· 1st Time He's Caught – They're Flying

If there was a rule of thumb for afterglow, it was that afterglow was supposed to last, at least till he got through the front door. But once Stiles reached home and his old man was waiting outside, he knew something bad had happened, something deep and gut wrenchingly bad.

"How long have you been sneaking behind my back and hooking up with the Martin girl?" the Sheriff smelled of beer. He wasn't drunk, just sort of out of it, and he sounded emotional.

"Depends on your definition of 'hooking up,'" Stiles said, cautious of how much humor to spin as he climbed the steps and leaned on the banister across from his dad.

"I define it as willfully deceiving me, sneaking off to meet her when you should be in class or at practice." His dad took a long sip and looked off for a moment, to cut off any growing anger he felt boiling.

"Wow, those are very specific allegations. They're not exactly wrong, but not technically right either." Stiles' palms sweat, his long fingers desperately wrung themselves as he wished he still remembered Lydia's shape underneath them instead of the panicky empty air grasping at straws.

"Kid, don't play games." His voice grew sterner, "do you know what her parents could do to us? To someone like you? If they found out by- oh, I don't know by watching the highlight reel of a Mets game. They could destroy us."

Stiles' mouth dropped, there was no sneaking around evidence like that. He prayed the world opened up and swallowed him whole. Mrs. Martin already raked Lydia over hot coals once, he dreaded to think how this would go over, just imagining it, imagining Lydia withdrawing from him again or worse, being transferred away to a different school and it terrified him.

"Did you think about what's going through her head?" his dad's concerned voice didn't have the same peaks as Stiles' inner-monologue, and he buckled under the weight of it. On the stoop he sat and his dad dropped beside him, "do you think she sees a future with you? You're just a rebellious phase, the newest thing to piss off her parents. I've seen this a hundred times."

"Dad, I'm not some idiot kid," Stiles defended. He hunched forward leaning his elbows on the tops of his knees, and leaned his chin onto his folded hands. He concentrated hard on his dad's words and however harsh they were they made sense. As in actual, factual, sense but still he had a hard time reasoning with them.

"I know you're not," he rubbed Stiles' neck, then held him by the shoulder at arms' length looking at him analytically. "Before you lose your mind over this girl get out of it."

Stiles' dad wasn't the only one who shared these concerns. He didn't shortchange lacrosse practice the following day and while in the locker-room, a handful of the other guys caught the game. Not all of them caught on that it was Lydia, thanks to the Mets' cap and because of the preposterousness of a scenario 'how a broke punk like him get a rich girl like her,' but his best-friend Scott had.

"I'm not saying to break up with her," whispered Scott as he leaned over Stiles' locker door. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Well, it's hurting my head to hear everyone rag on me about it!" he grumbled and slammed his locker shut.

"I'm not ragging on you. I just think you deserve-" he stopped just sort of saying 'deserved better' when Stiles glared a warning. "-you deserve to be with someone who can make you happy, publicly."

That response confused Stiles even further. He had hoped Scott would be more on his side to rely on as a future cover when his dad questioned his whereabouts if and when he snuck out to meet Lydia but now it seemed unlikely.

"Look at me and Allison-"

"Oh, my god!" Stiles threw his hands up in the air and started away. "Everyone sees you and Allison! All you ever do is gaze longingly at each other every minute of every class. Unless you meet between classes and maul each other in the halls!"

"We're not that bad," Scott smirked a little proud at the idea that everyone took note of him and his lady-love.

"Oh, yes. Hah, yes you are and you know it!" Stiles headed toward the parking lot with Scott following closely at his heels. He figured if he trailed Scott near enough to Allison's orbit she'd lasso him in for their customary ride home.

"Listen, Stiles seriously," Scott said curiously apprehensive. "Just think about this, okay? If you really care about each other, that's great. But at this point are you sure you don't just really like the secrecy? Or maybe, I don't know you or she might have told your best-friends by now? And if you guys aren't just getting off on the secrecy, what are you going to do when the semester ends and you don't have chemistry together anymore?"