Stiles is beginning to wonder if he imagined it.

For as long as he can remember, he's imagined what Lydia Martin's lips would taste like. He's imagined how it would feel to wrap his arms around her waist and hold her, the way Jackson Whittemore used to hold her. He's imagined what it would be like to have Lydia Martin be head over heels in love with him.

It's possible he did imagine it. He was in the middle of a panic attack after all. Perhaps he did imagine her grabbing his face and kissing him hardly before pulling away and rambling on about how she did it because of science. It's entirely possible.

He's been wanting to ask her. But he doesn't know how to approach it. How exactly do you ask the girl of your dreams if you imagined kissing her, when it's something you've been imagining for the last 10 years of your life?

But one day, he gets sick of it. He gets sick of wondering and staying up at night, tormented with the thoughts of "did it happen?".

The next day, he calls her name out and runs up to her and she glances back at him before slowing down.

"Yeah?" She asks, turning to look at him with a smile. He takes a deep breath in and just blurts it out.

"That day I had that panic attack, we kissed, right?" Her steps slow down even more now, and he can't see her face because she's refusing to look at him.

"L-Lydia-" She grabs him by the collar of his shirt and drags him into the nearby janitor's closet. No one sees them, and Stiles isn't sure if he should shout out, because he doesn't know what the hell Lydia is doing before she slams the door behind them and wraps a hand around his neck before crushing her lips against his eagerly.

And she tastes like mangoes and strawberries and watermelon and every kind of delicious tasting fruit Stiles has ever had. And when she moans and pushes herself closer against him, his hands wrap around her waist on instinct, and she trails her hands through his hair, nails scraping gently.

It doesn't entirely hit him that he's kissing Lydia Martin until she pulls away and whispers his name gently before biting his bottom lip with a giggle. And he can't help but grin and wrap a hand in her hair before kissing her back, his heart racing and pounding so loudly and powerfully, he's fearful that Scott or Isaac might hear it.

She finally pulls away breathlessly and presses her forehead against his before laughing lightly.

"I'm-sorry, I just..." She sighs and Stiles places his hand against her cheek.

"What? You can tell me." She bites her lip and looks up at him, smiling.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time but I didn't really know how...how to go about it." She whispers.

"Lydia..."

"Shh, Stiles. I just...I couldn't stop thinking about the first time we kissed-"

"Me neither." He interrupts. She looks up at him and bites her lip.

"Who would've thought I'd fall in love with Stiles Stilinski?" She says with a laugh. Stiles grins widely.

"Definitely not Stiles Stilinski." He says. And just as he's about to press his lips to hers again-

He wakes up.

He rubs his eyes and runs his fingers through his hair and just lays there.

He doesn't understand why he keeps having this dream where he's suddenly plucked up the courage to talk to Lydia and she's magically decided she's in love with him. He should know by now that life doesn't work that way.

But he does need to talk to her about that kiss. Because he seriously is starting to wonder if he imagined the entire thing.

So he washes his face and pinches himself a few times on the way to school to make sure that he really isn't dreaming this time, that he is awake and this is all real, and he walks through those front doors and scans the corridors for that familiar strawberry blonde hair.

But she's the one who finds him.

Small fingers wrap around his bicep and when he turns, his breath catches in his throat.

She smiles at him and keeps her arm looped around his bicep.

"Hi." She says simply. Stiles blinks rapidly at her before nodding and clearing his throat to prompt some kind of response.

"Hey."

"Everything okay?" She asks gently. He nods once, because the courage he's spent the entire way here building crumpled the second her fingers came into contact with his skin and he doesn't trust himself to speak anymore.

"Have you seen Allison or Scott?" She asks. He shakes his head and he can see her frowning from the corner of his eye.

"Stiles-"

"We kissed." It comes tumbling out before he can stop it and he smacks a hand over his mouth as if to somehow catch the words that are hovering in the air and shove them back into his mouth, erase them from existence. Lydia stops walking and just blinks at him before slowly nodding.

"We did."

He waits for her to say something else but she simply walks beside him, small fingers still wrapped around his bicep. He simply nods and says nothing else and he hears her sigh beside him.

"Stiles...I'm sorry."

His heart drops and he can feel goosebumps erupt all over his body, but all he does is nod. He knew that this would be a possibility. That Lydia would tell him it was a mistake and it shouldn't have happened. He had hoped with every part of him that it wouldn't, though...

"I'm sorry we haven't talked about it, I just..." She stops walking, and with her arm still looped in his, he stumbles back slightly. She chuckles under her breath as he regains his balance and she smiles.

"We should talk about it." She says softly.

"Lydia, it's okay. I get that you don't like me." Her eyes widen and she looks at him in shock.

"What makes you think I don't like you?" She asks, her tone accusatory, but also hurt. Stiles rolls his eyes.

"Because I'm me. And you're...y'know...you." He finishes lamely. She raises an eyebrow and he sighs.

"We're polar opposites."

"How?" She asks, narrowing her eyes. Stiles scoffs and starts walking and she falls in step beside him.

"You're gorgeous, I'm-"

"Handsome!" She exclaims, slapping his arm. He raises an eyebrow and he thinks she was joking until he sees she's blushing deeply.

"Or, y'know, whatever..." She mumbles.

"It's not that, Lydia, it's just..." He can't seem to find the right words to describe how very different they both are from each other. But Lydia doesn't give him the chance to. She slides her hand down his arm to reach his fingers and looks up at him with a smile, teeth caught on her bottom lip.

"Maybe before we were. Stiles, things have...changed. I've changed. And I know I have. Before all of this, yeah, I was different from you. Very different. And maybe I still am. But there's an understanding there now. After everything we've both been through...Stiles, I feel like you're the only person I can talk to who won't judge me, or call me crazy, or look at me like I'm not making any sense. You've been through this whole thing with me and you understand me. More than anyone else ever can I think."

Stiles simply waits for her to continue, not wanting her to let go of his hand. She squeezes his hand gently and rests her head on his shoulder.

"Don't hate me when I say this." She whispers. Stiles can feel his heart drop, but he can hear the pain in her voice. She doesn't want to say what she's about to say, he realizes.

"I can never hate you, you know that." He whispers back. She looks up at him with tears in her eyes and shakes her head slightly before looking down again.

"I just...I don't want to jeopardize it. This. What we have now. Maybe one day...I will be able to, Stiles."

"Able to what?" She chuckles and looks up at him again.

"Be with you. But right now...with everything going on, I can't. And I don't want to lose you, Stiles. Ever. I know I've had a lot of friends in my life, but you and Allison and Scott...you're not only my friends, you're my family. And I love you all, and I don't want to lose that. I don't want to lose our friendship-"

"Lydia..." Stiles comes to a stop, gripping her hand tightly and she sighs, looking down, but he places a hand under her chin lightly. "You could never lose me. I'm not going anywhere." Stiles says, smiling.

"Even though I just friendzoned you?" She says in shock, eyes wide. Stiles grins widely and shakes his head.

"You didn't friendzone me. I want to be your friend. I want to be here for you, Lydia. However you want me to be. Boyfriend, friend, casual friend, guy in the same class as you, whatever...I'm here for you." Water shines in her eyes and her bottom lip quivers slightly.

"Really?" She whispers, voice cracking. Stiles simply leans forward and presses a kiss to her forehead.

"Really." She buries her head in his chest and Stiles simply wraps his arms around her. He sees everyone staring at them in shock, the most popular girl in Beacon Hills in the arms of the Sheriff's geeky son, but Stiles doesn't care. And it sends him into a state of euphoria when he realizes that neither does Lydia.

"Come on, we've got History together." Stiles says, chuckling. She hums slightly before resting her forehead on his head, then looking up at him.

"Yes we do! And you're failing, so let's remedy that!" She chirps, before grinning and grabbing his hand to drag him to class.