Liam stop!" Scott's commanding voice broke the freshman out of his initial anger, and he stopped the assault of his fists on the locker room walls.
Scott saw Liam had retracted his claws, but his eyes were still glowing yellow. Scott put a gentle hand on Liam's shoulder, and turned the shorter boy to face him. "Liam, what three things cannot long be hidden?" He asked gently.
"I can't!" Liam growled, clenching his fists to the point of blood dripping from his palms.
"Hey," Scott locked their eyes together, "Yes you can. Come on, what three things?" Scott asked again, brushing a lock of hair out of the younger boy's face.
Liam sighed, but still said, "The sun, the moon, the truth."
"Good. Slower." Scott coached.
Another breath, "The sun...the moon...and the truth." Liam's eyes immediately returned to their natural color and he was making even breaths instead of fast, frantic ones.
"Let me see." Scott said, looking at Liam's blood soaked hands.
"It'll heal." Liam brushed off.
"Hey, just let me see." Scott said gently.
Liam slowly retracted his fists and let Scott inspect the damage. Scott left Liam to sit on one of the benches, while he went in search of a first aid kit. Returning quickly, Scott immediately went to work on the minor injury.
Wordlessly, he wrapped the small hands in bandages after he put an antiseptic on them.
"Scott, I'm fine." Liam saidagain.
"Just let me help you." Scott countered, as he continued to work.
Liam sighed in annoyance at Scott's mothering, but still laid his head on Scott's shoulder, not about to deny himself this sudden attention.
"What was that about?" Scott asked finally, after finishing his wrap.
"Does it even matter?" Liam countered weakly.
"Yes." An unmoving Scott said.
"Better the wall than a kid right?" Liam shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"Better for you if you're uninjured. There's so many people out there who want us gone Liam, why would you make their life easier by harming yourself?"
"Why do you care?" Liam asked in a small voice.
Scott glowed his eyes red for a moment before extracting his claws. "Look at my eyes, Liam. We're the same." Scott said. "Even more than that, when I turned you, I claimed you. I took responsibility for you." Scott continued in a serious tone. "Liam, if anything ever happened to you, I would never forgive myself."
"You're not responsible for me, Scott." The younger boy said, looking up at his alpha.
"Kid, we're stuck with each other now. No take backs." Scott said with a smile. Pulling Liam close, Scott roughed up his hair by rubbing his fist rapidly over Liam's head. The freshman broke into a fit of laughter, despite himself.
After a moment, Scott redirected Liam's head, so they achieved eye contact again. "No more hitting locker room walls. You need a target, hit me." Scott said firmly.
Liam nodded, but both Beta and alpha knew this won't be the last conversation on the subject.