For the Love of Chaos

Late

Stiles parked his jeep in front of the tall building Derek had recently started staying in. Stiles had only been here once, very briefly, a few days back. The tall brick outside was ominous to say the least and the inside was no better.

"This is ridiculous," Stiles threw his head back into the headrest. He couldn't be Derek's emissary. He hardly knew the guy. There had to be a better explanation. There had to be a way out of it at least. How could he even be an emissary? It just didn't make sense. The last few months had flipped his world upside down and he'd handled it like a champ, but this? This was too much.

A knock on his window made him jump. He gripped at his chest as he rolled down the window for Erica.

"What are you doing Stiles?" She asked with a smirk.

"Oh, ya know..." Stiles waved a hand around aimlessly.

"Derek wants to know why you're sitting out here alone," She crossed her arms, pushing her boobs up and practically into Stiles' face.

Stiles bit at his bottom lip as he forced his eyes up to the window he knew was Derek's. "I just had a question is all."

"Are you gonna come up and ask it?"

Stiles grabbed his phone to see a missed call from Scott.

"I have to meet Scott. It's not important, don't worry about it." Stiles waved a dismissive hand as he put the jeep in reverse.

Erica tilted her head in question but backed away much to Stiles' relief.

When he pulled up to the library which was thankfully not too far from Derek's, he was even more nervous. How would he tell Scott? He was a part of Scott's pack not Derek's. But if Deaton had been right, then this symbol meant he was supposed to be in Derek's pack.

"Stiles, there you are," Scott gave his friend a pat on the shoulder as he approached.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, I-" Stiles paused he knew if he lied Scott would hear it and push for the truth. "I didn't mean to be."

"It's fine, we were just getting started." Scott gestured behind him to where Allison was sitting at a table with piles of books.

"These are all the books on that symbol you found?" Stiles asked, stepping past Scott.

"These are all books that might be able to help. We're not totally sure yet," Allison smiled up at Stiles.

"We better get to reading then," Stiles took a seat across from the brunette. He could use the distraction from his newly acquired tattoo. Could it even be called that?

-

The words on the page in front of Stiles were just meaningless letters. He might have been looking at them, but he wasn't actually looking at them. Instead his mind was a million miles away.

"Stiles?" Allison's airy voice broke Stiles from his thoughts.

"Huh?" Stiles looked across the table where she and Scott were watching him curiously.

"Are you okay? You seem...worried" Scott asked in a concerned tone.

Stiles had to keep from rolling his eyes. Scott was clearly smelling his chemo signals. A trait he'd hated since he found out werewolves could do it. He was very aware that everyone monitored his mood.

"First you were late, which you never are, and you've been staring at the same page for twenty minutes," Allison added when Stiles didn't respond.

Stiles wouldn't have been late if he didn't stop by Derek's, but he wasn't going to tell them that. They would start to ask questions, questions Stiles wasn't ready to answer. How was he supposed to tell Scott that he was fated to be Derek's emissary and what did that even mean?

"Stiles, you can talk to us," Scott offered gently, growing concerned over his friend's silence.

"Do you believe in fate?" Stiles asked ignoring their concern.

"Fate?" Scott repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, like you were meant to meet someone or do something for a reason," Stiles waved an impatient hand around.

"Yeah. I mean I think Scott and I were meant to meet," Allison smiled, looking at the guy next to her.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Not like soulmates, but like fate deciding Scott would get bit or deciding that we would run into Derek in the woods that day..." Stiles trailed off.

"I never really thought about it," Scott shrugged. "Why?"

Stiles dropped his shoulders slightly. "I dunno, I was just wondering."

Scott was about to push the issue when his phone started to buzz.

"It's Derek. He knows what the symbol is and he wants to meet up," Scott read from the text.

Stiles' heart hammered nervously in his chest at the mention of Derek.

"I thought you didn't trust him?" Allison frowned.

"I don't, but in the end, he helped us with Jackson and Gerard," Scott closed the book in front of him as he stood.

"He didn't really help with Gerard, you kind of forced him, literally," Stiles pointed out.

"I know it wasn't the right way to do things, I apologized for that," Scott sighed.

"I was just saying," Stiles shrugged. He wondered if the protective feeling he had towards Derek was related to the mark somehow.

"I think I'll skip the meeting. You guys go ahead," Allison remained seated.

"I'll call you later," Scott leaned over a pressed a kiss to Allison's lips.

Stiles couldn't blame Allison for staying behind. She had a rough history with the Hale's and Derek's new betas. Stiles almost wished he could stay behind as well, but he wanted to know about this strange symbol that started showing up in town. Deaton had thought it to be a warning of sorts but was unsure of it's exact origin.

Stiles could handle Derek, he just hoped Erica wouldn't pry about why he'd been there earlier. One could hope anyway.