[isaac] twenty-eight years later

Oliver Vail - 279 - I wasn't kidding

Isaac Lewis remembered. It was an odd experience, drinking the potion that he did. It was like he was someone completely different, but also the same person he had always been. It was odd. But for some reason it also felt right. And yet, those he knew didn’t remember anything of their past lives. Including the love of his life, and his best friend Nibs. He’d been following the boy around for a while, but he didn’t ever approach him, afraid that something would happen, and well, it would suck for Nibs not to remember who he was, but for him to still remember who his friend was. But after seeing his friend hanging out with that fairy from Neverland, Slightly had enough of it. He had to protect his friend from the charm of that woman.

And so, during a particularly slow day, Slightly, or rather Isaac, made his way to the place where Nibs worked. Even though during his watching of Nibs he learned a lot, he never actually picked up his friend’s new name. At least he could make a convincing entrance and pretend not to know his friend of several centuries. He walked in and saw him, immediately curving his path to inspect some greens on the side, feeling his nerves come up in that instant. “Tell me,” Isaac said once his initial nerves cooled down, turning around towards Oliver, “Have you blown up anything lately?” He dropped the last part of it… the ‘because you’re so good looking you’re blowing my mind’, because well, that would be weird. He tended to say things like that, not finishing the line so it wouldn’t seem weird.

Oliver Vail - 513 - look at cute little slightly

Isaac’s heart was pounding when Oliver responded. It was like all of his dreams were being answered. He was so perfect, the way he smiled, the way he talked, Isaac nearly missed the words that had come out of his mouth as his eyes were so focused on the perfection that was his friend. Oh how he had dreamed of moments like this, and yet in their world they never came. They were always dreams. How he longed for Nibs to like him back. He longed for Nibs to do this exact thing, even if there was nothing else, it was a dream, a dream come true.

It took all the self-control he had to not lean in and kiss him, kiss him with all the built up passion that had piled up behind his mental barriers, the passion, the love for his friend. He couldn’t. He just couldn’t. Isaac mentally slapped himself for the lapse in judgement, the close call that was the fact he nearly just kissed his best friend. It was the curse affecting his brain. There was no way that he could do anything to Nibs. After this curse ended it would make things awkward. It was the same situation they were in before. Where he couldn’t do anything or it would ruin their friendship. He couldn’t do that. He would rather die than lose Nibs as a friend. He would be willing to go through this hell of being unable to act on these feelings just so he could be with Nibs as just a friend.

Oliver didn’t know him. Oliver wasn’t Nibs, and he just had to think like that. Oliver was not the love of his life. Oliver was not the same boy he knew in Neverland, the same boy who he played with, the same boy who he blew things up with, the same boy who he protected from the girls, the same boy who he knew the name he ran from, the same boy who he loved more than life itself. Those thoughts helped him continue on. This was why he was avoiding Oliver, this was why he was hiding in the shadows, why he was practically stalking his cursed best friend. Because the pain of being around him and him not remember, him not being Nibs, it hurt.

Despite everything, he couldn’t control his reaction of raising his eyebrows and then lowering one and smiling widely. Now he had to come up with a good response that matched his expression. And without jeopardizing their friendship. Actually, he could just pretend he was cursed. He could let the Isaac in his head dominate instead of sharing equally with Slightly. But that was really hard to do, as he’d tried to have Slightly dominate before, but he couldn’t do it. When he thought about it, however, Isaac seemed so much easier to be. To let that sadness and restraint and longing fall to the back of his mind.

“Only if they can catch me.” Isaac laughed. “Maybe some time we could blow up things together.”

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The Slightly that he had managed to push back began yelling in his head. He kept telling him to deny the offer. To make it something more platonic. But it wasn’t like Isaac would probably agree to the statement anyways, even if he found Oliver quite attractive. Partially because he didn’t want to let slip the fact he’d been spying on Oliver like a stalker, even seeing Pan at one point come into the shop. That made this curse thing even more important to break.

However, Slightly hoped that Pan would understand if he broke Oliver out of the curse first. After all, Pan knew of his feelings for the boy, despite the great loyalty he felt for Pan. He almost felt guilty thinking about it. He had a plan to save Oliver and turn him back into Nibs. It was just a matter of finding the second potion. And he wasn’t sure exactly where it was, so it would be a bit before he could break Nibs out of the cage that was Oliver. But he couldn’t stand watching him with that fairy. When he saw him kissing her that one night, it was the last straw. He took a couple days to work up the confidence to walk in here though.

“Isaac Lewis,” Isaac introduced using his cursed name and shoving the Slightly bit of him down. He crossed his arms regarding his first question. “And what if I am?” And that sent Slightly over the edge, wondering why he would allow himself to just be Isaac and not just Slightly. When the curse broke in his best friend, he would most definitely have some back tracking to do. Isaac seemed a little too attracted to Oliver as it was, even without the lingering feeling of love from Slightly.

Isaac laughed when Oliver told him that he was going to catch him. Whether or not it had different connotations, Isaac found it easier to pretend he wasn’t insinuating anything, and therefore the Slightly in him wouldn’t complain as much. “Oh yeah? I would like to see you try.” He grinned from ear to ear and just tried to not think about how adorable Oliver was when he crossed his arms like that. He kind of wanted to take his hand in his and show him he didn’t need to cross his arms, that he didn’t need to guard himself from him. It was okay to have a swirling storm of emotions that he didn’t understand, because that was what Slightly went through all the time. No, he couldn’t do that. He would leave him be for now.

Slightly had almost forgotten that they were in the flower shop and he had forgotten to come up with an excuse. “I’m not actually buying flowers. I saw a cute boy and wanted to say hello,” Isaac said with much complaining from Slightly, even if he really wanted to say that too. Isaac and Slightly were pretty much the same person, it was just their feelings towards Oliver that differed, or rather their confidence when it came to expressing those feelings.

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Okay now, Slightly, just refuse, he told himself. Oh wait. He was Isaac. Stop it Isaac. His heart was pumping. This would be the moment of truth. Sure, if the curse ever broke he could just say it was the curse that made him live this dream and take advantage of his cursed best friend. But, that would be bad, and he would probably be unable to not admit what he had done, because it would eat him up on the inside pretending that he wasn’t in the right mind at the time. No, he wouldn’t be able to do that. Slightly reasserted the memories inside his head, reminding him of the times in Neverland and the pain he would feel if he lost Oliver as a friend. “Well then, we’ll have to wait until you learn those languages, now don’t we?” At least that bought him some time to think of a way not to totally ruin their friendship.

“We’ll see about that.” It was a challenge Slightly had never failed when he really tried, though sometimes he would let Nibs win. But Isaac? He hadn’t had this challenge before, and the competitive side of him wanted to win. Even if Oliver was Nibs and Slightly was in love with him. It was all a bit confusing, really.

Isaac was not trying to flirt back, it just happened that way. It wasn’t like he was trying to get Oliver to be his boyfriend, it just was natural. Why else would he be there? Isaac hadn’t even considered having a girlfriend or a mother, mostly because even Isaac never had either, and he really hated girls. No one had to have a girl in their life, even though he seemed to have to save Nibs from girls, especially one particular girl, ever since girls came to Neverland. “You might have to remind me from time to time.” His heart was pounding at Oliver’s move to trap him against the table, but he tried to remain as calm as possible. That was incredibly hard (and by the slight tightening of his pants he was starting to get there too), but he persevered.

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Isaac had never felt the sensation that was running through his body right now, but Slightly felt it every time he had been around his friend Nibs. Where he almost felt weak just being around him, wanting to fall into his arms, lean into his embrace as his stomach did flips and made him feel almost sick. But it wasn’t… a bad sick, either. It was… just sick. And it wasn’t just his stomach. His heart was beating out of his chest, beating against his ribcage so hard he could feel it pounding in his ears, so loud that he was sure that Oliver could hear it and he cursed his traitorous heart for reacting in such an uncontrolled way.

“Waiting, my friend, makes it so much… better when it finally comes around.” Meaning his memories coming back and how Nibs would feel awkward when he remembered this, Slightly was sure. Yes, this was Oliver in front of him not Nibs, even if he acted just like his friend. When he remembered their friendship, when he remembered the time they spent in Neverland, he would be glad that he was holding back now. He would be glad that things weren’t going to get awkward because of this curse. He would be glad that he didn’t have to be awkward knowing his best friend had the hots for him.

However, just as Isaac was thinking this, a gut reaction through another wrench into this whole master plan of not kissing his best friend. “Of course. I can’t imagine a future without you, now that I’ve met you.” Okay, okay, that could be just played off of inseparable best frie–

Oliver pushed his hair to the side to look at more of his face and Isaac tried hard to not react, the look in his eyes growing more… selfish, fighting with himself to not just lean in and kiss the beautiful person in front of him. The perfect person in front of him. His best friend. That was the only thing keep him in control. Slightly had a vast amount of control when it came to a lot of things, especially his emotions, which he had kept in check for so long. He had learned when to hold his tongue, and how to hold his tongue, and yet, he found that when he was around Oliver it was harder to control himself, especially after this curse when his head was swimming around with two identities fighting against each other (though they were pretty much the same other than the memories they had, so sometimes they worked together).

But no, he resisted the urge until the stimulus passed… meaning Oliver leaned away, crossing his arms and biting his lower lip. Isaac knew that Oliver had to be feeling nervous, just all of his reaction, the way he looked at him. It was like he was looking at himself, but the internal portions that were more controlled, but still… out of control, despite the cool demeanor he usually wore… a demeanor that he wasn’t wearing now. Shit. He needed to get that cool demeanor out right now.

Isaac grinned and placed his hands upon the table behind him, leaning against the table slightly and letting out a confident laugh, throwing his head back a bit. At least the split second of looking up at the roof allowed a little bit of down time for his nerves and he looked back feeling a bit more prepared, the more panicky side of his mind cooling slightly, though he could feel it building in the back of his head slowly. “Yeah, sure.” None of those sounded like dates. Then again… neither Isaac nor Slightly had any experience in that at all. So he could be wrong. “Anything would be wonderful as long as you are at my side.” Now that wasn’t something friends said to each other… well, it would be the sort of thing he would’ve said in Neverland, but that was before the addition of Isaac and the knowledge he garnered from those experiences, which told him that it wasn’t normal. “Maybe later after the movies or video games, we could toilet paper someone’s house, or rock some windows.” Okay, back on the ‘friends’ route…. right?

Oliver Vail - 424

Oh how would Nibs react? That’s what Slightly chanted in his mind. If he was really right here in front of him with this conversation. What would he say to Nibs? “Of course.” Isaac allowed himself to believe he was talking about his memories coming back instead of what Oliver probably thought was an inevitable date. But Isaac had to tell himself that his words didn’t meant that, because it would get his hopes up only to be crushed as soon as the memories came back, and even if it did happen, their friendship would be ruined as soon as the memories returned. No, he couldn’t allow it.

Oh god, please allow Slightly’s mind to not head straight into the gutters when Oliver mentioned the dark and exactly what could happen in the dark. He could just imagine hearing the breath of his best friend, ragged, as they leaned in, kissing one another, their lips finally meeting for a real, passionate kiss, deepening with the longing he had felt for so long, wrapping his arms around his back, tangling one hand into the gorgeous blonde locks he nearly worshiped from time to time. Just enough light to see the gleam in his eye as he stared down him, before turning into a hungered frenzy, discarding clothing as if it burned, touching places he had always dreamed he could touch, with his hands, with his mouth, feeling his friend next to him, each movement sending shivers down his spine.

Isaac yelled internally as he tried to calm the dirty thoughts down. No, he couldn’t allow his mind to go any further into such fantasies. Never again… well, never again while he was around Oliver. Maybe later when he was all alone in his apartment building, where he was going to have to relieve this tension he felt in his body. He really wished that Oliver wouldn’t… notice his current reaction to just being around him, due to such fantasies, due to the way he was acting, a way he always wished Nibs and he could be like. But no, no, it could never be. And he really hoped that it wasn’t too noticeable as he attempted to hide the particular reaction. Otherwise it might be awkward and harder to convince Oliver he was rejecting that sort of relationship.

“Oh, sounds like a perfect day. When’s your next day off?” So then at least he would know how long he had to be able to relearn his control that he had been so great at before.

Oliver Vail - 487

To Isaac the weird freak was him, not Oliver. The weird freak who walks into shops and flirts with random pretty boys who he had been stalking for a while now, and got jealous because he was hanging around some girl (which wasn’t just any girl, it was that girl). And it was his duty to prevent his fall under the spell of the woman. Even if he wasn’t in love with the boy he met for the first time in this world just moments ago, he would feel the duty to protect the boy from the spell, as he was obligated to do for anyone that he could. Because girls were stupid and evil. And boys fell for the stupid girls and they changed because it. However the fact he was best friends with Oliver in a past life made his quest even more urgent than any other quest he was currently on.

Well, the heart of the truest believer was important too… But had it been too late? Where was Neverland? Had it been destroyed in the curse that brought them here? Was there no home to return to… but Isaac had seen him. He remembered seeing the boy. He was here, in Storybrooke. But Pan was too. Pan was too strong to get caught by this curse, he knew who he was, Slightly was sure, but he hadn’t approached him. Pan probably didn’t realize he managed to find a way to escape the curse eventually, the potion.

Perhaps he needed to talk to Pan, let him know that he remembered. Let him know that the boy was here (though Slightly was sure that he knew the boy was there already), and ask about Neverland. Pan would know whether or not they had a home to return to. Pan would know what he should do. Pan would know… how he should act with Oliver. He needed to find Pan again. He knew he was at the hospital. He knew that he had come to this shop for flowers. Though, he didn’t stalk Pan like he had Oliver. He just knew that because well, Isaac worked at the hospital and he was stalking Oliver who sold the flowers. He could find Pan, Slightly was sure, and right now he needed Pan to guide him as Pan always had guided the boys.

“Tomorrow?” Well, he had work tomorrow, but screw that. He was hanging out with his best friend. Calling in sick, they wouldn’t even bat an eyelash because it was the hospital, people got sick all the time, and due to the curse he had always been responsible and hadn’t called in often due to not actually getting sick. And right now he didn’t care about his job or how he needed money to pay for his place to live. “Tomorrow’s good. I have it off too.” Isaac grinned. He couldn’t tell Oliver no. “Tomorrow’s perfect.”