The sky had long since turned an inky black by the time Derek was pulling the truck to a stop. The car was doused in a sleepy silence that Liam was grateful for. Stiles had, predictably, not shut up since they'd gotten in the truck and even with Derek driving well over the speed limit the journey had felt too long. He was glad however that Stiles had managed to entertain himself by explaining in vivid detail what everyone had been up to since Liam and Theo had vanished into the night and Derek had kept him talking with the occasional grunt that Stiles seemed to think meant 'please continue'. Liam, however, could see the way Derek was rolling his eyes and letting out dramatic sighs.

Theo hadn't spoken since throwing his hot dog out the window, which was probably a good idea. If Liam was lucky they would babble to get the money and get gone before the barbs started coming from Stiles and the two got into a bitch off that would no doubt reflect badly on Theo when Stiles returned to Beacon Hills and told Scott about it.

Derek was the first out of the truck. Moving into the motel's reception, Theo's keys tucked snugly in his pocket. Stiles was next, tumbling out whilst complaining about backache and how his jeep was clearly superior. Theo, luckily, was too busy inspecting every inch of the truck for damage to pay him any mind.

Liam couldn't even bring himself to mind how bad Motel beds usually smelt if it meant getting a few minutes away from the scents of Stiles and Derek muddying up Theo's scent.

They were going to have to drive with the windows open for at least a day to get rid of the unease caused by other peoples scents in the truck.

Maybe Liam was a bit territorial but it was theirs. No one else had even touched it since they'd fled Idaho. It just smelt wrong having their scents mixed with someone else's while in there.

By the time Theo had finished inspecting the truck Derek was marching back over while Stiles rushed to meet him, peering curiously into his palm like a chicken hoping to peck some grain out of it.

"Dude, you only got two rooms?" Stiles asked.

"Yes, Stiles-" Derek hummed with a condescending little smile. "I got two rooms."

"Alright... Okay, that's fine. so, Liam'll room with me and Derek ca-"

"No." Theo and Derek said at the same time.

"Dude." Stiles hissed. "We talked about this." Derek tossed a room key towards Theo leaving Stiles yelping like a wounded animal. "Derek! The plan!"

"I'm keeping your car keys until morning." Derek said, ignoring the Stiles flailing around him.

"You could just give us the money now and we could give Stiles this key and take off." Theo suggested. Derek didn't dignify it with a response. "Fine, let's go." Theo said, nodding Liam towards the building.

"No. No. You stay." Stiles said grabbing Liam's arm before he could walk away. "Dude! You can't just ignore the plan okay that's not-"

"I'd hurry up and get yourself a room, they said they're almost out."

"Wait what my own room?" Stiles asked.

"Yes, your own room. You gate crashed, why would I pay for your room?" Derek hummed, walking off towards the building. Stiles dropped Liam's arm instantly, racing after Derek spluttering angrily.

"Wait, what dude! Derek! Hey! Don't walk away from me! You can't just leave me without a room! Derek! Derek!"

"You just had to call them didn't you." Theo snorted, swinging the key around his finger as he took off after them. Liam followed.

"It's just one night." He said. "Then tomorrow we can go to New York and actually afford to eat."

"Is eating really worth it?"

"Yes." Liam snuffed. "Stop being so dramatic, It's not that bad." Theo turned as he put the key in the lock, raising an eyebrow disbelievingly before he kicked the door open and wandered in. Liam peered round the door frame and saw Theo tossing the too full duffle bag onto the king sized bed in the center of the room.

"See! I told you it's not that bad. He even got us one bed." Liam grinned. They were totally okay with him being with Theo, at least, Derek was, that is like... halfway there.

"What makes you think I think of that as a plus?" Theo hummed.

"I mean. It's a lot more comfortable than the back seat. At least I won't have to lay on top of you." Liam said, Theo turned towards him, eyes flickering as if actively flipping through jokes he wanted to make. "Don't." Liam warned. "It's only one night and Derek's cool. It's all gonna be-" A yelp came as Liam tried to close the door behind him, a freckled arm sticking through the crack. Liam didn't even have time to move before Stiles was throwing the door open with a surprising amount of force.

"Hey roomies. You ready to get this slumber party started?" He asked, swaggering in with a terrifying grin. Theo's eyes found Liam's once again, eyebrow-raising supesilliously .

"You were saying?" He drawled. Liam ignored him turning to Stiles and watching as the smile fell off his face as he caught sight of the bed.

"What are you doing?" Liam asked.

"I'm staying with you tonight. Clearly." Stiles said.

"No." Liam said. "You're not."

"Yes." Stiles replied happily. "I am. It'll be fun! We can talk about loads of fun things. Like-"

"I'm going for a shower." Theo said. "You deal with this."

"This? Excuse me. I have a na-" The bathroom door closed with a solid click. Liam span back to Stiles with a glare.

"Stiles, what are you doing here?"

"Protecting your virtue apparently." Stiles muttered, eyeing the bed dubiously. "The hell was Derek thinking getting you two a-"

"What the hell are you thinking? I asked Derek to come. Why are you here?"

"Because someone needs to keep an eye on you and him-" he jabbed a finger at the bathroom door. "-And Scott refused to do it so-"

"No one needs to keep an eye on me. Get out."

"No can do buckaroo." Stiles said rocking on his heels smugly.

*

When Liam was thirteen he and Mason had a sleepover, which, in itself was not very remarkable, they had stayed at each other's houses a thousand times over by that point. The part that made it painfully memorable however was that Liam's parents had thrown a party on the same night. Which, Liam was fine with.

Mr. Geyer had given them a beer to share and thanks to the drunken adults downstairs there was no actual bedtime not to mention a small buffet table that they could steal food from whenever they pretended to get a drink.

Liam knew it would be an interesting night when Aunt Cassie arrived unannounced with a Minivan backed to the brim in boxes of wine but he hadn't quite realised how interesting. It had started with his Mom calling them downstairs to meet everyone and talking about how beautiful her boys were while the wine sloshed over the side of her glass.

The night had ended in Liam and Mason trying to comfort a forty-year-old man as he sobbed and the sounds of Aunt Cassie and the man's wife screaming at each other could be heard from the garden as his parents tried to stop them getting into a physical fight.

Liam still didn't know how exactly it happened. He was too busy trying to help Mason fend off questions about girlfriends when the scream of 'you're sleeping with my brother?!' Echoed through the living room bringing everyone to silence. Everyone, it seemed but Aunt Cassie who had raised her wine glass and shouted out 'Cheers'. And well, next thing he knew there was the fight and the crying man who thought Mason was called Liam and Liam was called Mason ended up crying even harder. To the point there was a mini waterfall in the living room.

It was without a doubt the most uncomfortable sleepover he'd ever had. At least, it was, before he met Stiles.

Liam peered past Stiles to Theo, who sat on the opposite side of the bed to Liam, his arms crossed and eyes trained firmly on the wall. It was another one of those things that Liam wasn't quite sure how he got into the position and yet, there he was, sat on a bed with Theo and Stiles. A bed, that according to the later, they would all be sleeping on.

He didn't doubt the only reason Theo hadn't physically thrown Stiles out of the room was that he didn't want Stiles being able to tell Scott that a finger had been laid on his best friend in a less than friendly manner. It was the exact reason why he hadn't done it himself. Liam didn't want to give Scott any reason to think Theo was a bad influence and he was fairly sure bodily harm on his best friend would be a reason to think just that.

"Well, this is cozy." Stiles said, sucking on his teeth and shuffling to get more comfortable between the two boys. Liam tipped his head up towards the ceiling, eyes running over the little cracks in the paint wondering what he'd done to deserve this.

"The early grave I put you in will be cozy too." Theo muttered. Liam let a low huff out. It had been almost half an hour since Liam had gotten bored of arguing with Stiles and flopped next to Theo on their bed, and just a few more seconds until Stiles had joined him, wiggling himself between the two and refused to move no matter what impotent threat Theo or Liam sent his way.

Liam knew Theo wouldn't actually sleep in a bed with Stiles, hell, he probably wouldn't even sleep if Stiles was in the room, but he wouldn't leave the bed, not if it meant conceding defeat to Stiles. He also knew that Stiles wouldn't get off of the bed because he was every bit the stubborn moron Theo was. The last thing he knew, was that he himself was not about to lose the stupid little game of bed chicken with Stiles because he was just as, if not more, stubborn than the other two.

"Don't threaten me in our bed!" Stiles snapped.

"It's not your bed! It's not even your room." Theo bellowed. Liam considered just rolling over and going to sleep until he realised that it was a definite possibility he'd wake to one, or both, of them dead. The door swung open revealing Derek, hair mused from a shower and stern glare on his face.

"Stiles get off the bed." Derek said slowly.

"Can't. We're having a slumber party. You want to join?" Stiles said calmly whilst patting Liam and Theo's thighs. Theo's chest rumbled as a growl rolled from his throat.

"Oh my god." Liam groaned. His boyfriend of a day was going to kill his Alpha's best friend and he couldn't even be mad about it because he was a second away from doing it himself.

"Don't growl at me you-"

"Stiles!" Derek barked.

"Well what do you expect me to do when you get them one bed? Are you trying to get them to have sex?"

"Oh my God." Liam repeated, voice a mortified squeak as he burrowed his face in his hands. He was fairly sure Theo had stopped breathing but refused to remove his hands to check. He wondered idly if he could roll his way to the bathroom blind and lock himself in until he died of starvation or Derek and Stiles left.

"Stiles. I asked for two rooms. I didn't specify beds." Derek huffed.

"Well what kind of idiot-" Liam peaked out between his fingers.

"Stiles. Get out of their room."

"No." Stiles said petulantly. Derek's lips pulled down in a 'oh alright then' gesture before he was stalking over. Derek grabbed Stiles by the front of his shirt, ignoring his yelps as he hauled him off of the bed. Theo ducked from a flailing hand in the face, Liam wasn't quite so lucky, getting a quick bitch slap across the temple before Stiles was crumbling to the floor at the end of the bed and Derek was grabbing him by the scruff of the neck to drag him across the floor.

"Get off of me! Derek! Dammit, stop it!" Stiles shouted, flailing as Derek yanked him out of the room and slammed the door behind them. Liam was up like a flash turning the lock and letting out a tired sigh.

He'd just wanted some money.

"You know I could probably hotwire the truck." Theo said. Liam's head jerked round to Theo, still perched on his side of the bed eyes glaring down at Stiles' now empty spot.

"You want to steal your own truck?" Liam asked incredulously. Theo's gaze met his.

"You don't?" Theo asked. Liam seriously considered it. "You know what they say, third times the charm, maybe this time we won't be followed cross country." Liam wandered back to the bed, flopping down face first with a groan.

"It's Stiles, he'd follow us." Liam said grumbling into the pillow. "And Derek would probably catch us before we were out of the parking lot-"

"I would." Derek's voice came, dry as ever and muffled by the wall. Liam and Theo turned their heads to it slowly.

"I hate your pack." Theo said calmly. Liam burrowed his face back into the pillow with a groan. Why the hell couldn't he have won the hot dog eating competition? "You know this is why I don't let you come up with plans."

"It was a good plan before Stiles ruined it!" Liam grumbled.

"I know, it's not your fault." Theo hummed. "I mean, people say dream big and you're too short to-" Theo let out a started yelp as Liam flipped around and shoved him off of the bed. Theo's head popped back up a moment later, resting his arms on the bed as he frowned at Liam.

"A least it wasn't a cliff."

"Right now, I'd pay you to push me off a cliff." Theo grumbled. "Go take a shower, you smell like hot dogs." And really, it was a good idea because Liam knew he was an odd mix of hot dogs, sweat and the ocean.

"If you need to pee do it now, I'm not having you walking in while I shower again." Liam said. Theo waved him off in a way that Liam hoped meant he didn't need the bathroom. Just in case Liam triple checked the lock before actually getting into the shower. He really didn't need Derek and Stiles breaking in after hearing him scream and coming in to find Liam bleeding and naked in the shower and Theo two foot away from him, no doubt cackling with laughter as Liam grumbled out swear words.

He showered quickly, scrubbing the remaining salt from his trip off of a cliff out of his hair and the last lingering scent of hot dogs and vomit hoping that maybe if he hurried through everything he'd be back on the road with Theo, and only Theo, faster.

Sure, he knew it wouldn't actually work like that because they still needed the keys, and money, but he could dream.

Liam knew it was probably a good idea to not to give them the money before they actually reached New York, and an even better idea to take the truck keys but that didn't stop him feeling bitter. He was fairly sure he wouldn't even entertain the idea of running away into the night, again, if Derek had turned up alone like he was meant to.

He rinsed his hair reminding himself on a constant loop that come morning they'd be dropping Derek and Stiles off in New York. He just had to survive a night and another hour in the car with the four of them and then they'd have money and truck keys and be free to flee.

He could survive that long, it wouldn't even be 12 hours with the way Derek drove. As Liam dried himself off and got dressed he could hear Theo in the room, or more, hear Theo's finger, tapping against what sounded like his wrist, once, twice.

Liam peeked out of the bathroom door watching Theo as he sat uncomfortably stiff on the bed, finger tapping away over his chest and jaw locked so tight Liam worried he'd crack his teeth before the night was through.

"Hey." Liam hummed softly, shuffling over to the bed. Theo's chin tilted up and down in what Liam supposed was meant to be a greeting. He flopped onto the bed, stopping Theo's tapping for a moment as the springs creaked and the bed wobbled. He could practically see the gears winding in Theo's brain, his body tensing every time there was a slight creak from the floorboard of the room next to them where they both knew Derek was. "I really am sorry. I didn't know Sti-"

"I know." Theo sighed. His finger starting to tap once again leaving guilt swirling in Liam's stomach. He wormed closer to Theo, ignoring the look he got for the odd wriggling movement and only stopped when they were nose to nose. "What are you doing?"

"Distracting you." Liam said with a small grin. Theo gave a small scoff, eyes flickering to the wall as another creak came from next door. "You know I'm pretty sure we can make constellations on the ceiling." Liam said, nodding his head towards the popcorn ceiling eagerly. "It's that bumpy ceiling, first one to find an animal on it wins."

"You're an idiot." Theo said, lips twitching in a smile that he really didn't seem to want to share.

"I'm your idiot." Liam murmured. A snort passed Theo's lips, smile stretching across his face as he looked back to Liam.

"Alright. Fine." Theo said, shuffling on the bed until he was stretched out properly. "But it's real animals, if you go for a unicorn or some shit then that's an immediate win to me."

"Deal."

*

"Come on dude it's clearly a bunny!" Liam snapped.

"Have you ever seen a rabbit?" Theo scoffed.

"Oh, and your duck was better?" Liam asked, jabbing a finger to the portion of the popcorn ceiling that Theo had said resembled the poultry but to Liam, it just seemed to resemble lumpy ceiling.

"Yes. The duck was better." Theo said. "Because it actually looks like a duck, see, there's the beak and-"

"Oh my god dude, it's not a freaking duck, it looks nothing like a duck and if you think it does you need glasses but this-" He moved his finger back to the part of the ceiling they were looking at moments before. "-Is clearly a rabbit."

"It's not clear!" Theo growled. "In the slightest. If anything, it looks like a wave-"

"A WAVE?!" Liam shrieked.

"Yes, dickhead, a wave and why are we even still talking about this? I already won-"

"You didn't win it's not a duck! My rabbit is winning this game."

"It would if it was actually there but since its not the duck-"

"Oh my god dude I swear I'm going to smother you if you don't shut up about the stupid fucking duck. There is no duck on the ceiling, There's no bird on the ceiling, this ceiling doesn't even have a chicken."

"Well, that's because all the chicken is next to me."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means you're too scared to admit I've won something again." Liam shoved Theo, intent on pushing him off of the bed again only for Theo to cling on like a cat, claws digging into Liam's arm. "Will you stop pushing me off things!" Theo snapped.

"No! Maybe a bump on the head will make you see it's a bu-" Theo removed one hand from where he was clinging on and clapped it roughly against the back of Liam's head.

"Is it a duck now?" Theo asked mockingly.

He wasn't even surprised when it turned to them full on wrestling. Liam head-butting Theo in the chest, feet scrambling across the sheets as he tried to force him off of the bed and Theo jabbing him in the sides so he let out pained squawks.

It wasn't too long before Theo had Liam pinned, Liam wriggling uselessly trying to escape a litany of curse words spilling out of his mouth as Theo smirked smugly down at him.

"That's another win to me." Theo all but purred. The bed creaked as he shifted closer, forehead pressing against Liam's. The two panted in exertion, Theo's breath ghosting over Liam's lips and really, it should have reminded him that they were in fact on a bed, their bed, and could be doing a whole number of things other than fighting about the ceiling. It didn't however, just made Liam narrow his eyes and considering whether headbutting Theo would be worth it. "Say it." Theo said.

"Make me." Liam growled.

"That's weird, I thought that was what I was doing." Theo hummed. "Come on Pumpkin. Say-"