Author's Note: I do not own Teen Wolf or its characters. This is set in an alternate universe.

Ginger Cupcake with Green Tea Frosting

January was miserable. All right to be fair, just the weather in January was miserable; Derek himself was quite happy. Ever since New Year's Eve, Derek was pretty much walking on air. Admittedly, Stiles' kiss had led to an awkward conversation where Stiles hadn't quite apologized but he'd also made it clear that he hadn't wanted to pressure Derek into anything, but he really liked Derek. He wanted to see Derek was interested in maybe something more than friendship, and he totally understood if Derek wasn't ready to date again just yet, but he thought he'd throw the idea out there.

Derek had been nervous but willing to give it a try. He couldn't deny that he wanted to date Stiles, even if it scared him more than a little. And so far, it had been good. It helped that dating Stiles wasn't that much different than hanging out with Stiles; there was just more cuddling and hand holding and the occasional kiss or two. Everyone seemed pretty supportive so far, even if his sisters wouldn't stop teasing him. Quite honestly, Derek had been most worried about the sheriff's reaction to the fact that he was now dating Stiles, and in the end, he had been the one who was the most supportive. Of course, if Derek actually broke Stiles' heart, he had the feeling that Sheriff Stilinski might be his worst nightmare.

But so far things were wonderful, and Derek was feeling much more confident about having a relationship that wasn't going to backfire spectacularly. There were still days when Derek woke up sure that everything was going to fall apart on him, but those were few and far between. So it's not unexpected that a Saturday late in the month found him puttering around the kitchen baking on a while Stiles filled the room with his chatter and the wind and rain battered at the windows.

He was tackling ginger cupcakes, and the recipe was driving him crazy. The first batch, following the recipe exactly had barely tasted like ginger, and the second batch had been completely overpowering. Neither the third nor the fourth batches had turned out well either, and if this one didn't turn out, he was calling it quits for the day. Thankfully, he had mastered the green tea frosting that went with cupcakes. That at least was one thing that was going well.

With the cupcakes in the oven, there was nothing left to do except for clean up and wait for the baking to finish. His mother wandered into the room with a stack of mail.

"Something for you, Derek. Looks official." She handed him a thick envelope.

He frowned at it. A quick glance told him it was from Southern New Hampshire University, and he felt his stomach clench. It wasn't the first letter back he'd gotten from a college he'd applied to, but he'd yet to be accepted to any that really appealed to him. Texas wasn't exactly his cup of tea, and Derek rather thought he'd like to go some place other than California. He'd applied to all of the colleges that fit his criteria, but when he'd done his searching none of the schools really jumped out at him. There was one in Oregon that might be nice though and one in Alaska that might suit him. He really wasn't sure. He'd sort of been hoping that he'd only get one acceptance letter, and that would decide things for him.

"What's it say?" Stiles asked.

Derek scanned the pages. "I got in. And they're offering me a scholarship."

Stiles beamed at him. "That's great. Which school?"

"Southern New Hampshire."

"Huh."

The timer goes off, and Derek handed the letter to Stiles while he pulled the cupcakes out of the oven.

"How do they look?"

Derek smiled. "They look fine. I'm more worried about how they taste."

"Looks like a nice campus. And it's not in California or Texas." Stiles was fishing.

Derek just shrugged. "We'll see."

Stiles just shook his head. "You'll have to make a decision sometime."

"But not just yet. Here." He pressed a warm cupcake into Stiles' hands. "Tell me what you think."

Stiles bit into the cupcake and wrinkled his nose just slightly. "This is good. Not at all overpowering like before."

"Good. You can help me frost them then."

He handed Stiles a pastry bag. His boyfriend just grinned and squirted a dab on frosting onto Derek's nose. Derek wiped it off only to smeer the remains on Stiles' cheek. His boyfriend laughed and retaliated. Very few of the cupcakes actually get frosted and the kitchen is covered in frosting, but Derek doesn't mind a bit.