Isaac left Professor Hale's office dazed and mildly confused but the last few minutes had cleared up some things. His mind was still swirling and he'd need to sleep over this to wrap his head around all the new information but at least he was seeing the whole picture now.
He'd been wondering about Professor Hale's sexuality but Isaac had never thought to think farther than that. He'd never even considered that the professor might identify as more than just straight or gay. And even gay had been a stretch in Isaac's mind. Like Professor Stilinski had put it, Isaac's generation hadn't invented this stuff but when he thought of queer people, Isaac pictured people his age or younger. It wasn't logical, he knew that, but he couldn't help it.
On the other hand, it was comforting to see how content both professors were with who they were. Isaac almost envied them for what they had with each other. They hadn't gone into detail, for which Isaac was grateful, but he could imagine the hard times they had to go through until they got to where they were now. An ace person paired with somebody who had a high libido was just a receipt for disaster but they had made it work.
In his mind Isaac went over all the little things he'd witnessed, looking at them with new eyes. Things made a whole lot of sense now.
"But his uncle?" Isaac muttered under his breath. That part would never stop being weird. But who was he to judge? They were all adults, they could do whatever they fuck they wanted.
Isaac didn't want to get anybody in trouble so he'd been quick to assure the professors that he could keep a secret and that he had no intention to do anything with what he knew about them.
However, he had kind of thrown Allison under the bus. He hadn't been able to come up with a convincing lie and if he was honest, after Professor Hale and Stilinski had been so open with their relationship and their arrangement with Peter Hale, he didn't want to lie to them. So he'd told them about Allison.
Professor Hale's face had done some interesting things before he'd gotten his features under control but Isaac had gotten the impression that neither professor wanted to get a student in trouble for something her aunt had done twenty years ago.
Isaac skipped his next class, no way would he be able to focus on what was going on in class, and went for a walk instead. He needed to get rid of some energy.
He stuffed his fists into his pockets and with his head low, he walked in a random direction. He didn't care where he was going, he just needed to move. He didn't know for how long he'd been walking but by the time his mind had calmed down his stomach was grumbling, reminding him that he'd skipped lunch.
Isaac had a look around to find out where he was but nothing looked familiar. Somehow he'd ended up in a more run-down part of the city, the street was lined with small stores and businesses that had all seen better days. Nobody was paying him any mind but this was not a neighborhood Isaac wanted to be in at night. However, it was still early in the afternoon and he was here in broad daylight, everything just looked sad.
At a corner store, Isaac bought a bottle of Gatorade and some snacks and he even found the sad excuse of a park where he could sit down for a minute and eat his lunch. When he reached for his phone to find out where he was and how to get back to campus, his fingertips brushed over something else in his pocket.
Isaac stared at the folded piece of paper. It felt like ages ago that he'd put together a list of things he wanted to ask Professor Hale. Shaking his head, Isaac unfolded it and skimmed over the questions. He would have to tell Danny that he'd never gotten around to going over their list with the professor but this would give him a reason to see Professor Hale again next week, maybe they could pretend that nothing had changed. Isaac would like that.
He stuffed the list back into his pocket and brought his phone to life. Turned out that he wasn't that far from familiar terrain but a few blocks did make quite a difference around here. It would be a bit of a walk but he shouldn't have any problems getting home.
While he was on his phone anyway, Isaac checked the weather app. Lately, he'd become slightly obsessed with the weather. The weekend was still a few days ahead so he took the forecast with a grain of salt but so far they might get lucky again. Isaac asked about plans for the weekend in their group chat but the others were either in class or at work so nobody answered immediately.
Isaac put the phone away and started walking again. This time he did pay attention to where he was going, though. He passed convenience stores and laundromats, pawn shops and liquor stores. Some windows were so obscure that he didn't even know what kind of business they belonged to but he was not brave enough to find out. He did look at the windows with interest and even stopped here and there to have a closer look.
One pawn shop caught his eye with a display of cameras and a bit of equipment. Nothing too fancy, not that Isaac could tell a good camera from a lousy one, but the price tag still read more than he was willing to spend. Taking pictures was just the icing on the cake, his main interest was stargazing. However, with by now three people using the one telescope they had he needed something to pass the time until it was his turn again.
Thinking about it, it wasn't fair, half the telescope was his so he should get half the time with it as well but there was not much he could do about it. He just hoped that it was temporary, that Erica and whoever decided to join them would either get bored and not come along any longer or get a telescope of their own. Besides, taking pictures was fun as well. Allison had brought his first attempt to life, one was serving as his background picture on his phone right now, and Isaac kind of wondered what she might be able to do with better source material.
Isaac had one last look at the cameras when he noticed the tripod one of them was mounted to. It had a price tag of its own. That was something he could afford. He shouldn't, he didn't have the money to spare, but for one, if he could mount his phone on a tripod the quality of his pictures would considerably increase and two, after the conversation he had with Hale and Stilinski earlier he kind of deserved something nice.
At least he could find out if the tripod was compatible with his phone. Isaac entered the store.
His eyes needed a moment to adjust to the dim light but the man behind the counter was on his phone anyway and just waved absently at him which Isaac interpreted as: "With you in a sec."
Isaac used the moment to have a look around. The store was small and cramped with stuff. Lots of electronics but for sure Isaac would not buy a laptop or a phone here. He could get behind a PlayStation, though. He had a longing look at the two on display but the price tag made him look somewhere else rather quickly. The jewelry didn't catch his interest but he had a curious look at the vintage stuff. There were some obscure things on the shelves, making Isaac wonder what people brought in to pawn. A wicker stroller? Really?
Some things had been sitting on the shelf long enough to gather a noticeable layer of dust, though.
"I just need somebody for a delivery." The shopkeeper was still on the phone. "Send Ennis or one of the twins, I don't care. I just want this stuff out of my store as quickly as possible."
Isaac didn't mean to eavesdrop but the store was small and the man was not exactly trying to keep his voice down.
"The usual rate," the man continued after a moment of silence. "Peter says that Braeden is going to pay your guy once she has confirmed that nothing is damaged. She's not going to make that mistake again. So tell him to not go through every pothole, some of the stuff is fragile."
Isaac listened with a smile playing on his lips. He just hoped that this Braeden had more luck than Isaac had with his Amazon deliveries.
He did stumble over the other name, though. Peter was a common name and New York was huge so the Peter the man just mentioned was most likely not Peter Hale but the last few weeks had made Isaac paranoid. He'd come to a point where he feared stumbling over Peter and/or one of his professors at every turn.
The man finished the call but mumbled to the dark phone for a moment longer before he turned to Isaac.
"Hey, you," he yelled.
Isaac hadn't even been touching anything but out of instinct alone, he hurried to step away from the shelf he'd been looking at, instantly feeling guilty.
"What do you want?"
Isaac was close to just turning around, the harsh tone brought back memories, but the shopkeeper kept talking.
"C'mon here, boy. Not going to bite your head off." He gestured for Isaac to step closer. Something in his posture softened and suddenly the man reminded Isaac more of a teacher he had in high school than his father.
"What can I do for you?" The man asked when Isaac stepped up to the counter, eyeing him in search of whatever Isaac might want to put to pawn.
"There's …" His voice cracked and Isaac had to clear his throat before he tried again. "There's a tripod with a camera mounted to it out in the window. I was wondering if it would fit a phone as well?"
The man just looked at him for a long moment, most likely trying to figure out if it was worth the hassle to get the item out of the window, but then he nodded to himself and stepped around the counter.
"Only one way to find out."
Isaac followed the man to the front where he had to shove a display with guitars aside to even get to the window.
"You into photography?" He asked while he was trying to move the display without dropping one of the guitars. Isaac only hesitated a second before he gave him a hand. He wouldn't put it past this guy to charge him for any damage to the guitars.
"Not really." Isaac secured the guitars with his arm and together they got the display out of the way. "It's more something to pass the time until it's my turn on the telescope."
That statement didn't make sense out of context so Isaac told him about their growing stargazing club.
"What's with all the stargazing lately?" The man wondered while he carefully maneuvered the tripod through the rest of the things on display in the window. "Sold a telescope just the other day."
"You have telescopes?" Isaac had a look around but he didn't spot any.
"I had one." He put down the tripod and started to fiddle with the camera to get it off. "A vintage one, doubt it's good for more than decoration." He managed to separate the two items and set the tripod in front of Isaac. "Try it."
It took Isaac a moment to figure it out but then his phone sat proudly on top of the tripod.
"I take it."
"You better," the man muttered but not unkindly. "As for telescopes, I don't get those in often but you can check in from time to time. Might be able to give you a good deal on one of the cameras as well, noticed you eyeing them."
Isaac left the pawn shop with his very own tripod and the intention to come back. The guy was crazy but he kind of liked him.
