Chapter 3

Julian knew something was up as soon as he heard Theodore put in the code at his door and enter his apartment.

He didn't slam the door, but it sounded a lot like he'd just barely kept himself from doing so, the thumps of shoes being kicked off rather ungently echoing through the hallway and into the living room a second later.

There Julian was camped out on the floor, hunched over his books spread out on the coffee table and his back against the couch.

A mere moment later Theodore flew into the room, his arrival announced by the thump of his bag being dropped to the floor and that scent of cinnamon and tangerines.

A scent so familiar, the first hint of it loosened some of the tightness that had settled right between Julian's shoulder blades after three torturously boring classes in a row.

(Wednesdays sucked.) The second the omega let himself plop down on the couch, he scooted over until he was seated directly behind Julian, the omega's feet coming down on each side of him so his knees were bracketing the alpha's shoulder.

Bare moments later Julian felt Theodore's cheek press against the top of his head, as if the omega had simply folded his upper body forward to use the alpha's head as his personal pillow.

The position couldn't be comfortable, but judging by the weary sigh ruffling Julian's hair, Theodore didn't really care.

"Rough day?"

Even though Julian wasn't sure what to call the sound Theodore made in reply to that it was definitely an affirmation.

"I'm sick and tired of entitled asshole alphas and their overblown egos."

Turning his body sideways until his back was resting against only one of Theodore's legs, left shoulder pressed against the couch, he looked up at the omega without the need to crane his head to a painful degree.

The move jostled Theodore's head, had him sitting upright again and his best friend didn't look too happy about the need to pull away from Julian.

"I resent that."

"You know I wasn't talking about you.

I said 'entitled asshole alphas'.

You're neither an asshole nor entitled, so stop scowling."

He'd thought acting offended and giving Theodore his best, fake pout might be enough to momentarily distract his best friend.

Judging by the look on the omega's face he, was more pissed than Julian had expected, though.

But before Julian could do anything about that, Theodore was talking again, face softening and eyes crinkling up at the corners.

"I mean, your nose scrunches up when you laugh or feel shy, you get really grumpy when you don't get your daily dose of cuddles and you're literally incapable of passing by a puppy without petting and playing with it for at least five minutes.

You don't consider yourself better than anyone else simply because you were born an alpha and I love you for it.

You're my Jules, my precious child."

Something reared its head inside of Julian's chest at that.

Just rolled over to show its soft, vulnerable underbelly.

Any other time that speech would have had his cheeks turning an embarrassing shade of pink, but the last three words out of Theodore's mouth had the alpha staring at him with an open-mouthed expression of pure disbelief.

Something that clearly didn't escape Theodore.

"Okay fine, maybe the 'my child' part was bullshit, but I stand by everything else."

"I'll just pretend you never said that," Julian grumbled to cover up his belated blush and turned his head to the side to pretend to mark down the spot in his textbook where he'd stopped reading.

It wasn't as if Theodore couldn't tell Julian was caught smack-dab between embarrassment and feeling genuinely touched, but sometimes the alpha liked to pretend his nonchalant act wasn't completely useless around his best friend.

"Now tell me who pissed you off like this.

Your brows are doing the thing."

The words had Theodore's hand jerking up to his forehead, fingers rubbing at the tiny frown line just above the bridge of his nose, before he let it drop back down into his lap with a sound that was part sigh, part growl.

"It's just been one really sucky day.

So of course one of the alphas in my Mediation class had to ask me if I was there to take notes for my mate.

Wednesdays suck," Theodore announced with enthusiastic distaste and let himself sink lower into the cushions of Julian's couch with an exasperated huff.

The younger man on the other hand felt the flames of his rising temper lick at his throat, manifested in a growl he just barely managed to swallow down.

Julian's temper had always been a lazy thing, slow – practically impossible – to wake, but burning brightly and hot once the fire was lit.

And if there was one thing that pissed him off for real, it was the way Theodore was treated and constantly underestimated by his classmates.

Not to mention an infuriatingly big number of his professors.

In their eyes there was no place for an omega in their midst.

Especially not if said omega was determined to become a lawyer.

It was a profession dominated by alphas and betas, but Theodore didn't give a damn, had known what he wanted to be since the age of seven.

Whereas Julian still wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with his degree once he finished college.

It wasn't a surprise when his best friend immediately picked up on his quiet seething.

Because the only person that had ever been able to read him as well as Theodore was his mother.

"Ah, Jules, don't think about it too much.

There's no use in you being upset about it as well." Theodore's long fingers combing through the strands of Julian's hair didn't exactly calm him down, but they were enough to momentarily distract him from his anger.

"I'm fine, I promise.

You know I won't let them get to me.

I just needed to vent a little bit."

"You can't tell me stuff like this and then expect me to just shrug it off."

"Your alpha is showing again, Jules."

"This has nothing to do with being an alpha and everything to do with my best friend not being treated the way he deserves."

Theodore didn't break their eye contact, neither did he pull the hand away from where it was still curled into the strands of his hair, but the change of his expression was almost too quick for Julian to follow.

"Get on the couch."

The random request had the alpha narrowing his eyes at his best friend in suspicion.

"Why?"

"Because I could use a hug and a nap and you have nice arms and a chest that's way more comfortable than your cheap-ass couch." It was more than obvious that the omega was trying very hard not to smile.

"You said I can't just expect you to shrug it off without letting you do something, so come up here and cuddle with me.

That'll cheer me up."

Julian might be exhausted from his long day, but he could still move fast if he wanted to and a few seconds and a bit of reshuffling later he was comfortably sprawled out on his back, a contently sighing Theodore stretched out on top of him.

"When are you leaving on Friday?" With Theodore's chin propped up on Julian's chest and looking up at him from beneath his unfairly long lashes, he could feel the slight rumble of the omega's chest as he spoke.

"Right after my last class.

I'm just making a quick stop here to grab my stuff and then I'm taking the 3.40 train.

To Port Veridian, ha."

All he got was a quiet scoff at his lame joke, before he watched Theodore's lower lip push out in a light pout and eyebrows pull together.

"I can't believe I'm missing out on your dad's birthday because they had to hold this damn seminar this weekend.

They postponed the stupid thing twice."

"It's okay, Theo.

Dad's not angry at you for missing out on the celebration.

You've signed up for this thing months ago.

That it turned out to be this weekend was just seriously bad luck.

You can come home with me on another weekend."

"I still wanted to be there."

Theodore's expression perfectly mirrored the sulky tone of his voice and it was a sight so rare – the omega simply not the type to pout or sulk around – Julian ended up blinking down at his best friend in genuine surprise.

He got it though, the younger man and his parents, had been bummed out too when Theodore had told them that the new date for the rescheduled seminar fell on the same weekend as his father's birthday.

But in the end there was simply nothing to be done about that.

It had taken Theodore so much effort and sleepless nights – working on and perfecting his presentation – to be accepted for this damn thing.

On top of that it would be an invaluable opportunity to make an impression on the right people and build up connections he was currently lacking.

Still, it would have been much more fun to go back to his hometown with his best friend.

"Just promise you'll bring me back some cake."

A knock had Julian glancing up from his sprawl on the bed, phone clamped between his head and shoulder because he was too lazy to hold it up properly.

His look to the side revealed his mother standing in the open doorway of his old room.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour.

And an old friend of your father is joining us for dinner with his family, so make sure you dress nicely.

Now get off the phone and start getting ready."

"Seriously?

Dad's been on the phone with the Theo for the entire, last hour and I don't even get five minutes?"