Chapter Text
“No,” Derek said firmly. “Stiles! Do you hear me? We are not decorating!”
Stiles was already wrapped in lights and tinsel that he was attempting to hang. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear those with no Christmas spirit,” he said calmly, draping the tinsel over the curtain rods and giving up on the lights. “I’m just gonna have to save these for the tree,” Stiles muttered to himself.
“Give it up, Derek, he’s like this every year,” Scott said as he stepped out from the kitchen where he and Isaac were making dinner. Derek turned to say something back but Scott had already returned to the kitchen, presumably to hide from the Christmas tornado Stiles was forcing down on the new Hale house.
“You should listen to Scott, he knows what he’s talking about,” Stiles said, reaching into a box and pulling out a bunch of sticky window decals. “Here, help. Snowflakes go in the top panes, gingerbread men and women in the bottom panes. Hop to,” Stiles insisted, forcing the stack into Derek’s hands. Before Derek knew what was happening, he was helping with the Christmas decorating that he didn’t even want.
Stiles had boxes upon boxes of Christmas decorations, but he seemed to be avoiding two in particular. Derek moved over towards him, but Stiles jumped in his way. “Nope, we don’t need those this year,” Stiles said, trying to shoo Derek back towards the angel figurines.
“But what are they?” Derek asked, darting around Stiles to pull the boxes closer. Inside, there were dozens of candles, some large white pillars, other small blue and silver tapers. The other box held a stack of white paper bags. Derek glanced up at Stiles, who looked embarrassed.
“They’re luminaries, but we don’t need to put them up this year. I know…” Stiles glanced towards the kitchen, where Scott and Isaac were getting in a conveniently loud discussion on what to make for dinner. Stiles lowered his voice anyway. “I know how you feel about fire, so we aren’t going to do that.”
Part of Derek wanted to deny it, to say that he had no problem with fire at all, but everyone in the pack knew Derek came with his own special brand of issues, and flames near his house was one of them. But one look at Stiles and Derek knew this was something the younger man loved. He took a deep breath. “Get your coat, we’re gonna put them up.”
All of Derek’s fears fell silent the moment he looked at Stiles. The young man was lit up, a huge grin on his face and his coat already on. Derek shook his head at the enthusiasm, but once they stepped outside into the quiet night air, a bit of excitement started to buzz under his skin. Stiles handed the box of bags to Derek.
“Set the bags along the driveway, I’ll follow with the candles and light them,” Stiles said. Derek nodded, and moved quickly down the driveway, placing the bags about six inches apart on both sides until he ran out of bags. When he turned around, Stiles was right behind him, having just lit the final candle. Stiles turned to look up the drive, sighing happily and radiating the scent joy so powerfully Derek thought he might drown in it. The man’s face was bright, a grin spread out as he stared at the lights. Derek turned to observe the lights.
It was… stunning, really. It didn’t quite look like fire, really. Instead, the luminaries looked warm and welcoming, like lights leading him home. When Derek looked back, Stiles was staring at him in awe.
“Thank you,” Stiles said quietly.
Derek just shrugged, and tried not to think about why he’d do so much to make this man smile.