Flirt Responsibly

Who?

Stiles sat silently as Derek talked about basketball tryouts as they waited for their food. The girls were talking about something that didn't interest him or Derek.

However once the food arrived Laura started asking Paige about band, which lead to her, Jen and Laura making plans to go to a symphony. This prompted Cora to turn her attention to Derek.

"So are you gonna tell me who this guy is that had you so distracted in the hall?"

Derek groaned around a bite of burger.

"Come on, who is he? You know I won't say anything," Cora was nothing if not a loyal sibling. She may give him unending hell, but she would never tell a soul.

"Nobody," Derek huffed, hoping she would drop it. He wasn't so lucky.

"Is it Isaac?" Stiles had to know. They were best friends but it made sense.

"What? No," Derek shook his head, slightly appalled at the thought.

"It wasn't Jackson, or Scott..." Cora hummed. "You were in the hall," she pointed at Stiles.

Stiles nearly choked on a fry.

"Okay, it was Danny, alright? Can we drop it?" Derek blurted. He couldn't let Stiles know it was him.

"Really?" Cora clasped her hands and gave a laugh. "Oh my goodness this is gold."

Stiles' stomach twisted with jealousy. He not only had been crushing on Danny, but he was starting to crush on Derek and Derek had a thing for Danny. This couldn't possibly get worse.

"How is that gold?" Derek growled. He was ready to murder his sister.

"I might have overheard Danny talking about you. He mentioned how you were at lacrosse tryouts and hoped you'd come to practices," Cora grinned.

Stiles was suddenly no longer hungry.

"Danny has a thing for Derek?" Paige piped up then, catching the last bit of their conversation.

"And apparently it's mutual," Cora smirked at Derek who was glaring at her.

Paige's eyes fell to Stiles then.

"Oh my god, Stiles, I'm so sorry," Cora instantly remembered that Stiles also had a thing for Danny.

"It's fine," Stiles gave a dismissive shrug. "Anyone would be stupid to pick me over him," he gestured to Derek then.

"Stiles, I won't-"

"No, it's fine, really. You have no obligation to say no. It's not like we're friends," Stiles gave a forced smile.

Derek frowned slightly but said nothing.

The tension at the table was palpable. Stiles secretly wished the table would open up and swallow him.

Paige's knee knocked against his as a silent 'I'm sorry'. Stiles ignored it. He couldn't blame Derek or Danny.

Derek on the other hand wanted to throw himself off the nearest building. He completely forgot about Stiles' crush on Danny even though it had literally been mentioned ten minutes before hand. He'd just wanted to direct the focus away from Stiles being the one he was into. He wasn't ready for Stiles to know that yet, if ever. Especially if he started dating Danny. And he never expected Danny to have any kind of feelings for him. This was bound to backfire. Maybe he should have said Jackson. However, he was sure that would have earned him a proper shunning from the entire table. He could have said Isaac. In fact, he should have. Isaac would have gone with it. Now though he was backed into a corner. A worse corner than now being signed up for basketball or making Isaac sign up for lacrosse. He couldn't date Danny. He wasn't even remotely interested in the guy. Plus it would only hurt Stiles and that was the last thing Derek wanted.

The rest of dinner was just small talk, mostly between the girls. A new tension had formed between Stiles and Derek. Neither of which were happy about it.

-

The car ride was silent for both parties. Derek sat in the back and prayed Cora didn't bring up Danny. Stiles drove home with the radio on, which told his sisters he was in a tense mood and not up for talking.

Derek made it almost to his room when Cora caught him.

"So Danny huh?" Cora crossed her arms.

"I shouldn't have said anything." Derek could have taken it back but then he would have to tell her it was actually Stiles and he wasn't ready to do that. He didn't know for sure if Cora would keep that to herself or if she might let it slip. She was after all incredibly close with the twins.

"Did you mean what you said to Stiles? About not dating Danny, I mean."

Derek only nodded.

"That's sweet of you. He's apparently been pining after him for a while now."

"Yeah, I pretty much crushed him earlier," Derek groaned.

"You like him, don't you? Like as a friend? It's why you agreed not to date him, right?"

Derek nodded again, "He's different. He reminds me of Isaac and Erica a bit."

Cora gave a sympathetic smile before heading off to her room, leaving Derek to wallow in self pity.

When the Stilinski's got home Stiles went straight to his room, ignoring the concerned calls of his sisters.

"What's up with him?" Noah frowned after his overly silent son. That was always a sign something was wrong with Stiles.

"The two guys he's crushing on, are crushing on each other," Paige answered.

"Aw man," Noah groaned. He was never good with love drama. He liked that Jen and Kali had been together for so long and were so stable, it made everything easier. Paige remained single only ever crushing on someone occasionally. Stiles, however, fell hard and usually on his face.

"I'd give him some time," Jen piped in then. She saw the dread on her father's face at the prospect of having to talk Stiles off another romantic cliff.

"Who are they?" Noah asked with a sigh, though he really didn't think he wanted to know.

"Danny and Derek," Paige answered.

"Danny...Jackson's friend right?"

Paige nodded.

"And Derek? Really?" Noah ran a hand over his face. "Alright, I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"Why don't you let this one lie for a while. He seems pretty torn up about it," Jen suggested, patting her dad on the shoulder.

Meanwhile Stiles plugged headphones into his ears and shot Scott a text telling him he was too tired to video chat. He needed to mope a bit. He shouldn't have been surprised to find out that Danny and Derek had a thing for each other, but he couldn't help but be hurt. Just once, he'd like to be someone's first choice.