#theoweek2024

[theoraekenapperciation]

☆ Theo Raeken Appreciation Week 2024 ☆

this event is for Theo Raeken centric fan works and will run from August 1st — August 7th 2024, it can be gen works or ship, all characters & au’s are welcome! feel free to send in an ask with any questions or concerns!

to participate in this event tag your creations with #theoapprecationweek24 and/or #theoweek24 and then tag this blog @theoraekenapperciation — please make sure to read the rules found here before posting a work for this event

☆ prompts - these can be mixed & matched however you please and if you don’t want to follow them that’s fine too!

day 1 — first meet - what was it like for theo when he first met members of the pack? is there a meet scene you want to rewrite?

day 2 — on accident - is it something sweet like the one bed trope? or is it serious and theo has to navigate the consequences of a major accident happening? or maybe someone else is at fault and he’s caught up in the aftermath?

day 3 — rarepairs - is there any pairings that didn’t happen in the show that you’d like to see? any characters from past seasons you want to see interact with theo?

day 4 — canon divergence - rewrite a scene, add theo into a scene, change the direction of a scene, change an entire storyline, anything your heart desires

day 3 — college - what does he study? is he rooming with someone? does he go out of state or to a community college? does he happen to run into someone from the pack accidentally?

day 6 — being a brother - does theo still have those brotherly tendencies? do they come out around the pack? does he talk about tara a lot or is that kept to himself? is he scared of finding himself in another sibling dynamic?

day 7 — dealers choice!

☆ visual prompts

day 1 — color theory - mess around with color theory in anyway you please!

day 2 — weather conditions - rain, snow, sun, fog, absolutely anything

day 3 — dancing - any kind, jazz, hip hop, goth! maybe he’s dancing with someone? set the scene, is there a certain outfit you can picture theo in as he dances or a place he dances?

day 4 — hobbies - show theo doing any hobby you think he’d enjoy, or he could’ve gotten roped into it by someone in the pack

day 5 — down in hell - find a way to visualize what it was like for theo in the skinwalker hell

day 6 — found family - it could be the pack or maybe someone outside the pack like a parental figure or someone that only showed up for a limited time

day 7 — dealers choice!

☆ alternative prompts

alt 1 — season 5 - any and everything to do with season 5, go wild

alt 2 — season 6 - like season 6 more? perfect, create something to do with any and everything season 6

alt 3 — fluff - anything soft & sweet, or maybe some hurt/comfort, or a canon scene you wish had more fluff in it

[dividers from @cafekitsune]

[aristarr]

The three of them now stood in front of the bathroom door, patiently waiting for Scott to open it. Mccall hesitated, as if something inside of it was so terrible he didn't want them to see it. However he was the one to call. And that meant he needed their help. But how can they do it without knowing the problem?

"Will you open it?" Theo suggested, his hand slightly squeezing Scott's shoulder as if to reassure him that it's okay. Whatever was there, they can deal with it.

Scott nodded, giving both of them a tired look before finally opening the door. Theo was the second after Stiles to shove his head inside to look at that "something" Scott was so anxious about. But when Scott entered the room to open the curtain the other two suddenly lost all the possible words. There was a boy in his friend's bathtub. A boy, who's hands and mouth were tied with a fucking duct tape as a some sort of a criminal who tried to rob the house.

"Scott?" Theo asked patiently, trying to focus his friend’s attention on what he was about to say.

"Yes?" Scott replied, his gaze still stuck on the scared kid, who was looking at all them in turns.

"Have I told you today what an idiot you are?" Theo asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Er, no?"

"Good. You're an idiot, Scott. A big ass idiot"

"Hate to say it, but I agree with Theo. Why the hell did you bring him here, Scott!!?" Stiles cried, and Theo found himself nodding in agreement. Being disappointed with Scott’s life choices was one of the few things they both shared and now it was totally two on one.

"Hey! I panicked??!" Scott’s defense didn’t work, as Stiles was already up for a big ass conversation on “how to not take rash decisions without Stiles’ approval” leaving Theo the one to actually care about the poor child, now absolutely terrified.

"You panicked?! And what are we supposed to do now with your "panic"?

"I guess we are the ones to deal with it, Stiles" Theo sighed, stepping closer to the scared boy. The later looked at him cautiously, but Theo stopped, squatting in front of him.

"Don't worry little one, I won't harm you. I’m actually here to help"

Day 1 of @theoraekenapperciation week!

The prompt: First Meet

Aaand it's my first entry for this year's Theo Raeken Week!! Actually, at first I wanted to go with visual prompts only, but then my mind gave me this and I took that idea and actually made it!

I saw a lot of different posts with hcs and takes on "what if Theo never left and stayed with Scott and Stiles and they all remained friends?" And I love those so much so I decided to stick to that idea and with that rewrite a bit Theo's first meeting with Liam, as I'm sure it would have happened that moment. I had a lot of fun drawing and writing this so I hope you like it!! (And now I think that this idea is more for the "canon divergence" prompt, but anyway)

And I'm extremely sorry for the quality of the drawing🙏🏻 I've tried to fix it but failed

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

theo raeken — devil's advocate

for @theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024, day 7 — dealer's choice! (have no fear, a ficlet is also coming I PROMISE)

[theocanhavemyheart]

Theo: I never tell people off the bat that I'm gay. I wait until they say some homophobic shit and then I laugh and say "you know I'm gay right?" and watch the look of terror on their face.

[cdo499]

Chapters: 9/9 Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Tara Raeken & Theo Raeken, Theo Raeken & Brett Talbot, Theo Raeken & Lorilee Rohr, Alec & Theo Raeken, Derek Hale & Theo Raeken, Corey Bryant & Theo Raeken, Isaac Lahey & Theo Raeken, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken/Brett Talbot, Jordan Parrish & Theo Raeken Characters: Theo Raeken, Tara Raeken, Dread Doctors (Teen Wolf), Liam Dunbar, Brett Talbot, Lorilee Rohr, Alec (Teen Wolf), Derek Hale, Corey Bryant (Teen Wolf), Isaac Lahey, Jordan Parrish, Noah Patrick, Josh Diaz (Teen Wolf), Tracy Stewart, Hayden Romero Additional Tags: Nightmares, Platonic Relationships, Fluff, Crack, Canon-Typical Violence, Swearing, Base Raid, Lacrosse, Author Doesn't Know How Lacrosse Works, Polyamory, Homelessness, Alternate Universe - Magic Summary:

A collection of oneshots and ficlets for @theoraekenappercation's 2024 theo raeken appreciation week!

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

day 2 of @theoraekenapperciation 's theo raeken appreciation week: on accident

Theo's not entirely sure how, but Brett, Lori, and Alec end up following him around.

He'd enrolled back in Beacon Hills High School as a senior, and after everything that happened, Brett and Lori decided to transfer in from Devenford Preperatory School, and Derek strongarmed Alec into enrolling, too.

This meant that he and Brett were in the same year, taking a lot of the same classes, and that Alec and Lori were in their sophomore year—which, in turn, meant that they all (for some fucking reason) started attaching themselves to Theo's hip.

Theo tried telling Liam about this over a free period they both had, but Liam just laughed and asked him why he was complaining about getting new friends. Theo had sighed, and no more than ten seconds later, Brett had decided to seat himself on Theo's other side.

"See?" Theo asked Liam, gesturing to Brett's—well, everything, really.

Liam shrugged. "Can't be that bad."

Theo leaned over the table. "I literally see them 24/7. We live in the same loft. We go to the same school. Alec even hides in my backseat sometimes so he can catch a ride with me."

("What're we talking about?" Brett asked, pulling out a textbook and his laptop. Theo turned to him and said, "Don't act like you didn't listen in on the way here." Brett gave him a shit-eating grin.)

Liam rolled his eyes. "I think they just like you, Theo."

Theo groaned, a little over-dramatically.

At the end of the school day, Theo "accidentally" forgets to let the three know that he's heading home. (He just got in his truck and left—he needed some time alone.)

...But it's not like that's ever stopped them before.

He barely gets to Corey's neighborhood before he spots it—Brett's signature black car, running a red light, with Lori and Alec sticking their heads and bodies out the windows.

Theo curses and makes a u-turn—louder than expected, tires squealing as he goes—and speeds off. He almost misses the shouts of Alec and Lori as Brett's car does the same and starts to chase him.

Fuck him, it's not like it's exactly _easy_ to hide a big, black pickup truck. He doesn't know this area of Beacon Hills as well as the rest of it and kinda banked on Brett not knowing it either—but he guessed that he was being tracked on the Pack-mandatory Find My Friends. (He should've turned it off. Fuck.)

"Get your ass back here!" Theo heard Brett yell, his engine roaring as he started catching up.

Shit.

Theo clicks his tongue and makes a sharp left, rolling quickly back on one of the main roads of Beacon Hills and basically racing Brett through the streets and—giving up halfway through the drive—back to the Hale loft...

...And instead somehow ends up at the Hale Auto Shop. (On accident, he swears. It's like his body just decided to get to a different place.)

He loses the three on the way there, too; how, he has absolutely no idea, but he's grateful for it. He lets himself into the auto shop, waving at Derek, and letting his feet lead him to the too-cozy couch in Derek's office. (Derek'll understand. He's not exactly a bursting social butterfly, either.)

Theo falls face-first onto it and drifts right off to sleep, quiet for the first time in a month.

...For like, ten minutes, maybe, because it isn't long before Theo feels the couch dip with new weight then two bodies pile on top of his.

He groans. "Is an hour of sleep too much to ask?"

Brett's laugh comes from Derek's desk. Opening his eyes, Theo sees him pulling out his notebook and laptop—looks like it's gonna be a long night. Especially since Lori and Alec's combined weight are threatening to take all of Theo's air, and he's about 70% sure that another minute like this would end up with at least one of them suffocating.

Lori hums and rests her chin on the top of his head. "You didn't tell us where you were going. We got worried,"

"I can take care of myself," Theo gruffs, reaching a hand up to bat away at her.

"Yeah—" Alec says, batting back in her defense. "—But it's more fun when you're with other people, right?"

Theo sighs and decides to roll over, effectively sending both Alec and Lori toppling to the floor.

The sound they make draws Derek's footsteps towards the room. "Could you guys not fuck up my office?"

"Derek!" Alec calls from the floor. "Help, Theo assaulted us!"

Derek opens the door, and his gaze is immediately drawn to Alec and Lori on the floor, then up to Theo lying peacefully on the couch. He rolls his eyes. "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Hi, Theo."

Theo waves again. "Hey,"

Derek checks out the room, seems to decide that it's in an okay state, and walks back out. "Dinner at seven! Be there!"

A chorus of yeah's echoes through his office as the door softly shuts behind him.

Theo promptly falls back asleep.

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

@theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024, day 1: first meet

Teddy was eight years old when Tara took him to the used bookstore for the first time.

She picked out a scary book—three big people in masks were on the front cover, and Teddy didn't like them a lot, but she seemed to like it, so he liked it, too.

She read it a lot. The little green book. Every time Teddy saw her finish it, she'd go back to the start and read it again.

Is it good? He asked. She said, of course. That's why I'm reading it again.

Tara walked around a lot.

Teddy didn't know until one day he woke up from a bad dream and wanted to sleep in her room and saw that she was walking down the stairs.

Where are you going? He asked.

She was still walking, so he followed her. She was going out the door. It was supposed to be locked after dinner.

Tara! He called, putting on a hat and a jacket and shoes. She kept walking. Wait for me!

Teddy was nine, now. Twelve chimes sounded from the big clock in their hallway, following him as he ran out the door without looking back. Tara, wait!

Tara didn't.

Teddy was still sleepy and very cold. He wanted to bring Tara back home, but she kept walking! Could she hear him? He started to run after her.

Maybe he could hold her hand and bring her home.

Theodore.

Teddy stopped.

He turned around.

The three scary people in masks and suits were behind him. He was far away from the house now.

He was scared.

Um, Teddy didn't know what to say. Hello.

Your sister wants to go for a swim in the stream.

But it's cold! Teddy said.

The one in the front had a cane. It was scary and sharp. Teddy was scared. Why don't you go tell her that?

Teddy nodded and turned back around to run to Tara, but he couldn't find her.

The stream.

He ran to the bridge they liked to play on, the one that they would jump off of in the summer. Maybe she thought it was summer!

Tara! He shouted.

She wasn't on the bridge, but Teddy knew she was here. Where?

Theo!

That was her voice! Where was she?

Theo, down here!

Theo put his hands on the rail and looked down.

Tara, why are you swimming? He asked. It's cold!

Tara smiled and kicked her feet. It's nice! Don't tell Mom and Dad, please?

Teddy nodded, but he'll tell in the morning. Are you gonna come out?

Tara shook her head. No, it's nice.

It's cold!

It's nice.

<hr>

Theo woke up gasping for breath, clawing at his chest—that's not what happened. It couldn't have been; he watched Tara drown.

(And he remembered liking it.)

Light swung through his windows, followed by a sharp rapping.

Theo swore lightly, still coming off the fear that had decided to etch itself into the very flesh of the heart that beat within his chest, and raised a hand in acknowledgement.

"You can't park here," The cop called.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll go." Theo waved, running a hand over his face.

"You've got five minutes before I start writing you up, kid."

As he drove away, he tried to shove that dream into the back of his mind and separate what was true from what his brain decided to make up—yes, Tara bought the book, and yes, she read it cover to cover multiple times, but she was never a sleepwalker, and the Dread Doctors had never really scared him. (Before they met, specifically.)

In fact, Theo remembered liking the Dread Doctors before they started operating on him. He remembered Tara reading the book to him, and hanging on her every word as she did. He remembered thinking that being an experiment for the Dread Doctors seemed cool. (Fuck, if he couldn't be more wrong.)

Other than that? Well, he remembered watching Tara drown.

He didn't remember pushing her in. He didn't remember getting on the bridge. He didn't remember getting dressed. He didn't remember waking up in the middle of the night.

In fact, the only thing he remembered from that night was watching Tara slowly succumb to hypothermia and her calling his name for help.

He didn't remember meeting the Dread Doctors that night. He didn't remember them telling him that Tara wanted to swim in the stream during one of the coldest nights of the year, he didn't remember the Surgeon encouraging him to go after her.

Honestly, to Theo, it felt like the Dread Doctors had been in his life from its very beginning.

(But maybe he hadn't had much of a life, anyway. Maybe they simply erased his memories. Does he even remember what his parents look like?)

He scoffed to nobody in particular.

(He'll never fucking know. Whether a blessing or a curse, that was the fact.)

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

day 3 of @theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024: rarepair (trio!) (c: theo, liam, and brett, aka. thiamett)

Theo didn't know shit about lacrosse.

Yet here he was, cheering for Brett, a green-clad 28 on the field, and yelling whenever Liam—next to him, begrudgingly in green as opposed to his usual maroon—did.

He knew the basics, and by picking up things that are good and bad depending on the general average chemosignals of their side of the stands, asking Liam why some people were groaning after a referee made a call, and looking at the huge, glowing numbers, he could tell that the Devenford Crocs were winning by a narrow margin. Their side of the stands, painted in green and yellow, were yelling at the team every three seconds, demanding plays using words that Theo wasn't even aware could be strung next to each other, and the other side—purple and white, rooting for the home team of the Rudwalkie Beavers—were just as energetic.

Brett caught the ball.

"Holy shit!" Liam yelled, basically springing up in the air.

Theo followed, yelling (his best attempt at) encouragement in Brett's direction as he started barrelling through three Beavers that—foolishly—decided to swarm him.

"Come on, Brett!" Liam shouted, cupping his hands over his mouth like Brett wouldn't have heard him anyway.

Brett dodged a body block by one of the players and seemed to put a lot into his swing, securing another goal for the Crocs, putting them ahead by four points, now.

Liam jumped, grabbing Theo as he loudly celebrated the goal. Theo started cheering, too, watching Brett carefully as he seemed to search for people in the Devenford side, smile clear in his body language, if not his face.

Lori—who had been on the other side of Liam the entire time—started shouting his name and waving her arm to catch his attention. Liam and Theo followed.

It took a couple seconds before Brett spotted them, but when he did, he pointed at them with his stick and made motions of blowing kisses at them, which Liam and Theo started playfighting over.

<hr>

It wasn't long before the timer started counting down, with the seconds going by quickly. It was looking like the final point. Lyles had the ball, and since Brett was open, he passed it to him—

(Everything was so loud. Even if Brett had been doing this for years, the volume could get hard to deal with. It's why he wore earplugs when first competing, why he tries to focus on the visual rather than the audible. It was too much, and the bright floodlights did nothing to help.)

—Brett caught it.

He heard Liam, Theo, and Lori cheering and yelling for him to run like they were right next to him. He's got this.

He focused all his energy on the sprint, dodging Rudwalkie players and barrelling through the ones who thought they could take him as he got closer to the goal.

A purple jersey flashed into his vision, quickly taken down by two green ones as Brett tossed the ball and hoped.

He heard the buzzer first. Then the goalie throwing his stick to the ground. Followed by cheers.

It took Brett a couple seconds to react, because holy shit, they were making it to state championships.

Before he knew it, he was being tackled to the ground by his teammates, knocked to the ground by everyone's combined weight, air taking a quick bow to exit stage right out of his lungs. He took a breath in and swore loudly in celebration, blinking away the sweat that dripped into his eyelashes and drinking in the cheers from the guys and the stands.

A couple minutes passed before the Crocs let him get up, and the first thing he did was toss his helmet and stick to them and run right up to the stands to find Lori, Theo, and Liam.

"You did it!" Lori said, jumping out of the third row, off to the side, and running towards Brett, hugging him tight. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed the top of her head.

He didn't know what to say, especially since Liam's arms snaked around his torso from behind with Theo's from the side. He just accepted a few kisses from both.

"You ready for state?" Theo asked, bumping their shoulders together. Lori pulled away, and Theo took her place—like a vacuum—to brush a curl out of Brett's face.

Brett let out a light laugh. "Don't act like you knew what was going on,"

"You did amazing!" Liam said, taking a second to wipe Brett's neck down with a handtowel before kissing a spot there.

("Ew, guys, PDA," Lori mock-gagged. Brett flipped her off, because which one of them, exactly, was going to state?)

<hr>

They'd dropped off Lori at the Ito Pack House and just kinda kept driving. (Well, Theo did the driving. Brett was in Liam's usual passenger seat, but Liam was glad to be able to stretch his legs in the back seat.) He almost fell asleep during the drive, listening to Brett and Theo's soft chatter over the low radio.

The truck stopped moving, making Liam blink his eyes blearily open. "Something wrong?" He asked, looking over to the front row.

Brett shook his head, taking wipes Theo handed to him. "Just washing off the paint," He said.

Liam sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "I can do it," He insisted. "You've gotta rest."

"I'm alright," Brett said with a smile. He opened the pack of wipes and took one out.

Liam leaned his head on the shoulder of Theo's seat, trying not to fall asleep again. (He didn't know why he was so sleepy, really, but he had to try to keep awake.) "Where are we?" He asked.

Theo tilted his head towards Brett as Brett started wiping the face paint off—a crude 28 drawn on his face in Brett's own (in Liam's opinion, horrible) handwriting. "Just on the edge of the Preserve," He said softly, his face barely moving.

Liam hummed, then looked at Brett, who seemed very concentrated on his task. "How're you feeling?"

Brett shrugged, a little over-humble relative to his usually confident attitude. "Pretty good."

"Good," Liam said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "Tired?"

"You seem a lot more tired than I am," Brett noted. Liam made a mocking sound, to which Brett lightly told him to "Shut up,"

A moment of silence passed before Theo said, "You still need to explain how lacrosse works to me,"

That woke Liam up.

Queue a lecture of Liam and Brett going over the game while explaining the rules and pointing out specific moments where they agreed or disagreed with the refs until the paint of both Theo and Liam's faces were wiped clean off. This, somehow, ended up with the three of them in the pickup's truck bed, sitting or laying down on each other as music played from the stereo inside.

Liam stared up at the star-crossed sky, wondering how many of them he could see because of his Werewolf eyes and how many he couldn't see because of light pollution. He tried to find a few constellations, but really, he only knew what three looked like off the top of his head. (The three being Orion and the two Dippers.)

He felt like lying, a little bit, so he said, "I'm cold."

Theo, one hand still in Liam's hair, bent backwards, grabbed a blanket, and tossed it onto him. "Here."

("Liar," Brett said, taking off his varsity jacket and throwing it to Liam anyway.)

Liam smiled, because they both definitely heard his heartbeat spike. "Thank you," He said, putting on the jacket and wrapping himself in the blanket.

They lapsed back into silence, Liam focusing on the song in the car, a slow-tempo Arctic Monkey's song—Theo's favorite band.

Theo started humming along, which brewed a little idea in Liam's head. He turned to Theo.

"You wanna dance?"

Theo cut his humming off. "What?"

Liam turned to Brett and raised his eyebrows.

Brett pushed himself off the wall of the truck bed. "Sure."

Liam beamed, taking the blanket off and jumping out of the bed, Brett following, doing a somewhat dramatic vault over it.

<hr>

Theo turned, still seated, to watch them. Brett—being the taller one by a more than significant margin—took Liam by the waist and started swaying along to the music.

He watched as Liam complained about Brett—definitely purposefully—stepping on his toes, as he spun under Brett's arm anyway, as Brett bent down and Liam reached up for a kiss.

Brett looked over at Theo and gestured for him to come over. "Repeat the song," He said. "Let's dance."

Theo passed the corner of his lip through his teeth and decided to comply. Seemed like fun, although he'd never really had the chance to dance before. "Okay, but you'll have to teach me."

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

day 3 of @theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024: rarepair (b: theo and isaac, or as i like to call them, laeken!)

this one's pretty long at ~1.3k words! also apologies for the potentially incorrect french! i used google translate, but feel free to correct any mistakes in the replies :)

Suffice it to say that Theo and Isaac's first meeting got off to a rocky start.

"I don't like you." Isaac introduced.

Theo nodded and crossed his arms. "Good to know."

"Hm." Isaac spoke under his breath, "Va te faire enculer," Go fuck yourself.

"Viens ici et fais-le toi-même," Theo replied curtly. Come here and do it yourself.

Isaac narrowed his eyes. "Nice accent."

"You, too." Theo said, mirroring the expression.

Scott decided to cut in. "Okay! Glad to see we're all getting along here,"

Scott had gathered the entire Pack for a meeting in the McCalls' place—Theo included—since it was Isaac's first time back in Beacon Hills since he left. Theo assumed that Isaac had heard about him, since—well. It's not like anyone who didn't know anything about Theo would be radiating with rage at that moment, but maybe he was someone who'd make a stranger react like that.

It was the former. Theo was a hundred percent sure of this fact once they'd met for a second time, on a mission briefing for a raid.

Isaac nodded in Theo's direction. Theo took it as a signal to walk over.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

Isaac leaned in to whisper in his ear. (Unnecessary.) "You've got something on your shirt."

Theo looked down.

It was Isaac's hand flipping him off.

Theo pursed his lips and nodded. "Anything else?"

When he looked back up, Isaac had a smirk playing on his lips. "Listen, I don't usually wish hell on people—especially a friend's boyfriend—but I hope tonight goes badly for you."

"Thanks." Theo said, walking away. Again, it's not like he could exactly blame Isaac for having this grudge—in some other world, Theo would have one just like that, too—but it was starting to get a little irritating. (Which seemed to be the goal, but Theo wasn't about to let someone else under his skin. Especially not when they were about to raid another hunters' weapons cache.)

Well. It went sideways. (It usually does, in Theo's opinion, when Scott makes his ever-optimistic plans, but it's not like anyone outside of Liam ever wanted to hear it.)

They underestimated the numbers. Records hacked by Stiles (somehow, Theo didn't know, he hadn't seen the guy in months, and he felt like that was on purpose) said that there shouldn't be more than a dozen guards stationed at the warehouse at the time they decided to invade, but it was too late—and Theo and Isaac were trapped inside of it—by the time they noticed the fifty-strong swarm inside of it.

Isaac let out a swear as he pressed his back flat against the wall. They hadn't been spotted yet, but Theo remembered that there would be two cameras just around the corner, and had pulled Isaac backwards as he reminded him of this in a rushed whisper.

Why Scott decided to pair the two of them up, neither of them knew, but that was a question to be asked once they got out.

"Watch my back," Isaac whispered, pulling out his phone. (Theo noticed him triple-checking the ringer and volume.)

Theo did.

And he did it well.

Three hunters eventually lay unconscious at his feet, Theo making sure they were just out of view of the cameras before deciding to make his moves. The information Stiles supplied them with didn't specify whether or not the cameras moved, but Theo sat them up against the wall and next to each other just in case they did.

Isaac tucked his phone into his back pocket. "I got the escape route, but Scott says he trusts us enough to grab intel anyway."

Theo rolled his eyes and started ruffling through the hunters' things. All three of them passed by with handguns—one with a shotgun—and appropriate ammo. None had silencers, but if they could cause a diversion, it wouldn't matter anyway.

He had their things spread out on the floor in front of him when Isaac asked, "What's the plan?"

Theo picked up a handgun and checked its ammo. It clicked back into place when he confirmed that it held a full mag. "You a good shot?"

Theo, of course, was confident in his abilities. He shot a camera dead, and Isaac ran over to trigger the fire alarm underneath it. He had his own handgun, but said that he could only hit big targets, which was good enough, considering that any spot on a camera was vulnerable, anyway.

They were able to take out two more before the hunters started appearing.

Isaac shouted for Theo to cover him as he tossed the gun aside and basically dove straight into the crowd of them.

Theo begrudgingly shot the camera around the corner before joining him. They were leaving a digital trail, yes, but if the security room had already evacuated due to the fire alarm and if Stiles' first round of information was right—meaning they didn't have remote access to their CCTV logs—then it wouldn't really matter, and the only trail they'd leave behind would be a bunch of unconscious hunters. (Who would, hopefully, be too busy nursing concussions to remember what Theo and Isaac looked like.)

Thankfully, they were able to barricade themselves in the weapons storage room—it had another exit, from what Theo could see, but Isaac decided to look around and check for any intel the hunters could've left behind.

Theo, in the meantime, checked for any spare security systems. He'd taken out as many cameras as he could see as soon as they'd entered, but that didn't account for any possible mics or motion sensors; he'd just have to hope that the hunters weren't too sneaky.

Something behind him slid open, heavy and metallic screeching against a rail.

"Secret door," Isaac noted. "Classic."

Theo turned to see what was behind it—

—Right as he smelled blood, Isaac's cut-off yell following shortly after.

"Isaac!" He yelled, running over.

Isaac's hand was bleeding. Something had been shoved into it—might've been hidden spikes on the side of the sliding door? "Trap," He said.

Theo pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. "I got it. It's wolfsbane."

Isaac's breathing didn't steady as Theo pulled out a match and struck it against a strip of phosphorus. He tucked his wallet back into his pocket.

"This is gonna suck," Theo warned, holding it over Isaac's hand.

Isaac shoved it in Theo's direction. "Just do it."

Theo nodded and took his wrist, holding it steady. He didn't count down, just shoved the match into the wound as Isaac's shift resurfaced, making him let out a roar that rung in Theo's ears.

Later, Isaac and Theo are running out of the warehouse with duffle bags of stolen tech, weapons, and intel—and a single surveillance camera for shits and giggles—when Isaac asks, "Would you come to my funeral?"

It catches Theo off-guard, but he counters with, "I don't know, are you inviting me?"

Isaac shrugs. "You covered me a bunch today, and as long as you don't cause it, I wouldn't mind you being there."

Theo decides to count his blessings and doesn't bring up all the reasons Isaac shouldn't want him there. "Yeah, sure, if Stiles doesn't kill me first."

"You think he'd do that?" Isaac asks, humorously.

"It's probably his last wish," Theo points out.

Isaac laughs as Theo unlocks his pickup truck, which has thankfully stayed untouched from how they left it earlier that evening. They haul the duffle bags into the truck bed and climb in.

But, yeah. Isaac's alright, Theo thinks.

[aristarr]

Day 4 of @theoraekenapperciation week The prompt - canon divergence

do you need help? – General Audience – Liam Dunbar&Theo Raeken – 1.9k

“Do you need help?” he asks right away, a bit confused by Theo’s shocked expression. The guy in front of him blinks a few times before asking him another question in return. “Do I need help? With what?” Theo asks, still not quite getting what’s happening right now. When he agreed to help Scott with his newly turned beta he didn’t expect being yanked off by this said beta and he definitely wasn’t expecting this young boy offering him his help. The help he didn’t even know with what to be honest.

I actually wanted to skip day 4 as I didn't have any ideas of what to write but then I thought of going on with the same idea I came up with for the first day and this thing was born!! Working on this was absolutely amazing and I hope it'll make you feel better and you'll have fun reading it!!

[aristarr]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alec & Theo Raeken, Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, implied Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken Characters: Theo Raeken, Alec (Teen Wolf), Liam Dunbar, Corey Bryant (Teen Wolf), Mason Hewitt, Nolan (Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Caring Theo Raeken, Good Theo Raeken, Liam Dunbar's Pack | Puppy Pack (Teen Wolf), puppy pack being chaotic Summary:

“Alec” Mason starts having everybody stare at the boy, who now became all nervous from a sudden attention, “did you just call Theo dad?”

or the one, where Alec accidentally calls Theo dad and the pack(Mason) goes wild

Day 2 of @theoraekenapperciation week!!

The prompt: on accident

I know I’m a bit behind the schedule but here’s a small silly thingy for the second day!! I’m not sure if it actually fits the prompt but anyway let it be here. I had a lot of fun writing it so I hope you have it too while reading!

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

day 3 of @theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024: rarepair! (a: theo & corey, or as i like to call them, bryken)

"Theo," Corey asked. "Do you know anything about the sunk-cost fallacy?"

He almost missed it. The quick, half-a-second glance that Theo made towards Liam's direction, three tables away, talking to Diaz and Sui.

Corey narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Yeah." Theo seemed to snap out of it and focused on the textbook. "It's when like, something's been going wrong for so long that you can't give up on it anymore. Like, say you own a printing company."

"You've spent ten whole years on the printing company, yeah?"

Corey slowly nodded. "Where's this going—?"

"—It's going out of business." Theo suddenly said, cutting him off. He picked up a stray mechanical pencil and started pointing to stuff on the page that meant almost nothing to Corey. "Costs have been going up, profit's been going down, you're starting to get in the red. Following?"

"...Yeah?"

"But you don't wanna give up on the business." Theo tapped on the corner of a graph that had a gridded white background and a sharp, striking red arrow pointing to its bottom-right. "Why?"

Corey thought for a moment. "Because I spent a decade building it?"

"Exactly." Theo said, dropping the mechanical pencil down and sitting back in his seat with crossed arms, a little self-satisfied. "The sunk-cost fallacy is basically that: you've spent so much time, and you essentially can't lose any more, so you keep going."

"In hopes that you'll turn a profit?"

"In hopes that you'll get something." Theo said. "Anything to show that your time was worth it, you know?"

Corey had started to think that he wasn't talking about printing companies a while ago, but that confirmed it. His voice was lower when he replied, "Yeah."

He looked down and started scribbling some notes on his textbook and notebook as he stole a fry from Liam's open lunchbox.

The irony of the situation wasn't lost on him. Really, the empathetic side of him thought that this was the right moment to thank Theo for bringing him back to life, but the logical side of him knew that he still hated Theo. (Marginally less than a few months ago, but still hate.)

Looking back up for just a second, the Chameleon saw the first Chimera looking off into the distance, smelling of melancholy—although, at that point, it might as well have been his natural disposition.

Corey didn't miss the way Theo's pupils dilated whenever he looked at Liam, how his heart only ever seemed to diverge from its usual 60 BPM whenever Liam was around, how he constantly saved Liam's life, how ready he was to do anything for him.

He didn't say anything about it, but by god was gay pining such a penetrative smell.

Anyway. Corey looked back down and scribbled the words, putting extra effort into something you know is gonna go wrong on his page. Totally not about the guy who was sitting right across from him. He also flipped over to the last page of his notebook and quickly wrote, theo, liam, sunk-cost fallacy before flipping it back to the page he had been taking notes on.

He'd have to find a way to fix that.

this is actually an excerpt from a future chapter of my 6b rewrite longfic come back down to my knees! watch out for it 👀 (idk when it'll be ready)

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

day 4 of @theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024: canon divergence!

What if Theo was found by Parrish after Season 6A?

partly inspired by @multifandom-damnation 's fic Heart coming up my throat, think I'm getting worse at breathing !!

Jordan probably shouldn't have been surprised to find the Tundra at its most frequent spot—just west of the Preserve, a couple miles out from where his internal map placed the Nemeton. He turned the cruiser off and approached the truck.

There was a scent there; familiar, but only in passing. This was a supernatural creature the Hellhound was meant to be protecting, but something wasn't right. It might've been the sharp presence of night terrors or fear in John Doe's scent or the simple fact that Jordan couldn't identify what kind of creature this was based on their scent. That was wrong. He was a Hellhound—that was basically his whole thing. He was getting two conflicting ideas: Werewolf and Werecoyote, and unless there were two people in that truck—unlikely, considering the singular, lightning-quick pulse Jordan heard—this might have been one of the surviving chimeras from the Dread Doctors incident last year, which meant only one true result.

Jordan gently rapped on the glass window, immediately waking the kid up.

He groaned. "Come on,"

That voice. Jordan quickly placed it, the conclusion becoming clear in his mind. "Theo?"

Theo Raeken jolted to a seating position and brought his body forward to look at him. "Parrish."

Fuck. Theo should not have let this happen. He hurriedly pushed the hood off his head and started packing up his pillow and blanket. Fuck. Why was Parrish here? Theo had memorized most of the Deputies' and Park Rangers' routes by then, and he should not have been there at that time on that day—it would've been fine if literally any other officer had found him.

He kept an ear out for anything Parrish would feel, think, or say. He probably knew better than to ask what a teenager is doing, sleeping in his car by the Preserve, right? (If Theo saw this coming, he would've parked further within, but he could only take so many precautions. Fuck!)

He'd almost completely cleaned up his backseat before Parrish decided to say something.

"So _you're_ the John Doe that keeps popping up in our system," Parrish said, and—somehow—Theo knew he meant it without judgement, without malice, and—somehow—with understanding.

Theo wanted to beg him not to identify him in the system, wipe the record clean—anything to keep him anonymous in the eyes of law enforcement. The last thing he needed right now was a fine or a sentence; or worse, an impoundment.

Instead, he just nodded. "Apparently." Only then did he realize that they'd been having a conversation separated by the truck's windows, but that never really mattered to supernatural creatures anyway, so he ignored it.

Parrish exhaled from his nose, and Theo could imagine little tendrils of fire following it like a cartoon dragon.

He seemed to be deliberating. Whatever was going on in his mind, Theo really didn't want to stick around and find out, but all he did was crawl into the driver's seat and wait.

"How about," Parrish started, slow, like he was talking to a startled creature—which, honestly, couldn't describe Theo more at that moment. "I take you to my place? I have a spare mattress and a decent space heater."

Theo shook his head. He could find his own way. "I can't—"

—Parrish stopped him with a casual hand. "Just for a night, or..." After a short pause, a decision was made in Parrish's head. It's like Theo could see it.

"...Or I'll tell Scott."

Fuck. He got him—that was the best answer Parrish could've possibly given. (And he seemed to know it, given the scent Theo detected.)

Theo clicked his tongue. "Which way?"

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

day 7 of @theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024: dealer's choice! (swords & magic au)

i wanted to call this a medieval au, but it's medieval in the same way bbc merlin is medieval. so.

names: Theodore - Theo, Therese - Tracy, Joshua - Josh, Haeden - Hayden, Corbin - Corey, Noah - Noah, William - Liam, Macen - Mason

The thief better known as the Gold-Eyed Dog sidestepped, dodging another blow.

He could almost hear Marcel in his ear, chastising him for letting himself get close enough to risk being caught, but excitement poured throughout his body, fueling him for the next hundred paces he needed to reach safety.

Nearly laughing all the way down into the underground tunnels, Theodore entered their little base with the True Alpha's Heart in (metaphorical) hand.

"You're back." Therese pointed out, still not having moved from her spot at the chemical station. She'd been "perfecting" her paralytic formula for the past week, now, and Theodore and the rest of the Chimera Band have had to almost forcefeed her meals due to her unwavering dedication to the task.

"Not one "welcome home" for me?" Theodore lightly played, catching his breath as his body finished shifting from Wolf to Human.

"Barely a home." Joshua said, rising from his station by the west entrance. He'd been assigned there ever since a near-death experience only a moon before. He still hadn't fully recovered, and though Theodore ordered him to stay put, he seemed to have trouble with the concept of simply doing nothing. "Do you have it?"

Theodore nodded and held up the leather purse. "One True Alpha Heart." He said, with just enough pride to be noted as reasonable. He was almost too late to pull it back towards him when he felt it being pulled away. "Enough, Corbin."

Corbin re-appeared with a dramatic sigh. He had just turned from a stealth and reconnaissance mission with Haeden and Noah. "The least you could do is tell us what it's for."

Theodore held the purse close to him, hooking it back onto his tool belt, and shrugged. "I would have to know to tell you."

"Don't be coy," Haeden's voice echoed from the shadows of her cot. She was always itching for a fight, same as Joshua. "You know everything."

Theodore let out a laugh as he sauntered over to his seat in front of the fire. Corbin joined him, sitting on the rocking chair opposite Theodore's own. "My thanks. Where's Noah?"

"Here," His voice echoed—exhausted, beyond a doubt. As the newest recruit of the Chimera Band, this much movement and motion in a handful of days seemed a lot to get used to, and it had been a busy week with a lot of gold on the line. "Just get to it, if you could."

"Not at the moment," Theodore deflected. He took and opened a small, empty chest from beside the fireplace, setting the Heart within. "We've been hired."

Noah and Haeden emerged from their cots, the rest of the Chimeras gathering around the fire to see the little slip of paper Theodore pulled out from his cloak.

"Found it on a tree trunk in my path," He said, unraveling it. "Whoever sent this knows where we're located—might be wise to accept."

To the Gold-Eyed Dog & companions,

("Companions," Corbin snorted.)

Search and rescue. Bring as many of your unit as possible. Barter for your price if you'd like, for a minimum of a thousand gold pieces.

(Joshua whistled lowly, and Noah let out a surprised exhale.)

Further mission details will be confirmed with the contact. Meet at dusk in the clearing by your tunnels' entrance. I am sure you know the one I speak of.

("How?" Haeden asked. "I didn't spy anyone nearby when I patrolled.")

M.H.

("An anonymous contact for a high price?" Therese noted. "I wonder which lord got himself mixed up in a scandal this time.")

Theodore deliberated for a moment, then said, "Corbin, Therese, you're joining me. We leave in two hours."

Corbin cheered as Therese groaned. "I haven't finished the solution yet—"

"—A thousand gold," Theodore singsonged.

She let out a sharp sigh and begrudgingly said, "It can wait."

Joshua made a noise, just a bit over-upset at the idea of being excluded from another mission.

Theodore turned to him. "I wouldn't worry. Once that injury's healed—" Theodore pat his shoulders, making Joshua shriek once more. "—You'll be returned to your invaluable state. At the moment, there isn't much for our prime fighter to do without the proper muscles for fighting."

<hr>

Theodore, Corbin, and Therese had left. Joshua looked over to Haeden and Noah. "Are we really staying put?"

Haeden had already put on her cloak. "Of course not. Let's?"

"Let's." Noah rolled out of his cot in full gear and picked up his swords from the nearby table. "The note did say to bring as much of the unit as possible, and Joshua doesn't look like an invalid to me,"

"I'm glad." Joshua pulled his lips into a smile. "I would've hated to go at it alone."

<hr>

Theodore approached the clearing closest to the eastern entrance with caution, less on edge, however, knowing that Corbin and Therese weren't very far.

The client, at least, was not a Creature such as they—or perhaps was one, with great strength. Not many Creatures could travel through their forest of rowan without incident—without the Chimera Band knowing.

"Gold-Eyed Dog?" Someone asked, behind Theodore.

He turned, quick—spotting a figure draped in Druid's clothing, one of their age. How had he managed to sneak past Theodore without alerting him? (Or Corbin and Therese, for that matter?) Theodore composed himself and nodded. "Client?"

The Druid nodded. "Druid Macen," He introduced, the name a passing familiarity to Theodore's ears. "Walk with me?" He asked, although it felt more like a compulsion than a willing motion when Theodore obeyed.

Theodore resisted the urge to look around for Therese and Corbin as he listened to the Druid begin his spiel.

"I'll cut to the chase and we can negotiate further afterwards," He started. Theodore nodded, and he began, "A lord in my charge snuck out of the castle last night, and I'd like to see him returned before his father notices."

"Which lord?" Theodore asked, careful not to say anything that might sway the Druid's attention away from working with them—he did propose an attractive offer, and Theodore intended to collect.

The Druid seemed to contemplate, but not for long. "Lord William, of the territory just east of here."

Theodore barely contained his surprise, and the Druid seemed to spot it. (Perceptive as well as intelligent.)

"Now, I understand that you and the rest of your Band are known somewhat as criminals and exiles to the territory of Geyer, which, I have to say, I'm glad you've brought them all with you—" The Druid said, his walk slowing. He waved his hand—Theodore felt a wave of magic flush over him, and something fall out of the trees. The Druid gestured behind Theodore.

He turned to see Corbin and Therese on a pile of leaves, rubbing sore spots, and just to their right, Joshua, Noah, and Haeden, who Theodore specifically remembered telling _not_ to follow them. He opened his mouth to berate them—

"—But rest assured," The Druid said. (Powerful, as well. Theodore should pay more attention to Geyer politics.) "Return Lord William to the castle by dusk tomorrow, and your criminal records in the territory will cease to exist."

Theodore gave him a suspicious look, a brow raised. "Seems a lot to risk for a lord," He said warily.

Druid Macen shrugged. "His importance as the only son of the former Duke of Dunbar is nothing to dismiss."

Theodore noticed an ellipsis that seemed to be figuratively forming above the Druid's head. "...And?"

Druid Macen's features set into something much more grave than the expression he had worn during the rest of the exchange. "I have reason to believe he's been kidnapped. Or otherwise set upon by rogues."

Theodore noted that, the beginnings of a plan forming in his head. "And why us?"

Druid Macen leveled him a look. "Mercenaries usually keep quiet when paid well."

He was entirely right, of course, and although Theodore had already made up his mind before they had met, he still considered his options: first, to accept the offer, second, to run away, leave the nobles to their business, and change their hideaway's location, and third, to kill Druid Macen on the spot and take everything in his pockets. While the latter two options were passingly attractive, Theodore had already made his mind—and would have been backed into a corner, anyways.

Theodore gave him an affirmative—but not definitive—nod. "Your terms?"

Druid Macen beamed.

<hr>

The terms the Druid set out weren't exactly unreasonable, simply... restrictive. In a sense. The Chimera Band didn't do much work involving other parties outside of gathering information, so working directly with Druid Macen during all hours of the following day felt much like they were being put under surveillance. Yes, Theodore had brought Druid Macen back to their tunnels, and yes, he told Therese of his plans to relocate their base anyway, but it didn't do much in the way of comforting her to the fact that a member of the court they were all exiled from was standing in their space—their home. ("Home".)

Therese felt that way, at least. Whenever she looked around at her companions, it seemed that they reveled in the attention Druid Macen so freely gave—especially Corbin. Not to say that she didn't enjoy it, either—Druid Macen was especially perceptive and not at all lacking in intellect, even helped Therese with a particular formula—but she was one who much preferred being by her lonesome than to meet another "recruit of the week" (the term they all used for aiding mercenaries they hired to fill in the gaps in their skill).

They left to conduct their search only hours later, food in their bellies, armor on their backs, weapons on their belts, and Therese with vials in her pockets.

Druid Macen appeared at her side and pointed at them. "How do you use those?"

Therese grinned, almost wolfish as she pulled out her hand. She turned her nails—her claws—towards him. "These vials are specially designed for quick application onto these claws." She brought one claw closer to his gaze. "You see their material?"

The Druid nodded.

"Porous," She started. "When I stab these claws into the lid or body of one of my vials, they take in the formula. Then, it's just a matter of close combat; and you'll find that I'm quite good at that."

<hr>

Theodore walked towards the back with Joshua as the Druid led the search. Druid Macen had brought the Chimera Band towards the last spot Lord William was seen, stumbling (presumably drunk) through the wood. Naturally, Theodore set the Chimeras to their tasks—with Noah and Haeden being left with Druid Macen for the most important task of actually catching his trail. The tip Druid Macen's contacts got was very helpful, considering that they were able to quickly find Lord William's last known location—but something about it all was too simple, and Theodore was on edge because of it.

The way the search was currently going, Theodore wouldn't have been surprised if bandits began to drop from the upper branches of the trees and attack. It was too quiet, and snapping twigs from far-off ground did nothing to comfort him. He needed to stay cautious.

Therese seemed to agree with him, since her head regularly swiveled from side to side, searching for something that only she would be able to see.

It wasn't long, however, before they encountered a shack.

"Hold," Theodore commanded, unsheathing a knife and slowly making his way towards it. He was suspicious—who wouldn't be?—as to the lack of guards surrounding it. If this was where Lord William's tracks led, there was bound to be high-level security; there had to be. (Theodore had heard tales of the Lord's strength, even experiencing its full brunt, but unless something drastic had happened to progress his strength, he shouldn't have been able to take out as many bandits as Druis Macen feared would take him.)

The door had a lock on it, which Theo made quick work of. He threw it to the side and slowly opened the door.

Inside, illuminated by the dancing morning light streaming in from a slit between planks of wood, was Lord William, tied up to the wall by his wrists and ankles, asleep.

"Lord William?" Theodore whispered. He made a motion, signaling his companions to stay where they were.

The Lord shifted, no longer in that sleep-still state. "Who is it?"

Theodore decided to joke, still keeping his knife out and his guard up. "A savior."

Lord William seemed to rouse, just a bit. "I don't..." He blinked his eyes open. "...I don't need saving."

"Being tied up by all four limbs seems to contradict that," Theodore said, creeping ever closer.

Lord William raised his gaze to lock with Theodore's. Something played behind that bright blue, something that clouded his sunny sky for just a moment.

"Theodore?" He asked, voice low. (Theodore didn't doubt that the Chimeras could hear him, nonetheless.) "What are you doing here?"

Theodore went to cut the rope from his wrists. "Your Druid asked us for help. Told me to bring everyone I could."

Lord William's eyes blew wide open. His voice lowered to a sharp hush. "They're still here."

Theodore succeeded in one and moved onto the other. "Who?" He made a motion for the Chimeras to remain on guard.

Lord William moved his free hand to the restrained one to help it get free. He said, low, "...Hunters."

Theodore stilled. "What?"

this week was so fun!! (i know it's late but y'know... life) let me know if you'd want a full version of this!

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

day 6 of @theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024: being a brother!

The hunt for Monroe brought many an old McCall Pack ally back to Beacon Hills; namely, Derek Hale and Isaac Lahey.

Theo—for some reason or another, even he himself wasn't sure why—stayed in Beacon Hills just long enough for him to be strongarmed into staying off the streets by way of living in the Hale loft.

Peter Hale was long gone—the only person he ever deemed important enough to reply to was Malia, and even then, the only thing he told her was that he would be in Paris for the forseeable future and that he would be leaving her a frankly extraordinary amount of money. This meant that the only ones in the loft were Derek, Isaac, and whatever stray Scott picked up along the way.

Less than a month into his stay at the Hale loft, Theo noticed some mildly concerning things about his behavior beginning to develop: one, a sense of obedience whenever Scott, Derek, or Isaac told him to do something, and two, a rising need to irritate them to no end.

He felt himself begin to unravel—and not necessarily in a bad way. He just felt... freer.

It started with Isaac.

Isaac didn't hold any real power over him—just the ability to whisper whatever he wanted into Derek or Scott's ears that could potentially set off a domino effect that would affect Theo negatively—and this was why Theo liked to rile him up.

And he wore those fuck-ass scarves. Theo started there—small things, at first, like washing them wrong and causing their texture to change or hiding them in places around the loft, then the area surrounding the loft, leading to scattered places around Beacon Hills that Isaac could always find but never be able to prove that Theo was the culprit.

Something in Theo just had this insatiable need to see Isaac pissed off.

And, for the record, it always worked.

Even when Isaac got tired of it, he'd still find time out of his day to either yell at Theo about it or straight-up just tackle him to the ground, berating him in both English and French—which Theo could pick words from, growing up with an immortal Frenchman, and all.

(Isaac would retaliate by hiding Theo's keys, which also pissed him off to no end, which led to more than a few brawls that Derek had to break up.)

With Derek, it was more of a subtle thing.

Theo wouldn't exactly describe Derek as nurturing. Maybe supportive was the word, but Derek wasn't very affectionate, either. He was just... there. Usually quiet and kept to himself when he wasn't working in the auto shop and talking to customers or officers from the Sheriff's station.

He had a subtle kind of stability that Theo could always tie himself down to after a long day, and—somehow—Theo had a kind of trust in him, like if Derek was told a secret, he really would take it to his grave.

So, naturally, he was the first person Theo went to for advice. He didn't like to piss Derek off—it was funny, for the record, but Theo couldn't risk losing a good place to sleep in at night.

He didn't have much to complain about when it came to Derek, anyway, just that he ate leather-hard meat and always put on too much deodorant that would impact Theo's supernatural sense of smell for an entire day—which Isaac confirmed when Theo asked—but there were always much bigger problems to focus on than what Derek smelled like.

But when there wasn't, Theo always found a way to piss Derek off; in small ways.

He'd do the dishes and put them back in the cabinets in the wrong order, take an entire afternoon to rearrange the contents of the fridge into an objectively incorrect order, mix up the arrangement of items in their shared bathroom, swap out Derek's deodorant for one that smelled just a little bit different—small things that would make Derek's scent flare up and make him stare at Theo for a good five minutes before he went and fixed the issue.

Yes, sometimes Theo had too much time on his hands, which was why Derek put him to work in the auto shop, but this only made Derek's life a little bit harder, since Theo would do the exact same things with the equipment there that he'd do with things in the loft.

But it was alright, because if Theo had enough time to hide and rearrange things, it meant he had enough time to actually live a life rather than survive moment by moment, day by day.

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

day 5 of @theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024: college!

note: i don't know how community college works. non-american here. i didn't wanna do research. im sorry americans.

Theo dug his heels into the pebbled stone of the quad.

Beacon County Community College wasn't bad, really. It's just that Liam, Mason, and Corey had dropped him off a day before, helped him move into his dorm, and left him. Alone. In a new place with new people, and he didn't even know what he wanted to major in—holy shit, what was he doing here?

He should leave. He should turn around and go. And he could! He could pack everything back up, get into his truck, and leave.

He was about to.

Like, give him a second, he'll do it.

Fuck it, who was he kidding.

Theo started walking towards Building B.

It wasn't... bad. (Yeah, Theo was skeptical. He'd never really been to any kind of college before, and although he'd memorized the map before setting foot on campus, he didn't really know his way around. In a more social sense. It didn't help that he was surrounded by Liam, Corey, and Mason yesterday, who kept pushing him towards various different groups of people that Theo kept walking away from.)

It really wasn't—it was actually pretty nice, Theo had to admit, as he opened the oddly heavy front doors and went to look for the main auditorium. Just his luck, a couple RAs with nametags were at a table covered in the school colors handing out flyers and pointing to a bunch of places.

Fuck it. Theo approached the table.

One of the RAs noticed and gave him a friendly smile. "Hiya! How can I help you?"

"Which way to the main auditorium?" Theo asked, taking a flyer she handed him.

She pointed behind her, where a crowd of people were flooding towards the end of the hall. "Turn right at the corner—which dorm are you in?"

Theo gave her a close-lipped smile. "Gansey Hall,"

She seemed to light up at that and tapped the arm of her co-RA. "Hey, I think this one's yours!"

He looked up from his laptop, where he seemed to be looking at a disgustingly huge spreadsheet, and turned to face Theo, flashing him a smile. "Hi! Henry, I'm the Gansey RA for floors three and four, you're...?"

"Theo Raeken," He introduced. "Dorm 4D."

Henry laughed at that. "God, 4D—one of my friends used to be in there. If you find any plastic rats, please tell me, I think she stole at least five."

"Noted." Theo nodded. The clock on the wall said he had ten minutes before orientation started. "Why?"

"How much time do you have?" The first RA asked. "Dot. Mare Hall RA for floors 1 and 2."

"Ten minutes," Theo said, glancing back up at the clock. "Nine." He corrected.

"Not enough time, I think," Henry said. "I'll find ya when I do. For now, you should be getting to orientation—have fun!"

Theo decided to test the waters. (Wouldn't do any harm to get in his RA's good graces.) "Listening to a room of old people talk for two hours? Always." He said, heavy on the deadpan sarcasm as he started to follow the crowd.

Henry and Dot's light laughs echoed behind him. (Good. They like him. Hopefully.)

He got a text on his phone.

liam: Don't forget to be normal about making friends

Well. Theo wasn't entirely sure if what he just did was normal or not.

In the auditorium, Theo decided to flip a proverbial coin and take an unoccupied seat between two people in a middle row.

They were pretty nice, too—on his right was a nice lady in her mid-forties who started regaling him with a short version of her life story (Margaret), and on his left was a seventeen-year-old teenager who really wanted to be a full-time archivist (Dmitri). If by "normal", Liam meant "people around Theo's age", he'd already failed it once, but Margaret took a liking to Theo and gave him her number after she learned that they'd be taking the same Biology class, so a win was a win. Dmitri also handed Theo a little crocheted mouse after the orientation, so.

Once it wrapped up—thankfully without incident and without any classes that day—Theo went back out to Henry and Dot's table, where they quickly asked if he had any snacks on him.

"No," Theo said. "But I could grab you something from the vending machine around the corner if you want,"

"Oh my god, please," Dot begged. "I like, need a chocolate bar right now."

"Anything. Literally anything." Henry said. "You could shovel me dirt from the quad and I'd eat it,"

"Okay, jesus," Theo said lightly. "I'll be back."

More than a couple thank you's followed him down the hall as he blew fifteen bucks and five minutes on the vending machine, returning to the table with two handfuls of candy bars and chips for the two of them.

"Holy shit, thank you," Henry said, ripping into a bag of chips. He ate one and whispered, "You get one free pass for this, use it wisely,"

"Henry!" Dot whisper-yelled, unwrapping a chocolate bar.

"What?" Henry asked. "He doesn't look like someone who'd need it, anyway, right, Theo?"

Theo nodded. "If my dorm's trashed, it was my friends from highschool."

"I'll take your word for it," Henry said, making a zipping motion in Dot's direction when she opened her mouth to protest.

Theo greeted them a goodbye as he walked off. He wanted to explore the campus.