Derek Hale (allhalethealpha) wrote in momadness_log, @ 2022-04-18 20:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | !event, marvel: steve rogers, teen wolf: derek hale |
Who: Steve and Derek
What: March Madness Plot
When: April 1 - 15, 2019
Where: Narnia
Warning: Low
Status: Completed via Gdoc
A heavy weight crushed his chest.
Derek clawed at the air ineffectually and tried to buck whatever it was off, but he couldn't budge. Despite the very solid feeling keeping him pinned, he couldn't actually see anything. Black dots swam around edges of his vision, but he forced his other senses to sharpen.
The grit of damp sand against the back of his neck.
Briny saltiness that could only come from the surf, and once he stopped struggling, he could make out the rush of waves in the distance.
Tall grass waved around him, patchy, but with thick growths.
There were other sounds, too. More commotion. Bladed weapons singing through the air, but not hitting anything.
And then, above it all, and most importantly, a heartbeat he knew better than his own and the scent that would always mean home.
Steve.
Nothing mattered in that instant but getting him, but he couldn't tell from where he was if his husband was all right or not. This was fucking unacceptable. If he couldn't fight his way free, he would damn well try intimidation.
Derek summoned the last bits of air he could and let loose an almighty howl.
--
Steve was suddenly and inexplicably under fifteen feet of water. His eyes sprang open. Thankfully, he was able to get a grip over his body before he inhaled a lung full, though only barely just. The crushing weight and darkness of the water pressed upon him, though a glimmer and flicker told him which direction was up. He had to curl his body around, kick his feet, and push with considerable might to make his way to the surface.
His head broke through, and he managed to take in a great gulp of air before he was buried under the waves again. It was easier to come up the second time. He gasped in deep breaths, spitting out salt water when it hit him in the face.
“Derek!” He cried out--the only thing he could think to say. To call. The only concern he had at the moment. He had just been with his husband a moment ago, and now? He had no idea what was going on.
Salt air and sparkling color raced back Derek as the pressure on his chest was suddenly gone. Reality hadn't yet shifted back into place before he was rolling toward the sound of his husband's voice and springing up so he could sprint over the sand and scrub grass and into the blue and white-capped waves. All four limbs churned the water to get to Steve, to get to his mate. This single-minded determination made it easier to ignore all the other things his body was telling him, like how strange the water felt, or how sharp everything else was.
All that mattered was that he had found Steve and needed to bring him back to the shore.
Still, he couldn't resist putting his nose into the warm curve of his husband's neck, or to lick the salt from his cheek.
While Steve knew that Derek was a Wolf (and loved that about him, as it was part of what made him him) he’d never seen … this. Steve was treading water, the ground just below where his feet could reach. Sure, there was a giant island nearby he could have--arguably should have--swam in that direction… but Steve was panicked and not thinking straight.
And then the wolf came up to him, nuzzled him, licked his cheek. Steve’s heart slowed just a little, relief pressing down upon him in a wonderful way. He nodded, fully aware of who this was and what was going on. “C’mon,” he called out to his Wolf. “Let’s get on dry land.”
Steve was a much stronger swimmer now than he’d been pre-serum. He even knew all the strokes. He started toward the shore, being urged on by the waves. All the while--only a few strokes for the Super Soldier, before his feet could hit the sandy bottom--he was trying to figure out what on Earth had just happened. Where were they? What was going on??
It took a little longer for Derek's churning legs to find the ocean floor, but soon enough, he was padding up onto shore while leaning heavily against Steve's leg. Concern for his present state still hadn't worked its way to his conscious mind. Raised voices came to him from further inland. Even from there on the beach, he could pick out the sharp tang of anxiety and a certain wiggly curl of disbelieving amusement. He knocked his head into Steve's hand and huffed out a loud breath. If they wanted answers, they needed to go to where the commotion was.
And such a commotion it was.
A group of what Derek had to assume were old fashioned sailors—ostensibly the people he'd heard before, when the air was being crushed from his lungs—were holding the strangest beings he'd ever seen at sword-point. The latter had small bodies, with small arms and small heads, but one thick leg ending in an enormous foot. He had a feeling he'd just found what had been on his chest. A low growl built in the back of his throat.
They seemed kind of pathetic now, hopping around and making what were clearly empty threats of violence now that they could be seen. Didn't keep Derek from being irritable at the—at the—wait, why was this all familiar?
He stopped and tilted his head.
Waited for it.
There, not too far away from them: a mansion appeared.
His transformation from wolf back to man was nearly as instantaneous as it had been the first time. He rose easily from his crouch and glanced over at Steve, reaching for and taking his hand, threading their fingers together. "This is Narnia."
He heard a gasp, and realized far too late that he was completely naked.
Steve was looking around, frowning, trying to get his bearings. Something about this land felt… foreign. Strange. It wasn’t like the world that he knew--wasn’t like the land he was aware of. The sun was in the wrong place, the trees were different even the feel of the air against his skin was somehow… wrong. Charged, in some way.
The one thing that felt right was Derek’s hand sliding against his palm. The twine of fingers together--the thing that would always feel like home. Steve squeezed his husband’s hand, incredibly thankful that neither of them was here on their own to deal with this mess.
“What’s a Narnia?” Steve asked, turning to look at his husband. …who was naked. Steve glanced around as if he could find something to cover Derek up, but the only thing he had were the clothes on his own back. He reached down to wrench off his own pants--he had boxers on underneath--to offer up.
A couple of things hit Derek all at once, but he really only had time to unpack the fact that they were in a fictional universe before he had quickly ducked behind his husband and yanked the borrowed pants on to make him decent again. The other was the wolf thing, something only his mother had been able to do. One world-shattering revelation had to wait its turn, especially when a group of sailors, a King, a pair of boys, and a large mouse were staring at them. Presumably it was one of the pink-cheeked younger boys who had gasped. Not that it mattered much.
"My dad used to read me these books when I was little," he whispered for Steve's ears only. "The Chronicles of Narnia. Came out in the Fifties. Couldn't say how we're here, but we're in the third book, by release order. If we maintain we're friendly strangers, we should be okay."
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the mouse—Reepicheep—brandished his sword at them and cried, "Brigands! Knaves! Stand fast and answer true, or you'll be dancing at the end of my blade. Who are you, and from whence did you come?"
Well, no wonder Steve didn’t know about this world. If they were, indeed, in a fictional land that came from a children’s book from the 1950s? There was no way he would have known about it. He was too busy being a Capsicle to have been reading kids books. The other thing that had to be stashed away for later was the wolf thing. Steve had never seen Derek as a full on wolf before. He was a little concerned. But that would have to come out later, when they weren’t being threatened by… some kind of a mouse?
Steve lifted his hands in a placating gesture, and met the mouse’s eyes. “My name is Captain Steve Rogers, of the United States Army. This is my husband, Derek Hale. We have no idea how we got here, just that… we ended up on the nearby shore.” Was that enough of an explanation for the mouse? Steve glanced up and around at the others for some sign of recognition.
They received blank stares from all but the two boys, one of which took a step toward them. That wasn't as much honesty and forthrightness that Derek would have presented, but he admired his husband for staying true to himself. He gave the hand in his a squeeze and sent the tiniest smile in Steve's direction. "I'm sorry, did you say the United States Army?" He must've been Peter. The other boy was still cowering behind one of the sailors, watching with a mixture of fear and contempt. Peter's gaze shifted from Steve's face to their joined hands. "And… husband?"
"We're from the future." As much as he didn't want to, Derek knew the prudence of clarifying things. "In another world, but one very much like yours. Things have… progressed."
The mouse sniffed, but didn't lower his blade. "What does it matter who has married who? These men have come upon us unawares, and one in his altogether! What if Her Majesty had seen such a sight?"
Well, Derek could thank his lucky stars that he hadn't traumatized Lucy Pevensie. It was bad enough he'd exposed himself to Caspian and the crew of the Dawn Treader. "I swear, we're not here to cause trouble. We just want to find a way home." And then it hit him: the edge of the world. It's where Peter, Lucy, and Eustace went back home, and Reepicheep went to Aslan's Country or heaven or whatever. If they could get there, maybe they could get back to New York. "I'm sorry if we alarmed you. I know a little about where you're going. We could help. Starting with the wizard's house."
Ah, Steve should have recognized the idea that husband might have thrown them off. Men didn't marry Men before he went into the ice, and if these boys (and mouse?) were from that time, he could understand how it would be confusing to them. He held his hands in the placating gesture, turning his attention to the mouse (who was obviously in charge of this situation).
"We are more than willing to assist in anything you need help with. My husb--Derek," he decided to call his Wolf by name, rather than husband, as much as he wanted to, "knows quite a bit about this world. I am a stranger to these parts, so I'm just along for the ride." He really hoped that Derek would take the lead here, because Steve had no idea what was going on. What were those creatures with the one leg? They definitely didn’t have talking, sword-wielding mice where he came from.
The path to trust was rocky, but Caspian and the children from Earth were among the first to welcome the unexpected pair to their voyage. It took a great deal longer for Reepicheep to come around, but even the brave mouse accepted Steve and Derek as a part of the crew. For his part, Derek did everything he could to keep the story he knew on track. Granted, he was pretty sure C.S. Lewis never intended for a werewolf and an American soldier to feature in these adventures. For his part, Derek thought their involvement brought the whole thing into a more modern setting.
Probably a bunch of nothing, but they still reached the end and the endless rise of ocean to the sky. Even Derek got choked up when Reepicheep took to the heavens in his little boat, and then it was time to go. Hopefully.