Endless list of OCs // Alex Logan - Fired Up - Timeless [1/??] Alex Logan has spent her whole life being the stereotypical ‘good girl’ - she never broke curfew, never cut class, never gave her parents any reason to worry about her. She thought it was only fair that her parents had at least one child who wasn’t constantly bringing trouble to their door the way her older brother had always done. But somehow, following the rules and being on the right path her entire life, had led her to somewhere she never would have expected - right to Garcia Flynn.  Wyatt was never drinking again. Never. He had said that many times in the past, but this time the ringing in his head just wouldn’t stop and he groaned, burying his face in his pillow and willing sleep to come to him once again. It took him all of thirty seconds, but what felt like a lot longer, to realise the ringing was coming from his bedside table and he huffed, blindly reaching for his phone before squinting at the screen and frowning when he saw an unknown number flashing up. Sighing, he covered his eyes with his hand as he pressed the phone against his ear. “Hello?” “Hey, it’s me. Listen-” “Who’s me?” Wyatt interrupted. “Uh. Me. Alex. You know, your favourite and only sister who you swore to Mom and Dad that you’d take care of and look out for no matter what? Remember?” “Vaguely.” Alex paused. “Wyatt, are you drunk?” she asked in concern, and Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Are you calling me for a reason, or just to be judgemental and use your Mom voice?” “You’re right, I’m sorry,” Alex apologised quickly, and that made Wyatt sit up with a frown. Alex never apologised, she was constantly judging him and his bad decisions, even more so since his life has spiralled since Jessica’s death and his bad decisions had become more frequent. “I’ll hold off on the judgement.” “Alex, is everything okay?” “…No. No, it’s not. I’m in trouble, Wyatt,” Alex whispered. “I need your help.”
“Well, well, well… Jughead Jones. The prodigal son returns. Finally deemed us South Siders good enough to mix with, have you?”
Jughead recognised the voice instantly and he let out a sigh as he turned around to see her stood there, her arms crossed over her chest and with a few of the other Serpents standing behind her. He should have expected this. He should have known that, out of everyone he was going to encounter on his first day at South Side High, he was not going to get a warm welcome from Della Lomax.
“Della,” he sent her a nod, unable to stop a half smile from crossing his lips. “It’s been a long time.”
“Not long enough, Jones,” she quipped, her shoulder purposely knocking into his as she strode past him and cast a withering look over her shoulder. “Not long enough at all.”
Endless list of OCs // Lexi Daniels - Landslide - Chicago Med/Chicago PD - [1/??]
Looking up from where she was wiping down the bar towards the door that had just opened, Lexi felt her stomach flip when she saw who had walked into the bar.
It was times like this she hated working the day shift alone, it left her unable to escape anyone she didn’t particularly want to see because she couldn’t very well go and hide in the back room when there was no one else behind the bar.
Not that hiding in the back room would have stopped Jay from finding her, anyway. He knew her hiding spots and it would have taken him less than a minute to track her down.
Acting as though she hadn’t seen him, she moved to the other end of the bar and began putting the clean glasses away, keeping her back to the door so she didn’t have to face him. She couldn’t face him. Not after what had happened. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to face him again.
She heard the stool scrape across the floor as he sat down and she screwed her eyes shut, taking a deep breath to stop her shaking hands before she carried on stacking glasses and shuffling the bottles of vodka, whiskey and other spirits around to try and make herself look busy.
“Hey.”
Lexi sighed to herself, grabbing the damp cloth she had abandoned a couple of minutes earlier and plastering a smile on her face as she turned and carried on wiping down the bar.
“Hey! Didn’t see you come in,” she told him with a smile, wincing at the obvious lie but feeling grateful that Jay didn’t call her out on it. “What are you doing here so early?”
“Had a shout a couple blocks away, Ruzek’s waiting outside,” Jay shrugged his shoulders. “Can we talk?”
Lexi blinked, her smile slipping from her face. “I’m working,” she told him.
“Oh, yeah, I can see that you don’t really have a minute to spare. You’re so busy in here,” Jay commented sarcastically, raising an eyebrow as he looked around at the mostly empty bar. Lexi rolled her eyes, ignoring him and squirting some more cleaning spray on to the bar. “Lex, can you just stop for a second?” he asked, his hand covering hers to stop her from cleaning. “Please?”
“Fine,” she sighed, and Jay grinned as he gestured for her to sit next to him. With a huff and another roll of her eyes, Lexi pulled her little apron off and walked round to the other side of the bar, hopping up on to the stool beside Jay.
“Soo…” he started. “How- how have you been?”
Lexi raised her eyebrows. “Small talk, Jay? Really? What, are you gonna ask me about the weather next?” she teased, and Jay frowned as he glanced down at his hands in his lap. “C’mon, we don’t do this. You wanted to talk, so talk.”
“I-” he paused. “I’m sorry about… You know, turning up here with Erin last week. I didn’t know you were working, I never would have-”
“It’s fine-”
“Can you just let me talk, Lex?” Jay interrupted. “Because this is hard for me to say, but I need to say it,” he told her quietly, and she nodded her head as she gestured for him to continue. “I shouldn’t have brought her here, and I’m sorry. I guess I just- I didn’t think, it wasn’t until Gwen called me out on it that I realised what a shitty move it was. I wasn’t trying to rub your nose in it or anything, I didn’t bring her here to make you jealous or- or anything like that.”
“Jay, it’s fine,” Lexi smiled weakly. “Really. It’s your place, right? This is where you all come, where all your friends come and I’m just some girl who barged into every aspect of your life without even meaning to-”
“Lexi you are so far from being just some girl I can’t even begin to tell you,” Jay laughed quietly, and she scrunched her face up in confusion. “…When you got here after Erin had left, I was… broken. I was lost, I was confused, I was trying to get over losing the woman I thought I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I was trying to understand how I could feel so much for her, how I could love her more than anything, and how she could just ignore everything we had and leave me here without a second thought.”
“…I’m sure she-”
“Lexi.”
“Sorry,” Lexi smiled sheepishly. “I’ll be quiet. I promise.”
“I loved Erin. I really did, and when she left me I felt like such a failure – I lost her, I had to move back in with Will, and I just… I didn’t think I would ever get over her. But then… Then you turned up again, and you were just- you were so different, Lex,” he whispered, reaching out to take hold of her hands. “You were like a breath of fresh air, there was no drama with you and-”
“Jay,” Lexi’s eyes widened. “Jay I think we should-”
“You’re not supposed to be interrupting.”
“I know but I-”
“Lexi please,” he whined. “Please just let me say this, and then you can-”
“I need to tell you something-”
“Well you can tell me after I’ve told you this, okay?” Jay raised his eyebrows, pressing a finger to her lips. “You fixed me, Lex. You put me back together piece by piece and I didn’t even realise you were doing it. Y’know how back before we were together, I wouldn’t let you meet anyone I worked with? That was because they knew. I was me again, the me I was before Erin left, and that was because of you.”
“…Jay-”
“It’s you, Lexi,” Jay told her quickly, giving her hands a squeeze. “It’s not Erin, not anymore, and I’m sorry it took me a little time to figure it out – I’m sorry I even needed time to figure it out – but… It’s you.”
“I… Wow,” Lexi breathed. “That- that’s a lot to take in right now,” she looked down, gently pulling her hands out of his grasp and trying not to notice the way his face fell.
“…I completely understand if you don’t feel the way you did a couple weeks ago-”
“It’s not that, I-” Lexi paused, running a hand through her hair. “I thought you were here to tell me it was over,” she admitted quietly. “That you’d chosen Erin. That’s what I’d prepared myself for. I was not prepared for all of this,” she waved a hand towards him, and Jay grinned and he leaned towards her and tucked a loose piece of her hair behind her ear.
“I wanna come home, Lex,” he whispered. “I want us to try again.”
Shadows and Monsters - flashbacks // Tessa Dunbar - Teen Wolf [5/??]
Having to get up at what felt like the crack of dawn when she hadn’t gone to sleep until close to 3am had made Tessa grumpy, and she completely blamed Lydia Martin for it.
Tessa had made the mistake of mentioning Theo to her, casually dropping in how cute he was, and of course Lydia had wanted to know everything – it didn’t matter that Tessa didn’t even know anything about the new arrival. No, it had just spurred Lydia on even further and soon she had commandeered Tessa’s laptop and was Facebook stalking the poor boy and Tessa had let her, desperate for an ounce of normalcy in their lives.
But they hadn’t found anything, much to Lydia’s annoyance, and Tessa couldn’t decide whether she was disappointed that they hadn’t managed to find out anything about him, or intrigued at the mystery surrounding him because no matter what anyone said, there was most definitely something mysterious about the new boy.
But, her lack of sleep and subsequent grumpiness was making her irritable, and the way Stiles was yammering on like he was in an episode of Criminal Minds was started to grate on her. She was seriously regretting agreeing to this whole car sharing thing.
“So… You ran a background check, and all you found was a speeding ticket?”
“Yeah, a speeding ticket signed by Theo’s dad eight years ago!” Stiles gestured wildly, desperately trying to make Malia understand his point, but she just stared at him blankly. “Who speeds?” he asked, and Malia shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “People trying to get away from something.”
“Well, how many tickets do you have?” Malia asked, and Stiles smiled proudly.
“None.”
Malia took in a breath and raised an eyebrow. “How many would you have if your dad didn’t get you out of them?” she asked and Tessa couldn’t help but laugh, ignoring the glare Stiles shot her.
“Seventeen…” he answered quietly, his shoulders slumping.
“I don’t know, Stiles…” Malia paused. “I mean, I see why you’re worried. He’s really hot.”
“Really, really hot,” Tessa nodded.
“He’s got like great hair, perfect body… You should definitely feel threatened,” Malia told him.
“Definitely,” Tessa agreed, biting down on her bottom lip to keep from laughing.
“Thank you,” Stiles blinked. “Because I do. Now more than ever.”
“You want me to torture him?” Malia asked bluntly, and Tessa blinked at her in astonishment.
“Uhm, no?” she frowned. “He hasn’t done anything wrong, Malia.”
“I’m pretty sure I can take him.”
“There will be no torturing, Malia!” Tessa whined. “God, can’t we just have one normal day at this school?” she muttered, running a hand through her hair. “It’s the first day of senior year, can we just try and get through the morning without threats of torture, violence, or death?”
“Tessa’s right, no torture. Not yet, at least. I have a plan, anyway,” Stiles shrugged his shoulders. “There are steps to doing this right-”
“Oh really?” Tessa raised her eyebrows.
“Yeah, first off we get the story, alright? Then, we verify the facts,” his voice dropped slightly as he stepped closer to the two girls. “Then, we find the piece that doesn’t fit and… catch him in the act. That’s how you do it.”
“And which episode of Criminal Minds did you pick this up from?”
“My dad is the sheriff Tessa, do you really think I need to pick up tips from second rate TV shows?” he asked with a frown, and Tessa reached forwards to flick his forehead. “Ouch!”
“Criminal Minds is not a second rate TV show,” she told him. “And Theo isn’t the bad guy. He tried to help Scott, remember? He tried to help fight the guy with the glowing claws,” she flexed her fingers as though and let out a pathetic attempt at a growl as she tried to imitate the werewolf that had attacked Scott the night before.
“That… That was pathetic,” Stiles let out a snort of laughter.
“We’re the humans, Stiles. Humor is all we have,” Tessa shrugged her shoulders, her eyes widening slightly when she spotted Theo getting out of a car a few feet away from them.
“You smell like Stiles.”
“Wha-” Tessa leaned away from Malia. “What do you mean I smell like Stiles?”
“Bad. You smell bad. You smell like anxiety,” Malia narrowed her eyes. “But it’s different.”
“Shut up!” Tessa hissed, nudging Malia’s side as her cheeks flushed and she caught Theo’s gaze. Stiles followed her line of sight and let out a groan, ignoring Theo when he lifted his hand up and waved towards them. Tessa raised her hand to wave back, but Stiles smacked it back down to her side with a glare.
“Tessa he’s the enemy-”
“Why are you so suspicious of this guy?”
“Because…” Stiles paused, glancing towards Theo. “I remember Theo from fourth grade, okay? And that? That’s not Theo.”
“It might be Theo.”
“It’s not Theo, Malia.”
“Fourth grade was a long time ago Stiles-”
“It’s not Theo, alright?” he snapped, and Tessa lifted her hands up in defense.
“How come you don’t know him?” Malia asked her with a frown, and Tessa pulled her backpack further on to her shoulders.
“He left in fourth grade, I didn’t move to Beacon Hills until fifth,” she replied, glancing down at her watch and wincing when she saw the time. “I gotta shoot, alright? I told Lydia I’d meet her before class, we have AP Bio with Finch and we can’t be late.”
“Ouch, you got Finch for your first class on your first day back?” Stiles winced, and Tessa rolled her eyes.
“Tell me about it,” she huffed. “I’d rather deal with Derek on a bad day than deal with Finch on one of her good days. I’ll see you guys later,” she sent them both a quick wave before she jogged inside the school and headed towards Lydia’s locker.
“Tessa!”
She stopped, spinning round when she heard Scott calling her name and smiled when she saw him stood by the entrance – he must have walked in right behind her.
“Hey, Scott,” she sent him a small wave as she walked over to him. “I’ve just left Stiles outside if you’re looking for-”
“I actually wanted to talk to you, if that’s okay?” Scott interrupted, giving her an unsure smile and Tessa couldn’t help but look at him in confusion. “I just sort of… I guess I wanted to apologise for what Stiles said last night and-”
“Oh my God, Scott, don’t even worry about it,” Tessa waved her hand dismissively, praying that she was able to keep her heartbeat under control. “It’s totally fine, I know how Stiles can be. It’s forgotten. There’s no need for you to apologise.”
“…Really?” he asked uncertainly.
“Really!” Tessa nodded. “I mean, I know Stiles likes to think he knows everything about everything, but he can be wrong sometimes, you know?”
“And is… Is this one of those time that he’s… wrong?”
“Yep,” Tessa plastered a smile on her face, not noticing Scott’s expression change. “Because…- well I mean, you’re with Kira and Kira is my friend? And- and we’re friends and you’re Liam’s… You know… So it would weird… right?”
“Right, yeah,” Scott quickly agreed. “Totally weird.”
“Yep…” Tessa trailed off, rocking back on her heels as she pulled her gaze away from Scott’s. An awkward silence fell over them for a few seconds, before Tessa cursed under her breath as she remembered she was on her way to meet Lydia. “I have to go, Lydia’s waiting for me but I’ll see you in bio, right?”
“Yeah, right,” Scott nodded. He paused, opening his mouth to say something but closing is again, instead settling on sending her a smile. “See you later.”
“Uh-huh. Hi Kira, bye Kira!” Tessa waved to her as she walked up to Scott’s side, before she turned around and rushed towards Lydia’s locker. “I’m so sorry I was-”
“You’re late.”
“I know,” Tessa whined. “I was talking to Stiles and Malia, and then I was talking to Scott-”
“You’re late,” Lydia repeated, interrupting Tessa and linking her arm through hers. “And I have information on the new boy.”
Tessa stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. “What?”
“You heard me,” Lydia rolled her eyes, tugging on Tessa’s arm and pulling her towards their class. “He doesn’t live too far from you, he moved here literally just days ago. Just him and his parents. He seems pretty… normal,” she shrugged, looking around as her voice dropped to a whisper. “Apart from the whole werewolf thing, y’know?”
“Trust me, that’s becoming the new norm in my life nowadays,” Tessa groaned. “How did you even find this out? You didn’t leave mine until like 2.30 this morning and we haven’t even had first period yet-” she stopped when she saw the familiar, smug smile cross her lips and Tessa sighed heavily. “Did you go through your mom’s files again? Lydia, just because she’s the guidance counsellor doesn’t mean you can-”
“I asked him.”
Tessa blinked. “What?”
“I. Asked. Him,” Lydia enunciated slowly. “He was actually very forthcoming. I don’t know why Stiles is so suspicious of him.”
“You… You asked him?” Tessa repeated. “All- all of this information? As though that’s a normal thing to do?” she asked with a whine and Lydia smiled widely, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she shrugged. “Do you have no sense of shame?!”
“Well you have enough for the both of us, sweetie,” Lydia let out a delicate snort of laughter. “Listen, Tessa, we’re friends, right? I know we haven’t always been friends, but we kind of got pulled into this at the same time and I like to think that we’re closer because of that but, honestly… I am sick of you being miserable and single and pining after Lahey-”
“I was not pining after Isaac, we were just friends-”
“And pining after Scott-”
“That is- that is so not even-”
“And this new guy might be good for you, y’know?” Lydia continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Tessa had even spoken. “He’s cute – I mean really cute – and he’s new here which means he’s single, he’s got no baggage and he already knows the big Beacon Hill secret so really, there’s nothing stopping you.”
Tessa pursed her lips, straightening up slightly and narrowing her eyes at Lydia. “First of all, I am not miserable. I was not pining after Isaac either, he was my best friend and I miss him, that’s all. As for what you said about- about Scott- that’s just- that’s ridiculous-” she stopped, glaring towards Lydia when she scoffed in obvious disbelief. “I am perfectly happy being single, Lydia. I don’t need a man to validate my life. I never have, and I never will.”
“While I admire the feminist nature of that little speech,” Lydia paused, unlinking her arm from Tessa’s once they were inside the classroom and leaning forward, placing her lips next to her ear. “Everyone still needs to get laid once in a while,” she added in a whisper, before quickly spinning Tessa around and shoving her towards the bench they’d stopped besides.
With a wicked grin and a wiggle of her fingers, Lydia spun on her heel and glided towards the front of the room, calling a quick ‘have fun!’ over her shoulder before she dropped down into the seat besides Sydney. Tessa watched her go in confusion before she slowly turned to face the other person sat at the bench.
And she froze.
Sitting before her, a cross between a smirk and a friendly smile on his lips, was Theo Raeken.
Tessa screwed her eyes shut and resisted the urge to turn around and hurl loud insults at Lydia, deciding that definitely would not improve the situation. Instead, she placed her books down on the top of the workbench and slowly climbed on to the seat beside him. She leaned against the bench, resting her chin on the palm of her hand and letting one side of her hair fall in front of her face as though it were a curtain protecting her from the new boy’s curious gaze.
If nothing else, it would hopefully hide the blush she could feel spreading over her cheeks as she tapped out a text to Lydia.
Are your banshee senses tingling? Because I’m going to kill you.
Lydia didn’t reply, but she did turn round her seat and blow a kiss towards a scowling Tessa, before she laughed and shot a wink at Kira who was sat across the room from her.
“It’s Tess, right?”
She jumped, her hands fumbling to stuff her phone back into her pocket as she turned to face the boy next to her.
“Uh, yeah. Kind of. I- it’s Tessa.”
“Tessa, sorry,” he smiled, holding his hand out towards her. Tessa stared at it as though it were a snake waiting to strike, before she lifted her eyes and slowly slid her hand into his. “I’m Theo.”
“I know,” she told him, her cheeks flushing even more. “I- I mean… I remember. From last night. From- y’know, when you helped Scott, I mean,” she stuttered, shaking her head as she mentally face-palmed and plastered a smile on her face. “Sorry, can we try that again? I know who you are, I remember you from last night.”
“Not because Lydia was quizzing me about my entire life this morning, then?” Theo raised his eyebrows and Tessa laughed nervously, painfully aware that her hand was still enclosed in his.
“She, uhm… Lydia’s like the social butterfly of Beacon Hills, I’m sorry,” she apologised sheepishly. “She likes to know everyone’s business, it’s nothing personal, I promise. She was the same with me when I moved to Beacon Hills and we were only like… Eleven.”
“I was going to say I don’t remember you from fourth grade, but I thought that might be a little rude.”
“Not rude,” Tessa shook her head with a smile. “We moved here halfway through fifth grade, so you’d probably been gone a while.”
“We?”
“Uh-huh. Me, my mom, my step-dad and my brother. You met him last night, too,” she told him, and Theo’s face screwed up in confusion. “Liam?”
“Oh,” Theo nodded. “He’s your brother? I thought he was your boyfriend or something.”
“Wh- ew, no,” Tessa wrinkled her nose in disgust. “He’s my little brother, he’s two years below us and he’s a pain in my ass most days,” she rolled her eyes, and Theo smirked as he watched her. “I, uhm, I hope Lydia didn’t make you feel uncomfortable with all those questions she asked you, by the way.”
“It takes more than that to make me uncomfortable, Tessa,” Theo grinned. “Especially when I know the information is getting passed on to a pretty girl.”
Tessa winced. “How much of that conversation did you hear?”
“Most of it,” he shrugged his shoulders. “I wasn’t trying to, but…” he gestured to his ears. “The super hearing, you know?”
“That super hearing the bane of my life,” she huffed, and Theo laughed quietly as Tessa’s eyes drifted to the door when Scott came skidding into the room.
She shot him a smile and he paused, his brow furrowed as he glanced between her and Theo before he slowly took a seat beside Kira, casting a confused lance over his shoulder. Tessa frowned back, mouthing ‘what?’ at him, but Scott just shook his head and turned to the front of the room.
Tessa shrugged, opening her textbook and reading through the sections she and Scott had highlighted together a couple of weeks earlier.
“Is Scott not supposed to be in this class?” Theo whispered, and Tessa jumped slightly when she turned to face him and saw he had moved his stool closer to hers.
“Of course he is. Why?”
“Lydia and the girl beside Scott,” Theo gestured between them. “They’re asking him if he’s in the right class. It seemed a little… condescending?”
Tessa sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes. “I thought he would have told them by now. He has to take this class to get into his first choice of college. He wants to be a vet, we’ve been studying together all summer. They’re probably just surprised, that’s all.”
Theo leaned away from her, his eyes darting between her and Scott. “I didn’t know you and Scott were-”
“We’re not,” she interrupted quickly, her cheeks flaming. “We’re just friends. Kira, the girl sitting with him, she’s his girlfriend.”
Theo raised his eyebrows. “She’s his girlfriend and she didn’t know he was taking this class, but he told you?” he asked. Tessa opened her mouth to reply, to tell him it wasn’t like that, they were just friends, but she was interrupted by Mrs. Finch as she stood at the front of the room.
“Welcome to AP Biology,” she smiled. “Let’s see who’s awake. Can somebody tell me what plasmids are?” she asked and, unsurprisingly to Tessa, Lydia’s hand was the first one up.
“Circular, self-replicating DNA molecules often used in cloning proteins.”
“Nicely stated, Lydia,” Mrs. Finch nodded. “No, can you tell me what vitamin is absorbed in the stomach via parietal cell production of a glycoprotein?”
“Uh… B-12?” Lydia’s voice wasn’t so certain with this answer, but still Mrs. Finch nodded, her eyes darting around the room until they landed on her next victim.
“Mr. McCall,” she spoke, and Tessa cursed under her breath. “Did you know the answer?”
“Um, no,” Scott answered quietly.
“I’s a common test question. What’s your one college pick?”
“Um-”
“Stop saying ‘um’,” Mrs. Finch interrupted him and Tessa couldn’t help but glare towards her, her knuckles turning white and she tightening the grip on her pen. God, she hated teachers like Finch.
“Sorry,” Scott shook his head. “UC Davis.”
“Good choice,” she nodded her head, seemingly surprised by Scott’s answer. “It’s the best school on the West Coast for biological and physical sciences. You’re in the right class it that’s what you’re hoping for. Who else thinks they’re in the right class?” she asked. Theo’s hand was the first in the air, Tessa’s following soon afterwards as Scott turned around to glance at them once again and Theo sent him a smile. “Good. Then you should all be prepared for the test tomorrow- don’t be so disappointed,” she tutted when her statement was met with a collective groan. “This test is to help you determine whether you should actually be in AP Biology. You have two weeks to drop, tomorrow’s test will just week out the ones who shouldn’t be here, and that could be any of you.”
“I honestly hate her,” Tessa whispered, turning her head to the side to glance at Theo. “I should have known she’d spring a test on us first day back.”
“Good job I’ve got a free period after this,” Theo frowned, looking down at his textbook. “I guess I’m gonna have to study.”
“Ditto.”
Theo raised an eyebrow. “You have a free too?” he asked, and Tessa nodded in reply. “Do you, uh, maybe wanna study together?” he reached up, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Tessa blinked, surprised at his invitation but nodded her head anyway as Mrs. Finch demanding everyone’s attention on her. “Great,” Theo grinned, and Tessa managed to muster a small smile back in return, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach and resisting the urge to groan loudly.
Shadows and Monsters // Tessa Dunbar - Teen Wolf [3/??]
Tessa sighed contentedly, her legs stretched out in front of her and her back against the windshield of Stiles’ jeep. Scott beside her, his gaze on the night sky as Stiles hastily scribbled something out from where he was stood on her other side. She could hear him muttering under his breath, his arm knocking against her leg every now and then as he continued to write things out, but not even that could spoil her mood.
She loved nights like this, when it was dark outside but still warm enough for shorts, night when she could just hang out with her friends without having to worry about whatever supernatural entity was coming after them next. It was… nice. It sounded so simple, but Tessa had missed things being nice.
And what made it even better was that tomorrow, she started her first day of senior year. Her first day of her last year of high school, and then she was done. Finished. Out of Beacon Hills and (hopefully) headed to Berkeley. Far away enough from the happenings of Beacon Hills, but not too far away in case Liam ever needed her.
She couldn’t wait.
“Alright, so I found some cool two bedrooms in the Mission District, but they’re pretty expensive,” Stiles said from beside her, and Tessa reluctantly opened her eyes but kept her gaze firmly on the sky. This had nothing to do with her, anyway. “A couple in Haight and Ashbury. Also expensive.”
“What about Berkeley? Don’t a lot of students live around there?”
Tessa’s head whipped to the side as she shot Scott a glare, but he just grinned back in reply.
“I will kill the both of you if you come anywhere near me while I’m in college, I swear to God.”
But Stiles ignored her. “Yeah, yeah we could try Nob Hill. But the jeep would probably burn through a lot of clutches.”
“You’re bringing the jeep?” Scott raised his eyebrows in surprise, and Stiles sighed heavily as he let his hand fall down onto the hood of said jeep. He looked well and truly exasperated, and Tessa had to stifle a laugh.
“You know the plan, okay? No one gets left behind. That’s the plan-”
“The jeep isn’t a person.”
“-Lydia’s not gonna have a problem getting into Stanford,” Stiles continued, ignoring Tessa’s interruption. “Kira’s thinking USF, Tessa here is going to wow the crowds at Berkeley, Malia’s… uh, gonna… You know, she’ll figure something out, okay? The plan’s perfect.”
“…Or we could wait until we actually get into college, and then figure out where to live,” Scott suggested.
“You’re ruining his vision, Scotty,” Tessa warned, and Stiles hummed in appreciation as he pointed towards her.
“Exactly! See, Tessa gets it! I have a vision, dude, okay? And- and it is a beautiful vision. Don’t- don’t ruin the vision.”
Tessa turned her head to look at Scott, sending him a grin and he laughed quietly, shaking his head and smiling down at her. She had to admit, they had grown closer the past few months. With both of them helping Liam learn how to control his werewolf powers and how to control the shift, they had been spending a lot of time together – even more so since Kira had left for new week five weeks earlier and Stiles had been spending most of his time with Malia. Scott had easily become her best friend (after Liam, of course) and she was trying not to read too much into it, but sometimes she felt like there was definitely something more there.
Not that she would ever act on it, of course. She would never do that to Kira, and she knew Scott wouldn’t either. It was most likely all in her mind, anyway. Something that would go away of its own accord the longer she ignored it (a bit like the crush she’d had on Stiles when they were 12 years old).
“What about you, Tessa?” Scott nudged her gently. “What are you gonna do?”
“Not sure,” she shrugged her shoulders. “If I get into Berkeley, I think I’ll just stay in dorms. It’s better than trying to rent a place on my own, or trying to find someone to live with.”
“Okay, we can check out the East Bay. Haven't looked at Oakland yet, you know,” Stiles continued, oblivious to the fact that they had slightly changed topic. He looked up from the map he had sprawled out in front of him to see Scott staring up at the full moon and he tapped Tessa’s leg with the end of his pen, gesturing towards their friend. “You all right? You're starting to feel it?” Stiles asked.
“No,” Scott paused. “Just thinking.”
“About what?” Tessa asked quietly.
“…Senior year.”
“Senior year,” Stiles repeated. “Come on, that’s… That’s nothing. That’s going to be easy.”
“For once, I have no qualms in saying Stiles is absolutely right,” Tessa nodded, and Stiles scoffed loudly beside her.
“It’s more like something Deaton told me once,” Scott explained. “You ever hear of regression to the mean…?” he asked and, when both of his friends shook their heads no, he continued. “It was his way of saying that life can’t ever be all bad or all good. You know, eventually things have to come back to the middle. So, think about the last few months. Things have been good, right? But not amazing,” he sat up, leaning forwards as he spoke.
“Yeah, but no one’s tried to kill us in six months either,” Stiles muttered.
“Right,” Scott pointed at him, as though that proved what he was saying. “We've been pretty much in the middle for a while. Which means, at some point, the scale has to tip one way or the other. Things are gonna get really good again…” he trailed off ominously, and Stiles let out a sigh.
“Or really bad.”
“You two are such buzzkills,” Tessa groaned, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the jeep. “Can’t we just have one more night where we don’t have to worry about this stuff? Can’t we just be thankful that we’re here, that we even get to be seniors and go off to college when there are some of our friends who- who can’t do that?” she grumbled, dusting down her shorts and ignoring the pang in her chest.
She swallowed thickly and took a deep breath like she did every time her mind drifted to her absent friends – Erica, Isaac, Boyd, Allison… They should all be here with them right now. She looked up, opening her mouth to speak when Stiles pushed her into a tight hug.
“God, Tessa, you call us buzzkills and then you bring up our dead friends,” he sighed loudly, patting her back as she tried to pull out of the hug, Scott laughing beside them.
“You’re a loser,” she whined, letting her arms drop to her sides and resigning herself to the fact that she wasn’t getting out of this hug until Stiles decided it was time to let go.
Stiles jumped, releasing her as a clap of thunder sounded above them and he looked towards the sky before his attention drifted to Scott.
“…Thinks it’s been long enough?”
“Yes!”
Tessa giggled as she heard her brother’s voice calling from behind them and she turned around, trying to smother her laughter when she saw the totally unamused look on his face as he remained chained to a tree.
“Hey, trying to have an adult conversation over here!” Stiles called back.
“All right, you’re two years older than me, and I’m fine! Just let me go. Please? Tessa?”
Her teeth sinking into her bottom lip, Tessa turned to look at Scott as he hopped down from the hood of the jeep. “We can let him out now, right? It’s been a couple hours and he hasn’t changed…” she trailed off, looking at the alpha hopefully.
“We can let him go,” Scott nodded, heading towards Liam and beginning to undo the chains as Tessa and Stiles followed behind him. “It’s not that we don’t trust you, Liam.”
“Yeah, it’s that I don’t trust you.”
“Shut up,” Tessa tutted, slapping Stiles’ arm.
“It’s just that… After that last full moon…” Scott started carefully, and Liam immediately jumped in to defend himself.
“It was one slip up!”
“Slip up?” Stiles repeated with raised eyebrows. “A dozen calls to the Sheriff’s Department about a monstrous dog-boy running around the streets of Beacon Hills naked. That’s a slip up?”
“Why were you naked?” Scott asked him in confusion.
“It was really hot out that night, okay?” Liam sighed. “Let me go.”
“Come on, Scott,” Tessa sighed. “He’s getting better at it, I swear. I wouldn’t lie.”
Scott paused for a second, looking between the two siblings before turned back to Liam. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, it won’t happen again.”
“You’re in complete and total control?”
“Yeah, complete and total,” Liam nodded his head, and Scott continued to unchain him. Once he was done, he patted Liam on the shoulder and bundled the chains back into the rucksack he had brought along before he turned to face Stiles, and they began to walk back towards the jeep. Tessa shot him a grateful smile, which Scott returned, and she let him walk past her before she moved to stand beside her brother.
“Are you really okay?” she asked quietly when she was sure Scott and Stiles were far enough ahead of them that they wouldn’t hear. Liam shrugged weakly, chewing on the inside of his cheek and keeping his hands by his sides as Tessa sighed softly. “Let me see,” she demanded, holding out her hands.
Liam frowned, avoiding her gaze as she reached down to grab his hand and, lifting it up, she uncurled his fist and winced when she saw the blood from the deep cuts on the palm of his hand where he had dug his claws into his skin to keep himself from shifting.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I’m trying, I really am, but- I heard you guys talking about college and about leaving and I- I guess I just couldn’t concentrate.”
“You don’t have to apologise to me, Li,” Tessa slung an arm around his shoulders and pressed a kiss to his head, which made him huff and push her away from him before Scott or Stiles saw. “I know you’re trying, and we’ll work on it some more this month, okay? And, hey, I might be leaving but you’ve still got me here for a while yet! And if I do get into Berkeley I’m only gonna be a couple hours away, I can come home if you need me to or you can come and stay with me, or-”
“Okay, alright,” Liam interrupted, feeling a little embarrassed that he still needed so much reassurance from her. “Let’s just… Let’s just go, yeah?” he muttered, gesturing towards were Scott and Stiles were climbing into the jeep.
“Liam, seriously,” Tessa’s fingers wrapped around his wrist and she pulled him to a stop before he had barely started to make his way over to the jeep. “I’m- I’m always gonna be here for you, no matter what you need, alright? I… I know at the beginning I wasn’t the most supportive-”
“What, wanting to kill Scott wasn’t you being supportive?” he asked in mock-surprise, and Tessa narrowed her eyes as she lightly punched at his shoulder and he smirked at her.
“You might be a werewolf but I can still kick your ass, and I’m serious, Liam,” she frowned. “I know I didn’t take it well, but I was just worried about what was going to happen to you and- and I guess I know now that I shouldn’t have been. You can handle this. You’re- you’re doing great and… and not that I think you will but, if you need me, I’ll always be around-”
“Are you going to cry?”
“Liam,” she whined, stomping her foot on the ground. “I’m trying to tell you that I’m proud of you, you ass.”
Liam beamed at her, but Tessa rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Thanks, sis. I’m proud of you, too.”
Tessa blinked. “I didn’t do anything to be proud of.”
“Not true,” Liam shook his head. “You forgave Scott for biting me. You haven’t killed Stiles yet and I know everyone wants to at some point. You’ve really been there for everyone since this whole thing began and… I’m gonna miss you, Tessa. Like, a lot. You’re- you’re kind of like- you’re sort of-… Scott says you’re my anchor, okay?” he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. “And I don’t know what I’m gonna do when you’re gone.”
“…Are you going to cry?”
“I hate you,” Liam groaned.
Tessa grinned at him. “No you don’t. I’m your anchor. You can’t hate your anchor.”
Liam narrowed his eyes into a glare. “I can when my control is fueled by rage.”
“Okay,” Tessa snorted, reaching out and ruffling his hair. “Come on, Scrappy-Doo,” she grinned, throwing an arm around his shoulders and pulled him towards her side. “Let’s get out of here.”
Endless list of OCs // Tessa Dunbar - Teen Wolf [1/??]
“Tess- Tessa! What are you doing?!”
“What does it look like I’m doing, Liam!” she snapped back at her younger brother, her fists clenched and her ponytail flying behind her as she marched angrily towards the house she hadn’t set foot in in months.
“It- it looks like you actually believe what I’m telling you and you’re about to do something really dumb like go barging into a wolves nest!” Liam reached out, wrapping his fingers round her wrist and pulling her to a stop.
“Den,” Tessa whispered, sighing quietly as Liam cocked his head to the side in confusion. “Wolves have dens, not nests.”
“Thanks for the lesson, National Geographic,” he muttered, rolling his eyes and stumbling when Tessa shoved him. “C’mon, come home and we can… We can talk about this. You can tell me why you didn’t laugh your ass off when I told you I was a werewolf. You can tell me why this isn’t a surprise to you and you can… You can just… Not go running into danger, right? Because- because I mean, he- he bit me Tessa and if you go marching in there, what’s he going to do to you?”
Tessa lifted her chin defiantly, her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed. “He isn’t going to do anything to me, Liam,” she growled. “But I’m going to kill him.”
Groaning loudly as he watched her spin on her heel and continue on with her supposed death wish, Liam hurriedly followed after her as she made her way to the house he had escaped from just a couple of nights earlier, before he had been thrust into a world he didn’t understand and his whole life had been turned upside down.
They had told him not to tell anyone. They had told him he had to keep it a secret, to protect himself and also to protect them… But Tessa wasn’t just anyone. She was his sister, she was his (as lame as it sounded) best friend… They had always been close. Tessa had been his protector from the second he was born. It had been Tessa who had beaten up the school bully for picking on Liam when he was seven, it was Tessa who had stood up to the idiots at Devonford Prep, and it was Tessa who had promised their mother that she would keep an eye on Liam if she allowed him to transfer to Beacon Hills High.
Sure, they fought sometimes and they would wind each other up – what siblings didn’t? – but they had always had each other’s backs. They had always stood up for one another and supported each other no matter what. They had been all the other had during their parents’ divorce.
They really were best friends, and they had never kept anything from each other before.
At least… That’s what Liam had thought. But the way Tessa had accepted his news, the way she had scrambled off her bed at the mention of Scott McCall’s name and the way she was currently stomping determinedly up the steps of his porch made Liam think that Tessa had indeed been keeping something from him.
She already knew about this world.
“McCall!” she hollered, banging on the front door with her fists. “Open the damn door! I know you’re in there, Stiles’ heap of junk is in the driveway!”
Liam wanted to grab hold of his sister and drag her away from the house but before he could, the front door opened slowly and Scott cautiously peeked his head outside.
“…Before you attack me, I only did it to save him-”
Letting out a sound that was somewhere between a growl and roar, Tessa pushed at the front door with a strength she didn’t know she had and Scott fell backwards, catching himself before he fell on the ground. He scrambled on the floor, pulling himself to his feet and dusting his jeans off as he stared at Tessa with wide eyes.
“What the fuck where you thinking?” she hissed.
“We can ex-”
“Back off, Stilinski!” she snapped, whirling round and pointing a finger at him. Stiles raised his eyebrows, lifting his hands up in surrender and glancing towards his best friend.
“This one’s all you, Scotty,” he muttered, and Scott gulped slightly when Tessa turned her attention back to him.
“Tessa he was going to fall- he was going to die, I- I didn’t have a choice-!”
“You didn’t give him a choice!” Tessa yelled. “You didn’t let him decide! You- you just did it, Scott! You didn’t tell him about the danger he was going to be in, you didn’t tell him about the mortality rate for the rest of the teenage werewolves in town – do you remember Erica, huh? Boyd? Isaac?”
“Wha- Isaac isn’t-”
“Isaac is missing, Scott, or haven’t you noticed that?” Tessa rolled her eyes, throwing her hands in the air. “I haven’t spoken to him in months. One of my best friends is dead, and the other conveniently disappeared out of the country with a werewolf hunter and now I can’t get in touch with him? You don’t find that in the slightest bit strange? You don’t think that was something you should have considered before you bit my kid brother? You’ve practically signed his death certificate-”
“Isaac was a werewolf?” Liam asked, sounding completely baffled.
“Not now, Liam.”
“Tessa-”
“I said not now, Liam!” she told him, her tone pleading as she turned to look at him. “You don’t understand what he’s gotten you involved in, you have no idea what this world is going to do to you. God, this has- this stupid werewolf business has taken too much from me already and I’m not going to let it take you as well, alright? So just… shh. Go sit down and be quiet while I talk to Scott-”
“You’re not really talking to Scott, I’d definitely say it’s more like you’re yelling at Scott,” Stiles paused. “There’s- there’s a lot of yelling.”
“Do you want me to yell at you instead?”
“No- nope. I’m- I’m all good on the yelling front, thank you,” Stiles shook his head, taking a step backwards and gesturing towards the living room. “I’m just- I’ll be in there. Uh… Good luck, buddy,” he shot Scott a thumbs up, before he rushed into the living room.
“Tessa…” Scott started carefully. “He was going to fall off the hospital roof, alright? I- I had to do something, I couldn’t just let him fall, he would have died and I couldn’t hold on to him so- so I had to. It was the only way to save him, Tessa.”
“…He’s telling the truth, T,” Liam told her quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’d be dead right now if it was wasn’t for Scott. Then you’d be yelling at him for not saving me.”
“You’re gonna be dead anyway,” Tessa whispered, shrugging his hand off and looking towards Scott with watery eyes. “Erica died. I grew up with her, Scott. I’d known her since I was six years old, and she’s dead. And- and Isaac- my best friend… I don’t even know where he is. I don’t know if he’s okay, if he’s safe. When he left… I wanted out of this world, and you knew that. Look how many people you’ve lost already – Erica, Boyd, Allison, Matt, all those innocent people Miss. Blake killed – and you want to drag my brother into this? No,” she shook her head. “No. I’m not going to let you. You’re going to stay away from him, do you understand? You- you and you’re weird, twitchy little friend.”
“He’s going to need help-”
“Then I can help him.”
“…He’s not going to be able to control himself-”
“I’m his sister and I can help him, Scott,” she interrupted.
“Tessa…” Liam paused uncertainly. “This isn’t going to go away, you know? It’s not one of those things that you can just ignore and hope it will get better. This is my life now. I- I’m going to need a lot of help… Yours and Scott’s.”
Tessa paused, trying to stop her bottom lip from wobbling as she turned to face her baby brother.
Only, he wasn’t a baby anymore. He was 16 years old, he was almost taller than she was… and he was a werewolf. Beacon Hills best kept secret (ha, yeah, right) had been something she had never wanted Liam to find out about. She had wanted to keep him far away from the world that had already robbed her of her two best friends and changed her view of the town she had grown up in. She had wanted to keep him safe, tucked away in the reality most people lived in, where werewolves were nothing but things of fiction, characters in bad horror movies and scary stories. She had even tried to talk him out of trying out for lacrosse team once he had transferred to Beacon Hills high, wanting to keep him as far away from Scott McCall as she possibly could. She had wanted to protect him, but she should have known she wouldn’t have been able to keep this from him forever.
Liam had a knack for finding trouble anywhere he went and he always had done, ever since he was a kid. She didn’t know why she thought this would be any different.
He was right.
This was his life now, whether she liked it or not. He was a werewolf. He was going to turn every full moon and he was going to lose any sense of the person she knew and loved, the same way Isaac had done when he had been bitten, and Tessa would be damned if she was going to lose her brother the same way she had lost her friends. She knew that Liam would never forgive himself if he turned and he hurt her, their mother, or any of his friends and deep down, she knew that the only person who could help him with that was standing right in front of her.
Taking a deep, steady breath, Tessa nodded her head slowly and Liam raised his eyebrows hopefully.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she replied, her voice quiet. “But you,” she pointed towards Scott. “I’m trusting you to help him. I’m trusting you to keep him safe when I can’t and if anything happens to him I will kill you, alright?”
“O-okay,” Scott stuttered. “Sure. Yep,” he agreed with a nod.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Tessa turned away from them with pursed lips as she made her way towards the living room, rolling her eyes when she saw Stiles rushing away from the door.
“Where… Where are you going?” Liam asked in confusion, and Tessa huffed as she glanced back at them over her shoulder.
“Scott’s going to help you right?” she raised an eyebrow. “He can start now. Come on,” she waved a hand towards them, gesturing for them to follow her as Liam whined quietly – he had plans with his friends, but there was no way was saying no to Tessa when she was in this kind of mood.
“Woah,” Scott murmured, turning his head to look at Liam. “Must be nice having a sister willing to protect you like that.”
“Yeah,” Liam shrugged weakly, a small smile coming to his lips. “She’s okay, I guess.”
Endless list of OCs // Maggie Daley - Fear the Walking Dead [1/??]
“Mom-”
“No.”
“Mom-”
“I said no, Maggie!” Pat yelled, whirling round to face her youngest child. “We’re leaving, and that’s the end of it. This place has taken too much from my family-”
“Mom it’s not safe out there-”
“It’s not safe in here!” Pat interrupted. “Walker and his men, they’re coming. They’re going to attack the compound, we’re going to lose people… People we care about. I’m not letting anything happen to you, or to your brother. We’re taking what can carry, and we’re going.”
Maggie resisted the urge to scowl. “I don’t want to leave the ranch, Mom. We won’t survive out there, I’m telling you. You haven’t seen it, you don’t know what it’s like,” she shook her head, and Pat rolled her eyes at her daughter. Maggie hadn’t seen it, either. She hadn’t ventured too far outside of the gates since the outbreak had started. But she knew. She knew what was waiting for them out there.
Pain. Misery. Death.
She knew.
“We’re your family, Maggie Beth. You’re my daughter. You’re coming with us, even if I have to drag you,” Pat warned, turning her back on her daughter and walking towards the door of their cabin.
“What about the Otto’s?” Maggie asked, biting down on her bottom lip when she saw her mother slowly turn back to face her. “Are they not family, too? Dad was- Dad was a founder of this place. He and Jeremiah were like family. Troy and- and Jake-”
“Is that what this is about?”
Maggie blinked. “What?”
“Jake,” Pat narrowed her eyes slightly. “Is that what this is about? Is that why you don’t want to leave? Are you the reason Jake came to speak to me, to try to get me to change my mind about leaving?”
Maggie gulped, her stomach flipping. “Jake- Jake knows you want us to go? You told him?” she asked in a whisper, hurt flooding her as she wondered why he hadn’t spoken to her about it, given her some warning that this was coming.
“I told Jeremiah,” Pat crossed her arms over her chest. “He must have told Jake.”
“Oh,” Maggie looked down at her hands.
“Charlene loved him, Maggie.”
Maggie tensed at the mention of her older sister and her features hardened into a glare as her defensive gaze snapped up to meet her mother’s accusatory one.
“What are you implying?” Maggie asked with a scowl.
“I’m not implying anything, I’m saying you’ve been spending a lot of time with Jake since Charlene’s death, I’m telling you that people are beginning to talk.”
Maggie scoffed, rolling her eyes. “They have no idea what they’re even talking about,” she grumbled. “Jake’s… Mom… Jake’s been teaching me stuff. Like how to use more than a handgun. He’s just been looking out for me, that’s all, because he promised Charlene. If people here opened their damn eyes then they’re realise they were gossiping about the wrong brother-” she stopped, her eyes widening slightly as she realised what she had said and she looked away from her mother’s curious stare.
“What?”
“What? Nothing.”
“…Maggie-”
“I should go and do my chores before someone comes looking for me,” she interrupted, standing up and wiping her palms on her jeans. “I’ll see you later, Mom!”
“Maggie Beth,” Pat snapped, grabbing hold of her daughter’s arm as she walked past her. “You stay away from Troy Otto, do you hear me? He’s- he’s bad news. He’s trouble. He’s… You’re why he tried to stop us from leaving.”
Maggie quickly looked up to meet Pat’s angry stare. “What?”
“Your brother and I, we went down to the collect some supplies earlier on,” Pat explained. “He stopped us, told us we couldn’t take anything, not even what we put into this place. He told us we weren’t going to leave. You- you talk to him, Maggie. You tell him we’re leaving, that you want to come with us. You talk to Jake and you get him to keep Troy under control, do you hear me?”
“I’m not-”
“Do you hear me, Maggie?!”
Maggie looked down, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Yes, ma’am.”
Pat waited for few seconds before she slowly let go of Maggie’s arm and, throwing her youngest child a look of contempt, she turned and walked out of their cabin. Maggie sighed heavily, sitting back down on her bunk and letting her head drop into her hands.
She didn’t want to leave the ranch.
Charlene had told her stories of what it was like outside of the walls, Jake had told her, Troy had told her… Troy had stopped her from going on the last hunt with them because he knew she wasn’t prepared for what was out there.
And her mother was ready to pack up and leave, taking her two kids, the only family she had left, into the unknown?
They wouldn’t survive.
Maggie knew they wouldn’t survive.
Sure, since Charlene’s death she had toughened up considerably – Jake was teaching her everything she needed to know about weapons, Troy had taught her how to fight, how to get herself out of a sticky situation, how to fool people into thinking you weren’t a threat. But Maggie knew that, outside of the safety of the ranch, she wouldn’t make it. Not without them.
“Did you hear me?”
Maggie’s head snapped up and she jumped as she saw the younger boy stood in the doorway of the cabin.
“Jesus, Gabe, you scared the crap out of me. What’s up?”
“I said, Mike and his family are leaving,” he breathed, glancing over his shoulder. “Troy’s trying to stop them, and Jake is trying to stop him. You better get out here, Maggie. Calm him down.”
“Which one?” she asked with a groan, and Gabe shrugged his shoulders before he ran back outside, Maggie close behind him.
She could see the campervan stopped by the gates and she could see Jake and Troy stood off to the side, a crowd of people surrounding them to see what would happen. Running her hand through her blonde hair with a huff, Maggie pushed her way through the crowd, just in time to see Troy’s fist connect with Jake’s cheek.
“Troy!” Maggie yelled, pushing her way forwards as Jeremiah darted towards his youngest son.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked, raising his hand and hitting Troy across the face.
“Dad, no!” Jake called, but his father wouldn’t listen as he continued to hit Troy.
“Stop!” Maggie called, slipping past Jake’s outstretched arm and putting herself between Troy and his father. “Stop, this isn’t-” Maggie stopped talking the second Jeremiah’s hand connected with her cheek, and she could do nothing but stare up the old man in shock.
Everything seemed to happen at once. The look of horror that spread across Jeremiah’s face as he realised what he had done, Jake pulling her out of the way and quickly inspecting her eye as Troy rushed towards his father, his face screwed up in rage.
“Troy, no!” Madison called, putting herself between them as Maggie had done. “No,” she told him, holding her hands up and glancing at Jeremiah over her shoulder before her eyes drifted over to Maggie. “You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Maggie nodded, ignoring the stinging in her cheek and trying her hardest not to wince and Jake took her face in his hands. “I’m fine.”
“Let me see.”
She was pulled out of Jake’s grasp by Troy as he spun her around, inspecting her eye where a red mark had already started to form. She was painfully aware of how close he was standing to her, of his fingertips tracing her cheek as he inspected her face. She could feel his breath on her face and she could feel the stares of everyone around them fixing on them both, but she couldn’t move.
She knew she should move, she knew she should get as far away from Troy as possible if they didn’t want anyone finding out just exactly what had been going on between them, but it was as if she was frozen to the spot.
Troy’s touch was soft, almost gentle, and it had unnerved her.
She had to hold in a snort. Troy was being nice to her, and it made her nervous.
How fucked up was that?
It was Jeremiah’s voice that snapped her out of her daze as he tried to apologise, but she ignored him and her fingers wrapped around Troy’s wrists as she pulled his hands away from her face.
“I’m fine,” she repeated to him and he looked down, nodded slightly as his eyes met hers. “Are you alright?” she asked quietly.
Troy scoffed, pulling his hands out of her grasp and glancing at the dispersing crowd, a handful of people still stood around watching them. He could feel his father’s stare burning into the back of his head, he could see Madison watching out of the corner of his eye and he spotted Pat staring at them from further away, her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face.
But it was the look of confusion, even hurt, on Jake’s face that made him do it.
He took Maggie’s face in his hands and he pulled her closer, leaning down and pressing his lips against hers. She didn’t respond at first, so Troy pulled her a little closer to him and as her hands came to rest on his chest, he smiled against her lips before pulling away, resting his forehead against hers.
“I’m fine,” he murmured.
“How many people are watching us right now?” Maggie asked, her voice muffled as she buried her face in Troy’s chest.
“Uh…” He paused, glanced up and looking around. “Definitely less than everyone,” he told her, chuckling when she let out a quiet groan. “Come on, let’s do something about that eye.”
Maggie kept her eyes on the ground, avoiding Jake’s stare as Troy pulled away from her and took her hand, leading her towards the cabin he has claimed as his for when he wanted to get out of the main house, away from his father and brother. Once they were inside, Troy kicked the door closed behind him and grabbed a towel, tipping his bottle of water over it and handing it to Maggie. She took it off him and stared down at the towel in confusion.
“Uhm, thanks?”
“It’s for your eye,” Troy told her.
“I’m fine-”
“I know how hard my dad can hit, alright?” he frowned. “Just… Just humour me,” he grumbled as he continued to potter about the cabin, not really doing anything but avoiding the stare Maggie was shooting him. He didn’t want to do this. Not yet.
“…It’s your eye you should be worried about,” she whispered, placing a hand on his arm and feeling his tense under her touch. “Troy, come on,” Maggie sighed, grabbing hold of his arm and pushing him down on to his bed before moving to stand between his legs. Troy smirked, reaching up and placing his hands on her waist but Maggie huffed and pushing him away. “No,” she told him, gesturing for him to sit up properly. He did as she said (albeit reluctantly) and she balled up the small towel he had given her before pressing it against his right eye. He winced, but only for a second, and Maggie smiled softly. “It’s just getting back to normal after the spoon incident, and now you get hit. You need to be more careful.”
“People need to stop doing shit to me.”
“You need to be more careful,” Maggie repeated with pursed lips and Troy sighed, his hands once again landing on her waist as he pulled her closer, leaning his head against her stomach. “…Are you gonna tell me what that was about?” she asked quietly.
“You know what it was about,” Troy grumbled. “Vernon was leaving, his family were taking our stuff, our fuel, our food. I couldn’t let them get away with that.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Maggie replied, the tips of her fingers playing with Troy’s curls. “I mean you and Jake. What was that about?” she asked again, and Troy stilled. Maggie pulled back slightly, looking down at him with a frown. “Troy?”
“He- he can’t protect this place, Maggie,” he muttered. “He won’t protect this place. He won’t fight for the ranch, or for the people, not like I will. But my dad doesn’t see that. He’s gonna leave Jake in charge, you know? When he dies. Jake’s going to be the one running this place, and he’s not strong enough. Walker and his men are going to come and unless we prepare, unless we fight, they’re going to take everything we’ve built. They’ll kill us, Maggie, and Jake isn’t strong to protect the people here. To protect you.”
Maggie’s teeth sank into her bottom lip as she hummed quietly, trying to decide what to say to him.
“Are… Are you gonna protect me?”
Troy bristled. “Of course I am.”
“Do you think I need you to?”
“…No,” Troy admitted with a sigh. “Not anymore. Not- not since… Your dad… Charlene. You’ve… changed.”
“Yeah,” Maggie agreed quietly. “Only reason you looked twice at me though, isn’t it? Because I’ve changed,” her tone was teasing, but Troy knew there was a seriousness behind her words.
Before her father had died, Maggie had just been a girl who Troy grown up with. A girl who had very obviously had a crush on him when they were kids, and a girl he found annoying, if he was being totally honest. She had never really contributed much to anything when she first moved onto the ranch before the outbreak, she was Daddy’s little girl and Noah barely let her out of his sight. Troy had been sure that she would completely break down in this new world, but she hadn’t.
Her father had died, and Maggie had been forced to grow up almost overnight. Sometimes, Troy could still see glimpses of the old Maggie shining through, the little girl who wanted to be taken care of but she refused to let that girl out. Something had changed in her when she had lost her father. There was something there, an anger that Troy recognised, and that was what had drawn him to her in the first place.
He had been convinced that she would lose it when Charlene died, that she would be inconsolable and sink into the depths of depression, but she hadn’t. She had been the one holding her family together ever since. She had grown stronger, tougher. Her anger at the world had grown, there was a coldness in her now that hadn’t been there before.
They were the same now.
He thought they were, anyway. He trusted her, he knew that she had his back and she would stand by him no matter what. She didn’t want anyone else to go through what she had gone through after losing Charlene and that meant that they had to fight. Maggie would support him, Troy was sure of it.
He just had to keep her away from Jake. And probably the Clark’s, too.
He studied her carefully as she checked over his eye, her brow furrowed and her lips pursed as she pulled the damp towel away from his face and ran her fingers through his hair, a small smile coming to her face as she looked down to meet his eyes.
“Careful,” he murmured. “People will think this is something more than it is if they see you taking care of me.”
He saw it flash through her eyes for a second. It was gone almost immediately, but he had seen it. Hurt. It made his heart drop knowing that he had caused it and he gulped slightly, but Maggie scoffed and pushed his head back before she stepped out of his grasp.
“Don’t worry, Troy. I’ll make sure everyone knows I only want you for your body,” she rolled her eyes. “God help us if anyone thought we actually liked each other.”
“That’s not what I-”
“Yes it is,” Maggie interrupted him, throwing the towel down on the bed next to him and moving to lean against the small window. “And it’s fine. I know this is just sex, Troy, and I’m okay with it. I’m not looking for some big love story, alright? I’m not looking for a husband and two perfect kids and a dog and even if I was, I know you’re not that kind of guy,” she shrugged her shoulders and Troy paused, leaning forwards and watching her as she turned and looked out of the window, her arms folded over her chest. “I should probably go.”
“Go?” Troy looked up quickly. “Go where?”
Maggie raised an eyebrow. “To talk to my mom…? She’s probably freaking out right now,” she told him, pointing to her eye as she pushed herself away from the window and started to walk towards the door. Troy reached out to stop her, taking hold of her hand and lacing his fingers through hers.
“She wants to leave,” he muttered, not taking his eyes off their joined hands. “Your mom.”
“Yeah…” Maggie looked at the floor. “She told me a little while ago. She also told me you tried to stop her and Dax from taking stuff from the pantry, you made them put it back,” she paused, her voice curious as Troy shrugged nonchalantly.
“Are you gonna go with them?”
“They’re my family,” Maggie bit her lip. “I don’t want to leave the ranch. I feel safe here. Out there…” she paused, glancing towards the window. “I’m not sure I could survive.”
“You could.”
Maggie frowned. “Do you want me to go? With my mom?”
“No,” Troy replied quickly. “No, I don’t, and… And I can keep them here, if you want them to stay. I can make sure they don’t leave the ranch.”
Maggie smiled softly, pulling her hand out of his as he raised his head to meet her eyes.
“Careful, Troy,” Maggie pointed a finger at him, walking backwards towards the door. “People might start to think you actually care about me.”
Shadows and Monsters // Tessa Dunbar - Teen Wolf [2/??]
The last thing she had heard from her brother was the quick goodbye he’d called upstairs before he’d gone on his morning run with Mason.
That had been hours ago, and Tessa hadn’t seen him around school all day. She’d finally managed to catch up with Mason, only for him to tell her that Liam had ran too far ahead of him, he had lost sight of him and assumed he had gone back home to change before making his way to school.
She knew something was wrong when Scott McCall got involved.
Liam wasn’t answering anyone’s texts, he wasn’t picking up his phone, and he hadn’t been in any of his classes. Their last hope had been Coach Finstock, but he hadn’t seen him, either.
Tessa was close to freaking out.
Her brother was seemingly missing, and there were trained killers, there were assassins roaming Beacon Hills just looking to kill any supernatural being they came across. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream and tell anyone who’d listen that her baby brother was in trouble, but she knew she couldn’t. If she did that, everyone would know, and they would all be in danger. So she stayed quiet, hoping and praying that Liam was skipping for the day and wasn’t answering any messages because he just didn’t want to be found.
…And then she saw it.
She saw Scott’s expression change the second he answered the phone. She saw him rush out of the school, and it took her less than two seconds to decide she was going to follow him.
He was disappearing between two school buses when Tessa walked out of the doors and she slowly made her way towards the buses, suddenly realising that following Scott out here could have been a very foolish move – she had no idea what he was doing, who he was seeing out here. He had superhuman strength and miraculous healing powers. If there was about to be some kind of fight, Scott would be fine. Tessa, on the other hand, was very, very human.
She crept behind the closet bus, hanging back just round the corner so she could listen to what was going on. She recognised the voice immediately and her hands balled into fists. Garrett. He had spent time at her house over the summer hanging out with Liam and Mason and now here he was, trying to kill her friends.
“You’re an alpha. If you can’t stop one little car, then one little beta is going to die,” Garrett’s voice was low, and Tessa thought she could even detect a hint of humour in his tone. “I stabbed your boy with a blade dipped in wolfsbane. Once it gets to the heart, bad things happen.”
Every rational thought flew out of Tessa’s head as she felt anger take over her and before she could stop herself, she was pushing past Scott and shoving Garrett up against the side of the school bus.
“Where the hell is my brother?” she growled.
“Tessa-”
“Back off, Scott!” she barked, and his eyes widened slightly as she turned around to shove Garrett again. “I’m giving you one chance to tell me where he is, Garrett, before I call the cops on your ass.”
“Careful, Tessa,” Garrett tutted. “You’ve seen what I can do to a werewolf. What do you think I can do to a little human like you?” he hummed, and Tessa heard Scott let out a low growl behind her, but she could do nothing but smirk at the threat.
“Oh, honey,” she sighed, tilting her head to the side. “I’ve gone up against a kanima, an alpha pack, a dark druid, a nogitsune, and I’ve walked away from all of it. I’m still standing. And you think I should be afraid of you and your pointy little stick?” she asked, knocking the lacrosse stick out of his hands and letting it clatter to the ground. “That’s cute. Really. Now tell me where Liam is before I use your own weapon on you.”
“Tessa-”
“You’ll get Liam back when I get Violet back,” Garrett snapped. Tessa took step backwards, blinking a few times before letting out a snort of laughter.
“You’re doing all this for your girlfriend?” she asked incredulously. “Well I hope you’re willing to die for her, Garrett, because if anything happens to Liam, I’ll kill you both myself,” she gave him one last shove, before she turned around to look at Scott.
“I’m going to get him back, Tessa,” he told her quietly. “I’m going to help Garrett, and I’ll bring Liam home. I promise.”
“No you won’t, Scott,” Tessa frowned, pursing her lips and shooting a glare over her shoulder towards Garrett. “We’re going to bring him home. He’s my brother. I’m coming with you.”
