etcelsior | the ic mistletoe meme

In much the same way he responded to Stiles's request for the very same thing, Derek just gives Diego a look that says he's not impressed by the question. "Can you just trust me on this? I'm not great at making or being friends but I'm pretty great at women when I want to be." That comes out sounding really arrogant, he thinks, but it's just a matter of fact. When Derek wants to turn on the charm, he never gets turned down. It just is what it is. Even Paige came around because he was persistent and she saw past the douchey exterior he used to keep as a teenager.

The way Diego looks at him, pointing at him, makes Derek smirk again. "Then let me do my thing and trust me for a minute," he counters. "Give me a top three to aim for. I say three in case your number one is otherwise attached."

He lifts his eyebrows and then looks out at the crowd of people again briefly before glancing back at Diego. "I don't think she has to fall in love with you, dude, she just has to find you generally attractive and get caught up enough in the spirit of the season to give you a kiss. It'll probably help if she thinks you've been checking her out all night." That's as close to a How To guide Diego's about to get on Derek's plan. "She'll think it's her idea."

He can't help the smirk at just how absolutely arrogant that comment sounded. Not because he doubts it, he could see Derek being the kind of guy that women fall over themselves for in the right circumstances, but because he really doesn't align that level of bordered-conceited confidence from his friend. "Okay, okay, I'm trusting you." He huffs softly, hating every piece of this-- but none more than having to absolutely relinquish any control over the situation.

That question suddenly turned on him has him looking a little exasperated, though. "Man... I don't know-- I barely know anybody here. This is awkward as hell." Diego isn't bad in this department, not when he really puts his mind to it-- Patch may have been the only real relationship he'd had, but she was hardly the only woman he'd ever been with. But he hasn't thought much about anything in that realm since he's gotten here (since Patch broke up with him, if he's really honest with himself), so this feels way more awkward than it would have to.

Tilting his head back with frustration, Derek heaves another long-suffering sigh, rolling his eyes before looking over at his friend, his head still tilted slightly back. Just to make the point. You're frustrating, Diego. You are so frustrating, the gesture and expression says.

"Okay but nobody knows we're having this conversation so it's only awkward because you're making it awkward, Diego," he says with a patience that doesn't at all match his expression.

His eyebrows lift and he settles his body language into something more casual and less frustrated again. "Dude, again, it's just a kiss. Point out somebody you think is attractive enough for this not to be a nightmare scenario and we'll get you out of here. I love you, man, but I'm not kissing you, so...unless you want me to just leave the universe to it, help me out, here."

Diego lets out a groan of his own. "Whatever." Derek's right, of course, but that hardly makes a difference at this point. He's just a difficult person, in every way.

"Okay, okay, okay," he sighs and glances around the party at the people he can see. "Her, at your ten." he points out a blonde not far away. "The brunette by the bar. And the woman by the snack table." He really hates his life in this moment.

His eyebrows lift in challenge, but Diego finally acquiesces and Derek turns his vision to his ten and then grins. "Carol?" he asks, looking impressed. "Wow. You're brave. All right, give me a few minutes," he says, giving Diego a pat on the shoulder and then wandering off, making a pit stop at the drink table and grabbing not one, but three glasses of champagne.

It's not an easy juggle, but he manages to get back to Diego and give him one of them before leaving the Hargreeves in his wake again with a "drink some of that," command and heading toward Carol. Derek takes a few quick gulps from his own glass so it looks less like he just grabbed it for this and more like he just happens to have been drinking with Diego when he decided to switch gears.

"You look thirsty," he greets, offering Carol the full glass. "You have a minute?"

Carol hasn't been too a Christmas party in a long time. She isn't usually much of one for parties, but the nostalgia factor is enough to make her enjoy herself. So she's in a good mood when Derek approaches her. An even better mood, when she sees him bringing her a glass of champagne.

"Hey, good timing!" She wiggles her now empty beer bottle, then sets it down on a counter nearby and grabs the champagne flute, taking a sip. At the question, her eyebrows raise.

"A minute for what?"

Derek grins and takes a drink of his own. "Look at me go," he agrees with a smirk.

He looks back at Diego and then back to Carol. "You remember my friend Diego?" he asks, lifting an eyebrow. Assuming that Diego isn't completely forgettable to her, Derek goes on. "We thought maybe you could join us."

Once again, he looks back at Diego and then back to Carol. "I'm probably not supposed to tell you this, but he thinks you're really cute and I think it'd probably make his night a lot better if you came over to hang out so he's not stuck with just my ugly mug for the rest of the night."

It's a start. This is going to be a lot harder because it's Carol and she doesn't take any bullshit. He thinks there are a handful of women he probably couldn't ever properly charm if he wanted to try and Carol is one of them. Then again, Braeden had been one, but he'd managed to pull that off, so maybe he has a shot at pulling this off, too.

Carol is skeptical. Not that someone would find her attractive, but because this so obviously reads like a set up. She follows Derek's line of sight to where Diego is standing, eyeing him up and down and-- what's that hanging above him? Mistletoe? Okay, now she gets it.

Still, 'tis the season to be jolly. No reason to leave the guy hanging.

"...Okay. I'll bite," she says to Derek, pushing off the counter she was leaning on and making her way over to Diego.

"Hey," she starts. "Diego, right? Derek said you were looking for some ...company."

He frowns as Derek shoves a glass of champagne at him and demands he drinks some of it. He hates champagne, but what else is he going to do?

There's something monumentally torturous about being in sight-line of someone trying to talk you up to someone else. He has no idea what Derek is saying, and that kind of kills him inside.

Whatever he did say must have worked, though, because it's not long before Carol is heading over. He sips again at his champagne while she finishes the short trek to where he's standing. "Did he?" he asks, dubious and smirking about it all at once. "Well-- I am kind of stuck, so--" he can't stop the trail of his eyes upwards to the plant hanging above him, the roll of one shoulder before he levels his gaze back at her.

Oh good, Carol thinks. At least he's being a good sport about this. Well, if he's going to play it all casual, two can play that game.

She looks up, smirking, then levels her gaze back on Diego, laying a hand on his shoulder, the tips of her fingers idly stroking the side of his face.

"So I see. Such a shame. It's a great party, really wish you could go see the rest of it."

A good sport might be a huge understatement, but hey, she didn't see the fit he was practically throwing with Derek ten minutes ago, so there's that, at least, right?

"Isn't it?" She's not going to play fair. Cool. That's nice. "Seems like a waste to be stuck for the whole night, don't you think?"

Carol hums. "Mmm... Sure would."

She can only keep up the nonchalance for so long, though, before she cracks a smile. "Don't worry. I'm mean, but I'm not that mean."

At which point she leans in and gives him a peck on the corner of his lips.

He chuckles a little at her facetious remark. Though, if he's honest, he reads nothing malicious in any of it at all, so there's no offense to be had at any of her teasing.

He returns the kiss, simple and practically chaste and smirks a little, feeling it the second he's released, almost like invisible ropes dissipating. "Thank you."

She can tell the moment he's set free, as his posture relaxes somewhat. She smirks, patting him on the chest before turning to walk away.

"Don't mention it."

As she goes, she throws a wink in Derek's direction.

the ic mistletoe meme

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