Take Two
Valentine's Day All Our Firsts
Author's Note: Hey the playlist at the end was compiled by a Sterek group and I was very pleased for their help. I got me some new music to listen to. Please enjoy this installment of the series.
"Okay, I know you were with me last year and you weren't any help then but come on Scott," Stiles griped as the two of them wandered around the mall.
"So, then you should remember that this was a bad idea then and it's not any different now. I didn't know what you should get for Derek then."
"I don't want our second Valentine's Day to get forgotten because of work and school, not after the extreme suckage of last year."
"But you had a good day after Valentine's and anyway why does it matter, you're here the weekend after V-Day so it's not like the day of is going to be perfect or anything."
"You know, I liked it better when you and Kira were together. You are the antithesis of happy puppy Scott and it pretty much blows. Any chance you could adopt that persona for a bit?"
Scott stopped abruptly, frowning at Stiles who paused as well, "Dude. Cold."
"Man, I know," Stiles groaned and moved to grasp his friend's shoulder, "I didn't mean that. I just hate that I haven't been around for all that and I miss you too bud but this is my fiancé and I don't deserve him when it comes to the romance part of our relationship and even though you don't know how to help, I need you here."
Scott nodded, "Okay man, if being here and not helping you at all is what you're looking for then I got this."
Stiles grinned and they started walking again, after his ring freak at Christmas, Stiles wanted to really go for something romantic this Valentine's Day but sadly he hadn't been able to get away from school. Derek worked a shift at the station so some of the married guys could spend it with their wives because Derek was a good guy like that.
"It's just so difficult to be super romantic with Derek," Stiles grumbled as they walked into another store.
"Because he's a dude?" Scott asked.
"Not really, I could be romantic as fuck with you because we have some goofy things in common. It's hard because he's Derek. Derek is such an incredible fiancé, he's always got these amazing gifts and he's so giving and loving. He's not a gamer," Stiles ticked it off on his fingers, "He's not really a collector of things or movies. He barely collects movies and things."
"I think you're spinning about this a bit too much. Why don't you take him out to eat, maybe catch a movie and take a walk or something?"
Stiles nodded, thinking about it. "What about the present?"
"I don't know, dude, make him a mix tape!"
Stiles snorted, thinking about that for a minute. He did have a lot of music and Derek liked to listen to mixes on his phone when he went running. Maybe he could do something like that. Though Derek was pretty particular about a lot of his music.
"Are you actually considering making a mix tape?" Scott asked in surprise.
"Derek listens to music when he runs," Stiles shrugged and Scott nodded.
"Oh, well sounds good. Are we done then?"
Stiles rolled his eyes, "I want to get something for Derek here. The Valentine's candy is probably down to the dregs but there are caramels all the time, which as you know is Derek's favorite."
"Yeah yeah, yah sap," Scott snarked and they walked over to the candy aisle and Stiles found a good box of candy for Derek and a card that he could fill with all the romantic ramblings of a 'sap' so Derek could grin at him in that hopelessly 'in love' way that he had. Stiles loved that face.
Stiles paid for his gifts and they headed out of the store and Scott walked next to him through the mall. Stiles moved to stay even with his friend and asked, "Did you wanna talk about it? The thing with Kira?"
Scott shrugged and Stiles waited, used to finding the answers in the silence. They were pushing through the door when Scott finally answered, "She decided that she wanted to go and be with her family in New York. She missed them and she left, neither one of us wanted to play the long-distance game."
"Sorry man," Stiles whispered as they continued across the parking lot towards the Jeep. Stiles didn't know what else to say, he'd gone through the shitty break up thing with Malia and it wasn't fun. Stiles never imagined he would be getting married while his lady killer best friend was single. "You going to get back out there, might be some pretty ladies looking tonight for some new man."
"Not now, I'm still sore about Kira even though she had every right to walk away for her family, I don't want to jump back into something. Don't worry about me, I'm a big boy."
"I don't know if that's really true when it comes to love man, I think we are all little boys when it comes to handling heartbreak. Let us stomp our feet and cast the blame elsewhere to survive it."
"No blame to cast and not tantrums to throw, just going home to play some video games and listen to you ramble sometime soon about how happy Derek was with your mediocre romantic forays."
Stiles chuckled and shoved his friend to the other side of the jeep as they both got in and he took Scott home, they talked about movies and video games for the drive and Stiles waved his best friend off before he put the jeep in reverse and turned out of the driveway. Instead of turning towards the loft, he headed out of the center of town and towards the preserve, getting onto the access road that led to the Hale house and about fifteen minutes later he was pulling up in front of the new property. All the land had still been in Derek's name, so after tearing down the old place he started building about an acre or so away from the original plot.
Now it had a foundation, a ceiling and walls. It was a two-story building, and Stiles knew there was a state of the art kitchen, two and a half bathrooms and four bedrooms. There was also a den, another office and a basement, most of the rooms have their own closets though they are small in all except the master bedroom. Stiles knew all the interior walls and everything were in, Derek was just waiting for the summer for them to move into the house, but maybe Stiles could give them a little private time beforehand.
Stiles looked down at the key on his car key ring and started a to-do list in his phone before he left the lot in front of the house and headed back the way he'd come.
Derek opened the door to the loft, loosening his tie as he slid the door on its track and looked around, wondering where Stiles was. Usually his fiancé was by the door when he got home, just because everything always felt so important because they spent so much of their time away from each other currently.
"Stiles?" he called, though he didn't hear the human's heartbeat. Maybe he was still out with Scott, which he'd planned to do while Derek was at the morning shift at the station. Derek shrugged and turned towards the back of the loft and started taking off all his uniform pieces. He locked the gun in the safe that he purchased just for that reason after getting a lecture about not having one from his future father-in-law. Derek hadn't considered the possibility of getting hurt by it but he would heal, Stiles wouldn't and despite growing up with guns and his dad there was still a possibility. Stiles knew the combination, even had his own handgun just in case that he left here when he was at school because the campus had rules about that sort of thing.
After the gun was secured, Derek moved to the closet and hung up his jacket, catching sight of the piece of paper hanging on the preferred hanger and grabbed it as he took a deep breath of Stiles's scent that must have gotten caught in the closed space.
The note read: 'Hey Sourwolf, I need you to meet me at the Hale house. Happy Valentine's Day my love.'
Derek frowned, he hadn't been out to the property in weeks, mostly because he couldn't stand the idea of making the final decisions without Stiles and every time they went out there, Stiles smelled so sad. Derek knew it was because they were putting their life on hold for Stiles's school so Derek didn't push but maybe it was time to start creating the future they were both hoping for.
Though the Hale house had been built with the express intent of filling it with pack members and he didn't have any besides Stiles. Living in the big house all by himself didn't sound at all appealing. Derek shook off the reverie and rushed through the process of getting undressed then changed into some loose fitted jeans and one of his dark Henley's that Stiles loved. He pulled his shoes on and headed for the Camaro, taking off towards the property on the Preserve.
Derek made it there in about twenty minutes and saw the shimmering lights inside the downstairs front window, Stiles brought candles? Derek parked and turned off the car, reaching over to lift the gift from the passenger seat and walked up to the door.
"Stiles?" He called, listening to the sounds inside. Stiles was moving around in the living room and there was music playing. Derek walked towards the sound and find a blanket laid out in front of the fireplace that was contained and would create the heat and the glow of a fireplace but no real flames. It was dark now but, on the mantel, and the floor Stiles laid down small candles but they weren't real flames either, it was little lamp types things. Derek smiled at the thought of Stiles finding them at the store or somewhere and setting them all up. There was a picnic basket and Stiles's laptop was sitting off to the side of the blanket.
Stiles was standing next to the little display with his arms spread out in a 'ta-da' gesture. Derek smiled as he walked over to his fiancé and pressed a closed mouth kiss to Stiles's lips before asking, "What's all this?"
"This is a hopefully better Valentine's Day than last year. Someday we will have it on the 14th again but for now. This is our take two."
Derek smiled, "I told you at New Year's that I don't need a make up for last year but I am happy you're here and we're doing this."
Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek's shoulders in another quick hug, "Great. So, take a seat my good sir. I made some sandwiches for dinner, plus some of that potato salad you like from the market and I made some cookies."
"You made cookies? The loft didn't smell like cookies?"
"I made them at my dad's so it would be a surprise."
Derek smiled as he tugged Stiles in for another kiss before they settled down on the blanket. Stiles grabbed some pillows that had to be from the Stilinski house and gave them to Derek who leaned down on one while Stiles opened the basket and started dishing up the food. Stiles turned to raise the sound on the music that was filtering from his laptop and Derek listened to the sound of the cellos playing something that he sort of recognized but couldn't put his finger on the lyrics to recall the title. The cookies were salted caramel chocolate chip cookies and Derek was dying to try one. Derek wasn't really surprised that Stiles decided to bake cookies, it was something he'd learned to do growing up taking care of his dad and he'd figured out quickly that Derek wasn't the most trustworthy cook.
Derek was munching on the sandwich when Stiles handed him a CD case with one of those handwritten sheets on the inside. He opened it up but there was no disc inside. "What's this?"
"Well, I made you a playlist for Valentine's Day but its not like it was before when you could easily make a mix CD or tape for your sweet and they could take it on the go. So, I swiped your iPod and added it to your playlists under the title: For My SourWolf. This is just the list of songs."
With that knowledge, Derek listened to the music playing in the background. This one was 'I Lived' by OneRepublic, which was listed on the little handwritten sheet in his hand. Derek smiled and leaned over to press a long kiss to Stiles's lips. He would look at the rest later, listening to it now while they were lazily making out was pleasant and he wanted to eat the rest of his meal. After a few minutes, Derek leaned back again and bumped his nose into Stiles's cheek and went back to his meal, pressing the CD case closed and laying it down reverently.
"Thank you, Stiles, I'll use it on my morning runs."
"I hoped you would like it, I know its super cheesy."
"I like when you are super cheesy, now eat your sandwich otherwise I am going to eat those cookies without you."
"Challenged then!" Stiles exclaimed, biting into his food with vigor.
Derek grinned around another bite of his food then handed over the small package he'd shoved behind his back earlier when Stiles wasn't paying attention. Stiles caught sight of it and reached out to take it. "Happy Valentine's Day, Stiles. I'm afraid it's not quite as awesome as cookies and mix tapes but I hope you like it."
Stiles wiped his hand off on his pant leg and ripped through the paper and pulled out the box, lifting the lid and looking up at Derek for a second before he pulled out the book that was nestled inside the tissue paper. "Guide to Opening Your Untapped Potential?" Stiles asked, more confused than anything.
"I asked Deaton, he said it's a good place to start with the latent abilities you have. I didn't know if you wanted to do anything about it but this way you could say yes if you ever wanted to."
Stiles flipped open to the first page, looking at whatever was on the page while he slid a finger down the page. Derek listened as his heartbeat stayed steady but Stiles was so quiet and Derek didn't know what to think.
"I can take it back, get you something else?" Derek asked gently, reaching out to place his hand over the book but Stiles just stalled his reach and looked up. Stiles had moisture clinging to his lashes, too little to be scented as tears yet.
"Sometimes I forget what it's like to have someone believe in me, about things that I didn't even know I wanted to believe. I have Scott and my dad but sometimes its almost like it doesn't matter because they are 'required' to believe I can amount to something. With you though, it's like the air goes out of me and fills me up at the same time. You believe in me enough to give me something like this, so I can choose whether or not to do something about it."
Derek leaned closer and pressed a hand to the side of Stiles's neck, feeling and hearing the flutter of his heart. Derek pressed a kiss into his temple then his cheek and finally Stiles grabbed him in a kiss to Derek's lips. He smiled into the kiss, their teeth clanking a little before Stiles fit their lips together again and fed Derek the tip of his tongue for a deeper and wet kiss. Derek moved back after minutes of that, "You are everything to me. And you can do anything. We can do it together."
"Yeah, we can," Stiles grinned the words back at him and hugged the book to his chest, "Okay. Cookies, I got your caramels and a sappy card but nothing is ever going to be as sappy as you. I love it!"
Derek nodded, accepting the box and the card before they dug into the cookies. Derek watched happily while Stiles gorged on cookies, feeding Derek some as well, letting Derek nip his fingers gently while Stiles chuckled happily.
When they were getting everything cleaned up Derek looked around the dim interior of the place and looked back at Stiles, "I don't want to live here without you but I feel like I don't want to be stuck just because we're at a weird place in our relationship."
Stiles paused and looked at Derek, "What are you saying then?"
"I think we should spend every weekend you are home furnishing the place and move in over the summer and maybe, I can convince someone to move in with me while you continue school, have a packmate there with me."
Stiles hummed in agreement, "That sounds like a good idea Derek, and just think maybe I can find something online and be able to come home more."
"That's not going to be your go-to though, your education is important. If you can still get the education you want and need while being here with me then that's perfect but if not then I'm not going to let you in the front door."
Stiles mock gasped at the unfairness of that before he dropped to his knees in front of Derek and grinned, "I'm so happy to have you Sourwolf."
"I love you Mischief," Derek whispered into Stiles mouth seconds before pressing another hard kiss into his fiancé's lips, swallowing the laughing moan Stiles couldn't hold back.
For My Sourwolf
Derek, I wanted you to know that even when I am just searching itunes for music or listening to Pandora, I'm thinking of you. I am so glad we are together and that we had five years of mahem to get us here but now, I wouldn't trade the simplicity of our lives for anything.
Be safe and know that I am always with you.
~~ Love, Your Stiles.
Everything I Do (I Do it For You) by Bryan Adams
Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
Issues by Julia Michaels
Unconditionally by Katy Perry
I Lived by OneRepublic
Stand By Me by Bootstraps
I Asked the Moon by Selina Moon
I Want You Here by Plumb
Wolves by Selena Gomez & Marshmello
Zombie by The Cranberries
The Only Exception by Paramore
To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra
Somebody Loves You by Betty Who
Valentine's Day by LINKIN PARK
Shape of You by Ed Sheeran
Stripped by Depeche Mode
Higher Love by James Vincent McMorrow
We Found Love by Rihanna
They Only Knew by Alfie Arcuri
Trust by Boy Epic
Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding
We Found Love by 2CELLOS
Rewrite the Stars – Zac Efron and Zandaya from "The Greatest Showman"
Always by Panic! At the Disco
Beautiful Scars by Steven Curtis Chapman
Look After You by The Fray
Tangled Up in You by Staind
You Make Me Feel So Young by Frank Sinatra
In My Veins by Andrew Belle
Ships in the Night by Mat Kearney
4U by Blackbear
Here With Me by Susie Suh & Robot Koch