#sterek rrc

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

In the shadows of karma

Chapter One

Written for @sterek-roundrobinchallenge

Author: @greyhavenisback

Team: #2

Ship(s): Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale

Tags: Post canon AU, FBI!Stiles, Wolf!Derek, future fic, meeting up again, angst, angst with a happy ending

Warning(s): None, I don’t think - references to a bad case connected to Stiles’ work in the FBI but nothing detailed, and this chapter has a slight horror feel to it

Summary: An angsty post canon fic featuring FBI Stiles and wolf shaped Derek who both move away from Beacon Hills and meet up again several years later

*

Stiles runs. 

He runs from Beacon Hills the first chance he gets. It isn't the same once Derek's gone anyway. The world is a little darker. A little less colourful. Like a spark has gone out. Sure, he has other important people in his life but no one who really sees him. Not like Derek did.

So he runs.

Not far enough to escape the shadow of the nogitsune. No amount of distance will do that. The darkness he carries, he carries for life; it walks behind him with every step he takes.

It's with him as he interns at the FBI each summer. It's with him as he attends college and as he graduates top of his class with his tearful father watching him cross the stage. It's with him as he heads to Quantico for the 20 week training program that makes him an FBI agent.

He's a good one. There's talk of fast track and promotions and making Agent in Charge before he's 30. His closure rate is excellent, better than anyone else in the New York office, and his speciality lies in interviewing children. Whether they're victims or witnesses, Stiles is able to connect with them even when other agents and department psychologists can't.

He keeps tabs on Derek, as best he can. He buries a few files that relate to the whole Derek is a wanted serial killer thing. He tracks him as he travels the country but loses him in upstate New York.

And then Stiles' world turns upside down.

A bad case. One of the worst. His boss is an asshole. Stiles knows who did it, he knows without a single doubt who did it, and he suggests a 1-1 approach. One agent, wired up, goes in and arrests him. His boss disagrees. SWAT are sent in. The perp dies, several agents die, and there's no way to find the victim before they die too. 

Stiles is devastated. He's angry. He says a few words to his boss that he probably shouldn't, which descends into a very loud and very public screaming match that turns him into the scapegoat.

So he unwillingly takes the blame for the operation failure. For the deaths. He carries them on his conscience anyway, he might as well shoulder it.

Somehow, he doesn’t get fired. Perhaps he should have been. Perhaps he should have quit.

He doesn’t, but emotionally he checks out. He isn’t engaged with the work anymore. He can’t trust his colleagues or his boss. What’s the point?

So he puts in for a transfer. His career is dead in the water now anyway so he requests a field office in a small town and ends up in Portland, Maine.

It's fine. It's all fine. His career is fucked, he lost track of Derek, he barely speaks to any of his friends (are they even still his friends? he isn't even sure he's still part of the pack), and he knows that monsters are real. The human ones, and the supernatural ones. The tangible ones, and the ones in his head.

The ones in his head are the loudest.

He finds a small house to rent on the edge of town. It isn't much; it's shabby and the second bedroom isn't so much a second bedroom as it is a box room. Which is fine. He doesn't have guests come to stay anyway. He shoves some boxes in there, the ones he can't be bothered to unpack, and closes the door.

It isn't much but it's quiet. His neighbours are quiet, the street is quiet; even the neighbourhood dogs are quiet. Everything is quiet.

It's so quiet that Stiles can hear the blood whooshing in his ears. It simultaneously drives him mad and comforts him. It's too loud. Too annoying. Too all encompassing. But he's alive. He's real. 

Sometimes he doubts that. The body he lives in isn't exactly the one he was born with; it’s a construct that he forced a thousand year old demon to give him. He looks in the mirror and he knows it's his face looking back at him but sometimes it feels like a stranger. He doesn’t know who he is anymore.

At the quiet end of the quiet street he lives on now, there’s a trail into the nature reserve. Smaller trails crisscross with the larger trail, giving miles upon miles of different routes. It's a good place to run.

So Stiles does.

Every day, he pulls on his running shoes and hits the trail, along with the shadow that he always carries. Some days it's heavier than others, so heavy he can barely move. He does anyway. He has to. Otherwise he'll never move again. 

Today isn't so bad. It feels like something is behind him. An unseen presence that's watching his every move. Eerie and unsettling like the fog that clings to the trees. But that's better than when it's filling his mind with storm clouds so dark he can't see through them and has to fight his way to the light.

He glances behind him as he runs. The feeling is so strong that he has to keep checking, he has to be certain that there’s no one following him. If there is, they’ve faded into the autumn fog; the trail is empty as far as he can see and it’s quiet enough that he’d hear footsteps if there was anyone there. So there isn’t. It’s just his shadow. With him as always.

At least he isn't alone, he thinks bitterly. At least he has someone. Even though it's this invisible, shadowy presence.

Somewhere around mile three, he glimpses a dark shape in the trees. It’s there and gone, swallowed by the fog and the undergrowth before he can make out what it is. Probably an animal, he tells himself, and he pays it no more mind.

Until he’s halfway through mile four and he sees it again. More clearly this time.

A wolf.

Specifically, a black wolf.

Stiles flails to a stop and stands there, breathing hard but not gasping for air like he would have been doing on a high school cross country run. The wolf turns, hauntingly familiar blue eyes fixed on Stiles for a second that feels like a lifetime before it runs deeper into the trees.

Minutes pass as Stiles stares at the spot where Derek disappeared just moments before. His heart gallops against his ribcage and Derek must be able to hear that and probably smell Stiles’ confusion, but he’s gone. He’s still gone.

So Stiles shrugs and carries on running. If Derek is wolf shaped then he clearly doesn't want to make contact and that's fine. It's fine. It's really fine. After all, no one else wants to be around Stiles either. Why should Derek be any different? It's not like Stiles would have died for him back then. (And still would.)

His legs are like elastic, barely holding him up under the weight of the shadow that has enveloped him. But he finishes his run. The ever present shadow has now been joined by the back-of-the-neck prickle of unseen eyes watching him. Following him.

The sensation should frighten him. Terrify him. But Stiles has faced the worst life has to offer and besides, it’s vaguely comforting knowing that Derek is there and still his usual creeper self. He’s always been good at lurking in the trees.

Some things don't change.

Like Stiles' temper which finally snaps loose after an entire week of a wolf shaped Derek stalking him on his morning runs.

"Oh my god, you're an asshole!" he shouts into the trees. He knows Derek's there. The prickly sensation has its hooks into the back of his neck. Ok, so maybe he's shouting at the wrong patch of undergrowth and if anyone else is out here, they'll think there's a weirdo in the woods who's shouting at nothing, but Derek will hear him. "Stop fucking stalking me and just come out and talk!"

There's no answer. No movement. And that's fair, really; if Derek shifts so he can speak, he won't have any clothes and while the woods are generally devoid of people, they are on the main trail and it's entirely possible someone will walk past and then it's indecent exposure and he might get arrested and -

Stiles makes an indeterminate sound of frustration because Derek could at least show his wolfy face properly, and then he runs on.

Maybe tomorrow.

But the rest of his run is hollow, somehow. The only invisible presence following him is the shadow that he can never leave behind. There's no comforting-yet-prickly Derek presence to counter it and now it feels heavier than ever. Like it isn't just dark and shadowy, but the total absence of light.

The rest of his runs that week pass in the same way. Empty. The same way Stiles feels. 

He's fucked up.

He should have been more patient, given Derek more time, but his mouth ran away from him in a way it hasn't since he was a teenager. 

So he gets to work early, almost an hour before his shift and he absolutely definitely doesn't use the FBI database in a highly questionable manner which absolutely definitely won't get him fired if anyone finds out. 

Ten minutes later, he has Derek's address.

He lives out towards the coast, on the opposite side of the preserve to Stiles' house. Only a couple of miles away as the crow flies. Or the wolf runs.

An uneasy feeling settles over Stiles again. Is this a coincidence? Derek has been living there for over a year, since before Stiles left New York City. Did something draw Stiles here? Is it one of those weird things that happens sometimes or is it some unseen force acting on them, pulling them together like magnets?

(Will the same force switch and push them away from each other again?)

There's no time to worry about it during his workday but Stiles mulls it over that night when he's trying and failing to sleep because the dark is too dark and the quiet is too quiet.

Eventually, he decides to put it to one side. It's not like he made a choice to come to Portland; it was the only available posting to a smaller office. So if it is an unseen force, some sort of karma or chaos or something, then it's acting on the entirety of the FBI which means there's no point at all in worrying about it. Or, given that worrying about things is deeply ingrained into Stiles - deeply - at least making the choice to not worry about it when he should be sleeping.

So he worries about how to apologise to Derek for yelling at him instead. 

That's marginally easier to sort out and he finally gets to sleep in the early hours of the morning.

Food seems to be the best way to make it up to Derek so before his shift, Stiles stops by the bakery and picks up a selection of pastries. He isn't sure which ones Derek likes - he's never even seen the guy eat before but presumably he does and who doesn't like pastries, right? Right. 

He drives over to Derek's house, which is in completely the wrong direction and he'll probably be late and get fired but fuck it, this is more important. He scrawls a message on the top of the box of pastries - Sorry. Call me - adds his cell number and leaves the box on Derek's doorstep.

He doesn't bother knocking. If Derek is home, he knows Stiles is here. So he's either out or avoiding him 

Stiles has done what he can so he gets back into his car and drives away.

It's in Derek's hands now.

[thebigoblin]

Blog Navigation:

because i keep messing around with my blog literally always, sometimes i unlink some stuff by mistake. so here this is, an easy quick links post to literally everything i could want in this pinned post.

UPDATE 22 JULY 2022: I'M LEAVING TUMBLR INDEFINITELY

First, my inbox - putting this link here for ease of access. (If you sent me an ask/message on anon, you can check if I've answered it here).

Second, a little bit about me.

My (Active) Blogs

- writing blog/fics archive (because i can't be assed to keep my main aka this blog and that separate forever. I’ve even written fics on this blog.) @whenwordsmakesense. 

- sterek challenge i'm modding with my friends @sterek-roundrobinchallenge. head over to the blog for more details.

- a relatively new blog for all my 'E' rated fics/nsfw-ish reblogs. Even made an AO3 pseud. Will keep sfw and nsfw separate from now. @nsfwblog-indentations (because "indentations" wasn't available 😣).

Masterlists

- edit masterlist (semi-constantly updated)

- fics masterlist (constantly updated)

- tag for FemSlash Feb 2022 | AO3 Series

Ask Games/Prompt Memes (please see if they're [closed] or [open]. I won't take for the [closed] one, obvs)

- i wish you would write a fic where... [closed]

- send me 1 sentence and i'll write the next 5 (send me the ship name/fandom too) [closed]

- prompt meme [closed: will open later]

- i'll post one sentence from my WIP for every 🌹 i get [open]

Tags to Filter

- i tag Not Safe For Work (sexy art, mostly) #nsfw. there is also a tag #slight nsfw for the same—for indirect sexy stuff

- if you want to not hear me talking/reblogging about the upcoming teen wolf movie (mostly anti, sometimes in a "WOW they can't get more ridiculous" way): filter the tag #s.rambles (why do i use that tag?)

- all the trigger warnings, which i've recently started to actually do (idk why it took me so long), i tag as #tw [traumatic thing]

under the cut you can find the list of tags

so the list is as following, in no particular order (i'll try and update this when needed):

#tw sexual abuse | #tw rape | #tw abortion

#tw blood | #tw corpse | #tw child death

[deepestbelieverstranger]

Hi! Hope you're okay. Can I please get the invite link for the Sterek Round Robin discord server? Thank you 😊

Hello! I'm good, hope you're also doing well~ I will be giving you the invite link through DM.

Other participants who wants to join the server, you only need to DM me! ☺️

[ohhalefire]

✨ and 🥳 !!

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favourites?

Without a doubt, the wonderful cheering every month from my @sterek-roundrobinchallenge writing partners @greyhavenisback, @blue-eyedbeta and @halinski in our RRC group chat anytime a new ITSOK chapter of mine went up 💗 Sure, those comments never got posted publicly, but they're the ones closest to my heart from the most supportive group I could ever have wished for!

As for actual public comments: it's definitely any comment that has gone into depth about what they liked about what I wrote! Those are the best. 🥰

🥳 Why did you start writing fanfic?

omg lol SO it depends how you define "start" 😂 When I was a kid - like, eleven - my friends and I would hang out and write RRC-style fanfiction... except we took turns doing them one WORD at a time, instead of one chapter at a time, like the theatre game. (Yeah, the nerd level is HIGH.)

But doing that means I've been thinking of the content I consume in relation to ways that I might be able to add to it for years. Since then, I've written drabbles on and off, but it all came down to the way those games made me think about the stories I loved, you know?

On top of this, my brain has been busy writing original stories and characters for pretty much as long as I can remember. I've always been writing, really, in some way or another.

And then a few of my RP partners got busy with life and other things, so I no longer had an RP outlet - plus I met my boyf, who is a Real Writer - so now here we are, writing fic like it's serious business or something. 😂

So yeah: when did I start? Was it those silly one-word-at-a-time fics with my friends? Was it when I started RPing? Was it something I trained myself to do by writing my own fiction? Or was it something I suddenly got the kick in the rear to start doing seriously when I met my partner? WHO KNOWS, IT'S A MYSTERY 🤷‍♀️

Fanfic Writer Ask Game

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

Chapter 1: There’s Nothing Better Than This

Written for @sterek-roundrobinchallenge.

Author: @fanfics-fix.

Team: #3

Ship(s): Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Isaac Lahey/Cora Hale

Tags: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops, Alternate Universe - Human, Professor Derek Hale

Warning(s): none for this piece, i think

Summary:

Stiles owns a Coffeeshop in the campus of Berkeley. Derek is a new Professor in the said University. 

And Isaac knows both of them.

The apron he is wearing right now is a gift from Lydia, one that she got him for his twenty-fifth birthday when she finally realized that this was it, that Stiles had gone to four years of university to get a Major in Criminology and a Minor in Languages only to end up as the owner of Moon Bites. Stiles had been offended that she had taken more than a year to realize that, but given her and Jackson's turbulent relationship status at the time which had her attention torn to bits, he had forgiven her right that instant, lips quirking up in a smile at her approval.

The apron is a sign of her blessing, and Stiles takes great care of it, wears it only on the best of occasions or when he needs some extra luck. Like today.

Today is the first day of a new semester, and these are the hardest, even now; Stiles has had numerous dealings with frantic college kids who don't know their schedule or their way to their next class, all of them stumbling inside his not-so-little coffee shop to ask for help, and he still doesn't know the best way to approach them. He tries his best though; The kids who are rude in the morning warm up just like the sun rays falling through the floor to ceiling windows of his shop by the time afternoon rolls around, and he makes friendly with them every time, talks to them and eases their worries and fears. The Freshman kids especially, because Stiles knows how hard it is to be away from home for the first time ever, even if he could (and did) drive back to his dad in under three hours when he was in college. It's rewarding to make the kids smile, though, and he thinks he is doing an okay job with them.

Now he knows how Satomi Ito had felt, almost a decade ago, when Stiles, barely eighteen, had stumbled in this very same shop and she had practically adopted him. He'd been not easy to tame, as she likes to say fondly, but he is definitely her favorite.

Stiles sighs, nostalgia hitting him hard, and wishes that Satomi had never moved away; he misses her, but he knows the move was important. But then the bell jingles, announcing his first customer of the day and this semester, and he remains nothing but grateful that Satomi saw him worthy enough of her legacy.

Straightening his apron, he walks out to the front.

--

Scott McCall. A few weeks shy of his eighteenth birthday, the kid is charming, and Stiles instantly likes him. He is not frantic though, or even late for his classes. Moon Bites opens at six in the morning, and it's not even seven right now, and yet, Scott looks ready to tackle more than a few feet of books.

Literally, apparently.

Scott groans around the large black coffee he'd ordered. Scott had assured him it's not his favorite, but if he doesn't want to fall asleep in class, he needs this bitter elixir.

Stiles had asked what class this could possibly be, and that's how he found one puppy-eyed Scott looking up at him, groaning like he is in pain, and complaining about his stupid professor Scott hasn't even met.

"I mean," Scott sips at his straw, makes a face, and Stiles tries to hide his grin behind the desserts display case. "It's literally the first day! He could have waited, I dunno, a day or two or seven before dumping the whole semester's reading list on us?"

Stiles wipes down an already cleaned part of the counter. "But isn't this good? Your Professor sent you the whole semester's reading list. This way you can plan ahead, and if some parties throw a wrench in your plans," Scott snorts, "You can always make a new plan, because you already know what you have to read." Seriously, this Professor knows what he is doing. Stiles would have loved this man as his Professor, he definitely sounds better than the one he had for English during his time.

Scott shrugs. "I dunno, it's just overwhelming?"

"Ah." That, Stiles gets. "You'll do good buddy, I am sure." Scott beams. Stiles smiles back. "You're literally my first customer, so you're obviously taking this whole College thing like a champ,"

"Yeah," Scott sips at the rest of his coffee, and Stiles looks at him for a minute before he realizes that Scott's done talking. Awkwardly he shuffles backwards, and for lack of anything better to do, takes out his phone from the pocket of his apron. There's nothing of note in his notifications, so he simply scrolls through his phone for a minute before an idea tumbles into mind.

> Jerk Douchemore [06:57]

i hope your dream is filled with lizards

The reply comes instantly.

< Jerk Douchemore [06:57]

i sincerely wish your day is filled with crying children

Stiles grins down at his phone.

"Wow, what a douche," Stiles does not jump three feet in the air, he does not.

"What the fuck! Scott!" He looks at the kid with surprise, hand resting on his chest where his heart jackrabbiting inside. The kid just shrugs, like he hadn't just given Stiles a heart attack. "Don't do that again,"

Scott sips the last of his coffee, if the hollow vacuum noise is anything to go by, and looks at him like he doesn't get why what he did is wrong.

Kids are fucking weird, seriously.

Stiles just shrugs it off, sends Jackson a proper goodnight text,  and engages with Scott, who seems bored. He learns that Scott's mom is a nurse, and Stiles has, apparently, crossed paths with her numerous times; not surprising, given that Beacon Hills is a small town. Melissa McCall has a tenuous schedule, and so Scott is used to waking up early to make himself breakfast and do other chores to help out his mom. But here he has nothing to do.

"You can always take up jogging. I did that in my second year. I hear it is good for your health."

Scott makes a face. "Ugh,"

The bell jingles, signaling other customers. Stiles pats Scott's right shoulder and looks up to see one of the two people who made him start jogging in the first place.

The second one isn't here, and Stiles isn't yet sure how he feels about that.

"Great timing," he says, and watches as Isaac Lahey grins slowly and winks at Scott in greeting, sweat covered body clashing with his shining face and curly blonde hair. "We were just talking about Scott taking up jogging,"

Isaac waves at Scott, who looks dumbstruck—Isaac has that effect on people—and then moves towards Stiles' side of the counter. "You, Stiles 'I can't fucking walk another step' Stilinski—"

Stiles puts his hand on Isaac's mouth. Isaac, very maturely, licks it.

"Ew, very mature,"

His friend just smirks and walks towards the backroom, where he'll change into his work clothes.

"Ass,"

"He does have a great one," Scott murmurs, and Stiles is not too proud to say he'd forgotten the kid was still here. "He works here?"

Stiles internally sighs. Another heart, broken. Or it's going to be. "Yup, he is my manager, and painfully taken,"

Scott's olive skin darkens. "Wha- I- I didn't- I thought you were the manager!"

Stiles chuckles and shakes his head. The bell rings again, and this time, it is a group of three kids. He looks back at Scott. "I'm the owner."

--

It becomes a routine after that day. Scott comes in every morning, sometimes to study, sometimes to just talk, but mostly to ogle Isaac as he works. Isaac doesn't mind, but he also doesn't talk to Scott much, afraid of leading him on. Stiles just watches, and works, and listens as Scott complains: about his luck in love life, which is non-existent; about how he misses home and his mom; about his enthusiasm for animals, and how he hates that English is something he has to take; and finally, about how much he hates Professor Hale.

It's been a month of this, and still, all Stiles knows of this Hale is that he is stuck-up, rude, and a know-it-all who picks on Scott. Stiles doesn't know the Professor, he must be a new one, but he knows that Isaac gets increasingly agitated whenever Scott badmouths the Professor. Isaac hasn't said anything yet, or told Scott to stop, but Stiles knows he wants to.

So it's not surprising when during this rant, which is probably the worst they've heard yet, Isaac walks over from his perch on the other corner of the counters with a determined set to his jaw. Stiles scrambles for anything to distract him so there's no bloodshed, metamorphically speaking.

"Oh!" He says loudly, and the students in the shop all look at him like they want him gone. Even Scott startles. Oops. He lowers his voice considerably. "Um, Isaac, weren't you telling me about Cora? She did that thing, um, what do you—she and her team won the states!"

Isaac completely melts at the mention of his girlfriend, and talks about how she led her basketball team to win the State Championship. Scott deflates, but hey, in Stiles' book a little heartbreak is better than hearing your crush say mean things to you. And Isaac can be mean when he wants to.  

Stiles sighs in relief when his plan works, and walks over to one of the customers who wants a refill of his coffee. He wonders, though, how Isaac knows Professor Hale. Isaac and him have been friends since their junior year in high school, when his dad brought Isaac home after the horrible part of Isaac's life came to light, but still Isaac is a private person. Stiles doesn't push him to answer anything, ever, because he knows Isaac would come to him if it's important. Or if he thinks Stiles absolutely needs to know something, like how Cora has an older brother who knits and gave Isaac a Star Wars themed scarf for his and Cora's first Christmas with Cora’s family.

Apparently, this big brother is a real softie. Stiles would love to meet this man, and Cora too; they haven't met yet but according to Isaac, she is like a slightly taller Lydia.

Stiles really, really wants to meet them. But for now, he just watches as the various students mingle around in his shop, smiles on their faces, ridiculous stories falling from their mouths, frustration from the day’s classes melting from their bodies as the pastries and drinks make it into their stomach.  

Stiles doubts there’s a better job than this.  

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

Chapter 1: It’s starting to look a lot like prom season

Written for @sterek-roundrobinchallenge

Author: @anaisfinallywrites

Team: #1 

Ship(s): Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale, Erica Reyes/Vernon Boyd

Tags: Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Alternate Universe - High School, Friends to Lovers, Claudia Stilinski Lives, Alive Hale Family, Light Angst

Warning(s): Mentions of epilepsy seizure

Summary: Prom is around the corner and Derek is worried about it, as all students do. And then he botches the chance to get asked to prom by his crush. You know, a day in the life of Derek Hale, as usual.

It was almost the end of the school year, the wind bringing with it a bit of chill and Derek was staring morosely at his packed lunch in the school's courtyard. For privacy reasons and definitely not because he stares stupidly at Stiles occasionally. A lot, if you asked Erica, but nobody's asking.

"What's got you looking like that, loser?" Erica's biting voice rang out in the quietness.

"It's prom." As if that explained everything.

Well, it explained everything if you were single and crushing on your best friend. And you're also incapable of making a move any time soon. And it's graduation soon. Derek might as well go to the grave with this infatuation of his.

"Ask Stiles. Duh." Erica rolled her eyes.

Derek pointed at Erica accusingly, "You don't have a leg to stand on. You literally had a crush for him since forever before deciding it would never happen and Boyd finally made a move."

"Leave me out of this. At least I made a move." Boyd said in an undertone.

"Open your mouth and ask him out," Erica insisted.

"It's not easy!" Derek groaned.

"If you spent more time making your mouth function properly instead of freezing up and refusing all his party invitations, you wouldn't be here right now," Boyd said before he took a bite of his sandwich.

Erica gasped dramatically. "Derek!! You've been refusing his party invitations??! Those are unsubtle ways to ask you to hang out with him!! Why??!"

"I don't like going to high school parties." Derek thunked his head onto the table.

Erica rolled her eyes. "Trust me, you won't be seeing much of the drunks if Stiles had his way."

Derek glared at her even as he's slumped over the table.

---

It seemed like it was only yesterday that Derek was the new kid in town and in school. Thankfully, his family didn't move here in the middle of a school year. Small blessings, though it was still a little awkward being the new kid in a small town like Beacon Hills.

The Hales moved into a two-storey house, a little different from living secluded in the forest. Derek likes it though, it's nice to have neighbours. He likes his new neighbours, at least.

The Stilinskis were their immediate neighbours. A woman, with long dark hair and wearing a floral dress, was gardening and came over to greet Derek's family with a bright warm smile. There's a lanky boy with broad shoulders and a perpetually mischievous look on his face that came over with the woman. "Hi, I'm Claudia and this is my son, Stiles."

The boy waved at them with some excessive winking in Derek's direction. Cora snorted in the background when mom suggested Stiles help Derek move their belongings if he doesn't mind. There was an exchange of glances from Claudia to Stiles that Derek didn't miss but what does he know what mother and son were communicating about?

Derek quickly realizes that Stiles was really talkative as he told him about his friends and what classes he takes, what sports he plays and so on. He only nodded at the barrage of words because he doesn't say much even with his siblings, and he's really just content to listen to what Stiles was saying. In between chatter about some dumb shit his friends did to some random trivia when he spots a book or paraphernalia that Derek unpacked in his room.

"I could show you around the school when the semester starts?"

Startled out of his reverie, Derek could only make out a "Hmm?"

Stiles smirked as if knowing something Derek doesn't.

"When the new semester starts, I can show you and your younger sister around."

Derek nodded. "Uh, that would be nice. No promises for Cora though."

And that was how Stiles took Derek under his wings. His popularity somewhat increased due to hanging out with the popular kids but he didn't like all of Stiles' friend group, which was fine. Just because he's friends with Stiles doesn't mean he has to be friends with the whole friend group. Scott was okay in a puppy-ish good guy way, Lydia was intimidating and seems to be scrutinizing Derek every minute like he's a test subject and Jackson was just mean. Jackson was the classic rich boy with issues although he doesn't know what kind. Derek continues to be perplexed how Danny came to be Jackson's best friend because the guy was just too nice… maybe Danny kills it with kindness?

Derek may like Stiles and tolerate his friend group and sometimes hang out with them all, he still hides away in the library to do his school work and surreptitiously eats his lunch there too.

And that was how he met Boyd. Derek wouldn't call himself a loner but he does enjoy his solitude - when you have two sisters like Laura and Cora, you would know what he meant - and Boyd was just another student in the library at the time and Derek asked him if the seat beside him was available. When he got permission, he sat down and started his work. They sat together for a long time in companionable silence, in as much two people who just met could be companionable. Just like that, Derek found himself spending more time in the library with Boyd.

Derek didn't actually know Boyd's name until many more encounters in the library happened and he tentatively asked if Boyd would like to eat with him during lunch. Boyd agreed and Derek sighed a breath of relief, now that he actually has a friend that he likes and does not just tolerate (and doesn't talk much just like him), they spend more time together even outside of the library.

Sometimes when he eats with Boyd, Derek felt like somebody was giving him the stink eye but he doesn't pay it much mind since Stiles was still friendly with him. It's not like having more friends was a bad thing, was it? But the more Derek eats with Boyd, the more he notices that Boyd's eyes stray somewhere else. He's been trying to figure out who Boyd was looking at but no luck for the most part.

It wasn't until he and Boyd were walking down the school hall that Derek finally figures out who Boyd was looking at. A lot of students were crowding the hallway for some reason, some of them were taking out their phones to capture something or whatever. Derek walked forward out of curiosity but Boyd seemed to stride forward purposefully.

When Boyd cleared a path, Derek finally saw what got all the students in an uproar. A girl was lying on the ground, her body jerking in a way that looked painful. Derek joined in on pushing the students away, seeing Boyd immediately pay attention to the girl, folding his jacket under her head and shielding her from the rest of the students that were still surrounding them as if this was some sort of entertainment.

Stiles and his gang arrived not soon after and successfully pushed the rest of the students away and someone called the ambulance. After the incident, the students that were recording got punished while Derek and Boyd went to the hospital to visit. That was how Erica Reyes joined Derek's new friend group.

---

Derek heard Erica "meep" and looked up to see Stiles walking towards them with a nervous look on his face. He quickly straightened himself and tried to look presentable when Stiles finally reached their table.

"Hey, Derek." There's a nervous smile on his face, his hand seemed to be on permanent residence at the back of his neck.

"Hi, Stiles." Was that his voice? Derek sounded like a swooning maiden just then. He glanced to the side to see Erica covering her face while trying not to die laughing.

"I, um... wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to prom with me?"

Yes yes yes yes, say yes!! It's just one word and it's easy to say!! Please!!

"I had plans to-"

Stiles' face fell but he pulled himself together pretty quickly. "I hope you get to ask whoever you want and they agree." And then he speed-walked out of the courtyard.

Derek hit his head on the table again.

Erica burst into hysterical laughter. "How did you manage to botch that up? I should just kill you and put you out of your misery."

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT POST OF:

Thanks to @greyhavenisback​ for the beautiful edit of two very beautiful boys <3

This idea began from a random thought S aka @fanfics-fix​ had one day, and now it has become this. Official! Hells yeah, loves!

Now, what, exactly, is Round Robin Challenge? 

Please click here for a detailed explanation on TV Tropes site.

The Short Version is: A prompt will be provided. Participant/Writer One will write something based off of it. Writer Two will then continue the story; they will follow the story from Writer One’s piece. Writer Three will then continue the story; they will follow from Writer Two’s piece. And so on and so forth, until the fic comes to it’s natural end. In case each Writer has already written a piece and the fic doesn’t feel like it is ending, the rota will start again and will continue in the same order as before.

In case you still have doubts, you can ask here (this blog) or you can ask any of the mods.

Okay, now that that’s out of way, and you’ve got some idea as to what this event is about, we urge you to follow the blog for updates in case you’re interested. Stuff’s been queued up, so by the end of this day y’all will get some updates. Rules, Schedule and a little introduction post to get to know all three of the mods!!

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

Greetings, Lovelies!

We are excited to announce that a schedule has been decided on for our event! So get ready for some amazing collaborations from the Sterek Fandom that you'll get to read and love 💙🧡

Our Event begins on 17 January, 2022.

There are three teams: #1, #2 and #3 with three different themes for their works, with 11 incredible writers! So, the posting schedule will look a little like this, with each team claiming one day to post pieces from their masterpiece:

Team #1 - Mondays

@anaisfinallywrites | @ash-mcj | @andykzsstuff | @snarkatthemoon

17 January

24 January

31 January

7 February

and so on and so forth until the fic is considered complete!

Team #2 - Thursdays

@greyhavenisback | @ohhalefire | @blue-eyedbeta | @halinski

20 January

27 January

3 February

10 February

and so on and so forth until the fic is considered complete!

Team #3 - Saturdays

@fanfics-fix | @allducksloveloveloveme | @amatchinwater

22 January

29 January

5 February

and so on and so forth until the fic is considered complete!

We hope you're as excited to read these fics as we all are to write them!

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

It has been two weeks since we announced our event, Sterek Round Robin Challenge (or "sterek rrc" as our tag says) and we're proud to announce that we have now grown from only three mods to EIGHT sign-ups, including the mods!

We figured it would be a good idea to update y'all every two weeks about the new additions to our event—that means we'll do this three more times before we close the sign-ups on 01 December, 2021—as both a way to ecourage morale and to remind you about the last date in case you're on the fence about your decision and need an incentive to arrive at the best possible decision for you. It's only October 15, so there's still time!

We kindly encourage you to take a look at our rules and schedule to make an informed decision. While dropping out in the middle of the event is an option (with good reasons), it disrupts the flow and will stress us out. So, relax, look at the info, and sign-up if that's what you want to do :D

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

Sterek Round Robin Challenge Discord Server

Hello, this is your Mod Anais! Here to tell you that we have a discord server for the participants who have signed up~

The server is just a place for participants to get to know each other and chat and stuff. We do not have any server events planned or anything but the server is still in its infancy state, I hope you will forgive the server in its current state. 😂

Mod S and Mod Anais will be the ones modding the server, but Mod Anais will be the one sending the invite link because she has been on Discord a little longer and know how most things work. =)

To all participants who have signed up, if you want to join the server, you can DM @deepestbelieverstranger to get an invite link~

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

Guidelines For Submitting Your Work

This will answers questions like how to submit, what to tag, etc. Please read this once before submitting your piece to the event! Thank you.

HOW TO SUBMIT?

Now, this is pretty easy to do. If you’ve seen the submissions page, you might have noticed the short guideline there.

The method is basically how the “Post to Collection” feature on AO3 works. You go to the submissions page, choose Text option, copy/paste your work in the given space, and bam. Halfway done.

WHAT TO TAG?

You might’ve noticed that I wrote “halfway done.” But you submitted your piece! What could be missing?

Tags, obviously!!

sterek rrc - where rrc = round robin challenge

sterek

derek hale

stiles stilinski

prompt [number] - multiple prompts might be going on at the same time, in the same round, so a distinction is necessary, plus it’s easier to keep track this way

round [number]

round [number] prompt [number] - like so: "round one prompt one" and NOT like "round 1 prompt 1"

Tag all the characters who have a purpose in your piece. For example, if you have Stiles and Lydia studying together, and you write, “Lydia left in a graceful fashion, as she always did, but Stiles couldn’t help but think that she left him alone in a trap. Now with her gone, he’d have to talk to Derek.” Here, Lydia does something that impacts the story. She is the catalyst for Stiles and Derek talking, so you tag her as a character. But if you write, “Stiles saw Derek standing at the edge of the lacrosse field, arms crossed, eyes boring onto where Stiles was sitting on the bleachers with Lydia, books spread in between them. Cutting a quick glance at Coach, Stiles made his way over, telling Lydia he’ll be back soon.” Here, Lydia is only there for an interaction between her and Stiles. She doesn’t affect his decision/the story in any way. So, you would not tag Lydia Martin as a character. Got it? Good. If not, you can always ask!

Tag the Ship. Sterek is a given, but if you make another ship a part of your ‘verse, tag it. Tag literally all of them, but only those which are double-sided, mutual-pining/already together kind of ships. No one-sided ones.

HOW TO TAG?

What is the format? Where do I tag what? The answer is here!

In the “tags” section, aka the tags that help everyone find what they’re looking for, you will tag everything mentioned above, in the exact order that they’re mentioned.

Now, in the text section, where you’ll put the written piece, you will have to write these things above the beginning of your piece. Separate the two with a “read more.” [If you don’t know how to do so from your phone, check out this post by Mod S]

Chapter [number] - Title

Written for @sterek-roundrobinchallenge

Author: @yourblogname

Team: #1 or #2 or #3

Ship(s): Sterek, [other ships]

Warning(s): Example - Warning: Kate Argent/Internalized Homophobia/Graphic Depictions of Violence etc.

Tags: [Max 5 tags relevant to your piece]

– read more –

[your piece]

If you would like an example post, then please don’t hesitate to ask! It’s open just for you to have an easy and fun experience, yeah?

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

About the Schedule: Round 1

We’re open to doing the challenge starting from January 2022. The posting will start then, but unlike Big Bangs and such other events, the writing will also be done in this same period. However, the sign-ups would begin way before that. 

The link to the sign-up form is here. It’s open from October 01, 2021 to 01 December, 2021. We won’t allow any late comers, so please be conscious of the dates. Thank you!

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

RULES

Please follow the following rules. If you fail to comply, strict measures will be taken. This might be a fun challenge, but this is a fun challenge for everyone. Please try and remember that.

FOR PARTICIPATION:

🤝 You must be 16 and up years of age.

🤝 You must be friendly and accepting of other participant’s squicks/triggers/NoTPs/any such opinions. While we know there would be a lot of disagreements and different opinions, please remain cordial towards one another.

🤝 Please ask yourself if you can write a piece under a limited time. If you can, good and well. If not, then sadly this challenge isn’t for you.

🤝 Make sure you have an AO3 account and a Tumblr account. Discord* is optional. All the relevant information from Discord would be posted on this blog.

🤝 Lastly, in order to participate, please fill out this form. 

*The link will be provided by Mod Anais to every participant, please reach out to her once you’ve signed-up for the event.

FOR WRITING:

✏ The content will not exceed the “Teen & Up Audiences” Rating.

✏ Sterek is the main pairing. While other background pairings are allowed, there are a few restrictions about that. (See the next point).

✏ No Parents aka Peter, Papa Stilinski, Mama McCall, Chris Argent, etc. can be paired with any of the kids aka Stiles, Malia, Derek, Scott, Lydia, Allison etc. This applies when they’re aged-up as well. This is one of our Mod’s NoTP and we respect that wish.

✏ Make sure that your piece is relevant with the previous ones. If the participant before you wrote, “Stiles got a scoopful of Vanilla ice-cream,” then you can’t write, “Stiles got a cone of chocolate ice-cream.” This is inconsistent writing, and nobody likes that.

✏ The final product will be published on AO3. Each piece will be its own chapter.

If you think we’ve missed something, you can tell us about it through asks. We’ll take it under consideration and modify the rules, if needed. Thank you for your time!

[thebigoblin]

Hey! So, remember when I asked you guys to keep an eye out for updates? Well, this is Update #1!

We've made a blog: @sterek-roundrobinchallenge.

There are no posts, as of yet, but we'll be getting to that soon! Rules and some other fun stuff would be posted soon.

Dear Sterek Fans...

@greyhavenisback and I were talking about stuff when I blurted out one of my desires, and this post is the result!! This is essentially an Interest Check for a Round Robin Challenge, which I believe originated in the BBC Merlin fandom. 

The idea is to bring together a select few authors and write one fic, piece by piece. Remember, each author’s comfort is important, so we will make sure that everyone’s triggers and other concerns are taken seriously. Those who will not do so would be removed from this… event, I think, is what we could call this? Or just plain old fun, where we also take care of each other!

Keep reading

[ohhalefire]

I would like to know more about all of your WIPs! *grabby hands*

omg HERE WE GO

Either Way (You’ll Figure it Out Someday)

THE DRAFT IS DONE now it's editing time. I've done a few snippets and descriptions of it before, which are here and here, but tl;dr it's filling in the blank of what happened to Derek inside his own mind after he died and before he "evolved" and learned to do the full shift. But I, uh. I'm making art to go with it so here's a little bit of the WIP of that:

Floating

Okay, so this one's a new one. It's also a fill-in-the-canon blank fic, this one about how Derek dealt with forgetting Stiles in S6. It's 100% canon compliant, exploring how I think Derek could have been helping to bring Stiles back from all the way down in Brazil, even though no one in Beacon Hills knew about it.

I don't have anything written yet, just bullet points in a doc, but it features a lot of introspection, a touch of breaking and entering, and some sensory deprivation chambers.

Derek feels... unmoored. Untethered. Like he's floating. (Floating in a swimming pool, paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water.)

Five Times (Welcome to the Jungle)

Urgh, I'm struggling with this one. I really like the idea and know exactly what vibe I'm going for, but every time I start actually writing it, I hate EVERY BIT OF WHAT I WRITE so much that I start again xD Maybe when I'm done EW(YFIOS) I'll be able to focus more energy on this bad boy and can make a draft I can actually do something with.

This is the five-times fic about five times Stiles has excellent reasons to be in the Beacon Hills gay bar, and one time Derek has a piss-poor reason for showing up there. (It's lurking. Lurking is the reason.)

Before. After.

OKAY THIS IS THE BIG ONE and the one I'm most excited about. Honestly, all the other fics are practice for writing this one... and this one in turn is practice for eventually writing the novel I've been desperate to get out of my head for twelve years. xD So yeah, this one's important to me.

EW(YFIOS) was born out of my wanting to explain what happened to Derek to get him to evolve... so I could use all of that in this fic. (Reading one fic won't be necessary for reading the other, but Before/After treats the events of EW as canon.) Floating may also be connected to it. All my major headcanons I've posted were all developed while thinking about this fic specifically (though I won't give spoilers on whether they actually happen plotwise, because you never know~). IT ALL FITS TOGETHERRRR

Essentially, this is me, attempting to shape and finish all the unfinished plots we never got closure on into an imagined show finale I like.

There are meetings in rainstorms, and there's cuddling for warmth in caves. There's Alien-esque body horror and ancient gods, reborn. There are the Northern Lights and stars in a daylit sky, an impossible field with impossible flowers, and a hugely risky plan to repair the Nemeton's broken magic with the help of three Emissaries and a Were of unknown species. And I'm not sure yet, but there may even be magic ghosts.

CW: major character death. No, it won't be Stiles or Derek.

The Excised Plotline

This just came out of my writing the headcanons linked above, and using the phrase to describe how it felt like the story had been building up some sort of sterek-y plotline that then got surgically removed so they could appease the straights >.> This one would be a canon-divergent fic exploring where I think they could have gone with a sterek plot at that point, based on what they'd set up. Tl;dr I want to go through canon up to that point with a fine-toothed comb and build a story as close to canon as possible, except that there's kissing.

In The Shadows Of Karma

So my RRC group know very little about where this fic is going save for some basic headcanons, so I can't say much, but the group should know that omg i am so desperate to write the helicopter sceneeeeeee (and no one outside our RRC group gets to know what that means yet~)

[sterek-roundrobinchallenge]

Hey,

Just wanted to update y'all on Team #3's schedule. Mod S - aka me, and also a member of Team 3 - has decided to back away from the event due to personal reasons. It's nothing bad, but it's unavoidable. So, the schedule is wobbly right now. But don't worry, we're working on creating a workable schedule!

While we get that done, do enjoy the event's fics!

Team 1's Fic - Untitled (TBD) - 7 Chapters

Team 2's Fic - In The Shadows Of Karma - 8 Chapters

Team 3's Fic - Untitled (TBD) - 7 Chapters

~ Mod S