Summer: *picks Isaac up from school*
Isaac: *gets in the car silently and stares out the window*
Summer: Bad day?
Summer: *takes him home quietly*
Isaac: *nods* *looks at her when they get there* Can I stay with you tonight? Please?
Summer: You should let them know. I’ll wait here.
Isaac: They know.
Summer: *slightly suspiciously* How’s that?
Isaac: Scott kicked me out.
Summer: …
Isaac: I can find somewhere else if you want.
Summer: No. You’re staying with me.
Isaac: *nods a little* I’ll find somewhere else by tomorrow. I promise.
Summer: No you won’t.
Summer: But you’re going to explain.
Isaac: *frowns* I can’t stay with you forever. We got in a fight. He kicked me out. Of everything.
Summer: It’s my studio, I can keep you there as long I live there.
Summer: He’ll want you back.
Isaac: *shakes his head* Doubt it. I can’t stay with you that long, Summer. I’m not going to do that to you.
Summer: *sharply* Because you have so many other family members.
Isaac: *grits his teeth* Stop the car.
Summer: *pulls off to the side of the road* Why won’t you let me take care of you?
Isaac: Because I’m not a little kid that needs to be taken care of. *gets out of the car and closes the door before starting to walk towards the woods*
Summer: *hits her head on the steering wheel* Because you asked me if you could come to my place? Stay there?
Isaac: For a night! *groans and sits against a tree* Go.
Summer: *climbs out of the car and leans on it, arms folded* No. You don’t get to tell me how to do my life. If I want to let you live with me for the rest of my life you don’t get to tell me I can’t do that. You only get to choose if you take me up on it.
Isaac: *covers his face and sighs*
Summer: Please just come home with me.
Summer: You can yell at me or hit me or whatever you need, just not here, please.
Isaac: *swallows* I’m never going to hit you. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright? I’m not going to school for a while.
Summer: *huffs* No. Get up.
Summer: Get up, and talk to me, and stop acting like I’m not allowed to offer to take care of you or help you or be your girlfriend.
Summer: *turns around and leans her head on the side of the car and tries not to let him see her cry*
Isaac: *sighs and gets up* *wraps his arms around her and kisses her hair*
Summer: *unhappily* Isaac, you asked to stay with me and then when I — I was upset that you had a fight with Scott, not about having you with me. You practically live with me already. I just want you to have a /home/. *bangs her head on the car* Please, please.
Isaac: *leans against the car and pulls her against him* If I live with you, you’ll get sick of me and you’ll kick me out too.
Summer: I’m in love with you!
Isaac: *stares at her for a minute before kissing her*
Summer: *makes a muffled surprised sound and kisses back*
Isaac: *holds her close*
Summer: *gloms him tightly*
Isaac: *smiles and kisses her forehead* Let’s go home.
Summer: Yes. *bats at her forehead* Don’t do that.
Summer: *squirms away and gets in the car but not before kissing the palm of his hand*
Isaac: *smiles and gets in the car*
Summer: *holds his hand the whole way to her apartment*
Isaac: *squeezes her hand when they arrive* At least I have stuff here. *smiles softly*
Summer: *firmly* We will go back in a day or so and get your things.
Isaac rolled his eyes and poked her side. “He said I could have thirty minutes tomorrow to ‘pack my shit’.”
Her eyes glittered with anger, but she bit her lips hard. “Go on inside. I have to get some things out of the trunk.”
Isaac looked her over uncertainly. “Um… I’m going to stay with you for fear you may attempt to murder Scott.”
“I have more control than that.” Tension in her shoulders gave the lie to her words, but she didn’t slam the car door. “I can’t kill him. Definitely not from here. Please go inside.”
Isaac narrowed his eyes. “Swear you won’t say or do anything to Scott.”
Summer rounded on him. “I. Can’t. Do. Anything. From. Here.”
Isaac stood his ground. “I didn’t say now. I mean, like, ever.”
“He hurt you.” She turned away and began to lift grocery bags out of the trunk. “I won’t make a promise I can’t keep. And I can’t know if I can keep it until you tell me the whole story. Which I was hoping to avoid out here thanks!”
Isaac sighed. “Fine,” he said gently, picking up a few bags and heading up to her apartment.
Somehow he’d managed to pick up all the heaviest ones while still looking like he was just grabbing bags randomly. How the hell. Summer slammed the trunk shut and grabbed all the rest of the bags.
Isaac opened the door and held it open for Summer, watching her and biting his lip.
She dropped the bags in the kitchen area and paused, rubbing her hands where the plastic had dug into them. “Just put it down here.”
Isaac nodded and did as he was told, staring at the ground and leaning against the counter.
“What happened?”
Isaac didn’t look at her. “I couldn’t be completely loyal to Scott.”
“What does that /mean/?” She did not know enough about werewolves, about the pack, about Isaac as a werewolf.
Isaac huffed and stared up at the ceiling. “It means that if Scott was in danger and so were y— Ugh. It just… It means I can’t make him my first priority all the time. And betas are supposed to be loyal to their alphas. And I’m not.”
“What the hell kind of person expects that kind of loyalty?”
Isaac ran a hand through his hair. “It’s a werewolf thing. We’re supposed to be hardwired for it.”
Summer put her arms on the counter and leaned her head on her hands. “It’s about protecting, right? It’s about … like when you were taken by the other pack. And the first thing you did was come here, to me, afterward. That’s the problem. Right?”
Isaac nodded a little and sighed. “I don’t feel that bond to Scott. I feel that bond to you,” he finally said, looking at her.
“I’m not a werewolf.” Oh, shit.
Isaac looked up at her. “You’re not really human either.”
A sob was in her voice as she answered, “It’s not supposed to work like that! It’s not supposed to happen this fast, and it’s not supposed to affect you too!”
Isaac swallowed. “Wh-what do you mean?”
She shoved herself off the counter and flopped on the couch, eyes closed. “It’s a thing. With my empathy. Sometimes I bond to people. People I’ve been around for a long time, or close to. There’s a girl in LA that I’ve been bonded to for a couple years and we’ve never even met. I can feel her, anytime. Same with my family.
“I think I must be bonded to you. That’s what you’re feeling. That’s the loyalty. I didn’t mean to~!”
Isaac frowned and walked over, kneeling next to her and reaching out to pet her hair. “Summer…” He didn’t really know what to say. He knew he loved her more than anything and that he would do absolutely anything in th world for her… But he was pretty sure he didn’t need the special bond thing to feel that way. He kissed her hair and scooped her up in his arms, sitting down on the couch and holding her in his lap.
She tucked her head under his chin and clung to him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she kept whispering.
Isaac wrapped his arms around her tightly. “I love you, okay? Don’t be sorry. I loved you before I felt the bond. It’s just… More intense. It’s like I used to always want to be with you… And now it’s more like I need to be with you.” He kissed her hair and rubbed her back. “It’s okay. I’m not upset about it, alright?” Then another thought occurred to him and his grip on her loosened. “Do you not want it?”
“I don’t want it to be a /problem/,” she half-sobbed. “I’m not supposed to be /for/ that. I’m supposed to bring people together, make them feel better, solve things. And now your pack has thrown you out, and you belong with them too.”
Isaac frowned and hugged her tightly. “It’s alright, Summer… I’ll just have to be more careful, okay? Please don’t cry,” he mumbled into her hair. He tilted her chin up and kissed her softly, holding her close. “It’s okay,” he promised.
She shoved herself up to look at him with tear-wet eyes. “What do you mean more careful? What happens to werewolves without a pack?”
Isaac bit his lip. “It’s just… I’m an omega now. I’m just weaker and more vulnerable.”
“You said you … felt a beta’s loyalty to me.” She hesitated, and ran a finger over his lip. “Shouldn’t that mean you’re still a beta? Just … /my/ beta?” Unconsciously, she shaped ‘my’ possessively. “If not … I think you have to be a part of a pack. I can’t protect you.”
Isaac hesitated. “Maybe. I don’t know. There aren’t any other packs around here. And no alpha will take me.”
“This is where those scratches the other day came from, isn’t it?” She frowned sadly. “Isaac …”
Isaac shrugged and hugged her.
“Don’t you dare pretend this is all okay!” She sulked in the circle of his arms. “You need to tell me everything.”
Isaac sighed and petted her hair. “I don’t know everything, Summer… I… I guess my loyalty is just to you. I don’t know.”
“You said you would introduce me, and now this. Where do I go if you need help? I don’t even understand what an alpha /is/!” She hated when she started crying and couldn’t stop.
“Shh…” He rubbed her back and kissed her hair. “You don’t have to worry, okay? I still told them about you. And Allison and Stiles aren’t werewolves, so they don’t have any loyalty to the pack to worry about. They’ll let you know if something happens. But please just relax. I’m not really part of a pack, so… There’s no pack drama to worry about. Okay?”
Summer’s voice was low and hopeless. “You’re trying to protect me from it, aren’t you. And nothing I say is going to change your mind.” Her shoulders slumped.
Isaac kissed her hair. “I mean… It’s not like we can break the bond. We’ll just deal wit it. It’ll be okay,” he promised.
Dully, she said, “Yes, Isaac.”
Isaac frowned. “What?”
“You don’t want me to be concerned about it, to know, to worry. I’m doing what you want.”
“I’ve told you everything I know…”
Stiffly, desperate not to shout or sob, she said, “I don’t know the names of your pack, or which one is the alpha. I don’t know if that’s the same alpha that hurt you before. I don’t know if that pack that had you all last month will come back for you. Is the Scott, that you said kicked you out — I thought that was Melissa McCall’s house. So is Scott her husband? Brother?”
Isaac continued rubbing her back. “Scott was my alpha. He’s the same age as me, and Melissa McCall is his mother. Yes, he hurt me before because we were having a fight. The pack from last month won’t come back for me — they kind of figured out Scott didn’t particularly care for me when it took another alpha from another pack to get me back, so they’re not going to bother with me anymore. Stiles is Scott’s best friend and Allison is Scott’s girlfriend. Sort of. She’s also a hunter and comes from a very long line of them. Stiles is just a regular human.”
Irresistibly, her mind swept the facts together and began to link them together. “Derek. But you don’t think he will take you in — back?” Her eyes flickered up to his. “Why do you feel like you’re trying to hide something when you say Allison’s name?”
Isaac frowned. “I can talk to him… But it might not work. Alphas tend to want the loyalty from their betas, and I wouldn’t be able to give that to him. But I’ll talk to him,” he promised. He bit his lip and blushed a little when she mentioned Allison. “Allison and I kind of had a thing? Kind of.”
“You can be loyal to both of us!” It exploded out of her, as he tapped at a space inside her long concealed. “I don’t need you to be solely dedicated to me, push away your other friends, as if you were my slave.”
Isaac jumped a little, letting go of her for fear of being hit. “I wasn’t trying to be solely dedicated to you,” he said, inching away from her slightly. “I tried to be loyal to Scott. I really did. But you always came first…”
“This can’t be right,” Summer insisted. “Scott’s being a hypocrite if he has a girlfriend and expects you not to.”
Isaac sighed. “It’s not a girlfriend thing — it’s more than that. I’m supposed to trust Scott and put all of my faith in him and… I can’t.”
“No, look, that is bullshit. Is he saying that to you, or is that a thing you’re putting on yourself? Even in the medieval era that kind of absolute loyalty wasn’t expected; humans just aren’t capable of it for long.” She chewed on her lip, then added darkly, “And awful things happened when they did.”
Isaac sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not human, Summer.”
She opened her mouth, and then closed it again. “It’s still not right,” she muttered.
Isaac bit his lip and looked down. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not upset with you.” Summer sighed and rested her head against his shoulder. “Please stay with me until we work this out.”
Isaac wrapped his arms around her and bit his lip again. “Can I stay with you after we work it out, too? It’s… Kind of nice not having a pack. And just having you.”
Her mind raced. “Um.” ‘I’m not even twenty what the hell are we doing!’ “Ye-es. But you have to keep going to school. You have to graduate.”
Isaac swallowed, noticing how uncomfortable she was. “Never mind. It’s alright,” he said, letting go of her and standing. “We’ll talk about it. Maybe there’s a way to break the bond,” he said, crossing his arms and walking over to look out the window.
Once again her shoulders slumped. “I think I can break it from my end, but I don’t know what it would do to you. Or to us.”
Isaac looked down and tried to hold back a wave of tears. He turned back to look at her and sat down on the floor in front of her on the couch. “I don’t want to force myself on you like this… If you want to break it, it’s alright. If you want I can just try to distance it.”
Summer looked down into her hands. “It’s better for me. It means I won’t have an overload from you. If we’re bonded.” Squaring her shoulders, she looked at him. “I want you to stay here with me. For a little while, at least. But you need … you need more family than me.”
Isaac nodded a little and kept his eyes on the ground. “Alright. You can break it,” he said quietly before looking over at the window. “I don’t… Have other family.”
“Stop it! I don’t want to break it! I love you!” She sucked in a sharp breath. “I meant, being bonded is better for me.”
Isaac blushed and looked up at her. “Oh.” He swallowed and twiddled his thumbs, not sure what to do. “Okay.”
“I take in most people’s emotions as foreign energy,” Summer tried to explain. “But people I’m bonded to, it’s not like that. So it’s better for me.”
Isaac nodded in understanding and shifted to lean against the couch.
She threaded her fingers into his curls, scraping his scalp gently. “Oh, Isaac. What are we going to do?”
Isaac leaned up into her touch and closed his eyes, sighing. “Just keep doing that forever and I’ll be good,” he mumbled.
The contentment he was radiating was blissful, and unashamedly she wallowed in it.
Isaac nuzzled her hand and tilted his head up to kiss her palm.
Teasingly she closed her fingers over his face. “I’ve got you,” she snickered.
Isaac scrunched his nose before licking her hand.
She faked a yelp and tumbled off the couch into his lap. “Tell me something nice.”
Isaac caught her and held her in his arms with a smile. “Hmmm. I love you. Is that nice enough for you?” he asked, pecking her lips.
“Hmmm, yes, good.” Summer hooked an arm around his neck and pulled him down for a longer kiss.
Isaac grinned and kissed her back, holding her close and rubbing her back.
“You have the best hands,” she murmured, making a pleased groan.
Isaac slid his hands over her back and stomach, smiling.
“That’s so nice.” She squirmed a little, trying to get the warmth to a particular spot. “Right there, yes.”
Isaac smiled and moved his hands right where she wanted wanted them.
Summer went gratefully limp across his lap, purring.
Isaac kept rubbing at the spot before scooping her up and carrying her to the bedroom.
She clung to his neck, giggling. “What are you doing, darling wolf?”
Isaac smiled and laid her down on the bed, curling up next to her and wrapping his arms around her. “Cuddling.”
“Cuddling can’t happen on the couch?” She tucked herself more firmly into the curve of his body, tangling limbs with his.
Isaac nuzzled her hair and slid his hand beneath her shirt, rubbing her back gently. “Not big enough. I’m tall.”
“We were on the floor,” she pointed out.
“I was on the floor. You were on me. The floor was not comfy.”
“I could put blankets and pillows down.”
“Would you rather be on the floor?”
She clung to him. “Not now.”
Isaac smiled and kissed her hair.
“So you’re saying that I should build a divan on the floor for later cuddling purposes?”
Isaac nodded and kissed her nose.
Rubbing the top of her head on his chin, Summer grinned. “Maybe you should do that tomorrow while I do my homework.”
She rolled over slowly, resnuggling herself into the curve of his body. “I’m going to have a bath … “