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‘Hey, Der?’
‘Yeah?’
Stiles flops over on his towel, onto his belly, so he can look at his boyfriend who is reading in a sun lounger a couple feet away.
‘Why don’t you ever use your pool?’
Derek looks up from his book with quizzical brows.
‘It gets plenty of use by the rest of us, but I’ve never seen you use it. The only time you come even near it is when you clean it. So, what gives?’
‘Oh, well—‘ Derek hides behind his book ‘—I can’t swim.’
Stiles blinks rapidly, as if it will help him make sense of this information.
‘You can’t swim,’ he repeats slowly. ‘How the hell did I not know that?’
‘It never came up,’ Derek shrugs, still hiding behind his book.
‘Oh my god, dude! You should have told me!’ Stiles scrambles up. He plucks the book from Derek’s hands. ‘Do you have any idea how crucial it is for people like us to be able to swim?’
‘People like us?’ Derek asks, staring longingly at the book in Stiles’ hands.
‘Yes. People like us. People who live in a supernatural infested town. People who fight monsters on a monthly basis. People who might have to save other people from drowning.’ Stiles hits Derek in the arm with the book. ‘What if I hadn’t been able to swim? Huh? You would’ve drowned when the kanima pushed you into the water!’
‘But you can swim,’ Derek reiterates. ‘So it’s a moot point.’
Stiles grabs Derek’s hand and pulls him out of the chair.
‘Of course it matters. What if I’m not there next times?’ Stiles’ chests hurts at the mere thought of it. ‘Or what if I’m the one who’s unconscious or paralyzed?’
Stiles sees the panic flash in Derek’s eyes.
‘Plus, I want to see you slowly emerging from the pool, water dripping down your body, swim shorts clinging to your nether region, you pushing back your hair to show off your arms and chest,’ Stiles quips to lighten the mood. He waggles his eyebrows until Derek rolls his eyes.
‘I don’t even own swim shorts,’ Derek says.
‘You don— Okay, I never say this but… Put on your shirt.’
‘Why?’
‘We’re getting you swim shorts, and then I’m gonna teach you how to swim.’
Stiles waits for Derek to protest or to grab his book back and sit back down, but Derek actually walks into the house to do as Stiles says.
An hour later, they’re standing by the pool, wearing brand new matching swim shorts. Stiles resists the urge to dive bomb into the water, and instead lowers himself slowly into it at the shallow end.
‘Come on,’ he says, holding out his hand for Derek. ‘The water will barely come to your waist here.’
Derek nods, swallows, then gingerly lowers himself into the pool next to Stiles. He grabs Stiles’ hand and squeezes so hard that Stiles can feel the bones grind together.
‘Hey, you’re not scared of water, are you?’ Stiles asks. ‘Because if you are, you might be better off with a professional.’
Derek shakes his head. ‘It’s not that. Last time I had swimming lessons, well, Peter happened.’
‘Ah. Say no more.’
Stiles squeezes Derek’s hand back. He presses a brief kiss to the corner of Derek’s mouth, and Derek relaxes his grip a little.
‘We should probably start with floating,’ Stiles suggests. ‘Which means we’re gonna need one of those foam boards.’
Stiles points to the bright orange boards lying next to the pool. Aside from swim shorts, they also bought accessories. All of them completely necessary, including the bright pink inflatable bed with a cup holder.
Stiles grabs the board and hands it to Derek, who looks at it like it personally offended him.
‘Alright, grip the board with both hands. Not so tightly. Now, slowly lift your feet off the floor and keep lifting your legs until they’re in line with your back.’
Derek shoots him a look, his eyebrows telling Stiles he’s insane.
‘You want me to show you first?’ Stiles ask.
Derek hands him back the board. Stiles holds it out in front of him, lifts his feet off the floor, and keeps raising them until he’s floating. He sets his feet back down and pushes the board back to Derek.
‘Now you.’
Derek takes a deep breath, and lets it out. He takes another deep breath, lets that one out too. The third deep breath, he holds in.
‘Hey,’ Stiles says softly. ‘I won’t let anything happen to you. Trust me.’
Derek throws him a small nervous smile. Then, with a focus Stiles hasn’t seen since the first time Derek gave him a blowjob, Derek lifts his feet off the pool floor. The moment his legs make a straight line with his back, Derek puts his feet back down.
‘That was awesome! I’m proud of you,’ Stiles cheers.
Derek grins excitedly at him. He looks so adorable that Stiles can’t resist pulling him in for a quick, congratulatory kiss.
‘Just out of curiosity,’ Stiles says when he pulls back. ‘Why did you insist on getting a house with a pool when you can’t swim? I remember you telling the real-estate agent that you absolutely had to have one.’
‘Because you wanted one,’ Derek says like it should be obvious.
‘Dude, that was like a year before we started dating!’
‘I was working up my courage to ask you out!’
‘And in the end it was still me who had to do the asking.’ Stiles shakes his head in mock disappointment. ‘You have such a weird sense of romance.’
‘Works for you, though.’
‘It does.’
They stare goofily at each other for a minute, then Stiles taps the orange board in Derek’s hands. ‘Again, but try to keep floating a little longer this time.’
‘Do I get another kiss if I do?’
Stiles nods. ‘I feel like that would be a mutually beneficial reward system, don’t you?’
‘Definitely.’