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"The floor is lava!"
At first when Liam yells it, everyone looks at him, dumbfounded. Scott cocks his head to the side in confusion at the interruption of the pack meeting, and the entire group standing around his kitchen table obviously feels the same. Theo looks at him like he's insane.
It isn't until Liam pulls out his phone, hops up onto the counter, repeats it again, and starts counting when the flurry of movement starts. "Five, four, three, two-"
Kira squeals and dives across Scott's kitchen table, landing somehow gracefully but off the floor. Stiles rolls his eyes but dashes to the couch a few feet away, Theo pulls out a kitchen chair and looks at Liam with a weird sense of seriousness, and Scott trips over his feet trying to get to the loveseat in time, landing on the carpet with a muffled 'oof.' Liam catches the whole thing on camera, pointing it at the ones who were in the lava and the ones who survived.
"What the hell was the point of that?" Malia scoffs, being one of the people who were standing in floor-lava.
"Okay, from now on," Liam proposes, still getting all of the pack's reactions on camera. "Whoever gets left in the lava has to put ten dollars into a jar for a group dinner!"
"If I knew the stakes I wouldn't be in the fuckin' lava!" Isaac complains, and Liam zooms way in on his face. This will look great once it's on youtube.
"You're in the clear for now, but next up, you'd better be off the floor!"
Theo's looking at him with amusement when he ends the video and jumps off the counter, but he's willing to go along with Liam on this. It could turn out to be fun.
-
Theo can tell exactly when Liam's about to do something, so he knows when the next drill will be. This one's for the money, and Theo's looking forward to seeing the pack scramble like ants to avoid it. He got his own phone out as soon as he saw the glint of mischief in the beta's eyes.
"The floor is lava!"
This time, it doesn't take long at all for him to get a response. Theo already mapped out a path to the ottoman in Lydia's lakehouse basement, so he jumped up on it in a rush and made sure he got his own footage for whatever Liam was planning to do with it. Allison hopped onto the computer desk and sent a bunch of pencils into the lava and Lydia followed, everyone else looking around frantically as Liam counts down. Malia attempted to shove Stiles off the couch and he falls backwards, and Scott desperately tried to find somewhere strong enough to hold him before settling for bracing himself on the stair railing. Theo snickered at all the action going on around him.
Liam smiled at him and Theo grinned back. Kira, Corey, Mason, and Stiles were the ones to owe the first bits of money into the dinner fund, and while Stiles grumbled about it, the other three just jokingly and fairly pulled out their wallets and put it in the jar Liam held. Allison patted her girlfriend on the back when she almost tripped on a spilled pencil, the strawberry blonde laughing, and Mason and Corey both shook hands for the loss.
-
A few times later and nobody trusted anybody anymore. They were all looking at each other like they were planning on doing whatever it took to get to the best places, and they were all already planning out where to go. Liam noticed how Malia was eyeing up the picnic table in the schoolyard and made it a note not to go there, since she would probably push him right off. Sabotage was a practice that was spreading from Malia's influence, and she used it against anyone and everyone, even the game moderator.
"The floor is lava!" Liam called out, leaning on top of a trashcan and hoping it didn't fall. Everyone immediately dashed to their places, Erica and Boyd both trying to get on the same bench and ending up on the ground, and Lydia and Allison once again comforting each other when they tripped. Theo almost didn't make it to a spot until Liam grabbed his hand and pulled him up on the lidded trash can with him, the chimera giving him a thankful smile.
Their success was short-lived, and both of their phones fell as the can tipped over and sent them right into the lava. The pack laughed ruefully at the two, them being the only ones who hadn't had to pay anything into the fund yet, and they rolled their eyes but smiled at each other. Liam took a ten dollar bill out of his pocket, looked over at Theo...and took out another.
Theo's smile faded into a sheepish expression, his hand scratching the back of his head as he stayed on the ground. It hadn't occurred to him that he couldn't even afford to play this game with the rest of them. Sometimes, Liam took better care of him than he did himself.
-
There was more than enough money in the jar to fund a lunch for a small army, everyone having had paid at least twice, with the exception of Theo, at that point, but they kept going.
Now that they were in Liam's house, Theo was sure that the younger boy would call it out again. He knew all the good spots to stand for sure, so he would undoubtedly take advantage of his home field. As soon as Liam reached for his phone in his back pocket, Theo pulled his out as well and tracked his movement.
"The floor is lava!" Liam yelled over the idle chatter.
"Oh, fuck you," Someone called out, but he ignored him and jumped onto his kitchen island.
This time, Theo followed suit, but not without a plan. He climbed up right next to him without realizing how small the space really was, and he was suddenly right up close to the beta. He began to stumble backwards, but an arm wrapped around his waist and kept him upright.
Theo's breath caught in his throat - Liam wasn't moving. The slightly shorter boy bit back a laugh and looked into his eyes with his own blue, and Theo felt like he might just fall right back down onto the kitchen floor from the utter shock he was experiencing. Their chests pressed together and Liam turned his phone camera around, the chimera being unsure of what he was doing.
It was when two soft lips pressed against his own when he finally did fall off the counter, taking Liam with him. "Oh, shit!" Liam gasped when he felt the two of them going down, Theo hitting the linoleum tiles with his back. "Shit, I'm sorry-"
Theo interrupted him by kissing him right back, cupping the back of his head and pulling him back down so that they were flush. He didn't even care that the rest of the pack had long since gotten somewhere since Liam never actually counted down and that they were all staring at them since he was far too distracted by Liam. "Wow," He breathed when Liam came up for air, brushing a piece of his hair out of his face.
"Yeah," Liam agreed, chest heaving from both the rush of falling and kissing him. "Wow."
"Hey, not to ruin the whole 'Liam straddling Theo in the middle of the kitchen' thing, but y'all both fell in the lava," Erica pointed out from where she was perched near the sink, Derek smirking at her.
-
The pack dinner ended up costing well over a hundred dollars, but also a lot less than what they had saved up in the jar. They donated the rest of it to Deaton for more of his research practices, because let's be real: that guy really didn't get enough credit for what he did for the pack.
"I've always wanted to try crab," Theo said as he opened his container of food, smiling mostly at Liam but also the alluring smell. "Wasn't something I ever got around to."
"Well," Liam reasoned, stealing a potato chunk off of Scott's plate. "There are a lot of things you can try now."
Theo raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? Like what?"
"Like this," Liam whispered, leaning in and kissing him softly. Theo sighed out through his nose and smiled into it. He'd tried that before, but he didn't think he'd ever get tired of it.
Theo looked around at the pack. "Hey Li?" Liam responded with a hum, and Theo smirked. "The floor is lava."
The laughter the pack shared as Liam sent himself flying across Theo's lap to get off the floor filled the house with a sense of joy that lasted for the rest of the night.