His Choice

Stiles paced the clearing in the woods where he'd told Malia, Lydia, and Derek to meet him. To say he was nervous was an understatement. He felt like he could puke…okay he might have already done that at home before he left.

When the three showed up (Lydia showing up early, of course, followed by Derek who was exactly on time, and then Malia was a minute late) Stiles took a deep breath. "Wow, I feel like I'm on the world's weirdest season of The Bachelor." He laughed but no one else did. Lydia raised an eyebrow, clearly not amused with the joke, Derek kept his face stone, and Malia looked confused, probably because she didn't know what that show even was. Of all the hours of Netflix Stiles had the girl watch, The Bachelor wasn't high on his priority list. "Okay, so, um, I kind of made a decision."

"Kind of?" Malia raised an eyebrow and Stile could swear he saw the Hale genes in her. "Is this like the time you said you kind of decided what you wanted from Taco Bell and came back with one of every kind of burrito they made?"

Stiles couldn't help but laugh a little. "No, I won't force you guys into some four-way relationship. I'm not into incest and I'm sure Lydia and Derek would murder each other if not me." He looked down at his hands. "I made a real decision, but I want to explain it, if that's okay? And I still want my friends. Before all of this, I only had Scott. I mean, I love Scott, but having all of you…it means the world to me. I never knew what friendship could be until you all shared it's magic with me." He looked up with a smile.

Lydia suppressed her laugh with an eye roll. "Stiles, stop quoting My Little Pony and tell us what you decided. No one is going to be mad at you. Well, I will if you throw in a curve ball and decide to date Greenburg, but really that's the only outcome that could warrant any anger." She looked down at her fingernails, realizing that she needed to re-paint them.

"Okay." Stiles looked to Malia. "Malia, you're new to the pack. Hell, you're still kind of new to the whole human thing. And I don't think it's right for me to hold you back. You need to learn who you are and I don't know how you can do that when you're a part of me. You know what I mean? I love you, I'll always love you. You'll always be my first girlfriend. You'll always be my first for a lot of things." The two shared a smirk as tears gathered in their eyes. "But you need to find your place in the pack that's not just 'Stiles' girlfriend' you know? Everyone loves you for you, not just for your connection to me, but I think you need to figure that out on your own. You are always saying that you wouldn't leave me behind, but I think you need to learn to not leave the pack behind."

Malia wiped her face, the tears feeling as foreign as the ripping feeling in her chest. "I love you Stiles. I wouldn't have made it this far without you. Maybe you're right. Just…promise me, that you won't stop letting me come over for human lessons. We aren't finished with Penny Dreadful yet." She managed a smile.

"Of course." Stiles stepped forward and gave Malia a hug.

Next Stiles turned to Lydia, who started shaking her head and trying to keep the tears from falling. "Alright, Stiles, let's hear it."

He smiled. "You always were so smart. It's why I've loved you the longest."

She nodded. "But loving me for so long is why you aren't in love with me now. Right?" She crossed her arms over her chest. She had come so far, opening up to Stiles and Scott who she held so dear to her now after all they had been through together. But now she felt so vulnerable all over again. It was worse than Jackson leaving her.

"Yeah, I mean we couldn't be a couple before because we had to be friends first but then…I don't know, I think we waited too long? You, Scott, and I have been through so much Lydia. We have watched so many of our friends come and go since sophomore year. We've fought each other, fought together, grieved together, and somehow created this family." He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head, an action that felt familiar and right. "You're going to make advances in science and mathematics. You're going to do great things and you'll mention me in all your thank you speeches and…Lydia we're the kind of friends that have to last. Our friendship has too much shared PTSD." He smiled a bit. "And I'll always need you to stop the panic attacks."

Lydia looked up at Stiles and ran her hands over his shirt, smoothing out the wrinkles. "And I'll always need a partner in crime who is too worried about me." She smiled, trying to keep her tears in. "No one deserves you Stiles."

"Says the girl who has broken my heart one hundred times." He scoffed.

"Well, you've shattered mine." Lydia smiled as a single tear fell down her left cheek, then she stood on her toes to peck a kiss on Stiles. "Of all your idiotic plans, I've got say…" She cleared her throat. "I've got to say this is probably the best one you've had in a while, even if I hate it. There are casualties but…as long as it's a victory in the end, I guess I can't argue."

Stiles laughed. "I love you Lydia."

She looked up at him one last time. "I should have snagged you in third grade when I had the chance." Then she stepped back, turning to Derek. "I'm a banshee. That means I can predict death. But I'm also a scientist of sorts, which means I can be the cause of it too. Don't be stupid." She wiped the tear from her face and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Come on Malia, I'll teach you how humans get over heart break."

"Do we break things?" Malia asked hopefully.

"We can. But mostly it's a lot of junk food." Lydia looped her arm around Malia's, much like she had done to a dark brunette her sophomore year when things had been simple and she barely cared for her feelings towards Stiles, and the two walked off together.

Stiles turned to Derek. "I don't choose you either."

Derek felt his head collapse. "What?"

Cracking a smile Stiles took Derek's hand. "I'm just kidding, but I didn't want you getting all smug." He looked down at their hands being held together. "There are so many reasons why I shouldn't choose you. But the truth is, we've always had each other's backs. Even when we hated each other we were saving each other. That has to mean something. And you knew what I needed. You didn't try to convince me, you just took care of me. I know that I can take care of you too, hell I've held you up in a pool for hours." He smiled. "I mean, I'm not sure how we're going to do this, and I'm sure we'll catch hell for it…I mean, come on! You're a werewolf! You're older than me, do we even know how much older you are than me? Because I feel like that hasn't really been discussed. And you like to disappear sometimes, which you shouldn't do! And I've accused you of murder, which is even more complicated when you realize my dad…"

"Stiles." Derek growled and shoved Stiles against a nearby tree. "Shut up."

"Yeah, shutting up, I can do that. Shutting up right now. I'm…" He was cut off when Derek's lips touched his. "So when do we get to go on that real first date?" Stiles inquired after his mind regained it's functioning processes from the mind blowing kiss with Derek Hale, his boyfriend Derek Hale.

Derek took a step back and held out his hand. "Right now."

Stiles took Derek's hand and the two began to walk off. "I bet violence is going to be involved in this somehow. Because, really, do you even know how to plan a date? When was the last time you ever had to? I would put money on it that…" Stiles' ramblings died off at Derek's laugh, something he didn't get to hear enough. "What?"
"You really want to bet on my date planning skills?" He raised an eyebrow. "Do I hear a dollar?"

Shoving him, Stiles tried not to laugh. "Shut up."

"Or what?" Derek challenged.

"I'll rip your throat out with my teeth." Stiles tried to sound threatening but just as he went to bite his teeth at Derek he tripped and started to flail to the ground. After hitting the ground he looked back up to see Derek grinning over him. "Really? You aren't even going to try to catch me now that we're dating?"

Derek shook his head before practically pouncing on Stiles, lying on top of the guy on the ground. "Nope, nothing will change except I can now use the opportunity to do this." He leaned down for a kiss, his tongue invading Stiles' mouth.

"Yeah, okay, I can live with that." Stiles had never been more glad he'd entered himself into a bidding…it's all for charity anyways, right?

/Hello! So it has been an especially long time for this ending! I wrote several alternative endings for this but finally decided to stay true to my promise and went with the voting going on in the reviews and...Sterek won among those reading this. Sorry to those who voted otherwise. And if that upsets you, please leave your upset comments to yourself. If you want to read the alternative endings I wrote then I wouldn't be opposed to that, just ask :) Anyways, I hope you guys like this! And so sorry for the wait!