mischief ; teen wolf imagines

no strings

words: 1363
a/n: i wrote this at the dentist's office. enjoy

[...]

there was only one rule you had promised theo: no strings attached. no dates, no morning breakfast, no sappy feelings involved. you'd made that rule after the third time you fell victim to the long continuation of sexual tension, you discovered the pattern, and he agreed.

it hadn't taken long for your friends to notice, werewolves or not. the hickies left on each other and the numerous times you had slipped away from the pack, the dots were easy to connect. your friends were a little disheveled, stiles a little betrayed, but he dealt with it nonetheless. scott said your chemosignals were suffocating to be around.

around the second month, you had realized you had broken your own rule. you wanted the dates, the morning breakfast, and the sappy feelings to be reciprocated. yet, you continued to sleep with him, knowing he'd tear your heart apart with his claws.

that's what it felt like, watching him standing on the opposite side of the cafeteria, at some girl's table of which you didn't know the name of. he laughed at something he said. it was a disaster, and you couldn't peel your eyes away, torturing yourself with every second.

lydia bumped your hip, plopping down next to you, but you barely wavered. "what's got you so angry?"

you blinked a few times, realizing the contortion in your face. you looked over at her and dropped the expression as if you hadn't been staring holes into the side of theo's head, your jaw had been ready to break from how hard it was clenched. "what makes you think i'm angry?"

the strawberry blonde took ahold of your wrist, lifting up to your eye level. smushed between your fingers was a bulging green and white mess, sticking to your hands. it had been a perfectly fine apple not three minutes ago.

sighing, you wiggled yourself free from her grasp and used the napkin from your tray to wipe it all off, the sticky substance remained. you squeezed and relased your hand, nodding over to where theo was standing.

she rolled her eyes, "if you knew what was good for you you would have told him by now. in fact, you would have told him a month ago."

"we made a promise. no strings," you spoke, pushing around the mush on your plate with a fork. "but... i don't think i'm going to keep hooking up with him. it's killing me."

"good!" she smiled. you glared at her, thinking she was a little too excited about your decision. she continued, "if he's not going to appreciate you, he's not worth your time."

you stopped, thinking for a moment. you knew that lydia was right, she almost always was. she had experience in relationships, specifically these types of relationships, a lot more than you did. cutting him off would be the best decision. you nodded at her, watching her smirk proudly to herself.

later that day, after arriving to your own house, you received a text message from theo. you threw yourself down on the couch, letting your backpack hit the floor.

can i come over?

you opened the message, your pointer finger tapping against the side of your phone. it was tempting to respond, to just type no and end the conversation there. but you knew he would ask questions, and you didn't want to talk to him. so instead, you placed it down on the coffee table and grabbed the tv remote.

___

it was like that the next few days. his requests to come over had turned into him asking to meet up with you in school. he knew you were reading them, but not once had you replied. you found yourself on the verge of blocking his number, but decided it would only create more problems.

you spent your time avoiding him in school, with lydia's aid. she was almost your personal bodyguard, she checked corners to see if he was there and blocked you from his line of sight, sometimes going as far as to push you down a different hall, forcing you to take the long way to class.

friday had come, and if you were lucky you would get a whole weekend without seeing his face.

it had been fine so far, the three classes you had gone smoothly. you now sat in the library during your free period, doing some of the research scott requested you and stiles split between you.

the chair across from you was pulled back on the carpet for a short moment and you witnessed someone's silhouette sit down out of the corner of your eye. for a moment, you believed it to be stiles. your eyes flickered from the book towards them, the movement drawing your attention. it was theo, he was staring right back.

your stomach dropped, or perhaps it was flying. it just wasn't in the place it was supposed to be.

immediately, you pulled the book up to block your line of sight. minutes passed of silence between the two of you, and you were starting to wish it had been stiles. sighing, you peered over the edge of your book. he hadn't moved. his eyebrows were drawn together as he studied you, he almost seemed to be concerned.

you slouched in your chair again, darting your eyes to the pages in front of you. you decided to speak up, "quit looking at me with that stupid expression. you're pissing me off."

"why are you ignoring me?" theo asked, as soon as he realized you were going to give him the attention he was asking for. "i don't know what i did."

"why does it matter?" you retorted, closing the book and setting it down on the table. you raised your eyebrows and leaned forward as if inviting a challenge.

he gave you a dumbfounded look, scoffing. if he had been concerned at one point, it was replaced with annoyance now. "because you obviously mean something to me and i told you the other day, i want to talk to you."

"there are about a million other girls in this school you could talk to, go bother one of them."

rolling your eyes, you pushed the chair back and picked the book up, walking towards the bookcases. he paused for a moment, watching you disappear behind the shelves, before following you. he caught you in the corner of the library, reshelving the book. you were beginning to turn away, but he grabbed your wrist to stop you from leaving him in the dust again. if you really wanted, you could get out of his grip, you weren't completely sure why you didn't. you turned around to face him.

theo raised his eyebrows, "this is what your attitude is all about? jealousy?"

"i have feelings for you, theo," you blurted, poking a finger in his chest as if you were accusing him. "i have feelings even though i promised you that stupid no strings attached promise. i can't deal with it and i'm not going to sit here and torture myself everyday by continuing this thing we have."

"woah," theo pulled your hands towards his chest. "you say it like that's a bad thing."

"i didn't tell you this so you could be an asshole about it--"

"the school library isn't really the place i imagined telling you in." he took a glance around the room, before returning his gaze to you. "but i have feelings for you, too. that's what i wanted to talk about. that no strings thing was a stupid idea."

"oh..." that was the least you expected. you weren't quite sure what you were supposed to say, you had already told him everything on your mind.

"i can smell the attraction, you know." theo smirked. after a beat of silence his hands slid up your forearms and his face turned soft once again. "do you want to make it official?"

"yeah, i do," you gave him a hint of a smile, wrapping your arms around him and leaning up against the shelf. "you know, lydia's going to be really disappointed in me."

he hummed. "she'll get over it..." you gave him a doubtful look. "probably."