Summary: Theo and Liam spend a lazy eveneing in bed. Day two of Miya and Mia's Tickletober: claws!
The last glimpses of sunlight trickle through the edges of Liam’s window, glittering rays cutting through wherever the curtains don’t cover. You can see the particles of dust floating through the still air, a soft golden filtering the room, slowly dimming as each minute passes. Despite their mid-afternoon nap, Theo is finding it difficult to stay awake. There’s something about being in the warmth of the sun on his face, the fact that he finally has a bedroom, one that smells like him and Liam combined, and the fact Liam’s warm body has been draped across his chest since the afternoon that allows him this serenity.
He had been trying to read The Old Man and the Sea, a favourite of his, but he had grown distracted by Liam’s laughter, the younger having spent an hour scrolling through TikTok. He could see the soft lines of Liam’s lips, the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes when he smiled at a video of a kitten on a skateboard, or a silly dance. Theo’s book had been forgotten at his side, and he distractedly watched Liam’s TikToks, obscured by curly brown hair.
Harnessing just enough energy to extend his claws, knowing Liam loved the feeling, Theo started scratching Liam’s head, fingers patiently sifting through soft curls. Liam practically melted, his body somehow relaxing into Theo even more, he lets out a contented hum, growing too distracted to scroll through to the next video on his phone.
Theo softly massaged Liam’s entire head, going in circles through his hair. He could feel Liam shivering every few minutes, thinking nothing of it considering Liam had resumed his TikTok doom scrolling. Theo continues even as he feels himself slipping, eyes closing as he listens to the audio from Liam’s phone. When the sounds stop, Theo thinks that maybe Liam is dozing off too, cracking one eye open and expecting to see Liam’s soft eyelashes against his cheeks as he falls asleep, instead, he finds Liam’s eyes wide open, biting his lip as pink rises up his cheeks.
“You alright?” Theo asks, shifting as if he’s going to sit up.
“Wait, I’m comfortable!” Liam puts his hand down flat on Theo’s chest, urging him to stay down. “I’m fine.”
“You sure?” Theo asks, voice soft.
Liam falters, looking up at Theo through his eyelashes and nodding sheepishly, “yeah, it just- it kind of tickled.”
“What tickled?” Theo grins, raising an eyebrow.
“Uh-” Liam starts to blush again, looking down at his hands, “you were scratching behind my ear with your claws.”
Theo can’t help the fondness on his face as he looks down at Liam, blush growing to his ears. He gently extends his claws again, brushing one up against the back of Liam’s ear. Liam brings his shoulder up to his ear, shaking his head.
Theo repeats the same action on the other side, receiving the same response, and it becomes a back and forth between the two of them until Liam is finally giggling, shaking his head back and forth but doing little else to get away from his boyfriend.
“Nohoho!” Liam giggles throwing his head back as he realizes there’s no way to escape the tickly hands, “ohoho my gohohod!”
Theo’s grin is splitting his face as he looks down at Liam, smiling as bright as the sun. His fingers trail softly down to his chest and ribs, and Liam jolts, squirming from side to side. “Do my claws make it tickle worse, Li?”
“YEHES!” Liam squeals, hair flying everywhere as he thrashes. Theo’s fingers drift down to Liam’s tummy and the younger is down for the count, hysterical, boyish laughter flowing freely. “THEHEHEO NOHOHOHO! NAHAT THEHERE!”
Theo laughs, spidering his fingers in circles over Liam’s soft tummy. He knows Liam is trying his hardest to stay in place, but when he notices Liam losing the fight, nearly thrashing away from Theo entirely, Theo’s fingers slow to a stop.
Liam pants, giggling and hiccuping throughout, going limp against Theo’s chest. Theo lets his claws go down and attempts to rub the tickling feeling away, stopping when Liam starts to giggle harder again. “You’re being sickeningly adorable right now.”
Liam slaps Theo’s hand playfully, “shuhut up.”
“Never,” Theo says, moving his head down and kissing the top of Liam’s head.
After a while of Liam catching his breath, blush dissipating as the minutes go by, he looks up at Theo, doe eyes on full display, “so, how does nap part two sound?”
Theo laughs, repositioning the two of them so they;re on their sides, Liam as the little spoon, “sounds great, Little Wolf.”
Summary: Corey and Theo leave for fifteen minutes to run an errand, chaos ensues. Day fifteen of Miya and Mia’s Tickletober: babysitter!
Corey and Theo had been gone for fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes.
Only fifteen minutes and Liam and Mason had made some atrocity in the kitchen using ketchup, marshmallows, Monster Energy, and raisins. Only fifteen minutes and now they’re on the floor, wrestling like they had when they were kids, watching WWE on the tiny TV screen in Liam’s mom’s old house.
“You know that I have supernatural strength, right? You still think you can take me in wrestling?” Liam teases once he gets enough momentum to roll on top of Mason, effectively pinning him.
Mason laughs, a glint in his eyes that Liam can’t place. “Oh, trust me, Li, I can definitely still take you.”
Mason’s hands shoot up, attacking Liam’s ribs, and Liam instantly rolls off, landing on his back on the ground while throwing his head back in a fit of contagious giggling. He tries to roll away from Mason but is quickly trapped between his best friend’s knees.
“Mase dohohon’t!” Liam is desperately floundering, trying to get Mason’s hands.
“don’t what, Li?”
“Tickle me!”
Mason snorted, shaking his head, you’d think that after years of this treatment Liam would have finally realized the trick. “Well, if you say so, Liam. After all, I haven’t gotten the upper hand in a while.”
Liam snorts loudly when Mason starts kneading his tummy, trying to throw him off but finding that he can’t muster up the strength.
Liam doesn’t even notice when two heartbeats enter the room until he sees Corey and Theo looming over them. Corey is taking a sip from the straw of his iced coffee, a smile on his lips. Theo is holding his own, smirking in a way that just fills Liam with embarrassment.
“I can’t leave you two without a babysitter, huh?” Corey teases, walking over and bending down to kiss the crown of Mason’s head. Mason closes his eyes, leaning into Corey before Corey pulls away.
“Aww, is the big bad beta ticklish?” Theo cooed in the voice he would use with a toddler, and Liam makes an attempt at a glare.
“Dude, you don’t even know.” Mason continued to dance his fingers over Liam’s tummy, but he looked up at Theo, a mischievous smile on his face. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.” He accentuated his words with a pinch to Liam’s side, and the boy yelled, bucking up his hips.
Liam stopped trying to fend Mason off in favour of covering his face, which was turning cherry red from the attention and embarrassment. He felt a weird vulnerability having Theo see him this way, helplessly giggling on the carpet. Maybe it has something to do with the way Theo always seems so stoic and unbothered, or maybe it’s for the same reason he finds it difficult to make eye contact with him sometimes.
“Cute.” Liam couldn’t see the soft smile of Theo’s lips, but the tone of his voice was enough to convey the same fondness. Theo nearly felt himself blushing from watching Mason and Liam, entranced by Liam’s adorable giggles and the blinding smile on his face.
“Shut uhuhup!” Somehow, the fondness was worse than the teasing, especially given the rare show of sincerity from the chimera. He couldn’t bring himself to look up, hands glued to his face, and he could tell that Mason could sense his predicament when his best friend’s hands were suddenly wiggling under his arms. “NOHOHO!”
Liam’s arms clamp down to his side as he thrashes, throwing his head in every direction as he giggles madly. Liam feels tears spring in the corner of his eyes, slowly moving down the sides of his face. He tries to beg but his words are incoherent, sputtered, aborted protests leaving him breathless.
Theo can’t help but stare, Liam’s smile now entirely visible, the corners of his eyes wrinkled as he squints through laughter induced tears. Liam catches his eye and they both look away, a blush low on Theo’s cheeks, and Corey sends him a look that is all too knowing for his comfortability.
Meanwhile, Mason snakes one hand down from Liam’s armpit, the other still wiggling away, and starts pulling up Liam’s shirt, revealing his tummy. Liam’s eyes widen and he lets out a shriek, kicking his legs but feeling completely weak from the tickling. “MASON NOHOHO! IHIHILL DIHIHIE! MAHAHASON DON’T!”
“Liam, you’ve been shot before,” Mason deadpans, sending Liam a leveling look, “I think you’ll survive this one.”
Liam howls with laughter when Mason leans down, placing a massive raspberry over Liam’s belly button, planting smaller ones on every spot he knows to be sensitive. Tears are freely flowing while Liam screams, desperately trying to roll over or find some relief. His feet and arms bang against the floor, and he is suddenly wishing Mason didn’t know he had supernatural stamina.
“PLEHEHASE! MAHAHASON IHIHIM DYING!” Liam screeches, trying to push Mason’s face away. He finally gets a bit of a grip, able to hold Mason’s head an inch away from his tummy while Mason continues to attempt to raspberry him.
“Okay, okay,” Mason laughs, his breath on Liam’s tummy causing Liam to squirm. He pulls away and climbs off, and Liam rolls into a ball on his side.
“You’re fine,” Theo responds, smirking down at Liam as he continues to giggle, shaking with laughter.
“Noho Ihihim not, Theheo, I’ve dihied.”
Theo rolls his eyes, grabbing the drink he had brought for Liam and sitting criss-cross next to Liam’s head. Liam perks up, looking up at Liam with big eyes. “A frappuccino?”
Theo nods, handing Liam the drink after putting the straw in it. Liam quickly grabs it, moving closer to rest his head on Theo’s thigh.
“Oh my god, I love you so much,” Liam says as he takes an eager sip from his drink.
“Whatever,” Theo says, but they all see the way he grins, the way a blush forms over his cheeks. He tentatively runs a hand through Liam’s hair as he drinks, still breathing heavily every few seconds. “I’m totally going to use that against you, just so you know.”
“Oh shut up, I bet you’re just as bad,” Liam says, shooting a joking glare Theo’s way.
“I guess you’ll never know,” Theo responds with a wink.
Liam’s cheeks go pink and the two of them continue going back and forth with their bickering and teasing, both of them with sickeningly fond smiles on their faces.
“Maybe it’s time for you and I to run an errand?” Corey whispers, leaning into Mason and taking a sip of his coffee.
Mason nods, leaning into Corey too, “I think you might be right.”
“Something tells me fifteen minutes might not be enough.” Corey laughs.
“Nah,” Mason says with a smile, “I think they might finally have their shit together this time.”
Song Seventy-Three: Graceland Too by Phoebe Bridgers
When Theo had imagined Liam underneath him, breathless, begging, and red in the face, it had never been like this. And trust me, Theo had imagined it a lot.
No, when Theo imagined Liam in this position, it had never had anything to do with giggling and a certain spot that Theo had so graciously discovered. There’s a spot on Liam’s tummy, closer to his side, that apparently elicited a pretty extreme reaction.
They were just studying, something so very innocent and benign, when Liam had made a smart-ass comment about Theo being a biology nerd. In turn, Theo jabbed him in the stomach, just expecting Liam to poke him back. Instead, Liam recoiled, a giggle slipping past his lips and an expression on his face like he had been caught.
Theo gets him down in an instant, textbooks and worksheets tossed aside, suddenly far less important.
Liam tried to fight, but his attempts were fruitless once Theo’s skilled fingers started to poke and prod all over Liam’s tummy.
“Theo, nohoho! Stohop it!” Liam begs, his arms flinging all about once he realizes that he can’t catch Theo’s wrists. Hi head is thrown back and his eyes are closed, but his smile is so wide, his laughter so sweet.
Theo decides right then and there that he would do anything for Liam, absolutely anything. Because someone this bright and beautiful, someone this light, deserves it all.
Summary: Liam makes an impulsive purchase on Amazon, Theo uses it against him.
Theo’s eyes were wide, his chemosignals were all over the place. Is one of them anticipation? Liam didn’t have time to find out, because one of them was definitely aggression.
Theo looks across the room as he holds the edge of the couch, prepared to run if he has to.
“No way are you trying that thing out on me,” Theo was stern and precise with his words, making sure to leave no room for compromise. Liam was always looking for room to compromise. “You’d be better off asking Derek, there’s no way I’m going full-wolf for you to try that out.”
Liam just held the offending object up in the air, waving it around. “C’mon Theo, I swear it’ll be fine. I just wanna know what it feels like!”
“Then why don’t I try it on you?”
Liam’s cheeks dusted pink as he looked down, stammering about something or another. Liam’s bashfulness was enough of a shield for Theo, who advanced and swiftly grabbed the glove from Liam’s hand.
Liam had seen the stupid thing suggested to him on his recommendation list on Amazon. He had already seen a whole bunch of videos on Instagram and Tik Tok of people using it on their pets. It was supposed to be a way to pet your animal at the same time that you brush them, and apparently pets liked the feeling. The glove had bristles and grooves, and it was always so mesmerizing to watch when people would film themselves gathering up hair from their cats and dogs with just the stroke of their gloved hand. Liam had even seen it used on a hamster once.
Theo was usually around to make sure that Liam didn’t buy anything dumb from Amazon, but he had been working with Deaton at the clinic that day, in his defense. He was more than unpleasantly surprised when the envelope had shown up on the Dunbar house doorstep, and even less pleasantly surprised when he saw how excited Liam was to show it to him.
Now, the red and black glove was in his hand, and as far as he could tell, that meant that he held all the power.
“Theo,” Liam groaned (he definitely did not whine because whining is for little kids and sad puppies). This time it was his turn to race to the other side of the room, putting distance between the two of them. “I can’t even go full wolf, you can’t try it on me.”
Theo huffed air out through his nose. Liam might be stronger, but Theo’s a lot faster. He wouldn’t have to worry about catching Liam when the time came to it.
“Yeah, but you’re the only one of the two of us with chest hair, Liam.” Theo said it like it had been so obvious, and the thought made Liam shudder.
Theo could smell the anxiety wafting off of Liam in waves, and he was quick to make his advancement.
Theo ran at him, knocking him down behind the couch and straddling his hips. Liam hissed, flashing his fangs, and Theo flashed his eyes in response.
“Hey. Play nice.”
Liam sighed dramatically, trying to grab Theo’s wrists with his hands.
Theo raised his arms higher, trying to keep them out of reach from Liam. The younger boy was getting frustrated, but he didn’t have much leverage in his pinned position without using at least a little bit of his wolf strength. He opted for tasering his boyfriend in the ribs, and Theo stifled a gasp while he brought his arms down. His eyebrows raised and his mouth twisted into a smirk.
“You’ve given me no other option, Goldilocks.” In a swift movement, Theo brought the front of Liam’s shirt up and covered his face with it, bringing his newly-gloved hand down over Liam’s tummy.
Liam let out an initial giggle, but had removed the shirt from over his face, clamping his hands tightly over his mouth. The shirt didn’t stop Theo from getting at the sensitive skin beneath it. Theo was brushing Liam’s tummy in the same manner that one would brush a pet, going as far up as Liam’s collar bones before trailing the glove back down to the waistband of Liam’s sweats.
Liam was sure that, if he had been a dog, he would have been able to see the appeal of the product. Instead, he was sent into a storm of sensitivity as Theo raked over his bare torso with the glove.
Theo had flipped Liam’s shirt up again, but this time, when Liam swatted it down, Theo’s hand wasn’t the only thing under his shirt.
Theo took in a deep breath and blew, the vibrations making Liam’s thoughts cloudy. Liam let out a squeak as his body’s instincts took over, deciding that he was going to respond to the tickling despite how hard he was trying not to.
Liam tried to cover his face with his hands as the giggles violently forced themselves out through his lips. Now, he was thrashing wildly beneath his boyfriend as he felt the ticklish bristles of the glove paired with Theo’s warm lips.
Maybe the glove really had been a bad purchase. There he was, thinking that Theo would willingly wolf up so that Liam could pet him like he was some labrador or something. This plan backfired. It backfired a lot.
“How does it feel, Liam?” There was a playful note in Theo’s voice as he sing-songed the words, “Is this as soothing as you thought it would be? Is this satisfying?”
Liam squealed, shaking his head back and forth as words were lost to his laughter. Theo chuckled, bringing the glove down to Liam’s hipbone.
“Okay, okay! I gehehet- Theo! I get the pohohohoint!” Liam yelled through his laughter, desperately trying to unhinge Theo’s fingers from around his ticklish hips. In a last resort attempt, Liam reached out and tasered Theo in the spot right at the top of the older boy’s ribs, and Theo snorted, flying away from the touch and immediately removing his hands.
Liam took the opportunity, and he flipped them over, leaning over Theo as he straddled him, panting hard and letting out spare giggles. Theo smiled up at him, not a smirk with any mischief behind it, but a small, sweet, diabetes-inducing smile.
Liam tried to glare at him, but he couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his own face, leaning down to touch his forehead to his boyfriend’s. The blue-eyed boy brought his hand up, brushing his thumb over Theo’s cheek.
Theo was the one to close the gap, kissing Liam in a way that presented no sense of urgency, just adoration and longing. The two of them stayed like that until Liam had to pull away, gasping for breath. Theo just waited patiently for Liam to breathe, comfortable with his position beneath the younger boy.
When he finally caught his breath, Liam stared at Theo, unflinching, for a few moments.
Summary: The pack can take a break from training for a little while, so Scott disguises entertainment as another session, unknown to Liam and Theo.
Today’s training was a lesson in self-control. It was supposed to teach the new betas how to stay stealth in situations where they may be under pressure. Scott had claimed that he went through the same training, which is why Derek was there now. But really he just wanted to see his new betas squirm. Training had been going great, and they definitely had time for a break. Well, a break for Scott at least, one that was disguised as another training sesh.
Scott had introduced it to Liam and Theo as an exercise in staying stealth no matter the circumstance, but it was also going to be a lesson in interrogation techniques.
The two of them had been tied to separate chairs, Liam certainly easier than Theo, who tried to fight his way out the entire time.
Now, Liam was looking uneasy, strapped into his chair with his arms chained to the arms of it. Theo had his usual smug look on his face, but Scott, Derek, and Liam could all smell the same unease on him that Liam was visibly feeling.
“So,” Derek began, pacing back and forth between the two chairs, a wide smile on his face. “Today we are going to do a little exercise in self-control and staying quiet. This is an exercise that all of the betas have gone through: Erica, Boyd, Isaac, and even Scott. Even I went through something a little similar to this at the hands of Peter, my mom, and Laura.”
“Actually, I don’t rem-” Erica clamped a hand over Boyd’s mouth, dragging him away by his arm.
“Hey, Boyd and I are gonna go shopping, see you guys later!” Erica rushed, pulling Boyd straight out the door of the loft.
Isaac and Allison had decided to join them, promptly saying their goodbyes too.
Liam tilted his head in confusion, the same way a puppy would. Derek just went on to resume his little speech. After all, he wasn’t completely lying. His family had definitely put him through similar training, but he had always found it cruel and unusual. He had, however, mentioned it in passing at a pack meeting before Liam and Theo joined, and Stiles, Boyd, and Erica had taken it upon themselves to inflict it on Scott and Isaac.
“So, Scott and I will inflict some touch on both of you. The goal is not to escape, actually, it’s quite the opposite. The goal is to stay as quiet and as still as possible. I don’t think either of you will have to worry about wolfing out, so just worry about trying to stay quiet, and try not to give in, alright?”
Liam nodded eagerly, still looking a little nauseous. Scott smiled, trying to ease his beta somehow.
“Alright, so, I’m going to help you with the training exercise, Li, because I think I’ll probably be a little less sadistic than Derek.”
Theo visibly paled, and Stiles snickered under his breath.
“So, are either of you ticklish?” Derek asked, trying not to appear too mischievous when Liam had paled too.
“Hell no,” Theo started to struggle, preparing to break the chains that he was stuck in.
“Hey, we gotta do this Theo. The goal isn’t to escape, it’s to exercise self-control.” Scott tried to calm the chimera, but Theo looked absolutely panicked. When Derek placed a hand on his shoulder, he froze completely.
Liam, on the other hand, had begun to giggle hysterically when Scott had started to walk towards him.
Scott motioned for Derek to back away from Theo, and Scott did the same, the two of them standing in front of the two chairs. They both looked from Theo to Liam and back again as they took the sight in. Theo looked completely defeated, while Liam had yet to stop giggling.
“We’re not gonna count this, but you gotta calm down Liam,” Scott warned, moving closer to Liam and placing a hand on his shoulder. The touch just caused Liam to laugh even harder, desperately trying to make himself stop. Liam was trying to get out words, but he couldn’t stop. Scott backed away, trying to let Liam calm down, and Kira came to take the lead.
She knelt in front of him,putting her hands forward where he could see them. “Hey Li, you’re gonna need to calm down, alright? You can do this, you’re great at self-control.”
Liam was calming down, gasping for air while he stopped giggling. Scott gave him a moment to breathe, thanking Kira for helping them out.
Once Liam had calmed down, Scott motioned at Derek. “We’re going to start now, alright guys?”
“Who do you think will break first?” Lydia asked Stiles, both of them watching from the couch.
“Oh, Liam for sure, what kind of question is that?”
“Want to put money on it?”
“Fifty dollars says Liam breaks first.”
“Fifty says it’s Theo.”
The two of them shook hands, Stiles smiling since he believed he would be $50 richer by the end of the night.
Scott and Derek started, Scott starting at Liam’s neck and Derek starting at Theo’s ears. Liam had initially let out a snort, but now he was scrunching up his face, huffing softly as he used all of his willpower to internalize his mirth.
Theo had twitched, but otherwise his face still held that same dumb smug look that it always did.
Derek wanted results, maybe Theo would be able to hold out on his laughter, but Derek definitely wanted to see him squirm. Derek moved one hand down to Theo’s ribs, and the chimera started to wiggle in his seat, trying to buck Derek’s hands away from his sensitive skin.
Scott, too, had moved, spidering over Liam’s knees. Liam didn’t have super ticklish knees, something that Scott knew. Scott was trying to stack the cards against Theo, and Liam was beginning to pick up on it.
“Just don’t giggle,” Lydia encouraged Liam, giving him a smile when he looked her way.
“Awww, he’s gonna giggle, I can see it. C’mon Liam, we know you wanna crack up.”
Liam shook his head, biting down hard on his bottom lip.
Lydia, Stiles, and Kira were getting a little bored, they had expected someone to crack up right away, but instead, they were five minutes in and nobody was laughing. The three of them had all strayed in their attention. Kira and Lydia were watching a video on Kira’s phone, and Stiles was fidgeting with his own.
Nobody was really paying attention, which is why the giggling caught them so off guard when it finally had started… and when it didn’t sound anything like Liam’s.
the room went completely silent as everyone turned their heads towards Liam and Theo. They hadn’t been paying attention when the high pitched giggles began, but now that everyone was looking, they got to witness the wide smile on Theo’s face and his head slumped downward, his eyes closed tightly.
It was the sweetest sound that any of them had ever heard. It was so carefree and cute, and much different from Theo’s usual demeanour. Derek was tickling Theo’s tummy, and Theo just couldn’t hold in his laughter any longer. He let the feeling overtake him, and he was giggling freely as Derek spidered over his skin.
Who knew that Derek was the teasing type? Theo was just the unlucky one who got the displeasure of finding out. “Hey, are you laughing at me? C’mon Theo, stop laughing, it’s not nice.”
Theo snorted, which was apparently the funniest thing he had ever heard, because he just started laughing even harder at the sound. Theo’s entire body was shaking with the strength of his laughter. It was almost as if he was forgetting that he was supposed to act cool and unbothered about everything, because he had stopped trying to fight the smile on his face altogether.
It was almost like the tickling brought out the child in Theo.
“Deheherek no!” Theo squealed when Derek pinched his thigh, trying to kick out but unable to because of his chained up predicament. Theo’s smile was so wide that it split his face, the rest of them had never even seen him smile, let alone like this. “Ohohoh my gohohosh, plehehease! Plehehease stahahap!”
Derek decided to try Theo’s ears again, and the teenager shrieked before dissolving into more frantic giggles. So far, Theo’s thighs still seemed like his worst spot, but there were other places left to try. Derek knelt down, looking up at Theo, who looked absolutely terrified.
Liam, having been something with Theo that he didn’t know how to describe (lovers? Boyfriends? Friends with benefits?) already knew that Theo could be pretty sensitive. He didn’t hate getting tickled, but his feet were unbearable. He almost pitied the situation that Theo was in, considering Scott had stopped to watch the show, and he wasn’t receiving the same torture.
“Wait!” Theo and Liam both screamed out at the same time. They had all expected Theo to protest, but Liam caught them off guard.
Now it was Theo’s turn to giggle uncontrollably for no reason as Derek went closer to his feet. Theo didn’t know what had gotten into him but he was anticipating the worst, unable to stop the laughter from pouring out of his lips.
“Scott, I think Theo’s had enough,” Liam tried to reason. He couldn’t really understand why he was trying to reason for Theo, but he knew just how unbearable and overwhelming Theo could find it sometimes.
“I think we might just be getting to the best part, Li,” Scott said, a smirk on his face. “Anyways, Theo is certainly not a man of mercy, why should we have mercy on him?”
Theo screamed at a volume that could only rival Lydia’s, before falling into hysterical, silent laughter. Theo wasn’t even wheezing for breath through his laughter, it seemed like he was just gushing out a continuous stream of joy that he couldn’t prevent.
Derek snickered at the gasp that Theo let out when he looped his fingers between the chimera’s toes. When Derek finally did stop, Theo was gone. He hadn’t even registered that the sensations had stopped, and he just continued to laugh as if he were still being tortured.
Lydia, Stiles, Scott, Derek, and Kira watched on in shock as Liam looked on with worry. Derek even unchained Theo, but he just continued to giggle hysterically. Scott decided to let Liam out too, seeing that it seemed like he was the only one who knew how to help.
Liam got up, kneeling in front of Theo and taking his hands into one of his, the other rising instinctively to cup Theo’s cheek.
“Hey, Theo, are we doing alright?” Liam asked, rubbing his thumb up and down Theo’s cheek. The chimera had flinched at first, but now he was opening his eyes, laughter still bubbling out freely.
“I- hehehe- I’m ohohokay,” Theo nodded, bringing his hands up to cover his face.
“It’s alright, The, just breathe. The tickling’s over, you can breathe.”
While Liam tried to calm Theo down, Stiles looked pointedly at Derek. Of course, there was no malice behind it, but Stiles tried to give his boyfriend the sternest look that he could. “You broke one of the baby betas!”
“First of all, he’s the same age as you and Scott. Second of all, this is totally not my fault!”
“It so is!”
“How was I supposed to know that Theo would be worse than Liam? Have you met Liam? He’s a five-year-old in the body of a sixteen-year-old while Theo is stone cold! How was I to know?”
“Oh my God can you two just stop bickering? Derek, you did break Theo, but Stiles, none of us could have known that this could even happen. Even me, and I put money on Theo laughing first,” Lydia lectured them both, shaking her head.
Liam wasn’t paying much mind to the rest of them, and Theo could barely even focus on anything except trying to breathe. Liam had started to run his fingers through Theo’s hair, still cupping his face with his other hand, and Theo was trying desperately to force his lungs to take air in. It was happening far too slowly for his liking, but slowly and surely he was starting to breathe a little slower, wheezing every few moments.
“He’s got like this touch thing,” Liam began, looking between everyone else in the room while he was still trying to get Theo to breathe, “I don’t really know how to explain it, but I think it’s from the dread doctor experiments. Sometimes he can handle it, but sometimes touch is kind of overwhelming to him.”
Scott nodded thoughtfully, “Why didn’t either of you just tell us?”
Theo groaned, shaking his head and mumbling something under his breath.
“Hmm, what was that Theo?”
“He said it’s embarrassing,” Liam snapped back, sending a glare Stiles’ way, “I’m sure he’s embarrassed enough as it is, do you have to make it worse, Stiles?”
“It’s fine, Li” Theo started, pausing for a breath, “Stiles, if you wanna make fun of me then we can take this outside.”
“I don’t think you get to just put up your tough guy act after we’ve all witnessed that.” Stiles retorted, rolling his eyes.
“Watch it Stiles, keep it up and you’ll be in the next training exercise.” Scott warned.
“Whatever, I’ve already lost $50.”
Liam stood up, grabbing Theo and leading him to one of the spare bedrooms so the two of them could take a nap. Before they were out of sight, Derek called out. “Hey Liam? Don’t forget that we never finished your training.”
A shudder ran down the teen’s spine, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he slumped into the bed, holding Theo in his arms.
