Chapter Text
"Stiles, Run!". He stumbled as Derek shoved his shoulder roughly and his head jerked a little as if to say, No. On the back of Derek's neck was a small cut, only about 2 inches, he looked at Stiles eyes wide. Stiles runs to him and catches him when his legs buckle beneath him, hooking Derek's arm around his shoulder, Stiles begins to try and run from the Kanima.
They make it halfway around the pool before Stiles realizes that the Kanima has not yet tried to paralyze him. "Do you see it?!" Stiles pants trying to haul Derek's dead weight along with him.
"No! Just keep going!" Derek sounds panicked, maybe he can tell that if they don't get help they're both screwed... big time. "C-Call Scott" he commands and Stiles tries to juggle the weight of Derek whilst retrieving his cell. It catches on his sweatpants before it falls to the floor with a clatter and stupidly Stiles lets go of Derek to bend over to pick it up.
He's halfway down when he hears the panic cry of, "Stiles-" before Derek is cut off by hitting the water. He jerks up, heart beating fast as he sees Derek sink to the bottom, then he looks at his cell once more. "Do i call Scott or save Derek? But if i don't call Scott me and Derek will probably die anyway." for another two seconds Stiles internally battles with himself before deciding that it's Derek. Even if he's a dick it doesn't mean he has to die alone in some high school swimming pool.
Without the slightest hesitation Stiles dives into the pool and swims towards Derek's nearly unconscious form, chlorine burning his eyes painfully before he manages to find the strength to swim to the surface. Stiles spits out water while Derek swallows gulp fulls of air before smiling slightly in relief. However, Stiles is not so optimistic. "Where'd it go?!" He inquires (mentally cringing at the fact he just sent a mixture of spit and water in Derek's face) whipping his head side to side to try and catch a glimpse of the killer.
Derek doesn't even have the heart to lie, he just frowns and his eyes wildly flick from surface to surface of the room. He's still panting from his near death experience and keeps thinking that he's going to run out of air any moment. Then there was a screech that echoed through the whole building and beside him Stiles stiffened in fear, heart beating like a hummingbird. Then it slows slightly and he turns to Derek, "I need you to trust me just this once" then he glances at the phone that is just at the edge of the pool. They both knew that they needed help, Scott's help or they were both going to die here.
Derek starts feeling the panic creeping it's way up his throat, he can't go back under. He didn't want to drown, he couldn't trust Stiles to have the strength or kindness to bring him back to the surface. "No!" He desperately cries trying to convince Stiles this is a bad idea, "I don't trust you and you don't trust me"
Stiles smiles at him sadly, "I'm sorry Derek"
This time Derek knows to take a deep breath and he starts to descend down to the depths of the pool. He waits for what feels like an eternity before he finally chuckles to himself. So this was it, after everything he'd been through he'd die at the bottom of a pool because Stiles would rather die running than staying here with him. His eyes start to close and he tries to remember his family. The smell of his mothers perfume, the sound of his fathers laughter and playing in the creek on hot summer days when he was younger and his siblings used to be all sticky with sweat, dust and mud would cling to their skin. Especially the boys as they would see who could climb the highest trees and run through the forrest barefoot. Then just as the darkness is about to wash over him, there is a burst of red and the familiar lanky, skinny bones tugging him tightly to his body and propelling them upwards.
Once more they break the surface Derek's lungs burn for the air that they went too long for without. It takes him a minute before his brain registers that Stiles has him in a tight grip pulled against his chest and leaning his forehead on Derek's shoulders. And just for a second the lean on one another and feel at peace, almost. Before Stiles starts splashing about trying to swim to the diving board to grip the handles, he knows that it'll be impossible to keep him and Derek a float till Scott notices he's missing. He stretches out his arm as far as it can go when he thinks he's close enough and there is a second of pride when he manages then the next second he's panicked. His fingers slip and they try to get purchase on the handle and then his heart stops as his grip slips right off it. For a split second his heart stops he and Derek both know that he cannot keep them floating much longer. No matter how much Stiles wanted to, he didn't have the physical strength to. For the third time tonight they will submerge and never resurface but then there is a warm hand gripping him tightly and hauling him out of the pool.
Scott smiles at him before turning back to fend off the kamina and Stiles turns to Derek, who is propped up against a diving board, dripping wet, panting and he smiles at him.
"Stiles I-"
Reality hit him with the force of a brick wall. "Hey! Stiles, buddy come on wake up! You've been in here all of this period dude. Coach is seriously worried about you." Scott is leaning over him and shaking his shoulders, he grins at him sloppily. "Welcome back, what the hell happened."
Disorientated and confused Stiles stares at him blankly for a second for realizing Scott was expecting an answer. "Oh, I-um-I got bored and i walked by the pool and i just got a little weird and i came here because i needed a moment."
Scott's grin slips of his face and his eyebrows furrows, "Yeah well, coach says we have to just start getting ready for practice since the bell will go in about 5 minutes anyway. But... we can just tell him that you're unwell and you can go home and sleep."
"No, no man it's okay. You go to practice, i'll get Derek to come and pick me up." he whips out his cell and starts to walk to the doors.
"What about the jeep?" Scott asks, puzzled, "And why Derek, of all people. Look i'll explain to coach he-"
Stiles temper short circuits and he spins on his heel and bursts out, "No Scott! Derek is fine, he'll get me, stop being so judging."
Scott stops making his way towards Stiles and the jab about his ability to judge people's personalities makes him curl into himself slightly, he looks a thousand times smaller when he looks back at Stiles, hurt flooding his eyes. "Scott, buddy, I didn't mean to- I just wanna get home okay? Here you can drive the jeep, just don't crash her please?"
He throws the keys in Scott's general direction before walking out the double doors, guilt rolling off him in waves. Another fight with Scott over Derek. He sighs and shakes his head before typing a quick message to Derek. 'Hey, real sorry to just ask you outta the blue like this but can you pick me up from school?'
and within minutes a blunt, 'Sure'n gets sent to him.
Mind racing he opens his locker and automatically takes out books and puts in his homework. What was wrong with him. Was he now so traumatized by the late night swim classes he took last week that now he couldn't look at the pool without feeling that falling sensations when he lost his hold on the bar of the diving board. Was this some mild form of PTSD that would be the end result of his involvement with the supernatural kind? This is the moment that small part of him, that self conscious cowardly voice that lives in the back of his mind that makes him afraid to do thing screams at him to abandon his friends and this supernatural world. That you were not built for this world.
That. You. Do. Not. Belong
He comes back to the present with a smack. The sunlight of a late summer afternoon kissing his angular face, it soaks through his clothing until it has reached his bones. He sits there idly thinking about how weird the weather is, the forecast this morning was rain but it was still sunny. After waiting 10 mintues he starts to think Derek won't show, maybe he had better things to do? Whilst sitting on the concrete steps, head in hands he contemplates why he even thinks like that. He does belong in this world, it's his world as much as it is Scott's or Derek's or Isaac's or Erica's. His friends are here, his pack is here so his heart remains here because he knows that one day (far, far in the future) his father will join them and he'll no longer have no answers to cases that have caused him more harm than good. No, he belongs here because how could he even think about abandoning Scott- his brother; the pack- his friends; and Derek. Derek....
"Stiles, are you okay?" The soft yet firm reassuring hand on his shoulder makes him squint against the suns glare and stare up at Derek Hale's supermodel face. He nods and gets up and walks towards Derek's car. They walk towards Derek's car before Stiles' stomach rumbles, "Hey can we go to IHop and get something to eat?"
Derek scoffs, "How come every time i see you, you expect me to feed you."
Stiles shrugs, "Happy coincidences?" and hops into the passenger seat with a slight spring in his step.
When they are both buckled in and ready to go Stiles turns to Derek and smiles at him like they haven't seen each other in decades. Derek's head tilts slightly before a grin slowly stretches itself across his face.
Derek doesn't tell him but he hasn't smiled like that since Laura was alive.
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"So today I got bored during my economic's period and I took a little walk and I happened to walk by the swimming pool. Now don't be angry but I sorta passed out and remembered how I held you up in a pool for over two and a half hours."
The waitress had just finished taking their order and Stiles couldn't bear the silence any longer. His words were barely heard as he just muttered them quietly, almost scared of what Derek would say. He dared to look at his face and is surprised to see Derek look at him with complete and utter sympathy.
"Really? Huh, that's weird." Stiles blushes and nods. His napkin is very interesting today, have they bought a new brand or something? "Stiles, it's okay to be afraid of something like that. Sometimes when i go to sleep I still get flashbacks of lying at the bottom of that pool, unable to do anything about it. And it feels like i never left that pool, that i'm constantly drowning, clawing at that attempt to let oxygen flow around my boy once more.It feels like-"
"Like a panic attack"
Derek thinks on it for half a second, before nodding, "Yes. How do you..."
"Know?" Derek nods, "Because I started to get then after my mom died."
"Sorry to hear that, wanna talk about it?"
Stiles' eyes snap up to meet Derek's own, and completely ignored his question "So, how do you wake up? Err stupid- What i mean to say is, how do you stop yourself from feeling like your drowning? Because, honestly sometimes i get these panic attacks and it feels like I'm drowning and- Y'know that when your drowning you don't actually inhale until right before you black out?" Derek's head shakes, and Stiles' bobs up and down, "Yeah, it’s called voluntary apnea. It’s like no matter how much you’re freaking out, the instinct to not let any water in is so strong that you won’t open your mouth until you feel like your head’s exploding. Then when you finally do let it in, it stops hurting. It’s not scary anymore. It’s actually…kind of peaceful."
Derek is quiet, not because he think Stiles is wrong, but he understands.That is exactly how he felt and still sometimes feels when he remembers how he nearly died at the bottom of that pool. He frowns and the nudges Stiles' leg gently with his own under the table, "I remember that you saved me. Just before it get's too bad there is a flash of red and i know it's you. I know i'm safe."
Stiles flushes once more, "But what if it just gets worse? What if it's just hell now and hell later on?"
Derek just snaps, "Don't say stuff like that Stiles"
Shocked, Stiles snaps his mouth shut as Derek clenches his fists lightly, the knuckles protruding from beneath the white stretched skin. They just sit and stare at one another then the staring contest they are currently holding is broken off when the waitress comes over with their food and Stiles just avoids Derek's gaze for the rest of the meal and they sit in silence eating, pondering over their earlier conversation. Slowly the weather outside turns drastically to suit Stiles' mood, the sun dies away and grey clouds come over from the east and start raining down on the unlucky passers by. Even the weather is as bipolar as Derek Hale's attitude towards him.
The whole ride back to the Stilinski residence Stiles stares out the window and doodles little triskeles on the fogged up glass, watching the rain rush down. While the stupid insecure voice in his head mocks him. Now Derek probably thinks your just a whiny little kid, with a shit load of problems that he doesn't give a damn about. Just when you started to gain his friendship, his trust? No, he doesn't trust you, remember? Unfortunately, yes he remembers the panicked cries of Derek before he let him go, "I don't trust you and you don't trust me." More than anything that happened that night, those words cut the deepest because the truth was that Stiles did trust Derek. And now he thinks's he's just a needy teen. Yup, you've went and mucked it all up again Stiles. Well done buddy.
When Derek's car pulls up on the sidewalk and he jumps out as quick as he can. He just mumbles, "Bye" and then falls out of the muscle car, flinching as the cold rain runs down the back of his neck and soaks his clothes. He's 3/4 up the drive before he hears the muffled sound of the car door slam and the sound of feet slapping hard on the wet asphalt.
"Wait! Stiles, wait up!"
"What is it Derek" Stiles replies but keeps walking till he reaches the porch, then he stops and turns around.
"I feel bad about snapping at you earlier in the diner." Derek runs a hand nervously through his hair before letting it rest on the back of his neck. "Please Stiles forgive me."
Stiles shakes his head, "You know what? I seem to be doing that a lot Derek, forgiving people, especially you." Derek remains silent, "What are you not even gonna try to apologize?!"
"OK, I'm sorry. I just need to tell you that the only reason I snapped at you was because we cannot afford to think like that Stiles. We are a weak pack and we are constantly tried against forces we are no match for! Optimism and hope are the only things we have right now, and we need to stop thinking so negatively about things. I know it's hard but if i can try, you can too, right? Take inspiration from Churchill! If you're going through hell, keep going"
A smile is tugging at the edge of Stiles' mouth and even though he has forgiven him he decides to see how far Derek will go to obtain his forgiveness, "I still don't forgive you"
Derek hears the jump in his heartbeat and holds back an eye roll, "OK, how can i possibly make it up to you?"
Stiles hums mockingly, and works on unlocking the door and just before he closes the door on Derek's face he quips out, "Buy me coffee? Tomorrow morning?"
Through the door Stiles hears Derek's laughter, "Was that your attempt to ask me out on a date Stilinski?"
Grinning to himself Stiles fires back, "I didn't mention anything about a date Mister Hale." He swings the door back open with a grin, "But i also don't hear any arguments, so I'll see you tomorrow at 8 o'clock, this very same spot."
As he closes over the door he hears Derek groan in protest, "But Stiles it's a Saturday?"
"Bye Derek" Then for the next five minutes Stiles sits on the floor at the door grinning like a madman and Derek sits in his car listening to his heartbeat doing the very same thing.