The Hale Orphanage

Ch. 12

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

Stiles tried to slap Derek's hand away but was too slow and Derek had shut off the radio. The velvety voice of Ed Sheeran was silenced and Stiles was staring at his boyfriend with heat, silence did not help with his studying and Derek knew that "Don't give me that look"

"Then don't bug me, I'm studying. Just like you yelled at me too"

"I did not yell, and you're barely studying. You've been staring at the same page for thirty minutes"

He rolled his eyes closing the laptop on his desk that had one too many tabs open, swiveling around in his chair to face his boyfriend "Fine, you got me, what do you need?"

Derek leaned against the door frame trying to to seem to needy as his cheeks heated up and he spoke "Just wanted to talk. About...Friday..."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah? You know? I just wanted to know if you had anything planned?"

His eyes glanced around quickly as he shrugged. Stiles' obliviousness was painted well throughout his face as he reviewed his day out loud "Classes in the morning, hitting the grocery store in the afternoon then coming home? Why?" He couldn't help it, Derek just stared in disbelief. Their first anniversary and Stiles was clueless. At times Stiles seemed like a hopeless romantic, perhaps it was the writer in him. But here he was not a idea in the world. It was a big one. A year since the night they admitted their feelings and gave themselves over to each other. The night Derek pulled his head out of his ass and something beautiful was born.

And Stiles forgot.

Suddenly he was barreling over, burying his chuckle in the fold of his arm "Oh, I can't keep this up, look at that face. I'm only kidding you big lovable teddy bear"

"I hate you" if he had the heart too he'd push Stiles right out of his chair.

"If by 'hate' you mean 'love' then yeah, yeah you hate the crap outta me" he was turning back, clicking his laptop open again "It's the paid internships right? I know, I know the deadline is tomorrow. I'm thankful you pushed me to make a decision and I think I'm going to go with the Martin Publishing Co. I took your advise and did some research and MPC is  really more of what I'm about"

"Right"

Seemingly he caught the tone in Derek's voice because he was turning back all at once, his amber eyes shimmering with confusion "That's what you're talking about right?"

"Yeah. Yeah definitely, you've been putting it off I was making sure you finally made a decision. It's a uh... It's a big one"

"That's my man, always keeping me steady. You ready for lunch?"

He didn't try to bring it up again. He shared left over take out with his boyfriend, laughed at whatever show was on tv despite not ever really paying attention. He waited until Stiles was hopping in the shower to make up an excuse to get out of the house for the night. He was pretty upset, and the one person that usually comforted him was the very one he needed time away from so he could think.

Derek found himself sitting outside at a smoothie shop. He sipped slowly on his banana berry blast as he droned on about his sorrows to Erica "I don't know what to do" he sighed, trying to search her eyes through the poor connection of FaceTime. He loved being with Stiles but hated that he had to leave her behind, though he suspects she'd have zero reservations about boarding the first flight to make sure he was okay.

"You kick his ass. It's your anniversary and he forgot. Make him feel bad about it, he'll want to make it right, you get showered in gifts and awesome make up sex" she smiled proudly.

But that was Derek's dilemma, he didn't want Stiles to feel bad. He had, after all, had a lot on his plate as far as school, his internship and their relationship "As nice as that sounds, making him feel like shit is not my goal"

"Okay, okay maybe don't throw it in his face. But you are hurt and you should communicate that. Sitting here keeping it in isn't good for anyone"

"But what do I say 'you forgot our first anniversary, you bastard' I'd feel like crap if I don't bring it up right"

"Derek, babe, you're thinking way too hard. It's simple 'Stiles, our first anniversary is tomorrow and you forgot. I'm really upset about it and hope we can talk through this like mature adults' then comes the apologies and your favorite part: the sex"

Other than chuckle and shake his head at her antics there was much else he could do but be thankful for her "Okay, okay you're right"

Deep down he knew it wasn't as big as he was making it, Stiles was understanding. He'd probably be more upset if Derek had never reminded him. So when he retuned home that night he waited long by their front door going over every thing he was going to say and how he was going to say it all the way down to his facial expressions.

The lightweight door creaked open to a dark and visibly calm apartment. Upon further investigation he found Stiles, tucked neatly beneath their sheets. He looked peaceful and cute as he snored away. Derek simply kissed his still wet hair before stripping himself free of his clothes and climbed in bed. He didn't see why it couldn't wait another day.

The heat of the sun shining down brightly on him woke him the next morning. Derek rolled over to check the time and instead found he was in the bed all alone, which was rare, he was always the first to wake up.

Stiles was gone, he didn't have classes until later in the afternoon. Quickly Derek was flipping the sheets back in hopes of finding a groggy Stiles in the bathroom, but to his avail there was nothing. The home was spotless, Stiles must have cleaned it the night before and Derek missed it. A clean home was strange, and was something that rarely happened when Stiles was home alone but there it was, all cleaned and the floor even mopped. Upon further inspection Derek found the bedroom, the living room, even the cramped corner Stiles jokingly called his study was all free of him.

It wasn't until Derek was marching to the living room, and searching for Stiles' contact to call that he finds it. There was a note. It was sitting alone on the center of the dining table, and he wasn't sure how he missed it. Stiles had made sure to clear the round table of any mess making it stand out. More notably was the name beautifully centered on the outside. It was his own, and Stiles had actually took the time to make it look elegant and thought out instead of his regular frantic chicken scratch.

Derek felt as though his stomach was sinking as he picked up the object with shaky hands. The worse of scenarios rushed through his head. He could just as easily open it up and find out what it said but that would make it too real, so he went down the list of things it could say. He could be leaving Derek, he could admit to cheating, perhaps it was just him saying something silly and Derek had jumped off the deep end for no reason.

Slowly, he lowered himself down into the nearest dining chair, just to brace himself as he worked up the courage to finally open the envelope that Stiles hadn't even taken the time to seal.

-Derek

I'm not sure how to say this. These type of things are never easy...