Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It's been six weeks since the supernaturals have been exposed to the residents of Beacon hills, six weeks since Brett was murdered and Lori injured, six weeks since he wolfed out in front of a rather large crowd of humans, six weeks of being stared at in the school halls (well stared at more than usual), six long weeks of being talked about and ignored by people who were once friends and Liam is… 

—

“Hey! What’cha doin 'in here?”

“Ahhhh!” Liam jumps and drops the small vial he was previously holding, watching it smash as it hits the tiled floor of the bathroom.

“Fuck.” he says, watching the previously contained liquid run into the cracks between the tiles “Brett! That's the third time in the past two weeks you’ve scared me into dropping one of those!”

“Oops”

“Oops?” 

“I’m sorry”

“Do you know how much this shit costs?”

—

Well, Liam is being haunted. By the ghost of Brett. and this has been going on for six. Whole. Weeks. 

Well, actually, it’s been going on for a lot longer than that, you see, being bitten by Scott and becoming a werewolf was not Liams introduction to the supernatural world. For generations all the females on his mothers side of the family have been able to see and commune with the dead, mediums, which was rare even for the supernatural world.

Liam also inherited this skill when he came of age and much to his disappointment, it stuck around even after he transitioned, which, realistically, was to be expected, but still he sometimes hoped it would leave him for good.

Much to his family's dismay, he did not use his power offen, or at all if he could help it, the power and the flashing purple eyes that came with it, a constant reminder that he was born a girl and thanks to his family’s ‘gift’ (curse) everyone would always see him as one. 

By the time he had reached 15, his annoying family members had stopped coming over to try and convince him to use his power, that was thanks to his mother, who rarely used her powers either, wanting to live a normal life, and his step father, who had enough of Liams pushy grandmother and aunts trying to tell him what or who to be.

Unfortunately, nothing can ever stay good for Liam, after being bitten by Scott, not only was he a werewolf, but his medium powers had been amplified, meaning the fuzzy, white silhouettes of former people he used to see when his powers were activated, were now in full colour, almost as if they were still alive, and he could now have proper conversations with them opposed to the whispers he used to hear. 

The most frustrating part of becoming a werewolf wasn't the full moons, the nearly uncontrollable shift when he was angry, he didn’t even mind the claws or fangs, it was his eyes, like everyone else's they glowed when he shifted, but they weren't red like Scott’s or blue like Malia’s, they were the same god awful purple they had been when he was just a medium, and he hated it.

Part of him hated Scott too, he didn’t want it to be easier to use his powers, but the other, much smaller part of him, was secretly happy, he finally had other supernaturals around him who understood what he was talking about and he didn't have to hide from (mostly) he felt almost, normal, around them.

And that, is how Liam came to be haunted by his friend.

—

“Could you please stop walking through doors and scaring me, please?” Liam looks away from the figure that is no other than Brett Talbot and starts clearing away the glass from the floor before retrieving a new vial from the cupboard.

“Umm, yeah, sorry, still not used to, y’know, the whole…”

“Ghost thing?”

“Yeah, that” Brett looks toward his feet, sadness taking over his face.

“It's fine, I know it must be weird, especially since you don't have your wolf abilities anymore” Liam says to the older boy while extracting the liquid from the vial with a needle before pinching his thigh and injecting the liquid.

He looks back at the wol- no, ghost, wolf-ghost? Ghost-wolf? whatever, who has the same horrified look on his face as he did the first time he walked in on Liam doing this and huffs out a laugh.

“You don't have to look so concerned Brett, I've been doing this for years, it doesn't hurt” he smiles at the older boy with what he hopes is a comforting look.

“I know, I just don’t think I'll ever get used to human medical shit, never needed it, advanced healing and all” the older boy trails off and walks, well, floats back through the door, without opening it.

Liam shakes his head at the older boy thinking back to that day six weeks ago when this all began.

—

Liam laid in his bed, covers pulled up over his head with only his hair sticking out, planning to hide in his room until he dies, which might take a while considering he's a werewolf but, it might work.

“Liam!” a sudden voice shook him out of his thoughts, panicking only momentarily before catching Scotts scent and calming down “Liam!!”

He fakes a cough as Scott tries to pull back the duvet he is currently using as amour.

“NO-no, I’m sick” he splutters out, sounding unconvincing even to himself “I’m sick”

“Your not sick”

“YEAH-I’m, I’m like deathly ill, its serious” he continues his lie faking another cough “I think its the flu”

“Its not flu season” 

“Ah-then I probably have pneumonia” another lie even worse than the first.

“Liam, your a werewolf, you can’t get pneumonia” he hears Scotts voice get a touch more agitated than it was a few seconds ago “but you know what you can get? Is in trouble for being late to school, so cmon, lets go” 

“I don’t think I can go to school” he says, finally ripping the duvet from over his head to face Scott “or outside, or anywhere, ever again!” finishing his sentence before hiding his face again. 

“Doesn't matter what you think, cuz you gotta go” Scott pulling the dad voice on him “ all you gotta do is pretend like nothing happened”

“Pretend!?” the beta says before once again revealing his face “I’m just supposed to pretend?” 

Scott pauses before continuing, using superman as a metaphor to convince Liam to go to school, only to confuse him not five minutes later by comparing spiderman and captain america after dragging him from his bed and onto the floor, still trapped in his blankets. 

It's the heartfelt conversation that follows that convinces Liam to brave school, he doesn't want to see any more of his friends die and he feels guilty that Brett did and Lori nearly did too, despite everyone's best efforts to assure him it's not his fault.

After Scott left, placing Liams school bag in his lap, the beta pulled himself off the floor and went to the bathroom to prepare for the day, what he couldn't ever prepare for was the sight he was met with as he exited the bathroom.

“Ahhhhhh!” he jumped back as he looked up upon entering his bedroom “what. The. fuck.”

“Liam, are you ok?” he hears Scott yell from downstairs as he takes in the figure sitting on his bed staring back at him.

“Yeah, I’m good” he yells back through the door to his alpha, not wanting to cause any panic. Turning back to the figure he speaks again a low voice almost whispering “ok, you need to start talking right now because I have no idea what the hell is going on!”

“Well, you were never the brightest were you? I died, and now I’m a ghost, dumass” he smiles a little hearing the insult directed at him.

Ghosts, surprisingly that made perfect sense to Liam, he is a medium after all, and with his heightened abilities it was perfectly acceptable to be standing in the middle of his bedroom staring at the ghost of his dead friend, the ghost of Brett.

Instead of freaking out (like a normal person would), he throws himself toward the taller boy, knowing with his heightened abilities he can touch incorporeal beings, and wraps his arms around Bretts waist burying his face in his chest, a smile appearing on his face when he feels the older boy return the hug and rest his head atop Liams.

“I thought I’d never see you again” he tells the older boy, his voice muffled because he refuses to move in case Brett disappears.

“Calm down baby beta” the older boy grins into Liam's hair “I missed you too”

Chapter Text

When Liam arrives at school he bursts through the doors feeling significantly more optimistic than he did during his conversation with Scott earlier that morning, after all, he just found out his friend was still alive, sort of, or at least was sticking around for a while longer, just in ghost form.

He stands for a moment taking in the normalcy of the halls before catching sight of his best friend, Mason.

“Okay, not bad so far” mason says as they fall into step with each other, heading for their lockers “this might be easier than we thought!”

“Maybe” Liam replies hesitantly as he starts to feel the eyes of seemingly every student in the hallway turn to look at him.

As they continue their path to the lockers people keep staring, only looking away when they accidentally catch Liam's eye, pretending their stares were merely passing glances. 

Reaching the lockers Liam begins to hear people's whispers courtesy of his enhanced werewolf hearing:

‘He's one of them’

‘Whats he doing here’

‘What are they thinking, letting him come to school?’

‘I sit next to him in english’

‘Well, then find a new desk’

He can almost feel the words bouncing around in his mind, just like they used to at his old school, after he came out.

“Just block it out” Mason's voice cuts through the thoughts and voices spiraling in Liam's brain.

“They know” he whispers back, panic clear in his voice.

“Just rumours” his friend reassured him “they don't know anything” he continues, easing Liam's worry, until..

“They know everything” Mason's boyfriend Corey appears seemingly from nowhere to dump more bad news on them “two sophomores on the lacrosse team were there last night”

“Yeah, but it was late, it was pitch black out and there was fog on the road” mason tries to make the situation better again but Liam knows what he's saying isn't true, and so does Corey.

“It was a clear night, full moon and a well-lit intersection”

“ I have to get out of here!” The panic had seeped its way back into Liam's voice after the not so reassuring conversation with his best friend and best friend's boyfriend. 

“No, if you leave, these rumours never stop” mason ever the voice of reason, tries again to put Liam's mind at rest, but Liam's not paying attention to him anymore, he's more focused on the deathly cold hand rested on his shoulder that undoubtedly belongs to Brett, who has materialised behind him.

“Hes right you know” the ghost-wolf behind him says softly, Liam ignores him, tuning back into the conversation right in time to hear Mason quote Scott on his ridiculous Superman - Clark Kent metaphor.

“Clark Kent turns into a guy with a red and blue outfit with a cape” Liam retorts, exasperation evident in his voice “I turn into a monster with claws and fangs”

“Then, just, get through the day without shifting” Corey, very unhelpfully, chimes in.

“Look, Liam, people are saying that Brett died and Lori was injured in a car accident” Mason starts, Liam hears Brett snort behind him and cant help a small smile that makes its way onto his face “we know the truth”

“He didn't just die” Mason continues and Liam's smile disappears again, the reminder that the older boy behind him was in fact dead, despite Liam being able to see him.

Liam turns to head for his class, ignoring both his friends and the people whispering as he walks away, he makes a turn as soon as he is out of the eyeline of his friends and heads to the currently empty bleachers on the lacrosse field, wanting to be alone.

—

After sitting on the bleachers for the morning, having skipped all his classes up until this point, having not wanted to see anyone, Liam heads to the locker room where he is met by his lacrosse team mates standing waiting for him.

They tell him they don't want someone ‘something’ like him leading the team, they try to vote him out, and when he refuses Nolan tries to threaten him by getting up in his face.

“You think you can take me?” Liam smiles and flashes his eyes as Nolan pulls back.

“What the hell?” Nolan whispers under his breath, confused by the colour of Liam's supernatural eyes "purple? What does that mean?”

Before it can go any farther, the coach steps out of his office to ask what's going on, Liam makes up his mind to give them what they want, he steps down as captain making up some bullshit excuse about his grades, voting in Nolan to be the new captain.

The coach accepts his withdrawal and the nomination for new team captain, so while everyone is cheering Liam slips away to the bathroom where, expectedly, he is joined by the ghost who has mostly been leaving him to his misery for the day, but has decided it's time to show himself, as the younger werewolf starts silently crying.

“Liam” the older boy starts before pausing seemingly unsure of what to say “im so sorry you had to do that, I know lacrosse was everything to you” 

The words cause the dam to break, Liam turns and buries his face in the ghosts chest as he sobs, tired of all the supernatural world has taken from him, sad he couldn't just be normal and mostly because even as a werewolf he still wasn't good enough.

Not good enough to keep the supernatural a secret.

Not good enough to stop Lori from being injured.

Not good enough to stop Brett from being killed.

And now, he's not even good enough to stand up for himself against a human, a very annoying human. 

“Yes, he is a very annoying human” the taller boy laughs. 

Oops, he might have said that bit out loud, he lets out a small huff of laughter in response and pulls back to look Brett in the face.

“Might want to clean your face a bit before you leave the bathroom baby beta” he laughs again.

“Oh yeah i look like shit” Liam replies after getting up and looking in the mirror, giggling to himself at the sight of his reflection “god that was so dramatic, sorry”

“Hey don’t be sorry, you're going through a lot right now, honestly im surprised they haven’t stuck you in Eichen house yet” the older boy said good naturedly pulling the smaller beta into a hug.

“Oh fuck off you ass” Liam smiles while trying to pull out of the tight embrace he was trapped in, he only succeeded in pulling them both to the floor, sprawled out in a tangle of limbs laughing like they were normal teens, not a psychic werewolf and his ex turned enemy turned ally turned friend who is now a ghost, for a moment none of that mattered, for a moment they could be happy. 

—

After cleaning himself up and emerging from the bathroom, he meets back up with Mason and Corey, the chimera bringing more bad news.

“I overheard Nolan talking to Gabe” he starts already making Liam regret leaving the comfort of the bathroom.

“You're spying on them?” Mason asks.

“Since he stabbed me? Yeah” Corey exclaims before continuing “hes gonna get you to shift, he wants proof and he wants everyone to see it”

“What's he gonna do!?” Liam questions, feeling his panic rise back to the surface.

“I don't know, that's all I heard” the chimera hurriedly says.

“Could you stop obsessing over what people are saying?” Mason asks, seemingly talking to the both of them.

“Nolans coming” Liam suddenly says before catching a glimpse of the guidance counselor's office and deciding it's his best bet, opens the door and throws himself inside.