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.*･｡. WAITING FOR SUPERMAN .*･｡.
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012.
SKATING SOLVES
(ALMOST)
EVERYTHING.

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——

"You need to get a bigger car, Lyds."

   Said strawberry blonde rolled her eyes as she laced up her skates, not even sparing Lois a glance. "No."

    "I basically had to sit in the trunk!" Lois cried out dramatically, watching as Luna pulled Stiles along the ice smoothly. "Come on! There's four of us girls now— you need a bigger car,"

    "Allison and Luna have their own cars," she said, pretending to think about it. But Lydia ignored her friend's pout and proceeded to lace up her other boot, raising a brow. "You usually get a ride with Stiles, or me. Why don't you get a car?"

Lois sighed, leaning over to tie her own skates, and frowned at the sight of both couples. Even with Lydia at her side, she couldn't help but feel a little left out. Stiles and Luna were skating elegantly — a word she would have never used to describe her best friend, in a million years — holding each other's hands as they did spins around the rink. The other couple were having some trouble with the whole skating part, what with Allison having to hold both of Scott's hands and guide him along like a toddler. His knees were bent and he slipped every few seconds, though the smile upon his lips never disappeared.

Correction — Lois actually felt very left out.

   Not only in love, but in friendships too. Maybe it was wrong of her to feel jealous, though the girl couldn't help it. Amongst the craziness of their last semester, the addition of new friends and lovers, their original trio had kind of disappeared. Before the start of sophomore year, it had always worked with just her, Scott and Stiles. Always. Now, however, it had all changed.

   Scott had met Allison, and Stiles had met Luna. Both of them were preoccupied with love and relationships, and Lois was happy for them, truly. But it got a bit lonely, being alone. Of course she always had Lydia, and she loved both Allison and Luna, but with both girls in the picture it meant that the ginger girl was often with one of them too — especially now that she liked Luna. Back with Jackson it had always worked, because Lois was often brought on dates, as was Danny. Be it games nights or bowling dates, or even just parties, Danny was usually there to pass the time with when the couple was preoccupied. Now Lydia wasn't with him anymore, Scott and Allison were sneaking around behind her family's back, and Stiles was still absolutely in love with Luna.

   And Lois didn't really have anyone. Not anymore. Of course each of her friends would be at her side in a heartbeat, and Stiles would forever be her best friend in the world, but it wasn't the same.

   Lois didn't have anyone to love.

Love wasn't everything in her eyes, but it would've been nice.

   But it looked like Lois Lane was going to have to wait a little longer for Superman to show up, even after a whole sixteen years of already hoping. She didn't needed a boyfriend, she was swell on her own, but it did get a bit tedious waiting for someone. It felt like she'd always be waiting.

"I don't need a car," she eventually shrugged, "No one to ride with, anyway."

It was quiet for a moments, and she wondered if Lydia had just up and left, but she was proven wrong when the girl grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She marched the two of them down the bleachers and towards the rink, passing Luna and Stiles on the way. Stiles was offering his girlfriend a Reeces, as well as explaining why blue and orange worked so well together — it had been a fairly long tangent by the sounds of it, something about the METs and a jersey, but Luna had looked surprisingly enthralled.

After sharing a strange look, the two girls continued their way to the ice. Eventually Lois had started to smile as they neared it, with nostalgia running through her veins; this was how her and Lydia had first met years ago, and they had been close friends ever since.

She may not have had a romantic partner to skate with, but she would always have Lydia. There was no better partner out there.

Giggling, Lydia immediately soared across the rink with a grin spread upon her cheeks. Lois followed in tow and rolled her eyes playfully when her friend did a fancy spin and rose her brows in challenge. She mirrored the action and laughed loudly. Her nose was pink with the cold, but it felt incredible to be on the ice, again. Everyone knew that Lois had loved skating, back before the school work had piled on and her friend had become a teenage werewolf. They were easier times: being young and distracted from grief. It had been a great distraction from the world, an outlet that she had always needed, and one that worked. And it still worked, now.

For a short while, Lois forgot about all of their problems.

About Scott being a werewolf and having been bitten by Peter Hale the night they had gone to search for a dead body in the BH preserve.

She forgot about that Allison came from a family of hunters, and that their relationship had been banned just like star-crossed lovers. It didn't cross Lois' mind that Lydia had gone MIA after being attacked by Peter at their Winter Formal, or that Derek was an alpha starting his own pack.

Their lives would never been the same again, but she didn't seem to care, right now. She'd even forgotten about the fact that Isaac was a wanted fugitive and that Jackson was acting strangely.

  That Erica Reyes would never be the girl she once was.

And, for just a short while, Lois had forgotten about all of it. In that short time she spend gliding across the rink, they finally felt like the most normal teenagers in the world. They were just normal teenagers, who were doing normal teenage things — like sneaking into ice rinks late at night and wanting to skate until dawn.

Allison and Scott were a normal couple taking photos together in photo-booths, and Stiles and Luna were happily reunited after her family holiday. Lois felt like she was ten again: simply skating alongside Lydia Martin, and letting her troubles slowly float away.

The cold air nipping at her skin was familiar and fresh, and it was something that she had missed.

This was being a normal teenager, and she had really missed it.

It all felt normal, until Lydia had started screaming.

   She had been in the bathroom when she had heard it — a high-pitched cry that made her feel as though her ears would begin to bleed. Lois shook her head in a daze and closed her eyes tightly. It was overwhelming. That was the same sound she and Stiles had heard the very evening that Lydia had vanished into the night and out of her hospital room. Lydia has screamed.

Quickly stumbling out of the stall, the girl haphazardly buttoned her jeans and occasionally slipped across the freshly mopped floor. Lois cursed, grabbing her skates with one hand but not bothering to put them on as she rushed out of the bathroom.

   Her mind was racing as she ran down the steps, heart in her throat when she caught sight the screaming girl in the very middle of the rink. Lois tripped a couple of times, stubbing her toe on the occasional step, but she didn't hesitate to throw herself onto the rink and discard her skates somewhere along the way. She didn't have time to worry about where they had landed, rather, all she had to worry about was Lydia. What was happening?

   The ice was cold on her feet, but Lois didn't care. She had hardly even noticed the icy pain shooting as she made her way towards the strawberry blonde, kneeling at her side.

"Lydia?" She called, "Lydia—!"

   But Lydia didn't stop screaming.

She couldn't.

   Lois cast a look at Stiles and Scott whom now sat the other side of the crying girl, goosebumps dancing along her bare skin.

Their expressions showed that they didn't know what was going on, either. None of them knee why Lydia was clawing at the ice as though there were something under it, nor why the tears in her eyes refused to dry. In that moment, the trio didn't know anything, and they were back to being abnormal.

• • •

Lois sat next to Scott in the back of Stiles' jeep, both their heads flying back and forth, watching intently as Stiles told Luna all that she had missed while being away. He had been slowly updating her as it progressed, but he hadn't wanted to stress his girlfriend out whilst she was supposed to be relaxing with her parents. And his point was valid, but now that the blonde was back she needed to know everything. Otherwise, she would be immensely confused.

"A giant lizard?"

"That's what I said!" Lois threw her hands up in the air, happy that Luna was as shocked by the news as she. Scott gently pushed her arm away from his face before it caught his nose, and nodded his head.

"Pretty much," he confirmed what he had seen, checking his phone for a second. Scott sighed in relief and glanced at the rest of his friends, "Allison got Lydia home safe, said she's fine."

"But is she?" Luna bit her lip, "That didn't look fine, to me..."

The brunette's stomach churned. Luna was right — it wasn't fine, at all. There was no possible way that Lydia could have been fine. Fine really wasn't being bitten by an alpha and not turning or dying, nor was it running through the woods naked for days, and it definitely wasn't screaming bloody murder for no reason! Lydia Martin wasn't fine, but the trouble was they didn't know what she was. They had been told that the bite either changed you or killed you, yet for her it had done neither. Even though they were not experts, this wasn't supposed to happen as far as they knew. But, then again, they were just kids living in a crazy world.

How were they supposed to know what was happening?

    "Luna's right, Scott..." As much as she didn't want to say it, Lois agreed. She had known Lydia for years, and this wasn't like her at all. In fact, it was the total opposite of Lydia Martin. "What are we going to do? I mean— we can't just leave her like that, right?"

   Stiles let out a heavy breath, "I don't think there's anything we can do, Lo."

He was only speaking the truth, but that didn't make her like it any more. Perhaps she now liked it even less. Lois wasn't sure if she could just sit by and do nothing while their friend went insane, especially when the group of teenagers were the only ones who had the slightest idea as to why. It didn't feel right — she felt icky.

"We can't do anything, right now—" Scott placed a hand on her knee, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He knew that the Lydia meant a lot to Lois, as did she mean a lot to Allison. Hell, he may have not been friends with Lydia per say, but she meant a lot to him, too. It seemed as though this whole thing was his fault; Scott had been the one to get bitten first. If he hadn't of been in the woods with Stiles and Lois, then none of this would have actually happened.

Scott had brought Peter Hale to their Winter Formal, indirectly or not, it had been his fault that Lydia had been bitten. And now, it was his job to fix it. He wasn't sure how to just yet, but he would.

He sent her a soft smile, "—but we will. I promise."

She knew he was telling the truth.

   Over the years, Lois had learnt a lot about Scott McCall. She had learnt that his favourite colour was red, which was why he had refused to use any crayon but the red ones, and thus why she had given him a red card for his birthday every year since they'd met.

Another thing she had learnt was that he was kind — exceptionally kind, more than any kid she had ever known.

   Lois had learnt this attribute when she had fallen off of her bike when she and Stiles had been riding around Beacon Hills on one of her visits; she couldn't have been more than seven. Lois had hit a curb when laughing about something that Stiles had said, her bike flying into the air and consequently throwing her right off of it. Scott had lived pretty close by, so Stiles had run all the way to his house to get him. Even without knowing Lois, having heard of her through his best friend only, Scott had still picked her up and helped Stiles bring her back to his house ready for when his mum finally finished her shift at the hospital.

   Melissa McCall had walked into her home that afternoon to her son wiping away all the blood from Lois' knees, a lollipop from his secret stash in her mouth. Stiles had passed out from the sight of blood, but Scott had spent all afternoon telling Lois not to cry and that she'd be okay.

   Since that day, Lois had learnt that she could trust Scott McCall.

With her whole being.

   The last few months had only proved quite how much she could trust Scott. Even when he'd been a crazed werewolf driven insane by the full moon, she had still been able to trust him. Scott had never once betrayed her trust, not even one time. He kept all of his promises. And this wasn't any different. She believed that together they would find a way to help Lydia — all of them, would.

Scott had never let her down, before.

The rest of the car ride had been rather silent. Scott had been the first to be dropped off, considering that Lois lived right next to Still and Luna was heading back there. The wolf had muttered a couple of words about meeting Allison later, which was definitely going to be a secret, and then jumped out with a wave. By the time that Lois had actually gotten home, it was probably later than it should've been. Especially since the living room light was still on.

"Ah, crap—!" She groaned, throwing her head back and them pushing the door open. Each of them climbed out and stood in the Stilinski's drive, staring at the house with grimaces, "My dad's still up."

"Want to call a code red?"

Luna wrinkled her nose, "Code red...?"

A code red was an emergency procedure that Lois and Stiles had developed when they were fourteen. When Lois had started going to parties, mostly ones thrown by Lydia, she would often arrive back later than the curfew her father had set. This lead to the plan of giving Stiles a call and he would help her climb up the tree by her house and through her bedroom window, almost as if she had been there the whole time.

It was a great, yet utterly stupid, plan — but now probably wasn't the best time to call it. There had been a million code reds since Scott had become a werewolf, so it seemed suspicious, even though this matter wasn't any less pressing now.

    "No, it's alright." Lois shook her head, giving them both a wave of her hand as she clambered over the small fence between their lawns. "It's time to face the music,"

Stiles watched after her carefully, only letting Luna pull him inside when their friend has safely gotten through the doors.

Walking into her house had been eerily quiet. Only the sound of kitchen utensils hitting the countertop echoed, and the girl pursed her lips. She had hopes of gliding past the kitchen and towards the staircase, light on her toes, and almost made it. Lois smiled when she reached the second step, but her elation was soon destroyed.

"Late home, Lo?"

"Dad—!" Lois span on her heel, "Hi!"

    "It's late." Her father noted. He stole a glance at his watch and rose a brow, looking at her jeans and thick hoodie. It was a bit obvious, really, but he played coy. "So, been anywhere nice?"

    "Just out," she nodded her head a few times too many.

   Unfortunately for Lois Lane, her father had raised her and knew her like the back of his hand. Matthew knew when she was lying to him, and when she was trying to hide something. She was his daughter, after all; he knew everything about her. Well, almost.

    "Where could you have been this late, Lo?" Matthew didn't mean to interrogate, but it seemed to come natural when your child was a teenager and you worked in the court of law. "There can't be anything that fun to do in Beacon Hills at this time of night, surely?"

   Lois let out a groan, waking down the two stairs she had gone up and following him to the kitchen. "We just went out, dad!"

He didn't look convinced.

"That's what teenagers do, right?" She tried, again.

"That doesn't mean you have to break curfew." Matthew gently reminded her — he did have a point.

"You're always telling me to be a normal teenager! To go out and do things!" The girl whined, hopping up onto the countertop and watching as he continued to clear away dishes. It was true, he did always tell her to do more. He didn't want his daughter to end up as depressed and lonely as he was, without his wife. "We just went to the ice rink and hung out, okay? Me, Scott and Stiles."

"Did Lydia go?"

"Of course, she did."

Matthew knew that she was telling the truth.

He sighed, "Alright. But next time, can you make sure you all come back home before eleven thirty? It's a school night, Lois."

Lois nodded her head and slid off of the counter, giving her father a side hug before making her way upstairs. She didn't even bother to take off her jeans as she threw herself into bed. It had been a long day, longer than she'd expected. Yet, Lois Lane felt that something even worse would happen tomorrow.

——

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