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There were a few seconds where everything was silent. The surface was still, and Derek was treading water, watching Stiles, Scott and Casey on the jetty at the edge of the lake.
“Where,” Derek coughed out, looking in the water around him, “Where did it g-”
He didn’t finish the sentence, his body pulled suddenly under the water.
“D E R E K,” it was Stiles who shouted first, and even Scott’s alpha reflexes weren’t fast enough to grab him and pull him back as he bolted, sprinting towards the end of the pier where Derek was last seen. He dived into the water, and Scott skidded to a halt at the end of the jetty, watching the spot where his best friend had just disappeared.
“Oh my god,” Casey whispered, eyes wide and staring into the lake, and Scott pushed her back from the edge, trying to keep his panic at bay.
“It’s okay. It’ll be fine. Stiles is a really strong swimmer- it’s okay. Just stay back from the edge.”
The Mer were unpredictable, volatile. Scott tried to pretend that what Stiles had just done, going after Derek of all people, wasn’t a dangerous move. A fatal one, even.
“Oh my god,” she said again, and Scott turned to see the younger girl standing there, shivering in the wind that whipped her blonde hair around her face. Now she was entangled in their story, there was no way she would ever be safe again, no matter how far back from the edge she stayed.
“It’s okay,” he echoed.
“Why did he do that,” she moaned, covering her face with her hands, “Why did he-”
“I don’t k n o w,” Scott exclaimed, panic making its way into his voice. There was still no sign of Stiles or Derek to surface, and he could barely hear their heartbeats, “It doesn’t make sense.”
Except, it kind of did.
There had always been a strange tension between Stiles and Derek. Scott, despite popular opinion, was not stupid, nor was he blind. Stiles wasn’t by any lengths the most selfless man on the planet, nor was Derek the most accommodating. But Stiles always stood for Derek in the face of danger, and Derek always made time for Stiles when he needed it. Scott had noticed that.
But Scott hadn’t realized that, for Stiles at least, this affinity went as far as diving into freezing Mer-infested water. Doubted that it extended that far for Derek, certainly.
Why had Stiles dived into the water.
Why had he s a c r i f i c e d—
Suddenly there was a loud splash and a gasp, and Stiles was there at the surface, and he was lugging with him what looked like a corpse, what Scott knew was Derek. He wasn’t dead. But he wasn’t moving either.
“Scott,” Stiles panted, splashing around, trying to get closer to the jetty, “One of the Mers had him- around the neck- they- I got him and-”
Casey helped drag a shuddering, dripping Stiles out of the water, and Scott hauled up an eerily still Derek.
“Th-they were d-drowning him,” Stiles chattered, on his hands and knees, choking on the pier. Scott tapped Derek’s cheeks, flashed his alpha eyes and growled, but there was no response. A bright, angry red mark cut across Derek’s throat, his lips slightly blue in the moonlight.
“How did you get them to let go of him,” Casey asked, her voice barely a whisper. Scott knew he should be checking her for signs of shock, but he was staring down at an unmoving Derek, whose heart was beating— but he wasn’t breathing.
“Stuck my fingers in its gills, and it let him go,” Stiles panted, but he too was staring at Derek, “Scott, why isn’t he-”
“He’s not breathing,” Scott frowned, slapping Derek’s cheek again.
“CPR, I can do CPR,” Stiles said, pushing both Scott and Casey out of the way, kneeling next to Derek’s chest, “Fuck, he’s so cold.”
“Your lips are blue,” Casey said, and Scott realized, yes, Stiles’ lips were also blue and worse yet, Stiles was a human. It wasn’t a good sign for Derek to be that pale, let alone Stiles.
“He’s not- fuck it,” Stiles puffed, and moved Derek into position, tipping back his head, opening his mouth to check for obstructions, feeling his pulse under his jaw with two fingers. And then Stiles pinched Derek’s nose and dove down, sealing his mouth over Derek’s.
Scott watched Derek’s chest inflate, watched Stiles pull back and count to three, ducking down again.
It seemed to go on forever. Stiles breathed into Derek, counted, and repeated. He kept going. He kept breathing. Counting. Whispering. Scott noticed the numbers between breaths becoming more a more choked off, Stiles frantically checking Derek’s pulse, beating his chest as if trying to clear water from his lungs.
“Damnit, Derek, not yet.”
Scott startled at that, dropping down to his knees opposite Stiles, Derek’s body between them.
“Stiles, is he-?”
“-two, three,” Stiles choked back a sob, sealed his mouth over Derek’s against and breathed into him, “Fuck. Fuck, Scott, h e l p.”
“Stiles-” Scott took Derek’s wrist, listening to the slowing thump of his heart tiring with the lack of oxygen, feeling the faint thrum under his fingers. “Don’t stop.”
“I won’t,” it was a full sob that time, and Scott was sure they were tears running down Stiles’ cheeks, not just water from the lake. Scott thought Derek could probably taste them, salty and desperate, in his mouth as Stiles frenetically continued his substandard CPR.
Stiles thumped Derek’s chest again, harder this time, a raw noise of frustration being pulled from his chest.
“Should I call and ambulance?” Casey asked, voice quiet, and Scott suddenly felt sad for her. She was new and the Sheriff had only asked Parrish to show her around town. Scott would never forgive himself for letting her get tangled up in the drama. For not protecting her, like it was his damn job to do.
“Call the Sheriff. Call my mom,” Scott said, hearing the distress cracking through his own voice, feeling Stiles’ utter terror as he kept breathing for Derek.
“Fuck, fuck, this isn’t working Scott-”
“Don’t quit. Don’t stop, okay?”
“Damnit Derek. Fuck, don’t you dare. I didn’t go after you for nothing okay? I always go after you. I always-”
Rise, fall, Derek’s chest moved with Stiles holding his mouth open.
“I swear to- I swear to my mother, I won’t let another member of pack suffer. This is my fault, you can’t- I won’t-”
There was color in Derek’s lips again, but he wasn’t conscious, he still wasn’t breathing for himself.
Stiles, radiating defeat and distress and anger and sorrow, slammed his fist with all he could muster into the centre of Derek’s chest, a shout of frustration ripped from his throat.
Derek coughed wetly.
Scott sat back in shock, and Stiles, motionless for nothing more than a nanosecond of surprise, crashed forward and gripped Derek’s shoulders, kneeling over him. The red mark around his throat was already healing, and Stiles openly let out a sob, steepling his hands over his mouth. Derek’s eyes were open, and he was sucking in lungful after lungful of air like he would never get enough.
The feeling of confusion and curiosity sweeping through Scott was suddenly overwhelmed by relief as Derek’s eyes fluttered open and Stiles framed his face with his hands.
“D o n ’ t, don’t ever do that, asshole,” Stiles said vehemently, and with a sound of relief, dropped his forehead against Derek’s. Derek, still gasping for air, looked up at him and gripped the back of his neck.
“Stiles— Stiles, I. I trust you, okay? Okay?” his voice came out more of a croak, trembling and weak in a way it had never sounded before.
“Derek, your throat. Don’t talk. I know.”
It was a strange moment of private affection, something Scott had never seen take place so willingly between them. It felt wrong to watch, so his eyes searched for Casey, who was frantically speaking to Stiles’ father on the phone.
“Sorry,” Derek gasped.
“Don’t be such a hero. Don’t put yourself in danger like that.”
“You,” Scott snapped, finally coming out of his state of shock and delving straight into anger, “You don’t be such a hero. You don’t go diving into freezing depths. You could have been killed, Stiles! You know I would have dived in seconds later if you hadn’t.”
“Yeah, and it’d be seconds too late,” Stiles protested, sitting up with Derek who now had his forehead pressed to Stiles’ shoulder. “He would be dead. I couldn’t let him. I won’t let him die. Won’t let anyone else die.”
Scott stared him down, meeting Stiles’ furious and stubborn gaze. His understanding didn’t quell his resentment, but he let it go for the moment they were in.
“We’ll discuss this later. Let’s just get out of here for now, regroup and come back in the morning with a new plan to solve the Merproblem. Take Derek to the Jeep, I’m going to speak with Casey and try get in contact with Lydia or Kira.”
Stiles nodded, but he wasn’t even looking at Scott anymore, instead inspecting the quickly fading mark on Derek’s neck. The most shocking thing was that Derek was letting him, head tilted back to expose his throat. A show of trust and submission that Scott had never seen from Derek.
The entire night had been an ordeal, almost dreamlike, and this final event really took the cake for Scott. He couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this was a dream, maybe the Mers had done something to the water. Maybe he was hallucinating.
“Your mom is on the way to the Sheriff’s station, we can meet her there,” Casey said, looking worried as she handed Scott’s phone back to him, “Are they okay?”
Stiles was helping Derek into the passenger seat of the Jeep- Derek, who kept cupping Stiles’ face in his hands, who leaned in and pecked him softly on the mouth. Scott’s eyebrows shot up as he watched Stiles’ face color, lips no longer blue but a deep beet red to match his cheeks. Then his mouth split into a soft smile, and he kissed Derek again before shutting the passenger’s side door.
That was new.
“I don’t know,” Scott admitted, feeling a little of his anger drain. He hadn’t thought that Stiles’ and Derek’s dynamic would ever develop into something more; not when their lives had been so hectic and grief-filled. He now knew where Stiles’s abrupt (impulsive) determination was coming from he knew that, if he ever had a second chance, he would guard the one he loved with his life if it came to it, “I think they are.”
It felt like just as another chapter of pack life ended, lives lost a mourned with it, a new chapter was starting. New love, born out of trust and camaraderie (and even heartache), stronger than the bonds that tied them before.
“Actually, I think we’ll all be perfectly fine.