24. We're falling apart and we're coming together again and again.

[voluntaryapnea]

[Open Action Spam]

[After leaving Scott's room, Stiles makes his way toward the stairs. He's relieved as hell that Scott is awake again, that he seems to be fine. Just as nearly everyone had told him. But now he has other people he needs to check on. Lydia, Dean, Kira, Liam, Allison, Isaac, Bucky, Steve, Jean. His people. They're growing in numbers, expanding a little bit at a time. For a guy who'd once thought himself virtually incapable of caring about anyone besides his dad, Scott, and Lydia, he's come a long way.

He heads for Dean's room first, mostly because they'd been in the midst of a battle with a horrifyingly large kaiju before getting pulled back to the Barge, and he wants to make sure his inmate is okay. He still feels a little disoriented by all of it. More so than most of these kinds of events tend to leave him.

He can be found heading toward any of their rooms, also at the cafeteria to grab something to eat, and then heading back to his own room on the seventh floor.]

[Private to Scott]

[He's slept a bit since he saw Scott earlier, but he still looks a little tired. He also looks a little nervous.]

I have a question.

[Spam for Lydia]

[Everything is already set up in the enclosure, ready to go. Now he just has to get her to go with him. He's chewing his thumbnail as he heads toward her room, and knocks lightly on the door. It's late but not super late. Not late enough that he's worried she'll be asleep. He stands and waits, heart beating quickly in his chest.]

Comments

[lydiascreams]

[She grins softly at him, then leans closer and kisses his cheek before letting go of his hand.]

Go ahead, open it. [It was an accidental find, really. She was going through her closet and just happened to come across a box she didn't even remember was there. And then she found-- that. All she had to do was frame it, along with the envelope, and wrap it.]

[voluntaryapnea]

[He smiles back at her and carefully opens the package, eyebrows furrowing as he sees her name printed on an envelope in childlike handwriting. It takes him a second to recognize that it's his from a long time ago.

Stiles looks at her curiously before turning the frame over. A soft laugh escapes him at the sight of the red construction paper, neatly folded. The rest of the card is much less neat, white and silver glitter all over the place along with hand drawn hearts.]

Oh, wow. That's -- wow. [He's pretty sure his cheeks have turned red and he shakes his head a little, amused.]

[lydiascreams]

[She laughs softly at the look on his face, then shakes her head as she takes a step closer to him.]

I don't know if this was third or fourth grade, but I found it in my closet.

[She lifts a hand to brush her thumb over his bright red cheek.]

Thank you for appreciating my hair, Stiles. My mom would be glad to hear someone does.

[voluntaryapnea]

It was fourth grade.

[He hadn't made anyone a Valentine's Day card in third grade. Not even Scott. It had been too soon after his mom.]

Wow, I really...used a lot of glitter. [He chuckles at her comment and looks down at her, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her forehead.] Well. It is very pretty hair.

[lydiascreams]

[She leans against his side a little and nods, twirling her hair around her finger.]

Thank you. [She reluctantly pulls away from him and picks up a pair of skates then sits down on one of the chairs to put them on.]

I'm sure there are more from you in there, I'll just have to look for it. If I remember correctly, you didn't really sign all of your cards, but I knew they were from you.

[voluntaryapnea]

[He watches her for a moment, then moves over and picks up the other pair of skates to do the same. He carefully sets down the framed card and envelope. He smiles wryly at her comment, though.]

Somehow I'm not all that surprised you knew.

[lydiascreams]

You weren't exactly subtle, Stiles.

[Once her skates are on, she turns to look at him as she waits for him to be done. There's a hint of adoringness to her smile.]

I remember once, I think it was on my birthday? You went to leave a card on my desk, I wasn't in class but I was coming back. And you just stumbled your way back to your seat and almost took a couple of chairs with you. I saw it, but I never said anything.

[voluntaryapnea]

[He huffs out a laugh in the cold air, cheeks turning pink again.]

Yeah I guess subtlety's never been one of my strong suits.

[He laces up his skates and rises to his feet. He doesn't really remember that particular incident, but it definitely sounds like him and he's not surprised.]

Did I end up leaving the card?

[lydiascreams]

You did. And you kept looking over at me while I was opening it.

[She gets up, too, then holds out her hand to him as they start toward the frozen lake. She's never seen it frozen like this before, but it's nice, peaceful.]

Where did you learn to skate? [Because she does remember thinking he was pretty good at it. Almost graceful, which had been a surprise to her back then.]

[voluntaryapnea]

[Stiles reaches out and takes hold of her hand when she offers it, skating with her out onto the lake easily. He smiles a little at the question.]

My mom loved to skate. She took me a lot when I was little. I guess it's one of those things you don't forget how to do.

[lydiascreams]

Oh.

[She's glad he's smiling when he talks about his mom. She wouldn't want him to get upset with the subject.]

I probably saw you at the skating rink at some point, then. I was there a lot, too. Even when I didn't have classes. Did you like going?

[voluntaryapnea]

Yeah. Yeah, I did. It was sort of a thing that we did when my dad was working. He's not much for ice skating. He might still be better at it than Scott, though.

[He laughs softly.]

[lydiascreams]

[She laughs, too, glad to hear him laughing like that. She tugs on his hand gently and pulls him further into the lake.]

I don't think it takes much, though. You'd think a werewolf would be more graceful than that.

[voluntaryapnea]

[He lets her tug him closer and gives her hand a light squeeze. He's still grinning at the memory.]

He's graceful at lacrosse, I guess. Toss in a set of blades and he's a hot mess.

[lydiascreams]

That is exactly what happened, yes.

[Lydia leans closer and presses a kiss to his cheek before pulling away a little.]

C'mon, show me what you can do. [And maybe there's a hint of teasing, and a hint of flirting to her tone. She's been behaving so far? And then she skates backwards slowly, away from him.]

[voluntaryapnea]

Well, I can't do any fancy spins or triple axels.

[His voice is light, joking, but he watches her skate backwards away from him and he smiles, cheeks already pink from the cold. He pushes off with his left foot and skates toward her.]

[lydiascreams]

That's not what I asked.

[With a grin, she turns away from him and skates forward for a second, to pick up speed. She really misses ice skating. And then she picks up her right foot, spinning on her left one for a moment before stopping abruptly, but with precision, as she turns to face him again.]

What you can do.

[voluntaryapnea]

[He doesn't stop skating when she spins, but he keeps his gaze on her, eyes bright as he watches. He's pretty sure there's nothing she's not good at. In other people it'd probably drive him crazy, but she's Lydia. He shakes his head in amusement and skates past her before turning to look at her.]

Just the regular stuff. Nothing fancy for Stiles.

[lydiascreams]

[She grins when she sees the way he's watching her. She likes being able to put that look on his face. And she hopes she never stops having that effect on him.

Once he stops, she skates over to him and holds her hands out.]

I can teach you. You already know the basics. [And she doesn't mean just with skating Stiles.]

[voluntaryapnea]

[He's pretty sure she'll never stop having that effect on him.

He reaches out and takes her hands, eyebrows shooting up at her words, because he definitely doesn't miss the double entendre.]

Uh. [His throat suddenly feels completely dry.]

[lydiascreams]

[She's not gonna push him right now. Not anymore than she has in the past. But if she manages to get the idea in his head. And make him understand she's okay with this, then maybe he'll relax eventually.]

You okay? [She smiles softly, cocking her head as she steps closer.]

[voluntaryapnea]

Yep. Yep, I am totally and completely fine.

[He links their fingers together.]

All right. Show me fancy ice skating.

[lydiascreams]

[She leans in and kisses him again. It's slow and deep, but she pulls away with a smile after just a moment. Maybe she's being a tease. Maybe. A little bit.

But a second later, she tugs on his hand and skates backward.]

Start with the basic turn?

[voluntaryapnea]

[His heart is beating quickly when she ends the kiss. She's definitely teasing him, and he doesn't mind it a bit. He knows she's more than ready to take things to the next level, but there's a conversation they need to have first. And something he has to do before that can happen. But now isn't the time for that talk.]

Lead the way. [He smiles softly.

There isn't anywhere he wouldn't follow her.]