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It was a random, very ordinary weekday. Derek was relaxing on the couch after a long workday. He was laying down, soft and warm and just recharging his energy. While having some show running on the TV, but that was just there for the first half hour to get him sleepy, to help his mind shut down and rest a bit.
Or at least Derek tried to relax on the couch after his long workday. And he would have been successful, if it weren’t for a loud screech suddenly piercing the apartment.
Stiles and Derek were living together in a cute and cosy not too big and not too little apartment, because that’s what they were. Together. In a relationship. Which not everyone understood but they didn’t have to, as long as Stiles and Derek understood why they were in a relationship (and the Sheriff, Stiles’ dad; his opinion was also important to Derek). Beside the whole werewolf thing, they had quite the human and normal relationship.
And one of the perks of being in a relationship, at least to Derek, was being able to relax together after a long and hard day. If it were up to Derek, they would be cuddling in bed together and maybe take a small nap before cooking dinner.
However, for Stiles, relaxing meant scrolling through social media and writing to friends. And he preferred doing it while lounging on one of the seats in the living room area right by the couch. Why Stiles wouldn’t sit or lay down on the couch (or bed) was unfathomable to Derek, but alas.
And so, instead of resting in bed, Derek chose the couch instead. Because he wanted to be near Stiles and the closer the better. The closer the clearer his heartbeat, his smell, his face and Derek in case of an emergency (“Me accidentally ramming my foot against the edge of the couch, and maybe having to favor my other foot for a few, is not an emergency. Chill out.)
If Derek was being honest, he didn’t mind laying on the couch and listening to Stiles mumble to himself while scrolling through Twitter or Instagram or record a voice message for Scott or snicker at a meme before sending it to Erica. It was calming background noise to Derek, surrounded by this human he utterly loved, who made him feel safe and loved.
Although right now, Stiles almost gave him a heart attack. “What’s going on? What happened? Did you hurt yourself again”, Derek asked worried, shaking himself out of his nappy-state.
“Huh? Oh, no, physically I’m fine. Emotionally? That’s another story”, Stiles reassured his boyfriend. Having started to sit up, Derek leveled Stiles with his Hale-patented raised eyebrow, encouraging him to explain.
“My celeb crush, you know the one who’s like known as the king of Twitter? The one who’s tweets I send you screenshots of (note: Stiles made Derek delete his profile after he destroyed 2 phones because he got angry at certain idiots/assholes on Twitter that lacked common sense or a brain) his tweets..”
“Oh, him. What did he tweet this time?”
“A picture. Which is on its own crazy enough. He never posts pics, doesn’t even have a public Insta.”
Unimpressed, Derek sighed. “Of?”
“Of a hand wearing an engagement ring.” Stiles shrieked in excitement. He joined Derek on the couch and showed him the tweeted picture. “See? I mean, the tweet doesn’t have a caption but fans compared the hand to pictures and others basically recognized it on the spot. He’s engaged!” Stiles was buzzing, practically vibrating in glee.
“That’s great, good for him. Do you know who to? I thought he was single and mingling and stuff?” Derek inquired, partially curious and very much hoping that the more Stiles talked about it, the calmer he would get.
“No! People are freaking out. It’s insane. Twitter’s boyfriend (“I thought he was the king-“ “He can be both and more, you of all people should know that”) engaged. Out of the blue. No relationship the past years. I’m surprised the app didn’t crash.”
“Does this mean, I should relocate to the bedroom because you’re gonna have Erica, Lydia, Isaac, Kira and Danny come over to gossip about it?” Derek asked, dreading the answer because the relaxed evening had begun so well.
“What? No? Where are you getting that from? Our relaxed evenings are my favourite. You always look so cuddly and your snores are such a calming background noise when I scroll through twitter.” Stiles tried to reassure Derek, who was not looking very convinced.
“Oh, babe. C’mere.” Stiles opened his arms, still holding his phone in his left hand though, and gave Derek a hug and shoulder to lean into. “You know you’re my favourite. Why don’t you lay down again, I know Mrs. Laighmann was giving you a tough time at work today and get some of that well needed rest. You know that you only actually sleep in our bed, I don't know why you don't just go there. But, I promise, no more loud outburst from yours truly, ok?”
“You’ll stay on the couch?” Derek asked, hoping he would. “Sure, why not.” Stiles shrugged. Derek moved and laid down again, this time pushing his feet against Stiles’ thighs, snuggling back into the couch, the other resting his right hand on one of his calfs.
Minutes, or an hour or just seconds later, Derek couldn’t tell in his semi-conscious state, he was rudely awoken again by a shout of excitment. “OH MY GOD, I swear, Der I love you and I’m so sorry for my outburst but oh my god!” “What now, Stiles.”
“That other actor. The one who was in that superhero show (or was it a supernatural show? I cannot remember, Stiles wondered), they posted a picture on Instagram. Guess what it was?”
“A picture?” Derek deadpanned, very much slightly annoyed with his boyfriend.
“Ha ha ha, can you hear how funny I found that joke, we need to brush up on your comedy skills, my friend. But no, they posted a picture of their hand also with an engagement ring! Well, we assume it’s their hand, because you know, fans again and things.”
“And now fans are theorizing that they got engaged to each other?”, Derek tried to get the conversation to it’s end and return to his rest.
“Yeah, turns out if you zoom into the picture, you can tell that both rings have some symbol or date or word engraved. We can’t tell what it is exactly, but the shapes match so, you know, we figure…” Stiles was tapping away on his phone again, tweeting or texting for all Derek knew. But he did not care, because unlike Stiles, who got too invested in actors, Derek preferred getting too invested in fictional characters. Tuning Stiles out, he cuddled back into his super soft blanket.
“..and while yeah there were rumors I guess years ago, but no one knows and this can’t be a coincidence, right? This is all so crazy. And then they found- oh no, I’m so sorry, I interrupted you again. I’ll stop talking and let you get back to your much needed sleep...” Stiles apologized and turned towards his lover only to notice Derek peacefully dozing, clutching his favourite blanket to his chest and lightly not-snoring.
Smiling at the adorable image in front of him, Stiles had to fight back the instinctual ‘aww’ and instead took a picture, adding it to his ever-growing album “Derek looking adorable and soft”. Deciding he’d spent enough time going through his social media (and figuring the celebs weren’t going to do anything else drastic right this moment), Stiles decided to join his love and squeezed in next to Derek, slinging an arm over his hip and pulling him close.
“Can’t wait to put a ring on you on day, my mister sourwolf”, Stiles whispered sleepily, not realizing that him climbing into the couch next to Derek had awoken the werewolf with his sensitive awareness.
Derek grinned into the couch.