Chapter Text
Liam's not really sure what to make of Theo, after everything.
He's not really sure what to make of him during it, either, but there are other things--far more important things--that demand his attention, and he's not about to let Theo Raeken, of all people, dominate all his time. Liam has friends and neighbors and monsters and hunters to contend with, not to mention himself, and that's more than enough to set his teeth on edge. He doesn't need whatever version of Theo that's prowling around town these days to add himself into the mix.
Theo, apparently, hadn't gotten the message.
He seems to think that Liam's business is his business, or maybe worse, seems to be under the impression that Liam still considers Theo his business, and he really, really doesn't. (And that might be a lie, just a little bit, because Liam's a curious guy and it's hard not to wonder sometimes, okay? Theo is only here breathing air again because of Liam, and he can't help but feel like maybe Theo's punishing him for it.)
Liam is no one's babysitter, interim-Alpha or no, and least of all Theo's. He's not going to spend forever keeping tabs on a guy who can disappear like rainwater into the ground, without so much as a whisper or a threat.
That had been the idea anyways, at least over the summer. Liam had been happy to forget what he'd done, kept his worrying about Theo crawling back out of the woodwork to track Liam down to a minimum. He'd allowed himself to contemplate it for a brief moment, a single day spent wondering if he should've found a way to reassemble the sword and wipe his hands clean of Theo in a single swoop.
It had been easier to hope that Theo had just cut and run, in the end. Maybe he'd taken the out he'd been given, cut his losses and skipped town before anyone could change their minds and try to put him back where he belonged. It was too much to hope for, but Liam had hoped anyways.
Rarely do things work out so well for him, and this case had been no exception.
Theo had been crammed back into Liam's life amongst all the other shit he already didn't have time for, and then had promptly decided he belonged there, like anyone had even asked.
Now, post the war and the Anuk-Ite and Liam losing his grip on himself more steadily than he can ever recall in the past, Theo seems content to keep coming around uninvited. Emphasis on the 'uninvited', because the night after the confrontation in the hospital, after Theo had disappeared without warning and Liam had finally, finally been able to crash in his bed again without feeling utterly suffocated by the fear clouding the air, Theo decides he can't stay away.
There's a tapping on his bedroom window, too even in tempo to be anything but deliberate, and Liam looks up from his phone, dropping it directly onto his face when he sees who's crouched outside, waiting.
Theo's there, would be nearly impossible to make out if it weren't for Liam's superior vision, his dark hair and dark clothes hiding him even in plain sight. Liam just stares for a moment, rubbing his face where the edge of his phone had landed unkindly near his upper lip.
Theo taps on the window again, just a hair more impatient this time, and Liam hauls himself out of bed, keenly aware of how it looks like he hasn't left it for the past twenty four hours--probably because he hasn't. Still, Theo's seen worse than a little bedhead and a wrinkled sleep shirt on Liam, and besides, this is Liam's house. He can be as unattractive as he wants, if he wants.
"What," he asks, shoving the window open and leaning onto the sill with both hands, "in the hell do you want, Theo?"
"I came to cuddle," Theo tells him, dickish as ever, and Liam blows out an unimpressed breath.
"That," Theo continues when Liam doesn't dignify his sarcasm with a response, "and to tell you that maybe you should be paying better attention to your surroundings, if you didn't even notice I was here until I was about to crawl through your goddamn window."
"I'm doing this thing where I try to shut the world out," Liam informs him, noting the way Theo's still crouched on the roof and choosing to ignore it. "You should try it sometime. It usually involves not bothering other people, especially at night. Especially in their own homes."
"Yeah, I'll pass," Theo grunts, gesturing to the open window. "You gonna let me in? I didn't come all the way out here for us to trade sweet nothings over either side of your bedroom window, you know."
Liam thinks about shoving him off the roof, just to prove a point, but knows Theo's far enough away from the edge that it probably wouldn't work, and then what would he have to show for it?
"I'll think about letting you in when you think about telling me why you came all the way out here to lurk outside my bedroom," he says, tightening his grip on the wooden sill. "I know life must be boring for you without any more evil plans to occupy your time, but even you can't be that desperate."
Theo just looks at him, green eyes almost black in the dark, and Liam worries for one single, sinking moment that maybe Theo really is that desperate. It's a possibility he hadn't really entertained before this, but he also hadn't entertained the idea--prior to last night anyways--that Theo might not be plotting something nefarious in his spare time. He's not sure which one makes him more uncomfortable: the idea that Theo might not really be all that evil anymore, or that, to top it all off, he might actually be lonely.
"I came to talk," Theo says finally, his face betraying nothing more than a faint hint of exhaustion, but Liam figures that's a given after everything. "Does that pass inspection by your standards, or do I need to cross my heart and swear on a bible too?"
Liam's not exactly religious, but he thinks if Theo touched a bible it might disintegrate beneath his hands, just from the sheer irony of it. It's with that thought that he steps away from the window wordlessly, heading in the direction of his bed once more. It's not the first time he's turned his back to Theo, but it's the first time he's been so keenly aware of it. He wonders idly, as he crashes back onto his bed, when it had stopped being a problem.
He hears Theo shut the window behind him, sees the way he shrugs out of his hoodie but not his shoes, and feels the bed dip near his feet. They sit in silence for a moment, Theo's wrist brushing at the ragged cuff of Liam's sweatpants. Liam thinks about jabbing him in the side with his toes, about trying to set some boundaries, but he knows Theo's not very good with those and anyways, Liam's the one who just let him into his room while smack dab in the middle of a self imposed exile.
"You wanted to talk," he says instead, nudging Theo's wrist with his ankle. "So talk."
Theo stares back out the window, eyes unblinking as though he's somehow very far away. Liam nudges him again, this time harder, and Theo blinks once, his head turning to actually look Liam in the eye.
"Do you want me to go?" he asks, and Liam blinks back, surprised into silence.
"You just got here," he replies once he's allowed the words to process in his brain. "You just said you weren't going anywhere."
Theo shakes his head, a strand of his slicked back hair falling loose and onto his forehead. Liam's fingers twitch, but he stays put.
"No," he says, and Liam's throat gets abruptly tight. Theo's eyes are big and green and Liam knows them well, burnt into the insides of his own eyelids as they are. Theo's face, inches from his in the elevator, open and vulnerable, honest for the first time in maybe ever. "I meant, do you want me to go?"
The tightness in Liam's throat increases, and it's hard to talk around the realization welling up inside of him. Theo could leave, he thinks, wonders if he might've been considering it for awhile now. It sits like a fist in his gut, cold and sobering, out of place.
He thinks about Theo the night before, saving him again without shying away from it, from the truth that had hung there between the both of them, undeniable and too much to breathe through in that tiny space. The Theo in the elevator hadn't been the Theo from last year, the one with the too-wide smiles and dark intentions, the one who'd only cared about himself.
He hadn't been the Theo that Liam had pulled up from the ground, shaking and disoriented, all teeth and claws just bargaining to find a way to get out of going back.
He'd been the same Theo that's in Liam's room right now, on Liam's bed, a hair's breadth from actually touching him, that same heavy feeling in the air once more. Liam looks at him, thinks about how Theo hadn't given him a straight answer when Liam had demanded to know why he'd been so dead set on saving him just days before.
He thinks about the hitch of Theo's breath in the elevator, of his heartbeat, the way their rubber band of a relationship had been stretching further and further back for months, had been set to snap and sting them both as punishment, and decides that's answer enough.
"That's not really my decision anymore, is it?" he asks solemnly, and it's Theo's turn to look taken aback now.
"I know we're not friends," he says, and his mouth thins a little at the admission. "I know you don't exactly want me around, but if you'd rather me leave you alone for good, then--"
Liam stops him, sitting up in bed and curling one of his legs beneath him. The other remains where it is, close to Theo, a bridge between them.
"I'm not gonna run you out of town because we don't always get along," he replies, firm. Theo gives him a look that says 'that's not the real reason you should want me gone', but Liam ignores it. This isn't the time to fight about their past, about Theo's past. "If you want to stay, then stay. You don't have to ask."
Theo huffs, glancing down at Liam's crumpled bedcovers. He's slumped a little, a far cry from the swaggering, sharp tongued deviant Liam had gotten used to over time. He wonders where that Theo went, then wonders a little sickly if he'd ever come back.
"I thought about leaving," Theo says, confirming what Liam had already known, and he doesn't have to clarify for Liam to understand he's talking about before. "I was going to, had my foot on the gas and everything, but then Scott called and he told me you needed help and I--I don't know, I just couldn't."
He meets Liam's eyes again, and his pupils are blown wide, eating up the green in his glassy stare as Liam hears what he's not saying. He has no idea what to do with it, the knowledge that Theo had come back for him, that he'd done it on purpose.
"You decided to stay." He volunteers the truth as though they both don't know it, as though Theo hadn't made it obvious last night. "You're going to, aren't you?"
Theo hesitates, then nods, resolute.
"I guess I am," he says, shoulders settling. "I came here to tell you I wasn't leaving, but I was going to ask if you wanted me to--to…" He trails off, like the words won't come to him, or maybe they're just trapped in his throat, and Liam presses his ankle closer, feels the sharp jut of Theo's wristbone against his skin.
"Keep my distance," Theo finishes, nodding to himself again, like admitting it had been a victory of sorts. "Like I said, I know we're not friends, so."
He could say yes, Liam muses. He could wash his hands of everything for real this time, free himself of Theo's sharp edges and vague intentions, put those wide eyes and their infuriating ability to see right through him to bed once and for all.
"Do you want to?" he asks, studying Theo. He thinks he knows the answer, despite how hard Theo is to read sometimes, but things are different now than they'd been before last night. "Keep your distance, that is?"
Theo remains silent, but his hands speak for him, one fisting in his lap as the other curls firmly around Liam's ankle where it had been pressed against his wrist. His fingers are long and warm, a shock amidst the tepid air around them, and Liam draws in a breath.
"We don't have to be friends," he says, and it's not what he'd intended to say, but it's what comes out. Theo's grip tightens on his leg, insistent. Liam continues. "We could just be…us, if you want."
He's not sure they can ever be friends, not in the way that Liam is friends with Mason or Scott or anyone else around them. They're too far past that, skipped too many steps, bypassed a crucial conversation here or there, forgot being friends means playing nice.
Liam's never been very good at being nice. Good or bad or angry or whatever, he's always been too much of a short fuse for that, for living up to the baby face or the big blue eyes or the unfortunate deficit in the height department. It's hard to be nice when your first instinct is always to react.
Theo's not very nice either, not-so-good but not-so-bad anymore, not in the way Liam had assumed he still was. It's common ground, a cross they both have to carry, it's something.
It'll have to be enough.
"You might regret it," Theo starts, and his mouth falls shut. Liam nods, because he knows what this means. Things will be different.
"I made the decision to bring you back," he says, leaning in. "Aren't I allowed to want to keep you around?"
Theo seems to study him back, like he's looking to see if Liam's the one being dishonest for once. Liam lets him, allows him to pick apart the threads of whatever emotions are on Liam's face, examine them one by one until he's satisfied.
"If that's what you want," he answers finally. "I'll be here."
He says here like it means something, like they've sealed a deal, made a pact in which the lines are blurred and neither of them are sure of the terms and conditions. Theo leans in to meet him, presses their cheeks together and breathes into Liam's neck, and Liam decides he doesn't really care.
It's the first time Theo's done anything like it to Liam since he'd come back. Before, when Theo had been another creature entirely, he'd been liberal with his touches, almost performative with his scenting, and it had set Liam's teeth on edge. Theo had tried it with him once, tried to rub up against Liam like they were good buddies, like they were pack, and Liam had snubbed him so quickly even he'd felt chilled by it.
Theo hadn't attempted anything in that same vein since, not even when he'd been saving Liam's ass left and right, but the casual touches hadn't stopped. It was just something Theo did, he'd grown to assume, touch people like he had a right, like he was trying to prove something all over again.
But that was then and this is now, and Liam feels like he's signed his name on the dotted line, opened himself up, taken hold of a hand he'd resolutely been ignoring until just last night.
They nuzzle together, lightly stubbled cheeks scratching against one another as Theo presses his nose to Liam's pulse point and Liam lets it happen. He breathes Theo in, lets the other boy get his fill, finds himself rumbling contentedly when Theo tilts his own head just enough for Liam to find the place where his heart beats just beneath his skin.
It's different than the way Liam scents his friends, wolves or no, different than the way they brush back, more often than not. Theo lingers, his breath hot against Liam's skin, and Liam reaches up, wraps his hand around Theo's bicep, grounds himself.
They remain like that, Theo curled into Liam's chest, hand on his hip as the night passes. There's no sleeping at first--how can they? Liam thinks as he relishes in the weight of someone warm and solid against him--not with the thumping of Liam's heart and the way Theo's rubbing his thumb against the bare skin of Liam's hipbone.
It's some time before his eyes start to droop, and he turns his face into Theo's hair, unsure if he should be worried about this, about any of it, but Theo is there and he's Theo and Liam doesn’t know what it means that he feels like this. It's been a long time coming, whatever this is they have that's just theirs: softer than rivals, too complex to be a real friendship, just intense enough to keep them both coming back for more.
Theo has been nothing but insistent ever since Liam pulled him up out of the ground and Liam--well, he's strong in body, but not so much in mind. Theo has always been able to worm his way in with ease, and Liam wonders, a little darkly, if maybe it's because Theo's always belonged there.
Theo's weight against him is comforting, and Liam lets himself sag beneath it, drift off into nothing with a resolve to question himself further in the morning.
When he wakes up, Theo is gone from his bed, no sign of him at all in Liam's house, but the scent of him is strong and there's a hoodie still draped over Liam's desk chair, familiar and warm looking.
Liam comes down to breakfast a half hour later, drowning a little in the hoodie and maybe--maybe just a little bit blissed out.
-.-
Things go back to normal after that, except--like most things in Liam's life--his version of normal just means a special kind of crazy.
He's come to expect it this far down the road. It doesn't mean he doesn't miss the quiet, doesn't dread Scott's inevitable departure and the passing of the mantle to Liam like it's a great, looming beast in the distance, approaching him with its ever-increasing gait, but it doesn't surprise him anymore. There's a certain freedom that comes with it, accepting that he can never go back to the way things were before, back when he was still human. Thinking about it now, he's not sure he was ever really cut out for the mundane, the every day struggles of normal human life.
Liam has always been intense, too intense to get by the way most people do, in the ways they take for granted. Maybe it was only a matter of time before fate rose to the challenge, kicked up the madness in his life to match the pent up energy in his bones, leveling the playing field.
Now though, he's not sure what this qualifies as, coming home to find Theo lying on his bed and playing on Liam's Nintendo Switch, not for the first time this week. To anyone not in the know, it'd be the most mundane thing ever, just a friend chilling and waiting up for Liam like he belongs there, like Theo's just a normal guy.
Liam, unfortunately, is very much in the know, which means that the ex-murderer all but camping out in his room on a near nightly basis is the furthest thing from mundane he can possibly imagine, and he's technically part animal.
He tosses his backpack aside, running one hand through his hair because he can't even bring himself to be truly mad about it, which is suspect, especially when Theo doesn't even look up from the Switch, just offers Liam a two fingered salute like he's not the one trespassing here.
"Is this your way of telling me you wanna move in or something?" Liam asks, and he's honestly not sure what kind of response he'd expected to get, but it had been more than just a shrug in his direction.
Really, he should've known better, because if there's one thing he knows about Theo it's that he always somehow manages to drum up the audacity to be completely blasé about things at the most inopportune times, especially when those things are almost definitely his fault. This is the man-boy-criminal Liam's taken to harboring in his room more often than not, and he has to wonder when exactly that became an essential part of their dynamic.
He crash lands on the bed and Theo barely flinches, even when Liam wraps himself around Theo's legs, resting his cheek against his bent knees, because if Theo's going to occupy his bed he might as well make himself useful to Liam somehow.
It's a testament to Theo's shitty personality that he scarcely acknowledges Liam at all, just cards a hand through his hair one time before going right back to playing Liam's game. Liam had wondered for a long while how someone could be so utterly unaffected by anything going on around them, but eventually he'd come to the conclusion that stuff probably just didn't process correctly in Theo's head. It was probably why he'd scoff whenever Liam complained about things--things that were important, life threatening even--but somehow still managed to give really good hugs, if you could call him flopping carelessly over Liam's back at nighttime a 'hug'.
"You'd better not be ruining my saved game," he threatens idly, five or so minutes into listening to the familiar sound of Animal Crossing music coming from his Switch. "I don't know why you can't just start your own."
"Your villagers are fine," Theo replies, which means nothing, because Theo's probably found a way to start a pyramid scheme in game and has all the residents of Liam's happy little village under his evil, evil thumbs. He's going to have to do so much backtracking once Theo finally gets bored and puts the game down.
Today had sucked in more ways than one, a failed test and a forgotten lunch only the icing on the cake of his shitty mood, and he'd been pissed the entire way home. Corey had made a passing comment during free period that he resembled a snorting bull, and Liam had accidentally scoured claw marks in his classroom-issued copy of 1984, practically turning the thing into a pile of sawdust.
He'd wanted to faceplant into his mattress and drown out the Friday night with videogames and self-pity, like any self-respecting teenage boy, but it had been three whole days since he'd seen Theo at all and he'd honestly been expecting to make it a fourth. Now he mostly just feels tired, a little bit itchy underneath his skin, the way he gets when he's more bothered than angry, and the boiling irritation from earlier has cooled. It makes him feel hollow, not necessarily in a bad way, but he's a little at a loss, unsure of which emotions are supposed to be occupying that same slot.
"Where've you been?" he asks, for lack of anything better to talk about, because Theo's not exactly the sympathetic type and he's probably not going to do anything but back up the whole 'snorting bull' insult, so Liam's not even going to give him the opportunity.
"Driving," Theo says, as though that's all he does in his spare time when he's not playing houseguest and--probably--using Liam's toothbrush without asking. "Around town."
"For three days?" Liam asks, in a tone so dry it almost makes him thirsty. "You know, they say boredom can have some real adverse mental effects if it goes on too long? I think you might be pushing your limit."
"Scott called me."
That makes Liam snap to attention, lifting his head from where it's pillowed on Theo's knees to squint down at him.
"Scott called you," he repeats dumbly, frowning. Why would Scott call Theo out of the blue like that? More importantly, why would he call Theo and not tell Liam about it? No one ever tells Liam anything, but this is Theo for fuck's sake. Liam's practically his legal guardian now, despite definitely being younger and a little bit stupider whenever they're together, but that's not his fault. Just because Theo's technically not evil anymore doesn't mean he's a good influence all of a sudden.
"Did I stutter?" Theo asks, not elaborating at all on his previous declaration. "Is your hearing more selective than usual?"
“Don’t be a dick,” Liam snaps back, aware he’s basically asking Theo to subvert his entire personality just for Liam’s benefit. Given his track record of stealing Liam’s shirts and never actually returning them, the odds aren’t looking so good in his favor. “What did he want?”
"Hunters are back." Theo turns off the Switch and sets it aside carefully, folding both hands across his stomach. He doesn't look at Liam. "That's the going theory, anyways."
"Back?" Liam repeats again, knowing how dumb he sounds and not caring. "Like, back as in--"
"One of Argent's people found a couple of dead wolves." Theo cuts him off, the shrug in his voice but not his shoulders, which is how Liam knows it's an act. "Real wolves," he clarifies, before Liam can jump to any conclusions. "Except they were shot dead with wolfsbane and everything, like someone couldn't tell the difference."
"Anything else?" There's a knot in his stomach. He remembers how everyone had been before, trigger happy and quaking at anything and everything that went bump in the night, anyone that moved too fast or smiled too wide. "No one's hurt, are they?"
Logically, he's sure someone would've alerted him if things were serious, but he can't help the unease that curls tightly inside of him. People don't steer clear of him in the hallways like he's a rabid dog anymore, but he knows the real threat is still out there. Monroe isn't gone, just in the wind, and Beacon Hills is only ever quiet right before things get bad.
"Not yet." Theo shifts to prop himself up on one elbow. "Scott asked me to scan the town, see if could sniff anyone out while he talked with Argent. Guess he wants to cover all his bases before he leaves and he knew I had the time."
Liam has no goddamn idea what Theo does with his time when they're not together, because Theo never talks about it and he never strays for too long anyways. Liam had asked him about it once and the response he'd gotten had been a dodgy grin and something about fresh air, and that was as good as a dismissal when it came to Theo.
"I come back, don't I?" he'd asked. It was true, despite the rest, so Liam had said nothing else.
"You could've called me," he says now, hates the way it sounds so petulant coming from himself. "If the hunters really are back then it's not safe for anyone, not even you."
"I'm flattered by your concern," Theo replies, half a smirk ghosting across his face before it slips away again, "but I'm fine in my truck and I kept Scott updated anyhow--not much to find except a few guys with guns on the edge of town, and they were less than helpful."
Liam pulls away, sitting up on the bed and hugging his own knees. He doesn't trust himself if he keeps hanging onto Theo the way he is, and even less so the more Theo talks about the hunters.
"Did they catch you?"
Theo snorts. "Hard to catch me if I'm not doing anything wrong," he answers. "I didn't recognize them, but their car stank of wolfsbane and lead and so did they. They know we're still here, that's all I got before they skipped town. I followed them as far as I could go until they stopped at a hotel, and then I drove back."
"What did Scott say?' Liam knows Scott has been looking forward to leaving. It's long past time for him to move on, even if only for college, and Liam doesn't want him to feel like he has to stay for anything. If the hunters come back to town, it's better that Liam learn to deal with them on his own.
"Not much," Theo furrows his brow, like he's thinking the same thing Liam is. "He wasn't happy, probably worried about what'll happen once he's gone."
"He can't stay," Liam says, then ducks his head when he realizes how gruff he'd sounded. "He's already postponed his start date by a semester just trying to trying to help us clean things up from the war," he tries to explain. "I don't want him thinking he's not allowed to have a life outside of Beacon Hills. It's not fair."
"It's Scott," Theo says bluntly, giving him a pointed look. "It's probably less fair to ask him not to worry. I'm surprised he took the chance to go more than an hour away at all, to be honest."
"He's leaving me in charge," Liam replies, even though it's not a secret. "If he doesn't trust me to keep everyone safe, he might decide not to go."
'You can't babysit an entire town." Theo sits up fully, crossing his legs beneath him. "No one can, especially not this one."
"Scott did."
"Scott tried," Theo emphasizes, leaning forward ever so slightly. "He did what he could, despite everyone else's best efforts, and now he's getting out. It's the right call."
"You think we should all try and get out?" Liam wants to, can't imagine staying here forever in a town adjacent to a literal magnet for nightmares, but when he's gone, who will be left?
"Beacon Hills takes no prisoners, Liam." They've both cheated death more times than Liam can count, but he knows eventually their luck will run dry. "You should do what you can while you're here and take the out when you get it."
He thinks about his parents, about the kids at school, the ones still around and the ones who never made it to graduation. Liam could've been one of them, almost was, if Scott hadn't saved him on that rooftop all that time ago. Maybe Liam would've made it through high school alive as a human, but maybe not.
"If I do that, then who's gonna keep this place safe?" he demands, and Theo just sighs.
"You're no good to anyone dead," he says. Liam's mouth snaps shut. "If you stay here, that's how you'll end up."
"You don't know that," Liam protests, but it's as threadbare an excuse as they come. He's seen the kinds of things that lurk in the shadows, and just because some people might consider him one of them doesn't always give him the advantage it probably should. "More of us have made it this far than not."
"Most of us should be dead," Theo points out. "I was for awhile, and if I'd had my way before, so would you."
Liam stiffens. Theo's face is solemn but he's looking away again, and Liam wants to be mad, thinks that maybe he should be, but when he reaches for it all he feels is the same exhaustion as before. He feels adrift again, and he grasps Theo's knee, instinctive.
"You kind of sucked at being evil," he reminds the other boy. "I mean you were, yeah, but look at you now. The most evil thing you've done in the past month is lie to me about where all of my socks are going."
"I'm perfectly awful," Theo tells him, glancing back in his direction. His hand comes to rest over Liam's. "I don't know shit about your socks, though. They're full of holes anyways."
"Not the ones you steal," Liam notes, raising an eyebrow at the pair Theo's currently wearing. They're a dead ringer for the new ones his mom had bought him just weeks ago.
"That's slander," Theo insists, pinching Liam's hand before he flops over onto his stomach. "Look, if something important comes out of all this, Scott will probably tell us. Don't lose sleep over what he's gonna do with his life. He's a big boy."
"Yeah, I guess." Liam sighs, fidgeting with a rip in the knee of his jeans. He thinks about going to Scott himself, confronting him before things can get any more serious, then decides he's too tired to open that can of worms tonight. "You gonna stay the night?"
"I'm here aren't I?" Theo gestures vaguely towards the bathroom. "You'd better shower, though. If you're gonna get your stink all over me it had better be only yours."
Liam wrinkles his nose, sniffing under his arm. He doesn’t stink that bad, but he shoves off the edge of the bed anyways.
"You smell funny too," he retorts weakly, tossing his shirt somewhere to the left and grabbing the nearest clean towel hanging over his desk chair. "If you're staying here you better shower when I'm done."
Theo grunts something noncommittal and Liam rolls his eyes, but he manages to bully him off the mattress fifteen minutes later when he emerges from the bathroom dripping wet, shower still running behind him.
"Get up," he hisses, tossing another towel at him. "Quit stinking up my bed, I wanna be able to sleep tonight."
"I smell fine," Theo grumbles, smacking Liam back with the towel as he heads into the bathroom. "Drama queen."
"You smell like you hugged everyone you could find in a Walmart," Liam calls, because it's true and it makes him antsy whenever Theo smells like people that aren't Liam, first and foremost. It's a wolf thing for sure, but they spend so much time together nowadays it just feels wrong when Theo comes back smelling different.
He tugs on sweatpants and scrolls through his phone, sprawled out across the mattress as he waits for the sound of the water to stop. Theo's quick, pretty typical of him, but even Liam's surprised when he's out of the shower in less than ten minutes flat, not even bothering with clothes past a single pair of boxer briefs.
He flips the light off without asking, and it's still a bit too early for bed, but the sky is dark and after today, Liam's not going to complain about getting an extra hour or two of shut-eye.
Theo doesn’t waste a second after crawling back into the bed, rolling directly into Liam and getting straight to work at blotting out the scents and stresses of the morning.
He's a little different than Liam when it comes down to it. Theo had called him a 'clinger' once upon a time, accusing Liam of trying to strangle him in the middle of the night, the way he attached himself to Theo's back and chest without prejudice. He'd denied it of course, but he can't remember ever sweating as much at night as he does now, and it could possibly have something to do with how religiously he curls around Theo like he's a full body pillow, not an ounce of space between them.
Theo, on the other hand, is a 'flopper'--a name Liam had come up with on the fly when he'd woken up to the feeling of his lungs being crushed under Theo's dead weight for the nth time since they'd started sharing a mattress. Theo doesn't cling so much as he just rolls around and slings his arms over Liam's neck and chest and face, because he has no concept of human decency or respect for necessary things like breathing. Sometimes Liam will wake up and Theo will be at a forty five degree angle, strewn over Liam's chest with his lips mashed against Liam's shoulder and a leg slung between Liam's thighs. Sometimes he abandons the mattress altogether and rolls directly on top of Liam, nearly suffocating him with his stupid hair in Liam's mouth.
It should be kind of gross, waking up all sweaty and practically spitting Theo's hair out of his mouth while he drools into Liam's neck, but it makes the mornings a little easier later on. Theo always leaves, whether because he has to or because he thinks he has to, but Liam feels better about letting him go when he smells right.
"You need to lay off the fast food." Liam tells him when Theo crawls over him, only to bury his face directly in Liam's neck. "Seriously, do yourself a favor and come downstairs sometime so my mom can make you a salad or something."
"Muscle is more dense than fat," Theo mumbles, barely listening as usual. "Besides, if you ate a salad it'd probably kill you, so shut the fuck up."
"I eat my vegetables," Liam protests, wrapping both arms around Theo's back. His chest feels light, like it's hollowed out and empty, the space filled only by his fluttering heart and the sensation of a million tiny bubbles fizzing intermittently. He clutches Theo closer.
"French fries aren't vegetables," Theo replies, his short stubble scraping across the thin skin of Liam's collarbone. "I feel sorry for your mother."
Liam's nails--still human, still human--press more fervently into Theo's back as he drags his nose along Liam's cheek, into his hair. He really, really doesn't want to think about his mom all of a sudden.
"You still don't smell right," he shudders, because changing the subject is easiest. "Let me--Theo, I wanna touch you."
Theo's response is a sharp growl and blunt teeth on Liam's jaw, a shock to his system. They don't bite a lot, mostly because of the way it makes Liam feel like he's been completely gutted, like he has to bite back, no matter what.
"Getting there," Theo rumbles, the hard line of his body dizzying against Liam's. "I've been gone for three days, give me a damn break, okay?"
Liam lets him get away with it for another few minutes, the seconds ticking by long and hot, stretched out like melting taffy as Theo turns him on his side and presses close, breathing softly at his nape. Liam's half hard against his own thigh, ignoring it with the kind of mad desperation one might while in public, smack dab in the middle of a funeral service in a church.
He refuses to think about it, to entertain the thought of Theo reaching down and fitting his palm over Liam's cock, the heat swimming in his head and belly as he tries not to imagine Theo doing what's been flitting in and out of Liam's dreams as of late. He doesn't ask, doesn't demand it, won't let himself contemplate it while Theo's in the bed with him, because he's only just managed to keep him like this, and if he were to frighten Theo off after everything he might never recover.
He leans back, tilting his head so Theo can nuzzle closer and reaches around to tangle one hand in Theo's still wet hair.
"That's better," Theo murmurs, and it is, but it's still not enough. Liam hasn't had his turn and he won’t be the one taking off in the morning, so he deserves it, the chance to get closer, to make sure Theo won't forget when he's gone again.
"My turn."
All it takes is a single noise of agreement from Theo and Liam's flipping over, pressing Theo back into the sheets so he can slide his cheek against Theo's chest, burning skin against burning skin. He breathes out, one hand on Theo's shoulder, holding him in place as he revels in it for a single moment: Theo panting beneath him, slightly sweaty and already beginning to smell of Liam.
"Get on with it, puppy," Theo goads, slapping Liam on the shoulder. It barely stings, more of an excuse for Theo to get his hands on Liam again than anything, and Liam just rumbles a little.
"Not a fucking puppy," he retorts, because he's not. Not weeks from being the new Alpha of Beacon Hills and definitely, undeniably not when he could kick Theo's ass all the way to Montana and back if he wanted. "Show a little respect for your future Alpha, asshole."
"Aww," Theo snorts, messing up Liam's hair. "Someone's getting a little excited, huh?"
Liam rumbles again, tilts his head up to look at Theo who's smirking, as expected. He's so goddamned pretty Liam's heart hurts. He flicks at Theo's chin, raises an eyebrow as those eyes go a little dark before they flare yellow back at him. Liam scoots up, up until he's looming over Theo, propped up on both arms and staring down at him expectantly.
Theo blinks at him, bright eyes shining back at him, and Liam flares his own. It's quiet, stone still for a moment save for their breathing as they face off, two pairs of golden eyes in the dark, waiting. Liam's not the most patient guy on the planet, but he's content to wait as long as he needs to for Theo to get the picture and give in.
He's not certain how long the stare-down lasts, but Liam knows with abject certainty that he's won when Theo huffs, tips his head back to bare his throat and breaks their gaze. Liam, satisfied and more than a little interested in the spot behind Theo's ear where his scent is always the strongest, makes a happy noise, burying his face in Theo's neck with little fanfare.
"Smug bastard," he hears Theo grunt, as Liam nuzzles indulgently at his bared throat. "Using your power for evil already, I see."
"Touché," Liam replies, allowing himself the slightest graze of teeth. "I learned from the worst."
"Get too ballsy and they're gonna blame me for influencing you," Theo warns, both arms coming to wrap around Liam's back. "You don't want Stiles on your case, trust me."
"They'll just have to deal with it." Liam is far too interested in the way Theo's scent seems to have changed a little, undercut with Liam's own scent and something soft, unfamiliar. It's intoxicating. "You've been whispering in my ear since I pulled you up from hell anyways. It's not a secret."
Liam's not stupid enough to think his friends haven't noticed the way Theo shadows him more often than not since the war. No one's said anything quite to the degree of an intervention yet, but he's gotten more than a few weird looks from most of them, and he's pretty sure Malia would've dumped an entire soda down Theo's shirt if Liam hadn't accidentally tripped and come between them.
"Yeah, yeah," Theo sounds a little stiff, too much for Liam's conscience to handle, so he breaks his own rule and nips at Theo's neck for real, hoping for positive results.
Theo's breathing goes a little ragged, something like a high pitched whine escaping before it's choked off into nothing. "You good over there?" he asks, and Liam just hums, turning to press his nose underneath Theo's chin.
"I'm better than good," he proclaims, warm down to his toes. Theo's hand slides into his hair, holds him there without any complaint on Liam's part. "I'd be better if you'd shut up, though," he finishes, and just laughs when Theo tugs at his hair a little too hard.
-.-
"So," his mother says the next morning at breakfast, after Theo's crawled his way back out of Liam's bedroom once more and disappeared off to god knows where. "Who's that nice boy who's been spending so much time in your room lately?"
Liam misses his mouth with the spoon, smears strawberry yoghurt on his upper lip, and freezes.
"Uh," he says, and Jenna slings a dishtowel over one shoulder, crossing her arms and smiling that mom-smile Liam knows like the back of his hand. He's not so slick, apparently. "A friend?"
She raises an eyebrow, but the smile doesn't disappear. Liam tries once more to eat his breakfast, and this time the spoon clacks against his teeth. He grimaces.
"Well I certainly hope he's that, at least." Jenna allows, once it's clear her son is well and truly malfunctioning. "I know you wouldn't just let a stranger sleep in your bed, would you?"
Liam has no idea how to approach this. Has he thought about it? Yeah, because it's kind of hard not to think about how you're going to explain an entire dude practically moving into your bedroom to your parents who sleep across the hallway.
Hey Mom, hey Dad, I have this sorta-kinda friend who was plotting to kill me once, but ever since I brought him back from hell, he's been sleeping in his truck and I really can't live with that. Can I keep him?
Jenna is a self proclaimed 'cool mom', but Liam's pretty sure even she would balk at learning Liam's actually been keeping a homeless teenager in his room. It's days like these where he feels like it might be easier to just tell her about the whole werewolf thing. At least then he could explain why his life is so goddamn weird.
"It's just Theo," he says, putting his spoon down for fear of further embarrassment. "He's new in town." It's sort of a lie, but not really. His mother doesn't need to know Theo had been living in the sewers and vacationing in hell for awhile. It's all in how you spin it.
"Do you invite all the new kids in town to sneak through your window after dark?" she asks, handing him a napkin with only mild outward judgement. "Are you on some sort of welcoming committee I should know about?"
Beacon Hills is probably the least welcoming place Liam can think of, no matter who calls themselves the standing Alpha in charge, and he's not under any delusions that it'll change once he's stepped up to the plate.
"Theo's shy," he blurts, hoping and praying that the chimera is well and truly gone. Liam thinks Theo might actually try to eviscerate him if he ever heard Liam accusing him of being shy. "He's not…very good at meeting new people, so he's more comfortable when it's just one on one."
Jenna frowns, like she's trying to read between the imaginary lines of Liam's words. Liam squirms, stabbing his spoon into his yoghurt.
"Tell him there's no reason to be too shy to use the door," she says finally, turning away to switch on the sink tap. "If he's going to keep sleeping over at our house, David and I would like to meet him, at least."
Liam tries to picture Theo at their dinner table, charming his mother over a piping hot casserole and smiling innocently at both of Liam's parents. Jenna would offer him pie and ice cream and David would insist he join them for a game of Monopoly in the living room, and then Liam would probably die from the black hole formed at the very notion of Theo participating in family game night.
"Sure," he says, barely realizes it's his own voice speaking. "I'll ask him next time he comes, if you'll--uh, go easy on him?"
"Tell him we're having Italian," Jenna replies merrily, and Liam swallows hard. "I'll make extra garlic bread."
Liam barely survives finishing the remainder of his yogurt cup, but he figures once Theo hears about his mother's ultimatum, Liam's going to be wishing for death anyways, and mourns a little when he manages to avoid choking to death. He slides his phone out of his pocket, unsure if Theo will even respond so soon after having left Liam's place. He usually needs a cooldown time of at least ten hours before he bothers to make contact again.
Liam: so my mom says she wants to make you pasta
It's only about three whole minutes before Liam gets a response, and when he does he just puts his head down on the table and prays the yoghurt was expired enough to kill him quickly.
Theo: excuse me
He wonders if things were ever this weird for Scott, back in the beginning, then decides he really, really doesn’t want to know.