Stydia One Shots

The Truth of Jealousy

STILES

He wasn't sure when he had really, truly fell in love with Lydia.

Of course, in the future, when he's at their wedding that Lydia beautifully planned, he'll announce to everyone over a glass of champagne that he's loved her since they were in 3rd grade.

But when they were 8 years old, he couldn't really be in love with her. It was a dumb, puppy love crush that he'd developed when she waltzed in on the first day of school wearing an elegant blue dress that brought out her fiery strawberry blonde hair; when she finished their multiplication timed test first; when she won Spring Fling Queen in middle school.

He loved the idea of Lydia Martin, the popular queen bee that everyone worshipped. The truth was, he didn't really know her as much as she didn't know him. Stiles just knew that she was beautiful, and that was that.

It was over the course of sophomore year that he looked beneath the surface of the most popular girl in beacon hills. He became infatuated with Lydia, and every part that made up her complex self. Stiles discovered how brilliant she was, how she strode through the hallways with class despite running through the woods naked for three days, her amazing ability to create bottle-bombs out of the most basic chemicals.

(She wanted to get a fields metal for mathematics, but Stiles always knew she was more talented in chemistry.)

At the school dance, when he had revealed to Lydia that he knew how much of a genius she really was, Stiles finally felt like he saw the real Lydia. Her face was filled with confused shock, eyes as wide as saucers and her lips slightly agape.

They danced together, her head buried into his shoulder as they rocked back and force peacefully. She whispered, "Thank you," and he nodded, giving her a small hug before they split apart. Lydia walked away, leaving to find Jackson and Stiles felt a jut in his heart, like someone stabbed him with a needle. He clenched his teeth, letting the real Lydia Martin slip back into the façade she put on for everyone else.

Stiles didn't know then that minutes later, he would be ready to lay down his life to a psychopath for her to be safe. He didn't know that weeks later, he would confess how important she really was in his life.

It was when they were in Stiles' room after the Lacrosse game, that he realized Lydia wasn't the shallow girl everyone thought she was. She wanted to risk her life for someone who wouldn't blink twice when she was gone, and that drove Stiles crazy.

She deserved someone better. Someone who cared about her as much as she did for them. Stiles was the only one that noticed how abusive Jackson was to her, how Lydia's eyes would be layered with unshed tears when no one but him was looking. Stiles saw that when Lydia fell in love, she fell in completely, head first and recklessly, not stopping once to notice if the person was worthy of it or not.

It made Stiles mad, the way she threw herself out into the world without a care, open for anyone to stomp on her. He wanted to love her, and love her right, not use her like a little toy as Jackson did.

It was a gut wrenching feeing that filled him when Lydia flung herself into Jackson's arms. He bit down on his lower lip and tried to tear his eyes away from the two of them, but he just couldn't. He let tears stream down his cheeks, cursing Lydia for being so forgiving. His stomach twisted the longer their embrace lasted, and Stiles finally gave a name to the feeling that took over when he saw them together.