What the hell are we?

12. Helping Hand

Liam woke up again with a sore back, and realized again that he was not alone on the couch. Lying with his face turned to the other side, his feet stuck to his, there was Nolan. Liam tilted his head slightly, confused, then noticing Corey and Mason sleeping on the floor, hugging on the carpet and wrapped in a duvet. He moved his head to the right and to the left, and saw a blanket heaped badly on the nearby chair, a sign that it was probably there that Theo had slept. By the way, where was he?

Then he realized that since opening his eyes, he had been enveloped in the scent of pancakes and coffee. He sat up, stretching, and then stood up, turning to see Theo, busy with the stove. The chimera raised his head, and smiled at him. "Morning," he muttered, slipping another pancake from the pan to the plate. Liam forced an expression of fake shock as he staggered sleepily to reach him and settling on the nearest stool "You cook?"

Theo looked at him amused "Do you think I would get my twenties living off fastfood and ready-to-eat food?"

Liam shrugged with a smile "I was starting to suspect it, yeah" and tried to snatch a piece from the pancake at the top of the pile, but Theo slapped his hand away. Liam's gaze lingered on Theo's still-raised hand, on whose wrist the bracelet he had given was hanging. His heart skipped a beat and Liam looked up at Theo's face, on which his usual grin had formed. "You know, this perfect body needs of an adequate nutrition. You should think about it too" he throw it lightly, turning around to get two cups and filling them with hot coffee, and then glancing at Liam.

"I am built too" Liam protested, apparently indignant. Theo raised his eyebrows defiantly. Liam stood up, imitating his expression "Wanna see?" Theo made a mocking verse and then faced him "Is it a challenge, Dunbar? Sure you want to play this game?" he grinned, and Liam replied taking his shirt off with a fluid gesture. Surely Theo did not stare. Or at least he did not get caught staring. Dissimulating was one of the things that definitely he did better. So he kept the defiant grin on his face as he pulled his shirt off too.

Liam on the contrary was much less subtle than Theo. He could not keep his eyes from hovering over Theo's chest, his arms, his broad shoulders. As if trying to make fun of him, his mind flashed him the image of his hands running breathlessly through Theo's muscular back, an image dating back to that night of so many weeks ago. He probably blushed, probably he even had a half-open mouth, because when he came back down to earth, he saw Theo's satisfied grin "You like what you see?"

Liam was sure he would be on fire at any moment, but he thrust his pride back inside and stepped forward to Theo, entering decisively his personal space. He saw Theo's grin disappear, and he felt his breath stopping, but he did not back off. Then instinctively Liam bit his lip as he always did when he's nervous, and Theo instinctively followed the movement with his eyes, then return to Liam's. "I'm not blind," he whispered. And this time, Theo's heart skipped a beat.

"Neither do we"

Theo and Liam jumped in place, turning to see Corey, Mason and Nolan staring at them, only the heads visible beyond the back of the sofa. Mason and Corey had an amused grin on their faces, while Nolan moved his stupefied gaze between the two and their shirts on the ground. He sighed "I will not even ask what you were doing"

Theo and Liam blushed. They did not even know what the hell they were doing.

*

An hour later they were lined up to buy tickets outside the lunapark.

Theo looked around in amazement, as if trying to capture as much as possible with his eyes. Liam slowed down to walk beside him. "All right?"

"Yes" Theo turned to him, before returning to scrutinize the surrounding area. "I've never been to a carnival," he explained.