***Warning: Slur used twice in this chapter. ***

Chapter 16

Liam:

"What did it feel like to come out?" I asked Mason on the way to school.

He was driving me today since dad took my car keys when we got home. I didn't argue. Driving while that angry was reckless. I'm also grounded for the weekend. Again, didn't argue. He was shaken when I left like I had, and I felt bad about that. So was my mom, but I kind of felt like she deserved it. maybe that was bad, but I couldn't help how I felt.

When we got home my mom was standing in the entryway. She looked relieved and opened her arms for a hug, but I stepped back away from her. Maybe it was wrong. But I couldn't deal with her. I was not okay with what she did or how she's been acting. I needed space from her.

"I mean despite some of the negativity you received from it." I added.

Some of Mason's family didn't accept him being gay. He and his parents haven't spoken to his paternal grandparents and one uncle for years because of it. Mason took the question in stride as if it were an everyday question for him.

"Like shedding a heavy blanket and being able to really breathe for the first time ever."

"No regrets about any of it?" I asked, looking over at him.

"Not really. I hate that Grampy and Gran stopped talking to me, but I don't regret putting it out there. Even with some of the hate I get for it. Being me and being comfortable in my own skin felt better than any of the hate ever made me feel bad."

"There was never anything hurtful or cruel things that was said or done to you that made you want to snap?"

"Oh yeah. Absolutely. But I have this best friend that would bitch slap anyone that ever really tried to hurt me." he said, and I laughed. "And now I have a whole group of friends and family that accept me and support me that makes any of those comments fade to the background, just a blip in my life that would be forgotten almost as quick as it was said."

We fell quiet after that, me in my thoughts and Mason letting me think. He didn't ask any questions, not even the most obvious of questions, he already knew.

I thought of mom and how she has been acting. How unsupportive she has been and what that could mean for what relationship we still have with each other. I wasn't completely ready to give up on her, but she wasn't making it easy to hold out hope.

We pulled into the parking lot and again everyone was standing out front waiting. Well, Stiles and Malia, and Isaac and Allison were making out but that was normal. Lydia and Scott were talking to Theo. Theo's head turned as soon as we parked.

"How no one considers us a gang is shocking." Mason said shaking his head.

"I thought the same thing a few weeks ago when we all walked into the school like a mafia family. I kept waiting for everyone to back away towards the lockers and give us space to move."

Mason snorted as he got out and I followed.

"A Mafia family? a gang? really?" Scott said looking at Mason and me. We looked at each other and then back at him and shrugged.

"It fits." Mason said. Lydia giggled, nodding in agreement.

Scott rolled his eyes and took her hand, leading us all into the school. As soon as we opened the door almost everyone in the hall turned to look at us. Whispers started and people parted to let us by. Mason and I stopped, looked at each other and fell into each other, laughing.

"Seriously." Scott groaned. The others looked around confused and gave us a look, wondering why Mason and I were in hysterics.

That just made us laugh harder. I almost fell into a wall, but Theo caught me, smiling and shaking his head. I let out an embarrassing snort as I tried to calm down, wiping my eyes. Then went to help Mason up who had bumped into a wall and slid down it.

"This is your fault Scott." Lydia told him with a laugh.

"How is it my fault?"

"You collected this motley crew of people." She told him.

"What are we missing?" Stiles asked.

"Mafia family." Was all I could get out before laughing again leaning on Theo.

Scott sighed but smiled adoringly at Lydia when she giggled. I glanced at Theo, who winked, then looked away. The bell rang and we all separated to get ready for classes.

Right before lunch began Theo grabbed me as I was walking by, pulling me to an alcove.

"What's wrong?" I asked when I noticed the crinkled brow and frown.

"Corey just text me."

"Okay, what did he say? Is he in trouble?" I whispered so people walking by wouldn't overhear.

'I don't know. I'm kind of afraid to check." He admitted, his nerves showing. Every text he received from Corey made him increasingly anxious. He was never sure if it was one saying he was okay or one saying something happened. It was getting harder for him to just check them without me there.

"Okay, do you want me to look first?"

"Please." He said desperately, handing me his phone.

"What's the code?"

"2325." He recited without hesitation. I tried not to smile at his trust.

COREY: I'M FINE, I SWEAR. SENDING MORE PEOPLE TO YOU. BE ON THE LOOK OUT. STAY SAFE THEO. LOVE YOU. I'LL SEE YOU SOON, I PROMISE.

After I pre-read the message I turned it to show Theo. he sighed in relief.

"He's okay." I said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah and it sounds like he's almost ready to leave. Thank God." Theo ran a hand through his hair, a sure sign of stress.

"Damn fags." Someone muttered passing by us.

I tensed for a moment. I wasn't used to that comment being directed at me. I waited for hurt or anger but Mason's words from this morning came back to me and I realized I didn't care. Before I would have. Before I probably would have dropped my hand and stepped away feeling like I was somehow wrong and then I would have felt guilty. But after the last few days, especially yesterday, nobody else's opinion seemed to matter. Besides, I have friends and family who accept me as I am. I smiled and relaxed. Theo watched me and I could see he was worried about how I would handle hearing that directed at me, at us.

"I'm okay." I told him.

"You sure? Even with what he said?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. He doesn't matter." I shrugged. I don't think his smile could have gotten any wider. "Let's go tell Scott about the text."

When we entered the cafeteria together, again, whispers started all around us and I could hear them all.

'Why are they always together, I thought he was dating Hayden.'

'Maybe they are dating. I can't see it but to each their own.'

That one made me smile and relax a bit.

'Damn, I was so hoping they weren't together. Theo's really cute.'

I narrowed my eyes but didn't seek out whoever said it.

'Isn't the short one on the lacrosse team? Can you be gay and play sports?'

I rolled my eyes. What being gay has to do with playing sports I have no clue.

'I heard that the reason he got so upset is because Hayden was trying to date both of them.'

I snorted.

'They would make such a cute couple. After what happened yesterday I started writing this fanfic about them, I didn't use their names though, just their ship name, Thiam. I wonder who the top is and who the bottom is.'

I tripped over my feet and my mouth dropped open. Theo caught me before I fell.

"Liam, what's wrong?"

I stared open mouthed at the girl who was turning bright red and looked away from us.

"Uh, nothing." I said, shaking my head.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, just uh… yeah. I'm fine."

"Okay, go sit. I'll grab you a water."

I nodded and made my way to the table. I took my seat next to Mason, but I saw Isaac trying to hold in a laugh.

"You heard her, didn't you?" I asked. He nodded letting out a squeak in the effort not to laugh. Everyone looked curiously between us.

"Heard who?" Allison asked.

"No one." I said before he could say anything.

"She already has your ship name." Isaac giggled.

"What's a ship name?" Theo asked handing me a bottle of water and taking the seat next to me. I groaned.

"It's a name that a lot of fanfiction writers come up with for couples. They take the two names and combine them to create one name for the couple as a whole." Lydia explained. "What, I read." She said when we all looked at her.

"Okay and why are we talking about ship names?" Theo asked.

"Allison." I whined, pleading silently with her to shut him up. But she had just taken a bite of food and could not stop him.

"Because one of the girls at that third table over there has created one for you two, for a story she's writing." Isaac said pointing.

"Oh God." I said, face palming.

"Really?" the smile in Theo's voice evident.

"What is it?" Mason asked excitedly. I turned to see him bouncing in his seat.

"Et tu, Brute?" I narrowed my eyes to him.

"I kind of want to know myself." Stiles said.

"I think I know what it is." Malia said and now we all looked at her.

"What, I read too."

"Fanfiction?" Stiles asked.

"I was curious." She shrugged.

"You and your curiosity."

"It got me you, didn't it?"

"True." He said smiling and kissing her.

"Alright, enough of that. What's the name?" Theo asked.

"Well from my research-."

Stiles chuckled.

"From my research it's usually a combination of the first two or three letters from one part of the couple with the last two or three from the other. So, if that's true, Thiam just makes sense."

"You're good." Isaac said.

"Oh, I'm right?"

Isaac nodded and Malia beamed.

"Anyway," I said moving us away from that topic before Isaac could blurt out what else the girl said. Isaac snickered knowing what I was doing. "Corey sent another text."

That got everyone's attention. Even Isaac stopped laughing and focused.

"What did it say?" Scott asked. Theo pulled out his phone, unlocked it and handed it to Scott who read it and passed it around.

"Okay. If he's going to keep doing this, I don't think we need to call a meeting for every one of them. I'll let Derek know just in case. Allison have you heard from your dad recently?" He asked.

"Yeah, they should be back in the next day or two. They ran into a problem since the last call I got during Spring Break, but he said they were close now."

"Okay, can you double check with him. I don't know where we are going to put these people if we can't get them home. We don't want to send them back out without some kind of protection."

"Maybe we can use the house for a night or two. At least until we know where to go from there." Lydia suggested.

"That's a great idea. Have I told you how much I love how smart you are?" Scott asked her.

"Not lately. But you can show me later." She said kissing him.

It was really getting annoying to not be able to kiss my boyfriend when I wanted. I was getting cranky, seeing others do what I wanted to do.

"I know what you're thinking with that cute little frown on your face." Theo whispered to me. I refused to look at him as I felt my face get hot. He chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'll give you as many kisses as you want later."

"You are so not playing fair right now." I told him.

"When did I agree to do that?"

JACJACJAC

I had to rush to get to the locker room after last class because I wanted to finish getting all the notes off the board for a test on Monday. Guess it's a good thing I'm grounded this weekend. I'll have plenty of time to study for it and since it was my most hated subject, I would need all the studying I could do to pass it.

"Dunbar, you're late." Coach barked as I slammed into the locker room.

"Sorry coach."

I hurried to my locker seeing most of the team already halfway suited up. Hurrying to strip down I grabbed my gear to put on.

"He was probably with his boyfriend." One of the guys joked. I rolled my eyes. I wish.

"Freaking fag." Same voice from earlier today said. At the same time Scott and Isaac growled, coach yelled.

"Hey, we don't tolerate that kind of language here."

"Sorry coach." He answered not sounding sorry at all, especially since he snickered as soon as coach walked away.

"So, what if I am?" I asked, slamming my locker closed seeing Johnson, the voice, two lockers down from me. We had issues last year and apparently we were going to have them again.

"Excuse me?" he said stepping up to me. I could see Stiles hold Scott and Isaac back.

"I said, what if I am? How does that affect you in any way?" I asked looking up at him, because yeah he was freaking huge.

"It doesn't."

"You sure? Because this is the second time you have said it today. So, it must have an impact on you, for you to strain your mental capacities to form an opinion and actually express it."

"Why would I care who you screw, as long as it's not me."

"That will never be a worry, you're not my type." I told him.

"Right, like you never snuck a peak. All you freaks are the same."

The locker room had gone quiet listening to every word said, even the coach had stopped, listening.

"Freaks?" I snorted. "Despite what you think, not every gay or bisexual goes around checking out every guy or girl they see. Like I said you're not my type. What I do or who I am with is none of your business and doesn't concern you. And I could care less about your opinion on it." I pulled on my jersey.

"And sneaking a peak doesn't interest me. You could never compete with my boyfriend." I told him.

"Right, your boyfriend. Theo, another pansy."

It was a snap decision, but I was still in control when I shoved him against the locker hard and pinned him there. I mustered as much super natural strength as I could to keep him there without shifting. It had to look odd, since I was at least four inches shorter then Johnson.

"Liam." Scott called.

"I'm fine." I told him.

"Say what you want about me. I don't care. But you don't even breathe his name. Scott put you on your ass before. I'll put you in traction." I told him with one last shove before letting go.

Straightening my jersey back out, I turned around, seeing the whole team watching. There was some surprise, a lot of laughing and coach was covering his mouth.

"I'll see you on the field. I'm going to find my boyfriend." I announced with a smile, leaving the room.

Theo:

I was standing around with Allison, Malia, Lydia, Dr. Geyer, and Mason waiting for the event to start. The other teams that were also in the demonstration were warming up but ours had yet to hit the field. The place was packed since this was for charity, there were even a few TV cameras around. I saw Brett on the other side of the field. He nodded in our direction looking a lot better than the last time I saw him and his sister.

"Theo."

We all looked to see Liam jogging towards us, helmet in hand.

"Hey. I thought you guys were still getting ready." I said. He smiled widely at me, with a gleam in his eye.

"Dad, hold this and you might want to look away." Liam said handing his helmet to his father. I raised a brow at him in question. He had this look that I wasn't sure how to interpret.

"What's going on?" I asked, seeing his dad turn away from us, smiling and shaking his head. Mason pulled out his phone and started recording.

"This." He yanked me to him and crushed his lips to mine. My mind exploded, processing the fact that Liam was kissing me… in public… in front of people and cameras. Wrapping my arms around him, I tried to get as close as possible with him geared up and kissed him back. This kiss was different. It wasn't the sweet soft, languid ones we usually had. This one was rougher and possessive.

"Woo, go Liam." I heard Allison cheer with Malia giving a piercing whistle. Then there were catcalls, cheers, and claps all around us.

"And that's what I call a coming out." Mason muttered.

"Are they done yet?" his dad asked, which forced us to part. Liam had this look of complete and utter contentment on his face.

"Do you know what you just did?" I asked because my brain couldn't comprehend what just happened.

"Letting everyone know I have the hottest boyfriend ever." Was his response and I heard Mason bark a laugh as the girls cackled.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure about you. Everything else doesn't matter." He said giving me another, totally inappropriate for the company we were keeping right now kiss. "That one was for luck."

I blinked and then blinked again.

"Thanks dad. See you guys after it's over." He said taking his helmet back and meeting up with the rest of his team that were pouring out of the locker room. Scott shook his head as he passed me while Stiles just snickered. Isaac gave me a pat on the back, grinning.

"I don't know what just happened." I said, turning back to the others.

"I think my son just claimed you in public." Dr. Geyer said.