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Liam isn’t expecting the knock on the door. He’s too engrossed in the Cleopatra documentary he’s watching to be anything but startled when he hears the sound of a fist tapping at his front door. Still too distracted to even register the fact that he can probably smell who it is on the other side, he opens it and is only a little surprised that it’s Theo.
“Hey” He greets him pleasantly. “What are you doing here?” He’s only been back in town for a day, but he’s not all that shocked to find that the older boy is already paying him a visit.
Theo, however, looks a little reluctant to admit how fast he sought out the other’s company as soon as he learned he was within city limits.
“Hey,” The older boy greets back, “I thought I remembered overhearing from Corey that you were visiting your parents and I thought I’d… stop by.”
For Theo’s sake, Liam does his best to keep himself from smirking in amusement, and instead opens the door wider in a gesture for the chimera to come in.
“Yeah I got in yesterday.”
“Oh, cool.”
Really, Liam knows Theo more than just casually “overheard” about his visit, because he himself asked Mason to ask Corey to very explicitly mention the visit to Theo, but Liam’s just as reluctant to admit that as Theo is to admit he wanted to see him. It’s all a very well orchestrated game. It always is with the two of them.
“So what have you been up to?” He asks politely while he heads back to the couch and motions for Theo to follow him. “I think it’s been a few weeks since we’ve spoken.”
“Oh you know,” Theo starts in with a sigh that, to anybody else, would have gone over unnoticed. But Liam’s heard the recaps enough times to know that recent events have probably been weighing heavy on the older chimera, and suddenly Liam feels bad for not checking in as often. “Argent and I have been closing in on a group of hunters that have been hiding out by Eureka. I actually just got back from a patrol trip up there.” The good news makes Liam's chest soar with delight, but he also knows from the aforementioned sight and the light strain in his voice that there’s something he’s not telling him, but he decides to let it go for now.
“That’s great. You know I’m always a phone call away if you guys even need my help with anything.”
“Oh, please. You’ve helped enough. That’s why we let you go, finally.”
It’s true. The war between the supernatural and Monroe and her army of hateful hunters has waged hard and brutally for just over four years now. They’re at the tail end of it, though. Monroe was shot and killed nearly a year ago, and the past few months have mostly just been cleanup of the mess she left behind and getting rid of any lingering followers that still feel the need to hunt the supernatural in her name. It was the calming turn of events that allowed Liam to finally leave Beacon Hills. Scott and Mason and the rest of the pack sat him down and told him that he needed to do something for himself after so many years helping the pack, and that even though he put off going to college initially, things were finally okay enough that he shouldn’t feel bad about leaving if he really needed to.
So he did. He managed to transfer to a university in Southern California thanks to the credits he had managed to accumulate from his sporadic stints at the local community college. That’s where he was visiting from now, actually, home for his first spring break since leaving.
“Yes,” Liams says after a moment, “but you know I would do anything for guys.” There’s something else that goes unsaid, but that’s okay because it’s been long enough between the two of them that all of that can stay silent, and still be understood.
-
To Theo’s credit, he lasts about fifteen minutes before he cracks. He’s sitting down next to Liam on the couch now, watching the Cleopatra documentary and trying not to get exasperated because who the hell watches a Cleopatra documentary in their freetime , while Liam munches on popcorn.
“You know, normal college kids go to places like Cabo or Miami for their spring break,” he starts, turning over to show Liam his teasing smirk, “not to their parent’s house in Beacon Hills so that they can watch documentaries about an ancient monarch that’s been dead for over 2,000 years.”
“Shut up.” Liam mumbles back, throwing a piece of popcorn at him in retaliation.
He’s pouting at Theo now, his eyebrows scrunched slightly and his lips jutted out slightly and damnit, Theo was sure he’d be able to last longer than fifteen minutes before he gave in. But Liam has always had that kind of hold over him, and he’s not even thinking of the consequences (ridicule from a very smug and ego-boosted Liam) before he reaches out and yanks Liam towards him by the collar.
Liam’s shocked squawk and fallen popcorn are at least enough to make him feel better as he smashes his lips onto those of the younger man.
It’s an explosion of an insurmountable amount of fireworks, kissing Liam. He feels the kiss down to the very electrons in the atoms that make up his very being. He knows how fucking cheesy and disgusting that sounds, and little part of him is also scared by the realization that he really thinks of Liam this strongly , when he really hadn’t before, but he mostly chooses to ignore it and focus at the task at hand, kissing Liam.
Liam’s lips taste like the salt and butter of the popcorn he had been snacking on and Theo revels in it. Liam, who’s gotten over the shock, brings his hands to cup Theo’s face, bringing the kiss into more passionate territory by tilting his head to kiss him deeper. Theo pulls Liam’s legs over his own then, situating the younger man so that he’s now straddling Theo, and the move only riles Liam up more, kissing harder as Theo drags his hands down Liam’s body before landing on his waist, giving him a squeeze.
Liam’s pulling away much too soon, however, even though neither of them want to, but the younger man can’t help but gloat as he looks down at the Chimera with a cocky grin.
“I win.” Liam says, biting his lip in a failed attempt to hide his smile.
Theo rolls his eyes at that, because of course Liam’s immature ass would interrupt their very hot and heavy kiss to make that declaration.
“So what?” Theo retorts back with a snort. “I’m gonna win the next one.”
Liam raises his eyebrows in a challenge, before sinking back down to bring their lips together once more.
There are two very long running games between the two of them. The first one is who breaks first. Theo’s already lost that one, and quite easily too, but damnit he missed Liam, and his dick hasn’t been touched since their last hookup (the realization that he’s let his feelings for the werewolf inch them closer and closer to monogamy is something he also chooses to ignore) and he wanted to get his hands on him. So really, he’s not that upset at losing the first game by making the first move. But there is no way in hell, after almost two months since he last had his hands on Liam, that he is going to lose at the second game. The first game is who breaks first, but the second game is who breaks harder.
Theo gets to work on winning this game as he brings his lips over to Liam’s neck, kissing tentatively at the spot he knows Liam loves best, and subsequently pulling a long moan from the werewolf.
Liam’s neck, Theo had discovered very quickly after this whole physical endeavor between them began, is the holy grail. The boy turns to fucking putty in his hands as soon as Theo gets his lips on it. And this time’s no different, and Liam’s whining and slowly grinding down on his thigh as soon as Theo bares his teeth onto the skin there.
“Fuck, Theo, stop cheating.” Liam says breathily, although both of them know he really doesn’t mind at all.
“Mmm not cheating if it’s working.” Theo’s reply is muffled by his lips and tongue still very much being put to work at Liam’s jugular, making marks and bruises that Theo wishes with all his heart didn’t have to immediately disappear due to Liam’s healing abilities.
Liam’s on top of him and he’s all whines and breathy moans and they haven’t even made it past kissing and he knows, with very much confidence, that he will definitely be winning the second round this time.
-
Theo was wrong.
Dead wrong.
Liam made Theo come three times, and by the time they were done Theo was the very satisfied, very fucked out loser to their weird little game.
Liam, on the other hand, was the epitome of smug as he pressed kisses to Theo’s chest during their post-sex cuddles.
“What the fuck?” The older boy asked incredulously. “How the fuck did you do that? One minute, I nearly had you coming while we were still making out and the next…”
Liam lets out a satisfied giggle at that.
“Let’s just say I don’t like to lose.” He murmurs in reply.
If Theo wasn’t so blissed out he’d probably roll his eyes at that. Instead, he just pulls Liam in closer.
-
Within the next week, Theo had avenged his loss thrice but also lost twice, and there was one point there where both of them had been so fucked out they didn’t even think about a winner or a loser.
Now they were just lazily making out on Theo’s couch while they counted down the minutes until Liam had to be at the bus station to catch the Greyhound.
“Do you need to make any stops before I drop you off?” Theo asked as he pulled away from Liam’s mouth, his glorious mouth with a tongue that is just too damned talented. “Say goodbye to anyone?”
“Nah I said goodbye to Mason and Corey last night. They’re pretty much the only ones I got to see anyway since everyone else was away.” Theo’s chest clenched a little as he saw the slight way Liam’s face fell at that last part.
“And your parents?”
“I said goodbye to them before coming over here.”
Theo hums in acknowledgement, his fingers coming through Liam’s hair, before his eyes catch the time on the clock.
“Well we should get going then, your bus leaves soon.”
-
“Hey, so listen,” Liam sounds a little nervous as they wait on the platform for Liam’s bus to start boarding. “I’m gonna try to call and text you more often, okay?”
He’s waiting for Theo’s reaction, who granted doesn’t have much of a reaction at all, except for slightly scrunching his eyebrows in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just,” Liam reaches for Theo’s hand and starts absentmindedly playing with his fingers as he tries to find his next words. “When I’m away, I feel so far away from you guys.”
“SoCal is pretty far away.”
Liam rolls his eyes at Theo’s dry response before lightly shoving him in annoyance.
“You know what I mean, asshole.”
“No, I don’t.”
“I just feel like a dick sitting there in some fucking history lecture while you guys are out there taking bullets and choking on wolsbane and who knows what else and-”
“Liam,” Theo says more seriously, placing a hand on the other’s cheek before speaking again. “You took bullets and choked on wolfsbane and so much more for three fucking years before the idea of going away even crossed your mind. You did your part baby, the rest of us can keep going a little longer.”
“It’s just-”
“No. I mean it. Mason went away to college and graduated and you never once blamed him for not being there.” Theo was right. In true Lydia Martin fashion, Liam’s best friend had managed to graduate from college in only three years and Liam was nothing but proud of him. “And eventually Corey left to go be with him and you didn’t blame him either.”
“Yeah but now they’re both back here and the pack is here and you’re here and I just.. feel bad not being here.” Not being with you.
“Liam, you do realize the pack and I aren’t even here half the time? We’re usually somewhere outside of town following a lead or a-”
“You know what I mean, Theo.” Liam groans as he leans forward and rests his forehead on Theo’s chest. The bus station is nearly empty so Theo doesn’t really mind the PDA.
“Yeah, I do.” Theo concedes. “And if you need to call me, and blow up my phone at all hours of the night, then I’ll be happy to oblige.”
Liam, face still buried in Theo’s chest, blindly reaches out and smacks Theo upside the head.
“I never said anything about blowing up your phone, asshole.”
“Sure you didn’t, Li.”
-
Back at school, Liam settles into the quiet routine of his education almost as if the two week long break hadn’t interrupted it. Except it had, and the reminders of it still linger on Liam’s skin, in his bones, in his dreams late at night.
He’ll be in the middle of a lecture and suddenly think of Theo.
Theo.
Something had been different this time. He and Liam had been doing this casual hookup thing for months now. It had actually started the night before Liam left for college. Since then Liam had gone back to Beacon Hills a handful of times, and they had hooked up each time. But now Liam finds himself needing more. Not more sex, necessarily. Just more… Theo.
It’s about a couple days after their last kisses at the bus station when Liam finally makes good on his promise.
Liam: Hey
Liam: U up?
Theo: Are you booty calling me from 400 miles away right now?
Liam: No u idiot
Liam: Just checking in
Liam: Like i promised
Theo: Well aren’t you sweet
Liam: And u still havnt answered me
Theo: I’m fine, thank you for asking.
Theo: And how are you?
Liam: Why do i always forget abt how u text like a grandpa
Theo: Rude
Theo: Answer my question.
Liam: I’m fine, too
Liam: Classes are going really good
Liam doesn’t get a reply after that, but the short conversation between them is enough to settle him for now.
-
The weeks dig into him without notice. The wave of serenity left over from the break is quickly washed over and replaced with the constant anxiety that comes with the school year. Reading assignments and group presentations and eventually midterms all take over him and before he knows it, Liam’s been stuck studying in his room for the last three days.
He’s in the middle of reviewing his paper on ancient religions when the sound of his phone buzzing on his desk startles him out of his academic stupor.
He answers it without even looking at the contact.
“Hello?”
“You’ve been doing a very bad job at keeping your promise lately.”
Liam tries not to think too much about the way his heart jumps when he hears Theo’s voice. He hasn’t heard it in at least a couple of weeks, his school schedule only leaving him time for a few fleeting text conversations here and there.
“Theo,” Liam says, almost sighing with relief, not even having realized how much his stressed out self needed to hear his voice at the moment. “Hi.”
“Hi back.” Theo says with a chuckle. “So how come it’s me that’s having to call you when this whole checking in more often thing was your idea?” He teases.
“Sorry,” He says sheepishly, even though he knows there’s no real irritation in Theo’s words. “My school work is eating me alive.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I’m like, two more analytical papers away from an anxiety attack.” Liam is only half joking.
“Baby, you're taking good care of yourself, right?”
Baby. Baby baby baby. It’s not the first time Theo calls him that. But it is the first time that Liam notices how much that word tends to fill his head with nonsensical static when Theo uses it on him, especially when it’s accompanied by such concern for him.
“I should be asking you that,” He replies, “I’m not the one fighting crazy bitch ass hunters that hate us and want us dead.” Liam glances around his dorm to make sure he’s actually alone and his roommate isn’t lurking around somewhere. He calms down when he sees that it’s just himself in there. That last part would have been hard to explain.
“You know damn well those losers aren’t enough to break a sweat.” Theo says cockily. “But seriously, Li. When was the last time you ate?”
Liam pulls the phone away from his ear to look at the clock and calendar on his lockscreen and winces.
“Uhhh, maybe yesterday afternoon?”
“Okay so I see these checkups have to be mutual, then.”
“Shut up, I’m grown.”
“Grown people don’t forget to feed themselves.”
“Says you.”
“Says adults everywhere, Li.”
Theo sounds like he’s shuffling around on the other line and Liam is about to ask what he’s doing when the line suddenly goes dead. Without Theo saying goodbye.
Liam gets about three seconds for sheer panic to course through him, but then the screen is lighting up with Theo’s face and he realizes Theo hung up to call him on facetime again.
“Okay, new rule.” Liam says as soon as he answers. “When I know that you are out there fighting bad guys who are trying to kill you, you absolutely cannot hang up on me without saying some sort of goodbye first.” Liam’s still trying to swallow down the terror that had been so quick, so quick, to overcome every bone in his body.
“Sorry” Theo chuckles, “I didn’t mean to scare you, baby.” There’s that static again. “I just wanted to facetime you because I wanted you to take me with you to the cafeteria while I watched you eat dinner.”
Liam glances over at the clock again.
“Right now? I still wanted to finish one last paper tonight.”
“No, Li.” Theo’s voice is stern now. “I think you should get something to eat and then go to sleep, you look exhausted.”
“Again, I should be telling you that.” But nevertheless, he gets up, grabbing his meal card and his room key, before putting on his slip-on vans and heading outside towards his favorite meal hall.
Theo gets up suddenly, and Liam can tell from a now clearer view of his background that Theo is in his apartment in Beacon Hills, meaning he had gotten back from tracking some hunters that he and Argent wanted to get to before they crossed over into Oregon.
“When did you get back?”
“Just now,” Theo answers distractedly while he rifles through what Liam recognizes as his kitchen. “I didn’t have a lot of cell service up there or I would have checked in with you earlier.”
“Did everything go okay?”
“Yeah, of course. No one got hurt and we caught two hunters.”
Liam lets out a sigh of relief at that.
-
A week later, Liam is studying in his dorm room again. Midterms are over, but there’s some heavy reading for one of his classes that he’s decided to get a head start on. Not that he’s annoyed by it, because luckily Liam is studying what he loves and he’s thoroughly enjoying the article on mummification. In fact, he’s enjoying it so much that he almost doesn't notice the faint buzzing coming from somewhere in his room. If it weren't for his supernatural hearing, he would have missed it altogether. He doesn't miss it, though, and he quickly locates his phone, the source of the bizzing, from somewhere on his bed and sees that he has a call from Theo.
“Hi.” He chirps into the phone, heart already beating faster. He’s been missing Theo extra lately, and Liam has a feeling Theo’s been missing him right back.
“Hi there baby wolf.”
Liam lets out a snort.
“Baby wolf, that one’s new.”
“You are one, aren’t you?”
“What, cuz I’m a beta?”
“Well, that and you’re the youngest werewolf I know.”
“That’s a lie.” Liam knows for a fact Theo has met at least three werewolves still in high school.
“Well, you're the youngest werewolf I care about enough to come up with gross pet names for.”
Liam’s world tilted a little just then, in a totally good way. Theo just had that effect on him. The older man had somehow become capable of leaving a category 5 hurricane in his heart and being none the wiser. Liam loved him a little for that. And yeah, he was slightly aware that his brain had just used the ‘L’ word. No, he was not going to think about it any further.
“Theo Raeken, Theodore.”
“Yes?”
“I really miss you, you know that?”
Liam could almost hear the smile he knew was spread across Theo’s face right now. He could picture it, too. It was this really shy smile that Theo had just for him. Because Theo rarely smiled unless it was a mocking smirk. Liam had only seen his smile when the two of them were alone, and it always struck a chord in Liam’s heart, because that smile proved so much more to Liam than Theo would ever know.
“Well, it’s a good thing I called, then.”
“What, why?”
“Guess.”
His senses do a weird little thing after that. It simultaneously comes slowly, and all at once, the realization. He somehow catches a scent that is way too similar to Theo, and the voice that had been small and tinny through his phone’s speaker is now louder and clearer and somewhere outside.
Liam’s leaping to his window in mere seconds, his eyes going wolf on him to try and find who he’s looking for even faster among the mass of students visible outside his window and oh.
Theo’s here.
Theo is here.
At school. At Liam’s school. At Liam’s school that’s at least a seven hour drive from home if you manage to make good time.
“Oh my god.” Liam manages before he’s leaving his phone forgotten on his dorm room floor and leaping out of his building.
Theo’s met him halfway by the time Liam steps out. Liam almost tackles him right there in the lobby of his dorm building, he’s so happy.
Theo’s arms are enveloping him in a hug as soon as they’re within reaching distance of each other, and Liam would be worried about the bone crushing strength with which he’s being hugged if he wasn’t doing the same thing to Theo.
He really, really missed him.
-
Theo’s so freaking happy he’s here, he thinks he might explode from it. However, that may also be due to the way Liam’s currently kissing him.
They barely make it through the threshold of Liam’s dorm before the younger man’s lips are crash landing on his. They’re rough and chapped and so incredibly perfect that Theo momentarily leaves the small, shitty college dorm he’s standing in. He becomes lost somewhere in his dreams, it feels like. And it’s funny to feel that way, because for nearly all his life, Theo’s dreams have actually been nightmares he’s fought hard to run away from. But somewhere along the way, he allowed Liam’s presence to envelope him in such safety and contentment, he supposes that if he were to ever have happy dreams, Liam’s arms are exactly where they would take place, with him being consumed by Liam’s lips.
Theo smiles at the thought, smiles into the kiss and wraps his hands around Liam to place them on his hips, before gripping there a little and pulling his head back, breaking the kiss.
Theo looks over into Liam’s eyes, the smile still on his lips. Liam once told him during one of their evening facetime calls that he loved his smile, and Theo thinks he hasn’t let his lips form a different shape around Liam since the moment he heard that.
“I win.” Theo says, biting his lips to hold back a laugh as he does so.
This time it’s Liam who rolls his eyes at their little game.
“You broke away from our passionate, reuniting kiss for that?” Except they both know Liam’s not actually annoyed, which is even more evident by the way Liam smiles at him as well.
“Passionate, huh?”
“Yes, you dumbass. We haven’t kissed in months.”
A thought occurs to Theo then, and he finds himself wondering if Liam’s kissed any else in these months. Theo feels like he’s taken a hammer to his chest at the thought. Theo knows he hasn’t even thought about kissing anyone other than Liam, and he knows he’s felt that way since before they had hooked up during Liam’s spring break.
“What’s wrong?” Liam asks, eyebrows scrunched, his hand in front of his heart where Theo knows he can feel his heart going haywire.
“Nothing” Theo says, “I think I just got a little jealous right now.”
“What? Why?”
“Just thinking of you kissing anyone else besides me.” Theo’s kind of terrified to look into Liam’s eyes and find the answer to the question he just kind of asked.
“I haven’t.”
Theo’s heart skips a beat and he knows Liam hears it.
“You haven’t?”
“No.”
Theo doesn’t really know what to exactly do about the sheer relief that brings him.
“Good.” Is what he answers instead.
“Good?”
“Yeah.”
And Theo’s pushing Liam onto the XL twin of his dorm room and pushing his lips back onto him. His hands roam Liam’s body and Liam’s fingers curl around his biceps and he lets the contentment settle into his bones.
Liam is his. Theo is so happy by the revealed information he lets it show by pressing his lips into Liam’s skin. He kisses Liam’s sternum, sucks on his collarbone, reaches over to pull the werewolf’s shirt up so he can delve his tongue into the ridges of his abs.
Liam is his.
-
Afterwards, Theo holds a sleeping Liam in his arms, the younger man sleeping off the multiple orgams resulted from I-haven’t-touched-you-in-months reunion sex.
Theo can’t help but stare at the werewolf in all his sleeping glory. He watches the way his chest rises with his breathing, uses his hearing so that he can hear his heart beat above his ribcage.
Theo doesn’t know when all of these blurred feelings that he couldn’t even place at first became hard lines with nothing but certainty. But Theo is just that, absolutely certain of how he feels about Liam. Theo loves him. He’s in love with him.
-
“Do you have to go?” Liam whines, slipping his hands in the back pockets of Theo’s pants and using that as momentum to bring Theo closer, pushing the older man into his chest.
“Well, you know, there’s about three different packs, and Scott and Argent, expecting me in Arizona in about...” He stops to check the time on his watch. “Six hours.”
Theo had only managed enough time to stay the night, and now it’s the next morning and he has to head back on the road.
Liam juts out his bottom lip in a pout and Theo snorts.
“When the hell did we become so clingy with each other.” Theo says with a laugh as he dips his head down to bring Liam into a kiss.
“Fuck if I know.” Liam answers when they pull apart. “I’m still trying to figure out how I went from wanting to break your nose every five minutes to doodling your name in my notebook.”
Theo lets out another snort.
“Fuck off you don’t do that.”
“Mmmm I might.” Liam’s smile as he laughs at his own teasing is enough to still Theo’s world. It’s so beautiful he wants to somehow stop the whole world so that they can be like this forever, and no one has to leave to fight bad guys in Arizona.
Say it, he thinks, suddenly. Tell him. It’s the perfect moment. Something for the both of them to hold in their hearts until the next time they see each other again. He knows Liam will say it back because he feels the same way.
Except what if he doesn’t. Liam just said it himself. There was a time when just the sight of Theo caused a violent reaction from the young beta.
Something in Theo’s veins goes cold as ice whenever he lets himself think about these things. There are enough sins painting Theo’s past to make a violent, tormented mural. No one ever forgets them. Theo knows that. And Liam knows that, too.
It leaves Theo to wonder nearly every minute of every day, even when Theo pushes the thought all the way back.
Why is Liam still here, giving him the time of day?
It’s the single question that haunts him during lonely nights out on the road.
And deep down Theo is a coward, and he falls into the fear, and the words die on his tongue as quickly as they got there.
“I have to go now, Li.” He says instead, and Liam pulls him into another bone crushing hug.
-
Liam is an idiot.
For months now, the thought has been there, in the back of his head. He knew it when he texted Theo good morning and good night. He knew it when he would catch a scent that reminded him of the chimera and would suddenly find himself longing and wishing the older boy was there with him. He knew it last night, when Theo held him and whispered sweet nothings into his ear. And he knows it now.
Liam is in love with Theo.
He’s not sure why it took the image of Theo’s truck getting smaller and smaller as he drove farther and farther away from him for the realization to barrel into him full force, but suddenly he was no longer ignoring the thought.
Liam wishes he could call him now. Theo would answer the phone and Liam would yell out the words and the chimera would turn right back around and they’d live happily ever after.
But Liam knows the real world doesn’t work like that. Liam isn’t even sure Theo loves him back.
He tries not to focus too much on how that last thought makes him feel like the world is ending.
-
“Montgomery is a bitch, I warned you about her when the semester first started.”
“I thought you were being your usual dramatic self.”
“I am not dramatic!”
“You can be!”
Liam is listening to the argument between his two friends with very little interest. He’s sitting in an apartment somewhere near campus, and he’s currently in one of those moods he only discovered he could be in once he came out to college and started being away from the pack long term.
After years fighting a shadow war in the hidden world of the supernatural, getting away from it all to earn his degree like a normal human was a breath of fresh air. He spent his first weeks away being nothing but ecstatic at all the new, human adventures he got to live. And he still feels all that relief constantly.
But there are also the days when Liam feels so completely alienated from everything around him, because he’s a werewolf and the last thing he cares to talk about is the bitchy History 610 professor that everyone warned Clarisse not to take.
He hasn’t heard from Theo in three days. He was trying, but currently failing, not to lose his mind about it.
Sure, he had gone longer without having heard from him before. But that hasn’t been the case in months now. They have daily checkups now, even if it’s a simple one word text to let the other know they’re okay.
Liam’s given up on blowing up his phone. He tried calling and while at first the calls would go through, his phone must have eventually died because now they go straight to voicemail.
Now he’s resorted to blowing up the phones of nearly everyone else in the pack asking if anyone’s heard from him.
Liam knows that Theo, Scott, and Argent had made it out of Arizona okay after using the help of the local packs to deal with some of Monroe’s hunters that had been hiding out there.
Theo had been so excited when he had let him know.
“We’re so close, Li.” He had said. “There’s so little of them left actually still fighting. This will be over for good soon.”
That was the last time they had talked, and Liam never found out if Theo actually made it back home.
Scott had called to say they were out looking for him, and it’s only because of Scott’s influence as his Alpha that Liam actually listened when he asked him to stay put at college instead of coming up to help them look.
But that influence was slowly losing its effect as Liam’s worry and love for the chimera overpowered anything Scott had to say.
“Speaking of drama queens, Li, is there a reason you’re sulking in the corner all by your lonesome?” Clarisse, his friend from class, says.
Liam resolves then that it’s probably time he goes back to his dorm, because he kind of felt like ripping her head off and she had only asked an innocent question.
“I’m going to head home guys.”
“What?!”Clarisse says as he hears a couple of his other friends say “Boo!”
“Don’t be so boring Liam. Why are you being so mopey?”
Liam is saved from having to reel in his IED at her words because his phone buzzes in his pocket just then. It’s Mason, and Liam answers before he’s even finished reading the contact name.
“Did you find him?” Liam says instead of a greeting, he doesn’t even care about the concerned looks on his friends’ faces.
“Yes.” Mason lets out immediately, and Liam swears it’s like his lungs are suddenly cleared of the acid that had been residing there the last few days.
“But Liam, it’s bad.”
“What? Bad how?!” There’s silence on the other line. “Mason, bad how?!” Liam growls, probably scaring the company surrounding him, all eyes on him now.
“He’s just… in really bad shape, Liam. Apparently he got ambushed when he and Scott and Argent parted ways after a rest stop near Manteca. They found him where some hunters had been hiding out in an old warehouse. Deaton and Scott are working on him now.”
“I’m going over there right now.”
It’s a true testament to Theo’s injuries that Mason doesn’t even argue with him.
“I think it would be best that you do.” His best friend says.
-
The reason his pack had been keeping him away during the search for Theo was because they are all extremely weary when it comes to Liam and driving.
A werewolf with IED is dangerous enough just walking around, throw in a giant metal death machine on wheels into the mix and you have a recipe for disaster. Liam had been in a couple minor accidents caused by road rage when he had first learned to drive his senior year and ever since then he’s been on a strict driving ban.
Until now.
Liam is currently proving them all right as he speeds down the 101 as he creeps closer to Beacon Hills. He dares a cop to pull him over, it will be the last thing they ever did. He had probably scared the shit out of his friends when he not so much asked but demanded to borrow one of their cars, but right now Liam doesn’t have it in him to feel bad.
His phone lights up with a picture of Mason on the screen and Liam reaches over to answer it.
“Yeah?”
“Liam, Scott and Deaton just got done working on Theo.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“He needs to heal, it’s still really bad.”
Liam feels like he’s swallowing knives at his words. He needs to get there faster.
“How far out are you?” Mason asks, almost like he read Liam’s mind.
“I’m just heading into the city.” Liam hopes for everyone sharing the road with him that he doesn’t get trapped in the usual San Francisco traffic.
“He’ll probably be awake by the time you get here.”
Liam damn hopes so.
-
Almost two hours later, yes the traffic gods had let him down getting through the city, Liam is parking just outside the McCall house. If Liam inadvertently caused a minor fender bender between two other cars in his hurry to get here, no one has to know.
Theo’s heartbeat is the first thing he notices. There are other heartbeats there, but Theo’s is the one that Liam recognizes. He’s let that same heartbeat lull him to sleep countless times before.
Now, he lets the heartbeat lead him into the house.
Only Mason, Scott and Deaton are in the room when Liam walks in. That’s good. Theo really doesn’t like an audience.
“Is he okay?” Liam barely chokes out the words.
All of their heads turn at his words, their eyes following Liam as he strides from the door to Theo’s side.
Unknowable relief rushes through Liam at the sight of Theo, safe and sound right before him, still asleep.
Deaton, standing opposite Liam on the other side of the bed, gives him a sympathetic look. “He should be waking up any minute.”
Scott walks up right beside Liam and places his hand on his Beta’s shoulder. “We found him in a warehouse about six miles from the rest stop we had left him at in Manteca. Argent and I were headed to Chico for a meeting with some people Argent knew but Theo was supposed to head back over here. None of us realized he hadn’t made it home until you started blowing up our phones.”
Liam barely hears the explanations that follow. Deaton explains how Theo had every single one of his ribs broken and his left leg was shattered, how the healing was slowed down due to the various wolfsbane bullets inside of him and how the dozens of stab wounds in him were also probably from knives laced with even more wolfsbane. Scott lets him know about how he, Derek, Peter, and Argent had tracked Theo’s scent and found him, had made sure he was safe before dealing with the hunters that had gotten him.
But Liam’s only half listening as he watches the chimera sleep on the bed in the guest room of Scott’s house.
He watches Theo’s chest rise and fall. He listens to his heartbeat. He reaches out and takes Theo’s hand in his and tries to ground himself back to earth by taking in the feel of the older boy’s skin on his.
And he waits.
-
Theo somehow knows that Liam is next to him before he even opens his eyes, before he even fully grasps his surroundings. He knows because there has always been some inexplicable feeling of contentment that settles into his bones whenever the hyperactive beta is touching him, and he feels that contentment from the second he gains consciousness.
Liam is right there next to him, his hands clasping his own tightly, and Theo is instantly hit with a flood of relief.
Theo had been terrified. He had been driving towards Beacon Hills one minute and was ambushed and caught by some hunters the next. He had fought back hard, but the truth was he was outnumbered and unguarded. And Theo had been terrified.
But not of dying.
Theo had made his peace with death and the nightmare that awaited afterwards a long time ago. He wasn’t scared of dying.
Theo was terrified, is terrified, of dying without ever having told Liam the truth.
Which is why his heart nearly leaps out his chest when he finally opens his eyes and comes face to face with the beauty that is Liam.
It’s not too late, he realizes.
Liam’s eyes crinkle as he smiles, his hands squeezing Theo’s tighter. “You’re awake.” It’s nearly a whisper, his voice raspy.
“I am.” Theo’s voice is wrecked, the words barely leave him. It’s then that he realizes how sore he is, how every muscle feels shredded. Theo almost wants to laugh at the situation. He survives days of torture and nearly being killed and he notices his fucking crush before he even notices the extent of his injuries due to said torture.
Fuck, Theo is so gone for him. He needs to tell him. He needs to say it.
Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it.
Liam reaches over with one hand, the other still white-knuckled around Theo’s, and lands his palm softly on Theo’s cheek, his thumb gently caressing him.
“I was so fucking scared, Theo.” A tear rolls down the beta’s face then, and Theo can feel the heart inside his chest breaking. “I don’t think I was sane a single second of the past 72 hours.”
Theo reaches his own hand to the one on Liam’s cheeks, looking into those beautiful blue eyes. Theo was driving down highway 1 a couple months ago on his way up from Santa Cruz, had wanted to take the scenic route. He remembers that he must have driven four hours with the view of the pacific ocean at his side, and he had thought the whole time that none of it compared to the blue of Liam’s eyes.
Theo doesn’t really know when exactly he fell for Liam. It had been like a lit candle, fueled by heat on the surface, slowly melting away into something sweeter. He caught himself thinking of Liam constantly, and one day he had realized that he couldn;t remember a time when he didn’t constantly strive for Liam’s safety and happiness.
Even when he had spent three days being tortured, he had been constantly thinking about how grateful he was that it had been him and not Liam.
And now here he is, looking at the man he loves with tears in his eyes, and he can’t bear it a second longer.
“I’m glad you're safe.” If he could barely get words out before, his second attempt at a whisper is even worse. But somehow Liam still hears him.
“You’re glad I’m safe?!” Liam says it almost like he’s pissed Theo would think to say such a thing. “ You’re the one with every twenty seven stab wounds and a shattered leg right now! Those parts of you still haven’t healed, do you know that, Theo?!”
His leg is actually mostly healed, Theo can feel it, but he doesn’t care enough to correct him. “I was just worried that you’d get yourself into some trouble looking for me.”
Liam lets out yet another irritated sigh. “Scott used just about every ounce of Alpha power in him to stop me from even leaving my campus until they had found you.”
“Good.”
Liam looks like his annoyance has worn off a little, but he still rolls his eyes as he mumbles out his next words. “Why did you care anyways?”
“Because I love you.”
If the world became subject to Armagedom right that second, neither of them would have noticed. Not with the way both their hearts suddenly stop, nothing around them being any more important than each other in this instant.
Theo can’t speak. He won’t let himself. The words had been fighting to escape for so long, no matter how much he had been willing them down, and now that they’re out he doesn’t think he is capable of ever saying anything else, so he won’t speak.
Liam, on the other hand, is frozen completely still. Did he hear it correctly? Is he going to let himself think he just heard what he thinks he heard?
It’s barely audible at all when he speaks. “You love me?”
Theo nods, reaching both his hands to cup Liam’s face because holy shit he can’t spend another second not holding him. “With all my heart.”
“With all your heart?”
That gets a chuckle out of the chimera. “Yes, baby. I love you with all my heart.”
Theo is never going to stop saying it now, and he almost wants to punch himself for waiting so long to say it in the first place.
“I love you, too.”
And Christ, those are the best words Theo’s ever heard.
-
Theo’s head is laid on top of Liam’s chest as they lay there, soaking in all the glory of a reciprocated love confession, when Liam thinks of something.
“Hey, you know what I’m just now realizing?”
“What?”
“We never told anyone about us hooking up, yet no one seemed to bat an eye the moment I started losing my shit because you wouldn't answer my texts and no one questioned it when I broke several traffic laws and probably a few other laws speeding through the state to get to your side as soon as I knew you were here.”
Theo perks his head up to look at Liam’s face, suspicion suddenly in his eyes. “And they all seemed to conveniently leave the room to just the two of us before I even woke up…”
From outside the room, they can hear Mason, who must have been informed about their conversation by Scott via werewolf hearing, call back to them, “Yeah no shit! You dumbasses may have still thought you were just hooking up, but we’ve all known you two were boyfriends for a hot minute! Sorry we forgot to clue you guys in as well!”
Everyone in the household bursts out laughing, and Theo buries his face into Liam’s chest in embarrassment.
Yeah, they should’ve clued them in.