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The rain finally stops once April rolls around.
It's almost surreal, how... dry the world suddenly seems. Of course, it's not completely dry, that is -- Beacon Hills is still recovering from major flooding and the ground will probably never be the same again, and the air is so warm and thick and disgusting. Stiles would probably be a lot happier about the sudden change in weather if it wasn't for the fact that he can hardly breathe anymore.
Still, it means he has a lot more freedom now. He can actually drive around town and go places that aren't school, he can get gas without nearly killing himself, he can visit Scott so they can finally study together. Then again, Finstock had gotten so fed up with the foul weather that he'd called practice immediately after the rain had stopped, so that entailed playing lacrosse ankle-deep in mud. But it's better than nothing.
It's hard to stay outside for too long because of all the humidity (or, more, it's just really unpleasant) but at least Stiles can get places. His dad's dealing with accident reports and Scott's finally spending time with Allison again (absence makes the heart grow fonder, apparently) and, what, is he supposed to hang out with Danny or something?
(He'd totally love to hang out with Danny, but he's not sure the sentiment is mutual.)
So, of course, he goes to the one place that he hasn't been able to get to during the onslaught of rainy weather and has been dying to visit -- the library.
He never pegs himself as the kind of person who really enjoys the library -- he likes reading enough, but it's not his signature hobby, and he tends to get distracted -- but, hell! He can get free movies at the library, how cool is that? Of course he loves visiting the library, because it's big and cool and the librarian knows him well enough now, ever since he's been frequenting the premises, and she's a very sweet old lady, so that always brightens up his day.
Also, the library's movie section is pretty big.
The entirety of the library is pretty big, but the entire section of the building dedicated solely to non-book media is pretty impressive. For a non-profit organization, they keep their stock relatively up to date (he was surprised, at one point, to find a copy of Hugo, and even went as far as to take it out.) Besides, he has a few overdue DVDs that he's sure the librarian will give him a pass on and then he'll be able to spend some time browsing through the massive collection of titles.
He's still in the process of deciding whether or not that's pathetic, and then decides that it's not important, because movies are awesome. He can't even fathom not liking movies -- or, at least, he can't fathom hating them.
Which is weirdly ironic when he turns the corner of DVD shelves and gets a whole mouthful of role reversal.
He immediately backtracks a bit and hides behind the shelf again because, yep, he hadn't been seeing wrong, Derek's at the end of the aisle, lazily inspecting a DVD case like he's got all the time in the world. Is this what he does with his time? Idly look at DVDs? Should Stiles be surprised?
(Would that be hypocritical?)
Stiles is so used to Derek just showing up, either at his window or behind him or beside him or when he blinks, so falling upon him like this is... odd. How long has Derek been here? Does he do this often? What kind of movies does he like?
He strikes that last part out because it's kind of silly.
Still, now he can't help but feel ridiculous. He's hiding behind a shelf in the library from a guy, like any high school girl would do to her crush. He's pretty sure he's already made out with Derek enough to warrant a confident hello, or at least a communal aisle in the goddamn library.
Why is he thinking about all this now? Is it the whiplash of finally being on the "popping-the-hell-out-nowhere" side of the equation? ... Does it even really matter?
Is he wasting his time? Because he totally feels like he's wasting his time.
"I know you're there, Stiles."
Well, there goes that.
Stiles rounds the shelf again and grins sheepishly. "Funny seeing you here." he says, his hands dug deep into his pockets. Derek hitches an eyebrow at him as he walks forward, and he puts the DVD in his hand back on the shelf, sighing under his breath.
Derek's eyes scan the shelf, though he hardly seems interested in anything. "I heard your heartbeat when you walked in. I was just waiting to see if you'd stop hiding on your own." He shrugs and grabs Hall Pass from the line of DVDs. "Were you just trying to get out of the house, or were you following me?"
Stiles scoffs. "You realize you climb into my house through my window, right?" Derek still doesn't meet his eyes, but his eyebrows raise, as if conceding the point. "I wanted to grab some movies for the next time it happened, too, and the ones I had were two weeks overdue or something."
"I don't think I can stand watching Arthur Christmas again."
"Yeah, neither can I." Stiles mumbles, kicking at the carpet. He purses his lips and looks at Derek, actually tries to read his body language while he's distracted. "What are you doing here, though? Something tells me leading a werewolf pack doesn't have much to do with watching movies."
Derek's hand freezes, just for a split second, as he's putting the movie back on the shelf, before sliding it back into its place, and Stiles tries not to laugh. Here he thought he was being silly for hiding behind a shelf and Derek Hale is being considerate.
... Well, when he puts it like that, he's still the more pathetic of the two of them, but still, this is Derek.
Stiles clicks his tongue. "That's sweet that you were thinking of me." he says, and his tone is teasing, but he's not sure how much of it is actually a joke. It is kind of sweet, now that he thinks about it, but it's just... very not-Derek.
Derek turns to look at him, face still passive but with something of a frown tugging at his mouth. "Well, somebody's gotta compensate for your horrible taste in movies."
"Oh, please, you loved Beastly." Stiles replies, and he knows it's a stretch, and so does Derek, because the downward tug at his mouth breaks into a small smile instead, despite himself. "I think my choice in movies is perfectly adequate, thank you."
The other man rolls his eyes, but he's still grinning. "Yeah, adequate." he says, and he heads down the aisle in the other direction. "Come on. How many do you normally take out?"
Stiles shrugs. "As many as I can. Not many people know that I tend to get a lot of tail when I watch movies." Derek bumps his elbow against Stiles', and Stiles bumps back.
So he spends the afternoon picking out movies to watch with Derek, and he actually has a pretty good time. He ends up grabbing Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and 300, and after a minute or two of convincing, Derek lets him, in good conscious, take out The Lorax, too.
"Should we see Coraline or Tropic Thunder?" Stiles ends up asking him at one point, looking at both DVDs, and Derek furrows his brow, putting the DVD he'd been looking at back on the shelf. Stiles is stricken by how oddly... comfortable this entire scene is (he'd say domestic, but then he'd want to punch himself in the face.)
Derek grabs Tropic Thunder and inspects it for a minute or two. "I might have seen this before. I can't remember."
Stiles decides to take out Coraline, despite Derek's later complaints along the lines of Why are you getting two animated movies?, and he brings them up to the front of the library to check out.
--
Still, he gets Derek to watch Coraline with him, and even Stiles has to admit that it's a better movie than he expected (cute and dark at the same time, who knew?) He's splayed across have the sofa, as usual, leaning heavily against Derek's left side and holding a bowl of chips in his lap.
"See?" he says quietly, the movie still playing and still pretty interesting, to say the least. "My taste is pretty adequate, I'd say."
Derek blinks and takes his gaze away from the television to look at Stiles, only for a moment or two, but he kisses Stiles' temple softly and replies with, "More than adequate."
He's not sure why that makes him so happy. But it does.