The Hunt For a Pack [A Teen Wolf Thiam Fanfic]

I Wanna Stay

Theo was enjoying himself, much to his surprise. He had never been to many parties, but he was definitely having fun at this one. He had done his rounds around the yard, and he had thanked all of Scott's pack for coming, minus the angry blue-eyed beta. He still hadn't shown up yet, which deeply surprised Theo as both Mason and Corey were already here.

"You seen Ben around recently?" Alec asked him.

"No, I haven't. Not for a while, at least. Did you check inside?" He asked.

"No, I just figured he'd be out here with everyone else."

"So, you gonna get your shit together and ask him out or what?" Theo asked, raising his voice so Alec could hear him over the music.

"Like you're one to talk." He blushed.

"Then, learn from my mistakes. You're still young. Don't make a decision you'll regret!"

"I'm a year younger than you!"

"All the more reason to embrace the day!" Theo called after him. Alec shook his head fondly and stepped into the decaying house. Theo looked down and smirked. He was glad Alec was happy. He deserved it after all the shit he'd been through, and so did Ben.

"Theo!" He heard a familiar voice call, and he looked up immediately to search for it. He found him quickly. He grinned and tried to keep his heartbeat steady. He walked over to him, practically swimming in all the bodies.

"Hey, Liam." He grinned. He was surprised when Liam pulled him into a hug, but he was even more surprised when he smelled the alcohol on him. "Are you ok?" He asked, wrinkling his brows as he pulled away.

"Yeah. I'm just happy to see you, man." Liam said, heartbeat spiking. Liam smiled, but the smile didn't quite meet his eyes, and it made Theo uneasy. Liam had never lied to him in the past. He was never good at it, and when he did lie to other people, he usually wouldn't try to be so convincing, either. It made Theo do an eyesight search over Liam's body to ensure there was nothing physically wrong with him. He couldn't find anything, but it didn't calm him.

"Let's go sit." Theo said, placing his hand at the small of Liam's back and leading him to a couple of chairs near the fire.

"Sure." Liam said enthusiastically. They sat down beside each other, and Liam scooted his chair closer to Theo. He wasn't exactly not used to Liam wanting to be close, but this was a little different. Between the alcohol on his breath, and the way his eyes were glazed over, and the way Liam's knee rested against Theo's made Theo feel oddly uncomfortable. He frowned and tried to scent out anything that could be wrong with him but found nothing.

"How've you been?" Theo asked cautiously.

"I've been good." Liam said, heart skipping again. "What about you?"

"I've been good, too." Theo said. "Did you want something to drink?" He asked, getting up and moving towards the cooler.

"Sure, I'll go get us some!" Liam said, pushing Theo back into the chair.

"Uh, ok. There's water and pop in the cooler. There's cups on the table."

"Cool, I'll be right back." He said, pressing a kiss to the top of Theo's head. Theo's heart skipped partially from the shock and partially from Liam being so close. Liam winked and stepped away. When Liam returned, he placed a red solo cup into Theo's hand and took a sip from his own cup. He sat back down and grinned at the chimera.

Theo took a sniff of the drink, trying not to be obvious about it. He recognized that what was his and Liam's cup was some of the spiked punch. "Are you sure you should be drinking more?" He asked, trying to be tactful.

Liam, no doubt, took it the wrong way and frowned. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, I'm just saying. It's probably not best to drink so much around the fire, y'know?"

Liam grinned. "Don't worry about that." He said and took a seat on Theo's lap. Theo's eyes went wide in surprise, and he wrapped his arm subconsciously around Liam, steadying him.

"Um, Li. What are you doing?" He gulped.

"Don't worry so much." Liam said, breath ghosting on Theo's skin. Theo tried to calm himself down. Now was not the time to get excited. Especially not with Liam acting so out of character.

Megan sniffed the air and frowned. She could tell someone was in distress but couldn't tell who. She turned her attention from her conversation with Derek towards the sea of people. She saw Theo immediately and noticed how uncomfortable he looked. Their eyes met, and she excused herself. Trying not to draw attention to the scene, she walked at a normal pace, over to a person she thought might be able to help Theo.

"Hey" she said, tapping on his shoulder.

Mason spun around. "Hey, it's M, right? Nice to meet you. Cool party." He complimented, taking another sip of his own drink.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too, but you might want to get your friend." She said, pointing towards Liam, who was still sitting on Theo's lap. Theo looking increasingly more uncomfortable.

"Oh shit. Yeah, definitely." He said, putting his cup down and heading towards his drunk best friend who was making a scene.

"You know, you're really pretty." Liam was saying. "Like really really pretty. And your eyes are like the colour of trees in the summer. All green and nice." He continued. "Did you steal a forest and put it in your eyes? That sounds painful." Mason resisted the urge to facepalm.

"Liam, you're drunk." Theo was saying as Mason caught up to them.

"Hey, Li. Why don't we go get some water?" He asked. Theo looked up at him with eyes thankful.

"No, Mase. I wanna stay with Theo." Liam said, clutching harder to Theo's forearms. Theo tried not to wince as Liam's blunt nails carved deeper crescent moons into his skin.

"It's alright, Li. We'll see Theo in a bit." Mason said, trying to pry Liam's strong hands off of Theo.

"No!" growled Liam. Mason looked around for someone strong enough to help him. Both Corey and Alec were unfortunately nowhere to be seen. Mason sighed and tried again, with no luck.

"Need help?" Isaac asked, walking over.

"Yes, please." Mason and Theo said at the same time. Isaac nodded and crouched down to Liam's level.

"Hey, Liam. I'm Isaac, a friend of Theo's. Any chance you can let go of him so I can talk to him? I promise I'll bring him back." He spoke gently.

"No! I'm staying with Theo!" Liam growled, causing several party-goers to look their way. The crowd erupted in building laughter, and Theo felt his heart sink. Not only had Liam tried to hit on him while he had no idea what he was doing, but he had also drawn attention to them, and now everyone was laughing at him. Theo had never been the type to handle embarrassment well, and this was no exception. He felt tears well up in his eyes, only adding to the shame he felt. He didn't know if it was the alcohol in his system, the wolfsbane in said alcohol or what, but he thought it seemed like the laughter was echoing uncomfortably loud around him. And he couldn't handle it. He pushed Liam to the ground, eliciting a groan and an "ouch" from the beta, but he didn't care. He took off back inside the house.