Chapter Text
Derek hated going to the beach with his family. First of all, Laura and Cora were practically naked (he didn't care that it was called a "bikini" it was showing too much skin) and every single guys were looking at them. Derek knew his sisters were hot - objectively, because he was not really into boobs and vaginas, nor was he into his sisters, thank you! - but having to smell the lust pouring out of every single male around them was not really how he wanted to spend his vacations.
He preferred reading on the porch of their house in the forest. But Laura and Cora wanted to go to the ocean, and they always ended up having what they wanted. Every single time. Even the time they wanted Derek's room to be bright pink. He's still not entirely sure how Laura managed to convince their parents, but he had to live in a girly girl room for two months before his dad realized that he did not, in fact, like pink.
His sisters were evil. Especially Laura.
"Deeeer-bear!" Speaking of the devil... "Deeeeer-Bear! Come on, stop pouting so much, you're uglier than usual when you do that".
It only made Derek frown his eyebrows a little more.
"Stop being a spoilsports Der-bear and come have some fun with us!"
"Leave me alone Laura." Derek growled before looking down at his book again. He was reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Vernes and he was fascinated. The descriptions in the book seemed so real that, if he closed his eyes, he was certain that he could just imagine the ocean and its secrets.
"Stop being boring! You're always boring Der-bear!"
When he kept ignoring her, Laura huffed and left him - finally - alone. He was 21 for God's sake, he should be allowed to choose what he wanted to do with his free time without the devil in a micro red bikini breathing down his neck.
"She's right you know honey..." Talia Hale brushed back the hair on the forehead of her son. "You spend too much time in your books my darling. You should spend time with real people, with your friends... or make new ones."
"I hate the beach, you know that, she knows that, everybody knows that" Derek gritted through his teach. "I don't want to be here but I'm not making a scene."
Talia sighed, but said nothing. Her son was stubborn, just as much as his sister - and herself - he was just more mature than her eldest child. It pained her to see him so closed off sometimes. She just wanted what was best for her child, as every mother does.
"Fine, honey... Have fun with Captain Nemo."
----
The next day, Derek overslept. He had been reading the whole night, until his glasses dropped off his nose and he fell asleep with his cheek against the book. He had drooled on it a little bit.
He left the house after noon with his belly full of toast and his book under his arm. He walked past the beach towels were his sisters were tanning, and kept walking on the beach until he reached one of those rocks that overlooked the sea. He hoped on it, opened the novel, and spent the day ignoring his sisters' attempts at annoying him.
----
It's on the fourth day that he saw something weird.
Laura and Cora were never far enough if you were asking him, throwing sand at him, swimming around the rock he was perched on. So he kept pushing, going a bit further every time, until he finally went far enough so that he couldn't see or hear his family anymore. Or anyone, really, to be honest.
Aronnax was just discovering Atlantis when he was startled by a voice.
"Watcha' reading?"
He looked to his right, then to his left, but saw no one. Was he going crazy already?
"I'm here, you guppy!" said the voice, laughing.
Derek narrowed his eyes, and looked at his feet. He almost let his book escape in the sea.
"Hi! Watcha' reading?"
Derek... Derek couldn't speak. Because the perso...no, the creature that he was seeing right before his eyes could not be human. First because its skin was pale and almost...green looking. Then, because HELLO, GILLS!
"Oh, sorry. I thought...since you're a wolf...I didn't think you'd be so surprised... hum.. Sorry...Are you okay? You look a bit green..."
YOU look a bit green! wanted to scream Derek. But he couldn't get over the fact that there was a freaking mermaid right in front of him!
"Hum...Did I broke you? Please don't be broken, you're too pretty to be broken, and also my dad would be mad and you don't want to see him mad I mean WOW hurricanes and stuff..."
The mermaid kept talking, sinking deeper and deeper in the ocean as it - no, he - was talking, and suddenly Derek was reaching for him, not wanting to see him disappear.
"No!" he almost screamed, grabbing the mermaid's arm. That he released almost immediately when the mermaid growled at him. "I'm sorry! I didn't want to hurt you, I just.. don't go! It's just... I've never seen a mermaid! I didn't even know you existed!"
The mermaid growled again. "I'm not a mermaid! I'm a merman! It should be obvious you know, with the lack of shells on my breasts!"
Derek gazed wide-eyed at him. Were mermaid really wearing shells on their boobs?
"Of course no you guppy!" the mermai...no, merman, laughed. Oh. Apparently, Derek had said that out loud. "I was just mocking you. It's funny because it's easy!"
Derek was too gobsmacked to even scowled at him.
"I'm Stiles! What's your name? Watcha' reading?"
"I'm...eh... I'm Derek."
"Are you sure? You seemed awfully hesitant,!"
"Well I'm sorry if I'm a little shocked after seeing a freaking merman!" Derek exclaimed, moving his arms in weird circles, his book flying straight into the ocean. "Oh. Shit."
Half a second later, the merman, Stiles he had called himself, vanished without a single splash, leaving Derek alone and confused. Extremely confused. He had never thought he would find green-looking skin attractive but... the merman had been wet, all thin muscles and beauty spots. His skin looked so soft and...
"Found it!"
Derek almost slipped from his rock, and the hand of the merman was reaching for him in a heartbeat.
"Wow, eh there big guy, don't go break your neck! It would be such a shame!" Stiles flashed him a grin.
Was... Was he flirting with Derek?
"I'm sorry your book is wet. Was it any good? I can never read books, because my dad doesn't want me to come to the surface too often and well...you see what happens when they stay under the sea."
Derek looked down at his book. The cover was ruined, and the ink was running where he had kept notes in the margin.
"Why doesn't your dad allow you to come to the surface?"
"Well Derek... humans, duh. I mean, why don't you run around half shifted?"
Because humans were not supposed to know. Yeah. Derek felt a bit like an idiot.
"Anyway. What's the book? Is it good? Do you like it? What is it about?"
Derek blinked. The merman was...closer than he remembered him. He could see the liquid gold in his brown eyes. It looked like the whiskey his uncle liked to drink by the fire. It was...mesmerizing.
"Hum... It's...Twenty Thousands Leagues Under the Sea. It's about a...submarine. That goes...under the sea." Real smooth Derek. "I'm not sure you'd like it...you know since you...live under the sea."
The merman blinked at him once. Twice. And then laughed.
"Oh by Poseidon! You're funny!"
Derek felt him himself smiling widely. He liked the merman laugh. He liked it a lot. It sounded like the birds at home that sang in the forest. He liked those birds' songs very much.
"I have to tell Scott! He'll never believed me! He doesn't believe that humans can be funny!"
"Well...technically I'm not entirely human..."
Stiles laughed again. "See? That's what I'm talking about! You're funny, Derek!"
----
He only left the rock and the merman because the sun had finally set on the ocean, and his family would probably go looking for him if he were not to return to the cottage soon.
"Will you come again tomorrow?" Stiles asked, his big and beautiful eyes looking a bit hopeful.
"I...yes. I will."
"Do you promise?"
Derek took a second to look at the merman, taking in his cheekbones, cute upturn nose, and full, kissable, cupid lips.
"Oh I definitely will!"
He could have sworn that the merman blushed a little - his skin looked a bit greener - before he dived into the ocean. It was a prettier sight than the sun setting.
He didn't even noticed that he had forgotten his book on the cliff before it was too late and he was already in his room. Strangely enough... He didn't really seem to mind.