Chapter Text
“I’m serious, Baby Bro, if you don’t trust him he won’t show you the right things, you hear me?” Laura’s advice hadn’t been asked for, and Derek wasn’t surprised that she was giving it anyway. He was hellaciously tempted to rip his Bluetooth out and never put it in again for fear his sister might call, but he kept himself focused instead, unpacking the new dishes, their new dishes, and putting them away in their cabinets.
“Yeah, Lo, I hear ya.” He was pretty sure she could hear the sound of his eyes rolling. “It’s not about me though, it’s about him. He barely made it out of junior year. Now he’s in college and the market for that kind of thing is so huge here… He won’t be able to party with his friends like he wants and you know what it’s like… once you think a little is okay you forget the difference between a little and a lot. He’s come so far.”
“Have you talked to him about it?”
“I’ve tried but he keeps freezing me-“ The sound of the front door opening had Derek peeking over the counter top. It was their dog coming through the dog door. “He keeps freezing me out. I took advanced placement. I made sure we could graduate together. Begged mom for so I could actually move out to Berkley with him so we could go to school together. It’s not just about him anymore, he’s always going to be in recovery, it never ends, but he’s self-sufficient. I have to worry about me too.”
“You’re right, Kid. Just make sure you keep it all honest. Don’t say anything about him to me you wouldn’t say to his face. He loves you, he deserves your honesty. And letting him know he can’t fuck up will keep him on his toes anyway. You both had a huge journey and you’ve been in his place before too so you know firsthand what you have to do. You guys are good for each other, it is worth holding onto. But I have to go, Der, lunch is over and lawyers never really leave the office.”
Laura hung up the phone without Derek getting a word in edge wise and left him sitting on the small kitchen floor surrounded by boxes. Stiles was out at the local grocers picking up supplies and stuff the fill the fridge. Derek was worried for him, hell, Derek was always worried for him. It had been two solid year since that night Stiles had almost died and then came back to Beacon Hills High a completely different person. He had looked like hell, and then he’d had his panic attack and Derek had taken care of him and it was the beginning of their friendship. Scott had been expelled and Stiles had nearly been sent to boarding school if it hadn’t been for Derek adamantly explaining to the Sheriff “call me John, Son.” Explaining to John what had happened. He had looked at Derek as he stood there, shorter back then, only about 5’9, wringing his hands and twisting back and forth with tears in his eyes. He looked at Derek like he found something that would stop him from prematurely greying. Derek was there nearly all the time after that. He was there for Stiles a week later when they discharged him from the hospital after they stopped the small bit of internal bleeding that needed to be monitored. He’d spent every night with him. He slept on the couch at the Stilinski house until his mom threatened to ban him if he didn’t start sleeping at home.
He took a series of moderately difficult placement tests to graduate with Stiles and went through several break ups and relapses on both of their parts because love makes you do stupid fucking things. He broke Scott’s heart more than once and Stiles had pushed Jackson to the point of a suicide attempt for playing with his emotions so severely, no one having had guessed that Jackson loved Stiles that much. They went to NA meetings together, stayed sober together. Derek didn’t have room for anyone else in his heart besides his Stiles. He had evolved so much from that broken man with the shaved head and pale skin that walked into the cafeteria when he was sixteen. Stiles had filled out, grown his hair out into a sexy frumpy look and kept his face slightly fuzzy most of the time.
The sun had tanned him out and made him look like a true Californian. Derek loved the way he looked just as much as he loved him. He had one of the sexiest fiancés a man could ask for. Derek himself wasn’t doing too badly either. His senior year was good to him, with the help of track and basketball too. He grew a stark five inches over the school year and gained more muscle than he knew what to do with. He developed some coordination too. Stiles was more than happy, especially in the beginning. He’d sometimes just look at the muscle on Derek and get this lazy slow smirk across his face like a cat staring at a mouse when the mouse wasn’t expecting it, and then he’d pounce. And Stiles did pounce. Derek hadn’t walked right for a week after their first time, of course now Stile’s looked at him more like his own person furnace, equipped with muscle for middle of the night fondling. Stiles had tried to be gentle their first time though… but Derek wasn’t really wanting to take things slow not with how sexy Stiles got when it was what he deemed ‘Sexy Times’. He wasn’t from sleepy Koala to wild Tiger.
Derek’s sideburns were filled in, his jaw was stronger and he looked more intimidating, but he was still the same book worm he was in school, sometimes forgetting to eat if it wasn't for Stiles putting a plate in front of him.
They had both changed so much since high school and Derek was proud of them. He was proud of their little life they created, and the how they found family in one another, creating more and more love each day that seemed to fill in the empty spaces created by missing faces. They even added to their little family, the Australian Shepherd that Stiles had decidedly named Calico when they had found her. She had made the move to Berkeley with them despite Hanna, Derek’s little sister, and John’s tears.
Derek had also made some new friends. Erica Reyes, the girl everyone knew for her seizures, had started dating Laura at the end of senior year and was going to be attending Berkeley as well for medical science. She may have come out and get sassy and sexy with all the confidence having a ‘bomb shell girlfriend’ gave her. Her words, not Derek’s. But she was still Erica, and Derek would be lying if he hadn't gotten teary eyed at her confession of wanting to cute Epilepsy for good and not have kids living off meds for the rest of their natural lives. She was in her own apartment with a girl named Allison that, when she wasn't looking totally neurotic, scared the hell out of Derek with her precise and calculating looks, like she was staring through him and seeing everything he didn't want her to all at the same time.
Despite all that though, Derek was really happy. Happy enough that when Stiles had gotten down on one knee at the end of graduation and turned Derek into a blushing teary mess he said yes before snatching the flowers, kicking him in the shin and shoving him over before stomping out because there were pictures being taken. They had a small photo album of Stiles on his ass, Derek walking away angrily clutching a bouquet of blue wild flowers like they would wither if he let the light of day touch them, and lastly of him locking himself in Stiles jeep while Stiles stood outside begging for Derek to open the door. Just because he looked older doesn't mean he still always acted it.
Derek was still sitting on the kitchen floor, slowly stroking the surface of the wide set band with a triskele carved delicately into the face. It was what they used for when it got hard and they were having bad days where giving up seemed like the best idea. The top swirl stood for health, where they were when they stayed clean. The second one was relapse, because anyone can fall. The last was death, because giving up meant the end of all they worked to keep. They had both gotten to that point before, and had come back from that death. A single small ruby sat in the middle. Derek was stroking the surface of the gem when Stiles walked in, grocery bags clattering loudly.
“Der?!” He called. Shuffling quickly into the kitchen before a huge grin took over his face. “Thought I’d come home to find my pod person losing his mind over the clutter. Wrong.” He grinned wider and dropped the bags, leaning down close to Derek’s face and kissing him sweetly over and over. “Mm, I love saying that. Coming home. Our home, Der.”
“More like our shoe box that I plan on packing with as many memories as possible.” Derek kissed Stiles back then nuzzling up close to him and letting his eyes close with happiness. Stiles was always this rock, this stability even when he was the reason the sea got chaotic, Derek could never not go to him. “Love our stuff.” He purred, bringing him arms up to drag the older man down on top of him.
“Loves you more.” Stiles slurred back and Derek cackled, it was totally a cackle because giggling wasn’t something he did. He just loved when Stiles used that sleepy voice. “But we have to finish up, Der, before dinner. Erica and your sister will be here.”
“They can wait.” He hedged, holding tighter.
“Der.”
“Quiet, Stiles. I’m trying to do something.”
“Like what, Sour Wolf?”
“Distract you.” Derek laughed before rolling forward and pinning Stiles to the kitchen floor, caging him there with his arms and thighs. “Still in a hurry?”
“We can totally skip dinner. I vote skipping dinner.” He scrabbled his hands up and grabbed Derek’s ass through his jeans, that same ass which had also gotten a little rounder and fuller.
Derek sighed. “No you were right, let’s finish.” Stiles didn’t say anything, just held tighter beneath him and whined. “What do you plan on feeding out guests then, Stiles?”
The man under him smirked and chuckled darkly. “I don’t know about them, but I know what I’m eating.” Fuck.
So they weren’t perfect, they were far from it. They got awkward and indifferent and sometimes it felt like they were growing up too fast. But Derek wouldn’t give Stiles up for anything and he knew Stiles wouldn’t trade him for the world. They had their shoe box for a loft and a dog they worried about how they were going to feed from week to week because she had a soft stomach, which according to Stiles, meant she needed them even more. They had their crazy friends and weird family and a past that neither of them could forget but Laura had been right, Derek realized, hovering over Stiles while he blushed and grinded against his boyfriend so hard he thought he’d crack the tile beneath them. He had everything he could want and even more than he needed. There was so much that could go wrong, so many things could shatter their fairytale, but that made Derek want to hold onto it even tighter, just so he could keep reading and find out what happens next… He really couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow would bring, the adventures they would have, especially if Stiles was around for them, which if he had his way, he always would be.