Work Text:
Theo takes yet another look at his phone. No calls, no messages and no Alec. What there was, was them being already 30 minutes late.
He sighed and leaned back, taking a more comfortable position in his seat and closed his eyes. If back then someone told him that he'd be waiting for some boy to take him home just like a role model parent he would have laughed at that person's face. And yet there he was, in the parking lot of Beacon Hills High, waiting for a young beta to take him home. He sighed again, switching to that pack meeting they were being late to. He unlocked his phone and opened the first chat. He quickly typed something, deleting the text several times before it finally looked good enough to be sent. His finger was hovering over the send button when he heard familiar steps and a way too loud panting.
"Finally" Theo mutters, deleting the whole message and shoved his phone back into the pocket. A few minutes later he sees Alec, jogging to his car and looking like he was already thinking of an excuse. Unfortunately for him, Theo knew them all.
“Sorry Theo, Coach made us do the extra training before another useless match nobody cares about but him” Theo mocks before Alec could even open his mouth. The boy looked at him, his eyes wide open in surprise, his nose wrinkled just like every time he was being confused.
“First of all it’s not what I was about to say,” Alec says, getting into the car and shoving all his stuff onto the back seat, “and second of all, it’s not useless! It’s a mid-season game and it’s hella important as it’s…”
“Yeah, sure. Liam reminds me of that every single day” he cuts the boy off and starts the car. Alec stays silent for a while, breathing heavily. Theo sighs, not being able to bear with the heavy scent of Alec’s discontent.
“So what was that?” he asks, immediately noticing changes in the boy's chemosignals, “what did you want to say?”
“My stick is broken” Alec blurts out, before he actually goes into some sort of an explanation, “it broke just in the middle of the training and Coach got really mad at me. And Nolan. Mostly at Nolan actually, coz he’s not doing his captain’s job right. Which is unfair actually. He helped me fix it the other day.” Oh yes, Theo remembers that “fixing”. They’ve been trying to stick it together with the duct tape Stiles had stored almost at every pack member’s house. It took them several hours and it looked so bad it’s a wonder how Coach even agreed to let Alec on the field.
“So now I really need a new one,” Alec concludes, leaning back on his seat, “or I’ll be benched for that upcoming game.”
“Don’t they have a spare one in the storage?” Theo asks, taking another turn, “you can use that one for now”
“Nolan told me the same thing actually” Alec nods, “but it’s not the same as your own. I have some savings, though they’re not enough to buy one. I guess it’s the storage one or being benched” he sighs, looking at his equipment through the rearview mirror.
Theo stayed silent, parking in front of the old factory building, now belonging to Derek, who kindly offered them an apartment next to his loft. When they were almost at the door, he was the one to break the silence.
“I wasn’t saying much as I didn’t want to ruin the surprise” he starts, opening the door and Alec is immediately tugged in, almost deafened from a loud “surprise” going from every member of the pack. He blinked a few times, before turning to Theo for the explanation.
“You did great at the last game and I decided that you deserve a little treat”
“Actually he was worried that you’re playing with old equipment and asked me to help him buy the new one. And then he went big and bought you the new uniform as well” Liam chimes in, immediately met with Theo’s angry look. Liam just waves it off, bringing said equipment and giving it to Alec. The boy looks at it, his eyes wide open, closing and opening his mouth in an attempt to find any words.
“Oh…that’s, that’s so nice of you all. Thank you everyone! Thank you Liam. Thanks dad ” he says beaming, before jogging away to his room to look at the new equipment more carefully.
The whole room falls silent for a moment. Everybody was staring at the door frame where a second ago a young boy disappeared, throwing a simple phrase, which accidentally caused a full on crisis. Mason, who’s been opening and closing his mouth for about five minutes already, was the one to break the group freeze.
“So, I wasn’t the one who heard this, right?”
“Nope, definitely not” Corey agrees, slightly nodding, “I definitely heard that too.”
The others nodd too, finding no words to say. The room falls silent again, and this time it was ruined by the said young boy, who returned all changed in home clothes.
“What’s wrong guys?” Alec asks, going straight to the kitchen to grab a snack, “did you just get some bad news while I was out?”
“Alec” Mason starts having everybody stare at a boy, who now became all nervous from a sudden attention, “did you just call Theo dad ?”
Alec freezes, his hand half way through to his mouth with a small piece of chips in it. He swallows hard, looking at all these curious eyes in front of him.
“Uhm, what?! I–I didn’t call him that. I called him Theo, as usual”
“No, you definitely did. We all heard that” Mason says, making the others nod in agreement.
“I promise I’m on your side, but…you really did” Nolan chimes in, looking almost painfully sorry for agreeing with Mason. Alec scoffs, his face showing a clear “traitor” expression. He feels almost cornered, as if being a helpless prey circled by the group of predators.
“What about that pack meeting…” he starts getting cut off by Mason in an instant.
“Nuh–uh young man. We are not changing the subject here. The meeting starts when I say so. Sorry Liam” but Liam just shrugs it off, waving a somewhat of “go on” with his hand, “by the way, how’s the dad feeling about that?” Mason asks, and Liam looks at the man beside him, before he responds, confusion in his voice. “He’s…crying?”
“I’m not, you idiot! It’s the onion”
“You’re making coffee…”
“Oh, shut up!”
“Okay! That’s it! That’s the dad's behavior. I’m searching for adoption papers” Mason exclaims, opening google on his phone. Corey right beside him, suddenly speaking up. “Doesn't the pack have its own lawyer? There was that man…”
“Oh right you are honey!” Mason gives his boyfriend a little kiss before going on “was it Jackson? Or something? Anyway now we can make things legal!”
“Hey! Wouldn’t you like to ask me first!” Alec interrupts and Mason stops, giving him a quizzical look.
“So…are you against it?”
“Hum, well…” Alec starts, looking at Theo who still stands in front of the coffee machine, Liam’s hand on his back. He turns back to the rest of the pack, sighing, before getting on with his honest confession, “it’s not that I’m against it. I like living with d…Theo. I know that he wasn’t like that before, but from what I saw – he’s a nice man. Everything I know about taking control over my werewolf part – it was him who taught me that. And he really cares. Even this surprise today. I’m not sure about the “dad thing”, but I definitely can call him a big brother”
Everyone in the room looks at him, surprised and amused. And then there’s Theo. Theo, who starts thinking that all this is just another dream. A dream, where he’s actually happy. A dream, where he’s finally enough to deserve the bits of happiness, deserves someone who cares and loves him, deserves to be surrounded by people who smile and laugh in his presence instead of screaming in pain and agony. He takes out a claw to prick himself. When he feels a light sting he can’t help but smile. It’s not a dream and he, from all the people in the world, is actually happy, here and now.
"Let me take a look at these papers. I'm the dad after all" he says, stepping out from the kitchen to join the pack, together with Liam bringing in the cups of coffee.
"Theo!" Despite the whining Alec's trying hard to hide the smile and Theo smiles back, throwing a short "just joking" before entering the circle of the pack members, all laughing and smiling. And Theo can't help but laugh with them.
They’re joking around for a few more minutes before returning to the meeting and issue on the table. That’s then Mason suddenly gets quiet, making the whole pack seriously concerned. Finally, he takes a sip from his cup and with an absolutely serious expression goes with
“Wait. But does that make Liam Alec’s dad too?”