Lydia Martin did not consider herself a hopeless romantic, a mushy-gushy kind of gal. No, she never let true and raw feelings come out. Not anymore. Though, through what felt like a lifetime of watching herself fall into the raw, Lydia Martin still didn't believe it. Flashes of rom-com movie nights with Allison and early morning boy gossip with Kira reminded her how much she didn't let herself see the fall. It took erasing his entire existence to finally understand how their friendship had developed into something even better, without her conscious consent. Lydia realized there were moments, some minuscule while others right in front of her face, where she was utterly in love with Stiles. She could be leaning in and hanging off of every word he said, rolling her eyes and walking away from him or falling asleep researching on his bedroom floor.
Yet, Lydia Martin did not consider herself a hopeless romantic.
That is until he kissed her. He kissed her with the fire of a decades long crush, the build up of the past few and the realization that the girl he once fell for in third grade was not the woman he loved today- the woman he was kissing in that moment was even better. He could only explain the change through tiny, insignificant moments over the years and perhaps the explanation was that this was real. This was raw emotion, neither one of them left anything behind with one another and it was finally time to tell her what he had been feeling since she befriended him.
So Stiles kissed her.
And Lydia Martin couldn't remember why she barely liked those rom-coms and morning gossip.
Did he just bite me?
They pulled apart for breath and smiles before the distance had them moving closer once again.
"I didn't say it back," Lydia whispered into his neck, leaving goosebumps in its wake.
Stiles let out a small sigh, "Like I said, you don't have to."
Shifting backwards with their arms still intangled, Lydia searched his face, "You knew.. wow, you knew and never told me"
His mouth opened to speak.
The strawberry blonde continued anyway, "It took forever. Longer than forever, hell it took you not existing. What does that say about me? No. Don't answer that."
She watched as his Adam's apple bobbed.
He watched as her eyebrows knit into one and her face brightened.
And she finally said it.
"I love you."
Lydia's eyes made a slow ascent up to his own and she said it again, "I love you."
She felt his body stiffen as he let out a shaky breath.
"Is it weird that I'm more out of breath right now than when we were making out?"
It was now her turn to let out a breath, only this time it was accompanied with an adorable giggle. Lydia's eyes lightened and one of his favorite smiles spread on to her face. A gentle hand came up to push some curls behind her ear and Stiles couldn't help but show a sloppy, crooked smile of his own.
"I mean, it should be the other way around right?" Stiles chuckled at the situation and didn't move his hand from the side of her face.
Unknown to her, in one swift motion Lydia rolled her eyes, and then closed them, only to give her signature smile of turning her lips in on one another. When her eyes opened, Stiles was placing their foreheads against one another for support. The short distance left them dizzy and impartial towards the world around them.
"Break times over," Lydia pulled her lips inwards for a second time, "We have to divert that train."
Stiles nodded, against her forehead mind you, and pushed his lips into hers. A kiss which caused Lydia to step back at least three steps and smirk into his oncoming storm. ϟ