Work Text:
"I can't believe we're stuck here,"
"We aren't stuck here Derek, the ship is coming back, we just... have to wait a little longer,"
The look on Derek's face was far less than amused, and the man in front of him could practically feel it boring into him through his back
It didn't matter though, stare all he wanted, Derek wasn't going to get out of here any faster, that wasn't within anyone's control but the morons on the ship
....
Derek was probably right about being stuck
"It works out anyway, we need to find a book on this magic orb thing and what better place than the galaxy's premiere bookstore?"
"Those are words I never thought I'd hear, galaxy's premiere bookstore," Derek mused
And ok, he could agree, that was definitely a weird combination of words
"Do you have a better suggestion? I mean we could just crack this thing like an egg on the nearest hard surface but I get the feeling that that's probably not the best idea,"
Derek didn't even try not to roll his eyes at that, tongue passing along the back of his teeth as he reluctantly followed his companion into the store
"If I remember correctly Stiles, isn't that how you broke the ship's neutron generator?"
Stiles glared at him over his shoulder, a pinched look on his face
"Yeah, from banging that glowy egg thing on it, not because I banged the neutron generator on something else, I'm not stupid Derek,"
"Could've fooled me," Derek replied blandly, deciding to pass by whatever indignant response Stiles was working up and heading directly for the counter
"I'm not spending all day in an intergalactic bookstore so I'm going to just ask if they have any books on the ... sphere..."
"You mean the magic orb?" Stiles smirked, eyebrows wiggling playfully
"We don't know that the orb is magic yet so right now it's just an orb," Derek corrected
"But you have to admit, it's probably magic,"
"It's possibly magic, it could also be technology,"
He knew that his companion had a much greater love of magic, and Derek couldn't really blame him for that, but not everything was magic and the last thing he wanted was for Stiles to go assuming and cause the thing some sort of disruption...
"I'm just saying, we found it in a ditch in the ruins of an old monistary in Gondor, it sounds like it's alot more likely to be magic than technology, what would a bunch of Gondorian monks need with a ball of technology?"
Derek... was choosing not to even respond to that
He had bigger concerns anyway, like waiting on someone to come and assist them so they wouldn't miss the ship whenever it came back
He was starting to wish that this place had one of those little bells to press to alert someone to their presence...
"And not that I should really have to tell you this at this point, but don't touch anything," Derek said suddenly
It was generally not the best idea to leave Stiles unattended in strange new places but he just wasn't in the mood for antics today
Well... even less than usual
"Derek, I am offended that you think that I would just go around touching random things-"
"What are you touching now?"
There was a pause, Derek glancing over his shoulder to see Stiles pull his hand slowly away from a vase of strange looking flowers
Derek was not surprised
"Can I help you with something?"
The Zehoberei turned his attention back towards the other side of the counter, trying to smile atleast somewhat politely at the Krylorian girl who was standing there now
"I need some information an orb, we need to know if you have any books on it," Derek explained, turning around again and watching as Stiles reached out for a stack of books that had been carelessly placed on a table
"Stiles, the orb?"
The half-human glanced up, giving him an "OK" symbol before pulling the small, red metallic orb out of his red jacket pocket and dropping it into Derek's waiting palm, his pale fingers gliding up to skim gently against the soft green skin of Derek's wrist and sending a slight chill over his spine
He still wasn't used to so much casual contact, casual affection, but being around Stiles so much... he was starting to adjust, if not a bit slowly
"This," he said, turning back to the girl behind the counter and holding the orb out towards her
"Huh.... I'm not sure what that is, let me ask my sister," she replied politely, taking a few steps away and peering behind the door in the back
"Aayala! There's a guy here asking about Gregorian Orbs! What do you want me to tell him?"
Derek's mouth fell open, annoyance and offense crossing his features as he waited for the girl to turn back towards him
Wich she did, only moments later, the same polite look on her face
"Sorry, I don't know anything about them,"
"You just said it was a Gregorian Orb, I heard you,"
"Did I?"
"Yes," Derek frowned, his forced politeness gone in a flash as he narrowed his eyes at her
He wasn't sure why she was lying, but typically it was never for a good reason, especially when mysterious objects were involved...
"Listen, it's of utmost importance that you tell me anything and everything you know about these orbs, or at the very least, point me towards a book that can tell me about it,"
"Um.... Derek?"
Gods not now....
He didn't even bother answering his half-human companion, too focused on the task at hand
"I don't know what you're talking about, I've never seen one of those things in before in my entire life," the Krylorian shrugged with seeming innocence
"You just called it a Gregorian Orb,"
"I did?"
Derek exhaled slowly, his fingers climbing up to pinch a few tufts of black and violet hair, trying to keep himself calm
"I am not going through this again,"
"H-Hey... Derek?"
"It's a matter of life and death that we find out what this orb is, and what it does,"
Wich, ok, wasn't really entirely true, but she didn't need to know that
"It is? Who's life and who's death?"
"Your's,"
"Derek... I think you need to take a look at this..."
For the love of-!
"Not now Stiles!"
"Well how can it be a matter of my life and death when I don't even know what that little ball is?"
"Because if you don't help me, I'll kill you," Derek answered smoothly
He had spent the last half of his life as an assassin, he wasn't afraid to flex his intimidation skills on a total stranger
The Krylorian looked considerably unhappy, going slightly pale, her face falling into one of hesitant anxiety as she slowly stepped away from the desk
"I.... I'm gonna go ask my sister," she said quickly, rushing back through the door and leaving Derek with a frustration-induced headache clawing at his skull
"Derek!!!"
"For the love of crap Stiles what is it!?" he snapped, spinning around and feeling the anger on his face immediately be replaced by utter shock
There was Stiles, one arm down some kind of ... what looked like a laundry chute of some sort... that had apparently appeared out of the wall, sucking him in like a black hole, and in particular, trying to swallow his jacket
"I thought I told you not to touch anything!" Derek hissed, quickly pocketing the orb before rushing over to Stiles and hurrying to rip his jacket off of him, watching with dread as the hole/chute/thing swallowed up the jacket and closed again
"Aww man... that was my favorite..."
"Then you shouldn't have been touching things," Derek frowned tensely
"Excuse you, I was looking for a book on the magic orb, that's what we're here to do,"
"We don't know that it's a magic orb yet,"
"Really? That's what you got out of that... entire thing?"
Derek wanted to reply- he really, truly did, but he could hear the sound of footsteps behind him, so he hurried to turn around, watching as the Krylorian from earlier sheepishly set a book down on the counter
It was a large book, ancient looking too, covered in dust and with the edges of the pages apparently frayed, it looked.. almost a little menacing actually
Inhaling deeply, he approached the counter, taking out his unit transfer pad and glancing up at her
"How much?"
"Sixty thousand,"
"What?"
She had to be kidding
She had to be kidding
"Sixty thousand units,"
She wasn't kidding
"For a book?"
"You wanted a book about the Gregorian Orb, this is the only one we have,"
Derek wasn't entirely sure if he should believe her or not, after all, she had also insisted that she didn't even know what a Gregorian Orb was a few minutes ago, but really, what choice did he have?
Unlike last time, he couldn't exactly catch her in a lie with this
Even if he could find proof that there were other books here about the orb, that could easily take all day, the store was massive, easily the size of their ship, if not a little bigger, so suffice it to say that they didn't have time to search the entire place book by book
They needed the book, unfortunately, and... atleast they could afford it, even if he still thought the price was outrageously steep, atleast it wouldn't wipe them out
Although.... they probably would have to find someone to pay for their services sooner rather than later....
"Fine, sixty," he grumbled with reluctance, punching his key code into the box on his transfer pad and wrinkling his nose with every button he punched
"You know, we could always just sell the thing," Stiles mused, making his way towards Derek and leaning against the counter
"How would we sell it when we don't even know what it does yet?"
"Dude, people do that all the time, it's called lying, we just find a gullible moron, tell them it's some kind of super rare weapon, and sell it, no fuss, no muss,"
"We're not selling it before we know what it's for or what it does, magic orbs always have a penchant for being extremely dangerous, or have you forgotten the time we accidentally got ahold of an Infinity Stone?"
Stiles was quiet for a moment, and for a second- just for a second- Derek actually made the mistake of thinking he had won
"Huh.... I thought you said that it wasn't a magic orb yet,"
"I'm going to kill you,"
~+~
Derek was probably worried for nothing, he could acknowledge that
He knew that he was being paranoid but he just.... he couldn't help it
He hated being stuck- stranded
He could say with full confidence that it was the worst feeling in the world, atleast in his perfectly honest opinion
Well... that, and loneliness
...
And betrayal
...
And- ...
Alright, so there were alot of terrible feelings out there, fine, but being stranded was definitely one of them
It hadn't been his idea to stay on this strange planet without immediate access to the ship in the first place, but they were in something of a predicament, with the ship desperately requiring a part to keep the engine from falling apart and the orb being a matter of priority
Atleast, Derek felt that it was priority, he didn't want to end up in another Infinity Stone situation...
So he and Stiles had decided to stop at the bookstore to find information on the orb, and everyone else had decided to go to Zunkar to get the part for the ship
Jackson had promised that they would be back by nightfall but the sun was already setting and there was no word from him at all
It was making Derek nervous... even if he knew logically that he probably didn't have any reason to be
"I just heard from Jackson,"
Derek's head perked up with releif, eyes wide as he turned on the barstool to stare at his companion
"What did he say?"
"You know, I'm not really sure? Something about a Kaltokian bar?"
Derek groaned, slamming his head forward and feeling his skull hit hard against his folded arms, frustrating growing under his skin as his nails scratched absently at the bar
"What's a Kaltokian bar?" Stiles asked a beat later, confusion set in his features
"It's...." Derek paused, not entirely sure how to describe it now that he actually thought about it
"It's... a bar where people with very ... odd... taste in sexual proclivities gather and ... experiment-"
"Ok that's enough," Stiles said quickly, holding his hands up in surrender and glaring at the Zehobereian as if it was somehow Derek's fault that he had just learned that little tidbit of information
"Ok, but surely he wouldn't go to one of those places with everybody el- ... yeah, no, he would, Jackson would, mother of god...."
"We're going to be trapped here all night aren't we?" Derek sighed miserably
He hated feeling trapped, it made his skin crawl, it made his bones twitch, he ached for freedom... or atleast for the chance to make an escape from a terrible situation whenever the hell he so chose...
"We'll be fine," Stiles promised, reaching out to very gently place a hand on Derek's back, his thumb padding over the leather jacket his partner was wearing and tracing his fingers in soft, soothing patterns
"If I don't hear from him again in an hour I'll call again- I'll call Kira this time, see if I can get her to talk some sense into him, or atleast get Scott to drive the ship and get his butt back here,"
"You really trust Scott to drive the ship for three clicks?" Derek asked with a slight, almost amused sigh, his eyebrows raising as he raised his head and turned to stare at the half-human
"It's that or drunk Jackson,"
"God I hate these people," Derek said with a snort of laughter, clearly only meaning it jokingly, although that didn't ease the sting of irritation he was feeling with them at the moment
"Yeah me too, we need better freinds,"
"We really do," Derek nodded
"But you know.... there is atleast... part of this team I can get behind,"
Derek had a feeling he already knew the answer to the unasked question, but he raised his eyebrows anyway, tilting his head in invitation for Stiles to go on
"You,"
Something about the way Stiles said that, as his leg moved over to gently bump against Derek's, swaying almost rhythmically in his seat as he stared at the green-skinned man, made Derek's heart beat a little faster, feeling heat rise up against his skin, fondness blooming in his chest
He had been .. reluctant... to so much as tolerate Stiles at first, but over time, it had become more and more true that Stiles was the person he felt the closest to, not just on the team, but in the entire galaxy
Stiles was it for him
Stiles was... he was.... Derek wasn't really sure what he was, he wasn't sure if there was a word for it at all actually
All he knew for sure was that in nearly thirty years, of all the planets he had been to, the people he had met, the universes he had traveled in... no one ever held a candle to Stiles
He had never felt so much affection for anyone in his life, and sure as hell no one had ever been so affectionate towards him
Not genuine affection anyway, trying to con him to get something from him sure, all the time, but Stiles had never been like that, he had never treated him that way, he had always been ... respectfull, even if they had started off with a rather antagonistic relationship, Stiles had never treated him cruelly, he had never disrespected him, he had never treated him like less of a person...
And Derek... Derek loved Stiles
It was hard to admit that, it ached, it had fear blooming in his heart and his lungs and in every single vein, but he honestly loved Stiles...
"Derek?"
He blinked, his attention turning back to the present moment, coming out of his thoughts, and reached out to playfully shove the other man
"You are so sappy..."
"But you love it,"
His lips twitched up towards a smirk, eyes down at the table, the confession hanging on his tongue, afraid to fall, but..
"Yeah, I do,"
Stiles' face lit up, his eyes sparkling as he slid suddenly off of the barstool and grabbed Derek's hand, pulling him off of his barstool as well
"Hey, I was eat-"
"I'll buy you something else later," Stiles promised, dragging Derek out onto the dance floor and grinning wickedly, grabbing the earbuds he had in his pocket- a trophy he had managed to find at a trading market a few planets away several months back- and gently placed one in Derek's ear, then the other in his own, before turning on the funny little silver remote that he called an "eye-pod"
Derek didn't exactly get it, but it made nice music, he would give it that
I must have been through about a million girls
I love 'em and I leave 'em alone
I didn't care how much they cried, no sir
Their tears left me cold as a stone
But then I fooled around and fell in love
Derek had never liked dancing, and if anyone could ever see them- if there was ever even the most remote chance that they would get caught- Derek would outright refuse to dance with Stiles
....
But he liked this
He liked to dance with Stiles, the gentle way the half-human spun him and twirled him, the placement of Stiles' hands on his body, the closeness, the intimacy, the way he could so easily feel Stiles' breath on his lips
And yes they were in a dive bar on the outskirts of Morfaun City where plenty of people could potentially see them but Derek had complete confidence that he would never actually meet any of these people and they certainly weren't anyone that he knew personally
He wrapped his arms slowly around Stiles' waist as the two of them swayed, his head resting peacefully against his partner's chest, the song... weirdly calming
Maybe it was because he had heard it so often, maybe it was because it reminded him of Stiles, maybe it was for different reasons entirely, he wasn't really that sure...
"You know, I've been thinking alot lately," Stiles said slowly, quietly, voice quiet enough that no one but Derek could hear him
"Always a dangerous move," he snarked back, lips twitching into a smirk as Stiles rolled his eyes
"I've been thinking about us, actually, and ... you know how I compared us to Ross and Rachel from Freinds? They always pull the will-they-won't-they even though it's clear that they love eachother, because if they got together the ratings would plummet?"
"Yes and I still don't know what half of that actually means,"
"Well, there's another couple on Freinds, pretty popular, Monica and Chandler... she's.. tough and kinda strict but has a good heart and just wants a family... he's sarcastic and uses humor to cover up for being defensive, and they get together half-way through the series and stay together, like... marriage and kids and the entire thing, 'cause I mean, they're not the ratings-grab, but still... I've been thinking about how much being Ross and Rachel sucks lately, ya' know? Always kinda ... this unspoken-"
"Unspoken thing between them?"
"Yeah, that, well, with Monica and Chandler it isn't an unspoken thing, as a matter of fact, it's a very spoken thing, it's a constantly spoken thing, it's spoken all the time really, and there was never any uncertainty with them, they got together and they stayed together and that was it,"
"Stiles, is there a point buried in all of this?"
"Yeah, the point is... I'm tired of Ross and Rachel, I wanna graduate to Monica and Chandler,"
Derek paused, only breifly, eyebrows raised as he stare up at his partner
"So..... you want the unspoken thing... to become a spoken thing?"
"Yeah, and I want the 'will-they-won't-they' thing to become a 'they already did' thing, so... what do you say? Will you be the neurotic baby-crazy chef to my immature comic-releif transponster?"
"I have no idea what any of that means," Derek said seriously, finally letting his lips tick up towards a soft, easy smirk
"But yes, the unspoken thing.... can be a spoken thing,"
Stiles grinned from ear to ear, his face lighting up with releif and happiness as his hands moved slowly up from around his lover's neck, cupping his face gently and leaning in to give him a kiss
Slow, soft, making Derek feel almost... like he was elsewhere, like time and space themselves had come to a stop around them
It was the most pleasant thing he could ever put into words, and it was always otherworldly when they kissed yes, but this... it felt better for some reason
It felt like more
It felt like home
And then, as if in direct contrast to the slow and steady way it had first started, the kiss suddenly ended, both of them startling at the sound of a loud *BANG!*, like a door being slammed off of it's hinges
And the moment they turned and Derek caught sight of the people entering... he knew they were in big trouble
"Oh my God..... that's my jacket!!" Stiles screamed, yanking the earbuds out of both of their ears and stuffing them and the "eye-pod" back in his pocket before racing towards the door
This was not going to end well
He marched up to the Centaurian by the door, rage clearly bubbling up in his gut as he charged towards him
"Hey dipwad!! That's my jacket!!"
The Centaurian glanced up from the "conversation" he was having- more like the guy he was threatening- and snorted with amusement
"Well it's my jacket now," he grinned
"Curtousy of my lil' honey at the best bookstore in the entire galaxy,"
So that was what that weird chute thing had been all about, it stole things from people...
"Yeah, well, the jacket is about to come home to Daddy, it's gonna be your choice weather or not your arms come with it," Stiles snarled
"Oh really? And who the hell are you to tell me what is and isn't gonna happen?" the Centuarian snorted back
"We're the Guardians Of The FREAKING Galaxy you son of-!"
Derek, for the life of him, would never understand why Stiles had such shameless attachment to some of his material possessions
Sure, the mixtapes and cassette player he understood- they were his last reminders of his life on earth, of his mother, and Derek understood that...
Not so much the red leather jacket or the jet boots
Regardless, he didn't want Stiles to lose the jacket again, he had been upset enough when he lost it the first time, so he maneuvered easily through the crowd, tuning out the battle of insults that Stiles and the Centaurian were throwing at eachother and drawing his favorite dagger from the holster on his waist
Wordlessly, he stepped behind the Centaurian and placed the blade against his neck, clearing his throat and waiting for the blue man to slowly turn around, a terrified look on his face as he took in the lack of amusement on Derek's face
"My boyfreind's jacket please,"
"Y-Yeah! Yeah it's your's, all your's, just uh... keepin' it warm for you," he laughed nervously, hurrying to shrug off the leather and hand it to Derek before racing as far away as he possibly could
Derek rolled his eyes, shoving the blade back in it's place before handing Stiles' jacket back to him
"Awww my hero," Stiles grinned, hurrying to slip the peice of clothing on as he leaned up and gave Derek a happy, excited kiss on the cheek
Derek's lips twitched upwards, but it didn't take long for his smile to be dashed, a loud, screeching- "Hey morons! The ship's outside, anybody not on it in two minutes is gonna be left here and will forefit their Comet Candies to the pilot!"- came over the radio that Stiles currently had strapped to his waist
"Guess that's our cue," Derek mused, a small smirk on his lips as he took Stiles' hand and started for the door
"Yep, and I am going to kill Jackson when we get on board,"
"As long as you don't ruin my concentration wile I'm trying to read that ridiculous, overpriced book, then go for it,"
"OOoh well that's something you don't have to worry about much anymore," Stiles grinned, reaching into the pocket of his jacket with his free hand and waving around a unit transfer pad- presumably not his own
"I'd say we're about to be getting re-compensated for that stupid book, as soon as I can figure out the code to this baby,"
Derek just rolled his eyes as they walked, but he wasn't exactly going to say no to Stiles' stupid plan
For sixty thousand credits?
He was willing to let his morals take a little bit of a break for a wile