"You have a black eye. Were you fighting with someone?"
Stiles sighed, slowly shutting his locker as he turned to face Lydia. He felt Scott pat him sympathetically on the shoulder before disappearing to meet the others for lunch.
"It's nothing" he told her quietly, not wanting to make a scene in the hallway.
"Stiles…this isn't like you" the girl said worriedly "You wouldn't hurt anyone, not on purpose or without a reason…What happened?"
He shrugged his bag onto his shoulder and turned to begin walking away after Scott.
"Are you seriously ignoring me?"
Stiles groaned, he couldn't walk away from her, he just couldn't, not after the way her voice had just cracked.
He spun back and looked at her apologetically
"Lydia I don't want to talk about it alright? It's over, it happened now let it go and come eat lunch with us"
The strawberry blonde rested her hand on her hip
"No, somebody's hurt you Stilinski and I don't like that, so tell me what the hell happened and tell me now, otherwise I will get it out of Scott and we both know I can be pretty scary!"
Stiles smiled despite himself as he took in the fiery teenage girl stood in front of him.
"Are you ever gonna let this go?" he questioned
"No"
"Me either, now c'mon, lunch, let's go"
He began walking away again, but stopped and frowned after she didn't try to stop him. Concerned, he turned back but Lydia was gone.
"Lyds?" he called out, gripping the straps of his backpack "Lydia this isn't funny okay? Just because I won't tell you doesn't mean that you-"
He trailed off as he rounded the corner, and his heart skipped a beat. Lydia was pinned up against a wall by the new kid, who had started at Beacon Hills High only a week ago. She was struggling against his grip, her bag on the floor with her books half spilling out.
"Let go of me!" she screamed, thrashing around
"Stop squirming princess, I've heard you love a quickie in school, particularly in Coach's office"
"Leave me alone! I don't even know who you are!"
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and her breaths were uneven as she began to panic even more.
And that did it for Stiles, he threw his bag down in the corner, and charged at the kid, sending him crashing to the floor.
"Geez Stilinski that isn't nice"
"Shut it Caleb" Stiles growled, clenching his fists by his sides "Now get lost"
"I don't think so, you see Lydia and I were about to head on off to Coach's office, weren't we?"
Lydia's eyes were wide and scared, a sight that didn't please Stiles.
"I swear to God if you don't get out of here in the next 5 seconds I will happily break both of your legs" the teen threatened, his jaw clenched as beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.
"I'd like to see you try" Caleb drawled "After all, you didn't last very long during our last fight did you?"
Stiles closed his eyes, hearing Lydia gasp as she pieced everything together.
"I warned you to stay away from her" he snarled, re-opening his eyes and taking a step towards Caleb "I told you what would happen if you came anywhere near her"
Lydia shakily reached out and took Stiles' arm, scared he was going to launch himself at Caleb again.
"Yeah well you won't always be around to protect her Stilinski" he smirked "And when you aren't there, I just might be"
Stiles tore himself from Lydia's grip, and slammed Caleb up against the lockers, his fists balled in the boy's shirt as he held him there.
"Try threatening her again" he began deadly quiet "I dare you"
Even Caleb looked partially alarmed at the look of pure fury in Stiles' eyes
"No" he said grumpily "I won't give you the satisfaction of hurting me, not for that slut"
He turned and spat in Lydia's direction, and she cringed, backing up even more.
Stiles pulled Caleb forward before ramming him back into the lockers hard
"Don't you ever call her that again, don't come near her, don't speak to her, don't touch her"
His knuckles had turned white, and his nails were dug into the palms of his hands, as he eventually let Caleb fall to the ground.
He looked up at Lydia, who shook her head shocked "Just go" she whispered. And he did, grabbing his bag he ran off down the hallway and out into the courtyard.
Stiles was breathing heavily as he thumped the lockers before taking a step back and running a hand through his hair.
"Are you alright?" he asked tightly, evidently still wound up
Lydia moved to stand in front of him, gently taking his hands in hers "He hit you, that's how you got your black eye"
Stiles looked down at her, her face still scared and her eyes still wet with tears
"Yeah" he confirmed sadly "I heard him saying some stuff about you and I told him to stop, but he didn't and he told me he wanted to-to err…you know, and I got mad and then we were fighting"
He bowed his head but she tilted his chin back up
"I've never seen you like that before" she whispered
"I know I'm sorry…I just, I saw him hurting you and I snapped"
Lydia nodded, chewing on her bottom lip as Stiles gently rolled up her sleeves to examine the finger shaped bruises up her wrists and arms.
He sighed, resting his forehead on hers as they stood there in the silence of the hallway.
"It's okay" she told him quietly "I'm alright"
"Yeah, yeah I know" Stiles let go of her wrists and wrapped his arms round her waist, pulling her closer to him as he pressed a kiss to her temple.
"Thanks to you" she continued "I guess you really are batman huh?"
Stiles smirked, his arm still round her waist as they picked up their bags and headed to lunch with the others.
