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Stiles followed his team inside the bar. They were all on cloud 9 after having successfully closed a case that had been eating away at all of their lives for the past several months. He wasn't sure if it helped or hurt more that they'd ended up out of town right before the holiday.
It was Christmas Eve and there were no flights back home, so they decided to celebrate the win at a local pub.
“Alright, first round's on me!” Rivera, one of Stiles closest friends in the unit, announced. “Jones, wanna help me out?”
“Sure, you guys go find us a table.” Jones turned to the other three team members.
“Ahem...”
“Chill, Sanderson.” Jones rolled his eyes. “I meant 'guys' as a group thing. I'm not implying-”
“Just go.” Sanderson laughed. She was the only female in her unit and she loved messing with her male counterparts.
“Hey,” Stiles tapped Sanderson on the shoulder. “Looks like Pop found us a table.”
Pop was short for Popodokolos, but he was the oldest member of the team, so the nickname was fitting.
Stiles and Sanderson found Pop and the table, and seated themselves in the semi-circle booth.
A few moments later Rivera and Jones, came back, drinks in hand. Rivera was laughing hysterically.
“Do we even want to know?” Sanderson asked as they placed the drinks on the table.
“Jones, was just shot down.. like epically. It was..the best thing ever.”
“Really?” Stiles asked, shocked. “Jones? I-Can-Get-Any-Girl-I-Want Jones?”
“Well,” Sanderson said as she took a gulp of her beer. “It's about time someone knocked you down a peg.”
“Shutup.” Jones mumbled. “She wasn't that cute anyway.”
“Are you kidding? This girl was gorgeous.”
“Which one was it?” Stiles asked.
“Uhh,” Rivera searched the crowd. “Oh, there she is. At the bar. The one with the long hair.”
Stiles scanned the bar, his eyes passing her a moment, then darting back. No...it couldn't be! But it was! He hadn't seen her in years, but that was definitely her.
Before he could stop himself, he was already getting up from the table.
“Kid, where are you going?” Pop asked.
Stiles smirked as he turned back to his team. “I'm going to go try my luck.”
“Yeah, luck is right.” Jones scoffed. “You're gonna need it.”
Stiles didn't know what he was going to say to her. They'd sort of fallen out of touch after high school. They went to school on the same coast, and they'd talked endlessly about how they were going to make plans to meet up with each other (at least for the holidays), but schedules just never worked out. Something would always come up, and eventually they just stopped trying. Stiles was convinced that if it was meant to be, the universe would bring them back together once more.
Well, thank you, Universe.
“So, stop me if you've heard this one before.” Stiles leaned surprisingly smoothly onto the bar, “A banshee walks into a bar-”
Her head shot up at the sound of the familiar voice.
“Oh my God! Stiles!”
She threw her arms around his neck so fast, he lost his balance, but quickly regained it and wrapped his arms around her tightly.
“What are you doing here?” she gasped.
“I was on a case." he explained and Lydia finally let go and looked at him. "I'm here celebrating with my team. By the way, sorry about Jones. I'm pretty sure he tried to hit on you.”
“Oh, the douchey blonde?”
“That's the one.”
She shrugged. “It's fine. He's harmless.”
“What about you?”
“Business trip. My flight home was canceled.”
“That sucks.” He took a quick glance at her hands and felt a little lighter when he realized there was no ring on her finger. “Are you here by yourself?”
“Yeah...”
“Come join us! You shouldn't be alone on Christmas Eve, Lydia.”
“You know...what the hell.” She grabbed her drink and hopped down from the stool.
“Guys...” He saw the look Sanderson was giving and quickly added, “And lady... this is Lydia. She's going to join us. Lyds, this is Rivera, Jones, who I'm sure you've already met, Pop, and Sanderson.”
“Only the boys call me Sanderson. Call me Allison.”
Lydia's head whipped around to Stiles and the two shared a look, remembering their long lost friend.
“Okay...Allison.”
Stiles motioned for Lydia to climb into the booth, so that she could sit between Sanderson and him.
“So, Lydia,” Jones began, “Not that my ego isn't bruised enough, but...what is it about this guy that you'd follow him over here and not me?”
Lydia wrinkled her forehead in confusion then turned to look at Stiles. “What's he talking about?”
“Ah,” Stiles began as he moved the glass of beer away from his lips. “Jones and Rivera came back from getting drinks and told us about how Jones was epically shot down by a beautiful woman. And I looked over, saw you, and said I would take my chances.”
“Oh.” Lydia smiled and turned back to Jones. “Well, for one, he didn't try too hard. Two, he gives off more a good-guy aura than the douchebag one that you had, and uh...oh yeah..” she put one hand on Stiles's back, and touched his hand with the other. “He also saved my life...a couple of times.”
Stiles smiled and elbowed her slightly, “Hey, you saved mine too.”
“Wait!” Rivera suddenly announced. “You're Lydia? Like Lydia-from-high-school Lydia? Like the Lydia?”
“You've heard of me?” she asked the group then turned to look at Stiles, who was blushing a light shade of pink and trying to disguise it by taking another swig of his beer.
“Well,” Rivera began, “I've known Stilinski for awhile. We get to telling stories and your name comes up every now and then. It's nice to finally put a face to that name though.”
“And that look you gave him when I said my name makes sense now.” Sanderson said with a nod. “I know you guys had a friend named Allison.”
“Yeah,” Lydia nodded. “A long time ago.” Lydia looked down, and closed her eyes to push away the bad memories that began to creep up. She felt a hand on hers and looked up at Stiles. He wasn't even looking at her, but somehow they'd fallen back into this same routine as if they'd only seen each other last week.
An hour later, the entire table was laughing at a story that Pop had told. He and his wife of 20 years were high school sweethearts and, if Stiles was being honest, Pop's antics remind him a bit of his own.
“What about you guys?” Sanderson...Allison...asked with a smile still on her face as she turned to Stiles and Lydia.
“What do you mean?” Lydia cocked her head.
“I mean, like did the two of you ever get caught in a compromising position?”
“With each other?” Lydia asked with surprise.
“Me and Lydia?” Stiles blurted and shook his adamantly. “No...no, no, no, no...”
“Well, you don't have to say it like that...” She told him an edge of offense to her tone. He was too flustered to decide if it was serious or fake.
“No, I'm not saying... I mean me.. like Lydia was this untouchable goddess in high school. I was just the lacrosse captain's spastic best friend. I wasn't even really on her radar until junior year.”
Lydia laughed loudly, “Well that's not true.”
“Yes it is!”
“Uh, no it's not. What about sophomore year?”
“Sophomore year? Really? You barely said five sentences to me before Jackson..." Stiles stopped himself from saying died. "...got hurt. I was definitely nowhere near your radar until maybe the summer after.”
“How can you say for sure when you showed up on my radar?” Her tone had turned from playful to angry.
Stiles rolled his eyes. “Okay so when was it?”
“Winter formal,” she told him immediately. She didn't need to think about it, she already knew and had an answer ready.
“Win-what?” He blinked. “Seriously?”
Lydia nodded, then turned to his teammates. “He was my date-not by choice-”
“Well, gee thanks,” he rolled his eyes.
“But, he called me beautiful and smart.” She turned back to look him. “You were the first guy to ever say that to me.” She looked away. “So maybe I didn't say much to you until later, but you've been on my radar since then.” She lifted her glass to realize it was empty. “More drinks? I'll buy.”
“I'll help!” Sanderson volunteered.
Stiles stood up from the booth so that Lydia and Sanderson could climb out, then plopped back down.
“Dude!” Rivera gasped. “She's totally into you!”
“What?” Stiles shook his head. “No. No way. She was never into me before, why would she be into me now?”
“Kid,” Pop began, “I don't know her from Eve, but I know love when I see it. The way she looks at you is the way my Linda looks at me.”
Stiles laughed. “She's always looked at me like that.” Pop, Jones, and Rivera all leaned forward simultaneously waiting for him to get it. “What? Why are you guys staring at me like that?”
“Okay, let's recap.” Jones began. “Pop says, that look she gives you is love. You say that's how she's always looked at you, therefore...”
Stiles raised an eyebrow as realization dawned on him, “No...”
“There it is!” Rivera exclaimed and the three men sat back again.
“No! That's...that's not possible.” He was shaking his head firmly.
“So, Lydia,” Sanderson began, "since it's just us girls now... Can I ask you something?”
Lydia shrugged, “Sure.”
“When were you going to tell Stilinski that you've got a thing for him?”
“What?” Lydia paled as she turned to look at Allison.
“You've got it bad, and honestly, I think he's the only one that can't see it. What'd you do to the poor guy?”
Lydia looked away and bit her lip. “Is it really that obvious?”
“Does Chris Evans look good with his shirt off?” Lydia raised her eyebrows. “The answer is yes.”
The bartender placed a tray of drinks on the bar and Lydia picked it up. "Thanks," she muttered to the man.
“You should talk to him.”
The girls came back and Stiles got up so they could slide back in.
The conversation shifted away from their previous topic, and seemed to turn into: ask Lydia a bunch of personal questions.
“My boyfriend and I-” Sanderson began, then turned to Lydia, “Speaking of boyfriends, do you have a boyfriend, Lydia?” (The answer: No.)
Or from Rivera, “We're based in the City. Do you live in New York Lydia? (Answer: I do) Would you ever think of moving to the city? (Answer: Maybe) You live in the city, right Stiles?”
“Well, team,” Pop said then gave a wink to Sanderson, who nodded in approval. “I'm ready to hit the hay.”
“What? The night is still youn- Ow!” Jones began before getting an elbow in the ribs from Rivera. “Oh yeah... I guess I'm ready to go too.”
“Me too, I'm beat.” Sanderson agreed.
Rivera climbed out of the booth, and Stiles looked at Lydia. “Well, I-”
“NO!” The other four yelled, and Stiles whipped his head around to look at them.
“What?”
“Stay!” Rivera urged. “You guys should catch up. We'll see you later.”
As they walked off, Stiles and Lydia were left alone. He chuckled and lifted his glass. “Sorry, about them,” he shook his head .
“It's fine. They seem like really nice people.” Stiles laughed and shook his head again. “What?” Lydia asked as she smiled, wanting in on the joke.
“Nothing,” he said, still shaking his head.
“No, tell me.”
“It's just... when you went to the bar, the guys were trying to convince me that you had feelings for me."
She looked down at her drink and mumbled, “Oh...”
"I mean...I told them they were crazy...” Stiles creased his brow, the laugh dying on his lips. “They are crazy. Right? I mean... there's no way that you...you never...did you?”
She was quiet for a few moments, before softly replying. “I don't know.” Then she shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Uh...um...” Stiles shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Okay...what?”
“Yeah, I mean...I guess...Yeah...I have feelings for you.”
“Have?!”
“Had!” Lydia quickly corrected. “Past tense.”
“But... not anymore?”
“Stiles....I....” Lydia sighed. “I don't know you anymore. How do I know you're the same guy you were in high school?”
Stiles nodded slowly. “Fair enough.” He downed the rest of his beer and turned around in his seat to face Lydia. “After graduation I was accepted to the FBI. I trained at Quantico, and when I passed I was stationed in New York.”
“What are you doing?”
“You want to know who I am, I'm telling you.” She nodded once to tell him to continue. “I dated a few women. Nothing serious. I work mostly in missing persons and a lot of the time we find them unharmed. The first one we didn't, was a child. A little boy named Landon. I thought I'd seen some bad shit in Beacon Hills, but nothing could have prepared me for that. I had to tell his family that he wasn't coming home. When I got back to my apartment, I locked myself in my room for two days straight before realizing that I couldn't change what happened... but I could fight harder for the next one.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Lydia asked as she blinked tears out of her eyes.
“Because I'm still me, Lydia. I've seen more and lived more, but I'm still the guy that wants to help people.” He gulped and rested his hand softly onto hers. “I'm still the guy whose biggest regret was never really telling you how I felt.”
Lydia looked up from their hands. “What do you mean?”
“Are you really going to pretend you don't know?”
“There's no pretending here.”
Stiles nodded, “Okay...Remember at the winter formal? I told you I'd had a crush on you since the third grade?”
“Yeah, and I knew that... but then it sort of faded after I kissed you in the locker room, and then you started dating Malia.”
Stiles shook his head. “It never faded, Lydia. I took a step back because it was obvious you didn't feel the same. I dated Malia to try to get over you, and I broke up with her when I realized I couldn't. Because I...” He sighed. “Because I realized it wasn't just a crush anymore. I'd actually fallen in love with you. And let me tell you something, Lydia Martin. You don't just get over that kind of thing.”
Lydia nodded. “I know.”
“How?”
“Because that's what happened to me...with you. When we went off to college, every time a plan would fall through it'd hurt worse that I couldn't see you. Every time we talked on the phone I hated hanging up because it made me feel emptier than before. I finally started making excuses not to see you, forced myself not to reply to your texts and kept them fewer and far between. I tried to wean myself off of you, but...seeing you tonight... It doesn't really go away. Does it?”
Stiles shook his head, “No.”
They fell silent under the weight of what the other had admitted. As Lydia looked at her hand that Stiles had linked with his own, her mind began to race... thinking about what a future with Stiles could mean. She glanced back up to look him in the eye, and opened her mouth to speak.
“I don't have anywhere to stay tonight.”
He gave her hand a light squeeze. “Stay with me.”
It was a question, a plea... a hope.
Lydia gave him a soft smile, “I'd like that.”
“I would too.”