Surfboard

Chapter 3: Can't Keep Your Eyes Off My

Contrary to popular belief, Derek loves the beach. He's always accused of hating excessive amounts of sand (true), warm sunny days (false) and people in general (mostly true), but he did love the expansive dunes, surfing choppy waves, and laying out under the sun with a good book and the break as his soundtrack. He even loves getting crappy beach food which usually consists of tacos from a local truck and way too many sweets. As long as the beach wasn't too crowded he always enjoyed himself.

He remembered when he was on the basketball team and they had a match with Laguna High they would stay near the beach before the game. He and Camden would sneak off and night swim among other minor mischiefs.

He smiles thinking of their rowdiness as he watches Stiles try to sneak up on Scott.

"Hey Stiles!" Derek shouts out, startling and derailing the boy's concentration. He spins towards the unassuming wolf with his mouth agape.

"Dude! I almost had him! What the fuck?!" Derek simply shrugs and puts his sunglasses on while taking out a book.

"Bro, I'm a werewolf, of course I knew you were there." Scott says, trying and failing to assuage his friend.

"Bullshit! I was this close to getting you, Scott, and Derek had to ruin it! What did you want anyway?" He asks walking over and standing in front of Derek's beach towel. Derek places the book on his chest.

"Nothing, just wanted to interrupt you from doing that." Stiles picks up a handful of sand, but thinks better of it at Derek's cocked eyebrow. He tosses it aside and begins to frump off until he thinks better of it and sits beside Derek on his beach towel.

Derek exhales and places his book on his chest again. "Stiles, what?"

"You called me to get my attention and now you've got it! Whacha reading?" Derek is about to protest but takes inspiration from the peaceful day surrounding and turns his book towards Stiles.

"It's called 'My Story' by Ronnie Kray. He's one half of the infamous Kray twins. They were-"

"Gay gangsters, yeah!" Stiles takes the book from Derek and skims the back cover. "You know, Derek, if you wanna learn more about my people, you could have asked. I'm a bit worried about how I'm coming off if you're starting with the mob though." Derek furrows his eyebrows in confusion and takes the book back.

"What? They were gay?"

"Oh no, sorry, dude. Spoilers!" Stiles slaps his hand over his mouth as Derek scans the book flap for clues.

"Erica wanted me to read it, said it was relevant to-" Derek closes his eyes quickly and rubs the bridge of his nose.

"Relevant to what? Derek?" Stiles prods, but Derek just shakes his head. Erica pointed the book out to him one day and said it was about twin brothers with a secret. Derek thought the secret was they were secretly predatory killers, but if they were gay, he knew she was pointing to the fact that one of them was openly married. Gay man trapped in a societal approved marriage? There was no reading between those lines. When was Erica going to realize he wasn't gay?

He sits up and places the book in his lap. "Nothing, it's just Erica being... Erica. Hey, what did you mean about wanting to learn more about your people?"

"Well, you know since I-" Stiles looks around. It's a look that's not necessary, just done for the benefit of the thing. The people he's wanted to tell about his bisexuality have been told and no one else would care, but it seems to be a leftover habit that Derek was sad he never noticed before. Derek reaches out and touches Stiles knee drawing the boy's attention back. He reassures Stiles with kind eyes that match the sea and Stiles exhales and nods. "-came out. Wow, I don't know what that was, I-"