#aroaceapril

aromantic: little or no romantic attraction to others

asexual: little or no sexual attraction to others

aceflux: sexual orientation fluctuates but often stays on asexual spectrum

aroflux: romantic orientation fluctuates but often stays on aromantic spectrums

apothiromantic: repulsed by romance involving them

apothisexual: repulsed by sex involving them

cupioromantic: does not feel romantic attraction but desires a relationship

cupiosexual: does not feel sexual attraction but desires a relationship

demiromantic: can only develop romantic feelings after making a strong emotional bond

demisexual: can only develop sexual feelings after making a strong emotional bond

lithromantic (aka akoiromantic): romantic attraction without desire for reciprocation

lithosexual: sexual attraction without desire for reciprocation

The glitter in the pencil topper sparkled in the sunlight. The stickers that Stiles had left taped to the loft door had been glittery too, hearts and shapes and words of affirmation that had nothing in common except for their color. The purple mug he’d found in the front seat of his camaro had been blessedly matte, though the kitten logo on the side was a bit garish. The purple t-shirt neatly folded and left on his doormat had been tie-dye. The teddy bear’s fur wasn’t sparkly, but the heart stitched to its hands had been.

All of it placed conspicuously where Derek would find it. All of it sans note but with Stiles’ scent all over it. And all of it purple—the same shade as the asexuality pride flag, only a week after Derek had finally worked up the courage to tell his pack how he identified.

Derek stared down at the pencil topper, something so ridiculous and that served no purpose whatsoever other than as a gesture of affection and support, and he smiled.

Only someone like Stiles would think this weird magpie-like gift-giving would qualify as a flirtation. What did it say about Derek that it was so effective? That he had all the gifts in a pile on his bedside table? That he’d caught himself thinking about them and smiling to himself throughout his day, pleased by the mere memory of the silly, useless trinkets hidden away in his room and wondering if he would find another one soon?

It probably said that he liked Stiles. And it wasn’t wrong.

“Yeah,” he said, “it kind of is.”

Stiles’ full body flail of triumph carried him out of his seat and into Derek’s space, hands landing on Derek’s knees. He leaned his weight on them, beaming. Derek held the most recent gift up in the scant space left between them.

“This thing?” he asked. “Really? Where did you even get this?”

“CVS,” Stiles said, without an ounce of shame. “It was in one of those little discount baskets up by the checkout.”

“Of course. And the others?”

“I think the stickers were from there too,” Stiles said, fingers tapping on Derek’s thigh. “No! Those were Wal-Mart. Pencil thingie, CVS, stickers, Wal-Mart. The mug was from Etsy. The little NSA man that lives in my phone fed me the t-shirt in a well-placed Facebook ad ten seconds after I mentioned wanting to find you one—thanks, NSA man—and the teddy bear was from one of those claw machine things at Dave & Busters.”

“We have a Dave & Busters?”

Stiles stared at him. “Oh my god, Derek, have you never been to Dave & Busters? Dude, you have to go! We have to go! Fuck it, that’s our first date right there.”

Derek laughed. Honestly, that sounded like a fantastic time, and a “yes” hovered on the tip of his tongue. But there was something else he needed to know first.

Rolling the pencil topper between his fingers, Derek said, “You know, we’ve known each other for over two years and you’ve never flirted with me before this week. I didn’t think you…”

Liked me. Not like this.

“Well, I didn’t think you—” Stiles’ grip on Derek’s knees tightened as he swayed another inch closer. Color flooded his face again. “I was pretty sure that you weren’t interested in me. I may have had Scott sniff you a few times, discreetly, to check for pheromones or whatever. He said it didn’t smell like you were attracted to me, so I sort of wrote it off as a lost cause, you know?”

Derek did remember Scott hovering around him a few times in pack meetings. He hadn’t been discreet at all, actually, but Derek hadn’t really cared what he was looking for at the time. He gave the pencil topper another squeeze and bit his lip. “And now?”

“Now,” Stiles said, a grin inching back onto his face, “I know that the lack of pheromones isn’t personal and does not, in fact, preclude romantic interest. So I figured I’d give it a try, on the off chance you might be up for it. Can’t score if you don’t shoot your shot, right?”

Derek raised one eyebrow. “To be fair, you’re not gonna score either way.”

Stiles’ laugh burst out of him immediately, so intense that he snorted. “Oh my god, dude, there is a whole new world of punnage available to us now! Can I make ace jokes too, or just you? Would it be weird for me and the pack to joke about it? Would you mind?”

Dazed but smiling, Derek shook his head. “I don’t mind.”

It took a minute for Stiles to get his giggles under control. When the worst of them had passed, he wiped at his streaming eyes and then fixed them on Derek.

“Man, I am gonna date you so hard.”

Derek’s smile grew. “Yeah? Even with…?” He held up the purple pencil topper and gave it a little shake.

Stiles snatched it from him, tossing it up in the air and catching it in his fist. He said, “Yeah. Even with. And you can bet your ass, I am gonna win so many tickets at Dave & Busters and buy you every purple thing I can possibly find in that prize section. I will even spend another two hours fighting with that damn claw machine to get you more purple teddy bears.”

“It took you two hours to get that thing?”

“Damn right it did,” Stiles declared. “And it was worth it.”

“You’re crazy,” Derek said, marveling. It was his turn to blush.

Stiles bit his lip, eyes squeezed closed for a moment. “Derek, I need you to know how much self-control it just took me to not immediately respond with ‘crazy about you’. I was so close.”

“I appreciate your restraint.”

“Good, now get out of here before my self-control runs out and I kiss you prematurely.”

That statement did nothing to quell the heat in Derek’s cheeks. Stiles said it so casually, so confidently, as he finally released his grip on Derek’s knees. He stepped back to put space between them, cold air—not cold at all, really, but compared to the warmth of having him close—rushing in to fill the gap, but his eyes never left Derek’s face.

Heart racing in a way he was very glad that Stiles couldn’t hear, Derek slipped back out of the window as instructed. It wasn’t until he was halfway back to the loft that he realized Stiles had kept the pencil topper.

That was okay. Derek had a pile of other presents waiting for him at home, and the promise, now, of a dozen more.

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