bittersweet → stiles stilinski

thirty two

thirty two

warnings: mentions of death but otherwise this is a pretty harmless chapter, very fluffy.

★

Valerie

When my dad had locked himself in his office I seized the opportunity. I'd have about 45 minutes to get out of the house and back without him noticing. So I slipped into my jacket and running shoes and put on my headphones.

I opened the door but halted immediately upon stepping out. Lydia stood on the porch in front of me, red hair cascading down her shoulders and green eyes twinkling with surprise. It was clear to see that she had been pacing back and forth out here, probably for a while, trying to gather up the courage to knock on the door and talk to me. And I had just given her no choice but to.

I quickly took off my headphones and cleared my throat. "Lydia, hey."

"Hey," Lydia said back, bouncing on the heels of her shoes, looking like she didn't know what to say, but I knew she wouldn't have walked all the way to my house if she didn't want to tell me something.

"Are you heading out?" she finally opted for.

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm actually headed to Stiles'." A sentence I never thought I'd say to another human being.

Lydia voiced my thoughts perfectly, "A lot certainly has changed recently, hasn't it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it certainly has." After avoiding eye-contact for the entire interaction, I finally looked in the eyes of my former best friend – and as I did, I realized something.

This year, we had both lost our new best friends to death. And now here we were, back to each other. Like old times. There were so many things I wanted to tell her, but I didn't know how. I imagined she felt the same way. Instead, I smiled a bittersweet smile, hoping it would communicate everything I couldn't put into words.

When Lydia mirrored my smile, I knew the message had come through.

She finally opened her mouth and broke the silence, this time with ease. Whatever understanding that had passed between us seemed to have cleared the tension from the air.

"How are you feeling?"

Usually when people asked you that they didn't actually want to know how you were feeling, but I knew Lydia's question was genuine, which is why I mulled it over carefully. I wanted to give her as much of an honest answer as possible.

"Better."

Lydia nodded.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

Her answer didn't surprise me at all. At least I had had some time to try and heal from my loss. Lydia's was still fresh on her mind.

I didn't try to give her any words of reassurance. Nothing I could say would help. At least not like that. Instead, I chose to be honest with her, and say the one thing I could actually put into words.

"I'm proud of you, Lydia."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?"

I smiled. "You finally stopped being who everyone wants you to be."

She nodded, her green eyes shifting down before meeting mine again. "It just took me some time."

I knew then that Lydia didn't resent me for cutting her off. She understood what I went through and what I had to do. And now she had finally done the same. Who knew she just needed the push of discovering that she's a banshee to finally go through with it?

"Val... you wouldn't wanna hang out on Saturday? We could maybe go shopping. You know, black is this year's pink."

A small smile tugged at my lips at the reference to something we both loved and how freakishly well it fitted our situation. Lydia Martin, the Good Witch of the South, and Valerie Thomas, the Wicked Witch of the West. That was us.

Lydia was right, a lot had changed recently. But not everything. Not us. It was soothing to think that in the middle of all this chaotic change, there was still one constant.

Lydia and I shared history together. That was important. Because despite the fact that we hadn't spoken in a long time, she was still the girl that took me under her wing. The girl I knew like the back of my hand. The girl that was my friend. My good friend. My best friend.

But what was even more important – Lydia was still here. She was someone that I shared so much with, and she was still here. I couldn't say that about anyone else in my life. And I knew I was the same to her.

"I would love to go shopping with you."

You thought last chapter was the final part of season 3? Well, YOU WERE WRONG! This isn't even the final part lmao. But next chapter will be, I can promise you that. This chapter was short but very important, especially if you're invested in Valerie and Lydia's friendship, which, I really hope you are.

Hope you enjoyed and please tell me what you thought!

gif above belongs to @fyeslydiamartin on tumblr