Note: I apologize for the long wait between updates. I've been very busy with work seeing as it's the holidays and on top of it, I've been so tired and so sick from baby #2! I'm now safely in the second trimester and my energy levels have returned!

Sunday was so awful, Isaac didn't bother waiting until Monday to go into work. He'd tried texting Allison an apology, but she never texted him with a response. Erica spent most of the morning glaring at him to the point that not even hiding in his bedroom helped.

The only bit of friendship Boyd dished out to him was a sympathetic look and a quiet, "You should just apologize, man."

He'd tried! What did he have to do, go all the way to wherever Allison lived and deliver her flowers? He said he was sorry, and he gave Erica the seven dollars for the drink so that she could pay Allison back the next time she saw her. Isaac knew it would be a long time before he saw Allison again.

Her absence actually hurt. Allison, despite showing up in his life at the wrong time, was a pretty cool person. He'd wanted to be her friend. She'd proved to be the type of person who had a decent sense of humor and she bought him alcohol. The whole annoying human emotion thing just had to get in the way.

In order to escape the glares from his roommates, Isaac opted to make the short trek to A&O Booksellers just for some peace and quiet. He didn't bother saying anything to the cashier or anyone at the customer services desk. Instead, he made a beeline for the comfortable chairs in the corner of the store, pulled out his World War Z book and began to read—as if he were at the library.

He hadn't been there long before he heard familiar footsteps and a loud sigh. When he pulled his eyes from his book to see a pair of high heeled shoes, his stomach twisted into a knot. Kali absolutely hated when employees came in to loiter. Isaac swallowed hard and brought his gaze upward, knowing he'd be face-to-face with the demon assistant manager.

"Lahey," said a voice that caught Isaac off guard. It wasn't Kali at all. When he looked up the rest of the way, he relaxed a little bit to see Jennifer, one of the merchandising managers, giving him a stern look. Her stern looks were a bit like Derek's, though, in that they did very little to intimidate him. "Aren't you off today?"

Isaac held up his book. "Just finishing this book before I have to give it back. It's much easier to concentrate here than at home."

Jennifer pursed her lips and sighed heavily through her nose. "I'll let you slide just this once, but only because we're really slow. If it picks up, you'll have to relinquish your seat to a paying customer, okay?"

"No prob," Isaac said as he faked a salute.

As Jennifer left, Isaac let himself become lost in his book. Once he became focused, it was easy to ignore the strange turn his life had taken. He didn't even notice other patrons making their way through the stacks or other employees walking by with books to shelve. His world consisted of himself a futuristic society that had survived a zombie apocalypse. Life, for a short time, was okay.

Just as Isaac reached the end of a chapter, he heard his name spoken not too far away. An unwanted electrical pulse surged through his system as he broke his concentration and switched his focus to the conversation at hand.

"I'm sorry, Isaac isn't working today. I am not at liberty to give out schedules, either. Is there something specific I can help you with?" Jennifer's patient tone easily cut through the shelves directly to Isaac's ears.

"No, thanks. He just… he helped me with some books. I just wanted to say thanks."

Isaac's heart leapt to his throat. He could never forget that voice—the voice of Scott McCall.

"Oh, how lovely! If that's the case, you can let him know yourself. He was in earlier today. He might still be here."

"Really?"

"He was reading in a chair by Home and Garden."

Isaac scrambled to sit up, but knew he wouldn't be able to hide. Why had he even gotten the instinct to hide? This was Scott. If anything, he should be happy Scott was looking for him—not terrified. Perhaps it was because if everyone else was mad at him, Scott should be, too. Isaac didn't want to have to face that.

In the end, he only slouched further down in his chair and held his book closer to his face. Maybe, if he was lucky, Scott would think he was someone else and just go away. That way, Isaac wouldn't have to face any unwanted truths.

Heavy footsteps came his way, but then stopped a few feet away from him. Why wasn't Scott getting any closer? Isaac didn't dare let his curiosity get the better of him and he resisted the urge to peek out over the top of his book.

"Zombies, huh?" Scott's voice rang out. Even though Isaac had been anticipating something, he still jumped, but he didn't bring the book away from his face.

"I still prefer watching them onscreen, but I can always make them more gruesome in my head if I read," Isaac replied. If Scott could sound lighthearted and nonchalant, then so could Isaac.

"I prefer shooting them in the head in video games, myself."

"Well that's just a given," Isaac said, finally lowering the book to reveal the grin he couldn't stop hiding. It had been such a shitty morning, but Scott still managed to make him smile, the jerk.

It didn't help that Scott looked ten times more beautiful in the light of the bookshop. The last time Isaac saw him in the shop, he'd been hiding under layers of clothing and hair. This time, he had only a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. Under the soft ambience of Armani Nightcap's lighting, Isaac couldn't really see the definition or tone in Scott's arms, but the brighter lighting of A&O Booksellers definitely didn't leave much to the imagination. Isaac even caught the glimpse of a simple banded tattoo on Scott's left bicep.

Isaac swore every time he saw Scott, he grew more and more attractive. It wasn't fair.

"Do you always come into work on your days off?" Scott questioned as he leaned slightly on the side of one of the bookshelves.

"I may or may not be hiding from my roommate's girlfriend," Isaac admitted.

"She mad at you?"

"I think the entire world is mad at me."

Scott smiled. "I'm not."

Isaac tried hard not to let that statement or that smile get to him. "Haven't you heard? I'm a world class jerk."

Scott's voice took on a teasing tone. "I vaguely recall Allison calling me this morning hungover and complaining about how you're two-faced and selfish and probably gay."

"She said that about me?" Isaac's eyes widened. The words hurt mostly because they were true. He was being two-faced and he knew he was being selfish and he was more than just a little gay. That much was clear. He just didn't want her to have to find out the way she did.

"Dude, what did you do to her?"

Isaac finally set down his book to rub the back of his neck, the muscles having been sore from sitting in one position for so long. "I ignored her the rest of the night, then I accidentally texted her saying that I didn't want to be set up with her anymore." It felt good to come clean about it to someone who wasn't screaming at him.

"How do you do that accidentally?"

"I thought I sent it to Erica."

Scott's face contorted into a knowing expression as he breathed in sharply through his teeth. "Ouch."

"Yeah, see? So for all she knows, she's completely right about me. I'm a crap person, okay? Hence all the solitude and reading."

Scott was silent for a while. Isaac didn't know if he was supposed to say anything else or go back to reading his book. Scott just stood there with his arms folded and a contemplative expression on his face until he suddenly said, "I'm more terrible than I thought."

"Huh?" Isaac asked, confused. How as he terrible? It was just like the night before when he drove away after telling Isaac he was getting worse because he was jealous.

Scott took a deep breath. "When we first met, I told you I'd had a pretty bad year, right?"

Isaac nodded.

"I made a promise to myself that I would become a better person, a better student, a better son, a better boyfriend, a better friend and a better, I don't know, citizen. I made a lot of mistakes and I thought I just needed to change myself. I think that, maybe I am changing, but not in the way I wanted."

If part of that change meant going from a skateboard sex god to a runway model, Isaac didn't exactly see why that was a bad thing. He gave Scott his best confused look.

Scott sighed. "I'm supposed to be changing for Allison—to get her back. I'm changing for my mom, to show her I can do better in my courses and get back my scholarship. I'm trying to do a lot of things, but I hit a snag."

"Is that why you cut your hair?" Isaac couldn't help but grin.

"Ha ha," Scott deadpanned. "No, suddenly, I'm jealous for all the wrong reasons, and now I'm happy for all the wrong reasons."

Isaac's heart caught in his chest and he wanted desperately to pound down on it just to make it work again. He swallowed thickly. When did his throat become so dry? "What makes you think those reasons are wrong?"

"I don't know, maybe they're not. But Allison is my friend and I'm supposed to be supporting her when she calls someone a jerk, not taking his side."

Isaac felt like his nerves were trying to jump out of his skin. "Can't you tell that I'm two-faced, though? And selfish?" He took care to use the exact words Allison had said.

"Definitely." Scott grinned. "But then again, I guess, so am I."

"You are a terrible person, then. We can just be terrible together."

Scott glanced around him. "Can we go be terrible somewhere else? I feel like your co-workers are spying on us somehow."

Isaac marked his spot in his book as he laughed a little. "They probably are. You have someplace in mind?"

"I do, actually. Yeah."

Isaac couldn't believe this was happening to him. The fight or flight response he'd had just before Scott arrived had been replaced with his adrenaline firing on all cylinders. His mind reeled from the conversation they'd just had. Scott basically excused his terrible treatment of Allison because… why?

Because they were both two-faced and selfish? Because he was happy Isaac wasn't interested in Allison?

Or was it the more likely option—the option both of them were too afraid to say out loud?

-0-0-0-

When Scott said he had a place in mind, he hadn't been making it up. Isaac followed him outside of A&O Booksellers, Scott took him directly to his green dirt bike and held up the bike helmet.

"You're not afraid of bikes are you?" he asked suddenly.

Isaac shook his head as he took the helmet. "Never actually rode one before. Where's your helmet?"

"You wear it for now. I'll be careful. We won't go far." Scott swung his leg over the side of his bike and motioned for Isaac to sit behind him.

Isaac eyed the seat. There wasn't an awful lot of room, but he pulled the helmet over his head anyway and took his seat behind Scott.

Never had he even thought about this. In the few weeks that he'd known Scott existed, he never thought he would find himself riding behind him on his dirt bike. In fact, he hadn't even known the bike was a part of the equation until the night before and that hadn't been adequate enough time for him to fantasize about what it would be like to have his arms around Scott's waist.

Scott shifted a little in the seat and called behind him. "Hold on tight."

Just as Scott revved the engine of the dirt bike, Isaac quickly hugged him close to keep from falling backward. As the wind hit him, he suddenly knew why Scott wore that awful faded jean jacket. Despite the early summer weather, having the harsh wind hit his bare arms wasn't the most comfortable. He vowed never to make fun of that jean jacket again.

"Where are we going?" Isaac asked after Scott made the first turn. When Scott didn't answer, Isaac figured the helmet probably obstructed his speech and the loud roar of the bike and wind didn't help. It wasn't until they were stopped at a stoplight that Isaac tried again, only this time, he made sure to keep his mouth closer to Scott's ear.

Scott shuddered under him. The action was sudden and unexpected and it sent a chain reaction all the way to the seat of Isaac's pants. He grit his teeth and prayed silently that Scott couldn't feel that. "You'll see," came Scott's voice eventually. It sounded a bit strained.

Rather than pay attention to where they were going, Isaac kept his focus on trying to subtly feel Scott's muscle definition through the t-shirt he was wearing. He wanted to pretend just for the moment that Scott deliberately didn't wear his jean jacket for this purpose entirely. It was a long shot, but the idea kept Isaac pre-occupied at least long enough to hold off any awkwardness he should have felt. After all, they were still mostly strangers, right?

When Scott eventually brought the motorcycle to a final stop, Isaac pulled back far enough to get a better look at their surroundings. Isaac easily recognized the place as one of the many parks in the area. This one in particular was used for the various bike trails and hiking paths as opposed to playgrounds and duck ponds.

Isaac dismounted and removed his helmet, handing it over to Scott who locked it to his handle bars. "Maybe I should have come out here," Isaac remarked. "It's a lot less crowded than the bookstore."

"Fresh air always makes me feel better," Scott said happily. "It was a long shot, but I hoped it would work on you, too."

"What if I have a thousand allergies and you've really just brought me to my death?" Isaac joked.

With a knowing smile, Scott reached into his pocket and produced a small inhaler. "I have asthma. I know a thing or two about allergies. I got ya."

Isaac stared wide-eyed at the inhaler. "I had no idea. I'm sorry."

"It's cool. It's gotten better as I've gotten older, actually, but I still carry this with me just in case." He flipped the inhaler around in his hand with a practiced movement and deposited it back into his pocket. "Want to go for a walk?"

In the early summer weather, a walk sounded like the best thing in the world. Isaac jumped on the opportunity and even agreed to taking some of the more complicated hiking trails, if only to avoid any bikers in the park. As they walked, Isaac kept his hands shoved into his pockets, mostly because he didn't know what else to do with them. "You know," Isaac began, "for someone who is supposedly selfish and two-faced, you're being awfully nice to someone who doesn't deserve it."

"I'm sure you had your reasons for leading Allison on," Scott said with a shrug.

Isaac frowned. "I don't even think I led her on. I told her from the start I was only interested in being friends AND that I'd only agreed to hang out with her because Erica forced me. She knew what she was getting in to."

"Dude, you totally accepted her drink and told her you'd dance with her." Scott pointed out. "And then you didn't. That's some grade A friendship violations right there."

"In my defense, I was a bit preoccupied. Allison is awesome, but she wasn't, ah…" Isaac trailed off. He could feel the heat rising in his face. He was entering some dangerous territory.

"Not your type?" Scott suggested.

Isaac breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, exactly. I'm not used to making new friends. I've been friends with Boyd and Erica for years and I only know the Hales because of my brother. There's some learning curve I haven't figured out, yet."

"It's not hard. Just don't be an asshole."

"Did your self help books tell you that?"

Scott laughed a little. "A little. I'm paraphrasing."

Isaac finally said what he'd been thinking in the back of his mind for a few days. "I don't think you needed those books at all. I think, if anything, I need them more than you."

Scott fell so quiet that all Isaac could hear was the loud chirping of the summer cicadas and the crunch of the odd twig under their feet. They'd left the paved trail and were now heading into a lightly wooded area with a clear hiking trail. When he finally spoke, his voice seemed quieter, and almost unsure. "I know we just met, but I could help if you wanted."

"You're the one who has actually read the books. You know more than me, anyway. So tell me, oh great Scott McCall, how do I fix my broken life?"

"Well," Scott began as he hopped over a small tree branch in the middle of the trail. "Which parts are broken?"

"According to Erica, I mope too much. I complain about not having any friends, but I make zero efforts to go out and get any and I'm lazy."

Scott snorted a little and it made Isaac smile. Why was it so easy to confide in this almost stranger? It was as if he'd known Scott for years and years. Did everyone get along this easily, or was it just the two of them?

"That's what Erica thinks is wrong with you," Scott said eventually. "What do /you/ think is wrong?"

Isaac opened his mouth to say something along the lines of Erica being right, but as he thought about it, he allowed himself to slowly grow quiet. He knew he was creating a barrier between himself and the people around him, but why? And how? And with what? Isaac had no idea how much time had gone by until he heard Scott say, "Take all the time you need. It's summer and it's Sunday. We have all the time in the world."

When Isaac stole a glance over at Scott, he was surprised to find that Scott wasn't even watching where he was going. Instead, his head had turned itself to face Isaac and he kept his gaze steadily on Isaac's features. A warm feeling surged through Isaac's chest. Somehow, just by looking at the gentle expression on Scott's face, he'd known what to say.

"I feel like I've lost my best friends," he found himself saying. "Boyd and Erica recently started dating and now I've gone from being a part of a trio to a third wheel. It's not their fault. I get it. It's just hard when they are all I have."

"What about you and that dark-haired girl. Cora? The one Stiles likes."

Isaac laughed. "Yeah, Cora. She's like a sister to me, but I don't get to see her as much as I'd like. So… I guess I'm just grumpy and alone." A sudden thought crossed Isaac's mind. "Crap. I'm turning into Derek."

"Derek?"

"Cora's brother. He was sitting at our table with us last night. He took me in after I left my dad's house. He's… difficult." Isaac stopped walking long enough to give Scott a pleading look. "You have to fix me before I turn into Derek. Please."

Scott smiled so wide his dimples almost lit up like the sun. "I'll try, I promise. It sounds like you just need to open yourself up to accept new people."

"I'm open!" Isaac said loudly, not bothering to his the exasperation in his voice. "I'm here with you, aren't I? And we're practically strangers."

"Then we should change that," Scott offered. "That's one way to fix this, right?"

Isaac knew without even having to think about it that Scott was right. Ever since Scott came into his life, he'd known that he was only being difficult because he wanted Scott for himself. If they became friends, Isaac wouldn't have to pretend to be happy or feel guilty about not talking to other people. Erica would be satisfied that Isaac had a new friend and lay off his case. He could finally go to bed happy for the first time in a long while.

Only one problem still pressed at the corner of his mind. "I like that idea; there's just one thing I want to do first."

Scott paused to raise his eyebrow in Isaac's direction as if that were enough to indicate his query.

"I don't like the way we were introduced. If we're going to hop on this self-improvement boat, I want to be introduced to you properly," said Isaac.

"Alright." Scott let out a little laugh and turned around to completely face Isaac on the hiking trail. He held out a strong hand between the two of them. "I'm Scott McCall. I work as a Veterinary Assistant at the Beacon Hills Animal Clinic."

Isaac stared at the hand for a moment but only because he was caught off-guard in Scott's very formal introduction, complete with his place of employment. However, Isaac didn't hesitate at all when he grasped his hand in a firm handshake. If Scott was going to play formal, then so could he. "Nice to meet you Scott McCall. I'm Isaac Lahey. I work at the local bookstore."

"Nice to meet you too, Isaac. The bookstore, huh?" Scott teased. "That's funny, I was just in there the other day! Maybe I saw you and didn't even know it."

Isaac let go of Scott's hand in favor of giving him a little shove on the trail as the two of them simultaneously restarted their hike. "Is this what I have to look forward to?"

"What? I think I'm hilarious." Scott's smile hadn't left his face for nearly their entire time in the park and it still refused to leave. Isaac wondered if his dimples would stay there permanently.

"I don't mind." Isaac said at last. "It's refreshing. I needed this."

"The nice walk in the park or the company?" Scott asked. It seemed like as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he felt unsure. Isaac was certain he didn't imagine the tiniest of space develop between the two of them as Scott pulled away, probably as insurance.

"Both," Isaac admitted. He wanted to leave it at that, but there was something about the peace he felt in those light woods, with the soft summer breeze flitting through the trees and the smell of fresh leaves and bark swirling around him. Just being able to breathe in the fresh air and clear his head had been amazing, but he knew he needed the companionship, too. He'd already figured out that not just any company would do, especially seeing as not everyone made his heart and his nerves explode on him at any given moment.

Scott needed to know how much he'd done for Isaac, just in that day alone. He'd believed in him. He'd given him a second chance when everyone around him only wanted to be angry and give up. Isaac could change. He could be a better person, and Scott definitely held the lamp to like the way.

Isaac steeled his resolve and kept his gaze straight ahead, mostly so he wouldn't back down on his words. "But I think I needed you the most."

He didn't dare look at the expression on Scott's face. He didn't want to be disappointed.

Finally, Scott let out a soft, "Yeah?" from beside him. He must have realized just how hoarse his voice sounded because he cleared his throat and tried again with a much stronger, "Yeah?"

Isaac swallowed, hard. "Yeah."

The walked together in silence for a long time. Isaac worried that he'd ruined something between them, but after a while, the silence became sort of comfortable. They wound themselves around the path, hopping over fallen logs or ducking under low hanging branches. Isaac wondered if they would make it through the entire path without speaking another word to each other when they finally exited the small portion of the wooded area onto a paved path that ran parallel to a line of trees.

"My favorite color is blue," Scott said so suddenly that Isaac nearly jumped.

"What?"

"My favorite color is blue," Scott repeated. "If we're going to walk the fine line between strangers and friendship, then I want to know everything about you."

Whatever negative feeling that had followed Isaac through the last portion of the woods finally lifted free of him and he found himself smiling again. He stood a little straighter and even pulled his hands from his pockets. When he'd been on his date with Allison, the last thing he wanted to do was talk about himself. Somehow, Scott had managed to create a level of comfort within Isaac that wanted him to tell Scott everything.

Well, almost anything. "Yeah? Well, that goes two ways."

"I bet your favorite color is red."

"Wrong. It's brown."

"Brown! Who in their right mind likes brown? And here I thought I knew you so well…"