A/N: Hey, guys! This one shot is based off the story Thought Process by unholymountain.
Disclaimer: disclaimed
Allison really didn't have much of an opinion about Hayden.
It's not that she was uninteresting, which she wasn't, but every action she committed was often negated by a counter-action, which kept Allison's opinion of her in the neutral zone. But later, as Allison would find out, that didn't matter, because she would be getting to know Hayden a whole lot better.
It started when Hayden made a seemingly random remark to Allison as they were waiting for Scott.
"Liam's right. Scott's bike is pretty cool. Other people look like douches on bikes, but he doesn't."
That was odd, but one quick scan of her companion's faces told Allison they weren't really fazed about it. Weird, but this was Beacon Hills. They've seen weirder stuff than Hayden's admiration for Scott's bike.
"I wonder how the mileage is on that? Should I talk to Liam about getting one? But then again..."
Allison shot her a look, which Hayden replied to with a "What?"
Allison said nothing and Hayden went back to admiring Scott's bike, this time it's wheels. Allison would have shot her another look, but this time she noticed something: Hayden's mouth wasn't moving. Definitely weird now. This could mean one of three things: one, Hayden was a ventriloquist (unlikely, and Allison had to work extra hard to shake the thought of Hayden with a puppet out of her head), two, she was imagining the great love story between Hayden and Scott's Kawasaki very vividly, complete with dialogue and everything (also unlikely, because she could hear Hayden's voice in her ear as clear as day) and three, she was hearing Hayden's thoughts.
Allison almost laughed the third one off the list, until she heard Hayden say, again, "I wish Liam was here" without moving her mouth. Once again, no one had really reacted to that, indicating that they probably hadn't heard it. So, grunting, Allison took the fact head on that now she could, in fact, hear Hayden's thoughts.
Once Allison had gotten over the fact that she could hear what Hayden was thinking at any given moment, she decided to pay a little more attention as to what she was thinking. Some might call it snooping, but Allison wasn't going to pass up a prime opportunity such as this. It was weird how much Hayden thought about Liam. Granted, they were in a relationship, but Liam would invade Hayden's thought process more than supernatural creatures invaded Beacon Hills. It reminded Allison of the time of the beginning of her and Scott's relationship. She hoped they didn't seem like that to other people, because it was a little sickening, in the good way, like when your stomach hurts when you've had too much cake. But it was starting to get old. When Allison was in class, she could hear Hayden's mind going from "Okay, Liam said he's gonna be right outside the class. We can take off then" to "Mmm, kissy noise, kissy noise, moaning, more kissy noises." It wasn't exactly that, but Allison guessed based on what was actually happening and whatever thought of Hayden was having decided to take place in Allison's mind, grossing her out.
While Allison wasn't exactly expecting to keep her newfound ability a secret for long, she didn't expect Malia to be the first one to find out. She was good at prying, apparently, because she managed to get the secret out from under Allison when she noticed her absentmindedly staring at Hayden during football practice.
"I think I can hear Hayden's thoughts," Allison said, finally giving in to the pressure from Malia that she had been intent on keeping on for the last five minutes.
Malia seemed taken aback a little. "That sounds cool. What did Professor Xavier say?"
Allison stared back at the girl, a look of incredulity on her face. "Stiles?" she inquired.
"Stiles," Malia confirmed. "Anyway, I think Lydia had the same problem with Liam a few months back."
"Really? How'd she stop it?"
"She just gave it time. Wait about a week and you should be fine."
"And you're sure about this?"
"Yeah. Pretty much."
"That doesn't sound too confident."
"Look, Lydia's thing stopped. Yours will too," Malia said. "Anyway, what does she think about?"
"Liam," Allison sighed. "A whole lot of Liam."
"Okay. That's just boring. In the meantime, you need a distraction. Why don't you try some archery or something? I always saw you being pretty kick-ass at it."
Malia was right. Archery always helped take her mind off things.
When she visualized the arrow hitting the target, it was calming. It was serene. Most importantly, she wasn't plagued by other people thinking how hot their boyfriend looked in that hoodie. Granted, some of it could be just being out alone in the woods, but archery helped. Allison took a deep breath and calmed herself. Slowly, she nocked another arrow onto the bow as she drew back her arm. Steady, she reminded herself.
"Whoa, archery looks cool."
And of course the arrow went off-target. Allison looked around for the offending voice, but she had a sinking suspicion she knew who it was.
For a werewolf, Hayden wasn't much of an expert at sneaking around as Allison easily spotted her standing behind one of the trees, head peeking out of the branches. Allison motioned her to come over, and she did so gingerly, as if she was second guessing the whole thing.
"You followed me?"
"Okay, she asked you a question. You can answer this."
"Yeah, I was just checking to see if you really were as good in archery as the guys said you were."
"Great, an insult. Now she'll never give you lessons."
Allison didn't know if there was an expression that properly carried the feeling of miffed and flattered, but if there was, she was sure that her own face bore the perfect resemblance to it. But still, Allison wanted to tug at the string to see what else she could uncover.
"So you follow me and insult me. Any other hidden talents I should know about?"
This made Hayden's mind go blank. Apparently she didn't take well to insulting a potential mentor, or having it pointed out. So obviously her words came out in a ramble as Allison struggled to find meaning in them.
"Well, it was just a random idea I had. Lydia said you taught her self-defense and Parrish and they said you were really good at archery and I thought that… maybe... you could teach me how?" the last part came out as a squeak.
"Why? You already have claws, fangs and the whole shebang."
"Yeah, but… archery, it..."
"Looks cool?" Allison asked.
"Among other things," Hayden nodded.
"Yeah, I'll teach you." Allison said with a smile.
"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod she said yes. Okay, don't freak out. Be cool. Be cool. You can do this. Now, ..."
Allison sighed. Yeah, this isn't gonna get annoying at all.