#i found like three good fics for thiam

[lovemadethemdoit]

the potential of thiam but the average fic quality is really bad due to their fanbase being so young compared to the greatness that is sterek

[princeescaluswords]

Ever notice how fandom loves to pair up all male characters, except when they are black? Like, it doesn't matter how unlikely a pairing is, if it involves white guys, people will find a way to ship it. But when it involves Deaton, or Boyd, or Mason, it's suddenly rare to find fics pairing them as anything other than a kink fic. Mason for example had a huge canonical crush on Brett, whom we know is bi. Yet it's way more common by far to find Liam/Brett fics, than to find Mason/Brett fics 1/2

And sure, you’ll find Boyd/Erica as a background pairing in fics, but how many are there, where Boyd and Erica are the main pairing? Or where they get any actual focus beyond as a method to keep them out of the way of the pairing the writer actually cares about. And the rare few times Boyd is paired up with a white male char, the focus is far too rarely on Boyd’s emotions. And most often when a fic has ace Boyd, it’s not to focus on what that means for Boyd, but a way not to have to ship him 2/3

And don’t even get me started on Deaton, who is rarely if ever paired with anyone. People will say they just ‘don’t see him that way’, or if they write him in kink fic, it’s as the even mastermind taking advantage of the other char. But it’s rare to find fics where people explore Deaton’s friendship/relationship with ‘his good friend’ Noah Stilinski, or the potential of a love/hate relationship with Peter or Chris… the way they would with mysterious white characters 3/3

You almost made all my points for me.  

When people tell me “Fan fiction gives us what the show didn’t,” I always shake my head, because I know of only a handful of stories that speculate about what happened to Alicia.  I know less than a handful of stories that explore the sibling relationship between Deaton and Morrell.  I know even fewer stories that mention Mason’s family.  

And when you are looking at these stories, recognize how many of them flatten or misrepresent those three black male characters.  How many of them portray Boyd as the strong, silent type (I’ve made this racist mistake myself!) when in canon he was actually quite eloquent and knowledgeable, he simply wasn’t an angry black man.   How many of them portray Deaton as an inscrutable and calculating enigma when all he practiced was discretion, because he simply wasn’t a magic negro.  Think of how many stories portray Stiles as angry and disappointed in Scott for ‘ditching him’ (literally 1000s) and then how many deal with Liam repeatedly ditching Mason without an explanation.  (Hint: I haven’t found any yet.)

And their relationships are even worse.  There are 4000 stories that mention Boyd and Erica, and I would estimate that 95% of them use it as a checkbox to remind the audience that Boyd and Erica are present.  The most popular ship for Alan Deaton is … Stiles Stilinski, and a little under half of those include rape/non-con.  

Next time you read a st*r*k story – and you can hardly not do that if you want to read Teen Wolf fiction at all – that announces that it has the Erica and Boyd relationship, look to see how it’s treated.  I’m pretty sure that not only is it taken for granted, it is used to populate the background.  The same with Mason and Corey in a Thiam story.

Now, I want to make sure I don’t make the wrong impression.  Stories must be populated and not every character needs to be front and center in every story, but a discerning reader can tell when a relationship is being used to expand a background character and when a relationship is being used as a shortcut.

Think about how many AUs where Stiles is the alpha mate or the human alpha or some such other nonsense that never deal with the fact that Boyd didn’t consider Stiles a friend of his.  (And by deal, I mean actually grapple with the issue and not vanish it.)  Think about how many Thiam AUs where Mason is suddenly and mysteriously no longer Liam’s anchor, because anchor has taken on romantic dimensions.   Think about how many AUs where Deaton is now an ally of the Hale Pack because he’s become a human-shaped dispenser of knowledge, training, and medical care with no personality of his own. 

[eliehasmoved]

WIP Meme

Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you, or interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!!

stap in kids, because I am Very Scary when it comes to organization... and you can blame @tabbytabbytabby​ and @allidon​ for tagging me

multi-chaptered fic, all thiam:

open the door (post 6b, posted up to ch6)

crash into you (6b replacement)

the house that built me (born wolf au)

got the start wrong (5a au)

so clear you’re all that I have (6a au)

i’m not leaving this place unless i’m leaving with you (6b, follows above)

this is a callout post (hockey/olympic)

the rise and fall // drift (pacrim, posted up to ch2)

zero to hero (hercules)

all for the game (foxhole court)

up all night (college au, posted up to ch4)

ocean avenue (collab w/ cal)

a thousand lights (x-men)

i will wait if you want (tatbilb)

multi-chaptered, marvel:

between the wars (starmora, marvel)

rotten to the core (eli/kate/tommy, zombie au)

oneshots, teen wolf:

your presence still lingers (scallison, 5+1)

can’t stand it (thiam, valentine fic)

band candy (thiam, buffy episode)

still bright, still colourful (thiam, disneyland cast members)

never be like you (nett, CIY verse)

the taste of the day you left (malira, CIY verse)

may i have this dance? (thiam, CIY verse)

absence of you (layden closure, CIY verse)

guardian (theo and jenna, CIY verse)

we’re miles apart (thiam/morey grad road trip, CIY verse)

wanna be somebody else (theo, flint forester)

i’ll pour some gasoline on (theo week)

coup de main (theo week)

make this place your home (thiam/morey, xmas fic prequel)

come away with me (scalira, adri’s verse)

better than revenge (thiam, coffeeshop sequel)

things will get better (morey, 5+1, college verse)

teach me tonight (nisaac, 5+1, college verse)

need you to be sure (malira)

my best friend’s brother (thiam)

steal into my melancholy heart (forbinski, tvd/tw s2 onwards)

you smell like apple candy (sterydia)

king of strays (thiam?)

oneshots, all american:

it’s never easy to walk away (ashivia, 1x02)

you are the reason (ashivia, 1x03)

enclosed in a moment, i found a silver lining (ashivia)

we three kings (jordan/asher/olivia)

oneshots, marvel:

sleepyheads (starmora, post iw)

not ready to say goodnight (starmora, post iw good end)

our love is a song you’ve forgotten (stamora, post iw bad end)

the way our horizons meet (gertchase, no powers)

baby i’m dancing in the dark (gertchase, no powers2)

should this be the last thing i see (gertchase, 1x09)

lately i’ve been craving more (gertchase, 1x10)

excluding secret santas, big bang and the pile marked “uncertain if doing” because I don’t want to give anyone false hope. this was also a pain in the ass to type everything out so... if you too want to subject yourself to this god awful shit, please, tag you’re it!

[chcrrysprite]

For the fanfic asks

1, 12 & 17 :)

thank you for the ask!!!! Sorry for the late response, I was about to answer it on Monday morning before I had to leave but I didn't get it done in time and lost the draft. I'm now finished my insanely busy week of tech rehearsals and performance dates, so here this is now, a little delayed but still here :)

1.) favorite fic you wrote this year hmmm...i don't think i can pick a specific favorite, and i didn't write that many this year, but it's a cross between where the spirit meets the bones, (next time i see you you'll show me) a hundred different ways to say the same things, and i dream of you almost every night (hopefully i won't wake up this time). at risk of sounding arrogant about it, i think that this year was a good one for developing my style, and these three are what i think the best examples of that are. where the spirit meets the bones is a favorite because it was the fic i was writing when i first became friends with the lovely @inabottlelikelightning - we talked about that concept half to death and i loved every minute of it - a hundred different ways is something very personal to me about the town i live in and it got SO much support (<3333) and i dream of you is my second thiayden fic that i STILL need to finish but loved writing anyways.

12. favorite character to write about this year ordinarily i would say theo, but this year i Finally started to deviate from his point of view a little more, and i'm not just talking about switching over to liam's for a while. i've written mostly thiam fics, but i very much enjoyed getting into the mind of hayden romero in my thiayden works and an unfinished gwayden WIP, and even though it's still in the drafting process, i found myself randomly writing one entirely from chris argent's. i originally aimed for that to be out by christmas as a little gift to everyone - which is clearly not going to happen considering that's in less than a week now - but i'm super excited for people to see it.

17. fics you'll continue next year it seems too optimistic to say that i won't still be working on this chris argent fic by the time this year is over, so by default, that one. i'd also love to finish up the aforementioned thiayden fic, continue a different thiayden fic with more installments in a series, and keep working on the various long multi-chapter thiam fics that i got like one or two chapters into before abandoning. no promises, but...oops.

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

Hey! I wanted to ask if you know any steo fics where theo isn't only the bad guy but nice to special people,too (like stiles because he has a little weakness for him? ;) ) thanks!=)

AND

celestial-hood said:Hi guys!! Do you have fics where Theo is in the pack?? Thanks!!!

AND

Anonymous said: Hey! Thanks for your amazing work! I’m sorry to ask you guys,too, but do you know any steo fics where theo is “nice”? (No unhealthy relationship and so on) I couldn’t find steo on your ask list.If it’s there, sorry to ask you, too. And thanks again=)

AND

Anonymous said:Hey, I couldn’t find any but have you got any Theo/Liam fics? Love you guys and all the hard work you do btw xo

AND

Anonymous said:Know of any good Thiam (Theo/Liam) fics?

Yes! - Anastasia

Derek? Geez, Allison. Dude broke his own heart by taechnicolor

(1/1 I 6,082 I Teen I Steo)

Allison returned to Beacon Hills for a short weekend. Probably to ask everyone’s plans for college and to reconnect because she moved away a year ago. What she didn’t expect is that once upon a time, Derek was drunk and spout all his heart breaking stories. Guess what? The pack retells the stories to Allison.

or

The stories of how Stiles broke Derek’s heart with five ingredients, and how Derek broke his own heart with one ingredient.

Settle Down With Me by Toxic_Valentine

(22/? I 34,619 I Explicit I Sterek)

Derek, by the time you read this with your oblivious self I’ll probably be moved out and in New York. So… I’m sure you can decipher who is writing this by now because of the handwriting, but I just wanted you to know that I love you and am very thankful for your friendship because if it weren’t for you I’d be a mess. You’re my rock, my ride or die, my best friend, my knight in shining armor whenever I become a damsel in distress, and most importantly - my savior.

Disappeared by jamesm97

(18/18 I 38,382 I Mature I Steo)

Stiles left the pack as he went to college running away when they all betrayed him he threw himself into his premed bachelors degree finishing the four year course in three years as he worked over the summer, he completed his four years in medical school getting a medical degree and the happiest day of his life was flipped upside down when he sees the pack in the audience smiling up at him like they hadn’t broke his heart.

so he ran away secretly joining the army and becoming an army doctor for four years, he manages to survive getting back home and joining a SWAT team before he’s called back to Beacon Hills when his father is shot.

He has to deal with his father being shot, Derek and his dad being close and how the hell will he tell his father instead of doing doctors without borders like he’d thought he’d been getting shot at and almost blew up a few times?

Heart of the Heartless by Reiven

(19/? I 77,548 I General I Liam/THeo)

With Theo finally healing and finding his place in the pack and in Liam’s life, things finally seem to be looking up. But with an evil stirring in the horizon and the reemergence of an old enemy brings along chaos that threatens the lives of all the supernatural beings in Beacon Hills, it’s up to Scott, Theo and the pack, along with a couple of new and unexpected faces, and a few older, familiar faces, to put a stop to it.

The threat becomes personal to them when Liam is taken; then it becomes a race against time to save his life, and Theo can only hope that it’s not too late.

Beautiful Disaster by SophieTrancy

(20/20 I 113,692 I Explicit I Theo/Liam)

Gabe was never part of the plan. The kid came out of nowhere and it didn’t matter that Theo saw him before anyone else did. It didn’t matter because there was nothing any of them could’ve done at that point. His gun was ready, aimed and he just pulled the trigger.

He pulled the trigger at Liam. And Theo wasn’t going to let Liam die. Not today, not ever. They had barely had any time, the elevator, the kiss… It was just their beginning. Theo wouldn’t let it be their end. He’d find a way.

Or

The one where Liam finally makes the first move on Theo, only to end up getting shot at the hospital. And Theo found a way to help him heal, motivated, now that he knew Liam felt the same for him.

[officialthiamlibrary]

Welcome to another profile on Behind the Screens, giving you personal insight on who your favorite creators are and what they do when they aren’t wowing you with their creative ability.

On this profile, we’ll learn more about Tagan, also known in our pack as ThiamFresh or CaptainMintyFresh. The author of Airplanes, Sweet Talking, and a plethora of other Thiam prompts and stories, Tagan shares bits about her life, her writing process, her ideal road trip buddy, and her tips for creating tension-filled relationships.

Hi, Tagan! Let’s start off simple. Using a sentence, where the word count is either equal to or less than the number of letters in your two favorite Teen Wolf characters’ name, tell us about yourself. 

Theo Raeken + Derek Hale = 19: I’m Tagan. Love to write and act. I have a terrible sense of humour. Generally an accident prone mess. 

Talking about Teen Wolf characters, which five characters would be on your Ultimate Paintball/Laser Tag team and why? 

Theo, Malia, Allison, Liam, Stiles. Right, so I want Theo because like boy’s a master tactician/manipulator and he’s ruthless. Boy would 100% shoot 10 year olds to win and that’s the kind of person I want on my paintball team. Malia, again, she would have no qualms about just decimating the other team. Allison because she is an amazing shot; her role would be stealthing her way through the field to take people out/sniping everyone else while the ‘ground team’ does the closer stuff. Liam because he’s athletic and competitive. Stiles because he’s good at coming up with plans, plus...you know..he’d be really good bait for the other team.

Omg he would be! Now, before those characters blessed us with their existence, we found love and OTPs in other ones. What would you say were your first ships, way back in the day?

I’m not sure if this counts but Ant and Dec? I thought they were married but if not, then Monica and Chandler or Spike and Buffy. The first fanfiction I read was for Dramione.

And, how did you land in the Thiam Family? What about Theo x Liam drew you in?

I really liked their scenes in 6A (And some of the scenes in 5 but honestly, I hated five as a whole and watched it out of duty more than anything so I just didn’t have the enthusiasm to get into a ship.) Theo was the first bit of 6A that i actually really liked and a lot of that was just down to his sass and a lot of it was directed at Liam. And then the car key scene had me cackling with laughter. There scenes were just..fun in a way the rest of the season lacked, at least to me. So I was pretty invested in their whole dynamic and then there was ‘Being the bait’ and ‘do you know how to ride a horse’ and I was pretty sold. I went to search for Thiam content then but didn’t find any so just went back to writing the fics for other fandoms I was doing then and didn’t really mind.

But then 6B came out and the second I saw Theo on screen I was thinking “wow i can’t wait for him to see Liam and realised I was a bit more sold on them than I had planned to be and so I searched the tag again and went onto AO3 and read the few fics there but there really weren’t many. 

I’d gotten stuck on all the fics I was doing for other fandoms and so put up a request for prompts and Thiamkey gave me a bunch of headcanons and prompts and then people seemed to like them and started sending them in and then I just...talked to people and they were all lovely and we had all this amazing content coming out every week from the show and more people climbed aboard the ship. More fics being written, more prompts being sent.

Honestly, i just wanted to dip my toe in the water, write a fic or two while I waited for other people to write their own but then i suddenly found myself up to my neck in Thiam and not regretting a second of it.

Let’s jump into writing. Before we dive into the Thiam pool, if your writing process was a person, describe him or her. What does he or she do? Wear? Listen to?

My writing process as a person would probably be a toddler in a room full of toys but instead of playing with them, she just hiding under furniture and has five different conversations with five different imaginary friends at one time. She’s messy, with chocolate ice cream smeared over her face and her hair tangled into nots. She has no real idea about what’s happening but is excited none-the-less. Will have constant tantrums and cry then be excitedly squealing in the next second. ACDC would be playing in the background.

And your writing Kryptonite? How do you fight it?

Procrastination. I’m really bad at focusing on any one thing. Like, if i’m watching a new episode of a show, I’ll play solitaire in the corner of the screen because otherwise, I’m too unfocused to be focused. If that makes any sense. So when I’m writing I have to have a conversation open with someone or have just done a puzzle or something that’s fried my brain a bit so I can focus on writing, but I often end up getting too focused on the other thing and not getting any writing done.

As for how to fight it, I honestly have no idea? I just kinda flit around and hope for the best.

Well, clearly it works for you, so cheers! Do you write novels or short stories about original characters, as well? If so, can you share one you’re particularly passionate about?

Yes i dooo :) I write books. So I’ve written three so far and have like 12 in the works. (There’s a YA series in there which is why there’s so many) um..I’m not sure what i’m particularly proud of so i’m just pasting the first scene I found in my emails which is a scene from a zombie book I wrote called Autumn

Autumn Excerpt:

Sometimes I could forget, for a moment. When the sun was high in the sky and we were strolling through an open field. Weapons held loose in hand, rucksacks tossed over single shoulders. When we were throwing a bottle of water between us, talking about now pointless things, sharing stories and silly jokes. Laughs etched onto our faces as we'd forget all about it. About the past months and the horror we've seen, the people we've lost.

But then a stray would stumble into the field or we’d hear a distant scream and it would come rushing back. Hands quickly going back to locked tightly arrowed our weapons, smiles slipping from our faces.There were also times I couldn't forget, not even for a second. When we lay on rough roof tops, looking up at the dark sky willing to sleep, to get lost in a dream but I could hear it, the scratching of nails against brick, the snap of teeth hitting together and the low, guttural moans. At these times I’d think, this will be the last sound I ever hear. The huffing of the dead, the wet slapping and slurping as they tore and chewed on flesh.

On these nights I’d try to comfort myself, Say that that nightmare sound wouldn't be what I heard, I prayed for a gunshot, dreamed of that rather than the sounds bellow me. Because, these days, you go out one of two ways and a gunshot was everyone's silver lining.

When you mentioned YA series, my back straightened haha. What’s the title of your series? A synopsis for what it’d be about?

Oh god, so the longest one I have to find a new title to because it’s called Gifted and is about people with superpowers and now there’s that The Gifted show out about people with powers so that’s a bit awkward.

Me and my friend wrote a webseries when we were like 14/15 and although we only filmed a tiny bit of it, we actually had the whole thing planned out. Three seasons, 40 episodes and when we stopped working on it I was like “dude can i turn this into a book series?” and he was like “Yeah go ahead.” So I started writing a bit of it.

Gifted follows the story of three childhood friends as they get powers and deal with all the usual coming of age stuff while getting caught up with other people with powers. The first book will be done in alternating POV between the three friends, but that will slowly expand to incorporate the more important characters met along the way.

There’s lots of whump, teenagers dealing with depression and PTSD.  Basically i tried to write a new fairly light hearted story about kids coming of age and dealing with typical super power problems, but then accidentally put them through the ringer and turned it into a mass of character study and angst.

Final question before the barrage of Thiam questions lol. Characters often find themselves in situations they aren’t sure they can get themselves out of. When was the last time you were in a place like that and what did you do? 

The last time I found myself in a situation I couldn’t get out of was this summer and I cried a lot and then made scathing jokes to the reasons I couldn’t get out of the situation with a sunny smile that left the situations unaware that I was trying to figure out how to word a letter that told the situations they need never situate themselves anywhere near me ever again. (I have yet to send those letters.)

Wow, yeah, I’ve been there before. I hope you find the strength/courage to send those letters one day. Since we’re talking about personal experiences, would you say that any of your life has poured over into your Thiam writing?

The only one I can currently think of is the scene in Sweet Talking where Theo’s tired and listening to Liam, Mason and Corey hang out and thinking about how he’ll never really fit in.

My brother had a bunch of friends round before I wrote that chapter, or at least that part of that chapter. I moved away from my home town/all my friends (there’s literally 1 friend but whatever) 3 years ago and haven’t made any friends since. My brother keeps telling me his friends can be my friends but I‘m always the odd man out and it’s just really lonely so I was definitely channeling some inner loneliness into that.

Let’s say you could escape it all and venture on a major Airplanes-esque road trip. Who would you take (real or fictional)? Where would you go? And what is one shenanigan the two of you would run into?

The Queen. I just think it’d be really funny, not to mention you could get in like everywhere for free.

Honestly I think if the queen wasn’t available, I’d want to go with @thiamfanartlove. We’ve only been talking a little while, but we get on really well and I feel like we’d be equally ready to do a bunch of dumb stuff on our journey. I’d want to go around Europe. Hit up @thiamkey on the way and a few other people. 

We would 100% get into a fight at some point because neither of us have any chill. Like, someone would insult one of us and the other would just be down to fight and then it would turn into an all out brawl with us against the world. (We would lose, but it’d be a good story, at least.)

Truth. And one story we’d demand all the details on. You’ve talked a lot about some trivia, inspirations and spoilers for Airplanes in your livestream, which are linked here. So, my questions to you are more about the technique side of your writing, since it’s always amazing to learn from you all.  

You incorporate great character studies into your stories. What would you say are some tricks you use to portray what your characters are thinking?

I think, just finding a way to resonate with the character you’re writing. Even if it’s a character you think you have nothing in common with, I promise you somewhere there’s a memory you have that fits something they’ve felt. 

Liam’s POV was really weird to me at the start of airplanes so I chose to focus on something I could personally understand. Which was the need for freedom but anxiety at what it might cost the other people if you take it and that..kind of self hatred for the anger issues and wishing everything could change. You find a common thread and write that and soon enough you find yourself understanding the character, even in situations or with feelings you’ve never personally been affected by.

I don’t know if that makes any sense? But basically yeah, find common ground and that one scene you can write and then work from there.

And, the tension between your characters. How do you build that tension when it comes to relationships to avoid the instalove phenomenon?

ANGST! I dunno, the easiest way for me to slow down the instalove is the characters being more preoccupied with other stuff than their love lives. I think just..keeping it as real as possible. In my personal experience, love at first sight is rare. You can’t fall in love with someone until you know them so a lot of it is just..giving the characters these little moments that bring them closer together, making them have those conversations that you’d have with your best friend and just slowly drawing closer and closer together as you get more comfortable. Especially in Airplanes when it first starts Liam’s in a pretty bad place mentally. He’s really drained and feeling the weight of everything he’s been through so his mind was just so far away from romance that it seemed wrong to have him noticing any feelings for Theo until he was a bit happier and had healed a bit. Not to mention all the baggage the two have.

Having a character go through that process of questioning their sexuality is fun as well. I mean, Liam so far in canon has been written as straight and that’s a lot of fun to play with because you have that whole realisation process where he has to figure out that what he feels for Theo isn’t entirely platonic and that it’s different from how he feels about Mason or any of the other guys in the show and that can be a really challenging thing to do. Not even in the ‘Oh coming out is scary’ way just in the heteronormative straight until proven otherwise sort of way.

I mean i’m Bi and that took me like...21 years to realise? And it wasn’t that I didn’t have little crushes on girls before it was just I’d never noticed them for what they were. For me the only reason it clicked was because I realised I was Asexual and that my ‘well I don’t want to bone a girl so I’m not gay’ was kinda pointless thing when I realised that I didn’t even want to bone guys. It was just what was expected. Once I took that away and sat down and thought about it, it was suddenly very clear to me. But most characters won’t have that specific nudge so it can be a fairly long road.

Just, to stop instalove think about what they’re going through, think about how you fall in love because the realisation may be instant but the build up is usually gradual. You notice it in one dumb moment but to actually get there, you have a long list of bits where you get to know the other person and you deal with your own personal issues and stuff.

For building tension, it’s again just building up that relationship. You start off small with touches that make the heart speed up before they’re more comfortable and grow closer. Honestly, the best way is just to focus on the friendship first and the romantic relationship second because then you get the familiarity and that’s when you can start having your characters realise there’s something else there and that suddenly makes all these little touches a lot more terrifying and confusing as they try to figure out what it means. 

That’s perfect though. And the gritty realization that most people have about those they’ve fallen in love with since they’ve usually gotten close to that person by that point is terrifying and emotional, so I can now see where that tension comes from! Anything else you’d like to say, in general. The floor is all yours.

Umm okay. I am always accepting prompts but it willlllll take me a while to get to them because i have quite a few and don’t really go chronologically but more where the inspiration hits and sometimes, like with airplanes, that’s my own story rather than a prompt but my ask box is always always open for more prompts.

Upcoming works, I have no idea. Right now, I just want to finish airplanes and then see where I go after that. I do want to play around in the airplanes universe a little bit more after the fic is done with, delving into Theo’s POV for some of the missing scenes and I also might do a short pack scene where you have everyone realise Theo and Liam are gone in the morning in Idaho.

The reason I like sharing my work is because I like the idea that maybe I can help someone and maybe that sounds dumb--but to me--reading is a major escapism technique. I used it a lot when I was younger and this fic and the comments I’ve gotten have just made me so insanely happy because it seems like, maybe for a few people, I’ve reached my goal in helping someone through a bad day or to relax and just forget their worries for a while. And that’s the whole reason I like writing and that’s the first time I’ve ever really felt that and I literally cried when someone told me my updates helped their shitty week before because...that’s the whole reason I want to get into writing or acting as a career and to see I’d achieved that goal was just awesome.

If you’ve sent me a nice message on tumblr and I haven’t replied, it’s not because I didn’t read it or I don’t like it or whatever you might think. It’s because i’m a hoarder and now have a folder wth screen shots of all the nice messages in it, so that I can look at them when I’m having a nice day.

Really, I just want to say that I see everything you guys send or make or comment and I appreciate every single one and just thank you. Life’s been tough for me lately but getting to write for a fandom as accepting and kind as this one is really really amazing and your messages have picked me up when I’ve felt worthless so many times. Just keep being awesome Thiam fandom! And thank you for being so welcoming and supportive of everyone that joins.

Aww thank you! We’re so happy to have you in our fandom and to have Airplanes, your prompts, and other stories. I, and others have shared the same sentiment, agree with you that this fandom is amazing and so supportive of one another that it almost seems surreal! So, go us, lovely pack! 

To finish us off, what’s next for you? Both in life and in the writing world?

For life, I’m hoping to get some acting roles for student films and stuff. Get myself a laptop so I can write more and a camera (eventually) so I can film the scripts I’ve wrote. I also want to send some of my books to publishers and generally try to make a life for myself out of the two things I love doing.

I have a bunch of books I’m working on and I really want to finish writing my YA series because it seems like it could be quite fun once I get a bit more into it.

With that, BTS presents ThiamFresh to you! As always, you can keep the conversation going; respond to any of her thoughts, ask more questions, send a prompt, or simply swing by for a chat with Tagan anytime. To dive into her works, check out both her AO3 and Tumblr. 

Tumblr: thiamfresh

AO3: captainmintyfresh

Ask Box: thiamfresh ask

A huge thank you to Tagan for being so open to answering our questions and sharing her tips on character stories and building tension. 

Some great news, for everyone who enjoys this series, we’ve decided to run Behind the Screens every Thursday. And, we’d love your help in doing it! 

Have a Thiam Creator you fan over, from any platform (AO3, Tumblr, Wattpad, Instagram, FFN, etc). Please send us their names. Bonus points if you include any questions you’re dying to ask them. Likewise, if you as the creator, would like to be a part of the Behind the Screens series, give us a shout too! We’d love to get to know you, as well.

Hasta Luego!

[elliemarchetti]

THIAM FIC part 3

Words:3639

“Scott?” said Liam, again, looking at the wolf. Malia hid behind the big, black figure and Theo cannot help but show his fangs a little.

Liam never expected to be betrayed that way. He thought Scott had left Beacon Hills to go to college, not to hide in the woods in the form of a monster. He remembered when he left, with the white shirt that made him look even bigger, and the expression of someone who has reached a turning point in his life. He looked at him with a judgmental look, as he came back human and naked as he had come into the world he looked at him with the expression of a child who had been found with his hands immersed in a jar of jam.

"What are you doing here?" Liam asked, not at all troubled by his friend's nakedness. At that moment, nothing that Scott could do would distract him from the answers he wanted to receive.

"I ..." the other began, but Liam stopped him.

"And that form? What was it? What did you become?" Liam asked, interrupting him, and Theo felt a hint of contempt in that voice. Even the solitary wolf was angry. Not because Scott hasn’t left the city, nor because he refused to share his choice with others. He did not feel betrayed, Scott McCall did not owe him anything, but his stay at Beacon Hill was the real reason why Liam could not transform into the Alpha he deserved to be, that Theo, deep down, hoped to deserve: the real Alpha of that pack had never really left, and it was something that stopped the other members from changing and finding their new position.

“I wanted to tell you, someday.” Scott excused himself, but Liam still looked angry. It wasn’t a good thing. Liam’s disorder stood silent for a while but it never left, and with his mantra becoming totally useless after Brett's death, stopping him was not a trivial matter. Theo could see a certain darkness in the boy's eyes, which, fortunately, had not yet turned yellow. If he had turned, he did not know how Malia would react, and there was no chance he would beat his Alpha. Fortunately, no one was wandering in the woods at that time of night, and the hunters did not seem to want to show, at least for once, or it would have been difficult to explain that situation. Because, to an external eye, it would have seemed in all respects a feud between packs.

"Who else knows?" Liam asked, thinking of Mason, how he thought it impossible that his best friend might have decided to betray him.

"Only Malia." Scott answered, looking down at the coyote, who was studying Theo with her blue eyes. The black wolf could not think of anything but Lydia's afflicted expression, which, together with Peter, tried to inculcate some common sense in that poorly assorted group, or Alec, if that's what he was called, that had been received in a pack that soon became a real disaster. He tried to think of the reactions of others because, in reality, he did not want to think of Liam, his lost expression as he tried to come to terms with the tangle that had become his life.

"Do you have any idea how hard it has been going on since you left? Or should I say since you decided to hide in the wood? Have you ever really took that plane?" Liam asked, unable to stop.

"Yes," Scott admitted. "I left, and after just one month, in the waning moon, I decided to go home. You have no idea what it means to turn like that. You have no idea of the strength, of how ..." Scott's voice died in throat.

"And you do not have the slightest idea how I felt!" Liam exclaimed, and Theo could hear his voice almost end in a snarl. "I did not know what to do; I didn’t called  you in terror that you could put your dreams aside and come back!"

Liam would have had many other things to say. How comfortable he felt alone with Theo, how, when his friend decided to get away from him, he suffered and wanted his mentor to help him in that difficult moment, or how it was almost unbearable to go alone on the grave of Brett and Lori, crying all the tears that he didn’t allowed himself to pour before. He wanted to say a thousand things, but his anger clouded his thoughts.

"Liam." Theo called him, resting his hand on his shoulder. The boy turned slightly, just enough to meet the gaze of his friend, who had to be naked too. Liam felt his ears warm up more than they should, but he ignored the feeling. A strange quiet descended on his limbs, as if the only touch of Theo had somehow managed to calm him. Scott avoided the gaze of the one who had once been his enemy, his eyes shining. He felt guilty, and most of all he felt a disappointment. That tragicomic scene could have continued indefinitely, if only Malia had not slammed her head against Scott's bare calf. The sound of footsteps reached the ears of the three boys with a moment of delay. They could be hunters or stupid kids who decided to go into the woods for a bet, and yet, in times like these, prudence was never too much, and Scott returned to his wolf form.

"You have to go." Theo whispered to Liam. The younger boy looked around, confused. It was too late to run away; they would surely have seen it. So he did the only thing that could come to his mind: he climbed a tree. Hidden by the leaves, barely breathing, Liam waited for the inevitable to happen. He watched Scott leave wary, and Malia follow him like a faithful dog. Theo, however, did not move. He hid himself, as far as possible, behind a tree, and waited to engage in battle. The smell of the aconite now permeated the air and it was obvious that they were hunters. He would have to run away, possibly in the opposite direction to Scott, but he was not about to leave Liam there. The younger of the two, however, wondered what the other was waiting to hide as he had done. He did not know there were any other hunters around, and he had no idea they were so well armed, but he would have to known. Of course, they hunted illegally in the land of the Argent, with weapons not legally registered, distributed by a woman who had to flee to avoid the risk of life imprisonment, but beyond that, nothing strange.

"Theo." Liam tried to call him, but the wolf did not want to hear it. "Theo!"

When he met his friend's blue eyes Liam almost regretted calling him. He looked the same as a death threatening. The first bullet struck the bark near Theo's head. The hunters had come close enough to see him, and Liam could see them too. He had never seen them before, a sign that they should not be among the close collaborators of Monroe, but that woman had recruited almost the whole city, in her various waves of madness, so it could also be invaded that they had come to know of the thing only later. There were three of them, a sign that not even they had to know about the presence of the feared, and apparently invincible, Scott McCall.

The shooter who must have missed the blow cursed, and a volley of bullets followed the shadow of Theo, which merged with the surrounding vegetation, aiming to outsmart the enemy. Liam felt his fangs brush against his lower lip, and he was certain that he was ready to enter the battle, if only the opportunity had arisen. Once they had managed to shoot him and the feeling had not been pleasant at all, so he decided to ponder well if and when to move.

"You do not like that $ 46,000, don’t you?" the second man, who had to have an automatic rifle in his hands, teased him,

"The other one offered many more." the third complained. Liam remembered the dead pool, remembered Meredith and remembered his own value on that list. Eighteen million dollars.

"And who says you were a woman?" the second replied.

"For me it was a woman." the third answered, loading the rifle again. "And those were his lovers."

"Some were kids, you idiot!" the second retorted, and Liam was not surprised that those three could not hit Theo even wanting it. They must have underestimated him, because the wolf came straight behind them, throwing the man with the automatic rifle on the ground. The one with a bad aim backed away, probably scared to finally find a real werewolf in front of him. Liam waited a moment longer, then jumped on his shoulders. He did not give him time to scream, taking his head in his hands and twisting his neck. Graceful, he jumped off his falling body and pounced on the third man, who was aiming to hit him. He bent the rifle barrel in two, with a force he did not know he had hidden since that moment. The man did not give up the grip of the weapon, not even when the bones began to creak because of Liam's grip on the barrel. The hunter's wrist broke, and the bone cut the flesh, showing its hard consistency and whitish colour. Theo raised his face covered in blood, and growled at the man Liam was dealing with. It was not clear to either of them that he fainted with pain or terror, but the man slumped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Liam did not miss another battle, which must have been hired farther, near the edge of the city. Theo met his friend's gaze, which with his hands soiled with blood and the wounded expression seemed ready to ignore his task. Liam wanted to stop staring at Theo, he wished he could avoid his gaze full of judgment, but it was not possible, and certainly would not have escaped, not like Scott and Malia. What had changed in the Alpha to make him even a coward, as well as a traitor?

"They do not need us." Liam hissed, more to himself than to Theo, but a yelping made him change his mind. It must have been Malia. Stunned, he looked up at the sky, and with disengaged claws he started running toward the noise font.

Waiting for them was the most unfair battle they had ever seen, and after what Monroe had done everything seemed fair, even Theo's behaviour. Around Malia, four hunters kept it under fire, while Scott desperately tried to free himself from those who, against his huge and hirsute body, looked like insects. They were at least six. Liam ran from Malia. He did not need to find the girl nice to want to stop them from killing her. He freed himself of the first man by throwing him away. From the sound of his body, he must have hit the bark of a tree. A part of him hoped to have killed him. So he threw himself on the second man, with an athletic leap, but he left his belly uncovered. If only Malia had not decided to act instinctively and bite the legs of her assailant, Liam would have found himself with a bullet stuffed with aconite in the middle of his stomach. Theo, meanwhile, was taking care of the other two men, but it was not that simple, fighting in the form of a wolf, when his assailants were armed with rifles. Although the werewolves kept their human mind, if trained to do so, even in animal form, the primordial instincts of the species remained latent, and Theo felt a vague and senseless fear of those weapons widely used in the past to exterminate his species. Even Malia felt that terror, while Liam, still human, was completely immune.

Those hunters had to be more trained, not like Argent, of course, but on that false line, and one of the two men fired at Theo behind him, before he could sink his claws into his companion's chest. The boy fell to the ground, whining. Liam’s heart broke. He did not want Theo to be hurt again because of him. He had already sacrificed himself once, it shouldn’t happen again. So, even knowing that, once the bullet had been extracted and the wound cured with a plaster of arctic rose petals’ ash and a single belladonna leaf, everything would have returned to normal, he threw himself on him. It was not a method that Deaton already knew, but Melissa McCall seemed, in addition to being a wonderful nurse, also able to outsmart the druid, and the cure had always worked very well.

Malia freed herself from one of the two men, while Theo, although unable to use one of his legs as a support, managed to grab the third man, making the job easier for Liam. Despite his size, Scott seemed in trouble, as if he were holding back from using his true strength, and that weakness had been seized by hunters. Even if his skin was too hard to be scratched by normal bullets, the blades seemed to be able to hurt him, and the hunters must have understood it.

Despite the clear numerical inferiority, the retreat of the hunters was inevitable. Scott dragged away from that mess in his wolf shape, much heavier than his human and certainly more likely to heal, as opposed to that of Theo, who collapsed exhausted among the corpses. Liam knelt, intent on trying to put him back on all four legs, if he did not have the strength to come back to himself, but was traumatized by the sound of his heartbeat: it was accelerated, irregular, certainly because of the aconite. He did not even turn to Scott and Malia for help, and forced himself to raise his friend, who wailed in pain. He glared at the wolf couple as he passed them, but said nothing, continuing to mutter to himself.

It was now half-way when, with arms that began to resent the forty pounds he was trying to carry when Theo began to gasp, until Liam noticed that his tongue was hanging out and his breath was almost choked.

"Do not even think about it, do not think about letting you die here because I would never forgive you! I pulled you out of Hell once, do not force me to do it a second time!" Liam exclaimed, terrified. Slowly, Theo moved his head, perhaps a sign that he had heard what his friend was telling him, but his situation did not seem to improve. When they arrived in Liam's backyard, Theo's eyes began to close with exhaustion. He had never felt worse. He had already been hurt in the past, but usually the pain, one way or another, was a constant that accompanied him until complete healing. Now, however, he felt only his slow and irregular beat pulsing in his head, as after those pathetic lessons he had himself forced to attend at Beacon Hills High School, but stronger, as if a bored boy had decided to start beating the bongos in his head. There was no rhythm in that sound, no constant, and it terrified him. He did not want to die. He had already been in Hell once, and his sister had given him a warm welcome, he did not want to repeat the experience. Moreover, he did not feel he deserved it. He had done a lot to redeem himself and of course the road was still long, but he had good intentions, not so selfish, at least not as selfish as they were before, and he had just started to like people - not everyone, of course, but what was the importance? He had started to appreciate someone, and small steps are the key to better days, or at least was something his mother used to tell when he was a child- and in all the time he had spent with the Dread Doctors it had never happened. Sure, he liked someone but just for their wit or their cunningness, not for both merits and flaws.

Liam left his friend in the back garden, but the wolf could barely object. He seemed lost in a world of his own, and Liam hoped that at least it would not be full of nightmares. He entered the house sneaking, sure he could find what he was looking for immediately. He rummaged through the drawers, full of socks, underwear and shirts, but he could not quite find the jar he was looking for. Yet he was sure he had left it right there, under the red shirt Theo had lent him... He stopped only when he realized that the light in the corridor had been turned on and someone was watching him.

"I believe you have something of mine." Liam hissed, without the need to turn around to meet his mother's gaze.

"Do you talk about this?" he asked, and Liam knew perfectly what she was holding between her tapered fingers, her red-enamelled nails in perfect contrast to the anthracite poultice.

"May I know what is wrong? Or do you think you want to explain it to your father?"

Liam had no time for those games. He did not have time to think about the school, to answer her stupid questions or to worry if after that reaction he would end up in punishment, so, without saying a word or taking his eyes off his mother's, he approached her. The woman was afraid. Liam had never seen his mother so frightened, but he did not cared. He was afraid too, and not of her reaction if she saw his eyes gleaming gold in the dim light of the room, or if she had noticed that his nails were actually claws retractable on command, just like those of cats, but that his friend could die, to stay alone in that city that did not want him but that so desperately needed him. Beacon Hills would not have been saved by Scott McCall, not anymore.

Although his mother tried to back away, Liam reached her earlier than expected and stretched out an arm to tear the bottle out of her hand, before jumping out of the window. The woman escaped a scream, and then ran to see her son's condition. Liam was fine and was running towards a black figure in their garden. Because of the darkness, Mrs. Dunbar did not see well, but she was more than certain that it was a wolf.

When Liam reached Theo, his hair was soaked with sweat and he almost seemed to hold his breath, his rib cage swollen and his tongue sagging on the grass.

With a tweezers for modeling, which her mother had decided not to be something important enough to remove it from its place, he took out the bullet. Inserting the tweezers was not so complicated, he had seen Melissa do it many times, and yet when it came time to tighten the bullet that practice did not seem so simple to him. His hand began to tremble visibly, and Theo winced as his friend lost his grip on the bullet. That situation was a real torment, on one hand the pain and on the other the impossibility of controlling the spasms of his lungs. He had never coughed in wolf-form and it was not a good feeling. Surely, everything was made worse by the fear of dying and the worried expression of Liam. Was he so terrible even to look at? The boy managed to extract the bullet a few moments before someone else decided to enter the guard. Liam rolled his eyes as he slipped two fingers into the glass jar and began recovering all the greasy and slimy substance he needed. Why did that woman always have to stick her nose in business that did not concern her? He heard her screaming like a madman, not caring that the whole neighbourhood could wake up and the sight of a werewolf in the garden of the neighbour could bring to mind unpleasant memories that they would all prefer to forget.

"Go away," Liam growled, and from the woman's expression, he knew he had looked at her with shining eyes and an angry expression. He was amazed when he realized that he did not feel anything when he saw her flinch back, and then rushed home to wake her husband, as if she had just seen a monster. But he was, in her eyes, he remembered.

"You still have to hold on for a second, ok?" Liam asked Theo, aware that his friend couldn’t answer him, and maybe not even hear him. He dialled Mason's number without thinking: he did not have time to look for him in the phone book, and he memorized it when they were younger. He prayed for a few moments that for once the friend had decided to leave the ringtone even at night, but realized it wasn’t like that. Even Corey's cell phone rang for a long time, until the answering machine clicked. Only one option remained. The boy answered the third ring, even though Liam was sure he had woken up at the first. In that little time together, he had learned to know his friend better than his pockets.

"Can I know what you want at 3.30 a.m.?" Nolan asked.

"Come to my house, we have a problem."