One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Seduction
for @stacksonweekâs day 2 theme of college AU/shenanigans! a day late but hopefully not a dollar short XD
| Stackson | G | 1k | Roommates | Oblivious!Stiles | First Kiss |
One night, halfway through an episode of Tiger King, Jackson tried to kiss Stiles. Stiles promptly fell off the bed with a yelp that made the guy in the next dorm over bang on the wall in complaint. Stiles didnât care, though. He was too busy bluescreening.
âOh my god,â came Jacksonâs voice from above.
Stiles extricated himself, with some difficulty, from the blanket he had dragged down to the floor with him and sat up. Jackson was leaned over on his elbow, peering down at him with one raised eyebrow. He looked torn between judgment and concern, the former of which was very familiar to Stiles and the latter of which was a bit newer but not entirely unfamiliar. They had been rooming together for two years, after all, and it was hard not to bond at least a bit after that much time. Hence them both being in Stilesâ bed to begin with, Jacksonâs laptop balanced on one of each of their knees as they indulged in their shared fondness for absolute trash TV.
But watching TV together was one thing. This was something else.
âDid you just try to kiss me?â
Jacksonâs expression didnât change. If anything, the judgment shone through just a little bit more. He said, âYeah.â
Stiles made a noise. It was a weird noise, and he wasnât entirely sure what heâd meant to convey with it, but even that didnât make Jackson retract his statement. âWhy would you do that?â
The judgment increased exponentially. âUh, because I wanted to? Why else?â
âSince when do you want to kiss me?â
Now Jacksonâs expression took on a very distinct flavor of What Is Wrong With You that Stiles hadnât seen in a while. It was weirdly comforting. âStiles, I literally told you last week that I liked you.â
ThatâŠwas true. He had said those words. But, in Stilesâ defense, Jackson said a lot of words, and Stiles also said a lot of words, and lots of words got said all the time that didnât always necessarily mean what they sounded like they should mean, and all of that added up toâ
âI thought you were joking!â
A new expression made its way onto Jacksonâs face. Like, an actually new one that Stiles didnât have time to parse before Jackson leaned away from the edge of the mattress. Stiles scrambled up off the floor. The laptop had been closed and discarded and Jackson was already sliding off the other side of the bed toward his own. Without giving himself a moment to doubt or overthink, Stiles reached to grab him by the arm.
âWait! You mean, you reallyâŠmeant that?â
He could only see a sliver of Jacksonâs face from this angle, but the clench of his jaw was obvious. He didnât turn around, but he didnât shake Stilesâ hand off either.
âNo,â he scoffed. âI definitely go around telling people I like them all the time, but only ironically. You know, for the bit.â
His sarcasm was biting. Stiles ignored that. Without letting go of Jacksonâs arm, he awkwardly knee-walked his way across the bed until he could see him properly. The expression was still there, making a very familiar face into something much less so, and it took Stiles another few seconds to recognize it as hurt. Jackson was hurt that Stiles hadnât believed him, or that heâd flinched away from the kiss, or thatâ
Heâd hesitated too long. Jackson was pulling away for real now, his face closing off completely and his arm sliding out of Stilesâ fingers and the mattress shifting as Jacksonâs weight left it, and Stiles stopped thinking all at once. He grabbed Jacksonâs hand and pulled. Jacksonâs brief moment of resistance wasnât enough and he half-turned and half-fell back onto the bed, mouth already open in protest. He didnât have a chance to make a sound, though, before Stilesâ lips were on his.
Stiles had done his fair share of kissing in the last few years. The college scene, unlike high school, was rife with people who were interested in kissing him, and he took full advantage. At least, he had. The last few months had been kissless, not for lack of potential partners, but for lack of interest on his part. Stiles hadnât really noticed when heâd stopped going out to parties and started texting Jackson to see what kind of takeout he wanted and if he was too busy with homework to make time for a netflix new release, or when Jackson had started doing the same, but it had been a while. And for all that Stiles hadnât thought to consider kissing Jackson in all that time, he certainly hadnât bothered with wanting to kiss anyone else.
It was a good thing, too. He wouldnât have known it, but kissing anyone else wouldâve been a preemptive disappointment compared to the reality of kissing Jackson, even when Jackson was confused and slow to respond. When he did, he did not hold back. Stiles came out of the kiss heâd started as breathless and stunned as if Jackson had swept him off his feet.
His saving grace was that Jackson looked the same. His lips were red and wet and swollen, eyes dark and glassy, breath coming fast to fan hotly against Stilesâ cheek as he pulled back just far enough to search his face.
âWhyâd you do that?â
Stiles laughed, helpless. âWhy do you think?â
The soft sweep of Jacksonâs thumb along his jaw softened the blow significantly when Jackson responded, âThat youâre an idiot.â Not that it needed to. For once, there wasnât a hint of biting sarcasm to be found. Stiles could get used to the fondness in his tone.
âBut you like me anyway?â he asked, just to be sure.
âIâm watching fucking Tiger King,â Jackson said with a snort. âYou think Iâd watch that with anyone else?â
Stiles pulled back, suddenly frowning. âYou like Tiger King! I thought we agreed that trashy TV is awesome!â
âOh, come on, Tiger King is like three standard deviations more trashy than anything else weâve ever watched. Even I will only watch something this ridiculous if Iâm trying to get laid.â
Stiles stared at him, righteously indignant on behalf of his beloved dumpster fire of a show, but what actually came out of his mouth was, âThatâs a weirdly romantic gesture and itâs absolutely working. Take your pants off. We can watch TV later.â
It took them three hours to get back to netflix, and if Jackson gave up the pretense of interest and spent most of the last episode watching Stiles instead of the screen, Stiles figured he couldnât be blamed. It really was a terrible show.
