Tonight, was weird for Liam. Half of the staff at the hotel quit, got fired, or called out of work for the past month. It was summertime so he had sort of expected it, but what he didn't expect was for some random guy to just give him a whole ass bottle of champagne even after telling him he wasn't old enough. Maybe someone will like it if I don't. He had no idea why some stranger should give him a whole bottle of this expensive stuff (he assumed). He knew Mason would never believe him, but he was still going to call and brag. "Hey Mase!" Liam was glad his shift was finally over.

Taking care of drunken businessmen and their one-nighters was a hoot and a half, but Liam hated to see that people had come to this when it would be so much easier not to deal with the possible outcomes in these situations. So many of these people would take it too far and stalkers would make threats at the staff as if it's not strictly in their policy that they cannot give out any of the guests' personal information. He was so glad to be leaving soon. This job had gotten him enough to rent an apartment near Scott and Stiles rooming with Mason, but it wasn't going to be easy to do the whole college thing along with looking for another job. At least his parents had always gotten him a decent paying job for his age, and they helped pull strings, so long as he could keep his grades up and continue seeing the therapist for his anger issues were pretty well under control even without medication but moving away would be a trigger and Liam could count on it.

"Hey Liam! How does it feel to be able to finally almost be able to buy your own alcohol legally?"

"It feels like you're going to try and get me to buy you alcohol illegally" he laughed.

"Who? Me? I wouldn't dare!" Mason joked with the drama of a daytime soap opera.

"Well, you will never guess what happened at work tonight" Liam started "Everyone called out again and so nobody that was legally old enough was here to serve alcohol when we had to do room service-"

"Not hearing the problem yet" Mason interrupted. Mason had a habit of trying to make Liam realize how normal his issues were. His anger or his fears, compared to 'normal' people, were

completely normal. Not that they weren't valid, just they weren't as dramatic as Liam seemed to feel they were. His IED made everything feel so much more intense when he'd really only been slightly frustrated. He tried to help Liam keep control of his IED when he said his medication made him feel like a different person altogether. He helped so much just by being in his life. He also had a bad habit of interrupting him for no good reason.

"Well, if you would let me finish, I don't know, like a normal person, then maybe you would know if I was even complaining to begin with" Liam scoffed.

"You're right, continue" Mason said and Liam could practically feel the eye roll that Mason had no right to. Liam was the one that should be rolling his eyes at his best friend's antics.

"One of the guests actually gave me a whole bottle of champagne. Veuve something-" "Veuve Clicquot?!" Mason shouted excitedly.

"Yeah, I guess" Liam couldn't even simulate excitement. He was completely blank.

"Do you even know how much that is? It's not quite Dom Perignon, but it's still some high dollar shit" Liam's facial expression was completely lacking, as though he wanted to be excited, but he couldn't even feign knowing what the hell was going on, so he gave up.

"Well, I'm glad you're so excited because I have no idea what either of those things are" Liam laughed at his friend like it was the most ridiculous thing to be excited about.

"Liam! That dude gave you a bottle of champagne that costs anywhere from fifty, to six hundred dollars a bottle. You must have been lookin' super fly tonight" Mason joked which caused Liam to feel slightly uncomfortable. He already knew people drunkenly threw themselves at him, but never did they give him things.

"Mase, I was in my work getup. I doubt that really does it for anyone-"

"Dude you would be surprised what people are into these days, I mean have you SEEN the internet?" Liam blushed at the thought.

"Anyway, that's beside the point. He was there with someone. Also, not the point. I am not even gay, and I'm with Hayden, even if that guy is gay... or I was gay" Liam winced as the words came out of his mouth. He and Hayden haven't seen much of each other since she moved last year, but they were trying to do the long-distance thing... at least that was what they had agreed before Hayden had left. Liam wasn't even sure she would remember his birthday tomorrow. Mason spoke, feeling the mood shift.

"Liam, you're my best friend and I love you, man... but when was the last time you even spoke to Hayden? Even just a text. The last time you told me anything was a month ago." Liam couldn't bring himself to text first after their last conversation.

"You haven't been yourself since. What's going on, man?" Liam didn't want to answer. Hayden said she would be busy, but Liam didn't expect no-contact whatsoever. It was making people ask him questions he didn't know the answers to. Even Scott and Stiles kept in contact more often than that. Liam started to speak when Mason cut him off.

"I'm sorry, dude. Tell me about this guy and his weirdly expendable budget" Mason tried to change the subject back to something less depressing.

"Was he hot? I would love to find a rich, hot guy"

"You don't even know how old he is" Liam snorted, half laughing, half wondering if he would really just settle. Then wondering if that was what he was doing with Hayden.

"I'm not even sure if I care. I want a crazy experience before I leave for college, and I feel like that could be perfect" Mason knew it would distract Liam from his comments about Hayden, but not long enough to actually make him forget.

"Mase, I honestly didn't look at him enough to notice. You know how guests can leave special requests?"

"Yeah"

"Well, his was basically not to linger or talk or even look at him much. I thought it was weird he had to put it on paper because we're trained not to linger, but maybe he was-"

"Oh my god! Was he one of your shady businesspeople that are actually there having creepy hotel sex?!" Liam honestly didn't know so he couldn't exactly say yes, but it seemed like it was obvious when he walked in the room that's what was going on.

"I didn't walk in on it, Mason. I honestly don't know. He just gave me the champagne and when I said I wasn't old enough 'til tomorrow, he said 'Happy Birthday'. All I know is that it was paid for. I checked because I thought it was a joke at first." Liam wanted to be done with this conversation and go home. Go home to an empty house and let thoughts of Hayden and their relationship be the only thing on his mind. What am I gonna do? He tried the champagne from the stranger because 'what's a few hours?' and was surprised to find out it was very strong and had a very nice flavor. He slept easy after just one glass.

The next day Mason had taken special preparations at Halefire to make sure Liam's birthday was taken care of. Malia had made sure to book the bar semi-exclusively, mostly because someone was going to likely be talked into serving Mason. Mason was a treasure, but he was like Stiles in the way of being able to talk people into most things. If that happened, she didn't want Peter or Derek to have to deal with that if it became a situation with the police. They gave him enough lenience letting minors work there in the past. This made her think of Stiles. It was going to be weird to see him after they split up, but she was determined to make this a great night for Liam.

Liam had few friends there in Beacon Hills and most people worked the opposite shifts that he did. He rotated at the hotel, but the bar was exclusively night-time operating hours, meaning they all mostly slept during the day. They didn't always cross paths when they were off. They usually had other things; houses to maintain and grocery shopping to do, when they got the day off. Liam hadn't even met everyone that worked there yet. Not that he was really in often.

By the time the bar opened that night, Stiles and Scott had brought Liam his first legal bottles of scotch and whiskey, Liam told them the story about the guest with expensive taste because Mason forced him to, and they had already had 3 beers and 2 shots of the birthday special, which was just what they had more of than anything else and they could afford to give it away cheaper. Malia was between tending the bar and the birthday party until her coverage came in. Corey was the boy's name; they had come to find out. He was a bartender on Malia's nights off. They actually had another bartender, that Liam didn't catch, who wasn't there yet. He was usually a stripper, but basically, he and Corey alternated with Malia.

"I hate that Hayden didn't make it tonight" Scott told him with a squeamish look on his face, as if to say, 'let's not talk about it if you don't want too'.

"It's come to be an expectation at this point. I honestly don't know what we're doing anymore, dude" and with that, Liam took a giant gulp of his beer and strayed the conversation. He didn't want to think about it.

"So, what's college like? The programs and everything, what are they like?"

Scott just looked at him inquisitively but answered with "It's a lot like high school in some ways, but it's a lot different too. If you have an emergency and need to leave, they trust that since you're paying for it, you'll make up the assignments. Ultimately, though, they couldn't care less either way" Scott scoffed a laugh as Liam was awestruck, as if he'd never heard such in his life.

"I'm not even sure our teachers cared in high school" Stiles rebutted, then they all looked at each other at the same time and laughed "Especially coach!"

Liam's twenty-first birthday was seemingly going off without a hitch; until the eight o'clock shift came in. The bartender, Corey, kept making clumsy eyes at Mason. He couldn't even pour a drink without looking up at him. Malia went over to 'retrain this person who has been here for over 6 years', as she so eloquently put it. She told him to 'get his head out of his ass so his eyeballs could see what the hell he was doing'. Liam could sometimes see the resemblance between her and Peter, although it's less the way they look and more their charm.

At eight-thirty, they started setting up the stage. Liam thought it was for karaoke. Fun. He loved karaoke. He started to volunteer first until he heard the music. Oh. He was completely wrong. A long-haired brunet girl came out with some club music. A few seconds later, a few more girls came out after her. This was a routine they did for parties. After that was over, there was another stripper; blonde, petite, but not fragile. She was virtually flawless. She chose a slower song to get everyone's blood pumping. Next, was a male stripper, which Liam wasn't even sure was a thing. He figured Mason set the whole thing up so he can't exactly be mad for him wanting some eye-candy. This guy must have been told who 'the birthday boy' was because he didn't take his eyes off of Liam for even a second. His song was, hilariously, Pony by Ginuwine. Liam only watched Magic Mike once with Mason, but he knew what this was. It was a way dirtier version of Channing Tatum's routine. Liam couldn't stop the blush forming. Was it the alcohol? Or was it the male attention that he wasn't exactly used to that made him blush? The stripper winked at Liam and tried extra hard to earn a tip. Harder than the women before him had. A sudden realization hit him then he turned to his best friend.

"Hey Mase", his eyes were wide with embarrassment.

"Yeah, dude?" Liam tried to talk over the music, but not so loud that everyone could hear him.

"I-I'm not like one hundred percent sure- but I think that's the guy"

"What guy?" Mason tried to pay attention, but someone let him have alcohol. Surprise, surprise.

"The champagne guy from last night. Obviously" Liam pinched the bridge of his nose. Mason's eyes widened.

"Holy shit! Are you serious?! He is gorgeous!" Liam just laughed and rolled his eyes at his friend. He could agree that this guy was objectively attractive, though. Now that he'd seen him. It still creeped him out that he was at his birthday party as a stripper after he'd seen him the day before in a hotel pretty naked.

After the stripteases were over, they went back to the party and Liam found out from Scott and Stiles the stripper's name was Theo, but he reacted odd when Liam knew his name. Weird. They talked about how they knew each other's friends and somehow never ran into each other. Mason asks about Corey and Liam waves him off. "You set all this up for me, go get you some bartender" Liam laughed and Mason didn't have to be told twice. Scott and Stiles realize that it is officially eleven and they have projects for the weekend from their classes. Malia said it would be ok if Liam stayed. She looked at Liam and Theo across the room and spoke low.

"He seems to be hitting it off with Theo and they both really need more friends outside of work. It'll be ok." she ensures. So, Scott and Stiles left. They didn't realize, however, that so did Mason... and Corey. Which meant that Malia wouldn't be able to bring Liam home. She would have to take care of the bar.

"I can take him" Theo volunteered "I'm headed out anyway, so I can at least not leave you stranded." As they walked out the door, Theo stopped in his tracks. One of his old bar regulars, the one that made him need a security system and an actual restraining order, was waiting for him. Liam didn't understand what was happening. He had heard a lot about what can happen to strippers, but this, Theo, looked like he could take care of himself.

"Hey baby! How long has it been?" Liam already decided this man was a creep. "Too long if you ask me. I miss you. Can't we make up for the lost time?"

"I have a restraining order and we both know; I'm not above calling the sheriff. I know how much you and Stilinski get along, Donovan." Restraining order? Liam couldn't get the words out of his mind.

"You do that Raeken, and I'll tell him what you're doing here" he shoots Liam a glance that makes him feel uncomfortable.

"Oh yeah, and what's that? That I'm taking some kid home after his 21st birthday because he's too drunk to get behind the wheel? I'd be awarded, while they throw you under the jailhouse" Theo laughed at the insinuation and kept going to his truck.

"YOUR ASS IS MINE RAEKEN! DO YOU HEAR ME? MINE!" Theo scoffed at the man. He looked at Liam, who seemed utterly frightened, and assured him it was nothing more than a drunk idiot and that he didn't have to worry. Liam's drunk brain decided he felt safe with Theo, so he trusted him.