"Alright, spill it!" Lydia loudly dropped her school books onto the pack's lunch table directly in front of an odd gloomy Stiles.
All day Stiles seemed to just sulk around the school thinking to himself, not talking or responding to anyone more than he thought was absolutely necessary. Lydia had enough of watching her best friend be off like this. She wanted her bubbly, never shuts up, annoying, wonderful Stiles back.
The outburst shocked the table into silence and stopped Stiles mid-bite into his half-assed sandwich. He just couldn't be bothered to put enough effort into making a nice looking/tasting sandwich for himself this morning when he knew he had such a doomed fate this afternoon. Which meant it wasn't the most appetizing school lunch he'd made, but at least it was edible this time.
"Hwhaut?" He asked her through his mouth full, looking around for clues from his friends before nervously continuing to chew. He'd been spending most of the day just thinking of ways to get out of the bet before it was too late so forgive him if he hadn't had time to pay attention to anything that could've upset his best friend today.
"You know what! I've been patient with you all day and night, but if you don't tell me what's going on with you right now I'll— uh.." Lydia took a second to think before leaning forward onto the table and narrowing her eyes at him. "Or else you won't be invited to my birthday party."
The group reacted with quiet shocked gasps and scandalized giggles around the table as Stiles nearly choked.
"Awh Lyd dhat's-" Stiles coughed then painfully swallowed before continuing. "That's really harsh! You can't mean that!"
Lydia tilted her head slightly, stood up straight and crossed her arms, keeping her eyes narrowed the entire time. She was serious and her body language practically screamed not to test her.
"Duuude, you better fess up she's not kidding around-" Scott awkwardly laughed. "Sides didn't you already buy her a—"
"Shh! Shh Scott don't spoil it-god.. fine!" Cutting off Scott, Stiles set down his sandwich and nervously wiped his hands on his pants before explaining himself. "I um... did something stupid... I might've made a bet with Derek so he would come to the pack meet last night and— I-I can't go through with it but I also can't get out of it!"
Lydia eyebrows furrowed in confusion, piecing things together in her head. As thoughts raced through her head, she raised an eyebrow attempting to prompt him to continue but Malia interrupted before he could.
"That's it?" Malia gave an unimpressed look.
"Yeah... I thought it was going to be something really bad." Isaac said, looking at the others who were nodding. However, while the others seemed quick to write off Stiles's worries as him just being dramatic, Lydia knew there had to be more to the bet.
Stiles gave them a pained, it's-really-bad look to which Malia rolled her eyes at.
"Come on Stiles it can't be that bad. What are you supposed to do?" Scott asked, going back to eating his chips, the tension Lydia caused starting to dissolve. .
"I can't.. tell.. you..." Stiles picked at his lunch not willing to meet anyone's eyes, not while he was thinking about what he's about to go through in just a few short hours anyway.
"Stiles... since when do we keep secrets?" Lydia chastised similar to the way a mother scolds a child.
"Since always?!" Stiles insisted, glancing back up at her as he threw his hands up in bewilderment.
"And how often does it get us in trouble?" Lydia sighed and continued to reprimand him. Stiles sighed dramatically back before responding.
"Since always..." He knew she was right but he really hated how Lydia went all mother hen about things sometimes.
Stiles's eyes followed Lydia as her gaze softened and she finally sat down across from him. "Just tell us what it is and maybe we can help you get through it."
She reached over and squeezed his hand comfortingly. Her voice was softer now as she offered him some different options. "Or if it's really that bad maybe we can help you convince Derek to not make you do it..."
"But like... it can't be that bad. It's Derek. He may be super weird but he's not going to make you kill someone or like streak across town or something," Group chuckled and Malia tried to sneak some of Stiles's lunch while he dodged everyone's gaze.
"Wait... He's not making you kill someone, right?" Scott tensed, suddenly more worried than entertained.
"No!" Stiles lamented and the pack physically relaxed again.
"And you don't have to streak acro—" Isaac inquired, lightening the mood again.
"No, oh my god no!" Stiles was beginning to get tired of this rollercoaster interrogation.
"Then it's not that bad just tell us—"
"I can't!!" Stiles buried his head in his arms. "It's too embarrassing..." his grumbles muffled.
"Augh! Stiles just wolf up and do the bet then. I'm tired of hearing you whine!" Malia scowled, also getting very tired of this back and forth. It was going nowhere. She angrily took another bite of his sandwich.
"Stiles, we're not going to make fun of you—" Lydia tried to reason, squeezing his hand again, trying to direct his attention back to her.
"A lot." Scott added, earning a soft glare from Lydia.
"We won't make fun of you a lot—" She continued.
"Uh speak for yourself—" Malia interjected, finishing up Stiles's stolen lunch.
"Okay. Most of us won't make fun of you a lot so either tell us or we call Derek right now and find out from him" Lydia finished, mildly irritated.
Not lifting his head up, Stiles responded with a loud groan.
"Fine. I'm calling him." Lydia got out her phone, rapidly typed in Derek's number, her nails clicking away. "Last chance!" She sing-songed before calling and letting it ring on speaker so everyone at the table could hear.
"Wait Lydia- don't—" Stiles shot up from his seat and he panickedly tried to grab Lydia's phone from her before the call went through.
"This better be life or death" Derek's gruff voice came to life over the speaker along with a large amount of background noise and Stiles froze hearing him. He was too late. Derek would tell them everything over the phone and his life would be over. He didn't even get to finish his sandwich yet. Where is his sandwich anyway?
"Hello to you too, Derek." A chorus of giggling and hellos piped up from the table after Lydia's greeting. "And it might as well be with how Stiles is acting. Tell us what's up with you and Stiles's bet." Lydia watched Stiles stare at the phone biting his lip nervously.
Derek went quiet before sounding genuinely surprised as he asked, "Stiles told you about our bet?"
"Well... kind of. He told us there was a bet but won't say what you're making him do." Scott contributed leaning closer to the phone so Derek would hear him better.
"Oh" Derek huffed out a laugh, quiet enough his microphone almost didn't pick it up. "Is he there with the rest of you then?" Stiles desperately made wild gestures, coaching them to say no.
Malia gave him a confused look and responded for the group, "Yeah, why?" Stiles let out a frustrated guttural groan and sat back down on the bench, absolutely defeated. This was it! His already tattered reputation was going to be set ablaze by a Hale— how ironic!
There was some rustling and the sound of a car door closing before Derek's voice came back significantly more clear.
"Listen here, little brat..." Stiles's eyes widened at the reference and gave a horrified, pleading look to the phone, hoping maybe Derek could somehow see it and spare him. "You aren't getting out of this bet now. So you're going to meet me out in the parking lot right before practice so I can get you all nice and ready to play lacrosse. You understand?"
He'd heard Derek threaten him a million times before but nothing like this. And while it scared him shitless knowing what Derek was not-so-subtly hinting in front of everyone— hearing him say in a fake sweet voice "get you all nice and ready" before changing back to the strict no-room-for-arguing tone, gave Stiles weird fuzzy butterflies all over.
"I uh...y..yes..." Stiles stammered out a reply, his friends noticing his burning red cheeks but were too shocked to poke fun at it.
"Good." Derek's demeanor changed back to his normal oh so cheery self. "Thanks for the call, Lydia."
The entire table sat in stunned silence while Derek ended the call without another word.
"Oh my god... it really is that bad. Isn't it?" Lydia broke the silence to say what everyone was thinking. Stiles merely slid down the bench seat to hide under the table.
"So...so bad..." He whined as Scott sympathetically padded his shoulder under the table.