triskehale | sweet little sixteen (closed; luke)

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sweet little sixteen (closed; luke)

When Derek Hale wakes up, he's 16 years old and very much not in the bedroom he remembers falling asleep in. Also, there's a cat sitting on his chest.

"What the--" The cat is staring down at him with big yellow eyes and a judgmental expression. Derek flashes his golden eyes in return, but the cat looks thoroughly unimpressed. Derek pushes the cat off of his chest and sits up, looking around the room in confusion. His eyes catch on a cage across the room, and widen slightly when all he sees in it is what appears to be a giant purple cotton ball with eyes staring back at him. "Okay..."

He's in a cabin, and it's weird. It's weird mainly because this cabin smells like him. And not just because he's in it. Everything smells like him, like he's been here for months, but that's impossible. Last night he was at home in Beacon Hills, chasing his siblings through the preserve. He went to bed early because he had a big basketball game today. Laura smacked him upside the head and then his mother rolled her eyes and kissed his forehead. You know, normal bedtime stuff.

But now he's in a cabin that smells like him in a place that doesn't smell anything like home, and the damn cat is still staring at him. He turns to get out of bed and his hand catches on something. It's a red sweatshirt, and he brings it up to his nose to smell it. It's not Derek's, but it smells nice, like lavender and honey. It's a comforting enough scent, but it means nothing to him. He tosses the hoodie back onto the bed and gets up, grabbing his underwear when they fall down his hips.

The clothes in the dresser all smell like him, but they're too big. He finds a black v-neck shirt that hangs a little loose, and a pair of jeans that he can belt up. The cat is following him and meowing, so he follows his nose to its food and pours it into the little bowl near the kitchenette, and then turns around to survey the cabin again. There's a phone on the nightstand, but when he calls the house number, he gets a message that the number isn't in service. Same with his mom's cell, his dad's, and Laura's. None of the names in his contacts are anyone he recognizes, and he's beyond confused. His scent is the most confusing. All over the cabin it's him, but darker. It's muskier and tinged with sadness and anger. Which makes sense, if he's been trapped here, but that's impossible.

There's another scent, that lavender honey, but it's fading. Whoever it belongs to hasn't been here in a long time. Stronger is the scent of another wolf, and Derek's eyes flash gold as he inhales it. It's an alpha, but not a threat. It's a warm, friendly smell, and Derek knows that's who he needs to find. If this other wolf is the alpha here, wherever the hell here is, then that's who he needs to talk to. Especially if they know each other and he can explain what the hell is going on.

The boots by the door fit him, if a little loosely, and he goes about tracking that scent out of the woods and into the city. It's nowhere he recognizes, and it doesn't smell like home at all. Signs keep telling him that he's in Darrow, and he doesn't recognize that either. It takes him awhile, but soon he finds himself in front of a bookstore. It hasn't opened for the day yet, and Derek follows the scent up to the apartment above it. The scent is strongest here, and Derek bites his lip a little nervously as he knocks on the door.

He hears movement inside and he lifts his chin, doing his best to appear capable and calm. He is the son of Alpha Talia Hale, and a beta of the Hale pack. That means something, and he has to make a good impression.

Plus, he just really needs this guy's help if he wants to get home.

Which he really, really does.

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It's early enough that the store has yet to open and when Luke hears the knock at the door of his apartment, he pauses in the midst of making coffee and scents the air, trying to see if it's someone he knows. There are very few people who have been up to the apartment, but most of his friends know he lives up here and he's never asked people not to come. His door is always open, it's just that he usually tends to be in the store rather than up here.

But it's Derek. The scent is familiar, easily identifiable, and Luke's shoulders relax as he presses the button on the coffee maker and then crosses to the door. He's dressed for the day, jeans, flannel, work boots, the usual uniform, and he's just about prepared to go downstairs and open the store, but if Derek is here he can take a few minutes to talk to him about whatever it is he needs. He smells a little nervous, but that could be due to almost anything, and when Luke opens the door it's with a smile.

One that fades the second he opens his door and finds a stranger on the other side. A strange who smells very much like Derek Hale. He's younger, though, he's not someone Luke recognizes and his brow creases as he stares at the teenaged boy on his front step. He can't be much older than Simon and Clary, and Luke inhales deeply again, wondering if somehow he's just gotten the scent wrong.

But no, this young man smells exactly like Derek.

Derek tenses a little when the guy opens the door, because he's most definitely an alpha. He's met other alphas, of course, when his mother meets with them. They can range from warm and friendly to downright terrifying, but this guy seems nice enough. His scent is comforting in a way that he can't really explain. He reminds Derek a little of his father in away, with his beard and his coloring, and Derek is put a little more at ease.

But the other wolf just keeps staring at him, and Derek's bottom lip pushes out into a slight pout for just a moment, eyebrows turning down in confusion and frustration. "Uh, hi? So, I woke up in a cabin and I have no idea where I am, or who you are, but it smelled like you."

Derek bites his lip, trying to look stern but it probably comes out a bit lost. This guy is sort of his only hope for answers. "So I found you. Can you help me?"

He remembers his manners at the last moment, picturing his mother staring at him. "Um. Please."

"Derek?" he asks, his voice thick with confusion. There are gestures that are vaguely familiar, things that might be hidden by years of a hard life, but it's the scent that convinces him. That sort of thing is impossible to fake and this boy -- because he is, he's still a boy -- smells exactly like Derek smells. It's a familiar scent, one that's gotten into the bookstore, one of the few Luke can pick up easily on the breeze and identify without question whenever he's nearby. This is Derek.

But he can't possibly be Derek. He's so young.

"You don't know who I am?" he asks, but after a moment he thinks to step back and let Derek into his apartment if he's comfortable with it. He should be able to figure out Luke is no threat to him, but if he doesn't know where he is or who Luke is, none of this can be very easy. It has to be scary.

"Yeah, that's me," Derek replies, tilting his head in a puppyish way and staring at the guy. He steps aside to let Derek inside, and he only hesitates for a moment. Laura would probably smack him for that. She says he's too trusting and has to be sort of a bad judge of character, since he's so close with Uncle Peter. But Derek has always been the sort to trust people until they give him a reason not to, and this guy seems nice. He seems to care about Derek, if the concern in his eyes is anything to go by.

He walks into the apartment and looks around curiously. There are books everywhere and Derek lifts his nose to scent the air a bit before turning to look at the alpha. This is all so weird and Derek fidgets a bit. He just wants to go home. He has a test in Trig and his basketball team is in the playoffs. He promised Cora that he'd take her out to look for frogs after the game, and Derek never breaks his promises to his little sister. Or anyone else, if he can help it.

"Do you know how to get in touch with my mom?" Derek asks hopefully, and then wrinkles his nose a bit. "Uh, Alpha Hale. I just-- I want to go home."

Luke has no idea what's happened. He smells like Derek, he says he's Derek, but he's no older than Clary. If he looks at him, really squints and studies his features, he can see the man he's coming to become -- or has already become -- and it's strange to see those features in such a young face. He has no idea what to make of any of this, but then Derek is asking if he knows how to get in touch with his mother and something in Luke's chest tightens until it hurts. This is before life has hurt him, before anything bad has happened to him, and right now the worst thing in his life is that he's woken up here without his family.

And now Luke has no idea what to tell him. He's dealt with magic before and he expects this is some version of that, but he doesn't know why it's happened or how to undo it. Maybe he shouldn't try. Maybe he should just let Derek be a happy, albeit slightly frightened teenager.

"No," he says. "I'm sorry. You... you don't remember this city at all? Or me? None of this is familiar to you?"

Derek's eyes flash molten gold when the guy says that he doesn't know how to contact his mom. It was a long shot anyway, but he doesn't know what to do. He's never been away from his family like this before, and he doesn't even know how to go about dealing with it. He's not just a boy without his mother. He's also an adolescent wolf without his alpha, and that's sort of terrifying.

"No, I don't. I-- I'm sorry?" Derek swallows hard and goes over to flop down onto the sofa, covering his face with his hands for a moment, just taking a breath like his mother always tells him to do. Nothing makes any sense. He was just at home. Everything was fine. After taking another deep breath and looks up at the other man. At least if he's away from home, he has an alpha. One that's kind to him. "I don't even know your name. I'm obviously missing some stuff. Where am I?"

He looks up with big, glistening eyes, desperate to find out what the hell is going on.

"Jesus," Luke breathes softly, scrubbing a face over his hand before he goes to sit down in the chair across from Derek. Because he is Derek. There's no faking something like that. But he doesn't know how to explain his current state either and he isn't sure what he's supposed to say to Derek himself, how he's going to make any of this make sense.

Because it just simply doesn't.

"I'm Luke," he says, resting his hands on his knees. "And you're in a city called Darrow. You've been here for some time, longer than I have, and you don't... you're not normally the age you are. I know how bizarre that sounds, but I swear I'm telling you the truth." He wishes he could give him something more than that, but Luke is truly baffled.

Derek gives the alpha, Luke, a skeptical look, but he isn't lying. His heart stays steady the whole time, and Derek swallows hard. It definitely adds up. His scent imbedded in that cabin, the too-big clothes that smell like him. The phone with all the unfamiliar numbers.

"I don't understand," Derek says quietly, because he believes him, but he doesn't understand. He wouldn't just leave his family. "There's no way to get back to Beacon Hills? It's in California."

There must not be, or he'd be there. He'd never willingly leave his family. They're his whole world; his anchor. A thought occurs to him and he blinks up at Luke. "I need to have an alpha, so that must be you, right? You're my alpha here?"

Derek specifies here because his mother will always be his true alpha, and then his sister after her. But if he can't be with her, he needs another one. He feels untethered, heart pounding away in his chest like a scared rabbit's, and he swallows hard as he looks hopefully at Luke.

Edited 2015-06-03 19:05 (UTC)

That's the last thing Luke expects to hear, if only because he and Derek have had conversations like this before, about what it means to be a leader and how pack is different for each of them. They've discussed this before and it throws him off balance for a moment; even moreso than he already is. But Derek needs this, he doesn't have to be able to hear his pounding heart to know that, and so Luke, who has been very certain since the moment he arrived in Darrow that he would never do this again, nods.

"Yeah," he says. "I'm your alpha."

And hopefully whenever this wears off, whenever he figures out a way to get Derek back, he won't resent Luke for making this choice. The option are making things harder for him or comforting a scared kid, and of those two, Luke knows what he'll always pick. "There's a fair number of wolves here. We're not all pack, but they're all good wolves, good people. That's important to know."

Derek lets out a relieved breath and nods, giving Luke a quick, tight smile before looking down at his hands. It doesn't go unnoticed that Luke didn't answer his question about getting home. There must not be a way, or he would have done it. He wouldn't still be here, if he didn't have to be. He doesn't know why he's been brought here, but he just hopes that his family is safe, that they're happy.

"Okay, good." As long as he has an alpha, and therefore a pack, he isn't alone. Luke may not be his mother, but he's willing to help. "So something happened to me? Like a spell? How old am I supposed to be?"

This is all just so weird. There are a few books in his family's library about spells and curses, but they aren't common. He doesn't know what he's done to deserve this. Any of this.

"And why the hell do I have a cat?"

Luke actually isn't sure how old Derek is, but he knows he's not this young. "Mid-twenties," he says. "And I'm not sure what the cause of this might be. I'm going to guess a spell, but it's not one I've ever heard of before and it's not one I know how to reverse."

Once again, like the thunder clouds above his register, this seems like something Magnus might do. It's essentially harmless, though Luke isn't fond of the idea of someone's memories having been altered, and to the outside observer he knows it would be more humourous than anything. But as before, he doesn't know if there are any warlocks in Darrow who are capable of something like this, but it's likely time to look into it.

"I have some friends I can ask," he says, thinking of Hermione and Ron. "They might have a better idea of who would be capable of changing you like this." But then Derek asks about his cat and Luke laughs softly and shrugs. "I just always assumed you liked it."

"So I've just... gone backwards and lost an entire decade?" Derek asks with a confused frown. After a moment he lets out a huge teenage sigh and runs his fingers through his hair, shaking his head a little. It's unfathomable to him that he's a full-grown adult living in some strange city without his family, in a cabin all by himself with a cat.

"I appreciate your help," Derek says after a moment, looking up at him and giving him a flicker of a smile. "You know, in case I forget to say it later."

He stands up and looks around the apartment curiously, sniffing the air a bit and then looking over his shoulder at Luke. He really is so grateful for the alpha's presence, because he has no idea what he would do otherwise. "Well, I guess I studied all that Trig for nothing. I wonder if I passed the test."

There are books everywhere and Derek peers curiously at the titles. "So, what else should I know about me?

Luke smiles when Derek thanks him for his help and shakes his head. There's no way he would be able to just let him deal with all this on his own and whenever Derek goes back to being himself -- because that has to be the end game, this city can't just leave him as a sixteen-year-old, his memories all stolen -- he'll understand why Luke had to help him. He may be reluctant to take on the mantle of a pack leader again, he's reluctant to even consider the idea of a pack, but they're friends. Derek is probably the closest friend he has in this city and Luke looks out for his friends.

He knows some of the details of Derek's life, things he could share with him, but there's no point in making him unhappy right now.

"You own a food truck," Luke says. "With a very pretty woman named Helen. You named a burger after me." His entire menu seems to be named after people he likes and Luke finds it charming, a sentiment he's sure is shared by other people who eat there. Hearing someone order his burger for the first time had been a strange experience in how pleased he had been.

"Yeah?" Derek turns away from the books at that, raising an eyebrow with an amused smirk. "Helen, huh? Are we like... together?"

A food truck. That's pretty cool. Unexpected, but cool. Derek's plans had been to go to college on a basketball scholarship, major still undecided. That must not have mattered once he was stuck here. But he likes cooking. He's been learning more and more, helping out at dinner and making lunch for all the kids. "My dad taught me how to cook. He thinks he's Bobby Flat or something, it's hilarious."

He walks over to the fridge and straightens one of the magnets, basically just nosing around curiously, and then he lets out a noise of excitement when he spots a bag of potato chips on top of the fridge. "Ooh." He grabs them excitedly, and then turns around to hold them with both hands, peering hopefully at Luke. "Can I have these? I'm hella starving."

Luke can't help himself, he grins at the thought of sixteen-year-old Derek tracking down Helen and trying to even formulate thoughts, let alone words, especially if he thought they were together. So he shakes his head and says, "No. You two are just friends. And you work well together, so don't let your teenaged hormones ruin that." He's teasing, though, feeling slightly less stressed out about this situation than he was moments earlier.

There's still more work to be done, he has to figure out where to go from here, but at least Derek seems to be calming down a little. Adjusting. As long as he's okay, Luke can work at figuring out what to do.

"Yeah, go for it," he says when he realizes what Derek has picked up. "Maybe we should take you shopping, though. Get some food for the cabin if you want to stay there."

Derek huffs, but his mouth is full of the chips that he's already ripped into and stuffed into his face, so it takes him a moment to formulate a response. "I won't. I was just wondering if I manged to land myself a girlfriend in the future. Or a boyfriend."

If he had, the place he lives probably would have smelled like them. He thinks of that fading scent, that comforting lavender honey, and he feels a brief twist in his chest before shaking it off and stuffing more chips into his mouth.

Luke mentions Derek going back to his cabin, and he tenses a little, mouth turning down into a frown. Derek is so used to living in a full, crowded house. He's never alone and the thought of going back to that secluded little cabin and staying there all by himself doesn't really excite him. "I mean, I guess. If that's where I live. Which I still don't understand. I would hate living alone. Fourteen people live in my house back home. It's crazy, but I love it."

Luke's knowledge of Stiles is fairly limited, but he knows enough to keep his mouth shut. Maybe at the end of this all Derek will resent that he didn't tell him, but he can accept that in return for Derek's happiness. Even if it doesn't last, he should at least be allowed to have this for a little while. Being sixteen all over again is bound to be strange enough without Luke complicating things by telling him how he'd lost the love of his life not all that long ago.

And so he doesn't. He'll face the consequences of that if he has to.

"You don't have to go back there," he says. "I mean, we should probably go get your cat and that purple thing, but if you want to stay here until everything's back to normal, I have the room." He has two spare rooms, actually, and while neither of them are particularly big, it would be nice to have someone in one of them.

"Really?" Derek brightens up and grins, crumpling up the chip back and coming forward to clap his palm down onto Luke's shoulder. "That's awesome of you, man. Whatever made me want to live by myself in the middle of the damn woods definitely hasn't happened yet."

He laughs and tosses the chips back onto the counter, basically bouncing around like an eager puppy. "Can we go now? Am I keeping you from anything? You run the bookstore downstairs, right? I'll totally help out, you know. I love books. I'm on my like, eighth reread of the Lord of the Rings."

Derek takes it upon himself to fill up a glass of water and gulp it down, setting the cup in the sink and wiping his mouth with the inside of his wrist. "So you don't know what the hell that purple thing is either, huh?"

"The store is closed right now, we can go," Luke says with a huff of laughter as he gets up from the chair. It's strange, but he can feel himself responding to Derek's energy, to the brightness in him that's really only present in teenagers. There are people in his life in Darrow who are younger than him, but no one really close to Clary and Simon's age and it's a bit of a surprise to discover just how much he's missed that presence in his life. There's just something different about them, something that fades with age, and for the moment anyway, Derek has that back.

"It's a..." He hesitates as he looks for the keys to his truck, then shakes his head. "You told me once, but I can't remember. It eats anything apparently, so at least we don't need to worry about it starving to death by accident."

He spots his keys on the counter near the front door and grabs them, then nods to Derek. "We'll drive so we don't have to carry that cat all the way back here." Cats don't really like Luke, but he can deal with it for a little while.

The cat can come too? You're awesome, man." Derek claps him on the shoulder as he passes and nearly trips over his jeans, growling in annoyance as he catches himself against the door frame. "First stop should probably be getting me some clothes that fit."

There's a wallet in Derek's back pocket that he hasn't looked inside of yet, but he assumes that he must have money. Luke is doing more than enough; he shouldn't have to buy him things too.

"I guess my dad was right. He's always saying how I'll fill out like him," Derek says, shaking his head in amusement. "Dude's huge, but he's like, the nicest guy you could ever meet."

He frowns, thinking about how badly he misses his family already, and then huffs out a sigh as he forces himself to move forward. He pulls the door open and looks over his shoulder at Luke. "Come on! There's exploring to do."

"You're not a small man," Luke agrees with a laugh, then follows Derek out the door, locking it behind him. His truck is parked alongside the store and he heads down the stairs, unlocking both the doors for them before he climbs behind the wheel and starts the truck. There are times when he thinks about how strange it is that he has this here, this same truck he's been driving for years, the truck that had once smelled like Jocelyn and Clary, their shampoo and art supplies. The scent is fading now, the average man wouldn't be able to smell it, but he can still catch it if he breathes deeply enough.

They're still here, but they're fading. There really isn't much he can do about that.

"Clothes first and then the cabin?" he asks as he pulls out onto the road and waits for Derek to tell him where to go.

"Clothes first," Derek says with a nod. "Then real food, then a quick tour. And then the cabin?"

He knows that he's asking a lot, and he looks over at Luke with a big cheesy grin and puppy eyes. It's the look that gets his dad, sometimes. His mother is tougher to crack, but he's been known to wear her down from time to time.

Derek does his seat belt and leans forward eagerly, staring out of the windshield with a sharp, curious gaze. It looks like any other big city, and Derek doesn't really know what he was expecting. Something not so... normal. "So, is there like a mall or something?"

As Luke heads toward the mall, he has to wonder if this is a teenager thing. If they're all just possessed of such an energy where they want to do everything at once. Clary and Simon had certainly had their fair share of lazy days, but he remembers well just how actively pushy they could be when they really wanted to do something. And that one thing was usually followed by three or four other things they absolutely had to do.

He's grinning as he thinks about it and he nods at Derek's question. "Yeah, there's a mall. A couple areas where there are some smaller stores, too, but our best bet right now is likely the mall. I have no idea what stores you might want to try, though," he admits. His own wardrobe consists of what's practically a uniform: jeans, henleys, flannel and work boots. It's comfortable and it makes him feel comfortable, too. "I haven't the slightest idea what's popular."

"Oh, well. What I have now but smaller, I guess." Derek looks down and picks at the over sized black shirt. "And maybe some colors thrown into the mix. There's a whole color wheel that I apparently completely forget about at some point."

The mall appears up ahead and Derek sits up a little. Malls are always an exciting clash of the senses, all full of scents and sounds. And hot dogs on sticks. And pretzel bits.

Holy shit, he's hungry.

Luke parks the truck and Derek hops out, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet as he waits for Luke to join him. It's a weekday, and it's kind of awesome that he isn't in school. There's always the thrill of being elsewhere on a weekday morning, but he supposes that doesn't really apply here. Here, he's long done with school.

They walk through the automatic doors and Derek beelines for the first clothing store he sees that doesn't remind him of Abercrombie and Fitch. Luke follows along dutifully, and Derek looks over at him as he grabs a plum colored henley from a pile near the door. "You seem pretty at home being dragged through a mall."

Edited 2015-06-17 01:50 (UTC)

"It isn't the first time it's happened," Luke answers with a soft huff of laughter, although Simon and Clary had been more prone to dragging him into comic book stores than malls. It amounts to the same thing in the end and he's long since grown used to it. Given the number of times he had stood watch in a toy store while Clary begged for something and Jocelyn had said no over and over again, this is actually infinitely easier. Derek isn't going to have to beg him for money, for one, though Luke is already finding it difficult not to just fold some bills into his hand. He's done that all his life, passing money to Clary without thought, not because she ever asked for it but because he wanted to make sure she was taken care of.

Money is really the last thing in the world he ever worries about. His bills are paid, he feeds himself, but he has no need for superfluous purchases. He prefers to spend his excess money on others.

"A friend of mine has a daughter. She's fifteen... sixteen now, I guess," he says, correcting himself. "I spent a lot of time being dragged through comic book stores by her and her best friend."

Derek pauses in going through a stack of jeans to turn and look at Luke while he speaks of his friend's daughter. There's obvious fondness in his tone, but he smells a little like pain. He must miss them terribly, and that's something Derek is definitely coming to understand.

"Hey, I like comic books too," Derek says brightly, grinning as he hugs a stack of clothes to his chest. "I can drag you to one of those too."

He isn't trying to trivialize Luke's pain, but maybe rather distract him from it. Or maybe he's trying to help them both, in some way. Luke may not be a dad, but he's very dad-like, and he's missing his kid. Derek's a kid missing his dad, and they're both wolves. It just makes sense to him that they should stick together, but maybe he's forcing something that isn't even there. He has no idea how Luke feels about him, not really.

Derek has always been so sure of his place, and he's suddenly realizing that he has no clue where he belongs anymore. His heart rate spikes with anxiety and he forces a smile at Luke before ducking into one o the dressing rooms. He quickly pulls on the new jeans and purple henley, pulling the sleeves up a little and looking himself over. He already looks a little more like himself and he nods, blowing out a breath as he calms down. The boots will work. He just has to wear thick socks. He doesn't need a lot, and he comes out of the dressing room wearing the new clothes.

All he needs is a few pairs of jeans and a small assortment of shirts. He stacks the clothes and carries them over to the counter, looking at Luke when he follows. "I feel kinda bad spending so much of older me's money, especially if it's only temporary."

Well, hopefully, anyway. He looks back up at Luke thoughtfully. "Maybe he can give them to a homeless shelter, or someone who needs them. I'm sure it'll occur to me anyway, but remind me, okay? Him. Whatever."

"If you like comic books, you'll love this place," Luke says with another soft laugh. Every now and then he'll encounter someone unexpected, a name he never would have imagined actually meeting and he finds himself thinking of how Clary and Simon would both react to it. Clary had always been more interested in the art of the books more than anything, but Simon would likely lose his mind if he knew he could be neighbours with Tony Stark or Pepper Potts. It isn't that he really wishes for any of them to join him here, only because he hates the thought of taking them away from everything that's familiar, but there are certainly times he likes to imagine their reactions to this city and everything in it.

"The boundaries between fiction and reality don't quite exist here in the same way they do where we come from," he explains as they head for the register. "You'll figure that out soon enough, I imagine." And if he likes comic books even half as much as Simon, it's likely to blow his mind.

When Derek asks to be reminded to donate the clothes he's bought, Luke nods. He suspects Derek will remember that just fine on his own, but if he shows up at the cabin and sees the clothes still stacked up and sitting around, he'll take care of it. Because Luke has already realized something awful about this, that when Derek goes back to being himself, he's going to remember everything that's happened lately and Luke can't imagine that will be at all easy to take.

"Do you want to change before we go?" he asks, nodding to the dressing rooms once Derek has paid. "They can cut the tags off, I'm sure they won't mind." Especially if the pink colour in the girl behind the register's cheeks is anything to go by. She flushes a little deeper when Luke looks at her and shakes her head. "We can do that," she offers, ducking behind the counter, presumably to look for scissors.

"Well, then we should totally make that part of exploring. After food, obviously," Derek says with a solemn nod. Food is the most important. The girl who rang him up is cute, and she's staring at him in a way that she obviously thinks is subtle. Derek nods and takes the bag before ducking into the fitting room again. He finds an outfit he likes, one that makes him look good, and heads back out.

The girl is checking him out, and this at least, is familiar. He knows how to handle this, and he likes it. Maybe if he focuses on this he can forget just how lost he is, if even for a moment.

"Gonna take care of me?" Derek asks smoothly, slipping behind the counter and offering his back, rolling his shoulders to draw attention to the tag sticking out of his shirt. He looks over his shoulder at her as she raises the scissors and smiles, oozing charm. "Be gentle."

He winks and turns his head around, smiling a bit as she grips his shoulder. The cold edge of the scissors brushes his neck and he shivers, hearing the snick as she cuts the tags free. He tugs the tag out of the back of his jeans for her to do the same and she blushes again, unable to hide her smile before Derek turns back around. "Thanks."

Derek loves flirting, and he rests his elbows on the counter as he looks at her. He sort of forgets everything else that's going on, including how Luke is waiting for him, and just focuses on the cute girl.

In this, at least, he knows what he's doing.

Luke watches the exchange with growing amusement, the flush of the girl's cheeks and the way Derek take advantage of her obvious interest. It would remind him a little of Jace, but there's a distinct lack of ego in the entire exchange. Jace carries with him the inevitable arrogance of the Shadowhunters and there's not even the slightest flicker of that in Derek.

"Either get her number, Romeo, or let's move on," he says finally, when it's become clear Derek has all but forgotten he's there at all. He doesn't mind moving on alone if he has to, but he thinks Derek's cat might be less annoyed if they're both there to take it back to Luke's place.

Luke's voice cuts through Derek's smooth talking and his eyes widen marginally, shoulders raising as a soft blush rises to his cheeks. "Busted."

The girl laughs, her own cheeks red as she tucks her hair behind her ear. "Well, you heard the man. But it's Derek, not Romeo."

He slides his receipt across the counter to her and picks up a pen, twirling it expertly around his fingers before clicking it and handing it over. She looks a little surprised but pleased, and scribbles his number down before handing Derek the receipt with a smile. "Call me later, okay?"

"Oh, I will," Derek says with a wink, and she ducks her head as she flushes anew. Derek grins and tucks the receipt carefully into his wallet before grabbing his back and stepping up to Luke with a cheeky smile. "Onward!"

They walk out of the store and Derek flips the wallet open, frowning thoughtfully down at the ID. The face staring back at him is familiar, but not. It's sort of hard to believe that that this is the person he grows into. "I guess that beard finally comes in, huh?" He holds out the wallet, practically shoving it in Luke's face. "I wonder how they got this picture without my eyes flashing. We have to wear these special contacts for photos and stuff back home. They burn like hell."

He pulls the wallet back and looks over at Luke. "Do your eyes do that? Reflect the light, I mean. I'm super curious about our differences. Remind me to pick your brain later."

The scent of the food court calls to him and his eyes widen as he perks up, jerking his chin in the direction of the food and reaching out to grab Luke's elbow, dragging him along. "But first, food."

"Not unless I'm in the midst of changing," Luke answers and although it isn't entirely a secret in Darrow, he still keeps his voice low as they walk. Everyone they pass on the street doesn't need to know what he is -- what Derek is -- because while he's sure most of the people they know don't mind or don't care, he doesn't know that the same sort of attitude extends to everyone in Darrow. He's sure there's bound to be one or two people who don't look quite so kindly on werewolves, just like there is everywhere in the world, and Luke doesn't want any of them to ever have to meet them.

"But first, food," Luke agrees with a laugh as he lets Derek tug him in the direction of the food court. It does smell good, though, and his stomach rumbles slightly as they get closer. It's been a bit of a strange day and he hasn't so much as paused to have a meal while trying to work all this out.

Derek notices the way Luke lowers his voice and he winces a little, nodding a bit and resolving to be quieter himself. It's probably because he's so excited to meet a wolf from a different pack, from a different world. He wants to find out all he can.

He follows his nose to a place promising tri-tip sandwiches and gets in line, smacking Luke's hand lightly when he reaches for his wallet. "I got it. Least I can do. Plus, I want to eat like six of these and I can't make you pay for that."

The line is long and Derek turns, looking at Luke with a curious gaze, glancing around before leaning in closer. "Seriously, prepare yourself for questions. Like, a lot of them."

"What if I want to eat six of them as well?" Luke asks in return with a grin, though he hadn't planned on it. He can still pack away more food than the average man his size and he needs more protein than a human does, but he doesn't need six sandwiches at the moment. Giving Derek a hard time, though, proves to be a little more fun now than he's only sixteen.

"And you can ask any questions you like," he says, his voice growing a little more serious. "Things are generally the same for us, as far as I can remember, but there are also some interesting differences." And if Derek wants to learn them again, he's more than happy to teach him.

"Then get six sandwiches, old man," Derek says with a teasing laugh. "You're letting me crash with you, after. Me and my cat."

They order their food and Derek insists on paying, and then he eagerly takes his tray and leads them to a table that's off in the corner sort of by itself. He plops down into it and gets three bites into a sandwich before he even acknowledges Luke's presence. "What are the differences?"

He cocks his head and watches Luke curiously, licking mustard from the corner of his mouth. "You're wearing glasses, for one."

"I have to. My eyesight has never been great. It improves as the full moon approaches, but then it gets worse again after its passed," he explains after taking a bite of his own sandwich. "My sense of smell and hearing are generally enhanced and my eyes have always been bad. They got better after I was bitten, my prescription changed, but it isn't until the days leading up to the full moon that I have perfect vision."

He pauses, then says, "And there's that, too. The moon controls me. I can't be around anyone else on the night the moon is full." He has to be alone, he has to be safe. Molly has offered to help him, but he can't take her up on it. It's not worth the risk as far as he's concerned.

Derek listens interestedly as Luke speaks, not looking away from him even as he eats. He's hungry enough that his canines sharpen just enough to tear through the tri-tip easily. When Luke gets to the part about the moon, Derek's face falls and he sets his sandwich down, wiping his hands on his napkin and leaning in.

"Really? There's no controlling it?" He pouts a little, thinking about how terrible that must be. He remembers what it was like when he first started shifting, and how the moon forced the change until he learned to control it. It wasn't very fun at all, not having control over himself. "Where do you go?"

"I have a room in the basement of my store," Luke tells him. He's trusted Derek with this information in the past, he'll trust him with it now. There are very few people who know about the room -- just Derek, Reid, he'd mentioned it to Mindy, too -- and he prefers it that way. Not because he doesn't trust people, but it's easier to maintain the integrity of the room itself when fewer people know about it.

"But it's alright," he says. "I've long since adjusted to it. It's kind of a nice break most months."

"Oh," Derek says thoughtfully, frowning down at his fries for a moment. Luke doesn't seem too broken up about it, so Derek tries not to worry. He thinks about the moon, and then his eyes widen as he looks up at Luke. "Uh, you don't by any chance have a spare of those, do you?"

Derek turns a bit pink as his bottom lip juts out. "I-- I've never spent a full moon away from my family. They're my anchor, and I'm not sure I'll handle the mood away from them, to be honest. I think I'll be okay, but I'm not sure."

"I don't, but the basement locks as well," Luke says, his voice gentle. If Derek doesn't want to be alone during the full moon, Luke certainly isn't going to send him away and while he doesn't trust himself out in the open, he knows the two of them will likely be safe enough in the basement.

"I can stay down there with you," he offers, then smiles again, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "As long as you promise not to let me carve up any boxes of books if I start to get restless. I'm really not myself and while I'm okay with other wolves, I still tend to get a little... well, restless is as good a word as any, I suppose. We'll stick with that."

"Really? You'd do that?" Derek asks, brightening up a little. It won't be spending the night out on the preserve with his family, but he'll be with someone familiar enough. That should help. "Wow. Thanks, man. And I'll do my best with the book thing."

He eats a few more bites of his sandwich and then takes a sip of his soda, looking over at Luke with a pleased smile. "We must be pretty good friends, huh? That's awesome."

"Yes," Luke says. "We are."

It's funny, but it's been a long time since he's had a good friend who's also a wolf. Most of the time, when he's around other wolves, he's been there as their pack leader. That isn't to say he's been unable to make friends, but it's been different, not the same as this at all. This is much more relaxed, much easier, and Luke finds he prefers it significantly. Derek might be needing his guidance right now, but for the most part he doesn't feel like he's responsible for him above all else, and that makes it easier for them to just be friends.

"We'll look out for each other," he says, smiling.

"Awesome," Derek replies, brightening considerably and picking his sandwich back up. Now that that's settled, it's one less thing he has to worry about. He polishes off the first sandwich and washes it down with his soda, making a sound as he remembers something. "Does looking out for me include letting me go through all those old books in your apartment? Some of them looked seriously ancient, dude."

Luke huffs out a laugh at that and then waves his hand. "If you want to. Some of them, anyway. There are others that shouldn't be handled by anyone." He's managed to find a fair number of first edition and hard to find books, those are the ones he keeps in a case, locked away from people and the oils on their fingers.

No one really cares for those ones except collectors anyway, but eventually someone is going to want them and he'll be able to make a fair amount of money for himself.

"Do you have books made of human skin?" Derek asks with a laugh. "Like Hocus Pocus?"

He finishes off his food and then pushes his tray away before sitting back in his chair, rocking it back onto two legs and patting his flat belly. Derek looks around the mall with vaguely curious look on his face, nose tipped up slightly to take in all the smells. It's all sort of an assault to the senses, and Derek squints blearily before turning his gaze back on Luke. "Do you want to get out of the mall? There's like thirty-two different types of cologne in the food court alone."

"I sell books, I'm not a witch," Luke says with a laugh. "I don't have anything made out of human skin. I hope." He's has admittedly collected some pretty strange things over the years, but he doesn't think any of them have been made of human parts.

"Yeah, let's go," he agrees, getting up from his chair. "You'll get used to that hopefully. I've found over the years it's gotten easier to tune out smells, as it were."

"No, I'm fine back home, it's just-- everything is different here," Derek says quietly. "I've only ever known one place."

He gets up and grabs Luke's tray once they're both finished, looking around with a slight pout as he dumps their contents into the trash and sets them down. He smells the ocean here, but it's different than the Pacific. Absolutely nothing is familiar, not really, and Derek swallows hard as he turns to look at Luke with slightly slumped shoulders.

Luke thinks about his first few days out of Idris, how jarring they had been. How difficult it was to adjust to an entirely new world, how it had smelled, the sensation of being so visible when he had spent years using concealing runes to make it so mundanes couldn't catch the slightest glimpse of him. It had been his first time out in the world without them, out in the world as a werewolf, and it had been awful.

"You'll be alright," he says again, reaching to lay a hand against the back of Derek's neck. "You'll see. Come on."

Luke's hand on Derek's neck is warm and comforting, calming, and it reminds him that he isn't alone. Luke may not be his alpha, the one he swore his undying loyalty too as soon as he was old enough to know what it meant, but he's still helping Derek through this more than he even knows how to put into words.

"Thank you," he says quietly, nodding and giving Luke a small smile before grabbing his shopping bag and heading for the entrance of the mall, doing his best to tune out the scents and sounds around him. "Time to go get the cat?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

sweet little sixteen (closed; luke)

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