Everyone is sitting on the warehouse's living room's floor finishing dinner. Scott is so excited that Isaac is back that he hasn't left his side since the beta arrived. Same goes for Derek, who hasn't lost sight of Cora.
Since the two of them got there, Derek showed them around and led them to a cabin for themselves while the others went back to the lake to get their clothes back. In the following hours everyone was introduced, stories were shared and all the catching up done. It's already late when everyone cleans up the kitchen and settles in again for another movie, all of them in pairs sitting or lying on the floor with the lights dimmed down.
It's not like Cora knew them well so she figures it's not her place to say something. Isaac, however, has been biting his tongue ever since he saw Stiles and Lydia holding hands when the group joined him, Cora and Derek by the warehouse a few hours ago. And it was weird, because to Isaac everyone else seemed conscious of what was happening but no one was saying anything; actually, they were more like avoiding noticing it.
Stiles and Lydia certainly didn't seem aware of the attention they were drawing to them and continued holding hands and standing close to one another the entire night, so Isaac figured that they were finally together but maybe it was recent; that should justify everyone's looks, like they probably just hadn't adjusted to Stiles and Lydia being a couple yet. But halfway through the movie there's definitely something Isaac is not catching and it's bugging him.
Lydia's sitting on the floor beside Stiles with their backs against one of the couches and their legs stretched out in front of them, barely touching, hands clasped on top of their bellies. When she thought no one was paying attention to them, Lydia grabbed one of Stiles' hands and moved it away so she could lean on his chest. His arm moved automatically to wrap around her waist. Not that anyone would notice their rosy cheeks in the darkened room but Stiles and Lydia are both blushing when they stare at each other, the movie completely forgotten.
Everyone else notices, however, when they kiss.
It starts slow. Lydia's fingers fiddle with Stiles' and she brings his hand up so that she can kiss his palm and his knuckles while Stiles kisses her forehead, her temple, her cheek. Lydia giggles quietly; it's not like some of the others aren't making out and cuddling too anyways, so she turns to Stiles and looks into his eyes like he means the world to her, which is true. She moves unhurriedly, holding back a bit until she's sure he's okay with it.
Disentangling their fingers, her hand moves to caress his cheek. When he smiles back at her, something inside of her warms and it's such an unfamiliar feeling to her that she just wants to drown in it. When she looks at him like that, like she's melting, Stiles just wants to kiss her so he does. Lydia meets him halfway and they kiss softly, their lips moving in sync and for a moment, they forget they are surrounded by their friends and it's just the two of them in their own world; nothing else matters.
Then Isaac speaks, confused. "Am I missing something here?"
Well, he was.
Everyone in the room was aware that Stiles and Lydia were kissing and, like they have been doing lately, just chose to not say something about it. Still, everyone couldn't help but to look at them. Only Isaac didn't see in time the signals Scott and Derek were sending him and he blurted the question out.
It's not like it's really his fault. He assumed that Stiles and Lydia were together but then seeing them kissing and everyone seeming a little uneasy at what was happening and all the scents, the sexual tension mixed with the others' restlessness, were too overwhelming for the beta.
Had he known what was happening, he'd kept his mouth shut.
Stiles and Lydia break the kiss idly like they are not really mindful of the situation, but blushing inevitably when they turn to face the others. No one says anything but what could they say, really?
Scott tries to shut down the beta. "Isaac..."
He doesn't listen. "I thought you two were together." He states bluntly, gesturing towards Stiles and Lydia, and then turning to the others. "I don't understand. You guys keep giving them with these weird looks, I don't get it..."
Stiles is at a loss of words and just looks at Lydia apologetically. She stares back at the others and mumbles. "We hmm... We're..."
"It's complicated." Scott offers.
"I'm not following. You were kissing..." Isaac turns to Stiles and Lydia again. They nod almost imperceptibly. "Why is it such a big deal? I thought everyone had been waiting for this for a very long time. Why is everyone uncomfortable?"
"It's not like that, Isaac." Scott tries to explain. "It's just..."
"We're not together." Stiles says.
"What do you mean, you're not together? Your scents are all over each other."
"We're not there yet, I guess..." Lydia lets out in a whisper, knowing that Isaac will be able to hear her.
"Why?"
Cora has to elbow Isaac to dissuade him from saying anything else and the group falls silent after that. What are they even supposed to say to that?
Everyone looks away.
Stiles and Lydia look as sad and uncomfortable as they can be for another hour.
xxxxxxxxxx
After about a thousand apologies from Isaac for butting in, Stiles and Lydia decide to go home before the others, not waiting for the movie to end. They walk back to their cabin side by side, not really talking again. Both tried to start a conversation on their way down the hill but words just wouldn't really come out.
When they're in their bedroom, Stiles grabs Lydia's hand so that she'll turn around to face him.
"Can we not overthink this?" Stiles asks, scratching the back of his neck. "We were in such a good mood before. I really don't wanna make a big deal out of what Isaac said..."
Lydia bites her lower lip nervously, nodding after a moment. "We'll figure it out, right? In time..."
"Yeah." Stiles murmurs, kissing her forehead and cupping her cheeks. "We always do. We just need not to push it and let it flow, I guess."
When she looks up at him, there's a mischievous smile on her lips. Just because they can't bring themselves to talk about it and figure their feelings out right this moment, it doesn't mean that they can't have their fun. Ignorance is bliss; better keep their feelings locked for a little longer. "Does that mean we can we finish what we started at the lake, then?"
Stiles seems to agree because he walks towards the bed taking her with him by the hand. He sits on the edge of the mattress and smirks. "Eager much?"
Lydia blushes good-naturedly, laughing freely. "Shut up." Seeing that he's got a smug look on his face, Lydia adds playfully. "And don't you dare say..."
"What? Make me?"
She's smiling when she kisses him, throwing herself at him and getting as close as she can. They move on the bed until Stiles is sitting with his back against the headboard and Lydia's straddling him.
"You know, the girls were telling me earlier it might not be such a bad idea to uh- Relieve some tension." Lydia mutters, her cheeks turning rosy easily.
"I'm gonna kill them. Scott and Liam told me the same thing! They could be a little more discreet at setting us up, you know..." Stiles says with a frown, half serious and half amused. Regardless, he starts planting light kisses down her neck.
"Well, they're not wrong..." Lydia whispers in his ear.
When he looks up at her, he's smirking and his cheeks are bright red. Lydia thinks he looks beautiful like this. "I'm up for it if you are." He confesses with a whisper.
She smiles bright and steals a kiss, encouraging him to make the first move and Stiles doesn't waste much time. His left hand slips underneath her shirt to rest at her waist, his thumb caressing her skin and moving in small circles; his right hand trails up her left leg until it reaches her inner thigh and Lydia nods in approval. Her right hand moves to his shoulder so that she can tug on his hair and trail her fingers on his neck while her left hand moves slowly on its way down to his shorts.
They don't hesitate.
While Lydia unties its lace, Stiles lets his fingers brush gently through her briefs, moving them up and down slowly creating friction, waiting for Lydia to finally put her hands on him. When she does, he kisses her while squeezing her clit once. They sigh into their kiss, both smiling.
It goes on for a while. Lydia moves her hand up and down his length, squeezing lightly at the head, releasing the pressure on her grip as she goes down; Stiles works her up through her briefs paying special attention to her clit, kissing and marking her skin softly wherever he can get to. They match their movements in speed and both their breathings soon become labored. They know it'll be quick; it's been a while since they both had someone, there's most certainly lots of sexual tension between them and it feels so, so good, that they both start moving faster.
The problem is that Lydia is growing edgy over Stiles' lack of skin-to-skin contact; her briefs are still in place. Why isn't he touching her? Really touching her?
She knows he's not inexperienced, which is something she'd rather forget about, but maybe he doesn't have that much experience? Because his other hand remains religiously at her waist and it's driving her insane so Lydia incites him. She nibbles at his ear and curses when he rubs her a little harder, grasps his hair while biting his neck, kisses him until they're breathless and still she gets nothing more.
It feels like maybe Stiles wants this to be just physical, sort of a no-strings-attached kind of thing, but she knows it will never be like that with them; it could never be. Lydia can't help but to think that maybe he's doing it because it is what he thinks that she wants. And it's something that she dreads, intimacy with him, real intimacy as in if they were together. It has her scared out of her mind because she knows that when the time comes it'll be like something she has never experienced before and she's not sure how to deal with it.
But this is not the case just yet.
Stiles and Lydia are not together and this is a much needed stress reliever, that's for sure. And still she's putting herself out there so why isn't he? She may understand why he's holding back and being cautious but he shouldn't have to be, not anymore, not with her.
This is them, they trust each other. Stiles should know better by now.
"Stiles, I love you. But if you don't get your hands on me right now and make me come soon, I swear I'll kill you." Lydia comments with a smirk, letting go of him to make her point. She had never bossed him around before, not like this, even though she's usually the one taking the lead, whether in bed or in any other situation. But it's different with Stiles, of course, so Lydia giggles entertained.
She doesn't realize what she said until Stiles stops moving, stilling completely. Lydia looks at him embarrassed and blushes when she notices too.
It's not like she doesn't mean it because she does. Lydia has known she's in love with Stiles for months now, but she surely didn't expect for the confession to roll out of her tongue like that, so effortlessly and in such an inconvenient way. She sees the doubt in his eyes, knows that his mind is running frantic. One, two, three, four, five seconds pass as they both hold their breaths. She opens her mouth to speak, to reassure him and erase all his fears but he doesn't let her, instead choosing to push her briefs to the side and easily sliding a finger inside of her, eyes locked with hers as he complies.
Lydia forgets what she was about to say.
Unable to form any coherent thoughts, she digs her nails on his skin and scratches his neck as her way of scolding him. That's not how she wanted this to go but she can't really speak because his lips find hers and his finger is slipping in and out of her slowly, his knuckles brushing against her making her shiver. Lydia shakes her head, tries to break the kiss because they need to talk about this but then Stiles bites her lower lip, adding another finger to the first and she moans loudly, getting a grin from him. When his thumb finds her clit again and starts moving in circles lazily, Lydia knows she won't last long, not at all, by the way she's turned on by his sudden confidence. She grabs his - now more apparent - erection again, making Stiles gasp. Now she's the one grinning.
It is quick. Their rhythm escalates rapidly and when he curls his fingers inside her just right, she's gone. Still, Lydia works on him until he follows her not long after. Lydia collapses on top of him, panting, any strength she might had left completely gone now, her head falling to the crook of his neck and Stiles holds her like he was born to do just that, hold her close, his arms wrapping around her waist.
It takes them a few moments to remember how to breathe again. When she gets herself together and recomposes, sitting on his lap straighter and finally meeting his gaze, she almost feels the need to cry. The way his blazing eyes look at her soul make her wish she'd never move again, so Lydia opens her mouth to tell him just that. That, and that she loves him because she knows that Stiles didn't believe her when she said it before, not really, probably thinking that she said it out of lust. He doesn't let her speak though, and brings his lips to hers again, kissing her ever so softly.
"Stiles..." She knows what he's doing, avoiding it. He kisses her again, deeper this time, and her heart falters almost soundly, she thinks. Stiles has her on the palm of his hand and he doesn't even know it. Lydia breaks the kiss and places her hands on his chest, distancing herself from him enough to make him pay attention to her.
"Please, Lydia. Don't..." He whispers, looking away from her, worried for what's coming.
She doesn't let him get away with it, placing her hand under his chin and making him face her. "I know it wasn't the most gracious way to say it, or romantic for that matter..." Lydia whispers. "But it's true, okay?"
Lydia's cheeks are bright red at the confession, but Stiles shakes his head in disagreement even though he's blushing too. "Lydia, it slipped. Heat of the moment and all that, I understand." He mutters, fidgeting with anxiety. "And it's okay, I won't hold you to it and I certainly do not expect you to..."
Impulsively, Lydia cups his cheeks and kisses him hard, trying to make her point. Why won't he listen to her?
The kiss is greedy at first but she slows it down with every passing second, until she's sure that Stiles knows how she's feeling. When they part this time, their lips brush gently for a moment while they breathe each other's air.
He gulps and looks at her like he's never seen her before. The way her lips felt on his is such a change in his reality that he suddenly feels like she's a stranger to him. "Y- You meant it?"
He sounds so unsure and broken that Lydia's eyes fill with tears and she struggles to keep them from falling. "I did." She nods, holding his gaze. "Stiles, I do. I love you."
She doesn't do anything, instead giving him time to process it. She understands how unreal it must feel like to him because it's one thing if what they were doing was just physical but adding feelings to the mix, such deep emotions, it's another thing entirely; because she's Lydia and he's Stiles and their connection runs deep. They don't move for a while, both barely breathing.
Eventually Stiles reaches for her hands and brings them up until they're in front of his face and he just stares. Lydia doesn't say anything and keeps waiting while he turns her hands around like he's studying them, knowing that he's looking for the glitch in the matrix; something else they never talked about, how Stiles often tries to convince himself of reality and that his mind is, in fact, his own.
Half a minute later, his voice is hoarse when he speaks. "Say it again."
There are butterflies in her stomach, Lydia's sure. There have to be or she wouldn't be feeling like this, nervous and giggly at the same time. Clasping his hands in hers she brings them to her chest, just over her heart, and holds them there while looking him in the eyes and lets the words out as honestly as she can. "I'm in love with you, Stiles." She pauses briefly, biting her lower lip. "And I'm scared of it too."
He knows that her heart faltered; he felt it skip a beat. He also knows, deep inside, that it happened because it takes her breath away too; her eyes tell him that, gazing into his soul. Tears reach the surface like they did so many months ago in the locker room and as he did then, Stiles fights them back and looks back at her in awe.
Lydia remembers that look on his face, how could she not? She has dreamt of it a thousand times, thought about it over and over again. She doesn't back away now, not like she did before; she'll regret it if she does. Her moves are deliberately slow when she leans forward to capture his lips with hers in a soft kiss and Stiles returns the gesture with the same gentleness.
Somehow their tears found their way out, silently running down their cheeks. They both reach for the other's face for comfort, smiling at their synchrony.
"Now you know." Lydia mumbles, a kind smile on her lips.
Like before, Stiles kisses her forehead, her cheek and her lips again, still a little hesitant. "Would I be much of a dick if I asked you to do something for me?"
She chuckles and shakes her head, wiping another tear. "Of course not. Anything."
"Tell me that again tomorrow?"
Her eyes sparkle as she nods fiercely, lowering herself a bit so that her forehead is touching his, her hands cradling his cheek. "I will, I promise." And at that, she does make a promise to herself. She'll never again let a day go by without telling him that she loves him, one way or another, at the very least until she knows for sure that he believes her; then she'll just have to reassure him every day. "I love you." She whispers again.
Stiles kisses her softly. "And I love you."