┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐
extra number one!
GET LOST
└─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘

─ ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─

context:
freshly bitten by peter,
scott returns to the preserve
to look for his inhaler with stiles.
vera and derek are out
looking for laura's body.
when their paths cross,
vera has no idea that she's
meeting up with two boys
whose lives will become intrinsically
entwined with hers for
the next few years—
she just wants them to go away.

─ ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─

( 1x01: wolf moon )

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

VERA WRAPS HER leather jacket tighter around her as a breeze rifles her hair and sends a chill down her spine. The woods are eerily quiet, which doesn't make the sense of foreboding in her gut any calmer. She's never liked the Preserve. To some, it's a place to go running through the various trails or spend some time being one with nature. But Vera knows that there are haunting creatures that lurk here, and one of them is right in front of her.

Derek Hale leads her through the forest, the dead leaves that cover the ground crunching under his black boots. His light eyes cast their sharp glare around the trees as if he can force them to reveal what they're looking for by spite alone. He walks ahead of her, every thundering step filled with purpose as his senses tell him things she'd never be able to discern.

It's not every day you go looking for one-half of your sister's dead body.

It's still weird to have him back here. He'd only returned to Beacon Hills a week ago after spending five years in New York with Laura. But Laura hadn't returned from her visit back home, so he'd followed after her, appearing as a fully-grown man where Vera remembers a teenage boy.

Not that her shock at the differences in Derek could possibly match his about her. When the siblings fled, she was ten years old. Now she'll be turning seventeen in April and he's still treating her like a little kid. He refuses to let her walk alongside him, instead assuming a protective stance to guard her from any threats. Vera pointed out that something could grab her from behind, but all he did was shoot her an icy scowl.

All of the vulnerabilities that he'd expressed the day he'd shown up at the Pérez's front door in December have been carefully shoved and locked away. He'd been near tears when he'd expressed his concern about Laura. Now, he's so reserved that Vera can't even read him, and there's piercing silence where jokes used to pass easily between them. This adult version of Derek is a far cry from the one she remembers.

He abruptly stops. Vera, who had admittedly zoned out, smacks face-first into the back of his leather jacket. She begins to ask, "What—?" but he whirls around with a finger to his lips, his expression flashing with a warning.

"I hear something," he explains in a whisper.

Vera listens for a second, but all she can detect is the rustling of the wind through the bare tops of the trees. But since Derek is a werewolf, it's no surprise that he can hear things that she can't. She'd forgotten how annoying that was.

He starts to the right, veering them off-course. She sighs and trails after him, slightly jogging until she falls in step with him. They eventually catch sight of two figures talking among themselves. They're young, probably Vera's age, both dressed in baggy jeans and unzipped sweatshirts. One boy has a mop of shaggy black hair while the other has a buzzcut and is significantly paler.

Oh, God. It takes Vera a second to realize she knows these boys. Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski are fellow sophomores at Beacon Hills High School. Both are in her Chemistry class.

"Maybe the killer moved the body," Stiles's voice surmises.

Scott, the one with longer hair, is hunched over and squinting at the leaf-coated ground with his elbows on his knees. "Well, if they did, I hope they left my inhaler. Those things are, like, eighty bucks."

'The body?' How do they know about Laura's body and where the other half of it was? Well, Stiles's father is the Sheriff, and the hyperactive kid has a knack for meddling in things he definitely shouldn't be. But this is her sister they're talking about, and she feels a surge of protectiveness over her. Not to mention suspicion. What do they have to do with this?

As if sensing them, Stiles looks up and jumps in fright when he catches sight of Derek and Vera staring at them. After a moment, Derek storms closer, his freshly shaven jaw clenched in anger.

"What are you doing here?" he demands. His voice is forceful enough to make Scott flinch. Vera follows, stopping beside him and crossing her arms over her chest. When the boys don't respond, Derek jerks his chin forward. "Huh? This is private property."

"Uh, sorry, man," Stiles says awkwardly, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. "We didn't know."

"Yeah, we were just looking for something, but..." Scott trails off as Derek raises his eyebrows expectantly. He shifts his weight uncomfortably. "Uh, forget it."

Derek takes a hand out of his jacket pocket and tosses an inhaler at Scott. Not one for small talk, he begins to turn away.

It's that moment when Stiles's gaze falls to her. Since Vera is small and Derek is pretty tall, it's no surprise that she'd gone unnoticed— it happens all the time. His amber eyes fill with recognition, a puzzled crease forming between his brows.

"Hey... Vera, right?" Stiles asks, scratching the back of his buzzed head.

Vera steps toward them with a frown on her face. She doesn't like them meddling around and talking about her sister's death like it's meaningless. Like she's just an object that had no life attached to it, like she didn't have loved ones who are still in mourning.

"He's right," she says shortly, not bothering with a greeting. Her frown mirrors Derek's. "You two should leave."

"You mind telling us why you're out in the middle of the woods with Derek Hale?"

"Who?" Scott asks.

"He's only a few years older than us. His family? They all burned to death in a fire, like, five years ago."

Six, Vera mentally corrects him, averting her eyes as a sharp sting pinches her heart. She doesn't like to think about the widely publicized catastrophe that had turned her life upside down and caused Derek and Laura to flee across the country in the first place.

She shifts on her feet and takes in a breath, bringing the boys' attention back to her.

"You mind telling me why you're out here, talking about a body?" she questions with a tilt of her head and a raise of her brow. When neither of them responds, she scoffs humorlessly. "Didn't think so."

She turns to leave, but Stiles stretches out a bewildered hand toward her. "What, is he, like, your drug dealer, or something?"

"No."

"Then what's the pill bottle sound in your bag?" Scott inquires.

Vera stops and stares at him for a moment. The sound of her pills hadn't been loud at all— it's something she would only expect Derek to hear. But to answer his question, she unzips her small, cross-shoulder purse and digs around for a second before holding up an orange prescription bottle. Vera Pérez García is printed on it in bold lettering.

"Adderall," she replies matter-of-factly. Scott's face floods with embarrassment. "Now get lost."

Vera turns on her heel, the leaves crunching under her boots as she storms back toward her brother.

________

a/n:

lmfaoo compare this to their friendships at the end of season 3. this moment was referenced back in chapter 27, if anyone was curious, and i wanted to type the whole bit out so we could all laugh at the beginning of scera and stera. and also laugh at season 1 derek and his habit of just ... standing places ominously. 

season one vera my beloved <3

— kristyn

( word count: 1.3k )