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Isaac yawned and stretched, sun blinding him through the gaps in the window blinds. He hated mornings, and he particularly hated mornings when he had to get up for his eight am biology class. He rubbed his eyes against the sun.
“You ever think about how ironic it is that blinds do nothing to stop the sun from blinding you? Maybe that’s secretly their intended purpose. ‘Hey, I’m gonna give these fucks window coverings that allow the sun to blind them. And you know what I’m gonna call ‘em? Blinds! Ha!’”
“I don’t think the inventor of blinds was that malicious,” said Scott sleepily from the bed next to him, wrapping his arms around Isaac’s waist. “He seems more like a guy trying to do us all a good turn and failing. The blinding blinds thing was just a coincidence.”
“I still don’t trust him,” said Isaac, snuggling back against Scott.
Scott laughed, voice low, breath hot on the back of Isaac’s neck. “Well, if you swear vengeance or something, count me out. I’ve got schoolwork to do.”
“Speaking of which,” said Isaac, stretching lazily in Scott’s arms. “I should get up.”
“No,” said Scott petulantly, tightening his grip on Isaac. “I disagree strongly.”
Isaac gave in to Scott’s snuggling for a little while longer, allowing himself to revel in the good, happy smell of him, before he rolled in the circle of his arms to face him. He rubbed his nose against Scott’s, and Scott sighed, his brown hair ruffled with sleep, eyes closed. “I have to get up,” Isaac whispered.
“No,” Scott whispered back, eyes still closed. “You have to stay here.”
Isaac laughed, but he just pressed a kiss to Scott’s lips and disentangled himself from the cocoon of Scott’s limbs and his own blankets. “I’m a responsible college kid, now,” he said, pulling his jeans on. “You, too.”
“Nope,” said Scott, snuggling Isaac’s pillow to his body and burying his nose in the smell of it. “Never getting up. Staying here in your bed.”
“Your roommate will get suspicious,” Isaac said as he dragged on a shirt. “He’ll think something’s going on between us.”
“Stiles can go die in a fire,” said Scott, yawning. “He gets up stupidly early, like you, but he also stays up stupidly late talking to his stupid girlfriend on Skype even though she literally lives in the same building.”
“Besides,” said Isaac, crawling onto the bed next to Scott. “There are no benefits to you, being woken up so early in the morning by your roommate. Me, on the other hand…”
Scott let go of Isaac’s pillow and rolled to smile at him, cheeks dimpling. “You just got dressed.”
“I do do that. I’m really good at it, too,” said Isaac, threading his fingers with Scott’s. “Sometimes I even get dressed twice in one morning.”
Scott laughed, then he rolled over in a flurry of blankets, pinning a laughing Isaac to the bed.
Isaac showed up to his biology class fifteen minutes late with his shirt on backwards. He dropped into his usual chair next to Stiles, who looked at him and snorted.
“What?” said Isaac. “I have an active sex life, unlike certain other people in my vicinity.”
“Two things,” said Stiles, holding up a finger. “One, please do not tell me anything more than I absolutely have to know about my best friend’s sex life. If you get miraculously pregnant, then, and only then, I am willing to be informed that my best friend has sex. Until then, tell me nothing more than your shirt already has.”
Isaac glanced down at his shirt, then shrugged. “Whatever. And actually, Scott’s the one who-.”
“Okay okay shut up!” hissed Stiles. “Two, I happen to have an extremely active sex life, thank you, I just don’t advertise it as blatantly as you.”
“Right,” said Isaac sceptically. “Because you and Lydia are getting it on all the time.”
Stiles openly his mouth to protest, but one of the girls in the row behind them shushed him violently, and he said nothing.
After class he had nothing else to get done, and it was a beautiful Friday, sun shining through the trees and fucking birds serenading him and Stiles as they walked across campus back toward their dorms. When they’d agreed, as a pack, to all go to the same school for college, this is what Isaac had looked forward to the most. The way he knew, without even needing to think about it, that his pack was nearby. That he could see them whenever he needed or wanted to.
“Hey,” he said to Stiles, hefting his bag more securely onto his shoulder. “We should give the rest of the pack a call. Get pizza or something. I don’t remember anybody saying they were doing anything.”
“Yeah, cool,” said Stiles. “I could shoot everybody a text, see what’s up, you know, if they feel like going out.”
“I’ll tell Scott,” said Isaac. “He’s probably still in our– my room.”
“Oh yeah,” said Stiles, breaking off from Isaac for his dorm. “You and Scott are obviously just in it for the fucking. No feelings for each other at all.”
“None whatsoever,” said Isaac. “Honestly, the guy just looks damned good naked.”
“La la la la la I can’t hear you,” Stiles said, fingers in his ears. “What have we talked about, Isaac?”
Isaac just laughed, and pushed open the door of his own dorm, which was right next door to Stiles’ and Scott’s. He climbed the stairs to his floor, unlocked his door, and found Scott a bleary eyed lump, sitting on his bed, wrapped to the chin in his quilt.
“Hey, sexy,” Isaac said. “See, this is why we’re together, you always look so nice for me.”
“Heard you coming,” Scott yawned. “Didn’t want to spoil your illusions about me, so I dressed up.”
“That quilt is very in this season,” said Isaac, dropping his bag and toeing off his shoes.
“I hope so,” said Scott, as Isaac climbed onto the bed and sat next to him, knees tucked to his chin. “I’m keeping it.”
“Well, how am I supposed to keep warm at night?” Isaac asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Scott, opening one wing of the blanket for Isaac. “I got this.”
Isaac grinned at him, and tucked himself against Scott’s side. Scott wrapped the blanket around them both, and Isaac snuggled into the heat pouring off of Scott. He pressed his mouth against Scott’s, and Scott kissed back, until Isaac slid a chilly hand under Scott’s shirt and Scott squeaked in alarm.
“Rat bastard,” said Scott, bumping his forehead against Isaac’s. “Don’t know why I put up with you.”
“Cause I’m pretty,” Isaac said smugly.
“Oh, right,” Scott said, grinning, and he pressed back in to kiss Isaac again, this time deepening it, the kiss turning hot and wet and openmouthed, Scott’s hand on Isaac’s jaw, the smell of want and mate and Scott in Isaac’s nostrils. Isaac whimpered slightly, clutching at Scott’s waist.
“If you two are quite finished declaring your love with your saliva,” said Lydia from the doorway, “Stiles said something about pizza.”
“Go away, Lydia,” Isaac mumbled, mouth still pressed to Scott’s.
“You have three minutes to put on clothes that leave me willing to be seen with you,” she said crisply. “If you even think about having sex instead, I will know, you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Isaac sighed, unwrapping the blanket from around himself and getting up to find Scott’s pants. “Three minutes.”
Lydia nodded once, and left the room.
Stiles was waiting for her in the hallway, and he grinned awkwardly at her as she came out. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” she said, smiling back. “You’re wearing the shirt I got you.”
He looked down. “Yeah, you know, I actually think it brings out my eyes.”
She just shook her head. “Boys,” she said. “I have no patience for them.”
Stiles caught hold of her waist. “Too bad,” he said. “I think I’m starting to learn this fashion stuff. You could teach a class. How Not to Look Stupid for Dudes.”
“I would make an excellent teacher,” she said, and Stiles kissed her, smiling against her lips. She kissed him back, then pulled away. “Why don’t you go see if the others are ready?” she asked. “I told them to wait for us outside the dorm. I’ll keep an eye on these oversexed idiots.”
Stiles nodded at her, casting her a small smile. “Sure,” he said. “You do that.”
He headed down the stairs, leaving Lydia with a guilty feeling in her stomach.
Minutes later, Scott and Isaac pushed open Isaac’s door, both respectably dressed and holding hands, and she rolled her eyes at them and turned on her heel. “Come on,” she said. “Stiles and the others are waiting for us outside.”
The two of them followed her as she led the way downstairs, and she heard them talking quietly behind her, the occasional muted laugh. Scott and Isaac had only been dating for a few weeks, but she was already convinced they were the real deal. They cared about each other in a way that was sickening, and whenever they fought (which everyone always knew about), they made up in disgustingly heartfelt ways (which everyone also always knew about). They were probably going to get married in Washington and have disgustingly adorable werewolf children. It was, quite frankly, gross.
“I dunno, I never thought about kids,” said a quiet, familiar voice in her ear. “Do you want them?”
“I guess so,” she found herself responding. “Maybe after I’m successful. But I don’t know, if I had them with you, wouldn’t they turn out to be fuzzy little monsters?”
“You say something, Lyds?” asked Scott behind her, and she shook her head to clear it.
“No,” she said. “Just talking to myself.”
Scott accepted that and returned his attention to Isaac easily, but Lydia couldn’t let it go. It had been an auditory hallucination, obviously. They weren’t uncommon, it could just be lack of sleep or something, but she had the weird feeling it wasn’t just a hallucination. It felt like more than that. Like a memory. But it couldn’t be, because it didn’t make any sense. She and Stiles hadn’t talked about kids at all, and he wasn’t a werewolf, so that part of the conversation didn’t fit. She’d dated Jackson for a while in high school, before she realised Stiles was better for her, but that was before he was a werewolf, so that didn’t fit either. She shook her head again. Maybe she was just going crazy. That, at least, made perfect sense.
When she and the boys came out onto the sidewalk, the most of the pack was waiting for them. She grinned, and Stiles took her hand, so she smiled at him, too. She reminded herself why she left Jackson for him. He was better for her. She and Jackson had always been unstable, she knew that. Stiles was… safe.
“So,” said Allison, swinging the hand that was holding Jackson’s. “Pizza?”
Jackson pressed a kiss to her temple. “Yeah, I was promised food. I’m starving.”
“Come on, then, guys,” said Stiles. “Jackson is a growing werewolf, he needs his pizza. So he can keep growing.”
Jackson shot Stiles a look. “What are you implying?”
Stiles grinned back at him. “Whatever your super wolfy powers tell you I’m implying, my fluffy friend,” he said. “Are you listening to my heartbeat? Can you hear what it’s telling you?” He seized Jackson’s head and pressed it to his chest, pulling a laughing Allison along with him. “Jack-son-is-fat-Jack-son-is-fat-Jack-son-is-.”
“Shut up,” said Jackson, smacking Stiles.
“Hey, come on, Jax, be nice,” said Danny. “You’re not fat, and Stiles is just trying to get a rise out of you.”
“Damn right I’m not fat,” he said. “Look at this muscle tone.” He pulled up his t-shirt.
“Stop it Jackson, you look like a douche,” said Anna, kissing Danny on the cheek. “Hey baby, sorry I’m late.”
“Hey!” said Danny, turning towards her and kissing the top of her head. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get going.”
“Finally,” said Jackson. “Hey, Anna.”
“Yeah, pizza,” said Stiles, hurrying off, and Lydia, still holding his hand, was pulled after him, laughing in spite of herself.
When they got to the pizza place, the servers seemed less than pleased to see them there, and Stiles vaguely recalled that they had been here before. Their waiter eyed them suspiciously as she was taking their drink orders, and Stiles put an arm around Lydia’s chair, content in the knowledge that he could still piss people off just by existing. God knows that never led anywhere good, but always somewhere fun. Except in Lydia’s case, of course. Her rage at his very existence had turned into warm mushy feelings, as he’d been positive it would.
Lydia turned to him and smiled. “I’m sorry, Stiles,” she said. “But it just isn’t ever gonna work out between us. I love Jackson.”
“What?” he said, non-plussed.
She looked at him funny, raised an eyebrow. “I asked what you were having on your pizza?” she said, and Stiles shook himself.
“Right,” he said, tightening his arm on her shoulders. “I dunno, Lyds, there are so many choices. What if I just get every single topping they have to offer and pick off the ones I don’t like.”
“Seems like a waste of food,” she said.
“Oh, it wouldn’t be,” he said. “I’ll just feed the scraps to Jackson.”
“Hey!” said Jackson.
“Ruff,” Stiles barked quietly in Jackson’s direction, and Jackson made to stand up, but Allison put a soothing hand on his arm and he took a deep breath through his nose.
“Shut up, Stilinski,” he said instead, and Stiles just grinned at him.
Jackson folded his arms and breathed carefully, like Allison had taught him. He looked over at her, and she looked back at him and smiled, and he felt a deep upswelling of love for her, and he felt strange and vulnerable, and just as he was about to lean in and kiss her, he felt a sharp stab of pain in his head. He pressed a hand to his eyes, and when he opened them Allison was kissing Scott, and he blinked in surprise, and Allison was looking at him in concern, Scott leaning over to whisper to Isaac.
“Honey?” Allison said. “You okay?”
He nodded feebly, took a drink of water, and looked over at Lydia. Lydia, who was smarter than him, and more observant, and knew him better than he did, and Lydia was looking back, and she was afraid.
“Well,” Anna said, with a laugh. “It’s been too long since we did this, all went out together, the whole pack.”
“Well,” said Stiles. “It’s not the whole pack. Derek’s not here.”
“Of course,” said Anna. “But, I mean, none of us really want him here that badly, do we? He only ruins things for us.”
That was true. Derek only ruined things. Jackson had been perfectly happy before Derek came along… but then, that wasn’t really true, was it? Hadn’t he asked for the bite?
Jackson looked over at Erica, and she looked back. She shook her head. “He did give me the bite.”
“Exactly,” said Anna, taking a drink. “He ruins people’s lives.”
“No,” said Erica. “I mean, I asked for the bite. He saved me.” He had saved her, right? Saved her from a life as a sufferer of a chronic illness, saved her from her seizures.
“Derek ruins people’s lives,” said Anna. “He doesn’t save them.”
That was right, wasn’t it?
When they left the pizza place and went their separate ways, Erica pulled out her phone and called Derek. Even if he had ruined her life, he was still her Alpha. He picked up on the first ring.
“Erica?” he asked.
“Derek,” she said, stiff with him, not sure how polite to be. “How have you been?”
“Worried, mostly,” he growled. “None of you have contacted me for days. Your professors told me you haven’t been coming to class for a while, either. What’s happening, Erica? Should I leave Beacon Hills?”
“There’s no need for that,” said Erica, her back up. “What do you mean, we haven’t been going to class? We’ve been going to class. Trying to live normal lives. We’re fine without you guarding us, Derek.”
“I know that,” he said. “I’m not trying to guard you. Erica, what is wrong with you?”
“Only what you did to me, Derek. Don’t call me, or Boyd for that matter. We don’t want to talk to you.”
She hung up. Derek only ruined lives.
Boyd took her hand, and they went home. When they got there Erica went straight to bed, but Boyd sat and stared at a wall for a while. He thought. He thought about how Anna had helped them beat Jackson as the Kanima, and Gerard Argent. He thought about the things she’d said about Derek. She had to be right, right? She seemed right. Everything she said rang so true. Derek had ruined all of their lives. Derek wasn’t to be trusted.
But wasn’t he supposed to trust his Alpha?
Unsettled, Boyd joined Erica in their bedroom, but he slept fitfully all night long.
In the morning Isaac woke up alone, Scott having slept in the room he shared with Stiles. He ran his fingers over the smooth sheets on Scott’s side of the bed and sighed. He breathed in deep, trying to catch the scent of Scott-and-him-and-him-and-Scott, all mixed up together in his bed like they should be, but the scent was oddly faint, like Scott was rarely there. That was weird, and wrong, and he didn’t like it. He shook it off and slung himself out of bed with the lazy ease of a man who has nothing important to do on a Saturday, but maybe find his boyfriend and make his room smell like them again.
He pulled out his phone and pressed the 2 button. Speed dial rang ‘The Boyfriend <3 <3’ and Isaac smiled at his phone before holding it up to his ear.
“Hello?” said Danny.
Isaac pulled his phone away from his ear and looked at it. He put it back to his ear.
“Isaac?” Danny asked.
“Hey, Danny,” Isaac said. “Sorry, I… guess I dialled the wrong number.”
“No problem,” said Danny casually. “See you in Philosophy, yeah?”
“Yeah, sure,” said Isaac, and he hung up. He had a vivid mental picture of Danny, grinning at him in the glow of lights from the dashboard of Danny’s SUV, arguing about whether Kierkegaard was probably more of a cat person or a dog person, leaning over the gear shift to kiss him, and he shook his head and dropped his phone on his bed as though it had bitten him. He didn’t know where that had come from, but he didn’t like it. He ducked out of his dorm room and knocked on Scott’s door, but it was Stiles who answered. Stiles was rubbing his eyes sleepily, frowning at Isaac, a crease between his eyebrows as he surveyed Isaac’s sleep-ruffled hair and the little yellow ducks printed on his boxers.
“…‘saac?” Stiles croaked. “What’s up? Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”
“Is Scott here?” Isaac asked in a small voice, and Scott emerged behind Stiles’ shoulder, pulling on an Incredible Hulk t-shirt.
“Isaac?” Scott asked, and the worry in his voice was obvious. He shouldered past Stiles and looked in Isaac’s eyes. “You okay?”
“I don’t know.” Isaac shook his head. “Yeah. No. I’m fine. I just… had a weird morning.” He looked up at Scott. “You wanna come over?”
“Yeah, definitely,” said Scott. “See you, Stiles.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Stiles, wandering back inside their room. Scott closed the door behind him, took Isaac’s hand in his, and pulled him into his own room and onto the bed, where he wrapped his arms around Isaac and pulled him closer. Isaac snuggled into the warmth of Scott’s chest, scenting him, reassuring himself that he was okay and Scott was okay and he wasn’t going crazy. He was just relaxing in Scott’s arms when Scott did an awkward startled shuffle and pulled Isaac’s phone out from under him. He passed it to Isaac, and Isaac answered it warily.
“Hello,”
“Isaac,” said Derek, sounding relieved. “Thank god. Erica and Boyd aren’t talking to me, and Scott and Stiles didn’t answer their phone. What’s going on with all of you? Are you okay?”
“We’re fine,” he said, mouthing ‘Derek’ at Scott. “I guess things have been kind of weird lately? But we’re all okay, I swear. Erica and Boyd are probably just a little riled over some of the things… well, some of the things Anna was saying at dinner last night.”
Isaac was prepared for Derek’s totally fake, ‘I’m not at all hurt that you guys would talk about me behind my back’, speech, but he wasn’t prepared at all for Derek to say, in a tone of befuddlement, “Who’s Anna?”
“Anna?” Isaac said slowly, widening his eyes at Scott. “You know. Anna? Danny’s girlfriend? Anna?”
“Don’t be stupid,” said Derek. “Danny’s gay, he doesn’t have girlfriends.”
Isaac laughed. “Derek, Danny and Anna have been dating for years. Since high school. She’s part of the pack, how could you have forgotten Anna?”
“I haven’t forgotten her, I don’t know her,” Derek said angrily. “What is wrong with you people? Where’s Stiles?”
“Probably out with his girlfriend,” Isaac said. “Listen, Derek, we’ll talk later. I’ll have Stiles try and figure out why you’re forgetting things okay, Derek?”
“I am not-! Wait. His girlfriend?”
“Yeah. Talk to you later, kay, Derek? Bye!” He hung up and shook his head. “Something’s going on with Derek,” he told Scott.
“Could this have something to do with what happened to you this morning?” Scott asked, sitting up and wrapping his arms around Isaac’s waist.
“Maybe,” Isaac said, thinking of his vision-memory-hallucination of Danny. “I think something weird is definitely happening.”
“Let’s get Stiles,” Scott said.
They found Stiles the next floor down, outside of Lydia’s room. He was sitting on the grey hall carpet, fingers in his hair, staring blindly at the wall.
“Stiles?” Scott asked, and he looked up. He didn’t look wild or angry, just kind of blank.
“Lydia dumped me,” he said flatly.
“What?” Scott asked, dropping Isaac’s hand and sitting next to Stiles.
“Yeah,” said Stiles. “I kinda saw it coming.”
“But-.”
“Scott, I know you’d like to think we’re all meant to be with someone in the pack and live happily ever after, but I don’t think it works that way.” He ruffled Scott’s hair. “I mean, Lyds and I are okay. We’re just not… supposed to be together.”
“Do you really feel that way?” Scott asked. “Or are you just saying how Lydia feels.”
Stiles thought about it. “It’s what she said,” he told them. “But I think he’s right. It doesn’t feel like we’re supposed to be together. It didn’t feel right with her. I think we’re better off this way.” He looked up at Isaac. “But you guys were looking for me.” He got to his feet. “What’s up?”
“Derek called,” Isaac explained, as Scott flung an arm around Stiles shoulder and they started to walk. “He was acting all worried, said Erica and Boyd wouldn’t talk to him. But when I mentioned Anna, he got really weird.”
“How so?”
“He didn’t remember her,” Isaac said, and Stiles stopped in his tracks, causing Scott to stumble.
“He didn’t remember Anna?”
“No,” said Isaac. “He acted like he’d never heard of her before. I think something really weird is going on. This morning…”
“What?” Stiles asked, his steely gaze landing on Isaac. His father’s son, once he’d caught onto a clue he wouldn’t let go of it.
“Nothing,” Isaac said, shaking his head. “I just… thought I saw something.”
“When you came to our room in nothing but ducky boxers,” Stiles surmised.
“Yeah, then.”
“What happened, Isaac?” Stiles asked, and his voice brooked no argument, but Isaac glanced reflexively at Scott. Stiles rolled his eyes. “Hey, Scott?” he said.
“Yeah?” Scott said.
“Could you go get my laptop from our room and bring it down to the common room? We’ll wait for you there.”
“Yeah, sure,” said Scott, nodding solemnly, and hurrying away up the stairs. As soon as he was through the stairwell doors, Stiles rounded on Isaac.
“So?” Stiles asked. “No judgment. What happened?”
“I woke up,” he said. “The room didn’t smell right, and I got nervous.”
“In what way did it not smell right?” Stiles asked.
“It didn’t smell like… Scott and me.”
Stiles raised an eyebrow, and Isaac blushed a little.
“I mean, it did. Obviously it did. But not… enough. Like Scott hadn’t been there in a while, or hadn’t been there very often. It wasn’t strong like I thought it should be.”
“I’d think it should be, too,” Stiles says. “He’s there practically every night.”
“Exactly!” said Isaac. “And it smells like he’s barely there at all.”
“Okay,” said Stiles. “So the room didn’t smell right and you were weirded out. What did you do?”
“Well, I wanted to see Scott.”
“So you came over?”
“No,” Isaac said, nervous, now that he was getting to the awkward part. “I wanted to call him.”
“Sensible.”
“So I called him, right? I thought I did. He’s speed dial 2. He’s been speed dial 2 since we started dating. So I pressed speed dial 2 and it rang him, or it rang my contact for him, which is ‘The Boyfriend’, and I was all set to just ask him to come over and make everything smell like us right away-.”
“Fewer details,” said Stiles, wincing.
“But when he answered the phone… he was Danny.”
“You lost me.”
“Danny answered the phone. I told him I must have the wrong number and I hung up.”
“Couldn’t someone have changed the contact as a joke or something?”
“Sure, I guess,” said Isaac, though even Stiles knew that was kind of unlikely. “But then I had this weird… I guess it was a memory? Or… a hallucination?”
A funny look crossed over Stiles’ face. “What did you see?”
“I remembered… Danny. I was talking to him, we were in his car talking. And then… he kissed me. And it seemed… normal.”
A frown had furrowed Stiles’ eyebrows again, and he seemed to be deep in thought. Finally he said, “I think I have to talk to the others. Come on. Let’s make sure we beat Scott to the common room, then we’ll meet up with… hell, I don’t know who to talk to first. I don’t think I could face Lydia right now.”
“Let’s talk to Jackson,” Isaac said, and when Stiles looked at him, he shrugged, and said, “Well, we can at least count on him to be a dick about it.”
“What do you want, Stilinski?” Jackson asked, flopping into a chair across from Stiles, ignoring Isaac and Scott, who were wrapped up all worriedly in each other’s eyes.
“Jackson,” said Stiles. “Has anything… weird happened to you lately?”
Jackson stared at him. “Weirder than being a werewolf?”
“Different weird.”
“No,” said Jackson, then hesitated.
“What was it?” Stiles demanded. He thought of himself seeing Lydia at the restaurant, her telling him they weren’t going to work out. Her saying much the same thing when she’d dumped him. He wanted to tell himself it had just been his subconscious telling him what was about to happen, but Isaac and Derek, too…
“Nothing,” said Jackson. “Nothing weird is going on. God, Stilinski, does everything have to be weird and mystical with you?”
“Unfortunately yes,” said Stiles drily. “What happened, Jackson?”
“Nothing mystical, or anything,” said Jackson, folding his arms defensively.
“What. Happened.”
“At the restaurant, I saw…” He huffed out a breath. “I saw Scott and Allison kissing.”
“What?” yelped Scott, breaking away from what seemed to be the grossest staring contest ever to look at Stiles and Jackson.
“Not really,” said Jackson angrily to Isaac’s wounded puppy dog eyes. “I… I guess I imagined it.”
“Yes, we all seem to have very active imaginations these days,” said Stiles. “Derek seems to have imagined away his memory of Anna.”
Jackson frowned. “Derek doesn’t remember Anna.”
“That’s the word on his end,” said Stiles, shrugging. “I for one believe him. He’s not given over to… really bizarre forms of emotional expression.”
“Are we talking about the same Derek Hale.”
“Shut up. You know what I mean,” Stiles said. “I can only assume that Derek really has forgotten Anna. If that’s true, the question is why, and I think it has something to do with these hallucinations we’re all having.”
“All?” said Jackson sharply, looking at Scott and Isaac. “You guys, too?”
“Me and Isaac, anyway,” said Stiles. “Scott?”
“Nope,” said Scott. “Hallucination free. As per usual.”
“We should talk to the others, then,” said Jackson. “See if they’ve been seeing things.”
“Yes,” Stiles said. “What a brilliant plan. Why didn’t I think of that, and ask someone over here to interrogate him about any hallucinations he might have been having recently? Oh, wait…”
“Shut up,” said Derk and Jackson at the same time.
“Derek!” said Stiles, leaping out of his chair. “I have literally never been so glad to see you in my life. You’ve gotta help me with this.”
“Why do you think I came all the way here,” said Derek. The you idiot was implied.
“What do we do first?” Stiles asked.
“First,” said Derek grimly. “You take me to see Anna.”
Anna opened the door to Danny’s place with a smile, but blanched when she saw Derek. She looked at Stiles. “You called him, didn’t you?” She shook her head. “I should have known I couldn’t stop you going to your Alpha when things got weird.” She sighed, and gestured inside with her head. “You guys had better come in, then.”
They followed her inside, and Danny emerged from the kitchen and gave them all a weird smile, like ‘What are you all doing at my apartment?’ They arranged themselves on Danny and Anna’s furniture, and Anna sat on the couch across from Derek.
“So,” she said.
“So,” said Derek.
“I’m Anna,” she said, after a long pause. “You must be Derek.”
“That’s right,” he said. “And I’m the Alpha of this pack.”
“I know.”
“So you know what that means?”
“It means you protect them.”
“That’s right.”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody,” said Anna, almost desperately.
“Right,” scoffed Derek. “Because you witches are always so concerned with what everyone else wants.”
“What did you just call my girlfriend?” Danny asked, offended.
“You don’t have a girlfriend, Danny,” said Derek. “You’re gay.”
“But…”
“Oh, shut up, Danny,” said Anna.
“Nice setup you got here,” said Derek. “Turn anyone you want into your devoted boyfriend, use them until you don’t need them anymore, move on.”
“It’s not like that!” said Anna.
“How old are you, anyway?” Derek asked angrily.
“I just turned 20,” she said.
“How old are you really?” Derek growled.
“I told you, I just turned 20, I swear!” said Anna. “I wasn’t trying to… to use Danny or anything like that. I just wanted us to be happy.”
Derek sighed, and the fight went out of him. “You’re just a stupid kid who got in over her head,” he clarified.
“I didn’t say that,” said Anna, offended.
“You basically did,” he said.
“Fine,” she said. “I wasn’t prepared for the… exact results of what I did. And then they kept remembering, little things, and I knew they’d go to you, so I had to turn them against you.”
“Because you couldn’t make me believe,” said Derek.
“Because I couldn’t make you believe.”
Stiles raised a hand, and Derek sighed.
“Yes, Stiles?”
“Um,” said Stiles. “What’s going on?”
“Seconded,” said Isaac, clinging to Scott’s hand. Derek looked at their hands and rolled his eyes.
“This girl is not pack, she is not your friend, and she is certainly not Danny’s girlfriend,” said Derek. “She’s a witch. She’s lovespelled Danny into loving her back because she just couldn’t bear the pain of having a crush on a guy with no interest in her.”
“We’re supposed to be together,” said Anna helplessly.
“No,” said Derek. “You’re not. And look what trying to make it happen did to the rest of my pack.”
“What’s happened to the rest of us?” Stiles asked.
Derek looked at him long and hard. “You all think you’re in relationships you’re not really supposed to be in. Once I get her to take the spell off, things will go back to the way they were. They way they should be.”
“So, me and Lydia…”
“Never worked out,” said Derek, and he looked at Stiles. “Sorry.”
“It’s cool,” Stiles said, shrugging. “We broke up anyway, even bespelled to love each other.”
Isaac made a small choked sound he couldn’t hold back. Derek glanced at him. “Are you saying,” he said, then swallowed. “Are you saying I’m not supposed to be with Scott?”
“Sorry, kid,” said Derek, and he really did look sorry. “Scott and Allison are still quite happy together.” At this, Jackson made a small sound. “But you’ll be okay when the spell comes off,” he promised. “You won’t have feelings for him anymore, either.”
Isaac’s eyes were too bright, his face painfully pinched, and he extracted his hand from Scott’s like he was tearing off his own arm. Stiles didn’t know how Derek could stand to do that to Isaac, but he just turned back to Anna matter of factly. “Take it off,” he said.
“I can’t,” she said, and Derek growled.
“Take it off.”
“I swear, I can’t! Not right now. I need supplies.”
“Fine,” Derek bit off, throwing a look at Stiles. “I’ll go with you to get them. The rest of you,” he addressed the assembled group. “Get back to your rooms. Tell the others to do the same. I’ll sort all this out before morning.”
Then Derek seized Anna’s arm and dragged her out of the room.
The was silence in the apartment. No one spoke. No one even looked at each other. Then Danny laughed, hollow and broken and confused, and pulled a box out of his pocket.
“Blew a fortune on this, then, didn’t I?” he said, still laughing.
“Danny,” said Jackson, standing up and putting a hand on Danny’s arm, but Danny pulled away.
“Sorry, Jax,” he said. “I have to… go.”
He retreated to his bedroom. Jackson turned on his heel and stormed out the front door, slamming it behind him. Stiles went after, and then Scott and Isaac had no choice but to follow.
Outside Danny’s apartment building, Scott turned to Isaac for the first time, and said, his voice heavy, “I don’t feel like we’re not supposed to to be together.”
“I know,” said Isaac, not looking at him. “Me neither.” He swallowed. “I guess that’ll all be different in the morning.”
And he walked away, leaving Scott staring after him.
The morning sun was blinding through the gaps in the the window blinds. Isaac hated mornings, but he hated this morning in particular. Of all the mornings Isaac had so far, this certainly ranked in the top three worst mornings of his life.
His arm went out automatically to Scott’s side of the bed, and then he snatched it back. That wasn’t Scott’s side of the bed. That wasn’t anybody’s side of the bed. It was just Isaac’s bed, all over. Scott had his own bed, and Allison’s bed, and he certainly didn’t need Isaac’s.
He didn’t need Isaac at all.
Isaac bit back tears, bashed his head against the shower wall and tried to drown himself, then pulled on clothes. It was a Sunday. There was nowhere he needed to be on a Sunday. He went back to bed.
He thought about Scott and Allison. He remembered, now, he remembered everything, and the things he’d yesterday believed had always been true now seemed patently silly. Of course Scott and Allison were together. They were probably going to announce their engagement and the births of their puppies any day now. He and Scott had never been anything more than friends. He and Danny had been seeing each other for a little while, but after this fiasco he wouldn’t be surprised if Danny swore off relationships entirely. Jackson and Lydia were still together, and of course, how could he have forgotten, Derek and Stiles were the most sickeningly in love little gay couple Isaac had ever seen.
He beat up his pillows and tried to forget.
He figured, of all of them, Boyd and Erica were probably the most okay. It seemed the spell hadn’t affected them at all. They were still the same weird, private, totally hot couple as always, and he figured they’d be alright with having their memories messed with a little. They could handle it.
Isaac didn’t know if he could handle this.
He went back to sleep.
He woke up Monday morning and decided that it was even worse than Sunday morning, because this morning he actually had to get up and go to school. He dressed robotically, walked to class, and avoided Stiles’ eye throughout the hour they were trapped in a lecture hall together. Afterward, Stiles tried to catch his attention, but he ignored him and powerwalked away. As a werewolf, he could powerwalk a hell of a lot faster than Stiles if need be.
After classes, while Isaac was lying on his bed feeling sorry for himself, his door banged open and Lydia sat on him.
“You need to get a better lock,” she said.
“I need to get better friends,” he groaned, and she rolled off and lay next to him, hands folded quietly on her chest.
“Do you want to know what’s going on with Scott, or what.”
He was quiet for a long time. He wasn’t sure if he did want to know, actually. But finally, he said, “…yes.”
“Well, too bad, first we’re gonna talk about me,” she said. She took a deep breath. “I broke up with Jackson.”
Isaac looked at her. “What? How come? I thought the spell’s effects came off?”
“They did,” said Lydia. “That doesn’t mean the things that happened never happened. I wasn’t dating Jackson, and…I was happier.”
“But you broke up with Stiles, too,” said Isaac.
“Oh, I know,” she said. “I wasn’t happier because I was with Stiles, I was happier because I wasn’t with Jackson. I knew we weren’t supposed to be together, just like I knew Stiles and I weren’t supposed to be together. Just like Allison knew she and Jackson weren’t supposed to be together.” At his look, she said. “She told me. We were talking. What I’m saying is, we all felt that something wasn’t right. But you didn’t, did you?”
Isaac shook his head wordlessly.
“The spell could create memories, and feelings to an extent, but it couldn’t manufacture love. That’s not really possible. I disagree strongly with the term, ‘lovespell’. It couldn’t make me be in love with Stiles, any more than it could make me turn into a chicken or kill myself. It just didn’t go that deep, you know?”
“Right,” said Isaac, rolling away from her. “Very shallow feelings.”
Lydia sighed. “You know, Erica and Boyd didn’t feel like anything was wrong, either.”
Isaac frowned. “Well, yeah.”
“And why is that?” she asked, like talking to a particularly slow two year old.
“Because they were really in love.”
“Exactly,” said Lydia, pressing a kiss to Isaac’s temple. “Think about it. Don’t do anything dumb.”
And then she was gone.
Danny came by next. “Hey,” he said, shuffling awkwardly in the doorway while Isaac tried to work on a paper for class.
“Hey,” he said swiveling to face Danny.
“I still really like you, you know,” Danny said. “All that stuff didn’t go away.”
“Good to know,” said Isaac, smiling softly at him.
“But…”
“But you need time.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s cool,” said Isaac. “I think I need a little time, too.”
“Maybe…” said Danny, looking into Isaac’s eyes. “Maybe we need more than time.”
“What do you mean?” Isaac asked, but he thought he knew.
“Maybe we’re both waiting for people who aren’t coming around,” Danny said. “Maybe all the time in the world isn’t going to make you into Jackson or me into… well…”
“Yeah,” said Isaac, shaking his head. “Yeah. Friends?”
“Absolutely.”
“We’re a pretty sorry pair, aren’t we?” said Isaac, and then he did what he’d been trying not to do for days. He burst into tears.
Danny was across the room in two steps, pulling Isaac out of his computer chair and into a hug. “We’re kind of fucked up, yeah,” he said.
“Isaac, are you…” Scott trailed off, in the doorway, looking awkwardly at his feet. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” said Isaac, smiling at Danny. “Thanks, Danny.”
“Yep. See you tomorrow, huh?”
They had Philosophy together tomorrow, Isaac remembered. He nodded, smiled wryly. “We can discuss Kierkegaard’s lasting love of kittens.”
“No way,” said Danny backing out the door. “No way was Kierkegaard not all about the puppies.”
“Shut up, you’re wrong,” Isaac called, laughing through his tears as Danny disappeared down the corridor. Then he looked at Scott, still standing there awkwardly, and his smile faded.
“I guess…” said Scott, then he stop, shook his head. “I guess you guys are gonna be okay, huh?”
“Yeah,” said Isaac. “We’re gonna be okay.” He stopped, looked at Scott, who had his hands in his pockets and was avoiding Isaac’s eyes. Isaac swallowed. “We broke up.”
Scott’s head snapped up. “Sorry,” he said, after a pause.
“Naw,” said Isaac, sinking back into his computer chair. “We just…” he remembered Lydia, and shook his head. “We just weren’t supposed to be together.”
“I hear that’s going around,” said Scott, and Isaac managed to laugh, even though his little werewolf heart was being ground into little werewolf pieces.
“Anyway,” said Isaac, facing his computer screen, typing ‘is’ into his essay and then deleting it again. “He’s kind of hung up on someone else.”
“Jackson, right?” said Scott exasperatedly, collapsing onto Isaac’s bed like he belonged there. Which, the other day, he had. At Isaac’s questioning look, he said, “Danny keeps bitching to Lydia about how Jackson’s never going to love him and Jackson keeps bitching to Allison about how Danny’s never going to love him, and then Lydia bitches to Stiles and Allison bitches to me, and then Stiles and I bitch to each other and we’re thinking of staging an intervention.”
“It’s hard, I guess,” said Isaac quietly. “To like someone you’re sure doesn’t like you back.”
“Oh,” said Scott. “Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t be talking about Danny liking another guy when you’re…”
“Hey, no,” said Isaac. “Danny and I are really fine. It was mutual.”
“Right,” said Scott, but he seemed sceptical. He shuffled awkwardly in his seat. “Look, I don’t know if it’s awkward for you, being around me, after… you know… but Derek’s over again, and…”
It was tradition. Derek came to visit Stiles, and Scott stayed in Isaac’s room until he had safely gone away again. “No, it’s cool,” said Isaac, though he wanted to scream, ‘It’s more than awkward! It’s breaking my heart, you adorable selfish bastard with your emotionally satisfying relationship!’
“Cool,” said Scott, then he shuffled and fell silent.
Isaac wrote a sentence, then deleted it again.
“How are things with Allison?” he said finally, even though he really didn’t want to know.
“You didn’t hear?” Scott asked incredulously.
“Hear what?”
“Allison and I broke up,” Scott said matter of factly, and Isaac swivelled to face him so fast it gave him whiplash.
“What? But you guys were so perfect together,” he said, meaning perfect in the most sickening, heartbreaking way imaginable.
Scott shrugged. “It really wasn’t working. We were great together in high school, sure, but… I guess we changed. You know, over time.”
“Is everyone I know going to break up over this spell?” Isaac asked.
“Stiles and Derek seem fine,” said Scott ruefully. “But no, Allison and I broke up before the spell. We just hadn’t really gotten around to telling anyone yet.”
“Really?” asked Isaac, trying not to let even the hint of a hopeful or desperate squeak into his voice.
Scott nodded. “We’re okay, me and Ally.”
“Good.”
“Yeah.”
“So what are you-,” Isaac began, at the same time Scott said,
“So, I was wondering-.”
“You first,” Isaac said.
“Okay,” said Scott, and it looked like he was steeling himself. Then he blinked rapidly at Isaac and said, “Did you do the reading for English?”
“Part of it,” Isaac said.
“Oh.”
“What did you… think of it?”
“It was… good?” Isaac said tentatively.
“Yeah, I thought so too.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to not break up?” Scott asked, and Isaac’s face contorted weirdly, he was sure. He could feel it.
“What?”
“Nothing,” said Scott, getting up suddenly. “Sorry. I gotta go study.”
“Stiles and Derek are still having sex,” Isaac reminded him.
“Right,” said Scott. “I meant… at the library.”
“You’ve never been to a library in your life,” said Isaac, standing.
“That’s not even true!” Scott protested.
“Lydia was over earlier,” Isaac said.
“What?” asked Scott, non-plussed.
“She was telling me she broke up with Jackson, because she knew they weren’t meant to be together. That she could feel it.”
“Yeah,” said Scott, nodding. “She told me that, too.”
“Could you feel it?” Isaac asked in a small voice.
“What?”
“When we were together,” he said, and Scott flinched. “Could you tell it wasn’t right? Could you feel it?”
Scott stared at him for a long minute. Then he said, “No. I couldn’t feel it. That it was…wrong. I guess I’m just as oblivious as people always say.”
“I couldn’t either,” said Isaac, still quiet, still aching inside, in a raw place where Scott was supposed to be. “It didn’t feel wrong.”
“No,” said Scott, and he finally looked away, broke his gaze from Isaac’s, and it was pain and relief in equal portions. “It didn’t.”
“Good,” said Isaac firmly, and he dragged Scott towards him, and pressed their mouths together. When Scott melted against him, his tongue brushing against Isaac’s lip, Isaac slid his hand into Scott’s, interlacing their fingers. “That,” he said, breaking the kiss. “Is because it would be downright stupid to think you were never supposed to be mine.”
“Yeah,” said Scott breathlessly. “I think I’m just going to stay here with you, okay?”
“But,” said Isaac, pulling Scott onto the bed on top of him. “What will your roommate think?”
“Let him talk,” said Scott, leaning towards Isaac and brushing their noses together. “His boyfriend isn’t as great as mine.”
“I love you,” said Isaac helplessly, then wished desperately he could stuff the words back in his mouth.
Scott raised an eyebrow. “Good,” he said. “I love you too.”
“You do?” Isaac said, taken aback.
“Of course,” said Scott, grinning. “I’m almost definitely under your spell.”