#liam being theo's first in everything is so special to me
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apricusapollo · 5 months ago
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"and you kissed me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever" but it's theo to liam after the elevator scene because liam initiated the kiss and it was theo's very first kiss
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jjsstars · 1 year ago
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thiamweek2023: day 3, moment of realization
|| for @thiamappreciationweek event
|| tags : love confessions, swearing, post canon, mentions of canon events
It’s not a big moment realization, no moment of dawning that washes over Theo like a wave crashing down, if he’s honest- it’s pretty anticlimactic. He’s midway through driving Liam home from his first lacrosse game of the new season, listening to the other ramble about how they totally should’ve won because the last shot the other team made was ‘super illegal’ and Theo just- knows.
The pieces of everything that had happened in the months before, the years when he really thinks about it, fall into place and he realizes all of it’s been slowly building. He’s super in love with Liam Dunbar. Fuck, this wasn’t on his new year resolution list he made- per Liam’s request- when things settled and he could ‘start new’ after being casted down to hell for however long he was really there. It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t change anything.
“Theo?” The giggling voice of Liam brings Theo back to how he’s stopped at a green light, supposedly for too long since Dunbar has a grin ear to ear.
“Get lost in your head?” He lets out a small huff and rolls his shoulders back while turning the street to Liam’s house.
“You’re blushing, thinking of someone special?” Theo quirks a brow with a glance at Liam, he’s practically the only person Theo’s been around since he got back. Him and select people from the pack, Mason and Corey a lot, but they’re dating and Liam has to know Theo would never impose on that.
“No one.” The lie is such bullshit even Theo feels like cringing.
“Liar. Who is it? Someone new?” As if Theo has any past relationships to compare to, or like Liam would even know if he did.
“They’re not new.” Not in the slightest. Maybe that’s why Theo likes Liam, he’s not new, he’s familiar and trustworthy, someone Theo considers to be a person he can rely on. That’s something Theo’s never really had before, he likes it, whatever it’d be called.
“But they are someone! C’mon you gotta tell me.” A grin creeps over Theo’s face when he looks over at Liam’s too eager expression- he smells like sweat and too strong cologne and happiness and comfort- Theo would bottle the scent if he could, drown himself in it just to have the sense of Liam at his side.
“Not so sure that’s a good idea.” Then again- Theo’s already been to hell, what’s the worst that can happen? If Liam wants to send him back because of a crush Theo could always go into hiding, he remembers all the old tunnels the dread doctors would use, he’s sure he’d get far enough away from California that Liam wouldn’t be able to find him easily. He’s getting ahead of himself— he hasn’t even told Liam yet, he needs to stop planning his ‘what-if’ escape.
“I won’t tell anyone, swear. Not even Mason.” The eyes Liam is giving Theo are downright evil, all big and puppy dog like, pleading with Raeken, practically begging him to spill his guts.
“You really wanna know?” Excitement is basically pouring off of Liam, it covers all his past scents, clogging Theo’s senses and making his head dizzy with the thought that- oh yeah, he’s definitely in love.
“Yes! Tell me, tell me, tell me-.” He cuts Dunbar off with a head shake, knowing he’d go on for hours if not stopped.
“Okay fine, it’s you. I’m blushing cause I’m thinking about you.” His eyes don’t leave the stretch of empty road in front of them, listening to how Liam’s heartbeat sputters and kicks up a few notches, smelling how he goes from excited to confused in seconds, feeling how the air seems to shift in the truck. It makes Theo uneasy and his hands grip at the steering wheel tighter, he hopes it’s not obvious.
“Why am I making you blush?” There’s almost concern in the too genuine question, he really hasn’t put the pieces together.
“Cause I want to kiss you.” Theo has no fucking idea where that came from- he’d slap himself if Liam wouldn’t be able to see it. That’s the exact opposite of what he had meant to say, he was going for something subtle, to nudge Liam in the right direction, not be so extremely direct like that.
“Sorry.” Raeken mutters and squeezes his eyes shut. He totally just fucked things with Liam forever- that plan of escape apparently isn’t such a ‘what-if’ and more of a ‘right-now-before-the-pack-kills-you-again’ thing.
“I want to kiss you too.” Liam says and Theo presses the breaks without thinking, sending both of them stumbling forward a bit but Theo doesn’t care, he turns to stare at Liam head on. Waiting for the moment he starts to laugh and say it was a joke, waiting for him to throw the truck door open and say he’ll walk the rest of the way home, waiting for him to take it back.
“Are you going to keep staring or kiss me?” It takes all of five seconds before Theo’s throwing himself forward to press his lips to Liam’s.
His hand tangles into Liam’s hair instantly, holding him in close, heart racing as their lips move gently against each others. Despite the desperate way Theo’s holding on, Liam is much more careful with how his hand comes to cup Theo’s jaw and his forehead presses to Raeken’s when he pulls away. There’s a soft smile on his lips and his eyes are blown wide again- Theo can’t make himself look away.
“Kiss me again.” He whispers and feels his whole body relax when Liam obeys, still delicate as ever, but it’s perfect. So perfect.
“We should probably get back to the house before another car comes.”
“Right, right- course, yeah.” God he’s an idiot.
“But we should keep kissing when we’re home, if you want to.”
“Yes, yup, definitely want to- ahem- yeah, that’d- that’d be nice.” Liam chuckles lightly and Theo’s whole face burns red as he starts to drive again.
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outcastpack · 1 year ago
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love
Hmmmm lemme see. You've already seen a version of these so gonna do a two for one.
Starting with IWDIAOOY and then a Thiac special
“I know your getting ready for the baby, that your excited and preparing. Fuck Liam I can’t fault you for that.” Theo mutters leaning against his bedroom dresser. It sounded like he was trying to justify everything with the last few week since Liv told them she was pregnant. “Theo, you don’t need to try and justify my actions. You told me the day we got together that I had to be all in and fuck I hate myself for not being here for you these last few weeks.” Liam moves to sit on Theo’s bed patting the place next to him.
He watch’s Theo sigh and move to sit next to him, slumping next to him. He sounds exhausted and drained and Liam hates that he has had a hand in this. “I don’t know what you want from me?” Theo mumbles lying down and putting an arm over his face. “Talk to me. Be angry with me, something, anything.” Liam continues earning another exasperated sigh from his boyfriend.
“I don’t want to be angry Liam. I have two years and I’m tired of fighting.”
Liam hates how tired Theo sounds as he says it. He wishes he could take the pain away.
Theo finally looks at him again, his green eyes locking with his own skimming over his face. Theo lifts himself back up turning to face him fully. “I ..... I think we should break up.” Liam can’t believe what he was hearing. Break up? After everything. His immediately says as much, releasing shouts of protest at even the idea of them breaking up.
“Liam. Listen to me. I’m dying. I have two years, maybe less and I can’t do that to you.” He can hear the conviction in Theo’s voice. He hates it. “And what about what I think T? Because I told you all in, I know I haven’t been here like I should have but please.” Liam can hear his voice cracking as he speaks, as he begs.
“Don’t give up on us.”
He can feel the tears forming in his eyes, can see Theo’s own glistening with his own unshed tears. Theo takes a deep breath before speaking again trying to regain his composure. “Olivia is giving you a baby Liam, she’s giving you a family and she loves you even if she won’t say it.” Liam cringes inwardly at the reminder of Liv’s confession that she had dropped on him– that she still had feelings for him, that she still loved him.
What Theo didn’t know was that Liam had told his ex he loved her, but not like that, that he loved her as the mother of his child and that was it.
His and Olivia’s relationship was a bomb waiting to go off back when they were first together. It was a dark time for them both, especially Liam since that was when he had been taking the steroids.
Him and Theo though, that was something Liam was willing to fight for. He knew Theo was it for him.
“I’m giving you two years max and heartbreak at the end.” Theo finishes. But Liam was done listening to Theo speak so low of himself, this boy was the one he loved and he’d be damned if he didn’t fight for him, for them. Liam moves straddling Theo’s waist and cupping his cheeks in his hands. “Shut up, stop talking. It’s my turn.” He tells him, making sure Theo’s focus was on him.
“I love you, I choose you. Two years or fifteen years, I’m going to choose you.” He wipes Theo’s cheek rubbing away the stray tears that try to escape. “You are everything to me Theo and I know you love me just as much.” He can feel his voice shaking and has to fight to keep it steady while speaking. “You once asked me what I get out of being with you and I never got to answer since we were interrupted. Well baby. I get you.”
He can see Theo is struggling to believe his words so he does the only thing he can think of. He kisses him, trying to force the love, the adoration, every one of his feelings for Theo to show in the kiss. He kisses him like he needs air to breath and can feel the tears running down both their faces as they kiss.
“Mm.. sorry.” Theo mumbles against his lips and Liam just kisses him again and again. They part again but don’t pull away, foreheads rested together. “I love you Theodore Karl Raeken. That’s never gonna change, and I promise I’m gonna show you that everyday if I have to, however long we have.” Liam whispers, his hands still rubbing circles on Theo’s cheeks.
“God, I love you too Liam.” Theo whisper back just as low- voice cracking in an attempts to hold back a sob- as Liam’s had been but with the same conviction in their voices. They stay there just basking in each other– neither boy wanting to move from this bubble they found themselves. Liam is whispering I love you’s into every part of Theo’s skin he could reach with his lips, his hands and entire body hoping to burn it into Theo– into the person he could call the love of his life.
And the second.
“Your brother wants to see you Carter.” He hears the Fox call out as she slams her sword into the floor. The cracks appearing in the ground behind the chimera. A teen boy rising from the pits of hell. Moaning and sluggishly moving towards his brother. Theo freezes as he stares at the two figures, getting flashbacks to when this was him. When the teen was Tara. “I’m not going alone.” He hears a voice growl. A stab of pain pulls him back to reality as Carter grabs him and the chimeras claws are sinking into his stomach eliciting a pained groan from Theo’s lips.
As fast as Carter’s claws enter his stomach, they are being dragged out as a body fly’s past taking Carter’s with it.
“Not him!” Liam’s voice echo’s the corridor sounding more animal than human. Theo collapses to the floor no longer being held up by the chimera. “Not him either.” He hears Liam growl, Theo managing to tilt his head enough to see Liam dragging his fellow chimera away from Isaac this time as said wolf crumbles to the ground, paralysed from Carter’s venom.
He can see they are too close to the cracks in the floor.
Theo tries to get his hand from beneath himself– attempting to climb to his feet but slumping back to the floor.
The two chimeras are too close to the hole now.
Stiles appears at his side, helping Theo to his feet now. He can see Liam has the upper hand against Carter now. Both of them covered in cuts and bleeding in their fury to kill the other. “Your pathetic Liam.” The kanima wolf hybrid screeches but Liam just grunts in answer. “No I chose them.” Liam bites out. He watch’s Liam shove his chimera brother in the ground towards the waiting corpse of his brother.
Liam turns around releasing a sigh as he looks around. Their eyes meet and Theo can only smile at the chimera feeling the relief coming from the boy. It was over, finally.
Yet everything goes to shit almost immediately.
Liam starts moving towards Theo. “Bab-“ A tail shoots from the hole in the ground. Wrapping around Liam and dragging him in. Theo shoves off Stiles in an effort reach him feeling the panic instantly build in his chest but collapses to the floor again and has to force his body to move, to crawl towards Liam as he struggles to hold on.
Their eyes meet-
Panicked green meeting terrified blue.
He has to reach him. He can’t lose this Liam too.
“I love you.” Liam whispers so low that Theo almost misses it. He can hear the panic in his voice, the fear in the air they both know they are sending off. This isn’t happening, its can’t.
“Shut up!” Theo screams, forcing his body to move faster as he crawls. He’s almost there. He reaches an arm out their hands just barley touching. Liam’s claws give way.
Theo can only scream Liam’s name as he is forced to watch Liam be dragged down into the hole and it seal shut behind the chimeras.
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groovyzombiellama · 3 years ago
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Imagine: You are Sam and Dean’s half sister and you are trying to help the pack with the Ghost Riders and your brothers are trying to stop you from doing that
“Why are you doing this?! Do you really wanna die?!” Sam was so frustrated seeing you in the hospital bed. You were his sister and he wanted to keep you safe, but you insisted in helping the pack of Scott McCall, and going against everything that your brothers were telling you. They didn’t understand what was so special about that pack of supernatural beings, that was drawing you in so much. You could have lost your life trying to help them and you still went with it, and it had Sam and Dean puzzled. They wished they could understand what was going on with you. And when you noticed they wouldn’t be able to understand without you telling them, you decided to push all the pain you felt to the back of your mind and sit up in the hospital bed. “I am doing it for the man I love, how are you two so blind to that?” It was at that moment that Liam and Theo showed up to visit you, and your brothers figured one of them was the guy you loved. They knew that one of the big goals of their life was to see their sister happy and to see you with a man who loves you, but not when getting to that man is gonna almost cost you your life. But when is your life not in danger, really? Being the sister of the hunters and a part of a werewolf pack. “I’m going to get a pie from the cafeteria, the lover boy can stay, and the rest follow me. I think it’s time to finally see our sister for the grown, intelligent woman that she is.” Dean said and the three of them left, leaving you with the guy that owns your heart. You were thankful for your family, and how protective your brothers were of you, but you wanted to be your own person two. “Lover boy?”  He said, wiggling his eyebrows, and the two of you shared a laugh, his words breaking you out of the trance you were in, thinking of how your life is so different now than what you expected it to be. And soon you felt him approach you, his eyes asking if he can kiss you, so you choose to make the first move, your hand resting on the back of his head and bringing his face closer to yours, your lips connecting and butterflies roaming your bellies.
---***---
@cokecola4211 I hope you like it :D You said that you want either Liam or Theo for this, and so I left it vague on purpose, so you can imagine either one of them in the scenario of “lover boy” and don’t have to choose :D
Wow, I can’t believe I am less than 100 followers away from 2k! Thank you all so much for following me, it means so much to me, and even if I am posting only once a week and sometimes I am not the happiest with my work, I still am super thankful to all of you for liking what I write :D <3
Buy me a coffee?: https://ko-fi.com/groovyzombiellama
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yikeshereiam · 2 years ago
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love your fics!! 37, 15 and 8 for the ask?
hi anon!! thanks for the ask <3
8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
ooooh, okay. so this one is old and honestly, looking back on it, a little rough, but not yet a corpse is the only multi chapter fic I've managed to post and finish, so everything about it has a special place in my heart.
“You know-” Liam starts, swallowing hard and distractingly loud. He glances at Theo, shoulders rolling, eyes wide, and serious. “-being Theo isn’t that bad.” 
Theo blinks. “What?” 
“You said earlier,” He explains, grimacing, hand gesturing pointedly. “That you were Theo, like it was a bad thing, and uh- I’m telling you, it’s not that bad.” 
“Right,” Theo says, unconvinced, but he nods indulgently, edging further away from the beta. “Okay.” 
“No seriously-” Liam continues, sliding down the truck’s bed. “-Mason said-” 
Theo opens his mouth, eyebrows furrowing once again. “Mason said?” 
“Yes, Mason said,” Liam repeats. “That you didn’t think we were looking, and I didn’t say it before, but we were, I swear. And uh, yeah, you were kind of a dick, but you’re a little bit less of a dick now, and you don’t kill people anymore-” 
“When the ghost riders find us, I’m not going to do anything for you.”  
Theo just stares.
“I’m not going to help you.”  
“-which is good, I guess, and yeah, the bar’s kind of on the floor, but like we wouldn’t leave you with the hunters or anything-” 
“I’m not going to save you.”  
Theo keeps staring. 
“I’m going to do exactly what you do to me.”  
“-and I’m running out of things to say right now, so uh, thanks for saving me, and Mason, and yeah.” 
“I’m going to use you as bait.”  
Theo nods again, slowly, mouth pressing into a thin line. “Okay.” 
“Okay?” Liam asks, head tilting. 
Theo’s jaw twitches. “Yeah, okay.” 
I don't think I'm ever going to be able to write pre-established thiam as well as the way I did in this chapter. Liam's awkward and Theo's clueless and awkward but they're both too stubborn and angsty to actually admit it, and everything about this interaction sort of captured exactly what I was going for in this fic.
15. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?
I would be pretty happy to see the first instalment of the parallel lines series into some sort of short film. like, having it mainly focus on Theo's sort of spiral without giving away where they actually are until the dance scene with Lydia, where it's revealed that they're actually celebrating Liam's wedding.
the vision is there. sort of?
37. Talk about your current wips.
I'm bouncing between my fic for the Reverse Big Bang, the actor secret relationship au and another shameless fic.
Without giving too much away about the RBB fic, it's going to be my usual brand of Theo-centric post-canon angst. Because I can't write Liam for the life of me. Like if anyone wants to explain how to get into that man's head, let me know. Nothing I write in his POV sounds like him.
The secret relationship au is getting somewhere, we're a couple thousand words in and actor Liam is a menace to society. But can you expect anything else?
I am a Lip Gallagher girl through and through, so it's another Lip P.O.V because there is not enough Lip/Fiona centric fics on AO3 and they're two of the most fascinating characters. Like the tragedies that are their stories makes my brain itch, I want to analyse their mindsets 24/7.
I also always have the Theo Hale fic and the Sports au on my mind, but I haven't made any moves to write either. (aside from a very strange Peter Hale POV that I'm just not going to talk about)
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spikeface · 4 years ago
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rambling about taking pain on teen wolf
I’m 99.999% sure that the writers just used and described this phenomenon however it was expedient for them at the time, but in the spirit of turning it into a somewhat cohesive canon, I’ve been thinking about the evolution of the show’s understanding of what it means, and especially what that means for Theo’s, and to a lesser extent Stiles’, emotional growth.
The phenomenon is first introduced by Deaton, who frames it as a form of painless generosity (“Battlefield”):
DEATON: I know you're well aware of what your new abilities can do for you: improved strength, speed, and healing. You ever wonder what it could do for others?
He doesn’t claim it will do anything but take a little of a dying dog’s pain, but says that that gesture is significant (“a little can make quite a difference”). Incidentally, he is also making boys with abusive fathers/Alphas weep at the realization that they can use their power over small creatures in kind and nurturing ways, because that’s exactly the kind of teacher/father figure Deaton is.
Next up in pain-taking-teaching is Peter, who frames the exact same phenomenon as the pained person taking something from the one helping them (“Alpha Pact”):
PETER: It's that spark of power that makes you an Alpha. When you take her pain, she draws on the power that provides you with those special gifts: the power that heightens your senses, your strength; the power that transforms your body.
Everything for Peter is framed in terms of power and transaction, and crucially, it’s a zero sum game (this is also very similar to the Desert Wolf’s perspective on motherhood in “Apotheosis:” “Talia said it was a gift, that the coyote passes down part of her power to her daughter... I call it ‘theft.’”). Part of Derek’s evolution is not to reject Peter’s framework, but to reject his conclusion. He understands it as giving up power, but doesn’t care about power anymore; he wants to save his sister.
Then, in season 5, Deucalion uses taking pain as a way to consume someone else’s power. This is fascinating! Deucalion has inverted another traditional werewolf thing. He’s made a pack of Alphas, destroyed Betas instead of creating them, and now he turns taking pain into a way to take power instead of giving it up. I think this is why we only ever see Deucalion describe taking pain like this. Unsurprisingly, Theo seems to be his only student, and he understands it “perfectly,” since Theo, like Deucalion, is used to breaking the rules/norms of the supernatural world. It’s very significant to me that Theo subsequently takes pain from Josh, Tracy, and even the Beast. The boy can do it! He just does it in this toxic way that represents everything awful about his pre-Hell outlook on life.
Because, of course, after he comes back, Theo can’t anymore. Mason sees this and claims that it’s because Theo doesn’t care--and certainly, caring seems to be fundamental when Deaton introduces it. That’s why, I think, Isaac does it before anyone has explained the phenomenon (Deaton and Scott only explain afterwards); he wants this dog not to be in pain, so he automatically takes it. But! Crucially! Mason is wrong; caring is not required. Theo has taken pain before, and it wasn’t from a place of empathy.
I think Theo is unable to take pain from Mason post-Hell because he only understands taking pain in this toxic way still, and he’s genuinely trying to move away from it. I imagine him thinking to himself, “Okay, Theo, you got this. Just take pain. Don’t do it as part of this lethal consumption of everything Mason is. Don’t eat this boy who represents everything you’re not, the Doctors’ greatest success, at one point the Beast himself. Don’t. Do. It.” 
And, of course, nada. This means, ironically, that Theo can’t take pain anymore not because he doesn’t care but because he does -- he’s trying not to hurt Mason, which is the only way he’s used taking pain before. This shifts Theo’s arc, but to one that I think makes more sense for him. Theo has, imo, always cared--always wanted a pack, and human connection--just in a toxic, destructive way. His redemption arc is learning not to care but how to care, and that’s bound up in learning how to use his skills, which he previously used to hurt people, to help them instead. This fits his friendship with Liam, where he learns to use his ability to manipulate to walk Liam back from the ledge of his anger (when Liam is about to kill Gabe), and use his previously weaponized understanding of the human psyche to helpfully explain to Liam how his fear converts to anger and how emotional triggers work (at the zoo). By the end, Theo has learned how to use his powers for good, essentially, and is in a place where he can confidently take pain from Gabe without also consuming him. Gabe is a fitting recipient for this because, like Theo, he also cares very deeply--he does try to help Nolan--but his caring is ultimately (self-)destructive and doomed.
The last way we see taking pain come up is as a way to spark the healing process, which reverses the initial catalyst for it: causing more pain. Causing pain, it seems, does actually spark the healing process, as we learn from people steeped in old guard werewolf knowledge like Derek and Noshiko. But! That’s not the only way of doing things, and it might not work if the person is already in overwhelming pain. The first person to stumble upon this is Malia, who comes up with it all on her own as a way to help Corey (in “Lie Ability”). This is a fitting symbolic move for Malia, who has been left to come up with her own approach to life as the abandoned orphan of two very toxic parents. In her worst moments, she turns to violence that would make her parents proud. In her best, she thinks of, with almost no awareness of the context, creative alternatives to traditional ways of doing things.
The second instance of taking pain as a catalyst for healing is with Hayden and Liam, after Liam has been hurt by the Beast (“Maid of Gevaudan”). At that point, Stiles represents the old guard knowledge:
STILES: Okay, okay. Okay. Scott did this with pain. He could trigger it. Uh... pain makes you human. HAYDEN: He's already in pain! STILES: Right! Okay, but maybe adding a little more could help take away the pain?
I love Hayden for hearing that advice and immediately rejecting it. Here, Liam and Hayden recall Allison and Scott and the general theme of season one. Allison rejects almost all traditional Argent wisdom in loving Scott. Here, Hayden rejects traditional werewolf wisdom in loving Liam. Causing Liam pain to help him when he’s already in overwhelming agony sounds dumb! She’s going to take pain away instead--and it works! Turns out, some traditions are limiting or even bad and the kids will come up with new, better ways of doing things!
What I really love about this moment is that the old way of doing things is represented here by Stiles, who indirectly quotes Derek’s most destructive philosophy when he says, “Pain makes you human.” Stiles’ entire approach to life is almost always about causing and feeling pain with, I think, largely good intentions. Like the cause-pain-to-start-healing idea, this can work! His willingness to hurt himself and others helps him be brave, and protect people, and make hard decisions he thinks are necessary. But causing pain won’t help anyone past a certain point, when someone is already in a lot of it, and nowhere is this more evident than in Stiles’ arc in season 5. 
Stiles starts that season in a lot of pain, most of which imho stems from the nogitsune (which also presented a funhouse mirror version of siphoning pain where the nogitsune “ate” the pain instead, which Stiles experienced). Stiles’ paranoia about Theo and angst about Scott trusting him is, to me, a sign that Stiles is very much not healed from the events of 3b, where Stiles watched (and was forced to enjoy) Scott trusting the nogitsune and paying for it with a sword twisting in his guts and that pain-eating. His explosive “you trust everyone!” is really about how Scott trusted Stiles when he shouldn’t have (because he was the nogitsune), though Stiles can’t bring himself to say that for many reasons. Most of his distrust of Theo, I think, can be explained by the nogitsune--Stiles claims, after all, that Theo “isn’t Theo,” the same way Stiles wasn’t Stiles when he was the nogitsune. 
But Stiles’ response to his pain from the nogitsune is to lash out at himself and others, which helps exactly no one. In season 5, Stiles is now constantly presented with the lesson that hurting himself and others ultimately won’t help heal anyone, especially himself. He lashes out at seemingly-innocent Theo and it doesn’t help. He hurts his hand and it doesn’t help. He hurts his car and it doesn’t help. He beats Theo up and it doesn’t help. He hurts Scott at the hospital and it doesn’t help. Like Theo, Stiles is in a self-destructive tailspin, where tactics that have worked before are only driving him further and further into isolation and darkness (tempered only by Scott’s endless forgiveness and his father’s blind love, a topic for another day). The climax for this is, for me, when he’s trying to find Lydia in the tunnels with Theo (in “Lie Ability”). Stiles is doing a fantastic job of hurting Theo (who, to be fair, is a little punk who deserves it!), but is forced to realize that unless he quits that and actually does something constructive with Theo, Lydia is going to die. 
But I don’t think he really understands what he’s doing, or conceives of any alternative to it, until the moment with Liam and Hayden, where he essentially voices his philosophy for the first time: pain defines being human as opposed to a werewolf (a sentiment that recalls his rant to Scott about being human), and causing pain is helpful. Stiles watches Hayden reject this, and sees how taking pain away is a much better way to initiate healing. After an initial smile at Hayden’s success, Stiles’ expression, even as he makes a joke about doing things differently (“I’ll kiss him next time”) is extremely morose (see below), as he realizes, for I think the first time, that he’s going to have to find a better way of doing things or he’s just going to be causing more pain. I think this arc is part of what causes him to work with Peter in season 6, after naming him as the epitome of irredeemable evil in season 5.
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chbslove · 4 years ago
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i am steter trash so i wrote an au where stiles is a spark that lives in the forest because he killed his dad in an accident back when he was a kid and couldn't control his magic and his moms family was just made up of mages and he is the first one to actually be a born spark with loads of power so she raises him and teaches him everything she knows
and in this au sparks are being hunted and put down like animals so claudia builds a house in the forest with stiles where he can live and study magic on the land of their family and after she dies stiles moves there.
(and yes hes a lot older in this because it makes me antsy to write about eighteen year old stiles and adult peter. sorry. I'm a pussy okay.)
and stiles meets his gang! and scott is a dryad, lydia is a mermaid, jackson and danny are mermen (and jackson and danny are together by the way), i planned allison as a regular human that meets scott on a walk in the woods and falls in love with him later in the story because the hale fire storyline is still happening, and kira is an ancient kitsune who also lives in the forest and is good friends with stiles, and erica, boyd, isaac, liam, theo etc are not there yet but thats cause stiles is pretty alone.
he just minds his own business and takes care of the dryads and meets fairies (who live in the forest) and makes a deal with them that they'll stop screwing around with humans and stay in the forest and he'll protect them and take care of them because sparks are powerful and the fairies appreciate that instead of being afraid of him.
and stiles just does his thing for a couple of years until the fairies go a little bit too far and peter hale, who is stupidly a little too far in the forest on his patrol, gets caught in a storm they cause and gets lost in the woods, and he finds stiles' house and stiles takes him in and gives him dry clothes and then guards him back so peter won't get himself fairy'ed
and then a week passes and stiles is kind of anxious peters family will tell him to fuck off the woods (even though it's stiles' heritage to take care of the forest, the hales just live there) and then: the actual plot
a little apple dryad tells him scott found a dying fairy. this fairy apparently told scott in her dying breath something wolfish killed her, and stiles wrongly thinks peter and his family did that, and he goes to find scott to ask him about it, but scott is just gone. stiles can't find him and gets worried and checks his wards, and when he gets to the wards around the hale property, he meets laura. he asks her if she's seen scott, and she saw him going back into the forest, but stiles still can't find him.
laura leaves and stiles finds the ward to their territory broken, and it stinks like druid, so he figures it was this deaton guy because werewolves aren't sneaky like that.
stiles visits lydia (because he still can't find scott and lydia knows how to calm him down) and finds out jackson and danny saw a monster while making out under the surface of their lake and from then stiles knows that the hales have got nothing to do with this because what lydia describes Is Not a werewolf.
so he gets pissy, and then ultimately is enraged when he finds a dead stag this monster killed, and because he's pissy he visits the hales to tell talia he's rightfully going to kill their emissary for being a bitch and breaking his wards and letting some monster walk his territory.
and talia is all "what the fuck how do i not know you." and stiles is all internally "i see my darling peter kept his promises" and then he's internally like "wait fuck i'm not really in love with this guy am i" and then he's like "oh. OH."
and talia convinces him not to kill deaton because shes awesome and stiles grumpily agrees because... not agreeing would be a dick move and it would mean. War. Basically.
so the hales offer their help looking for scott and stiles finds this monster thing on his search and its a wendigo yay, and scott has been following this thing around for days now because he's a dumbass and wanted to help, and they bro out
and the hales and stiles kill this thing, which means magic action. and stiles is awesome. and everyone knows that now.
what follows is just steter get-to-know-eachother and the hale pack are the biggest wingmen (wingpeople) ever and there's fluff and magic and a lot of flowers because stiles is a person that can't for the life of him say the words "i love you" and gets incredibly anxious when people say "i love you" so he mostly displays his feelings for peter in hanakotoba, the traditional japanese flower language that kira taught him, and peter eventually catches onto that and they get together in a load of angst and fluff and they have sex. because of course they have loads of sex. bold of you to think peter can keep his hands off stiles for longer than a day and likewise.
and there is like a load of stiles/hale pack friendship dynamics because i love them all and then suddenly yeehaw. hale fire.
So paige has already happened in this timeline before stiles and peter met, and derek still meets kate and she does her scum thing and uses him. a bunch of hunters show up to the hale house, shoot them with wolfsbane bullets and gather them so they can burn together.
stiles wakes up in a rush because something bad is happening to his wolves but then his eyes fall closed again and he can't get out of bed for a solid time because someone freaking poisoned him and he's fevering and weak and everything is dizzy, but he forces himself up because something. bad. is happening. to his. wolves. he stumbles into his kitchen and almost dies right there and then, because the poison is wolfsbane and he feels like he got tons of it shoved down his throat by the person that poisoned him. his life starts flashing in front of his eyes and he fights back at it and vomits the wolfsbane out, believes it out of his system and when it's gone, he's just left raging.
because i hate kate, stiles loses control when he meets her at the hale house and kills her. he gets the pack and gets them out of the house, breaks the mountain ash circle and they leave. the hales can't go back to their house because the place is swarming with hunters
and peter and stiles figure out it was deaton who told kate everything she needed to know to set this trap and the mountain ash circle also stinks like druid, so deaton gets revealed as being the bad guy all along. stiles figures that he also poisoned him so he wouldnt interrupt, and that deaton wanted thalias alpha spark. the wendigo was a test and deaton put it there on purpose to see how strong stiles was and if he would care about the hales, because deaton knew stiles would feel the hunters killing them and ever since peter and stiles got together the druid knew he would have to murder him too to get the hales dead.
and stiles is just half feral in his wrath and the aftermath of the wolfsbane poisoning, and derek is sobbing and muttering about this being all his fault, and peter has two bullets stuck in his knees and has to be held up by his niece and his brother-in-law, and every one of them is shot and hurt and crying and talia does her best to comfort derek while shaking as well
and stiles just closes his eyes. takes a deep breath. and takes care of his family-in-law, because fuck if he isnt gonna marry peter after this. he takes them in, gives them clean and comfortable clothes, patches them up, lets them shower, yeets his living room so they have space for a big puppy pile, gives them food and water to drink and then draws a ward around his house that is strong enough deaton won't be able to find them unless he sells his soul to the king of hell.
when he's done with that, he locks the hales in and asks kira to take care of them and make sure they're okay while he's gone. she agrees and stiles goes and because he's angry and kind of more dark than i let slip until now so he just. slaughters the hunters that are left. and he enjoys it.
then he shows up to chris argents house, shocks the living hell out of allison because he's still covered in blood and ash, and goes talk to gerard, who is there for alibi purposes. he just flatly tells the truth and asks gerard how many times they've done this now. and the second the old man lets slip the hales weren't the first, stiles goes full Older Derek Hale Mode and slams him against a wall to threaten the living shit out of the man.
by threaten i mean he says that he'll kill him and there's nothing the guy can do about it, cause stiles will find him, no matter how far he runs. yknow bamf dark stiles shit. i am living for writing this scene right now bye
and then he looks at chris and allison. allison looks scared out of her mind and then she asks if thats true. if her family really did something like that. and chris has to look her square in the eye and tell her through gritted teeth that, altough he didnt know about this, yes, they did that to innocent people.
and stiles looks at chris and gives him a nod, because he knows the guy can get this right, he knows allison is strong and fierce and will be fine no matter what. he looks at gerard and sneers at him in disgust. then he leaves like the dramatic bitch he is, but not without ensuring chris will clean this mess up and make an alliance with talia.
he goes back to the house and the only one still awake is peter, and stiles breaks down completely, covered in blood from head to toe and scared out of his mind too. peter holds him, gently leads him into the shower, and helps him get cleaned up, washes his hair, picks out clothes for him, and they go to sleep together.
then, recovery. stiles organizes therapy for derek because lord knows the boy needs it, he nurses the hales healthy, shows them around in the house, they meet his friends, cora and lydia take a particularly special interest in each other, scott is sad because allison broke up with him but stiles visits the argents and talks to her a lot and they become friends too, and he knows scott will get over her eventually, just as she's getting over him.
and stiles shows the hales his life for a while until everyone is recovered, and then they go back to the hale house that he cleaned up already (because, uh, corpses had to be buried, floors had to be cleaned from blood and the smell of magic and mountain ash had to be erased)
and then peter proposes to stiles and they have a beautiful wedding by the lake where cora can talk to lydia, and derek ends up talking to scott quite a lot because scott is nervous and sweet and falls head over heels for the quiet werewolf, and guess who allison ends up with? nobody. because allison is fucking awesome and in the hunter business and she takes it upon her to start cleaning up the community and goes against hunters that are like her aunt just killing innocent people and a relationship with anybody would just be annoying. maybe she realizes she isnt even into relationships, i don't know that yet. aro ally would be interesting, dude.
And then in the end stiles goes to live with the hales and they mend their territory together so he can still visit his friends and he leaves the house to cora who eventually moves there as an adult so she can live with lydia. he and peter move out as well and they go back to town when stiles is ready, because he's lived so freaking long in the fear someone will hunt him down and kill him for his power, and now everything is peaceful. so he puts down his weapons, stops fighting, and lives happily ever after.
and has loads of sex with peter. just because.
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formerprincess · 3 years ago
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A tale written with fangs and claws || Chapter 58
Chapters: 58/? Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt Characters: Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken, Mason Hewitt, Corey Bryant, Nolan (Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Alpha Liam Dunbar, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Dunbar Pack, Bisexual Liam Dunbar, Werewolf Theo Raeken, Alpha Theo Raeken, Canon-Typical Violence, Smut, Mates, Liam and Theo are mates, Top Theo Raeken, Bottom Theo Raeken, Top Liam, Bottom Liam Dunbar Series: Part 1 of Morning Dew Pack
Liam has to take care of a very important matter. And there is an invitation...
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Liam immensely enjoyed working for Ellie. She was happy to show him her craft, teach him things, but she was also very easygoing, and as long as she saw him trying, she loved him and was thrilled with his performance. Also, Ellie knew about the supernatural, so she completely understood when he looked at his phone after it chimed with a text, just in case his pack needed him. Not that anything had come up in the few weeks since Liam started working for her, but he liked to have this option. He didn't have to hide anything, and Liam realized how much better he felt with that.
When work was slow, they talked about a lot of things and Ellie taught Liam some things about supernatural creatures. She had laughed loudly at the story about the fairies in their garden and proceeded to elucidate the different variations of fairies and elves. There were plant fairies, water fairies, sun fairies, and almost that many elves classes. Just like there were different weres out there. Liam felt kind of silly he didn't know about any of this and one day voiced his thoughts. Was he simply ignorant or just blind?
"Neither. You're from a town where none of those things exist. Don't blame yourself for that", Carlie said. Carlie was one of Ellie's three best friends, the other two being Libby and Simone. All three were at Ellie's age and the friends had a weekly meeting at the shop where they sat together, talked about their lives, drank tea or coffee, and ate cookies. Carlie herself was a petite woman with short spiky hair and big square glasses. From what they had told Liam upon first meeting, they all were elves but Liam secretly suspected Carlie of being a pixie. She was cheeky, witty, always said what was on her mind, and her eyes sparkled with mischief. Needless to say, Liam liked her. "Yeah, but I also feel like I should know more." "You know enough. About Onis and Berserkers and Kitsunes and hell and other terrible things. You're twenty. Most guys your age know how to party and wear their base caps the wrong way." She bit into a cookie. Liam laughed. "My boyfriend likes to wear his caps the wrong way. He looks hot with it. But he also knows other things." "You have so much time to learn still. Don't worry. Even we old ladies don't know about any supernatural being out there", Simone comforted him and filled her cup with some more tea. She was the opposite of Carlie; tall, thin, and the quietest of the bunch. "I also agree with Carlie, you know about terrible things, traumatic things, things one should not know about. Especially not this early in life. But unfortunately, trauma is also experience. " Liam made a face. He sat down on the armrest of one of the chairs Ellie had placed around. "I just could have lived without some of those experiences. I mean, I could have gone without the experience of being homeless but hey. Maybe that's just me." Ellie put her arm over the backrest of her chair and turned to look at Liam. "When have you been homeless?" They talked about a lot of stuff but Liam's life story, she only knew parts of it. Good parts. He didn't want to deliver sob story after sob story. Liam had a good life, he knew some people had it worse. He cherished that. Now he exhaled loudly through his nose and then he told the four women how the hyenas came into town and caused havoc, how they finally destroyed the house and left the pack picking up the pieces. He ended with the move to the new house.
After he finished, his listeners were shocked. "You experienced all this and you still find it in yourself to be such a happy and polite young man?" Libby asked in awe. She was usually full of life and laughed loudly, her afro curls always bouncing around her round face, but now she was stunned. Liam shrugged. "What's the option? Turning bitter? It worked out in the end. Doesn't mean I will ever forgive them for what they did but no one died, at least." "You are a terrific young man, Liam", Ellie praised. He smiled softly. "Thank you."
The store door opened and Angela, Ellie's oldest daughter, stepped into the shop. She was a lawyer and used her breaks to visit sometimes. She greeted everyone happily and hugged her mother. Liam ran to get her a fresh cup and dragged another seat to their circle so he should sit and interact with the group. She squeezed his arm in a silent thank you as she sat down and accepted the cup. "What were you guys talking about? Is everything okay?" She asked good-heartedly. "Liam just told us about those horrible, horrible hyenas who destroyed his house" Libby filled her in. Angela raised both eyebrows. "I hope none of you were harmed." "Everybodys fine. We managed to get out in time before the house exploded. I'm just grateful I got my brother out of town before it happened." "Oh, you have a brother? I didn't know that." Angela loved kids and had specialized in family rights. She claimed she liked to help kids get justice. "Hm." Liam nodded. He walked to the cash register where he left his phone and while he walked back searched through his pictures. "Landon. He's almost ten." She showed her and the rest of the women the picture and they all cooed how much alike the brothers looked. "You said you brought his out of town? So I take he's usually living with you? Your parents must appreciate such a tight brother's bond." Angela was surprised but happy. Liam hesitated. "Landon's not my mother's son. We're half brothers. Same dad. Well, father. Sperm donor. My biological father is...he's a piece of shit. Alcoholic. Abuser. You get it. I didn't even know Landon existed until we met months ago by a pure coincidence. The circumstances don't matter but in the end, Theo and I took him home with us. Not a chance I would have let him stay with that man. So he lived with us in the house. Until I brought him to the lake to keep him safe. He lives there now." Liam missed Landon terribly but they were all still so young, they could not care for a child properly. Byron and Lana were perfect for that task and Landon also liked them. He blinked. "But enough of sad stories. Let's talk about something different, okay?"
****** He was cleaning up after Ellie's friends had left. After he had basically pleaded for a change of topic, the talk had revolved around lighter topics and ended on a very funny note. Now Ellie was in the back, doing some accounting, and Liam manned the front of the store. Angela was the only one still there. Now she stepped to the cash register where Liam was currently filling some jars with bagged candy. "I'm going to tell you something, not as a friend but as a lawyer, okay? And I need you to listen." She looked serious and Liam tensed. What happened? "Did I do something wrong? Is your mother mad at me?" "No. But listen." She tapped both index fingers on the counter. "You need your biological father to sign his rights over to you as fast as possible. What you said about him, having him in Landon's and your life is dangerous and not good for either of you. So you need to act fast. Have him make you Landon's legal guardian." Liam frowned. "I planned on doing so once I turned twenty-one. I wasn't aware I can do it now. Thought I had to be twenty-one." Angela shook her head strictly. "No. You need to do it now. In most states, anyone who is eighteen years old can become a guardian. Look, who tells you your father agrees to it in a year? He still holds guardianship and can make decisions for your brother. If he does not sign over his rights, he has so much time to cause harm. You said Landon's almost ten. That means another eight years of having the right to decide about medical procedures, school enrollment, the living situation. Even if Landon stays with you, all it takes is somebody checking who is the legal guardian for Landon. Could be school, could be a doctor's office, or if he gets in trouble it could be the police. If he's in the hospital. For eight years, you have to always fear for this to happen. If your father does not sign his rights over." "If he does not do it on his own, I will take him to court." Angela shook her head even more firm this time. "Honestly? They will ask you where Landon lived for the past year. Legally, what you and Theo did was kidnapping. If you manage to get a strict judge, that alone will cause you to lose the case. Landon will get sent back to his father and you're probably not even allowed to see him. I told you, I'm not telling you this as a friend. As your friend, I understand why you did it, as a lawyer I have to inform you about this likely possibility. The only chance you have is to have your father make you his guardian." It was a hard pill to swallow and Liam gulped. He had been naive, he realized now, and considered it all easier than it was. And maybe Landon had to pay the price for his neglect. "Thank you, Angela", he mumbled sadly.
****** Liam sat in his car and watched the house across the street. The sun was beating down and these barren landscapes made the air even drier. The dusty roads stirred up sand whenever a car raced by. Bleak. He cast a look at the passenger seat. All documents he needed were laying there, including a pen. Now all that Liam was left to do, was get out of the car, walk up to the door, and get a signature. Angela's stern talk from days ago had left Liam rallied. Once he was home, he had told Theo about everything and the couple had to admit them taking Landon out of the house had been a stupid move from the legal point of view. They had emotions get the better of them and now this potentially harmful situation had arisen. Theo had supported Liam in whatever was needed to ensure he would become Landon's guardian but the Beta was also not a lawyer and as much at loss as Liam.
Thank god for Angela. She had helped Liam set up the documents Emmet had to sign and those documents Liam grabbed now when he exited the car. Theo was not with him, his boyfriend didn't even know Liam was here. Nobody knew. This, Liam felt, was something he had to don his own. Maybe to find a deserving ending. Maybe to test his control. Or maybe this was stupid but then again, Liam could proudly admit he was doing stupid crap now and then. Stiles, according to his own claim, could show Liam a list.
He let out a shaky breath when he walked through the unkempt front lawn. Some new beer bottles and cans had gathered around the chair. Emmet was not there but Liam heard his heartbeat through the ajar window. You're not going to kill him, Liam. He does not deserve you getting your hands dirty. Liam knocked at the door. Inside the house, he heard some bottles falling and Emmet's slurred voice mumbling.  Then scuffling steps and the door opened. And the young Alpha had to gasp and take a step back. "God, you stink!" The stench of booze, beer, and sweat made him almost gag. Disgusting, his man. "You. What do you want?" Emmet slurred angrily and grabbed the door for support. Liam turned his head away and took a few breaths. He willed his nausea down and turned to face his father. "How long have you been drinking, alkie?" "What do you care? Why are you even here? I don't want you." "Trust me, I don't want you either. But I need something from you and that means I have to come here. I would rather be somewhere else, believe that." "What? Want money for the little gremlin? I'm not giving you a dime." Emmet swayed on his feet. "I don't need your money. Go inside, before you fall flat on your face. I'm not catching you." Liam pointed inside the house. His father made a step towards him. "I should beat the crap out of you for talking to me like that and not stop til you're whimpering. Do you know who I am?" "A sorry excuse for a worm." Liam pushed his biological father by the shoulder and he stumbled back. As drunk as he was, he didn't stand a chance against an Alpha.
Emmet was taken by surprise but managed to catch himself at the table. He spewed a few curse words in Liam's direction before he shuffled around and fell on one of the chairs with the grace of a sack filled with potatoes. Liam closed the door and followed inside. His nose twitched and he wanted to retch at the smell and how dirty everything was but he kept himself from it last minute. This was not for him, this was for Landon. "How's your mother? Still wailing about how horrible I am? The slut should be lucky an honest man wanted her." "My mother is neither a slut nor are you an honest man. Don't mention her or I break your nose." Liam felt his anger building up. This was a test for his control and he might fail it. "Piss off! She's the reason you're such a weak bastard. Wonder what happened with the other one. He's just as weak. Cried whenever I hit him. Begged me to stop. Just like you. Oh, I remember you. Your mother screamed and cried when the ambulance came. I would have left you on the ground. Would have taught you a lesson." "I didn't need a lesson, I needed a father who loved me!" Liam slammed the papers on the table. "Here! Sign this!"
Emmet grabbed it after a few tries and dragged it over the table. He narrowed his eyes at the print. "What should I sign?" "Those are the papers for you to make me Landon's legal guardian. Sign and we're out of your hair forever." Liam balled his hands and felt his fingertips itch. His claws wanted to come out, his wolf furious at the man in front of him. Years of pent-up rage welled up and dared to spill over. He could kill Emmet and probably nobody would shed a tear. Laughter disrupted his thoughts. Emmet had left the papers on the table and laughed. It boomed in Liam's ears. His blood rushed through his veins. This man was mocking him. "If you really think I'm signing this crap, you're mistaken. Know why? Because you bastard want me to and you get nothing from me!" Emmet was still laughing but decided to underline his words by spitting in Liam's direction. It landed on the carpet between them. His claws almost broke through and he was ready to lunge but a voice in his head stopped him. No. Not like this. Not him. Maybe it was his wolf who was even stronger than Liam's human side burdened with IED but it was enough to make Liam pause. If you kill him, you'll never become Landon's guardian. Keep the little one safe.
Liam exhaled loudly through his nose and closed his eyes for a second. If even the animal inside him knew better, he would follow. Had to follow. All for his little brother. Landon didn't deserve a murderer for a hero. He opened his eyes and stared at Emmet. Suddenly Liam was seven again, cowering at the floor while his father screamed at him and walked closer and closer. He had put his arms up back then, in a feeble attempt to shield his body from the hits, and pleaded for the man to stop. Fear. Panic. Pain. But this time Liam didn't feel panicked. He was not afraid of this drunkard calling himself a father. Instead, Liam felt disgust and maybe even pity. This guy had nothing to live for. It gave the young Alpha a strange sense of calm. Out of the two of them, Liam was the better man. The better person. IED or not. The condition didn't rule him as much as it ruled his father, and Liam had quite a lot more on his plate.
He sat at the opposite of the table and took the pen in his hands. "And why wouldn't you? What's in it for you? Just to be petty? Just to put one over on me?" Emmet snickered. "It will bug you forever, that's good enough for me." He reached for a bottle of booze and uncorked it to take a swig. Liam glared at him. Then he put the pen down. His glance landed on his bracelet. The bracelet he shared with Theo. Suddenly, he got an idea. Maybe it was time to see if he could take a book out of Theo's playbook. He raised his head and crossed his arms on top of the table. "Okay, fine, don't sign. We will play your game. I will send Landon back to live here." Emmet eyed him. "You're bluffing." "Not at all. He will come and live with you again. But be aware. I will be around every damn day." "And then what? What will you do? Punch me? You're no match for me", Emmet sneered. "If you lay so much as one finger on him, and we both know you will, I will call the cops on you. They will come and they will arrest you for domestic violence. And yes, Landon may be sent to foster care but I will make sure you will be sent to prison. There is no booze, no beer, no schnapps in prison. But the people there love people who abused kids. I know people and I will make sure every inmate knows what you did to two little boys. That's what will be awaiting you. No freedom to get wasted like you're doing now every day. Think about it." His biological father still eyed him suspiciously. "No way you would ever let him live here again." "To get you locked up, I would do other things. Landon too, by the way. All to make sure you will rot in hell. He's tough, he will take whatever you might to do him. Maybe I will move in as well. One happy family. With me comes my boyfriend, obviously. By the way, how's your hand?" He looked at Emmet's fingers wrapped around the neck of the bottle. Father and son stared at each other, accessed each other until Emmet snorted. "Your mother raised you better than this. I call bluff. You don't have it in you, weak shit!" A cold, dangerous smile appeared on Liam's face and he leaned closer. "You call my mom a slut and other horrible names, yet you forget I also inherited DNA from you. We both have IED. Wanna find out how much more alike we are? If I'm as cruel as you are?" He gave his father a death glare. "You want to start a war? I'll raise you World War III. Your choice. Either don't sign and feel the whiplash or sign and you will never have to see us again." Liam placed the pen on the papers and waited. His heart was thundering inside his chest. That was not his usual way to carry on negotiations and he had no idea if it worked. Theo made it always seem so easy and pulled it off without a hitch. But Liam knew he was not that good. Emmet grabbed the pen and fiddled with it. He scribbled his signature at the marked fields, an unruly chicken scratch but his signature nonetheless. "Get the hell out of here. If I see you on my front lawn again, I will shoot you." Liam's hand shot towards and he pulled the documents towards himself after the last signature was done. "I have better people to be around than you. Give your liver a break once in a while." He got up just in time as Emmet's hand shot towards his throat. The alcoholic missed by far and his hand thumped on the table. "Fuck off, you piss baby!" The sound of the splintering bottle hitting the wall was the last thing Liam heard from his father when he now left the house without so much of a goodbye.
It only dawned on him what just had transpired when he was in his car and already on the road. Liam stopped at a red light and breathed a sigh of relief. "Holy shit!" He had faced Emmet Dunbar, that one man he hated with a burning passion, the one who had made his childhood horrible and hurt Liam, Ilona, and Landon so much. Against what he had wanted to do to him, Emmet had left the meeting completely without a cut, Liam was incredibly proud of himself. Even though now, that everything settled, his hands shook and his heart raced, adrenaline pumping through his body. That had the potential to go so, so wrong and yet Liam stood tall. He glanced at the papers safely sitting on the passenger seat. Not only had it worked out without Liam losing his temper, but it had also really worked and he was Landon's guardian. The threat of Emmet interfering with their lives and taking Landon away again was erased. Liam wanted to cry.
His phone chimed and Liam almost hit another car. "Jesus Christ!" He accepted the call over the speaker. "Hey, Theo." "Hey. Say, just out of curiosity, where the hell are you? Nobody knows where you left. It's not like you to disappear like that. What's going on." Liam bit his lip. "I was at Emmet's." "Emmet? Emmet Dunbar? Your father? What the fuck! Is he still alive?" "Shh, let me explain. I told you about what Angela said and I went to get his signature. Yes, he's still alive, I didn't touch him. Even though I wanted to." He heard Theo closing a door and birds singing in the background. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have accompanied you." Yeah, good question. Liam didn't know for sure. "I guess...I needed to burn this bridge alone? Prove to myself I can stay calm around him. I'm not like him in any capacity and while I know you and I absolutely adore you for always being there for me, this was something I had to do alone. You understand? Maybe for my own peace of mind, I dunno." Theo was silent for a few moments. "Yeah, I understand", he finally confessed. "Did it work, at least?" A smile broke out on Liam's face. "Yep. Have all the signatures I need. Thanks to you as well." "Thanks to me? What did I do?" "Well, let's say you're a good teacher, even if you don't want to be one. I'll tell you everything once I get home, okay?" Theo laughed. "Okay. Love you." "Love you too."
****** Landon's face appeared on the screen in front of Liam and as soon as he had a picture, the child waved animatedly. "Hello, Liam!" Videocalls were a good way to keep in contact even if they could not see each other in person. Liam happily waved back. "Hey, Landon, how are you?" "I'm good. Zack and I built a fort." Landon launched himself into a story of all the things his best friend and he had done. Lana and Byron appeared in the background of the call but they simply waved and let the boy talk. Liam put his chin in the palm of his hand and listened with a smile. Seeing Landon so carefree and hearing about him being a normal child was all he ever wanted. It came nine years too late and Liam knew his brother must have been affected one way or another by his upcoming but now that he was out of Emmet's claws, Landon was in for an amazing life. After he was done, Landon asked about Liam's life in Seattle. Now it was the older's turn to talk about college, his pack, the fairies (Landon loved this part and he asked thousands of questions). Theo had joined Liam for a while and laughed softly. "He's like you", he whispered into his mate's ear and kissed Liam's cheek before he disappeared out of the frame again after a wave in Landon's direction. Liam chuckled but then he finished his story. "One more thing, Landon. You know we took you away from Emmet, right?" Landon shivered at the mention of his father's name but nodded bravely. "Do I have to go back? Please, don't make me go back!" "No, no, hey, I would never. That's why I'm telling you. He signed all the papers. I am your guardian now." Lana and Byron appeared left and right from Landon. "He did? Oh, how wonderful, Liam." Lana was touched. Landon scrunched his nose. "What does guardian mean?" "It means Liam is responsible for you now and Emmet can never hurt you again. Say you want to go on a class trip, for example, the school has to ask Liam and not your father anymore", Byron patiently explained to him. Landon considered. "So, he can't get me?" "Never again. He's out of your life for good", Liam promised firmly. His brother beamed at the adults. "That's amazing!" "Yeah, it is." Lana stroked through his hair. "But, Sweetie, you have to get ready for bed now. Tomorrow's a school day." "But I want to keep talking to Liam. I'm not finished." Yes, Landon could be stubborn. "We can talk tomorrow, Laddie. After school, yeah? Now you have to get ready for bed. Sleep is important. I'm going to bed now too. Theo does too. See?" He rolled to the side and tilted his screen so Landon could see Theo brushing his teeth with the bathroom door open. Theo waved. It wasn't that he actually wanted to go to bed but he had tried some licorice Mike had brought home, not from Ellie though, and after eating it Theo claimed to have a bad taste in his mouth. Landon huffed. "But we talk tomorrow", he insisted. "Werewolf promise." Liam raised his hand solemnly to swear. "Good Night, Laddie." "Good Night, Liam. Good Night, Theo." Landon stood up. "Good Night, you two," Lana called out and then disappeared with Landon.
Byron sat on the desk chair. "I know he signed but did the meaning with your father go well?" "It did. As well as possible with this man. I was pretty surprised at my control. At a certain point, I was ready to snap but somehow my wolf made me pull back and I got more level-headed." "That's the Alpha in you. Even if our personality or our urges say otherwise, sometimes the Alpha part can balance it out to keep the peace. It is impressive how well you learned to work with your wolf." The praise was nice because Liam tried. Sometimes it felt like all he did was running in circles but then he proved to everyone (and mostly himself) he was a good person and improving. "Speaking of Alpha and peace, Liam I forwarded an email to you just now. Have a look at it, maybe Theo should do so as well."
Theo had dried his mouth and now walked over to lean on Liam's chair while Liam opened the mail Byron had forwarded. It included a word document and when Liam opened it, it turned out to be an invitation to a meeting held in a hotel in Seattle. "Liam, part of being an Alpha are pack politics." Liam whined. "I told you I'm not good at that! What is this? An Alpha congress? I can't go there." "Maybe let the man talk before you cut and run", Theo suggested and smoothly avoided the contact between Liam's elbow and his stomach by moving aside. "I know what you said, Liam, and this is no pressure but I wanted to inform you. The invitation is indeed for an Alpha meeting. No congress, just a few Alphas coming together and talking." "About what?" Liam saw himself on a stage, in front of hundreds of Alphas, a whole auditorium filled with them, and making a fool out of himself. People would laugh. It would be a degrading experience. "Life. This and that. No one is expecting a speech from you, Liam. See I've been to a few of those meetings. There are only packs living close by attending these meetings. They're mostly boring. You stand around, do some small talk, maybe eat a quick snack, and leave. But they can also help you get a better idea of which packs are around yours. In the area. It can be interesting, if only so for scouting. But, of course, that does not mean you have to attend. It's no declaration of war not to go there. Just like you cannot declare war by saying a wrong word if you go." "Those are all Alphas, experienced Alphas probably, and then I show up. Junior McJunington. What will they think?" "Screw what they think. So what if they're older or more experienced? You're you and that's awesome" Theo passionately declared. "Thank you, Dr. Seuss", Liam hissed. He frowned and scratched his cheek. "I have to think about this." "As it is your right. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with." "If I should attend, there will be no problem? I can just show up there?" "The invitation is addressed to the Alpha of the Morning Dew Pack. They seemingly didn't get the memo about the change in our pack but that doesn't matter. The invitation is for you, not for me. Actually, no Beta can attend the meeting. And no Alpha mate either unless they're specifically invited." "I have to go there alone??" Liam shrieked. In his mind, he had Theo by his side. Maybe Brett and Caden since both could be real charmers and have intellectual conversations. Corey would have also a good match despite him being as insecure as Liam in those settings. Byron rubbed his hands together. "Those are the rules. But I know, alone or not, you will be just fine. Should you go or not. This is not something I can do for you. The decision is all yours. Just one more thing, to be fair. you will be the youngest in this group. By a few decades, I suppose. That's why I don't think they will pay you much attention. They're just curious." "Great", Liam said sarcastically. "Given my track records with strange Alphas so far, this will be a marvelous experience."
****** "I don't think you should go. What if that's a trap?" Tim worried about Liam's safety. Liam had informed his pack about the invitation right the next day and after classes, they were sitting in the living room and discussing this. "I think he should go. Just to check the others out. Maybe he can make allies?" Brett opposed. "I also think Liam should go. Byron said he has been to a few of those meetings. I don't think it's a trap", Sadie tried to dissolve Tim's worry and he gave her a grateful look. "The two strange Alphas I met in the last year have both tried to kill me. You understand I'm not keen on walking in a room full of unfamiliar Alphas?" Liam questioned. "I think that should be the reason you go", Ever stated, "to show all of them you're not afraid. If they plan on messing with you, you will look them in the eye. Maybe then they won't underestimate you." "I just don't see the purpose of those meetings. From what Byron said it sounds pretentious." Corey looked peeved. "Oh, it is", Lori confirmed. "But they are not that rare. I don't think you have to be scared, Liam." She offered a genuine smile. Liem returned it cause he knew she was trying to make him feel better. "What do you mean by not rare?" "Well, they're not, if you have Alphas of the old school" Brett took over from his sister. "Modern Alphas just meet up, talk, like Scott with Satomi. They don't even call it an Alpha meeting and send out fancy invites. Those are practices of the old guard, mostly well-esteemed werewolves who love to use those meetings to gossip. Ever seen those movies with scenes in Gentlemen Clubs? Country Clubs? Those are the people to expect at those meetings. Byron's not that far off when he says they won't spare you a look. You're - and don't take this the wrong way - not their type of person, if you know what I mean." "The Alpha from my parents' pack also attends such meetings. They always gush about the delicious and expensive things they eat there. But this woman also has a rich husband and considers herself playing tennis and golf as labor. So, pretty much pompous, entitled snobs", Sadie said. Maya rolled her eyes. "I also know about those meetings but I'm so glad I never met an Alpha going there before. Eh, no offense, Liam." Liam groaned. "Okay, just the danger of becoming the new hot gossip for the elite wolves around. Yeah, I think I'll pass." "I would still go", Caden chimed in. "It's a good opportunity to get to know how many are around. Do you know that? They invited Byron so their radius must be quite large but how many packs live between Seattle and the lake? Wouldn't it be good to know in case we need help? What if the hyenas come back? Having some werewolf allies would not be that bad."
He had a point. They all did. Liam was still torn. For once because he was afraid of making a fool of himself, then for the reason not to offend another Alpha and start a war, and on top of it, he now came to the realization just how different those Alphas seemed to be. He looked at his boyfriend. "What do you say?" Theo had listened to everything and had made up his mind. "You should go. For all those reasons. Byron said there will not come anything bad from it. He would never let you go to any event if he feared something might happen to you. If he says you can go, I believe him. And yeah, it is a good way to get information. Maybe there are not that many packs around.  But you will only find out if you go." Since most of his Betas said he should go, he considered. Maybe it was a good idea indeed. Only one problem: "If it's that high class, what should I wear?"
Fifteen minutes later Liam regretted that question. He stood in his bedroom while Theo, Brett, Mason, and Sadie sat on his bed. Sadie throned between the other guys, one leg crossed over the other, and looked like she was having the time of her life. Liam was the poor victim and had to model several outfits for the self-proclaimed fashion experts of his pack (he knew Theo could dress good but at this point, Liam felt betrayed) who all had other ideas of the perfect outfit. "That dress shirt is perfect for you. Not too out there but also not too normal" Mason praised Liam's current outfit consisting of black pants and a dark grey dress shirt. Liam hated it. It was not even one of his shirts but one of Theo's Mason had just grabbed. His boyfriend had not protested (see, there was the betrayal) but now shook his head. "That's not the outfit to go." "Absolutely right. Liam, grab the one I hung there." Sadie pointed at the clothes and Liam grumbled but grabbed them and stalked into the bathroom. When he emerged again, he was wearing jeans, a blue slipover with a white button-down shirt underneath. Liam felt like he was a kindergartener dressed by mommy. "Now you look like back in Devenford. Then again, maybe this private school flair is exactly what you need", Brett snickered. Liam glared at him and Theo scoffed before he handed Liam the third outfit. Liam glared at him too for good measure and disappeared into the bathroom again.
The outfit Theo had picked for him, Liam didn't even know where he got it. He had never seen Theo wearing this particular combo. Cloth trousers, a polo shirt and a sports jacket over it. "How the hell do you get this? And why do you get this?" He asked once he emerged from the bathroom.   Interesting, Theo became a bit sheepishly. "I got it for some occasions? Maybe a job interview?" "This is so not you." Liam eyed himself in the mirror. "This is so not me either. What were you thinking, guys? None of your outfits were good." "You wanted us to help you", Mason defended himself. "I wanted to get suggestions, not become your dress-up doll", Liam replied sharply. Sadie sighed. "You're being difficult. Don't you want to make a good first impression?" "A good impression as himself, shouldn't that be the goal?" Caden had walked into the room and crossed the arms in front of his chest. He looked at Liam. "You look strange. Actually, you look like me whenever my aunt visited the family. Horrible." "How do you look when your aunt visits?" Brett had to know. Caden pulled out his cellphone and searched a bit before he handed the phone over. Brett snickered. "Okay, thanks for the laugh. So dapper, oh my. One would not think that since you're almost only ever wearing more casual clothing." Sadie giggled. "Does Ever know you can look like that?" "As a matter of fact, yeah. She doesn't like it. I can relate. But my aunt is quite old-fashioned and conservative. She came to town, we dressed like that, covered up our tattoos, the whole shebang. We just never liked it. Liam doesn't like dressing up either." "Tell me about it. That's a topic we have had since we're friends." Mason rolled his eyes. Liam wanted to glare at him but if he was honest, his best friend was right.   So he raised his shoulders. "I have dress shirts. I just happen to like t-shirts and jeans more." "Hence why I think you should wear that", Caden stated. "You are not like the type of Alpha who wears expensive clothing and the latest brands. You're Liam. We like Liam. Why do you want to be somebody you're not? Just to impress people you probably will never see again after that one time?" "That's true." Even Theo had to admit that. "I know when you're comfortable and you never are when you dressed up to a certain extend." "I still think if the occasion calls for it, you should make an effort", Sadie insisted. "It's not about what you want; it's about what our Alpha wants. Liam goes to the meeting and Liam has to represent himself and our pack. He should do it as his truest self possible", Brett retaliated. She pouted.
But then she got up from the bed and walked towards Liam's open closet. She dug around there for a while before she pulled out a pale blue t-shirt. It was a new one, Liam had only worn it twice and he loved how soft the fabric was, it felt good and comfy on his skin. Sadie handed it to him. "The color makes your eyes pop. That and that one light blue jeans you have. If you walk into a room full of strange werewolves, bright colors make you look friendlier." "That's Sadie. If you can't dress them up the way you want, at least get into chromatics", Brett praised.
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Quite a Liam-centric chapter but then again he's the Alpha and Landon's brother. And he had to make decisions. Now the question is, what will happen at the meeting? What do you guys think? All I can say is, I'm excited about the new chapter.
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mikkomacko · 5 years ago
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Sweet As Honey 16
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For Shelby, happy birthday love! Stay awesome xo
~
Harry's just gotten out of the shower when his phone rings, buzzing on the bathroom counter top as y/n's contact pops up. Gripping the towel around his waist in one hand, Harry picks it up and answers the Face Time. He's greeted with a blurry picture of Arlo, who's shaking the phone in excitement. "Daddy!"
Gasping dramatically, Harry grins back. "Good morning bug!" He laughs when Arlo continues to wag the phone around, and he can hear y/n laugh too.
"Baby, stop shaking daddy. He can't even see you if you keep doing that!" Arlo freezes at his mother words, stilling the phone. Harry's able to make out the kitchen behind him, and by the colorful toys peaking around the edges of the screen Arlo's got the phone balanced on his walker.
"Where's mumma?" Harry asks, propping the phone up against the mirror so he can brush his teeth. Arlo thrusts the phone forward, it clattering down to the kitchen floor and he laughs around the toothpaste in his mouth.
"Arlo you don't throw the phone at me." Y/n scolds, and then after some blurry movement he can see his wife. She's in her fuzzy robe, hair a little messy on her head and he's pretty sure she just woke up. "Morning Harry."
Harry wiggles his fingers at her, spitting into the sink. "Hey darling, what's going on?"
Theo yelps in the background, and then Arlo's grumbling loudly. Y/n looks down at her feet, sighing softly. "Trying to make some oatmeal for us but someone's being a grump this morning." Arlo makes another annoyed sound.
"What's he whining about?"
Y/n settles her phone on the windowsill by the stove, allowing him to see her while she moves around to make breakfast. She's leans over, lifting Arlo from his walker and setting him on her hip. "He's mad that I'm making him eat real food instead of milk."
Arlo lays his head on her shoulder, tugging at the edge of her robe. Harry laughs, causing Arlo's head to perk up. Y/n sits him on the counter next to her, allowing him to still see Harry while she cuts up some blueberries.
Harry grabs his phone, returning to the bedroom. He's got to get dressed soon so he can head to the gym for press and warm ups, but he can take a minute to sit and talk to y/n and Arlo. "Don't blame him. I'd be mad too if I got your tits taken away from me."
Y/n rolls her eyes. "He's more concerned about the milk inside them, thank you." She rebuttals and Harry cackles. Arlo coos at the noise, leaning forward on his elbows so his face is close to the phone.
"Bug, can't see your mumma with your big head in front of the camera." Arlo ignores Harry, eyes staring so intently at the screen Harry feels as if Arlo's sat on his chest in person.
Y/n tugs on his pamper, pulling him back. "Listen to your daddy. S'not all about you." Arlo whines in frustration, reaching out and smacking y/n on the arm. It makes a loud stinging noise, but Harry knows it doesn't hurt too much. He's been on the receiving end of those chubby palms many times.
"Don't hit your mumma!"
"Don't hit me!" Harry and y/n scolds in unison, and she swats him back. Arlo grumbles, reaching to hit her again but she quickly scoops him up and sets him on the kitchen floor. "If you're going to be mean you can be by yourself!"
She scoops up the cut fruit on the counter, throwing it into the bowl of oatmeal on the counter. Arlo begins to wail, and Harry sees his little fingers reaching up towards her.
"Please don't tell me he's walking already?" Harry pleads, belly bubbling with apprehension. If he managed to miss Arlo's first steps after one night away he'll be devastated.
Giggling, she lifts Arlo back up onto her hip. "You've been gone one night Harry, you didn't miss any walking." He lets out a dramatic breath of relief. Arlo lays his head back on her shoulder, cheeks shiny with tears. Y/n digs out a spoon, scooping a little bite for him. He grumbles sadly, but his tongue flops out to welcome the bite.
"Never know," Harry reasons, smiling softly as he watches Arlo accept more bites. His chubby little hand falls down to y/n's growing tummy, and Harry thinks he needs a bigger chest to contain his growing heart. "little bugger said his first words when I was gone."
She giggles at the memory, scooping up a bite for herself. Arlo whines, tongue poking out for another bite. Y/n, glad that he's no longer pawing for breast milk, happily feeds him.
"Well, we've got a surprise for you but it's not walking." Harry brightens, smiling innocently at her. He widens his eyes a bit, giving her that same puppy look Arlo gives when he wants something.
"A surprise? What is it?"
She takes one look at him and laughs, shaking her head. Arlo finishes the last bite of his oatmeal and she uses her sleeve to wipe his messy mouth. "I'm not telling you mister, no matter how wide those eyes of yours get."
He pouts. "You always fall for my eyes."
"I know," she places the bowl in the sink, smiling at him. "but I'm building up some strength. Have to if I'm going to be raising three of you boys."
Harry scoffs. "You didn't raise me! I'm a man, was a man from the day you met me!"
Her amused smirk stays on, but her tone is a loving coo, "you were my first baby, Harry. Always be my first baby." He wants to argue, but then she's blowing him a kiss through the phone and he's all mush.
~
Harry feels odd leaving the unfamiliar locker room, following the path to the ring without y/n holding his hand. For being on Ken's turf, the cheers for him are surprisingly loud and Nick rubs his shoulders as if trying to say "all for you man!" to hype him up a bit. Nick stays off to the side while Harry and Liam slip through the ropes, Harry shrugging off his robe. Ken's name is announced, and much to Harry's enjoyment the cheers aren't as abundant as his were.
"Keep focused, wait him out," Liam instructs him quietly, helping with his gloves. "he's going to get some good hits in but he doesn't last long. He'll tire out, you step in with a quick combo and he's done for."
"Easy," Harry says, rolling out his shoulders.
"Easy," Liam agrees with a smirk, patting Harry on the back, "win it for y/n and Arlo, yeah?" Harry smirks, nodding as Liam exits the ring to stand next to Nick. The ref takes his place in the middle, beckoning Harry and Ken forward. They knock gloves together, Harry's stomach and chest fluttering with adrenaline. The bell rings, the ref ducks out of the way, and Harry zones in on Ken, ignoring the crowd around him. Y/n isn't in it so it doesn't matter anyway.
Maybe it's the reminder that he's doing this for y/n and Arlo. If he wins he'll keep moving up, until he's champion. He'll be able to give them everything they could ever want. Maybe it's just the excitement of being back in the ring after so long. Taking out the frustration of the past few months, particularly losing his childhood home and falling into the habit of fighting y/n. Whatever takes over him, he loves, because Ken only manages to get a few hard hits to Harry's torso before he's cornering him. He keeps him trapped against the ropes, smacking punches into his kidneys and arms that are protecting his face. It takes one hard hit to the hip for them to drop, and then Harry's delivering his knockout hit right to Ken's jaw.
The cheers are deafening, but all he can think about is his family back home. He's done it for them.
~
Arlo clumsily stuffs his pacifier between his lips, staring intently at y/n as she talks even though she knows she won't get an actual response out of him. Valentine's day is just around the corner so she's using her weekend without Harry to find a gift for him, but like usual, she can't think of anything that will even rival whatever he's planning. He's always out done her on Valentine's day and anniversaries (and pretty much every special occasion).
"Daddy's too good for all of this." She huffs, pouting at Arlo. He eyes a tiny stuffed turtle on the shelf of Valentine themed animals, little eyes widening beautifully, and she's still working on not turning to putty under those green eyes so she hands it to him. Gurgling happily, he rubs it's little fin over his cheek and the drool that smears into it's fabric is a certainty that she'll be buying it today. At least she got something for one of her boys, she thinks glumly, glaring at the gaudy gifts before her.
Giving up on gifts for now, she pushes the basket to the food section. She's recently got a new craving for spinach and artichoke dip, and that seems like a good distraction from the frustration of gift shopping. Arlo's grunting to himself, ignoring the moving world around him as she mindlessly goes up and down aisles. Her eyes land on a box of brownies, and she contemplating on whether or not to put walnuts in them when a familiar voice calls her name.
"Zayn?" She asks, bewildered by his sudden appearance in the city. He's got a basket in the crook of his arm, stacked with bags of bread that's way to much for one person.
"Its so good to see you!" Zayn exclaims, following y/n as she moves her basket off to the side. "And another baby? Congrats!"
Awkwardly thanking him, she accepts his side hug with a protective hand over her belly. "What are you in the city for?" She asks as politely as possible, stepping closer to the basket when Arlo wraps a hand around her shirt and tugs her towards him.
Zayn's eyebrows scrunch in confusion. "I live here, was just back home for my sister's birthday that same weekend you lot were."
"Oh," she says dumbly, laughing a bit. "I don't know why I assumed you still lived in town."
He laughs breezily, shrugging. "It's fine love. Didn't really come up at the diner that day. Was going to tell Harry but he seemed like he didn't really want to talk."
Arlo grunts angrily, a low growl in his voice that reminds her of a sound Harry makes when he's frustrated or angry, and he grips her shirt tighter. "Yeah, Harry's not too social." She laughs, lifting Arlo out of the cart. He clings to her side, eyeing Zayn with a scrunch between his eyebrows.
"That's right," he laughs along, glancing down at Arlo's glare. "Passed the trait onto this one huh? Arlo yeah?"
She bounces him on her hip, but he grunts angrily at her. "Yup. He's not too fond of strangers either, gets that same frown Harry does."
Despite how hard Arlo's glaring at him, Zayn smiles fondly at the miniature copy of Harry and y/n assumes he has to be used to that look if he was once friends with Harry. "It's so great to see Harry with a family. He was torn up after everything with his dad and are relationship kinda fell apart-" he winces, eyes a little guilty, "wish I'd tried harder to keep him around. Can't believe I missed Harry Styles getting married."
He laughs, shaking his head as if the thought of Harry standing at the alter waiting to be wed is too much for him. She supposes it is, knowing Harry had sworn off marriage and kids a long time ago, and the reminder that she's the one that brought him in makes her flush with pride.
Eyes widening, she beams at Zayn. He looks at her in confusion, stepping forward with his hands out cautiously. He glances at her stomach with worry, "what's wrong?"
Arlo grunts at him, reaching out to harshly shove at Zayn's chest but y/n moves to put him back in the basket. "I just remembered something and I've really got to go but it was great seeing you!" She's off, pushing the basket quickly without waiting for another word from Zayn. Arlo's looking at her with a scrunch on his nose, obviously very upset that she took the time to stop and talk to a stranger, one Arlo disliked from the moment he met Zayn. He gets his possessiveness from Harry too, but she can't be bothered to apologize to her son because she's come up with the perfect gift for Harry.
~
Harry's sore, but that does nothing to stop the anxious bouncing of his leg. They're well into city limits again, Nick heading to drop Harry off first rather than Liam in hopes of keeping his friend from bursting in the backseat. Harry had slept the whole way home, until they got within a half hour of the city and he'd shot awake like a bomb had gone off inside him.
"I know it was only two nights, but I swear he's gotten taller!" Harry rambles, unable to stop himself from raving about his babies. "And the baby had to have gotten bigger too! Y/n's looking fuller, and of course my kids want to grow lots when m'gone. S'not-"
"Look Harry here's your gate!" Liam interrupts, rubbing his temples. He's got a headache from Harry's ability to talk without having to take a breath. He wonders why that much energy isn't present during fights.
Harry starts stuffing his travel blanket and snack wrappers into the bag next to him, shoving his phone in his pocket and retying his shoe laces while the gate swings open. He's unbuckled before the cars even stopped, throwing the door open while Nick simultaneously throws the car in park.
"Thanks for the ride guys!" Harry says quickly, grabbing all his belongings. "See you at the gym!"
He cuts off Liam's goodbye with the slam of the car door, taking off on eager legs to the front steps. The door swings open for him, and he's met with the wonderful, absolutely wonderful, sight of his wife holding his son's hand with beaming smiles.
"Daddy's back!"
Arlo squeals in delight, tone so high pitched it stings a bit, but not even the slight wince can remove his smile. Dropping his bags to the floor, Harry kicks the front door shut with his foot and crouches down for his son. Arlo closes the tiny gap between them, fitting his belly into Harry's hands for him to lift him, and it's not until Harry's smacking kisses to those chubby cheeks he loves so much that he realizes what just happened.
"Darling," he breathes in shock, eyes wide when they meet her equally amazed ones. "did ya see that? He just-Arlo just-he walked! He bloody walked!"
The words sound surreal on his tongue for some reason, and even though y/n nods happily and presses a kiss to both of their faces, he needs to be certain that his baby boy just took his first steps. "Hold him." Harry instructs breathlessly, heart rattling as he hands Arlo over to y/n. He moves down the entryway, only about a foot away and crouches down. "Set him down."
Y/n does as she's told, setting Arlo who's been wiggling in her arms, onto his bare feet. "Daddy!" Arlo laughs, wobbling forward. He takes a couple tentative steps, but then he's charging forward with certainty into Harry's arms again. Tears spring up in his eyes as he throws Arlo up and catches him, showering him in kisses and praises. Arlo gurgles happily under Harry's loving words, and he beams when he realizes y/n is recorded them. He hopes she got him walking on camera because he wants to watch it for the rest of his life.
"Was this my surprise?" Harry sniffles, snuggling Arlo into his chest and bouncing him. Y/n brightens even more, keeping her phone recording the two boys.
"Arlo bubba, what do we tell daddy?" She calls softly, and Arlo sits up at her words. "Daddy?" He mumbles, eyebrows scrunching as if he's thinking really hard about what ever y/n has taught him to say. Harry can't help but coo at his cute little face, waiting excitedly for Arlo to speak.
"Daddy bubba, what do we say to daddy now?"
Harry bounces him again, biting his lip as Arlo looks over at y/n. She nods encouragingly and then he turns back to Harry, reaching up to cup Harry's stubble ridden jaw. "Love daddy."
The sound that leaves him is tortured but wholesome, and his teary eyes flood into a happy puddle of sniffles. "What was that bug?" Harry croaks, needing to hear it again. This time Arlo smiles widely, patting Harry's face. "Love daddy."
Y/n giggles wetly as Harry buries his face in Arlo's body, murmuring that he loves him too, and that Arlo's his good boy, and that they'll always be best mates. Fingers stroke through his hair, and he feels y/n wrap her other arm around them.
"We're so proud of you Harry," she promises, kissing his temple. "and we love you so much."
"Love daddy." Arlo repeats, sealing his slurred words with a tug on Harry's hair. He cries even harder, cheeks flushing in embarrassment when y/n laughs at him. It's good to be home.
~
"M'actually meeting up with Anne for lunch."
The line is silent for a moment and Harry pauses his walking, free hand resting on the knob of the locker room door while he waits for y/n to say something. "Oh," she finally breathes in confusion, "what for?"
Harry tugs open the door, crossing the gym so he can get to his car as quick as possible, and to the restaurant as quick as possible, and home as quick as possible. He's not exactly looking forward to a lunch with just him and Anne but he knows it's needed. Whenever they try to talk with y/n or Gemma around everything gets sugar coated or pushed on someone else. Y/n needs to stop speaking for him, and Gemma for Anne. He knows that, and he knows it'll make a big difference in the constant weight on his chest, but he's still anxious.
"Wanted to talk," he says simply, using the remote to unlock the car, "promised you I'd be better and this is how m'starting."
"Well I'm proud of you baby." Harry grins, glad that she's not upset about him leaving her and Arlo to lunch by themselves. "You'll call me if you need anything right?"
Harry settles into the car, waiting to start it so the Bluetooth doesn't mess up their phone call. "Of course I will. Do you want me to bring home any food?"
"Mmm maybe some ice cream?"
"I said food darling."
She huffs quietly. "Please? The baby really wants mint ice cream!"
Harry sighs, running a hand through his hair because she knows just how to make him bend. He can never say no to her, especially when his baby is involved. "Fine. Some for Arlo then too, yeah?"
"I can share with him-"
"Already sharing with the other one," Harry cuts off, "I can get him one of those mini things. It'll feel good on that bloody tooth of his too."
Harry's nose scrunches in annoyance at the reminder of the new tooth that's begun poking out of Arlo's gums. It really loves to bother him at night, waking him up with red cheeks and a fever. With y/n growing the baby, Harry's taken to getting up with Arlo so she can rest, sitting in the nursery or living room for hours while Arlo cries and mouths at one of his frozen teething rings. Last night had been particularly tough, baby Tylenol not helping for some reason, and Harry woke up with a crick in his neck from having it tilted back on the couch.
"He's doing a bit better. Stubborn thing was out this morning but it's gone back in which means..."
"It'll be back to haunt me tonight." Harry groans.
"I can take care of him so you can rest."
He shakes his head, scoffing. "Nonsense. S'our boy time." Y/n laughs at his excuse, thanking him for helping out but he blows it off. He's a parent too and he doesn't mind staying up late for his baby.
"Gotta get going love so m'not late," Harry says sadly, "don't think I'll be too long."
She hums. "Well we'll be here. Probably go for another walk unless you'd like to come with us?"
"S'fine love. Know it's good for you and the boys so don't wait on account of me."
She giggles again but it's cut off by the familiar wail of a baby just waking up from his nap. Harry frowns, picturing Arlo all warm and soft as he cries for someone to come snuggle him. "There he is," she sighs, "I'll see you later Harry. Have fun at lunch."
"I'll try. Love you darling."
He patiently waits for her response, listening to her shush Arlo as she undoubtedly picks him up from his play pen. "We love you too."
~
Anne is waiting outside the cafe, round framed sunglasses over her eyes and the sweater Gemma had gifted her for Christmas. Harry winces when he realizes he's a few minutes late but he doesn't feel bad about calling y/n so he won't feel bad about it making him late.
"Just come from the gym?" Anne asks him in greeting, smiling nervously. He nods, hair still damp from his shower and falling messily onto his forehead. He pushes it back, pulling open the door for her.
"Training more often than usual now. S'more competitive being a tournament and all."
Anne nods in understanding, and they silently find a booth to sit at. No words are spoken, at least not to each other, as they search the brunch menu and give their orders to the waitress that greets him. Harry can feel his heartbeat in his throat, swallowing nervously as he fiddles with his discarded straw wrapper. He invited Anne here, he reminds himself, so he should speak first.
"I used to be really fucked up," Harry finally says, eyes dropping to his fiddling fingers when Anne meets his gaze. He can't find it in himself to look at her right now. "sometimes I feel like I still am. I had been better, for a really long time actually. Met y/n, knew from the second I saw her that I couldn't lose her so I changed. Tried to. It took a lot, I had terrible habits for years before her.
"Couldn't go one night without a drink, fought almost every day because I had nothing else to do. I never even had a girlfriend before her, I used girls. I didn't want to get attached I guess-" Harry has to clear his throat, cheeks flushing in embarrassment at the way his voice cracks. The paper between his fingers crumbles but he continues to pull at it. "Her and I struggled so fucking much for months. I was paranoid, thought she was going to leave or hate me or something. Was too scared to stay the night with her in case I had a nightmare about dad or something-"
"Harry-"
"No!" Harry says gruffly, gaze snapping up harshly, "I need to say it. I need to say it all, yeah?"
Anne nods feebly, fingers playing with the sleeves of her sweater. "She found out about everything when I had a panic attack in the middle of the night. For some reason, she didn't mind. Didn't care that I was fucked up. And she was there, always. Didn't matter if the sight was pretty or not, she was always there.
"But we still fought. I'd get scared and shut down. So we decided that I'd go to therapy." Anne's bottom lip trembles and she reaches over the table, laying her palm over one of Harry's shaking hands. His eyes fall down to the fingers of his mother, rubbing soothingly over the ink on his skin as if she loves every bit of him, even the scars and marks. He takes a trembling breath.
"Thought I would hate it but it was really good. I talked about everything, about Jack and how he hurt you, about dad, about Gem leaving us. Talked about boxing, how much it means to me and how it brought me to y/n. It was really fucking nice to just talk, and it's helped. Don't go much anymore now that my anxiety is under control, but I think I have to go back."
She doesn't miss a beat. "Is it my fault?"
Harry nods, eyes still downcast. It’s not totally Anne’s fault but he knows the reason he’s so on edge all the time is because of her. He can't let it go, can't move on from that rejection no matter how hard he tries. He can't think of any other solution but going back to Dr. Wells.
"S'too hard to figure it out like this." He says with a sad shake of his head, "I feel like I can't talk to you, not really because you just stare at me and wait for Gemma to say something. And I don't even really know what to say. Can feel everything deep in my heart and on the tip of my tongue but I can't even tell you how much that day fucked me over.
"But the doctor I go to knows me and he knows what happened, so I think he'll know what to do."
They fall silent, hands retreating to their laps as the waitress delivers Harry's blueberry pancakes and Anne's omelette. He thanks her quietly, reaching for the syrup when his mother speaks up.
"I don't know what to say Harry," she murmurs "I have no excuses for what I did or what I put you through. I never should've let Jack in our lives and I never should made you leave mine.
"At the time it felt like it was right. I thought I needed him and I thought you'd be better off without us. You always were a bit different from Gemma and I, thought you'd be happy to have a life without us."
Harry's heart shudders, eyes welling with tears and he's not sure if they're out of anger or hurt or both. "Thought I'd be happy living on my mates couch? Not knowing if you were safe or if Gemma got into medical school? Not knowing if you-" He chokes on his words, angrily cutting into his stack of pancakes. His jaw aches from how tightly he's clenched it, and his knuckles are white around the fork in his hand.
"If I what Harry?"
If you loved me. He shakes his head, refusing to look at her. Her sigh is soft but loud enough for him to hear and he revels in the way it trembles. Maybe it's morbid, but he's glad she's feeling guilty or sad. It means something, means she at least somewhat cares.
Anne digs into her meal as Harry's swallowing his bite. He clears his throat, gaining her attention again. "A lot of shit happened, and we need to talk about it somewhere where I know I can actually talk so if you're up for it, I want ya to go see Dr. Wells with me."
He glances up at her, finding her wide eyes and shocked. "You think I should go to therapy?" His nod is firm. "That's the only place I'll be able to talk so if you want to fix this, to show that we can maybe be a family again this is your last chance."
She doesn't hesitate to agree and Harry can't help but feel relieved. Maybe she is here for the long haul. After a moment of them eating in silence, Harry says what's been running through his head since he saw his old house burnt to dust.
"Talking to a therapist might help you too," he says softly, continuing when she looks at him in confusion, "know what Jack did messed ya up. You've got some kinda trauma or PTSD from it, especially the fire. You should get help, it's worth it."
"How did you know?"
"That day with the smoke alarms," he says, "when you ran outside and didn't really think about y/n or Arlo. Fight or flight kicked in and you did what you're mind told you to do. After that night the house burned down it became habit to run."
Anne seems a bit surprised at his words, like she didn't ever expect him to pay that much attention to her or notice something like that. "You got all the fight in the family." She smiles weakly.
Harry shakes his head. He may be a boxer and punching maybe therapeutic to him, but he knows he's a flight person. After all the girls he's ran from, the times he tried to push y/n away and to hide from her proved it. "Believe it or not, m'not the fighter." He admits, knowing he's here today because y/n has always fought for him.
~
More time at the gym wasn't ideal, especially with y/n growing bigger and bigger every day. Four months down to the exact day until they're expecting the new baby and Harry hates having to spend four days a week with Liam. He knows it's for the best, the fights are only going to get harder as they go, but he wants to be there when y/n wakes up with sore feet, too tired to make her own breakfast. He's been taking Arlo with him in the mornings, letting him sleep in his car seat or hang out with Mark while Harry trains. Now that he's walking Mark takes him for laps around the ring or on the treadmill. It's never on because it's too fast for Arlo's legs but he loves climbing on there right after Harry's finished a run. That's one of the positive things; spending most mornings with his son, the second positive being Harry's excuse to leave y/n at home.
He was able to get her Valentine's day gift together without her knowing, saying he's staying late at the gym when him and Arlo are really running around to gather what they needed. Their new sleep schedule of being up at least an hour before y/n works good too, making it easy for him to slip out of bed without waking her. She stays curled up in the blankets, lips parted with soft snores that she only ever has when she's pregnant, and Harry gently peels a strand of hair away from her mouth before kissing her cheek.
Taking the baby monitor with him, he slips into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face, tying his messy hair up in a pink scrunchie so it stays out of his face today. Quietly tip toeing to the closet, he throws on some black pants and a red tee-shirt as the beginning sounds of Arlo stirring come through the baby monitor. He's quick to get to Arlo's room, lifting him out of the crib just as he's blinking his bright eyes open. Arlo's still sleepy and docile while Harry changes him, leaving him in just his diaper until it's time to get dressed.
Face burrowed in Harry's chest, Arlo slips in and out of sleep as Harry moves around the kitchen to gather everything needed to make homemade cinnamon rolls. Y/n has been eating a lot of them lately, mostly the store bought ones but he knows she prefers homemade ones, and he figured today would be a good day to surprise her with them.
"Alright bug," Harry says after peeling Arlo off long enough to slip an apron on, "let's get cooking."
~
Harry's side of the bed is empty and cold when y/n reaches over for him, fingers aching to feel his warm skin. She pouts, eyes still fluttering with exhaustion but desperate for her husband, she forces herself to wake up and find him. Lucky for her, she's only managed to get up and pee, stepping out of the closet in Harry's purple bath robe when the man she's looking for comes through the doorway.
He's got a tray of cinnamon rolls and two glasses of milk balanced in his right hand, back hunched as he reaches down to hold Arlo's hand with the other. She freezes, eyes stinging with happy tears at the sight of them. Arlo's waddling alongside his daddy, hair messy under the heart topped antenna headband he's got balanced on his head. And instead of his pajamas (which are just his diaper), he's wearing a lady bug costume that's a little too big on him.
"Happy Valentine's day!" Harry cheers, beaming widely. He's got the same headband on his own head, the hearts flopping in opposite directions, and he's wearing a red that matches the shade of Arlo's costume.
"Hap mumma!" Arlo cheers, unable to finish the word happy let alone Valentine's day but the words still force tears down her cheeks. Harry sets the tray down on the dresser, scooping Arlo up. He rushes towards her, chuckling when she throws herself into his chest.
"Alright love bug," Harry says after pressing kisses to the top of her head, "give mumma her cuddles in bed okay?"
Arlo murmurs an agreement, happily switching to y/n's hold. She smiles brightly at the little boy in her arms, settling back into bed with him. He curls up into her side, laying his head on her belly as Harry brings over the tray of food and leans in for a kiss.
"I love you Harry," she sighs dreamily, cupping the side of his face. He grins, cheeks blossoming with pink and slots his mouth to hers again. "Love you too darling," he sits by her feet, resting the tray on his thighs, "now eat up so your love bugs can spoil you."
They enjoy breakfast together, y/n offering Arlo little bites of food and drinks of milk. He grumpily accepts the cup, but not until he's tugged at her clothes with eyes pleading for breast milk rather than cow. Harry snickers and mumbles proudly that "that's my boy," even if he has to scold him for trying to hit y/n again. That's become his go to response to being denied her breasts, one that Harry claims is understandable.
The grumpiness dissolves off of Arlo's face when Harry requests y/n move to the bathroom, sitting her on the counter by the sink. He insists on brushing her teeth for her and combing her hair, brushing Arlo's few teeth as well when he whines for the toothpaste, all the while the bath fills up with soapy water. Hair pulled up in a scrunchie that matches Harry's, she relaxes into the tub. Arlo stands next to the tub with Harry crouched next to him. She almost starts crying again when he fishes her feet out of the tub, massaging the tender soles of them. Arlo jabs at her other foot, tickling her more than massaging, and she giggles happily when Harry grumbles, "Put your back into it mate, mumma deserves the best!"
They rotate feet so that she gets equal tickling and massaging on each foot, and when she thinks she'll melt into the bubbles around her, Harry moves up to massage her shoulders and neck as well. "If you keep going I'm gonna fall back asleep."
"Go ahead love," Harry chuckles deeply, thumbs pressing into her spine, "can sleep all day if ya want."
The offer is tempting, but she feels like she hasn't seen either of her boys very much this past week so she shakes her head. "Want to spend time with my men today."
Arlo peeks over the bathtub at her words, headband slipping forward on his head. She gently pushes it back, smiling at him. "Yeah I'm talking about you." He gurgles happily, bouncing on his feet when she moves to climb out of the bath. Harry wraps her up in a big towel, lips leaving tender pecks to her face.
"Thank you Harry, you're the best husband."
"S'not over yet," He shrugs as if his thoughtfulness is nothing but his cheeks flush again. After wrapping her up in his robe again, Harry carries Arlo down the stairs and sits him on the couch. He's made a sheet fort for her, perfectly framing the tv where her favorite movie is queued up. Arlo gets antsy in his costume so she strips him down to his pamper, bringing him to her chest for snuggles. She ends up caving and breastfeeding him for a bit, Harry watching them with hearts in his eyes as he paints her toe nails and moisturizes her feet, slipping fluffy socks on them.
Her mind trails to her gift for him, stomach bubbling anxiously but she knows now is not the time for it. Harry's prepared a whole day of pampering for her so her gift can wait until tonight.
~
Y/n steals Harry's headband while he's washing up for bed, scrubbing his shirt because Arlo spit up food and milk all over it when he was putting him to bed, and when he finally drags his feet into the bedroom, he looks absolutely exhausted. His eyes are puffy and glazed, green seeming brighter than usual and he's got a tired little smile sinking his dimples into his cheeks. The scrunchie that once held his hair up now sits around his wrist, hair flopping onto his forehead when he collapses into the sheets next to her.
"Ya have a good day darling?" He slurs into the pillow, raising an eyebrow. She cards her fingers through his hair, heart swelling when he purrs contently.
"The best. Thank you."
Harry hums. "Love you so bloody much."
"I love you more." She giggles, and his grin widens.
"Was planning on shagging you through the mattress tonight but m'fucking tired." He snorts into the pillowcase, rolling onto his side when she leans down to kiss his cheek.
"There's always tomorrow baby," she reminds, "and the rest of our lives."
Harry's smirk widens even more, eyes gleaming. He reaches out for her hand, bringing the back of it up to his warm lips.
"Can I give you my gift now?"
He tries to remain bashful, but by the look in his eyes she knows he's been waiting to see what she's got him for Valentine's day. After he nods she reaches over to the bedside table, pulling the envelope out and handing it over to him. Harry eyes it curiously, rolling onto his back and wiggling a finger under the seal. Y/n chews on her bottom lip, hoping he's not upset or disappointed in it.
Harry slips the ivory paper out, brows furrowing as he reads over the words. She knows he's confused, knows he's trying to understand why she's gifted him a wedding invitation for them on the anniversary of their actual wedding. "Darling, I already married you."
She giggles, nodding. "I know you did. It was one of the best days of my life. But it was missing... pieces. Family."
Harry sits up, crossing his legs over each other and reaching out for her hand. "So you want to..."
"Renew our vows." She says firmly. "Here at the house. With my family and yours, and our boys."
The silence that follows make her shrink, shoulders hunching a bit and she's panicking before she can even see the tears in his eyes. "If you want! Don't have to! I just thought-"
Harry pinches her lips together between two fingers, cutting off her rambling. He chuckles lightly, pressing his lips to her puckered ones. "I fucking love it." He finally assures. "S'incredible. You're incredible. Can't believe you're doing this for me."
"Marrying you again?" She says, smiling sweetly. "Harry, I'd marry you any day."
He slots his mouth to hers again, dropping the slip of paper to the bed as he pushes her back to the mattress, body following until his knees are caging her in and his hips press into hers. "Making it hard to not fuck you right now."
Her grin is innocent, but her eyes are sinful. "Maybe you should just do it then?"
He grunts low in his throat, smashing their lips back together. He supposes he should take any chance he gets to fuck her on her back before her tummy grows too big so why not start now?
Her hands find a home in his hair, tangling into the curls at the base of his neck. Harry groans, chest rumbling and he's slipping his hand over her belly when a cry comes through the baby monitor. He's barely had a chance to huff in frustration before a swift kick is delivered to his palm.
"You've got to be kidding me," Harry mutters, glaring down at y/n's stomach. "Both of ya? Really? Lads are supposed to stick together!"
Y/n giggles at him, pecking his forehead softly. "Go ahead super dad. We'll be here."
332 notes · View notes
tickletastic · 4 years ago
Text
Everything’s Growing In Our Garden
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Ship: Thiam
Summary: Theo learns what it's like to finally have a family, and Jenna, David, and Liam are more than happy to help him along the way.
Living with the Dunbar-Geyers was… different for Theo, to say the absolute least.
Before the dread doctors, he was always coming second to his sister. He was sick, and asthmatic, and terrible at sports. Tara was the star of her middle school’s soccer team, and in the off-seasons she juggled piano lessons and debate team. Theo had things of his own: he did dance when his asthma wasn’t acting up, and he could write circles around the other kids thanks to his reading addiction, but it was never enough for his parents. They wanted trophies and medals to show off, and cute pictures in uniforms, and Theo could just never give them that. He didn’t really understand it as a kid. He thought that most kids were vying for the attention of their parents and Tara was just an exception. He wanted to feel special too.
When the dread doctors enticed him to join them, they had made him feel special. They said that he was so unique for being chosen by them, and once he gave them what they needed he could have everything he ever wanted.
The doctors never fulfilled their promises. Instead, Theo was threatened on a daily basis, and prodded with needles and x-rays until he was blue in the face.
Theo never did feel special. At least, not until he started living with Liam and his parents.
Liam was constantly around, bubbly and jumpy as always, making sure Theo was comfortable. Liam spent two days trying to figure out the perfect plan to convince Theo to move in when he found out that Theo was homeless. In the end, he took the easy way out and stole Theo’s truck. He refused to return the keys until Theo promised he would take the Dunbar-Geyers’ guest bedroom.
Liam’s parents welcomed him with open arms. They both did everything they could to make sure that Theo would be comfortable after Liam described the older boy’s flighty nature to them. It wasn’t hard for either of them, they both took a liking to the boy instantly, and Jenna found it easier than Liam had described to read Theo’s emotions. Mothering a teenage boy will do that to you.
Dr. Geyer loved talking biology with Theo. He even offered Theo an internship at the hospital before the Geyers had found out that Theo needed to graduate high school. The second the doctor came home, he would often talk with Theo while helping Jenna with what was left of dinner. The two of them got along very well, and Dr. Geyer found it refreshing discussing medicine with someone who wasn’t a colleague.
Jenna and Theo had many, many things in common: they both loved to read, they both loved to cook, and they both loved to annoy Liam to wit’s end. Jenna was actually one of Theo’s favourite contemporary authors before the two had even met, and he would be embarrassed to admit to the fanboy moment he had when they first met. Jenna had written a popular fantasy children’s series under her maiden name, Tate, before transitioning into adult fiction under her current name. Liam hadn’t even known that Theo was a fan of his mom until Theo met her. Jenna barely had time to introduce herself before Theo was turning bright red and gushing: “I have read Noire Kingdom seven times!” Jenna laughed, and Liam swore that he would never let Theo live it down. Liam quickly learned not to mention it when his mom and his new housemate had started to gang up on him with the teasing.
It was really strange to Theo to be treated like he was part of the family. It was weird to have two parent-figures that had grown to love him. Theo didn’t really know what he imagined parents to be like. He couldn’t remember much of his own, and fake parents never quite fit the bill.
Dr. Geyer was understanding and pensive. He would check in on Liam and Theo when the security bell would alert his phone of their homecoming, and he would bring home sweets from the bakery near the hospital once a week. When Theo first arrived he had believed it was already a tradition: Dr. Geyer would bring home an assortment of treats every week; tarts for Liam, muffins for Jenna, cookies for himself, and an assortment of others. One week, Dr. Geyer’s usual box of goodies changed from an assortment to just four. The tarts, muffins, and cookies remained the same, but instead of the usual variety of extra sweets, there were sprinkled donuts. Dr. Geyer never mentioned it, so Theo never did figure out how the doctor had realized they were his favourite. It wasn’t until months after that Liam let it slip that the sweets hadn’t been tradition before Theo’s arrival, but his dad had instead decided to create new traditions to include Theo.
Dr. Geyer showed his affections through small, silent acts of kindness, and even that was a bit overwhelming for Theo.
Jenna? Well.. some of her maternal habits were kind of strange, Liam was completely willing to admit it. He had filled Theo in on a few of them:
- Simply for her own peace of mind, Jenna would try to make Liam smile at least once a day - Jenna called Liam by his first name only when she was angry, otherwise, it would always be some variation or nickname, and last but not least; - Jenna packs Liam’s lunch, always slipping a little note into it
Theo didn’t really see what the point was in Liam telling him all of this, after all, Theo was definitely not planning on passing judgement on the woman who had given him a home.
Theo didn’t understand until he had been helping Jenna cook dinner one day.
“Baby face, could you pass me the flour?”
Theo hadn’t heard Liam, or even smelled Liam enter the house, so he turned to the entrance of the kitchen, his brow furrowed. When he turned around, the entrance was empty, the house only occupied by Theo and Jenna, as expected.
Theo’s brow furrowed, and he looked over at Jenna, who was humming peacefully as she mixed the dough in front of her. She looked up at Theo when she realized he had yet to pass her the ingredient.
“Theo, sweetheart: the flour?”
Even Theo’s crazy ability to hide his emotions couldn’t help the furious blush that made its way over his face. He nodded frantically before turning around and handing Jenna the bag of flour.
“Are you okay, honey? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Theo nods frantically again, “yup, perfectly fine, Mrs. Geyer.”
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Jenna?” She tuts before continuing dinner.
Some of the nicknames do get absurd, but others are so cute and fond that they force a blush to rise over Theo’s cheeks no matter how many times he’s called them.
Theo finally understands why Liam felt the need to fill him in on all of the strange maternal habits that Jenna has developed when Theo opens his backpack one morning, finding a brown paper bag in it. He eyes it strangely, but it doesn’t smell suspicious... In fact, it smells delicious.
Three periods later, Theo sits down for lunch with Liam and the puppy pack, taking out the bag and placing it on the cafeteria table in front of him, eyeing it with suspicion. He’s so deep in wonder that he doesn’t even notice when Liam stops his conversation with Alec mid-sentence, eyeing Theo with the same suspicious look that Theo is giving the bag.
“Dude, it’s just the lunch my mom packed for you, I promise she didn’t lace it with wolfsbane or anything.”
Theo scowls, looking down in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. When he finally does open the bag, the effort to hide is rendered completely worthless as he reads out the note written on a heart-shaped sticky note stuck to the container of his sandwich.
The rest of the table certainly notices, and Corey, the little shit that he is, grabs for the note, tearing it straight from the container.
“Have an amazing day at school, sweet boy. I know you’ll do perfect on your biology midterm. Xoxo Jenna.”
Theo grabs for it, but of course, that doesn’t stop Corey from reading it out to everyone else present at the table. His face is bright red, and Liam jokingly leans in to pinch his cheek. Theo glares before hastily grabbing the brown paper bag, getting up and tossing his backpack over his shoulder as he grumbles under his breath.
The moment that Liam realizes that he has forgotten to fill Theo in on everything comes a moment too late, but Liam ends up being grateful in the end.
Jenna has a habit of touching her family on whatever body part happens to be closest to her. Liam thinks that she doesn’t even know that she’s doing it, it has just always been a calming ritual for her. Usually, it would be a normal body part, she would scratch Liam’s scalp while asking him about his day at school, or she would rub David’s shoulder while asking him to pick up groceries. Today, David was on a shift at the hospital and, while Jenna was actively working on her next novel, she was home for the time being. It was after school on a weekday, so she figured she could spare the night away from her office to feed her favourite boys.
When the two teens had arrived home, they had greeted Jenna in the kitchen before heading to the living room. Liam had gravitated to the floor directly in front of the TV, playing video games on his PS4, and Theo had gravitated to the couch behind the younger teen. Liam was sitting with his back against the couch, and Theo was curled up on the couch, trying his hardest to keep his eyes open despite his long day at school.
Jenna rounded the couch from the kitchen, standing next to Liam in front of the couch. She started to absentmindedly scratch Liam’s head, and he leaned into the touch, practically purring. She stopped when she realized that Theo’s eyes were closed, and she cleared her throat. Theo’s eyes squinting back open.
“Hey, kiddo, long day at school? You should head up and take a nap before dinner,” Jenna started, smiling softly at the boy that she now considered her second son. “What do you want for di-”
Jenna was interrupted by a frantic giggle from Theo, as he quickly rushed to cover his face with his hands. Liam hadn’t been paying much attention, but he starts to when the sweet sound of Theo’s laughter floats through the air.
While she had been preparing to ask Theo what he wanted for dinner, her hand had wandered down to his socked foot, pulling at his toes without even realizing.
Jenna repeats the action and smiles fondly when Theo tries to curl up, calling out through giggles, “Jenna!”
She stops when the boy tries to scramble off the couch, moving her hand to his shoulder in a calming effort to ensure that he stays comfortable. She can’t help but coo, the flush on Theo’s cheeks worsening in response. “That’s adorable.”
Liam was confused as to what had happened, his back to Theo, until Jenna had rounded the couch and leaned over to whisper in Theo’s ear, “don’t worry, Liam’s ticklish too.”
Now both Liam and Theo were blushing, Liam because his mother had revealed his secret, and Theo because Jenna’s words could confirm Liam’s suspicions of his own sensitivity. When she pulls away, she ruffles Theo’s hair. “What do you want for dinner, honey?”
Theo stammered for a moment, his brain a cloud of embarrassment and anticipation, “could we have pasta?”
“Of course, babydoll.” Jenna walks back into the kitchen, Liam sure that she would make bowtie pasta since it seemed to be Theo’s favourite, even though Liam preferred rigatoni.
As much as Theo would like to test out Liam’s ticklishness, his tired brain doesn’t even think of it until Liam is pinning him to the couch, his game abandoned completely as Brett and Alec’s voices sound out through his headset.
Theo had a nervous smile on his face, his tiredness still unceasing. Liam was grinning like he had just discovered Atlantis. “You’re ticklish? Mom’s right, that is adorable.”
Theo couldn’t prevent the blush that grew to line his cheeks. He shook his head, his voice breathy in anticipation, “I mean, not r-really?”
“‘Not really’ as in you’re not ticklish?” Liam pinched Theo’s ribs, the older boy writhing beneath him, “or ‘not really’ as in you’re not adorable? ‘Cus they both seem to be true according to my information.”
Theo had gripped Liam’s wrists and was attempting to push them further away without trying to push Liam off altogether, failing horribly. Liam had always been stronger, though the chimera was usually faster, not only on his feet but with his mind as well.
Theo groaned, a look in his eyes that Liam couldn’t quite place, a look that would’ve signaled that Theo was frustrated had he been with anybody else but Liam. “If you’re going to insist on doing this, can we just get it over with? I’m exhausted Li.”
“Sorry babe, I’m about to make it worse.”
Theo didn’t even have the time to respond to the abnormal nickname before he was trying his very best to stay silent. As good as he had always been at handling interrogation methods, the dread doctors never did teach him how to handle this. He was trying to make his brain think quicker, but his thoughts were starting to fog up. He tried to decide between masking his chemosignals and masking his heartbeat, but his heart had quickly betrayed him in its pace.
He had always found it so easy to mask his heartbeat and chemosignals, it had always come so easy to him, but trying to hold in his laughter while hiding his chemosignals felt like he was running a marathon. He thought that he was doing a pretty good job until he saw the wicked smile on Liam’s face.
He wondered what kind of chemosignals he was sending out, because the only thing that he felt was panic. Liam’s fingers poked over his toned tummy, wiggling and twitching against Theo’s skin. He couldn’t let his laughter escape him, he needed to have at least one thing under control, but he was quickly losing it beneath the younger boy.
Theo almost bucked Liam off entirely when his fingers moved to his ribs, absolute terror running through his mind. He didn’t even realize he was shaking his head until Liam’s own beautiful laugh cut through the air.
“No, Theo? No what? What is it that you don’t want me to do?”
Theo frantically reached around, managing to grab both of Liam’s wrists and pushing them away ever so slightly, forcing Liam to stop. Liam just looked amused, a hint of glee in his eyes and a soft, pleased smile on his lips with his head quirked to the side.
Theo wanted to grimace, but instead he couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across his own face, breathy giggles escaping as he tried to reason. “Liam. Li. Just leave me alone. If you keep touching me then I swear I’ll make you regret it. I will break your nose in more ways than you could even count. I will-”
Liam stretched his fingers and wiggled, the corner of his lips further quirking when Theo let out a soft giggle when Liam’s fingers barely even brushed Theo’s skin. Liam’s fingers were just barely close enough for Liam to do anything but brush Theo with the very tips of his nails, yet there were enough to get the chimera on edge. “I swehehear I will- Holy shihit Liam don’t!”
Jenna was swift with her scorn, a quick call of ‘Theodore Karl Raeken’, reminding Theo to watch his language. In a swift movement Liam had gathered both of Theo’s wrists into one of his hands and pinned them above his head. It was enough to catch Theo off guard, giving Liam time to surprise him with his newly planned attack.
Theo’s eyes crinkled at the corners, and he started to giggle despite himself. Liam was also hit with a wall of scent as Theo unknowingly lost control of his chemosignals. Liam felt something warm simmer in his chest, and he let it bloom until he found himself momentarily releasing Theo’s wrist and reaching for his phone. He opened his phone to his desired application and tasered Theo, snapping a quick photo as the chimera squeaked, his nose scrunching up in a way that made Liam’s heart skip. When the distinct snapping resounded from Liam’s phone, he was hit by the distinct scent of embarrassment from Theo.
“Delete it!”
“I really don’t think you’re in a position to be making any demands, T.”
Liam’s fingers resumed their scritchy scratching over Theo’s ribs: stuttered, carefree giggles softly flowing from the older boy.
Theo’s laughter adopted a panicked tone the higher that Liam’s fingers rose. A spot between two of his top ribs had him snorting softly, words completely dying in his throat. When Liam’s hands slipped under Theo’s arms, his eyes, which had been just barely open, shot wide, giving Liam a look similar to his own infamous puppy-dog eyes.
“Fuck, Liam stahap!” Theo’s laughter had risen an octave, and Liam was satisfied that he had been able to force the older boy to lose control. Liam hadn’t realized until now how satisfying it would be to see Theo as anything other than completely calm and collected.
Theo had gone limp for a moment when Liam had been tickling his ribs, but now his fight was back in full force. Theo had managed to pull his wrists down from Liam’s hold and was now desperately flailing his arms in defense as Liam poked and tickled wherever he could reach.
“Aww, someone’s a giggly mess.” red hot embarrassment scented through the open air once again as the colour of Theo’s cheeks began to rival that of tomatoes.
Theo had his head thrown back, his eyes shut as he blindly tried to defend himself. Could Deucalion train him on this? Liam took a moment to quickly film a video on snapchat, making a mental note to send it to Mason as proof that Theo, the big, bad chimera of death, does in fact giggle, and he looks pretty fucking cute while he’s doing it.
Liam had admittedly gotten a little carried away with tickling Theo silly, not even detecting another heartbeat near him until there was nimble, knowing fingers poking him in the tummy from behind.
“H-hey!” Liam fell backwards onto his back on the couch, bringing his knees up in an attempt to curl up while his mother hovered over him, rapidly poking him in one of his most sensitive areas.
“I think it’s time that you let Theo get his nap, don’t you think?” Jenna threw a wink Theo’s way that he just barely caught as he curled in on himself, still giggling softly.
Liam nodded frantically as a cacophony of sounds spilled from his lips: snorts, squeals, and cackles. To Theo, he resembled a turtle stuck on its back, desperately trying to flip over, as Liam flailed his arms in an attempt to protect himself. “Okahahay, mom! I’ll leave Theo alone!”
“That’s more like it!” Jenna exclaimed, blowing a raspberry to Liam’s neck before backing away. “Dinner will be ready soon boys, hope you’re hungry.”
Jenna walked back into the kitchen while Liam recovered, scratching and swatting at himself as if he could still feel his mother’s fingers. When he finally sat up, a small smile breached his face. Theo was curled up in a ball, facing the inside of the couch, fast asleep.
His breathing was slow, and his expression was soft and worry-free. Liam could once again feel the familiar flutter in his chest as he reached for the throw blanket folded on the arm of the couch, softly placing it over Theo as the boy softly snored.
A year ago, Theo barely felt safe sleeping in Beacon Hills at all, but now, Liam was glad that he finally had a place to call home, and that he finally had people he could call family.
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jq37 · 4 years ago
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The Royal Report– A Crown of Candy Ep 12 Rescue at Buzzybrook
The Peppermint Knight Rises
Welcome to an extremely wild two minutes in the lives of the Rocks family and all those assembled to witness the insanity about to take place.
The gang (along w/ Cara, Manta Ray Jack, and Rina’s crew) have poofed into Buzzybrook where Liam’s dad--Joren Jawbreaker--is about to be executed. They’re able to stay relatively stealthy on their group stealth check (despite Rina’s Nat 1) and, peeking outside, the group sees Bulbian priests, Imperial soldiers, and Ceresian soldiers (like, Ciabatta’s men, not Imperials). Their flags are stationed outside of various cottages in the area (which Ruby uses Mage Hand, her rogue skills, and a grudgingly accepted help action from Rina to unlock). Rina also helps Cara with her concentration checks on the teleportation spell by casting Wall of Ice (the special ability of her staff, Winterscoop) to give her a protected area which Cara just lets happen because sure, why not? 
Just to set the scene a little more, it’s dark outside except for some lit braziers, the village has been largely burned down except for the cottages I mentioned before, and the citizens are being forced to march to the gallows to watch the execution, though Joren hasn’t been brought out yet. With all the banners of the different factions gathered together, it seems almost celebratory. They’re within the standing stones which is in what’s called a sugar hut--basically, just a kind of house built over the standing stones so they can claim it’s a Candian cultural thing and not witchcraft if Bulbian missionaries show up.
Liam and Ruby decide to check out the cottages to get a better idea of what’s going on. Liam, in his cottage, finds Oliver Onionpatch (the Bulbian Archbishop) speedily transcribing information into his book including pictures/schematics of monsters, Ceresian constructs, war engines like Lazuli was working on, and liquid daggers. It seems like Ciabatta gave Alfredi’s notes to the church and they are expanding on them. He’s being guarded by Bonathan Flashfry (fry guy from Jet’s fight). Liam casts Hunter’s Mark on Onionpatch. In her cottage, Ruby sees Grissini speaking to Spearia Mentha (Liam’s mom) who is chained up. Ruby tells Liam who tells her what he found and then Ruby fills in Theo.
While they’re working on a plan, Jawbreaker is led to the noose and they start to read his crimes. Liam casts Disguise Self to look like Onionpatch. They pull the lever and Jawbreaker begins to hang and the gang rolls for initiative!
Because of the circumstances the party gets a surprise round.
Jawbreaker succeeds on his first death save but, even if he hadn’t, he would have been in good hands because Theo Misty Steps to the gallows, and cuts him down before running for cover.
Liam, on a Nat 1, shatters the glass while trying to attack Onionpatch fully giving away his position. That single mistake out of his system, Liam once again goes full Peppermint Batman and hits Onionpatch (and, judging by his reaction, Brennan by proxy) with two more attacks--one of them being a Nat 20--for a total of *84 points of damage*. He uses his movement to hide in the next house over where he has great line of sight for another attack (and he hides with a Nat 20 plus his natural plus 10 plus Pass Without a Trace for a total of 40 which is the DC for things that are nigh impossible).
Ruby casts Jump to help with her movement and gets into position to help break Spearia out. Grissini who was snapped out of his surprise when Theo did his thing starts yelling orders to his men outside.
Reap the Whirlwind
And then it’s Saccharina’s turn.
Yeah, I know I said her full name was annoying to type out every time but she deserves to get her full name for what she’s about to do.
Rina runs through the crowd, uses her Storm Sorcerer ability to Fly (which she can do before she casts a 1st level spell or higher which is such cool flavor and good for utility as well--in this case it means she doesn’t take opportunity attacks). She casts Thunderstep at 4th level (which is like Misty Step but you can take someone with you and it does AoE damage when you poof away) and uses her Channel Divinity from her Tempest Domain Cleric levels to auto do max damage (40 or half if they save) and they also get another plus three because it’s lightning damage (she has some kind of aura that does that) *and* she uses Quicken Spell (a Sorc thing that lets you cast a spell that takes an action as a bonus action) to cast Spare the Dying on Jawbreaker as she brings him to safety. 
If Liam is Batman then Rina is Storm, for sure. 
Brennan is ruined but everyone else is *loving it*--me included. She takes out a bunch of weakling enemies even at without seeing if they save and the few (I think 4) who are left are not doing great. She hands over Jawbreaker to Amethar and has Gooey and Swifty go to Theo and help him out.     
Cumulous rushes in, finishes off two more of the injured guards, and dives into the hole under the gallows for cover. 
Amethar starts herding the civilians into the sugar hut so they can all escape together, tells Jack to help start cleaning up these soldiers, and goes to work himself, going into a rage and killing two Ceresians. Jack kills one too and the citizens start running to safety.
Theo sees that the house he’s hiding behind is full of sick ass weapons so he kills the single guard and Gooey and Swifty (Swifty very gleefully) help him with some looting. 
Grissini leaves his cottage to order around his men which Ruby is very happy about as it makes the sneaking she’s about to do a lot easier.
Back in John Wick, staring Liam Wilhelmina, he does another 23 points of damage to Onionpatch and yells at him in Bulbosi (while disguised as him mind you), “You have made a big mistake.”
Ruby springs Spearia and casts Invisibility on her so she can safely make her way to the others. 
Grissini whistles and a soldier lights a signal fire. Some bread guys crowd Amethar but he doesn’t take much damage and actually kills one with a Riposte reaction--one of Jet’s old tricks. 
Saccharina--I gotta give her her full name again--clocks a very convenient straight line of enemies and casts Lightning Bolt at 4th Level (using another Sorc trick, Empower Spell, to reroll her low damage dice) for 39 damage + 3 for her aura. Even without rolling saves for half damage, this fully kills everyone but Grissini who is badly injured. And just to make things worse, she uses Grissini to conduct the lightning and has it set his banner on fire. 
Cumulous whiffs a couple of attacks, jumps on a roof and then (along with Liam) fails a Perception check, which is always fun as a player.
Amethar runs over to Grissini, attacks of opportunity be damned, and says, “Do you remember my daughter?” Grissini who has just been electrocuted, is a little out of it but Amethar says that Jet might be dead but he just met his new daughter (except, in the heat of the moment, he says it less coherently) and attacks him. Rina (or really Emily who knows exactly what she is doing) calls it a daddy-daughter special. Grissini is F’d up but not near death.
But speaking of people who are near death, Onionpatch yells, “Bulb protect me!” in Liam’s general direction, causing the house he’s in to catch on fire. Liam takes 18 points of fire damage.
Jack kills another baddie and the rest of the civilians run into the sugar hut.
Mom Said We’re Leaving! 
And then, suddenly, these huge, terrifying, bread constructs arrive on the scene (along with a giant corn monster that everyone immediately insists is cute because Brennan will never win this one and should really stop trying unless he’s a fan of futility). Amethar takes some hits and then has to make Con Saving throws. He fails one of them which reduces his HP max by the damage of the first hit he took from this thing (4 pts). One goes for Rina but she Shields and takes nothing. One goes for Jack (doesn’t hit) and one goes for the Standing Stones. Theo casts Compelled Duel on one of the constructs to draw fire but can’t hit (2 Nat 1s in a row!)  
Grissini does a bunch of damage to Amethar and then grants an attack to the nearest bread monster who crits on Rina for 31 points of damage, bringing her down to 18, but she passes her Con saving throw (she only has to do one for some reason).
Liam busts into the house with Onionpatch and demands to know who’s in the military tent with a Nat 20 Intimidation check. Onionpatch, who’s basically pissing himself, says that it’s Kerradin’s tent but he’s not in there at the moment because he’s tracking down escaped prisoners. Onionpatch blubbers that all the different factions are there on behalf of the Pontifex and are in talks with Plumbeline to create a new Concord. There are tons of letters and maps and information in the tent and he can tell them everything. Guess what idiot? You already did. Liam ices him with another Nat 20 and takes his book. As he does so, he basically speedruns the entire rest of puberty and sheds his teenage awkwardness (I mean, allegedly. I’ll believe it if he can talk to Annabelle without getting slapped). The pages that have ripped from the book are effortlessly placed back in with shadow magic. He also fires an arrow at Bonathan as he exits because why not? He lets Ruby know about the info in the tent so, on her turn she sends Spearia away, and goes for it.
Cara basically yells at everyone and they have one round to get into the car because the meter’s about to run out and she’s gotta go. 
Ruby takes 34 points of damage from archers. Rina gets Amethar to safety with Fly plus another Thunderstep and sends Swifty to help Ruby if necessary. Cumulous gets to safety as well (killing one more guy for the road). The constructs try to crack the standing stones but fail.
Amether, channeling Jet yet again, does some Maneuvering Attacks to give Ruby some instant movement to get into the tent and grab the map with all the Imperial/Ceresian military troop movement info and start to run back. Jack gets to safety.  
The constructs try and fail to crack the stones again. One of them attacks Theo for 45 points of damage and then he fails one of his saves, dropping his HP max by 30. Theo holds his turn until Liam and Ruby make it to safety. Gooey and Swifty make it in. 
Kerradin suddenly shows up and Liam has to summon all of his self control to not go after him. He instead taunts him by showing him the book he got from Onionpatch, and (taking damage as he does so) slides into the sugar hut. His mom, invisible, places a hand on his cheek and says, “Oh no. They took my sweet baby and made him a war guy.” 
Grissini Nat 20’s to attack on Amethar but Theo takes the 38 points of damage which drops him dangerously low for Theo standards (like low 20s or the teens). Theo runs in. One of the archers Nat 20 on Ruby who’s hit for 4 points after she Uncanny Dodges (she’s at 21).
Like Liam, Ruby very reluctantly does the smart thing and, instead of going for Grissini so she can get at least one kill this fight, dives into the hut. Cara let’s the spell go off right as Grisini tells the constructs to charge and Jawbreaker regains consciousness, looking proudly into the face of his son, Preston. No wait, that’s not right. 
Medal of Honor
EMILY AXFORD LET’S GOOOOOO
Saccharina really said, “First impressions? Don’t know her. SECOND impressions are where it’s at.” Like, dare I say, instant legend? First fight of the game and she instantly fulfills the win condition, frying a bunch of dudes just, incidentally (but w/ surgical precision from an out of game point of view with all that deft use of action economy and sorcerer mojo). What and ENTRANCE. And then that Lightning? Brennan said it best on Adventuring Party. If you saw her do that, you would have no choice but to follow her.
But honestly, she lowkey deserves a medal just for joining the party with two levels of cleric. That alone is damn near heroic at this point. 
I can’t believe Brennan let *Emily Axford* have spell cards in his gritty, low magic setting. My guy really served himself his own dice. Bon Appetit dude and, again, welcome back Emily! 
Things I’m Concerned About
I mean, I can’t say that I’m surprised about the collusion going on but I don’t love it. I really hope the group gets to talk to Plumbeline again before the end of this. Just to see what she has to say to Amethar and visa-versa. It was an interesting dynamic before she decided to turn traitor and it’s even more interesting now. 
Since when can Bulbian priests do magic? Miracle working is supposed to be super rare, right? Like the Pontifex could heal herself but that was the only thing we knew of that was real Bulb magic (along with Citrina’s book I guess but she’s dead). But Onionpatch used magic against Liam and a different priest did some abjuration on Theo. Are they using Bulbian magic or faking like Lapin was? Or is this something new?
Really don’t love that those bread constructs were making people roll Con Saves. I instantly thought it was a water dagger thing (since they did have those plans too) but then he said 2 saves and not 3. Not sure what the other save was since I think we only saw the “drop max HP” effect. And I don’t know why Rina only had to roll 1 and not 2. Either way, I hope Liam stealing that book at least slowed them down because this is Bad Info for them to have.  
Five More Things
Just so you know, Rina’s build is 6 levels Storm Sorc, 2 levels Tempest Domain Cleric.
The dynamic of Swifty and Theo is low-key the funniest thing. I want them to team up always. Also funny was Brennan’s straight-faced “Correct” to being asked if what Onionpatch just saw was himself pull a crossbow on him.
Listen, I need to know if Grissini has enough information to know that he’s working for the bad guys. Like, if he has the information and he chooses to be complacent then cool kill him, that’s fine. I’ve seen The Sound of Music and we all hate Rolf. But I gotta know. What are the odds that Amethar invoking Jet will pay dividends later? (Again, it did not work in The Sound of Music. And now I kinda wanna watch Sound of Music). 
Grissini knows Jet is dead. Has the news fully spread? Does Primsy know? If so, sad! If not, even sadder but on a time delayed fuse!
I already mentioned this earlier and when the episode aired but the absolute DUNKING of Brennan this episode by Emily and Ally. Man oh man the LOOK on the dude’s face? The glee from everyone else? All those dice Ally rolled? All the people Emily iced without even having to roll dice? The gang sorely needed a win and, folks, this was it.
AN ANNOUNCEMENT! 
Listen, we all know Wednesdays are for D20. And, for a lot of y’all, I’m sure Thursdays are for CritRole and/or Naddpod. But what are you doing Tuesdays (or at least every other Tuesday)? Well, I’m gonna tell you what. @drinkingdeadpeopletea (who you’ve probably seen around as she’s active in all three of the aforementioned fandoms) is launching a D&D podcast called Ship of Fools and it drops TOMORROW with a two episode premiere. It’s D&D! It’s nautical! And it’s being DM’d by her so I can confidently say that it’s gonna be hilarious and a super fun time! So if you want even more D&D in your life (rhetorical question, all of us do) check it out!
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manonisamelon · 3 years ago
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First Line of Your Last 20 Stories
Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!
Tagged by @tabbytabbytabby and @grenadinepeach thanks!!
Remember when I wrote things? yeaaaaah me neither also i have 28 stories so this is almost everything. It's all thiam except one
An Eulogy To An Old Friend : Liam was sobbing uncontrollably in Theo’s shoulder.
when you love someone and they let you go : The first time they slept together Theo knew Liam wanted him, could  smell how the beta reacted to being around him, had been playing with it  for a while. MCD
Dirty Slushy : It was a beautiful day out, perfect to enjoy some fresh air.
Be Careful What You Wish For : After the war against the hunter and the whole anukite situation Theo’s life took a turn for the better.
The Colors Of Our Hearts : To any outsider the scene would seems strange.
Stone Cold : We won.
Available for ice cream delivery : After the first time he bought her ice cream Asher kept making those special deliveries. (Asher/Olivia All American)
See you in a minute. : That was it. MCD
Lay Under The Twinkling Lights With Me : It was Valentine’s day, aka let’s celebrate love day.
Underneath The Mistletoe : Mason was done.
Here's To The Secrets We Cannot Keep : Liam knew something was wrong with him since the moment he first kissed Hayden.
The Winter Soldier Effect : Liam was supposed to come by Theo’s place before the party, the plan was  going there together and crashing at Theo’s after, most likely to have a  very good end of the night.
Acceptance Is What We Seek : Liam’s never been as close to his dad as he is with his mom.
I Love You For Infinity : Theo woke up feeling warm and safe, sun warming his exposed skin that wasn’t under the blanket or tangled with Liam.
Let's Go Crazy : It was finally time.
Can't Help But Want You Back : Liam was happy.
The question that keeps you awake at night. : Ever since the thought crossed his mind Liam couldn’t help thinking about it.
Kiss The Bartender : Ever since the hunter debacle ended, Theo had been trying to get his life back together.
what happens when no one cares : Scott was back from college for the weekend, visiting his mom and the rest of the pack that was still in Beacon Hills. MCD
Hold On To That Heart Break : Theo didn’t make it very far before stopping.
Apparently i like to start with a name or ever since or after or it? no idea why. I’d say my favorite is An eulogy to an old friend because of context plus like what a way to start a fic straight with tears.
Tagging @glittercake @sofiaaaa0 @lovelylittlegrim @li0nh34rt @grenadinepeach @lightfiretomypaperwings anyone else that has fics and feel like it you’re tagged
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peachy-lemon83 · 4 years ago
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I really hate when people assume that everyone only loves Stiles because he’s the white best-friend. Like yeah I’m not gonna lie some people honestly probably do like Stiles better than Scott because Stiles is white, but like.... to just say that about everyone who loves Stiles?????
Like for me personally I know it isn’t because of skin color or anything because I fell in love with Stiles from litteraly hearing some quotes from the show (it was a like complication of some of Stiles’ sarcastic quotes and stuff) and it was just the audio. I didn’t have the actual scenes from the shows (it was on Tik tok so people were like lip syncing to it and stuff).
I fell in love with him even more when watching the show because I can relate to him a lot.
Stiles is a sarcastic boy who literally doesn’t stop talking. I seriously just post a freaking long as hell rant and said in said rant that I tend to just ramble on (even if it just rambling thoughts in my head and not actually speaking). Like I come up with whole speeches in my head. I’m pretty sarcastic, I’m honestly not that witty but I wish so hard that I was because I love witty, sarcastic comments that litteraly come out all the time, even if really bad moments.
No one really listens to Stiles. Like in the beginning I kind of get it, I mean like the supernatural?!? Crazy! But like Stiles says Scott’s a werewolf, Scott doesn’t believe him until he literally tears up Stiles chair after like slamming Stiles against the wall.... so like yeah didn’t listen or believe in Stiles. And then again when Stiles swears Lydias not the Kaninma (and like okay even Stiles starts to question that, but mainly because everyone else was certain it was Lydia). No one believe Stiles when boi immediately was like “the killings are sacrifices”. I can’t currently think of anything from season 4 (don’t really remember it that much tbh), but I like Stiles actually said something about a kill list or people targeting Scott and everyone else (once again don’t remember and could totally be wrong on that). Season 5? Stiles litteraly called Theo out from the very very beginning. And no one believed him. And then right before Theo actually showed his true colors he accused Stiles of brutally murdering someone and Scott didn’t even check to see if they were actually talking about the same story???? I mean I understand Acott was probably hella confused and shocked but still???? Also Stiles never even said anything about how he knew Theo was evil the whole time. He never said I told you so. I can really relate to people not listening to me.
Scott tried to kill Stiles on his first full moon, then on his second told Stiles absolutely horrible things. Stiles never held it against Scott. Never once brought up that Scott said those things, and the only reason he brought Scott trying to kill him was to 1) convince him that I was dangerous not to chain him up for the full moon and 2) to remind him that Scott did that when Scott was upsetting and refusing to listen to Liam.
Stiles is litteraly like the only person for most the show who is entirely human and has had no training for fighting, nor does he have a gun or litteraly any weapon at all except a baseball bat (that I honestly don’t even remember him using that often). Like boy is litteraly the least prepared and incredibly vulnerable to everything. Like I can kind of relate to feeling like you’re the normal one while everyone else is like special.
Almost everyone under estimates how smart he actually his. Like boi litteraly searched about werewolves for Scott, and it looked like he did a lot of it. He’s normally the one who makes the plans, and he tends to be the one who puts the pieces together, and finds quite a few of said pieces. Honestly don’t really know if I can really relate to this one. Like I can relate but at the same time I feel like it’s the opposite.
Stiles is really loyal. Stiles isnt a werewolf, he isn’t a banshee, he isn’t anything related to the supernatural. Boi could have left a long time ago. He could’ve left when he had to litteraly die to save his dad after his dad (the only family he had) had been kidnapped and was gonna be a sacrifice. He stated after he’d been kidnapped twice. Hell he even stayed after Scott basically told him to go turn himself in for murder and to go away. He stayed when Scott kind of abandoned him for Allison. He always stayed.
I haven’t finished the show (I just finished Season 6 pt 1) so like maybe things happens that I don’t know about but there a definite thing I wish they would have done. Like I would have loved to see Stiles actually try be affected by what the Nogitsune (??? Idk how to spell it) did??? Like could Stiles see was the Nogitsune did when they were in separate bodies??? Can Stiles remember Allison dying and knowing that his body was the one that ordered the Oni to attack??? Another question does the fact that Stiles’ actual body, his original body died do anything to him???? Like is he effected by having like a fake? Copy body or something???? Also Stiles be traumatized by those few minutes were no one remembered him, and him being stuck in that stupid train station????? Like I would have loved to see how things things actually affected them and them working to overcome them instead of it seeming like it never even happened.
Honestly I don’t really like Scott’s character. I personally have nothing against the actor I haven’t looked into him or anything so I have no opinions on him. But like Scott?? I personally don’t like him. He raises a couple (read: quite a few) red flags in my brain throughout watching the show. Like I can see how people may like him, or like not see a lot of the red flags (honestly I saw them but didn’t like really acknowledge them until I actually thought about it) and it’s like kind of small thing for me personally
Scott abandoning Stiles for Allison... quite a bit.
Like him kind of ignoring Stiles to hang out with Allison, Lydia, and Jackson.
Scott hanging up on Stiles when Stiles was holding Derek in the pool in season 2
Scott and Allison letting Jackson escape (and put a straining order on Stiles and Scott, but honestly it effected Stiles more as the Sheriffs son) because they were to caught up in each other
Scott skipping with Allison, not telling Stiles, soon (if not right) after Peter attacked two of their peers (Lydia and Jackson), and then turning off his phone so that when Stiles had really important information on it, Stiles couldn’t reach him.
I’m not saying that Scott’s an absolute terrible character, doesn’t deserve to be on the show, or anything. I’m just saying I don’t think they really wrote his character the best??? Like I think he was unintentionally given quite a few red flags and the writters didn’t notice, but a lot of the fans did.
Like I loved Scott’s “save aleveryone” attitude. Did I always agree with it??? Not really tbh but I appreciated it. I love Scott’s and Stiles’ relationship in how I think they were trying to portray it (because honestly they kind of messed it all up multiple times, but I feel like I get what they were trying for and I loved that)
(Also I just have to point this out because it’s been bothering me. Some one anti-Scott said that Scott has people kill for him, and a Scott lover said pointed out that Stiles says that they should kill Jackson but never offered to do it himself. And I just like wanted to point how How was Stiles supposed to kill Jackson???? Stiles the human... without any weapons or training.... kill Jackson... the kanima.... with paralyzing vemon.... and who lived through a whole barrel of bullets???? Not saying anyone was wrong or right in that arguement because I don’t want to get hate or start a fight... but that one small detail was bothering me)
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parttimehuman · 5 years ago
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Thiam by the river first date
Theo is pretty sure that the last twenty-four hours before his death have already started. Isn't that what you always hear? That statistically speaking, if you're being kidnapped, you won't make it through the the first twenty-four hours? Theo is convinced he's heard that somewhere.
If he's being honest, he's a little disappointed. Given his history, there have always been countless possible ways for his life to end. To think that he's survived torture, war and literal hell only to be thrown over Liam's shoulder and dragged into the woods is beyond ridiculous.
The thing is, Liam smells really weird. His chemosignals have always been difficult, clouded by a layer of anger at almost all times, so Theo generally doesn't think Liam is as easy to read as others, but now? There definitely is a whole lot of nervosity, and that's already unlike Liam. Usually, when he's intimidated by a situation, he gets into fight mode. Now, Theo can smell a certain determination, but it has nothing to do with fighting.
"You know, I really didn't think it would end like this between us," Theo says, trying to distract Liam and win some time to figure out what in all seven hells is going on.
"Frankly," Liam replies, "you thought you were recruiting me for your evil army or whatever, so I don't really care about your disappointment."
Liam grabs Theo by the thigh and adjusts the way he carries his body on his shoulder. Theo has to hand it to him, his physical strength is impressive. And technically, it doesn't feel terrible to be so firmly pressed against Liam's muscles while staring at his ass.
Theo sighs. He really thought what they had was special. Sure, he might have returned to Beacon Hills with a lot of bad intentions, but a lot has happened since then. He found what he was looking for, but none of it was as imagined. And then there was Liam, and that's a whole other story, but recently it has kind of developed in a not so terrible direction. Theo thinks that one could even call it friendship, and then he thinks, yeah, okay, if that's the case then he understands why Liam is getting rid of him. Friendship. What is he, twelve?
"You know, there was a moment a couple of months ago where I was sure you were about to shove me against the nearest wall and start making out with me," he says, remembering the elevator at Beacon Hills Memorial as if it happened just a minute ago. "I mean, you could have at least gotten some before this. I would have made it worth your while."
Liam stops and stands still for a minute. Theo looks to the ground, wondering whether this is where his body will be buried, a peaceful looking spot between trees, soft ground covered in leaves.
"Shut up," Liam growls, and then he continues walking.
"Yeah yeah, I know, you're Scott's little puppy and you've got morals. But seriously, just because you hate a guy, doesn't mean you shouldn't let him blow you. You never know what you're missing out on, I'm just saying."
"You've been saying a lot of things," Liam points out, "when I specifially asked you to be quiet and wait until we're there."
Liam isn't wrong, but if Theo is going to be murdered by the guy he thought he had a chance with, he will definitely be complaining about it. A lot.
"Why are you even going that far?" Theo wants to know. "You do realize that makes zero sense, right? Everything has looked exactly the same for the last fifteen minutes. And now we're not only in the middle of the woods, but practically almost out again on the other side."
As he says this, it dawns on Theo. Oh no. Liam will dump him in the river. Theo is way too pretty to be a water corpse. They always look terrible.
"I'm really starting to think this was a terrible idea," Liam murmurs.
"Starting?!" Theo echoes. "What took you so long?"
"God, I have way too much patience with you."
Except, is the whole point of this that Liam's so-called patience has come to an end? And that Theo will never be pinned against the wall in an elevator with a tongue down his throat and a hand down his pants? And that their undoubtedly beautiful and smart children will never be born?
"Such a shame," Theo whispers to himself as Liam comes to a halt. Behind him, Theo can still see trees, but the ground has changed from dark forest ground to a mixture of pebbles and sand. He can smell the river, wind is messing up his hair. Great. Liam isn't even letting him die with dignity.
"We're here," Liam says. "Can I let you down? Can you be serious? And like, behave like a human?"
"You know I'm not just a human."
"You're part human," Liam says quietly. "I know you like to pretend that you're not, but I'm not falling for any of that anyway."
Theo contemplates his options: First, slapping Liam on his bouncy ass. He thinks he really deserves that and his hand is itching with the urge. Second, promise he'll behave and then run as soon as Liam lets him down. At least that way he would get Liam to chase him, tackle him down and possibly pin him to the ground. Not exactly the way he imagined their first time to go, but he'll take it. Third, not saying anything at all, making himself as heavy as possible, not helping Liam carry this out at all. Test Liam's patience one last time.
"Fine," Theo says.
A moment later, he has somewhat solid ground beneath his feet again.And Liam smells even more nervous than before. Scared, he almost wants to say. They exchange a brief look before Liam's eyes drop to the ground.
"You can turn around now," he tells Theo.
Wow. So he isn't even going to look him in the face while he ends it.
It seems insane that Theo turns around anyway, but he does. He holds his chin up high, stares into the sky and over the water, into the green. And then he looks down after all, because at his feet, there's a blanket spread out on the ground, weighed down by Liam's backpack and food and drinks and-
"Holy. Shit."
Liam takes a step forward and stands next to him. "Do you hate it?" He asks quietly.
Theo hates a lot of things. He does because it's what he was taught and trained to do for a long time. It's why he assumes the worst, why he's prepared for every worst-case scenario, why he never trusts good things, especially not good things, why even when his knows deep down inside that he has no reason to, he's a little bit afraid of the new life he has now.
He shakes his head.
Liam releases a long breath. "Good," he says, "that's good. Because, you know, you kind of have a tendency to complain."
Theo smiles. "About you?"
Liam thinks for a moment. "No, actually," he decides, "just everything else."And there you've got your answer, Theo thinks.
"How about you let me see what kind of food you brought," he says, already sitting down. "I sure hope your mom helped you prepare this. No offense, but she's the best when it comes to these things. I don't think you put lettuce on sandwiches with the same kind of love. Call me pedantic, but you can taste that."
Liam rolls his eyes before he joins Theo on the blanket. "Maybe I really should shove you against walls and shut you up more often."
"No walls here," Theo points out. "Only trees. Which totally works. Just let me eat something first."
"You're the worst," Liam says. "Has anyone ever told you that?"
"Aww, Liam," Theo replies, "I think you're the worst too."
"One of these days," Liam says with a smile, "I will simply murder you."
"But not today."
Liam shakes his head. "Not today."
And if that isn't the most romantic shit Theo has heard in his life.
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officialthiamlibrary · 5 years ago
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2019 THIAM REVERSE BIG BANG MASTERLIST
Below is  the masterlist of all of the creations by the amazing artists and writers for the Thiam Reverse Big Bang… four months of fantastic work, preparation, organization and collaboration between the creators are in this list, and we’ll never stop shouting about how thankful we are to everyone who participated this year for the work that you’ve put in to these!! 
Some of those participating were even creating for other events (including our Halloween event) in between this one… and they still have these fantastic works ready to show everyone... so PLEASE show them some love for their hard work by commenting, reblogging, and giving likes/kudos/comments where you can! <3 
All fics are arranged by the date each collaboration was scheduled for posting, titles for both each artwork and fic will take you to each individual creators post.
Special Thanks to @manonisamelon for creating this event’s roundup banner!
16 December 2019
The Price of Freedom + Artwork 1,  2
Author: @volsungar-the-mighty   Artist: @moondrunkmonster56
[41k Words | Rated: M | No Warnings]
When the McCall pack find out that Mason is the Beast of Gevaudan, the Dread Doctors plans go awry, and Theo is left in the firing line. He goes on the run, only to be captured and paralyzed by them before he gets too far.
Liam, a Fallen Angel turned demon, is convinced to leave hell for the first time since his Fall. When he comes across Theo, paralysed, wounded, and about to be tortured and punished by the Dread Doctors, he offer's the Chimera a deal.
Theo's freedom, in exchange for his soul. But something goes wrong when Liam makes the deal a reality, and he becomes stuck on Earth with Theo.
And thats when the fun begins.
Archive Tags: Thiam Big Bang | Thiam Reverse Bang | Thiam | demon au! | Demon Liam! | Bargains | Selling of Souls | Violence | Action | Kinda Romance | Slow Burn
~~~
Making The Pieces Fit + Fic Aesthetic , Thiam’s Story Aesthetic , Aesthetic for Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, 
Author: @bookwyrm07   Artist: @manonisamelon
[7.5k Words | Rated: Teen and Up | No Warnings]
When Theo was hired to rob a bank he knew he could do it, but now that two of his crew have taken themselves out his only option left is to get help from his ex.
Archive Tags: Alternate Universe - Criminals | Past Liam Dunbar/Hayden Romero | Past Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken | Getting Back Together | Bank Robbery | Light Angst | Idiots in Love | Mild Sexual Content | Thiamrbb19
~~~~~
17 December 2019
Eyes Unclouded + Artwork 1,  2
Author: @wolfenboyb   Artist: @marauders-mess
[6.5k Words | Rated: General Audiences | No Warnings]
Inspired by Princess Mononoke... Theo leaves his remove village after it is attacked by a mysterious dark god. Cursed, he ventures out into the world to discover the source of unbalance in the land. He discovers a wolf prince at war with an encroaching town of humans making iron out of sand and destroying the sacred forest. As tensions rise, Theo must find a way to end the conflict and protect the one he loves
Archive Tags: AU | Inspired by Princess Mononoke 
~~
Those Who Wait + Artwork 1, Aesthetic 1,  2 ,  3 
Author: @lovelylittlegrim   Artist: @tabbytabbytabby
[6.5k Words | Rated: Explicit | No Warnings]
Theo finally gets what he's always wanted. 
Archive Tags: Dark | Manipulation | Murder | Smut | Claiming | Biting | Alpha Theo | Top Theo | runaways- freeform | Theo’s been so very patient | Established Relationship
~~
Like The Trembling Heart Of A Captive Bird + Artwork 1,  2 , 3
Author: @impalachick   Artist: @osirismind
[9.5k Words | Rated: Explicit | Warnings: Underage]
Liam is head boy for the Juniors at Beacon Hills Preparatory Academy, and Senior Theo Raeken gets in trouble a lot. They don't exactly get along.
Everything changes when Gerard Argent shows up. Liam finds out that the supernatural seniors are to be drafted and sent to Vietnam on Gerard’s orders. Liam is determined to keep the pack safe and is surprised when Theo agrees to help. When they work together, Liam realizes there is much more to Theo Raeken then the bad boy stereotype implies.
*The underage tag is checked because in this story, Liam is 17 (and Theo is 18). There is discussion about the Vietnam War Draft Lottery and the drafting process, and the pack seniors face the stress of possibly getting drafted.
Archive Tags: Alternate Universe - 1970s | 1970s | Alternate Universe - Boarding School | Enemies to Lovers | School Dances | First Time Blow Jobs | Vietnam War | Evil Gerard Argent | Banter| Explicit Sexual Content | Cigarettes | Clothed Sex | Suit Porn | Suit Kink | Formalwear | Getting Together | Getting to Know Each Other | Werewolf Senses | Christmas | Christmas Party | Angst with a Happy Ending | Teamwork | Pack Dynamics | Head Boy Liam | bad boy Theo
~~~~~
18 December 2019
All The Broken Pieces (you chose to love) + Artwork 1,  2
Author: @flyde  Artist: @marauders-mess
[22k Words | Rated: Mature | No Warnings]
Life fell to pieces, not suddenly, not violently, but slowly. Softly, the broken parts were caught. Safely, they were held. Lovingly, they were protected, although they could never be put back together.
Or: a childhood friends to tragic lovers AU
Archive Tags: Emotional Hurt | Emotional Hurt/Comfort | Angst | Minor Character Death | Depression | Sadness | Childhood Friends | Friendship/Love | I'd tag this happy ending but I don't want to promise too much
~~
The Strangeness In You Is The Strangeness In Me + Artwork 1, Artwork 2, Artwork 3
Author: @eneiryu   Artist: @18-sweet-poisoned-heart
[28k Words | Rated: Teen and Up | No Warnings]
Theo’s life is never boring, considering where he works, but he’d have to say that his job doesn’t truly get exciting until the day that their entire station gets taken hostage by the Fae King of Northern California, pissed off that Theo arrested his murderous little protégé prince.
Archive Tags: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism | Alternate Universe - Fae | Supernatural Cop!Theo | Fae Prince!Liam | Life is Full of Misunderstandings | Thiam RBB 2019
~~
(Not) Dying For Brew + Artwork
Author: @nabawrites   Artist: @snaeken
[7k Words | Rated: Teen and Up | No Warnings]
Liam graduated from college, and now he’s back in Beacon Hills. He didn’t expect to run into Theo again, especially not in a coffee shop. It stirs up some old feelings he hadn’t ever really forgotten about…
Archive Tags: Miscommunication | Angst | Fluff | Banter | cute nicknames | Getting Together | First Kiss | coffee shop AU | Future Fic | Anchors | puns | Friends to Lovers | sort of slow burn?
~~~~~
19 December 2019
When the Day Met Night  + Artwork
Author: @imjustafangirl-nobodylovesme    Artist: @lightfiretomypaperwings​
[8.2k Words | Rated: Teen | No Warnings]
The day finally arrives where Theo is told he's officially joining the family business. He's not happy to hear the news. Life under his father's thumb is a nightmare come true.
On his last day of freedom, he meets Liam Dunbar, a human ray of sunshine that changes everything.
Archive Tags: Original Genderfluid Character | Organized Crime | Mob Boss's son Theo | Photographer Liam | Theo and Tara hate their lives
~~
Saw the shadow of the valley but the shadow was mine + Artwork
Author: @eneiryu   Artist: @colder-bones
[17.3k Words | Rating: Mature | No Warnings]
No one ever trusts Theo, but then again: they’re not supposed to. It’s Liam they never see coming.
Archive Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence | Dread Doctor Spy!Liam 
~~
Caput Mortuum + Artwork
Author: @imjustafangirl-nobodylovesme   Artist: @moondrunkmonster56
[16.3k Words | Rating: Teen | No Warnings]
Liam had pretty much resigned himself to never leaving his home, but then HE moved in. Or
The one where Liam is a ghost (but not really) and Theo buys the house he haunts (but not really).
Archive Tags: Alternate Universe - Human | Haunted Houses | Home Renovation | cursed liam dunbar | theo is handy with tools | that's not relevant to their relationship | i just thought you'd like to know | For reasons
~~~~~
20 December 2019
Melting The Ice + Artwork
Author: @extrasteps​  Artist: @snaeken
[30k Words | Rated: Mature | No Warnings]
Liam's entire world is shaken up when Scott McCall, the captain of the Los Angeles Rams and Liam's mentor at the club, unexpectedly asks to be traded to the Dallas Stars. As Liam struggles to deal with this in both his personal and professional life, his teammate and friend, Theo Raeken, is there to help him in any way he can.
Archive Tags: Ice Hockey AU | Liam doesn't handle his ied very well | Scott is a prick (sorry) | First Kiss
~~
The Memory + Artwork 1,  2
Author: @tabbytabbytabby   Artist: @lovelylittlegrim 
[5k Words | Rated: Teen and Up | No Warnings]
When Theo's away and can't reach Liam he gets worried. Especially when neither Liam's parents nor Mason will give him answers. When he gets back to Beacon Hills he's able to quickly find Liam. The only problem is, Liam has no idea who he is.
Archive Tags: Memory Loss | Established Relationship | Light Angst | Post-Canon | Future Fic | Curses | Good Theo Raeken
~~
Be Free With Me + Video
Author: @ethereal--jeonghan  Artist: @underthegallowws
[20k Words | Rated: Mature | Graphic Depictions Of Violence]
After being recaptured and dragged back to Eichen House, the place he's been running from for years, Theo vows to do whatever he can to escape instead he finds himself being drawn towards Liam, someone who was deemed as a 'high-level threat' within Eichen.
Archive Tags: Alternate Universe | powers | Angst | Sadness | Everyone Needs A Hug | Angst and Hurt/Comfort | Self-Hatred | Nightmares | Comfort | Emotional Healing | enemies to friends to something else | Enemies to Friends to Lovers | Sort Of | Happy Ending | Slow Burn
~~~~~
21 December 2019
You Just Need To See The Signs (Quite Literally) + Artwork
Author: @marauders-mess  Artist: @wolfenboyb 
[9.5k Words | Rated: Teen and Up | No Warnings]
Liam is used to not notice most things.
Like when Mason gets a new shirt or his mom gets a new haircut.
The usual, y'know.
But not noticing he got a boyfriend is kind of a new level, even for him.
Archive Tags: Alternate Universe - Human | Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés | Oblivious Liam Dunbar | Deaf Theo Raeken | Deaf Character | Crush at First Sight | Strangers to Lovers | Getting to Know Each Other | Getting Together | Getting Back Together | Awkward Romance | Fluff and Humor | Attempt at Humor | The Author Regrets Everything
~~
Blue + Artwork
Author:  @flyde​    Artist: @li0nh34rt​
[10k Words | Rated: Teen and Up | No Warnings]
Every werewolf has a soulmate.
Every werewolf has a soulmate, and this is how it happens: On every day you spend on earth, the stars move a little closer together above your head until they form a line - the curve of a closed eye that will one day open to look upon you. From that day on, you will have someone to watch over you in life and death, and you will never feel complete without the soul that the eye belongs to.
But what if your soulmate's eye opens to reveal something you didn't expect?
Archive Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates | some angst and some fluff | Sharing a Bed | Sharing Clothes | Holding Hands | First Kiss | Happy Ending
~~
You've Got Nothing Left To Lose (I Have Even Less Than You) + Artwork
Author: @snaeken​     Artist: @theraeken​
[3.5k Words | Rated: Mature | Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death]
After everything that’s happened in Beacon Hills, Theo really shouldn’t be surprised soulmates exist. He just never thought he would have one of his own. 
(Still to be completed, word count below is as of 1st chapter)
Archive Tags: Soulmates | Time Loop | Temporary Character Death
~~~~~
22 December 2019
Darkened Skies + Poster, Aesthetic for the fic, Theo aesthetic, Liam aesthetic, Liam with his dragon tattoo, Theo with his dragon tattoo, Theo and his dragon
Author: @lightfiretomypaperwings​   Artist: @manonisamelon
[3k Words | Rated: Teen and Up | No Warnings]
In a world where black dragons are a sign of evil, Theo Raeken was automatically an outcast. Coupled with a tragedy from his childhood that he was responsible for, it was easy to understand why everyone was afraid of him. But not Liam Dunbar, the friend from childhood that Theo hasn’t seen since the fire that claimed his family.
Archive Tags: Dragons | alternative universe
~~
I don’t suffer from my sanity, I enjoy every minute of it + Artwork
Author: @lightfiretomypaperwings​​    Artist: @moondrunkmonster56​
[8.4k | Rated: Teen | No Warnings]
When Theo Raeken became the new therapist at Eichen House, he didn’t expect a collection of secrets. His high priority patient, Liam Dunbar, won’t speak a word to him during their sessions. But when Theo uncovers a stash of notes from a previous doctor, he finds more questions than answers.
Archive Tags: Eichen | Echo House | insane asylum | Secrets | Alternate Universe
~~
Your heart or mine (we’re running out of time) + Artwork
Author: @lightfiretomypaperwings​​    Artist: @snaeken​
[3.8k | Rated Teen | No Warnings]
Theo Raeken knows it’s a long shot. Finding the heart of immortality feels like an impossible task, but it’s an adventure he has to pursue if he wants to survive. He doesn’t expect to meet Liam Dunbar along the way, a man with a record of violence that wants the heart just as badly. When circumstances force them to work together, Theo discovers there’s a whole lot more to Liam than his mercenary past. Can these two manage to get along on their quest or will they tear each other apart?
Archive Tags: Treasure Hunt | some steampunk vibes | Enemies to Friends to Lovers | Angst | Alternate Universe
And that’s it! Thanks again for a great event and we will see you all at the next one ;P
OTL Team
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She is dying either way Part 1
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Teen Wolf
Characters: Stiles, Theo, Derek, Mellisa, Scott, Liam, Hayden, the Dread doctors, Kira, Allison
Pairing: Stiles Stelinski/ Theo Reaken X Reader Argent
Summary: Being Allisons big sister you swore to protect her. Always. After she died by the hands of an Oni you start blaming yourself for it. Separating yourself from the pack you throw yourself in fights you know you can't handle. Becoming a stranger to your friends fighting the supernatural alone. A human against the creatures of the night.
One night you find yourself fighting for your life, ending up nearly killed and in a coma. Waking up left you with severe amnesia. Not even remembering your own name. The pack changes your last name so you can start over. Keeping their distance to protect you from a far. Theo take advantages of the situation and grows close to you. Betraying you, leaving you vulnerable.
Warnings: none so far. But it would be nice to know that the story isn’t at all accurate with the shows time line from season 3.
Word count: chapter word count: 3,158                       total word count 10,370
My name is Y/N Woodlend, at least that's what the nurse told me. She told my whole life story as if she saw me grow up. Apparently, I had been in a coma for three months from a major car accident. The impact was so severe that it caused amnesia. I couldn't remember anything before or during the accident, not even my own name.
For my recovery I needed a lot of rest, the rest that I did not give myself. Too much went through my mind, so many questions and so little answer. "You have to rest." Nurse McCall had said several times. "After you sleep, I try to answer as many questions as possible about you." It was blackmail, but it worked.
With each far-reaching minute I felt my eyelids getting heavier and heavier, always closing my eyes for a second or so until I lost the battle between waking and sleeping. My dreams were empty and black, I felt like I was dreaming, but like the rest of my life, I couldn't remember them.
Woken up in cold sweat, I straightened up, gasping for breath. My heart beating so fast that the alarm bells on my heart monitor rang. Within seconds my room was filled with nurses and doctors. ''Is everything alright? What do you feel?" Asked a doctor, while a nurse started conducting several tests. "It was just a dream." I said absently.
It was Sister McCall who told everyone to leave the room. "Okay, everybody out, she needs to rest." When everyone had left the room, she closed the door and turned back to me. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked worried. "There is not much to say. I don't remember anything." To calm me down, she gave me a glass of water that I immediately knocked it back. My throat felt dry and hoarse. The cool water relieved the irritation.
It went on for several weeks, empty and meaningless dreams. There were still so many questions I had not answered. Nurse McCall, Melissa, couldn't tell me more than she already had, she didn't have all the answers, either. My recovery was slow, but it was getting better, I was ready to be released from the hospital.
The day had come when I could go back home. "There is a taxi waiting for you outside, they already got the address of your house from me." Melissa said. The clothes I was wearing the day of the accident were bloody, dirty and torn, Melissa brought me a T-shirt, sports pants, socks and a hoodie. "It's a bit on the bigger side, but you should try them on. They’re my son's old clothes." It was the gesture that mattered. "Thank you, I really appreciate this." I took the clothes from her and brought them to the bathroom to change.
The clothes were indeed a bit too big for me. It made no sense to make something of it, the clothes were hanging loose around my figure and so be it. Melissa was still there when I walked back into the room, holding a clipboard with my discharge papers. "If you still want to sign here, then you are free to go." I took over the clipboard from her and read the papers quickly, at the end of the page I signed. My hand guided the pen over the paper without thinking about it, it was automatic.
The ride home went in silence, the streets we drove through, the buildings we were passing by didn't mean anything to me. Lost in thought I looked outside, not realizing that we had come to a standstill. "Ma'am?" Said the driver of the taxi. "Madam?" He said again, but a little louder.
Pulled out of my mind, I murmured a sorry. The man gave me a friendly smile. "No problem." It had probably happened before that a co-driver had dozed off. "We have arrived at your destination." Looking out the window, I noticed an apartment complex that looked deserted. "You're sure this is the right address?" I asked just to be sure. The man looked at his navigation. "Yes, this is the address I got from the hospital." With a sigh I nodded and got out. "Thank you for the ride." I said before slamming the door.
Melissa had also given me a plastic bag with my personal items, including keys. There was also a wallet with my passport and some small money in it. I opened the doors of the building and walked in, it looked as deserted inside as it was outside.
From a distance I heard footsteps darting, all the muscles in my body tensed and a frightening feeling fell over me. "Hello?" I tried to be as confident as possible. A figure formed in my field of vision and made me step back. "Calm down, I'm not here to hurt you." Said a voice, the man held up his hands and stepped into the light.
His green eyes glow with the sun shining in, a smile played on his bright white teeth. He still spoke with his hands still up. "I'm Derek. Your neighbour remember." I shook my head not. "I don't know anything anymore." My words sounded empty.
Derek took a  step forward. "I heard about the accident, but I didn't expect it to be so bad." His words were soft and compassionate. "It's ... It's just that I don't remember who I am." I looked at him with broken words and tears in my eyes. He took a few more steps forward so that he was standing in front of me. "All in good time." He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it a little. In an attempt to get myself together, I nodded at him and smiled small.
We said goodbye and before I was out of sight he said. "By the way, I put your mail on the table, your mailbox started to bulge a bit." I saw the humour in his sense, but it made me uneasy to know he could get into my apartment. "Don't worry, I'm also your landlord." He winked at me. My response was an "Oh" face and then continued on my way to my apartment.
One of the keys on my key ring fell perfectly into the lock of the door. It took me a few tries. I opened the door and walked in, looking for the light switch. Once the room was lit I looked around. The room was filled with things that could be mine, but it didn't feel like it, it didn't feel like my house.
On the dining table was a stack of mail and on top of it was an envelope with the text "READ ME", I left all other letters and took the envelope. I landed on the couch with a thud and opened the envelope.
Before I read the letter I skimmed it quickly, the sender of the letter appealed to me the most, it was my own father. Questions filled my head, why wasn't he here, why did he let me go through this alone. Tears filled my eyes with the thought that I might not be good enough for him to be here.
Hoping that the letter would answer my many questions, I gathered my courage and started reading.
"Dear Y / N,
You will have many questions and I hope to answer as many as possible with this letter. To begin with why I am not here with you;
I heard about your accident and I'm sorry I can't leave because of work, I promise to make it right as soon as I get back, I am currently in Tokyo, for a very special buyer of antique objects.
You are a junior student at Beacon hill high school, I told the school about your condition and they will also explain things to you as soon as you start school again.
Don't try to remember everything at once.
To shire.
Dad.''
With the letter in my hand, I looked ahead, nothing seemed as it should be. It felt like this was not my life. Pondering the issue didn't help me much, it was exhausting and it wasted time. It had been a long day and I was exhausted.
I placed the letter on the table and found my way to my room. It looked like a room for a teenager my age, that's all I could say. The bathroom was opposite to my room, I longed for a shower. I turned the knobs of the water and let it preheat before stepping under it. I prepared a towel and when the water had warmed up I took off the clothes Melissa gave me and dropped them on the floor, without looking back, I stepped into the shower cabin.
For the first time after my visit to the hospital, I saw my scars in a better light. They covered my arms, torso, back and even my legs. Shocked at the amount, I traced one of the scars, hoping to remember something, the story behind my injuries.
Some scars were old and healed, others were new and red. The difference in size was evident, one lying superficially when the other was carved deep into my skin. There was one what looked like a shot wound between all the thin and thick lines. Panic filled my body and breathing became difficult.
The wound was old, completely healed. Certainly about three years old, what could I have done when I was fifteen that would leave me being shot at. I got the impression that I lived a completely different life than people let me know. Maybe this was for the best that I don't remember who I was, maybe I can start over and live a better life.
The warm water did my body good, my stiff muscles relaxed a bit. I let everything rinse off and enjoyed the warmth the water gave and the sound of hundreds of drops falling on the ground to the stone floor.
A much needed night's sleep followed soon after I finished showering and found my pyjamas. Covered under the sheets of my bed, I immediately fell asleep when my head hit the pillow.
My dream was empty and meaningless, even though, I felt rested. An outfit was created by putting some pieces of clothing together and was nothing special, a pair of jeans and a graphic T-shirt with a flannel blouse on top.
After a quick breakfast, I picked up a backpack that was neglected in a corner and put it in a few pens and a note book. Mentally I prepared for my day, a school bus stopped near my apartment. There were a few others who had to use the same bus as well. I kept my head down and watched for none other than myself.
Everyone who was already on the bus looked up from their phones and looked at me intently, I paid no attention to them and quickly looked for an empty place to sit. There was still a spot available in the back of the bus. As soon as I sat down, my attention drifted to the window, where I stared aimlessly outside.
The twenty-minute ride passed by faster than it seemed. In the parking lot, the bus and many others were empty. I was the last person to leave the bus, greeting the driver.
The school doors loomed the closer I got. Inside I wandered through the endless halls looking for the administration, which I had clearly passed by the crowd three times.
Behind the desk was a woman in her fifties, beginning grey hair with small glasses resting on her nose. "Good morning, I, um, I'm back from the hospital and ready to finish my education." I didn't know how to put it better. "What's your name sweetheart." She asked, looking up from her work. "Y/N Woodlend." She immediately typed it into her computer. "Oh yeah, I have your file here, I am really sorry about what happened." I nodded without going into it. "I'll print your class schedule for you and write your safe number on a piece of paper." I thanked her and waited for her to finish.
After she handed over my papers and explained some more things I was on my way to my locker. For the first and second period I had mathematics and chemistry. My locker looked messy, filled with books and notebooks, this was the first time I felt like it was supposed to.
I struggled to find the right classroom, but eventually I found the right one. Most of the students had already taken a seat, all the seats in the back rows were already occupied. The only free spots were in the front. Two boys who were talking to each other at first looked at me abruptly as soon as I walked into the room. I felt uncomfortable, the fact that they suddenly stopped talking the moment I walked in. I shook it off and sat in the front row, at the second table from the left.
Just before the bell rang, another student walked in, the last empty spot was to my left. The boy put his bag down next to the table and sat down. He gave me a little smile when we made eye contact. His blue eyes had something of a sparkle in them, his picture perfect smile filled the room. I quickly turned to the whiteboard to avoid it becoming uncomfortable.
The teacher stepped in and started the presence of the class. "Theo Reaken," She looked around the classroom and this time the boy to my left spoke. "Here." With a slight wave of his hand, he gestured where he was. "Stiles Stelinski," she again looked up from her paper and one of the boys who looked at me said. "Here." And raised his hand to mark his place. "And Y/N Woodlend." She spoke in a whisper and looked at my face. Her eyes looked for mine. "Y/N Woodlend." She said more clearly. "Here." I held up my hand to clarify my soft answer.
The class buzzed after my name was dropped. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed that the whole class was looking at me. The teacher was already interfering. "That's enough, staring is rude." Everyone turned back to their own tabletop and the lesson started. The beginning was rough, it was as if it were a different language, but after a good reading and help from my classmate, Theo, the lesson went smoothly. "Hey, are you OK?" Theo asked, seeing that I was having trouble with the material. "It's like it's from another planet." I joked, even though it was a bad one he laughed.
I cut out the buzz of the class and kept busy with my work. I felt the eyes of someone behind me burning on my neck. The help Theo gave me helped set a standard. By the end of the lesson I was up to date with the material and I had already finished the homework myself. "What lesson do you have next?" He asked out of interest. "Chemistry." I replied quickly. "Me too." We walked silently to the next class.
Here too we sat next to each other, but unfortunately for a short amount of time, as soon as the class started we were divided into pairs. My heart was pounding when I heard who my partner was for this class. Stiles. He immediately objected. "Can't I go with someone else?" He asked without hesitation. "No, she's your partner for this lesson." Making myself small, I hid my face in my arms. Cheeks fiery red with shame. ''Please. I can't work with her." Tears filled my eyes an my heart was pounding in my chest.
Stiles' behaviour started to get on the nerves of the teacher. "Stiles, that's enough, she's your partner and I see you in detention this afternoon." Angrily, he looked at me and shook his head. "Fine, but I'm still not working with her." His voice hinted with disgust. I don't know what I ever did to him to be treated like this.
The classroom filled with whisper. My name fell in every corner of the room. Panic filled every inch of my body and before I realized it I got up, with as result that my crutch fell backwards. As soon as I could I gathered my things and stormed out of the room. "Stiles, to the director's office, now." Was the last thing I heard. All the while, Theo watched speechless, stunned at what had just happened.
Theo also got up and threatening walk to Stiles. He stopped in front of him so close that their chests almost touched each other. "I don't know what she ever did to you before she lost her memories, but I do know she didn't deserve this." By deliberately crashing his shoulder into Stiles', he followed me. "Hey wait." He called after me. Halfway down the hall I stopped and turned to watch Theo sprint to get to me.
I looked at him silently with red and tearful eyes. Without speaking he pulled me into a hug and held me tight to him. Loud sobs left my throat. "It's all right." He said calmingly.
When I ran out of tears to cry, I pushed away from him. "Since I came back to school, I feel like people look at me like I'm a monster, talk about me behind my back, I think I was a bad person before my accident." I looked at him frightening. "I wasn't there before your accident. So I don't know you as the person everyone else knew." He looked at his hands and then back at me. "But I do know that I would like to get to know the person you are now." A smile cleared the corners of my mouth.
From that moment I no longer cared, I was no longer obsessed with my past, but with my present. I wanted to live in the now and not in the past. The accident was a new beginning for me to live a better life than I did, I had the choice to change or fall back into old habits.
Although I didn't know what those old habits were, I chose to start over, I wanted to change for the best. Whatever the reason for my scars, that life was behind me. I found a friend when all my hopes were lost, a friend who chose me for who I am and not who I was.
My bond with Theo grew closer every day, so close that I started to feel more for him than just friends. Now when we were together I got nervous, tripped over my words, or turned red in the face with every compliment he gave me.
Read part 2: Here 
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