Chapter Text
Derek is skeptical. That is his current mood: skeptical. He’s always been skeptical, of a lot of things, but now, that feeling has reached its peak.
He’s in his car, with Lydia in the passenger seat. Isaac and Allison are driving in the van behind them. They have one more hour of driving until they reach Night Vale, or so his GPS says. And Derek is highly skeptical.
‘So what are we expecting?’, Lydia asks, not lifting her eyes up from her tablet.
‘You know what we’re expecting, you’ve read the reports’, Derek says. ‘Inexplicable phenomenons, medical, biological, physical, mechanical, and so on and so forth.’
‘Yes, I’ve read the official reports, Derek. I was asking for your unofficial opinion.’
‘I have no idea’, he smiles. ‘Aliens? Magic? Drugs in the water? Anything, really. ‘
‘You’re excited’, Lydia says, raising an eyebrow and staring him down.
‘No, I wouldn’t say that. I’m intrigued. And highly skeptical.’
‘Skeptical?’
‘Well it can’t be aliens, can it? I’m thinking it’s just a big scam.’
‘But there have been a lot of scientists before us’, Lydia argues. ‘You, what, you think they’re all lying?’
‘I don’t know. And it’s not like I could ask them, because the ones that haven’t stayed in Night Vale and went mad, died in Night Vale. And the reports are… inconclusive, to say the least.’
‘And aren’t you concerned about that?’, Lydia frowned.
‘You know I am. We’ve talked about this before, I told you the risks.’, he responds, more forcefully than he should have. ‘I asked you if you were sure, Lydia. I asked all of you, I made sure you knew what you were getting yourself into. I didn’t force you into coming with me.’
‘I know, oh Alpha, my Alpha.’, Lydia rolls her eyes. ‘I’m just saying, this isn’t like you. You don’t… throw yourself head first into a potentially dangerous situation. Not anymore.’
Derek shrugs, he knows she’s right. ‘Would you believe me if I told you I was bored?’
‘No. But I’ll drop it for now.’, Lydia smiles.
Truth is, Derek knows how insane this is. When his superior at the research institute told him about Night Vale and handled him the files, Derek’s heart skipped a beat. He doesn’t know why, but as he read the reports of the scientists before him, he grew more and more intrigued. Two hours later, he told his superior he was willing to move to Night Vale for the next couple of months, and that he will try his best to get to the bottom of things. As far as impulsive decisions go… Well. Derek was never an impulsive guy. Not until he heard of Night Vale.
When he asked for a team to accompany him, his superior wisely told him he can have whomever, even if they’re not working for the institute at the moment, and handled him a huge pile of contracts, disclaimers and all the other paper work necessary.
Derek went home that evening, scheduling a pack meeting for the next day. Isaac was his beta, and a veterinarian. Allison was a biologist and a former hunter, Lydia was a geneticist and a banshee, and along with him, the engineer and the Alpha, they made a pretty good team. They also made a pretty good pack. They have been working on that for the past couple of years, but they have reached a point in which they were comfortable enough with each other, no matter of the awful situations that led them here.
He knew he’d go to Night Vale either way, with or without his pack. Derek was convinced they’d understand him. It’s been 10 years since the fire that killed his family, his old pack. It’s been 4 years since a hunter killed Laura, his sister, the power of Alpha transferring on to him. It’s been 3 and a half years since he’s bit Isaac. It’s been 3 years since Derek has immersed himself into his work, having no relationships outside of coworkers or his pack. They’d understand his need for a change.
But, once again, his pack surprised him.
‘Luckily enough’, Lydia shrugged, ‘this project appeared at a point when none of us have anything here. I don’t know about Allison and Isaac, but I’m excited to get out of New York for a while.’
‘Yeah’, Allison smiled. ‘It’ll be like a vacation. But with the fun of solving mysteries.’
‘A vacation?’, Isaac raised an eyebrow. ‘Derek just told us that he has no idea what is happening in that town and that all the former scientist are either there and slightly insane, or dead.’
‘So what? You’re not coming?’, Allison crossed her arms over her chest.
‘Of course I’m coming.’, Isaac rolled his eyes. ‘As Lydia pointed out, there’s nothing here for me except my pack. I’m just saying, this won’t be fun. This will probably be mental.’
‘Probably’, Derek smiled.
‘Now, now.’, Lydia shook her head. ‘If anybody can get to the bottom of Night Vale, it’s clearly us. A couple of wolves, a hunter and a banshee, all with several phd’s? Easy-peasy.’
Derek laughed. ‘We leave in a month. I already found a lab to rent, and a hotel close by. We should coordinate on the tech we need to bring with us, though. The lab is pretty basic and –‘
In the end, Derek grew excited. This felt like an adventure, and he was glad he was going to share it with his pack. But, the scientist in him was skeptical. He had no idea what waited for them in Night Vale, but he knew aliens and magic didn’t exist. Which is an ironic thing for him to say, considering he’s a werewolf. But Lydia was right, if there was a group capable of getting to the bottom of things in Night Vale, it was his pack.
-
Derek’s watch said they entered Night Vale at 8pm. He doesn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t this. Night Vale seemed normal. A very normal, very dull, very dry town in the middle of the desert. It had supermarkets, diners, pharmacies, a big radio tower that was higher than any other construction in town. It had dog parks and wide sidewalks, parking spaces and nice houses. Derek’s heightened senses didn’t pick up anything strange either, and for that he was thankful.
As they decided, they went to the lab first, to drop off the equipment they bought with them. The lab was in an old warehouse, but it was more than enough for what they’ll need. It even had a small kitchen, equipped with a fridge and a fancy coffee maker that made the girls whistle. And Isaac’s reaction when he saw that the lab was next to a place called Big Rico’s Pizza, the pure joy on his face made him look like a 12 year old. Derek smiled and started bringing up the equipment from the van, even though they all decided they’ll install it properly the next morning.
Ten minutes after they arrived, Derek was making his way back towards the van when a woman came to a stop right in front of him. She was beautiful, tall, dark hair and skin, bright green eyes, wearing an expensive gray suit and high heels. But she smelled off, like a swamp. The smell was almost hurtful, but he managed not to let it show.
‘Hello. It’s Derek, right? You’re the scientist from New York.’, she said, giving him a once over, from head to toe.
He tried not to flinch. ‘Yes, that’s me. May I help you?’
‘I’ve scheduled a press conference tomorrow. Noon, at the City Hall. The City Council and I believe it’s important for the people to hear that you’re not here to do any harm. ‘
‘I’m sorry’, Derek blinks. ‘Who are you?’
‘The Mayor.’, the woman says, lifting an eyebrow.
‘Oh. Excuse me, Mayor. Uhm’, he frowns. ‘I don’t think a press conference is necessary. We-‘
‘It is’, the woman cut him off. ‘If you don’t talk to the people before you start doing… whatever it is you’re here to do, then all the people in Night Vale won’t like you or your team and they will think you’re here to, pardon my language, fuck things up. And we cannot have that. So you will be there tomorrow at noon, you will start with a small speech, continue with a small Q&A and that will be that.’
Derek hesitated. The woman sighed.
‘Look at it this way, kid. You do this, the people like you, they’ll be willing to help you if you need it, it’s easier to do your job. You don’t do this, the people hate you, it’ll be harder to do your job. The teams that came here before you didn’t have the citizen’s approval, and you know how badly that ended.’
When Derek didn’t say anything for a few moments, she nodded. ‘Good. I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Do you know where the City Hall is? Or do you want me to have one of the men in the Sheriff’s Secret Police escort you?’
Derek blinked. ‘No, I know where it is. We passed it coming into town. The Sheriff’s Secret Police?’, he frowned.
‘Allright. See you soon.’, she turned around, not answering his question. Between one blink and another, Derek couldn’t see her on the street anymore.
Isaac came outside of the lab, putting a comforting hand on his Alpha’s shoulder. ‘Are you really going to do a press conference?’
‘Apparently.’, he shook his head. ‘There uh… There was something wrong with her.’
‘What?’
‘She didn’t exactly smell human.’
Isaac’s eyes grew wide, but he didn’t say anything.
‘I mean, she still smelled a bit human, but it was like it was buried under a lot of other things.’
‘Like what?’
‘Water. Dirt. Mud. She smelled like a swamp.’
Isaac sighed. ‘I think you had a stressful couple of weeks and a long drive and you’re tired and you need some sleep.’
‘Yeah.’, Derek sighed. ‘You’re probably right.’
-
All in all, the conference went surprisingly well. He went on stage and read the speech Lydia wrote him, taking comfort in Isaac’s presence, even if he was across the room (the girls decided to stay at the lab because they weren’t done installing all their equipment). Afterwards, a few people asked him questions. They started off being defensive and quite rude, but Derek managed to turn them around.
He saw the people relax, quite visibly, and some of them even started to smile. Derek thought he’s done a good job.
When the Mayor announces that they only have time for one more question, a few people stand up, but so does a man in the front row. He turns toward the rest of the room, and Derek can’t see his face, but all the rest of the people sit down, leaving the last question to him.
Derek’s breath catches when the man smiles at him. He’s as tall as he is, not so muscular, but fit. Lean, and fit. His skin is pale, his hair is messy and standing up at weird angles. He’s wearing black pants, a red, plaid shirt and a pink vest over it. The outfit is completed by a pair of pink converse and a bright yellow tie. It’s eccentric, but he makes it work. But it’s the eyes that catch Derek’s attention. They’re big and soft, an amber color that almost flashes beta gold. He smiles and Derek can almost feel the happiness radiating off him.
‘I’m Stiles, I work at the Night Vale Community Radio’, the man says. His voice is smooth and calm, and Derek doesn’t even question that the radio job suits him like a glove. He sees some people sighing in content and smile at Stiles, as he talks.
‘My coworkers and I would be happy to assist you in any way we can, we’re quite excited about scientist investigating Night Vale’, Stiles says, giddy as a child, shaking his hands in front of himself. ‘I was just wondering how long you’ll be staying. Excuse me if I’m rude, but we’d like to know if we should get used to you and your team.’
Derek blinks. He doesn’t understand why Stiles is asking this question, why he said it like that, but he knows he has to answer it.
‘I don’t know how long we’ll be staying.’, he manages to say. ‘But we are willing to stay as long as we have to, in order to complete our investigations and complete this project.’
‘Great’, Stiles grins. ‘I’m sure you’ll enjoy our small community. How could you not?’
A few people in the audience chuckle at that and Derek smiles, as politely as he can manage around the lump in his throat.
The Mayor finishes the conference then, and Derek steps off the stage, heading towards Isaac. A few people introduce themselves and shake their hands on their way out. A sweet old lady, called Josie, hands them each a chocolate chip cookie. A weird young man, wearing a cheesy Indian headpiece, winks and wishes them good luck.
And then, Stiles and the Mayor are the only ones left. The man shakes hands with Isaac, but before the wolf can introduce himself, Stiles coos.
‘Oh my god, you’re so cute.’
Isaac freezes, and let’s go of Stiles’ hand. Derek can’t hold back the chuckle.
‘Oh crap, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry’, Stiles’ eyes are wide and he’s blushing. ‘That was highly unprofessional, please ignore me and let’s forget this happened.’
He turns towards Derek then, and smiles. ‘I’m very pleased to meet you. And thank you, for taking the time in coming down here and helping this community. I’m sorry the people were rude, but it’s understandable, a bit, we don’t get a lot of strangers around here. But you handled them perfectly, absolutely flawless, I’m sure you managed to turn them all over to your side.’ Stiles winks and Derek’s heart beat does a funny thing.
‘I can’t wait to see what you discover’, he goes on, clapping his hands for emphasis. ‘We’re all used to the way things are in Night Vale, but it’ll be interesting to see our lil’ old town through someone else’s eyes. And a genius scientist, nonetheless. Who knows what new things you’ll discover.’, he almost shrieks.
When he pauses for breath, Isaac coughs and speaks in a weary tone. ‘You seem pretty excited.’
Stiles chuckles. ‘I am, aren’t I? I just… I love science. It gets me giddy. The other day I was reading an article about the Hubble telescope, and even though I didn’t understand half of it, I ended up spending the day reading about stars and planets and constellations and galaxies and I almost painted the Milky Way on my ceiling. I stopped after five constellations or so, when I realized I forgot to take my Aderall and that maybe redecorating in the middle of the night wasn’t a good idea.’
Derek’s just staring, because Stiles talks with his whole body. With his eyebrows, and his nose, and his hands and his hips. He’s gorgeous, Derek realizes. And that makes him take a deep breath and move his sight to Stiles’ eyes, not his neck.
‘You do actually talk on the radio, right?’, Isaac asks.
Stiles rolls his eyes. ‘Gee, what gave it away?’, he shrugs. ‘I talk a lot, you’ll get used to it sooner or later, everyone does.’
He pulls out a business card from his back pocket and hands it over to Derek. He takes it, but he doesn’t look at it, because Stiles has long fingers, as pale as the rest of his body. And he can see tattoos peaking from under his shirt.
‘Call me if you need anything. That’s my personal number, feel free to call at any time, for anything. Really. Anything I can help you with, I’ll gladly do it.’
Derek looks up at Stiles’ face then, and manages to smile. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome. Now, if you’ll excuse me, if I don’t leave now, I’ll be late for my broadcast and I do not want to make the Station Management mad.’ He gives a full body shudder, and Derek has to swallow.
Then, he’s gone and the Mayor ushers him and Isaac out the door without saying another word.
It’s only when he’s in the car, Isaac driving to his left, when Derek looks at the card. It’s bright purple and it seems handwritten.
Stiles Stilinski, NVCR
The Voice
‘The Voice?’, he asks out loud.
‘Huh?’, Isaac frowns, not taking his eyes off the road.
‘That’s what the card says. Stiles Stilinski, what sort of a name is that anyway, Night Vale Community Radio, The Voice. And a phone number. That’s it. What the hell?’
Isaac chuckles. ‘You’re impressed.’
‘No’, Derek scoffs. ‘I’m confused.’
Isaac laughs. ‘Aha. Sure.’
They don’t say anything else till they get to the lab. When they go in, they see Allison and Lydia on the couch, with a radio in front of them. The girls aren’t moving and they’re staring at the machine.
But before he can ask what’s wrong, Derek hears the broadcast. It’s Stiles, with his strong, but calming voice.
‘… with his perfect hair and his perfect stubble and eyes the color of emerald. Derek the scientist is perfect and, dear listeners, he’s here to help us! To help Night Vale. Even though I know the community doesn’t think it needs the help of Derek and his team of scientist, who are we to judge? They’re here to do experiments, and complicated science we don’t really know much about. Who are we to get in their way? I say we should support them. Maybe things are wrong in Night Vale, maybe they’re not. We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I think we can all be civil enough and help Derek and his team. If not, we can at least get out of their way. You don’t have to listen to me, I know I am not being objective here, like a journalist should. Love has blinded me, I know, but I can’t help it. And if you do not want to listen to me, then listen to the Mayor and the City Council, that have welcomed Derek and his team with open arms. That is all I will say on the subject for now, but you know me, this is a story that is far from being closed. But now, the weather.’
A song starts playing and they all sit in silence for a few beats.
‘How is that the weather?’, Isaac scoffs.
The girls look up and when they see Derek, they start laughing.
‘What the hell?’, he asks. When the girls don’t stop laughing, he turns to Isaac. ‘Was that Stiles?’
‘He sure was.’
‘You’ve met him?’, Lydia shrieks.
‘He was at the conference.’, Derek shrugs.
‘He’s in love with you.’, Allison says softly, even though she’s still giggling.
‘Excuse me?’
‘He’s been talking for the past 10 minutes about Derek the scientist’, Lydia explains. ‘With his perfectly pressed lab coat, and his perfect hair, and his perfect arms and teeth and his perfect eyes and…’ she starts laughing again.
Derek knows he’s blushing, and that his heart is beating a bit faster. Isaac can pick it up, but he knows his beta won’t say anything. Instead, he just turns towards his Alpha and smirks.
‘The Voice, huh? Still not impressed?’
‘Still confused’, Derek nods and makes his way towards his work table, ignoring the laughter of his team mates.
-
Two weeks pass, and Derek feels lost. He doesn’t understand anything that is happening in Night Vale.
Some things, he takes for granted. Like the fact that some books are banned by the City Council, or that he is bound by law to eat at least a slice of Big Rico’s pizza a week. He doesn’t go near the dog park, he stopped looking for wheat products in the supermarket, he managed to find a way to record all his data without using pens. He got used to having cameras all over his hotel room and lab quickly enough, he was used to the lack of privacy because he grew up in a house filled with werewolves.
But he cannot understand what the glow cloud is, why it’s glowing and why animals are falling from it. They’re perfectly healthy, Isaac assures him, it’s just that their existence is impossible. He panics when all the children disappear, but he seems to be the only one.
He’s seen one of Josie’s angels, and he cannot understand how a bright light that’s giving small amounts of radiation can talk and posses a conscience. He doesn’t understand how the sun isn’t rising at the time it should.
His team is struggling. They’re all working hard, talking and throwing ideas on the table. They end up shouting at each other in frustration, and more than once Derek had to run to the supermarket and buy a bottle of expensive alcohol to calm everyone down.
But the thing that frustrates him the most, that annoys him to the point of rage, is Stiles. More so, Stiles’ show. Derek has always enjoyed listening to the radio. He doesn’t own an ipod, he almost never downloads music. He just turns on the radio and listens to random stations. Ever since he’s come to Night Vale, every time he gets the urge to turn on the radio, Stiles is on. Only Night Vale Community Radio broadcasts in this town, and every time, Derek hears Stiles’ voice. If it’s early in the morning, while he’s eating his breakfast, late at night when he can’t fall asleep or in the middle of the day, while he’s in the lab, Stiles’ calm voice greets him.
And the things Stiles says. Most of them, he appreciates. Stiles is a smart guy, and he’s funny and caring. Derek realizes he’s the type of person who gets invested in anything that happens around him, and the way he gets excited or proud while talking about a certain topic, that makes Derek respect him. But when he starts talking about him, Derek’s knees go weak and his face heats up.
He hasn’t even seen Stiles since the press conference, hasn’t talked to him at all, but Stiles is adamant in showing his affections. On his radio show. That the entire town seems to be listening to. People are looking at Derek everywhere he goes, winking and smiling and whispering about young love.
And Derek does not understand it. How can Stiles be in love with him? He doesn’t know him, at all. It’s impossible. Then, why does he keep saying it and talking about it?
‘He’s weird. Clearly.’, Lydia tells him after a particularly embarrassing broadcast. ‘But he doesn’t really say anything false.’
‘What do you mean?’, Derek frowns.
‘All the things he says about you, they’re true.’
‘Yes, Lydia, thank you. I do know that I look good and that my lab coat is always clean.’, he rolls his eyes.
‘That’s not what I mean, dumbass. All the other things he says. That you’re dedicated and invested, that you’re stubborn and so on.’
‘I talked to him for 2 minutes. No, he talked at me for 2 minutes. All I said was thank you. How can he pretend he’s in love with me?’, he asks, frustrated.
‘Maybe it’s not pretend.’, Allison pipes up.
‘Then he’s insane’, Derek nods.
‘Look, man.’, Isaac puts a hand on his shoulder. ‘I know you’re not into dating after everything with Kate and Jennifer and Andrew, but you have to admit you’re attracted to him.’
Derek blinks.
‘And we know’, Lydia continues, ‘that self torture is written in your DNA, but you can’t live the rest of your life alone. You deserve better than that and we know for sure that Stiles is safe.’
‘He’s met me for 2 minutes and he says, on the radio, with everyone listening, that he’s in love with me. He’s a psycho!’, Derek says, getting more and more angry with were this conversation is going.
‘Maybe he’s not.’, Lydia slaps his arm. ‘You’ll never know if you don’t actually speak with him.’
‘And that is why’, Isaac grins, ‘we’ve all agreed you’ll be the one to go to the radio station today, to take the readings we need.’
‘No’, Derek says after a beat.
‘Yes.’, they all say together.
‘Absolutely not.’, he flashes his eyes.
‘Absolutely yes.’, Isaac nods, smirking.
‘Just go’, Lydia rolls her eyes. ‘We promise that if you come back and tell us that Stiles is a complete psycho and that you do not like him at all, we’ll let it go.’
‘Promise’, Allison smiles.
‘I’m supposed to be the Alpha’, Derek mumbles, but he’s already pulling out his phone, knowing he can’t get out of this.
He’s programmed Stiles’ phone number a while ago, in case he needed it. So he takes a deep breath, and gets out of the lab, around the back of the warehouse where they have a small garden in which girls put up a swing. Stiles answers after 3 rings.
‘Heeeeello?’
‘Stiles. Hello. This is Derek Hale.’
‘Oh, wow. Uhm. Hi, Derek. Yes. Hi, hello.’, he can hear Stiles smiling and Derek has to close his eyes.
‘I’m sorry, am I interrupting anything?’
‘No, of course not. I told you, you can call me whenever. What’s up, dude?’
‘Don’t call me dude.’, Derek scoffs.
Stiles giggles. ‘Sorry’.
‘Look, my team found some weird readings coming from the radio station. Faint traces of radiations and other waves. I’d like to investigate some more.’
‘You want to come here? To do science?’, Stiles shrieks.
‘If that’s alright.’
‘Yes, yes, of course. I just have to ask Station Management, but you’re City Council approved, so it shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘Okay’, Derek frowns.
‘I’ll go ask them now, and I’ll call you back in a minute. Is that alright?’
‘Of course.’
‘Kay, bye.’
Stiles hangs up and Derek stares at the phone. Then he smiles, because Stiles sounded so excited, like a kid in a candy shop. He gets up and heads back into the lab, but before he makes it to the door, his phones rings. He doesn’t get to say anything, Stiles starts talking as soon as he picks up.
‘I didn’t even have to write the note for Station Management. They started chanting as soon as I hung up the phone. They said you’re welcomed here, that I don’t even have to question it anymore. But you should respect the terms and regulations of entering a building for the first time and you shouldn’t, under any circumstances, enter their offices. Obviously.’
‘Obviously’, Derek says, even though he doesn’t understand.
‘So when should I expect you?’, Stiles asks, and Derek hears him tapping his fingers on his desk, probably.
‘Whenever you’re free, I don’t want to interrupt your show.’
‘It starts in 4 hours, I’m free till then.’
‘You’re already there?’
‘Of course.’
Derek frowns. ‘Why?’
‘Why not?’, Stiles laughs. ‘You know, I don’t just come here and start reading from a piece of paper someone hands me. I have an actual journalistic job, not just a pleasant voice.’
‘Right. Sorry.’
‘No problem.’
‘I’ll be there in 20 minutes.’
‘Yay’, Stiles laughs. ‘See you soon, Derek.’
And he hangs up before Derek gets a chance to respond. He sighs and makes his way to the lab, picking up the equipment he needs and ignoring the looks his team is giving him.
He heads to the station with the conviction that he’s going to hate Stiles.
-
Stiles is waiting for him outside of the station. Derek takes a moment to look at him, as he parks the car and gathers the equipment. He’s wearing a pair of bright red jeans, tucked into a pair of black combat boots. On top, Stiles has a Star Wars t-shirt, simple and black, with the logo on it, and a fur coat. He’s actually wearing a short, black, fur coat. His hair is still messy and he has glasses on, they’re turquoise. He’s smoking, a black cigarette that’s cherry flavored.
‘I know, I know, horrible habit’, Stiles smiles when Derek gets close enough. ‘But these are so good, I can’t help it. It’s not like I smoke a lot, just like four a day.’
‘I didn’t say anything’, Derek smiles, despite himself.
‘But you were thinking it, I saw it all over your eyebrows.’, he smirks, as he throws the stub in the trash.
‘I don’t know what that means’, Derek frowns. ‘But it’s not the first time I’ve heard it.’
Stiles just laughs and opens the door for him. They go through a small hallway and end up in a waiting area, with mismatched couches and a small kitchen. There’s a large window, and Derek can see the broadcasting area.
When he turns around, Stiles is throwing his jacket on one of the couches and Derek gasps. Because Stiles has tattoos, a lot of them, going even under the sleeves of his t-shirt. Both his arms are covered in thick, black lines, swirls and circles, and it takes Derek a bit too long to realize they’re tentacles. They seem so fluid, like they’re moving, and the pale skin underneath them makes them look … dead.
‘Not a fan of tattoos?’, Stiles asks and Derek snaps his head to look into his eyes. He finds uncertainty.
‘No, no, it’s not that, sorry. I just… I noticed you had tattoos, but you were wearing a long sleeved shirt when we first met.’ As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Derek blushes.
Stiles smiles. ‘A lot of people don’t approve of them. They find them disturbing. And threatening, for some reason.’
‘But they’re amazing’, Derek frowns. ‘They’re really well made, the artist did a great job. It’s hard to get such a detailed filled shape, and on such a flexible area.’
‘Takes one to know one?’
‘Yeah’, Derek nods. ‘I have one on my back. Not as big as yours, though.’
‘What of?’
‘A triskele’, he answers absently, still looking at Stiles’ arms.
‘Celtic mythology.’
‘Yeah.’, Derek blinks and looks at Stiles again. ‘Why do you know that? Most people don’t know that.’
‘Most people aren’t addicted to Wikipedia.’, he scoffs. ‘What does it mean?’
‘It’s a family thing.’, Derek manages to say, even if it still hurts him. Stiles must pick up on it, because he nods and smiles.
‘What about you? Why tentacles?’
Stiles grins. ‘The Kraken changed my life.’
‘Lovecraft?’, Derek frowns.
‘No. Well, yeah, I have read it, but I met the Kraken and it was a life changing experience.’
Derek blinks and frowns, but he can’t think of anything to say.
‘Do you want anything to drink?’, Stiles asks as he moves around Derek, brushing his hand against his forearm. It tingles.
‘No, thank you. I should really get to these readings.’
‘Yes, science!’ Stiles pumps a fist in the air. ‘Where do you want me, what can I do? What are you doing, what do you need?’
Derek smiles and tries to hide it by taking out his equipment. ‘I just need to… walk around the building, basically. Gather some more readings, which I’ll analyze later at the lab, with the help of my team.’
‘That’s it?’, Stiles frowns.
‘That’s it.’
‘Well, there’s not much I can help you with, then. Here’s the chillout room, there’s the broadcasting cube, as we call it. After that, there’s Scott’s office and down the hall there’s the station Management headquarters.’
‘Scott?’
‘The intern.’, Stiles grins. ‘Well. He’s been my best friend since forever, he’s my brother, even though we didn’t really succeed in our mission to hook up my dad and his mom, but he’s my brother from another mother, you know? And he pretends to be my intern around here when he’s not helping Doctor Deaton down at the vet clinic.’
‘What about the rest of the building? This is the tallest one around. What’s on the other floors?’, Derek tries to stop Stiles’ babble.
‘There’s not much. Most of the rooms are filled with the Archive of the station, you know. The old ones are on tape, and the radio switched to digital 10 years ago or so. But, it doesn’t really matter, cause those rooms are off-limits. Station Management orders. And the ones that are not part of the Archive, they’re used by them. So…’. Stiles shrugs and grabs a Red Bull from the fridge. Then he drinks from it and Derek sees the long expanse of his neck, so he turns around quickly and tries to concentrate.
‘So you have this huge building, but you’re only using the first floor.’
‘We don’t really need anything else.’, Stiles smiles. ‘Look, I still have some work to do, and Scott doesn’t come in today until the broadcast. So if you don’t need me to do anything, I’ll just patiently sit here and finish my work while you go around and do science stuff. Okay?’
‘Sure’, Derek nods. ‘I won’t be long.’
‘Oh, take your time. It’s no problem.’, Stiles smiles and sits on one of the couches, picking up a laptop and opening it up. The computer matches his glasses, its bright turquoise.
Derek shakes his head to clear his thoughts and starts his equipment. He feels weird being in the recording studio without Stiles there, so he leaves the door open. The room isn’t filled with tech, as he thought it’ll be, but the main desk is piled with three different computers, a mixing table and other small things Derek doesn’t recognize. The place isn’t personalized, at all, which he finds surprising. The walls are covered in that type of sponge that cancels noise, and the only thing that gives the place a personal touch is the fluffy purple blanket that is sitting on the chair. But the whole booth smells like Stiles, only like Stiles: cherry cigarettes, lemon scented fabric softener, black coffee, and under all of that, the sea. To Derek, Stiles smells like the sea.
He’s snapped out of his thoughts when the device in his hand starts beeping.
‘That doesn’t sound good’, Stiles says from the doorway.
‘There’s high amounts of gama radiations’, Derek says, absently. ‘And other radiations I don’t know. And they all seem to be coming from the microphone.’
‘Well it is a pretty special mic.’
Derek looks to Stiles at that. He’s smiling. ‘I got it from a British guy I met when I was in Europe. He came from an old family of druids, like… really old. Ancient. The night before I left to come back here, he just handed me the mic, said he’d made it especially for me, that it will guide me through my life and help me when I’ll be in distress. He also told me it will get me many lovers, but that didn’t really happen that much, so…’, Stiles blushes and ducks his head.
‘There’s no such thing as magic’, Derek manages to say.
‘Of course not. There’s only science.’, Stiles grins. ‘But the mic is made out of pure silver and it was coated in different herbs that have different magics, according to the druids, so that makes it pretty special.’
‘Hmm.’, Derek hums.
Frustrated, he turns off the device and turns towards Stiles. ‘I have no idea what I’m doing anymore, so I’m just gonna go.’
Stiles pouts at that, but doesn’t say anything, so Derek continues.
‘I’ll give the readings to my team and see what we can come up with. We may need more data, though.’
‘Yes, of course’, Stiles grins. ‘Anytime, anything, really. Anything to help our favorite team of scientists.’
Derek smiles. ‘We’re the only team of scientist around here.’
‘Thus, our favorite.’
‘Look, uhm… Thanks for your help. You’ve been really… well. Lovely, as my team mates put it.’
‘Lovely? I’ve never been called lovely before.’, Stiles giggles, blushing.
‘People have been understanding towards us and we’re sure you’ve had quite the say in it. So, for that, thank you. It does make our job a bit easier.’
‘Neat’, Stiles says after a few beats.
Derek shakes his head and heads toward the door. ‘See you, Stiles.’
If he brushes the back of his hand on Stiles’ tattoos on the way out, there’s nobody there to see it. Except for the Sheriff’s Secret Police. But that doesn’t count.
-
It’s on the drive home that he realizes that Stiles isn’t a psycho, not at all. He hasn’t said one word to Derek about his infatuation with him and that counts as something, he thinks. He is a bit odd, but Derek finds that amusing. And exciting. And he does want to see Stiles again.
‘So?’, Isaac asks the moment he steps into the lab.
Derek sighs and looks down. ‘He has tentacle tattoos all over his arms. And a microphone he got from an British druid that is giving alarming amounts of radiations.’
‘Good. Give me the readings’, Lydia says and thankfully, they drop the subject of Stiles and get to work.
It’s hours later, and Stiles is beating himself on the radio over saying ‘neat’. Derek smiles.