darker_london | Purpose (Lydia, Peter)

Lydia had joined up with him while shopping. She had just managed to nearly stumble into him coming out of a shop, and for a moment there was the awkward exchange of two people who were embarrassed to have done such a nearly dreadful thing as getting in someone else's way, and then Lydia and Jason recognised each other at the same time. "You go to LC," Lydia said with a grin. "You're two years above me?"

Jason nodded, his grin widening. "I am indeed. And you're Lydia Kemp. I see you on the telly sometimes with Kismet."

Lydia blushed and she giggled, shouldering her bag which now contained a brand new pair of pink shoes. "Yeah, she's my best friend and she lives next door."

"That's pretty cool," Jason informed her, even though Lydia totally already knew. "So, like, what are you in to?"

Lydia fell in step beside Jason, because he seemed easy enough to talk to and they did go to the same school. Lydia believed, at least the, that that somehow brought them together. "I dunno. Stuff. You?"

"Like...sports. Whatever." Jason shrugged as they walked. "What's it like being on the telly!?"

"Weird," Lydia admitted with a laugh. "But I'm hardly ever on there and Kismet is on there all the time. And she's so awesome about it. She's totally cool, but she was raised in LA and she's used to being around stars all the time. It just makes sense that she is one now." Lydia nodded sagely. "So...what are you doing today?"

"Well I was out shopping for inspiration, but the bookshop didn't have the book I wanted. So I have to go home and look up Greek Mythology on Wikipedia and hope it hasn't been struck by vandals who change things around. I used Wikipedia for a history report last year? And my teacher failed me for saying St. Petersburg used to be called Putingrad. But like...how would I know, right?"

Lydia kept her mouth shut on the topic, because she was deciding maybe Jason was a little dim. Either way, she could help here. "I'm sort of awesome at Greek Mythology! I could help!" Because she was the one who offered, she thought it was safe. He hadn't been creepy and asked her back to his house. She had extended the hand of friendship with an offer to assist the less cerebrally gifted. Lydia had no way of knowing it would all go very, very wrong.

Jason had cheerfully accepted her offer and led her to his house which was not all that far from hers, all things considered. It was just behind hers in Primrose Hill. He had closed the front door behind them, offered her a drink which she declined because she had a Pepsi in her bag, and they had gotten to work in the living room because Jason's parents were both at work.

For an hour, Greek Mythology was all that was discussed. And then Jason threw his pencil to the ground and announced, "I'm bored now. God, they were all buggering each other, weren't they?"

Lydia laughed and closed one of his text books. "I guess so! But it caused it's problems. I can come over some time this week to help more if you want me to."

"That'd be nice." Jason looked up at her and he smiled. "You're pretty."

Lydia, who did not think herself attractive in the least even if she had blossomed from a slightly weird-looking child to a striking young woman over the past two years. She was still getting over her ugly duckling syndrome, and did not yet believe herself to be the swan she was. "Whatever," she replied, blushing furiously.

"No, you are. Come kiss me."

Lydia's blush faded from her cheeks in an instant. She arched one eyebrow at him and shook her head. "This is not studying. Anyway, I have a boyfriend and he wouldn't like it if I cheated on him." What had started out as a relationship of childish fancy was slowly deepening, and Lydia wanted to experience every single part of that with Dylan and Dylan alone. She was starting to understand that 'love' meant something more intense than she could comprehend at fourteen, and she was looking forward to exploring it. With Dylan.

Jason, however, was not so easily disuaded. "Oh come on, I'm an older man. Everyone will think you're cool."

Lydia stood from his sofa and she put her hands on her hips. "Everyone already does think I'm cool because I'm brave and smart and I'm on the telly! You didn't even know who Zeus was!"

"I just don't care about that old shit!" Jason protested. He stood too, and he crossed the room until he was standing in front of her. "If you don't kiss me, I'll tell everyone you gave me a blow job."

Lydia, who had been through much worse things than this, was not scared in the least. A little boy threatening her with rumours? She had faced demons and come out of it with her head screwed on straight. He had nothing. All he was trying to do was steal a kiss. "I don't care what you say! That shit won't work on me, I'm not an idiot!"

Jason pushed Lydia backwards into the wall, and Lydia's response was immediate. She lashed out, catching him on the nose, and then she kneed him right in the balls. "You get the fuck away from me, loser!" She yelled, and then she strode across the room to grab her bag. That slight detour gave him enough time to recover from his whimpering enough to grab her by the arm. It wasn't about the thwarted kiss now. Now he was fighting because in his mind she had started it and he wasn't going to take that. He was going to fight back.

Jason pulled Lydia towards him and she lashed out with her free hand, once again catching his already injured nose. Jason lost his grip on her and he whimpered, covering his nose with both hands. He was about to launch himself at her again when there was a frantic pounding on the door and Lydia heard someone shouting her name insistently. A small smile curled her lips and she grinned triumphantly over at Jason.

"What the hell is that!?" he whimpered, glancing toward his front door where they could both see the silhouette of someone standing on the other side, trying to get in. That someone had very distinctive hair.

"That is my dad. And you are so dead." Lydia darted to the door and she pulled it open. "Dad!"

"Jesus Christ!" Peter hissed, and he pulled Lydia into his arms. His vision had shown Lydia lying on the ground, bleeding and crying. And maybe that would have been the way it happened if he hadn't shown up, but he had, and she was fine. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! He's just a loser who liked me because he saw me on the telly."

Peter looked up over his daughter and he glared at the boy who was standing in his own living room, bleeding from his nostrils. "He looks like he learned his lesson..."

"What the hell are you...get out of my house!" Jason screamed, unable to understand how Lydia's father had randomly shown up out of nowhere.

"Gladly," Lydia hissed at him. She grabbed Peter's hand and she led him away from the house and back towards theirs. "Did you have a vision," she asked him when they were well and truly out of Jason's presence.

"Yes." For Lydia's sake, Peter spared her the details of what he had seen, since he had effectively nipped that in the bud. "Lydia, who the hell was that?"

"Jason. Some guy from school. I was helping him with his mythology homework, but he got bored and wanted to kiss. And I wasn't interested so he said he'd tell the whole school I blew him." Peter reacted to that lovely bit of knowledge by turning bright red, and Lydia had a feeling some rather potent words were forming, so she hurriedly continued. "Anyway, I said that wouldn't work and he tried to pin me so I kneed him in the bollocks and then I think he just wanted to fight because he took the knee to his bollocks personally." Lydia was pretty sure Jason was a gross, losery boy and not a rapist, but she intended on telling everyone she ever met ever what had happened anyway so no one ended up in her position.

Peter swallowed roughly, but he managed to contain his temper because Lydia really had handled that well. Except for one thing. "Well...okay, but would you mind explaining why you were at his house in the first place?"

Lydia looked up at Peter and she shrugged. "For homework! It's not like he flat out said, 'hey if you come over I'll try to kiss you up something fierce'."

"I didn't think he did, but he's a teenage boy and I do believe everything they say essentially means...that."

"Dylan doesn't."

"Well..yes, but he's differen-"

"Did you mean that?"

Peter momentarily buried his face in his hands. "I erm...not specifically. Alright, most teenage boys then. I've never even heard of him, is he one of your normal friends?"

Lydia suddenly felt very stupid, and she had a feeling her father was about to be quite disappointed in her. She could effectively prove that not all boys were sleazes, but he could effectively prove (with Jason's creepy help) that some were. And you couldn't tell the difference because they didn't wear signs labeling them as sleazes. "Not exactly..." Lydia looked up at Peter and she felt quite ashamed. "I sort of only kind of just met him..."

Peter stopped then, and he moved to face her. "Lydia."

"I know! But I thought...since I was the one who offered, and it was just homework..."

"I'm guessing his parents weren't home, am I correct?"

Lydia nodded. "I didn't know that..."

"Lydia, you could have studied at a library or something. I let you make a lot of your own decisions because I trust you. You've never given me a reason not to. You call to let me know where you are, and if you're going to be even thirty seconds late you let me know. You're completely open with me...at least with the important things." They had had their rough spot, and it had lasted all of two months. Lydia and Peter just weren't made to be at odds with each other. Lydia wasn't really the type to rebel, and Peter was the type to appreciate every single thing his children did anyway as long as it was legal and didn't endanger anyone, so there was no need. "But you know better than to go over to some boy's house...or anyone's house when there's no parents and no one else with you, especially if you don't know the person. And Dylan is different, because I trust him too. But that has to be earned. We've known him for years, and he is kind and he clearly cares for you. If you don't know enough about someone to know if they'll even take your feelings into consideration, you shouldn't put yourself into a position where you're alone with them."

"Dad," Lydia stepped forward and she took her father's hands into her own. "What did your vision show you? Because when you came to the door, you looked surprised that I answered it."

Peter licked his lips and he shook his head futilely. "Lydia...it's not-"

"Tell me. I want to know. I need to know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up. Would he have tried it on with me?"

"I don't think that was what I saw," Peter admitted. "You were just... You were hurt. Badly. He was a big boy, and I'm sure you caught him off guard because you're quick and you're smart. But I don't know if he would have gotten the better of you eventually. I saw you lying there and I...I was just terrified I'd be too late."

"But you weren't," Lydia said, giving his hands a squeeze. "I think that's why I sometimes do dumb things. Because when ever I need you, you're always there."

"Lydia...if I had still been in Rome-"

"I know," Lydia interjected so her poor father didn't have to continue down that road. "I know. And I'm sorry." Lydia stepped forward and she stood on her tip toes. Peter obliged and leaned down so she could kiss his cheek. "I'll be more careful. I shouldn't have gone in there in the first place and believe me when I say I won't do it again. But thank you. Really. Dad. Thank you."

Peter leaned down so he could hug her, and he kissed her hair as well. "You're welcome, Lydia. And you do make this whole parenting thing much easier by already knowing what you did wrong..."

"You're the best, you know?" Lydia pulled away and she took his hand so they could continue home. "Not every father would barge in on some kid's house to rescue his daughter."

"He's just lucky I didn't have my shovel," Peter growled and Lydia laughed.

"Indeed he is, Daddy. Indeed he is."

"And his parents are getting a rather nasty phone call. Which means I will have to find some way to explain how I knew where you were..." Peter looked distracted for a second and Lydia laughed.

"Say you have a global positioning device implanted in my mobile phone because you're fiercely protective. It'll be awesome."

Peter chuckled and he gave Lydia's hand a squeeze. "I'll say something like that. Or I could just say you called me quickly while it was happening. Jason didn't look like he was in much of a state to be able to confirm or deny that."

"Because I'm awesome. Hey, Dad?"

"Yes, Lydia?"

"He said I was pretty. I'm kind of a sucker for that. Does that make me shallow and stupid?"

"No," Peter assured her. They turned the corner which would lead to home and Lydia was relieved to see it there, dwarfed by the apartment complexes surrounding it. "Lydia, you are a beautiful girl. So beautiful I worry about having to follow you around with a stick to beat the idiotic, drooling masses off of you." Lydia burst into frantic laughter and Peter gave her a strange look. "What?"

"Nothing? You said beat off the masses..."

Peter gave her a fondly exasperated look and he shook his head. "Yes, yes, hahaha, Chucklehead. I do mean that though. The...stick thing. But I know you don't see that, which I hate. I don't think it's shallow or stupid to be happy to hear somethign like that. Frankly, people should say that to you, because it's true. You just have to be the one to decide how to take it. Do you feel you don't hear that enough?"

"No. Not at all." Lydia was literally surrounded by people who let her know how they felt about her and that she was both intelligent and pretty. She just didn't believe it. "I just...have trouble accepting it. So when some random boy says it, instead of someone who kind of...has to...it's different."

"Well, I get that too. I used to completely lose it when someone gave me a compliment because when I was growing up, they were quite rare in coming. I did people's homework for them because they didn't call me a pansy. Eventually I realised I didn't need them to validate how I felt about myself. I'm a smart guy. Not...always wise, but we'll just leave that for now. I retain knowledge. I didn't need some lump with no neck to tell me that just because I wrote his essays for him. And eventually you will realise you don't need the validation of lumps with...whatever he had there...to tell you you're a worthwhile person, because you'll know you are."

"Am I going to be grounded?" Lydia asked. Peter made a lot of sense, but this was a Very Important topic and she needed to know. Then she could figure out how to see herself as a worthwhile person. Though she had a feeling Peter didn't expect her to figure it out in a day.

"No," Peter said, and then he hesitated. "I don't know. Honestly? I'm just relieved you're alright. And because I'm a freak, you know what would have happened if I...well...wasn't a freak. You already said you wouldn't do it again and I know you well enough to know you mean it when you say that. Me grounding you would just be pointless punishment. Just. For God's sake, be careful, okay? I don't entirely like pounding on people's doors, thinking you're bleeding on the other side of them."

"Deal." Lydia held out her hand and Peter shook it. "And you're right too. I don't feel different about myself just because he said I was pretty. That has to come from me I think."

"And it will," Peter assured her. He kissed her hair again as they pushed through their entry gate. "Go on in. I have to pick Deirdre up. We'll be back soon and then we'll have dinner."

Lydia ran a few paces ahead, but then she turned and smiled at him. "Dad? Do you maybe need me to tell you you're a worthwhile person right now? Like...maybe you knew before but then you were in Rome and you act different now. But if you hadn't been there today..well you know. You do make a difference, see? A hell of a difference to me."

Peter's smile was warm and bright and Lydia felt quite proud of herself. "Thank you, Lydia."

"You're welcome!" And then she turned to run inside. She was going to call Kismet the second she could, because if anyone could spread the word that Jason Gibbon was a loser, it was Kismet.