Who: Stiles Stilinski and Cora Hale What: Date Night When: Aug 8 Where: Cora’s Apartment Rating: Probably PG? PG-13 at most? Brief mention of losing a parent Status: Complete
It would figure that Stiles would be on his way to Cora’s when Derek commented on his post. He wasn’t supposed to be checking his phone and he’d already gotten cited once for “using a cellular device while driving,” but Friday night traffic was always horrible and they’d been dead stopped.
Could he be any more laconic?
Stiles contemplated Derek’s many, many linguistic deficiencies for the next mile and then tapped out a reply. At the last moment he changed the filter settings to just Derek, because he wasn’t actually sure if Cora knew her brother was a werewolf. Cora, who was supposed to be dead. And wasn’t that awkward?
At least he didn’t have memories of her. He supposed that was a kind of blessing in disguise with her being dead and all.
He finally made it to Cora’s place and parked, hoping that it wasn’t a tow away or restricted parking zone. It didn’t look like one, but sometimes neighborhoods were tricky.
Once on her doorstep, he hesitated, checking his phone one last time before sighing in exasperation, and knocking on her door. And being distracted by Derek made certain he wasn’t obsessing over his date.
Because it was a date. With a girl. Who he had only “met” once before on the Net and wasn’t even sure if he wanted to date? But he wasn’t opposed, so.
If nothing else, Hook was a good movie. All he had to do was avoid mentioning that her brother was a werewolf and she was dead. How hard could it be?
Cora didn’t actually realize that this was a date. She knew that Lydia thought it was. She was giving the Hook test. To a guy. Nevermind it was just a way for Cora to determine if someone was even worth her time getting to know. Then again, Cora didn’t pick up social cues all that well. Go figure that watching a movie seemed to constitute a date?
Whatever this was, she wasn’t too worried as she didn’t actually have any expectations. She still didn’t know if she completely bought Stiles’ whole looking her up on the UCI database to get her last name after she mentioned her brother, but she wasn’t going to push it too much. At least for now. What she wanted to know was if she was right about Mr. Technology is the best thing ever. He could articulate his arguments, so despite the whole differing of opinions, Cora respected that, which led to the unwritten ‘test’.
Cora was just thankful Lydia had decided to leave. Okay, so she had a date anyway, but her friend really had enjoyed teasing her about the whole thing, as if something would come of it beyond what she figured would. Whatever it was, she hadn’t even bothered to check the network that day because well, it wasn’t really her thing and she had a feeling she would forget it more often than not.
That knock at the door distracted Cora from the reading she’d been doing and a look to the clock informed her that it was indeed time for Stiles to be showing up. Marking her place, she got up and went to the door and opened it.
“Hey.” Stepping aside to let him in, Cora then closed the door behind him.
“Hey,” Stiles replied, flashing a slightly-nervous smile as he made his way out of the hallway. “So. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to order in food or go out? It’s cool either way. I brought cash. To chip in. Which was a novelty. I’m not entirely sure the last time I actually had cash on me?”
He stopped at the sofa and ran his fingers across the edge, testing its softness. “This is a nice place. Just you?”
Really, Cora did need to plan these things better. But she figured ordering in was probably easier. So while Stiles rambled about the novelty of having cash on him once, she debated the pros and cons of ordering in versus going out. In the end, ordering in won out.
“Ordering sounds good. Chinese?”
While she tended to make her own food, there was something to be said about being able to order in once and a while. Especially when she was already stepping out of her comfort zone to get to know someone. All she really could do was hope her instincts had been right. They had yet to fail her, but there was also always a first for everything.
“No, I have a roommate. Friend from middle school. She’s out for the night though.” There was no need to go into what Lydia had implied and teased about before she left. All that was needed to be known was that they wouldn’t be interrupted. Not that Cora felt it mattered, Lydia had seemed more intent on leaving than the other way around.
“Oh...so, it’s just us?” Stiles smiled again, turning his face towards Cora. Having it just be them was one more for the “Definitely a Date” column.
“I can do Chinese,” he added, idly kneading the back of the sofa where he assumed they’d be watching the movie. “I have no idea what’s good around here, but I’m guessing you probably have a menu or something? Or we can just use one of the apps.”
It was a gambit, a slight tease intended to gently poke fun at her opinions on technology as per their discussion the other day.
“That’s not a problem, is it?” Cora didn’t know why it would be a problem one way or the other, but then she noticed that he smiled at the comment and shook her head, “Nevermind.” Even if she didn’t see it as a date, this was still new territory for Cora since she had met Stiles on the network and not through school or Habitat for Humanity or Track and Field, which was how she normally figured out if she’d see if someone was worth knowing or not.
She was about to respond about the menu before he made the comment about the app but then paused to roll her eyes.
“I’m sure there is.” There was an app for everything and it was slightly weird. Okay, so Cora found a lot of things involving technology weird but irrelevant. But she didn’t let it bother her because she was used to the slight jabs taken during a friendship and it was what they had talked about. So big deal.
Shaking her head with a slight smirk, Cora went to a drawer and pulled out a menu for a local Chinese place to hand to Stiles. She already knew what she wanted so it wasn’t like she needed to look over it as well.
“Not a fan of GrubHub either, huh?” Stiles snatched the menu from her fingers, and couldn’t help but needle her just a little bit more, though he used a speculative tone, glancing up at her from beneath his glasses as he ran a finger down the paper, searching--and finding--the sweet and sour pork. He smiled, pleased. “I’ll have the sweet and sour pork and pork fried rice. You want to split some eggrolls?”
“Never used it, but that’s the website, right?” She remembered seeing signs on the subway during a trip to New York for it and she’d seriously worried about the state of humanity at that point. Okay that was a normal reaction for her whenever some new ‘way to make life easier’ that involved hiding behind a computer came up.
“But sounds good. And yeah, splitting an order of egg rolls sounds good.”
Pulling out her mobile, she dialed the number for the restaurant and placed Stiles’ order, as well as her own for sweet and sour chicken and fried rice.
“Okay, it should be here in about fifteen minutes.” It didn’t make sense to start the movie until after their food had arrived so Cora just sat on the couch and nodded to Stiles that he was more than free to join her.
Stiles didn’t need further encouragement, moving around the couch to sprawl into the corner, hoping he wasn’t sitting too far, but also not wanting to be too close. He stretched his arm across the back of the sofa and tapped his fingers lightly, rhythmically.
“So...any particular reason you wanted to watch a twenty-year-old movie?”
It was a valid question, yes. And it wasn’t one that was easily answered for her particular motivation, at least completely. When she had initially suggested the movie as a distraction from Stiles’ dreams, she had picked it in her mind because well, it was a good distraction. It just so happened there was a joke about the Hook test when it came to her making friends.
“Does anyone ever need a reason to want to watch Hook?” She didn’t think so. But that was just Cora. “But I just got back into the country and it’s a tradition of sorts to watch it.”
Shrugging because it really didn’t seem like a big deal to her, Cora just tilted her head to the side some and quirked a brow at him. Yes she was going to see how he responded but so far, it was going well and her instincts hadn’t betrayed her.
“Oh yeah?” Stiles sat up a little more, interested. He wasn’t judging her desire to watch, but it was clear that it wasn’t intended to parallel his life--a protagonist remembering his past life that he’d suppressed and forgotten. Of course, he wasn’t a fictional character, so. It must have some other kind of personal meaning to her, which was...interesting.
“So how’d you spend your summer vacation? I mean, where?”
It was hard to explain what it was about Hook she liked so much. What it was that, if it was on television, she’d watch. Just like Nightmare Before Christmas. She supposed it was just the fact it was about how you could lose yourself in growing up or expectations and remembering who you really were inside despite all of that. Which...most people didn’t actually know about her reasoning, it was just a Cora thing more or less.
“Yeah. It’s a thing.” And that was all there was to it. At least at this phase of the game. Besides, there was the question on what she did over her summer vacation and where she’d been.
“This summer I was in Colombia. I volunteer with Habitat for Humanity during the breaks and go where I’m needed. This summer it was Columbia. How about you? Anything beyond work?”
He cleared his throat, tapped his fingers, and tried again. “So, that’s how you want to change the world, huh? One house at a time?”
Far. That was definitely an understatement. But it wasn’t like Cora was any better at this sort of thing than Stiles was. It was part of the whole college thing when meeting new people. Oh what do you plan to do with your major and all that. Add in their previous conversation…
“At least for now while I’m still in school.”It was something, at least. And it was a good way to keep busy. True, her geographical focus wasn’t on the Americas, but she went where the group went and this time it was Columbia.
“And after?” Stiles smiled encouragingly. “Once we graduate, proud anteaters, with our bachelors in computer science and international relations, how will Cora Hale change the world?”
She almost laughed at that. Almost. Still, the amusement did show regardless. After? After was a terrifying question because really, who at twenty was supposed to know what they wanted to do with their lives? It was a myth about college and yet believed by many. She had her plans and goals, but she wasn’t sure the direct path she wanted yet.
“It depends. I’m looking at different human rights options, diplomatic relations. Something like that.”
Which. Cora. Diplomatic. The two didn’t exactly add up, but she could at least be professional.
“And you? How do you plan to use technology to help people?” She knew it was possible, but she wanted to see just what he planned. Or at least get an idea.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Stiles admitted. “I’m not that much of an engineer when it comes down to it. The best I can hope for is to find a non-profit or a corporation that’s not too evil and find a way to help.” He tapped his fingers lightly against the back of the sofa. “I’d like to work with people with disabilities. Maybe learning disabilities. I have ADHD, so school was always difficult for me, even with the Adderall. But they have charter schools and things like that who are willing to experiment with different learning styles….” he trailed off, his expression sheepish. “Uh, sorry. I’m kind of...a talker.”
While Stiles was a talker, Cora tended to be more of a listener if anything. So that’s what she did. Listened and nodded thoughtfully as he talked about what he’d like to be able to do and who he wanted to focus on in helping. There were so many different issues and problems that needed focusing on that it wasn’t shocking. With a personal attachment to a certain cause from personal experience, it made sense.
“It’s fine.”
Absently she chewed her lip cheek. Really, she had no idea what sort of opportunities there were out there for someone majoring in computer sciences. But she was saved from trying to come up with something to say by a knock at the door. Getting up, Cora moved to the door, answering and paying for the food. Stiles could just give her his share of the money once she was done.
Back to the living room, she pulled out the different items so they could spread them out as well as start the movie.
“And here’s the food.”
“Awesome.” Stiles clapped his hands together eagerly when she brought in the food, then passed a couple bills her way to pay his share. “No arguments,” he said, forcefully. He could be stubborn on certain points, and this was going to be one of them. “I don’t know how much Habitat for Humanity pays, but I’m guessing it’s less than Tony Stark.”
“It’s volunteer, of course it’s less.” She probably could apply to work for the organization itself at this point, but that was just one potential option for once she was done with school. For now she had a campus job that was mostly annoying but it helped to offset the costs of things which was most important.
“But thanks. So. Eat first movie second, or eat during the movie. I’m fine with either.”
It wasn’t as if she couldn’t quote the entire thing from memory or anything crazy like that. Of course not.
“Depends. Are you tired of hearing me talk yet?” Stiles joked, taking the food out of the brown paper bag and setting it out on the coffee table in front of them. “And are you one of those people who hates when other people talk during the movie?” When he’d finished setting up their spread he started opening cartons, and then offered her a choice. A very important choice, his eyes narrowing as he held out the options.
“Fork, or chopsticks?”
“It depends on the movie and the setting. In this instance. No, I won’t hate it if you talk during it as we both know the movie. What about you and people who quote along?” Because well, sometimes it was hard not to quote along. She felt comfortable enough that Cora had a feeling she’d end up doing just that.
And the the most important choice of the night.
“Chopsticks.”
As if it were actually a choice.
Stiles smiled his approval and then, contrarily, dug into his carton of fried rice with his fork. “Even the Chinese kids eat rice with a fork,” he confided, winking playfully. “Way easier.” It was true, though. He shoveled another mouthful of rice into his mouth before nodding his head at the screen.
“Let’s do this thing,” he cajoled. “But fair warning--if you don’t chant along with the Lost Boys during Rufio’s entrance, I’m crying foul.”
“Yeah yeah yeah.” Despite the shake of her head and eye roll, Cora was actually smiling in amusement. Besides he was right, it was easier to eat with a fork as opposed to chopsticks. Not that it stopped her any. She had mastered that particular art.
“Aye aye.” Since the DVD was already in, all Cora had to do was turn on the television, switch to the right source and hit play. She did pause at the comment about the the chant though to look at him seriously. “Anyone who doesn’t chant with the Lost Boys at that shouldn’t be trusted.”
Stiles had half a piece of chicken hanging out of his mouth when she looked at him, looking seriously, but he quickly chewed and swallowed, head slightly tilted as he regarded her. He’d been mostly teasing but she wasn’t. Or at least if she was, she had deadpan delivery down. And that was...something. “Absolutely,” he agreed. He smiled, and nudged her carton with his own before settling back against the couch. “Hey, did you know that Dustin Hoffman and Bob Hoskins decided to play Captain Hook and Smee as lovers, much to the annoyance of Steven Spielberg?”
And that was the fun of it. People never knowing if she was actually serious or not. As she had said about the snark being obvious even on a network post, she had made it a special skill. But he agreed and that was good. Or something. Cora didn’t know. But at least there wasn’t going to be an argument on the merits of the Lost Boys and marbles or whatever. Though she could go quite in depth if she wanted.
Taking some chicken from her carton, she ate it and listened to the random trivia Stiles gave her, nodding as she swallowed.
“I did. Which is great. Then again, I find it amusing how Dustin Hoffman has been tied to movies about Peter Pan, yet never a specific version of the story itself. Hook is a continuation, and then Finding Neverland.”
“I haven’t actually seen Finding Neverland,” Stiles admitted. “Literary historical romance is really not my genre. But I have seen the Disney animated version about a hundred times,” he continued. “My mom had all the Disney movies on VHS. I remember growing up, they had a place on a bookshelf just like her hardbacks, because stories are stories, she said.” His expression grew wistful, and he hid his awkwardness behind another bite of fried rice, needing the moment to compose himself. “Sorry. She uh...she died. When I was a kid.” Just like in his dream, although this time it hadn’t been from a disease. “Brain aneurysm. One moment she was there and the next...gone. I was at school when it happened.”
And that was probably too much honesty for a first date, but once he’d brought her up, he couldn’t exactly not tell the rest, in case people wondered about the use of past tense.
“I only saw it the one time, mostly just to see what it was about.” So there was a slight thing with her and Peter Pan. Like she was actually one of the Lost Boys, which was ridiculous when she had her family, her stupidly big family at that. “But I get that. It doesn’t matter how you tell the story, just that you tell it.”
But then his expression changed, and Cora turned her attention more to him than the screen. (Peter was running to the baseball game, late. Again.) She really hadn’t expected that bombshell, nor had she actually noticed the past tense.
“That’s horrible, I’m so sorry. And really, you don’t need to apologize.” Because as much as she needed to get out on her own, to not always be surrounded, losing a family member seemed unfathomable to her.
Stiles shrugged, the corner of his mouth turning up slightly, his eyes deliberately focused on the screen, but he gave in and met her eyes briefly. “Yeah, well...there are a lot more horrible things out there,” he said, quietly. Like having your whole family die in a fire. “Your family….they’re all alive, then? Mom? Dad?” Which was probably an awkward question in most circumstances, but it was sort of on topic.
It was true, there were a lot of things that could be considered more horrible. She had seen them in others, been to places where horrible for people in Orange County was their normal.
“That may be so, but that doesn’t make it any less…” Less…. Really.. Cora didn’t do the comforting but she also had a point she was trying to make if she could just find the damn words, “hard for you.”
She tried. Shrugging in defeat that she failed to articulate what she was trying to get across, Cora contemplated the question.
“Yeah, they’re all alive. I mean, I guess my dad is? He left when I was little so I don’t even know him. But I haven’t been told otherwise.” Perhaps normally it would be a weird question, but given the way the conversation was going, it wasn’t SO out of place as it might be any other time.
Stiles tucked away the piece of information and offered a smile that he hoped was reassuring, and appreciative, ducking his head a little as if he could dodge further scrutiny if he didn’t see it.
“Yeah, well,” he said, softly. “You know the kid who played Jack is a law professor now? How random is that?”
That.. was a classy topic change. Quite obviously a topic change, but it wasn’t like sharing deep dark secrets about families was normal either. They got through that, so why not go back to what was happening on the screen. Or at least. About it.
“That’s extremely random..” So there was the fact that she had been convinced as a child that her uncle was actually Peter Pan. Between him being a lawyer and named Peter, it made sense.
“I do like all the homages to the original story and play. I mean, Jack was named after one of the kids J. M Barrie wrote the book for.”
“That I did not know,” Stiles replied, implicitly encouraging her to continue. “You’re better than DVD commentary.”
Absently Cora flicked her gaze to the television to see where they were. Before the kids were taken, when Granny Wendy was saying the prayer to watch over them. Well that gave her a trivia to go with since it seemed Stiles was interested in what she knew.
“The prayer Granny Wendy just did? It’s actually from the play Peter and Wendy.”
Stiles made an appreciative noise around his mouthful of chicken, then swallowed. He was quiet for awhile, thoughtful, as he worked his way through another eggroll and a few more mouthfuls of food, then let his gaze shift to Cora. “So...where does your love of Peter Pan come from? You uh...have a not-so-secret desire not to grow up? Because I hate to break it to you...you kind of look grown up. At least...from where I’m sitting.”
As silence fell over them, Cora focused on her own food as well as the movie that was playing. Or Stiles could ask about her love of Peter Pan. Which, okay, made sense. But it tended to take more than just watching it to go into the more serious matters. Still, she shrugged as she pulled her knees up to her on the couch and looked at Stiles.
“Sure. When I was younger I didn’t want to grow up. Or the Lost Boys, of having that connection even if you feel alone.” Which would seem ridiculous for someone from a large family, but just because one was from a large and close knit family didn’t mean they could feel totally alone.
“Then with Hook, well… that you don’t have to lose yourself when you grow up. And that living in and of itself is an adventure.”
The corner of Stiles’ mouth turned up at that. “You think so, huh? You think...growing up, falling in love, getting married, having two-point-five kids and a dog and a house with a white picket fence...that can be an adventure?” His words were teasing, but his question was serious. Probably more serious than he should be on a first date, if he was being honest.
Scrunching up her nose, Cora hit him with a pillow.
“That’s for getting me to actually talk about any of that.” Well at least she didn’t punch him? That was something. But the fact was, Cora didn’t talk about her reasoning for such things often, let alone this early on. So hitting Stiles with a pillow was the obvious answer to that. Still, she did debate the question.
“I may not see any of that for myself, but yeah. I mean with average life spans, it would be pretty dull to hit a certain age and then you stop living. “I just don’t want to lose out on life just because I’ve hit a certain age. I don’t want to die without doing anything.”
Hmph. This was annoying. People getting under her skin. She eyed Stiles, because really, what the hell, before she got distracted. Because certain chanting had to take place because of Rufio showing up.
So the physical violence took Stiles by surprise, but it really shouldn’t have.
“God, you are so Derek’s sister,” he sputtered, before he could think about it.
He huffed and kept the pillow, glad he’d finished eating at least, or else he’d have probably choked on his chicken, non-euphemistically speaking.
And the comment about being so being Derek’s sister. Yet another sign that there was more going on than Stiles was letting her know about how he knew her brother.
“Oh am I?”
She knew that she had similar tendencies to her brother, but she had similar ones to her uncle as well. The question was how Stiles would make the connection that her hitting him with a pillow meant that she was related to Derek.
“Yes!,” Stiles snapped. “Always with the beating up on poor Stiles….”
And...yeah.
That hadn’t actually happened to him.
Right.
He swallowed, knowing he’d trailed off suspiciously, and it’s been too long to recover smoothly.
“...is something I would say, if I’d met your brother and he’d assaulted me,” he continued, awkwardly. “...which he hasn’t.”
The initial reaction was met with a brow quirk because really, what the hell was he talking about? She knew he had mentioned some sort of Orange County phenomenon dream thing, and she’d been suspicious. But this was just adding to said reasons to be suspicious.
And weak transition. Which was clear on his face and how he swallowed before knowing that he had just made it clear there was more going on. Something Cora wanted to know. Because if Derek had put him up to this somehow to make her get to know someone….
Eyes narrowed, Cora just nodded slowly.
“Right.”
Stiles winced at her reply.
“Okay, I mean…you’ve probably already seen the posts on the net, about the dreams?” He paused a beat, then continued. “People have dreams about what feel like other lives, and I thought it was complete crap, right up until I had one. And my dad was there, all right? But he wasn’t my dad. He was a sheriff, in this podunk town in Northern California, and instead of being the marathon-running fitness freak I grew up he was a recovering borderline alcoholic and I--this…’other’...me--kept trying to feed him salads and tofu burgers. And I know it sounds crazy, but your brother was there too, mainly scaring the shit out of me, and if he’d answer my damn questions I’d probably know a lot more about that than I do right now.”
That was… something. Yes, she had seen the posts about dreams. She had even asked Stiles if he thought the creepy new agey cult had spiked the water.
“It’s very Wizard of Oz sounding. But yes, I’ve seen the posts.”
Did she believe him? It was hard to tell. Yet she had also seen the comments on his post that had led to this whole movie thing in the first place. Derek not answering questions though? That definitely sounded like her brother. He was always trying to be the man of the family because he was the only male besides Uncle Peter, but he could be infuriating in not answering things for whatever reason he may have.
She had also seen him telling that Buffy girl that her roommate had been in his dreams. And the whole people who should be weren’t and vice versa. Which begged the question… was she in them? Did she want to be? Or would she rather not be involved in this whole mess? It was a lot to take in and make sense of.
Either way, she was more contemplative than annoyed and unbelieving. It was just figuring out what to make of what she’d just been told.
“Right.” Stiles shrugged and scrubbed his fingers through his hair, shifting his attention to the screen, where the pirates were chanting Run Home Jack.
“So now you know,” he added, because talking was what he did when he was nervous. “I dream about your brother. And he gets pretty…” Terrifying. Toothy. Freakish. “...physical. And if I ever meet him in person I’m not entirely sure I’ll be able to control my autonomic nervous system. Other!Me gets pretty bad panic attacks.”
She nodded because what was there to say about now knowing? Not much. Any other day and ‘I dream about your brother’ would sound really weird. Okay, it still sounded weird, but at least this wasn’t like Lydia’s plan of getting close to her to date Derek. Which failed obviously, but still. Completely different types of dreaming for which she was thankful.
“So basically be there if you ever meet him to distract you or get you focused?” Because what was she supposed to say to that? She had some training in dealing with panic attacks just from the traveling she had done because of the different conditions of locations she went. But how to explain that to Derek? Unless he already knew and then, well, it was all on him.
“What?” Stiles frowned. “No, I mean…if you want? Just uh...distract me...distract me...how, exactly?” He pursed his lips, his gaze shifting from her face to her mouth.
Yeah, he had no excuse for that, really, except that talking about his dreams made him feel anxious. Itchy, almost, like there was another person under his skin, and that other person was a hormonal teenage virgin. Which...it wasn’t as though Stiles didn’t fit two out of those three, but.
“I don’t know? I know how to handle panic attacks. And the whole point of Hook had been to distract you from your dream initially.” Which...clearly wouldn’t have worked given the fact the dreams had become a point of conversation. But whatever he was thinking, it clearly went over Cora’s head. That sort of thing was more Lydia’s domain. Cora tended to just go with things and not anticipate as much.
She did notice after a beat that his gaze had shifted to her lips and she just blinked.
“What?”
And that was enough to jolt Stiles out of whatever hormonal teenage pit he’d fallen into.
He jumped, jerking back awkwardly and forced himself to look back at the screen. “What,” he echoed, “Nothing. Just...movie?” He gestured towards the screen and settled back against the couch, shifting when he realized the pillow had slipped behind him, and he shoved it between them, a pillow barrier.
He needed to stop feeling sixteen again, and hyperaware of sex and hooking up. Maybe he was reading the entire situation wrong. Or maybe Cora just wasn’t interested in guys.
Well, there was a surefire way to test that theory.
“So, Julia Roberts is sure hot in this, isn’t she?”
It was official. Stiles was weird. Not bad weird, but weird. Even so, Cora found herself relaxed around him, which was saying a lot since that didn’t happen normally, especially this often. Either way she just shook her head slightly before turning her attention back to the movie. It wasn’t like she missed much of it. Or she did from the conversation but had it memorized so it didn’t matter.
….Or Stiles could comment on Julia Roberts being hot?
“I...guess?” All she did was look at him fro the corner of her eye because what even? “I mean, this is probably the only role of hers I’ve liked.”
Though that probably had more to do with Tinkerbell than anything. No shoes, running around and all of that. Mostly her attention was back on the screen though because they were on the boat now, and even with company, the reflex to sing along softly to herself with Maggie remained strong. Instinct, reflex, all of that.
“The stars are all my friends, til the nighttime ends, so I know I’m not alone, when I’m here on my own, isn’t it a wonder, when you’re alone, you’re not alone, not really alone…”
Admittedly, the song did tie into one of her reasons for loving Peter Pan and Hook so much, the notion of not really being alone even when you felt that way.
Her response to the Julia Roberts Sexuality Test didn’t really answer his question, but then she began to sing, and a line appeared between his eyesbrows as he glanced over at her. It was a sweet song, and Stiles couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth as Cora sang along softly, probably unconsciously.
He took a deep breath, exhaled, and then crossed the pillow divide to pick up Cora’s hand, lacing their fingers together and squeezing lightly.
Tests all around. Stiles was passing the Hook test. Cora didn’t realize that she had been put through one as well with the Julia Roberts question. Then again, she didn’t realize that Stiles was trying to suss out her sexuality either or that there would be a reason to do so. Though that was why Lydia tended to point those things out for Cora.
Blinking as Stiles took her hand, Cora just settled back against the couch, leaving their hands as they were. This was new. Not in a bad way, just new. Go figure.