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Liam's (Bio) Dad-
Liam remembers the day he got diagnosed. He’d been seeing therapists for months. At this point, he felt like he’d been evaluated by every therapist and psychiatrist for a hundred miles. He’d known something was up with him for a long time, but he didn’t know what it was. After his parents' divorce, he never quite felt the same. Not because of the divorce itself, but because of what happened after. His father moved out of their house into an apartment one town over. An apartment that he had to spend every other weekend in, sleeping on the couch. He was seven.
By the time Liam was nine, he couldn’t remember when his dad didn't yell at him, and for the smallest of things. Once, he forgot to put a dryer sheet in the dryer when he was doing laundry, so the clothes were staticky. His dad had yelled at him for ten minutes, backed him into a corner, called him a “dumbass” and a “worthless piece of shit.” He’d cried his eyes out and run out of the house, he was gone for six hours, and when he returned his mom was there to pick him up and bring him home, at least until the next weekend. His dad acted as though everything was normal, so Liam just went inside and grabbed his stuff.
It happened all the time. It grew worse and worse the more time passed. He started trying to convince Liam that his mother had stolen him from her. That she had lied to the judge during their custody trial, that she didn’t really care about him, she just wanted his dad’s money. For a few moments, Liam had believed him, and for a few days, he spoke to his mother as little as possible. That is, until his dad tried to hit him, and he realized who the monster was. He didn’t tell anyone about it for years.
He had been seeing a therapist since their divorce. A recommendation by the judge and their attorneys. Divorce was difficult on kids.
When he was ten, it had all been going on for two years. He was sitting down in front of a kind-looking woman, her voice was soft, calming, and reassuring as he explained to her the way he could feel his emotions fluctuate. How he could feel the anger rising inside of him, yet, even after acknowledging it, he couldn’t push it away, no matter how hard he tried. She’d spoken to his mother too, about his outbursts, how he’d break things, things that were never particularly important, but it was still worrying.
A session or two later, he had been diagnosed with Intermittent Explosive Disorder or IED. He remembered that day so vividly. But not because of his diagnosis, because of how his father had reacted when his mother had informed him of it. It was the first, and only, time he’d ever hit him. He ran then too, grabbed his bike, and made it back to his mom’s house. Eyes blurry with tears and blood running down his nose.
His mom had bawled her eyes out and pulled him into a hug when she found out.
“Sweetheart, why didn’t you tell me?” She had whispered.
Liam hadn’t known what to say, ‘because he wasn’t doing anything wrong before now,’ he wanted to say. But he couldn’t speak, he just cried.
His mom had spent the last six years reminding Liam that abuse didn’t just have to be physical.
Liam believed her a little more as time went on, but it was when he turned 15 that he finally accepted it. That was when he’d met Doctor Geyer. He showed Liam how a dad was supposed to act. And each day, he realized more and more how much he hated his father.
Derek/Scott-
Liam was rummaging through the locker room, “What the hell? Where's my stick?”
Liam heard the footsteps, and a strange echoing sound before he saw the man come around the corner, “Is this yours?” He said, smirking. Twirling his lacrosse stick in his hands before snapping it easily in two.
Liam growled, his eyes glowing yellow, his teeth fangs. He lunged, but the man grabbed him by the neck, pinning him against the lockers. Liam tried to break out. He watched as the man struggled to keep him up, his face contorting slightly.
A voice rang out in the room, “Liam…”
Liam’s breathing was steady, and his heartbeat calmed.
“You're right,” The man said,” he is angry.”
Liam was dropped back to the ground.
“This one's yours,” Scott said, handing him a different lacrosse stick. This one still intact, “Get to class, Liam.”
Liam walked slowly out of the room, down the hall slightly, but he could still hear part of their conversation.
“Are you kidding?” That was Scott, “I am totally unprepared! Remember how you said you could teach me a few things? I think right now, I could use a full-on training manual…” Liam frowned to himself at Scott’s words.
“I'll tell you one thing,” The other man said, “that anger he's got? It'll make him strong.” Liam wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
Scott sighed, "And dangerous…” Liam felt a pang in his chest
“Very. Very dangerous.”
Liam just ran.
Brett-
High School was interesting for Liam. He had been given medication years ago to help him with his IED, but he rarely took it, not unless his mom was standing in front of him with a glass of water and a pill bottle. He hated how it made him feel.
On one particularly bad day, he had been benched from a game. Liam felt the rage building inside of him for the entirety of the game. He ended up leaving early, with a destination in mind. Fifteen minutes later his coach’s car looked like it had been shot at.
That was the worst outburst he’s ever had, and he’d been able to keep himself from doing anything like that since he’s transferred. He’d gotten texts and messages from a lot of people at his old school since he’d left. Some were just annoyed, and others were telling him he should end it all. After a little while, the messages stopped, and Liam thought he was done with it all. That is until Brett showed up for a game.
“No, no, no, no, no. Liam!” Mason called after him as he made his way to the bus.
“Brett!” Liam called towards him.
“Ahh, here we go…” Mason said under his breath.
Liam made his way over to Brett, standing in front of him for a few seconds, “I just wanted to say…” He paused, before holding out his hand, “Have a good game.”
Brett just laughed, “That's cute, Liam. Is that what they told you to say in anger management? Apologize, and everything's fine?” A few seconds ago Liam felt like his anger was pretty much under control, he was mildly irritated but now he felt it building. “You demolished Coach's car.” Brett continued.
“I paid for it,” Liam said
Brett spoke through gritted teeth, “Yeah, you're going to pay for it. We're gonna break you in half out there-- and it's gonna be all your fault.”
Scott and Stiles ran up to him then, grabbing him and dragging him back, “Oh, shiiii..” He grabbed Liam, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's go!”
Stiles-
Liam felt the rush of water cover his entire body, the cold feeling calming him ever so slightly.
“You calm?” Scott asked.
He growled. They pushed him back under.
Liam coughed a little, spitting water out of his mouth, “Okay! Okay!” They pulled him out from under the shower head.
“That car you smashed,” Scott said, “I thought you said that was your teacher's?”
Liam collapsed on the floor of the showers, embarrassment already evident on his face. “He was also my coach. He benched me for the entire season.”
Scott raised an eyebrow. “What did you do?”
Liam mumbled quietly, “I got a couple of red cards…”
“Just a couple?” Stiles said sarcastically,”
Scott sighed, “You gotta be honest with us.”
Liam hesitated, looking down at the floor, “My therapist calls it Intermittent Explosive Disorder.” He said quietly.
Stiles' eyes went wide, his eyebrows raised, “ I.E.D.? You're literally an I.E.D.? That's great. That's great.” He flung his arms up in exasperation, “You gave powers to a walking time bomb!”
Liam curled in on himself.
Scott looked over at him, “Did they give you anything for it?”
Liam mumbled, “Risperdal. It's an antipsychotic.”
“Oh, this just gets better…” Stiles mumbled. Liam felt his body stiffen, and water prick at the corners of his eyes, but it wasn’t from the shower.
“I don’t usually take it, it makes me too tired. I can’t focus or play lacrosse.”
“If it keeps you from trying to kill someone, maybe you should take it,” Stiles rolled his eyes.
“I would never…” he mumbled, but his words were cut short and ignored when Stiles and Scott started talking about what to do about the game.
Theo-
“We don’t really have a set plan yet,” Scott explained.
They were all gathered in Scott's living room, sitting sporadically on the furniture. Mason and Corey weren’t there because they were out on their anniversary, “Celebrating alone.” None of them wanted to think about it. So Scott, Derek, Stiles, Brett, Theo, and Liam were all discussing what to do about the new surge of hunters who had made their way into the woods surrounding Beacon Hills.
This was technically Theo’s first meeting. He’d been before, but not as an official member. It had been about a year since his… incident. Everyone seemed to trust him a lot more, he’d started to earn his place in the pack.
There was a… minor falling off point when Liam had informed them all of his growing relationship with Theo. None of them were particularly thrilled with the idea. However, after they watched the way Theo treated Liam, they couldn’t help but be okay with it. A few weeks after they were informed of their relationship, they watched Liam fall asleep on the couch, his head crushing Theo’s arm, making it go numb.
“You sure you don’t want to move?” Scott suggested, “You might be more comfortable.”
Theo shook his head, looking down at Liam, watching his chest rise and fall smoothly. He’d completely lost feeling in his left arm at this point. But Scott watched as Theo looked at him with more admiration in his eyes than he had ever seen.
While they sat around the living room, Liam was sitting on the couch with Theo, his back pressed to his chest.
“I’m not sure where to start,” Derek said, “So far they haven’t done much, but there's no real saying what they're capable o-”
A phone alarm interrupted Derek, and everyone turned to look toward Liam as he reached in his pocket.
“Sorry,” He apologized.
“It’s fine,” Derek's said, “what’s it for?”
Theo knew. It was the alarm that went off every night, reminding him to take his meds. He took them later because they always made him really tired after. It was something Theo had suggested after he kept almost falling asleep first period.
“Do you have them with you?” Theo asked, and he felt Liam stiffen slightly, and suddenly he was worried that maybe the others didn’t know. He could lie about what he was referring to if need be, but he was still worried.
“Have what?” Stiles asked.
“Uh,” Liam hesitated, “My- uh, meds,” He finally got out.
Theo felt the energy in the room shift.
“Well, good, we don’t need you destroying more cars or going on a killing spree,” Stiles joked.
Theo sat in shock at his words.
The others all chuckled a little, Scott less than the others.
Theo watched as Liam looked down at the ground, he sniffed quietly before, ‘Uh, I’m gonna go get- uh- something from the car,” He lied, and ran out the front door quickly. Pulling out of Theo’s grasp when he tried to stop him. The others were all still laughing when Theo spoke.
“What the hell is wrong with you assholes?!” Theo growled. Standing up quickly.
“What?” Stiles laughed, “Maybe it would work on the hunters.” Derek had a small smirk on his face, Brett was laughing too.
“Fine, you can all fuck off,” Theo had turned to leave when Stiles spoke again.
“What’s the big deal? It was funny-”
“Really? So you don’t give a shit that Liam just left the room crying?” Theo interrupted him.
Stiles was stunned silent. He glanced around.
“Yup, that’s what I thought.”
“He… he was crying?” Brett spoke quietly, hesitating.
“Yes! You pricks, Christ, I thought you were werewolves,” Theo claws were digging into his hand, “He’s in my truck outside, can you not hear him?” He knew Stiles couldn’t but he watched Derek and Brett, even Scott, focus on the truck outside, and the sound of Liam’s heart beating fast. The small choked sobs he couldn’t keep in.
“I-” Brett tried to say.
“You’re what? Sorry? Little late for that.” Theo rolled his eyes.
“It never seemed to bother him before,” Stiles tried to defend himself.
That just pissed Theo off more, “You’ve done this shit before?”
None of them spoke.
“Great, okay, that’s really nice of you all,” Theo said sarcastically.
“I mean he never said anything when they mentioned it,” Scott attempted to defend them.
“Scott, this is just as much your fault as it is theirs. You’ve heard them say that kind of shit too, haven’t you? My guess is you haven’t told them to stop.” Scott looked down at the floof, “And of course he wouldn’t fucking say anything, he doesn’t think any of you would take him seriously! And you obviously think it’s some kind of sick joke!” Theo was yelling now, loud. The neighbors could probably hear him.
“Do you even know what happens when he gets triggered?” Theo asked, frustrated.
“He destroyed our old coach’s car,” Brett said quietly.
“Yeah, once, do you know what usually happens?”
They were all quiet.
“Didn’t think so, you know why? Because every time he starts to feel like that, he locks himself in his room, he’s too embarrassed about any of you seeing him that upset. Instead, he scratches at his arms for an hour, trying not to destroy his entire room, and then cries himself to sleep.”
They all looked stunned.
“You don’t even know how he got it, do you?” Silence again.
“Yeah” he huffed, infuriated, “Not surprising given the way you all treat him like shit for it.”
Theo reached to grab his jacket from the chair, getting ready to leave, to go be with Liam, when Stiles poked again.
“W-what happened?”
Theo just glared at him, “Not my story to tell.”
He walked away and back to his truck.
Liam was curled up in the seat, his knee tucked to his chest, his face and eyes red with tears.
They didn’t leave at first. The minute Theo climbed in he closed the door and pulled Liam into his chest. Liam broke out into more sobs, gripping the gray fabric of Theo’s t-shirt like he was scared Theo would disappear. Theo rested his chin on Liam’s head, he just held him until his sobs slowed, and his heartbeat steadied.
“I want it to go away,” Liam said, barely a whisper, “I just wanna be normal.”
Theo gripped him tighter as he felt his anger rise in his chest, but he kept his voice calm.
“There’s nothing wrong with you Li, nothing at all. There assholes for saying that shit to you okay? We all have things that we struggle with. Some things are more difficult than other things. There’s no such thing as normal, everyone has something.” Theo paused for a moment, “I almost killed all of you,” He said quietly.
Liam’s head shot up, “We’ve already talked about how that wasn’t your fault, they tortured you, Teddy.”
“Yeah,” Theo said, “And your IED isn’t your fault, it’s your dad’s.”
Liam didn’t say anything, he just let his head collapse back into Theo’s chest. Theo felt him yawn. He kissed the top of Liam’s head.
“Come on love, let’s go back home and sleep.”
Liam let out a quiet, “okay” and pushed back into his own seat. Theo never let go of the grip he had on Liam’s hand.
They stepped into Liam’s house and made their way upstairs. Liam crawled onto his bed immediately and curled up into a ball. Tears still stained his cheeks.
Theo walked quickly to the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth. He wiped the tears off Liam’s face and through the towel into the laundry basket. He climbed wordlessly into bed with Liam, wrapping his arms protectively around his waist and pulling him closer to him. He placed a gentle kiss on the back of Liam’s neck.
“I love you, li.” He pressed his face into Liam’s neck and listened to Liam’s heartbeat steady.
Liam’s voice was quiet when he spoke, “I love you too.”
Realizations-
“Fuck, we're assholes.” Stiles said.
“Yeah” The others said, all nodding in agreement.
“We need to apologize. Should we call them, tell them to come back?” Stiles asked.
“No” Scott answered, “Let’s not bother them right now, they're both upset, and rightfully so. We can see if they want to talk tomorrow. Let’s… let’s all just go home, okay?”
They all nodded and dispersed, going back to their homes and sleeping, or more attempting to sleep. None of them could stop thinking about it all. How awful they felt for what they said. Stiles went back and mentally punched himself for every snide comment he’d never made.
Safe to say Liam did not want to talk the next day. They tried texting and calling both of them. Liam never replied, and Theo just told them to’ fuck off’.
The next day, however, Theo told them they could come over, but if they upset Liam even a little bit, they were out.
The room was tense and awkward. For everyone except Theo it seemed, who decided to glare daggers at them instead.
“I’m sorry,” Stiles said, “I was being a fucking prick, I’m really sorry Li.”
Liam just nodded a little. He was sitting so close to Theo he was basically on top of him. Theo squeezed his shoulder.
“None of us should have said that shit,” Brett said.
Once the ball was rolling they all apologized to Liam over and over again, none of them ever quite feeling like it was enough.
“Are you all done?” Liam said when the apologies had come to a lull.
They all nodded.
“Okay. Can you leave then?” Liam asked.
They were all a little surprised, more that he didn’t have anything else to say, not that he didn’t seem to forgive them. He didn’t yell or get mad or cry, or anything, he just asked him to leave.
‘Li-” Scott tried.
“Nope,” Liam said, ‘You said what you wanted to say now, please leave.”
“Liam we should talk about this-” Stiles tried.
“Talk about what,” Liam’s voice was calm but they could see the hurt in his eyes, “How you made fun of me for having an IED after my father abused me for three years?” Theo stilled, “That conversation? Go ahead, let's do it!”
His voice grew more angry as his words went on, but by the end there were tears in his eyes. Theo tried to wipe them away, but Liam pulled back.
“Li,” Scott said quietly, “We didn’t know I’m so-”
“Of course you didn’t know! ‘Cause all you needed was the name and suddenly you knew exactly what was going on. Didn’t even bother googling it to see what the most common causes are, or what it even is! Stiles, just because I have an IED doesn’t mean I’m going to go around murdering people! And I’m not any more dangerous than you are!” He yelled, looking at Scott and Derek.
Scott thought back to his conversation with Derek in the locker room, and he suddenly felt sick to his stomach.
“Li-”
“Please just leave. I thought this would be a good idea, but please just leave.”
And so they did, they filled out of the house and stayed away.
For three weeks, Liam didn’t speak to any of them.
By the end of the second week, the others were getting worried that they might never speak to Liam again. And by the third they were even more terrified.
They agreed that they needed to try again, but that Liam needed to be comfortable. Liam wouldn’t talk to them. Their next option was either Theo, Mason, or Corey. None of which had spoken to them either.
Theo might try to kill them. Mason would ignore them. Which left Corey.
“No,”
“Please just get him to meet with us please!” Stiles begged.
“How exactly do you think I can do that? You made him feel like shit!” Corey walked away quickly.
“So if we can’t talk to him face to face what do we do?” Brett said.
“We don’t talk to him face to face.” Stiles spun his bag around and started digging through it.
“What?” Brett asked, confused.
“Here, we all know Liam has done a lot of shit for us. If he won't listen to us in person, this is the next best thing. Write it down.”
They all understood fairly quickly and started writing down notes on pieces of paper. When they were done they slipped the notes into Liam’s locker and waited.
Liam was still upset, but he knew they were all sorry. He knew they didn’t really mean to upset him, and they had been apologizing for weeks.
When he opened his locked slips of paper fell out. When he opened them he felt his heart squeeze. Even Derek’s was heartfelt and apologetic.
Theo came up behind him and wrapped his hands around his waist.
“What’s that?” He said, gesturing to his head to one of the notes.
Liam smiled slightly, “Oh, nothing, they just tried to take another approach.”
“And?” Theo asked.
“And maybe we can sit at the usual lunch table again today,”
Theo smiled, “of course” Liam spun in his arms and he kissed his forehead.
During lunch Liam, Theo, Mason, and Corey, sat at the table with the others. They didn’t say much, but they didn’t need to. Things weren’t perfect or back to normal immediately, but it was a start.
After another few weeks things fell back into their usual rhythm. The others all had a new found respect for Theo. There was no more questioning which side he was on, even a little bit. It was so obvious to them all now, how much he cared about Liam, and they were fully in support of their relationship. No doubt about it.
At least until Stiles walked in on the two of them, both shirtless, Liam straddling Theo’s waist.
Liam scrambled to put his shirt back on while Theo smirked. Stiles covers his eyes while simultaneously yelling in the general direct of Theo for defiling his child.
They were gonna be okay.