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voidstilesplease · 3 years

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in another life

part two

Stiles assures Theo answers for all of their questions -god knows they have so many- tomorrow. Theo's reluctant at first, doesn't intend to let go of Stiles's words hanging in between them: "You think she's alive?" Eventually, Theo nods, finding something in Stiles's eyes and placing his trust in him. An odd feeling of protectiveness settles in Stiles's stomach at the vulnerability that Theo freely displays - in the past, he used to act guarded like everyone was out to get him. Granted, Theo had conned most of them before with charm and fake tears, and it's not above him to try it again if Theo could gain something worthy from it. But Stiles doesn't feel the usual tingle in his bones when he meets some shady criminal mastermind. His instincts have gotten him this far, so he gives it credit.

Stiles sighs. Innocent until proven guilty. He hopes Deaton has answers that expose the truth.

In the meantime, they have saddled him with more responsibility: bringing Theo home with him. Theo refuses to be stuck with either Liam or Mason any longer, it is unwise to put Theo alone with Melissa, and stupid to leave him unattended. So Stiles is the only viable choice. Plus, Theo thinks they're together. It only makes sense. Maybe.

It probably won't to his dad initially, but hey, after a while of normalcy, even he will acknowledge the need for something to go down - even dressed as Theo Raeken.

•••

They're in Stiles's Jeep, driving home to the Stilinski's, and it is a little disconcerting how Theo seems to be accustomed to his car. Theo had seen and been in the Jeep before, but this is different. He's too comfortable in the cramped space, even knows how to operate Stiles's defective radio. And the way he leans against the seat on the passenger's side and knows where to keep the screwdriver Stiles uses to manipulate the ignition is boggling his head worse than the snow outside.

Stiles draws in a breath, glancing sideways to his quiet company. "So, um, Deaton," he says, "we're going to Dr. Deaton tomorrow."

Theo turns to him, frowning. "What kind of doctor? Are you taking me to a shrink? Babe, I'm not crazy. What happened is freaky, but you have to believe me."

Okay, the babe thing, they're going to have to iron that wrinkle as soon as possible. Not even Lydia called him babe when they dated, and certainly not Malia. It's a cosmic joke that the once bane of his existence gets to call him that first. "No, he's not a shrink," Stiles promises him. "He's a veterinarian. But he knows about these things."

Theo arches a brow, "He knows about teleportation?"

"Telepor-" Stiles creases his forehead, jerking his head to Theo. The latter is expectant when he looks back. Stiles blinks, disbelieving and a little horrified. There's also a small bubble of hysteria beginning to form in his stomach. Somehow, this takes the cake in the weirdness of the situation. Because, of course, Theo also doesn't remember he's a chimera, does he? Blowing a heavy breath, he turns back to the road. He rubs the side of his temple, where it's starting to hurt, and purses his lips. "Yeah, sure. Teleportation."

Silence hangs in between them for a moment, Stiles sighing when he takes the last turn to his street. He can feel the burn of Theo's stare at the side of his face.

"You really don't remember we're together?" Theo sounds genuinely small when he speaks. "Then why are you here, if not to take me home? The two -Liam and Mason- are accusing me of having amnesia. But it's you who can't remember."

Stiles opens his mouth, but he doesn't know what to say. He knows that if he tells Theo that he remembers an illusory life, it's only going to invite more questions Stiles has no answers yet. In honesty, he's still reeling until now, and he's too tired to consider diving into research mode immediately, much less form a cohesive plan other than to bring Theo to Deaton first. And the best thing for them both to do before then is rest. They can't do that if Stiles stays up all night convincing Theo that they're not even friends, that he was a lying, conniving chimera asshole that tried to break his pack once, before turning a new leaf and helping them, and then disappearing on them like a bubble one day. Oh, and yeah, that it's so twisted for him to think his sister was alive when he had allowed her to die when he was nine.

No. Rest, Deaton, and then fuck up some shit - Stiles is doing this in that order.

"Hm," is what he ends up saying. Stiles pulls in the driveway, noting the blue truck already parked there. He's relieved to find a change of topic. He clears his throat, pointing at the vehicle. "That's your truck. Corey, Mason's boyfriend, drove it here."

Theo doesn't look away from him for the entire minute it takes Stiles to turn the engine off and gather his belongings. When he looks at Theo, that's only when the other man lowers his head and breathes. Theo nods and gets out of the car, moving towards the truck. Stiles silently prays for more strength if this is how awkward it is going to be for the whole evening until the morning.

Theo is studying his blue truck, eyeing it with trepidation. Stiles slings his messenger bag and stands beside him. Theo turns to him, shaking his head. "This isn't my car."

Stiles moves to the bed of Theo's pickup. "It is," he tells Theo.

Stiles is, unfortunately, familiar enough with this car, and not with pleasant memories. Stiles lifts the haphazardly strewn cloth covering most of the space of the truck bed and makes a noise of disgust with what he finds underneath. It was definitely tidier before.

Theo also peeks under the cloth and pulls his face in a similar reaction. An alarming amount of empty plastic noodle cups and take-out boxes litter the covered area. "It can't be mine because I'm not crazy for instant ramen."

Stiles drops the cloth and walks to the driver's seat. He cups his hands on either side of his eyes and looks inside through the window. He finds a folded blanket at the backseat and a pink sweater on top of the pile of clothes. The chimera wore the hell out of those, Stiles remembers grudgingly. Transferring his scrutiny on the passenger side, he sees empty water bottles and coke cans, and old receipts. What the hell has Theo been up to that he can't even throw his trash out or attempt to be less sloppy?

One thing is sure, though. The car is where Theo lives; the pizza in the backseat looks stale but not molded. He faces Theo and gives him a grim nod, "Let's discuss the condition of your car and your unhealthy lifestyle tomorrow, yeah?"

Theo huffs, wanting to protest and eyeing his car in disgust, but shrugs in agreement.

•••

His father is working the night shift, so explaining Theo is a problem for future Stiles, which makes him sag in relief under the hot spray of his shower. When he's finished, he changes into clean sweatpants and an old Christmas ugly sweater and goes back to his room.

Theo is already sitting on his temporary bed on the floor. Stiles refuses to make him sleep on the couch where the kitchen and knives are near. At least, inside his room, he can fight him should Theo attempt anything at all. Stiles has gotten better at hand-to-hand combat since the FBI, and also a very light sleeper and sometimes prone to insomnia, especially on stressful occasions like this. Any minor shuffling from Theo will alert him. Not that he thinks Theo will do anything. His impulses tell him that Theo's memory dilemma is not made-up, and he's truthful this time, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Theo looks up when he enters, offering a small smile. Stiles's eyes catch sight of the outline of a necklace hidden underneath the collar of Theo's borrowed shirt. Stiles's clothes look a bit tight on him but otherwise, more comfortable than the dirty jeans he was wearing earlier.

"It's so weird to see your old bed," Theo says, looking at the said bed. "Noah brought you a bigger one so that we can share when we visit. I wonder what happened to it?"

Stiles drops onto his bed with a small bounce. He didn't expect that. "Oh, um,"

Theo meets his eyes, "And Roscoe," a shadow crosses his face. "You took down all of the polaroid pictures we put of us. You even replaced the screwdriver that I gave you with an old one."

He sounds so betrayed that Stiles is stunned by what he's hearing. What startles him most, though, is: "You know my Jeep's name?"

At this question, Theo looks downright affronted. But Stiles has every reason to be surprised. His mom, his dad, and Scott are the only people apart from him who knows his Jeep's name -not another soul. Not even Lydia.

"Of course, I know your Jeep's name," Theo responds with a deepening scowl. "We've been together for four years, Stiles."

Stiles raises a hand to halt Theo as his cogs turn in his head. A swell of panic takes root in him. This memory thing is more serious than he initially thought. Theo's not only hallucinating a different life but he also somehow knows things he shouldn't. The screwdriver compartment, his broken radio, his Jeep's name -what else does he know that he isn't supposed to?

"Okay," Stiles finally says, lowering his hand and barrier from Theo, who's still glowering. It seems he has lost his patience with Stiles, as well. If this continues, Stiles might snap, too. So he says as appeasing as he could. "Let's say that whatever happened to you affected our memories of each other. But we'll go to Dr. Deaton for answers tomorrow, and then we can go back to our normal lives. Yes? Do you trust me?"

As soon as he says it, Stiles wants to take it back. It seems like a strange concept to ask Theo, of all people, to trust Stiles after everything. As crazy as Stiles actually trusting Theo. But here they are.

Theo doesn't reply for a long time, but he looks pensive and considering as he glares. In the end, he huffs in surrender, shoulders drooping in defeat. For the first time, the bags under his eyes become more prominent in his features. He looks so weary, hurt, and confused. Stiles is well acquainted with that look. It's the look of someone who hasn't been sleeping well. With the state of Theo's truck, Stiles has no problem picturing the man twist-and-turning to find a good position and not finding any.

Theo dips his head, replying with a rough voice, "Yeah. I trust you."

Before Stiles can say any more, Theo gives him his back and reclines on his mattress. He pulls the covers on himself, like a shield, and mumbles good night to Stiles.

Sighing, Stiles turns the desk lamp off and lays on his bed, staring at the ceiling for who knows how long. After a while, he exhales and rubs the bridge of his nose. His body is exhausted, and so is his mind, but they're not shutting off like they're supposed to. He almost wishes he is back in his dorm room in Virginia, staying up to piece the puzzles of a case. He has dealt with mundane human crises for so long that coaxing the supernatural mojo back appears to be an impossibly draining affair.

When he glances back at Theo on the floor, he pauses as he notices it. There's a blank inked mark on Theo's nape: a tattoo that Stiles knows for sure he didn't have the last time they saw each other. He turns to his side to look closely at it.

The tattoo is of a circle interlaced with three interconnected ovals. It reminds him closely of Derek's triskelion tattoo. But unlike Derek's, Theo's mark gives him an ominous feeling.

Because Stiles is sure, it isn't an optical illusion when it glowed in the darkness of his room for a second.

~•~

#steo #steo fic #steo ficlet #teen wolf #stiles stilinski #theo raeken #stiles x theo #parallel universe au #in another life #part 2 #fics tag #well the christmas prompts may have been lost #lmao #but well I guess I'll just continue with this #omg this is going to be a disaster fic #i can just feel it lmao

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nomi-dandekar · 7 years

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Your statement about lydia not giving a fuck about stiles for 5 seasons is incorrect. You don't understand the concept of foreshadowing nor can you understand how to follow the narrative. You basically want Lydia to be with that jackass Jackson who was an asshole to her

“okay so you’re one of those people who cannot follow the narrative of the story and the concept of foreshadowing.” Let’s see.

3x11 - Lydia kissed Stiles for a panic attack and then proceed to date Aiden and it was stated that “Lydia likes him”. Lydia basically chose to date a guy that killed Boyd over Stiles and she did so for the rest of season 3 (until he was killed because the actor left my I add).

3x15 - I guess you refer to the scene that started the whole “red strings of fate” where Lydia said she’s guilty for getting him into trouble and it’s doubting her powers. What a dedication of love. Too bad she continues messing around with big bad wolf over there.

season 4 Lydia being “jealous” is funny to me because literally the only confirmation of that is supposely “random stares” but completely ignore Lydia and the fact she said she doesn’t date teenage boys OR that she was busy about Jordan the whole time, but sure. And also how character regressive is that for Lydia, but not that character matters to yall. And since you guys claim Will Wallace, he said Lydia was never jealous.

“season 5 she literally smiled through her pain to tell stiles everything was fine” - because that’s what she does? tell her friends she’s fine when she isn’t. Like she has done 1000 times with Scott?

5x16 - meaning the most fan servise scene of all times??? a scene that only made stydias happy even thought it ignored canon? and the fact Stiles did absolutely nothing while the other members almost die and he somehow managed to get the whole claim? not that is weird with tw and the fact their kiss his ass 24/7 and ignore Scott’s attempts to save his pack.

Listen. Sty*dia had the possibility to be good following a rightful narrative that didn’t involve a guy obssesed with his childhood crush. No only is the idea of Sty*dia absolutelly weird and male-driven that gives the illusion a man can beg, idiolize and wait as long as he can because the girl will eventually fall for him at the end. That’s probably the most boring romantive narrative but okay I guess.

The fandom itself invalidate Lydia’s wishes and links everything as romantic while also ignoring her interactions with Scott that are just as valid (I mean, she kissed him too does that mean she loves him??) but they would rather romantizice how Stiles saw Lydia on s1-2. But that’s another story. You want me to talk about canon? As I have said before if Jeff wanted to make Stdia romantic it would have been more belivable after the “kiss” on 3x11 but he decided to drop it. After the kiss Lydia and Aiden became official and Stiles never talked about the kiss again which is odd if we mention Stiles’ obssesive behavior. If anything after the kiss i believe a friendship was formed. Sty*dia grow up - he went from idiolizing her to actually see her as a real human being. The thing is just as Sty*dia grow up so did Scott+Lydia so the idea that Stiles is merely the only person to go crazy over Lydia is not accurate.

The thing is, it wasn’t only on late 3A and 3B that they became real friends instated of just a guy pinning after a girl. On 3A Stiles decided he was going to move on. Everything a couple needs to experience to be canon already happened with them. He told her he loved her, he saved her multiple times, they have been in relationships, they kissed, but, still, Lydia choose someone else but Stiles to be romantically involved. If you want to continue with canon, on 3B where Lydia was worried about Stiles well being and also experiencing her strong banshee powers - and still, commited in a relationship. Stiles found confort in another girl, a girl he fought for. A girl that wake him up from the kitsune. A girl he cared for even after she broke up with him, and send texts too. A girl he was scare of telling the truth about his heritage in case he would lose her (actually canon). After everything, after he decided that he wouldn’t be leaving her alone that action alone completely changed Stiles character that is often annoying and rude to vulnerability and compassion for someone who obviously didn’t experience it since her childhood. Season 4 Stiles was somehow less annoying when he isn’t pinning for a girl. That just shows that his feeings for Lydia changed (as stated for Scott in her weird conversation with Kira, because what else does Scira, the main couple, needed to do in their last scenes before they ditched Kira? talk about the white boring ship).

Dylan even said it. He said Stiles is comfortable with just being friends with Lydia, and he will always love Lydia but there’s so much more than just waiting for a love to be reciprocate and he found that with Malia. Say what you want but there was not indication of Sty+dia canon on S4 only if you want to add the typical “Lydia is jealous and she will realize she loves him” because Lydia stealing her friends’ bf is so Lydia s1 that it hurts. In fact, season 4 actually made sty*dia likable because for once their writing wasn’t based on the typical unrecriprocate feelings but solid ground and partnership. While Lydia becomes friends with Malia and Kira, but also developing a supernatural connection with Jordan that was so casually dropped this season to push a romantic narrative.

There’s so many reasons why Sty*dia doesn’t make sense at this point on time (unless they continue with the forced fanservice). If they make it canon 3 seasons ago, I would still have believe it. But not now, because Malia existed. Because she changed every dynamic. She made Stiles care and show a side of him he almost never shows. Stiles watched Lydia chose guys over him (and it’s okay because Lydia didn’t need to recriprocate just because he liked her), The whole “slow burn” “foreshawding” whatever you want to call it thing is bullshit because the fans keep ignoring Lydia’s wishes over and over and focusing on just one side of the ship and they think time determinates something when it doesn’t. Malia is in love with Stiles (and I do believe he loved her too) and Lydia Martin is not the same girl she used to be on season one that made out with Scott (her best friend’s boyfriend).

Now going to the current story line, you can’t even deny because it would make you look dumb that Sty*dia isn’t fan service for the last season, you just can’t. Casually since they knew they fave white boy (aka Dylan) was going to leave they needed to gain their ratings so you want to tell me they wasted 3 seasons and a half building romantic Stalia and possible Jordan+Lydia to have such a terrible writing that didn’t even made sense in the canon world? Since you love “canon” so much explain to me how Stiles’ reaction towards Malia on 5B made ANY SENSE, but the fact they just wanted to throw that away as fast as possible to built whatever they are trying to do here. Let’s not ignore the obvious here, erasing everyones memory was a perfect scenario to just don’t bring Stalia in the picture because it makes it easier to just put Lydia with Stiles without making it less obvious that she did a bitchy move that only season 1 Lydia would ever made.

Let’s not ignore that Lydia’s reactions to everything that is happening with Stiles is a HUGE character regression. Lydia would’ve find a way to bring Stiles back while also protecting her friends because what they are doing now (actually doing shit instated of sitting in a bed crying) is dangerous. To this point, Malia and Scott are the ones actually doing something. Hell, they even brough Theo back. Where’s Lydia from s5 that even when she couldn’t move she fought for her friends? If it was Malia ya’ll be screaming “Let her be independent!” but you only scream canon when it suits you.

Lydia’s relationships were also bring to the side and ignored canon once again to fullfill the sad love narrative with ur faves. You want to make me believe Malia, Stilinski and Scott didn’t remember Stiles but Lydia did out of the power of her heart? Her relationship with the pack is broken because all she does is cry over a guy. And we all know actual Lydia knows better. They throw her canon (again) connection with Jordan because Sty*dias would be mad with such interaction, when also the only person who could prevent Jordan for going insane is Lydia’s banshee? But surprise, they suddenly can’t remember.

You want to cry about canon but after s5 you would think Lydia would be stronger instated of crying her eyes out for a missing kid while the pack does all the work. Less throw all the traumatic experiences Lydia had to face in the past. Season 6 fucks with canon, not even over analized scenes to twist romantic feelings would change that. They needed to eliminate Lydia’s other relationships to make the audience believe her intense feelings for Stiles didn’t happen this season.

LASTLY, “You basically want Lydia to be with that jackass Jackson who was an asshole to her” TELL ME WHERE I SAID THAT. Because as far as I am concern I didn’t state any particular liking or appreciation towards that ship. Please don’t tell me you twist canon in reality too. I couldn’t give a fuck about Jackson, I only stated the word “ironic” which probably means you need a dictionary.

#stalia #tw #anti stydia #scott mccall #scolia #marrish #malia tate

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