Archive of Our Own ^beta

Stiles seemed to make it a point to help him everyday after that. If the owner found his son’s behavior odd, he didn’t say anything about it. Derek himself was trying to decide whether the younger male’s presence was more annoyance or something he’d just come to accept. Two weeks since Stiles had joined him in his chores, Derek decided that it was an almost equal mix of both.

He had reached the barn first that morning and moved to the box that contained tack. He would be taking the horses out that morning. Well, he and Stiles would, he supposed. That was, if Stiles got there in time. He didn’t wait for anyone. If he noticed that he slowed down the pace in which he normally worked, he didn’t admit it to himself. He had just gotten the tack Stiles would use for Henrietta put aside and was closing the large chest when he felt another person’s presence.

He glanced around quickly and raised his brows to see Stiles standing there, his head tilted and his eyes rising to meet his eyes. The boy blushed, and Derek tried to hold back a grin.

“Stiles?”

Stiles winced. “Uh. Hey, big guy.”

“Were you checking out my ass?”

Stiles sputtered. “What? I…” He looked off to the side, licking his lips nervously. “Yeah…”

Derek snorted and shook his head, standing. He grabbed his tack and Stiles’s, moving across the space and pushing the other’s tack into Stiles’s hands.

“Here,” was all he said, moving away and leaving the barn, heading for the stables. Stiles rushed after him, obviously surprised at Derek’s reaction. Derek didn’t think that his reaction to Stiles checking out his ass—which the other was doing once again—was all that unexpected.

After all, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t been checking out Stiles’s ass at every chance that was presented to him.

They reached the barn and Stiles stopped him.

“I have my own tack, Derek.”

Derek stared.

“So?”

“So… why am I using this?” He held out the tack he’d handed him, as if that explained why he didn’t understand. Derek rolled his eyes.

“We’re killing two birds with one stone.”

Stiles blinked.

“You know, for someone who’s really smart, Stiles… you’re an idiot.”

Stiles’s brows rose and for a moment, Derek wondered if he’d crossed the line. Stiles shrugged his shoulders and moved to Henrietta, whom Derek had learned was Stiles’s thoroughbred Palomino mare. Derek looked at the other horses, looking them over and finally chose Loki, the black Arabian. It was the owner’s horse and he needed to be put into his paces. They would take the others out on leads after lunch.

“We’re testing out the mending on the tack,” he explained finally as he lifted a saddle pad onto Loki’s back, fixing it into place. Next came the saddle, and he glanced over at Stiles as he worked the fastenings. Poking the horse, who was a credit to his namesake, he snickered softly as the other let out the air he puffed out. The horse turned his head and seemed to glare at Derek but the ranch hand only shrugged his shoulders.

He moved around, sliding the mended bridle over Loki’s muzzle and head. He pressed the bit into his mouth and watched Stiles as he readied his horse. Derek was impressed but he didn’t see why. Stiles was the son of a ranch owner. It made sense that he would know the ins and outs of owning a horse, riding a horse, the workings of the ranch. After all, the place would fall to Stiles when the time came. Derek guessed he always thought Stiles would be some soft city boy, ruined from his months at school.

Stiles put on his tack and tugged at it, looking it over with an expert eye before tightening it and stepping away with a grin. “I don’t think you have to worry about this tack, Derek. It’s as good as new. Maybe as good as my set.” He gave an approving nod as he hooked a lead rope to Henrietta’s bridal. Derek ducked his head at the sudden pride he felt at Stiles’s approval.

Stiles led Henrietta out of the stables. Derek watched after him, his eyes falling to Stiles’s ass. If someone noticed, he’d explain it away by explaining he was merely checking for mistakes Stiles might have made while readying Henrietta.

“Like what you see, big guy?”

Derek blinked to see Stiles glancing back at him, a flirtatious smile on his face before turning back around and leaving the building.

Derek smirked at being caught but shrugged his shoulders and attached a lead rope onto Loki’s bridal. He attached a saddle bag to the back of Loki’s saddle and led the large horse out of the place, joining Stiles and Henrietta.

A look passed between Stiles and himself and a silent agreement was made.

Flirting was okay. In fact, it was mutually welcomed.

Derek pushed away the worry that he was making a big mistake. He had come to trust Stiles over the last two weeks and further more, he deserved a bit of happiness. In any case, flirting was harmless.

That was the first of many lies he would tell himself over the next months of summer.