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Liam throws his bag on the floor by the door and kicks off his shoes. He knows he’ll need to pick the bag up at some point but right now he’s too exhausted. It’s been a long day of classes and then lacrosse practice. Finstock drove them extra hard today, saying that they needed to step up their game if they wanted to have any hope of beating East High. When Liam had pointed out that East High hasn’t actually won a game in 6 years Coach had blown his whistle in his face and demanded Liam run even more drills.
Liam had questioned Scott about Coach’s grouchier than normal behavior and Scott had just lowered his voice and said, “John is out of town visiting Stiles. Coach isn’t handling it well. This is the most they’ve been apart since they got together.”
Liam could understand that, he just hated that he was the one suffering because Coach missed his boyfriend.
Liam can hear the quiet hum of conversation from the kitchen and smiles when he realizes it’s Theo and his Mom talking. The two have gotten close ever since Theo moved in months ago. Liam hasn’t said anything but he couldn’t be more pleased about it. Though from the smiles his Mom gives him when she catches him staring he knows he must not hide it very well.
“Yeah of course I like ginger,” Theo is saying, “In fact I love it. It’s one of my favorites.”
Liam frowns, his brain trying to figure out what Theo could be referring to. Then it hits him. Hair, Theo likes ginger hair. Liam brings and hand up to his dirty blonde hair and frowns. Would Theo like him better if he died his hair?
Liam quickly backs up towards the door, cursing when he backs into a table and almost knocks a lamp off.
“Liam?” his Mom calls, appearing at the entry to the kitchen with Theo right behind her. “Everything alright sweetheart?”
Liam nods his head probably too quickly to be believable, “Yeah! Fine. I just… I remembered I told Mason I’d help him with something.”
Jenna tilts her head, eyeing him curiously, “But dinner is almost done…”
“Yeah I know,” Liam says, backing towards the door, trying not to meet Theo’s gaze, “Sorry Mom. I’ll try not to be too late. I just… I gotta go.”
Liam is out the door and in his car before his Mom can question him further. He backs up quickly, looking towards the house to see Theo standing on the porch.
“We’re going to figure out why you’re acting so weird Liam,” Theo tells him.
Liam doesn’t say anything, just drives down the road and away from Theo. He really does go to Mason’s, needing his advice. Mason walks towards the car when he pulls it to a stop, shooting him a look as he buckles his seatbelt, “What’s going on bro? You sounded weird on the phone.”
“I need your help,” Liam tells him, his hands clenching around the steering wheel.
“With what?”
“I want to dye my hair,” Liam tells him.
“Why? I thought you liked your hair,” Mason says.
“I do,” Liam sighs, “But I need to dye it.”
“Again, why?” Mason asks.
Liam looks in his direction before quickly looking back towards the road, “Theo likes gingers.”
There’s silence in the car for so long that Liam wonders if Mason heard him. Then there’s the sound of loud laughter from the passenger's seat. Liam glares in his direction, ‘I don’t see how this is funny,” he mutters.
“You want to dye your hair,” Mason says, “ginger. For Theo. Liam, come on.”
“But if it likes it…”
“That doesn’t mean you have to dye your hair,” Mason tells him, “Trust me. If Theo likes you, it’s for a lot more than your hair. You don’t have to change yourself to get his attention.”
“I know that,” Liam mutters, “I just… I want to do this, okay? So will you help me?”
“If it’s what you want,” Mason says.
“It is.”
“And you won’t get mad at me if it doesn’t turn out well,” Mason adds on.
Liam rolls his eyes, “It’s going to turn out fine.”
“That’s not very reassuring,” Mason says.
Liam shoots him a half-hearted glare as he parks the car outside of CVS. Mason follows him as he gets out of the car and the two walk into the store. Liam doesn’t know why he feels so jittery as he walks back towards the hair products. He’s not doing anything wrong. It’s not as if he’s buying condoms and lube. Though maybe he should…
“Ouch!” Liam says, bringing a hand up to his head when Mason swats him, “What was that for?”
“You were looking at the condoms and lube and getting this glazed look on your face,” Mason tells him, steering him towards the hair dye. “Which, you know, no judgement and you should always be prepared. But after Theo sees you with ginger hair those condoms might go to waste.”
“Hey!” Liam says, giving his best friend an offended look, “Rude. I’m sure I’m going to look great.”
“Sure you are bro,” Mason says, leading Liam into the aisle, “So how ginger are we thinking? And did you have a brand you wanted?”
Liam rubs a hand across the back of his neck as he stares at the selection of hair products, “I umm… I hadn’t thought past dying my hair.”
Mason sighs, “Of course not. Okay let’s see…”
He spends some time walking along the aisle, picking boxes up and examining them before placing them on the shelves. He winds up walking over to Liam with 3 boxes in his hands.
“Okay I think one of these might be your best option,” Mason says. Liam examines the boxes but honestly can’t see any difference between them. They all look the same to him. He looks up at Mason, giving him a helpless shrug, “I don’t see much of a difference.”
Mason shakes his head, “Do you want me to pick?”
Liam nods, “Yeah that’s probably for the best.”
“I don’t know what you’d do without me,” Mason tells him.
“Be lost,” Liam says, “And unsure which hair products to buy.”
“You could have just asked your Mom,” Mason says, moving to put 2 of the boxes back on the shelf. He stills with his arm raised and turns his head in Liam’s direction. “Jenna doesn’t know, does she?”
“No?”
Mason runs a hand down his face, “Dude, if I help you with this and she freaks out…”
“She won’t!” Liam assures him, “I promise!” Mason doesn’t look convinced so Liam hurries on, “Please Mase. I need to do this. And I’ll take full responsibility if it all goes wrong.”
“Damn right you will,” Mason tells him, “I’m not getting grounded just because you think dying your hair orange is a good seduction technique.”
“It’s not orange,” Liam says, “It’s ginger. And Theo says he likes it.”
“Whatever you say bro,” Mason says, “Let’s just go. I’m starving.”
“Did you want to stay over?” Liam asks, “It’s the weekend. I’m sure Mom made plenty for dinner and I could use your help with this.”
“Yeah okay,” Mason says, “just drop me off at home so I can get my car and a change of clothes.”
Liam nods and the two head towards the register. Liam pays for the hair dye and they leave the store. He leaves the bag with Mason, asking him to put it in with his things so he doesn’t have to carry it inside.
“Yeah this is going to go over well,” Mason mutters.
“I just want it to be a surprise,” Liam tells him, “And it won’t be if Theo sees me carrying the bag inside.”
“Fine,” Mason says, taking the bag from Liam and getting out of the car. He stops with his hand on the door and looks in at him, “I’ll see you in a few bro. And there better be food.”
“There will be,” Liam assures him. If there’s not he’ll make some himself. The last thing he needs to deal with is an angry and hungry Mason.
Mason nods and shuts the door. Liam watches as he throws the bag into his own car before heading towards the house. He gives Liam a final wave before heading inside.
His parents and Theo are still at the table when Liam walks into the house. He kicks off his shoes before heading towards the kitchen, where there is still plenty of food left. Enough for him and Mason to have seconds if they wanted.
“Everything okay sweetheart?” Jenna asks him as he takes a seat at the table next to David.
Liam nods, “Yeah I just had to ask Mason something.”
“And you couldn’t have just called him?” Jenna asks.
“He wasn’t answering,” Liam says, earning a raised eyebrow from Theo but ignores him in favor of turning to his Mom. “It’s alright if Mason comes to stay over, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is,” Jenna tells him, “It’s been awhile since Mason’s stayed over. It’ll be nice to have him.”
“Well that’s good,” Mason calls from the doorway, “Otherwise this would have been awkward.”
“He just walks in?” Theo questions.
“Of course he does,” Jenna says, “he’s family and family doesn’t knock.”
“None of them?”
“Well not the ones we like,” Jenna winks.
Theo chuckles and shakes his head before digging back into his food. Mason gets his own food and takes a seat next to Liam.
“So Mason,” Jenna says, “how’s Corey?”
“Oh Corey’s great,” Mason says, his face lighting up the way it always does when Corey is mentioned.
Mason starts talking about the date he had with Corey the night before and Liam does his best to listen, despite having heard all about it afterward it happened. He feels a tap against his foot and lets his eyes drift towards Theo. Theo’s eyes are focused on Mason but his foot is currently brushing against Liam’s. Liam does his best not to react apart from knocking his own foot against Theo’s. He watches in amazement as Theo ducks his head to hide a smile.
Wow, Liam thinks, he really is adorable.
“Liam son,” David says, “I love you but is there any reason why you’re playing footsie with me?”
Across from him Theo starts coughing and wheezing. David brings a hand up and starts lightly tapping against his back.
“You okay son?”
Theo nods and brings a hand up to wipe at his eyes, “Yeah I’m great. Never been better.”
Liam glares over at him but Theo just smirks and turns to Liam’s Mom, “Dinner is great Jenna.”
“Thank you Theo,” Jenna says. Liam is sure she must be smiling but he can’t bring himself to look.
He turns back to his food, trying to focus on it and hoping his face isn’t bright red. He can’t believe he was just playing footsie with his Dad. Well not playing… he’s sure Theo had started it. Which means the asshole had been messing with him. Liam sighs and stabs at his food a little harder than necessary.
“You okay?” Mason asks, his voice quiet.
Liam nods but doesn’t look at him, “I’m fine.”
“You don’t seem fine,” Mason says, “You look like you want to murder your food, which is a little hard considering it’s already dead.”
“Just let it go Mase,” Liam sighs.
Liam feels a brush against his foot and jumps up, his chair skating against the ground. “Can I be excused?” Liam bites out.
“Sure son,” David says, looking a little startled by his behavior.
“Liam,” Theo says, looking at Liam with wide eyes.
Liam ignores him and all but runs upstairs to his room. He tries not to listen to the conversation happening downstairs. He doesn’t need to hear the worry and confusion. His door opens and then closes a few minutes later and then the bed dips.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Mason asks.
“Yeah I’m fine,” Liam says, “Want to play some video games?”
Mason nods his head and goes to grab the remotes before joining Liam on the bed. This is easy and familiar. He’s able to pass the time playing video games and have pointless conversations with Mason for hours if he wants to, and right now he does. It helps ease some of the tension and uncertainty he’d been feeling.
When he looks at the clock and sees it’s almost 2 in the morning he decides it’s time. His parents are asleep and from the sound of it so is Theo. They’ll able to do this without being detected. Well, as long as they can stay quiet.
“Okay,” Liam says, pausing the game and turning to Mason, “Let’s do this.”
“You’re sure?” Mason asks as he gets off the bed and makes his way over to the bag. He pulls out the box of hair dye before turning to Liam, “you haven’t changed your mind?”
“Nope,” Liam shakes his head and walks towards his bathroom. He turns on the light and starts pulling out some of his older towels. When he’s done he turns to find Mason hesitating in the doorway. “Are you going to help me?”
Mason nods and joins Liam in the bathroom. Together they get to work on setting up the hair dye as the directions tell them to. Then Liam puts his life in Mason’s hands, allowing him to spread the dye across his hair. There’s no going back now.
***
When Liam wakes up the next morning Mason isn’t anywhere to be seen. When he listens closely he can hear him downstairs in the kitchen with his parents and Theo. it’s not unusual. Mason has been coming over long enough to go wherever and have no one question it. Hell, he probably got up early enough to help his Mom with breakfast despite the fact that they hadn’t gone to bed until close to 4 a.m.
Liam rubs the sleep from his eyes and makes his way downstairs to the kitchen. He’s surprised when all conversation stops as soon as he enters the room. He looks up to see everyone staring at him in confusion.
“Oh my god,” Jenna gasps, looking horrified, “Oh Liam. Your beautiful hair.”
Next to her Theo starts cracking up into a fit of laughter, having to lean on the counter to keep himself up, “What happened? Did you lose a bet Carrot Top?”
Liam frowns, “No. I wanted to do this.”
“What on earth for?” David asks, looking perplexed.
Theo mutters another “carrot top” under his breath but Liam still hears him. Jenna sighs and walks over to Liam, bringing a hand up to brush through his hair, “I suppose it is natural for kids to want to change things about their appearance when they’re figuring out who they are. But if you ever need to talk…”
“No Mom that’s not what this is,” Liam tries.
“Okay Pumpkin Head,” Theo laughs, “If you say so.”
“Shut up,” Liam growls, glaring over at him, “it’s not that bad.”
Theo tilts his head, “I suppose it wouldn’t be so blindingly orange if we wore sunglasses.”
Liam barely notices when his Mom steps away from him and moves to stand next to David. Liam’s attention is focused on Theo, his hands balling up into first at his sides. He’s not sure if he feels more angry or embarrassed right now. Theo is supposed to like ginger hair and yet here he is, making fun of Liam for it.
“Oh relax Carrot Top,” Theo tells him, “If you hate it you can always dye it black, go full emo.”
Liam flashes his eyes, “This is your fault!”
“My fault?” Theo asks, looking confused, “Why is it my fault?”
“It’s your fault for liking ginger!”
Everything gets quiet other than Jenna snickering, muttering out a quiet, “Wow. My son.”
Theo face palms, “I was talking about the spice, Liam.”
Liam’s face heats up bright enough to rival his hair and he lets out a quiet “oh...” as he starts backing up, wishing the floor could swallow him up. But Theo jumps up and grabs his arms, “I like ginger hair when it’s on you.”
Jenna just “aww’s” in the background while David continues to eat his food, shaking his head and Mason breathes out an “intense.”
Liam can only focus on Theo, confusion taking over, “But if you like it, why were you making fun of me?”
Theo rubs the back of his neck, his own face heating up slightly, “Because I didn’t know how to handle it. I sort of turned into you and became bad with words.”
“Hey!”
Theo huffs out a laugh and steps closer to Liam, “See? I’m just… I might not have been talking about hair when I told Jenna I liked ginger but I can definitely get behind this look.”
“Yeah?” Liam asks, “You like it?”
Theo smiles, bringing a hand up to card through Liam’s hair, “I like you Liam. You could dye your hair to look like a zebra and I’d still like you.”
“I don’t think I’ll go that far,” Liam feels his lips twitching up into a smile, “and for what it’s worth, I like you too.”
“I kind of figured since you dyed your hair after hearing me say I liked ginger, but it’s still nice to hear it,” Theo tells him.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Liam asks.
Liam watches as Theo’s eyes glance down at his lips before moving back up to meet his own. He can’t help but lean in closer to Theo, and is pleased when Theo does the same. When their lips meet it’s soft and chaste, if not a little clumsy. To Liam it’s perfect, because it’s Theo. He’s kissing Theo. In his kitchen.
That thought has him pulling back and glancing around Theo to see his parents and Mason still standing there watching them, his Mom with her phone out. She shoots him a thumbs up and a grin and Liam groans, burying his face against Theo’s chest.
“They’re watching us, aren’t they?” Theo asks, his voice just low enough for Liam to hear.
“Yeah,” Liam mutters back just as quietly, “And Mom has her phone out.”
“What do you want to do?” Theo whispers.
“We could make a run for it,” Liam suggests.
Theo snorts, “Liam you’re still in your pajamas.”
“So? I’m not saying we have to go out in public,” Liam says.
“Oh honestly,” Jenna sighs, “Will you two just come over here and eat before the food gets cold?”
Theo shrugs, giving Liam a small smile which Liam quickly returns. He leans in and kisses Theo again, pleased when Theo returns it. Then he’s pulling back, grabbing Theo’s hand and leading him towards the table. This time he makes sure they’re sitting next to each other, and when a foot hooks around his ankle he knows just who it belongs to.