Archive of Our Own ^beta

Stiles knew that even when all of his friends were werewolves or banshees, he was the real freak of the group. And no one even knew about it. Sometimes, he would stay in the bathtub for an entire afternoon. Soaking in the water for hours on end without his skin turning wrinkly. Because he was, quite literally, in his element.

His father would never bother him if he knew Stiles was bathing. Thankfully they had two bathrooms in the house, so it didn't matter that Stiles would lock himself in the upstairs bathroom, where they had the big tub, because his father knew he needed it sometimes.

Beacon Hills had always been weird. Stiles and his father knew it very well since they were part of that weirdness. Stiles hadn't known what his mother was until it was too late. During one of his panic attacks, while his mother was still in the hospital, his father realized that Stiles couldn't breathe not because of a panic attack, but because he simply couldn't breathe air.  

They thought it had skipped him. That he would be like his dad and not like his mother. They were clearly wrong. And now that they knew Stiles was like her, she couldn't teach him anything, because she was losing her mind.

So his father tried to understand, he tried to apply everything he knew about Stiles' mother to him. But it simply didn't work, because he hadn't grown up like her. 

For a Naiad, being away from the water was almost deadly. Which is exactly where John had found Claudia the first time. In Beacon Hill's preserve's lake. He couldn't believe his eyes, obviously, but seeing her shift into human form didn't calm him in the slightest. 

Living as a human wasn't so hard, she just had to go back to the lake every so often to help with her shifting. But she lived as a human now that she was married and had a son.

Stiles didn't turn out like her. He cried during swimming lessons and he didn't need to be in the lake. He was just like every other kid who hated shower days.

Until he needed the water. And John had to carry him to the bathroom and fill up a tub so that his son wouldn't drown on air.  

In a way, they learned with time, that he was like his mother, but having his father's side, he was also more human than not. He wasn't a Naiad, not fully, he didn't have a river or a lake which he belonged to, like every other one. So they kept it secret. Stiles went on about his life like nothing had happened. The only differences were that now he knew why he hated the beach, salt water was downright toxic to him, he also spent a few of his afternoons in the bathtub, experimenting. His mother didn't teach him anything but with time he learned to control his gills and stopped having panic attacks. Seeing the scales was always weird. They didn't cover his whole body and they were so subtle you had to really look for them if you wanted to see them. Almost transparent but beautiful if the light hits them just right. 

It was a secret he kept close to his chest even after they found out about the supernatural. Stiles never even thought that there might be others like him, especially not werewolves. But knowing that there were didn't compel him into telling them about his scaly problem. Even though it wasn't a problem.

He'd let it drop a couple of times, trying to know more about it.

"So, have you ever met any other supernatural creatures? Aside from werewolves, I mean…" He had asked Derek when he was hiding in his house right after Danny left. Derek looked up with an eyebrow raised. 

"If you're asking about vampires…"

"No, no… I mean, I'm just curious… Do you know if there are any other creatures in the preserve or something?"

"I know they exist. But I haven't seen anything other than werewolves in Beacon Hills, I don't think there's anything else here," Derek explained and Stiles deflated when he heard that.

He thought that, of all people, a born werewolf that used to live in the preserve with a family of werewolves, would be the one to know some stuff about what was hiding in the preserve. But if Derek didn’t know about his mother, he doubted his mother even knew about werewolves. Or maybe she did. He would never know.

Keeping it a secret was a personal choice. After everything that was going on with Peter, he definitely didn’t want to bring attention to himself, not with hunters running around. His father made him promise that he wouldn’t tell anyone about his true nature. Stiles had already thought of that, he wasn’t stupid.

Still, he was reckless. He had to hold onto Derek for three hours straight in the school’s swimming pool so that he wouldn’t drown. It wasn’t too hard for him, he just opened his gills slightly and let the water run through his lungs. Pool water wasn’t the best for him but it would have to do. He was surprised that Derek hadn’t found out. His gills were right below his ribs, close to his lungs. Which is probably why Derek didn’t notice them while they were in the pool. 

But being stuck in a pool was a hundred times better than being kidnapped by Gerard. As soon as he realized where he was he thought he was done for, his secret was out and they would kill him for it. His mind kept going back to the night in the pool with Derek, he knew he was reckless but he didn’t think it was going to be that bad. In the end, Gerard took him for different reasons, and even though he still beat him, he was just happy that he hadn’t been discovered.

His secret wasn’t out. Gerard and Derek didn’t find out. Nobody did. He was glad, especially after seeing what had happened to Boyd and Erica for being werewolves. Naiad’s didn’t heal, Stiles would’ve died.

His dad inevitably found out about the supernatural. He wasn’t happy but he wasn’t surprised. So he was able to raid the Argent’s house and rescue Boyd and Erica before they were tortured any further.

It was easier now that his father knew about werewolves, he could help them with everything that was going on, like the sacrifices or the alpha pack. That was until he was taken by his English teacher no less, and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“I’m not getting in that, no way…” Stiles told Deaton as soon as he saw his grand solution of putting Allison, Scott and him in a freezing tub of water. They had to be unconscious for it to work, almost dead. And that would definitely not work on Stiles. His body was made to endure cold water temperatures and he could breathe underwater.

“I know it’s scary Stiles, but we need to do this if we want to find our parents,” Scott tried to reassure him.

“Do we even know if this is going to work? Boyd also tried to drown himself and he was in there for a pretty long time, it might not even work on Scott.”

“That’s why the temperature is so low,” Deaton explained.

“No, there has to be another way. Can’t you hypnotize us or something?” Deaton frowned and shook his head.

“Stiles, it’s fine, I’m human too and I’ll do it,” Allison tried to reassure him. “Are you scared of the water or something?”

“Stiles isn’t very fond of swimming…” Scott mumbled, remembering all those times Stiles skipped gym class when they had to go to the local pool for swimming lessons. 

“But this isn’t swimming, it’s a tub of water.”

“In which I’m supposed to drown. Which I’m deeply afraid of, thank you very much.”

Stiles moved his gaze to the side and almost flinched when he saw Derek standing there, listening to the whole conversation in silence. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was regarding him very carefully, as if he knew he was hiding something. And he probably did, Derek was right there when Stiles had to tread water for three hours in a pool, he knew damn well Stiles knew how to swim like a pro. But he wasn’t saying anything.

“All right fine, let’s do this,” Stiles finally gave in, not wanting to give himself away.

“Great. There has to be someone holding you down. Someone that can bring you back.”

Stiles saw Lydia and Allison already exchanging looks, but Deaton stopped them.

“No, Lydia you’ll go with St–”

“I’ll do it.” Derek interrupted and stepped forward, everyone turned to look at him. “Isaac can go with Scott. Allison and Lydia clearly should go together.” He corrected Deaton and nobody seemed to object, in the end, he was the alpha and he knew his own packs’ ties better than anyone.

Deaton nodded and instructed them to get in the tub while they held their parent's prized items. Stiles held his father’s badge and carefully got in the tub. He heard Scott and Allison gasp when they felt the freezing temperature, Stiles faked discomfort but for him, the temperature was just fine. He didn’t know how he was going to loose his consciousness. He thought maybe Scott and Allison could find out where the Nemeton was and he could just fake it. Did they really need him?

He felt Derek’s strong hands gripping his shoulders. It was a reassuring touch, he wondered if it felt the same for Derek when Stiles reached out to him after Boyd’s death. He looked back at Scott and then Allison. They looked scared. Deaton gave them the go-ahead and the three of them submerged themselves with the help of Lydia, Derek and Isaac.

Stiles made the fatal mistake of opening his eyes as soon as he was lying on the tub comfortably, it almost came as a second nature to him. He locked eyes with Derek, who was still holding him down. He knew as the seconds ticked that Scott and Allison were probably already unconscious, so he closed his eyes and tried to fake it. But suddenly, one of Derek’s hands moved away from his shoulder and Stiles thought that he was letting him go since he thought he was unconscious. But Derek’s hand only moved to his face, covering his mouth and nose. Stiles didn’t open his eyes and just let it happen, hoping that Derek would think that he was just unconscious even if he had any suspicion. 

He took that opportunity and concentrated very hard on closing his gills. It was hard to stop a reflex, but he tried. He pressed his arms against his sides, trying to close them willingly and with Derek’s hand blocking his nose and mouth, he was soon unconscious. 

That whole debacle helped him realize how exposed he was, Derek definitely suspected something. In the end, he fell unconscious and the whole thing worked, so he didn’t have anything to say or ask Stiles, since it worked the same way it did with Scott and Allison.

But unfortunately, that wasn’t the last time he was exposed to water against his will. He was always careful, so that’s why it only happened once he felt like he was safe.

After the whole debacle with the alpha pack, everyone wanted to go out, forget about everything that had happened and have a good time just like normal teenagers that were going into their senior year. So they all decided to go on a weekend road trip to the beach. Stiles tried to avoid it. He suggested they go to the mountains, but he was the only one that wanted to do that and since the majority won, they all ended up going to the beach.

Which is why Stiles found himself sunbathing for most of the trip. He didn’t mind it, he just couldn’t touch the water. He kept his shirt on in case his gills made an unwelcome visit, he really hoped they didn’t, but he was cautious. And even then he just wasn’t careful enough apparently.

He was standing on the shoreline, his feet submerged in the water right about his ankles. He was talking calmly with Lydia and Allison, Lydia was sunbathing in the water, not even wet since she was on a floaty. Allison was a few feet away from Stiles, submerged almost all the way to her chest. Nobody had questioned the fact that Stiles still hadn’t changed into a bathing suit or that he hadn’t gone in the water and he was glad for that. He should’ve known better.

“What?” he asked when he noticed Lydia and Allison had stopped talking and were looking at him with a smile on their faces.

When he noticed what was going on it was already too late, he turned to see Scott and Isaac moving right behind him, ready to pounce. When they saw Stiles had noticed them, they jumped and grabbed Stiles to throw him in the water.

“No, no! Stop!” Stiles screamed, but it was too late they’d already thrown him in the water, barely missing Lydia by a couple of feet.

As soon as he submerged in the water he felt his gills open wide and swallow lungfuls of water. Stiles immediately tried to close them and hold his breath, but it was too late, it was a reflex for him. He quickly made his way back to the shoreline and started coughing as soon as he was back on the surface and touching dry sand. 

He felt sick to his stomach, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe air or salt water. He felt like he was going to throw up.

“Stiles?” Scott asked him tentatively, noticing that there was something wrong with him. “Are you okay?”

Cursing in his mind, Stiles opened his mouth and let out all the water that had filled his lungs, which felt exactly as if he was throwing up. Once he was done he felt a hand rubbing his back. Probably Scott. Even looking down at the sand, he could see several pairs of feet standing around him, probably worried for him. He moved Scott’s hand away, his gills were sensitive and he was accidentally touching them by rubbing his back. He needed fresh water, quickly.

“I’m fine,” Stiles said and got up too quickly, he was lightheaded since he wasn’t getting enough air into his lungs, Scott held him up but Stiles moved away. He coughed uncontrollably, the salt water was everywhere and he couldn’t get rid of the feeling.

“Stiles, you don’t look okay…” Lydia said softly.

“I said I’m fine,” Stiles snapped and walked away. Nobody seemed to follow since they were all just very confused.

Stiles managed to get back to his room in the motel, he was sharing a room with Scott now that Allison and him were broken up. He quickly got into the bathroom and shut the door. He turned on the water, thankfully, there was a bathtub so he wouldn’t have to stand under the spray of the shower, hoping to get some water into himself. He let the water run in the sink while the tub filled up. He dunked his head in and started to swallow water to speed up the process. As soon as there were a few inches of water in the tub, he took off his shirt and got inside. It still wasn’t enough to submerge himself but he could at least breathe some fresh water into his lungs, even if it was processed.

Once the tub was filled to the brim Stiles shut the water off and submerged his head inside. His feet were hanging off the side since the bathtub wasn’t as big as the one in his house. He sighed and closed his eyes, finally feeling like himself again, being underwater was the most calming feeling he could ever get. He raised his hands and opened his eyes under the water, seeing his scales shine through the light that was filtering through the bathroom window. He noticed he hadn’t turned on the light when he walked in, but the bathroom wasn’t even dark since it was the middle of the day during the summer, and there was enough light. He knew he had to go to the lake in the preserve as soon as they got back home, he hadn’t shifted in a while and it was due. 

He quickly took his head out of the water when he heard a knocking sound coming from the door of the bathroom. He looked at it, wondering if he’d heard it right, under the water he couldn’t hear that well sounds that were coming from the surface.

“Stiles, are you okay?” He heard Derek’s voice calling out for him from the other side of the door, he sighed and leaned back in the tub, letting the water hit his chin.

“Did you draw the shortest stick or something?” Stiles asked him and heard him sigh.

“No, I just wanted to check on you. You looked like you were drowning.”

“I’m fine, Derek. I’m just not a very good swimmer,” Stiles dismissed him.

“I know that’s a lie. You held me up in a pool for three hours straight.”

Stiles grimaced at the memory. He wished he would just forget about it.

“Well maybe it’s not my day,” Stiles replied simply. “Seriously, I’m fine, Derek. You can go back and tell everyone else not to worry about me.”

He heard Derek sigh and then leave without saying anything else, clearly not happy with Stiles’ answer, but it would have to do. Once he was all fine and well, he got dressed and went back to meet everyone else. He simply told them he’d swallowed a lot of water and that it had gone up his nose too. They all seemed to believe him after Scott remembered the fact that Stiles hated going to swimming lessons when they were in elementary school. But he could feel Derek’s gaze boring holes in the back of his head, he knew Stiles wasn’t a bad swimmer. He didn’t bring it up.

His secret was still safe with him. He didn’t tell his father about the incident on the beach and everything was back to normal.

That was the second time Derek helped him keep a secret he didn’t even know was real. He remembered dunking himself underwater when they needed to make the sacrifice to find his dad. He just closed his eyes and tried to stop breathing, he felt like he was lying on his bed. Which is why months later the door to his mind wasn’t just ajar, it was wide open.

He knew he was the one possessed. After listening to Kira talk about the demons that could plague your mind when you were in Bardo, suddenly all of his nightmares made sense. He didn’t wait for the Oni to go looking for him, because he knew foxes couldn’t swim.

So he just went over to the lake in the preserve during the night. He stripped down and jumped in the water, feeling the soothing feeling rush to his head, no more nightmares. The calm didn’t last too long because his mind was suddenly screaming at him to swim to the surface as fast as he could. But he didn’t, he suppressed the feeling and sat down on one of the rocks at the bottom of the lake. It was covered in moss so it was the softest one, Stiles liked sitting there when he wanted to rest after swimming. He looked at his hands and saw the fins between his fingers appear slowly with his scales.

After a while, his lungs were screaming for air and his body was trying to close up the gills so he could go up to take some air. Thankfully it was a reflex for him so his gills didn’t close and he remained underwater until he felt like he was going to throw up. He opened up his mouth, expecting that he was actually going to throw up in the middle of the lake. But instead, a tiny fly came out of his mouth, clearly wanting air but not being able to get any. Stiles frowned and grabbed it in his hand, he opened it and looked down at his palm. The black color of the fly contrasted with his translucent scales. It looked dead. But Stiles knew better than to think that was the natural state of a Nogitsune. So he closed his fist and swam to the deeper end of the lake, where everything was dark, he could still see over there, so it wasn’t too hard to find the rocks he was looking for. Special rocks, as deadly as wolfsbane or mountain ash, made at the bottom of the lake where the light of the moon didn’t reach. He grabbed a few and buried the fly in the dirt, placing a few rocks over the dirt. That would keep the demon there for a long time and it wouldn’t bother anyone else.

He swam up to the surface and finally felt like he could probably go to sleep without having nightmares or sleepwalking. The Oni left and everything went back to normal, which was the most surprising thing that’d happened in Beacon Hills. Kira’s mother couldn’t believe her eyes.

“I don’t know, she says it’s like the Nogitsune went back to sleep, she doesn’t know what happened.”

“Maybe it got bored here, not too much strife and chaos,” Stiles suggested and shrugged, they were all eating at one of the outside tables on their lunch.

“In Beacon Hills? I doubt that…” Jackson said and rolled his eyes. 

“Let’s just not question it, okay? I feel like if we keep talking about it it will come back,” Allison mumbled and went back to eating, definitely not wanting to go back to the nightmares of her dead aunt.

That night, when Stiles went up to his room he flinched when he saw a silhouette next to the window, he clutched his chest when he noticed it was Derek.

“Oh my God, you couldn’t use the door?” He said, trying to get his heartbeat back to normal.

“What did you do with the Nogitsune?”

“What are you talking about?” Stiles asked and rolled his eyes, turning on the light in his room and throwing his backpack next to his bed.

“Don’t lie to me, Stiles. I know you were the one possessed by the Nogitsune,” Derek said and took a step forward, Stiles looked at him with an eyebrow raised, looking as casual as he could. “The twins told me you told Scott you thought it was you. You wrote the message on the board to kill Kira.”

“I did think that I’d done it. I sleepwalk a lot, what can I say? But it wasn’t me. And Kira’s mom says the Nogitsune’s gone. We’re fine.”

“Stiles, I followed you to the lake.”

“What?” Stiles asked, still trying to sound as if he had no idea what Derek was talking about.

“After the twins told me, I went to check on you and you were coming out of the hospital. I followed you to the preserve and saw you getting into the lake. You didn’t come up for almost an hour.” Stiles laughed at that.

“That’s ridiculous Derek. Of course I came up for air, I have to breathe. The lake’s pretty big and I like swimming, I just came up for air on the other end, you probably didn’t see me,” Stiles said as if it was obvious. Derek frowned at that, obviously not believing him, but Stiles wasn’t going to reveal himself, he hadn’t gone so long without being careful. There were still dangers out there and he couldn’t defend himself like they did, staying hidden was the best thing he could do.

“I thought you didn’t like swimming.” 

“I’m starting to like it actually,” Stiles lied easily and he knew damn well Derek didn’t believe a word he was saying.

“I know you’re something,” Derek finally spoke up and took a step forward. “I don’t know what you are yet, but I know you’re not entirely human.” He sounded so sure of himself that it caught Stiles off guard, and it showed on his surprised face. “I understand why you would want to hide. It’s not like Beacon Hills is a very safe place for people like us. But you know you’re pack, right?”

“I’m not like you.”

“You’re different enough to be like us,” Derek said simply and Stiles didn’t know how to answer that. But before he could say anything, Derek left the same way he came. 

Stiles sighed and rubbed his hands on his face, he went into his bathroom and filled the bathtub so that he could submerge himself for a couple of hours. He definitely needed it.

art by celila

Once they saw the first part of the Deadpool Stiles knew he was done for. Almost everyone’s name was in there. He needed to stop this before the third part of the list was revealed because he knew his name would be right there. He didn’t care how much he was worth, he just cared about people finding out. He didn’t want the third part of the list to be uncovered, especially after he saw what was the cypher key. 

His breath was punched out of his chest when Lydia started typing out Derek’s name very slowly, and when she hit the enter key Stiles prayed that it wouldn’t work. But it did, all of the names for the last part of the list started revealing themselves and Stiles held his breath for thirty seconds straight until finally, on the very bottom of the list, it appeared.

MIECZYSLAW STILINSKI 30

Lydia gasped and looked up at him, not believing her eyes. Stiles also almost gasped when he saw the number next to his name.

“Stiles…?” Lydia asked him slowly, her voice quivered and Stiles took a step back.

He didn’t know what was worse, the fact that Lydia had just predicted Derek’s death, that he was in the Deadpool, or that he was worth thirty million dollars.

“W-wow, another Stilinski? What a coincidence…” Stiles mumbled and chuckled nervously.

“Stiles, that’s your name, right?”

“Nop, no, it’s not. Must be another pole, sorry,” he shrugged and smiled awkwardly. Lydia got up to confront him.

“Stiles, I know that’s your name. I saw it on your ID when we went to the beach.”

“Why did you check my ID?!”

“You almost drowned! I needed to know if we had your identification for when we called an ambulance, okay? You were fine in the end.”

Stiles sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Maybe I’ll try the Parrish method and kill myself too? Seems like a lot of money…” Stiles mumbled, trying to sound funny, but Lydia didn’t laugh. She didn’t move her eyes away from Stiles.

“Stiles, this is… You’re in danger. A lot of danger, you’re worth more than Scott…” She tried to speak calmly.

“Must be a mistake, Lydia. You know I’m human,” Stiles joked and rolled his eyes, even though he knew it was starting to get difficult to breathe.

“Stiles, what…? You need to tell us what you are.” Stiles frowned at that. 

“I don’t need to do anything,” he snapped and took a step back.

“How can we protect you if you don’t let us?”

“I’ve been fine so far. And that’s exactly the reason I didn’t say anything, not with hunters and everything in Beacon Hills wanting all of us dead.”

“We need to talk to Scott.”

“No, I’m leaving. I don’t have to explain myself.” 

Stiles left his room before Lydia could say anything else. They had been using his laptop in his room while they tried to figure out the cypher key so Stiles basically had nowhere to run to. He jumped on his Jeep and started driving, before he could realize it, he was parking next to Derek’s building. He went up the stairs to the loft and felt like he was running out of air. He stumbled into the loft after he slid the door open and Derek was right there to catch him. He’d probably heard him park and go up the stairs.

“What’s wrong?” Derek asked, sounding alarmed when he saw the state Stiles was in.

“I can’t breathe,” Stiles whispered, trying to catch his breath. Maybe the smartest decision would’ve been to go to the lake, but he needed to tell Derek about the cypher key, he needed to warn him.

“Stiles, what do you need? Is this a panic attack?” Stiles shook his head immediately and gasped.

“Water,” he uttered and finally felt his gills open right up, his lungs trying to fill themselves with water but not finding anything.

Derek picked him up as best as he could and carried him to the bathroom. He started to fill up the tub with water and Stiles took his shirt off quickly. He saw the surprise on Derek’s face as soon as his eyes caught sight of his gills, both on either side of his torso, three open slits on either side, right under his ribs. They were sensitive, too dry, it was starting to hurt. Stiles took off his shoes and stepped in the tub even though he still had his pants on, those few inches of water would have to do. He needed to breathe. 

He sighed in relief when he finally got the first lungful of water in his lungs. He rested his head against the edge of the tub and turned down the heat of the water, he needed cold water.

“I’m sorry…” Stiles sighed and looked over at Derek, who still seemed too surprised to believe his eyes. “I didn’t think it was gonna get this bad and I needed to talk to you.”

“What is it?” Derek mumbled, he was still sitting down on the floor from when he started to fill up the tub, so now they were at eye level.

“The third part of the list came out.”

“And you’re in it?”

“Not only that. Derek… You were the third cypher key.”

Derek raised his eyebrows, taken aback by the information but seemingly not too surprised about it.

“What’s wrong with you, Derek?” Stiles asked calmly and he couldn’t help moving his hand out of the water to grab Derek’s hand. Derek looked down, his eyes wide in surprise, Stiles noticed then that his scales must have come out, probably his fins too.

“What are you?” Derek whispered, grabbing his hand with both of his hands, so delicately he was afraid to break off a scale.

“My mother was a naiad. I don’t know what I am. Something in between, not enough human, not enough supernatural…” Stiles explained and shrugged.

“A naiad? Like nymphs?” Derek whispered and looked up. “Like the ones in Greek mythology and fairy tales?” Stiles nodded slowly.

“You can’t tell me you’re surprised. You’re a werewolf.”

“I have never seen a nymph in my entire life. You can’t blame me for being fascinated,” Derek mumbled, still looking down at his hand, Stiles let him caress the fins between his fingers and his scales.

“You find me fascinating?” Stiles muttered and rested his cheek on the edge of the tub, studying Derek’s curious expression.

“Yes,” Derek replied without hesitation. “I thought they only existed in fairy tales. Makes me wonder what else is out there.”

“I’m guessing a lot of creatures. Because I’m not in the bestiary…” Stiles replied calmly. “I checked.”

“You’re not in the bestiary because the Argents have no reason to kill you. Nymphs are peaceful creatures if they’re not bothered,” Derek explained, he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, probably from myths.

“Then why is there a price on my head now?”

“How much?” Derek asked. Stiles hesitated but gave up when he saw the determination in Derek’s eyes.

“Thirty million,” Stiles whispered, almost ashamed of saying it out loud. “Which means I’m rarer than Scott.”

“And in more danger,” Derek mumbled, taking his phone from his back pocket. Stiles frowned, knowing damn well probably everyone knew about it by then.

“What are they saying? I left my phone in the Jeep,” Stiles asked and peered over the bathtub to check Derek’s phone too. It was blowing up with messages and missed calls.

“They want to know if you’re okay. They don’t know where you are and they’re worried,” Derek explained while he tried to read through all the texts quickly.

“And they think the Deadpool made a mistake,” Stiles mumbled when he read a couple of texts from Isaac and Jackson. 

“They don’t know what they’re talking about,” Derek said as he locked his phone again and left it in his back pocket. “What do you want to do?”

“I guess I can’t hide anymore, can I?”

“I can take you to the lake. If you need to.”

“I’m not actually a naiad, Derek. I’m only half of what my mother was. I don’t belong to a lake and I can go pretty long without going there. Processed fresh water does the trick.”

“I’m only half a wolf, Stiles. I still need the moon.”

“You’re a shifter. I’m a fraud.”

“Just because you’re mixed doesn’t mean you’re less than. That’s like saying Scott is less of a werewolf than me because he was bitten.” Stiles looked him in the eyes and didn’t know what to say to that. Derek raised his hand and showed it to Stiles as if he’d never seen his own hand before. “You’re a shifter too, you can’t hide your nature just because you feel like you don’t belong. You need to shift from time to time, it’s within you.” Derek reassured him and squeezed his hand. “So if you need me to take you to the lake, I will.”

Stiles stared at Derek’s eyes for a while, they were impossibly close and Stiles never wanted him to let go of his hand. Not even his father had been able to console him with words like that.

“No, I’m fine,” Stiles said, finally without looking away. “I just need some time to submerge, if that’s fine. Then you can tell everyone else where I am. I know they’re probably confused.”

“You don’t have to tell them if you’re not prepared,” Derek assured him.

“I know. But I want to. I have to at this point.”

“Okay, just let me know when you’re done. There are some clean towels in the cabinet. I'll look for some dry clothes,” Derek said in a soft tone and ran a hand through Stiles’ wet hair, a gesture that Stiles appreciated so much he even moved his head to follow the movement. He smiled and nodded his head before Derek got up and left the bathroom.

He got up and peeled off his soaked pants to feel the water against his legs. Derek’s bathtub wasn’t as big as the one in his house, so his legs were hanging on the side when he submerged himself under the water. He looked up at the ceiling, distorted by the movement of the water. He shifted his eyes so that they wouldn’t hurt.

After a while, he got up from the tub and went to grab a clean towel. He dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his waist. He opened the door of the bathroom carefully and saw some clean clothes neatly folded on the floor in front of the door, so he grabbed them and went back inside to get changed. Once he felt like himself again he came out of the bathroom and went into the main area of the loft. He wasn’t surprised when he saw that everyone was there already.

“Care to tell us what you’ve been hiding from us?” Scott asked, trying to sound angry but failing, probably more concerned than anything else.

“Jealous that I’m worth five more million than you?” Stiles joked even though nobody laughed.

“What are you?” Kira spoke up.

“And why didn’t we find out sooner?” Lydia followed.

“Well, you guys aren’t very smart, honestly. We would’ve never found out about Lydia if Peter hadn’t bit you. And I’m not in the bestiary.”

“Why not?” Allison asked him, looking puzzled. The bestiary had been a helpful source so far.

Stiles swallowed and didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know where to begin to explain, they didn’t know anything.

“He’s too rare.” Derek suddenly spoke for him and Stiles sighed in relief. “His kind is peaceful and almost extinct, hunters won’t ever kill one of them. It’s almost a sacrilege.”

“Well now they’ll kill you for thirty million dollars, so you better start telling us what you are so we know what’s coming,” Isaac spoke up.

Stiles didn’t want to tell them, it sounded ridiculous when he said it out loud. So he decided to show them instead. He sighed slowly and closed his eyes only to open them back up and show them his underwater eyes, a glowy green, made especially for dark waters, like lakes. He didn’t stop when he heard the gasps and he raised his hand slowly, letting the scales cover his right hand and showing the fins between his fingers. After everyone saw it, he grabbed the hem of his shirt and started to pull it up.

“Stiles,” Derek warned him, knowing what was next.

“It’s fine, I can control it now,” Stiles mumbled and raised his shirt far enough to show them his gills. They were still damp from the water so it didn’t hurt too much when he accidentally breathed some air through them. He closed them back up and pulled down his shirt, looking up at them and seeing one too many jaws dropped. Jackson was the first one to speak.

"So what? You're a mermaid?"

"A Naiad. It's a type of nymph," Stiles corrected, suddenly feeling embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Aren't those all female?" Isaac spoke up.

"That's… A bit sexist. Just because a bunch of horny men only wanted to draw the female counterpart doesn't mean we didn't exist. Just like with werewolves. I don't see much in mythology books talking about shewolves but that doesn't mean you're not standing next to one," Stiles snapped and gestured towards Erica, who crossed her arms and raised her chin proudly, Isaac rolled his eyes.

“Were you turned?” Scott asked suddenly.

“I was born like this. But I didn’t find out until after my mother died. She was like me.”

“You drowned the Nogitsune…” Derek finally realized, and they all turned to look at him in surprise.

“Foxes don’t swim,” Stiles said and shrugged.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Scott asked, sounding exasperated.

“Because that would put me in danger. I can’t have too many people knowing I even exist. I’m not like you guys. I don’t heal, I can’t defend myself, and the only thing I can do is hold my breath underwater for a pretty long time. If anyone found out I’d be hunted for sport.”

“We wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” Scott reassured him.

“Right, because I love going from the weak human of the pack to the even more vulnerable creature of the lake. Love that for me.”

“Is that why you almost drowned at the beach?” Lydia asked suddenly as if she’d remembered that incident.

“You don’t throw a freshwater fish into the ocean, do you?” Stiles said and raised an eyebrow. “It’s toxic for me. I would die of dehydration if I took too much into my lungs.” Lydia nodded slowly at that.

“What are we gonna do, then? You’re worth thirty million dollars, hunters are gonna be fighting themselves to get a chance to kill you,” Allison said and ran a hand through her hair. She probably already knew of a few hunters who were looking for him since her father was so up to date with the list.

“Well, same thing we’ve done so far, Lydia’s worth twenty million and she’s not a true alpha that can defend herself, I don’t see everyone bending over backwards to make sure she isn’t taken. Nobody has even tried, honestly. They probably don’t even know what I am and with a bounty that high they’ll think I’m too hard to kill,” Stiles tried to reason and shrugged.

They all looked at each other and seemed to agree with him, probably because they didn’t know what to do about it.

“Let’s just all try to go back to normal, figure out what to do about the Benefactor and focus on passing our PSATS, okay?”

Everyone nodded sternly, suddenly remembering they had that test that weekend. Stiles was able to move the attention away from him and go back to normal for a few moments.

Until he had to tell his father about the Deadpool and how everyone found out his secret, which was one of the worst things he had to do. Because now his father was concerned. Too concerned for his own good. But he couldn’t do anything about it, he couldn’t hide his son in the basement in hopes that nobody would kill him. Especially when he needed to take his exams and his future was on the line.

What they didn’t expect was that one of the killers would infiltrate themselves into the exam. At first, when everyone started to get sick, Stiles was fine, better than fine actually. He helped everyone else into the vault and tried to stay calm. He had to go back upstairs so that they wouldn’t raise suspicion now that everyone was gone, only Allison and he were the only ones that weren’t being affected by the illness.

Until Stiles was. He felt like it was too late, he left the main quarantine area, stumbled into the shower and turned on one of the showers in the locker room, he felt himself losing consciousness from the lack of oxygen.

“I don’t know exactly what you are, but you’re worth thirty million dollars, so you best believe I’m making sure you die tonight.” Stiles turned his head and saw the examiner standing behind him, he grabbed the wall, trying to stay upright, but it was hard. “I don’t know exactly how to kill you, that virus is made for werewolves. I’m gonna have to make sure you die in a different way.”

He took a step forward and took out his gun, placing the silencer in the barrel. Stiles looked down at his hands and saw the water running between his fingers. He was able to breathe a little bit now that he’d opened one of the shower heads and he was standing under it. So with the little strength he had left, he took a step forward and grabbed the man’s face, placing a hand on his mouth. Water started surging from his mouth, effectively waterboarding him without needing too much water. Stiles had known he had some sort of control over water for a while now, but he’d never tried anything besides moving a fake tide in his bathtub, drowning a man out of nowhere was a completely different thing.

Still, he wasn’t getting enough oxygen into his brain and he felt like he was going to pass out at any moment. Which is exactly what happened, he didn’t know which one fell first, him or the man.

They found Stiles a few hours later, hunched over himself in the school showers, without his shirt on. He’d turned on three shower heads and then promptly fell to the floor. His gills were wide open, trying to get as much water into his lungs as they could. But Stiles was completely unconscious, he wasn’t getting enough oxygen.

The assassin was also lying on the ground, but he wasn’t unconscious, he was dead. Agent McCall wondered how someone could drown in a locker room shower. But he was too busy trying to save Stiles to even think about what had happened in there.

He didn’t know what was happening to Stiles, so he called his father, who was right outside the school and almost all of his friends went to rescue him, clearly concerned for him.

“Did you give him the reishi leaves?” Kira asked and Scott nodded quickly.

“Yeah, he swallowed them but he doesn’t seem to be getting any better.”

“Help me get him into the car, he needs water,” the Sheriff said and they all helped Stiles into his father’s car.

Scott got into his motorbike with Kira right behind him and almost everyone jumped into their cars, following the cruiser into the preserve. Allison got a call from Derek when they were on the way to the lake.

“What’s going on? Is Stiles okay? Melissa said he wasn’t getting any better,” Derek asked since he was still at the hospital with Satomi.

“He’s not. We’re taking him to the lake, his father said he needed water.”

“All right, I’ll be there soon.”

Watching an unconscious Stiles being lowered into the water by his father and Derek, who somehow got there before they did, was a shocking sight to everyone. He’d been wrapped in a blanket when he was put in his father’s car, but now he was floating in the water with no shirt on and his pants still soaking wet from the showers in the locker room. 

“Come on, Stiles…” His father whispered, seeing as his son wasn’t gaining back consciousness even when placed in the lake.

Derek took a step forward and placed a hand on Stiles’ chest, submerging him underwater completely and keeping him there. Everyone took a step forward and tried to stop him, it wasn’t easy seeing someone being basically drowned, but they needed to remember that Stiles wasn’t like them, he needed this.

Finally, Stiles started to open his eyes very slowly and he looked back at Derek from under the water. Derek smiled to himself and then looked up at everyone else to let them know he was fine. A collective sigh of relief was heard.

When Stiles was able to breathe comfortably and move around he submerged himself further without the help of Derek’s hand. He swam to the bottom of the lake and stayed there for a couple of minutes, trying to get every bit of clean water into his system before resurfacing again, feeling all new and shiny.

He walked out of the water and smiled at everyone when he saw all of their concerned expressions.

“Dude, that was a close call,” Scott said and approached him to place a towel around his shoulders, Stiles laughed and nodded.

“We can’t have that happen again, Stiles,” his father took a step forward and rubbed his hands on his arms to make sure Stiles didn’t freeze to death. Even though Stiles’ body was made to endure really cold water. 

“You need to hide,” Allison spoke up and they all turned to look at her. “These hunters are ruthless. You’ve seen what they’ve done to Satomi’s pack.”

“He’s right, you’re gonna be at the top of their list now, we need you out of the map, out of Beacon Hills,” Scott said.

“Why? Because I can’t defend myself?” Stiles snapped. “We were all targeted tonight, you guys almost died too. Just because I took longer to heal because I don’t have superpowers, it means I have to run? I’m not running,” Stiles snapped.

“Stiles, you’ll die,” Kira said and they all turned to look at her.

“This isn’t because you can’t protect yourself, it’s because we’ve gotten to a point where we can’t even protect ourselves. And if we can’t even do that, how are we supposed to help you too?” Scott tried to explain and Stiles looked up, completely devastated. He knew they were worried about him, they were all there, even the ones who hadn’t taken the test with them, Liam and Lydia. Jackson and Isaac still had some black residue around their mouths from the virus, Malia looked like she was shivering from the cold. But they were all standing there, looking worried about Stiles.

“Fine. But what am I supposed to do, then?”

“You need to leave, Stiles,” his father spoke, probably the most concerned one of all. “I don’t know, swim to the bottom of the lake and don’t come up until all of this is over.”

“The bottom of the lake is the first place they’ll look for a Naiad, Dad.”

“They don’t know what you are.”

“We don’t know what they are either!” Stiles snapped. “Last time I checked it wasn’t just hunters. Or did we all forget that guy with no mouth? What the hell was he?”

“So we go to a different lake,” Derek spoke up and Stiles turned to look at him. “You said you’re not tied to a lake, like your mother, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll take you to a different one. I’m the only one that’s not on the list anymore. They won’t be looking for me and if the sheriff leaves town it’ll look suspicious.”

Everyone nodded slowly after Derek said that, they clearly thought it was the best option.

“What about classes? I have to re-sit this test and we don’t know how long this is going to take.”

“I’ll ask Melissa to write you a note for school. We’ll say that the virus affected you more than the others and you still haven’t recovered. I’m sure the board will make an exception if the examiner was the one that brought the virus into the school.”

“Okay,” Stiles mumbled and looked down, completely defeated.

Stiles didn’t know how to feel about leaving. On one hand, he was glad that for once he wasn’t going to be in the middle of the danger, and on the other hand he would just be worried non-stop about what was going on in Beacon Hills. He knew he wouldn’t be able to call them because his phone broke when he got dumped in the lake. His father said he’d have it fixed for when he came back, but neither of them knew how long he would be gone. He took a few books, knowing that he wouldn’t have much to do to distract himself once they left.

Once he had his duffel bag ready to go it was around 1 a.m. in the morning, but his father said the best decision would be to leave that same night. Everything was still too hectic since the school had been quarantined, so no hunters were probably going to look for him now, not with the FBI snooping around.

“McCall said he would make sure they didn’t ask for your testimony of what happened today.” Stiles nodded slowly and looked through his bag, making sure he had everything he needed. “Apparently the FBI is looking into this too.”

“I’m not sure if they’ll be of much help or if they’re just going to get in the way.”

“It pains me to say this, but we need all the help we can get. And he was the one that found you tonight, so I kind of owe him now.”

“You don’t owe him anything, Dad. He’s doing his job,” Stiles said as he placed his bag on his shoulder. Just then he heard a car pull up into their driveway, he didn’t have to look to know it was Derek’s Camaro.

He went over and opened the front door just as Derek was walking up the steps of his porch.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Stiles mumbled and walked out of the house. His dad approached Derek and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Take care of him, and… Don’t even tell me where you’re going, it’s better if I don’t know.”

Derek nodded and walked over to his car while Stiles was placing his duffel bag on Derek’s trunk, right next to his bag.

Five minutes later they were on the road, leaving Beacon Hills. The last time Stiles left town was to go to New Mexico to go look for Derek. Which felt like it’d happened a lifetime ago.

“So, where are we going?” Stiles finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Up north,” Derek replied.

“How north?”

“Oregon.” Stiles turned to look at him with wide eyes when he said that.

“What? All the way there?”

“My family has a cabin near a lake, we used to use it for vacations. It hasn’t been used in years, so don’t hold it against me if it looks like something right out of Evil Dead , okay?”

Stiles couldn’t help but throw his head back and let out a laugh.

“Honestly, with everything that’s been going on, I think deadites are the least of our problems. Might be exciting even.” Derek chuckled and tried to hide it, Stiles called that a win. “But either way, won’t they go look in there? It’s not too hard to find out that your family has a property in Oregon.”

“It is, actually. It’s a safe house too, we’d use it if my mother ever had problems with hunters or other packs. Our father would take us there until the storm was over. Obviously, the oldest of us knew that something was wrong back home, but for the youngest, it was just like an early vacation.” Stiles nodded slowly after Derek said that. It was weird hearing him talk about his family, he almost never did that.

“You already knew where you were taking me when you suggested we leave, right?”

“It’ll be good for you, the lake next to the cabin is huge. Oregon is filled with lakes, that one’s pretty private so we won’t have any issues if you want to shift.”

“Thanks,” Stiles muttered with a soft smile on his face, settling into the passenger seat and closing his eyes for a moment, he was exhausted.

“You can sleep, I’ll wake you when we get there.”

“You won’t fall asleep in the middle of the road, will you?”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” Derek replied and Stiles had one of his eyes slightly open, so he didn’t miss Derek’s soft smile.

Sure enough, Stiles was so exhausted, that he slept through the entire road trip, he only woke up when Derek gently nudged him awake. He looked out the window, groggy from sleep, and saw that they were parked in the middle of the forest in front of a cabin.

“You’re right, it does look like something right out of Evil Dead. You didn’t bring me here to kill me and take the money, did you?” Derek chuckled and shook his head slowly as he got out of the car.

“Come on, come help with your bags.”

“Bag, singular, I pack light,” Stiles said and got out of the car, seeing as Derek was carrying two bags in his hands.

“There aren’t any grocery stores near us, you didn’t think I was just gonna bring a couple of changes of clothes and call it a day, did you?” Derek said as he threw one of the duffle bags in his direction, Stiles tried to catch it in his arms without dropping it.

“I have a feeling you’re the type of person that packs the entire house when you go camping,” Stiles mumbled and grabbed his own duffle bag too before he started walking to the cabin.

“It doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” Derek replied and shrugged, Stiles smiled and couldn’t help but be surprised about this new information about Derek.

“Good, now I know I should look for you if the zombie apocalypse were to ever happen.” Stiles didn’t miss the way Derek smiled to himself before he walked up the stairs to the cabin and dropped his duffel bag on the porch to look for the keys.

Derek opened the door of the cabin and they both walked inside. Stiles was sure that it was a nest for spiders, it was filled with dust and cobwebs, Derek tried to turn on the light but it didn’t work.

“I’ll have to go check the electricity, but it doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would.”

“Really?”

“Well, I thought we’d have to kick out a colony of raccoons on our way in.” Derek deadpanned and Stiles couldn’t help but let out a surprised laugh. “Come on, we have to clean this if we want it to be livable.”

Stiles sighed and they both left their bags on the porch since they didn’t want them getting dusty. Derek got the electricity working and, surprisingly, it wasn’t too hard to clean everything. Stiles made sure Derek got rid of all the spiders, he was not getting near those if his life depended on it.

“Did you know the amount of times people mistake black widows for harmless house spiders? Not taking my chances,” Stiles muttered after Derek complained about having to take care of the third spider they encountered.

“Spiders are harmless in Oregon,” Derek replied easily after he let the spider out the window, not wanting to kill it.

“I don’t have my phone to fact-check that, so let me doubt it.”

After a couple of hours, the cabin stopped looking like the set of a horror movie and actually looked like a vacation home for a rich family, which is probably what it was intended to be. Stiles was about to ask him why he hadn’t used the cabin in such a long time, until he remembered the fact that Derek’s family was dead. He probably wouldn’t want to be in a place where it brought so many memories, so Stiles refrained from bringing it up. He was just glad Derek was making an effort just so that Stiles wouldn’t be found out by any hunters.

Stiles was in the middle of cleaning one of the rooms when he found a book hidden under one of the pillows. It wasn’t too dusty, even though Stiles started coughing when he gave the pillow a couple of shakes. He looked down at it and grabbed it. It was a copy of The Hobbit. He looked at it curiously, it was bound in plastic and it had a stamp on the side, Beacon Hills Public Library. He chuckled when he read that, that book was extremely overdue. But when he opened the book on the first page, he was surprised to see a name scribbled out on the top corner of the blank page. Derek Hale.

Stiles walked over to the room next door, where Derek was cleaning, and he leaned against the doorframe. He held out the book and didn’t say anything until Derek turned around.

“Did you steal this from the library?” Stiles asked him and Derek immediately smiled when he saw the book in his hand.

“Yeah, I used to do that a lot,” Derek replied and walked up to him to grab the book.

“Steal from the library? Couldn’t you buy them?”

“I don’t know, it was more exciting. Plus I only took the books that hadn’t been checked out for months. It made me angry that no one was reading them,” Derek replied casually while he looked through the pages of the book, which were pretty much yellow at that point. “Most of them burned in the fire. I didn’t remember I kept one here.”

“Do you like Tolkien?”

“Not particularly. But I always thought The Hobbit was entertaining.”

“I’ve never read it,” Stiles replied and shrugged, Derek gave the book back to him.

“You should, it’s funny.” Stiles nodded and looked down at the book in his hands, Derek walked out of the room and walked towards the main area of the cabin. The rooms were at the back in a long hallway. “By the way, I hope you like noodles because that’s pretty much the only thing I was able to pack before leaving,” Stiles laughed and followed him into the kitchen area.

“I thought we were gonna feed off of forest berries or something,” Stiles joked and Derek turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised. “Noodles are fine,” he finally replied, his smile still lingering on his lips. “What happens when we run out?”

“Then I’ll drive to the nearest town and do some grocery shopping. But it’s best if we don’t do that, I don’t want to attract attention to where we are,” Derek replied calmly as he turned on the stove, Stiles was surprised that it was still working. “I’m hoping we won’t be here too long.”

“Don’t wanna be stuck here with me for too long?” Stiles guessed and Derek didn’t turn around when he answered.

“I don’t want your life to be in danger for too long.”

Stiles didn’t say anything to that, he just watched Derek’s back as he cooked something for them since they hadn’t eaten anything in hours. He looked down at the book in his hands and ran his fingers through the cover, a dragon adorned it. He turned away and went back into the bedrooms. Derek had told him they didn’t have to clean all the bedrooms in the house, just two so they could sleep in there. But he still walked over to the last two rooms and opened the door to check what was inside. Neither of the last two rooms had queen-sized beds, like the ones they were cleaning, one of them had a bunk bed and the other one had two twin-size beds. They were kid's rooms. Stiles sighed loudly and closed the door, he didn’t want to think of the implications of that.

After they ate something, Derek went straight to the room he claimed as his own and fell asleep. Stiles didn’t blame him, he was the one who’d been driving the whole night. Stiles just lay down on the couch and grabbed Derek’s copy of The Hobbit. He’d never tried reading anything that Tolkien had written since he always thought it was too difficult. But he ended up falling asleep once he reached the hundred-page mark, not because it was boring, but because he was tired. In fact, Stiles agreed with Derek, it was pretty entertaining. But that’s because it’s a child’s story. Judging by the date of the last time the book was checked out, Derek must’ve stolen it when he was around eleven years old. He couldn’t stop imagining an eleven-year-old Derek reading that book on a hot summer’s day when they were in the cabin with his sisters and his cousins.

He thought he would dream about dwarves and trolls, tiny hobbit holes, or maybe cabins and a beautiful lake during the summer. But he didn’t, he dreamt of tiny claustrophobic locker room showers and barrel guns pointed at him. When he woke up with a scream lodged in his throat, he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Probably because he actually couldn’t. He gasped for air and tried to get up, he needed to get to the shower, quickly.

Derek stumbled out of the hallway when he heard Stiles wake up so harshly. Stiles made gestures to let him know that he couldn’t breathe before he dropped to the floor, completely unconscious by the lack of oxygen.

When he woke up again, he was being swayed slowly by the water around him. He opened his eyes and saw the sky full of stars, distorted and moving since he was underwater, but still clear since he was almost on the surface. He looked to the side and saw Derek there, holding him down and making sure he got enough water in his lungs. Stiles sat up and looked up at Derek, who seemed to be relieved by Stiles waking up.

“Thank you,” Stiles said and made sure he could now breathe air too.

“It’s okay, do you wanna stay here or go back to the cabin?”

“Let’s go back, I’m not feeling like swimming and I want to go back to sleep.” Derek nodded and helped him up. 

It took them two minutes to get back to the cabin, Stiles didn’t know the lake was that close to it. He thanked Derek one last time before he went into his room to get changed. He didn’t know what time it was, he just knew that it was the middle of the night and that he still needed a few more hours of sleep. He just hoped he wouldn’t have any more nightmares after that one. Surprisingly, he didn’t.

Once he woke up and walked into the main area of the cabin, where the kitchen and the living room was, Derek was already there, making breakfast. Which was surprisingly not noodles, so Derek did pack some other stuff.

“How are you feeling?” Derek asked him suddenly.

“I’m good. thanks. I just… Had a nightmare last night.”

“About?” 

“The guy that tried to kill me and that I killed instead,” Stiles answered simply, not feeling like those were his own words. Derek took a second before he turned around to face him.

“Scott told me you drowned him…” he said, carefully. Stiles nodded.

“Don’t ask me how I did it because I have no clue.”

“How about we go to the lake after we eat something and you show me?” Stiles thought about it for a moment and then nodded slowly.

He sat down at the table to eat breakfast. He didn’t know what time it was because he couldn’t check his phone and there wasn’t a clock in the cabin. Derek still had his phone, somewhere in the cabin, but he barely used it and he probably only brought it so that he could keep in contact with Beacon Hills in case of an emergency. So when they walked out of the cabin he looked up and noticed that it was well past noon, which probably meant that he slept in. He didn’t know if Derek slept until late or just waited for him to wake up, but judging by the time of year, they probably only had a few hours left of light.

It was chilly outside and it was more noticeable once they got to the lake.

“Had you done that before?” Derek asked him once they were both standing on the edge of the lake.

“What? Drown someone out of nowhere? I’ve never killed anyone, Derek. Guess where the nightmares come from?”

“You were defending yourself. And I didn’t mean that, I meant controlling the water.”

“I know what self-defence means. Probably the only reason I’m not handcuffed back in Beacon Hills,” Stiles replied and shrugged, he looked back at the lake and sighed.

“So… You can control the water?” Derek asked him, trying to get back to the subject.

“Barely, I don’t even know how I did what I did. I was desperate.”

“What else can you do?”

Stiles hummed and turned to look at the lake, he frowned and closed his eyes, as if he was trying really hard to concentrate. He raised both of his hands and started to make a pulling motion. Back and forth, until the water followed his movement and he made tiny waves on the shoreline of the lake. Stiles stopped and then turned to look at Derek.

“Where did you learn that?”

“Avatar The Last Airbender?” Stiles replied and chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Derek laughed at him. “It’s the only thing I can do! I know, it’s pathetic. I’m sure my mom could control the water just like waterbenders or something. This is just sad.”

“I’m sure you can learn to do more stuff. With time and practice,” Derek assured him.

“Wow, so wise of you,” Stiles deadpanned and they both laughed. “But I don’t know anyone who can do the stuff I can do, so it’s pretty hard to learn, honestly. And also very ridiculous, try moving your hands close to the water for an hour and nothing happens, you just lose a little bit of dignity every time. I’m actually glad I did something now, that would’ve been pretty embarrassing if nothing happened.”

“When did you find out what you were?”

“When my mother got sick, the months leading up to her death. I was having panic attacks, but really, I just couldn’t breathe air,” Stiles explained calmly while looking at the lake, his eyes not moving even though he knew Derek was observing him. “We thought that was what was happening to my mom too. That she was going mad because she’d been on the surface too long. But every time my dad took her to the lake, she just walked out a couple of hours later. She didn’t want to be there anymore.”

“It was a human illness that killed her?” Derek asked carefully.

“The doctors said it was frontotemporal dementia. And… It might’ve been, honestly,” Stiles replied and shrugged. “But naiads are supposed to be almost immortal. And I guess we’ll never know if she might’ve been able to live longer if she didn’t get out of the lake in the first place.”

Derek regarded him but didn’t say anything, Stiles seemed to have made peace with the fact that he might’ve been the reason his mother died. If she didn’t meet the sheriff, if she didn’t have him, maybe she’d still be at the lake. Stiles looked peaceful even after saying that.

“Do you like going into the lake?” Derek asked suddenly and Stiles finally turned to look at him.

“Any lake?” Derek nodded. “Yeah, I love it.”

“Have you gone to other ones, besides the one in the preserve?”

“Yes,” Stiles seemed to smile at the memory. “My dad used to take me to this huge lake when I was younger. It’s insanely deep so not a lot of tourists go there. But I love swimming to the bottom of it,” Stiles kicked a rock with his foot and sat down on the ground, Derek followed him.

“Some people are afraid of the bottom of the ocean. I think it’s called thalassophobia,” Derek commented casually and Stiles chuckled.

“Are you scared of it?” Stiles asked him.

“I don’t know, I’ve never thought about it.”

“I find it calming,” Stiles said and smiled to himself. “I’ve had this conversation with Scott a couple of times and he doesn’t understand it. He’s also afraid of the deep end, he hates not being able to see the bottom,” Stiles explained and shrugged. “I hate the surface, I can’t stand being with my head out of the water. Holding you in that pool was hell for me, I just wanted to submerge myself, but I couldn’t do that while I was holding you.”

“I mean, you did drop me…” Stiles rolled his eyes at that.

“Come on! It was barely a minute! And I told you to trust me. You’re here now, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Derek replied and looked back at Stiles. “Why do you hate it? The surface, I mean,” Derek asked calmly.

“It moves too much, the current is more obvious on the surface, especially during storms, it’s just hell. But once you submerge your head, everything just… Goes away. You can’t hear whatever’s going on on the surface and everything is so… Still . It’s just relaxing. It’s calmer if you go deeper. My body can take high pressure so I really like going as deep as I can.”

“I guess it’s a good escape,” Derek reasoned and Stiles nodded.

“Helps me think,” Stiles shrugged and continued talking. “There’s a lot of distractions on the surface, so much noise. Everything goes quiet once you go under,” Stiles chuckled suddenly and looked over at Derek, who just gave him a puzzled look. “I feel like I’m about to break into a song and start telling you how wonderful life is under the sea,” he joked and Derek let out a surprised laugh.

“Aren’t you going to swim?” Derek asked him and Stiles shook his head.

“I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”

“Don’t naiads usually swim naked?” Derek asked and Stiles' eyes almost bulged out of his skull.

“Might I remind you, Derek, I’m not actually a naiad?” Stiles asked and turned to look at him. “And if this is some kind of trick so you can see me naked…”

Derek rolled his eyes and sighed.

“You’re unbelievable… I’m just saying, that supernatural creatures don’t view nakedness the same way humans do. My mom could transform into a full wolf and when she came back to her human form, she didn’t wear clothes. She didn’t mind who saw her.”

“Well, your mother sounds like a great woman, and I’m pretty sure my mom was also naked the first time she met my dad. But I’m not them and I can barely take my shirt off in a locker room full of teenagers. So I think I’m good, thanks.”

“So even when you shift you’re wearing something?”

“My shift isn’t that noticeable. It doesn’t interfere with my clothes. So no, Derek, I haven’t gone skinny dipping yet. I’m too scared someone might see me.”

“If they see you, I think they’ll be more fascinated by the fact that you have scales than whether or not you’re naked.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and didn’t answer that. He looked back at the lake and waited for a few moments before he spoke.

“Do you think you could be able to do it?” Derek frowned when he heard Stiles say that.

“What do you mean?”

“Turning into a wolf. An actual wolf. Do you think you’d be able to?”

“I don’t know… It’s not something you learn, it’s an ability you’re born with.”

“Malia can do it.”

“She’s a Hale, isn’t she?” Derek said easily, which caught Stiles off guard. He wondered if Scott had already told her about the list.

“You’re a Hale, too.”

“Yeah, but… I don’t know, I’ve never tried. And, well… Too late now,” Derek mumbled and shrugged. Stiles couldn’t fathom how Derek was coping with the fact that he was now a human, after being a werewolf for his entire life.

“I think you’re right, maybe I’ll go for a swim,” Stiles said suddenly and got up. “But only if you join me.”

“Hah, no way, that water is freezing and the sun is going down already,” Derek replied, making no effort to get up.

Stiles rolled his eyes and shrugged off his hoodie while he toed off his shoes.

“Well, you see, swimming during the night is actually better.”

“And why’s that?”

Stiles stopped before stripping off his pants.

“I don’t have a particular reason, I just like it better,” Stiles replied and shrugged.

He tried not to think about the fact that he was stripping down in front of Derek, he was trying to appear nonchalant. He stopped when he was down to his boxers and promptly dived in without thinking about it. He swam to the bottom like he always did when he first got in the water. He took his head out and saw that Derek was still sitting down on the edge of the lake, but this time, he had his phone in his hand.

“Any news?” Stiles asked and Derek looked up, surprised to hear him again on the surface so soon.

“Nothing important, just some updates.”

“What did they say?” Stiles asked curiously.

“For once, try to enjoy the fact that you’re not in the middle of all the danger and just go swim.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and went back in.

He didn’t know exactly how long he swam for, but when he took his head out again, it was already dark outside and Derek was still sitting on the ground, this time looking up. Stiles looked up too and saw the almost full moon, it still had a day to be full, but it was getting there. The sky was also full of stars, a sight they didn’t get often in Beacon Hills. It wasn’t as bad as it probably was in the city, but it was still an uncommon sight. He smiled and looked over at Derek, who seemed unaware of the fact that Stiles wasn’t swimming anymore. With his old senses, Derek would have known the second Stiles moved, now he seemed more distracted. Even when Stiles had his nightmare, he was surprised that Derek hadn’t found out sooner than he did and only appeared when he was choking. He wondered if Derek was overwhelmed by the lack of senses.

“You’re still not getting in?” Stiles asked him again and Derek looked over at him.

“I am definitely not getting in, you have fun though.”

“Come on, just get in, the water’s great,” Stiles exclaimed, trying not to sound too whiny.

“Stiles, it’s freezing,” Derek replied and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You get used to it!”

“Yeah, but that’s only if your body’s made to endure those temperatures, dumbass. And I don’t have my powers anymore, I’ll catch a cold.”

“I’ll take care of you if you get a cold, just get in, come on. Swim with me for a while. It gets lonely being the only naiad out there.”

That seemed to be the thing that convinced Derek because he sighed loudly and got up only to take off his shirt. He moved his feet and slipped off his shoes only to then start taking off his pants. Stiles didn’t think through the consequences of making Derek swim with him, but seeing Derek almost naked was a glorious sight he wouldn’t trade for the world. Derek didn’t seem to mind getting his underwear wet, because he jumped into the water as soon as he kicked off his pants. Once he resurfaced he let out a sound that let Stiles know that the water was indeed freezing for humans.

“I swear to god if I catch pneumonia or something…” Derek mumbled under his breath, already shivering slightly.

“You just have to swim, it’ll pass. Come.” Stiles took his hand and submerged himself, taking Derek with him.

Stiles started swimming without letting go of Derek’s hand, after a while he felt Derek pull him up, letting him know that he needed to take some air. Once they resurfaced Stiles frowned when he saw Derek’s surprised face.

“You—” Derek started to say and looked down at Stiles. “You glow…”

“Ah, yeah… It’s the scales. Naiads are murky water nymphs, we kind of need to see where we’re going. The eyes are an advantage but they don't do wonders,” Stiles explained calmly. He’d noticed his scales letting out a soft glow whenever he was swimming in the lake during the night, or even when he went too deep during the day. But he didn’t glow all over, it was just his hands and feet, which was useful if he didn’t want to touch or step on anything that could hurt him. The glow went up to his forearms with his hands and it stopped right below the knee with his feet. Derek seemed fascinated by it.

“Come on, I’ll race you to the bottom,” Derek said before he dived back in. Stiles let out a giggle and gave him some advantage before he dived in too.

Stiles was obviously faster than Derek swimming, so he reached him and grabbed his hand, stopping him before Derek reached the bottom. The lake seemed to be pretty deep and even if Derek was a good swimmer he probably couldn’t handle the pressure down there. Stiles made a gesture and told him not to go any further, Derek seemed to understand, either that or he was too fascinated by Stiles’ glow.

Derek grabbed one of Stiles’ hands gently, looking down at it closer to see the glow now that they were underwater. Stiles could see clearly Derek’s expression, who seemed to be truly fascinated by Stiles’ nature. It was the first time he let anyone see him like that, not even his father had witnessed his shifting. He grabbed Derek’s hand back and pulled him closer. He didn’t think twice before he placed both of his hands on Derek’s cheeks, his green eyes visible against the glow Stiles’ hands were letting out. He brought him closer and placed a kiss on his lips, tentatively, not knowing how Derek would react to it or if it was even okay to do that.

Derek answered him by wrapping his arms around Stiles’ waist and bringing him closer as he opened his mouth into the kiss. Stiles closed his eyes and slid his hands from his cheeks to the back of his neck, trying to deepen the kiss. They were brought back out to the surface after a few seconds by the water current. Stiles could stay submerged but Derek would always inevitably resurface.

art by mim

Derek leaned back and took a deep breath in, gasping for air since it’d been a long time since he last breathed.

“I used to be able to hold my breath underwater for much longer, sorry.” Stiles smiled softly and leaned back in.

“It’s fine.” Stiles placed a soft kiss on his lips, knowing that Derek needed a few seconds to catch his breath.

“Ever since I lost my powers it’s been really hard to do some stuff…” Derek whispered and leaned his forehead against Stiles’.

“You’ll get them back.”

“Stiles…”

“Don’t,” Stiles stopped him and looked him in the eyes. “Don’t say you won’t.”

“I was the third cypher key, Stiles. You know what that means.” Stiles leaned back and looked at him angrily before he submerged himself back into the water. “Stiles?” He asked out loud and looked down, seeing the green glow swimming farther and farther away. He sighed tiredly and rubbed his face with his wet hands. “I always have to go and fuck it up,” Derek whispered to himself before he started swimming to the shore of the lake.

He came out and picked up his clothes. He looked back at the lake and waited for a few minutes for Stiles to come back out, but when he didn’t, he sighed loudly and started walking back to the cabin. Muttering under his breath about how stupid it was to talk about his own imminent death once he finally got his first kiss with Stiles. Just because he’d made peace with the fact that he was going to die didn’t mean that Stiles had, too. 

Once he walked into the cabin, he went straight into the bathroom to take a quick shower and when he got out, now with clean clothes, he went to make a fire in the chimney, he was glad he’d already cut the logs that morning while Stiles was asleep, he definitely did not want to go out again, he was freezing.

It took an hour before Stiles walked back into the cabin, he was soaking wet and he had his clothes in his hands. Derek was reading a book in the chair by the fire, trying to get some heat back into his body. As soon as he heard the door open he got up and grabbed a blanket from the couch, he could’ve heard him coming if he still had his powers. But he didn’t want to think about that. He walked over to Stiles and placed the blanket on his shoulders, Stiles was shivering so Derek rubbed his hands against his arms once he wrapped him in the blanket.

Stiles leaned forward and rested his head against his shoulder, Derek was stunned for a couple of seconds before he wrapped his arms around Stiles in a hug.

“I don’t want you to die…” Stiles whispered and sniffed. Derek rubbed his back and squeezed him tighter, resting his head against Stiles’ cheek.

“It’s okay, let’s just… Not talk about it, okay?” Derek mumbled and Stiles nodded slowly. “Just go get into some dry clothes, I’ll go make dinner.” Derek placed a kiss on his forehead before Stiles walked away into his room.

After a few minutes, Stiles walked back into the living room area, his hair was still wet but his clothes were dry. He approached the kitchen and looked at what Derek was making, unsurprisingly, noodles and soup. Which was perfect because Stiles needed to eat something warm. Derek turned his head and looked at Stiles. He frowned, knowing he said they shouldn’t talk about it, but it was inevitable.

“I’m sorry I brought it up, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“You’re allowed to talk about it, Derek,” Stiles replied, stepping into his personal space. Derek gripped the wooden spoon in his hand and hoped that the food wouldn’t burn. 

“I know, but it’s fine if you don’t want to do this…” Derek stopped, not finding the words to say what he meant. Stiles made a face, trying to understand what Derek meant.

“What?” Stiles prompted when Derek didn’t say anything else.

“You know… We don’t know exactly how long I–” Stiles gasped when he finally realized what Derek was trying to say.

“Please, don’t tell me you were just about to say that I shouldn’t be with you because you’ll inevitably die…” Derek opened his mouth but closed it again when he didn’t know how to answer that. “Oh my God, Derek. Could you be any more self-deprecating? Don’t answer that,” Stiles added quickly at the end. “You’re meaning to tell me, that after everything we’ve been through, you don’t want to pursue this because you think you’ll die?”

“When you say it like that it sounds bad.”

“That’s because it is!”

Stiles leaned over and turned off the stove when he noticed the soup was boiling already, Derek hadn’t even noticed.

“You’re absolutely insane if you think I’m going to forget that kiss just because you think you don’t have long.”

“I kno–” Stiles stopped him and placed a hand on his lips.

“Don’t finish that sentence,” he said as he moved his hand away and leaned in to kiss him again.

Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles’ waist and kissed him back, somehow it felt easy, despite knowing that it was anything but. Stiles buried his hands in Derek’s hair and opened his mouth into the kiss. Derek leaned back against the counter and Stiles stopped him by pulling him forward. Derek leaned back from the kiss and looked at him confusedly, Stiles chuckled and pointed behind him. 

“You almost knocked over the pot,” Stiles explained and pointed at the stove, where Derek almost leaned. “Oh my God,” Stiles gasped when he realized something, earning a puzzled look from Derek. “You’re clumsy.”

“I’m not,” Derek answered immediately.

“Yes, you are! You just never noticed because you’ve always had powers. Now that you don’t have your spideysenses… You’re clumsy,” Stiles finished, not being able to contain his laughter. Derek sighed and rolled his eyes at that, knowing that he was right. He noticed it as soon as he started losing his powers.

“It’s hard to be aware of my surroundings now,” Derek mumbled, trying not to sound as sheepish as he felt. “Come on, let’s eat before it gets cold.” 

Stiles chuckled and saw him turn around to serve the food. He didn’t comment on Derek’s clumsiness, at least he wasn’t the only one being a mess now. He casually moved closer to him and placed a hand on his lower back while he reached for the cupboard to grab the plates.

After a few minutes, they both decided to sit on the couch next to the chimney instead of the table. Stiles smiled to himself, finally feeling warm. His body was made to endure cold temperatures, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t like the feeling of being warm after a cold swim.

“The fire’s nice, where did you get the wood?”

“I cut it this morning when you were asleep,” Derek replied casually and Stiles turned to look at him very slowly.

“You’re telling me… you were cutting wood with— What? A fucking axe? And I was asleep the whole time? Were you shirtless too!?” Derek couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“Oh, of course. How else are you supposed to cut wood? I was also pouring oil on myself, shame you missed it,” Derek replied and shrugged, Stiles’ jaw dropped, not expecting the sudden sarcasm from Derek.

“Wow, very, very funny,” Stiles said and rolled his eyes, he couldn’t help the smile on his face. “I’m just glad you didn’t cut your hand off or something. Given that you’re clumsy now.” Derek sighed immediately after he heard that. 

“Okay, I might be, but I’m not stupid,” Derek replied and looked down at his food. “Although it was pretty embarrassing when I knocked over half of Braeden’s weapons. We don’t talk about it.” Stiles couldn’t help the loud laughter he let out.

“Oh God, I wish I could’ve seen that,” he mumbled to himself and looked up again when he remembered something. “I thought you had something going on with Braeden,” Stiles suddenly said and Derek looked up, surprised to hear that.

“Braeden? No. Nothing’s going on with her,” Derek replied as if it was obvious and Stiles raised one eyebrow, sceptical. “She’s just been teaching me how to defend myself now that I don’t have any powers, that’s all. Nothing’s going on with her, at least not on my side.”

“How is she teaching you to defend yourself?”

“How to use a gun, for starters.”

“You hate guns.” Derek smiled after Stiles said that as if he wasn’t expecting him to know that.

“I need to defend myself somehow, I don’t have claws or fangs anymore.” Stiles squinted at him for a few moments before he spoke up.

“You brought a gun with you, didn’t you?”

“I came here to protect you,” Derek answered simply. Stiles didn’t say anything to that, so Derek spoke again. “So while we’re on the subject, I thought you had something going on with Malia.”

“Uh, what?” Stiles asked, completely baffled. Derek raised an eyebrow at him and Stiles sighed, giving in. “Not on my side, at least. She’s… Made some moves… Which I have duly ignored.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you, obviously. I mean, I never thought it would actually go anywhere, but I was trying to be hopeful.” Derek smiled at him, and it looked so genuine, Stiles was sure that his knees would’ve buckled at the sight of it if he’d been standing up.

“Since when?” Derek asked him and Stiles was caught off guard.

“I don’t… I don’t know.” 

“Really?” 

“Do you know when you started to like me?” Stiles countered and then thought about it for a moment. “You like me… Right?” 

“No, actually. I don’t. I just enjoy the feeling of leading people on.”

“All right, I didn’t know being closer to you came with all this sarcasm. I don’t know if it’s a letdown or a turn-on.” Derek chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“So we can both leave it at ‘we don’t know when we started liking each other’, right?”

“Yeah, because if we actually start trying to figure it out it’ll be really sad once we find out that we could’ve been together for months already.”

Derek chuckled softly and nodded, he looked down at his food again. Stiles leaned back on the couch and thought about something for a few moments. He let the silence hang between them before he finally mustered up the courage to say what was on his mind.

“I want to sleep with you,” Stiles blurted out and Derek choked on the soup. He patted his chest and tried to stop coughing, but that definitely caught him off guard. “Not like that!” Stiles exclaimed when he realized why Derek had reacted like that. “Not yet, at least. I was just asking if it was okay with you if we slept in the same room… Same bed?” he mumbled the last part as if it wasn’t obvious that they’d be sharing a bed if they were sleeping in the same room.

“Okay,” Derek muttered after he swallowed and stopped coughing. Stiles opened his eyes widely at that.

“Really?” He coughed to hide his embarrassment after he realized what he’d said. “I mean, yeah, of course.” Derek chuckled at Stiles trying to play it cool.

“Come on, finish up your food and let’s go to sleep, not all of us woke up at three in the afternoon.” 

Stiles almost choked on his food when he finally heard the time he woke up. He was probably exhausted after almost choking to death in his sleep. He didn’t protest and just finished his food.

It was weirdly casual the way Stiles went to grab his pillow to his room and then padded over to Derek’s bedroom, who was just getting into bed. Stiles got in too and he was thankful it was Derek who reached over and wrapped his arms around him. Stiles rested his cheek against his chest and embraced him, feeling the heat of Derek’s body lull him to sleep, even though sleeping was probably the only thing he’d done since getting there.

“You know…” Stiles started to whisper after a while, Derek hummed, letting him know that he was listening even though his eyes were closed. “Earlier… After you left the lake…” He faltered for a second before he continued the sentence. “I was crying at the bottom of the lake,” Stiles said suddenly and Derek opened his eyes, concerned.

“Stiles…”

“Let me finish,” Stiles mumbled before Derek uttered another word. “I went to the bottom because I didn’t want you to see me cry. And it’s easier there since sound doesn’t travel well and your tears get lost in the water,” Stiles explained calmly, hearing Derek’s heartbeat against his ear. “But when I opened my eyes… I was just surrounded by fish. Turtles, eels, and almost all the marine life in the lake came to check if I was okay. Kinda felt like Snow White, it was pretty cool.” Derek looked down at him, impressed by what he was saying.

“That’s… Amazing.”

“I know, right?” Stiles asked and finally looked up at him. “God, can you imagine if I could talk to them? That’d be pretty cool too.”

“Stiles, you’re not Percy Jackson.”

“The fact that you can make that reference…” Derek stopped him from finishing that sentence by pushing him and almost making him fall from the bed. Stiles let out a loud laugh and held onto Derek, who wouldn’t actually let him fall and was just joking around. “But, I’m the son of a naiad, and weren’t they considered goddesses? So I’m pretty close, actually.”

Derek frowned and thought about it for a second.

“Kind of, you’re not wrong but that’s not exactly true. They weren’t technically goddesses but they were worshipped as ones. They were representations of nature, so people worshipped them to have good fortune, good crops, sometimes even for prophetic means.”

“You mean being able to predict the future?”

“I don’t think you can do that, Stiles.”

“But that’d be pretty cool.”

“Yeah, it would,” Derek replied with a soft smile.

“You said it would be a sacrilege to kill me.”

“I said some people would consider it a sacrilege. Which it is.”

“Do you think I’d bring you good fortune if you worshipped me?” Stiles asked with a playful smile on his face. Derek opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, and Stiles faltered for a moment. “Wait, that came out wrong… I didn’t mean— Ugh, forget it.” Stiles dropped his head on Derek’s chest and Derek couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the tips of his ears were red. “Let’s just go to sleep.”

“Okay,” Derek whispered and placed a kiss on Stiles’ head before he closed his eyes again and finally fell asleep.

He never thought he’d be able to wake up wrapped in Derek’s arms. If he actually went back and thought about when he started liking him it’d be a long time. Slow development, but definitely there from the start.

He wasn’t exactly wrapped in Derek’s arms, more like tangled up with him. Derek also woke up slowly when he felt Stiles moving. He blinked a couple of times and looked down at him, bleary-eyed. Stile smiled softly and before Derek could say anything he leaned his head closer and kissed him. Derek opened his mouth into the kiss and brought him closer by squeezing him. Stiles wanted to make sure he hadn’t imagined what happened the night before. They continued to kiss lazily for a few minutes until Derek pulled back and looked down at Stiles before he spoke.

“It’s weird, I can’t get used to closing my eyes and not knowing what’s going on around me.” Stiles chuckled at that.

“That’s usually how it goes, yeah.”

“Even for you?” Derek asked curiously.

“Out of the water, I’m just a plain old human. Nothing supernatural about me. I don’t heal, no heightened senses, and no super strength. Nothing.” 

“And under the water?” 

“I’m pretty fast, I can breathe in there and I have scales, besides that, it’s the same. I still can’t heal.”

“That’s weird…”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I just thought… Since you’re a naiad…” Stiles frowned and Derek explained himself. “Naiads had healing properties. Because of the water.”

“Maybe I can heal other people but not me.” Derek nodded at that.

“Yeah, maybe… What about your lifespan?” he asked when the idea suddenly popped into his head. “Werewolves can live a pretty long time if they aren’t killed by hunters. What about naiads?”

“I’ve thought about it before too. And I’m actually not sure,” Stiles replied easily. “The only other naiad I’ve ever known was my mother, and she never told my dad how old she was. She was very mysterious about it actually, she always dodged the question. And when we finally found out I was a naiad too, my mother was too far gone to answer any of our questions. So we’ve been kind of winging it ever since. And either way, I’m not entirely a naiad, so probably half of their rules don’t apply to me.”

“Do you want to find others?” Derek asked him and Stiles thought about it for a moment.

“Others like me?” Stiles mumbled and Derek nodded slowly. “I don’t even know if there are any. We only know two banshees and Lydia was worth twenty million, I was worth thirty. What if I’m the last one?”

“You may be the last one in Beacon Hills. But I doubt you’re the last one in the world.”

“I might be.”

“We can try to find other ones, then you may have some answers.”

“Well, right now the only thing I want to do is eat something, I’m starving.”

“I’ll go make breakfast,” Derek said with the softest tone Stiles had ever heard, it made him want to melt against the mattress.

Stiles stayed in the bed for a few more minutes before he reached for the side of the bed and grabbed Derek’s copy of The Hobbit. He got up and walked out of the room just to see Derek making breakfast. It all felt weirdly comfortable as if they’d been doing that for years. Like nothing changed. Stiles walked over and allowed himself to wrap his arms around Derek’s waist, giving him a back hug. Derek leaned into it and looked back at him with a smile on his face.

“I could get used to this…” Stiles mumbled against his shoulder.

“Me or living in a cabin?”

“Definitely living in a cabin. I’ve been used to having you around.”

“Not like this,” Derek mumbled and turned around to kiss him.

“You’re right. But I don’t think I need to get used to this,” Stiles whispered against his lips and kissed him again.

They ended up having breakfast after they finally decided to stop kissing, which wasn’t until a long while later. They ended up lying on the couch after breakfast, both tangled up in each other, Stiles was reading Derek’s book and Derek had his own.

Time passed quickly when Stiles couldn’t check what time it was, but it was probably also the fact that he was so content, he didn’t want to change anything. When he looked out the window and saw that the sun was setting, he perked up.

“Should we go for a swim?” He asked and Derek looked up with raised eyebrows.

“Seriously, now?”

“Derek, trust me, swimming during the night is the best thing ever.”

“That’s because you glow,” Derek deadpanned.

“Right, and don’t you wanna see it again?” Stiles teased and knew he’d won him over when he saw Derek considering it.

Stiles did bring his swimsuit this time, Derek was the one who hadn’t brought anything to swim in.

“You can just take it off…” Stiles suggested when he saw Derek strip down to his underwear when they were about to get in the lake, Derek raised an eyebrow at him.

“Sure, you take it off too.”

 Stiles giggled and just got in the water without saying anything else, Derek rolled his eyes and also got in the water, still freezing for him. He just hoped he would get used to it.

Finding Stiles was no easy task, even if he glowed, he just swam to the bottom of the lake and waited for Derek to find him. Derek had to come up for air from time to time, he just wished he could have his powers back, he remembered holding his breath for ten minutes straight when he was a werewolf. He wished he could swim with Stiles more often.

But Stiles didn’t seem to mind that Derek was slower or needed air. He looked like he was having the time of his life, swimming with someone else. Derek guessed that this was probably the first time Stiles allowed himself to shift and swim with someone else. Derek had a pack, but Stiles was probably lonely.

After almost an hour of swimming, Stiles finally went to take some air with Derek, but he didn’t let him take too much since he kissed him as soon as Derek was done gasping for air. Derek didn’t mind and just wrapped his arms around Stiles’ waist, his legs moving so that they would stay afloat, but really, Stiles was doing all the work there. He leaned back and smiled at Derek.

“Look up,” Stiles said as he held his face between his hands. Derek did as told and saw the giant full moon right above them. “Do you feel it?”

“No,” Derek whispered, still looking at the moon. “I can’t feel the pull anymore.” Stiles made a pained expression and brought his face closer to kiss him. Derek reciprocated the kiss and wrapped his arms around Stiles’ waist.

When Derek leaned back, he looked Stiles in the eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but instead, he gasped and, suddenly, Derek was a dead weight between Stiles’ arms.

“Derek?” Stiles called for him when he saw his eyes were closing, he tried to hold him up and when he placed his hands on his back he felt an arrow. “Derek!”

He looked around and was horrified to see three men on the edge of the lake, one of them was holding a bow and arrows between his hands.

“It’s the other one, idiot!” He heard one of them exclaim and Stiles immediately went underwater with Derek.

He looked at his back, the arrow was pretty deep and Derek wasn’t responding. He knew he didn’t have much time since Derek couldn’t breathe underwater. So he swam quickly to the other end of the lake so that he could place Derek on the ground. As soon as they were out of the water Derek gasped for air, which meant that he was still breathing.

Stiles grabbed the arrow and took it out. Derek groaned in pain and Stiles muttered a few apologies while he tried to figure out what to do. 

“Okay, uhm… I’m a naiad, right? They could heal people. I’m sure I can do that too…” Stiles said to himself, Derek didn’t seem to be listening, he was in too much pain. 

Stiles was starting to get anxious, he moved his hands, trying to get some water in them and placed them against the wound. But nothing was happening. After his third attempt, he knew that the wetness in his cheek was from tears and not the water of the lake. 

“I can kill someone with water but I can’t heal you? This is…” He cried in desperation and looked down at Derek’s face, his eyes were closed but he opened them when he heard Stiles crying. 

“We knew it was gonna happen…” Derek whispered and moved to the side, not caring about the wound on his back. He looked like he barely had any strength left to even keep his eyes open.

“No, no, you can’t die…”

“Over here! He’s right there!” He heard the men, now closer to where they were. 

“Stiles, leave. Swim to the bottom and don’t come up until they’re gone.”

“No, I’m not leaving you,” Stiles said and held his hand tightly.

“Stiles…” It sounded like Derek wanted to say something else, but he stopped breathing and his eyes lost focus. Stiles looked at him in disbelief for a couple of seconds before he broke down and started sobbing. 

He heard the whipping sound of an arrow flying near him, but it didn’t hit him. Stiles didn’t even dare to look away from Derek.

“Stop!” He begged the hunters, but they didn’t stop throwing arrows, one of them came close to hitting him on his arm. But he wasn’t going to leave Derek right there on his own just so he could get hit with more arrows, he embraced Derek’s body and sobbed against his shoulder. “Just wait…” he mumbled, hoping to get a few more seconds next to him, but another arrow flew past him. “I said stop it!” Stiles screamed again and raised his hand. He gasped in surprise when he saw a giant wave wash over the hunters and knock them to the ground. He looked at his hand in disbelief, wondering if he had done that. 

When the hunters got up from the ground, now completely soaked, he realized he’d only knocked out two of them. But it was too late to do anything about it. Suddenly a net was thrown on top of him before he could do anything about it.

“Gotcha!”

Stiles got in the water and tried to swim away, but the guy kept pulling and he couldn’t find the end of the net, he was completely trapped. He screamed underwater, but truly, a couple of concerned fish couldn’t do much to save him.

He felt himself being pulled onto the other end of the lake and he tried to swim to the bottom, but to no avail. He was finally pulled out of the water and he looked up at the three hunters, he could barely move now, all tangled up in the net. It was embarrassing to be captured by a fucking fishing net.

“Thirty million, just like that,” one of them said and placed his hands on his hips, looking proud of himself.

“Do we just shoot it?”

“It?! I’m a person you absolute fuck!” Stiles screamed and squirmed, trying to get out.

“Oh, got an attitude? Well, not for much longer.” 

He looked up at one of them and saw him pull out a gun and point it at his head. Stiles closed his eyes, but he didn’t hear the gun go off. Instead, one of the hunters screamed and the next thing he knew there was snarling and growling. He gasped and opened his eyes, trying to see what was going on. His breath was punched out of his lungs when he saw a giant black wolf attacking one of the hunters. When he was done with that one, he turned to the other ones and started growling slowly as he inched closer to them. Both of the hunters took a couple of steps back, their hands raised in rendition. Before the wolf could attack, one of them screamed and fell to the floor, Stiles frowned confusedly and looked down, barely being able to see since he couldn’t move. But he did see a giant alligator drag one of the hunters into the lake right before the wolf pounced on the other one and went straight for his neck.

art by escharis

Stiles looked at the scene in complete amazement, the water of the lake was suddenly still and he couldn’t see the alligator or the hunter. And the wolf was standing on top of the unmoving hunter with blood on its fangs. Stiles was afraid for all of two seconds before the wolf started to get up and it transformed into none other than Derek.

“Derek!” Stiles exclaimed, not believing his eyes. “You’re alive! And you’re a wolf! And you’re…” Stiles caught himself before he finished that sentence and kept his eyes fixated on Derek’s face, trying to ignore the fact that he was completely naked.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked him and untangled him from the net.

“Me? You got shot with an arrow!”

“I healed,” Derek replied with a smile on his face and offered him a hand to get up. Stiles smiled widely and was about to say something but he hissed when he placed his foot on the ground.

“I think I twisted it when I was trying to swim away…” Stiles mumbled and held onto Derek so that he wouldn’t have to place his foot on the ground.

“All right, let’s go back to the cabin and have a look at it,” Derek said as he wrapped an arm around Stiles’ waist and helped him walk.

Thankfully the cabin wasn’t too far away, so it wasn’t too painful to get there. Once they got inside Stiles plopped himself down on the couch, not caring that he was still damp from the water. Derek walked over to their room to get changed, and when he walked out he was already clothed and had a couple of towels in his hands.

“You sure a twisted ankle is the only thing you have?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Nothing happened to me besides being caught in the most embarrassing way for someone related to fish,” Stiles replied and groaned. “Plus, I had a wolf and a fucking alligator helping me out. Maybe they do understand me.”

Derek chuckled and knelt down in front of him, he grabbed Stiles’ leg gently to look at the damage. He had a giant bruise forming in his ankle area.

“I’m gonna go get the first-aid kit. Do you want me to bring you some dry clothes?”

“Yes please,” Stiles answered and smiled at him.

Stiles tried to dry his hair with the towel Derek brought him and then tried to move his foot, but he hissed at the pain and stopped immediately.

Derek came out of the room with Stiles’ clothes in his hand and his phone in his other hand. Stiles looked at him curiously and waited for Derek to say something, he was looking at his phone very concentrated.

“Something wrong?” he mumbled after a few seconds.

“No, just…” Derek looked up from his phone to look at him. “They stopped the Deadpool.”

“What?” Stiles asked, baffled. 

“The list, it’s over.”

“Oh my God, really?” Derek nodded and smiled at him. “Well, they didn’t give the memo to those hunters out there.” Derek chuckled and shook his head.

“We can go home now.” Stiles sighed and looked down.

“Do we have to? We were having a good time here…”

“Stiles, you have classes to attend and exams to pass.” Derek grabbed a chair and placed it right in front of Stiles.

“Just a couple more days?” Stiles begged while Derek pulled out the bandages from the first aid kit to wrap them around his ankle. 

“Look, there are only a few months left until you finish classes. What do you say we come back during the summer, huh? The weather is still pretty cold and we won’t even enjoy the lake if it’s freezing.”

Stiles beamed at him when he heard that, even though Derek was avoiding his gaze and looking down at his ankle. 

“Are you proposing a summer escapade when we had our first kiss yesterday?”   Derek chuckled and looked up at him.

“Are you declining?”

“No! No, of course not. I want to do that. I’ll just have to convince my dad.”

Derek finished wrapping up his ankle when he said that and stopped for a moment before he said anything.

“Do you want to tell them?”

“About us?” Stiles asked hesitantly and Derek nodded. “I mean… I think they’ll find out either way. And my dad will probably kill me if I don’t tell him myself.”

“Right, but what do we tell them?” Stiles opened his eyes widely when he heard Derek ask that.

“Uhm… I don’t— Do you want to take this slow?” He asked hesitantly. “Or… Should we tell them we’re dating?” Stiles continued, his voice going lower as the words came out.

“Boyfriends,” Derek mumbled and nodded, Stiles couldn’t help but smile when he heard that word, he nodded quickly.

“Yes, and please don’t ever die again, okay?” Stiles begged him and leaned forward.

“It’s kind of bound to happen at some point…” Derek replied with a soft smile and shrugged.

“No, it’s not. You’re a werewolf, we’ve seen how much you guys can last with Satomi. And I’m a naiad, I might be immortal even, we never know.”

“So you’re in it for the long run…” Stiles flushed red when he realized what he just suggested.

“Well, I’m not— I’m not saying that we’re going to be… We don’t know how long this is— Oh my God, just don’t die, okay!?” Derek threw his head back and laughed.

“I’ll try not to,” he finally replied and leaned in to kiss him deeply. “Come on, get dressed. We should eat something and get some sleep. We’ll leave in the morning.”

Stiles knew he wasn’t going to sleep in the same bed as Derek any time soon, so he tried to savor it while he could and cuddled Derek for the entire night before they left the next morning. His father would probably have him on house arrest as soon as they came back home. He was always worried when it came to Stiles being supernatural, if it was up to him he’d have Stiles locked up in a tower Rapunzel style. So he didn’t know how he was going to react when he found out he was dating Derek. Older, formerly alpha werewolf and convicted felon Derek Hale.

When they parked in Stiles’ driveway he could see his father opening the door. He wasn’t the only one there, apparently, Derek told them at what time they’d be arriving and everyone in the pack went to greet them at Stiles’ house. Which only made them all worry when they saw Stiles walk out of the car with a limp. Derek went over and wrapped a hand around his waist to help him walk towards the front door.

“What happened?” his father asked, alarmed, going to stand next to them and help Stiles too.

“I’m fine, it’s just a twisted ankle,” Stiles dismissed him.

“And how did it happen?” Derek and Stiles shared a look and didn’t reply, which only worried his father even more.

They waited until Stiles was finally sitting on the couch in the living room to give them explanations. But Stiles was the first one to ask what happened with the deadpool. They told them about Meredith and Peter, about the benefactor and Lydia’s grandmother, and how they finally stopped it at Lydia’s lake house. 

“What about you guys? Everything quiet out there?” Scott asked them.

“Please tell me Stiles’ twisted ankle is from him just being incredibly clumsy.”

Stiles sighed and brought a hand up to his forehead.

“Yeah, he tried to cut down a log and fell on his ass when he couldn’t,” Derek answered simply and Stiles looked up at him in complete disbelief. “Twisted his ankle in the process.”

“Really?” His father asked him.

“Yep, it was kind of embarrassing so let’s not talk about it,” Stiles answered easily and shrugged.

“Dude,” Scott said suddenly, changing the subject and catching everyone’s attention. “You’re a werewolf again. How’d that happen?” He asked Derek, looking excited.

“I just needed some time away, I guess…” Derek replied casually.

“Right, yeah, he can turn into an actual wolf now,” Stiles explained, looking way too excited about that. Everyone seemed surprised to hear that.

They immediately lunged into questioning Derek about how he did it, when he did it, and everything there was to know about his full shift.

“Guys, this is very interesting and all. But I’m exhausted, and Derek’s been driving for hours, so I’m sure he’s exhausted too. How about we pick this up in the morning, yeah?” Stiles stopped and they all nodded. 

His father helped him up to his room after everyone left. But he didn’t leave after Stiles sat down on his bed.

“Tell me the truth…” He started to say, leaning against the doorframe. “You didn’t twist your ankle like that, did you?”

“No,” Stiles mumbled and shook his head. “Some hunters came looking for me. We don’t know how they found us, we were in the middle of nowhere.” He looked up and tried to calm his father down before he even got mad. “But I’m fine, and Derek was there. Nothing happened besides me losing my dignity and getting a twisted ankle.”

“Losing your dignity?”

“They caught me in a fishing net while I was swimming…” Stiles explained, trying to avoid his father’s eyes. He heard him chuckle and saw him covering his mouth while he tried to not laugh.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“You’re not mad that I lied to you?”

“Well, you didn’t lie to me. Derek did. Which… I’m sure he had his reasons, and I’ll let it slide just because he’s the reason you’re alive.” He looked at Stiles and raised a finger as a warning. “But I’m gonna have to think about it long and hard the next time you two need to ‘be out of town for a couple of days’, okay? Don’t think I’m stupid.”

“Oh my God, dad! I’m an adult, you know?” Stiles complained and his father turned around to leave.

“Not under my roof!”

Stiles sighed and couldn’t help but chuckle. He changed into some comfortable clothes and went to sleep immediately after since he was exhausted.

He woke up the next morning when he heard his phone buzz with a few notifications. He hadn’t had his phone in a while so he was surprised to just see it sitting there on his nightstand. He reached for it blindly and cracked one eye open to read his texts.

Dad: I had to get to work to sort everything out, breakfast’s downstairs

Dad: Be careful with the stairs

Derek: Are you feeling better

Stiles sighed and rolled over to type a response.

To Dad: kay, don’t worry

To Derek: Come over, my dad’s not home

Derek answered a minute later and Stiles chuckled when he saw his response.

Derek: Is this a booty call at 10 a.m in the morning?

Stiles: It might

Stiles: But actually I just need you to climb up the window and help me down the stairs, my ankle’s killing me and I’m starving

Derek: I’ll be right there

Stiles tried not to be lying down when Derek got there. He wasn’t immobile, it was just a twisted ankle so he could still put pressure on it, but he would probably fall down the stairs and it would make it worse. Derek climbed through the window twenty minutes later, Stiles wasn’t even startled, which was a total win. He probably needed to get used to Derek climbing in through the window of his bedroom.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine, but I think I moved my ankle the wrong way while I was asleep. It’s worse now.”

“You should probably go to the hospital…”

“No way, come on. I think my dad left some food in the kitchen,” Stiles got up and walked with a limp to the door. He stopped when he reached the stairs and turned around to look at Derek, who simply smirked.

“Should I carry you?” Derek teased.

“I’m not a damsel in distress, just give me your hand so I can put some of my weight on you.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Derek said and grabbed him by the waist to pull him up. He grabbed his legs with his other hand and Stiles gasped.

“Wow, you just had to go the extra mile, did you?” Stiles said and let his head fall back. Derek chuckled and walked down the stairs slowly.

“Don’t know when’s gonna be the next time I might be able to do this,” Derek shrugged and placed him gently on the ground when they got to the floor. Stiles simply rolled his eyes at him and tried to walk to the kitchen. “I think Scott and the others might be coming over to talk about the Deadpool with you.”

“Talk about the Deadpool’… Sure, is that code for ‘interrogating Stiles about his newly found non-human status’?” Stiles mumbled and opened the fridge.

“Come on, they care about you…”

“If they really cared about me they would’ve at least noticed it. Like you did.”

“What do you mean?”

“You knew something was off with me. You’ve known for a while now that I wasn’t human.”

“I think…” Derek started to say carefully. “I’d get a little bit jealous if they cared the same way that I did.”

Stiles froze when he heard that and he turned around to look at him very slowly.

“You surprise me every time.” Derek shook his head and chuckled.

“Come on, sit down already, I'll make something for you.” Stiles did as told and watched Derek look for something to eat. “And you should probably dig into what you are. I understand if you don’t want to answer their questions. But I can help you find others like you. We can figure it out, answer some of your questions. You probably have a lot and I doubt you’re the last one on earth.”

“Yeah, we can do that… But if anyone asks me if I can grow a tail I’m throwing myself out of a window.” Derek chuckled lightly at that. “My shift is not as interesting as you guys, I look exactly the same.”

“Sure, apart from the scales.”

“That are barely noticeable.”

“The fins…”

“Just between my fingers and toes, I think Harry Potter looked cooler in the fourth film than I do.”

“You glow.”

“At night.”

“What about your eyes?”

“Well, yeah, I’ll give you that. That’s kinda cool.” Stiles smirked and blinked to show off his green irises. Derek smiled and before he could comment on them Stiles went back to his brown eyes. “I think the most annoying bit is my gills. That’s not part of my shift, they’re always there, it’s just that sometimes they’re closed. There’s a reason I never take off my shirt in the locker room.”

“They’re barely noticeable when they’re closed.”

“I don’t want to risk it. I didn’t want to be found out. And now… Now it’s a matter of time before everyone knows. Everyone in Beacon Hills has seen the Deadpool. Nobody’s saying anything because they’re scared. I’m no longer the ‘human of the pack’.”

“Did you like being the only human?” Derek asked and approached him.

“I don’t know… I’ve never actually been human. Just as weak as one I guess.” 

“Stiles… They wouldn’t get it. There’s just a handful of us that have been like this since birth. We didn’t go through a shifting process like Scott or the other betas did. Lydia was also born like this, nobody’s questioning her. Or Malia. You were given this gift by none other than your mother, just like I was. Don’t disregard it.” Stiles smiled and raised his hand to caress his cheek.

“You always manage to say the right thing. Thank you.” Derek smiled down at him.

“Besides, you’re not weak. You can learn to control water. That’s very powerful.”

“That’ll take me years to learn.”

“You have time. You’re immortal, right?” 

“Right. You’ll help me then?” Stiles teased.

“Yeah, of course.” Derek leaned down to kiss him but before he could both of their phones buzzed with notifications, which meant the guys were already texting through the group chat and it was a matter of time before they showed up at his house. Stiles tipped his head back and groaned. 

“I don’t know what I’m dreading more, having to tell them everything about me being a supernatural creature my entire life or that you and I are dating. If anyone is surprised by any of those two things I think I will cry.”

“Oh, they definitely already know.”

“Yeah, of course they know, but I don’t want to answer any questions that I don’t even know the answer to.”

“No, I meant about us.”

“What?” Stiles muttered.

“You think Scott clocked the fact that I’m a werewolf again but he didn’t notice that we’d been sleeping in the same bed for two days? Trust me, he knows. And he probably told Allison, who told Lydia… You know the drill.”

“No secrets in the pack I guess.”

“Besides you being a naiad.”

“I’m good at keeping secrets, huh?” Stiles teased and smirked. “My dad knows too, by the way. He also knows you lied about my ankle, so… I suggest you measure your lies around him. It takes some real skill to lie to my dad, and only I have that skill.”

“Noted. Was he mad?”

“Not really, just glad I was okay.” 

“Good. Then I guess there won’t be any big reveals today, thankfully.” Derek smiled and leaned down to kiss him deeply. Stiles kissed him back but only pulled back to whisper something against his lips.

“You think we could just sneak away before they get here?”

“Stiles…”

“Fine, I’ll endure the questioning. But you have to make it up to me…”

“Of course,” Derek replied and wrapped his arms around him before he kissed him again, leaving Stiles breathless. They weren’t underwater and Derek had his powers back, so he could hold his breath longer than Stiles for once. Maybe they could kiss until everyone got there. Stiles knew they had all the time in the world, literally, but he wanted to spend every spare moment with Derek. Especially kissing him now that he knew he’d kiss him back.