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Liam had a boyfriend, and Theo was going insane.
Months had passed since the war, and Theo had thought that something had happened in that goddamn elevator before the fight, but nope, it had just been him, being a dumbass and hoping for something that would never happen.
How could it, when Theo ruined the McCall pack last year, when Theo had manipulated Liam into killing Scott, and then had actually killed Scott? How could it, after all the things Theo did with the Dread Doctors, when Liam knew all the things he did? How could it, when Theo was bad, and Liam was good, and there was no changing the truth?
“Hey, Scott,” Liam started, catching the alpha’s attention as the pack meeting was winding to a close, “I’m gonna skip movie night today, I have a date with Gray.”
Scott hesitated for a second, before nodding slowly, a faint smile on his face as he looked at the beta, and Liam grinned widely. Gray had moved to Beacon Hills a few weeks ago, and apparently Liam had run into him at the grocery store, and they’d hit it off quick. Theo wasn’t evil anymore, but every time Liam mentioned his boyfriend, he got closer to breaking his no-murder promise he made to the pack.
And Theo was good at pretending, so that’s what he did—he pretended he hadn’t heard, and continued his conversation with Brett like nothing had happened. He could feel eyes on him though, and for a second, he was tempted to break his facade and confront everyone that was looking at him. Because that was also part of the reason Theo was going insane.
Everyone knew.
Because one of the things Scott had talked to him about when he finally accepted Theo into the pack was to stop controlling his chemosignals and heartbeat all the time, because apparently it showed trust, and Theo hated it, but it hadn’t been that bad. At least until it gave away Theo’s not-so-subtle feelings for a certain beta.
Liam practically ran out of the house, and Theo continued pretending that it didn’t matter, but of course the pack wouldn’t let him get away with it like he wanted to.
“Theo—”
“Don’t,” Theo cut Corey off, very aware of the fact that it wasn’t just Corey looking at him, and the pity in the room wasn’t hard to pick up, but Theo couldn’t right now. Or ever, really. “Drop it.”
“But—”
Theo’s irritation flared, and he glared at the other chimera, who shrunk back a little at the heated look. The room was tense, everyone wanting to talk about it, but Theo was dead set on not talking about it, and eventually Stiles broke the silence and moved to grab the remote for the TV. Theo felt the occasional stare on the side of his head, but he resolutely ignored every single one, keeping his head facing forward even as he sunk into the couch next to Brett.
And Theo had the urge to text Liam, like he always did, because it was just reflex now, making sure the beta was safe, but he clamped his nails down on his palm and forced himself not to reach for his phone in his pocket.
And if Theo had to extend his claws out to ground himself in order to make that happen, well, that was his business and his business only.
---
“Are you avoiding me?”
Theo cocked a brow as he looked up from his book at Liam, who’d flung the guest room door open with no hesitance. There was a part of Theo that reminded him he should be annoyed at that, at the beta’s disregard for his privacy, but Theo also knew that he didn’t care. Not when it was Liam.
“No,” Theo answered, before turning his attention back to the book, hoping Liam would accept the answer and leave. But he was beginning to realize that Liam didn’t accept things that easily.
“Are you sure?” Liam asked, making his way into the room and flopping down on Theo’s bed, ignoring the sure, make yourself comfortable Theo muttered under his breath. “Because it feels like you are.”
Theo rolled his eyes, and gave the beta an unamused look. “Liam, if I wanted to avoid you, you’d never see me.”
Liam paused, considering Theo’s words. “That’s fair, I guess,” Liam said slowly, and Theo nodded and looked down at the book again, even though he wasn’t really comprehending anything at this point. “It’s just… you’re not around that much anymore. And you live here.”
Theo stiffened a little, although Liam didn’t notice. “Just been busy at the clinic,” he murmured, which wasn’t a lie, he’d been working with Deaton on a possible antidote to a new strain of wolfsbane that they’d come into contact with last month. Apparently the hunters were getting smarter and more resourceful—a fact that Theo had predicted, but despised anyway.
The beta tilted his head as he stared at Theo, like he was trying to figure out if Theo was telling the truth, and part of Theo was a little hurt, but he couldn’t blame Liam for not believing him. He had no right to expect anything different, because even if he was in the pack now, even if he was living with Liam, he was still Theo Raeken, and he was still the one who had murdered Tara, and Josh, and Tracy.
“Hey, you okay?” Liam said softly, placing a hand on Theo’s arm, and Theo realized he had been deeper in his thoughts than he’d thought. Theo moved his arm as he pretended to reach for his phone on the nightstand, effectively dislodging Liam’s hand, and he ignored the way something inside him screamed at him to lean back into the touch.
“Yeah, fine,” Theo replied, “Is there something else you wanted or…”
Liam’s lips pulled down into a frown, and Theo was worried he’d said something wrong. “No,” Liam answered, “It’s just, we—”
Liam’s phone buzzed, and the way Liam’s face lit up when he read the texts coming in made it obvious who it was. Theo ignored the way his heart twinged, and he waited for Liam to tell him that he was going out with Gray again.
“Gray’s coming over,” Liam said instead, and Theo fought the urge to widen his eyes. “Ever since I told him I burned water trying to make pasta, he’s been begging to see me be an idiot in the kitchen.”
Despite the weight settling in Theo’s stomach, his lips quirked up at the reminder of how hopeless Liam was in the kitchen. It was a miracle he hadn’t blown it up yet, honestly.
“So he’s coming in ten,” the beta informed him. “You’re staying for dinner, right?”
Theo could take a hint. “Nah, Scott wanted to talk about strategy or something, I’m leaving in a few.” Liam nodded, and Theo felt a little bad about controlling his heartbeat, but he didn’t have a choice. The beta threw Theo a quick grin and left the room, mumbling something about a fire extinguisher.
Maybe it was a little fitting that he ended up at Lookout Point, alone, just like he always was. He killed the engine and tilted his head back on his seat, but then somehow, Liam’s scent drifted over to him, which wasn’t really a surprise, considering how often the beta was in the truck, but Theo couldn’t deal with it at the moment, so he threw open the door and stumbled out.
The cold air was biting against his skin, but Theo didn’t mind it, he was used to it after all. He leaned back against the front of his truck, staring out into the preserve, because what else did he have to do?
If anything, everything that happened was a fucking wake-up call, because maybe Theo had been getting too comfortable, getting too relaxed in a place that he didn’t deserve. Beacon Hills wasn’t his home, he didn’t have a home, because sure, he was pack, but he wasn’t really pack. There’d always be a line between him and the rest of the pack, and Theo knew it was pointless to even try and cross it. No matter what he did to show the pack he’d changed, show them that he wasn’t the Theo from before, it wouldn’t mean anything, and Theo knew that. He didn’t know why he even wasted so much time trying.
Theo knew that was a lie.
He knew exactly why he’d stuck around for this long, why he couldn’t bring himself to disappear and drive as far away from this shitty town as he could, and it all really came back to one person.
But Liam didn’t really need him either, and Theo needed to get that through to his head.
---
There wasn’t really a certain way Theo wanted to meet Gray, didn’t really want to meet him at all, but anything would’ve been better than this.
“Theo, right?” Gray asked him as he settled on the stool in front of the counter, and Theo nodded stiffly before turning back to the toaster. Because watching his bread get toasted was a million times better than interacting with Gray. “Liam talks about you a lot.”
Theo didn’t really know what to say to that, because Theo wasn’t the one padding down the stairs shirtless after he’d slept over in Liam’s room the night before. Clearly, Liam was taking full advantage of his parents going on vacation and leaving the house empty. Theo hummed vaguely, almost sighing in relief when he heard Liam’s footsteps on the stairs.
Liam’s eyes brightened when he entered the kitchen. “Make me breakfast too?” the beta pleaded, sticking his bottom lip out at Theo, and Theo had to use all of his strength to tamp down on his heartbeat.
“No.”
Liam looked a little surprised at Theo’s blunt rejection, and Theo left the kitchen to go upstairs, partly because he was sure he would cave if he stayed any longer and mostly because he was sure that Liam would start making out with Gray soon, and that was the last thing Theo wanted to see first thing in the morning.
“He doesn’t really like me, does he?” Theo heard Gray ask Liam after Theo had gone upstairs, which answered Theo’s question about whether he knew anything about the supernatural.
Liam snorted loudly, and Theo heard him shuffle around in the kitchen. “He’s like that with everyone, don’t worry about it.”
A bitter smirk made its way onto Theo’s face, and he didn’t even bother finishing the rest of his breakfast before taking a shower and changing, intent on leaving the house and not coming back until dark. Deaton would find some way to keep him busy, and that was all Theo really needed at the moment.
Liam looked at him questioningly when he came back down dressed, but Theo just drawled out a bye and left, not bothering to even try and pretend that he wanted to stay and talk with them.
“You don’t have a shift today,” Deaton said with a raised brow when Theo walked in, and he held back an eye roll and made his way to the back room.
“We still don’t have the antidote ready,” Theo replied as an answer to the druid’s unsaid question. “You really want one of us dying because I didn’t have a shift today?”
Deaton gave him a dry look before turning back to the wolfsbane sample in front of him, dropping the topic. The two of them worked in near silence, apart from the occasional check-in, and Theo couldn’t have been more grateful for it. Deaton wasn’t friendly per say, but at least he didn’t look at Theo like he wanted him gone, and honestly, that was enough for Theo.
Hours later, Theo slumped into a chair as he watched Deaton peer carefully at the serum in the test tube. “Is that it?”
“I’m not sure,” Deaton responded without looking at Theo. “There’s no way to know unless we test it.”
Theo stared at the druid for a few moments before sighing. He stood up, making his way to the lab table and picking up one of the scalpels from the counter. But before he could move any further, Deaton grabbed his wrist.
“What are you doing?”
Theo threw Deaton a small smirk before pulling his arm out of his grip. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m testing it.”
“We don’t know if this will wo—”
“Burn it out if it doesn’t,” Theo deadpanned, and he heard the front door of the clinic open, but he ignored it.
“Theo—”
But Theo didn’t wait for Deaton’s approval, coating the scalpel in wolfsbane before pushing his sleeve up. He winced when the knife made contact with his skin, but he pushed it deeper, grinding his teeth together as it started to burn.
“What the hell are you doing?” a panicked voice called out, and Theo looked up to see Liam and Malia. The beta looked horrified, while Malia’s eyes were narrowed, her gaze locked in on the knife digging into Theo’s arm.
“Testing the antidote,” Theo gritted out through his teeth, and he dropped the scalpel on the table as he looked at Deaton with a cocked brow. The druid broke out of his slight shock, and moved to him quickly, taking a pipette into the serum and gently placing some of it on Theo’s arm. Liam and Malia had moved closer now, Liam’s chemosignals going wild as he gaped at the wound.
Everyone stared at the cut on Theo’s skin, holding their breath in anticipation, but nothing happened. A sharp jab of pain ran through Theo’s arm, and his breath hitched as he tilted his head back. “Burn it,” Theo breathed out, and Deaton was already moving, grabbing the lighter.
Theo’s fangs cut through his lip as he bit down hard when the druid pushed the lighter closer to the wound, but suddenly, the pain faded into a dull ache, and Theo opened his eyes—he didn’t even know when he closed them—to see Liam’s hand on his injured arm, black lines transferring from Theo’s body to his.
“You don’t have to—”
“Shut up,” Liam hissed, and Theo snapped his mouth shut.
“That’s the last of it,” Deaton murmured as he stepped back from Theo, and Theo rolled his shoulder a couple of times, pushing his sleeve back down. “I don’t think I need to tell you how dangerous that was, Theo.”
Theo shrugged. “At least we know it doesn’t work. Think of what would’ve happened if we tried to use it when someone actually needed it.”
“That doesn’t mean you cut yourself with wolfsbane,” Liam strangled out, and Theo’s head whipped towards him. The beta was clearly fuming, his hands in fists, and Theo placed a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m fine,” Theo emphasized, and a little bit of the tension in Liam’s shoulders drained. “What are you guys doing here anyway?”
Malia piped up for the first time since she’d entered. “You weren’t answering your texts, and Scott sent me to check in on you. But when I showed up at Liam’s house, you weren’t there.” Malia tilted her head as she looked at Theo curiously. “It’s not like there’s anywhere else you’d go.”
Theo’s stomach rolled and he looked away from the werecoyote, pretending to do something with the tools on the table in front of him. “Turned my phone off,” he muttered, “What did Scott need?”
He could still feel Malia and Liam’s eyes on him, and Deaton gave him one last warning look before slipping out of the room. Great. The druid had been his only barrier, and now that was gone.
“Pack meeting tonight,” Malia answered bluntly, hopping up onto the counter. Theo nodded, before turning his back on them, trying to ignore the way Liam was on his phone now, texting someone. It wasn’t hard to guess who it was.
“Don’t do that again,” Liam snapped at him, and Theo turned around to find the beta glaring at him, but before he could say anything, Liam cut him off. “I’ll see you guys tonight.”
Liam was gone before Theo could even process it, and he avoided Malia’s searching eyes. He should be used to this by now, why did it hurt just as bad now as it had the first time?
“He cares about you.”
Theo stiffened, and his voice was cold as he spoke. “Who are you talking about?”
Malia’s exasperation drifted over to him, and he looked up at her face. “Don’t act dumb,” the werecoyote snarled, and Theo leaned back against the counter.
“What are you doing, Malia?” he sighed out. He really didn’t want to talk about this right now.
“Trying to make you understand that he cares, even if he doesn’t know how to show it,” Malia said in a slightly less angry tone, giving Theo a look that he couldn’t read. “Your chemosignals are getting pathetic.”
Theo snorted humorlessly. “I don’t really know why you care, but I’m not in the mood to deal with this, so you can go and run back to your alpha and leave me alone now.”
“You like him.”
Theo let out a low growl, clenching his hands into fists. “Malia, leave.”
Malia ignored him. “You like him, and he cares about you too, so—”
“He has a boyfriend, in case you forgot,” Theo barked, his patience finally running out. “It doesn’t fucking matter what I want, so can you just fuck off now?”
The werecoyote stared at him for a few seconds, and Theo exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself down. That had been the first time he’d explicitly admitted it to someone other than himself, and he hated that he let his anger get the best of him. Even though everyone, except for Liam, had already known, it was different actually saying it out loud, and Theo had been avoiding it for so long, just to end up doing it anyway.
“Have you ever considered what he wants?” Malia asked him, and Theo let out another snort.
“He wants Gray,” Theo said in a vitriolic tone, “So it doesn’t really matter what I want, does it?”
---
Out of all the things Theo expected Liam to do, he hadn’t expected this.
Although it wasn’t that weird, considering Gray was his boyfriend. Bringing your boyfriend to meet your friends was normal, wasn’t it? Theo just hadn’t expected it to be during pack movie night.
And the pitying glances he could feel on him were just making this worse.
Liam didn’t seem to notice though, just like every single other fucking thing, but Theo wasn’t mad about it this time, because it would only be even more awkward than it already was. And that was saying something, considering that the only ones talking to Gray were Liam and Mason, the rest of the pack giving the human small smiles before turning back to their own conversations.
Theo didn’t know if it was because of him, but he felt weirdly appreciative. It felt kind of nice, like they actually cared, like they were all his friends.
Theo felt someone nudge his arm, and he turned to the side to see Corey. “Scott’s ordering pizza, you want anything special?” Theo looked over to the alpha to find him already looking at him, his phone in his hand. Theo shook his head, but an idea flashed in his mind and he latched onto it, probably his saving grace from this nightmare.
“I can go pick it up,” Theo told Scott, and the alpha gave him an inquiring look, his head tilted to the side. “You won’t have to pay for delivery.”
“Okay,” Scott said slowly, and Theo sighed in relief internally. He was getting out of here, thank fucking god.
“I’ll go too,” Mason blurted out, and Theo turned to him, his eyebrow nearing his hairline. “So you don’t get bored.”
Theo rolled his eyes, standing up. “I think I’ll be fine,” he drawled dryly, but Mason didn’t take no for an answer, following Theo outside to his truck, and Theo huffed. “What do you want, Mason?”
“Nothing.” Mason raised his hands in surrender as he slid into the passenger seat. “I was getting bored in there.”
“Gray not interesting enough for you?” Theo asked sarcastically, and Mason snorted.
“I don’t get how Liam hasn’t figured it out yet, you’re not even trying to be careful anymore,” the human said, and Theo stilled before pulling away from Scott’s house.
“Fuck off.”
Mason grinned, and Theo held back his urge to stop the truck and force him out. “You’re not denying it.”
“What’s the point?” Theo snapped, his grip tightening on the wheel. “Everyone knows, except the one person who should, but it doesn’t even matter because he’s dating someone else.”
Mason’s amusement faded, and he stared at the side of Theo’s head. “You know he cares about yo—”
“Don’t,” Theo cut him off. “Malia already did this last week, and I really don’t want to do this again. Don’t fucking tell me he cares about me.”
“It’s the truth—”
“I don’t care,” Theo snarled, and Mason reeled back a little in his seat. “Just—” Theo let out a sigh. “Just stop.”
The human seemed to realize that Theo was close to his breaking point, because he dropped the subject, the truck silent the rest of the way to the pizza place and back to Scott’s. Theo and Mason carried the excessive amount of boxes inside, and Theo had been distracted with that, which is why he didn’t notice the position Liam and Gray were in until he placed all the pizza on the table in the middle of the room.
Gray’s head was on Liam’s chest, and the beta’s hand was carding through Gray’s hair gently, and the whole thing was so fucking domestic that Theo wanted to gag. And if anyone noticed the way Theo’s scent tanked when he saw them, they thankfully didn’t comment on it, instead going out of their way to distract him instead.
“You know, Theo,” Stiles started, and Theo lifted his head up, meeting the human’s gaze. “This movie could be about you.” Theo’s eyes flickered to the brown-haired, masked guy on the screen before his lips curled up in a small smirk. “Manipulated, broken dude starts to realize his evil tendencies are wrong after meeting his childhood best friend again, and starts to change.”
Brett snorted, and Theo angled his head towards him. “So that makes you Steve, or Scott Steve?”
The pack seemed to come to a consensus that Scott was Steve pretty quickly, even though Stiles was adamant that he would be Steve, and Theo rolled his eyes at their enthusiasm to continue the dumb analogy. Liam and Gray weren’t really paying attention to the conversation, which was probably for the better, since they were talking about the supernatural in front of a human. Theo didn’t know why Stiles had brought this up now, but at least it was taking his mind off of Liam. Somewhat.
Corey grinned widely, and Theo’s eyes narrowed, because he’d been around the other chimera long enough that that grin only meant bad things. “You guys seem to be ignoring a pretty important detail.”
The pack paused their conversation, turning to the chameleon with puzzled expressions. Corey’s grin turned wicked, and he turned to Theo with bright eyes. “The gay subtext between Steve and Bucky.”
The room went still for a second, before everyone burst out yelling. Theo groaned, shoving Corey’s shoulder, who looked pretty satisfied at the chaos he had started. Scott turned a shade of red Theo would not have thought was even possible, and Stiles’ snickers were far louder than Theo wanted. Malia, for her part, didn’t look that mad, her mouth turned up in a faint smile. Brett slung an arm around Theo’s shoulder with a broad smirk on his face.
“Is there something you’re not telling us, Theo?”
Theo flipped the werewolf off with a glare, but froze when he realized there was someone looking at him. Liam’s eyes were on him, and normally, Theo would probably enjoy that, but the look on the beta’s face was weird, and it made Theo shift uneasily. Even after he turned away from Liam, he could feel his stare, and he struggled not to look at him again.
“Stiles is the one who brought this up,” Theo drawled, quirking a brow at the human. “And you seemed pretty set on the fact that you were Steve a few minutes ago. Is there something you want to tell me, Stiles?”
Stiles stuck his tongue out at him, and Theo snorted. Mature, Stiles. “Like I would ever like you,” the human retorted. “Derek’s so much better.”
“I don’t know,” Mason chimed in, throwing Theo a sly look. “I’d choose Theo over Derek any day.” Both of Theo’s brows almost touched his hairline, and he turned to Corey to see if he was annoyed that his boyfriend was so blatantly talking about another guy. But to his surprise, Corey was staring at him with a wide smirk.
“Agreed,” the other chimera declared, high-fiving Mason, and Theo’s jaw dropped just a little. What the fuck?
“I’d choose Theo too,” Nolan piped up quietly, and Theo whirled his head towards the human. Brett nodded, running his eyes over Theo’s chest, and the tips of Theo’s ears turned pink, because what the actual hell was going on right now? He wasn’t blind, he knew he was good-looking, but what the fuck was this?
“Well, more Derek for me,” Stiles said, leaning back into the couch. “The rest of you, choose now.”
“Stiles, what the fuck—”
Stiles ignored Theo, and turned to the remaining pack members who hadn’t voiced their opinion on the Theo versus Derek debate that shouldn’t even be happening.
Scott chose Derek, as he threw an apologetic look at Theo, which Theo rolled his eyes at, because really? Malia stared at Theo for a solid twenty seconds before muttering Theo under her breath reluctantly, and Theo couldn’t help but smirk at that. A plastic cup hit his head a second later.
Lydia tilted her head with a contemplative look before choosing Derek. Which left Liam, Gray, Alec, and Lori. The two younger werewolves both chose Theo without even thinking, which Theo didn’t really know how to respond to, and the pack fell silent when they realized who the last two people were.
And this had all been fun and games until now— even though Theo was still a little weirded out that so many people had chosen him over Derek—but suddenly it wasn’t anymore, and the pack awkwardly turned away from them, because one, Gray didn’t even know who Derek was, and two, well, the pack correctly assumed that Theo didn’t want to hear Liam’s answer.
Corey leaned into Theo a little with a comforting smile on his face, and Theo thanked him in his head as the pack started the movie again, settling back in.
Theo felt eyes on him occasionally throughout the movie, but he ignored it, because he didn’t need to deal with that now.
Whatever they meant.
---
Theo slammed his back against the tree as he panted, narrowly avoiding another bullet.
“This was your brilliant plan?” he hissed, knowing Liam could hear him, even though he wasn’t close by. “I told you it was a trap.”
“Shut up and fight,” Liam snapped back, and Theo exchanged a look with Brett. The werewolf nodded, and Theo took off running, making his way to Liam quickly, because no matter how annoyed he was at him at the moment, Theo never really figured out how to stop saving him. Not that he wanted to stop. His claws came down on a hunter’s back, and he knocked him out with a well-placed punch before turning to the beta.
“This is why me and Mason don’t let you do the planning,” Theo quipped, before growling and going after another hunter. He didn’t hear Liam’s reply, but a small smirk crossed his face when he heard Liam’s low snarl. Theo worked with Liam to take down the hunters around them before they rushed back to the rest of the pack, who were holding up pretty well, to be honest.
Of course the hunters had to attack them when it was just the Puppy Pack, couldn’t have done it when the whole pack was here, and Theo probably should’ve texted Scott, but they didn’t need the help. At least that’s what he’d thought.
The difference between knocking someone out and killing them was that knocking someone out wasn’t permanent, and that meant that a hunter could regain consciousness and try to attack them again. Which was exactly what happened.
Theo barely sensed the movement before he was running in front of Liam, who was reaching a hand out to Mason to pull him off the ground. The bullets lodged themselves into Theo’s back and his breath hitched. Fuck, they were wolfsbane bullets. Liam turned around quickly with a gasp, and Theo felt a couple more bullets hit him before he heard a loud crack, and he assumed Brett took care of the hunter. Not that he could tell, since he staggered forward, right into Liam’s arms, who was practically holding him up at this point.
“What the fuck, Theo?” Liam snarled, and Theo’s forehead was on Liam’s shoulder, lolling as his head swam at the poison making its way through his body at an alarming speed.
Theo lifted his head up weakly, catching Corey’s eye. “Keys, in my pocket,” he breathed out, and the other chimera got the hint, reaching into Theo’s jeans’ pocket to grab his truck keys. Liam threw one of Theo’s arms around his shoulder as Brett did the same with the other, and they hurriedly made their way to Theo’s truck, Corey and Mason sliding into the front seat without hesitation.
Theo heard Mason talking to someone as Corey slammed the accelerator, and he assumed it was Argent, or Melissa, depending on whether Mason was more worried about the hunters in the preserve or Theo’s condition. He didn’t try and listen in, the pain racking through his body taking up most of his attention. Liam tugged Theo closer, Theo’s head landing on his shoulder roughly, and Theo felt some of his pain ebb as black lines moved up the beta’s arm.
“That was the dumbest thing you’ve ever done,” Liam hissed into Theo’s ear, and Theo felt his lips quirk up, despite feeling as if his body was about to shut down.
“I’ll be… fine,” Theo sighed out, his eyes closing as he pressed his head into Liam’s neck. He could enjoy the close proximity while it lasted, at least. Once Theo’s body was rid of the wolfsbane, Liam would go back to Gray, and Theo would go back to hopelessly pining over the one person he’d never have a chance with. At least for the moment, he could pretend. Pretend that he was good enough for someone like Liam. Pretend that he wouldn’t die, because Theo knew that the wolfsbane in him was the new strain, and there was too much in him to be burned out. Ironic, really, that he’d been working so hard for an antidote to save someone else, and he was the one that needed it in the end.
“Theo, keep your eyes open,” Brett barked from next to him, and Theo blearily blinked at the blond werewolf, whose jaw was clenched. “We’re almost there.”
Theo hummed, closing his eyes despite what Brett had just said. “Wake me up when we get there.”
Panicked voices filled the truck, but Theo was too tired to listen to them anymore, and he sank into the darkness willingly.
---
Theo awoke to voices, awareness trickling back in slowly.
“Deaton said it’s not tested yet, we don’t know if it’ll wo—”
“Stiles, this really isn’t the time.”
“It’s not like I want him to die, I’m just being real her—”
“Well, stop.”
Theo opened his eyes, immediately squinting as light attacked his vision, and it took a few moments for the white spots in his eyes to clear. Scott and Stiles were the only ones in the room, and both of them stood up quickly when they realized Theo was awake.
“Theo, thank god,” Scott breathed out, and Theo looked between his two childhood friends, not saying anything. Scott searched his face for a second before exchanging a glance with Stiles. “How are you feeling?”
He was in the hospital, Theo could put together that much, and he tried to sit up, something that Scott immediately put a stop to by pushing Theo’s shoulders down.
“Let me sit up,” Theo rasped out, and Scott gave him a skeptical look. “I’m fine.”
“You’ve been out for two days,” Stiles said, a little harshly, and Theo’s mouth parted as he gaped at the human. He’d been unconscious for two days? He’d thought it had been hours at the most, but based on the looks on Stiles and Scott’s faces, he’d been wrong. “Melissa and Dr. Geyer had to find a way to keep you steady while Deaton worked on the antidote. Apparently burning it out wasn’t an option with the amount of wolfsbane you had in your body.”
Theo had already known that, and the way Scott’s jaw ticked made it clear that the alpha knew that Theo knew. “What were you thinking?” Scott said in a low voice, and Theo let out a quiet sigh.
“So no one explained it to you?” Theo drawled in a dry tone. “Of course they didn’t.” Scott and Stiles glared at him, and Theo rolled his eyes. “The hunter was aiming at Liam. I was just trying not to let them hit him.”
Stiles snorted humorlessly, and Theo turned to him questioningly. “This needs to stop.”
Theo raised an eyebrow, because he wasn’t a mindreader, but Stiles just continued in a hard voice. “You throwing yourself in front of Liam for every goddamn thing. I know you have feelings for him and everything, but it’s almost like you’re trying to prove something at this point, and you’re already in the pack, Theo. You don’t have to prove anyth—”
“I’m not proving anything,” Theo snapped. “This isn’t about the pack, this is about—”
“You’re worth more than a disposable bodyguard,” Scott cut him off, and Theo reeled back. “I know you won’t stop saving him, but just think about it, Theo. You deserve better than whatever you’re doing, this… treating yourself like you’re expendable, like it doesn’t matter whether you live, as long as someone else does.”
“I don’t—”
“You almost died,” Stiles stressed, and it was a little absurd, that Stiles was telling him this, but Theo didn’t have the strength to think about it too much. “You took seven bullets without a second thought about your life.”
“So you’d rather Liam be the one in the hospital?” Theo snarled at them, because he didn’t get what they were trying to do here. He thought they’d be happy, that their precious beta was alive, wasn’t hurt, but here they were, trying to tell him that he was wrong for doing what he did.
“That’s not what we’re saying,” Scott murmured gingerly, and a little bit of Theo’s anger faded at the comfort the alpha exuded. “We’re just trying to make you understand that his life isn’t worth more than yours. No one’s life is worth more than someone else’s, Theo, you don’t deserve less than anyone else in the pack, and you need to stop treating yourself that way.”
Theo’s eyes burned, and he looked away from both of them, his jaw clenching. Was he that much of an open book now? When did he get so easy to read?
“Everyone else’ll be here soon,” Stiles said quietly, and Theo angled his head towards him. “You good?”
Theo nodded with a sigh, and Scott gave him a small smile before reaching down and slowly putting the bed up until Theo was sitting. The door slammed open, and soon the room was filled with people, Liam being the first.
“If you ever do that again, I swear I’m gonna kill you,” Liam fumed, but he pulled Theo into a tight hug. Theo let himself enjoy the feeling for a moment before pulling back, muttering out a sorry that he didn’t really mean, but what else was he supposed to say?
After Liam it was Corey, and Brett, and Mason, and the rest of the Puppy Pack. They all hung out in the room for a while, and Scott and Stiles moved back, letting the younger members have their turn talking to Theo. Needless to say, Theo got yelled at quite a bit by all of them, but eventually they trickled out, Melissa forcing them out when she found out they ditched school to come here.
And then the older pack came in.
Malia twisted his ear painfully when she made her way to the bed, drawing a startled yelp from his lips. “Your wolfsbane kink needs to stop.”
Theo sputtered. “I don’t have a wolfsbane kink, what the fuc—”
“You cut yourself open with a knife to test an antidote,” Malia hissed, and Theo’s eyes flickered to Scott and Stiles, who hadn’t known about that. True to his guess, they both looked even more furious now, and Theo made a mental note to get Malia back for that somehow.
“She’s right,” Lydia announced, giving him a grim look. “Theo, you almost died.”
“And I didn’t,” Theo pressed, not that it helped his case even a little.
Lydia tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrowing. “You didn’t care, did you?” But before Theo could ask what the hell she was talking about, she continued. “You didn’t care if you died. You knew you were going to, you’re too smart not to, you just didn’t care.”
Theo stilled, and four pairs of eyes glowered at him when he didn’t deny it. He really couldn’t, not without his heart skipping a beat. It wasn’t that he wanted to die, he didn’t, but he hadn’t actively tried to avoid it either. Granted, it was because he was protecting Liam, but something told him that the four people in front of him wouldn’t accept that answer.
“Goddamnit, Theo,” Scott started, and Theo was a little taken aback at the fury in the alpha’s voice. “You don’t care if you die?”
“I do,” Theo barked, and winced when one of his bandages pulled, because apparently this strain of wolfsbane affected his healing even after it was out of his body too. “You guys are making this into a big deal. I was just protecting Liam, okay? That’s it.”
“You can do that without almost killing yourself every time,” Stiles said, “And no offense, but Liam is a little stronger than you. I’m not saying that he’d be able to take it, because no one should take seven bullets, but you keep saving someone who doesn’t need it.”
“I don’t care if he doesn’t need it,” Theo growled, and he was getting tired of this now. He’d never thought he’d see the day the older pack members wanted him to save himself over Liam, but wasn’t that exactly what they were doing now? “I’m not letting him die,” he almost yelled, and the room fell silent.
This was the closest Theo had gotten to revealing the extent of his feelings for the beta, except for that time with Malia in the clinic, but now it was with all of them, and Theo suddenly realized what he was doing. But before he could say anything else, Lydia placed a hand on his arm.
“I’m sorry, Theo,” the banshee murmured softly, and Theo’s brows furrowed. Lydia moved a little closer, watching him carefully. “Watching him with G—”
“No,” Theo interjected, his voice completely steady, but he had a feeling his face wasn’t as stoic as he wanted it to be. “We’re not talking about this.”
“Theo—”
“No,” Theo repeated, and this time, his voice wasn’t quite as steady as before, and he knew they were looking at him with those expressions on their faces that he hated, hated them with a passion, but he couldn’t stop them. It was strange, first, that the same people he’d hurt so much last year didn’t hate him, but second, that they were trying to comfort him.
“I’m gonna ask you something,” Stiles’ voice broke Theo out of his thoughts, and he turned to the human. “And I want you to be honest.”
Theo didn’t say anything, but Stiles didn’t wait for his answer.
“Do you want to get over him?”
Theo stiffened, his teeth grinding together as he processed the question. Did he want to get over Liam? Maybe. It might hurt less than watching the beta with someone else. Could he get over Liam? Abso-fucking-lutely not. And even though it hurt, Theo couldn’t picture himself with someone other than the beta, and that scared him. Frightened the shit out of him, but he was in too deep now, and he didn’t want to get out anymore. So maybe the answer was no after all.
But he didn’t respond, just looked up at Stiles, hoping that the human would understand, like he always did. Stiles’ mouth pulled into a line when he saw Theo’s expression, and Theo knew that he got it.
The silence in the room spoke volumes, and for once, Theo didn’t know what to say.
---
“Liam, I’m not incapacitated,” Theo snapped after Liam rushed up to get Theo a blanket when he shivered. The beta ignored him, throwing the blanket on him before settling back in between him and Gray. Theo didn’t know why he was putting himself through the torture of hanging out with Liam and Gray, but he was here, and Liam didn’t really give him a choice.
Gray was watching him and Liam carefully, and Theo wondered how the fuck the human hadn’t asked any questions yet, because Liam was acting as if Theo couldn’t move, and Gray had no idea about Theo even being in the hospital. It was a little odd, honestly, that Gray hadn’t figured anything out about the supernatural, because the pack didn’t go out of their way to hide it.
“Shut up, you’re obviously cold,” Liam muttered before turning his head back towards the TV, and Theo just rolled his eyes before going back to ignoring both of them again. He was cold, but still.
Theo felt eyes on him, and he angled his head a little to see Gray staring at him, his eyes squinted a little, like he was trying to figure something out. Liam’s eyes flickered to Theo, and the beta chewed on the inside of his cheek.
“You good?” Liam mumbled, and Theo nodded stiffly, very aware of the fact that Gray was still watching them. “You need anything else? If you’re hungry, I can—”
“Liam.” The beta turned to him, and Theo had the stupid impulse to brush the hair that fell into his eyes. “I’m fine, okay?”
Liam stared at him for another second before nodding, and Theo exhaled slowly before turning back to the screen. That felt too intimate, and that should not be happening, not when Liam was dating someone else, who was right there.
Theo needed to get out of here.
He waited a few minutes before yawning, acting like he was exhausted. Liam played right into it, turning to him with a concerned look on his face. “You can sleep here,” the beta said quietly, and Theo didn’t know if the way Liam dropped his shoulder slightly was conscious, because it almost felt like an invitation, but that was not what Theo was supposed to do, so he shook his head.
“I think I’m gonna go up,” Theo breathed out, pretending to blink groggily. “I’m a little tired.”
Liam said okay softly, and Theo took the out, and was upstairs before either of them could say anything else.
---
He wasn’t avoiding Liam per say, but he was making their meetings less frequent, which was easier than it should’ve been for living in the same house. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see the beta, he did, but it felt like Gray was around all the time now, and Theo didn’t want to see that. And after the whole too intimate thing between them, Theo didn’t want to put himself in that situation again. For his own sanity.
“Liam keeps asking me if he did something wrong,” Brett said quietly, and Theo looked up from the test tube he was bent over. “You can’t avoid him forever.”
“I’m not avoiding him,” Theo emphasized, putting the tube down with a sigh. “Watching him make out with Gray isn’t on my top ten list of things to do.”
“Mason said that Liam’s been having doubts about that,” Brett mentioned after a few minutes, and Theo’s head snapped up. His reaction drew a small smile out of the werewolf, but he continued without saying anything about it. “Apparently, Liam thinks there’s something missing. Think I should tell him what’s missing is the fact that Gray isn’t you?”
Theo glared at him. “He doesn’t like me like that,” he muttered under his breath, “Don’t you fucking dare.”
“You might be even more oblivious than he is.”
“And you’re seeing things that aren’t there,” Theo retorted, leaning back against the counter with his arms crossed.
Brett sighed, studying him for a few moments before dropping his gaze. “Let’s go, you’ve been here for hours. Deaton’s probably getting tired of you.”
“Deaton hasn’t even been in here,” Theo said, but he cleaned up everything, a little glad that Brett said something, because he felt like his head might explode if he stayed here for any longer.
They ended up at Scott’s house, because where else would they go? And ever since the whole wolfsbane incident, the older pack members had been weirdly, Theo wouldn’t say protective, but it was something close, and invited Theo over almost all the time. It took a while to get used to, but Theo didn’t mind it— having his childhood friends accept him again felt nice, because Theo had never thought it would happen. He enjoyed the Puppy Pack’s company, don’t get him wrong, but being friends with Scott and Stiles was different, and it almost felt like Theo’s life had come full circle, bringing him right back where he started, and he couldn’t hate that even if he tried.
But apparently Brett had texted the rest of the pack where they were, because soon, the Puppy Pack joined them, all except for Liam, who Mason said was with Gray. Theo tried to pretend he hadn’t heard that, although it was hard when practically everyone looked at him after the human said it.
“Jesus christ,” Theo groaned when he noticed, “I’m not gonna snap if you say his name, can you guys stop?”
The pack, to their credit, had the decency to look a little sheepish, and the conversation turned away from the beta and his boyfriend, thankfully. Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long, because an hour later, Liam slammed the front door, storming into the living room.
The room fell silent, and Scott let out a wary, “Liam?”
But Liam’s face was completely closed off and he kept walking until he reached Theo, and grabbed his hand before Theo could even say anything, and yanked him off the couch.
“Liam, wha—”
Liam still didn’t say anything, just pulled Theo, and Theo stumbled a little, his eyes widening as he picked up the anger in the beta’s scent. The rest of the pack didn’t try to stop them from leaving, and Theo didn’t know if he was glad about that or not. Liam didn’t stop until they were outside, and Theo didn’t even get a word out before he was being slammed against the side of Scott’s house.
“Lia—”
Theo’s words were cut off, and it took him a second to realize why.
Liam was kissing him. What the fuck. But Liam didn’t move back, just pressed harder, and Theo made a noise in the back of his throat before pushing back, because this was Liam, and his lips felt so soft, and Theo felt Liam’s hands tighten their grip on his shirt. They moved against each other’s lips, one of Theo’s hands moving to the back of Liam’s neck, and Theo didn’t know where this was coming from, because according to Mason, Liam had been with—
Theo shoved Liam away.
The beta staggered back, his eyes opening at the sudden movement, and his lips were a little red and swollen, and it took all of Theo’s self-control to not pull him back in.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Theo snarled, and Liam blinked a few times.
“Theo—”
Theo shoved Liam back again. “What the fuck are you doing?” he repeated coldly. “Is this all just a game to you? You’re with Gray, Liam, so why the fuck are you kissing me?”
His voice was close to a shriek by the end, and he knew that everyone inside could probably hear him, even the humans, but he didn’t care anymore.
Liam moved closer to him again, and Theo stepped back, but his back hit the house again, and before he could move away, Liam grabbed his shirt and pushed him back. And Liam was a little stronger than Theo, always had been, so Theo’s struggle was useless, because Liam’s ironclad grip didn’t let up.
“Theo, listen to me,” Liam gritted out as Theo kept trying to get out. “I’m not with Gray.”
Theo froze, and Liam looked a little relieved, taking a step closer to him. “What?”
“I’m not with Gray,” Liam repeated, and Theo knew he wasn’t lying, even without listening to his heartbeat. “We broke up two days ago.”
“But Mason said—”
“He left some of his things in my room. I was just giving them back to him,” Liam explained, and Theo gaped, a little shell-shocked. Okay, so Liam and Gray weren’t a thing anymore. That didn’t explain why Liam had stormed into Scott’s house and pulled him outside to kiss him, though.
Liam seemed to understand what Theo was thinking, because he loosened his grip on Theo’s shirt, looking down, and Theo caught the subtle scent of embarrassment rolling off the beta.
“I thought Gray was perfect for me, and for a while I managed to convince myself that was true,” Liam muttered, his gaze still on the grass below. “And then I found myself on dates with Gray, but I’d be thinking of you the whole time, and Gray would be right there, but I wanted you. And then the whole wolfsbane thing happened, and I thought I almost lost you, and that scared the shit out of me, I couldn’t even think about anything else, and Gray started to notice, confronted me about it.”
Theo was openly staring now, didn’t even bother being subtle about it.
“That day, on the couch, I wasn’t really being subtle about it,” Liam said quietly, and Theo knew what he was talking about immediately. “Gray knew, I knew, Mason knew, and I really don’t know why it took so long for me to do something about it. So I broke up with him the next day.”
Theo didn’t really know what to say, and Liam finally looked up, meeting his eyes. They stared at each other for a few seconds, maybe it was minutes, Theo didn’t really know. And then Liam moved closer, and Theo’s breath hitched.
Liam’s lips twitched, but he didn’t close the distance between them. “I probably should’ve said all that before I kissed you.”
Theo snorted, dropping his head. “You sure you wanna be with me?”
Liam’s amusement faded quickly, and his mouth turned down in a frown as he lifted Theo’s head with a hand on his cheek, and Theo fought a shudder at the touch, but he didn’t quite hit the mark.
“Theo, I want you. And you better not say any bullshit about you not being good enough, or me deserving better.”
Theo exhaled softly, slumping back against the house, because yeah, that’s what he’d been about to say. And the pack had told him he was wrong a hundred times by now, but it never really sank in. It still didn’t honestly, even though Liam was right in front of Theo telling him that he wanted him, even though Liam had kissed him, a part of Theo couldn’t really believe it. It felt like it was wrong, like Theo was living a life that he didn’t deserve, and—
Liam kissed him.
It was softer this time and Theo felt his eyes close automatically, both of Liam’s hands cupping his cheeks now. The first kiss had been rushed, like Liam just wanted to get all his feelings out, but this one was everything the first one wasn’t. Liam stepped closer until their chests were flush, their lips still attached, and it was so gentle that it left Theo shaking. When they finally separated after they both ran out of breath, Liam didn’t move far, resting his forehead on Theo’s, their breaths intermingling in between their lips.
“You’ve saved me more times than I can count,” Liam whispered against his lips, “And you’re my anchor. You deserve good things, Theo, because you’re not who you were last year, and I know that. So don’t fight this, please.”
Theo trembled a little, and he pulled back until he could see Liam’s face. “You’re my anchor too,” he said delicately, because he hadn’t admitted that to anyone, and he heard a shocked what drift from inside the house. He didn’t say anything else, because he didn’t know how, and Liam seemed to get it, seemed to understand what those words meant, what words Theo wasn’t saying, and his face softened.
And Liam must’ve seen something in Theo’s expression, because he moved again, wrapping his arms around Theo’s waist, and pressing his head into Theo’s chest. Theo exhaled a breath like he’d been punched, and he wrapped his arms around the beta, his head falling onto Liam’s shoulder.
He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, wrapped in each other, just holding each other. Theo would’ve been fine with staying like that forever, honestly, but of course, the pack wouldn’t let that happen.
“Get in here you lovebirds, I know you can hear me,” Stiles screamed from inside the house, and Theo let out a quiet laugh, untangling himself from Liam.
Amusement and relief suffocated the room when they went back in, and Theo’s cheeks darkened when Brett smirked at him, remembering what Brett had said earlier. Okay, so maybe Theo had been wrong. It happened sometimes.
“At least we don’t have to put up with your sexual tension anymore,” Malia said, her nose wrinkling. “You two were even worse than Stiles and Derek.”
Stiles let out an indignant hey, but it went ignored, everyone too caught up in Theo and Liam.
“So you decided,” Mason began, an incredulous look on his face as he turned to Liam, “that the best way to go about this was pull Theo out of the house and then slam him against the wall and kiss him, when he still thought that you were with Gray, without any explanation at all?”
Liam’s cheeks flared red, and Theo snickered along with the rest of the pack, because that had probably been one of the worst ways Liam could’ve announced his feelings.
“It worked, didn’t it?” Liam mumbled, and Theo snorted. The beta nudged his shoulder with his own, and a warm feeling spread in Theo’s chest at the touch, which was absurd, but he didn’t question it.
For once, he stopped thinking, and sank back into the couch, Liam’s body pressed completely against his, and Theo just let go.