| The Ease of Falling |

Liam could hear them arguing. Subconsciously rather; his hearing was working and the shouting voices of his closest friends were registering somewhere in his brain. But the werewolf was now trapped inside his mind, inside his memories. He remembered it all. The blood on his lips. The content expression. Lori's dying admission of grief., that she couldn't take his pain. He remembered the screech of the tires. The thud on the pavement. His cry out to them.

"Lori, wait!"

"Liam."

The werewolf blinked and a few more hot tears escaped. He quickly realized he'd been crying, the stain of salt and flush on his cheeks being one of the first sensations to come back to him. He didn't remember sitting down. And now Theo was crouched in front of him, grasping his calf and shin in his hand.

"Hey, let's get you out of here," the chimera said.

"Is he okay?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah, I got him out of it," Theo responded. He stood, lifting Liam up by his arm.

"Does Scott know about this?" Stiles asked, looking from the pair to Mason.

"He knows about his eyes and what happened," the younger human said. "About how it's affecting him...well, I think it's clear now."

"You good?" Theo said, checking Liam's balance. The werewolf barely nodded, his vision tunneled and distant. "Alright. C'mon."

"We're right behind you," Mason said, looking at Corey and Hayden before watching Theo guide Liam out of the cafeteria.

"What the hell is that?" Stiles said once the door closed.

"They're...together," Mason said, looking around the room.

"Oh this just gets better and better," Brenden said in disbelief.

"Scott already knows," Corey admitted.

"Excuse me, he what?" Stiles said.

"Okay, we're going," Alec said, looking to his friends before they took their exit.

"Who else knows? And how long has this been going on?"

"Stiles, you're not the pack-dad," Hayden said. "You're two years older."

"And you're okay with this. You? His ex?"

"Screw you, Stiles," she said before storming out.

"Okay, okay," Lydia said. "You," she continued, pointing her finger in her boyfriend's face, "take it down a notch. I'm gonna' make sure she's okay." Lydia followed after the former chimera.

"Look," Mason said, taking a seat across from the one Stiles fell into, "no one's forgetting what Theo did. We...there's no way we could. Corey and Hayden are reminders...every day. We're reminded that he almost broke us, but we survived. They survived. We stuck together. But, Stiles, after the Beast, you weren't around to see how he helped. And I know you have good reasons why you weren't, but you still didn't see. He was there for us. He was there for Liam, even when she wasn't," he said, his words trailing to a whisper at the end.

"We can't let him back in," Stiles said, his aggression diminished.

"It's not your call," Mason said. "Scott may be down right now, but when he wakes up he's going to tell you the same." The younger human let that sit for a moment before continuing. "Look, Liam needs him and I promised him I'd try. We're not blind, though, and we're gonna' keep an eye on both of them. But if something's gonna' happen—"

"—we need to let it play out," Stiles admitted. "Alright. Fuck. Alright, fine. But both of you, you keep your wits about you. You watch them both."

"We will," Corey affirmed.

/ | * | * | \

"Theo?" Liam said, looking over at the driver.

"You're awake," Theo said, smiling softly at him.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Almost the whole way. We just entered the city limits. Starbucks?"

"Mm." Liam watched as the familiar surroundings of Beacon Hills started passing by. He rubbed at his temples, feeling the anxiety loiter just behind his eyes. "We need to get my car."

"Tomorrow."

"I don't want to repeat what happened last time," Liam said with a grin.

"Tomorrow," Theo repeated, turning to smile cheekily at him. "Promise." The chimera turned his truck into the 24-hour drive-thru Starbucks close to the highway entrance. Ordering, paying, and placing the hot cups in the console-holsters, he took off down the road.

"So am I spending the night?"

"Um…"

When nothing followed, Liam looked back out the window. "Okay, I guess not," he murmured.

"What about at yours?"

Liam looked over at him. "With my parents?" Theo shrugged. "With no privacy?"

"Your bed's better."

Liam heard the skip in his heartbeat. "Theo, what's wrong with yours?"

"We can talk in your room."

"Something happened that night." "Theo?"

"Please?"

"Okay, yeah. Mine."

Fifteen minutes of silence later, Theo parked on the road in front of the Dunbar household. Grabbing their respective drinks, Liam let them in and found Jayna asleep on the couch, one of the Harry Potter films on a lower volume. The werewolf quietly moved up the stairs, the chimera following as equally silent. They slipped unnoticed into the younger boy's room and Liam made his way to his desk, taking the chair. Theo placed his coffee on the nightstand, kicked off his shoes, and sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed.

"It's hard letting someone in," the chimera began after more silence ensued, looking anywhere except at Liam.

"We can do this in the morning."

"No...I shouldn't have put this off. I shouldn't have ghosted you for two weeks." He paused. "I'm sorry." Liam didn't respond. "The truth is, I've already let you in." They looked at each other and both of them knew that the werewolf had let it go. "I won't make this a long explanation, but you need to know. When I was under...wherever Kira sent me, I saw only one thing. It played on a loop. I'd wake up in the morgue, I'd run, and she'd find me. My sister. And every time she'd plunge her hand in my chest and take her heart back. It didn't matter what I tried to do different, she'd always get her heart back." Theo paused, running his hand through his hair. "After you let me out, I dreamed of her. Every night, all night. And when I'd set foot in a hospital...it was like I was there again."

"I'm fine. I just thought I was somewhere else for a second."

"Where?"

"A bad dream."

"After the hunt," Theo continued, "it got better. The nightmares were less frequent, less vivid. But then, after we fooled around I…she..." The chimera looked at Liam before turning and closing his eyes. "She killed you in front of me."

"Hey. I'm still here. You don't have anything to fear from her."

"It's not fear of her. I know it's not real. It...fuck," he said, teeth clenched and numbness of his own flooding into his fingertips. Liam could see the trembling. He reached out and the older boy had to force himself not to flinch away. "The dream didn't scare me. She doesn't scare me...mostly. But that night, when I woke up, I...I scared me. I wanted to...I wanted to…" Theo could feel his heart racing, almost as if the beating was rocking him back and forth.

"You wanted to kill me," Liam said. Theo met his gaze, inadvertently letting the werewolf see the pain and disgust in his eyes. The shame. The chimera looked away, taking a deep breath. Liam withdrew his hand, only to get up and get on the bed. He laid down on his side facing the door. "Come down here." Theo complied and found himself face-to-face with the younger boy. Liam reached out and combed his fingers through the hair just above the other's ear. He ran the back of his fingers down his cheek, letting Theo's eyes to close. "Turn over." The chimera turned, facing the same direction as the other. Liam scooted up behind him and wrapped their bodies together, resting his face against the back of his hair. "Don't dream."

/ | * | * | \

"I appreciate you taking the time," Stiles said, sitting on the couch next to Lydia, looking at a familiar face in the chair across from them. "How are you, Jasper?"

The man their age sat wrapped in on himself. "You sure you're up for this?" came an older voice, standing nearby.

"Can you give us a moment, dad?" Jasper said. "I promise I'm okay."

"Yeah. I'll, uh, be out in the garage." Jasper's father excused himself and Lydia smiled softly at the younger man.

"Today's pretty," Jasper said.

"You saw the news?" Stiles said, earning a nod from the other. "Scott's gonna' be fine. It's not your fault."

"You don't know that. You don't know either of those things," he said, more volatile.

"Okay, you're right. I don't know if Scott's gonna' wake up. But she does."

Lydia and Jasper looked at each other and the banshee forced a reassuring smile. "It's true. You know about us, what I am. He's gonna' be alright."

Jasper took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "So, we're here unofficially," Stiles said. "Especially me. I need to ask you another question if that's alright. The FBI might be here soon and will probably ask you the same thing, but we're trying to get ahead of this."

"I'll do what I can."

"When Monroe held you, do you remember a blond man? Shoulder length hair. Maybe 6'1"? Bearded. Slightly toned build?"

"Maybe? I'm...I'm not sure."

"Did anyone ever address him by name if you there was such a man?"

"You think he attacked Scott?" Jasper said, sitting forward.

"Maybe," Stiles said. "We don't have any camera footage yet, but there was a witness."

Jasper sat back. "I don't know, Stiles. I just...everything's so hazy and—"

"It's okay," Lydia said. "We know you're still recovering. It was a longshot and we don't want to push it."

"They just...they kept me there and...I don't know."

"We'll keep looking, then," Stiles said, standing. The other two followed. "It was good seeing you."

"If anything comes back to me I'll let you know," Jasper said.

"Thanks and, uh, don't tell anyone else we were here."

"Yeah." He looked at Lydia and nodded as they left.

Stiles opened her door, closed it behind her, and got into the driver's seat. "I still don't understand why Monroe took them," Lydia said.

"They were on the lacrosse team with us. Easy targets close to Scott."

"I know that. I'm talking about the real why. They were held for a year and we never received demands. Monroe knew they weren't leverage enough for Scott. He wasn't gonna' fly off to Europe just to save four guys he only kind of knew. We're missing something."

"Maybe I'll drop you at Quantico on the way back to the east coast," Stiles said, grinning wide before leaning over and kissing her.

"Don't be stupid," she said, lightly slapping his cheek. "I've got a few cosmic puzzles to solve first."

"Mm," he noised before kissing her again.

/ | * | * | \

Theo stirred, feeling the hand motionlessly glide across his stomach under his shirt as he moved. He opened his eyes to see Liam looking right at him, an endearing smile across his lips. "Morning," the chimera said, smiling back at him.

"Morning," the werewolf relied, his thumb sliding back and forth in Theo's treasure trail. "Feel a little better?"

"Mm. Yeah."

"No nightmares?"

Theo reached his hand up and brushed his fingers under Liam's neck. "None." The werewolf nuzzled into the sensation, closing his eyes. "Feeling better?"

"You stayed, so yeah."

Theo rolled onto his side, his hand moving up to Liam's cheek to pull him into a kiss. Their lips teased each other, daring the other to truly deepen the mood. After a moment, though, it was simply their noses that rested against each other, their eyes closed or peaked. Theo started to fall asleep under the warmth, the sensation breath on his lips the only thing keeping him from falling under. It wasn't until they heard the garage door leading into the house shut rather harshly that Liam finally spoke.

"We should get up," the werewolf said, rubbing his hand up the older boy's back, forcing his shirt to ride up more.

"It's simpler here," the chimera said, shifting his feet to entangle with the younger boy's.

"Yeah."

Neither boy moved, letting it all settle back in. The master bedroom door closed and Theo opened his eyes to look at Liam. Those green-blues were staring back at him. "Do we have to?"

"We really should." Liam glanced down at Theo's revealed skin, at the peak of abs and fuzz. He looked back up into the other's eyes and caressed his hand down the other's back. "You could join me."

"Where?"

Liam leaned forward and kissed the tip of Theo's nose before getting up. Divulging himself of his shirt, he walked into the bathroom clad in only a pair of black boxer briefs. The sound of the shower turning on reached Theo's ears as he sat up and he could hear the snap of a waistband before the curtain was drawn back a moment later. "You coming?" Theo smirked and was naked before crossing the threshold between the rooms.