ASHES ASHES | teen wolf

TEN. lacrosse or the hunger games?

Nova flinched as Scott and Cadmus slammed Liam into the locker room showers, Stiles scrambling to turn on the water as cold as it would go. Liam snarled loudly as the droplets started to soak him, struggling against the hands holding him down.

"Okay," Stiles said with outstretched hands. "You calm yet?"

The only answer he got was a roar loud enough that it made Nova check over her shoulder to make sure that no one would burst through the door to investigate.

Cadmus glanced at her and beckoned her forward with his chin. Scott glanced at him in confusion as Nova advanced, but the other boy shook his head, clearly telling the alpha to trust him.

"Liam," Nova said softly as possible as she crouched down on the ground and looked up at him. Liam's eyes snapped toward her, and she smiled. "You have to calm down, alright? We can't figure out how to help you if you won't talk to us."

It took another moment with the freezing water beating down on him and maintaining eye contact with Nova, but Liam's eyes eventually faded from bright gold to their typical shade of blue. He slumped against the shower wall and glared at Cadmus and Scott when they kept holding on to him.

"Okay," he said firmly, "I'm okay!"

Stiles quickly moved forward again to shut off the water, leaving Liam still soaked but looking far more cleared-headed than he had earlier. Nova felt her heart pang as Liam drew his knees toward his chest, noticing how small he looked at that moment.

Scott crouched down beside Nova, ducking his head so that Liam met his eyes. "That car you smashed," he said gently, clearly trying to keep Liam calm. "I thought you said that was your teacher's?"

Liam nodded and looked to the side, clearly not wanting to talk about it. "He was also my coach. He benched me for the entire season."

"What did you do?" Scott asked.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" Cadmus questioned, having taken up a spot leaning against a locker.

Liam shook his head. "I got a couple of red cards."

Stiles snorted. "Just a couple?"

Scott and Nova shot him a look, and Cadmus snorted, probably about their synchronization.

Scott looked back at Liam once Stiles raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "You gotta be honest with us," he said firmly. "What else happened?"

"Nothing," Liam assured them quickly.

"Liam," Nova coaxed, making Liam glance at her and sigh.

"I got kicked out of school," he admitted. "They sent me to a psychologist for an evaluation."

Scott looked empathetic, and his voice didn't change from the soft tone he'd kept the entire time. "What did they call it?"

Liam looked down at his shoes and swallowed hard. "Intermittent explosive disorder."

Nova didn't know what that was, but Cadmus took a sharp breath in, so she had to assume it wasn't anything good.

Stiles barked out a disbelieving laugh. "I.E.D.?" he asked. "You're literally an I.E.D.? That's great. That's great." He lightly shoved Scott's shoulder and gave him a thumbs up. "You gave powers to a walking time bomb!"

"Don't be a dick, Stilinski," Cadmus snapped before Nova could. "Are you really one to be talking about mental health?"

Nova wasn't sure what that was about, but Stiles stiffened significantly and narrowed his eyes at her cousin, who only smirked in response.