Work Text:
“Yes Scott, of course you can visit”, Liam can feel Theo’s eyes on him, “My roommate and I would love having you over.”
He wanders from the bedroom to the kitchen to start the coffee machine.
“Yes, Theo.” – “How long? We live together for nearly four years now.”
Theo sighs. Roommates. That’s all they are to Liam’s old friends. And not that it wasn’t true, but they were also boyfriends.
It started four years ago when Theo, freshly out of nursing school, realized that he couldn't pay for an apartment on his own. So he put up an add.
Liam, coming from a bad breakup, took one look at the rooms (and Theo) before he moved in. The two men hit it off from the start, both of them having a unique kind of humour and the same taste in movies and games.
Sometimes Liam’s temper causes their fights to get physical but they quickly learned how to not injure the other seriously.
Theo remembers the moment he ‘caught the feels' like it was yesterday. They had been out grocery shopping and as usual the plan was ‘divide and conquer’ so he sent Liam to get the canned goods and drinks and stayed in the veggie aisle himself to make sure their household got at least some vitamins.
After a few minutes Liam’s voice sounded through the nearly empty store: “Do we need more chocolate, T?”
Theo grinned to himself, shaking his head fondly before calling back: “We always need more chocolate Li, you never leave me more than one bar!”
The woman next to Theo chuckled quietly and when he turned around she smiled.
“Sorry, it’s just so refreshing to see young couples being able to shop together without constant arguing.”
Theo had already opened his mouth to correct her but the only thought in his mind was I want that with Liam. and so he just thanked the woman with a slightly shaky voice and continued to pick out just the right cucumber for ratatouille.
After that incident he began to notice more and more reasons to fall in love with Liam.
The way he smiles when he came home after a long day at work and Theo had dinner on the table.
His laughter when he won a round of Mario Cart.
His blue eyes practically glowing when he told Theo an interesting history fact.
And now it was three years they had been a couple. Three years full of laughter and tears, love and pain and Theo could feel the silver ring he bought two month ago burn a hole in his back pocket.
He just needed the right moment.
While Theo had been lost in thoughts Liam finished his phone call to Scott, one of his oldest friends back from high school, and comes back to the bedroom, two steaming cups of coffee on his hands.
“Scott is visiting us tonight”, the blonde says while handing over Theo’s cup, “He is in town to see some of Malia’s family.”
Theo feels his heart jump. “So... do you ever plan on telling him about us?”
“Theo, I know how this must look to you and I am sorry that my problems with relationships still follow us around, I swear-“ he is cut of by the sound of his beeper.
“Shit! I have to go!” with that he abandons his mug on the nightstand, presses a quick kiss to Theo’s lips and storms out of the door.
Liam is a firefighter and sometimes the calls come in the middle of the night, sometimes nothing for days. But when it happens he always hurries out so fast that they never get to say goodbye properly. He never says ‘I love you’ either.
Theo often wonders if Liam is doing it on purpose. Like a promise to come back for a real kiss. To say the words again.
~♤~
“Patient male, around 30, third degree burns on the left body half. Not responsive.”
That is the sentence that turns around Theo’s whole world. Then he starts running.
One hour later he stands in front of the huge glass window and watches Liam laying on the operation table, looking all small and pale between the sterilized green cloth, well, besides the angry red burns that cover half of his upper body. The plastic surgeon place transplants on Liam’s arm and Theo can’t every his eyes. Tears run down his cheeks freely while a cold helpless feeling settles in his chest as he watches the love of his life being cut open.
It feels like hours before the doctor lays down his instruments and turns to look at Theo to give him a reassuring nod. A bit of the ice in his lungs melts but he still follows all the way to the recovery room, refusing to leave Liam’s side.
~♤~
Liam’s breathes are becoming deeper and his fingers are starting to twitch. Then his eyes flutter. They close again a few times before they finally stay open. Theo rubs his tired eyes and sits up from where he is slumped in his uncomfortable hospital chair.
“Hey, Li, you are awake!” He carefully touches Liam’s uninjured cheek.
But Liam just stares blankly ahead, not giving any sign that he heard Theo.
“Liam, baby, do you feel pain? Should I call the doctor?”
“How bad is it?” is the only thing Liam gets out, still not looking Theo in the eyes.
“Oh... well the doctor couldn’t really say anything so shortly after the transplantation, but the burns were pretty serious. You will have scars - but don’t worry”, Theo quickly adds with a wink, “your still smoking hot!”
And then Liam’s blue eyes finally meet Theo’s, “So you won’t leave me?”, he asks, tears threatening to spill over.
“Liam! How could you think that? I love you okay? I could never leave you. Especially not for some stupid scars that just show how brave you are!”
“Really? How do you know I am brave? Maybe I was just stupid?”
Theo doesn't miss a beat. “Were you?”
“No, there was this little girl and-“ he coughs, “sorry, the smoke...”
“Because you’re so hot?” Theo jokes again, this time making Liam smile with him.
When Scott arrives Liam is asleep again and so Theo fills him in, whispering, not only because of the slumbering man next to them but its hard to talk about how he almost lost the love of his life.
Scott finally diverts his gaze from Liam’s still form and smiles at Theo. “You know, I am really glad Liam found you. You are a good friend.”
“Actually”, Liam’s brittle voice sounds behind them, “Theo is not really my roommate. He is my boyfriend.”
Both Theo and Scott stare at him in surprise, even if their reasons for it are different. Liam just smiles innocently, blinking the last sleep out of his eyes as he looks up to them.
“Liam... what... why didn’t you tell me?” Scott asks and he sounds so sad, one could think Liam just told him he would die. Theo grabs Liam’s uninjured hand, squeezing it on the sheets.
Liam smiles at him, then he slowly lifts his head to look at Scott.
“I was so afraid of what you would say. I know I don’t have the most successful past with picking my own partners and I really appreciate you helping me out when we were younger, but this is different. Theo is different. He is... the love of my life. And life can be so damn short.
So I figured why wait any longer? Why keep it a secret? I love this man and the whole world should know it!”
Theo’s eyes shine with suppressed tears as he lets go of Liam’s hand. He stands up and clears his throat.
“You are right Li, life is too short too wait for good things. And god knows, I imagined this situation differently but I guess it’s only fitting because we never did things the traditional way. So...” he reaches in his back pocket and goes down on one knee,
“Liam Eugene Dunbar, I love you so much it hurts. You are my endgame and I can’t imagine being without you anymore. Will you marry me?”
“Oh. My. God.” Scott blurts out, “I can’t believe this! Malia is gonna flip!”
Theo laughs shakily, then his gaze wanders back to Liam. “W-why are you crying, baby? Did I do something wrong? Was it not the right moment? Oh god, you don’t want to marry me. I am sorry, I-“ he clearly panics and that is something so rare for calm, level headed Theo, that Liam just laughs.
“Of course I want to marry you, idiot. But did you really believe with a proposal like that, I wouldn’t cry?”
He slowly turns his upper body to the bedside, lifting his legs on the ground until he sits on the bedside and can get a hold of Theo’s hands. “Listen, we are together for three years (“Three years?!” Scott gasps), we live together and I love you so much. Why on earth would I say no? Well, except for the fact that you totally ruined my plan to propose on our anniversary next week...”
Theo climbs to his feet again, “so, I can finally put that ring your finger before I loose it?”
Liam laughs and extracts his hand, watching Theo slip a simple but beautifully carved silver ring on his ring finger. “Why would you loose it?”
“Because I am about to do this.”
And with that Theo takes his fiancee’s face in both hands and they sink into deep, forget-everything-around-us kiss.