chapter eighteen.

INSIDE THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE sat Lydia on a spinning chair, Arthur ( for the second time in one day ), Stiles, Scott and Kira, a tension thick enough for a knife to slice through fingers fiddles and eyes flicker unsure where to look. On the desk sat Argent McCall, the infamous father of Scott, Arthur wants punch himself in the gut for being irresponsible to get himself in trouble with the police twice, he pries his mother doesn't find out he snuck out.

A lot of things happened in the last two hours, Kira nearly died in the hands of William Barrow ━ or not because from what he heard she literally sucked up cut wire draining the entire town, sounds pretty cool in the blue eyes opinion but not to Stiles, who he had called for information and a car, not a metal baseball bat, but he brought it along. Oh, William freaking Barrow died electrified to death, a slow agonizing way to die. And that is how they're in the police station being questioned and Arthur is positive if Sheriff Stilinski hadn't known about the supernatural, they'd be considered suspects to every murder in Beacon Hills.

"So when did you get there?" Argent McCall interrogates beginning with Stiles.

"At the same time." The freckled boy replies vaguely.

"At the same time as who?" Mr. McCall asks.

"At the same time as me." Scott answers.

"By coincidence?" Mr. McCall inquiries, tapping his pen against his thigh.

Arthur's eyes squint, "What do you mean coincidence?"

Argent McCall tries not to sigh. "That's what I'm asking you. The three of you arrived at the same time. Was that coincidence?"

"Are you asking me?" Scott asked, pointing at himself.

"I think he's asking me." Stiles counters glancing at him.

"No, I'm pretty sure he was asking me." Arthur interrupts, eyes narrowing at the boys. "He did ask me the last question."

"I think he's asking the both of you." Lydia intervenes, annoyance dripping in her tone.

"Okay, let me answer the questions. Yo ━ "  Argent McCall pauses realizing his mistakes and closes his eyes. Arthur tries not to smile looking down at his jeans, it's always humorous annoying Scott's father, Sheriff Stilinski thought so too hiding his smile behind his fist. "Let me ask the questions ━ " Stiles nods shooting him his famous wink. " ━ Just so I have this absolutely clear. Barrow was hiding in the chemistry closet at the school. Someone left him a coded message on the blackboard telling him to kill Kira. Then Barrow took Kira to a power substation and tied her up with the intent of electrocuting her, which blacked out the entire town."

"Sounds about right." Stiles nods, soundlessly gasping his hand on the brown cushion. Their plan to be as vivid as possibly without giving anything supernatural away is working better than Arthur thought, but Mr. McCall isn't an idiot.

"How did you know he'd take her to a power station?" Argent McCall questions Arthur.

"Well, Stiles talked non stop about him being an electrical engineer. I put one and one together ━ " Arthur joins his finger together. " ━ power station." and pulls them like he's describing a rainbow.

"That's one hell of a deduction there, Arthur." It sounded like a compliment but his expression gave it away. He didn't take insult to heart, he's just another deadbeat father figure in his life.

Arthur mimics his expression, leaning over he punches the freckled boy's shoulder with a half smile to annoy him. "Thank Stiles, he's the detective."

"Well, what can I say? I take after my pops. He's in law enforcement." Stiles boasted, finger gunning his father with a wink.

A snort escapes Sheriff Stilinski, he coughs when Argent McCall turns to glare at him, demanding. "Stiles, just, uh... Just answer the man."

Shrugging, he answers. "We made a good guess."

He draws his eyes away from Stiles, to Scott and Kira twiddling fingers ━ one anxious and the bored. "What were the two of you doing?"

"Eating pizza." Scott answers the same time Kira says, "Eating sushi." The two share a glance.

"Eating sushi." Scott tried again as does Kira, "Eating pizza." Arthur hand cover his gaping lips glancing to Lydia, she has her lips pressed together refusing to say anything. Mr. McCall furrows his eyebrows.

After a third try, they finally speak in sync, staring at one another. "Eating sushi and pizza."

Agent McCall glances behind to Sheriff Stilinski. "You believe this?"

"To be honest, I haven't believed a word Stiles has said since he learned how to speak." Said boy nods almost proud to be a compulsive liar. "But I think these kids found themselves in the right place at the right time and that girl sitting there is very lucky for it."

"Kira, is that how you remember it?" All eyes fall on her, this is the crucial part like a jigsaw puzzle Kira is their last piece, of she says denies anything then none of their parts will fit to complete the puzzle they've created for him. She glimpse at each one of them and lastly the detective.

"Yes." She gulps nodding slowly. Alleviation floods each of them falling back against their seats. "Could I get my phone back now?"

"Sorry, but no." He denies. Done for the day, Arthur yawns another day in the act of being a superhero.

* * *

"CLASS STARTS IN FIVE minutes. Just because there's no power don't expect there to be no school." Coach Finstock announces, a megaphone at his lips walking down the school hall early next morning.

"That was a triple negative." Stiles notes at his locker, jamming books down his bag. "Very impressive, Coach."

"Copy that." He echoes down the hall, lacking his usual witty retort.

"Why are people happy?" Arthur questions Stiles, fixing bag straps the students around him smiles at their phones, giggles with friends or walk down the same hall as him grinning, it doesn't make sense early morning. Maybe it his lack of sleep after last night. "It's Thursday."

"Exactly, it's one day before Friday." Stiles retorts, sliding his phisycs book out for his first class ( having advanced Biology is worse ) a key fall with it. "Oops! Hello. Where did you come from?" His blue eyes flicker to the opening doors of Beacon Hills High School sporting Scott, Arthur smiles Stiles turns curios and waves. The Alpha smiles but his eyes weren't on them.

The infamous Kira Yukimura.

The girl spins on her heels but Scott sprints to catch up yo her only to be blocked by an arm, he tilts his head a frown on his lips. "No. No. Stop. Stop."

"What? I need to talk to her." Scott counters, doe brown eyes repeatedly glancing at her. Arthur scoffs, his crush is developing into a liking, it's explain why he's desperate to talk to her. Or, maybe he's just a decent guy.

"No, you need to remember someone left a coded message telling Barrow to kill her." Stiles reminds. He has always been against change, Arthur never understood why.

"Which is why I need to talk to her." Scott says, eyes glued to her figure.

"He's right. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Arthur quotes. New people have so far brought nothing but trouble with them and if Kira is one of those people, then it's best Scott - with another person because if not he'll justify a villain until he's out of breath, find out whether she's on alley or enemy but they aren't going to know if they don't talk to her.

Stiles groans. "No, not you too, Arthur! Until we figure out if she's just another psychotic monster that's going to start murdering everybody, I vote against any and all interaction."

"What if she's like me?" The doe eyed Alpha pouts, gazing at her leaving figure.

"Werewolf don't glow in the dark," Arthur retorts pushing himself off the lockers, shaking his head. He's certain Scott isn't capable of such even with his werewolf genes. "She survived 1.21 jigawatts of electricity, there's no way she's like you."

* * *

SUNLIGHT PEEKS THROUGH THE large windows in the lab class lifting the blue eyed boy's mood, stretching his fingers they wonder far enough to poke Lydia's neck, she flinches slapping away his hand. Snickers escapes his lips her sober look making it harder to contain them.

"What? I'm stretching." Arthur retorts, a smile on his lips. Red flashes besides him, he glances over spotting Aiden - one of the twins, he knows this because he always look hungry whether it's for a fight or food, he'd never know, staring at Lydia from behind as she reads the sheets her mother is hanging out. His bottom lip pouts, the familiar feeling of jealousy making its self comfort in his stomach the longer he gazes. Arthur tilts his head so his face blocks hers, forcing a smile on his lips. "If you want to stare at something pretty, here I am."

Aiden rolls his eyes, flashing him a sarcastic smile. "Wrong brother." He smiles back turning around, he fidgets with his pen wondering, if Aiden wants he could snatch Lydia from his grasps but she wouldn't go... would she? He shakes his head.

"Sweetheart, since this is my first class and I haven't taught in five years, I just want to remind you of one thing." Miss Martin whispers leaning towards, a taunting smile on her lips. "Try not to embarrass me."

Lydia's eyes widen briefly stunned. "You should've thought about that before wearing those shoes." Her mother glances down at her shoes annoyance filling her. "Love you."

"Love you, too." She smiles back and continues on handing out her sheets.

"Why's your mom teaching biology?" Aiden whispers leaning forward. Arthur rolls his eyes but is distracted by the treats lining up on the inside of his book's spine. He thought he cleaned it out last night.

"Because Mr. Harris used to teach biology. Until his new occupation... Human sacrifice." She purses her looks, giving him an accusing look.

"What? I didn't kill him." Aiden denies.

Lydia scoffs and Arthur mutters, "You could've fooled me."

"Shut up, Arthur." Aiden hisses. "Lydia, what?"

"You can't be mean to him then be nice to me, that not how it works." Lydia snipes, glaring at him. Arthur nods with a prideful smile. "The other night, I helped save someone's life. That felt really good. And I look at you, and all I can think is that you helped kill Boyd. You're not just a bad boy, Aiden. You're a bad guy. And I don't want to be with the bad guys." her words left the boy stunned as she spun her back on him, retiring to the sheet not noticing the boy staring at her literally stars in his eyes reserved for nobody else but Lydia Martin.

"You deserve a bouquet of hand picked flowers." Arthur whispers, tingling fingers snakes around the leg of the stool and yanks her close enough for their shoulders to touch, glancing Miss Martin is busy with a student instead making eye contact with girls diagonal from them grinning at him probably from what they seen.

She hums looking unbothered by the action but the dimple popping on her cheek gave away her erratic hearts. "Red flowers are my favorite." He laughs.

"Whatever you want." Something tickles his throat, he coughs but it doesn't go away. He refuses his hand. "Can, can I go toilet."

"Go quickly, Arthur."

Her hand onto of his stops him from moving. "You alright?" He nods giving her smile, promising he'll be back on a minute and slips outside the door and into the toilet.

Arthur grips the edge of the sink, the tickling returns and he coughs into his both hands but nothing comes out like it's stuck, he continues to the point he feels like he's vomiting his insides.

A toilet stall opens revealing Ethan. Arthur shuts his lips trying to contain the cough, saying. "I am not in the mood to deal with another one."

"I just came to wash my hands." Ethan defends, raising his hands.

"You can do whatever you want as long as you're not mauling anyone, preferably in another county." Arthur mumbles voice raspy, tilting his head his Adam apple bops. He couldn't feel whatever is inside but it is like it doesn't want to leave anymore.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Ethan apologizes, wiping his hand with tissue facing the human. "For nearly killing you and your friends."

"I don't hold grudges." Arthur replies waving him off, he glances at the tap wondering if he could swallow it down, nope shaking his head he'd rather keep it in then swallow tap water. And the thought of holding a grudge against someone is a waste of energy when it could be spent on something else, it's like a hole you'll keep digging not noticing how far you're down until its too late. Whatever is in his throat bounces back to life, Arthur wheezes choking he grips the edge of the wet sink.

"What's wrong?!" Ethan panics. Arthur parts his lips to speak but no words come out, he continues to splutter knuckles turning white and face crimson but nothing comes at out. Ethan's hand smacks the human making him spite out whatever was down his neck.

His eyebrows pinch together faces inches away from a fly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Both boys flinch back when it jumps up, tail lighting a neon yellow. That should be impossible, Beacon Hills doesn't have fireflies. "That was stuck in my throat? Gross, I don't think bleach could even help me get the taste out."

"That's, that's distrubing." Ethan agrees. Even with all the blood, broken bones and lifeless eyes but the most ominous thing they said is : a coughed up firefly. Arthur heads for the door but it stopped by his voice. "Hey, are you coming to Danny's blackout party?"

"Would it make a difference?" Arthur asks. "If I didn't go.

"It would to me." Ethan smiles.

"You can't seduce me into coming." Arthur states, rolling his eyes. "And I'm taken."

Ethan sighs, a smile still on his lips. "I wasn't seducing you." The blue eyes nods. "You're not my type."

"I'm everybody's type."

* * *

ARTHUR MEETS SCOTT, STILES and surprisingly Kira at the door of Derek's loft. The three had successfully gotten her phone and deleted her nudes as they had said but Stiles has something he wants to discuss, but in a lively party he can barely feel his heart beating. Neon colors whirl likes a hurricane on faces, clothes, bodies and faces. It's exciting up until Derek comes home and finds a bunch of teenagers in his loft.

" ━ I asked my dad if he put it there but he said he didn't know anything about it." He overhears Stiles shouts.

"It's just a key, right?" Scott asks, face close to his ears. Nodding at his blue eyed friend.

"The one you found in your locker?" Arthur questions. The three stood in a close circle, Kira behind them busy ogling at the sight before her.

"Yeah, but it's not mine. And I don't know how it got there or what it's for."

"You want to leave so we can figure it out?" Scott inquiries, eyebrow raised. A girl in a neon pink bob slides in between them and cups Stiles' cheek pressing a kiss to one.

"Uh..." He stammered, eyes glued to the girl her hand on his chest, bright orange lips on his cheek.

"Happy Halloween!" She smiles and slowly fades inside the crowd, eyes not leaving his. Lowly, Arthur fist bumps Scott astonished, second time this happened to him.

"It can wait. It can wait." Stiles assures running after her before he loses her.

The blue eyed laughs spinning back to the timid love birds staring at one, he decides. "Now I'm going to find Lydia ━ " he turns back to the group. " ━ somewhere. Bye."

"Good luck." Scott taps his shoulder pushing him ahead and Kira mumbles a cheerful bye. His body mixes with the hyped crowd of teens euphoria in the air filling his lungs, one night without having fight creatures of the night won't be bad, it feels too unreal to be real.

"You came!" An illuminated Ethan greeted him, standing in front of him drink in hand wearing a smile.

"How could I not, it's not everyday I get invited to a blackout party." Arthur chimed, inclining closer so he could hear him. Ethan had extended an olive branch to make up for the last, he didn't want to be a dick and not except, plus keeping grudges try him out. "Honestly, this looks amazing!"

"I can think of one thing that looks better." Ethan argued into his ear, his arm over his shoulder. Arthur met his eyes and before he could reply, the omega pressed a sloppy kiss to his cheek. "Happy Halloween!" His voice faded into the crowd leaving him. Arthur rolled his eyes and wiped his cheek knowing Ethan has something going on with Danny.

Strawberry blonde hair catches his eyes along with a familiar teen leaving her side, he scowls but doesn't say anything refusing to let jealousy ruin things.

"Hey, you must be from Pearl Harbor." Arthur flirts, standing besides her with a grin twirling a lock of her hair. "Cause baby you're the bomb."

Her raised eyebrows shoots him down only encouraging him. His arm slides around her shoulder his lips leaning close to her ear as another rolls down his tongue, "You're like my little toe. Because I'm going to bang you on every piece of furniture in my home."

Her lips part speechless by his brave choice of words, it's strange to think once upon a times those words were empty just friends trying to make one another laugh but things are different now. She's different as is he, and his words certainly have different effect on her.

"You're new found confidence is cute." Lydia compliments continuing to stare at the crowd, shoulder presses against his right chest. He'd be surprised if she couldn't feel his thundering heartbeat. "You've got something on your cheek." Her fingers wiped a smudge off his cheek.

"Ethan." He shrugged at her confused expression. "And I'm a man, men are not cute." Arthur argues teasingly, flicking her nose. Interwinding both their hands he leads away from the humid loft and into the brisk air, the doors vibrating with the rhythm of the music. Peace and quiet falls in the air taking the dark view from the balcony. "Now, tell what's going on the pretty mind of yours." He taps her head.

"I saved somebody's life." The strawberry blonde confesses still in aw she wasn't on the sidelines, a smile etched on her lips in remembrance. "And it felt marvelous and I, I don't want this feeling to leave."

The happiness in her eyes could Our the entire town, it's a beautiful sight and he has a front row seat. "I'm proud of you, you know that, right?"

Her lips smacks together revealing her dimple, looking away from him. "Thank you."

Silence falls between the two mind empty with peace and comfort relishing in a few minutes or hours of normality. Upon spotting grass, Arthur snaps his fingers together. "Oh, yeah!" He pulls out his wallet from his jacket. "These reminded me of you." Crumbled flower are produced in hand, handing them her palms sweating at the thought of her rejecting them, looking stupid or less manly is the last thing he wants her to think of him. "Yeah, don't put flowers in your wallets."

"And they're red." Lydia remarks, heart swelling with bliss palm holding up the head of the flowers. A tiny act of affection makes her want to cry, with the other guys she didn't think she needed or wanted to be sprinkled with stupid gifts it was mindless sex to get her mind off Jackson, none of them had made her feel the way she does with Arthur. There is no acting, keeping her emotions on hold or thoughts to herself. It feels like a relief off her shoulders.

She feels stupid for the tears lingering at the corner of her eyes. The blue eyed boy hadn't noticed gazing at the dim town afraid her reaction might change but says. "I liked the cliché roses because they remind me of you; angelic to look, soft to touch but as sharp as thorns." Glancing back at her, his eyes widen at her silent state his arms grip her biceps. "Oh, what's wrong?"

She laughs waving his worries away. "It's nothing, they're gorgeous. Thank you."

He bits his lips looking down, face heating. "It's fine, I can, I can get you new ones if you'd lik ━ "

"No." Her nose crunches at the thought holding them close to her heart, "I like these, I'll find a vase for them at my house." His arm wraps around her shoulder pulling her close and returns to the view unable to wipe his smile, nothing could ruin his mood. Her heart was thumping against his chest slightly faster when she pulled back, green eyes on his lips her breath hitched; Lydia's lips brush his not to tease, almost wondering if she should, he dipped his head their lips meeting, it was slow and slow comforting him in ways the world could never, her thumb caresses his jaw and he could feel himself slipping in her hold. His grip around her waist tightens and a low moan bubbles up his throat. She breaks first, eyes fluttering open seconds after his. They kissed. Lydia Martin actually kissed him back! Man, does he feel like the luckiest man on earth.

A brisk breeze whistles past them, he shudders eyes pricking his back so he glances back grimacing at the four figures, they wore identical masks; soulless black eyes and a frown. Damn, they came to impress but how long have they been standing there and why? "Sup, guys."  He forced his voice to be calm, twisting his entire body so he shielded her from the creeps. "What do you want?"

In sync they step forward, his mind screams for him to run but they're barricading the way. Lydia fingers tightens. Another step forward, he has to tilt his chin slightly to maintain eye contact but their eyes were like a pit of endless darkness his fingers trembles and knees trembles, fighting against them is idiotic, they could kill them instantly or hurt Lydia. Uneven stones digs into her back the harder she tries to get it to swallow her up. Glancing below, if they tried to jump there was no way either of them could survive.

"You'll be fin ━ " His sentence is halted by the gloved hand smacking his head against the stone balcony, Lydia's shouting the last thing he hears.

* * *

( author's note. ) might fuck around and skip episode 16. 😌