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“Why are you doing this?”
“You are seriously asking this question right now?? THIS is your only concern??”, Stiles asked furiously.
“Yes Stiles, I would like to know why you not only jumped after me into the freaking pool but now also been holding me up for almost two hours!”, Derek said harsh. He didn't want it to come out that harsh, but he noticed the short breaths Stiles were trying to take in. Could notice the tremors in his tired muscles, because he was just human. And it scared Derek more than anything else in this world right now.
Stiles took a deep shaky breath and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Look, I think I have a plan.”, he said breathlessly after opening them again and looking around, “do you see the lifebelt at the wall? I think I can get to it.”
“What? No, this is too dangerous! What if it gets you? Just let me go and safe yourself. He just wants me, just run Stiles, please.”, Derek tried desperatly to bring Stiles to just LET HIM GO.
“Yeah, not gonna happen.”, Stiles huffed a laugh and rearranged his arms to grab Derek in a different angle. Derek was starting to get too heavy for him, he had to do something. Okay, maybe it was a stupid plan. But he was not gonna let Derek drown just because he was too weak.
“Stiles just please listen to me, I-”
“Do you trust me?”, Stiles suddenly asked and looked into Derek's eyes. Derek could see the sweat mixing with the water droplets on his forehead. Stiles couldn't hold them both up any longer. This was a fact. And so Derek tried again to talk Stiles out of it.
“Just let me go, I can hold my breath and mayb-”
“NO!”, Stiles screamed and even the kanima stopped pacing for a while to look at them.
“No”, he added quietly, “I can't do that, I can't let you go.”
“Why not?”, Derek almost whispered. Stiles just looked at him. The veins on his forehead were about to explode, because the exhaustion was getting too much. His eyes were big and red and there was still so much kindness in them, Derek never understood why, after Stiles saw what was happening in this world. His lips were a thin line and he could hear the breaths coming through his nose with such force, it reminded Derek of the fact, that they were running out of time.
“Do you trust me?”, Stiles asked again, taking a breath after every word. God he was just so tired. His eyes were desperatly looking at Derek, because he needed him to trust him right now. He needed him to know, that he will come back for him.
“Of course.”, Derek said and almost sobbed, because it felt like a goodbye. Stiles looked relieved and looked around for the kanima. It was currently behind them, always pacing along the edge of the pool. Back and forth, back and forth. Stiles had counted the seconds it would take for the kanima to reach the lifebelt. He had 8, maybe 10 seconds to swim to the edge of the pool, get to the lifebelt, throw it into the water and then jump into safety to get Derek. This should be enough, right? For a second he thought about staying in the pool but another cramp in his left calf painfully reminded him that this was their only chance of survival.
“Okay”, Stiles said and his expression turned stubborn, “here we go. I am gonna let you go now, but trust me, I will come back, okay?”, he looked at Derek with tears in his eyes, “I WILL come back!”
“I know you will.”, Derek just said and realized, that tears were forming in his eyes as well.
“Okay, okay...”, Stiles grip started to loose and Derek felt himself being lowered deeper into the water. He took a deep breath and braced himself. Just before his eyes were completely covered by water he heard Stiles' voice.
“I love you.”
Derek almost gasped, but his survival instincts were already kicking in and his mouth remained shut. His eyes however widened and looked at Stiles who was crying now, a sad smile on his lips and then he was underwater. He saw Stiles fighting the urge to get Derek above water again, but then he frantically made his way to the edge of the pool.
9, 8, 7,...
Stiles was counting inside his head. He had to make it. He had to save Derek. He trusted him and he couldn't bear the thought of Derek dying, knowing that Stiles didn't come back to him. That he failed him.
He tried to swim to the edge of the pool as fast as possible, but his legs were cramping up so bad, he wanted to scream and just give up. Water was splashing everywhere and then the edge was finally there. He pulled himself up and just took a milisecond to search for the kanima. To be honest the kanima looked confused as to why the human was suddenly out of the pool without any protection. But then he screeched and made his way to Stiles. But he was already near the lifebelt and was trying to get it off the wall.
“Come on, COME ON!!”, he struggled with the lifebelt.
There was some kind of security holding it in place, but after a few seconds it finally was free.
4, 3,...
Stiles yanked the lifebelt out of its mount and ran to the edge of the pool again. The kanima now knew what Stiles was doing and started to jump in front of Stiles. And then everything happened in slowmotion for him. He heard his breaths coming out more uneven now, due to the small sprinting. He saw the kanima jumping into his way with its mouth wide open and still screeching. He then looked back at the pool and saw Derek's shadow at the bottom. He had to make it!
2, 1!
Stiles jumped into the pool and almost felt a rush of relief, which was then replaced by so much pain! He screamed and fell into the water. The kanima had scratched his arm almost all the way up to his shoulder. Blood was painting the water of the swimming pool in a light shade of red and Stiles could almost taste the copper in his mouth, but there was no time. He didn't know how long the poison would take to paralyze his whole body so he had to hurry!
He made his way down to Derek who must have heard his scream, because his eyes were wide and he looked like he was terrified. Stiles could already feel his right arm going numb. Shit! He grabbed Derek's shirt with his left arm, pushed himself off of the ground and into the direction of the lifebelt. This was now his only mission. Get Derek into the lifebelt! Nothing else mattered, THIS was the only thing on his mind right now. Finally both of them broke through the surface of the pool, Derek coughing and almost screaming a mantra of “Oh my god. Are you okay? What happened? You can't just say that to me and then do that!”, but Stiles didn't really pay attention. His right leg was going numb now as well. With a last burst of both his legs he pushed Derek through the lifebelt and secured his arms through the strings around it so that he wouldn't sink down again. Derek was safe.
“There is no time, Derek, I am sorry, the poison is spreading too fast”, Stiles panted and placed a small kiss on Derek's cheek.
“No, Stiles you can't do that, please don't do that, PLEASE!”, Derek was begging him to just hold on, but he knew how even though you want to, your muscles won't cooperate once the poison spread enough. And then he could feel Stiles sinking into the water and he looked scared out of his mind even though he tried to cover it. Derek knew about his fear of drowning, which made the situation even worse, because he was the reason they were in this mess. If he had just got out of the way faster then he could have fought the kanima and everything would be okay. But now Stiles is gonna die in the worst way possible with fear and panic running through his body and it was Derek's fault! He would never forgive himself for that.
“All that matters is that you are safe.”, Stiles said, eyes never leaving Derek's gaze, just before he went under.
“NO! God please don't! STILES!”
Stiles could still hear Derek's cries and it broke his heart. But he was safe and Stiles was relieved, that Derek would live. He tried to fight against the panic welling up in his throat, because his whole body was now paralyzed and there was nothing he could do to get him back to the surface. He knew, that waiting for this very last breath would just hurt so much and he was tired of being hurt all the time. Stiles just wanted this to be over. So with Derek's cries still in the background he closed his eyes and opened his mouth.
Derek continued to scream and cry for Stiles to just come back up. The kanima continued to pace along the edge of the pool but Derek didn't even shoot him a glance, he kept his eyes locked on the figure slowly sinking to the bottom. And then suddenly the bubbles stopped coming up and he felt his heart break. The scream Derek let out was so heartbreaking and painfull. All these years he thought, that his feelings weren't mutual and he tried to push him away, but Stiles was always there. His scent never really leaving Derek's loft or his clothes, because they would solve crimes together or Stiles would come over to rant about Scott only talking about Allison all day long. And sometimes they just sat on his couch and talked. But now Stiles is gone. Just like that. Gone. And Derek will hate himself forever, because Stiles died because of his stupid mistake. He couldn't stop him from dying, because he couldn't fucking move and it was killing him inside!
But then there was another noise and he looked up, tears clouding his vision and saw Scott running into the room. His eyes flickered between Derek and the kanima and he was running to it, but Derek couldn't let that happen!
“SCOTT! Oh my god, Stiles is under me, get him out GET HIM OUT! PLEASE!”, Derek cried and sobbed, because now there was actually hope. What if Stiles was going to be okay? And then something amazing happened. He could feel his toes! Derek sobbed and let out a big sigh. He saw Scott jumping into the pool and the kanima coming closer. But Scott was smart enough to get Stiles out of the pool at the opposite site from where the kanima was now. As soon as they both got out, Scott went to check Stiles, but the kanima was coming closer and he needed to get him away from Stiles. So with an angry grunt he let him lay there and jumped towards the kanima to lure him away.
Derek's toes were tingling and now his fingertips were too. He saw Stiles laying there. His arms and legs were spread out, his right arm still bleeding. His head was tilted away from him, but he couldn't hear anything, no heartbeat or breath. He had to get to him! Derek focused on Stiles' smile and the way his laugh lightened up the whole room. The way his eyes were squeezed shut whenever he was laughing so hard, his stomach hurt. The way the whole world stopped for a while when their hands or shoulders were touching. The way he could breathe easier when Stiles was around. While Derek was focussing on this he could feel his claws extending. He was screaming out of his lungs and fully crying now, because it took all his strength to do focus on healing and turning. His muscles were twitching and hurting. Derek didn't wait for the claws to fully extend and kept slashing up and down his arms to bleed the poison out. He looked up to Stiles again, still, unmoving, quiet. He whimpered at the sight of that. Then finally FINALLY he could move his legs and arms and swam to the edge of the pool with everything he had. In the back he could hear Scott still fighting the kanima, but he didn't pay much attention.
Once he hauled himself out of the pool he rushed to Stiles, moved his head and started breathing for him. After two breaths he started chest compressions. Stiles eyes remained closed. His lips were slightly parted and painted in a light shade of blue. His whole body was cold and wet and the clothes clinged to his newly formed mucles. Derek's mind was just blank. There were no thoughts going through his mind, just breahthing, pushing, checking, breahting, pushing, repeat. In the distance he could hear the kanima leaving through one of the windows at the roof and he was about to shout to Scott to come over here and help him when Stiles' eyes shot open and he started coughing. Derek never heard something more beautiful.
He helped Stiles on his right side and tried to calm him down. There was water coming from his mouth and his nose and Stiles kept his eyes shut while he was coughing his lungs out. Derek slowly caressed his back. Stiles was still unable to move due to the kanima venom so Derek held him. He was still so cold! But he was alive. And this was the most important thing right now.
“Shh, it's okay, you are okay.”, Derek repeated softly and sobbed after almost every word.
Once Stiles was done, he started to take deep breaths of oxygen and it felt so good. He was starting to shiver violently but his chest felt lighter and he opened his eyes to look into Derek's which were full of tears.
“Wha-”, he started but then Derek's lips were on his and hands were pressed to his cheeks to deepen the kiss. Stiles was confused at first but then he closed his eyes and smiled into the kiss. He tasted Derek's tears and noticed that they were both shaking. Both their breaths were coming out uneven, his because he just learned to breathe again and Derek's because he couldn't stop crying. When they parted Derek's eyes remained closed and tears were dropping onto Stiles' nose. He let out a breath he didn't know he held and Derek did the same. Derek opened his eyes and looked deeply into Stiles'.
“Don't you ever do that again, you hear me? That would have been the crappiest goodbye ever!”, Derek said with a small smile in the courner of his mouth.
Stiles looked up and into Derek's eyes which were still overflowing with tears without the intention to ever stop.
“I just needed you to know how I feel.”, Stiles said, his voice hoarse and rough, eyes blinking slowly and taking longer to open.
“Next time try not to sacrifice yourself directly afterwards”, Derek whispered with a smile and leaned in for another kiss, “I love you too dumbass.”