“I think this is the fanciest place I’ve ever been too” Stiles looked around at the twinkling lights in awe. The restaurant was Derek’s idea, away from the hotel and a chance to get out.
“Really? You’d think a chef would get his food from top notch restaurants all the time”
“Okay mister, don’t think you get to take shots just because I felt you up in the elevator. It’s just cause of the suit” Derek brushed him off with a chuckle as he pulled out the seat for his boyfriend. Derek was kind like that. Stiles loved how he always seemed to do it without regard, like being a gentlemen to Stiles was just second nature.
“So, you’ve never been to Cape Cod?” Stiles asked, picking up his menu as Derek settled into his own seat. He thought about how it had been the first place he and Scott took a road trip to when they moved to New York, how that fateful trip brought Isaac into their lives.
“No, I’ve wanted to for a while. Kate said this place was for old people. After her I just never got around to it”
“Well, two wealthy beautiful people like you. I’m sure you had better places to vacation”
Stiles didn’t miss the way Derek rolled his eyes, huffing as he tried to brush it off “Actually we never went anywhere together. We could never agree on the destination and other things for that matter”
“Wow. What did you guys have in common?” Stiles and only asked the question as a joke.
“Sex” Derek snorted. A pit dropped in Stiles’ stomach and then he was very quiet, his menu suddenly the most interesting thing. Their date, just like the beginning of their vacation, had taken another turn for the worst. The last thing he needed was to question himself and there he was trying to decided whether he wanted chicken chowder, the pasta, or to jump off of a cliff. The disaster with their room and now Kate. All he could do was keep his head down and hope the moment would pass, his insecurities was the last thing their time away needed.
Seemingly aware of the awkwardness Derek cleared his throat and changed the topic “So I uh–I arranged a bike ride for tomorrow morning. I figured we could kill sometime before we go whale watching”
“That sounds fun” and he left it at that.
For the rest of their dinner Stiles managed to communicate in a few more words. Enough to carry small talk until their food arrived. Stiles could feel Derek’s uneasiness in the way he tapped the table and continued to take small sips of his wine. All Stiles could do was delicately reach across the table and place his hands over Derek’s ridiculously bigger ones. He was feeling on edge, yeah, but he didn’t want Derek to stress about that.
“Want a taste?” Derek asked soon after the server left their table. Hot steam was still rising from his soup. He decided it’d be nice to fill his belly while he waited for his own meal to cool down. Waiting, he watched Derek slice a corner of his sirloin swiveling it in a glaze before sliding the fork Stiles’ way. The boy groaned in delight as soon as it touched his tongue “Did you learn how to make this in school?” Derek was suddenly asking.
“Yeah, my own version of it at least. It was custom to put your own twist on things”
“So? How’d they do?”
“Do you honestly think I critique food everywhere I go?” Stiles scoffed at the knowing look Derek threw his way. He swallowed down a bite of his still steaming chowder before continuing “Okay, but not all the time, and not now we’re on a date. No work” Stiles laughed, slowly letting it turn into a cough.
“You feeling ok?”
“Yeah, just a tickle. The chowder will help though” Slowly he scooped out another bite letting it cool before gulping it down. Stiles was really enjoying it, the taste was something he couldn’t put his finger on “This is really good. I wonder how they made this chicken”
“So we got a new client. Kind of creepy, he wants a cellar built and I-” Derek’s voice slowly faded to the back ground. Stiles found himself suppressing his cough as he shoveled more food into his mouth, the small tickle wasn’t going away, in fact it was getting worse. It was smart to assume the warm liquid would tame it down but that wasn’t the case. He figured maybe he just needed one good cough, but as soon as he chanced it he couldn’t stop “Stiles? Are you sure you’re fine?”
“Yeah I just–I don’t really feel like I can brea-Oh shit” he managed between his wheezing. The tingling feeling creeping down his throat was one he had grown familiar with. It happened twice in the eighth grade and again during his seafood preparation class in culinary school. If he knew any better his eyes were about to be the size of golf balls and he wouldn’t be able to breathe.
“What?”
“I think they brought me the seafood clam chowder and not the chicken” Which, now that Stiles thought about it, he couldn’t be all that upset. Cape cod was known for their sea foods.
“Wh-are you-” Derek sputtered out, he was well aware of Stiles’ seafood allergy. He quickly reached over the table to inspect his boyfriends bowl himself. Stiles didn’t have a reason to lie, but he let him look any ways and he rose to his feet already feeling his throat closing and his skin becoming red and blotchy. He reached for the table to balance himself out but instead he found Derek’s shoulder “What do I do?”
“My epi pen… It’s in my backpack” but that was back at the hotel, too far away.
Derek ended up dragging him to an urgent center not too far from them. Stiles couldn’t help it, the swelling wasn’t going down, not any time soon. He stumbled the entire walk his legs going cold and numb. When he had become more unstable Derek went to catch him in attempts to tighten his grip but this time Stiles fell taking Derek with him as well landing hard against the pavement twisting his ankle and bruising his shoulder in the process. All that meant was that once they reached medical attention Derek was treated for a sprained ankle and Stiles for his allergic reaction.
So by the end of their first night away Derek lay in bed with a bag of frozen peas that the bell hop found on his foot, and Stiles beside him wheezing as he breathed and slowly waited for his hives to disappear.
“This is the worst” Derek whispered, pinching the bridge of his nose. Things were bad, Stiles could admit that, but he was working on being more positive.
“It’s not that bad. I mean I’m sure it could be worse”
“No Stiles it is. I mean so much for romance. So far we’ve had an invasion of fire ants, a drunk homeless person, an awkward dinner, your fucking allergic reaction, and I can barely walk” and there he went, cursing, Stiles knew he was upset. It took Stiles by surprise, he was usually the one to freak out. But Derek was there fuming as he listed the events on his fingers.
“M-My swelling is going down, and you said it yourself your ankle isn’t throbbing anymore”
Suddenly Derek was sitting up, somehow more serious than he previously was if that was even possible “I love you. I do, but there really is no bright side to any of this” Stiles pouted as he let the defeated tone in Derek’s voice break his heart.
“Where are you going?” The man asked following Derek’s body as he limped to grab clothes and shove the rest of their things back into suitcases.
“I am going to take a bath, and when I come out I’m driving us home” then he was looking down at his ankle incredulously “Or I guess you are” Stiles didn’t respond, he just sat and watched Derek with lazy, puffy eyes. The bathroom door clicked closed, echoing loudly through the sad, quiet room.
Stiles lay there for a short while, staring around the room. When Derek had a long day at work he’d take long baths like this. Stiles never questioned it, he just figured he needed a relaxing few minutes to himself. All that meant was that this left him with a useful time advantage. Maybe leaving the room would be off the table until they both were better, and sex at that, but he’d be damned if their weekend was ruined. He picked up the phone and called for room service.
Derek stepped from the bathroom to see a poorly constructed fort in the middle of their hotel room. Sheets hung down as the walls with a string of orange Christmas lights lining the perimeter. Inside there were plates of assorted fruits, croissants, and Champagne. The entire scene was sprinkled with rose petals and Stiles felt bad because he was not going to pick them all up.
For a minute Stiles waited, trying to read Derek’s expression. He stood by his masterpiece like a young child presenting a work of art to their parent, giddy and all “How the hell did you do all of this is thirty minutes?”
“Pretty easily actually” he began just as he pulled Derek over by the sleeve of his complimentary robe “-I called for room service and tipped generously if they put a rush on it. I hobbled around the halls to find the drunk flower salesman. Luckily, he was close by torturing another scared couple and I bought some flowers off of him”
“And the lights?”
“I may or may not have stolen them off of a display on the way back to our room” Stiles maneuvered until he was face to face with Derek delicately holding both of his wrinkly hands in his own “Look, I will admit this weekend has not had the best start but there’s still so much left to it. Maybe us putting so much pressure on ourselves is making us go a little crazy”
“Maybe you’re right. I just wanted so badly for everything to be perfect”
Matter of factly Stiles stated “Very few things in life are truly perfect”
“I don’t know, you’re pretty perfect to me”
Stopping his ministrations Stiles could only look at Derek with what must have been nothing but unconditional love “I was just thinking the same thing about you” The two snuggled up side by side as their shadows from the stolen lights danced across the walls. There was a swell in Stiles’ chest as he thought how good it felt to not stress for once in his life “So” Stiles began as he directed Derek around their indoor picnic “I’m thinking we stuff our faces with dessert, watch whatever bad movie is on tv then in the morning get a fresh start. We have two days left here and we can still make the most of it”
“I have zero idea what you’ve done with my boyfriend but I’ve got to say I am so in love with this optimistic side of you”
“Why thank you. I learned from the best” Stiles laughed, shooting a wink Derek’s way.
They had fallen asleep in their fort well after midnight, Stiles’ body draped across Derek’s own burly body. Groaning he dug the empty champagne bottle out from under his back.
Derek, for the first time, looked so peaceful as he held on to Stiles’ body.
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