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“-doesn't matter how you were dragged into that mess or if you were trying to escape them. It does not give you the right to hurt people. Kill them. You had a choice, Theo. A choice to ask for help, our help, when you came back to Beacon Hills. You went for power instead.” There is a slight growl at the end of Scott’s words despite his voice never rising above conversational. “What did power get you?”
Theo is quiet for a moment, the muscle in his jaw jumping from how hard he clenches his teeth “Nothing. It got me nothing.”
Theo feels the eyes of other patrons on their table despite the hushed tones, knowing that it is their body language that is tipping everyone and their gossip-loving natures off.
This is Theo’s fault.
Lunch started fine, if a little awkward with neither of them knowing how to really speak to one another anymore. Or how to steer clear of the land mines between them. Theo's words are his only weapon anymore and one he wields unconsciously at times. Flippant and sarcastic. Too many rebuttals to simple questions, too many biting replies, and too much of it coming across like he didn’t care as they both became frustrated. Soon, the conversation devolved into nothing more than a quiet argument.
Theo wishes they were screaming. It somehow hurt much more to have his mistakes flung back at him at regular decibels like it didn’t matter.
“You may be surprised to hear that I actually think about what could have happened if I had told the pack. Had wanted help. I also know it makes no difference because I can’t change what I did any more than…” than he could have predicted falling for Scott while trying to destroy him.
“Do you even want to change it?” Scott's question is a gut punch.
“Every day I have been topside.” Theo whispers and slides from the booth to leave. Scott lets him without a word and some icy, twisted thing grips the stolen heart in Theo’s chest.
.
Scott finds Theo nearly a week and a half after the disastrous lunch, morosely nursing a single cup of coffee in the same booth. His clothing is rumpled, shoulders hunched and eyes squinted; without the healing factor, Scott thinks they would be bloodshot. He appears truly miserable. Something in the alpha's chest unfurls at seeing Theo so unkept, affected in a way he usually keeps hidden. It makes him seem real and present in a way Scott has not seen since the first night back.
He startles the chimera as he sits down and only speaks after the waitress comes by to ask what he wants after a few minutes. He orders them both breakfast. “If this is going to work I need to know you will not lie to me anymore about the important things. I need you to be truthful, especially when I ask. We need to actually talk instead of getting into it over every little thing.”
“If I want what to work?” the chimera's voice is hoarse, tongue poking out to lick his dry lips. He does not meet Scott's gaze but his fingers twitch around the cup he holds in a death grip.
“Theo.”
The chimera hunches further into the booth. “Okay.”
“I need to know you won't run if I ask the hard questions.” Theo stiffens at the words, and Scott understands now. Or at least better, after thinking about their conversation for over a week. “I'm not asking you to tell me everything. You have the right to privacy but tell me it is off-limits. Tell me why. Do not lie to me. Do not dismiss everything.”
Theo's gaze remains locked on his coffee as he takes a deep breath. He holds it so long Scott begins to wonder if breathing has become optional to him. Theo then deflates like a balloon. “I won't lie anymore. Not to you.” Theo tells him. Theo generally has near-perfect control over his chemosignals and were it a few months ago, a few days even, Scott might question what he sees, what he smells. Not now. When Theo’s fingers are white-knuckled and threatening to break the cup, and his eyes are pinched at the corners in a way that cannot be forced.
It's a start. “Thank you.”
The cup begins to creak ominously as the porcelain gains hairline fractures around the handle, so Scott reaches out to gently pry the chimeras fingers from the cup. He does not let go of the hand in his and listens as Theo’s heart rate ticks up.
Maybe they will not touch the difficult subjects today, or even in the next week but Scott knows they will, that Theo is willing now. It will not change the past. Nothing can, but maybe the future can be better.