New Beginnings

10: The Ending

Liam refused to leave Theo's side, and so a trembling Corey was left to explain to Coach that there had been some unexpected issues with Liam's boyfriend and Liam would not be playing in the game tonight.

"Tell him he's doing suicide runs until he actually dies," grunted Coach. "You get on the field, Bryant. You too, Holloway," he added, glancing at Nolan, who had shown up as well.

"Yes, Coach," said Nolan, heading out to the field.

Liam clutched Theo's hand; the chimera was slowly regaining color, but there was an emphasis on slowly.

"He'll be all right, Liam," Deaton said. "You don't have to be here."

Liam growled in response. "He just almost died," the new alpha said finally, glancing up at Deaton. "So I have to be here when he wakes up, so I can break his nose for almost dying on me."

Deaton chuckled. "That sounds about right."

The next day, when Liam had dozed off, head lolling to one side, in one of the chairs in Deaton's exam room, Theo finally woke up.

"Liam," he whispered, his voice hoarse. Liam didn't hear him. "Come on, Dunbar, this is supposed to be like some kind of romantic moment where I wake up and you hear me."

Still nothing, and finally Theo clumsily made his way over to Liam and kissed him on the lips.

"Mmm, Theo...Theo?" questioned Liam, finally waking up. "Theo! You woke up! You - you left! You made me so mad! I'm gonna break your nose - "

"I was going to reply!" Theo burst out. "I heard your howl," he whispered finally. "I heard your howl, and I realized I'd made a mistake. I was going to turn around, but then I saw the hunters. And I knew if I howled, you'd find me. I didn't want you to find me."

"What - why the hell not, you complete idiot?" shouted Liam.

"Because then she'd kill you. I didn't want her to kill you."

"We're both still alive," murmured Liam. "See?" He took Theo's hand and placed it on his heart. "We're both still alive, you stupid wolf."

"I don't need to have my hand on your chest to hear your heartbeat, Li," whispered Theo. "Monroe thought - well, she seemed to think that we were each other's anchors, you know that, Liam? She thought we loved each other that much. And I thought about it, you know, in between being electrocuted - "

"I'm so sorry, Theo," murmured Liam, burying his face in Theo's chest. "I should've explained why I was going to Mason's, I made you feel alone, I'm so sorry..."

"It doesn't matter, Liam. It really doesn't. And I realized that it was you. You're my humanity, Liam, you remind me that I need to feel things, care about other people, have an actual human life. You're everything I ever wanted." Theo licked his lips, unsure whether Liam would reply.

"You were the only person who accepted my anger," whispered Liam. "The only person who didn't care, who always showed up to save me from doing something I'd regret in a fit of rage. You could always calm me down, it didn't matter how angry I was. I could never be mad at you, Theo."

"I love you," whispered Theo. "I never said it, and every minute I was down there I thought, what if I die down here, and he never knows I love him?"

"You're turning into such a sap, Theo Raeken," Liam sobbed, hitting him on the shoulder. "I love you too."

"Don't tell anybody," Theo said, tears filling his own eyes, and the two collided in a kiss, Theo clutching Liam's hair and Liam wrapping his arms around Theo's waist, slipping them under his shirt once or twice as he did so. Salty tears mingled with their kiss, but neither broke it; neither of them wanted to.

"Oh, God. Oh, that's awful. Why did nobody tell me about this? Why did nobody warn me? Oh, that's horrible. Scott, why didn't you warn me?" Stiles' very distinctive voice broke the kiss in the end, and both boys turned, caught in the act, to look at the other boy.

"I told you they were together," Scott shrugged, entering the room too.

"You didn't tell me they'd be making out in Deaton's exam room!"

"Well, I wasn't sure. That's why we sent you in first," Scott explained with a smirk.

"Really? Oh, you wanna play that way?" Stiles punched Scott in the chest, and Scott pretended like it hurt.

"So, Liam, second true alpha in the pack, huh?" Stiles grinned at the brand-new alpha.

Theo blinked. "Wait, what?"

Shyly, Liam turned back to look at Theo, and shifted his eyes, now a fiery red. "It happened when I broke through Monroe's mountain ash barrier to get to you," he said. "Do you like them?"

And not caring that Scott and Stiles were watching, Theo surged forwards and captured Liam's lips in another, rougher kiss, as Scott and Stiles both groaned - and so did Malia, who apparently had been parking the car.

"I love them," Theo panted once they broke apart. "I told you that you were my alpha."

Liam groaned and leaned his forehead against Theo's chest. "Only you would take this as an I-told-you-so moment."

"Well, I did."

Liam tilted his head up and smiled. "Yeah, you did." And then he broke Theo's nose.

"Gah, what was that for? That's the fifth time!"

"That's for almost dying on me," Liam informed Theo, whose nose was already healing. "Don't you dare ever almost die on me again."

"I didn't actually have a choice, you know that, right?"

"Fifth time?" Malia questioned. "I thought it was only three."

"I broke his nose for leaving when he came back," explained Liam.

"It was very unnecessary," grumbled Theo, pouting.

"There," Liam said, kissing Theo's nose and causing everyone except Theo in the room to groan. "All better." And indeed, Theo's chimera healing had healed his nose by now.

"You've got to stop doing that."

Liam laced his fingers through Theo's. "Depends. Will you be my boyfriend?"

"If I say yes, will you stop breaking my nose?" grinned Theo.

"Maybe," conceded Liam.

"Then yes," grinned Theo, who would've said yes even if it meant getting his nose broken every day.

"If you hurt him," Malia flashed her werecoyote eyes at Theo, who glared at her.

"Why is nobody threatening Liam?"

"Because Liam didn't try to kill us all," Scott gently reminded Theo.

Theo groaned. "Good grief, when are you guys going to get over that?"

That night was peaceful. Theo had returned to the Dunbar-Geyer household, and had even managed to sneak out of the spare bedroom to Liam's bedroom, where they were now comfortably spooning, Theo's arms wrapped around Liam's.

"I still don't wanna be the little spoon," Liam objected feebly.

"Mm-hmm," Theo murmured, pressing a kiss to Liam's bare shoulder.

"Theo?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not gonna leave me, are you?"

"No, Dunbar," murmured Theo. "I'm never leaving your side, not ever again."

And those words remained true every day until the day they got married, and Theo shed his last name and became a Dunbar himself.