airplanes(Thiam)

Mono

The car was quiet, Liam eyed the passing streets of Beacon Hills mutely.

An old man teetered down the road, a dog that looked just as old at his ankles

The indicator ticked like a clock and Liam found himself copying it with the snap of his tongue until they were swaying round the corner and the sound was gone, once again leaving the car plunged into a heavy silence.

He wished for the click of the indicator to come back, or for the familiar sound of a finger tapping against the wheel to fill the car.

Liam dragged his gaze from the streets, turning his back to the window to sneak a peek at his Mom, her hands locked in the 10 and 2 position, eyes firmly on the road.

It was strange, knowing that he was in trouble with his parents, knowing that he'd broken rules when for the past month he'd had none.

The car pulled to a stop outside the school.

Liam could hear the rumble of noise as sleepy teenagers greeted each other. Despite the rude wakening and subsequent uncomfortable family breakfast it seemed his mother had been able to shove him and Theo full of food, shoo Theo from the house under the guise of a lift home with David and get Liam to school before first bell.

Liam felt his breath catch in his throat as he let his gaze travel over the building. He remembered the crack of Gabe's fists as they collided with his face, the silence of the onlookers.

He remembered how last time he'd stepped foot in the building it had been filled with dead hunters. Would the smell of terror from the anukite even be gone yet?

He remembered how it felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, like he was tied in chains and cinder blocks and left sinking to the deepest depths while everyone else left him alone.

Everyone but Theo, Theo who'd taken his wrist and led him away, out of the school, out of Beacon Hills and the state and the chains suffocating him. He remembered Idaho and feeling like he could breath with Theo next to him.

"You have everything you need?" Jenna asked, her first words since she'd herded Liam into the car.

Liam breathed in, submerging himself in the remnants of Theo's scent still clinging to his skin, even after a change of clothes. He let his finger tap against his thigh, once, twice.

Mimicking Theo's heartbeat.

"Yeah." Liam croaked, grabbing the backpack shoved between his feet and hopping out of the car idly hoping there was in fact a pen shoved somewhere in the depths.

"Go straight to class." Jenna warned. "Yeah, I will." Liam said.

*

Liam kept his head bowed as he made his was to Mason's locker, looking through his lashes at the students milling around waiting for someone to notice him, for them to point and scream 'werewolf, he's a werewolf'.

Instead the hall was quiet from any acknowledgement of the supernatural, or really, of his return. He only really raised his head when he heard the soft tenor of Corey's voice.

His eyes immediately locked onto the two boys standing by Mason's locker, hands locked between them as they spoke. A smile found it's way onto Liam's face, the lingering nerves forgotten for a second as he picked up his pace to reach the two. "Hey!"

"Hey man-" Mason greeted absentmindedly "So I told Gwen that if we were gonna be partners she had to-" He broke off on his story, first double, then triple taking Liam.

"LIAM!!" He bellowed, loud enough to draw the gazes of the sleepy students for all of a second before they apparently decided the three weren't that interesting. "You're here? Like? You're really here, in school?"