Written for @sterekweek-2021
Derek gaped at Stiles, his mind swimming with the question he’d just asked. It had come out of left field, and Derek was thankful they were alone and not in front of a massive crowd of people awaiting his answer. His brain immediately screamed ‘NO!’ in giant neon letters but his lips wouldn’t form the word, knowing it would break Stiles’ heart into a million pieces.
Stiles stared up at Derek, thinking he’d finally done it. He’d finally managed to do the one thing to ruin the good thing the two of them had going. His father had warned him that he should have discussed the situation with Derek first, but Stiles was never one for thinking ahead in personal situations.
Derek thought Stiles knew that he didn’t believe in forever. He had believed in forever when he was a child, but then Paige had died. Next his family and then Laura and Peter. Even if he didn’t stay dead. So, even death didn’t last forever. The years in New York felt like an eternity, but even that had come to an end when he’d come back to Beacon Hills.
Stiles could see the panic in Derek’s eyes, and his stomach twisted into a lead weight. He knew the thoughts swirling through his eyes, and he wanted to make them stop. He started to stand, but his legs were too weak, so he remained kneeling. He thought about closing his eyes and making everything stop, but had a feeling if he did, Derek would run away, never to be seen again.
Derek remembered thinking that Paige was everything, that they’d be together forever. He missed believing in forever. He missed a future that changed every time he thought of it but always had Paige and his family by his side. As he pressed his lips together, his eyes filled with tears, and Stiles’ face blurred.
Stiles saw the tears in Derek’s eyes. He wanted to impale himself on a blade for causing the man he loved so much pain. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, to make it better. He’d take the question back, never ask it again, if it would take away the look on Derek’s face.
Derek saw the way Stiles’ mouth opened and closed. He held out his hand, afraid of what word vomit would pour out if he allowed him to begin speaking. As Stiles’ mouth snapped shut, Derek had a flash of something unexpected. He pictured Stiles’ face many years from now, lined with age from laughing and worrying too much. His hair softly grayed, and his eyes still twinkling with merriment. As he lost himself in the vision, he saw himself, aged about the same. Grey hair at the temples and sprinkled through his hair and beard. Their hands were joined, and rings shined on their fingers.
Stiles watched Derek’s face change. His lips vacillated between a small frown and a soft smile, his eyes unfocused as if he was watching something playing out inside his head. Stiles wished he could see what Derek saw but wasn’t that part of what this whole thing was about. He wanted to share his life with Derek. He knew that things might not last forever, the loss of his mother told him that, but he didn’t care how many days he had left. He wanted to spend them with Derek.
Derek blinked his eyes, pulling away from future Stiles and focusing on the one in front of him. The one he loved and who loved him. The one who for the first time gave Derek hope for the future and maybe he wouldn’t be guaranteed eternity, but he’d be guaranteed happiness for all of the days he had with Stiles. He smiled down at Stiles.
Stiles’ shoulder loosened at the smile on Derek’s face. Warmth flooded through him when the smile reached his eyes through the tears that were coating his cheeks. Stiles allowed himself a moment of hope.
Derek leaned down until their faces were inches apart. He whispered, “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Stiles let out a quiet cheer and slipped the ring onto Derek’s finger before pressing their lips together. It didn’t matter what happened. Eternity started now.
