teen wolf imagines.

how i love thee: liam dunbar.

"look at her."
"you're way in over your head, liam."
liam shrugged mason's comment off the closer y/n walked towards them in all her glory.
he smiled at the sight of her,
up until her eyes locked with his.
she returned the soft smile to him and waved,
but he hurried to shield his crimson face inside of his locker.
"you dork! you'll never get that chance again."
liam gave mason a light shove.
"shut up, shut up. i know."
liam could hear the ring of mason's chuckle at his awkwardness,
but the image of y/n's smiled aimed his way would forever be burned into his memory.
when walking into class,
he kept his eyes on the point of his shoes,
hiding himself from further embarrassment.
he made a mental note to stick his shoes in the wash surely y/n didnt find beat up, dirty shoes attractive.
at the thought,
his eyes trailed to where she sat with her back turned to him.
he noticed her shoes were almost as perfect as her.
it made him smile.
until he felt the piercing eyes of y/n's current boyfriend staring through him.
with menacing eyes,
the boy threatened liam to look away from y/n.
and while he did for the time being,
liam knew it would only last until his back, too, was turned.
y/n had been his only crush since they shared snacks at lunch in the fifth grade.
he gave her the rest of his goldfish and she let him have the other half of her pastry.
he never quite understood it until he reached his freshman year,
his constant thoughts of y/n,
the nerves that settled in the pit of his stomach when they crossed paths,
the shy smile that never failed to reach his lips when hearing her name;
it was the little things that amounted to this large enamor inside of him.
and if you can believe it,
it grew almost everyday.
but liam kept his distance,
out of respect for her relationship,
even though his heart still beat for her.
they hadn't talked in over three years,
ever since she began dating the douchebag and found her a new group of friends,
liam and her faded.
there was no bad blood between them,
only the harsh reality of life.
though some would call liam a jealous crush,
saying that's why him and y/n were no longer friends.
and while that much may be true,
the boyfriend was also just a douchebag,
liam could feel it.
finding himself distracted by the thought of her once again,
he hadn't even realized the teacher called on him.
"sorry...what?"
"i said,"
the teacher began with an ire tone.
"when did the pilgrims land in america?"
liam etched his eyebrows together,
thinking the thought of,
"who cares?"
but he only fell silent.
until he looked to y/n in his time of need.
she was holding up the numbers necessary for this question.
"1620,"
he answered with his eyes locked to the teacher.
when he was in the clear,
he gave y/n his biggest smile and mouthed the words,
"thank you."
she nodded in return.
it was a small interaction,
but he would continue to think about it for the rest of the day.
***
all she could do was stare.
the pit of her stomach was heavy with the weight of this deepening hurt as she stared at the scene before her;
a traitor of her own.
"y/n,"
the boy begged with guilty eyes,
clinging onto her hands as though the squeeze between them could erase what was happening.
though a deep part of her wished it could.
the words were beginning to stick dry in her throat.
all the things she wanted to curse aloud,
all the insults she wished to spit,
all the cries she hoped would spill,
nothing would slip free.
all she could do was stare at her boyfriend and the girl she once considered a friend,
lying in bed together.
the image would burn itself in her memory for years to come.
y/n ripped her hand free from the boys grip and ran out of their betraying sights,
out into the cold night that offered her refuge from the burning inside of her lungs.
"y/n! wait! please, you have to listen."
y/n could feel her body turning weak at the disbelief running rampant inside of her.
"leave me alone,"
she finally mumbled through her scarce tongue.
"it wasn't what it looked like."
"leave me alone,"
she repeated desperately.
the boy gripped her arm rather tightly and turned her heart from a muddled mess to one of frigid fear.
she had never seen her ex-boyfriend so angry before.
but the words became nothing except mumbles as the adrenaline pounded in her ears,
combined with the pure melancholy in her heart.
"are you okay?"
the words had managed to reach past the ringing,
and she was now looking at liam dunbar.
y/n was now also kneeling on the sidewalk,
being held upright by her grip on the lamppost.
"let me help you up."
she draped an arm around his neck and felt herself become lifted by him.
she wondered if she looked as empty as she felt;
bones peeking from her skin behind sallowness.
liam was careful when keeping his arm around her waist,
trying to help her home without evading her space.
when y/n realized where they were going,
she quickly shook her head.
"please don't make me go home,"
she whispered through the hoarseness set in her throat.
his heart sank at the idea of her parents strained relationship having never improved,
even years later.
so liam made a detour and began heading to his home.
"is it okay if we go to my house?"
he asked.
y/n nodded her head in response.
the rest of their walk was silent.
liam was sure he'd never hear her speak nor smile again,
but it wasn't nearly as painful as it was seeing her now.
so crushed by the betrayal of someone she trusted.
"i'll be out here if you need me,"
liam reassured softly while lying her in his bed,
turning the light off while doing so.
but before he could turn away and camp outside the door for the night,
she grabbed his hand and drew him back.
the pad of y/n's thumbs began to trace blossoming bruises against his knuckles.
"did you hit him?"
he hadn't even realized until she pointed it out.
a downside of having the anger disorder he did.
but when he began to think about it,
he realized the feeling of her ex-boyfriends bones beneath the force of liam's rage was too familiar to be a coincidence.
"i guess."
"good. he deserved it,"
she said with a soft smile.
liam and her exhaled laughs that were desperately needed.
"can i ask you something really off the walls?"
liam nodded.
"of course."
"can you....can you lie here with me? just for a little bit. i don't want to be alone right now,"
she admitted with a look of sheer vulnerability shining in her eyes.
it made liam's heart both race and sink at the same time.
how unfortunate that their time together was being spent under melancholic circumstances.
but he slid into the bed beside her,
his heart picking up pace when she placed her head against his chest.
if she couldn't hear it,
she could surely feel it;
the staccato echoed into his fingertips.
almost like instinct,
liam began raking his hands up and down her back,
trailing along carefully and smoothly to relax her hiccuping cries.
"you didn't deserve that...i can't believe he would hurt someone as good as you."
"guess it's my fault. i let him get away with too much. and..and i almost let him get away with this. but-"
liam turned y/n's attention towards him by lifting her head with his index finger and resting his thumb to her chin.
"it's not your fault in the slightest, y/n. don't blame yourself for being forgiving and loving. it's only one of your many great qualities and it's what makes you y/n. don't let that-that douchebag ruin that for you."
y/n's lips twitched into a smile.
"it really is his loss, huh?"
"no doubt about it. he's an idiot. you're way better off without him."
the girl snickered then nodded,
allowing liam to wipe away the remainder of her tears with his palms.
she then buried her head back into his chest and let out a heavy sigh.
"i didn't mean to cut you off earlier. what were you saying?"
"when?"
"you said you "almost forgave him but.." then i accidentally interrupted."
"oh...i was just saying but then you showed up. i didn't realize it until you were staring straight at me, but you carried me away. thank you, liam. 'cause i swear i might've run right back."
liam soaked this in for a moment before asking with caution,
"run back because you love him?"
"because i'm used to him,"
she admitted with a bitter laugh.
"three years. can you believe i was miserable three months into dating him? god...it's embarrassing."
"i don't think so,"
he shrugged.
"you just had hope things would change. and they have, in a different way, of course. but who knows? maybe it's the ending of a chapter that desperately needing ending, you know?"
"yeah...i do know. a new chapter. hm..i like that. i sure could use it."
liam chuckled,
y/n rising with the inclination of his chest and giggling herself.
"liam..."
"hm?"
"will you be a part of this chapter? the last few were boring without you."
liam let a silent chuckle escape from his lips before he nodded.
"of course. i'd be honored."
***
y/n and liam ventured on a journey of growth with one another.
she was there for every moment of surged anger;
y/n would lace her hand with his and squeeze it until his breathing steadied.
she never spoke a word,
never pushed him to calmness,
only stood there with her hand in his.
and liam was there for y/n whenever she felt the dips that came with healing.
he'd whisk her away from the ache in her head,
soothing it with spontaneous trips to the quiet nature she loved,
or sat by her side in silence along with sweets of her favorite.
and liam loved her more everyday.
"well, isn't this a sight to see?"
y/n said with a teasing smile as she entered liam's room.
he was lying on his stomach with a textbook opened in front of him.
y/n laid herself against his back,
resting her head on his shoulder to peer at the textbook.
liam laughed and craned his head to look at her.
"gotta pass somehow."
"mhm. you're gonna do great."
she placed a friendly kiss to his temple,
then fell onto the bed beside him.
liam's temple blossomed with heat,
a frequent response to y/n's lips.
no matter how many times she pressed a cordial kiss to him,
he never got used to it.
it surprised him and made him blush furiously every time.
"what are you doing here?"
liam then asked,
glad for the excuse to put the textbook away.
"i don't know."
he could see the faraway look in her eyes;
she was lost in her own mind again.
liam nudged her playfully then asked,
"what's going on?"
"my mind's too busy."
liam got to his feet and began changing his shirt for the day ahead,
though y/n remained none the wiser as she laid on his bed.
"come on. we're going out."
"i don't know...are you sure?"
liam rolled his eyes dramatically then pulled y/n up by her hands.
"yes, i'm positive. we both could use it."
"don't you have to study?"
"later. let's go."
y/n obliged without much more of a fight,
a smile bright to her lips as she followed him out.
"you look different. you know that?"
y/n asked,
ruffling her hands through liam's hair carefully as he began driving.
liam flushed beneath her touch and shrugged.
"i didn't notice."
"mhm. brighter all around. in the eyes, in the hair. even in the flesh."
liam chuckled off his nerves.
"you and your random poems."
"not a poem, just an observation. but if you'd like a poem..."
y/n trailed off,
folding her hands in her lap.
"go ahead."
liam would never admit it out loud,
but he lived for the moments where y/n would spurt the poems she loved verbatim.
"how do i love thee? let me count the ways.
i love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace.
i love thee to the level of every day's most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
i love thee freely, as men strive for right.
i love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
i love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
i love thee with a love i seemed to lose with my lost saints.
i love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if god choose, i shall but love thee better after death."
y/n laid her head to rest against the window while speaking,
though liam was left with a hum running through his veins in response.
"that's...that's nice."
was all he could manage to say.
"it's elizabeth barrett browning."
"never heard of her."
y/n laughed softly.
"well, now you have."
"now i have,"
he agreed.
y/n turned to face him with a tender heart.
she tried her hardest to stare as inconspicuously as she could manage,
but she was too drawn in to care.
how i love thee,
she thought with a soft smile,
eyes stuck to the glow of his skin beneath the sun that was beginning to paint the sky orange.
soon,
the two arrived in the mountains that were as quiet as could be;
an escape from her busy mind.
"you never fail."
liam put the car in park and turned to her.
"i'd hope not."
with a stroll amongst the wooded area,
liam and y/n could inhale the clean, fresh air and restart all that was burnt out inside.
when the moon began to glow above them,
illuminating the vigor shining in both of their eyes,
y/n reached for his hand and laced their fingers together.
"i'm glad we found our way back to one another,"
she spoke above the snapping of twigs beneath their feet.
"me too. life's been better since."
"i know. i wonder how different things would be if...if we had never parted ways."
liam shrugged.
"i don't think i'd want it to be any different."
"no?"
liam stopped walking,
faced her,
and shook his head.
"no. not at all."
y/n smiled and felt herself become rather undone under his gaze;
nerves rising in her core,
veins thrumming with thrill,
skin blushing.
liam felt himself become drawn into her,
not stopping until their lips brushed.
he waited for a signal from y/n that anything further was okay.
she did so by wrapping her arms around his neck and closing the space between them.
euphoria bubbled up inside of liam and y/n both.
every scenario liam imagined could never equate to this sensation here.
he ran his tongue against the curve of her bottom lip and felt a surge in his pride when y/n made a soft noise in response.
he was determined to make this kiss count.
y/n was falling apart the longer they remained together.
her whole body was shaking with a heightened fervor,
and she was sure her knees were going to give out on her soon.
but all she could do was tangle her hands into his hair and kiss him a little more.
they were forced apart when their lungs were burning from the scent of one another.
liam laughed quietly and ran the pad of his thumb against her bottom lip,
reddened from the outpour of his harbored love.
there was a time where he painfully wondered if y/n would never smile again.
yet,
here she was,
lips spread thin into the most precious smile he'd ever been blessed to see.
there would never be a sweeter sight.
"been holding that in for a while, have you?"
y/n asked in a shaky breath,
wondering how long it'd been since her heart raced like that.
it was the first time in a while she felt truly alive.
"you have no idea."
y/n pecked his lips once more,
now smoothed over with her scented chapstick,
and whispered,
"i love you."
liam was stunned.
he reveled in the words that were still ringing in the air,
beautiful and true.
he stumbled back in shock,
but found that his footing got lost.
liam winced out loud with a curse leaving his gritted teeth when he fell to the ground,
ankle throbbing and surely broken.
"oh, god,"
y/n said,
voice heavy with guilt.
"i'm so sorry, liam, i didn't mean to throw you off like that. oh, i'm an idiot,"
she moaned in embarrassment while wrapping one of his arms around her neck,
helping him up and into the car.
liam went to speak,
try to reassure her and her repeat the words spoken,
but his tongue ran dry every time.
his thoughts were frozen over at the throbbing of his ankle.
when they arrived at the hospital,
y/n sat beside him with a face wiped of any emotion.
but her eyes were glossed over,
telling liam everything he needed to know.
"i love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if god choose, i shall but love thee better after death."
y/n turned to him and laughed airily.
"what?"
"i love you, too. that's what i'm trying to say."
her smile brightened by a tenfold,
a wave of ease washing over liam under the glow of it;
he basked in its shine every time.
liam found refuge in the fact that there would never be anything to keep him away from his love.
***
"you have to stay away from her."
"what?!"
scott threw his hands up in surrender.
"i'm sorry! but your hormones they-it's just until you're....under control."
liam slumped himself against the lockers and groaned.
the night he would forever treasure quickly turned sour after y/n left to pick up food for the night.
scott had bitten him and changed the trajectory of his life.
"i didn't ask for this. any of it! and-and now you're making me stay away from her?"
it was a reasonable request,
sure,
but y/n had become the light in his chaotic life.
being with her was what he looked forward to every time his eyes opened in the morning.
forcing himself to be without her was like ripping the breath away from his lungs.
"i'm not punishing you, liam,"
scott reassured with a steady hand to liam's shoulder.
"you don't want to hurt her."
"i won't."
"you will if you don't learn restraint."
liam sighed and ran a hand down his face in frustration.
"okay...i'll stay away."
***
"i don't get it."
"i just...we need space."
"did i do something?"
liam shook his head quickly,
but kept his head forward where he could only see
y/n in his peripheral.
facing her head-on would only make him cave;
he'd never be able to go through with this plan should their eyes lock.
"liam...please, spare me the embarrassment. if you're breaking up with me-"
"no, y/n, i'm not."
"you won't even look at me!"
liam turned his attention to her and watched as the tears began to build in her eyes.
but she quickly blinked them away before they could spill.
"i don't want to do this!"
he admitted.
"so don't!"
"i can't...i won't hurt you."
"what aren't you telling me?"
y/n asked in a hushed tone,
slipping her hand into his upon noticing his anxiety.
"it's complicated."
"so let's figure it out together."
liam was grateful for his loving girlfriend.
she'd never let him struggle alone and she loved him with all her might.
but just for this once,
liam wished she would leave it be.
"ask scott,"
he said,
pressing one last loving kiss to her lips and heading out of the door.
he kicked himself mentally on the way home.
his heart already throbbed without his y/n.

"what the hell does that mean?"
"he's undergoing some...some changes,"
scott spoke carefully,
trying not to dispose of any important information.
"right,"
y/n whispered,
feeling the unease settle inside of her.
scott could see the emotions rolling through y/n at the thought of liam being done with her.
it pained the softer side of scott,
remembering the times where him and allison were faced with the same issue.
"if i tell you the truth, all of it, i need you to promise you won't tell anyone."
"okay."
scott began explaining the new status of liam,
watching disbelief flash across her at the words "werewolf."
but she remained silent,
remained as collected as she could,
and retained the information.
all of it.
***
liam was miserable,
to say the least.
the secret was eating him up alive and knowing his girlfriend was upset with his actions made him itch.
he wasn't sure he could do this;
completely accept this change without y/n by his side.
especially when she would still be in his life as a...
"a werewolf,"
he whispered to himself,
still so dazed.
he sat on the floor of his bedroom,
head resting against his knees.
and before he knew it,
the exhaustion caught up to him and he fell asleep on the floor.
when he came to,
it was four o'clock in the morning.
out of habit,
he reached for his phone to call y/n but remembered the ache of it all.
until his eyes fell on the slip of paper against his floor.
"i love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if god choose, i shall but love thee better after death.
even if he's a werewolf :)
you saved me at my lowest, liam.
the progress i made wouldn't have been nearly as possible without your support.
you showed me how to love again and i haven't seen a miserable day since i've been with you.
so now it's only fair i support you and your change.
we'll be together again soon, i promise.
i'll annoy you with my reciting of poems and you'll bore me with the statistics of lacrosse.
hang in there for me, my love.
i'll see you soon.
-y/n <3"
liam felt his body become ten times lighter without the burden of this issue.
and y/n was no longer kept in the dark,
still sticking by his side no matter how insane it all sounded.
it was a heavenly love him and y/n created.
he wondered if y/n would one day write a poem about their love.
if she should,
liam had no doubt it would be the most beautiful poem to ever exist.
how i love thee.
—
a/n:
so sorry for the lack of updates, besties.
i've made this one really long to make up for it!
in honor of my fav poem ever <3
i love you all.
stay safe and healthy and remember that i'm here if you need me!
-e