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He had never cared for Valentine’s day. Didn’t care much about it as a friendship holiday because well… he was an idiot boy and that was a girls thing. Later on, he didn’t care much about it when relationships came, they didn’t last long enough nor were serious enough for Brett to get all romantic and giddy. He should have known the moment his sister started asking what he was planning, that his boyfriends did care about Valentine’s day.
“Lori—”
“Brett, I saw their gifts for you and each other, Theo is particularly excited about the whole thing and Liam is like a puppy, you have to get them something good!” Lorilee Talbot was not having her brother’s valentine hater bullshit, not after she went shopping with both the wolf’s boyfriends to get his gift and definitely not after she saw how excited certain chimera was.
The wolf groaned and got up from his bed, he didn’t understand why it was so important, it was just a silly holiday, a scam to get people into spending money because they thought they partners would think they don’t love them if they don’t gift them some random bouque of roses.
“Fine, what do you suggest, little sister?” The beta winced when the shorter blonde hit him on the ribs with the back of her hand.
“First of all, don’t call me that. Second of all, we gotta go shopping, now. Valentine’s day is in a week.”
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Two hours, two damn hours they have been walking around the mall, getting into different stores and looking around for things his boyfriends may like. Lori had been pleasantly surprised to know her brother wasn’t a total wanker and he actually knew Liam and Theo very well.
Every time she pulled something that Brett knew it wasn’t of his boyfriends liking he immediately dismissed it, instead looking for an option that they would actually like.
“Hey, how about these hoodies? You should get matching ones.” The youngest werewolf had an cheeto orange hoodie on her hands with the quote ‘tripple threat’ on it and Brett knew, without a doubt that getting it for his stubborn wolf and his hardheaded chimera would result in his nose broken, maybe his lip split too.
“Do you want to be an only child, Lorilee? They both hate orange, it’s like telling me to wear pink.” The buddhist werewolf shook his head and walked towards the rack of clothes his sister was looking through, finding instead the same hoodie in a pretty teal shade, thankfully in his and his boyfriend sizes. “I’m taking this one.”
His sister nods, pleased with Brett’s selections and they move on, going to different stores. The beta got Theo a couple of rings and a chain necklace he knew the chimera would love and some books and a black leader jacket he knew the beta had been looking some weeks before.
“Chocolates? Flowers?”
“Closer to Valentine’s day, I don’t want you to accidentally eat their chocolates or for the flowers to die before I can give them to them.” The beta murmured as he scrolled on his phone, coming across a video Liam had shared on tiktok, only to find Theo had shared it too. “I’m not done yet, come with me.”
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“Hey, Jenna said dinner is— Liam?”
The chimera stood frozen in the doorway of the beta’s room, his hand still in the doornub. The first thing he noticed was the wolf’s scent, going slightly sour, like green apples, which meant that he wasn’t entirely upset but going in that direction. Then he noticed the beta’s position, Liam was sitting on his bed, his phone on his hand and a frown on his face. Thankfully, he didn’t have to push him for an answer.
“Is Brett avoiding you too?” The beta’s tone was not angry, not yet, he was confused.
“What you mean, love?” The chimera cut the distance in a couple of strides and stood in front of Liam, his hand moving to cup the beta’s jaw and tilting his head up so he couldn’t avoid looking at Theo.
“He has been a bit weird this week, but… he hasn’t answer at all today after he send us the good morning message.” Liam’s chemosignals spiked with sadness and the chimera sighed, lifting his free hand and running his fingers through the beta’s hair, trying to sooth him.
“Love—”
“Do you think Lori’s idea was a bit too much? She shouldn’t have pushed him, now he’s probably annoyed about the whole Valentine’s day thing.” The beta was regretting it. He was regretting making a big deal out of it, it was no secret that Brett thought the holiday was bullshit.
“Hey, don’t do that. don’t go thinking the worse, I am the pessimist in this relationship.” Theo smiled as the beta couldn’t help but let out a laugh at his words. “Maybe he is busy and that’s why he hasn’t answered.”
He pouted, the beta literally pouted and Theo sighed. The chimera leaned forward and pecked Liam’s lips, distracting him enough to take the beta’s phone from him.
“Hey!” The chimera ignored Liam’s protest as he scrolled through the beta’s contacts, one hand on Liam’s shoulder, keeping him sat on the bed. Once he found the contact he was looking for, he pressed call.
It took only three marking tones for the line to connect and just two more seconds for Lori’s voice to fill the beta’s room. “What’s up, Li?”
“Hi, blondie.” The young wolf snorted as she heard the chimera and hummed in acknowledgement. “I need to ask you something…”
“Yeah, go ahead— Brett! That doesn’t go like that is the other way around, dumbass!” There was the sound of something heavy being dragged and dropped and then Brett’s groaning.
“Um… we just wanted to ask if Brett was with you, he had kind of went MIA for a while today, which is not like him but… he’s with you.” The chimera chuckled and looked at Liam who sighed in relief, barely audible.
“Oh, yeah. He has been helping me all day, I need this done for my Valentine’s day plans tomorrow.”
“Okay, I won’t take any more of your time. Tell your brother to text us before going to sleep.” Liam nodded in agreement with the chimera’s words and smiled softly, smile that turned into a laugh as soon as Lori spoke.
“Will do— Brett! You gonna mess it up!”
The chimera laughed and hung up the phone, giving it back to Liam, noticing how the beta’s scent was changing again, going back to Liam’s usual warm scent, like honey and a warm sunny day.
“You feel better, love?”
“Yeah… he’s just busy with Lori, we didn’t… we didn’t make him upset.”
Moments like these reminded Theo how much he wanted to kick Hayden’s ass. When she left, to everyone else Liam appeared to be okay. Yes, the beta had a couple of rough days the pack could see, but other than that none of them really saw the impact of the girl leaving, unlike Theo. The chimera noticed the mood swings, the lack of control because of the lack of anchor, he saw the way Liam reacted when Stiles left again, when Scott and Malia informed them that they were leaving too. It was very clear that after Hayden left, Liam got insecure, he thought that everyone were going to leave.
It took the chimera a while to convince Liam that he wasn’t living, that he was there to stay, and it took even more time for Liam to believe that Brett wasn’t going to leave them, specially after their rocky past. But there were moments, like these, that the beta’s insecurities flared up making him believe he pushed one of his partners too much, just as he sometimes believed he had pushed Hayden into leaving because the girl never assured him that it was not his fault.
“No, we didn’t. Come on, your mom is waiting, food is ready.” The chimera kissed Liam softly and pulled him up, guiding him out of the room and downstairs.
“You think we should plan a date tomorrow or it would be too much?” The chimera laughed and shook his head at Liam’s puppy dog eyes.
“Maybe is better if we ease Brett into it? Gifts and a chill evening this year and gifts and big date next year?”
“Huh… yeah, I think that’s better.”
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“Are you sure they are going to like it? I’m starting to regret it, it’s so… cheesy.”
He was regretting his decision to make this a big deal, he isn’t like this, Brett didn’t like Valentine’s day, it was just another scam holiday. Why was he so nervous? It didn’t make any sense to him how nervous he was about his boyfriends to see what he had put together, it was extremely cheesy and dumb and he just wanted to smash his head against a wall, because what was he thinking?
“They will love it, stop doubting it.” Lori took pity on her brother and hugged him tightly. “They aren’t your past partners, Brett. They love you and they will appreciate what you did for them. I know you don’t actually hate Valentine’s day, you just had shitty people who made you unsure of how deserving of the cheesy Valentine’s day shenanigans you are.”
“I love them so much, Lori. I don’t care if I have to do this every year… I just want to make them happy, they deserve it.”
“You do too, you know. You deserve to be happy… and you deserve them.” Just then, after Lori’s words, the sound of Theo’s truck parking in front of the Talbot house could be heard.
The shorter beta quickly moved towards the window and had to giggle as she saw Liam holding Theo’s hand and pulling him into the house’s direction.
“He’s such a puppy.” Brett laughed and only then the short blonde notice that her brother was right besides her.
“What you still doing here? Go get your pookies!” The tall beta laughed as his sister tried and failed pushing him in the door’s direction. The blonde huffed and used her werewolf strength to push him, smirking at the little yelp that came out of the wolf’s mouth. “Idiot.”
The short werewolf quickly left on her rooms direction once Brett was on his way towards the front door, not wanting to pry, even though she was definitely going to spy on them for a little bit.
As soon as the Budhist werewolf opened the door he had an arm full of Liam. The beta chuckled at Brett’s muttered curse as he was almost thrown onto the floor with the force with which Liam collided with his body. Thankfully for them both, Theo had managed to get his fingers in one of the belt hoops in Liam’s jeans, preventing them from falling.
“Hi, loves.” The wolf kissed both of his boyfriends cheeks and guided them inside. “Happy Valentine’s…”
“Happy Valentine’s.” Theo smirked and winked at them both.
“I have a surprise for you both…”
To say they were both surprised at Brett words was an understatement, but it was the anxiety in his scent what made Liam immediatellt talk.
“Love… you know you didn’t have to right? We know you don like Valentine’s day—”
“Oh, just shut up and let him show you both the surprise!” Lori’s voice came from upstairs, slightly annoyed.
“Calm your tits, blondie!” The chimera called out and laughed, shaking his head for a moment before he looked at Brett with a reassuring smile. “Show us.”
The tall beta took a deep breath and nodded, guiding both his boyfriends through the house, passing the kitchen and walking out the back door, towards the backyard.
“Oh my god—”
“Holy shit—”
Brett had outdone himself, there was a large projector screen set up, already on the Disney menu. Warm fairy lights hung overhead between the trees and around the area the beta had setup, creating a soft and cozy feeling on the space. In front of the screen was a comfortable sitting area arranged on a large rug, with soft pillows and blankets all over the space. A small table hold their snacks and a small cooler hold their drinks.
It looked directly out of a damn romcon movie.
“Happy Valentine’s day my loves.”
Bright smiles grew on the supernaturals faces and Brett knew, he knew right then and there that it was worth it. That he didn’t care how cheesy or dumb it could feel, Theo and Liam deserved all the good things he could offer them.
Lori was right, he didn’t hate Valentine’s day, not really. He just needed the right people in his life, the right partners, the right lovers.