Team sports for one.

[myonlydefense]

Derek's gone doing wolfy things, and barely a couple hours into his day, Stiles realizes how weird it is. Not just not being around him - it's not like they're attached at the hip - but not even being able to.

It's kind of lonely, but when he thinks about it that way, he feels dependent and clingy, so he tries not to think about it again.

After dicking around on his computer, eating the last of the Honey Smacks he bought, and cleaning out some old, useless research he'd had in his apartment, he heads out to the park with his backpack, snacks, and lacrosse equipment that he bought when money rolled around this month. He's been spending less time inside, but there are only so many times that you can take a walk without getting bored out of your mind, so he's taken to hanging around the park.

He finds one of the quieter corners of the enormous park, close to some trees that he can fling the ball at, and sets everything up. He warms his shoulders up instead, making a couple lazy shots before rolling his shoulders and gearing up.

I said no wolf powers!

He pushes any thoughts of home back and just aims for a knot on the tree in front of him.

Comments

[frakkup]

There are no sports as awesome as Pyramid. After a year in Darrow, and, gods, six years on that island, Kara has accepted this, but that doesn't mean that the sight of Stiles running after a ball with a net on a stick doesn't give her pause.

"What the frak are you doing?" she barks, pausing mid-run. "For the gods' sake, have some dignity."

[myonlydefense]

Stiles looks up as he scoops up the ball, spinning the stick idly in his hands before propping it on his shoulder. "Venting my massive amounts of testosterone fueled aggression," he deadpans, waving with the other hand and sighing. "It's lacrosse. A sport for the kids too scrawny to play football and too not-Asian for badminton. And I'll have you know I'm kind of awesome at it."

[frakkup]

As usual, Kara only understands about half of what he's saying, but it's enough for her to judge him deeply. "As awesome as a person can be chasing a ball around with a tiny net."

[myonlydefense]

"Lacrosse is an old and honorable sport. Honourable. With a u. We're not all badasses back in Beacon Hills, okay." He lets out a suitably exaggerated harumph before he tosses the ball back at the tree and hits dead center.

He tries not to look too surprised.

[triskehale]

It's almost dusk by the time Derek takes control back from the more animal part of his brain. It had been a long day of running, digging, sleeping in the sun, and basically being an embarrassment to werewolves everywhere, but he needed it. He had to try and turn his brain off for awhile,. because this thing with Stiles is making him feel like he's losing it.

He's shirtless and barefoot, clothed only in a pair of tight jeans with the button undone because he didn't feel like stabbing himself with his claws, and edging through the trees along the edge of the forest when he catches Stiles' scent. Speak of the gorgeous, frustrating little devil. He briefly considers heading for the apartment anyway, but he wants to see him. Fuck, it's only been one day. Half of a day, even. How pathetic.

"Lacrosse is a hell of a sport," he says as he comes out the trees. He's all sweaty and he runs his fingers through his hair, trying to make it look somewhat neat. He picks up Stiles' ball and tosses it back to him. "I was the captain of my team. You'd have to see it played for real."

[frakkup]

Somehow, it's a claim Kara's more willing to believe spoken from the mouth of a man wearing those jeans. She laughs outloud, her delight undisguised and entirely prurient.

"I do better with a visual aid," she says, gesturing Derek onto Stiles' field.

[myonlydefense]

"How do you do that?" Stiles starts a little when Derek comes out of the trees looking like something out of an Abercrombie & Fitch ad, arms spread in something between annoyance, admiration, and relief. "Is that like, a superpower that comes with everything else you have going on?" He has no idea what Kara knows about Derek, so he leaves it at that.

Though, c'mon. Shirtless in the middle of the woods? She must know.

He looks over at Kara with his mouth open, making something close to an offended noise. "Oh, what, you believe him? And you want him to play against me? You just like bloodshed, then. Okay, cool. That's fine." He tosses the ball idly in the net, up and down in nervous motions.

[triskehale]

"That wouldn't be a fair fight." He smirks and comes up alongside them, reaching out to squeeze the back of Stiles' neck for a moment. He tries not to let his gaze linger on the side of his face too long, dropping his hand and giving Kara a nod. "You should play goalie between those two trees, see if you can block his shot."

He points towards the trees he means and gives them a smirk. "Hold on, let me grab a drink."

There's a water fountain off in the distance, on the edge of the more populated part of the park and he jogs towards it, enjoying the feel of the soft grass against his feet.

[frakkup]

"I can block anything," says Kara, and though the words are true, her heart's not in them. She does enjoy bloodshed, but she enjoys the simple sight of an attractive man even more, and watches Derek fly away again with a sigh.

"You asshole," she says, addressing Stiles as she moves towards the goal. "I was sure I had the hottest boyfriend."

[myonlydefense]

"I got a lot of practice back home with freakishly good players. I could surprise you." Isaac, Boyd, and Scott were tough competition, but really, Stiles gets a little/a lot jittery under pressure, and he's just been set up for public humiliation, but hey. It'll keep him humble. Humbler.

He watches Derek for a moment as he goes, then goes back to tossing the lacrosse stick in his hands, spinning it around its axis just for something to do with his hands. "What?" He turns a little red, because god, he must've been staring harder than he thought if Kara's saying that. He has to get this stupid, newfound crush under control before someone breaks his arm because of it. "Derek's not-- nah, Derek's not my boyfriend."

[triskehale]

Derek doesn't mean to eavesdrop, but he's been wolfed out all day and it's hard to tune everything out. He's leaning over for a sip of water at Stiles' reply and his heart stutters a little, feeling heavy and weak. He shuts his eyes and does his best to tune them out, listening at the shrieking kids running around on the other side of the park to drown them out.

[frakkup]

Kara laughs. She can't help herself, Derek is so impossibly hot, and Stiles so red. "Gods, you are an idiot," she says, affectionate as she comes forward, one hand raised to thoroughly destroy Stiles' hair.

"Fine, he's not your boyfriend. I mean, who'd want to date a hot piece of thoroughly attentive..." Kara's gaze finds Derek at the water fountain, his back muscles rippling in the sunlight. "That?"

[myonlydefense]

Stiles sputters when Kara ruffles his hair, both hands going to the lacrosse stick to keep from flailing too much as he ducks away from the motion, shaking the stick like it'd actually cause harm. "Hey! I am armed, okay?" Ha. Ha. He relaxes, dropping the stick so that one end hits the ground, the other still in his hand while the ball rolls away.

He only turns redder when his eyes follow Kara's, heart speeding up embarrassingly as he looks at Derek again, a little too long - again. "Prettttty sure dating isn't on the list of things Derek wants to do with me." He's keeping his voice quieter now, because Derek's not all that far.

[triskehale]

Derek comes back over with his hands in his pockets, jeans pulled down low. Kara is tussling with Stiles and Derek doesn't mind all that much, because he knows Kara is devoted to her boyfriend.

They're done talking by the time he's close enough to hear without trying. Stiles is red in the face and both of them smell spicy, like low level arousal. He raises an eyebrow as he saunters up to them, but says nothing. Kara's a flirt, this much he knows. And Stiles has responded to it. Not much Derek can do about that. He's not surprised. She's gorgeous.

"What'd I miss?" He can't help but to feel like maybe he's crashing their party. They seemed to be doing fine before he came along. "I can get back to my run, if I'm interrupting."

[frakkup]

"Well it might not be first on the list," Kara mutters, but mostly to herself before she looks to Derek. "Please, you were just about to show me how the game was played, and I was going to stand in front of a goal and pretend it's hard to catch a little ball."

She picks it off the ground, holding it out to Stiles. "Or does Derek need a stick to wave around, too?"

[myonlydefense]

"Technically, you both should have sticks to wave around? Ignoring how phallic that sounds? But Derek's got uh. Really good reflexes. And you have really good reflexes. Or you probably have them, anyway, not that that's something I'd know about either way but you look athletic and stuff right so hey thanks for that." He grabs the ball from Kara and shoves it into the net of his stick, twirling it again just for something to do with his hands.

He looks over at Derek and very determinedly stares at his face. "No. Stay. Be on my team so this isn't just embarrassing."

[triskehale]

"You're good at lacrosse, Stiles." He reaches out to squeeze his neck, reassuring smile turning into a smirk. "Not as good as me, of course."

He looks back and forth, not exactly sure how she's supposed to catch the ball with bare hands. "This seems like a horrible idea. You're gonna break her hand."