Red Riding Hood

Chapter Six

Perfect was almost the opposite of what happened. Stiles picked Derek up at seven according to plan and drove him to a small diner where Scott worked. It was downtown so the car ride was long.

Derek looked very unsure in his seat as he peered out the window. He was slouched down, his back almost touching the bottom of the car seat. Stiles glanced over again and caught Derek looking at him.

"How have you been, Derek?"

Derek looked back out the window, sighed, then answered Stiles. "I'm okay. I've been having dreams, but they've gotten better over time. Laura visits a lot. I think she worries about me. And Cora... well Cora's Cora. And you know how she is."

"Down right intimidating," murmured Stiles.

"Yeah. So where are we going?"

"To a little diner downtown. Scott works there. He's my best friend. We're practically brothers. Our mothers were friends before we were even born."

After that Stiles and Derek fell into an uncomfortable silence. Stiles had no clue what to say and Derek defiantly wasn't going to offer anything up. They arrived at the restaurant and Stiles was pleased to see only a few cars in the parking lot.

A young woman seated them and then Scott came over to take their order. "Hey man! What's going on? And who's this?" Stiles hadn't told Scott about Derek yet, so he didn't know who Derek was.

"This is Derek. Derek, this is Scott."

"Hey man," Scott put his fist in the air, looking for a knuckle punch. Derek almost fell out of his chair with a look of freight on his face. "No, no! I'm not going to punch you! Just a knuckle bump."

Derek looked at him very uncertainly before slowly making his own fist and barely touching Scott with it.

"There you go! That wasn't so hard. Now what can I get you two lovebirds to eat?" Scott pulled out his pad and looked between the men.

Derek looked down at the floor, clearly embarrassed. Stiles only rolled his eyes. He knew how Scott could be. But maybe he should have told Scott about Derek. He would after tonight. And he would definitely cross knuckle punches off of the list of "things to do" and move it to the "no no" list.

"I just want a slab of ribs with extra sauce on the side."

Scott nodded then looked at Derek. "What do you want, dude?"

Derek looked unsurely across the table to Stiles. "Get what you want," Stiles told him.

Derek nodded and ordered a pulled pork sandwich.

"One slab of ribs, extra sauce and one pulled pork sandwich coming right out." Scott let the table but not after giving Stiles a look that said, "we're talking later."

"So, Derek, tell me about yourself," Stiles said in an awkward first date kind of way.

A team must have scored or something because a group of men at the bar hollered at the television mounted on the wall above them. Derek jumped and turned around, looking wildly through the crowd. Stiles reached up and took his hand but Derek snatched it back away for him.

"What's wrong, Derek? What is it?"

Derek looked back over at Stiles and urgently said, "She's here. Mistress has come to find me so she can punish me like I should be. Please don't let her take me, Stiles! Please."

Stiles looked around. "Sweetie, I don't think she's here. And if she is, I won't let her take you. Derek, look at me," Stiles waited until Derek's eyes were on his. "I won't let her hurt you again."

"But she's here, Stiles!" Derek whined.

Stiles sighed, trying to think of something to fix the situation. "How about you go wait in the car and I'll get the food to-go. We can take it back to my place and eat it there. Does that sound good?"

Derek still looked worried, his eyes wide and hands shaking. "Can I stay with you while you wait for the food?"

"Of course, honey. Come on, let's go talk to the manager and see what she can do."

Derek followed Stiles and Stiles told the manager that they would be taking there food home because Derek was no longer feeling good. She agreed and a few minutes later Scott brought out the food. When he was handing it to Stiles he leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Just because your running away now doesn't mean that we're not talking about this later."

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mother."

+++

Stiles set up their dinner on his kitchen table. Derek still seemed a little freaked out, but he was finally calming down. He practically moaned when he bit into his sandwich. And that made Stiles almost moan.

Why was this man so incredibly hot?

"So, Derek, who did you see at the bar in the restaurant?"

Derek looked nervously down at his plate. "I saw Mistress," he whispered.

"What did she look like," Stiles tried to push answers out of Derek.

Derek shook his head. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone what Mistress looks like." He was starting to breath heavier and Stiles knew that he needed to calm down.

"Okay, Derek. That's okay."

Stiles didn't ask anymore questions and when dinner was finished they curled up on Stiles' couch to watch a movie. Derek was on the opposite side of Stiles, but throughout the movie he gravitated closer until his head was lying in Stiles' lap as he softly snored in his sleep.

Stiles woke Derek up at the end of the movie and drove him home. Derek waved at Stiles from the stairs that lead up to Cora's loft.

Even though the night had started off a little rough, it had turned out to be pretty good after all.

A/N: I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!