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This was a travesty. A complete and utter travesty.
Stiles’ voice was one of the most renowned in all the North Pacific. According to most merfolk, it was infamous for not the best of reasons and nothing to be proud of. Stiles could talk for ages and never run out of things to say. He was well known for talking anyone’s ears off easily, which most merpeople found a negative. Stiles had never really cared, though. There were a few merpeople who loved him for his talkativeness, like his father and Scott, and they were the ones who mattered most to Stiles.
His talkative nature was one of the reasons why Stiles was so attracted to the human world. From the little bits of their interactions he could see from the shore or on boats, humans were loud and talkative and always seemed to have so much fun. Stiles knew he could fit in among them easily.
Except that he had a tail instead of legs, which didn‘t make getting around on land very easy.
Not anymore, though. The sea witch had given him these glorious legs. Yes, they were skinny and gangly and mole-covered, much like his arms. But they were all his, for now, hopefully forever.
Unfortunately, the witch’s payment for his magnificent transformation had been his voice. The voice that he could no longer use to charm the gorgeous prince before him.
Prince Derek had been the reason that he’d even bothered to go looking for a way to get some legs. He was a beautiful specimen of a man, with soft-looking dark hair, a stubbled jaw, and glorious muscles. Stiles could watch him for hours happily while Derek was on his ship or on the shore. But it wasn’t all about his looks, wonderful as they might be. He was kind, too, with a weird, large fluffy thing that Stiles supposed was a pet for the man, and the men who helped him pilot his ship around. Derek was a very competent man on the water, able to help out with anything.
About a week before, however, Derek’s ship had caught fire during a storm. After escaping, he’d gone back to save the fluffy pet, who had still been on the ship. Derek was definitely a hero. But he’d nearly drowned after rescuing his pet, falling unconscious in the water.
Stiles supposed he had been a hero, too. He’d rescued the human and brought him back to the shore where he’d often found him playing his snarfblat. He’d stayed, talking to the unconscious human until he started waking up. He hadn’t been sure how Derek would feel about a merperson rescuing him, so he’d returned to the ocean, the prince on his mind every moment since.
He’d known that he had fallen in love with Derek by that point. Unfortunately, his father hadn’t exactly taken his being in love with a human very well at all. They’d had a horrible argument, things had been said, and Stiles had swam off, loyal Scott at his side. And then they had found the sea witch, a beautiful creature named Lydia, who had made her deal with him.
And now, here he was, sitting across from his beautiful prince in a canoe at sunset on a peaceful lake with a surface so perfectly still, he could see his reflection in it, unable to woo him with stories of his exciting adventures in the ocean with Scott.
Like he said, a complete and utter travesty.
Oh, how he wanted to tell him all about his world, not just his personal adventures, but about the different fish and all the amazing things that each type could do, about all the different shells and what creatures came from them and how rare each one was, about what lived at what depth and what temperature! But most of all, he wanted to tell Derek that he was indeed the one who had saved him from drowning after that fire on his ship. Someone who Derek had apparently fallen in love with without knowing exactly who, or what, they were.
But no, he was stuck miming things to Derek, moving his arms around with more abandon than usual to show how enthusiastic he was, making his face as expressive as possible.
Unfortunately, Derek was looking at him like he had the night before, like he didn’t know what to make of Stiles at all. The dinglehopper had been right there on the table. Why had it been there if it hadn’t been meant to be used there? Scott had told him what it was for, and he absolutely trusted Scott and his knowledge of the world on land. And then Derek and his sisters had used the dinglehopper to put their food in their mouths! What was up with that?
Humans were so strange. But Stiles did love them so, especially Derek.
The prince had never really spoken much. That normally wouldn’t be a problem because Stiles could easily talk enough for both of them, and probably Derek’s sisters, too, if they decided to not talk much. But alas, he was mute.
A travesty.
They had been having such a romantic day together, too. Derek had been charged with showing the newcomer around the kingdom. There had been riding in something with wheels and big hairy creatures called a carriage, and wonderful food, and dancing! Oh, how he loved dancing with Derek! He’d even lifted Stiles like he didn’t weigh a thing. And now they were on this beautiful lake, hoping that he’d get his kiss of true love so he’d be human forever with Derek.
He wondered if he was making a good impression on Derek. He sighed heavily, blowing a few errant strands of hair out of his face. Then he glanced over at the prince.
Derek was looking at him wistfully as he picked up the oars to start rowing again. “I wish I knew what your name really was. Maybe I could guess it?”
Stiles blinked, then looked at him expectantly. Derek could never guess his mer name, because humans had trouble pronouncing them, at least according to the few merfolk who met humans. But he could possibly guess Stiles, the nickname he‘d been called for most of his life.
“Stiles!” came Scott’s hissing voice suddenly from behind some willow tree branches brushing over the water. “His name is Stiles, dude!”
Good old unsubtle Scott, and the best best friend ever! That would make it so much easier, if Derek had actually heard. Hopefully he wouldn’t ask any questions about a mysterious voice revealing things.
“Don’t call me dude,” Derek responded back to the voice he‘d clearly heard, then widened his eyes in surprise. “Stiles? Is your name Stiles?”
Stiles nodded rapidly, looking into Derek’s light-colored eyes meaningfully. Finally Derek knew something about him, the merman who was so head over fins in love with him!
As Derek rowed, little glowing things started appearing around them in the rapidly disappearing daylight, and the birds and bugs and various ocean creatures started making musical cries, their voices coming together in a sort of song, making the most romantic atmosphere Stiles could have ever imagined. Derek started leaning in and Stiles, shocked and elated, started leaning in, too.
But then Derek turned away, a blush on his cheeks, and went back to rowing.
Stiles pouted. He was never going to get that kiss at this rate! But his lips quickly quirked back up into their usual smile, because he was going to enjoy every second that he got to spend with his prince, darn it!
They drifted slowly across the lake’s surface into a more private area hidden by the branches of dozens of willow trees, including the one where Scott was hiding. Derek smiled over at him, and Stiles became hopeful that maybe a successful kiss might still happen in their little oasis. But the prince didn’t make another move, and Stiles certainly wasn’t going to try if Derek was likely going to turn away again at the last minute.
“Oh my god, just kiss him already!”
That hissing sounded an awful lot like Lydia. Stiles quickly glanced toward the willow trees and spotted telltale red hair floating among the branches. Yup, there she was, with Scott.
“What was that?” Derek asked, looking around for the source of the sound.
Stiles put on a big innocent grin and shrugged. He didn’t know how Derek would react to seeing Lydia or Scott.
Derek leaned in again slowly. Stiles licked his lips in anticipation, then closed his eyes and puckered his lips. He hoped that Derek wasn‘t going to turn away.
He must not have because Stiles’ lips met another pair. They were surprisingly soft and gentle, and Stiles just melted into the kiss.
“I’ve been wanted to do that forever!” Stiles blurted out as soon as they separated, then widened his eyes in shock as he realized that his voice actually came out.
Derek looked even more surprised by that than Stiles was. “You can talk!” he gasped.
“Oh my god, I have so much to tell you!” Stiles said, grabbing Derek’s hands. “I did save your life! It was me, back when your ship caught on fire!”
“It was you!” Derek stared at him with a combination of awe and fondness.
Stiles could get used to being looked at like that by Derek forever. “Yeah!”
“You must be an amazing swimmer.”
Stiles glanced over to where Scott and Lydia were hiding. He saw a graceful hand come out of the drooping branches and make a shooing motion in his direction. The implication was clear. Go on, tell him!
“I’m a merman!” he blurted out before he could second-guess himself again. “I live here in the Northern Pacific Ocean, and I saw you drowning and I wanted to save you because you’re so beautiful and kind and you saved that fluffy creature and I kind of love you and--”
“You love me?” Derek looked even more fond, and Stiles’ heart felt so full of love for this man, he was going to melt into the lake right then and there.
He nodded fervently. “A whole lot!”
“Me, too!” Derek said quickly, grabbing Stiles’ hands tighter. “I mean, I love you, too.”
As they kissed again, Stiles thought he heard a couple of soft splashes as Lydia and Scott returned to the ocean depths. After that, he wasn’t aware of anything except for kissing his wonderful prince that he was giving up the ocean for.