A Question Of Roomates

Ch. 23

My palms were sweaty as we stood shoulder to shoulder outside of Matt's door. My face was scrunched into a snarl before he'd even answered, I couldn't help it either. The thought of him made my stomach churn. Stiles seemed unscathed, calm and collected. I had to tell myself it was because he was hopeful Matt could resolve his problem and not because he was at all excited to see his ex.

Stiles was bringing up his fist to knock again when the door went flying open. And he was there, a smug smile on his face as he eyed Stiles up and down, paying to attention to the fact that Derek was there "Bambi eyes. I didn't think I'd see you here again"

Despite his outward appearance Stiles spoke through gritted teeth "Matt. Nice to see you too" his smirk grew deeper as he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for him to continue "I--uh...I need your...expertise"

"Help...You mean help"

"Yes. I need your help" Matt chuckled, and strolled back into his apartment suggesting we follow behind "Be nice" Stiles warned before grabbing my hand and pulling me inside along with him.

Matt lived alone, unsurprisingly, his place was a mess. There was rarely any furniture with the exception of a dining table and a large desk littered with pages of code. There were multiple screens mounted in the corn along with a laptop or two. Who knew what he did with them all.

"You know, the boyfriend could have stayed at home. I'd never hurt you Stiles" He was reaching for him and at the last moment thought twice about it. I tried not to convince myself it was because of me, though I was probably twice his size. Instead he sat in his rolling chair, sitting like a villain about to demand the world "It'll cost you"

"Don't you wanna know what it is before you go throwing out prices" he hadn't looked surprised in the slightest and motioned for him to continue "Someone got into my bank account. They took my entire school fund"

His eyes suddenly fell on me "And muscles here couldn't help" I was turning to get Stiles and I both out of there, already done with the interaction before he was laughing again "Oh come on, lighten up. You got the boy after all, my ego needs to make jokes to feel better" Stiles just watched in a sort of helplessness, or perhaps he was just too exhausted to fight. Matt just about played into it, feeding off of his misery "I've got the software for just the type of thing. It should be no biggy, I can fix it all with the click of a button"

"Okay then, how much?"

"One date...with you Stiles"

"No way" and this time we were really going to leave. We tried, I tried and Stiles had to give me at least that. But that was crossing a line, and just when I was going to assume Stiles had thought the same his feet were stopping and he was looking at me like he didn't recognize me at all "You really want to do this?"

"I don't want to, but I do want to get this over with so I can finish school"

"But that guy Stiles he just-"

"I can handle him okay, I promise. You said my way remember?"

Two nights later Scott was laying on the sofa shaking his head. He'd been fuming and ranting from the minute he arrived there. I had tried, changing his mind going as far as to guilt him out of it, but he saw right through me. Id been up all night and spending most of my time during the day trying to figure things out on my own. But to no avail, my efforts were useless and for nothing "I don't like this" Scott gritted out.

"Me neither"

Stiles huffed, tying his tie effortlessly as he watched us both. I'd never seen him in a suit so nice before, he was elegant with smooth lines and it wasn't him "I know Scott you both have been very vocal about that. But it's just one night, one hour then it'll be over"

"A lot can happen in one hour"

"Scott's right, and who's to say he won't get the wrong idea and think this means you'll consider getting back with him"

"I think you guys are overreacting to this dinner"

"I think this is perfectly reasonable reaction to my boyfriend going out with his ex. I feel like you're under reacting"

"I told you, I can handle Matt. And you guys know where we're going to be and if I know Scott well enough he will be hidden in the restaurant somewhere watching the whole thing. He's done it before"

I chanced a glance his way and Scott spoke as if it were nothing "Don't worry, I got reservations for two just in case you wanted to come"

Suddenly Stiles had his nimble hands on either side of my face, forcing eye contact "I've got this. You have to trust me" And he was right, there was nothing left but trust, that's all there was at that point. I nodded, bringing him close enough to kiss. His lips were cherry flavored, coated with the Chapstick he had applied earlier. The kiss was deep and sensual and perhaps too much for Scott to be sitting just feet away. But in my own selfish way I was giving him a chance to reconsider, just one last time.

"Alright you two, I think that's enough" Scott groaned, already up and heading towards the door.

"It'll be okay" Stiles whispered, sealing it with one last pass of our lips.