Work Text
San Francisco was unforgiving during Christmas - and especially during New Year. Theo Raeken still looked forward to it, especially after he learnt how to drive. He took the car that had been his home for so many weeks and Liam with him, drove up to the coast and imagined what being a normal human would feel in this second.
Fireworks were loud. The Dread Doctors had hated them, they reminded them of war and loss (and it probably had been incredibly painful on the frequencies, not that Theo had minded). Back when he had lived with them, he had tried to ignore them. They had flinched like they were actually
human
, and Theo had noticed that they didn’t do experiments that day. When he had caught a glimpse at the Surgeon injecting his liquid, he had noticed that the man’s hands had been shaking. They had looked at each other for a second (green eyes meeting the milky glasses), then Theo had escaped the situation.
He can’t remember talking about this. There were a lot of things they never talked about. Theo was forced to live with the survivor's guilt. It hit him sometimes, when seeing a syringe or when he heard someone calling his full name. But he was also living, which was the most important thing.
Theo was alive and he was sitting next to Liam on the front of his car. He watched the fireworks without flinching and for a second he thought that life might be worth it.
No reincarnations this time, Theo thought as he looked up to the stars. The fireworks had just ended; and the coast was getting quieter. His head wasn’t. He could still hear the explosions - and he was sure Liam felt the same.
“Dumb idea, huh?”, he asked.
He felt his lips forcing the sarcastic smile on his face. He didn’t even
like
this smile; just like he didn’t like betraying Liam.
This was a “I’m going to steal your powers later” smile, not a “I love you” smile.
“Pretty stupid”, Liam agreed.
“But worth it?”
“Yes.”
The werewolf leaned closer to kiss him. For a second, Theo felt whole. Complete. Everything he had tried to be, everything he had tried to archive, was worthless compared to the happiness his boyfriend could give him.
The second didn’t seem to end. As Theo opened his eyes and looked up to the dark sky, he still felt the giggly happiness. Kissing did that. Love did that. Liam did that.
“They were scared of fireworks too. The only person I know that wasn’t, is my sister. Was my sister.”
Inherently evil
, Theo thought and frowned. Was he? Still? Would he ever be free?
Probably not, as long as her frightened heart was beating inside his chest.
“It’s alright now”, Liam said.
Theo looked at him. Maybe it was.