A/N: k fair warning I might be bad at math but I'm pretty sure Liam, Mason, Corey and Kat are supposed to be in g11 not g12 so I'm making them eleventh graders and some bonus chapters will maybe probably cover their senior year so there might be some parts of the time line that aren't the same as the show but I genuinely don't remember single god damn thing because I watched this half once 2 years ago while procrastinating a math test so you'll have to bare with me

Sitting on the pillow's at the head of Scott's bed with her AP psychology textbook over her folded legs, Katherine listened calmly as the two boys spoke in uneven voices about the evening's events while simultaneously swearing at the suitcase they had been trying to force closed for the last five minutes. Her coffee was set on her knee as she read, glasses repeatedly sliding down her nose to the point where she was using the edge of the mug itself to push them back up.

Once they'd returned to the field and practice had resumed, Katherine had continued reading her text book in hopes of getting ahead, but instead found herself trying to multitask between psychology and what in the hell caused a bajillion and a half spiders to crawl out of a wolfs face. She'd been so distracted that she hadn't even realized she'd read the same sentence over and over until Liam came to get her with the promise of coffee.

He'd known right away that she hadn't learned a single thing, and had volunteered to put her bat in the trunk where any possible spider remnants could be battered to shit on the ride back to Scott's house, as he'd agreed to help him out with packing up a few more things.

Which was exactly how she wound up where she was, refusing to help because she'd packed the first half of the room with him while Liam was at work one day. "Whatever happened to those wolves was definitely supernatural," Liam huffed throwing all of his body weight onto the suitcase in hopes of hearing it click.

"Well, I wouldn't say definitely," Scott grunted, doing the exact same thing while Katherine took a sip from her mug and flipped the page she was on. "It could've been a parasitic infection. I mean, we get dogs that come into the clinic that have botflies coming out of their skin."

She heard Liam pause. "Can that happen to people?"

"Yeah," he huffed out, and something clattered onto the ground slightly. "Yeah, they crawl under the skin, lay some eggs," the suitcase was closed, so they tossed it onto the bed at her feet "—and eventually they—" it flung open, and a shirt landed across her legs "—burst."

"Fucking hell you two," Katherine muttered. She set the old gummy worms receipt in the book to hold her page and tossed the shirt back into the suitcase, slamming the lid down, then sat down on top of it criss-cross-apple-sauce style.

Having clearly given up, the two of them sat down on either side of her, Liam on the left with his elbow comfortably sitting on her thigh. "So, you wanna talk about it?" Scott asked finally, causing Katherine's head to snap up.

"I thought we were talking about it," Liam mumbled.

"No, that's not what I'm talking about."

"Oh. That...me."

"Yeah, you," Scott smiled gently. "Your fangs, your eyes, the growl."

"Did he really?" Katherine gaped at him, hand settling down next to the elbow still on her leg. "What the fuck was I doing that I missed this?"

Liam grimaced, averting his eyes. "Sounds like we're gonna talk about this."

"You just gotta remember your mantra," Scott reminded him evenly, a knowing look in his eye. "What three things cannot long be hidden?"

"I haven't had to use that in—"

"—Hey; what three things cannot long be hidden?"

"The sun, the moon, the truth," Liam grumbled, and Katherine automatically curled herself around the arm in her lap, cheek against his arm and both of her hands holding his.

"Again," Scott stated, not an ounce of anger or disappointment in his voice.

There was a long period of deep breathing before Liam spoke again. "The sun...the moon...the truth."

She could feel him relaxing with each passing word, and smiled to herself when he reached up to hold her with his free hand. His heartrate had slowed down considerably, as far as she could feel, and judging by the look on Scott's face, she was right. "Better," he promised.

Liam glanced down at the suitcase she was sitting on with hesitance. "You don't have another suitcase, do you?"

"No," Scott grinned. "But I have duct tape."

They spent another hour or two at Scott's house, just helping him duct tape his entire suit case closed before they said their goodnights, and then were heading out of the house. The moment the front door closed behind them, Katherine landed her elbow into his side.

He immediately stumbled over with a soft yelp, hands over his sides, and pouted at her.

They were almost at the car now, though she was slightly ahead of him because he'd stopped in order to be over dramatic. "You know what that was for," she warned him, pointing her finger.

Liam gaped at her. "Why would I be pouting if I knew what you hit me for? What kind of logic is that?"

"My logic," Katherine beamed up at him cheekily. "Duh." Then she cleared her throat and allowed her smile to drop slightly, so it was more calm than happy. "Seriously though, bubs, I can help you with this stuff, you know that right? I can at least try to, anyway. Ever since eighth grade I've been really good at googling stuff, and if he's had enough caffeine Stiles is basically a slightly more self deprecating version of google so that's got to count for something—"

The arms that swept her off the ground were more than familiar to her, and as Katherine curled her own around his neck, Liam was staring at her with those pretty blue eyes that never failed to make her heart say I'm with you until the end of this shittly paved road, and I'm going to fucking hold your hand the whole way down. His arms were warm and made her feel safer than she had in an incredibly long time, and part of her still couldn't believe that the world was kind enough to give her this.

This one beautiful thing that she never thought she could possibly ever deserve. Not only the friendship Liam had given her in the two full years they'd known each other, but the care and appreciation he poured into everything that involved her.

After the things she'd seen and done, after watching Scott hold Allison in his arms while she took her dying breath, the idea of romance and relationships and anything similar had terrified her. Losing Stiles had been one thing, and it almost broke her.

She couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose the person she chose.

"What's with the frown," Liam murmured softly, leaning his forehead against hers. "I can hear the gears in your head turning, what can I do?"

"I'm just thinking," she murmured, looking up at him with a faint smile. "You make me so fucking happy, you know that?"

The smile that crossed his face filled her with warmth, nose scrunching as he all but crushed her into him. "You make me really fucking happy too," he promised her, mouth pressed to her cheek now. "But you also make me...in the two months we've been dating, Katherine Stilinski, I've been more calm than I ever have in my life. Today was the first slip up, and that's one me, but I owe you everything. You helped me that night, after my first full moon, even when I hit you with a chair. You could've walked away, but you didn't."

"I never would," she promised him gently, tilting her head back slightly. "I'm a sucker for a damsel in distress."

Liam stumbled back slightly as he laughed, rolling his eyes in the process. "Hardy har har, you loser," he chuckled, looking at her in a way that made her feel as if she were the most important person walking the earth. "That was so funny I'm in awe."

"I know, I'm hilarious," she giggled at him, turning to open the passenger side door.

Instead, she felt to hands on her waist that tugged her back again, turning her to face him without any sign of possessiveness or aggression. "Can I kiss you?" He asked softly, bumping his nose against hers.

Katherine smiled and brought her hands up to cradle his face, knowing this was his way of apologizing for being so busy lately. "Yes," she murmured back.

Without wasting another second, his lips were on hers and she was rising just slightly onto her tippy toes to make things easier. The warmth in her chest continued to bloom around her body as his fingers, rather than grabbing her ass like she'd seen done in movies, tangled through her hair to move it away from her face.

She heard a window slide open, and then Scott's voice cut through the evening air with utter clarity; "seriously guys? Come on! Don't make me text Stiles! He'll ground you, KitKat, you know that!"

The window shut again.

Katherine pulled out of the kiss to giggle, though she still held Liam's face in her palms and he had yet to let go of her. "Sorry, Scotty!" She yelled back, knowing he could hear her even with the window closed.

"I'll take you home," Liam hummed, tugging her back into him so he could kiss her forehead, her nose, and then finally a quick one on her lips again. "You need to take your pills and get some dinner, I want you to feel the normal amount of hatred for school tomorrow, not because your body is trying to shut down from stress."

"Can we get coffee on the way home?" Katherine asked eagerly, already sliding into the passenger seat.

He closed the drivers seat door behind him, turning to look at her with raised brows. "How about two cups tomorrow morning instead so you get sleep and super caffeine mode tomorrow?"

Her brown eyes narrowed for a moment, then she sighed because she knew he was right. "Deal."

Instead of romanticizing anxiety and depression and other mental health conditions, can we please romanticize consent instead?