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Theo and Malia didn’t exactly get along, they had no reason to after everything that had happened. He tore apart their pack, he tried to get Liam to kill Scott, planned to kill Liam, tried to even kill Stiles. Their brief close friendship had been torn to shreds in seconds when she’d learned the truth about him. Her pack was her family, after so long of not having one. However, there was one thing they had in common, and could begrudgingly bond over - you.
You’d caught both their eyes the moment you stepped foot in Beacon Hills, and almost immediately they knew they’d have to compete to win you over. Malia had spat in her hand and offered it to Theo, and they at least agreed to make it a gentleman’s battle. They’d compete fairly, and win you the same. They also wouldn’t come to physical blows, at least not in front of you.
You’d moved into town and opened a small bakery/coffee shop, and it was nice, a place the entire pack frequented and so you’d gotten to know many of them quite well, learning their regular orders and when they were most likely to come in to get them. You knew them all by name, and knew bits and pieces about their lives, and you’d known they were supernatural from the moment you’d laid eyes on each of them, but waited to see if they’d reveal themselves. It took a few months for you to meet the Alpha of the territory, one Scott McCall, and so you approached him and explained who you were and sought permission to live on his land, but he didn’t seem to care what you did as long as you weren’t hurting anyone. You were just here to make coffee and sell pastries. The fact that you were a witch didn’t really play into that, at least not very often. Nothing wrong with a little enchanted energy drink to make sure you were getting everything done.
That little fact was exactly what had caused the first instance of them working together to help you out. You were absolutely dead on your feet, having been up for so long working on things, then waking up early to open the shop on time for the morning rush. You’d managed the 6am mini rush, the 8-9am morning rush and now you were creeping up on lunch. You’d pulled an energy drink from your fridge just as Malia entered the shop, Theo already tucked in the corner working on something. With a snap of your fingers, a small enchantment was placed on the drink and as you lifted it to your lips, both Malia and Theo ran and reached to stop you.
“How do you drink these?” Malia asked with a wrinkled nose, her hand around your wrist preventing the can from making it the rest of the way to your mouth.
“What did you do to it? It smells wrong.” Theo observed, taking the can from you.
“Give me back my drink. The lunch crowd will be coming soon and I need a pick me up.” You said, looking between Malia and Theo with a frown.
“What did you do to it?” Theo asked again, looking down at the can with disdain.
“I enchanted it for a little boost.”
“Enchanted?” Malia asked, releasing your wrist finally, curious about this new information about you.
“I’m a witch. Give me my drink.”
“No.” Theo said simply. He rounded the counter like he’d done it a hundred times before, and you followed him into the kitchen where he’d disappeared, and after a moment Malia followed you. You weren’t quick enough to stop Theo from pouring the drink down the drain.
“Theo.” You said with a sigh, quietly mourning the loss of the energy drink you’d paid several dollars for.
“Go to bed.” He replied.
“I can’t, it’s the middle of the day, I have a shop to run.” You said, slightly incredulous. Did he really think you’d just shut your shop in the middle of the day?
“We’ll cover you. Go take a nap.” Malia said easily, glancing up as Kira walked in to get herself something.
“You don’t-”
“Whatever argument you’re about to make, don’t. Just go take a nap. The shop will still be standing when you wake up.” Theo then said, already reaching out to pull your apron from your body, the tie at your back falling loose with ease.
“Between the two of us it’ll be fine. Go to bed.” Malia agreed. With a hand on each of your shoulders, Malia directed you toward the back of the kitchen where the door up to your apartment was, which was above the cafe. She closed the door behind you before you could argue, and much to their pleasure, you did take that nap.
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The fight hadn’t been particularly hard, but it had been long. Stupid deer creature, nothing needs to be able to run that fast. You dropped down to the preserve floor, softly panting, brushing away dirt from your knees to reveal the small scrape wound underneath. Theo shuffled over and sat down beside you, rubbing sweat and dirt from his forehead, Malia followed shortly after and looked down at both of you. She said nothing, just observed with a tilted head.
“Everyone is okay. I can hear people getting in their cars and stuff.” She confirmed before she joined you on the ground. They’d stuck close to you the entire fight, the first fight you’d been asked to take part in since now more than Scott knew you were a witch. You’d been reluctant, and both Theo and Malia had spoken up for you on that front - you weren’t here to fight their battles. But, you’d agreed in the end, because these people were kind to you and you were happy to help them. Theo glanced over at you, softly sniffing, then looked down at your knee.
“You’re hurt.” He observed. You shrugged. They’d never once let you out of their sight, if one of them had to leave, they wordlessly trusted the other with your safety, and it was nice. To be cared about.
“Hurt?” Malia asked, quickly leaning over to investigate, getting totally into your personal space.
“It’s my knee, I scraped it. It will be fine in a few days as long as I disinfect it, which I will once I’m home at my first aid kit.”
“That’s dumb. You didn’t even want to help.” Malia said, sitting back with a huff, and a small quiet part of you missed the warmth of her body. Theo must’ve noticed you shivering and wrapped his coat around your shoulders.
“I’ll drive you home in my truck, come on. You need rest.” Malia helped you to your feet, and Theo led the way to his truck, ensuring any branches or bushes remained out of your path.
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There weren’t a lot of things about your life in Beacon Hills that you could say you disliked, if anything it was borderline idyllic. Your own business, a home to call your own, friends around you, being able to freely practice your magic, and nobody breathing down your neck and nagging you. One thing that couldn’t be accounted for though was other people, and sometimes other people are shitty. You had plenty of regulars outside the pack, and one was a middle aged man who was just a little too nice to you. Sure, he was polite, but something about the way he said things just gave you the heebie jeebies.
So, when you realised he was following you home, you weren’t exactly pleased but you certainly felt vindicated.
You took out your phone and called Theo without a second thought, hoping that the sound of a man’s voice would make the guy leave you the hell alone - guys are assholes like that. He answered on the second ring, sounding a little distracted.
“Hey, you never call, what’s up?” Theo asked, and in the background you could hear the voices of Peter and Stiles.
“Are you busy? I just wanted to check if you’d made dinner.” You asked, desperately hoping that he’d understand what was happening. He was a smart guy.
“Dinner? What do you mean? I mean, you can join us if you want there’s some pizza left over.” He replied, and you laughed softly, though internally you were screaming. Sure, you lived above the very publicly known cafe, but you didn’t need anyone to know that outside of your friends. Why not reroute to the loft? Derek could look after himself.
“Pizza sounds great. I’m so distracted I took a wrong turn and was headed back to the café. How silly.”
“I mean I’d hope so, it’s getting late?” You heard him exchanging a few words with people in the background, and your heart sank, he wasn’t hanging up was he?
“Hey, Malia just got here, I’m gonna give her the phone, Peter is being an ass.” Oh thank everything that’s good.
“What’s wrong? Why are you coming here? You don’t like being involved?” Malia asked the moment she took the phone, not so much as giving you a chance to speak.
“Yeah I know, I can’t believe I took a wrong turn. I’m just totally on auto pilot. I think I was distracted, I keep hearing things.” You said, pleased with yourself when the footsteps behind you stopped for a short while, increasing the distance between you.
“Hearing things? Where are you, we’ll come pick you up. Theo! Get your ass up! We’re taking the truck.” You winced as she yelled, but sighed in relief.
“You’re the best. I’ll head to the café, you’ll be able to see where I am from the CCTV, just so you know which side.”
You felt more comfortable hanging up then, and you walked the rest of the way to the café, standing near the front door where the only external CCTV camera was. When the guy realised you hadn’t been lying about the camera, he made himself scarce, and then when you saw Theo’s truck pull up, you sunk to your knees, relief taking away the adrenaline that had kept you standing.
“What? Hey!” Malia called out, jumping out of the truck before Theo had finished parking, but he wasn’t far behind her. They bracketed you in against the wall, gentle hands on your shoulders and knees.
“Sorry. Some creep was following me, but I obviously couldn’t just say that on the phone. I called hoping it’d scare him off, but he didn’t leave until he realised I was stood under the camera and someone was on their way.” You replied, leaning into Theo’s firm chest while you allowed Malia to check you over for wounds, just for her own comfort.
“Alright. You’re okay though?” She checked, frowning more than you’d ever seen her.
“Yeah.”
“Come back to the loft for now anyway, just in case. I can’t smell anyone but I don’t wanna risk anything either.” Theo said, and you just nodded, allowing yourself to be helped up to shaky legs.
It hadn’t mattered that you were technically able to defend yourself with magic, you’d still felt petrified at the idea of a man following you home.
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If you were to rate the top five things you hated, struggling through magical energy drain would probably be three of them. But, you’d worked through it until you absolutely couldn’t anymore. You’d left the sign outside the night before, knowing that you’d be spending a few days in bed recovering ‘temporarily closed, owner sick’. It was short but it was enough and you could afford to take the financial hit from not opening for a few days.
Maybe the sign was a little ominous, you realised when you got several concerned texts the next day from people asking what sort of sickness meant you had to fully close the café for a while. Your bad. When there was banging on your front door, you could only sigh. The issue with magical exhaustion as bad as yours was that you couldn’t physically get up anymore, if you did you’d only collapse. You barely managed to stay awake for periods of time, never mind get up to answer your door, so whoever it was would just need to go home.
The McCall pack had never once done that, you were foolish to think they would now. You were hardly able to sit up enough to look over to your window, heart beating quickly in your chest, to see Theo and Malia climb into your apartment through the window. You were just glad it was them, of all people.
“What’s wrong? You ignored everyone’s texts.” Theo said first, leaning in the door frame that led to your bathroom. The entire apartment was pretty much totally open plan, aside from a half wall in the kitchen and the walls that surrounded the bathroom.
“Magic drain.” You answered simply, voice raspy from disuse.
“So?” Malia asked, sitting down on your dresser, opposite your bed, just looking at you intently.
“You waited til you couldn’t move anymore, huh?” Theo asked with a knowing look of disappointment on his face that made you squirm, you just shrugged. Malia rolled her eyes and left the room briefly, which gave Theo a chance to crouch down beside your bed and press the back of his hand to your forehead, checking for a temperature.
“There’s ingredients for food, but you’d be better doing it Theo.” Malia called out, and though he didn’t speak, his amused smile spoke volumes. You watched as they changed places, Malia looking at you intently from beside you.
“Can’t move at all?” She checked, and you shook your head. In that moment, Malia decided that her first mission was getting you to the bathroom to wash your face and do your business, since that was something she was more than capable of helping with. When she helped - see: carried - you back to bed, she made sure you were propped up in a sitting position rather than laying down so you could eat whatever food Theo brought you.
She moved quickly around the room, picking up clothes and other things that were misplaced or on the ground and put them where they belonged.
“You don’t- have to.” You said swallowing hard against your dry, sore throat. Malia disappeared and returned with a glass of water that she helped you drink.
“I don’t have to do a lot of things, but at least I want to do this.” She said with a shrug, then placed the glass on your bedside table to finish tidying your room. She wasn’t going to fully deep clean, that wasn’t necessary, just clean - it would make your life easier once you were feeling better.
When Theo returned, it was with a bowl of chicken noodle soup in hand, and a smirk on his face.
“Do I need to feed you?” He asked, teasing but genuine.
“Yeah.” You said softly with a sigh, though you couldn’t help laughing. Theo perched on the side of the bed facing you, and carefully helped you eat the soup. He wasn’t a bad cook - nothing beat your own cooking, obviously, but he wasn’t bad at all. You finished it, and he took the bowl away to clean along with the rest of the dishes.
“We’ll come back tomorrow, make sure you’re doing okay and help out again.” Malia said, looking at you for a moment to make sure you nodded your assent, then she turned off your light and closed the door behind herself. She and Theo washed the dishes together and put them away, then exited the way they’d come in.
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The weather was warm, the breeze gentle, the flowers in the park in full bloom. It was a perfect day to just enjoy yourself. You closed the cafe early on Sundays so you could just have some time to yourself, and today the sun was late to set, so you were still able to have a small solo picnic, with some mini sandwiches and cookies that you’d made yourself. You weren’t surprised by any measure when Malia and Theo dropped themselves down on your small picnic blanket, either side of you as always.
“All by yourself, sweetheart?” Theo asked, and you smiled.
“Not anymore.” You replied with ease, opening the tupperware you were using to hold your cookies, offering them to both your guests.
“You don’t seem surprised.”
“You follow me like a pair of puppies. I’m not.” You said, though your voice was fond and the smile wouldn’t leave your face.
“Good. You’re learning.” Malia said, taking a cookie without hesitation, while Theo refused, insisting they were your reward for so much hard work.
“Are you ever actually going to ask me out or are we just going to keep doing this song and dance?” You asked, heart racing. You were never this bold, never so secure or brazen, but you knew they were interested, you’d seen it, and you knew what you wanted. Your new life in Beacon Hills had taught you the value of just taking what you wanted.
“Are we that obvious?” Theo asked, leaning back on his hands to bask in the sun.
“Blindingly.” You replied with a laugh, and you didn’t stop Malia when she proceeded to rest her head in your lap.
“So, who wins?” Malia asked, looking up at you expectantly.
“Wins? I didn’t realise you were competing, you work so well together. I figured it was a joint effort.”
Malia and Theo spent a long while just looking at each other, processing and thinking. When you’d first moved to Beacon Hills they’d hardly been able to stand each other - or at least Malia had hardly been able to stand Theo, but over the year they’d spent competing for your affection, they’d become quite friendly. They’d definitely proven that they were capable of working together when it came to you.
“Yeah okay.” Malia agreed, settling in her position and closing her eyes to enjoy the sun.
“You’ll have us then?” Theo asked, reaching out to take one of your hands in his, and you laced your fingers together.
“Yeah.”