Chapter Eight
How Scott and Isaac manage to keep things a secret is beyond Isaac.
He's certain they smell like each other. Isaac can smell himself all over Scott. Surely someone will notice?
But no one says anything.
Erica's gaze constantly shifts between the two of them and Boyd clams up whenever they're in the room together. Since the problem with the alphas is on a slight hiatus, Jackson doesn't come around Happy Meadows anymore. And as for Peter, he always gives the two of them a sly smile like he knows something, but he has yet to actually bring it up.
Isaac suspects it has something to do with Scott being an alpha. Without Scott's official approval, no one can say anything.
Even, as it turns out, Derek. Derek is the only one who gives any indication that he knows what's going on. When Isaac came home after that amazing night with Scott, Derek recoiled for a second in surprise. Then he gave a grunt of approval and a look that definitely said, "About time," and went about his business. He looked a little sad, but Isaac couldn't quite place why. He assumes he imagined it.
With finals over, school comes to an uneventful end. It's the end of their sophomore year. They're considered upperclassmen, now. Supposedly this is a big change, but Isaac doesn't feel any different.
Scott and Isaac take great care not to spend too much time in each other's beds. The temptation to go further is too great. They only really get any alone time when Melissa is out at work and they commandeer Scott's couch. They don't kiss at the townhome. They don't even hold hands there. It's still awkward for them. Isaac doesn't think it'll be that big of a deal when they finally come out, but Scott is still worried.
Apparently, because he'd been so head over heels for Allison, he's had to deal with the repercussions of that with Stiles. Now that the two of them are more open, Isaac learns everything that's been going on in Scott's head.
Scott feels guilty about all the times he missed out on either saving Stiles or hanging out with him because he was so caught up with Allison. He doesn't want to do that to Stiles again. In fact, he was so worried about Stiles freaking out about Scott's falling for Isaac, that he deliberately avoided Isaac for a long time.
Isaac frowns and shoves Scott a little at this revelation. They're sitting on the floor of Scott's room, casually playing some Halo. Although, it only seems casual. Every time Isaac so much as glances slightly into Scott's direction, his insides twist up in the worst form of butterflies imaginable. At this point, he's astonished that he can even speak properly. "I was going crazy without you. I wondered why we couldn't at least be friends. I thought I scared you off."
"Sort of..." Scott admits. "I couldn't handle what I was feeling so I kind of took a page from Stiles' book and avoided it."
"Ah," says Isaac, understanding. "But you won't avoid it anymore, right?"
"Right," Scott grins and finishes their conversation by killing an opposing team member and jumping up and down on their corpse before they respawn.
In spite of Scott wanting to spend more time with Stiles, the opposite is actually true. Stiles, of all people, makes up excuses left and right on why he can't hang out. He apparently got bad grades at the end of the school year and has been grounded, even though Isaac knows this to be a flat out lie. His father has supposedly been cracking down on the amount of time Stiles has to do chores lately, too.
Isaac's phone is filled with rejection texts from Stiles. He knows he should be upset that Stiles doesn't want to hang out, but the result of being blown off is that he gets to spend more alone time with Scott, which is always a plus.
