#still working on soulmark au tho!!! hopefully that'll be done this week!!

[redhoodedwolf]

less-than three

HERE HAVE A RANDOM SPONTANEOUS VALENTINES DAY FIC???

I was reminiscing with my roommate yesterday over the tumblr boyfriend I had like five years ago, fondly remembering how we’d message each other and hating how we didn’t have a chat feature back then but i digress

anyway I decided to put Derek and Stiles into an online/long distance relationship so have some fluff :D

d-hale: Hey.

star-wolves: Hey! How was your day?

d-hale: Pretty good all things considered. Been a long week.

d-hale: and you? How was class?

star-wolves: ugh, class was class. almost skewered myself on a lacrosse stick AGAIN

d-hale: ???

d-hale: I won’t ask.

star-wolves: But don’t you care about my well being??! DEREK RUDE

d-hale: of course I do

d-hale: But that’s the fifth time you’ve typed those words out to me, which is why I don’t need to ask. 

star-wolves: aw sweet

d-hale: am not

d-hale: change the subject

star-wolves: fiiiiine. You’re working on a new project, right? You patreon update was subtle at best but it’s the new client you talked about yesterday right??

d-hale: Yes. I’m almost done, but it’s been eating up a lot of my time.

d-hale: sorry about that

star-wolves: HEY NO work is totally important don’t ever apologize for puttin bacon on the table

star-wolves: As long as you’re not working yourself too hard I have no complaints. 

d-hale: I’m fine.

star-wolves: now is that an actual ‘I’m fine’ or a ‘Stiles can’t know I’m actually screaming inside so I’ll say I’m fine’ I’m fine

d-hale: your brain will always amaze me for how it works in such different ways

d-hale: But I do mean it. I’m actually enjoying this one, the client is easy to work with it’s just taking time I wish I could do other things with.

star-wolves: like what ;) ;) ;)

d-hale: Charming.

star-wolves: DON’T DENY ME

d-hale: Never.

star-wolves: DEREK YOU TAKE THAT SASS AND PUT IT IN YOUR POCKET

d-hale: I’m wearing pocket-less sweatpants what now

d-hale: and that was not an invitation to imagine me in sweatpants

star-wolves: you take out all the fun

star-wolves: ANYWAY SUBJECT CHANGE but can you believe it’s almost been a year of us chatting already? 

d-hale: Oh yeah. Valentines right?

star-wolves: Mhmm. I complimented your photographs and you couldn’t wait to meet the man who would lay down such respect upon you.

d-hale: I sent you ‘thanks’

star-wolves: UM NO I distinctly remember it was “Thank you very much for your compliments. I’m new here so it’s good to see people appreciating my photos.”

d-hale: and then you sent me back a thesis-long ‘you’re welcome’ 

star-wolves: hey if it wasn’t for that thesis you would have left it at that thank you so 

d-hale: You’re right. I’m lucky.

star-wolves: I just made a really embarrassing noise. You’re lucky no one is here with me.

d-hale: You’re not at home?

star-wolves: Library. Had to snag a couple books for an essay

d-hale: You should do your work instead of talking to me.

star-wolves: nooooooo I can do both! 

d-hale: What’s the essay for?

star-wolves: ...AP English.

d-hale: And isn’t that the class you’re struggling most with right now? 

star-wolves: STOP BEING LOGICAL I WANT TO TALK TO MY BOYFRIEND

d-hale: And we can talk. After you get work done. I should take a break for dinner anyway it’s already past eight

star-wolves: You need to eat! Go! 

d-hale: And you need to write that essay. I’ll message you in an hour, see where you’re at, and then we’ll decide if there’s enough time for a skype call.

star-wolves: Deal. Talk to you soon!

d-hale: Bye

“Stiles! There’s a package for you!” Sheriff Stilinski called as he stepped into the house at 6:17 AM on the dot, a USPS box in hand.

Stiles bound down the stairs in nothing but a hastily thrown-on pair of sweatpants, rubbing a towel over his wet hair. He furrowed his brow in confusion. “You just found it on the porch? I checked last night when I got in and didn’t see anything.”

His father shrugged as he wiggled his jacket off of his shoulders. “Maybe it was a late delivery. I’m headin’ to bed, kid. Have a good day at school.”

Stiles gave his dad a soft smile. “’Kay. Sleep well. Eat when you get up!” 

His father waved a hand over his head as he ascended the steps languidly, obviously exhausted from a double overnight shift. 

Stiles draped his towel over his bare shoulders and eyeballed the box his father had left on the kitchen counter as he pulled open the junk drawer and rooted about for a moment to find the good, sharp scissors. He hip-checked the drawer closed and then approached the box.

The package was addressed to him, nothing suspicious on the outgoing address. His gaze shifted up to the left on the label and his heart jumped into his throat. He muffled his surprised noise with his wrist, narrowly missing stabbing himself in the forehead with the scissors. 

Stiles snapped a photo of the box and sent it to Derek with a text box full of question marks.

He didn’t waste any time and quickly sliced the box open and set the scissors aside to pry away the stubbornly clinging tape. Once he got the cardboard flaps open he noted the folded up sheet of notebook paper settled on top of some red tissue paper. 

Stiles grabbed the the note first and unfurled it, though he was itching to pry back the tissue paper and see what Derek sent him. 

Stiles,

I’m glad you reminded me earlier this week, so I was able to send this to you right on time. First off, Happy Valentine’s Day.

Stiles’ eyes widened. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and double checked the date. Sure enough, February 14th flashed up at him underneath the glaringly early hour of 6:21 AM. 

Stiles only had twenty minutes before he had to head to school for morning practice, but even the threat of Coach’s shouting and Jackson’s berating couldn’t get him to leave this spot. 

It’s now officially been a year since we started talking. Thank you, by the way, for not giving up on me. At first, you were just an encouraging voice from a dumb blogging website, but because of your support I am happy with what I’m doing now.

Of course, I’m also thankful for your love. But this is our meeting anniversary, so I won’t go too much into that.

But it is Valentine’s Day, so I decided to send a gift as well. It’s no flowers, but I figured that was a relationship anniversary thing so I held off on those. Four months.

I hope it fits. I remember you talking about how much you wanted the jacket the one son had in the family portraits series I did a few months back. I think it would suit you well. 

Stiles couldn’t hold back any longer. He reached for the tissue paper and pealed it back, revealing soft-looking red fabric that he immediately dug his fingers into to feel how warm it was. Stiles set the letter aside momentarily as he pulled the folded clothing article out of the box. 

As it unfolded, giving Stiles the full view of its amazingness, something hit the ground at Stiles feet. Looking down, he spotted a handful-sized plush wolf holding a packaged bar of chocolate. Stiles gently picked it up, grinned at the dumb plastic heart eyes and knew Derek had picked it out specifically because it looked so cheesy. 

Stiles turned back to the letter, jacket and plush squeezed between his arm and his chest. 

The chocolate is just a little something extra.

Have a good day, we will talk soon. 

I love you.

Derek Hale

Stiles let the towel around his shoulders hit the ground with a slightly heavy wet plop and shrugged the jacket on over his bare torso, the warm fleece of the zipper hoodie instantly sedating the goosebumps over his arms. 

Stiles snapped a photo of himself in the hoodie, throwing up a peace sign, and saved it to his Snapchat story with the caption ‘my boyfriend is the best boyfriend’ with a little dog emoji. 

Then he sent a photo just to Derek of him hugging the plush between his hand and his chin, a blinding grin on his face, eyes squinting up at the camera.

Stiles officially had no more time to waste and had to get ready to go to school. But he couldn’t wait for a response from Derek. He rushed upstairs to get ready while simultaneously opening up the skype app to give Derek a call. He didn’t have time for a video call, but a voice chat would be sufficient. 

Every deity must have been looking down at him just then because the call connected, which meant Derek actually had time to answer his call.

“Stiles,” Derek’s gravely voice filtered out of his phone’s speakers as Stiles struggled into a graphic t-shirt.

“I love you, too!” Stiles shouted, leaping for his phone. “I love you, too! Shit, Derek, way to say it first in a fucking letter of all things!”

Derek chuckled, and Stiles’ face burned with the force of his grin. “Wanted to do a little more than type it, you know?”

“Shit of course I know. But I wanted to say it first!”

“You were the one who confessed to me and got us into a relationship in the first place. I figured it was my turn.”

Stiles huffed as he pulled the hoodie on, swapping his phone from hand to hand as he slipped his arms into the sleeves. “Fine. I’ll accept it.”

“You can do it next time,” Derek said, in almost a teasing way.

Stiles scoffed as he began shoving his school things into his backpack and then checked his lacrosse bag to be sure he had clean clothes and all of his stuff. “What next time? A proposal?” he joked.

“Hmm. In a few years, sure.”

Stiles choked and stubbed his toe on the leg of his desk chair. “Fuck you, Derek Hale. Okay, shit, I’m going to be late to practice. But I really had to call you. Sorry if I interrupted anything.”

“No, it’s fine, just getting ready for a shoot this afternoon. I’m glad you called. But I don’t want you to be late, so I’ll let you go.”

“I’ll message you after practice. I need to see you tonight,” Stiles admitted, feeling slightly vulnerable.

It wasn’t easy, having a long-distance relationship. It was made easier by things like skype and immediate replies. But Stiles longed to have Derek with him in person.

Two months until graduation, Stiles reminded himself. Then summer. 

“We’ll make it happen,” Derek replied, voice soft.

“I love you.”

“Love you too. Get going.”

Stiles disconnected the call, cursed at the time, and sprinted out of the house. Two months. Two months.

Then Derek.