Chapter Text
”I really need you to do this for me, Stiles.” Lydia pleaded. Stiles was actually very surprised that Lydia went as far as pleading. That just showed Stiles how much this experiment meant to Lydia.
“I don’t know… I mean, I really don’t think that this is going to work.” Stiles admitted. He braced himself for Lydia’s rage - she loved doing her research and experiments and usually got annoyed with anyone who didn’t believe it would work. But instead of looking pissed, Lydia looked like she had just won the argument.
“Then you wouldn’t mind spending a few hours on it, would you? I mean, if it won’t work, it won’t change your life in any way what so ever.” Lydia smirked and oh, Stiles had just lost that argument. He nodded, dejected.
“Urgh, okay. Can I at least hear who my ‘partner’ will be in this experiment?” Stiles asked. Lydia smiled at him and shook her head. “No. That’ll defeat the purpose. You have to be complete strangers.” Then, she got up and walked away. “I’ll text you the info! You better be there on time.” She yelled.
A few minutes later, Stiles received a text from Lydia. All it said was #Room 467 in the physiology building tomorrow 9 AM#
***
The next day Stiles woke up at 8:47 AM. He rolled out of bed only to see that he had set his alarm clock for 8 PM and not 8 AM.
Normally it took Stiles 10 minutes to get to the physiology building but if he ran - and fast - he would probably be able to make it in 5 minutes. Stiles hurried around, finding some clothes to wear - just his usual flannel and graphic t-shirt - and then he made a quick cup of coffee he put in a travel mug. He couldn’t function properly without coffee and that was a fact.
When he finished the coffee he saw that it was 8:54 and he had to get going. He put on a pair of sneakers and then he ran. He almost dropped his coffee a couple of times but in the end, he made it. He ran into the room right on time, 9 AM exactly.
The first person he saw in the room was Lydia. She looked at him with an eyebrow raised and a little disapproving huff. “Woke up too late, I take it?” she asked. She looked a little amused. Stiles nodded.
“But I’m here and I’m not late, so no harm done.” He answered as he sat down beside her. She gave him an obvious once-over and snorted. “You could at least have worn a pair of pants without holes in them.” She teased.
“Hey, you told me this experiment would only work if I was honest and a hundred percent me, right? This is totally me.” Stiles argued and Lydia chuckled a little, then nodded. “It sure is.”
“Anyway, you haven’t really told me that much about this. Care to enlighten me?” Stiles asked. He was very curious about what this was. All Lydia had told him was that he would get a partner and they should answer some questions and see if they fell in love with each other. To Stiles, that sounded really ridiculous.
“We are running this experiment on 3 randomly paired couples. You are paired with a person and you will be locked together in a room for as long as this lasts. There will be a screen in the room which will have a question. You will each switch on asking and answering the questions. You have to be one hundred percent honest or this will have no chance on working. When you have answered all the questions - there will be 36 of them - you will have to look into each other’s eyes for 4 minutes and then you have to do an interview with us after talking a little together without a ‘script’.” Lydia explained. Her tone switched from friendly and teasing to professional.
Stiles nodded. “Sounds simple enough. When will it begin?” he asked and she grinned at him. “Well, not until 9:15. I told you to come at 9 because I was sure you’d be late.” Stiles couldn’t even be mad about that - he usually was late to everything. He turned his head to look at the clock over the door. 9:13.
“Well, we can just go to the room now.” She lead him into a room with two couches facing each other with a little table between them. On the table stood 2 glasses and a jug full of water. As Lydia had mentioned there was a computer with a white background and some black text on the table as well. The text said ‘couple 1’ and then the date.
“you can just sit down and wait, your partner will come in soon.” Lydia walked out of the room and Stiles sat down on one of the couches. A few seconds after Lydia’s door slammed close, the door opened again.
A beautiful and obviously very well trained guy walked in. He was wearing a dark green Henley and a pair of jeans that hugged his thighs and legs perfectly. His face was beautiful too. He had a strong jaw and a sharp jawline, with stubble on his cheeks and some eyebrows that were kind of big but in a good way. It complimented his face. Stiles’ eyes locked with the other man’s and Stiles noticed that his eyes, too, were beautiful. Stiles couldn’t really pinpoint their color but they seemed to be some kind of green. The man smiled as he came closer.
Basically, this man was the stuff his wet dreams were made of.
“Uh, hi. I’m Stiles.” Stiles introduced as the other man sat down on the other couch. Stiles’ hand lingered in the air between them, unsure of what to do. What was the protocol when you were supposed to fall in love with each other? Did you shake hands? Hug? Do nothing? Stiles honestly had no idea.
The other man saved Stiles from worrying too much, because he grabbed Stiles’ hand and shook it. “I’m Derek Hale.” The other man - Derek - said. Stiles smiled and let go of Derek’s warm hand.
“nice to meet you.” Stiles tried to be polite but he probably came across as really awkward. “You too.” Derek smiled. He took the jug of water and filled one of the glasses, then gestured to the other glass - Stiles’. “Want some?” he asked and Stiles nodded.
As Derek filled Stiles’ glass, Stiles clicked the computer screen. The first question appeared.
“Should we just get started?” Stiles asked as his eyes skimmed the question. “I can start asking, if you want.” He added. Derek made an affirmative sound that Stiles took as a yes.
“Okay, here goes. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?” Stiles read out loud, then turned his attention to Derek. It would be fun to hear his answer. Stiles, personally, had no idea. There were so many to choose from.
“Well in this world or in every world?” Derek asked. Stiles shrugged. He had no idea. “Okay, well from a fictional universe, I think maybe someone like Sherlock Holmes.” Derek said and Stiles couldn’t stop himself from laughing a little bit. “Don’t laugh, I am perfectly serious! I really admire him, though he can be an asshole.” Derek admitted and Stiles could actually see the fun in having Sherlock Holmes as a dinner guest. It was just not the answer he had expected.
“Okay, fair enough. But if you had to choose one of the actors who played him, who would you choose?” Stiles asked. He was very curious to see how many versions of Sherlock Holmes Derek had watched. Derek seemed to think about it a little. “the Robert Downey Jr. version. I just love Downey Jr. so much as an actor and having one of the characters he played at a dinner party would be awesome, too. His face in my home.” Derek laughed and Stiles couldn’t help but think that maybe this would work. So far, Derek seemed awesome.
“Would you like to be famous? In what way?” Derek asked Stiles as the next question.
“I would love to be a famous writer. I really want to write a book someday that’ll just blow peoples mind and get famous for that.” Stiles told him. He didn’t even have to think about that for any more than a second. That had been a dream of his for quite some time now.
“Ah okay. Have you written any books yet?” Derek asked. Stiles shook his head but elaborated, “well no, but I actually have this idea. I just need to get it down on paper.” Stiles admitted and Derek smiled. “I’d love to read it when you finish it.” He said and Stiles couldn’t help but smile too. He now had one extra guaranteed reader for his first book.
“Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?” Stiles asked. Derek shook his head. “I don’t. If I rehearse shit like that, I tend to say one word wrong and then ruin my whole flow and that’s just… not good.” Derek trailed off. Stiles could relate to that very much, thank you.
They went through the next couple of questions quickly (“What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?” - “ just being with my family and friends, getting to relax. Preferably some place hot.” And “When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?” - “I don’t really sing in front of people, but I sing in the shower. Yes, I know. I’m a walking, talking cliché.”)
Then they came to an interesting question. “If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?” It was Derek’s turn to ask Stiles and he thought about it for a couple of minutes before finally answering.
“To be honest, I think I would prefer neither. I mean, a 30-year old mind in a 90-year old body? That just doesn’t work for me. And a mind like a 90-year old but the body of a 30-year old? Just seems twisted to me.” Stiles answered. Derek nodded. “I agree.”
“Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?” Stiles asked. Derek shook his head. “I don’t, no, but I really hope that I die of old age, just sleeping and then never waking up. No pain.” Derek admitted.
“Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.” Derek read from the next question. Stiles grinned. “Well, first of all we both seem to like Sherlock Holmes and Robert Downey Jr. Wait, was that one or two?” Stiles asked. Derek held up one finger. “One it is, then. Okay, we’re both boys. Men, whatever.” Stiles listed. He had no idea what else to say. “And, uh, we’re both crazy enough to agree to participate in this experiment.” Stiles exclaimed. Derek chuckled. “I thought it could be fun.”
“Okay, next one. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?” This time it was Derek’s turn to answer. “I don’t really think there could be just one thing. But if I have to choose, I feel grateful that I have my amazing family, even if they can be nosey and meddling at times.” Derek said. “How many siblings do you have? If you have any, that is.” Stiles asked.
“Well, I have an older sister, Laura, and then a younger sister, Cora. Then I have Dylan and Tyler, they’re twins and also the youngest. They’re both 10.” Derek told him. Stiles’ heart ached a little. He had always wanted siblings, but he never got any - by blood, anyway. Scott counted as a brother in everything but blood. “I’m kind of an only child.” Stiles shared. Derek lifted one of his eyebrows - a move Stiles had already seen him do quite a lot. “I am an only child, but my best buddy Scott and I have known each other since we were in diapers. We grew up together and we are practically brothers.” Derek nodded like he understood.
“If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?” That wasn’t really that difficult for Stiles to answer, thought it still hurt to think about a little. “Well, I lost my mom at the age of 9. I mean, there wasn’t anything that could have been done or anything, she was sick, but I would have loved to have both my parents.” Stiles’ eyes got a little teary, which annoyed him a little. He was 23 years old and he still got tears in his eyes. He wanted to be able to talk about her without crying.
Derek moved on quickly, sensing Stiles change in mood. Stiles really appreciated that.
‘Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.’ The screen said. “I suppose that means the both of us?” Stiles asked. Derek nodded. “I think so, yeah.”
And so they began. Derek told Stiles about how he was raised in a big family and how he always loved studying but at the same time he loved baseball and lacrosse. How, all through high school, he was known as the ‘nerd-jock’ and everyone respected him but thought it was weird. Derek told Stiles about how he fell in love with a girl named Paige but she died in an accident involving a rogue animal. Derek told Stiles about how he figured about that he was bisexual. Then the time was up and it was Stiles’ turn.
Stiles told him about his mother, how she had been, about how he had grown up with two languages instead of just one - Polish and English. He told Derek about his first meeting with Scott and their friendship. He told Derek about his Lydia phase, which was a little awkward considering Lydia could probably hear everything they said. Lydia knew though, and they had talked it through and they both knew there was nothing now, but it was still weird. Stiles skipped the part where his mother died - he didn’t want to cry. Instead he told Derek how he started getting interested in books and the worlds that they opened up. Stiles went a little over time - he got too caught up in his story - but Derek didn’t really seem to mind that.
“If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?” Stiles read. Then he backtracked. “Wait, whose turn is it? I’ve completely forgotten.” He admitted and Derek laughed a little. “me too. You can just answer this one and then we’ll take it from there.” Derek offered.
“Okay, well if I had to gain one ability, I would love to be able to read minds.” Stiles said. Derek got a teasing glint in his eyes. “Oh, like Edward Cullen you mean?” he joked and Stiles’ eyes widened. He leaned over the table to hit Derek’s shoulder lightly. “Oh no! You did not just make a twilight reference.” Stiles laughed. It took them some time to finish laughing but then again, it didn’t really matter. They had all the time they wanted.
They continued with the questions for a while. For each question they answered, the questions got deeper and more personal, but it didn’t seem awkward. Stiles felt comfortable sharing these things with Derek, which was really crazy considering they had only known each other for less than an hour and they didn’t even know each other’s last names.
They talked a little about the questions and came to the agreement that to get to know each other more, they would both answer each question.
“If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?” They both agreed that they didn’t really want to know anything. Life was supposed to be an adventure and if you knew where it ended, it would take the fun out of it.
“Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?” Derek admitted that he really wanted to travel to Spain. He had learnt Spanish from a young age and he really wanted to try his abilities in the country itself. He hadn’t done it because he was studying and didn’t have time, plus he wanted to go with someone. Stiles couldn’t stop himself from thinking that maybe that someone could be him.
“What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?” Stiles had to think hard about that. “This seems weird, but I think my greatest accomplishment was getting over the death of my mother and moving on.” Stiles admitted. His eyes teared again and this time Derek grabbed Stiles’ hand and squeezed it for comfort. Derek told Stiles that he had no idea what his greatest accomplishment was.
“What do you value most in a friendship?” wasn’t a difficult question for either of them. They both said ‘honesty’ at the same time, causing them to look at each other in a funny way. They were still holding hands and Stiles started thinking that maybe this wasn’t so crazy after all. Maybe it would work.