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Derek wasn’t surprised when a few days before his birthday, a package arrived addressed to him from Stiles. They had grown closer after the road trip back to Beacon Hills when the FBI was after him. Once Monroe had been handled, and Stiles had returned to DC, he and Derek had kept in touch by texts, then phone calls until eventually they were sending care packages to each other, then birthday gifts.
So, no. Derek wasn’t surprised Stiles had sent him a gift. He cut the package open, noticing a card labeled, ‘Open First.” Rolling his eyes, Derek opened the envelope. Inside was a birthday card with a cartoon wolf in tighty whities, a text bubble saying “Howoooooo,” a caption of “Underwear wolf.” Derek shook his head fondly. Stiles loved finding werewolf-related cards. Ever since he had discovered them, Derek had received one each birthday.
The previous year’s card had a pensive-looking werewolf sitting under a tree looking out over the scenery. Stiled had laughed till he cried when Derek called to thank him for the gift, stating the wolf just reminding him so much of Derek’s moody looks. Shaking himself from the memory, Derek read Stiles' note scrawled across the inside of the card.
Der,
Keeping with last year’s theme of “This reminds me of you,” I could not resist buying this for you. When you see it, you’ll know why. Sorry I couldn’t make it for your birthday yet again, but I WILL see you next month when I’m home for Christmas. Hope you have a ‘howlin’ good birthday!
Stiles
Derek huffed a laugh at the note before turning a weary eye on the tissue paper covering whatever monstrosity Stiles had decided reminding him of Derek. Setting the card aside, Derek reached in the box and pulled the tissue paper out, seeing something blue and fuzzy. Tossing the paper aside, he reached in again and pulled out a blue teddy bear with a grouchy face and a rain cloud on its tummy. Stiles had gotten him Grumpy Care bear. He knew exactly what it was because he remembered his sisters having the bears when they were children.
Holding the bear in one hand, he pulled his phone from his pocket, immediately pulling up Stiles’ contact info and pressing call. It rang only a couple of times before Stile answered with, “Der! I take it my gift arrived?” Derek swore he could hear the grin Stiles had on his face.
“Stiles,” Derek growled into the phone. “Really, Stiles?”
Stiles laughed. “Come on, Derek. You gotta admit it looks like you, all grump and gruff. Even has the eyebrows, but it’s a teddy bear just like you.”
“Haha. Very funny, Stiles.” Derek tried to sound put out, but Stiles could hear the smile in his voice.
Stiles just hummed happily into the phone. When he spoke, it was in a soft voice, “Happy birthday, Der.”
Derek sighed, “Thanks, Stiles.”
“Now, stop strangling the poor bear, He did nothing to you!”
Derek looked down and sure enough, he had a death grip on the bear. He set it down on the table as he settled into a chair to chat with Stiles for a few minutes. They ended their call with plans to get together when Stiles came home in a few weeks, Derek promising to have the care bear in a prominent place in his home.
Derek smiled as he ended the call, the smile growing as he looked at the bear again.
A few weeks later, when Stiles visited, he was wise enough not to mention that Derek had the beard sitting on the dresser in his bedroom right where he would see it every morning and every night.