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Stiles and Derek did not crash into one another turning on a street or on a aisle while grocery shopping. There was no sudden realization that they were it. There was no time-stopping moment while they realised they must be together. Though, that is probably the story their 10-year-old daughter will tell you if you ask.
If you ask Derek, he will say that he met Stiles during a rainy day and acted as the nice new neighbour who saved his day.
If you ask Stiles, he will say it was the day he met the two out of the three most important people in his life.
Stiles was leaving his apartment to pick up Scott for a lazy afternoon of video games, to celebrate that Stiles had finally managed to buy his apartment, when he heard the young voice complaining about the rain.
“But daddy, you promised” the voice said.
“I know Liz, but we can’t go out in this rain. We’ll go tomorrow”, the father said.
“Today is the last day, dad. I want to see the pretty lights”, the little girl was saying when Stiles rounded the corner to leave the building.
Crouched on the floor, was a dark haired man, talking eye level to a little girl with equally black hair and piercing green eyes that couldn’t be older than five years old.
“Then we’ll go next year, Liz. You will get sick if we go out and then miss Auntie Laura’s party”, the man was saying and Stiles could see the pout forming on the girl’s lips.
“You never get sick, daddy. I won’t be sick too”, she said and the man sighed “And look, the new man is going out too. We can go, daddy, please”, she keep going as soon as she saw Stiles making his way to the door. He couldn’t help but stop to look at them again.
“Liz, please. You know I want to take you to see the light show, but daddy doesn’t have the car. I promise to take you next year and tomorrow we’ll go for cheesecake”, the man tried to reason with his daughter.
“I can give you a lift?” Stiles offered before he could stop himself and he flinched back when the man turned around to look at him. His daughter was the spitting image of him, except for his eyes, which Stiles couldn’t even decide what colour were.
“There is n-“
“YES DADDY, LET’S GO”, his daughter cut him off before he could refuse Stiles offer and he couldn’t help but smile at the little girl.
“What’s your name?” Stiles asked, crouching on the floor too, so he could talk to the girl on eyes level.
“Elizabeth”, she said, voice excited and Stiles could see the worry in her father’s eye.
“So, Elizabeth, let’s make a deal? I will give you and your father a ride to the lights show, if you promise that you will obey him and not go in the rain”, he said, smiling at the father who looked a little bit less worried at Stiles’ word.
“I promise, mister. I promise, daddy. Please, pretty please”, she begged and Stiles saw the moment her father gave up.
“Okay Liz, okay”, he said, standing up and offering a hand for her to hold. “You really didn’t have to do this”, he said, now turning to Stiles.
“Not a problem, I was on my way out anyway”, Stiles said. “My car is on the garage”.
“Thank you for this”, the man said following Stiles to the car.
“You’re welcome. I’m Stiles, by the way”, he said.
“Derek”.
When Stiles first kissed Derek there was no fireworks behind them or the world moving slowly around them. When he first kissed Derek there were no butterflies in the stomach, or the certainty that they were meant to each other. But if you asked Stiles and Derek’s 10 year-old daughter, that is probably what she will tell you.
If you ask Derek, he will say that the first time he and Stiles kissed was pretty ordinary for a kiss, after a few months of meeting and soon ruined by his six year old daughter, who wanted to show them the new toy auntie Laura had got her for her birthday.
If you ask Stiles, he will tell you that the first time he kissed Derek was made perfect by the small angel that Derek had in his life.
Derek and Liz had been a constant in Stiles life ever since the day he offered them a ride on a rainy day. And he had been falling in love with both of them for months now, so it was no surprise that during Liz birthday party, Stiles found himself watching Liz laugh and giggle at her friends on the backyard of the Hale house. What did surprise him was Derek sliding beside him and offering a small, private smile. One that Stiles couldn’t help but return.
“You know, she loved the black widow figurines you got her”, Derek said after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
“Obviously she did. She has good taste”, Stiles joked and felt Derek silently laugh beside him.
“Yes, that she does”, Derek agreed, turning so that his front was turned to Derek.
Stiles honestly can’t remember how things progressed from them on, but soon enough they were sitting on the sofa, watching the party through the glass, half of their bodies touching and Stiles didn’t think twice before leaning in to kiss Derek, who responded eagerly, turning his head so Stiles had better access.
The moment lasted only a few seconds, thought, because soon enough they heard a familiar voice calling for them.
“Daddy, Stiles, look what auntie Laura got me”, she screamed, showing them a box full of Star Wars Lego’s.
At the same time Derek groaned fearing the amount of times he would step on one of the toys’ pieces, Stiles laugh could be heard while he slid from the sofa to the floor, telling Liz of the amount of things they could built with that.
The only reason why Liz did not have a story for how Stiles proposed to Derek was because she was not present, but if you asked her about the wedding, she would tell that Stiles married both her father and her.
If you asked Derek about it, he would say that he couldn’t have chosen someone better to marry than Stiles.
If you asked Stiles, though, he would smile shyly and tell you that he only did what felt right at the moment.
They never wanted to make something big out of their wedding. They wanted their family and closest friends to be there and for everyone to have fun.
The wedding and reception were held at the Hale family state, which was big enough to turn it into two different spaces.
From all of the thousand different things they had to get ready for the wedding, the easiest one to Stiles was his vows. He always had a way with word, so it was no surprise when he wrote them in less than an hour.
Stiles was also known to be an impulsive person, so it was no wonder that when the moment to read his vows arrived, he decided that they didn’t express everything he wanted to say and decided to improvise. And so, improvise he did. And to be honest, the video from his vows was Derek’s favourite part of the whole ceremony.
Stiles had that enormous smile from the moment the ceremony started and when he was asked to ready his vows, he stopped for a moment and his smile turned small, but a thousand times more sincere.
“You know, I wrote you this. And if you want to, Derek, you can read them as many times as you wish”, he started “but the truth is, I already declared my love to you the day we first kissed, and the day we went on our first date. I declared my love for you when I asked you to spend the rest of your life with me. I have been declaring my love to you every day since we met, on a rainy Saturday. And I’ve already declared my love to you today, when I said I do. So right now, my vows are not for you. Right now I’m declaring my love to someone I met on that same rainy Saturday, someone who too will spend the rest of my life with me and someone who makes the two of us work better than ever. Today I’m declaring my love to you, Liz. Because as I take your father as my husband, I am taking you as my daughter. And I promise to love you every day until there is no ‘me’ anymore. And I promise to take care of you every time you are sick, and hold you every time you feel scared. I promise to wipe your tears away when you feel sad and share all of your smiles. Liz, today I was asked if I wanted to be your daddy’s husband, and right now I am the one asking you; will you let me be your dad?”
And the moment he stopped talking he had his arm full of a brunet 9 year old, soon followed by her father’s. And Stiles couldn’t have asked for a better wedding day.