"I can not overstate how wrong they got this dialogue," Stiles said. He just received the drafts from one of the final episodes of the show he'd been translating for the last six years.
Derek knew that Stiles was overqualified at this stage. But Stiles was obsessed with the show. Honestly, when Stiles said this would be its last season, Derek felt both excitement and sadness. He loved his boyfriend. And his boyfriend loved the show. Derek had absorbed more knowledge through Stiles than he ever wanted. With Stiles' passion for it, Derek grew to enjoy it a little. He had sat through so many episodes at this point that he mostly understood the bits and pieces Stiles talked about.
"What did the writers do this time?" Derek asked.
"They buried the gays! Literally, after years of build-up, one character finally says they love the other. Then, he immediately dies. They can't do this. The characters, the fans, hell, the actors deserve better. This show has 15 seasons under its belt and they're ending it this way." Stiles ranted and started to pace back and forth. Derek could pick up who Stiles was talking about and knew which two characters Stiles meant.
"What do you want to do about it?" Derek asked calmly. Stiles paused in his pacing.
"What do I want? I want to rewrite it!" Stiles yells.
"Good news, I've been reliably informed your job is to rewrite scripts." Derek joked.
"In Spanish! I can't just change things willy-nilly." Stiles resumed pacing.
"Well - you could tweak it slightly. Just slightly enough that maybe before they bury the gays the characters can both acknowledge their love … Is that possible given the existing acting, setting, and sound?" Derek asked.
"No, of course not. Well, maybe if I … But I'd be fired. There's no guarantee that it would even air after I sent it through."
"Stiles, you and I both know that you are overqualified for your current role. If you weren't working on this show, you'd have left the studio years ago. There are a million things you can do with your fluency in three languages. You aren't even currently using your skills in Polish or French." Derek said.
"I'm not fluent in French, yet," Stiles muttered.
"Don't even. I know you've had headhunters banging down the door trying to recruit you away from the studio. Didn't two of them corner you at that last conference?" Derek insisted.
"But I might get blackballed after this," Stiles said.
"Don't use that term. Also, who cares? You hate all the Hollywood politics. You never wanted to work in LA anyway. The only reason we're here is my job." Derek said.
"I don't know, Der," Stiles said.
Derek stood up and walked toward Stiles with his arms open. Stiles dove into them. Derek didn't even let out a grunt anymore; he was too used to Stiles' behavior.
"Do what you can and what will help you live with yourself and the years you spent on this show. Besides, if they knew enough Spanish, they wouldn't have needed to hire you."
"Have I told you that I love you lately," Stiles said into Derek's shoulder.
"I could always stand to hear it again and again," Derek said with a slight smile.
"I love you." Stiles pulled back a little to look Derek in the eyes.
"I know," Derek said with a straight face.
"Jerk." Stiles pushed Derek lightly.
"Fine, I love you too," Derek said as if it was a hardship, but Stiles could see the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. And, Stiles had never been able to resist Derek's lips. So, he didn't even try and just went about kissing him.
Lydia was fluent in six languages, including the dead language Latin. So, when she received the revised script in Spanish, she knew what Stiles had done. But Lydia was also done with this studio.
Years and years later, they were still trying to deny that they'd written a love story between these two. So, they could suck it. Lydia decided to pretend she didn't see the glaring error in the Spanish version. She signed off on it.
Later she sent a simple "Thanks" text to Stiles. But to keep up her reputation, she sent it from an encrypted number. (While unlikely the studio would trace it back to her, she wasn't taking any chances.)
Peter received the script in Spanish as the last person to sign off on it. As he read it, he let out a single bark of laughter. He thrived on chaos. Stiles and Lydia's audacity was to be commended. Plus, the show could use some shake-up in its last season. Thus, Peter signed off on it, and it was added to the broadcast in Spanish.
Isaac hated this stupid show. But a paycheck was a paycheck. The show was constantly shoving one couple down everyone's throat, but never giving it any latitude to develop in canon. Thankfully, Isaac had a very small part working on the show. He had to type up the Spanish subtitles. It wasn't like he had any control or ability to do anything.
As Isaac was typing away, he paused. Were they going to bury their gays? God, this show was the absolute worst. The bare minimum was allowing the two characters to admit their love for each other before killing one of them off.
Isaac almost messaged Erica and Boyd to complain, but he decided not to at the moment. They were getting drinks later and could complain together. He'd buy one of the rounds solely for the millisecond where the couple gets to be canon.
During the conciliatory drinks, Isaac mentioned the brief moment of the canon couple, and Erica and Boyd stared at him blankly.
"What? Why are you staring at me like that? It sucks that they're 'burying the gays' but at least they both admit their love for a second." Isaac said.
"Um, only one of them admits it. What script are you reading?" Boyd asked.
"The Spanish one? They both say I love you before he dies." Isaac said, confused.
"What?" Erica and Boyd said together.
"Yeah, I mean he still dies. But there is a moment where it's acknowledged. This is the same show that mocked its fanbase with a whole musical episode."
Boyd explained to Isaac what the English script said. Isaac started cursing.
"Well, this is going to be a shit show," Erica muttered after Isaac stopped.
They kept drinking.
Finally, it was time for the show to air one of the last episodes. Derek and Stiles were cuddling on the couch to watch it with a huge bowl of popcorn to share.
"Should I put on the English subtitles?" Derek teased, as he highlighted the English subtitle selection.
"Don't you dare! We are a Spanish subtitle household." Stiles said passionately.
"Of course." Derke obliged and adjusted the settings. Then he dropped a kiss to the top of Stiles' head. "Love you."
"Love you, too," Stiles said. "Okay, no talking during the show."
The End
A/N
Do I know anything about Hollywood? No. Do I know anything about Spanish translators? I took a class in college, but I retained nothing. So ... no. Do I love this despite the above? Yes! This probably has an extremely niche target audience (aka just me), but I hope they enjoy this.
