He's not looking for redemption. Hell, he doesn't even want it. While Peter might not be part of the adrenaline junkie 90's culture he can both appreciate and empathize with the sentiment, "Go big or go home." He isn't stupid enough to ascribe to it completely, of course, but the idea behind it is solid. Half-measures are pointless. So when he decides to court Lydia Martin, he doesn't dilly dally. He gets right to the point.

Well, he gets right to a point. In retrospect it might not have been the point he was trying to make at all, but a beginning is a beginning. And to be fair, he's out of practice.

She doesn't panic when she wakes up to him in her bed. Technically he isn't even in it, just sitting atop the duvet leafing through one of her magazines and when she rolls over to stare at him with something like bemused horror on her face he asks, "What are your feelings on argyle?"

Bemused horror transmutes seamlessly into genuine laughter which fades gradually into near hysterical laughter. It tapers off to an open quiet that feels receptive. He waits politely for her to finish.

Lydia manages to look stunning even with tears streaming down her face, but he knew that already.

Voice a little wavery, she answers, "Sweaters and small accessories only. No, you couldn't pull it off."

"Oh well." The magazine goes back to her side table and his hands fall to his stomach, fingers laced together and a pleasant smile rising easily to his lips. "So what's new?"

Let it never be said Lydia Martin is anything less than fearless. She ignores him, turning back her covers and rolling out of bed without hesitation. She turns her back to him. Her shorts sit low on her hips, twitching with the sway in her step and it makes him want to plaster himself against her even as he wants to give her a new set of scars to remind her just how fragile she can be.

It's a comparatively easy trick, then, to hop out her window and beat her to the kitchen, completely worthwhile when her steps falter for a fraction of a second before she brazens her way through the shock. The placidly smiling mask she favors slots into place, all her teenaged defense mechanisms working together to exclude him.

He's considering his various options for getting her attention when he notices she's making enough coffee for two. The flash of victory sits hot and low in his chest. Not so cohesive a whole as she'd like him to think.

"Cream and sugar, please," he announces, enjoying the way she glares at him over her shoulder. She serves his black, smiling sweetly as she adds both to her drink. He can taste the bitterness all the way down. Lets it linger in his mouth long enough to get sour. It feels appropriate.

Lydia sits across from him at the island, sipping her coffee with a bland expression. She's not afraid, at least not actively. There's a vague air of unease and mild suspicion. It wouldn't take much to tip the scales into real fear, but he won't. Not yet. She isn't stupid enough to forget how dangerous he is.

He smirks around the acrid taste on his tongue. "That's what I love about you, Lydia."

The only sign that his choice of words disturbs her is a blink and her stuttering heart beat, but she doesn't falter in her reply.

"My undisguised hatred?" She literally bats her eyes at him, something that should be innocence in her expression but to him it looks positively debauched.

He really can't be blamed if he circles the counter to stand far too close, inhaling the scent of her. Sugar and sweat and the fading smell of her perfume. Her heart is beating fast and hard, not quite racing but definitely not as calm as she tries to project. The smile he gives her is entirely carnivorous. "The way you let me see right through you."

There's nothing playful about her as she glares up at him, and there's the fear he knew was simmering. It riles him up, makes him want to chase, but when she tells him to get out her voice is steady, and he does.

Definitely a beginning. Not a half-bad one, either.

He leaves an argyle clutch in her locker at school. She doesn't burn it, so he's counting it as a success.