Who: Derek, Megara & Tyler What: Meg meets her bff's future hybrid of a roommate When: During Tyler's party Where: Tyler's abode Rating/Warnings: Talks of vampires, werewolves, and keg stands?? Status: Complete!
Derek wasn’t exactly looking forward to this party on Tyler’s beach. But if the guy was going to be his roommate he might as well get used to his parties now. Plus the whole trying to be more social thing. Besides he had Meg with him, so it wouldn’t be so bad, right?
“I can’t believe I’m going to this thing,” Derek mumbled to Meg as he walked with her onto the private beach. He could hear the music blaring and people talking and laughing. Derek swallowed his nerves growing. There were a lot of people here. More than he was expecting. “Maybe we should leave.”
“Leaving is exactly what we shouldn’t do,” Meg countered, comfortable in a very boho chic style ensemble; frayed shorts, a colorful loose top with a light shawl draped around her shoulders. Sandals, too, primarily cheap ones if they were going to be digging their toes in sand around the college type folk, in which she’d argue that she was too damn old to be around - but that was the aged soul speaking.
On the outside, she could blend in - she looked young still, exotic in a more girl-next-door sort of way.
Derek needed to indulge a bit in the ‘frat party’ experience anyway, even if only for a bit. He was young, going through some uncomfortable changes, and not to mention weren’t there some people from the network frequenting this anyway? Why not make friends among their masochistic brethren?
To make sure he stayed anchored with less of a chance of him running the other direction, Megara looped her arm around his. “If someone decides to lose their intestines on your feet, we’ll go. Just see what it’s about? You might actually surprise yourself, kiddo.”
Was there anything better than feeling the sand between your feet as you chugged back beer? Tyler was pretty sure the answer to that was a resounding no. He’d been drinking for a while now, feeling the buzz, when his enhanced hearing caught Derek’s voice.
He didn’t know Derek too well, but he was a fellow werewolf and Tyler knew that wolves had to stick together. Maybe he couldn’t show Derek the ropes - he had no idea what it was like to just randomly transform no matter what time of the month it was - but he could still be there for him in the ways he could. And a little extra rent money never hurt anyone either.
“Derek, s’up?” he called, heading over to his friend and his rather attractive friend. Tyler gave her a once over. She wasn’t as cute as Blossom, but she really wasn’t bad. “This your girlfriend?”
Someone puking all over his shoes? No thank you. Granted he had almost done that to Meg, but that was due to changes. Not from being drunk. This was not instilling his confidence in attending this party. He was about to protest again, make a beeline for his car when Tyler approached. Well shit.
“Hey,” Derek replied forcing a smile onto his face that quickly faltered at Tyler’s question. Derek didn’t date or have girlfriends. It just wasn’t for him apparently. That had always been Simon’s thing. “No, this is Meg,” he didn’t mean it to sound offensive. Because any guy would be lucky to date Megara. “My best friend,” he added. “Meg, Tyler, future roommate.” Look at that he was practically using full sentences.
Meg got the title of best friend? It made that heart full of sarcastic venom almost flutter and swell with pride, aww. Derek’s future roommate had excellent timing, though, as she could almost sense the almost-werewolf’s attempt at escape a millisecond before Tyler approached - he was handsome, in a typical frat sort of way.
Bets on his honed skill at beer pong and keg stands. Lots of bets.
“Niiiice to meet you, future roommate,” she greeted, her voice naturally deep but sultry, and her hand stretched to shake his. “Quite a party you’ve got going on. Is this the college edition of OC dreamers we’ve got here?”
Meg could probably make some amount of money betting on him in a keg stand competition. With his werewolf strength and tolerance, he’d proven himself to be quite the keg stand champion. As for beer pong, well, he’d always been good at throwing balls through circular goals.
“Back at you, best friend,” Tyler said, quirking a smile and taking Meg’s hand in a firm handshake, not at all embarrassed about getting their relationship wrong. He imagined they probably got it fairly often. He glanced around the party. “Not all dreamers,” he said. “Most of the people I invited are on the football team, not the Network. I think Caroline and Anna invited a few dreamers though. It’s really more of their party than mine.”
Derek watched at Meg and Tyler did the small talk thing. It was something Derek wasn’t all that great at. Thank God he had brought Meg along. Seriously, he had no idea what he would do without her. But hey, as long as they kept talking to each other Derek was somewhat comfortable. At least he didn’t have to try and meet people, or even worse do a keg stand.
“Who are Caroline and Anna?” Derek asked with a furrowed brow. Obviously the ones that had thrown the party but he still had no idea who they are. “Should I be worried?” They weren’t going to try and throw parties at the apartment, were they? He glanced over at Meg, a panicked expression on his face. What the hell was he getting himself into?
A football team, hm? Sweaty, muscular men tackling each other into the ground for sport - Megara was pretty sure most of them were unleashing some kind of sexual tension on the field, but most of her knowledge when it came to regular school structures and hierarchies came from movies and televisions. Having been raised in the glamorous circus life, she never had the honor of associating with cliches.
It was going to be an interesting night. Meg was hardly a social butterfly - she much preferred the role of judgmental wall flower with an indecipherable smile - but her interaction skills were far from lacking, and she could either play the amicable friendly role or cripple someone with snark. Depending on the crowd.
Her lips formed a crooked grin and, yes, the purpose of draping her arm around Derek’s shoulders was to keep him from escaping. “Sounds like a blast, and could you show us where the cocktails are?” Best Friend here was clearly concerned for no reason. Liquid courage, please. “I’m trying to encourage Derek to dip his toes into the college experience.”
“Caroline’s one of my good friends from high school.” And dream love interest, apparently, but that wasn’t something he needed to get into. “I don’t really know Anna that much. She’s roommates with a friend of mine so I see her around, but I don’t really know her. She seems nice. But no, you don’t need to worry. Why would they want to throw a party in my apartment when they could throw one on the beach?” He offered Derek what he hoped was a reassuring smirk.
“C’mon. Kegs are this way,” Tyler said, nodding his head toward the kegs in question. “Let’s get you two a couple of beers.”
Tyler just let some girl he barely even knew throw a party? What the hell was Derek getting himself into. But as long as there were no parties at the apartment he supposed he could deal with it. It wasn’t like he would have to go to all Tyler’s parties anyway. Or any of them after this.
As for this party. He had promised Meg that if she came with him he would do his best to partake in the whole college experience. Even if that meant drinking from a keg. “Don’t get used to this,” he warned Tyler trailing behind him with Megera. “You either,” he added to Meg although he was pretty sure she already knew him well enough to know that. “You aren’t going to be able to talk me into doing this again, so enjoy tonight.”
Gods, this entire environment made her feel aged by the millions but she had always been more on the introverted side - which meant her upbringing being surrounded with constant spotlight, glitz and glam was some kind of uncomfortable and exasperating torture. Not so much awkward, though, as Meg had proved to be an excellent actress of sorts. Fake it ‘til you make it. “Try everything once,” she chuckled huskily, and helped herself to one of the kegs Tyler had so graciously brought them to. The red solo cups really set the vibe, she thought.
“Here, take one from me. That way you know it’s not roofied,” Megara promised Derek. If that was a concern for an almost-werewolf, anyway, but it sparked the thought about Tyler over here. “It’s good you two are shacking up. That way I don’t have to neurotically check on him too much - but what crap end of the stick did you get from this place? Vampire? Superhero?”
“I won’t force you to do a keg stand,” Tyler assured Derek. Seeing that Meg already seemed to have the beer situation under control, Tyler chugged back the rest of his beer and poured himself another cup. Red Solo cups were the only way to party after all.
“Werewolf,” Tyler said. After all, there was a reason why Tyler and Derek had started talking. It wasn’t like they had much in common otherwise. “The kind that only turns once a month though. I’m expecting to do the vampire thing too though. Soon, hopefully.”
Roofied. Derek wasn’t even thinking about that. Well now he was even more wary. Still he took the red solo cup from Meg and took a sip. It was fine. Not something he really needed in his life but whatever, doing the college party experience thing right. And then he would never have to do it again. “Keg stand?” Derek echoed almost dumbfounded. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what one was. He wasn’t completely clueless. But it was something he never wanted to do. Party experience or not. “Maybe Meg can do one,” he almost teased. But hey, he’d be okay with seeing that. She was the one that convince him to come out after all.
As for what Tyler was, Derek already knew that. And about his possible hybrid vampire thing. Which still confused the hell out of him, how someone could be both. But different dream worlds he supposed. Anyway he hadn’t told Megera because it wasn’t his secret, but if Tyler wanted to share it would certainly make his life easier. He didn’t like keeping things from his best friend.
Hazel eyes widened some, more in an ‘ohhhh’ way than surprise - she’d wondered about the kind of person Derek would accept as a roommate. Her pal here wasn’t the most sociable person, but she’d managed to somehow wedge her way in those cracks during their long, tiring waits in a coffee shop line. Like her, he didn’t have that many friends and frankly, on the surface, Tyler didn’t seem like someone he’d cozy up to in a ‘let’s share a living space’ sort of way.
Now it made sense. “That’s a negative on the keg stand for Meg, but at least you’re with someone who gets it?” That rhetorical question was more directed towards Derek - in a way that was her saying this gets my seal of approval. “You and I get to be reaaaaaal close buddies soon, then, Tyler - I’ll have to give you my number in case something happens.”
Megara gave his bicep a pat-pat. “The half-vampire thing isn’t going to be a problem, is it? I’m not going to come over one day and see you necking Derek?”
Tyler nearly choked on his beer. “No, I’ll keep the necking reserved for my girlfriend. I’m pretty sure the vampire thing won’t be a problem though. I seem to have pretty good control over it in my dreams.” Well, not in a way that Caroline approved of. She didn’t agree with the feeding off humans thing, but Tyler really didn’t see the harm in it if the human was willing to be fed off of. It was a helluva a lot better than the blood bags, that was for sure. As long as Klaus didn’t make a reappearance, Tyler would likely be in total control of himself.
Derek was glad that Meg and Tyler seemed to be getting a long. Wolf or not could he really live with someone that didn’t get along with his best friend. Still the whole partying thing worried him a little bit. They clearly led very different lives. Good news, he could always escape to Meg’s?
He paled at the vampire question. He hadn’t even thought of that. No vampire bites for him, thank you very much. His answer was only somewhat reassuring. Derek full on chugged the rest of his drink, making a bit of a face on the last gulp. “What about when you first wake up?” he asked stepping toward the keg to refill his cup. Uh, how did you work this thing? “You won’t have the sudden urge to drink my blood?”
“Good question,” Meg chimed in after Derek’s inquiry - the audience wanted to know. It’d be rude to make assumptions over dreams she had no goshdarn clue about, but vampirism generally came with a warning label of instinctual bloodlust that was known to be difficult to control. “Unless the werewolf part of you is supposed to curb that nonconventional appetite?”
Discussing vampires and werewolves, good gods. At this age she would have needed the aids of edible hallucinogens for this kind of conversation, but the only thing she was imbibing in was college-grade beer in a plastic cup.
It would have been strange to Tyler not long ago as well to discuss all this in seriousness. It had been hard enough listening to the girls he dated prattle on about Twilight like he was supposed to care about what Ed Cullen did. But now he was used to it. Vampires and werewolves, well, they were just part of his life now. Both his lives. “Well, if I wake up in transition, there’s only one person I can feed off of without dying,” he said, frowning. He tried not to think about that too much. He doubted Jeremy would take nicely to him asking to nom on his sister, especially since Elena wasn’t on the Network. Katherine was likely already a vampire - not that Tyler really spoke to her at all - so he doubted her blood would work. “But if I’m not, then I think you’ll be fine. I guess we could try keeping some blood bags in the apartment just in case, if you wanted.”
It may have been a good question but he wouldn’t have thought of it without Meg. He knew there was a reason they were friends. Even if she encouraged him to partake in college parties. Which really, they didn’t seem all that great if you asked him. Just a bunch of drunk people on a beach.
Derek was so out of the loop he had never even heard of Twilight. But he had a feeling that control came with time. And if Tyler woke up one then who knew if he would have control. Despite how confident he seemed. “I hope you don’t die,” he said bluntly. It was true though. Tyler was one of the few friends he had, he didn’t want the guy to die. Partier, or not. Vampire or not. “But yeah blood bags would be a good idea. I didn’t know that was a thing,” he looked over at Meg. Did she know it was a thing? Probably not but her dreams consisted more of the undead than his.
Megara did not know blood bags were a thing, so the look he sent her was met with a shrug - seemed like a sensible thing to do considering the situation? It also begged the question whether or not Tyler planned to use those as a long-term dietary option, or if he preferred the more authentic version. Straight from the vein at body temperature. Guess he wouldn’t know until he was faced with the decision in all his hybrid majesty, hm?
“Maybe if you eat a lot of garlic or sleep with a cross on it might deter him,” was her suggestion. “Or is that stereotyping the vampire thing too much? Either way, there’s got to be something he can use against you in case you decide to snack on his neck. ‘I think you’ll be fine’ isn’t a one hundred percent assurance of him being fine.”
Derek wasn’t exactly your typical werewolf. He didn’t fit most stereotypes. Sure he was strong, and had heightened senses, but the whole full moon thing? It didn’t apply to him like it did for Tyler. So he had a feeling crosses and garlic might not do much. Especially for a werewolf/vampire mix.
While he was fairly certain he could fight off an attack, he didn’t know just how strong vampires were. So yeah the more precautions the better. Good thinking Megara. Usually he was more inquisitive, being out of his element was really throwing him off. “Yeah, I’d like to take every precaution possible if I’m going to live with a potential vampire.” Hopefully Tyler would just stay a wolf. At least Derek had some sort of grasp and understanding on that.
“You know, blood bags. Like from hospitals.” It wasn’t such a strange thing. “I have some friends who could probably get some for me.” It wasn’t stealing if the nurses just handed them over. Even if they were compelled to do so. “Crosses and garlic are a myth though,” Tyler said, then he frowned to himself. “At least, in my dreams they are.” Who knew, maybe there were vampires in the OC that had an aversion to Italian food and religion. “It’s vervain for my dreams. Though I don’t know where you’d be able to get your hands on some.” Caroline would likely know. The least he could do was ask her to get some for his soon to be new roommate.
If she cared enough, Megara would question the legalities of obtaining blood bags but, hey - do what you gotta do to keep the human population relatively safe from that carnal hunger, right? “Might do you some good to get some, just in case,” she advised her pal here, a pat-pat on Derek’s shoulder. “But alright, alright, enough of the supernatural talk - I forced him to attend so he can get an idea of what the normal college experience is like. Time to engage you in the gross sport of beer pong, kid - Tyler, mind leading the way?”
Derek would actually prefer to talk more about vampires and possibly getting eaten than go play beer pong. “Only if you’re playing too,” Derek insisted to Meg. Hopefully both the best friend and future roommate enjoyed this moment, because it would never happen again.