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The boy is standing by the wolf habitat. Stiles thinks he recognizes him from school, but he’s not in Stiles’ grade. Maybe in the grade above him? Which means the boy is probably already ten years old.
The boy’s looks stiff. His hands are balled into fists by his side and his head is swivelling from side to side, scanning the area again and again with wide eyes. When Stiles thinks he sees the boy’s lips quiver, he quickly walks over and thrusts his hand toward the boy.
‘Hi. I’m Stiles.’
‘Derek,’ the boy answers, looking a little startled at Stiles’ sudden appearance, then he carefully shakes Stiles’ hand.
‘What’s wrong?’ Stiles asks.
‘I lost my mom.’ Derek’s eyes go watery, as if admitting it out loud is worse than having it happen to him.
‘Don’t worry. My dad will find her. He’s a cop,’ Stiles says proudly. He turns to his parents. Dread rises up inside of him. They’d been there only a second ago.
‘Stiles?’ Derek pulls on his sleeve. ‘Where’s your dad?’
‘I can’t find them,’ Stiles admits in a whisper.
Derek looks even more scared than he did before Stiles talked to him. Stiles doesn’t like that. He tries to think. There’s a playground in the middle of the zoo; he had to go there and wait for his parents if they got separated. He just needs to figure out how to get there.
‘We need a map,’ he says, looking around.
There’s a big board to his left with a colourful map printed on it. He walks towards it, but stops when he realizes Derek isn’t coming.
‘Come on,’ Stiles urges.
‘I think we should stay where we are. That’s what they always say on television when people have had an accident,’ Derek says.
‘That’s only if you’re not sure where the closest town is. Because if you pick the wrong direction, it could take days before you find help, and then you could die from exhaustion, or dehydration, or the cold, or—‘ Stiles cuts himself off when he sees Derek’s face pale at the prospect. ‘We’re in a zoo in California. We’re not going to die unless we walk into the lion habitat,’ Stiles quickly adds. ‘My mom and dad will go to the playground when they realize I’m not with them. And when we find them, they can help you, too.’
Derek thinks it over for a moment, then nods.
They study the map. It’s a bit of a walk to the playground, but it’s pretty straightforward. As they set out, Derek grabs Stiles’ hand.
‘So we don’t get separated,’ he explains.
Stiles nods approvingly. That’s very smart.
The journey takes longer than it probably should have. They keep checking their route on every map they come across. They also walk past a lot of awesome animals, like lions and tigers and elephants; Stiles keeps slowing down to get a better look at them, and Derek will tug on his hand to keep them moving. They both stop to look longingly at the ape habitats for a minute, but they know they don’t have the time right now. They can come back with their parents.
It’s long past lunchtime and their stomachs are starting to growl when they’re almost at the playground. Stiles presses his free hand to his stomach with a frown. His mom has all the snacks in her bag and he doesn’t have any money.
‘Do you want a hotdog?’ Derek asks. He pulls an X-Men wallet out of his pocket.
‘Are you sure?’ Stiles asks.
‘Mom says if you go hungry for a long time you can faint,’ Derek says seriously.
‘Alright,’ Stiles agrees and pulls Derek to the nearest hotdog stand.
Paying, grabbing, and eating the hotdogs turns out to be a bit tricky when neither of them is willing to let go of the other, but they manage.
They walk the last bit to the playground, then find a bench where they can eat their hotdogs and oversee everything. They’ve barely finished eating and are still cleaning their hands with the napkins when Stiles hears his mom calling his name. He looks up and barely has time to breathe a sigh of relief when he’s pulled against his mom’s chest. He struggles a bit, embarrassed by his mom’s cuddliness in front of his new friend.
‘Where did you go?’ she asks when she pulls back.
‘I saw Derek and he looked scared—‘
‘I wasn’t scared,’ Derek protests, but Stiles ignores him. Derek was totally scared.
‘—so I went over to him to ask what was wrong, but then I turned around and you were gone. So we came here because you said that’s what I should do. And we also got hotdogs.’ Stiles holds up his hand that still has a little ketchup on it.
‘That was very smart of you,’ his mom says proudly.
Stiles then looks to his dad, who is smiling.
‘Dad, can you help Derek find his mom?’
‘Derek? You’re Talia’s son, right?’ his dad asks.
Derek nods, looking excited that Stiles’ dad knows his mom.
‘I have her number. I’ll call her.’
A couple minutes later, Derek’s mom is hugging Derek.
‘Can we spend the rest of the day together?’ Stiles asks. He likes Derek. Derek lets him talk without interrupting him.
Their parents happily agree, and after a quick lunch they set out to go see the apes. It feels strange not to have Derek’s hand in his, but he doesn’t want Derek to think he’s scared of getting lost again.
‘Can I hold your hand again?’ Derek asks before they’ve left the playground.
‘Sure,’ Stiles says, and grabs onto Derek’s hand with enthusiasm.
They don’t let go until it’s time to go home. But that’s okay, because Derek’s mom said Stiles could come over to play videogames tomorrow.