Superheroes

Who I Am

Even though Stiles agrees to help, he was still very serious when he said that there would be more contracts to sign but that he wasn't going to sign them until they were looked over. He wants to help, but at the same time, the logistics are a nightmare. Peter threatens to kill him in very imaginative ways, Stiles threatens the same right back, and they go back to working out how Stiles can protect his secrets while around the best spies in the world.

Fury and Peter email each other contracts back and forth, and if Peter's increased irritation is anything to go by, no one is happy. It's hard to compromise when both sides are made up of stubborn assholes. Fury wants him to live in Avengers Tower. Stiles refuses, because he is not living with superheroes in the most technologically advanced building in the world controlled by an artificial intelligence. When Fury states that he can live somewhere within fifteen minutes of the tower, Derek shoots him down saying that even if they lived in a building on the same block, it would still take a half hour thanks to the crazy Midtown traffic and tourists. Stiles wants to continue his studies, but Fury wants him available at all times. There's long, drawn-out arguments about pay, because while Stiles can't be bought, he's going to milk this deal for all it's worth. Part of the agreement that Fury doesn't want to budge on is Stiles being able to tell his family and friends where he is. Stiles flat out tells Fury that if he can't be honest about what he's doing - minus whom he's doing it for - he'll walk, no matter what. In the end, it takes a month for everyone to agree to the basics and be able to sit down to nail down the contract.

Peter flies in for the occasion, and Stiles hides behind Derek at the look he gets from his lawyer. It's going to be a long day of debates, and no matter how he tried, he couldn't get Fury to agree to pay his legal fees, on account of he is the one who was determined to bring Peter in the first place. Stiles thinks that's stupid, because who signs their life away without reading the fine print?

Some things they already decided on during the long passive-aggressive email debates. Stiles and Derek will live in the tower, because there really isn't any other option. Derek's confident he can find the surveillance system and Stiles knows he can give them privacy from nosy spies. The true test will be if his belief is stronger than an artificial intelligence digging into their pasts. They also agreed on the pay, finally, for both him and Derek. He's allowed to talk to his family and friends, and tell them he's contracted to someone in New York City, but that's it. Stiles doesn't mention that if he wanted to tell them, he has ways and codes that they'll never crack.

The biggest issue turns out to be, surprisingly, him continuing his education. He's not going to stop studying and learning, and Stiles thought this would be the easiest problem to solve. He's even been proactive, talking to the faculty at Cornell and Columbia University. They eventually agree on the details - he'll be on campus two days a week, unless there's an actual emergency, and other correspondence can be done online. He gets to work in the Columbia PTSD Research Center, which makes him giddy. The Avengers will also pay for the difference in his tuition and the mortgage on the house in Ithaca. At first, they refused, but when Stiles pointed out that residence was the only reason he was charged in-state tuition versus out-of-state, and he would be happy to sell the house if they weren't willing to pay, they quickly agreed. The papers were signed and Stiles has no idea what he's just done.

Moving turned out to be ridiculously easy. He didn't have to do a thing, because a group of professional movers had the house packed and emptied in less than a day. There were some things that Stiles packed himself, like all his supernatural texts and items. Those were placed in boxes and then warded to hell and back. To anyone but Stiles and Derek, it looked like another box of random kitchen items. The day before they were officially leaving, Stiles took down all the wards and protections around the house.