#sterek proposal

Derek goes to the Sheriff to ask for his blessing.

For @imagine-sterek​‘s 10k 10 Day Celebration

November 10th: Proposal and Engagement

Derek sat on the plastic chairs out the front of the Sheriff’s office. It wasn’t too long ago that he’d been handcuffed to the rail that held up the chairs. Luckily for him, he wasn’t in cuffs this time, but he wasn’t exactly comfortable either: his stomach twisted in knots, his chest fluttering with anxiety and his heart hammering against his ribs. His pulse drummed in his ears as he tried to slow his breathing and calm himself.

His mind was racing with thoughts, trying to rehearse what he was going to say.

“Derek.”

The voice shook him from his thoughts.

Derek looked up to see John leaning out of the doorway to his office, a kind smile on his weary face. The man nodded towards his office, inviting Derek in.

Derek rose to his feet and made his way into the Sheriff’s office.

John shut the door behind him and crossed over to his desk, sighing as he sat down.

“What can I do for you, son?”

“I want to ask for your blessing,” Derek said.

“My blessing?” John repeated, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“To marry Stiles,” Derek clarified before rather hastily adding, “Not because I need it, but because I know how much you mean to Stiles and I’m kind of traditional.”

The Sheriff let out a deep sigh, a hint of a smile playing across his lips.

“I know you love Stiles, and he loves you,” Sheriff Stilinski started. “When I married Claudia, I promised to be by her side in sickness and in health. I had no idea what lay ahead of me.”

He paused for a moment, his hazel eyes darkening with pain as her dropped his gaze.

“And if I’m being honest, I failed her: I wasn’t there when she needed me the most. But Stiles was.”

John looked back up at Derek.

“Just like Stiles was there for you when you needed him the most, and you’ve always been there for him when he needed you. You’ve been by his side through the good and the bad, when he was sick or injury – hell, even possessed. No matter how bad it was, you were always there.”

Derek thought back to the times he needed help. The first one that came to mind was at high school’s pool, when the kanima paralysed him and he fell into the water. Stiles jumped in and saved him from drowning. No matter how much he struggled to keep their heads above water, he didn’t let go of Derek. Then there was the time in the hospital when they were fighting off the Alpha pack and the Darach; he came to when Stiles came back for him. Or when he had to leave Cora in the ambulance after she was poisoned by mistletoe—Stiles knew how much his heart was breaking and the softest touch was all it took to comfort him. Stiles fought for him when no one would, believed him when no one did.  

There wasn’t a moment where he needed help that Stiles wasn’t there for him.

Stiles was always there.

“You’ve never broken a promise you’ve made,” John continued, “and I know your vows won’t be any different.”

“For better or worse,” Derek said quietly—a promise

“I can’t think of anyone better to marry my son.”

Derek looked up at him, stunned. His heart beat faster as the weight in his chest lifted and he let out a sigh of relief.

“So, for better or for worse,” the Sheriff said teasingly, “you have my blessing.”

A small smile turned up the corner of Derek’s mouth as tears welled in his eyes, blurring his vision into streaks of light and colour.

John returned the smile, rising from behind his desk and stepping over to Derek’s side, pulling him into his arms.

Derek hugged him back, feeling the Sheriff hold him tighter.

“Do you have a ring?” John asked as he pulled back.

“Not yet,” Derek answered.

“Here.” The Sheriff worked his old wedding band off his finger, holding it out for Derek to take. “Take it.”

“Are you sure?” Derek asked, looking from the Sheriff to the ring.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

tiktok.com/@maxrenfro/video/7133359230899227950?_t=8V8WBVfsCHW&_r=1

Like these pictures are so amazing

“Son, you need tocalm down.”

Stiles paused in hispacing to spin on his heel, arms flailing, and fixed his father witha wide-eyed stare.

“Calm down?” Hisvoice hitched, “Calm down? You told me he’s going topropose, dad. That’s- that’s huge.”

John raised one handin a sort of placating gesture, “Now, I never said-”

“You impliedit,” Stiles was vaguely aware that his hands were shaking as hedialled Derek’s number, for the third time in the span of a minute. Afrustrated noise died in his throat when it went straight tovoicemail, again.

“Stiles, I don’tget why you’re making such a big deal out of this,” John stabbedanother piece of lettuce with his plastic fork, and pulled a face asif it had personally offended him. “This tastes like nothing.”

“Eat your goddamnsalad,” Stiles muttered, eyes fixed on his screen as he typed out astring of texts. Badly punctuated, slightly hysterical texts.

“Not until you sitdown and tell me what the issue is, here,” John tilted his headmeaningfully towards the chair across from him, “I don’t want youhaving a panic attack.”

Stiles slumped intothe seat, reluctant, and bit at his thumb. He narrowed his eyes athis left knee, which kept bobbing up and down as his leg twitched.

“What’s theproblem, Stiles?”

“I was theone who was supposed to propose first, okay?” the words left hismouth faster than he could think of them, a little louder than he’dintended. At his father’s questioning look, he took a deep breath andcontinued, “In theory. I mean, I didn’t see it happening foranother year or two.”

“So you think it’stoo soon.”

“Not necessarily,no- it’s just…” Stiles exhaled heavily, ran unsteady fingersthrough his hair, “maybe. Maybe it is. That’s the problem- I’m notsure. Do you really think we’re ready for this?”

“I know that youand Derek love each other,” the Sheriff’s brow was furrowed,“There isn’t any doubt there, right?”

“None at all,”Stiles said- immediately, reflexively. “It’s just that…God, Idon’t know.” he groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

“Didn’t you haveany doubts before you proposed to mom?” he asked quietly, throughhis fingers.

“Of course I did,”his dad’s response was soft, “How could I not? She was an amazingwoman and I still wasn’t entirely convinced I deserved her. But…”Stiles lifted his head in time to see his dad shrug. “It’s normalto have doubts, son.”

The sound thatescaped Stiles was helpless: “Derek’s not perfect, but neither amI. I’m kind of obnoxious and I talk too much and–  and at the end ofthe day, I’m just kinda an anxious mess, dad. I still have thenightmares, like, weekly. Should anyone really have to put upwith that?

“And- and Derekhas his own issues, but at the end of the day I’ve actually seen thathe’s the sweetest goofball of a man and I love him so much andhe’s probably got some huge romantic gesture planned that I couldnever top but, goddammit, I reallywanted to propose to him first-”

“I’m going to stopyou there,” his dad levelled him with a look, “Justtell him, Stiles.”

“What-tell him what?” Stiles muttered to his knees.

“Everythingyou just told me.”

“ButI-”

“Goto him, tell him these things, and- goddammit, Stiles- just proposeto him, if you want to propose.”

“I.I don’t have a ring, though-”

“Go.”His father jabbed a finger towards the door.

Stilesshot up from his chair and wasout of the office within the minute.

Johndumped his salad in the trash.

Thefront porch of the Hale house made one hell of a noise when youwalked on it- Stiles knew this, because he was physically incapableof walking around quietly (unlike certain werewolves thathe knew). Currently, it was kicking up one hell of a protest as hestomped towards the front door, floorboards whining under hissneakers; not that he cared, not that he really registered the soundover the rushing in his ears. His heart was in his throat and hismind was running a mile a minute andhe needed to remind himself to breathe.

Stilestook a shuddery breath and flung the door open. It hit the insidewall with a bang.

“Iwas going to propose first,asshole!”

Okay,maybe not the best way he could have phrased that. He’d have to tryagain.

Derek,who seemed to bein the middle of assembling some kind of furniture, fumbled anddropped the screwdriver in his hands (goddammit, Derek never fumbled,what the hell). He turned to face Stiles;his ridiculous puppy eyeswere wideand his eyebrowswere doingthe thing.

“Stiles,what-”

“Youknow what.” Stilesstalked across the room, gripped the front ofDerek’s henley with hisfists. “You were going to propose tomorrow, weren’t you?”

“I-”Derek looked crestfallen, suddenly, eyes shifting to the side as hesaid, “I’m sorry? I-”

“No,shut up and listen to me,” Stiles’ voice was low, intense, as heleaned closer and made Derek look him in the eye.

“Ilove you so much,Derek. So freaking much itscares me.” He loosened his grip a fraction, smoothed down thewrinkles in Derek’s shirt with one hand, “I love how you have thissense of humour that you only really share with me. I love the littlecrinkles around your eyes when you smile. I actually kind of lovewhen you’re grumpy, too.

“Ilike it when you don’t shave and you get stubble burn all over me. Ilike that you’re actually, like, friendswith my dad,” Stiles laughed, “I. I still have no idea how thathappened, actually.”

Derekgrabbed onto the hand that Stiles kept running down his shirt, lacingtheir fingers together,“Stiles–”

“No,I’m not done. So,yeah, sometimes we have our differences, like when you arguethat a bald cupcake most definitely is a muffin-”“But itis-”

“Shut up, it’snot.” He pressed his fingers to Derek’s lips, and Derek’s eyebrowsshot up. “I’m trying to tell you that I love our differences. Ilove that we can argue and it can still be fun.”

Derek’s lipstwitched, like he was fighting a smile.

Stileslowered his eyes and went on,  “And…andI love that you’ll wake me up from my nightmares, help me count myfingers and calm down- and Ijust. I–” he shook his head, “I’m being cheesy, now, orwhatever, I know– but youprobably had something three times as romantic as this planned, so.”

Derekstared at him for a minute, gaze soft. He pressed a kiss to Stiles’fingers, and Stiles lowered his hand.

“MayI speak now?” Derek murmured.

“Just,” Stilesthrew his hands up, “Will you marry me or not, you dork?”

Derek swept him-literally swept him into his arms, hisfeet left the floor- into what could only be described as a bruisingkiss. Stiles made a soft, desperate noise and clutched at Derek’sshoulders, raised one hand and slid it along Derek’s jaw. Derek bitat his lower lip, licked into his mouth, andStiles groaned and archedinto him, seeking the warmth, craving the intensity. Gradually, thekiss slowed- became something softer, sweeter. Stiles pulled backreluctantly to take a breath, and Derek mouthed at his jaw.

“That’s a yes,right?” Stiles asked, on an exhale.

Derek buried hisface in Stiles’ neck and laughed.

“You’reridiculous,” Derek’s lips moved against his throat- soft, familiar.“Of course I’ll marry you.”

Stiles grinned sohard it hurt, and ran his fingers through Derek’s hair, “Good.Wanna put me down, now?”

“Nah,” Dereknipped at him playfully, “Think I wanna carry you upstairs.”

“Oh, good idea,yes. The best idea.” He hit at Derek’s shoulder, “Go, whatare you waiting for.”

It didn’t take themvery long to get to the bedroom.

Derek: No, thank you. That'll only ruin the wedding. Why don't you stand next to me at the alter instead?

Derek’s very non-traditional, but there is one thing that he is traditional about: he has to get the Sheriff’s blessing to marry Stiles.

  For @overthetopobsessed​

insp: ‘Marry Your Daughter’ by Brian McKnight

(AO3)

 Derek drew in a deep breath, feeling his chest tighten as his heart hammered against his ribs. He sat on the old plastic chair out the front of the Sheriff’s office, his leg bouncing impatiently. He held onto a black crushed velvet box, turning it over in his hand and brushing the ball of his thumb across soft fabric.

“Derek?”

The Sheriff’s voice jolted him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at the man.

Sheriff Stilinski nodded towards his office.

Derek rose to his feet and made his way in.

The Sheriff shut the door behind him before stepping over to his desk and sitting down. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, sir,” Derek said, swallowing hard as he tried to calm his nerves. “I promise not to take up too much of your time and I’m still not really sure what I’m going to say, but…”

He set the black ring box down on the Sheriff’s desk.

The Sheriff leant forward and picked up the box. He opened the box, looking down at the silver ring—the band twisted into a Celtic pattern similar to triskeles and trinity knots.

The Sheriff arched his brow, looking down at the ring sceptically.

“It’s for Stiles,” Derek explained. “I’ve come to ask for your blessing. I want to marry your son.”

The Sheriff blinked in surprise but didn’t say anything.

Derek swallowed hard.

“I love him,” he continued. “He’s the only person that I have ever truly loved and I promise to love him for the rest of my life. He’s my whole world—he’s everything to me—and I want nothing more than to spend every day of the rest of eternity with him.”

The Sheriff didn’t say anything; he just sat there, taking in everything Derek was saying.

“The other day I was writing a letter to him and I realised, half way through writing it, that I was writing my vows. We’ve been together for a while now and I don’t want to lose him, I don’t ever want to let him go. I love your son, and I want to marry him.”

The Sheriff nodded slowly.

“You do realise, that Stiles would marry you with or without my blessing, right?” the Sheriff asked.

“I know,” Derek said with a breathless laugh. “But it would mean a lot to me to know that you approve of Stiles and I being together.”

“You’ve been together for three years now,” the Sheriff pointed out. “If I didn’t approve of you two being together, don’t you think I would have said something by now?”

Derek felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment.

A small smile turned up the corner of the Sheriff’s lips as he looked down at the ring.

“For better and for worse?” he asked.

“For better and for worse,” Derek promised.

The Sheriff nodded, shutting the ring box and handing it back to Derek. He opened his mouth to say something when Stiles came barrelling through the door.

Derek quickly shoved the box into his jacket pocket.

“What’s going on?” Stiles asked. He looked from Derek’s alarmed face to his dad. “He’s not in trouble, is he?”

“Not yet, he isn’t,” the Sheriff said.

Stiles let out a relieved sigh.

“Oh good.” He turned to Derek. “We should get going if we’re going to be home before the others come over for dinner.”

“Alright,” Derek said.

“Bye, Dad!” Stiles farewelled as he left the office.

“Bye, Stiles,” The Sheriff called after him. “Derek?”

“Yes?”

“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked.

“More than anything,” Derek answered.

“Then my answer is yes,” the Sheriff said.

Derek felt a wave of relief wash over him. He let out a measured breath as a smile played across his lips. “Thank you.”

He turned back to Stiles, wrapping his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders.

“What was that about?” Stiles asked.