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“Here, take this”
“Take wh– Stiles, why am I holding a broom? And if you say it's to sweep, I swear to–”
“No! No no no no. I mean technically yes but not really, no, so…”
“Stiles…”
“It is for dealing with dust, sort of, because y'know the um –”
“The mountain ash.”
“Yes.”
“Which I'm surrounded by,”
“Mhmm!”
“And cannot cross.”
“That's the stuff!”
“Do you think, in the entire history of werewolves and mages, that no one has ever tried to sweep it away?!”
“Whoa there buddy, that broom is borrowed and I'd rather not have to tell Deaton why it came back in splinters.”
“Stiles. Why am I holding a broom.”
“Because I asked nicely?”
“Stiles.”
“Because I don't think we've ever tested the limits of the barrier phenomenon and I'm curious!”
“Werewolves can't cross or disrupt mountain ash; what's there to test?”
“What's there to–?! SO MUCH my dude!! Like is this biological or magical or physical? Does the ash sense your intention, or just your supernatural…ness? How far removed from a werewolf can the solution be while still remaining nonfunctional? How close can a functioning solution be before it stops working? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!”
“....What am I doing with the broom, Stiles?”
“Oh, right; try sweeping the ash away."
“STILES!”
“IT'S A CONTROL, I KNOW IT WON'T WORK, CHILL OUT!"
“...There. Nothing.”
“Hmm…. Okay, so there is some movement, but that's just other dust. The tool isn't rendered inert for physical purposes, it just won't interact with the mountain ash while you're holding it. Gimme.”
“Wh– fine, go ahead.”
Stiles gently prodded the mountain ash, which parted like any other patch of dust on the linoleum floor, before resetting the barrier. He “hmmph”ed in satisfaction when he felt it snap closed.
“Did you have to make it a circle?”
“Would you prefer a star, Der? Would that make you feel special?”
“I would prefer a line so I'm not completely trapped in mountain ash.”
“No can do, buckaroo. We’ve gotta figure out a way for you to break these barriers when I'm not here to save your furry behind, and we both know you would've already stormed off if you could.”
“Damn right I would've. This is pointless.”
“The pursuit of knowledge is never pointless! Scoot over!”
He stepped into the circle, pressing Derek up against the invisible barrier.
“Stiles, what the fuck?”
“Ok just stay there.”
“I'm TRAPPED HERE, WHERE WOULD I GO?!”
“Hold my hand”
“...Excuse me?”
“Hold my hand! I'm gonna try something!”
At Derek's blank stare, Stiles sighed and grabbed his hand anyway, wrapping them both around the broom handle. He tried sweeping the dust away, but this time it didn't budge.
“Fascinating…” He pulled the broom and himself out of Derek's grasp and jumped back across the barrier line. Derek shuffled awkwardly back to the center of his small circle.
“Okay, this one's gonna be weird.”
“The rest weren't?”
Stiles raised an eyebrow before letting the broom handle fall forward onto Derek's chest.
“Don't move.”
“...”
Stiles crouched to the ground, grabbed the broom by its bristles, and slowly pushed it forward, sliding the handle inch by inch up Derek's chest toward his chin. When the bristles met the mountain ash, they seemed to shudder for a moment before successfully sweeping it away and breaking the circle. He reset the barrier with an excited whoop and grabbed the broom back from a truly fed-up looking werewolf.
“AMAZING. Okay okay next one: fall backwards against the barrier.”
“...”
“C’monnnnn, it's for science!!!”
Derek casually leaned sideways against the barrier, crossing his arms and glaring.
“Ugh fine, close enough. Here, catch!”
Expecting the broom, Derek was a little befuddled to instead receive an armful of Stiles, who had jumped directly at him while curled up into a ball. He grunted softly as the momentum slammed them both against the still-very-solid barrier.
“Great, now throw me out of the circle!”
At this point, Derek stopped bothering to ask, and just took the opportunity to heave Stiles lightly toward the exam table. He landed in a pile of limbs with a triumphant shout.
“Okay! Now we're getting somewhere!”
“...We are?”
“Yeah! Okay this time I'm gonna think real hard about not wanting to cross the barrier.”
Stiles jumped at Derek again, who caught him with another grunt.
“Alright big guy, heave ho!”
Derek growled and tossed him in the same general direction as before. This time, Stiles immediately rebounded against the inside of the barrier and crashed to the ground at Derek's feet.
“Ow. Okay, that sucked.”
“No no I liked that one; let's do it again.”
“You're lucky I like you despite your terrible jokes.”
“My terrible jokes?! Stiles, how many dog puns have you made this week??”
“Counting today?... okay, fair point.”
Stiles then stepped easily out of the circle.
~~~