Danny and Isaac packed up. Mechanically Isaac folded the blanket while Danny did the rest, and then they were on their way over to Danny's place.
Isaac took Danny up on the offer of a shower, he didn't draw it out too much, and then he was sitting with still damp hair and wearing some of Danny's clothes on his couch. It was getting late and they should turn in but Isaac was too wired for that. He knew that he would just stare at the ceiling for hours.
Danny had one look at him before he got his laptop.
"Princess Bride or Die Hard?" He asked. "Or do you have another feel-good movie?"
"It's not Christmas," Isaac pointed out, his mind too sluggish to come up with a better idea.
"Princess Bride it is."
That was how Isaac ended up watching Princess Bride on Danny's couch at one in the morning. He knew the movie by heart so it didn't take any afford to follow the plot and Isaac felt himself relax. He might be leaning into Danny but he didn't seem to mind. When his head ended up on Danny's shoulder and his eyes started to drop, Isaac gave in to sleep.
Isaac woke up stretched out on a couch, tucked in with a cozy blanket, and with no idea where he was. For a moment he just stared at the unfamiliar ceiling before he rolled up to a sitting position to find out where he was.
Slowly the events of the night came back to him. He'd told Danny about Peter.
"Shit." Isaac rubbed his hands over his face. How could he have been so stupid?
"Morning, sunshine," Danny greeted him way too cheerfully when he came into the room with two steaming mugs in his hands. "Coffee?"
Isaac nodded to the coffee question, he wasn't ready to talk just yet.
"How did you sleep?" Danny handed him one of the mugs. "Nightmares?"
"Not that I remember." Isaac inhaled the rich aroma of the coffee. It didn't come in a paper cup so Danny had made it himself. The smell alone told Isaac that this was way better than the stuff they had at the dorms.
"What time is it?"
"Just past ten." Danny sat down next to him and for a while, they were just nursing their coffees.
"You know, you can crash here for a while if you don't feel safe in the dorms any longer," Danny offered.
Isaac had his perfectly fine room and he shouldn't impose on Danny like this, he should say no. Instead, he said: "I'll think about it."
"The offer stands."
They fell silent again but Isaac could tell that there was something on Danny's mind.
"This Peter guy," he finally asked without looking at Isaac. "What do you know about him? Do you have his full name?"
Isaac knew way more about Peter than just his name but he was not ready to go there. Things would lead to things.
"Why?" Isaac asked but the answer was obvious.
Danny was the computer guy. In High School, he'd hacked the school's computer to change his grades. Isaac wasn't sure what he was capable of nowadays but he was the kind of guy who hacked his way into a system just to see if he could. Isaac didn't want to think about what he would be able to do with Peter's full name.
"Maybe I find something the police can work with," Danny tried to reason with him.
That was a big maybe. What he would find for sure was Peter's connection to Professor Hale, the fire that had killed their whole family, and Kate Argent. With Kate, he would find Allison. Isaac had gone down that route.
"Don't." Isaac shook his head. "Just let it be, please."
"That guy has kidnapped you and interrogated you for hours," Danny reminded him. "How can you just let that go?"
"Danny, please." Isaac just wanted to leave it behind. Peter had gotten his answers, Isaac was not a threat to him, he should leave him alone now. At least until Isaac ran into him again.
Danny studied him for a long moment but then he nodded.
"Okay." He finished his coffee with a big gulp. "Okay, what do you want for breakfast?"
"Waffles," Isaac blurted out the first thing coming to mind. "I want waffles. C'mon, my treat."
He grabbed Danny by the arm and tried to drag him off the couch.
"How about you hit the bathroom first?" Danny laughed. "I have a spare toothbrush."
Danny had a point there but ten minutes later they were on their way to find some waffles. Danny lived a bit off campus in another direction than Isaac was familiar with so he just followed Danny's lead to the best waffles around here.
The waffles were good, Isaac had to give him that, and once he had something in his stomach that wasn't just coffee, Isaac felt better.
"What are we going to do now?" Danny asked when he pushed his empty plate away.
"We are not going to do anything." Isaac fixed him with a stern look over the rim of his cup.
"What are you going to do?" Danny corrected his question.
"Nothing." Isaac shook his head. "I have to study, I have assignments I have to finish. That's what you should do as well."
Danny didn't like it but he accepted Isaac's decision.
"If you need anything …," Danny said when they were ready to leave. "I'm here."
"I know." Isaac swallowed against the sudden lump in his throat. "Thanks, man. You know, for everything."
"That's what friends are for."
They ended this before they were hugging in public. The waffle house wasn't that far off campus and Isaac needed to move so he declined Danny's offer to drive him. Since he wasn't that familiar with this side of the campus Isaac had to pay attention to where he was going which kept his mind off other things.
When he entered his room, he found Scott sitting at his desk.
"Long night?" Scott asked but didn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that Isaac hadn't come home last night.
"Crashed at Danny's." Isaac dropped on his bed and stretched out his legs. There were a million things he needed to do but his mind was not ready for any of them. But he was getting there. Talking to Danny had helped. It had been a mistake, he knew that, but it felt good. He wasn't alone in this any longer.
So for a while, he listened to Scott typing away on his keyboard and muttering to himself under his breath but eventually Isaac rolled out of bed and got his laptop out as well.
His mind did wander and he didn't get as much done as he would have liked but he took it. He did succeed in gathering notes for the classes he'd missed so there was that.
On Monday he went to his classes and he managed to keep the memory of Peter interrogating him at bay most of the time. The nights were the worst so Tuesday he succumbed and asked Danny to crash on his couch again. He woke up twice that night with fleeting images lingering in his mind but all in all he didn't sleep too badly.
He was even looking forward to seeing Professor Hale during his office hours.
Isaac did, however, almost crumble when the professor jokingly asked if he'd seen Peter again.
"Not since last week," Isaac answered honestly and hurried to change the topic. Hale studied him for a moment over the rim of his glasses, making Isaac wonder what was going on in his head, but he did let him get away with changing the topic.
Isaac told him about his night out on the weekend. Even if it had been cut short, he had spent some time at the telescope. Turned out the professor had been out as well but since he had a better spot, he'd seen more he could talk about now. Isaac didn't mind, he liked listening to his professor. It showed how passionate he was and that he rarely got the chance to talk about his hobby. Not for the first time Isaac got the feeling that Hale enjoyed their meetings even more than Isaac did.
Naturally, their conversation turned to the trip they were planning. As predicted Danny was on board, same for Erica. It still wasn't clear if she would drag Boyd along or not, though.
"Lydia is trying to convince Allison to come," Isaac said with a glance at Professor Hale to catch his reaction. "I started this thing with photographing the night sky and Lydia thinks that Allison would enjoy it. Wherever your spot is, we should get better pictures there than in a park in the middle of New York."
"You can take breathtaking pictures out there," Hale confirmed, not touching the other part of Isaac's statement. "It's not my thing but I had somebody with me once and the pictures he took …" He shook his head with a dreamy expression.
"Yeah, I think Allison would like it," Isaac admitted. "She and Lydia are best friends, I think Allison would like to come but …" He didn't know how to put her bias in words without insulting his professor.
"I know." The smile fell from Hale's face. "To be honest, I'm not sure how I like the idea of her coming along."
"It's not my place to say something about this," Isaac said carefully. "But I suggested to her to talk to you. To see where you both stand. So if she ambushes you, it's my fault." Isaac ran a hand through his hair. Why did he have to mess with this? It was none of his business. Should Allison and Professor Hale sort this out.
"My door is open," the professor said and Isaac could tell that he meant it.
"I'll tell her."
Isaac left the professor's office with a good feeling which wasn't even ruined by running into the other professor on his way out. After that Isaac had lunch at that coffee shop and didn't see Peter Hale. He called it a win.
He did, however, take Danny up on his offer to crash on his couch again. To not overstay his welcome, Isaac brought Chinese for dinner.
"You're a lifesaver." Danny snagged one of the containers out of Isaac's hand. "I think I forgot to eat all day." He started to unpack the food on the coffee table while Isaac got them glasses.
"You think?"
"I might had some leftover pizza but I'm not sure, that might have been yesterday." Danny thought about it for a moment but then he shrugged and reached for the chopsticks.
"Do you have an assignment due?" Isaac asked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. If Danny was too busy, he didn't want to bother him. He probably should leave after dinner.
"More of a private project." Danny dug into the fried noodles and closed his eyes in bliss. However, once he'd inhaled half the container, he slowed down, suddenly fiddling with his chopsticks.
"What?" Isaac asked around a mouthful.
"I know I shouldn't have done it," Danny admitted and put the half-eaten container aside. For some reason, it looked as if he'd lost his appetite.
"What did you do?" Dread settled in Isaac's stomach.
"You wouldn't tell me who this Peter guy is and I know I should have let it be but …"
"What did you do?" Isaac repeated his question but he already knew the answer. He didn't know how Danny had done it but he knew that Peter was Peter Hale. And with that, he knew everything.
"I'm sorry, okay?" Danny raised his hands in defense. "I swear I'm not going to bother Allison or Professor Hale."
"Why did I have to open my big mouth," Isaac muttered to himself.
"I have to admit that it was a shock when I found out about Professor Hale and Allison's aunt, how she'd murdered his whole family," Danny spoke quickly as if he feared that Isaac wouldn't let him finish. "But I don't care about that. I care about Peter Hale. The things I've found out about him …" Danny let out an impressed whistle.
Isaac knew that he would regret his next question but he couldn't help it, he had to ask: "What did you find out?"