Hi guys, this is the last chapter of the story. I'm satisfied with it.

Btw, The bold sub-titles are starting from the lunch which was 3 months of time. So when the title says "One Month Ago" it means one month before the lunch that took place at the end of chapter 3.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

2 and a Half Months Ago

Stiles is having the time of his life right now. The sun is shining, the breeze is just right, and the best part is that it's high school graduation! He always knew he would make it to this place, but he wasn't sure about Scott or Isaac, luckily they're up on the stage with him. It's the best day ever.

And then suddenly it's not.

Scott and Isaac deliver some great news, "We're going to vet school next week."

"What?" Stiles' day took a turn for the worst. His friends are leaving him next week and they just decided to tell him?

Scott looks ashamed all of a sudden, "I'm sorry, Stiles. I wanted to tell you sooner I just didn't know the right time."

Guess he voiced his thought. Something to work on. "It's okay. I knew you guys were going to leave eventually, I didn't think it would be this soon though."

Isaac wraps Stiles into a big hug, pressing his cheek on his friend's head, "I'm gonna miss you, man." He gives Stiles a big squeeze. Stiles returns the hug just as strong.

"Don't leave me out." Scott says, joining the hug with a grin.

"Well you're not gone yet." Stiles says as he pulls out of the hug. "We still have a week to go insane."

The week breezes by and Stiles is already saying goodbye to the best guys he's ever met. He's really trying not to cry, but his eyes won't stop burning. The constant deep breaths are working in his favor to keep the tears at bay.

He gives them a hug and watches as their little red Honda speeds away into the sun-filled distance.

Now he allows the tears to fall, not being able to hold them back anymore. He's never felt more abandoned. He wraps his arms around himself and takes the short walk back to his empty house.

Over the next few days, he managed to talk to his boss about getting into book editing to get his mind off of Scott and Isaac. Somehow, despite his ADHD, he loves to read. Maybe helping someone else with their issues will help with his own?

Freelance book editing.

Turns out he's really good at it. The only problem is that he still found himself wanting to spiral out of control and to text his 3 friends like crazy. It's a vicious cycle that he really needs to break.

Derek has been no help in his loneliness. Sometimes Stiles would sit in his room and wonder if Derek even likes him. He finds himself starting every conversation with Derek, and even though it seemed like Derek was always happy to talk to him, there is always that doubt in the back of his mind that the older, cooler, tough guy only puts up with him.

On the bright side, things take a turn and Stiles becomes really busy with work and his editing. He knew it was merely a band-aid over his abandonment issues, but he doesn't see any other way to fix himself.

Stiles wakes up one morning and immediately gets on his Facebook page. He scrolls through all of the dumb posts on his newsfeed, liking a few random posts from Scott and Isaac along the way. He then comes across a shared post from a family friend. It's a video with the thumbnail of an overweight bald man in a suit in what looks to be a church. Stiles isn't one fro religion, but the added status of 'Watch this if you are having issues with your identity. Such a blessing.' really caught his attention. So he clicks the play button and the video starts.

It's best 20 minutes of his life at the moment. The preacher talks of being to do as opposed to doing to be. It's not as difficult to grasp as it sounds.

Stiles gets slapped across the face with this truth. "I am good enough, not because of what I do, but because of who I am."

One Month Later (A month before the lunch)

Ever since the message, Stiles has been feeling better about himself. As of right now, the 17 (soon to be 18) year old is standing front of his bathroom mirror. He didn't always like his pasty reflection, but the fact that he is starting to love his smile tells him that he's on the right track to loving it. He grins at himself like an idiot and gives himself a playful wink.

A ringing cuts through the silence.

Stiles lifts his iPhone out of his pocket and sees that his dad is calling. He answers, "Hey, dad. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, Stiles. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going out with Melissa tonight and will be home late."

Normally Stiles would be sad about not having any companionship, but he's become a master of solitude and in that mindset, he smiles. "That's awesome. Have a good time."

"Thanks, kid. Have good night, okay?"

"I will." Stiles says with a chuckle, "Alright, bye."

"Bye."

Stiles hangs up from the slightly awkward conversation, "Guess that's more food for me." He says as he walks down to the kitchen. He pulls the thawed out chicken breast from the fridge and a pack of frozen veggies and set them on the counter. Stiles has taken a liking to cooking over the last year to keep his dad healthy and alive. The last thing he needs is his old man croaking because of a bad diet. What a way for the Sheriff to go.

As he's pulling out the pots and pans, his phone rings. "What the hell?" He sets the pans on the stove and pulls his phone. "I am really freaking popular today."

He answers, "Hey, Derek, what's up?"

"Are you busy?" Derek asks, he sounds happy and quite nervous.

Stiles puts his phone on speaker and places it on the counter and moves to grab the cutting board. "Yeah, a little. Do you need something?" He opens the boneless chicken breasts and lays out four of them on the cutting board.

"Uh, yeah. I am thinking about doing something drastic and I need someone to talk to about it."

"Okay, man, come over. You remember where I live, right?"

"Yeah, it's been some time but I think I remember where it is."

Stiles seasons the chicken, "Awesome. I'm cooking so don't eat anything."

"Is your cooking edible?"

He hears Derek's stupid laugh over the phone and rolls his eyes. "Ha. Ha. Derek. Remember that it's you who called me."

"Okay true." He's still laughing, "I'll be over in a bit." He hangs up.

Stiles nods, sprinkling some lemon pepper over the chicken as he starts to sing some Rihanna song. Bad dancing commences.

For 20 minutes.

When the food is finally done and when he turns around to see Derek really trying hard to not laugh.

Stiles screams like the manliest woman ever. "Oh my god! How long have you been there? How did you get into my house?"

Derek cracks and his stupid laugh fills the room. He walks into the kitchen, one hand holding his stomach while the other is clutching a case of grape soda. "The door wasn't closed all the way. Luckily it was me that surprised you and not someone else. You could've killed someone with those dance moves." And Derek's laughing again.

Stiles rolls his eyes, "Whatever."

Derek puts the case on the sink and maneuvers around Stiles to look at the food on the stove. "Wow, this looks awesome." He turns to his friend, "How'd you know chicken and green beans was my favorite?"

"Wild guess." Stiles cheeses. "Now what did you wanna talk about?"

Derek leans over the pan of chicken and takes a deep breath, "This smells amazing."

Stiles grabs a soda and pops it open. "C'mon, tell me. I really wanna know now."

"What?" The older man turns back to his friend, "Is that your way of saying you didn't want to know before, cause I can go?" Derek chuckles.

Stiles whines. "Just tell me or I'll have to annoy it out of you."

Derek surrenders, "Okay, you win." He walks over the table and thanks God for Stiles when he puts a plate of food in front of him.

The boy sits across from him with his own plate. "Tell me what's going on."

"Brace yourself."

Stiles nods, "I'm braced. What is it?"

"I'm going to propose to Jennifer."

Stiles doesn't know what to emote. His thoughts are all over the place. On one hand, he's very happy for Derek and his happiness. He met Jennifer once and she was a nice lady, a beautiful elementary school teacher. She seemed like a great woman and she and Derek deserve to be happy. Everyone does.

But on the other hand, Stiles knows that married Derek will become an unavailable Derek. And when they have kids, Stiles will fall even further down the totem pole, and he isn't that high now.

Wait.

I am so I do, not I do to become. I am important, I just haven't found someone to treat me as such just yet. Why is he looking at me like that? ….Oh right.

Stiles breaks into a Cheshire cat smile, "That's freaking awesome, dude!" He shouts, getting up and giving his friend a congratulatory clap on the shoulder. "That's a big step."

Derek sighs in relief at Stiles' reaction. He feared that the boy wouldn't approve. He lets out a dazzling smile and the strange feeling in the air broke.

They go on to have a great dinner, sharing funny stories and actually making a bond.

Four hours pass and Stiles is freshly showered and writing in a pad on his bed. While he's happy for Derek and Jennifer, he's still kind of sad at the fact that he's always alone.

And now he's pouring his heart into a pad that hopefully will remain a secret. The last thing he wants is anyone finding out that Stiles Stilinski keeps a diary. He knows only Stefan can pull that off.

The bright side is that Stiles is starting to feel better. Maybe he'll be lucky enough to write an award-winning novel someday with this material.

The Lunch

Derek and Stiles are sitting across from each other in the homey diner.

"You know what I forgot to ask you a few weeks ago, when do you plan on asking Jennifer?" Stiles blurts out randomly while sipping on his strawberry shake.

The older man looks up from his plate of fries, "I don't know yet to be honest. We've been dating around 3 months and my family loves her which is always a good sign."

"Very true." Stiles smiles. "I say you gauge her reaction on marriage in general. See what she says. Do you already have the ring?"

Derek grins, "I do." He winks with a laugh, "I keep it locked up. I can be an air head sometimes."

Stiles laughs around his straw, a little of the shake dribbling down his chin. "Okay."

"So have you talked to Isaac or Scott lately?" Derek finished his last fry, "Damn, these were awesome." He comments.

Stiles shakes his head, "Nope. Not since they left."

Derek notices his face fall. "You are awesome."

"Huh?" Stiles is confused. "Why would you randomly say that?"

Derek pushes away the plate and looks Stiles in the eyes, "I have gotten to know you over the last few months, and I want to apologize for not being around as much. And don't give me that look, Stiles, I've been in your position before. I noticed your fake smile when I told you about Jennifer. Are you really happy for me?"

Stiles is shocked into a brief silence. He's caught off guard at the fact that Derek just read him like a book, and apparently has been since they met. "Of course I'm happy for you."

"Then why the fake smiles?"

Stiles puts his shake down and wipes his chin, "I am sad that you will marry Jennifer and won't have time for me. We barely hang out now, and with Scott and Isaac gone, I am feeling more alone than ever." He says smoothly, feeling good that is talking to someone tangible instead of writing in his journal.

Derek's heart is aching a little. "I'm sorry." He starts. "I've had a hand in making you feel like this, but I promise I'll do better with making time for you. I love you almost as much as I love Isaac. You guys are my best friends and just because I might be getting married to Jennifer, doesn't mean I'll throw you guys away."

"I know." He nods, "And thank you for saying that. I'm sorry for my insecurity. I've been working hard to heal, it just hasn't happened fully yet."

Derek smiles, "You're doing fine to me. But friendship is about give and take, so I'm going to give you someone to count on outside of your father. Okay"

Stiles nods. "Okay."

"Good, and we don't have to cross the Jennifer bridge just yet. She might not even say yes."

Stiles scoffs, "Yeah, right. She will totally say yes, you're a catch. Not to make this weird, but if I had lady parts, I would totally marry you."

Time stops.

"You would be the one to make this weird."

Derek and Stiles laugh.

That's it! This story is officially finished. I'm happy I actually did it.

Anyway, hopefully you liked this and got something out of it.

Thank you all for reading!