Reverse operation // Thiam

Nose out, mouths shut

Derek was there in a second grabbing stiles' wrist a frown etched upon his face. He looked up at stiles who gave him a little shrug and a sad smile.

"Why?" Was the only thing he said. Stiles pulled his wrist away.

"Life sucks." I let out a snort of agreement.

"Hear, hear." Stiles grinned at me while others in the room stared a little in horror and a little in confusion.

"Well we can't keep you guys living like this!?" Scott said and I could hear the pain in his voice. His best friend had hid this from him for so long, I couldn't imagine how he felt.

"Scott it's not that easy." Stiles shook his head.

"No!" Scott snapped, "No Stiles I won't let you keep doing this!"

"What do you fucking know?" Stiles said standing up, "You don't understand Scott! I get you're a fucking alpha but this stuff doesn't just go away with in blink of an eye? This shit hurts!" Out of all the raised heart beats in the room one spiked higher than the others, abnormally high for anyone. Especially a human.

"Mason." I said softly looking over at him. "Are you alright?" Scott and Stiles stopped going at each other's throats for a second to look at the boy. He gulped.

"Yeah why?" Then he made the worst mistake a person like us could make. He pulled his sleeves down. There was silence, just the faint beats of hearts in my ears.

"You too?" Malia said and Mason shook his head.

"No I- I don't know what your going on about?" He let out a fake laugh.

"Mason." Corey said turning to his best friend. "Mason show me."

"No."

"Mason show me." He tried to reach out but Mason moved his arms out of Corey's reach.

"No Corey!"

"Mason-"

"No!" He shouted, "I'm fine!" There was silence again. Mason scoffed.

"This is none of your fuckin' business." And soon the Mcall house door was being slammed again. Silence.

"Well what do we do now?" Ethan asked looking around at everyone else. Silence.

"You guys fuck off and never say a word of this conversation." I said,

"But Theo-"

"No. Like Mason said. This is none of your fuckin' business." I disappeared upstairs and into my room pulling the covers over my head like a shield. I stayed like this for a while until I heard the door open.

"Theo?" It was Melissa's voice. "Theo dinners ready." I didn't reply.

"Theo hunny please you need to eat."

"Theo-"

"There's no point." I muttered, "It's not gonna stay down anyway." There was the sound of footsteps and then a dip in the bed.

"Scott and Isaac told me what happened." I felt her hand on my arm.

"I told them to keep their mouths shut." I felt the duvet being pulled back off my head and I squinted at the sudden brightness.

"Yeah well I'm Scott's mother. I can tell when he's lying." I sat up.

"I messed up Melissa, I messed up bad."

The next morning was school, again. The first thing I saw when I walked in was Gabe in a sling, his nose severely bruised and Nolan's almost identical. I expected shit from them but when all I got was a sympathetic look that made me feel even worse.

"Theo Raeken." At least there was one normal person here.

"Hayden, how lovely to see you." I glared at her. She looked me up and down.

"Everyone's talking about you, the situation in the cafeteria yesterday." She was chewing on her gum obnoxiously loud and it was pissing me off. I shrugged.

"I just wanted to say sorry." My mouth dropped open. "I've sorta made your life hell for the past few months and after yesterday well," she glanced down at my covered arms. I was getting fed up of people doing that, "I couldn't help but think part of it was my fault."

"Woah Woah." I said frowning, "Your fault? Honey no, your insults are child's play compared to the shit I've been through. Shame for you to think you were that relevant to me though." I gave her a sarcastic smile wanting to spur her on. She let out a frustrated scream.

"You dick Theo Raeken!" She said annoyed, "I take it back! Keep hurting yourself freak!" She spun around her minions close on her heels. I grinned. At least I knew someone was still going to be normal around here.

I spotted Mason and my smile faded. "Hey Mason!" I called jogging over to him. He looked up at me alarmed.

"Hey, I'm a friend. Trust me." He nodded and I sat down next to him on the bench outside. There was silence between us for a moment.

"I'm gay." Mason said softly and I turned to him with a smile on my face.

"I know." He looked at me shocked.

"But how-"

"Oh any gay can spot a fellow gay. I call it a gaydar." Mason's lips cracked into a smile.

"Is that why you do it?" I asked. The smile was gone.

"None of your-"

"Yes. It is my business." I said shutting him up. "Now tell me what the fuck is going on in that brain of yours." Mason glared at me.

"I don't know okay?" He shrugged. "It just sort of happens, and it feels right."

"But why does it feel right, what is going on in there." I pointed up at his head and he stared down at his hands.

"I'm in love with Corey."

"I know that too." Mason looked at me in shock again.

"Is it that obvious?"

"To everyone but you guys." I laughed and mason turned back to look at his hands.

"Does your gaydar think Corey might be gay?"

"Either that or it's because I saw him walk out of a gay club the other week." Mason smiled to himself.

"So now how do you feel?"

"Better."

"I think your problem is fear of rejection, confusion about your sexuality and it's a distraction to how you feel about Corey. So when you figure all that out, hopefully you'll feel better." Mason nodded.

"What about you? Why do you do it?"

"Life sucks." I said simply shrugging my shoulders. Mason rolled his eyes.

"Come on, tell me."

"Poor coping skills, Low self esteem, to provide relief from stress and anxiety, to provide a distraction from my emotions and really just to feel something." I shrugged.

"Wow man." I laughed.

"Yeah not my best moments." I sighed looking out at the school in front of us.

"Thanks Theo."

"No problemo, us guys gotta stick together."