister is going to be there, too. She's a couple years younger than you, I think, and she's bringing her boyfriend. We always make too much food and there's a huge wine cellar and a hot tub..." Laura trailed off and stared at Stiles hopefully.
Stiles glanced at Derek quickly but he was too busy glaring at his sister to notice. Stiles didn't want to piss off one of his bosses but he also really, really didn't like the idea of being alone in a new-ish city for Christmas. His dad would be fine, he'd go spend it with his best friend's mom and would likely be working an overnight shift Christmas day. Insurance on his plane ticket meant Stiles could book time off in a month or so instead and maybe be able to spend more time with his dad because it wasn't over the holidays.
He gave Laura a small smile and nodded. She whooped and smacked him on the arm enthusiastically, then laughed. "Don't tell HR I just hit you," she warned jokingly. "Derek and I were going to be leaving tonight for the house so why don't you get out of here, pack some things and Derek here your address so we can pick you up?"
Laura grabbed Stiles' phone out of his shirt pocket before he could react and quickly added Derek into his contacts. She even spun around and snapped a picture of him while he was off-guard and added it to Stiles' contact for him. Derek frowned at her but seemed resigned to her steamrolling tactics. She did the same thing when it came to business decisions Stiles noticed.
"We'll pick you up in a couple hours. See you later!" Laura called cheerfully over her shoulder as she left, blowing a kiss to Derek as she went.
Stiles stared at Derek's contact in his phone, avoiding the actual person standing in front of him. Neither of them moved or said anything.
Finally, after almost a long minute, Stiles blurted out, "I'm sorry" at the same time as Derek.
"It's fine, just tell Laura I had something come up," Stiles said before Derek could speak. "I didn't mean to make you mad."
Derek's mouth dropped open and he paused for a second before shaking his head. "I'm not mad, I swear. I'm sorry she bowled you over. Please don't feel like this is an obligation because it really, really isn't. But there's nothing wrong with you joining us for Christmas, Mr Stilinski. Laura's right, the house is huge and we always have way too much of... well, everything."
Stiles saw the sincerity in Derek's eyes and could hear it in his words. He grew up as a cop's kid and was pretty good at reading people, so so he thought. He thought about it for a second and the idea of being snowed in alone in New York City, although exciting, was also terrifying and so he nodded.
"I think I'd really enjoy spending Christmas with your family. Thank you, Mr. Hale."
Mr. Hale smiled slightly and inclined his head. "Call me Derek."
"Then you should call me Stiles," he replied.
It wasn't much. The universe owed him much more but Derek's smile in response--a true one, so wide Stiles could see his adorable bunny teeth some of the interns always giggled about to themselves--felt like a small gift. A stocking stuffer in repayment for shitting on his Christmas.
He'd take it.
It also seemed truncated and way shorter than it should have been. It was also aimed at kids (it IS The Nutcracker, I guess) and some of the parts were played by students from the local dance school. I understand why they do that and it's great for the students but as an audience member I found it took me out of the moment to see the difference in performance quality. I dunno. I feel bad for saying it but it was jarring. I found out that Swan Lake is coming back in February so I'll see that again.
D loves doing stuff like this so she's excited I'm up for it and vice versa. She has tickets to a streaming showing of an opera out of Toronto on Saturday (live stream at the movie theatre??) so she asked if I want to go to that. I've never been to the opera so I was like, Why not? Getting my culture on this week!
Guys. Christmas is in TWO AND A HALF WEEKS. WHAT THE FUCK?!
Christmas eve will find me
Pre-Stiles/Derek, PG, 1250-ish words
Boss!Derek, matchmaker!Laura, snowed in, NYC
For batmarg who asked for Sterek and "I'll be home for Christmas" which... this sort of is? I think I can continue it on another day so this isn't done and will likely have a better payoff later. But I listened to at least 15 versions of the song on Spotify while I wrote, then settled on the Sarah McLachlan version which was very melancholy and fit with the feeling of this fic so there is some connective tissue there, LOL.
Claim a day on my Advent Calendar!
"It's snowing."
"Winter tends to do that," Mr Hale replied and if Stiles wasn't losing his mind he would think that was a slight smile on his lips.
"It also tends to cancel trips home when it piles up like this," Stiles shot back hotly.
"No no no no nononono," Stiles whispered to himself as he thumped his head lightly against the window.
He heard someone clear their throat awkwardly behind him with a polite ahem and he turned to see --
"Mr Hale," Stiles said weakly. Usually, Stiles felt like a bumbling idiot around Mr Hale. He was well-spoken, so smart that Stiles felt dumb, exceedingly polite but decisive. He was five or six years older than Stiles and had his shit together. Oh, and hot. Model-hot. So hot that his attractiveness definitely didn't help Stiles in the "feeling dumb" department.
"Problem, Mr Stilinski?"
Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat and shook his head. He highly doubted one of the company heads would care about his problems. That they were even still in the office a day and a half before Christmas was surprising enough to him.
Instead, Mr Hale raised his eyebrow and stared Stiles down with a dubious expression. Stiles sighed and gestured to the staff room window.
"It's snowing."
"Winter tends to do that," Mr. Hale replied and if Stiles wasn't losing his mind he would think that was a slight smile on his lips.
"It also tends to cancel trips home when it piles up like this," Stiles shot back hotly, then frowned and looked down.
"Oh," was all Mr Hale said and he shifted on his feet, looking highly uncomfortable in his casual henley and jeans that likely cost as much as Stiles' part of the rent for the month. "You were going home for the holidays."
"That was the idea," Stiles replied glumly. He sat down heavily in a hard plastic chair and propped his head up in his hand as he tried to figure out the best supply closet he could take a moment to fight the urge to cry in.
"Maybe it'll clear?" Mr Hale tried to say but his tone suggested he didn't believe it even as he was saying it.
"What will clear?"
Stiles looked up and suppressed a labored sigh because he didn't have it in him to deal with both of the partners at the moment.
"The snow," Mr Hale said to his sister who insisted that Stiles call her Laura.
She insisted that everyone call her that at the social media company the Hales owned, along with their uncle Peter Hale. Mr Derek Hale, however, didn't insist on anything. He mainly kept to his office and dealt with the editorial team, far on the other side of the floor from Stiles and the other IT staff.
"Mr Stilinski is stuck until the weather gets better," Derek explained somewhat stiltedly. Laura gave her brother a look before turning to Stiles.
"That sucks! I'm so sorry, Stiles. You were going home, I take it?" Stiles nodded. "Do you have somewhere to go?"
Stiles shook his head. "Nah. This'll be cool, though. I'll get to see New York at Christmas, you know?" Besides the people he worked with Stiles only knew his roommates. He'd moved to New York City out of college to work for Alphaworks, the Hale family's company.
Laura eyed him for a second, then shot a sly glance at Derek. "No."
"What?" Stiles and Derek asked in unison.
"You're coming to our house. If the weather gets better and clears up in time to get you on a plane home we'll get you there. Sound like a plan?" Laura explained excitedly.
Stiles fumbled with his words. "But--what, no. I mean, I couldn't --"
"Don't push him into something he doesn't want to do, Laura," Derek chimed in and seemed to be annoyed at the idea from the way he emphasized his words to his sister.
Laura waved her hand and grinned at her younger brother, then turned to Stiles with an earnest expression. "Seriously, Stiles. I don't want to pressure you but I hate the idea of you being alone for Christmas. We have a huge house just outside the city our family gets together at and it's no bother. Our younger sister is going to be there, too. She's a couple years younger than you, I think, and she's bringing her boyfriend. We always make too much food and there's a huge wine cellar and a hot tub..." Laura trailed off and stared at Stiles hopefully.
Stiles glanced at Derek quickly but he was too busy glaring at his sister to notice. Stiles didn't want to piss off one of his bosses but he also really, really didn't like the idea of being alone in a new-ish city for Christmas. His dad would be fine, he'd go spend it with his best friend's mom and would likely be working an overnight shift Christmas day. Insurance on his plane ticket meant Stiles could book time off in a month or so instead and maybe be able to spend more time with his dad because it wasn't over the holidays.
He gave Laura a small smile and nodded. She whooped and smacked him on the arm enthusiastically, then laughed. "Don't tell HR I just hit you," she warned jokingly. "Derek and I were going to be leaving tonight for the house so why don't you get out of here, pack some things and Derek here your address so we can pick you up?"
Laura grabbed Stiles' phone out of his shirt pocket before he could react and quickly added Derek into his contacts. She even spun around and snapped a picture of him while he was off-guard and added it to Stiles' contact for him. Derek frowned at her but seemed resigned to her steamrolling tactics. She did the same thing when it came to business decisions Stiles noticed.
"We'll pick you up in a couple hours. See you later!" Laura called cheerfully over her shoulder as she left, blowing a kiss to Derek as she went.
Stiles stared at Derek's contact in his phone, avoiding the actual person standing in front of him. Neither of them moved or said anything.
Finally, after almost a long minute, Stiles blurted out, "I'm sorry" at the same time as Derek.
"It's fine, just tell Laura I had something come up," Stiles said before Derek could speak. "I didn't mean to make you mad."
Derek's mouth dropped open and he paused for a second before shaking his head. "I'm not mad, I swear. I'm sorry she bowled you over. Please don't feel like this is an obligation because it really, really isn't. But there's nothing wrong with you joining us for Christmas, Mr Stilinski. Laura's right, the house is huge and we always have way too much of... well, everything."
Stiles saw the sincerity in Derek's eyes and could hear it in his words. He grew up as a cop's kid and was pretty good at reading people, so so he thought. He thought about it for a second and the idea of being snowed in alone in New York City, although exciting, was also terrifying and so he nodded.
"I think I'd really enjoy spending Christmas with your family. Thank you, Mr. Hale."
Mr. Hale smiled slightly and inclined his head. "Call me Derek."
"Then you should call me Stiles," he replied.
It wasn't much. The universe owed him much more but Derek's smile in response--a true one, so wide Stiles could see his adorable bunny teeth some of the interns always giggled about to themselves--felt like a small gift. A stocking stuffer in repayment for shitting on his Christmas.
He'd take it.