Chapter Text
Lydia answered her phone absently, entirely focused on coordinating her outfit for the next day.
“Lydia!!” Stiles squealed, his voice taking on that nasally quality it had when he became aggravated.
Lydia let out a sigh, holding up coral nail polish to a blue skirt she had laid out on her bed, "Speaking."
A complicated sound came from Stiles as he tried to speak through his exasperation, "You! You -- you read my rule book! You found my rule book!"
"Can you really call it a book, Stiles? I hardly think that's accurate."
The coral would work with the blue skirt, but the white blouse just couldn't work with coral nails. Lydia set the blouse aside.
"How?!"
"How did I find it."
"Yes!!!"
"Oh, hun," Lydia said as she scanned through her closet for another top. "You really aren't as sneaky as you think you are."
Stiles made another strange, distressed noise and blew out a loud gust of air. Lydia pulled her phone away from her ear, giving it a displeased look before tucking it back between her ear and shoulder.
"Don't..." Stiles began, suddenly calm and incredibly serious, "Don't tell Scott."
"I wish you would just trust me, Stiles. This is for your own good."
"You can't," Stiles whispered.
Perhaps her pink top with the blue collar. That could pull the look together nicely.
"Please. I can't lose him," Stiles said, voice sounding choked off and far away. Lydia's mouth twisted and she turned away from her closet empty-handed.
Perhaps she was being a little rough with him.
"Stiles, everything will be fine," she reassured him.
"Alright... but does that mean-"
"Look, I should go," Lydia said, needing to cut him off before he could try to change her mind. "Don't worry about a thing. I'll see you soon."
"Wait! Does that mean-"
Lydia hung up the phone. Her outfit would have to wait; she had a new task to finish.
-----
At 7 o'clock on the dot, Lydia left her car and went to stand by Scott's bike.
A few minutes later he left the vet's, his expression concerned, "Is something wrong?"
"Don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon," Lydia told him, the sly glint in her eyes turning her smile saccharine.
"Come on, I'm giving you a ride," Lydia turned and walked straight back to her car without checking to see if Scott was following her.
When he got in the car and had buckled in, Lydia handed him a few photocopies of lined notebook paper.
"Read this."
"What is it?"
"Just read it," Lydia said, pulling out onto the road.
Scott did. Occasionally he looked up to say something, but each time Lydia would cut him off, tapping at the paper with a command to keep reading.
At one odd turn, Scott looked up, suddenly noticing where they were.
“We’re going the wrong way….”
“No we’re not,” Lydia replied, her tone leaving no room for further conversation. “Keep reading.”
Scott stared at her suspiciously for a while, but Lydia remained unphased and continued driving. Knowing he was beat, Scott gave up and read on. As they were turning onto Stiles’ road, Scott finished reading. His eyes were now unable to leave the pages in front of him.
He cleared his throat, “Stiles wrote this?”
Lydia pursed her lips and nodded, “He did.”
Scott continued staring at the pages, as though some hidden joke would suddenly pop out at him.
“...About… me?”
Lydia resisted the urge to sigh, “Yes. About you.”
“Stiles wrote this about me,” Scott restated.
Honestly, she deserved a medal for putting up with her pack.
“Yes,” Lydia said as she pulled into the driveway behind Stiles’ jeep.
“But… Stiles doesn’t like me like that…” Scott told her, his brow wrinkled in confusion.
Lydia leveled a look at Scott, “Obviously he does.”
Scott blinked at her.
“Do you feel the same way?” Lydia prompted.
Scott’s mouth gaped open, “I… he’s - he - Stiles… and I’m… me...”
Shutting her eyes and putting her hand to her forehead, Lydia muttered to herself, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
She failed to suppress another sigh, “Did you take the quiz?”
Scott nodded.
“And what did you get?”
Scott bit his lip and ducked his head, “Three c’s and a b.”
Eyebrows raised, Lydia tilted her head, “And what do the rules say that means?”
A smile twitched at Scott’s lips, “It says I’ve got it bad.”
“Do you agree?” Lydia asked, trying and failing to sound patient.
Scott was silent.
God, Lydia was going to have to do all the work for these two.
“How would you feel if Stiles kissed you?”
The question was met with surprise before a pleased expression spread over Scott’s face as he actually pictured it.
“And if he held your hand?”
Scott’s brow furrowed once again, “But… we already do that.”
Lydia was very proud of herself for holding in the urge to face palm. Of course they held hands. They probably did everything just short of sex.
“Well, do you like holding his hand?”
“Yeah,” Scott said with an enthusiastic nod.
“How would you feel about having sex?”
Scott gave her a flabbergasted look and a once over.
Lydia shut her eyes in frustration and put her hand up, “With Stiles, not me.”
“Oh.”
How the hell had the pack gotten anything done without her?
Scott’s mouth dropped open, a far away, dreamy look coming into his eyes.
“Oh,” he said, blushing.
Lydia smiled, “Well then, I think that’s settled.”
And with that, she got out of the car, walking to the other side to open Scott’s door for him.
“Out,” she ordered, flicking her head.
Scott followed her in a daze, pausing occasionally to stare unfocused into the distance. Lydia ignored this and continued walking, up the steps and to Stiles’ front door.
She glanced back, seeing Scott a few feet away from the steps, his head tilted thoughtfully.
“Scott,” Lydia pronounced as she rang the doorbell.
Scott shook himself out of his thoughts and bounded up to the door. After a short while, the peephole became dark and a loud, “Nope!” sounded from the other side. Lydia turned the door handle and pushed, only to be met with resistance.
“Stiles!” Lydia protested, slapping at the door with the flat of her hand.
“Nope!”
“Stiles…!” Lydia paused briefly, wracking her mind to find if she had ever heard Stiles’ middle name before she gave up and finished with, “Stilinski!”
Come to think of it, Lydia had absolutely no idea what his first name even was. Perhaps that could work to her advantage…
“What’s Stiles’ first name?” Lydia asked Scott conversationally, just loud enough to make sure Stiles would hear.
“Don’t you dare tell her, Scott!”
“If you’d open the door, he wouldn’t have to!” Lydia singsonged.
“But -- he can’t even say it right!” Stiles spluttered. “He’ll butcher it!”
“Scott?” Lydia asked expectantly.
Scott looked back at her hesitantly, then at the door. She crossed her arms.
“It’s… um,” Scott’s face pinched in concentration. “Push… Pursh… uh….”
“Oh my god!” Stiles whined, wrenching the door open.
“Seriously?” he asked, going to give Scott an exasperated look, but stopping his gaze short to hover somewhere at Scott’s shoulder.
Scott shrugged and smiled awkwardly, staring at Stiles’ socked feet.
“So, what-” Stiles choked on a swallow and tried to lean nonchalantly against the door frame. “What do you guys want?”
Scott continued to stare at Stiles’ socked feet, leaving Lydia to once again take the initiative. She shoved at Scott’s back, pushing him to go inside.
“You two are talking,” she informed them.
She grabbed each of their arms and led them to the couch. Letting go, she put one hand on her hip and pointed to the couch with the other.
“Sit,” she ordered.
They sat.
She wiggled her finger between the two of them, “You are talking about the list of rules.”
Stiles snuck a glance at Scott, turning pink and beginning to look a little sick.
“Lydia, please-” Stiles started to say, moving to stand up.
She leveled him with a withering glare and he plopped back down.
“You are talking,” Lydia restated, “and so help me, when I come back in five minutes, if you haven’t got your shit together, I will find more extreme measures to sort this out.”
An awkward, sudden laugh burst out of Stiles, causing Scott to look up and give him a dopey grin. Lydia took that as her cue to leave.
When she reached the door, she called over her shoulder, “Remember, five minutes! Or it gets worse!”
Pulling the door shut, Lydia had to resist going back in the room as she heard Stiles clear his throat to ask, “So, how ‘bout them Giants?”
Boys.
But Lydia had done enough meddling for the day, so she went back to her car, flicking on the radio and pulling out her math homework.
God. She really hoped this would work.
-----
After the five minute mark, Lydia went back up to Stiles’ house and opened the door just enough to peek her head in.
Scott was just pulling back from Stiles’ mouth, his eyes open wide and looking at Stiles with complete adoration, thumb stroking at Stiles’ cheek. It took Stiles a second to open his eyes, but when he did, a slow smile spread over his whole face and Lydia suddenly realized she had never seen Stiles smile a real smile. Scott returned it with a grin and a full body, contented sigh, then rested his forehead against Stiles’.
Lydia smiled, feeling incredibly accomplished. She pulled her head back and shut the door silently. Nearly skipping with delight, she made her way back to her car, started it up, and drove away.
Honestly. This pack would never survive without her.