This is the second Valentine's Day after Derek and Stiles became friends instead of enemies. Last year, the goof-ball gave him a dozen red roses. AS A JOKE, he assured the wolf. But, after that, they started getting closer. And closer. By April, they were dating. By Independence Day, they were busy making their own "fireworks". At Thanksgiving, Derek asked Stiles to move in with him. They hosted the pack's annual Christmas Party in their new and improved apartment.
Now, it's Valentine's Day, and Derek knows without a shadow of a doubt that Stiles is going to propose. He stumbles upon the young boy's secret Pinterest account about a week ago- "Epic Proposal of Epic Proportions". It was about a thousand pins worth of Valentine's proposal inspiration.
Contrary to what the pack thinks, Derek is a total romantic. He was thrilled, and fell even deeper in love with the honey-eyed boy. He got increasingly excited as he counted down the days to February 14th.
On Valentine's morning, Derek wakes up fully expecting breakfast in bed with a ring hidden in his waffles. After 20 minutes of waiting, he realizes Stiles isn't coming. Walking into the kitchen, he realizes Stiles isn't even in the house.
Oh, well… Stiles is probably out finalizing some romantic lunch plans. Making sure the chef has a ring to put in the mashed potatoes or whatever, right? Right.
He opens the pantry to get the things he needs to make his own breakfast. He decides not to have toast after the toaster begins to smoke, and he has to unplug it before the whole house burns down. He gets out a frying pan instead. Derek fixes himself breakfast and sits down at the kitchen island to eat it. He's halfway through his eggs and bacon when Stiles opens the front door and romps into the kitchen.
He hits Derek in the face with a red rose and smacks a kiss on his cheek. "Happy Valentine's Day, babe!"
Derek grins from ear to ear- a genuine smile. "Happy Valentine's Day, Stiles."
The boy sits down on the stool beside him and pulls Derek's plate in front of him.
Derek growls, "Those are mine."
Stiles scrunches up his face and growls back. "Your intimidation techniques don't work on me, grumpybear." He shoves a whole piece of bacon in his mouth. "So," he mumbles around the crunchy pig, "where are you taking me today?"
Derek is thrown off guard. He thought Stiles had made the plans. "Where am I taking you?"
Stiles whines. "Yeah! It's Valentine's Day. You're supposed to plan something romantic!" He ducks his head. "Don't you love me, Derek?"
"Of course I love you! I just…"
"Didn't think to plan anything on our first Valentine's Day as a couple. Right. Babe, you're the romantic one. What's wrong with you?"
Derek blushes. "I thought that… you might want to plan something."
"I did plan something." Derek's heart quickens. "I planned on doing something you planned!" Derek's face falls. Stiles shoves another piece of bacon in his mouth. "Geesh, Derek. Way to ruin my day."
Derek whines. "You really didn't have any plans?"
"I made no plans for today."
The way Stiles emphasizes the word "today" makes something click in Derek's mind. Stiles didn't plan anything for today. He planned something for "tonight".
Derek decides to play along. "Let me make it up to you. You can choose anything you want to do today, and I'll do it with you."
"Anything?" Stiles' eyes are mischievous.
"Anything."
Cuddling on the couch all day long watching the full Star Wars series and eating barbecue corn chips was not quite what Derek had in mind.
At six o'clock, the doorbell rings. "I ordered pizza!" Stiles announces. He happily pays for it and sits the large box on the coffee table in front of Derek.
"Sourwolf, I've gotta pee. I'll be right back. DON'T OPEN THE PIZZA WITHOUT ME."
Derek patiently waits until Stiles gets back before he opens the box. He fully expects the pizza to be heart-shaped with the toppings spelling out the most important question of his life. Stiles skips back into the room and flings the lid open.
It's a normal pizza. Derek whines as Stiles bites into the first slice. "What's wrong?" Stiles asks around a mouthful of cheesy goodness. "Is that the slice you wanted?"
"No. It's… Nevermind."
At eleven o'clock, Stiles turns to Derek and yawns. "Well, I'm going to bed." He kisses Derek. "Come join me whenever you're ready."
Derek smiles and kisses Stiles. He feels giddy. He decides to give Stiles a few minutes to get things set up. He just knows that when he goes into the room, Stiles will be down on one knee with the ring. Or, maybe he'll be on the bed covered with nothing but rose petals. Or maybe when he walks in…
Stiles will be sound asleep, snoring, and face down in a small puddle of drool.
Derek walks over to the bed and sits down beside his boyfriend. "Stiles?," he asks cautiously. Nothing. Stiles is sound asleep. He looks at his pillow. No ring. Nothing. Derek's heart falters. His whole body sinks into itself. He feels like crying, but he's a werewolf and werewolves don't cry… often. He had gotten his hopes up just to be crushed. There are literally only minutes left until midnight. Until it's not Valentine's Day anymore.
Stiles isn't proposing. He doesn't love Derek as much as he thought he did. His life is over. Derek doesn't even bother changing his clothes. He just slunks down onto his side of the bed, curls into himself and puppy dog whimpers himself to sleep.
Derek wakes up to Stiles yelling at him. Well, not really yelling AT him. More like yelling FOR him. But, Derek is still in a horrible, heartbroken, dream-dashed mood, so he doesn't answer.
"DEEEERRREEKKK!"
Derek pulls his pillow over his head.
"DEREK! Something's wrong with the toaster! My bread's stuck in it and it's starting to spark."
Derek growls, "Just unplug it!"
"I did!" Stiles yells from the kitchen. "I think it has a life of its own. It's shaking across the countertop."
Derek waits for him to continue his stupid story. All he wants to do is go back to sleep and never wake up because he wanted to get married, and he's not getting married, and life isn't worth living, and just kill him, please.
"DEREK! I think it's possessed!"
Derek groans. He's going to have to get up, isn't he?
"Derek, I'm scared!," he whimpers. "I think it's trying to speak to me. There's a message burned into the toast! DER…" his voice cuts off with a gasp.
"Stiles?" No answer. Great. While Derek has been wallowing in self-pity, his boyfriend has just been killed by a demonic toaster oven.
He hurries into the kitchen and sees the charred bread lying on the countertop. There are indeed words burned into it.
"Living Room"
Derek cautiously peeks his head around the corner of the room and is met with…
A hand full of silk rose petals thrown in his face. Stiles, who is completely naked, doubles over and laughs as Derek spits a pink petal out of his mouth.
"What's going on?!"
With jazz hands, Stiles jumps to the side so Derek can see into the room. "TADA!"
There are literally over two hundred bags of original M&Ms ("Really, Derek, how can those be your favorite?" "Because it's chocolate. Just chocolate!") scattered over the living room floor. The festive white, red, and pink candies seem to have been sorted so the red ones spell out…
"Will you marry me, Derek?"
The werewolf stares. "What is this?"
"The most epic proposal EVER!"
"What?"
"Don't you like it?" Stiles asks.
"I was expecting roses, and balloons with pictures of us hanging from them, and romantic candle lit dinners with rings hidden in baked goods, and…"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I thought YOU'D do." Stiles laughs. "This… This is way more… ME! Don't you think?"
Derek laughs. "Yeah. Yeah, Stiles, this is definitely you."
"So?" Stiles, still very naked, bounces from one foot to the other.
"Yes, Stiles. I will marry you."
Stiles screeches and jumps into Derek's arms. "I love you so much!"
"I love you, too. More than you know." He kisses him when Stiles leans in. "But, why didn't you propose yesterday?"
Stiles bites his lip in laughter. "You really think I could afford to buy two hundred and thirty six bags of Valentine's M&Ms?"
Derek furrows his brows- confused.
"Today's National Half Price Candy Day!" Stiles giggles at the look on his future husband's face. "While you were asleep, I ran out and bought all the necessities. Only at half price! Candy, rose petals, candles, and five cans of Conversation Heart flavored…" Stiles leans into Derek's ear and lowers his voice to a sultry level, "whipped cream."
Stiles backs up and begins to moonwalk back into the bedroom- grabbing a can of whipped cream as he goes. "You know you want to."
"Yes, I want to. But first, I want my engagement ring," Derek holds out his hand.
Stiles shakes his naked hips. "Come and find it."
"Please don't let it be where I think it is." Derek groans.
Stiles smacks his hands over his bare bottom. "You dirty pervert! Why would I put it there?!"
"Because you knew that's a place I'd be sure to find it."
Stiles blushes. He turns and runs to the bedroom, shimmering as he goes.
Derek stares at the thoroughly washed ring on his finger as he lies beside Stiles under the warm covers. "How are we ever supposed to tell our kids how we got engaged?"
Stiles laughs with his whole body. "The same way we're going to tell my dad and the pack. We'll say that you found my not so secret dream engagement board on Pinterest, and proposed to me using those tried and true, romantic methods. I was thrilled and immediately said yes. You wanted me to have some input on the rings, though, so we're picking them out this afternoon."
"Why do we have to say that it was me who proposed?"
"Because no one would ever believe that I would propose in a normal way, and we've already established that we can't tell them the real way I 'cracked' the question."
Derek blushes. "It's 'popped' the question, and you know it!"
Stiles throws his head back and laughs. "I've heard it both ways." He kisses his fiancé. "The important thing, though, is that you said yes."
"I said yes."
They kiss each other and giggle like the lovebirds they are.