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Derek grabbed onto Stiles' elbow to prevent the other man from walking into a tree when they heard Scott call out to them from the house.

"But, Scott…" Stiles said, having regained his equilibrium.

"Call him."

Stiles frowned. "What? I can't howl."

"On the phone, Stiles," Sam said, shaking his head. "You both have phones."

Stiles shrugged. "It's not as cool as locating someone from a howl."

"Just text him," Derek said, turning back towards the lake.

"You are no fun," Stiles complained, pulling his phone out of his pocket and following behind Derek.

"I'm okay with being no fun if you don't have a concussion from walking into a tree."

"I haven't had a concussion in years. I bounce."

Derek growled at him.

"Stiles has always been trying to catch his body up to his brain. Made him a little uncoordinated."

Stiles turned around and glared at his father – grabbing onto Derek's shoulder to keep him moving in the right direction. "I take offense to that – I am more than capable of being coordinated. I managed to outrun any number of evil, supernatural creatures."

"I know – it still baffles me," Sam said with a shrug.

Stiles huffed and turned around to keep stomping through the trees. "You're both mean."

"You love them," Scott said, bounding out of a clump of trees and colliding with Stiles. "And you once broke your ankle when you tripped over a tiny, tiny honkey nut so I'm on their side."

Stiles took the skates off his shoulder and dumped them on Scott's. "For that, you're carrying the skates."

"I always carry the skates."

"Not until you because a creature of the night."

"It's my big strong muscles."

"You say like I don't have big, strong muscles."

"Of course you do," Derek said immediately.

Stiles grabbed Derek's wrist and pulled him to a stop. "Thank you for that wonderful lie."

Derek shrugged but kissed Stiles' back when the younger man stood up on his toes and initiated.

"Come on," Scott said. "The sooner you skate the sooner I get to eat."

"Eat what?" Derek asked. "We're making dinner not lunch."

Scott shrugged. "I brought a pizza from Dolce & Salato for lunch. We can heat it up as soon as we get back."

"Dude," Stiles said, groaning. "They make the best pizza."

"I got the ham and pepperoni one with olives. It was the last one they had last night."

"It's a good thing that Gina has a crush on you," Stiles said.

"We just finished breakfast." Derek pointed out.

"You must have eaten their pizza. There is never a point when you say no to that food."

"I have, Michael – Gina's father, is my second cousin."

"What?" Scott asked.

"Non-werewolf." Derek explained, as though that was enough.

"No!" Stiles said, slapping Derek on the shoulder. "You are telling us that you have an in with the best pizza in California and you haven't told us."

Derek shrugged. "We have nothing to do with the business."

"But their pizza."

"Yeah." Sam agreed with a low whistle. "It's good pizza – and Stiles doesn't complain when I eat it."

"Oh, God," Stiles said, shaking his head. "Thank God we're here so I don't need to think about the fact you never told me this huge fact. And two slices, Dad, that's it."

"Of course, Stiles," Sam said without conviction.

"I didn't know you even liked their pizza." Derek said.

"Everyone likes their pizza."

"They do," Scott said.

"Okay, so I know where to buy the food for your birthday."

Stiles smiled slowly up at Derek.

"You are so easy, Stiles. It's ridiculous." Scott groaned.

Stiles turned on Scott. "Oh, I have news – I'm moving in with Derek tomorrow. Will you come over and help me?"

"Sure," Scott looked at Derek. "About time."

Derek rolled his eyes and went to sit on one of the benches that he'd installed around the lake. Stiles bound over and sat next to him, unlacing his shoes to put on his skates.

Stiles laced the skates quickly, smiling at Derek as he stood and walked awkwardly to the ice. Derek looked down at his own skates quickly wanting to get out on the ice before Stiles hurt himself. When he looked up he paused, frozen, and then felt his jaw slacken.

"What…"

Stiles was gliding across the ice, feet sliding through the white surface elegantly. He dropped one foot and span down into a crouch, spinning swiftly, before he stood up and continued moving as though it had never been interrupted. He was beautiful, graceful and quiet, in a way he never was when he was on land. Derek didn't understand.

Derek jolted forward as someone slapped him on the back. Sam walked past Derek, laughing.

"What?" Derek asked again, turning to look at Scott.

Scott frowned at him. "You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

Derek turned when his knee was sprayed with a shower of ice. Stiles was standing on the edge of the lake, balanced comfortably on his skates.

"Come on, Derek."

"You can skate?"

"Of course I can skate. I won a figure skating competition when I was ten."

"What?" Derek looked past Stiles to Sam who was grinning at him smugly.

"I told you."

"No, you didn't."

Stiles stepped off the lake and sat next to Derek. "You're right, I probably never have. My mum was an ice skater. Went to the Olympics in Calgary in '88. She damaged her knee badly in the short programme at the National Championships in the following year. She taught me to skate because she loved it but I stopped skating competitively when she got sick."

"You're accident prone. I worry about you breaking your neck rushing down the verandah stairs."

Stiles laughed. "Wanna see me do a double lutz?"

Derek shrugged, confused but curious. "I suppose."

Stiles grinned and turned back out to the lake, skating around to gain up speed before he twisted his body around and came down with a smooth glide.

"I can't really do anything more impressive on ice like this," Stiles said, skating back over to Derek. "Are you coming out?"

"Yeah," Derek said, standing carefully and walking awkwardly towards the ice.

He had skated his whole life but it took him a while to get comfortable on the ice. He stepped out and skated slowly, shakily around the edge of the pond. Stiles skated over to him and fell in next to Derek. Derek had never felt less athletic than someone else before; but even gliding next to Stiles, Derek felt like a clumsy elephant attempting to ice skate.

"You don't need to skate with me," Derek said, watching Scott and Sam skate happily around on the other side of the water.

Stiles grabbed onto Derek's hand and twinned their fingers together. Derek looked down at the cold skin pressed against his.

"You didn't bring your gloves."

"Your fingers can keep mine warm. And I want to skate with you."

Derek smiled and tightened his fingers. He was starting to feel more confident on the ice. "You know, Laura always used to tease me because it would take me a while to get comfortable on the ice. She was always such a pain in my ass."

Stiles laughed. "I think I'd have liked her."

"She would have taken to you immediately."

"Nope, I'm yours."

Derek smiled to himself and tugged his hand from Stiles', pulling the man into a kiss. "Show me what else you can do."

Stiles grinned and pushed away, skating around the ice, circling around Scott and flicking the alpha's ear and then twisting and skating away.

Derek stopped and pulled out his mobile; putting the camera up to video Stiles spinning near his father and laughing. Stiles twisted up into another jump and then flew back towards Derek with a smile. Derek caught Stiles in his arms and kissed him, not thinking about Sam being so close for the first time since they had started dating.

/\\\