Stiles

Stiles is running down the street to the local church. He knows people are watching him pass by with worried glances or confused looks on their faces, but he doesn’t care. He has a wedding to get to.

He knows it probably makes him a horrible person, but he has to stop it.

He has to make Derek see sense. Has to make sure he and Kate don’t get married, that Derek doesn’t ruin his entire future. No matter what it takes.

Derek

Derek’s in one of the backrooms of the local church, getting ready for the wedding. His wedding. Where he’s going to marry the woman he loves. Needless to say, he’s unbelievably nervous.

If only it were for the right reasons.

Isaac and Boyd pick up on his nerves, but they just chalk it up to the fact that he’s getting married, that it’s normal. They even joke about him getting cold feet…

They don’t know it, but they aren’t that far from the truth. Thoughts of Stiles enter his mind, and with them everything that happened the past two years. They made him doubt then, and as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, the thoughts are making him have doubts now…

(Two years ago)

“Man, I’m so drunk” Derek groans, slumping against the wall in the hall of Stiles’ apartment.

Stiles chuckles. “God, you and me both, buddy”

He shoves Derek away from the wall, steering him toward the living room and the comfortable looking couch.

“I’ll get you some blankets or something so you can crash on the couch. You want to borrow some sweatpants to sleep in?”

“Nah, ‘m fine in my boxers” Derek says, letting himself fall against the couch and settling against the throw pillows. “I love your couch” he mumbles.

“Eh, what are friends for, right? I’ll be back in a minute”

Derek nods, sighing contently. Such a good couch.

He’s had a great night with Stiles. It had been way too long since they’d last gone out together, even if it was just to get drunk. They’ve been friends forever, him and Stiles, but now they both have their own jobs and lives it gets harder and harder to remain as close as they used to be. Derek’s glad they used the night to catch up.

He sits up to rid himself of his clothes, stripping down to his boxers. Stiles comes back in the room, changed into an old college t-shirt and sweatpants, riding low on his hips. He giggles when he almost trips on his way over to Derek.

He unceremoniously drops the blankets on the couch, then promptly crawls into Derek’s lap, straddling him.

“What are you doing?” Derek asks, raising an eyebrow.

Stiles rolls his eyes. “Giving you a goodnight kiss, dumbass”

True to his words, Derek receives a chaste peck on the lips from his best friend.

“You remember only one of us is gay, right?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to be gay to enjoy a simple kiss.”

Derek nods slowly. That…makes sense. So even though he’s as straight as a guy can get, he doesn’t stop Stiles when he leans in for another kiss.

(He’s a drunk and horny man, you can’t blame him)

The kiss – even though it’s a kiss with his best (and male) friend – is surprisingly nice. So again, he doesn’t make a move to stop Stiles when he deepens the kiss.

They make out like that for a while, exchanging sloppy, drunk kisses, but like Stiles said; a kiss is a kiss. He might as well go ahead and enjoy it.

Apparently Derek’s lack of resistance gives Stiles enough confidence to take their make out session to the next level, since he settles himself more firmly in Derek’s lap and starts moving his hips in a sinful way, pressing their clothed crotches together and eliciting a wanton moan from Derek.

And that’s when it hits him what they’re doing. What he’s doing.

He roughly shoves Stiles out of his lap, scooting to the other end of the couch to create some much needed space between them. Stiles looks confused, like he doesn’t know why Derek pushed him away. So Derek knows he has to be very clear to him.

“This stays between us.” He says, eyes boring into Stiles’ and forcing him to agree with him. “And it won’t ever happen again.”

Stiles just nods, taken aback.

Derek can only hope no one will ever find out about this.

Stiles

Stiles sneaks inside through the backdoors of the church, eyes falling on Derek’s friends and family at the front of the room.

He can hear Kate ordering her bridesmaids around somewhere back inside a room. It only makes him more determined. Derek deserves so much better than some shallow girl like Kate.

Suddenly Erica pops up beside him, grabbing his elbow none-too-gently and hauling him back outside.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Some good old wedding-crashing?” he tries sheepishly.

“Stiles…” she snarls.

“Fine, I’m going to stop him from making the biggest mistake of his life”

She’s quiet for a minute, looking at him like she’s trying to figure out what’s going on inside his head, but she’s having a hard time doing so.

“Do you love him?”

And wow, he didn’t expect that question.

“That’s beside the p – ”

“Do you?” she interrupts in an urgent tone.

Stiles sighs, knowing Erica won’t let this one go.

“Yeah, I love him, okay?”

The next second he finds himself with an armful of Erica, who’s hugging the life out of him, mumbling a thank you in his ear.

“What?” Stiles asks, raising his eyebrows. He didn’t see that one coming, either.

“Don’t tell Derek this, but…I never really trusted Kate’s intentions. I don’t even really like her that much.”

“I know, that’s why I’m here. I just hope he’ll listen to me.”

Erica tsks. “Derek needs to get his head out of his ass. Anyone who knows him can see he’s totally into you.”

“Yeah, well, he’s pretty adamant about not being gay…”

(One year ago)

“Everything hurts” Stiles groans as he takes a seat on the bench in the sauna.

“Well, maybe you wouldn’t be so sore if you joined me at the gym more than once a month” Derek teases.

Stiles huffs, petting his barely there – but they’re there! – abs.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

He notices Derek’s eyes roaming over his body, taking in the sweat running down his chest, his broad shoulders, his strong calves. Naturally, Stiles takes the opportunity to return the favor and have some eye-candy himself. And it really doesn’t help that they’re both only covered with a towel. He’s in danger of getting into a…situation.

He tries to distract himself from the matter by asking Derek how his knee is doing. He’s a physical therapist and always treats Derek’s minor injuries or strains.

“It’s fine”

Stiles tilts his head, squinting his eyes at the older man.

“Yeah, no, you’re not fooling me, big guy”

Derek sighs longsuffering, but an amused smile is playing at his lips, betraying his true feelings.

“Alright fine, you win. It kind of hurts. It’s been acting up again lately.”

“Dammit Derek!” Stiles scolds him, “I told you, you need to tell me this stuff so I can do something about it.”

He crouches down in front of Derek and starts inspecting his strained knee, turning his inspection into a sports massage before Derek has a chance to object.

For the umpteenth time in the past years he wishes he would be doing this to Derek in a different setting. Preferably a bedroom. Naked.

He gets carried away by the fantasy and lets the massage grow sensual, moving his hands up Derek’s calves and thighs, kneading the flesh. To his surprise, Derek lets out a shuddering breath above him, dragging him out of his fantasy.

Stiles is hard, and a look at Derek’s towel makes it very obvious that Derek is, too. He doesn’t think about it when he places a soft kiss on the inside of Derek’s thigh, making him groan.

“Stiles…”

Stiles moves his hands further up Derek’s thighs, letting his fingers skim just under the edge of the white towel.

“Hm?”

“Stiles, I’m in a relationship”

Stiles groans, not this again.

“Yet here we are, both sporting very obvious erections…”

“That’s just a physical reaction to your massage” he mumbles.

“You’re so fucking stubborn!” Stiles snaps, standing back up. “When are you finally gonna stop lying to yourself?”

“I’m not lying to anyone! I’m not gay. I love Kate.”

Stiles rolls his eyes. “Kate, of course. I’m sorry Derek, but I’ve seen love and what you two have isn’t it. At least not on her part.”

“What the hell is your problem?!” Derek exclaims, standing up as well and yelling in Stiles’ face.

“She is my problem! She’s using you Derek, she’s just after the money and social status of your family!”

Derek’s face closes off and Stiles knows it’s a lost cause.

“I’m out of here.”

He storms out of the sauna, Stiles yelling after him:

“But you’re my ride!”

“Call a fucking cab!” Derek yells back, without looking back or slowing down.

Stiles sighs, mumbling under his breath;

“Hard-headed idiot.”

“Well maybe not gay, but definitely bisexual” Erica states. “Or just Stiles-sexual, I don’t even care. Just know that I’m on your side, here.”

Stiles chuckles. “Thanks, Erica”

“You should probably wait until everyone’s inside before you slip back in. Kate’s family knows you weren’t invited.”

He nods. “Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

She slips back inside through the door, throwing a ‘good luck’ over her shoulder.

Yeah, he’ll need it.

Derek

Derek’s waiting at the altar, deep in thought. He loves Kate, he does. But deep down he knows that Stiles has a point. That Kate doesn’t seem sincere sometimes, belittling him. And he lets her. He doesn’t care. You don’t make a problem of such things when you love someone. Right?

Again, a wave of doubt engulfs him. What if Stiles is right, though? More than that, what if he’s right not just about Kate, but about…the other thing. The gay thing. Or bisexual thing. Or whatever the hell he’s supposed to call it.

He’s startled out of his thoughts by Isaac, standing beside him as his best man and clapping a hand on his shoulder.

“You ready?”

No he’s not. There are so many ‘what ifs’ running through his head right now, it’s disorienting.

Then his eyes fall on his family, his sisters. Seeing them so happy for him, elated that he’s going to marry Kate, the woman he loves , damn it. He looks over at Kate’s family, eyes locking with Chris’, who winks at him. Everyone just looks so happy.

So this can’t be a bad thing, a mistake, then. He and Kate will have a beautiful wedding and live a happy life together.

Finally, he nods.

“Yes”

The organ starts to play a song, then and Derek can’t help but think it sounds like a death march.

Kate is floating down the aisle, proud bridesmaids trailing behind her, all of them looking like a clique of pageant queens.

As much as he doesn’t want them to, thoughts of Stiles drift back into his mind. He doesn’t know what the hell is wrong with him, but suddenly he’s thinking about what it’d be like if it would be Stiles walking down the aisle toward him, instead of Kate.

He almost finds himself wishing for it.

Fuck.

Stiles

Stiles is hiding in the curtains in the back of the room, looking at Derek waiting at the altar. Isaac is asking him something, hand on his shoulder.

Then the organ starts playing this horrible tune of impending doom, and the doors open to reveal a beaming Kate, walking down the aisle like she just got crowned prom-queen. It’s nauseating, to say the least.

He takes the opportunity to slip away from the curtains, taking a seat at the last row of chairs. His eyes go back to Derek, who looks…well, let’s just say he doesn’t look as awestruck by his bride-to-be as a man in his place should be.

And that’s when Stiles knows. He knows.

Derek is hesitating. He’s having doubts.

His time is running out, though, when Kate reaches the altar. He would like to be able to say that he has this all thought out. That he has a plan.

Well, he doesn’t.

He’s tried telling Derek numerous times before that Kate isn’t the one for him. He’s tried to make him see that he’s into guys as well, into Stiles . But that’s never ended well for either of them;

(Six months ago)

“I’m sorry, you did what now?” Stiles asks, furious. Because this is insane .

“I asked her to marry me, Stiles. You could be a little more enthusiastic.”

“Yeah well sorry, but I really don’t agree with you there.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to get that.” Derek sighs, dragging a hand across his face. “You know, I was going to ask you to be my best man. Guess that’s not gonna happen, huh?”

And that knowledge just breaks something in Stiles. It makes him so frustrated, that they just keep fighting about this. That he’s unable to make Derek see the truth about himself. He hates it.

What he hates even more are the angry tears forming in his eyes.

“Derek, please” he begs, “Don’t do this to yourself. I don’t care if you come out of the closet or not, I just don’t want you to condemn yourself to a life of unhappy marriage with a woman that doesn’t love you as much as you love her. You fucking deserve better!”

“Stiles can we please stop fighting about this?” Derek pleads, tired. “I already told you countless times that I love Kate and I’m not gay…”

Stiles moves towards him, bracketing him against the couch with his arms on either side of his head, getting in his personal space.

“So prove it” he bluffs, wetting his lips invitingly.

Derek’s eyes turn pleading, desperate. “Please don’t”

“Don’t do what? This?”

He cups Derek’s face with his hands, brushing his cheek with a thumb.

“Or this?”

This time he places a soft kiss on his other cheek.

“Or maybe this?”

He brushes their lips together in the most tender way he can muster, begging Derek to understand without words this time. Pouring everything he feels in just the lightest brush of their lips.

He leans back, unsurprised to see Derek’s eyes filled with unshed tears.

“Stiles, I…” He stops talking when his voice breaks.

“I know, Derek. I fucking get it, okay? But you’re allowed to be happy like this! We could be happy…”

He sighs, moving away from Derek and back to his place on the couch.

Derek clears his throat. “I’m sorry, I…I have to go.”

So yeah, Stiles needs to find another way. It’s his last chance. Their last chance. He doesn’t have time to think of a plan. He needs to act.

Before he knows it the ceremony is at the point where the preacher says the legendary words ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’.

As expected, there’s a silence, and with it his last chance.

He hesitates for a brief moment, wondering if doing this to Derek – because no matter how you look at it, he’s still ruining his best friend’s wedding day – really is the right thing for him. All of his doubts vanish, however, when he takes notice of Kate’s tiny smirk. Nope. Not happening.

He stands up with shaking hands, all eyes turning on him. He’s met with mixed looks of horror, confusion and a very few of what looks suspiciously like relief.

Stiles though, he’s only looking at Derek. His eyes are wide as saucers, mouth slightly agape to reveal those adorable bunny teeth of his.

He takes a deep breath, steeling himself. He has to speak.

Now.

Derek

Derek is speechless. All he can do is stand there, looking at the man he considers one of his best friends (and maybe if he’s really, really honest with himself a little more than friends), standing in the back of the room and crashing his wedding . And quite possibly ruining it.

He clamps his jaw shut to suppress the relief flooding through him.

Their eyes are locked for what seems like minutes, until Stiles finally breaks the contact and looks away.

Then he speaks:

“Hi…uhm,” He takes a second to straighten his jacket, before looking back at the room at large. Words seem to be stuck in his throat and after a few long seconds he apparently decides to just focus on Derek again.

Stiles clears his throat awkwardly. “Hi”

“Look, I…I’m not the kind of guy to just rudely barge in on a white veil occasion like this, but…”

He shakes his head before he continues.

“But Derek, you are not the kind of guy who should be marrying the wrong girl, okay? And I know I’ve said that before and you didn’t want to hear anything of it, I know that. But before you go through with this, I need to tell you something I don’t think I’ve ever said before, but I really feel like you should hear, so…”

He takes a shaky breath.

“I love you. I think I always have. I love everything about you, even the things that drive me insane and I always want you with me and god I’m really rambling here but I love you and I think…I think you love me, too.”

Derek gasps. Has he already said that he’s speechless? Actually that kind of feels like an understatement now. He doesn’t know what to do, or say, or think.

Because apparently Stiles loves him .

Talk about surprises, holy god. He knew Stiles was gay, knew he was attracted to Derek, and he was completely fine with that. But love? That’s…he really doesn’t know how he feels about that.

In the back of the room, now standing in the middle of the aisle, Stiles cards a hand through his messy hair, then speaks again.

“So, yeah, I thought you should know that. And I’m sorry, but I’m gonna go ahead and ask you again not to do this. Don’t say yes. Just…I don’t know, run away with me or something, I…”

He sighs, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the door.

“I’ll wait for you at the backdoor, if you decide to come with me. I really think you should hear me out, so…yeah”

Then he’s turning around and, like he said, going through the backdoor and leaving the room.

Before he even gets the chance to fully process what just happened, Kate starts yelling beside him.

“What the hell is that brat thinking?! He’s ruining everything for me!”

“For you?” Derek asks, noticing her choice of words.

She plasters a smile onto her face, brushing her hand against his arm.

“I mean for us, baby. You know that, don’t you?”

In all honesty, he doesn’t know anything right now. With enough doubt running free in his mind, he has to ask her a very basic and simple question.

“Tell me something?”

“Yes?”

“What is the thing you love the most about me?”

Kate blinks at him, breath hitching in surprise.

“Come on, Kate. Surely you must love something about me if we’re standing here.”

She laughs nervously, nodding.

“Yes, of course. I just didn’t know what to choose. There’s so many things.”

“So?”

“Well, there’s a lot of things I love about you, but I can’t get enough of your amazing body. I mean, look at you. We make the perfect couple, together.”

And that’s when Derek realizes. If that’s the best thing she can come up with…

Stiles was right. Kate doesn’t love him. Or maybe she does love him, just not for the right reasons. And clearly not on the same level Derek loves, thought he loved , her. She’s only into him because of what he can get her. Not because of him .

"Right"

He nods, moving away from her. Desperate, he looks over at his friends for support. He’s surprised at what he finds there.

Boyd is motioning his head towards the back doors. Hinting that he should follow Stiles, but still letting it be Derek’s decision.

Then Isaac is gently nudging him away from the altar, closer to the back doors. Still neither Boyd nor Isaac says a word.

He looks at his family, who all give him encouraging nods, his sisters throwing in enthusiastic thumbs-ups.

“Der, what are you doing?” Kate demands, voice wavering slightly.

Derek takes another step toward the doors.

“Derek I swear to God, if you take another step down that aisle – ”

Erica wastes no time in interrupting her, shouting right over her and at Derek.

“What are you waiting for? GO!”

And then he’s running.

Stiles

Stiles is pacing back and forth nervously when suddenly the doors burst open behind him, Derek barging through them.

He stops right in front of Stiles, grinning. Goddamn grinning .

“Okay, let’s do it.”

Stiles’ eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “W-What?”

“Let’s run away. You and me”

“I…”

“You said you love me”

Stiles nods, biting his lip and looking at Derek apologetically.

“Yeah, I’m sorry I just sprang it on you like that.”

Derek wraps him up in his arms and kisses him roughly, knocking the breath right out of him. He breaks away just enough to lean their foreheads together and mumble:

“Don’t be sorry. I’m the one who should apologize. I’ve been ignoring my feelings for so long, but when I saw you standing there…you have no idea how glad I was you were there when that preacher said ‘speak now’.”

Stiles lets out a short, relieved laugh. “You’re welcome”.

Then he brushes his lips against Derek’s briefly, because apparently he’s allowed to do that now.

“My dad is gonna kill me” he groans.

“What?” Derek chuckles, “Why?”

“Because I promised him I wouldn’t drag you out of the closet like I just did”

Derek nods. “I see…well there’s only one thing we can do, then”

“Which is?”

“Run away, like you said. We could hide out in Europe for a while until all this has blown over.”

“Europe, huh? I can work with that.”

“Okay then” Derek says, taking Stiles’ hands in his and bringing them to his mouth to kiss them. “So do you, Stiles Stilinski, agree to run away with me, Derek Hale, to work on this crazy relationship with me? To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health…”

“Oh my god, stop!” Stiles laughs, letting his head drop to Derek’s shoulder. “You’re ridiculous’

Derek surprises him again with a kiss to his temple.

“So?”

Stiles lifts his head, finally letting the beaming smile spread across his face.

“I do.”

And what God has joined, men must not divide. Amen.