Chapter Text
Thanks to Lupus Ululat for the cover :)
“Hey, Dad,” Stiles shouted from where he sat in front of the TV as his father, the county Sheriff walked into the house. “How was your day? Catch any bad guys?”
Stiles always asked his father the same question. Had done since his Dad had first explained to him what police officers did. And he always got the same answer.
“If I did, it’d be more than my job’s worth to tell you about it.” Stiles grinned up at his father as he stepped into the living room. “School okay?”
Stiles nodded. “Same old,” he said. “After last year I didn’t think it was possible for the teachers to give us any more homework, but I was wrong, so so wrong.”
“You thought they’d actually go easier on you because you’re a senior now?” his Dad asked with a smile.
“A man can dream,” Stiles said with a sigh. “Coach has added an extra practice onto Saturday mornings too, which as you know is when I do most of my homework. But unless they get some pretty awesome freshman try out for the team, I’ll probably make first line this year.”
“That’s great kiddo,” his Dad said as he sat down on the couch next to him. “The extra practice will probably come in handy if you do. And I guess you’ll just need to do your homework during the week.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” Stiles said, eyeing his Dad suspiciously.
Normally, after they had their quick daily catch up, his Dad would go straight up the stairs to change out of his uniform, so sitting down with Stiles was a little unusual. Not to mention he was sitting on the couch, not on his lazy boy in the corner. His Dad never sat on the couch. The last time had been to give Stiles the Talk, and the time before that was to explain about how their dog – a retired police dog – had gone up to the big kennel in the sky. So whatever was about to be “discussed”, couldn’t be good.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Luckily, his Dad knew him just as well and didn’t patronise him by pretending everything was okay, instead he glanced nervously up at Stiles. “Are you um, seeing anyone?” he asked. “Any girl or boy you’re interested in?”
Stiles didn’t even ask how his father knew about his appreciation of both sexes and instead just shook his head. “No. I’m not seeing anyone. Why?”
“There’s no one?”
“Well, I mean Lydia and Danny are both insanely attractive, but they are way out of my league not to mention both dating Jackson Whittemore, so… no,” Stiles said. “Seriously, what’s this about Dad?”
His Dad sighed, but didn’t answer him, instead asking more questions. “And how do you feel about arranged marriages?”
Stiles raised an eyebrow at him, beginning to worry where this was going. “I don’t have anything against it per se, but I do think it’s pretty old fashioned. People should marry for love, like you and Mom did.”
“Scott and Allison have been engaged since they were kids, and they’re the most smitten teenagers I have ever met,” his Dad argued.
“Yeah, but they’re like the exception,” Stiles said. “Seriously Dad, you’re freaking me out here. What’s going on?”
Falling silent, his Dad looked down at his knees, rubbing his chin as if he was taking his time to phrase his words correctly.
“Governor Hale came to see me today.”
Stiles sat up straight. With his father’s questions, this could only mean one thing.
“She’s looking for a match for her son, Derek,” the sheriff continued to explain. “Apparently when her husband passed, he left it in his Will that neither twin would come into their inheritance unless they were married by the age of twenty-five. She gave them both until July to fall in love on their own. Laura got married in the spring, but Derek…”
“You want me to marry Derek Hale?” Stiles asked, fully turned to face his father now. “He’s a nutjob!”
“He is not.”
“Uh, yeah he is. He spent like a year in a psychiatric unit.”
“He had a mental breakdown his freshman year of college, lots of students do, and he needed help. There’s nothing wrong with that and he’s fine now. He and his sister run the family business.”
“Oh yeah, if he’s so fine then how come no one will marry him?” Stiles asked, his disbelief at his father giving way to anger now.
“Look, I’m not going to force you into anything. Same as the Governor isn’t going to force Derek. But I… I just want to make sure you’re taken care of. That you can have the future me and your Mom always hoped you’d have.”
Stiles frowned in confusion, “What are you talking about?”
“You deserve to go to any college you want, and you know that with me still paying off your Mom’s medical bills, unless you get a scholarship, we won’t even be able to afford community college,” his Dad explained. “But the Hales have money. Lots of it. And I was assured that you could go wherever you wanted and Derek would follow you. Stiles, you’d be set for life. If you two ever adopted, your kids would be set for life too.”
For the first time in a long time, Stiles was stunned into silence. He knew his Dad was hard up for money, and stressed about not being able to send Stiles to whatever college he wanted, but he hadn’t realised it was this bad.
“And I know Beacon Hills is a small town, but accidents happen. If I were to… I wouldn’t want you to be on your own, stuck with all of mine and your Mom’s debts. She wouldn’t want that either.”
“Dad, I… nothing is going to happen to you,” Stiles finally said.
“You don’t know that, Stiles,” the sheriff said with a deep sigh. “Governor Hale has invited us to dinner tomorrow night for you and Derek to get the chance to meet each other, and you know, decide if this is something you both want to do.”
“And if we decide not to?”
“Then so be it,” his father said. Stiles nodded and got to his feet. “Where are you going?”
“Out,” Stiles said.
“But it’s pizza night,” the sheriff reminded him.
“Yeah well, I’m not really in the mood,” Stiles told him, slamming the front door behind him on his way out.
He couldn’t believe his father would actually agree to an arranged marriage for him. Sure he was eighteen, so legally didn’t have to do anything he didn’t want to. But this was his Dad. Someone who Stiles had on more than one occasion, heard express pity upon those who ended up in arranged marriages. Hell, he’d nearly broken Scott’s Dad’s nose when his Mom came to him in tears to ask if there was a way to stop the engagement that had been agreed to without her knowledge. But there had been nothing they could do, so his Dad helped Melissa throw out Scott’s Dad and hit him with a pretty hard right hook for good measure. Stiles just couldn’t comprehend why he would verbally agree to the arrangement.
“He wouldn’t do it if he didn’t have a good reason,” Scott said.
Stiles had ended up at Scott’s after speeding away from his Dad’s in fury. Allison had been there, having a “study” date with Scott. But considering it was a Friday night and they had study dates at least three times a week, Stiles couldn’t bring himself to feel bad for interrupting. This was an emergency and if anyone would know how he felt right now, it would be these two.
“He said he wants me to be able to live the life him and Mom always wanted for me. Go to whatever college I want, be able to provide for my family,” Stiles said. “I just… Mom used to tell me stories about how her and my Dad were two of the few couples in their class who weren’t forced into a loveless marriage.
“Not all arranged marriages are loveless,” Allison said. “My parents are crazy about each other. And me and Scott love each other.”
“Yeah but you guys have had since the age of twelve to get used to the idea and each other and you’re not getting married til after college. If I agree to this, then I’ll be married before I’ve even graduated high school.”
They all fell silent for a moment before Scott spoke up, “At least he’s giving you a choice, Stiles,” he said. “And it would be good if you could go to one of the Ivy League schools like you always wanted. Prove Harris and all those other asshole teachers wrong once and for all.”
“Yeah but I don’t want to just marry the guy for his money,” Stiles argued.
“Why not, that’s what he’s doing to you,” Allison pointed out. “He doesn’t get his inheritance unless he’s married. And knowing the Hales, I bet it’s a lot.”
Stiles sighed and flopped backwards onto Scott’s bed.
“When are you meeting him anyway?” Scott asked.
“Tomorrow. The Governor invited us for din…” Stiles paused as he was suddenly deafened by Allison’s very loud squealing in his ear. “WHAT THE HELL?!”
“I need to call Lydia,” she said as she pulled out her phone. “We need to go shopping. You need something nice to wear.”
“No. You can’t tell Lydia,” Stiles said. “If you tell her then she’ll tell Jackson and the entire school will know before I’ve even met the guy.”
Allison narrowed her eyes at him. “But she’s the best person for this.”
“Just tell her it’s a date. Say it’s some college dude from the next town,” Scott said.
“Yeah, like she’ll believe that,” Stiles said. But he turned to Allison and nodded at her anyway. Even if he wasn’t going to agree to any marriage, he couldn’t turn up to the Governor’s house in jeans and a t-shirt. He wouldn’t even get through the front gates and then his Dad would make the decision for him.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When Coach had announced that they would be having Saturday morning practices after tryouts were completed next week, Stiles had been determined to enjoy his last Saturday morning of freedom for the rest of the academic year. However, Lydia and Allison had other ideas.
They arrived at his door at eight o’clock sharp, let in to the house by his father before marching into his bedroom and yanking his beloved comforter off of him. If Stiles hadn’t been so annoyed at his rude awakening, he would’ve been highly embarrassed at the two most popular girls in school being in his, well typical teenaged boy room while he was only wearing his favourite Spider-Man undies and sporting his usual morning wood. Instead he just got up and stormed past them both, ignoring his Dad’s humoured grin on the way to the bathroom. He was ignoring his Dad anyway, until they got all this stupid marriage thing sorted out.
His shower didn’t help his mood any. In fact, he remained pretty miserable until Allison appeared with a giant mug of coffee while he was in the midst of putting on the clothes Lydia had picked for him. He wasn’t going to begin to go into how weird it was that she’d went through not only his wardrobe, but his underwear drawer too as apparently he needed to wear the right kind to try on the kind of clothes she had in mind.
“What kind of date is this anyway?” Lydia asked as Stiles drove them to the mall.
“What do you mean?” Stiles asked cautiously.
“Well is it a casual hook up, like burger and a movie? Or is it more formal, like dinner at a nice restaurant or something?”
“Um… or something?” Stiles said with a blush.
“Okay, Stilinski what are you not telling me?” Lydia asked with narrowed eyes. “Allison, what is he not telling me?”
Allison raised her hands in surrender while Stiles just sighed. “It’s not a date, not really. I’ve… you promise you won’t tell anyone? Not even Jackson?” he asked, staring in the rear view mirror at her. “Cause I swear, Lydia I will never forgive you if you do.”
“Jeez, yes okay. So what is it?”
“Governor Hale invited me and Dad to dinner,” Stiles said. “He asked me to keep quiet about it ‘cause he’s worried the press will find out and make something of it that it’s not.”
“Okay, so… something more formal then?” she asked.
“Well yeah, but I don’t want to look too stuffy. I mean, it’s just dinner between two families.”
Lydia hmm’d at him as if she still didn’t quite believe that Stiles was telling her the truth. However, she didn’t push it any further and for that, Stiles was thankful. Allison would probably fill her in on the rest later anyway.
The first store they went to was way out of Stiles’ price range, but Lydia assured him it was merely to try some different designs on before going on to find a more affordable version.
The girls made him try on four different designs of jeans – that weren’t nearly baggy enough around the crotch area for his liking and also explained the tighty whities Lydia had picked out for him – three pairs of smart pants, six shirts, three vests and two actual suits. He liked one of the suits two of the shirts and one pair of pants. But what he liked didn’t matter either way, as apparently it wasn’t his choice.
It took another three and a half hours, five stores and the trying on of more clothes than Stiles could count before they were done. He had two pretty decent outfits that he would choose from later after he had a long, long nap. Sighing in relief, he started to head back to the parking lot when Allison grabbed his arm.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“Uh, home?” he replied. “I have everything,” he added, holding up his bags.
“And just what do you plan on wearing on your feet?” Lydia asked with a raised brow.
Stiles was scared to answer. “Um, shoes?”
“Exactly,” Allison said, pulling him in the opposite direction.
“And you really do need some new underwear,” Lydia informed him. “Geeky boxer shorts are for Sunday afternoons and sick days only.”
Stiles grumbled but followed them anyway. If he went along with them, then it would be over quicker and he could have his nap. They pulled him into what he could only describe as shoe hell, with too many people – parents, children, teenagers, lone adults – all trying to get he attention of the three sales staff on the floor, pushing each other out the way and waving shoes in the air frantically. Luckily for him, Allison and Lydia were a pretty awesome tag team, with Allison finding the shoe and Lydia demanding that the sales assistant get her the matching one for Stiles to try on.
The guy that was serving looked like he had only just turned sixteen and was absolutely petrified by Lydia and her scary demanding eyes. Stiles had known her all his life and he still sometimes got scared of her too. He tried to give the dude a sympathetic look as he set down four shoe boxes next to where Stiles was sat, but he was too petrified to look up and make eye contact so he missed it.
“It’s a shame you can’t try them on with the new pants,” Lydia said as he slipped his feet into the second pair. “We’d get a better idea which ones were better.”
“Yeah, well I guess we’ll just have to use our imagination, then won’t we?” Stiles grumbled.
Lydia narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m doing this for your own good, Stilinski. I don’t have to be here. You think I enjoy shopping for other people? Think again. I would much rather be getting a manicure right now. But no, I’m instead spending my Saturday helping out some moron who won’t even tell me the real reason he needs my help in the first place,” she snapped. “Now quit moaning and try on the loafers.”
Realising that Lydia actually didn’t have to be helping at all and that he was grateful for the time she’d given up, even if he’d have preferred to have just gone and bought something from Walmart, he finished putting on the shoes and stood up for her to inspect.
“I like these ones,” she told him. “Allison?”
“Yeah, I think they’re good,” Allison nodded.
“Awesome, loafers it is then,” Stiles nodded, happy that he didn’t have to try on the others. He quickly slipped them off and handed them to the sales assistant before putting his own back on and standing up. Smiling at Lydia, he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you.”
“You’re buying us lunch,” was Lydia’s only reply before she led the way to the cashier.
Stiles exchanged a small smile with Allison before they both followed her.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“Stiles! We’re going to be late!”
Stiles huffed at his reflection. He was wearing the black pants and the fitted dark purple shirt Lydia had picked out for him. He’d showered and shaved and only put on just a tiny little bit of aftershave so as not to overwhelm everyone’s sense of smell, just like Allison told him. But he had one problem; his hair.
No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get it to sit right. Normally it was fine, he would put a small bit of wax on his hands and a couple of swipes through his hair later and it sat perfect. Not tonight though. It was like it knew it was important. Biting back a frustrated growl, he tried to tweak the bit at the side once more, but it just sprang right back to how it been before.
“Seriously, this is why we’re late?” his Dad asked as he appeared at the bathroom door.
“Don’t even,” Stiles snapped at him, the first words he’d actually spoken to his Dad all day.
“Your hair is fine Stiles,” the sheriff said as he stepped forward and confiscated the wax. “In fact, you look very handsome. Now, come on,” he added, wrapping an arm around Stiles’ shoulder.
Personally Stiles thought he looked like Harry Potter, but he allowed his Dad to drag him out of the bathroom and down the stairs. He let go once they reached the front door and threw Stiles’ keys at him.
“I’m not really keen on taking the cruiser to the Governor’s house. If any press are hanging around…” he trailed off, knowing Stiles would understand.
“Yeah, ‘cause no one in this town knows the kind of car I drive,” Stiles replied, pushing his way past his Dad and out the front door.
“I didn’t mean we have to be sneaky about this,” his Dad said as he climbed into the passenger seat. “I meant it in a way that people won’t be wondering why there’s a police car parked in the Governor’s drive.”
“It’s not that weird for town officials to have dinner together,” Stiles pointed out. “You’ve been to the Mayor’s house plenty.”
“Just drive, Stiles. Or else we really will be late.”
Not answering, Stiles instead revved up the engine, feeling a satisfying smirk appear on his face as the stereo began blasting out the music he’d been listening to on the way back from Scott’s the night before. It was very angry music, which he knew his Dad hated. And unlucky for his Dad, Stiles was the only one who knew how to actually work the overly complicated and temperamental stereo.
The drive up towards the Hale property didn’t take that long. Stiles and his Dad lived near the centre of town, apparently a strategic choice so that the sheriff could get to any emergency within fifteen minutes. The Hales however lived up in the hills from which Beacon Hills got it’s name. They owned about five thousand acres, which included some of the surrounding forest. When he was younger, Stiles had actually accidentally wandered into their land through the woods a couple of times, but after Deborah Hale became elected, fences were put up to keep out trespassers. But he’d always thought it would be pretty awesome to grow up in that house with all those woods to explore. His garden didn’t even have any trees.
After making their way up the back road towards the Hale property, Stiles took the turn off onto the private drive that would lead them up to the house. It was such a dark and secluded road, hemmed in on both sides by large, looming trees, that if Stiles hadn’t actually known it was there, he would’ve driven right past it. As it was however, a minute later he found himself pulling up in front of a large gate where an actual armed guard stood.
“Uh…” Stiles said as he stared out the window at the guard.
His Dad though seemed to still have his wits about him. He leaned over Stiles to wind his window down and calmly told the guard who they were. After a short nod, the gate opened and Stiles was driving through them towards the brightly lit house.
He had expected there to be some kind of large fountain or something in the middle of the drive, but there wasn’t. Instead there was a normal paved drive that led to the side of the house where five cars were parked. All of them looked like they were worth more than Stiles’ house twice over.
“Do I just park anywhere?” Stiles asked.
“Uh, I think so,” his Dad shrugged. So Stiles parked the jeep next to a dark, sleek looking sports car. But before he could climb out, his Dad stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Look, I don’t want you to be too nervous or worry that we’re going to force you to do something you don’t want. Just relax, get to know Derek and just… see what you think, okay?”
Stiles let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Yeah, Dad. Okay.”
Nodding, his Dad finally let go of him and led the way towards the front door. It was opened before they got there by what Stiles assumed was the butler.
“Good evening gentlemen,” the man said as the sheriff quickly handed Stiles a black box, which Stiles knew contained a bottle of rather expensive whisky.
“Good evening,” his Dad said with a nod as they entered.
“Did you manage to park your car?” the butler asked.
“Um, yeah,” Stiles nodded, not entirely sure what to think about the fact that the Hales were rich enough to have a freaking butler.
“The Governor is this way,” he said, leading them into what looked like some kind of library slash parlour.
Stiles tried not to get distracted by the floor to ceiling bookshelves and instead turned his attention to the people in the room. There was the Governor who he would recognise anywhere, then there was a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair standing next to her. She had to be Laura Hale, or Laura Taylor as was now her married name. The blonde headed guy next to her was probably her husband, which meant that the tall, strikingly handsome, black haired man on the other side of the Governor was Derek. And shit! He was hot. Like he was put on this earth to be naked and adored every day kind of hot.
“Wow.”
The governor who had just been in the middle of greeting his father and introducing everyone paused as the room as one turned to look at him.
“Uh, I mean, that’s a lot of books,” Stiles said, pointing around the room. “I’m a big fan of books.”
The governor smiled softly at him. “My late husband built the library,” she informed him. “Unfortunately, neither myself nor the twins had his passion for reading so it hasn’t been updated in a few years.”
“Oh good, so it’s Twilight free then?” he asked with a serious nod, making the Governor smile some more and earning a small laugh from Laura. Derek however, just stared at him with a raised eyebrow. “Uh, my Dad said you liked whisky, so…” he all but thrust the box into her arms.
“Blue label?” she asked with a raised eyebrow that matched her son’s. “Thank you, Stiles.”
“You’re welcome, Governor,” he nodded.
“Please, while I’m off duty you’ll call me Deborah.”
“Right,” Stiles nodded, looking towards his Dad who gave him a small wink, letting him know he wasn’t making a complete ass of himself.
“David, be a dear and get our guests a drink,” Deborah said, and Stiles watched as her son in law all but jumped to do her bidding. Looking around Stiles noticed that the butler had disappeared, or else he was sure that it would’ve been him getting them drinks.
“What can I get you both?”
“I’ll just have a small scotch, thanks,” the sheriff said.
“Uh, soda,” Stiles told him. He wasn’t sure if Deborah would over look the fact that he was too young to drink alcohol or not, so decided to go for the safe option. “I’m driving.”
Deborah smiled again, as did Laura while Derek didn’t appear to react at all. Stiles knew he was being studied hard, that Derek was trying to decide if he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Stiles or not. Stiles wished he could just take him aside and tell him not to bother as there was no way a wedding was going to happen, even if he wouldn’t mind getting all up in that.
“What do you drive?” Laura asked him as his Dad and Deborah moved to the side to talk about no doubt ‘adult’ stuff.
“Um, it’s an old Jeep Wrangler,” Stiles said. “It belonged to my Mom and used to be this horrible, pukey green colour. But I repainted it blue when I got my learner’s permit. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I’m thinking silver or even black would’ve been better.”
“Black’s boring,” Laura told him. “Derek’s car is black, even though I told him to get red. Red’s his favourite colour. But for some reason, he went with black.”
“I liked it in black,” Derek said with a shrug.
“Sometimes black is better. Only certain cars can pull of red,” Stiles said, trying to make Derek less uncomfortable. He got a tiny half smile in reply. “Hey, is that sports car out there yours? ‘Cause that car is awesome. So much cooler than my jeep.”
Derek nodded. “It’s a Camaro.”
“It’s his baby,” Laura said. “Derek doesn’t love anything or anyone as much as he loves that car.”
“Oh I get that. I’m very attached to my jeep. I swear, no one understands me like she does,” Stiles told her.
“Finally,” Derek said. “Someone else who appreciates cars like I do.”
“Oh God,” Laura said with a roll of her eyes. “Just what I need. Two of you to gang up on me. I can tell you’re going to be bad influence on him, Stilinski.”
Stiles blushed a little at that, as did Derek. Thankfully though, they were saved by David coming back over with their drinks.
“So, I heard you play lacrosse?” David asked him.
“Uh, yeah. I’m hoping to actually make first line this year. Try outs are on Tuesday, so it all depends on the freshmen,” Stiles said with a nod, taking a sip of his soda.
“Derek was never any good at lacrosse either,” Laura said. “He was only on the team ‘cause Mom made him.”
“Thanks,” Derek said to her before turning to Stiles. “I mostly just sat on the bench.”
Stiles gave him a small nod. “I know the feeling,” he said. “Though I suspect it was probably worse for you if you didn’t actually even want to sit on the bench. I’m actually just happy to be on the team.”
“Really?” Derek asked in surprise.
“Well yeah. I love lacrosse. Not to mention, it means I only have to do one session of phys ed a week rather than two.”
“Aren’t there other perks too?” Laura asked. “Don’t all you jocks get the entire school throwing themselves at you?”
Stiles could feel himself blush again. “I uh, I wouldn’t know about that. My nerdiness kind of overshadows my jockiness.”
Laura very visibly looked him up and down at that. “You? A nerd?” she asked.
“Um, yeah? I mean, I get straight A’s. And if it wasn’t for Harris always giving me detention I’d probably be in the running for class valedictorian.”
“Straigh A’s huh?” she asked with a smirk. “Sorry, I’ve just never seen a nerd look like this before.”
Stiles shrugged as a way to hide his embarrassment at being very obviously checked out by the sister of the guy his father was trying to marry him off to. Speaking of, glancing at Derek showed that he too was very much checking Stiles out.
“Well… I guess times change,” Stiles said, looking over towards his Dad and hoping for a rescue.
“Lay off the poor guy, Laura,” David said stepping forward to put his arm around Stiles’ shoulder and turn him away from Derek and Laura. “Don’t worry about her, Stiles. She’s like this with everyone. And as for Deborah, she’s a big pussycat. Seriously, that whole scary governor persona you see on TV is just that, a persona. She’s just like any other mom.”
Stiles sighed. “I know, I’m just…”
“It’s a big decision, I know,” David nodded. “But if you stay all uptight like this, you’ll never be able to relax enough to get to know Derek.”
Nodding, Stiles made to reply but was interrupted by the butler returning to tell them dinner was ready. As he followed the Hales towards the dining room, he tried his best to heed David’s words. If anything, he was the only one here who had any idea of what he was going through even if he probably had been dating Laura for a while before meeting Derek and Deborah.
As they entered the dining room, Stiles tried not to gawp and it’s grandness and had a horrible feeling that he had completely failed. The house itself didn’t appear to be that big. Sure it was about three times the size of Stiles’ home, but for the amount of land, Stiles expected a house big enough that the dining table would be able to seat around forty. However, it appeared to be just a regular sized table but instead of cheap pine like the one at his house, it was made from a dark mahogany and probably cost an absolute fortune.
Everyone else sat first which left him in the only free seat, next to Derek. His father and Deborah were at either end of the table with Laura and David across from them. But still, it was weird.
“Water?”
Stiles turned to see Derek holding a water jug at him. “Yes please,” he nodded, noting that Derek poured himself some water too while the others were all having their wine glasses filled by the butler – who Stiles really needed to learn the name of. “You don’t have to on my behalf,” Stiles said quietly, gesturing to Derek’s glass.
“I don’t drink alcohol,” Derek told him.
Stiles wanted to ask why, but he wasn’t sure if that was polite or not. If Derek had some kind of drinking problem, then it would probably come across rude, but then again if he did for some reason agree to this marriage, then that is something he’d want to know about.
“It’s a personal choice,” Derek told him, seemingly able to read Stiles’ mind. “I’m a bit of a health freak.”
“Really?” Stiles asked disbelievingly. “So you don’t eat burgers or any kind of junk food either?”
“No, I do. Just not often,” Derek explained. “I mean, I had champagne at Laura’s wedding. I just try and avoid it if I can.”
“Ah, okay,” Stiles nodded. “I thought you were some kind of android for a moment there.”
Derek gave him another one of those small smiles that Stiles could only describe as adorable, which really should’ve been the first sign that he was in trouble.
“So, Stiles,” Deborah began. “Your father tells me you’ve got your sights set on the Ivy League.”
“Uh, well, actually I’ve been looking at UCLA, Berkeley and California State. You know, something a bit closer to home,” he said, avoiding looking at his Dad. Everyone in the room of course knew straight away that he was looking at them as it would ultimately be cheaper to attend and he really didn’t want the conversation to head towards money and make the evening even more uncomfortable. “But Columbia is probably my dream school.”
Deborah gave him a small smile. “Laura attended Brown,” she said. “And Derek of course began his academic career at Yale before he transferred.”
Stiles knew that ‘transferred’ actually meant ‘went crazy’ so didn’t make a point of it and instead turned to Laura. “What’s Brown like?”
“It was good,” she said. “College is college. I don’t think it really matters where you graduate from unless you actually want to work in a world where that kind of thing matters. And really, who does?”
Stiles wasn’t sure if she was trying to make Derek feel better about not finishing school at Yale or make Stiles better for not being able to afford the school of his choice.
“Well, no matter,” Deborah said. “You’re a smart boy and I’ll be more than happy to provide a letter of recommendation.”
“Thank you,” Stiles said, sincerely. Although, he wasn’t sure how appropriate that would be given the circumstances.
As dinner was served, Stiles noted that the other four engaged in conversation in such a way that they were blocking both himself and Derek out. Whether that was deliberate or not, he wasn’t sure.
“I went to LA,” Derek said quietly. Since Stiles had his mouth full, he simply raised his eyebrows in question. “After… after Yale. I started on an engineering program there, then when I went to LA, I took some lessons in carpentry.”
Stiles quickly swallowed. “Carpentry? That’s uh, that’s unusual,” he said.
Derek shrugged. “I like it.”
He wasn’t sure why, but Stiles had a feeling that Derek gained his affinity for carpentry while in hospital. Derek had to know that Stiles knew this, after all, his family was in the public eye. Everyone in the country knew. But then, Derek didn’t have to tell him any of this stuff. He could just as easily ignore Stiles and hope he went away. So Stiles nudged him softly with his elbow and gave him a small smile. “Maybe you can show me some of the stuff you’ve made sometime.”
Derek’s frowning brow immediately relaxed as he nodded. “Yeah, maybe.”
The rest of dinner past in much the same way, with Derek and Stiles occasionally being included in the others’ conversation but mostly being left to themselves. Which really seemed kind of pointless as afterwards when the rest of them retired to the rather suave living room Stiles had merely caught a glimpse of earlier, he and Derek headed towards the back of the house to the ‘lounge’ where they would apparently talk in private.
They went via the kitchen and Stiles noted the butler and two - well he didn’t want to say maids – other servants cleaning up all of the dishes used for dinner while storing leftovers in the fridge.
“You want a coffee?” Derek asked him.
“Sure,” Stiles nodded. “Thanks.”
“I just made a fresh pot, Derek,” one of the women by the sink called out.
“Thanks, Anne,” he said. She was a middle-aged woman and Stiles got the feeling that Derek had known her for most of, if not all of his life.
Derek must’ve caught the way Stiles was looking at the three on the other side of the kitchen as he gave him a smile and inclined his head towards a door at the opposite side of the kitchen. Stiles quickly followed him, cradling his cup of coffee in his hands like it was a life raft, terrified that he was about to be lead into another extremely expensive room that he would completely feel out of place in.
Though, what he was met with was a rather cosy, normal looking living room. There was one long comfy looking sofa that curved round the wall and could probably seat about twelve people if it wanted and was directly opposite the biggest television Stiles had ever seen in his life. There was a coffee table in front of it that held a well worn paper back and some magazines. There was also a sketch pad with a pencil sitting on top that Stiles was itching to take a look at. However, Derek distracted him by opening the huge floor to ceiling doors that lead out to a small porch over looking the forest and let a rush of cool night air in. There was a hammock hung on the porch that Stiles could vividly imagine Derek sitting in as he read or sketched whatever was in that book.
“They’re not full time employees,” Derek said as he gestured for Stiles to take a seat on the massive sofa. “Anne used to be, but now she just comes and cleans once a week. The house is too big to keep up on my own.”
“You live here on your own?” Stiles asked in confusion.
“Well mostly. Laura moved to the city with David, and Mom’s only here about one weekend in the month,” Derek explained before going back to explain about Anne and the others. “The other two are her daughter and brother in law. My Mom asked them to help out tonight. She didn’t want any outside caterers ‘cause well, she doesn’t want people to know about my, father’s wishes.”
Stiles nodded. “I get that. My Dad didn’t want to bring the cruiser so as not to draw any attention,” he said. “Although, I’m starting to think he actually just wanted to be able to enjoy your mother’s rather expensive alcohol selection.”
“Possibly,” Derek smiled as a silence fell upon them both. Stiles quickly took a sip of his coffee before Derek spoke again. “You’re not a fan of arranged marriages are you?
“What makes you say that?” Stiles asked, a little startled at the question.
Derek shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m not either,” he said. “My parents were both engaged to other people when they eloped. I always wanted something like that for myself.”
“Yeah, me too,” Stiles nodded. “Why are you doing it then? Wouldn’t your Dad have wanted you to marry for love too?”
“Probably,” Derek shrugged. “I doubted he thought I’d still be single by this point.”
“Why are you?” Stiles asked before he could stop himself. “I mean, not to sound like a dick or anything, but you’re rich and kind of easy on the eye. Aren’t people throwing themselves at you?”
“Yeah, they are,” Derek nodded. “That’s kind of the problem though.”
“What do you mean?”
Derek was silent, studying his cup for a moment before he replied. “I have a lot of trust issues,” he said. “I’m a lot better than I used to be. Less… paranoid. But, I don’t think I could ever be sure if anyone actually wanted me for me.”
Stiles sucked in a breath. “Well if anything, that should probably tell you that this just won’t work,” he said.
“You want to go to college,” Derek said, to which Stiles just nodded. “And that’s all you want?”
“Marrying you wouldn’t help make the decision on whether I go to college or not. Yes it would open up more doors for me, but it doesn’t change the fact that it has no bearing on my future choices,” Stiles told him.
“Then why are you doing it?”
“Who said I was?” Stiles asked.
Derek raised an eyebrow at him.
“I only agreed to come here because my Dad thinks he’s doing the right thing by me. But I’m not going to agree to marry someone I don’t even know. And dude, you don’t even know me. I could be a complete dick for all you know. Not to mention, we’ve never lived together. How do you know that my squeezing the toothpaste from the middle won’t drive you insane?”
“Do you?” Derek asked.
“No, I squeeze from the end. But that doesn’t matter. The point is, I don’t want to marry someone who doesn’t trust me as far as he could throw me and we’d be complete idiots to agree to this right now.”
“So… date me.”
“What you?”
“Date me. For a month. We can get to know each other and maybe learn to trust each other?”
“And if it doesn’t work out?”
Derek shrugged. “I suppose there’s always mail order brides.”
Stiles snorted in amusement and reached for his coffee again. “Okay, so we date,” he said. “You should know, with me being a senior now and still on the lacrosse team, the only free time I have is Friday and Saturday nights. Unless my Dad lifts my weekday curfew.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Derek said. “He wants this more than we do, so I’m sure he can be persuaded.”
“Yeah, rather you than me,” Stiles said with a smile that was quickly returned by Derek. Yeah… he was so screwed.