Work Text:
To Isaac Lahey, seeing Lydia Martin at the library the night it was revealed that their English teacher, Jennifer Blake was the darach, felt like déjà-vu.
He could recall the first time he had laid eyes on Lydia when she was alone perfectly, being able to tell you every detail; from the book she was reading to the way she wore her hair that day (because even before freshman year, the strawberry-blonde liked to appear perfect, which to her meant having her hair look good as well).
It had been forty-two days before their freshman year, on a Monday on which it had been ninety-two degrees outside. Unlike every other fourteen-year-olds, both of them had been at the library for some reason.
Isaac himself didn’t have many friends. He sometimes blamed the trust-issues his father caused him for that, but then again he didn’t like to open up and let people in his life – he was pretty much a loner, though he didn’t mind.
What he did mind though, was that ever since the summer break had started, he had to stay as far away from his father as possible; that’s how he ended up in the library everyday, with no-one but an old librarian around (although she seemed to be asleep most of the time).
What Lydia’s reason had been, was still a question to him. He often wonder why someone like Lydia Martin, queen-bee at the age of fourteen, was all by herself on a Monday afternoon, reading and writing down stuff she didn’t have to.
What did make him even more curious is why she came back everyday, after that Monday.
Lydia had indeed noticed Isaac’s presence as well. She didn’t actually know the curly-haired boy well, though she recognized him as the guy that moved across from Jackson, one of her friends from school.
However, it wasn’t until seventeen days later that they actually talked. Isaac had been doodling on a notebook he had left over from the previous school year, when Lydia had come up to him.
“Do you happen to have a quarter, I forgot my wallet,” she said, and it was only then that Isaac noticed she had spent the day behind the computer.
Fishing into the pocket of his jeans, Isaac mentally thanked God when he felt a quarter, before taking it out and handing it to Lydia, who gave him a wide smile.
“Thanks! I’ll give it back tomorrow, you’ll be here, right?” she asked, and Isaac’s heart did a little flip at the fact she sounded wishful. Giving her a cheeky nod, he smiled back at her.
“Yeah, but don’t mind the quarter,” he replied after her, while she was already making her way to the printers, before putting the quarter into the hoop, in order to print her paper.
After that day, things had sped up for the two of them – or sped up in a way someone who had no friends like Isaac thought was quick.
The two of them would now sit in the library together, at the same table while both doing what they did everyday, while simply enjoying each-other’s presence in silence.
And as quick as their silent friendship had started, it had ended only fifteen days before their freshman year.
For one reason or another, Lydia Martin had stopped coming to the library. Not just for a day, but for the rest of the summer break.
It was the fact Isaac first emotion about it was worry, that he realized he cared for the girl he had nothing but an unspoken friendship with.
But that hadn’t be all he wanted. Without knowing it himself – or at least not until the day school started again – he had fallen for Lydia.
He had fallen for the way she was when she silently read a book, or when she printed out reports in a language which were Latin, he thought.
And therefore, despite the fact he knew Lydia was out of his league, he went up to her the first time he saw he again after her sudden disappearance, and he had done the one thing he never thought he’d do: he asked Beacon Hills’ it-girl out, only to be rejected in a way that confused him more than anything.
He was confused as to why Lydia had been so rude about it; he was confused as to why Lydia looked at him like he was lower that here, considering the fact she had given him smiles the whole summer.
And that was when Isaac promised himself to stop caring. He felt pathetic for getting his heart broken by a girl who he hadn’t talked to much in first place.
And since that moment, Isaac had showed no sign in interest in anything related to Lydia Martin – not even when Scott had informed him that Mrs. Blake had told Lydia she is a banshee, nor when Allison had told him Lydia had been at a hospital downtown, after nearly getting killed.
But in reality; he cared. One does not simply move on from Lydia Martin, no matter how cruel her exterior could be; that he found out when he saw her at the library the night Jennifer Blake had not only tried to kill her, but also kidnapped both Stiles’ father as well as Scott’s mother.
When he entered trough the door the librarian, a sixty-seven year old lady who forgot to lock it all the time, he could smell her sweet scent. He could hear her quiet sobbing. He could feel her pain.
Walking trough the corridors, he caught sight of her strawberry-blonde hair that covered her face, as she sat against a book-shelf with her knees against her chest.
Slowly, Isaac had walked up to her, ignoring the way his heart started beating harder like it always did when Lydia would do even as much as walk into the same room he was in.
“Are you alright?” he asked, trying to keep his voice low in order to not scare her; surely after everything, Lydia must be watching her back every second of the day.
Lydia though, was surprised to find herself relax as soon as she heard the soft voice, which she recognized immediately. For some reason, the sudden presence of Isaac did not scare her at all.
Looking up, Lydia stared up at the curly-haired wolf, before standing up – ready to put on her not-caring mask.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at the hospital?” he asked, looking at her worried.
“Aren’t you supposed to be Allison’s pup, or catching that bitch?” she snapped back, feeling the need to say anything, do anything, to show him she was still the one and only Lydia Martin, and not just some vulnerable girl.
Isaac fought the urge to roll his eyes at her reply, before her last words sunk in. “I- we tried,” he said, deciding that she deserved to know the truth. “She, ehm-”
Lydia’s eyebrows raised, wondering what had happened – although she wasn’t so sure whether she even wanted to know or not.
As always, curiosity got the best of her. “What happened, Lahey?” she asked, her voice breaking at the last part of the sentence. She could sense something was wrong – hell, she had predicted something would happen tonight, though the fact she hadn’t screamed since the darach’s disappearance had gotten her hopes up.
“Scott’s gone, Lydia,” Isaac said, choosing to just tell her and get it over with. “Mrs. Blake took his mother, and the only way to get her back was for him to go with the Alpha Pack,” he said, all in one breath.
Lydia’s eyes widened, tears threatening to fall again. As if she hadn’t been scared already, she was terrified now.
“Why- why are you not looking for him? What the hell are you doing here then, you shit?” she snapped – the fact that her new friend, who promised to be there for her, was now gone too, drew the line.
“I can’t – he choose to go, Lydia. I can’t help him anymore. Stiles is with Peter and Cora, and I can’t-” taking a deep breath, Isaac continued, “I can’t stay at the McCall house tonight, there’s not enough heartbeats for it to feel like home,” he said, his voice breaking.
For the first time in years, Lydia felt defeated. At this point, there was nothing she could do anymore; her friend was gone, her friend’s mother was gone, her other friend’s father was gone. She was a banshee. Her best friend was risking her life trying to hunt the darach down, and then there was this helpless little boy in front of her, who looked absolutely devastated.
Taking a step forward, Lydia stopped as soon as she had walked. Giving Isaac one more look, she decided that for the night, they could be each other’s friend – each other’s distraction.
Taking a few more steps, Lydia ignored his confused stare before throwing her arms around his neck and embracing him in a tight hug.
At first, Isaac made no move. However, this didn’t discourage Lydia, who only hugged him tighter, brushing trough his blonde curls with her fingers, which after all resulted in him wrapping his arms around her petite waist, taking in as much of her as she aloud.
“I’ll stay with you, I mean – I really could use a wolf to protect me from this bitch who’s trying to kill me; have you heard?” she joked, causing Isaac to chuckle for a second, although they were both serious.
There still was a darach on the look for Lydia – hence why Lydia decided to hide in the library (because in every stupid horror movie she had watched with Jackson, it was always the stupid girl that went to her empty home who was first found, and killed).
Lydia was happy to know she had someone with her for that night, before figuring out everything the following day. And Isaac; Isaac was over the moon to have someone with him that night, especially since it was the one and only Lydia Martin.