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Theo doesn’t even know why he’s here, standing in the middle of Scott McCall’s living room, arguing with the pack over whether or not he should go check out the bar a town over that is rumored to be the meeting place of several of Monroe’s hunters.
And okay, Theo knows he has a tendency to lie, cheat, and betray, but in his defense, he wants those hunters gone as much as the rest of the pack. So he doesn’t know why Derek, Scott, and Stiles are making such a big deal about him offering to go alone and check the place out.
“You’re not even old enough to go to a bar,” Derek points out after Theo had given the three of them a rundown of his plan.
“I’m a legal adult,” Theo argues, not sure why he even has to argue his point in the first place. He has a solid plan, if there is one thing he’s good at it’s strategizing.
“You’re eighteen, that barely counts-“
“Nineteen,” he interrupts Derek. The room freezes and Theo has the sudden desire to shrink into himself.
“What?” It’s Scott who breaks the silence. Theo swallows.
“I’m nineteen,” he replies, determined to not show any emotion. He rolls his eyes for good measure and has to force his chemosignals to stay consistent and stop his heart from beating erratically.
“When did you turn nineteen?” It’s Liam who asks and Theo has to try even harder to keep the emotions from showing on his face. He turns to the younger Beta with raised eyebrows, feigning disinterest and nonchalance but he wouldn’t be surprised if Liam is able to see right through him. He has always been able to read him like a children’s book.
“On my birthday.” Good job Theo, if you’re a smart ass they’ll leave you alone because that always seems to work. (It never works)
Liam rolls his eyes. “Don’t be an asshole, you know what I meant. Why didn’t we know?”
Theo shrugs but keeps his eyes firmly on Liam, ignoring the fact that every single person in the room is looking at him and only him. “It’s not like I expected you guys to know. It doesn’t matter. It’s only a date, I’m a year older. And that’s beside the point, it’s not like it changes anything.”
But it did change something, didn’t it? Because Theo had been there for Stiles’ birthday and had helped set up for Corey’s surprise party. Theo Raeken doesn’t celebrate his birthday, hasn’t done so since he was eight, but he knows how the pack makes a big deal out of these things. And maybe that’s exactly why he didn’t say anything. Because he’s not pack. An ally? Sure, and a damn good one to have, but he isn’t pack. They wouldn’t have reserved a table at his favorite restaurant, wouldn’t have tied balloons to his door, wouldn’t have broken in to his apartment at the ass crack of dawn to wake him up as they sing Happy Birthday. The pack wouldn’t have argued over whose present he has to open first because they wouldn’t have gotten him any presents.
It doesn’t matter because he doesn’t matter, and he accepted that a long time ago.
Liam looks taken aback. For what, Theo doesn’t know. He thinks that it could be the fact that he doesn’t know the date of one of his friend’s birthdays, Liam is sentimental like that. Was friends even the correct word to describe their relationship? Theo didn’t think so, it felt like too much and too little at the same time. Mason and Theo were friends, hell, even Corey and Theo could be described as friends.
But Theo never picked Mason or Corey up in the middle of the night because they couldn’t sleep. They never fell asleep together while watching a movie and woken up like it was the best sleep they have had in ages. No, those are things Theo did with Liam. So what were they?
Best friends
No that’s wrong. Mason is Liam’s best friend.
Allies
That’s what they used to be. When their interactions consisted of punching each other but still making sure the other stayed alive and well. But Theo likes to think they’re more than that now. There’s a little more trust between them than there used to be.
Anchors
The word rings in his head and Theo pushes it back. It isn’t the first time he has considered it and it certainly wouldn’t be the last but he cannot deal with it at the moment. He has bigger issues, like the pack staring at him as if he is a sad excuse of prey that they will hunt down anyway.
He realizes that someone else had spoken while he was lost in thought—lost in Liam’s eyes—and he turns to the voice, a noise of inquiry leaving his throat.
“We could have celebrated,” Scott repeats and he sounded so genuine that Theo almost believed him. Almost.
“It doesn’t matter,” Theo replies, voice harsher than it needs to be. He suddenly registers the various looks of what can only be described as pity he’s receiving and it becomes too much too fast. Pushing past Liam, Theo makes his way to the door. “I need to go,” he says under his breath, knowing that all the supernaturals in the room would be able to hear him.
He doesn’t wait for the door to close behind him before he is already rushing to his truck. He vaguely registers someone calling out his name but he blocks it out, instead focusing on getting his keys in the ignition and getting as much distance between himself and the pack.
He runs away. He runs because that’s the only thing he knows how to do. The only thing he’s ever been taught. Maybe this time he won’t come back. It’s a little sad to think that what finally drove him to escape the clutches of the McCall Pack was a silly discussion over his forgotten birthday, but he knows it’s more than that.
He doesn’t belong, doesn’t fit in to their tight-knit group of misfits that they’ve created. So maybe it really is time to leave.
But deep down he knows he won’t leave. Because while he may be capable of fighting his way out of the McCall pack, he will never escape the hold a certain blue-eyed beta holds over him. And he isn’t sure he wants to anyway.
. . .
“Did anyone know his birthday passed?” Liam asks, tone indiscernible. The puppy pack shakes their head, as well as Malia and Derek. And Liam understands that, none of them had met Theo before…well, the incident occurred, so he turns to the people who had known Theo before to answer his question.
Scott, to his credit, looks embarrassed while the look Stiles wears is impossible to read. Lydia looks perplexed and there is a certain sparkle in her eye that tells Liam she’s analyzing something. It’s her that speaks first.
“We went to his party once,” everyone turns to look at her but she pays them no mind, instead keeping her gaze fixed on Scott and Stiles. “When he turned six. It was the only one his parents ever threw him.”
“I remember,” Stiles says a little breathless and if Liam is interpreting it correctly, nostalgic. “He was so excited, talked about it for weeks. Scott and I helped him pick a theme.”
“We settled on the Avengers,” Scott continues. None of them understand what’s going on, the trio seemingly trapped in their own world. “He was Captain America, Stiles was Thor, and I was Iron Man.” A small laugh leaves his lips and his shoulders shake with a fondness Liam has never seen before.
“And we forgot,” Lydia says in her very own perfected no bullshit voice.
“We forgot a pack member’s birthday,” Scott breathes out and the room seems to freeze. It’s the first time someone has acknowledged the new development in their pack bonds, even though it had occurred months prior. “Because Theo is pack.” He looks at all of them for confirmation and they all nod, with Liam voicing his agreement out loud.
“But Theo doesn’t know that,” Corey points out from behind Liam.
Scott turns to him, expression neutral as he answers, “I know. That is why we need to prove it to him. He won’t believe us if we just tell him, we need to do something.”
“Let’s throw him a birthday party then,” Liam says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and to him it is. “You just said that the only party he had was when he turned six and I highly doubt the doctors were decorating their creepy lab and getting him gifts.”
They all exchanged a look, weighing their options before Stiles gave a firm nod. “Alright, let’s throw him a party.”
. . .
The pack all settled into their assignments with Liam getting the most important one.
Getting Theo to Scott’s house at five pm the next day.
The only problem is that no one knows where Theo is, and Liam has no idea how to go about finding him and getting him to the designated location. At first, he tries to call him, only to get sent straight to voicemail every time.
Eventually, about thirty minutes before he is set to arrive, he gives up on that and surrenders to his senses. He rarely lets go completely and gives into his wolf since he has always struggled with control more than most. However, he thinks this situation allows him to be a little reckless.
With a deep breath he allows the shift to take over, senses always enhanced to one hundred when he does so, and focuses his thoughts on Theo. To his surprise—not really surprising when he allows himself to think about it—he stays fully in control. His hearing registers a very specific heartbeat that he has had memorized for months now and when he realizes where it’s coming from he wants to slap himself.
Theo is, of course, hiding out in his apartment.
So Liam grabs his keys from the table, shouts a goodbye to his parents, and walks out the door straight to his car. The route to Derek’s apartment building is familiar, Liam having had driven it half asleep in the middle of the night when the nightmares got too hard to handle alone.
He gets there in record time, parking haphazardly between two parking spaces. If he were in a better state of mind and his brain wasn’t screaming Get Theo on repeat, he would have been embarrassed.
He climbs the stairs two at a time because the elevator has been out of order for months and doesn’t even bother knocking on Theo’s door. Liam instead fishes out the spare key he stole from Derek’s collection and opens the door.
Theo is leaning against the kitchen counter staring at him unamused. Liam guesses that he heard him but still made no move to make him leave so he takes that as a good sign.
He quickly realizes that he did not plan what he was going to say at all so he just blurts out the first thing that comes to his head.
“We have a pack meeting.” And really, Liam knows he sounds and looks utterly pathetic, with his arms stuck by his sides and still standing at the entrance.
“Right,” Theo replies, tone bored as if Liam is somehow wasting his precious time by merely standing there. It frustrates Liam to no end because that’s the way Theo speaks to Stiles or Malia, sometimes even Alec if he’s teasing, but never him.
So Liam walks forward and grasps Theo’s arm ready to pull him all the way to Scott’s house if he needs to. “Come on we don’t want to be late.” He hopes that if he just acts as he always does, pretending that Theo will do anything if he asks for it—although it’s not pretending if Theo actually always does it—Theo will just relent. Of course, it doesn’t work because when has anything in Liam’s life ever been easy.
Theo plants his feet firmly on the ground and pulls his arm out of Liam’s grasp. Liam knows that he can easily overpower Theo, he has always been stronger, but he decides not to. He doesn’t want to force Theo, he wants to convince him. He wants to make him understand that he isn’t a burden. He wants him to know that he is not only needed but also wanted.
“I’m not going,” Theo states, face stoic and unbothered.
“Yes you are,” Liam argues, temper rising. It is moments like these when he curses his IED because it would be so much easier to deal with this if he had a level head.
“Why do you even want me there?” Theo spits out and Liam knows what he’s doing. He’s being harsh to hide what he actually feels, a Theo Raeken specialty. But Liam doesn’t have the patience to deal with it today, so he does what he does best, he gets angry.
“Because you’re important to us goddamn it!” Liam all but yells. He feels all anger drain out of his the moment Theo takes a step back. Liam squeezes his eyes shut, knowing they are more than likely glowing gold, and takes a deep breath before opening them and looking at Theo. “You’re important to me.”
And it’s sort of like a curtain opens, or maybe like a dam breaking. Everything is suddenly so clear and flooded with emotion that Theo is forced to think back to his thoughts from yesterday.
Anchors
No, it’s more than that.
Not only do they make sure the other stays in control, but they are also the ones who can push the other past their boundaries and make it out alive. They’re everything and more.
Liam takes a step forward and grabs his hand, interlacing his fingers with Theo’s. And Theo lets him. He allows himself to be pulled closer until he is in Liam’s space, breathing in the air Liam breathes out.
“Will you please just come to the pack meeting,” Liam whispers, looking up at Theo through his lashes, and Theo can’t help but think that it’s a little unfair. It took everything in him to break out of Liam’s grasp only a minute earlier. He’s never been good at saying no to Liam, especially not right now, when he can feel the heat radiating from his body in every inch of his own.
Theo nods. Liam smiles. And Theo lets Liam pull him out of his apartment and to his truck. He lets Liam take away his keys. Lets himself be pushed into the passenger seat. He lets him do whatever he wants. He vaguely registers Liam’s car left abandoned in the lot and it says a lot about them that Liam knows that Theo is uncomfortable being in a car that is not his own.
They arrive fifteen minutes later and Theo instantly knows something is going on because Scott’s house is too quiet. He’s about to voice his concerns when Liam reaches for his hand and all thoughts escape him.
Distracted by Liam’s hand in his, he doesn’t register the darkness of the house, not until the lights turn on and everyone yells, “Surprise!” Which, admittedly, scares the shit out of him.
Once his heart has stopped racing he looks around the living room and his eyes immediately zero in on the poster on the wall.
Happy Birthday Theo is written in big, colorful letters. There is a table pushed against the wall under it with presents piled on top of it. Every member of the pack is wearing a ridiculous party hat and Stiles, Stiles is dressed up as Thor.
“What is all this?” He asks a little breathless.
“This is your birthday party,” A voice says from behind him and Theo turns around to see Scott, dressed up as Iron Man and holding something behind his back.
“Oh my god,” the words leave his lips before he can stop them and he barks out a laugh. The room freezes for half a second because they have never seen Theo laugh that openly about something. For once, he is not hiding behind a carefully placed mask.
“Thought you were an atheist,” Liam teases while simultaneously breaking the tension. Theo looks at him, then down at their still joined hands, then back up to Scott with a small smile on his lips.
“We should have remembered your birthday,” Scott says. Theo starts to shake his head but Scott stops him. “I should have told you before and it was naive of me to think that you would know.”
“Told me what?” Theo quirks up an eyebrow and tilts his head slightly to the side, openly displaying curiosity and confusion that Liam can’t help but find adorable.
Scott releases a breath before stepping forward and placing a hand on Theo’s shoulder. “You’re pack Theo.” His breath hitches and his body tenses but Scott keeps going. “You are as much a member of this pack as everyone else and we should have made that more clear to you. Stiles, Derek, and I weren’t arguing with you about going to the bar because of your age or because we don’t trust you. We didn’t want you to go alone because we were worried about you.”
Theo ignores the sting in his eyes as he looks away from Scott, suddenly overwhelmed.
“We know it’s going to take a while but we’ll be here and we are going to stay because you’re important to us.” And it is the exact words that Liam had said to him not thirty minutes ago that make the damn break. Tears spill out of his eyes and suddenly arms are wrapped around him. Scott’s arms, quickly followed by another’s. Stiles. And then the rest of the pack.
“Come on, you need to change into your costume,” Stiles speaks after a few minutes, clear excitement in his voice.
“My costume?” Theo asks incredulously as he wipes his cheeks. Scott holds up a bag and a shield made out of cardboard.
“You’re Captain America,” Scott states in full seriousness.
“I think Bucky fits me more now, don’t you think?” He says it with a smirk, an obvious joke that brings a smile to their faces.
Still, Theo takes the costume and pulls it on over his clothes before he is pushed to the couch to open presents, Liam insisting he open his first.
So Theo didn’t get to go to the bar to catch Monroe’s hunters, he got something better. Something that is not perfect and is more than a little broken but Theo is a little broken too so he fits right in.