Fic: No, You Can't Date A Sociopath (Part 2)
Author/Artist/Vidder: GeekSlave
Title: No, You Can't Date A Sociopath
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Scott/Isaac, Scott & Stiles. Scott, Isaac, Stiles, Melissa, Sheriff Stilinski, Danny
Rating: NC-17
Summary: When Stiles finds out about Isaac and Scott's secret relationship, his first reaction isn't to wish the couple well - he faints. And then it only gets worse from there.
Warnings (if any): Brief mentions of past abuse and past off-screen minor character death.
Total Word Count/Length: 18,871
Disclaimer: This story/artwork is based on characters and situations created and owned by MTV. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's/Artist's/Vidder's notes (if any): Written for tw_fallharvest
Beta(s): Thanks to my beta, who chooses to remain nameless. Any mistakes left are my own.
Part 1
Scott walked up to his front door on autopilot. He'd been going through the motions ever since Stiles left the clinic.
Scott couldn't believe that it had really come to this. Stiles was stubborn and had every right to dislike Isaac, but he had been sure that if he could just tell Stiles what Isaac meant to him, it would change things and Stiles would at least make some effort to get along with Isaac, or pretend to. Clearly he underestimated Stiles' dislike of Isaac.
Scott shut the front door and, after briefly banging his head against it, he trudged up the stairs.
He dropped his bag just inside the door to his bedroom. He saw a small patch of light coming from underneath Isaac's closed door. Scott could hear him shuffling around in there.
As he walked over, Isaac's shuffling footsteps stopped and Scott caught a strong whiff of fear, which had him immediately sprint faster to Isaac's room.
He threw the door open and he was stunned at what he saw.
Scott rubbed at his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Isaac stood in front of his open duffel bag and paused his frantic packing as he looked up at Scott, but resumed quickly.
"Isaac?" Scott said flatly, still too stunned, too tired, and too surprised to comprehend what was going on.
"You talk to Stiles?" Isaac asked conversationally, glossing over the enormity of what he was doing.
"Yeah," Scott spoke slowly as he tried to process Isaac’s actions. "He's still not happy about us being together." Scott added with sadness, “I think I hurt his feelings.”
Isaac just grunted. He went over to the closet and hastily ripped his shirts from the hangers. The clattering hangers resonated in Scott's ears.
"That's too bad," he said as he dumped the shirts in the already near capacity bag. Scott briefly thought back to when Isaac first moved in with them. He hadn’t had much more than the clothes on his back. Scott was amazed that Isaac had accumulated so much in the short time he'd been living with them.
Isaac cleared his throat. "It's okay, though. He'll be happy when he finds out I don't live here anymore."
Scott almost doubled over at his words. "What? Isaac, what is happening?"
Isaac sniffed and looked down at the floor. "I've decided that I'm tired of being your secret, Scott."
This was such a 180, Scott felt dizzy. They'd talked about this. "But it doesn't have to be a secret anymore."
"Because your Wonder Twin Stiles knows now." Isaac said in a harsh tone, that Scott hadn't heard coming from him in a long time. "I didn't sign up for a threesome, Scott. What happens between us should have nothing to do with him. I'm tired of dealing with him."
Scott rushed toward him. "It's going to be okay. Stiles will come around."
Isaac looked at him in disbelief. "Did you not hear what I said? I don't care about how Stiles feels about this. I don't care if he comes around. Stop saying things are going to be okay." He blew out a long breath. "I'm just done."
Scott was breathing heavily. As Isaac tried to walk past him, he grabbed his wrist. He knew he was holding on too tightly, and he shouldn't have been, but he couldn't let go. He might have lost his best friend that night and he was not about to lose Isaac on top of it. "Please, just stop. You have to explain this because this morning you were fine. We were fine."
Isaac turned around slowly. He didn't make an attempt to get away from Scott. "That's because you weren't paying attention. You were too worried about how to mend things with your precious, Stiles. I may have said things were fine, but I'm not."
He looked down at his wrist and tugged gently. Scott got the hint and let go.
Everything Isaac was saying tore at Scott's heart. The things he was saying made sense, but there was still something that felt off. Isaac was saying the right words and he even sounded right at times - angry and tired. But it didn't ring true.
Scott stared at Isaac and crouched down a little to get Isaac to look him in the eye.
Isaac just hung his head lower and rubbed the back of his neck. "It just doesn't feel like it used to anymore. And maybe I'm just not cut out for relationships."
Scott didn't say anything and finally Isaac looked up briefly. As soon as he looked at him, he knew. "You're lying."
Isaac recoiled and kept a wide birch as he walked past Scott and back towards the bed and his bag. "What are you talking about?"
Scott slowly stepped towards Isaac. "I know you, Isaac. I know how you think and you're trying to push me away."
Isaac scoffed at that. "I didn't realize you had such an ego, Scott. The only reason I could want to break up with you is because I'm lying?"
Scott stepped right up to Isaac. He was close enough to see Isaac's long eyelashes fluttering against his perfect skin. "Why can't you look at me?"
"I can look at you." Isaac said. He glanced up, but stared at a spot behind Scott's head.
Scott put two fingers under Isaac's chin and finally Isaac's blue eyes focused on him. "Don't lie to me, please."
Isaac panted for a second and stared into Scott's eyes. Finally his shoulders sagged. "Fine. I'm trying to do the right thing, for once."
"The right thing?"
Isaac tore his eyes away from Scott and looked up at the ceiling. "I may not like Stiles, but you need him. I don't want you to lose that because of me."
Scott put his hands gently on Isaac's face. "I won't."
"You don't know that."
Scott shook his head. "I do. Because I love Stiles and he loves me. We're going to work this out. I have to have faith in that."
"But it would be easier if you just let me go," Isaac pleaded.
Scott so much love for him in that moment. This was the Isaac Stiles refused to see. He was willing to give up his happiness just so Scott could be happy. "It wouldn't be easier."
"How come?"
"Because I'm in love with you."
Isaac sucked in a breath and stared open-mouth at Scott. "You just said..."
"I'm in love with you," Scott repeated.
Isaac's lips twitched up briefly, before his lips pressed firmly together. He wasn't frowning, but he did look confused. "Why?"
Scott hated that Isaac's father had beaten him down so much, not just physically but emotionally as well, that Isaac had trouble seeing his own worth or why someone could love him.
Scott ran his hand through Isaac's curly hair. "Because when you smile it makes me happy. Because you take care of my mom even when I don't ask you to. Because you made mistakes and you're trying to learn from them. Because you don't ever tell me I'm dumb, even when I know I say something stupid. Because you let me hold me when you can't sleep at night and you do the same for me. And because when I wake up, you're the first person that I want to see."
"Wow." Isaac breathed out.
"How's that for an answer?" Scott grinned.
"That's pretty fucking awesome!" Isaac declared. And then he smiled that smile - that face splitting smile that had to be the personification of the word joy- that Scott would swear was more powerful, more addictive, and more intense than any drug could ever be.
Scott pulled Isaac into a tight embrace. He knew he was probably holding on too tight, but he couldn't help it. He pulled back and searched Isaac's face. "So you'll stay?"
Isaac kissed his lips softly. "I love you, Scott. I'm not going anywhere."
Scott heaved a huge sigh of relief and pulled Isaac into his arms again.
This had been such an emotional roller coaster of a day and Scott wasn't sure how he was still standing. But the fact that a day that had started out so shitty had ended on such a high, filled him with hope. Things could get better and he was going to do everything to make sure that it did.
~*~
It had been two days since Scott's love confession and Isaac was still hardly able to believe it really happened. But it did, and now he and Scott were turning into one of those nauseating couples who were so over the top in love Isaac just wanted to punch them. Scott would tell Isaac he loved him at night, he would kiss Isaac awake with “I love you,” and randomly text him ILY. Very sickening. But Isaac really didn’t care though.
He'd spent so many years feeling alone and unloved that he was going to bask in this feeling as much as possible.
Only two things kept him from truly being able to enjoy this high. One of them, of course, was Stiles. Scott and Stiles were still not speaking and Isaac felt like it was his fault. He wanted to fix things, but didn't know how.
The other problem actually filled Isaac with much more anxiety. Scott meant it when he said he was ready to start telling people about them. When they got to school, Scott told him that he was going to attempt to tell Allison about them. Scott being the great guy that he was wanted to make sure Allison heard it from him first.
The last time he saw Scott they hadn’t had “the most awkward talk in the history of the universe” as Scott put it. Isaac was pretty sure Scott was wrong. The most awkward talk in the history of the universe would be when Scott told his mother about them, which he was planning on doing that night.
Even though Scott told him he had no reason to be, Isaac was really nervous about how Melissa would react. He had started to wonder if unpacking his bag had been a good idea. He knew that Melissa really cared about him, but it was one thing to allow your son’s friend to move in, and another to let his boyfriend have free reign for booty calls every night under your roof.
Scott went to work after school and Isaac decided to butter Melissa up by making her favorite dinner that night. It was annoying having to take the bus, but he got everything together and was about to start cooking.
He started to unpack everything from the bags. When he looked down at everything, he did a double take, and checked the clearly empty bags again. “Stupid, motherfucking asshole!”
He had been too busy frantically searching the bags again to hear Scott come in through the front door. He only noticed Scott’s presence when Scott shook his shoulder.
“Isaac, what is it?” He asked sounding really fearful.
Isaac looked devastated. “I don’t have the meatballs.”
Scott almost laughed, but the pitiful look on Isaac’s face stopped him. “And?”
“And?” Isaac looked at Scott as if he’d grown another head. “I can’t make spaghetti and meatballs without meatballs.”
“So, just make spaghetti without meatballs.”
“Do you even know your own mother, Scott?” Isaac grumbled. “Meatballs are her favorite part.” He sat down heavily at the kitchen table.
Scott chuckled softly and sat down next time. He took Isaac’s hands in his own. “Isaac, you don’t need to bribe my mother with meatballs for her to accept us being together. She’s going to be fine. She’ll be surprised but she can deal. If she can deal with me being a werewolf, she can deal with me dating you.”
Isaac nodded once, but he still looked skeptical. “How did it go with, Allison?”
Scott pursed his lips together. “It wasn’t what I expected.”
“It wasn’t awkward?”
“Oh, no. It was definitely awkward.”
Isaac was curious, but wasn’t worried, since Scott didn’t look upset in anyway. In fact, he actually smiled. “When I finally told her, she laughed.”
“She laughed?” Isaac probably shouldn’t have been, but he was annoyed at that reaction. “Should I be insulted by that?”
Scott shook his head. “It wasn’t really anything bad. She just said she was surprised. She actually said she was surprised, and not surprised by it.”
Isaac sat back in his chair. “What did she mean by that?
“She had never expected me to date a guy next, but she’s seen us together and kind of wondered sometimes what was really going on. She was happy that her instincts were right.”
“She wasn’t upset?” Isaac didn’t really care about Allison’s feelings too much. He was still a little pissed at her for attacking him, but he didn’t want to be like Stiles and hold an epic grudge. Allison had meant a lot to Scott and he cared about her and it would kill him to cause her pain.
“She’s okay. She never expected me to wait forever. She said that she’s glad I’m happy.” Scott squeezed Isaac’s hand.
Isaac didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he was skeptical that was all there was. “That was it? Either she’s either the most emotionally stable girl in the world, and the previous knife wounds to my back make that unlikely, or there’s more to this.”
Scott looked down and picked at the tablecloth. “She said that it was a little weird for her and she had some of the same concerns as Stiles. She’s not sure if you’re that different from how you were before.”
Isaac threw up his hands. Yes, what he did was horrible, but how could he put it behind him if everyone wouldn’t let it go. “God, I never killed anyone! Is anyone going to give me a chance to make it right?”
Scott tugged one of his hands down. “You didn’t let me finish. She’s worried about me, but she trusts me and isn’t going to give me a hard time about it.”
Isaac relaxed a little. “Okay. I guess that’s good. I wish Stiles could follow her lead.”
Scott nodded slowly and looked pensive as he bit his lip. “Yeah. At least you don’t have to worry about Allison and you won’t have to worry about my mom, either.”
Isaac hoped Scott was right.
After talking it over with Scott, Isaac decided to regain some of his sanity and stop freaking out about meatballs. He improvised and made shrimp marinara instead. Scott set the table as Isaac got ready. Scott talked him out of wearing a suit, which was a good idea because Isaac didn’t have any suits of his own and he could just imagine how ridiculous he’d look in one of Scott’s.
Melissa was so tired when she got home that she just immediately sat down to eat and didn’t bother to get out of her scrubs. It was only after she had finished off half of her plate, that she was able to make any conversation.
Her silence had made Isaac even more anxious, but now that she was talking and asking Scott and Isaac questions, his anxiety didn’t lessen. Normally, he and Melissa talked a lot over dinner, but right now Isaac’s mind was blank. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. The one thing that ran through his mind was “I’m fucking your son.” Thankfully, he managed to keep himself from blurting that out.
Melissa’s plate was empty, except a piece of garlic bread that she was now dragging through the marinara sauce. “I think this is your best meal yet, Isaac. I swear I don’t know what we did for meals before you got here.”
“A lot of ramen noodles and hot dogs,” Scott supplied.
“No wonder I’ve blocked it from my memory,” Melissa joked.
Suddenly, Isaac laughed really loudly. He covered his mouth quickly as both Melissa and Scott stared at him. “Sorry, that was really funny. You’re really funny.”
“Yeah.” She gave him a funny look.
The conversation, the little there was, stalled and Isaac wasn’t sure what to do. “Do you want more to drink?” He asked Melissa. He didn’t wait for her answer and stood up and knocked over his glass. “Shit.” He grabbed some napkins and dabbed at the mess.
Melissa cocked her head to the side and looked him up and down. “Are you alright, Isaac?”
Isaac looked up and awkwardly clung to the dripping napkins in his hands. “No. I mean y-yes. Fine. I’m good.”
Melissa narrowed her eyes and looked over at Scott. “You boys haven’t been...experimenting have you?”
Isaac laughed again. He turned his gaze to Scott. “You want to answer that one, Scott?”
Scott ran his hand through his hair. “Uh...mom. I just wanted to tell you that I’m dating someone new.”
Melissa sat forward and smiled. “Oh, that’s it? Because that’s great.”
“It is great,” Scott nodded. “And I think you’ll really like who it is since you already like that person.”
“I already like that person? You said you’re dating someone new, so it’s not Allison. Is it that girl Lydia?”
“No,” Scott cleared his throat. “It’s actually not...a girl.”
Melissa blinked rapidly. “It’s a guy. You’re dating a guy?” She put her hand over her mouth. “Are you dating Stiles?”
“What?” Scott yelled. “No. Why would I date Stiles?”
“I don’t know. You two are so close. I mean, who else could it be?”
Scott stared at Isaac.
Melissa followed his gaze.
Isaac gave her a small smile.
“Oh. You’re dating Isaac?” Melissa said. She didn’t sound angry, but she didn’t sound happy either.
“Yes. He’s my boyfriend and I love him.” Scott smiled proudly at Isaac.
Melissa’s expression softened and she looked back at Scott. “You’re in love? How long has this been going on?”
“Since the beginning of summer,” Scott had the grace to look guilty.
“You’ve been dating for four months and I’m just finding out about it?” Melissa shouted. “Why wouldn’t you tell me? You know I care about Isaac. What did you think I would say?”
Isaac was happy to hear Melissa say she cared about him. But when he looked over at Scott, the smile dropped from his face. Scott was frowning and looked like a kicked puppy.
Scott shrugged. “I don’t know. First I’m a wolf, now I’m dating a guy, and not just any guy, but someone we live with. It’s a lot to take in. I wanted to be a better son and not cause you so much stress.”
“Scott, look at me!” Melissa reached over and gripped Scott’s chin. “I know things haven’t been easy this year, and we’ve both made mistakes, but I could not ask for a better son. You being in love and happy is not going to cause me stress. You could be dating a monkey and I wouldn’t care.” She paused. “Wait, no that would still be weird. But Isaac’s no monkey.”
“Thanks.” Isaac replied with no bitterness and a little bit of humor. He was too happy that Melissa was taking this better than he expected that he didn’t really care what she compared him to.
“You’re really okay with this?” He’d tried to make Isaac feel like everything was going to be okay, but Isaac could always tell that Scott was just as nervous as he was. After how Stiles reacted, if Melissa had taken things badly, Isaac doesn’t know how Scott would have rebounded.
Melissa smiled. “I’m really okay with this. I’m probably going to want doors open at all times, but I’m okay.”
Scott smiled back at her, and then looked up at Isaac. He looked so happy that all Isaac wanted to do was kiss him senseless, but he would hold off on the PDA in front of Melissa for now.
Dinner was over pretty quickly after that. Scott helped him clear the table, and then Isaac washed the dishes. When he heard someone come in behind him, at first he assumed it was Scott, but the smell - a mixture of sweat, antiseptic, and strawberry-scented shampoo - let him know that it was Melissa.
As happy as Isaac was that Melissa wasn’t upset, it was still a little odd to be around her now. Things were different between him and Scott, and he assumed it would have to be the same with Melissa and him.
Melissa started drying the plates and Isaac kept his eyes on the sink in front of him. He snuck a look over at her a couple of times, and when she finally caught him looking, he shook his head and grinned. “I guess you never saw this coming when I first moved in.”
“Not exactly,” Melissa said openly, not hiding her initial surprise. “But, Scott could definitely do worse.”
Isaac should have just been able to take the compliment, but unfortunately he wasn’t wired that way. “Really? Worse than the sociopath in training that turned your son gay?”
Melissa almost dropped her dish on the floor, she whipped around so fast. “First of all, Isaac, you don’t “turn” someone gay. You know better than that. And you are not a sociopath. You think I’d let you live here if I thought you were deranged in any way?”
Isaac shut off the faucet and shook the water from his hands. “You don’t know some of the things I’ve done in the past.”
“I don’t care,” Melissa said with an ease that shocked Isaac.
Isaac finally looked at her fully. “You really don’t care?”
“No,” Melissa sighed. “Isaac, you’re 16 years old. No matter what you think, or what you’ve seen in the movies, your whole life does not have to be defined by your actions when you’re a teenager. I don’t know what you did before Isaac, but I see how you are now, especially with me, and with Scott. You’re family Isaac and, quite frankly I think my son is lucky to have you.”
Isaac felt a huge swell of relief. He was starting to get choked up, so he decided to make a joke. “I’m still family even if I cheat on Scott or something.” He immediately regretted the comment as soon as it came out of his mouth,
Melissa’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Isaac immediately backtracked. “I would never, ever, cheat on Scott.”
“Good, because if you ever did. I would destroy you.”
Isaac gulped.
And like a switch had been flipped, Melissa smiled and turned around. “But, yeah, you’d still be family.”
~*~
Isaac was beat. But he had insisted on cleaning the kitchen after he was done so Scott could get started on his homework and Melissa could take a shower.
After he was done, he slowly climbed the stairs. He could hear Scott and his mother talking. He was just going to head to his room but when he heard his name, he couldn’t help inching closer to the room.
“Just remember to be careful,” Melissa said.
Scott groaned. “Mom, you know I was careful with Allison, why wouldn’t I be careful with Isaac?”
Melissa laughed. “While I’m glad to know that you’re using protection with Isaac, that’s not what I meant. I need you to be careful with Isaac’s feelings and not hurt him.”
“Mom, I would never hurt him.” Scott stressed and Isaac had no doubt he meant it.
“I know that. I know you’d never intentionally hurt him, but you know everything Isaac has been through. If he loses you, I think it could really crush him.”
“He’s not going to lose me.” Scott answered without hesitation. “I love him.”
“I know you do, honey. But what about Stiles? I can’t imagine you cutting him out of your life completely.”
“It’s not going to come to that. Stiles will come around.”
“Be honest with me Scott, what happens if he doesn’t?” Melissa asked.
Scott sighed, loud and long.
Scott’s silence worried Isaac. Normally, he would just insist that everything would work out. But it seemed it was time to face the facts now.
“I-” Scott’s voice cracked. “I don’t know. Everything I’m doing, I’m either hurting Stiles or I’m hurting Isaac. I don’t want to do that. But what am I supposed to do? I can’t make Stiles forgive Isaac. I know Isaac has changed, but Stiles has a right to hate him. But I can’t stop loving Isaac. I won’t. So what am I supposed to do?”
Scott’s voice sounded utterly wrecked and Isaac quietly left and went to his room. Isaac made up his mind. Scott might not like it, but Isaac finally knew what he had to do.
~*~
Stiles rounded the corner at school and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Scott and Isaac over by Scott’s locker. Their heads were so close together that Stiles thought they might kiss. He started to back away.
He absolutely hated this and couldn’t believe it had gone on for this long. But this is where they were now, thanks to Isaac. Of course, Stiles could just apologize and this separation would be over. He really thought about it. But then when he would see Scott and Isaac together, he just couldn’t bring himself to.
Stiles continued to back away and suddenly bumped into someone. “Ah!” he yelled and whirled around.
He’d bumped into Danny as he was opening up his locker. Danny didn’t say anything, just quirked an eyebrow at Stiles with an expectant look on his face.
“Sorry,” Stiles spit out. He quickly looked behind him and, even though Scott and Isaac hadn’t looked up, he quickly darted behind Danny’s open locker door.
Danny looked over at what Stiles was staring at. “They’re such a cute couple.”
Stiles stuck his head out from behind the small door and gave Danny a nasty look. “They are not cute.”
“They’re very cute. I’m glad they’re finally out with it. It was like the worst kept secret in Beacon Hills.” Danny said as took books out of his locker and started to close it.
Stiles gripped the door and kept him from closing it. “Wait, I need this. And how long have you known about them?”
Danny shrugged. “A couple of months. I’ve seen the way Scott looks at Isaac.”
Stiles banged his head against the hard locker. “Oh, my God I swear if you say you could see the love pouring from his eyes, or some other cliched garbage, I might strangle you.”
“Dude, chill out,” Danny said. “I meant that I saw the way Scott was constantly eyeing Isaac’s ass like a starving man eyes a juicy steak.”
Stiles closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “That’s a worse explanation.”
“There was also the time I walked in on them after lacrosse practice and they were making out in the shower.”
“Stop talking.” Stiles closed the locker door himself - loudly. He didn’t care if Scott or Isaac saw him. Luckily, it seemed they had already walked away.
Danny leaned against his locker with an annoying smirk on his face. “That’s right, I forgot about your weird jealousy thing.”
“I’m not jealous,” Stiles protested.
“Jealousy, possessiveness, stalker behavior...whatever you want to call it."
Stiles refused to rise to Danny’s bait. “It’s called being a protective best friend.”
Danny put his books into his bag. “What are you protecting him from exactly? Did Isaac murder someone?”
“No,” Stiles said and then muttered under his breath, “not for lack of trying.” He continued at a normal volume. “Let’s just say a while ago he did some awful things that he can’t take back.”
“Why can’t you forgive him? Why can’t Scott just be happy with him?”
“Because I don’t think he could be happy with Isaac.” Stiles huffed. He didn’t see what business this was of Danny’s.
“And that’s your decision to make? I guess some things have never change.” Danny shook his head.
“Is this about what happened in middle school?” Stiles asked.
“I’m just a little curious. You don’t want Scott to be with Isaac because he’s a “bad” person?” He crooked his eyebrow up giving Stiles an expectant look.
“Yeah.”
“So why wasn’t I good enough to be his friend?”
“W…” Stiles started and then faltered.
“Uh huh?” Danny said in a smug tone.
Stiles shifted from foot to foot then finally sighed in exasperation. “I just didn’t like your face.”
Danny just chuckled and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder.
“I can’t believe you’re still upset about that. That was in middle school. Get over it.” Stiles whined.
“Sucks when someone can’t let go of a grudge, huh?”
Stiles’ mouth fell open slightly and he thought over what Danny said. He nodded and smiled grimly. “Okay, turn it around on me. You’re very clever, Danny.”
Danny nodded. “Look, what you do with Scott is your business. But it seems kind of stupid to me to lose your friendship just because you can’t get over a stupid grudge.”
Danny walked away.
Stiles kicked the wall. He hated that guy and his stupid logic.
~*~
Isaac rocked on his heels and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He wasn’t going to ring the doorbell again. He already thought this was a bad idea and had been prepared to bolt at least twice. If no one answered he decided it was fate’s way of confirming this was a bad idea.
He decided that Scott had done all he could. It was time for him to try and reason with Stiles. He knew Stiles hated him, and wasn’t more likely to listen to him than his best friend, but he had to do something. He just hoped his presence didn’t agitate Stiles more.
After another five seconds, he started to turn but he suddenly heard someone coming quickly to the door. It was Stiles. He could smell the sweet smell of his excitement...and then the sour disappointment when he opened the door to see Isaac standing there.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Isaac closed his eyes briefly, determined to not let anything Stiles said get the best of him. “I took the bus to get here.”
Stiles opened the door a little further and stepped closer. “I didn’t ask you how you got here, but why?”
Isaac stared at his feet. “I wanted to make this right. Scott really misses you.”
“What do you care?” Stiles spit out. “I thought you would do the dance of joy to have Scott all to yourself.”
“Scott’s in pain. Maybe that doesn’t bother you, but it bothers me.” Goddamit. Well, the plan to not antagonize Stiles lasted for about 30 seconds. He looked as if he wanted to punch Isaac. It was a look that Isaac was all too familiar with. If Isaac didn’t have about ten feet on him and wasn’t a super strength having supernatural creature, he’s sure Stiles would be kneeing him in the groin right about now. Even with the disadvantages, he looked like he was seriously considering it.
“Where the hell do you get off acting like you care about Scott more than I do?” Stiles chuckled, but there was clearly no joy behind it. “You’ve been with him about five seconds. I’ve known him almost his entire life. I’m sorry that my way of showing how much I care doesn’t include beating the shit out of him and trying to kill him multiple times.”
Isaac grabbed tufts of his hair and just pulled. He couldn’t take it anymore. “Would you give it a rest, already? Can we just move past it?"
Stiles stepped out into the light with Isaac. "I've been through a lot of weird and terrible shit this year. There are a lot of things that I can forget, some things I desperately want to forget, and some I just can't." He took a deep breath. "Isaac, I remember the look in your eye when you talked about killing Lydia. There was joy there. And then you and your pack cornered us in Scott's house, waiting for the perfect moment to strike because you thought we were defenseless. You came into the house and you grabbed me by the neck, and I swear, I really thought I might be a goner, until the future love of your life, saved me."
Isaac flinched and wanted to look away, but he thought he owed it to Stiles to look him in the eye. It wasn't pretty to have to relive what a douche he'd been then, but it was worse for Stiles.
Stiles made such a good show of being fearless sometimes, that Isaac had no idea what happened that night affected him so much.
Stiles sighed. “Anyway, I can’t even start to think about forgiveness for someone who hasn't showed me they're sorry for what they did. You never even apologized."
Isaac rubbed his forehead. “Yes, I did.”
Stiles crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Nope."
Isaac shook his head. "Yes, I did."
"Look, if you did it wasn't to me," Stiles explained.
Isaac was about to protest again. He was sure he had apologized to Stiles. He was almost positive...Or was he?
Isaac thought it over carefully and he realized Stiles was right. He had apologized to Scott, of course, and Allison and Lydia, but he hadn’t apologized to Stiles.
He almost slapped himself on the forehead. Instead he just looked up at Stiles. "You're right and I’m sorry. I should have said it sooner. I didn't realize how much I hurt you. But even if I hadn't, I hurt your friends and should have apologized to you, too. Because you’re the kind of person that when your friends hurt, you hurt too."
Stiles' eyes widened at that comment.
"For what it's worth I never would have killed you that night. I was just trying to scare you."
"Mission accomplished." Stiles huffed.
Isaac didn't know what to say and just nodded. "I'm really sorry for that. Can you forgive me?" Isaac thought about offering his hand for him to shake, but thought against it.
Stiles' features had softened and he looked less angry, but he still eyed Isaac warily.
Isaac had a feeling there was more to this than Stiles was letting on. "Stiles, I could apologize over and over again. I could even record it for you, so you could always have it, but that's not going to solve anything if there's more to this."
Stiles looked away .
The idea of figuratively opening a vein and being vulnerable in front of Stiles really didn't appeal to him, but now was the time for absolute honesty. It might be the only thing to appeal to Stiles. He knew that approach would work best with him.
"I came here not just because I wanted to help Scott." Isaac gulped. "I'm looking out for myself, too. I was an absolute douche for a while. And even though I might not have deserved it, Scott decided to give me another chance. I've been doing everything I can to earn that forgiveness. Not just because I care about Scott but because I don't want to be that person I was."
Isaac stuck his hands deeper into his pockets. "I've never really believed that I would ever find love or that I deserved it. But Scott's changed that. He told me he loves me and I believe him. I love him, too. He told me he wouldn't leave me. He really believes that. But I know how much you mean to him. I think you and I both know that if you force Scott to make a choice, you're not going to be the one who loses."
Stiles didn't admit anything, but he didn't refute Isaac's claim.
Isaac but his lip hard and forced himself to look Stiles in the eye. "So I am begging you not to force him to make a choice."
Isaac found that he was holding his breath as he looked back at Stiles, who looked dumbfounded.
Isaac opened his mouth to add something, but realized there was really nothing left to say, so he slowly closed his mouth and walked away. Whatever happened now was up to Stiles.
~*~
Stiles practically growled at the stubborn stain on the floor that just wouldn't go away. He was on his hands and knees cleaning his kitchen floor.
He hadn't planned on spending his Saturday morning cleaning, but he'd woken up at the crack of dawn. It didn't really matter since he couldn't sleep most of the night.
He'd been thinking of Isaac's speech all night. It almost pained him to admit it, but it took real guts for Isaac to pour his heart out like that. For the first time he could really see the change Scott was talking about.
And yet Stiles still felt this knot in his stomach when he thought about trusting Isaac with Scott. It was stupid; it wasn’t as if it was his job to give Scott his blessing. But given that Scott’s dad was a loser he did feel that it was his responsibility.
“Stiles, what the hell did you do with my cheeseburger?” John Stilinski shouted as he stormed into the kitchen.
Stiles only vaguely heard him in the background.
The sheriff opened the refrigerator. “How did you even find this? I hid this in my safe. How am I supposed to find a better hiding spot than that?” He walked over to Stiles. “I’m telling you, kid, you’re too smart for your own good.”
“Uh huh.” Stiles said absent-mindedly.
“Stiles?”
Stiles continued to rub furiously at a spot on the linoleum.
John backed away. “So, I’m just going to put this burger in my pocket and be on my way.”
“Great. Have a great day.” Stiles mumbled.
John slammed the front door so hard, Stiles’ head instantly popped up. He whirled around and looked at his dad over by the back door.
“What was that for?” Stiles asked as he stood up.
“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.” John accused him as he walked back into the room.
Stiles shrugged. “Yes, I did. You found a burger and you’re taking it to have a good time at lunch.”
John waited.
Stiles replayed those words over again. He groaned and put his head in his hands.
John puts his hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “What’s going on with you, son?”
Stiles backed away and shook his head as he looked down at the spotless floor. “Nothing.”
“Bull.” John crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve been cleaning the same spot on the floor for twenty minutes. Unless you’re trying to create a portal to China you should probably stop.”
Stiles rolled his eyes.
“You’ve been cleaning non-stop for the last few days. Are you trying to give me a clue about your future career path?” John teased.
Stiles laughed briefly and crouched down to pick up his sponge.
John rocked back on his heels and looked deep in thought. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Scott around here in ages? What’s going on with you two?”
Stiles gave a bone weary sigh and sat down at the kitchen table. He decided if anyone could make sense of the mess that was his mind, it would be his dad. “I think I might have overreacted to something?”
“You?” His dad said in mock surprise.
Stiles just glared at him.
John gave him a warm smile, so Stiles continued.
“You know what, I didn’t actually overreact. Scott’s boyfriend is a sociopath and-”
“Wait, back up,” John interrupted. “Scott has a boyfriend?”
“Yeah.” Stiles said as if it should be old news to his dad. “When I found out he was seeing said sociopath I couldn’t accept it and Scott said I can’t come around his house if I can’t.” He sighed. “I suppose I should say former sociopath. I think he’s actually changing. I mean, what he did to me still sucks, but he actually apologized.”
Stiles wasn’t going to tell his dad what Isaac had done. His dad still wasn’t in the know about all the crazy things going on in Beacon Hills, and Stiles was fairly sure if he told his dad that Isaac had tried to kill him, a jail cell would be the least of Isaac’s worries.
John looked slightly confused, but nodded. “If he apologized, what’s the problem?”
Stiles leaned forward on the table and threw his hands up. “I don’t really know. I keep saying I want to protect Scott. But am I just being possessive? Am I trying to keep him all to myself?”
For some reason John grinned and leaned back in his chair. “Do you remember Scott’s friend in the fifth grade, Kyle Fisher?”
“Yeah,” Stiles said slowly, he wasn’t quite sure why his dad remembered him or brought him up.
“Scott brought him over all the time and tried to make the two of you friends, but no matter what, you wouldn’t give that kid an inch.” John leaned forward. “I’ll never forget this as long as I live. My ten year old son walks up to me and asks me if there was any way I could have Kyle arrested.”
Stiles closed his eyes and winced. He’d forgotten about that.
“I asked what for and you said that I should just make something up.”
Stiles dropped his head on the table. “So what you’re saying is I’ve been obsessively possessive for a really long time?”
“No.” John shook his head and laughed a bit. “It’s funny now, though of course back then I didn’t find it so amusing. I really don’t think it says anything bad about you.” John’s smile faltered and his voice became softer. “You know that wasn’t more than a year after your mother died.”
Stiles hadn’t put that together before.
“You only had two people in the world that you could really count on, and that was me and Scott. You were only ten years old. I think you were worried that you were going to lose Scott to this other kid and you didn’t know how else to handle it.”
“But I’m not ten years old anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter.” John put his hand on Stiles’ arm. “I think your urge to protect the people you love and keep them close has only gotten stronger. With me sometimes I feel like you’re the parent and I’m the kid. You worry about me and try to take care of me, by withholding delicious food, but that’s a topic for another time.”
Stiles genuinely smiled at that.
John squeezed Stiles’ forearm. “I love you, son and I’m not going anywhere. You’ve got to know that Scott feels the same way. You can let go, just a little bit, and you won’t lose him. I promise.”
Stiles knew that his dad was right. He should have sought out his dad a lot sooner. He hugged him. “Thank you, dad.”
John returned the hug, almost crushing Stiles to him. He pulled back slowly and held onto Stiles’ shoulders. They grinned at each other and John patted Stiles’ shoulders before he moved away. He was almost out the door when Stiles remembered something.
“Uh, dad?”
John looked over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Gonna need that burger in your pocket.”
John looked up at the sky and sighed in irritation. He walked over to Stiles. “What did we just talk about?”
Stiles put his hand out. “How I can sometimes be overprotective. But unless you know something about your cholesterol levels that I don’t, this is not me being overprotective.”
The sheriff took out the cheeseburger and grumbled as he handed it over. He started to walk out the door.
“Love you, dad.”
“Love you too, son.”
~*~
Scott stared at the video game in his hand and thought about all the hours they’d spent playing things like World of Warcraft and got depressed again.
Isaac walked in and Scott tried to smile up at him, but he was sure it looked as grim as he felt.
Isaac got up on the bed and put his arms around Scott. “I know I suck at it, but do you want to play a game with me?”
Scott chuckled. “Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.”
Isaac kissed his neck. “How about sex to take your mind off Stiles...at least I hope it takes your mind off him. I would hope you wouldn’t be thinking about him during.”
Scott twisted around and genuinely smiled. He appreciated how much Isaac was trying to take care of him. Scott was about to kiss him when there was a knock at the door.
They both got up and headed downstairs.
Scott barely contained the whoop of joy when he sees Stiles at the door. “Hi.” He said with hesitation.
“Hey.” Stiles said as he looked between Scott and Isaac. “Can I talk to you...alone?”
Isaac and Scott shared a brief look, but neither protested.
Scott and Stiles moved into the living room.
Scott had barely sat down when Stiles started. “I don’t like Isaac.”
Scott suppressed a groan.
“I may never like him. And I don’t know if he won’t ultimately hurt you. But, I don’t think he’s the monster I’ve made him out to be.” He sat down next to Scott.
“Okay.” Scott still wasn’t sure where Stiles was going with this. He was hopeful, but wasn’t going to jump to conclusions.
“Isaac tried to kill me. That is a legitimate reason to hate him.” Stiles took a deep breath. “But that’s not the only reason I don’t like him.”
“What’s the other reason?”
“Scott, for the longest time it’s just been you and me against the world. We do everything together and I can’t remember a time when you weren’t in my life. But sometimes I get worried that I’m going to lose you.” Scott started to speak, but Stiles held up his hand. “It’s fine when you have a girlfriend because I know I have somewhere to fit into your life. You have a girlfriend, but then I’m still your best friend. It’s different when some guy comes along, especially someone like Isaac. He’s your boyfriend and he’s also your best friend. A part of me wonders what you even need me for anymore.”
Scott opened his mouth but looked to Stiles before he said anything. Stiles nodded. “Stiles, I’m always going to need you. It doesn’t matter who I’m dating.”
“But you said it yourself. Isaac and I are so much alike.” Stiles added.
“That doesn’t matter.” Scott turned to him. “Yeah, you have a lot of similarities, but you’re so different in so many ways. I love Isaac, but he’s not the person who held my hand every night after my dad left and snuck into my room every night and played video games with me and made me laugh until I puked. He’s not the guy who stood by me when I became something I couldn’t even understand. When I became a werewolf, you didn’t run away when anyone else might have. You helped me understand who I was. You helped me survive.” Scott grabbed Stiles’ shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Stiles, you’re not just my best friend, you’re my brother. Nothing will change that.”
Stiles’ lips twitched up into a full-blown smile. Scott hugged him.
Scott pulled back and frowned a bit. “I think I should apologize.”
Stiles’ head reared back. “For what?”
“After what happened with Allison, I wanted to be a better friend the next time I was in a relationship. I didn’t want to shut you out, so I tried to make you and Isaac spend time together. I shouldn’t have forced it. I know you have issues with Isaac and I should have made time for it to be just the two of us.”
“I’m just glad that you’re not shutting me out.” Stiles said.
“Still, if you want we can have that marathon we were supposed to have weeks ago and it’ll just be me and you.”
“I appreciate that Scott, but I think I have a better idea.”
~*~
Isaac wasn’t going to eavesdrop. It was an accident. It wasn’t his fault he had super hearing. Well, technically, he did say yes to the bite so it kind of was his fault...Anyway, he only heard a snatch of conversation between Scott and Stiles, enough to know that they were patching up their friendship.
It honestly made him happier than he would have expected anything involving Stiles to make him. He didn’t know exactly what this meant for him and Scott, but he refused to think the worst.
He decided to make himself scarce so Stiles and Scott could catch up. He decided he would go out and get something to eat.
He headed down the stairs, just as Stiles and Scott started to head up.
Isaac smiled down at Scott and nodded politely to Stiles as he met them in front of the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Scott asked.
“I’m kind of hungry and I don’t feel like making anything. So I’m just going to head out.” Isaac explained.
Stiles stepped between Isaac and Scott. “You don’t have to do that.” He looked back at Scott. “It’s important for Scott that you and I get along, so I think we should try and spend some time together - all three of us.”
“Really?” Isaac can’t help but be skeptical.
“Yeah,” Stiles chuckled. “Who knows, if things go well maybe it could lead to an enjoyable threesome.”
Both Isaac and Scott wrinkled their noses.
Stiles’ eyebrows shot up. “Clearly, I was joking. But screw you both, I would make an excellent threesome candidate.” He grumbled, but had a grin on his face. His expression eventually became more serious. “Isaac, I was really impressed that you came to my house and apologized.”
“You did that?” Scott asked in surprise.
Isaac just shrugged.
“It meant a lot what you said.” Stiles looked down at the floor. “Scott’s the best person I know and he’s a pretty good judge of character, if he loves you then…”
“You love me?” Isaac winked.
“Thank you, it was going to be a beautiful moment and you ruined it.” Stiles said as he shook his head in annoyance.
Isaac put up his hands. “Sorry I was just getting a little uncomfortable.”
Stiles grinned. “I was a little bit, too.”
Stiles shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “We don’t have to hug it out or anything, do we?”
They both turned to Scott.
After a long, slow grin Scott shook his head. “No.”
Stiles and Isaac breathed a sigh of relief.
“So, what are we going to do?” Scott looked between the other two. “And don’t say threesome,” He pointed at Stiles.
Stiles held up his hands and laughed. “I thought we were going to do the marathon?”
Scott looked at the clock on his phone. “It’s kind of late to watch all four.”
Isaac cocked his head to the side. “So how about just one?”
Scott and Isaac shared a knowing smile.
Stiles looked at them both and a look of dawning horror came across his face. He backed up a little. “Oh, no.”
“Come on, it’s really not that bad.” Isaac argued. “Remember, you get to teach me the error of my ways. Plus, you can watch it and mock me for having bad taste.”
Stiles pursed his lips. “That is a strong selling point.”
“So…?” Scott asked.
Stiles heaved a dramatic sigh. “Let’s watch The Last Stand.
Scott and Isaac cheered.
Isaac kissed Scott’s cheek as he walked past him.
Stiles crinkled his nose. “Please, no PDA. Not in front of me. Not yet.”
Isaac rolled his eyes, but he supposed that was fine. This was new territory for all of them. He supposed baby steps were required.
Scott groaned. “Okay.” He then patted Isaac’s butt. Isaac laughed and Stiles glared at him. “What, that’s not PDA.”
Stiles crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.
Scott put his arm over Stiles’ shoulder and grinned. “Fine. Only because you’re my best friend.”
Stiles smiled genuinely and nodded. “I know.”
When they sat down on the sofa, Scott sat sandwiched in between Stiles and Isaac. Stiles only groaned once when Scott and Isaac tried to hold hands. But he didn’t insult Isaac and only glared at him once and he only made one more innuendo about a threesome. Baby steps.
Title: No, You Can't Date A Sociopath
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Scott/Isaac, Scott & Stiles. Scott, Isaac, Stiles, Melissa, Sheriff Stilinski, Danny
Rating: NC-17
Summary: When Stiles finds out about Isaac and Scott's secret relationship, his first reaction isn't to wish the couple well - he faints. And then it only gets worse from there.
Warnings (if any): Brief mentions of past abuse and past off-screen minor character death.
Total Word Count/Length: 18,871
Disclaimer: This story/artwork is based on characters and situations created and owned by MTV. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's/Artist's/Vidder's notes (if any): Written for tw_fallharvest
Beta(s): Thanks to my beta, who chooses to remain nameless. Any mistakes left are my own.
Part 1
Scott walked up to his front door on autopilot. He'd been going through the motions ever since Stiles left the clinic.
Scott couldn't believe that it had really come to this. Stiles was stubborn and had every right to dislike Isaac, but he had been sure that if he could just tell Stiles what Isaac meant to him, it would change things and Stiles would at least make some effort to get along with Isaac, or pretend to. Clearly he underestimated Stiles' dislike of Isaac.
Scott shut the front door and, after briefly banging his head against it, he trudged up the stairs.
He dropped his bag just inside the door to his bedroom. He saw a small patch of light coming from underneath Isaac's closed door. Scott could hear him shuffling around in there.
As he walked over, Isaac's shuffling footsteps stopped and Scott caught a strong whiff of fear, which had him immediately sprint faster to Isaac's room.
He threw the door open and he was stunned at what he saw.
Scott rubbed at his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Isaac stood in front of his open duffel bag and paused his frantic packing as he looked up at Scott, but resumed quickly.
"Isaac?" Scott said flatly, still too stunned, too tired, and too surprised to comprehend what was going on.
"You talk to Stiles?" Isaac asked conversationally, glossing over the enormity of what he was doing.
"Yeah," Scott spoke slowly as he tried to process Isaac’s actions. "He's still not happy about us being together." Scott added with sadness, “I think I hurt his feelings.”
Isaac just grunted. He went over to the closet and hastily ripped his shirts from the hangers. The clattering hangers resonated in Scott's ears.
"That's too bad," he said as he dumped the shirts in the already near capacity bag. Scott briefly thought back to when Isaac first moved in with them. He hadn’t had much more than the clothes on his back. Scott was amazed that Isaac had accumulated so much in the short time he'd been living with them.
Isaac cleared his throat. "It's okay, though. He'll be happy when he finds out I don't live here anymore."
Scott almost doubled over at his words. "What? Isaac, what is happening?"
Isaac sniffed and looked down at the floor. "I've decided that I'm tired of being your secret, Scott."
This was such a 180, Scott felt dizzy. They'd talked about this. "But it doesn't have to be a secret anymore."
"Because your Wonder Twin Stiles knows now." Isaac said in a harsh tone, that Scott hadn't heard coming from him in a long time. "I didn't sign up for a threesome, Scott. What happens between us should have nothing to do with him. I'm tired of dealing with him."
Scott rushed toward him. "It's going to be okay. Stiles will come around."
Isaac looked at him in disbelief. "Did you not hear what I said? I don't care about how Stiles feels about this. I don't care if he comes around. Stop saying things are going to be okay." He blew out a long breath. "I'm just done."
Scott was breathing heavily. As Isaac tried to walk past him, he grabbed his wrist. He knew he was holding on too tightly, and he shouldn't have been, but he couldn't let go. He might have lost his best friend that night and he was not about to lose Isaac on top of it. "Please, just stop. You have to explain this because this morning you were fine. We were fine."
Isaac turned around slowly. He didn't make an attempt to get away from Scott. "That's because you weren't paying attention. You were too worried about how to mend things with your precious, Stiles. I may have said things were fine, but I'm not."
He looked down at his wrist and tugged gently. Scott got the hint and let go.
Everything Isaac was saying tore at Scott's heart. The things he was saying made sense, but there was still something that felt off. Isaac was saying the right words and he even sounded right at times - angry and tired. But it didn't ring true.
Scott stared at Isaac and crouched down a little to get Isaac to look him in the eye.
Isaac just hung his head lower and rubbed the back of his neck. "It just doesn't feel like it used to anymore. And maybe I'm just not cut out for relationships."
Scott didn't say anything and finally Isaac looked up briefly. As soon as he looked at him, he knew. "You're lying."
Isaac recoiled and kept a wide birch as he walked past Scott and back towards the bed and his bag. "What are you talking about?"
Scott slowly stepped towards Isaac. "I know you, Isaac. I know how you think and you're trying to push me away."
Isaac scoffed at that. "I didn't realize you had such an ego, Scott. The only reason I could want to break up with you is because I'm lying?"
Scott stepped right up to Isaac. He was close enough to see Isaac's long eyelashes fluttering against his perfect skin. "Why can't you look at me?"
"I can look at you." Isaac said. He glanced up, but stared at a spot behind Scott's head.
Scott put two fingers under Isaac's chin and finally Isaac's blue eyes focused on him. "Don't lie to me, please."
Isaac panted for a second and stared into Scott's eyes. Finally his shoulders sagged. "Fine. I'm trying to do the right thing, for once."
"The right thing?"
Isaac tore his eyes away from Scott and looked up at the ceiling. "I may not like Stiles, but you need him. I don't want you to lose that because of me."
Scott put his hands gently on Isaac's face. "I won't."
"You don't know that."
Scott shook his head. "I do. Because I love Stiles and he loves me. We're going to work this out. I have to have faith in that."
"But it would be easier if you just let me go," Isaac pleaded.
Scott so much love for him in that moment. This was the Isaac Stiles refused to see. He was willing to give up his happiness just so Scott could be happy. "It wouldn't be easier."
"How come?"
"Because I'm in love with you."
Isaac sucked in a breath and stared open-mouth at Scott. "You just said..."
"I'm in love with you," Scott repeated.
Isaac's lips twitched up briefly, before his lips pressed firmly together. He wasn't frowning, but he did look confused. "Why?"
Scott hated that Isaac's father had beaten him down so much, not just physically but emotionally as well, that Isaac had trouble seeing his own worth or why someone could love him.
Scott ran his hand through Isaac's curly hair. "Because when you smile it makes me happy. Because you take care of my mom even when I don't ask you to. Because you made mistakes and you're trying to learn from them. Because you don't ever tell me I'm dumb, even when I know I say something stupid. Because you let me hold me when you can't sleep at night and you do the same for me. And because when I wake up, you're the first person that I want to see."
"Wow." Isaac breathed out.
"How's that for an answer?" Scott grinned.
"That's pretty fucking awesome!" Isaac declared. And then he smiled that smile - that face splitting smile that had to be the personification of the word joy- that Scott would swear was more powerful, more addictive, and more intense than any drug could ever be.
Scott pulled Isaac into a tight embrace. He knew he was probably holding on too tight, but he couldn't help it. He pulled back and searched Isaac's face. "So you'll stay?"
Isaac kissed his lips softly. "I love you, Scott. I'm not going anywhere."
Scott heaved a huge sigh of relief and pulled Isaac into his arms again.
This had been such an emotional roller coaster of a day and Scott wasn't sure how he was still standing. But the fact that a day that had started out so shitty had ended on such a high, filled him with hope. Things could get better and he was going to do everything to make sure that it did.
~*~
It had been two days since Scott's love confession and Isaac was still hardly able to believe it really happened. But it did, and now he and Scott were turning into one of those nauseating couples who were so over the top in love Isaac just wanted to punch them. Scott would tell Isaac he loved him at night, he would kiss Isaac awake with “I love you,” and randomly text him ILY. Very sickening. But Isaac really didn’t care though.
He'd spent so many years feeling alone and unloved that he was going to bask in this feeling as much as possible.
Only two things kept him from truly being able to enjoy this high. One of them, of course, was Stiles. Scott and Stiles were still not speaking and Isaac felt like it was his fault. He wanted to fix things, but didn't know how.
The other problem actually filled Isaac with much more anxiety. Scott meant it when he said he was ready to start telling people about them. When they got to school, Scott told him that he was going to attempt to tell Allison about them. Scott being the great guy that he was wanted to make sure Allison heard it from him first.
The last time he saw Scott they hadn’t had “the most awkward talk in the history of the universe” as Scott put it. Isaac was pretty sure Scott was wrong. The most awkward talk in the history of the universe would be when Scott told his mother about them, which he was planning on doing that night.
Even though Scott told him he had no reason to be, Isaac was really nervous about how Melissa would react. He had started to wonder if unpacking his bag had been a good idea. He knew that Melissa really cared about him, but it was one thing to allow your son’s friend to move in, and another to let his boyfriend have free reign for booty calls every night under your roof.
Scott went to work after school and Isaac decided to butter Melissa up by making her favorite dinner that night. It was annoying having to take the bus, but he got everything together and was about to start cooking.
He started to unpack everything from the bags. When he looked down at everything, he did a double take, and checked the clearly empty bags again. “Stupid, motherfucking asshole!”
He had been too busy frantically searching the bags again to hear Scott come in through the front door. He only noticed Scott’s presence when Scott shook his shoulder.
“Isaac, what is it?” He asked sounding really fearful.
Isaac looked devastated. “I don’t have the meatballs.”
Scott almost laughed, but the pitiful look on Isaac’s face stopped him. “And?”
“And?” Isaac looked at Scott as if he’d grown another head. “I can’t make spaghetti and meatballs without meatballs.”
“So, just make spaghetti without meatballs.”
“Do you even know your own mother, Scott?” Isaac grumbled. “Meatballs are her favorite part.” He sat down heavily at the kitchen table.
Scott chuckled softly and sat down next time. He took Isaac’s hands in his own. “Isaac, you don’t need to bribe my mother with meatballs for her to accept us being together. She’s going to be fine. She’ll be surprised but she can deal. If she can deal with me being a werewolf, she can deal with me dating you.”
Isaac nodded once, but he still looked skeptical. “How did it go with, Allison?”
Scott pursed his lips together. “It wasn’t what I expected.”
“It wasn’t awkward?”
“Oh, no. It was definitely awkward.”
Isaac was curious, but wasn’t worried, since Scott didn’t look upset in anyway. In fact, he actually smiled. “When I finally told her, she laughed.”
“She laughed?” Isaac probably shouldn’t have been, but he was annoyed at that reaction. “Should I be insulted by that?”
Scott shook his head. “It wasn’t really anything bad. She just said she was surprised. She actually said she was surprised, and not surprised by it.”
Isaac sat back in his chair. “What did she mean by that?
“She had never expected me to date a guy next, but she’s seen us together and kind of wondered sometimes what was really going on. She was happy that her instincts were right.”
“She wasn’t upset?” Isaac didn’t really care about Allison’s feelings too much. He was still a little pissed at her for attacking him, but he didn’t want to be like Stiles and hold an epic grudge. Allison had meant a lot to Scott and he cared about her and it would kill him to cause her pain.
“She’s okay. She never expected me to wait forever. She said that she’s glad I’m happy.” Scott squeezed Isaac’s hand.
Isaac didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he was skeptical that was all there was. “That was it? Either she’s either the most emotionally stable girl in the world, and the previous knife wounds to my back make that unlikely, or there’s more to this.”
Scott looked down and picked at the tablecloth. “She said that it was a little weird for her and she had some of the same concerns as Stiles. She’s not sure if you’re that different from how you were before.”
Isaac threw up his hands. Yes, what he did was horrible, but how could he put it behind him if everyone wouldn’t let it go. “God, I never killed anyone! Is anyone going to give me a chance to make it right?”
Scott tugged one of his hands down. “You didn’t let me finish. She’s worried about me, but she trusts me and isn’t going to give me a hard time about it.”
Isaac relaxed a little. “Okay. I guess that’s good. I wish Stiles could follow her lead.”
Scott nodded slowly and looked pensive as he bit his lip. “Yeah. At least you don’t have to worry about Allison and you won’t have to worry about my mom, either.”
Isaac hoped Scott was right.
After talking it over with Scott, Isaac decided to regain some of his sanity and stop freaking out about meatballs. He improvised and made shrimp marinara instead. Scott set the table as Isaac got ready. Scott talked him out of wearing a suit, which was a good idea because Isaac didn’t have any suits of his own and he could just imagine how ridiculous he’d look in one of Scott’s.
Melissa was so tired when she got home that she just immediately sat down to eat and didn’t bother to get out of her scrubs. It was only after she had finished off half of her plate, that she was able to make any conversation.
Her silence had made Isaac even more anxious, but now that she was talking and asking Scott and Isaac questions, his anxiety didn’t lessen. Normally, he and Melissa talked a lot over dinner, but right now Isaac’s mind was blank. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. The one thing that ran through his mind was “I’m fucking your son.” Thankfully, he managed to keep himself from blurting that out.
Melissa’s plate was empty, except a piece of garlic bread that she was now dragging through the marinara sauce. “I think this is your best meal yet, Isaac. I swear I don’t know what we did for meals before you got here.”
“A lot of ramen noodles and hot dogs,” Scott supplied.
“No wonder I’ve blocked it from my memory,” Melissa joked.
Suddenly, Isaac laughed really loudly. He covered his mouth quickly as both Melissa and Scott stared at him. “Sorry, that was really funny. You’re really funny.”
“Yeah.” She gave him a funny look.
The conversation, the little there was, stalled and Isaac wasn’t sure what to do. “Do you want more to drink?” He asked Melissa. He didn’t wait for her answer and stood up and knocked over his glass. “Shit.” He grabbed some napkins and dabbed at the mess.
Melissa cocked her head to the side and looked him up and down. “Are you alright, Isaac?”
Isaac looked up and awkwardly clung to the dripping napkins in his hands. “No. I mean y-yes. Fine. I’m good.”
Melissa narrowed her eyes and looked over at Scott. “You boys haven’t been...experimenting have you?”
Isaac laughed again. He turned his gaze to Scott. “You want to answer that one, Scott?”
Scott ran his hand through his hair. “Uh...mom. I just wanted to tell you that I’m dating someone new.”
Melissa sat forward and smiled. “Oh, that’s it? Because that’s great.”
“It is great,” Scott nodded. “And I think you’ll really like who it is since you already like that person.”
“I already like that person? You said you’re dating someone new, so it’s not Allison. Is it that girl Lydia?”
“No,” Scott cleared his throat. “It’s actually not...a girl.”
Melissa blinked rapidly. “It’s a guy. You’re dating a guy?” She put her hand over her mouth. “Are you dating Stiles?”
“What?” Scott yelled. “No. Why would I date Stiles?”
“I don’t know. You two are so close. I mean, who else could it be?”
Scott stared at Isaac.
Melissa followed his gaze.
Isaac gave her a small smile.
“Oh. You’re dating Isaac?” Melissa said. She didn’t sound angry, but she didn’t sound happy either.
“Yes. He’s my boyfriend and I love him.” Scott smiled proudly at Isaac.
Melissa’s expression softened and she looked back at Scott. “You’re in love? How long has this been going on?”
“Since the beginning of summer,” Scott had the grace to look guilty.
“You’ve been dating for four months and I’m just finding out about it?” Melissa shouted. “Why wouldn’t you tell me? You know I care about Isaac. What did you think I would say?”
Isaac was happy to hear Melissa say she cared about him. But when he looked over at Scott, the smile dropped from his face. Scott was frowning and looked like a kicked puppy.
Scott shrugged. “I don’t know. First I’m a wolf, now I’m dating a guy, and not just any guy, but someone we live with. It’s a lot to take in. I wanted to be a better son and not cause you so much stress.”
“Scott, look at me!” Melissa reached over and gripped Scott’s chin. “I know things haven’t been easy this year, and we’ve both made mistakes, but I could not ask for a better son. You being in love and happy is not going to cause me stress. You could be dating a monkey and I wouldn’t care.” She paused. “Wait, no that would still be weird. But Isaac’s no monkey.”
“Thanks.” Isaac replied with no bitterness and a little bit of humor. He was too happy that Melissa was taking this better than he expected that he didn’t really care what she compared him to.
“You’re really okay with this?” He’d tried to make Isaac feel like everything was going to be okay, but Isaac could always tell that Scott was just as nervous as he was. After how Stiles reacted, if Melissa had taken things badly, Isaac doesn’t know how Scott would have rebounded.
Melissa smiled. “I’m really okay with this. I’m probably going to want doors open at all times, but I’m okay.”
Scott smiled back at her, and then looked up at Isaac. He looked so happy that all Isaac wanted to do was kiss him senseless, but he would hold off on the PDA in front of Melissa for now.
Dinner was over pretty quickly after that. Scott helped him clear the table, and then Isaac washed the dishes. When he heard someone come in behind him, at first he assumed it was Scott, but the smell - a mixture of sweat, antiseptic, and strawberry-scented shampoo - let him know that it was Melissa.
As happy as Isaac was that Melissa wasn’t upset, it was still a little odd to be around her now. Things were different between him and Scott, and he assumed it would have to be the same with Melissa and him.
Melissa started drying the plates and Isaac kept his eyes on the sink in front of him. He snuck a look over at her a couple of times, and when she finally caught him looking, he shook his head and grinned. “I guess you never saw this coming when I first moved in.”
“Not exactly,” Melissa said openly, not hiding her initial surprise. “But, Scott could definitely do worse.”
Isaac should have just been able to take the compliment, but unfortunately he wasn’t wired that way. “Really? Worse than the sociopath in training that turned your son gay?”
Melissa almost dropped her dish on the floor, she whipped around so fast. “First of all, Isaac, you don’t “turn” someone gay. You know better than that. And you are not a sociopath. You think I’d let you live here if I thought you were deranged in any way?”
Isaac shut off the faucet and shook the water from his hands. “You don’t know some of the things I’ve done in the past.”
“I don’t care,” Melissa said with an ease that shocked Isaac.
Isaac finally looked at her fully. “You really don’t care?”
“No,” Melissa sighed. “Isaac, you’re 16 years old. No matter what you think, or what you’ve seen in the movies, your whole life does not have to be defined by your actions when you’re a teenager. I don’t know what you did before Isaac, but I see how you are now, especially with me, and with Scott. You’re family Isaac and, quite frankly I think my son is lucky to have you.”
Isaac felt a huge swell of relief. He was starting to get choked up, so he decided to make a joke. “I’m still family even if I cheat on Scott or something.” He immediately regretted the comment as soon as it came out of his mouth,
Melissa’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Isaac immediately backtracked. “I would never, ever, cheat on Scott.”
“Good, because if you ever did. I would destroy you.”
Isaac gulped.
And like a switch had been flipped, Melissa smiled and turned around. “But, yeah, you’d still be family.”
~*~
Isaac was beat. But he had insisted on cleaning the kitchen after he was done so Scott could get started on his homework and Melissa could take a shower.
After he was done, he slowly climbed the stairs. He could hear Scott and his mother talking. He was just going to head to his room but when he heard his name, he couldn’t help inching closer to the room.
“Just remember to be careful,” Melissa said.
Scott groaned. “Mom, you know I was careful with Allison, why wouldn’t I be careful with Isaac?”
Melissa laughed. “While I’m glad to know that you’re using protection with Isaac, that’s not what I meant. I need you to be careful with Isaac’s feelings and not hurt him.”
“Mom, I would never hurt him.” Scott stressed and Isaac had no doubt he meant it.
“I know that. I know you’d never intentionally hurt him, but you know everything Isaac has been through. If he loses you, I think it could really crush him.”
“He’s not going to lose me.” Scott answered without hesitation. “I love him.”
“I know you do, honey. But what about Stiles? I can’t imagine you cutting him out of your life completely.”
“It’s not going to come to that. Stiles will come around.”
“Be honest with me Scott, what happens if he doesn’t?” Melissa asked.
Scott sighed, loud and long.
Scott’s silence worried Isaac. Normally, he would just insist that everything would work out. But it seemed it was time to face the facts now.
“I-” Scott’s voice cracked. “I don’t know. Everything I’m doing, I’m either hurting Stiles or I’m hurting Isaac. I don’t want to do that. But what am I supposed to do? I can’t make Stiles forgive Isaac. I know Isaac has changed, but Stiles has a right to hate him. But I can’t stop loving Isaac. I won’t. So what am I supposed to do?”
Scott’s voice sounded utterly wrecked and Isaac quietly left and went to his room. Isaac made up his mind. Scott might not like it, but Isaac finally knew what he had to do.
~*~
Stiles rounded the corner at school and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Scott and Isaac over by Scott’s locker. Their heads were so close together that Stiles thought they might kiss. He started to back away.
He absolutely hated this and couldn’t believe it had gone on for this long. But this is where they were now, thanks to Isaac. Of course, Stiles could just apologize and this separation would be over. He really thought about it. But then when he would see Scott and Isaac together, he just couldn’t bring himself to.
Stiles continued to back away and suddenly bumped into someone. “Ah!” he yelled and whirled around.
He’d bumped into Danny as he was opening up his locker. Danny didn’t say anything, just quirked an eyebrow at Stiles with an expectant look on his face.
“Sorry,” Stiles spit out. He quickly looked behind him and, even though Scott and Isaac hadn’t looked up, he quickly darted behind Danny’s open locker door.
Danny looked over at what Stiles was staring at. “They’re such a cute couple.”
Stiles stuck his head out from behind the small door and gave Danny a nasty look. “They are not cute.”
“They’re very cute. I’m glad they’re finally out with it. It was like the worst kept secret in Beacon Hills.” Danny said as took books out of his locker and started to close it.
Stiles gripped the door and kept him from closing it. “Wait, I need this. And how long have you known about them?”
Danny shrugged. “A couple of months. I’ve seen the way Scott looks at Isaac.”
Stiles banged his head against the hard locker. “Oh, my God I swear if you say you could see the love pouring from his eyes, or some other cliched garbage, I might strangle you.”
“Dude, chill out,” Danny said. “I meant that I saw the way Scott was constantly eyeing Isaac’s ass like a starving man eyes a juicy steak.”
Stiles closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “That’s a worse explanation.”
“There was also the time I walked in on them after lacrosse practice and they were making out in the shower.”
“Stop talking.” Stiles closed the locker door himself - loudly. He didn’t care if Scott or Isaac saw him. Luckily, it seemed they had already walked away.
Danny leaned against his locker with an annoying smirk on his face. “That’s right, I forgot about your weird jealousy thing.”
“I’m not jealous,” Stiles protested.
“Jealousy, possessiveness, stalker behavior...whatever you want to call it."
Stiles refused to rise to Danny’s bait. “It’s called being a protective best friend.”
Danny put his books into his bag. “What are you protecting him from exactly? Did Isaac murder someone?”
“No,” Stiles said and then muttered under his breath, “not for lack of trying.” He continued at a normal volume. “Let’s just say a while ago he did some awful things that he can’t take back.”
“Why can’t you forgive him? Why can’t Scott just be happy with him?”
“Because I don’t think he could be happy with Isaac.” Stiles huffed. He didn’t see what business this was of Danny’s.
“And that’s your decision to make? I guess some things have never change.” Danny shook his head.
“Is this about what happened in middle school?” Stiles asked.
“I’m just a little curious. You don’t want Scott to be with Isaac because he’s a “bad” person?” He crooked his eyebrow up giving Stiles an expectant look.
“Yeah.”
“So why wasn’t I good enough to be his friend?”
“W…” Stiles started and then faltered.
“Uh huh?” Danny said in a smug tone.
Stiles shifted from foot to foot then finally sighed in exasperation. “I just didn’t like your face.”
Danny just chuckled and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder.
“I can’t believe you’re still upset about that. That was in middle school. Get over it.” Stiles whined.
“Sucks when someone can’t let go of a grudge, huh?”
Stiles’ mouth fell open slightly and he thought over what Danny said. He nodded and smiled grimly. “Okay, turn it around on me. You’re very clever, Danny.”
Danny nodded. “Look, what you do with Scott is your business. But it seems kind of stupid to me to lose your friendship just because you can’t get over a stupid grudge.”
Danny walked away.
Stiles kicked the wall. He hated that guy and his stupid logic.
~*~
Isaac rocked on his heels and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He wasn’t going to ring the doorbell again. He already thought this was a bad idea and had been prepared to bolt at least twice. If no one answered he decided it was fate’s way of confirming this was a bad idea.
He decided that Scott had done all he could. It was time for him to try and reason with Stiles. He knew Stiles hated him, and wasn’t more likely to listen to him than his best friend, but he had to do something. He just hoped his presence didn’t agitate Stiles more.
After another five seconds, he started to turn but he suddenly heard someone coming quickly to the door. It was Stiles. He could smell the sweet smell of his excitement...and then the sour disappointment when he opened the door to see Isaac standing there.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Isaac closed his eyes briefly, determined to not let anything Stiles said get the best of him. “I took the bus to get here.”
Stiles opened the door a little further and stepped closer. “I didn’t ask you how you got here, but why?”
Isaac stared at his feet. “I wanted to make this right. Scott really misses you.”
“What do you care?” Stiles spit out. “I thought you would do the dance of joy to have Scott all to yourself.”
“Scott’s in pain. Maybe that doesn’t bother you, but it bothers me.” Goddamit. Well, the plan to not antagonize Stiles lasted for about 30 seconds. He looked as if he wanted to punch Isaac. It was a look that Isaac was all too familiar with. If Isaac didn’t have about ten feet on him and wasn’t a super strength having supernatural creature, he’s sure Stiles would be kneeing him in the groin right about now. Even with the disadvantages, he looked like he was seriously considering it.
“Where the hell do you get off acting like you care about Scott more than I do?” Stiles chuckled, but there was clearly no joy behind it. “You’ve been with him about five seconds. I’ve known him almost his entire life. I’m sorry that my way of showing how much I care doesn’t include beating the shit out of him and trying to kill him multiple times.”
Isaac grabbed tufts of his hair and just pulled. He couldn’t take it anymore. “Would you give it a rest, already? Can we just move past it?"
Stiles stepped out into the light with Isaac. "I've been through a lot of weird and terrible shit this year. There are a lot of things that I can forget, some things I desperately want to forget, and some I just can't." He took a deep breath. "Isaac, I remember the look in your eye when you talked about killing Lydia. There was joy there. And then you and your pack cornered us in Scott's house, waiting for the perfect moment to strike because you thought we were defenseless. You came into the house and you grabbed me by the neck, and I swear, I really thought I might be a goner, until the future love of your life, saved me."
Isaac flinched and wanted to look away, but he thought he owed it to Stiles to look him in the eye. It wasn't pretty to have to relive what a douche he'd been then, but it was worse for Stiles.
Stiles made such a good show of being fearless sometimes, that Isaac had no idea what happened that night affected him so much.
Stiles sighed. “Anyway, I can’t even start to think about forgiveness for someone who hasn't showed me they're sorry for what they did. You never even apologized."
Isaac rubbed his forehead. “Yes, I did.”
Stiles crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Nope."
Isaac shook his head. "Yes, I did."
"Look, if you did it wasn't to me," Stiles explained.
Isaac was about to protest again. He was sure he had apologized to Stiles. He was almost positive...Or was he?
Isaac thought it over carefully and he realized Stiles was right. He had apologized to Scott, of course, and Allison and Lydia, but he hadn’t apologized to Stiles.
He almost slapped himself on the forehead. Instead he just looked up at Stiles. "You're right and I’m sorry. I should have said it sooner. I didn't realize how much I hurt you. But even if I hadn't, I hurt your friends and should have apologized to you, too. Because you’re the kind of person that when your friends hurt, you hurt too."
Stiles' eyes widened at that comment.
"For what it's worth I never would have killed you that night. I was just trying to scare you."
"Mission accomplished." Stiles huffed.
Isaac didn't know what to say and just nodded. "I'm really sorry for that. Can you forgive me?" Isaac thought about offering his hand for him to shake, but thought against it.
Stiles' features had softened and he looked less angry, but he still eyed Isaac warily.
Isaac had a feeling there was more to this than Stiles was letting on. "Stiles, I could apologize over and over again. I could even record it for you, so you could always have it, but that's not going to solve anything if there's more to this."
Stiles looked away .
The idea of figuratively opening a vein and being vulnerable in front of Stiles really didn't appeal to him, but now was the time for absolute honesty. It might be the only thing to appeal to Stiles. He knew that approach would work best with him.
"I came here not just because I wanted to help Scott." Isaac gulped. "I'm looking out for myself, too. I was an absolute douche for a while. And even though I might not have deserved it, Scott decided to give me another chance. I've been doing everything I can to earn that forgiveness. Not just because I care about Scott but because I don't want to be that person I was."
Isaac stuck his hands deeper into his pockets. "I've never really believed that I would ever find love or that I deserved it. But Scott's changed that. He told me he loves me and I believe him. I love him, too. He told me he wouldn't leave me. He really believes that. But I know how much you mean to him. I think you and I both know that if you force Scott to make a choice, you're not going to be the one who loses."
Stiles didn't admit anything, but he didn't refute Isaac's claim.
Isaac but his lip hard and forced himself to look Stiles in the eye. "So I am begging you not to force him to make a choice."
Isaac found that he was holding his breath as he looked back at Stiles, who looked dumbfounded.
Isaac opened his mouth to add something, but realized there was really nothing left to say, so he slowly closed his mouth and walked away. Whatever happened now was up to Stiles.
~*~
Stiles practically growled at the stubborn stain on the floor that just wouldn't go away. He was on his hands and knees cleaning his kitchen floor.
He hadn't planned on spending his Saturday morning cleaning, but he'd woken up at the crack of dawn. It didn't really matter since he couldn't sleep most of the night.
He'd been thinking of Isaac's speech all night. It almost pained him to admit it, but it took real guts for Isaac to pour his heart out like that. For the first time he could really see the change Scott was talking about.
And yet Stiles still felt this knot in his stomach when he thought about trusting Isaac with Scott. It was stupid; it wasn’t as if it was his job to give Scott his blessing. But given that Scott’s dad was a loser he did feel that it was his responsibility.
“Stiles, what the hell did you do with my cheeseburger?” John Stilinski shouted as he stormed into the kitchen.
Stiles only vaguely heard him in the background.
The sheriff opened the refrigerator. “How did you even find this? I hid this in my safe. How am I supposed to find a better hiding spot than that?” He walked over to Stiles. “I’m telling you, kid, you’re too smart for your own good.”
“Uh huh.” Stiles said absent-mindedly.
“Stiles?”
Stiles continued to rub furiously at a spot on the linoleum.
John backed away. “So, I’m just going to put this burger in my pocket and be on my way.”
“Great. Have a great day.” Stiles mumbled.
John slammed the front door so hard, Stiles’ head instantly popped up. He whirled around and looked at his dad over by the back door.
“What was that for?” Stiles asked as he stood up.
“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.” John accused him as he walked back into the room.
Stiles shrugged. “Yes, I did. You found a burger and you’re taking it to have a good time at lunch.”
John waited.
Stiles replayed those words over again. He groaned and put his head in his hands.
John puts his hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “What’s going on with you, son?”
Stiles backed away and shook his head as he looked down at the spotless floor. “Nothing.”
“Bull.” John crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve been cleaning the same spot on the floor for twenty minutes. Unless you’re trying to create a portal to China you should probably stop.”
Stiles rolled his eyes.
“You’ve been cleaning non-stop for the last few days. Are you trying to give me a clue about your future career path?” John teased.
Stiles laughed briefly and crouched down to pick up his sponge.
John rocked back on his heels and looked deep in thought. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Scott around here in ages? What’s going on with you two?”
Stiles gave a bone weary sigh and sat down at the kitchen table. He decided if anyone could make sense of the mess that was his mind, it would be his dad. “I think I might have overreacted to something?”
“You?” His dad said in mock surprise.
Stiles just glared at him.
John gave him a warm smile, so Stiles continued.
“You know what, I didn’t actually overreact. Scott’s boyfriend is a sociopath and-”
“Wait, back up,” John interrupted. “Scott has a boyfriend?”
“Yeah.” Stiles said as if it should be old news to his dad. “When I found out he was seeing said sociopath I couldn’t accept it and Scott said I can’t come around his house if I can’t.” He sighed. “I suppose I should say former sociopath. I think he’s actually changing. I mean, what he did to me still sucks, but he actually apologized.”
Stiles wasn’t going to tell his dad what Isaac had done. His dad still wasn’t in the know about all the crazy things going on in Beacon Hills, and Stiles was fairly sure if he told his dad that Isaac had tried to kill him, a jail cell would be the least of Isaac’s worries.
John looked slightly confused, but nodded. “If he apologized, what’s the problem?”
Stiles leaned forward on the table and threw his hands up. “I don’t really know. I keep saying I want to protect Scott. But am I just being possessive? Am I trying to keep him all to myself?”
For some reason John grinned and leaned back in his chair. “Do you remember Scott’s friend in the fifth grade, Kyle Fisher?”
“Yeah,” Stiles said slowly, he wasn’t quite sure why his dad remembered him or brought him up.
“Scott brought him over all the time and tried to make the two of you friends, but no matter what, you wouldn’t give that kid an inch.” John leaned forward. “I’ll never forget this as long as I live. My ten year old son walks up to me and asks me if there was any way I could have Kyle arrested.”
Stiles closed his eyes and winced. He’d forgotten about that.
“I asked what for and you said that I should just make something up.”
Stiles dropped his head on the table. “So what you’re saying is I’ve been obsessively possessive for a really long time?”
“No.” John shook his head and laughed a bit. “It’s funny now, though of course back then I didn’t find it so amusing. I really don’t think it says anything bad about you.” John’s smile faltered and his voice became softer. “You know that wasn’t more than a year after your mother died.”
Stiles hadn’t put that together before.
“You only had two people in the world that you could really count on, and that was me and Scott. You were only ten years old. I think you were worried that you were going to lose Scott to this other kid and you didn’t know how else to handle it.”
“But I’m not ten years old anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter.” John put his hand on Stiles’ arm. “I think your urge to protect the people you love and keep them close has only gotten stronger. With me sometimes I feel like you’re the parent and I’m the kid. You worry about me and try to take care of me, by withholding delicious food, but that’s a topic for another time.”
Stiles genuinely smiled at that.
John squeezed Stiles’ forearm. “I love you, son and I’m not going anywhere. You’ve got to know that Scott feels the same way. You can let go, just a little bit, and you won’t lose him. I promise.”
Stiles knew that his dad was right. He should have sought out his dad a lot sooner. He hugged him. “Thank you, dad.”
John returned the hug, almost crushing Stiles to him. He pulled back slowly and held onto Stiles’ shoulders. They grinned at each other and John patted Stiles’ shoulders before he moved away. He was almost out the door when Stiles remembered something.
“Uh, dad?”
John looked over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Gonna need that burger in your pocket.”
John looked up at the sky and sighed in irritation. He walked over to Stiles. “What did we just talk about?”
Stiles put his hand out. “How I can sometimes be overprotective. But unless you know something about your cholesterol levels that I don’t, this is not me being overprotective.”
The sheriff took out the cheeseburger and grumbled as he handed it over. He started to walk out the door.
“Love you, dad.”
“Love you too, son.”
~*~
Scott stared at the video game in his hand and thought about all the hours they’d spent playing things like World of Warcraft and got depressed again.
Isaac walked in and Scott tried to smile up at him, but he was sure it looked as grim as he felt.
Isaac got up on the bed and put his arms around Scott. “I know I suck at it, but do you want to play a game with me?”
Scott chuckled. “Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.”
Isaac kissed his neck. “How about sex to take your mind off Stiles...at least I hope it takes your mind off him. I would hope you wouldn’t be thinking about him during.”
Scott twisted around and genuinely smiled. He appreciated how much Isaac was trying to take care of him. Scott was about to kiss him when there was a knock at the door.
They both got up and headed downstairs.
Scott barely contained the whoop of joy when he sees Stiles at the door. “Hi.” He said with hesitation.
“Hey.” Stiles said as he looked between Scott and Isaac. “Can I talk to you...alone?”
Isaac and Scott shared a brief look, but neither protested.
Scott and Stiles moved into the living room.
Scott had barely sat down when Stiles started. “I don’t like Isaac.”
Scott suppressed a groan.
“I may never like him. And I don’t know if he won’t ultimately hurt you. But, I don’t think he’s the monster I’ve made him out to be.” He sat down next to Scott.
“Okay.” Scott still wasn’t sure where Stiles was going with this. He was hopeful, but wasn’t going to jump to conclusions.
“Isaac tried to kill me. That is a legitimate reason to hate him.” Stiles took a deep breath. “But that’s not the only reason I don’t like him.”
“What’s the other reason?”
“Scott, for the longest time it’s just been you and me against the world. We do everything together and I can’t remember a time when you weren’t in my life. But sometimes I get worried that I’m going to lose you.” Scott started to speak, but Stiles held up his hand. “It’s fine when you have a girlfriend because I know I have somewhere to fit into your life. You have a girlfriend, but then I’m still your best friend. It’s different when some guy comes along, especially someone like Isaac. He’s your boyfriend and he’s also your best friend. A part of me wonders what you even need me for anymore.”
Scott opened his mouth but looked to Stiles before he said anything. Stiles nodded. “Stiles, I’m always going to need you. It doesn’t matter who I’m dating.”
“But you said it yourself. Isaac and I are so much alike.” Stiles added.
“That doesn’t matter.” Scott turned to him. “Yeah, you have a lot of similarities, but you’re so different in so many ways. I love Isaac, but he’s not the person who held my hand every night after my dad left and snuck into my room every night and played video games with me and made me laugh until I puked. He’s not the guy who stood by me when I became something I couldn’t even understand. When I became a werewolf, you didn’t run away when anyone else might have. You helped me understand who I was. You helped me survive.” Scott grabbed Stiles’ shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Stiles, you’re not just my best friend, you’re my brother. Nothing will change that.”
Stiles’ lips twitched up into a full-blown smile. Scott hugged him.
Scott pulled back and frowned a bit. “I think I should apologize.”
Stiles’ head reared back. “For what?”
“After what happened with Allison, I wanted to be a better friend the next time I was in a relationship. I didn’t want to shut you out, so I tried to make you and Isaac spend time together. I shouldn’t have forced it. I know you have issues with Isaac and I should have made time for it to be just the two of us.”
“I’m just glad that you’re not shutting me out.” Stiles said.
“Still, if you want we can have that marathon we were supposed to have weeks ago and it’ll just be me and you.”
“I appreciate that Scott, but I think I have a better idea.”
~*~
Isaac wasn’t going to eavesdrop. It was an accident. It wasn’t his fault he had super hearing. Well, technically, he did say yes to the bite so it kind of was his fault...Anyway, he only heard a snatch of conversation between Scott and Stiles, enough to know that they were patching up their friendship.
It honestly made him happier than he would have expected anything involving Stiles to make him. He didn’t know exactly what this meant for him and Scott, but he refused to think the worst.
He decided to make himself scarce so Stiles and Scott could catch up. He decided he would go out and get something to eat.
He headed down the stairs, just as Stiles and Scott started to head up.
Isaac smiled down at Scott and nodded politely to Stiles as he met them in front of the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Scott asked.
“I’m kind of hungry and I don’t feel like making anything. So I’m just going to head out.” Isaac explained.
Stiles stepped between Isaac and Scott. “You don’t have to do that.” He looked back at Scott. “It’s important for Scott that you and I get along, so I think we should try and spend some time together - all three of us.”
“Really?” Isaac can’t help but be skeptical.
“Yeah,” Stiles chuckled. “Who knows, if things go well maybe it could lead to an enjoyable threesome.”
Both Isaac and Scott wrinkled their noses.
Stiles’ eyebrows shot up. “Clearly, I was joking. But screw you both, I would make an excellent threesome candidate.” He grumbled, but had a grin on his face. His expression eventually became more serious. “Isaac, I was really impressed that you came to my house and apologized.”
“You did that?” Scott asked in surprise.
Isaac just shrugged.
“It meant a lot what you said.” Stiles looked down at the floor. “Scott’s the best person I know and he’s a pretty good judge of character, if he loves you then…”
“You love me?” Isaac winked.
“Thank you, it was going to be a beautiful moment and you ruined it.” Stiles said as he shook his head in annoyance.
Isaac put up his hands. “Sorry I was just getting a little uncomfortable.”
Stiles grinned. “I was a little bit, too.”
Stiles shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “We don’t have to hug it out or anything, do we?”
They both turned to Scott.
After a long, slow grin Scott shook his head. “No.”
Stiles and Isaac breathed a sigh of relief.
“So, what are we going to do?” Scott looked between the other two. “And don’t say threesome,” He pointed at Stiles.
Stiles held up his hands and laughed. “I thought we were going to do the marathon?”
Scott looked at the clock on his phone. “It’s kind of late to watch all four.”
Isaac cocked his head to the side. “So how about just one?”
Scott and Isaac shared a knowing smile.
Stiles looked at them both and a look of dawning horror came across his face. He backed up a little. “Oh, no.”
“Come on, it’s really not that bad.” Isaac argued. “Remember, you get to teach me the error of my ways. Plus, you can watch it and mock me for having bad taste.”
Stiles pursed his lips. “That is a strong selling point.”
“So…?” Scott asked.
Stiles heaved a dramatic sigh. “Let’s watch The Last Stand.
Scott and Isaac cheered.
Isaac kissed Scott’s cheek as he walked past him.
Stiles crinkled his nose. “Please, no PDA. Not in front of me. Not yet.”
Isaac rolled his eyes, but he supposed that was fine. This was new territory for all of them. He supposed baby steps were required.
Scott groaned. “Okay.” He then patted Isaac’s butt. Isaac laughed and Stiles glared at him. “What, that’s not PDA.”
Stiles crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.
Scott put his arm over Stiles’ shoulder and grinned. “Fine. Only because you’re my best friend.”
Stiles smiled genuinely and nodded. “I know.”
When they sat down on the sofa, Scott sat sandwiched in between Stiles and Isaac. Stiles only groaned once when Scott and Isaac tried to hold hands. But he didn’t insult Isaac and only glared at him once and he only made one more innuendo about a threesome. Baby steps.