proximalogs | ( closed / free of any eden we can name )

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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ because if it's anything more than sex it gets complicated ]

You have a pool?

[ because she has a pool. her apartment is cooler than yours derek. ]

I have a beach.

A whole beach?

[ skeptical skeptic skepticaling. ]

You mean you live near a beach, right? Because if it's yours, I don't see a reason for swim suits at all.

Okay. I live near a beach.

[ still beats out an apartment complex pool. ]

[ ... though now he's wishing he did own a beach. ]

That's cool, I guess.

[ no actually that's super cool, she's just also really cool and is thus playing it super cool. ]

It's not really beach weather, though, is it.

[ forget beach weather, it's been a long time since she's had anything quite as normal as a beach day let's do the thing, all weather is beach weather! ]

I guess if we brought coats we'd be fine.

It's warmer in the Tropics.

[ derek shrugs, though really he doesn't pay much attention to temperature, can go swimming in ice cold water just fine. ]

[ in a totally and completely unexpected move, lydia extends her legs and bumps his feet with hers under the table again. it's a little gestures, just a small something sweet — which will hopefully hide the slightly more weighted area she's going to try to lead the conversation into now. ]

Why are you asking me out for a romantic weekend, Derek?

[ or rather, why her and not stiles. why are he and stiles fighting and how'd she end up in the middle of them, again. ]

[ derek takes back his wineglass for something to do, wets his mouth even as he can feel the kick of his healing before he gets so much of a buzz. he doesn't pull the "i don't date" card this time. ]

Because I want to spend more time with you.

[ he nudges his feet against hers, meeting her eyes. ]

Hypothetically.

[ and he means hypothetically, though he knows she's going to take this the wrong way. ]

If I asked you not to have sex with anybody else, would you do it?

[ that is so not what she'd expected to hear out of his mouth. the first part's sweet, if not complete bullshit because she's still pretty certain he doesn't like her all that much. but the second part...

all that wheedling she was going to do about stiles and him and their blow out is going to have to take a back seat for a moment, lydia's a little dumbstruck and can't conversationally multitask. ]

I — [ would she?

no.

and could she? also no. ]

I can't control that here. Monogamy isn't exactly the name of the game in this place, is it.

[ derek rolls his eyes, but he doesn't seem put out by that point. ]

Stuff the chip makes you do wouldn't count.

[ derek basically pretends that's not real sex because it makes his life easier. ]

[ so it'd be some sort of weird open relationship establishment. interesting. ]

I like you, like — considerably more than I think I should? But I couldn't promise that and don't want to pretend that I could.

[ if that's "not sex" can they just have a "not relationship" to make life easier too? ]

Are we —...not going to do this anymore if we're not being exclusive? Hypothetically.

Edited 2014-02-03 11:50 (UTC)

[ ...yes. ]

[ to be honest, this is as far as derek goes for talking about his feelings — anything more is best pried out of him in the heat of the moment. though he finds it much easier to express himself to her than stiles. ]

I don't mind.

[ he gets a little jealous sometimes, and he doesn't know what he's going to do if he scents other werewolves on her, but... ]

It really is just a hypothetical, Lydia.

[ tragically, she's pretty much a werewolf magnet. it's bound to happen at one point or another.

was it really hypothetical? she's looking at him like it wasn't, like she'd just insulted him and is waiting for some sort of fall out that...doesn't come, and her shoulders relax a little. ]

I thought we were just going through the dating motions. To make us feel better. [ about sleeping together. which she had determined was the reason for the stand-offish nature they'd adopted after their first tryst. it had since melted, of course, but lydia likes to think herself smart enough to know things don't end there.

apparently she doesn't always need a truth serum to tell her exactly what's on her mind. ]

I didn't think you liked me, and I'm still not sure you do — but I like what we do and I'd like to keep doing it even if we're not dating officially.

I like you.

[ derek grits out, embarrassed by having to say it but unable to let that lie. and okay, yes, she's hit the nail on the head, initially this was about doing the Right Thing for lydia. but — lydia's a beautiful girl, smart, snarky, completely his type despite being young, kind of a paige do-over except immune to the bite. it's not hard to like her, and derek has always been one to become rapidly, deeply into someone. and since he's refusing to have feelings about stiles she gets double her share. necklaces, fancy restaurants, romantic getaways. she says jump and hesays how high. ]

[ it's hard, though. thinking he'll get her killed, or remembering the time she sacrificed him to bring peter back and wondering if he can really trust her. he thought he could trust jennifer, could trust kate, and look where that got him. ]

[ derek balls up his napkin abruptly in his lap, clenching them against any possible shaking. directionless, broken anger flares in him, bright-hot. he suppresses it, but it lingers in his tone, the intensity of the way he looks at her. ]

I don't play games. If I wanted to be having sex with you, we'd be having sex.

[ so it's something else — but not out of obligation, and definitely not platonic. ergo: relationship. ]

But you want to date me instead.

[ because that's what this is, and she can't stop reiterating it because she hasn't quite wrapped her head around it all.

to continue in the vein of hitting nails directly on the head: ]

Are you asking Stiles to be monogamous too? Or are the two of you picking fights over who he sleeps with just for fun?

[ they will decidedly not pick a fight themselves, especially not in the middle of a nice restaurant when she's still entirely intending to go on that romantic weekend with him. so lydia takes great pains to keep judgement and vitriol from her tone, despite sympathizing with the third leg of their trio. ]

( closed / free of any eden we can name )

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject