Theo hears someone on the stairs.
He feels groggy and he is still half asleep. He looks over at a sleeping Liam. He reflects back on the time when he was planning on killing him for the Alpha power. It seems like a long time ago, but in reality, it was barely a year ago. He looks at his phone and sees a text message from Mason. He frowns. Mason never texts Theo. He opens his phone.
Mason: Is Liam with you? He has a lacrosse game, and he is known for sleeping in.
Theo looks at the clock.
He starts to shake Liam awake. Liam growls and pulls the covers over himself. He tries to shake him again. No one told Theo that Liam does not like losing sleep. Liam roars and pulls the covers back over himself. He decides to try a different approach and shoves Liam off the bed.
"OWW." Liam complains.
"Mason says you have a game today." Theo informs him.
"At like 1pm. He is always so worried." Liam grumbles.
Liam gets back on the bed and pulls the covers back over himself. He shoves Theo down onto the mattress and starts snoring again.
Theo is not one to cuddle or to be touched at all. He wonders if he can slip away. He quietly tries to move the covers off himself when Liam growls again. Theo shoves Liam to the side of the bed. He can at least give some room.
Theo sighs and lays back down.
He hears a car door slam and someone yelling. He looks around and stares at the clock.
1215pm.
He jumps up and pulls the covers off Liam. Liam falls off the bed. He looks around confused and realization dawns on his face.
"I am going to be late!" Liam cries.
"I told you to get up." Theo says.
Liam runs down the hall into his room and Theo hears a bunch of banging. He hears something break and water running. He sees Liam fly down the stairs.
After Liam has made his departure, Theo heads into the shower. He tries to forget about the other night. It is a new day now and maybe he can pretend he is normal again.
He heads down the stairs and sees Mason sitting in the living room.
"Mason?" Theo questions.
"I need a ride. My mom needed the car and Corey took his to the game. "Mason explains.
"He took all of them? Why didn't you go with Corey?" Theo asks.
"I didn't want to go early. 20 minutes of sleep means a lot to me." Mason says smiling.
Theo shakes his head but decides to drive Mason to the game. They park the truck and Theo waits for Mason to get out.
"You coming?" Mason asks.
"No." Theo says.
"But I promised Corey who promised Liam, that you would come." Mason pleads.
"Why? I am not a cheerleader." Theo says annoyed.
"No, but who else is cheering for Liam." Mason points out.
"His parents and YOU." Theo sneers.
"No, I can only cheer for one person at a time. His parents are working today." Mason says.
That does not make any sense to Theo since Mason never had trouble cheering for both of them in the past. He studies Mason's heartbeat and hears a stutter. Not surprising. He is fairly good at knowing when people are lying to him. He used to lie all the time and was good at it. He thinks he still is, but he has nothing left to lie about, or protect for that matter. Other than this truck of course. He does not like the thought of someone lying to him though. What purpose would anyone have to lie to him at this point. It makes no sense. He is not much of a threat anymore, but he could be if he wanted to be. The problem is he does not want to be s threat anymore. He has lost the will to really care much about anything. Except this annoying little pack of course.
"Mason, what the hell is going on?" Theo demands more than asks.
"Ok fine. Liam has been losing it at practice and Corey is worried he may hurt a player. He thinks since you helped him before, that maybe you can help keep him calm if needed." Mason explains.
"Why has Liam been getting angry?" Theo asks.
"That guy Brad? Or maybe Brent." Mason says.
Oh, that guy. He remembers the guy who took it upon himself to spread to the school that Theo is a murderer. I mean he is technically. However, he does not know why this guy cares one way or the other. Why does Liam even care anyway?
He feels agitated. Why does he always feel indebted to this Little Wolf? If Liam gets mad or kills the guy does it really matter. He knows it does though. Liam would feel awful and blame himself. He cannot have that, considering he saved Theo and all. He reluctantly follows Mason to the field.
He wonders if this is what it is like having friends? Doing things that you do not want to do so you can help them. Not that Theo has friends, but this is the closest thing he has ever had to a friend. Probably the closest thing he is going to get to friends really.
He sees Nolan and Corey on the field arguing with the coach.
"I don't care! If Dunbar is not here in 5 minutes, then he can sit the rest of the game and the Brad kid will fill in for him." The coach says.
Corey runs over to them.
"Where is Liam?" Theo asks.
"He is in the locker room. I heard some benches cracking but no one is in there. He won't come out because he is half shifted." Corey explains.
"Why is he angry this time?" Mason asks.
"I guess that kid tripped him or something." Corey says.
That is all it takes for Liam to lose it. He is going to have a rough time at life. He gets up to go find Liam. He hears a bunch of growling and cracking. He knows he is getting close. He slowly opens the boy's locker room to see Liam on the ground growling.
"Little Wolf what is going on?" Theo asks.
Liam narrows his eyes at Theo and jumps up.
It is at this point where Theo remembers Liam also struggles with IED. It seems to have control of the wolf. Liam grabs Theo and throws him into the lockers. He sees Liam snarling and fangs extending.
"So, have you considered what we are going to tell the school? Are we going to explain the property damage your about to cause, along with the possible death of that annoying guy or me? I have not killed in a while Liam. I may be rusty. I need time to make a plan." Theo points out.
Liam heaves a few more times and breaks his lacrosse stick. He withdraws his claws and fangs.
"Why are you so angry today?" Theo asks.
"STILES. Then this guy who seems to hate me for no reason. Sometimes I wish that I could just scare him. Just so he would go away." Liam says annoyed.
"What does Stiles have to do with this?" Theo asks.
"He told me that I am not living up to Scott's expectations." Liam says looking sad.
"Ok, well screw Stiles. Has Scott said that? Stiles has a lot of opinions that don't always match everyone else's." Theo says.
"No, but I haven't talked to Scott in a while. We had a disagreement." Liam says.
"About what?" Theo asks.
"It doesn't matter. I just better get in the game." Liam says sighing.
Liam cleans up a few things and grabs his stuff. Theo walks him to the field. Liam looks at Theo with a grateful smile and runs onto the field.
Theo sits back down with Mason.
Liam has a few anger issues during the game, but he looks at Theo a few times and seems to remember what he told him. Mason goes a little over the top with cheering. He has a sign and is embarrassing Theo. Theo cannot remember a time he actually was embarrassed until now. That must mean he is going soft.
The game finishes and they win. Theo is not a huge fan of lacrosse, but he enjoys watching people he knows on the field. Mason pulls him towards the parking lot.
"We are going to eat after. They just need to change." Mason informs him.
Theo did not agree to all of these activities. He frowns and tries to think of an excuse as to why he cannot come. He sees that Brad guy walking over to Nolan who is coming out of the school. He watches while the guy seems to bother Nolan about something. Theo does not really get involved with anything regarding petty arguments, but this guy was a jerk on Theo's first day.
He walks over to Nolan and shoves the guy backwards.
"HEY MAN." The guy cries.
"I don't know who you think you are, but get lost. Nolan never bothers anybody." Theo says.
It is the truth. Nolan does not bother anyone. Other than the war he was talked into by Gabe, he just let's people say or do whatever. It used to be a trait Theo took advantage of, but now he feels like he should help Nolan. Maybe if he were not so timid, he would be left alone.
The guy steps up to Theo and glares at him. He looks like someone who has never actually had to fight anyone. He has a look of nervousness about him, and he can hear his heart beating fast. Theo can have fun with this one.
"Please Ben swing first." Theo sneers.
"ITS BRAD." The guy grumbles loudly.
Theo knows his name. He just does not care. One thing he has learned with dealing with people is that calling them by a different name, can cause uncertainty. It makes them feel you do not care enough about them to know their names. In Theo's more evil days, he used it a lot. It always threw them off.
Brad swings but swings to hit Nolan instead of Theo. Theo is not one to get involved in anything, but Nolan is technically important to Liam. He moves Nolan slightly to the right and hits Brad. He hit him harder than he meant to. He goes down immediately. He looks up holding his nose. Some crazy lady comes running and yelling at Theo. He assumes it is the mother. He steers Nolan away and they head back to the truck. Nolan does not say anything. He just looks at Theo in awe.
"This is the second time you saved me." Nolan points out.
"Just don't." Theo says.
He feels awkward when people act this way. Nolan is acting like Theo has saved him from death or something. He was not really even trying to get involved. It just happened that way. They sit in the truck waiting.
Liam and Corey come out a short time later. They get in the truck and Corey frowns at them.
"Someone told me that Brad has a broken nose." Corey says.
"What a shame." Mason deadpans.
Liam looks like he is going to laugh but does not say anything.
They get to the restaurant and Nolan begs to pay for Theo. Theo awkwardly accepts. They talk about the game and other things. Theo zones out after a bit. He wonders what it would be like if he never went with the dread doctors and he had normal life. He would be normal of course, but that is a small price to pay to have his sanity back. He feels like he no longer has a purpose to be a chimera.
They head back to Greyer's and Theo drops everyone off. Liam does not say much. He just quietly looks out the window.
Theo wonders what it would be like to be in Liam's head. He always seems to be thinking and taking the world in. He seems more innocent than Theo, but really anyone is more innocent than Theo. He did kill his sister at nine years old. He hates that he feels a gut pain when he thinks about it. He did not use to, but now he feels everything. Not in a good way. Feelings are not a good thing. They make you weak.
He gets inside and heads upstairs. Liam follows him into his room.
"What Liam?" Theo asks.
"I just wanted to thank you for helping Nolan. I assumed you broke Brad's nose. Considering how misshapen it looked." Liam says partially smiling.
"You are not going to give me a speech like Scott would?" Theo asks suspiciously.
"No. I am not Scott. I also do not think you should be scolded for saving Nolan from getting hit." Liam explains.
"I don't save anyone." Theo snarls.
"You saved me." Liam points out.
Theo cannot deny that, but he thinks he will always save Liam. There is just something about him. He does not want him to be hurt. He looks at Liam who is looking back at him with a weird expression.
"What?" Theo asks.
"I don't know. I just like looking at you." Liam admits.
Theo is not sure what the hell that means. He feels uneasy but shrugs it off.
He starts getting ready for bed and Liam does not seem to be leaving anytime soon. He finishes and gets into bed and waits for Liam to leave.
Liam does not leave though. He crawls into the bed beside him and brushes his cheek. Theo does not like where this is going. He pulls away from Liam and the Little Wolf frowns.
"Sorry." Liam says.
Theo feels like he is having a heart attack but worse. He feels like he cannot calm down and he can't speak. He feels his heartbeat going rapidly fast and he is certain Liam knows. Liam's heart is beating calmly which annoys Theo, considering his heart feels like it is going to come out of his chest. Liam moves in slowly.
"What's the hell is going on here?" Stiles says from the doorway.