It was kind of crazy, how close they had gotten recently; him and Isaac. It started out the tree of them. Scott, Stiles, and Isaac. Two wolves and a human, just hanging out, playing call of duty.
Stiles wasn't going to lie, he had been a little put off when Scott first brought Isaac to one of their guys nights in. it had always been just them two. Granted they had really had no other friends but that was beside the point. He had gotten used to it eventually though. An extra controller, another sandwich, and eventually the rare occasion that he would actually get his ass handed to him on a silver platter.
It had gotten comfortable, just them three. But that was before Scott had gone and ditched them for Allison. Stiles should have seen it coming, honestly. It had been what? Two whole months since their last break up. Stiles was surprised the guy had lasted so long. But it had left them, him and Isaac, in a pretty weird place. Isaac had stopped showing up at first. He figured Scott—well he figured that Scott was kind of the glue that held the group together.
Stiles had let it slide, the first few Saturdays anyway. Before he sighed, throwing his controller on the ground and driving over to the depot.
"Isaac—whatever the hell your middle name is—Lahey! Get your scrawny butt and your pointy cheekbones out here and come play COD with me!" he yelled and he heard a chuckle from the other side of the door and the patter of someone else running around before the door swung open.
"Hi" Isaac breathed and the chuckle rang out from behind him again.
"Shut up sour wolf" Stiles yelled over Isaac's shoulder grabbing hum by the arm and pulling him towards the car.
"Nathan" Isaac mumbled, while strapping himself into the car.
"What?" Stiles asked taking his eyes off the road momentarily to glance at his friend.
"My middle name is Nathan." Isaac said with a small smile.
"Oh," Stiles said nodding and turning his attention back to the road, " good to know, now I can call you your whole name when I'm kidnapping you to play video games with me."
Isaac nodded.
They were silent the rest of the ride but it was the good kind of silence, like the familiar comfortable kind of silence that was making Stiles wonder when the hell he got this comfortable with Isaac. Like he wasn't even this cool around Scott, he talked, he always talked. Companionable silence was alien to Stiles.
Silence needed to be filled with multiple words one after another but with Isaac he didn't seem to need to do that. Don't get me wrong, he did sometime, but not always. He talked a lot, because that's just who he was, and because if he didn't Isaac wouldn't say a word the whole night, but there wasn't that need to do it all the time like there was with everyone else.
He couldn't really explain it logically, like with Isaac he should probably have talked more, because hell the guy wouldn't have even told him to shut up. He wasn't going to interrupt or anything, but Stiles found that he didn't really want to. He didn't want to talk when Isaac wasn't talking back, he kind of wanted to listen. listening to Isaac took patience because you had to wait for him to speak, and sometimes you had to nudge him in the right direction.
"Why'd you quit coming over man?" he asked when they were walking inside. Stiles was fumbling awkwardly to find his keys.
"Didn't think you wanted me" Isaac replied shrugging and it made Stiles frown.
"Did you actually think I was just hanging out with you to make Scott happy?" Stiles said offended, " because I love Scott but if he made me hang out with someone I didn't genuinely like I wouldn't have been so quiet about it."
Isaac smiled a little letting his claws come out and slipping one of them into the lock which clicked open seconds later.
"wha, how…" Stiles shook his head, "why do I even lock my door anymore man?" he asked slipping through the door.
Isaac almost laughed, well at least he looked like he was going to laugh. "Human predators Stiles. Without claws." He said wiggling his hand with his claws extended.
Stiles laughed, because Isaac was such a conundrum. Half of the time he was overly confident of himself. Or at least of the werewolf side of himself. It was like, anything anyone else said wasn't important because Isaac was thinking about something else and he couldn't be bothered by anyone else. The other half of the time he looked like a sad kicked puppy, like if he said anything wrong Isaac would walk away and never come back.
It was like a crazy balancing act Stiles didn't even know how he kept up sometimes.
So instead of replying he just laughed, crossing the room to the kitchen and throwing a hot pocket into the microwave. "Pizza or ham and cheese?" he asked and Isaac shrugged.
"Whatever" he said pulling the game off the shelf and sticking it in the Xbox. Stiles nodded putting in another pizza one because Isaac really seemed to like these ones. Or at least he ate them twice as fast as he ate the cheese ones.
He pulled them out of the microwave moments later sticking them on plates and balancing them and sodas while making his way over to the couch. "Junk food is served" Stiles said with a laugh, "I'm sure you don't get very much of it at Derek's house. I swear for a wolf he eats like a bunny." He said popping the tab on his soda.
Isaac laughed taking a bite of the steaming hot food in his mouth. " He eats tofu" he added.
Stiles erupted into laughter because the idea of Derek eating tofu was almost as funny as the idea of him trying to get the betas on board with eating that shit. "God I should send my dad over there." He said laughing so hard his sides hurt, "maybe then he'd actually eat something healthy."
Isaac smiled but didn't reply and Stiles just took that as a go ahead to play the game. They did, for hours on end. They took a break to eat pizza and eventually passed out on the floor.
It was the first of many weekends spent this way. Arguing over what games to play, because Stiles was always one for COD but Isaac seemed to like Mario party. Stiles figured it was because he had never played when he was a kid.
They would spend almost the whole weekend together on most weekends. Excepting the nights that were full moon nights because well, they couldn't exactly hang out when Isaac had the urge to rip him to pieces now could they?
One of those weekends was coming up, Saturday the 5th, January full moon and Stiles woke up Saturday morning feeling like this day was going to be wrong. He wandered around the house, making a sandwich lazily, surfing the internet for a while. Full moons were boring lately.
Nothing exciting or supernatural happened, and don't get him wrong he was pretty excited about the lack of fearing for his life that had been happening lately but he was still a little bored once a month considering his friend group was pretty exclusively wolves or their anchors.
Anchors were allowed, at least Derek tolerated them because it made his life easier. Scott was allowed to bring Allison around and just sit there, talking. Jackson did the same with Lydia, and Danny when he had found out that the two, together grounded him and apart. Well drove him a bit insane. Erica already had Boyd and vice versa and Isaac. Well Isaac's anchor had been his father, and even if he was allowed to be there Stiles was pretty sure he wouldn't have made it given that he would have had the man arrested faster than you could say asshole.
Which he did say, a lot when talking about Isaac's father.
Unfortunately, Stiles didn't make anyone calm. He got that he really did. He annoyed the hell out of Jackson, the guy would probably break his face if he took a step near him on the full moon. It wasn't like Scott needed him, that had been made very, very apparent due to the fact that he had tied to rip out his throat violently on his first full moon, and he didn't even want to think about the things that Derek, Erica and Boyd would have done to him had he shown up during their time of the month. Erica especially.
But Isaac, well Stiles wasn't going to lie he kind of wished that Isaac didn't have monthly urges to kill him violently. Scott was always going to be his best friend but sometimes it felt like Isaac had just, carved a space for himself in Stiles' heart and he was never going to leave. Not nessacaraly a friend, or a brotherly presence because sometimes the thoughts he had about that man's mouth were just not platonic or familial at all. But, well it wasn't exactly just romantic either. It was just, he really liked the guy. He liked spending time with him even if they weren't doing anything.
In an odd way, he felt like Isaac was his anchor. Not to keep him from like, turning into a scary werewolf every month but to keep him from bounding off the walls bat shit crazy. To keep him from freaking out about the whole fuzzy friends that are really creatures of the night thing. Stiles liked to think that Isaac kept him, normal. As normal as someone as crazy as Stiles could get anyway. He kept him quiet and calm and he really liked it sometimes.
"Stiles" his father yelled from downstairs and Stiles let out a sigh, thumping down the stairs.
"Yeah" he replied
"where's Isaac?" he asked and Stiles had momentarily forgotten that his dad was the freaking sheriff and noticed things like, the guy he always had over being missing on a night he was always there.
"He uh, went on a camping trip with Derek. Won't be back till Monday." He lied quickly, he was horrible at lying he wasn't even going to pretend that the was good and honestly his dad probably saw straight through it but like the amazing father he was he didn't question it he just nodded.
"son, is Isaac…" he started before shutting his mouth and making the face he made when he was trying to figure out exactly how to put something delicately, "is he, your boyfriend?" he asked and Stiles simultaneously wanted to laugh, cry, and disappear into a hole in the ground that sucked him straight to the other side of the earth.
"no." he replied sharply, taking a breath. "Glad to know you finally believe me that I'm gay though." He said. His dad laughed.
"Sorry about that"
"No big, not gay anyway." He said clapping his dad on the back with a laugh, "bi, wouldn't know what to do with myself if I didn't worship the ground that Lydia martin walks on" spinning to the doorframe when the bell rang.
He was suddenly excited and scared all at once, because full moon appearances of any of his friends, didn't mean anything good. They usually meant the death of someone he cared about or the supernatural ripping the town apart or something. Doorbells on the full moon meant—nothing, there was nobody. "HA-HA, very funny!" he yelled, " glad to see that ding dong ditch will never grow old!"
He sighed trying not to think about the fact that half of him may have been scared shitless that something weird was happening. Half of him was disappointed to open that door and find no werewolves on his porch. He took a breath, walking up the stairs to his room and letting the door fling open.
He was greeted by glowing blue eyes, and a hug that probably could have easily broken his bones. He didn't fight back probably because Derek told him to never run or fight back. It would only increase the urge to chase and kill.
But also because the hug, well it was a hug. It didn't feel malicious. It wasn't meant to hurt him and the creature whose arms were wrapped around him seemed to be growing less and less fuzzy by the second.
"Isaac?" he said hopefully, because yeah, Scott he probably could have dealt with, and Derek wouldn't have been all that bad. But in reality, he was really hoping that this was Isaac.
He hugged tighter, and Stiles was going to take that as a yes.
"Man, glad to um, feel you and all given that its pitch black and I can't exactly see you. But is there a chance you could –ouch- stop crushing my lungs. "
Isaac's grip loosened slightly and Stiles took the opportunity to breath.
"not that I mind all that much man, but, uh, shouldn't you be like hanging out with your pack or, I don't know, ripping my face off or something?" Stiles asked, resituating himself so he was as wrapped around Isaac as Isaac was around him. Because for whatever reason this was happening, Stiles wasn't about to give up a free hug.
He liked hugs, and well, Isaac never seemed like a hugger to him, so he stuck with the fist bump, and the occasional awkward one armed side hug but that didn't really count.
Isaac didn't respond, and Stiles was oddly okay with that to be honest. He just stood there a while running through the possible reasoning behind all this eventually, he wasn't sure how much longer they were there. Just that his legs got tired, and well, he got tired.
"Hey, Isaac."
There was a whimper in response.
"You think we could, uh, like move to my bed, we can still cuddle or whatever this is but my legs hurt."
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he was being picked up bridal style and carried to his bed. He laughed.
A million things ran through his head to say as Isaac settled him into his bed—strong and silent type eh? – Does the full moon always make you this touchy?- what the actual fuck is going on- but he decided he didn't even care about the answers.
Instead he settled on "thanks" followed by tugging the still half shifted wolf into his bed and cuddling himself as tight as eh could into his side. Stiles yawned, 2:47 am. Wow that was a long ass hug. He bundled himself and Isaac under the covers. Although he probably didn't really need to because Isaac felt like he was running a fever on a good day.
"If this is a once in a full moon thing, I totally get it. " Stiles said yawning, "And if you're gone when I wake up tomorrow, I'll understand. But I expect you here next Saturday, so I can kick your butt at Mario kart okay?" he mumbled sleepily. He wasn't sure what this whole thing was but he would be damned before he would let Isaac slip away again.
When he opened his eyes the next morning he was surprised by the warmth that surrounded him, strong, trim arms wrapped around his waist, breath tickling at the back of his neck and Stiles grinned twisting himself around in Isaac's grasp.
"Hey" he muttered, eyes locking on Isaacs which were only slightly filled with panic, which he was going to take as a good sign.
"Don't you dare freak out on me man, I didn't freak out about being attack hugged by a glowy eyed werewolf last night, and you don't get to freak out at me for cuddling. Cuddling is way more normal man."
Isaac still looked freaked out.
"I…" he clamped his mouth shut forming his thoughts before he spoke, "I didn't kill you." He said and he sounded surprised.
Stiles smiled, "yeah I'm pretty happy about that too."
"You didn't even stay all, rawr scary werewolf all night."
Isaacs's eyes were wide like saucers.
"That, oh…" he said and Stiles stared at him like he was expecting to explain which he was. "Derek said I smelled different, that something had changed and I thought he meant that I was like happier or something, but I get it now. " He said like that was supposed to help Stiles understand what the hell was going on.
"Care to elaborate?" he asked, noting that neither of them had made an attempt to disentangle themselves.
Isaac nodded and Stiles waited patiently, while Isaac thought his response trough. He didn't like to talk just for the sake of talking. An attribute Stiles was beginning to appreciate. "My anchor changed," he said tenitively after a moment. "That's why I came here, that's … why I didn't kill you."
Stiles sucked air in quickly, taking a minute to process what Isaac had just implied. "What, what does that mean, me being your anchor." Stiles knew what he wanted it to mean.
He wanted it to mean he could put away the air matrass and never take it out again. That movies and video games would now be accompanied by cuddles and victory kisses, and he wanted it so bad it actually physically hurt him a little bit, but he figured that wasn't ever going to happen. That didn't stop the tiniest sliver of hope from remaining in his stomach, from the nerves overwhelming him, because there will never be a time that you feel more nervous and vulnerable than when you put yourself out there, and the person you're talking to is dead silent.
Isaac didn't respond at first but Stiles figured , when he did it would be worth it.
"Doesn't have to mean anything, Derek can chain me up on full moon nights and we can go back to normal." Isaac replied.
Stiles was wrong, that wasn't worth it. "What, what if I don't want to go back to how it was before. What if I like this." he said gesturing to their entangled limbs.
Isaac's eyes flickered in confusion, "why?" he looked at Stiles, and Stiles heart did a triple back handspring into the pit of his stomach. "Why would you want me?"
Stiles frowned, he really hated when Isaac couldn't see how great he was because god he was great. He was funny, and sarcastic, and witty, and he was sweet and god, even his father loved him.
"Because maybe I like you, and maybe waking up like this, made today the best day of my entire life." Stiles said frowning and rubbing his thumb over Isaac's cheek, with a shy smile. "And I swear if you say no right now I will pretend that none of this even happened but if you don't stop me in the next five seconds I'm going to kiss you."
Stiles held his breath, eyes seeking out any hint of doubt or fear in Isaac's eyes. He didn't find any surprise. Confusion yes but fear, no there was none of that. He leaned forward, hesitating a moment, less than a half an inch away from Isaac's lips taking one last glance, butterflies flipping around in his stomach.
He took a breath closing the space between them, it was awkward, you probably couldn't have found two people that were more inexperienced if you tried. There wasn't any awkward over the top hair grabbing or lip biting. Just a simple press of the lips one on top of the another. Smiles sneaking their way onto both faces. Stiles wasn't sure what exactly would have happened had his father not knocked at the door, and slipped into the room
"Stiles I have to wo-," he paused running his eyes over the situation in front of him. His son, wrapped in his so called friends arms. Lips slightly red and a grin the size of Texas on his face. "I think we need to have a chat about the description of the word boyfriend son."
Stiles laughed, fingers threading trough Isaacs because he was seriously turning bright red. "I think we need to have a discussion about the process of knocking. Because you're supposed to knock first and then enter, knocking while entering sort of defeats the purpose"
His dad laughed and Isaac's face didn't get any less red, Stiles probably shouldn't have thought it was so freaking cute but he still did regardless.
"I'll leave you two alone then" he said stepping out the door before sticking his head back in, "I expect you for breakfast" he said as if he didn't already every single week.
"Bye dad!" Stiles yelled and his dad walked out the door smiling. "Sorry about that" Stiles muttered and Isaac just smiled at him, arms tightening around his waist.
"Don't be" he replied, they laid there a while in the silence that didn't make Stiles want to squirm. Which as explained before, seemed to be –only around Isaac- occurrence.
"I think you might be my anchor too." He said after a while. "You keep me from turning into a giant chatter-box monster every day."
Isaac laughed, like an honest to goodness laugh. And Stiles, really really liked that laugh. Isaac leaned forward and kissed his forehead.
"Your dad's making bacon, if you want to stop him we should probably get out of bed."
Stiles laughed, "If walking in on this didn't give him a heart attack, well maybe he deserves a little bacon." He said smiling, "by the way, are you. My uh- boyfriend I mean?" he asked and he thought Isaac was going to smack him upside the back of the head.
"Only if you'll have me."
Stiles grinned,
"Wild alphas couldn't keep me away."