Author's note: Written for stydia-fanfiction on tumblr for the prompt: "A prank war between the boys and the girls gets a little out of hand. Angst, hurt feelings, and lots of fighting and yelling. Finally, they decide the whole prank war was a dumb idea and "can we just forget this ever happened and move forward? Because I love you and I would never truly want to hurt you.""
Summary: A prank war between the boys and the girls gets a little out of hand, and Lydia just wants it to stop.
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It started out innocently, like all good pranks do.
In truth, it was never even a prank to begin with.
It just happened, and it most definitely wasn't supposed to escalate so quickly, alas it did. An innocent scare turned into a game to see who would scare someone next, and now no one's really talking to anyone because they all fear the next time they'll be pranked, and when they are all hell breaks loose. Sure, it was fun at first but pranks started evolving with time, and after a while it wasn't so harmless anymore.
Lydia likes to think a part of why it got somewhat out of hand is because youth was stolen from them and keeps being taken away every time they have to fight for their lives, so it became a coping mechanism of sorts, a much needed distraction from their usual worries. But now... Now it's not funny anymore.
She can't remember the last time the pack had an afternoon together without pranks that, honestly, are just plain stupid at this point, and it's senseless that they're all getting worked up because of it when they could easily just be spending time together and enjoying the rest of their last summer before they head off to college.
Instead, she misses them.
Lydia misses the plain old hanging out with the people who mean the most to her.
Most of all, she misses him.
Especially now that they were getting closer so effortlessly and Lydia messed it up by starting this whole thing without meaning to.
It's only one of the reasons why Lydia is so frustrated right now. Frustrated with herself for kicking this off, frustrated with the others – and again, herself – for making it a thing. She's tired of it, tired of it all and she just wants it to stop already.
"If this is another prank, I swear to god..." she mutters to herself under her breath, turning around a corner in the dark house that the pack is investigating, and of course all of them very conveniently parted ways and are looking around by themselves.
She hears a noise in the distant end of the hallway she's in, but truth is Lydia can barely see a foot in front of her nose for everything is engulfed in darkness, let alone what's so far away, so she stops abruptly, alert.
It's like she's in a freaking haunted house and it's making her skin crawl.
Lydia listens in attentively but nothing else happens so after a minute she continues, finding all doors on her path locked.
This is stupid, she thinks to herse-
Lydia hears footsteps all of a sudden, stomping hard on the floor and approaching fast, but from which way she can't really tell. She has a bad feeling about this.
Giving in to instinct, Lydia starts running in what she can only hope it's the right direction for she doesn't know where she's going, and turning around another corner she instantly thinks she made the wrong decision when her small frame collides with something – someone – in full force.
Strong arms steady her quickly, thankfully, but when she realizes it's Stiles she bumped into, anger overcomes her, her heart beating in her chest like crazy from the scare.
"Stiles, what the hell are you doing?"
He hushes her as an answer and unceremoniously turns her back around to where she'd come from, grabbing her hand and pulling her along as he starts sprinting again.
"Lydia, run!"
She's still not entirely convinced that this isn't just Stiles and the others messing with her like they've all been doing to each other for a while now, but from the glimpse of Stiles' features that Lydia was able to see he looked slightly terrified, so she follows close behind.
"Stiles?"
He keeps leading the way trying to find the staircase that will take them to the ground floor, not looking back once.
"Stiles!" she repeats, looking for answers.
"The demon is here, we have to go" it's all he cryptically says, and Lydia starts believing it's just another prank.
That's why she lets go of him and stops running, catching her breath when Stiles turns to face her in disbelief.
"Lydia, what are you doing? We have to get out of here."
He tries to reach for her again to no end. Lydia folds her arms, looking as irritated as she feels. Stiles flinches instinctively even though he can barely see her because good god, he knows that look. "I think that's enough."
Stiles eyes widen because she's obviously unaware of the danger they're in. "What? Lydia-"
"No." Lydia stomps her foot on the floor and straightens up. "I'm sick of this, Stiles. I don't wanna play these games anymore."
Stiles looks past her, starting to see at the end of the hallway that deeper darkness that usually comes before the demon appears, noticeable even when they're only bathed by moonlight. "Lyds-"
"Save it. I don't wanna hear it. I'm tired of these pranks, Stiles. We're all mad at each other, no one's really talking to anyone unless it's a plan to get back at each other and I'm tired of this!"
He sees the demon turning around the corner – well, its eyes, shining white piercing through the darkness - and Stiles reaches for Lydia another time, this time grabbing her elbow. "Lydia-"
Lydia slips away from his grasp easily, frustrated, not noticing the demon a few meters behind her.
Thankfully, Stiles had weakened the bastard with a little mistletoe before running away and ending up bumping into Lydia, so the thing is moving slowly in their direction.
"Stiles, I don't want to be mad. I just want this to stop. Please, Stiles."
"Lydia-"
"Stiles, I'm serious."
Stiles pales when he starts feeling his own energy drain out of him – perks of having been possessed by a nogitsune that make him more vulnerable to other demons -, although Lydia doesn't notice because of the poor lighting.
The demon stops, peering at the scene as a completely oblivious Lydia continues rambling to a very stunned Stiles.
Stiles is almost positive the demon is not only feeding off of Stiles' fear, but of Lydia's resentment as well, and dammit, Stiles hates to give it the satisfaction.
"Look, I- Stiles, I'm sorry this started because of me, okay?" If he wasn't feeling so weak all of a sudden, Stiles would point out that the way Lydia starts gesticulating as she speaks reminds him of himself when he's rambling. "I never meant to prank you in the first place. It was unintentional, and before I knew we were all pulling pranks on each other and although it was fun at first, now it's just... It's nonsense. No one's really talking to anyone and we're all resenting each other for some stupid game."
There's a pause as Lydia ponders if she should say the words she knows she has to, because if at first it had been accidental, from then on everyone including her got very much into it, and certain things were done and said that could be considered a little out of line.
"I... I never meant to hurt you, Stiles, or the others. I..." Lydia swallows dryly, suddenly fidgeting. "I love you. All of you," she adds for safety in case he'd rather ignore what she actually means, "and I really just want this to stop now."
Stiles' heart skips a bit and he just stares, incredulous that Lydia Martin just dropped the L word on him, so casually that Stiles wonders for how long she's been feeling that way, but then the demon starts moving again, probably not very satisfied at the change of emotions so suddenly.
Stiles skips all manners and grabs Lydia's hand again, this time effectively pulling her along and making sure that she's behind him as he starts running once more. Only when Lydia - obviously confused about his reaction - looks over her shoulder, she sees the demon.
And then she's running along with Stiles like there's no tomorrow.
"You were serious," she tells him almost unbelieving in between puffy breaths, not letting go of his hand for anything.
"Of course I was serious. I'm always serious and no one ever listens to me," he mutters, still dazzled at her admission.
She murmurs a brief sorry when he lets her pass first through the front door and outside to the forest, closing the barrier that's circling the house with a little mountain ash he has in his pocket - which was, of course, part of his plan all along -, stepping back alongside Lydia as they hear Scott's growl and they know their Alpha is ready to face the demon now.
Lydia moves closer to Stiles a little, and for a moment they both get lost in thought as all they can make from the sounds coming from the house is shouting and howling and obvious signs of a fight.
Until it quiets a few moments later, Stiles and Lydia just stay there, unmoving. When Liam appears on one of the windows from the first floor and tells them that Scott caught the demon and is interrogating him, the human and the banshee sigh in relief.
Out of the question to go back inside because the demon could easily take advantage of Stiles' vulnerability, Stiles walks Lydia to the Jeep in silence instead, leaning against the door as he eyes her warily while they wait for the others.
"What?" she asks unsurely when she catches him staring, blushing much like he does.
"Uh- Nothing," he murmurs, shoving his hands in his pockets because he doesn't know what to do with them.
The same way he doesn't know what happens now.
Lydia slowly makes her way to stand beside him, leaning against Roscoe too. "I uh- I meant it." Stiles glances at her, his gazed fixed on hers as he studies her. "All that I've said when we were inside. I'm sorry I didn't believe you about the demon." She looks down and away from him, slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry for a lot of things."
Stiles turns to face her. "We're safe. That's all that matters. And I'm sorry too."
Lydia turns to face him too, whispering. "What for?"
"For the pranks. I never meant to hurt you either."
Lydia purses her lips, suddenly nervous. "Can it stop now?"
Stiles nods, wordless.
Too many seconds pass them by like that, and Lydia is not sure how but they're moving closer, gravitating helplessly towards the other as if there's a pull, and they can't help but to comply.
They don't kiss.
There's no hand holding or a hug, no touching at all.
And yet, Stiles is too close for Lydia to think straight, his eyes boring into hers like fire and she wishes they were somewhere else other than in the middle of nowhere with their friends close by.
Stiles' voice pulls her back from her wandering thoughts. "Did you mean it?"
Lydia nods, and hesitantly touches his wrists so that Stiles takes his hands out of his pockets again. She entwines their fingers together tentatively as if trying to figure out if they fit, and even though his hands are bigger than hers, they're like a missing puzzle piece.
A perfect combination.
"I did. I do."
"Can we talk about it?" he asks almost shyly, and Lydia can easily notice how much emotion he put into those words, just how much he needs to do this even if he's not sure it'll work out.
(It will.)
She feels the same way.
Lydia smile softly, blushing slightly. "Yeah."
Stiles mirrors her perfectly. "Do you uh- Do you wanna come over when we're done here? I was gonna make dinner for my dad, so... Maybe we can talk and you can help me out?"
Lydia tries her best not to kiss him right then, because if it's something that Stiles is incredibly good at is at surprising her, choosing options Lydia didn't even know were there. Thinking back on her past conquests, she can't find a single boyfriend who'd just want to talk.
More so, who'd genuinely want to listen like she knows he will.
She wants to do this right and it seems like Stiles does too. "I'd like that."
Scott and Liam come out of the house then, and with the issue with the demon solved Lydia tells the other boys that the pranks have to come to an end, that everyone was upset with no reason and that the girls miss the boys and that they should just go back to what they were before this started.
(Not Stiles and Lydia, though. Not them.
Not now that things might change for them, finally.)
Everyone agrees.
After dinner and a movie – because the Sheriff insists that Lydia stays for dinner since she helped cook an amazing meal -, when Stiles and Lydia are sitting close to one another on the couch and have been talking for almost two hours straight, the movie being just background noise because neither is paying attention to it, Lydia thinks that maybe the pranks were a good thing.
Because they fall asleep curled up to one another on that vey couch another three hours into their conversation, and when they wake up they are the exact same way.
(Only maybe a little sore and Stiles is at fault for that, for having woken up during the night but not wanting to move not to wake up the strawberry blonde sleeping on his chest.
Still, neither minds all that much that they wake up in each other's arms.)
The weeks that follow define just how good they are as friends and better as partners, as lovers, and the challenge that college poses is nothing compared to what they have.
But then again, nothing will ever be.
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Author's note: Feedback is much appreciated :)