Theo woke up a few hours after they left the diner. Liam waited fairly patiently as he bitched up a storm about the smell of chlorine and booze coming from their dirty clothes.

Shoveled his long since cold food like he was going for first place at an eating competition and downed his milkshake like it was a shot. He followed the whole tirade by rolling down the window and promptly vomiting out of it. Liam was sure there were more sympathetic ways of dealing with Theo puking out a window. He, however, didn't take them, instead, he laughed so hard he was forced to slam on the breaks to keep from driving off the road.

When he sobered enough to start driving again Theo was glaring at him scornfully from where he was slumped in the side seat, fuzzy earmuffs askew on his head, sunglasses halfway down his nose. Liam scooped a bottle of water from the back seat and held it out for Theo, his look broke from a glare to a wide-eyed look of awe, like Liam was the Messiah.

Liam pulled off the highway at the next town, inching through the streets until he found a laundromat.

"Okay, you need to park." Liam decided, breaking in the middle of the road. Theo blinked his eyes open.

"What?"

"I can't park." Liam said. Theo let out a sigh, closing his sigh again. "I don't know how to parallel park."

"No time like the present to learn."

"Do you want me to wreck your truck trying to park?" Liam asked. Theo cracked an eye open again.

"Go start loading a washer." Theo grumbled, unbuckling his seat belt and shooing Liam out of the truck. He barely managed to grab the duffle from the back seat before Theo moved to actively shoving him out of the door.

"Really?" Liam huffed, turning in time to see Theo flopping into the driver's seat with a dramatic sigh like he'd climbed Mount Everest and not just moved two feet.

"You were being too slow." Theo said, slamming the door. Liam grinned as he let out a pained whine and flinched at the loud sound.

"Serves you right asshole." He turned on his heel, stomping into the laundromat listening to Theo mutter threats at the truck door.

*

Liam tossed Theo's clothes into the machine, tilting his head so he could watch Theo as he sunk into a chair, causing him to snort a laugh. He paused loading the washer to snap a quick photo of Theo as he sat moping in his boxers, sunglasses, beanie, earmuffs and socks with enough holes in them Theo had just said he'd throw them away before they left rather than wash them again.

"Hurry up and start it." Theo mumbled, tugging the beanie further down. Liam shook his head, smile twitching at his lips when he finished packing the machine and added in what was definitely too much detergent.

Liam's gaze fell down to himself, fingers picking at the shirt he was wearing. Technically it was clean, if he ignored the lingering smells of smoke, alcohol and chlorine from being trapped in an enclosed space for the past few hours. He flickered his eyes around the shop. He could hear the dull hum of a tv behind the wall as whoever owned the place hid away but other than that it was empty.

A squeak passed Liam's lips as he felt hands picking at his top and hauling it up.

"Dude I was gonna-" Liam snapped, refusing to lift his arms so Theo simply pulled the shirt until it was bunched uncomfortably beneath his armpits.

"You were taking too long." Theo said.

"I was think-"

"I will rip it off if you don't raise your arms." Theo said seriously.

"That would be completely counterproductive, there'd be no point of-" Theo tugged at the top until Liam heard the seams beginning to snap. "Fuck! fine. Okay!" Liam hissed, he raised his arms enough for Theo to shrug the top over his head. Liam glared at the drum of the machine as Theo dropped it on. chest plastered against Liam's back. "You're the worst hungover person I've ever met." Liam said.

"And you're a prude. You literally shower with other people in the locker room but you have a problem with washing clothes."

"Washing them isn't what I have a problem with." Liam said, Theo hooked his chin over Liam's shoulder letting out a loud sigh as if listening to Liam was a task in itself. "You know a lot of people would feel self-conscious about stripping in a laundromat right?"

"What's there to be self-conscious about? There's no one in here and even if there was I'm hot enough that they should be thanking me for-"

"Well it's nice that you can back up the hotness with modesty and your not at all overbearing personality." Liam snorted. Liam felt Theo's chest shaking as he chuckled. The fluff of the earmuffs brushing against Liam's cheek.

"You just agreed I'm hot." Theo hummed. Liam jumped as Theo's fingers dropped suddenly from their place on the sides of the washing machine to the button of Liam's jeans. Before Liam had a chance to complain his top button was open and the door was breezing wide with a cheerful little jingle. Liam's head snapped towards the door, gaze falling on an old woman as she froze in the entrance way, eyes wide when she looked between the two of them. Her gaze dropped to Theo's hands, frozen on Liam's fly.

"Um..hello." Liam said tentatively, hand coming up in a stilted wave. The woman turned on her heel, tugging her granny trolley behind her as she fled the laundromat.

*

Liam wasn't even shocked when the manager stormed out of his room five minutes later after what did not sound like a fun phone call, marched over to where the boys were sitting with a red face and ordered that at least one of them leave.

Theo oh so valiantly finally recovered from staring at the washer turn as if he were hypnotized by it, something he'd been doing ever since they sat down, and walked out of the shop with a 'He can stay'.

Liam had never been so happy for hungover Theo when the old woman came back in a few minutes later, scowling at Liam like he was some heathen and Liam had noticed that Theo had apparently switched their clothes to a quick wash when he'd relented his hold on Liam and let him hop away to rid himself of his own jeans without any more unsolicited help.

An hour later Liam was running back to the truck with their newly washed and dried clothes. Theo woke up long enough to shrug on some sweats and a hoodie before he was curling back up in the passenger seat with a mumble of 'Try not to go so slow we actually go back in time' before he fell asleep.

*

Liam watched when the hangover slowly wore off of Theo. A few naps into the afternoon and the earmuffs were being flung into the backseat. Theo's stomach once again told them it was time to pull over. Luckily it wasn't via throwing up again but by a loud grumble. Liam continued inching along the dark roads, headlights on full force as Theo finally let the sunglasses fall onto the dash and searched his phone for any nearby places of food.

"I have a plan." Liam said.

"That never ends well."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Liam scoffed.

"Well, Last time you said that to me you tried to whore me out. The time before that I got shot and before that, I ended up having to knock you out five times and-" Theo said.

"Hey! you said my plan at the zoo was impressive."

"The plan was fine, the execution just left a lot to be desired."

"Oh and you do so much better? Mr I think I can handle a coffee."

"What's your plan Liam?" Theo sighed.

"Okay so, we find somewhere to sleep."

"Ground breaking." Theo said dryly.

"No right, so we find a field, park the car and then we call a pizza place and convince them to deliver to the truck."

"You know generally when a plan is 'lure someone into the middle of nowhere so you can eat' it doesn't end in pizza."

"I would rather face a firing squad than drive another mile."

"Not very fun is it."

"At least you have me talking to you, you just slept all day. And when you weren't sleeping you were bitching about-"

"You have the sleeping pattern of a sloth Liam. You can't judge me."

"You've slept like..eighteen hours today."

"I'm ill." Theo said stiffly.

"You're all better now and yet you're still bitch-"

"There's a pizza place ten minutes from here." Theo said loudly. "Just go there then we'll find somewhere to park."

"But the pizza will get cold."

"Who's bitching now." Theo hummed.

"I'm not bitching, I'm making a valid point."

"Valid when you drive like an eighty-year-old. Drive." Liam sighed but did as he was told, listening as Theo listed of directions. Theo hopped out and directed Liam into a parking space. Liam was sure that just driving into a space wasn't meant to warrant as much swearing as their attempt did. Liam was just happy that it hadn't been parallel parking.

*

Liam shouldered open the door, pizza's in hand, wandering back onto the street as Theo threw money at the cashier and chased after him. Liam settled the pizzas on the roof, then searched for the keys in his pocket.

"Give me the keys." Theo ordered, holding one hand out. "I'd like to actually get off of this street tonight and I doubt you'd even make it out of the parking space." Liam's fingers found the keys, he considered launching them into the wheelie bin on the corner of the parking lot and telling Theo he could get them himself.

"Wow. I'm so glad you're feeling better." Liam said dryly, ignoring his petty musings and tossing the car keys to Theo who caught them with a smirk.

"Not all the way better, think you might have to feed me while i dri-"

"Dream on." Liam scoffed, snatching the boxes back off of the roof and making his way to the passenger side.

*

Theo drove fast enough to leave Liam gripping the dash with both hands and swallowing back screams at each turn. When they skidded - literally, a good three meters - to a stop in a field Theo had apparently decided was good enough for them to sleep in, the pizzas weren't even close to cold, steam still rising from them slowly in tantalizing little wisps.

Liam quickly padded the bed with blankets while Theo sat, leaning out the back door, pizza slice in hand, beanie still tugged over his ears urging Liam to hurry up or the food would get cold with a little smirk of satisfaction every time Liam snapped at him to shut up.

Once Liam was satisfied that the blankets were arranged just right and Theo was satisfied he'd been an unhelpful asshole for long enough, the two clamored into the back of the truck. Theo popped the pizza boxes between them and Liam dug into the still warm food with a few hearty moans.

"We do need to actually eat some vegetables soon." Theo said, sounding totally unconvinced of his own plan.

"This is basically all vegetables." Liam said, Theo raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "I mean it is, if you think about it. So like, there are mushrooms which are already vegetables."

"Mushrooms don't count as-"

"And there's the cheese, which comes from milk and cows make milk by eating grass so we're basically eating grass." Theo snorted. "And the dough, I mean, that's just bread right? So that's like..wheat which is another plant."

"And the meat?" Theo asked.

"Everyone needs protein." Liam said.

"Honestly, it's the kind of logic I'd expect from someone who doesn't like biology." Theo said, Liam ignored it, tugging another slice out of the box. "You know I'm gonna get you a cookbook so you don't die of scurvy."

"I'm going to get you a washing machine so you stop stripping me in public places." Liam muttered, taking a large bite.

"Does that mean I can strip you in private places?" Theo hummed. Liam sucked in a harsh breath, food lodging in his throat leaving him hacking unattractively, like a cat trying to cough up a hairball. "God it's so easy." Theo cackled, not even moving to help Liam as he choked. Liam shoulder barged him before coughing the pizza back out onto his lap. He picked the chewed up lump off him, tossing it over the edge of the truck. "You're disgusting."

"And you're a fucking asshole." Liam grumbled, cheeks flushed red and eyes stinging with tears. When Theo was halfway through his own pizza he tossed the box to the side and wiggled until he was lying down.

"Thought you were done with only half finishing your food." Liam said, still eagerly working his way through his own pizza watching as Theo made himself comfortable.

"I'd rather not throw up again." Theo said in a soft hum, eyes slipping closed.

"Thought you were feeling better?"

"I am. Still not risking it though. I've brushed my teeth like eight times today. I'm pretty sure we're gonna have to buy more toothpaste before we leave Disney world."

"So Disney worlds still the plan then?" Liam asked, picking the beanie off of Theo's head, he shot him a halfhearted glare but made no move to take it back. Liam resisted the urge to reach out and ruffle the unruly mess that Theo's hair had become. "You said you were feeling better." he added, tugging the hat onto his own head.

"You really need a hat? I'm pretty sure your mane should keep your ears cold."

"Dude, you can't mock my hair when yours looks like that." Liam snorted. Theo's hand came up, tugging at the messy strands of his hair.

"Point." Theo said, letting his eyes drift closed.

When Liam finished his pizza he followed Theo's lead and spread out beside him, eyes flickering across the star-speckled sky. Theo's heartbeat was echoing in his ears, a soft and constant rhythm.

If you had told Liam that he'd be spending days on end stuck in a truck with only Theo as company a few months ago he'd have thought a handful of things. The first was that Theo had probably kidnapped him for some devious scheme. But most prevalent was that he'd be bored as hell and pray for the moment they reached their destination so it could be over and done with.

He couldn't think of a time when he was really truly bored though.

Of course there were boring moments, there were times that the two would sit in silence for hours, or when he'd wish for them to stop but it was never the kind of boring that hurt, the kind he got in class when he'd be thinking about how much he wanted to leave and never come back. When each second seemed to take hours.

It was the kind of bored he felt with Mason, when they'd been playing the same game for hours and wanted to switch to something else. The kind of wanderlust boredom that said there was something else they could be doing, some other stupid conversation they could be having. It was the kind of boredom that came from the shiver of anticipation at the thought of what they'd do next.

"Hey! Look." Liam exclaimed "A shooting star." He jabbed a finger at the light flickering its way across the sky. Theo shifted next to him, gaze following Liam's finger before he suddenly let out an echoing snort that left Liam's eyes moving from the sky back to Theo who closed his eyes and shook his head in a gentle sway, visibly trying to stop a smile from forming.

"What's funny about a shooting star?" Liam asked huffily. He'd also have expected Theo would piss him off regularly, that one, it seemed, Liam was right about. Theo's smile finally broke out full force, his head rolling back against the pillow as he let out a silent laugh. "Dude!" Liam hissed. Theo finally met Liam's gaze again eyes sparkling with mirth.

"What's funny, you deaf moron, Is that your shooting star is an airplane." He said, voice shaking with laughter. Liam's head snapped back to the sky, watching as the shooting star continued to flicker across the sky in a way that was definitely too slow to be a shooting star. He pushed past the sound of Theo's heartbeat and grimaced when he heard the telltale sound of a plane's engine, so loud a regular human would have been able to hear it, if only faintly. "I grew up in sewers and even i know the difference between-"

"I knew it was a plane!" Liam lied. Theo laughed, loud and beautiful, head turning so he was looking at Liam, grin so wide it made the corners of his eyes crease.

"Really?" He hummed disbelieving. "So why did you say it was a shooting star?"

"Well clearly I was trying to manufacture a scenario from your dumb 'real boy' list."

"Clearly." Theo said. "And watching a meteor shower was on your list?" It wasn't, but now Theo had mentioned it Liam was definitely going to add it.

"No dumbass. Making a wish is." Liam said, happy that at least that much was actually true he'd just figured it would be done over the birthday cake Liam would be forcing on Theo when he actually found out when it was. "And you wish on shooting stars so..Go on-"

"I mean I would." Theo said with a smirk. "But that's still an airplane." Theo said.

"Use your imagination." Liam grumbled. Theo raised an eyebrow.

"Are you really trying to make me wish on an airplane because you don't want to admit you didn't notice it was an airplane?"

"I'll make a wish then-" Liam said loudly, talking over the last half of the sentence. "I wish you'd fuck off."

"You know it doesn't come true if you tell someone about it." Theo said, still chuckling like the asshole he was.

"Will you just pretend it's a shooting star and make a wish?" Theo shrugged, licking his lips as his eyes flickered from Liam to the plane.

"Will you make one?" He asked after a moment.

"Yeah, No. Not a big fan of wishes, they have a way of coming back to bite you in the ass." Liam said. "This is your game."

"Well aren't you just a big ball of sunshine."

"I'm just saying, you wish for a white Christmas you end up getting snowed into your grandma's house that smells like wet dog for a week, you wish for new shoes and a drunk raccoon pees in yours so you have to buy more, but not before going to school in shoes that smell like Raccoon urine. You wish for everything to change so you can be happy and you almost get thrown off a roof and turned into a werewolf. Wishes' never go the way you want them too."

"Never had you down for being a pessimist, pumpkin." Theo said. Liam rolled his eyes, looking away to watch the plane inch across the sky. "Well," Theo said, propping himself up on an elbow and hovering in Liam's line of vision, gentle smile tugging at his lips. "Lucky for you it's just an airplane, they don't exactly have magical wish-granting abilities so you should be safe."

"What and shooting stars do have magical wish-granting abilities?" Liam snorted. "Never took you for the superstitious type."

"Clearly there's some truth to it if you're too scared to wish on one, even a fake one."

"I'm not scared to wish on it!" Liam scoffed. Theo's lips crept into a smile.

"Then go on Pumpkin, make a wish." He said.

His eyes moved from the airplane to Theo.

Liam knew what he'd wish for, if he had to choose something. He'd wish for Theo to never have another nightmare, for the wall's he'd barricaded himself inside of to come crashing down so the pack could see first hand how much Theo had changed since coming back from hell. He'd wish for Theo to keep smiling like he was doing in that moment, soft and at ease, like a normal teenager. He'd wish for him to be happy.

"I'd wish for a cat that doesn't hate me." Liam said instead. Theo laughed heartily, tipping his weight off of his elbow so he flopped down next to Liam once again with a metallic thump.

"Everything in the world and you wish for a cat?"

"It's a good one." Theo snorted as if he disagreed. Liam tilted his head back towards Theo, the chimera answered immediately, head turning until their eyes met. "What would you wish for then?"