Her eyes shifted subconsciously back and forth between Isaac’s eyes and his mouth a few times before settling on his eyes. He promised that he meant it and she actually believed him. She didn’t see it, but she believed that he did. Finally, a genuine smile came. “Thanks, Isaac,” she said, her voice cracking a little at the lump she felt in the back of her throat because Jesus fucking Christ, literally everything made her cry these days; it was the most obnoxious thing.
Isaac wanted to argue with her, but he bit his tongue. She had obviously convinced herself that Stiles wasn’t attracted to her and that, to Isaac, was absolutely ridiculous, because how couldn’t he be? But there was an obvious underlying issue there that Isaac knew he shouldn’t touch upon, both because whatever Stiles was or wasn’t doing, it was effecting Lydia, and also because he didn’t want to make anything worse for either of them by being on the outside. He made a mental note of speaking to Stiles if the moment felt right, because if he really wasn’t telling Lydia how amazing she was without asking for guidance first, someone was going to have to tell him that that was the wrong way to go. And he knew Lydia didn’t want to be that someone.
When he saw her smile Isaac smiled as well, and he couldn’t help but huff an endeared laugh when he heard her voice crack. That, at least, was something that he was getting used to, the crying. Lydia and Malia cried about everything now and he was quickly learning that overreacting and asking her what was wrong wasn’t only unnecessary, but it made things worse. So instead, he stretched his arms out and said “you’re welcome, Lydia”, his own voice cracking in a little tease as he moved forward to hug her. An acknowledgement that, yes, he could tell that she was emotional. And yes, he knew that she hated the fact that she couldn’t control it, and that it was okay that it was happening. He squeezed her tightly, kissing the top of her head before sighing loudly and moving back to take her hand and start leading her out of the jungle. “Alright, come on. If that’s really the case and I’ve been the only one telling you how hot you are right now, then we’ve got to sit down and I have to make up for a lot of lost compliments. Let’s go somewhere. Anywhere you want, Derek is with Malia tonight and I think that this is my first night were I don’t have to run away anywhere… I want to make it count.”
Lydia let herself be enveloped in Isaac’s arms for that hug and she closed her eyes, huffing an annoyed laugh at herself as she reached up around his shoulder to wipe her eyes with one hand. “So stupid,” she muttered, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. The unnecessary emotion, not the hug.