What Professor Hale was offering was tempting, Isaac couldn't deny that but he couldn't help but wonder …
"You're not trying to bribe me here, are you?" Isaac had to ask. "You don't have to butter me up to by my secrecy."
Professor Hale blinked at him as if that thought hadn't even crossed his mind.
"I just thought that you would be interested in watching this event," Hale said, his face carefully guarded but Isaac could see in his posture how hurt he was by that idea alone.
"I am," Isaac hurried to say. "I am interested and for sure Danny as well. I'll have to ask the others but I think Erica would like to come too."
The smile the professor gave him at that told Isaac better than words ever could that he just wanted to share this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with somebody.
"Too bad Professor Stilinski is not interested in this stuff," Isaac blurted out without thinking. "I mean … it would be nice if he shared your interests."
"He's already making plans for that weekend." Hale didn't seem to mind that Isaac brought up his husband. "I want to leave Friday after work and come back Sunday sometime in the afternoon."
"Sounds good, I'll tell the others." Isaac felt his face heating up. He had a pretty good idea of what kind of plans Professor Stilinski had. Namely Peter Hale.
"By the way, I ran into Peter the other day. Again." The words were out before Isaac had time to think about if he wanted to mention it or not. "Bet he thinks I'm stalking him by now."
Isaac laughed awkwardly.
"He was worried that you would try to blackmail me but he didn't mention that he ran into you," the professor said, brows drawn together.
Of course, Peter had not told him. He did not want his nephew to know about what had happened at the clinic and Isaac had no intention to tell him, he liked to be alive, thank you very much.
"If he asks about me, can you tell him that I'm just a student?" Isaac pleaded. "It's not my fault that he hangs out around the campus a lot."
"We're going to have lunch together tomorrow. Our usual coffee shop." There was a glint in the professor's eyes.
"No, no, no." Isaac raised his hands in defense. "I'm going to have lunch tomorrow on the other side of the planet. I'm not going to deliberately run into him. He's going to kill me if he ever sees me ever again."
Hale laughed. It was as if the sun came out. It was the complete opposite of his usual dark look and for a second Isaac didn't know how to deal with it.
"My uncle doesn't bite," he assured Isaac still with a smile on his face. "I know he can be intimidating but he's harmless."
Isaac begged to differ but he just nodded and kept his mouth shut.
They talked for a little while longer and when Isaac left his office, he wasn't closer to solving his Peter problem but he was in a good mood. While he walked down the hallway, he was already typing into their group chat. Danny would be on board, that was for sure. Erica most likely too. She might drag Boyd along. Isaac wasn't so sure about Lydia, though. Allison would not come for obvious reasons and Scott would have tagged along with Allison but he wouldn't come on his own.
On Thursday Isaac was supposed to work for a few hours after classes. His days had become more packed with his new job but Coach was going easy on him and didn't demand unreasonable hours. When Isaac entered the pawn shop, he was looking forward to his shift. He greeted Coach who was standing behind the counter of the otherwise empty store but he could immediately tell that something was off. The way Coach looked at him ...
"What?" Isaac asked.
"Hello, Isaac." Peter Hale came out of the back.
"What's with you and lurking in the back?" Isaac blurted out and took a step back.
"We need to talk."
Isaac felt his knees buckle. This was some mafia shit. Was Peter a mobster? Was Coach some kind of fence? What had he stumbled into here? And how the fuck was he supposed to get out of this shit? Preferably alive and without his legs broken.
Peter motioned for him to follow him to the back of the store but Isaac was more inclined to make a dash for the front door. He glanced over to Coach, seeking help, but the man just shook his head. Whatever that meant.
In the end, Isaac followed Peter deeper into the store. Maybe this was his chance to clear this up once and for all. Or he would get murdered back there, that was possible too.
The locked room Coach hadn't wanted Isaac to wander into was indeed mostly empty. There was a chair waiting for him in the middle.
"Sit." Peter gave him a push and helplessly Isaac sat down.
"I didn't do anything," Isaac squeaked. This was bad, he should have run when he had the chance.
"You're going to tell me everything I want to know," Peter told him. "Don't try to feed me bullshit."
"You're going to be disappointed," Isaac muttered under his breath. He was so dead.
"We'll see." Peter dragged over a second chair, turned it around, and sat down with his arms resting on the back of the chair. He looked comfortable, as if he had all the time in the world.
"Who are you working for?" Peter repeated the question he'd asked before. Isaac still had no satisfying answer for him.
"I heard you're looking for a camera to take better pictures," Peter said in a chatty tone. As if they were doing small talk at a party.
"For pictures of the night sky." Isaac stumbled over the words. "We only have one telescope, I take pictures while I wait my turn."
"And the days you're not star-gazing? What do you take pictures of, then?"
"What? I don't … I haven't taken any pictures."
Peter hummed to that as if he didn't believe him.
Peter asked his questions, Isaac answered. Pete didn't believe him and asked the same questions again. At one point he gave up his comfortable position and started to circle Isaac. He put his hands on his shoulders from behind and whispered in his ear just to be right in his face a minute later. He didn't hit him but it was more than enough to reduce Isaac to a crying mess. He just wanted to make it out of here alive.
Isaac assured Peter that he was not stalking him, that he wasn't working for anybody, not even doing this as a favor for Allison. He wasn't out there, looking for Peter, he just happen to stumble over him at every turn.
"You talked to Derek."
"Just that I ran into you again," Isaac whimpered. "I didn't tell him anything, I swear."
Isaac lost every sense of time but eventually, Peter let him go. He kicked him out of the back door into the alley behind the store. By now it was dark.
Isaac tried to keep his balance but his legs gave out under him and he crashed to the dirty pavement.
"Not a word to anybody." Peter stood in the doorway, looking down at him with cold eyes.
Isaac nodded and wiped snot and tears off his face with the sleeve of his jacket.
Without another word, Peter closed the door and Isaac dared to sit there for a moment longer until he trusted his legs to carry him home.
Scott wasn't home so there was nobody there to see the sorry state he was in. Isaac grabbed a clean set of clothes and went for a shower.
Peter hadn't laid a finger on him but he still felt stiff and sore as if he'd been beaten up. Isaac washed off the snot and tears and then he just stood under the spray. He did not curl up and cried in the shower but only because he felt too numb for that. When the water started to get cold, he shut it off and mechanically he dried himself off and put on his clothes. Then he put his sweaty ones in the washing machine. He wondered if it would be enough to get rid of the stench of sweat but it was worth a try. He didn't have enough spare clothes to just dump them in the trash.
While the washing machine was doing its thing Isaac returned to his room and stretched out on the bed. With unseeing eyes, he stared at the ceiling. He fell asleep like this but it was uneasy at best. He drifted in and out of sleep, haunted by nightmares, and in the morning he felt like he hadn't slept at all.
Somehow he made it through the day and he even remembered to hand in the assignment that was due today. Lucky him, he had finished it the other day and had intended to polish it today but he skipped that part. It had to do as it was. For his classes, he would have to ask around if he could copy somebody's notes because being in the right room at the right time was all he was able to accomplish today.
"What the fuck is going on with you?" Erica asked when she and Boyd joined him in the cafeteria for lunch. Danny and Scott were right behind them. "You look like shit. Are you sick? Hungover? What's going on? Don't tell me you were stupid enough to take something in the middle of the week"
"I'm fine," Isaac managed to say but it didn't even sound convincing in his own ears. "Just didn't sleep well."
"Bullshit." Erica narrowed her eyes at him. "C'mon, what happened?"
"Is it because somebody broke into our room?" Scott asked. "Maybe you can crash somewhere else for a while?" He gave Danny a pointed look who was quick to offer his couch.
"I might take you up on it." Isaac let out a breath. Yesterday he'd been too out of it but thinking about it now, he didn't want to be alone during the night. Peter hadn't outright said it but thinking about some of his questions Isaac was pretty sure that Scott wasn't just jumping to conclusions. Peter had broken into their room. He might do it again.
The others sensed that Isaac was not in the mood and left him to nurse his coffee, an untouched sandwich in front of him but he didn't feel hungry.
Around him, the conversation turned to Professor Hale's offer. Since Isaac had posted it in the group chat the other day, it was the hot topic. Danny and Erica had been sold on it immediately and Lydia was tempted to come as well. She was trying to convince Allison to come with them which was not a good idea but Isaac didn't know how to tell her that.
At the moment he couldn't care less about a trip next month. He just wanted to survive the day.
"What about tomorrow?" Danny asked when the conversation came to a lull. "We might get lucky with the weather again."
"You're obsessed you know that, right?" Erica teased as if she wasn't the same. However, she had to decline. She needed the weekend to get some work done. Lydia had plans with Allison so she was out as well.
"Isaac?" Danny asked, startling Isaac out of his thoughts. He'd only half-listened to what they were saying.
"Hmm?"
"Are you going to come with me to the park tomorrow or am I going on a solo trip?" Danny ducked his head to look him in the eye.
"I'll be there," Isaac decided. It was better than spending the night alone in his room. "Half of the telescope is mine after all."
"You better catch up on some sleep until, then. I'm not going to carry your sleepy ass out of the park." Danny shook his head at him and with that it was settled.