Chapter Text
Lydia couldn’t sleep that night; which was a surprise to no one.
Earlier on in the night she managed to finish the assignment. It was easy enough with an introduction and conclusion already done. She had been slightly surprised to see that the work Peter had produced complimented her own writing. He included the official vocabulary with ease and his sentences flowed perfectly. She was confident in her grade for this.
So with that set in stone and already tucked into her bag in a folder she had nothing else to be anxious about.
But when was that ever the case?
She couldn’t help but wonder what would happen tomorrow. She didn’t want to admit it to herself but she didn’t hate Peter. She truly wished she could, but deep down she knew she didn’t and probably never would. There was something about him that seemed to draw her in.
When her clock read 3:47am she gave sleep up as a bad job. She just lay there thinking about what she wanted to say the next day.
She was angry, but had no idea what the anger was directed at. She couldn’t be this angry at him just because he’d read too much into a situation and acted without thinking, when, to give him some credit, Lydia was at fault just as much as he was. She had kissed back, encouraged him. She may have even enjoyed herself.
Until, of course, she thought she was getting played, and had fallen for it.
But had she?
As much as she hated to admit it, he didn’t seem like a bad guy. Sure he was smarmy and full of himself but he didn’t seem the type to just throw her away at the end of the day. She couldn’t explain how she knew it, she just knew that whatever happened between them wouldn’t be a quick affair.
That part probably scared her the most.
Her alarm clock glowing 4:11am in the darkness was like a sick joke to her.
She had to face him in the morning, and still had no idea what she would say. Doing so on hardly any sleep would be a nightmare.
Deciding she would actually take Peter’s advice, and see how she felt in the morning, she rolled over once more, and this time found sleep.
Walking across the campus in the morning Lydia could feel eyes on her from all sides. It felt like the whole college was staring and judging her and she couldn’t shake the feeling, no matter how much she tried. She was holding the assignment in a thin cardboard folder, her and Peter’s name scrawled across the front, and wearing one of her short, comfortable dresses. Today it was a dark navy one with random pink splashes of colour.
Walking into the lecture theatre in the morning was an ordeal in itself; she could see him from the door, already sat in the same seat as a few days prior. Taking a deep breath she started climbing the stairs, all the way to the back. Lydia could feel his eyes on her all the way up and across the rows.
When she sat down one seat down from him again she could feel her heart beating double time.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, placing the file between them, “your work is very good.”
“Lydia... I wanted-“ he began.
“Can we start over?” She finally looked at him; he had large bags under his eyes, as if he had found sleep difficult as well.
“If that’s what you want.”
“It is,” she took a deep breath to steady herself, “hello, I’m Lydia, I’m a dog person, I like tea and I’ve been screwed over by boys so many times that I have issues trusting people.”
She held out her hand.
He looked at it for a long time, long enough for Lydia to start getting nervous. Finally he took it.
“Hello, I’m Peter, I’m a dog person but prefer coffee, and I understand.” He smiled at her.
She felt herself relax and return the smile, this wasn’t too bad.
Finstock chose that moment to make a grand entrance, coffee cup in one hand and used the other to bang on the desk.
“Yo, whaddup nerds. What do you have for me today?”
Peter smirked, picked up the file and climbed over the row to go hand it in with the rest of the students. Lydia got her notebook out, smiling to herself.
When Peter came back, climbing over the desks again, he sat next to her.
He just glanced at her, smirked and then started taking notes.
*****
Peter couldn’t sleep.
There was too much resting on tomorrow for him that he couldn’t even attempt to relax. He just sat in his room, impatient waiting for dawn to come.
This must be how prisoners on death row felt, he mused to himself.
He stood up and decided to get a drink, he met Derek in the hall.
“Can you just not?” Derek said, his eyes almost closed in sleep.
“Can I not what?” Peter asked, genuinely confused.
“You’re all anxious and stressed and it’s leaking through the bond, I can’t deal with it. I can’t sleep and I have a nine o’clock lecture tomorrow morning. Peter it’s two o’clock already.” He whined.
“Sorry Derek, it’s just I don’t know what else to do. I can’t just relax.” He frowned.
“Why don’t you go for a run? Get it off your mind?” Derek suggested, not unkindly.
Peter actually liked the sound of that, he could just for a quick stretch around campus, it would calm him a litter to be in fresh air again.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Thank God,” Derek said, already turning to go back to his room, Peter only noticed now that he had his comforter wrapped around him and his hair was a mess.
Peter ran round the campus twice, it didn’t take him long at all, didn’t even make him out of breath, He supposes that’s the perks of growing up in a werewolf family, constant patrols of territory and playing in the woods gave him an unbelievable stamina. Or maybe that was just the werewolf gene’s effect anyway.
He slowed down to a walk and wandered through the middle of campus. He let his feet guided him, wandering aimlessly.
Or that was what he thought he was doing.
He ended up outside a dorm, this one was the single room ensuite type, and he could hear a very familiar heartbeat coming from inside it.
He looked around and found a tree he could sit in, closest to the window where the heartbeat was coming from. It was only when he was practically lying on one of the thicker branches that he realised the heartbeat wasn’t slow with sleep. It was beating the same as when he saw her the other day, if a bit uneven.
She was still awake.
He checked his phone, 3:24 am. What was she doing up?
He heard her sigh and then some shuffling, as if she couldn’t get comfortable. Then another, this one more like a huff and some more movement.
It seemed like she couldn’t sleep either.
It made Peter feel guilty, she was probably still angry at him.
He stayed in the tree for another half an hour, listening to Lydia toss and turn. Her sighs grew more and more impatient and annoyed as time went on; she was clearly not enjoying the sleeplessness that seemed to have hold of both of them.
It made Peter feel worse.
After about three quarters of an hour he heard her heartbeat slow, the frantic pounding becoming more of a quiet thud in his head. The sighs stopped, replaced by slow, steady breathing. She had finally fallen asleep.
If only Peter could do the same.
He stayed for another hour, letting her heartbeat wash over and calm him down.
When he finally got back to the apartment it was well past six, having taken the long way back. He dropped into his bed for an hour of restless sleep. His trip out had worked in relaxing him slightly, but it only lasted for a while.
He had dreams of becoming rabid. Shouting for people to help him, to stop him. He dreamt he stabbed Derek through the back, that he murdered his own family to get to his mate. He dreamt he killed Lydia. He woke up in cold sweats, the image of her lifeless body in his arms still strong in his mind.
He had twenty minutes until his eleven o’clock lecture with Lydia, so he threw on some clean clothes and left. He stilled arrived before her, he took his spot at the back again.
He hadn’t been sitting long when the door opened and she walked in.
She was in a dress again, a pretty blue and pink one, but today had tall heels on. She glanced around and then climbed the stairs, her curly hair bouncing with every step. She reached his row and started shuffling across as she had done the other day. She took the seat one down from him and used the file, presumably with their work in, to separate them.
“Thank you,” Lydia said quietly, she spoke to him without actually looking at him; her eyes were cast down the whole time. She complimented his work but Peter was done with the small talk.
He meant to apologise again, to offer anything if she could forgive him. It was obvious she was distrustful of men, and in his head he could see why. She was a beautiful girl, no doubt there were men before him who had taken advantage of her, just used her for her beauty. Peter wasn’t like that, but he knew he could come across as though he was.
She cut him off before he could get his words out, asking to start over.
To start over.
It was better than anything he could have hoped for.
He agreed to her quickly, not wanting to miss his chance.
“Hello, I’m Lydia, I’m a dog person, I like tea and I’ve been screwed over by boys so many times that I have issues trusting people.”
She stated it like a well known fact, like she was commenting on the weather. He could tell she was still hurting over it, and it annoyed him that someone could do that to someone like Lydia.
He looked at the hand between them, thinking over what to say. He didn’t know what would make it better for her without patronising her; after all, she was strong enough on her own.
He took her hand, feeling the warmth soak into his own.
“Hello, I’m Peter, I’m a dog person but prefer coffee, and I understand.” He smiled.
She smiled back while they were shaking hands and Peter felt his heart skip a beat.
Finstock burst through the doors then, he strode into the centre of the room and banged on his desk.
“Yo, whaddup nerds. What do you have for me today?”
This guy, Peter thought to himself, amused.
He quickly got up and went to give in their work.
When he returned he saw that Lydia had gotten out her notebooks, she was looking down with a pen in her hand.
Making a spurs of the moment decision Peter sat directly next to her, he was so close he could feel her body heat on his arm.
He smirked at her and then began taking notes.
*****
A few days later.....
Lydia walked up the few steps to the library, she had three more assignments to complete, all were simple and she felt she could get them done in one session. That was why she was climbing the stairs to the third floor on a Saturday morning.
She had only showed one other person her little hideout and hadn’t given it any thought at the time. But when she got to her usual table she found a cardboard box on it.
She dropped her bag and picked it up, it had her name on it in a familiar loopy writing.
Lydia, it read, just in case I forget in future.
Opening it she couldn’t help but laugh, it was a red mug, and on one side it read:
She Who Must Be Obeyed.