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“Third house on the right.” Liam directed Theo. Theo was driving him home after they had dealt with the hunters over at the abandoned zoo.
The car (truck?) ride wasn’t as awkward as Liam had thought it was going to be. In fact, it wasn’t awkward at all. Other than the being knocked out 5 times and his face hurting like a bitch when he woke up, everything was fine for once. After the talk about the Anuk-ite, they feel into a comfortable silence, something Liam was getting used to around Theo.
It seemed like it was one of those rare moments that was becoming less rare. They were talking without fighting or insulting each other. Theo was smiling over at him, like genuinely smiling and Liam then realized he had never seen Theo genuinely smile before. Of course, it was after he told Liam he knocked him out 5 times but he was still smiling.
They pulled into Liam’s driveway and Liam didn’t get out right away. They both sat there for a few minutes not talking, but they both kept glancing over at each other.
Liam was the one who broke the silence. “Thank you.”
“Huh?” Theo looked over to him.
“I said thank you.”
“Oh, yeah don’t worry about it,” Theo waves his hand a little. “it's not like it’s a good idea for you to walk home with those hunters out.”
“What?” Liam said, then he shook his head as he chuckled. “No. I meant for helping me at the zoo today.”
“Oh...” Theo felt a bit awkward and he scratched the back of his neck. “Um,” He cleared his throat. “right, um, you’re welcome, I guess.”
Theo wasn’t expecting any type of thank you. He wasn’t used to people thanking him for things he did. He was used to people shouting at him that he had done something wrong. So Liam thanking him was something new.
Liam could sense that Theo was confused by him thanking him. “I’m being serious, Theo, thank you. You helped me out a lot today.”
Theo didn’t respond, he didn’t know how, so he only smiled over at Liam. Liam caught his eyes and they stared at each other for a few moments before Liam blinked a couple times and started getting out of the truck.
Liam was almost at his front door before the sound of window rolling down and a voice stopped him. “Hey, Liam?” Liam turned back around and Theo could feel his heart rate picking up (that he was pretty certain that Liam could hear) and he was fiddling with his fingers in his lap, something he hasn’t done since he was kid when he got nervous. "And call me if you need anything, okay.”
Liam tried, and failed, to stop the stupid grin spreading across his face. “I will.” Liam nodded. “Night Theo.”
“N-Night.”
He waited till he made sure Liam was safety inside his house to start up his truck and pull out of the driveway.
While he drove back down the road, Theo felt a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest. He had never felt anything like that before. He had been feeling it a lot recently and he was very confused as to what it was. He was even more confused when he started to realize it only happened whenever he was around, or even just looking at, a certain person. More specifically, the boy who he was suddenly wanting to make sure was safe.