Web of Deception: The Webbed Avenger

Chapter Twenty-three: An Unbreakable Bond

Lydia arrived at the Stilinski household, and all she could do was take in the surroundings as childhood memories came rushing back to her.  To her surprise, she found that everything was pretty much how she remembered it as a child.  There was the broken board on the side of the house from when Stiles crashed his bike and his head went through the board... to the left of the house there was an oak tree that Stiles and Lydia would sit under after school and do homework together, cracking jokes to each other that made the other laugh, but in retrospect was absolutely horrible.

She looked back at the street and saw the exact spot where she had watched seven year old Stiles faint at the sight of her bloody knee after she had fallen off of her bike, and Lydia giggled imagining the little Stiles' chubby cheeks.

It was remarkable how much he changed... it was remarkable how much she had changed from that point onward.  Lydia stood beside the tree and ran her hand down the bark, remembering their giggles on late afternoons.  She remembered how Stiles would try to find her during hide and seek and Lydia would hide under the back porch and Stiles would never think to look under there, or it was just that he knew and wanted her to be happy.  That thought made her laugh right then and there, Stiles letting her win... that seemed about appropriate for how he was as a kid, having that crush on her and everything.

Lydia looked at her phone to make sure it was okay to be here, since Stiles wasn't here at the moment.

Hey, I'm not going to be home when you get here, there's a key under the back porch, where you used to hide when we were kids.  I'll be back as soon as I can.  You can head up to my Mom's lab and I'll see you in a bit.  Make yourself at home.

Lydia shook her head.  So he did let her win all those games of hide and seek after all...

She went to the back porch, reaching underneath the little space in between the steps and the ground where she would hide and grabbed the spare key before heading back to the front of the house.

Before she reached the front door, Lydia found herself stopping in place and looking at the yard one last time.  There was a sense of sorrow that overcame her that caused her eyes to water just ever so lightly.  Their entire childhood basically happened in this yard, and that tradition had died out during the sixth grade.  Lydia wanted to reconnect with that part of their lives, but she didn't want things to get awkward, as bringing up the past usually did that, especially when it came to her and Stiles.

She tried to not think about it much, as it always ended up hurting Stiles in the long run, and that was partially why she hadn't spoken to Stiles all that much after the sixth grade, minus the fact she never seemed to get his attention when she actually did try to talk to him last year.

She stepped inside, taking in every little detail that she could.  The living room was a lot different than she remembered mainly because of how dull the walls were.  In all honesty the only thing that really looked the same was the couch where she and Stiles would sit and watch television.  Lydia smiled and remembered how one night her mom was at work and her dad was out of town, so she came over to spend the night until she got back from work.

Officer Stilinski was a nice guy, and he welcomed the company considering it had only been a few months since Claudia has passed away at the hospital.  Stiles was always happy to see her, and they spent the night watching movies, and during that time they had both fallen asleep, notably with Lydia resting her head on Stiles' shoulder.

Her mom never let her live that one down when she showed up, and she could remember how red her cheeks had gotten when she realized that she had fallen asleep on Stiles.  Lydia's mom would tease her over it for the next couple years as their friendship started to blossom, that was until the sixth grade.  Then they moved and the rest was kind of history.