Shopping with Mason is not Theo's favorite thing to do. It's probably one of his least favorite things to do of all time. It goes the same way every time. Mason goes into a store and looks around. He questions if he should buy something but at the last minute will put it back. He proceeds to leave the store but then goes back inside. He looks around again. They finally leave the store. Finally, once Theo thinks they are done, Mason drives back to the store and buys what he said he was not sure of. This has happened every time he has shopped with Mason. Each time he tries to convince Mason to buy the first thing he picks up, but Mason says no because he doesn't know if he needs it yet.
"I don't know. Do you think it is something I need?" Mason asks, holding up a lamp.
"I'm sure you will know in two hours." Theo grumbles.
Mason is redecorating his apartment. Corey and Mason claim it doesn't scream that they live there enough. Corey conveniently has never been free to shop with Mason. Now he knows why.
"Is a lamp really necessary? How does that show off your personality?" He asks.
"Do you see this lamp? It screams me all over it." Mason points out.
Theo studies the lamp. It has bright colors and a nice pattern but he doesn't look at it and think of Mason. He never got this decorating thing. His apartment is pretty basic. He only has the necessities. It's only for college so he doesn't get the big deal on decorating if it is not permanent.
Going to school with Mason and Corey has been nice. As super nauseous as they make him with their displays of affection, they are fun to be around. Mason makes everyone breakfast on the weekends and Nolan comes up every other weekend to visit. He is only about a three hour drive and he makes a point to always make time for them.
Liam on the other hand he has not seen since college started. He knew it was unlikely he would come up every week, but he was not prepared for him to not come up at all. He calls periodically and talks about his college parties and lacrosse team, while Theo listens and tells him about another thing that happened in his life.
Liam was always worried about people viewing him differently. When the war happened he hated everyone knowing he was a werewolf and being different from them. Now that he is in a new place and can hide his abilities again, he has taken full advantage of it. Theo doesn't blame him and Liam gets busy. It is not like he has found anyone else, but sometimes he feels forgotten about.
"How is your werewolf today?" Mason suddenly asks.
"My werewolf?" He questions.
"Yes, Corey said he remembers Deaton saying that if your away from someone for a long time it can affect you. I wanted to make sure your not about to lose your mind or anything." Mason smiles at him.
"By someone you mean Liam?" Theo asks.
"Well, this has been the longest time you have been away from each other." Mason explains.
Being away from Liam has been difficult. He feels apart of him has been missing for quite some time and it started when Liam left for school. He stayed back a few days to help Mason and Corey move some furniture into their place. Since then he has felt a little off. He isn't angry, but he is not content like he used to be.
There is a void that he can't seem to fill. He has made other friends and he periodically goes out with them. He does well in his classes and he does feel more independent living alone now, but something doesn't feel right. A blue eyed werewolf is missing and he knows it.
"My werewolf is fine." He says.
Mason nods and puts the lamp down.
"Okay, maybe we should leave. I'm not sure about it yet." Mason admits.
"Corey owes me for life." He sighs.
—
Mason did choose the lamp and he went back twice before he bought it. At least it screams Mason, or whatever it was he was saying about it. Mason proudly places the lamp on his nightstand and smiles.
"We might need a few more things." Mason points out.
"I might have something going on." Theo says.
"When are free to go again?" Mason asks.
"I'll have to get back to get back to you on that." He says.
His phone starts vibrating in his pocket and he check the caller ID. Liam. His heartbeat flutters and he nervously answers. He gives Mason a death glare who is smirking at him from across the room.
"Hello." He says.
"Hey." Liam says warmly.
"Hi." Theo says.
They remain silent and Theo plays with the string on his jeans, wondering what Liam is thinking. Mason rolls his eyes at him.
"So, I have a game this weekend." Liam says.
"Oh, nice. Good luck." He says.
"Yeah, so I won't be up this weekend." Liam admits.
Mason throws up his hands and storms into the kitchen. He hears pots clanging and a loud bang rings through his ears.
This isn't new. Liam always has a game, a test, or something going on. However the familiar knot in his throat still forms and he does his best to swallow his disappointment. Mason doesn't handle disappointment well. He takes it out around the apartment mostly.
"Ok. No problem." He lies.
"I miss you though." Liam says softy.
"I miss you too." He says, his heart clenching.
A loud bang sounds again.
"I gotta go to practice but will call you later." Liam says.
"Ok, bye." He says.
"Bye." Liam says.
He disconnects line and looks up to see Mason's frowning face. He folds his arms across his chest and narrows his eyes at Theo. Mason and him have become closer over the semester and now he never lets Theo get away with anything. Not lying and certainly not anything to do with Liam.
"He said he had a game." He points out.
"He says a lot of things. Notice he didn't call me. I yelled at him a few days ago about his new busy lifestyle." Mason frowns.
"What do you want me to say?" Theo asks.
"I want you to tell him how you feel and that he is being a Liam." Mason says.
"A Liam?" He raises his eyebrows.
"Yes, Liam has a tendency to dive all in with new things that he does, which is awesome sometimes. However other times he gets lost in it and forgets about everything else." Mason explains.
"I don't want him to stop something he is enjoying for me." He admits.
"That's your problem. You still think you don't deserve peoples time Theo and you do." Mason stresses.
The door opens and Corey holds up a bag of Chinese. He looks back and forth between them and frowns.
"What?" Corey asks.
"Liam is a no show again this weekend." Mason complains.
He grabs the bag from Corey and walks back into the kitchen. Plates start banging and a loud slam sounds against the kitchen table.
Corey sits down next to him and turns to him. His face showing concern. Theo doesn't like Corey looking like that at him. It reminds him of Liam and he doesn't want to be reminded of Liam right now.
"Mason takes things hard. Him and Liam have been close for a long time. He might just feel left out. Liam sometimes gets really involved in things and forgets about having a healthy balance. It doesn't mean he doesn't care or that he isn't missing Mason. Sometimes he gets caught up but I know he will figure it out." Corey explains.
"Are we still talking about Mason and Liam?" He asks.
"Liam also asked about Mason's friend Nick." Corey points out.
"Why?" Theo asks.
Nick is a friend that Mason met in one of his classes. He is very social and Theo befriended him too. They mostly hang out during the week and he has pushed Theo into allowing his dad to visit at college. He believes in second chances and all that. They get along well and they have been hanging out more and more.
Corey smiles and rolls his eyes. He pats Theo on the shoulder and walks towards the kitchen.
Dinner with Mason and Corey is always nice. He eats with them almost everyday. Mason had even started calling them the three musketeers until Nolan became offended.
He finishes dinner with Mason and Corey then heads back to his place. He wants to finish his homework early. He gets back to the apartment and looks around. It looks and feels empty.
He is not sure how he didn't notice it before. He walks around cleaning up a few things and makes a mental list of what he needs to buy tomorrow for groceries.
He hears a soft knock on the door. He opens it to see Nick standing there.
"Hey. I had nothing going on so I brought this." Nick says holding up a movie.
"Star Wars?" He asks.
"Yes, Mason said you still haven't watched them all." Nick smiles.
Theo let's him in and they get comfortable on the couch. He receives a barrage of texts from Nolan throughout the movie. He recently has gotten a girlfriend and he has no idea how to plan dates.
He smiles to himself when Nolan asks if flowers are too much. It's funny to think about Nolan having a girlfriend. The smile starts to slide off his face when he realizes he is alone.
A pillow hits his face. He looks up and sees Nick motioning for him to pay attention.
—
The semester goes by pretty quickly. He distracts himself with school and his part time job he started down at the local coffee shop. Nolan visits often and he brings his girlfriend a lot. She seems nice and is a lot more outgoing then Nolan, but he needs that.
Corey and Mason take up most of his time and he has to remind them to do things without him. Even so, he still has become Mason's shopping buddy and it's horrible, but he does it for Corey. Sometimes he does is for Mason too.
Rain hits the windows softly while he packs up the remaining things in his apartment. Nick has agreed to help him. He has made the decision to move into a bigger place next semester with Corey and Mason. Practically and financially it makes sense.
"Are you sure you want to live with a couple?" Nick asks him.
"I am always with them anyway. What's the difference?" He points out.
"Oh there is a difference." Nick smiles.
Theo shakes his head and tapes up the box next to
him. He hears the buzzer go off and he stands up.
"That must be our food. I'll go get it and pay for it. It's the least I can do for you letting me crash her last night." Nick says.
"I wouldn't let you drive drunk. I'm not that horrible of a friend." Theo says.
Nick smiles and heads towards the door. Theo looks around at his boxes and wonders what Liam is doing now. He has tried to be a little more distant recently. He cannot keep hearing that Liam is not making it up this weekend. It saddens him.
He didn't expect Liam to always be around, but he hopes he would be. He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. Another weekend without Liam.
"Hey Theo? I need help I think." Nick calls nervously.
Theo walks out the door and stops in the hallway. There at the bottom of the stairs is an angry Little Wolf growling at Nick. His blues eyes flash from yellow back to blue. His eyes fall on Theo and his blue eyes grow wide.
"Hi." Liam says softly.
Theo sucks in his breath and his heart flutters.
"Mom called me. She said I'm an idiot." Liam says.
