Summary:
Theo had come and shown Liam more perks of being small and Liam had never liked his height this much before.
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Word Count: 1142
Independent Work
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Being small had its perks. You can easily hide in any place, you can quietly leave awkward situations without being noticed, you get to be in the first row when you're watching something with your tall friends.
But it also had its cons, and Liam mainly focused on those, like almost being crushed to death in big crowds.
Liam hated being in the middle of a big crowd, it felt suffocating and awful, he couldn't see anything and he couldn't find anyone, he could barely breathe and people kept bumping into him; it was the worst.
He tried not to avoid crowds as much as possible, but sometimes he just couldn't help getting stuck in the middle of one.
However, after meeting Theo, things weren't as bad. Theo had come and shown Liam more perks of being small and Liam had never liked his height this much before.
When Liam knew that he would find a crowd in whatever place he wanted to go to, he dragged Theo with him. Theo was taller than him and could see beyond the two heads in front of him, he could find his way around way easier than Liam and he didn't have a problem with pushing people to get out of the way.
So, Liam stuck to his side. He grabbed a fistful of his shirt, his arm or his hand, anything that would keep him next to Theo and away from the danger of getting lost or crushed. And Theo let him.
Liam had been surprised by that, he had expected Theo to push him away and tell him to suck it up, throwing in a sarcastic comment or two and mocking Liam, but Theo merely rolled his eyes with an amused smile on his face and let Liam be.
It went on for as long as they have known each other and, as the days passed, Liam got bolder when it came to holding Theo.
Instead of grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, he put his arms around his waist.
Instead of grabbing his arm, he wrapped his hands around Theo's bicep and pressed his face against it.
Instead of grabbing his hand, he held Theo's hand and intertwined their fingers.
Selfishly, and not that anyone had to know, Liam also stopped avoiding crowds so much since he wasn't afraid of getting crushed now that he had his personal guide.
Theo also started being more at ease with Liam holding him.
Whenever Liam wrapped his arms around his waist, Theo would wrap his around Liam's shoulders and bring him closer.
Whenever he held Theo's bicep, Theo would put one of his hands on top of Liam's to keep them there.
Whenever he held Theo's hand, Theo would squeeze and hold it tighter before pulling Liam closer.
Liam had no idea what they were doing anymore, they just knew that it would happen whenever they got met by a larger than normal crowd of people and that none of them seemed to mind.
But Theo had also shown Liam other perks of being small.
Like that time they went to a concert and Liam had sat on Theo's shoulders to be able to see the stage, it had been Theo's idea and Liam had enjoyed that concert more than any concert he had been to before.
Theo often helped Liam reach things that were too high for his small legs. He would just raise his arm and be able to grab what Liam wanted, while the smaller boy would get on his tiptoes and growl at the shelves when he still wasn't able to reach what he wanted.
He had also learned that he had the perfect height to hug and be hugged by Theo. He could rest his head against Theo's chest, ear against his heart and arms around his waist, and Theo would hug him back, wrap his arms around him and kiss his head or forehead before resting his head on top of Liam's.
It all just intensified once they started dating.
They held each other in public not only when there was a big crowd, but also when there were only five or six people walking in the same street.
Theo had also gained the habit of carrying Liam on his shoulders more often, giving him a piggyback ride to his next class or the cafeteria.
Sometimes instead of reaching out to grab whatever it was that Liam wanted and couldn't reach, Theo would hold Liam up, his strong arms around him, so that Liam could reach.
The hugs were still frequent, as where the forehead, head and nose kisses, but now Liam had learnt that he also had a perfect height for Theo to hoist him up and for him to put his legs around Theo's waist while they kissed, the perfect height for him to sit on the counter with Theo in between his legs while they kissed.
And cuddling Theo was also something that Liam loved.
He would feel so safe, protected and warm between those two strong arms, he felt like nothing would ever get to him whenever he was wrapped up in Theo like that, his scent surrounding Liam.
Of course, they still bickered and Theo had the habit of playfully mocking Liam whenever their height difference was underlined and more noticeable for some reason, like whenever one of the perks of being small with Theo by his side happened.
But Liam found he didn't care much about that. He liked their bickering and their mocking conversations; it was their thing and Liam wouldn't trade it for anything.
Theo didn't seem to mind when any of it happened either. In fact, sometimes he was the one pulling Liam closer. When that happened, the smaller boy felt incredibly proud of him, because Theo had learned how to be more relaxed and at ease, and he seemed so comfortable in Liam's presence and in his arms that it was as if nothing worried him for that time being. Liam wanted that for Theo, he didn't want him to always have his guard up and worries clouding his brain.
Before Theo, Liam complained about his short height on a daily basis, growling at high shelves and glaring at friends who liked to flaunt their towering heights in his face, being afraid of being crushed to deaths whenever there was a large crowd of people and not being able to see the stage in a concert.
Now, after Theo came into his life, Liam found that he liked being short more than he ever had before, he wasn't annoyed by it anymore, in fact, he cherished it, he was thankful that he had such a perfect height to do certain things and hug certain people.
Because being small has its perks, especially if Theo Raeken is by your side.
