"Alright, safety check time. Everyone drop your keys in the empty bowl on the table," Danny said. They were all gathered in one of the two connected suites in the San Francisco hotel they'd checked into for the night. There hadn't been any official discussion about sleeping arrangements, hopefully that wouldn't turn out to be an issue. There were four beds and seven people, or to put it in more awkward terms there were three couples and him.
He watched the various reactions of the people assembled in the room. Allison and Scott moved forward and dropped their keys into the bowl without saying anything. Derek, who as it turned out wasn't Stiles's cousin Miguel after all— which was good since they were apparently banging— looked suspicious of the bowl, then again, Danny had never seen him not look suspicious or angry. That could just have been his face's neutral expression.
Stiles wouldn't drop his keys into the bowl at all; Derek had to pry them from his fingers. It was sort of silly considering that his jeep wasn't even in San Francisco with them. They'd taken a rented van. Lydia made Stiles sit in the very back while Derek drove for some reason. She also had been clutching a can of air freshener as though she was afraid of being in a van with five guys and whatever they'd eaten for lunch.
Lydia and Jackson dropped their keys into the bowl and waited for the rest of the directions. They'd been to enough parties with him that they knew there were more regulations coming. Danny liked to have fun, but he liked to do it responsibly. No teenager was going to become a statistic on his watch.
"Everyone make sure your phones are fully charged," Danny said. "Double check that you have the number for the cab company so you can get a ride if you need it." He paused to let everyone follow his directions. "Alright, now that's out of the way, here are the rules of the game."
Danny picked up a second bowl that was on the table. "We're going to randomly create three teams, two teams will have two members and the last one will have three."
"How do we decide who gets to pick first? I want to be on Derek's team." Stiles took a step closer to Derek, as if to warn off anyone from trying to snake him away for their team.
Scott let out a sigh at first, but smiled sheepishly in apology when Stiles turned cold eyes on him. "You've been playing on Derek's team since the summer," Scott said. "We get it."
Stiles opened his mouth to reply, but before he could Derek patted him on the back. Danny watched in stunned amusement as Stiles closed his mouth and opted to take hold of Derek's hand instead of verbally assaulting his friend. Derek and Stiles were wearing matching bracelets with sea shells on them. Danny wouldn't have pegged Derek for the matching accessories kind of guy, but it worked for them somehow.
"We'll go alphabetically," Danny said. It seemed diplomatic.
Stiles let out an annoyed huff. "That means I'm last, how about we go reverse alphabetically for once, you know, shake the foundations and all that on the biggest party night of the year."
Danny shrugged and held the bowl out towards Stiles. He couldn't help but laugh at the glee that filled Stiles's face as he reached into the bowl and felt around inside like he was somehow using some sixth sense to find the one that had Derek's name on it.
Stiles opened the paper, threw his arms up in the air and let out a high pitched shriek that Danny assumed was supposed to be a cheer. "I got Derek," Stiles practically yelled, "It's kismet."
"Do you know what kismet even means?" Lydia crossed her arms over her chest and gave Stiles an annoyed look.
"Pretty sure it means you're jealous that Derek and I are going to win," Stiles shot back.
The two of them started grinning at each other. Danny blinked and watched the two of them; it was almost like the way that Jackson and Scott used to act, only slightly girly.
"I don't think they've invented a game yet that you and Derek could beat me at," Lydia said. "How long did you cry after I beat you in Battleship?"
Stiles scoffed but looked away. "I… I just had something in my eyes."
"They have a name for that." Lydia smiled. "It's called defeat."
Danny suddenly got it; somehow, Stiles had gone from being Lydia's creepy stalker to her gay best friend. Well if they weren't having sex at least they could be catty. It worked for them.
"Ok," Danny said holding the bowl out toward Scott, "That means it's your turn to pick."
Scott stepped forward and reached out for the bowl, but hesitated before grabbing any of the papers. "Can I be on the team with three members?"
Danny wasn't sure why Scott's gaze flickered between Allison and Jackson before settling on the shoes he was wearing. "I don't have a problem with that," Danny said. "Anyone else care?" No one spoke up so Danny shrugged. "Go for it."
Scott looked hopeful as he reached into the bowl and picked out two names. He didn't seem to put as much stock in whatever method of tactile investigation Stiles had used to ferret out Derek's name in the bowl. Scott opened the first paper. "Danny."
Danny tried not to be overwhelmed by Scott's enthusiasm. They were friendly with each other, after Scott had apologized to him for smashing him in the face with a lacrosse stick, but Danny wasn't sure he wanted to spend the evening with someone he didn't know very well either. He watched as Scott opened the second paper.
"Jackson," Scott said.
Scott's voice was quiet and for some reason he looked back at Allison as though for permission. Danny wasn't sure why she gave Scott a thumbs-up and a wink. Danny was glad he'd be able to hang out with Jackson for most of the evening; maybe they'd get a chance to catch up a bit.
"That leaves me and Lydia," Allison squealed, "Girl Power!"
Lydia laughed at Allison's enthusiasm. "I'm surprised the two girls ended up together considering how much of a sausage fest this party is." Danny joined the rest of the guys in staring at Lydia in shock. "Please," Lydia said, "None of you ever think it odd that there are so many boys and not so many girls in our little group?" She paused as if to wait for someone to say something. When no one did she continued. "Well that must be because every person here except for one has had a dick in their mouth."
Danny gaped at her. If that was true she must think that he'd fooled around with Jackson at some point. He looked over at his friend and was shocked to see his normally pale skin was flushed. That didn't make any sense.
"Well," Stiles said, "Moving right along…"
Stiles's voice broke Danny out of his thoughts. "Right…" He glanced at his friend. Jackson had been quiet all night so far, he'd barely talked in the van and he hadn't said anything at all since they got into the room. Danny was worried there was something wrong.
He reached down and picked up three envelopes that had been resting on the table. He handed one to Lydia and one to Derek. "Inside are clues to three locations. The goal is to find each location, and have someone take a picture of your whole team at the spot. Whoever gets all three pictures first and back to the hotel wins. If you make it back past midnight you automatically lose."
"How do we take the pictures?" Scott moved to stand next to Jackson.
"I've got three disposable cameras in my bag," Danny said. "I think that's everything. I'll go get them and then we can get started."
"Actually, we've got one more thing to do before that," Stiles said.
Danny groaned. He was hoping that Stiles was going to let the whole 'wolves' mead' thing go. He'd seen the bottles packed away in the back of the van, but he'd hoped they were full of something other than Stiles's homemade booze. He watched in mild horror as Stiles went and retrieved one of the bottles and started filling red plastic cups and handing them out.
Danny's horror increased exponentially when four of the seven people in the room stared ravenously at the liquid. Derek, Jackson, Scott, and even Lydia all seemed excited to get to the drinking. The three guys were sniffing at the brew like it was the most amazing thing they'd ever gotten a whiff of. Lydia's eyes gazed into the depths of the cup as though it held some secret mystery.
The group got close and raised their cups so that Stiles could make a toast. "To learning more about each other," Stiles said, "and to an unforgettable night."
They all bumped glasses and downed the drinks. Danny thought it wasn't half bad. He didn't even object when the group did two more rounds. It wasn't until they were on the street and going in separate directions that he started to feel an odd pressure behind his eyes. He felt good, warm, and full of energy. It wasn't a migraine, the pressure wasn't painful. It was something else…