Chapter Text
Once in the corridor, Liam immediately spotted him, near the stairs, talking to a couple of guys from his class.
Liam forced himself to join him.
"Theo Raeken, right?" he just asked, standing in front of him.
Theo's lips twisted into an amused smile.
"Depends, who's asking?"
Liam closed his fingers tightly on the strap of his backpack, trying not to get agitated.
"You know who I am," he said then, refusing to play his stupid game.
"Come on, don't pout” Theo teased again "Dunbar, right? You're the captain of the lacrosse team"
Liam really didn't have time for that.
"Can we talk?" he asked, glancing at the boys who were looking at him curiously.
"About what?" Theo asked back, still smiling.
Liam was getting nervous.
"If you talk to me, you'll find out, won't you?" he replied, sounding a little sharper than he intended.
"Wow, aggressive," Theo commented however, taking a step closer to him "I like that."
Liam bit his tongue in response.
It was just a waste of time. Theo wouldn't help him, and he was just being humiliated.
"Forget it," he snorted, turning to leave, taking only a few steps before Theo stopped him.
"Wait" the boy said.
Liam stopped.
"Okay, you convinced me, let's talk," he added, making him turn around "see you tomorrow, guys?"
The two boys looked at him one last time, almost surprised, before nodding, "see you tomorrow, Raeken."
And with that, they disappeared down the school corridor, mingling with the other students.
Liam watched them for a while longer before Theo called him back.
"You've piqued my curiosity," he said simply, leaning against the wall "now keep my attention."
"Stop it," Liam said through his teeth, "you're not funny."
"Okay, okay," Theo replied, raising his hands in surrender "I’m listening"
"You're the biology tutor, right?" Liam asked at that point, determined not to waste any more time.
"Yes?"
He looked surprised.
“I need your help,” Liam then declared, the words burning sourly on his tongue “I have an F in biology, and if I don’t catch up…”
The words died in his mouth.
“Well, I have to catch up.”
Theo was clearly surprised now and was looking at him as if it were all a joke.
“Wait, you want…”
Liam was really losing his cool.
“Tuition, lessons, tutoring, call it what you want,” he replied, biting his lip “I need you to turn my F into a C.”
Theo was still looking at him, perplexed. “Do you want me to help you study?”
“Is that so crazy?” Liam then asked back.
If he was the tutor… he had to do it often, right?
“No, it’s not crazy,” Theo replied, returning to his usual smile “I’m just surprised.”
Liam was really tired.
“Are you going to help me or not?” he then asked, sounding almost exhausted.
"Well, Liam Dunbar," Theo nodded, "if that's what you want, I'll turn your F into a C."
It was Liam's turn to be surprised.
"Really?"
His voice sounded so small.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
"Yeah, really" Theo replied, apparently unaware of everything "It's my job, after all."
Liam wasn't sure how to proceed at this point.
"Okay, wow, thanks," he said tentatively.
"You look surprised," Theo commented, his smile fading to a quiet expression.
"I didn't think you'd say yes," Liam blurted out "at least not so easily."
He wanted Theo to say yes. But he didn't expect him to actually do it.
"Well, I'm the tutor, you said that, right?"
Liam just wanted this conversation to end. Theo had agreed and he didn't want to risk changing his mind.
This did not prevent his silence from becoming awkward.
"Why don't you tell me exactly what you need," Theo said after a while, perhaps trying to improve the situation.
"What do you mean?" Liam asked, perplexed, no longer knowing how to proceed in that conversation.
"Well, you could tell me the topics you need to study," Theo then attempted, appearing equally confused by his reaction.
"Oh," Liam then replied stupidly.
The topics, of course.
"Genetics, DNA, genetic code, all that stuff," he added, shrugging.
"Don't speak with that contempt of the basis of life" Theo retorted, but with an amused expression.
Liam rolled his eyes "the basis of life is the cell."
"Wow, so you're not a totally lost cause"
Liam really didn't know how to respond to his provocations, so he remained silent.
And Theo finally seemed to understand that he had no desire to play with him.
"Okay, listen, I already have plans this afternoon, but I'm free tomorrow," he informed him, returning to the plan "I can come over and—"
"No."
The words came out before he could even think about it.
Theo looked at him in confusion "What?"
Fuck.
"No, you... my house is a mess right now because... because we just moved," he blurted out an explanation, trying to sound convincing "I just... it's better if you don't see that"
Theo didn't seem convinced, staring at him for a few seconds without saying a word.
Liam thought his eyes were really green.
And then Theo nodded slowly.
"Oh, okay, it's not a problem," he said quietly "at my place, then?"
Liam immediately felt guilty. He'd just forced Theo to take him in just because he didn't want to take him to his house.
"I don't want to be... intrusive," he muttered, biting his lip.
After all, Theo just had to leave the house before six p.m. and everything would be fine.
"You're not intrusive, I'm the one inviting you," Theo replied calmly, without a hint of anger "I'm having a hard time concentrating in the library, too many people."
Liam thought it was a lie, but he was desperate enough to just accept it.
"Okay, sure," he nodded, then see you tomorrow, then."
Theo barely had time to say goodbye before Liam was already gone, his fingers tightening on the straps of his backpack as he disappeared among the other students.
~~~
Liam knocked on Theo's door a full hour earlier than expected.
Theo opened it anyway.
"Hey," he simply greeted a little confused.
"Hi," Liam replied, suddenly feeling so stupid.
Theo probably had other things to do than deal with his tantrums.
"Come in," Theo said simply "you're early, were you impatient to see me?"
He was smiling. Why was he smiling?
"No, I just..."
He swallowed. For some reason, 'I didn't want to stay in the empty locker room for another hour' seemed too pathetic.
"I didn't go home for lunch so I thought I'd come here right away" he offered in a half-truth as Theo closed the door behind him.
"Oh, okay," the other boy said, leading him toward the kitchen counter "did you at least eat something?"
"No, but it doesn't matter, I'm fine," Liam replied immediately, his reflex now automatic.
"Are you sure?" Theo asked inquiringly "I have some leftover pizza if you want."
Liam felt his stomach growl at the thought.
"No, it's okay," he forced himself to answer, hoping Theo hadn't heard anything "seriously."
"Okay," Theo then nodded, oblivious.
But Liam wasn't looking at him anymore, focused instead on the rest of the apartment.
It felt... warm. The walls were painted a pale orange, and there were photos plastered everywhere, as well as tons of shelves covered with books. The furniture all seemed completely mismatched, yet somehow it worked together, a layer of lived-in covering everything.
"Your house is—"
"Small?" Theo interrupted, running a hand through his hair "Yes, I know."
"No!" Liam then immediately exclaimed, fearing his reaction "I mean, yes, it's small, but I was about to say it's nice, I like how you... decorated it?"
God, he felt so stupid.
"Is that a question?" Theo asked, frowning.
Liam put his hands to his face "I don't know what I'm saying."
But why couldn't he just be normal? Why was he making everything so ridiculous and weird? Theo should have told him he'd changed his mind by now.
But Theo instead looked at him for another second, almost... curiously, before speaking again.
"Okay, listen, relax," he simply said, a soft smile tugging at his lips "I've never eaten anyone," he added, a small dimple appearing on his cheek "at least not in an unpleasant way."
It took Liam forever to grasp the provocation.
"You... you..." he stammered when he did, a dusting of pink on his cheeks "oh god, you're an idiot."
Theo smiled back, amused. "That's not a nice thing to say, Liam."
Liam rolled his eyes, the embarrassment in his stomach not seeming as unpleasant as it should have been.
"Can we just study?" he asked, trying to bring the conversation back to their true purpose.
"Sure," Theo confirmed, motioning for him to follow him " come on, let's go to my room."
Liam followed immediately, quickly noticing that Theo's living room/kitchen only had two doors, and since one had to be the bathroom, the other was Theo's bedroom.
Liam found this strange. There were a lot of doors in his house, and Liam always made sure they all stayed closed.
Theo led him in his bedroom, to the desk, allowing him to put his things down.
And Liam did so almost automatically, starting to take books and pens out of his backpack while his mind was completely absorbed in their surroundings.
That room, like the whole house, felt so... Theo. His things were scattered everywhere, as if he needed to fill all the space with himself.
Liam was fascinated by the way Theo moved through his world, which seemed... truly seemed all his own.
"You don't seem like the type who can concentrate if you have something else going on in your mind so just tell me what you want to say," Theo interrupted his train of thought, sitting down next to him.
Liam wasn't sure how to ask his question.
"Where..." he then tried to begin, "I mean... your house..."
"I don't think I understand," Theo raised an eyebrow.
He didn't seem angry, though, just a little amused by him.
This reassured Liam in every way possible.
"Your house only has one bedroom," he blurted out, hoping Theo would understand.
Living room, bedroom, bathroom.
Where was everything else?
Theo, meanwhile, frowned. It was the slightest movement, just a twitch at the corner of his mouth, but Liam knew exactly what it meant.
"Sorry," he said immediately, biting his tongue so hard he tasted blood "sorry, I didn't mean—"
"When I said this is my house, I meant it," Theo interrupted, something stirring in his eyes "Liam, this is my house."
My house.
"So... so you..."
"You really don't know anything?" Theo asked at that point, halfway between surprise and irritation "everyone at school knows."
Liam shook his head.
He didn't want to make him angry with his stupid questions.
"No... no, I don't think I know"
And Theo seemed to believe him because his face relaxed a little, as if he realized he wasn't making fun of him, before he spoke again.
"Liam, my parents are dead."
"Oh."
Oh.
"Okay, yeah, that seems... seems good"
Liam realized too late what had just come out of his mouth.
"Good?" Theo asked, completely frozen.
Liam just wanted to get up and run away.
"No!" he found himself saying instead, his mind completely short-circuiting, "no, I don't think it's good that your parents... oh God, I'm so sorry."
But Theo was silent and looking at him and Liam wanted to tear his skin off, his nails digging painfully into his thigh.
"I meant that it seems good that you... that you have your own house and that you... that you're... okay and safe here and..."
"Okay," Theo finally interrupted "okay, I get it."
Liam felt like a horrible person.
"I'm so sorry," he repeated again, not knowing what else to say "maybe it's better if we just study."
"Hey," Theo called back, his expression softening again "I get it, I know you didn't mean anything bad, it's okay, really."
Liam just wanted Theo to punch him for what had come out of his mouth.
"DNA," he simply said, ignoring the lump in his throat.
"What?"
"For the quiz," Liam then repeated, forcing himself to remove his hand from his thigh, the nail marks etched into denim "I need to know everything about the structure of DNA."
And Theo seemed to somehow catch the plea in his voice because he simply nodded.
"Okay," he replied, reaching out enough to grab his backpack, "okay, then let's get started."