This is an AU Pacific Rim + Teen Wolf fic. This is my baby, guys. I'm so excited for this that I literally can hardly contain myself. It is almost completely AU so please keep that in mind when you're reading it. Reviews are always appreciated and as always thank you so much for reading. You can find me on tumblr: lion-ness for more updates and major fangirling.

Rhode Island was always humid in July, humid enough to make the students attending the esteemed Brown university hide inside their dorms and wish they had taken their family up on the offer to visit home for the summer. The air outside tasted like salt and the wind was stale and uncomfortable when it ghosted across the near empty campus. Stiles was one of those un-lucky students whose internship had been approved during their summer vacation and he was currently walking into Morriss Hall, drenched in sweat and carrying far too many books for two arms to handle. His back hit the door and he pushed it open to step backwards into the air conditioned dormitory. Relief fell across his lips in the form of a soft sigh and amber eyes closed when the rush of cool air bit at the soaked long sleeve shirt he had foolishly chosen to wear. His friends from high school had asked him what it would be like to move across the country and have absolutely no one to fall back on. They had all chosen closer schools or paired off and made adolescent pacts to go off to college together and have an adventure. Stiles was different, though. His answer had always been simple: I'm not a coward. He thought about everyone from time to time; his old lacrosse buddies and how they were probably living the stereotypical college life, full of kegs and decent looking sexual partners and not passing classes that he had already aced in high school. A smirk played across his mouth as he thought about it but his expression dropped when the staircase came into view. It was a daily ritual to thank the heavens that him and Danny were on the second floor of the dorms instead of the twenty-second, because hauling hard-covered literature books up that many flights of stairs would have killed him within his first semester. Even so, walking up to his room after trekking his way through campus wasn't something he was looking forward to, but he shifted the books in his arms and lumbered up to room 213.

"Jesus... this is just," Stiles cursed under his breath as he fidgeted with the doorknob, his arms trembling as he tried to keep the books and folders steady. It had been a long day. A day full of grading essays written entirely in Portuguese and trying to explain to his eighty-two year old professor what Krispy Kreme doughnuts were. He pressed his shoulder against the door and grumbled something about how 'perfect' this situation was and how convenient it was for Danny to not be home but to his surprise the door opened and he stumbled through, papers raining down towards his feet and books slipping out of his grasp to topple onto the carpet. A strong arm wrapped around his shoulder to steady him as Stiles' eyes widened and he tried to regain his balance. Danny laughed when his room mate tilted his head back and heaved an aggravated sigh, swatting Stiles on the back, "I don't know why you always insist on taking the stairs when you know we have an elevator, especially with your strange obsession with carrying, like, every single one of your books everywhere with you." Stiles narrowed his eyes and pushed the black rimmed glasses up on the bridge of his nose before he leaned down to start shuffling the papers back together. "I didn't know you were back from that thing with Laurie yet, how was it? Did you get her brothers number?" Stiles shot a coy smile over his shoulder to Danny who lidded his eyes and shook his head back and forth, burying his head in his hands before he reached down to grab a couple of the books off the floor. "No," he started, licking over his lips, "but I did talk to him for a little bit, he's, uh, he's actually submitting his application for the new Jaeger program." Stiles went rigid and stared at the ground. This was an argument he really did not want to have right now and it was obvious by the way his jaw tightened and his fingers gripped the plastic of the binder in his hand that he would not be having any of Danny's ridiculous ideas thrown at him. He cleared his throat and walked over to the stained oak desk next to his bed and set the papers down, "that's good for him, I'm sure he'll have an awesome career." His room mate chewed on his bottom lip and his eyebrows raised as he nodded, "yeah, man, I bet he will."

The sound of Stiles stacking his books on his desk filled the awkward silence, along with the tapping of Danny's fingers against the keys of his laptop. It was flattering that Danny thought so highly of Stiles, but the idea of him being a pilot was utterly ridiculous. He was in his senior year of college and this was the last leg of his internship before he would be able to start interpreting and translating for large businesses. Besides, after the rift was torn again the program was flooded with eager candidates that looked like Ken dolls and were probably just as ruthless as the Kaiju. They wouldn't have chosen him even if he did apply. He thought back to that first attack more often than he'd like.

It had happened in September, right before his Japanese manuscript was usually busy and up-beat campus had fallen silent when the announcement was made. Stiles remembered it like it was yesterday. He had been sitting behind Bridget Henderson and the perfume she was wearing made his eyes water all through class. It had been nice outside, a warm day, a completely normal blue skied day. But when Ms. Blake walked in clutching her bag against her chest with tears streaming down her face, no one expected to hear the words that slipped from between the poorly applied red lipstick ringing her mouth. It felt like the world stopped for a minute. It had been five years. Five years of peace and celebration. The bones of fallen Kaiju had become part of the scenery and no one ever thought that using them as decoration would come back to haunt the entire population. It did, though. They should have known better. At least, that's what Stiles had always said. The hush that fell between the seats of the lecture hall was enough to get his nerves in a bundle and he had strained to hear the hurried exchange of whispers between his professors. He still wondered if the rest of the class had been thinking what he was thinking. Did another student hang themselves in the dorms or threaten to shoot a bunch of people? Was there a horrible scandal involving a student and a teacher or had a coach been caught persuading the team to juice again? He went through every outlandish situation he could think of and not once had he thought of the possibility that this could be much bigger than the campus problems listed in his head. Their professor was nodding quickly and turned towards her but even he had to catch his breath when she finished her sentence. Ms. Blake's hands were shaking with exaggerated gestures and her mouth hung open, clinging to the last word as it came out loud and choked. "Kaiju."

It was strange that no one moved. Not one person. Stiles stared down at his phone and ran his thumb across it absently. He didn't even really remember what his first thought was after the news broke. He just sat in his uncomfortable seat and looked at his phone like he was waiting for it to ring or for his alarm to go off so he could rationalize how incredibly ridiculous this all was. But it didn't ring and instead of his alarm waking him up it was the sound of his nervous classmates that jarred him back to reality. The memory was blurry after that. He had called his Dad, that was one thing he remembered. Once the words 'Los Angeles' hit his ears he had ran out into the hall and almost broke down in tears when his fathers voice came through the other end of the phone. Stiles winced as he thought back on it and thumbed through the multitude of notes he had collected on German grammar during last semesters class. He remembered how potent the relief was. It cradled him when his back slid down the wall of the hallway and it calmed the burning in his chest when he assured his father that he was fine and told him how much he loved him and took back every snide remark he had made about his father retiring in San Diego instead of Malibu. He had openly thanked God that day, it was the first time he ever had and it was probably the last as well, but he felt it was only appropriate. He sat against that wall for close to an hour, his knees pulled to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. He liked to think he wasn't scared back then but looking back on it now he knew he had been trembling. It was that girl from his Freshman Literature class that had shaken him up. He had just ended the conversation with his father when her scream echoed through the hallway. Stiles leaned forward and looked, his eyes trailing across the other on-lookers before finding her crouched on the tile floor with her head in her hands and her fingers fisted in long pretty blonde locks. She screamed and wailed and sobbed for what seemed like hours and not once did Stiles think to go to her. It was surreal. It seemed like even if he had the courage to lift himself up and walk down the hall towards her that the room would only stretch further away. It didn't seem real enough for him to be a part of any of it. He found out two days later that her mother had been killed in the Kaiju attack on Los Angeles. Apparently her parents had been celebrating their fourteen year anniversary at Staples Center and she had been lost in the crowd. Something in him wanted to go to her and tell her that everything would be okay since that's what everyone did for him when his Mom died, but he didn't. He stayed inside and called his father twice a day until classes started back up. It had been a hard few days after the first attack but everything seemed to just fall back into place. Classes resumed and exams were still going to happen and the clock wasn't going to stop ticking even if creatures were digging their way out of nightmares and appearing in the sea. He remembered the sound of that girls screams though, night after night.

Stiles sighed loudly to break the empty silence and set his glasses on his desk. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut as Danny peeked over the top of his lap top, "have you eaten? I was thinking about making that weird vegetable-wheat-organic pizza thing you insisted on buying." It wasn't like Danny to just let go of that topic so easily but Stiles was grateful and after an agonizing wave of memories and the long day he had suffered through, food sounded nothing less than amazing. It would be useless to study and even more useless to reminisce on nightmares. All that mattered was his up-coming career and the changes he was about to face in life. Goose bumps rose across his arms an he rubbed his palms against them, nodding over to Danny through a small forced smile, "hell yeah, that sounds awesome, but it's not a thing Danny-boy, it's just healthier than ordering from Dominos." Danny wrinkled his nose and rolled his eyes, walking over to pre-heat the oven. Stiles grimaced as he peeled his shirt off and tossed it onto the floor, running his fingers through soft unruly brown locks. He eyed himself in the stand alone mirror bolted to the wall across from his bed. He had always been small in high school, lanky legs and thin arms wrapped in pale skin, but that was almost six years ago and since then he had developed into a strong young man. His features were sharper, the small upturned nose set between his eyes still gave him a boyish look but his body had filled out, lean muscles curling underneath the light freckles splattered across his arms and stomach. It was strange to look at himself now and see someone so completely different than the smart-ass kid he had been in Arizona. Times had changed and even though he was still all wit and awkward sarcasm, Stiles had changed too.

The pizza made the entire room smell like green peppers and mushrooms and the two boys salivated as they waited for the oven to ding. Stiles had slipped sweats on and was munching on carrots as Danny flipped through channels on the small flat screen hung on the wall next to the mirror. Deep brown eyes flickered over to Stiles and he raised a brow, pointing at the bag of orange vegetables, "have you always been a health-nut or do you have some secret vegan boyfriend whose making you eat like this because I've been your room mate for like three years and the first thing you showed me at orientation was the exact time it took to melt cheese on top of french fries in the microwave." Stiles crunched down on a carrot and shot a stern glare towards his friend who was grinning back at him. It was the truth, he really hadn't been all that health-conscious before he moved to Rhode Island but after a couple years without lacrosse practice he had started to notice that working out and eating healthy actually made a difference in his life. "Oh, sorry mister fucking Hawaii over there, not everyone has the genes of a Greek god, okay, I kind of have to do these things to look mildly attractive," his facetious remark made Danny's eyes roll dramatically in his skull and he shook his head back and forth. A headline flashed across the television and a pretty blonde woman in a tacky suit read the evening news, touching briefly on events across the globe such as another Kaiju cult that recently indulged in mass-suicide by drinking Kaiju Blue. Stiles winced when they showed the hotel room filled with rotting carcasses leaking noxious blue fluid and bit down on another carrot. Some people literally had nothing left to lose except their minds. Honestly, Stiles couldn't blame them, aliens came from the sea instead of the sky, monsters rose from the depths of our own oceans and we built gigantic robots to bash their brains in. He figured to stay in this world one had to be as crazy as the place he called home and some people just couldn't wrap their heads around that concept. Danny mumbled something like 'freaks' under his breath and almost tripped over himself when the oven finally beeped to let them know their pizza was done.

They muted the TV while they ate and shared stories of their day, Stiles telling Danny about how frustrating it was to try and describe a Krispy Kreme doughnut to an eighty-two year old woman and Danny telling Stiles about how tempted he was to spill his drink all over Laurie's beautiful twin brother. They poked fun at each other like best friends do and they laughed at ridiculous childish things as they dipped each slice of pizza into a cup full of almost expired ranch dressing. "So, like, did you at least flirt with him or anything? I mean the guy's leaving to go battle giant rage beasts and you didn't offer him a parting gift?" Stiles laughed through the last few words and Danny choked on his Guinness, pounding his fist against his chest and wiping at his watering eyes as he tried not to laugh. "No! Are you kidding me, Stiles? I mean, I know I'm smooth but he's going into the Jaeger program... I don't even compare to the people he's-"

"C'mon, Dan, don't cut yourself short," Stiles interjected, dipping a carrot into the ranch before setting it on top of his pizza and taking a bite. He blinked at his room mate when he arched a brow and shook his head, trying his best to ignore the disgusting food combination he had just witnessed.

"I'm not cutting myself short! You know, I mean I would love to get into the program myself but I can't because of my lung condition but..."

Stiles' jaw hardened and he set the last slice of pizza back down on the plate. His eyes shot to the floor and he picked at his nail beds when Danny heaved a frustrated sigh. "Come on, Stilinski! You always talk about how you want to live a life filled with 'memorable instances,'" Danny made sure to curl his finger into air quotes around the words 'memorable instances' which made heat rush to Stiles' cheeks, "you'd be such an amazing pilot, just send in your application, you have nothing to lose, right?"

Stiles picked the piece of pizza back up and shoved it in his mouth, chewing and mumbling incoherent things about his complete lack of physical ability and skills necessary to be in the program. Their conversation had begun to revolve around this topic after a recruiter had set up a booth at the college about a month ago. It had been during the club fair for next fall and now that the rift had broken again, the new Marshall was looking for intellect as well as brutality and apparently Brown harbored many willing candidates. "Just...no," Stiles snapped coldly, wrinkling his nose as he grabbed the dirty plates and walked them over to the sink, purposely turning the water on when Danny opened his mouth to protest. Soft amber eyes fell closed, irritation sliding across his face like sandpaper. The two ridiculously good-looking siblings manning the booth that day had singled the students out as they lazily slid through the crowds at the club fair. Of course Danny was the one they had seen, all tan muscle and distinct features. He 'ooed' and 'awed' at their presentation while Stiles rolled his eyes and absently cleaned the lenses of his glasses. He shook his head when they asked him if he was interested even after Danny blurted that he was the top of his class in Modern World Languages and assured them that he would be a huge asset. Stiles had walked away after a polite but short 'no thank you.' Ever since then Danny wouldn't leave him alone about it, just like now as he walked into the kitchen and tossed his empty beer bottle into the small blue bin next to the fridge. "You know," he said, placing a warm hand on Stiles' shoulder, "it wouldn't just be bad ass, it would be the most rewarding job you could have. You're a genius and you can translate and you can read people better than most psychics. I just wish you'd think about it."

Stiles rolled his eyes and mumbled something about it being just as rewarding as it was dangerous, but that if it would make him shut up, he would think about it. Danny agreed and pinched Stiles' ear, earning an irritated yelp from his room mate who cursed under his breath and flicked water at him as he continued to angrily scrub the dishes. Tomorrow was going to be another long day and thinking about anything other than German adjectives wasn't in his best interest or frankly any of his interests right now. He had four months left until he graduated and those four months were going to set him on a track that would take him smoothly through the rest of his life. Danny was already snoring when he finished cleaning the kitchen and clicked off the TV. His life was so close to starting and as excited as he was it also made Stiles unbearably nervous. The anxiety bit at his throat every night and as he curled himself underneath the heavy sheets on his old creaky bed he tried to fill his mind with random facts - Diphthongs is a combination of two vowels that blend and are sounded together, the Japanese language has only 5 vowels, sanskrit is an indo-european language. Dark lashes fluttered as heavy lids covered his eyes and he took in a deep breath through his nose, exhaling over gently parted lips. He focused on stagnant thoughts, boring misinterpretations of language barriers and then, like any 23 year old, what he was going to have for breakfast. It took a few minutes before he began to softly purr and drift off to sleep, but no matter how many random thoughts he crammed into his head there was always that lingering shadow in the back of his mind that asked him if tonight was the night the sirens would go off or if tonight was the night his phone would ring at his bed side. No matter how normal Stiles tried to make his life, every night before he went to sleep he was reminded that there was a chance he might not wake up in the morning.