souls :: thiam

f o u r t y - f o u r

(unedited)

The next schoolday was a mixture between excitement and nervousness. The good part was that Theo would finally talk to Liam again and that he could still feel his lips pressed agains his when he thought about it, and that just made him wobbly in the knees. The nervous part was because of his plan to go sneak into the sheriff's office as soon as the sun went down, and eventhough he was still at school and it was far from noon, he kept on checking outside to see if the sun had magically disappeared. However, Liam kept telling himself he would just get in there, get it done real quick, and then he would've done something really important to Theo, and therefore for himself.

He was confused when he saw Mason's face right in front of him when he turned around from his lockers (yes two like sharpey evans, pink) wincing by the look at him.

Liam was unsure wether he should say something, and as Mason opened his moith but didn't say anything, he just gave it a shot.

"Listen, Mason...", was all he could get out. And honestly he didn't know what he was gonna say. Sorry, for being so harsh? Thank you, for not telling anyone, if that's what you did?

"Okay Liam, I jus-jus wanted to say I'm sorry", Mason choked out and Liam couldn't believe his own ears. His eyes widened, and he suppressed the urge of his jaw dropping. "I mean, I'm still kind of mad at what you said to me, but we've been best friends ever since I can remember, and I shouldn't have judged you without hearing what you had to say to your defense-"

"Wait- you're sorry?", Liam seemed confused, but before Mason could open his mouth again he would already continue, "I- of course. Apology accepted. I'm- really sorry, though."

"Well, I mean, great.", Mason's eyes lit up. Mason continued to simply look at Liam, who seemed to be even more confused as he did not say or do anything else. Maybe it was some sort of handshake that Liam expected, or a friendly slap on the shoulder after pulling away from a long, intimate hug, but neither of them moved one bit. Or a cheesy speech about having your brother back and having missed each other incredibly much, but that would not only have been super cringy to do in the middle of the hallway but askward considering the circumstances.
Eventhough there were indeed things that Mason still wanted to add, and he cleared his throat loudly in order to get them out.

"So, I guess, boys, huh?", Mason said carefully.

"Yeah, I mean, I guess I like both.", Liam replied casually and a little bit too confident, eventhough you could tell from afar by the way that he tapped from one feet to the other and the way he pulled a face that he was uncomfortable. Don't say the word, man. Please just don't say the two-letter sexuality word. Fucks sake Liam, don't act as if you haven't thought about what you are for the longest time.

"And Theo likes ...?"

The way that Mason seemed to be even more hesitant to use the word and address this directly when he was the one who has been openly gay for forever, suddenly began to tick Liam off. Maybe Mason should just try to write him a letter, Liam thought, if he could get himself to write the words: 'Hey Liam, are you gay or bi, and what is Theo?'.

"I don't know, obviously?!", Liam snapped, sounding slightly pissed about this being their first real conversation in forever.

"I knew it!", Mason suddenly called out, clenching his hand into a fist in order to symbolize success.

Liam just laughed. "How did you-?"

"I don't know man, I just have this instinct", Mason started and made the same excited face as when he was talking about the logic behind physics, "you may not want to hear this but he looked at Scott this type of way once, it— let's say, I would've been surprised if he was 100% straight."

Liam was gonna bring up the time he dedicated his life to, and finally killed Scott, but he figured this wasn't exactly the time to do so.

"So it's Theo and you, huh?", Mason asked again, and while he did so, his face was not filled with allegation or hatred at all — there was a slight smile forming on his lips.

"Yeah.", Liam demurred and suddenly he felt heat inside his face and warmth inside his heart that, no matter how hard he tried, he could not suppress.

"I mean, I get what you see in him he's pretty hot —", Mason remarked when they were making their way to their next class, and suddenly he felt Liam's elbow in his side.

"Hold on, he's —", Liam opposed but stopped himself as he saw Mason raise his eyebrows at him with a bright smirk on his lips. "I don't even know."

"It's okay Liam, I get it.", Mason chuckled, "But still."

***
i feel like this sucked bc i wrote it weeks ago but whatever !