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"We've been walking for hours." Liam huffed Theo's head tipped back in a silent groan. "Are we almost there?" Liam squinted through the moss covered trees hoping desperately for a house to appear so they could finally stop walking.
"No Liam" Theo huffed. "For the millionth time, we are not almost there."
"But we've-"
"Been walking for hours. Yes, I know. I've been here the whole time, listening to you bitch." Theo said stiffly. "You know, maybe, if you put more effort into walking and less into complaining about it we might actually be there by now?"
"So we are close?" Liam tried. Theo's groan was a lot less quiet that time, ripping through the forest. A bird took off from the trees above them, squaking indignantly as it flew away. "I'm just asking-"
"You see that branch?" Theo said, pointing ahead to a large snapped off stick. Liam gave a bemused nod. "I'm going to beat you to death with it if you ask me if we're close again." Theo said, voice sugar sweet.
"I just want a rough estimate of how long-"
"A few more hours you freaking child!"
"Hours?!" Liam shrieked.
"Yes. Liam. Hours. You see this dot-" Theo shoved the map under Liam's nose, a small red dot hovering over the middle of nowhere Idaho. "That's where we're going and this-" he pointed down the map. "This is where we are."
"Well, that doesn't look too far." Liam said, hope bubbling in his chest. Theo let out a humourless laugh.
"This is where we started." He moved his finger, barely a centimetre to where the green hue of trees broke to grey that Liam guessed was meant to be the carpark.
"But that's...That means we're half way."
"I think a bit under actually." Theo said calmly. Liam let out a pitiful moan, dropping down to sit on a fallen log.
"You know what, just beat me to death. It'll be easier than walking the rest I-" Theo didn't let him finished, just grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and yanked him back up. Liam let Theo lead him along, head ducked in a pout.
*
"You know. I'm starting to wonder if there's anyone actually out here." Theo sighed, squinting up at the sun as sweat dripped down his brow. It wasn't that hot, but after hours of hiking through uneven forest floors both were drenched in sweat. Theo more so, if only because he'd all but dragged Liam a third of the way. Liam huffed a small laugh, it would be just their luck to hike hours into a forest to meet a pack that wasn't there.
"Maybe they're not." Liam said picking at his sticky shirt with a grimace. "Maybe I'm just luring you into a trap. The packs all here ready to-"
"Not funny Liam." Theo said voice brokering no room for arguments.
"Right." Liam nodded clearing his throat as he jogged with Theo, who pushed through the leaves with renewed vigour. "Sorry about that, guess my sense of humours been damaged by the sun." Theo slowed slightly, falling into step with Liam as he fought off a smile.
"You'd have to have a sense of humor to start with."
"Hey! I'm hilarious." Liam said.
"Did your Mom tell you that?"
"You know you're not funny either right?"
"Funnier than you." Theo mused. Liam wiped the sweat from his brow peering around them to be met with only trees.
"Maybe we should just howl?"
"We don't need to howl. We have coordinates." Theo said waving the map with an angry little flutter of paper.
"We're like on top of the coordinates and I can't hear another person around. Or smell any werewolves." Liam pointed out. "What if Scott didn't tell them we're coming?"
"He said he told them." Theo sighed.
"Last I heard he said he told them I was coming. What if he didn't mention you?"
"Then we'll tell them who I am. The McCall pack's babysitter." Liam was starting to think he spent more than half of his time with Theo just rolling his eyes. "He would have told them. He doesn't trust me enough not to warn them exactly who i am."
"He wouldn't tell them everything."
"He'll tell them enough. Doubt i'm going to have the warmest welcome."
"Then why are we even here?" Liam snapped. "Why the hell would you walk into a pack of unknown werewolves expecting them to hate you already?"
"Guess i like the attention."
"Theo!" Liam hissed. Theo let out a slow breath through his nose.
"A minute ago you wanted to howl for them and now you want to leave?"
"Well it's not like I wanted to be here in the first place! If we can't even find them there's no point being here so we can just turn around and-"
"We told Scott we would be here. If he finds out we weren't-"
"So we tell him we tried and we could find it. By the time we get back to the truck and call him it'll be too late to hike back out here so we can just spend the night how I wanted-" Theo let out a dramatic groan, running a hand through his sweaty hair.
"That's a great idea Liam. Apart from the part where you lose control and kill someone."
"I'm in control!" Liam said, forcing his voice to stay steady and quiet.
"For now. Sure, what about when the moon rises? You're strong when you're angry and a pain in the ass to keep track of on a good day let alone when you're out for blood. I'm not having you tear up my seats or kill someone because you wanted to prove you could wear big boy pants." Theo ranted. Liam heard a crunch of a twig, his eyes shifting to behind Theo.
"Theo-"
"No. Liam! We have walked for like six god damn hours I'm not turning around and making Scott think I lied to him, because we both know he would say it's my fault-" Liam's eyes widened as a wolf inched out from the underbrush, coarse grey fur coating its body.
"THEO!"
"I AM TALKING! - Because you have a problem hanging with some bullshit hermit pack for one god-damn night-"
"WELL SHUT UP BECAUSE THERE IS A WOLF BEHIND YOU!" Liam screamed. Theo's words died on his tongue. He turned slowly. The grey wolf paused, eyes settled on Theo.
"So there is." Theo hummed softly. The wolf changed, bones creaking as she shifted back into a woman in her early forties. Her brown eyes flashed red. "Are you Sammy or is there about to be a fight?" The woman smiled in a way that Liam hoped meant that she was the alpha they were looking for.
"Hello." Liam said, lifting his hand in a jilted wave. The woman's eyes shifted to him, her head tilting slow and steady like a robot.
"You must be Liam." She said, Liam was pleasantly surprised to find she didn't talk like C3PO, instead it was soft and warm.
"You must be cold." Theo muttered shooting Liam a glare. Liam's eyebrow pinched in confusion. He hadn't done anything.
"Which would make you Theo." She said, Liam could have believed she hadn't heard Theo's comment if it weren't for the crows feet crinkling around her eyes in amusement. "I fear I interrupted a conversation. What was it you were saying about 'bullshit hermit pack?' don't let me stop you." Liam's eyes widened Theo however just laughed.
"I'd apologise but I'm pretty sure Scott didn't promise I'd be polite when he told you I'd be tagging along." He hummed, squaring his shoulders. Liam expected a fight, or at least a growl, he didn't expect the woman to smile wide enough to make her nose scrunch. She held out a hand.
"My names Sammy. We're glad you chose to stay with us on your travels." Theo took her hand gingerly in a quick shake. Liam inched forwards slowly and accepted his own awkward handshake.
"What are you a motel?" Theo snorted.
"I prefer to think of us as a halfway house." Sammy said with another nose scrunching grin as she stepped backward, towards the trees.
"Well Theo should fit right in then."
"What did I say earlier about you not being funny?"
"Boy." She called, drawing their attention ones more. "Follow me. You look like you could use a sit down" Liam peered back down at his own sweat slick clothes and couldn't help but agree. "Do try to keep up won't you?" Sammy hummed. Liam watched as she shifted back into a wolf and took off. Liam caught Theo's eye before they took off running after her.
*
The 'halfway house' it turned out was a clearing packed with tents and sleeping bags. There were even a few little blue camping chairs placed around and too many coolers to even count. Liam paused at the edge of the tree line eyeing the small crowd of people milling around the area. Most seemed to busy setting up the remainder of the tents but an old man sat curled in a camping chair fast asleep as small children piled leaves into his lap and tried to stifle their giggles.
"Come on." Theo said, noticing Liam pause and moved to yank him along by the sleeve. Sammy walked past a man, only a few years older than themselves with thick black and a cheesy grin. He gave a small nod to Sammy before carrying on towards the pair. Liam watched Sammy disappear into an honest to god tepee.
"Yo whatsup." The man said coming to a stop in front of them and rocking on his heels. "People are still arriving and Marc only got here with the tents for most of them like...half an hour ago so no ones put em up yet which means we should probably get out of dodge before we get roped into helping. You alright with a walking tour?" He turned back to the camp. Not giving them long enough to reply and traipsed off. Theo followed, Liam was tugged along like a dog on a leash. "Alright, so, this is where we sleep, eat and hang out with the adults." He said waving to the mass of tents and tepee's around them. "The bathroom is through those trees, walk until you find the hole." He jabbed a thumb to the left on the camp. "You walk south of dodo for like a half mile and there's a lake which is where we're going. Everywhere else, there's just trees. This concludes our tour. Any questions?"
"Yeah. Who are you?" Theo asked.
"I'm Eric. Sammy's son." Eric said.
"What's Dodo?" Liam asked. Eric pointed to the man in the chair, still out for the count as more leaves were being piled onto him.
"I'm gonna be honest with you. You'll probably think he's dead at some point-" Liam's eyebrows raised. "-But don't worry about it, he never is. He's just stupid old, hence the whole 'dodo' nickname."
"And he doesn't mind that?" Liam asked.
"He came up with it. Even told me to stop calling him grandpa. Now come on, hurry up before people realise we're leaving." Eric took off at a jog and the two boys followed.
The lake, when they got to it, was sort of annoyingly beautiful, It stretched along the face along a small cliff, small waterfall streams poured over the lip and into the water revealing a small dip in cliff face that held a group of teenagers, voices muffled by the water a small fire burning on the grey stone floor they crowded on. Eric picked his way around the edge of the water until they were almost at the cliff's face before he was hopping out onto a moss covered rock point out from beneath the water. The two watched him skip across a few more rocks before ducking through a break in the waterfall. Liam waved for Theo to go first. He in no way trusted that Theo wouldn't push him off were he to go first. Theo smirked, as if he knew exactly why Liam was being so polite but said nothing as he copied Eric's movements, bounding across the rocks. Liam followed.
The second Liam was landing on the hard stone floor of the inside of the little cave a drink was being shoved into his hands.
"Everyone this is Theo and Liam. Guys, this is everyone." Eric said, waving a hand across the gaggle of teens blinking up at them from their perches in the cave
"Bet they feel like they really know us now." A girl said with a snort, she bought a beer to her lips, Liam's eyes fell on a snake tattoo on her arm, curling around and around before disappearing beneath her sleeve."I'm Sara. That's Moe-" She pointed to a lithe boy who had a cigarette dangling between his lips. "Guns-" The girl beside Moe wiggled her fingers in a wave. "Maria-" The kid seemed to be the youngest of them all, with chubby cheeks and a nervous grin. "It's her first time into casa de cool too-" She explained.
"Casa del cool?" Theo snorted.
"Blame Mom, she came up with the name." Eric said, dropping down next to Moe and pinching the cigarette. "Sit down." Liam dropped down obediently. The sound of the waterfall rushing in his ears as Theo plopped next to him. The group's eyes stayed locked on the two even once they'd sat down, eyes wide as if waiting for something else. Liam busied himself with cracking open the cap to his drink and taking a long gulp. When he lowered it they were still watching, Theo's finger was tapping away against the floor.
"So-" Theo said, once the silence was sufficiently awkward. "You all hiding from setting up duties?"
"Pretty much." Sara hummed, leaning back on her elbows her eyes running over Theo, after a moment she switched to look at Liam, surveying him slowly like she was trying to look into his soul.
"Is there a problem or are you lot always this weird?" Theo huffed.
"Which one of yous the murderer and which one has the anger issues?" Guns asked bluntly. Theo's finger paused it's tapping.
"Jesus Guns, you ever heard of tack? Didn't I tell you not to say anything?" Sara snapped.
"In her defense." Moe hummed, snatching the cigarette back from Eric. "You shouldn't have told us if you didn't want her to ask. You know she's a prying-"
"What exactly have you heard about us?" Theo asked, Sara's eyes snapped back to Theo as she gave a small shrug.
"Just what Mom told me-" She said.
"-That a couple more wanderers would be crashing the full moon party and they happen to have a bus load of baggage. That one had anger issues and the other I just needed to 'keep an eye on'. Which only ever means murderer here."
"You have lots of murderers staying with you?"
"I'd say like a third of us have blue eyes." Sara said with another casual shrug as if they were discussing the weather.
"That sounds safe." Liam mumbled. Theo chuckled, low and soft. Sara's lips thinned.
"Lots of packs'll kick someone out if they get blue eyes, others won't take em in." She snapped. "Mom knows that sometimes things just happen, especially with bitten werewolves before they learn to control the shift. You'd think considering one of you is a murderer you'd be a little bit less judgemental." Liam reeled back guiltily. "Anyone who doesn't mean harm to the pack is welcome here. If you have a problem with that then-"
"Relax-" Theo snorted. "He's a baby wolf with a true Alpha. Blue eyes scare him."
"They don't scare me." Liam hissed.
"So that means you're the murderer then?" Guns asked, eyes back on Theo.
"What did I just say about ta-"
"I am." Theo said. "You always ask your guest's such personal questions when you first meet them?"
"Oh definitely." Eric said with a quick nod. "Breaks down barriers you know?"
"Does that mean we can ask you oddly personal questions?"
"Nope." Moe sung, letting out a stream of smoke. "So Anger pup-" Theo grinned at the name. Liam rolled his eyes. "When's the last time you wet yourself?" Liam floundered opening his mouth to let out a few strangled croaks before Moe was laughing. "I'm just screwing with you. So, this your first time in Idaho?"
The conversation flowed fairly easily after that, the two explaining the road trip so far, or more, Liam was while Theo snarked between his sentences like a pain in the ass. More teens filtered into the cave over the next few hours.
Liam rested his back against the cave wall looking through the gaps in the waterfall at the teens now playing in the water Maria was on Eric's shoulders the two pitted against Sara and a boy named Jesus in a chicken fight. Guns paddled along on her back, spouting water from her mouth like a fountain. Theo nudged Liam's foot with his shoe.
"See, it's not that bad." He hummed.
"I'd still rather be in the car." Liam said. "I didn't need to come."
"We'll see. Moons not even up yet." Theo kicked him again, Liam kicked back, engaging in the foot war half-heartedly.
"If I'm fine I expect an apology for all the patronising I've put up with the past twenty-four hours." He said. "And next full moon we're doing what I want."
"Next full moon..Just how long are you planning to be on this road trip?"
"Well we can go somewhere if we're back." Liam said. "I don't want Scott chaining me to a tree again."
"He chained you to a tree?" Theo asked, Liam nodded. "Kinky." Liam let his next kick hit hard enough to make Theo hiss in pain. "Stop being such a baby." Theo huffed. "At least it's pretty here. Better view than we'd have had stuck in the truck for the night."
"Not really. I mean, we had a pretty awesome view at the grand canyon." Liam pointed out.
"True, but there were also people within eating distance of you so-"
"There are people within eating distance of me here."
"Yeah but there's also a lot more werewolves to stop you from eating someone." Theo said logically. Liam hated it. Theo pushed himself up off the floor and walked over to the edge of the cave, peering down at the sparkling water blocking Liam's view of the other's. The sunlight cracked around him leaving him little more than a dark silhouette. Liam pulled his phone out, ignoring his depleting battery and snapped a quick photo. After a moment Theo turned back round, hand digging in his own pocket for his phone as he walked back to Liam. He kicked off his shoes, dropping the phone into one of them.
"Let's swim." Theo said, holding out a hand. Liam took it and let himself be pulled up and marched towards the mouth of the cave despite knowing he wasn't going to get in the water.
"I left the bag in the truck." Liam said gingerly, he'd noticed about an hour after they'd left it but hadn't wanted to say anything. Theo snorted, dropping Liam's hand and moving it to Liam's back, fingers hooking into the fabric of his shirt as if to keep him there.
"Yeah, I realised." He admitted. "It was too late to turn back then and we're definitely not going back to get it if that's what you're angling for so you're just going to have to deal with not having any of your shit for the night."
"I just mean we can't swim. we haven't got anything to wear-"
"True." Theo hummed. "But you do kinda stink so-" Liam didn't scream when Theo used the hand still resting on Liam's back to shove him into the water, just accepted it with a bitter sense of normalcy.
"I should have seen that coming shouldn't I?" Liam asked as he bopped back up, Theo crouched down, far enough away to keep Liam from pulling him in in retaliation.
"Probably," Theo said.
"I still have my shoes on." Liam grumbled, Theo's eyes lit up.
"I know."
"You're such an asshole."
"Again, I know." Theo said ducking his head in a little bow. He stood up again, walking closer to the edge. Before Liam could even use the new found position of evil mastermind Theo had gifted him with Theo was diving, straight over Liam's head into the water. Liam turned back watching him come up after a moment, flicking the hair from his eyes.
"Really? You didn't think you should get out of your clothes first?"
"You trying to get me to undress Pumpkin?" Theo purred.
"Just swim dumbass." Liam snorted, splashing away.