Ethan/Isaac

Author's Note: I apologize for the delay. My family's summer vacation is interfering with my writing. Anyway, Isaac's dad is still alive in this. Hope you enjoy.

The day after Ethan had talked to Isaac, Aiden had convinced Coach Finstock to let him and Ethan try out for the lacrosse team. He wasn't sure what had been said or if the coach liked the idea or not. He just knew he'd been given a chance and he didn't want to screw it up, so when the last class ended that day he hurried over to the locker room. It spoke to his level of anxiety and excitement that he'd forgotten about his desire to get to know Isaac. All thoughts of the curly-haired boy were absent from his head.

Until, that was, when he walked into the locker room and spotted Isaac changing into his lacrosse gear. He stopped in his tracks and gasped. He could see Isaac's bare back and arms and his right side was covered in bruises, some were a dark yellow while others were purple and fresh. There were even small scars on his back. Hearing his gasp, Isaac spun around to see Ethan standing there and there was fear in those blue eyes of his. It brought to Ethan's mind what Scott and Stiles had told him, how Isaac had looked ready to bolt when they tried talking to him.

Ethan hurried over to Isaac without really thinking and asked, "Isaac, what happened to you?"

Isaac's eyes were wide and he opened his mouth to speak but didn't seem to know what he wanted to say, his shoulders hunched and he backed up a step only to bump into his locker and that seemed to get his mouth working again, "Nothing happened, nothing at all. Can we just forget about this, please?"

To say that he was shocked by Isaac's reaction would have been a massive understatement. He would've expected some anger or frustration or embarrassment or maybe a little bit of nervousness and anxiety. Instead he saw fear and nothing else, as if whatever had been done to Isaac wasn't nearly as bad as what would happen if Ethan told people about what he saw in front of him. He knew his next words were important, so important, that they could open or close a very important door, namely that of Isaac's trust. He didn't know what Isaac had gone through or might still be going through, but he did know there was almost zero chance of him finding out what it was if Isaac didn't trust him.

So, even though he really wanted to say something else, such as urge the boy to get some kind of help, he quietly and solemnly said, "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I won't even tell Aiden."

Isaac let out a long breath and closed his eyes as his head fell back to the locker behind him, clearly relieved, "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Ethan was a little befuddled by that reaction, but at the same time he knew that he barely knew Isaac and that Isaac had little reason to open up to him. Isaac, after a few seconds of leaning back against his locker, opened his eyes and quickly finished changing. Despite the bruises and scars, there was no denying that Isaac was a handsome young man, if a bit thin and scrawny. But at least now Ethan understood why Isaac rushed to change so quickly, it was to hide the bruises and scars. Whatever he was afraid of, at least part of it involved the secret getting out.

After he'd gotten completely ready for lacrosse practice, Isaac softly asked, "Why are you here right now?"

Ethan grinned, "Me and my brother are trying out for the team."

Isaac's brows went up, "Really?"

He nodded, his grin widening at the excitement in Isaac's voice, "Really."

Isaac was about to say something when the door opened and Aiden, Scott, and Stiles walked in, talking loudly. Aiden was bragging about how great an addition he would be, Stiles was arguing back, and Scott was trying to be the sensible one by pointing out that Aiden hadn't tried out yet. And Ethan did not care about it at all, except Isaac's mouth shut and he turned back to his locker to grab his stick.

But just as Isaac's was stepping past Ethan, he whispered in his ear, "Good luck."

And Ethan's grin was back in full force as he stared after Isaac. Even if didn't make the team, at least he was making progress with Isaac.

They both ended up making the team, much to Aiden's smug satisfaction and Ethan could see a rivalry beginning to form between his brother and Jackson. But the most surprising part of that practice was when Isaac came up to him to congratulate him. Ethan was grateful, for Isaac's sake, that very few people were paying attention at the time, except for Scott and Stiles who had been standing right in front of him. He almost laughed at their flabbergasted expressions.

Stiles was the first to recover, "Dude, what just happened? What did you say? What did you do?"

Scott put a hand on Stiles' shoulder to stop him from going any further, then looked at Ethan, the question clear in his eyes, to which Ethan shrugged, "I … don't know. Maybe he just wants a friend."

Neither of them were completely convinced by that, but Scott just nodded and optimistically said, "Well whatever you did, it looks like its working."

Ethan nodded and changed the subject, not wanting his friends to dwell on Isaac too much. Mostly because he didn't want to lie to them any more than he already was. He wanted to tell them about the bruises and scars, but he had promised Isaac he wouldn't and he couldn't help but worry about what might happen to Isaac if he told people. He wanted to help Isaac, but he wasn't sure if there was anything more that he could do that he wasn't already doing.

The next day at lunch Ethan sat down next to Isaac as if nothing had happened between the two of them because, call him crazy, he didn't think Isaac wanted to go anywhere near the subject of those bruises and scars that Ethan had seen. Isaac tensed a little, like he was afraid Ethan was going to bring it up, but not as bad as the first time Ethan had sat at his table and after a few minutes Isaac relaxed again. Like always, Isaac had a notebook and textbook in front of him, but Ethan was starting to get the feeling that Isaac wasn't studying all the time. He barely looked at the book in front of him, but Ethan wasn't about to try sneaking a look at what Isaac was doing.

As Ethan ate his lunch he knew Scott and Stiles were staring, maybe Allison too because Scott told her everything. No doubt they wanted to see if he keep getting closer to Isaac and break him out of whatever shell he was in. But that didn't really sit right with Ethan, he wasn't doing this for Scott or Stiles or anyone else. He just wanted to know why Isaac was always off by himself and maybe be a friend that he could talk to.

About halfway through their lunch period, he quietly said, "If you ever want to talk about … you know, I'm willing to listen. It doesn't matter what it is, you can come to me. But if you don't want to, I won't try to force you."

Isaac's eyes were on him in an instant and filled with anxiety and more than a little fear. Ethan matched Isaac's gaze with his own, hoping to be as reassuring as possible, and didn't say any more. He knew Isaac was hiding something and wanted it kept hidden, for whatever reason. So he'd let Isaac keep it hidden, even though he hadn't been able to stop thinking about those bruises and those little scars last night.

After a few seconds of staring, Ethan tried to speak as casually as he could, "Did you do the chemistry homework last night?"

Isaac blinked, clearly surprised by the sudden topic change, but he nodded, "Yeah. Why?"

"Could you take a look at mine? I'm not sure about those formulas yet."

Ethan pulled out his homework and Isaac just sort of stared at him with this confused look on his face, but then he shrugged and focused on Ethan's homework. Ethan wasn't sure how to interpret that look, but he was glad that Isaac wasn't pushing him away or trying to hide from him somehow. Isaac helped with his homework until the bell rang and then off they went to class and Ethan didn't have a chance to talk to Isaac for the rest of the day.

When he opened his locker after the last class ended, he stopped and frowned. Someone had slipped a piece of notebook paper into his locker. Unfolding it revealed a drawing, remarkably well done, of a wolf howling to the full moon, all drawn in black ink. He glanced around to see if anybody was watching, but could see no one paying an unusual amount of attention to him.

Looking back down at the drawing in his hands, he tried to see if it was signed. It wasn't. Then he checked his locker for anything else that hadn't been there before, but it seemed that the drawing was the only thing that had been slipped in. Unsure what to think about the drawing, except that he liked it, he folded it back up and tucked it into his pocket. He'd look at it again later and maybe divine some clues as to the identity of the artist then.