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Okay, so he was totally screwed, with the sound of Gabe's voice rolling down the hallway he knew. Sure, he was embarrassed as hell that he would be going out this was but he was very literally backed into a corner. The chastisement spilling off the hunters was thick as he stepped back. At that moment Liam knew he was totally done. There wasn't much else you could do with a pistol of a gun much bigger than anything you'd really seen up close aiming for your head or your heart. Gabe was sadistic in that way. He'd probably want it to hurt.
So there he stood these thoughts were clouding his frontal lobe to such a degree he never even heard the elevator ding. God, he would really start to hate that elevator.
So Liam Dunbar stood eyes wide, wanting to curse Theo Raeken himself for not letting him bash in the boy's skull in the locker room bathroom. With this on his mind, he shouldn't have been surprised what happened next, though he was. Not that Theo was actually there, cause he smelt him as the doors swung open but processing the gesture of it all.
The Chimera shot out behind him as the doors pushed to reveal the artificial light of the metal box, arms pushed out wide and swung high around his shoulders and he thought quickly that he had never been held so tight in his life. So those two boys stumbled back just as the sound of gunfire rattled and bounded against the doors. The doors themselves finally did come to a dented close and the boys separated. Liam's eyes found the culprit of his saving, once again.
Theo Raeken was standing next to him, tossing what looked to be a black ski mask past his hair. Liam immediately observed that he was seemingly unscathed which was an odd relief to the beta.
He gasped the air around him, "What are you doing here?"
"Was just asking myself the same thing...", he responded, eyes bulging in surprise. Liam thought he might have looked the same, as the walls still echoed with gunshots.
So there they stood, technically still caged in but that seemed to be a pillar of Liam's week so he shouldn't have been so astonished. So, sure he was still going to die but at least it was preserved by several minutes, fucking great.
Next to him, Theo wavered, "Still out there?."
He pushed his attention outside the compartment they were tucked away in. Just listening. He nodded, brows furrowed toward the Chimera.
"Look, I'm not dying for you!" Theo declared, the two found themselves closer than before.
Liam's body was still radiating from his swift exit out of the hospital corridor, he knew that there should have been thanks in his mind for Theo's quick save but he was getting rather annoyed with him instead. Building anger and unsetting dread were too high on his mental priority list. Fucking anuk-ite.
Liam huffed, eyeing the chimera and regarding him with frustration, feeling deja vu, "I'm not dying for you either! Fuck off!"
"God fuck this-", Theo cursed under his breath meeting eyes Liam.
"Fuck it.", the tension was taunt.
Liam thought to himself heart rate climbing, they were bound to be dead by morning. So he thought with everything but his brain and he kissed him.
His hands wrapped around his tightened jaw and all sense of sanity slipping through his body like kanima venom, it was still and his body was shaky. The fleeting moment where he knew to pull away, as he stepped on his back foot he almost thought he felt him kiss back but their eyes met before he could recognize the chimeras response.
All he heard were sounds of electric wires and his heartbeat, except it wasn't his. He could feel his own, blistering on his face like blush. In his ears ever so loudly was a heartbeat he had only heard on such select occasions. Theo looked like how it sounded, verge of collapsing.
Liam knew he should have said something, seconds felt like hours. He knew too much of his focus was on Theo's heartbeat and his lips, so daring again. They met eyes and Theo seemed to grasp the situation because something filled his irises.
If his own chemosignals weren't so greatly fucked he would have tried to read the room, he smelt his own panic. He could rarely smell Theo anyway, he always was able to keep those things to himself. So the sudden overflow of smells was engorging.
All his mind kept repeating was the fact that they had kissed, life or death was sure of Liam's immediate concern but they had kissed! Well, Liam kissed Theo. Liam kissed Theo.
He was breathing shaky and he was mumbling audibly he was sorry before it clicked, he smelt one smell very clearly. Rage.
Theo was going to absolutely pummel him before the hunters outside could do it. Instinctively he should have stepped back, but he pushed forward. Eyes meeting, Liam didn't mean to challenge him. He would face more blood anyway, fuck it. Punch him, get him angry. He was stupid enough to kiss him in the first place.
Coherency flooded as Theo made a b-line for Liam, grasping his head and forcing a once chaste joining of their lips to something hard and so consuming Liam wished he had been punched. Or he wouldn't have been so wildly screwed.
We'll be dead by morning. He wanted adrenaline pumping, he reassured himself. This was one way. His brain had a wild way of convincing himself not to pull away.
This way had him pinned abruptly against the metal wall, which was cold against his neck but he barely minded. He grasped the boy's upper arms and faltered over his rapid heartbeat skipping as he had never quite felt it before.
Decisions made in haste were so widely addictive.
He felt like a child again, making rebellious decisions his mother wouldn't like. Fuck, well this decision nobody would like. Stiles would kill him, he couldn't quite imagine Scott's reaction.
He liked it though, he liked the feeling of the chimera so close to him. He swears he should have been gagging on Theo's scent like he did when his grandmother had hugged him a bit too long and the smell of dog slobber and rose perfume made him feel groggy. Instead, he wanted to drown himself in it.
He mumbled a sound against his mouth, feeling an overwhelming sense of embarrassment only for Theo to smile against his mouth choking a small laugh.
He gasped for air as they separated. Locking eyes in an almost painful way. He didn't quite know what to do, he nodded his head with a stupid grin etched in his laugh lines. Theo rolled his eyes, as he did. He looked over at the door again, reality.
Jamming a hand over the buttons of the elevator, "Fight with me?"
Theo nodded, "Okay." He took in a wobbly breath, "Let's fight."
He wondered if he would have offered more of a response but the timing of the elevators barely allowed it. As Liam's eyes wandered over the hospital he knew they would need to act fast. Claws and fangs left his body, something that used to amaze him every time it happened felt so instinctual.
Next to him, Theo mirrored him. Wolfing out with his eyes were fierce, more determined than he had ever seen him. They met eyes, and Liam caught sight of a blush upon his cheeks. Only seconds had passed since their fleeting moment. He realized so suddenly it might have made him nauseous, he looked incredible. Suddenly gunshots were louder than his rapid heartbeat, actuality set it once again.
They had a war to fight, this time they were on the same side and it was refreshing, they were going out one way or another. Now, they had each other. Liam took full advantage of this.
They roared, on queue, as the shit show laid out in front of them, was setting off for a finale. The boys darted two separate sides down the flickering halls. They moved faster than the gunmen, this was given as Monroe had sloppily put together her army in haste. Liam would have felt bad for beating up most manipulated civilians but he let instinct filter through.
They bounded up the walls, banging the firearms out of their hands. Bodies grunting to the floor as Liam bolted forward with wild force. Theo had dropped in front of him kicking the shit out of another hunter, he wondered if it was intentional or not but, as he tossed himself over Theo's sturdy back seamlessly knocking a hunter to the ground with the force of a kick.
God, he couldn't wait to tell Mason how fucking cool they just looked.
He yanked the next hunter's hands down hard, his body followed suit as Theo's leg flew up above his head, presumably shattering the hunter's nose. They were faced in the line of fire of several more guests with guns aimed at their skulls. They worked in sync as they tossed more of Monroe's army swiftly across the bullet-ridden floor.
With them standing over what was once a direct one of fire, they turned swiftly back to the sound of bodies shuffling. For Liam only to see Melissa fucking McCall, very large taser in hand, and Nolan Holloway in tow, using the blunt force of discarded gun to deplete the halls of functioning hunters. Theo radiated next to him and Liam resisted the urge to grab on to him before Nolan cut him off screaming.
"Get down!" he hollered, as sounds of gunshots panged behind them.
Liam whipped his head around as Gabe entered his vicinity once again, this time he was actually shooting. This time he was aiming for Theo too. Theo's arms slid up Liam's shoulder blades pushing them forward no matter how fast they moved it didn't feel fast enough. Theo had pushed Liam forward as bullets grazed his ankles, Theo's arms fled away from his back as they tumbled down to the floor, and Liam's senses uncomfortably drowned in pain, as he scanned the older boy gripping his own shoulder. Fuck.
That's when he got really angry. Yeah sure, before already completely pissed but there was just a sudden wave of protectiveness that flooded him angrily, it was too much. Especially for an IED werewolf watching a boy he had just kissed, a boy who wasn't usually in pain brace himself against the wall. Liam shot up.
Determined to get the gun out of Gabe's hands and as far away from the others as possible, the to spun circles around the floor. Liam refused to let go, growling to show Gabe just what he got himself into. He heard fuzzy voices and beeps of walkie-talkies hanging in his peripheral but the fight with Gabe didn't stop. He pummeled his head forward, letting the wolf fight for him, and stepped away as shots rain through again. A sound he would never get used to.
Those shots had missed him. They didn't miss Gabe though, Liam watched wide-eyed as the yellow leaked out of his iris, Gabe's body toppled right down on itself.
Liam himself, worn for such blunt force action in such a small fraction of time had also crumbled down to the sticky hospital floor. He turned to meet Theo who was grimacing as the white floor was lined with remnants of war. The sound of a disgusting and gut-wrenching squelch brought them back to the battered boy who was once such a threat. A threat who was dragging himself away, his bleeding body scuffing a hospital that would be forever stained. That didn't sit well with himself. It just made him feel dirty.
He hesitantly watched Gabe as was presumably trying to seat himself against the wall in front of them. Melissa's strong fingers held protectively over his back as he built his way up from his knees, hearing Theo do the some beside him with distinct discomfort. He once might have been almost giddy to see Theo Reaken himself so seemingly tired and hurting. Today was different, I mean, of course, it had to be. Everything was changing. He just didn't expect it to change like this.
They were alive, there was a sense of relief. They were alive but all Liam Dunbar could do was study Theo as he crossed in from of him, walking forward towards Gabe's haggard sobs.
Liam's limbs felt as stiff as a board, despite his body moving with every shallow breath. Though his wounds were healing themselves phantom pain subdued his frame with no surprise.
The room was still raging with white noise, the sound of a pin drop would have echoed. Liam felt his senses reached out protectively as he felt Theos shields crumble. Just as his knees met the blood-soaked floor. He watched Gabe's pained face was just as confused as Theo smelled.
So Theo did as Theo had done best, continued to leave Liam Dunbar in shock.
Tentative arms grabbed those of the dying boy. It was strange that moments ago Gabe looked so far from a boy. Though in those moments so did Theo, before they were all machines with one goal in mind and now there he was coating his veins with pain from a stranger, a stranger that had once been out to kill them.
The chemosignals, shock. Theo Raeken was just as surprised by his own actions. Liam thought back to what Mason had said, now that he felt his presence in the room, regarding Theo's inability to take the pain. He bit his cheek but his eyes never moved off the boy despite feeling Mellisa McCall and her maternal demeanor move closely behind him.
Theos voice broke, "Does it hurt anymore?"
"No", Gabe's shaky voices echoed through Liam's head. It was working.
"Good."
Theo stood there for several minutes, laying down Gabe's hands slowly. Liam hadn't moved. He couldn't move, he just watched. Blinking slowly feeling his eyes heat up as the room was so congested with an unreadable emotion. Not fear like before, this felt more like guilt. Guilt for making the wrong choices, guilt for not doing enough, guilt for making it out alive.
Theo had brought himself to be a person Liam couldn't. He saw Gabe as he was, the sixteen-year-old boy who was pushed too far. Manipulated, who had set a fire under him he couldn't put out until the flame left him altogether. That guilt layered in resentment that Liam felt for the stilled body. Although all relevant feelings over the spirit of a boy who couldn't hurt him anymore fell as Theo finally took a step back.
That's when Liam felt all his muscles finally loosen, as Theo walked back shakily his eyes never seemed to lose sight of Gabe. He couldn't blame him. Time started to catch up hesitantly, as Liam moved forward Theo caught up to him, meeting in the middle. Liam moved again, similarly to how Theo had pulled him into the elevator when he was corned by the boy who laid dead on the floor. Without care what others in the room would think or rather what anymore would think, a premonition he felt lingering from the elevator.
His arms caught Theos shoulders and he felt his cheeks heat up on reaction. His arms eventually slipped down grasping the boy's forearms that held his now faded veins. Theo let himself for the first time Liam has seen, fully let go. Liam wasn't expecting such a reaction to his grasp and it caused them to sink down.
Liam's hands were strongly around them as he shook in his own skin on the floor of that fucking hospital. The others boy's body rumbled in what felt like sobs but no sound came out. He sat his head on Theos shoulder, as the boy's back was laid against his chest and let Theos kneeling body settle.
He barely heard himself mumbling genuinely, "It's okay."
"You did so good" he added. His arms never dropping and Theo never pushing him away. He would stay for as long as needed. That was the truth, he assumed Theo knew this as well.
As Theo's head finally turned from Gabe and buried itself in the center of Liam's shoulder, he vaguely thought of the first time he had taken pain, it hurt. That was one of his first thoughts, you didn't just absorb it. You felt what they felt. Though scattered through the hurt was a relief. He wondered what Theo was feeling, still reading disbelief from his ever-present scent.
Touching Theo as he was now somehow so different from the elevator. Eons passed in minutes they had fought their battle. Eventually, the hospital went under treatment of a crime scene and slowly built its way from an abandoned war zone with flashing lights. Hopefully, a place for people like themselves experiencing the callbacks of war could now get help.
So they had moved, Liam had let Theo shuffle away. They hung shoulder to shoulder. Slinking out of the building. They did take a stop for the moment as Liam dropped to his knee's a voice that once instilled him with so much dread raging from the walkie-talkie discarded by a hunter, he grasped it.
Responding slowly, "You lost."
The air suddenly didn't feel as bitter. Liam was headed to the McCall house, they all were. Theo aimed for his truck. He stopped though, in the middle between Liam and the familiar vehicle. His keys were dangling from his fingers, hesitantly he shoved his arm out toward Liam. Liam took the cue and strode toward him.
They both entered the truck, Liam, in the driver's seat as Theo shuffled next to him. Looking toward Liam, as he flicked the keys into start.
Theo opened his mouth breaking the silence, "Uhm, I gotta bum shoulder. C-can't drive." His tone was warm but quiet, his voice husky from the pure fact that they had been growling.
"Yeah." Liam agreed in the same tone.
So he drove, Theo in this short span had rolled his window down and Liam followed suit and they let the air wash over them. They didn't speak but it didn't seem to bother the boys when there was just utterly too much to talk about. Things that would be reiterated millions of times once they were in a room filled with the pack. It felt useless. They were both too tired.
He would walk in with Theo that night at Scott's, every now and then he would be hit with a smile from the chimera and a sense of worry would slip out like a spitfire. It was still tense, they waited for what felt like an eternity for everyone to truly make it back together. They all hugged one another, a few shook hands with Theo as he leaned against a wall near the kitchen. Close to an exit. Liam shook his head at this but once the gaps were filled. Once there were just enough remnants of safety they all did manage to fit in the McCall's living room, Theo found a seat close enough to him.
He peeled his eyes off the boy and instead just watched: From the Hale's who looked purely exhausted, to Stiles who was back from college, Argent who wavered around Melissa, Scott, and Malia who obviously were together had never let contact break them, Lydia wilted through the room bouncing from all of them, including a pair Liam hadn't met before- wolves from London who had come just to help, Corey and Mason were there too, huddled on a large rocking chair and even Stinski and Parrish where after a scene like this where they most definitely belonged at the station, instead were with them. The pack.
They would joke and laugh. Everyone was, it was a constant in a night Liam would barely be able to recall, the aftermath, that first night when everyone was together again. Though it set a tone for Liam and the boy he had kissed.
A boy he kissed when he thought he was going to die. They weren't going to be talking about it anytime soon. Though the thought was there every item they met eyes, he knew it and he knew Theo knew it. They were now stuck waiting.
Theo fell back into his role, of an ally and a douche bag, but reliable Theo. That Theo was welcomed despite hesitation, or he assumed it was a welcome, though much of the pack might have been to a haunted to do anything else. There were curveballs in this, there had to be. Nothing about Theo Raken could be handled so black and white.
So there it was, in a place of common ground. With the opportunity available. They both waited for their next step, it became so prevalent and tense as the night of the battle subdued it would be on the verge of explosion. Though explosive meltdowns and thinking out of their ass was in their nature.
So they would do what they did best, ignore it. Until it imploded.