#stileslydias

I’ve been stewing on this for such a while now and trying to come up with a way to answer it that makes sense. Because all of us have seen this unfolding in front of us for years now-- she’s been unfolding since late s2. But there’s so many nuances to Lydia unfolding. In fact, I would say it’s threefold: 

The way she was treated by Jackson versus the way she was treated by Stiles

The way she treats herself

The tragedy in her life

So, like as awful as the circumstances of Lydia’s life have been (literally, she’s the character of the show that gets the most fucked over aside from Scott. Maybe even including Scott, if we count what happened to her during s5 and s6? Idk about this one. This is a question for a different day), I don’t think any of us can deny that all of this tragedy has made her a better person. All the hurt has made her kind. Lydia has experienced things now that she never thought she would-- her best friend died. She hears the longing, wailing voices of dead people in her head at all times. She’s quite literally been tortured and had a hole drilled into her head. She has had the power that she always longed for, but she hadn’t known how to handle it and it came in the wrong way and it scared her. Scares, I should say. But in that, she has learned selflessness, patience, and kindness. 

Lyda has always had these tremendous expectations for herself. She’d had selfish dreams. She’d held her personality back because she didn’t believe it was good enough. She literally didn’t believe that who she was is equal to who she should be. She stayed with a boy who hurt her. She was not kind to herself. I think now that Lydia knows that she has all this power and ability in herself, the feeling of weakness and helplessness made her push herself so much harder. And all of her energy isn’t going into being someone else anymore. It’s going into being someone who can help save other people’s lives. Lydia isn’t just “not with the bad guys.” Now she’s one of the good guys. She’s the person who others can strive to be. (As she strives to be more like Scott.) So, what I’m trying to say is that Lydia has to treat herself differently now. She’s still hard on herself, but in different ways. In all the ways that used to break her and make her feel worthless, she is now being kind to herself. She is letting her personality flourish. That means something. 

And, the last one. Jackson v. Stiles. Jackson was the relationship which Lydia’s persona wanted to be in. She was supposed to be safe from falling in love with him, but she did anyways. There’s one difference with the way Lydia fell in love with Jackson and the way she fell in love with Stiles-- with Jackson, I think Lydia always had her hands out, braced to catch herself. She fell for him, but she kinda knew that he wasn’t the most trustworthy person to fall for. Stiles, on the other hand, has been providing that he is trustworthy all their lives. In season two, when Stiles promised to come back to Lydia’s car when she was crying and then accidentally ditched her when he got attacked by the kanima? Remember how mad she got? Remember how he literally had to go to her house and beg for forgiveness? Remember how the following episode he tried to put his hand on her arm and she shoved him off hard because she was so mad at him? That’s not a coincidence. That’s Lydia being mad at herself for trusting Stiles, even momentarily, and then he turned out to be no different from Jackasson. 

But then Stiles does what Jackson would never do. He puts Lydia first in every possible way. He proves that he knows her time and time again. He admits when he’s wrong, he gets to know her better, he’s there for her countless times. Stiles quite literally shows Lydia that something about her, something in her, is worth everything to him. And at first it’s hard for Lydia to accept that and internalize it. But Stiles is nothing if not persistent, and eventually he kinda knocks it into her that who she is? All of her versions? That’s who he likes. She matters. 

In the end, I think all of this sort of boils down to one thing: Safety. Lydia has become more and more open because she feels safer now. Not in her world-- god knows that her world is a mess and her life is a disaster. But you know what’s not a disaster? Lydia. She’s smart as hell. She’s powerful, both supernaturally and... not. She’s beautiful. She has friends. And she has a boy whose love for her is so strong that it is irrevocable. No matter how she’s acted and who she’s been, Stiles has loved her. And now, she loves him too. That, I think, has made her so safe. He treats her well. She treats herself better. She learns to live with and accept her traumas as a part of who she is. And then, Lydia just... opens up. 

yassss so true!!

url: don’t get it | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | LYDIA MARTIN (HOW?)theme: not my thing | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | KIRA YUKIMURAicon: don’t get it | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | DEREK HALEsidebar: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | MALIA TATEupdates tab:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ALLISON ARGENTposts:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | STILES STILINSKIoverall:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | SCOTT MCCALLfollowing: no(t yet) but ilysm | now i am! | yasss | SCOTT TO MY STILES TBHcomment: i honestly have such a crush on your blog its perfect!!! such pretty posts and edits <3 <3 

ahhh this was really well-written I loved it (: x

thanks!!

1. scott

2. stiles

3. lydia

4. isaac

5. allison

special s/o to kira & derek bc i love and miss them both :/ 

lydia as a ballerina au - http://archiveofourown.org/works/9609557 // it's sooo good! it's not multichapter, but it is 42,000+ words :)