Fear and Relief.
It was a lazy Friday night and it was a perfect time for a movie and popcorn. But there Scott sat, staring at his phone and trying to muster up the courage to call Isaac over. He knew that he had nothing to worry about, that Isaac would say yes regardless of the amount of pheromones that Scott was producing right now, but still…
Suddenly the phone rang and Scott jumped a little. He reached for it slowly, not daring to believe that Isaac had somehow developed some psychic wolf ability. "Hello…?" Scott said carefully and exhaled sharply as he heard his mother's voice. "Scott, honey, I'm not gonna be home tonight, okay? There was a pile up on the highway and people are coming in," his mother's voice said and Scott nodded to the phone. Even through the phone, Scott could feel his mother rolling her eyes at him, "You're nodding, aren't you?" she said with a note of exasperation and Scott nodded again but found his words finally. "Y-Yeah… I mean no, I mean okay. Take care, mum," he said and his mother sighed. "Okay honey, you take care too, huh" she said and hung up.
Now would be the perfect time for Isaac to come over, but no, courage was just not on Scott's list tonight. So when the phone rang again, Scott almost dropped it when he heard Isaac's voice. "H-hey Scott?" Isaac said faulting a little and Scott's senses picked up something wrong with him. "Isaac, what's wrong?" he said and he heard Isaac sniff. "S-Scott would you mind if I c-came over?" he asked and Scott couldn't believe this. "Y-Yeah sure, Zac," Scott said, "You need a li-" But Isaac stopped him midsentence. "N-No, I'll walk over," he said quickly and hung up.
Scott had just enough time to run up to his room and change his t-shirt and spray on some deodorant before he heard an urgent knock on the door and Isaac's muffled voice calling his name softly. Scott was about to open the door when he smelt fresh blood; Isaac's blood. He flung open the door to find Isaac standing there, his nose bleeding a little and a thin cut across his head. Isaac had a black eye and the way he was holding his side, Scott was pretty sure that his ribs were bruised if not broken.
"Isaac what happened?!" Scott said and put an arm around Isaac to steady his body. Isaac smiled faintly up at Scott and said, "Dad drank a bit tonight." Anger flamed within Scott, but Isaac heaved himself upright and put a hand on Scott's face, looking up at him pleadingly. "Don't, Scott. Don't," he said and Scott's anger deflated. "C'mon, I'll clean you up," Scott said and helped Isaac to the living room.
Scott deposited Isaac on his sofa and went to the downstairs bathroom where his mother kept the first aid kit. He grabbed the whole box and went back to the living room to find Isaac touching his ribs gingerly. There was a purple flower of bruising around it and from Isaac's flinching; Scott knew that it wouldn't heal fast, even with his wolf powers. Scott sighed and Isaac looked up at him, quickly pulling his shirt down to hide the bruise, but he knew that Scott had seen the bruise. Scott knelt down in front of Isaac and opened the kit, taking out iodine and plasters.
Isaac looked down, ashamed of having to ask Scott for help, but as always, Scott knew what Isaac was thinking and he took Isaac's face in his hand and pushed Isaac's face up a little so he was looking at Scott. "It'll be okay, Isaac," Scott said, but Isaac just looked down again, nodding slightly.
Scott was furious at Isaac's father. For years, Mr. Lahey had been hitting Isaac, beating his only son into a subservient shell of a person, never asking for help until recently, when he had gotten the bite and when he had met Scott. It was because of Scott that Isaac was learning to trust again and it was only because of Scott that Isaac hadn't killed his father tonight.
Slowly Scott began to clean Isaac up, wiping the blood away and applying iodine and a plaster to the cut on Isaac's head and when he was done, Scott reached around and began taking Isaac's shirt off. Isaac froze and his hands shot to his back where Scott's hands were. "What're you doing?" he asked and Scoot looked at him with a level gaze. "You're going to let me look at that bruise, Isaac. No two ways about it," Scott said and Isaac looked away but let Scott's hands go slowly.
Scott saw the bruise on Isaac's side had darkened a lot more, which was a good thing because that meant that the healing was already taking place, but he wanted to make sure that there were no broken bones there. So Scott carefully put his fingers on Isaac's side and pressed gently. Isaac shouted out in pain and clutched Scott's shoulder his nails digging into Scott's skin. "Scott, please," Isaac said, tears springing into his eyes, but Scott closed his eyes and breathed in. "I have to, Isaac," he said and Isaac looked at him, pain wracking his eyes and he nodded, tears falling, and Scott continued.
Afterwards, Scott carried Isaac upstairs to his room because Isaac was in no shape to walk after that ordeal. There were no broken bones and Scott had sped up the healing by making a small slice in the middle of the bruise which almost sent Isaac over the edge. Scott put his head on the pillow and sighed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said and Scott smiled at him, getting up to leave, but Isaac caught onto Scott's hand and stopped him.
"Don't go," he said and Scott felt a surge of love for Isaac. This broken boy, this lonely thing, all he needed was love, and Scott wanted nothing more than to give it to him. So Scott carefully lay down in his bed and Isaac wrapped himself around Scott's waist, laying his head on Scott's chest. "I'm sorry," Isaac whispered and Scott took Isaac's hand in his and slowly stroked Isaac's hand with his thumb. "Sleep. Isaac, I'll be here when you wake up," Scott said and Isaac didn't have to be told twice.
Just before Isaac went under, he whispered something that he hadn't said in years and Scott smiled down at him. "I love you too, Zac," Scott said and Isaac unconsciously snuggled into Scott's body more. "I'll never let anyone hurt you anymore," Scott said to the sleeping Isaac and he was going to make sure that he kept that promise.