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Mason threw the control down in rage.
"Fuck you, you cheating son of a-"
"Hey, hey, let's just call it how it is, Mason." Theo smirked. "I'm way better at Mario Kart than either of you losers. Age before beauty."
"That'd make me the best, zomboy." Stiles jeered from the kitchen, where he and Liam were baking. "I guarantee I am the best, by the way."
In the last two hours, Liam and Theo had gone from laughing, to kissing, to staring each other down in anger and confusion, to conspiring with the McCall pack to throw a surprise party.
The pack had interrupted their morning so suddenly, neither had any resolution after their brief, but extremely intimate moment.
Earlier that morning:
Theo felt Liam start to pull away from the gentle press of their lips, but he wasn't ready for it to end, especially since it was probably all he would get.
They breathed the same air for a split second then Theo grabbed Liam's hip with one hand and his face with the other, pulling the boy closer to the edge of the counter, and angling his face up to rejoin their lips in a deeper, heady kiss.
Liam's hand tangled into Theo's hair and he gave back what he was getting, 150%. They battled for dominance with their mouths, each of them trying to release aggression that had been building all month.
Liam ran his tongue along Theo's lower lip and bit into it harshly, enjoying the groan that Theo let out at the pain.
Theo pulled away then, purely out of the need to breathe.
The two stared at each other, panting heavily - eyes wide, lips red - for a minute straight before Theo broke the silence.
"Well that sucks." He breathed.
"Excuse me!?" Liam sputtered in surprise, right as the doorbell rang.
Liam's phone rang less than two seconds later, causing both boys to look at the phone.
The doorbell rang again and this time it was followed by Mason's voice yelling 'open up, douchebags.'
Theo walked off to the front door and Liam reached for his phone.
Sheriff Stilinski had been working with Rafe to urgently clear Derek's name in the past few days, when he found out that the day after the Anuk-ite showdown was actually Derek Hale's 30th birthday. Upon sharing this info with his son, the Sheriff and McCalls, being the biggest bleeding hearts ever, had immediately sprung to action.
They commissioned a cake from the supernaturally inclined young men of Beacon Hills (and Mason).
Scott had stopped Derek, who tried to say his goodbyes early that morning, and convinced him that they (and the Sheriff) needed to go on a day-long trip together to Orange County.
They really did need to warn the small, mostly elderly pack of werewolves (who typically stayed completely out of the werewolf community and spent their time relaxing on the beach) of what was going on with Monroe's army in the supernatural world.
Lydia, Melissa and Ethan were left to decorate the McCall house for their impromptu party.
Malia, Peter and Jackson had been sent to buy a present for the evolved werewolf. Jackson's kanima eyes had flashed and he almost turned into a lizard as he vehemently protested this part of the plan.
Stiles, who claimed he thought this was all a terrible idea (despite it being mostly his idea), had been sent to rescue the bumbling teenagers when Theo texted Scott saying not a single one of them knew how to bake. Liam was too proud of his cooking skills to admit defeat, even after almost setting the oven on fire.
As soon as Stiles came over to help Liam, Theo was banished to the living room. Something about 'sexual-tension-cake' being the last thing Derek Hale needs. Corey and Mason followed not even fifteen minutes after, because Baking-Stiles is not the friendliest Stiles.
Hence the Mario Kart tournament.
"I am like... 20 days younger than you." Theo scoffed at Stiles' age-before-beauty comment as Mason mumbled "at least I'm the beauty in this situation" and passed the controller to his boyfriend.
"I keep forgetting you're old." Stiles laughed, ignoring Mason. He motioned to where Liam was mixing the batter. "Isn't this illegal or something?"
"Says the guy baking a cake from scratch because of your crush on a 30 year old." Liam muttered without looking up from his mixing bowl. Mason and Corey chorused out an 'ohhhhhh' at that and Stiles promptly threw a spatula at them.
"I am happily in a relationship, thank you, Liam." Stiles huffed. "Stop trying to stick up for your boyfriend."
"Not his boyfriend." Theo snapped angrily.
Liam's face flashed with hurt and he stopped stirring momentarily to look at Theo, but Theo's eyes remained trained on the game as he started another round of Mario Kart with Corey as his newest victim.
Both rooms went quiet except for the sounds of the video game on tv.
"Touchy." Stiles huffed under his breath, eyeing the 17-year-old werewolf who looked like he was about to murder his precious cake batter. Stiles rolled his eyes and grabbed a piece of paper and staring writing a list. "Liam?"
"Mm?" Liam's head snapped up from his angst-fueled whisking.
"I need frosting supplies. This premade stuff is crap." Stiles slid the paper over to Liam then chucked the Betty Crocker tin on the counter in the trash with a frown. "Can you and Theo go get these things from the store?"
"Why can't he go alone?" Liam whisper-yelled, sure the chimera could hear him anyway.
"Because you're fucking up my cake batter!" Stiles yelled, finally tearing the whisk out of the younger man's hands, frowning down at the bowl. "And I don't trust Theo not to run off with my money."
"Whatever." Theo growled from the adjoining room, setting down his controller after another speedy victory. "I'm getting tired of beating these two anyway. Let's go, broody puppy."
Liam rolled his eyes, but followed Theo out the door, list in hand.
****
Theo hunched over the shopping cart, steering it down the aisle of the grocery store with his arms folded across the top. He followed along as Liam looked for the next item on the list.
Liam looked at his options for a minute then finally placed a box of butter in the cart and Theo exhaled a long, drawn out sigh.
"What." Liam narrowed his eyes at the chimera. "You have have a problem?"
"Nope." Theo sighed again. "Just wondering why you shop like an old lady."
"You mean carefully and conciously?" Liam challenged, turning and heading for the front of the store faster than Theo was ready for. "Don't worry. We're done." He called over his shoulder, causing Theo to push the cart hurriedly to catch up.
"But I was just starting to enjoy bickering over dairy options." Theo smirked.
Liam ignored him and started loading things onto the checkout counter.
Theo went to help, but he kept grabbing for the same things Liam was, seemingly on purpose.
"Fine!" Liam huffed. "You do it!" He turned to the cashier who looked like she was barely suppressing her laughter as Theo finished unloading the groceries to scan.
The elderly lady (Denise, if her nametag was anything to go by), asked if he had his own bags as she started scanning, to which Liam started to say no when Theo put a hand on the small of his back and squeezed past him to the end of the checkout. He pulled a couple reusable bags from the front pocket of his hoodie and started bagging the groceries that had already been scanned.
Liam stared blankly at Theo's unexpected actions.
"Nineteen twenty-five." The cashier stated, jostling Liam from his trance.
Liam handed over a twenty. He watched as Theo gathered the bags and smiled at Denise, winking at her before walking away and out of the store.
"Theo is such a nice boy." Denise smiled, handing him his reciept. "You're a lucky young man."
"Yeah." Liam failed to hide his surprise at her familiarity with his companion. He shrugged sheepishly, grabbing his change. "Thanks."
Theo was waiting with the truck running when Liam walked outside. He was on the phone when Liam climbed in and shut the door.
"Yeah, Mason." Theo huffed. "We're on the way."
"Alright, just making sure you didn't get distracted killing each other," Mason said on the other end of the call, Liam's werewolf hearing making it easy to hear his best friend's voice, "or kissi-"
Theo hung up the phone before Mason could finish his sentence.
"Mason said you forgot your phone, and Stiles was freaking out about how long we were taking." Theo smirked. "I told them you fell in a hole in the produce department. Stiles seemed to like that one."
"How did Denise know your name?" Liam asked, ignoring everything Theo said.
"We had a thing." Theo raised his eyebrows suggestively before putting the truck in reverse.
"Shut the fuck up." Liam rolled his eyes.
"What? She's pretty fit for her age!" Theo chuckled.
"You're such a dick." Liam huffed.
"I used to work there for a little bit." Theo shrugged. "After I..." He trailed off, and Liam assumed he meant after he came back to life.
They continued driving back to Liam's in silence, until the werewolf got tired of holding in his anger.
"You know, it's fine if you think I'm a bad kisser," Liam growled, "but you didn't have to sound so disgusted at the thought of being my boyfriend."
Theo looked over at him with wide eyes before turning his attention back to the road and turning onto Liam's street.
"That's what you think?" Theo huffed, pulling into Liam's driveway. "Unbelievable." He looked at Liam and shook his head before getting out of the truck and walking around to Liam's side.
Liam jumped out of the truck and and soon as he shut the door, he felt himself being thrown up against it, Theo's hands fisted in his shirt, his fangs inches from Liams face.
"I'm never going to be your boyfriend, Liam." Theo roared in his face.
Liam shoved the taller boy off of him and punched him in the jaw so hard he fell back into the grass of Liam's parents' lawn.
Liam pounced on him before he could get up. He swung at Theo again, only for the chimera to catch his fist and flip them over.
The two boy wrestled on the lawn for three or four minutes before Theo gained the upper hand and had a mostly wolfed out Liam pinned beneath him.
"Liam, calm down." Theo growled, his fangs and claws receded. "Liam."
Liam snapped at him and fought against the hands pinning him to the ground.
"Liam, please." Theo begged, desperately.
Liam stopped fighting suddenly, but was panting harshly, a low growl still eminating from his chest.
"Liam, I promise you..." Theo sighed, loosening his grip and getting off of the young beta wolf, sitting on the grass beside him instead. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Kissing you was the best feeling I've ever experienced in my life."
There was silence for a good half of a minute before Theo heard the wolf next to him move. He opened his eyes and saw Liam sitting up, completely human again.
"Then why did you say it sucked?" Liam huffed out, frowning in frustration.
"I meant that it sucks that it felt like that." Theo looked Liam in the eye stubbornly, desperately trying to get him to understand. "I knew it'd feel great, Liam, but all I felt in that kiss was fucking love. I felt loved."
Theo looked down at the grass with a look that could only be taken as shame.
"I can try to convince myself as much as I want that I deserve to be loved, Liam, but the fact remains that I don't. I can be your anchor - I will be your anchor, but I don't deserve to be loved." Theo looked up to meet Liam's eyes once again. "Not by you."
Liam stared at Theo, searching his face with the same frustrated expression he had before Theo's speech.
"You do." Liam whispered, trying not to sound too patronizing.
Theo scoffed in disbelief.
"But for now, I need you." Liam spoke slowly, determinedly. His face softened as he continued to hold the gaze of his emotionally exhausted friend (he supposed that's what they were - friends) and he reached out a hand. "I know its not exactly easy, for either of us, but I'll take what you can give me. We'll figure out the rest later."
Theo grabbed the outstretched hand with a sad smile. They helped each other stand and straightened out their clothes.
"Sorry about your nose." Liam cringed, gesturing to the blood drying along Theo's upper lip.
"Sorry about your shirt." Theo poked Liam in the chest, drawing his attention to where Theo's claws had stabbed through the beta's t shirt. Liam's eyes widened in exasperation.
"That's cute, ya mongrels." Stiles yelled from the doorway.
"Fuck you." Liam yelled back, flipping him off.
"Let me grab the groceries." Theo started walking toward his car.
"Don't bother," Stiles shrugged, "I sent invisiboy out to grab them while you were attempting to murder each other." He smirked and walked inside.
Theo glared at Stiles' retreating form. He felt Liam come up next to him and thread their fingers together.
"I'm down to reaaaally make him regret sending us for groceries." Liam smiled.
Theo squeezed Liam's hand tight, returning the look of excitement and rushed them both inside the house.