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Stiles and Derek had been on the road for ten hours and it was nearing three A.M. Stiles was dozing on and off. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and checked the time on his phone and looked over at Derek.
“Hey Derek, we should probably stop somewhere and get some sleep.” Stiles told Derek through a yawn.
Derek looked over at Stiles before looking back at the deserted road before him. “I’m good. If you want to sleep, go right on a head.”
Annoyed, Stiles pulled the lever to lay his seat back and turned toward the window. He bunched up his favorite hoodie and used it as a make shift pillow. After about five minutes, he flipped on his other side so that he was now facing Derek. Stiles turned on his back after two minutes.
Derek clenched his fist around the steering wheel and his teeth as he listened to Stiles toss around in the seat next to him, making the leather creak and moan beneath his weight. Derek felt a growl start up in the back of his throat.
“Oh my god! Alright, I’ll pull off at the next exit and stop for the night. Just, stop. Moving.” Derek growled.
Stiles stared at Derek, wide eyed, before he righted his seat back to the upright position. He stared straight ahead at the road, not daring to make another sound or movement. Stiles looked over at the werewolf out of the corner of his eye. “Sorry.” He said as he kept staring at the road.
Derek grunted as he pulled off at the next exit that had a sign for motels and pulled into the first one he saw and parked. He turned off the car and got out and headed for the trunk to grab their bags.
Stiles scrambled out after Derek and to the back of the car and called out before Derek could close the trunk, “Don’t forget my pillow!”
Derek growled again before reaching back into the trunk and pulled out Stiles’ precious pillow. “Here. I’m not carrying that stupid thing.” He shoved the pillow into Stiles’ chest and walked passed him and into the motel office.
Stiles clutched his pillow and followed after Derek at a respectable distance. It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t sleep without his own pillow. It made him feel better knowing that he had something from home while sleeping in a strange place. He walked into the office, not paying attention to where he was going, and slammed right into Derek’s back. He let out a tiny ‘oomph’ before taking a giant step backward as the wolf glared back at him. Stiles laughed nervously as he looked anywhere but at Derek and rubbed the back of his neck.
Derek rolled his eyes as he turned back to the motel clerk. “Two rooms please.”
The bored looking girl behind the counter popped her gum as she turned the page of her magazine. She didn’t even bother to look up at them. “We only have one room left.”
Derek was already annoyed by one teenager and he rubbed his forehead. “Okay, that’s fine. Does it at least have two beds?”
Again, she popped her gum. “Nope. Just a single.”
Stiles was getting more and more anxious the longer this conversation went on. “Derek, it’s okay. We can just go somewhere else.”
Derek ignored the teen and addressed the girl in front of him. “How big is the bed?”
The girl turned her magazine page again, bored with this interaction already. “All we have left is a single room with a double bed.”
Derek spread his arms out on the counter in front of him and leaned forward, dropping his head down. He was tense for a few minutes and grit his teeth together. He looked up at the girl. “How much is it for the night?”
Stiles jerked his head up and began to protest. “Derek, it’s okay. Let’s just go somewhere…”
Derek turned his head and glared at Stiles again before looking back at the girl. “How much?” he asked again.
Stiles stayed silent this time as he walked over to look at the wall housing many different kinds of pamphlets.
The girl popped her gum again and pulled out the necessary paperwork for Derek to fill out and placed it on the countertop. “Eighty-nine a night. Checkout’s at noon. Just fill these out. Would you like an early wake-up call?”
Derek picked up the pen and wrote down his information before pulling out his wallet and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. “Keep the change. And no thank you. Do you have a roll away bed?”
The girl took the money and the paperwork and turned around to file it and put the money in the register before grabbing their key and shook her head. “Rented out all we had to a wedding party.”
Derek sighed and took the key that the girl placed in front of him. “Thanks.”
Derek led them back out of the office and toward the building where their room was located. He put the key in the lock and opened the door and turned on the light revealing the most atrocious décor he’d ever seen.
Again, Stiles wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and rammed into Derek’s back. “Dude! You have got to stop doing that!”
Derek looked over his shoulder at Stiles before stepping further into the room. “Maybe you should watch where you’re walking. And don’t call me dude.”
Stiles glared after Derek as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him and locked it. When he saw the size of the bed he swallowed nervously. It was about the same size as his own bed back home. Stiles was positive that both he and Derek would not fit. “Um, Derek? I’m pretty sure that two grown men won’t be able to fit on that.”
Derek sighed. “I know. Which is why you are taking the bed and I’ll take the couch.”
Stiles looked over at the ratty looking excuse of a couch and then back at Derek. “No. That’s not happening.”
“Stiles…”
“No, don’t you ‘Stiles’ me, okay? I am not letting you sleep on that poor excuse for a piece of furniture. Look, it’s late and we’re both exhausted, so let’s just deal with this situation maturely because we are both adults here.”
Derek snorted. “More like an adult and a half.”
“Ha ha. Sourwolf’s got jokes. Come on Derek! Just share the bed. I just want to get some sleep before we have to head out in the morning.” Stiles whined.
Derek rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders in defeat. “Fine but there will be a pillow wall between us. Under no circumstances are you to cross it. Capiche?”
Stiles nodded enthusiastically and ran over to the right side of the bed. He stripped out of his jeans and threw the extra pillows to the middle of the bed. Stiles put his own pillow on the bed before sliding beneath the blankets.
Derek waited until Stiles was comfortable before he too stripped out of his jeans and then his t-shirt and pulled back the blankets and built the pillow wall between them and turned out the lights.
Stiles stayed silent on his side of the wall and waited until Derek went still before he decided to move. He scooted closer toward the pillow wall, getting as close to Derek as he possibly dared.
Derek growled low in his throat. “Stiles.”
Stiles immediately stopped moving. “Sorry. I can’t sleep unless I’m in the middle of the bed.”
Derek sighed heavily. “Just go to sleep.”
“Right. Night Derek.” Stiles said as he relaxed into the mattress and fell into sleep.
Derek didn’t say anything as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The next morning, Stiles woke up feeling extremely warm and felt an extra pair of arms wrapped around his waist. He poked them as he called out to Derek. “Uh, Derek? What’cha doing all the way over here?”
Derek grunted. “Not a word of this to the pack or I’ll rip your throat out…with my teeth.”
Stiles laughed and patted the wolf’s forearms. “Whatever gets you through the day Sourwolf. Now, let me up. I need to pee.”