Christmas
Title: Christmas
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Pairing: Stiles / Derek
Rating: G
Word Count: 613
Summary: Derek and Stiles' first Christmas together, everyone warns Derek that Stiles will probably go overboard on buying him Christmas presents.
Leading up to the first Christmas where Stiles and Derek are officially together, at least 4 different people pull Derek aside on separate occasions to warn him about his Christmas gift(s) from Stiles.
“It’s not a competition, dude,” explains Scott when they meet for beers one Friday night. “Don’t try to out-gift him, just know and accept that he’s probably gonna spend an embarrassing amount of money on you.”
“I know it is always obvious, but Stiles is a sensitive young man,” starts Melissa after pulling Derek aside one Wednesday night ‘family’ dinner while Scott and Stiles are clearing the table and John is starting to do the dishes. “He sometimes goes a bit overboard at Christmas with those he loves. It has embarrassed past girlfriends and boyfriends. I just want you to be ready for it, because it comes from a good place and I don’t want him hurt.”
“You know, Derek,” said Lydia over an unexpected coffee date a week before Christmas, “back in high-school, Stiles had a crush on me. He would buy me embarrassing, expensive gifts. Most of the time they were things I didn’t even want. He once got me a flat screen TV for my birthday -and that was when I didn’t even know his name.” She sets down her coffee and looks Derek right in the eyes, her face angry like she was feeling vulnerable and didn’t like the feeling. “I thought he was an idiot who was trying to buy his way into my good books. I thought the expensive gifts meant he saw me as shallow. Once I actually got to know him, I learned different. Stiles, the idiot, he just shows his heart through spending money. So… just… don’t take it the wrong way, okay?”
“Derek, son,” says John on Christmas Eve, “I want you to be aware that Stiles may have gone a touch over the agreed gift budget. He does every year.”
So, it is surprising on Christmas morning when there’s only one package under the tree from Stiles to Derek and it is quite small. It looks like a single book if Derek were to wager a guess.
“My family’s probably warned you that I’d spend too much money on you for Christmas,” says Stiles as he hands the gift to Derek with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. “So, I hope you aren’t too disappointed that there’s just the one gift…”
“Stiles…” argues Derek with a smile and eye-roll because he is surprised, but he’s not disappointed.
He opens the gift and his breath catches in his throat at the familiar faces smiling up at him. It is a framed photo of his family that he’d never seen before, can’t remember ever having it taken. He touches fingertips the photo of his family reverently and then realizes it isn’t a photo, it’s a painting. A really, really realistic painting.
“I know how sad you were that you didn’t have any photos of them,” explained Stiles softly. “I got in touch with this guy in New York who can do hyper-realistic paintings. I found a bunch of photos from newspapers and the school year books and stuff and had him try to paint their likenesses. I hope… it turned out?”
“It’s perfect,” whispers Derek, though it’s hard to speak past the catch in his throat. He turns to Stiles and kisses him deeply, wrapping his arms around him. “I love you,” he says for the first time.
“I love you too,” Stiles chokes out, smiling over-bright when they break apart.
“I know,” says Derek pointing at the painting.
Stiles’ smile gets impossibly bigger.