Like it or Not

What had he gotten himself into?

Derek tossed his briefcase on the small table next to his front door as soon as he stepped inside his apartment. Next, he shrugged off his suit jacket and tossed it on the recliner as he passed by.

As he reached the kitchen, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it as he reached for the mostly full bottle of whiskey sitting on his counter. He guessed it would be mostly empty by the time this project was finished.

His phone buzzed again.

"God damn it," he swore as he slammed the bottle down after pouring a glass. He fished his phone from his pocket and saw he had three texts from Elijah.

'You still drink flat whites, or did you grow a personality?'

'I'm kidding, Derek, come on, don't ignore me.'

'I'm just trying to ease some of this tension. I thought we could at least be friends.'

Derek grit his teeth as he typed a response.

'Stiles' favorite drink is Vanilla cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso. Yes, I still drink flat whites. And we're not friends.'

He dropped his phone on the counter before grabbing his glass of whiskey and taking a large swig. It took less than a minute for Elijah to respond.

'Come on, don't be like that. It's not like I'm suggesting we date again. We'll talk Monday morning.'

Derek let out a heavy sigh. What had he gotten himself into? He knocked back the rest of the whiskey before heading for the shower.

-

Stiles laid on his bed with his phone pressed to his ear, "It was awful, Scott," he groaned into the receiver.

"Oh come on, it couldn't have been that bad," Scott laughed.

"No seriously, dude, he made me pretend to be his boyfriend because his ex showed up with a date."

Scott's laughing stopped, "What?"

"Yeah, and I agreed cause he promised me those two weeks I've been asking for," Stiles ran a hand over his face.

"How'd that go?" Scott's tone was doubtful and curious.

"Fine until we found out that his ex is gonna be working with us on a big project for like the next month or two," Stiles groaned again.

"Wait but doesn't he think you and Derek are-"

"Yeah," Stiles cut it, "And I talked to Derek after and...he's giving me a bonus and two weeks off if I stick to the ruse."

Stiles waited for Scott's judgement but there was nothing but silence on the other end.

"Is-is he forcing you to do this?" Scott finally asked, a new concern to his tone.

"No, no, it was a mutual agreement. It was either that or break up and Elijah would for sure think it was because of him and honestly when you meet the guy, you'll understand why I didn't want to give him the satisfaction. Besides, we talked about it and agreed to keep it professional at work and let's be honest, we'll rarely if ever see each other outside of work. Plus, like I said, I get a bonus and two weeks off," Stiles explained.

"Oh, okay, good," Scott's tone was more relaxed now.

"It's still gonna be weird as hell," Stiles sat up, running a hand through his hair.

"Okay so what's your backstory? How long have you been dating? How did it start?"

"Uh, well Derek told Elijah we've been dating for six months but that's really it," Stiles shrugged, despite Scott not being able to see him.

"You better corroborate your story and let us know in case Elijah is the type of ex to dig," Scott suggested.

Stiles let out a sigh, "Yeah, you're probably right. He very well could be the type."

"Good luck, dude," Scott offered with a sympathetic tone.

"How hard can it be to date Derek Hale?" Stiles scoffed, earning a laugh from Scott. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"See ya," Scott hung up leaving Stiles alone with his thoughts.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?" he asked the empty room.

He glanced at his phone and debated texting Derek. Scott was right, they needed to figure out their story.

With a groan he reached for his phone and sent Derek a message.

'We need to come up with a story so in case Elijah asks, we're on the same page.'

Stiles wasn't sure if he expected Derek to respond or not, but he definitely didn't think he'd respond so quickly.

'I was thinking the same thing. Let's meet for lunch tomorrow and discuss it.'

Stiles rolled his eyes. Just what he wanted to do on his Saturday off, spend it with his asshole boss.

'Sure, Lana's café at noon?'

'See you then.'

Stiles tossed his phone aside and stared at the ceiling. This had better be worth it.

-

Derek gripped his phone tightly in his hand, letting out a heavy sigh. Spending more time with Stiles was not what he needed.

He glanced at the clock to see it was almost ten thirty. It was a bit late to call but he needed to vent.

He dialed his best friend's number and held the phone to his ear.

When it rang through to voicemail, he let out a frustrated huff, "Alaric, hey, it's me. I know it's kinda late but...I fucked up. I was supposed to keep my distance and now...I don't know what to do. Call me when you can."

Derek hung up and tossed his phone on the bed. He was an idiot for getting himself into this. He'd only brought Stiles to that dinner 'cause he needed his assistant. Derek didn't know how he did his job before Stiles came along. He hadn't expected Elijah would be there, much less with a date.

Derek ran a hand through his hair before flopping back on his bed to stare at the ceiling. This was going to backfire.

*AN*
Hope you like it. 😊