Liam couldn't help but be a bit confused when he woke up without Theo's influence, eyes fluttering slowly as he blinked around the car, he was still in the blanket, face pressed into the soft pillow leaving him looking at the back of the driver's seat. He strained his hearing but couldn't hear a single car, even the one he was in was quiet, engine off, radio dead.

The soft pat pat pat of Theo's heart sounded through the metal. Liam sat up slowly, keeping the blanket tucked around him as he peered out the dark window only to be met with an open field, the road a thin line a few hundred meters away, only visible thanks to the white lines painted down the middle. Liam shuffled out of the car, the chilly air biting at his exposed skin leaving goosebumps prickling up and down his arms. He pulled the blanket tighter around himself as he stepped onto the hard ground of the field, dirt packed together and cracking from the lack of rain.

Theo's feet were visible, white converse shining beneath the moonlight as his head poked out from the bed of the truck. Liam inched down the car, peering round the corner. Theo was already looking, eyes hooded and tired, his lips pulled into a small smile.

"Clothes are dry." Theo said, voice husky, he shoved a thumb at the duffel he was currently using as a pillow as if Liam wouldn't have noticed that from the fact they were now far away from the laundrette and Theo was fully dressed. "You want them?" Liam shook his head, climbing up into the truck. Theo didn't move, to make room from where he was spread diagonally across the floor leaving Liam tucking himself into a corner, legs sliding beneath where Theo's were propped up. The metal was cold against the back of Liam's legs and the small of his back. Theo shifted, holding the Thermos out to him.

"Coffee?" He offered. "It's still warm."

"It's late. Shouldn't you be sleeping not drinking coffee?"

"S'only another couple hours to Vegas. Just needed a quick break, we'll be back on the road soon." Theo murmured, eyes blinking slowly.

"We can wait till tomorrow to get to Vegas. If you're tired you ca-"

"Are you still hungry? I got us some food." Theo tossed the bag over before settling his arm behind his head. Liam sighed but didn't comment on the blatant change of subject just turned his attention to the bag of food. He bypassed the half a burger going instead for the still full box. "I didn't get fries. They're awful cold but there are some chips."

"Thanks." Liam ate in silence, watching Theo watch the sky eyes drooping closed every so often before he'd gulp down some coffee from the Thermos. When Liam was finished, the gnawing pit of hunger in his stomach somewhat appeased, for now, he followed Theo's gaze to the sky, dotted with bright stars and a crescent moon.

"You know any of the constellations?" Liam asked slowly.

"Not really." Theo admitted. "A couple but nothing impressive. You?"

"The real ones? not a clue. Me and Mason use to make up our own though."

"How'd you make up your own constellations?"

"What do you mean how? You just..look for patterns and say what it looks like or make up a dumb sounding scientific name. It's like when your cloud watching."

"Cloud watching?"

"You know, when you'd watch clouds go by and say what animal it looked like."

"Sounds boring." Theo snorted.

"You've never done it?" Theo shook his head slowly. "What did you even do with your friends when you were younger?" Liam said. Not expecting Theo to answer.

"Star wars marathons with Stiles." Theo said softly. "We went to see attack of the clones in the cinema. He dressed up as Han Solo. I as Chewy. Had to change out of it though, the fur from the suit almost gave me an asthma attack. Stiles begged Scott to come, he wanted him to dress up as Luke. Tara said she'd come if Scott went and that she'd go as Leia. Had the white dress all ready before Scott bailed. She refused to come after that."

Liam's back ached from the angle he was leaning on but he didn't move. Theo's eyes were shut, a small smile tugging at his lips, the bags beneath his eyes deep and leaving him looking ready to drop. Liam wondered if he even remembered that he was there, or if Theo just thought he was talking to himself. Mumbling out memories unaware Liam was around to hear them. "They promised they'd come to watch the next one with us." Theo's eyes fluttered open again with what looked like great effort, his gaze meeting Liam's. "Never did get around to seeing it."

"You should sleep."

"Do you not like story time?" Theo asked, lips twisting into a smirk. Liam bit back the no that he wanted to say, because despite not knowing much about Theo these were the sort of things he didn't want to know. The things that left his stomach churning as he tried to figure out how Theo had gone from a kid who dressed up as a Starwars character to a boy who murdered his own sister and worked for the dread doctors. The smirk fell as Liam's eyes fell to Theo's chest, to where he could still hear his heart beating softly. Theo's hand crept up, palm pressing against his breastbone, his finger tapping once, twice. "They told me she wanted me to have it." Once, Twice. "I wanted to believe them."

"Did you? Believe them?" Liam asked.

"I don't know." Theo's eyes danced across the sky, his breath coming out in shallow puffs. "I think I might have. It's hard to remember." Theo let out a brittle laugh, fingers curling into his shirt. "It was one heart and another lifetime ago." His hand released but didn't move from his chest, curled protectively over his heart.

"Do you regret it?" The words left Liam's mouth before he could stop them. Theo's finger paused, dangling a centimeter over his chest.

"Regret doesn't change anything."

"It can."

"Not this time." Theo said. He clicked his tongue, eyes flickering over the stars. "What about you? Do you regret bringing me back?" Theo asked, his voice wavered slightly, the tiniest shake that Liam was surprised he even managed to hear, but his heart was steady, his finger still moving on his chest, tapping out heartbeats. Liam didn't know how he did it, keep his heart rate normal when asking a question like that. Liam could barely order a coffee without his heart speeding up and yet Theo could say almost anything and keep his composure.

Theo shifted slightly, just enough for his head to tilt and catch Liam's eye. Liam swallowed, heart hammering in his chest. The immediate answer he wanted to say was No. Of course he didn't, because Theo had saved his ass ten times over, because he'd watched Theo change, because he'd seen what Theo looked like when he was actually happy and surely someone who smiled like that couldn't be evil. But the words stuck on his tongue because despite it being true it felt..wrong to say so. Like a betrayal to Scott and the pack and all the people Theo had hurt. Theo's jaw clenched, his heart finally skipping a beat. Eyes shuttering when a familiar smirk begun to tug at his lips, false and full of bravado. Liam felt bile rise in his throat at the thought of Theo thinking he regretted it.

"Depends." Liam said softly.

"On what?" Theo asked, expression still closed off. Liam's fingers picked at the blanket, Theo's hand tapped his chest, once, twice.

"Whether you delete that video of me snoring or not." Liam said. Theo's eyes closed as the tension snapped, finally breaking like an elastic band pulled too tight, his brow and nose scrunching when he shook his head, a smile taking over his face before he was laughing, soft and full of light.

He opened his eyes to meet Liam's and Liam couldn't help but smile back when he saw the way Theo's eyes sparkled, the way his body had dropped further into the truck as if a weight had been lifted off him and he could finally relax. It was as close to a no as Liam could get without straight up saying it, without feeling like he was breaking Scott's trust by trusting Theo. Theo licked his lips, tongue chasing the laugh back into his mouth but the smile stayed, twitching at his lips as if he couldn't figure out how to turn it off.

"Alright smartass. How do you make constellations then?"

"Budge up and I'll show you." Theo shifted slowly, worming his way along until there was room for Liam next to him. Liam flopped down, head snapping against the metal with a rattling clang that made Theo hiss out a laugh. "Ow."

"That was very graceful." Theo said dryly.

"Here." Theo didn't wait for Liam to move, just shoved the bag into the side of his head until he raised it enough for Theo to slide it under him. Liam rubbed his head against the bag, temple bumping against Theo's lightly as he made a comfortable divot in the clothes. "Okay, so. You basically just stare until you can make something out of the stars." Liam squinted up at the sky. "Like..umm...Okay, so there's kinda like..um.."

"Wow, you're good at this."

"Shut up. There are less stars back in beacon hills." Liam grumbled, eyes scanning the darkness above them, flickering between each shiny white star.

"Surely more stars would mean more choice?"

"You'd think." Liam said. "But it just..There's too many, I can't find any patterns."

"Well this is fun."

"Stop being an asshole."

"I don't think that's possible." Theo hummed. Liam snorted.

"Alright, give me your phone."

"Why?"

"Because I said so." Liam huffed, holding out his hand. Theo was still for a moment before he let out a sigh and shifted, a second later his phone was slapping down into Liam's hand, unlocked and ready to use. Liam started clicking.

"What are you doing?"

"There's this app Corey showed me." Liam mumbled. "You can like see stars and stuff."

"You could always look up."

"Will you shut up for a second?" Liam said voice light with a laugh. Theo did as he was told. It only took a minute or so for Liam to manage to find the right app and download it. He got it up, pointing the device into the sky. "Okay, so apparently Mars is just over there." He hummed pointing up and to the left. Theo's hair tickled his cheek as he turned to look where Liam was pointing.

"I only see stars."

"Well that's all it looks like isn't it. It's just..kinda red." Liam said, dropping the phone to his chest as he tried to find it.

"I know that much. I just mean I don't see a red star." Liam didn't either, he picked the phone back up, scanning it across the sky.

"Well..It's there..somewhere, and then okay so uh Pegasus is right above us. And Mars is to our right."

"I thought Mars was over there." Theo said, pointing left. Liam blinked down at the phone, twisting it left and right and watching as the two planets appeared.

"It seems your signal is not the best. Either that or Mars has a twin."

"Well. The second option is definitely more likely." Theo drawled. Liam tapped at the phone, trying to make it refresh. "We should get driving." Theo sighed, Liam twisted so he could look at Theo, reeling back when his nose nudged against Theo's cheek. He couldn't help the frown that pulled at his lips when he saw the bags beneath Theo's eyes.

He didn't doubt telling Theo he was too tired to drive would just be taken as a challenge.

"Do we have to?" Liam asked, shifting back to look at the sky. "I don't really want to get back in the car just yet." Which, technically wasn't a lie, Theo didn't need to know that it was because he was worried Theo would end up driving them into a fiery death when he fell asleep at the wheel.

"Technically we're still in the car. But fine."

"Technically you're an asshole. But thanks." The two fell into silence. "I spy with my little-"

"No."

"It's a hard one." Liam tried.

"Fine."

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with S."

"If it's stars I'm going to leave you here."

"It's not." Liam lied.

"I can hear your heart idiot."

"If you leave me please at least leave me some shoes." Liam said.

"Well, now you've taken all the fun out of it." Theo murmured. The two fell into silence once again but this time Liam made no attempt to break it, eyes slowly roaming the sky as he listened to the soft tapping of Theo's finger and his slow breaths. A constant wave of warmth seeping from Theo where their shoulders pressed together. Liam closed his eyes, breathing in slow and deep. The air was tepid and gritty from the sandy roads all around them.

Thunder cracked, somewhere far in the distance and for the first time since the wild hunt, Liam wasn't thinking about ghost riders at the sound but simply hoping the good weather would hold out until after they'd been to the water park.

*

Liam jolted awake at a loud and deliberate throat clearing, Theo's elbow digging into his side in a hard jaw as the two scrambled to sit up, Liam squinted against the bright sun blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he tried to focus on the figure in front of him. Theo seemed to be a lot faster at waking up.

"We're going." Theo said, voice husky, hand already digging in his pocket for his keys as Liam finally managed to see past the sleepy haze to meet the unamused frown of a police officer standing at the edge of the truck.

"You boys okay?" The officer asked. Liam gave a small nod. Using his hand to shield the bright flare of Nevada sun

"You know you can't sleep here right? You need to-"

"I said we're going." Theo said in a tone Liam was sure you weren't meant to use with police officers. The officer seemed to ignore it, turning his gaze fully onto Theo.

"I'll be over there. If you're not gone in ten minutes-"

"We will be." Theo huffed, standing up, dragging the blanket with him.

"Okay." He hummed nodding. "Ten minutes. Don't make me come back." His eyes drifted back to Liam. "And Son, put some clothes on." He sighed, shooting a disapproving look between the pair before marching back across the empty field. Liam's gaze fell down to himself, cheeks flaming red as he was met with pale skin, still clad only in boxers. Theo let out a barking laugh, head tipped back, Liam swung his arm out, shoving Theo back hard enough for him to trip over the edge of the truck and hit the floor with a solid thump and painful gasp.

"I'm gonna kick your ass for that." Theo wheezed.