Stiles and Scott try to talk Isaac out of wanting the bite when Derek offers it to him.
Sophomore year/Season 2
"You freaking jumped right over Danny!" Stiles exclaimed, pointing his attack towards Scott. "You've gotta tone down the wolf powers - you should be used to them."
"I made the goal," Scott smirked.
"In practice. Does it matter that much?"
Scott shrugged as he threw his bags into the back of Stiles's jeep. So Stiles was right, but- "I guess I don't realize I'm using them. I just see an easier way to get around someone and go with it."
Stiles held back any sassy remark and turned his attention to Isaac, who was walking slowly towards the jeep.
"Yo, Isaac. Can you hurry it up here?" Stiles says.
Isaac lifts his head and walks at a brisk pace. Had he really been walking that slow? Upon putting his stuff with Stiles and Scott's, he realizes his thoughts had been far deeper than he remembered. He was completely zoned out, blindly staring at the pavement with each step before Stiles brought him out of it.
"Are you alright?" Scott asks.
"Yeah," Isaac says as he slides into the passenger seat. "I just had something on my mind."
"Anything important?" Stiles probes.
"No, not really."
"Isaac, you know you can't lie to us," Scott says. "We've always been able to tell and I can hear your heartbeat go up."
Isaac turned and gave a short-lived glare to Scott, quickly followed by an exasperated eye roll.
"It's things like that," Isaac says with a bit more vigor than he intended.
Scott and Stiles exchange a glance at a stop light.
Isaac inhales deeply once. "Ever since you were bitten, you've gotten better at lacrosse, popular, found a girlfriend. And Stiles and I are still where we were the beginning of freshman year - the same place you were."
"Isaac, where are you going with this?" The worry in Scott's voice is evident.
"Derek offered me the bite."
Brakes squeal. Bags ram into the back row of seats. Three boys go flying, constrained only by their seat belts.
"He what?" Stiles exclaims.
"What the hell, Stiles?" Isaac says simultaneously.
"No, what the hell were you thinking, Isaac?" Stiles asks before Isaac could say anything else.
"I don't know!" he yells in return. "Aside from the full moon once a month, being a werewolf doesn't seem too bad!"
The other two boys fail to keep their mouths closed, and instead stare at Isaac incredulously. Shaking his head, Stiles turns off the car and walks out, running a hand over his hair.
He waits until he hears Scott and Isaac leave the Jeep and head toward him in the grass along the side of the road. "Were you not there when we chained Scott in his bedroom? How we worried constantly about who he might have killed?"
"Maybe the second time around is easier," Isaac offers quietly.
Stiles' mouth falls open again, looking from Scott to Isaac, who is now looking down at his shoes sheepishly with his hands sunken deep into his hoodie pocket.
"Isaac, please don't listen to Derek," Scott pleads. "You've seen it first hand - you know how it really is. It's not worth it."
"I know that. It's just," Isaac hesitates. "Derek was really convincing. And watching you score goals so easily and how your asthma just disappeared overnight." He paused as he opened the door to return to the passenger seat. "Sometimes it seems like the good outweighs the bad."
Stiles climbed into the Jeep as Scott slid into the back seat. "They kind of cancel each other out."
"And you would be part of Derek's pack," Stiles says, returning to the road. "That's the last thing you want. He's only looking for power."
"Yeah," Isaac sighs. "He can be a douche bag sometimes."
"Sometimes?" Stiles jokes.
Isaac joins in with the laughing, hoping he convinced them to believe he wouldn't go looking for Derek. A little part of him wishes he could convince himself, too. Sure, Scott had to deal with a lot and still, but he seems fine. If anything, a little better off.
They drop Isaac off at his house first - it's the first one they pass on the way home every day. One glance at the driveway proved his dad was already home. With a sigh, Isaac unlocks the front door and slides to his room unnoticed. Or ignored. He doesn't bother to determine which one.
Scott and Stiles were his best friends, but who were they to tell him what he can do?
He made his decision.
He would go to the cemetery for a while, and when the owner finally left he would sneak out early. He packs a few extra things than what he usually brings with him to work. A flashlight would probably help. Bandages? How long would it take him to heal from that initial bite?
With everything stuffed into one small backpack, Isaac makes his way to the graveyard and eventually the abandoned train warehouse where Derek will be waiting. And as he passes Schott's house, he feels as if he's being stared down by his best friend, making him feel more and more guilty with every breath.