Work Text:
Stiles had so much energy, he practically ran up the stairs to Derek‘s loft. There were butterflies in his stomach and he had a giddy smile on his face that dashing up several flights of stairs did nothing to diminish. He knocked at Derek’s door and rocked back and forth on his heels while he waited for his boyfriend to open the door.
His boyfriend! He and Derek had finally admitted their feelings for each other after years of sexual tension. Derek had been officially his boyfriend for a few weeks and Stiles practically danced with excitement every time he thought about it.
“Hey, big guy!” Stiles greeted enthusiastically when Derek opened the door, walking into the loft. “I brought my laptop today so we can binge watch Star Wars! The new movie’s gonna be coming out soon, so we have to get in the Star Wars mood, you know? And what better way is there to do that than to watch all the movies!” He fixed Derek with an intense gleam in his eyes. Star Wars was the pinnacle of sci-fi goodness and had to be treated with the utmost respect. “Now, we can start from Episode 1 and watch them chronologically, or we can start from A New Hope and watch them in the order they came out! What do you think?” he finished, looking at Derek with excitement.
Derek looked dazed at Stiles’ babbling, but the look softened as a gentle smile appeared on his face. “Whatever you want to do, Stiles.”
“Awesome!” Stiles grinned. “I think we should start with Episode 1, see it all in the order that it happened! Where do you want me to set this up?” He looked around the loft, trying to figure where the best place for hours of comfy movie watching with plenty of snuggling was.
“How about in the bedroom?” Derek suggested, pointing up the spiral staircase.
Stiles grinned. “Sounds good to me, big guy!” He scampered up the staircase, surprisingly not tripping once.
Derek never allowed anyone else into his bedroom, even when the pack had parties or pack meetings or just lounging around in general at the loft. The pack always stayed in the large main room, which had plenty of sofas, chairs, and pillows for the whole lot of them to be able to lay around comfortably along with a huge flat-screen TV for movie watching and video game playing.
This wasn’t the first time that Stiles had been in Derek’s bedroom, but it was still a relatively new experience. While the couches in the main room were black, the multitude of pillows and lamps and other accessories were bright and full of colors. Derek’s bedroom was more simple with furniture made of beautiful dark wood with the lamps, sheets, and other room accents in a light blue. With the white walls that were throughout the entire loft, it looked very classic and masculine.
The light blue and white plaid comforter laying on top of Derek’s bed absolutely delighted Stiles. He figured that maybe his quirky style, which was mostly plaid and graphic t-shirts, had been rubbing off on Derek. Even now, he was wearing a purple and black plaid shirt over a black t-shirt with a comfortable pair of jeans.
Stiles sank onto the comfortable bed and turned on his laptop. He scrolled through the movies he had and settled on The Phantom Menace. He propped the pillows against the headboard, then laid back and waited for Derek.
The werewolf came up the stairs a few minutes later carrying soda cans and a big bowl of popcorn. Stiles perked up at the sight of food, especially when Derek passed him a big bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. “My hero!” he smiled, batting his eyes up at Derek.
Derek rolled his eyes but looked pleased as he laid down on the bed next to Stiles. Stiles leaned forward to start the movie, then laid back again to cuddle up with Derek.
The movie was on for about ten minutes before Stiles felt the urge to run his hands through Derek’s soft hair and kiss the werewolf silly. He started his romantic plot by kissing the top of Derek’s head while his hands stroked the sides of his head. It wasn’t long before Derek turned towards Stiles, grabbed his hand, and started dropping kisses on top of each mole dotting his arm, his eyes flashing alpha red as he did so. Stiles grinned into the kisses on Derek’s head and tilted the other man’s head up so that their lips could touch at last.
The kisses started gentle and quick, but before they could become more heated, Derek pulled away and turned away from Stiles. Stiles was confused, but before he could ask what was wrong, Derek suddenly asked, “Why do you like me, Stiles?”
Stiles was startled by the question as well as the change in behavior. Derek’s voice had sounded so small, and he never sounded like that. “W…why do you ask?” he asked, trying to sound natural.
Derek was silent, and all that could be heard was the movie still playing in the background. “I’m no good for you, Stiles,” he finally said. “I’ve gotten so many people I care about killed. It’s not worth it for you to be involved with me.”
Stiles was dismayed. He knew that Derek was still very traumatized by all the loss that he’d had in his life, and that it was also part of the reason that it had taken so long for the two of them to get together. He didn’t realize that Derek was still so afraid of losing anyone else, despite the fact that Beacon Hills no longer attracted dangerous supernatural creatures thanks to a stable pack protecting the land.
Derek looked so broken with his shoulders slumped and eyes full of such sadness that Stiles’ heart broke for him. He needed to prove to Derek that it was okay for him to be happy and to enjoy life, even though his family wasn’t there anymore.
Stiles gently turned Derek’s body towards him. “No, no, no,” he said, tilting his head down to look up at the werewolf’s downturned sad face. “That’s not true, not at all.”
“But I don’t deserve you,” Derek whispered. “I don’t deserve a happy pack. I‘ve done too much wrong in my life.”
“Yes, you do deserve it,“ Stiles said, wrapping his arms around Derek. “When I first met you, you were hot but scary.” Stiles grinned, and was heartened by Derek’s tentative quirk of the lips. “You didn’t want to be close to anyone. All you wanted to do was survive. And when you were the alpha, you tried to make sure your pack survived, too. You tried to make it seem like you didn’t, but you cared about your pack. You even let me in your pack, even though I’m not a werewolf.”
“You were always pack,” Derek said. “You helped Scott from the beginning, and you helped me, too. I couldn’t believe it. You were only a human, yet you were as loyal as any wolf.”
“I’m a wolf inside, didn’t you know?” Stiles grinned, waggling his eyebrows, causing Derek to chuckle. “But anyway…” His expression turned serious once again. “You were taken advantage of by an older, evil woman. You are not the one who caused your family to die. She was. It was not your fault!” He tapped Derek’s chest for emphasis on the last three words. “And I think your family would totally agree with me.” He took a deep breath and put a hand on Derek‘s shoulder. “As for Paige, she was already dying. You killing her was a kindness to end her suffering. You were doing the right thing.”
Derek’s eyes widened with hope. Stiles felt like the werewolf might actually start believing that he deserved all the good things that were in his life now.
“I’m always going to be there for you, Derek. You deserve all the best things in the world,” he said earnestly, smiling up into his eyes. “Let me give them to you, okay?”
Derek turned and looked into Stiles’ eyes, a soft smile on his lips. “You’re the best thing of all,” he said softly and leaned forward to gently kiss Stiles on the lips.
Stiles looked dazed as he and Derek parted. It was a gentle, chaste kiss, but it was filled with all the emotions they had for each other. “Oh, wow…” he said dazedly. “That’s why I love you so much…”
The only thing that could be heard in the room was the sounds from the movie still playing. Stiles looked over at Derek and realized the older man was staring at him in shock. Stiles mentally replayed what he had just said, and he widened his eyes and slapped his hand over his mouth.
He’d just told Derek that he loved him for the very first time.
But he wasn‘t about to take it back, because he absolutely was in love with Derek Hale, and now that he‘d said it, he wanted to shout it from the rooftops. “I love you, Derek,” he repeated, his heart pounding as he looked at Derek.
Did he say it too fast? Would Derek feel uncomfortable, especially if he didn’t feel the same? Would he start to pull away from him? He bit his lip nervously.
But Derek smiled, big and genuine and showing teeth, and Stiles fell even more in love. He mentally vowed to make Derek smile as much as possible, because that was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. “I love you, too, Stiles,” he said, gently caressing the younger man’s cheek and leaning down to kiss him.
Stiles beamed and leaned in the rest of the way to seal their kiss. Yes, he was going to spend the rest of his life making Derek Hale happy and he was going to enjoy doing so.