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For a moment Liam wonders if he is still dreaming.
But a quick pinch in his own arm convinces him of the reality of this situation, not that it changed anything in his wish that this was a dream.
Two hours before, Liam had layed in his bed, sleeping peacefully. And it would have stayed like that if something (or rather: someone) wouldn’t have startled him enough to wake him up.
Now the blonde boy stands in his parents backyard, only clad in boxer shorts and an old t-shirt from a vacation in North Carolina, one of his lacrosse shoes as a makeshift weapon, and stares unbelievingly at the surreal scenery in front of him.
There is his dog, Buck, who sleeps outside when it’s warm enough (and when Liam is too lazy to let him in after a midnight run in the garden); he is happily rolling around on the grass and barks excited about Liam’s arrival.
The problem is, Buck is not alone. There is a dark haired boy crouching on the ground next to the now yipping husky, petting him enthusiastically.
“Uhh... excuse me? Who are you? What are you doing here?”, that is about as much politeness as Liam is capable to bring up at 3am, speaking to a stranger in his backyard.
The boy, seemingly just now realizing that he isn’t alone anymore, jerks up, tumbles and lands on his butt in the grass.
“H-hey”, he manages to get out, his stunning green eyes trying to focus on Liam.
“You have a cute dog”, the boy continues, speech slurred ever so slightly, and then his hands are in Buck's fur again, “such a good boy. Yes, you are a good boy.”
Liam steps a bit closer and now he can smell the sharp alcohol aroma around his visitor.
“You are drunk”, he states, letting the hand that still holds his shoe sink.
“Drunk? Me? I am never drunk!” the boy protests before he promptly starts gagging.
Buck, who apparently senses the danger gets up and disappears into the house.
The definitely not drunk boy opens his mouth, probably to call him back but instead of words, his dinner comes out.
For a moment Liam just stands there, contemplating when in his life he went so wrong that it has lead him to this moment, where he stands in the garden and watches a stranger throw up on his parents grass at 3am.
(Probably when he decided it was a good idea to go investigate strange noises in the middle of the night.)
Maybe it’s the sleep that still clings to his brain, or the fresh air of the night, but as he stands there and stares at drunk-guy, he can’t help but notice how good the other boy looks even totally wrecked with dishevelled hair, pale skin and reeking of alcohol, sweat and now puke. The white shirt he wears clings to his toned upper body, nicely accentuating the boys pecs and biceps.
Urgh... bet it together Liam!
A pained groan brings Liam out of his totally inappropriate thoughts back to the reality and when his eyes focus again he sees that drunk-guy is back on his feet, barely.
With a sigh I hope you see this, karma! he dives forward and packs his visitors arm around his shoulder, taking nearly all his body weight.
“Come on, you need to sleep. When you can speak properly again we can find out who you are and where you belong...”
Ten minutes later Liam managed to bring drunk-guy inside and into his bathroom (it is still a miracle that his parents didn’t woke up, especially because he may or may not has dropped the boy a few times...), where he carefully leans him against the shower.
“Lets clean you up a bit, yeah?” He wets a towel and starts wiping the tanned skin of the face in front of him. Those amazing green eyes have closed and Liam gives up on cleaning when the boy seems to slip into unconsciousness and threatens to fall (again).
After he filled a glass with tab water and put it along with a blister pack of aspirin onto his couch table, he pulls a blanket over the now peacefully sleeping guy on his couch before finally falling back into his bed. The sleep comes to him almost instantly.
~♤~
When Liam wakes up again it is with a jolt. For a moment he blinks disoriented before his eyes focus and his memory of last night’s happenings comes back.
Drunk-guy is now obviously hang-over-guy, if him falling from the couch and pulling the blanket over his head with a pained groan is any indication.
His body is twisted in an interesting way, he almost kneels with his ass up in the air, but his head and arms are still splayed on the ground. This is such a pretty position for him...
Liam coughs awkwardly: “Hey, uhm... You should really take that aspirin and drink some water, dude.”
The guy jolts up, his eyes now lighter than last night and wide with surprise. It is almost like in a cartoon how big and confused they look.
“Who are you? And where am I?” his voice comes out as barely more than a croak and as soon as he speaks he grips his head again, grimacing from the headache.
“Well, since you were the one who drunkenly molested my dog last night maybe you should tell me your name first...” Liam grins, this situation is certainly getting better, and swings his legs until his feet touch the ground, then, despite his previous words, he starts speaking. When he finishes to fill in the blank spaces of last night, the boy on his floor groans again, embarrassed this time, carding his fingers through his already tousled hair.
“I am sorry, Liam,” his name never sounded so good (bad brain, don’t think stuff like that this early!), “this is really a great fist impression. How about we start over?”
The boy gets up, swallows the pills and gulps down the water in one go before brushing his hair back once more and patting down his wrinkled clothes as good as he can.
Then he clears his throat, a small but charming smile appearing on his lips, and holds his hand out: “Hi, my name is Theo Raeken and I moved in next door with my parents yesterday. We are from New York and my hobbies include bad coping mechanisms for house moving and skate boarding.”
Liam smiles as he takes the hand: “Nice to meet you Theo. I am sure I can help you to get over the cultural shock that is Beacon Hills.”
“I bet you can”, is he still dreaming or did Theo just really flirt with him?
Before Liam can think of a clever answer his door opens and Buck bounds into the room.
In two long strides he crosses the room and jumps onto Theo. The boy, still not fully awake, tumbles back and lands on the couch, the happily panting dog on his lap. He obviously waits for the petting from last night to continue.
Liam bursts out in laughter: “Seems like Buck took a liking to you after last night...”
And not just Buck...