
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/7860253.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Major_Character_Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      M/M, F/M
  Fandom:
      Jrock, コドモドラゴン_|_Codomo_Dragon, D-OUT_(Band)
  Relationship:
      Kouki_(D-OUT)/Kana_(Codomo_Dragon), Koda_Kumi/Junji_(Kiryu)
  Character:
      Kana_(Codomo_Dragon), Chamu_(Codomo_Dragon), Kouki_(D-OUT), Hayato_
      (Codomo_Dragon), Hikaru_(D-OUT), Mitsuki_(己龍_|_Kiryuu), Minase_(D-OUT),
      Junji_(己龍_|_Kiryuu), Hiyori_(己龍_|_Kiryuu), Tomoya_(Royz), Koudai_(Royz),
      Koda_Kumi, Satou_Atsushi_|_EXILE_ATSUSHI, Hiro_(La'cryma_Christi),
      Higuchi_Yutaka_(BUCK-TICK)
  Additional Tags:
      Alpha/Beta/Omega_Dynamics, Alternate_Universe_-_Modern_Setting, Alternate
      Universe_-_Soulmates, Size_Kink, Knotting, Mating_Cycles/In_Heat, Mating
      Bites, Implied_Mpreg, Past_Underage_Sex, Past_Character_Death, Past_Abuse
  Series:
      Part 1 of The_Sun,_the_Moon,_and_Other_Stars
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-08-24 Completed: 2017-02-22 Chapters: 12/12 Words: 58847
****** Fatima ******
by Selah
Summary
     For a split second, Kana was convinced he had met his soulmate. And
     then he walked away. What alpha just walks away from an unmated
     omega? Maybe the perfect one.
Notes
     Yeah, I've descended into A/B/O tropes. Originally started for the
     size kink square of my Season of Kink card, though it's going to be
     awhile before the kink comes into it because, well, you'll see.... :p
***** Fascination *****
Kana could feel his heart thumping hard in his chest and cursed under his
breath. It was too soon, he wasn't ready, how the hell could he be going into
heat already when he should've had another month to go?!
“Kana-kun? Are you all right?”
“I ... Chamu-kun....” He tried to reassure his friend only to have his knees
give out, sending him careening into the beta. And thank god Chamu was beta,
his scent a comforting null to his overactive senses. Biting back a whimper, he
pressed his face into his friend's chest and took a deep breath. It was
useless, he could feel his heat starting, and dammit, it wasn't fair, another
whimper escaping him.
“Kana-kun! O-oi! What's happened?”
Fisting both hands in Chamu's jacket, he took another deep breath, then let
himself slide the rest of the way to the ground. There was no sense in trying
to deny or hide what was happening, but he still hated that his body was
dragging his friend into this. Why couldn't his heat have at least waited for
him to be home first?
“S-sorry,” he stammered, trying to calm himself with another deep breath. That
had been a mistake, the scent of an alpha flooding his awareness. But this
wasn't like alphas he had scented in the past, this one smelled different, like
the scent went deeper. And suddenly all those ridiculous stories his mother
used to tell him about just knowing when you met the one came racing back to
him. But surely that couldn't ... then again, his mother was also a beta, so
meeting her soulmate couldn't have felt like this.
“Sorry, my fault. Kana-kun, right?”
Kana looked up at this deep new voice, then kept looking up, his eyes nearly
popping out of his head. The alpha offering him a hand up had to be some kind
of giant, a golden god of alpha-ness haloed in the mid-afternoon sun. And he
smelled like cinnamon and cardamon and well-worn leather and Kana had never
been so sure of anything in his life as he was certain, completely positive,
that this alpha was destined to be his mate. And then his beautiful angel was
laughing, reaching down further and pulling him back up to his feet, and Kana
felt completely giddy. This was it, this was the one, it was really happening
and he so wasn't prepared!
“Um, excuse me, but who the hell are you?”
“Ch-chamu-kun!” Kana sputtered, feeling himself go bright red with
embarrassment. The strange alpha was still holding his hand while Chamu was not
at all subtly trying to pull him away. He appreciated his friend's protective
instincts, he did, but it really wasn't necessary. Like he could possibly be in
any danger from this radiant alpha!
“Oh, are the two of you...?” The alpha trailed off with a slight gesture
between them, dropping Kana's hand in the process. Did he think...? Oh god....
oh god, no, he had to put a stop to that line of thinking immediately!
“Wh-what? No! No, no, Chamu-kun's just a friend!” he said in a rush, mortified
and even a bit terrified that his soulmate would abandon him already. He
couldn't let that happen!
“In that case, can I interest you in coffee?”
“If by coffee you mean going back to your place and fucking like rabbits, then
sure!”
The second the words hit Kana's ears, both hands flew up over his mouth and he
urgently wished he could just die. Chamu's wordless explosion didn't help and
neither did the alpha's dumbfounded expression. He just wanted to curl up and
die, a feeling that got worse when the blond alpha leaned down again and took a
very obvious deep inhale. And yet that smile was so beautiful, brighter than
the sun itself, and to have it aimed at him was just ... heaven.
“Maybe you should explain to your friend here before he tries to club me like a
baby seal and run away with you?” the alpha suggested with a relaxed laugh as
he stood back straight again. Kana couldn't help a nervous laugh, rubbing
suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans. Right. Chamu had no idea what was going on,
he probably thought ... actually, Kana couldn't even begin to guess what his
friend was thinking, other than maybe that Kana had lost his mind? Couldn't
just let his best friend spoil this fated moment from a misunderstanding!
“S-sorry, Chamu-kun, I'm, um, it's my heat,” he confessed, rubbing a cheek in a
useless effort to dispel his blushing.
“That I'm guessing triggered early because of me,” the alpha added. “I'm Kouki,
by the way, Kana-kun's future mate.”
“... you're pretty fucking full of yourself, I'll give you that,” Chamu
muttered, still giving Kouki disapproving looks and trying to tug Kana away
from him.
“Chamu-kun!”
“Oh come off it, Kana-kun, you don't know anything about this guy! Hell, you
didn't even know his name until ten seconds ago!”
“That's... that's not the point,” he stammered, glancing between his best
friend and his soulmate. This so wasn't the time for this conversation. His
heat was starting and if they didn't get off the street soon and do something
about his pheromones....
“Look, Chamu-san, I appreciate your concerns, but your friend here is starting
his heat and he's not mated yet, so maybe we can take this conversation
somewhere safer? If you want somewhere neutral, maybe a hotel somewhere? Unless
... if you don't want me to stay with you through your heat, Kana-kun, that's
fine. I know it's my fault, but I won't assume anything, it's completely up to
you.”
Kana could feel his mouth dropping open at those words. An alpha who was
offering to step back? An alpha faced with an omega in heat, a heat he had
triggered because they were soulmates, and who was still willing to just walk
away if that's what Kana wanted? What, had he dropped into an alternate
universe or something??
Kouki leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead, then ruffled his hair and
handed him a small card.
“Call me, na? Number's good all week. After that, it'll be harder.”
A jaunty salute and just like that, Kouki was walking away. Kana felt like he
was going to die, like he was watching a piece of his soul leaving him forever.
“... that was just weird. Alphas, man. They're all screwed up in the head, you
know that? I mean, maybe not every last one of them, Hayato-shi's not like
that, but damn if most of them aren't just completely bizarre. And what was
that bit about next week it would be harder? What, are we supposed to buy that
he's some kind of jet-setting millionaire business genius who travels all over
the world or something? Pfft, as if. Come on, Kacchan, there's a pharmacy just
up the block from my place, they'll have the stuff to shut your heat down.”
The steady flow of words and the tight grip on his elbow were the only things
that kept Kana from either chasing after Kouki or collapsing to the ground
again in a hopeless heap. How could Kouki just walk away from him like that?
What kind of alpha was he that he could just stroll away so easily, just turn
his back on his future mate without another thought? Or was it him? Was there
something wrong with him that made Kouki not want him? Sure, he was young, only
18 and still in high school, but shouldn't that have been a good thing? He was
so confused.
“Come on dumbass, that's it, one foot in front of the other. Your heat's not
going away on its own, Kacchan, come on, you can do this. Trust me, he was just
another stupid knothead, anyway, whatever you think you felt for him, it was
just your heat, okay? It wasn't real.”
Maybe Chamu was right, maybe his heat coming early was messing with his mind,
making him see things that weren't really there. That could happen, right?
Meeting your soulmate wasn't the only reason a heat could come early, right?
Except that Kouki had seemed pretty sure they were supposed to be mates, too.
At least, that's what he had said when he had introduced himself. But then he
had just walked away, which made no sense at all. What kind of alpha just
walked away from an unmated omega in heat? The more he thought about it, the
more the whole thing was just confusing the shit out of him.
At least the pharmacist by Chamu's place was a kind elderly omega woman who
didn't feel the need to ask uncomfortable questions like why he needed the
emergency heat shot, just took them both into the clinic room, administering
the shot and then explaining everything Chamu needed to know to take care of
him while his body was chemically reset over the next twelve hours. Apparently
he passed out in the middle of her explanations because one minute he was
feeling a little woozy while sitting on an exam table and the next thing he
knew he was snuffling into a pillow and feeling like complete ass.
“Chamu-kun! He's awake again!”
Kana flinched and pulled himself into a ball on Chamu's bed at the loud
intrusion of Hayato's voice. Though that did explain how he had gotten home
from the clinic. Sort of. Didn't explain why the pharmacist had allowed it, but
at the same time, he wasn't sure it mattered or that he even cared.
“Hey Kacchan, Tateyama-san sent us home with some teas and pills and stuff for
you, if you think you're ready to take it, though if you want to sleep more
right now, instead, that's okay, too. I think,” Chamu said, the bed dipping as
he sat.
“Hurts, Chamu-kun,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, she said you were gonna feel pretty bad for a couple days and I've got a
note to take in to the school so you can stay home until Monday. And I called
your parents to let them know you were going to stay here for a couple days and
they're okay with it. And Hayato-shi already said he'd stay with you tomorrow
and Friday while I'm at class.”
“Yup. Neesan had to force drop a heat last summer, you'll be fine, I know what
to do. And you really should have a cup of that tea before you sleep more.”
So many words, Kana felt a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of them, but
Chamu was already ducking back out of the room, probably to go make the tea
Hayato wanted him to drink. Their friend Hayato was a year older than them,
already out of school, and an alpha that everyone had always thought was a beta
because he was so laid back and, well, not a knothead. But Kana could still
smell his alphaness and it felt like every breath was tearing at an empty chasm
inside him.
“Hey now, Kana-kun, it's okay,” Hayato soothed, moving himself to the bed and
curling an arm around Kana's shoulders. But that was the last thing he needed
right then, a pitiful whine escaping him as the increase in the alpha's scent
just made the pain worse. Yet he couldn't pull away, either, clinging to the
physical comfort of warm arms wrapped around him. This was not at all how he
had intended for today to go, it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all.
~*~*~
It took another day and a half before Kana felt enough like himself to even
remember the card Kouki had given him. Hayato was still keeping an eye on him,
of course, so he waited for him to go make lunch before digging up his phone
case so he could see just what it was the alpha had given him. And he was still
sitting in the middle of the floor just staring at the small card when the
alpha returned with their lunch.
“Kana-kun? What is it, what's wrong??”
“I think ... I think I missed it, senpai.”
“Missed what?” Hayato asked, nudging a rice bowl of some sort in Kana's
direction.
“I think I missed my chance. I think I really did meet my soulmate, senpai, and
I just let him walk away.”
“Ok, now you're just being melodramatic,” the alpha said, laughing. “What's
with that card, anyway? Something he give you then?”
“You don't understand!” he whined, collapsing back onto the floor with a huff.
What was he supposed to even say? It was completely hopeless, his soulmate was
someone rich and powerful and probably already on his way back to Tokyo where
Kana would never see him again. It was useless, he was doomed. His alpha would
forget all about him - if he hadn't already! - and find someone else, someone
glamourous and intelligent and beautiful, while he remained stuck in Fukui for
the rest of his miserable, loveless life. He would never have a mate or family
of his own, he would be an object of ridicule, a warning to other omegas of
what happened to –....
Without warning, Hayato yanked the business card out of his hand. Kana needed
entirely too many seconds before jerking back upright.
“Senpai? What ... what are you doing?”
“What you won't, obviously,” the elder said, phone in hand. “Eat your lunch so
I can give you your next round of meds.”
“S-senpai!”
“Eat your food!” the alpha scolded, laughing fondly. “Come on, I worked hard
for a whole twenty minutes on that! In Chamu-kun's kitchen! The least you can
do is be grateful and eat it!”
“That's not ... senpai!”
“Eat!” Hayato repeated. “Or you're not getting this back,” he added, waggling
the card. Even with as useless as the situation was... Another huff and he
picked up his rice bowl, a little surprised to see eel where he had been
expecting mushrooms. Eel, grated carrot, shredded nori, sliced mushroom, and
stewed leeks, it was enough to make him feel a bit spoiled. Scooting backwards
across the floor until he was leaned against Chamu's bed frame, he couldn't
help sneaking glances at Hayato. The alpha was doing something with his phone,
the business card seemingly forgotten on his tray. Kana could probably grab it
back easily enough, but considering he needed to eat anyway, well, it didn't
cost him anything to play along with Hayato's game, for now.
~*~*~
The next day was a Saturday and while Hayato had confirmed the night before
that Kana was recovered from his dumped heat, he still wasn't feeling like
going anywhere or doing anything. And for once, Chamu seemed willing to go
along with that, his friend lingering in bed with him all morning.
“We should get up, you know,” the beta finally said sometime around noon,
though he didn't move or even stop running his fingers through limp black
strands. He needed another shower, but that required moving. It could wait.
“Don't wanna,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, but Hayato-shi's probably gonna be over for lunch soon and he's probably
gonna insist we go out somewhere, too.”
“Still dun wanna,” Kana huffed, rolling over to glower uselessly at Chamu's
ceiling. He was over the worst of the side effects, that much he accepted, but
he still felt incredibly crappy and just ... completely unmotivated to go out
and be around people. It would inevitably lead to him seeing happy couples and
being reminded yet again what a moron he had been to just let Kouki walk out of
his life.
Considerations that apparently meant nothing to Chamu as his friend slid out of
bed and started poking through his closet for clean clothes. Kana rolled over
with a groan at the sound of an especially chirpy text tone, pulling Chamu's
duvet up over his head. He didn't care, he didn't want to know, he just wanted
to sleep forever.
“Come on, Kacchan, Hayato-shi says he'll buy lunch if we meet him in half an
hour at that yakitori spot by our school.”
“Half an hour? I can't get ready and get there in that little time! I haven't
even showered!”
“Yeah, I just told him there was no way we could meet that, but come on, I'll
wash your back and we can save a little time?”
Kana still didn't want to do it. And then Chamu was tugging the blankets off
the bed.
“Come on, Kacchan, all the chicken you can eat awaits.”
“I don't care,” he huffed, curling in on himself.
“Mou, Kacchan, come on, don't be like this. I know you think that guy was your
soulmate, but I'm not buying it. And, well, if he really is your soulmate, then
this sulking is ridiculous cuz what knotheaded alpha is going to just let his
soulmate get away from him, right?”
“That's ... that's not....”
“Oh of course it is. If a guy like that actually thinks you're his? With you
being omega? Then you're a piece of property to him and like hell he'd just let
you get away. If he's really your soulmate at all and I'm not saying he is.”
“... you're so... how are we even friends, Chamu-kun?” he asked, rolling over
to frown up at the beta.
“Because I've known you since we were in preschool. Tell me I'm wrong, Kacchan,
tell me most male alphas that age aren't sex-obsessed dickheads until they get
mated and finally mature into normal adults.”
Kana wanted to argue, but other than Hayato, most of his experiences with male
alphas ran along those same lines. That was why alphas were sent to their own
boarding schools for junior high, most (if not all) of high school, and
sometimes even college. He and Chamu went to a mixed high school of a couple
hundred students, mostly betas, from all over the prefecture, and yet he didn't
think he had scented more than a dozen alphas amongst his fellow students. All
but one of them, a first year named Teika, were girls, though Kana didn't know
why primary gender made such a difference; he never had been good at paying
attention in health class. Whatever the reason, it was just accepted as obvious
truth: female alphas were (generally) rational, mature women by high school age
while male alphas tended towards being reckless knotheads until mated or
thirty, whichever came first. And since Kouki couldn't be more than mid-
twenties....
Come to think of it, Teika was pretty cute. They hadn't interacted much, since
they didn't really have much in common, but Kana had spotted him on the
bleachers at basketball games a few times. Hard not to notice the quiet alpha
with vivid purple chunks in his hair and the disappearing-reappearing lip ring.
Was Teika dating someone on the basketball team? Maybe he would try talking to
him next week, see if the pretty alpha was even interested in boys at all.
Knowing Kana's luck, probably not, but it wouldn't hurt to ask, right? There
had to be some reason Teika kept showing up at games, especially since he
didn't really look that much like the sports-loving type. Then again, his
mother always said appearances could be deceiving; maybe Teika really did just
love basketball? He was definitely going to have to find out the truth come
Monday.
“Hey-yo, earth to Kacchan~!”
To his consternation and embarrassment, Kana was completely surprised, even a
bit shocked, to find he had not only gotten out of bed, but apparently showered
and even dressed himself completely on autopilot. And then almost walked out
the door in house slippers.
“I'd say we ought to stop someplace for coffee first, as much as you're acting
like a zombie, but senpai says he's a little pressed for time, so ... try not
to fall on your face between here and school?”
“Chamu-kun's such an ass,” he muttered as he stepped into his shoes. “If
senpai's in such a rush, how's he going to buy me unlimited chicken?”
“I'm sure he's got a plan, come on, I'm starving!”
Typical Chamu - mention food and any other thoughts went right out of his head.
Especially when it was food someone else was buying. Kana huffed and bundled
into his favorite hoodie, grateful that the weather hadn't gone to completely
miserable; autumn weather could be all over the place, but it was still better
than winter snow.
The izakaya Hayato had picked was a favorite of theirs, barely big enough to
hold fifteen customers. Kana had always thought that the size, generous by some
measures really, made it feel cozy rather than cramped. Until he walked in to
see Hayato casually chatting with Kouki at the end of the bar, the two sharing
sake and laughing over the gods alone knew what. More than anything he wanted
to think it was some sort of massive coincidence, but it didn't fit what his
eyes were telling him, not with the way Hayato was leaning against the wall a
bit to face Kouki more properly. Or the way Kouki was sitting in the very next
seat with no indications at all that Hayato was supposed to be saving seats for
them, not chatting it up with some random businessman who just happened to be
in the same izakaya. The scene was enough to make his heart stop and his
stomach drop. And then twitch on the floor at his feet when the two alphas, as
if scenting him together, turned their attention towards him and grinned.
“There's our boys~” Hayato chirped, beckoning them over. “Told you, free food
will get Chamu-kun to do pretty much anything, even if it seems impossible at
first. Like getting Kacchan out of bed on a weekend.”
Kouki laughed and all Kana wanted to do was bolt. This was worse than being
caught going into an early heat, this was completely ... humiliating. How could
Hayato, who had so obviously planned this little setup, be so cruel? Especially
after what he knew Kana had just been through?
He was already turned around and reaching for the door, ignoring Chamu's squawk
of protest at being pushed aside so easily, when a hand landed on his shoulder,
followed by the scent of cinnamon and coffee and alpha. Even with his heat
behind him, Kana couldn't stop a shudder from going through him, though Kouki's
hand only gave his shoulder a brief squeeze before letting go of him again.
“Not telling you in advance was my idea, don't blame Hayato-kun,” the alpha
said with surprising gentleness and dammit, when had he even turned around that
he could see that seemingly shy smile on the taller man's face? Maybe ... maybe
this was all just a weird dream? Maybe he was still in Chamu's bed, though he
wasn't sure why he would be imagining something like this.
And then Chamu punched his shoulder, hard, and wow that had actually hurt,
okay, maybe this wasn't all just some crazy post-heat dump dream after all.
Except that meant this was real, that Kouki really was standing in front of him
looking for all the world like some overgrown hopeful puppy and that was just
... insane. Alphas could be a lot of things, but mooning puppies wasn't on the
list. Or at least it wasn't supposed to be on the list, not from everything
Kana had ever seen or been told. Cocky, brash, horny, arrogant, insufferable,
those were on the list. Making pleading eyes at shy little teenaged omegas? Not
on the list. Absolutely, utterly, entirely, and completely inconceivable. And
yet....
“At least let me buy you lunch? You came all this way...”
“It wasn't –.”
“We don't want anything from you.”
“Chamu-kun!” Kana protested, swatting his friend. There was being protective
and then there was being ridiculous, and his best friend was currently charging
headlong into the latter. Just because he was an omega, it didn't mean he
couldn't stand up for himself, dammit. Chamu of all people should have known
that.
“I don't know what I've done to offend you, Chamu-san....”
“Whatever game you think you're playing, we don't need anything to do with it.
Kacchan doesn't need you,” Chamu insisted, tugging at Kana's sleeve again.
“Come on, Kacchan, we'll go someplace else.”
The frown on Kouki's face was a bit intimidating, but there wasn't anything
mean or cruel in it. More like ... like gentle confusion, an honest inability
to understand. Kana couldn't even blame him; he had known Chamu most of his
life and he couldn't understand the beta right now either.
“I thought you said you were just friends?”
“We are just friends,” Kana huffed, tugging his sleeve free from Chamu and
then, since it seemed the only way to prove Chamu didn't speak for him, pushing
past Kouki to take his seat at the bar. The patient, almost paternal smile
Hayato was wearing made him want to punch him in the gut, but he resisted.
Instead he ordered himself a pot of tea and skewers of thigh, breast, meatball,
skin, and mushrooms. Chamu could either sit down or not, he didn't care, he had
been promised food and he wasn't going to let Hayato wiggle out of it so
easily. A hand landed on his shoulder and he shrugged it off. Then it rested on
his back, Kouki stepping up close behind him, close enough for his scent to
reach him even in spite of the sizzling meat cooking on just the other side of
the bar.
“Ito-san, we'll be at table three, all right? And add some butabara and
asuparabekon, tare, please.”
A part of Kana wanted to object to the way Kouki thought he could just decide
something like this. At the same time, he kind of liked it. Not just the idea
of Kouki taking charge, but his wanting to try to make things work, even though
they were from such different worlds. Halfway through his last year of high
school and Kana still had no idea what he was doing with his life. He knew his
parents wanted him to go to college, make something of himself, but the thought
of going straight into yet more school made him queasy, so he tried to avoid
the subject whenever possible. Although ... now that Kouki was part of the
equation of his future....
“So, um, I thought maybe I should start with an apology,” Kouki said as they
settled across from each other at the small table, brushing his hair away from
his face in an absentminded sort of gesture. “Not that I had any way of knowing
I was going to meet my soulmate on this trip, of course, but still. I'm sorry
for causing you such trouble.”
“I ... like you said, you couldn't have known,” Kana said, ducking his head at
the feel of heat rushing into his cheeks yet again, uselessly trying to hide
behind his own hair. The arrival of their order saved him from having to think
of anything more to say, at least for the moment. Picking up the skewer of
breast meat, he bit into the first chunk and almost moaned aloud as the flavors
burst onto his tongue. And then blushed again, once more trying to hide behind
black strands. Really, Kouki was going to think he hadn't eaten real food in
days or something if he got too carried away. He could feel the blond alpha
watching him and told himself to eat calmly, not to wolf it all down no matter
how delicious it was, but it was hard.
“Not sure if that's a testament to how well Ito-san prepared the chicken or an
indication that Hayato-kun isn't nearly as good of a cook as he claimed,” the
blond said after a moment, grinning widely. If it was possible, Kana felt
certain he had to be blushing even harder now. Taking a deep breath to try to
calm himself, he set down the skewer and then tucked long fringe back behind an
ear. Really, he should have done something more with his hair, but since he
hadn't been expecting to meet with anyone but Hayato-shi, it had felt like
unnecessary effort.
“N-no, he's good, he's really good, actually, when he wants to be, I just...
haven't eaten since last night? And, um, I think Ito-san has the best yakitori
in the whole city, so, um....”
He really did suck at small talk and it was so unfair. This was his soulmate,
right? Shouldn't that have made it easier? And yet no matter what, his brain
just couldn't seem to come up with the right things to say.
“What makes it the best, in your opinion?” Kouki asked, a look of genuine
curiosity and interest appearing on his face. Right, of course, Kouki wasn't
from Fukui, he probably hadn't even known this izakaya existed until Hayato
suggested it to him. Someone at his level of success probably didn't even eat
at places like this without a client insisting first.
“Oh, well, um, Hayato-senpai could probably explain it better, but it just ...
I dunno, is,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “I mean it's probably the same
chickens as anyplace else, so I guess it's something in the sauce? And maybe
the charcoal? I know Ito-san uses real wood charcoal, so the flavor it gives is
different, you know?”
Oh god, he was babbling like an idiot and was he even making any sense at all??
And yet instead of chastising him or calling him stupid or silly, Kouki just
sat there listening with that same curious smile. Like he actually cared about
what was in Kana's head, which was kind of a wild thought because since when
did knotheaded alphas give two shits about what an omega, any omega, even their
own mated omega, thought?
... okay, that was probably going a bit far with the stereotyping, but still.
To have someone like Kouki, someone rich and powerful and beautiful beyond
reason, listening to him as if he actually mattered was just.... Kana could
barely even comprehend it.
“Hayato-kun mentioned you and Chamu-kun attend the high school near here, is
that how you found this place?”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding and then pausing to take another bite of chicken.
“Weekday mornings, Ito-kaasan has bento for sale to students only, we've been
buying lunches here at least once a week since we were first years.”
“Smart woman,” Kouki said with a nod. “And I think you may be right about the
sauce.”
Such a little thing, but it made Kana feel so ridiculously happy to hear Kouki
agreed with him about something. Funny how something so small could mean
everything.
Kana didn't want lunch to end, even though he felt like an awkward cucumber as
often as not, trying to make conversation. Yet somehow Kouki was able to keep
things rolling along, even with the less than subtle disgruntled noises coming
from Chamu at the bar, until Kana really could say he had eaten all the chicken
he could manage.
“I'm really glad you stayed for lunch,” Kouki said quietly as he walked Kana
out of the small izakaya and into the autumn sun. “I'm guessing a weekend trip
to Tokyo is out of the question with your schedule right now, so I'll see if I
can't arrange something for myself for next month. Until then, we can chat
online, ne? And you can call me any time, for any reason. Don't worry about
being a bother, okay? If I'm too busy right then, I won't answer, so just leave
a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can, okay?”
Kana was almost positive he had to be beet red right at that moment. He
certainly didn't know what to say to those words, which made him feel even more
like an idiot. And then Kouki was hugging him and while it was, on the surface,
a completely platonic embrace, there was something so ... comforting in it that
made Kana want to cling to him forever.
“I've got a train to catch, sweetheart,” Kouki whispered and Kana's heart
clenched at that one little term of endearment, grateful that the alpha had
thought to keep his voice down enough not to be overheard. “I'll call you when
I get back to Tokyo, okay?”
”O-okay,” Kana stumbled, letting himself cling just a few beats more before
forcing himself to step back. “A-and I... I'll try to get Chamu-kun's head
fixed so next time it doesn't have to be like this.”
“I'd like that,” Kouki said, that warm smile of his spreading across his face.
The alpha leaned in to brush a quick kiss to his forehead and that silly giddy
feeling swept through Kana yet again. If this was what being with one's
soulmate was like, he would happily take it for the rest of his life.
“Hayato-kun, thanks again for the lunch invite. Chamu-san, I'm counting on you,
please look after this one for me, ne?”
Kana couldn't decide if he wanted to hit Kouki or kiss him, instead doing
neither, just standing there like a statue as he watched the alpha walk away
again. But unlike last time, he didn't feel like his whole life was falling
apart. This time he knew without a doubt he would be seeing Kouki again.
***** Foundation *****
October came and went without Kouki being able to get away for even just a
weekend, much to Kana's frustration. When Kouki had told him on Skype that he
wouldn't be able to come back to Fukui until mid-November, Kana had pouted
prodigiously and demanded to know how that was possible, seeing as Kouki was
the top executive in his company. Kouki had laughed that way he did and called
him sweet for thinking he had ultimate power like that. And then offered to buy
him a train ticket so he could come visit Tokyo for a weekend. As much as Kana
had wanted to accept, in the end he had been forced to decline, all too aware
of how his parents would react if he were to even suggest he was thinking of
taking such a trip by himself. Especially when he hadn't even told them yet who
Kouki was or anything about him. Kana might have been old enough in the eyes of
the law, but he knew better than to risk his parents' wrath by leaving the
prefecture without telling them everything about it first.
Staring up at his bedroom ceiling, waiting for Kouki's call, he still didn't
really understand it. His future mate was the CEO of the Matsumoto Group, some
sort of business genius who had, according to Hayato, created quite the stir
with his promotion over the heads of a number of other executives who had been
with the company far longer. Hayato had tried to explain to him the scandals
and controversies around Kouki's first two years as CEO, but he had lost
interest, all but tuning out his friend's explanations. Corporate intrigue was
not one of his areas of interest and he just didn't get why Kouki's being an
unmated alpha under the age of forty should have mattered in the least. As long
as he was good at his job - and by all accounts, Kouki was very good at it -
shouldn't that be all that mattered?
“Hey baby, want the good news or the bad news first?”
“I hate it when you start conversations like this, you know,” Kana said with a
huff. “What's the bad news?”
“My car's started making an odd knocking noise, so I can't drive it down to see
you until that's been fixed. Sorry.”
“So I guess the good news is you aren't coming down for another six weeks
anyway so it isn't going to matter?” the omega grumbled, sitting up and
scowling at his wall. Sometimes he really hated Kouki's sense of humor. Because
nothing about that was good news.
“No, actually, the good news is we had to cancel an event for this weekend and
I thought before I left Nagoya I should call to find out if you wanted to meet
at your place or somewhere in town.”
“Wait, you're coming here?!” Kana squeaked, immediately feeling embarrassed for
the way his voice cracked in excitement.
“Yup, hotel reservation for the weekend and everything. Not that I'm expecting
you to keep me entertained the whole time, but hopefully you can squeeze in a
little time for me in that busy social life of yours~”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Of course I'll spend the weekend with you!”
“Kana-kun! Language!”
Kana almost jumped out of his own skin, spinning around in surprise at his
mother's intrusion on his privacy. Oh right, laundry. Something he probably
should have helped her with himself instead of hiding in his room like a
spoiled brat. Whoops.
“Is that Chamu-kun? You know your father and I would appreciate it if you would
at least ask us before you promise him these things, dear.”
Crap. He hadn't even told his parents yet that he was ... well, he wasn't even
sure what to say about his ... was it even a relationship? It seemed strange to
think of calling Kouki a friend, especially with Kouki being so much older than
him. And he definitely couldn't say they were dating when they had only had the
one actual lunch together. Although they talked as much on Skype and through
texting as Chamu ever did with his string of girlfriends, so maybe? And really,
what else could he say about the person he was wanting to spend the weekend
with? In a hotel. Without letting his parents meet Kouki first. Ok, maybe that
wasn't going to work. But what else could he say? There was no way Chamu was
going to cover for him and if he got caught lying about what he was doing, his
mom would kill him.
“Um, I better call you back, okay? That's my mom.”
“I'll be driving, so if it's urgent, let it ring twice then drop it so I know
it's important and can pull over and call you right back, okay?”
“Huh? Wait, I thought ... um, ok, you can explain that later, too. Brat. Um,
drive safe. Bye.”
It felt ... strange to hang up on Kouki without any of the usual endearments,
but he knew that definitely wasn't how he wanted to start this conversation
with his mother. It was already going to be hard enough, considering the look
she was giving him, arms crossed over her chest. Yeah, that was bad.
“Driving, hmm?” she said as soon as he set down his phone. “So obviously not
Chamu-kun or Hayato-kun, so who was that then?”
“Um, well, you remember when I spent those few days with Chamu-kun in
September?”
“Of course,” she said, uncrossing her arms and moving to sit beside him on his
bed. “And I remember being annoyed with you for not even asking yourself, until
Chamu-kun admitted he'd needed to take you to a pharmacist to dump a surprise
early heat. I take it this means you're about to tell me it wasn't just puberty
messing with you.”
Kana gaped at his mother for a long moment, just trying to process what she was
saying to him, until his brain kicked him in the ass again, reminding him that
he was supposed to be talking, not sitting there impersonating a fish.
“How ... I mean ... y-yeah,” he stammered.
“Kana-kun, I'm your mother, you don't have to hide your soulmate from me,” she
said, briefly squeezing his hand.
“I ... I know you believe that, Mom,” he stumbled, rubbing at the back of his
neck as he tried to find the right words. “And I mean at first I wasn't even
all that sure it was really happening, you know? Like everyone always says
you'll just know, but they don't really talk about how, you know? And it was
just such a ... such a weird encounter....”
Kana trailed off with a sigh, feeling rather a lot like he had no idea what he
was even trying to say anymore.
“That's fair, sweetheart, but it sounds like you've settled the matter so why
have you been keeping it to yourself?”
“B-because my alpha's over thirty and male and I didn't know how you and Dad
would react. I mean if you and Dad got angry about Kouki being my soulmate then
... then I don't know what I'd do,” he confessed in a rush. “He's just... he's
so ... he's so right for me and it's already hard enough with Chamu-kun hating
him and him living in Tokyo and to think if we hadn't happened to take that
shortcut that day I don't know when or even if I ever would have met him and
thinking that just scares me so much. And I don't care that Chamu-kun thinks
it's just my omega hormones being stupid, I really am falling for him so much.
Ok, I care, it kills me that Hayato-senpai is the only one supporting me and
that's why I couldn't tell you and risk losing your love, too, and I'm sorry,
I'm so, so sorry.”
When Kana was finally able to get the words to stop, he bit his lip and fisted
his hands in his pants, telling himself he was ready for the worst. It wasn't
true, but maybe if he told himself that it was....
“Oh honey,” his mother said and he didn't even dare try to guess what that tone
meant. And then she was hugging him and that was pretty much the last thing he
had been expecting.
“Sweetheart, the only thing I care about is does he make you happy?”
“Yes,” Kana replied without hesitation. “Th-that was him just now. He's... he's
driving down from Tokyo to spend the weekend, just because he suddenly had it
free and we... we haven't been able to physically see each other since that
first weekend and he wanted to surprise me.”
“Then you better call him back right now and let him know I insist he stay here
with us. He can even stay here in your room, as long as you promise me you two
will behave properly.”
“Mom!”
“I know, I know, you're old enough to make that decision for yourself, sweetie,
I know, but I'm still your mother and you're always going to be my baby, so
just....”
“Not in the house,” he said with a little nod, smiling for her. It was fine
with him, he wasn't even sure if he was ready to take that step yet. They
hadn't even kissed yet! And without the pressure from his heat, Kana was
content to take things slow. He was pretty sure he was falling in love with
Kouki but he wasn't afraid to admit he kind of liked the thought of a lingering
seduction like in the movies and books. Courting might have fallen out of
common favor, but he was enough of a hopeless romantic at heart that Kana kind
of liked the idea of Kouki courting him.
“Um, he was still in Nagoya just now, it's going to be another couple hours
before he can get here, are you su–.”
“You are not spending a whole weekend with your soulmate without letting me
meet him first, young man!” his mother interrupted, standing up abruptly, the
better to glower down at him. “If he doesn't make it in time for dinner, I'll
save him back a bento and he can eat when he gets here. Your father and I are
going to want to ask him questions anyway.”
Kana tried to cover his wince, though it didn't take much for him to figure out
that he hadn't succeeded. And yet all his mother did was make a disapproving
noise at him before leaving the room. Telling himself that it could have gone a
lot worse didn't really make him feel any better as he called Kouki. Funny how
just fifteen minutes could drain all the excitement out of him and turn it into
a lump of dread instead. Hopefully when Kouki called him back his soulmate
would be able to make everything better again.
~*~*~
Sitting next to his alpha, listening to his parents grill Kouki on everything
from his family history to just what his interest and intentions were with
their precious son, had to have been the most awkward thing of Kana's life. And
yet Kouki had taken everything in stride, offering thoughtful answers. More
than once, Kana felt himself struggling not to either melt into a blushing
puddle or outright gape at his alpha at some of his answers. Like his firm
conviction that Kana should finish high school and even pursue college. Or his
insistence that they wait a few years before even just seriously talking about
having children. Or the promise that, regardless of their soulmate bond, if
Kana asked him to step back, he would.
“I want him to be happy, I want him to be sure in his choices. And if the age
difference is too much....”
“A soulmate bond is a hard thing to ignore,” Kana's father said with a frown.
“Especially for ones like you.”
Kana wasn't sure what his father was trying to suggest, but his heart melted a
little more at the way Kouki smiled, confident and serene.
“Perhaps. Kana-kun's happiness is what matters most.”
“All right, well, I think we've traumatized poor Kana-kun enough for one
night,” Kana's mother said as she got up from the table. “I'm glad Kana-kun
finally shared you with us, even if it was by accident,” she added with a
playful wink. “If you need anything, I'm sure he can help. Sleep well, both of
you.”
Kana had never been more relieved to watch his parents leave a room. He knew
they meant well, but they were so protective of him sometimes. For as far back
as he could remember clearly, his mother would practically fly into a panic. It
was exhausting and even after so many years he still wasn't used to it.
“Breathe, dearest. They haven't chased me off,” Kouki murmured, gently pulling
him up into his lap. “And they aren't going to, no matter what.”
“Really? Promise?” he mumbled, blushing heavily as soon as the words hit his
ears. Hopeless. He really was completely hopeless. No wonder his parents were
so overprotective of him.
“Really, Kacchan,” the alpha agreed, nuzzling his cheek. “You're the only one
who could do that.”
Another giddy giggle, then he turned to slide arms around his shoulders and
kiss him soundly, right on the lips. The alpha hesitated briefly before sliding
both hands up into Kana's hair and returning the kiss for a lingering moment
before leaning back a little bit.
“Pretty sure they were heading to bed, but maybe we should do the same if you
want more of that, just in case?”
Another rush of heat hit Kana's cheeks and he nodded before slipping off the
alpha's lap. First kiss and he hadn't even taken the time to savor it properly.
Not that there wouldn't be plenty more kisses in the future, but ... he really
was horrible about everything first when it came to his soulmate. Maybe it was
a silly thing to worry about, but he couldn't help it.
“Hey, relax, okay?” Kouki said, hands sliding up and over Kana's shoulders as
the alpha followed him up the stairs. “You're gonna make yourself sick if you
keep worrying over every little thing.”
Kana's foot slipped and slid off the next step awkwardly, sending him pitching
forward for a moment before Kouki's hands shifted and caught him.
“Easy, babe. Honestly,” the blond alpha said with a light chuckle, “you'd think
no one had ever loved you before or something.”
It was too much, Kana's knees giving out and trying to send him crashing to the
stairs, though Kouki had too good a hold on him for that. A beat, perhaps less,
and the blond was scooping him up bridal style and carrying him up the rest of
the stairs. Kana didn't even have to point out which room was his, his alpha
insisting on carrying him over to the bed before going back to close the door.
He pulled his knees up to his chest, watching the way Kouki moved across the
room, the way he leaned back against the door once he had it closed.
“Kana-kun....”
“I'm sorry,” he mumbled, ducking his head. But perhaps that had been the wrong
thing to say, the way the alpha made a noise somewhere between a snort and a
huff.
“For what? What is it you think you've done wrong?” his alpha demanded coolly.
“For ... for being like this... a pathetic disappointment,” he mumbled,
pressing his face into his knees mostly so he didn't have to keep seeing that
cold expression on the alpha's face. Kouki was going to leave him, he was
certain of it. Worse, he couldn't even blame him; he was so completely
pathetic, why wouldn't Kouki leave him, find someone better? Someone who could
be a proper mate, maybe even an equal, not just some hopeless kid who didn't
know anything about anything. He didn't know why the universe was being so
cruel to him, but it was and he hated it.
“Stop that. Stop that right now,” Kouki said, surprising him a little with how
quickly he had not only come back across the room, but also knelt before him
and tilted his head up. “Never apologize for being yourself, Kana.”
“B-but -.”
“No buts,” the blond alpha interrupted, shaking his head. Another pause and
then Kouki leaned in to press a kiss to his forehead, then another to his
cheek. “Kana, you aren't a disappointment. A surprise, yes, definitely. I
always expected my soulmate to be someone close to my own age, the same as you
did, I'm sure. Hell, maybe you even were but something happened and you had to
be reborn. I don't know and it doesn't matter. You're my soulmate, teenaged
hormones, self-worth issues and all, and I'm not turning my back on you. Not
ever, okay?”
“But ...,” and yet he couldn't seem to find the words, sighing and shaking his
head a little instead.
“I mean it, Kana. And don't think I'm going to bite you just to prove it.”
Kana jerked his head back up at that, gaping at his alpha like a fish out of
water while Kouki just frowned at him. How on earth had he...? Well, okay, a
mating bite would be one way to silence the voice in his head that insisted
Kouki was going to leave him. Maybe. Alphas could bond more than one omega,
after all, so really, in the end, it wouldn't prove anything except maybe that
Kouki really was just another greedy knothead. Except for the part where the
blond had explicitly said he wouldn't bite him.
“... but why not?” he blurted out before he could stop himself, wincing and
pressing his face back down into his knees. To his surprise, Kouki actually
laughed, ruffling his hair before shifting to sit beside him.
“You're only eighteen, for one thing. If I was one of those alphas, we'd
already be bonded, babe,” the blond said. An arm snaked around Kana's back and
he couldn't resist leaning into the offered comfort. A heavy sigh and his legs
slid down the bed as he moved to curl into Kouki's side.
“I'm sorry I'm such a mess,” he mumbled. The arm around him pulled him closer,
his alpha lightly tapping his head with his fingers in a minor reprimanding
gesture.
“What did I just get finished saying, baby? You don't have to apologize for
being yourself,” the blond scolded lightly. Kana nodded with another sigh,
unable to stop the feelings of guilt for being such a terrible soulmate. The
silence lingered between them for a moment and when Kouki finally spoke again,
it was a whisper so soft Kana almost didn't catch it.
“You really haven't been loved before, have you?”
The omega winced, though at least snuggled into Kouki's side the alpha couldn't
see him blushing again.
“N-not ... not like you meant it, n-no,” he mumbled. “I ... I mean, there's
family and Chamu-kun and Hayato-senpai, but that ... it's different.”
“So I'm pretty much your first everything when it comes to romantic things?”
“Completely first,” he admitted in a bare whisper of his own. “I ... I've
always liked guys more than girls, I just ... never got up the courage to do
anything about it. And when girls would confess, it ... well, it's not like I
could return their feelings properly, you know?”
“In that case, I insist on calling a do-over on that first kiss,” Kouki said,
catching his chin and tilting it up towards him. For a moment, the omega felt
frozen, his breath caught in his throat even as he felt Kouki's warm breath
wash over him. And then warm lips pressed to his and his eyes fell closed. A
sigh and he was leaning closer to his soulmate, one hand closing in his shirt
in a desperate bid to stay grounded in some sort of reality.
And then just like that Kouki was pulling back, cupping his face and stroking
his cheek with his thumb. That sense of everything just being right hit him
again. Kouki was an idiot if he really thought Kana was going to chase him
away.
“I need to get my bag from the car, but I'll be right back, okay?”
“I'm not going anywhere,” the omega said even has he leaned back, flashing his
alpha a cheeky grin. Another laugh and Kouki slipped from the bed. That little
voice still lingered in the back of his head, but it was quieter now. Maybe by
the end of the weekend he would be able to silence it? Maybe not. Probably not.
But he wasn't going to let that keep him from trying.
***** Fragility *****
Chapter Notes
     In which Kana continues to be a whiny teenager. I'd apologize, but...
     teenagers. ww
Kana couldn't help a small smile to himself as he leaned back against his
bedroom wall, watching Kouki. On the one hand, it felt a little creepy to be
sitting there in the early morning, just watching the blond sleep. On the other
hand, it was a chance to just observe his alpha, to notice little things he
hadn't previously. Like the way dark roots were starting to come in under the
sunny blond. Or the number of spacers that betrayed piercings the omega had
never even suspected, like second and third ear piercings and a labret. He
wasn't quite brave enough to see if that was actually a tattoo lurking on
Kouki's covered hip or just his eyes playing tricks in the low light. Just
thinking about having Kouki in his bed had originally been enough to make him
blush hotter than the sun, the reality of having his alpha half naked and
sleeping beside him.... He really hated that he was even awake at the moment
even while he was savoring being able to just take in the beauty of the man in
his bed with him. For someone who worked an office job, Kouki was surprisingly
well muscled. Strong arms, a toned chest, defined abs, and lean, long legs that
seemed to go on forever. Kana couldn't help feeling torn between wanting to
climb on top of that gorgeous body and feeling half afraid to even breathe, as
if the alpha would vanish like morning mist if he dared touch him.
At some point, he completely lost focus, startling badly when a hand brushed
his.
“Hey sweetie. Deep thoughts?”
“Y-yeah,” he stammered, a hot blush staining his cheeks. “I ... I guess I'm
still trying to process that you're really actually here and that it's not all
just some sort of dream.”
“How 'bout I help with that?” the alpha said, reaching up and pulling the omega
down into a slow, tender kiss. Kana willingly melted into the kiss, a low moan
catching in his throat when Kouki rolled him onto his back. But though the
blond alpha had him pinned and vulnerable beneath him, he didn't escalate
beyond kisses that were more sweet than heated. A few more and Kouki was
sitting back, smiling down at him.
“So what would you normally be doing on a Saturday at this time?” Kouki asked
with a playful smirk.
“Sleeping,” Kana replied without hesitation. “Sometimes I'll stay in bed all
morning. Unless I'm sick, that's about as late as I can manage, cuz Chamu-kun
usually turns up around noon and drags me out.”
Shit. Chamu. Even after more than a month since that first meeting, the beta
still didn't believe Kouki was Kana's soulmate. He was convinced Kouki was up
to something nefarious and hearing that the alpha was unmated even at the age
of thirty-six had only further convinced him that he was right. Kana had given
up even trying to talk to the beta about his soulmate or anything that could be
related back to relationships or alphas in general.
“I'm going to assume that panicked rabbit look means that you're expecting him
to come over as usual and that he still hates me,” Kouki said, a slight frown
tugging at his lips.
“Why haven't I ever seen you with your labret in?” Kana blurted out, another
mortified blush racing into his cheeks. Kouki stopped and just looked at him
for a second, and then a low chuckle rippled out of the alpha.
“I have enough problems getting taken seriously without having that for the old
windbags to try to use as evidence that I'm not properly dedicated to my job,”
Kouki replied with a shrug.
“But you use spacers. I ... I noticed when you were still sleeping earlier,” he
confessed.
“Yeah, I do,” Kouki agreed with a nod. A beat and then the alpha slipped from
his bed. Kana sat up to watch him, surprised when he silently left the room.
Had he said the wrong thing? Oh god, he hadn't offended him, had he? Kouki
wasn't leaving him, was he? He forced himself to close his eyes and take a deep
breath. He was being ridiculous, if Kouki was going to leave, he would have
grabbed his bag or at least put on pants.
He wasn't sure how long he sat there like that, eyes closed, trying to calm his
panicked breathing, before a hand landed on his shin, the scent of cardamon and
leather wafting up his nose as his alpha leaned close. Kana didn't say
anything, didn't even open his eyes, letting his nose and instinct guide him.
He leaned forward, pressing his face into warm skin and just breathing in
Kouki's scent. He didn't even care that Kouki hadn't showered yet, that his
scent was more old sweat and stale cigarette smoke than the softer spices and
leather he remembered from that first meeting. It didn't matter, because Kouki
was real, warm and firm and comfortingly there, not just a voice from the
internet.
“Kana-kun?” the blond asked, a note of worry in his voice. The omega shook his
head and leaned in closer, finally feeling a bit of calm spreading over him
once more.
“Baby, what is it?” Kouki asked even as he shifted, pulling Kana even closer to
him. “Talk to me, sweetie.”
It wasn't that he was trying to be difficult or anything, but the words were
stuck in his throat. Shaking his head again, he slithered arms around the blond
alpha and practically clung to him, straining to fill his senses with the
realness of Kouki's presence. He didn't even understand why until he realized
his heart had stopped racing and he wasn't hyperventilating anymore. He really
should have paid more attention to his biology lessons, he had no idea if
Kouki, as either an alpha or his soulmate (or both?), was actually responsible
for calming him or if it was all in his head. Then again, maybe it didn't
matter, the whys and the hows, so long as it kept working. Kouki was warm and
real and holding him close and stroking his hair and nothing else mattered.
Kana might have fallen asleep, he wasn't sure, though it would explain how they
had gone from sitting up on his bed to laying down on it, his head cradled to
Kouki's chest. He could hear the alpha's steady heartbeat that matched his own,
feel the light touch of fingers caressing his skin in an almost absentminded
manner.
“I don't know what to do with my life,” he mumbled without preamble. “I've
never known what I wanted to do with my life. I kept thinking maybe I'd figure
it out in high school, but it hasn't happened. I was starting to think, well,
it didn't really matter. I'd settle into some salaryman job or maybe work in a
music shop for a few years, just until I was mated, and then I'd be busy
raising a family. But if you don't want that, if you don't want me, then ...
then I don't know what to do.”
“... what brought this on?” Kouki asked and Kana couldn't help a slight flinch,
not sure just what that tone was supposed to mean.
“... if you left me for real, I don't know what I'd do,” he mumbled. A beat and
then Kouki clasped his chin, turning his head up to face him. A small silver
stud had replaced the retainer in his labret and Kana couldn't take his eyes
off of it.
“If I have to say it a hundred times more, I will, Kacchan: I'm not leaving
you. Not until and unless you tell me to go. If you're sure about wanting to be
my housewife, I will take care of you. I think college would be good for you,
as a social experience even if you don't want the degree, but I won't force you
to go, love.”
Another shiver and Kana scooted himself even closer, trying not to give in to
the tears he could feel prickling at the corners of his eyes.
“I ... sorry,” he mumbled. “You keep saying it, but I can't help it. I don't
know why, it doesn't really make any sense at all, I know that, I know you've
said a dozen times you won't leave, and ye–.”
Mid-word, Kouki tilted his chin up a little more and kissed him. And unlike
their previous kisses, this one was heated, eager and even a bit demanding of
his submission, which Kana gave easily. Warmth rushed through him, pooling low
in his belly, and if he didn't know it was impossible, he would have thought
his heat was on him again. He ached to feel Kouki even closer, to feel his
alpha claiming him completely, and he whined when Kouki pulled back.
“If you want to go to college to study business, I will support you,” his alpha
murmured, brushing fingers along his cheek. “If you want to go to college to
study filmmaking or dance or West African art history, I will support you. If
you want to work in a corner deli, I will support you. If you want to try
starting a family right away and be a stay-at-home father, I will support you.
Hell, if you need to take a break after graduation and just lay on my couch for
six, eight, ten, twenty months, I will still support you. You are my mate, or
you will be, and as long as it makes you happy, then I will support you,
whatever you choose to do or not do, all right?”
“But what if I don't know what will make me happy?” he asked, unable to keep
from frowning.
“Then we'll figure it out, together,” the blond alpha said, leaning down for a
brief kiss. “Come on. As much as I'd love to keep you in bed right now, I'm not
comfortable doing that in your parents' house. And I'm not sure how much longer
until Chamu-kun turns up demanding your attention.”
He could feel a blush rushing into his cheeks even as Kouki claimed his lips in
another all too brief kiss. It wasn't fair, but Kouki had a point. Both about
his parents and about his best friend. He just hoped things with Chamu didn't
end up being too awkward.
~*~*~
Kana had never really thought about it, so used to seeing Kouki in his serious
businessman form in their infrequent Skype sessions that it hadn't really
occurred to him to think about how he would look when he was being just
himself, completely separate from all things work related. All the retained
piercings had jewelry in them now, mostly unassuming silver hoops to match the
silver stud in the alpha's lip, though the lowest one on the left had a single
silver wing hanging from it. Blond hair was styled in a more feathered,
rockstar kind of look that matched well with the stylishly rumpled v-neck tee
and long grey cardigan paired with clean black denim, the collection of onyx
and silver jewelry clustered around his watch, the silver rings and black
polish that had appeared while Kana had been taking a shower. He was truly
beautiful in a way that made Kana's heart skip a beat.
In comparison, Kana felt a bit frumpy in a favorite but somewhat worn band tee
and old jeans. Truth was, he was feeling more than just a little bit jealous of
the easy way Kouki was able to restyle himself however he liked while Kana was
stuck with his parent's rules. Rules that meant his hair, while longer than
some, was still boring black. And that the one piercing he had, in the
cartilage of his right ear, he had to keep so hidden that they didn't know
anything about it, even though he'd had it since his birthday. A part of him
desperately wished he could just quit school and live on Kouki's couch for
awhile, like the alpha had suggested. And were it not for the sure knowledge
that doing so would piss off just about everyone and thereby spoil any chance
of him being happy with the arrangement, he would have done it.
Kana was sitting perched on his bed, watching as Kouki sat in the middle of the
open floor, sifting through an assortment of necklaces, when his door suddenly
popped open.
“Rise and shi–.” Chamu's sadistically gleeful declaration died before he could
finish saying the words, eyes narrowing a little at seeing his intended victim
was not only already out of bed, but also showered and dressed. Kana checked
his phone and couldn't help a soft chuckle.
“Told you. Exactly three minutes past noon.”
“Yes, yes, anywhere you want for lunch, my treat,” Kouki agreed easily, finally
settling on a pair of necklaces, one short chain with a tiny square pendant
that would rest in the hollow between his collarbones and another, longer chain
with a gothic styled cross.
“What's he doing here?” Chamu half hissed as he skirted around the edge of the
room.
“Taking us to lunch,” Kana replied, stretching as he got up from his bed. “And
then the new MCU movie. Unless you don't want to come.”
“You never used to give two shits about Marvel until that rumor started about
Ironman being a secret omega,” Chamu muttered, though at least he wasn't
outright refusing to join them.
“Yeah, well, I've watched the movies now and I'm telling you, the only people
who are going to be shocked are people who don't actually know any omegas,”
Kana insisted, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest. They had been
having this argument since the second Captain America movie, which was when the
rumor had first started circulating in certain fandom circles. Before that,
American superhero comics had been more Chamu's thing than his and Kana had
been content to let his best friend ramble on about this series or that without
any real concern for who was who or what Chamu was saying. Too often, omegas in
modern media were portrayed as little better than breeders, good for nothing
but making babies and satisfying alphas' knotheaded fantasies. The very idea
that a major Hollywood franchise would have an omega in a major heroic role was
more than a little subversive, given American biases. And of course now there
were all kinds of speculation about whether this meant the actor contracted to
portray Tony Stark might not also be secretly omega. Kana figured that was
probably a bit of a long shot, as much time as the guy spent in the media
spotlight, but it was a nice fantasy. Considering how many societies were still
pretty boneheaded even about alpha females being allowed to do more than “safe”
work, well...
“It's still just an internet rumor, you know,” Chamu grumbled. “People on the
internet say stupid shit all the time. People lie.”
Kana held his breath at the less than subtle jab, but either Kouki didn't
notice or he didn't care. The blond alpha stowed his jewelry case then turned
and offered Kana such a dazzling smile he almost forgot his own name.
“So have you decided where you want to go for lunch? And have you looked up
directions yet?”
“Yup. There's a conveyor sushi place that I've been wanting to try since it
opened a couple months ago. It's a short walk from the cinema, too, so we'll
only have to park once~”
“... I tell you we can eat anywhere you want and you want conveyor sushi?”
Kouki asked, an obviously skeptical look on his face.
“Hey, you don't know, it could be really, really good!” Kana countered. “It's
lunch, I don't want to go somewhere super fancy and expensive right before a
movie, that feels ... I dunno, silly.”
It would have been more accurate to say he wanted to avoid those pricier places
while Chamu was out with them to keep things from getting too awkward. Going
someplace nicer would have felt a little too much like a date, with Chamu as
the unhappy third wheel. Of course, if his best friend backed out, well, he had
a place in mind that might come closer to matching Kouki's expectations, an
Italian place in the business district that he had been fairly certain he would
never actually get to try until Kouki had walked into his life. It would still
feel a little weird to him, but he would deal with that if it meant his alpha
was happier.
“So, what, fancy places are for dinner dates and cultural outings?” Kouki
teased. “Well, I did say anywhere you want, so if that's what you want....”
“It is,” he said with a firm nod before turning to snag Chamu's arm and start
tugging him towards the door. The beta hadn't backed out of going with them
yet, so he was just going to assume he was coming until Chamu actually said
otherwise. No matter how annoying the beta could be - and he could be pretty
damn annoying - he was still Kana's best and closest (and sometimes, only)
friend. And he would keep trying to mend the rift between them until either
Chamu stopped hating Kouki or the beta walked out of his life for good. The
fact that, at the moment, Chamu seemed willing to just go along with him gave
him hope that maybe things really could go back to being the way they had been
before running into Kouki.
“I ... oh my, Kouki-san....”
Kana had to fight down a giggle at his mother's reaction to seeing his alpha
dressed so differently from the business suit of last night.
“I promised Kana-kun lunch and a movie, though we might stay out later than
that, if that's all right?”
“What? Oh, um, yes, he did say he wanted to spend the weekend with you,” his
mother said, giving the three of them a speculative look. “Well, those two know
when to be back for dinner. You are coming back for dinner, right?”
The look on his mother's face made it clear that, regardless of how she had
phrased it, she expected them back for dinner, and probably the rest of the
evening besides. Kana did his best to stifle a sigh; he had kind of been hoping
they could stay out after the movie, maybe drop Chamu back home then go to
dinner and check out that hotel room that Kouki had reserved. The blond alpha's
eyes slid to him for a moment, then back to his mother, a charming smile
appearing as he did.
“Yes, ma'am, I'll make sure of it,” he said, offering a respectful bow before
gently herding Kana towards the door.
The omega wasn't sure what he had been expecting to see in his parents'
driveway, but somehow the silver sedan wasn't it. It was so ... sensible.
Almost exactly like the company car his dad had, except that this one had a BMW
badge on the hood. Even Chamu, who had to have seen the car when he got there,
seemed a bit startled and hesitant when Kouki walked right over to the sedan.
Kouki paused in the driver's side door and gave them a quizzical look.
“Are you two coming?”
“Right, right, coming,” Kana said, tugging on Chamu's sleeve. His friend
hesitated a moment longer and then he was nodding along in agreement.
“You can take shotgun, I guess, just... just don't get out of hand,” the beta
grumbled as he slid into the back seat. Embarrassment flooded into Kana's
cheeks but he shoved aside the impulse to just stand there sputtering in favor
of actually getting into the front seat. It wasn't much, but maybe it was a
start?
***** Faith *****
Chapter Notes
     Some schools get mentioned in shorthand in this chapter. They are:
     Fukudai (University of Fukui), Meidai (Nagoya University), and Todai
     (University of Tokyo).
“Well I don't care what you say, Tony Stark is definitely omega and you aren't
going to change my mind.”
“You're so stubborn, you know that? I get it, omegas deserve to have heros,
too, but it doesn't make sense, it just doesn't. Stark's what, late forties
now, early fifties maybe even? And you're going to tell me that in all that
time no one, not even Pepper, noticed he was hiding his orientation? That he
gave up everything, including being a parent, just to keep alive the illusion
of being a rich beta? Why? Why bother? He's brilliant, he owns a hugely
successful multinational tech company, he could do pretty much anything he
wanted without having to pretend to be a beta, so why?”
“Spoken like a true beta,” Kana grumbled. Kouki watched the two teenagers
argue, much as they had been almost from the moment they had walked out of the
movie. This was one argument of which he definitely wanted no part, especially
when there was no upside for him. If he sided with his soulmate, Chamu would
use it as further evidence against him. And if he sided with Chamu, while it
might improve the beta's feelings toward him, Kana would take it as a personal
betrayal. Besides, if he had to choose a side between the two, he was leaning
more towards Kana's, and not just because of their soulmate bond.
Soulmate. He had started to suspect his soulmate might live somewhere other
than Tokyo, but keeping on top of the Matsumoto Group and fending off his
detractors had kept him from spending much time thinking about it. What he had
never expected was to find his soul's mate in the body of a male omega half his
age. While Kouki absolutely would not, could not, deny the as yet incomplete
bond between them, he wasn't so blind as not to notice that Kana's age was
going to be a problem. He was going to have his work cut out for him when Kana
finally came to live with him in Tokyo. And oddly enough, he was kind of
looking forward to it.
“Kouki knows I'm right, don't you?”
“About ... Stark? Oh no, babe, I am not getting between two best friends, you
two can argue this out without me,” he said, laughing at the way Kana took to
pouting at him. He couldn't resist, snagging the omega's hand and raising it to
his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it. It didn't stop the pouting, but he
would live with it.
~*~*~
Some days Kouki wondered how the nose-blind beta majority managed to get
through life when they couldn't pick up on any of the scent messages the world
offered. And other times he was grateful for their disadvantage. Kana had been
annoyed to have to settle for agreeing to disagree, though he had perked up
when Chamu had suggested they walk through the mall before going back to the
car and Kana's house. Amusingly enough, while Kana had verbally balked at the
suggestion of Kouki buying him anything, his scent had betrayed little flares
of hopefulness and pleasure. Notes that had grown even stronger when the alpha
had finally ignored the ongoing protests and bought him the hoodie he had been
practically lusting over.
And then there was Chamu, who probably had no idea just how strongly he had
been telegraphing his anger. Or how easy it was for Kouki to sniff out the
truth under the bluster. The beta was jealous, nervous, even scared, and Kouki
could understand why, though he thought the teen's reaction to him was a bit
overblown. Betas liked to claim they were the level-headed ones in society, but
teenagers were teenagers, regardless of designation. Kana was in a fragile
enough mental place, they didn't need Chamu's jealousy issues poisoning what
they were building between them. He didn't want to get accused of trying to buy
Chamu's good will, but he couldn't just ignore the beta's upset, either.
“You two about ready to head back? I did promise your mother I'd get you home
in time for dinner,” Kouki said, briefly catching Kana's hand. The omega
blinked up at him a second, then frowned at the manga in his hands.
“Um ... five more minutes?” Kana asked, giving him an almost criminally hopeful
look.
“If it's that good, why not just buy it?” he asked, even though he had a pretty
good idea what the answer was. Both the one Kana was about to give him and the
actual answer.
“Oh, well, um, I'm not sure it actually is that good? That's why I'm reading it
here?”
“Well, try to decide and then you two meet me at the car, okay?”
“Eh? But ... huh? Why?” Kana stammered and Kouki had to resist the urge to
laugh. His omega really was too cute when he was confused.
“I need to pick up a bottle of sake for dinner,” he said as he fished out his
wallet, handing over a couple of bills. “Buy it if you want or find something
else, but don't take too long, okay? If I have to come back here looking for
you two....”
“Five minutes. Maybe ten. We'll meet you at the car,” Kana said with a hum and
a smile. Kouki nodded, unable to resist the temptation to ruffle Kana's hair in
parting. It earned him a pout from the young omega, but it was a safe way of
showing affection without drawing unwanted attention from the betas in the
shop. Perhaps it was inevitable that they would have to face static over their
relationship, but Kouki was determined to shield Kana from the worst of it for
as long as possible. If that meant curbing his own affectionate impulses while
they were out together, then for now that was what he would do.
~*~*~
Even though Kana was the one to ask Chamu if he wanted to stay the night, Kouki
could still taste the disappointment in his soulmate when the beta actually
agreed. Just as he was able to scent faint flickers of satisfaction in Chamu.
Right up until the beta realized Kouki had already claimed Kana's bed and then
the bitter jealousy notes flooded forth again. Ridiculous and yet so
predictable. He waited for the young beta to stomp off for a shower before
turning and catching Kana in a loose embrace.
“You know, Kacchan, maybe I should –.”
“Don't say it,” the omega said, surprising him with a finger pressed to his
lips. “Chamu-kun's been my best friend for as long as I can remember, but
you're my soulmate. He's going to have to get over it eventually anyway, he
might as well start now.”
Kouki's lips twitched into a smile and then he pressed a kiss to Kana's finger.
“All right, love, all right. I had to make the suggestion,” he said, pulling
his hand down so he could lean in and kiss the omega properly. Kana practically
swooned and he couldn't help a soft purr of delight. In the past, he would have
said they were taking things too fast, especially considering the differences
between them, but with Kana.... With Kana, everything just felt right. For the
first time in his life, Kouki felt ... secure.
“I ... all right, but next time you get a weekend free, we're not spending it
here,” Kana huffed.
“If your parents are all right with it, then I was thinking perhaps you could
come to Tokyo for your winter break. It's going to be our first Christmas and I
want it to be something special.”
Kana's eyes went wide, his mouth opening and closing several times before he
was able to make any words come out: “You ... you mean it?”
“Of course I mean it,” he replied, chuckling. “Why would I say something I
didn't mean?”
“What? I ... no, I know, I mean... really? I ... I don't know, what if they say
no??”
“Then I suppose we'll just have to make sure they say yes. Are we going out
again tomorrow or staying in?”
“I ... I dunno,” Kana mumbled, stepping closer and hugging him tightly.
“Staying in maybe? I just want to spend time with you, I don't really care
how.”
“Movies and your mom's cooking?”
“Sounds good to me,” Kana agreed with a nod.
“What does?”
The minute Chamu's voice registered, Kana tried to step back, though Kouki
selfishly chose not to release him. If Kana meant what he had just said about
making the beta deal with the reality of their relationship, well, then Kouki
saw no need to censor himself in front of the other teen any more than he would
have in front of his own friends back home.
“Um, movie marathon tomorrow,” Kana said and Kouki could smell the omega's
nervousness. “After I finish my maths and chemistry homework, yes, I know.”
“What about that essay for history?”
“Finished it last night,” the omega said, chin tilting up in a sort of subtle
challenge. Kouki felt a momentary twinge that it hadn't even occurred to him to
ask about homework.
“I can't stay too late tomorrow, have to get back to Tokyo for work on Monday,”
he said and though he couldn't actually see it, he could feel and practically
taste his soulmate's disappointment in the air. Turning the young omega back
towards him, he tilted his chin up and brushed a quick kiss to his lips. “We'll
talk to your parents tomorrow,” he said softly, a small smile curving his lips.
“About Christmas and about the future.”
Kana's whole face lit up with a hopeful smile, though Kouki couldn't help also
noticing the spike of upset and jealousy from Chamu. He knew what Kana had said
about his relationship with his best friend, but he was also starting to wonder
if the beta hadn't seen things differently. He was certainly behaving
possessively enough to be a disgruntled ex-suitor, even though Kana swore their
relationship had never been that way.
“Go wash up,” he chided softly, giving him a light pat on the butt, “or no
murder mysteries before bed.”
Kana rolled his eyes, then surprised him completely with a quick peck on the
lips before hurrying away to the bathroom. Leaving Kouki alone with an
obviously sullen Chamu.
“Hating me isn't the answer, you know,” he said, sinking to the floor beside
his bag in a calculated move to try to make himself seem less threatening. A
casual tone and a smaller profile could go a long way, psychologically
speaking, in making another person feel more secure. “You can't stop or change
this. Just because you don't like the idea of me being Kana's soulmate, that
doesn't make it untrue.”
“And I suppose you expect me to just accept that just because you say it's
true,” the beta said with a snort.
“It'd be nice,” Kouki said as he finished taking off his jewelry, “but no, not
really.” He had to bite back a smile at the snort those words elicited. Yeah,
that's what he had expected. Fixing this wasn't going to be easy or quick, but
it wasn't in his nature to just let things fester. And that meant getting to
the bottom of things, now, before they could get even worse.
“So,” he said, turning towards the teenager to give him his full attention, “is
it my alphaness, my age, or just the fact that I'm not you that's the problem?”
“Just because I don't know what game you're playing.... Kacchan's always
thinking the best of everyone, but I know better. You can trick him, but you're
not fooling me,” the sullen teen muttered.
“What makes you so sure this is all a game to me?” he asked, frowning.
“Oh come on, what else am I supposed to think? He's half your age!”
“Yes, I had rather noticed that,” Kouki said with a wry smile. “I didn't make
this happen, Chamu-kun, this was the work of the gods, of the universe, of
whatever cosmic force you want to blame for tying two souls together. I won't
say it will be easy, but I have faith that Kana and I will find solutions to
the problems ahead. It would be easier if my mate knew he could count on the
support of his best friend.”
“You say that like you aren't just planning to steal him away in four months
when we graduate,” the beta muttered. And there lay the true heart of the
matter. Regardless of anything else, Chamu and Kana had been best friends for
as long as either teen could remember. And now Chamu was terrified that he was
being forced to give up his closest friend.
“We haven't actually made that decision yet, Chamu-kun,” he said gently, not
wanting to upset the other teen any more than he already was. “It's true that
I've offered for him to move in with me after graduation, whether he chooses to
pursue further education or not. I'd prefer to see him go to college and if the
two of you wanted to do that in Tokyo, I'd be happy to help facilitate it. In
the end, though, the choice is his.”
Breath whooshed out of him as he found himself suddenly flat on his back,
blinking up at Kana's ceiling. He didn't even get a chance to catch his breath
before his soulmate was kissing him with the sort of desperation that,
especially in front of Chamu, set off all sorts of warning bells. The omega's
scent was a confused muddle of everything from happy to scared, and Kouki had
to physically push him back, force him to let him sit up properly. Immediately
Kana's scent changed, shame rushing over the happier notes as the teenager
visible shrank into himself. That was no good and he pulled the omega back into
his lap.
“It's okay, baby,” he whispered, purposefully keeping his voice down in an
effort to keep Chamu from overhearing. “I'm not mad, you just startled me. You
shouldn't be eavesdropping like that.”
“Sorry,” the omega mumbled even while snuggling himself into Kouki's lap. “I
... did you mean it? What you said to Chamu-kun about it being my choice, I
mean.”
This again. Another alpha would be getting tired of this by now. Hell, in
different circumstances, he would be getting tired of having his word
questioned again and again. That Kana was his soulmate was the only thing
making this easier.
“I just want you to be happy, baby,” he said, this time loudly enough that
Chamu would be able to hear every word. “If that means I have to keep driving
out here one weekend a month while you study art history or genetics or
Egyptology at a college here in Fukui, then I will. And if you and Chamu-kun
want to move to Tokyo to study there instead or take a year to work first or
whatever, then I'll help with that instead. Whatever you want to do, Kacchan.”
“R-really?” Kana asked, looking up at him again with large brown eyes. The
unmasked and yet wary hope he saw there was almost enough to break his heart.
Just what had this poor kid been through in his life that he was so jaded, so
afraid to believe in other people?
“Really. Whatever it takes, we'll figure it out. As long as you're happy,
that's all that matters,” he said with a nod, gently tucking a loose strand of
hair back behind Kana's pierced ear. The spark of hope grew stronger in those
dark eyes and then Kana was burrowing even closer, pressing his face into
Kouki's chest. No matter what, he would definitely protect Kana from now on. He
knew he couldn't erase whatever had happened in the past, but he would show his
mate that he didn't have to be so wary all the time.
“And if he says he wants to get an apartment with me instead of moving in with
you?” Chamu asked and Kouki had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the
bitterness lurking in each word. He felt Kana stiffen at the beta's words and
he tightened his arms around the omega before glancing over his shoulder at the
other teen.
“Then I would say that I'd be happy to look into which of my buildings will
have apartments coming open in March and e-mail the both of you their listings.
And if none of them were suitable, I would help you find one that met your
needs and then help with key money and deposits so you two could get better
settled. Though I might also feel obligated to point out that my penthouse has
two guest bedrooms and, as Kacchan's best friend, you would be welcome to use
one for as long as you wished.”
The disbelieving look on Chamu's face was echoed in the skeptical notes he was
picking up from both teens. This time he wasn't able to restrain the urge to
sigh, even though he knew their skepticism was quite reasonable. If his
soulmate was still constantly having issues believing him after two months, it
was little wonder that Chamu, who barely spoke to him at all thanks to his
jealousy, didn't believe him either. A playful tug on Kana's fringe and he
managed to silently coax the teen up long enough for him to shift so he could
lean against the bed and actually see Chamu properly, without getting a crink
in his neck. As soon as he was settled again, he opened his arms and the omega
climbed right back into his lap, face pressing into the side of his neck while
Chamu watched them with an intent but closed expression that had him wondering
just what the beta was thinking.
“Well, it's not like anything's been decided yet,” he said when the two seemed
unable to find their tongues. “You both still have time to figure things out.”
Kana huffed before sitting up properly again, though he wouldn't meet Kouki's
eyes.
“We're both taking the national exam and I've been trying to get Chamu-kun to
take the Meidai exam all year, but he says he'd rather stay here and go to
Fukudai. I ... I was only taking the Fukudai exam because I couldn't figure out
what else to do. No one really wants to hire an omega without a degree, but I
don't know if I can actually pass it,” Kana explained, huffing a noise of
frustration. “Half the recruiters I talked to switched off as soon as they
found out I was omega, like even thinking about hiring me would be a waste of
their time. Like I should just shut up and get on with getting myself mated and
producing babies like a good little breeder.”
Kouki stifled a sigh of his own, instead kissing the top of Kana's head. He had
certainly seen and heard enough of that sort of attitude himself, especially in
his college days, to even think about arguing it. As if omegas should just be
grateful they had been allowed to get an education, any education, at all. As
if expecting to be treated the same as their alpha and beta classmates was
completely ridiculous. Too many people, companies, and institutions were still
suffering from the dual social poisons of a machismo-driven patriarchy and a
pervasive notion that omegas were nothing more than lowly breeders, a result of
the era of European Imperialism that had so marked the whole last half of the
previous millennium. There was some truth to the notion that male alphas were
bigger and stronger than any other sub-type, but female alphas were arguably
even better than their male counterparts at managing the affairs of community
and state. And some omegas could mentally run circles around their alpha and
beta peers if given half a chance. Kouki had himself insisted on instituting a
comprehensive non-discrimination policy across the whole of the Matsumoto
Group, over the at times very vocal objections of both his advisors and the
Group's board of directors. The board had even filed a motion of censure
against him, the first step in removing him as CEO, but the measure had failed.
As unpopular as the measure had been - and continued to be - his detractors
couldn't actually frame it as negligence on his part. Matsumoto Group was a
strong enough corporate force that he was hoping perhaps other companies would
follow his lead, but he wasn't going to hold his breath. In the mean time....
“If you two want to sit the Todai exam or any of the other Tokyo schools' exams
instead....”
“I probably couldn't get into Todai, but Chamu-kun, you should definitely do
it.”
“Kana....”
Kouki could scent the stubbornness even before his omega shifted to glower at
the beta, still standing across the room.
“Look, you said you wouldn't sit the Meidai exam, even though they've got one
of the best engineering schools in the country, because you didn't want to move
away from me. If it'll make you two feel better, I'll sit an exam for one of
the other schools, but either way, I'm definitely moving to Tokyo after we
graduate, Chamu-kun, so if you really meant what you said about staying close,
then obviously you're going to have to come to Tokyo with me.”
“... you realize my parents are going to completely freak out if this actually
works. They weren't all that thrilled with the thought of me going to college
in the first place. I just always told them I was doing it because you were
doing it.”
“Yeah, well, the fact that they believed that just further proves that they
aren't right in the head,” Kana muttered. Kouki quirked an eyebrow at that;
there was obviously a story there, but he wasn't going to push for details, not
yet anyway.
“Yeah, yeah, all right, fine, I'll sit for Todai, but you better sit for
something, Kacchan, cuz I'm not moving to Tokyo just so you can lay around on
this guy's couch all day, you brat.”
“... wait, does that mean we're moving into Kouki's place then?”
“If we move up there, even if we got a place of our own, you'd want to be over
at his place all the time anyway, right?”
“Well ... yeah,” Kana admitted and Kouki could almost feel the omega's blush.
“So then yeah ... yeah, I guess we are. I mean it doesn't make sense to rent a
place you aren't going to spend any time in and I can't go to school full time
and work enough to rent a place on my own. And we pay rent and a fair share of
the utilities and groceries, Mr. I Own Apartment Buildings,” Chamu grumbled,
crossing his arms over his chest with a stubborn scowl. “I even promise not to
fuss about how you two decide Kacchan pays his part, just ... just don't tell
me about it if you decide not to use money, okay?”
Kana's happy squeak was loud enough that his mother stuck her head in to make
sure everything was okay. Kouki smiled at how readily his soulmate's mother let
herself be shooed away with amusingly general assurances that everything was
fine. Of course Kana's parents were both betas, nose-blind to the mixed
emotions the blond alpha could scent in the room. Scents that worried him just
a little bit. This was an awful big and fast turn around on Chamu's part and as
much as he didn't want to spoil this happy moment for his soulmate ... it was
suspicious.
“That's ... quite the change of opinion from half an hour ago,” he said
cautiously, taking a deep breath to try to gauge the moods of both teenagers.
“I thought you didn't trust me?”
“I don't,” Chamu said with a scowl, earning himself a swat from Kana. “But I
made a promise. I'm not a deadbeat and I'm not someone who breaks his word. I'm
sticking with Kana, if he's moving to Tokyo, then so am I. And if you don't
like it, well, then tough shit..”
A beat and Kouki nodded. “I appreciate your honesty,” he said as he stood. “And
I stand by what I said, the two of you are welcome to move in with me in March.
I'll even help with the moving.”
“Not like we'll need much help,” Kana said, chuckling. “I mean, your place is
already furnished, so it's just clothes and personal stuff, right?”
“Maybe Chamu-kun would prefer his own bed,” Kouki said with a casual shrug.
“You can take all the pictures for him at Christmas and decide after that how
much you want to bring with you. If it all fits in my car, fine. If we'd be
better off hiring a van or truck, well, I can drive that if it comes to it.”
“... you don't always have to do everything for him, you know,” Chamu grumbled,
but it seemed more reflexive than serious. Kouki couldn't help a soft chuckle.
“It's not about doing everything for him, Chamu-kun, I'm just trying to help my
future mate. It's an offer to help, one he can always decline.”
“Like an omega is really going to say no to an alpha,” the beta countered,
rolling his eyes.
“It wouldn't be the first time an omega's told me to fuck off,” Kouki said with
a casual shrug. “Won't be the last time, either, I'm sure. Kana can tell me no
any time he wants and I will always listen. I'm not one of those alphas, Chamu-
kun, but I get it, it's going to take you time to believe it.”
Walking over to Kana, he ruffled the omega's hair and pecked a quick kiss to
his cheek before making his way to the bathroom. He wasn't sure they had made
much progress, him and Chamu, but at least the beta was willing to be honest
with him. It wasn't much, but for now he would take what he could get.
***** Firsts *****
Chapter Notes
     Biology notes at the bottom! Because A/B/O may be ridiculous on the
     face of it, but dammit if I'm not going to make things at least a
     little bit sensible and consistent. Or something.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Kana could feel his eyes threatening to pop out of his head as he stepped up
from the genkan and into the great room of his alpha's penthouse. The amount of
open space felt almost obscene, but what really pulled him across the room was
the view. Kouki's apartment looked out onto a private garden terrace complete
with an al fresco dining space, a garden, and even a covered pool, with bits of
the Tokyo skyline peeking through the screening bamboo.
“Goddamn, how rich are you???” Kana blurted out, both hands immediately flying
up over his mouth as he felt himself turn beet red. That ... that had been
completely tactless. Kouki laughed, coming up behind him to slide arms around
his waist.
“Rich enough that I don't think about it in those terms,” he replied, chuckling
as he pulled him back against his chest. “I grew up with it. Not this place
specifically, that came later, but this kind of money, yeah. Private schools,
private tutors, the best that money could buy in pretty much everything. Papa
always was brilliant when it came to making something out of nothing. I suppose
you could say I followed in his footsteps.”
“Really? So when do I get to meet him?”
“Not in this lifetime,” Kouki said softly and Kana couldn't help a flinch at
the sadness in the alpha's voice.
“... is ... is that why you've never really talked about him?” he asked
quietly, feeling suddenly guilty for potentially bringing up bad memories.
“If you're asking if it's because I'm ashamed of you, the answer is no. I can't
say for sure, of course, but I like to think my parents would have welcomed you
with open arms,” the alpha said, hugging him tighter. “My grandfather is
another story, but he's not worth worrying about right now. Come on, let me
show you around.”
Kana worried that had been too easy, too flippant, but he really did want to
see more of Kouki's place, so he let it go. Turning around in Kouki's arms, he
pecked a quick kiss to his alpha's lips before stepping back and giving the
apartment a more proper look. Elegant was the first word to come to mind, even
with the crisp modern lines, the stark contrast between black and white
furnishings and the burnished golden wood panel flooring of the main room. The
kitchen was a proper, fully separate kitchen with gleaming stainless steel
appliances and a butchers' block island that made Kana wish he actually knew
how to cook more than cup noodles and omurice.
The first guest bedroom wasn't much to see, not really any bigger than Kana's
room back home and decorated in muted greens and browns. Kana took pictures of
it anyway, even of the shallow closet, so Chamu would be able to have something
to go with Kana's impressions of the place. He stopped short at the second
guest bedroom, though, as it had obviously been set up as Kouki's home office,
though there was room enough to roll out a futon if one didn't want to sleep on
the couch. Otherwise, the only real difference Kana could see was the
coloration - three of the walls were a muted sky blue with the fourth a bright
peacock blue-green. Well, and the lack of a bed, but....
“If Chamu-kun wants this room, I don't mind changing my office to the other
one,” Kouki said, sliding arms around Kana's waist again. “Although if it's
just the colors, I could have the other room painted like this one. I'm not
sure if he wants to be right next to our room. It's soundproofed, of course,
but still.”
Kana couldn't help a shiver at those words. Their room. This was really
happening. He snapped a few quick pictures of the office before turning in
Kouki's arms again.
“So I should probably go grab my bag then, huh?” he said, smiling as he didn't
move away at all. Instead he pressed himself even closer while telling himself
not to get too far ahead of himself. They weren't even properly mated yet and
just because they had shared a bed together once....
“I suppose,” Kouki drawled, grinning down at him, “that's going to depend on if
you really think you're going to need anything out of it right this second.
Though if you ask me, just between us, I don't think you will.”
There might have been some response lurking on Kana's tongue, but it vanished
all too readily when his alpha pulled him closer still and kissed him. A shiver
skittered down the omega's spine and a moan slipped free at the possessiveness
in each touch, each kiss, each moment. Kouki was right, there was absolutely
nothing in Kana's bag that couldn't wait for later.
And then Kouki was pulling back, pressing a kiss to his forehead before
steering him out of the office. Right, couldn't actually progress to seeing the
master bedroom if they stayed in the office kissing. Pushing down the niggling
feeling of disappointment, he let himself be walked down the hall to the
bedroom that was going to be theirs now. The first thing he noticed was the
view, a split between the terrace on one side and the city on the flanking
side. Tinted glass muted the cityscape and even though there wasn't another
tall building all that close, Kana was still relieved to know people wouldn't
be able to see in so easily. It was an amazing view, but he liked his privacy
and he definitely didn't want to think about being watched while he and Kouki
were being intimate together, a thought that sent heat flooding through his
cheeks.
Like the rest of the apartment, their bedroom had a very clean, modern style, a
cool icy blue on the walls that weren't windows and dark wood furnishings.
Somewhere between the great room and here the hardwood flooring had shifted to
a dark cherry that matched the furniture. The dark expanse was interrupted by a
set of shaggy white rugs, one on each side of the generous Western style bed, a
runner at the foot of the bed leading past it to the seating area that faced
the terrace door, and another one tucked between couch and windows. He was
pretty sure this one room was as big if not bigger than Hayato's entire
apartment and Kana wasn't sure how to feel about that.
“What do you think?”
“I think ... I don't know what to think,” Kana admitted with a self-conscious
chuckle. “So much space....”
“But do you like it? And where do you want to make changes?”
“Changes? Oh I don't know anything about that,” he said with a shake of his
head. “I'm not a design person, I'm fine with whatever as long as it's with
you.”
Kana could already feel himself turning beet red at hearing those words coming
out of his mouth. That was ... so cliche and over the top, he almost couldn't
believe he had actually said it. And yet he couldn't deny the little thrill of
warmth at the way Kouki laughed and hugged him tighter.
“You're so cute,” he teased. “All right, all right, well if you think of
anything, even if it's just a different color for the bedding, let me know, all
right? Even if we switch the office, it's big enough we can share it, I think,
so we can set your computer up in there?”
“All I have is a laptop and I wouldn't want to be in the way,” he said with a
slight shrug. “If I'm going to school and need to work on homework, I'd
probably just use the library on campus or something anyway.”
“I'm sure you wouldn't. Be in the way, that is. Although ... now that I'll have
you home to distract me, I might not work so much, either,” Kouki said,
chuckling again.
“You ... you really think I'm that much of a distraction?” Kana mumbled, the
happiness suddenly draining out of him. That was the last thing he wanted, to
be a burden on his soulmate.
“Only in the very best possible sense of the word, sweetheart,” the alpha
countered, gently turning him around and tilting his chin up to meet his eyes.
“I work too much, I always have. I know you've seen it. Having you here to make
me stop that? That's a good thing. Yeah, working so much is how I got to where
I am, but that doesn't make it healthy. Being a good alpha to you, that's way
more important. Especially if you decide, if we decide we want to have a family
some day.”
Just like that, the warmth was back and rushing all through him again, heating
his cheeks and making him try to duck his head. Only Kouki wasn't letting go of
him, holding his chin up while brushing a soft kiss to his forehead.
“The work's important, but you're important, too,” the alpha murmured. “More
important, in fact. You are my soulmate, your happiness is more important than
anything else, Kacchan.”
His cheeks were on fire and he stepped closer, pressing his face into Kouki's
warm chest as he bit his lip, trying to hold back the urge to cry. No one had
ever said he came first like that, no one had ever made him such a priority. It
was a little overwhelming. Fortunately, Kouki didn't press, didn't push, didn't
even say anything at all as he held him, lightly rubbing his back. And for just
one moment Kana wanted nothing more than to stay right there forever. He didn't
need school or work or anything else as long as he had Kouki.
“Thought about what you want for dinner?” Kouki asked after a long, lingering
silence.
“Pizza?” Kana asked hopefully as he reluctantly stepped away from his alpha's
arms. He really was getting hungry again, but that was hardly any surprise. He
was grateful to Kouki for the train ticket, it had made the trip a lot more
palatable than the bus route he had researched on his own, but it was still
four hours in transit. And since he hadn't wanted to spend any of his limited
pocket money on train station food....
“I think that can be arranged, yes,” Kouki said, backing away towards the door.
Kana glanced around his future bedroom again and smiled.
“You know, if I hadn't brought two of my favorite shirts with me, I'd be
tempted to just leave all my laundry here. One less suitcase worth of clothes
to pack later.”
“So leave everything you don't mind being without for three months. I'll even
make sure it all gets washed before you come back. That door we skipped before
is the utility and laundry room.”
“Fancy,” Kana teased, following him back to the main room of the apartment.
“You know, if you decide you want to be my housewife, you're going to have to
learn how to take care of things around here,” Kouki teased. “Cooking,
cleaning, laundry. And then there'll be the childcare. Making bottles and
changing diapers and even more cooking and cleaning and laundry.”
“What, you mean we aren't going to hire a maid, a cook, and a nanny so I can
lay on the couch dramatically and eat bonbons all day?”
“Absolutely not! No mate of mine is going to be that much of a lazy bum, I
don't care how much money I'm making!”
Kana tried to hold in a giggle, but it just wasn't possible. His alpha looked
so genuinely offended by the thought of him being little more than a kept,
pampered poodle, it was all but impossible not to laugh. Moving past him, he
dropped onto the couch as he tried to contain his laughter. Something that
would have been a lot easier if Kouki would stop giving him the confused puppy
look, something that he still couldn't believe he was seeing on an alpha's
face, of all things.
“Kacchan....”
“Sorry,” he managed to gasp after another few moments, waving a hand uselessly
in front of his own face. “Sorry, just, your face. Sorry.”
“... what?”
“Sorry, doesn't ... thank you,” he managed after a bit more sputtering.
“For what?” That confused puppy look still wasn't going away but Kana was
slowly finding it a little easier to handle. The genuine confusion was almost
sobering at this point.
“For always supporting me,” he said, shrugging. “I mean, I don't even know what
I want to do and you're still okay with me doing whatever I want, as long as
it's something I choose. Pretty much any other male alpha would be telling me
this or that, throwing his weight around because he's an alpha, like that giant
overblown cock of his makes him automatically better than me. I don't know what
I'd've done if my soulmate had been more like that. Or worse.”
“Oh you push me hard enough, I'll be the bossiest, most obnoxiously alpha male
you've ever seen,” Kouki countered, though his grin made it hard for Kana to
take him completely seriously. “The universe has a sense of humor, but I have
to believe it wouldn't've mated us if we weren't going to be able to figure it
out, figure out what works for us.”
“Hnn, not sure if you should be telling me that. Might make me feel the need to
find those buttons,” Kana confessed, biting his lip. It wasn't that he didn't
enjoy and appreciate, even crave the gentle affections Kouki had been giving
him. But at the same time, he couldn't ignore the corner of him that was also
craving something... more. Both a longing to feel completely safe and protected
and a desire to feel completely claimed and dominated. Sometimes it scared him
just how much he wanted it. Worse, what if he only thought he wanted it? What
if he only wanted the romanticized version built up on TV and in movies and in
his head, something that wasn't even close to reality? What if he took this
fantasy of his to Kouki and the reality turned out to be something he didn't
want, only he was stuck with it? What if –?
“You know, if you ever hope to keep secrets from me, babe, you're going to have
to learn how to hide what you're thinking better,” his alpha drawled, leaning
over the back of the couch to brush fingers along his jaw. “Whatever it is
you're afraid of, you can tell me, okay?”
“It's no–,” but before he could even finish forming his protest, Kouki had a
finger pressed to his lips.
“I can smell your fear, Kacchan, don't tell me it's nothing. That scent is
definitely not nothing. I'm ordering pizza and then we're going to talk about
this, all right?”
He wanted to argue, to insist it was nothing, that he was fine and they didn't
need to talk about it. Except there wasn't much point. If Kouki could scent him
out that easily.... arguing would be a waste of time. But that didn't mean he
wanted to talk about it either. Instead he sat on the couch, knees pulled up to
his chest, and tried hard to think of something he could say that wouldn't be
so potentially disastrous.
It wasn't going well.
“Still trying to think of a way to convince me I'm wrong?” Kouki asked as he
plopped down on the couch next to him, one arm resting on the back of the couch
as he angled himself to face him.
“Using your nose against me feels an awful lot like cheating,” Kana grumbled,
stubbornly sticking to his corner with his knees up to his chest still.
“Why? Because I recognize fear scent? And stress scents and desperation scents
and nervous sweat and teenaged arousal?”
“Wh-what? N-no, what? I wasn't –.”
“Of course you were. Babe, you're eighteen and I'm gorgeous, if you weren't
popping boners around me at least once in awhile, I'd be offended.”
“KOUKI!!!”
The blond was completely unrepentant, laughing easily before leaning in to cup
Kana's cheek and brush a quick kiss to his lips.
“With this level of squirming, I'm guessing this was more than just the usual
teenaged daydream-inspired boner. So ... what? Something we were talking about
got you to thinking about something you're embarrassed about finding arousing?”
“I'd really rather not talk about this,” the omega mumbled, pressing his face
into his knees.
“That bad, hmm?” the blond alpha hummed, reaching over to run fingers through
Kana's dark fringe. “So ... kinkier than the mundane of guy-on-guy, cock-in-ass
sex?”
If he didn't know better, Kana could have sworn he was on the verge of
imploding from sheer embarrassment.
“I'll take that as a yes. Ok, so, more or less fringe than being choked during
sex?”
Kana could only sit there sputtering, trying and failing to get his brain to
figure out where Kouki could have even come up with that. The blond studied him
with a thoughtful frown for what felt like forever before shaking his head a
little.
“I'm neither magical nor telepathic, Kacchan,” the alpha teased gently. “You're
going to have to use actual words or else I'm just going to have to keep
randomly guessing kinks until I either miraculously hit the right one or you
explode. And at the moment, the latter is looking a little too likely, which
I'd prefer to skip, so....”
“How... what... I....” Okay, so he wasn't making much progress getting over his
sputtering discomfort with this entire line of conversation. A tiny rational
voice at the back of his head insisted he was being ridiculous, and it was
probably right, but it was hard to just set aside and ignore a lifetime of
being told that this wasn't something one discussed casually while waiting for
pizza delivery.
“Breath play is incredibly intimate and for some people it can really enhance
the moment,” the blond said with a casual shrug. “I won't be offended if it's
not your cup of tea.”
“Wait...are you saying...?”
“No, an ex from college,” he said with a slight shake of his head. “She swore
it made things more intense, but I was always worried I was going to hurt her.
I've never felt a need to experience it myself.”
Kana felt ... awkward, hearing even this little about his soulmate's previous
partners. Meeting one's soulmate was never promised in this life and at thirty-
six it would be foolish to think a powerful alpha like Kouki would have been
saving himself for his own absent soulmate. But knowing all the logic didn't
make it any better.
“Kana, you have ... had sex before, right?”
The question was so direct, it was probably a miracle that the shy little omega
didn't combust right on the spot. Of course Kouki had the right to know the
truth, if he hadn't already pieced it together for himself just from Kana's
reactions, but to actually say the words was almost too mortifying. He was
eighteen and an omega, who could possibly believe he was still a virgin?
“I, um, well ... not ... not exactly?”
“Not exactly? What does that mean?” his alpha asked with another, more serious
frown. “No, wait, never mind, that was a stupid question when you've already
told me I'm your first boyfriend.”
“But that doesn't mean that I'm ... well, I mean I am, but you don't have to
say it like that!” Kana sputtered. Wait, why was he even protesting like this??
And now Kouki had that confused puppy look on his face again and Kana felt like
an idiot.
“Like what? Baby, it was a stupid question and it was even more stupid of me to
ask it the way I did, I'm sorry.”
“I ... what?” Why was Kouki apologizing? Alphas didn't apologize, not to omegas
certainly!
“The way I said it ... there's nothing wrong with you being a virgin, Kacchan.
What you do with your body is your business, you don't owe me anything, okay?”
“I....” He had to be hearing that wrong. Kouki was an alpha, Kana was his
soulmated omega. Maybe he didn't owe the man his virginity, but he owed him a
lot. All his life, the message had been drilled into him again and again: as an
omega, if and when he was claimed by an alpha, he would belong to that alpha
completely. And maybe a “good” alpha would ask for his input, but at the end of
the day he wasn't really much more than property. Sure, society was happy to
give him some trappings of independence - he could go to school, try to get a
job - but sooner or later he would be reduced to what was expected of him as an
omega. It wasn't fair, not even close, but it was what it was. And now that he
had found his soulmate, what he was boiled down to him being a pre-mated omega,
essentially Kouki's property to do with as he pleased. So far his alpha had
been willing to treat him more like an equal, but....
“Kana....” the alpha caught his chin, tilting it up to meet his eyes. “I don't
care what anyone else says or what roles society says we have to play when
we're out in public. You are my mate and as far as I'm concerned, that makes us
equals in everything, especially here at home. You don't owe me anything, and
when it comes to your body, we do everything at your pace and on your terms.
Everything, whether that means something as little as a hairstyle or as big as
when or even if we have children.”
“I-if we have...?”
“Yes, if. But that's a conversation for another time, okay? When we're settled
and ready to be parents. And if that's not for months or years from now or even
never, I'm okay with that, okay?”
One minute Kana could feel himself trembling, the next he was flinging himself
across the couch to press tight to Kouki's chest, ignoring the soft ooph as he
knocked the man backwards. A beat and then Kouki was settling his arms around
the omega clinging to him, humming softly and rubbing his back.
“Never and nothing without your full, informed consent, Kacchan,” Kouki
murmured, brushing a kiss against his tousled hair. “And you can always say no
at any time, to anything, for any reason. Or even no reason at all, if it's not
what you want anymore. The only thing I ask is that you always be open and
honest with me, okay?”
Maybe it was stupid to be getting so emotional over just some words. It was
almost definitely ridiculous to get seething mad when a doorbell rang a moment
later. Or maybe that was the hunger getting the better of him.
“Pretty sure that's dinner, babe,” the blond said, brushing another kiss to his
forehead before slipping out from under him. Kana had never resented a pizza so
much in his life. Pulling himself back into his corner of the couch, he
squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to focus on his breathing. Maybe with
this sidetrack and now the interruption of pizza, Kouki wouldn't notice that he
had never actually said what had disturbed him earlier.
~*~*~
Kouki noticed a lot more than most people were willing to give him credit. Like
the way Kana had slipped out of admitting much of anything. He had some ideas,
of course, but assumptions were dangerous. Especially when it came to his
soulmate. Even more especially when that soulmate was a teenaged omega
conditioned to think of himself as less than equal simply because he was omega.
So he waited, enjoying the simple pleasure of sharing a meal with his young
mate, planning how they would spend the week together. Christmas Eve wasn't for
another three days and, much to Kana's obvious disappointment, Kouki still had
to work most of the time his soulmate would be visiting Tokyo. They had both
known that from the start, though it didn't take much effort on Kouki's part to
see that Kana had been hoping things would go differently. A little
encouragement and he managed to talk the younger man into exploring the city on
his own while he was at work.
And then dinner was over and even though he had the weekend off, he could tell
it had been a long day for his soulmate.
“Come on, grab your bag and lets get you into bed, mmkay?”
He held back a laugh at the way Kana flushed bright red at his comment; the
teen really was so innocent sometimes. Most of the time, really. Brushing a
brief kiss to the omega's cheek, he scooped up the empty pizza box and started
cleaning up from dinner. Kana hesitated (cutely) for a moment before fetching
his bag and heading for the bedroom. Kouki lingered a little longer, making
sure everything was settled, before following his soulmate. To his surprise,
Kana was standing at the terrace windows, almost nose to the glass, staring out
into the winter night. Walking over to him, he brushed his hand against Kana's
back to catch his attention.
“See something interesting?”
“I thought ... I thought I saw something moving on the terrace. But I guess
that's pretty silly, right?”
“Probably just the wind, or maybe a crow. Or both. Come on, step back. You're
in the way.”
“In the way?” Kana parroted, stepping back with him but not without also giving
him an odd look. Rather than answering verbally, Kouki moved back over to the
night stand on his side of the bed. A touch of a button and vertical blinds
steadily marched across the glass, shielding them from view and the sunrise
that would come in the morning. Kana stepped back again, obviously stunned and
Kouki had to smile.
“Should've done that earlier, but I wanted you to see the view,” he said as he
started undressing. Inasmuch as they had already shared a bed together, he
hadn't expected the startled squeak from the omega. Or to turn back around and
see the teen covering his face with both hands.
“Kacchan? What is it?”
“You ... you're.... Right here!”
“Yes, I'm right here,” he said, frowning a little as he walked around the end
of the bed to approach his soulmate again. “Kacchan, are you feeling all
right?” he asked as he gently pulled the teen's hands away from his face. Kana
was blushing harder than Kouki thought he had ever seen, it was almost
impressive. And just a bit concerning.
“You ... I mean, I ... I ... you didn't ... are we ... I ... oh god, I'm
sorry,” Kana stammered, eventually stumbling to a halt. The young omega stepped
in close, pressing his face into Kouki's chest, and while he certainly
appreciated the closeness, the alpha couldn't help worrying about why it was
happening.
“For the record, I have no idea what's wrong right now, baby.”
“I-it's not ... I just didn't think.... I ... I should go shower,” the omega
mumbled, stumbling when he stepped away again.
“All right, well, if you need help finding anything, just ask, okay?”
Kouki watched Kana retreat into the master bath with another frown, unable to
not notice the way the teen wasn't looking at him directly. His soulmate's
shyness was something he had noticed from the start, but sometimes it still
managed to catch him by surprise just how shy the teen was. Such a difference
from his own memories of high school. Granted, as a male alpha, Kouki had
attended an all-alpha high school himself, that probably had something to do
with it. Shyness was a rare trait indeed in alphas, especially during puberty;
nothing quite like having an alpha female in heat after you to chase the
shyness right out of a guy. Or at least it had been that way for him. He smiled
a little at the memories, though he sobered quickly enough at the unintended
reminder that his own mate had no such experiences behind him. A soft sigh to
himself and he finished undressing, pulling on a pair of sleep pants for the
sake of his omega's comfort.
Kouki was leaned against the headboard with a book when Kana finally returned
from his shower, smelling like lavender and tea tree. And eager omega. Yeah, he
recognized that trick, mentally tsking and shaking his head. Kana was trying
too hard. Fortunately, Kouki had better control of himself than to fall for
such a transparent move, especially when he didn't really believe Kana was
there yet on his own.
“Better?” he asked softly, marking his place before closing the book.
“Yeah,” the teen said, shyly climbing into the other side of the bed.
“Something happen to your tablet?”
“Hmm? Oh, no, it's fine, I just don't use it this close to going to bed,” he
said, shrugging. “Besides, there's something comforting about holding a book in
my hands.”
“Can't imagine that,” Kana mumbled, scooting down the bed a bit. “Every time I
hold a book right now, it's for school. Not exactly relaxing.”
“It's different when you're able to read for your own enjoyment,” Kouki
replied, turning off the light before moving to settle beside Kana. A beat and
then the omega was wiggling into his arms, resting his head on his chest. Such
an innocently sweet gesture, he didn't want to ruin it with conversation that
would make Kana uncomfortable again. Well, there would be other chances to
talk. They had the whole week ahead of them still, he would make sure they
talked more. About everything.
~*~*~
Kana had expected that taking the Friday afternoon train to Tokyo would give
him the weekend before he was left to his own devices while his alpha worked.
It shouldn't have been too much to expect, it was the weekend before Christmas
after all. He knew Kouki had a bad habit of working on weekends, but he was in
town as a special treat. Surely Kouki wouldn't work all through Kana's winter
vacation?
Waking up to an empty bed, he told himself that it didn't mean anything. Kouki
was the thoughtful kind of guy who would have gone to another room if he had
woken up too early to be polite.
Except both the office and the great room were also empty. Tugging the throw
around himself more firmly, he shuffled into the kitchen. The coffee pot sat
waiting for him, the morning's fresh brewed coffee still warm within the carafe
and a note leaned against it.
Sorry baby, the note read. Something came up at work, I have to handle it. I
promise to be home by 16:00, so think about what you want to do for dinner.
There's fresh rice in the cooker and coffee in the maker, both should even
still be warm if you don't sleep too late. Help yourself to anything you like.
Love you Kacchan~
Sighing heavily, Kana stood in the kitchen staring at the note for several long
minutes before putting it down again. The temptation to crumple it in
frustration was too strong and he retreated to the bedroom to get changed into
proper clothes. Whatever it was that had happened at the office, it had better
have been a matter of life and death, or he was really going to be angry with
Kouki when he got home.
Settling at the breakfast bar with bowls of tamago kake gohan and miso, a mug
of coffee with lots of cream and sugar, and the piece of grilled saba Kouki had
obviously left behind as a surprise for him, he glowered at his phone, as if it
were responsible for the fact that he had no idea what to do with himself now.
He could call Chamu, except he was pretty sure that wouldn't go well. At best,
the beta would feel compelled to tease him about the fact that he hadn't even
been gone a day and he was already calling him. Worse, it could throw fuel on
the embers of Chamu's distrust of Kouki, and that was the last thing he wanted.
He had promised Kouki that he would do more than stay home on the alpha's couch
the whole week, but the thought of exploring Tokyo on his own was a little
intimidating. Other than just mindlessly walking around Kouki's neighborhood to
get a feel for the area, he wasn't sure what to do. He had checked out a number
of Tokyo universities and colleges online, but none of them would be open
during the winter break, so trying to visit any of them would be a little
pointless. And he still hadn't decided to which of them, if any, he should be
applying. A part of Kana almost wanted to register for the Todai entrance exam
just so he could fail it and have a year off before he had to try again. If he
hadn't already told Chamu and Kouki both that he didn't think he could pass
it....
Chamu was pushing him to apply to Tokyo University of the Arts, but Kana wasn't
so sure. Drawing was something he did for fun, he wasn't sure trying to make a
career out of it was such a good idea. What if taking courses ruined what he
liked about art? On the other hand, graphic design courses were bound to be
more fun than studying history or economics and it would be one way of
placating Chamu and Kouki (mostly Chamu). But it didn't help him decide what to
do with himself until then.
Finished with breakfast, he took his coffee out to the great room, walking over
to the terrace windows to stare out at the chill morning. Not that there was
much to see from there, just Kouki's terrace, a couple glimpses of buildings
across the street. A part of him wondered what it would be like in the spring,
how private it was. What it would be like to sit out there in the late evening
with Kouki, watching the setting of a summer sun. What it would be like to do
more than just sit out there together.
Almost as soon as the thought popped into his head, Kana could feel himself
turning beet red. He still had a few weeks until his next heat hit, so why was
everything making him think of sex lately? He had been so sure that Kouki would
try something last night, especially when his alpha had started undressing
right there in the bedroom, and then ... nothing. He'd even showered and
everything! And all Kouki had done was hold him close and kiss his hair. It
couldn't be that Kouki wasn't interested in him, right? They hadn't had a
chance to do much more than steal a few kisses the one weekend they'd had
together, especially since Chamu had hung around for most of it. But Kouki had
said things, told Kana that he wanted him that weekend, just not in his
parents' house. So why, now that they were finally alone together, had he not
made his move? Kana had even used the special body wash that was supposed to
enhance his scent, increase a partner's interest. At least that's what the
website had claimed. Sometimes only having two real friends, neither whom were
omega, was a real drag. Maybe Kouki was right, maybe going to college was what
he needed. He certainly wasn't going to make any more friends sitting on his
alpha's couch all day.
“Right, well, no time like the present, right?” he mumbled to himself. If
nothing else, he could stop at a grocery store and pick up a couple of his
favorite snacks. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was better than feeling sorry
for himself and wasting the day watching television.
Chapter End Notes
     ok, so a couple biology things:
     1. In the biology of this A/B/O-verse, an alpha/omega m/m pair having
     anal sex is indeed viewed as a bit kinky. Basically, omegas have a
     genetic defect that, among other things, results in omega males
     having both male and female sexual organs, so it's not really any
     more kinky than m/f anal sex in our world, but for our poor innocent
     baby Kana, welllll.... XD [And yes, this means alpha females also
     have similar anatomy, just alpha sized. ;)]
     2. A/B/O kinda flies in the face of Occam's Razor from the start, but
     for this verse, there is one female reproductive cycle shared across
     A/B/O lines, so yes, alpha and beta females also go into heats,
     they're just different, with beta heats being the least intense.
     Puberty is a wild ride for alphas.
     Also, unless I pull off some sort of miracle today, it looks like I'm
     going to have to pause this for a week. I've been having issues with
     my muses and now need to rework an entire plot thread that means
     backing up into chapter 6. Since I pre-release my fiction on my
     Patreon a week ahead of releasing it to the public, this means I've
     effectively caught up with myself and if I can't pre-release chapter
     6 today, I'll have to push the schedule back a week. But after three
     days of banging my head against the same wall, it's better if I
     rewind things and shove the plot onto a different track, so...
***** Fate *****
Chapter Notes
     The scene in italics is a flashback. And no, I'm not the least bit
     sorry for what I've done. ww I needed a family name for Kana so I
     picked one out of a list, there's nothing to point to this being at
     all accurate to the real world. :p
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Everything hurt, he could smell blood and diesel fumes and burning. What ...
what had happened? Voices everywhere, none of them familiar. Betas fluttered
around him, shouting at each other. And an alpha, no two alphas, arguing about
... something. No, three alphas, but they were too far away and the betas
shouting medical jargon all around him were keeping him from making sense of
the other voices. And everything hurt. Everything hurt so bad he could hardly
catch a breath. Kouki. He needed Kouki. He needed his phone....
“It's gonna be all right, kiddo, just hang in there. We've got ya, you're gonna
be okay.”
~*~*~
It had started out simply enough. After spending most of the morning dithering,
Kana had finally forced himself to grab the key Kouki had left behind for him
and go for a walk. He had only intended to go a few blocks in each direction,
just enough to get a feel for the type of neighborhood he would be calling home
in a few months. Find the train station, a couple combini, maybe a green
grocer, a bank, a Starbucks. The usual staples of city living. He had found the
Starbucks first and quickly decided that he was allowed to treat himself,
especially since that was exactly why he had brought pocket money with him in
the first place.
~*~*~
Like most places, the café was full of betas, but by some cosmic luck, the
barista who took his order was the solitary omega on the shift. Kana wanted to
strike up a conversation, but they were busy and it wasn't really allowed
anyway, right? Still, he lingered over his drink, trying to pretend he was
working on something on his phone as his excuse for not drinking more quickly
and getting on with his day. And then Chamu started texting him and he really
did get engrossed in his phone, not noticing how much time was passing as he
sent his best friend one picture after another of the apartment while trying
not to gush too much. Before he knew it, an hour had passed and he still hadn't
actually finished his peppermint mocha.
“This seat taken?”
Kana startled and looked up, even more surprised to see the omega barista
standing there next to his table.
“Oh, um, no, it's fine. Please, have a seat.”
“You must be new to the neighborhood,” the other omega said, absently tucking
strawberry blond hair behind one ear.
“Um, sort of? Just visiting my boyfriend this week but I'll be moving into his
place this spring. Do... do you live around here then?”
“With my parents, a few streets over,” he said with a nod. “I'm Hikaru, by the
way.”
“Oh, um, Kana, it's a pleasure to meet you.” He had thought the other omega was
older than him, but if he was still living at home, maybe not? Or at least not
as much older as he had been thinking.
“So, your boyfriend ... not an alpha?”
“Huh? Oh, um, no, he is. He's my soulmate, actually, he just doesn't want us to
take that step until I'm out of high school at least.”
“Ooohhhh, lucky you,” Hikaru said with obvious envy. “Man, my soulmate ...
disappointing as hell. Took one look at me and wow, I'd never been around
someone so disgusted with something in my life. One look, one derogatory
comment about fucking faggots and yeah, I haven't seen him since. Haven't
looked, either,” the omega confessed with a shudder. “I'm not even gay! And now
... I don't know, the world just feels ... off.”
“Oh, um, I'm sorry,” he mumbled, not sure what else to say.
“It sucks cuz even when I meet a nice alpha.... ah, you don't want to hear
about this depressing stuff, right? Sorry, don't worry about it. That selfish
bastard'll probably drink himself to death soon anyway. Ah, are you moving here
for college? Here, finish up your drink and I'll show you the neighborhood.”
“Oh, you... you don't have to do that. I mean... I'm sure you have better
things to do....”
“There are only, like, five other omegas our age in this neighborhood, we've
got to stick together, right?”
“Well ... ok ... yeah ... yeah, you're right,” Kana said, nodding.
“All right then, come on, finish up and let's go. I know this great little
noodle shop, you have to see it to believe it. And the good pharmacy with the
pharmacist who actually gives a fuck about doing his job right.”
“There's more than one pharmacy around here?”
“ ... you must be from a really small town or something,” his new friend
teased, grinning. “Yeah, but the other pharmacist is a beta bigot, you don't
want to deal with him, trust me.”
Kana nodded, quickly finishing off his mocha. Guess being brave had been the
right choice after all.
~*~*~
Kouki had felt it immediately, a sharp tug on his soul that told him his mate
was in trouble. And then the alerts had started coming in, a terrorist attack
on a restaurant a few blocks from his building. Five dead, fifteen injured.
Eight dead, twenty injured. The counts kept changing as he rushed out of the
office, trying desperately to figure out where his soulmate had been taken. In
the almost four months since meeting Kana, Kouki hadn't once regretted his
choice not to bite his omega. Not once. Until now. The soulmate bond was enough
to guide him in the right direction, find the right hospital, but that was all
it could do.
“Kou-kun, look, I'm sorry, man. If it was up to me ... but it isn't. Hospital
policy is clear.”
“Mitsuki... Sensei ... please, he's my soulmate, he's going to need me.”
“Right now, he's not even awake, I doubt he even realizes what's happened.”
“All the more reason for me to be there, at his side. His parents missed the
only flights to Tokyo, they had to take the train and you know how long it
takes to get from one coast to the other.”
“You aren't his legal mate, Kou-kun,” the doctor insisted, shaking his head.
The man looked exhausted, which wasn't really a surprise, considering he had
just finished four hours of delicate surgery, removing shrapnel and repairing
damage to Kana's bowels. Kouki doubted he looked all that much better himself,
having spent the last four hours being denied any information about his
soulmate, other than that he was alive. Seeing Mitsuki had been both a moment
of hope and a moment of utter dread.
“You know, he's probably not even going to come out of the anesthetic for
another couple of hours. I've already told you more than I should have, go ...
get a cup of coffee and a bento in the cafeteria. Stay off this floor, at least
until his parents get here to vouch for you or my boss goes home, okay?”
“Mitsuki!”
“I mean it, Kouki. I'll be keeping an eye on him myself and I'll have one of
the omega nurses sit with him until he wakes, I promise. We can handle this,
but you need to let us. You keep in touch with his parents and if something
changes, I'll handle it, okay?”
It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but his high school friend had that look on
his face. Wanted to hear or not, it was what it was. Huffing a sigh of defeat,
he nodded and let himself be directed to the hospital cafeteria. He was just
going to have to wait.
~*~*~
Someone was humming. Kana wasn't sure if it was that or the pain in his gut
that woke him. Or the dry cotton ball feeling of his mouth. His eyes were gummy
and his arms were too heavy to move. He tried to groan but it was more of a dry
rasp. The humming stopped, an omega suddenly leaning over him.
“Kana-kun?”
As if that voice were somehow a trigger, everything from his chest down to his
groin started sending him overwhelming pain messages at once. He tried to curl
up into a little ball, but his body didn't want to listen to him. A beep, a
click, a mechanical hiss, another beep.
“Easy, sweetie, it's okay, it's gonna be okay now. Doctor insisted you come out
of the anesthetics before we gave you any more painkillers, but you should be
feeling better now, ne?”
She was right, he could feel the pain melting away under a drowsy haze. It was
almost enough for him to fall back to sleep, except... Fire. There'd been fire
and pain before the blackness. He struggled to sit up, only getting there with
her help. She was younger than he had been expecting, perhaps early twenties,
with raven-black hair and kind eyes. The heavy smell of hospital was getting in
the way of much else, but she seemed to genuinely want to help him.
“Ah, welcome back to us, Kana-kun. I'm Doctor Sakai and this is Nurse Sawa, how
are y– ... nurse, I did ask you to wait on medicating him, did I not?”
“Um, yes, sensei, but he was in too much distress....”
“It's all right,” the doctor said, a flare of alpha scent hitting Kana like a
punch in the gut.
“Kou-... ki...,” he rasped, struggling to look around him, to catch even a hint
of his alpha's presence.
“Shh, it's okay, relax,” the doctor said, though it was the nurse that was
resting a hand on his shoulder, keeping him from trying to move. “He's
downstairs, waiting for your parents. Intensive Care is for family only, but if
I think you're stable enough, I'll move you up to post-op and he can see you
there.”
Kana forced himself to take a deep breath, which still managed to hurt more
than he thought it should have, considering he was on morphine now. He wasn't
sure what all those words meant, but if he got to see Kouki soon, he would deal
with the loneliness until then.
By the time the doctor was done assessing him, Kana could barely keep his eyes
open.
“I'm going to keep you right here for a couple more hours, just to be safe, all
right? But then we should be able to move you upstairs. Nurse Sawa here will
keep you company if you like. I'll go see what the word is on your parents,
okay?”
He thought he said something, but he wasn't sure. Maybe if he slept now, when
he woke up again Kouki would be there at his side. Now that was a nice
thought....
~*~*~
The room was too quiet, the machines seeming that much louder in the absence of
any conversation. Until Kana woke again, there wasn't much to say. Kana's
father had gone back downstairs to have another cigarette while they waited for
the teenager to wake on his own. A part of Kouki wanted to shake his shoulder,
do something, anything to wake his mate, but he resisted. It was just sleep and
even if it was drug-aided sleep, Kana's body needed the rest. But it was hard
when Kouki's instincts wanted, needed to talk to his mate, to be able to
reassure himself that Kana really was okay.
The alpha looked up when the door opened again, but it was only the nurse, back
again to check on Kana's readings no doubt. She was a sweet woman, happy to
work around them rather than making them move, and Kouki appreciated the
consideration. That she was an older mated omega probably also helped, though
he didn't have the nerve to ask what it was in her own past that let her
sympathize with him so much.
“All right, you,” she whispered a moment later, surprising Kouki by actually
shaking Kana's shoulder. “Sakai-sensei went home for the night, you can stop
faking. Honestly, if I was you, at the very least, I'd want my mate to be
holding me. And don't even think it, blondie. Alpha mate or no alpha mate, this
bed is single occupancy and it's going to stay that way.”
“But it –,” Kouki started, his words stopping abruptly when Kana groaned and
tried to roll over onto his side. He wasn't sure which hurt more, that his
soulmate had been avoiding him or that he'd just tried to roll away from him.
He wanted to think that second thing hadn't been a conscious choice, but the
voice of doubt in him wouldn't be silent.
“Kacchan....”
Another whimper. Frowning now, Kouki scooted his chair even closer to Kana's
bed. He started to grab his hand, then changed his mind, especially when he saw
Kana's mother moving closer to him as well. Not that he even knew where to
start anyway. A little surprised that Mitsuki had gone home without coming in
to check on them one last time, but then again, with Kana supposedly asleep,
maybe the surgeon hadn't thought it necessary?
“Hey sweetheart,” Kana's mother said softly, brushing long fringe away from his
face. “We were worried about you.”
“M-mom? H-how....”
“We came as soon as we heard what'd happened, of course,” she explained,
smiling and squeezing his hand. Kana whimpered again, trying to curl up into a
ball. The level of misery scent was almost choking and Kouki wasn't surprised
when the omega nurse hurried to excuse herself.
“Anou, Kobayashi-kaasan,” he said softly, “could you give us a minute or two?
Kacchan and I really ... need a moment.”
Kana's mother cast obviously confused glances between him and her son a few
times before she nodded. Kouki silently thanked the gods that, while he knew
she didn't understand it, she was willing to give them a moment alone. He
waited for the door to click shut before getting up from the chair and pulling
Kana back over onto his back.
“Don't you dare think you can push me away because you're afraid you might have
lost something we haven't even agreed to yet, Kobayashi Kana!” he snarled, not
caring if this aggression might or might not be helpful right then. He was
angry and hurt and he was completely certain that anything less wasn't going to
cut through the self-loathing that was hanging so heavily he could practically
taste it. “I talked to your surgeon myself, he's been one of my best friends
since grade school, he wouldn't play games with me on this. There's a chance, a
chance, that one of your ovaries was damaged, but only that. If it happened, it
means it might be harder for you to conceive, but not impossible. If it
happened, if the time comes and we're having problems, we'll see a specialist.
But I am not going to let you push me away because you were a victim of a
terror attack, you hear me?”
The tears that welled up in Kana's eyes were like a knife in the gut. Mindful
of both the young omega's injuries and the IV line, Kouki gently lifted his
soulmate into his arms and hugged him close. At first the misery scent got even
worse, clawing at his protective instincts, but slowly, as he kept holding his
soulmate and trying to project calm onto him, the misery started to ease,
replaced with wracking sobs. Those heartbreaking sounds weren't really helping
his protective instincts, but he clamped down on them and stuck it out, holding
Kana tightly and just letting him cling and cry.
“We'll get through this, baby,” he murmured when the worst of the sobbing
finally passed into soft sniffles and hiccups, simultaneously ignoring the
sound of the door opening behind him and hoping it wasn't someone who was going
to yell at him for holding Kana in his lap instead of leaving him lying in bed.
“We're soulmates, Kacchan, that means we're a team. I'm not gonna give up on
you, so you don't get to give up on you, either, you hear me?”
Kana's nod and mumble of assent weren't terribly stable, but the fear, panic,
and self-loathing were fading out of his scent at least. Kouki pressed another
gentle kiss to his temple before finally looking back to see who had walked in
on them. Perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised to see Kana's parents
standing there, but he was.
“You know, when we were on the train, I told your father that getting a hotel
room would be a waste of time because how could I possibly rest while my baby's
in the hospital,” Kana's mother said quietly. “Now I think I was wrong.”
“I had my doubts about you, Kouki-san, but you have shown your true character
just now. You are welcome in our family,” Kana's father added. Kouki felt just
a little bit overwhelmed. Before he could formulate a response, however, there
was a knock on the door, a familiar tousled head poking in.
“Kou-kun? Hospital staff's about to chase me out of here, anything I can bring
you in the morning? You're staying the night, right?”
“Minase-kun. I thought I sent you home already,” Kouki said, frowning slightly
at his long time friend. On the other hand, Minase still being there could be a
good thing. Turning back to Kana's parents, he asked: “If you don't want to
stay here tonight, then please, let Minase-kun take you to my apartment. Just
let him know when and he can even pick you up again to bring you back here in
the morning.”
“We don't want to be any trouble....”
“It's no trouble,” Minase said before Kouki could. “I need to drop something
there tonight and if Kou-kun's staying the night, he's going to want his coffee
in the morning, so it's really no trouble at all.”
“It's silly to get a hotel room when I have a guest room,” Kouki added. Kana's
parents both looked skeptical for another moment before his mother moved to
Kana's bedside.
“Kacchan? What do you want?”
“I... I'll be okay. I know you and Dad need your rest,” Kana said, sniffling a
little. “I mean, I'm probably just going to sleep all night anyway, there's no
point in you staying. Kouki won't leave me, you know, so it's fine, I'll be
fine.”
Well that was true enough and Kouki couldn't help smiling a little at hearing
Kana say it.
“All right, honey, if you're sure. Thank you, Kouki-san, Minase-san.”
Kouki walked Kana's parents to the door, wishing them a good night and inviting
them to help themselves to anything they needed from his place. He wasn't sure
if they actually would, but he could hope.
~*~*~
“I want to take him home.”
“Kou-kun, try to be reasonable,” Mitsuki said with a sigh. “He was blown up
yesterday, you can't just expect him to be okay after one night in the
hospital.”
“How is he supposed to get better when you have nurses coming in every hour or
two to check on him?”
“Kou-kun, you have to give us more time. He had a major surgery yesterday, a
little caution is only prudent.”
Kouki huffed a sigh, but arguing obviously wasn't going to get him anywhere.
Mitsuki could be such an annoyingly stubborn alpha sometimes. Which was
probably a useful trait in a surgeon, but right that minute it was just
frustrating.
“I'm still waiting on test results, I haven't even finished my morning rounds
yet. But until he starts passing gas, there's no point in even discussing it.”
“Mitsuki....”
“I get it, I do, Kou. It's your first Christmas together, you want everything
to be perfect. And if I could just wave my magic wand, I would, you know that.”
Well, Kouki couldn't very well argue with that. He knew his friend, knew
Mitsuki was trying to be sympathetic. The doctor was doing his best, he
couldn't ask for more from the man. It was still frustrating, though, not being
able to give Kana the kind of Christmas he had intended.
“I know you want to take him home,” Mitsuki said, briefly reaching out to
squeeze his shoulder, “but if he still isn't passing gas by this evening, I
think the two of you should start getting used to the possibility that you may
have to have your first Christmas here, instead. I know it's not very romantic,
but his health is more important than your ego and I know you know that.”
“I promised him I'd take care of him, Mitsuki. I promised him he'd be safe,”
Kouki huffed, sinking down into one of the chairs set in the hall for just
these sorts of talks between doctors and families. Mitsuki sat down next to
him, this time taking his hand.
“Hey now, stop that. This wasn't your fault, he knows that. There's no use in
beating yourself up over this.”
“Logically, I know that, but.... And what am I supposed to do with the bucket
of chicken and the Christmas cake I ordered for us?”
“Hope and pray there's no reason for the two of you to still be here?” Mitsuki
suggested with one of his signature grins. “He was under for quite awhile, Kou,
it takes the body time to recover from that. He's young, that should help, but
there's not a lot else we can do but wait and see. And I'm going to send in a
physical therapist, probably some time after lunch. I'm sure he doesn't feel up
for it, but getting him moving, even if it's just a little bit, will help his
system push off the remaining effects from the anaesthetic.”
Kouki nodded as he listened; Mitsuki was right, Kana wasn't going to want to do
anything but lay in bed. Which meant he was probably going to have to think of
some sort of bribe to get him to cooperate with the physical therapist.
“Ah! No cheating on his dietary restrictions, Kou!”
“Eh? I ... I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about!” he protested.
His friend laughed, clapping his shoulder as he stood up again.
“Sure you don't. Just like I'm sure he doesn't have a sweet tooth at all,
right? Trust me, Kou, he won't thank you later if you sneak him cake now. Stick
with the diet and you can pamper him extra after we release him.”
“You always were good at sucking the fun out of everything, sensei,” he teased,
shaking his head.
“Yeah, yeah. Let me go finish my rounds, check on that other omega, and I'll be
in after a bit to let your Kana-kun know how his friend is doing.”
Kouki nodded again, equal parts surprised and pleased that his omega had made
another friend so quickly. He just hoped that friend was also recovering well
or Kana really would be devastated.
~*~*~
Kana groaned as the door opened again, bringing with it a fresh wave of
hospital smells and his doctor's scent. Nurses had been in and out all day and
from what Kouki had told him, if not for the medications he was on, they would
have kept him awake all night, too. Doctor Sakai had already been in once to
check on him, what more did he want? Unless he was here to tell him he could go
home - well, go back to Kouki's place at any rate - he didn't want to hear it.
“Already trying to shut me out? And I even brought you a surprise....”
He frowned a moment, but then he caught it, the scent of another omega. Rolling
over, he blinked up in surprise.
“Hi-... Hikaru-san?”
“The doctors around here are threatening to discharge me, I thought I should
come in and see how you're doing first. And thank you for saving my life.”
“I just ... did what anyone else would have done,” Kana mumbled, blushing hard.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” the omega said, shrugging lightly. “Either way, you did it
and I'm still here because of that, so thank you.”
Kana really didn't know what to say to that, mumbling a sort of reflexive
“you're welcome,” and fiddling with the blanket drawn over his lap.
“You know, you look like crap,” Hikaru said, plopping himself down on the
bottom of Kana's bed and grinning widely. “Better than you did the last time I
saw you, though. A lot better. I was sure I was going to come up here and find
you in a coma or something. So ... gonna introduce me?”
“Eh? Oh, um, right. That's my mom and dad, my best friend Chamu, and this is my
soulmate, Kouki,” he said, indicating each in turn. Hikaru smiled brightly for
each, though his grin turned almost cunning when it landed on Kouki.
“Feel like I shoulda known it'd be you. Double shot honey vanilla caramel
latte, twice a week. I never forget a regular,” the omega said with a light
laugh.
“I know that feeling,” Kouki said, laughing as well. “Kacchan mentioned meeting
someone in a coffee shop, I really should've figured it was you, Hikachu.”
“Nah, it's nothing. I mean, it's not like Starbucks is the only coffee shop
around there and it was a different building completely that they blew up. I
mean, unless he told you he met me working at the coffee shop, then yeah, yeah
you totally should've put it together even if he was too loopy on his meds to
remember my name at the time,” Hikaru replied, an impish grin on his face.
“Brat,” Kouki mock-grumbled, feigning a boxing of his ear. Hikaru laughed as he
ducked away, ending up sprawled across Kana's knees and calves. A little hum
and then he was chuckling again.
“God, you two even smell the same, I can't believe I didn't notice that
before!” the omega said as he rolled over onto his back, still draped over
Kana's legs. “Dammit. I'm so jealous now. Kana-kun better come in every morning
before school when he moves up here! Up here? Down here? Which is it anyway?”
Kana couldn't hold in a flinch at that; they hadn't actually gotten that far
with his parents yet, since he had wanted to tell them with Kouki at his side
and, well, convincing them to let him spend Christmas with his soulmate had
been hard enough. Putting it off might not have been the best idea either, but
it was too late to change it now.
“Hikachu, remind me to never tell you an actually vitally important secret,”
Kouki said with a sigh.
“That was a secret? Oh shit, Kacchan,” Hikaru said, popping up off the bed with
a contrite look on his face. “I'm sorry, sweetie, I had no idea, oh god.”
“It ... it's okay,” Kana mumbled, “but, um, I think you and Chamu-kun should
probably go for a bit....”
Hikaru nodded, leaning in for a quick kiss to Kana's cheek before grabbing
Chamu's sleeve and practically dragging the startled young beta out of the
room.
“I'm sure the two of you were going to tell us about this plan of yours soon,
right?” his mother said and Kana could hear the hurt and betrayal in her voice.
Which was exactly what he had been fearing, why he hadn't told her sooner. A
part of him wanted to be angry, to ask her just what she thought was going to
happen now that he had met his soulmate. She couldn't possibly be expecting him
to just stay in Fukui when his mate had a powerful job, a whole life in Tokyo
that he couldn't, shouldn't, and wouldn't just drop. But a bigger part of him
was just sad that she was reacting like this. He was eighteen now, he couldn't
be her baby forever.
“Mom....”
“Don't 'mom' me, Kana! And you! You think you can just come into his life and
sweep him away like some fairytale prince?! This isn't a manga!”
“No, if my life was a manga, you two would actually be happy for me!” Kana
snapped back before his mate could form a response. “If this was a manga, Kouki
would have swept me off my feet that first day we met and I wouldn't even be
thinking about finishing high school. If this was a manga, he and I would be
having the perfect romantic Christmas in his beautiful apartment, as bonded
mates, instead of worrying we're going to still be here at the hospital.”
“Kacchan,” Kouki said softly, squeezing his hand even though his voice and his
scent both held warning tones. He wasn't sure what Kouki was trying to warn him
from and he didn't really care at the moment. It was like some sort of
floodgate had opened within him, he couldn't have stopped himself if he had
tried.
“If this was a manga, I wouldn't have been practically blown up for no reason
other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If this was a manga, I
wouldn't be laying here in a hospital bed worried that I might not ever be able
to have children or trying to convince my own stupid brain that my mate isn't
going to leave me if I can't! If this was a manga....”
He was pretty sure he'd had more to say, but his voice caught in his throat.
Kana squeezed his eyes shut, but it wasn't enough to stop the tears from
rolling down his cheeks. And then Kouki's scent hit him again, stronger than
before, as the alpha sat on the bed beside him and pulled him into a gentle
hug.
“Kacchan, that's enough,” Kouki murmured, kissing his forehead. He wasn't so
sure it was, but inasmuch as he couldn't get any more words to come out of him
anyway....
“Kobayashi-kaasan, I know you love Kana with all your heart. You and your
husband have raised a wonderful young man. But I think neither of you
understand what it means for him to be an omega. As hard as both of you
resisted Kana spending his winter break with me, there's no other conclusion I
can make. Kana is my mate, of course he would move here to be with me, this
shouldn't even be a surprise.
“Now, because I respect you both, I'm asking you to please not say more things
to upset him or I will have to ask you to leave.”
Kana flinched at those words, but he couldn't pull himself away from Kouki
enough to see how his parents might be taking his soulmate's cool tone. He
didn't even want to think about what it would mean if the fragile relationship
between his parents and his future mate fell apart already.
“If his self-confidence has been so easily broken, then perhaps we did not do
such a good job,” his father muttered, startling Kana so badly he jerked back
to gape at him. “If he truly thinks he worth rests entirely on such a small
thing...”
“Not that small a thing,” Kouki countered softly. “But in the end, not all that
important, either. Kana's value to me isn't predicated on how many children he
may or may not be able to give me.”
“And neither is ours,” his mother said quietly, reaching out to cup his face in
her hands. “I'm sorry, sweetheart, we'll discuss it when you're well again.”
“No,” he insisted, shaking his head free. “No, we won't. There's nothing to
discuss, Mom. When I graduate from high school, I'm moving in with Kouki.
Chamu's already switched to taking the Todai entrance exam and I ... I haven't
decided if I'm going to do that or go for another school here, but either way,
I'm definitely moving here. This is where I belong. This is where I need to
be.”
Kana's mother frowned, eyes narrowing at Kouki in silent accusation a moment.
And then she got up and, without a word, stormed out of the room. Kana felt
something catch in his throat, eyes going to his father. For a heart-stopping
few seconds that felt like years, he didn't say anything. Then he sighed
heavily and shook his head.
“Maybe Kouki-san is right, maybe we don't understand. Maybe we can't,” his
father said, a quiet determination to each word. “I only know what I've seen
with my own eyes, the stories my grandfather would tell of how things were in
the past. We can only act from what we know, Kana-kun, and what your mother
knows is that she loves you and wants to protect you and she doesn't know how
to do that if you move out of her house.”
He didn't know how to respond to that, mutely blinking a few times as he tried
to process a response, any sort of response. What was he even supposed to say?
It wasn't like he didn't appreciate his mother's concern, but surely she hadn't
been thinking she could protect him forever?
“I'll talk to her, son, try to make her understand, but you know why she
worries,” his father said before quietly excusing himself.
Kana nodded, closing his eyes as he leaned into Kouki's warmth all the more as
he listened to the fading footsteps. This was where he belonged, with his
alpha.
“That sounds like there's a story behind it, love,” Kouki said softly. Kana
froze at that, biting his lip. It both was and wasn't a secret, really, and
certainly it was a story his soulmate deserved to hear, but just thinking about
it was making his heart hurt. He felt a tightness in his chest, or perhaps it
was just the air getting too thin to breathe properly. How could he even begin
to explain when he felt like the very air was trying to deny him life just
thinking about it?
“Shh, it's okay, baby, you don't have to tell me right now if you can't, I'm
sorry I asked,” Kouki soothed, stroking his hair and holding him close. A
whimper and Kana pressed his face into Kouki's chest, breathing in as much of
his alpha's scent as he could manage. It wasn't working as well as it had the
last few times, the panic stubbornly refusing to let itself be dispelled, but
it still felt good to have Kouki's arms around him.
“Oi, blondie, what did ya do to him?!? Kacchan, you okay? Need me to punch him
for ya?”
Even though he still felt like he couldn't hardly breathe, Kana couldn't help a
small smile at hearing Hikaru's voice. Not that the other omega would be able
to see it, but that part almost didn't matter.
“Asked a question I shouldn't have, apparently,” Kouki replied softly. “You
guys didn't stay away long.”
“Well it's not like we went far,” Hikaru said and Kana could have sworn he
could hear the shrug in the other man's voice. “When we saw his mom come out
looking loaded for bear....”
“Well, I don't know if I'd go that far,” Chamu added in a slightly abashed
mumble. “She definitely didn't look happy, but I figured we should wait 'til
your dad came out, too. What ... what happened, Kacchan? I mean what did she
say??”
“She doesn't want me moving out. Because ... because of that thing,” Kana
mumbled, stumbling over the words a little. “I told her it doesn't ... I told
her I know Kouki's not a manga prince, I know my life isn't a storybook story,
and ... and I don't care, I'm moving here and she can't change my mind.”
“Oh....”
One word, but Kana could tell it was enough for his alpha to pick up that there
was a lot more to it than some might guess. He didn't know what it was in
Chamu's scent that was tipping him off, but he could definitely tell that Kouki
knew. Knew that whatever it was Kana hadn't been able to tell him, Chamu knew
all about it. The omega couldn't decide if he wanted Kouki to ask Chamu or not
or what he'd want Chamu to do if the alpha did. Just as long as he didn't ask
in front of Hikaru. He liked the omega, but....
“Okay, well, I'm not going to even ask, but seriously, Kacchan, any time you
need to talk about stuff this big alpha knothead can't understand, I'm here for
ya, okay?”
“Thanks, Hikaru-san,” he mumbled, a sudden wave of exhaustion hitting him.
“You look like shit, hon,” the redhead teased, ruffling his hair. “Sleep, ya
stubborn goat. I can take care of these two, no problem.”
“Since when is that even your business, Hikachu?” Kouki countered, but the
alpha was laughing under the protest. It gave Kana a warm feeling all over and
though he could hear the others still talking, it was easy to fall asleep. He
had made the right decision, this was where his life belonged now, with these
people. His mother didn't have to like it, but she was going to have to get
used to it.
Chapter End Notes
     I've caught up with myself again, so the next week or two will be
     other stuff, but if it is as much as two weeks, there'll be a little
     sidebar treat out of this verse in the break~
***** Friendships *****
Chapter Notes
     Pulled another surname out of my butt, for Kouki this time. I should
     be sorry for it, but I'm not.
     Also, as it is now November, this fic is going on hiatus until mid-
     December or possibly January. Sorry guys, but it's NaNoWriMo, so
     novel is going to be taking up all my writing time for the month. If
     you want to know how it's going, I'll be talking about it on my
     Patreon at least twice a week.
     (I'll still be publishing once a week until this comes back from
     hiatus, it's just going to be mostly or entirely backlogged Gensou
     stuff and maybe a chapter or two of Sleeping with Ghosts.)
Christmas Eve morning came and they were still at the hospital. Kouki had tried
again to get Mitsuki to let him take Kana home, but the surgeon remained
adamant that he wouldn't even consider it until Kana's bowels had recovered
enough that he was passing gas. Which also meant the omega still wasn't on
solid foods yet, not so quietly grumbling about the breakfast Minase brought
for Kouki. He had to bite his lip to keep from smiling at the disgruntled
noises his omega was making, needing a few sips of his morning coffee before
noticing something was off.
“Shouldn't there be someone with you, Minase-kun?” he asked, glancing around
the room again just to be sure he hadn't missed anyone. But no, it was just the
three of them. Chamu's absence was understandable - even as worried as the beta
had been, he had let himself be talked into staying the night with Hikaru and
Kouki didn't really expect to see them return until midmorning. But seeing as
Minase had volunteered to drive Kana's parents anywhere they needed to go,
including back and forth between Kouki's apartment and the hospital....
The look on Minase's face was enough to tell him, but the words that followed
still rankled.
“They left. There was a note, but....”
But Minase had read it and didn't think the contents were anything Kana needed
to hear. The beta was probably even right, except it was too late to actually
keep it from the young omega. Best Kouki could do was try to manage the damage
and fallout.
“Summarize it?”
The beta sighed and shook his head.
“It's not really ... they went home,” Minase said, grimacing briefly. “I called
Junji-kun for you, by the way. And a meeting with Hiyorin for Wednesday, he
said he'd be happy to come here if Kana-kun still hasn't been discharged yet.”
So the note was that bad? Kouki throttled the urge to sigh himself, instead
nodding and quietly thanking Minase for all his help.
“Wait! The note, I ... I want to read it,” Kana said just as Minase was about
to leave.
“I didn't bring it with me,” the beta replied, shaking his head again. “And no
offense, but I don't think you should. It was written in anger, she may have
meant it at the time, in the heat of the moment, but not any further than
that.”
Kouki could smell the fear and doubt practically pouring off his soulmate. A
look was all Minase needed, the beta slipping from the room even as silent
tears started trickling down Kana's cheeks. Though the omega didn't stay silent
for long.
“Wh-why? Why would they leave like this??” Kana stammered between choked sobs.
“I don't know, sweetheart, I've been here with you the whole time, remember?
But I trust Minase-kun completely. Whatever she said, she was angry, just
blowing off steam. You'll see.”
Kouki pressed a kiss to Kana's lips, then another to his forehead before gently
enfolding his arms around him and holding him close. The sobbing grew even
worse at that, as he had expected it would. He certainly wasn't going to
complain or do anything to discourage it, holding the younger man close and
letting him cry himself out. Or at least such had been his intention, knowing
that sometimes a good cry could do wonders to make a person feel better about
things.
“Dammit, blondie, what gives? I go away for a little bit and every time - every
time! - I come back to Kacchan crying again. I don't know what you're doing to
him, but I swear if you don't stop it, I'm gonna cock punch ya!”
“Hikaru!”
Incongruous as it was, Kouki couldn't help laughing at the redheaded spitfire.
And people seriously thought omegas couldn't be strong?
“You two came back early....”
“Don't go changing the subject! Kacchan, what's wrong?”
Kana blubbered a few disjointed particles, but his tears were getting in the
way of much else. Kouki carefully sat on the bed, arranging Kana in his lap,
and hoped the nurse wouldn't come in to catch them for awhile longer yet.
“Where are his parents?” Chamu asked suddenly. Smart kid. Of course Chamu knew
a lot more about what was running under the surface than Hikaru did. Or even
Kouki himself.
“They left before Minase got to my apartment this morning. Or last night, he
didn't actually say,” he explained, frowning a little at that realization. Not
that it probably mattered, since the end result was still the same - his mate
broken and doubting his own worth yet again. Nonsense he fully intended to find
a way of ending, one way or the other.
“... what? Why??” Hikaru sputtered.
“Long story,” Chamu mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck slowly. “I knew she
was mad about us moving down here, but I didn't think she would go that far.”
“Well she did,” Kouki grumbled in response, inwardly wincing when his
irritation plunged his soulmate's scent even more into guilt and self-doubt.
Tightening his arms around the young teen, he caught his chin and forced the
omega to look him in the eye. “Stop it. Stop it right now, Kobayashi Kana. This
is not your fault and giving in to her fear isn't going to make anything
better. Your place is here, in Tokyo, with me. And if it starts now, it starts
now. I. Don't. Care. Let her be scared and angry and whatever else. You. Are.
My. Soulmate.”
Kana blinked up at him with wide, dewy eyes, managing a shaky nod before
scooting in closer and pressing his face into the crook of Kouki's neck. He
couldn't completely hold back a sigh, petting his omega's hair and letting him
cling as much as he needed. It was getting to be a little annoying; every time
he felt like they were starting to make progress, something would happen to
knock Kana back into this same place of self-doubt and self-loathing. But what
could he do except roll with it? For the sake of his soulmate, he would simply
have to be patient, to continue trying to help his mate see himself as worthy.
Somehow, he would find a way to fix him.
~*~*~
Kana wanted to ignore that the door had even opened, but the alpha scent of his
doctor wasn't so easily avoided. Biting back a whine, he forced himself to sit
up and not try to hide against Kouki's chest for once.
“Good morning, I ... oh, did I get here too early?” the surgeon asked, frowning
a little, as if the question sounded wrong even to his ears.
“Yes, but no,” Kouki said for him, squeezing Kana's hand. “Kana-kun's parents
went home this morning and Junji-kun hasn't arrived yet.”
“ ... I'm going to pretend you said they went out for a cup of coffee,” the
surgeon grumbled, shaking his head a little before turning his full attention
to Kana. “How are you feeling this morning, Kana-kun? Any tenderness? Bleeding?
Swelling? Nausea?”
“Um, a little bit of a headache, here,” he said, rubbing one temple, “and up
into my sinuses. Kouki says it's probably from the crying earlier.”
Sakai-sensei nodded and hummed, gently probing and going through the same
routine as the last couple of checkups, asking questions and judging his
physical state. At least he seemed somewhat satisfied with Kana's answers.
“All right, then, I'll let you get on with breakfast,” he said when he was
done, offering Kana an encouraging smile before turning his attention to Kouki.
“Nurse Sawa can let me know when that other thing is resolved, all right?”
Kouki nodded, leaving Kana to wonder what the surgeon had meant but not wanting
to ask for fear of looking like an idiot.
“He can do an exam, ask how you're feeling, but if he wants to talk about
keeping you here longer, since you're still technically a minor, you're
supposed to have a parent or legal guardian here with you,” Kouki explained
quietly. And yup, just as he had expected, Kana felt like an idiot for not
figuring that bit out on his own. How much longer until Kouki got tired of him
being such a useless stupid kid?
“You're doing it again,” Kouki whispered into his ear. “Hikachu's gonna yell at
me again if you keep thinking like that.”
“Hikachu can hear you~” the redhead singsonged. Kana felt his cheeks flare in
embarrassment as he twisted around in Kouki's lap, pressing his face into the
alpha's chest. As if he wasn't already feeling shitty enough. Why did the
universe hate him so much?
“Hikachu is going to get his butt kicked if he doesn't behave,” Kouki grumbled,
though there was a certain lack of scent to match the supposed aggression in
his voice.
“So, what, are you telling me I should just get used to his nervous wreck
scent?”
“Wait, you can really smell that sort of thing?” Chamu interrupted.
“Yeah, of course,” Hikaru replied casually. “The better I know a person, the
more I can tell from scent, but even someone I don't know, even a beta, if I'm
close enough to pick up scents, I can at least get a general feeling for their
mood. Like you, right now, you think I'm totally bullshitting you, right
Kacchan?”
“All I can smell is Kouki,” Kana mumbled, not moving away from his alpha's
chest, not even when Hikaru started laughing. Maybe it was ridiculous, but he
felt so safe when he was able to wrap himself in Kouki's scent, he didn't know
what he would do if the alpha ever really did give up on him. Just the thought
was enough to bring tears to his eyes, though he fought hard to push them away,
pressing even closer. Kouki's arms tightened around him and the knot in his
chest eased a little more.
“Well good, maybe if you keep your nose buried in his scent long enough it'll
penetrate your brain that he really does love and support you,” Hikaru mock
grumbled. “If you weren't such an adorable sweetheart, Kacchan, I'd totally
have to hate you for doubting for even two seconds what you two have.”
“What they have? They hardly know each other, what can they possibly have??”
Chamu protested, almost predictably.
“A bond so strong Kouki hasn't needed to bite him for both of them to feel it,”
the older omega countered sharply. “Soulmate bonds don't always work that way,
mine sure as hell didn't. I can't wait to be free of mine, even if it means
waiting for my next life before I can know what it's like to be with a
soulmate. So yeah, I'm jealous. And so are you, Chamu-kun, don't even try to
deny it.”
“You don't know anything about me,” Chamu muttered, but Kana knew that tone of
voice, knew his best friend. Hikaru had hit the nail right on the head and
Chamu was scared to admit it. Maybe he couldn't do anything about his mother's
sudden abandonment of him, but he had to at least try to get Chamu to
understand that Kouki wasn't the enemy. Or whatever it was his idiot best
friend was thinking.
So of course the door opened before he could even finish thinking of the right
words.
“Morihito-san has a terrible habit of not listening to me,” the nurse, Sawa,
said, frowning at him with one hand on her hip and the other holding Kana's
breakfast tray. More tea and broth, most likely. Kana wrinkled his nose and
sighed, carefully sliding off Kouki's lap before the nurse could scold them any
further. He would be so glad when he could eat solid food again, he was getting
awfully tired of clear soup, tea, and popsicle. As ridiculous as it sounded,
even to himself, he was really starting to miss even rice.
Kana was only half listening as Kouki and Hikaru pretended to be arguing about
plans for later that day and Kana's chances of getting discharged. He already
knew the chances of him being allowed to spend Christmas Eve with his alpha in
Kouki's apartment were down to zero, the rest didn't really matter to him.
Instead, his mind was gnawing on the fact that his own parents had left, gone
back to Fukui without saying another word to him. It didn't really fit their
overprotective pattern, he couldn't make it make sense. Ever since that day,
his parents, his mother in particular, had always been standing over him,
watching over him. The last two years had gotten a little bit better, he'd been
given enough freedom to actually have a part time job, though he wasn't allowed
to work more than three nights a week. His mother had even taken to suggesting,
sometimes with more subtly than others, that he try finding a nice beta girl
for himself. As if something like that would have ever worked out for him. He
didn't know - and it didn't really matter anyway - but he doubted even a
soulmate bond to a beta would have been enough to protect him from the eventual
fate of all those unlucky enough to be born an omega.
“Kobayashi Kana? Hi, I'm Tokai Junji and I'm going to be your lawyer.”
It was rude, but he couldn't help it, Kana gaping at the man who had just
walked into his hospital room. That couldn't be right, he must have heard that
wrong.
“But you're an omega!” he blurted out, heat immediately flooding his cheeks.
That had been incredibly rude of him, but ... but it was hard for him to
believe. Omegas weren't lawyers! Nursing, teaching, day care management, even
some arts, those were omega professions, if an omega really absolutely had to
do something besides staying at home tending the house and kids. Lawyer? No
way. Especially not an omega with a blue streak in brown hair that probably
would have been halfway down his back if not for being caught up in a half-
tail, half-bun sort of style. And what lawyer came to a hospital to visit a new
client in distressed jeans and a slouchy sweater?
“Yup, married and everything,” the omega said, holding up his hand to show off
an elegant ring, presumably a bonding gift from his mate. “I know you don't
have access to your jitsuin right now, but a verbal contract is enough for me
to start representing you. That is if you want me to. Hey Kou-kun.”
“I ... I don't understand. And I can't afford a lawyer,” Kana stammered.
“Call it pro bono, call it a favor for your lugnut alpha here, don't worry
about it,” the omega said with a dismissive gesture. “If you're okay with it, I
can go check in with the hospital lawyer, find out if the emergency custody
they filed is still in effect or not.”
“If it was, Mitsuki-sensei would have just brought the social worker with him
this morning,” Kouki said with a shake of his head. “They probably set it up to
expire when his parents got here.”
“In that case, I'll go see if I can't catch sensei and then a judge and get you
expedited judgment as an emancipated teen. Eighteen, right? Shouldn't be too
hard. I'll be back for lunch~”
Tokai squeezed his hand and then he was practically trotting back out of the
room. Kana blinked a couple of times, wondering just what it was that had just
happened.
“Is ... is Tokai-san really a lawyer?” he asked quietly.
“Really and truly. Started out in a large practice, but they weren't taking him
seriously, so he put out his own shingle. His focus has been mostly on
corporate law the last couple of years, but he started in family law and when
he's doing pro bono work, it's usually still in family issues, since he works
with an omega advocacy group.”
“R-really?”
“Really. Just one of the many reasons why he and I are friends. Relax, Kacchan.
I know it's not the Christmas we had planned, but....”
“I... I know,” he mumbled, glancing sidelong at Hikaru and Chamu. “What about
you guys?”
“I'm not going back to Fukui while my best friend is still in the hospital,”
Chamu grumbled, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest. A beat and then he
relaxed his posture again with a heavy sigh. “But I guess you two deserve to
have Christmas Eve to yourselves.”
“It's fine, you can stay with me again tonight, ne? Mom won't mind,” Hikaru
offered. Chamu looked unhappy with the arrangement, but instead of protesting,
he just nodded again. Not even mid-morning and it was already shaping up to be
another long day. Kana sighed as he leaned back and closed his eyes. Too early
to seriously try for any more sleep, but he didn't really know what else to do
with himself, either. At least when he was asleep he didn't have to deal with
anything else.
~*~*~
Though it was difficult, Kouki held his alpha instincts in check and forced
himself to stay seated and silent when the physical therapist came to take Kana
on a short walk of the ward. It didn't take much effort on his part to tell it
was something his soulmate wasn't wanting to do, but he also knew the exercise
was necessary. Still, he felt a pang of guilt when Kana returned, sinking back
into bed with a tired huff.
“We pushed a little further today,” the therapist explained with a cheerful
grin. “He's doing really well though! And I'll put the good news on your
chart!”
“Good news?” Kouki asked, but the therapist was already leaving. So instead he
turned to Kana, giving his omega a curious look. He wasn't sure what to think
when the omega blushed dark red and tried to hide his face in his hands behind
his knees. If there was good news, shouldn't Kana be happy? So why was he
acting - and giving off the scent - like he was completely mortified instead?
“Kacchan, you are so weird,” Hikaru said, reaching out and ruffling his hair.
“Most people are happy about good news, you know? What gives?”
Kana mumbled into his hands and Kouki had to bite back an immediate laugh. It
wasn't funny. Except that it really was. And it was good news, but he could
understand why his soulmate was feeling embarrassed by the therapist's
enthusiasm.
“Huh? What did you say? Kouki-san? What did he say?”
“Let's just say his chances of getting cake after dinner have just reached
guaranteed certainty,” he said, chuckling as he shifted to pull out his phone.
That got the omega's attention, his head popping up from behind his knees.
“Cake?” he asked in a terrible small and fragile, yet hope-filled voice.
“As soon as sensei gives the okay, I'll have Minase-kun pick up something,” he
agreed with a nod. He wasn't sure what, but something. The promise alone was
enough, though, to bring such a smile to Kana's face that Kouki couldn't help
but lean in and kiss him.
He had intended nothing more than a brief, sweet kiss, a tiny reward of sorts
to soothe his rattled omega and certainly nothing that might make the others
uncomfortable. He hadn't counted on his normally incredibly shy soulmate
seemingly forgetting there was anyone else in the room. Or how strongly he
would react to Kana's sudden intense interest, the rush from getting a noseful
of pliant omega after having so carefully restrained his own alpha instincts
for so long. In an instant he had Kana pinned flat on his back and he probably
would have gone a good bit further if not for the carefully polite cough from
behind him. Right, still at the hospital. So much for his mature restraint. He
even felt a bit ashamed of himself for losing his control like that, even
knowing his mate wasn't recovered enough for them to be engaging in the sort of
physical activities he had been a heartbeat from initiating right then and
there.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, forcing himself to sit back down and even moving his chair
back a bit from Kana's bed. The omega looked genuinely confused for a moment
and then his eyes went wide when it clicked, his face disappearing into hands
and knees once more.
“Ok, well, now that you've made this all awkward...,” Hikaru teased. Kouki was
tempted to flip him off but chose instead to wake his phone and check in with
Junji.
“Relax, Tiger. I told you I'd be back for lunch and look - here I am and here's
lunch.”
Kouki couldn't help a light laugh at that, watching the orderly bringing in
Kana's lunch and noticing the addition of rice and vegetables to his omega's
tray.
“Is he restricted to just that or can he have some of what we're having?” he
asked, but of course the orderly didn't know, was just following orders like a
good little beta. Rolling his eyes but restraining himself from doing anything
worse - the orderly was just doing as he had been told, it wasn't his fault he
didn't know more - Kouki turned his attention to his friend. “Juju? What are we
having for lunch?”
“Ah, nothing fancy, I didn't know if Kana-kun would be able to eat with us and
if not, well, it would be cruel to get something special that he wasn't allowed
to eat,” the omega explained as he started producing a variety of onigiri and a
couple still-warm bowls of yakisoba. “And I've taken care of the necessary
paperwork, Kana-kun, so you are now empowered to make your own medical and
legal decisions. I also have a temporary power of attorney, but we'll need your
jitsuin if you want something more durable than the next two days.”
“He'll be getting a new one on Wednesday, will that work?” Kouki asked quietly.
He had intended to keep it as a surprise for later that evening, part of his
planned Christmas gift for his soulmate, but now that Junji was involved, well
he was just going to have to adjust his plans.
“I ... I am?” Kana stammered.
“That's what the meeting with Hiyorin is for,” he explained softly. “New life,
new jitsuin.”
He could scent Kana's confusion, along with hints of fear and despair, which
only made sense because he knew how hard his omega was still taking the hit
from his parents leaving him. He squeezed the teen's hand, glancing over to
Junji to gauge his reaction. The older omega gave Kana a troubled look, but
quickly shook it off, focusing on Kouki.
“Yeah, just let me know when everything is registered and we'll go over
everything together,” Junji agreed, nodding as he handed him a Starbucks cup.
Honey vanilla caramel latte, just the way he liked it. Not really a surprise
considering how often they had met for coffee over the years, but it still
brought a smile to his face.
They were just finishing up lunch when Mitsuki came in, a friendly grin on his
face.
“Hey Ju, are we all straightened out then?”
“Filed with the hospital clerk and everything,” the lawyer said, nodding.
“Excellent. All right, Kana-kun, I know you and Kou-kun are eager to get out of
here and your physical therapist says you've been doing really well, but I
still want to hold on to you for one more night, just to be on the safe side,
okay? I know it's not what you want, but we'll make arrangements for a nice
dinner. And yes, you can have chicken and cake tomorrow. At home, even.”
Kana was crying again, but for once they were happy tears. It wasn't the
Christmas Kouki had planned for them, but he was already thinking about how to
make it work.
***** Fantastic (Baby) *****
Chapter Notes
     So it's been what, three months since the last update? Sorry about
     that, had a lot of other things on my plate. But we're back in
     business (I started drafting chapter 11 and chapter 9 goes up on my
     Patreon later today), so as a reminder, when we last left our hapless
     couple, Kana was in the hospital recovering from major surgery (and
     being blown up), his mom had pulled a stubborn stupid, and it was
     Christmas Eve and he wasn't going to get alone time with Kouki.
     Also, the chapter title was supposed to just be my working codename
     for it (because come on, it's silly!), but then plot things went a
     bit dark and I decided to keep it. Especially since this chapter is
     still relatively light and cute. So yes, future chapters will mean
     more tags, though I'm leaving them off until those chapters are
     posted because reasons. In the mean time, here's Hiyori~! (see
     footnote for inkan commentary)
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Kana shuffled forward out of the genkan and straight to the couch, flopping
onto it face first. He really wanted a shower and a long bath, but he didn't
think he had the energy to get that far. Maybe if he just laid there for a
while, it would be enough for him to get there a little later?
“Holy shit....”
Tired as he was, he couldn't help but smile at Chamu's exclamation, having had
the same reaction himself just a few days ago.
“Baby, I don't think you're supposed to be laying like that,” Kouki scolded
softly, gently nudging him until he rolled over onto his back. Right, his
stitches. Pulling his shirt up, he frowned at his stomach again. They didn't
hurt as much as he thought they should, but that could be the pills he had been
taking pretty regularly the whole time he had been in the hospital. But now he
was remembering all those pesky instructions Sakai-sensei had been giving him
before he was discharged, like not getting his stitches wet and keeping an eye
on them for any signs of late-blooming infection. And definitely, absolutely,
positively no sex. At all. For at least a week, maybe two. Sigh.
“Is that ... is that a pool out there?”
“Yes. The previous owner had it installed as an infinity pool, but I wanted
more privacy than that, so we made some adjustments. And installed screening
bamboo plants,” Kouki explained, only briefly glancing away from him. Kana felt
another blush creeping into his cheeks at the attention, though he couldn't say
that he didn't like it. At the same time, a part of him was really wishing
Chamu had taken the train home already. Sure, he wasn't cleared for sex yet and
even if he had been, his willingness to make his best friend uncomfortable
didn't extend quite that far, but right at that moment, more than anything he
just wanted to be alone with his alpha. Ached to be alone with him, in fact.
They hadn't had any proper alone time together since the attack and Kana was
feeling a bit frayed around the edges. Especially with the way his parents had
just left him and then not even texted him once since. He had sent them an
email to let them know he had been discharged from the hospital, but still
nothing. It hurt to think about it too much, but the silence was hard to
ignore.
“Is it actually big enough to swim laps or is that just the illusion?”
“It's certainly not regulation size or anything,” Kouki said, glancing over at
Chamu again, “but yeah, a person can do laps in it and not feel like they're
too penned in on length.”
Kana had to scoot, wiggle, twist, and turn all the way around so he could face
towards the windows onto the terrace. And then had to bite back a giggle,
seeing Chamu standing almost nose to the glass, not so unlike the way he'd done
his first time. Maybe it was silly, but seeing that made him feel a lot better
about the two of them moving in with Kouki. And about the still at times tense
relationship between his future mate and his best friend.
“Know what I'm doing when it gets warm enough then,” Chamu said with a self-
assured nod. “You, too, Kacchan. Way better than a gym.”
“The both of you doing laps together, it might get to feeling a bit tight,”
Kouki warned, but he wasn't actually discouraging them. Kana couldn't decide if
that was a good thing or not.
“Are you sure it's okay, you staying here over Christmas like this, Chamu-kun?”
he asked, nervous in spite of himself. Chamu's parents could be so weird, it
was almost like they didn't even want him anymore sometimes. Compared to his
own family, Kana really couldn't understand it at all.
“I already told them I couldn't leave you while you were in the hospital, so
it's not like they're going to question it or anything. Honestly, I think
they're glad to have me out of the house for awhile,” Chamu admitted softly,
finally pulling himself away from the windows to flop on the couch at Kana's
feet.
“You didn't bring much with you,” Kouki noted quietly. “Do you need to do
laundry?”
“Yeah, but it doesn't have to be right this second. I'm good to just sit and, I
dunno, enjoy the quiet for a bit, you know?” the beta said with another shrug.
“Unless this is Kacchan's not at all subtle attempt to get rid of me, in which
case, I'd like to remind him that I was in the room when Sakai-sensei said no
sex.”
“Chamu-kun!” Kana could feel his cheeks burning up with embarrassment at the
beta's casual words. Sometimes he really did wonder how they managed to be
friends at all.
“What? Oh, was I supposed to pretend like I had no idea how bad you want him?
Yeah, like that's even possible. Like he doesn't already know. You're kinda
really transparent about it, Kacchan,” Chamu grumbled. Kouki laughed and Kana
swatted him for it. And then his brain caught up with his nose: for the first
time, Chamu was teasing him about his relationship with Kouki without weird
undertones in his scent. Was this supposed to be a sign that the beta was
finally accepting their situation, unorthodox as it was? Another shallow
inhale, but he still wasn't picking up anything bitter or dark from his best
friend. Maybe this living together thing really would work out all right with
the three of them? He certainly hoped so.
“I talked to Hiyorin, he'll come here tomorrow so you don't have to go out if
you aren't feeling up to it,” Kouki said quietly, settling on the floor beside
the couch and rubbing his arm with one hand. “Once we have the new jitsuin
registered, Junji-kun will come over so we can take care of your papers.”
“But ... I'm out of the hospital now.... Is there really that much to take care
of?”
“That's between you and Junji-kun, babe,” Kouki said softly. “Whether she
realizes it or not, your mother created a situation that now you're going to
have to resolve. And that means you get to decide these things for yourself.”
Kana felt like that didn't really answer the question at all, but maybe that
was because Kouki didn't really know the answer? His alpha had obviously never
been in this position, after all. It was probably a waste of time to even be
worrying about it. A slight nod and he turned his eyes back out to the windows.
To be honest, he wasn't sure what to say, how to take things from here. All he
really wanted was to be held and comforted until dinner got there, whenever
that was. No, actually, screw dinner, he just wanted Kouki to hold him, tell
him everything would be okay, and he didn't even care about the food, even
though he was pretty sure he needed to eat something again soon.
“Shh, hey, easy sweetheart, it's okay,” Kouki soothed, pressing a kiss to his
temple and hugging him gently. “Deep breaths, okay?”
“Kacchan? What is it? What's wrong?”
He didn't know how to get the words past the lump in his throat, turning and
pressing his face into Kouki's chest. The tears had come from nowhere, he
didn't know how to deal with them, let alone how to make them stop. The
doorbell rang and he fisted his hands in Kouki's shirt, determined to keep his
alpha from abandoning him, even if it was a ridiculous fear.
“It's probably Hikaru-san, I'll get it,” Chamu mumbled. Another twinge in
Kana's chest; the older omega was going to really lose it if he came in to find
him crying yet again, but it seemed he didn't get a vote. A heavy sigh and
Kouki picked him up, settling him on his lap with a low, wordless murmur.
“I'm sorry,” he mumbled, pressing himself closer.
“It's all right, sweetheart, I know you've been under a lot of strain lately,
you don't have to apologize,” the alpha soothed, stroking fingers through his
hair. It still felt lame to him and Kana bit his lip as he pressed closer.
“Hey Kou, picked up your chicken and cake and I've got the reports you need to
review. I can cover for you again tomorrow, but we really need you back in the
office after that. And don't just sign off on these, Kou. We've got that board
meeting Friday, so you need to actually do your homework this time.”
“I'll do my readings, Minase-kun, I promise,” Kouki replied, chuckling.
“Thanks. For everything.”
“Just doing my job, Boss,” Minase said and even Kana could tell the beta was
teasing. And found himself wondering yet again what the beta's job title
actually was. And for that matter, what it was his mate actually did at the
office. Though right then was probably not the ideal time to ask such
questions.
“Ah, I made it, I made it! Sorry I'm late, I – goddammit, blondie, you're
making a bad habit of this!”
“Why do you always assume it's somehow my fault?” Kouki protested.
“Hey, you're the big, strong alpha protector, right? You're supposed to make
things better, aren't you?”
“Ever think that maybe my being his strong and protective alpha means he
finally feels safe enough to actually feel all those pesky emotions like fear
and pain and grief that he's been bottling up forever?”
That was enough to rock Hikaru back on his heels a bit, the older omega
frowning at them both for a moment. A beat and then Hikaru nodded.
“Okay,” the omega conceded, “okay, yeah, you could have a point. You're right,
I shouldn't assume, sorry. Kacchan? Is that what this is?”
“I ... it's ... I'm fine,” Kana mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat as he burrowed
himself into Kouki's chest once more. Was that what this was? He supposed it
was as good a theory as any other, even if it didn't actually make him feel any
better. A sigh and a hand rubbed his shoulder for a moment.
“Yeah, no you aren't, hon, but that's okay, too. But if you're up for it, Mom
insisted I bring over a bunch more food, since feeding me and Chamu-kun wasn't
part of Kouki-san's original plan. She also said I'm to make sure you eat
something with meat in it before you have anything sweet, but I won't tell her
if you don't.”
“Dinner first, cake after,” Kouki admonished with a brief kiss to Kana's hair.
“And since it's a holiday and we're not going out anywhere, if you let me get
up, there's a bottle of sake we can share. With everyone.”
“E-eh? But Kacchan and I are underage,” Chamu half protested.
“So don't tell anyone,” Kouki said, shrugging as he slid out from underneath
Kana again. Tilting Kana's chin up, he brushed a quick kiss to his lips. “Don't
worry about tomorrow right now, love, or any of the days after. It's Christmas
and you're home with me, let's celebrate, okay?”
Kana took a deep breath and managed a shaky nod. Kouki was right, worrying
about the future was a waste of effort, especially when they had so much to
celebrate. Tomorrow he would deal with everything tomorrow brought.
~*~*~
Kana winced and rolled over with a groan, pressing his face into a pillow. In
hindsight, the sake had been a mistake, even though he had only been given half
a glass. That he hadn't even finished. If he was feeling this bad without
having finished his drink, he didn't want to know how much worse he would have
felt if he had.
“Hey sweetie, I take it you're not feeling so great?”
Kana groaned and Kouki laughed.
“All right, well, I've got water and aspirin here and Chamu-kun is going to
help me with breakfast in a minute. I think you'll feel better if you take the
medicine and join us for breakfast, but it's up to you.”
Kana didn't move, waiting to see what his soulmate would do. To his surprise,
Kouki only rubbed his back a few times before briefly kissing his hair and then
getting up from the bed entirely. No pressure, no demands, just a suggestion
and the freedom to decide for himself. Perhaps it shouldn't have been a
surprise anymore and yet somehow it was. Kana burrowed himself even deeper into
the blankets. He'd give it another five, ten minutes, and then maybe....
~*~*~
Kouki glanced up at the sound of shuffling feet, smiling when he saw Kana
making his way into the lounge with his eyes closed. Getting up from the couch,
he walked over and slid arms around his omega, kissing his head and hugging him
close.
“How's the head?”
“Still hurts,” Kana mumbled. “Light is evil.”
“Did you take the aspirin I left for you?” he asked quietly, rubbing his back.
“Mm, just now. Isn't helping.”
“Well you've got to give it time first, baby,” he soothed, chuckling softly.
“Come on, I've got tea and lunch in the lounge and you can say hi to Hiyorin.”
Kana jerked back, blinking up at him a moment. And then faster than Kouki would
have believed possible, the young omega was darting back into their bedroom,
throw forgotten on the floor. Not an entirely unexpected response, but still
surprising.
“I'd offer to go, but I don't have another opening like this until late next
month,” the artist in question said, chuckling.
“I'll be right back,” Kouki said, chuckling and following after his omega. At
least the teen wasn't pouting or sulking, though he was wearing a disgruntled
expression as he changed into jeans and a sweater, grumbling under his breath
about rude alphas.
“I'm sorry, baby. I tried to wake you sooner, but you weren't having it,” he
soothed, reaching out rub his shoulder briefly.
“Then you should have tried harder,” Kana grumbled, not looking at him. “Do you
know how embarrassing it is to have a complete stranger see you in nothing but
pajamas and a blanket??”
“Very cute pajamas, not that I think he was looking. You're not exactly
Hiyorin's type.”
“Yeah? Why's that?”
“Well, you don't have boobs, for one thing,” Kouki teased softly. “Besides,
he's beta and he knows you're mine. So just ... take a breath and relax, okay?
He didn't see anything untoward and he won't think worse of you for having
caught you sleeping. He knows you were in the hospital, and why, so it's okay,
baby, I promise.”
“It's still embarrassing,” Kana grumbled, but his scent had shifted from
mortified to something less. Kouki risked upsetting the teen by closing the
space between them and wrapping him in a gentle hug. A beat and then Kana
slumped into his arms, a spike of fear scent catching the alpha off guard.
“Kacchan?”
“I ... I'm not ... I'm not ready for all this,” Kana mumbled. “I'm not ready. I
just ... I just want to go back to the way things were.”
“I'm sorry, baby,” he said softly, holding him closer. “I can't rewind the
clock. But I'm here for you, okay? I'm here to help you move forward in any way
I can.”
“... why? You ... it's ... it's only been a couple months, you don't ... you
don't really know me that well....”
“Sweetheart.... Kana, baby, you're my soulmate. And I know you well enough to
know this is what I want. You are what I want. Us is what I want, whatever we
make of it,” he soothed, pressing a kiss to his forehead. Kana shivered, fear
and doubt growing even sharper in his scent. Kouki couldn't help a low growl,
pulling his soulmate even closer, tilting his chin up and pressing a hard kiss
to his lips.
“Kana.... Baby, if you say you don't want me, don't want us anymore, then I'll
respect that. We'll call it all off and you can go home right now. But you
better be damn sure that's what you want.”
He hadn't really meant the words as a threat, and yet it was clear within
moments that was exactly how Kana had taken them, the omega teen whining and
collapsing into a heap on the floor at his feet. Desperation and fear flooded
his senses so heavily Kouki could feel himself on the verge of losing control
of his own instincts. And was silently grateful that Hiyori hadn't brought his
alpha protégé with him.
“Kana.... Kana.... Kacchan, listen to me. Forget it. Forget what I just said,”
he said, crouching down and pulling the young omega into his arms. The bitter
tang of his omega's fears was even worse in close like this, feeding the voice
in the back of his head insisting he do anything he could think of to make his
omega feel safe. The itch to bite his soulmate was back again, but he shoved it
away. Now was absolutely not the time.
“I ... I'm sorry I'm such a useless mess,” Kana gasped between sobs, clinging
with both hands fisted into Kouki's shirt.
“Don't say that, baby, you're not useless,” he murmured, one hand slipping up
under Kana's hair to rub the back of his neck. It took him a moment to find the
right pressure points, to get the right pressure to activate the glands that
would help his omega relax. Kana's whole body shuddered with heavy sobs but
with a little persistence, Kouki was finally able to get him to relax, the sobs
dying off into sniffles and hiccups. Kouki kept up the gentle massage until
even the hiccups subsided, his soulmate leaning against him limp and subdued.
“Come on, baby, let's get you washed up and then lunch, okay?” he murmured,
rubbing his back and shoulder. Hopefully the artisan hadn't left; it wouldn't
be like Hiyori to leave without saying anything, but Kouki had no idea how long
he had been distracted with his soulmate. And, well, Hiyori had a busy schedule
to keep.
“Oh good, I was beginning to worry something had gone terribly wrong.
Kobayashi-kun, I'm sorry to have upset you so. Please accept this with my
apologies.”
Kana hesitated, needing a gentle nudge from Kouki before finally stepping
forward to accept the small box. And then gasped when the box revealed its
contents as a trio of cases, jitsuin, ginko-in and mitome-in, the finished
stone seals laying nestled within each case.
“Hiyorin....”
“Jitsuin regulations are quite specific, and with everything else that's been
going on with you lately - what, you think I don't read Twitter? - it seemed
best to just go ahead and finish the set. As you can see, the jitsuin is even
already registered.”
Kouki could scent the tears even without seeing them. Which was not enough for
him to be prepared for the way Kana virtually launched himself at the beta,
hugging him tightly. For a fraction of a second, the pink-haired beta looked
like he was about to panic. And then he laughed and returned the hug.
“You're welcome, sweetheart,” Hiyori said, still chuckling softly. “As you can
see, I used Kobayashi for the set, but if you decide, years from now when you
two are bonded mates, to take that idiot's family name, just let me know and
I'll make you a new set.”
“... wait, you made these yourself?”
“... oh Kou-kun, didn't you tell him anything??” the beta sighed, frowning over
at him.
“I thought I did? Surely I did ... no, I remember, when Junji-kun was at the
hospital, I told you then, Kacchan, we were meeting with Hiyorin today so you
could get your new jitsuin.”
“But you didn't tell me he made them!” Kana protested with a pout that was
almost too cute for words.
“... what did you think he did?”
“I ... I don't know...,” Kana confessed, blushing hotly. “I guess I just
figured he was an employee, maybe in the legal department? I don't know, I
don't know anything about this sort of stuff!”
“And then he wonders why we call him an idiot,” Hiyori said, chuckling and
ruffling Kana's hair. “I'm a licensed artisan and he's hired me a few times
over the years now. But we've known each other since university, which is why I
came here instead of making him come to me like I do all my other customers~”
Kouki had to bite back a laugh at the way Kana just gaped at the beta for a
moment, as if he were trying to wrap his brain around the other man's worlds.
Hiyori laughed again, gently closing the omega's mouth.
“Flies, dear,” he teased softly. “Anyway, I should get back to my day and let
you two get on with yours. Again, sorry to have upset you so, Kana-kun, and it
was a pleasure meeting you. And when he gets back, please thank Chamu-kun for
me as well.”
“Of course. I'll walk you out,” Kouki said, briefly rubbing Kana's back before
turning to walk Hiyori out to the elevator. He was startled to have his friend
stop him before he could call the car, though. Frowning, he waited for his
friend to explain himself.
“Don't give me that look,” the beta said with a soft sigh. “Be careful with
him, Kou-kun, don't dive right back into work like everything is fine just
because he's out of the hospital. He needs more than just what's left of his
winter break to recover, make sure he takes it here.”
“Hiyorin....”
“I know I'm only a beta, but trust me. My father and two of my sisters are
omega, I know more than most betas. Whatever traumas he's been through - and I
don't just mean the explosion - they've caught up with him. He needs you and he
needs you here. Don't let stubborn pride get in the way of that. Yours or his.”
“I'll keep it in mind, Hiyorin, I promise,” Kouki murmured, frowning a little
as he considered his options. Minase had been right about the board meeting,
but after that he would see how much actually needed his attention and how much
he could delegate to others for awhile. Should probably also confirm with
Mitsuki whether his omega was even cleared to return to school yet or not. And
then call Kana's parents and sort out whatever was going on with them.
~*~*~
Kana started to get up from his perch at the breakfast bar, safely out of the
way of Kouki's cooking, but of course Chamu beat him to it. Sighing, he told
himself he wasn't useless just because he wasn't allowed to help with anything.
In truth, it was probably better that he keep out of the kitchen while there
was any cooking being done anyway, at least for now.
“Good morning, campers~!”
“Junji.... I thought we agreed you'd come after my board meeting.”
“No, you agreed. And then I reminded you that your board meetings always run
two hours over and since this all needs to get settled before Kana-kun's
physical therapy appointment, that I said I would be happy to take him to since
you'd be stuck in your meeting, I said I'd come for breakfast,” Junji
corrected, playfully swatting Kouki on the butt as he slipped past him to get
himself a mug of coffee.
“They don't always run two hours over,” Kouki grumbled and Kana didn't think
he'd ever seen someone flip an omelette so angrily before, it was hard not to
giggle.
“No, you're right, the last time you and I had an appointment on a board
meeting day, you were almost four hours late,” Junji replied, nodding as he
scooted past the alpha again to sit at the breakfast bar next to Kana. The
omega bit his lip and he could tell Chamu was doing the same.
“I told you then, that was traffic!” the blond alpha protested.
“Yes, of course, my mistake,” the lawyer said with a familiar soothing note
Kana recognized from his mother using it on him. “The point, my dear Kou-kun,
is that it would take a miracle for you to be done before his appointment and I
really don't know why you didn't schedule it for later in the first place.”
“It was the only time slot available, his therapist insisted,” the alpha
huffed, slicing and plating the rolled egg. “I would have made it work.”
“Really don't think this is the way or the time for that nest of vipers to find
out you're mated to an omega half your age, Kou-kun,” Junji said, shaking his
had. “I said I'd take care of it and I will. This is what friends do for each
other, dear.”
“I know, I know, just ... my responsibility, you know?”
“Between Junji-san and Chamu-kun, I'm sure I'll be fine,” Kana said as he
sipped his own coffee. “And I'm sure you were going to tell me about this
appointment before the last minute, right?”
“What? But you were right there, don't you remember?”
“No ... though this explains why you were so mean, insisting I get up this
morning instead of letting me sleep,” Kana said, pouting at his alpha. He
wasn't actually mad, but it was such a rush, to see the way Kouki would react.
The little flare of alpha scent, the way he would practically stumble over
himself to apologize.
“Already got him this well trained?” Junji teased, laughing. “Well, just be
sure you use that power of yours only for good, you hear me young man!”
“Yessir,” he mumbled, blushing into his coffee. He knew this sort of thing
wouldn't last, that sooner or later Kouki would catch on to what he was doing,
probably sooner now. But he intended to enjoy it while he could.
He didn't really want breakfast to end, since the end of breakfast meant Kouki
would be leaving for his office, but he knew it was inevitable. Which didn't
stop him from walking his alpha to the door. Or lingering in their parting
kisses.
“Be good, love,” Kouki murmured, “and I'll bring you home some cake.”
“I'm always good,” he mumbled with a smile, sneaking in one more kiss before
his soulmate had to go. It was ridiculous for him to feel this dependant on
just one person, he couldn't be clinging to his alpha all the time. And yet....
“Let's get all this paperwork stuff over with and then we can head over to the
bank, get you set up with your own account and deposit box before your therapy
session.”
Kana wasn't sure how necessary that was, especially since it wasn't like he
made a lot of money. And probably wouldn't ever make that much money, seeing as
he was just an omega. But he wasn't really in a position to argue with his
lawyer, either. Who was also an omega, actually, so maybe he was being overly
pessimistic thinking he'd never be allowed to have a career of his own. Force
of habit, he supposed, to think of himself as less for being omega. That was
certainly the media narrative he had been seeing for as long as he could
remember: alphas (mostly male) in all the top, key positions, betas to do all
the actual work (especially since betas made up more than half of the
population), and omegas to stay at home with the babies. Kana glanced sidelong
at Junji again. Ok, so the media narrative didn't entirely fit with reality, or
at least not reality as it existed outside his own limited experiences. Which
meant he was really going to have to learn to adjust his thinking. A sigh and
he sank down on Kouki's couch again. One step at a time.
Chapter End Notes
     In Japan, inkan, rather than signatures, are used to certify
     documents. However not all inkan are created equal.
        1. Jitsuin are the most formal, with each prefecture having strict
           regulations on their dimensions and contents to the point where
           it's most common for people to hire an artisan to create their
           jitsuin for them. Jitsuin are necessary to certify legal
           documents and must include the person's full name.
        2. Ginko-in are slightly less formal inkan used for banking
           purposes. Ginko-in are registered with a person's bank and used
           for things like loans. Their dimensions and contents are
           slightly less strictly strictly regulated.
        3. Mitome-in are semi-formal inkan used where a jitsuin imprint
           would be considered too formal, for example when paying utility
           bills. It's not uncommon for a person to craft their own
           mitome-in as it's a low-security seal with more room for
           personalization.
     There are also even lower security seals, hanko, which work similar
     to someone signing their initials. These are often mass-produced and
     completely insecure, which is why Hiyori didn't bother to include one
     in the set.
***** Fathom *****
Chapter Notes
     This chapter we get a first glimpse of what happened to break Kana.
     And we get to meet a new principle character: Tomoya. And find out
     about Junji's marriage, so a couple new tags. Yes, I am a horrible
     person. :3
Kana was fairly certain that a run to the bank, a session of very light
physical therapy, and then lunch out with his lawyer and his best friend should
not have been enough to leave him feeling completely exhausted. And yet that
was exactly how he felt, nodding off in Junji's car and not waking again until
a strange alpha's scent hit his nose.
“Hey kiddo, think you can walk up to Kou-kun's penthouse on your own?”
“Wh-who...,” he stammered, scooting away from him as much as he could in a back
seat that wasn't actually empty. The alpha was smiling at him from outside the
car, standing in the door but not actually trying to grab him or anything like
that. Kana was surprised to notice he was rather attractive, softly feathered
brown hair framing an angular, strong, yet somehow pretty face. Maybe it was
the nose piercing, maybe it was the way his eyes crinkled as he smiled even
wider, maybe it was the way he was carefully keeping his distance, but Kana
could feel himself starting to relax a little.
“Hi, sleepyhead. I'm Tomoya, Junji's partner. I was actually just gonna carry
you, but then ya woke up, so I thought I'd ask first,” the brunet alpha
explained, gesturing a little vaguely. “You okay?”
Kana blinked a couple times, then scrubbed his face with both hands. So tired,
but he didn't want some stranger carrying him around. He wasn't helpless. A
huff and he started pushing himself up out of the car, a little surprised at
how readily Tomoya backed away from him. Not that he got to notice it for long,
the way Chamu swooped in to help him.
“How long 'id I sleep?” he slurred, leaning heavily against his best friend as
they rode up the elevator.
“Not long enough, obviously,” Chamu murmured, rubbing his back. “It's fine
though, ne? You can nap on the couch while I play Xbox or something. Did you
not sleep well last night or something?” Chamu asked softly. Kana shook his
head a little and leaned closer. He hadn't thought his sleep had been
particularly bad, he even remembered feeling energized and ready to face the
day at breakfast. He didn't know what had happened between then and now, but he
felt like he had spent a whole day at hard labor or something.
“Okay, kids, here we are. Kacchan, are you sure you're okay?” Junji asked, as
he opened the door to the penthouse. Another huff and he pushed himself away
from Chamu, stubbornly walking himself over to Kouki's couch before collapsing
onto it. Junji's laughter trailed behind him, but it was warm rather than
mocking, and there was a scent of genuine caring when the older omega reached
down to ruffle his hair. Weird.
“All right, hon, you've made your point,” Junji said softly, finger combing his
hair back straight. “Okay, here's the deal. Kou-kun hasn't answered any of my
texts, so he's probably still in that board meeting. I'll leave Minase-kun's
number on the fridge, if you need anything, call him. And I'm still your
lawyer, Kacchan, so if you need help with anything, just let me know and I'll
do what I can. When you get your new phone, call my office so we can add that
to your file, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you, Tokai-sensei.”
“It's not a problem, sweetie. No idea when Kou-kun will be back, but Chamu-kun
has the key, so if you two do go out later, just lock up and leave him a note
or something.”
“He can't even stand up anymore, I don't think us leaving is going to be a
problem,” Chamu said with a short laugh of his own.
“Fair enough,” Junji conceded with another smile.
“And remember guys, if you're going to order porn, make sure it's the good
stuff~!”
“Tomoyan!!” Junji protested, laughing and swatting the alpha's shoulder. The
older omega dithered and fussed a little longer, even going so far as to fetch
Kana a blanket before his alpha partner was able to successfully drag him away.
Kana smiled as he settled into his bundle of blankets.
“I like them,” Chamu said, settling on the floor in front of the couch with the
Wii U pad. “I guess if Kouki-san is friends with people like that, he can't be
all bad.”
“Oh that's what it takes for you to finally maybe actually believe me?” Kana
grumbled, surprised when Chamu swatted his knee.
“Hey come on, you don't have to be that way about it,” Chamu countered. “In
case you forgot, you're the one with the soulmate bond to him, not me. And
you're the one with the special omega senses. All I've had was what I could see
in front of me. And what I could see was some alpha twice our age who came out
of nowhere and somehow had you convinced he was your soulmate without any shred
of evidence.”
“... Chamu-kun, I don't know what your parents told you about soulmates, but
just what kind of evidence were you expecting?”
“I don't know,” the beta conceded with a sigh. “But there should be something,
especially for cases like you two.”
“Something more than just that Kouki and I apparently smell the same?”
“Um, considering only alphas and omegas can pick that up? Yeah, definitely
something more than that!”
It wasn't like Kana especially disagreed with his best friend. Some sort of
tangible proof would be good for everyone, really, but there wasn't much use in
wishing the universe operated differently. Wishing wasn't going to magically
make it so, for one thing.
“Look, it's a ... a process, okay? I'll get there eventually, you just gotta
give me time, okay? And anyway, weren't you going to take a nap?”
“Tired of my company already?” Kana mock grumbled, but he scooted down the
couch a bit more so he could actually lay down properly.
“Hey I'm not the one who fell asleep during a twenty minute car ride,” Chamu
countered. “Go on, Kacchan, sleep. I can keep myself entertained and you
obviously need it. You can give me all the reasons why I'm wrong and stupid for
not trusting you on Kouki-san later.”
“I never thought you were stupid, Chamu-kun,” he mumbled, rolling over onto his
side to put his back to the television. It didn't really matter one way or the
other and he certainly wasn't going to let the beta know how much those words
had hurt. He was probably just overreacting because he was tired anyway. Better
if he just ignored it, took a nap while he could. He'd feel differently when
Kouki got home, he was sure of it. Or at least he was really hoping he would.
~*~*~
It was almost funny how much of an impact something as small as a familiar
scent could have. Kana was well on the way to waking even before Kouki ever
touched him, though he still clung to sleep.
“Hey sweetheart, got someone who wants to talk to you.”
There was a tightness in Kouki's tone that had him worried enough to actually
set aside his preference for more sleep, rubbing his face as he pushed himself
upright. And again when he blinked open his eyes. That ... that couldn't be....
“... Dad....”
Sitting up a bit more, he looked around frantically for some sign of his
mother, but there was nothing. Just Kouki crouched next to him and his father
standing on the other side of the coffee table, almost looking scared to come
closer. Which was an absurd thought, of course. His father didn't fear
anything, least of all his own son.
“Hello, son. I think ... we ought to talk.”
“About?” he asked, suddenly wary.
“Your mother and I think it's time you came home,” his father said quietly,
sitting down in one of the flanking chairs. “Obviously tonight is out of the
question, but there's a morning train –.”
“No,” Kana said with a shake of his head, scooting closer when Kouki shifted to
sit down next to him on the couch. “No, I'm not well enough to spend half a day
on trains and I'd just be a burden on you and Mom right now. I'm still
recovering from surgery, you know. Just because they let me leave the hospital,
it doesn't mean I'm completely back to myself again. Chamu-kun's helped out,
but Kouki's having to take off work to take care of me.”
“Kana, be reasonable. It's one thing to come down here for a week to visit,
something you know we were never that comfortable with, but now you're just
being selfish. You can't just come here and expect Morihito-san to put his
whole life on pause for you!”
“I'm not expecting it,” Kana protested, shaking his head, “but I'm sure as hell
not going to tell him not to, either, Dad. Besides, you're not listening: I
can't leave right now. I did three whole things today and it was enough to
completely wipe me out. And two of them were just me sitting! I couldn't have
done any of them without help. Help from Chamu-kun and Tokai-sensei and Sakai-
sensei and Suzuki-sensei and ... and Tomoya-sensei and ... and you're not
guilting me into leaving here before Sakai-sensei and Suzuki-sensei say I'm
cleared to travel.”
“I'm sure you're exaggerating,” his father said with a quiet frown. “If you
need to be under a doctor's supervision, there's nothing wrong with our family
doctor back home.”
“You can ask Chamu-kun!” he huffed, glancing around. “... where is Chamu-kun?”
“I asked him to pick up some things for me,” Kouki said quietly, sliding a
supporting arm around Kana's waist. “He should be back in just a little bit,
the combini's just down the street. The fact that we are in my home, not a
hospital room, does not change my stance, Kobayashi-san. Please stop upsetting
my mate so casually.”
“Soulmate or not, he is still my son,” Kana's father countered sharply. “And I
seem to recall you saying you weren't going to bite him so young. Have you
changed your mind, Morihito-san?”
“He is your son, but this is my home and if you do not stop, I will ask you to
leave.”
“Kana, go get your things, we're leaving.”
“Why won't you just listen to me for even just one minute!!” Kana shouted,
frustrated tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. “You and Mom have been
ridiculous about everything for years now! I get it, I could have died that day
and my aniki did die that day and the two of you can't bear to think about him
or about how close you came to losing us both, but you're being ridiculous! And
it needs to stop! You can't ... you can't just come here and demand from me
anymore, Dad! I have rights! And if you and Mom don't like it, well, you've got
only yourselves to blame!”
Kana could feel himself hyperventilating, a pain squeezing his chest. And then
Kouki was picking him up, carrying him from the room. Closing his eyes, he
pressed his face into Kouki's neck and took a few shaky breaths, drawing in as
much of his alpha's scent as he could manage. He didn't know what had gotten
into him to prompt such an outburst, it wasn't really like him. Maybe having
spent half the day with Junji, being treated like a competent adult, at least
by the lawyer, instead of a hopeless omega, had done it. And maybe the whys
didn't really matter.
“It's all right, Kacchan,” Kouki soothed as he sat down with him on the bed,
still cradling him close. “Pretty sure that was Chamu-kun coming back just now,
but don't you worry about that. Just breathe, baby. Your father isn't going to
take you away from me.”
The more he breathed in of Kouki's scent, the less his chest ached, though he
still clung to the older man for dear life. They needed to talk about this,
talk about what this meant for them. If he had to invoke his rights as an
emancipated teenager to make his own decisions, would that be completely
burning his bridges with his parents? If he stayed in Tokyo, what would that do
to his relationship with Kouki? It was one thing for Kouki to say he would
support Kana unconditionally, but it was another thing entirely for Kana to
just assume he meant it that way. Despite what his father had said, he wasn't
actually that selfish.
But right at that moment, the thing he wanted most was to feel Kouki holding
him, to not think about anything for awhile. Fortunately for him, the alpha
seemed more than willing to go along with it. A low sigh and he snuggled in
even closer. Maybe this was the coward's way out, but he didn't care.
~*~*~
Letting himself into Kouki's apartment, Chamu found himself thinking again
about what Hikaru had said about being able to smell moods. And what the older
omega would have been able to tell him about whatever it was he had just walked
in on. Nothing good, he could tell that much from the fleeting glimpse of Kouki
carrying Kana down the hall and the way Kana's father was still standing there
with a stunned look on his face. Not sure what else to do, Chamu took himself
and his combini bags into the kitchen. He knew sending him to the store had
been both a genuine need to get things for dinner and an excuse to get him out
of the apartment while Kana talked to his dad. He probably shouldn't have
rushed the way he had, but his gut had been trying to warn him of danger and
ignoring it ... well ignoring it hadn't been an option.
It was almost funny, in a not at all amusing sort of way, to see Kana's parents
turning more and more like his own. Perhaps because the two families had taken
such different paths reacting to that day, seeing them end up in the same
place.... There was an almost visceral pleasure in it, one that he quickly
squashed as unworthy of him. Kana might have a few screws loose, but he was
still Chamu's best friend and seeing his friend hurting like this wasn't
anything he had ever wanted. How many times had he wished his own parents had
been more like Kana's parents? Certainly he would never, had never wished for
this change in their attitudes. He really couldn't understand it at all, but it
wasn't his place to butt into Kana's family life, so he kept to the kitchen,
putting away last minute groceries that he was no longer so sure they were even
going to need.
“Chamu-kun. I thought I saw you coming in....”
“Kobayashi-tousan,” he said, forcing a small smile for Kana's sake. He didn't
want to make trouble.
“You've been here almost a week now. How has that been?”
“... no offense, Kobayashi-tousan, but I came down here because my best friend
had been blown up in a terrorist attack on a local mall. I've had to spend
Christmas Eve with a family that wasn't mine, I've had to watch my best friend
go through something horrible, that no one should ever have to face, and I've
seen him break down over something as small as opening a bank account. So it's
not like I've been having a fun time here or anything.”
“What are you talking about, breaking down over a bank account? Why does he
need another bank account?” Chamu had to take a second to resist the urge to
roll his eyes. Leave it to Kana's dad to jump on the smallest part of what he'd
said.
“Those were our errands today - a local bank account, physical therapy, and
lunch with his lawyer. I think we were out for two and a half to three hours
and it was enough to where Kacchan needed a nap after. And this wasn't even a
proper physical therapy session cuz it hasn't even been a week since his
surgery, it was mostly sitting and talking about their plan for going forward
and what sorts of activities he's allowed to do right now and what things he'd
prefer for when his incision's all healed up properly.”
Taking a breath, he put away the last of the groceries before turning around to
face Kana's father properly. Sure he had started this conversation telling
himself he wasn't going to make any trouble, but from three questions he
already had a good idea where Kana's dad was heading. Especially with as upset
as Kana had to have been for Kouki to have been carrying him away like that.
Maybe it wasn't his place to say anything about it, but Kana's father had been
the one to start this conversation.
“Look, I get it, his mom's probably making you crazy wanting him home, but she
really should have thought of that before she walked out on him. My opinion,
he's better off here. It's going to be another month before he can even go back
to school, so he might as well stay here, with the same medical team that did
his surgery in the first place. I know you're going to try pressuring him into
going home with you, if you haven't already, but I really wouldn't suggest it.
He doesn't need your permission anymore and Kouki-san won't put up with you
pressuring him anyway. They may not be legally mated to each other yet, but if
you really think that's going to stop him, then you don't know anything about
Kouki-san.”
“I see,” the older beta said with the sort of coldness that meant, in his
opinion, Chamu had crossed a line. Well tough shit. Kana had been his best
friend for as long as he could remember and he would do whatever it took to
protect him. Even if it meant telling off his best friend's dad.
“Well, you tell Kana I'll see him tomorrow. Good night, Chamu-kun.”
He probably should have seen the man out, but a part of him was still feeling
petty and mean. He just hoped Kana didn't regress too far from this latest
stunt by his parents. Even understanding why they were so overprotective didn't
help when, from where he stood, what they were doing was obviously all about
making themselves feel better rather than what was best for Kana.
... and just when had he started thinking that Kouki was what was best for
Kana? Sighing at himself, he grabbed a bottle of water and went back into the
lounge. No telling how long those two would be and no point in starting dinner
until at least one of them resurfaced. Though if they took too long he might
just order a pizza instead. And then try his hardest not to think about how
much it was going to suck if he had to go back to Fukui by himself.
~*~*~
Kouki couldn't really bring himself to be surprised as he felt Kana falling
asleep in his arms. His soulmate had had an eventful day, even before his
father had stepped into the picture. He could feel his hackles bristling again
just thinking about it. How could he have been so stupid, blindly trusting the
man like that even after everything he had seen? But then he had wanted to
believe that Kana's father was honorable, that this whole mess with Kana's
mother really had just been hurt pride getting in the way of common sense. He
had taken the man at his word that he wanted what was best for Kana, never
suspecting that Kana's father would be too fixated on his own ideas of what
that meant to actually listen to anyone else.
Settling his soulmate on their bed, he brushed a kiss to his forehead and then
went back to the lounge. And tried not to let on to his surprise at how angry
Chamu's scent was. And frowned at the open pizza box sitting on the coffee
table in front of the teen.
“Chamu-kun....”
A couple last combos and Chamu paused his game, a sheepishness leaking into his
scent as he looked up at him.
“I know, you wanted to cook. And I got everything you wanted! But then his dad
pissed me off and I was hungry and you guys had kinda disappeared and I wasn't
sure how long it was going to be before you resurfaced, so....”
“What did he say?” Kouki asked, frowning as he sat down on the other end of the
couch.
“Nothing, really,” Chamu said, embarrassment spiking through his scent. “I ...
probably made things worse, but I know why he came here. They're used to
Kacchan being the stereotypical omega, always bowing to what they want,
regardless of anything else. Which is pretty funny when you consider that
they're pretty much ignoring the fact that, as an alpha, you could and do have
way more influence than they ever could. His dad's planning to come back
tomorrow, by the way, but I doubt anything's really going to have changed. He's
still going to want Kacchan to go home with him, never mind that Kacchan really
would be better off staying right here.”
“I thought you didn't like me, didn't trust me with Kana,” he said quietly,
helping himself to a slice of pizza.
“I don't know you, but that's not really the point,” Chamu said, shrugging.
“His surgeon is here, his lawyer is here, and whether I like it or not, he's
happier being with you. I may be an idiot sometimes, but I'm not that blind.”
Kouki nodded, subsiding into thoughtful quiet as he ate his slice of pizza.
“Anyway,” Chamu said after an awkward moment, “I like Tokai-sensei and his
partner. They're good guys and if you're friends with them, well, then you
can't be that bad.”
“His partner? Oh, did you meet up with Tomoyan then for lunch?”
“No, after,” the teenaged beta said with a shake of his head. “Kacchan fell
asleep in the back of Tokai-sensei's car so he had his partner come meet us
here. Tomoya-sensei was going to carry Kacchan up here but then he woke up
instead. So I guess it wasn't much, but that was a lot of effort to go to for
someone he doesn't know, just because his omega asked, so....”
“Eh? Ah, no, no, Junji-kun and Tomoyan are business partners, law partners, not
a bonded couple.”
“They ... they aren't? But....” It was hard not to snicker at Chamu's
confusion, but somehow Kouki managed to control his amusement.
“Tomoyan's bonded to another omega, Koudai runs a small gallery in Ginza. As
for Juju, he's married to Avex's top exec, it was kind of a big deal a couple
years back when she mated him, at least around here. Some of my board members
wanted her replaced, but I wouldn't hear of it. Everyone makes a big deal about
it when a male alpha chooses or is soulmated to a non-omega but if an alpha
female chooses or is soulmated to a male omega, it's even more scandalous
somehow. I won't say the celestial powers that decide soulmates are perfect -
look at Hikachu and his soulmate - but to question it just because some people
think a female alpha and a male omega is somehow unnatural or perverse....”
It was another one of his little pet peeves, the notion that a female alpha and
a male omega being together was a perversion of the natural order. Why
shouldn't a female alpha take a male omega for her mate if they were both
willing? Of course the board had tried every excuse they could find to have
Kumiko replaced from the day she had been promoted to president of Avex. As if
being a former teen idol made her somehow less qualified to run a record label.
Kumiko was, in Kouki's opinion, not only brilliant but someone with unique
insights into the needs of her label and the talents signed to her company. He
had been only too happy to quietly and subtly nudge the Avex brass into
rewarding her hard work with the promotions he knew she had more than earned
anyway, even if others hadn't always agreed. The “scandal” of Kumiko taking the
reins at Avex had actually worked in the label's favor, generating more
interest in their artists and dramatically increasing album sales for the
quarter.
“Wait, wait, Tokai-sensei is married to Koda Kumiko?? Hoshit....Wait, how are
you involved in that?”
“Avex was bought by the Matsumoto Group five years ago, right after I took
charge. Our board of directors could, in theory, insist on a change, but to do
so right now would be ... scandalous and inappropriate,” Kouki replied,
shrugging. Despite their critics, Kumiko and Junji were well matched, a power
couple able to command most any room. And more importantly, very happy together
and completely in love. More than once he'd caught himself feeling jealous of
their happiness, though perhaps now that he had his Kana at his side, he would
be able to let go of that.
A small smile caught at his lips as he thought about it, though it didn't last
long. The revelation that he was mated to a male omega half his age wasn't
going to go over well. As much as he loathed the very idea of keeping Kana
hidden from the public, he knew it was the better way to go, at least for now.
Kana wasn't ready, by any stretch, for a proper high society debut. Between his
age, his family background, and his designation, there were too many ways for
things to go wrongly. He hated it, hated the thought of Kana thinking he was
being kept hidden because Kouki was embarrassed by him, but he had to protect
his soulmate. Certainly right now Kana was in no condition to be facing the
vultures of Tokyo's high society. A year, two, maybe even three, and things
would be different. Assuming he could keep things quiet that long....
“Ah, maybe I shouldn't've asked, sorry. Though ... no offense, but aren't you
kinda, well, um, old to still be single?”
“Hey now, thirty-six isn't that old!” he protested with a soft laugh he didn't
entirely feel. “And not that it's any of your business, but I was actually
engaged once. So of course she met her soulmate the week after I proposed and
then the two of them ran off to Fiji together.”
“That ... is such a cliche....”
“It is. Used the ring I'd given her to buy the tickets, too.”
“Seriously?! Well damn, sounds to me like you dodged a bullet on that one!”
“Guess I did at that,” he said, and this time the chuckle was genuine. Usually
talking about Hinoko left him with an ache in his chest, but this time there
was little more than a brief twinge. These days he wasn't sure anymore if he
had ever really been in love with her or if he had been in love with the idea
of loving her. Considering how easily she had left him behind, he couldn't help
thinking Hinoko had only ever been in it for his money. He hadn't bothered
keeping track of her after she'd run off on him, but now suddenly he was
intensely curious to know what had become of the pair. Not that he could even
remember her soulmate's name. Something to ask Minase about when he next saw
the beta.
“Pizza? I thought Kouki was cooking dinner tonight?”
Kouki looked over at his soulmate, unable to stop smiling at the cute way his
nose was wrinkling.
“Oi, you love pizza!” Chamu protested, though he was grinning. “You told me
once you could probably live off pizza and black Coke, remember?”
“But ... I was looking forward to Kouki's cooking,” Kana mumbled, shuffling
forward to plop on the couch next to him. Kouki couldn't resist, immediately
sliding an arm around his young soulmate.
“Chamu-kun got hungry without us, you were pretty upset for ... awhile, love,”
he said softly, encouraging the young omega to lean against him. “But if you
want something else, I don't mind cooking for you.”
“I don't want to be any trouble,” the omega said with a slight shake of his
head. “Pizza is fine.”
“All right. And I promise to cook for you tomorrow. Are you going to be okay to
talk to your dad tomorrow? Apparently he's coming back, but I could always
refuse to ring him up if you don't think you can handle seeing him again.”
“W-what? W-why? No. No, I ... no. I can't,” Kana stammered, shaking his head
again, more urgently this time. “I can't. Please... please don't make me....”
“Shh, hey now, it's okay, baby, I'll take care of it,” Kouki soothed, gently
pressing Kana into his chest.
“Well, if he's not going to face him, it doesn't matter, but I was going to
suggest maybe inviting Tokai-sensei over? I don't know when Kobayashi-tousan
means to come back, though, so....”
“Would that help?” Kouki asked his trembling soulmate. It wasn't a bad idea,
really, and he might just do it anyway. He wouldn't push Kana into talking to
his father if it was just going to upset him again, but having the lawyer there
might just shut down the beta's attempt to force his way into a confrontation.
Maybe.
“He won't listen to me anyway,” the omega mumbled, scooting closer, face
practically pressed into Kouki's neck. Yeah, he was definitely going to have to
call Junji later. And perhaps Mitsuki, too? If not for his worries for Kana's
health, he would almost be tempted to suggest an impromptu Marvel movie viewing
party, but he didn't want to overwhelm his omega.
“All right, Kacchan, I'll take care of it, don't worry. It's not like he can
get into the building without being noticed. I'll let the desk know to stop him
if he comes in tomorrow.”
“Will they actually do that? They didn't bat an eyelash at me earlier. Or when
it was the four of us after lunch,” Chamu said, frowning.
“Junji-kun's been a friend of mine for years now and I added you and Kacchan as
long-term guests of mine when we came home from the hospital,” he replied,
shrugging lightly.
“And that's fine? You can just do that?”
“Well, I do own the whole building,” Kouki said, grinning a bit as he watched
Chamu's reaction. “But even if I didn't, yes, it would be fine. The security
desk is there for the comfort and peace of mind of the tenants, keeping an eye
on who's coming and going is part of the job.”
“... ok, but I still insist on paying rent when I move in here, dammit,” Chamu
huffed, though there was a definite lack of matching disgruntlement in his
scent.
“Yes, yes, you were quite clear on that before,” he replied, still grinning.
“I'll have something unofficial but fair drawn up by the time you graduate.”
“... what about me?” Kana asked, the first tendrils of fear leaking back into
his scent yet again.
“As far as the building management agency will be concerned, you are both semi-
permanent guests. It's not something you need to worry about beyond that,
Kacchan. Right now all I want you to worry about is your recovery.”
“But....”
“No buts,” he interrupted, pressing a finger to his lips. “I said I would take
care of you and I will. No matter what. You just worry about taking care of
yourself and getting better, okay?”
Kana's sigh didn't sound entirely accepting, but he would take it. To be
honest, he was expecting Kana to argue this point with him several more times
in the months ahead. And he was just fine with it. Hell, he was even looking
forward to it a bit if it meant his mate was becoming more strongly his own
person. Besides, a little arguing was good for the soul.
***** Fractured *****
Chapter Notes
     Ok, so this is the start of the heavy dark shit chapters and I feel a
     tiny bit bad about that, but... As noted in the updated tags, there's
     abuse, underage sex/rape (just talked about in this chapter), and
     past character deaths.
     Also, the face claim for the Atsushi in this fic is Satou_Atsushi,
     aka EXILE ATSUSHI, and NOT Sakurai Atsushi.
     As a reminder, Kouki, Minase, and Junji are all 36, Kana and Chamu
     are 18, and Higuchi Yutaka is a happy 26. Yeah, I know, it's weird
     writing him as younger and it's going to increase the chances of
     confusion of which Atsushi I used, but I couldn't resist that cute
     face.
Kana had been restless all day, to the point where Junji had threatened to call
his doctor on him if he didn't stop fretting and pacing. Not that he had much
stamina for pacing anyway.
“Deep breaths, dearest. You're safe here, completely.”
“That's what I thought before,” Kana muttered, though he let himself be pulled
down onto the couch next to the older omega. Junji tsked at him softly but he
was more surprised by the way Chamu practically shoved a PS4 controller at him.
“I'm bored and you need something else to do, so Lego Star Wars it is. Relax,
Kacchan, your dad isn't coming up here unless and until you say want to see him
again.”
“But –.”
“No more buts!” Chamu protested. “Let Kouki-san and Junji-san take care of your
dad. You, play with me!”
“Okay, okay,” he said, biting back a sigh. They hadn't played together in weeks
now, too busy with school and everything else. Of course this wasn't Chamu's
game system, so they were going to have to start a whole new game, but that was
fine, too. Easier to do a complete clear the second time around anyway. And if
it could distract him for even just a few minutes, he'd take it.
~*~*~
Kouki allowed himself a deep breath as he stepped out of the elevator, Junji at
his side. And immediately regretted it as he was practically assaulted by the
scent of an overly agitated beta. Junji started coughing two seconds later,
though he suspected it was an act. Certainly it was enough to tip off one of
the security agents who pulled a small dispenser from under the desktop,
spritzing the air twice. Junji took another moment to wave his hand in front of
his face as the scent neutralizer cut through the air, though Kouki doubted it
would be effective for very long with as irate as Kana's father was looking at
that moment.
“I will not stand here and be insulted like this, Morihito-san! And you have no
right to keep me from my child!”
“Kana is eighteen and he has told us he doesn't wish to see you.”
“He is still my child!”
“Kobayashi-san allow me to introduce Kana's lawyer, Tokai Junji,” Kouki said
with every measure of stiff formality he could muster. “Tokai-sensei is here as
Kana's legal representative.”
“Here's a copy of the court order granting Kobayashi Kana-kun rights as an
emancipated teenager and a copy of the power of attorney he has signed with me.
All notarized and filed with the appropriate municipal clerk.”
“Now wait just a minute....”
“You and your wife pushed us into this position, Kobayashi-san, by leaving the
way you did,” Junji said, his voice deathly quiet. It wasn't entirely true, the
hospital could have worked around Kana's parents leaving the city the way they
had, but it would have been dangerous, particularly if some emergency
complication had come up. Considering the risk of infection in abdominal
wounds, the court order and power of attorney had simply been the most sensible
course.
“You had no right,” Kobayashi muttered. A polite cough from one of the security
agents and Kouki swallowed a sigh.
“Perhaps this is not the best place for this conversation,” he said, gesturing
towards the elevator. The anger was no less present and he was hardly enjoying
the prospect of being in an enclosed space with the man, but the foyer was no
place to be discussing Kana's private business. Especially when they had
another option. One that wouldn't breach his promise that Kana wouldn't have to
see his father again until he was ready.
~*~*~
Chamu rolled his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck, a low, involuntary
groan escaping his lips. Waiting for Kana's father to resurface had been a bit
nerve-wracking, especially with the way Kana had kept getting up to pace the
lounge, and he was more than a little impressed that Kouki had managed to get
Kana to take a nap in the midst of the omega's own nerves and worry. Maybe it
was a sign that the two really were soulmates? Or else Kouki had used some sort
of alpha mojo on his best friend. Or both. Either way, after his own night of
less than productive sleeping, he was a little jealous.
And then Kana's father had finally turned up and Chamu had found himself
functionally alone in the penthouse apartment. As the handful of minutes
dragged longer, he had found himself pacing Kouki's lounge, worried that
something had gone horribly wrong. What, he couldn't imagine, but something.
After all how long could it take to tell the man he wasn't welcome and to stop
trying to pressure Kana into going back to Fukui? Well, okay, put that way, the
absence wasn't so strange. Kana's parents had both clearly gone off the
paranoia deep end and Chamu couldn't imagine his best friend's dad taking the
news of his son's sudden independence particularly well in light of that. But
he still hated the waiting and the not knowing.
When the front door opened again, he popped up off the couch and hurried over,
relieved but also worried to see only Kouki coming into the apartment.
“Date night,” Kouki said with a wry grin, as if that should explain everything.
“Is Kacchan still sleeping then?”
“Yeah, I was thinking of maybe waking him but then if I did that and you
weren't back quickly enough, he would have been climbing the walls in anxiety
by the time you did get back so I just left it,” Chamu said, shrugging and
rubbing the back of his neck. He'd be glad when this day was over and he could
spend some quality time in a hot bath. He glanced sidelong at the alpha and
sighed. Nothing for it but to plunge ahead full speed, he supposed.
“It's ... not really my place, but we need to talk. About Kana's past and his
brother.”
“His dad already told us everything, that's part of what took so long.”
“No offense, but that's not even remotely possible,” Chamu countered, shaking
his head. “Kana's parents only know as much as Kana has told them and between
the accident and what he'd never told them before the accident, what they know
is little more than surface. And Kacchan's repressed almost everything to do
with Atsu-nii, to the point where I bet he told you he's a virgin.”
The sharp look that got him from Kouki had been completely expected, but that
didn't actually make it any easier to bear.
“What are you saying?” Kouki asked and Chamu hated that cold note in the
alpha's voice that, to his ears, sounded a little too much like someone on the
verge of feeling completely betrayed.
“It's not like that, but it's ... it should really be Kacchan to explain
everything, but like I said, he's repressed practically everything. All he
remembers anymore is the car accident when he was fifteen,” he said, sighing as
he moved back over to the couch. “And that Atsu-nii and Hiro-nii and Yuta-nii
were all best friends and that that's how we met Hayato-senpai.”
“His father already told me about your brother and how the families had wanted
Atsushi to be Kana's mate,” Kouki said as he sat down on one of the flanking
armchairs.
“You have to understand, Fukui is, like, 90% betas. We don't even have an alpha
high school, nearly all the alphas in the prefecture end up going to one of the
alpha schools in Gifu or Shiga. And omegas are even rarer, Kacchan's the only
male omega in our high school. With all the ... the misconceptions, our
families thought it would be better for Kacchan to be mated to an alpha they
knew would be good to him instead of taking a chance on his unknown soulmate or
some other alpha. They started telling Atsu-nii that Kana would be his within a
few weeks of Kacchan's birth and that was probably the first mistake.
“I don't know, maybe it was just aniki's personality, but really ... they'd
promised an eight year old alpha that Kana was his future mate. I'm pretty sure
the only reason he waited as long as he did was because Kacchan didn't have his
first heat until he was twelve.”
“Waited for what?” Kouki asked with a frown and there was that brittle note
again. Chamu hated hearing that, but he couldn't exactly stop the story now.
“Kana's heat caught him by surprise at school, the nurse sent him home. Of
course the school nurse was an idiot male beta who didn't see the problem with
sending Kana home, alone, at twelve, while his parents were both at work. Or
thought to call Kana's parents to tell them. I don't know how Atsu-nii found
out about it, it's not like we lived near each other even back then, but there
was the mate he'd been promised, suddenly in a full heat. By the time Kana's
parents came home, it was too late to do anything, Atsu-nii had already bitten
him. Not that he admitted to it. He said he'd taken Kacchan to a pharmacy to
dump his heat, but if that's what happened, it wasn't until after he'd bitten
and rutted him hard. Kacchan could hardly walk the next day, but no one really
thought that was too unusual, so at first no one questioned it.”
“Someone must have questioned it at some point.”
“Kacchan's older brother Hiro came over late that night, I heard him and Atsu-
nii arguing pretty loudly in the back yard. He came over accusing Atsu-nii of
bonding Kana, said he could smell Atsu-nii all over him - I never understood
how - and that he'd found the bite mark and the bruises and everything. Atsu-
nii tried to deny it at first, before Hiro-nii mentioned the bite. After that,
he admitted it and then dared Hiro to do anything about it. Sure, Kacchan was
way too young, but the only way to undo a mating bite is death. And sure, Hiro-
nii could have reported it ... and then the whole city would have found out
about the scandal, our family names would both have been dragged through the
mud. Atsu-nii would have been arrested, tried, and convicted of forcing a
mating bite on a minor ... and Kana would've been made to suffer through every
one of his heats for years while his mate served his jail term.”
“That's ... that's not how it works....,” Kouki said, shaking his head.
“W-what?”
“Sorry, I ... I shouldn't've interrupted, it doesn't matter now anyway,” the
blond alpha replied, running a hand through his hair. “So your brother Atsushi
was a lying, selfish asshole and since your parents are all betas who probably
wouldn't know the alpha-omega codes if they were smacked in the face with them
... what exactly happened to Kacchan? All his father seemed to think I needed
to know what that Kana had been obsessed with your brother since puberty, over
the moon puppy love according to him, and that he'd taken it hard when Atsushi
and Hiro died.”
“But.... Ok, no, you're right, my story first, but you're explaining later,”
Chamu muttered, tapping fingers on his thigh a moment to put the story back in
its proper order in his head. “Anyway, um, Hiro-nii said if he caught Atsu-nii
forcing himself on Kacchan again, he'd tear his throat out. Except it didn't
... it was like Kacchan was drawn to him. And of course our parents didn't know
about the argument between our brothers, so they just thought it was a natural
attraction, that their little plan to protect poor, innocent omega Kana was
working. I ... I wanted to tell them it wasn't, but Hiro-nii wasn't saying
anything and Kacchan seemed really happy and it ... it wasn't like aniki was
abusing him, from what I could tell. Kana didn't have another heat for six
months, but he was twelve, no one thought it was weird. It's puberty, irregular
heats are normal, right? And then the next two were only two months apart and
somehow Atsu-nii was always there to take him to the clinic and his mom was
just grateful not to have to leave work early.”
“There's a but coming, I can practically smell it,” Kouki said in an effort to
lighten the mood.
“Things kinda just continued like everything was normal. Kacchan trailed after
aniki like a happy puppy and no one tried to stop it. Or seemed to think twice
about if it was okay for the two of them to be alone together. I don't know if
they just didn't think about it or if it was decided, well, since aniki was
supposed to be Kana's future mate anyway, it didn't matter? Maybe a bit of
both. I know I certainly didn't think about it, but then I wasn't any older
than Kana, so what did I know? Nothing.”
“But....”
“If his dad already told you about the accident... he was in the back seat, got
away with barely a scratch. I ... I don't know if Hiro-nii just hadn't known or
if he'd been keeping it a secret. Yuta-nii picked it up right away. Our parents
were ... Yuta-nii offered to take care of Kacchan and me for a few days while
our parents took care of everything else, picked us up from the hospital even.
And that first night, he sat Kacchan down and demanded to know what aniki had
been doing to him. Kacchan was so confused, Yuta-nii was livid, I didn't
understand.... And then he started getting the whole story out of Kana and
I.... I was fifteen and I was being forced to face that the brother I had loved
more than anyone, who had just been killed in a senseless car accident, had
forced a mate bite on my best friend and gotten him pregnant. Twice. Kacchan
had a complete breakdown, there was no way he could carry a pregnancy to term,
we took him to an emergency clinic run by one of Yuta-nii's older cousins so
there weren't any questions. It was probably the worst night of my life,
watching him go through all that. And then it got worse cuz the next morning
he'd pretty obviously suppressed practically everything. He couldn't even
remember, still doesn't remember me having to drag him, screaming, away from
Atsu-nii's body. Guess that should've been my first tip-off that things hadn't
been right, huh?”
“You're lying!”
Chamu's whole body flinched at the accusation, the raw pain in Kana's voice.
Dammit. He'd wanted Kana to face reality, but not like this.
“You're lying! Stop lying! It's not true! Kouki, it's not true, it's not. It
can't be! Why would you say such horrible things, Chamu???”
“Why would I make up lies like this?” Chamu countered, pushing up from the
couch to meet Kana's glares head on. “I loved Atsu-nii more than anything back
then and it made me blind! And you're the one that ended up suffering for it!”
“It's not true! Atsu-nii never... he would never have... and Hiro-nii and Yuta-
nii never would have let him! You know they wouldn't!! Why are you trying to
ruin everything?!?”
“I'm not! But goddammit, Kacchan, you soulmate deserves to know the truth!
What, you think he's not going to notice you aren't a virgin when you two
finally do have sex?!? And what happens when he mates you and gets all your
memories? Or do you really think you can keep suppressing everything forever?”
“Chamu....”
“I'm not suppressing anything because it never happened!”
“Kana....”
“Yuta-nii and I took turns sitting with you all night after that abortion,
don't tell me it didn't happen!”
“Okay, shh, come on, you two,” Kouki interrupted, somehow managing to get an
arm around each of them and pulling them close to him. Chamu could feel himself
shaking with hurt and anger, more hurt than anger, and yet the unexpected
kindness - not to mention being suddenly pulled against a shaking Kana - was
enough to take much of the wind out of his sails.
“Come on, group hug,” the alpha crooned softly, insisting. “I'll call Mitsuki
later, get him to give us a referral to a gyno for you, Kacchan - you'll go if
I have to hog tie you, so don't bother arguing - that should settle some of
that. You should be seeing a gyno sometime soon anyway, I'm sure. In the mean
time ... what if I called this Yuta-san and talked to him about this? Sounds
like he'd be able to settle the truth of the matter, yes?”
“Yuta-nii will just tell you I'm right,” Kana mumbled.
“All right then, that settles it. So which one of you wants to give me his
number?”
“I'll text him,” Chamu muttered, slipping out of Kouki's loose hold to dig up
his phone. He just hoped this didn't somehow end up making things worse. Then
again, he wasn't all that sure how things could get worse. And then he got a
text back from Yutaka and felt like he had underestimated the universe's
ability to screw with him.
“Yuta-nii says he can meet us for dinner if we don't mind waiting another hour.
And give him directions.”
“E-eh? What's he doing in Tokyo??” Kana stammered, his own anger either
forgotten or somehow soothed away by the alpha that was still holding him.
“Some year-end conference thing. He says thanks for giving him an excuse to
skip out of the last session. Um, I'm not sure how to direct him here. The
conference is at Todai, though, so...?”
“Here in Bunkyo?” Kouki asked with a brief look of surprise. “Or the Komaba
campus in Meguro?”
“Um, hold on, lemme ask,” he mumbled. “Oh, uh, guess we're both wrong, he's at
the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research in Kashiwa?”
“Unless he wants to wait for us to drive all the way out there,” Kouki said
with a thoughtful hum, pulling out his own phone. Chamu was almost impressed
with how the alpha was able to research on his phone while still keeping an arm
around Kana. “Ok, I'm sending you train directions, if he'll meet us in
Sendagi, we can pick him up there in half an hour.”
“Us?” Chamu repeated even as he forwarded Kouki's directions to Yutaka.
“Neither of you drive and this one isn't going to let me go anywhere without
him, clearly,” Kouki explained, grinning as he put his phone down and stroked
Kana's hair. “I just assumed you'd want to come, too, but if you'd rather stay
here....”
“No, I'll come,” he insisted. “That one's going to fall asleep in the car again
anyway,” he added with a grin. Kana huffed and flipped him off, but after the
anger earlier, he would take that as a good sign.
~*~*~
“Yuta-nii!”
“Tch, all right, let's have a look at you then, Kacchan,” an unfamiliar alpha
said. Kouki couldn't have said what he had been expecting, but this tiny bundle
of alpha wasn't it. The cheerful grin that had appeared upon first seeing Chamu
and Kana had already vanished into a worried frown as the alpha fussed over
Kana. A polite cough was enough to get everyone's attention, however.
“Ah, sorry,” Kana mumbled, flustered as he stepped back over to Kouki's side,
taking his arm and squeezing it with a shy smile. “Yuta-nii, this is my
soulmate, Morihito Kouki. Kouki, this is Higuchi Yutaka, Hayato-senpai's older
brother and Atsu-nii and Hiro-nii's best friend from childhood.”
Sharp eyes flicked between Kouki and Kana for a moment, the shorter alpha's
frown deepening.
“... I was wondering when those two would come back to haunt us all,” Yutaka
said softly, reaching out briefly to brush fingers against Kana's cheek. Kouki
had to bite the inside of his own cheek to keep from snarling at another alpha
being so intimate with his omega, a reaction that surprised even himself. Maybe
it was just because he didn't know this Higuchi at all, but there was an
obvious closeness between him and Kana that had him feeling the first whispers
of jealousy.
“No, you're right, Morihito-san, I apologize. Kacchan was never meant for me,
and unlike Atsushi-kun, I was never under any delusions otherwise. I wasn't
thinking, of course you're sensitive, especially after what Chamu-kun's had to
tell you.”
“Yuta-nii, wha... what are you saying?” Kana stammered, betrayal flaring
through his scent.
“Why don't we pause this conversation until we're somewhere more private?” he
suggested, gesturing towards the parking exit. “The boys were surprised to hear
you were in town. What brings you to Tokyo this close to year end? If you don't
mind me saying, aren't you a bit young to be a research fellow?”
“Oh, no, I'm still in graduate school,” the younger alpha said with a light
laugh. “Sensei brought me along because I'm the only grad student at Fukudai
showing any interest in astrophysics and gravity research. He was disappointed
when I asked to skip the evening session, but my family,” and he paused a
moment to grab Chamu in a sideways hug, “needs me more than he does tonight.
Family first, ne?”
“Astrophysics, eh? Well, that's something I know absolutely nothing about,
apart from what you see on TV shows, which I'm guessing is mostly fake,” Kouki
admitted with a laugh.
“Theoretical astrophysics, no less, so I won't bore you with the details,”
Higuchi added, laughing as well. “Ahh but Haya-kun will be happy to hear you're
doing better, Kacchan.”
“Oh don't let this outing fool you,” Chamu said with a laugh. “If we were going
any further, he'd be falling asleep in the car.”
“Oi! Chamu-kun!!” Kana protested.
“What?? You know I'm right~”
Kouki was content to let the boys bicker it out while he drove, though he
couldn't help keeping an eye on both Kana - who was wilting fast, draining any
real power out of his own arguments - and Higuchi. For all Chamu's talk in
previous visits about all alphas being knotheaded assholes - something Kouki
was beginning to think had more to do with his brother's actions than any real
lived experience with many alphas - the beta teen was certainly relaxed and at
ease with Higuchi. Which was, admittedly, probably a good thing. And probably a
sign that he needed to relax with the young alpha as well.
“Yeah, okay, jealous. Incredibly jealous. Kacchan, this is wildly unfair of
you,” Higuchi teased as he looked around the great room, bag in hand. “Acchan
would be purple about now. Don't you forget about us little people now,
Kacchan!”
“Mou, Yuta-niiiii,” Kana whined, flopping on the couch.
“... are we sure he's up for this?” the younger alpha asked, frowning up at
Kouki even as he sat down next to Kana. “He looks like he could pass out at any
moment.”
“All you have to do is tell him Atsu-nii wasn't a ... a rapist pig asshole,”
Kana muttered, shooting another glower at Chamu. “How hard can that be?”
“He still doesn't remember?” Higuchi asked, turning his frown to Chamu.
“He overheard me telling Kouki-san about the night of the accident and accused
me of making the whole thing up to try to ruin things between them,” Chamu
said, taking one of the armchairs for himself.
“Because Atsu-nii never did those things!” his omega insisted, scowling again
before turning plaintive eyes on Higuchi. “Yuta-nii, tell him. Tell him it's
not true. I'm not damaged, dammit!”
“Oh sweetheart, of course you aren't,” the young alpha said, hugging him close.
“And I know you thought you loved Acchan, but he wasn't what you've turned him
into.”
“As much as I hate upsetting my soulmate, I need to know the truth, as best as
possible. If you can help with that, Higuchi-san....” Kouki sighed, settling on
Kana's other side. Already he could practically taste the omega's upset, the
brittle way he was sitting between them, poised to object.
“No. I'm not going to sit here listening to more lies!” the omega said
suddenly, surging to his feet. Not unexpected and Kouki immediately pulled him
back down into his lap.
“Kacchan, listen to me,” he murmured, using both his voice and his touch to try
to soothe him. “If we're going to build a future together, then we need to be
honest about your past. And no matter what, no matter what the truth is, I'm
not leaving you, okay? I won't let you pretend the past didn't happen and I
won't make you face it alone. We're in this together, Kacchan.”
Kouki was actually a little surprised when Kana turned and pressed his face
into his chest again. And yet he was grateful that he wasn't trying harder to
escape. He couldn't even begin to imagine what his poor sweet omega was going
through having to face all this, but he was determined to see it through.
“Please understand, Hiro-kun and I were in college when Kacchan hit puberty, we
weren't around as much as maybe we should have been,” Higuchi said with a low
sigh. “Acchan had always been someone used to getting his way, stubborn to a
fault, but he'd also always been patient with Kana. Gentle, even generous. We'd
never had reason to think he would behave in any way other than honorably.”
“It's not true,” Kana sobbed, fisting his hands in Kouki's shirt. “I won't hear
it, it's not true.”
“Maybe ... maybe he isn't ready for this,” the young alpha said with a soft
frown.
”You may be right,” Kouki conceded, “but I need to know, so let's cut straight
to it, shall we? Did Atsushi-san mate him and has he really been pregnant
twice?”
“Yes, definitely to the first, and I'm honestly not completely sure to the
second. The breaking of the bond is probably why he's been able to suppress all
the memories. He admitted to a miscarriage just before he completely melted
down and he was certainly pregnant at the time of the accident, though not very
far along. Considering he was in complete medical crisis, my cousin helped
terminate the pregnancy. Without parental consent or knowledge, so you'll
forgive me if I decline to offer him as a corroborating witness.”
“No, I understand. You and Chamu-kun are enough for me. Will any of this show
in a gynecological exam though?”
“I'm an astrophysicist, not a doctor, so I really don't know,” Higuchi
confessed with a shrug. “Maybe? It's been six years since they were mated,
three since the bond was broken, I don't know if there'd be anything left to
show of it, other than the broken hymen. I don't even know if you'd get those
suppressed memories when you mate him if he's still denying them.”
“I can't believe you people!” Kana exclaimed, jerking himself away from Kouki.
Or at least that had been his intent, though the young omega wasn't nearly
strong enough to actually break his hold on him. “I trusted you! I trusted all
of you! And thi-.”
It was underhanded and dishonest of him, but Kouki didn't care, tugging Kana
back down and kissing him, hard. Alpha instincts flared brightly, a burning
need to protect but also to claim this omega as his own. Peripherally he was
aware of Higuchi shifting uncomfortably on the other end of the couch, but his
priority was Kana. The rage was still there, that someone would treat his
soulmate with such disregard and for what? Not bragging rights, since it seemed
the families hadn't even realized.
“Kana, listen to me,” he murmured, cupping the omega's face in his hands. “No
one is betraying you, baby. And nothing Higuchi-san has said has changed how I
feel about you. I love you.”
Kana crumbled, shuddering with heavy sobs, and Kouki wasn't surprised when
Higuchi got up and urged Chamu out of the room with him. He wasn't sure they
had actually accomplished anything, but at least now he knew the truth, even if
it was a truth he would have rather never known. Yet ignorance wasn't the
answer. He had no idea how Hiyori of all people could have picked up on this
while he himself had been completely unaware of it, but at least now he knew.
And as the old saying went, knowing was half the battle.
***** Fallout *****
Chapter Notes
     Explicit underage sex scene in flashback in this chapter. Kana has a
     couple flashes and his PTSD is finally breaking through, so....
     And as a reminder, the FC for the Atsushi in this fic is still Satou
     Atsushi, not Sakurai Atsushi. ;)
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Kana bolted upright with a strangled cry, shuddering with a sudden chill. And
then Kouki was there, wrapping arms around him and coaxing him back down
against his chest. Shivering, he pressed his nose into the crook of Kouki's
neck and closed his eyes, trying to lose himself in his soulmate's scent. Just
a dream.
“Want to talk about it?” Kouki murmured softly. Kana shook his head but while
Kouki sighed at him, the alpha didn't press. Talking about it would only make
the nightmare more real. He would rather not talk about it and maybe,
hopefully, possibly have it go away completely on its own.
“I'm here for you, love. It's all right.”
He wasn't so sure it was, curling up closer to his alpha. But it would be. Just
as soon as he could shove down even just the memories of their lies. He didn't
understand why Chamu and Yutaka had said the things they had, but he knew they
weren't true. It wasn't possible, he would know if he had been mated and
pregnant, it was all malicious lies. He didn't understand why, but maybe he
wasn't meant to understand it.
“Shh, go back to sleep, love,” Kouki mumbled, slowly rubbing his back. That was
probably the best idea yet. A deep breath and he tried not to think about
anything anymore.
~*~*~
“My beautiful flower. No one will love you like I do. No one could.”
Kana woke in a cold sweat, panic washing over him in waves. No, it wasn't real.
Atsushi was dead, there was no way his ghost could be haunting him now. And yet
he could clearly hear Atsushi's voice ringing in his ears, even though he had
never said those words. Everything was wrong, everything felt wrong. Sobbing,
Kana flung himself free of clinging bed sheets, blindly searching for the way
out of his current hell. Out. He needed out. To breathe air that wasn't
weighted down with a hundred different scents, none of them right. If he could
just find his way....
~*~*~
Unbridled fear scent grabbed Kouki by the throat and threatened to drown him.
Clawing his way up from sleep, Kouki reached for his omega only to be pushed
away. Rubbing his face briefly, he then tried again, but Kana's fear scent
spiked into panic as the young omega flailed free of the bedding. Critical
seconds slipped away as Kouki watched his soulmate give in to the panic, trying
to flee without much luck. Getting up from the bed, he crossed the room to fold
his arms around the teenaged omega. He was completely unprepared for the way
Kana stiffened and then tried to fight against him.
“Kana....”
“No! Don't touch me! Let go!!”
Kouki was too startled to actually stop Kana from breaking away from him,
blinking as he watched his terrified omega stumble towards the door out onto
the terrace. A beat and he caught the omega again, pulling him back against his
chest.
“Kacchan, wake up, it's okay. It's just me, baby, you're safe.”
As suddenly as it had all started, Kana was sagging towards the floor, trying
to melt into a puddle of low whimpers and soft whines.
“Shhh, it's okay, baby, I've got you,” he soothed, sinking onto the floor along
with him, cradling him close. His own instincts were at war with each other,
the urge to possess fighting with the urge to protect and calm. And beyond all
that, the need to understand just what the hell was going on in Kana's head.
Was Kana having another mental breakdown? Had he caused this with his insisting
on getting the truth from Higuchi? Yet how could he have done otherwise? After
the things Chamu had told him, how could he have not gone looking for answers?
He had to know the truth.
“We'll get through this together, Kacchan,” he murmured, even though he wasn't
sure his soulmate could even hear him.
“K-kou...ki?”
“That's right, baby, it's me. You're home now, sweetheart,” he soothed,
stroking fingers through his hair.
“I... I don't feel good,” the young omega mumbled, slumped against his chest.
“I know, baby, I know,” he said softly. “Is it a sharp pain or more of a dull
ache?”
“Everything aches,” Kana mumbled in reply. “I think ... I think even my hair
hurts....”
“Think you can get back in bed for me?” he asked softly, glad to see Kana's
sense of humor struggling to make a comeback. Kana groaned and Kouki had to
bite back a laugh as he shifted to lift the teen into his arms. Far too light,
in his opinion, but that was something they could work on going forward.
Especially if Kana was going to be living with him from now on, as he was
hoping would be the case. Yet another thing they were going to have to discuss,
probably sooner rather than later. Then again, Kouki had every intention of
insisting Kana stay with him until he was healed, so perhaps a full discussion
could wait? He didn't want to be the one to take away Kana's agency, never
wanted that, but with everything else going on, well, Hiyori was right. Kana
needed him and that meant keeping Kana at his side.
“I'll be right back, sweetheart,” he murmured, brushing a quick kiss to his
forehead. “Chocolate or ginger?”
“Huh?”
“Cookie, love. I've got double chocolate or ginger-molasses. You can't take
your medicine on an empty stomach.”
“Oh, um, chocolate, please. And cocoa?”
“At three in the morning? How about some chocolate milk instead, so we don't
melt your pill,” Kouki suggested, smiling and gently ruffling his hair. Kana
huffed as he settled against the pillows, but he didn't argue. It was good
enough for now.
~*~*~
Kana had mixed feelings about seeing Yutaka again the next morning, though he
didn't have much time to even think about what all he wanted to say to the man
before Hayato's older brother was out the door with a cheerful promise to be
back that evening.
“Shouldn't he be going home?” Kana mumbled as he sat down at the breakfast bar.
“The conference runs too late to make the last connection to Fukui,” Chamu said
with a shrug. “And for some odd reason he'd rather come back here than spend a
night in a hotel room. And since Kouki-san invited him back....”
Kana huffed, not really wanting an argument first thing in the morning. Though
he couldn't help a smile when Kouki put a mug of coffee in front of him,
perfectly made with just the right amount of milk and sugar.
“I was thinking,” Kouki said as he set bowls of rice and miso in front of Kana
as well, “that if it warms up a bit more today, perhaps we could go for a walk
later? There are a couple parks on the other side of the Ochanomizu University
schools that shouldn't be too far for you to handle.”
“Do we have to?” Kana asked, annoyed at the whine in his voice.
“You need daily exercise, love,” Kouki admonished softly. “I'm sure you'd
rather lay on my couch forever, but that's not going to help your recovery.”
“But it's so cold outside and there's not going to be anything to do at the
park that doesn't involve being very cold while doing it,” Kana muttered.
“Can't we do something else?”
“His therapist did say not to push it this week,” Chamu added quietly. “He's
not quite on bed rest anymore, but they also don't want him doing much of
anything right now to keep from aggravating his incision.”
“Fair enough,” Kouki conceded with a small smile. “Not like the city is going
anywhere, it can wait for you to be feeling better.”
Maybe it was silly, but hearing that was enough to make him feel better. Almost
as if last night hadn't even happened. Maybe it hadn't? Except he was pretty
sure he wouldn't have made all that up and it wouldn't explain Yutaka being
there. But if Kouki could act like nothing had changed, then maybe nothing had
really changed. And that was a calming thought.
Kana spent half the morning nervous Chamu was going to bring up his lies again,
but instead the omega found himself settled against Kouki's side while his
alpha engaged the beta in a series of Mario Kart games. He wasn't so sure it
was the best game for two men who weren't exactly friends in the first place,
especially when Kouki would, in his excitement, jostle him out of position. By
the third match, Kana had learned better, curling up in the opposite corner of
the couch, half watching and half fiddling with a game on Chamu's phone.
“We should really get you a new phone,” Kouki said during a break between
rounds.
“My old one was on my parent's account, the insurance should cover a
replacement when I go home,” he said with a shrug, glancing over to where Chamu
had disappeared down the hall to go to the bathroom.
“There's no reason to wait that long, you realize,” Kouki countered, reaching
over to ruffle his hair gently. “Unless you want me to take you home sooner, it
could be months before you're fully cleared, you know that, right?”
“I ...,” but Kana wasn't sure what to say, scooting back over to curl up
against Kouki's chest. Going home would mean dealing with his parents and he
wasn't ready for that. He certainly wasn't ready to do it on his own.
“We should probably make you another appointment with Junji-kun so you can sort
out your options,” Kouki suggested, tucking arms around him and holding him
close. He knew his alpha was right, but it didn't make anything easier. One
moment and his whole life had changed. He wasn't ready.
~*~*~
Fingers combed through his hair, tilted his chin up. In the low light, he
couldn't see anything clearly, but it didn't matter. He knew that scent, the
lips that brushed against his own.
“We shouldn't,” he mumbled. “My parents....”
“Completely asleep, they'll never know if you're quiet.”
Even as he started to argue more, his alpha pushed him down into his futon. The
scent of his alpha, aroused and demanding, blotted out everything else, even
his thoughts of resisting, and he melted into the futon, spreading his legs to
welcome his alpha even closer.
“Atsu–,” he started, a finger pressing to his lips to silence him before he
could even finish his alpha's name.
“Be quiet, I said. You don't want your parents catching us, do you? They won't
understand, you know. They'll blame you for everything and they won't listen.”
A shiver of fear skittered down his spine and he shook his head. He didn't want
to think about how his parents would react if they caught them. They didn't
understand anything these days, his father in particular. They tried, but they
were betas, they didn't understand what it was like for him. At least he had
Atsushi, at least Atsushi understood, even if he was an alpha and not an omega.
A warm hand trailed up his thigh, distracting him from his own thoughts. He
could almost feel the purr of pleasure when Atsushi realized Kana wasn't
wearing anything under his night shirt. He craved that glow of approval as
Atsushi's hands pushed his shirt up. It was still a little embarrassing, being
practically naked in front of his alpha, even in the dark, even though they
were mated. And yet he couldn't deny how good it felt, those hands on his skin,
the kisses and touches only his alpha could give him. As long as he could be
with Atsushi, nothing else mattered.
He wasn't ready, he was never ready. Even after all this time, the sudden
feeling of being filled by his alpha's cock always took his breath away. So
big, it felt like it would split him in two. And then his alpha would start
moving and even thinking became next to impossible, his entire being focused on
the feeling of his alpha thrusting into him again and again. Kana shuddered as
he was pushed to the edge, slick and cum leaking out onto the bed. Atsushi's
knot swelled inside him and he had to bite back a moan as the fullness that
bound them together became almost unbearable.
“You're mine,” Atsushi whispered as they lay locked together, waiting for his
knot to subside. “My beautiful little flower.”
~*~*~
Kana's low moan, combined with everything else that had been happening in the
last week, was all that was needed to pull Kouki up from sleep. Rolling over,
he reached out for his omega, surprised to find him shaking and covered in a
cold sweat.
“Kacchan?”
“It... it didn't happen. Tell me it didn't,” the young omega mumbled, suddenly
pressed close against him. Kouki didn't need to ask, curling his arms around
Kana with a low sigh.
“I will never lie to you, baby,” he murmured, stroking fingers through damp
black strands. “What did you see?”
“I ... I dreamt that Atsu-nii ... he was in my bedroom and he was ... he
was.... And in the dream I wanted it! I wanted him, I would have done anything
to make him happy, and ... and.... Tell me it was just a dream!” his soulmate
whined. And in that moment, more than anything, Kouki wished he could. That he
could wipe away the nightmares so easily, erase the hurtful past that his
soulmate had suppressed.
“I wish I could, baby,” he murmured. “Dreams are tricky like that.”
The noise Kana made at that was heartbreaking and again Kouki found himself
wishing he could erase that hurt. It was possible that this dream had been
nothing more than the product of suggestion, but what little evidence he had
suggested that Chamu's story held at least some truth to it. Whatever Kana had
dreamt, it might not have been completely factual, but it had probably held
more than a few roots in things his soulmate had actually done and felt. Mating
an omega, especially a pre-teen who hadn't had the time to set his own mind on
things, could have wide-ranging and deep seated impacts on the omega. Even in
adults, a mating bite could have a marked effect on the omega's state of mind;
it was no surprise to Kouki to hear Kana might have been so completely devoted
to Atsushi.
At the same time he could practically taste how deeply it was bothering his
soulmate, the idea that he could have been sexually involved with Atsushi, to
the point of wanting their liaisons. Kouki stifled a sigh as he cradled Kana
close to his chest, curling protective arms about him and wishing he knew what
to say to make everything better for him. He accepted that fighting the past
was a waste of effort. Atsushi was dead and gone, he gained nothing by fighting
his ghost. Kana was his now, that was all that really mattered to him. He knew
and accepted that he was going to have to be gentle with his omega, but then he
had already been planning to do that. Really, only the context had changed.
“I'm sorry,” Kana mumbled, weakly trying to move away from him.
“There's no reason for you to apologize, Kacchan,” he replied, not letting go
of him. “Nothing's changed between us.”
“But....”
“Nothing has changed between us, Kacchan,” he repeated firmly.
“But if what they said is even just a little bit true....”
“It changes nothing for me, love,” Kouki insisted, turning Kana's chin to brush
a brief kiss to his lips. “I still want the same things I did two days ago. And
if you think I'm going to let you give up on us because some asshole thought he
could steal you from me six years ago, you're wrong.”
He could scent the tears even before he felt them trickling down Kana's cheeks.
“But... but I'm just....”
Interrupting, Kouki pressed a finger to Kana's lips. “Don't. You are my
soulmate, Kobayashi Kana, I don't care what anyone else thinks or has to say
about that. And if I choose to keep you cloistered here for now, it's nothing
to do with being ashamed of you and everything to do with protecting you until
you're strong enough to stand at my side, where you belong. You are a private
citizen, being omega doesn't change that your past is shielded by our privacy
laws, and I will fight anyone who tries to breach that. Knowing what that
asshole did? It doesn't change anything, Kacchan, not really. You are still my
soulmate and I still love you. And we will still wait until you decide you're
ready for sex and you will always have control of your heats.”
The small whimper wasn't even a surprise anymore, though the near-desperate
kiss certainly was. Kouki tempered his own response, wary that Kana was acting
out of a desire to please rather than a genuine wish for more intimate contact.
At least the changed context made it easier to understand why Kana had such low
self-esteem, even if the omega had suppressed most of his memories.
“I ... I know I don't say it much,” Kana mumbled, curling into his chest once
more, “but I do love you. I ... I think that's why it scares me so much. I ...
I don't know what I'd do without you....”
“That's one thing you don't ever have to worry about, baby,” he whispered,
hugging him close again. “Now go back to sleep, okay?”
A soft noise and Kana snuffled in closer. For all that it felt like they were
stuck repeatedly rehashing old territory, Kouki still held out a flicker of
hope that this time was different.
~*~*~
“You aren't coming home with us tonight, are you?”
Kana glanced over at Chamu, surprised his best friend had even asked that
question. Chamu had barely left his side at all in the past week, it was a
completely bizarre question coming from him of all people.
“You know I can't,” he said softly, fiddling with the hem of the throw wrapped
around his shoulders, glancing sidelong at the kitchen where Kouki was making
lunch with Yutaka. Classes didn't start back up again until Thursday so he was
a little surprised to hear Chamu was leaving him already. At the same time, it
made sense to go back with Yutaka, if only so Chamu didn't have to be traveling
alone. And yet....
“Nah, I get it, just....”
Kana couldn't help a flinch at that, but what else could he say? For one thing,
he was pretty sure he wasn't actually cleared to travel long distance yet.
Sakai-sensei was expecting to see him again in another couple of weeks to check
on his incision and Kouki had been on the phone with another doctor's office
earlier, setting up an appointment of some sort for a week from next Wednesday.
And in truth it made him happy to know his soulmate was taking it as a given
that Kana would be staying with him that long, even if it was something they
probably ought to have discussed first.
“Chamu-kun, I ... I know this isn't what we'd planned, but...,” he trailed off
as he bit his lip, something bitter and angry hitting his nose again. Dammit,
and he had been so sure they had been making real progress with Chamu and Kouki
being on better terms. But maybe that had all been a lie?
“Dammit, you guys can seriously smell that? How long have we been friends and
you never told me about that??” Chamu said suddenly and Kana blinked up at him,
startled and more than a little confused. “Kacchan, come on, you should know me
better than that. Yeah, I'm mad, but I'm mad at your mom for making it better
that you stay here. And I'm mad at whoever thought blowing up a Tokyo shopping
center was a good idea. And I'm mad cuz going back to school without you there
is going to be a total drag. Everyone's going to want to know why you're not
around and I'm going to have to be the one to explain about the explosion and
you having a soulmate here and shit, man, I don't even want to have to do that
once, never mind twenty times as the story gets passed around the school and
everyone decides they need to come to me to get the whole story!”
For a long time Kana just sat there gaping at his friend, not sure what to make
of all that. Neither of them were particularly popular at school, it hadn't
occurred to him that anyone would care one way or the other if he wasn't there
anymore.
“What? Oh come on, Kacchan, someone from our school being a victim of a terror
attack? That's definitely already made the news back home. Everyone's going to
want to know all about it and with you not there, that means they're all going
to come to me.”
“But ... but I'm nobody. Why would anyone even care?”
“In a week or two they probably won't,” Chamu agreed with a shrug. “But it's
not like this is something that happens all the time, you know? So until then,
well, it's kind of a big deal.”
That ... didn't even make sense. What did they think he could possibly have to
say? He'd been in the middle - well, okay, on the edges - of a terrorist
bombing. Hell, he was lucky all he'd gotten out of it were some abdominal
injuries and some cuts. He didn't even remember much of that day, something
that was apparently common with trauma victims and the neurologist he'd seen
the first day at the hospital had assured him it was not only perfectly normal
but that he shouldn't worry if he never remembered the attack, as most people
didn't.
“Look, Kacchan, it's not like this is news to me or anything. You staying here,
I mean. You have to do what's best for you and if that means staying here where
that guy can take care of you while you're recovering, that's something you
need to do and I'm okay with that.”
“... he has a name, you know,” he mumbled, glancing over at Chamu and trying
not to smile just yet.
“Yeah, I know, I'm just ... still getting over the idea that you don't need me
to protect you anymore cuz you've got him.”
Kana could feel himself blushing hard at that, not sure how to respond. It
wasn't like it was a secret - Chamu and Hayato had both been his stalwart
protectors for years, especially after the accident. But it had always been one
of those unspoken things, something none of them had ever really talked about
so explicitly. As an omega, of course he would have someone to watch over him.
It wasn't like he could be expected to defend himself, after all. Chamu had
been there for him for so long now, he couldn't imagine his friend not being
there for him.
“I'm still going to want you around, silly,” he mumbled, swatting his thigh.
“I'm always going to want you around. You're my best friend, Chamu-kun, you
have been since forever. Nothing's going to change between us.”
“Nah, of course things are gonna change, Kacchan,” Chamu countered, shaking his
head a little even as he sat back down next to him on the couch. “Things have
to change, change is part of life, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. I
get it, you need him to be the things you need that I can't be. Just as long as
you don't forget about me completely while I'm stuck back in Fukui, okay? In
fact....”
Chamu trailed off with a soft huff, biting his lip. Which of course only made
Kana that much more curious to know what he wasn't saying.
“In fact?” he prompted, gently nudging his friend. Chamu sighed heavily,
shaking his head a moment before finally leaning back against the couch and
glaring up at the ceiling.
“In fact, I was thinking maybe you'd be better off just saying fuck it and
taking the next couple of months to focus on your art. You know, building up a
portfolio, letting your alpha spoil you with all kinds of supplies so you can
experiment with different media, that sort of thing. You've got the paperwork
now, you and Tokai-sensei could transfer you to a school down here or even
terminate your high school enrollment completely since there's less than three
months left and you're going to need that time for your recovery.”
Kana didn't know quite how to take that, pulling his knees up to his chest as
he thought about it. Chamu had a point, he was probably better off getting
Junji's help to have his enrollment ended so he could focus completely on his
recovery. The way the physical therapist had been talking, he was probably
going to have skip sitting the college entrance exams this year, meaning he
would have that much more time to focus on getting himself ready to apply for
art school. Except for the part where he still wasn't entirely sure that was
what he wanted. On the other hand, maybe taking the break would give him the
space to figure it out? Though why he should suddenly be able to figure out
something he hadn't been able to decide ever before in his life, he really
didn't know.
“I ... I don't know,” he mumbled. “We had a plan, you know?”
“Yeah, we did. And then you kinda got blown up,” Chamu pointed out, shrugging.
“Kinda changes things.”
He wasn't wrong. Huffing a heavy sigh, Kana shifted to lean against his best
friend's shoulder, smiling inwardly a little bit when Chamu immediately tucked
his arm around him. The beta was right, things were going to have to change,
but at least he didn't have to worry about losing his best friend in amongst
all those changes.
Chapter End Notes
     So a couple things. Final chapter will be going up on my_Patreon
     later today for Patrons or you can wait for next week. Then the
     series (yup, series) will take a couple weeks off because a) if
     you've been reading my Patreon, you know this past week turned into a
     huge personal shitstorm of fail, like less than fifteen hours after I
     posted last week and b) I do have other projects begging for some
     attention. But the next fic in this series, Masun, is started and
     it'll also be chaptered, so something to look forward to?
***** (Dys)Functional *****
Chapter Notes
     Last chapter. In which Minase shows his ass a bit, then redeems it by
     not taking Kouki's crap.
     Also, conversation in this dates this fic as 2013, though it's AU so
     it wouldn't have to be ... except that also fits the calendar.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Since Kana had insisted on seeing Chamu and Yutaka off at the Shinkansen
station in Chiyoda, Kouki had insisted on driving them. He hadn't thought much
of it at first, so Kana felt a little silly when, just as he and Kouki were
getting settled at a nearby ramen shop, Tomoya slid into their booth, flashing
a charming grin.
“Fancy seeing you two here~” the lawyer said, setting his order number tent
alongside theirs.
“More surprised to see you, Tomoyan,” Kouki said with a small smile of his own.
“Don't tell me Junji-kun's had you working today. It's practically New Year's!”
“Oh the office was closed ... which is why he wanted me to come in with him.
You know, a chance to get some real work done while everyone else is out of the
office and no clients are supposed to be trying to contact us,” the darker
alpha said, quietly thanking the waitress when beers and edamame were delivered
to their table.
“Supposed to being the key words?” Kouki asked, smirking.
“Yeah, well, you know what it's like in corporate law,” Tomoya agreed,
grinning. “We do okay, but it's not like we're the most prestigious firm or
anything, so, you know, a couple of our other clients like to get uppity.”
“You know,” Kouki said, sipping his beer, “if you guys need more work, as an
excuse to drop the less manageable types, I'm sure I could make some
arrangements. We've always got things that need review and there's that new
distillery unit the group purchased....”
“You're going to get in trouble if you keep contracting us instead of using in-
house legal,” Tomoya mock-admonished.
“Mm, ask me if I care,” Kouki countered, winking.
“Oh I swear, I will never understand people who think it's perfectly legitimate
to wait until the last possible moment to try to get their end of the year
business done. You were right, Tomoyan, I shouldn't have picked up. Hello,
Kacchan dear, you're looking better. Tomoyan, you just better have ordered my
ramen the right way this time!”
Kana was more than a little startled at the way Junji joined them in a flurry
of words, though it felt good to have the older omega hug him again. Maybe he
had been overreacting before, maybe this really was just coincidence? Kouki was
obviously good friends with the two lawyers, he was probably being silly, they
probably met for dinner regularly and he just hadn't seen it before because of
the holidays and the terrorist attack.
“Have they been boring you with shop talk again, Kacchan?” Junji asked with a
sympathetic smile.
“It's okay,” he said, blushing a little. “It's, uh, helping me confirm that I'm
not interested in getting a degree in either business or law?”
“There's more to law than contracts, but you may be right,” Junji replied,
nodding. “Are you going to be okay to sit the entrance exams this spring?”
“I don't know,” Kana confessed, sighing and toying with his glass of soda.
“Probably not, but that's okay. I ... don't really know where to apply anyway,
to be honest. Or what I want to study. I mean, originally I was only going to
Fukudai so Chamu-kun would go. Now everything's different, I don't know. I ...
sorta figured before I'd just do a general studies thing until I met my
soulmate and then....” Kana trailed off with a shrug, feeling a bit embarrassed
for such a weak plan, especially since he was confessing it to Junji.
“That's it?” Junji asked, obviously surprised. “No greater ambitions? Oh
Kacchan, you are way too young to be that jaded!” he scolded. “Come on, there
must have been something you wanted to be. How about in grade school? What did
you want to be when you were all grown up?”
“A good mate to Atsu-nii,” he said without hesitating or even thinking. The
silence at the table was almost deafening and Kana couldn't meet any of their
gazes, shame burning hotly through him.
“Damn, they got you that young?” Tomoya said softly into the pause. “Most
families at least wait until junior high before squashing their omega kids'
dreams. Wasn't there ever a time you wanted something just for yourself? You
know, to be an astronaut or a fireman or anything like that?”
“But ... I'm omega....”
“So?” Tomoya persisted, frowning. “What, are you telling me at the tender age
of five you understood completely what that meant?”
“Well ... no,” he admitted, fiddling with a napkin now.
“Tomoyan,” Kouki said softly, surreptitiously tucking an arm around Kana's
waist and gently pulling him closer. It helped, though not by much. He was just
grateful Kouki had decided to switch to his side of the booth when Junji had
joined them.
“What? Every kid plays pretend sometimes, what, are you saying you and Chamu-
kun only ever played house with you as the good wife?”
Kana could feel his cheeks burning in embarrassment, but he didn't have any
other answer for the lawyer across from him. There was a thump from under the
table and then someone was taking his hands and squeezing them gently.
“It's all right, Kacchan, it's not your fault your parents warped you so young,
pay no attention to my idiot partner,” Junji soothed, smiling a little sadly.
“But now that you've got the time, it's really something you should consider.
You can study anything you want. Science, math, history, art, literature,
anything that catches your interest.”
“But ... nothing catches my interest,” he mumbled. “Not like that, anyway.
School is just ... I hate it. Boring lectures, even more boring reading
assignments, and all that busy work in maths classes for things I'll never need
to know. I'm not smart enough to be an academic or anything like that, so
what's the point?”
The stunned looks on the two lawyers' faces was enough to have him ducking his
head in renewed shame. Was it really that strange for him to hate school? Was
it that odd for an omega to not have any higher ambitions than to be a good
mate? He'd always thought he was normal, that his small dreams were better for
him than wild fantasies that he, as an omega, could never have achieved.
Apparently he'd been wrong.
“It's okay, baby, no one's trying to pressure you into anything,” Kouki said
softly, shifting with the arrival of their ramen. “I think you just surprised
them. But now would be a good time for a change of subject, yes?”
Nodding, he silently pulled away from Kouki a little bit, even though it was
the last thing he wanted to do right then. But he had already felt the curious
stares of strangers no doubt wondering what a teenaged omega was doing with
three older men and it was starting to nag at him. A little voice in the back
of his head that insisted everyone who saw him was thinking he was a toy of one
of the alphas, that if he got too cozy with Kouki while they were out in public
like this, it would end up hurting his soulmate. Because he was a male omega,
because he was just a teenager, because he couldn't possibly be an appropriate
companion for someone like Kouki. And though the food was quite good and no one
else asked him uncomfortable questions, Kana was having a hard time enjoying
himself. All because of a little voice in the back of his head insisting that
he didn't belong.
~*~*~
“You make it sound like I'm asking for something unreasonable, Kouki-san. The
new year starts the day after tomorrow. It is not so strange for me to want to
know when to expect you home with us.”
Kouki bit his tongue against an immediate response. There was nothing to be
gained by antagonizing his grandfather, his enmity was not something he needed.
Still, he wasn't particularly looking forward to trekking all the way down to
Kobe and back, especially since it would mean leaving Kana home alone. Even if
he made the arrangements right then to fly down, his grandfather would still
expect him to stay overnight, something for which Kana was entirely unready.
Neither was Kouki in any mood to leave his injured omega alone for that long.
“I'm sorry, Grandfather, but something's come up and I'm not going to be able
to make it back down there this year.”
“Something more important than your obligation to your family?”
Another grimace. Damn the man anyway.
“I have no siblings and my parents are dead, Grandfather,” he said calmly, all
too aware that he was treading a very thin line with his words. “I appreciate
all that you have done for me in the past, but this current matter is something
that I can't just leave so easily, not even for one night. I'm sorry. Give my
love to Grandmother.”
Something dark and uneasy coiled into a heavy lump in his gut as he ended the
call with his grandfather. That ... could have gone a lot better. Leaning his
head against the cool steel facing of the fridge, he sighed heavily and cursed
himself for a fool. What had he been thinking? He would have been better off
just flat out telling the alpha patriarch that he had an omega of his own now,
one that needed him and wasn't able to travel. Except he was almost positive
that wouldn't have been any better than what he'd said.
And yet the phone stayed ominously quiet. As much as he was grateful to not
have to face his grandfather's wrath immediately, he didn't doubt that he had
handled that call quite badly. Another sigh and he pushed away from the fridge,
going to the lounge to pour himself a glass of blackberry brandy. He could feel
Kana's eyes on him, but the young omega stayed strangely silent, scooting over
closer when Kouki sat to lean against his side. Kouki slipped an arm around
Kana's shoulders, trying to sort out where to start. It wasn't easy.
“So that ... didn't sound good,” Kana said when he remained silent a bit too
long.
“Ah, you heard? I'm sorry, I was trying not to worry you.”
“Should've gone into the bedroom then. Or out in the hall. Though ... I think
then I would've been worried for different reasons,” his omega said softly,
sliding a hand down to entwine fingers with his.
“I ... haven't been that good about going back home for the new year holiday
the last five years or so,” he admitted with a low sigh, sipping his brandy
before continuing. “He's been patient with me so far, but I know that patience
is running out. Grandfather's an old school alpha patriarch, I'm not all that
eager to expose you to him, even if Grandmother will probably adore you from
the moment she lays eyes on you.”
“So you told him we won't be coming to see him?” Kana asked, nervously fiddling
with a throw pillow suddenly clutched in his lap.
“I told him I won't be there,” he corrected absently. “I'm ... not ready for
him to know you exist yet, Kacchan. Grandfather is ... well, he's a force of
nature when he gets into it. You aren't ready for that.”
The silence drew out between them for a moment and then Kouki set down his
glass.
“And there's no reason that you should be. I love my grandfather, but he's
never been a particularly patient man. And to be honest, there's always been a
bit of strain between us because of my mother. When my parents died, it didn't
make anything better. You have enough on your plate already, we can save
meeting him for when you're healthy.”
He could scent Kana's uncertainty, but the young omega didn't argue, and for
that he was grateful. They had so many things to get through, and they would,
together, but this was one thing he was in no rush to confront. For now, he
just wanted to be allowed to take care of his omega without worry for anything
else, even if it was only for a little while.
~*~*~
Kana was surprised to wake the next morning to the sound of low voices in the
next room. The bed was empty and Kouki had left their bedroom door cracked
open. Wary after the last time he had woken without Kouki at his side, Kana
slipped into their bathroom first, needing several minutes just to sit. More
than anything, he wanted to take a hot shower and a long soak, but he knew
better than to even attempt it. Wincing and wishing he had the nerve to call
out for Kouki's help, he did the best he could with a damp cloth before
replacing his dressings and then even more carefully changing into loose jeans
and one of Kouki's college sweatshirts. It was completely oversized on him, but
that was why Kana had chosen it. That and the faint lingering scent of his
alpha embedded in the fabric, even though it had clearly been washed since the
last time Kouki had worn it. Maybe it was silly, but something at the back of
his head was nagging at him and the sweatshirt made him feel almost safe.
The little voice of fear didn't stop even when Kouki came over and kissed his
forehead.
“Good morning, baby. Sleep well?”
Nodding, he glanced around his alpha, surprised to see Minase standing in their
kitchen. The beta smiled before holding up a steaming mug of what had to be
coffee.
“Cream and sugar, Kacchan?” he asked, still with that same gentle smile that
seemed so strange to him on a beta male.
“Ah, um, yes please,” he stammered, glancing between the two men.
“It's all right, Kacchan, the office is closed until Monday,” Kouki said,
sliding an arm around him as he coaxed him over towards the breakfast bar.
“Everyone gets a long holiday this year.”
“What time is it?” he mumbled before thanking Minase for the mug of coffee. A
sip and he smiled. Almost too sweet, but there was chocolate in it.
“Quarter of ten,” the beta said. “I'll go run those errands and we can plan to
have lunch at half past noon?”
“Mm, thanks Minase.”
The beta nodded, smiling again, then let himself out of the apartment.
“Errands?” Kana asked between sips of coffee. “Is anything even open today?”
“A few things,” Kouki replied, taking the stool next to him. “The whole world
doesn't stop just because it's a holiday here in Japan. Remember, in some parts
of the world, it's still yesterday!”
Kana wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but maybe it didn't matter.
Or maybe that was Kouki's way of saying Minase's errands were all to do with
whatever it was the two of them did on a normal workday basis.
“Trying to tell me something?” his alpha asked, startling him with a brush of
lips to the side of his neck. Kana shivered, pleasure shooting through him at
the contact, and he needed another moment - and another sip of coffee - to
clear his mind enough to focus on the question. Minase might have been gone but
the unsettled feeling was still lurking at the back of his thoughts.
“No big mystery, I just wanted something comfortable. And I need to do laundry.
I wish I'd planned ahead better, brought more stuff with me to leave here.”
“It's not like you knew you were going to be staying here more than a week when
you were packing, love,” Kouki countered softly. “You had no reason to think
you might need more. It's fine, we'll do laundry later. Okay, I'll do the
laundry, you can watch and then sit on the couch.”
“Tyrant,” Kana muttered, but he had to take another sip of coffee shortly after
to keep from grinning. It was perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but Kana's
omega instincts were more than happy to have his alpha being so insistent.
~*~*~
Kouki tried to help Minase with lunch, but the beta wasn't having it,
threatening him with a spoon. Not seriously, of course, but enough for him to
get the point. Faking an annoyed huff, he let his friend chase him out of the
kitchen and sat back down on his couch, one arm automatically moving to curl
around Kana's shoulders. Even better, the omega scooted closer without missing
a beat on his game. Okay, yeah, this was nice, he could see how someone could
get used to this. Kana was warm and relaxed, without a trace of the darker fear
notes that had been at least underlying, if not outright overwhelming, his
scent for days. It was ... nice.
“Why's Minase-san here?” Kana asked as he waited for a cut-scene to load.
“Tradition. Minase's an orphan, I've been dragging him around to family holiday
stuff since we met in college and I found out he didn't have a family of his
own. It's not a problem, is it? New Years is really more about a whole family
than some romantic thing, but I guess I should've asked you first, I'm sorry.”
“I don't mind,” Kana mumbled, scooting even closer. “I'm just....” but he
couldn't seem to find the words he wanted, trailing off with a helpless sigh.
And then the cut-scene finished and Kana was drawn back into his game again.
Kouki didn't recognize the game play, meaning it was either one Kana had
brought with him (unlikely) or one he had gotten at Christmas (more likely),
not one from his own collection. He smiled a little as he watched Kana's
character stealthing through enemy territory, curious now if that was a mission
objective or just Kana's preference.
“Okay you two, lunch is – oh hey, Assassin's Creed, right?”
“Yeah, Black Flag. Does Minase-san play?”
“Haven't picked up this one yet, is it as good as they try to say?”
“I haven't decided yet,” Kana said, saving his progress with a shrug. “I've
only put in a couple hours so far, so I'm still getting a feel for the world
and story, you know? I like the setting better than the last one, at any rate.
Of course it's a bit ridiculous, all the major characters being male alphas. I
mean, I guess it isn't much stretch to think the navies of the world, even the
merchant and pirate fleets, had more alphas than the average, considering the
dangers involved, especially back then, but still, it feels a bit ridiculous,
you know? And I'm sure there won't be a single omega in a major part anywhere
in the game, but....”
Another shrug as Kana set aside the controller and got up. He was obviously
used to the imbalances in his virtual worlds, but it was still niggling at
something at the back of Kouki's mind.
“You know, I never really thought about it, but you're right,” Minase said as
he took a seat at the table. “I'm trying to think of the last game I played
where the hero wasn't an alpha. Ah, I hope you don't mind a simple lunch, Kana-
kun. It's just curry rice, I'm afraid, but hopefully it'll be good enough.”
“Minase is going to make someone an excellent wife some day, talking like
that,” Kouki teased, seating Kana before taking his own place. “Don't mind him,
Kacchan, he's always saying his cooking is terrible. And yet I keep letting him
do it.”
“Smells good to me. A lot better than I could do, I'm sure,” Kana said, smiling
a little shyly.
“It's just box curry, it's not like I did anything special,” the beta demurred,
chuckling as he sat down as well.
“Hey, you're talking to someone who can burn water!” Kana protested.
“... what kind of omega can't cook??” Minase blurted out, though to his credit,
he turned bright red a second later. “Sorry, that was thoughtless and sexist.
And beneath me. I'm sure Kana-kun has plenty of other talents and interests,
there's nothing wrong with an omega who isn't domestic.”
“Nah, you're right, it's kinda shameful,” Kana said, ducking his head and
rubbing a sweaty hand on his thigh. “I don't know, it's not like I haven't
tried to get better, but omurice and cup noodles seem to be my limit. Can't
cook, terrible at cleaning, don't know how to do laundry at all ... really, I'm
pretty useless around the house, Kou-kun's getting a crap deal with me as his
soulmate.”
“Such things you say,” Kouki scolded. “Don't sell yourself short, Kacchan.”
“Trust me, if your lunkhead of an alpha can learn to be self-sufficient, the
two of you will have no trouble building a life together,” Minase said,
grinning. “Anyway, I thought we were talking about video games? Do you play a
lot of games, Kana-kun?”
“Some, yeah,” the young omega said, nodding. “I'm not, like hardcore into it or
anything. Casual-core, I guess? Like I'm guilty of picking up the occasional
casual internet game on like Facebook or whatever, but then I also play console
games, too. I'm not super into it, though. I still only have an Xbox 360 and a
PS2 at home and my laptop is definitely not a gaming machine, or anything. I
don't even play Halo! I'm not good at first person shooters period, to be
honest, I can't get oriented with them, but I like watching Chamu-kun play them
sometimes.”
“Is it the violence or the perspective, do you think? Or both?” Minase asked
and Kouki had to hide a smile at the scent of Kana's genuine surprise.
“I don't know? I haven't sat down to really think about it,” he said, frowning
thoughtfully, “but probably the perspective more than the violence. I mean,
they're video games, you know? The graphics have gotten a lot better over the
years, but it's still fake. And you can't tell me that the Assassin's Creed
series isn't violent so yeah, it's probably the perspective.”
“Do you have a favorite genre? Or are you more of a dabbler like Kou-kun,
willing to try just about anything?” the beta asked. “I mean, you've seen his
collection, right?”
“No, no he hasn't, not the whole thing, and if you bring up my Sega days,
Minase, I swear to all the gods, I'll throw you out right now.”
“Sega days? So who was it that was collecting all those Nintendogs cartridges
again?”
“Minase!” Kouki protested, but he couldn't force his scent to match the outrage
in his tone and he could see Kana trying to hide a giggle. Good. His soulmate
didn't laugh enough anymore, it was good for his heart to see the young omega
laughing again.
“If it looks interesting enough, I'd be willing to try just about anything
once, sure, but as far as actually buying goes, to be honest I've mostly
focused on fantasy roleplaying games. Well, and Assassin's Creed. And Pokemon,
of course. I mean, yeah, it's a kids game, but, I dunno. I like it, even if the
games aren't exactly replayable.”
Kana's eyes suddenly went wide as he muttered a soft curse.
“What?” Kouki asked, reaching over to lightly touch his hand. “What is it?”
“My 3DS. I had it with me that day. With the cartridges for Pokemon X and Y and
a couple other games in the case. I didn't even ... it got trashed like my
phone, didn't it?”
“Your whole bag was ruined, yeah,” he replied. “I'm sorry, I didn't even think
to ask before what else you might have had in there besides your wallet.”
“And that had been in my pocket cuz we'd just bought lunch, we'd only just sat
down when the bomb went off, I hadn't thought to put it back in my bag yet,”
Kana said, sighing heavily. “I've been so busy since then, I didn't even really
think about it.”
Kouki could scent the bitter tang of tears even before they started leaking
down Kana's cheeks. Scooting his chair over closer, his slid an arm around his
young mate, drawing him in against him. The 3DS was the newest system, Kouki
could easily imagine Kana having spent months saving up meager wages to be able
to buy it for himself. It would explain the reaction to losing something that,
inherently, wasn't actually all that valuable, something that could, in fact,
be easily replaced. Kana lingered against him for a moment, but all too soon he
was pulling himself back upright and scrubbing at his face with his sleeve.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, “I'm being such a stereotype right now.”
“It's all right, Kana-kun, happens to the best of us. That's why they're
stereotypes,” Minase said, offering a reassuring smile. “Anyway, I was trying
to think of the last time I played a game where the hero wasn't an alpha, but
you're right, it really doesn't happen. Even the recent city builders, you're
still playing a series of alpha rulers.”
“Off hand, I'd say the last was probably the Baldur's Gate/Forgotten Realms
series. Remember, they made a big deal about how for most of the classes you
could pick your designation as well as gender? Only exceptions were the
warrior, who could only be alpha, and the bard, who could only be omega. A lot
of otaku were upset about the bard thing in particular. And then there were the
fundamentalists who got all outraged about a kid being allowed to play a
paladin who happened to be omega. There were boycotts and everything, remember?
I think that's probably why no one else took that risk again.”
“How come I've never heard of this?” Kana asked, obviously perplexed.
“Because it's before your time. The first game came out when I was still in ...
junior high, I think? Or maybe even a little before that, I'd have to look it
up now.”
“Mm, you might be right,” Minase said, nodding. “I can't think of even another
RPG that gives you that choice anymore. Like you can tell the warriors and
paladins and barbarians - the tank types - are all intended as alphas, and then
it's just sort of assumed everyone else is beta. Considering the game settings
always tend to be quasi-medieval, I never really thought that was odd, but
looking at Kana-kun's face, I'm guessing that's my beta privilege showing
again?”
Kouki couldn't help a small smile, watching Kana flush red again. He really was
adorable when he was being shy.
“Well, I mean, I don't really know,” Kana mumbled. “Books are written by
victors, sort of. The history books say scholars back then were mostly betas
and maybe they were, but what alpha king is going to want to admit his
brightest mind at court is a male omega, you know? And women even now still get
ignored almost completely in the West, which is where those settings are mostly
coming from, so again, it's probably not all that accurate to what was really
happening. Omega have been oppressed a lot, it'd be nice to see more change in
our fantasy worlds, but unless an all-omega team is behind it, I don't really
expect to see that happen. And like that's ever going to happen.”
There was the idea that had been trying to make itself known to Kouki's
thinking earlier. Of course he needed to look into the logistics of a few
things before he actually said anything to anyone other than Minase about what
he was thinking. Kana still hadn't given any indication of what he would like
to study for himself, or even if he wanted to pursue studies for himself, but
maybe Kouki could suggest video game design? Once he understood better himself
what that would mean.
~*~*~
After lunch, Kouki tried again to suggest a walk to a nearby park, but again
Kana gently declined. He knew his soulmate was right, that he needed to be
getting at least a little more exercise than he currently was, but there was
absolutely nothing appealing about the idea of having to bundle up in a hundred
layers and then going out into the cold of December to do it.
“You two should go without me,” he said, curling up in a corner of the couch.
“Don't think I haven't noticed you haven't exactly been doing your morning jogs
while I've been here, mister~” he added with a teasing grin.
“Are you sure?” Kouki asked and Kana felt himself falling a little harder in
love at the way his soulmate was giving him a worried frown.
“I'm sure, Kou,” he said, plastering on a smile he didn't completely feel.
“I'll be fine, it's not like you're going for a 10km run, right?”
“If it's the park I think, more like six blocks there and back. Unless he means
the one that's five blocks. Or the one eight blocks?” Minase offered,
chuckling. The beta was even already pulling on his coat. “Come on, Kou-kun,
you heard him, he'll be fine. Give you a chance to tell me what secret project
you're about to put me on next.”
“Eh? What are ... I don't have a secret project I'm planning for you!” Kouki
blustered.
“The bad thing?” Minase stage whispered to Kana. “He actually expects me to buy
that.”
Kana had to cover his mouth with his hand, even though he was pretty sure
trying to hide his giggling from his alpha was mostly useless. But it really
was too cute, seeing the man huffing and acting all offended. Especially when,
to his nose, it was obviously just that, an act.
“Come on, big guy. I've known you for, what, almost seventeen years now? And
I've been your administrative assistant for almost nine of those. I know when
you've got an idea percolating up in that ridiculous blond head of yours.
You're practically bursting with it. And since you're obviously trying not to
talk about it in front of Kana-kun, it must be work related, so come on, tell
me while we walk.”
Another faked huff and then Kouki was walking over to the end of the couch,
pausing beside Kana to lean down and kiss his forehead. And again Kana felt a
rush of warmth as those lips touched his skin.
“Fifteen minutes, twenty at the most,” his alpha promised quietly. “If you need
anything....”
“I'll be fine,” he insisted. And he would be, he was sure of it. For one thing,
it seemed he had a game collection to investigate more thoroughly. Kouki's
apartment was safe; whatever that voice was at the back of his head, whispering
its wordless dread, it needed to shut up. Nothing was going to happen, he was
safe. Completely.
Out of habit more than anything, Kana glanced up when he heard the front door
open almost exactly fifteen minutes later, but being in the kitchen, it wasn't
like he could actually see anything. Not that it really mattered, since of
course it would just be Kouki and Minase coming back from their walk. Feeling a
little silly, he shook his head to himself and picked up his mug of tea.
The silence hit him at the same time as the scent of an unknown alpha and Kana
nearly dropped his mug of tea, hissing as the hot liquid sloshed over onto his
hands. He felt himself involuntarily shrinking back against the counter even as
he heard sharp footsteps approaching the kitchen. There was no escape, panic
freezing him in place as an elder alpha walked into the room. Kana's heart was
pounding like thunder in his ears, he could hardly think. How could this alpha
be here? Who was he? What did he want? What was Kana going to do about any of
it? What could he, an unmated omega, hope to do against an adult alpha? The
alpha before him was easily in his eighties and yet obviously fit and powerful;
even if Kana could make his body move, he could never escape him. A long coat
hung open over a finely tailored suit, though he had at least stopped long
enough to change into house slippers. Kana inwardly flinched at the way his
panicked brain was choosing now of all times to pick out such irrelevancies.
“Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?”
The words evaporated in his throat under the force of that dark, disapproving
look. And then an elderly omega woman was pushing her way past this unknown
alpha, cooing softly and fearlessly walking right up to him. Recognition
suddenly hit, these had to be Kouki's grandparents, he could see faint echos of
his alpha (or should that be the other way around?) in this woman's face.
“Enough, Ichiro-san, you're scaring the boy,” the woman said, throwing a
disapproving frown over her shoulder. “I told you our grandson would have a
perfectly legitimate reason for staying up here, now go hang up your coat and
stop being such a bear! You're going to make the poor boy think you were raised
by wolves, acting like this!”
The alpha snorted, but at least he left the room. Unlike Kouki's grandfather,
Kouki's grandmother was dressed in traditional clothing, her kimono an
understated but beautiful deep green with a winter forest scene around the
hemline. Steel grey hair was pulled back into a simple undecorated bun and even
her obi was elegant but unremarkable, though the whole offered distraction
enough that she had the mug pulled from Kana's hands before he was able to stop
her.
“Tch, did my mate do all this? He's not as horrible as he seems ... what is
your name, dear? Come, let's get you cleaned up a bit and you can tell me why
my grandson was hiding you from us, yes?”
“I ... it's nothing, I'm fine,” he stammered, jerking his hands away from her
unsteadily. As if he wasn't embarrassed enough, his knees chose that exact
moment to give out on him, sending him sinking to the floor. How utterly
mortifying. And where were Kouki and Minase? Why weren't they here to save him
from himself?? He could feel the first prickles of tears and then stark fear
was washing over him again. What would Kouki's grandfather do if he scented
Kana's weakness??
“Easy, easy, sweetheart,” the old woman cooed, kneeling in front of him and
petting his hair. “Take it easy, sweet boy, I'm not going to hurt you. And
neither is my idiotic mate, no matter how much he blusters. Kou-kun wouldn't
stand for it and neither will I. I don't suppose there's more of that tea
made?”
“N-no,” Kana stammered, blushing hard. Why wasn't Kouki back yet? This would be
so much easier with his alpha's strength behind him.
“Well then, we'll just have to make more, won't we? You go find a clean
sweater, dear, I'll manage in here. My mate won't bother you.”
Kana wasn't sure he believed that, but he was also completely certain that it
didn't matter. His body wasn't wanting to obey his commands, his legs refusing
to work and his stomach complaining bitterly about his positioning. It was
completely embarrassing, scooting around the kitchen island on his elbows and
butt until he was able to lay down flat, closing his eyes and covering his face
with one arm. He could practically taste the confusion he was causing Kouki's
grandmother, but fortunately the front door chose that moment to burst open,
almost popping its hinges from the sound of it. Even from the kitchen, Kana
couldn't miss the utter rage in his alpha's scent.
“GRANDFATHER!”
“Don't you raise your voice to me, boy!”
“Ah, I had better go diffuse that before it gets worse. I'll send Kou-kun to
you in just a moment, dear, it'll be all right.”
Kana didn't have the strength left to ask her if she was joking. All right? She
had to be crazy to think anything was going to be made all right so easily. But
for once in his life, Kana was almost glad he was omega. He would just lay here
in his utter terror for a moment and....
Not more than a handful of panicked heartbeats and Kouki's arms were folding
around him, pulling him closer to his chest. Kana curled his hand into Kouki's
shirt and pressed himself even closer, all of his fears fading away at the
physical reassurance that Kouki was there for him.
“I'm so sorry, baby,” Kouki whispered, “but it's okay now, I promise. I'm here,
I won't leave you again.”
He felt completely pathetic, but it didn't stop him from clinging to his alpha,
pressing his nose into the crook of Kouki's neck and taking in deep lungfuls of
his alpha's scent. Worn leather, musk and sharp spices, and a low, boiling
anger mingled with bright possessiveness and a hint of fear. Fear? Startled,
Kana blinked and leaned back a bit.
“You're ... fear scent?” he stammered, baffled. Kouki frowned a moment and then
a soft laugh gentled his face.
“You're getting too good at that. Yes, love, fear for you. Are you all right?
Did he hurt you? Grandmother is worried.”
“My legs stopped working. I couldn't ... I wasn't ... when they came in
unannounced, without you....”
“It's all right, love. Are they working enough yet for you to stand or do I
need to carry you?”
“I ... I'm not sure,” he said, shaking his head. “Don't want you to let go
anyway,” he added in a shy mumble.
“Well that settles that then, doesn't it?” his alpha replied, brushing a quick
kiss to his forehead. Without another word, Kouki lifted him up and carried him
over to the couch, sitting down with Kana still cradled in his lap. Kana could
feel the heavy, disapproving eyes of the other alpha on him and he felt himself
trying to shrink into Kouki's chest. The arms around him shifted, just enough
to be sure he was both comfortable and secure, and then Kouki's defiance
flooded his nose, blotting out every other scent.
“Grandfather, this is Kobayashi Kana, my soulmate. You will apologize for
terrifying him to death for no reason and you will accept him as my mate,”
Kouki said firmly. Kana shivered and pressed himself even closer. All he could
smell was Kouki and with his face hiding against his soulmate's chest, he
couldn't see the other alpha, either, but it only sort of helped.
“Disrespectful pup. Look at you! Thirty-six and still unmated, acting like some
teenager with that hair. And what is that ... that thing in your lip?!? This
boy's fault, I'm sure. I should go to your board of directors right now, before
you embarrass this family and the Matsumoto Group with this behavior any
further!”
“I have done nothing to embarrass either myself or the Group. Which is more
than I can say for the man who brazenly barged into my apartment, unannounced
and uninvited, and terrified an innocent injured omega to death for no other
reason than because he thinks he always knows better than anyone else!”
“Kouki-san! That will be quite enough, young man,” Kouki's grandmother said,
much to Kana's surprise. “Tousan, sit. Your grandson's defiance may have
muddled your nose, but surely your eyes are still working just fine, you old
bear. Or are you too prideful to admit you may have been wrong? Kobayashi-kun
is obviously not well enough to travel, he couldn't even stand in the kitchen
for more than five minutes! Would you have left me alone in Tokyo for even just
one night while I was so unwell? At his age??”
“That's beside the point. They aren't even mated!”
“Yet,” Kouki's grandmother said and Kana couldn't resist peeking, surprised to
see her standing in as defiant a stance as Kouki's own scent. “And if you would
pull your head out of your oh so noble ass for two seconds - and stop prodding
your grandson into well-deserved defiance of your idiocy - you'd know as well
as I already do that his claim is already valid, even without the mating bite.”
“He should have told us this was his reason. He's made this entire situation
through his own actions,” the elder alpha growled, though Kana could hear him
moving to sit down. Shivering, he forced himself to scoot around on Kouki's lap
enough to actually face his soulmate's grandparents.
“Oh yes, because you would have behaved much more reasonably if he had told you
on the phone that he had found a mate who was too ill to travel,” Kouki's
grandmother countered with an audible scoff and Kana had to bite his lip hard
to keep from giggling. “Oh Minase-san, thank you, sweetheart. I'm sorry you've
been dragged into the middle of all this alpha male nonsense.”
“Family is family,” Minase demurred, pouring and passing the first cup of tea
to Kouki's grandfather. “Kana-kun is family.”
“Well, you've arranged this all quite nicely for yourself, haven't you, Kouki-
san?” the older alpha grumbled, taking the tea and then immediately setting it
aside. “I suppose you think you can do as you like now, that you don't need my
approval anymore.”
“Grandfather....”
“I will not just accept some gutter trash child omega for you, grandson. I've
let you get away with too much these last few years, clearly. It will not
continue. Kanae-san, come, we're leaving.”
Kana could only watch in mute shock as Kouki's grandfather stormed out of the
room. Even more startling, his soulmate's grandmother barely even hesitated
before trailing after her mate. So her courage and influence only went so far.
He shouldn't have been surprised, and yet....
"Ignore him, Kacchan," Kouki murmured after the front door slammed shut once
more. "He can say whatever he likes, he doesn't control me. You are my mate,
nothing he says or does is going to change that. Not now, not ever."
Kana didn't say anything, only turning to press closer into Kouki's chest. He
wanted to believe those words, but that dark voice was still chittering in the
back of his head. After all, he was just a teenaged omega from a no-rank
family, what power could he possibly have against someone like Kouki's
grandfather? He was just going to have to try his hardest to make the most out
of every moment he had left with Kouki, before someone else came to take his
place.
Chapter End Notes
     I know, I'm a horrible person. But this is just the end of the
     beginning. Two weeks, maybe three, and I'll have the first chapter of
     the next fic up (with a preview a week early on my Patreon).
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