It's almost over. Just remember, it's a grand. Theo tried to keep his mind occupied. He didn't want to think about the man that had been shoving himself into his ass for the better part of an hour. It felt like longer. He sighed in frustration, which the man seemed to take as pleasure, so he kissed Theo's shoulder and kept the speed he'd been going. Theo would do well, he thought, to just think of the cash. Think of the days where he would no longer have to worry about this. "Oh f-fuuck!" Thank GOD! Finally! The man finishes with a low growl-like moan. Theo tries to make it seem like he's interested and quickly finished, trying to be nice by calling him attractive and saying what Theo is being paid to tell him, but not so much so that this bear of a man thinks it means anything more than a business transaction. Theo had learned early on not to be overly friendly or excited. They don't pay more. They just get attached. He also learned never to use his real name or to see the person more than three times in a month. This also kept people from asking him personal questions too often.

"That was as amazing, as usual," the man breathed heavily, dazed in the afterglow of what was clearly pent-up sexual frustration. He was a sort of burly man, not overweight, but not overly fit either. Theo felt dirty calling him sexy and doing the things he did. Not because he was definitely not Theo's type. That didn't matter in the least. He just seemed like the type of person who was publicly homophobic, but this was how he spent his nights. He tried to tell Theo some personal things and make some sort of connection, but Theo had to remind him that sort of thing was off limits. He did this a lot with people who tried to justify it by trying to make it personal. They had to get over it though. They knew what they'd signed up for. That this was strictly business.

"Yes, it was" Theo was honest at least. It was always trash with this customer. He absolutely dreaded seeing this man. Some of his customers made it enjoyable for him. Some surprised him every time. This man was not one of those people. Still, he paid well. Theo would grin and bear it. "See you next time" Theo winked and the man left, handing the money to Theo. Theo made sure to count it. Another thing he learned was to never trust these people. Twelve hundred. Must be

expecting me to see him more often. He was glad, but he rolled his eyes anyway. Theo had regulars. Men and women. All of them understood the rules of his business. Certain things cost more than others, fetishes, role-playing, time, etc. The biggest rule was that Theo wasn't telling his real name, and he wasn't to know theirs. This was more of a personal rule with himself. He has an alias for this job, but he just didn't want them telling their name to keep intact the fact that he wasn't a prospective friend or partner and that this was exclusively business. He had a burner phone for these meetings as well, but he hardly used it as much as he thought he would. These people found him at his job. Which he also used his alias for...

Theo had been a bartender for Derek Hale since he was 21. He had waited tables for him before then. Derek felt sympathy for Theo and what happened to his family. When he was younger, he had lost his sister and Derek could understand what that was like. He lost almost every single person in his family to a house fire. Halefire was ironically the name of the bar/club that Derek owned. Basically, he wasn't present unless he absolutely had to be. Theo, and Derek's niece, Malia pretty much ran the place on their own after they had turned 21 and there was no reason for "adult supervision". The only time they really rallied together for meetings was for when they needed to hire or when they weren't doing great in sales, and they needed ideas to fix it. One occasion was during the summer, and they couldn't understand with all the college kids passing through and people vacationing there, why sales would drop drastically. Peter, of course was the one that had the idea of adding the strippers after that point. It wasn't too bad of an idea, but Derek was already not comfortable with the 'club' aspect. He was more old-fashioned. It had worked, though no one would openly tell Peter he was right about anything.

Theo took extra shifts as a male stripper when Malia suggested it. Not at first, of course. She said he'd definitely get more tips doing that than bartending. He had a nice face, but his body was 'something out of this world', as she so eloquently put it. After about six months of her incessant begging and talk about his wellbeing, he realized he couldn't make all the bills. His crappy apartment was $2500 a month. Food and gas are definitely not cheap. He has to pay for his truck maintenance and insurance because if he loses his apartment, he has to go back to sleeping in his truck. No room for saving whatsoever. He was qualified for nothing, so he couldn't get a second job and anything that was hiring was conflicting with his bar schedule. Derek paid $20 an hour for tending bar and stripping. He made decent money as far as he could pay for his needs, but it didn't cover other things. He had started to need for a security system when one of his regulars from the bar followed him home. Which is why when he started his... other business... He doesn't take them to his house. He rents a cheap motel, unless they want to be 'wined and dined' and have the whole date experience... or really, do for him. It's the whole 'Pretty Woman' package. They pay Theo to be their Vivian. It's a popular fantasy, but still have to cut ties and remind them that he isn't their Julia Roberts and they're not his Richard Gere. He learned the hard way that he couldn't let himself feel anything for these people. Not even friendship.

It wasn't so bad. He made more money, and he knew how to save it by the time he learned how to perfect his... craft? He had good friends and a good job bartending that he actually liked. He was always careful meeting people or even telling the people he knew things about his past. It was something of a habit of his. He didn't exactly want to bring up traumatic events just to have people looking at him like he was a sideshow freak that stuck his entire foot in his mouth. He had enough of that when Tara died.

He was eight years old. His sister had fell from a tree and hit her head on a rock beside the lake. It wasn't the fall that initially killed her, but when she fell, she had slid from the rock and into the

lake. She was unconscious, but she had still breathed in water. Theo didn't get to her in time to pull her out of the lake and his family suffered the loss of their daughter. They eventually had to move from Beacon Hills for all the rumors. Theo had been blamed for his sister's death by the people in his hometown. An eight-year-old child being written down as a murderer. He would never live a normal life. There were people who believed he had pushed Tara out of the tree. There were people who even said he held her under the water. The worst rumor, the one that got them to move, was that there was someone who actually witnessed Theo using his sister as a human sacrifice. They even claimed that he had convinced Tara to jump out of the tree to prove that she loved their parents. It was sick. After they had moved though, Theo's parents became more absent in his life. He understood they had lost a child, even at his age, but he had lost his sister, who was his best friend, and now was losing his parents. He had been raising himself and his parents were ghosts. Hollow shells of the people who he'd called mom and dad.

When the time came, he could legally emancipate himself, he did. His parents didn't protest and seemed almost relieved. He was a constant reminder of the child they had lost, and they were sad to see him go, but it wasn't exactly like it had made a huge difference. That's how he ended up back in Beacon Hills of all places meeting Derek Hale of all people. He knew what it was like to be blamed for something that you didn't do. Being the only person who identified with Theo, Derek became somewhat of a pseudo brother to him. He showed Theo how to wait tables and pretend to smile when people said outlandish, rude, creepy comments. Fake it 'til you make it, right? Still, close as they were, Derek could never know that Theo is a prostitute. He would look at him with the shame Theo always saw looking in the mirror...

There was a knock at the door just as Theo got out of the shower. What in the hell? No one else should know I'm here. He opened the door in just a towel; one around his waist and one he was using to dry his hair. It was the housekeeper. Young kid. Barely out of high school. Theo had forgotten about the champagne his guest had ordered earlier. They were short-staffed and on a Friday night at barely eleven, business was booming. "Sorry I was late with your drinks, sir" the young man sounded nervous and was shaking slightly. This must be his first job? "It's ok." Theo looked at the boy with amusement and slight fascination at the 'sir' comment, knowing the boy was only a few years younger than himself. "My company already left, so you can keep it. I'm not really a champagne person" Theo shrugged. It was already paid for anyway, so why waste it? "I'm not old enough to drink. Not for another few hours anyway," the boy laughed nervously like he thought he was being 'punked' or something. "Well then Happy Birthday... Liam?" Theo said to the younger man, looking down at his nametag. "Thanks" Liam said trying not to look at him, mostly because he was asked to keep his eyeballs to himself when he entered the room, but also because seeing a naked stranger never gets easier no matter how many times he walks in on it.

The boy known as Liam blushes faint, showing his discomfort at the situation. "Anything else for you, sir?" "No, that's it". They made minimal eye contact and barely spoke, but it was honestly the best conversation Theo had participated in all week. Something about the voice of the other man, made Theo not feel so... hollow? or judged... just for a second, Theo felt like this wasn't his life. He turned out the lights, grabbed the snacks that were placed in the room from earlier and drifted into a half-way decent sleep. At least until the nightmares came and the panic creeped in. Images of what he did for a living, what happened to his sister, his past relationships in general; all of it came in the night, no matter what he did to distract himself. He could never forget.

This was Theo's life. Painful as it is to admit, he felt like he was a monster. Like something was taking over his body. He felt like he had no control. Even his relationships were beginning to

crumble. Corey was one of his best friends, maybe even his best friend, but he could never tell him that he was living like this. Scott and Stiles were blissfully happy with ignoring everything around them since they got in college. Especially since Scott got with Allison. They broke up for a while in high school, but eventually reunited in college. Theo didn't believe in soulmates, but if they existed, Scott and Allison were it. Derek was probably the only person he felt he had a real sense of bonding with that wasn't just work-related and that's mostly due to the fact that Derek had it even worse than Theo growing up.

Theo came back to Beacon Hills at sixteen and moved in with different friends. Scott and Stiles mostly, back and forth, but he didn't really want to reside permanently to put either of their parents out. He had evidently missed out on many things once he and his parents moved out of town. Miss McCall was no longer married to Scott's father, which wasn't really a surprise. Rafeal was an alcoholic and tended to get out of hand. Melissa had bruises on her wrists and up her arms sometimes, but since she was a nurse, she always wore long sleeves, so no one thought twice about it. Stiles also had lost his mother. She had a terminal illness that progressed rapidly. Stiles took it hard, but Sheriff Stilinski took it at the bottom of the bottle... or several bottles. He almost lost his job and was made to see a psychiatrist. He and Stiles built their relationship back and they're stronger than ever. Same with Scott and Melissa.

Theo couldn't ruin that like he ruins everything else. He went out looking for a job, so he didn't have to live out of his truck anymore. That was how he got introduced to Derek and Peter. Theo stumbled into their establishment at 18. He was officially an adult. Able to enter these places and ask for work without being treated like a child. He hadn't finished high school, but he got his GED and people practically laughed him out of interviews. Derek Hale took a chance on him, though. Theo met Malia and she was... different. She wasn't ruthless? exactly? but she was one of those people that didn't know they were being mean when they said things. People who weren't raised to have a filter when it came to saying what was on their mind or what kinds of conversations were off-color, taboo. Theo liked her automatically. It meant he didn't have to watch what he said or did around her and that she'd be honest with him. Then came Corey. Less talkative, but still odd in his own right. He seemed like he was observing Theo's interaction with Malia. Theo didn't speak much to Corey before Derek came out. Before he knew it, Theo was being given a job waiting tables. Out of pity or lack of staff, it didn't matter. Now he'd save up and rent an apartment.

Theo's options would be slim, as no one would rent to someone who was rumored to be a murderer. There were only so many apartments for rent in town. He'd thought after ten years the rumors would have died down. Eventually he went to Peter and Derek about an alias and fake identification and how attainable it would be, and they simply pointed him to Noah Stilinski. "You want me to ask the SHERIFF to forge documents?! Are you out of your fucking minds?!" Theo looked at them in utter shock and disbelief with a hint of betrayal. "This is a safety issue Theo. They'll legitimize it. This way you won't have the issues you've been having." This is how Theo Raeken became Tyler Reed. Easy to remember and has the same initials. The only people that had to know different were the ones close to him. He'd still got an apartment on the outskirts of town just in case, keeping the alias. It came in handier than they'd ever realized it would.