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“Derek, you’re my everything. I guess you could say you’re my moon. And I hope that I’m yours too. Of course, not a literal moon. But a theoretical one… maybe a sun would be a better analogy?”“What’s wrong with the moon?”Stiles sighed, looking from his reflection in the mirror to Scott’s face. “It’s… complicated,” Stiles muttered. How was he supposed to explain that he’d only chosen the word moon because his boyfriend was a werewolf? And that he was now realising that the word choice had probably been poor, only because he thought a word that expressed calmness and love would be better than one that suggested losing control? He couldn’t. Because Scott was still blissfully unaware that werewolves existed.It had been over three years now since Stiles had first found out. And he wanted to tell his best friend. He did! But then he’d found out about his own abilities… and suddenly he was less keen. Stiles didn’t want to accept that he was a spark and he couldn’t help but worry that his best friend would be scared of him if he knew that Stiles had magical powers.It was stupid. He knew that it was stupid. But Stiles had worried about that for a very long time. Logically, he knew that Scott would accept him, warts and all. But there was still that little voice in his head saying, “but what if he doesn’t?” And Stiles just couldn’t shake it off.“Okay, so… start again?” Stiles asked quickly before Scott could ask any more questions about moons. Scott sighed and nodded his head.“It’s not like I have anywhere else to be.” With most people, a phrase like that would be muttered sarcastically or with venom. But not Scott. He said it openly. It was Valentine’s day but Scott and Allison had broken up last year. They’d both dated a little bit since then but nothing had stuck so both of them were single this February. Stiles silently hoped that meant they might eventually get back together.“Derek. You’re my everything. You’re my sun, brightening my day and… no, yeah, you were right. The moon thing was better.”Scott moaned a complaint and threw himself back on the bed as though they’d been doing this for hours. Which they hadn’t! They’d actually been doing it for days… And Stiles wasn’t even sorry. He had to make sure everything was perfect for his proposal tonight.[] [] []Eventually, Stiles left Scott’s apartment and encouraged his best friend to go to the mixer that the university was throwing tonight. A mixer that he knew for a fact that Allison would be attending... not that he let Scott onto that fact. What could he say, Stiles was rooting for them. He was also probably only 4 beers away from setting them both up on a blind date with each other.Stiles shook those thoughts away: he couldn’t think about his friends’ love lives right now when he had a marriage proposal to set up! Derek had been in Washington for nearly two weeks because it was one of his cousin’s birthdays. He was supposed to already be back in Beacon County by now but his flight home had been delayed two days ago because of severe weather. Stiles had nearly had a panic attack when Derek had first rung him to tell him he might not be home for Valentine’s Day. Stiles nearly popped the question right then and there on the phone.But he’s managed to bite his tongue for a little longer and, thankfully, the snowstorm had cleared up last night. Now Derek was on a plane back home and he should be with Stiles in no time!But there was just one problem now… Stiles couldn’t find the ring!He’d pretty much turned the place upside down looking for it this past hour and he was freaking out! What if it wasn’t here? He'd already texted Scott to ask if he'd left it there. But what if it had fallen out of his pocket on the street? What if it was just sitting there in the gutter outside his building?Stiles had to check!He grabbed his coat and ran out of his apartment. He’d been living with Derek ever since the Jennifer incident… which he didn’t really want to think about today, or ever again really… so he was only a few feet away from the building's entrance. Stiles ran outside and started looking around. It was only once he was out there that he realised how futile this search was though. That ring could be anywhere, so why would it just be lying on the sidewalk outside his home?Stiles was going to turn back around and head back inside but he decided to just check around his car first. It was possible that he could have dropped it when he was getting out earlier. Stiles kicked a few leaves around, looking under his jeep, and started looking through the bushes next to his parking space too. But no such luck. Stiles started shaking, but not because of the freezing cold weather.And talking about freezing: fuck, his hands felt like ice. He should have grabbed a pair of gloves coming out too. Maybe he had a pair in his pocket? Stiles stuck his hands in there to check and his fingers wrapped around a small velvet box. He just about cried when he took it out of his pocket and opened it to find the ring inside! He hadn’t lost it after all, he’d just forgotten to take it out of his pocket!Happy again, Stiles shoved the box back into his coat pocket and made his way quickly back into the apartment. He didn’t have long until Derek would be here so he had to make sure everything was ready to go.Okay. So, ring: check. Fancy clothes which made his ass look good: check. Teeth: Stiles moved to look in the mirror and pulled a face as he tried to make sure he had nothing stuck in there. Check.But he still felt like he was forgetting something…The restaurant!Stiles pulled his phone out of his pocket in a hurry, nearly dropping it twice. What with Derek’s plane being delayed for so long, Stiles had completely forgotten to confirm his booking! There was only two hours to go now and he hoped like hell that they hadn’t given his table to someone else…“Hello, this is E Pellicci. Kimberly speaking,” a woman said as she answered Stiles’ call.“Hi, I need to confirm my booking,” Stiles said, his nails thrumming against the table top.“Of course, what’s the name and date?” She asked.“Stilinski,” Stiles said and grimaced. “For tonight at 8.”“Tonight…” the woman said, her voice trailing off. Stiles didn’t like the sound of that. “I’m sorry, Sir. But it’s restaurant policy to call to confirm at least a day in advance. We get too many no-shows.”“I know,” Stiles whimpered, hitting his head with his free hand. “I forgot. Please tell me that I still have a table!”“Normally, you’d be fine. But on Valentine’s Day…” the woman’s voice trailed off again and Stiles wanted to throw his phone against the wall. How had he been so stupid that he’d forgot to confirm the table?! “Unfortunately, your name is no longer down and we are fully booked.”“Look, I’m proposing tonight,” Stiles said. “And Derek loves Pellicci’s; we go there all the time, it’s kind of our thing. You’ve got to help me out!”“I’m really sorry, Sir,” she said, and she sounded sincere. “There’s nothing I can do. Unless… I can’t promise anything!” The woman was quick to say. “But if you leave me your phone number and we get a cancellation, I’ll offer you the table first,” she promised and Stiles nodded.“Thank you,” Stiles said and rattled off his mobile number, though he didn’t have high hopes on getting a table.“I’m sorry I can’t do more,” she apologised. “But good luck.”Stiles ended the call and looked around his kitchen. There was no way he was going to get a booking anywhere this late on Valentine’s Day so he would just have to make do. Stiles opened the fridge and scanned the shelves. He needed something that was nice enough for a proposal but that wouldn’t take too long to make because Derek would be home in just half an hour.Stiles found some braising steak, a six-pack of beer, potatoes, and a slab of ready-made puff pastry: the main ingredients to make a steak and ale pie. It wasn’t exactly fancy… but he knew that Derek liked it so it would just have to do.He got to work immediately pre-boiling the potatoes and frying the steak with some onion and garlic. After a few minutes, he added half a can of beer to the pan and turned it up high as he prepared some carrots, celery, and mushrooms. He added everything into the pot as quickly as possible along with a few herbs. A couple of spoonsful of flour was then whisked up with a bit of water and added to thicken the sauce.Stiles’ heart raced a little as he worked against the clock to get everything prepared before Derek got back. But soon enough the potatoes softened and the sauce thickened. Stiles sighed in relief and turned the stove down low as he got to work on the puff pastry. He sprinkled some flour onto the worktop and dropped the block of pastry onto it.It was only after doing that when he realised that he should have been a little gentler because, before he knew it, he had flour all over his nice suit. Stiles swore and tried to wipe it away, but it just made things worse.“Okay. It’s okay. Everything will be okay,” Stiles told himself. It was becoming a mantra of sorts for tonight. But a few deep breaths and Stiles knew that he was going to be fine. He might have to change out of his fancy suit but he had a pair of killer jeans that he could wear a shirt with and boom, all is well again. See, Scott, he can be an optimist sometimes! And nothing was going to ruin this night for him. Stiles started moving towards the bedroom but decided he should probably wait on getting changed until after he’d finished preparing their food. To change now while he was still messing around with flour would be asking for trouble.He finished rolling out the pastry then poured the beef filling into a casserole dish, added the puff pastry top, and put it all in the oven with time to spare. Sighing with relief, Stiles hurried to clean up the flour off of the side and then got dressed again.He was just messing with his hair when the door opened.Stiles’ heart might have skipped a beat as he stared at his own reflection for a moment. His eyes were wide and so he tried to make them look less big and scared before he left the room. He sort of succeeded.“Hey,” Stiles said, his voice unintentionally coming across a little breathy as he saw Derek for the first time in what seemed like forever. He looked good. He always looked good.“Hey,” Derek smiled up at him, dropping his luggage onto the floor. “Something smells good,” he commented and then smirked. “The food does too.”Stiles rolled his eyes and blushed a little. He went up to his boyfriend and hugged him hello, enjoying the feeling of Derek’s arms around him. This, right here, was heaven.“Missed you,” Stiles mumbled into Derek’s leather jacket. Derek squeezed him a little tighter and Stiles felt his feet lift off the ground for just a moment before Derek released him again.“I missed you too,” he said and kissed Stiles on the cheek. He picked his luggage back up and put it in the bedroom. “I thought we were eating out tonight?” Derek asked. “Not that I don’t love your cooking.”“Yeah, that plan fell through,” Stiles brushed off. He didn’t want to think too hard about the things that had gone wrong lately because Derek was here now and that was all that mattered.Derek came out of the bedroom again and started moving towards the open kitchen area. It was at that moment that Stiles saw the small black velvet box sitting on the kitchen counter. Without thinking, he dove towards the ring box and quickly swiped it away. He turned to face Derek again, hiding the object behind his back."What've you got there?" Derek asked with a laugh and Stiles shook his head violently on impulse."Nothing!" He blurted out, which probably sounded a bit too defensive because it made Derek frown. Shit. "I mean... it's your Valentine's present. But I was hoping we could do the exchange after dinner?" Stiles recovered quickly. He had a long list of replies and half-truths prepared to steer away suspicion. It was the only way he was able to keep his proposal a secret from Derek. His boyfriend, his hopefully-soon-to-be-fiancé, had taught Stiles how to successfully lie to werewolves back when they'd first moved in together... but Stiles wasn't all that great at it so half-truths were the only way to go if he didn't want to raise suspicion.“Erm… sure, Stiles. Whatever you want,” Derek allowed, his eyebrows were still drawn together though. Stiles’ shoulders slumped in relief and he let out a sigh.“Okay. I’ll just, er, put this away. So, can you…?” Stiles muttered and twirled his finger in the air. Derek rolled his eyes, turning around. “And no peeking!” Stiles warned, keeping a close eye on Derek as he opened the kitchen drawer behind himself to make it seem as though that’s where he was hiding the present; instead, he slipped the small box into the pocket of his hoodie. He’d zip the pocket up once he was sure Derek wasn’t paying attention. “Okay. So… music?” Stiles asked and Derek turned around.Stiles picked up the already prepared CD from the table and waved it, a grin on his face that didn’t quite feel natural yet. But he knew he would be able to calm down again soon (or so he hoped) and then he would feel better about all of this.“You really have tonight all planned out, huh?”“Yep,” Stiles replied, popping the last letter.“I’m going to shower and get the smell of ‘plane’ off of me,” Derek said, crinkling his nose. He was so cute. Stiles just smiled and nodded, watching Derek walk into the bathroom before he zipped the pocket up on his hoodie and shrugged it off of his shoulders, chucking it over the sofa. He had about ten minutes until Derek came out again and then it was showtime. He looked at the CD on the table and decided he would wait before putting it on. He had agonisingly prepared it with love songs for after Derek and himself had come back from the restaurant, having already proposed and hopefully be engaged, and he didn’t want Derek to miss a single song on the track list.Stiles put some product in his hair and then set the table. He looked at it and nodded to himself, smiling softly. He was going to propose tonight. It was really happening. He couldn’t help but think about what his mother would be doing right now if she was still alive. She’d probably be hanging by the phone all night and waiting for his call. According to Stiles’ dad, she’d always been a sappy romantic type. She would have been so happy for Stiles and she would have absolutely adored Derek.With a heavy heart, Stiles moved back to the drawer and dug around until he found a single candle and placed it in the centre between where he and Derek would be sitting. He’d just found the lighter when Derek showed back up and slipped his arms around Stiles from behind, pulling him into a big bear hug.Stiles wasn’t really surprised: Derek liked to bury himself in Stiles’ scent when they had been apart for a while. And Stiles himself found it comforting too. He closed his eyes and leaned back into his boyfriend.“I’ve missed you,” he said again because words just couldn’t describe what it was like to be together again tonight.“I know.”“Okay, rude,” Stiles said, fake-offended as he pulled away and Derek laughed.“Of course, I missed you too,” Derek said and Stiles shook his head, moving to put the CD in the player. It started playing with ‘can’t take my eyes off of you’ and Stiles returned to Derek, holding out his hand.“Care to dance?” He asked on a whim. He was a terrible dancer and Derek was probably even worse… but what was more perfect than this? Derek laughed and took Stiles’ hand, moving closer and wrapping his arm around Stiles’ back as they swayed together. Stiles tripped over his feet a couple of times, but it was nice. “So, how was Washington?” Stiles asked and Derek shook his head, before burying it back into Stiles’ neck.“Terrible,” he mumbled. “Isaac kept flirting with Cora.”“What?” Stiles asked, shocked. He pulled back just long enough to stare at Derek and shake his head. “She would eat him alive.”“I know,” Derek muttered and they returned to dancing again swiftly. The song changed and Stiles’ heart skipped a little. Their song was going to play next…Stiles had imagined proposing over dinner, but what if he did it like this instead? Dancing together while their song playing in the background? Wouldn’t that be more romantic?“Are you okay?” Derek asked. “You seem weird tonight.”“I’m always weird,” Stiles brushed off with a strained laugh and he could practically feel Derek’s eye-roll.“Weirder than normal,” he corrected.“I’m just… happy to see you and excited about tonight,” Stiles said honestly. Subtle omissions were the key here. He could keep it a secret for a little longer. Just another 30 seconds or so…“Right, how could I forget about your love for Valentine’s Day,” Derek grumbled. Stiles knew that Derek himself thought it was a bit of a useless holiday, but he liked how happy Stiles got so he put up with the nonsense anyway. And soon, in about 20 seconds, it would no longer be just a fake holiday made up to sell chocolate and flowers. It would be the day that they got engaged!“Yeah, well, I’m a sucker for this kind of thing,” Stiles said. His heart was beating so loud that he could hear the beating of his pulse under his own skin. Derek had to be suspicious right now but he wasn’t bringing it up again. And he wouldn’t need to in 10 seconds. Stiles had manoeuvred them so he could see the display on the CD player counting down the remainder of the song.7 seconds.Stiles took a deep breath to prepare himself, he imagined whispering the words into Derek’s ear. ‘Will you marry me’… he felt so happy and nervous right now.3 seconds.2.1.And… the CD started skipping.Fuck. He knew that he should have just gone with Scott's suggestion and made a Spotify playlist instead! But he’d thought that the CD would be more romantic…Derek pulled away, his face all scrunched up as the guttered song hurt his sensitive werewolf ears. Stiles felt cold without his boyfriend’s arms around him anymore. Derek tried skipping the song, which physically pained Stiles, but the next one was ruined too. Maybe this is what he got for using Scott’s old leftover cheap CDs from who knew how long ago. When was the last time they’d even used CDs?As Derek was changing over the disk to something else, the timer on the oven went off. Stiles spun around and grabbed his oven gloves, the ones he’d bought last year which were designed to look like werewolf paws, and opened the oven. The pie crust looked a beautiful golden-brown colour and so Stiles smiled. Finally, something was going right! He pulled the dish from the oven with one hand as he clicked the button on the oven to turn off the timer.In that second, however, the oven’s fuse blew. A loud popping noise resonated in front of Stiles, startling him to the point that his abilities activated. His body must have mistaken the hot dish that he was holding for a threat because, within the blink of an eye, the pie turned to ice in his hands.“No!” Stiles cried out. He dropped the dish onto the cooker but the damage was already done and Stiles’ carefully prepared meal was now ruined… completely frozen solid, glass dish and all. “No, no, no! This cannot be happening!”“Stiles, it’s okay. We’ll just order in,” Derek said, always the voice of reason, but he didn’t understand!“No! No, it’s not okay. Today was supposed to be perfect! I’ve spent weeks planning this. We were supposed to go to Pellicci’s and eat your favourite meal and… and then when I gave you the ring you would be so wooed that you’d have to say yes. But now it’s all just ruined!”“Stiles…” Derek muttered and then paused as he took several measured steps closer. “Were you going to propose tonight?”“I… holy shit! I can’t believe I just let that slip!” Stiles shouted, raising his hands in the air in exasperation. “I’ve been managing to avoid saying anything about that for like a month. This is officially the worst proposal in the history of proposals.” He face-palmed as he internally kept cursing himself, over and over again.“I don’t know, Stiles,” Derek said, his voice soft and so quiet that it was almost a whisper. He gently pulled Stiles’ hand from his face and held it with his own. “I’d say it’s pretty perfect.”“… What?”“Stiles, you’re my mate. You’re the only one I want to be with. As long as the words are coming from you then there is no way it couldn’t be perfect.”“Does that mean you would have said yes?”“I still will if you’re still willing to put up with me.”“I… Derek… God, I had a speech prepared! It was something about the moon and… and love. And-”“Stiles,” Derek interrupted before his boyfriend could start babbling. Stiles looked up at him and, at that moment, he couldn’t understand how he had become so lucky. How was Derek his? How was this amazing, smart, beautiful man really his?“Right. I guess none of that matters” Stiles said, he realised that he was smiling and he had only his boyfriend to blame for that. When Derek smiled, it was contagious. No one could resist smiling back. “So, Derek… will you marry me?” He asked.“Hmm, I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it,” Derek replied dryly.“You jackass,” Stiles muttered, glaring at his boyfriend until Derek nodded.“Of course, I’ll marry you, Stiles,” Derek said. He took a step forward to close the gap between them and Stiles stared deep into his beautiful hazel eyes. “I would be a fool to say no.”“Damn right, you would be,” Stiles said and Derek leant down and kissed him. Stiles melted into it as it finally sunk in that they were engaged. Derek said yes! They were getting married. “Wait, wait, wait,” Stiles said as he pulled away from Derek and ran to pick his discarded hoodie up from the sofa.When he turned back to face Derek, he was grinning and holding that small velvet box again. He took the ring out once he got closer and held it towards Derek. It was just a simple gold band because he didn’t have too much money as a full-time student. But Derek seemed to like it regardless as he lifted his hand for Stiles to put it on his finger.“It’s official now, Dude,” Stiles said. “You aren’t getting away from me so easily.”“Good.”Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles once more and Stiles lifted his hands to cup Derek’s face as their lips met again in a perfect embrace. When they pulled apart this time, Stiles rested his head against Derek’s chest and they just swayed for a little while listening to the music playing.“So, are we going to go with Hale, Stilinski, or a hyphened name?” Stiles asked. “Ooh, or we could do something like they do with celebrity couples where they just smash their names together to create a whole new couple name! Like, er, Halinski!” Stiles said, lifting his head and grinning over at Derek again.“Halinski?” Derek asked, eyebrow raised high, and Stiles nodded eagerly. “Sure thing, Mieczysław,” Derek said and Stiles sucked in air through his teeth in a pained gasp.“I thought I told you to never say that name,” Stiles muttered and Derek shrugged.“Why not? I think it goes well with Halinski.”“Okay, I get it, no Halinski!” Stiles laughed and kissed Derek again as they continued to sway with each other to the beat of the music. The kiss was broken only because Stiles couldn’t stop grinning and so Derek moved on to kiss at his neck instead. Stiles moved his head to the side to give his fiancé better access. God, fiancé… Stiles had a fiancé! He couldn’t wait to tell everyone.They were interrupted a moment later by Stiles’ phone ringing in his pocket. Stiles thought about ignoring it but then remembered that it could be a call from the restaurant so he quickly pulled away to answer the call.“You’re taking calls when I’m putting my moves on you, Stiles? I might just get jealous,” Derek said and Stiles rolled his eyes and winked at him. He clicked accept and put the phone to his ear.“Hey, is that Mr Stilinski?” A woman asked. “This is Kimberly from E Pellicci. We’ve had a cancellation for 8:30 if you still want a table?”“Yes!” Stiles practically shouted. “Thank God, I… er… burnt our food,” Stiles said, lying a little. But, hey, did it matter if he’d burnt it or accidentally magically frozen it? The food was still ruined. “We’ll be there,” he said and thanked the woman profusely.“8:30, huh?” Derek asked after Stiles put his phone down. He looked at his watch nonchalantly and smirked. “Looks like we have some time to kill.”“Oh, what will we do?” Stiles added, grinning.“I’m sure we’ll think of something.”Derek nodded and took Stiles’ hand, leading him to the bedroom.