we could drown this love drought.

@ dead upon arrival

Stiles took his hands out of his pockets to give the sales clerk a small wave as he thanked them for choosing that specific hardware store, yadda yadda, not really anything more important since Derek looked like he was ready to go with his body language. Stiles put his hands together, rubbing his palms, eyes drifting closed as he remembered the last time he'd had these tacos three years ago on a pre-college-we-survived-high-school trip with Scott, his dad and Melissa. He opened his eyes and walked forward out of the shop with Derek towards the car again and nodded, "Boy, am I ready," Stiles affirmed, with his stomach giving a little grumble just at the mention and the thought. It had been a while since brunch, after all.

"The place is close by - we can leave the car parked at the restaurant after we eat and then walk over to the gallery since it's a short distance? And I'm not sure how good parking would be close to the gallery," Stiles remarked, although he only knew the name of the gallery and place from Derek's phone messages with Cora. Stiles walked up to the Camaro and waited for Derek to get in before giving him the brief directions to the taco places. He motioned when to make a left while they were driving the short distance, legs bouncing up and down excitedly as they got closer. "C'mon, that's it over there," Stiles said, excitedly, yanking his seat belt off and waiting for Derek to park the car in the one empty spot that was available before hopping out the car. "Ready?" Stiles asked, flashing a toothy grin at Derek. The place kind of looked easily passable if you didn't know what it was inside, but the simple exterior and red light up sign outside was appealing to Stiles. The inside was well decorated with black and white vintage photographs, political news clips, and traditional music playing in the background on a record player, and when they got to the door, Stiles held the door open for Derek, grinning cheekily before pointing at one of the tables by the back corner.

Derek got into the Camaro, pulling away from the floor shop and took the minuscule directions Stiles gave excitedly and it made Derek smile that he could be this excited over food. He parked in front of some nondescript building that he wouldn’t even peg as a restaurant until he got out and up close and saw the red sign and followed Stiles to the door, stepping inside first and he could already smell the delicious aroma of the tacos and herbs and all the other ingredients and his stomach growled as he took in the decor of the place. He took a seat at the back corner table Stiles pointed to and grabbed a menu, his eyes raking over the choices of different tacos and burritos.”Any recommendations? What should I try?” He glanced up to Stiles sitting across from him, their knees extremely close underneath the table.

@ slumflower

@ dead upon arrival

Stiles picked up a menu as well, the table kind of on the smaller side so it was easy for him to push his knee down so his foot was brushing against' Derek's while the his right knee pressed against Derek's because he was eagerly wiggling in his sit. He was looking at the menu, noting new additions from the last time he'd been there, even as he knew exactly what he was going to order. Stiles was pretty set in his food ways once he knew what was going to be orgasmically good in his mouth.

He looked up as Derek spoke, chewing on his lip as he had been reading over the menu. "Well, we're definitely getting the nachos and starter tacos, and I think you'd like the wet burritos or King tacos. I'm definitely getting the beef enchiladas," he told Derek, putting the menu down since he didn't need it. The restaurant wasn't that full although there were a family or two and some couples sitting down with people waiting at the counter for pick-ups as well.

Derek glanced up over the rim of the menu, he felt like he was playing footsie with Stiles under the table, their feet nearly tangled and Derek shifted just a hair, bumping his shoe into Stiles'. He gave a hum in acknowledgment at Stiles' recommendations, he looked over the menu once more and nodded."Well, let's just try that then." He was hungry and he kinda wanted to try a bit of all of them all and Stiles knew what was good so why not? He put his menu down and moments later, a waitress was heading their way with a bright smile and a pad and pen waiting.

@ slumflower

@ dead upon arrival

Stiles nodded, pleased that Derek would be trying the same foods that never failed to make him feel amazing when he visited. He picked up his head to the side when he realized that a waitress was suddenly at their table, not having seen her approaching while looking at Derek. Stiles had been thinking Wow, Derek's eyebrows are pretty cute when he's trying to make his decisions and are those eyes hazel with green or gold- before the waitress cut in with a "Hey folks, what can I get you two?"

Stiles gave her a grin, reaching over to grab the menu in front of Derek along with the one in his hand, then handing it to the waitress before rattling of both of their orders, pausing when the woman asked about drinks. "Oh, and some red wine too, for me at least, Derek, their cabernet is great so we should share a bottle," he said, now diverting his gaze from the waitress to Derek, wiggling his eyebrows and knocking his knee intentionally against the others. He knew that werewolves needed laced alcohol to get drunk so it wouldn't do much but the wine would taste really great and add a layer of sweetness to the hearty meal they were about to have.

“Then we’ll definitely take a bottle.” Derek nodded toward the waitress who jotted it down and left them for the time being. He returned the bump to his knee and he fought the urge to grab a hold of Stiles’ knee under the table, to feel his boney knee cap under his palm but something about that seemed more intimate than it should even be. He turned his gaze to Stiles.”You’re gonna get wine drunk on me, aren’t you?” He asked with a smile, teasing.

Moments later, the waitress returned with the bottle of wine and two glasses, sitting them down and pouring each half full before leaving the bottle with them and giving them a gracious smile.”Your food will be out shortly.” And she was off again.

@ slumflower

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Stiles grinned when he felt Derek return the knee bump and even more so when Derek agreed to take the bottle. He rolled his eyes dramatically with a scoff exiting his lips and then put his elbows onto the table, leaning in to say, "I'll have you know, wine totally helps me dissect art - it's like, scientific," Stiles smirked, even though he knew it was no such thing. With or without wine he'd be trying to pull apart and figure out the art that they'd be looking at, and he probably wouldn't get all the way drunk, but buzzed was always fun.

He was a little bit surprised with how quickly the waitress was able to get the wine and two glasses out but still smiled and thanked her as she poured the wine into their glasses. Stiles picked up his glass and tasted it, taking a moment to mull over the sweetness before holding up his glass to clink against Derek's, "Look at us - we're doing not too bad at life, I'd say, given all the circumstances," Stiles joked, knocking his own knee against Derek's again, just because he could.

Derek took a sip of his wine and Stiles was right, it was indeed good with a tang behind the sweetness and it was a shame he couldn’t really feel the effects but he didn’t need to to appreciate the fine taste of the wine.”Yeah, who would have thought after alpha packs, a darach, and being possessed by a spirit of a fox we would end up here?” He wished the wine around before putting his glass down.”But at least you got the hell out of Beacon Hills.” Derek’s eyes quickly glance up to Stiles because he hadn’t meant for those words to come out as harsh as they sounded. Derek was tethered in Beacon Hills by pack and blood but if any of them deserved to cut ties with Beacon Hills, it was Stiles.“It’s a brave thing you did, leaving. Getting out of here and seeing the world and finding yourself and your place. I don’t think you talked much about it, what happened to you but I know the face you wore, the one that’s riddled with guilt and trauma and you’re a lot braver and stronger than you give yourself credit for.” He hadn’t meant to get all doom and gloom in the middle of a family restaurant in San Francisco but it felt right. Derek cleared his throat for a change of subject as he poured more wine into his glass, offering Stiles more with a raise of an eyebrow.”We know your summer is filled with being attached to Scott at the hip and annoying me to death but what are you going to do after? Any definite plans?”

@ slumflower

@ dead upon arrival

Stiles watched Derek for his reaction as he sipped on the wine and was satisfied when Derek seemed to approve and set the glass back down. Stiles had written it down in journals he kept and talked with the pack about being possessed to some extent but he couldn't help but stiffen a little bit at the mention of the nogitsune, especially in Derek's grim tone. It had been 3 years but that didn't mean all the trauma had just slowly went away. But all that aside, he'd never heard Derek say so much and include genuinely nice things about Stiles, even though he was like 99% sure that Derek was wrong about it being brave of him to leave (he still felt cowardly sometimes) and in truth, the whole pack deserved to be free and as mobile as they wanted. In Stiles' opinion, it was Derek that deserved to be free of Beacon Hills the most, especially since the town had made him lose so much and had tortured him for so long. Stiles didn't say any of that though, he was still too shocked, and for once his mouth was a little bit open but the usual rambling didn't fall out from his lips. Stiles relaxed when Derek cleared his throat and then subsequently nodded when Derek offered to pour more in into Stiles' glass.

Stiles rolled his eyes at Derek's pretty accurate description of his summer plans, although Derek had missed his plans to get his dad to exercise more, probably wrangling the pack members into doing things with him, and catching up on all the TV he hadn't watched the past year or so. "Well, I have two semesters left to get my degree in Criminology & Law, my English minor is pretty much finished...," he trailed off, not really having figured out what he wanted to do yet even though that seemed to be the most popular question he was getting. "I think I want to travel some more, but I'll be pretty broke so most likely scenario is trying to get into the job market to pay off my student loans. I think you might be looking at a future Beacon Hills deputy but I'm not sure," Stiles shrugged, nervously playing with the stem of his wine glass before taking a couple more sips. Before a beat passed he looked up again, resting his face on his palm and added, "You should get out too, y'know. Go to a random country for a week even, I'll even go with you if you decide I'm your favorite traveling partner but I think it'd be good for you too, once you're finished with the house maybe, a present to yourself because you deserve a lot and - ooh, food!"

The waitress was bringing out both their appetizers and their meals all at the same time so her arms were full with plates that were soon decorating the space between Derek and Stiles. "Sorry for the bit of a wait, let me know if you two need anything and enjoy your meal," she said with a smile and a wink and was quickly off.

Derek listened to Stiles’ future plans, he could definitely see Stiles working for the sheriff’s station, it would put his natural nosiness and his ability of research to good use.”You’re still young, you’ll get your life figured out, no use in rushing.”

The food came out, so many plates were put down between them and it all looked delicious and he couldn’t wait to try the tacos and the nachos. Derek bit into one, the savory flavor was amazing.”You are for sure on food duty, always. Oh, my god.” They were probably the best tacos he had ever had. Derek washed it down with some wine, the flavors mixing, tasting even better as he wiped his hands on a napkin.”If i did decide to get out of the country sometime, where would we go?” He asked the hypothetical question because it wasn’t a real idea, not yet, but if he did ever travel, Stiles would of course be his traveling buddy.

@ slumflower

@ dead upon arrival

Stiles was sure he had stars twinkling in his eyes as he tried to decide where to start when Derek started with a taco. He dug a nacho into the layered dip, making sure to pick up some of the shrimp as he tossed it into his mouth - determined to keep his eyes open so he could witness Dereks' reaction to the tacos. He knew the food was good, but he just really wanted to make sure that Derek liked it too, and he felt a fluttering in his stomach when he saw Derek's verbal approval of the tacos. Stiles couldn't help but feel his face almost split with the grin that took over his lips and was quick to grab one of the starter tacos to expertly shove into his mouth so he didn't say anything like, Wow, you're so cute when you're eating good food, because that would probably make things awkward. Instead, Stiles hummed happily as the flavors exploded in his own mouth and he went to wash it down with some of the wine, sliding down in his seat a little because fuck, this food was just as good as he remembered it.

"Glad I didn't disappoint you," Stiles teased, grabbing some more nachos and munching on them, making sure to get all the flavoring that was on the plate onto the chip. He looked up from where he was moving the plates around so the more emptier plates were now to the side when he heard Derek ask him about traveling (and it didn't escape him that Derek used 'we' even if it seemed hypothetical). Stiles mulled it over, doing what he normally did and just thinking out loud, "Well, it doesn't have to be anything big you know, maybe a road trip down the coast and to Mexico - preferrably nowhere near the time Spring break is happening for obvious reasons, maybe Vienna 'cause I'd like to see you on one of those boats down a river with a gondolier singing in the background, and I'd add Thailand, Costa Rica, Antarctica, the world's big," Stiles shrugged, reaching over to grab the bottle of wine to top off both his and Derek's glasses. Stiles started in on his cheesy enchiladas served with a side of rice and beans and couldn't help out a very satisfied noise of pleasure 'cause wow, this place did not mess around with quality of food. He pushed his plate towards Derek and didn't bother to stop chewing as he said, "Der, you've gotta try this."

Derek snorted as Stiles listed off the places they should visit.”I’m not sure about Antarctica but I wouldn’t object to the others.” He could imagine going from country to country, experiencing everything those places had to offer, the sights and the food, and sleeping in a hostel for a few hours only to get up and do it all over again with Stiles, it would definitely be something he would give more thought into.”I wonder if the gondoliers have anything against a passenger shoving another off into the river because that’s where you’d end up.” Derek teased as he grabbed his glass and sipped his wine.”When you least expect it, you’re gonna go overboard.”

Stiles shoved his plate to Derek and a smile came across his face at Stiles’ reaction to his enchiladas and he didn’t hesitate to bite into it either, giving the food a try and the flavor was amazing and he could see why Stiles had gotten it. He took another bite.”This is mine now.” He nodded as he wiped his hand on a napkin, washing his bite down.

@ slumflower

@ dead upon arrival

Stiles looked Derek in the eyes, slightly squinting as he monotonously said, "Ha. Ha. Ha," before wiping the corner of his mouth with a napkin because he knew he was a fairly messy eater when he got excited. "Besides, it's been a while but I'm sure you remember I'm a strong swimmer so you could certainly try throwing me off board, although I wouldn't recommend it," Stiles smirked, remembering the time Jackson had been a Kanima and paralyzed Derek in a swimming pool, which then led to Stiles holding him up for close to an hour, and even missing a lacrosse game and a talk with Lydia. The last two didn't mean much when he had Derek's life in his hands, though.

Stiles rolled his eyes and snatched his plate back from Derek's small side of the table before arranging them so the enchiladas and wet burrito were equally between the both of them, giving Derek access to both the plates. "Dumbass," Stiles joked, digging his fork into Derek's plate of the wet burrito, "You haven't even tried this yet," he said, putting the forkful into his own mouth before grabbing the hot sauce by the side of the table and pouring it onto the side of the plate so it wasn't all over everything in case that Derek didn't like as much as Stiles did. He drank a bit more wine and continued eating, before scooting over and looking past Derek's shoulder where the restroom was. "Gotta peeee," he said, getting up and briefly touching Derek's shoulders with his fingers before walking on over, almost stumbling into the waitress that had been serving them when she suddenly came out of the kitchen.

"Oh, I was just going to drop this off before I go on break," she said, showing the small leather folder with a receipt inside.

"Sorry!" Stiles said for stumbling into her before standing up straight and shoving his hand into his front pocket and pulling a card from his wallet and handing it to her. "Here ya go, and thanks so much!" to which, Stiles was met with a smile and a nod before Stiles went on to the bathroom. Soon, he was washing his hands and walking back out, sliding back into the space across from Derek.

Derek shrugged with a smile.”Just because you can swim doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be funny if I tossed you over.” He rolled his eyes at Stiles’ smirk because Derek remembered the whole pool incident fairly well because it was probably the turning point in which he slowly began to trust Stiles, having him to not hesitant to jump in a pool to hold him afloat.”Besides, if I wanted to kill you, I think I have better mechanisms than drowning.”

Derek cut a chunk of the wet burrito off, stabbed his fork through it and swiped it through Stiles’ pile of hot sauce before shoving it into his mouth.”For someone so territorial about their food has no problem whatsoever on stealing other people’s food.” Derek gave him a look with his eyebrows.

Stiles announced he had to go the bathroom as he stood up and touched Derek’s shoulder and touching between them wasn’t new but this felt a lot different but Derek was sure he was reading into that as he finished up the nachos and his wine.

“I saw your little move.” Derek said when Stiles slid back into his seat across from Derek though he more heard the exchange with the waitress more than anything.”You didn’t have to foot the entire bill, I could have paid my half.”

@ slumflower

@ dead upon arrival

Stiles rolled his eyes as he got comfortable at the table again, leaning back and setting his arms on the table. "Derek, you covered dinner the other night at your place, it's literally not a big deal, dude," Stiles said, bumping his knee against Derek's and grabbing the fork and finishing up most of the enchiladas and rice, stopping when he was feeling way too full. He patted his stomach and finished the last of his wine, then reached into his phone to see that his dad had texted to see if Derek and him had gotten into SF safely. Stiles held back a smile because his dad was being a huge worrywart as always but texted him back that they were doing well anyways and didn't have to wait long for his dad's second response. He looked up and told Derek, "Dad says to make good decisions, not get abducted while we're out, and have fun," Stiles laughed.

Derek smiled as he tapped his foot against Stiles'."Your dad was always wise. Have you ever noticed though how your kidnappers never keep you for long? I couldn't imagine why." He teased with a roll of his eyes but really, he wouldn't let anything happen to Stiles and he knew Stiles and the Sheriff both knew that and he could smell if danger was lurking around them.

He eyed the scraps of their food and then Stiles."Do you want finish anything else before you bust your jeans or are you ready to get out of here?" He asked as he stood up and tugged at Stiles' shirt."C'mon, I'll treat you to ice cream or something after the gallery."

@ slumflower

@ dead upon arrival

Stiles shook his head, not wanting anymore food on he table as he said, "Well, maybe all my abductors knew I'd be getting out sooner or later," raising an eyebrow and tilting his head at Derek even though being held hostage had never been that simple in all his years. Stiles nodded, being ready to leave and conveniently saw the waitress coming over with their receipt and the merchandise ticket and most importantly, his card. "Just a sec, Sourwolf," he murmured to Derek thanking the waitress and putting his card back in his wallet and writing in a tip onto the receipt. When he was done, he smiled at Derek, fingers subconsciously brushing against where Derek had pulled at his shirt and had practically leaked warmth even from his finger tips. He walked after Derek, feeling like his limbs were loose and languid in movement.

Stiles rubbed at his eye with one hand as they exited and flatted the palm of his other hand against Derek's back right shoulder, "I'll never say no to ice-cream," Stiles responded simply even though his stomach was steadily swirling with a pool of emotions that he couldn't really place or neatly categorize in his daze. It wasn't even the wine mostly, it was just being around Derek that was making him feel so warm. In fact, even without the earlier employee from the hardware store making assumptions about their relationship, Stiles would almost think that this maybe felt like a... date. Although, that had to be something that would be possible only on a different universe because of many many many reasons that would probably make Stiles depressed. Stiles moved his hand from Derek's back shoulder and stuffed it in his pocket to pull up the directions again. "It's close by, 3 blocks up then a right on Connecticut and two more blocks. I'm excited," Stiles grinned, putting his phone back in his pocket and hand twitching when his instinct told him to hold onto Derek's hand as they walked. Instead he let his hands hang by his side as they walked together, arriving at the gallery in very little time.

When Stiles put his hand on Derek's shoulder, he fought not to put his arm around Stiles' waist, let his hand settle around his hip bone and pull his close to his side because Derek knew it was nothing more than a friendly touch and it's just how Stiles was and it wasn't his fault that Derek couldn't shake how Stiles made him feel or that he craved those little touches from Stiles.

Derek nodded at Stiles' directions as they walked the few blocks over, the gallery coming into view. Derek pulled the door open and ushered Stiles in first by touching his lower back. The gallery wasn't very busy, a few people mingling around the art and it was everything he imagined a gallery to be, art hung on the wall, little plaques underneath with the title and artist. There were a few suspension art hanging in the far back and well, it looked nothing but a monstrosity."I already feel like an art snob." He leaned in to Stiles to whisper because he didn't know what the difference between what was a good art piece and what wasn't, most of the things hanging on the walls were just blobs of paint to him.

@ slumflower

@ dead upon arrival

Stiles snorted, shaking his head, "I think it'd take more than one trip to make you an art snob, but maybe if you put on a cardigan and black glasses you'd certainly look the part," Stiles whispered softly, knowing he didn't have to speak loudly for Derek to hear him with his ridiculous super hearing. "C'mon, let's start from the back and go back to the entrance," Stiles whispered again, now excited as he looked around and saw the many different special collections. Stiles pulled Derek forward, following the small arrows on the wall to find the back room that was mostly sculptures of the human figure, but out of different materials that weren't clay. "This is super cool," he murmured, feeling warm from the remnants of the wine still running through his body. It was just wild to Stiles how artists could convey so much passion and emotion, creating movement with still objects, and all with their own two hands.

“Maybe I’ll switch out the cardigan for a tweed jacket with the elbow patches and black glasses. I’ll pencil it in on my calendar for next time, maybe even pick up some art lingo.” Derek smiled as he followed along with Stiles to the back of the gallery and into the sculpture area and for someone who didn’t know good art from bad, he could definitely give props to people who did amazing things like sculptures, that they could do such a thing with their hands.”Think if I get a sculpture of a nude man and put it in my entry way, Cora would stop asking me to decorate my house?” He asked, shooting a look to Stiles as he rounded a few of the figures. It wouldn’t be that it was even a nude sculpture but the fact that he had the gall enough to do it that would annoy Cora.

@ slumflower