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Stiles knows he should clear his new puppet with Derek. But his producer has been on a war path since the Argents decided that Derek’s job now included overseeing all the shows produced in studio Alpha. Mainly since Allison Argent has a new talk show with none other than Jackson Whittemore.
So Derek’s been elusive and always surrounded by a pack of people that Stiles can’t be bothered to vie for face time with his boss. Especially when he’s been surlier than ever. Stiles will readily admit hiding in the props department when he saw Scott spill Derek’s coffee on him. Not ashamed since Derek looked like he was ready to rip out Scott’s throat. With his teeth. Stiles shudders at the thought.
Usually he doesn’t mind dealing with Derek, even revels in how many buttons he can push to make the man twitch, but Stiles would rather not be responsible for Derek’s nervous breakdown. So yeah. Total legit reason to avoid Derek. Not like Derek’s noticed. Not even a threatening phone message left on his answering machine or a terse invite to lunch to discuss the show. And Stiles is fine with that. Not like he misses him or anything. He saves that kind of pining to Scott. And Derek is far out of his league, especially if Stiles can't even get a date with Danny.
So when it’s time for filming Smile Time he vaguely sees Derek in the background with Kate Argent, an exec that Stiles knows makes Derek want to eat glass and Erica, the producer of Sciencin’ with Dr. Lydia which is one of the other shows Derek’s now responsible for. Stiles gets all his gossip from Lydia who occasional does guest bits on his show between filming her science show. Last week was volcanoes. It was pretty epic.
He’s half way into his intro monologue when he pulls out his new puppet. One he’s sure the kids will love.
“And, kids, say hi to Sourwolf,” he grins at the camera. The puppet scowls toothily at the camera. “He’s new to Smile Time so let’s give him a warm welcome.”
Stiles actually thinks he captured Derek’s je ne sais pas quoi in the puppet. At least his imitation of Derek’s growl was well worth the look of surprise on his producer’s face.