"Fuck," Stiles curses and runs his fingers through his hair as he paces the room. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Lydia eyes him worried and strides over to him and positions himself in his way which makes him look up all flustered. She tries a soothing smile.
"Calm down, Stiles," she says and runs her hand up and down Stiles' upper arm.
"I can't," Stiles says in a high-pitched voice and looks around the room.
"You're not getting cold feet, are you?" Lydia asks and reaches out for Stiles' hand. Stiles still looks around the room wildly.
"No… yes… I don't know. I don't think so."
"Phew, that was confusing," Lydia says as she rubs her thumb over the back of Stiles hand. "Better not be this nervous in front of the altar, right? Or you'll accidently say you don't wanna marry him."
That's when Stiles eye pop out of his head and he looks over at his friend all shocked.
"Oh my, I'm really going to marry him, am I?"
"Yes you are," Lydia says plainly and that somehow calms Stiles down. He lets himself fall back onto a chair and starts to breathe slowly for the first time in ten minutes. Lydia rests herself against the desk next to Stiles and again she reaches out to hold his hand. "You'll blow him away."
Stiles gives her a confused look.
"Oh dear," Lydia sighs and looks her friend up and down. "You look totally stunning in that tux, and I don't say that just to aufbauen you."
"No way, I bet Derek will look hot as hell. This is ridiculous," Stiles groans and buries his face in his hands.
"No, you are ridiculous if you think so," Lydia says impatiently and pushes herself off the edge of the table, looking down with that look that doesn't leave any space for discussions. "You'll now tie your bow tie and get your sweet little still fiancé ass down to take the pictures your dad desperately wants to have with you before you won't be his little kiddo ever again. I expect you to be down in five, Genim Stilinski." She heads for the door and turns around in the doorframe. "You got that?" She rests one hand on her hips as she waits for an answer.
"Right," Stiles says absent-mindedly.
He isn't quite sure what he does in the next five minutes but he definitely doesn't tie his bow tie. He isn't even sure how that works, even though he practiced it over and over and over again in the past few weeks. It's just that his fingers are trembling and he can't recount how this stupid piece of cloth is tied so he just gives up and goes downstairs.
His dad waits in the living room, all smiling and proud of him and Stiles doesn't even protests when he comes over and ties the bow tie. Instead, he hugs him midway, really tightly, because he is just so ridiculously glad to have a dad like him, so he tells him and he can't stop himself from getting emotional and a single tear of happiness and gratitude rolls down his cheek. When their embrace breaks apart, he can see that his dad's eyes are all shiny and watery, too.
Lydia sniffs. Stiles looks over at her and he can see wet stripes on her cheeks as she leaps forwards and embraces both Stiles and John.
"Don't cry, Lydia, I don't want you to ruin your make-up," Stiles whispers and then, Lydia laughs stifled.
"I don't care about my make-up," she says as she draws back and rubs her nose at the back of her hand. "I'm just… I'm just so happy for you, Stiles."
It brings a little smile to Stiles' face and he pulls her close again.
"Thanks for being there for me," he whispers into her strawberry-blonde hair. He would have liked to stay like this a little longer, but his dad clears his throat and looks at his watch pointedly.
"Not wanting to interrupt you, but I still wanna have some photos with my kiddo before he marries the big bad werewolf. Pardon. His big bad werewolf."
Lydia lets go off Stiles and turns around to fetch her camera while Stiles has to wipe away his tears.
"Man, I didn't know I could get all this emotional over this marriage," he sighs as he and his father position themselves next to each other and John places an arm around Stiles upper back.
"Well, this is your marriage, you're expected to be at least a bit emotional about it. After all, you decided to spend the rest of your life with that someone," his dad says and squeezes his arm. Stiles huffs a laugh and shakes his head.
"You're probably right," Stiles agrees.
"Cheese," Lydia says suddenly and the flash of the camera blinds Stiles for a few seconds.
"Geez, Lydia, you're supposed to warn us!" Stiles says half-heartedly angry.
"I just tried to capture the mood," she says as she lowers the cam and smiles at Stiles. "Another one, all smiley and happy, alright? On three."
The end up taking about 20 pictures because halfway through John noticed that Stiles bow tie still wasn't tied properly and so they have to hurry up when Scott knocks on the door to get Stiles and drive him to the church. Even though Scott was his best man, Stiles wanted Lydia to help him get dressed up and calmed down because he knew Scott would just have worsened his worries like… ten times.
"Dude, you look rad," Scott says appreciating when Stiles opens the door and examines his best friend. "How much did that tux cost you again?"
"Too much," Stiles laughs and disbelievingly shakes his head. Then his dad lays his hands onto his shoulders and grabs them softly.
"Better get going, son, you don't wanna be late on your special day, do you?"
Stiles turns around and he can't do other than smiling.
"Right," he says and looks at Lydia over the shoulder of his dad. She gives him a reassuring smile that warms his heart. "Alright, let's go," Stiles says and his heart flutters. He feels incredibly young as he goes down the steps of the front porch, his mind focused on not tripping over his own feet. Somehow, he reaches Scott's car without tumbling. He opens the door, but lingers for a moment and looks around his house, the neighborhood, at his dad and Lydia. They'll follow him and Scott in their own cars.
Scott whistles and Stiles looks around. His best friend jerks his head towards the car before he gets in, so Stiles can't do but obey. After all, he doesn't want to be late.
The drive to the church is awful. Stiles begins to worry again that maybe all of this is a huge joke at his expense, that they made all of this up and somehow convinced Derek to play the crucial part in this play, so he starts fidgeting and sweating and oh no he doesn't want to sweat because this damn tux cost him 250 $ and this was a whole lot of money for him and he doesn't want to ruin it all because he still can't believe that Derekfucking Hale is actually going to marry him.
"Calm down, buddy," Scott tries to sooth him, but it isn't really any help. But at least it's a nice day, Stiles thinks to himself. No rain, no storms, no hail or sleet or fog or something worse. Everything there is are occasional cute little fluffy clouds in the otherwise forget-me-not-blue sky and that's nice, isn't it?
Just then, Stiles thinks that he could have it a lot worse. For example, Derek couldn't like him and so he wouldn't be here marrying him in the first place. Or his dad could be against this marriage which would be really, really, really bad because… well, he was his dad and he needs him and if something as great as his love for Derek stood between them, it couldn't end well, could it? Or he couldn't have such amazing friends who supported him and Derek ever since they confessed their feeling for one another to them.
His life proved not to be so bad after all.
"Ready?" Scott's voice breaks through his thoughts and Stiles looks around at him with big eyes.
"No." There's silence for a few seconds before he swallows and nods. "Yes."
This is the moment. Stiles closes his eyes and breathes in and out a few times before he gets out of the car. Scott encircles the car and positions himself in front of his best friend. He puts his hands on Stiles shoulders just as his dad did earlier and looks at him urgently.
"You can do this, Stiles." In that moment, Lydia and John arrive on the parking lot. The walk up to the two of them and Lydia links arms with Scott.
"We better get inside, don't wanna let them wait, right?" She smiles at Stiles and gives him a kiss on the cheek and then pulls Scott inside. Stiles and John watch them until they vanished through the dark wooden doors. John holds out his arm and Stiles lays his hand onto it. He and Derek agreed on the plan to handle it like a traditional wedding where the father brings his daughter – in this case his son – to the altar and since Derek's only living relatives were is younger sister and his psychic uncle, it had been clear that it would be Stiles and his father to do this part.
"Don't forget to breathe," his dad tells him as they get going. They reach the front door and John opens and holds it open for Stiles. There's another door after this, but with doors of glass, and Erica and Boyd stand beside them and pull them open as father and son approach them.
Overwhelming. There is no other word for it. The soft classic music in the background that's not The Wedding March, all those thousands petals that cover the floor, how cheesy that may be, all the eager faces that are turned at him and most of all Derek.
Stiles fears his legs will turn into pudding and give away, but he holds onto the strong arm of his dad, his hero, the best man there will ever be on earth, and puts one foot in front of the other.
He takes in only very few of the faces. Lydia, for one. Or Cora. Or his grandma who's really old but still managed to get onto a plane and get here for his wedding and who was totally okay with him being in love with a man, which was the coolest thing of all. She smiles at him, her face all wrinkled and soft and he can't do anything but feel happy and smile back and probably look all dorky but he doesn't care. This was his day.
And suddenly, they reach the steps to the altar, and Stiles looks up at Derek, and Scott, and back at Derek and he and his dad go up the two steps and his dad lays his hands into Derek's, the warm, soft hand of Derek which sends a shiver down Stiles spine, but the look in Derek's eyes makes his knees weak again. Every other things doesn't matter, it was just him and Derek and it would always be. A small smile tugs at the corner of Derek's mouth and his eyes go softer, no idea how this is even possible.
The priest doesn't grudge them a moment of drowning-in-each-others-eyes, which Stiles secretly thanks him for, before he starts with his speech.
Stiles doesn't know what the priest is talking about, but honestly, he doesn't care. All that matters is that Derek stands here before him.
"Now, repeat after me," the priest continues. "I, Derek Hale…"
"I, Derek Hale…"
"Take you, Genim Stilinski…"
"Take you, Genim Stilinski…"
"To be my husband."
"To be my husband."
"I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad…"
"I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad…"
"In sickness and in health…"
"In sickness and in health…"
"I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."
Derek doesn't take his gaze off Stiles as he says "I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."
Stiles then repeats the same words.
"I will love you and honor you all the days of my life." His voice trembles and he hates himself for it, but just then, the brightest smiles ever stretches across Derek face and the older man doesn't wait for the changing of the rings or for the priest to say "You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has joined, men must not divide. Amen", he just leans forwards and cups Stiles' cheeks and kisses him.
Cheers erupt among the guests and Stiles smiles into the kiss. So this is what love feels like.
The party afterwards is crazy and the presents even more.
His grandma got him a book called "How to be a good husband" and some of the advices Stiles reads as he flicks through the book make him laugh really hard. His grandma then makes sure to drill it into his grandchild to share this book with Derek 'because you're both husbands, right?'.
Lydia gets him and Derek a set for bondage plays and Derek gives her a really offended look when she states that Stiles should try to use it on Derek first and Stiles can't help to feel really embarrassed because his dad stands right next to him.
It gets even weirder when he finds out that his dad bought the exact same kit for them. Stiles turns around at his dad.
"Seriously, Dad?"
"I know it works," John simply says and shrugs his shoulders.
"Eugh, I don't want to know what you did in bed with Mom!" That makes Derek laugh and he pulls Stiles close and places a kiss on Stiles' temple.
"I meant…"
"I don't care what you meant," Stiles says, still embarrassed, turning towards the next present. "Just ew."
The other presents are more useful. Melissa got them two nice pairs of beddings ("A cool one for summer and a warm, soft one for winter"), Allison the long needed set of knifes Stiles noted more than once he needs for making a proper meal, and Erica, Boyd and Isaac even get them a TV ("About time you get one, you can't always watch movies on Netflix."). Cora contributes the DVD player plus several DVD's and Scott got them plane tickets for New York (mostly because Stiles told him how often Derek talked about it and that he wanted to go back there at least once). The other presents are smaller and mostly money, but hey, that's good, isn't it?
The party goes on for several hours, everyone's in a good mood, John dances with Melissa and even the drag queens Stiles met so many years ago turn up after he called them.
But eventually, Stiles and Derek desperately need some time alone. The bedroom-eyes Derek give him while dancing should be illegal 'cause they don't help curbing his fantasies, let alone his more than visible hard on. Stiles' skin heats up and he's more than aware that there are a lot of werewolves in the room who can smell exactly what's going on so after some minutes of really heated and obscene kissing, Stiles grabs Derek by the collar of his smoking and drags him outside. The cool spring night air cools their skins but even before the door closed behind them, Derek shoves Stiles up against a wall, pins him against it with his body and there's no mistaking in how desperately they both want it, need it.
"Fuck, Derek," Stiles whines as Derek places a line of kisses down his jaw and neck.
"You look so good," Derek moans into Stiles' neck and his hot breath gives Stiles goose bumps.
Stiles fidgets with Derek's shirt until he pulls it out of Derek's pants and gets his fingers onto Derek's skin. The touch makes them both shudder with longing.
"We should… holymotherofgod," Stiles cries as Derek bites the thin, vulnerable skin of his neck. "We should… get to the hotel."
"Pr'bly," Derek slurs and bites Stiles' neck again.
They don't get any further than Derek's car.
