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“He’s late,” Liam growled quietly into the phone.
“Probably because he didn’t have an amazingly generous best friend to drive him,” Mason replied. Liam could practically hear Mason’s eyes rolling through the call.
“Well he was the one who said we should meet at 8:30,” Liam complained, tapping his foot impatiently, “and that definitely didn’t happen.” He glanced at his watch. 8:38. “I’m giving him two more minutes and then I’m leaving.”
“Cut him some slack, Liam, you guys played a rough, wild game last night. He’s probably exhausted! Not all of us have wolf strength and endurance, you know.”
“Then he should’ve scheduled this little meeting to happen later, not–” Liam stopped when he thought he saw Nolan in the flow of people passing by. His eyes finally locked on a boy his age coming his way, though it took a second to process it really was Nolan and not his long lost twin brother. His normally unruly and floppy hair was pushed back and styled carefully, the hoodie and sneakers were replaced with a crisp button-up – one that really made his eyes pop – and pseudo-dress shoes, and he was even wearing a simple gold necklace with a crest Liam couldn’t make out. Nolan’s aura of unease and nerves was unchanged, and his hands fidgeting with an invisible lacrosse stick was a familiar sight, but…
“Did you come straight from Sunday mass?” Liam blurted out.
“Today is Saturday,” Nolan said quietly. Liam flushed at his mistake, suddenly feeling very dumb and very underdressed.
“Do I need to run home and change? Because I–”
“NO! No, sorry,” Nolan turned even redder than Liam felt, “I just wanted to look…nice, we can go inside, it’s not a fancy place or anything.” Nolan opened the door and held it for Liam, not quite able to look Liam in the eyes. Liam awkwardly mumbled a thank you and slipped inside, Nolan on his heels.
Liam slid into one side of the small booth and quickly picked up the menu to distract himself as Nolan thanked the host and slid in across from him. Nolan cleared his throat quietly and fiddled with his shirt collar, but didn’t say anything. Liam managed to eke out, “For the record I think you look nice,” before choking on what he’d just said and burying his face in the menu out of embarrassment…failing to notice Nolan also blushing profusely and similarly digging into the menu’s pages.
“So…come here often?” Liam managed.
“I…yeah, pretty regularly. The food is…really good,” Nolan stammered out. Silence again.The waiter came back around and both Nolan and Liam asked for water as their only beverage, evoking a fresh round of blushing at their unspoken agreement.
“I’ll have a full-stack of pancakes,” Liam mumbled, not tearing his eyes away from the menu.
“And I’d like the French Toast Plate, please,” Nolan managed, clearer than Liam, but also not fully putting down his menu.
The waiter finished writing and stood there without moving. Nolan was about to ask if he needed something from them when the waiter asked hesitatingly, “So…can we have those menus back if you’re done ordering?”
“Oh…yes…I…sorry,” Nolan stammered out, practically shoving the menu into the waiter’s arms. Liam still didn’t budge at first, though Nolan clearing his throat pointedly shook Liam out of some sort of trance and he too handed over his menu…albeit very reluctantly.
They were alone again. Nolan picked at the edge of the tablecloth. Liam gripped the bench beneath him, so tightly he was worried the wood would snap. He looked around furtively, desperately searching for something, anything to distract him or to talk about so they could get away from this neverending eye contact avoidance contest.
Nolan swallowed hard, “So…Liam, I need to tell you…I didn’t just invite you here to celebrate our win last night.” His fists clenched and unclenched on the table, “I mean…I’ve been wanting to invite you to chat…in private…and” flip “there hasn’t felt like a good time, but since the season’s over now and we both have more free time–”
Liam blinked. Something had registered in the back of his mind without him even realizing it. “Sorry, hold that thought,” he cut Nolan off, standing up. The scent of blood wafted through the air as Nolan closed his mouth and bit down hard on his tongue. Another scan of the room identified someone sitting in the corner opposite them, a conspicuous unfolded newspaper covering their face. Locking onto them, Liam recognized those hands…and as he focused, that smell. “THEO!” Liam barked as he stormed across the room, snatching the paper from the chimera’s hands. Theo looked up at him, unfazed.
“In my defense, this was not my idea,” Theo shrugged, “Mason wanted me to keep an eye on you and find out what this meetup was about, Corey seconded the idea, and then I got conscripted for the job because neither of them have the enhanced hearing necessary for eavesdropping from across the room.” Liam stood there for a second, processing. “Can I have that back? There was a surprisingly interesting article in there about satellite networks.”
“I’ll hand it back to you once you get up and leave,” Liam growled under his breath, “I don’t need a damn chaperone.”
“Never said you did,” Theo leaned back, “but I’m still nursing at least half a cup of coffee here. So if I could just get the paper back you won’t hear a peep from me.”
“Not what I’m worried about. Get out.” Liam narrowed his eyes. “Don’t make me kick your ass in front of all of these people and throw you onto the street by force.”
“Oh yes, I’m sure getting arrested for assault and spending your morning with Stiles’ dad instead of Nolan is exactly what you’re after,” Theo smirked, taking a sip, “besides, I would still be able to listen in even if I was lying beaten and bloody on the sidewalk.”
Liam clenched his fist feeling his claws extend ever so slightly into his palm. He slammed his eyes shut forcing a deep breath through his body, exhaling slowly. “Look…what is it going to take for you to leave? Because I would really like to get back to my table, and enjoy my breakfast without having to worry about your shit-eating grin as you hear every word! So could you just go? Please?”
Theo took a long, multi-swallow sip before shrugging, “Okay.”
Liam opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Okay? That’s it?”
“You said please and I have no obligation to listen to Mason and Corey when they ask me to do something,” Theo said quietly, finishing his coffee and standing up. “And seeing as I’ve now finished my drink and you’re giving me my paper back,” he brushed past Liam, slipping the newspaper out of Liam’s grasp in one smooth motion, “I see no reason to stay.” He took a few steps, then looked back over his shoulder, “Have fun on your playdate,” Theo winked, before striding out of the shop, only briefly stopping to drop a single penny in the tip jar.
“Does he just carry those around so he can be a dick?” Liam grumbled quietly as he shuffled back to the table and slumped down across from Nolan.
“Was that…Theo? What was he doing here?” Nolan watched Theo strolling away down the street till he was out of sight.
“Being an ass, like usual. Anyway, what were you saying before I had to go deal with him?”
“Oh, right, I was just going to say that I’ve wanted to ask you for a while if–”
“Order up!” the waiter said cheerfully, setting a steaming hot circle of pancakes in front of Liam and a delicious looking stack of French Toast in front of Nolan, “anything else we can get for you today?”
“Not right now, thanks,” Liam said without looking up from his plate, already sawing into the meal in front of him. His stomach growled involuntarily and he flushed again. “I…might’ve been hungrier than I thought.”
“Makes sense when I kept you waiting,” Nolan laughed nervously, trickling some syrup onto his meal quietly. Liam’s nose twitched for a second as he picked up a faint blood scent again.
“Is your mouth okay?” Liam tried to ask nonchalantly as he dumped half the container of syrup onto his plate, “I keep smelling blood. You’re not hurt, are you?”
Nolan somehow managed the miracle of developing the deepest shade of red on his cheeks yet. “No, I…I just must have a canker sore in there or something. Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you sure? It’s not making it hard to eat or anything, right? Because I don’t know if it’ll register, but if I tried taking your pain,” Liam reached out under the table and rested his palm on Nolan’s knee.
Nolan jerked it away, bumping the bottom of the table and almost spilling syrup off his plate. “Don’t!” he yelped, then cleared his throat and adjusted how he was sitting, “I–sorry, you just don’t need to think about it, it’s not a big deal.”
“It doesn’t have to be a big deal for me to want to help you with it if I can,” Liam said, his mouth half-full.
“That’d be a sweeter sentiment if I wasn’t hearing it through a layer of pancake mush,” Nolan giggled, taking a relatively tiny bite of his food by comparison.
“Yeah but the pancakes are covered in syrup which adds the sweetness back into the equation,” Liam joked, leading both of them to double over in laughter as the chunk of pancake he’d picked up slid off the fork, splattered into the plate, and hit him in the face with a squirt of syrup.
“Aw, now you’re sweeter on the outside too!” Nolan joked back, intensifying their laughter. Liam didn’t even care that the people at the tables around them were giving them looks, it was just nice to see Nolan smiling and having fun for once. It didn’t happen nearly enough.
The rest of the meal was quiet, if only because both of their mouths were full for most of it and any attempt at conversation risked spewing food into the other’s face or a repeat of the syrup incident. As Liam massaged his full belly, Nolan opened his mouth to say something…and was immediately cut off by the waiter setting the check in front of him. “Hope you guys enjoyed the meal! Come back soon!”
Liam started to reach into his pocket but his fingers were barely inside before Nolan barked, “No, stop that, I’m paying. I was late, I owe you,” and snatched the check off the table. Liam sat there for a second, hand frozen in place. “Put that hand down, Dunbar, you’re not paying a cent and that’s final. If it pains you too much, just go to the bathroom while I pay at the register,” Nolan ordered, standing up with a playful glare. Liam decided it was easier to comply.
When he emerged from the bathroom, Nolan was already outside, sitting on a bench and staring off into the middle distance. He jumped a little when Liam approached, though Liam could hear his heart rate slow the second he realized who it was. “You’re lucky I don’t have any weapons on me or that could have been dangerous,” Nolan laughed nervously, though it seemed to catch in his throat. Liam sat down and waited as Nolan fidgeted some more, adjusted his collar, played with his hands, tugged at his shoes…
“You’ve been interrupted three times now, at least, so can I finally hear the big reason you wanted to talk to me?” Liam asked, “Or do I need to take three guesses now before I’m allowed?”
Nolan couldn’t seem to meet his gaze. “No, I can tell you…” he muttered, before getting even quieter, “I have to tell you, I promised I would tell you today and I wouldn’t put it off any longer…” Nolan’s mumbling became too incoherent even for wolf hearing. “Okay, here goes,” Nolan inhaled dramatically, “Liam Dunbar, I…like you.”
Liam blinked, then blinked again. “Uh…is that it?”
Nolan's eyes widened, “What do you mean is that it?!”
“I mean I like you too Nolan, you’re a great friend, a great co-captain, you’ve really stepped up at Argent’s supernatural shelter, but I kind of thought it was implied that we liked each other if we’re able to spend as much time together as we do.”
Nolan stared at him blankly for a moment, his mouth open in disbelief before his brain rebooted, “Liam…I don’t think you heard me properly. I like you. Like you. As in,” he vaguely twiddled his thumbs, “that way.”
It was Liam’s turn to sit and process silently for a moment before it clicked. “Oh. Ohhhhh. So you…and this…was all…”
“Yeah, I…asked you out without asking you out,” Nolan admitted quietly. “I meant to tell you before we even sat down, but first I showed up late and then there was Theo and…well you know.” He pulled his knees up to his chest. “I’m sorry, the words just…weren’t there. I meant to give you the choice to walk away…” he wiped his face with his hands, “and I guess you still have it. If you want to just go home and forget this morning ever happened, I’ll understand.”
Liam hesitated for a second before grabbing Nolan’s hand, and holding it with both of his own. “Now why would I want to do that?”
Nolan’s head snapped around, “I think it’s a shorter list of why you wouldn’t. I dragged you out here and basically tricked you into going on a date with me without telling you that’s what I was doing! The only way I could’ve made this creepier was if I slipped you a roofie.”
“And yet despite all that…it was a pretty nice first date, wasn’t it?”
“I guess–first?” Nolan stammered.
“Look, let me put it this way,” it was Liam’s turn to breathe, “my response to your statement is the exact same. I like you too. I like you too, that way, as you put it. I just…” he trailed off, “I haven’t wanted to let myself think about things like this ever since Hayden left. As soon as she was gone, life became a whirlwind of war and chaos and looking over our shoulders all the time just in case, and I didn’t think there was any time to be…human.” He gripped Nolan’s hand a little tighter, frighteningly aware of the strength in his grasp and how…strangely fragile Nolan seemed. “But I don’t want to keep thinking like that. Monroe’s in the wind, the Hunter network is worldwide, and we could technically be in crisis mode till we’re graduating college. And I don’t want to wait that long. Especially when you’re right here.” Nolan’s face was frozen in a mask of shock. “I take it you weren’t expecting me to say any of that, were you?”
Nolan swallowed, “To be honest I was half-expecting you to punch me in the face.”
Liam tilted his head, “Even if I didn’t like you back, why would I do that?”
“I dunno, instinct? Annoyance at me being a pining little idiot when we’ve got bigger problems to worry about?”
“Nolan, you do know we’re high schoolers, right? We don’t have to solve the world’s gaping flaws on our own, especially not anytime soon. And besides,” Liam pinched Nolan’s cheek playfully, “I find your pining endearing.”
“That makes one of us,” Nolan mumbled. “But why–”
“This is why it took you the past hour to announce we were on a date,” Liam interrupted him, gently grabbing his face and pulling him in for a kiss. Nolan melted into it, his hand relaxing in Liam’s, his body losing its tension, and Liam almost had to catch him from keeling over when he leaned too far into it. As Nolan stared at him, breathless, Liam took the opportunity to grab Nolan by the back of the neck and hold their gazes in line. “Nolan Holloway, if we’re using full names, I like you. I like making you laugh, I like spending time with you, I like playing games with you, I like eating breakfast with you. And while I only have one tryout to go off of, I think I like kissing you too,” Liam grinned. “So…boyfriends?”
Nolan nodded, his cheeks still flushed a soft shade of pink, “Boyfriends.”