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Brutus was outside of the SUV he preferred driving Felinus around in as they returned to the roundabout and looked just as concerned as Felinus felt at the downcast young man. The two of them made eye contact. The silent understanding that close siblings had passed between them as Brutus took the bags and Felinus got into the backseat with Issac.
Issac’s words echoed in Felinus’s head. No spark or surliness or begrudging acceptance had been in those words. “Just when I think things can’t get any worse, it does and I’m sick of it.” Those hadn’t been angry words. Felinus could understand anger from Issac. Whether anyone else noticed it or not, Issac carried a lot of rage at the world. But brokenness? Defeat? He wouldn’t have thought Issac was capable of feeling defeated. Even backed into a corner with no place to go, Issac hadn’t given in to defeat.
Felinus sat in the back seat and pulled Issac down to his lap, taking out the hair tie to let it loose so he could gently stroke his hair. “Call the boys,” he told Brutus, unnecessarily for his brother but for Issac’s benefit. “Tell them there’s a change in plans and for someone to order Chinese for six.” He ran his fingers gently through Issac’s hair, marveling how thick and soft it still was with how sick Issac had become. “Any requests, baby boy?”
Issac shook his head, his eyes hollow and unfocused. He had stopped crying, but his arms were wrapped tightly around himself as he lay across the back seat.
Brutus tapped at his ear and relayed the message to whoever answered the call. “I don’t care what the original plan was,” he growled into his phone, “just do it!”
Bat then, Felinus thought. He supposed he should have seen that coming. Bat loved a good steak dinner and being told he was going to be having Chinese instead was always a punch to the gut.
“Sounds like I messed up dinner plans,” Issac breathed, none of his usual scorn or sarcasm visible.
“No, you didn’t.” Felinus paused as dead black eyes shifted up to look at him. The desire to tell Brutus to drop him off here so he could run down Little Volkov for whatever he did to steal the spark out of those eyes grew in his chest. “They’ll get over it,” he said instead, stroking Issac’s cheek to rid it of the remaining dampness. “They like Chinese food, regardless of how much they might bitch about it. How about you? Do you like it?”
Issac’s shoulders rose then fell, his eyes returning to the back of the front seat without seeing it. “I haven’t had it very much. It was fine last time I had it.” He seemed to move closer to Felinus, but that might have been from Brutus taking a turn.
“Remind me to have you make a list of things you like to eat,” he told him, letting his hand rest on top of Issac’s hair with his fingers in the soft locks. “Brutus said he went with Italian foods because it was the fastest thing he could get a lot of on such short notice, but we can get you other things. Got any favorites?”
Issac’s eyes closed slowly as he sighed. “No,” he muttered, and Felinus felt him lean into his touch, no turns to explain it away. “I don’t.”
Felinus frowned as Issac’s breathing slowed. Did he fall asleep? He had fallen asleep almost immediately the other night, but that had been when he was already exhausted. It occurred to him how little he really knew about the young man on his lap. That was to be expected; they’d only met two days ago and none of their conversations had really been the normal getting-to-know-you question and answers. Still, he wondered what Issac enjoyed doing when he allowed himself to do something other than study and work. He bet he read books from the library when he wasn’t working or studying.
Issac’s eyes opened the moment the car stopped outside the building. They were no less vacant than they had been.
“Come on, baby boy,” he said softly, giving his hair one more stroke before he opened the door. “Let’s get you inside.”
Issac nodded slowly and followed him out of the car, his arms wrapping back around himself just as tight as before like he was holding himself together. The soldiers who acted as the valet and doorman came out and frowned at Issac, but wisely didn’t say anything as Felinus took the bags from Brutus. Felinus’s arm snaked naturally around Issac’s waist, holding him close.
“I’ll wait for the delivery,” Brutus said softly, scanning his copy of Felinus’s card key and tapping it on the inside of the elevator when it opened.
Felinus nodded as he pressed Issac inside, pulling him into his chest and holding him close like he did before as the doors closed.
Issac didn’t hug him back now either but Felinus did feel him lean in, fitting just under Felinus’s chin, the smell of the shampoo and the leather jacket tickling his nose.
His three lieutenants were standing by the elevator when it opened. He saw their eyes all drop to Issac as Felinus guided him into the apartment, his eyes still down.
What did you do, Bat mouthed at him and Felinus held out the two bags.
“Clean out the lunch bag and wash the dishes,” he told Bat as Tiger took both. “Brutus will be up soon with the food. Come get us when it arrives.”
“Dannazione,” Bat muttered as Tiger pushed the lunch bag into his hands.
He was sure Issac hadn’t made the bed with how much of a hurry he was in that morning but it was made now. Most likely Brutus had come after they had left to do it. His brother never did like leaving an unmade bed.
“Okay, baby boy,” he said softly, setting him on the bed and kneeling down in front of Issac. “What’s happened?”
Issac looked up at him and for a moment Felinus saw the spark flicker into those dark eyes. Then they seemed to dim again as he looked away. “What do you actually know? About my history?”
Felinus frowned and reached up to touch Issac’s cheek, feeling him lean into it but not looking up. “I know you have a sealed record from before you turned eighteen,” he said softly. “I know you’ve been on the dean’s list every semester since your freshman year of college and that you’ve won more scholarships and grants because of your dedication to those studies than I thought one person could earn. You work odd jobs whenever you aren’t in school, usually, two or more in any given season, and every dime of it went to furthering your education.”
“…And?”
“That’s really all I know, baby boy,” Felinus told him, those dark eyes flicking back to him. “I didn’t need much more than that. Why? Is there something I need to know?”
Issac closed his eyes again. “When I first got into college,” he said, “one of my scholarships covered dorms and part of living expenses. I had been in the foster system since I was ten, so I never had things that belonged to me, not really. So having money was… new. I was irresponsible and spent it on stupid shit.”
“You just described every eighteen-year-old in the history of forever,” Felinus teased him and those dark eyes opened to stare at him in a vastly unimpressed glare. “There he is,” he breathed, rubbing his thumb along Issac’s cheek. “Keep going, baby boy. Please?”
