From A Crush

Set during 'Restraint'

They left the pair alone in the train car while they went to talk. She was barely conscious and they informed him that he needed to keep her talking. The silence was deafening so he asked a question that burned in his mind since she revealed she'd had a crush on him.

"Why?" he asked and she looked at him confused. "When you said you had a crush on me… why? I'm a sidekick – always have been."

"Because you are the loyal sidekick," she told him before trying to move only to wimper. He brushed hair out of her face that had fallen in her eyes. "You were sweet, and kind. And while you didn't notice me you didn't ridicule me either. You were awkward, and I got most of your jokes, and you were… cuter than you think."

Though she was tired a blush crossed her cheeks.

"I ignored you… because I…" he began and she chuckled dryly.

"Were in love with Lydia Martin," she said. "I know. I was always jealous. She has a great guy and…" her eye lids fluttered tiredly, while she yawned. "she didn't see. She refused to see. You're the geeky, sweet, loyal guy who never thinks when his friend needs you… and forgive far too easily. I mean… I hit you with a car part and you forgave me… didn't even…" her eyes fluttered and she shifted closer to him. His heart rate sped up because there was a girl in his arms. She'd always been pretty, just not in the normal sense but now, with her confidence and the way she held herself, she was beyond hot. "…rat me out to Derek."

"Just a bruise," he told her. "I've had worse from Scott since he became a werewolf… and at lacrosse practice."

She muttered something but she was asleep. Glancing at her wound the bleeding had stopped and the gaping hole was closing, the muscles stitching themselves back together. That meant she was in the clear.

Would his knowing he'd done the same thing to her, that Lydia constantly did to him change anything? Stiles didn't know. He'd like to think it would. But he was still in love with Lydia Martin – even if he now saw Erica in a different light.

In the morning she'd probably deny everything she said. Erica would go back to being a bitch and he'd go back to pining away after a girl with strawberry blonde hair… who would never look at him. But none of that mattered right at that moment. The only thing that truly mattered was she was safe, and alive. Crushes, heartbreak, who ignored who – that was for some other time…