Oh, What A Night (Beacon Hills, 2011)

[whatisastiles]

Stiles and the damn fools that follow him back to Beacon Hills step into an ordinary looking teenage boy's bedroom. There's the usual furniture—bed, desk, dresser, bookshelf—and decorations—band posters, telescope, pile of smelly lacrosse gear. It doesn't look like much in the way of a werewolf investigative headquarters.

"Welcome to mi casa," says Stiles. "Dad's not home, thank God, so he won't notice we're here."

Add 'weird people traveling in through my closet' to the many things Stiles would rather not have to explain to his father.

"I need to talk to Scott," he say, punching the speed dial on his phone at the same time. He pauses for a moment listening to the phone ring, ring, and finally go to voicemail before hanging up. "And he's not picking up, so I'm going to go see if he's at home. You staying here or coming with?"

Comments

[mnt_raph]

"Nice one," he says to Grace. Because that was a belch to be proud of.

Then he grumbles something about the suburbs.
Raph's been to the Hellmouth. Funny enough, it looks a lot like this.

The bag of foods quietly rustles as Raph prepares.
For what? Who knows. But considering the environment...it's probably not good.

[whatisastiles]

"Scott's the best," he assures Grace. And Stiles's opinion is totally unbiased. Like Grace's about Paige.

"I'm gonna head in and see if he's home yet," he says, hopping out of the Jeep. "You too wanna just wait here? I don't want to scare him into wolfing out or anything."

Scott hasn't killed Stiles yet, but that doesn't mean he has this werewolf thing under control yet.

And how much trouble can Grace and Raph get into in the few minutes it'll take him to sneak into the McCall's house?

[alpha_loomer]

Across the street...

Behind a bush (La Panza manzanita, tickles the hell out of sensitive noses)...




A man (?) lurks.

[headed4hell]

Grace snorts.

"Sure, kid."

Beat.

"Wanna leave the keys?"

For tunes, of course. Toooootally for the tunes.

[whatisastiles]

"Noooo..." Stiles says slowly, eyeing Grace.

What is she, crazy, suggesting he give up the keys to his baby?

Well, undoubtedly yes.

"Doors're unlocked. Crack a window."

He jangles the key ring as he walks away.

"Need the key to the house."

Because he's toooootally supposed to have one of those.

[alpha_loomer]

It's that kid. The one who hangs around Scott, constantly running his mouth.

(Scott should tell him it's dangerous to be that annoying.)

Style?

Turnstiles?

Stimulus?

Whatever. He's in the way. Derek needs Scott to focus. Grunting his displeasure, Derek straightens up and draws his eyebrows even closer together in a scowl. The kid's walking toward the house, but it looks like there's still someone in the jeep. He lifts his head and sniffs the breeze.

Two someones.

[mnt_raph]

One of which, for some ridiculous reason, smells faintly of...turtle?

"Yeah, we'll do that," Raph drawls from the backseat.
A place he remains until Stiles is just out of sight.

For a big guy, Raph is pretty maneuverable. With very little muss or fuss he's in the front seat.

"Crack a window, he says...." There's a snort as Raph fishes through his pockets for a set of lock picks.

It's been some time since Raph has hotwired a car. Any other vehicle would give him pause, but...this bucket of bolts? Not so much.

[headed4hell]

Stiles is funny!

Once Raph's up front, Grace throws her arm over the back of his seat and watches with mild interest, eventually noting, "You know I'm a cop."

Beat.

"Don't mess up n' ruin the kid's ride."

[alpha_loomer]

Starting across the street, Derek continues sniffing the breeze, shifting the air and tasting the scents on the back of his tongue. Stiles is in Scott's house now, which is doubly annoying because Derek got here first and it's where he really wanted to be waiting for Scott. To snoop around, get a handle on the guy, see if he's up for what's coming.

Because there's nothing he can do to change any of it.

Instead he's out here with two odd smelling strangers.

He shakes his head with a near silent grunt and pads closer to the back of the jeep. He'll pause there, decide if it's better to move up on the driver or passenger side.

Or fade back into the shadows to wait.

Again.

[mnt_raph]

"So'm I....kinda."
Which isn't exactly a lie, though it's no where near the whole truth either. Regardless, it's not as if either one of them has anything even remotely looking like jurisdiction right now.

"I ain't gonna mess up an'..."

Something goes snap.

"...it's fine."

[headed4hell]

"You know what they say. Kinda don't count in sex and law enforcement," she laughs.

No one says that.

"Uh huh."

Grace starts to lean over.

"Maybe you should twist the... thing... there."

She scoots even closer, craning her neck toward the underside of the steering wheel.

[alpha_loomer]

What are they doing in there?

Derek's head pops up in the Jeep's back window. He makes a face and ducks out of sight again, creeping around the side of the vehicle. It'd be good to get nearer the house. Maybe pick up on whatever lacrosse and hormone fueled conversation the Stiles kid wants with Scott.

Seriously, though. In the jeep? In a teenager's driveway?

And people think he's got issues.

[mnt_raph]

"It's fine," he says...though he knows it's not really fine. It's not the end of the starter stretch of the imagination, but this is a hack job of a hotwire and Raph knows it. He's mentally kicking himself both for thinking he could do this and because he let his skills get this rusty in the first place.

stupid stupid stupid...

He tries to center himself the way his Shang master taught him. He closes his mind, takes in a deep breath, slowly letting it out during a ten count.

But it doesn't help.

What also doesn't help is that when he opens his eyes Grace's head near his lap, and her hand is on his knee.

The intrusion into his personal space without so much as a warning is just too much and one fluid motion the driver's side door is open and Raph is leaping out of the car.

Only...the bucket seat which was far easier to climb into is not so easy to jump out of, and so it's less a leap than a lunge.

[alpha_loomer]

The door flies open.

Derek, who had gone past the driver's side only to quickly backtrack due to reasons that now escape him, gets a face full of Jeep and lets out a muffled shout. It would have been worse, but his particularly good reflexes make him jump sideways.

...where the thick set stranger definitely smelling of turtle slams into him.




It's possible he goes a bit wolfy around the eyes as his strong arms catch at the man and he twists them both sideways with the momentum.

[headed4hell]

"God DAMN it, Raph!"

Grace winces and touches a sore spot under her eye.

"You kneed me in the goddamn face."

Grace pokes it a few more times, then laughs, giving in to gravity as she slips into the driver's seat herself.

Wait.

Did something just growl?

[mnt_raph]

Out of the frying pan of personal space violation, and into the proverbial fire. Seriously, what the hell, universe? What the hell?!

For a split second Raph thinks it might be Stiles he's landing with and so he does his best to shift so as to not kill the kid.

But it's not Stiles. It's someone much bigger and stronger than Stiles.
Someone Raph didn't even know was there. That...can't be good.

And so after they come crashing to the ground Raph uses his momentum to pin this other man to the ground, threatening him with the weapons he has on hand.

His lock pick set.

Very vicious...and um...pointy?

[alpha_loomer]

Someone did indeed growl.

Someone whose eyes have gone an unnatural blue and whose hair is standing on end. Shaking himself, Derek huffs out a breath and quickly gets his features under control, his mouth downturned in another scowl as he slowly, sardonically takes in Raph and the lock picks.

"Scary."

[headed4hell]

There's a slight metallic squeak as Grace shoves the door open all the way.

It's followed by a loud, long slurpee straw slurp.

"I don't know. You should see the mess he was making with them in here."

Grace chews on the straw in a suggestive manner, eyeing the new guy.

Huh.

[whatisastiles]

Okay.

Not getting bashed in the head with Mrs. McCall's baseball bat. Check.

(Seriously, they don't even play baseball.)

Tell Scott the bus driver is dead, and that Derek killed him. Or possibly another unknown werewolf. But probably Derek. Check.

Look out the window. Che...

What the hell is going on down there?

[mnt_raph]

Well you see, it just...it kind of might just look a bit like Raph is straddling Derek in the McCall's driveway.

In the rain.

It might almost look potentially romantic, save for the fact that Raph is pretty much a one-man straight pride parade.

"You ain't seen scary yet," he rumbles. "Who the fuck are you, an' why are you skulkin'?"

[headed4hell]

Grace has a real strong suspicion regarding this guy's identity.

Keeping her eyes on him (not a hardship, it turns out), she tugs the hood of her poncho back up and slides out of the car. The moment her boots hit pavement, she casually tucks up the poncho so her gun is exposed.

"Way I hear it, that's what he's best at."

[alpha_loomer]

Derek looks away from Raph, dismissing Mr. Eau de Testudines so he knows he's not scared, and gives first the lady, then her gun a meaningful look.

"Better question: what the hell were you two doing in Stiles's jeep? In Scott's driveway?" He lets out a derisive snort. "I mean... kinky."

[whatisastiles]

Stiles only catches the last bit of that as he trips down the McCall's driveway.

"Kinky? What's kinky? The rules are nothing kinky in my Jeep without me there."

Wait.

"Derek? Where the hell did you come from?"

And why hasn't Grace shot you yet?

[mnt_raph]

"Nothing's kinky!" says Raph, possibly a bit more forcefully than strictly necessary.

Seriously, do people need to keep saying 'kinky'?
No. No, they do not.

And then Raph realizes he's still sort of...on Derek.
Right, he's just going to uh, fix that. And stand. Maybe put away the lock picks before Stiles notices.

[headed4hell]

"Speak for yourself. I'm definitely kinky."

She's almost close enough to kick Derek's feet. Or... join them.

Look, she's not unaffected by this scene, okay? But if there's one thing Grace is damn good at, it's being simultaneously turned on and effective at her job.

Everyone has their own talent.

"So you're Derek."

Beat.

"Figured you'd be hairier."