#284 "You're not going to starve yourself on Thanksgiving."

Summary: Liam offers Theo an olive branch. And maybe more.

Tags: Humor, Fluff. Hopefully.

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With the Anuk-Ite defeated and hunters run out of town, the McCall pack finally has a chance to just take a breath. Everyone's licking their wounds and righting everything that went wrong under Gerard and Monroe's temporary take-over, and life falls back into routine fairly quickly.

Stiles went back to school, determined to make sure he didn't mess up any of his credibility with the FBI. Lydia finally flew off to MIT and Malia finally got to take her trip to France, although she wasn't looking for boys as once planned since she had Scott back home. Mason and Corey were caught up in their own little world, though they did make time for the pack, and Liam spent his free time running patrol throughout Beacon Hills.

"So Thanksgiving Day is coming up and I couldn't help but notice that your Dad's on call that day."

Liam looks up at Scott, the beta having taken over his alpha's mother's kitchen once again. "Oh. Uh, yeah. Mom's flying out of state to spend the holidays with her family and I didn't want to leave Dad on his own, so I stayed behind. Your mom actually invited me over to spend the day with you two."

"I know," Scott smiles. "And I actually have something to ask of you."

"Alright. Shoot."

"Derek and Peter are flying out to spend the day with Cora in South America, and I want you invite Theo to spend the day with us."

Cookie batter plops onto the counter as Liam freezes, a cookie batter covered spoon hanging mid-air. "What?"

Scott sheepishly smiles. "I know the tension still remains between the rest of the pack and Theo, but since everyone else is doing their own thing I figured it'd be okay to have Theo over since he is your friend. Stiles and Malia won't be here to cause problems, and my mom won't say anything if I ask her not to. She's still a little sore about Theo killing me, but no one should spend Thanksgiving Day's alone. She'll understand."

"I, uh, I'm not-"

"Liam. It's okay," Scott assures him with a brief chuckle. "The fact that Theo helped us save the day a few times- well he helped you save the day, really- means he's trying. He's starting to realize he's capable of being something other than the warped person the Dread Doctors tried to make him into. If he's willing to try and be better, I'm willing to forgive and move on."

Liam's shoulders droop and he's surprised he hadn't even realized how tense he was when Scott mentioned Theo. "Yeah. I guess I can do that then. After all, who really wants to be prowling the underground tunnels when they could be having the whole Thanksgiving spread?"

"Exactly. So you go find your boyfriend and I'll tell my mom to add more food for another werewolf."

Liam immediately blushes and stammers. "What?! H-He's not- we're not-"

And Scott laughs. "Liam, relax. I was joking. Sort of."

"Sort of?!"

"You have to be really dense to not see the way Theo gravitates to you," Scott smirks. "You do the same to him, but you're more cautious about it. Like you're just waiting for one of us to yell at you for being too close to him."

"You should! He-"

"Forgiving and moving on. Remember? If you want to be friends with Theo, be friends. If you want something more, then give it a try. Life's too short to not do something you really want all because a couple pack members hold grudges."

Liam finally drops the spoon into the bowl of cookie batter. Heaving a sigh, he asks, "But what if he isn't interested?"

"Then he's not interested. The only way you'll know for sure is if you talk about it."

Liam nods, gaze averted as he mulls over the conversation. Eventually, though, he sighs once more. "Okay. Alright." He rubs his palms over his jean-clad thighs. "Right. So I'm gonna go find Theo and invite him over. And yeah. I'm just gonna go."

Scott watches on as Liam scurries out of the kitchen, laughing at his beta before glancing around his mother's kitchen. Seeing cooling cookies, dirty cookie sheets and flour covering the counters, Scott's smile vanishes and he groans aloud. He really should have waited to have this talk with Liam after the younger werewolf had cleaned up after himself.

.xXx.

Finding Theo is a pain, the scents underground being hard to differentiate and the sounds echoing oddly that leaves Liam wondering which direction they actually came from. But Theo eventually finds Liam, eyes blazing yellow and fangs dropped. Upon seeing it's Liam, his werewolf features fade.

"Liam? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Underground tunnels do not make a home, Theo."

"It's not like I have any other place to go, Dunbar. I didn't exactly play nice when I rolled into town, did I?"

Liam rolls his eyes, hands delving into his front jean pockets on instinct. "Derek has a building full of empty apartments. He wasn't here when you wreaked havoc, so I'm sure if you volunteered to fix one of the apartments up he'd let you crash in it until you figure something a little more permanent out."

Theo scoffs, shaking his head. "What do you want, Liam? I'm pretty sure you didn't come down here to talk about my living situation."

Liam's mouth opens to retort, but he immediately shuts it and hunches his shoulders on instinct. "Scott, uh, Scott sent me to invite you over for Thanksgiving in a couple of days."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"You're not going to starve yourself on Thanksgiving." The words are said rather harshly and Theo's eyebrows raise in surprise. Liam realizes how harsh he sounded and takes a deep breath before letting it rush out. "It's just going to be me, Scott and his mom. You really are welcome to join us."

Theo tilts his head up as Liam now refuses to meet his gaze, nostrils flaring as he scents the air. Whatever he picks up makes him confused, eyes slightly narrowed as he scents the embarrassment wafting off of Liam. "Why else are you really asking me?"

Liam shrugs. "Because we're friends. Or, at least, I thought we were."

The scent of attraction and even more embarrassment hits Theo hard, and he has to bite back a rather content rumble. "Is that all?"

"..yeah."

Theo steps closer to Liam's personal space, eyes briefly falling to Liam's lips and he has to fight off a grin as Liam's heart picks up speed. The scent of attraction gets stronger and Theo steps even closer again, chasing the smell. "I think you're lying."

Liam glances up, eyes flashing in annoyance when he sees Theo's smug smile. Theo makes a show of scenting the air and Liam growls, nudging Theo back a couple of steps. "You're a dick."

"Apparently I'm a dick you're attracted to." Liam growls again, but Theo merely holds his hands up in mock surrender. "Don't do that. Scent the air, idiot. Do you smell disgust or disappointment coming off of me? No." Liam's eyes widen and Theo chuckles darkly. "Have you really not noticed? You are literally the only one out of McCall's pack that I like. Scott's growing on me, but I rather you keep me company."

Attraction morphs into a hint of arousal and Theo slowly smirks. Then realizing his mistake, Liam stomps down on his urges and scowls at the other werewolf. "Yeah, yeah. We've established I like you and you like me. Now will come to the McCall's for Thanksgiving?"

"Well when you put it like that," he drawls, "how can I refuse?"

"Good." Liam reaches forward, grabbing Theo by the wrist and dragging him to walk along with him. "Because you've got some grovelling to do with Ms. McCall and I rather you clear the air with her less you want her to poison your food."

Theo growls lowly, following behind Liam as the beta openly laughs at his predicament. He was going to have to work on his intimidation tactics if he didn't want Liam walking all over him in the future because apparently Theo had a major weakness for the yellow-eyed beta and he knew he was in for one hell of ride.