Liam drummed his fingers against the table, bouncing slightly in his seat as he eyed the phone balanced in front of him and the dial tone rang through the room in a deafening rumble. Finally, after what felt like forever but was probably about thirty seconds the call connected. Mason's face popping up.

"Don't say an-" Mason started.

"I kissed Theo!" Liam yelled.

"-ything." Mason finished lamely. "Dude." he sighed.

"He kissed who now?" Stiles shouted, diving into shot. Liam gaped wordlessly watching as the pack descended on Mason, swarming around him like a murder of crows, beady eyes on Liam.

"You kissed Theo?" Scott squeaked.

"Dude!" Liam hissed.

"I tried to warn you."

"Are you guys having like a month-long sleepover or something? Seriously, have you even been apart since-" Liam growled bitterly at the nosy pack

"You sure you want to talk about sleepovers Mr.-I-Kissed-Our-Enemy." Stiles said.

"I uh-" Liam floundered, eyes bulging. "Um.."

"You kissed Theo?" Scott asked again. Liam was really going to have to learn how to say hello like a normal person.

"Sort of?" He said lamely.

"Theo? Our Theo?"

"No, I'm sure he was talking about Theodore Roosevelt, I mean you know how it is, you go to Disney, make out with the 26th president." Stiles said, ending it with a slap over the back of Scott's head. "Of course, he means our Theo, dumbass. Ground him."

"I can't ground him!" Scott said. "Can I?" He added looking to Liam inquisitively.

"Dude, no!" Liam said.

"Okay...So... Theo?"

"Theo." Liam mimicked.

"Do you... I mean, Do you like Theo?" Scott asked. Liam shifted in his seat nervously, head dropping in a minute nod. "And you kissed him?"

"...Yeah." Scott's eyebrows pinched thoughtfully. "Scott I didn't-"

"How was it?"

"What?" Liam gaped.

"How was it?" Scott repeated.

"I...Are you serious?" Scott raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "Dude I... that's not-" The pack blinked at him, entirely silent. Liam's cheeks flushed when he realized they actually expected him to answer. "It wasn't the best." He said slowly.

"Ha!" Stiles cheered. "Theo's crap at kissing!!"

"No, it wasn't... I didn't exactly get a chance to find out. I kissed him and he uh...he punched me in the face." There was a flurry of reactions from the pack. Malia threw her head back and let out a cackling laugh. Scott's face moved back to concerned mother as if he wanted to reach through the tiny screen and pull Liam into a hug. Stiles muttered threats under his breath about killing Theo, Lydia questioned how bad his kissing skills must be to get a punch for it and Mason... Mason spoke above the rest clear and succinct.

"What the fuck did you do now?"

"Mase!" Corey hissed. "That's not-"

"No dude really, how did you screw this up?" Mason ranted. "He calls you Pumpkin, he played golf for you! He sat through lunch with us for you. He said you confuse him! He clearly likes you how the hell did you manage to get him to punch you."

"I uh...may have been a little too confusing." Liam said. "Look it's all good. I punched him back and then we talked and now we're good. I think... If... If you're alright with that Scott?"

"Are you asking my permission after kissing him?"

"Technically I don't think it really counted as a kiss. More like a lip brush."

"Like how you'd kiss your grandma?" Scott asked, wincing sympathetically.

"No, it was more, I tried to kiss him but the moment I touched him he punched me and then Chewie saved me and-"

"Chewie?"

"Oh yeah, we met Chewbacca."

"Speaking of, and not to be rude to your whole... living area but...that place looks kinda... run down? to be Disney World." Mason said. Liam looked behind him at the decrepit little motel room they'd managed to find on the edge of Orlando.

"Yeah...We're kinda not in Disney World anymore." Liam said, thinking of the nice clean room they'd been forced to leave behind.

"Oh. I thought you said you got-" Mason said.

"The punching may have gotten us a two-year ban from Disney World." Liam explained, turning his attention back to the pack sheepishly.

"I get the punching." Malia said. "What I don't get is why you kissed Theo. Was there a gun held at you or-"

"Malia." Scott hissed.

"It's a good question." Stiles said.

"I don't need a gun held at me to kiss Theo."

"So, are you going to do it again?" Scott asked. "The kissing?"

"I don't... That's not-"

"Is he your boyfriend?" Lydia asked.

"If you and Prince Charming are shacking up, where is he?" Stiles hummed.

"No, he's not my- we're not shacking up we're not even... We just... There was a conversation that's it-"

"And a kind of kiss." Scott said being unhelpfully helpful.

"I just wanted to talk to Mason." Liam said desperately. "Before he gets back-"

"Why'd you need to talk to Mason before he gets back?"

"You could always steal his car again." Mason muttered.

"You stole a car?" Scott gasped.

"Borrowed." Liam corrected. "And it's private."

"Why do you need to talk to Mason privately?"

"Stiles!" Liam snapped. "Will you just-"

"Come on, let them talk." Scott said. "We can go to the other room-" Scott shooed the others out of the room. Liam relaxed the moment they were out of shot, disappearing behind a door frame.

"You know...Most people answer the phone with 'Hello'. Maybe you should try it."

"I thought the same thing." Liam admitted with a soft sigh.

"So... What do you want to talk about?"

"You know what I want to talk about." Liam snorted. "What do I do now? I mean we talked but we didn't talk talk, like, nothings actually been said. Are we a couple if no one asked anyone out?"

"He knows we can still hear him, right?" Malia's voice came. Liam paled.

"I hate werewolves" He grumbled flopping his head down onto the table. He could hear Stiles asking what he was saying and Scott telling Malia off for listening.

"Why wha-"

"Just come back in." Liam sighed, he heard the scuttle of feet as the pack made their way back in. "We can do this over texts where they can't eavesdrop."

"If you want to talk about it now we can listen." Scott tried softly

"We can?" Malia said.

"I mean if you're thinking of asking him out then he'll be around a lot right so-"

"See! You were listening too!" Malia cheered.

"Well I mean not if he moves to Idaho." Mason said.

"Theo's moving to Idaho?" Scott asked.

"YES!" Stiles cheered. Liam squinted up at the screen bitterly as the pack shouted over each other, Stiles with outlandish reasons for why Theo could be moving to Idaho, Malia offering to help him pack if it would get rid of him faster while the others became an indistinguishable blur.

"You hadn't told Scott about Theo moving to Idaho, had you?" Mason asked.

"Not yet."

"You know I'd probably say that fell under full disclosure too."

"Thanks man. That's helpful." Liam said with a tired sigh. Liam heard the click of a key in the lock and span around, the pack went silent complete with Stiles letting out a muffled sound as if someone had gagged him to force him to shut up as Theo walked in, a bag of food dangling from his hand. Liam felt his heart give a pathetic little flutter as Theo's eyes met his, a smile creeping onto his face.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." Liam mimicked, lips pulling in a dopey grin. He heard what sounded like an aww coming from the phone. Theo's smile fell, eyes snapping to the small screen balanced against the duffle bag.

"Hey Theo." Scott said, complete with a little wave. "How are you?" Theo's eyes snapped to Liam, brow arching as if wondering what sort of trap he'd walked into.

"I'm... Good." He said slowly.

"That's...Good, Look I think we should probably talk about-" Liam's heart seized in his chest, hands flailing in a Stiles-esque manner as he rushed to hang up. The pack vanished in a quick blink as Liam hit the button, Scott's voice cutting off. Theo was silent behind him as Liam stared at the now empty screen cheeks warm as he thought about what exactly Scott might have wanted to say.

"So, Food?" Liam asked finally, voice only a little squeaky. Theo wasted no time, apparently used to Liam's weirdness as he came over to the table, dropping the bag in front of Liam and pulling the other chair up so he could flop down into it.

Liam watched as Theo picked through the takeout boxes, dolling them out like it was a normal day and they hadn't confessed their confusion a few hours before and been stuck in a strange limbo since.

He shot a glare at the phone still propped up jauntily. He'd just wanted some advice and had instead managed to tell the entire pack he'd tried and failed at kissing Theo. Slowly Liam tilted his head so he could look at Theo, Liam's eyes widened when he was met with Theo already looking at him a small smile playing at his lips.

"Uh-" Liam hummed. "Hi?" Theo cleared his throat, eyes shifting away.

"Already said that." Theo mumbled, nudging a box over towards him with the end of his chopsticks. "You gonna eat?" And really, with his track record, Liam thought that might be the best idea, he wouldn't be able to talk if he were shoveling food into his face. He snatched the box up, making a grab for a set of chopsticks.

The two ate in relative silence, eyes shifting to the other occasionally only to look away the instant they saw them looking. Liam was fairly sure he'd find it funny if it wasn't so pathetic. The night crept on, the two shifting around each other in an odd silence neither seemed to want to break. Or at least Liam thought, a silence they didn't know how to break.

What was meant to happen? Another conversation where they reiterated that they might possibly like each other, or were they just meant to ignore it, go back to how things were before but with the knowledge that something else could happen. Liam chanced a glance at Theo as he hovered in the doorway of the bathroom toothbrush between his teeth as he looked out the window with glazed eyes. He wondered if Theo was as clueless as him about what was meant to happen next.

His call with Mason hadn't exactly been fruitful but he had managed one piece of advice. Liam twisted his hands in his lap taking a shaking breath as he realized he was going to have to be the one to break the silence and knew how he could do it.

"Sandcastles!" Liam said. Theo paused, slowly removing the toothbrush from his mouth as he raised an eyebrow.

"Have you broken again?" He asked leaning against the door frame with a small smirk and really, he had no right looking so condescending when he had toothpaste foam smeared around his mouth.

"Tomorrow, do you want to go to the beach? Tick off sandcastles, you said maybe another day last time I asked so-"

"Yeah, alright." Theo said. pushing off the door frame and disappearing back into the bathroom like it was no big deal. Liam stared at the vacant spot he left head tilted slightly.

Well, that was surprisingly easy he thought.

*

"I'm not building a sandcastle." Theo scoffed, stretched out on the sand barely bothering to look up as Liam hovered over him.

"Come on." Liam whined. Theo tilted his head up to Liam, a frown forming.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Seriously, it's on the list so-"

"You know I've built sandcastles before, right?" Theo asked. "I did grow up in California."

"... But... The list."

"If you want to build a sandcastle then build a sandcastle. There's no reason I have to-"

"I bet I can build a better one than you can." Liam said. Theo tilted his head, sunglasses sliding down his nose enough for him to glare ruefully over the top of them.

"Are you really trying to challenge me to a sand castle building competition?"

"Yes." Liam said bluntly. Theo's mouth snapped shut, jaw ticking as he narrowed his eyes at Liam. "If you're scared you'll lose then-"

"Goddammit fine. I'll beat you at a stupid sandcastle building competition." Theo snapped, shoving himself up.

"I think you mean try to beat me."

"I said what I said." Theo growled

*

"How did you make a Sphinx?" Liam asked, blinking down at Theo's little Egypt. Theo gave a small shrug, smirk tilting at his lips.

"Magic." He hummed dryly. Liam crouched down, inspecting it slowly. There were three little pyramids, each with the pattern of stones etched into their exterior. Liam was fairly sure by the amount of sand clinging to the end of Theo's glasses he'd used the earpiece to score them out and the undoubtedly crowning achievement was the Sphinx spread low against the sand and taking up a good foot of Theo's sand display. The Chimera dropped down next to him, brushing a sandy finger over the Sphinx's ear with the delicacy an artist would use to put the finishing touch on a painting. "So, now that I've won the sand castle building comp-"

"Oh dude. No." Liam said seriously. "Like... The Sphinx is cool but mine is cooler. There are tunnels."

"Tunnels?" Theo echoed. "What the hell is cool about tunnels." Liam didn't answer just moved away, leaving Theo and the miniature Egypt behind. He marched over to his masterpiece. Theo appeared beside him a moment later, shoulder brushing against Liam's as his eyes ran over it.

"The hell is that?" he asked, jabbing a finger at a large pile of sand.

"A volcano." Liam said. It had been Liam's first attempt at a sand castle which had ended up resembling more of a molehill. With a small amount of work clearing out a crater in the center, it was a fairly decent volcano. The rest of it, however, was magnificent. A small series of fairly shoddy 'houses' stood but the real work of art was the tunnels, stretching out in every direction, twisting and turning like a maze. "Look, you can see through them." Liam said, crouching to point at an archway hidden beneath ground level, Theo followed his finger, looking at the small arch with a frown.

"So, you built a moat with too many bridges for it to be useful?" Theo asked.

"What? No dude, they're tunnels! Secret tunnels!"

"Not very secret if you can see them from the street." Theo said, picking up a sea shell and dropping it into the mouth of the volcano. "You really think this is better than my Sphinx?"

"Yes! Dude, look at how intricate this is it's-"

"You dug some holes, I did architecture. I win."

"You don't get to decide that!" Liam said stiffly, he ran around his castle. "Look, they have a river here!"

"Translation: You built it too close to the sea and had to make a bigger moat by your city of moats so that it wouldn't all be washed away by the next wave." Theo said. "I still win." He hummed turning to walk away, Liam moved to follow him, too interested in proving Theo wrong to think that perhaps walking over a bunch of hollowed out sand bridges was not the best idea.

"Hey no! That's not fai-" Liam's foot disappeared as a bridge collapsed beneath him. The sudden four-inch drop was enough to throw him off his balance, arms windmilling as he went down with a startled yelp. His right hand hit the ground first, breaking through another, taller bridge which just left his hand dipping into the chilly water below where he'd dug low enough to reach the sea level. His other hand did not hit a bridge, it did, however, hit the volcano punching through it in a puff of sand.

Liam stared at his hand, wiggling his fingers as they met the air on the other side of his now ruined volcano. His attention was ripped from the carnage he'd caused by Theo letting out a bark of laughter. Liam flicked his head up to look at Theo who had no doubt turned at his yell. Liam really hoped he'd just seen the aftermath of the fall not the fall itself.

"Wow." Theo chuckled. "That was-"

"Don't." Liam said tersely. "I ruined my sand castle."

"Aww are you going to cry?" Theo mused, strutting back over. He picked up the shell he'd dropped into the volcano earlier, one that Liam had apparently managed to punch to freedom and dusted the sand off of it in slow gentle movements, Ignoring Liam's small growl at his mocking. "You know, you falling in it actually improved it." Theo said moving closer.

"You're an asshole. The tunnels were awesome." Liam said stiffly. Theo dropped to a crouch in front of him, thumb and forefinger hooking around Liam's chin and tilting it up just so.

"Sure." Theo said, smiling at Liam in a way that he knew meant his eyes would be crinkling happily behind the glasses. His other hand came forwards, plopping the now clean shell onto the top of Liam's head like a makeshift hat. "My Sphinx was better though." Theo said apologetically. He stood without another word, turning back to make his way to the seats.

Liam clawed his hand down into the water, scooping up a handful of wet sand and launching it at Theo's back. It hit its target with a satisfying plop that had Theo freezing, shoulders tensed as he turned back slowly.

"Did you just-" Theo said. Liam scrambled up to his knees, ignoring the fact he broke another few bridges on his way, a new handful of damp sand clutched in his palm.

"Say my sand castle was better than yours or-"

"Or you're going to throw sand at me?" Theo asked. "What are you fi-" Theo broke off as another clump of sand slapped against him, sticking to his skin and slowly rolling down making his chest look like he was halfway through getting a mud bath.

"Say it." Liam warned, moving for another handful.

"You really want to play this game?"

"Oh I really do." Liam said. Theo nodded sagely. Liam reeled his arm back, letting another sand ball fly. The chimera darted out of the way leaving the projectile hitting the floor a few meters away with a wet thunk. Theo moved, sprinting down the beach towards the shoreline. He dropped to his knees, delving both hands deep beneath the watery sand. Liam's head snapped back to the small trove of wet sand hidden beneath him.

"Okay, no head shots!" Liam called, scrambling to collect more sand. "It'll hurt if it goes in our eyes and-" A wet slap hit the back of Liam's hair, sand dripped from the stands down in a cold trail along his back that left him shivering in disgust.

"Should have made the rules earlier." Liam heard the whistle of wind as Theo launched his next projectile and dove out of the way, he didn't manage to avoid it entirely but it did only hit his ankle rather than his head, where Theo was apparently aiming for. Liam ran, dodging each sand ball Theo sent his way before he was skidding to a stop at the shoreline, the shallow waves lapping against his knees as he pulled out clump fulls of sand.

"We could avoid this if you just-"Liam threw himself out of the way from two lightning fast globs of sand launched his way. "-admitted my sand castle was cooler than yours." Liam finished the sentence by launching a handful of sand at Theo who dodged it easily.

"You're so childish." Theo huffed, his next sand ball hit Liam in the throat, spraying up his chin and down his chest. "Take the loss. I'm a better sand castle bu-" Liam ignored what he'd said moments before about headshots and managed to get Theo mid-word, sand spraying across his chin and into his mouth. He cackled as Theo choked, spitting out gritty sand and scrubbing his palm across his face to wipe what he could off.

"Oh, it's on." Theo said with a fierce growl.