Derek ⚣ ✓

24. I Don't Think That's Necessary

I thought about the request I had made earlier.

The one right after Derek swung open that front door.

The one that was currently kicking my concentration's ass.

First off, I wasn't expecting him to be shirtless.

I almost dropped the grocery bags in my hand as my eyes quickly moved from Derek's cozy pineapple house shoes to his Star Wars sweat pants, but when I reached the waistband of those barely tied sweats, I saw the band of his briefs. The only part which was slightly covering those well defined v lines leading to so much more.

His body was- goddamn. Not what I was expecting for a competitive hot dog eating champ. When my eyes finally forced themselves away from his lean stomach, exposed shoulders, toned arms, and sharp collarbone... I found his again.

He had a toothbrush in his mouth, accompanied by an intense bit of bed hair and sleep lines across the entire left side of his face. Even through the drowsiness, his cheeks were crimson.

"I may have taken a nap." He mumbled, struggling to articulate with the toothbrush still in his mouth. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my lips as he awkwardly stepped aside to let me in.

"That's okay." I assure him, slipping off my work shoes by the doorway before I searched for, and found a good spot to set down the groceries. His apartment immediately opened up to his kitchen and living room from his front door, so I decided on one of the kitchen counters in my direct line of sight.

Once the bags were settled, and I actually got a look around, my smile widened.

Derek's home was actually really nice. He kept this industrial dark oak theme through it, with large sofas filling the living room that were perched in front of an impressively massive tv. To the right of that revealed something even more interesting about him.

Just how much of a geek he really was. Up until now, I couldn't really gauge it.

He had a gazillion different relics and books filed and on display, but his place had this bit of sophistication to it too. Like for instance, there was a bookcase nestled in the farthest right corner of his living room, and it held what looked like detailed replicas of castles and certain monsters from video games, but they were all housed and displayed in what I guessed was all clear acrylic. Or maybe all glass. Either way it was gorgeous.

I started to look around more, taking in everything from the warm industrial string lights hung across the ceiling of his kitchen space, to the floor lamps that brought mood lighting to his living area. There were framed movie posters he had, lined all the way down the hall on both sides of the walls, leading to the rest of the home.

I couldn't see them all but I noticed a few easily, like Interstellar, and The Godfather.

"I'm going to spit this out and grab a shirt." Derek said to me, momentarily breaking the full on analysis I was doing of his downright awesome humble abode.

"I don't think that's necessary," I replied without much thought, before Derek could disappear down his dimly lit corridor. I was too busy trying to figure out what some of the video games were under his tv stand. He turned back to me.

"The toothpaste?" He asked, pointing to his mouth.

I chuckled at that. "No," I shook my head slightly, as I looked over to offer this beautiful mess of a man, a grin. "The shirt."