Boys were stupid.

Claire could attest to that. She'd seen more than enough substantial evidence. From the way Draal hovered around Namura after Gunmar was killed to the way her dad refused to make soy patties (again), boys could be so absolutely stubborn and clueless. Then again, so was she, refusing to tell Blinky the truth about the strange dreams she'd been having, but that was beside the point. Currently, Claire was being subjected to a whole new level of stupidity in the form of Steve.

"… and then his dad drove us home. It was humiliating. He lectured us the whole time, as if we hadn't gotten enough from Mr. Know-it-all. And now even Eli's dad won't let Eli leave the house. Where did we go wrong?"

Claire pressed her palm to her forehead. She couldn't believe he was even asking that question. "The part where you broke into a perfectly normal human's office, or the part where you got caught?"

"Eli thought she was a changeling!" Steve shouted, earning weird from the table beside them. He quickly straightened up, avoiding all the eyes as he said all too loudly, "Pfft, loser." Claire saw Eli shrink into his seat across the cafeteria.

"Next time, if you don't want to get caught on a 'Creepslaying'" she drew quotation marks in the air around the word. "mission, you need to prepare. Do some research, come up with a list of good lies, train. You two should come with us to train this weekend. Jim can teach you how to use a sword, and Blinky can tell you more about changelings so you don't get caught next time.

"But Eli's grounded!"

"The first time Jim got grounded we took the Gyre to another continent." Claire refuted. "You want to help us take down the rest of the scattered changelings or not?" Claire bit her cheek. That came out a lot ruder than she had intended.

"I don't want Eli to get in trouble again. It's bad enough that I showed up at his mom's with a Vespa, now I broke into a clinic with him. If he get's in any worse trouble, I might never get to see him again." At the small smile that was beginning to form on Claire's face he added. "You know, to fight Creepers and stuff."

"You like him a lot don't you?"

"Y-yeah I do." Claire didn't miss the way his face flushed. "He's just a really good partner. Like, he's really smart, and a really good partner, and I have a lot of fun partnering with him." He bit his lip to stop himself from rambling.

That was way too many uses of the word 'partner'. "You mean friend?" When Steve didn't answer, she added. "I've had enough of Jim's lies to know when to sniff one out. You think of him as a friend, just admit it." Again, no answer.

She cupped her hands over her mouth. "Hey Eli! Over here!" Eli met her eyes, then looked away. Claire groaned. Boys. Why were they so stubborn? Meanwhile, Steve stared at her like she was the idiot.

Another groan. "Half the school thinks you have a crush on me after all those stunts you pulled to get back at Jim." Since Toby and Jim despised Steve, and the feeling was very much mutual, she'd been acting as a go-between to limit their interactions. Unfortunately Mary Wang, the school's most dedicated source of gossip, had gotten wind of it, and assumed he was her boy-toy. Claire despised that idea, it couldn't be farther from the truth. Although to be fair, they still thought she had a college boo. At Steve's horror stricken face, she added. "They'll think you're just sucking up to me, so don't worry about your stupid cover."

Another thing she hated about Steve. His stupid cover. It wasn't fair to Eli. They'd fought goblins alongside each other, deciphered a code that gave unsettling, but highly important, information about the pale lady, and even caught two of the scattered Changelings so far, yet Steve still cared more about his reputation than Eli. Heck, he hadn't even given Eli a proper apology yet, much to Claire's dismay.

When Claire confronted Steve about it after Gunmar's death a month ago, he'd asked, quote 'But hasn't Eli already forgiven me?'. Clair detested that. The point of an apology wasn't about asking for forgiveness, it was about being someone worth forgiving. Eli was too nice, giving out forgiveness too readily, accepting that Steve had changed when he really hadn't. Okay, maybe Steve had changed a little, but he was still a massive jerk. He had a long way to go before he was someone worthy of Eli's forgiveness. At least, that was the way Claire viewed it.

But that was a talk she'd be having later, right now she focused on the task at hand: Dragging Eli. Eli wiggled in protest as her hand pulled at his wrist, jerking him out of his seat. His fight was short lived, however, when Claire marched him back to where Steve had his face in his hands, red with embarrassment.

Or maybe something else.

Okay, Claire thought, shaking her head like that would get rid of the budding idea, maybe Mary's rubbing off on me a bit too much. Claire plopped herself down into the creaky cafeteria chairs, reaching across the table to steal one of Steve's fries. "What?" She asked in response to Steve's glare. "I skipped breakfast." Claire scratched her bandaged wrist. Pesky gnomes.

It was silent. Eli stared at the ground, while Steve placed a protective hand over his dwindling supply of fries. It was futile. Claire was a worthy opponent, slinking in only when Steve's eyes lingered too long at Eli's fidgeting hands.

"So…" she drawled, when the awkwardness became unbearable.

"…so" Eli finished. "How's… the weather?"

Claire resisted the urge to face-palm. Was this what they had been reduced to? Small talk? "Fine Eli." Steve's supply of fries gone, she snagged a couple from Eli's pile. Eli pushed the plate towards her, then looked back at his hands. "Okay, spill it you two." She huffed. "You're acting weirder than usual."

Steve took a breath, like he was going to speak, then shut his mouth. Eli's fidgeting increased. Claire furrowed her eyebrows. Eli being nervous was nothing new, but Steve refusing a chance to hear himself speak… this was worrying. "Guys?"

When Eli finally looked up, his eyes were watering. "I-It's my mom."

"He told her." Steve's eyes flitted across the room, looking anywhere but at Eli's eyes.

Eli nodded. "And she doesn't believe me."

Steve's hands fisted. "She made him see a psychiatrist, Claire. A shrink."

Claire bit the inside of her cheek, remembering all the times her mom had drug her to see Mrs. Pepperjack after she became a part of the team. Her mom had an awfully strange way of showing it, but Claire knew that she cared. She just cared about her job more. "There's nothing wrong with seeing a therapist. A lot of people do it."

"That's a psychologist. Psychiatrists are for people with mental disorders." Steve corrected, in a rare show of knowledge. Although it was fairly obvious where he had learned it, seeing as Eli's mom was a therapist.

"I'm not crazy." Eli all but whispered.

And suddenly it all made sense. Eli had believed in these things long before Claire or Toby, or even Jim. And every time he'd tried to tell people, they'd called him crazy. Steve had even stuffed Eli in a locker for it… and just as he had finally shaken off the bullies from middle school. A brief memory popped up in her head. An offhanded, seemingly inconsequential comment from Jim after the pixie incident. Something about Eli and a wooden sword… monsters… no one believing him. Pixies found your greatest fear and twisted it. If that was Eli's greatest fear…

She remembered the look of hurt on Jim's face when she had called him crazy. Claire was just a crush then. Imagine hearing that, your greatest fear, from your own mom.

She couldn't imagine it.

"I know Pepperbuddy." Steve said, his hands covering Eli's smaller one's. Claire could tell it was a strain to reach across the table like that. Steve couldn't, or at least he didn't show it. He peeled Eli's fidgeting hands apart. It wasn't quite like their fingers were interlaced, but it was close. The angle was odd, the corner of the table was digging into Steve's stomach, and Eli's eyes were puffy, but Claire couldn't help but feel like she was interrupting something important. Something sacred.

Careful not to disturb them, she stood up, Eli's French fries tucked under her arm.

Boys were stupid, Claire thought, but maybe they're not as bad as they seem.

I decided to update early because this contains no plot. Creepslayerz was a great episode, my favorite by far, but that friendship isn't going anywhere if Steve doesn't practice some humility. Eli deserves an apology, and Steve really doesn't deserve his forgiveness. Not yet anyway.

To clear things up: In this fic, Gunmar was defeated a month before. Claire is having more and more dreams, but still hasn't told anyone. Determined to help, Eli and Steve have been tasked with finding the changelings that went into hiding after Gunmar's death.

Lastly, any POV suggestions? What major or minor character would you like featured in the next chapter?