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It all started with the pitying glances at lunch.
And Liam knows how it looks, him sitting at a table with Mason and Corey, Brett and Nolan and Josh and Tracy. He is the fifth, or rather seventh wheel. Always.
And one day, Liam slept particularly bad and his already short fuse is ending. He sighs, taking his heart into his hands and says, louder than necessary, “I wish my boyfriend would go to our school, I am starting to feel a little lonely here.”
The pack stares.
Mason, in a mixture of confusion and hurt, catches himself first, “you have a boyfriend? Since when? Who? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Yes. Theo and I have been dating for almost a month now.”
If Liam prided himself in one thing, it was his ability to follow a plan once he made it. No matter how stupid. And stupid this plan definitely is, especially since Theo doesn’t know about it and surely doesn’t have a reason to play along with this charade once he does know.
The nature of lies is that they are quite short lived on their own, you need to add onto them to keep the illusion going and the lie alive.
Being a werewolf, Liam knows how hard it is to be dishonest to other supernaturals, especially if they are close to you but his newfound ability to suppress emotions and keep his heartbeat even is another thing he has to thank Theo for. If he can finally stop avoiding the Chimera that is.
Because by now Theo surely has heard about the rumour of being in a relationship. With Liam, his loving boyfriend. Who he doesn’t even talk to much these days.
Until a message from Scott chimes into Liam's phone in the middle of the school day.
From: Scott
11:02am
Hey Liam. Pack meeting at 4pm. My place. Theo will come get you after practice.
And so it comes that Liam climbs into Theo's truck after a quick shower, under the curious eyes of most of his teammates and a few other students. Ironically that scene is what cements Liam's story even more, making his boyfriend real. He should be happy about it. Except.
Theo is silent.
Save for a quick ‘hey' neither of them says a word, not even when they walk into the McCall living room and Malia greets them with “Finally, we waited just for you, lovebirds!”
Theo still doesn’t say anything, he simply flips her off before falling onto the couch next to Liam, placing one arm on the back of the cushions behind him.
The meeting flies by while Liam sinks into anxious thoughts and when Theo brings the truck to a stop in front of his house, he slides out of his seat quietly.
“See you tomorrow, little wolf.”
Liam freezes. Tomorrow? What is tomorrow?
“Y-yeah. You pick me up from school again?”
Apparently that is the right answer because Theo nods before giving him a lazy two finger salute and driving of.
Inside the safety of his room, Liam pulls out his phone.
To: Mason
6:45pm
Dude. What is tmrw?!
Mason, being the good student he is, actually listened to Scott and his plans at the meeting and so he can tell Liam everything about how they were paired to do the preparations for the Pack Christmas party tomorrow.
The longer his charade goes on, the more relaxed Liam goes.
Could this actually work?
Did he get himself a fake boyfriend and the fake boyfriend is actually okay with it?
Since everyone at school now assumes that he is in a relationship with a hot older guy, the pitying glances (and unwanted attention from sophomore girls) have stopped and Liam can finally concentrate on his classes again. And yet, the part of the school day he finds himself looking forward to most is the last bell, when he walks out of the building and climbs into Theo's truck, waiting there for him. Because Theo now picks him up from school quite regularly.
He greats Liam with a smile (that makes the sleepy butterflies in Liam's stomach flutter happily) and he asks how his day was so the drive back home is filled with stories about history classes and Lacrosse training. In return Liam listens to Theo bitch about customers in the Starbucks he works at while they eat.
It's an easy truth and a few times, when they sit in front of the TV, or on Liam's bed playing video games, the young beta can feel a certain happiness rising up in him. A happiness that, if it spills over, makes him fight the need to hug Theo.
Theo, who laughs only for him, who looks so soft in the blue light of the media unit, who silently slides over a banana when he drives Liam to school because he woke up late and didn’t have time for breakfast again.
Theo who became one of his best friends over the last year – only that he wants to kiss said friend and hug him and hold his hand and – fuck.
Liam is so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he doesn’t notice how the time flies past. When he comes to a result, resurfaces to the real world, Christmas is just around the corner and with the holidays the pack party comes; their group chat is active pretty much around the clock but Liam, having already volunteered for bringing mashed potato casserole (Jenna's recipe) just set an alarm for the correct time and date in his phone before muting the chat indefinitely.
The silence is so much nicer on his sensitive ears.
But as much as he likes to be left alone, Liam is also a very curious person and so he makes it a habit to scroll through the messages left every night before bed. Normally it's a mix of banter and people changing their food wishes so his eyes grow tired, so tired in fact that he almost misses a text from Theo.
The text in itself is a surprise because Theo is normally silent and only chimes in when directly asked but what he wrote let's Liam hold his breath.
Theo (4:56pm): Can we bring guests to this party?
Guests. Theo wants to bring someone not pack to this party. A stranger. A stranger he cares about enough to spend Christmas with.
Hot anger rises in Liam's stomach like bile.
“You know, I really admire your self control lately”, Scott says casually, making Liam look up from his place on the couch where he is busy detangling the outdoor fairy lights.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Oh you know, you and Theo. Him dating this other girl. I think you're really good at handling this open relationship.”
Oh. Right.
Neither Liam nor Theo actively confirmed or denied their relationship towards the pack, after the initial outburst in the cafeteria so Liam hoped it would die down (did he really?) but apparently Scott is convinced that they are a couple.
Liam looks down onto his hands, suddenly there is a lump in his throat, stopping him from speaking.
Just in this moment Theo enters the room.
“Hey Li, you finished with the lights? We need more for that tree.”
The Chimera's cheeks are rosy from the fresh wind outside and his eyes are bright from laughing with Brett and Corey. He is beautiful. Fuck.
~♤~
So, Liam concludes while watching Theo and Anna-Lena-but-you-can-call-me-Annie over the table, this is what jealousy feels like.
White hot anger swirling around his stomach, claws threaten to pop out every time Theo smiles at the girl and the permanent wish to just be in her place.
He really worked a lot on his self control lately, not at last with Theo's help, and so Liam makes it all the way through dinner, politely ignoring Annie and trying to enjoy the holiday meal with his pack. It goes surprisingly well until, yeah until they decide to relocate to the living room for a movie and he sees Theo steer towards the love seat.
Oh, hell no!
As fast as he can without looking suspicious, Liam squeezes through the various people standing around and launches himself into the place next to the Chimera before someone else can take it.
“Hi.”
Theo slowly turns his head, “hi Liam?”
“So, how are you doing?”
A small smile ghosts over Theo's face, “this is nice. Like I am part of a real pack.”
Fiercely nodding Liam grabs onto Theo's thigh, “you are part of a pack. Our pack!” and for once Theo doesn’t argue but only leans a little closer until their shoulders are touching.
The movie starts but Liam can’t concentrate on superheroes fighting each other, not with the Chimera’s warmth slowly seeping into his body, with his heart beating so fast that-
“Is everything okay?”, Theo whispers, his breath hitting the side of Liam's neck, “you smell kinda weird.”
“I’m good", Liam answers, suppressing his goose bumps, “it's just nice, sitting here with you.”
Theo smiles and feels around until he can take Liam's hand in his.
He doesn’t let go all evening.
The next morning Liam wakes up with a smile on his face, remembering the day before until his brain catches up and anxiety settles in.
Is Theo just playing along?
What is he feeling?
And most importantly, how the hell did they end up in this situation that Liam doesn’t even know if he has a boyfriend anymore?
He jumps out of bed. This is ending now.
With a few steps the beta is out of his room and rips open the door to Theo's.
He sits on the side of Theo's bed, shaking his roommate lightly.
“Theo. Hey Theo. Wake up.”
In the time of a heartbeat the Chimera opens his eyes, grips Liam and manoeuvres the smaller boy under himself on the bed, wrists pinned over his head.
Then he realises, “Liam? What are doing here?”
“Good morning?”
Theo sighs, then he lets go of him, “Yes, good morning.”
They are silent for a moment.
“Are you my boyfriend?”
Shit. That came out fast.
But Theo only grins. He is still straddling Liam's hips and now he leans forward until their noses are touching.
“Why are you asking? Came to ravish me in my bed, did you?”
Liam feels the flush rising immediately but Theo already takes pity on him.
“Of course we are together”, he shrugs, “I mean, that's what you told literally everyone, right?”
“I am sorry! I just panicked and I didn’t want everyone at school to pity me so I just blurted out that I had a boyfriend and you were the first person who came to my mind so-"
He is interrupted by soft lips, firmly pressing on his own.
“Please tell me I didn’t misread that”, Theo whispers, leaning their foreheads together, “I got a few mixed signals but the general vibe definitely leaned more-“
This time Liam initiates the kiss and when he buries his hands in Theo's delicious bedhead, he can feel the other boy relax into his touch.
“You were definitely reading the signals right, by the way", Liam tells Theo much later, when they lie in the bed next to each other, hearts still beating fast from their make out session.
Theo chuckles before leaning over and pressing a quick kiss onto Liam's cheek.
“Good to know, Little Wolf, good to know.”