He knows the type of person Liam is, the moment they give something up they realize how valuable it was and suddenly want it back. And Theo really did want to believe Liam when he said he would change, but he didn't know if he could do it anymore. Liam wanted to be with Theo but he never showed it, always hiding it when around the pack. It was like he was ashamed of being with him, and he couldn't be kept on the sidelines anymore. If Liam was ashamed of their relationship it wasn't worth it, no matter how much Theo still loved him.
Then Liam left. He left Beacon Hills, where he went? Theo didn't know. He stupidly thought that when the older pack left town he and Liam could maybe rebuild their relationship without the judgment of the older pack, but the more he thought about it he ignored him even more after they left. He keeps telling himself that it's not his fault, it's Liam's.
All Liam had to do was stay. Theo would have done anything for Liam, it was ridiculous. In hindsight Theo should have known, he shouldn't have trusted him, he was just like everyone else. The moment he let him in and trusted him he locked him out and broke his trust. Liam had Theo in the palm of his hand, he loved him, but Liam didn't care. Did he ever even really care? Or was he just a replacement for Hayden when she left?
Now all of a sudden Liam was back in Beacon Hills, for the pack reunion. Theo didn't know what to do. Should he even do anything? It didn't matter anyway, it was too late to do anything, he had to get going to meet with the others.
To say it was awkward was an understatement. At first, everything was fine, but then Liam walked in saying he was sorry about being late. Theo tried his hardest to ignore him and continue talking with Corey, whom he hadn't seen in forever. Bad idea, because of course, Liam would come over to see his old best friend first who was of course with Corey and him adding on to the conversation every so often. When he walked over Theo tried ending the conversation with Corey and talking with him more later but was stopped by Corey himself who told him he couldn't ignore Liam forever. Which, yes he could very much do so if he wanted to. At first, it wasn't so bad, there was an awkward 'hi' but that's about it, and he was luckily able to get away before Liam could say anything else to him. Throughout the rest of the night, he did his best to avoid Liam as much as possible, and he was doing pretty well if he did say so himself, always talking with the person farthest from Liam and never making eye contact, only keeping watch via his peripheral vision. He was doing so well until it was time to leave, his mistake was not watching who followed him out of the house. He was walking to his truck– yes he still had his truck after everything that happened and he wasn't planning on getting rid of it anytime soon thank you very much– that he parked by the end of the driveway of the new and improved McCall-Argent house. He was almost there when he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder, it caught him off guard so he turned around and punched whoever it was in the nose without even thinking about it. What can he say, old habits die hard.
"I guess that's payback for the zoo, right Theo?" said Liam with a smirk on his face despite holding a broken and bloody nose, the bastard. "What the heck Liam?! Why did you do that, are you crazy?!" said Theo with an incredulous look on his face. "Maybe a little, but so are you so we are even," said Liam with that stupid cheeky smile still on his face. "What do you want Liam? If you couldn't tell I was trying to go home, so maybe stop with the stupidity and let me leave, 'cause I have things to do unlike some people, apparently," said Theo with a stone-cold look on his face. "Always straight to the point, you are Theo. But I digress," after those words, the smile on Liam's face disappears and is replaced with a pissed-off scowl as he keeps talking, "Why have you ignored me all night?! I tried talking to you all night and all you did was walk away?! Please just listen to me Theo, I never meant to hurt you and I'm back because I wanted to hopefully star–" Liam wasn't able to finish because he was abruptly cut off by Theo. "No. And don't say that you haven't finished because it's a no, Liam. It's too late, you made your choice and I made mine. All you had to do was stay, and you left. That's on you, Liam," said Theo with a cold face before walking off leaving Liam standing at the end of the driveway with a look of shock and disappointment on his face.
"All you had to do was stay," those words kept running through Liam's head. Was that true? Could it really have been that easy? How could he have messed this up so badly? He broke Theo's trust, how could he ever want Liam back now? He thought leaving would have been for the better, he thought Theo was better off without him. But did leaving really hurt him that much?
It was a few days after the reunion when Liam called Theo. Theo stared at his phone screen, lit with the image of Liam's contact, for a few moments contemplating if he should pick up before he gave in and finally picked up.
"Finally, you picked up, I was starting to worry that you changed your number," said Liam before Theo had the chance to even utter a single word. "What do you want Liam," said Theo, he didn't know what else to say, so he went with the safest option he could think of. "Well I wanted to see if you would at least let me talk to you and explain some things, and maybe we could try again?" said Liam with hopefulness filling his voice. "I already told you no Liam. You have no idea how long it took me to pick up the pieces of myself after you left. I don't want to hear your excuses for leaving, you left and even before that you always pushed me aside in favor of the pack. You can't push me aside and then expect me to come back to you, that's not how people like me work Liam. Once you say goodbye it's over, end of story," said Theo, hanging up before Liam could respond.
After Theo hung up he started crying. It hurt, it hurt so much to reject Liam when he wanted nothing more than to go back to him. But he had to learn that you can't lock someone out after they let you in and trusted you. But, he would be lying if he said Liam didn't still have him in the palm of his hand. Why did he have to leave? And why did Theo still want to forgive him?
Even though Theo told Liam that it was too late to get back together, he was lying. It was a lie he told Liam and himself to make him feel better. He knew that he would probably give in and get back together with Liam in the end. He didn't know why, but he felt like maybe Liam was telling him the truth this time. That he could explain himself and show that he cared. But Liam had to learn his lesson so Theo had to drag this out for a little longer, even if he was hurting himself too.
Liam always thought he was one to take account of his mistakes and try to do better by the people he wronged, but he wasn't that same naive 17-year-old anymore. He knew this wasn't a situation where he could say sorry and everything magically was fixed. He should have known better than to play with Theo's heart like that and leave him in the dust after it took so long for him to warm up to Liam and actually trust him. Liam knew he was stupid for thinking and believing that he could leave Theo for so long and be able to come back like he didn't leave him all alone to fend for himself after he had finally gotten back on his feet and was doing better than ever. He should have called, he should have told him why he left, and he should have never left in the first place. Liam couldn't focus on the 'should haves' and 'what ifs' now. What was done, was done. He had a snarky, sarcastic, and caring chimera to win back. He might never win back Theo's heart, but he'll be damned if he didn't try.
Liam didn't know how he did it, but he somehow managed to convince Theo to meet up with him. "I don't even know why I said yes to this, you can try to explain yourself to me a million times Liam, but let me just remind you, this is what you wanted Liam, you ended it," said Theo with a tired look on his face. He was tired. He was tired of trying to explain himself, and he hated that he kept coming back to Liam. "Theo please believe me," Liam started, "You were all I wanted, but not like this, I swear I never wanted this to happen," said Liam with sad pleading eyes.
"All you had to do was-" Theo started. "STAY, I KNOW, OKAY?! You've told me a thousand times Theo! I know, all I had to do was stay, right?!" said Liam angrily. "You do not get to be mad at me Liam, okay?! This is not my fault, it's yours! It's your fault for leaving after having me in the palm of your hand and locking me out after everything! You have no right to be mad at me because of your mistake, that's on you!" said Theo as tears of frustration started to gather in his eyes.
"Theo, you said you would let me explain myself! So could please just listen and let me, I know it might be too late to have you back, you've told me, but can you at least let me explain myself before you decide that you really don't want me back, okay? I know you wanted me to stay, and I'm sorry I left, I had to, and I didn't really want to. Scott wanted me to do something for him, and neither of us would have guessed that it would have taken so long, I wanted to tell you, honestly, but I was told not to, and then I just got so busy that I didn't have any time to contact you. And because it took so long, I had a place there, and I realized that if I came back I probably wouldn't, I know I could have stayed with you, and yes I probably could have explained after it was over. But I promise I never meant to hurt you, I never meant to lock you out, and I swear I never meant to betray your trust. If you want me to, I'll go, I can go back and you'll never have to talk to me ever again if you want, but just please know that I would gladly stay here with you. And before you ask, no, there's nothing for me there besides the place where I lived and all the bad memories. No one would miss me over there because there's not really much time for socializing when you have a job to do, I'm sorry I'm just rambling at this point," Liam took in a deep breath at this point and saw Theo smile and shake his head before he started again. "So, what do you say, can I stay here with you, only if you'll have me of course," said Liam finally with a shine of hopefulness in his eyes.
Theo looked off into the distance making a face like he was thinking about it, but he already knew his answer. "I guess it's not too late to start over, Little Wolf. Just no more secrets, okay?" says Theo with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. "Really! I promise I'll never keep secrets ever again, I swear!" responds Liam with a light in his eyes. Theo just shakes his head and smiles, 'This boy is going to be the death of me,' Theo thinks.
All Liam had to do was stay. And, in the end, he did. It may take a while to get back to where they were, or it might not take as long as he thinks it will cause Theo is a sucker for that smile. No matter how long it takes, they are together now, and not leaving anytime soon, and that's really all that matters.