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Scott should’ve known.
It had been pretty clear during the war, but now, you’d have to be blind not to notice that something was going on.
The whole pack was at his house, gathered in the living room for a pack meeting- Monroe might’ve run into hiding, but her hunters didn’t. They had just spent two hours going over everywhere Argent and Derek had tracked the hunters, and figured out where they needed to be to stop them before they could murder more supernaturals.
So now, the pack (at least those that were going) was gathering supplies for their trip to Arizona- hoping to cut the hunters off before they reached their destination.
And Scott was not blind.
Almost the whole pack was running around, except for two people. Scott watched as Liam nudged Theo after Argent had given the order to get ready for the mission, watched as the chimera, who had been looking down the entire meeting, glanced up only when the werewolf touched him. He watched as the beta’s face shifted, almost like he was asking a question, and Theo’s expression changed.
The alpha was stuck, could do nothing but keep his eyes glued on the two boys as they had a silent conversation, their faces twisting and eyebrows furrowing, ending with a subtle nod from the chimera. And Liam lit up. A wide grin settled on his face, and he grabbed Theo’s arm before dragging him off to god knows where.
“You have to pack, come on,” Liam whispered as they left the room, and it would’ve been lost in the chaos of the house if Scott hadn’t been focusing solely on them.
The alpha looked around, seeing if anyone else had noticed what he had, but his friends were oblivious. All except for one person- Brett.
The tall werewolf was staring at where Liam and Theo had disappeared, a fond smirk on his face. He seemed to sense Scott’s eyes, and shifted his gaze to the alpha, raising an eyebrow. Scott shook his head slightly, dismissing the werewolf’s question, before turning around to help Argent with his weapons.
Scott wasn’t blind, but that didn’t mean he understood what was going on between Liam and Theo.
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They were unstoppable.
It was something that Scott had been told about, back when his mom recounted what had happened at the hospital during the war. She had been wary when she told him how the two boys seemed so in sync when they fought that day, as if they shared a single brain, two halves of a whole.
But seeing it in action was a whole different experience.
The pack was in Arizona, at the warehouse Derek had tracked the hunters to, and it had been a little too quiet to be normal, but the pack had inevitably relaxed when there was no one there.
What a mistake that had been.
The ambush was so sudden, hunters pouring in from all directions, and the pack was beginning to get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of enemies.
Scott had just knocked out another hunter when he came face to face with a frozen Stiles, his eyes wide as he stared at something behind them. The alpha quickly turned around, praying that there weren’t more hunters coming, but the sight that met his eyes had him mirroring his best friend’s expression.
The alpha gaped in shock as he watched Liam claw a hunter that was about to shoot Theo before turning back to his own. The chimera’s eyes flickered to the beta before he knocked out the hunter he was fighting, then ran in front of the hunter Liam was in combat with. The younger boy seemed to sense his presence, because he shoved the hunter, who tripped over the chimera. Theo punched him once, before grabbing Liam’s extended hand, and the two stood side by side, letting out twin growls at the oncoming hunters.
They radiated power, and the hunters seemed to have noticed it, because more and more of them were trying to stop the two boys, concluding that they were the biggest threat. Scott stood staring as their enemies were taken down one by one by Theo and Liam. He broke out of his daze and ran to help them, because yes, this was insane, but now was not the time to think about it.
Eventually, the fight ended, and the hunters were taken away by Scott’s dad and the FBI, while the pack collapsed where they were standing, exhausted.
Stiles, Derek, and Argent were talking to Scott’s dad a few yards away, and the alpha took the time to turn his gaze back to Liam and Theo.
Theo was leaning against the door of his truck, while Liam stood in front of him, their shoulders relaxed as they talked. Suddenly, the beta tensed, his mouth tightening.
And Scott shouldn’t have listened, but something was happening, and he wasn’t going to understand it just by creepily watching them. So he creepily eavesdropped instead.
“Theo, you’re hurt,” Liam hissed, his hand trying to lift up the front of the chimera’s shirt.
“I’m fine,” Theo responded, grabbing the beta’s wrist before he could pull his shirt. “And I’d really appreciate it if you could stop trying to strip me in front of the pack.”
“Shut up,” the werewolf snarled, his eyes flashing gold. “You said that you’d stop doing this. You really want me to tell Brett and Corey that you got hurt again and won’t let me help you?”
Theo faltered, clearly not expecting that. “They won’t care.”
“Fine.” Liam stepped back from the chimera, fishing his phone out of his pocket. The older boy seemed to be reconsidering what he had said, but his face closed off again as he stubbornly crossed his arms, watching the werewolf put the phone to his ear.
“Brett, Theo’s hurt and is being an asshole about it again.”
Theo scoffed, before snatching the phone. “I am not. It’s literally a scratch, Liam’s exaggerating like he always doe-”
He broke off when a sudden yell came from the phone, hastily pulling it away from his ear. Scott tuned his hearing just a little so he could hear the other boy’s words- he was already eavesdropping, might as well listen to the whole thing.
“Theo, I swear to God, if you don’t let Liam help you, I’m gonna kick your ass so hard when you get back,” Brett growled from the phone. “Stop pretending everything’s fine.”
“Brett, I’m serious, it’s just a scra-”
“THEO!”
The chimera winced, pulling the phone even further from his ear.
“Hey, Corey,” Theo mumbled, but his words were barely audible over the other chimera’s screaming. Malia walked over to Scott and started to say something, but the alpha quickly shushed her, tilting his head in Theo’s direction. The werecoyote looked confused for a moment, but quieted as she listened in.
“If you don’t stop being a dumbass, I’m literally gonna drive to Arizona right now and kill you. Let Liam help you or you’re not invited to our Marvel marathon next week,” Corey reprimanded, not even giving Theo a chance to interrupt. “And we’re watching Winter Soldier, so you better fucking drop the asshole act right now.”
Theo let out a heavy sigh. “I hate you guys.”
“No, you don’t,” Brett and Corey’s voices chorused from the phone and the chimera rolled his eyes hard before hanging up.
Liam was smirking when the chimera handed his phone back to him. “You gonna stop being an ass now?”
“It’s just a fucking scra-” Theo cut himself off at the beta’s glare. Liam lifted up the chimera’s shirt, and hissed at the sight.
“That scratch has wolfsbane on it, you son of a bitch,” he said, scowling at Theo. “Stay here.”
“Like I have anywhere else to go,” the chimera muttered under his breath as Liam ran off to Derek, quickly getting what he needed to burn the poison out of Theo’s body. He hurried back, warning Theo before lighting a match. The older boy gasped at the pain, gritting his teeth as Liam’s hands weaved around the wound, and sinking back into the truck when it was finally done.
Theo tried to put his shirt back down, since the injury was taken care of, but Liam quickly slashed the piece of cloth in half, exposing the chimera’s torso again.
“It’s still healing, don’t do that,” the younger boy said, and Theo blinked blankly at the beta before his lips quirked up slightly.
“So you were trying to strip me.”
Liam snickered, smacking the chimera’s chest softly. “I was not.”
The two fell into casual conversation again, and Scott finally stopped listening. He turned his head to find Malia, Derek, Stiles, and Argent next to him, all giving Theo and Liam weird looks.
“When did Theo get so close to the Puppy Pack?” Malia questioned quietly, and everyone’s attention shifted away from the two boys.
“I don’t know, but judging from what just happened, they’re close,” Derek said, his flicking over to Theo. “And you guys saw what happened when they were fighting.”
Stiles let out a squeak. “You guys all saw that too, right? Like, I wasn’t hallucinating? It was like watching a movie.”
Scott sighed, trying to wrap his head around the past twenty minutes. “Yeah, my mom told me how in sync they were back at the hospital during the war, but I never expected that.”
“They’re each other’s anchors,” Argent declared, and the group all turned to him in shock.
“There’s no way that’s true…” the alpha trailed off, recollecting various memories from the past couple of weeks.
Liam getting pissed at Brett, who had brought up something that had happened at their old school, and going on a rampage, until Theo dragged him outside. They had both come back in a few minutes later, with no sign of the beta’s anger.
Theo standing at the corner of the room during a pack meeting, his shoulders drawn in as if he was trying to disappear, when Liam suddenly shifted, causing their shoulders to touch. The chimera’s head had snapped to the beta, his eyes dropping to their connected shoulders, and he had stared for a few moments before sighing. But Scott had noticed that he was not as tense anymore, like the touch was anchoring him to reality.
So, yes, it was completely true, and Scott was completely blind to not have figured it out before.
“Holy shit,” the alpha whispered, his eyes meeting Argent’s. “They’re each other’s anchors.”
“What? ” Malia hissed, her arms flailing. “You’re kidding, right? That’s Theo. And Liam. How could they be each other’s anchors?”
Derek’s gaze moved to the two boys again, who were now looking at something on Liam’s phone, their bodies practically merged together as they laughed. “Liam’s anger is what makes him lose control. And Theo’s ruthlessness is what made him lose touch with his humanity before. And they bring it out in each other,” the former alpha stated, and Malia’s brows furrowed.
“If they make it worse, how does that make them anchors?”
“Because it ends up doing the opposite,” Stiles said slowly, like he was suddenly putting together the puzzle pieces. “Theo makes Liam more angry, taunts him and all that shit, but it makes Liam think. Instead of just submitting to his anger, he stops and listens to Theo.”
The human’s eyes shifted to Theo, who was now ruffling Liam’s hair, causing the beta to squawk and try to straighten it out again in vain. “And Theo’s never been good with emotions, not since he was taken by the Dread Doctors. The only thing he was taught was to be ruthless, to not care. And Liam lets him do that. He even riles him up more, but eventually, it wears Theo out. And you know what’s left?” Stiles nods at the two boys. “That.”
The group turned around again to see the chimera with a fond smile on his face as Liam looked at his phone and talked, glancing up every couple of seconds to make sure Theo was listening. The older boy wasn’t even trying to hide it, and maybe to them it seemed unnatural, but apparently to Liam, it was normal.
“Liam brings out Theo’s human side again, that’s why he’s his anchor,” Stiles finished, finally pulling his eyes away from them.
Scott let out a sigh. “They work insanely well together for a reason,” he pointed out. “Theo’s changed, we know that. But this? This proves it.”
The group all took in his words. Theo had changed, everyone had seen it in the past few months. And if Corey, sweet, innocent Corey, was Theo’s friend, the older chimera had clearly owned up to his mistakes and was trying to be better.
“Hey, guys?” Liam’s voice called out, abruptly pulling them out of their thoughts. “Can we go?”
Scott stared for a couple of seconds before realizing he was the alpha. “Yeah, let’s go. We can make it back to Beacon Hills by dinner if we start now.”
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Scott and the rest of the group had not even fully entered the house when footsteps pounded the floor, and the alpha barely had time to look up before someone was pushing him to the side.
“You asshole,” Corey fumed, making his way to Theo, who had been the last one to enter and looked like he wished he never came in. “Next time, you’re not going on a mission without me or Brett.”
The chimera raised his hands in surrender as the rest of the Puppy Pack made their way to the living room. “I’m fine, okay? It was just a scratch.”
“With wolfsbane on it,” Liam added, his mouth tilted up in a smirk, like he knew the damage he had done by mentioning the poison.
Theo growled at the beta, yelping when Brett smacked his head. “You’re on probation.”
The older pack simply stared as the scene unfolded, all wondering how they had missed this development- clearly, Theo had been close to the Puppy Pack for a while.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Theo grumbled, stepping closer to Nolan, who the chimera had apparently deemed the least likely to hit him.
“You have to do something for all of us,” Brett said, crossing his arms over his chest. Theo raised an eyebrow.
“Do what?”
Brett paused, evidently trying to come up with something on the spot. “You have to do our laundry,” he blurted out, and the rest of the Puppy Pack let out snickers, Stiles and Malia joining in.
“Probation means I have to do all of your guys’ laundry?” Theo asked dryly, a small smile on his face. Liam snorted, and the chimera’s gaze flicked over to him, his eyes bright.
The tall werewolf nodded, before throwing a hand over the chimera’s shoulder. “Now, c’mon, Lori has a date tomorrow, and I need someone to help me figure out what I should do to scare the guy out of going.”
He dragged Theo to the front door, the rest of the Puppy Pack following him laughing, as Lori smacked her brother. “You do that, and I’ll tell N-”
Brett covered her mouth, one arm still around Theo, who was far too amused at the situation, but looked like he belonged. They all left, leaving the older pack in shock as they tried to process what just happened.
“Well,” Stiles said, his jaw finally closing, “We clearly have not been paying attention to anything the last few months.”
Scott snorted at the severe understatement.
What a fucking day.