Just in case anyone's wondering how long this fic might be, I'm currently finishing up chapter nineteen and figure there is about five or so more chapters left, and it's currently at about 100k. So lots left! Thank you for the feedback thus far!
Can also be found on tumblr and AO3!
I do not own Teen Wolf.
It was a stressful couple weeks, but Thanksgiving finally came, and both Lydia and Stiles were assignment-free.
Stiles had called ahead the night before to let his dad know the next day's plans, having already given his dad and Melissa the headsup about the extra person for dinner, and his dad of course took the opportunity to tease him mercilessly.
"So this Lydia… she's just a friend?"
"Yes, Dad, hence me saying I'm bringing my FRIEND Lydia."
"Is she pretty?"
"What does that have to do with anything?!"
His voice practically squeaked, so his dad got a good chuckle out of that.
"I'll take that as a definite yes."
"As I said, she's a friend I met here. We study together. She was going to stay here and be alone for the holiday, so I invited her home with me. End of story."
"Well we're all excited to meet her. I'm sure she's great."
"She is. So please, don't embarrass me."
"You're sure you only like her as a friend?"
"Dad."
"What? I'm just saying… it's not very often my son brings a girl all the way home to meet his family."
"I'm ending this call."
"Fine, fine. More important question…"
"If you finish that sentence with something revolving around contraception, Dad, I swear to god…"
"No, I'm serious, Stiles. Does she know?"
Stiles exhaled. "Of course not."
"Are you sure it's a good idea to bring someone unaware down to visit?"
"It's one weekend, Dad. We can't be normal for one weekend?"
"It's never really been up to us, Stiles, you know that."
"Fine. Do you want me to retract her invitation?"
"No. I just want to make sure you thought this through."
"Well, Scott and Allison will be with us all weekend, and you and Melissa. I can't imagine a safer group."
"Good. All right, I'll let you get back to packing. We'll see you and your 'friend' on Thursday."
Stiles could practically hear the smug smirk his dad was sporting, and he rolled his eyes as he hung up.
Once he packed up the jeep with his bag and pillow, he headed over to Lydia's dorm.
She was waiting on the curb for him, three suitcases and her huge purse with her.
"Uh, Lydia, you know it's only for three nights, right?"
She sent him a look, like he had just said something highly crude. "And did you supply me with an itinerary of what we were going to do? If I recall correctly, when I texted you you said 'we're going to eat dinner and then hangout the rest of the weekend'. Really clear. So I had to pack for everything. I don't know what your family's traditions are or what we'll do in our down time or—"
He smirked. "We usually just eat dinner. And dessert, if we're lucky."
Lydia made an irritated noise that rivaled a ruffled bird, so Stiles raised his eyes skyward and attempted to lift one suitcase, but nearly toppled over with how heavy it was.
"How many young children are you smuggling into Beacon Hills? Jesus, Lydia, these weigh a hundred pounds!"
"Well, be more specific next time!" she retorted, dragging the other two behind her as Stiles struggled with the first one.
Eventually, he got all three in the back and Lydia took her rightful seat in shotgun.
"Are you looking forward to going home?" she asked him, previous argument forgiven and forgotten.
Stiles put the jeep in drive and pulled away from the building. "Yeah… yeah, of course."
He really hoped his dad hadn't been right about it being risky bringing Lydia home for a weekend. The last thing he wanted to do was drag her into something she needn't be involved in.
He also hoped his dad kept his promise not to embarrass him. Lydia was looking particularly beautiful and he figured he'd be derailing their friendship on his own over the weekend without any outside help.
Stiles pulled up in front of the McCall house, familiarity and warmth immediately washing over him. Scott's house was as much home as his own was; he spent just as much time there.
Lydia followed him to the front door, her purse hung over one shoulder, and forcing a smile when Stiles glanced at her for confirmation that she was ready. They left their luggage in the car, not sure where they were staying overnight yet and not wanting to drag it in until necessary.
Feeling strange, Stiles knocked on the front door. He used to always invite himself in, whether they were home or not, until Scott got him a key since his mom didn't like Stiles going through Scott's bedroom window.
Since he had been away, it seemed only fitting that he knock now.
"Come in!" came a cry from inside the house.
Stiles led the way, his hand protectively falling to Lydia's lower back.
Melissa came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on the apron she was wearing, and shook her head in disbelief at the teenage boy.
"I can't even recall the last time you knocked on my front door, Stiles." she teased, enveloping him in a huge hug.
Her hair had evidence of flour in it, so he had hope that she was working on her famous apple pie for dessert.
"Sorry, won't happen again." he countered, squeezing her back before pulling away with a happy smile. "Melissa, this is my friend Lydia. Lydia, this is Scott's mom and my dad's newest conquest."
"Conquest?!" his dad's familiar bark of disbelief came, him entering the room now. "Honestly, why were we looking forward to him coming home?"
"Because it's too quiet around here without him. So nice to meet you." Melissa told the younger girl, hugging her too, which clearly caught her by surprise.
Lydia hugged her back when she caught up. "Same here. Thank you for letting me crash your Thanksgiving dinner."
"Oh, please, the more the merrier!"
Stiles pulled back from hugging his dad, grinning at him for his earlier jab, before turning back to Lydia.
"Dad, Lydia. Lydia, Dad."
"You can call me John actually. Or Sheriff works too." he told her, shaking her hand formally.
"STILES!" a male shout suddenly came, followed by the thundering of feet against stairs, and Stiles was running towards him without hesitation.
"SCOTTIE!"
They crashed into each other in a flurry of limbs and shouts, laughing excitedly, and a brunette came down the stairs much more calmly after them.
"First thing to learn about Scott and Stiles? They're the furthest thing from normal." the girl commented amusedly, looking over her shoulder with affection at the pair.
They were still talking a mile a minute and entangled giddily, so she turned back. "I'm Allison, Scott's girlfriend. You must be Lydia."
"Nice to meet you." Lydia said with a smile, meaning it.
"You've got to watch this one. She's dangerous." Stiles said, finally rejoining the group, almost out of breath from his reunion with Scott. "How's it going, warrior princess?"
Allison rolled her eyes but pulled him into a hug, ruffling his hair. "Good to have you home, Stilinski."
"Warrior princess?" Lydia asked in confusion, hoping someone would fill in the blank.
"Allison does archery. Uh, you know, been in a few competitions. She's nationally ranked." the Latino boy, who Lydia now knew was Scott, explained.
"So you guys have seen her shoot?"
Stiles and Scott exchanged a quick look.
"Uh, yeah, we watch her compete sometimes. She's crazy good. Could definitely kick our ass if it ever came down to it."
"You better hope it doesn't." Allison teased, bumping her hip into his.
"I'm Scott, by the way. Nice to meet you, Lydia."
Whatever weirdness had appeared, immediately evaporated and Lydia was grateful. She had a feeling she'd be spending much of the weekend missing out on inside jokes and typical trivia.
"Likewise." she told him with a smile.
"So… Happy Thanksgiving!" Stiles said when it suddenly went quiet for a beat too long. "When do we eat? I'm starving."
"Stiles, we just ate lunch not even an hour ago." Lydia reminded him, trying to hide her amusement.
"I'm a growing boy, Lydia, god, have a heart."
She had to shake her head at him as they headed into the kitchen with everybody, some of the others chuckling at his jest.
Melissa gestured to the various food-in-progress around the kitchen. "So, I'm working on the apple pie. Allison has already made the pumpkin. John's going to do the turkey, Scott's agreed to do the mashed potatoes, I'll handle the stuffing and the rest of the side vegetables… Stiles and Lydia, do you want to do the sweet potatoes?"
Before Stiles could protest, say that Lydia shouldn't have to do anything since she was a guest, she piped up.
"Sure. I love sweet potatoes." she said with a bright smile.
Stiles shrugged. "Sweet potatoes it is."
Melissa handed them the bag and they set up shop at one of the counters, Stiles washing them before passing them to Lydia to be peeled.
Allison and Scott sat across from them at the stools while Scott worked on his own potatoes.
"So Lydia, are you in first year too?" Allison asked.
She nodded. "Science major. Planning on studying medicine."
John looked up from his spot and made eye contact with Stiles. He gave him a thumbs-up and a wink, nodding exaggeratedly in approval, and Stiles shot aggressive daggers at him, melting his face into indifference when Lydia looked over.
"Very impressive. Scott's studying to be a veterinarian. I'm not really sure what I want to do, but I'm in first year nursing."
"That's pretty impressive too." Lydia said, smiling at the pair of them.
She couldn't help but be a little jealous at the way they looked proudly at each other. It was easy to tell the pair was in love, and that it wasn't the typical teenager type.
It was quiet for a moment, so Lydia continued on. "Your jacket is really cute, by the way. Where did you get it?"
Allison smiled. "My mom used to run a boutique back when we lived in San Francisco. They had the greatest stuff. I've got a huge pile of stuff back at my place, if you want to head over there some time this weekend and pick through some? I will never wear it all."
"You are my new best friend." Lydia said with a grin, causing the other girl to laugh.
She noticed Stiles smiling too, although he kept his eyes on his work, and she figured he was happy that she was fitting in so well.
"So how did you meet Stiles?" Scott asked, since Stiles had yet to give him the details.
Stiles and Lydia both glanced at each other awkwardly, causing the others to look confused.
"I lent her a highlighter—"
"I stole his seat—"
"Oh right." Lydia said, since they had overlapped each other. "The highlighter thing was first. But then you nearly stole my drink."
"After you had been hogging the textbook I needed for a solid week." Stiles countered, raising his eyebrows in challenge. "And let's not forget I saved your ass from printing an entire forest of paper that one night."
"Hey! Who helped you with your database searches?!"
"Well, who helped you restore your files after your laptop crashed?!"
"Who proofread your Shakespeare essay?!"
"Was that before or after I saved you from your usual slacker partner in Legal Ethics?"
Lydia let out a noise of irritation, mirroring Stiles' scoff, and they both grouchily turned back to their work.
The other four were staring at the pair and then glancing at each other. None were oblivious to how fast both of them were keeping up with each other or the fire in their eyes. They very much liked arguing with each other, whether they said it out loud or not.
"So tell me more about this seat stealing thing." Allison piped up, the only one brave enough to break up the silence, leaning her chin on her hand as she flashed a brilliant smile. She was clearly very much enjoying the dynamic between the pair.
Stiles tried not to smile, but it was difficult. "So, I'm having one of my worst days ever. I overslept my alarm for the first time, on one of the few days I have a really early class, and of course everyone and their dog is in the bathroom when I go to shower—"
Lydia suddenly gasped dramatically. "They allow dogs in your dorm?!"
Stiles raised his voice louder, purposely ignoring Lydia's sarcasm, which caused her to grin in satisfaction. "—And I can't skip. And I nick myself shaving like a thirteen-year-old. And I go to grab breakfast, but since I'm late, nothing is left. So I grab a muffin, which is disgusting and I toss out anyways, but I make it on time for class. So I rush in and go to sit down in my seat, which by the way is the only left-handed desk in the room, and there sits this nightmare in high heels—"
Lydia barked out a laugh at that, amused by his description. "Nice storytelling skills, Stiles. Make the audience pity you before you get to your villain moment."
"It's not a pity ploy if it's actually what happened."
"Oh please, you act like the seat was your first born. My usual seat was taken, so I found the next available closest to the front, which happened to be 'yours'. It should be mentioned that there is no seating arrangement in our class, so there is no such thing as people having their own seats."
"Come on, Lydia, I had sat there every day. Most people would understand. No one else ever tried to take it from me."
"If you had been on time, I wouldn't have either."
"Well, anyways, ignore her. I asked for it back and she just brushes me off and tells me to sit somewhere else, despite my explanation—"
"It's a seat for god sakes! All my stuff was already laid out! It's not like they don't all work the same way."
"It was the only left-handed desk in the room!"
"Are you even left-handed?!"
Stiles and Lydia continued bickering, their storytelling forgotten, and Allison kissed the back of Scott's hand, sending him a look.
He grinned back at her, knowing exactly what she was thinking. There was no way Stiles and Lydia weren't into each other. And what kind of friends would they be if they didn't try to help get their friends what they truly wanted?
Dinner managed to get made without any casualties, with, after learning quickly that Lydia and Stiles had different opinions on how to cook sweet potatoes, was quite the miracle.
The group sat around the dining room table, passing food to each other, and the chatter was all upbeat and happy.
Lydia couldn't miss the way the others looked at Stiles, clearly extremely happy to have him home. He and Scott kept laughing over stuff that no one understood, and he and his dad seemed to have an amazing relationship, and even he and Allison clearly got along well. It was clear they all loved each other very much. Lydia had never been in such a warm household.
And it wasn't like they were oblivious to her presence either. Each of them were very welcoming, explaining old memories when they came up so she didn't feel left out when everyone talked about them, and asking questions about her.
"I still can't believe you got that tattoo." Melissa was saying to her son, shaking her head as she nodded towards the double black ring around his upper left arm.
"Mom, I turned eighteen. It's a rite of passage!"
"Yeah, and don't complain. You didn't have to go with him." Stiles said through a mouthful of potatoes.
"I told him you should've taken me." Allison said to her boyfriend, then turned to Lydia. "Stiles fainted."
"I don't like needles! Or blood!"
Allison shook her head at him as she took a big bite of her roll.
"Did you do anything major for your eighteenth, Lydia?"
Lydia turned pink. "Uh, no, I actually haven't turned eighteen yet."
"Really? When is your birthday?"
"November 29th."
"But that's tomorrow!"
Lydia dug into her stuffing. "Huh, yeah, I guess it is…"
She was a horrible liar.
Stiles looked absolutely flabbergasted. "You never told me it was your birthday this weekend!"
"It's no big deal…"
"Um, it's a HUGE deal. Lydia, you can buy porn, fireworks and vote! It's important!"
"And get a tattoo and most things without parental consent." Scott added.
"We have to celebrate." Allison said keenly. "We'll think of something really fun to do. There's got to be something."
"Allison, it's Beacon Hills." Stiles deadpanned, and she tossed her rolled up napkin at him.
"Shut up. We'll find something. It'll be super fun. You are not bringing in eighteen watching Scott and Stiles play video games. We can do whatever you want."
Lydia was red now. "You guys, it's very sweet, but you don't have to go to any trouble—"
"Oh no, we are going to the trouble. We'll make it your best birthday ever. You only turn eighteen once." Allison said stoutly.
Lydia gave in finally. It didn't look like she was going to win the argument, especially when the parents joined in on having the dinner at the house and making a special cake.
After dinner, they all piled into the living room to eat pie and watch a movie. Lydia settled next to Stiles, laughing when he fake-tried to steal a bite out of hers, and she realized how at peace she felt. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so comfortable around strangers. Having Stiles next to her was wonderful, but she felt relaxed even when he wasn't so close. His family and friends were great. She was so grateful for the invite—she never would have had this back at the university or with her own family.
That thought should have made her sad, but she couldn't feel sad when she was feeling so happy.
Lydia excused herself after the movie to return the dishes to the sink, while the others talked about their thoughts on it, placing them in the dishwasher.
Stiles followed shortly after, having gathered the rest, and shot her a smile.
"Hey, how are you holding up?"
"Good." she told him honestly. "Your family is really great."
He knew she was referring to all four, knowing that Scott, Allison and Melissa were practically family.
"They are. I've missed them." He looked over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. He smirked a little mischievously. "So… what do you want for your birthday?"
She shook her head. "No. No way. You are not getting me anything. I don't need anything, definitely can't fit anything more in my dorm, and I already owe you way too much for taking pity on me and dragging me home with you when you're supposed to be catching up with your family."
"Hey, if you haven't noticed, I am. Just fine, even with you here. You're not a burden, Lydia. They're just as happy to have you here as they are to have me, and so am I." he said compassionately, looking at her so seriously she felt her knees soften a little. "It definitely wasn't a pity invite. I'm glad you're here."
Lydia wasn't sure how to respond to that, feeling a little too emotional to form proper words. No one had ever welcomed her into their home and life the way Stiles had. It felt so surreal. She knew they were friends, and he was definitely her best friend since coming to college, but still. He had no obligation to go so above and beyond for her.
"So, you can either tell me what you want, or you can tell me nothing and end up with a bunch of stuff you don't want. Your call."
"I'm not telling you anything, in the hopes it will discourage you. I don't need anything. We'll hangout all day, eat dinner and cake here, and that will be more than enough."
Stiles shrugged. "Can't say I didn't try."
"Stiles…" she giggled, pulling on his arm, unable to believe his stubbornness. She hadn't planned on him finding out about her birthday at all, but the last thing she had wanted to do was lie when asked directly. It would've come out eventually, maybe not that weekend, but Stiles probably would've never forgiven her, if his attitude now was anything to go by.
Stiles tickled her waist in retaliation, causing her to sink into him in squeals of protest, his triumphant laughs joining in the mix now, and he stopped after a minute of torturing her.
"I forgot to tell you earlier, but you look beautiful."
The sincerity in his words made her face flush instantly.
What the hell was wrong with her? She never blushed from compliments or a guy being nice to her, but she seemed to be completely susceptible to it tonight. It must be because of the emotions of the day.
She smiled shyly, tucking her hair behind her ears, looking down at her striped dress. "Thank you. Just something I had in my closet. I wasn't sure how dressy your family got."
She realized they had been in the kitchen for god knows how long, and corrected her throat as she led the way back to the living room.
Stiles sighed. "I didn't mean just tonight." he murmured to himself before following the strawberry blonde.
