Note: This story was also posted on ao3, under the user dramamine_qt.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you thing ;)

Theo was the most infuriating person Liam had ever met.

Not that it was hard to infuriate him normally, but Theo Raeken had a way to work him up even when he wasn't there.

Liam couldn't stop thinking about what happened in that hospital. Although both of them had agreed not to help each other in any way, promising not to save the other's life and not to hesitate to use the other as bait, they contradicted themselves more than once. They survived because of the empty promises and threats they made.

He was grateful, of course, he wouldn't want it to have happened in any other way, but the need to understand why wouldn't leave him alone. On his side it was pathetically easy to point the reason for him to back down his own words and team up with Theo: Liam was one of the good guys. He could never let Theo behind to die or kill him himself as he always said he would someday. No. Liam lost control sometimes and almost killed people for real because of his anger, he admitted, but Theo was never on the other side of his rage.

Actually, Theo was the one preventing him from killing people.

The pack was also grateful for the help he had offered during the war, but it would be too much to ask them to forgive something that they could never forget or get over, scars that may never heal. It seemed impossible for them to even think about accepting Theo as a member of the pack. Liam knew that none of them had known the Theo's version that he had met, one that could be an ally, one that could work together as a team. The Theo who somehow cared was yet to be discovered.

But even if things were not like that, Liam had the feeling that Theo would be the first to reject the idea. Being part of something after what had happened meant redemption and he wasn't ready for it. He was sure that Theo hadn't forgiven himself either. Liam could be wrong. He was never good at reading people and it had been months since the last time he had saw the guy. But he felt. A weird feeling under his skin telling him that Theo was alone and unhappy. He didn't tell anyone about this because rationally he knew he wasn't supposed to feel these things.

Also, he didn't know why he thought so much about Theo becoming part of the pack.

So he kept thinking about him on his own, trying to understand what was happening to him and trying to open the mystery box that the boy turned out to be.

It would be too easy to be delusional and believe that Theo cared about him when he used his body as a shield and took bullets and arrows for him, covering Liam's escape. It would be cute if it was real, but Liam knew better and was determined to get to the truth.

And he was thinking exactly about that instead of paying attention to the pack meeting happening around him. He didn't use to be so distracted, but, that night, he couldn't help himself. Theo was there for the first time after months and his presence seemed big enough to claim all his concentration. Liam had been afraid that he would never get the chance to see him again and, now, everything that had bothered him all this time weighed inside him, urging to get out.

Theo was leaning over a wall, close to the door, in silence. He looked ready to run away in the first signal of hostility and Liam had to prepare himself to follow him and to avoid losing him again when the meeting was over.

He reached him a few steps away from the truck. Theo ignored him for a while, but turned away at once and forced Liam to stop abruptly. The expression on his face was unreadable.

"What do you want?" Theo asked, using his voice for the first time that night.

"Where have you been?" Liam answered with another question. He wanted to talk to him, but hadn't really planned what to say. He didn't even know how to explain why in the fresh hell he wanted to see him so badly.

"It's not your business." The bite didn't surprise Liam. Actually, hearing the snark in his voice and seeing the little smirk in his mouth was kinda comforting, a sign that even if some things have changed, other things would always be the same.

"Are you alright?" This question made the smirk disappear. The last time he asked that, Theo had been saving him (oh surprise) and getting hurt while doing it. The boy raised his eyebrows and looked like he had just been challenged. It wasn't true. Liam didn't want to fight or tease him; he just wanted him to know that he cared.

Theo looked at the door of the meeting room and then at Liam. He snarled.

"I don't know what's the matter with you and, sincerely, I don't want to." Theo turned to leave. Liam opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Theo's face looking at him again, right after closing the truck's door. "No, Liam. Just no. Go back."

And then he couldn't say anything else. He didn't want to feel like he was obeying, but he also didn't have another option besides going back, so he did. And he was greeted by a furious Malia snarling at him, claws out.

"What's going on?" Liam asked, confused. If everything was tense before Theo left, now he could almost taste it. It didn't make sense.

"What the hell, Liam!?" She answered, fuming. Scott had one safe hand on her arm. "What was that? What the fuck do you think you want with Theo?"

"Talk?" He hesitated. His moment with Theo could barely be called a conversation, it was a complete failure compared with what he had wanted it to be. Liam didn't understand why it bothered them so much.

"Oh my god, how can someone be so dense? I can't believe you are genuinely confused about this." Jackson said, looking at him like he was dumb. That made Liam angry. He hated when people treated him like a clueless child instead of just explaining what the heck they were meant and get over it.

"Fuck off, Jackson!" He growled.

"Yeah, fuck off, Jackson!" Stiles echoed joyfully entering the room, apparently just coming back from the bathroom. "I don't know the context or why are you all looking like there's something rotting here, but I agree with anyone that calls Jackson out."

"Liam's into Theo now." Lydia summarised.

"Okay, forget what I've just said. I'm not going to agree with Liam ever again" Stiles sat down, looking disappointed but not surprised.

Liam almost choked.

"I'm not into him!"

"Did he just forget that we are freaking werewolves?" Jackson laughed.

Liam felt so embarrassed he could punch a hole on the wall.

"Scott, can I talk to you?" He said, gritting his teeth and claws digging his palms. He hated to be so transparent, that his emotions were always written on his body. Liam wasn't into Theo, but something was clearly off and if everyone could see it, he should seek for help.

The alpha sighed, knowing that his time to mediate would come soon.

"Let's go for a walk." He said and they walked down the street silently, waiting to be far enough from the others so they couldn't be heard.

"I'm not into him." Liam started, trying not to blush now that he didn't have a reason to be angry and didn't know what he was supposed to feel. Scott smiled, prompting him to continue. "But I'm not sure what's going on either."

"What's happening?"

"I'm- well, I feel this thing. This connection, I don't know." He was shit at explaining things he could only feel. "Since that day at the zoo. It's like I know him."

Scott frowned.

"You didn't give me details about what happened there, just that you almost killed Nolan" Liam hissed at the memory and Scott patted him in the back. "That's okay. You didn't and I'm proud of you. I just don't understand what Theo has to do with this."

"He knocked me out." He answered, bitter. It was like admitting that he was a fraud, unable to control himself, wasting Scott's pride. "I tried really hard to restrain myself, tried to break my hand on the wall instead of breaking his fucking face, but I knew I wouldn't stop. I'm a monster, Scott. It was like I was watching my own actions, but couldn't hold myself. I was so scared I didn't see the first punch coming."

"The first?"

"Yeah. Apparently I needed four more to be put down." He touched his jaw absently, the ghost of the pain making him remember the talk they had on his truck after this episode. How Theo managed to comfort him without making him feel like a baby or an idiot for coming out with a really dumb plan and for losing his shit during it.

"I don't get it." Scott's frown deepened, confused. "How can you remember being punched five times with affection? What else didn't you tell me?"

Damn werewolves.

"He helped me figure out that fear was what made me angry." Liam said weakly, his anger was his first defense instinct, his shield. Something that destroyed him more than saved. "He knew I would never forgive myself if I had killed Nolah."

"Oh..." Scott seemed to see something that Liam couldn't and was taking too much time to elaborate.

"What?"

"I have a theory, but I'm not sure." He stopped and looked at Liam. "I think that maybe Theo had became your anchor that day. I mean, he put you down and took care of you until you came back to your senses. That's quite meaningful if you look from a wolf's point of view."

"Anchor? Like... An anchor ?"

"I'm not saying that's it. I need to do some research to be sure. But, it makes sense. You were floating away, getting lost inside your feelings. I did my best to help you but I have to admit that I didn't know how." He shrugged, he was experienced enough to understand that he couldn't always win. "Now you are different, I don't feel like I have to worry so much about you. Something changed, I just didn't know what it was."

"Theo can't be my anchor." Liam started trembling a little. After all this time trying to figure Theo out, Liam didn't think that the problem could be himself.

"It's strange, I know, but-"

"No, I mean, how can I be grounded to someone who isn't even here?"

"Yeah, that's a point." Scott looked around like he was waiting the answer to present itself in front of him. "But you've just said that you were kind of 'feeling' him, right? Maybe... well, that sounds lame, but maybe it was you missing him."

"That's fucked up man." He murmured. Scott's words made him feel a weird emptiness.

They stayed in silence for a while, Liam forcing himself to breathe and calm down, trying to process the new information.

"Can I change it?" He asked, tense, looking up for Scott. Theo didn't truly care enough to be his anchor. He would hate to be stuck with someone he didn't want to, being used once more so the broken kid could have a normal life. It was unfair.

"I never saw it before, I can't give you a definitive answer, but I honestly think it's possible." He put a hand on Liam's shoulder. "An anchor isn't a mate or a lifelong bond. You'll have to try and focus on something else."

"I didn't focus on anything the first time. I don't know how to do this" He didn't even know where to start.

"Our wolf sides are pretty primal, they get what they need when they need. You had to ground yourself into something – anything – and Theo happened to be there. It worked and it's probable that your wolf understood that it was right."

Shit ... Liam would never get over Theo's ego if he ended up knowing about this.

"Right..."

"We should come back and make a plan together. I'll help you get over it." Scott said, determined to be a good alpha, to do his best to ease Liam's worries. "It isn't safe for you to have Theo as an anchor."

If Theo wasn't safe, Liam didn't know what was. The guy fought with and for him back then, saved him when he was captive and kept him sane when his anger took the best of him. He knew his story, what he had done in the past and also what he had done during the war. Liam thought Scott shouldn't hesitate so much to give him a second chance.

"I don't want to come back." He said instead of trying to defend Theo's cause.

Scott smiled, amused.

"You'll really let them think you have some kind of crush on him?"

Liam shrugged. "It's none of their business. Please, don't tell them."

"I won't." He promised, making a face, imagining the flood of questions he would have to dodge. "Go home then, think it over and talk to me when you decide what to do."

He nodded and started to walk, feelling Scott watching his back. But then he stopped and turned.

"So, he's going to be around now?" he wanted to know if there was time for him to figure it out before Theo left again. He was sure he would go away soon enough.

"For a while."

Liam also wanted to confirm his suspect that Theo was homeless, sleeping in his truck, but he didn't need Scott to tell him what he already knew. The car smelled like sweat and nightmares. Smelled entirely like Theo, fear and loneliness.

He nodded again and didn't look back.