Work In Progress
Summary: Stiles is assigned as editor for the well-known erotica author Derek Hale.
Notes: Written for @dearnearlydemented, who wanted #12 from this list. I hope you like it! (Also, I have no idea what an editor’s job is really like, so please go with me on this one.) (On AO3)
“Come on, Derek,” Stiles says into the phone, just a little cajoling. “I need that chapter by tomorrow, but I’m betting you have it done now, and you’re just holding out on me.”
“Well,” Derek says hesitantly, and Stiles grins. Bingo. “It is done, but it’s not, um, my usual style.”
“I don’t actually know your usual style, so that’s not going be a problem for me. I just want to make sure it’s good, Derek. Is it good?” he asks, amused.
He’d only joined Lit-erotica a few months ago, so he hadn’t really had the chance to read any of Derek’s catalog. The fact that they’d seemed like the typical heterosexual romances that pervaded the genre hadn’t exactly encouraged him. But this time, Derek appeared to be trying something new. Something that was definitely not a hetero romance.
Derek was a popular enough author that the publisher, which put out numerous genres of erotica anyway, was fully behind it. And from what Stiles had seen so far, they were fully justified. Derek was a great writer, and quite fast one, too.
Which was a bit odd, because when he’d been assigned to Derek on his first day of work, Allison, one of the other editors, had winced and said, “Good luck, I think he’s blocked.”
That had, of course, been a concern to Stiles. But not even a week after their initial face-to-face meeting, Derek had already sent him a first chapter.
Stiles had set some loose deadlines for when he wanted the next sections, and Derek had kept apace, sometimes even sending Stiles his work well ahead of schedule.
Until now.
“I think so,” Derek says slowly, interrupting Stiles’ thoughts. “I just wanted to give it another once-over before I sent it.”
“You know that’s my job,” Stiles jokes. “Let me take a crack at it.”
“I just need to make sure it’s not—” Derek abruptly cuts himself off. “You’ll get it by tomorrow morning at the latest.”
Derek sounds gruff, which means he’s feeling edgy about something, so Stiles lets it go. He likes Derek too much to rile him up, especially when it’s really not that big of a deal. If he’s maybe feeling a little insecure about his work, then Stiles perfectly fine with giving him a little more time.
He’d found Derek a little hard to read, at first, but after working with him for a few months, Stiles feels like he’s getting the hang of it. And he’d also gotten Derek to really, actually smile the last few times they’d met in person, so he knows he’s making progress.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he says cheerfully, then hangs up.
He finishes printing out the stack of pages he wants to proof, then pops into his boss’s office to let him know he’ll be working from home tomorrow. (He likes having peace and quiet for reading Derek’s new chapters—and they sometimes make him laugh or blush, so doing it at home saves on embarrassment.)
“Sure,” his boss says, eyeing the sheaf of papers in Stiles’ arms. “You’ve gotten twice the amount of writing out of him as the last two editors combined, and in half the time.” He shrugs. “So whatever it is you’re doing, keep doing it.”
Stiles blinks in surprise at that, but just says thanks and makes his exit.
*
Stiles checks his email after breakfast, and finds that Derek has kept his promise. The next chapter is waiting, and Stiles eagerly carries his laptop into the living room, sprawling out on the couch so he can read it comfortably.
He’s been enjoying the development of Derek’s new book, which features a bisexual guy struggling with his sexuality. He’s only ever dated girls before, so when he meets a cute guy at work, he’s not really sure what to do. Stiles had followed raptly as the guy, Darren, had gradually worked up the nerve to talk to, flirt with, and then eventually ask out, his co-worker Stewart.
The story has been so compelling to Stiles, who relates to a lot of it, that he sometimes he had to remind himself to actually edit, rather than just read through it again.
He’s enjoyed the cute (and sometimes awkward) dates they’ve been on, the shy kisses that become more and more bold. And this, Stiles realizes about half a page in, is the chapter where they finally have sex for the first time.
Stiles has read a lot of erotica in his life, both for work and for fun, but none of it has ever affected him like this.
By the third page, he realizes that he’s achingly hard. The way they’re touching and licking and kissing each other has Stiles biting his lip, riveted as he reads on. The slow climb through arousal and foreplay, followed by the smooth, intense transition into both of them seeking and eventually finding their orgasms, leaves Stiles almost desperate to come.
He’s never known anyone to be able to write a sex scene with such detail, without it feeling clunky or overly meticulous. Instead it’s free and flowing, and really, really hot.
He scrolls back up to the beginning, and begins to reread it as he shoves his hand down into his sweats, slowly stroking his cock. Feeling his own pleasure as he reads about theirs only heightens Stiles’ connection to the characters, and there are times he has to lift his hand away, because he’s gotten too close.
He manages to hold off until Darren’s orgasm, and then he comes so hard he nearly bucks the laptop off of his thighs. He works himself through the aftershocks as his eyes flutter shut, letting the images of Stewart and Darren play out in his head.
And only feels a little guilty when they end up looking a lot like himself and Derek.
He eventually drags himself off the couch and cleans up, then has to wait another thirty minutes before he feels composed enough to talk to Derek. If he didn’t, he knows his traitorous mouth would say something like, “Hey, just jerked off to your smut, it was great!”
And that would just be painfully awkward.
(Though, in Stiles’ opinion, it would also be a compliment.)
So when Derek answers the phone, in an attempt to avoid disaster, Stiles quickly says, “Just read that chapter you sent me, it was amazing! I don’t know why you were so worried.” Then he clamps his mouth shut before he can start rambling.
“I—really?” Derek says, sounding uncertain. “You didn’t think it was too—” He cuts off then, with abrupt finality.
Stiles waits for a second, just in case, but Derek doesn’t say anything more. “I thought it was great, Derek. Seriously, some of the best work I’ve ever read,” he says reassuringly.
“Thanks,” Derek says gruffly. Stiles knows he’s not good at taking compliments. “I’m going to, um, get back to work.”
“Sure,” Stiles says easily. “I don’t think this chapter will need much editing, but I’m going to look over it a couple of times, just to be sure. And remember that I want the next chapter by the fifteenth, okay?”
Derek grunts in affirmation, then hangs up.
Stiles puts his phone down, and cheerfully decides he better eat lunch before he goes back to editing.
Sometimes his job can be really fun.
*
Derek calls Stiles a few days later.
“Hey, what’s up?” Stiles asks, clicking though his emails. “Everything going okay?”
“I’m not—can you come over?” Derek asks, sounding tired.
“Sure,” Stiles says. Sometimes, when Derek’s stuck on a plot point, or getting too hung up on details, Stiles will go to his house and talk things through with him. Stiles enjoys it a lot, though admittedly in a less than professional capacity. He just likes spending time with Derek. “Right now?”
“Um, if you want,” Derek mumbles. “It’s not an emergency or anything.”
“Okay,” Stiles says, already logging off of his computer. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Thanks,” Derek says.
He doesn’t exactly sound relieved, though, not like he usually does when Stiles offers to come over.
He mulls that over through the whole drive, wondering what’s going on. He hopes Derek isn’t having second thoughts and planning to scrap the story.
Derek lets him inside, and immediately shoves a few printer pages into his hands. Stiles has a moment of fear, thinking it might be a competitor contract, or maybe a scathing review of one of Derek’s other books, but after he gets through the first sentence he realizes it’s part of the next chapter.
He absentmindedly sits down on Derek’s couch to read through it, barely noticing when Derek sits in the armchair across from him.
He looks up when he’s done, smiling. “Derek, this is really good.” And it is, though it did end a bit abruptly. “Are you stuck here?” he asks, holding up the last page.
“No, I just couldn’t write anymore, because I felt—I need to apologize to you,” Derek gets out, stumbling over his words.
Stiles sets the pages down on the cushion next to him, giving Derek his full attention. “Apologize for what?” he asks curiously.
“I—before you were assigned to be my editor, I was blocked. I couldn’t write anything decent. But then we met up, and we talked, and I—I went home and I wrote a little scene where I asked you out, because I was too afraid to do that in real life. And the story just sort of spiraled out from there, and so I changed the names and kept writing. When I sent you that first chapter, I was so afraid you were going to call me and demand to know why you were in my book,” Derek says in a rush.
Stiles stares at him, disbelieving. “I’m your inspiration for writing this? Me, your dorky editor?” Judging by the way Derek’s cheeks are flushing, it’s really true. “Then, if you’re Darren, are you…struggling with being bi?”
“You make it sound like it’s a burden,” Derek says, cracking a smile. “It’s just that I’ve never dated a guy, and I didn’t really know what to do when I realized how much I liked you. So I thought it might help to write about it,” he says, shrugging. “But I was afraid it would make you uncomfortable when you found out, so.”
“I had noticed some similarities between myself and Stewart, but I mostly thought that was wishful thinking,” Stiles says, laughing. “I’m honestly really flattered that you found me that inspiring. And I’ve had a crush on you since, like, day one,” he adds, catching Derek’s surprised look. “I definitely wouldn’t mind if you asked me out.”
Derek smiles a little. “Even if I’m really bad at it?”
“You could ask me on the most random date ever, and I still wouldn’t hesitate,” he says, grinning back.
“Okay,” Derek says. “Do you want to go sketch trees in the park?”
Stiles snorts out a laugh. “Not exactly what I had in mind, but I’ll go for it,” he says cheerfully. “And maybe afterward, you can tell me about how you wrote an epic sex scene with me in mind.”
To his surprise, it doesn’t fluster Derek at all.
“Yeah,” he says, smirking. “And maybe you can help me plan out the next one.”
Derek doesn’t stop laughing at Stiles’ shocked-aroused expression for ten whole minutes.