As Pack Mom, I Need Everyone To Laugh At My Jokes

Chapter 10

When they finished their meals, Derek paid the bill (with many complaints from Stiles which he ignored) and they all piled back into the cars and drove back to the Hale House. The Pack all walked to their separate rooms in silence; they had had enough pack bonding for a while.

Stiles and Derek sat in the living room and Derek grabbed the remote. He flipped through the channels silently before he stopped on some criminal investigation type show.

The two of them watched it quietly for a few minutes before Derek turned to Stiles.

"Do you think we should go back to the diner and meet that packs alpha?" he asked.

Stiles shrugged. "She might me working right now. Not all of us can inherit a family fortune, Derek."

"I mean, not right now. Later, when she'd be off work." Derek said.

Stiles nodded. "I think that's a good idea. She knew who we were, so maybe she knew your family?" Derek nodded. "Why are you asking me?"

Derek smiled at him. "The Alpha Pair is supposed to run the pack and make sure they do everything that will benefit the pack. Making friends is beneficial."

"Do you have friends?" Stiles asked. "Oh my god, that came out wrong. I mean, do you have friends besides the pack? Not that I don't think you have friends, but - "

"I have friends." Derek smiled at him. "Well, I used to. I was quite popular in high school, but - " he took a breath as his smile dropped " - after the fire, when Laura and I moved to New York, I lost contact."

Stiles frowned. "Maybe you could try to Facebook them?" he suggested.

"I don't have Facebook."

"I know that; I've tried to find you on there. You could make a Facebook." Stiles said.

The criminal investigation show had been completely forgotten. The two of them continued to chatter until the pack walked into the living room.

Stiles was in the middle of a rant about Harry Potter when Lydia interrupted him.

"We want to go to the mall." she said.

Derek and Stiles looked over to her.

"You guys want everything today." Stiles muttered. "First lunch, now this?"

Lydia pouted. "Come one, Derek always talks about pack bonding."

"You all go." he fished his wallet out of his pocket and slipped out his credit card. "Isaac will have my credit card and you guys can buy stuff with it, but don't go crazy. Stiles and I are going to talk to the alpha at the diner." He threw the card to Isaac.

"You can take my car if you need." Stiles said.

"Thank you." Lydia smiled. She grabbed Allison's hand and pulled her out the door while the rest of them followed behind.

Stiles looked over at the clock.

5:00 PM

He and Derek had talked for three hours.

*

The two of them sat in Derek's car, silently listening to the radio, as they drove to the diner. When they reached the diner, they both got out of the car and walked to the door.

The diner was busy. Stiles stopped. "Oh. They're still open." he said dumbly. He scratched the back of his neck. "Should we - uh - come back later?"

Derek shrugged. "We could sit down for dinner. Wait here until they close."

Stiles fidgeted a bit. "That sounds nice."

Derek gave him a sideways smile and opened the door. He let Stiles walk in before him and then, taking a deep breath, walked in behind him.

Brett was still at the front counter and he smiled at them when they walked in.

"You're back so soon!" he said cheerfully. "What? You couldn't keep away? Liam's a charmer, I know." he joked. "Where's the rest of your pack? You two on a date night away from the kids?"

Stiles' face burned as he smiled. "We were coming to talk to your alpha, but I'm guessing she's working right now, so we were going to sit down for dinner." he glanced over at Derek, whose face was a bit pink.

Brett smiled at the two of them. "You'll have to wait a few to be seated, we're a bit busy."

They both nodded and sat on the plushy waiting couch.

"He's happy." Stiles commented.

"That is an understatement." Derek replied, looking over at the younger boy.

Stiles jumped to life, "So, back to what I was saying," Derek smiled at him. "Hufflepuff's aren't dumb or anything, they're just passive. Don't even get me started on Slytherin. It's none of their faults that they got the same house as Lord Voldy! All the houses constantly put them down and vote against them, no wonder they're known for turning to the dark side. If you were constantly put down by your people, you'd go against them too. If you were basically- "

Derek stared at Stiles as he talked. This kid could talk about nothing for hours. It was annoying, of course, but at the same time it was oddly endearing. The way he went on tangents was almost adorable.

Adorable. Yeah, Stiles was pretty adorable. The way he talked about things he was passionate about, and even when he talked about things he wasn't passionate about, was adorable.

Now Derek was thinking about Stiles talking and how his lips moved while he was talking and - whoops - now he was thinking at Stiles' lips and how they moved in general and - wow - he just put his mouth of anything, like when he was nervous he'd bite his thumb and when he was writing he'd bite the end of the pen or pencil and when he cooked he would hold the spoon - or whatever he was using - in his mouth and - oops - now Derek was looking at Stiles' mouth and - wait - why aren't his lips moving anymore? Did he stop talking?

"Uh - " Stiles swallowed.

Derek looked away from Stiles. "So, - uh - what about Ravenclaw?"

"Yeah! They're ignored more than Hufflepuff's is! They - "

Derek sighed silently.

***

Woo! New chapter!

I accidentally pre-published this before it was done so some might have gotten a bit of a preview.