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Laura was pretty awesome. She let Derek, Cora, and their other younger relatives ride on her super cool motorcycle. She made pancakes with chocolate even though mom told her not to. She was amazing at emitting a calm scent whenever someone was crying. (Mostly Derek. Don’t tell anyone, though.) The scent was like a cherry pie, and she gave the best hugs. The soon to be alpha was usually the greatest sister ever. Usually. Today, she was the worst.
“Derek!” she called.
“What?” Derek yelled back, taking off his headphones.
“We’re going to the fair! You wanna come?”
Derek thought for a moment. He’d heard a lot about this new fair that opened up a few weeks ago. It had become so popular and loved, that students have started working there. Derek had once considered trading his job at Starbucks for a job with… clowns? But then he learned someone particular worked there, and just thought, no. Just no. Laura yelled for Derek again, snapping him out of his trance. “Sure!” he yelled back.
Soon enough, Laura had packed everyone in the car; Derek, Cora, and weirdly enough, their creepy uncle Peter. (“I wanted cotton candy.” he explained later.) The aux cord was taken over by Cora for the entire drive. If someone even dared to try to pry it from her hands, she would growl. But the worst part was that no one liked Cora’s music. Like, it really sucked. Peter and Derek just rolled their eyes and dealt with it, and Laura didn't have the heart to tell her she hated it too. Finally, Laura pulled up in the fair’s parking lot, getting a rare spot near the entrance. The laughing, screaming, and the music of the carnival roared around the Hales, their werewolf enhanced hearing making it even worse.
Peter, covering his ears, turned to the group and said, “I’m going to go buy my cotton candy and return to the car.” The music suddenly had a large volume spike, and he quietly whined.
“Drama queen,” Cora said.
“Cora, be nice, he can and most likely will kill you.” said Derek.
Cora just walked over to the water gun area and gave Scott McCall a dollar. Derek unconsciously eavesdropped.
“You ready?” asked Scott, shaking his phone.
“Of course,” said Cora.
Suddenly, Laura grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the hot air balloons. Derek froze. Laura looked at him hopefully. “No.” Derek said.
“Why! It’ll be so much fun! I’ll even go with you!"
“Nope, nope, nope, nope-ity nope, nope.” Derek started to walk away.
“Get back here!” shouted Laura, pulling him back.
Derek glared at her and she just rolled her eyes. That Hale Eye Roll ™ is known far and wide throughout Beacon Hills, and it sucks that Derek either experiences it or is the cause of it every single day. Derek just started moving towards a bench where he could… I dunno, brood? Like he does all the time. Laura was not having any of this.
“Look,” she said. “I know that out of everyone in this family, you’re the one with the best sense of smell. If you don’t get on that ride with me, I’ll buy two whole buckets of crap popcorn and stink up your room.”
No. She wouldn’t dare. She knew how bad Derek’s sensory overloads could get. Crap popcorn may be good for the soul, it was terrible for the nose. Sensory overloads for werewolves are like fevers for regular humans, but all in your nose. You can’t smell anything for days, even weeks! Laura knew what hell she would be putting Derek through if she did that, so she must’ve been serious. Well, damn. He’d have to do it. Laura Michelle Hale never backed down on her threats. Jackson Whittemore’s broken jaw can tell you that much. So Derek just gave in.
“Fine,” he said. Laura jumped in the air with happiness. For her. Not him.
He reluctantly got inside the rainbow balloon and it wasn’t until a minute later he realized Laura wasn’t in with him. Guess who was? Stiles-freaking-Stilinski. His stupid shining smile, paired with a wave, greeted him inside the balloon. Great.
“Hi! I’m Stiles Stilinski, and I’ll be your balloon guide today at Hot Oasis Fair.” He sounded so professional, and not like Derek had asked him for multiple pencils at school. The skinny boy reached his hand up to where a metal compartment was. He switched on the heat, and the balloon started filling up.
“There is a thick cord attaching us to the ground. We’ll only be going about fifty feet in the air, so no need to be afraid.” and there it was again. That damn smile. It could light up the whole world if it wanted to, and Derek hated him for it. Stiles had no business looking that good in a bright red t-shirt and khaki shorts. They were rising now, slowly off the ground, a few feet at a time. When they were very close to their final height, Derek looked out. The sun was setting, illuminating the sky in a gorgeous show of orange, pink, blue, and purple. He let out a breath, and watched the hot air dissipate into the evening. Derek had been avoiding looking at Stiles for the whole ride, but now? He just had to look. And look he did. Stiles was a sight to behold. If someone were to snap a picture right now, Stiles would look like an angel, not at all real. Something from his dreams. And then Stiles looked down. It was a sudden motion, not at all like the trance like state he was just in. A look of pure terror spread across his face. His breathing quickened, chest rising and falling almost impossibly fast.
He gulped. “Wow, fifty feet is higher than it seems.” Stiles chuckled, and looked at Derek. A bead of sweat dripping down the side of his face. Oh. He was scared of heights.
“You’re scared of heights?” Derek blurted out. Shoot. That was not supposed to come out.
“Yeah,” Stiles laughed nervously, “It’s stupid, I've had all the training, you would think I'd be prepared. But the thing is, it’s easier when you can look at someone else. You’re a complete stranger, so I thought it would be awkward.”
Derek shrugged. He was aiming for calm, but he might have looked like an upset llama. “It’s okay if you’re scared. I don’t mind, really.”
And so that’s how it was for the rest of the ride. Stiles was looking at Derek’s face all the way down. They didn’t say anything to each other, just stared. It was fine. Absolutely fine. Derek ignored the sound of his pulse going a mile a minute. He also ignored the growing flush on his neck that was thankfully covered by his shirt. When they got off, Stiles gave him his number saying; “I like your eyes. I hope you like pizza and Netflix at 6:00 pm on Friday.”
He made it all the way to Laura’s car, and heard them talking without him knowing.
“Whoo!” shouted Laura. “Success! We got them together!”
“Finally,” two people said in unison, sounding like Peter and… Derek looked in the window. Scott. They were talking to Scott over the phone. Cora was just smiling. She saw Derek through the window, and he thought he’d been caught, but she just winked. Derek had fun today.
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It wasn’t until Stiles and Derek’s second month of dating that Derek found out his family had filmed the whole thing. Thanks guys.