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Once Mason dropped Corey off at his house, bidding him a safe night with a kiss, Liam climbed into the passenger seat and blurted out, “Me and Theo kissed in the elevator,”
“You what!?” Mason yelled, braking so hard Liam almost folded over the center console where he had put his weight. “Why!?”
“I don’t—I don’t know!” Liam yelled back, panicking more when he realized how strong Mason’s chemosignals were. “It just kinda happened!”
Amidst Liam’s rapidly elevating heart rate, Mason asked, “Wait—when were you two even in the elevator?”
A loud, drawn-out beep sounded behind them. Mason made a frustrated noise and started driving.
“I was about to get shot at in the corridor and the elevator opened behind me and he came out of it and dragged me into it and shut the door behind us,” Liam rambled, the only thing running through his mind being hazel eyes and hands on the nape of his neck and holy shit Theo’s lips were soft.
“He saved you?” Mason asked, taking his eyes off the road to gape at Liam.
“For the hundredth time,” Liam said, placing both of his hands on the center console and laying his head on top of them. “You know how Scott said he got to the hospital because he said I needed help?”
“Yeah,” Mason said as he dodged another near-accident.
“Yeah.” Liam said breathlessly, leaning back into the passenger seat. Fuck. After a breath, he said, “Yeah,” with a cadence that was unnecessarily fond.
Mason made an unsignaled right turn, taking a shortcut to the Dunbar-Geyer household. “And what led up to the…?”
“I don’t know!” Liam shrieked, voice muffled by his hands he moved to cup his face. He felt a blush rise to his cheeks. “He was there, and he saved me, and I was really glad he was alive, and at that second I was like, what if this was the last moment I ever get to be with him because what if one of us dies? I don’t know, Mase!”
He heard Mason inhale through his mouth—something he only did when he didn’t want to state the obvious because he thought it would hurt somebody.
Liam lifted his head from his hands in milliseconds. “What,” He demanded.
“I think you do know,” Mason said. “And I think you just maybe don’t want to believe it?”
“Why wouldn’t I want to believe it?” Liam asked, frustration and embarrassment spilling out of him to make room for genuine disbelief.
“Probably because it’s Theo?” Mason said, making a left.
“Why don’t you sound surprised?” Liam asked. “I’m surprised—why aren’t you?”
Mason sucked in air through his teeth. “I’m gonna tell you, and you’re not gonna like it.”
“I’ve done a lot of things I didn’t like today,” Liam said.
“Like kissing Theo?”
“No, I liked doing that,” Liam said, shocking both himself and Mason into silence. “I—”
“—Corey and I had a bet.” Mason said.
“You what!?” Liam yelled, taking Mason’s free arm and shaking it (not enough to harm him).
Was it obvious? Liam didn’t consciously know he was attracted to Theo until that exact second the elevator doors closed and he saw who it was that saved him, didn’t realize until that moment that that was who he was hoping to see right before the fight of his life—didn’t really know until his lips were on Theo’s and everything just felt right.
Fuck!
“Corey thought you would make the first move, and I thought it would be Theo,” Mason said, anxiously drumming on the steering wheel. “Though, now that I think about it, I never should’ve bet on Theo.”
Liam gave him an inquisitive look.
“He’s been in love with you for like,” Mason gestured, hands landing on the steering wheel with a week thwack. “Months, I’m guessing.”
“What?” This was certainly the first time Liam had ever heard about it. “What makes you say that?”
He hadn’t let go of Mason’s arm, like a schoolgirl who was an appropriate level of obsessed with her little crush.
“The way you talked about him,” Mason said, slowing down as they pulled up to the Dunbar-Geyer house. “It was like… the things you said he did for you? No one would do that for someone they barely knew. I don’t know what it was or when he knew it, but you don’t just take down five Ghost Riders for anybody.”
Mason looked at Liam as he killed the engine, beeps a background noise to his voice as he said, “He came back to Beacon Hills for you.”
Liam sat there, shocked, as Mason got out of the car.
For him? Theo didn’t come back to Beacon Hills just for him—lives were at stake. The entire pack was under threat of extinction, and Theo did what anyone would’ve done—but Theo isn’t just anyone.
“You coming out, or am I sleeping in your house by myself?” Mason asked, already walking away.
Liam blinked and shook his head rapidly from side to side like he was resetting an Etch-A-Sketch. “I’m coming!”
The lights at his house were still on, like Liam had requested ever since he told his mom and stepdad about the supernatural: he just wanted to know that if anyone was home, if they were still alive enough to turn on the lights.
Mason didn’t say anything as Liam caught up to him, but Liam felt like he heard his thoughts anyway.
“So, before that, you didn’t know you wanted to kiss him?” Mason asked as they walked up to the front door.
Liam fumbled for his keys. “No, Mase,”
“…Did you know you felt that way about him?”
Liam missed the keyhole, scratching the outside of the lock. “…No,”
“Do you think you’ve felt this way about him for a long time and didn’t know it?”
Liam turned the lock. He looked right at the doorknob underneath his hand as he turned it.
“Yeah,” He replied, pushing the door inwards.
Mason closed and locked the door behind them as Liam fell face-first onto the couch in the living room, landing with an exhausted oof as the pain he was ignoring for the past hour started settling into his body. He could feel his wounds healing, his muscles knitting themselves back together, bullets that he didn’t get to remove earlier making their way out of the holes they left.
Mason plopped down beside him, gently taking Liam’s legs and draping them over his lap.
“Do… you… wanna talk about it?” He asked.
Liam flipped over. “Yes,”
“Okay, good, 'cause I have a lot of questions,” Mason started. “Like first of all, did you kiss him or did he kiss you?”
Liam strained to remember details that weren’t immediately tactile—like Theo’s hair in his fingers or his waist in his hands.
He rubbed a hand over his face to reset his thoughts. “I don’t—I don’t remember that well,”
Mason gave him a look.
“What?” Liam asked.
“That good?” He asked lightheartedly.
Liam tackled him.
“Corey,” Theo greeted when he picked up.
“What is it now, Theo,” Corey asked instead of greeting.
“I need your help,” Theo said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
He was parked in front of Corey’s house. Once the battle at the hospital wrapped up, Theo saw to it that no one would notice if he left out the ambulance door and drove off without a word. He circled Beacon Hills a couple times before he saw the gas light and decided to bite the bullet and park outside the closest ally’s house—in this case, Corey’s.
“With what?” Corey asked, irritated.
Theo opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again.
Then opened it again.
“I’m parked outside of your house, do you have any spare gas?” Theo said in place of what he really needed to talk about.
Corey groaned. “I don’t know. I’m coming down. You can come in and spend the night,”
“No, I—” Theo tried.
“You think I don’t know that you sleep in your truck?” Corey asked, stunning Theo into silence. “Parrish told me about it once. He was worried about you.”
Theo didn’t know what to say. He grabbed his backpack of clean clothes and took the keys out of the engine.
“But I know you wouldn’t ask for or accept help,” Corey said as Theo got out of his truck. “So I didn’t offer.”
“Why now?” Theo asked, voice gentler than he thought it would be.
The front door to the Bryant household opened, Corey standing behind it alone in a grey shirt and Yoda pajama pants. “Because you sound like you need a safe place to sleep for the night.”
Theo cautiously walked over, listening to his phone beep to signal that Corey ended the call.
Corey raised his eyebrows and walked back inside, leaving the door open. Theo followed him in, careful to shut the door quietly and take his shoes off inside.
The landing was well-lit, too bright compared to the nights Theo spent on the road.
“Where’ve you been?” Corey asked, leading him up the stairs. “No one’s heard anything from you since the hospital. I kinda thought you were dead.”
“It’s been, like, two hours.” Theo said, keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible. When Corey didn’t say anything, he continued, “I was thinking about leaving, actually,”
Corey turned to face him as he stepped onto the landing. “What? Why?”
Theo stopped, five steps away from the second floor. Something in Corey’s eyes signaled what his chemosignals were too mixed up to say, something sad. “I was in the middle of leaving when Scott called for help. I thought I’d just…” He shook his head a little. “…Finish what I started.”
Corey’s nose crinkled the way it did whenever he made a realization that led to a question. “You and Liam smell like the same thing,” He started, turning back around and heading for the door at the end of the narrow hall, and Theo had to act like his heart didn’t jump. “Did something happen?”
A moment flashed in Theo’s mind, hands on cheeks, hands on napes of necks, lips on lips, and baby blue eyes.
He decided not to say anything until Corey let him into his bedroom and shut the door behind him.
“Kinda?” He said, scratching at the nape of his neck.
“What do you mean, kinda?” Corey asked, walking over to sit on the edge of his bed.
Theo stayed standing, staring at the Appa carpet under his socks, trying to figure out how to tell him—
—This was someone who hated his guts. He looked back up at Corey, and he couldn’t see anything but that fear and anger in his eyes when he realized what Theo had done to Josh and Tracy. He saw rage like a river rushing under a calm, tired surface. He saw someone who never forgave and never forgot, yet who stayed standing, feet planted like roots into the ground. Corey, despite his occasionally tame exterior, had fire in him, one that came to life whenever he met a personal battle, and usually that was Theo. He was someone who would always be honest, to everyone.
Most of all, Theo saw someone who was never wrong about most things.
And with a short breath, he said it.
“We kissed.” He confessed, as quiet as whisper and as true as law.
Corey’s face cracked with surprise, and the rage dissipated from his body to make way for pure, unadulterated shock.
Theo turned away, because how was he supposed to bear it? This was true judgement, from the very embodiment of justice itself—at least that was how it felt to Theo.
Fuck.
“You did what?” Corey asked, blinking like he’d seen something incorrectly.
“We…” Theo hesitated, and his heart—Tara’s heart, the one that still held on to hope—beat irregularly in his chest. “…Kissed,”
Corey’s hands massaged the corners of the bed beside him. “And why would he do that?”
Theo bit the inside of his cheek. “I don’t—I don’t know, it just—” He sighed, blood pumping in his ears like Tara herself was trying to speak to him through it. “—It just happened.”
Corey swung his head up, eyes towards the ceiling like he was searching for an answer in the cracked paint. “I fucking knew it.”
It came out like a whisper, an aside that should have been presented to an audience in an internal monologue—not to Theo.
The heart in Theo’s chest skipped a beat.
Corey’s chemosignals didn’t change from the frustration it had become when Theo told him, but now there was a hint of pride in it.
He opened his mouth to ask—
“—When and where?” Corey asked, and there was nothing to it. Theo never listened to Corey’s heartbeat; he never lied anyway. (But if he did, then he was really good at it. Better than Theo was.)
Theo swallowed. “In the elevator, before Gabe—” He stopped, remembering how Gabe’s pain crawled up his arm, and how it didn’t feel like much at all.
“Did you kiss him?” Corey asked, grabbing his phone out of his pocket. “Or did he kiss you?”
Theo blinked away black veins and tried to recall how it started—how was he supposed to remember how it started when he could only remember how devastated he was when it ended?
“It was a… mutual thing, I think,” Theo said, starting to pace.
Corey’s phone wasn’t on silent mode, and Theo heard the distinct sound of a digital keyboard typing. “You think?”
“I was a little lost in the moment,” Theo said with just a drop of sarcasm. (And a pour of the truth.) “Who are you texting?”
“Mason,”
“God,” Theo groaned, stopping his pacing and walking over to look at the text exchange.
Corey Bryant: You getting this???
Mase!! <3: Absolutely
Mase!! <3: Are you?
Corey was currently typing a text that said, Theo doesnt know who started it
Mason sighed and texted back, Neither does liam
“Could you please not gossip about my love life while I’m two feet away from you?” Liam groaned.
“It’s Corey.” Mason said.
Liam made a pathetic noise.
Then, processing, Mason teased, “Love?” He turned off his phone and laid it screen-down on the sofa arm. “Already?”
Liam put both hands on his face and yelled into them. (Probably as silently as he could, given his mom was in her room, likely asleep.) He also swore.
Mason bit the inside of his cheeks to keep from laughing. He did go into the bet knowing that he could lose—but it was a hilarious way to lose twenty bucks and the best thing that happened today. (That didn’t directly involve death or violence.)
Liam read the the texts Mason sent over his shoulder, yelling in question marks about how and why Theo’s talking to Corey, of all people, and Mason retorted with, “Why don’t you talk to him yourself, then?”
Which was an effective way to get him to shut up and start pacing the entire floorplan of his square bedroom. He was making his way towards the table now, hitting his shin on the trash can and biting back a shout.
Mason laughed.
He really thought Theo would make a move before Liam realized how he felt, but he guessed that Theo was pretty different from how he thought he was.
“You sure you don’t wanna, like, text him or anything?” Mason asked, waving Liam’s phone around in the air.
Liam stopped his pacing to stare at Mason wordlessly in the eyes. Mason rolled his own and set it down.
“Do you… wanna kiss him again?” Mason asked cautiously.
“What!?” Liam shrieked, covering his mouth when he realized how loud it was. He leaned towards Mason and whisper-yelled, “Fuck, maybe? I don’t know!”
Mason gave him a look.
“Ugh!” Liam spun in an irritated circle. “Yes!”
“Thought so,” Mason said, sitting on his side of Liam’s bed. Liam made another pathetic noise.
Corey was so getting twenty bucks tonight. He turned off his phone and set it beside him as he listened to Theo’s heartbeat.
It was interesting. Theo always—always—had a regular heartbeat. It didn’t change all that much during the entire time that Corey had known him, but ever since he started helping out with the Pack, he’d heard it changing more. Slowing, quickening, skipping.
It was doing all three of those things.
“What am I supposed to do?” Theo asked, pacing Corey’s bedroom. “I— I didn’t actually think he was gonna—” He caught his breath, but the words still didn’t come out of his mouth, lodged in his throat. He made a frustrated noise.
He was still wearing the exact same outfit he was wearing at the hospital. Corey got the chance to clean up and take a shower, but Theo still had a bullet hole in his shirt and dried blood on his jeans.
“You could…” Fuck, was Corey really doing this? (He quickly decided that he liked Liam more than he hated Theo.) “…Talk to him?”
Theo’s head whipped to face him like he had just told him that his pet lizard had been dead for three weeks and Corey just replaced it thinking he wouldn’t notice. “What?”
Corey made a face. “Do you want to keep kissing him?”
Theo returned it. “What kind of question is that?”
Corey stared at him.
“Yes.” Theo’s heart quickened at the confession.
“Then ask him if he wants to do it again,” Corey gestured to Theo’s pocket.
“It’s dead,” Theo said, pulling it out and tossing it to him.
Corey caught it and threw Theo his phone.
Confused, Theo caught it. “What?”
Corey gestured to it. “Call Mason.”
Theo’s hands went through the motions, but stopped halfway. “…What?”
“You think I don’t know where Liam is?” Corey asked. “Jesus, dude. Just call him.”
Corey saw Theo purse his lips, staring at his own finger over the phone…
…And chicken out.
“Dude,” Corey groaned, hands flying in the air out of pure frustration.
Theo turned off the phone and laid it down on Corey’s night stand. “What am I—what am I supposed to say? It’s not like he’ll just say yes—”
“—And do you know that for a fact?” Corey challenged, running a hand through his hair. He clicked Theo’s home button a couple times. It was definitely dead.
As Corey walked over to where Theo was to charge it, Theo said, “What? No,”
“Then ask him,” Corey said, staring him down as he reached for the charging cable. “It’s like, five words.”
Theo quickly broke under Corey’s gaze and went to pace around the room again. Corey plugged in his phone with an exasperated exhale.
“You think no one notices how you two look at each other?” He finally asked after confirming that the charger worked.
Theo’s footsteps stopped behind him, his heartrate skyrocketing in Corey’s ears and his chemosignals getting into his sinuses.
Corey slowly turned to face him. “Yeah, being smitten for someone is pretty hard to hide, around supernaturals or not.”
Theo’s eyes were blown wide open.
“It’s not just me and Mason, either.” Corey didn’t wanna stop—he needed to unload all of this secondhand pent-up romantic rage. “I know you gave up. From the second I noticed how you look at him—it’s like you thought you didn’t stand a chance.”
Theo swore, a whisper drowned under everything else that Corey was hearing.
“I knew it had to be Liam who would make the first move, because he doesn’t give up.” Corey said. “You—you do. But it’s not like Liam knew he was in love with you. You walked in here and you said that, and I just know it was the first time he realized it—hey, look at me!”
The muscles in Theo’s jaw flexed as he dragged his gaze from the frankly unimportant posters on the bedroom wall to Corey’s own.
“You’re not driving anymore tonight.” Corey said. “But you’ve gotta make up your mind on this.”
“Make up my mind about what?” Theo asked.
“What you’re gonna say,” Corey said. He pointed to Theo’s phone. “I know for a fact that he and Mason are together right now, and in a few minutes, either you’re gonna get a text or a call from Liam, or you’re gonna call or text him yourself.”
When Theo didn’t say anything, Corey commanded, “Come here and wait. I know I will.”
Liam was yelling into one of his pillows. There was way too much adrenaline running through his system—too much had happened that day, and he was just at school at the beginning of it, then the hospital, and god knows what happened after. It was all blurring in Liam’s mind to make up for an even blurrier kiss with Theo—
He breathed in and started yelling again.
Liam’s mom had come in to check on the two of them earlier, and Mason assured her with a, everyone’s okay, no one got like, majorly hurt, and a, this is like, completely unrelated, I promise. Liam tried his best to make pleasantries, but his mind couldn’t stop thinking about Theo’s face in his hands and holy shitass!
“I can’t believe you knew I liked Theo and you didn’t tell me!” Liam yelled, half-muffled and unintelligible through the pillow.
“I—”
“—No!” Liam looked up at him and pointed a finger. “I tell you everything! You would know if I knew!”
Mason pursed his lips and held his arms up in surrender.
Liam groaned and fell backwards into his bed. Mason grabbed the edge of his comforter and threw it on top of his face. “What am I supposed to do!?”
“Call him!” Mason said.
Liam jolted up. “No!”
“Why not!?” Mason asked, grabbing Liam’s phone from where he dropped it on the bed. “Yeah, you’ve got, like, ten percent, but you could hold a pretty decent conversation with that,”
“I think I would actually rather get mauled,” Liam said, falling forwards into Mason, grabbing him and bringing him down onto the mattress with him.
Mason let out an oof. “It can’t be that bad.”
Liam buried his face in Mason’s chest with a groan.
Mason laughed. “What, you’re embarrassed?”
“I don’t know what I am!” Liam said, flustered. “I’m so tired! So much shit happened today and I can’t believe this is what stuck to me, Mase!”
Mason patted him on the back. Liam kicked his feet in irritation.
“I’m going to throw myself off a cliff, I think,” Liam said, feeling something next to his head.
He turned and opened his eyes to look at it.
Mason was holding Liam’s phone right up to his face, open on Theo’s contact page.
Liam groaned.
“You know it’s the quickest way,” Mason said.
“I’m not ready,” Liam replied.
“Hey, maybe that’s the best time to talk,” Mason pointed out, his other hand patting Liam’s head. “If there’s one thing I know about Theo, he’ll drop anything for you—I bet he’s just as nervous as you are.”
“But don’t you hate him?” Liam asked, ashamed of how weak it came out.
Mason’s head rested on his. “If he treats you right, then maybe I can call truce.”
“Really?” Liam asked, tilting his head up. “I don’t wanna, like—”
“—You won’t.” Mason reassured. “It’s your love life. You shouldn’t listen to whatever Scott, Lydia, or Malia have to say about it. They’ll be out of town soon enough, anyway.”
“It’s not about them—” Liam tried.
“—Yeah, it is,” Mason stated, seeing right through him. “And I get it, but this is—it’s something else, and as my best friend, I just want you to be happy. With Theo or whoever else.”
Liam smiled. “You mean it?”
“When don’t I?” Mason asked, smiling right back.
“Theo, I swear to god, if you don’t call Liam, I’m gonna do it myself.” Corey threatened.
Theo had been stunned into silence ever since Corey had told him how obvious he’d been with his feelings. He just stared at Corey. Freeze had won over flight and fight like twenty minutes ago.
Corey checked Theo’s phone battery. “Or, you know what? Give me your keys.”
“What? Why?” Was the first thing that Theo had said in a while.
Corey unplugged Theo’s phone and picked up his own. “I’m driving us to Liam’s house, taking Mason, and taking Mason’s car to his house.”
Theo tried to protest, but Corey was already in front of him, holding his phone out as a peace offering.
“Either you give them to me willingly or I pickpocket you.” Corey said.
Theo couldn’t find the words. He took his keys out of his back pocket and traded them for his phone.
Corey’s eyebrows furrowed at the sight of his keychain. “Is this a six or a nine?” He asked, already making his way to the bedroom door.
Theo checked his phone battery—5%. “Nines are yellow.”
“And you would know,” Corey said, tapping his lacrosse gear on the back of his door as he opened it. “Right?”
It may or may not have been a conscious piece of knowledge in Theo’s brain that Liam’s lacrosse number was nine when he realized he had enough money for a pool ball keychain.
“Uh huh,” Theo said inconclusively, closing the door shut behind them.
Corey spared him a look back as he started walking down the stairs. “You know you don’t need to lie to me or the pack anymore, right?”
Theo paused at the top of the stairs, watching Corey mosey on down. It’s all he knew.
“You coming or what?” Corey asked.
“Coming.” Theo called after him, idly wondering where Corey’s parents were.
Corey was a pretty decent driver. He let the pickup stew in tense silence and Theo start to just talk while obeying traffic laws and managing to avoid crashing into streetlights like Theo yearned to do on purpose.
“I just—” Theo started, looking over at Corey. (And realizing that this was the angle that Liam saw him at whenever he was in the passenger seat.) “—You’re right, I didn’t think it was ever gonna happen.”
“Has that changed?” Corey asked, sparing him a glance.
Theo rolled down his window and set his elbow on the sill. “I think so.”
Corey nodded. A moment passed before he asked, “What do you like about him?”
Theo set his chin on his arm and let the night air breeze across his face.
“He really likes history,” Theo said. “Whenever he talks about someone he loves, he gets this twinkle in his eye, like every memory he’s ever had with that person plays in his head. He’s loyal. Incredibly; to a fault. He’s willing to—”
Theo’s breath caught in his throat.
“He’s willing to give people second chances.” He said, quiet. “Hayden, you, me.”
Corey slowed down at a stoplight, and Theo gave himself the luxury of ghosting his fingers over the place Liam kissed.
“He’s always doing his best not to let his anger get the best of him—and that’s another thing; he never stops trying. He never stops doing.”
A little embarrassed, Theo looked over at Corey, illuminated under streetlights, stoplights, and headlights.
Corey was smiling. Faint on his face like it was hesitant, but it was there.
Theo smiled a small smile back, a flush beneath his cheeks.
The doorbell rang downstairs, causing Liam to shoot up and out of bed. Mason followed sluggishly, the exhaustion of the day taking a harder toll on a human body than a Werewolf one.
“Mason!” Liam whisper-yelled. “Did you check Corey’s location?”
“Dude, I think I fell asleep.” Mason admitted, rubbing his eyes.
“I think he’s downstairs,” Liam noticed the loud sound of the engine and the sound it made as it died. “But he doesn’t have a car, right?”
“No, he doesn’t,” Mason said, grabbing his phone and keys and following Liam out of the room. “Unless there’s something he’s not telling me,”
Liam honed in on the sounds downstairs, filtering out the noise to try and listen to the voice—
Voices.
He swore and ran down the stairs, almost tripping over the last couple ones, chasing Theo’s voice.
He opened the door without a plan or taking any moment to compose himself.
Corey was on the doorstep with a tired smile. “Hi, Liam. Pickup and delivery?”
“I—” Liam started, noticing Theo over his shoulder and losing whatever sentence was supposed to come out of his mouth. “—Stairs,”
Corey nodded and ducked under Liam’s arm into the house. “Mase?”
Theo was avoiding his gaze.
Oh god. Oh no. Oh fuck. What if Liam totally misread everything? What if Theo really didn’t want to kiss him and just went with it because Liam didn’t ask? Fuck, did he feel pressured to?
“What are you doing here?” Was the only thing Liam’s mind could come up with, and not for the first time that night.
Theo’s eyes met his. (How had Liam never consciously realized how pretty they were before? Yeah, Theo was attractive, he thought everyone thought that and that everyone thought about it the same amount that Liam did.) (Fuck.)
“I was just asking myself the same thing,” Theo replied, not for the first time that night, voice raspy and quiet.
Oh. Oh, okay.
“—Coming through,” Corey interrupted, ducking under Liam’s arm, Mason following. “I’ll drive him home.”
He threw something to Theo, a flash of metal and something green reflecting the porch lights for half a second before Theo caught it.
“Don’t worry about him,” Corey said, gently ushering Mason to his car. “He’ll be fine. You two have fun!”
With that, he pushed Theo towards the front door, flashing him a look, and walked over to where Mason’s car was parked.
A look crossed Theo’s face as he stumbled slightly forward, almost tripping on the porch steps.
Both Liam and Theo watched Corey and Mason get into the car in silence.
Theo’s head turned to face Liam. “I just—”
At the same time, Liam started, “Did you—”
Both of them went silent.
“You go,” Theo said, making eye contact for the first time, and Liam wanted to pour it all out right there on the front door, but thought best not.
“Come in,” Liam said, leaning backwards into the door.
Theo nodded and walked in, taking off his shoes and leaving them inside. Liam closed the door behind him and turned off the porch lights.
Theo didn’t have a plan. This was probably the stupidest fucking thing he’d done that night, and he went back to Beacon Hills to risk his life for Liam Dunbar.
Twice.
If you counted this.
Which Theo would count.
Liam had changed out of the outfit Theo had seen him in last—he was wearing a white tank top and dark grey sweats now, a combo that was ready for a long night’s rest.
He followed Liam upstairs as he made idle chatter about how Mason fell asleep and how he was about to fall asleep right before he and Corey showed up and there it was.
Liam spared him a quick look over his shoulder as they walked to his room, and Theo saw that twinkle again.
“What?” Liam asked, fumbling with the doorknob.
Theo couldn’t help instinct. He looked away. “Nothing,”
The door opened. Liam gave him a look and stepped aside to let him in.
“You’re still wearing that shirt?” Liam asked, the door shutting behind him.
Theo picked at it. Honestly, the past two hours were a flash to him and he didn’t register that there was a bullet hole in it. He must have pulled it out at some point, but he couldn’t really tell when—his mind was somewhere else. “I didn’t get the chance to change.”
Something squeaked open. Theo turned to see Liam opening his closet. “Wanna borrow one of mine?”
“No, it’s fine—”
“—Which one do you want?” Liam asked, barrelling ahead with the sentence like Theo hadn’t said anything.
Theo sighed.
“D’you like Star Wars?” He asked, pulling out what looked like the matching pajama shirt to Corey’s pants. “Mason forgot to take this back like, a month ago.”
“I can tell,” Theo said, eyeing it.
Liam held it up in front of him, seemingly measuring with his eyes. “Nah.”
He turned and rummaged through the drawer. Theo walked over and stared over his shoulder.
There were neatly folded shirts on the left and thrown-in ones on the right like Liam had given up on folding them halfway through. Among them were mainly plain, fall-colored shirts, mixed in with some eclectic prints, band tees, and logos.
Theo hadn’t been this close to Liam since the kiss. He tore his eyes off the shirts to look at Liam, all passion and energy and bright blue eyes that had enough enthusiasm to power a small village. This was the guy who took a chance on Theo—he’d still be rotting in the Skinwalker prison if it weren’t for him. He was the one who kept calling Theo for help, be it supernatural stakeouts or biology homework. He was the one who took a chance on everyone. It was extraordinary.
Liam picked out a shirt that was definitely too big for him and handed it to Theo. It was white and had a repeating pattern of little Spiderman icons on it.
Theo gave him a questioning look but took it.
“My stepbrother gave it to me when he moved out a couple years ago,” Liam said, smiling as he went over to sit on his bed.
Must be the one that goes to NYU. (Theo’s stalking went to a lot of places before he got back to Beacon Hills with the Dread Doctors.)
He turned away to take off his shirt, focusing his hearing on Liam’s heartbeat.
It spiked.
“I—it was one of the shirts that I stole from him a lot.” Liam said as Theo reached for it.
Where was this confidence coming from? Fuck if Theo knew. (He probably shouldn’t bring up the fact that he knows where Liam’s stepbrother goes to college.) (But he also didn’t have anything else to add to the conversation.) He pulled the shirt on over his head.
It was size too big for him, but it was comfortable—surprisingly warm.
“It’s nice,” Theo said, picking a piece of lint off the hem.
His phone buzzed in his pocket at the same time Liam’s did. He checked it.
corey: Good luck
corey: He can be dense every now and then
Theo bit his lip and shot off a reply. thanks
The only thing quicker than his own heartbeat was the sound of Liam typing at a thousand words per minute. He looked up to see Liam, eyes wide, typing and sending approximately five hundred texts in the span of ten seconds.
He allowed himself a small laugh, which halted the sound of Liam’s keyboard.
“What?” Liam asked.
“Nothing.” Theo put his phone down next to his shirt on Liam’s desk and sat down next to him. As he did, he saw Liam set his phone face-down on the comforter.
There is was again. That dismissiveness that was irritatingly attractive.
“Don’t do that,” Liam said, although it came out waaaaaaay softer than he intended.
Theo seemed to have caught it, since he leaned backwards on his hands and gave him a small smirk. “Do what?”
Liam wanted to slap it off his face. “That—” He gestured to Theo’s entire body. “—Misdirecting! What is it you want to say? Because I can tell it’s something, and I’m kinda pissed that you’re not telling me,”
Maybe he just misheard it, but Liam could swear he heard Theo’s heart skip a beat. Something crossed his face for a split-second, too, but it was gone before Liam could fully assess what it was.
Instead, Theo’s mischievous little smirk softened into one of those smiles that had seared themselves into Liam’s mind—ones that Theo seemed to put his entire body into, like he’d been saving smiles up over his life and decided to spend them all in one go.
(FUCK!!!)
“I don’t know, seems like there’s a bias you’re waiting to confirm,” Theo said.
“I’m gonna punch you, actually.” Liam said, impatient pissed all the way off. Should he just—should he be the one to bring it up? He was so doomed. Even more doomed when Theo scooted closer to Liam, their legs pressing together.
Jesus fuck.
Before he could give himself another chance to think, Liam blurted out, “You know how we kissed in the elevator?”
Theo looked away for a millisecond. Then looked back. “How could I forget?” He asked, a twinkle in his voice—if Liam didn’t imagine it.
He was frankly stunning in the warm lamp light Liam never turned off—like, to an unfair extent. Liam saw the way the artificial orange rays hit Theo’s face and hair and something inside him just like, exploded. This was the guy who ran into the hospital to save his life—twice. Scott asked about Theo at the debrief in the Animal Clinic, and Liam asked how he knew—apparently Theo went back because Scott brought him up, and Liam didn’t stop thinking about it until he started yelling it at Mason in the car.
FUCK. WHAT WAS LIAM GOING TO SAY AGAIN.
“Do you…” Ah, fuck it. It’s not like he had anything to lose at this point. “…Want to do it again?”
Holy shit.
Theo’s entire mind emptied itself of thought, caught like a deer in headlights—but the headlights were Liam Dunbar, who was asking him if he wanted to kiss again.
While his body was trying to remember how to breathe and his heart how to beat, Theo’s brain was trying to form a coherent sentence while trying to wrap itself around the fact that Liam actually wanted to kiss him again.
All of those tasks failed. Theo just went with a simple, “Yes.”
“Okay,” Liam said, scooting closer to him. “Do you want to—”
—Theo took him by the neck and caught his lips with his own to shut him up.
It was at that moment that he remembered who started that kiss in the elevator. It was Liam, but only after Theo slipped up and straight-up stared at his lips for a solid second. If they had a conversation about it afterwards, Liam probably would’ve blamed Theo for starting it. (Just like he instigated this one; only this time, he decided to finish the job.)
Liam, though caught by surprise, didn’t hesitate. His hand was on Theo’s face, running his thumb over Theo’s cheekbone.
This was an awkward position and Theo didn’t like it. He pulled away—much to Liam’s audible dismay—and took Liam by the waist. “Move.” He said, urging him to sit in his lap.
Liam chuckled, obeying. He put his hands on Theo’s neck. “Bossy.”
“Die,” Theo said, pulling him close and kissing him again.
Liam smiled against his lips, only stopping when Theo leaned forward and bit his lower lip.
“Ow!” Liam said, pulling away.
Theo chased him and kissed his neck. “Sorry,”
“No, you’re not,” Liam combated.
“Do you always talk this much?” Theo asked, massaging his sides.
“That’s not why you like me?” Liam asked, gently pushing Theo’s head away to look him in the eye.
Theo let himself smile. “I like you because you’re kind enough to give people second chances.” He said, quietly, vulnerably, voice cracking because he’d never admitted it out loud before.
Liam gave him a long stare, an unmissably fond look in his eyes, then smiled and leaned in to kiss Theo on his forehead. “But the talking’s a bonus, right?”
“Sure,” Theo said, tilting his head up.
“I don’t feel like that was sincere enough,” Liam teased.
Theo looked up at him, noticing his long hair falling into his face, hair gel coming undone from all the shit that happened that day, eyes sleepy and content. “Yes, it is,” He said.
“Good,” Liam smiled, satisfied with that answer, and kissed him. It was sweet, this time, and already Theo was screaming in his mind about how lucky he was that Liam was so close to him—so happy about it, too.
Liam was ecstatic. His energy spiked like he’d just had a Redbull and he put his weight forward as he pulled away again.
Theo swore lightly as he hit the mattress. Liam laughed at his expense—
—Not for long, though, since Theo’s hands fell away from his waist, one making a fist in his tank, and he was dragged down to Theo’s level with a surprised shriek.
It was Theo’s turn to laugh, light and carefree like Liam had never seen before—he didn’t move, just stayed there, hands propped up on either side of Theo’s head like he was going down for a pushup, staring at him, drinking in the laugh.
Liam couldn’t help himself. He ducked his head into Theo’s neck and started kissing it, feeling every muscle beneath his lips make minute movements that changed laughter to breathing. “You make me so mad.” He said, inbetween kisses.
Theo’s hands crept up Liam’s back. “Is that why you like me?”
“I think—” Liam stopped to pull away and run a hand through Theo’s hair. “—I think I like you because you try really hard.”
That made Theo quiet for a moment, and Liam took the opportunity to lean down and flick Theo’s nose with his own, taking in the little head shake Theo did in response. It seemed to move his mind away from what Liam just said, and instead of responding, he pressed on Liam’s back and kissed him.
And fuck, if Liam didn’t sink into it.
Theo woke up to knocking at the door. Blearily, he blinked, trying to remember how he got to a house that had birdfeed on its windowsill.
Groaning behind him answered his question.
He turned to see Liam facing him, basically buried in the comforter, hair all up in his face and everything. He really was beautiful, especially so peaceful like this. Sunlight streamed in from the window behind Theo and hit just where it was supposed to, illuminating Liam’s face in the right places.
Theo smiled and let his body go on autopilot, his hand reaching over and brushing the hair out of his face just like he’d done a week ago when he dragged an unconscious Liam into his pickup.
“Liam!” An unfamiliar voice yelled from the other side of the door—shit, probably Liam’s mom. “It’s noon! Could you please get out of there so David and I can make sure that you’re still alive after last night?”
Liam groaned, loud enough so that she would be able to hear.
“Oh, thank god.” His mom muttered from the other side. “Do you have a friend over? I saw shoes at the door and a pickup truck parked outside.”
Liam’s eyes shot open, staring right into Theo’s. He turned to the door, whatever going on in his mind completely lost on Theo. “Yep! He stayed the night!”
“Okay,” His mom said, her heartbeat slowing. “Come out whenever you want. Scott showed up this morning and checked on you guys,”
“Fuck,” Liam whispered, loose fists on his forehead. Theo chuckled. “Shut up,” He said, then looked at the door again. “Uh, did he come in? What’d he say?”
“He said to let you guys sleep in there for longer, but I’ve got lunch on the stove and David took the day off, so—”
“—Okay, thank you, mom!” Liam said. “Love you!”
Mrs. Geyer laughed on the other side of the door, her footsteps already receding as she called, “Love you too, honey!”
“Shut up,” Liam pointed.
“I didn’t even say anything,” Theo said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“Yeah, but you wanted to, I could tell,” Liam said, blindly reaching for his phone on the nightstand to check on the groupchat.
He grabbed it right before Theo took him by the waist and dragged him into a little back hug.
Liam fondly rolled his eyes as he unlocked his phone. He liked Theo like this, tired and cute like an affectionate puppy, nuzzling his face into Liam’s back.
Texts flooded his notifications.
a pack of besties: stiles: mason what does that mean
Mason!!: Hope it went well 😘😘
Scott: [382.png]
Corey: Howd it go? :)
Dunbar-Geyers at 17 Ivy Street: Dr. Dad: Home at last
Liam clicked on the first notification, opening the Pack group chat.
mason: Everyone dont forget to congratulate our boys liam and theo today
stiles: mason what does that mean
Liam rolled his eyes and decided to type out a response—then decided against it and opened his camera instead.
“Smile,” He said, watching Theo look up from where he was settled and smile sleepy and close-lipped at Liam’s phone as he took the picture.
Liam opened the picture and smiled. “Can I send this to the pack group chat?”
“Sure,” Theo said, nodding into Liam’s back.
They hadn’t had the energy to do anything crazy last night, just enough to make out and basically fall asleep in the middle of it, and if it werent for supernatural healing, Liam was sure that they’d both have visible hickeys by now.
He buried his head into the pillow and sent it.
Barely a second passed. Stiles has always been a fast typer, though.
stiles: omg?????????
stiles: holy shittery?????????
mason: LFG
corey: I knew there was a reason he didnt reply
stiles: okay i feel like im missing something here
mason: Omg yeah we never recapped you on the liam + theo homoerotic tension
liam: Why would you say it like that
mason: Bc I call it how it is
stiles: im shocked
lydia: I can confirm
lydia: He is staring at the photo with his jaw on the floor
lydia: [021.png]
lydia: Congrats, boys!
stiles: photographic evidence of a love plotline in the group chat that i had no idea about is an insane thing to wake up to at 11:48 in the morning on a saturday following several major events that happened like 16 hours ago please let me have business hours to process
“Is that Stiles?” Theo asked, peering over Liam’s shoulder.
“Yep,” Liam said, showing him the phone.
Theo squinted, trying to will the sleep out of his eyes.
scott: Congratulations you two!!
scott: Just wanted everyone to know that I called it and Malia owes me five bucks
malia: I thought liam would know better
With a roll of his eyes, he took the phone from Liam’s hand, turned it off, and set it on the nightstand behind him.
“Enough,” Theo stated, running a hand through Liam’s hair.
Liam kissed his forehead. “We will probably have to get up soon, though, or my mom might kick down the door.”
Theo groaned, rolling onto his back.
“You know,” Liam started. Theo turned to look at him, eyelids heavier than an entire block of tungsten. “I, like, really like you.”
Theo’s gaze locked with Liam’s as he confessed, “I really like you, too.”
Liam leaned over to give him a chaste kiss on the lips. “Good, 'cause Scott sent me a pcture of us spooning and I don’t think I could have been able to look at you again if you didn’t.”
Theo groaned and moved to get up.
Knocks came at the door.
“Liam?” Dr. Geyer called. “Mason and Corey are downstairs,”
Liam drew out a fuuuuuuuuuck and got up. “Coming!”
“Does he know I’m here?” Theo asked, walking over to the desk where he left his phone the night before.
“I mean, your truck’s parked out front and your shoes are downstairs,” Liam pointed out, repeating his mom’s words.
Theo glanced at his phone.
corey: Dont fuck this up
mason: You hurt him and itll be the last thing you ever do
scott: Congratulations! There will be bad things coming your way if you screw up
a pack of besties: stiles: like congrats but also like damn wtf
Liam crept up behind him and wrapped his arms around Theo’s waist, burying his face in the crook of his neck. “You okay? Your heartbeat’s weird,”
Theo rested his chin on Liam’s hair. “I’m okay,” He said, and he really meant it. Like, really, really, really meant it.
“Okay,” Liam smiled into his neck and left a kiss there as he gently pulled away.
He took Theo’s hand. Theo’s heartrate spiked again. “Let’s go?”
Theo felt his face break into a soft smile. “Let’s go,”
He didn’t expect to feel so… wanted in borrowed sweatpants and a slightly-too-big Spiderman t-shirt, but then again, Theo never really knew what it was like to feel wanted.
And as Liam pulled him out of the blue bedroom and into the second-floor hallway, a smile on his face as he greeted his parents, Corey, and Mason an enthusiastic, good morning guys, Theo thought that it was a nice feeling.