“There you are.” Robbie looked up from his book, startled by the loudness of the person’s voice in the otherwise quiet library, watching as Levi approached. He was thankful that he wasn’t sitting so close to Allen at the moment, because how would he explain cuddling with an Alpha? It’d look suspicious, even if he knew there was nothing romantic between them. “Is this where you go hiding instead of being in the Omega’s room? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Then he seemed to take notice of Allen, curtseying respectfully. “Mr. Perez.”
“Ms. Smith.” He acknowledged.
“I haven’t been avoiding the Omega room.” He grumbled, sticking his bookmark into his novel, and shutting it. “Did you need something?”
“I’m calling for an Omega meeting. It’s been a week since we’ve gathered, and I have news.” He huffed, reaching to grab Robbie’s hand to pull him up. His nose twitched and he spared a look towards the Alpha, who was watching them with mirth in his eyes. “And it seems you do to. Now come before Lilly thinks up of a reason to ditch us.”
Robbie only managed to throw an apologetic glance at Allen before he was dragged out of the library.
“So, what’s going on between you and that Alpha?” Levi demanded, once they were out in the corridors, whispering so that the guards wouldn’t overhear as they passed, “And don’t say nothing, you reek of him. That’s against the rules, you know? I think there was a clause about not getting involved with others while courting the King.”
“I’m not breaking any rules, Allen is just a friend.” Robbie defends, linking his arm with Levi’s as they head towards the Omega’s Room, “You’re only concerned because he’s an Alpha, but if he were another Omega you wouldn’t care.”
“I guess that’s true, but Alphas aren’t “just friends” with Omegas. And they certainly wouldn’t scent an Omega they were just friends with.”
“I asked him to scent me. And anyway, there’s no way he’d see me like that.” He brushed the idea of Allen being attracted to him off, because there was no way he was into Robbie when the King existed. Not only that, but Robbie had also never really been attracted to Alphas, he’d always preferred other Omegas.
“Don’t sell yourself short, you’re really pretty. And your scent is so sweet, he’d be crazy not to think you’re cute.” Levi pinched Robbie’s cheeks, cooing as they turned red from the compliments. Robbie swatted his hands away.
“Whatever. What happened that was so important that you had to call for an “Omega meeting”?”
Levi grinned, “I’ll tell you and Lilly at the same time.”
Lilly was still in the Omega’s room when they arrived, and fortunately she was the only one. Robbie didn’t know where the other two Omega Suitors were, but he was kind of glad that they were alone. She was flipping through a magazine, but turned her attention toward them when they walked in. “Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting forever.” She huffed.
“Robbie is a hard Omega to find,” Levi plopped down beside her, and Robbie took a seat opposite of them. “Now why we’re here, I had sex with the King.” He announced.
There was a very quiet moment where Lilly and Robbie were silent, but Lilly finally said, “I don’t see why you think we want to know this stuff.”
“Transparency!” Levi smacked her shoulder, “I already explained why I want to be clear about how my relationship is going with the King. So, any developments from either of you?”
“Uh, he smiled at me the other day?” Robbie scratched the back of his head. “I haven’t seen him much; he’s been busy I guess.”
“I still never agreed to discuss what happens between us,” Lilly grumbled, face red, “But…we kissed the other night.
Robbie didn’t like how heavy is chest felt.
“Well, that’s a little worrying.” He mumbled, “We haven’t even kissed, but I’ve also never kissed anyone… maybe he doesn’t like me?”
“What? No.” Levi jumped in quickly, “Robbie, you’re great.”
“Yeah, he can probably just tell you’re nervous and taking it slow. Give it time.” Lilly agreed.
══════✮❁•°♛°•❁✮ ══════
Apparently, his suit deal with the King was void for formal events, which was how Robbie ended up in another dress.
Well, his maids were helping him into the dress currently. Robbie was holding onto the bed post as Casey laced up the bodice. Robbie didn’t understand why he was instructed to hold onto it until the maid tugged on the ribbon hard, and he nearly fell over.
“Why’s it so tight?” He whined.
“Have you ever worn a corset before?” Casey asked, and Robbie chose to ignore the amusement in his voice.
“No? Regular people don’t wear corsets, or hold fancy parties when they get a visitor,” He huffed, and Casey finished tying the back. He held his arms up when instructed, and Rowan slid the fabric of the actual dress over his head.
“Well, that’s royalty for you.” Katherine butts in, moving to fuss over Robbie’s hair, “You’ll soon learn that the upper class has nothing better to do than be frivolous and stir up whatever drama they can get their claws into. Did you have to dye your hair blue? It was so lovely when it was blond.”
“My hair is fine,” He pouted, but still allowed Katherine to dote on him.
“It clashes with everything.” Casey pointed out, approaching to attack him with makeup brushes.
“Maybe, but I have a wonderful seamstress who understands how the color wheel works.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Rowan was flushed, but they always were when anyone said anything about their skills.
Casey finished quickly, and they helped him slip into a pair of flat shoes (he was disastrous in heels, no matter now small the height was). He was always amazed at the magic his maids managed to pull off, he looked like a proper Omega. The light eyeliner and mascara around his eyes made them appear bigger, and the pale-yellow dress he was wearing hugged his torso and the skirts flared out prettily. His hair was fluffy, but in a controlled and cute way, and the blue didn’t clash too much with the dress’s color.
There was a knock on his door then, and they all shared a look before Katherine went to answer it. Allen was standing in the doorway, looking as handsome as ever. He was in a suit, but this one was clearly fancier, made for a nice event, though Robbie was used to seeing him looking nice. His hair was pushed back away from his face, revealing his forehead.
“Mr. Perez,” Katherine curtseyed, and the other servants followed suit, “How may we help you?”
“I was hoping that Ms. Quarrels was just about ready,” Allen said as though he wasn’t literally staring at Robbie, “I’d like to escort him to the ball room.”
“If that’s what he’d like,” Katherine responded, throwing a curious glance over her shoulder.
Robbie ignored Katherine, but nodded, “Yeah, that’d be cool. I’m ready now, I think.”
“We’ll be here once you get back,” Katherine stepped away from the doorway.
“Oh, absolutely not. You’ve all worked hard today, there’s no need to wait on me. I can figure out how to get out of this dress just fine. If I come back and any of you are still in this room, you’re all fired.” He grumbled, and the maids just laughed.
“We’ll see you in the morning then, ma’am.” Casey called as Robbie took Allen’s offered arm. Katherine shut the door, and Allen looked him up and down.
“You look pretty tonight.”
“I don’t every day?” Robbie joked with a little snort, “I look more like an Omega than usual, I don’t see how some of them dress like this all the time, I imagine it must be so uncomfortable.”
“You look nice in suits too,” He said, and Robbie thanked him.
The conversation lulled, which usually would have been okay, the Alpha was a man of few words, and Robbie was used to it by now. As they descended the stairs down to the first floor, where one of the ballrooms was located, Robbie’s nerves spiked. There was a steady trail of people walking through the main corridor, and a glance towards the entrance of the Palace proved that there were camera crews around to cover the event.
Robbie had never really liked parties. He’d went to one house party before he had dropped out of high school with some of his friends, and he’d had to leave early. All of the strange people, the loud music, the unfamiliar smells, it put him on edge. How was he supposed to deal with something like this? Here he was expected to play the part of a Suitor, a potential mate to the King. He was supposed to be gracious and sociable, but he wasn’t. Nor did he have any training on how to talk to people way above his class.
Goddess, he really shouldn’t be here, should he? He wasn’t fit for this kind of lifestyle, parading around in fancy clothes, and pretending to be pleasant. He wasn’t interesting enough to make small talk with high class Omegas, and being that shut-in in the corner wasn’t an option. Maybe he should just go back to his room, and in the morning ask King Scott to send him home. He could go back to his job at the library, maybe find a decent Beta-
“Robbie? Are you okay?” Allen asked, and really, he tried to smile and nod, but it must’ve not been convincing.
The Alpha frowned, looking around for a moment before opening the door closest to them and pushing Robbie in. He shut the door behind himself, shrouding them in darkness. Then the lights flicked on, revealing one of the various sitting rooms that the Palace seemed to have an abundance of. Robbie leaned against the wall, trying to get his breathing in check. “You smell distressed,” Allen needlessly pointed out, hands hovering like he wanted to touch him, but he hesitated, “Do you want me to help?”
“Please?” He whispered, feeling like his heart was in his throat.
Allen was crowding into his space the next moment, manually tilting his head so that he could nose into his neck. Robbie felt the burst of haziness almost immediately, the pressure of Allen’s weight pressing him into the wall and the sweet mint of his scent making him feel more secure than he had moments ago. It wasn’t long that he felt his heartrate slow, and Allen drew away so that he could look at him. Robbie couldn’t help but think he looked kind of cute, his strong eyebrows furrowed over concerned eyes. He looked so intense. “Nervous?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, turning his eyes downward, unable to keep eye contact with him for long, “I’m not a fan of crowds.”
“Me either.” He said, but he was probably just saying that to placate him, “How about we stay together? All you have to do is smile and nod, and I’ll do all the talking.”
“What if someone tries to dance with me or something?”
“Then I’ll just steal you back. I won’t leave you alone.”
“Even if it’s the King who asks me to dance?”
“Maybe I won’t steal you then,” Allen frowned, “I might politely ask though if you look uncomfortable.”
Robbie giggled, “Promise?”
“Yeah, promise.” He agreed, stepping back and offering his arm back out, “I won’t throw you to the wolves, so long as you agree to dance with me.”
“I’m still kind of shit,” Robbie admitted, linking his arm with his, “even with all the practice they gave us.”
“I’ll try not to get to upset when you step on my toes then.”
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