A/N: I know I never set a schedule for this fic but I was hoping to update once a week but UGH, life just gets in the way sometimes... I just didn't have as much time as I wanted to sit and write. I'm hoping the next few chapters can be written soon so you don't have to wait and see how everything goes. I know it kinda ends on a cliffhanger but I was really eager to post something for you guys and the next section is going to be long by itself I'm sure XD
I also kinda rushed through the last section so I apologize for any errors and I hope to read back through it and edit it if it needs it (I doubt it will be anything major, just spelling checks and stuff), I hope there's nothing too distracting!
Hope you're all still enjoying the story :D
*Next Saturday*
The meeting had gone well and everyone accepted Allison; Erica and Kira had both made up for Cora's rough introduction. Erica had told her about how Stiles had stood up for her when she was younger and how the fact that he wasn't ever afraid to be himself really helped to inspire her. It actually almost embarrassed Stiles to hear her be so complimentary. But she'd countered with plenty of embarrassing stories of them as well, just so Allison knew she wasn't being too biased. By the end of the night, Kira and Erica and been convinced that she was going to be the best roommate ever. And they had agreed,
Scott and Stiles had taken her to the landlord and signed her name onto the lease the next day. Now she had a building key and was mostly moved in (aside from the stuff in storage) and things were going great. It had only been about a week but Stiles was floating on cloud nine! "Dude, for reals, I'll say it again, she is the perfect roommate! There's none of the awkwardness of having a stranger in the house, y'know?"
"Yea, um, about that…" Scott was chewing on his lip and avoiding eye contact.
"What? Scott, don't ruin this… please tell me it's something minor, something we can work out…" Stiles pulled his best friend over to the couch and clasped his hands together. Had he cursed them by calling her the perfect roommate?
"Allison came home last night… smelling like blood and wolfsbane…" There was no way to beat around the bush, Scott knew it… so he just laid it all on the table, hoping his friend would know what to do.
Stiles gaped at him, "Excuse me? Last night? Why didn't you text me, I would've come home! That sounds serious- did she try to attack you?!"
"No, nothing like that. The smell of wolfsbane was faint, the blood was stronger. You were out with your dad… it didn't feel right interrupting since I wasn't in danger. I'm fairly certain I didn't shift, not even my eyes, it was really faint."
"She had traces of wolfsbane on her Scott, and you're a Werewolf! Weren't in danger? What are the odds that she just happened to grab one of the flowers because it was pretty? I can't believe you think you weren't in danger! If it had been stronger- if she had seen your eyes!"
Scott shook his head, "She wasn't aggressive at all, I swear, there was no reaction for her to see. I'll admit that it wasn't a flower, I know it wasn't. Remember when we found the one on Derek's property? I have a different reaction to the flowers than to the concentrated powder and stuff. It was powder that she had on her. Also, I don't think the blood was hers."
"How do you know that?"
"Well it was pretty strong so I think it's fair to say that there was a good amount of blood… you would've even been able to smell it. But she didn't look hurt at all, no wincing, no limping, she wasn't holding her stomach or cradling an arm, literally nothing. She seemed a bit nervous and it was obvious that she was trying to not be obvious. I was on the couch, watching tv when she came in so she stood in the hallway to talk to me. She made the effort to talk to me but she didn't get too close to me and as soon as enough time had passed to be considered polite, she excused herself to go shower. But the weirder thing is that she got rid of her clothes before showering."
"Huh?"
He cleared his throat, not sure how Stiles was going to react. "She grabbed a trash bag from under the sink before going back to her room. There was some rustling noise and I'm assuming she stuffed her dirty clothes into the bag. After that, I heard the window in her room open and she called out to someone… When she came out to head into the shower, she was wearing different clothes. And the smell of blood was pretty much gone."
"That is strange. So it had to be on her clothes right? She probably didn't want to take the chance that you might snoop so she got rid of them ASAP." Stiles frowned, "Do you really think she tossed her clothes down to someone? That would be the best way to get rid of them I guess… Better than trying to sneak them past us and then down to the laundry room, anyone might have seen them that way."
Scott mumbled an agreement and ran his hand through his hair. "Maybe we have it all wrong…" he hedged, desperate to be wrong. "Maybe she had nothing to do with the actual hunting part, like, what if she just stumbled upon the whole thing?"
Stiles shook his head, "Scotty… now you're just trying to be overly optimistic to counter your doubt. You really think she just… happened to come across an injured Were after the Hunters had attacked? They escaped, bleeding and scared, came across Allison and… she survived? Especially if we consider that Derek warned us about the Rogue that has been sulking around town. He told us he was working on hunting them down and figuring out how big of a threat they were and this morning we get a text saying that the issue has been resolved… So if the Rogue Derek was looking for was the same one that the Hunters caught up with, there is no way Allison wouldn't have become another victim… they wouldn't have had the control to not attack. So, ignoring that issue with your weak argument that she's an innocent bystander, do you think Allison would be okay after finding someone all bloody and shot up… she'd just come back to the apartment and play it cool?"
"I dunno… maybe."
"No, Scott, the answer you are looking for is no. That's a pretty intense encounter, for anyone. I find it hard to believe that she'd just come back here and then not say something to you." As much as he hated to be the one arguing against Allison, it needed to be done. They couldn't afford to be in denial about this, it was too risky. As nice as she seemed, it was safer to assume the worst and prepare than to stick their heads in the sand.
"Okay, you're right, when she came in, she didn't act like she'd just watched someone die, or worse, watch someone miraculously heal from fatal wounds, she was showing no signs," he admitted. "She wasn't really anxious at all, like I said earlier, it was mostly like she was hoping I wouldn't notice the blood. She was trying to be smooth and I could have bought it if I hadn't noticed the smell. Allison was completely cool about it, all things considered."
Stiles nodded, "And we can't forget about the fact that there was someone waiting for her to toss her clothes out. She knew ahead of time that she couldn't keep those in the apartment and asked a partner to throw them out, or wash them. Again, that isn't the actions of an innocent bystander that was surprised by a shot-up Were."
"Okay, okay, but like dude… what kind of Hunter moves in with two random guys?! Hunters don't just move in with strangers."
"I know! That's the part I can't get my head around… at all! Hunters are like Weres- it's usually too risky to just find random people to move in with. You have to keep secrets and you're away from your safety net if something goes wrong. Not to mention if you happen to get unlucky like us and find someone that is your sworn enemy… But… she didn't even do anything to test us right?! What kind of Hunter doesn't even test the people they are living with? I mean, as a Were, you at least have your sense of smell and stuff."
"Right, I don't recall her doing anything… I never caught the scent of wolfsbane or even mountain ash… she didn't do anything that might trigger a shift that day she came over. And there's none in the apartment now either, I haven't smelled it at all." There were more frowns as they tried to piece everything together. Everything seemed to point to Allison being a Hunter, if a possibly inept one… but there was still a chance that she wasn't and Scott didn't want to accuse her and kick her out if he was wrong about last night. It wasn't like they even found the bloody clothes to use as evidence.
"Well, there's one way to find out for sure," Stiles called out suddenly. He stood up and strode down the hall, shoulders set. They'd just have to search her room. She wasn't supposed to be back for a few hours still and he needed some answers, something to confront her with. He twisted the handle of her door and went in, automatically scanning for a ring of mountain ash that she might have put down.
"Stiles!" Scott whined, right behind him. "We aren't supposed to go into each other's rooms and…" Slowly he stepped into the room, nostrils flared. As much as he hated to invade her privacy, the fact that he could smell wolfsbane unnerved him.
"Is it strong, is there a hidden stash in here that we've just missed?"
The Were shook his head, it was actually pretty faint but since it was basically their kryptonite, as Stiles called it, he was very attuned to the smell. He slowly walked around the room, trying to pinpoint where the smell was coming from… It was a few minutes before he saw some trace amounts sitting on the window sill. He pointed it out and let Stiles pull him back.
"It's not a lot but we have no idea what strain it is or how strong it might be," Stiles commented. He grabbed a piece of paper and carefully swept the dust into a pile, looking at it closely. He pinched some between two fingers, sighing when he recognized the texture. "So, we've got traces of wolfsbane in her room, she came home smelling like blood… and we know for a fact that there was a Rogue wandering around town. It makes sense that a group of Hunters around town also caught wind of them and decided to take action. And Allison just happens to be a part of that group of Hunters."
"We should take that to Deaton… just to make sure."
Stiles looked up at his friend and saw the look of defeat on his face. This was about the worst thing that could have come up. And he just couldn't bring himself to disagree with Scott anymore, he didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. Both of them knew wolfsbane, they weren't wrong… "Yea, Deaton's the expert, he'll be able to tell us for sure what it is. We have to be 110% certain about this." He carefully folded the paper and put it in his pocket. "Alright, let's go, I have no idea when Allison might come back and we need answers before then."
*Clinic*
The two guys sat in the front room, waiting for Deaton to finish with his current patient. They were just thankful that he always found a way to squeeze them in during emergencies… they've had a lot of those over the years.
"Alright Scott, Stiles, come on back."
Stiles led the way, clearing his throat awkwardly as they gathered around the exam table in the back. "So, straight to the point… um… I found some powdered residue on my clothes and for Scott's safety, I was hoping you could categorize it for us. Between work and the Druid stuff, I'm not really sure." He pulled the paper out and set it on the table, letting the veterinarian unfold it.
Deaton carefully poured the dust onto the table, not wanting to disturb it and cause it to disperse in the air. Once it was on the table, he rubbed it between his fingers and instantly narrowed his eyes. "Stiles, how do you fail to identify a substance that you come into contact with multiple times a week? You've spent a lot of time here in this office learning about this very thing."
"I wasn't sure what um, what strain it was though… I'm not as good at that part." He still didn't name it, even though Deaton was waiting for him to.
"What makes you think this is any special strand? And Scott-" Deaton turned to his employee and cut himself off when he saw the stressed look on his face. Both of them knew exactly what they'd brought him, they just hadn't wanted to hear it. An interesting turn of events… "Where did you really get this?"
"At… the apartment, like I said," Stiles said very slowly while Scott stayed quiet.
"You didn't get this from my office because you wear scrubs when handling it here- because you were living with two Weres. Scott wouldn't just run into this and not know what it is; if you really got it from the apartment like you said, that would mean it came from your new roommate, correct? And since you're both looking so upset by the news, I doubt she just stumbled across some concentrated wolfsbane powder. Your roommate is a Hunter, isn't she?"
There was a long pause before Scott finally mumbled, "It seems like it, yea."
"We don't know for sure, technically, it wasn't like we saw her with any weapons, shooting a Were- and she didn't come after Scott, she didn't! But I mean, there was suspicious behavior last night and we can't ignore the signs. We were hoping to be wrong which was why we brought it to you, just on the very, teeny, tiny, small chance that we were wrong about what it was."
"And wh-"
"You can't tell Derek!" Scott blurted out, realizing their mistake in coming here. "I know he's the Alpha and you're our Emissary because somehow he talked you into coming out of retirement, so like… you're supposed to have an open line of communication but please, Deaton, you can't tell him!"
Deaton raised both eyebrows at that, "You're keeping secrets from your Alpha?"
"We're handling it on our own, we can handle this and there is no reason to worry him with something so trivial," Stiles declared, blurring all the words together in his haste.
"A Hunter living with his Betas is trivial?"
"Like I said, she didn't do anything to Scott, I don't think she even knows about us. She hasn't found out our secret so it's fine. Please, you believe in us don't you?"
"Yea, c'mon Deaton, we've proven ourselves to be capable after all these years, right?"
"What about if things go horribly awry?"
Stiles waved him off, "Pft, don't be so negative. We're adults and we know how to read a situation and we aren't insanely stubborn. If something happens that we can't handle, we aren't afraid to call Derek and admit we're in over our heads. This just isn't something that requires his attention, he's got more important stuff to deal with."
"I guess we'll see," was all Deaton commented. They left right after that, hurrying to get back home since he confirmed their fears, it was wolfsbane. He waited maybe 5 minutes before he called Derek, knowing that the Alpha was waiting for information. "You'll be happy to know that it wasn't your Betas that spoiled everything."
"It was because of the hunt last night wasn't it?" Derek asked. He was surprised they'd lasted a week but after he found out that Chris was hunting the Rogue that had wandered into town, he'd been wondering if Allison would be caught. If she had rushed home right after they dealt with him, she'd be covered in Hunter scents. And it wasn't like she knew she had to be extra careful about it; at least he could count on the boys to keep their wits about them. So far.
"Yea I think so, they didn't go into details but they found wolfsbane and they are certain that it came from Allison. They did try to hide it from me but they didn't do a good job, it only took a moment to break through their lie. Stiles was adamant that she didn't do anything to harm Scott, in fact, they seem pretty certain that she has no idea about their ties to the supernatural. And they are adamant that I tell you nothing so you have to pretend to still be in the dark about everything."
"I expected as much. I guess I should be glad that they even came to you. You were there for them in the beginning though so of course they trust you. If I hadn't forewarned you about Miss Argent, would you have kept it from me?"
"Guess we won't know," Deaton commented before hanging up. He had a soft spot for both Derek and Scott, and he knew that Allison wasn't a threat so he might've given the boys a day or two to figure it out before he called the Alpha to bail them out.
*Apartment*
"This is bad Scotty… real bad."
Scott whimpered, "Derek is going to kill us for letting a Hunter into the apartment!"
"Hey, this isn't our fault! The whole Pack met her, including Derek! Derek gave us the nod- you saw it! So that means she passed under his radar too, not just ours! Derek can't be too mad at us when he failed to spot her too."
"That's true, even Derek missed it. And he's a great Alpha, we've learned a lot from him over the years. If he isn't perfect, how can he expect us to be? And she's so sweet and nice, who could've possibly guessed she was a Hunter. When we helped her move in, she didn't bring anything Hunter-esque into the apartment, not that we saw…. We didn't go through her drawers or anything but I feel like we would've noticed if she had cases of weapons or vials of powders. So what do we do?"
"I'm not sure," Stiles sighed. "We've pretty much confirmed that she is a Hunter at this point… and we're on the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm like a pseudo Druid-in-training since Derek doesn't trust my batting skills to keep me safe and you're a Beta Werewolf. The three of us should not be living together, period."
"We can't just come up with some fake excuse to kick her out, that isn't right… She paid the whole month!"
"I know, I know! I completely agree. She has no place to go and, Hunter or no, she's been great and I'd hate to kick her to the curb. But even if we waited out the whole month, told her that something came up and gave her the next two and a half weeks to start looking, she'd want to know what's up. And we've got no real excuse for her. I think the issue is that we don't want her to leave… if it were anyone else that we didn't like as much, we'd probably have no problem coming up with a suitable lie…"
Scott nodded glumly, "And the fact that we're trying to keep this from Derek… he'd probably know what to do, how to deal with it… but since we don't want him to know about our big mistake, we can't ask him. That's probably adding stress to our thought process."
"Yea, exactly." The two of them sat on the couch, tossing excuses back and forth, trying to find one that wouldn't upset her too much but was also believable. Nothing sounded good to them, and some even made them feel gross just thinking about. It was Stiles who finally said what they were both thinking because he knew Scott could never bring himself to. "We only have one option… we have to sit her down and tell her the truth. We know she's a Hunter and we belong to a Pack, an unorthodox situation. I think at this point, the easiest thing is to be honest."
"Derek wouldn't want us to… that's supposed to be our biggest secret- we only got to tell our parents because he said it was okay and I know he only said that because Matt almost outed me to my mom. Better to tell them on our own terms, with him there to answer questions than for them to find out from a nasty surprise." Scott wasn't against the idea though, not at all- he wanted nothing more than to agree with Stiles and text her immediately. But as a Were it felt like it was going against everything Derek had taught him.
"Okay but he always tells us to trust our instincts and I mean… our instincts told us that she's a nice person… who, as it turns out, might also be a Hunter. I think our instincts were right and we should take them into account. I know that, statistically, not every Hunter is absolutely prejudiced. Like, she's gone out of her way to hide her secret from us and I think that's significant. She could be fairly open with her Hunter lifestyle with the average Human, bringing small weapons into the apartment, openly talking about 'hunting' and whatnot. She's done none of that, and it reminds me about how we hide our secret. So many people would be scared if they were to learn the truth about you and that's why we keep it a secret but we know that you have complete control and you'd never hurt anyone- you haven't hurt anyone! But the risk of negative reaction is too great, it's the normal reaction for most people. If Allison is hiding her ties to the Hunter world, maybe it's because she's nervous about how people would react? Doesn't that kinda feel like the anti-Hunter personality? I think we should give her a chance, be open-minded; I know how much we appreciate when we can tell someone the truth without them looking at us like monsters." Stiles could tell he was winning his friend over so he pushed on, "Think about it, she's living with strangers instead of her own little 'pack' which says a lot. I have to believe that she's living on her own for a reason, like she's open to meeting new people despite knowing the risks which means she isn't just a cold-hearted Hunter. She's a person who happens to be a Hunter and not a Hunter full time. Just like you're a person that happens to be a Were, not a Were that's hiding in Human form."
Scott had no arguments; he too wanted to believe that she was different from the other Hunters they'd dealt with in the past. It couldn't be just because she didn't know about their affiliations and was only nice because she thought they were regular Humans. He was surprised that Stiles, the negative one, had pushed for it but he was glad that someone else wanted to believe in Allison. He'd have a hard time going against his Alpha's training if Stiles was very against trusting her. "Okay, we tell her the truth. We sit down and do our best to have a civilized conversation about it. How she reacts to our confession will tell us everything we need to know anyways, right? Identity doesn't matter as much as lifestyle in our world- I identify as a Were but I live like the average person, a calm lifestyle."
"Exactly, 100 percent what you just said. So we're telling her, now that we've got that settled, how do we go about it? Hmmm…" Stiles sat and thought a moment, trying to remember everything Derek had told them about Hunters, everything they'd experienced. "Most Hunters refuse to harm Humans unless they've proven to be as dangerous as the Pack they live with… not that there are many non-family Packs with Human members anyways… So we'll start by telling her that I'm Human and you stay behind me, that way, if she becomes aggressive, she'll have to shoot a deputy first to get to you. She won't be that stupid, I know it. I mean, I can't see her reacting aggressively anyways but just in case. You carefully monitor her silent reactions, that will tell us if she's trying to deceive us and she'll kill us the moment our guard is down. And if she does have any sort of negative reaction at all, we'll know that we were wrong about her and that she utterly hates Weres."
"Okay, my biggest issue with this plan is that… on the off chance she does hate Weres… now she knows our secret and she can identify the rest of the Pack so everyone is in danger. What happens then?"
Stiles smiled, patting his friend on the shoulder, "Scotty, if she becomes aggressive, I'm slapping my handcuffs on her and we're detaining her before she can call for backup. I can arrest her on the suspicion of the bloody clothes; Dad should have at least one report of an unsolved murder that we can try to pin on her, at least for the time being. If she seems to be more than we can handle, we'll tell Derek and see what he says. But, let's stay on the bright side and just hope for the best," he said with a smile. Scott could probably tell he was worried… he had never, in his life, ever managed to not worry. He always thought of bad scenarios and how any situation could always get worse. Once he'd started his training at the academy, it had only gotten worse. He did his best to hide it, not letting his over-active mind turn into outright paranoia, but it was hard sometimes. Especially since he was part of a Pack that had a history of finding trouble; it was really hard not to be paranoid around strangers.
But Scott didn't call him out on it, he was too busy trying to tell himself to follow Stiles's advice and not worry. Not everything took a downward turn in their life, they had plenty of ups to counter the downs… so they weren't cursed with the worst luck ever. There was a chance that this might actually all work out and he had to focus on that. To think about the alternative was too much for him. He watched as Stiles pulled out his phone to text Allison but he reached out a hand to stop him. "I can hear her, she's here."
Stiles was about to say something when Scott rudely clapped a hand over his mouth.
"She isn't alone…" He strained to focus on her voice, blocking out the other sounds in the building.
"Remember, just be cool, okay?" she said, "And remember, one of them is a deputy."
"Allison, I know what I'm doing," a feminine voice replied. "I just want to meet them- I promise I won't threaten to melt anyone with acid."
Before he could hear anything else, Stiles shook him and whispered, "Dude, is she bringing backup? Maybe she saw your eyes after all but didn't want to risk taking you down alone… quick, hide!"
"I have no idea, her friend mentioned something about melting people with acid?!" Scott choked out. "But she's with another woman and-"
"So? Obviously women can be Hunters!"
"No… remember, she said she was meeting her friend Lydia for lunch after class? I think that maybe, she's just showing her friend that apartment. I think. It seems like a dumb idea to make threats if you know there's a Were that can overhear you…"
Stiles narrowed his eyes, calculating the odds. Scott had a point but it could be a stab at intimidation… hard to tell when he didn't hear the actual words. "You go hide in your room, just to be safe. If it seems like things are going south, go out the window and call Derek."
"What?! I'm not going to leave you alone with them if it goes south!"
"They might take me hostage and try to get information out of me but I'm Human, the odds that they'll kill me are low. I'm sure I can stall long enough for you guys to find me. If you even start to shift in front of them, they'll start shooting."
Scott whimpered and then lowly growled in frustration… he hated that Stiles was right. He hated that he'd possibly have to leave him but Stiles was trying to save him. There was always a chance that they'd shoot first and ask questions later but most Hunters didn't like to take risks. "Fine, but I swear, if they hurt you, they're going to regret it." He leapt over the couch and rushed to his room, leaving the door open so he could at least try to catch their scents when they walked in.
Stiles quickly turned on the tv and looked for something to watch, telling himself to breathe and act casual. Somehow he managed not to jump when the front door unlocked.
"Stiles, Scott, are you home? I'm back and I've brought a friend."
"I'm in the living room," Stiles answered, not commenting on Scott's whereabouts. "Is it our turn to meet your friends? About time!" He climbed off the couch, maybe a little too eagerly, trying to appear like his usual self.
"Yes, Lydia demanded that I bring her back to the apartment after lunch. I didn't say anything about it because she doesn't live here so I honestly thought she'd have to leave right after lunch. But here she is," Allison commented. She loved Lydia, she really did- they'd been friends for about 10 years now... but she was very judgmental and openly hostile towards anyone that didn't meet her standards. And Stiles and Scott weren't exactly the kind of guys that Lydia talked to.
Stiles didn't need Scott's Were abilities to see her nervousness, apparently her friend was a handful of some sort? After meeting all of his friends, he couldn't imagine that she was self-conscious about her own circle, but then he made eye contact with the woman that was standing next to her. All of Allison's stories made a lot more sense now that he knew what she looked like.
"Hi, I'm Lydia Martin, Allison's best friend, and you have to be Stiles."
"How did you know that?"
Lydia glanced up and down, "You're wearing extremely… shall we saw, worn-in, clothes, an obvious counter to the rigidity of wearing a uniform. When I heard that you were a deputy, you'd either be extremely rigid while on and off duty, or you'd be extremely laid back to create a distance. There's rarely a middle ground in my experience."
"Oh, you know a lot of cops then?" Stiles asked, ignoring the jab at his faded t-shirt, it was his favorite and he knew that it looked a little ratty after all the washings.
"Lydia, you said you'd be nice!" Allison interjected, not letting her friend answer.
"What? I was just answering his question, I haven't said anything mean." Lydia walked further into the apartment, taking in everything. "It's cleaner than I would've thought, you swear you didn't tell them to clean up before I got here?"
"I've told you, they aren't slobs and they don't make me do all the cleaning- see the chore chart is right there! You're just trying to find an issue with them…"
Lydia pouted, "No I'm not, I'm just making sure, that's all. It's not often that a woman lives with two guys when she isn't dating one of them. I don't want you getting taken advantage of. You know my parents would've let you stay with them at the new house- you could've waited until my fall break you know. I would've loved to help you find a place, I mean, surely there are nicer apartments than this that you can still afford." She held a hand out towards Stiles an instant later, "No offense. It's just that her parents' old house was absolutely fabulous and I know my parents spoiled her as well."
"Everyone is entitled to their own set of standards I suppose," was all Stiles commented. He didn't have much of an eye for fashion by any means but even he could tell just how much money and coordination went into her outfit. And it was supposedly just something she wore to meet up with a friend for lunch… He couldn't imagine what else she might have in her closet for the bigger occasions. It was no surprise that she was looking down her nose at their place but despite that, he couldn't help but be a little miffed.
Allison sighed patiently, "The other apartments weren't leagues better or worse than this, this is actually an average place. I have no doubt that if you were around, you would've managed to find some fabulous place that also gave me a bargain price but I think I did fairly well for myself. Especially since I actually get along with my roomies."
"Every house, or apartment, can use an upgrade, it's nothing to be ashamed of. If you're really planning on staying here, I can be persuaded into giving a few tips on how to spruce things up. That can come later though, I'm mostly here to meet you, and Scott, is he here?"
"Yea, sorry, I was listening to some music and didn't realize we had company, that's my bad," Scott called out. After listening to everything, he was certain that this was just a surprise visit from a friend and not a trap like they had feared.
Lydia held out her hand and shook both of theirs, now that everyone was present she got down to business. "Allison is a smart woman, I will not have you taking advantage of her just because you think you can walk all over her. She hasn't had anything bad to say about you so far but I know a lot of people try to be on their best behavior for awhile before eventually slipping back into their normal habits. We might not live in the same city currently because of school but we talk often and I'm fully capable of driving down here at a moment's notice if she needs me. Is that understood?"
Stiles smiled at Scott, "Well, this is a surprising turn of events…"
"What is?" she demanded to know- was he dumb enough to be underestimating her? Was he going to call her cute and make a snide remark about not being afraid of a slap? She might've promised Allison that she'd be nice but she might have to show them how scary she could be.
"Here I was expecting something a little more underhanded. You should know that Allison has told us a lot about you. Her favorite stories are from when you two were in high school and you had everyone fooled. Everyone thought you were the vapid Queen Bee but really you were a brilliant over achiever that kept her smarts hidden. You love fashion, it isn't an act, and you love that people make assumptions based on your attire and your makeup, but you're actually getting a Masters in some really smart math stuff. After hearing about that side of you, I really didn't expect you to be straightforward with your warnings. Seriously, I thought there would be a test where we didn't even know we were being tested."
"I'm guessing it's because it's Allison and not yourself," Scott added on. "You might be alright with people underestimating you and you'd run circles around people to confuse them when it comes to your personal affairs. But you aren't going to take that risk with her, you want us to know you're dead serious."
"Plus there's always the chance that we might be too stupid to realize she's testing us and then her subtle jabs would be wasted on us," Stiles laughed, seeing her relax a bit.
"I think I can see why Allison finds you to be, acceptable, roommates," she admitted. "You and I probably couldn't be more different and somehow Allison gets along with both of us. I know that means we have to be nice to each other, for her sake, but maybe she wasn't wrong when she said that we might get along. I'll admit that I was hoping you'd be one of the ones that makes assumptions based on my outfit."
"You shouldn't be so surprised, do you really think I just wouldn't tell my new friends about my best friend?" Allison scoffed, leaning over to nudge Lydia with her shoulder.
She shrugged, "They might have ignored you or didn't really hear you. You'd be amazed at how many people continue to ask if I'm in the wrong classroom. It's pretty ingrained to just take one look at someone and judge them; not many people have the mental capacity to not judge someone after one look."
"Well they need to watch Legally Blonde," Stiles asserted.
Lydia giggled a bit, "Are you saying that because you think I love that movie?"
"Um, excuse you, I'm saying that because it's one of my favorite movies… not counting the superhero movies."
"Yea, it's hard to rank above the superhero movies," Scott told her, "But we do have both films over there on the shelf if you'd like to verify it."
Allison perked up, "Wait what? How did I not know that?" She should have known that Stiles and Scott could handle themselves. Lydia wasn't really anything like their group of friends, she was a handful in her own way… but they clearly knew how to adapt. And Lydia had actually smiled at one point! Not her sarcastic, phony smile either but a genuine smile. "Maybe when Lydia has more time we can do a small scale movie night because I won't let her lie to you, she does in fact love that movie too. And I say small scale because I don't know how she'd react to everyone- I didn't even know how to react to everyone."
"Gosh, don't spill all my secrets at once Allison," Lydia huffed.
"Oh, I'm sure Allison could talk about you nonstop for a year and you would still have secrets- you strike me as the type that gathers secrets professionally. Has anyone told you that you should look into a job at the CIA? I've known you for like 5 minutes and I just… it fits."
Lydia twirled a strand of hair around her finger, "That actually isn't the first time I've heard that."
The group eventually moved into the living room, talking about their various hobbies, a much tamer get-to-know-each-other compared to when Allison met the whole gang. And just like Allison had been herself with them, Scott and Stiles refused to be anything but themselves around Lydia. They wanted her to form an honest opinion of them in the hopes she might not disapprove of them. She could tell that her friend had some reservations about them but Lydia liked to take her time in judging people. She wouldn't immediately write someone off but she also wouldn't trust them until they've proven themselves to her. Allison counted it as a win that she had agreed to sit down and talk with them instead of quickly excusing herself to drive home. It had happened in the past- Lydia had not liked one of her previous roommates at all. There was some stress about that for awhile but they'd found a way to work around it. Hopefully that wouldn't happen with these two though.
After an hour or so, Lydia did finally excuse herself, she had a bit of a drive and had a few assignments to review. But she promised to come back soon, complaining that she and Allison needed to hang out more often! Allison agreed and walked her to the door, hugging her fiercely before saying goodbye. "Thanks for always having my back, I really do appreciate it."
"Of course, we've been through a lot together, you know I have to give a stamp of approval for anyone you might be living with."
Allison smiled and waved as she walked away. Then she turned and closed the door, the smile fading as she saw Scott and Stiles standing in the hall with their arms crossed. "Oh, she wasn't that bad was she? I know she can come on strong but you guys did just fine."
"Allison… we need to talk…" Scott mumbled. It had been nice to meet her best friend but he'd been stressed out the whole time, just sitting on the time bomb… He thought he was going to explode and Lydia had only been around for an hour. Scott had to get the news off his chest before he went insane and he wished they could've met Lydia on a different day.
"No, you can't say that we need to talk after Lydia when I survived all your friends," Allison whined, confused. Honestly, she wasn't that bad, why did they look so upset.
Stiles held out a hand, "No, it isn't about Lydia. Promise. We were actually just about to text you before you came home. There's something we need to talk about and it has nothing to do with Lydia."
