Another Secret to Keep

Who: Isaac and Kavin
When: Around five PM
Where: Isaac's house

Kavin couldn't shake the flickers anymore. They were there. Something was there. Every time he turned his head he could see something. He had no clue what he was seeing, but he knew it was getting annoying. Making it hard to drive. Hard not to pay attention to every angle he could at the same time.

But he forced the flickers to take a backseat. He had to talk to Isaac. For Peyton. She needed him more than she might be letting on, and though Kavin knew that Isaac was going through a lot of crap, being everyone's shoulder, he felt that Isaac should know a few things. Against his better judgment, one more person would need to know his secret. But this was for Peyton, and Isaac would keep the secret. Even Peyton thought so.

So after he dropped her off at her house, he headed over to Issac's for a long overdue chat. Knocking lightly, he waited for his friend to answer.

Isaac was home, just sort of dicking around on the bass in the living room. He had to, it was something to do with his hands, something he could put a bit of nervous energy into. Because he had plenty of it. As they day went on, he'd become more and more sure that something was going on, and when he'd seen the ghost walk through the living room? He'd been positive of it. And Peyton was out somewhere. She was with Kavin, and that was sort of comforting, but still. Fucking ghosts. He was staying home in case she needed to come there for whatever reason, and kept continually checking his phone, sure that the volume had turned itself down and he was going to miss her call.

At the knock he hopped up from the couch, tossing the bass down onto it a lot more recklessly than he usually did. He opened the door in a hurry, eyes widening ever so slightly at the sight of Kavin. He glanced behind him, no Peyton. "What happened, is she okay?" he asked immediately, because the guy looked serious. And was there in the first place. Yeah, cue Hella Worried.

"Calm down, Worrier." he said, shaking his head. "Peyton's fine, she's at home, just dropped her off. Do you really think I'd let her get hurt. God." His face did soften a little and a smile moved across his lips. "I just... wanted to talk to you about something and I figured it'd be better if I did it in person than on the phone, so, lemme in. It's fucking cold out here."

Isaac looked at him a little skeptically, but stepped back to let him in. How could one not worry in this fucking town? And Kavin was just a guy. He'd been in the right place at the right time for his girlfriend, and that was good, but ... just a guy who knew things. He did relax a bit though, glad to hear that she was home. Isaac shut the door and locked it behind Kavin, gesturing for him to have a seat in the living room. "Sure, have at," he said, moving to pick his bass up and sit on the couch again.

Kavin followed him inside and sat on the couch, brushing his hand through his hair and pushing it away from his forehead. "How much do you know about the other night?" he questioned. "I don't know where to start, so how bout you tell me what Peyton told you and I'll fill in the missing pieces?"

A small frown-line appeared between his eyebrows and then went away again. He really had to get his head out of the Jealousy Sphere. Because Kavin probably wasn't talking about that. "She said that she was on her way to the hospital to check on her dad and Tyler. That she found Chrissy dead in the park and that you showed up not long after, or a little before, I can't remember. And you got her way from the body and took her to the hospital and ... that was about it, really. She hasn't talked about it much." There were definitely some missing pieces there, the guy was right. Isaac looked questioning.

"I was there before. I found her." Kavin explained. "What do you think was out there, Isaac?" he questioned. "What do you think killed Chrissy?" He didn't let Isaac answer before assessing the rest of the story. "I did get her away from her, took her to the hospital, but there's just... there's so much more to it and she didn't lie to you, don't think that, it's just... I asked her not to tell you everything. I wanted to explain myself." And god this was hard, he didn't know what he should say or where to begin. There was just so much. He didn't want to freak Isaac out, but there was no other way to explain it. "So, yeah, what do you think killed her?"

Okay ... that phrasing was a little worrisome. "I don't know what it was exactly," he said slowly, picking his words out rather carefully. "I mean ... from what I read, given that it was the full moon, and there were 'bear attacks' --" he added this bit in with quotey-fingers around his head, "-- I'm going to say that it was probably werewolves. Or one of them." He paused and then gave Kavin a faint smile. "I was lost in a cave hooked up to a fucking endless hallway for like a week, dude, I'm not a Weirdness virgin." And he really didn't think that Kavin was either, hence his candor.

"Well at least that's a bullet I don't have to dodge." he said thankfully. "It was a werewolf. But see, there's... look you gotta swear to me that you won't say a word to anyone, I mean, Peyton... Peyton you can talk to because she knows and everything, but no one else can hear what I'm about to tell you. Seriously. I mean it. It's... a huge secret, but I don't like being the reason that Peyton's not letting you in on everything that happened and I think she needs you a lot more than she wants to admit right now."

Good goddamn, how many people were going to drop huge secrets on him? He'd almost lost count of how many times he'd sworn not to say a word to anyone. But Isaac didn't bat an eyelash, just nodding along with what Kavin said. "Promise, I am one tight-lipped motherfucker, dude, swear," he said, and his face was absolutely serious even if the words didn't sound like it. He would really just have to stop talking altogether, at this rate.

"I really hope you're right." he muttered. Peyton said he was and he really hoped she was right. Hoped that the secret would stay contained where it was and not go any further, but between all the people that knew, Isaac was probably the least of his worries. "Werewolves, Vampires... stuff like that? I hunt them. Not all of them, just... bad ones. I guess, and that might not make sense, but with werewolves there are ones that take the precautions to keep themselves from hurting people and ones that just... don't. But, that's why I was out that night. I was hunting. And I found Chrissy and then Peyton came along and she wanted to find Tyler and Dr. Marsh and I wasn't gonna let her haul ass to the hospital alone not with werewolves everywhere, and your chick is stubborn, dude, really stubborn." he muttered. "So we get there and we look and then there was a door and we opened it and there was a werewolf... and I kinda... fought it off, killed it... and Peyton saw, so she was shook up because she feels like she shoulda helped or something. Fuck I don't know. But yeah, so then we found her dad and he patched me up and they went home and I went and got Chrissy and brought her to the hospital. That's the story. That's what happened."

The words all ran together and Kavin was somewhat hoping that Isaac missed bits and pieces and would just nod.

Isaac didn't miss anything. The gravity of Kavin's introduction to his story had him most definitely listening. It was a bit mumbly, but he'd learned to hear through that. Jason mumbled a lot too. Nor did he blink an eyelash at the confession. Not at first at least. His best friend in the world was a Protector, his sister was a fire elemental, one of his good friends had died and come back as something rather Else, and the dude she was into was a psychic of some kind, he'd been trapped for-fucking-ever in the Inbetween ... yeah, there wasn't a whole lot that was going to phase him anymore. Really, he felt relief more than anything. Because Kavin was doing something about it. Which was what he wanted to do. But can you teach me? didn't have a place just yet.

He wet his lips and put his bass aside, cracking his knuckles as he got some words together. Because those were necessary. "Well ... first of all, thank you again for watching out for her. I know ... it's what you do and I wouldn't expect anything less, but ... just ... you know. Second ... I won't be telling anyone. ... and this may sound retarded, but ... you're human, right?" he asked, meeting Kavin's eyes. "Not that I have a problem if you're not, I just ... with everything, I like to know."

Kavin was relieved that 'are you human' was about all that Isaac really had to ask. He let out a little laugh and nodded. "Yeah, human." he told him. "Totally human. Plain and boring but..." he shrugged. "Yeah. And as for thank yous, you don't have to thank me. Like I'd let Peyton get gobbled up by a werewolf, hunter or not."

Isaac still felt like it was good to give them, so he shrugged that off. Along with the brief mental image of Peyton getting 'gobbled' by anything. He nodded a bit. So, totally human and a hunter. That had to be interesting. Suddenly Kavin went from Funny Guy In English Who Threw Good Parties to One Tough Bastard. "Is that why you're gone a lot?" he asked, some other connections being made in his head.

He nodded. "Yeah." he told him. "Out of town a lot. Easier to hunt when it's not like... right here." At least that was part of the reason. "But when there is shit around here, bad shit like this weekend," he shrugged. "Can't just sit around and pretend like I'm oblivious. Couldn't save Chrissy... so it sucks... but Peyton's alright. And that's good. Grand actually. Don't think I could handle you being depressed over... you know, totally not even going down that road. See lately, I've been opening my mouth a lot when I need to keep it shut. And by the way. Your chick, totally wants to bang you. Just so you know." he said with a little smile twitching up the corners of his mouth.

That last bit made him blink and yes, blush just a little. He grinned briefly and ran a hand through his hair and tried to sober his expression up. It was just a little unexpected, that was all. "Well ... thanks," he said with a chuckle. That made him want to call her all the more. But there was other stuff to talk about. "The hunting thing, though ... how'd you get into it?" he asked, leaving off the bit about how useless he felt all the time, against everything.

"Told her it'd make you blush." he said mostly to himself. "She didn't really say that, but she does. I can tell, but yeah.." The statement was only said mostly to get Isaac's mind away from Peyton ever dying because that? That would be bad. "As for the hunting thing..." he shrugged. "Family." he explained. "Father does it, his father did it, so on, so forth. Different people do it for different reasons. I just happened to end up in the family that did it."

His left leg was bouncing a bit on the carpet. He was kind of nervous about asking, but he wasn't sure why he should be. Marquette was an incredibly dangerous place now. Asking for help with self-defense was only smart, right? "Can you teach me?" he asked, expression absolutely serious. He made his leg be still and leaned forward on his elbows, fingers linking together between his knees. "Just ... something, anything, learning magic is going fucking slow as balls, and I can't sit around and do nothing."

That made Kavin blink. "Okay, hold on, you're learning magic?" he questioned with a arched brow above a completely surprised expression. "And wait, you want me to teach you to hunt? Or just teach you how to like... not get your ass killed if you go for a walk in the middle of the night?"

"Trying to, white magic," he said with a nod. "Wards and shit. It's kind of slow-going." He had to consider the second set of questions. Did he want to hunt? The idea was kind of appealing, in the vengeful sort of way, but he could clearly see everyone he loved pitching huge fits about it. That, and he wasn't quite ready to die yet. "The second one," he answered. "For now, anyway."

"Good. I'd tell you that you were an idiot if you said the first one. First rule of not dying, don't go looking for trouble." He didn't mind teaching Isaac how to keep himself alive. Sometimes he wished he could do a whole course in self defense for his friends. That way at least he'd know that most of them would survive a night or two in Marquette when it decided to get crazy. "But seriously, if you want me to help, I will." he said.

If Kavin did run a self-defense course, it probably would be one hell of a lot fucking better than the shit the school was feeding them. Yeah, body throw a rabid werewolf, good fucking luck with that. "Seriously, I do," he said with a nod. "Me and Peyton, if she wants to. I want her to be able to ... y'know. You're not always going to have great timing." He looked grim for a second and shook his head. Then smirked just slightly. "And I promise not to punch you in the nuts if you teach her to grapple. Just don't enjoy it too much."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah okay. Well, you call your lady and work that out, figure out a time and place and all that and I'm sure we can figure something out. As for teaching Peyton to grapple, well, I don't think you'd be the first one going for my balls. Jeri'd beat ya to it."

That felt like a plan, and made Isaac feel somewhat better. His shoulders eased a bit and he sat back some. "Yeah, what with her sole ownership and all," he said with a chuckle of his own. He sat back a bit on the couch more and scratched at the back of his neck. "Does she know ... ?" he trailed off and made a questioning gesture at Kavin.

Kavin nodded. "Yeah. I told her before the weekend. Didn't want to like... get myself killed and her think a bear ate me or something. At least I only came out with a scratch." Well, it was more than a scratch, but Kavin knew it could have been a whole hell of a lot worse.

He nodded at that. At least he was honest with his girlfriend, that was good. Something Isaac had tried to keep up. It was important, not only for their relationships anymore, but for survival, it felt like. Good goddamn, he missed when things felt normal. But that was a whole thing he didn't want to get into tonight. "Glad you didn't get yourself killed, man," he said with a genuine little smile. "I really want people to do as little dying as possible."

"Yeah. You and me both." he agreed with a nod. "How's Thom doing?" he asked, realizing he hadn't even talked to the boy since Chrissy. He wasn't quite as close with him, but that didn't mean he didn't care if he was hurting. And he'd been dating the girl after all, it couldn't be easy.

Isaac pulled a bit of a face and shrugged a shoulder. "He's ... dealing," he said, and knew that wasn't much, but he didn't want to get into much more. He had Thom's secret to protect, after all. "He's not great, but I think he'll be okay." It wasn't like he'd been in love with her, after all. Even by teenage standards, they hadn't dated long.

"Good." he said with a nod. "Might be kinda shitty to say, but if she had to die, I'd rather it be now than when they got more serious ya know?" Kavin sighed and brushed a hand through his hair. "I'm not happy that she died or anything. That's not what I meant. Peyton... I really wished she hadn't had to see that."

"No, I know," he said. As hated as she was, he didn't think very many people actually wanted her to get eaten. "I really wish she hadn't either." Or that Thom had ever gotten involved with her. But more that Peyton hadn't had to see that. He picked up his phone again from the coffee table and glanced at it. No missed calls from the last time he'd checked.

"Well, I know you're just itchin' to call her." he smiled. "She probably won't call cuz she knows I was gonna come over here and talk to you. But... you probably wanna call her and talk to her now that you know. She'll open up a bit more." Kavin said as he got up. "You guys got it bad."

Isaac stood up with him, to see him to the door. "I know, it's great," he said with a genuine smile. Really, he dug being in love. It was pretty awesome. He walked Kavin to the door and stuck a hand out to him. "Thanks for coming over and trusting me with this, man," he said, and it was sincere. "I'm glad you did."

Kavin gave him a smile and shook his hand. "Out of all the people that know, you and Peyton...," And Nate of course, though that went unsaid. "Are the least of my worries. Oh, by the way. Outside? Ghosts. Totally. Just, in case you didn't know. So call your girl, she's probably freaking out. She's been seeing flickers and shit like a couple other people all day."

He had to chuckle a bit at that, and opened the door. "Yeah, I know, I saw some," he said. "Calling her as soon as you head out." And he really kind of wanted to get together with her somehow, but knew that tonight of all nights might not be a good idea for that. Who knew what else the night had in store. "Careful goin' home, dude. I'll talk at you later."

He nodded and headed out the door, waving over his shoulder and heading for his car. At least this time around telling someone hadn't been the fiasco it had been in the past.