Chapter Text
Isaac’s pale blue eyes followed the lines of the lobby, taking in the clean linoleum tile and the set of chairs that lined the wall. He’d never had a pet before, so he’d never been in a veterinary clinic. It looked kind of like a doctor’s office. On one wall there was a bulletin board stuck full of pictures, letters, and cards; dogs in casts smiling, hand-written notes thanking the vet for his help, even Christmas cards for some reason.
“This is Doctor Deaton,” the Sheriff explained, hand firm on Isaac’s shoulder. “And the other vet tech you’ll be working with, Scott McCall.”
Isaac had been sort of avoiding their gazes, but now he glanced between them. Deaton was an older black man, sturdy and solid with a smooth, bald head. He seemed unassuming at best. Scott, he recognized from school; brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin. They were in the same chemistry class. They might have even been in detention together once or twice. Isaac was only a few inches taller than both of them, but he felt like he was too tall; lanky and long-limbed and wrong. He fought the urge to hunch his shoulders and make himself smaller.
“Hi,” Isaac managed quietly, feeling uncomfortable with all eyes on him.
“It’s nice to meet you, Isaac.” Deaton shook his hand, radiating serene confidence. “I’m sure you’ll get along nicely here.”
Isaac hoped so, because the only other option open in the employment program was the grocery store and he really didn’t want to bag groceries. It was bad enough that he had to do this whole work program at all. It wasn’t that he minded having a job. He was fine with working. In fact, he was used to hard manual labor – he’d been forced to literally dig graves before this, all his spare time taken up by topsoil and fresh-gleaming caskets.
The conditions that came with living in a group home meant he had to have a job. Not any job, though. He had to work with a pre-approved employer, had to have his time cards signed and turned over to prove his whereabouts, and worst of all he didn’t even get to keep his paycheck. It was all being put into a monitored bank account. He would get access to it when he turned eighteen. He got an allowance in the meantime, like he was a little kid. Isaac knew, logically, that it would be nice to have money squared away for his future but right now he wasn’t happy about any of this.
“Scott, why don’t you give Isaac the tour while I go over some things with the sheriff?” Deaton suggested.
The sheriff squeezed Isaac’s shoulder reassuringly before letting go. He was an ambassador for the work program and had taken time out of his busy schedule to be here for this.
“Sure.” Scott’s sudden smile was so warm and welcoming that Isaac didn’t mind going with him.
He followed Scott through the lobby to a back hall and fell in step behind him as he started pointing things out. The exam rooms, the storage room, the file room, the break room and staff bathroom, the cat cages, the dog kennels, a broom closet, the door to the parking lot out back.
They looped back around to the exam room and Scott took him inside, showing him all the things that were readily visible. The exam table, the cabinets and all the supplies in them, the latex gloves, the cotton swabs, the cotton balls in a jar. He trailed off thoughtfully, glancing around himself.
Scott looked at Isaac, not sure what else to show him. “So, uhm...You, uh...”
Isaac braced for the questions that were sure to come. Weren’t you that kid who went to juvie? Why did you get expelled from your old school? Did you really steal a car? Why was your dad was arrested?
“You ever work with animals before?” Scott asked instead, much to Isaac’s relief.
“Dead ones.” He muttered morbidly, carding his fingers through his own curly, blonde hair. Some people seriously wanted to bury Fluffy in the family plot.
“Oh. Well, we get those too sometimes,” Scott said, a little sadly. “But thankfully most of the pets that come in are alive and well.” He skipped right along to happier things. “Cats and dogs, but sometimes, like, birds and hamsters and stuff too. Once some guy even brought in a boa. It was pretty cool.”
Isaac nodded.
He didn’t really know that much about Scott. They had seen each other in school but had never spoken before. Isaac had been in a different school district up until he was expelled at the end of his freshman year. He’d shown up at Beach Hills High School at the start of tenth grade. All the other students there had been in the same classes since kindergarten; they knew everything about each other. Friendships had formed long before he arrived on campus.
If he wasn’t mistaken, Scott was kind of a nobody. Not that Isaac was one to talk. He wasn’t sure what his reputation was, but it couldn’t be good. People avoided him in the halls and at lunch. They whispered about him when they thought he wasn’t listening. Underclassmen actively feared him like he was dangerous or something. When people did talk to him, they asked him questions he didn’t want to answer.
Except Scott. Scott hadn’t asked him any questions about his past. Whether he was a nobody or not, he seemed nice enough. He would be easy to work with.
Doctor Deaton came back to join them. He explained to Isaac about what his duties would be, and what would be expected of him while he was here. Since he was new and inexperienced he wouldn’t be working with animals, he’d be cleaning and helping to keep the place running. Deaton seemed like a pretty reasonable guy. Isaac’s only comparison for a boss was his own father who had worked him to the bone at the graveyard. The vet clinic would be a nice change of pace.
He set Isaac to work, showing him how to clean out the kennels and cages, which non-toxic supplies to use and how to fill up the food and water bowls. Together with Scott, he started on the cat cages. The cats were allowed out in turns as their cages were cleaned. As soon as they set two loose in the cage room, the cats twined around Isaac’s feet, nuzzling his ankles and wandering the tiled floor.
Scott made easy conversation. He told some story about a woman who had trapped a tarantula she found in her garden and then brought it in to them. She thought it was someone’s pet that had gotten loose and wanted to turn it in. But, no, it was a wild tarantula.
“So then,” Scott said, lifting the orange cat from the floor and putting him back inside his now sparkling cage. “I had to follow her back to her house so that we could rerelease the tarantula in the wild, like, back in its natural habitat.”
“Uh-huh,” Isaac said, nodding.
“Dude. Taking the lid off that box was the scariest moment of my life.” Scott continued. “I didn’t think I was afraid of spiders, but this thing was fricken huge and I kept thinking it was gonna jump out at me!”
“What happened?” Isaac asked, pausing in his work.
“Nothing,” Scott laughed. He had an easy laugh. “The tarantula wouldn’t come out. I tapped on the box and stuff, but it was just chilling in there.”
Isaac almost felt like laughing too. Almost. He made a face instead. “That’s a terrible story. Nothing happened.”
Scott didn’t have the good sense to be offended he just beamed happily. “Well, still, it was terrifying at the time so it’s the most exciting story about working here I’ve got!”
When they were done, they moved on to the dog kennels. After that, Scott showed him how to mix up the right chemicals to mop the floors. Isaac got a good look at the broom closet where they kept the mop bucket, bottles of cleaning supplies, and a few dusty brooms. There was barely any light inside, and just enough space to fit everything. Isaac’s heart beat faster just from looking at it.
At the end of the night Deaton pulled Isaac aside.
“Isaac, I just want to let you know I’m very happy to have you here as part of my staff,” he said.
His tone wasn’t condescending per se, but the sentiment behind his words kind of was. It was like he was congratulating himself on being charitable and gracious, for helping poor, unfortunate, troubled youths like Isaac. Oh, I’m so happy I could help someone as broken and fucked up as you. Everyone from the volunteers at the group home to the correctional guards at juvie to his new boss thought they were saviors.
“I also want to let you know,” Deaton continued, “that we keep our drugs locked up tight, and well-inventoried.”
Isaac’s ears burned. He wasn’t going to steal any fucking drugs, animal tranquilizers or otherwise. “Yes, sir,” he said, looking down at the floor.
“The sheriff and I trust you,” Doctor Deaton told him. “We wouldn’t allow you to work here if we didn’t. Please don’t abuse that trust.”
If someone makes a point of saying ‘I trust you’ like that, it usually means they don’t. Isaac tried not to let it get to him. He knew he had a record. He knew Deaton’s concern wasn’t entirely unfounded. It was his own fault for making dumb mistakes in the past. Now he had to live with the consequences, and apparently those consequences included speeches from his new boss that made him feel like complete shit.
Isaac left work with a lump in his throat. He solemnly made his way towards the bus stop, trying not to beat himself up over stupid past mistakes. It was hard not to do.
Scott’s voice broke his cycle of self-recriminating thoughts.
“Hey, wait up!”
Scott came up to him at a brisk pace, walking his bike alongside him. Either the fast walk or the cool night air was enough to start him wheezing. He took an inhaler out of his pocket. Isaac paused to watch as he shook it up and breathed in a puff of medicine. A few long, deep breaths followed. “Want to walk home together?” Scott asked him breathlessly as soon as he could manage words.
Not really, Isaac thought. If Scott didn’t already know that he lived in a group home, he didn’t exactly want to advertise it. Besides, he had to catch a bus to get there, he wasn’t walking.
“I’m just headed to the bus stop,” Isaac said, nodding over his shoulder to the right.
“Cool! I’ll come with you.” Scott smiled. “My house is in that direction.”
“You don’t have to.” Isaac gave him an out, but Scott ignored it and started along the sidewalk. They had to walk in the same direction. It would be awkward to linger behind or try and speedwalk ahead. Isaac decided just to walk with him.
It was cool out, but not cold, and the early fall breeze that came rustling down the sidewalk felt refreshingly brisk. The animal clinic was close to other businesses, but not that close. The main road was relatively quiet this time of night. The noises of their shoes on the pavement, and the soft clicking of bike wheels were the only sounds.
“After work sometimes, me and my friend Stiles play video games together. If you’ve got Xbox Live you could play some multiplayers with us.” Scott offered after a minute of comfortable silence.
“I don’t have an Xbox,” Isaac replied. He didn’t even have a real home, or his own room. Video game consoles were out of the question.
“Oh.” Scott seemed a little sad that his attempt at friendship had failed. It made Isaac feel bad. He was used to being an asshole, and having people be assholes right back. Scott was different.
“Thanks for offering,” Isaac tried, hoping to alleviate the situation somehow. He glanced away, muttering in the opposite direction, hoping Scott wouldn’t hear him as he continued to speak. “I don’t know why you’re being so nice to me. You don’t have to be.”
They passed in front of an empty lot. A chain link fence walled it off from the sidewalk. A realty sign clipped to the fence advertised an office building coming soon. Isaac looked at it as they passed by. He read the words with interest, distracting himself so he wouldn’t have to look Scott in the eye.
“Listen, I know some kids at school say things about you,” Scott said.
Isaac felt something icy cool in his guts. He dreaded what might follow a sentence like that.
Scott surprised him. “But, dude, I don’t care about anything anybody else says. You were cool to work with, and if you want to hang out we can. That’s all.”
Isaac was actually a little moved by how genuine he seemed. He chanced a glance at Scott. Scott looked at him too. There was a hopeful expression in his big, brown eyes. God, he was so cute.
Isaac knew, then, that this was going to be a disaster. He was going to fall head over heels for this lovable idiot like the last tall, dark, and handsome guy who had walked into his life. It was going to be one big mess.
He should put a stop to it now before he developed a crush. He should keep being an asshole until he pushed Scott away. He should take the job at the grocery store, so they wouldn’t have to work together. He should scrub Scott and his sweet smile from his mind entirely and never think of him again. Ugh, but those eyes. That look of hope on his face. How could Isaac say no to him?
He smiled despite himself, fully aware that he would regret what he was about to say. “Yeah, we could hang out sometime.”
Scott lit up. “Awesome!”
They reached the bus shelter. There was no one else around. Scott leaned his bike against the side and went to sit on the bench with Isaac, waiting for the bus to come.
“You can head home if you want, it’s gonna be another ten minutes before it gets here,” Isaac said.
“That’s okay.” Scott settled in. “We can sit. My mom’s working the night shift anyway, so she’s not waiting up or anything.”
Ah, well. Isaac’s own mom was dead, so it wasn’t like she was waiting up for him either. He was extremely tempted to say that out loud, but there was no reason to sour the mood.
After a moment, Scott took out his phone. “Want to play Duel Otters?” he asked.
“What’s Duel Otters?”
“Here, I’ll show you!”
He opened a gaming app that Isaac had never seen before. Then again, he couldn’t afford anything better than his old, busted up, keypad Motorola phone. He wasn’t really aware of the latest apps or games.
Duel Otters turned out to be a split-screen, two-player game with cute drawings and fun, circusy music. Scott was competitive but not very good, and Isaac had never played any of the mini games before so they both won and lost equally. It was probably meant to be played on something bigger, like an iPad. Their hands touched where they both held on to Scott’s phone. Their heads nearly came together where they were bowed over the screen. It was almost a shame to pull away when the bus came.
