Chapter Text
Two years later:
“Stop fidgeting, Derek,” Stiles whispers in his ear.
Derek just gives him a look. So Derek is nervous. He’s expected to be. One, he is in his hometown. The town where his family died in the house fire. The town where Stiles apparently grew up. The town where Derek is meeting Stiles’ dad for the first time.
The town where Derek is going to ask Stiles’ father for permission to ask his son’s hand in marriage.
Holy shit. Derek can’t do this. What was he thinking?
Well, technically, this isn’t the first time Derek has met the Sheriff. The first time was the night of the fire. The second time was over Skype for Stiles to introduce his dad to his boyfriend because Stiles couldn’t afford the time off work or school to visit.
Of course, over the last two years they have been together, Stiles has come back to Beacon Hills. Derek, however, hasn’t. He hadn’t built up the courage yet or got the time off from work. He actually got a huge job designing a building for a big corporation. That took about a year of his time.
Also, over the last two years, Derek has had many conversations with the Sheriff. Always via Skype. They started having biweekly cyber dinner dates. It was weird, but it made Stiles happy to see his dad and his boyfriend getting along.
So technically this isn’t the first time Derek has met the Sheriff, but it sure as hell feels like it.
“He already likes you,” Stiles whispers to his boyfriend, but Stiles doesn’t know the extent of Derek’s plans. Stiles doesn’t know that Derek is planning on proposing to him soon. “In fact, if my dad liked you anymore, I may be in danger of competing for you with my dad.”
Derek can’t even laugh at that; he just levels Stiles with a look. “You’re not helping, Stiles.”
He rolls his eyes at him and reaches over to grab Derek’s hand as he sits closer to him. “You’re going to do great. You made me fall in love with you, and come on, we all know how hard that was.”
Derek glares at him again. “You were in love with me the first night we met.”
“I was in love with your stubble,” Stiles argues with a blush.
Derek’s eyes roll again, but then the Sheriff is walking through the front door, calling out, “Stiles? Derek?”
Stiles jumps up and meets his dad at the entryway to the living room, wrapping his arms around his dad. Derek stands up to meet them over there, reaching a hand out when the Sheriff looks at him over his son’s shoulder. He reaches a hand past Stiles and shakes Derek’s. “Derek,” he says.
“Sir,” Derek greets with a respectful nod.
Finally, the two Stilinskis back away from each other. “You wanted to speak to me alone?” Mr. Stilinski says.
“Yes, sir.” And the nerves are back. Ten fold.
Stiles’ face crumples into confusion. “Why alone?” he asks and then groans. “Are you going to threaten him, Dad? Put the gun in the safe first.”
“He asked to speak to me, Stiles,” his father argues.
Then Stiles turns his attention to Derek. “Are you going to discuss a dowry with my father? I want at least two water buffalos then. If it’s up for discussion.”
Derek just rolls his eyes again. He can already hear Stiles telling him that if he keeps doing that, his eyes will stick like that. But he doesn’t say anything as Stiles’ dad leads him to an office, Stiles just staring at them and looking like he desperately wants to stop whatever is about to happen.
They sit down in the office, and the Sheriff sighs. “What can I do for you, son?”
Derek’s throat closes at that word. Stiles did tell him that his dad likes him, but Derek didn’t – doesn’t believe it, and the word “son” is enough to bring Derek to tears when he’s this vulnerable. Instead, he just clears his throat and pulls the box out of his pocket. “I’d like to ask your permission to propose to Stiles,” he finally says.
Mr. Stilinski doesn’t even look shocked. He just nods and holds a hand out for the box. Silently, Derek hands it over for Stiles’ dad to inspect. He pulls it out of the box and checks it off then laughs once. “You light up my world?” he reads off the words engraved on the engagement ring.
“It’s kind of a joke,” Derek mumbles, suddenly embarrassed about it. Maybe that was stupid. Maybe Stiles will think he’s an idiot. The Sheriff probably does.
The Sheriff shakes his head with a smile. “Stiles will love it,” he tells Derek softly and returns the ring back to the box. “I haven’t seen my son this happy since before his mother passed away.” Derek looks down, not knowing how to respond, but the Sheriff keeps going. “Whenever you come up in conversation, which is something he desperately tries to do whenever he talks to people, he can’t stop smiling like an idiot. His eyes light up, and his hands start moving around like there’s just too much excitement in him to keep in.”
Derek smiles softly, imagining the picture of Stiles his dad is painting.
“He loves you,” the Sheriff says. “Hell, I can even stand you. You make him happy, Derek, and that’s all I can really ask of you, so you have my permission, my blessing. Whatever. What I want to know is when? How long are you keeping this a secret from Stiles? How have you kept it a secret so far? The kid notices everything.”
Derek laughs once with a nod. “It was hard,” he answers. “But I think I’m going to ask now. I don’t know how much longer we can keep it a secret. He’s probably almost exploded from not knowing what we’re talking about now.”
“I think he would like it,” Stiles’ father says with a sigh. “He always talked about wanting to be around family and friends when it happened. I guess he can deal without his friends for this. For you.”
“Scott!” someone practically screams, and Derek laughs, knowing it’s Stiles. “What are you doing here, bro? Allison? Erica? Boyd? Isaac? Jesus. Everyone is here. Oh, hey, Laura, where’s your other half-Lyida!”
The Sheriff gives Derek an approving look, so Derek starts explaining. “I flew them all out here, but I didn’t tell them why. As much as I hate talking in front of people or expressing emotions in front of his friends, I knew this is what Stiles wants.”
“Well, I guess we better get out of here then.” The two men stand up, but Derek is stopped with a hand to his shoulder. “How long do you think it will take Stiles to notice the words on the ring?”
Derek smiles at that with a shrug. “I don’t know, but I’ve got the rest of my life with him to find out.”