#*fanmix14

                “Fuck!” Stiles exclaims, throwing yet another ugly Christmas sweater on the ground.

                “Now, what was wrong with that one?” Lydia sighed, “It was ugly without making you look ugly, which, trust me, isn't easy to do.”

                “I don’t know. I just didn't like it. It didn't feel like the right one.”

                “Well, the right one better be the next one because we only have an hour until we have to be at Scott’s.”

                Ever since Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Allison, and the rest of the gang had graduated high school, Scott had begun the tradition of the annual, ugly sweater Christmas party. He hosted every year at whatever place he was currently living. Stiles and Lydia always came over early to help with the preparation and set up. But, unfortunately they were pressed for time because of Stiles’s indecisiveness.

                “Remind me again why this is so important,” Lydia said as Stiles tosses another sweater to the ground.

                “Because I want to look nice this year.”

                “You want to look nice? At an ugly sweater party, which you have attended every year for the past five years, with the same group of people?”

                “Yes,” Stiles replies pulling the next sweater over his head, but then quickly removes it.

                “What makes this year so special? Is Scott setting you up with someone?”

                Stiles quickly turns to her. “Oh god, I hope not. The last time Scott set me up it turned out to be horrible.”

                Lydia chuckles. “Yeah, she kind of was, especially since she turned out to be a vampire.”

                “That is why Scott is not allowed to play matchmaker anymore.”

                “Then why are you trying to look nice?”

                “Can’t a guy just try to look nice without being questioned?”

                “Not when it takes two hours to find one sweater.”

                “I don’t complain when you shop for eight hours.”

                “Yeah, but you stopped coming shopping with me.”

                Stiles put on another sweater, and examined it in the mirror. It was a royal blue sweater with a beautiful romantic scene sown on. The scene included a cottage with chimney smoke, and big bright moon in the left hand corner. It was the perfect sweater for Stiles’s night.

                Stiles stared at the mirror for a moment longer then turned to Lydia, “This is the one,” he said.

                She stood up and grabbed her things, “Thank God! Let’s pay for it and leave.”

                Stiles looked in the mirror once more before taking off the sweater.

                Purchasing the sweater did not take long and soon enough they were at Scott’s door.

                “Hey guys,” Kira greeted them at the door, give them each a hug as they walked in.

                “It smells great in here,” Stiles says when he walks in.

                “Thanks, man, I’ve been slaving in the kitchen all day,” says Scott emerging from behind the kitchen wall. “Thanks again for coming to help out. Stiles, Kira is almost done setting up the TV and music in the living room, could you help her?”

                “Aye, Capt’n,” Stiles says giving a fake salute, and follows Kira to the living room.

                “And, Lydia, you know where she is,” Scott smiles, and returns to the kitchen.  

                Lydia trots over to Allison who is setting the table and adding last minute decorations. She wraps her arms around Allison’s waist, and gives her a kiss on the cheek. “Everything looks great,” Lydia says.”

                Allison turns around and smiles, “Thank you, babe.”

                By the time the first guest arrives, everything is set up and everyone is in their sweater. It would not have been a proper party if Lydia did not go around telling every one of her and Stiles’s endless hours looking for one sweater.  Needless to say, the story brought a lot of attention to Stile’s sweater, and he received a lot of compliments.

                As the night goes on and the guests continue to arrive, Stiles’s heart begins to grown heavy when he does not see the person he had hoped for.

                Scott comes and sits down next to Stiles, it’s obvious he has had too much to drink but so has everyone else.  “Hey, you having fun?”

                Stiles fakes a smile. “Yeah, dude, best party yet.”

                Scott pats him on the back then walks over to dance with Kira.

                Stiles sighs, he is half tempted to leave early when someone else comes and sits down next to him. Stiles does not acknowledge whoever it is, but turns when the person speaks. “You’ve hardly changed,” says the person.

                Stiles immediately looks up and is caught with fierce brown eyes, and a slightly hairy but still clean face that is all too familiar.

                “Wish I could say the same for you, you actually look like you’ve aged” Stiles teases.

                Derek chuckles. “Still the sarcastic ass, I see, but I wouldn’t expect any less.”

                “Why are you talking like it’d been ages? You’ve only been gone two years.”

                “Two years can seem long when you’re away from friends.”

                “Well, we really missed you.” I really missed you, Stiles wanted to say.

                “I really missed you guys,” Derek smiled and Stiles swore his heart skipped a beat. “By the way nice sweater, Lydia already told me the story.”

                Stiles rolled his eyes. “She’s never going to let it go.”

                The two talked for a little longer before Lydia pulled Stiles away to help in the kitchen.

                “So, was Derek the reason you ‘wanted to look nice’?” Lydia asked as they were preparing a plate of cookies.

                Stiles was glad she had her back to him so she could not see his beet red face. “No,” he lied, “why would you think that?”

                “Because of the way you looked when you were talking to him. It’s obvious that you like him to everyone else but him.”

                Stiles sighed. “I’m not even sure I like him.”

                Lydia paused and turned to Stiles. She placed her hand on his shoulder, and looked him straight in the eyes. “When you do know, don’t be afraid to tell him, okay?”

                Stiles smiled. “Okay.”

                The party was a blast. Everyone was having a great time, and the sweaters were even uglier than the year before.  But as drinks and food began to run low, people began to leave until the only ones left were Scott, Kira, Lydia, Allison, Stiles and Derek. After the part the group began their tradition of snacking on the rest of the food while watching  It’s a Wonderful Life , and sleepover.

                Halfway through the film, Derek got up to go to the kitchen. Lydia nudged Stiles and pointed to the kitchen. Stiles rolls his eyes, but goes to the kitchen anyways. When he enters he feels his heart pounding in his chest and his palms becoming sweaty. But he was ready to find the answer the feeling that had been bubbling up inside him for too long now.

                “Oh, hey you got hungry too?” Derek asked when he saw Stiles.

                “Yeah, plus those cookies are delicious.”

                Derek chuckled. “Yeah, it always surprises me how good Scott is at baking and cooking.”

                “Hell, he’s my best friend and he still surprises me.”

                Derek laughed. Then both of them fell silent. Stiles felt like this was the right time but he could not find the words. They got their food in silence, but before going back to the other room, Stiles grabbed Derek’s shoulder. He could not put it off any longer.

                “I need to tell you something.”

                Derek quickly turned and placed his plate down when he saw the urgency on Stiles’s face. “Is everything okay?”

                Stiles blushed and removed his hand. The butterflies in his stomach were going crazy. “Yeah, everything is fine; it’s just that…you know when you need to say something but you just cannot find the words. Like they are in the back-”

                “Stiles, just spit it out. You know you can tell me anything.”

                “I like you.”

                Derek looked shocked, but Stiles continued. “I don’t know when it happened. Hell, I didn’t even know I liked guys, actually I don’t know what I am. Maybe I’m bi, maybe I’m just into you, but…sorry, I am rambling. I just wanted to say that I like you…in a romantic way. And it’s okay if you don’t like me back. I just really needed-”

                “Stiles, I like you too.”

                Stiles looked at Derek and was greeted a warm smile.

                “I’ve actually liked you for a while, but I was too chicken to tell you. I’m glad you finally said something.”

                Stiles smiled. “I’m glad I did too.”

                Derek took Stiles hand, and they walked back to the living room, but were unprepared for what they found. Everyone was staring at them with big smiles on their faces.

                “Finally!” they all shouted at once.

                Everyone laughed, and teased and the two took their place on the floor.

                “Now that that has finally happened, can we please resume the movie?” Lydia said.

Thoroughly confused, he walked over and opened the door. There, on the ground propped up against the jamb, sat a small wrapped box with a big green bow. He didn't even need to read the tag to know it was from Stiles. The DC Comics characters dressed in Christmas sweaters all over the wrapping paper gave it away pretty clearly. He scooped the present, about the size of a shoebox, and carrying it gingerly, carried it inside.

As far as Christmases went, this one had been pretty crappy so far. He'd been eagerly anticipating Cora's flight home. She'd been due to arrive the morning before, but thanks to a blizzard in Chicago, the third leg of her flight from Buenos Aires got cancelled. The snowstorm crippled the midwest from Indianapolis to Wichita, as far South as St. Louis and up into Winnipeg. It sucked. He hadn't seen in her in three years. He'd really been looking forward to it. For the foreseeable future, she was stuck in The Windy City spending Christmas alone, just like he was.

Sure the pack had thrown a party last week, but half of them were still away at college. Only Scott, who attended UC Sacramento, Liam (Of course still in high school), and Malia, still behind her peers (Taking a year off to get ready for college) were able to come. Lydia, away at MIT, sent her presents ahead of time. Kira did the same from Columbia. So really, that left Stiles and Danny as complete no-shows. Danny, well good luck getting him out of Hawaii for Christmas, and really who could blame him. If Derek had the choice, he'd been spending Christmas in Hawaii too. Stiles down in San Diego, had two late finals and couldn't make it back. In reality though, Derek suspected the guy procrastinated buying his presents until the last minute like he seemed to every year.

He sat the present down on the coffee table and went back to his movie. I can open it after it's over, he thought. However, as the film played on, curiosity got the better of him. His fingers fumbled with the ribbon and bow for a few seconds. He'd been right. It was a shoe box, a Converse one to be precise. Anxiously, (And what else could he be but nervous, the guy left the box on his doorstep without so much as a knock), he removed the lid. Only two things were inside: A CD, hastily wrapped in white tissue paper, and a letter in a Christmas green envelope. What in the...

As he read, he found his own heart hammering in chest. When he opened the box, this was not what he expected at all.

(readable version of the letter)  

*   *   *   *   *

"Can you pass the potatoes, Melissa?" Stiles asked, taking the bowl from her. To be fair, since he'd dropped Derek's Christmas present at his door and run away like a coward, he'd pretty much lost his apetite. Not one word, not a text, or call, or even an angry pounding on the door. Nothing, in the four hours since. That was probably a bad sign. Well, he tried. He put his heart on the line, finally.

"You feeling okay, Son?" His father asked.

Throwing on a fake smile, perfected at this point after years of bottling up his emotions, he grinned. "Yeah, I just, well I gorged myself on Christmas candy and mixed nuts during our movie marathon this morning."

John gave him a wary look. "And you're sure it doesn't have anything to do with wherever you snuck off to for half an hour today?"

He cocked his head to the side and rolled his eyes. "Whatever you're thinking I did, you'd be way off base. Sometimes a guy just needs an hour to himself out of the house." He pushed his green beans around his plate. It was nothing against Melissa's cooking, really. The woman was an outstanding cook. To stem the flood of questions, he forced himself to empty his plate, but seconds, they were out of the question tonight.

As he stood to scrape his plate and load it into the dishwasher, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, Mel. Don't get up. It's probably Mrs. Patterson with her annual gift of cookies." When he opened the door, it was definitely not his elderly next door neighbor. "Derek, what are you doing here? I mean, you couldn't have saved your rejection for tomorrow or something?" He looked down at the dish in the man's hand. "You brought me a pie? Well that is a nice way of saying you'd rather stay friends." He set the pie plate on the table by the door.

Derek looked up at him, wide-eyed, with panic plastered on his face. "That's not...I... um." He rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath. "Yes."

"Yes what?" Stiles tried to swallow down his hurt and remain as professional as possible.

"Yes, to everything."

He nodded. "Well thank you for the pie and for telling me face to face. Much more polite than a phone call."

"That's not what I--Oh fuck it." He cupped Stiles' chin and brought their lips together.

Stiles felt boneless at that moment, throwing his arms around Derek's neck to keep from falling over. He was pretty sure everyone in the dining room heard the door slamming shut as he pushed Derek against it, never breaking the kiss, which quickly grew heated. After what felt like an eternity, someone behind him cleared their throat. Stiles pulled away from Derek, staring at him dazed, chest heaving. "Wow." He whispered.

"Sorry it took me so long...you went through all that effort to make me that mix. So I listened to it before I came over here while I made you a pie. You know to make-up for interrupting Christmas dinner."

Stiles, brain still reeling, could only smile. "So yes to everything, huh?"

He nodded with a small grin. "I would love to be your date for the New Year's Eve Ball, and for any date after that." He kissed Stiles' forehead.

"That's beautiful boys." The Sheriff sassed. "Would you like to stay for dinner? I mean since you brought a pie and apparently are now dating my son."

Derek blushed. "I'd really like that, Sir." If he felt like jumping for joy and clicking his heels when Stiles grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together, well then he didn't let it show.

*   *   *   *   *

As for their first date? Stiles looked amazing in his suit, as he promised. The New Year's Eve Ball was magical,  just like he thought it would be, filled with dances holding Stiles close to his body and many more kisses.