Lydia (queenofscream) wrote in momadness_log, @ 2022-03-10 23:21:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | ~inactive: lydia martin, ~inactive: stiles stilinski |
Who: Stiles and Lydia
What: Hanging out
When: Feb 17
Where: Kitchen
Warning: Low/None
Status: Completed via Gdoc
Lydia sent Stiles a text message inviting him down to the kitchen to hang out. They hadn’t spent much time together lately, and she wanted to remedy that. Stiles was one of her best friends--she loved him, but not in that way--and she hated that they hadn’t seen much of each other lately. It made sense, though. He had both Kate and Scott, and she was busy with Jordan and hanging out with Allison… and now that she was interning with the Science team?
Lydia had a cookbook open in front of her, and a whole slew of ingredients on the island in the middle of the kitchen. There were post-its sticking out of the side of the book as she waited for him to arrive.
*
Stiles hadn’t really spoken to Lydia much since she first arrived, so he was happy to accept her offer to hang out in the kitchen. Why the kitchen? He had no idea, but he honestly didn’t care. After sending his reply to her, he headed towards the kitchen.
“Sooooooo,” he said as he entered, “What are we doing?” It was pretty obvious what she was doing. Making food. Or attempting to make food. Actually, she seemed to be staring at the cookbook a lot. “Why are we staring at the cookbook like that?”
*
Stiles Stilinski could brighten an entire room just by entering it. Lydia finally looked up from the cookbook, and over at him, raising an eyebrow. What are we doing?? Really, Stiles. “I thought we’d try our hands at electrical engineering. How are your soldering skills?” She asked, deadpan.
After a beat, she turned the recipe toward him. There were several amazing things in this book, things she’d like to try making. But they should probably just pick one to start. “Because I’m trying to figure out which of these we’ll be able to attempt without poisoning ourselves.”
*
“Oh, well, why didn’t you say so,” he said with fake happiness. “Not the best, but I will give it my all.”
Once he was near the island, he leaned in and looked at the cookbook. The pictures all looked good, but he was pretty sure if they attempted any of those things they would look nothing like those pictures. “Do you poison yourself often?” he teasingly asked. “Pick something. I’m sure whatever is chosen we’ll ruin it or make it look ugly or both.”
*
“Sweet.” Lydia grinned happily at his playfulness. She couldn’t help but snort softly at his question. “Don’t be ridiculous. Normally, I only poison other people.” Duh, Stiles. As if that explained everything.
“Check out the other post-its. I’ve marked some options. I’d hate to pick out something you don’t want to eat.” They could ruin or make ugly any of the dishes in the book, really. This place was rolling in baking supplies.
*
“Oooh, that’s right. How could I forget,” he playfully said with a roll of his eyes.
“You marked a lot of stuff…” he said as he started to actually look at all the pages that Lydia had marked. “It all looks good…” He was pretty sure he’d eat or try anything they made. “OoOo, Oreo cupcakes...I’m sure we can make those look terrible.”
*
“Maybe it’s all the poison I’ve fed you over the years. Messes with your memory.” She smirked softly, leaning against the counter.
“I did. I was hungry and couldn't make up my mind. Anything we make might take hours, so we’ll have to grab some snacks in the meantime.” She leaned over a little to take a look at the page he was reading. “Oh! Oreos! We've got some of those.”
She moved to the cabinet to start digging out more ingredients according to the recipe.
*
Stiles gasped. “That’s not very nice, Lydia.”
She was hungry. Did that mean they were supposed to make actual food? Because those cupcakes looked yummy.
While she dug out the Oreos, he couldn’t help but keep looking at the cookbook. She really had bookmarked a lot of pages. “I could make a couple of grilled cheeses after we’re done making the cupcakes,” he offered.
*
Lydia laughed at his gasp. She shook her head a little. “You’re ridiculous.” Then she bumped her shoulder into his.
“Yeah?” Lydia asked, coming back to the island in the middle of the kitchen with a package of Oreos and some flour and butter. The eggs nearly slipped out of her hands, but she caught it and set all the ingredients on the counter. “A grilled cheese sounds perfect.”
Then she started sorting through everything. “So… Did you see that Jordan is here?” …smooth, Lydia.
*
“You like it,” he said with a slight bump back.
“I need one…” He reached over and grabbed an Oreo from the package. “I saw that,” he said with a wag of his finger. It would have sucked if she dropped the eggs but she had caught them in time, so no worries there.
“Yeeaaaah, pretty sure we all saw that he’s here.” He gave Lydia an odd look before taking a bite of his cookie. “Haven’t seen him in person, though. Just the network.”
*
“Well, yeah. Of course I do.” Lydia grabbed one of the Oreos from the package, too, then munched on it. “You saw nothing.” She said that last bit with a sing-song voice, waving her hand as if to wipe his memory of her nearly dropping the eggs.
Then she started to measure out ingredients while they talked. “Oh. Well. He’s here. We went out on Valentine’s day.” …which was probably date number 3, wasn’t it? Not that Lydia was counting.
*
“What didn’t I see?” he asked, playing along with her fake memory wipe.
“You went out on Valentine’s Day?” He looked at her a little confused. “As in you went out just to hang out or you went out on a date?” He was asking important questions here. Okay, maybe not that important. But he had no idea Lydia was still into Parrish.
*
“Good boy.” Lydia dusted the flour from her hands and then turned her attention to the wet ingredients. They could make a mess if they needed to while they cooked… so long as they cleaned it all up later. Lydia was known to make a mess in the kitchen, but she was speedy when it came to tidying up later.
“We went out on a date.” She smiled a little to herself as she thought of it, her cheeks going pink. “You’re not the only one who might have found something more here in New York.”
*
Stiles wasn’t exactly sure what he should do to help, so he just stood there and ate another Oreo as he watched Lydia mix up the ingredients.
“Does this mean you’ve always still been into him? I’m only asking because back at home we’re together.” Here it didn’t matter. They’re living completely different lives here. Not to mention he had been here a lot longer than Lydia so it did make sense that they would go in separate directions.
*
Lydia gave him a bowl to mix things, and a wisk. She was good at multi-tasking, and even better at bossing Stiles around. Baking was just like chemistry, and chemistry she could do. The decorating was a little more finicky… while Lydia took art classes and was actually fairly good with painting and sketching, she could be better at cake decorating. It was an art she hadn’t quite mastered yet.
“What?” She paused, turning to stare at him. “We’re…what?” When she’d come from, Stiles was still missing. They weren’t together. That was crazy talk.
*
And it looked like he was going to mix some stuff. He took the bowl and wisk and got to work.
“What?” Oh, oops. Did she not know? He thought she knew. Did he just spoil something big about home? “Errr, we’re together. I thought you knew. Sorry.”
*
Lydia flushed a bright pink. “I didn’t… I mean, I guess it makes sense?” Lydia had started wondering about things back before she came through the portal. The feelings he had for her, the feelings she had for him… but she’d always thought those feelings were familial love and not infatuation.
She started to gather additional ingredients, putting oreos into a zip top bag to smash into bits with a rolling pin. “I don’t know how things would have gone if we’d stayed there.”
*
“What is the last thing you remember before showing up here?” Hadn’t he asked her that before? He had thought he did when she first showed up, but he guessed not? Because he thought for sure that they were on the same page when it came to their lives back in Beacon Hills.
He stopped mixing and waited for Lydia to deal with the Oreos. That seemed like the last thing that needed to go in before the shoved the batter into cupcake pans.
*
“You were gone. Scott and I were in the jeep. And then… I started to remember.” Lydia paused, hand stilling above the bag of crushed oreos for a moment as she considered. “But you were still gone. And then I was here. Confusingly.”
After a beat, she moved the bag of oreos over to dump the crumbs and crumbles into the bowl.
“You just went back, right? You learned more about what happened in Beacon Hills?”
*
“Definitely not where I thought you were…” He nodded his head as he watched Lydia dump the now smashed oreos into the bowl. “Yeah, I just went back. Apparently I was only gone for a few days but I lived out a few years. When I first showed up here we had just dealt with the dread doctors. Then I go back and it’s all ghost riders and Monroe’s army. I swear we never get a break back at home.”
*
Well, Lydia definitely knew who the Dread Doctors were. And the Ghost Riders. But… “Monroe’s army?” She asked, her pretty brow furrowed. “What’s a Monroe’s army?”
It sounded like she had a lot to learn about her future in Beacon Hills. …or did she? Maybe she didn’t want to know what was in store?
“Only tell me if you can promise that it won’t make things more complicated.” She didn’t want Stiles to think he owed her anything because they were together in some alternate reality.
*
“Nothing good,” he said before he started to explain who Monroe was and the fact that her army was a bunch of people who turned into hunters. The entire supernatural community was in danger. It hadn’t been so bad when there were just small groups of hunters, but now…now it was worse. It was another reason why he was okay with most of them being here in this reality. They were all definitely safer.
“And don’t worry, nothing will change here between us just because of what is going on at home. I’m with Kate and you’re into Parrish.” He was perfectly fine just being really good friends with Lydia.
*
Lydia listened carefully as they moved through their task of making the cupcakes. She only paused to ask a question or two of clarification, finding that there was more and more darkness settling over her thoughts. By the end of the story she was frowning, and the cupcakes were in the oven. She dusted her hands again as she turned back to him.
“I love you, Stiles. You know I do. But I don’t know if we’d make a good fit. I’m really, really happy that you’re with Kate. She seems really great.” Frankly, Lydia would like to get to know her better.
*
“I know,” of course he knew that. “No? How come?” He was curious to know why Lydia thought that they wouldn’t make a good fit. It seemed weird to hear her say it since he lived their whole being together back at home.
“She really is,” he said with a huge smile on his face. “You should meet her one of these days.”
*
“Because. You’re with Kate, and I’m into Jordan. Isn’t that enough?” Lydia asked, looking over at him. She leaned back against the counter and folded her arms across her chest.
“I’d like to.” Lydia cocked her head to the side as she watched him. “...does she know that we were together?”
*
“Is that it?” He felt like there was more to that answer than what Lydia was saying.
“I might have left that part out,” he told her. “She was already stressed out about me disappearing. I didn’t want to add to it.”
*
“What else would it be?” Lydia asked. She didn’t want to admit that the feelings she felt for Stiles could easily have evolved into something new. Something stronger. She’d arrived here before she remembered him telling her to remember he loved her. And she knew she would never forget him--not even supernatural forces could make her forget him.
“...are you sure that she wants to meet me?” Lydia asked. “If you just went on a vacation back to Beacon Hills and started dating me…?”
*
“I have no idea.” It was why he was asking the questions. He was just curious as to why she thought they wouldn’t work. Yeah, sure, now they wouldn't since he was with Kate and she’s into Parrish again.
“I don’t know,” he said with a slight shrug. “I’m not saying it has to happen right this second. But we’re friends and I want her to meet the important people in my life. Even if things are different between us back at home. Home felt like a dream anyway.” It really hadn’t felt all that real.
*
“Well, if she wants to meet me, I’d love to meet her. Anyone who makes you this happy has to be a good person.” Lydia turned to dig around in the fridge for something to drink, and found a pack of sliced cheese. She grabbed it, then turned around and tossed it to him.
“I believe someone promised me a grilled cheese sandwich.”
*
“She is a good person.” And he was definitely happy to hear that Lydia wanted to meet her.
He caught the package of cheese. “They did promise you that,” he said as he held up the cheese. “But I’m not making you these many grilled cheese sandwiches,” he joked before he tossed the pack next to the stove and went to grab a pan. “Hand me the butter, please.” She was already over there, she might as well grab that for him too.
*
"I've no doubt," Lydia responded. "You wouldn't be with her if she wasn't." She paused for a moment, considering the double negative in that sentence. "If she was a bad person," she amended, “you wouldn’t be with her.” That was one of the things she loved about Stiles. He was truly good. And if Kate wasn’t good, Stiles wouldn’t.
She dug the butter out of the fridge, too, and set it on the counter next to the stove. Then she started putting away ingredients and wiping down the counter and filling the dishwasher. It felt domestic, doing these things with Stiles.
“I’m really glad you’re here,” she offered, giving him a smile.
*
He got what Lydia meant.
While Lydia cleaned up their cupcake mess, Stiles went ahead and started to make the both of them a grilled cheese sandwich.
He looked over at Lydia when she spoke again. “I’m glad you’re here too. For a while there, I thought it was going to be just me, Scott, my dad, and Derek stuck here…”
*
“I can only imagine what that must have been like,” Lydia said softly, piling up the dishes in the sink. Then she turned on the hot water to start washing. “Now I’m here. And Allison’s here. We can keep you all company. Oh, I should get in touch with your dad. I haven’t had a chance to see him since we all arrived.”
She’d been too busy with Jordan and her internship to spend much time with anyone else, really. Except Allison, who she saw every day since they roomed together.
“Has he found something to do with his time? Is he working?”
*
“It was…a mix of feelings. Like. You guys didn't need to be abducted too, but on the other hand I missed you.” He nodded. Yeah, they were here. It was still weird to think that Allison was here and alive. He might have been avoiding her a bit.
“You should go see him. Maybe you can make him stop freaking out about me possibly disappearing again.” That had been their last conversation and he had a feeling his dad still wasn’t over it. “I don’t think so. I mean,I could be wrong. But the last time we talked, he hadn’t figured it out yet.”
He finished making the grilled cheese and put it on a plate. “I need to figure out what to do too,” he said as he handed off one of the plates to her.
*
"I missed you, too. I couldn't remember you and I missed you." Lydia shrugged. "Maybe we are just destined to be missing each other and reconnecting in turn forever."
Lydia finished the last of the dishes and set it in the drying rack then dried her hand on a towel. "I'll ask him when I see him," she mused aloud. "I'm sure he'll have no trouble finding something to do around here." He was, after all, the best Sheriff that Lydia had ever known.
"Thanks," she said, accepting the plate. "What do you think you might want to do?" Together, they moved to the table to sit and eat.
*
“Think so?” He hoped not. He didn’t want to wake up somewhere else and not be around the ones the he cared about.
“Probably not. But he would also have to go out there and look. And I don’t think he’s actually done that.”
A minute later and he had his own sandwich and taking a bite of it as they sat down at the table. “No idea. I went from worrying about finishing high school here to needing a job. I still want to help people. Someway. Somehow. But no idea what we’re allowed to do here.”
*
“I… honestly, I have no idea,” Lydia said, poking at the crust on her grilled cheese. She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t ever want to lose you again,” she added softly. “I thought I was going crazy, I can’t even explain it.” …though, maybe the other her had, when he went back to Beacon Hills in his boomerang.
“I’m sure you’ll figure something out. I can’t imagine that we’re not not allowed to do anything. It’s not like we’re prisoners here.”
*
“I come back at home and I’m not going anywhere here too. As long as nothing sends me back…” Which he kind of hoped didn’t happen again. He didn’t want anyone freaking out again because this place decided to play games.
“Yeah, I know. I guess I just don’t know all of the rules when it comes to us displaced people.” He took another bite of his sandwich.
*
“It’d better not. That portal had better fear a Banshee’s wrath if it takes you away again.” Lydia was serious as a heart attack. She would fuck shit up if someone took Stiles away from her again.
“You got that insurance stuff from the woman in New Asgard, right? Could she help you get your paperwork together? Get all the things you need in order to find a job? TIN and whatnot?” Lydia had her paperwork in order because of the GED work, and getting her paid internship through Stark Enterprises. But she could help Stiles if he needed.
*
Stiles couldn't help but smile. “It’s cute that you think you can stop that thing.” It was pretty clear that they had no say in who comes and who goes.
“Sharon, yeah, I did.” He really hadn’t thought about asking for her help. But maybe he should. It could make things easier. “I’ll talk to her. See what she can do.” He took another bite of his sandwich. “You’re not eating,” he pointed out.
*
Lydia couldn’t help but grin at that. “Of course it’s cute. I’m cute.” Always. Lydia was cute. Always. “But it’s true, too. You’ve never seen a Banshee scorned.”
“I’m sure she can help. All you need is a TIN.” She leaned back in her chair. The cupcakes were going to be ready fairly soon, so she didn’t want to leave the kitchen. They could just sit for a few more minutes and chat. “Oh, right.” She leaned in a little and picked up the sandwich to try it. It was really good.
*
“You are,” he said with a small laugh and a smile. “And, nope, I haven’t. I honestly don’t think I would want to.” But he had seen what Lydia was capable of. He would not want to ever be on her bad side.
He leaned back in his chair, watching Lydia. “You’re doing okay, right?”
*
Of course she was. But it was nice to hear him say it. “You definitely wouldn’t want to. Trust me.” She gave him a wink.
“What do you mean?” Lydia asked between bites. Of course she was all right. She had Stiles and Scott and Allison and Jordan. And while she missed her mom and Beacon Hills (which was a weird thing to think about) she was making a home for herself here.
*
“I trust you.” He paused for a moment. “A lot.”
He had taken the last bite of his sandwich before answering. “I mean, you’ve been here for a bit now and I want to make sure you’re doing okay.”
*
Remember how you were the first girl I ever danced with? Or how I had a crush on you freshman year. Sophomore year? Junior year? Remember how you saved my life? Lydia remembered. Of course she remembered. That moment in his jeep, right before he was yanked away by the Ghost Riders. She hadn’t for a long time, not until she arrived here, in New York, and saw him again. But then everything came back to her in a flood, and she remembered Stiles. She remembered her friend.
“Good.” She said, ignoring the heat that flushed up along the sides of her face. “Because I’m trustworthy.” For some reason she didn’t want to look at him. Didn’t want to make eye contact.
She cleared her throat. “I’m okay. I’m not sleeping that well, but I’m okay. Jordan is here. He and I are… you know. Dating. And that’s really nice. It’s great, actually.”
*
“You are.” He had noticed how she wouldn’t look at him. That she was looking anywhere but at him. Weird. Then again this was why he asked if she were okay.
“Oh. I get it. New place. Still trying to get used to it.” Was that the reason why she was acting weird? Maybe. It still felt like there was something else, but he knew that if she didn’t want to share, she wouldn’t. “Glad to hear it,” he said just as the timer went off for the cupcakes. “I’ll get it.” He got up and went towards the oven before Lydia could say anything.
*
Lydia picked up their plates and carried them behind him back into the kitchen. While he was pulling the cupcakes out of the oven, she put the plates in the dishwasher. The smell in the kitchen from the baking cupcakes was to die for.
“We’ve got frosting to make,” she said, moving back over to the cookbook. “Here, help me with these ingredients.” They could make the frosting while the little cakes were cooling.
*
Once he had the cupcakes out, he put them on a cooling rack. THey looked and smelled so good. He seriously just wanted to grab one already and eat it. Naked cupcake or not. He was sure it would be awesome either way.
“Alright,” he said as he moved over to where Lydia was at. “What do you need me to do?”
*
Lydia started reading off ingredients. Powdered sugar, water, more of the Oreo crumbles. She put him in charge of collecting the ingredients while she got the mixer ready. The frosting would be really easy to make, they just needed to incorporate all the ingredients.
“Start putting things in here,” she said, and turned the mixer on low.
*
Stiles grabbed all of the ingredients as Lydia read them off. He sat them all down on the counter and then waited for Lydia to give him more instructions.
“Alright,” he said as he grabbed each thing and slowly put it in the bowl, trying his hardest not to make a mess.
*
It wasn’t too bad. By the end of it, they had a good frosting. Surprisingly. Lydia wasn’t a great cook, though she could follow a recipe. (Cooking was like Chemistry, right?) Thankfully, Stiles was a good cook, too. Better than she was, for the most part. So she wasn’t able to mess things up too badly with him around.
The cupcakes were mostly cooled, too, as Lydia put the frosting into piping bags and held one out to him so they could decorate.
“This isn’t too bad,” she responded, swirling the frosting on the top of one of the cupcakes. “Kinda fun, actually. We should do this more often.”
*
This whole thing was actually not that hard to do. With Lydia’s help, it was pretty easy. Well, hey, it looked like they can make cupcakes and they didn’t come out as ugly as he thought they would.
“We should definitely do this more often. Now gimmie that cupcake.” He leaned in and took a big bite out of the cupcake Lydia had been holding.
*