Archive of Our Own ^beta

Stiles felt like he was forgetting something. But he couldn't quite put his finger on what. He was driving home from the airport with a rental car since Derek had theirs. He had everything packed in his trunk, he didn't know what he was forgetting. He'd find out at some point. 

It was Lydia who insisted on making him come back home, since apparently his 30th birthday was pretty important. Stiles thought it was just another day, but his dad agreed with her and he had to ask for a week off to go to Beacon Hills.

Derek had a class on Friday so he couldn't go back with him. But he was going to take a flight right after his class so he could get there almost at the same time as Stiles. It'd been years since everyone found out about them, at the time they both had enough free time to actually make the road trip from DC to Beacon Hills. But they were too busy now to do that. 

His phone started ringing and he picked up and put it on speaker. 

"Hey, are you there yet?" he heard Derek's voice over the speaker in the car. 

"Almost, just entered the city." 

"My flight is getting delayed so it'll probably be a bit longer, but I'll be there tonight." 

"I was wondering…" Stiles started to say while he looked at the familiar streets, he hadn't been there since last Christmas. "Where are you going to stay?" 

"The loft?"

"I can't believe it's still yours."

"Well, I bought the building when I thought I was going to stay in Beacon Hills." Derek was renting it out now that he wasn't living there, so he was making some profit off of it. 

"Should I go to the loft too?" 

"No, go to your house, I think it'll be nice for you to stay a few days with your dad."

"And Natalie? I'm not sure she likes me very much."

"Well, it's your house and you saved her daughter's life plenty of times." Stiles sighed when he heard that. 

It had been a few years since his dad started dating Natalie Martin. God, he was so glad his relationship with Lydia never turned out because that would've been awkward, since they were technically step-siblings now. Natalie started living with his dad about a year ago, after they finally sold the lake house, and they both seemed pretty happy about it. 

"Okay, but come tonight for dinner, please?"

"Yeah sure, I'll probably land at 5 pm so I'll be there for dinner. I already told Lydia I was going." 

"Great, see you then." 

"Yeah, see you. And Stiles?" 

"Yes?"

"Happy birthday." Stiles smiled when he heard him say that. 

"Don't be a sap, we already celebrated my birthday. This is just a formality for my family." 

"Yeah but it's 30 now. You can't call me old man anymore."

"You've always been an old man, don't lie to yourself."

"Weren't you the one that said not to act like I was ten years older than you? I'm only three years older." 

"Yeah, right." Stiles laughed. "Call me when you land, okay? I just got home," he said as he pulled into the driveway.

"All right, see you tonight."

He got out of the car and he heard the front door open while he was taking out his luggage from the trunk.

“The birthday boy!” his dad exclaimed as he approached him to hug him. 

“Do not say that when I’m turning thirty.” Stiles laughed and hugged him back. 

His dad patted him on the back a couple of times and smiled at him, his hair was more gray than blonde but he hadn’t aged much. Retirement was probably doing wonders to his rest. Stiles hadn’t aged much either, especially now since he was well versed in the properties of magic and he had found a way to slow down his aging to match Derek’s. 

“Yeah, thirty and you still look like you just got out of college,” Lydia interrupted, she was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. 

“Well, you haven’t aged a day either.” Stiles smiled at her and placed a kiss on her head, she smiled and hugged him tightly. “But seriously, you shouldn’t have made it a big deal.” Stiles walked inside the house and left his luggage on the floor, his dad closed the door behind them.

“Are you kidding? You barely come here anymore, your 30th birthday is the perfect excuse to make you come home.”

“Okay, you’re making me look like a bad son I have work, you know?” 

“Yeah, we would believe that if you actually told us what you were up to.” His dad patted him on the back as he said that.

“That… is classified. I love you a lot dad, but my job is pretty secretive.”

“Oh, you mean like when I was the sheriff and you still looked through my cases even though it was illegal?”

“Well…” Stiles looked to the side, trying to make up an excuse.

“Welcome home Stiles, we missed you.” Natalie interrupted when she walked out of the kitchen. 

“Mrs. Martin, right on time.” 

“No, actually, I was going to ask you the same thing as your father so don’t think you get away. What were you up to these last few months?”

“Yeah, no one could reach you, we were all pretty worried about you, it was a surprise when you answered Lydia’s call for your birthday.” Stiles chuckled nervously and looked at Lydia for answers.

“Don’t look at me like that, Scott told me his dad actually tells him stuff about his job so I don’t know why you’re so secretive about it.” 

They would probably understand it since they knew about the supernatural. But telling them that he was working in a secret division that took care of the supernatural meant that he also had to tell them that his life was pretty much in danger all the time. Just last week he barely escaped a Kanima attack, thankfully he was well versed in the subject and his bosses loved him for that. His father would kill him if he actually knew what he was up to all the time; Derek was still giving him shit for that time he essentially died and only came back to life after ten minutes of CPR from his partner in that mission. 

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna pass, I’m starving tho, is there any food for the birthday boy?” They all collectively rolled their eyes but didn’t ask any more questions, thankfully. 

He couldn’t exactly tell them he’d been in Guatemala for a month trying to catch a Lamia. He couldn’t contact Derek either for that whole time, but they were used to that so it was fine. He came back a couple of weeks back and only stayed in the hospital for two days, which was actually pretty good taking into account other missions. He decided to take some time off after taking care of the Kanima last week, a quick mission he’d taken after coming back from Guatemala. His job was pretty hectic and he didn’t have a lot of time for his loved ones, but he liked it and it meant that he could retire in a few years and still live comfortably. 

Derek and he had their own system to deal with both of their jobs. Derek had been teaching at Columbia for a few years after he finished his post-grad and he had an apartment in New York. Stiles had an apartment in DC but he barely stayed there, only for after-missions and bureaucracy, which he hated. After each mission, Stiles’ boss, who was still Ally, shockingly, would text Derek to tell him Stiles was going back home. Derek would drive to DC, stay with him in the hospital for as long as he needed, and then they would drive back to New York together. Stiles always had a few weeks free after each mission, to recover and all. So really, they both lived in New York, the only reason they had to go to DC so much was because the FBI’s headquarters were there and the only way for Stiles to transfer to New York was if he changed his division, which he would never do. He was the only agent that knew so much about the supernatural, and the only one that could actually use a bit of magic for their missions.

“Scott is getting off of work at 4 so he’ll be here after that probably,” Lydia told him when he asked about him. “I wanted to invite everyone but you told me not to.” 

“It’s not a big deal, I don’t want to inconvenience everyone just because I’m getting old. You didn’t have to tell Malia to come back from France for this.” 

“Well, she wanted to, so I didn’t have to ask a lot honestly.” 

“Who else is coming?” 

“Scott and Melissa, obviously, Malia, you already knew that. I invited Jackson, Ethan couldn’t come because he works. Liam and Mason wanted to come but they couldn’t make the trip in such a short time, I obviously didn’t ask Theo. And Derek, he said he would probably be late…” 

Stiles frowned when he heard that, she didn’t ask Theo? He had almost forgotten that none of them knew he was on good terms with Theo, it’d been years since they made peace. He had to ask Theo for help with a mission years prior since he was the closest person he knew that had experience with supernatural experimentation, all his years with the Dread Doctors and all. After that mission, he helped him get a job in his own division. They saw each other sometimes, but they didn’t work in the same field. He only knew he was in contact with Mason and Liam and that he was actually being good for once. He wondered if he would feel bad about it once he found out from Liam that he hadn’t been invited, but he probably wouldn’t even have come if Liam and Mason weren’t there either. 

“Okay, not a hundred people, that’s nice, thank you, Lydia.” 

“You’re fine with everyone I invited?” Lydia asked hesitantly. 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Stiles replied frowning. “I know Jackson and I have had our ups and downs but he’s great now, once you get past the narcissism.” Lydia rolled her eyes and laughed at that. 

He settled down in his room after a couple of hours of Lydia and his dad trying to get more answers out of him. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and sighed. He took out his phone to check for messages, he had a few notifications. 

Ally: Happy Birthday! Please don’t die on your break, I know Beacon Hills can be crazy. 

Theo: Hey old man, when were you gonna tell me you got back from Guatemala? I actually need the report. You don’t get a pass just because it’s your birthday.

Scott: Did you get home already? I’ll be there as soon as I get off of work.

Derek: Already on the plane. I’ll be there before you notice.

Stiles smiled at the last one, they saw each other two days ago but he already missed him. He didn’t know how he actually survived all that time during his missions being away from Derek. But knowing he would see him right after he was done was what kept him going. 

To Ally: Can’t make any promises!

To Theo: get laid and leave me alone

To Scott: Already here!

To Derek: Miss u x. see u soon

Theo was the only one that answered, but it was with an insult so it didn’t count. He fell asleep after he read the message and was woken up by Lydia when Scott got home, so he had to go back down and try to make it look like he desperately didn’t need a few hours more of sleep. 

“Dude, we missed you so much!” Scott exclaimed and crushed him in a hug, Stiles groaned and tried to laugh it off, even though his ribs hurt. He couldn’t believe Scott still didn’t control his strength completely when he was excited. 

“Stop acting like you haven’t seen me in years, it’s only been a couple of months.” He chuckled and Scott patted him on the back. 

“It’s still too long, especially if we don’t even know if you’re alive!” 

“Okay, my boss would definitely tell you if I died, don’t be dramatic.” Stiles rolled his eyes but he wished he didn’t say that when he saw his dad frown at him. “I won’t die, don’t worry.” 

He tried to avoid his line of work while they all talked in the living room, Jackson and Malia got there right on time for dinner. Both of them almost crushed him with their hugs, Stiles was starting to get tired of their super strength, Derek was much more gentle. Maybe they were all used to everyone around them being supernatural. 

“Dinner’s ready,” Natalie called from the dining table after his dad was done setting it up. 

“Great, I’m starving,” Malia said with a smile and walked over to the dining room. 

“We’re all here?” Jackson asked, looking around, probably because he was used to Lydia inviting a hundred people. 

“Derek said he’ll be here a little late, his flight got delayed,” Lydia explained and sat down on the table, Stiles nodded along and didn’t say anything since he already knew that. 

“Derek’s coming?” Malia asked, surprised.

“Yes, he said he was busy with classes but that he could make it.” 

Stiles had told him that he didn’t have to come but Derek insisted, it’d been a while since Derek had been in Beacon Hills. Stiles goes back home regularly to see his dad but Derek is usually too busy to do that. Either way, he wanted to be there for his birthday with his family. 

Stiles looked around when he noticed everyone was silent, they were looking at him, almost waiting for something. 

“You guys don’t have to wait for me to start eating, come on,” he laughed and reached for the wine to pour himself some. 

They all fell into an easy conversation while they ate. Natalie was a great cook, which was amazing for his dad. Stiles didn’t have to worry about his diet anymore, that was her job now. Twenty minutes into dinner the doorbell rang and they all turned to look at the front door.

"That must be Derek," Lydia said as she got up and went to open the door. Everyone was silent until he appeared in the doorway of the dining room.

"Hi," he greeted everyone.

"Hey, is it raining a lot?" Scott asked him when he saw he was wet. 

"Yeah, that's why my flight was delayed." 

Lydia took his coat and Derek tried to dry his hair a little bit, it wasn’t that wet since he probably drove there, he smiled down at Stiles.

"Sorry I'm late.”

"It's fine," Stiles said with a smile, Derek squeezed his shoulder as he sat down next to him, not realizing that Lydia was sitting there previously. Stiles didn’t say anything because he wanted Derek to sit next to him. He gave Lydia her plate and she set down a new one in front of Derek. 

“You had classes this morning?” Lydia asked as she sat down on the other side of the table. 

“Yes, just one, thankfully.” 

“You never told us what you teach,” the sheriff prompted, trying to make conversation. 

“A few classes, it changes sometimes, this year it’s Spanish linguistics and advanced terminology.” 

“Never thought I would hear you say that,” Scott mumbled. “We were surprised when you said you were a professor.” 

“Yeah, I had enough of a push,” Derek replied and shrugged, Stiles smiled. 

“What can I say? Lydia can’t be the only genius in the group.” Lydia chuckled at that. 

“Give yourself some credit, we may not know what you do but the FBI seems like a hard place to get into.” Melissa encouraged him, Stiles chuckled awkwardly at that, they really wanted to know what he did. 

“Not harder than Columbia, I can tell you that much. Even Mr. Yukimura was surprised to see him there, that was actually pretty funny, he thought we were there because of something supernatural.” 

“You see him often?” Scott asked him.

“Yeah, almost every time I’m there. I sneaked into his class once. He reacted way better than Derek when I sneaked into his,” Derek rolled his eyes and Stiles laughed at the memory. 

“So you go to New York regularly?” Lydia asked him, leaning forward. 

“Yeah, of course,” Stiles answered like it was obvious, his mouth full, Derek frowned at him because of that, one bad habit he actually didn’t like. Stiles smiled and swallowed before he spoke again. “My boss also sends me there pretty regularly to deal with the NYPD. They hate me.”

“Yeah, the students still think I’m involved in something illegal since that time the police showed up to interrogate me.” 

“What? Why did they do that?” Noah asked him, surprised.

“It was… Back when they didn’t know you were part of the FBI,” Derek looked at Stiles, trying to remember.

“Yeah, I was undercover. So they interrogated him because they saw me at a coffee shop with him. Thankfully Derek didn’t compromise the mission because he didn’t tell them anything.” 

“Aren’t you supposed to not talk to anyone you know while you’re undercover?” his dad told him, reprimanding him for not doing his job right. 

“That was part of my cover! They instructed me to just act like I was in the city visiting my boyfriend,” Stiles tried to defend himself.

“Yeah, it’s been like five years since that, and I still don’t know what that whole mission was about,” Derek mumbled to himself. 

“And you’ll probably never know,” Stiles laughed to himself and winked at him as he grabbed his glass of wine. 

“Okay, I’m tired of this, I gotta ask. Are you guys still together?” Malia suddenly blurted out. Stiles was so caught off guard he choked on his drink and started coughing uncontrollably. 

He looked around the table as he tried to catch his breath and he realized everyone was waiting for an answer. He looked at Derek who looked like he also wanted to choke.

“What?” Stiles asked as soon as he could speak, still trying to mask his coughs. 

“We’re just not sure. You never talk about each other and you live in different cities. Are we right? Did you break up?” 

“Are you kidding me? No!” Stiles wanted to die when he realized they looked skeptical about that answer. 

“Seriously,” Derek mumbled and chuckled to himself humorless, a hint of despair in his tone of voice.

“Okay, I know we didn’t tell you guys when we started dating but we would tell you if we ever broke up.” Stiles tried to lighten up the mood. “And we don’t live in different cities, we live together. My apartment in DC is just for my job.” 

“Sorry, since Derek hasn’t come back in a while either we didn’t know.” 

“He’s busy,” Stiles shrugged, they all nodded slowly. Derek sighed at that. “Wait, did you bet on that?” 

“What? No!” Lydia replied, Derek chuckled since he heard the lie in that, but it didn’t sound like he found that whole situation funny.

“All right, who’s richer?” They all looked to some other place, avoiding Stiles’ eyes and drinking or eating to have an excuse to not open their mouths. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Well, they don’t want to say it but I’m 200 dollars richer.” His dad smiled at him and Stiles felt relieved at that. 

“Seriously? Only you?”

“I know my son,” he replied, proud of himself. “I also have a man on the inside that tells me if you’re still alive or not.” Stiles gasped and turned to look at Derek, now the only one trying to avoid Stiles’ eyes.

“Traitor.”

“You did die once, were you expecting me to just not say anything?” Stiles smiled at him, he couldn’t get mad at Derek, he was so scared during that time.

“So you cheated!” Malia accused Stiles’ father. 

“No, you just asked me if I thought they were still together, and I do,” Noah answered with a smile on his face, Stiles laughed at that. 

“So you haven’t broken up? Ever? You’re on good terms?” Scott tried to confirm. 

“No! We’ve never broken up. And our neighbors absolutely hate us because we’re on such good terms.”

“Did not have to know that,” Scott mumbled to himself and Stiles smiled. 

“Then you shouldn’t have asked,” everyone laughed and Stiles took a big gulp out of his glass of wine, wishing he wasn’t too obvious about it, he would definitely be needing the alcohol. “But seriously guys, it’s been like ten years, if you are actually waiting for the breakup you can stop because it ain’t gonna happen.” 

“I’m actually still trying to understand how it happened,” Jackson said and everyone laughed, since he hadn’t been there the time they got together.

Stiles chuckled and went to pour himself more wine, he was startled when he felt Derek's hand on his knee. He unconsciously placed his hand on top of his, thinking that it was just a nice gesture, but he looked at Derek when he felt him squeeze his knee. Derek was frowning and he gestured with his eyes towards their hands under the table. Not understanding why Derek was so nervous Stiles looked down at his hand only to then realize why Derek hadn't laughed at Jackson’s joke. 

There, on his finger, was his wedding band staring at him and reminding him exactly what he had forgotten to do.

"Oh sh-" Stiles gasped and brought his hand up to cover his mouth. As soon as everyone turned to look at him he immediately lowered his hand to hide it under the table again.

"Everything okay?" his dad asked him when he saw how nervous he looked. 

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine, you were saying…" he prompted Lydia to continue talking since they had already changed the topic of conversation. 

Derek sighed and rolled his eyes, he rubbed his forehead, stressed, but he also had to put down his hand quickly when he realized it was the hand that had his ring. 

How could he forget to tell his family that he had gotten married? He was such a bad son. It was one of their conditions, no big ceremony, but they would tell everyone after it happened. Well, Stiles would tell everyone, and he was going to do it… eventually. He just couldn't find the right time. 

He discreetly took off his ring and placed it in his pocket. Derek sighed when he saw him do that and did the same. They were pretty good at silent communication, so Stiles apologized with a shrug and Derek rolled his eyes, saying that it was fine. 

Stiles was bad at reading people, probably the ADHD. Especially Derek since he was so closed off. But they'd been dating for almost ten years already so he learned how to know what Derek meant only by a few eyebrows raised and eye rolls. 

The dinner went smoothly. Derek was quiet for most of it, only answering when he was asked a question, usually about his life as a teacher at Columbia. Stiles was smiling through the whole dinner until he felt Derek tense up out of nowhere, actually, most of them did. Malia, Jackson, and Scott also perked up suddenly.

“There’s a phone ringing,” Malia said. 

“Stiles, it’s your phone.” Derek nudged him on the leg and Stiles frowned. 

“My phone, it’s…” he went to take out his phone from his pocket, which wasn’t making a sound. 

“Your other phone.”

“Oh shit,” Stiles mumbled when he heard Derek say that and he got up from his chair to run upstairs to his room. He started to hear the ringing as he approached the room. 

He dug through his bag and took out the phone, it was his work phone, which was almost never used. Only during emergencies since it couldn’t be traced.

“Yes?” he asked as he picked up the call. 

“Happy birthday,” Stiles sighed relieved when he heard that. 

“Theo, I swear to fucking God… This is supposed to be for emergencies only! You almost gave Derek a heart attack.” 

“Worth it,” he heard him chuckle. “But actually I needed to call you with this number.” 

“What’s wrong.” 

“Nothing, yet. Ally sent me the report you made but there aren’t any names here.” 

“Couldn’t write them, too risky.” 

“That’s why I’m calling, I’m sending out a team to Guatemala and they have to know every single supernatural creature that’s there. And it’s not the first time they tap your phone after a mission.” 

“All right, you have a pen?” Stiles sighed and sat down on his chair. 

“Shoot.” 

Stiles sat there for five minutes telling Theo every name he knew, they had to be careful with giving out names of supernatural creatures since they were in constant danger of hunters looking for them.

“That’s all?” 

“Yeah, all the ones I know about.” 

“Great. Sorry to bother you, I have to send this today and I wanted to head home.” 

“No problem. Are you still sharing an apartment with Liam and Mason?” 

“Yes, I want to kill myself, Mason has a boyfriend now.” 

“Maybe you should get one.” 

“Yeah, right.” Theo chuckled. 

“No seriously, maybe you should finally do something about all that sexual tension between you and Liam.” 

“Hanging up now…” 

“No, wait! One more question.” 

“What?” 

“Did you think Derek and I broke up?” 

“What? No, why do you ask?” 

“Because apparently everyone thought we broke up,” Stiles frowned when he heard Theo laughing at him. “It’s not funny.” 

“It kind of is, it’s like impossible for you guys to break up.” 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, apparently my friends don’t think the same,” Stiles looked down at his hand and touched his ring finger, it felt naked without the ring there. “Hey, Theo. Don’t freak out, but Derek and I got married last year.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Stiles opened his eyes wide when he heard that. 

“What? You knew?” 

“Yeah, I got your file a few months ago and it said Hale-Stilinski.” 

“Oh, right… But you didn’t say anything…” 

“Not my place.”

“Fair enough.”

“Hey Stiles, don’t think about it too much, you’re fine. Talk to you later.” 

“Yeah, later,” Stiles mumbled before he hung up.

He sighed and looked down at the phone, the call hadn’t been that long but he really didn’t want to go back to dinner, especially because he really had to tell his dad he was married and he didn’t know how.

Okay so maybe they weren't the most conventional couple ever. Derek was a werewolf and Stiles… was still human, just a more skilled one. They got married six months prior, with only a week of planning, because they really didn't need that much planning. 

Derek was tired of having to see Stiles in the hospital, usually, he would be fine, but the little heart attack he would get every time he got a call from the hospital was too much for him. The last time he'd been sleeping on the uncomfortable plastic chairs of the waiting room for two whole days. He was finally let in when Stiles woke up. He'd been shot in the stomach, he was fine now but Derek was so tired he fell on the chair beside him and grabbed his hands tightly. 

“Why couldn't we call your dad? If he was here I could've at least known that you were okay. I was terrified.” Derek mumbled, his lips against Stiles' knuckles.

“Exactly because of that, I have enough with a very concerned boyfriend, my dad would kill me if he found out how many times I get injured on the job.”

“You're too reckless.” 

“I get the job done,” Stiles smiled at him. 

Derek caressed his hair and leaned in to kiss his forehead. 

"You know…" Stiles started to say as Derek sat back down. "If we were married they would let you in." 

Derek raised his eyebrows when he heard that. Stiles closed his eyes and sighed tiredly. 

"What did you just say?" Derek whispered, getting closer to him. 

"That if we were…" 

"I heard you," Derek said and got up, sitting on one side of his bed so he would be closer. "I think we should." 

"What?" Stiles frowned and looked at him. "Maybe it's the painkillers making me hallucinate, but did you just say we should get married?" 

"Yes." Stiles blinked a few times, finally hearing what Derek was saying. 

"Are you kidding me?" 

"No, Stiles, I'm serious. I love you, and I know this is for the long run." Stiles looked up at him but didn't say anything, maybe because he was tearing up. "Do you know what's the main reason why gay people wanted to get married? I mean obviously equality, but especially because during the AIDS pandemic they had no right to see their partners in the hospital and everything fell to the abusive family. You know, it was about the government seeing them as a couple…" Stiles smiled and leaned in closer to Derek. 

"You're so smart, of course I'll marry you," Stiles whispered before he kissed him deeply. "But," he said, pulling away, but an inch away from Derek's face. "No big ceremonies, I absolutely hate weddings and we are not a gay cliché."

"Deal," Derek answered with a smile. "It would also be pretty sad when we get to the invite list and there's no one from my side of the family." 

"Don't say that," Stiles whispered and caressed lightly his cheek. "I'm your family now."

Derek wrapped his arms around him to hug him, not too tight since his stitches could come undone. 

"Stop it, you're gonna make me cry." 

"You say that like you're not already crying," Derek chuckled against his neck. 

"Yeah probably another reason we shouldn't have a ceremony, I would be sobbing the entire time."

Stiles took out the ring from his pocket to look at it as he remembered the day they decided to get married, it really didn’t feel like anything changed, maybe that’s why he forgot to tell everyone he got married. He raised his head when he heard a light knocking on the door, Derek was standing there.

“Everything okay?” 

“Yeah, it was just Theo. He needed classified information, that’s why he used that phone,” Derek nodded slowly and went to sit down on the bed, Stiles was sitting on his desk chair. 

Stiles looked at him hesitate for a moment before he spoke. 

“You can talk, they can’t hear you,” Stiles said before Derek could say anything. 

“What?” 

“My room, it’s werewolf soundproof,” Stiles said with a smile, Derek looked at him surprised.

“Since when?”

“Since that time Scott was staying for Christmas at my house and I really wanted to suck your dick,” Derek chuckled and lowered his head. 

“Of course.” There was a moment of silence before Derek spoke again. “I can’t believe you actually forgot to tell them we got married,” he finally said, exasperated. 

“I’m sorry!”

“Stiles!”

“I know! I’m sorry, I knew I was forgetting something I just didn’t know what. I wanted to tell my dad over the Christmas break but I couldn’t find the right moment.” 

“Well, he’s going to hate me now. Remember how he reacted when he found out we were together and we didn’t tell anyone? Imagine if he finds out that we got married and we forgot to tell them.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” 

“What are we supposed to do now?” 

“Maybe we could just put the rings back on and wait for them to figure it out.” 

“That is a terrible idea Stiles,” Derek sighed and lowered his head. “I can’t believe they thought we broke up…” 

“Yeah, that’s…” Stiles sighed and rolled his eyes. 

“I mean… Are we actually such a bad match?” 

“No, of course not. Look at us, we’ve been together for ten years and we still don’t hate each other. I think I still have another good thirty years before I start hating you.” 

“I already hate you.” 

“Yes, but it’s lovingly hate.” Stiles teased with a smile, leaning his chair forward to be closer to his face, Derek stopped him from face planting on the floor.

“I don’t know how you survive.”

“I don’t, that’s why you have to come to get me to the ER almost every month.”

“Maybe we could tell them that, it’s the reason we got married in the end.” 

“And risk my dad knowing about the many attempts of murder? No thanks, I’m good.”

“Well, we have to tell them somehow, before he gets a call from any of your colleagues and they actually call you Agent Hale-Stilinski.” 

“That’s not such a bad idea…” Stiles shrugged. 

“Stiles!” 

“What? That’s how Theo found out and he was fine with it!”

“Theo knows?” 

“Theo knows we didn’t break up, so I don’t understand why they thought we did.” 

“Well, I mean, they are right. I’ve cut a lot of communication with them and I don’t come here often. The only one I still speak with is your dad because he gets really worried.” 

“At least Lydia invited you.” Stiles shrugged and looked to the window, he looked back at Derek when he heard him hum. “What?” 

“Now that you say that… She didn’t.” 

“What?” Stiles asked, confused.

“No, she didn’t, I just assumed, you know, I’m your husband of course I’m invited to your birthday dinner. After you told me about the dinner I texted her asking what time should I get here. I guess she didn’t want to tell me not to come…” Stiles gaped at him. 

“Oh my god! Why the hell didn’t they ask me? She also thinks I still hate Theo.” 

“I wish you still hated him that guy definitely has a crush on you.” Stiles chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

“What can I say? I’m a catch.”

Derek rolled his eyes and tripped his chair so he would fall, but Stiles laughed and fell forward on Derek’s lap. Derek tried to tickle him before they heard a knock on the door.

“Guys, everything okay?” They heard Malia’s voice on the other side of the door and they both went quiet. 

“Yeah, we’ll be down in a minute,” Stiles answered hesitantly.

“What the hell do we do?” Derek whispered. “I’m not getting on your father’s bad side.” 

“Maybe we can make a ceremony, you know, announce that we’re getting married, have a ceremony but just not officiate it, since we’re already married.” 

“Stiles I can hear your heart rate picking up just from saying that. You have social anxiety and I don’t have any friends, there’s no way we’ll survive through a ceremony.” 

“Oh thank god, I hated that idea.”

“Then why did you propose it?”

“Because I thought maybe you wanted one!” 

“Stiles, I’m fine with what we did. I don’t regret it. Maybe it would’ve been funnier if we did it in Vegas, but it was fine.”

“Oh right! We could’ve gone to Vegas, why didn’t I think of that?” 

“Well right now you should start thinking about what to tell your dad because I’d rather leave your house alive.”

“Okay, okay. We own up to it, we tell them. How bad can it be? It’s not like Lydia is going to chop off my head when she finds out she couldn’t be a maid of honor.” Stiles laughed nervously and Derek sighed. 

“We’re doomed.” 

“Absolutely.” Stiles took out his ring and put it on. Derek did the same before they left the room.

“Everything okay?” his dad asked him when they both returned to the table. 

“Yeah, nothing bad, I just had to give them some information,” his father nodded slowly and they all picked up the conversation where they left it. 

Derek looked at him and Stiles stuffed his mouth full of food so he didn't have to say anything. In his defense, he didn't want to interrupt them, but as soon as there was a moment of silence Derek nudged him in the leg so he would speak up.

“So, uhm… Funny story,” Stiles started to say, letting out an awkward laugh. He could already hear the sighs of desperation, they knew that tone and they knew Stiles was going to say something bad. 

“What did you do, Stiles?” His father asked him with a tired tone.

“You know what? Let’s play a game. Take a guess.” Stiles said with a smile, Derek rolled his eyes.

“Stiles come on…”

“No, no, it’s my birthday, I get to pick the games. So, what do you think I did? It’s not as bad as you probably think it is…” 

“You got banned from Mexico.” Lydia guessed.

“Close, Iceland actually, but it was with a fake passport so it doesn’t count,” he replied with a smile, everyone looked at him surprised. “Next guess.” 

“What division do you actually work for?” his dad asked him hesitantly.

“That’s classified, next?”

“An alpha bit you.” Scott guessed.

“Well, Derek isn’t an alpha anymore, so no. Next guess?” Scott made a disgusted noise, he regretted ever saying that. 

“I did not have to know that…” he mumbled to himself. 

“You almost got yourself killed and you don’t want to tell me,” his dad guessed with a tired expression. 

“Technically yes, several times, but that’s not what I wanted to say. Next?” His dad opened his mouth to talk but Malia was faster.

“You lied about not breaking up with Derek.” 

“Yes!” Stiles exclaimed pointing at her with a smile, everyone went completely silent when they heard that. Derek sighed and placed his hand on his forehead. 

“What? So you’re not dating anymore?” Lydia asked hesitantly.

“Technically no,” Stiles answered with a smile and raised his hand showing his wedding band on his ring finger, everyone gasped when they noticed the ring that they hadn’t seen before. 

“You got married?!” Lydia exclaimed, not believing him.

“Yes,” Stiles nodded and watched everyone’s expression. “To Derek… If that wasn’t clear,” he said and looked at Scott, he could be a little slow sometimes, he still remembered how he reacted when he found out about their relationship. 

“Since when?” His dad asked. 

“Six… Months.” Stiles mumbled. His dad sighed and rubbed his forehead. 

“Stiles, remember when I found out you were dating Derek, and I said if I hadn’t found out you would wait until your wedding to tell me?” 

“Yes…”

“I take it back. Because apparently, you wouldn’t even tell me you got married!” Noah sighed but he continued to talk before Stiles could say anything. “So you're meaning to tell me…” he took a breath before he said anything. "That when you came by for Christmas last year, you were already married… And you didn't say anything!?" 

"Okay, it's not a big deal…" Stiles tried to argue.

"It is! Stiles, it is a very big deal!" Lydia reprimanded him. 

"No, it's not. There wasn't any big ceremony and we did it out of convenience." 

"Convenience?" Scott asked him, still as surprised as his dad.

"Yes, I didn't want to do it but Derek insisted on it because he can't ever come inside the hospital when I'm there because he's not family." There was a moment of silence before his dad said anything. 

"Derek?" Lydia prompted him to talk, so he raised his head surprised, he was a man of few words and he didn't want to deal with that.

"He's right…" He started to say, afraid he'd say something wrong. "He ends up in the hospital after almost every mission, I have to argue with nurses all the time to let me see him." He shrugged when he finished. 

"So that's the whole reason you guys got married?" Lydia asked like it wasn't enough, Derek and Stiles looked at each other, not knowing how to answer that. 

"No?" Stiles answered as if it was obvious. "No, obviously not. We've been dating for almost ten years. That's the reason why we got married but it's not the only reason why we're married." Stiles argued, talking to them like hey we're dumb for not knowing that. "Obviously we got married because we love each other, I'm sorry, were you doubting that?" 

"I’m sorry for doubting but I didn’t even know if you guys were still together," Scott mumbled to himself.

“Well, surprisingly, I can actually keep a relationship.” Stiles knew that was a low blow as soon as it came out of his mouth. Scott and Malia broke up after a year of dating and Lydia had been with more guys than he could count, Jackson was in an on-and-off relationship with Ethan. But not just them, Mason also broke up with Corey after they graduated and now had a different boyfriend every few months, and Liam couldn’t keep a girlfriend after he would tell them he was a werewolf. Theo was the only one that didn’t seem interested in dating. 

So Stiles, surprisingly, was the first one to get married in the pack. Was that so hard to believe?

“Sorry,” Stiles mumbled after nobody said anything, too stunned by Stiles’ words. “Sorry, okay? We didn’t want a ceremony and I was really going to tell you I just couldn’t find the right moment.” 

“What’s wrong with having a wedding ceremony?” Lydia asked him.

“Well, too much attention, for starters. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I have social anxiety. And Derek didn’t want to have to go through an invite list where there wasn’t a single member of his family.”

"What about Cora?" Lydia asked them, Derek frowned at that. 

"Cora was our witness."

“Oh, so she knows?” 

“Well, she was the only one that didn’t freak out when she found out we were dating, and she was in town when we decided to do it, so yeah.” 

The table was silent for a few seconds, uncomfortable silence, he wished they would all react like Theo did and be done with it. 

“Well, guys,” Noah started to talk and placed his hand on Stiles’ shoulder, squeezing a little bit. “We only have one step left. I will kill both of you if you forget to tell me whenever I become a grandfather.” 

This time Derek was the one choking, Stiles could only blush furiously, they all laughed at their expense. Thankfully all conversations resumed and Stiles didn’t want to die anymore, he stole glances towards Derek as he took another big gulp of wine, they had just gotten married and they never talked about that. Derek sometimes complained that he grew up in a pretty big family so it was weird that it was just them now. Stiles was used to being an only child so he never thought about that. Maybe Derek would want to adopt at some point? But with Stiles’ job that would be too difficult. He mentally put a pin on that information to come back to it later, praying that he wouldn’t forget. Although he didn’t think he could, that was definitely one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. 

After they were done eating they all moved to the living room. Stiles thought they saw each other regularly but judging by how much they had t talk about, definitely, it wasn’t enough. Derek slipped away in the middle of all that, since he wasn’t much of a talker so he wasn’t engaging in a lot of conversations. Stiles waited for Lydia to be done with her story to walk to the kitchen, praying that no one would notice he was gone. He smiled when he saw Derek leaning against the counter, looking at his phone, he had a frown on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Stiles muttered and wrapped his arms around his waist in a hug to rest his head on his chest, he looked at Derek’s phone. 

“The babysitter is freaking out because they won’t shut up,” Derek mumbled against his head and sighed.

“You have babies?!” They both perked up when they heard Scott’s voice coming from the living room and the collective gasp of everyone when they heard Scott say that. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“We have two cats with separation anxiety, stop listening to our conversations!” Stiles screamed back. “Next time we’ll bring them,” he said slowly to Derek this time. 

“To a house full of werewolves? Yeah, great idea Stiles. You remember how they hated me for the first two months, right?” 

“Touché.” 

“We could’ve gotten dogs.”

“Too much work, cats are more independent.” 

“Yeah, not these ones.” 

“You absolutely love them, don’t lie to yourself,” Derek chuckled at that and planted a kiss on his forehead, he was right. 

It had been Stiles’ idea to get cats, he brought them home from a litter they found in one of his missions. They said they would keep them until they found an owner for them but they ended up keeping them for good. 

“So it’s kinda like having babies…” Stiles mumbled slowly, waiting to see Derek’s reaction. 

“It is not like having babies, and stop thinking about that, you leave the house for months sometimes, we are not considering adoption,” Derek said bluntly. “Not right now.”

“Okay,” Stiles mumbled with a smile on his face, he squished Derek a little bit more, which made him chuckle. 

“But if you actually forget to tell your dad…” 

“I know, I know, you’ll join him in his hunt to kill me,” Stiles rolled his eyes and raised his head to look at him. 

“I hate you,” Derek mumbled even though his eyes didn’t say the same as his mouth. 

“You love me so much, it’s insane,” Stiles replied with a smile, he grabbed his face and leaned in to kiss him deeply. 

Derek leaned his forehead against Stiles’ after kissing for a few seconds. 

“They’re still listening in on us, right?” Stiles whispered. 

“Absolutely.” 

“We better go back before my dad actually kills me, or worse, you,” Derek chuckled and nodded. 

Stiles leaned away from him but Derek grabbed his waist before he could leave and he brought him closer, their noses touching. 

“Just one more minute,” he whispered before he kissed him again.