( closed / free of any eden we can name )

[instinct]

WHO: derek hale + lydia martin.
WHERE: central city.
WHEN: backdated to the evening of the thirteenth.
SUMMARY: absolutely not a date.
WARNING(S): may get nc17.


[ it's exactly seven when derek knocks on the door of lydia's ground floor apartment. he's got flowers, because he does actually understand when a suggestion is not really a suggestion, and his clothes are clean, even if they're still just a dark tshirt and jeans. ]

[ he knows he shouldn't be intimidated by the thought of spending time with a girl who is probably six years younger than him and whose taste in men runs along the lines of jackson whittemore, who is an asshole (which derek knows because he was the exact same asshole in high school) and yet there's still a clench in his gut as he waits for her to answer. ]

This is a bad idea.

[ is the first thing he says, and then he presents her with flowers. they're nice — they're not roses, though he considered it, because he's never bought anyone roses before, but even buying her dinner is enough romance that it's freaking him out, so he didn't. ]

Comments

[afieldsmedal]

Emergency Medical Response training packets, actually.

[ fun stuff, all that. ]

I can properly fashion a tourniquet and set a broken forearm by now.

[ ...in theory. she's not very well practiced. if you ever got injured for very long, derek, she'd offer to show you how she can set it. ]

[instinct]

[ she could always break his arm so she could practice! ]

Just for fun, or are you planning on getting a job at the hospital?

[afieldsmedal]

[ that's... a bit extreme, but a lovely offer! ]

Mostly because I'm bored. It's not like I'm enrolled in school or spending a lot of time around people except for when I'm trying to bang them.

[ also there was that one time a guy nearly bled out all over her. lydia shrugs dismissively. ]

I've got to do something with all my free time.

[instinct]

You could get a job.

[ which is hypocritical because derek doesn't exactly have a job beyond occasionally heavy lifting for the local grocery store. ]

You're smart, you could start a business.

[afieldsmedal]

[ she is smart, and her back straightens at the praise. puffing up, smiling, tossing her hair — showing off how smart she is by being sassy. ]

Would you trust a business with a 16 year old manager? Because most adults wouldn't.

[instinct]

[ wincing at the reminder that she's only sixteen. ]

So partner up with someone older.

[ not him tho. ]

[afieldsmedal]

[ after seeing how well he handled being in charge of three teenagers, she's not going to trust him with a checkbook and a 50/50 business split, you're fine derek. ]

I don't even know what I'd sell, [ lydia mumbles, toying with her napkin (read: shredding a corner of it) and trying to catch a waiters eye. ]

Can we talk about something a little less adult? This is pretty boring first date material.

[ and because lydia's all about spicing up boring conversation, she's going to stretch in her chair, kick out her legs and subtly bump their ankles together. ]

[instinct]

[ derek tenses, and then relaxes when he realizes it's just her, doesn't pull his foot away. ]

Stop using that word.

[ "date". though he doesn't sound angry about it, just gruff, a little embarrassed. maybe also because she's bored, which is just reaffirmation that he doesn't know how to do this. (though he really likes that she tells him she's bored, that she's direct with him.) ]

Do you know what you want?

[ because derek looks up and gets service pretty much instantly. ]

[afieldsmedal]

Dinner, [ she corrects herself with a languid drawl that carries much the same weight as date.

the menu she forks over so he can give back to the waiter, and his foot she brushes again, hiking up his pant leg just a little bit so the bare skin of their ankles can touch. ]

I want my fish eggs and my drink.

[instinct]

[ derek orders for both of them, trying to ignore lydia under the table but hyperaware of their skin touching. once the waiter's gone, he looks directly at her, eyebrows lifting in a kind of what are you doing way. ]

So what do you want to talk about?

[ since obviously derek picking the topic results in boredom. ]

[afieldsmedal]

I don't know.

[ lydia's shrugging, leaning her elbows on the table and fiddling with her cuticles and nail beds. she's staying casual and keeping her eyes averted, even while playing the most unsubtle game of footsies with him. ]

You think of something. Though, if you can't — you can never go wrong asking a girl about herself.

[ it gives them a chance to brag, which is something lydia enjoys ( a lot ) and gives him a chance to weed out potential sociopaths. date talk is a fine art~ ]

[instinct]

[ derek catches her foot gently between both of his feet. he already knows she's not a sociopath. it's one of the (many) things he likes about her. and it's not a date, but he takes her advice anyway. ]

What's the strangest thing that's happened to you on the island.

[afieldsmedal]

[ she won't be pinned without a struggle. lydia's idly trying to wiggle her foot free, but not with enough focus to break her cool demeanor. ]

Well, I did this thing — where I orchestrated a threesome with these two weirdos...

[ one of those weirdos most definitely bring you, derek. though she also threw a temper tantrum at a norse god and managed to get her own personal stalker so that might not be the strangest thing she's done this far. ]

[instinct]

[ derek allows her to escape, but only briefly. it's all part of his devious footsie plan. ]

See, I only remember one weirdo present at that threesome. Unless you've managed to orchestrate twice.

[afieldsmedal]

Oh, no, there were definitely two. One had these really thick eyebrows and abdominal muscles for days, and the other one was kind of skinny and freckly, but he looked super cute in girls panties, so I'd say they both had a couple of things going for them.

[ not if she initiates operation: put both of her feet on his feet first! ]

[instinct]

[ oh no he's been overcome!!!1 ]

Right. And how'd that work out for you?

[afieldsmedal]

I've never had that much silicon base lubricant in me before, but I'm not complaining. I'd probably do it again.

[ points to lydia martin!

though in all serious and no sexiness... ]

I thinking dragging a grown man to the hospital was pretty weird. And not in some warped good way like most of the sex has been. It was just...weird.

[ and then he started following her around — change of subject time. ]

What about you? Other than offering yourself to the entire city, I mean.

[instinct]

I had to steal medical supplies from the hospital.

[ obviously not for himself. actually, for claudia who wanted them for clay, so their stories are linked, though he doesn't actually know that. ]

[ but no, no, when he really thinks about it, that's not his weirdest thing. neither is the threesome, or popping a mermaid's cherry. ]

Erica's here.

[ that's trumps. ]

[afieldsmedal]

[ great, thanks for keeping her stalker alive. man, she's really gotta just invest in a guard dog.

lydia lets out a low whistle, and then a sigh. ]

Back from the dead, it looks like. She's not the only one. [ her new best friend chuck hansen had died too. maybe it was a theme with this place: sex and death. sex and zombies. sex with zombies? ]

Have you and her — [ ah, strategic trailing off and suggestive eyebrow waggling. ]

[instinct]

[ derek scowls across the table at lydia. ]

No.

[ she's like his daughter, or little sister, that would be so incredibly weird and bad. ]

But having to explain everything wasn't easy.

[ like how she was dead and he wasn't an alpha anymore. ]

[afieldsmedal]

How'd she take it?

[ not that lydia expressly cares about erica; the only time they'd come close to interacting was that time someone had decided she was a threat that needed to be eliminated and stalked her to the mccall house, and then that one time lydia'd mouthed off at her here, whilst under the effects of one curse or another. it hadn't been an auspicious start to any sort of friendship.

but it must suck to be told you're dead. and she can manage sympathetic without actual emotional investment. ]

[instinct]

Not well.

[ derek grimaces, helplessly. he'd tried really hard, but he's not good at words, at comfort. ]

But she's alive.

[ and that's everything to derek, everything. his attitude towards this place has tempered significantly thanks to that little fact. ]

[afieldsmedal]

I'm glad.

[ sort of. ]

That's a good thing.

[ she guesses. she doesn't know, it's strange but lydia's going to try very hard to be happy for him. ]

Who knows. Maybe that means Boyd'll be fine, too. He could show up any day.

[instinct]

Yeah.

[ derek's thought of that, too. he looks away, uncomfortable. erica he'd failed. boyd — boyd he'd killed. and he still hasn't dealt with that. ]

[ but the waiter interrupts them before derek has to vocalize that, bringing their food. derek looks at lydia's fish eggs and shakes his head in silent judgement. ]

[afieldsmedal]

[ thank god for waiters, and lydia throws some smiles and sweet thank you's at him. then she steals the drink that they put in front of derek, and sneers at him when she catches him judging her food. ]

Don't look at it like that. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not good.