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‘Stiles, stop fidgeting’. It is starting to get on Derek’s nerves. Stiles is basically twitching in front of him. Hands disappearing inside the pockets of the red hoodie he’s wearing, hands out and back in. There’s a beat of sweat visible on Stiles’ face, just below his hairline.
‘Dude, I can’t. I’m freaking out about Friday night. I got a date, for prom. A prom date. Can you believe it? I mean, Stiles Stilinski, famous ladiesman, scratch that, a date, with a girl, for prom.’
‘Stiles!’
‘Oh, I might have taken a few extra Adderall,’ Stiles says, blinking a few times.
‘Christ, Stiles. Why would you take extra?’ Derek knows Stiles never stops talking, even when he’s not on his Adderall. He’s a little bit scared what these extra few pills will do.
‘Well, I kind of spend the night dancing around my room. I was practicing, you know, for prom. I figured YouTube would have tutorials. Turns out I need to reconsider my theory about using the internet for solutions for literally everything’, He says, while playing with the strings of his red hoodie.
‘At one point I tripped over my own feet, it was not a pretty sight. At all.’
Derek rolls his eyes, corners of his mouth tilting slowly. Stiles looks at him weird.
‘What?’, Derek says.
‘Did I just witness a hint of a smile on your lips?', Stiles says playfully, hands shaking slightly along his sides.
‘Shut up, Stiles.’ Derek rolls his eyes and takes a step towards Stiles.
‘I can’t, not while the extra Adderall is running through my veins.’ Tapping his foot against the concrete floor.
Derek takes another step, hands moving towards Stiles’ wrists.
‘Dude, what are you doing?’
Derek stops in his tracks. Stiles seems uncertain, considering taking a step back but he keeps still, for once. Derek takes another step towards his direction.
‘What I deciphered from your ranting is that teaching yourself how to dance through online videos didn’t work in your favor. I’m willing to give you some pointers. If you want them, you should stop talking and place your hands on my shoulders.'
‘I- what now?’, Stiles looks baffled.
Derek grabs Stiles’ hands and places them on his shoulders. They stay put but shake lightly. Derek can feel it through his shirt.
‘Can you please just shut your mouth for five minutes, so I can explain to you what we’re going to do this next hour’.
‘Okay, yes, I can do that, I can manage five minutes..’
Derek growls low, hands roughly scurrying down Stiles’ sides before placing them just a few inches above Stiles’ hips.
‘Totally, shutting up now.’ Stiles is quiet but still fidgety. Derek can feel it under his palms.
‘When I was thirteen, my mother was determined to teach me how to dance. She was always pushing me to take dance lessons. I fought against it and I managed to change her mind. She ended up agreeing with me that she would be the one to teach me a few things, the basics. And that is what I’m going to teach you.'
Derek wasn't planning on mentioning his mother, but it came out before he could stop himself. He dares to look Stiles straight in the eye. Derek suprisingly knows that look on Stiles' face. Stiles is going over something in his head, figuring out what to say in return. Derek is starting to continue when Stiles opens his mouth, speaking slowly.
'My mom used to let me stand on her toes. We would dance around the kitchen, music blasting from the radio, the smell of fresh baked cookies in the air. She promised me that when I got older she would teach me how to properly court a girl or boy, dancing including. She was gone before she could fulfill that promise.' Stiles goes quiet, hands still shaking a little.
Silence hanging in the air. It's not awkward Derek thinks. Just a moment to process the memories being shared. Derek takes a breath and continues..
‘I’m going to teach you how to slow dance. If you ever mention this to anybody, even in passing. I’ll come find you and rip your throat out with my teeth. Is that clear?’. He emphasizes the words with a glare and bares his teeth.
He can hear Stiles’ heartbeat picking up. ‘Crystal.’
Derek tugs Stiles closers, their bodies almost pressing against each other. Stiles lets out a breath, one that Derek feels ever so slightly on his face.
‘So what you want to do is to sort of move your feet in a quadrangle formation, like this.’ Derek takes a step back, Stiles seems to understand his position and takes a step forward. His foot coming to a halt right before Derek’s.
‘That’s it. Now the side, take a step back and the side again. No, the other side.’
Stiles takes a step back, hands retracting from their place on Derek’s shoulders. Derek catches himself missing the weight immediately.
‘Can we not, I suck at this’. Stiles’ says, looking down at his feet. ‘My prom date will hate me for not being able to dance with her, she will find another dude to dance with and I’ll be left alone sitting in a corner of the room for the rest of the night’.
‘Jesus, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get over here so we can do it again. It wasn't that bad, you just need some more practice. I will help you until you get a decent rhythm, okay?’
Derek is getting frustrated but he offered to help, so he needs to calm himself down before the claws come out.
‘Okay, okay. Where do you want me?’ Stiles asks.
‘Just get over here, you idiot’. Derek replaces his hands inches above Stiles’ hips and Stiles tugs his arms around Derek’s neck. Derek’s about to protest but the look Stiles gives him makes him forget.
They practice and practice. The hour has long passed and Stiles has learned all there is to learn. But they keep on dancing. Dancing until the sun goes down, a new moon burning in the sky.