Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Liam has known Theo is his anchor for a while. He doesn't know when it happened, hell, he doesn't even know how it happened, because it sure wasn't on purpose. But the thing is, Theo calms him down - his steady heartbeat, his scent, his long warm fingers pressed against Liam's arms, holding him still, giving him back control.

Something about him helps Liam keep his fangs back, his claws in, and it's a little crazy because he never dreamt this would happen when he first brought Theo back from the skinwalkers. He'd said, he's my responsibility, but he never thought it'd grow into this. He thought he'd use Theo in the fight, and then maybe keep an eye on him to make sure he wasn't going around killing anyone, but he didn't even consider the fact that fighting together would change things, would make Liam dependent on him.

It's a weakness, he knows, but the thought of Theo figuring it out and using it against him doesn't even occur to him until he tells Mason about it and he brings up that possibility.

"You think he'd do that?" Liam asks, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie.

Mason shrugs. "I mean, it's Theo."

"Right." Liam looks down at his hands, pulling on one of the strings to try and even their length. "Then I definitely can't let him find out."

"Have you told Scott?"

He looks at Mason. "No." He hadn't even thought about it. "Should I?"

Mason raises both eyebrows. "I think that's some pretty important information he'd like to know about."

Liam looks down again, frowning. Of course Mason's right. If Scott knows then at least he'll have the forewarning if Theo ever finds out about it and tries to use it against the pack. Liam still can't imagine how he would do such a thing, it's not like Theo being his anchor has really changed Liam's memories of what happened, he'd have a hard time manipulating him again even if he wanted to, which Liam honestly doubts he does considering everything that's happened since he came back.

The last time he saw Theo he'd been eating a hotdog in a park bench, head tilted back like a lazy cat and sun shining down on his face. He'd looked pretty harmless, and Liam thinks it wasn't just the sun blurring out the edges of his face that made him think that. Whatever it is that happened to Theo after he got pulled in by his sister left a mark. He's quieter, somehow, less sharp. Liam doesn't know what it means for sure, but he thinks they don't have to worry about him going on a murder spree any time soon. He might be the only one to take comfort in it, but he admits that the fact that his anchor probably won't try to kill any members of his pack again takes a big weight off his shoulders.

His anchor standards have dropped pretty low since Hayden left.

***

"Theo's what?"

"My anchor," Liam repeats, fingers tangled between his knees, nervously rubbing together. "He's my anchor."

"How did that happen?" Stiles asks, his eyes bugging out. Scott nods along, his eyebrows so far up his forehead they're almost at his hairline.

"Well, with everything that went on..." Liam trails off with a helpless shrug. "He calms me down even thought he's always pissing me off. I don't know, it just happened."

"Is it because he smells nice?" Stiles asks, leaning forward on his chair and almost tipping over and taking his laptop with him. He disappears from the screen for a moment and then comes back. "I'm good."

"What do you mean, he smells nice?" Scott asks, apparently deciding to pretend Stiles didn't just almost brain himself on his own desk. "Theo smells nice?"

Stiles waves his hands around. "I don't know! I haven't been sniffing him! You should know about it better than me, you're the one with a werewolf nose." He makes a face. "Liam said he smelled nice when we saw him in the woods."

"Well, he might smell nice...I never really thought about it. He just smells like...Theo," Scott says to himself, brow furrowed in thought, at the same time as Liam says, "I mean, yes, he smells nice. Or at least his soap does." He shakes his head. "But that's beside the point. He isn't my anchor because he smells nice, Stiles."

Stiles crosses his arms over his chest, curling his lip in one of his characteristic expressions of skepticism. "Then what possible reason is there for him to be your anchor?" He snaps his fingers. "Scott, back me up here, dude. You see how weird this is too, right?"

Scott winces, looking apologetic. "It is a bit weird."

And yeah, Liam knows how strange it must seem from someone else's point of view. If he puts himself in their shoes, he can imagine how it would seem like this new attachment Liam seems to have to Theo - a pretty significant one at that - came out of nowhere, and while his feelings on the matter aren't as negative as the rest of the pack's seem to be, he still needs to try and appease them somehow.

"I know it's weird, but there's not much I can do about it. Just- Mason said I should tell you because if Theo found out he could use it against us or something." He looks away. "Though I doubt he would. He's been kinda...friendlier, lately. I mean, he's still an asshole but he hasn't tried to kill anyone."

Stiles snorts. "I guess that can be considered 'friendlier' if we're talking about him." He runs a hand through his hair. "So? What do we wanna to do about this, Scott? Find Liam another anchor? Can he even change it by will?"

Scott grimaces. "I don't think so, no." He looks down. "The way I see it, Liam, you must trust Theo in some way. Somehow, during the time you guys spent together since he got back, he's managed to make you feel...safe around him."

Liam immediately scoffs, feeling his heart picking up speed. "What, no. There's no way that's true. I mean, it's true I don't think he's very likely to hurt us anytime soon but it's a pretty big leap from that to trust, Scott." His leg shakes from the anxiety suddenly squeezing at his chest. "He almost made me kill you," he says, "and then he killed you himself," his voice cracks embarrassingly. "There's no way I trust him. Right?"

Scott scratches his chin, looking sympathetic. "Hey, it's okay. You clearly didn't choose for this to happen." He sighs. "Just make sure he doesn't find out and you should be fine."

Stiles nods, slapping both hands down off screen, presumably on his thighs.  "Yes! And soon you'll see this thing will go away and we can find you a different anchor."

Liam lets out a shaky breath and nods, wiping his hands down on his jeans.

Sure, he thinks, easy enough. 

Or at least it would be, if not for the part where he's pretty sure he doesn't want to find another anchor.

***

Liam's a little embarrassed to admit that when he gets an almost incomprehensible panicked text from Theo at 11 p.m., saying something along the lines of, deaysf ag ghe hischool djskhgkvbommmmm, instead of calling Mason or Corey like he should've, he puts on his shoes, grabs his old bike from the garage, and pedals all the way to the school in under ten minutes.

He sprints across the lacrosse field, listening for Theo's heartbeat, and lets out a string of curses when he hears none, his heart racing with worry and fear. He's about to pull his phone out of his pocket to finally call someone when a hand springs up from the ground and pulls him under.

He lets out a chocked yelp, his claws coming out to try and grab at the grass, and then he's falling into what seems like a large hole that can't possibly have been there five seconds ago, because he's sure he'd been standing on solid ground.

He lands on his face, coughing up dirt, and he's so gonna punch whatever it is that did this to him, because he's not into getting buried alive at all. He's fallen into enough holes in this lifetime, thank you very much.

"Nice to see you."

He looks up, startled, and finds Theo staring down at him with an amused look on his face. His hair is a mess, swept in all directions, and his face and clothes are smudged with dirt. Despite all of that, he's still the best sight Liam's laid eyes on today, and he feels relief hit him like a wave, something unknotting deep in his chest. He lets out a quiet breath through his nose and pushes himself up off the ground.

They have enough room to stand, strangely enough, and when he looks around he sees that the hole looks almost like a...dirt version of a house. There's a cupboard(?) made with dried mud, and a blank wooden picture frame placed on top of it. He thinks the large rock on the corner of the hole is supposed to be a table of some sort, not big enough for a human, but definitely big enough for some smaller creature, and there's even what he can only assume is a bed not far behind Theo. There's also no opening, just dirt and more dirt all around them, like he didn't just fall through a giant hole in the ground.

"What was that thing?"

"A dwarf," Theo says slowly. "I texted you about it."

"No," Liam tells him, trying to dust off his jeans to no avail. His mom is gonna kill him if he ruins another pair. "You texted me gibberish that I deciphered to mean something was happening at the school."

Theo scowls. "I was a bit busy being buried alive, be glad I managed to text anything at all." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, making it stick up even more than it did before. "So, where's the rest of your pack?"

Liam pauses and looks away, heat spreading up his cheeks. "Uh, I didn't tell anyone about it."

Theo sends him an incredulous look. "What? You came alone?"

"I mean, the text you sent made it seem like you were getting murdered or something, I didn't exactly have time to stop and think about calling for backup," he says defensively.

Theo stares at him for a moment, an odd look on his face, and then sighs. "There's no signal down here, so we're on our own."

Liam pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks that yes, they're too deep into the ground to catch any. He grunts and slips it back in. "What are we gonna do? We can't just dig our way up, can we?"

Theo glances at the line of dirt above them and wrinkles his nose. "Not unless you want to risk dying suffocated." He looks around them, lips pursed in thought. There's a smudge of dirt on his cheek that covers his freckle, and Liam suddenly wants to reach forward and wipe it away with an intensity that leaves him digging his nails into the palms of his hands to stop himself. He might be going crazy. (And he'd so been hoping to finish high school with the same level of sanity he started it.)

"Maybe we just...need to wait for it to get back."

Theo might be going crazy as well, it seems.

"Wait for it?"

"Dwarfs are known to be friendly. There must be a reason why it pulled us down here."

"Yeah, to kill us and eat our remains!"

"They don't eat human flesh," Theo says with a sigh.

"Yeah, I'm completely reassured by that," Liam says dryly.

"Do you have a better plan?"

"No," he mutters, looking away.

He wishes he'd called someone, anyone, to come with him. Now he's stuck here with Theo waiting for who knows how long just for the chance that the thing that pulled them down isn't completely evil. The worst part is that he feels his heart hammering in his chest, and he's sure Theo can hear it too. He'd love to blame it on adrenaline, but the truth is that Theo makes him nervous. Liam's not scared of him, not anymore, but he can't shake the anxiety that spreads through his limbs whenever they're together. He doesn't know what it means, and he mostly tries not to think about it. It might be some lingering trauma from what happened before they sent Theo under, but regardless of the reason, it's infuriating to know that it's there, making him hot under his clothes, fidgety and uncomfortable.

"How did you get here, anyway?" Theo asks, moving away to sit on the bed(?), which looks more like a small bench with him on it. "You got here pretty fast."

"Uh," Liam says, scratching his head and grimacing when his fingers come away with dirt. "I used my old bike."

"You have a motorbike?"

"No, I meant my old bicycle."

"Oh," Theo says, looking at him like he's just said the strangest thing. "I thought your house was around five miles from here."

"It is."

Theo stares at him.

"What?" Liam asks, starting to feel uncomfortable. "I just peddled really fast! I'm not lying about the bike, okay?"

Theo shakes his head, looking down at his own hands with a soft sound of amusement. "I know you're not. I can hear your heartbeat."

"Then what is it?"

"Nothing." He drags a hand down his face, and Liam is momentarily distracted from their conversation by the reappearance of his cheek freckle. Good riddance, stupid smudge. "Just unexpected, is all."

Liam takes a second to remember what they were talking about, then frowns. "That I have a bike? Dude, everyone who can afford it has had a bike at some point."

"Sure, the bike," Theo says, looking at him with a soft smile. It's weird, seeing such a look on his face, and Liam has to turn away to stop his heart from beating out of his chest. They're already stuck deep underground, he doesn't need to have a sudden heart attack on top of that.

"Hey, can werewolves have heart attacks?"

"No, I don't think so. Why?"

Liam shrugs, looking down at his feet. "No reason, just curious."

"Pretty strange thing to be curious about right now, all things considered." Theo snorts. "Are you worried you'll have a heart attack when you see the dwarf? They're not that scary, I promise."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm worried about," Liam grits out, trying not to glare at him.

Theo doesn't answer, his head tilting to the side and his brow furrowing in concentration. "It's here."

Liam hears the rapid heartbeat a second later and lets his claws come out, his fangs growing behind his closed mouth.

"Don't shift, we shouldn't look threatening if we want it to let us go," Theo says, getting up from the bed(?) and coming to stand next to him. His side pressing up against Liam's helps him calm down. He lets his heart synchronize with Theo's and takes a deep breath, breathing his scent in and letting go of the rush of adrenaline trying to pull him under.

His fangs and claws recede.

"You better be right about that."

***

The dwarf lets them out.

Liam is actually surprised at how quickly things get solved. Usually, whenever some supernatural creature comes to town, there's a little more bleeding and death and general terror. But this time, instead of trying to skin them alive or something of the sort, the dwarf just pops out of the ground beneath them, takes one look at them, and says, "Sorry about my son," in a rough voice.

When they've both been pulled back up to the surface, safe and sound, Liam takes a moment to lie down on the lacrosse field and wonder how his life has come to this. It's great that they haven't been horribly murdered, really, but the fact that that's what he's come to expect whenever something goes slightly wrong is a bit worrying.

"See, I told you it'd be fine."

He turns to look at Theo, who's sitting cross legged a few feet away from him. His hair is falling into his eyes, messy and dirty, and Liam gets the crazy urge to reach forward and brush it away.

He coughs, embarrassed at his own thoughts.

Definitely going crazy. 

"Yeah, I guess." He tries to clean off some of the dirt caked under his nails but realizes quickly enough that it's pointless. He'll need a long shower when he gets home.

"Do you want a ride back?" Theo asks, looking down at his dirty shirt with a frown. "As thanks for coming to help me and being completely useless."

"You're an asshole."

Theo snorts at that, getting up and rolling his shoulders. Liam can hear the way his bones pop under his skin and swallows down the sudden knot in his throat.

"So, ride?"

"Okay." He pushes himself to his feet as well. "I need to get the bike first."

They go grab the bike, which Liam left lying sideways on the ground by the entrance in his rush to get to Theo, and once they've got it on the back of Theo's pickup truck Liam settles in next to him and leans his head against the seat as Theo starts the car.

"I'm going to be so tired tomorrow," he groans.

"You have classes?" 

"Yeah. I need to finish my homework still."

Theo hums, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. "Which class?"

"Math. I was working through it but then I got your text so..."

"Ah, right." Theo glances at him out the corner of his eye. "It's almost midnight."

Liam rubs his eyes with one hand. "It's okay, I wasn't gonna get much sleep anyway."

"Do you need help?"

"What?" he asks, looking at him in surprise.

Theo grimaces, avoiding his gaze. "Do you need help? With your homework."

Liam presses his lips together, staring at him.

Help would be welcome, if he's honest, but it'd be a little weird to invite Theo into his house to help him with his homework, wouldn't it? What if one of the others smelled him in Liam's room? What would Liam even say? I needed his help to finish my homework so I could get a good night's sleep?  That just sounds like a lame excuse.

On the other hand, he feels strangely tempted to accept.

"Okay," he says, a small thrill going through him as the word leaves his mouth. "We both need a shower, anyway, and I know you don't exactly have one available at this time of the night."

Theo tenses at the mention of his living situation but nods stiffly to acknowledge Liam's words, his eyes not leaving the road.

When they get to his house, Liam lets Theo park just outside their garage before they both make their way inside and up to his room.

"Both my parents are working tonight so don't worry about them seeing you," Liam tells him, settling on the edge of his bed.

Theo nods, looking around the room with muted interest. After a long moment, he seems to get bored with inspecting Liam's possessions and starts peeling off his shirt.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Liam asks, his voice coming out in a squeak as he turns his eyes away.

He can feel Theo's confused gaze land on him. "I'm undressing so I can shower, what do you think I'm doing?" he says dryly. Liam hears the dull thud of his shirt hitting the floor. "You literally shower with a bunch of naked guys every time you have practice, stop acting like a prude."

"That's different!" Liam says, dropping back on his bed and turning his face into his blankets.

"How so?"

"They're all...my team-mates. You're...you."

"What's with that distinction?" Theo mutters under his breath, and then louder, "You realize you're full of dirt and are gonna have to change those sheets now that you've rubbed all over them, right?"

Liam looks over his shoulder, momentarily forgetting why he was turned away so he can glare at Theo. "Shut up."

Theo shrugs, the movement drawing Liam's attention to his naked chest and soft looking skin.

He turns away so fast it almost gives him whiplash.

"You can shower first since you're so eager," he snaps.

He listens to Theo entering the bathroom, and then to the sound of the rest of his clothes dropping to the floor.

His cheeks burn.

***

The thought that he's supposed to be hiding the fact that Theo is his anchor hangs heavy on his mind as Liam showers. He realizes he's not exactly the best at keeping secrets, and the thought of spending longer than the duration of a fight with him is a bit nerve wracking. If he slips up, which has more than a 50% chance of happening, then the next step is to not let anyone in the pack find out, even if he has to resort to threatening Theo. He just has to figure out what he has that he could possibly threaten Theo with, because violence won't work, considering he gives as good as he gets, and Liam broke the sword - literally the only bargaining chip he had.

When he comes out of the bathroom, already dressed and scrubbing at his hair with his towel, Theo is sitting on the floor leaning back against his bed, Liam's math notebook, which he'd left lying open on his desk, in his hands. His hair is still wet, curling at the ends and falling over his eyes. Liam wants to put a towel over it and scrub it dry just to get the sight of it out of his face. It's almost like Theo is doing it on purpose. Being all...soft and pretty.

Well, now that he thinks about it, maybe he is. Liam wouldn't put it past him.

"This is pretty easy," Theo says, looking up at him. "You're a senior, right? The principal let you guys skip a year?"

"Yeah," Liam says, dropping his towel on the back of his desk chair. "How do you even know that? You weren't exactly here for that revelation."

Theo shrugs one shoulder. "Word gets around."

Liam snorts. "Word from whom?"

Theo glares up at him at the insinuation that he has no friends. Liam would feel guilty if it weren't for the fact that the reason he's friendless is because he murdered a bunch of people.

"The barista at that coffee shop three blocks from your high school. She's a senior at Beacon Hills High."

"You talk to people? Like...normal people?" Liam asks, unable to stop the incredulous tone that creeps into his voice.

"Yes," Theo says through gritted teeth, visibly annoyed. "I talk to normal people."

"I didn't mean it like that!" Liam rushes to say. "It's just, you don't seem the type to go around making friends with random coffee shop employees, that's all."

Theo raises an eyebrow. "Then what do I seem like the type?"

"I don't know," Liam says, scratching his neck. "The type to not socialize with random people? You did try to kill Scott, and Stiles says you're a sociopath."

Theo looks like he's seriously regretting this conversation. "I'm not a sociopath, Liam."

"That's what a sociopath would say," Liam says, and then presses his lips together to stop himself from speaking any further. He's not actually trying to piss Theo off.

"I'm pretty sure sociopaths can't feel empathy or fall in love," Theo mumbles, barely audible if not for Liam's werewolf senses. "Come here, I'm not doing this for you, I only said I'd help."

Liam says, "Right," and quickly joins him on the floor, taking the notebook from him.

His heart races in his chest.

Thump, thump, thump. 

***

"I think Theo's in love with someone."

"Wait, what?" Mason says, dragging his eyes from his phone up to Liam's face.

"What makes you think that?" Corey asks. He's tucked against Mason's side, his cheek squished against his chest. Liam would think it's sweet if it wasn't their default position whenever they hang out at Mason's.

"Well, he implied he was able to, and since I don't think he had much of a chance to fall in love while he was wondering around with the dread doctors, I assume it's somewhat recent."

"When were you even with him?" Mason asks, frowning. "Last I checked the plan was to avoid him so he doesn't figure out he's your anchor."

"Yeah, uh, stuff happened. There was this dwarf kid-"

"You met a dwarf?" Corey asks, leaning off of Mason's chest. "Was it small? Like, where did it reach up to? Your waist? Chest?"

"Uh, I don't know, I didn't really notice..."

Mason pulls Corey back down to his chest. "Anyway, forgetting the dwarf, you're saying Theo's actually, like, in love with another human being? I didn't think that was possible."

Corey makes a face. "To be honest, I thought Stiles was right about the sociopath thing."

"Well, according to Theo, he was wrong. At least on some level. I don't know what being a sociopath entails."

"Their emotions are muted and they have a very hard time feeling empathy or anything beyond infatuation. Usually they become sociopaths due to some sort of traumatic experience as a child, which affects the way their brain develops," Mason says, waving a hand. "It's still a pretty unknown condition."

"Dude, you know a weird amount of information about that," Liam tells him.

"It's interesting!"

"Okay..."

Corey lets out a soft laugh and pats Mason on the chest. "I think it's cool that you know so much stuff."

Mason kisses him on the cheek. "Thank you," he says, looking pointedly at Liam.

"Whatever." Liam snorts. "As I was saying, I think the reason he's been, you know, less murdery is because of that."

Corey and Mason exchange a look.

"It's a possibility," Mason hums thoughtfully.

"Oh, I know," Corey says. "If we find out who it is, we can use it against him if he ever finds out about the anchor thing!"

Mason nods slowly. "Yeah, yeah...that's a great idea." He looks at Liam. "You have to find out who it is, dude."

"What?" Liam says, raising both eyebrows. "How do you expect me to do that, exactly?"

"I mean, you do seem to be the one to spend the most time with him," Corey says.

And well, he's right, but except for last night in his house, Liam's only ever around Theo when some kind of supernatural activity is going on. They're not friends, they don't hang out, how is he supposed to find out about something like 'Theo's one true love' .

"I thought I was supposed to avoid him?"

"Change of plans," Mason says, patting him on the leg. "Now starting, Operation: find out who Theo's secretly in love with and use it as blackmail if he ever tries to go back to his old roots of murdering and manipulating people."

"This is a terrible idea."

Mason smiles. "You'll be fine. What's he gonna do? Kill you out of embarrassment?" 

***

"Why are you following me?"

"I'm not following you."

"Yes, you are. You've been following me for the past thirty minutes," Theo says, dragging a hand down his face in clear exasperation. "And you're terrible at it."

"No, I'm not!" Liam says, following him as he goes up to one of the food trucks lining the street.

"You are," Theo says. His hair falls into his eyes for a moment and he brushes it back, rolling his eyes at Liam like it's his fault. "Why didn't you just get Corey to spy on me if you were so desperate to do it? He's the one who can turn invisible."

Liam presses his lips together, feeling his eyes widen against his will.

There's an awkward pause, and then, "You didn't even think about it, did you?" Theo asks, taking some money out of his back pocket. "How you guys survived this long, I will never know."

Liam scowls. "Shut up." He pulls out his wallet. "Are you getting a hot-dog?"

"Yes?"

Liam calls the lady working the register's attention, fighting back a smile when Theo looks at him like he's grown a second head. "Two hot-dogs, please."

"What are you doing?" Theo hisses. He has a funny hissing face, his nose all scrunched up and his eyebrows dipping low over his eyes. Liam thinks it's more cute than threatening, and it's mildly worrying because he doesn't know when he started thinking of Theo as 'cute' instead of 'scary and evil'.

"One without onions," he says, ignoring both Theo and his Theo related thoughts.

"Liam."

He turns to him. "Do you have any preferences or just the whole thing?"

"What?" Theo looks at the lady, who's watching them expectantly. "Oh, uh, all of it is fine."

She nods and moves on to tell the man working the stove, leaving them alone for the moment.

Liam takes the opportunity to check his phone, pulling it out of his pocket while avoiding Theo's gaze, and sees that he has three new texts from Mason.

He leans the screen away from Theo.

dude, we totally forgot Corey can turn invisible, the first one says, followed by, hows ur investigation going? any leads on who tsl is? . And then, that's short for theo's secret love btw.

Theo sighs, startling Liam into almost dropping his phone. "Why are you here?" he asks.

"I'm waiting for my hot-dog," Liam tells him, slipping his phone back inside his pocket.

"Why did you even order a hot-dog?"

"I'm hungry?"

Theo stares at him, as if trying to figure out his real intentions, and then sighs again. "Whatever."

They wait for their hotdogs to be ready in silence after that, and when they finally both have them in their hands, Liam hands the lady a ten dollar bill and takes a bite out of his.

"To pay for both?" she asks.

"N-" Theo tries to say, but Liam cuts him off.

"Yes!" he says through his mouthful. "It's for both."

The lady nods at that, punching in the amount and then handing Liam his change.

"What is this?" Theo asks him as they move away from the truck. "Following me around, buying me food. What did you do?"

Liam swallows down his food. "I didn't do anything."

Theo gives him a look that says he doesn't believe him at all. "Sure."

"I didn't!"

Theo shrugs, biting into his hot-dog. He chews for a moment, and then looks at Liam. "Am I dying? Did you guys poison me or something and you're trying to give me a last meal before I drop dead?"

Liam chokes on his hot-dog. "Wha-" He coughs, once, twice. "No, of course not!"

Theo watches him, an amused tilt to his mouth.

"Oh, you were joking."

"Mostly, yeah. Not that I think Stiles wouldn't do it if he had the chance."

"He wouldn't," Liam says quickly. "It'd make Scott sad if he did."

And it'd definitely make Liam sad, though he imagines his reason and Scott's would be different. Liam's being that Theo is his anchor and kinda, maybe, sorta important to him, and Scott's being that he just doesn't want Stiles going around murdering people.

They walk in silence for a while, both focused on eating, and Liam realizes that, unexpectedly, he doesn't feel uncomfortable. He still feels nervous - that undercurrent of anxiety he can never shake whenever Theo stands too close - but it's not so terrible he wants to move away.

He wants to text Mason back, tell him that apparently he's really bad at stalking people, especially when said people are ex-murderers he brought back from hell, and ask him what he should do next. He can't straight up ask Theo about it, and soon Theo will realize Liam is still hanging around and tell him to leave him alone, which is a depressing thought in and of itself.

He eats the rest of his hot-dog in two large bites and grabs his phone, lowering the screen brightness until he's sure Theo couldn't read his texts if he tried.

he realized i was following him like 30mins in so now we're eating hot-dogs, he sends back, to which Mason answers right away with, how did you go from spying on him to eating hotdogs with him...

Liam sighs. it just happened, he types out, looking at Theo out the corner of his eyes. He's eating his hot-dog in small bites, as if trying to make it last as long as possible, and it's strangely cute. he was gonna eat one and i was kinda hungry too so i thought why not

sometimes your brain works in mysterious ways dude

ANYWAY, Liam types, getting restless, what do i do now? 

idk.. go home and we can get corey to spy next time

i cant just leave! 

then idk what to tell u

...

Well, he thinks as he slips his phone back inside his pocket, texting Mason was completely useless.

He glances at Theo. "So...what have you been doing lately, besides being kidnapped by dwarfs?"

Theo looks at him, eyebrows raised. "Are you seriously trying to make small talk right now?"

Liam shrugs. What else is he supposed to do? Talk about deep stuff? Hey Theo, remember that time you murdered a bunch of people and tried to kill my alpha? Well, no one in my pack trusts you because of that and I was wondering if you could tell me who you're in love with, just so everyone can be comforted by the fact that they have something on you. He doubts that would go over well.

Theo sighs. He does that a lot, now that Liam's paying attention. "Go ahead."

"What?"

"I can see you're dying to ask something. What is it?"

Liam looks away, rubbing his hands together. "I'm not- I don't...I have nothing to ask."

Theo lets out a breath of amusement. "You're such a bad liar, god."

Liam scowls at him.

"It's a good thing, really," Theo goes on, finishing off his hotdog with one last tiny bite. He crumples his napkin and throws it into one of the trashcans next to them. "It means you're honest, trustworthy. Those are good qualities, you know?"

Liam stares at him. "Did you just...compliment me?"

Theo frowns. "I'm just stating facts."

"That was totally a compliment!" He lets out a surprised laugh. "Should I compliment you back, now?"

Theo turns away. "Shut up."

Liam leans closer to him, grinning. "Hmm, let me see...I like your hair, when it's not full of dirt and stuff. And you smell nice, for someone who probably doesn't shower everyday."

Theo looks at him, surprised, and then a scowl falls over his face. "I shower everyday."

"You do?" Liam thought the whole homeless situation would make that a little hard. "How?"

"The gym shower is free."

"Oh," he says, suddenly embarrassed at his own assumptions. "Right."

"You like my hair?" Theo asks, as if finally realizing what Liam said. He looks almost shy, running a hand through his hair, but that can't be because he's Theo and Liam's pretty sure 'shy' isn't within his emotional range.

"Sure. It's nice hair," Liam says, trying to act nonchalant while internally regretting ever opening his mouth. Why did he even think it was a good idea to compliment Theo back? Clearly Mason was right about his brain - it works in mysterious ways. "Oh," he says, seeing an ice-cream truck in the distance and trying to change the subject. "Let's get some ice-cream."

Theo gives him a strange look but follows behind him as he moves towards the truck.

Ice-cream is a good idea, now that Liam thinks about it. People who eat ice-cream together always spill all their secrets to each other in movies - though he's pretty sure that's usually between close friends, which is not how he'd describe his and Theo's relationship.

Still, it's worth a try.

He asks for a strawberry and chocolate ice-cream and then looks to Theo, who's staring at the flavors with such an intense look on his face that Liam worries for a second that he's having a stroke.

"Which do you want?"

Theo frowns, eyes moving over all the containers. He bites his lip, clearly unsure, and then turns to Liam. "I don't know. You pick."

"Wait, what?" Liam says, exchanging a quick look with the ice-cream seller. "Don't you have a favorite? Just pick that one."

Theo shrugs, looking down at his feet. "I don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't have a favorite."

"Everyone has a favorite, even if it's just plain vanilla."

"Well, I don't," Theo snaps, looking away. His ears are red, and Liam realizes with a start that he's embarrassed.

Embarrassed about ice-cream.

What.

"Theo...you've eaten ice-cream before, right?"

Theo scowls. "Of course I have."

Liam lets out a breath. "Uh, when was the last time you did?"

Theo stares down at the flavors, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here. "I'll just eat the chocolate one, okay?" he says, deflecting the question.

"Sure," Liam says easily, letting it go. He's pretty sure he knows what his answer would be, anyway. He doubts the dread doctors were buying Theo any sweets while he was with them. It's a little sad to think about, and Liam files the information away for later.

He pays for their ice-creams and Theo has no reaction besides eyeing him suspiciously. He's probably still convinced Liam's done something, which is hilarious because Liam literally went out of his way to save him just a few days ago, so why Theo thinks he would suddenly turn around and want to harm him in any way is beyond him.

"I'll find out what you're up to, eventually," Theo tells him. "As I said, you're a terrible liar."

Liam snorts, licking up his ice-cream. "Do your best to figure it out, then."

"I will."

***

Later that day, when he's back at Mason's snacking on chips and watching some sort of action movie Stiles begged him to see, Liam mentions the barista comment Theo made when he was at his house.

"He has friends?" Mason asks, looking skeptical.

"I wouldn't say it's a friend, it's probably just a...casual acquaintance."

"But still, he talks to people. That's pretty wild."

That's what Liam thought too. "He talked to people before."

"Yeah," Mason says. "Because he had an evil plan that required him to talk to people."

"Look," Liam sighs, looking away from the screen, "I had a reason for mentioning this. Maybe he's like, in love with this mysterious barista."

Mason tucks his knees against his chest, resting his chin on them. "Hmm, but why would he mention them to you."

"He probably didn't mean to. He just said he knew about us skipping grades so I asked him how and he said it was the barista who told him. Apparently she's a senior at the school."

"Do you think she's in one of our classes?" Mason asks, looking intrigued. "Imagine the person sitting behind you in Chemistry is Theo's secret love. Wow."

"The person sitting behind me in chemistry is Corey, so I sure hope not."

"Oh," Mason says, choking on a laugh. "Well, we can rest assured that it's none of us. His feelings towards the pack in general are pretty clear."

"Mild annoyance?"

"More like hate."

Liam frowns, looking away from a random explosion on the tv. "He doesn't hate us. He helped us."

"Dude, can't you smell his feelings or something? I bet he totally hates all of us. We literally sent him to hell."

"It's harder to pick up on his emotions, I don't know why." He grabs a chip. "And we didn't send him to hell, that was Kira. We just stood there and watched."

"I'm sure he really cares about that distinction," Mason says dryly.

"I brought him back! That has to count for something!" Liam says, an intense feeling of wrongness coiling in his chest at the thought of Theo hating him. It's strange, because he didn't think he'd care about something like that.

Apparently, he was wrong.

"Why do you even care if he likes us? We don't like him either, it's mutual," Mason says with furrowed eyebrows.

"I don't!" Liam says quickly.

Too quickly, it seems, because Mason's eyebrows rise up his forehead and he says, "Oh my god, dude, you totally care!" He readjusts his position on the floor, leaning closer to Liam. "Why?"

Liam avoids his curious gaze and shifts in place, legs tingling from disuse. "I don't know."

"Is it because he's your anchor?"

"Maybe? I don't know, Mason, just drop it," he says, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Mason mimics zipping his lips and turns back to the movie. The main character is now swinging from the ledge of a building, and Liam is so completely lost on what the plot is that he's gonna have to tell Stiles he didn't manage to watch it after all.

"We can try and figure out which coffee shop he was talking about?" Mason suggests after a moment, his eyes leaving the screen to stare at the side of Liam's face.

"I'll do it. You guys let me handle it and don't worry about it," Liam tells him, meeting his gaze.

Mason looks like he wants to protest but then seems to think better of it and nods. "Okay."

***

"We're here, happy?" Theo says with an eye roll, gesturing around the cosy coffee shop.

And Liam is happy, if a little confused.

The walls of the shop are painted a soft beige with little muffins stamped in baby blue, the cushioned chairs the same shade of blue while the tables painted a warm light brown. There's a soft song playing from the speakers on the ceiling, Liam doesn't recognize it but the background strumming of a guitar is relaxing enough that he thinks he could fall asleep if he sat down for too long. With hardwood floors and ceiling lamps that reach down halfway to the ground, it looks like the kind of place you'd go to on a lazy afternoon to read a book and drink some hot cocoa, not a place he imagined Theo going to at all.

"It's nice," Liam tells him, moving to sit at one of the tables by the window. Theo sits in front of him, a grumpy look on his face.

"No need to sound so surprised."

"I mean, you did live in the sewers for most of your life," Liam says with a shrug, picking up the menu and running his eyes over the food choices. "Oh, blueberry muffins? Yum."

Theo brings a hand up to his face and presses his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Why exactly did you want to come here?"

"Just curiosity," Liam says, and it's not even a lie. He is curious - it might not be about the coffee shop but rather the person working in it, but Theo doesn't need to know that.

"I'll pay," Theo says, dragging a hand over the table and taking the menu from Liam.

"But you're-"

"I have a job."

"Wait, you do?" Liam asks, caught off guard.

"Yeah. I found it a couple weeks ago. It's just part time at this tool shop downtown but it's enough to get by."

"Oh," Liam looks down at his fingers, a smile creeping onto his face against his will. He bites his cheek. "I'm glad."

Theo grunts, lifting a hand to call up one of the waiters.

"So, do you want a blueberry muffin?"

"Yeah."

"And what do you wanna drink?"

"Uh, hot cocoa?" Liam says, hesitantly. "This seems like the kind of place to serve hot cocoa."

"It is," a waitress pipes in, having reached their table. Her name tag reads Eve and Liam thinks it suits her, with her long black hair falling down her shoulders in waves and her pretty green eyes. She smiles, friendly and sweet, and her cheeks dimple. "You brought someone with you today, huh? Is mister broody finally making friends?"

Theo rolls his eyes and points at Liam, ignoring her comment. "Blueberry muffin and hot cocoa for him. The usual for me."

She repeats the order back to them, pen tapping at her little notebook but writing nothing down, and then gives Theo a cheeky grin. "Coming right up, handsome."

She leaves to go get their orders ready, and Liam turns to Theo with wide eyes. He feels something dig at his chest, curling and uncurling - something nasty and terrible that leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. He thinks he knows what it is, but just the thought of it makes him choke with anxiety, so he pretends he doesn't.

"That's your coffee shop friend?" he says, instead of digging too deep into his own thoughts.

"She's not my friend."

"Acquaintance, whatever." He waves it off. "Dude, she's, like, super cute."

Theo's face sours at that and he looks away, fingers tapping at the table. "So?"

"So?" Liam repeats, incredulous. "Are you serious?"

"I don't see how her appearance is relevant here. She's just the waitress."

Liam feels his chest loosen up at that, and he bites his cheek to stop himself from groaning. So, clear bout of jealousy aside, at least he's found out that Eve can't possibly be the one Theo's in love with. Liam knows Theo can lie, can control his own heartbeat to a level that shouldn't be possible, but he reeks of annoyance, and Liam's pretty sure he'd be sweating at least a little if he were being questioned about the person he's in love with.

"Do you talk to any of the other waiters?" Liam asks, looking around to check the other potential candidates for 'Theo's secret love'. There's a guy that looks around college aged manning the register, but besides that it's just Eve.

"Not really, no. And I don't really talk to her, it's more that she talks at me," Theo says.

"She seems nice, and you could do with a few more friends," Liam says, looking over his shoulder to where Eve is humming by the coffee machine. He feels like he's playing devil's advocate, because while he does think Theo making some friends would be good for him, it still makes something burn deep in Liam's stomach to think that Theo could stop putting up with his presence in favor of being with other people he likes better.

It's an awful thing to think, he knows, because even if Theo is kind of an asshole, it still doesn't make it right to want to monopolize him.

"I don't need your advice about making friends."

"Well, between us, who has more than one friend?" Liam asks, turning back to him. He points a thumb at himself and raises an eyebrow. "Yup, that's right. Me."

"One friend?"

"Huh?"

"I don't have any friends," Theo says, leaning his elbow on the table and resting his chin on his hand. "And I'm fine as I am."

"Oh," Liam says. Of course. For a moment there he'd forgotten he and Theo aren't actually friends. He's just here to get some leverage over him, nothing more. His confusing feelings are messing with his head, making him see things that aren't there. It's all probably because of the anchor thing, he tells himself, normally he wouldn't even care whether Theo thought they were friends or not.

"Hey, Theo."

Theo looks up from where he's started picking at the edge of the menu with his nail. "What?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

"What? Why all of a sudden?"

"Just a thought," Liam mumbles. He looks down at his hands. "I did drag you here basically against your will."

"I'm the one who led us here. It wasn't against my will."

"But you didn't seem that eager to do it..."

"Well, you showed up in the middle of my nap and knocked on my car window for five minutes until I opened it, so I think it's pretty obvious why I was a bit reluctant to do anything you asked for just then."

"Right." Liam scrubs a hand over his hair, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry."

Theo gives him a strange look, opening his mouth as if to speak but closing it with a click when he notices Eve walking towards them.

"A blueberry muffin and a hot cocoa," she says, placing Liam's order in front of him. "And an orange juice and a slice of strawberry tart for the grumpy pants."

Theo eyes his food as she places it in front of him and then grabs his straw without another look in her direction, taking off its plastic wrapping and dipping it in his juice.

Liam smiles at Eve, because at least one of them has to have some semblance of politeness. "Thank you."

She beams back. "No problem. If you need anything else, just call."

She leaves them to their food and Liam turns back to Theo, who's already biting into his tart. He looks like he's never eaten anything better in his life, his eyelids fluttering as he chews slowly. He takes little bites all around the crust and then further and further in until there's nothing left. It reminds Liam of a little kid, which is ridiculous because it's Theo. His genuine smiles might be small and sweet, and he might look soft and harmless in his sleep, with his nose scrunched up from a dream and his mouth slack, but he's still dangerous, even if he doesn't pose a threat to Liam anymore.

"Good?" Liam asks, hiding a smile behind his hand.

Theo nods, taking a sip of his juice. "You're not gonna eat yours?"

Liam looks down, remembering himself. He bites down an embarrassed laugh and grabs his muffin, taking a large bite. Theo watches him with curious eyes, and then nods in satisfaction when Liam lets out a pleased sound at the explosion of flavor in his mouth.

"Their food is great."

"Yeah," Liam agrees, swallowing down the rest of the muffin after two more bites. "It is."

Theo pulls the sleeves of his hoodie over his palms and taps his fingers against the table, eyes following them. Liam watches as he pulls his lower lip inside his mouth and sucks on it for a moment, before letting it go red and slick with spit. It's weirdly erotic, and Liam has to turn away, afraid that his emotions might show on his face - or worse, his scent.

"We could come again," Theo says, tentatively. His eyes still on his hands.

Liam chokes on air. "O-oh?"

Theo looks at him from under his lashes, a look of uncertainty crossing his face before he clears his throat and looks out the window. "I mean, since you liked the food."

"Right," Liam says, his voice coming out a bit squeaky. He forces his eyes away from Theo's face. "Sure, I- I'd like that."

Theo looks at him out the corner of his eye. "Okay."

Liam bites his cheek to stop himself from smiling. He's glad his cheek heals fast, with all the times he's bitten it today. "Okay."