Author's Note: I do not own Teen Wolf or its characters.

Running Down Romance

Generally speaking, Derek was not one for grand romantic gestures. He showed his affection in his everyday interactions with the people he cared about. His and Stiles' dates were more about the two of them enjoying themselves than anything else. They would probably never be one of those couples that were talked about being "so romantic", but they made one another happy and that was good enough for Derek.

However, this past year had not been a good one for the couple. In between Stiles completing his degree and several internships that provided him with connections and valuable experience, he hadn't been in Beacon Hills much. And when he had been home, it hadn't exactly been fun and games. John had been shot in the arm by a petty thief early last year, and while in the hospital, he'd developed complications. The sheriff had been fine in the end, but it had been a month of trips to the hospital and a panicking Stiles who never dealt with medical things well.

The pack had had a number of their own minor crises as well with everything from Allison and Isaac having a major blow up and most of the pack members taking sides to a couple of the worst supernatural threats that Beacon Hills had faced in years. A lot of Derek and Stiles' plans had been canceled or pushed back because of it, and while they might have been "together" during that time, they had spent most of it physically apart.

But Stiles had finally moved back to Beacon Hills two weeks ago and was settling into his new job. That had been crazy in its own right, and Derek hadn't seen Stiles nearly as much as he'd liked. Stiles hadn't even had a chance to unpack. So Derek wanted to do something special for Valentine's Day to make up for all that they had missed in the past year. And besides, he did have a couple of special surprises for Stiles. The house Derek was having built for them had been completed ahead of schedule, and he'd managed to track down a lead on the perfect gift.

So despite the fact that romantic gestures weren't Derek's forte, he set to work putting together something special for his boyfriend

As happy he was to be home, Stiles wished it was a little less chaotic. He'd been hoping to come home and settle into life with his boyfriend before everything got crazy again. Unfortunately for Stiles, his new job as Special Collections Librarian at Beacon Hills University came with its fair share of drama. Besides all of the regular bureaucratic nonsense that came with starting a new job, there was the fact that the only way the university had gotten rid of his predecessor was the man dying and no one seemed to know how the man was running his department or where anything was. It was a complete mess, and it was left Stiles to sort it all out.

So while he had gotten a brief reunion with his boyfriend when he first arrived back in town, Stiles had not gotten to spend nearly enough time with his boyfriend. Hell, he hadn't even unpacked. He was living out of suitcases in his dad's spare room. However, when he was done with work tonight, Stiles had a three day weekend thanks to President's Day, and he planned on spending every minute with Derek. However, that didn't exactly make up for having to work on Valentine's Day.

And the morning wasn't exactly off to an auspicious start. Stiles had overslept his alarm, and there hadn't been time for breakfast or even coffee before he headed out the door. Thankfully, his trusty jeep was still running thanks to Derek's hard work, so at least he didn't have to worry about transportation to work.

With his luck so far today, he would end up walking to work. Though it was a bit odd when Stiles turned on the jeep, the stereo came on with a cd he knew he hadn't stuck in there. Not it was bad music, just not what he'd expected. It appeared to be mostly love songs, and Stiles found his mood much improved by the time he reached the university.

What put him in an even better mood was the sight on his desk when he arrived at his office in the bowels of the university's library. When Stiles had left work last night, his desk had been a haphazard mess of papers. Now they were all neatly piled on one side of his desk. But in the middle of his desk, there was a gift basket packed full of a pair of mugs, hot chocolate mixes, coffee, marshmallows, and even several tins of British teas. What Stiles couldn't find was a note or a card of any sort.

Still, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and the library staff room had a nice electric tea kettle. So in no time he had a cup of hot chocolate to keep him going while he got down to business. The librarian before him had kept everything organized, but it was by some system that none of the staff could figure out. Not to mention he'd never added anything to the online catalog. Stiles was basically having to reorganize the entire archive while creating computer records for each item. Not that he minded exactly. By the time he was done, he was going to know the collection very well, and given that he had plans of turning this particular special collections archive into the foremost collection of supernatural resources on the West Coast, it was a good way of finding out if there was anything interesting already in here. Knowing Beacon Hills, you could never tell what you might find.

So armed with his hot chocolate, Stiles wades back into the bowels of the library's archives to get back to work. He had assistants to help with the computer work, but most of it fell to Stiles alone. Still it wasn't the worst job and there were days when he found some real gems. It was easy to get caught up in the tomes and curious old papers that made up the collection, and Stiles didn't even notice it was lunch time until his stomach started making distressed noises. That was the sign to pack up for at least long enough to grab a bite to eat. The campus had one decent coffee shop where he'd been getting lunch most days.

However, when Stiles made his way back to his office, he found Scott waiting for him with the smell of curly fries rising out of the bag in his hand.

"You are a lifesaver, Scott."

His best friend laughed. "I'm just the delivery service. Derek was planning on bring it himself, but something came up."

Stiles smiled. "Thanks, Scotty."

Scott handed over the bag, "Your drink and the rest is on your desk. I've got to run. Kira's present should be ready to pick up."

He waved goodbye and was out the door. Stiles just shook his head and sat down to unpack his lunch with a smile. The meal was one of his favorites from the local diner. There was a bacon cheeseburger, curly fries, a Mexican coke, and a bakery box Stiles hadn't opened yet. It's a fantastic lunch, even if his boyfriend isn't here to share it with him, and Stiles appreciated the thought. After polishing off the burger and fries, Stiles turned his attention to the bakery box. Carefully lifting the lid, Stiles grinned at the cupcake inside complete with a chocolate heart on top.

With the delicious meal inside him, Stiles once again fortified to face the archives. Stiles took comfort in the fact that he was actually making progress even if it was slow. He'd been on the job for about two weeks, and about a quarter of the archives were now in a state where someone could find what they were looking for. And so far, Stiles had also found a grimoire and a treatise on fresh water mermaids, so it wasn't all in vain.

By the time that Stiles finally was able to pull himself away from his work, it was dark outside. Sighing, Stiles made his way to the jeep. He'd been hoping to get out of here before now. Hopefully, Derek already had a plan for dinner that didn't involve eating out. He didn't really feel up to dealing with anyone else other than Derek tonight. A quiet evening in with his boyfriend sounded about right.

Blinking, he stopped short, staring at the jeep. There was a bouquet of red, yellow, and orange tulips tucked under one of his windshield wipers. Bemused, Stiles carefully retrieved the flowers and found a card tucked in the center of them. Derek was certainly going all out this year. Chocolates, dinner out, great sex were far more common most of the time. He frowned a little when he read the card. He didn't recognize the address right off the bat, and Derek didn't exactly provide an explanation. If it weren't for the fact that he recognized Derek's handwriting, he'd think someone was pranking him.

But the handwriting was familiar and Stiles figured that his boyfriend was up to something. And it wasn't like the address was some old abandoned warehouse. In fact, Stiles was pretty sure it was familiar even if he couldn't think of why right now. So instead of heading straight to Derek's, Stiles headed in a different direction. It quickly became clear why the address had been familiar, it was in the neighborhood on the edge of town where Derek was having their place built.

He wasn't expecting to pull up in front of a fully built house though. The last he'd heard from Derek the house wasn't supposed to be finished for another month. But there was light spilling from the windows and Derek standing silhouetted in the door way. Stiles collected his things and met him on the front porch.

"So, this is a surprise. When did this happen?"

Derek leaned in to kiss him before drawing Stiles inside. "A few weeks ago. I've been slowing moving things in, but we still have a lot we need. But there's dinner and a bed."

Stiles laughed. "Give me the grand tour then. The last time I was here there weren't any real walls."

While he had helped Derek plan the house, Stiles really hadn't had a good idea of what the finished product would be like. Though he couldn't exactly call it finished yet with furniture and décor missing in most of the rooms. But Derek had the kitchen mostly together, and he had started filling the library, though even with Derek's own extensive collection, the shelves looked a little bare. Then again, they had designed it to be able to handle two bibliophiles.

The tour culminated with the dining room. A pleased little smile curled around Derek's lips as Stiles took in the dining table set with napkins and candles and soft music playing on the stereo. Stiles leaned into Derek's side.

"You've certainly gone out of your way tonight. I take it you're responsible for all the goodies that came my way today?"

Derek just shrugged. "I've missed you."

"Me too. So, what's for dinner, Sourwolf?"

Mac and cheese wasn't exactly a fancy romantic meal, but Stiles was more than happy with it. He didn't mind the romancing, but what really made him feel at home was the company. He didn't think that he and Derek had really had a more than a few moments alone together the first couple of nights after Stiles had arrived back in Beacon Hills. He had definitely needed this even if he hadn't realized it until now.

Once the food was gone, Stiles leaned back in his seat. "So what's next? Dessert?"

Derek smiled at him and started collecting their dishes. "Not quite yet. Let me get this cleaned up and then I have something for you."

Stiles just shook his head, even as he started to help clean up. "You didn't have to get me anything. Today has been far more than I ever expected."

Derek smiled at him and shrugged. "We've spent the past year barely seeing one another and snatching whatever moments we could together. I wanted to do something special because of that. Besides, the gift is really for the both of us."

He wouldn't say anything more about it though until they were back in the living room. Well, it would be the living room when it was fully furnished. Right now there was just the old couch that Scott and Stiles had insisted on Derek getting back when most of the pack was in college.

"Sit down and close your eyes," Derek instructed. "I'll be right back."

Stiles rolled his eyes but he did as Derek asked. Moments later something heavy was set on his lap. And then a rough tongue swiped at his cheek and his eyes flew open. Seated in his lap was a white puff ball with big dark eyes.

"She's a Samoyed. You kept talking about how you always wanted a dog when you had a place of your own, and the owner was sort of desperate to find a home for her since she'd already sold the rest of the puppies and-"

Stiles cut off his boyfriend's nervous rambling with a kiss. "Thank you. What's her name?"

"She doesn't have one. I figured you'd want to name her."

Stiles scritched the puppies ears. "I'll have to come up with something good then."

Derek leaned back against the back of the couch and watched his boyfriend cuddle their new puppy. He'd say that the day had been a success. Stiles looked happy and content, and after weeks of him looking harried and exhausted whenever Derek saw him, that was what Derek had wanted.

He was a little bit startled when Stiles groped for something in his pocket. Stiles grinned at him.

"So I wasn't actually planning on doing this tonight, but you've set it up so perfectly. The plan was to wait for an opportune moment, and this seems like it. I know that we haven't had the easiest year, but even so I've been glad that you've stuck with me. Hopefully, things will calm down, but even if they don't, I know I want you by my side. Besides, we've already got a house and dog, we might as well get the third thing out of the way. Derek Hale, will you marry me?"

Stiles held out a silver ring decorated with a triskele, his eyes bright and hopeful. Derek blinked and reached out for the ring.

"Yes."

Their puppy barked, and Stiles laughed, sliding the ring onto Derek's finger before leaning in to kiss him. When they finally broke apart, Derek rest his forehead against Stiles' and smiled.