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Derek Hale places his last book on the shelf in his new dorm room. He steps back, smiling in satisfaction at the orderliness of his books in his assigned bookcase. Turning towards his bed, he smoothes a hand over the clean, crisp, charcoal coloured bed sheets meticulously molded to the bed.
Sitting gingerly on the edge of the mattress, Derek takes a deep breath in, closing his eyes on the exhale. He listens to the hustle and bustle outside of his room, the car doors slamming on the street, the excited calls of people saying goodbye to their loved ones.
He was so zoned out he didn’t hear the sound of a pass being swiped outside of his door, jumping a foot in the air when the door crashes open.
A tall, gangly, mole-spotted man trips into the room, luggage flailing behind him. He drops the smooshed box from under his arm onto the only other bed in the room, and drags the undeniably overweight suitcase with an equally duffel bag swaying on the top into an upright position. Turning towards Derek, his face lights up with a smile.
“Hey! You must be Derek! I’m Stiles.”
Stiles walks forward with his hand out for Derek to shake. It takes a second for Derek’s brain to come online, so when it does Stiles is already right in front of him. Derek stands awkwardly and takes Stiles’ hand in his.
“Hey, yeah, I’m Derek.”
Stiles pumps Derek’s hand up and down. “Awesome to meet you dude! I’m so excited to be starting college. What are you majoring in?”
“Oh, uh history. I want to be a history professor.”
“Yeah? That’s awesome! I’m taking a history unit too. I’m not entirely sure what I want to do with my life yet, so I’m starting with folklore and mythology.”
Derek raises a brow, and tries to take back his hand from Stiles who is still holding it. Stiles notices Derek trying to pull away.
“Oh shit, sorry Derek. Didn’t mean to hold your hand! So uh, when did you get here?”
“Earlier this morning.”
“Yeah? You’re all unpacked already. You don’t mess about huh.”
Derek shrugs. “I just wanted to get set up so I can have a look around.”
Stiles nods. “Good thinking. I’d join you, but I just got here.” He says with a chuckle.
Derek looks at the bulging suitcase and the manky box. “Maybe if you get all that unpacked by the time I get back we can go get dinner at the dining hall together?”
Stiles looks at Derek with surprise. “Yeah? Ok, that sounds good! It shouldn’t take too long to unpack, most of the shit in my suitcase is books. I have a book problem.”
Without saying anything Derek points to his bookcase, every shelf full of paperbacks. Stiles snorts. “A man after my own heart. Enjoy your walk Derek, I’m going to get stuck into this.”
Derek grabs his wallet and his door pass, slides his phone into his pocket, and with a wave he’s out the door.
*****
As the front door to the residential building closes behind Derek, his phone begins to vibrate in his pocket. Pulling it out he looks at the caller ID and sighs.
“Hello father.”
“Erik. I trust you have made it safely to your place of higher learning?”
“It’s called a university dad.”
“I’m aware. I still don’t know why you feel it necessary to go to Midgard for your learning. There are plenty of opportunities here on Asgard.”
Derek looks to the sky for help. “I know. But on Asgard I’m your bastard son. On Midgard I’m Derek Hale. No one has unreal expectations of me. No one will compare me to my brothers. No one treats me less than.”
“Now son, we’ve had this discussion before. You are my child. I love your mother like I love Frigga, like I love the other mothers of my children. They have all given me a gift of a child to carry on my name. Erik Odinson. You are mine.”
“I know, father. You’ve never made me feel less than. But that doesn’t stop others from comparing me to Thor, to Loki. I just need a break. You know I’ll be back.”
“I know son. That doesn’t mean I won’t miss you. Who will share tea and argue Asgard history with me?”
Derek chuckles. “If it was the history of feasting maybe Thor could.”
Odin laughs loudly. “My son, I’ve always loved your humour most. I will let you get back to your university. Stay safe, I love you.”
“I love you too, father.”
Derek looks at his phone after his father hangs up and sighs. He believes what his father said, he knows his father loves him. That doesn’t stop other people treating Derek horribly because his father conceived him with someone who wasn’t his wife. Although common in Asgard, and common with Odin, as well as All Fathers in the past, there are people that believe Odin should remain faithful to Frigga and that’s it.
Derek never asked to be born, and he certainly never asked to be born the bastard son of the All Father. People wouldn’t dare to directly speak out against the ruler of Asgard, so all disgust and disappointment is spewed at his son. Loki receives the same treatment to some degree as the adopted son of the All Father, especially when it came out that he is born of Jotunheim. His other bastard brothers and sisters face the same.
Coming to Midgard to learn, away from the hatred and vitriol, is something that Erik Odinson, or Derek Hale on Midgard, has wanted for centuries. He’s dreamed of something that is all his own. When he brought this up to Odin, he was honestly surprised that his father agreed, despite his initial hesitation. He’s grateful for his father’s love and support, and hopes to make him proud.
Derek sighs again as he slips his phone back into his pocket. He looks up at the summer sky with a smile before he starts to walk along the footpath towards the administration buildings, the sun warming his skin.
*****
Stiles opens the window to let the breeze cycle through his new dorm room. He’d been counting down the days to his move to Harvard, excited to start university, even more excited to meet new people.
Opening up the dilapidated cardboard box first, he pulls out the contents and starts stacking them near their final destination. A couple of books are placed on his shelves, while the rest, along with some stationery, are placed on his empty desk. Stiles’ portable speaker is pulled out last, which he connects to his phone straight away bringing up his favourites playlist and hitting shuffle.
Stiles gets lost in the music and unpacking, moving around the room in time with the current song that is playing. Once his suitcase is empty he places the also empty duffel bag inside and zips it up. He then slides it under his bed to keep it out of the way.
He methodically puts away his clothes in the chest of drawers provided. Underpants and socks in the top drawer, t-shirts in the second drawer, shorts and track pants in the third, while his hoodies fit neatly in the larger bottom drawer.
Stiles chuckles at the amount of belongings he was able to stuff in his suitcase and duffel bag, thanks to his mother’s magic. Pulling out all his books and clothes, not to mention his duvet, pillows and sheets, reminds him of Mary Poppins pulling a lamp out of her bottomless bag.
He’s grateful to his mother for her help, it’s made getting comfortable in a strange place much easier. He hangs up the last of his clothes in his wardrobe and gets started on his books.
As he’s placing the books on the shelf, a loud burst of laughter erupts from outside drawing Stiles’ attention. He walks over to the window and peers out to see friends embracing. Smiling to himself his attention is then drawn to the empty window box in front of him.
The soil looks dry and sad, as if there’s been no life in it for quite some time. Stiles checks to see that no one can see him, and he plunges his fingers into the soil and closes his eyes. He murmurs words of supplication as his fingers aerate the topsoil, letting the sun’s rays warm the earth.
Stiles feels the gentle tendrils of green beginning to appear in the soil, and keeps murmuring until he’s satisfied. He opens his eyes to a sea of colour, multiple pansy plants having grown in the once bare soil. He grins widely, and runs to get some water for his plants.
He runs back to the window box and pours a glass full of water on his plants. “Welcome to the world ladies, you are looking lovely today!”
The pansies shiver in response to his words, and stretch as the water is absorbed by their roots. “Would you like another drink?”
One of the pansies leans forward, beckoning Stiles to her. Stiles leans forward to meet her. “Can I help you ma’am?”
The pansy touches her petals to Stiles’ nose in thanks. “You’re very welcome. I’ll get you a bit more water yeah? It’s only your first drink after all.”
After giving his pansies another glass of water, he leaves the plants to enjoy the summer sun while he finishes putting his books on his bookshelves.
Stiles has been looking forward to uni for a very long time, despite the fact he’s still not 100% sure what he wants to major in. Due to his love of plants and growing things, his friends all tell him to get into agriculture or botany. He can’t tell his “normal” friends that he is actually Ciarán, last son of Cernunnos, who has a natural affinity with both flora and fauna. There’s nothing a university class can tell a god who can grow pansies from dry soil.
He knows that’s where his future lies though. Stiles plans on encapsulating both his mother Beltane and his father Cernunnos. He sees himself in a cottage in the forest, surrounded by his plants, helping the supernatural creatures in the community. It’s why he wants to study folklore and mythology. Despite the mundane thinking it’s all myth, it is in fact very real, and the information is surprisingly accurate. Mainly because the texts are written by the gods and the supernatural themselves.
Stiles steps back and looks at his bookshelves with a smile, especially when he sees he has a whole shelf free.
“Maybe Derek would want to go book shopping with me?”
Stiles steps over to Derek’s shelves to take a look. He’s pleasantly surprised to see they have a lot of the same books. He notices that Derek’s books look well read, while Stiles’ books look WELL READ. The pages are dog-eared, the spines are cracked, and the covers are faded. Derek’s books still look newish, but lovingly used.
He smiles to himself then walks over to make his bed.
*****
Derek walks back into his dorm room just as Stiles is putting his final pillow on his bed.
“Hey Derek! How was your walk?”
“It was really lovely actually. I found where the dining hall is, and where we have to go tomorrow to get our class schedule.”
“Awesome! You’ve made good time, I’ve just finished unpacking.”
Derek has a look around the room. “It looks good. When I came in this morning the room looked so boring. Very beige.”
Stiles laughs. “Yeah, I noticed that about my side too. I had a look at your books earlier. I noticed we have a lot of the same stuff.”
“Really?”
“Yep! I also noticed that I don’t have as many books as you, which means we can go shopping for more books!”
Derek can’t help but laugh at Stiles’ enthusiasm. “That’s one way of looking at it I guess. When I was doing my research on Harvard, I found out that there is a really popular second-hand bookstore a couple of blocks away. They’ve apparently amassed a fantastic selection of books, and they have been known to find really hard-to-get tomes. I’d love to go there.”
Stiles looks at Derek, mouth agape. “Are you talking about Finders Keepers? They are AMAZING. I’ve ordered some things online from them before. I completely forgot they were in Boston! We should go tomorrow after we get our information packet! They usually get their deliveries on Thursdays so they’ll be stocked up. OH MY GOD DEREK I’M SO EXCITED!”
Derek laughs. “Good thinking. That’ll work out well”
“This is so awesome! I’m so glad you’re my roommate Derek. I feel like we are going to get on GREAT.”
“Me too.”
*****
Derek and Stiles are sitting in the dining hall, plates piled high with food. While the hall is busy, it’s not obnoxiously so, making the noise level bearable. Stiles takes a massive bite out of his burger. His moan is wildly inappropriate for a public setting.
“THIS IS SO GOOD. Derek, you need to try.”
Stiles sticks the burger in Derek’s face. “I have my own burger Stiles, it’s all good.”
“Oh shit, sorry. I didn’t notice, was too busy with my own plate. I didn’t think that moving and unpacking would get me so hungry, but I feel like I haven’t eaten in a week!”
Derek nods as he finishes his salad. “Same. It’s why I like to go for a walk before dinner. I’m always hungry after a walk.”
Stiles nods as he shoves the burger in his face. He chews quickly and swallows. “I’m sorry I’m eating like a pig. But this burger is so good!”
“It’s ok. I’m like that with ribs. The quicker I can eat them the better.”
Stiles laughs loudly. “I can see that. You definitely look like a carnivore.”
“What do carnivores look like?”
Stiles tilts his head and ponders Derek. “Tall. Well built. Rugged. Handsome.” He shoves the last of his burger in his face.
Derek is stunned. “Handsome? You think I’m handsome?”
Stiles nods. “Well yeah. And you have great taste in books. And you’re good company!”
Derek blushes, the tips of his ears turning crimson. “You’ve only just met me, Stiles. You don’t really know me yet.”
“I’m a good judge of character. I know a good person when I see them.”
Derek looks consideringly at Stiles. He’s stabbing his fries with a fork and dragging them through a mountain of ketchup. Stiles' compliments seem genuine, no nonsense, like he believes what he’s saying. He clears his throat.
“Thank you Stiles, that’s nice of you to say.”
Stiles smiles. “You’re welcome, Derek.”
Derek picks up the burger and takes a much smaller bite. His eyes widen as the flavour of the beef hits his tongue. “Oh my god.”
“Right? I told you!”
Derek takes a larger bite of his burger and savours the flavours while Stiles has moved onto demolishing his fruit plate. He pops a grape in his mouth and chews.
“What time is orientation tomorrow? I think the paperwork said it starts at 10?”
Derek nods and wipes his mouth with a napkin, trying not to smear the sauce from his burger across his face. “Starts at 10, goes until 4 I think. I want to get there first thing if possible. From what I’ve read online, most people turn up around lunchtime. I want to avoid the rush.”
“That sounds like a solid plan. I’m up earlyish most days, so the sooner it’s done the better. I also want to be organised and make sure I get everything I need before first class. I stress the fuck out if I feel like I’m not 100% ready for something. Plus, if we’re planning on going to Finders Keepers straight after, we need as much for that as possible. Because books!”
Derek stops mid chew to look at Stiles. How is it that this man he’s just met so much like him? How is it that they’ve just so easily gotten along? He hopes that this isn’t just a first day thing, and that their comfortableness with each other continues for the rest of the school year. Would be awkward to be roommates with someone you’ve had a falling out with.
Derek shakes his head and continues to eat. When both men have finished their dinner, they take their trays to the bussing station, and make their way back to their new home.
*****
Derek wakes the next morning to the sound of the shower and the dulled sound of music. He smiles to himself as Stiles attempts to sing along with Mariah Carey missing the high notes completely. Swinging his legs out from under the covers, he stretches once his feet hit the ground.
Getting up he opens up the window and notices for the first time the pansies in the window box. He leans forward to peer at the flowers, smiling at the bright colours. The door of the bathroom opens with Stiles exiting in a cloud of steam.
“Morning Derek. Hope I didn’t wake you!”
Derek smiles at Stiles. “You didn’t. Your singing was amazing though.”
Stiles bursts out laughing as he hangs up his towel on a hook on the wall. Sitting down on his desk chair to pull on his socks, he smiles up at Derek. “Can’t have a shower without singing. The acoustics you know.”
Derek smiles back at Stiles. “I didn’t notice yesterday, but there are beautiful flowers in our window box. I’ll have to remember to water them.”
Stiles glances at Derek cagily. “Oh yeah. The pansies. I um, I watered them yesterday when I came in, the soil looked a little dry. I’ve grown pansies before.”
Derek looks at Stiles with surprise. “You like plants?”
“Dude, I LOVE plants. I’ll show you pics of my house later. SO MANY PLANTS.”
“Maybe we can have a few in our room? I’ve always wanted to learn how to grow plants.”
Stiles stands up quickly. “Really? You mean that? Yes!!! That would be awesome! I won’t go full plant lady on you Derek, but we’ll get some plants and it will be so great! Maybe we can find a nursery to go to after we’ve gone to Finders Keepers?”
“Sounds good to me. And you’ll teach me about plants?”
“Of course! What kind of roommate would I be if I didn’t!? You should know that I name my plants.”
“You name them? Like, this is my daffodil Daphne?”
“Yep! Or you know, whatever they tell me their name is. Anyway, my stomach is about to eat itself, are you going to get ready to get breakfast?”
Derek looks down at his pyjamas. “Um, give me 10 minutes?”
Stiles nods. “Sure!” He sits down in front of his laptop and starts typing away.
Derek walks into the bathroom and closes the door. What Stiles just said comes back to his mind and his hand stills over the tap. “Whatever they tell me their name is?”
He looks in confusion towards where Stiles would be sitting in the bedroom if he could see in there, trying to work out whether Stiles meant to say that. Derek shakes the confusion away and turns on the tap to brush his teeth.
*****
An hour and a half later finds Derek and Stiles standing in line in the sunshine waiting for their class schedules and book lists.
Derek is already at the front of the H queue, having a discussion with a preppy student named Becky, while Stiles is third in the S queue.
Derek thanks Becky and then makes his way over to an empty bench to wait for Stiles. He carefully slides open the lip of the envelope and pulls out the contents. The first two pages are a “welcome to Harvard” letter that he puts behind the rest of the pages to read later.
His first class is on Tuesday at 10 am. Derek internally fist pumps. Monday’s off! He continues to look through his schedule until Stiles sits down next to him.
Stiles peers at Derek’s list. “Happy with your schedule?”
Derek nods. “I am. First class is on a Tuesday.”
Stiles eyes widen. “You get Monday’s off??” He pulls out his papers quickly, ripping the envelope in his haste. He shuffles through the paper until he gets to his schedule. “Aw man, I have one class on Monday. Boo. Oh! But we have history together on Tuesday!”
Derek leans over to look at Stiles’ schedule. “Really? What else have you got?”
“I only have one class on Friday, 8 am. Means I have the rest of Friday off. That’s cool!”
Derek points out a class on Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve got that class together too.”
“Really? That’s awesome! Means we can study together too!”
They sit next to each other silently going through the rest of their information packet. Derek finishes looking through his first, and watches Stiles looking through his. On the other side of the bench sits a bird, that is peering up at Stiles. The man hasn’t noticed the bird yet, as he’s running his finger down the page of this book list.
“Uh Stiles? There’s a bird on the bench next to you.”
Stiles is roused from his concentrated state. “Huh?”
“A bird.” Derek points to creature on the bench next to Stiles.
Stiles turns to the bird and gasps. “That’s a northern cardinal! Oh aren’t you pretty!!” He reaches out and runs a finger down the cardinal’s breast. “Hello lovely one. What brings you here? Are you ok?”
Derek watches in awe as the cardinal hops onto Stiles’ finger and carries on a conversation with the man. Stiles responds to the chirps of the bird, and Derek is even more confused. “Maybe he really does talk to plants if he’s talking to birds?”
Stiles wraps up the conversation with his avian friend and finishes it off with a kiss to the bird’s head. “Bye friend! Have a good day!”
Stiles turns to Derek. “Sorry about that.”
“What.”
“What what?”
“You just had a conversation with a bird.”
Stiles nods. “I did.”
“You say that like it’s normal.”
Stiles shrugs. “It is for me.”
Derek is looking incredulously at his roommate. “But like, it looked like you understood each other. Like you were both speaking English.”
The man shrugs again. “It kinda is. It’s not a big deal man. You’ll get used to it with me.”
Derek has so many questions, but Stiles has gone back to reading his book list.
“Ok so we have our list now. Did you need to go back to the dorm for anything? Or did you want to go straight to Finders Keepers?”
“Oh, uh well I have a list of everything else I need in my pocket. I wouldn’t mind taking the rest of these papers back to our room though.”
Stiles agrees. “That’s a good idea. I’d hate to lose any of this. You ready?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
The walk back to the dorm is awkward. Derek keeps looking at Stiles like something else strange is going to happen. Stiles is talking about random things, jumping from one topic to another while Derek just grunts out a response. They make it back to the dorm, and put their envelopes away, keeping their book lists with them. They both check to see they have everything they need before walking the couple blocks to Finders Keepers.
*****
By the time they make it to Finders Keepers, Stiles is vibrating out of his skin. He’s talking a mile a minute about this store, and the store's owner Tabitha, and how he hopes she’s there today so they can meet.
Derek nods along, while Stiles talks, giving the occasional answer to questions until they stop in front of the store.
The large storefront is warm and inviting with the gold lettering of Finders Keepers scrawled across the top. Stiles grabs Derek’s hand. “Come on Der, let’s go!!”
They walk through the front door listening to the jingle of the bell above the door, and both breathe out in awe. “Wow.” They walk on autopilot to the textbook section of the store, pulling out their book list. They start to pull books off the shelves, Derek crossing off books from his list as he gets them, Stiles stacking them higher and higher.
A booming voice from behind them startles them, Stiles dropping his stack of books.
“Can I help you gentlemen find your books today?”
Stiles bends down to pick up his books, mumbling about being scared shitless, while Derek turns to face the owner of the booming voice.
“Uh, hi. We’re just finding our textbooks for the year. I’ve found quite a few so far.”
“Good good. And you with the freak out, are you finding everything?”
Stiles stands up straight. “Tabitha?”
The woman narrows her eyes. “How do you know my name?”
“Hi Tabitha! I’m Ciarán, we talked online quite a bit over the years. You know my parents. I’m going to Harvard!”
Tabitha claps her hands loudly. “Well as I live and breathe! Young Ciarán! My my, you are the spitting image of your mother! Why did you choose Harvard lad?”
“They have a good mythology and folklore course.”
“Ah, same one your mother took. And who is this strapping man?”
“Tabitha, this is my roommate Derek.”
Tabitha looks at Derek with a tilt to her head. “That’s not really your name, is it Derek. You’re not from here are you?”
Stiles looks between Tabitha and Derek. “Huh?”
Derek clears his throat. “No, I’m not from here.”
Tabitha raises a brow. “I see. Well, welcome to Boston. Let me get you boys a basket each. Will help you to lug around your hoard.”
Tabitha walks off to get the baskets, while Derek’s heart tries to beat out of his chest. Stiles looks at Derek with concern. “You ok?”
“Yeah, yep. I’m fine. That was weird though right? It was weird.”
Stiles shrugs. “It’s Tabitha.”
Tabitha hands each man a basket, and pats them on the cheek before wandering off to help another customer.
It takes them over an hour to find most of the books they are looking for. They leave the bookstore with multiple bags, the address for Tabitha’s favourite plant nursery, and a standing invitation for dinner on a Tuesday night.
*****
They walk back to the dorms talking about Tabitha, and planning to go to the nursery she suggested the following day. Stiles makes Derek promise not to let him buy everything he touches, and Derek makes Stiles promise to teach him how not to kill everything.
The dorm room is silent as they unpack their bags.
Stiles sighs.
Derek turns to face him. “You ok?”
He sighs again. “Yeah I’m fine. I uh, I just wanted to say that it’s ok, Derek. We all have our secrets.”
Derek looks at Stiles. “What do you mean?”
“I know you heard me say my name is Ciarán back at the store. There’s a story there. I’m not ready to tell you yet, but I will tell you one day. I promise. I also noticed that you didn’t tell Tabitha what your real name was. And that’s ok! It’s fine.”
“Ok …”
Stiles huffs out a breath. “I just don’t want you to think I’m a liar or anything. I’m not … I’m not normal. And I don’t think you are either.”
The blood drains from Derek’s face. “Why would you say that?”
“I can sense things. I have an intuition. Like with the cardinal. And the pansies. There’s a reason I’m studying folklore and mythology.”
Derek blinks. “I …”
“What I’m saying Derek, is I know you are different. Like you know I am. And we’ll talk about it when we’re ready.”
Derek can only nod.
“I’m sorry I made it weird.”
Derek swallows with a click. “You didn’t. It’s not weird. I’m um, I’m strangely relieved.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Derek turns back to his book stash and continues sorting. He clears his throat as he folds up the paper bags.
“My name is Erik. Erik Odinson.”