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“Still don’t get why you all get to do the planning stuff for the party and I gotta get booted out of the group chat like a criminal.”
Not for the first time, Theo straightens up from the kitchen island with an eyeroll at Alec’s newest round of complaints. Alec currently has both hands fisted around two empty orange soda bottles like some forlorn metaphor for his woebegone situation in life.
“That’s because you were acting like a criminal,” says Mason, clapping Alec on the shoulder and managing to make the kid stumble despite Mason’s strength only being that of a regular human at best. “We cannot be having you and Theo in the same thread being part of the same planning committee. It’s just inviting Armageddon.”
“So obviously you chose Theo to stay on the committee. The way less murderous of us two,” Alec says sarcastically.
“I’m not the underage one,” Theo points out mildly.
Liam chooses that moment to wade his way through the crowd and join them in the kitchen. Alec shoots him the stinkeye as he enters. “You mean you’re the one who Liam’s dating. So therefore you get to stay in the chat.”
“Hayden literally added you back two seconds later,” says Theo. “Hey, Li,” he murmurs to Liam, turning to the side and leaning across the island on his elbow to receive an absent kiss at his temple from his boyfriend.
“What’re you complaining about now?” Liam asks, generally amused, but also smothering a yawn behind a hand. It’s close to one in the morning.
“Betrayal,” Alec says. “Backstabbing. Intrigue. High treason.”
“You wanted to steal a puppy for the night,” Liam says, disbelieving. He’s wide awake now. “You had to be stopped.”
Mason points at Liam with a snap of his fingers. “Thank you! My point exactly.”
Alec is pinwheeling his arms in protest. “Because Melissa doesn’t have the money to buy me a whole ass puppy for real! And you guys keep saying it’s such a huge responsibility. But what’s wrong with grabbing a puppy for like, healthy petting purposes for a party?”
“Um, first of all, the whole ‘grabbing a puppy’ aspect of things, and we’ll circle back to that in a minute,” says Liam. “Second of all, what do you mean Melissa can’t buy you a puppy? Have you actually talked to her about this?”
Alec mumbles something under his breath that’s rendered unintelligible even to the supernaturals in the room.
“Sounds like a no,” says Theo. “Did you talk to Scott about this?”
Alec mumbles something else that also sounds vaguely negative.
“What is it with you werewolves and your severe underdevelopment of communication skills?” Mason sighs.
“Hey. I do make my feelings known,” Liam protests, only to be met with an unimpressed look from Mason that tells him exactly how true he thinks that statement is.
“I’m, like, an orphan,” says Alec.
Theo raises his hand and wiggles it in the air. “Not a werewolf. Kinda got deconstructed and reconstructed a bunch of times in the lab. Shit got lost in translation.”
“You done using that excuse yet?” Mason says dryly. “You bled that one dry about, oh, I don’t know, over a year ago.”
“Point is, now I don’t have any puppies to pet,” Alec says. He slinks toward the island and sets his glass bottles down with a clink, then thunks his head down on the counter between his fists like a powered-down Sims character. “Before I know it, I’ll be old and gray and my last dying wish to pet just one dog will have been all for naught.”
“You’re sixteen,” says Liam. “Which, happy birthday, by the way. You should stop moping at your own party and come outside to blow out your candles.”
Alec rolls his head across the granite to squint at Liam. “Are the candles shaped like puppies?”
“...No?”
“Then what is the point?”
“Jesus Christ,” Theo swears. “G-d. If it means so much to you, then I’ll shift later and let you pet me for free.”
Alec bolts upright with alarming alacrity. “Really?!”
“Theo…” says Mason.
“Only five minutes,” says Theo, fixing Alec with a stern gaze.
“Ten minutes.”
“Five.”
“Ten.”
“Six, then.”
“Don’t be stingy. Eight.”
“Seven.”
“Seven-point-five.”
“Oh, my G-d,” Liam deadpans to the room at large. Mason ruffles his hair in sympathy.
“Seven and a half minutes it is,” Theo sighs. As Alec erupts into a cheer and pumps his fists in the air, rushing out into the living room to announce to the rest of their friends that there will be a live dog petting session after all, Theo follows at a more sedate pace and knows that his boyfriend is close behind.
Alec is in the middle of grabbing Corey and shaking him by the shoulders to deliver the exciting news when Liam glances up at Theo. Theo is already staring back at him, lips quirked in a half-smile around the lip of his beer bottle, and Liam smirks right back. Their eyes soften as they meet and a host of words flow between them unsaid.
You spoil him too much.
Don’t deny it, you love it.
Bastard. Yeah, I do.