Liam woke in the middle of the night with his heart pounding in his chest. The scent of fear was thick in the air. He heard a shuffling noise—panic set in at the thought of an intruder in his house. If they'd come for him, for his family, for Theo—Liam reached for his phone in case he needed reinforcements and the screen lit up the room. Theo was crouched in the corner, rifling through Liam's bag.
"Theo, what the hell?"
Theo straightened slowly, his shoulders high and tight, and Liam could've sworn his eyes were shining. He held a set of keys in his hand.
"Just needed my keys," Theo said simply, but his voice was off—Liam switched on a light and set his phone down. The scent of fear wasn't coming from outside the house. It was coming from Theo, and he didn't need reinforcements for that.
Theo was already slipping out of Liam's room and down the hall, a bag slung over his shoulder. Liam hissed at him to stop, but the chimera ignored him. Liam slipped on sweatpants, not bothering with a shirt, and chased after Theo, but he didn't stop until Liam shouldered the truck door shut and barricaded his path.
"Get out of my way, Liam," Theo said, his eyes resting on the hood of the truck.
"No."
"Just because I saved your ass earlier doesn't mean I'll feel bad about kicking it now."
"I'd like to see you try."
Theo worked his jaw, a bitter smile turning up the corners of his lips. "We both know you couldn't take me."
Anger sparked in Liam's chest at the challenge—if it had been any other day and if he hadn't let two bullies beat him up earlier, he might have a better hold on his self-control—but he didn't.
And that was how Liam ended up ramming his fist into Theo's nose at three in the morning.
Theo staggered back, his yellow eyes flashing, drawing out Liam's own. It was only the whiff of fear, the sharp reminder that Theo must've woken from a nightmare, that stopped him from shifting.
"I jumped through hoops with my mom just to let you stay for a few weeks," Liam said, pointing at the dark house behind him, hoping that his parents were still sound asleep. "There are trigger-happy hunters out on the prowl and I know exactly how comfortable that guest room is, so what gives?"
Theo wiped the trickle of blood from his nose with his sleeve. "If we were friends, I might tell you."
That stung more than Liam wanted to admit.
"I don't give a shit if you want to get yourself killed, but I'd prefer it be me instead of a hunter," Liam growled, his anger getting the better of him.
Theo ducked his head, his hair falling into his eyes, and Liam felt a pang of regret at lashing out.
"And you wonder why I don't want to sleep in the room next to you," Theo said in a low voice. A shred of vulnerability peaked through his tough exterior. "At least I'm safe if I'm in my truck."
"You really think I'd slit your throat in the middle of the night?"
Theo shrugged. "You tell me."
Headlights illuminated the curve in the road beside Liam's house. He grabbed Theo's arm, hauling him from the ground and yanking him behind the truck bed where they couldn't be seen from the road. The car was driving too slowly—like it was patrolling, searching for werewolves out in the middle of the night.
When Liam glanced back at Theo, all traces of the vulnerability he'd seen there moments ago had vanished, his eyes wary as he studied the car, too.
"What if we call a truce?" Liam asked. "I won't try to kill you in your sleep, and you won't do anything stupid."
"Define stupid—"
"Leaving in the middle of the night to be hunter-bait." As soon as he said it, Liam thought back to the night they beat the Ghost Riders and Theo had single-handedly taken down dozens of the Riders, been the bait, all so that Liam could get information back to Scott. He wondered if Theo was remembering the same night when he threw Liam in the elevator.
If he was thinking about it, Theo didn't show it. He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Fine. Whatever. Truce."
Liam stuck his hand out, and Theo's glare sharpened, thoroughly unamused at having to shake on it, but he did. When he started back toward the house, Theo didn't follow right away.
"Be right there," Theo said quietly, opening the backseat of his truck and pulling out a ratty old blanket.
"Does the big, bad chimera seriously need a blankie to sleep?"
Theo tossed the blanket over his shoulder. Liam thought he might just ignore the remark but as he walked past, Theo's fist slammed into his face.
"Now we're even."
...
In the morning, Liam nearly broke his phone trying to turn his alarm off and scrubs the sleep from his eyes. If he slept until noon, it still wouldn't be enough. He got ready like normal—if anyone could consider sharing a bathroom with Theo normal.
Liam pounded on the door. The water to the shower had shut off ten minutes ago but Theo was still being a bathroom hog and Liam's time to shower and brush his teeth was shrinking rapidly.
"I'm gonna miss the bus, Theo!" Liam growled through the door. "Hurry up!"
Five minutes later, Theo emerged squeaky clean with a fresh smirk. "Relax, I'll drive you. It'll be faster."
Liam was seriously starting to regret letting this smug bastard into his house. After a quick shower, Liam padded downstairs where his mom was waiting with two bags of food. It smelled like bacon, and Liam's stomach growled. Except that the last piece of it disappeared between Theo's lips.
"Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Dunbar, I'll make sure Liam gets to school safe and sound."
"Oh, please," his mom said with a genuine smile. "You can call me Jenna. Liam, your friend is sweet. He can stay as long as he likes."
Liam said, "He's not my friend" at the same time Theo said, "I'm not his friend."
His mom shot him a confusing look with a raised eyebrow that he didn't understand. "All right, then, boys, whatever you are, you better be on your way before you're late for school. Li, I packed breakfast and lunch for you since you took forever getting ready."
If his mom hadn't been watching from the doorway, Liam would've sunk his elbow into Theo's gut the first chance he got. Instead, he hopped in the truck with a huff.
Theo
Theo put the truck in gear and started down the road. Liam opened he packed breakfast—a bagel with cream cheese that already had a bite taken out of it. With a low growl, he shoved it back into the bag. Liam crossed his arms and leaned as far away from Theo as he could get.
Before he could call Liam out for pouting like a hurt puppy, Liam said, "Take a right here."
"But the school's the other way." They were only a few blocks away from his house.
"I'm not going to school."
"Then why did you care if you were late—"
"I needed my mom to think I was going."
Theo's eyes flicked to him briefly before shrugging and turning down the street on the right. He bother asking why Liam wasn't going back. Theo couldn't blame him. He wouldn't want to face those two shit heads either.
With a heavy sigh, Theo pulled into a McDonalds drive through and ordered several breakfast sandwiches and two cups of coffee.
"Eat this. Your pouty chemo-signals are stinking up my truck," Theo told him.
Liam took one of them cautiously, eyeing Theo like the food was somehow a trap. He took one bite, then another, and hangry Liam was quickly becoming a thing of the past. Theo sipped his coffee and hoped back onto the main road, not really sure where they were heading, but not exactly caring either.
"There's no such thing as pouty chemo-signals," Liam said, "Where'd you even get the money for these anyway?"
Theo smirked. "You really should hide your allowance better. Who keeps cash in an envelope behind the toilet anymore?"
"You little shit—" Liam lunged at him, but Theo braked sharply and the seatbelt tightened, keeping Liam in place.
Theo wagged a finger at him. "Rule number 6: no fighting with the driver while he's driving," he said. Liam was practically fuming. It was so easy to get under his skin.
They drove in rage-filled silence, at least on Liam's end, for a few minutes before Theo asked, "So you're playing hooky. Did you have any actual plans for today?"
"Yeah. Digging your grave is pretty high up on that list," Liam snapped.
Theo snorted. "Somewhere with nature. Got it."
About half an hour later, Theo parked at a trail head leading into the woods. He'd finished his coffee on the ride up here, and since Liam had hardly touched his, he swiped it from the center console.
"Hey, that's mine," Liam protested.
"It was getting cold, and I need the caffeine more you do."
Liam grumbled, but left it at that and started up the path. Theo hadn't exactly planned to hike today, but at least it was a nice day for it. Not too hot yet, but the sun was already burning off the chill in the air.
They'd been walking for a while when Liam said, "It's normal, you know."
After a long pull of coffee, Theo debated ignoring Liam altogether. "Playing hooky? You don't have to tell me that."
"No, the nightmares."
"What nightmares?"
Liam sighed. "Deny it all you want, but you spent months in hell. Of course you have nightmares, but I think you should talk to someone about them."
"Like who?"
"I don't know, Scott?"
Theo scoffed. "You want me to talk to your alpha, who I literally killed, about nightmares. Are you forgetting who put me in hell in the first place?"
Liam paled. "Technically that was Kira, but yeah, you're right. It's stupid." The beta's heart was erratic in his chest, but a breath later, he said, "Or me. You could always talk to me."
Theo stopped in the middle of the path, eyeing a clearly frazzled Liam. He scratched his head and avoided meeting his gaze in a way that would've been hilarious if he hadn't continued, "Not that I care or anything. It'd be cathartic to hear how much you're suffering after everything you did to divide the pack."
Draining the rest of the coffee, Theo crumpled the to-go cup and chucked it into the trees. He knew that Liam was stumbling over his words, that they'd called a temporary truce, but he didn't care. It wasn't like he expected Scott and the rest of the pack to forgive him, but if even Liam couldn't see that he'd changed, then no one would.
He would just be Theo, the traumatized chimera who'd fucked up McCall's pack, for the rest of his time in Beacon Hills. Maybe there was no coming back from that.
"Right," he said and spun on his heel, heading back to the truck.
"Wait, Theo, I didn't mean—"
"No, I got it, Liam. You made yourself perfectly clear."
Liam
Liam wanted to bang his head against a tree. He knew he'd taken it too far and ended up with his foot in his mouth, but he didn't know how to fix it. Wasn't sure he wanted to fix it.
Theo had hustled back down the path, and Liam was convinced he'd have to hitchhike home, but when he got back to the parking lot, Theo was waiting with his legs dangling from the tailgate.
"Look, Theo, I didn't mean it like that—" Liam started, but the chimera turned away from him, clearly uninterested in whatever he had to say.
"Sure you did." Theo's voice was flat, uncaring. "You think I deserved to rot in hell."
Liam balled his hands into fists, not sure why they were shaking. "Yeah, maybe I did." Theo shook his head in disbelief, jumping down from the truck. Liam grabbed his jacket. "But then you saved my life with the Ghost Riders. You kept me from getting my ass beat. You took my pain. Maybe I thought you deserved to rot in hell at one point, but I don't anymore."
After what felt like a small eternity, Theo's eyes swung up to meet his own. His sharpened gaze softened ever so slightly.
"I get that we're not friends," Liam whispered, "but we're not enemies, either. Not anymore."
Theo's nod was curt, nearly imperceptible, but it was there. "Not enemies."
Liam hadn't realized how close they were standing, with Theo practically pinned against the bed of the truck, until his heart was thundering in his chest in a way he didn't understand. Before he could think too hard on it, his phone rang and he stepped away to answer it.
To his relief, it wasn't his mother, but Scott.
"Hey, Scott—"
"Did you ditch school?" he asked, unusually stern.
"Maybe," Liam said, drawing out the 'a' in a high-pitched tone.
Scott's sigh sounded more like a growl. "Not saying that I approve, but it might be for the best. Stilinski called and we have a situation at the sheriff's station. Can you meet us there?"
Liam looked to Theo, who was twirling his keys in his hand, but clearly was eavesdropping on the call. He rolled his eyes but nodded.
"Yeah. We'll be there in a sec."
"We?" Scott asked, and Liam could practically see the eyebrow raise through the phone.
"Me and Theo."
Distantly, he heard Malia exclaim, "what the fuck," but Scott just said, "I have so many questions."
It might have been funny if Liam wasn't just as confused as his alpha.