“I sent you a Christmas card that got sent back to me. Did you get a new apartment?” his dad wonders. The question is all suspicion and little anything else.
A flicker of an idea sparks. It’s not nearly formed well enough for him to say, “Yeah, actually,” and when he follows that with, “I moved in with someone,” he wants to punch himself in the face. He’s living with someone?!
“You’re living with someone?” It’s the same voice and tone as the one in Stiles’ head, just thirty years older.
Two things keep Stiles from bashing his face onto the table: there’s a steaming cup of coffee in the way and, more importantly, his dad will definitely hear. Someone passes by in front of him and a semi-familiar book cover catches his eye. “Derek Hale,” he muses, and stops. No. That wasn’t meant to be out loud.
Derek Hale loves his family, he really does. He just wishes they weren't so determined to set him up. When he finally blurts out that he has a boyfriend, and quickly gives his mother the name of the barista at his local coffee shop as his "boyfriend", he figures that buys him a little peace. He probably should have been paying attention to the part of the conversation where he agreed to bring Stiles home for Christmas to meet the family.
Somehow accidentally insulting a hot guy in a coffee shop leads to pretending to be his boyfriend in front of a house full of werewolves. Stiles Stilinski is living his best life and making the most of his Hallmark movie moment.
His mouth began forming the word 'no' in a knee-jerk reaction, but it died on his lips when he actually looked at Stiles. There was no pity in his face, no sense of moral obligation or charitable intent, he looked...earnest and nervous and so much the sixteen that he was. He realized with a jolt that had his stomach twisting into something that felt nothing like anger that Stiles wasn't asking for Derek's sake.
The boys spend Christmas together. There's copious amounts of sarcasm, some sharing of emotions and somewhere along the lines feelings develop.
Stiles is saving Derek’s life. Again. He thinks there should be some kind of reward system for them. When he suggests it, Derek reveals it’s his birthday. Stiles feels a little guilty that all he can give Derek for it is his life-saving abilities, so he decides to make it up to him on the next gift-giving holiday.