In the evening, just after Scott and his dad have cleaned up the dishes – which already isn't a fun chore by itself, and not even remotely better when he has to do it with him – the doorbell rings.

"I'll get it!" Scott calls, relieved that he has an excuse to exit the kitchen and, with that, an escape from the awkward tension.

He opens up, not surprised to see his best friend there, looking a bit…disappointed, to say the least.

"So? How did it go?"

"How did what go?" Scott asks, tilting his head in confusion.

"Your talk? With Liam? How did it go?" Stiles answers, flicking his hands in an annoyed matter. "You know, I'm surprised you didn't call right after, given the fact I dedicated like, what? Four hours? To help you figure things out?"

Scott ogles him. "Oh. Right." He smiles sheepishly. "Sorry. Come in, I'll tell you all about it."

Stiles mutters a 'finally' as he steps into the hallway. Scott closes the door behind him as his dad emerges from the kitchen.

"Stiles," he greets his best friend, "I see your jeep still hasn't given up on you."

"She's a tough one," Stiles replies, lips parted a little. He holds up his thumb.

"What are you boys up to?"

"Nothing. Just gonna go upstairs, play videogames or something," Scott answers, walking past the Agent.

"Well, try to keep it down, okay? I brought home some work I really need to look into."

"Roger that," Stiles jokes awkwardly, following Scott's footsteps. "Affirmative. Eh. You know it. Keeping it down."

Scott rolls his eyes, turning around and yanking Stiles up the stairs, almost causing him to trip.

"God, I hate that guy," Stiles says when they're in Scott's room and when the door is shut. Scott turns around to look at Stiles, who shrugs a little. "I know. I know, not cool."

"He's still my dad, you know."

"Sure. I just think it was a dick move of him to leave you guys all those years ago. Has he even yet explained that, by the way?"

"He hasn't," Scott answers, sitting down into his desk chair.

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"I don't know. I'm not so sure if I want to know either, honestly," Scott says, pondering.

Stiles nods, sitting down onto the bed across from Scott. "Yeah…." He seems to invert himself into his thoughts. After a while, when Scott finds the silence is becoming a little too heavy, he breaks it.

"So, about Liam…"

"Yes! Liam! That's why I'm here. How was it?"

"Quite good, actually," Scott says. The tip of his toes are touching the floor, spinning him from left to right on the chair. "We were right."

"How did he tell you?"

Scott smiles a little. "He didn't, really. I sort of guessed it and he broke."

"So he confessed?"

Scott hums.

Stiles blinks a couple of times, nodding slowly. "So…that means he's really hurting himself, huh?" he says, tones of astonishment in his voice.

"Yeah…" Scott breathes. "Or, more like, he was."

"What do you mean?"

"He's not going to anymore. I reminded him of his family and friends and stuff, so now he's fine," Scott explains.

Stiles looks a little puzzled. "And you're sure of that?"

"Well, he said so."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You don't trust him, do you?"

Stiles sighs, obviously looking for words.

"I'm not saying I don't trust him. I just think that…you shouldn't be too hasty believing him."

Scott frowns. "Why not?"

"Well, what exactly did you tell him?"

Scott sighs, scratching his head. "I told him he should look at the positive things in his life and he agreed he was looking more at the negative side, then he said he wouldn't anymore."

"And you think it's just that easy?"

Scott thinks for a while, biting his bottom lip. "Yeah…?"

"Hmm."

"What?! Dude, come on, just tell me what you're thinking."

"I don't know, Scott. It sounds like you wanted him to change the way he thinks, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I just don't think it can be done just like that."

"Why not? I can do it. And I'm sure you can as well."

Stiles lets out a deep breath. "I know we can, but that doesn't mean he can. This thing…I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than we think."

Scott's eyebrows knit together. "What? You mean like Chemistry?"

Stiles scoffs. "A little like that, yeah." He sits up a bit more. "You know, with Chemistry, there's…basic elements, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you understand those, don't you?"

"I know their atom numbers and abbreviations?"

"Right. Exactly," Stiles confirms. "But it starts getting complicated when those elements are going into a chain reaction with one another, doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

"So…" Stiles gestures with his hands. "…Maybe it's the same with Liam."

"You're saying Liam's having a chemical reaction?" Scott chuckles.

"No. No, Scott, I'm not saying Liam—that would be ridiculous who would say something—ugh, just focus, okay? I'm saying you might understand the basics, but not the entire thing. I mean, I'm sure it comes down to looking at the positive things, I just don't think that's easy for him."

"Oh," Scott whispers, rubbing his upper arm. He falls still for a moment, staring at the carpet in his bedroom. After a moment, he looks up at Stiles, clear fault on his face.

"Oh, come on, man, stop with the puppy face," Stiles says, getting up from the bed. He moves over to Scott, crouching in front of him, hands on his knees. "You don't have to do the disappointed puppy face, because the disappointed puppy face is only for situations when you actually are a disappointed puppy and you're not now. I'm just trying to be honest with you."

Scott nods silently. "I know. It's just that…I thought I had helped him."

Stiles smiles. "I know. And maybe you did. I'm just reminding you that you shouldn't neglect Liam now and then later feel guilty when you figure out things aren't solved for him."

The beat look on his Scott's face fades. "I get that. You're just trying to prepare me for the worst."

"The only thing I'm good at," Stiles says with a lopsided smile, followed by a wink.

Scott laughs. Due to Stiles' anxiety, the boy always tends to have a negative outlook on things. He's probably a bit like Liam, Scott thinks, only Stiles can deal with it. If Scott could just take those traits from Stiles and put them into Liam, then all would be good. Maybe Stiles should talk to him, not Scott.

"Doesn't that ever depress you?" he therefore asks.

Stiles gives him a surprised look, but then, as a mind reader, understands where Scott's coming from. "Not really. Expecting the worst means I can never be disappointed. I mean, basically, everything that happens to me is always way better than I imagined it to be."

"'Yeah, but still, isn't that why you're so nervous all the time?"

"Probably," Stiles nods. "But..." He looks up into Scott's eyes. "Hey, I'm fine. It's just who I am: son of a Sheriff; always expecting the worst. I can deal with it."

Scott nods, staring down at his best friend. "Thanks, man."

"Don't mention it," Stiles says, patting Scott's shoulder as he gets up. "Come on, let's actually play some videogames. It's the weekend!"

Stiles distracts Scott into deep in the night, knowing all too well Scott will start worrying when he leaves. Therefore, his hug is warm and genuine before he steps out the door. Scott waves him goodbye as Stiles drives off. He flicks off the lights in the house before walking up the stairs and undressing himself for bed. When his head hits the pillow, the expected happens and Scott's lying there, thinking about Liam; wondering how he's doing, what he's doing now and how he's feeling. Maybe he's having a hard moment, while Scott's thinking of him. Maybe Liam needs someone right now, but thinks no one's there for him.

Scott sighs, turning onto his side. Right before he closes his eyes, he settles himself down by promising himself he will get Liam's phone number next time he sees him.

After that, Monday rolls around quite quickly, the weekend has been great. Not necessarily in Scott's mind, but in his actions. He played a good game Saturday afternoon, as did Stiles. Their team even won, so afterwards they celebrated by hanging out with Lydia, Malia and Kira in the evening. They mostly talked to each other; Lydia to Malia mostly about her upcoming Maths test, while Scott shot warning looks towards Stiles to not tell about his struggle with Chemistry. At one point the conversation turned to the players of the team, and with that, to Liam. Stiles told what had been going on between Scott and Liam, and Scott was fine with that, knowing his friends can keep a secret. On Sunday he did his homework, only to remember Sunday evening he had even more – fun as always.

He meets Lydia midday; they both have a free period. Her strawberry blond hair's glimmering, even with TL-lights on them and Scott almost wants to ask if she washes it with some special shampoo, but refrains, knowing it will grant him a full description of her beauty products. And while Scott's fond of Lydia, that's a bit too much.

"Have you seen Liam yet?" she asks as soon as Scott has sat down next to her in the library.

"Nope. Not yet."

"Oh," she says, smirking a little. Scott frowns suspiciously at her and then she continues, "I have."

Scott's eyes widen. "You have?"

"Yup." She turns a page in her English book. Some historical novel she has to read. By the way she's looking at it, Scott can easily assume she already knows it.

"Did you…notice anything?"

Lydia shakes her head, eyes fixed on the pages in front of her. "Nope. He's wearing a jumper."

Scott nods slowly. "Right." He exclaims a muffled sigh; which is more of a grunt to be honest, a symbol of his slight frustration.

"I do have something else for you, though," Lydia speaks up after a while. The mysterious tone in her voice makes Scott perk up and scoot closer.

"What?" he wonders, voice low. "What do you have?"

The smirk on Lydia's red painted lips grows even more mischievous. She still hasn't looked up from her book. "I'll tell you," she says. "I might even give it to you."

Scott gapes at her, starting to get a bit impatient. "So…?"

"But first, I want to know why you've been failing Chemistry and haven't told me about it," she says, finally catching Scott's gaze.

Scott backs down a bit. "You know your hair looks amazing today, tell me again which brand of shampoo you use?"

"Nice try," Lydia grins. "But thanks." She narrows her eyes a bit. "But tell me."

Scott averts his eyes nervously. "W-Well, I… I haven't seen you as much-"

"You saw me two days ago."

"Yeah! But it didn't…come up, so…besides, you've mostly been busy with-"

Lydia gives him a stern look. A warning.

"A certain deputy we don't speak of…"

She nods, satisfied.

"…And with all the stuff happening with Liam, I just kinda forgot to mention it."

Lydia nods, but Scott can tell she doesn't find his excuses good enough. "I'm tutoring you," she announces.

Scott groans. "No, Lyd', please, I don't need your help, I promise. I'm fine, I just need to put more time into it and-"

Lydia slams her book shut, startling Scott a little and revealing a notebook he hadn't noticed earlier. Upon reading the title, he slumps down into his seat even more, rubbing his forehead while groaning loudly.

"Let's go over my notes."

"No, please, I promise I'll be good-"

"Shush it."

Scott pouts angrily, like a child who has been declined a cookie. "You're worse than my mom, you know."

"And hotter."

"That's offensive."

"As is not telling your friends that you're failing."

She opens her notebook.

"But…look! Look, your notes are so diffi-"

Lydia stops her movement, giving Scott a fierce look, instantly making him shut up and close his mouth.

"Fine…" he grumbles.

"Alright, so, we'll start easy. What do you get when you mix an acid and a base?"

"How did you find out I'm failing any-?"

"Concentrate!" She hits his fingers with her pen.

So Scott spends his free period studying, and even though he's careful not to admit it; Lydia does actually help. She proves to be much more patient than she often comes across and, in the end, Scott finally starts to understand what she's saying.

"Well done!" she praises him after his first – and only – right answer. "Now, we'll just need to practice every day for an hour or two and then I'm sure you'll do great on your next test. When's that again?"

Scott averts his eyes. "Thursday…" he mumbles.

"Make it four hours."

Scott lets his head fall onto the table, accepting his fate. "Okay…"

"Now, as a reward…"

He perks back up again, turning his head, watching Lydia retrieve a piece of crumpled paper from her Prada bag. She hands it over, the paper caught between two fingers. "You're welcome," she says.

"What's that?" Scott asks curiously, taking the note from her. He expects it to be some sort of key answer for the upcoming test, but can't recall an atom with that many numbers.

"Liam's phone number," Lydia answers proudly.

Scott looks at the paper, then back at his friend. "What? How did you know I wanted that?"

Lydia smirks. "Haven't you heard?" She looks around cautiously, like she's about to tell a secret, moving her lips close to Scott's ear. "I'm psychic."

Scott shivers from the feeling of her breath on his skin.

Lydia giggles. "I'm kidding. I just figured it would come in helpful. Guys' phone numbers always are at some point."

Scott smiles brightly at her. "You're the best. Thank you."

Lydia shrugs. "It's nothing. I'd do the same for Allison all the time." She opens her book again. "Besides, what are friends for?"

Scott takes one of her hands in his, making her lock eyes with him. "Thanks, really."

Lydia stares at him for a moment before blinking a couple of times and turning her head back. Her emerald eyes glimmer a little. "It's fine. Now go. Go text him or something," she dismisses him.

Scott gets up, excitedly gathering his things. He leaves the library after looking around once more, catching Lydia wiping one of her eyes with her pinky.

The smile on Scott's face is genuine.

During History, Mr. Yukimura's words sail right past Scott. He's holding his phone under his desk, ready to send Liam a text, figuring he should start with a simple 'hey'.

The phone buzzes quickly after that.

'Who's this?'

Right. He should've seen that one coming.

'It's Scott. How are you?'

'Scott? How did you get my number?'

He rolls his eyes at himself; should've seen that one coming as well. This is going great so far.

'From Lydia.'

'The flirty red head?'

Scott shakes his head. At least now he doesn't need to ask how she got it.

'Yeah…sorry about that.'

'It's okay. But you could've just asked?'

Scott's lips curl into a hint of a smile. 'I wanted to, but she beat me to it.'

He looks up at the schoolboard, but so much writing has been added since he last looked up that Scott figures focusing now would be in vain. He gives his phone his attention again.

'Why did you want my number, anyway?'

He thinks for a bit, but then decides to just be honest.

'I just wanted to talk. Do you have any plans after school?'

'Not really.'

'Wanna hang out?'

He tenses the grip on his phone while he waits for a reply. It doesn't come for a while, so he starts tapping his foot nervously onto the floor. After what feels like an eternity, his phone buzzes again.

'Sure.'

Scott exhales a sigh of relief.