Multi-Fandom One-Shots

I've been loving you for quite some time - Stydia (Teen Wolf)

Lydia could feel her heartbeat hammering inside her chest, pulsing with rage as she slammed the door to the apartment and sprinted down the stairs.

She lived on the sixth floor of an apartment block in New York and it took her five minutes to reach the ground floor and burst through the heavy glass doors of the building to the outside world.

Once she stepped outside, she stopped abruptly.

She'd forgotten to bring a sweater and the hairs on her arms stood upright with the chilly, New York autumn air. The world continued around her, horns honking, pedestrians chatting loudly on the phone, to each other or to themselves. A little boy, walking beside his mother, skipped past her. He paused for just a second, enough time to look up at her and smile, before continuing on.

She hadn't yet felt a desire to have children, but the little boy's smile lifted her mood and calmed her anger for a few seconds.

She began walking, even though the wind had started up and whipped her cheeks as she walked. She shivered in her long-sleeved shirt and plaid skirt, wishing she'd thought to dress more seasonally appropriate.

Then again, she hadn't envisioned herself storming out of the apartment at 9:30 p.m., anger and frustration coursing through her veins and propelling her forwards, encouraging her to take further steps away from the apartment. Even though all she wanted to do was go back into the apartment, into the warmth, and curl up next to Stiles.

But no. That was the problem.

She was mad at Stiles.

In fact, she didn't think she'd ever been this pissed at Stiles before. She didn't think she'd ever been this pissed at anybody before.

She was furious.

And she hadn't picked up her phone, so she couldn't even call any of her friends or even tweet about the situation. She also hadn't picked up her phone because she'd thrown it at Stiles at the height of their fight. He'd ducked just in time and it had sailed straight past him, but she hadn't thought to collect it before storming out of the apartment.

As she walked along the streets of New York, she thought about the argument in the apartment. Her first reaction had been to leave. That was always her first reaction.

After Jackson had left for London, she'd banished him from her mind and vowed to forget about the loser who'd never deserved her anyway. She knew he hadn't ever deserved her. But she couldn't help but think back and understand that whenever she ran away and pushed people away, most of it stemmed from their relationship and his treatment of her.

After all, how many times had he abandoned her? He'd abandoned her to leave for a different continent, for God's sake. And that wasn't the only time he'd run away when things got hard.

Was it really any surprise that her first reaction to any difficulty in her relationships ended with her leaving? It was just easier. Wrong, but easier.

She knew she'd have to go back eventually. She'd have to face him. She couldn't exactly escape him now that she lived with him.

She couldn't wander the streets all night; she'd freeze to death if she did. In fact, she didn't think she could stay outside for much longer at all. It was a true test of her stubbornness. She could go back and face the rest of the fight with Stiles, or she could stay outside and freeze half to death.

She almost considered the latter option.

Lydia stopped and turned around, heading back in the direction she'd come. The apartment felt like miles away, but she slowed her walking right down anyway. If she was out for at least an hour, when she got home Stiles would probably be asleep. He always started work at 7 a.m. and usually went to bed pretty early.