Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Theo could confidently say that he had many journeys, many new beginnings in his life. The first one was when he was born into the small Raeken family, which consisted of him, his older sister and their parents. As far as he knew, they didn't have any relatives.

Growing up was quite easy, albeit boring. From a young age, Theo could tell he wasn't really like the rest of the kids. Sure, he went to school like any other kid, had family dinners and smiled every time his mother bought him a new beanie. But something always felt off. His emotions were never quite right. He was too nonchalant towards his environment, never engaging in hobbies or activities like the rest of his peers, never really caring for others. Never feeling. Everything was just so mundane and Theo knew he was designed for greater things.

The second period in his life started the minute Tara's heart stopped beating, only to restart again in his own chest. The Dread Doctors weren't as warm or as loving as his parents, but it was with them that he learned emotions. He suddenly expressed himself, his desires, his anger, his enthusiasm.

So you could say his third journey began when he finally returned to Beacon Hills, killed Scott McCall and got his own pack. But even after getting everything he's ever wanted, he wasn't satisfied.

He wasn't a real Alpha. Wasn't even a real Werewolf.

Just a cheap knock-off.

He couldn't consider his time in Hell as a beginning of a fourth era, really, because time seemed to stop there as he was experiencing the same scenario repeatedly in loops. And frankly, Theo just wanted to forget about that. So with that in mind, he thought that his fourth official period began when he rose back from the ground, actually helped the good guys this time, felt compassion, remorse. He became an ally, a protector of Beacon Hills and he wore that title with pride.

Being an official ally, a protector of the town, came with responsibilities, like keeping an eye on the Puppy Pack and patrolling around the woods. It also came with benefits, Theo learned, when the Sheriff announced throughout his department that no one was to bother Theo and try to prevent him from parking his truck in the woods, which meant Theo actually got decent sleep these days.

But after Scott and the others left to start living their own lives, and after everything seemed to quiet down in town, Theo found himself missing the adrenaline, the rush, the danger.

Or maybe he just missed feeling needed. Important.

Overall, he was fine with this fourth period in his life, as lonely and quiet as it was.

Two days after Monroe had fled, everyone gathered around at Scott’s house, as the Alpha evaluated the situation and made sure no one has had an encounter with her again, deeming it safe enough to try to get back to normal, as much as possible. That’s when he tasked everyone on patrol missions, emphasizing the need to go on these missions in duos, never alone.

Theo was never much of a follower of instructions.

As everyone gathered around the boxes of pizzas that Deaton had brought, Theo tried to escape the house, not before being stopped by the Alpha himself.

“Theo, can I talk to you for a second?”

Theo sighed. All he wanted was to get back to sleep, yet he still followed Scott to the empty kitchen. “Promise I’ve been a good boy.”

“I know,” Scott smiled. “Listen, I just wanted to thank you for your help with Liam and the others. You saved their lives.”

“Huh,” he said dumbly.

“Listen,” he whispered and shifted closer to Theo. “I know you think the opposite, but you do get a say in what’s going to happen next.”

“What does that mean?” He clenched his fist, suddenly getting defensive. 

“You’re not a prisoner, Theo. You can go wherever you want, do whatever you want.”

Yeah, right, Theo thought. Instead, he urged, “But…?”

Scott smacked his lips and rubbed his hands together, obviously uncomfortable. “But if you plan on staying in Beacon Hills…”

“Let me guess, stay out of trouble, don’t kill people?” Theo rolled his eyes.

“Uh, no,” Scott frowned. “I mean, yes, don’t kill people, but I meant… It would be really nice if you could help around with Liam and the rest.”

A short pause. Then, “What?”

Scott sighed and grabbed a chair to sit on, indicating Theo to do the same. “Liam has a lot on his plate. Now that we’ll go back to uni, I know he’s gonna be even more stressed. I trust Liam, he is a great acting Alpha, but I’m scared he’s gonna run himself to the ground.”

Theo couldn’t really argue with that. The kid did have a tendency to run headfirst into the fire.

“And I know Chris and the rest are still around, but I would be a lot calmer if I knew you’d be there for him when—if things go south.”

Theo wanted to smirk at Scott’s slip, but decided now wasn’t the time. “You’re asking me to babysit your Beta and his friends?”

“Yes?” Scott winced and then sighed again. “Liam is strong and capable, but let’s not sugar-coat things. He is impulsive. I’m obviously not going to force you into anything, Theo, but I can’t think of anyone better to keep him in place.”

Bullshit, Theo thought. Scott said that Theo gets to decide what to do, but putting him in this position, giving him this task, making it sound as if Theo is valuable—Of course Theo would stay. How could he possibly say no? He wondered if Scott knew that, too, that Theo wouldn’t be able to refuse, but then again, Scott wasn’t that manipulative.

Was he?

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Scott looked surprised. “You’ll stay?”

“I was planning on staying, anyway,” Theo shrugged. “Not like I have anywhere else to go. Plus, this is my hometown too, not just yours and Stiles’s,” he frowned. “I get to take care of my home, too. And if looking after your little puppy is gonna make things easier for you, then… Whatever.”

It's the least I can do for you, was what he wanted to say but didn't.

Scott immediately sighed in relief, a smile on his face. “Thank you so much. Also, uh, we can keep this between us, right?”

“Sure,” Theo smirked.

“Also, uh,” Scott shuffled again.

“What now?”

The Alpha sent him an apologetic smile. “If something happens, if Liam loses his control… Let me know.”

Theo raised an eyebrow. “Why do I get the feeling that this is not babysitting duties, but spying duties?”

“It’s, uh, both,” he confessed. “Just until Liam learns to better control himself.”

“Okay. You’ll get my bill by the end of each month.”

And just like that Theo became a spy/babysitter. He probably wasn’t a really good one, because he never really spoke to Liam, never showed his face. Still, he made sure to always be in a short distance from him, sometimes even going as far as watching the Beta’s lacrosse practices from a distance.

Things were getting back to normal. Liam probably didn't even need a babysitter. But Theo couldn’t help but feel proud that Scott had given him this special, secretive mission.

Five days after his talk with Scott, Chris Argent approached him.

Theo was in the middle of his patrol around the woods when he heard the footsteps. He frowned and turned around, seeing the ex-hunter walking up to him.

“Didn’t you hear Scott say duos?”

“Didn’t you hear I don’t care?”

“Humph,” Chris smirked and stood in front of Theo, his posture straight, much like that of a soldier. “What are you doing these days?”

“Staying out of trouble, sir,” he sent him a fake smile and continued to walk around the woods.

This is pointless, he thought. Every night, a pack member or ally took the task of searching the woods, even though they knew Monroe and her group were probably far away by now. It wasn’t yet Theo’s day to go on patrol, but since he had nothing better to do…

“Found anything?” Another voice called. Theo turned around quickly again to see Stilinski emerging from the trees. “Ah. Theo," he said, obvious displeasure laced in his tone.

“Sheriff.”

“You know you don’t have to check in every day, kid. We have the schedule for a reason.”

“No offence, but your schedule put Liam and Mason together in the shift. You really think these two actually check the area profoundly?”

Stilinski sighed and Argent smirked.

“Okay, so… What are you doing when you don’t check the woods?” The Sherriff asked.

Theo narrowed his eyes at the two, looking at them suspiciously. “As I’ve told Papa Argent here, I haven’t done anything bad, so back off.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Stilinski sighed, but Theo couldn’t help but think he did so in a way a father would sigh at his annoying son. He could swear Stilinski used to sigh at Stiles in that manner. 

“What did I do?” Theo asked seriously, starting to doubt himself, trying to recall what bad did he cause now. 

“Nothing, Theo,” Argent assured. “We just wanted to ask you some questions, that’s all.”

“Questions like…?”

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Stilinski said and Theo really couldn’t be any more grateful. “You sleep in your truck.”

“Way to be subtle,” Theo laughed, ignoring the way his heart skipped a beat in surprise. 

“And I have a spare room.”

Theo blanched.

“So do I,” Argent added.

Theo thought he was going to be sick.

“So…” Stilinski nodded with pursed lips.

“Uh…” The Chimera clenched and unclenched his fists. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Theo,” The Sheriff sighed again. “I’m tired as it is. I am not getting younger and my job is not getting easier. Just… Do me this one favor. Please.”

Theo tried not to be affected by how spent he sounded.

“No.”

Stilinski narrowed his eyes and was about to say something else when Argent said, “Just think about it, Theo.”

And Theo did think about it. For days. A bed, a roof over his head. It sounded like a dream. But hell if he’d agree to sleep a door away from the man who held him in a cell and threatened to shoot him. And Argent, well… He gave Theo the chills. So the next time Argent had approached him, he declined again and politely told him to fuck off.

Two days after Theo had given Agent his final answer, Deaton came into the picture.

It was late afternoon and it was Theo’s first official turn to patrol around the woods. He had been patrolling every night for the past week, trying to stay away from those who actually were on patrolling duties. Last night he had the absolute displeasure of hearing Liam, Mason and Corey’s obnoxious laughs echoing from a distance, but thankfully, they haven’t seen him. If they would have, they’d probably wonder why he was patrolling when it wasn’t his turn, and then Liam would probably try to get him to join them or something. Theo was not ready for that.

Back when Argent posted the schedule of the shifts, Liam immediately protested about Theo not being paired with anyone. Theo rolled his eyes and Argent stated that Theo preferred it that way (Theo never said he prefers it that way. But he guessed it was true enough). Liam went on an agonizingly long speech about how dangerous it was to cover the area alone, basically quoting Scott word-by-word, and offered to be his partner, much to the dismay of Mason, his actual partner. Theo simply refused and left Scott's house, even though he could smell Liam’s rage and hurt.

So much for being a good babysitter. 

But that was about a week ago and now it was Theo’s official turn.

He was laying at the back of his truck, looking up to the sky and waiting for the first star to shine, signaling him to start his task. The nights were getting chilly, but he only wore a short-sleeved t-shirt, too lazy to find a hoodie in one of the duffel bags he kept in his car.

“Theo,” Deaton spoke softly.

Theo sat straight up. “What are you doing here? You’re not on patrol.”

“No,” he smiled and sat at the edge of the truck.

“Sure, be my guest, feel free,” Theo said sarcastically.

“How are you with dogs?”

“How am I…?" Theo frowned. "Is this a joke? Since I can shift?”

“Didn’t even know you can shift. Scott is back in college and I can’t find someone to fill his spot.”

“Liam is the acting Alpha,” Theo said confusedly.

Deaton smiled his tight-lipped smile that Theo hated so much. “I meant, at the clinic. Looking for a job, Theo?”

“I—Why?”

“I need a hand. The pay is not much, I’m afraid, but maybe it could get you started? Maybe over time you could save some and get an actual place.”

“Okay, does the entire population of Beacon Hills know I sleep in my truck by now?”

“No. Just some.”

“…Does Scott know?”

Deaton paused for a while, before he gave an easy smile. “Who do you think sent Chris and the Sheriff?”

Theo almost melted at that, the wolf in him screaming with joy over the thought of an Alpha taking care of him like one would care for a pack member, for a family member.

But Human Theo was prideful.

“Well. Tell him he can shove his chivalrous gestures up his—“

“Having some money to your name in exchange of taking care of puppies and kittens—Is it really that bad?”

And Theo was immediately sold.

He loved puppies and kittens.

Half an hour after Deaton had left the area, not before telling Theo that his shift will start on Monday, Theo stretched and took off deep into the woods, starting his daily routine.

Pathetic, he thought as he was one hour into the patrol, hearing the obvious footsteps and racing heartbeat of Liam Dunbar in the area.

Theo knew he would try to follow him.

But thankfully, Liam sucked at being a werewolf and wasn’t able to locate Theo, the smell of the animals and the wildlife probably clogging his senses.

Good, Theo thought, because he was too overwhelmed to deal with him, suddenly not caring much for the top secret mission Scott had assigned him. 

His first shift was pretty uneventful. Deaton showed him around the place a bit and introduced him to Lucas, Lady Whiskers and Purr-Purr-Girl—an elderly dog and two knittens who occupied the cages in the back room.

“I would show you around some more, but I know you’re already familiar with my clinic,” Deaton smiled. “Maybe even broke here once or twice…?”

Theo gulped, remembering the 4 times he had broken into the clinic in the past months. One time because a demonic spider had attacked him. The other three because the deputies were persistent and Theo just wanted to sleep without being interrupted.

But Deaton didn’t seem mad at all so Theo shut up and continued to pat Lady Whiskers.

The days have gone by. Theo had 3 shifts per week in the clinic, and got paid every Thursday. Cash, since he had no documents on him. Being pronounced dead for 3 months and having no Doctors to fabricate stuff could do that to a man.

Before he knew, a month had passed since he started working and he collected a small sum of money. Deaton didn’t lie when he said the pay wasn’t great, but at least Theo could afford a sandwich next to his morning coffees now.

Theo was content in life, he decided. Simply living, doing mundane stuff like working and eating. It was peaceful.

Phase 4 was peaceful.

Nothing prepared him for phase 5, which surprisingly began with Nolan Holloway.

It was a Friday. Theo was sitting at the hood of his truck, gazing at the trees in the woods, waiting for the first star when he heard footsteps behind him. He shifted around to find a tall teenager.

"Uh, hey," the boy nodded.

Theo raised an eyebrow curiously and rose to his feet. "Yes?"

"Uh, I was just... I'm Nolan." He grimaced at Theo's blank face. "You already knew that. I just never really introduced myself, so I thought..." He dug his nails in the palms of his hands nervously.

Theo nodded slowly, trying to catch a whiff of the teenager in front of him; all he caught was the obvious smell of embarrassment laced with something else, something almost intriguing.

"You, uh... I mean, I was hanging out with Liam and the pack lately, you know, so I thought I'll see you around or something..."

"I'm not pack," he shared.

"Oh," Nolan dropped his gaze. "Right. Yeah. Of course."

Theo bit his lip as the smell of humiliation practically radiated out of the boy. He tried not to grin at Nolan's bowed head. "You were looking for me?"

This seemed to snap the blond right back into reality. He looked up at Theo with the perfect deer-caught-in-headlights look. He blinked for a few seconds before he nodded slowly.

Theo raised his eyebrow again, urging the boy to continue.

Nolan shook his head, as if trying to snap out of a daze. "Yeah, yeah, I wanted to see you. I mean... I didn't have time after the fight was over, you practically fled and—"

"I had no reason to stay," he shrugged. "My job was done."

"Okay..." His confused expression showed Theo that he had no idea was he was talking about. "Anyway, I... just wanted to say thanks, I guess."

"...For leaving?"

"No!" His eyes widened. "God, no, I didn't mean that, I just..."

"You just...?"

Theo should have scoffed at the kid the moment he stepped into his zone. He really didn't feel practically fond of mumbling, embarrassed teenagers. Especially teenagers who tried to hunt the supernatural not too long ago. Nevertheless, there he was, standing and giving this kid his time of day. A voice at the back of his head told him it was because he lacked human interaction. Deaton wasn’t much of a talker, and the baristas at the local café weren’t all that friendly, either. Of course, Theo shut the voice down quickly and settled down with the explanation that it was amusing to watch Nolan stumble around his words.

The teenager sighed. The tension seemed to leave his shoulders and the embarrassment seemed to dull down, thus causing the unrecognizable scent to strengthen. "Gabe was my friend. He did bad things, we both did. But you... You took his pain away. Even though he probably didn't deserve it," he whispered the last part.

Theo blinked slowly, hearing his own heartbeat quickening gradually.

Someone was thanking him.

"I wanted to say it before, but my mind was all over the place," he continued and shifted his gaze to the ground. "And then I tried to find you at Liam's house, and then at Scott’s, but you never showed up. I wanted to ask Liam where you were, but I was too..."

Theo tried to ignore the red that dusted Nolan's cheeks.

The wind picked up and Theo heard the rustle of the leaves on the trees. He looked up to one of the trees, noticing an owl looking at them as if they were a magnificent performance. Theo cocked his head to the side, as if trying to communicate telepathically with the creature.

They were not a performance. They were two boys, broken after a war.

"His Mom smiled when I told her, you know."

Theo jumped and looked back at Nolan. His voice was even softer than before, yet still rang against Theo's eardrums.

"When I told her he died peacefully, with no pain," he explained. "She was crying, but then she smiled. Almost laughed. She was happy he didn't suffer during his last..."

The Chimera nodded even though the boy in front of him was looking at the ground.

"You did this, you know," he finally brought his head up to meet Theo's eyes. "You made his last moments peaceful. I just wanted to say thanks."

Theo glanced at the tree again, but the owl was nowhere to be seen. "Okay," he finally said.

"Okay?" Nolan cocked his head to the side.

The chimera cleared his throat. "You're welcome, glad I could help."

A lovely smile graced Nolan's features.

"Is that all?" Theo cleared his throat again.

No one thanked him before.

He tried to be as useful as he could to the McCall Pack, saved that angry Beta's life more than once, put himself in front of fire lines, but they didn't thank him.

Well, Scott did, but he was an Alpha who was happy his baby Beta was alive.

The others? Not a single ‘thanks for saving me, Theo, you rule’.

He probably didn't deserve it, anyway.

But then he did one small selfless act and he had a boy with a smile that could put the sun's shine to shame in front of him, thanking him.

"Yeah, I guess," Nolan shrugged, the last of his tension melting away.

"Good."

"I, uh, I'm sorry for bothering and creeping on you. But, hey, at least I know where to find you now... In the middle of the woods..." He shuddered.

"Why would you want to find me?"

"Uh, just, you know... If something happens." He blushed at Theo's smirk.

"Right. You do know you're not supposed to come here alone, right?"

"You're here alone, too."

"Are you comparing the two of us?" Theo grinned and raised an eyebrow. 

"Guess not," Nolan chuckled. "I better get going, or my Mom will have my head off. Bye, Theo," he smiled his blinding smile again and gave an awkward wave as he turned around and left towards the direction he came from.

Theo was left with the lingering smell of Nolan. As the latter disappeared into the woods, the fragrance lessened but suddenly it clicked.

It was the same scent Theo could smell on himself when he just turned into a Chimera and he looked up at the Dread Doctors with literal heart eyes, as if they held all the answers in the world, as if they held a brighter future for Theo in their hands.

It was a smell of adoration.

"Fuck."

Chapter Text

“You do know I can afford my own meals, right?”

It’s been two weeks since that encounter with Nolan in the woods. Since then, every morning, right before school, Nolan came to the woods and gave Theo a sandwich, a snack or a fruit. The first time he did so, Theo froze, a ‘what the fuck?’ slipping through. Nolan blushed and said it seemed as if Theo had been losing weight lately.

Theo refused that first sandwich. Actually, he refused all the sandwiches Nolan had prepared for him during the first week. But by day 8, which happened to be a Saturday and meant Nolan didn’t go to school, actually chose to wake up early and risk his life in the woods, Theo sighed and took the chocolate croissant the boy had offered.

He was too lazy to go to the café that day. That was the only reason.

And honestly, he thought that if he’d accept one time, then Nolan would get rid of whatever guilt he had and will go on his marry way.

Theo was proven wrong, because now they were on day 13 and Nolan didn’t show any signs of stopping this weird gesture anytime soon.

“Sure,” Nolan said.

Nolan came early that day, school wouldn’t start for another 40 minutes. So he settled at the bed of Theo’s truck, basking in the sun, taking a bite out of his apple.

The frowned and stared at today’s cheese sandwich as if it had offended him.

The first days between them were awkward, what with Nolan keeping a distance and stumbling over his words. But now they fell into an easy routine. Nolan got more and more comfortable with evading Theo’s space (Theo didn’t know how he felt about that) and even made small-talk. They didn’t talk a lot between them, but it was… okay.

“I mean it. I have a job, you know.”

“I know.”

And that was that. Theo stared at him before sighing and taking another bite.

If this kid was so eager to spend his time and money on Theo, then that was on him.

He’ll probably outgrow this soon, Theo thought.

October came, and with it came the cold. Theo sometimes wanted to slap himself for turning down Stilinski and Argent’s offer.

‘Your pride will be your downfall’, was what the Doctors have always said.

He was starting to think they were right.

Another patrol mission has gone by and Theo was laying in the back seats of his car, pulling his only blanket tightly around his shoulders.

His turn to patrol were on Wednesdays. The missions were pretty uneventful, the only interesting enough thing was Liam, who continued to try and locate him in the woods. Theo was starting to get worried because the Beta never managed to find him. Just how bad was he at using his senses? Should he intervene, do something about it? Did that fall under his scope of responsibility as Liam’s babysitter/spy?

Theo shivered, curling further inside the fuzzy fabric.

Scott had called that day, too, asking if everything was fine. Theo truthfully said that the area was clear. When Scott had asked about Liam, Theo paused.

He didn’t really know. He knew he was still alive, obviously, what with him trying to follow him around every Wednesday night, but aside from that, he didn’t know a whole lot. With his new job, the patrols, and getting back to the gym (Theo spent his money only on gas, food and the gym. In that order), he didn’t have much time or energy to stalk Liam from afar like a creep. But he figured that if Liam were to do something reckless, he’d catch wind of it. So he told Scott that Liam was just fine, although he was disappointed in himself. He couldn’t even be trusted with this one task.

Scott’s expectations were probably too high.

He sighed and got out of his truck. Deaton wouldn’t mind if he broke into the clinic again, right?

On one Tuesday morning, Nolan entered the school and quickly made his way towards Liam's locker, where they usually met before their first period. As usual, Mason and Liam were already there.

"What's up, guys?"

"I hate Mondays,” Liam grimaced and hit his head against his locker as Mason tried to pull him away. “I thought senior year is supposed to be easy. I've got, like, two exams and another paper this week. I didn't even begin to study."

"That's your fault," Mason pointed out.

Liam gave his best friend an unimpressed look as he leaned against his locker, his shoulder brushing against Nolan's. "Way to be a friend."

"We can study together, if you want," Nolan offered easily.

"Thanks, Nolan, my new best friend," Liam said and shoved his shoulder into Nolan's, grinning at Mason's betrayed look. Then he furrowed his eyebrows and took a whiff at Nolan's chest.

"Uh, why are you sniffing me?"

"You smell…" Liam started, taking a big inhale. "You smell familiar."

"Yeah. That's because you know me," Nolan chuckled nervously, already feeling the heat rising to his cheeks.

"No, no…" Liam shook his head and almost dug his nose in his friend's neck.

"Liam!"

"Oh, my God," Mason breathed out as he looked around, hoping that no one was seeing this.  

"You smell different, but familiar. God, I know I smelt it before… What is it?"

"Uh, my shampoo, maybe? It's quite generic, so…"

Liam paused and then climbed to the tip of his toes to sniff the other's head.

"Oh, my God, Liam, stop," Mason pleaded. "You're freaking Nolan out."

"It's not the shampoo…" Liam mused.

"What's going on?" Corey asked as he approached, his usual laid-back smile plastered on his face.

"Liam's sniffing Nolan because apparently he smells different, yet familiar," Mason tried to explain. 

"Oh," Corey leaned to take a quick sniff at Nolan and nodded before he stepped back. "Liam's right."

"I know, right?" Liam exclaimed. "I just can't remember where—"

"But why do you smell of Theo of all people?" 

At Corey's question, three boys froze; Mason gasped, again looking at every direction as if his escape was somewhere nearby, Nolan's breath hitched as if he was caught stealing candy from a baby, and Liam's scandalous face made him look like a clown with seizure.

"Theo?" he turned to Nolan and took a deep breath. "Theo… Theo! It's Theo's smell!"

“That’s what I just said,” Corey pouted.

"Do I want to know why you recognized Theo's smell so quickly?" Mason eyed his boyfriend slowly.

Corey shrugged. "The guy was sort of my Alpha."

"Why do you smell like Theo?" Liam practically yelled at Nolan’s face.

"I, uh…" Nolan began when he seemed to find his voice back. "I was at the woods this morning,” he said, hoping that cleared everything.

"At the woods…?" Liam blinked. "What were you doing at the woods in the morning?"

"I was… going for a run?" Nolan immediately grimaced at his mistake; even a human could realize he was lying. He tried to ignore Corey's laughter.

"Wanna try that again?" Liam crossed his hands over his chest and gave Nolan an unimpressed look.

He sighed and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "I went there to bring Theo breakfast,” he confessed.

"What? What do you mean? Was it, like… a morning picnic-date?" Mason asked curiously, as Corey's laughter turned into horrible coughs.

"What? No! Why would you even say that?" Nolan yelped, cheeks bright red.

"Then what was it?" Liam demanded.

Liam wasn't even sure why he was getting so worked up. He didn't even see Theo since that gathering at Scott’s house, right after the fight with Monroe. But he guessed it was nice to hear that Theo didn’t die or anything during his patrols. Liam was never able to locate him. God, he needed Scott to give him Werewolf Lessons 101.

Nolan looked down as if guilty, digging his nails into his palms. "I've been doing it for a while, I guess?"

"What, having breakfast with him in the woods?" Corey asked once he had calmed down.

Nolan shrugged. “Sometimes. Sometimes I’m in a hurry so I just give it to him.”

"Why?" Liam uncrossed his hands and leaned against his locker, trying to look as casual as possible. He could sense the stress radiating from Nolan and he felt quite bad for scaring the boy like that. "And why do you smell of him all of a sudden?"

"He wasn't there today. His car was open, though, so I got in and sort of waited there for a few minutes.”

Honestly, Nolan knew the car would be open. It wasn’t the first time he waited for the Chimera there.

It happened when one morning Nolan came to the woods, easily locating Theo’s favorite parking spot. He circled around the vehicle but couldn’t find the Chimera anywhere. Before he could panic and call Scott to tell him that Theo had been kidnapped or something, Theo came into his line of sight.

‘I was out for a run’, he explained. ‘You waited here long? It’s cold.’

Nolan reassured him he was fine, but Theo frowned.

The next time Nolan came and Theo was nowhere to be seen again, he saw one of the car’s doors open. That made him think that maybe Theo really had been kidnapped this time, or maybe he ran away in a rush from something. Nolan tried to calm his heartbeat and decided to wait in the passenger’s seat. Surely enough, Theo came within minutes.

They ate in silence that day.

When Nolan found the courage to ask Theo why the car was open, Theo scoffed and said, ‘No way I’m gonna be blamed for you freezing to death’, then scoffed even more at Nolan’s smile.

"Well, I guess Theo's car should smell like Theo, right?" Mason exchanged looks between the two supernatural creatures in their group, bringing Nolan back to reality.

"He didn't come back. I forgot he has a shift today and—” Nolan continued.

“Theo works?” Liam yelled.

“—I was scared I'd be late to school, so I left," he finished, ignoring the question.

"And… You said you've been giving him breakfasts for a while?" Mason inquired.

"Yeah, like… sandwiches?"

"And you just, what, bring it to his car in the woods? What's he doing in the woods, anyway?" Liam asked.

"Parking there?" Nolan shrugged.

"Every morning?" Corey raised an eyebrow.

"Wherever he sleeps that night, I guess," Nolan sighed, seemingly tired of the interrogation.

"What, you mean, like, he sleeps in the woods?" Mason laughed in surprise.

"Well, no. He sleeps in his truck, that's parked in the woods." As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Even without being a supernatural creature, he could hear the fast intake of breath from his friends.

It was Liam who broke the terrific silence. "What do you mean, Theo is sleeping in his truck? Doesn't he have a home or something?" Liam pushed his body off the locker, standing right in front of Nolan. He was too distracted to feel bad about the nervous buzz that he could smell on the other.

"No? I mean… His truck is his home, I guess?"

"Theo? Theo is homeless? He sleeps in his car?"

"I thought you knew!" Nolan quickly defended.

"Well, how do you know that?" Liam charged. "What, did he just tell you that?"

"Well, no, but it's quite obvious.”

"oh, is it?" Liam took a step forward. He wasn't even sure why he felt as if he was ready to jump into a fight with Nolan. They were friends now. They teased each other every now and then, but in a friendly manner. But now? Now Liam felt like punching him for some odd reason.

"Dude, it makes sense," Mason put his hand on Liam's shoulder, holding him in place. "He was living with the Dread Doctors, remember?"

Liam took a deep breath, trying to ignore the blood pumping loudly in his ears.  He felt himself slowly calming down as he concentrated on the heartbeat of his best-friend; his anchor.

He figured out Mason was his anchor pretty much right after Hayden, his previous anchor, had left town. Scott once told him that his first anchor was a girl named Allison, the True Alpha's first love. Liam recalled panicking and trying to explain that he didn't like Mason, not like that, that they were like brothers. Scott's soft chuckles made him flush hot with embarrassment.

‘An anchor doesn’t have to mean something romantic, Liam,’ Scott explained. "It can be anyone—anything—that grounds you to reality."

Mason was his childhood best friend, and frankly, he couldn't think of a better anchor. Mason was always calm and levelheaded, he thought before he acted, and he was the voice of reason at the back of Liam's head.

He knew what would have happened if Mason wasn't there to stop him when he attacked Scott.

"When Theo just came to Beacon Hills, Stiles made me follow him around. He was in a house. With his parents. Well, fake-parents, I guess. What happened to that?" Liam asked once his heartbeat leveled down and the urge to tear something apart wasn’t as strong.

"Maybe they left when the Dread Doctors disappeared," Mason guessed. "No offence to Theo, but I doubt the dude could pay for a house all by himself."

"Look, I didn't mean to cause troubles," Nolan apologized, guilt and embarrassment radiating from him. "I didn't say anything because he keeps saying he's not pack and that you guys don't even like him—"

"That's not true!" Liam uttered.

"Isn't it?" Mason raised an eyebrow.

"—And I just tried to do something nice," Nolan finished weakly. "You know, to thank him."

"Thank Theo?" Corey asked with a frown.

A small nod came from the blond. "Yeah… For..."

Mason and Liam exchanged glances.

"That's… That's very sweet of you, Nolan," Corey smiled timidly.

"Should we tell Scott?" Mason asked.

His best-friend groaned. "Scott's finally at college, and I doubt he'd throw everything aside and come back just for Theo's sake. We deal with this ourselves."

"Do we have to?" Corey gulped when he was met with Mason and Liam’s equally scary glares. "Look, I just mean, it's not really our business, is it?"

"Theo saved us," Liam reminded him. "More than once."

"Yeah, and if it wasn't for Nolan, we wouldn't have even known that he’s homeless."

Everyone kept quiet until they heard the bell ring.

Liam knew Corey was right. How could he pretend to want to fix Theo's problems when he wasn't even aware of it, until he stupidly sniffed Nolan? And why didn't he know about all this? Why was Nolan the one to figure it out? Liam spent every Wednesday night trying to follow Theo in the woods during patrols, but not once did he face him. So learning that Nolan had been spending every morning with the Chimera hurt, but Liam couldn't really understand why.

More than hurt, he was mad at himself for getting Theo out of his radar. He promised Scott and Noshiko that he'll take responsibility over him.

Huh. No wonder his mom never allowed him to get a puppy.

Corey sighed. "Look, I'm not saying I'm not grateful. I mean, he protected Mason."

"Even tried to take my pain," Mason added.

"But, Liam, what are we supposed to do? Bring him into our houses?" He looked around his friends. 

Nolan cleared his throat. "And, no offence, but I don't think he'll accept your help. He already turned down the Sheriff and Argent’s.”

“They offered their help?” Mason asked surprised.

“Yes, but like I said, he refused.”

Mason took a big breath and nodded to himself. "Okay, Corey's right. If Theo hasn't spoken to anyone about it, maybe he really doesn't want our help."

"But—" Liam began.

"But," Mason held a finger up, signaling him to wait. "But that dude did save all of our asses at least once, right?"

They all exchanged looks and nods.

"I say we keep an eye on him, make sure he is doing fine," he concluded. "Nolan, do you think you can keep checking on him for a while? Just until we figure things out."

"Yeah, of course," he nodded.

"We can take turns," Liam offered eagerly. "That way Nolan won't have to wake up early every morning."

"I really don’t mind. Also, uh, I doubt Theo will be happy about it…” He sent an apologetic look to Liam, who shrunk in defeat.

"Alright, it's settled!" Mason said, clapping a hand on Liam’s back in hopes to cheer him up. "Operation Protect Homeless Ex-Evil Chimera has officially began! Now let's get to our classes before we get detentions." Mason took his boyfriend's hand in his and ran, followed by a frightened Nolan.

Liam slowly made his way to his class with a bitter taste on his lips.

That same evening Liam found himself at the preserve again. Having the intel that Theo was most likely there all the time (except for when he apparently worked. Nolan still didn’t explain that bit) gave him motivation and hope that he’ll be able to find him.

He took a deep breath and jumped eagerly in his place, trying to pump himself up. He then closed his eyes and let the wolf do the rest.

The wolf in him rumbled deep in his chest, agitated, clearly wanting to break free. Liam scoffed and growled, trying to concentrate. His wolf seemed to give up quite easily and soon enough he was able to pick up fragrances in the air, smells he hadn’t smelt mere minutes ago.

He opened his golden eyes and immediately took off to his right, his legs practically guiding him. He paused in his tracks once or twice, but the wolf immediately showed him the way again, locking on a very specific scent. Maybe smelling Theo on Nolan earlier that day helped him focus for once.

After around 7 minutes of walking, he laughed in surprise when he saw a familiar blue track. “I did it!”

The back door opened slowly and a confused Theo came out of the vehicle. “Liam?”

“Holy shit, Theo!” Liam happily skipped towards the other. “I did it! I was able to locate you by scent!”

“Great. Only took you, like, two months,” Theo rolled his eyes.

All the adrenaline got punched away from Liam as he stuttered, “W-What?”

“You’ve been following me every Wednesday for forever now, Liam,” Theo accused but smirked.

“N-No, I didn’t.”

“You’re not really subtle.”

Liam groaned. “Fine. Whatever. Guilty as charged. But, Theo, I was finally able to track you down!”

“Okay, you’re acting like I was hiding or masking my scent or something.”

“Can’t you be excited for me?” He sighed.

“I would be, if you were a new-bitten wolf, but you’ve been a wolf for ages now, so no.”

Liam gave him a flat glare before he let his eyes roam Theo’s figure.

The Chimera seemed just fine, no injuries apparent. In overall, he looked like the last time Liam had seen him. Maybe a little bit paler and skinnier, but nothing too drastic. Right now Theo wore a light blue sweater that seemed a bit loose on him, and black sweatpants that looked very comfortable. He looked up and saw Theo’s messy hair, suddenly gulping at the sight; Theo looked extremely cozy. Could it be that Theo had been sleeping?

“Have you been sleeping?” He blurted out.

Theo’s shoulders tensed. “No.”

He thought back to Mason and how he urged Liam not to rush things and actually try to come up with a plan, instead of confronting the Chimera about his sleeping arrangement. He really thought about it but Liam always struggled with control, so he said, “I know you sleep in your truck.”

Theo scoffed. “’Course you do. Let me guess, Scott told you?”

Liam breath hitched. He clenched his fists as he took a step towards Theo, almost coming face to face with him. “Scott knows?”

He wasn’t even sure what was more insulting—the fact the Nolan of all people knew, or the fact that Scott, who was miles away, knew and didn’t tell him. Have people forgotten that Theo was his responsibility? They should keep him in the loop about these matters.

Theo simply shrugged and took a step back from Liam. “What got you all angry?”

“Are you kidding me?” He spat, mad at Theo’s lack of self-care. “You can’t sleep in your track, Theo!”

“Sure I can,” he turned around and pointed at his car. “The back seats are quite spacious. Sometimes when it’s not cold, I even nap in the bed of the truck. I swear it’s comfy.”

“Theo,” Liam growled, starting to feel his fangs growing through his gums. He wanted to punch the other for being a smartass while Liam was out there, worrying for his wellbeing. “The woods are dangerous. That’s why we patrol, remember? You can’t stay here.”

“Okay, we all know the woods are clear. And sometimes I sleep at Deaton’s, so there.”

Liam blinked. “You sleep at Deaton’s house?”

“No. I sleep at Deaton’s clinic.”

“What? How? Where?”

“On the operation table? Sometimes I fall asleep in the backroom, but only when I pet Lady Whiskers through her cage.”

“What?” Liam snapped again. “Theo, what the fuck? Can you be a bit more serious?”

“I am serious!” He snapped back. “Her fur is nice!”

“Theo, I literally have no idea what you’re saying,  but you can’t sleep outside,” when he saw Theo opening his mouth, he immediately added, “Or on tables! I mean it! This is so messed up! Why didn’t Scott say anything? We would have worked something out!”

“Relax,” Theo rolled his eyes. “Your charming Alpha sent Papa Argent and Stilinski to help," he grimaced at the last word.

“Then why are you still here? Why did you refuse?” He threw his hands in the air desperately.

“Are you serious?” Now it was Theo’s turn to blink. “I’m not that desperate.”

“Theo—“

“I mean it, Liam. Thanks for the, uh, concern, or whatever this is,” he gestured with his hand between them. “But I’m doing good.”

“Theo, we’re just trying to he—“

“I don’t need help,” he declared, his shoulders getting even more rigid than before. “From nobody.”

“No, just from Nolan, am I right?” He clenched his fists again.

Theo leveled Liam with a hard look of his own. “If you came here to tell me to stay away from your little friend, then trust me, I tried. It’s not my fault that kid is stubborn, alright?”

The fight left Liam and guilt immediately washed over him. “That’s not what I—I’m not… I know you won’t hurt Nolan.”

Theo sighed deeply and went back towards his car. He leaned his hands on the vehicle and bowed his head down. Liam could hear the Chimera taking deep breaths. 

“Theo?” He whispered.

“It’s getting late, Liam,” Theo said, his head still down. He sounded tired and Liam bit his lip, feeling even more guilty because he obviously woke Theo up.  “Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

Liam got closer to Theo again and placed a shy hand on the Chimera’s shoulder. That got Theo to sigh, but he still turned around to face Liam.

“Just… Let me help. Come home with me tonight.”

“I’m not that easy, tiger,” he joked, but he was missing his usual smirk.

“Theo, I’m serious. We’ll figure it out tomorrow. But tonight, come with me.”

Theo thought back to the Sheriff and Argent’s offer. He rejected them because he didn’t trust them, and no way was Theo about to accept help from people whom he didn’t trust. But Liam? They worked well together in combat, and they’ve saved each other a few times. They still bickered and punched each other, but it's been a while since Theo had felt real heat behind those actions.

He trusted Liam.

So he didn’t really understand why he said, “No. Go back home, Liam. I’ll be fine.”

Theo couldn’t sleep well that night. He got what he wanted, he was back in his truck. But he couldn’t shake away the image of how sad Liam had looked. 

Chapter Text

Honestly, Theo should have seen it coming. He should have known Liam won’t take no for an answer.

At exactly 6:30 his alarm rang and he groggily opened his eyes, the blanket tangled by his feet and the morning sunrays blinding him. He yawned and stretched, took his time to asset his surroundings, to make sure nothing had happened during the night, that there was no smell of gunpowder, dead bodies or blood. He was about to deem everything normal when he caught several scents. He groaned and stumbled out of his truck. “The fuck?”

“Hi, Theo!” Liam waved happily from a short distance from the car.

Theo glared at him, but the Beta didn’t even flinch. “What are you doing here?”

“We came to visit you!” Liam outstretched his hands happily.

Theo never pegged Liam for being a morning person, but there he was, in all his sunshine glory. The others, on the other hand, didn’t look as comfortable; Nolan was flushed and smelt of guilt, Mason looked annoyed and huffed every now and then, and Corey simply looked timidly to the ground.

“Why?”

“Why?” Mason huffed again. “Because your stupid ass knows absolutely nothing about self-care. I mean, sleeping in your truck, really?”

Theo shifted his glare to Nolan. “I thought we had a deal.”

“It wasn’t my fault!” He raised his hands in defense. “They got it out of me, and I didn’t really know it was a secret, so I wasn’t—“

“Oh, no, don’t blame Nolan,” Mason sassed and put a hand on his hip. “This one is on you, Raeken.”

“Fine. Whatever. It’s none of your business, anyway,” he said and turned to Liam, “Liam, I thought I was clear last night.”

“Technically, you said you wouldn’t come home with me last night. Today is a new day. So,” he concluded and took a bag from Nolan’s hands, which Theo didn’t even notice before, and handed it to Theo. “We got you some drinks and snacks.”

Theo automatically took the bag, basically out of reflex, but then frowned. “I don’t need it.”

“Theo, stop being a prick,” Liam sighed and Theo was somewhat glad that his cheery smile was gone.

“I’m not a prick, I just don’t need it.”

“Well, we say you need it, so get used to it because we’re gonna come everyday and—“

“No. Nolan already does that,” he said before he could stop to think about it. He tried not to be too distracted by the blush that dusted Nolan’s cheeks.

Mason, of course, raised an eyebrow. “If you’d rather continue hung out with Nolan, then—“

“That’s not what I meant,” he quickly answered.

Honestly, he didn’t mind Nolan. Actually, he grew to quite like the company of the ex-hunter. When he didn’t radiate self-loathing and embarrassment, he had a nice, vanilla-like aroma. Occasionally he still smelt like pure adoration, adoration that was directed towards Theo and suffocated him, but Theo learned to get used even to that.

Spending time with Nolan was easy, because he never pushed or expected anything from Theo. He was just… next to him. They spent every morning together for about a month now, just chilling in the car, eating sandwiches and sometimes drinking coffee, and most of the time Nolan seemed to just be in the moment, and Theo had to admit it was cool. 

He even learned stuff about Nolan; he was an only child from a somewhat rich family, his parents adored him and basically did everything for him, he was co-captains with Liam at the lacrosse team, his average grade was B+, and he liked the color green. Theo’s brain was filled with a bunch of random facts about the kid, but he didn’t mind. It was nice. Dealing with Nolan was easy.

Dealing with Liam and Co? Not so much.

“I told you to take it easy,” Mason turned and glared at Liam angrily. “We had a plan! Nolan was supposed to continue his little dates with Theo, and we were supposed to stay clear—“

“Dates?” Theo furrowed his eyebrows at Nolan, who found the ground suddenly very interesting, much like Corey.

“No, this plan is better,” Liam argued with his best-friend. “We all pull our weight in!”

“See? This is why you need me. You always just butt in, you never stop to think—“

“No, you just think too much! Not everything needs to be evaluated a hundred times, Mason, sometimes you just have to act on your instinct.”

“Trying to get him come home with you, that’s your instinct? Did you really think he’d agree?”

Theo blinked as the duo continued to bicker with each other. The almost bored look on Corey’s face indicated that this wasn’t a rare ordeal. He took the opportunity and titled his head to the side, indicating Nolan to come closer. Nolan did so, but the movement caught Corey’s attention, and the other Chimera decided to tag along closer to Theo’s car, as well.  

“Hi, Theo,” he said timidly.

“Hi, Corey.”

“I’m sorry,” Nolan bit his lip. “I didn’t think he’d be so persistent. I just woke up and next thing I know, Liam is throwing rocks at my window.”

“Yeah, Liam drugged us before the sun even woke up,” Corey pouted. “Sorry,” he said, but Theo wasn’t sure who he was apologizing to. Probably to the both of them.

“It’s not your fault,” Theo sighed, also not knowing whom this sentence was directed to. “Liam is… Liam. And it seems that Mason is also Mason.”

Corey smiled. “Yeah. They are.”

“If I take the snacks, do you think they will leave me alone?”

Nolan smirked. “Did I leave you alone?”

That was another thing that Theo liked about the boy. When he wasn’t so cool, he was almost mischievous, playful. Not once did he tease Theo about the way he ate his sandwiches (the crust first, all around, and only then the center of the sandwich) and smirked at him. Theo expected him to be scared of him, but Nolan was actually surprising with how comfortable he was with Theo. It was refreshing. It was fun. 

“Guess not,” he grinned back.

“Hey, where did—? There you are!” Liam exclaimed and approached them as he finally noticed them gathering around the truck, his fight with Mason probably over.

“Okay, you guys need to go to school,” Theo pushed his hair back. He really needed to cut it.

“No, it’s still early. We all packed breakfast in our backpacks, let’s eat!” Liam smiled again, his anger from the fight with Mason all forgotten.

“Yes, let’s!” Mason agreed. He took Corey’s hands in his and they sat at the bed of the truck.

“No, the fuck?” Theo groaned. “Go away.”

“No,” Liam said as he joined to sit next to his friends. “Oh, you were right, this is comfy,” he wiggled in his seat.

Theo threw a desperate look to Nolan. “Please. Do something.”

“They care,” was all he said.

Theo wasn’t sure why Nolan had said it as if it was a good thing.

Breakfast with Liam and Co wasn’t that bad. Sure, maybe Liam had his eyes glued on him and it was quite creepy, but it wasn’t a total disaster. Right before they left for school, Nolan leaned into his shoulder and asked if Theo wanted Nolan to get rid of them by tomorrow’s breakfast, going back to it being just the two of them. Theo had a reputation to keep so he said, “Yes, please,” even though the breakfast really wasn’t that bad.

“Oh, Theo!” Liam yelled happily.

Theo groaned and got out of the car. “Liam, what the fuck are you doing here now?”

“Is this all you do? Just stay in your car? No offense, but that’s just sad.”

“Liam,” he growled.

“Chill, Jesus! Just wanted to see you,” he shrugged casually and leaned against the truck.

“You saw me this morning!”

It was now late evening, the first star already shining proudly in the sky. It was a Wednesday and Theo was about to start his patrol. He had a feeling that this was what brought Liam into the woods again.

Just on cue, Liam confirmed, “I finally found you so you can’t patrol alone anymore.”

“Liam, I think I can take care of myself.”

“Come on!” He whined. “Mason makes me do my homework and it’s so boring! I’d much rather patrol with you.”

“I’m… not sure what to feel about that,” he confessed with a sigh. He was tired. “If you die, I won’t save you.”

“Sure,” Liam rolled his eyes. “Thought patrols weren’t dangerous?”

“Knowing you, you’d find a way to complicate this.”

“I think I smell a rabbit,” Liam said fifteen minutes into the patrol.

“It’s a squirrel.”

“That’s not fair,” he pouted. “How come you’re so much better at being a werewolf than me, and you’re not even a werewolf?”

“Practice.”

“Will you ever teach me how to—?“

“Absolutely not. Now shut up.”

“And then she just left! My anchor just skipped town. It hurt, you know?”

“Liam, I really don’t care about your failed love life.”

“At least I got a new anchor.”

“Great. Another crush.”

“No, just Mason.”

“Oh.”

“I mean, when I was 13 I kind of thought I had a crush, but now it’s—“

“Liam, please, shut up.”

“And then he has the audacity to tell me that the bite is a gift, and that is just such bullshit! I mean, maybe it is a gift for him, but not to me. The bite cured Scott’s asthma, but it only made my I.E.D more dangerous. ‘The bite is a gift’, my ass.”

“God, I just wish hunters will come and shoot me, because this is torture.”

“So what you’re gonna dress up as for Halloween? Wait, do you even know what Halloween is?”

“Yes, Liam. I was raised under the ground, not under a rock.”

“Isn’t that kind of the same thing?”

“No!”

“So,” Liam smacked his lips together once they finished their rounds and circled back to Theo’s truck. “This was nice.”

“Liam, you tripped twice over nothing and thought a hunter had shot you.”

“Last week Mason had walked into a tree and apologized to it, so I’m relatively okay.”

“Just go home,” he pleaded.

“Okay, same time, next week? Also, tomorrow we are going to grab a bite after school. All of us."

"I don't care."

"I'm inviting you, idiot," Liam rolled his eyes. 

"I don't want to," Theo raised his eyebrow and pushed back his hair. 

"I wasn't asking. See you tomorrow, bestie!” He grinned and waved as he took off.

Of course they all showed up the next morning too with their morning sandwiches.

“I thought you’ll get rid of them?” Theo whispered to Nolan.

The other flushed and leaned back away from Theo. “It seems to be harder than I thought. But I’ll get to it. Promise.”

They all managed to squeeze again into the bed of the truck. Mason was busy trying to explain something off a textbook to Corey, Liam was playing on his phone as he took big bites, still glancing every now and then at Theo, and Nolan was basking in the sun that was slowly disappearing as October progressed.

Theo liked that Nolan could just exist in the present. He looked good under the sun, his skin was glowing, his hair shining, his freckles dancing all over his cheeks. Theo could never just exist; he always had a mission, an ulterior motive. He wondered if he could ever achieve this level of zen that Nolan seemed to hold so easily.

“You’re doing it wrong!” Liam exclaimed.

“What?” Theo froze mid-bite.

“You’re eating your sandwich all wrong.”

That caught Mason’s attention and he looked up from his book. “How can you eat a sandwich wrong?” He looked at the sandwich in Theo’s hands and grimaced. “Yeah, okay, it’s wrong.”

Theo frowned and looked at his sandwich. Was it really that bad? Nolan had teased him about it once or twice, but he never made him feel like it was wrong.

As if reading his mind (and his insecurities), Nolan nudged Theo's shoulder and grinned, “I think it’s cute.”

Theo tried to smile back, but he was sure it came off sour.

By 8 o’clock Theo was at the clinic, feeling refreshed and ready for his shift. But as the hours progressed, he felt himself getting tired from doing… nothing. Deaton assigned him the job of managing restless animals, writing reports and bills for clients, and helping tidy up the place. But it was a slow day and there were no clients. Deaton had his reading glasses on as he was sorting his notes, every now and then writing something in a small notepad. Theo spent most of his day with Purr-Purr-Girl, who was nice enough not to try and bite his fingers like she did the last time.

Theo wondered if Liam and Co’s day was also boring. Then he frowned, because why should he even care?

Around 17:20, Liam had texted him his address. Useless, because Theo had already known it.

He also knew that if he wouldn’t show up, Liam might actually come to the woods and pull him by his hair. He was about to calculate the fastest route out of Beacon Hills, but then he saw a small note in the bed of his truck.

Theo's car was the only thing he had. It was not just a vehicle, but also his home for the past months. So he took very good care of it. And he might have threatened Liam and Co that if they were to leave a mess, he'd strangle them.

"I will kill them, I swear," he groaned and took the note in his hand. He curiously opened it. 

They care.

That’s all the note said.

Theo pocketed the note and got into his car.

 “You came!” Liam said as he opened the front door of his house.

The smell of relief and the bright smile on Liam’s face suffocated Theo, so he simply said, “Damn, you look like hell. And I'm speaking from experience here, I know what Hell looks like.”

“I just got back from practice,” Liam whined. “Can't you be nice to me, like, just once?”

“Okay, Liam, you look really good right now.”

Liam narrowed his eyes and looked at Theo’s chest, and Theo knew he could hear the intentional skip of his heart. “Fuck you.”

“When you look like this? No, thanks.”

“Just come inside and wait ‘till I take a shower,” he sighed and closed the door behind Theo.

Theo wondered why Liam was even bothering with him. It seemed that every time Liam had a smile on his face, every time he was excited about something—it all vanished once Theo opened his sarcastic mouth. Why did Liam continue to seek him if he always put him down?

“You want a drink or something?”

“No. Just go shower before I change my mind.”

He tried not to laugh when Liam tripped as he ran up the stairs.

Whilst Liam was showering, he honestly debated on making a run for it. But something about the aroma in Liam’s house made him feel comfortable, so against his better judgment, he decided to sit on the sofa.

Liam’s house was nice. Homey, full of warm colors. Liam’s smell radiated from practically every corner, combined with scents of others Theo wasn’t familiar with, but he assumed belonged to Liam’s family and friends.

He wondered how Liam wasn’t weirded out by leaving Theo in his home without supervision. This was the place where his parents lived. Theo could literally do whatever. Not that he would, but still, Liam was too trusting. Should he tell Scott that Liam was too trusting? 

To pass the time he decided to text Nolan, because yes, he had his number now.

There was only one text in their chat, from the previous week, where Nolan had kindly told him that he'll be a few minutes late to their breakfast. 

Theo never really texted anyone. Only Deaton (work related stuff) and Scott (also work related stuff? Since he was a spy/babysitter). So he wasn't sure what to text Nolan exactly. 

He bit his lip and stared at the phone in his hands until the screen turned dark. He opened the device again and ghosted with his fingers over the virtual keyboard. 

He used to be a manipulator, and now he can't even send a text. 

He took a deep breath and sent the first thing that came to his mind. 

Theo [17:53]: I’m at Liam’s, already regretting.

He didn't have time to grimace at himself, because he got an immediate reply. 

Nolan [17:53]: You’re gonna have fun! Can’t believe I can’t come :<

Theo frowned.

Theo [17:53]: What? You’re not coming?

Nolan [17:54]: Didn’t Liam tell you? Have to help mom with groceries.

Theo groaned and threw his head back against the sofa. The only reason he agreed to come was because Nolan was going to be there. He didn’t really want to spend his evening listening to Liam and Mason talk about… whatever it is they always talk about, Theo was sure it was something boring and stupid.

Nolan [17:56]: I know what you’re thinking but don’t you dare bail. Give them a chance. I’ll see you tomorrow morning? I’ll get rid of Liam.

Theo [17:56]: Yeah. Okay.

Before Theo could really make a run out of the house, he heard footsteps going down the stairs. 

“I’m ready,” Liam said as he emerged into the living room, dressed in casual clothes. He was drying his wet hair with a fluffy grey towel.

“Why didn’t you say Nolan isn’t coming?” Theo immediately stood up. 

Liam raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t know he’s that important to you, my bad.”

“He’s not,” he huffed.

“Could’ve fooled me,” he rolled his eyes and threw his towel on one of the chairs next to the dining table.

“This was a mistake,” Theo bit his lip and looked at the door.

“Dude, it’s just dinner. You know, grabbing a bite with your friends.”

“We are not friends.”

Liam sighed. “Must you always be so negative?”

“I mean it, Liam, I don’t even know why you want me there.”

“Because,” he shrugged.

“…Because…?” He urged.

“Because I want you to drive me.”

He crossed his hands over his chest. “Right. That’s the reason.”

“Yes, that’s the only thing you’re good for,” he frowned. “Other than that, you’re quite useless.”

"Hey! I could be useful,” Theo argued. “Remember how I told you all I know about Mr. Douglas?"

"Yeah, how did you know all that, by the way?" He asked curiously.

"From the Dread Doctors."

"What, they'd tell you bedtime stories about weird, supernatural creatures to pass the time?" He scoffed.

Theo laughed. "Bedtime stories? You think the Dread Doctors read me bedtime stories?"

"I douuno," Liam shrugged. "Maybe?"

Theo paused to think. "Well, yeah, I guess. For a while."

"Wait, what?" Liam froze in his place and widened his eyes. "They actually read you bedtime stories?" 

"Well, not all of them," Theo defended, suddenly embarrassed. "Just one."

"Just one," he repeated, trying to make it all make sense. "Wait, wait, let me get this straight. A dread doctor, scary masked evil spirit that is a hundred years old—"

"More like two hundred, actually—"

"Used to read you, Theo Raeken, a bedtime story."

Theo felt his face getting warmer. "It wasn't really a bedtime story, just... stories before bed?" He winced.

"Dude, I—"

"It wasn't all the time, okay?” He snapped angrily, his face feeling obnoxiously warm. “I was like 9 when I joined them, I was a kid with many questions, so what better way to shut a kid up than tell him creepy stories before sleep?"

Liam gaped. "Well, which one of them read it to you? The caned one?"

Theo sighed. "The lady one. Obviously."

A pause.

And then—

"One of the Doctors was a woman?" Liam screamed.

"You mean, you didn't know?" Theo asked nonchalantly.

"Uh, no? How could I possibly know?” He threw his hands up in despair. “They all looked the same! Masks, black leather, sinister aura!"

Theo sighed again and got out of the house.

“Don’t ignore me, Theo, I need answers!"

This was going to be a long day.

There was an awkward silence between the four guys. Just four—Mason, Corey, Liam and Theo—because Nolan really didn’t show up, even though Theo half-believed he would make an appearance at the last minute to save him.

What a traitor.

Theo texted him again and maybe left a few threatening messages that indicated he’ll kill the group. All he got was a laughing emoji and Theo wondered when did he lose his edge that Nolan, who used to be scared of his own shadow, was laughing at his expense now.

So there he was, sitting at a diner, next to Liam, with Mason and Corey on the other side of the booth. They all already placed their orders (Liam and Co chose burgers and milkshakes, and Theo settled for coffee and a cheesecake) and kept their mouths shut. 

Theo didn't practically dislike silences. If anything, he even enjoyed them. It helped him relax, think, control his emotions.

Liam, apparently, didn't enjoy them as much, because the next sentence that came out of his mouth was, "So, uh, did you know that one of the Dread Doctors was a woman and she used to read Theo bedtime stories?"

Theo sighed deeply as the ice instantly broke and the table erupted into chaos and firing questions.

Fuck Nolan for ditching him.

“Fuck you for ditching me,” he told Nolan the next morning.

Nolan laughed and made himself comfortable in the bed of the truck. Liam and Co weren’t anywhere nearby, and Theo was half-tempted to ask how he had done it, but then Nolan opened his brown paper bag and pulled a cinnamon roll out of it. Theo sat close to him, their shoulders brushing.

Last night was quite challenging. Liam’s friends shot him with questions and all he could think about was how easy it was with Nolan, who never pushed and never interrogated him. Just smelling his vanilla-like scent now felt easy and comfortable.

Nolan grabbed his own roll but didn’t eat it. “Do you think there is an afterlife?” He asked suddenly.

Theo froze. “I don’t think so, no.”

“Oh,” was all he said. He put his cinnamon roll back in the bag and stretched.

Theo suddenly noticed that his legs very were long, seemed to go for miles. “Why you ask?”

“Just thinking of Gabe. His birthday is coming up.”

Theo nodded and suddenly didn’t feel that hungry anymore.

“So I guess last night wasn’t a total hit?” Nolan suddenly smirked and nudged Theo’s side with his elbow.

Theo rolled his eyes. “Liam made such a lame joke about some guy from the lacrosse team, but Mason is as lame as Liam, so he laughed so hard he spat his milkshake out. It was gross. And Corey is… Corey.”

“I was wrong. Sounds like it was a hit,” he grinned.

“Oh, shut up, you totally suck. Helping your mom? What a lame excuse is that?”

“I really was helping my mom!” He laughed loudly. “I’ll join next time, okay?”

Theo shrugged and decided to stretch, as well. He leaned down in his seat, practically lying, his shoulder still against Nolan’s. “You better.”

Chapter Text

The end of October caught Theo by surprise, although his days seemed to drag on lazily. Lately, all he’s been doing is working at the clinic and hanging out with the Puppy Pack in the mornings. Scott finally deemed the area to be safe enough, so patrolling duties reduced to thrice a week. Even Theo, who used to patrol every night, got bored and decided to stick to the schedule. He started spending his nights actually sleeping.

Or at least, trying to.

Every night, Theo had nightmares.

Most nights, he had nightmares about his sister.

But some nights, he had nightmares about Gabe.

In those dreams, he replayed the moment he saw countless of bullets piercing Gabe's body, Theo always flinching, grimacing, trying to wake up.

He wasn't that soft before. He used to torture people, break their hands with hammers, dig into their stomachs just for the fun of it.

But it all changed when he came back from Hell. Suddenly, he wasn't as mentally strong, wasn't as sadistic. The Dread Doctors' Theo was smart, witty, could plot and improvise. Post Hell's Theo was a bit slower, didn't come up with great plans and wasn't as conniving.

He wondered if it was a good thing.

It probable was, because now Scott's Pack actually gave him the time of day.

But sometimes, he wished he was back to cold, murderous Theo. Because that Theo didn't wake up gasping every time he dreamt of Gabe's pierced body, of his eyes slowly shutting down, of that last breath and those black veins.

During his patrol, Liam found him again and rambled on and on about some stupid game strategy he and Nolan were working on. Theo really wanted to shove him into a tree.

To get him to shut up, he actually agreed to give the Puppy Pack rides to school and back home whenever he wasn’t working.

Later, when he lay in his truck and stargazed, he wondered if he got the short end of the stick from this deal.

October 27 came and the group gathered around Theo’s truck, as usual. There was the usual soft bickering between Liam and Mason, and the occasional soft laugh from Corey. Nolan as always, decided to sit next to Theo and shared a muffin with him.

“Theo promised to give us rides to school and back home,” Liam said smugly, his mouth chewing obnoxiously on his sandwich as he did so.

“Really?” Mason raised an eyebrow and smirked.

Theo frowned and grabbed Nolan’s hands, bringing them close to his mouth and taking a bite off the muffin. He chewed slowly as an excuse to take the time to think. “I can’t take you there today. My shift starts soon. But I can meet you after school and take you back home,” he finally said.

“Corey and I came with my car,” Mason said.

“I came with mine, too,” Nolan said and pointed at his bright red car, that parked not far from Theo’s.

“Good,” Theo said.

“Well, lucky for you, I don’t have a car,” Liam grinned.

“Just get a ride with your friends, Liam,” he said.

“Nuh-uh! You promised! So you have to take me back home.”

Theo groaned.

“Oh, it’ll be fun! I can tell you all about our game next week.”

When Theo groaned even louder, Nolan started laughing. Since they sat so close to each other, his shoulders shook Theo’s with each laugh he took. It felt nice. Felt anchoring.

Theo had a good day. They had to give an annual shot to a 6 year-old husky, that according to its owner, was always fearful of the vet. But that day, the dog seemed relaxed as he got the shot and not once stopped licking Theo’s palms.

Deaton said that all the animals seem relaxed next to Theo, probably recognizing the Wolf in him. Even Purr-Purr-Girl, who was a snarky little thing, seemed to calm down a notch around him. Deaton said all this with a grateful smile that had the Chimera preen proudly.

It was such a good day that Theo didn’t even mind taking Liam back home. He parked at the school and got out of his truck. He could immediately spot Liam sitting outside the entrance of the school. "Hey."

"Hi," Liam stood up from the bench. "I got you soda."

Theo raised an eyebrow, eyeing Liam's empty hands. "Is Corey being invisible and holding it right now? Or am I going blind?"

"Yeah, I, uh, kind of drank it," he grimaced. "Sorry."

Theo chuckled with a soft eye roll. "Come on, let's get you out of here, you absolute dork."

“You actually came!” Mason laughed loudly and made his way towards them.

“If I didn’t, I have a feeling I wouldn’t hear the end of it,” he rolled his eyes at Liam.

“Hey, you still didn’t tell me what you’re gonna dress up as for Halloween,” Liam nudged Theo’s shoulder.

“Gonna go as a Dread Doctor. Gonna look like Mommy and Daddies.”

“Please don’t refer to the Dread Doctors as that. Ever,” Liam shuddered.

“What you’re gonna dress up as, then?”

“Oh. I'm just gonna shift.”

Theo froze. “Please don't.”

“Peter said it’s a cool idea!”

Theo and Mason kept quiet and stared at Liam.

“Oh. Yeah. That should probably tell me I shouldn’t.”

“Why you so curious, anyway?” Theo asked.

“He wants to invite you the Halloween Party Mike is hosting,” Mason said as he started typing on his phone, probably texting Corey.

“Way to ruin the build-up, Mason!” Liam complained with a glare.

“Oh. No, thanks,” Theo said. “Not a big fan of parties. Or Halloween."

“You didn't go to many parties growing up, did you?” Liam teased.

“Why would you say that? The Doctors loved to party,” Theo said dryly. “They even threw me a sweet 16—“

“Okay, I think you're being sarcastic, but with them reading you bedtime stories, I'm not sure if you're joking or not,” Liam said.

Theo bit his lip.

Mason gasped, finally looking up from his phone, “Oh, my God, they did?”

“It was a small get-together in Austria, no big deal!” He said, his cheeks red. “Hate you, bye.” He decided to wait for Liam in his truck because he couldn’t handle his and Mason’s wide eyes and big grins.

He hated them.

The ride back home started a bit awkward, but Theo never minded awkward silences.

As always, Liam just had to ruin it by saying something stupid.

“Do you think the horse is okay?”

“What horse?” Theo asked, eager to look at Liam but choosing to keep his eyes on the road.

“The one I took with me to the Wild Hunt.”

“I—“ Now he just had to sneak a confused look at Liam. “He’s with the Hunters, Liam.”

Theo grimaced. He sounded like his Mom trying to explain to him that GoGo, his pet fish that died when Theo was six, was in a better place now.

“Why? Are they bad horses? Or are they good horses that just got sucked into the Hunt? Why didn’t we try to save them?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Hold on, my Mom is calling,” Liam picked up his phone. “Hey, Mom.”

“Hey, sweetie. I’m home early today, you’re coming soon? I could really use some help with dinner,” a feminine voice was heard from the other end of the line.

“Sure, Mom, I’m already on my way.”

“Okay, is Mason driving you? Tell him to drive safe!”

“Uh, no,” Liam hesitated and stared at Theo’s profile. “I’m with Theo.”

“Which Theo?”

“There is only one Theo…”

“Which one of your friends is it, Liam?” She sighed and Theo smirked. Good to know that even his own mother was sometimes tired from Liam. “The pretty one?”

“Uh, no, that’s Corey. You don’t know him, Mom.”

“Well, have him over for dinner, then!”

“Hell, no,” Theo said, his hands tight on the wheel.

“Hell, no,” Liam agreed.

“Language, Liam!”

“Sorry, Mom. I’ll be there soon, okay? Love you, bye!” He quickly hung up the phone. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s cool.”

“Umm… You know, you can join us for dinner. I don’t mind,” he said after a few minutes when they parked at Liam’s driveway.

“No, thanks,” Theo offered a tight smile. “Have something to do.”

They both knew it’s a lie, but Liam didn’t insist.

Theo lost sense of time. The days drugged without him even noticing and soon October 31^st came. Liam had texted him several times, asking him to join some lacrosse player’s party. He didn’t even respond to the texts.

He saw Stilinski earlier that day in the woods. The Sheriff had asked him how he was doing and if Theo needed something. Theo just blinked. What kind of a question was that?

What did Theo need?

Not much. Just food and water, like any other human, in order to survive. He had a roof over his head, too, even if it was a car roof.

What did he need more?

Maybe he needed a purpose. So that he won’t feel like such a failure every time he saw his own reflection.

The days weren’t bad, actually. He still went to the clinic, still hung out with Liam, Nolan and the rest. Still patrolled every now and then.

He was still Theo, just without a purpose.

He wasn’t even sure who he was anymore. After a decade of living with the Doctors and following their orders, he wasn’t sure what to do. At first, he liked his freedom. Although it was under the straining eye of the McCall Pack, it was still better than being with the Doctors. But by the end of October, he felt lost again.

Why were the days so long? Why was he fine in the mornings, but felt numb at night?

Everything just felt off and irritating. Like a scratch he couldn’t reach. Getting up became a task, so was washing himself, eating, driving. The only times where he actually felt somewhat alive were when he was with others; with Deaton and the clients, and Purr-Purr-Girl and her cute whiskers, and Nolan and his bashful smile, and Liam and his high-pitched voice, and Mason and his knowing eyes, and Corey and his forgiving laugh.

It was confusing.

"I mean, you could always finish high-school," Liam suggested one day as Theo was driving him to school.

Theo had made the mistake and let it slip that he felt unmotivated lately, and of course Liam had to begin to try and solve it all.

"Finish high-school?" The Chimera frowned. "How? Without the Doctors... I'm nothing."

"Dude, what? Is that a love confession?" Liam sounded genuinely curious.

"Love con—?" Theo sighed. "I meant, there is no one to fabricate stuff for me and pay, you know. Those fake parents are gone, too."

"Wait, so about them. Were they really your fake parents? You want to tell me Stiles was right about that?"

Theo sighed again. "Stiles is annoyingly right about many stuff."

"Right. Okay." Liam thought for a while, but probably not long enough, because he then said, "So no fake parents. What about your real ones?"

Theo looked at him in awe, as if he was the biggest idiot ever.

Maybe Liam really was.

The rest of the ride to school was silent. For the first time ever, Theo didn’t enjoy the awkward silence.

He thought about it the entire day, for some reason. Thought of the suffocating silence and Liam’s scent that radiated dejection. He wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to fix it, wanted to make Liam be his annoyingly bubbly self again.

“Maybe I should go for talent acquisition. You know, the Doctors said I had a knack for it,” he blurted out as he and Liam got into his truck after Liam had finished school. “I mean, I never really found a suitable host for the Beast, but still, they made some groundbreaking discoveries thanks to the subjects I found.”

“You... were the one to find the Chimeras?” Liam asked cautiously.

“Sometimes,” he shrugged. “Don't look at me like that, by the time they found Mason, I was already balls-deep in my plan to ruin you all, so it wasn't me.”

“Please don't say ‘balls-deep’ when talking about tearing the pack apart,” Liam begged.

And just like that, everything was back to normal. Liam tried to fight him for the radio (he failed) and invite him for dinner (failed at that, too).

Theo still felt void at nights and still woke up from the nightmares.

Everything was back to normal.

“I just think that Theo should find some occupation. It’ll do him good, you know?” Liam told Mason as they sat in their seats, waiting for Biology to start.

“What about finishing high-school?” Mason suggested.

"He doesn’t want to. Also, Theo was a dick to be at school with."

"You were just jealous because Hayden would spend all of her breaks talking to him by the lockers."

"Yeah, well, how would you feel if Theo suddenly tried to steal Corey away from you?" He snapped.

"Honestly? Hot."

Liam blinked.

“What? He’s an asshole, but a handsome one,” Mason shrugged, ignoring Liam’s pained groans. “Besides, he already works with Deaton, no?”

“Yeah, but only a few times a week.”

“Maybe he could find another job?”

“I don’t think he can get that far without high-school diploma.”

“Did Theo even say he wants to find a hobby, or occupation?”

“Well, no, but it’s obviously better—“

“Then I don’t think you should meddle, Liam,” he said plainly.

Liam hummed to himself.

Mason saw the far-off look in Liam’s eyes and sighed. “I know he’s your responsibility and everything, but I really think he’s doing good now. Well, better, at least. He’s still a jerk, though. But, you know, a not-so-bad jerk.”

“Yeah,” Liam agreed.

“And he seems to open up more to us. I mean, I kind of thought he’ll kick our asses, but we’ve been literally having breakfasts with him for ages now and we’re still alive. That’s got to mean something, right?”

“I guess,” he shrugged. “But he’s just so… closed-off all the time. I’m worried,” he confessed.

“Yeah, he’s not the best at self-care and emotions, obviously, but he is better than I had expected. That’s progress,” Mason smiled. “Maybe we can take our plan to the next level? Try to, I dunno, hung out with him more? I mean, we learned some stuff about him when we all went to the diner, no? About his life with the Doctors.”

“Yeah. We should do that. Problem is, he rejects me all the time. Like when I asked him to come to the Halloween party. Or when I invite him to dinner, like, almost every night.”

“You do that?” He raised an eyebrow but then shook his head, as if to clear his mind. “Okay, maybe we’re jumping over ourselves. Start small. Small group hangouts? I’ll talk to Corey.”

“Corey?” Liam looked at him confused. 

“Yeah, maybe he can help. He knows Theo better than all of us, no?”

Liam was about to object. He was pretty sure he knew Theo the best.

But then again, he knew practically nothing about him, so maybe he was wrong.

November brought the first game of the season. And to not feel the emptiness, Theo had agreed to come watch it.

Honestly, there was no persuading needed from the Puppy Pack. Corey, for some odd reason and completely out of the blue, had asked him to come with a shy smile and Theo was immediately sold.

Watching them play was probably better than sleeping restlessly in the back seat of his car.

He was wrong. The game was awful. Liam was awful.

He probably said it out loud, because Mason, who was sitting next to him on the bleachers, glared at him and said, “He has a lot on his plate. Trying to fill Scott’s shoes and all after they all left. He needs his pack.”

"What Liam needs is to get his head in the game. I thought he's supposed to be good?" He said in a judging tone.

"Liam is good!"

Just then, Liam ran towards the net, ball in his racket, and took a shot.

And missed.

Badly.

Theo raised his eyebrows at Mason.

"...Okay, as I said, he has a lot on his plate, alright?" He defended and glared at a few kids behind them who laughed at Liam.

"What a sorry excuse for a werewolf,” Theo commented after the first half of the game finished. Liam somehow managed to miss every ball his teammates passed his way.

"Says the failure," Mason snapped.

"At least I make a failure look fucking good."

“Remind me why you’re here again? Nobody likes you.”

“Your boyfriend asked me to come,” he smirked.

“Probably pitied you," Mason lied because he himself had asked Corey to invite Theo to the game. But Theo didn't need to know that. "He is nice like that.”

“Hey, Mason, remember when you became the beast and killed innocent people?” He said, not even feeling sorry about it, because Mason wasn’t that important.

Mason immediately clenched his jaw. “Remember when you were a jerk and almost got Liam to kill Scott, put Lydia in a catatonic state, and shot Malia?” He snapped.

“Yeah,” Theo smirked shamelessly. “Fun times.”

“Dunbar, get it together!” The Coach yelled from the field where the players gathered around the benches to rest and drink.

Theo and Mason immediately turned and saw Liam throwing his stick angrily to the ground and taking off towards the locker room.

Mason sighed and stood to follow his friend. “I’ll be right back.”

Theo shrugged and continued to stare at the players. He saw Nolan discussing what seemed to be game strategies with Corey, who nodded every now and then, and another lean guy. When they finished, Nolan took off his helmet and ruffled his dump hair.

Theo liked Nolan’s hair. It always seemed shiny and soft, compared to his own that felt dry to the touch and was always in a mess.

As if sensing his gaze, Nolan turned around and locked eyes with Theo. He then gave him a soft smile and a wave. Theo gave him thumbs-up, which Nolan laughed at.

Liam might have sucked at the first half of the game, but Theo was surprised that Nolan was actually doing quite okay. Corey was better than expected as a goalie, too. The rest of the team had a few good players that kept the pace going, but most of them ran like Stiles.

Seconds before the blow whistled, indicating the beginning of the second half, Liam ran to join his teammates.

“Did you give him a pep talk?” Theo asked half-curiously as Mason got back to his seat.

“Something like that,” he laughed. “This should be fun.”

Turns out that when Liam gets his head in the game, he really is a good player. He was fast on the field, and a real team-player. Theo finally understood why everyone raved about his skills and named him captain.

After scoring his second goal that night, Liam took his helmet off and smiled dazzlingly at Mason, who gave him his own wide smile in return. 

That’s when Theo figured it out.

Mason was Liam’s anchor.

Liam had mentioned it before, during their first patrol together, but he didn’t think it went to this extent.

“I should have used you,” he blurted out.

“For what?” Mason looked at him confused.

“To make him angry. You are his soft spot,” he said. “I should have hurt you to get him to hurt Scott, not Hayden. Maybe that would have worked...”

“Are you serious with me right now?” He looked at him with his jaw slightly open. “Wait, is this your weird way of complimenting me?”

Theo just shrugged.

Beacon Hills lost 4:5, but everyone still seemed to be pretty satisfied, albeit drained. Even Theo got rid for a short while of his feelings of doom and gloom as he saw the team surrounding Liam and Nolan and raising them in the air, as if they had won.

They all seemed to be happy.

“You guys suck!” Coach Finstock yelled.

Well, almost everyone.

A week after the game, Mason announced that his car was in repair, so Theo had to give them all rides back home. Theo un-characteristically asked Nolan if he wanted to ditch his car and join them, but Nolan refused and said that lately he had to stay late for extra practice.

Theo could hear the skip in his heart, but didn’t comment on it.

The past few weeks, Nolan wasn’t always present during breakfasts. Wasn’t he the one to start it all? So why was he suddenly ditching? Theo’s ego took a blow, feeling like he was some unwanted toy that got passed along from Nolan to Liam and his friends.

He tried to shake it all off as he sat next to Liam on the bench outside the entrance of the school.

"I look like a mess," Liam said with a huff and ruffled his hair.

"Oh, good, you've noticed. I didn't wanna say anything, but seriously, how can you go out dressed like a 50 year old drunk dad?" Theo asked. "I mean, seriously, you're best friends with a gay fashionista, can't Mason give you some tips or something?"

"Fashionista?" Corey laughed and leaned against the wall, as they waited for Mason to finish at the library.

"Your boyfriend knows how to dress himself," Theo shrugged simply.

"What? I look like a drunk dad but Mason looks good? We have the same style! Hoodie, jeans, sneakers!" Liam yelled.

Theo took another look at Liam and then looked deep in thought. "Hmm... I don't know, he just makes it work, I guess."

"Should I be jealous or something?" Corey chuckled as then moved again to take a seat on the bench, right next to Theo.

"No?" Theo raised an eyebrow. "You look comfy, too."

"That's not what he meant," Liam sighed deeply. "So, what, everyone look great but me?"

"Not everyone," Theo corrected. "Stiles dresses like a raccoon in the dark."

"What? What does that even mean?"

"I'm not sure, be he looks it."

"Who's the best dresser?" Corey asked with an easy laugh.

"Lydia, I guess?" Theo answered.

"Okay, but from the boys?" Liam asked.

"Oh. Me."

"You?" Liam spat. "Are you kidding me, you look like a—"

"For a homeless Chimera, I think I'm doing pretty good," Theo laughed. He regretted it immediately, because the two boys didn't laugh with him.

Everyone kept quiet during the ride home. Even Mason, who could pick up the somber atmosphere.

Liam finally spoke when Theo pulled into his driveway, after dropping Mason and Corey off at Mason’s place.

“Hmm, Mom is making pies today. Wanna join?”

“No, thanks,” he said as usual.

Theo wondered if he was losing weight lately. He knew he didn’t. He finally had money now to afford food, and went back to the gym. But the Puppy Pack started this weird tradition with breakfasts, and now Liam tried to drug him to dinners too, and it all confused Theo too much.

Obviously, there was only one explanation for it all.

Scott. That back-stabbing bitch. 

Liam sighed. “I know you don’t have a shift today. Just get inside and eat something, Theo.”

Theo’s jaw ticked but he made sure to keep his voice leveled. “I’m good, thanks.”

Liam groaned and threw his head back. “What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you just say ‘thanks’ and join like a normal person?”

“I don’t know, Liam, why do you want me to join so much?” He fired back without missing a beat.

“I’m just trying to look out for you!”

“Well, don’t,” he ordered. “What you’re doing is more than enough. Have you ever thought that maybe I don’t want to spend my mornings and evenings with you?”

“You’re such a jerk,” Liam spat. “We are trying to befriend you, to take care of you, and you’re acting like we’re holding you hostage!”

“You are!” He barked out a laugh. “That’s literally what you’re doing!”

“What?” Liam asked.

“Scott double-crossed me,” Theo mumbled, mostly to himself. "I was supposed to keep an eye on you, but obviously he asked the same thing from you."

"What?” Liam asked again. “He asked you what?"

"Oh, don't act so shocked,” he frowned. “You're literally doing the same thing."

"What do you mean?"

"The way you always want to hang out with me! It's because Scott told you to keep an eye on me."

"Theo," Liam began slowly, as if he was talking to a small child who's throwing a tantrum. "I ask to hang out because I like your company."

Theo concentrated to hear the skip in his heart, but he found nothing.

"You... agreed to hang out because Scott told you to? He doesn't trust me so he sent you to check up on me?" Liam asked, his eyes blown open with hurt and disappointment.

"Uh... Well, this is awkward."

Liam pursed his lips and silently got out of the car.

Theo was left with the feeling of doom and gloom again.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Liam didn’t come for breakfast with them. Nolan was absent, as well. It was sort of weird just sitting next to Corey and Mason, who were practically quiet that day. Theo couldn't help but wonder if Liam had told them about what had happened the previous night.

He had half a mind to ask Mason about his best-friend. Instead, he decided to go with, “Is Nolan okay?”

Corey and Mason exchanged confused looks.

“Yeah,” Corey said. “Why? Something happened?”

“He’s just not here lately,” Theo shrugged and took a sip from the coffee Mason had brought him.

“That’s Nolan,” Mason said. “Dude is sometimes scared of his own shadow. He has a lot on his shoulders, what with school and lacrosse.”

“He’s a little anxious,” Corey agreed. “But he’s trying real hard to make everything right.”

Theo frowned. “What does that mean?” 

“Just… Working hard to make up for what he did. Trying to be an ally.”

“Yeah, but he should definitely give himself a break," Mason said. "He’s gonna run himself to the ground."

Theo felt even more uneasy after that.

He raised an eyebrow when he saw Mason not-so-subtly nudging Corey.

“You, uh…” Corey began timidly. “You wanna come over and watch a movie with us tonight?”

Later that morning, as he let Lucas lick his fingers, he couldn’t help but turn to Deaton. “How do I apologize?”

Deaton slowly looked up from his notes and stared at Theo through his thick glasses.

“Hmm,” Theo shifted uneasily and closed the dog’s cage. “I think I’ve hurt someone and I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Oh,” he said. “In that case, if I were you, I think I would start by explaining why I did what I did. And then simply say, ‘sorry’. If I were to actually mean it, of course.”

“Right,” he nodded. “Just apologize. That should be easy.”

It was not, in fact, easy.

He felt like such a stalker, waiting for Liam to finish school. He tried to casually lean against his truck as he concentrated on picking up Liam’s scent from the hoard of teenagers exiting the building, but he felt too hot under his hoodie and his jaw was too clenched and it was all too distracting.

Maybe it was a bad idea. So they had a little, awkward argument. So what? They used to punch each other constantly and never apologized for it. So why start now?

Theo was never a pack animal. He wasn’t created to be one. All he was meant to do was gain power by forcing his own pack.

“You promised me a pack!" Theo recalled himself hissing. "I wanted him in it!”

"His condition was terminal," was all the Pathologist had said.

As usual.

"Not to me!" He argued. "He was strong enough, we could have used him!”

Theo has had it by this point. Watching all of this potential going to waste; powerful Coyotes, dangerous Scorpions, sly Kanimas—all of them, dead.

"Failure," the Surgeon said before they all disappeared.

Theo narrowed his eyes as he looked at the lifeless body by his feet. Tony was a 19-year-old Lobster shifter. He had claws that could practically cut through glass. He was also fast and precise with his moves.

And now, he was dead.

What a waste.

He shook his thoughts off as his nose found Liam first, followed by his eyes. The Beta looked absolutely drained; his hair was a mess and his eyes were hooded with fatigue.

Even from a distance, he could see the moment Liam recognized him and could see the furrow in his eyebrows. Theo straightened his body and waited as Liam approached him, suddenly not really knowing where to put his hands, or how to keep his posture casual.

“Hey, The—“

“Scott did tell me to keep an eye on you, but not because he doesn’t trust you, but because he is worried about you,” he said in a hurry.

Liam blinked. “Okay?”

“He just… I just… He asked me to keep an eye on you, like, help you when the next bad is gonna strike town. He never told me to, like, hang out with you and your friends,” he clarified in a huff, although he was bending the truth a bit; Scott did order him to spy on Liam and handle him if he were to lose control. He assumed ‘bending the truth’ wasn’t what Deaton had meant when he gave him apologizing 101 lessons, but oh well, Theo never claimed to be perfect. “I did it because it feels nice. I like…” He stopped. “It just feels nice. No orders from the Alpha regarding that. Promise.”

“Okay,” Liam said again, this time with a tired smile. “Thanks for explaining it to me.”

Theo blinked. That’s it? Was it really that easy?

“And I promise I’ll stop pestering you. I thought about what you said. We really did kind of force ourselves onto you with the breakfasts, huh?” He chuckled. “I can ask the guys to stop.”

“No, it’s uh… It’s okay,” he looked awkwardly to the side.

“Okay?” Liam raised his eyebrow mockingly.

“Yeah,” he cleared his throat.

“Okay,” Liam nodded. “Just for the record, Scott didn’t put me up to anything. I really just wanted to hang out with you. We all do. I know the guys invited you to watch movies at Mason's today, but you don't have to come." Liam's voice didn't shake, but his chemosignals gave off a nervous, small buzz. 

"Look," Theo started with a sigh, shifting his weight from one foot to another. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, I just... I'm not used to people fussing or worrying over me," he confessed. "But, um, this is nice, I guess. So, thanks," he tried to shrug casually but could feel the heat surrounding his neck and ears.

Liam smiled softly. "I just hope one day you'll want to hang out with us because you actually like us, and not because you feel like you need to protect us from the next bad thing."

Theo didn’t really have a respond to that. So he just said, “I’ll come over to Mason’s tonight.”

He was on a roll. The easy conversation with Liam made him feel so much more confident, so he quickly apologized to Liam and asked him to take a ride back home with Mason. Before the Beta could even react, Theo ran to the field.

He wasn’t even sure how he knew he’d find him there. It wasn’t like he was following a scent or a heartbeat. For once, he didn’t stop to think; he just let his legs carry him without a clear target, and yet he was still able to find Nolan picking stray balls from the field.

“Did I do something?”

“Jesus!” Nolan yelped and dropped the balls he was holding.

“Sorry,” Theo said and quickly jogged over to help him carry the balls back to the sack.

“You came to pick up Liam?”

“I told him to get a ride with Mason. Had to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“Did I do something?” He asked again.

He was waiting for Nolan to answer, expecting to hear something like, ‘I’ve just realized that you’re evil and I don’t want to hang out with you anymore’, but Nolan simply stared at him weirdly.

“No? Not that I’m aware of. Why?”

Theo paused and looked at Nolan deeply. If Liam looked like a mess, Nolan looked like Hell in all its glory; he had dark, visible bags under his eyes, his lips were bruised and bitten and his cheeks were more hollow than usual. He seemed to be skinnier than ever, too. His pale skin didn't make much sense to Theo, because he knew Nolan spend hours running in the sun. And it was a real shame that his eyes lost their usual sparkle that Theo came to admire. 

Theo wondered if Scott was busy worrying over the wrong teen.

“You’re just… You’ve disappeared.”

“Oh. Yeah," Nolan nodded and stared at his own shoes. "Been busy.”

Theo sighed. “Nolan. Seriously, if I did something—“

“You didn’t,” he said. “You didn’t. It’s… It’s me.”

“Did you do something?” Theo raised an eyebrow.

“That’s the problem, I don’t do anything!" He raised his voice. “I don’t do enough. I don’t study hard enough to please my parents, and I don’t work hard enough to make my teammates count on me, and I can’t help but think that she’s coming back to get me and it’s all too much!” He forcefully bit his bottom lip until it drew blood.

“Jesus, Nolan,” Theo grabbed his wrists. “Don’t do that.”

“Sorry,” he said in a small voice.

“Nolan, you don’t have to please anybody. You just do you," he advised and let go of Nolan's hands. 

“I can’t,” he said, turning his head aside, refusing to meet to elder’s eyes. “I have to make it right. It’s not fair that I get to be alive after everything. I need to make it count.”

He is so damaged, Theo had thought. He thought back to the conversation he had with Mason and Corey in the morning and wondered whether they knew Nolan was suffering from survivor's guilt. More importantly, did Liam know? Did Scott?

Maybe Theo was right, after all; McCall probably only cared for those in his own Pack. 

“I just want to do something good,” Nolan whispered.

“Yesterday, Liam told me he likes my company.”

“Hmm… Good?” He looked up, confused.

The chimera rolled his eyes. “Do you think he would have said that a few months ago? You made it happen. I mean, you just waltzed into my life and brought the puppies with you, and now Mason had invited me to his house to watch movies and I never had that before, and I just know it’s all because of you. I’d say you did something good." He then shifted his weight from one leg to another and whispered, "You’ve managed something good out of me."

Nolan smiled timidly, his head bowed down again. And although he was much taller than Theo, he looked so small at that moment. “You are good.”

“I’m sorry, did they ever catch you up on what I did to Scott and the rest? You do remember me from a few months ago, right?” He teased.

“You do remember me pointing a crossbow at you, right?” Nolan teased back, his smile wide and his eyes sparkly again. 

Theo laughed heartily, pleased that he's finally falling back to the easy teasing with the other. “Well, I remember you shaking while holding a crossbow. We should really work on that one day.” His wolf yipped happily at Nolan’s carefree laugh. “And Monroe is not coming for you.”

Nolan tensed again and started worrying his lips all over.

Theo took a small step forward and held his wrist again, his thumb finding a comforting residence at Nolan’s pulse point. “I will tear her head off if she so much as looks at you.”

That evening, when Theo drove himself and Liam to Mason’s house, he finally felt alright, finally felt like good things were coming and that he deserved it. Liam was his usual ball of childish energy again, and Nolan promised to come the next morning to have breakfast with them. Theo felt easiness inside himself that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

The drive from Liam to Mason’s was short, but somehow Liam managed to go into a full rant about how rude Scott was to send Theo, of all people, to look after him. “I mean, you can’t even take care of yourself! You’re homeless. Oh, no offence,” he said in an after-thought.

“I’d say ‘none taken’ but…”

“Should we call him?” Liam asked, his voice high-pitched and excited. “Yell at him or something?”

Theo parked the car and slowly took off his belt. “Let’s give him this one off. We owe him this much.”

“We do?” Liam raised an eyebrow.

“Sure. We killed him.”

Liam immediately tensed. “What? You killed him!”

“Yeah, but you roughened him up for me. That was nice, no? Us doing fun activities together.” He leaned closer to Liam and whispered in his ear, “Bonding time with Liam, yay.”

“Dude,” Liam chuckled and shoved him away, trying to ignore the tingles in his spine. “You’re sick.”

Theo shrugged and leaned back in his seat. “I'm just saying, if you ever want to become a killer, we would be dream team.”

“Shut up, Theo,” he laughed and got out of the truck, marching into the front door of Mason’s house as if he owned the place.

Mason’s house was big. Lavish, even. Unlike Liam’s house, which was decorated with warm colors and family pictures, Mason’s looked cold and fancy, like a palace. Theo wondered how such a calculated house managed to raise pure kindness like Mason inside.

Liam had led them downstairs to the basement, which was converted into a cinema room and looked much more like Mason; it had posters decorating the walls, different books and clothes scattered around the floor and some plants that Theo didn’t know how they’ve managed to survive without sunlight. A small sniff told him they were plastic, but it still looked nice.

Mason and Corey waited for them there, in front of a large screen, with sodas and popcorn. They were sitting close to each other on a small sofa. Liam easily sat next to Mason and covered himself with a blanket. “What are we watching?”

Theo let himself sit on an armchair, gratefully taking the soda Corey had handed him.

“Wait, before we begin!” Mason announced and got up from the sofa. “Liam, I have something for you, it’s so crazy!” He smiled and ran upstairs.

Corey grimaced. “It’s not crazy. But please spare his feelings.”

When Mason came back, he held something behind his back and then shoved it excitedly in front of Liam.

It was a green rock.

Theo raised an eyebrow and Corey looked at him tiredly, as if to say ‘told you so’.

“Oh, my God, this is crazy!” Liam laughed and got up excitedly, taking the rock from Mason’s hands and examining it.

“I know, right?” Mason yelled back.

Theo and Corey exchanged looks again.

This was going to be a long night.

They were watching some cartoon about a sad deer. Theo wasn’t even sure what was going on. He tried to concentrate, he really did, but all he could hear were Liam’s loud sniffles, and Corey whispering reassuring nothings to his and Mason’s ears, to comfort them. Theo had to give it to Corey, he was a good friend. Theo could never do that. He was torn between scoffing and laughing at Liam and Mason.

“Okay, how come you don't cry?” Liam finally voiced his thoughts as the movie finished and he had calmed down from his crying session. “I mean, Bambi...”

“I can’t,” Theo simply shrugged.

He frowned. “Oh, because you’re a big, bad Chimera, aren’t you?”

“No,” he looked at him pointedly. “Because the Doctors took away my tear ducts.”

Liam froze and widened his eyes.

“W-What?” Mason stuttered.

“Yeah,” Theo shrugged. “Said it was getting in the way. So I can’t cry.”

Corey, who looked deadly pale, shuddered. “Please, tell me you’re joking.”

“I am,” Theo smirked. “Your movie just sucked. I mean, it’s just a cartoon about a bambi.”

“Theo, you suck!” Liam screamed and threw a pillow at him.

Theo simply laughed.

"I wanna punch you. You suck,” Liam repeated angrily. “And your hair is ridiculous.”

“Now I understand why Hayden was with you, you really know how to make a guy feel special."

They stayed there for another hour or so, Theo and Corey basically just listening to the weird conversations Mason and Liam shared. At some point, they even tried to explain what was so crazy about the green rock, but Theo didn’t really get it. Nevertheless, it was nice.

“Um. I better get going now, have an early shift tomorrow. And some kids like to wake me up extra early just to eat and mess up my truck,” Theo said and got up from the armchair, straightening his clothes.

“I’ll come with you,” Liam said and got up as well, popcorn falling from his body onto the floor.

Theo nodded and turned to the couple on the sofa. “This was fun.”

“Oh, my God, you liked it?” Mason grinned. “Should we do it again? Are you free tomorrow?”

Theo widened his eyes and went back upstairs in panic, followed by a laughing Liam.

“Too much?” Mason asked.

“A little bit,” Corey patted him fondly.  

“Your friends are nice,” Theo admitted on the ride back to Liam’s.

“They’re your friends, too.”

“Right,” he said because he really didn’t want to argue with Liam again. “Didn’t you say you’ll spend the night at Mason’s?”

“Yeah, but they looked cozy and I didn’t wanna third-wheel them.” Then he said something that knocked the air out of Theo’s lungs, almost causing him to lose control over the wheel. “It used to be me, sleeping in Mason's bed.”

"I... Liam, hmm..." He started after a long pause. "I don't know what to say…?”  

"What?" Liam furrowed his eyebrows as he looked up to find a stunned Theo. Then he blushed. "Not like that! God! Theo, the fuck? We used to have sleepovers!”

"Oh, thank fuck," Theo released a breath he didn't even realize he was holding.

"Yeah," Liam said and then sighed, his expression turning somber again. "But now... It's never just me and him, you know? I'm cool with Corey now but I guess I just miss Mase, you know?”

Theo didn't really know. Because Theo never really missed anyone in his life.

“Maybe you just need to find yourself a girlfriend?” He said before he could stop himself.

Liam frowned even more, so Theo kept quiet, hoping he didn’t ruin the mood between them again.

It was a starless night in Beacon Hills. The skies were dark and wide, and Theo yet again felt small. Nights like this always reminded him of what he really was.

A failure.

That's what he was by the end.

Groomed to be something, yet failing at it.

Failing at becoming a real werewolf.

Failing at hosting the Beast.

Failing at taking over Scott's Pack.

Just a failure.

On top of that, he also turned into a coward, simply too scared to go to sleep because Tara never let him rest.

He huffed and turned in the back seat of his car, pulling the blanket towards his chin. He stayed like this for a while until he heard footsteps coming fast towards him from a distance. He tensed and let his claws break free as he tore the car door open and braced for impact, until he finally came face to face with his attacker; a panicked, panting Nolan.

“Nolan? What the hell happened?”

“I—“ He panted loudly. “I can’t breathe.”

“Nolan!” He let his claws retreat and grabbed Nolan’s forearms with his human hands. “Nolan, relax!”

Nolan’s heartbeat was going too fast to be considered healthy and he smelt of fear, just like during the time with the Anuk-Ite. “I had this nightmare. I have them every night,” Nolan confessed and Theo felt himself freeze. “But this one was so real. She came back for me and I couldn’t move. There was nothing I could do.”

The chimera opened his mouth to say something, to try and comfort Nolan like Corey had done for Mason and Liam earlier, but he couldn’t. How could he comfort Nolan when he himself was too scared to sleep? Instead, he just ran his hands over Nolan’s figure. Nolan shivered and Theo finally saw that the boy was wearing nothing but a thin, short-sleeved t-shirt, grey sweatpants and no shoes whatsoever. “Jesus, Nolan.”

Nolan looked at his bare feet and winced. “I didn’t know what to do. I just ran. It was never this bad.” He shivered and rested his head on Theo’s shoulder, slowly crawling into his warmth.

Theo felt his muscles lock-up instantly. There was an uneasy feeling crawling inside of him. “Come here,” he said and guided him to the bed of the track. Nolan climbed up and pulled his legs to his chest, not before Theo spared them a glance to make sure he didn’t cut them open from running barefoot around the woods. Theo then took the blanket from the back seat and joined Nolan, carefully wrapping the other in the blanket.

The two huddled together in the cold night, sharing a single blanket under the starless sky.

“I’m sorry I’m bothering you,” he whispered. “I just ran.”

“You don’t bother me,” he said and took Nolan’s freezing hand in his, trying to warm it. “But you can’t stay here. It’s dangerous.”

“It’s okay,” Nolan smiled softly as he closed his eyes, apparently willing to fall asleep right there, in the middle of the woods, in that cold night. “You’ll protect me, right?”

“I…” He clenched Nolan’s hand.

Theo wasn’t a pack animal. He wasn’t created to be one.

But still, he suddenly found it so easy to comfort Nolan. He wondered what more was he capable of, what more could he do, now that the Doctors were out of the picture. Better yet, what would have happened if he had never even met them? Would he have been normal? Would he have had his family with him? Friends? Maybe something more? He could never know the answers to those questions, but he could start all over, right? 

“Yes. I’d protect you from anything.”

Chapter Text

At some point during the night, Theo had carried Nolan to the inside of the truck, frowning at how light the boy felt in his arms. They woke up that morning, shivering and pressing one against the other, to Theo’s alarm going off.  Well, Nolan woke up; Theo was awake throughout the entire night to make sure they were safe.

“Shit,” Nolan mumbled and rubbed his eyes. “What time is time?”

“6:30.”

“Shit,” he cursed again. “I have to go back home and get ready for school.”

There was something about the way the morning sun shone on Nolan’s bright eyes and hair through the car’s windows, that took Theo’s breath away. It was as if the boy and the sun were compatible, both parts of something whole.

“You’re pretty,” Theo heard himself saying aloud. His heart froze.

Nolan’s heart started beating faster, too, as he looked at Theo with slightly widened eyes.

The smell of adoration was back and Theo cleared his throat, pretending that he didn’t say anything. “Stay here. The guys will probably be here in less than an hour, anyway.”

“I have to shower,” he grimaced, seemingly recovered from Theo’s comment. “Liam and I have an early practice, so we won’t join you today. Sorry, I know I said I would yesterday…”

“Skip,” he shrugged, trying to ignore the fact that he really hoped Nolan would stay, for some odd reason. “You’re the captain, anyway.”

Nolan laughed. “I wouldn’t be a very good role-model then, would I?”

Theo didn't answer because he never really had any good role-models in his life.

He was ashamed to admit that sometimes he missed the Doctors.

The times he felt down about their disappearance were rare; usually when he was having a few nights in a row filled with nightmares of Tara, which would leave him sleep-deprived and feel more depressed than ever.

The Doctors did give him some sort of a childhood. Although most of it contained of grooming Theo into the perfect manipulator he successfully turned out to be, they were also times where he felt normal.

He had Christmas. During the first Christmas he shared with them, they've brought him a unique gift; a sample of Kanima venom that he later put on the seat of his annoying classmate. The teacher yelled at the student when he failed to get up from his seat to solve a problem on the board. It was even funnier when the boy yelled about ghosts not letting him stand. It was the first time Theo had laughed in class.

He remembered Halloween. He was so excited when they dressed him up as a tiny Dread Doctor, with goggles and a cane. He couldn't wait to grow up and become a real Doctor, to share their knowledge and immortality.

He even had birthdays. The Doctors weren't really domestic so they didn't bake him a cake, but they did give him extra chocolate cookies.

He knew that they didn't do all of these things because they cared about him; their motive was to make his childhood semi-normal, so that he'd appear as a semi-normal kid to the outside world, thus making it easier for him to manipulate and lie his way through society.

Theo knew he should feel used, but really, he was quite thankful.

They enrolled him to different schools, always a new one based on their new location. By the age of ten, when Theo enrolled into his third school, a kid had asked him if it was tough leaving his friends behind over and over again. Theo never had friends, even before becoming a Chimera; he never felt the need for it. But his mentors taught him well, so he portrayed his best puppy-eyes and said, ‘it sucks’, causing the teacher to squeal at him and the kid to pull him into a hug.

He resisted the urge to glow his eyes at the kid.

The Doctors were quite strict with his school achievements, always pushing him to excellence. Their actions seemed to bear fruits when he enrolled into Scott McCall's school and attended his AP Biology class, thus getting closer to the True Alpha. That helped set his plan in motion.

Theo had to give it to them; the Doctors were geniuses. And they were the closest thing he had to parental figures for the last decade.

But they weren’t good role-models. And he helped kill them, anyway.

December proceeded right in front of Theo’s eyes. For once, he was happy that Beacon Hills was a fairly warm area, because he knew he wouldn’t have been able to survive living in his truck otherwise. He wasn’t looking forward to January and February.

Routine became easier, though. He liked his mundane life. He liked working with Deaton, who seemed to trust him more and more, as he told him about all sorts of Supernatural creatures he had encountered during his days as an Emissary. Some of the creatures Theo knew from the Doctors’ stories, and Deaton seemed to appreciate having a partner to trade tales with. Not once did they stay long after the clinic had closed just to share experiences.

He liked hanging out with Liam, Nolan, Mason and Corey. They stopped having breakfast everyday, though, because the Puppies, as Theo liked to call them, were busy with their midterm exams. Mason was practically nervous about it, and Theo didn’t really understand why, because, according to Liam, Mason had perfect scores. But Theo didn’t expect anything less from the perfect Host for the Beast.

Scott called more often, and every time Theo saw his name light up his screen, he felt his heart give a little excited jump. Even though he was a cheap knockoff, even he could feel the need for an Alpha. Scott had promised to come back for Christmas and asked Theo to meet him one of those days, if he weren’t busy. Theo tried not to spiral about it too much; Scott probably just wanted updates on Liam and the Puppies in person.

Speaking of Liam, things seemed to be okay with him, too. During their car rides together, he always seemed tired, but was also always eager to tell Theo about his school day and lacrosse practices. He would never admit it out loud, but Theo liked Liam’s energy and the way he rambled about this and that. He had this childhood spark that Theo himself never had, not even as a child. Theo was always careful not to set Liam off, careful not to turn their teasing into a full-on fight, because he didn’t want to sour Liam’s bubbly mood. He liked Liam’s chemosignals whenever he was happy.

Nolan, on the other hand, seemed to go more and more into his shell, and Theo wasn’t sure how to pull him out of his own paranoid mind. To relieve the anxiety, Nolan buried himself in books and in practices, basically forming a monstrous version of Mason and Liam combined. Some nights, when the nightmares were too much to handle, he sought Theo. At first, Theo liked it, because he was reminded that the war didn’t only leave him scarred, that he wasn’t the only broken one. But after a while, he was just left feeling helpless because he could do nothing to ease Nolan’s pain, even though the younger had stated several times that just by being there beside him, Theo was already making it all better. The fact that Theo could never detect a lie made his heart swell. And the fact that he couldn’t control his mouth around Nolan made him panic. He called him ‘pretty’ several times, without even meaning to. Nolan never said anything back, but his smile got bigger and bigger every time.

Liam had texted him that they were at the school library. Theo hesitated because he really didn’t want to go there, but at the end he caved. The place was packed with students studying and Theo grimaced at the stench of anxiety and stress. He saw the Puppies sitting by one of the tables. Liam and Corey both looked worriedly at Mason, who had his head slammed on the table.

“What happened to him?” he asked as he pulled over a chair and sat next to Liam.

“He got a B+ on his last biology test,” Liam whispered.

“And… that’s a bad thing?” He raised his eyebrow.

“Mason is an A+ kind of guy. But he’s struggling lately.”

Mason finally lifted his head up from the table and groaned when he saw Theo. “Theo.”

“Mason. How does failing school work for you?” He smirked, only wincing slightly when Liam punched him in his bicep.

“I dunno, how does stabbing people in the back work for you?” Mason snapped.

“Pretty good. Learned new tricks,” He said as he took Mason’s papers from the table. “Like setting your homework on fire.”

Mason immediately stood up. “You wouldn’t.”

“But wouldn’t I?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“Theo!” Liam yelled, his eyes wide.

Theo laughed and put the papers back on the table. “Relax. Why didn’t you say you’re having problem with biology? I can help you.”

“You—What?” Mason asked and looked at Liam and Corey, who simply shrugged back. “Really?”

“Sure. My best subject.”

“Oh, hmm. Cool. Thanks, man,” he offered an awkward smile.

Theo shrugged. At least Mason didn’t smell like misery anymore.

A few more days passed. Liam closed his locker shut and sighed. Between school, lacrosse, and making sure everyone were safe, he was left exhausted and he knew it would reflect on his exams.

He turned around just as Mason leaned against the locker next to his.

“Hey. Don’t you have your first tutoring lesson with Theo now?”

“In half an hour,” Mason nodded. He then bit his bottom lip. “Will it be stupid to say I’m scared of being alone with him?”

Liam felt as if he got punched. “What?”

He groaned. “I mean, I know we’re hanging out with him and all, but I just get this eerie feeling when I think of being completely alone with him. And it’s stupid because the dude sat next to me during your lacrosse game, so maybe my problem is being alone with him at the library—“

Liam’s heart jumped.

“And you and Corey have practice, and even if you didn’t, it’s not like I can ask you to just tag along, because I don’t need protection,” he laughed weakly. After a long pause he said, “Maybe I should just cancel. Or move the session to a different place.”

“Mason,” Liam said when he found his voice. “Mason, Theo is not going to hurt you, I promise. You said so yourself, the dude tried to take your pain away.”

“He failed,” he deadpanned.

“I bet if he’ll try again now, he’ll be able to do it.”

Mason finally cracked a small smile. “I’m being stupid, aren’t I?”

“Not stupid. We all have our history with him. I just thought…” He frowned. “You always get so excited when he agrees to hung out with us. I thought you like him.”

“I do! I think I’m just… I don’t know. I’m scared of being stabbed in the back.”

“You won’t be,” he smiled and brought a hand up to Mason’s earlobe, gently twisting his earring between his finger and his thumb, enjoying the way Mason titled his head towards his hand. “You’re my anchor. Do you really think I’d let someone I don't trust anywhere near you?”

Liam saw Mason again the following morning at the classroom. His anchor radiated anxiety as he slammed his books on Liam’s table.

“Mason, what—?”

“Our Theo plan? It’s too slow,” he frowned as he grabbed a chair by his arm but remained standing. “You were right, we need to put a move on.”

“What happened?”

“What happened is that it was all fun and games until now, you know, just helping him with food, keeping him company. But then that asshole just had to help me with biology, and he is so good at explaining and he is so patient, and he is actually a pretty cool guy. You know, when you ignore the fact he’s an asshole.”

“Mason—“

“And it’s getting cold, Liam,” he looked him deep in the eyes. “Like, really cold. It’s December already and he’s still living in his truck. We can’t have that.”

As for an anchor that was supposed to keep Liam calm, Mason was only making his heart beat faster lately. “Right. Yeah, you’re right. Umm… So what do we do?”

“We’re gonna have a sleepover party.”

“We are?”

“Yes!” Mason grinned. “Once Theo falls asleep in an actual bed, he’ll realize how much better it is than his car, and he’ll finally take Argent or the Sheriff up on their offers.”

Liam slowly nodded, thinking that this had the potential to work. “How do we get Theo to agree? He doesn’t really look like the type to have slumber parties…”

“Leave it to me,” Mason smirked and winked.

“You mean, leave it to Corey?” He raised an eyebrow.

He sighed. “Yes.”

"I'm just saying," Mason said as he ate his popcorn. "Scott is a good looking dude, but he's got nothing on Derek."

"Are you kidding me?" Liam groaned from his place on the floor, reaching a hand to the table to grab another drink. "Scott is so much better than Derek."

"I agree," Corey said and kissed Mason's cheek when the other gasped at him, obviously betrayed.

"No, dudes, no. Theo, help me here," Mason begged. "Tell them Derek is hotter than Scott."

Theo sighed for the hundredth time that night. He wasn't sure why he even accepted Corey’s invitation to sleep over at Mason’s place.

Oh, right. Corey promised food and cool movies.

Turns out, food is microwaved popcorn and some Kit-Kats, and the movie... Well, he couldn't even concentrate on the movie because he was constantly getting drugged into stupid conversations. Like this one. Not even in his wildest dreams would he have guessed this is the type of late-night conversations Liam and his friends held. 

They were at Mason’s basement again. Just like the previous time, he claimed the armchair. Corey and Mason both cuddled on the sofa, and Liam was half-laying on the floor, popcorn scattered all around him.

"They both suck, now shut up."

Mason and Liam yelled in protest.

"Yeah, okay, well, your evil Chimera ass probably only idolizes evil people. Like, you probably thought that Nazi what's-his-face was hot," Liam accused.

"I thought Mr. Douglas was hot," Corey mumbled under his breath.

"Me, too," Mason comforted him. "You know, until he erased you form existence."

"Yeah... I didn't like that very much."

"Well?" Liam ignored them and stared at Theo.

"Well, what? I didn't practically think about his hotness level when he made me break the Mountain Ash barrier just to proceed to eat that Ghost Rider's brain right in front of me," Theo said dryly.

"Whatever," Liam huffed and stuffed his face with some more popcorn.

"Okay, okay..." Mason paused dramatically. "Nolan... Nolan or Stiles?"

"Oh, come on,” Liam laughed. “Stiles is kinda hot when he is not running his mouth. In a weird, spazzy way. Nolan is more like an awkward worm."

"Nolan is pretty," Corey argued.

Liam looked at him as if he grew a second head, and then widened his eyes when he saw Mason nodding, agreeing easily with Corey.

But nothing prepared him to choking on his popcorn as he saw Theo slowly nodding to himself.

"Jesus, Liam!" Mason said and leaned down to pat his friend on the back.

Liam quickly took a big gulp of his soda, coughed some more and practically yelled in Theo's direction, "You think Nolan is pretty?"

"Nolan is plenty pretty," he said casually, eyes on the TV, and Liam couldn’t understand how he was able to act so nonchalant, as if he didn't just confess to finding someone attractive.

Not just someone, but Nolan the Worm.

"You think Nolan is pretty?" He gasped again.

"I have eyes, don't I?" He said, this time looking at Liam a little bit weirdly.

"You think Nolan is p—"

"Oh, my God!" Mason groaned. "Yes, Liam, Theo thinks Nolan is pretty, get over it! Honestly, what did you except? Nolan is drop dead gorgeous."

"Ah, no!" Liam protested violently. "What makes him so great?"

"His eyes," Mason said.

"His hair," Corey added bashfully.

"That damned smile," Theo said quietly, almost as if speaking to himself.

"No, I just..." Liam stood up quickly, popcorn leftovers falling from his lap onto Mason's basement floor, and made his way upstairs. "I need water."

"I'm just saying, Spiderman is so much cooler than Batman," Liam said as he stuffed his face with more pizza rolls as he sat next to Theo at Mason’s kitchen counter.

"I might have missed, like, a decade of movies, but I thought usually the argument is Superman versus Batman?" Theo asked and took a sip of his coffee.

Liam paused. "I hate Superman. I can't be Superman."

"Okay?"

"I mean, after Brett and Lori died, I just can't."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Oh? Nothing," he shook his head and took another bite.

Mason and Corey retreated to Mason’s room about half an hour ago, both of them practically sleeping by the time the movie had ended. Theo and Liam had to make do with the pullover sofa at the basement, but Theo refused to go to bed. He was about to leave the house and go and find a place to park and sleep, but after Liam nagged him for 15 minutes, he agreed to stay and hung out with him. That’s how he found himself at Mason’s kitchen, at almost 2 AM, with Liam eating obnoxiously beside him.

“I just think that Superman—“ He was startled by Theo who slammed his cup of coffee violently on the table. "Theo?"

"Mason," Theo explained and looked up the stairs. "His heartbeat is going crazy."

"What?" Liam yelped and ran upstairs, not even bothering to knock on the door before bursting into Mason’s bedroom. In the dark, he could make Corey's frame on the bed, putting a reassuring hand around a shaking Mason. "Mason?"

"Liam, what—?" Mason began as he looked up at Liam. He then looked down again and shivered.

"What's going on?" Liam said cautiously as he sat at the foot of the bed.

When Mason didn't reply, Corey eyed Theo who entered the room behind Liam and said, "Mason has nightmares."

"Oh," Liam said simply. "Yeah, me too."

"Me three," Theo snorted.

Mason quietly chuckled. "Sorry if I woke you up."

"You don't need to apologize, Mase," Corey reassured as he squeezed his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Wanna talk about it, maybe?" Liam offered.

Mason laughed bitterly. "It's always the same. Me being the Beast. Killing all these people."

A pregnant silence followed, before Liam said, "I sometimes still dream of the Berserkers. And you know, it's so stupid because we've fought so many more terrifying creatures after that. We literally fought a creature whose sole purpose is to terrify people to death, and yet I keep dreaming of the Berserkers," he chuckled.

"I dream of the Dread Doctors finding me," Corey whispered. "I try to run away, but they always find me. Always kill me with the last injection. Every time, I try to run but..."

Theo's shoulders immediately tensed. That one hit too close to home. For a moment, he was tempted to share his nightmares too, about how Tara keeps hovering over him, ripping her heart out of his chest over and over again. Instead, he said, "How about I'll make us all some nice cups of hot chocolate? I don't think any of us will be going back to bed anytime soon."

He tried not to let his heart clench when three identical grateful looks turned his way.

Liam had a bad day. He knew he did bad on his chemistry test, but nothing has prepared him for the big D he got. His muscles hurt. His head was buzzing from all the noises and the scents in the school hallway. It was just a bad day.

“Hey, Liam!” Nolan’s cheery voice came.

It was just about to get worse.

“Fuck off,” Liam growled at him.

“Excuse me?” Nolan blinked. 

“I said,” he glared him, his voice raising, “Fuck off!”

“What’s going on over here?” Mason asked as he and Corey joined them by the lockers.

“Why are you mad at me?” Nolan asked.

“Because you...” Liam threw his arms around, looking for a good enough explanation, suddenly feeling embarrassed at his outburst. “You used to be a hunter!”

“Yes?” Nolan blinked. “I thought we were over that?”

“Ah, no!” He yelled. “Did you ever apologize?”

“I… did,” he confirmed.

“Well… Well, did you ever apologize to Corey?” He pointed at the Chimera. “For stabbing him? Hmm?”

“Oh, umm…” Nolan blushed and turned to look at Corey. “Corey, I am so—“

“Don’t mention it,” Corey said. “We’re good.”

“No, we’re not!” Liam said angrily.

“Okay, seriously, Liam, did I do something wrong?” Nolan said in a small voice.

“Yes! You… You tried to kill all of us!”

“Liam,” Mason groaned and put a hand on Liam’s shoulder to pull him back. “Half of Scott’s Pack tried to kill us at this point. I’m still, like, 85 percent sure that Peter will try to kill someone again, so what’s gotten into you?” He raised an eyebrow, “Is this about the Theo thing?”

“What Theo thing?” Nolan asked.

At Liam’s silence, Mason laughed, “Liam is jealous because you’re best buddies with Theo.”

“I’m not jealous!” The Beta protested.

Nolan looked surprisingly at the three of them. “Oh.”

“We hung out during the weekend. He called you pretty,” Mason smirked.

“Oh…” He blushed. “Umm, cool.”

Mason raised his eyebrow again. “Theo Raeken said you’re pretty, and your only response is ‘cool’?” He asked. “Dude, if Theo called me pretty, I’m pretty sure I’d die.”

“He said you’re a nice dresser,” Corey recalled.

“What?” Mason turned fast to face Corey, almost giving himself whiplash. “When did that happen? I got a compliment from Theo and you never thought to mention it? When did he say it? How did he say it? Was he talking about me or something? Did he say it, like, casually, like, ‘oh, Mason is a good dresser’, or was he, like, impressed, like, ‘wow, Mason is a good dresser’?”

“I dunno,” Corey shrugged.

“Useless. You’re a useless boyfriend.”

“Sorry for not feeding more into your Theo crush.”

“Liam,” Nolan said. “I am sorry for everything I’ve done. You know that, right?”

“I—“ Liam sighed. “Yes. I’m sorry, too.”

Nolan gave him a small smile in return.

“Okay, now that we’re all friends again, dude!” Mason exclaimed and slapped Nolan’s shoulder. “How are you not freaking out over Theo calling you pretty?”

“Hmm… Kind of awkward he said it in front of you guys, but I guess I’m used to it by now.”

“What?” Mason asked in shock. “Does… Does Theo call you pretty constantly?”

“Not constantly,” he shrugged awkwardly. “Just enough for me to start actually believing it.”

Liam frowned. A bad day, indeed. He should have known it’s only a matter of time before he’ll snap.

"Hey," Theo said as he approached Liam, Mason and Corey, who were sitting at the bench next to the school entrance. He shivered and tried to find warmth in his thin hoodie. He really needed to buy a coat now that December was here.

He tried to ignore the smell of anger that practically radiated from the Beta. Instead, he eyed Mason, who had a hand firmly placed on Liam's shoulder, as if to keep him in place. "What got him all fired up?"

When Mason ignored him, Corey answered, "He got in a fight."

"Oh. Cool."

"No, not cool!" Mason glared at Theo, his hand still in place. "He growled at a student. And then punched him. And then the guy kicked him. It was a total chaos!"

Theo pretended not to see Liam flinching. "Well, did he win?"

Mason blinked, his hand finally going lax on Liam. "That's not... I mean, well yeah, basically."

"Nice," Theo breathed out, almost proudly, finally looking at Liam, who looked up to stare back at Theo with a soft smile, his heartbeat slowly starting to even out.

"That's just—" Mason groaned. "You guys are the worst!"

When Theo parked into Liam’s driveway and waited for the Beta to get out of the car, he found Liam looking deep in thought.

“You good?”

He breathed heavily. “Yeah,” he said after a while, the first words he had spoken to Theo that day. His voice was hoarse and raspy, as if he had spent the last hours screaming.

“Wanna tell me what happened?”

“Just… Some guy. He, uh… He called me a monster,” he told as he nervously shuffled with his hands.

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Are you a monster, Liam?”

“No,” he said in a low growl. “I am a Werewolf, but I’m not a monster.”

“So why bother? That guy obviously doesn’t know you.”

Theo wondered when he had transformed into that Theo; the Theo who tries to reassure others and make them feel better about themselves.

When he first turned into a Chimera, the Doctors made sure to explain to him that his powers came with limits, that he’s not a real Werewolf. They told him that he is immune to Mountain Ash, that he will deal with Wolfsbane better, that he won’t need an Anchor, but also that his healing and abilities will pale in comparison to those of a true Werewolf, that he will never be part of a real pack, that he is not capable of caring.

He kind of sensed that they lied to him, at least about the latter matter, because he somewhat cared for Malia. Well, right before he shot her, at least. Maybe it was the Coyote in him that made him feel attracted to her, but he still felt bad for selling her to the Desert Wolf. So when he was left with a damaged Mason at the tunnels, he decided for the first time in his life to see if they really had lied.

‘You can’t take pain if you don’t care’, Mason had said and Theo frowned; they were telling the truth.

Only later to discover that no, they were, in fact, lying, because there he was, giving one last peaceful moment to Gabe.

He once again was left wondering, what else was he capable of? Better yet, why does he even care? Scott will never accept him in his pack, and rightfully so, so why even bother?

“Because it’s not fair!” Liam burst. “I understand they’re scared, but I didn’t do anything! Do you know how hard they admire Nolan now? And they used to be petrified of him a few months ago!”

“They were?” He asked curiously.

“Yes! Theo, he was bat-shit crazy, he stabbed Corey with a pen!”

Theo frowned, finding it hard to imagine. Well, maybe not that hard, because he does recall Nolan pointing a crossbow at them. But he also knew that all of those actions were a result of the fear the Anuk-Ite provoked, and the manipulation of Monroe.

He wondered if he was anything like Nolan. Was he also scared and manipulated?

No. He wasn’t. He simply wanted power. He was greedy.

Nolan, on the other hand, just wanted to survive. That kid that comes to find Theo in the middle of the nighst, shivering and panicking after a nightmare, begging for protection—Theo was sure that this is the real Nolan.

“And now they all eat from the palm of his hand,” Liam grumbled. “Yet they still call me a monster. I never hurt them.”

“You’re not a monster, Liam,” Theo said. “Neither is Nolan. You should just wait it out. More people know about the Supernatural now, and not all of them understand it. They’re still scared. Give it time.”

“I just hate when I’m like this. I just kept punching him and I couldn’t stop.” He looked at his own fists with a frown. “It’s like I’m proving them that they’re right.”

“The only thing you’ve proved is that you’re just a human being and you also have your limits.”

“Thank God Mason was there to stop me,” he threw his head back and sighed in relief. “If he hadn’t, I’m pretty su—Ah!” He screamed loudly, quite animatedly, when he saw a woman glaring at him from the truck window.

“Uh…” Theo paled.

“Jesus, Ma!” Liam whined and opened the door.

“You said you’ll come and help me with dinner today, why are you just sitting there?” She asked with her hand on her hip, in a really motherly fashion. “Oh, hello, you’re Theo?”

Before coming to Beacon Hills, Theo studied everything he had to know about the McCall Pack and their surroundings. Jenna Geyer was also in his file. She was a petite woman, not taller than 5”2, with medium brown hair and blue eyes, just like her son’s. She was also the first adult related to Scott’s pack that didn’t yet know about the Supernatural, didn’t yet know about all the horrendous acts Theo had committed. Maybe that’s why he felt so nervous when he stuttered a, “Uh, yes. Nice to meet you.”

She smiled warmly. “You, too. Thanks for driving Liam around. You joining for dinner?”

“Uh, no. Thank you for the offer.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but Liam cut her off, “Can you give us a minute, Ma? We’ll be right inside.”

She nodded and went back inside the house.

“Jesus,” Liam breathed out and closed the door, shivering from the cold.

“I’m sorry, ‘we’ll be right inside’?” Theo raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t we talk about it?”

“Look, I know you’re, like, probably calculating the fastest road out of Beacon Hills right now. But mom makes killer chicken. And I bake great potatoes, if I do say so myself,” he beamed. “Just come inside. You’ve got nothing better to do.”

“Liam, that’s your mom! I’m awkward with small talk.”

“You’re kidding, right? You’ve manage to infiltrate and overtake our pack thanks to that mouth of yours.”

“Don’t say that!” His face warmed even with the cold weather outside.

“Come on,” he whined. “She’s been nagging me to have you over for forever, now. Just do me a solid.”

“No, Liam. I am not having dinner with your mom.”

He was having dinner with Liam’s mom.

Well, first he just stared at her and Liam preparing said dinner. It seemed like they worked in harmony, very in sync, each in their own corner, never once bumping into one another in the small kitchen, yet still working together to create a combined meal. Looking at it kind of reminded him of the way he and Liam fought on the battlefield; privately, yet together.

He tried to offer his help once or twice, just for the sake of politeness. Liam’s mom had refused, and he was secretly thankful because he didn’t know how to cook for the life of him. His pseudo parental figures didn’t cover that area.

Once dinner was ready and Liam set up the table, they all sat beside it. Theo didn’t really know when was the last time he had a home-cooked dinner. Probably when he was 8. It was nice. And he had to admit, Liam really did know how to handle his potatoes.

His mom used to make chicken, too. Theo wasn’t a big fan of it growing up, but as he took a bite of Liam’s mom’s chicken, he bit down hard on the fork, trying his hardest not to give out any sound, no matter how chocked-up he felt.

“You’re the same year as Liam, right?” Liam’s mom asked as she put salad onto her son’s plate.

“No. I, uh, already graduated,” he lied. Liam frowned at him, but he ignored it.

“Oh,” she looked up in surprise. “You’re in college?”

“Working, actually.”

She turned to Liam and glared at him. “I thought you’re studying together. You’re making this boy give you rides on his free time?”

“Ma!” He whined.

“Don’t ‘ma’ me, young man!”

“He lost a bet! That’s why he has to drive me!”

“You are a leech, Liam Dunbar,” she said with a frown, but then smiled at him.

Theo felt like someone punched him in his chest, knocking all the air out of his lungs. How many times had he experienced such dinners himself? With his mom and his dad and his sister, and their easy family banter that Theo never really felt a part of. He was always different, always distant, but his parents and Tara were always normal and as happy as a family could get. And they had easy teasing between them, just like Liam and his mom, but Theo had taken it all away from them. With one selfish act, he destroyed it all and got the three of them killed, never once even going back to look for the bodies, because he simply didn’t care enough.

He pushed his chair back abruptly and stood up. “I, uh, forgot I had to do something. Dinner was great, Mrs. Geyer, I—“

“You can call me Jenna,” she said in a daze, clearly worried.

That only made Theo suffocate even more, bile threatening his throat. “Thank you. Have a lovely night.” He managed to put his chair back in place, although his hands were shaking, and give one last nod to the woman in front of him before he rushed out.

Of course Liam had to follow him to his car.

“Get inside, Liam,” he ordered.

“Not before you tell me what’s wrong!”

“I’m fine,” he said and moved to open the car door, but Liam slammed it shut. “Liam,” he growled.

“Dude. You’re okay.”

Theo opened his mouth to yell something, but Liam simply took a step towards him, practically having Theo pinned between his body and the car.

“You’re okay,” he repeated.

“I am so not okay,” he whispered and his voice quivered.

“And that’s okay, too,” he whispered back. “Because you will be. I’ll make sure of that. Let me be the one to look after you this time.”

And just like that, he wrapped his arms around Theo's frame and squeezed, as if it was normal, as if it was easy.

As if Theo deserved something good.

When Liam got back inside and closed the door behind him with a sigh, his mom put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Is Theo okay?”

He nodded. “He will be. He just has a lot on his shoulders.”

“If I can help, in anyway, just… Let me know, okay?”

“I will, Ma,” he smiled gratefully at her. “We just need to work in baby-steps with this guy.”

She smiled and squeezed his shoulder. “He seems sweet.”

“Yeah,” Liam found himself agreeing easily with a soft smile. “He is the sweetest.”

Chapter Text

“Theo is missing!” Liam screamed as he entered the school and saw his friends standing by Mason’s locker.

“What?” Mason yelped, almost dropping his books.

“His truck wasn’t parked at the woods today! I-I can’t pick up his scent anywhere!” He yelled in panic.

“Liam, calm down,” Corey said.

“It’s like he’s just gone!” He threw his hands in the air.

“We can come help you search,” Corey offered. “I’m sure he’s still around. He won’t just leave.”

“Yes, good!" He nodded. "Two noses are better than one!“

The Chimera hesitated. “You do know I don’t have an advanced smell sense, right?”

Liam blinked. "What?"

He shrugged with a smile. “Not a wolf. I’m a chameleon and… something else,” he frowned. “I can’t detect scents and heartbeats like you guys.”

“What?” He repeated dumbly again. “Okay, but what about… Wait, what about the time you could smell Theo on Nolan?" He asked as he pointed at said boy. "When we just found out he’s living in his truck?”

“Oh,” Corey's cheeks pinked. “Uh, it’s just that a part of me can detect Theo, I think. It only ever works with him. And Mason. Maybe it’s because he brought me back to life or because I was in his Pack. I’m not sure, but I can always recognize him.”

“Kind of like an Alpha and its Beta?” Mason asked.

Corey shrugged again. “Maybe?”

Mason slowly nodded. "Intense."

“Okay, okay, we’re digressing!” Liam shook his head. “We need to find Theo, I don’t know where he is—“

“Maybe he just needs some space,” Nolan mumbled under his breath.

Liam narrowed his eyes at him. “You know something, don’t you?”

“No, I—“

Liam grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the lockers. “I can hear you lying, you prick!”

“Liam!” Mason screamed as he and Corey threw his body off Nolan’s. “Dude, what the fuck?”

Liam took a couple of steps back. He could feel the eyes on him and the whispers around, some of the students in the hallway throwing the word ‘monster’ again. He clenched his fists tightly, trying hard to regulate his heartbeat and control his ragged breaths. “Just… Just tell me he’s okay.”

Nolan straightened his shirt with a frown. “He’s fine. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Thanks for letting me stay here last night,” Theo smiled.

Nolan gave him a tired smile in return as he threw his backpack at the corner of his room and sat at the foot of his bed. Coach seemed to be in a bad mood that day and he took it out on the players during practice. Combining that with Liam’s glares and hard pushes, Nolan was left drained and anxious. The only good thing was coming back to his bedroom and seeing Theo still lying in his bed, exactly where he had left him that morning.

To say that he was surprised when Theo had come to him the previous night was an understatement. Still, Nolan automatically invited him to sleep over, even offered him his bed, relieved that he could do something for the other, for once.

“Sure. Liam kind of freaked out on me, though. I told him you’re fine, but you should really talk to him soon.” He grimaced and rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the pain in his muscles.

“Right,” Theo chuckled and lifted himself slightly up to sit properly on the bed. “How lame am I? Had to run here ‘cause I just couldn’t face him.”

“If you tell him you need some time, I’m sure he’ll understand. We all will.”

Theo frowned. “Time off from what? I panicked for absolutely no reason. Liam has been nothing but nice to me, his mom has been nothing but nice, and I’m still…” He trailed off.

Nolan sighed and put a hand on what he assumed was Theo’s leg, hiding beneath the duvet. “Sometimes we panic without knowing what’s causing it. Like, something is triggering us, even if we can’t tell what it is. There’s nothing wrong with you, Theo.”

Theo stared for a while at the hand on his knee. “How come you always know the right thing to say?”

“You are talking with the literal definition of anxiety and paranoia here,” he smirked.

Theo slowly brought his hand to trace Nolan’s knuckles softly, liking the way he felt something close to electricity in his bones. “Thanks. For letting me sleep here. And using the bed.”

“You can crash here anytime. Honestly, I never offered because I didn’t think you’d want me to. I kind of want to take things your pace.”

And Theo? He was absolutely gone for that smile.

It took Theo a couple of days, but one evening he parked his car at Liam’s street and texted Liam, asking him if they could talk. Two minutes later, Liam was entering his truck.

“You’re back,” he breathed in relief.

Theo nodded. “Sorry I just up and vanished. Needed some time.”

Liam frowned. “Nolan said so. You could have told me, you know.”

“Didn’t know how,” he confessed.

“Oh, but you knew how to talk to Nolan?” he snapped. “Theo, you can’t just disappear like that! If you need some time off, that’s fine, but you need to check in with your Pack!”

Theo wasn’t sure if Liam had meant to say that, or it was just a force of habit. Still, it left him breathless. He decided to bury it down and instead said, “I’m not used to having… this.”

“This?” He raised an eyebrow. “You mean, friends?”

“If that’s what you want to call it,” his lips evened.

Liam let out a dry, humorless laugh. “I call it that because that’s what we are, Theo! We are friends!”

“Okay, but not really, right?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He turned to look at him angrily. “It means that no matter how many times you say it, it’s not gonna become real. We’re not friends. We’re allies, at best.”

Liam looked hurt and taken aback for a mere second, before he masked his face and gave Theo a hard look. “We’ve been friends for the longest time now, you’re just too thick to get it.”

“Oh, yeah?” He challenged. “Since when?”

That caught Liam off guard and the anger was replaced with surprise. "Since... You know... The... Ghost Riders thing?" He guessed.

"Oh, yeah, you mean when I literally played bait to save you and your stupid friends?"

"Uh, yeah...?" He said awkwardly.

Theo laughed darkly. "Yeah, yeah, right. Oh, and you know what happened to me right after I literally almost sacrificed myself for you?"

"...You won the lottery?"

"I was kidnapped and tortured by that crazy guy from Eichen House. Did you even notice me gone, friend?"

"I—"

Theo laughed again and stared ahead at the wheel. "But that doesn't even bother me!” He turned his face to glare at Liam again. “You know what does bother me, Liam?"

"Ugh... Poverty?" He scratched the back of his head.

"What really bothers me is that even though I've saved you, even though I've just been kidnapped and electrocuted, you didn't care. No, because the moment you saw me, you know what you said to me?"

"Ugh... Bonjour?"

Theo blinked. "Bon—? No, why would you say that, what—? Do you even speak French?"

"Uh... Oui?" Liam winced.

Theo shook his head. "No, no, what you did do, however, is offer to kill me for Malia. Kill me. Like I did something wrong. Like, what, trying to survive is wrong now?"

"Theo—"

"So don't you dare come up to me with this ‘friends’ bullshit when both you and I know that you would never play bait for me." He took one last hard look at Liam before he got out of his truck and marched his way in the cold.

Stupid. He should have just kicked Liam out. It was his truck.

“Wait, Theo!”

“I wish you’d stop following me.”

“Let’s talk!” He grabbed his wrist. He saw the way Theo’s eyes were rimmed red and felt as If he was thrown into a cold pool. “Theo…”

“Just let me be, Liam.”

“I can’t,” he whispered but let go of Theo’s wrist. Before Theo could even think of turning away, he said, “Look, the only reason I offered Malia to kill you when I saw you at the station was because I was mad. I mean, we fought the Ghost riders together, you saved my ass, and then you just... disappeared. You didn't stay in touch. I thought you left town,” he confessed.

“I was in my truck, at the preserve, when those hunters shot me and kidnapped me, Liam!”  

“I didn't know!” He yelled back in defense.

“You know what, forget it,” he said and tiredly rubbed his eyes. Liam could feel him closing off. “I just... don't care anymore.”

“Please, Theo, I didn't mean to be such a bitch, okay?” He said and tugged at Theo’s sleeve, trying to pull him slightly closer. “I suddenly just saw you, and you were acting like such a jerk, like you don't care about what happens to Satomi's pack, like you just want to save yourself and—“

“I really did want to just save myself,” he snapped. “These two weren't my problem. And they weren't yours, either.”

Liam nodded. “Yeah, I got it eventually. What you said? About my dead friends staying dead? You tried to tell me that sacrificing myself for Jiang and Tierney is not my responsibility... That I don't need to prove nothing to anyone.”

Theo tried to bite back a smile because he was still pissed. “Actually, I was just being a jerk, but okay.”

Liam winced. “Yeah, you sucked. I mean, I know you didn’t know Brett and Lori, but—“

“I knew Brett.”

“What?” He blinked. “You did?”

Theo shrugged. “Met him at the Sinema.”

“What?” He blinked again. “The club Sinema?” He really couldn’t picture Theo as the partying type. “What were you doing there?”

“Had to supervise the transition of Lucas.”

“Lucas? The Scorpion that attacked Corey?” He only got a shrug in return. “What does that have to do with Brett?”

“Had to blend in with the crowd. We danced.”

Liam felt the cold pool again. He knew how Brett used to dance; sinfully. And he did that with Theo. “Oh… Oh. Uh. Did you ever… You know?”

“No,” Theo raised an eyebrow. “Although he did try. Painfully,” he grimaced, as if recalling a bad memory. 

Liam really didn’t know how to feel about that. He had eyes, he knew what Theo looked like. But it never occurred to him that Theo could exist outside of their Pack, that others could look at him and take interest in him. It left him feeling sick for whatever reason. “Right,” he said and tried to clear his head, tried to recall how they got into this point in their conversation. The uncertain look on Theo’s face brought him back to reality. “Right,” he said with more determination. “Can we start over? Like, becoming official friends, or something? I could make us matching bracelets,” he joked.

“I don’t know how,” Theo said with half a smile.

“Oh. Me neither, but I’m sure I can look it up. I have a little cousin and she—“

“Not the bracelet,” he groaned. “I’m talking about being friends.”

“You don’t know how to be a friend?” He questioned.

“Never had any.”

“I… Why?”

“I wasn’t allowed.”

“What?”

“The, uh,” he started awkwardly, as if he was really embarrassed. “The Doctors never allowed it. In case I grew attached to the experiments.”

“That’s…” Liam didn’t know what word was best to describe what he was feeling.

Theo seemed to take offence in that, because he immediately snapped, “I know it’s stupid and they’re not even around anymore, plus I didn’t even want to become friends with the other Chimeras, they sucked,” he then paused. “Except for Corey. Corey is cool. He is the only Chameleon Chimera ever, did you know that? That’s so unique. And he always smells nice.” He paused again. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

Liam laughed. This was Theo in front of him; the boy who ate his sandwiches weirdly, who tutored Mason, who was too shy to function properly around his mom. The boy who made him feel real and safe. “I can’t wait for you to see we’re friends.”

Theo froze but quickly tried to cover it up. “Sure you want that? I’m bad news, remember? Half you pack hates me.”

“Dude, I’ll want to be your friend even if you punch Scott in the face.”

“Hmm… Okay?” He titled his head to the side in confusion.

Liam smacked his lips together and tried to shake off the thought that Theo looked cute that way. "Please don't punch Scott, though. His jaw is already uneven as it is."

Theo chuckled. "I'll see what I can do."

Theo wondered if his relationship with Liam would be like this forever; just the two of them being hot and cold, fighting and making up right after. It was too exhausting to him, too many emotions that he didn’t have the capacity to understand.

The last two weeks before Christmas turned Liam into an anxious ball of nerves. He was trying to play video games with Mason at Mason’s room, but kept losing.

“Liam,” Mason groaned. “Seriously, why are you so nervous?”

“Because, if I invite him, he’ll say no! I can’t ask Corey to invite Theo to my house on Christmas, it’s ridiculous!”

“Why do you want him over, anyway? Isn’t Christmas all about family?”

“But Theo is almost always alone. I don’t like it…”

“Then go for it. I’m sure he’ll agree.”

“Dude, no,” Liam shook his head. “He’ll laugh, or punch me in the face. And you’re always wrong!”

“Excuse you?” Mason glared.

“You said the sleepover party will help!” He reminded. “Guess what? He still sleeps in his truck!”

Mason grimaced. “Yeah, okay, so it’s a little bit tougher than it looks. But maybe the spirit of Christmas will help soften him up, hmm? Just invite him over, if you want to so much! What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Absolutely not. Are you high?” Theo glared.

Liam sighed. “Please, Theo. It’s gonna be fun!”

“I’m not spending Christmas with your family, Liam. I barely even spent it with mine,” he grumbled.

“Even the more reason to! Did you ever decorate a Christmas tree? Built a gingerbread house? We can catch you up on all Christmas activities!”

“No.”

“Mom really wants you over,” he pouted.

Theo blanched. “After that disastrous dinner? No, thanks, I’ve embarrassed myself enough in front of her.”

“Dude, that’s the more reason to come and make her see you’re not a freak or something.”

“She thinks I’m a freak?” Theo raised his eyebrow.

“No! I didn’t say that.”

“Yes, you did. You said it’s gonna—“

“Theo, please!” Liam shouted. “Why must things be so hard with you? Why must you always fight? Can’t, for once, things be easy with you? You’re making this all being friends with you deal a lot harder than it has to be.”

Theo tensed. “Then don’t be my friend.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” he sighed.

“Sure? Sounds to me like you’re regretting it already.”

“Yeah, because you’re such an asshole all the time! Just come over, I swear you’ll have a good time!”

“I refused Nolan’s offer, and I’m actually okay with his parents, Liam. So why would I want to make a fool out of myself in front of your mom again?”

Liam barely registered what Theo had said. “You know Nolan’s parents? How?”

Theo groaned, as if he had not meant to let that piece of information slip. “I stay over sometimes. Look, I really app—“

Liam took a step back as if he got burned. “Wait, you sleep over at Nolan’s?”

“I only did it, like, twice or something. Can we move on? I don’t want—“

“No, wait!” Liam’s eyes flared. “All this time I’m trying to hang out with you, invite you over, and you refuse, but you sleep at Nolan’s? What the fuck?”

“Again, it happened, like, three times.”

“You said ‘twice’!” He pointed out, his fangs popping out.

“Okay, deep breaths, Baby Wolf,” he said as he made sure the ‘Closed’ sign of the clinic was facing outwards. “No need to get all riled up.”

Liam glared and breathed hard.

Theo took a step forward and tried to comfort him the way he comforted Nolan after nightmares; he grabbed Liam’s wrist in his hand and squeezed. Liam immediately froze and stared at their hands. “Hey,” Theo spoke softly. “You know I appreciate it, right? I just don’t want to intrude.”

“You’re not,” he immediately said, his fangs gone.

“Hey, want to meet Purr-Purr-Girl?” He pointed at the back room of the clinic.

Liam knew he had lost, so he just sighed and nodded.

Although Theo didn’t agree to spend Christmas Eve with Liam and his family, he did agree to start helping the Geyer household with preparations, alongside Mason and Corey. When Jenna saw Theo, she immediately brightened up and started asking about his job, as if he had never panicked and bailed from her dinner that day. Theo was grateful, but still felt a bit awkward around her. Thankfully, they got distracted by Liam’s soft sobs from the kitchen.

Jenna sighed. “Maybe you three can calm him down?”

Theo entered the kitchen, followed by Mason and Corey. “Liam?” He looked at the state of the kitchen; plates and dishes scattered all over the tables, pieces of dough stuck on random places on the counters, a big patch of flour on Liam’s cheek. “You’re making cookies?” He looked at the tray of semi-burnt cookies in front of Liam.

"Don't eat it, Theo, I've ruined it," Liam said sadly, his shoulders hunched.

Theo smelt his sadness for nothing but a millisecond before he decided to shove the cookie into his mouth, trying hard not to gag. "What you on about? This is great.”

It seemed that he managed to convey the lie, because Liam immediately smiled bashfully, even beamed a bit. "Thanks, Theo."

He tried to ignore Jenna, Mason and Corey’s laughs.

At the end, he decided to help Liam with a new batch of cookies. Theo maybe didn’t know how to cook, but even he could follow simple baking instructions from a YouTube tutorial.

Apparently, Liam couldn’t, so he just took a seat as he stared at Theo pulling the tray out of the oven.

“Can I try?” Liam asked.

“Give it five minutes to cool.”

He could hear Mason and Corey laughing at the living-room as they were helping with decorations around the house. Theo never really understood the buzz around Christmas. It seemed like a waste of energy to decorate the entire house with festive colors just for a few days. His parents never decorated theirs. But more often than not, they got a small tree. Liam’s house was the opposite of his childhood house; Liam’s had a big tree with lots of ornaments and glitter. He assumed it fit Liam.

Jenna entered the kitchen. “Oh, this smells divine! Can I try?”

Theo touched the cookies to check their temperature. “Yeah, should be fine.”

Jenna smiled and took a bite. She closed her eyes. “This is perfection! Liam, this boy is a keeper.”

Liam, who was munching on his own cookie, grinned. “I know, right?”

Theo didn’t know what part Liam was agreeing with exactly. He blushed nonetheless.

The following day, the three of them came again to help Jenna and Liam. Jenna was busy trying different kinds of dishes and she wanted them to try it out. Whilst she was cooking yet another dish, Mason gathered them all in the living room.

“So, we’re not actually gonna spend Christmas together, so I wanted to give you your presents now!” He passed bags to Liam and Theo.

Theo paled. “I… I didn’t prepare anything.”

“Dude, it’s okay,” Mason smiled.

Liam looked inside his own bag and laughed loudly. Theo frowned and looked into his bag and pulled out a sweater out of it. It was a thick one, with dark Christmas colors and a weird reindeer with blown eyes in the middle. Liam pulled out a similar looking sweater.

“Thanks, Mason,” Theo smiled fondly, feeling the thick fabric in his hands.

Mason and Corey exchanged looks. Liam just laughed, “It’s an ugly sweater!”

Theo glared. “No. It’s beautiful. I love it.”

“No, we mean,” Mason started. “It’s a Christmas thing. It is ugly on purpose. It’s a gag gift. You don’t need to be nice about it, it’s supposed to be ugly.”

“Oh.” Theo looked down at his sweater again. “I really do like it, though.”

“You do?” Corey asked.

“Yeah. Been a while since I got a gift.”

“Now I just want to hug him!” Mason exclaimed. “Theo, can I hug you?”

“I’d rather saw my own leg off. No offence.”

“How is that supposed to be not offending?”

Theo glanced around the room, making sure that Jenna was nowhere around, before he peeled off his own hoodie.

“Jesus, you’re ripped!” Mason breathed out.

“Shut up,” he ordered as he pulled the sweater over his head. It felt nice on him. Smelt like Mason. “Thank you.”

“Really giving me mixed signals here, dude,” Mason commented but smiled.

By the next day, Jenna already had the menu figured out. As far as Theo knew, Liam’s family weren’t supposed to host any guests for the holidays, so he wasn’t sure why she was making so much food, but didn’t comment on it.

It seemed like Jenna was big on the holidays, and by the time she had finished decorating the house, with the help of Mason and Corey, the place looked like Santa himself came and threw up glitter all over it. Theo even caved in to Liam’s whines and put a few ornaments of his own on their tree, trying hard not to grimace whilst doing so.

“Liam. Come over here, please,” he called.

“What’s up?” Liam asked, carrying a box of Christmas ornaments. As if the place wasn’t full of it already.

Theo gave him an unimpressed look and pointed towards the door. “Mistletoe?”

“Oh,” Liam nodded and put the box on the floor. He seemed nervous all of a sudden and Theo noticed how he wiped his hands on his jeans. “Hmm, yeah, looks like it. I mean, I just had a tuna sandwich but I guess I can go brush my teeth real quick if you want—“

“What the fuck?” Theo blanched. “I don’t want to kiss you, what the fuck?”

“Oh.”

Theo sighed loudly, “Why is there mistletoe here? You know it’s dangerous for Supernaturals, right?”

“Deaton said that having one is not harmful. Like, this is okay.”

“Okay.”

They stared at each other until Liam said, “So… Why don’t you want to kiss me?”

Theo’s heart jumped and for once, he didn’t even try to conceal it. “Are you… Are you for real?”

“Like, I don’t want to kiss you either, but—“

“Sounds to me like you do. You were just about to run and brush your teeth.”

“Yes, because I thought this is, like, another Christmas activity that you never got to do growing up!” He argued.

“So you offered to kiss me?”

“Just a peck,” Liam shrugged.

“I… Do you ‘just peck’ all of your male friends?”

“No.”

“Should I feel special?”

“I was just trying to do you a favor, Jesus!”

“By kissing me,” he deadpanned. “Just how desperate do you think I am?”

“Ah-ha!” Liam pointed at him with a pout. “I knew it! You hate me. Is it because I’m ugly?”

“Jesus,” Theo said under his breath. “No, Liam, it’s not because you’re ugly. I just don’t want to kiss you, like you don’t want to kiss me. End of story.”

“Okay… But am I ugly?”

“For the love of—“ He sighed and went to hide in the kitchen. Getting shoved spoonful after spoonful by Jenna was definitely better than that.

Just as Nolan’s parents were timid and quiet, like their son, Jenna Geyer was bubbly and outspoken, just like her own son. Spending the past few days in her house was weird; he’d feel normal and fine around her, but then she’d compliment him in a motherly fashion, and he’d fight to urge to run away again.

“Theo, what Christmas dish is your favorite?” She asked.

“Uh… I don’t know,” he answered.

She pursed her lips and nodded, and Theo was left wondering what Liam had told her about his past and childhood, if he had mentioned anything at all. Or maybe Jenna was just good at reading people and not pushing them? If that was the case, then her son definitely didn’t take after her, if Theo were to say so. Still, she radiated this nice, tranquil aura, that sort of reminded Theo of Nolan, whenever the younger wasn’t too far in his head. Maybe that’s why he found himself getting more and more comfortable around her.

Three days before Christmas, Liam invited Theo over to make gingerbread houses. It seemed that Liam wasn't lying when he said he'd get Theo to do Christmas activities with him. He even urged him to put on the sweater they got from Mason to get into the spirit. Theo didn’t complain, because he was happy with beating Liam at yet another thing. Too bad Liam wasn’t admitting defeat.

“Are you kidding me? Mine is so much better than yours!” The Beta argued.

Theo laughed. “Are you blind? What the fuck is even this?”

“Liam?” A voice called.

The fight in Liam immediately left his body, his frown replaced by a bright smile. “Scott!” He laughed and pulled his Alpha into a bone-crushing hug. “You’re here!”

“Scott, which gingerbread house is better?” Theo asked.

“Hello, Theo,” Scott sighed, figuring this is the best of a greeting he will get from the Chimera. “Uh… This one.”

“Ah-ha!” Theo called in triumph. “Eat sand, Dunbar!”

Liam just rolled his eyes. “Whatever, you win.”

Scott looked between the two of them and Theo stared back.

Scott hasn’t changed in the past months they haven’t seen each other. His hair was a bit longer, his skin slightly tanner, and maybe he’d gained a few muscles from working out at the gym. He still had the same doe-like eyes and innocent smile.

“How are things going around here? No troubles?”

“None whatsoever, boss,” Theo promised.

“Just ‘Scott’ is fine,” he smiled.

“Sure thing, boss.”

Scott sighed again and then seemed to finally take notice of their attire. “Hmm, nice sweaters…” he said awkwardly.

Theo wasn’t sure why Liam was laughing, or why he was laughing even harder when he glared at Scott and defended his gift by saying, “Mason got these for us, fuck off.”

“Liam, your mom said that she needs help with more decorations,” Scott said.  

Liam suspiciously looked between Scott and Theo, but still made his way out of the kitchen. “Right…”

Before he turned the corner, the Alpha grabbed his arm and winced, “Maybe… Maybe tell her to cool it down a bit? No offence, but…”

“Yes, I know,” he laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

When they were left alone, Scott sighed and sat by the counter. When he rubbed his eyes, Theo took notice of the dark bags underneath them.

“Hard time studying?”

Scott smiled. “You bet. I wanted to talk to you.”

“Things have been good here. Liam has been good,” he found himself declaring.

Scott nodded. “And you?”

“I’ve been a good boy, too.”

“I meant, how are you? Didn’t really picture you being so into… Christmas,” he confessed as he spared a glance to the living-room decorations again.

Theo shrugged. “I’m not. But Liam fell off the ladder earlier and I got a sweater from Mason, so…”

“So it was a good day,” Scott chuckled but then evened his lips into a thin line.

It was Theo’s turn to sigh. “Get it out already.”

“We found a new Beta. His name is Alec. He is with Argent now, but he has nowhere to go. Monroe, she, uh… she killed his entire family.”

Cold blood ran through Theo’s veins. The only times he ever spoke of Monroe were with Nolan, when he tried to reassure him that she won’t ever hurt him again. Hearing that she was still causing troubles made his head spin.

“I’m thinking of bringing him over in about a week. Argent and Derek are still working on the details, but I was hoping you can help Liam and the rest settle him down?”

“Another baby to babysit?” He tried to lighten the situation.

Scott laughed. “Well, you’ve been doing such a good job with Liam and the rest, I figured I’d ask.”

He felt his Wolf yipping happily again by an Alpha’s compliment. Of course he agreed. He— just like basically everyone else—was weak to Scott McCall’s puppy eyes and pretty smile.

Two days before Christmas, things seemed to cool down at Liam’s house. Jenna was nowhere to be seen, so Liam and Theo decided to take a break and watch a movie at Liam’s living-room.

Theo liked spending time there. The space was homey and the colors were nice, ignoring all the Christmas decorations. It wasn’t too sophisticated like Mason’s house, or too cozy like Nolan’s—it seemed to be just in between. He wondered what his house would look like nowadays, if his family was still around.

“Ah!” Liam jumped in his seat, popcorn scattering all around from the bowl in his lap.

Theo sighed heavily and threw his head back. Apparently, not only did Liam cry from stupid cartoons, but he was also scared from low-budget wanna-be horror films.

"Shut up," Liam hissed as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He licked the butter off his fingers, much to Theo’s horror, and picked it up. "What's up, Mase?"

"You good? Where are you?"

"I'm home with Theo," he said, throwing a glance at the Chimera. "Everything okay?"

"Corey had a run in with a hunter at the preserve."

"Oh, my God," Liam gasped and quickly sat straight, his shoulder bumping Theo's, who curiously leaned in closer to the phone. "Is he okay?"

There was silence at the other side of the line.

Liam felt the bile at the back of his throat. "Mason," he gasped out, barely registering Theo clasping his unoccupied hand in his, squeezing it softly in comfort. He cast a look at Theo who had a blank face, but saw how pale be had become within seconds. "Mason, how bad is it?" He grasped the phone tightly in one hand, and squeezed Theo back with the other.

"What? Oh no, he is fine, just a little bruised. Sorry, I was taking a sip of tea."

"Are you fucking—?" Theo yelled in anger. Then he looked down at his and Liam's clasped hands and immediately let go and rolled back to his seat, huffing angrily as he did so.

"Mason," Liam grinded his teeth, his heart still beating violently. "I will kill you."

"Sorry! Melissa patched him up, he's gonna be as good as new tomorrow. We're home. Just wanted to make sure you two are safe. The Sheriff department is covering the area to see if there are any other hunters nearby, so maybe you should stay in."

"The hunter who attacked Corey?"

"In custody. Corey managed to attack him well enough to slow him down. Argent found them both. Listen, I gotta go, but stay safe, okay?"

The line hung up and Liam sighed in relief, sinking into the sofa.

"Jesus," Theo breathed out.

"Thought you don't believe in Jesus," he said without thinking, his mind still trying to process everything.

"What?" Theo shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I don't believe in God. Obviously I know that there was a historical figure named Jesus, I just know he didn't rise from the death or whatever."

"How can you be so sure? You rose from the dead. Also, what, did the Dread Doctors know Jesus, too?"

"The Doctors are only 200 years old, Jesus is way older. Aren't you supposed to know history?"

Liam laughed but was too tired to think of a comeback. But this was nice. Knowing that no one died today was nice.

And so what if he threw himself at Corey the following day and cried a bit into his shoulder? He was too relieved to feel embarrassed.

Chapter Text

“I invited Theo over later but I don’t even know what to do. He's not scared of horror movies, so that’s a no,” Liam ranted to Mason as they studied at the library.

“Dude. He was raised by the Dread Doctors. Dread, Liam,” Mason emphasized. “His entire life is a horror movie, of course he's not scared. Just order some pizza and watch a comedy. Or play video games or something.”

“Yeah, maybe…” Liam sighed.

Mason closed his textbook and sighed as well. “Look, this is progress, right? He agreed to hang out with you at your house again.”

“Well, yeah, but he didn’t spend Christmas Eve with us. And he never agrees to stay the night. And I think he mentioned it's been a while since he last spent it at Nolan's, so he's still sleeping in his—"

“Hey, Leonel,” an irritating voice interrupted.

Liam squinted his eyes.

Alec.

“My name is Liam! You know my name is Liam!”

“Whatever you say, Leonard,” Alec replied nonchalantly as he carelessly threw his backpack on the floor and took a seat across from an amused Mason.

“Okay, no problem, Alex!"

Alec lazily opened a book and leveled Liam with a bored look. “I really don't care how you call me, Leanne.”

“Leanne is a girl's name!”

“Well you look like one so…”

Liam immediately rose to his feet. “Okay, listen here, you little shit!”

“Okay!” Mason laughed and stood to pat Liam’s shoulder until the Beta sat back down with a growl. “Let’s tone in down a bit, okay?”

Alec shrugged.

Liam hated him.

When Scott, Argent and the Sheriff had introduced Alec to the group the previous week, Liam was excited. Finally, someone new, someone younger than Liam, someone Liam could guide and show the ropes to. Finally someone Liam could be an Alpha to.

Too bad Alec was a piece of work.

The moment their eyes met, Liam’s wide grin dissolved when Alec huffed in annoyance.

“Uh, I’m Liam…” He introduced himself awkwardly.

Alec just sighed again and looked up at Argent. “Can’t I just stay with you?”

Liam hated him.

“What are you doing?” Theo asked.

Whenever Theo wasn’t busy with work, or at the gym, he would come pick Liam up from school. He couldn’t even remember why he was doing it anymore, but the days seemed a lot less dull with Liam and the others. He could finally keep track of time and actually live in the moment for once.

Their usual meet-up spot was by the entrance of the school, and Liam would more often than not wait for Theo with his eyes glued to his phone. Just like now.

“Taking a test,” Liam replied without taking his eyes off the screen.

“On your phone?”

“It’s a BuzzFeed test.”

“A what?”

“I want to see what kind of dipping I am.”

“What?” He asked again.

Liam looked up from his phone and stared Theo straight in the eyes. “It’s important for my character development, Theo.” He turned his attention back to the device in his hands. “God, I hope I’m a guacamole.”

“I am confused,” Theo confessed and turned to Mason. “Mason, I’m so confused.”

Mason smiled sympathetically and patted Theo’s shoulder. “I know, buddy. It’s okay.”

A tired-looking Alec exited the school as well. “Alright, losers, I’m here. We can go now—Oh.” He seemed to stop in his tracks when he saw Theo.

“Hey, you the new kid Scott mentioned?” Theo tried to give him a warm smile, but he was sure it came off awkward.

“I-I’m almost sixteen…” Alec stuttered.

“What’s your name?”

Alec felt his world quivering in a rush. “A-Alec…”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Theo. If these two ever give you a hard time, you come to me, alright?”

“O-Okay…” He replied and started playing with the straps of his backpack.

Mason and Liam exchanged looks.

Instead of playing video games as Mason had suggested, Liam decided to take Theo to the woods to race. He thought it would help him wear off the anxiety (cause: school) and the anger (cause: Alec), but instead he was just left exhausted as he fell down to his knees and breathed in much-needed air.

“Giving up already?” Theo teased.

“This is not normal,” Liam huffed and puffed, looking like a wet mess compared to Theo, who barely broke a sweat. “How come you’re so much better at being a Werewolf than me? You’re not even a real Werewolf.”

Theo tried not to take it to heart. Instead, he pretended to think, “Hmm, I dunno. Maybe Scott messed up the bite or something, because this is not normal.”

Liam narrowed his eyes. “Ha-ha, very funny.”

Theo offered his hand, which Liam gladly accepted. “Come on, let’s get you up.”

They fell into an easy pace, just walking in the never-ending forest of green. Liam started to shiver as cold air brushed against his damp skin. He took a look at Theo, who seemed to be comfortable with the weather. He also noted that Theo had a new-looking coat.

Good.

“So…” Theo began. “Alec.”

Liam groaned. “He is the worst! Seriously, he is such a brat!”

“I’m sure he just needs some time. Scott mentioned that Monroe…”

The unfinished sentence echoed against Liam’s ears and he stopped in his tracks, suddenly feeling like a monster (the monster they all claim he is) for being so impatient with the younger. “Y-Yeah… Yeah.”

“If someone can get him to open up, then it’s you.”

Liam wasn’t sure why those words made him feel so happy, or why Theo’s smile suddenly looked so captivating.

Afterwards, Theo had agreed to take Liam up on his offer and hang out at his house a bit. He claimed it was only because it was cold outside and he didn’t have anything better to do, but Liam was excited nonetheless. They didn’t do much talking, simply drank some hot chocolate. 

Theo and big mugs of hot chocolate didn't really fit together, Liam thought as he stared at Theo taking another sip, the mug covering his face; Theo was all sharp jawlines, high cheekbones, hair styled to the T, he was handsome and radiated confidence. Hot chocolate in oversized sweaters belonged to cute, boyish-looking guys, and Theo didn't exactly fit in that category.

Liam was still mesmerized.

“Alright, now you just put your shoulder here, right next to your chin…” Theo instructed. “And this hand, you twist…”

Over the past few days, Nolan was yet again drifting further away from Theo, who tried to replay their last conversation over and over in his head, trying to pinpoint what he could have said to scare Nolan away. He knew Nolan was dealing with his own demons, demons that had nothing to do with Theo, but Theo felt as if he was floating in a never-ending sea, trying hard to reach out, but to no avail. Nolan used to seek him out in times of distress, but their dynamics changed, and now Theo would be left with his messages unread for hours, until Nolan would be kind enough to reply with something dry and curt. And whenever he would look for him after school, Nolan would come up with a lame excuse and vanish.

Although he tried to busy his days with Liam and Alec (who seemed to quickly grow attached to him), by the end of the day, he would find himself missing Nolan’s vanilla scent all over his car. 

He couldn’t explain this feeling in words—the feeling of being left behind, of changing from someone Nolan seemed to admire, to someone he couldn’t rid himself of quickly enough. What he did know was that with each passing day, he became more restless, a deep sense of uncertainty and slight distress gnawing at him.

So when Nolan suddenly agreed to meet and practice crossbow skills, Theo felt as if he was finally emerging from the deep waters, finally reaching land. He was not about to let this opportunity pass, even if it meant he had to ditch Liam and ask him to catch a ride back home with Mason.

As gently as he could, he held Nolan’s trembling wrists and guided him. “Now just… shoot.”

The arrow flew and missed the target they placed on the tree by a few good inches.

“Hmm… Let’s try again—“

“Do you think I can try alone?” Nolan asked quietly, his eyes fixed on the tree. “Without you… touching me?”

“Uh, yeah.” Theo scratched his chin. “Sure.”

Nolan nodded and positioned the next arrow. His shoulders were shaking as he took a deep breath and fired the arrow, which hit the target almost perfectly.

“What the—!” Theo laughed. “Nolan, that was great!”

Nolan didn’t seem practically happy. In fact, he looked dejected. As Theo tried to find the words that would coax whatever was bothering Nolan out of him, he noticed that Nolan was shivering.

Nolan always seemed to wear light hoodies, no matter how cold the weather was. Theo recalled that first night he came running to him after a nightmare, barefoot in the woods. Was Nolan starting to become numb to pain? Or did he simply not care?

Either way, Theo felt his stomach twist into knots, so he peeled his own coat off and threw it around a startled Nolan’s shoulders.

“Why?” Nolan asked.

Theo shrugged. “Looks good.”

He wasn’t lying.

“Hey, you didn’t tell me where you were yesterday,” Liam said as they were driving back from school the next day. “Did you have a shift?”

“Was with Nolan.”

“Oh,” Liam frowned, not really liking the idea of being ditched. “You two sure do hang out a lot… What do you guys even talk about? Like, you’ve got absolutely nothing in common."

“Nolan and I have plenty in common.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

“We both tried to kill you,” Theo grinned at him.

Liam frowned again. “Tsk. Assholes.”

“Alec, are you excited for tomorrow?” Mason asked with a smile.

“I guess…” Alec replied as he poked at his salad.

The cafeteria seemed to be buzzing that day, everyone anticipating the weekend. Liam’s table, though, seemed quieter than usual and Alec seemed to be moodier than ever.

Liam didn’t like shifts in group dynamics. His group was small; it consisted of himself; a ticking time-bomb that could explode at any moment, but otherwise was nice enough, Mason, who was more often than not like a mother hen, trying to calm the spirits down and come up with smart, creative ideas, and Corey, who albeit shy, was loyal and tagged along on their adventures with a smile on his face.

Suddenly having Alec around changed everything, and Liam didn’t like that one bit. Everything seemed to throw the youngest into a foul mood, and Liam felt like they all had to walk on eggshells around Alec.

“Uh, well… It’s gonna be fun!” Mason clapped. “Right, Liam?”

“Uh…” Liam froze mid-bite. “Sure.”

“Who’s coming?” Alec looked up at Mason.

“All of us!” Mason cheered and gestured to the table; Corey nodded happily and Liam groaned.

Alec looked down at his salad again. “Will Theo come?”

“Sure! I’m sure he would love to.”

Alec nodded and finally ate his food.

Mason grabbed Theo by the end of the day and took him aside. “Okay, Theo, I’m going to ask you something, and you can refuse—“

“Trust me, I probably will.”

“We’re gathering tomorrow, you know, sort of like a small, belated welcome party for Alec. Will you come?”

Theo thought for a while. “I don't know..."

“It will be just us guys," Mason pleaded. "And Alec said he wants you to come.”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to get him attached to me.”

"Too late for that," Mason said under his breath. 

Theo didn't look impressed.

“…Corey wants you to come, too?” Mason tried as a last desperate resort.

Theo crossed his arms over his chest. “You know you can’t throw the Corey card whenever you want, right?”

“I can call him right now and he’ll ask you himself.”

“Don’t,” Theo warned. “I’ll come. Might be a bit late, though. Deaton is out of town and I promised him I'd check on the clinic.”

He also promised Scott he’d help look after Alec, so maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.  

They decided to throw the party at Liam’s house. Rather than a party, it was a small get-together with food, light music and lots of video games. Either way, Alec didn't seem to be in the mood.

“Do you think he’s bored?” Liam whispered to Mason.

“Nah, man,” Mason faked a smile.

“This party is boring,” Alec said. “When is Theo gonna show up?”

Liam angrily set his glass of juice on the table. “I dunno, he’s your boyfriend, why don't you just text him?”

“Do I sense jealousy? Do you want to date Theo?” Alec grinned.

“I do not want to date Theo!” Liam yelled.

“Is that supposed to offend me?” Theo asked as he entered the house. “Because honestly, that just tells me you still have some sort of common sense left in you.”

“Hey!” Mason interjected. “Don’t sell yourself so short, buddy!”

“No, I mean it,” Theo insisted. “I killed the last person I kissed.”

“Jesus,” Mason breathed out and poured himself another glass of juice.

“Finally, you’re here!” Alec cheered and clung to Theo’s side. “Come with me, I need to show you this new triple jump I’ve just learned, it’s so sick!”

“We’ll come with you,” Liam tried to smile at the pair.

“No,” Alec squinted his eyes. “It’s our thing.”

Liam breathed out a laugh, amazed at the audacity. “And I’m the one who wants to date him, right?”

Alec frowned and dragged Theo outside without so much as glancing at Liam again.

Liam tried not to be too offended by the fact that Theo had just left with Alec, without calling him out on his odd display of possessiveness, or without throwing him a dirty look for clinging to him like that.

“What the hell is this kid’s problem?” Liam complained. “Is he seriously trying to gatekeep Theo right now?”

He didn’t like the way Mason and Corey looked at him.

“Liam, he just lost his entire family. He just looks up to Scott and Theo, you know, like big brothers,” Mason said. “He’s not gatekeeping, he just needs someone in his corner.”

“Imagine losing all the people you love in one night,” Corey said, his voice soft.

Liam chewed on his bottom lip. He felt like a monster again, like an inhumane person who couldn’t even comprehend basic human trauma, someone ugly who couldn’t be patient with others. “Aren’t we good enough?”

“We’re only, like, a year older than him. He’s just looking for someone to protect him,” Mason explained.

“Well, when you put it like that…”

His best friend smiled. “I’m sure he’ll warm up to us soon enough, don’t worry.”

Theo wasn’t sure why Liam seemed to dislike Alec so much. Maybe he was a tad bit sarcastic and had his shields up, but whenever he was in the zone, he was actually very bubbly and curious. He reminded him a bit of Liam, actually.

Theo would every once in a while throw some fun facts about his past. He didn’t know if he did so to scare Alec, or because he didn’t want to hide anything from him, but within a short while he had already shared with him details that he didn’t even share with Liam or Nolan.

It was nice, having someone new around. Someone who could hear Theo’s side of the story for once, his reasoning for things. Someone completely objective who wasn’t directly hurt by Theo like the others, someone who didn’t immediately stamp his forehead with a label that read ‘Pure Evil’. If by the end of the day Alec were to decide that Theo was indeed evil, then at least he would reach that conclusion by himself, after analyzing all the data he was given.

“So, did you live in a cage?” Alec asked in shock, right after Theo told him about yet another failed experiment of the Doctors that had died in a crate.

Theo laughed. “I wasn’t living in a cage. I had a proper home.”

“Guess being the first Chimera comes with its perks, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“And you said you can shift?”

“Yeah. Another perk.”

“That’s so cool!” He breathed out. “Hey, will you show me one day?”

“Yeah,” Theo replied.

He didn't know if he way lying.

Scott came to visit the next weekend. He asked Liam to come with him to Argent’s house, where Alec was staying at the moment. Liam agreed because he wanted to show Scott that he was a reliable Pack member, although he really didn’t want to see Alec any more than he had to.

Alec seemed to share the same sentiments, because the moment he saw Liam at the door, he sighed. “Come on in.”

Scott smiled that fatherly smile of his as they entered and sat in the living-room. “So, how do you like Beacon Hills so far, Alec?”

He shrugged. “’S’okay. Some people are better than others,” he threw a dirty look at Liam.

Liam resisted punching him.

Scott chuckled. “And what about school?”

“Fine. Did you find her?”

Liam glanced between the two. It seemed Alec wasn’t one to beat around the bush. He could appreciate it.

He still hated him, though.

Scott’s face turned somber. “Not yet. But we will,” he promised.

Alec didn’t look convinced. “I should be out there with you, looking. Not here playing happy family with a middle-aged ex-hunter.”

Liam tried not to laugh. He didn’t want to give Alec the satisfaction.

“We are all hands on deck,” Scott reassured. “And you’re safer here.”

“Yeah, right, because who is better to take care of me than an incompetent time-bomb?”

Liam hated him.

When Scott parked right outside Liam’s house, he sighed and got out of his car. He slowly circled the car, approaching Liam cautiously as he struggled to find the words. “I… How are you doing?”

Liam was debating whether he should go on a meaningless rant about lacrosse, or tell Scott about how his mom had been nagging him about cleaning the garage. Everything seemed so dull compared to that moment with Scott.

“I miss you. Always, always, I always miss you, Scott. It physically hurts me when you're leaving.” He groaned loudly when he realized he said it out loud

“I know,” Scott said. “Trust me, Liam, leaving you all behind is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But it’s also amazing coming back each time and see you change, grow. I couldn’t be any prouder,” he smiled that smile that made Liam’s Wolf run happily in circles. “And now you have Alec to keep you company.”

Liam immediately frowned. “That kid is a piece of shit! Plus, he only ever wants to hang out with Theo! I swear, it’s like he has a crush on him or something…”

“It’s good he trusts someone. And I also think Alec is good for Theo,” he smiled softly. “You know, someone who wasn't here when Theo was all… Someone who won’t judge. Someone neutral who can see Theo for who he is now.”

“I don’t judge Theo,” Liam was quick to say. “Anymore.”

“I know, buddy,” he laughed. “You’re all doing great. And Alec will come ‘round, you’ll see.”

“Alec is a name of a dick, anyway,” Liam mumbled under his breath.

“We found a Witch,” Mason said one Thursday morning, as if it was normal.

“What?” Theo blinked away the tiredness in his eyes. Apparently, they were back to waking him up and taking up the space in his truck.

“Me and Corey, we had a date last night at the woods—“

“A date… In the woods?”

“—And we found a Witch. Well, we found a Supernatural being who claims to be a Witch.”

Finally, Theo remembered why he didn’t want to be involved with Liam’s group in the first place; they were a magnet for trouble. “Okay?”

“We’re gonna check it out.”

“And what does that have to do with me?”

“What if something happens to us? What if she curses us?”

“Again, what does that have to do with me?” Theo repeated.

"Okay, stop acting as if you're not going to join us just to make sure we're okay. We know you like us," Mason put a hand on his hip and stared pointedly.

Theo grimaced.

“Should we alert Scott?” Corey asked nervously.

“No way!” Liam exclaimed. “We deal with this ourselves.”

“Hey, losers. Hey, Theo!” Alec greeted as he jogged to the truck, his curls flying all over.

“Uh, who invited him?” Liam groaned. 

“How was your day?” Theo asked and tried to pour as much tenderness into his tone as he could muster.

Alec nodded. “Argent is being too paranoid with me. Barely lets me go out.”

“Too bad he failed,” Liam said under his breath, although he was sure everyone had heard him; Supernatural or otherwise.

Alec paid him no mind. Instead, he continued to smile at Theo.

“Guys, the Witch?” Corey reminded.

“Well, did she cause trouble?” Theo asked.

Mason and Corey exchanged looks. “Not that we know of…”

“So let her be. She’ll probably be gone by the next few days. And for the record, I don’t care if you get cursed.”

He was lying.

“The Witch has kidnapped Corey!” Mason screamed in panic as he banged on Theo’s window the following day, before the sun had even risen.

Theo, Liam, Mason, and Alec had been searching around the woods for two hours. The sun had already risen, but there was no sign of Corey or the Witch.

Mason had explained that they decided to go on another date the previous night (Theo was still confused) and they encountered the Witch again. According to Mason, the Witch had smiled happily as she saw Corey, yelled “Pretty boy, you’re back!” And then they both vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

“Maybe we should call Scott,” Mason suggested as he chewed on his bottom lip.

“No!” Liam insisted yet again. “He was just here last week, we can’t have him come running every time something small happens to us.”

“Something small?” Mason’s eyebrows furrowed. “My boyfriend has been kidnapped, Liam!”

“I know, I know,” he said apologetically. “I didn’t mean that.”

“Save it,” he huffed. “You never liked Corey either way!”

“That’s not true!” He retorted.

“You never wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt!”

“That was before! You know I love Corey now!”

As the two were fighting, Theo saw Alec pressing his hands to his ears and squinting his eyes shut. “Whoa, Alec,” he managed to grab him just before the younger’s legs gave in. “Stop fighting, you two, you’re triggering him!” He barked and the two immediately shut up. “You okay?” He gently asked Alec.

Alec slowly opened his eyes. “Y-Yeah… Sorry, don’t know what came over me.”

They continued to search in silence for the next hour, everyone deep in thought. When they finally found the Nemeton, Liam and Alec sighed in relief and rested against it. Mason kept looking around in a frantic manner. “I really thought they'd be here…” He said and Theo could hear the sorrow in his voice.

He found himself instinctively putting a hand on Mason’s shoulder. “Maybe we just need—“

“Miss Witch! Hey! Witch!” Mason called around the woods.

Alec and Liam exchanged tired looks.

“Does he really think just calling her will work?” Alec asked.

Liam rolled his eyes. “Mason is a bit naïve some—“

“You called?” A young woman with long, black hair and a purple dress asked.

Liam and Alec screamed and held each other.

Mason narrowed his eyes and took a step towards her, only to be held back by Theo. “You listen here, you better bring me my boyfriend back or I—“

The Witch raised her eyebrows.

Mason gulped. “Or I’ll send Theo after you. He is good at killing people.”

“Stop gloating, Theo!” Liam said angrily at a proud-looking Theo, as he shoved Alec off of him.

Theo cleared his throat and straightened his face. “Sorry.”

The Witch nodded and glanced at the group, her eyes lingering over Theo. “Well, how much do you want your friend back? What are you willing to trade?”

“Whatever you want,” surprisingly, it was Theo who said that.

Liam looked between Theo and the Witch, whose smile was only getting wider. He chuckled nervously and quickly rushed to put a protective hand on Theo’s shoulder. “Okay, no. Definitely not whatever.”

“Liam,” Theo warned.

“Theo,” he said back.

Theo stepped closed to him and whispered, “Corey is the last Chimera. I’m not losing him.”

Liam found himself thrown aback for a moment at the sincerity Theo had displayed. “We won’t,” he assured. “Trust me.”

“Famous last words,” Alec whispered under his breath.

Liam cleared his throat. “Miss Witch. Corey is a valuable member of our team. We just want to make sure he is fine.”

“I would never harm such a beautiful creature, how dare you insist otherwise?” She yelled in offense.

Liam started to panic. “Uh, no, no, sorry, I didn’t mean! We just… We really miss him and this is Mason, his boyfriend,” he said and shoved Mason a bit closer to her. “Look at him, he is devastated!”

Mason sniffled and looked at the Witch with big, teary eyes. “He is my everything.”

The Witch gave Mason a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. My pet chameleon is feeling sick, so I thought the beautiful boy could help me out. I didn’t mean to cause you any pain.”

“May I suggest you visit Doctor Deaton?” Liam offered. “I am sure he can help you with your chameleon. Seriously, Corey knows nothing about animals. One time we had to dog-sit my neighbor’s dog and he, for some reason, meowed at it.”

“Hmm...” The Witch thought. “Alright, you may have your boyfriend back,” she snapped her fingers and suddenly Corey appeared on the Nemeton, his eyes startled.

“Oh, thank God!” Mason screamed and ran to wrap him in a tight embrace.

Something in Theo settled down at last. It was the same feeling of relief he would feel as a kid whenever he came back home after a long day of pretending to be normal at school. The same feeling he would get when the Doctors praised him for finding another possible host for the Beast. The same feeling he would get when Liam was telling him about Lacrosse, or when Alec would ask him questions about his past, or when Nolan would simply smile at him.

For a moment, he almost approached Corey and interrupted his intimate moment with Mason, but stopped himself at the last second.

As if sensing his inner conflict, Corey held his gaze. The two shared a long moment just staring at each other, and Theo didn’t know why, but he was sure he and Corey had felt the same thing.

Liam looked at the Witch and smiled, “Thank you! I knew you had a good heart!”

The Witch blushed.

“You just look a bit creepy, that’s all.”

Theo closed his eyes and sighed.

The Witch immediately reddened and stomped her feet on the ground. “How dare you!” She pointed her finger at a startled Liam, said something in a language none of them recognized, and the next thing they knew, Liam was thrown a few feet back.

They all looked tiredly at an unconscious Liam.

“So...” the Witch broke the silence as she eyed Theo up and down. “Do you ever want to—?”

“No.”

“Understandable. Have a goof life,” she said and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Liam slowly started to wake up from the spell. He tried to blink his eyes open, the setting sun blinding him.

“Coming back to me, Pup?” Theo chuckled. “That’s it, open your pretty eyes.”

Liam groaned. “Theo?” He looked around and realized he was in the bed of Theo’s truck; Mason, Corey and Alec were nowhere to be found. “What happened?” He shifted to sit and tried to recall the last thing he remembered. “Corey was back and the Witch—the Witch! She cast a spell on me! She cursed me, Theo!” He yelled in panic.

"Yeah. I did not see that one coming," he replied dryly.

"Am I going to die? Will I turn into a frog, Theo?"

"You already look like one so I don't see the—Ow, ow, no need to punch me, Liam!"

“This is bad!” Liam said as he pulled at his hair. “Scott is gonna be so mad if I turn into a frog!”

“You’re not gonna turn into a frog, Liam,” Theo rolled his eyes. “All you need is a good night's sleep.”

Liam sniffled. “Promise?”

“Let’s get you home.”

"Alright, Baby Wolf, we're here," Theo declared as he parked his car in front of Liam's house.

"Baby Wolf?" Liam repeated, voice choked. "That is so sweet."

"Sweet?" Theo scoffed. "It's supposed to be an insult, you know, a jab at your height and you being a literal crybaby."

Liam sniffled while staring at Theo with wide, teary eyes. "Call me that again, please?"

"Yeah, okay, no." Theo started the car again and drove away from the house.

"W-Where are we going?"

"Deaton."

"Well, it’s definitely the doing of the Witch," Deaton declared as he closed a dusty, thick book.

Liam was sitting on the operation table, sniffling every once in a while whilst munching on a granola bar that Deaton had given him earlier in order to make him stop crying. He didn't seem to be that interested in the conversation going on around him. Instead, he took big bites and stared at Theo with blown pupils.

"The Nemeton is known to draw supernatural creatures, but I must say, this is a first for me, too,” he admitted.

"So, what, is he gonna die now?" Theo stood next to Liam, putting one arm on the table. Liam took his hand in his and intertwined their fingers. Theo scoffed and snatched his hand away, causing the younger to sniffle.

"No. Witches are known to be pranksters. Their spells may be irritating, but harmless. In Liam's case, it simply made him a little bit more emotional."

"A little bit?" Theo raised an eyebrow.

Liam looked at his empty granola wrapper and started to tear up.

"Okay... Maybe more than a little," Deaton smiled. "But it is still supposed to be harmless."

“She kidnapped Corey into the woods,” Theo frowned. “I don’t think she’s harmless. How do we get Liam back?”

"I don't know. But by the time I figure it out, it won't matter anymore," he explained and put his hand on the brown book. "This right here says that their spells only last around 24 hours."

"Hours?" Theo exclaimed. "You want to tell me that we will be dealing with a baby version of Liam for an entire day?"

"I'm afraid so," he nodded as he gave Liam another bar.

"Thank you," Liam said with a sniffle. "I love you," he then whispered.

Theo groaned.

"Theo, do you think I'm a bad Alpha?" Liam asked.

The Chimera dropped Liam off at his house. He planned to drive away, but Deaton had made it perfectly clear that Liam shouldn't be left alone, so Theo helped him climb up the stairs to his room and waited for him to change into his pajamas.

"I wasn't even aware that you were an Alpha."

"You know what I mean," Liam whined as he put on a plain grey t-shirt. "Like, I feel like I am failing my friends!"

"Stop yelling," Theo ordered. He was glad Liam's parents weren’t home that night.

"Theo," Liam took a step closer to him, the tears already visible in his eyes.

He sighed. "No, Liam, I don't think you're a bad Alpha."

"R-Really?"

"Yes. Really."

"So you think I'm a good Alpha?"

Theo tried to pretend that he did not just see Liam smile bashfully with red cheeks. "Yes, Liam. Sure."

"Better than Scott?"

At that, Theo laughed. "Oh, come on, no one is better than Scott, dude is a True Alpha—Shit."

Liam began to cry loudly.

After crying a little bit more, eating a bag of chips, and then crying even more because Theo refused to cuddle Liam to sleep, Liam was finally sound asleep in his bed, snot all over his nose. At least he looked peaceful while doing so.

Theo sighed as he laid down on the air mattress next to Liam’s bed. It wasn’t as comfortable as the bed in Nolan’s guest room (or Nolan’s bed itself, which he had slept in twice), but it beat his car any day. The thick blanket was a comforting weight. 

He reached for his phone and lingered around a name in his contact list for a bit. Taking a deep breath, as if about to dive into water, he pressed Nolan’s name and grimaced. He didn’t put the phone to his ear, but could hear the ringing line. Part of him wished that Nolan wouldn’t pick up because he didn’t know what to say.

This is stupid, he thought and was about to hang up, but his finger didn’t move. Instead, he waited, until Nolan picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” he put the phone to his ear and whispered, glancing to make sure Liam was still snoring in bliss.

“Hey,” Nolan said softly. “Are you okay?”

Theo closed his eyes and turned to lie on his side, the blanket shifting comfortably with him. “A Witch cursed Liam and now he is going to act like a baby for the next 20 hours or so.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry, he’s fine.” Theo glanced at Liam again. “I just… I was wondering when we’re going to practice shooting again. Although it seems like you don’t need me… You’re actually a good shot.”

“When I’m not a nervous mess, I guess,” Nolan sighed.

Theo didn’t know if Nolan meant he was a good shot whenever he’s not a mess, or if he meant they’ll spend time when he’s not a mess.

He didn’t ask him to elaborate.

They spent the next few seconds in silence, just hearing each other’s breaths.

“Is everything okay?” Nolan asked, and Theo wanted to hear this soft voice for eternity.

His entire life he had grown up with the Doctors, who had cold, mechanical voices that sent shivers down his spine. He figured he deserved to spend the remainder of his life listening to sweet voices like Nolan’s, no?

Or maybe he didn’t deserve anything good.

“I can’t sleep.”

“Sounds like you had a busy day.”

“I can never sleep,” Theo confessed. I’m scared, he wanted to say. Scared of the nightmares that only seemed to go away whenever Theo was sleeping over at Nolan’s.

“Why don’t you come over?” Nolan said. He always seemed to read Theo’s mind, and that both spooked and comforted Theo.

“Can’t. Have to keep an eye on Liam.”

“Oh,” he said, and then, “Wanna meet up tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Theo whispered.

Apparently, Deaton’s book wasn’t accurate because the curse only lasted 12 hours instead of 24. By the time Liam woke up, he was back to his normal self.

"How bad was it?" He groaned.

"Well, you know,” Theo shrugged as he finished deflating the air mattress. “You only cried three times when I told you you're not an Alpha." He decided to skip the part where Liam had asked Theo to hold him in his sleep, for the sake of both of them. 

Liam groaned again and hid his face in his hands. "Okay, so maybe I'm not an Alpha yet. But I will be. And then you can be in my Pack?

Theo paused. "You'd want me in your Pack?"

Liam smiled. "I'd be an absolute fool not to."

And okay, Theo thought. Maybe Liam wasn’t all that bad.

As he was putting his shoes back on, getting ready to head out to Nolan’s, he heard part of Liam’s phone conversation with Scott.

“Hunters?” Scott’s concerned voice came through.

“No, just a Witch,” Liam said casually.

“…Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Theo chuckled and quietly made his way out of the house.

Nolan and Theo decided to have a lazy Saturday afternoon, sitting comfortably on the sofa and watching an action movie. Every time Nolan shifted to get comfortable, or to get a drink, his shoulder knocked into Theo’s and grounded him.

Theo liked Nolan’s hair the best. It was always so shiny, such a nice shade of blonde. And he had a long nose and high cheekbones. Whenever he laughed, his eyes squinted and his long lashes fluttered against his cheeks. Theo wondered why some people were just blessed to be beautiful, while others weren’t.

There was an explosion going on in the movie, and Nolan turned to look at Theo, finding the older already staring at him. Theo didn’t have time to feel embarrassed, because Nolan simply smiled and nudged his hand into Theo's; not really holding it, but still making sure they touch each other.

The coldness in Tara’s heart didn’t dissolve even with Nolan’s warm hand so close to his.

“Am I always going to feel this way?” He voiced his thoughts aloud.

Nolan didn’t reply, but he did finally hold his hand properly and squeezed.

The nightmares of his time in Hell became more frequent, more vivid. At the beginning, they were just images, flashbacks of Tara approaching him with her icy glare. But as days went by, the nightmares progressed. Theo started feeling her ripping her heart out of his chest, started feeling himself gasping, choking.

He wondered if he would ever get rid of it. What was the point of escaping Hell if he kept encountering it every night? He selfishly thought that the more good deeds he did, the more he helped Scott and his Pack, the more he redeemed himself—the nightmares would lessen. Like a lesson learned, with no need for further punishment. But Theo was wrong, because the nightmares only evolved.

It all came to a downhill when one night he woke up, shuddering in the back seat of his car, gasping, whining. He could taste metal in his mouth and froze when he looked down at his body.

A scream escaped his mouth when he saw his own claws piercing through his chest, leaving a mess of blood.

Chapter Text

It kept happening. It seemed that whenever Tara took her heart back in the nightmares, Theo tried to do the same in real life, his hands mimicking her actions unwillingly, digging at his chest. He woke up more often than not with his own claws where his heart should be, trying to pierce through the skin.

Good news is, Theo was starting to get used to it, so he reacted quicker each time. So when he’d wake up, gasping and burning with pain, it'd take him less than a millisecond to sober up, control his heartbeat and find the most efficient way to declaw himself, tearing as little skin as possible.

Like the way he was raised to be, he became a pro.

The only problem was that he was a Chimera and his healing was already slower to begin with. And since the nightmares occurred more often, his body didn’t have the time to heal from old scars before new ones formed.  

“So Theo used to study with you?” Alec asked during lunch as he poked his fork into his salad, a thing he seemed to do often.

Liam groaned—loudly.

He was really trying to give Alec the benefit of the doubt, but if he was going to hear one more question about Theo, he was going to lose it. Possibly slam his head against the cafeteria table.

“Yeah,” Corey answered quickly, almost as if wishing to rid of this topic as quickly as possible.

“What was it like? I mean, he kinda looks like the guy to steal Liam’s lunch money, so…” He gave that smile of his that Liam hated most—as if innocent, but totally smug.

Mason laughed. “It was something like that.”

Alec leaned forwards, eyes curious and fixated on Corey. "So... Did you ever have a crush on Theo while you were in the Chimera pack?"

Corey choked on his food, his pale skin flushed deep pink. “No! He was so scary, I just tried to get out of his way.”

Mason shrugged. “Understandable.”

Alec laughed and sat back in his seat. “I just can’t see how you guys used to be scared of him, I guess. He got me ice-cream while ranting about Star Wars the other day.”

Liam hated how Alec would just randomly throw facts about Theo, as if gloating for knowing the older. He mocked Alec’s tone under his breath, “Theo got me ice cream, blah, blah, he’s so dreamy…”

He knew Alec had heard him, but for some reason, the younger decided not to comment.

“Pre-Hell Theo is not like Post-Hell Theo,” Mason said simply.

Liam scoffed. “What, do you have a crush on him?” He threw the question at Alec like a dart, hoping to embarrass him, to finaly shut him up.

But Alec seemed un-fazed. He met Liam’s gaze, calm and nonchalant. “We can all agree he’s hot, right?”

Liam blinked, caught completely off-guard. This was the last thing he had expected.

“Hot like sin,” Mason nodded.

“Oh yeah, totally,” Corey added.

Liam opened his mouth, only to close it several times, not finding the words. He looked down at his tray and with a groan, slammed his head against the cold plastic table.

Liam sighed deeply as he pushed the school’s double doors, finally free of that hellhole—and more important, free of Alec.

“Need me to kill someone for you, Pup?” Theo asked, sliding to walk beside him.

“Yes, please,” he gave him his best puppy-eyes.

It didn’t go unnoticed to Liam that his mood immediately brightened just by having Theo by his side. Still, he decided not to dwell on the meaning behind it.

Theo chuckled. “I’d love to, but some preachy Beta and his self-righteous Alpha always tell me that killing is bad. I’m not above breaking some bones for you, though.”

“You'd break someone's bones for me?” Liam was, for some odd reason, actually moved.

“Sure, Pup,” he laughed again.

“Good. It’s Alec.”

“Oh,” Theo rubbed his hands together and blew some hot air into them. “I kind of like him, actually.”

“Theo, no!” Liam screamed in horror and clanged to Theo’s chest. “Not you, too! He already has everyone wrapped around his evil little finger!”

Theo flinched back, his smile slightly faltering.  

“Oh. Sorry,” Liam whispered, suddenly self-conscious and embarrassed.

“All good,” Theo said quickly, his smile too forced. “Come on, your carriage is waiting. We need to hurry; I’m meeting up with Nolan later.”

Liam stood in his place even as Theo left towards the car.

Theo didn’t seem to mind Alec touching him, so why was he so repulsed by Liam doing the same?

And why was he ditching him for Nolan again?

Theo was spiraling.

He was standing outside Nolan’s house for the past 10 minutes, the cold air seeping into his bones, leaving him a motionless mess. Although he wore his thick coat, he could feel an icy feeling piercing his veins, could sense the tips of his fingers getting numb, could hear his teeth clicking together.

He shivered again, small tremors pulsing through his body.

Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe Nolan didn’t even want to see him.

That was stupid, Theo knew, because Nolan had invited him.

His hand felt so heavy when he lifted it to knock on the door. In seconds, Nolan opened it, a boyish grin painting his features.

“Hey,” he greeted timidly.

“Hey,” Theo cleared his throat. “Right. Hmm. So," he shoved the bouquet of flowers to Nolan's hand. "Happy birthday."

Nolan smiled as he examined the flowers, his eyes shining beautifully. "Thank you," he whispered. "You didn't have to."

"It's the least I could do. They're not expensive, by the way," Theo started talking and he tried to stop, he really did, but he couldn’t. "I'm pretty sure they're gonna die soon, that's why they were cheaper than the rest, and I really wanted to get you something nicer, but I didn't get paid yet and—“

And then he saw the way Nolan smiled at him. And Theo was a goner for that smile.

"Thank you," he repeated.

"Anything for you, pretty.

“Why are you upset now, Liam?” Mason sighed.

Liam frowned at his phone. “Theo is hanging out with Nolan again. What do these two even have to talk about?”

Mason groaned and threw the PlayStation remote to the floor.

“Oh, sorry,” Liam smiled in embarrassment. “Here, let’s play another round.”

“No, why would we, when we can continue obsessing over Theo?”

“What?”

“I’m starting to think Alec is right and you really do want to date Theo.”

“What?” Liam screamed.

When Mason saw the mortified look on Liam’s face, his smile fell. “Hey, you know I’m just teasing, right? It’s normal to be upset.”

“It is?”

“Sure,” he shrugged. “I mean, Theo is supposed to be your responsibility and you’ve tried so hard to befriend him, and suddenly he’s choosing to spend all his time with Nolan and Alec? I’d be offended too.”

“Right?” Liam exclaimed, relieved that someone understands what he’s feeling.

“But trust me, I think he likes us. I mean, maybe he’s a bit more comfortable with them, but I think he likes us all.”

“Yeah?” He asked, unsure.

“Yeah, man! You don’t need me to tell you! The guy became your personal chauffer; I’d say that counts for something.”

Liam smiled. He was so lucky to have an anchor like Mason.

“So… What did you and Theo end up doing last night?” Liam asked Nolan the following day, by the lockers. He tried to ignore Mason’s face-palm.

Nolan shrugged as he shoved books into his locker. “Just a dinner with my family.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“My birthday.”

Liam, Mason and Corey all looked alarmed and exchanged looks.

“What? Why didn’t you tell us?” Mason grabbed Nolan by the shoulders and shook him.

“I don’t know, it’s not a big deal…”

“We didn’t even get you anything…” Corey whispered, sounding down.

“It’s okay, really,” Nolan said. “I usually don’t celebrate, anyway, but my mom insisted and she really likes Theo so she asked me to invite him.”

None of them looked reassured, but then the bell rang and Mason and Corey left for their classes. Before Nolan could do so as well, Liam grabbed his wrist. “Hey, hmm… Are we okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Nolan smiled at him.

Liam looked deep into his eyes, trying to pick up at any signal indicating the boy was lying. “Are you mad at me or something?”

“No,” Nolan looked confused. “Why?”

“You just…” Liam let go of Nolan’s wrist and suddenly he thought himself to be childish. “You just don’t really talk to us anymore…”

“Oh,” Nolan looked down to the floor. “I’ve just been busy. We can hung out this weekend, maybe…?”

“Yeah,” Liam cheered up. “That would be great.”

It's not like Theo was hiding what was happening to his body. It’s just that it wasn’t anyone’s business.

And maybe a part of him was worried that if Scott found out just how broken and useless he was, he'll send him back to Tara. And although Theo dreamt of her every night and even pierced his own chest in her tribute, he wasn't ready to go back to the real thing.

Naturally, Liam became suspicious of Theo when the latter would wince one time too many when being playfully shoved, or would bite his lip to conceal a hidden pain. And Theo knew Liam was starting to get suspicious, but he couldn’t tell him “Oh, no worries, it’s just that my chest is full of self-inflicted wounds, caused by the time I spent in Hell with the sister I killed”.

No, he couldn’t say that, so instead, he did what he did best—run away.

He started to drastically spend less time with Liam’s group, including Nolan who would always give him a worrying look that was suffocating Theo. Every night, he would park his car in a different area in the woods and would conceal his tracks to make it harder for Liam to pinpoint him. Every morning he’d wake up early to drive away, grimacing through the pain of the new wounds, and find a quiet place to clean himself.

He’d rather die than be caught by Liam in a mess of his own blood.

Obviously, Liam and Co immediately picked up on his act of disappearances, texted him non-stop and even came to visit him at the clinic one afternoon. Before they could enter, Theo already picked up their chemo-signals and ran to hide in the back-room. “Tell them I’m not here today, please”, he practically begged Deaton.

Deaton sighed and went out to speak to Liam, Mason, Corey and Alec for a few minutes. Theo didn’t bother trying to hear what they were saying; he was too hurt and tired, but he did channel all of his remaining energy to conceal his chemo-signals.

Thankfully, after a while, they left and Theo breathed out in relief.

Deaton didn’t ever spare him a glance as he organized his equipment, but did say, “I thought you’re getting friendly with them. Has something happened?”

Theo sighed again as he helped him organize the tools needed for their next surgery. “Just my life, the usual.”

154 times.

That's the amount of times Theo had tried to kill himself in Hell. Whenever Tara killed him, the pain wasn’t just physical, so he figured it’d be better if he just killed himself.

As Tara took her heart out of him once again, he came up with a plan. He is going to wake up in the locker again, but this time, he won’t run. He won’t wait for her to reach him, either.

He is going to kill himself, going to take the heart out himself. Anything is better than having Tara cruelly rip it apart again.

That quickly turned out to be impossible, because the next time Theo woke up, he realized he didn’t have his claws in Hell.

He quickly broke out of the locker and searched the tables and drawers in the hospital room. He found a scalp and quickly pushed it against his chest, but nothing happened. Theo looked at his hands and suddenly the scalp vanished.

And then Tara came.

He tried different variations of killing himself. 154 tries. But Tara always did the deed.

He figured his tactic was wrong. Of course the group wouldn’t stay sill; he practically just up and bolted. He should have made his exit more gradual, should've given them more time to get used to him being gone. 

He groaned as he finished wiping the blood off his chest and even putting on some plasters on the cuts, for good measure. The sun already rose, but Theo was too tired to move. He grimaced at his bloody shirt and quickly put on a new, clean one.

He was always methodical in his plans, always took the long, cautious road to ensure high success rates, so why did he think Liam would just sit by and let him disappear all of a sudden? He should have executed his plan slower, should have started to make up lame excuses as to why he couldn’t hung with them anymore. Or maybe he should have even went back to acting like his old evil self again, just so they’d cut ties with him themselves.

But no, he had to be dramatic and run off, attracting even more attention by doing so.

He took his phone in his hand, a few messages unread, most from Liam and Alec, some from Scott and Nolan. He figured he should text Scott soon, tell him something came up and that he has to leave town for a while, at least until he could figure out how to fix his little problem.

Too invested in his thoughts, he let his guard down again (another by-product of his body not healing properly) and failed to notice Liam, Mason and Corey glaring at him from outside the track.

“Excuse me?” Liam pounded obnoxiously on the window.

“Jesus!” Theo threw his phone in the air when he met Liam’s hard glare. He groaned and slowly got out of the car, praying that Liam is too mad and upset to be able to pick up on the scent of blood in the area. “What are you doing here?”

“Me? What I’m doing here?” Liam scoffed. “What are you doing here and why are you hiding away from us?”

“Not hiding away,” he crossed his hands over his chest protectively.

“Is something wrong?” Corey’s soft voice—which was the complete opposite of Liam’s accusing tone—came.

Theo liked soft-spoken people like Nolan and Corey. Something in their tone eased his worries and made him sleepy. His own voice was raspy and harsh to his own ears, but he guessed it suited his harsh personality, so he had no one to blame but himself, really.

“No,” he simply said.

“Look,” Liam sighed and massaged his temples. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. Just… Don’t shut us down, please?” He whispered the last part.

No matter how much Theo thought that Liam was an annoying kid who kept pushing his nose into other people’s business, he could appreciate that Liam always tried to do the right thing, always tried to help others, even if they didn’t deserve it.

And he started to feel slightly guilty for making them come and fetch him so early in the morning, just because he couldn't be truthful.

“Nothing’s going on,” he insisted. “I just need some space, is it so bad?” He narrowed his eyes. “Like, I get you all think you’re like, the best thing in the world, but have you stopped to think that maybe I don’t want to spend the remaining of my life with you losers?”

Liam physically flinched back.

Good.

“You don’t mean that,” Liam whispered, hoping.

“Oh, I don’t?” Theo challenged.

“No, you don’t,” Mason rolled his eyes, clearly not buying Theo’s act, which only irritated the older even more. “Can you stop being so dramatic for once, use your words like a big boy and tell us what’s wrong? We can help.”

“I don’t need you help!”

“We worry about you, you jerk!” Mason yelled back, his eyes as narrowed as possible.

“Stop worrying about me and stop feeling bad for me!”

“You can come back to reality anytime now, Theo!” He screamed in a way Theo had never heard Mason scream before, didn’t even know was possible. “You don’t want us to feel bad for you? Fine, then stop living in your truck, and stop hiding,” he deadpanned. “What you oh-so-surely believe is pity? Yeah, that’s actually us caring for you, you dipshit! And if you stopped for just a second to pull your head out of your ass, you would understand it’s because we like you! But no, God forbid the Chimera of Death will ever think positively!” He said theatrically, and then his nose flared. “Grow the fuck up.”

“Whoa,” Theo breathed after a long pause.

“Yeah, Mason, whoa,” Liam said cautiously.

Mason glared. “You’re coming to my place to sleep over tonight. As a matter of fact, we’re all having a sleepover, yay!” He cheered sarcastically. When Theo opened his mouth, he said, “I swear to God, Raeken, one more word and I will channel the Beast within me and kick your furry ass straight to your beloved moon!”

Theo might have been a fighter, but even he knew how to pick his battles.

“I was a part of something big. I was this unrealizable dream, breaking the laws of everything humanity knew. And now I'm... hanging out with you guys,” Theo finished his rant, playing with the popcorn in the bowl he was holding. 

He would never admit it, but he actually liked spending time at Mason’s basement. It was a cool place to chill, and the armchair, which Theo declared to be 'his spot' was comfortable.

“Ouch,” Mason said and took another gulp out of the can in his hand. 

“I am so lost without them,” Theo groaned and threw his head back in agony. Here he was, ranting to Mason about his aimless life, as if he didn’t just spend the last few days ignoring this group. “Without a mission, a purpose. Retirement doesn't suit me, I guess.”

“Don’t worry, buddy! We’ll help you think of something.”

“Yeah?” Theo chewed on his finger, not even sure why he was telling Mason all this.

“Sure! That’s what friends are for!”

“I’m not your friend.”

Mason stared at him, as if he was about to lecture him again, but at the last moment he simply shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I mean, friends actually take care of each other. They drive each other places, and help them study for tests, make them a nice drink when they have a nightmare..”

“I do all of that.” Theo paused for a long while. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Mason rolled his eyes. He shoved Theo’s elbow, “Friend.”

Liam, Alec and Corey came down the stairs with more snacks in their hands, and Theo could practically smell Liam’s irritation.

“What got you all pissed?”

Liam scoffed.

Alec laughed. “He’s upset because he realized no one will ever want to date him because he is ugly.”

“People will want to date me!” Liam fought back.

“Oh, yeah? Name one person who is willing to settle down so low for you.”

Liam growled and looked around the room, his expression suddenly brightening. “Theo would! Theo, you would totally date me, right?”

Theo couldn’t help it, but he laughed, hard, Alec joining him.

Liam’s face reddened. “Jerks.”

Theo didn’t sleep that night. He couldn’t take the risk of the group waking up before him, finding him digging at his own flesh, like the monster he was.

“We should go out to a party!” Mason exclaimed one day right after he finished drinking his smoothie, sucking obnoxiously out of his straw.

The entire group was sitting at a diner (minus Alec who had to go with Argent somewhere), burger wraps scattered messily across the table. Theo, who opted to sit by the wall, munching on a French fry, was feeling content, sitting by Nolan who surprisingly decided to join them.

“Uh, parties aren’t really my thing,” Nolan confessed shyly.

“Same,” Theo secretly smiled at him.

“Aw, come on, it’ll be fun!” Liam said. “It’s been a while since we hit the Sinema.”

Corey visible shuddered. “I don’t want to go back there.”

Thro played with a curled fry between his fingers, not liking the way the other Chimera’s mood soured.

The Sinema was where Lucas had attacked Corey.

“Think fast,” he said and threw the fry at Corey’s direction.

For someone who wasn’t that good at combat fighting, Corey had some pretty fast reflexes, and he caught the fry in his mouth. He chewed on it and threw a tiny appreciative smile towards Theo’s direction.

That’s progress, Theo patted himself on the back.

“Think about it!” Liam continued. “We go, dance a bit, drink… Maybe find ourselves some nice girls, huh?” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully and nudged the person sitting next to him, who happened to be Mason.

“…Dude, I’m gay and I’m dating Corey,” he said.

Liam huffed. “Doesn’t matter, you get what I mean, let’s go clubbing!”

“Sorry, I’m out,” Nolan yawned. “I’m so tired.”

The way Nolan ruffled his shiny hair suddenly made Theo feel tired as well. He was about to ask Nolan to spend the night at his place, but suddenly, a terrifying thought crossed his mind; him staining Nolan’s sheets with his own blood, gushing out of his wounds. Or worse; Nolan stumbling across the scene, trying to help Theo and it the process, getting hurt himself.

Suddenly Theo was wide-awake, the idea of crashing at Nolan’s long forgotten. “Actually, maybe hitting the club isn’t such a bad idea,” he said.

If Mason and Corey were curious as to why Theo suddenly changed his mind, they didn’t mention it, and Liam was too excited to notice anything as they were all getting ready at Mason’s place.

Theo wasn’t sure why they were even supposed to get ready for a dirty club in the middle of Beacon Hills, but he kept his mouth shut as Mason pulled shirt after shirt out of his closet and styled Liam and Corey.

“Is this really necessary?” Corey yawned.

“Looking presentable is always necessary,” his boyfriend declared.

“Dude, you have so many creams,” Liam, the hyperactive kid that he was, touched all of the stuff on Mason’s vanity table.

“Don’t touch that,” he slapped his hand and threw a pair of dark jeans at him and some sweater, pushing him towards the bathroom. “Change into this. Now you—“ he turned on his heel after he closed the bathroom door behind Liam and pointed at Theo with his lips pursed in thought.

“I’m fine,” Theo rushed to say. He was wearing pretty much his basic attire, jeans and a black thick sweater, but again—dirty club in Beacon Hills.

“Tell us something we don’t know,” Mason rolled his eyes. “Let me style your hair.” Without asking for permission, he took a box of gel and started messing with Theo’s hair.

Theo wondered at what point exactly did he lose his aura, that Mason, out of all people, felt comfortable invading his personal space and styling his hair. Then again, it wasn’t unwelcomed. It’s been a while since Theo used gel on his hair, opting to grow it long, partially because he couldn’t afford a haircut at the time, and partially because he couldn’t be bothered. And Mason worked like magic, because suddenly Theo looked presentable again and not like a shaggy hobo.

“Looks good,” Corey gave him half a smile, his dimple popping out.

“I know, right?” Mason smirked. “Now change into this.”

Theo examined the long-sleeved black shirt. “It looks exactly like what I’m wearing.”

“Dude,” Mason sighed. “You’re wearing a sweater, like a grandma—“

“It’s fucking winter!”

“And this is a satin, sexy shirt. It’s not the same. Do you want me to dress you?”

Theo paled. “Uh, no thanks.” He took the shirt and bolted out of Mason’s room to go change in the hallway, as Liam was still occupying the bathroom.

“Oh, what, you’re suddenly shy?” He heard Mason yell from the room.

He sighed and leaned his back against the corridor wall. He slowly peeled his sweater off and put the sleek shirt on. He had to admit, the cool fabric felt nice against his cuts, cool and refreshing. He tried not to dwell on the increasing number of bruises on his chest and abdomen, and retreated back to the room.

Mason wolf-whistled. “Let me just…” He unbuttoned the two first button of the shirt, much to Theo’s dismay, and rolled the sleeves up, which Theo thought was stupid because, again, it was winter.

Liam finally returned to the room, sniffing his own wrists. “Mase, I stole some of the perfume you left in the bathroom, it’s really—wow.” His arms fell to his sides as he saw Theo, who gave him an unimpressed look.

Pre-Hell Theo was very sharp in his looks, his hair gelled back, his attire consisting of tight shirts and light jeans. Post-Hell Theo was softer on the eyes, with oversized sweaters and fluffy hair. Liam wasn’t sure why, but seeing Theo in his old style again jolted something within him.

“Okay, I know you like to play bait, but this is… You look… Damn,” he decided to say as he blinked slowly.

“Thanks, Liam,” Theo scratched his neck awkwardly.

Well, a compliment is a compliment, no matter how weird of a compliment it is.

“Alright guys!” Mason clapped. “Let’s hit the club!”

Theo regretted it the moment they entered the club, full of sweaty people smelling of cheap alcohol on a Friday night. Unfortunately, the night was still young.

“Let’s grab some drinks!” Liam spoke loudly over the music.

“Are you even allowed to drink?” Theo asked.

“Don’t worry,” he winked. “I got this.”

“Okay, now I’m worried,” Mason sighed as they made their way into the bar.

“Hey, could you fetch us four shots?” Liam grinned at the bartender.

The guy looked Liam up and down. “Are you old enough to be here?”

“Uh… Yes?” Liam lied.

“Hey, you’re not too bad looking. Wanna work here? With a body like that, you could make some pretty good tips.”

Suddenly Liam recognized the bartender. It was Paul, Hayden’s jerk of a boss. “Uh… I don’t really know how to bartender…”

“It’s cool,” Paul shrugged as he put some ingredients in a flask and shook it. “We’ve got other positions,” he casually gestured to the half-naked male dancers on the stage.

Liam paled.

“Back the hell off, he’s only seventeen!” Theo scowled.

“I won’t tell if you won’t,” Paul said.

Theo sneered. “Look at him again and I’ll gauge your eyes out.”

Paul shrugged again, unfazed by the threat. “Fine, don’t really care, just pay for your drinks,” he said and quickly placed four glassed in front of the group.

Theo frowned, took a drink and handed it over to Mason.

“Alright, a rule for tonight!” Mason pointed at Theo. “No murderous threats or looks, okay? We’re not here to kill anyone, we're not big and murderous tonight; we’re here to have fun!”

Theo ignored him, took a small flask out of his pocket and started pouring a bluish liquid into the 3 remaining drinks.

“What are you doing?”

Theo ignored Liam and kept slowly and surely pouring the substance into the drinks, making sure not to add too much.

“Hey, Theo, what are you doing?” Liam screamed.

“Liam, shut the fuck up, I’m spiking the drinks with Wolfsbane so I could finally have some fun when I’m around you,” he snapped.

Liam huffed. "Rude." 

“Why the hell do you casually have Wolfsbane in your pocket?” Mason raised an eyebrow.

When Theo was done, he handed Liam and Corey a drink each, choosing not to respond to Mason’s question.

“All right!” Mason grinned widely. “Shots!”

They all threw their heads back and downed their drinks. Mason and Liam looked extremely pumped and excited, and Corey was grimacing at the bad taste. Theo was just tired and hoped to survive the night.

“I still can’t believe you used to be the party type,” Theo said as he drank a drink by the bar, this one venom-free. “I remember I tailed you back in the days. You used to be here almost every night, dancing wildly like those two,” he threw his head to the dance floor, where Liam and Mason were dancing unattractively.

Corey gave that lopsided smile of his. “I was a bored kid with uninterested parents. I had to do something or I’d go crazy. And dancing with random strangers was a good distraction, I guess,” he shrugged. “But now I have Mason. I don’t need any of that anymore.”

Theo was pretty sure this is the most Corey has ever spoken to him. On regular days, Corey barely acknowledged him, so it must have been the alcohol. 

He observed the tenderness in Corey’s eyes as he playfully looked at a drunk-looking Mason dancing wildly. Theo wondered, if things didn’t turn out the way they did, would he have ever been able to look at another person with such tenderness? Or was he simply not wired that way?

Theo shook his head and took another sip out of his drink. “What were you moves, then?”

“My moves?” Corey turned to stare at him.

“Yeah, you know. To hit on guys.”

Corey laughed bashfully. “I dunno, I guess I’d just chat them up? Compliment them? Tell them what they want to hear?”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he nodded and started at his own untouched drink.

Theo suddenly wondered; if Nolan were to come to the party with them, would he also dance with Liam and Mason? Or would he choose to sit aside, like Theo and Corey? Theo was pretty sure he knew the answer, but then again, Nolan was quite complicated; he was shy and anxious, but still had the courage to fight Liam back when he was with Monroe; he didn’t like attention, but was Captain of the Lacrosse team; he had a loving family, but always gave off vibes as if he’s abandoned.

“You know…” Corey began, still looking at the drink in his hands. “I know we don’t talk about it but… I know you did sort of protect me back when we were in the same Pack.”

The liquid was stuck in Theo’s throat, but he was too scared to cough, too scared to move.

He never thought Corey would ever bring back their time in the Chimera Pack, and if he did, he for sure didn’t think he'd be thanking him.

“Like, you prolonged my stay, I guess?” Corey shrugged with a small smile. “I liked feeling like I’ve got an Alpha who will take care of things. Take care of me.”

“Um…” Theo started but couldn’t finish.

Corey looked at him and smiled, his eyes turning into tiny half-moons. “It’s like you always knew what our next move should be. It was reassuring.”

Theo laughed weakly at that, finally finding the way to breathe again. “Barely.”

Corey nudged closer to him. “Well yeah, but you never showed weakness, you know? You always acted as if you are 10 steps ahead of the rest. It was cool to watch.”

“Yeah?”

Corey laughed. “And don’t get me started on the way that would irritate Stiles!”

For someone who was living with the consequences of his actions every day, basking in the guilt, Theo had to laugh. Because laughing at Stiles was always funny. “Dude was onto me from day one, there was no winning him over.”

“He hated you so much!” Corey threw his head back in glee. “I’m pretty sure half of it was because Malia said you’re hot.”

“Really?” Theo raised an amused eyebrow, finally taking a sip again.

Corey playfully smacked Theo’s thigh. “Dude, I’d go invisible and listen on their conversations. She made a list of your ten best features, and he’d just fume.”

“Okay, now you’re joking me,” Theo laughed.

“No!” He insisted, idly turning in his stool to catch Theo’s leg in between his. “She was like, ‘He has nice hair, nice smile, nice body’…”

Theo scratched his neck at that.

He knew Malia found him attractive, but that was before, when it actually served a purpose. Now, hearing about it made him flush.

Corey suddenly took the drink out of Theo’s hand and put it aside. He wrapped his legs tighter around Theo’s and pulled to drag Theo's chair closer to his. “Well, she wasn’t wrong…” He whispered as he leaned slightly towards Theo, giving him a warm smile.

Theo froze, not daring to move again, his brain completely short-circuiting. “Wha—?”

Corey winked once and returned to his seat, not before pinching Theo’s thigh.

“Did you just…?” Theo looked at the space between them. “Oh, my God, did you just do your thing on me?”

Corey laughed and gulped his drink finally. “Pretty good, huh?”

“Oh, my—!” Theo laughed in relief, wiping some sweat off his nape. “Dude, you’re crazy!” He shoved a laughing Corey away as if they were old friends, something that he didn’t think would be possible, not even in a million years.

“Damn, Liam,” Corey said as Mason and Liam finally returned to the bar to drink some much-needed water. He took a hand and ran it over Liam’s tousled, damp hair. “Looking hot. Got a boyfriend?”

“Shut up, Corey,” Liam said, but his wide smile indicated he was very much flattered.

“Excuse me?” Mason said.

“Looking good too, babe,” Corey said and pecked Mason’s cheek noisily.

Theo wasn’t sure why, but after experiencing Corey’s skills first hand, he suddenly felt awkward looking at Corey and Mason’s displays of affection, regardless of how small and innocent they were. Hearing Corey flirt with Liam, albeit jokingly (was it a joke?) made him see Corey in a new light as well, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“No girl wanted to dance with me,” Liam pouted.

“Has it even occurred to you that it may be because, a. we’re in a gay club, and b. you dance like a lunatic about to sacrifice a child to the demons?” Theo inquired.

“You’re awfully rude.”

“Sorry, I grew up with no parents to discipline me.”

“Hey, Corey,” Mason threw his head back to draw their attention to some guy standing against one of the walls, not too far from the dance floor. “You know this guy?”

“Uh…” Corey squinted his eyes to get a better look. “Why?”

Liam scoffed. “It just seem like he has his eyes on you all night. Like when you went to the bathroom before, we swear it was like he was tracking you with his eyes!”

“Maybe he’s a hunter?” Theo asked as he memorized every little detail he could about the guy, in case it would come in handy.

Mason threw him a look as if he’s stupid and Liam sighed at him.

“What? What did I say?”

“Not everything has to be because we’re supernatural, Theo,” Liam explained to him as if he’s a kid. “The guy just thinks Corey’s hot, but he is doing it in a creepy way.”

“Oh,” Theo said intelligently.

“Anyway, we can just have you dance with Corey, that’ll scare the guy off,” Mason nudged Theo’s shoulder.

Theo frowned. “’Cause I’m big and murderous, right?”

“Nah, dude, ‘cause you’re hot and this guy got nothing on you,” Mason laughed. “He’d get the message loud and clear.”

“Hey, dude!” Liam clang to Theo’s side like a koala bear. Theo tried not to wince. “You got more Wolfsbane?”

“Uh…” Theo looked uncertainly at Mason, who simply shrugged, and Corey who seemed to be in his own world. “Yeah. But don’t go too crazy, alright?”

“Don’t worry! Safety is my middle name!”

Theo didn’t know how the night turned out the way it did, but after less than 30 minutes from Liam’s glory promise, he was already a drunken mess on the dance floor. Mason was not too far behind him, cheering on his every drunken move. Corey disappeared to who knows where and Theo’s head was simply banging.

Theo had a bad feeling, recalling that Corey never confirmed whether he knew the creepy guy from earlier or not.

Hoping that Liam and Mason won’t kill themselves while he’s gone, he used his heightened senses to search for Corey. It didn’t take him long to track him down in one of the hallways, at the back of the club. Next to him was indeed the creepy guy Liam and Mason talked about earlier.

“Just fuck off,” he heard Corey say.

“Aw, Corey, I thought you liked me,” the guy said in a taunting tone. “What, now that you have Mason, you think you’re so good?” The guy grabbed Corey’s wrist in his hand, his voice now dripping venom; “He doesn’t love you. Your own parents don’t even love you—“

“Hey!” Theo pushed the guy back, ignoring the way his skin tore and the countless of small pierces in his chest re-opened simultaneously.

The guy collided with the wall and winced, but immediately stood straight. “Back off. We’re a little busy here.”

“We’re really not,” Corey grimaced.

When Theo made no move to back away, the guy sneered. “Get your own boy.”

“I did. And that’s him,” Theo pointed at Corey. “So you better run along.”

The guy blinked as he slowly looked between Corey and Theo. He then broke into a grin. “No way! Bryant, you’re cheating on Mason with this tool? Who would have thought!”

Theo’s jaw ticked as the guy slowly, tauntingly approached him and sized him.

He wasn’t anything close to being Corey’s lover, barely even knew if they were friends since this night was technically their first friendly chat. But Corey was part of his Chimera Pack once upon a time, and he was the last Chimera standing, besides Theo. So by all means, that made Corey his something.

A sudden protectiveness that he never knew before came over him and it only deepened when he sniffed the air and picked up on Corey's anxiety. 

“So…” The guy started and Theo could feel his blood boil. “Tell me, when he sleeps in your bed, does he roll on his side and stretch like a kitten? ‘Cause that’s what he used to do in my—“

Theo punched the light out of him.

After stuffing the guy (and making sure he is alive, just unconscious) into one of the storage rooms, Theo straightened his clothes and slicked his hair back.

“I don’t ask questions, and you don’t tell the others about this,” he told Corey.

“Deal.”

They returned to the dance floor, ready to grab Liam and Mason and call it a night.

“We’ve got a problem,” Mason said.

“What now?” Theo groaned.

Mason pointed at Liam, who was walking aimlessly with no direction around the club, visibly shaking and mumbling stuff under his lip.

“Fuck.”

"Liam!" Theo yelled as he followed the Beta in the club, the music banging against his eardrums violently. He winced and willed his headache to go away. "Slow down!"

Liam kept mumbling drunk nonsense as he swayed from left to right.

“Liam!” Theo said angrily as he grabbed the boy and turned him around to face it.

"I can't do this," he caught Liam saying.

Theo froze as he saw the unshed tears in Liam's eyes. His grip softened in surprise. "Liam?"

"This is his place. And he's not here anymore," Liam managed a full sentence. "I couldn't save him."

Theo just stood there, letting the both of them exist in the same space, breathe the same air. Long moments passed before he slowly lifted his hand to put it on Liam's shoulder, the other suddenly looking tiny. "Hey, breathe."

"I couldn't save them," Liam continued to sob. "He's supposed to be here, dancing, being all happy and carefree, but he's not. And Lori... Lori is supposed to come to our games and cheer with Mason but it's been such a long time since she did that and I just... I just can't breathe, Theo," he covered his face in his hands as he cried out.

It’s been a while since Nolan came to Theo with unshed tears, mumbling nonsense and whispering meaningless words, so Theo was a bit out of practice. He still massaged Liam’s shoulder softly.

"I miss them so much," Liam continued. "How did I let this happen?"

Theo's heart beat fast. As far as he knew, Brett was Liam's enemy, and yet, here the Beta was, crying for him.

He tried to think if he himself ever cared like that for someone. Sure, he sometimes woke up from nightmares, smelling like regret when he thought of Tara, Malia, Josh and Tracy. Even Gabe. All the people who died because of his actions—or lack of. But looking at Liam, finally breaking and sobbing like that over someone who clearly made Liam's life a whole lot harder—

"He was a jerk," Liam said, as if reading Theo's mind. "I mean, that guy locked me in a cage and threw balls at me for hours. And he was a born werewolf, and I was a human back then, and it hurt, but he didn't care. He was a jerk," Liam whimpered again. "But I miss him. I miss them both."

Theo suddenly wrapped his arms around Liam, pulling him into his embrace as the Beta buried his face into Theo's chest right in the middle of the club.

Theo's pain was suddenly numb. 

"What am I gonna do? What have I done, Theo? I couldn't save them. I can’t save anyone.”

"You saved me. Everyday, you save me," he confessed in his ear.