Aosh laced up his cleats, the dirty shoelaces sliding between his fingers to tie them into a haphazard bow. The boys’ locker room was loud, the youths inside bustling about to get ready for the baseball game. The Alpha arrived early to get ready as always. As friendly as he was he knew none of his teammates cared for him, so the act of communing with them in the locker room pregame was not appealing to him in the least. He’d rather practice his swings while they talked about the only thing middle school boys talked about; girls.

Doing a once over in the mirror he shoved some stray hairs inside his hat and adjusted his well-worn uniform. A group of voices caught his attention behind him. In the mirror he saw some of his teammates sitting at a bench, conversing very animatedly.

“So how was it?”

“Yea man, tell us!”

“Spill it!”

Three boys crowded around one, poking and jabbing at him to talk.

“Alright, chill,” the boy being interrogated smiled, pulling his jersey over his head, “We just went to the movies, it’s no big deal.”

“But you’re the first guy in the class to actually go on a date! C’mon, give us more details!”

“Yea! Plus you went on a date with Ebony! Do you even know how lucky you are?!”

Aosh rolled his eyes. The only reason they liked Ebony was because she matured faster than the other girls in their class. Aosh didn’t want to hear them talking crudely about her, she was a nice girl, but he couldn’t help himself from eavesdropping on the conversation.

“Her parents sat a couple of rows behind us the entire time, but…” he leaned in closer to the others, “She let me cop a feel.”

The boys made a round of surprised noises.

“What did it feel like?”

“Soft and amazing, I don’t even remember what the movie was about because I kept touching them the entire time,” He had a blissful look on his face remembering it, “What’s even better is that it made Tammy jealous, she likes me too ya’ know.”

“Man, I’m so jealous! I can’t even get one girl to look at me.”

“Pfft! The only reason he was two girls that like him is because Aosh told them no first.”

“Shhhh!”

The group looked up to where Aosh stood some feet away, back facing them. Aosh looked away from their reflections and abruptly left the locker room. The boys continued.

“You think he heard us?”

“Who cares? And so what if they only chose me because he rejected them?! What kind of dumbass Alpha says no to girls like Ebony and Tammy? It’s his loss and my gain.” the boy scoffed.

“Talk about a waste of an Alpha, he should be grateful to have all these girls falling over him! You know he believes in ‘fated mates’! God, what a pretentious jerk, no girl will be good enough for him if their name isn’t the same as his mate mark.”

“What an asshole.”

All the boys nodded with agreement.

WHACK!

The ball flew forward into the net that surrounded the batting cage. Aosh wound back up, grinding the spikes of his cleats into the dirt, ready for another swing. A new ball launched from the machine and he hit it square on, sending it flying like the one before it. On the outside, he must’ve looked completely focused on hitting the balls but his mind was elsewhere.

No matter how long he endured ridicule from his peers it still hurt him, even when he told himself that it shouldn’t. He didn’t like Ebony and Tammy other than friends, but because he was an Alpha it seemed expected of him to accept their feelings and return them in kind. If he didn’t he was a jerk.

Did no one care if he already liked somebody? Aosh would say it again and again but still, no one would understand. All the girls took it personally and cut ties with him like their friendship meant nothing if they couldn’t be his girlfriend. The weight of these short term friendships weighed heavily on the boy like there was nothing of value that he could provide to others to make them stay beside the fact that he was an Alpha.

Another ball made contact with his bat; he swung at it hard his emotions being channeled into the action. Aosh would be glad when the school year ends. Next year he’s going into high school. There would be new people and with it the hope of new friends. Stubbornly he held onto this hope, almost as stubbornly as he held onto the feelings for the name on his arm.

One thing was different from him and those boys. They had no desire to love those girls, only lusting after their still adolescent bodies; maybe not even valuing them as people. Their idea of a perfect first date was feeling up girls in dark theaters. Aosh liked to think his first date would be different. The Alpha hadn’t put thought into it until now, his thoughts spurred on from his teammate’s conversation.

If Tiza was a male or female, it didn’t matter either way to Aosh. He would want to do something more personal than just going to a movie, how could you get to know each other by watching a movie? Maybe they would go on a picnic in the park or take them to his favorite arcade.

He imagined the softness of the blanket and the warmth of the breeze during the picnic. A buffet of food laid out on the ground, the two of them laying around watching people, watching clouds drift in the sky, watching each other. His mind conjured images of neon lights glowing around them in the dimly lit arcade. Rushing from game to game as they caught each other’s eyes. Passing quarters between them, fingertips brushing against palms. Leaning over the other to watch them play, laughing when they died, talking into each other’s ears over the loud chimes of the machines.

In all the fantasies Tiza never had a face or body; Aosh felt like whatever he imagined them to look like wouldn’t even do them justice. In his fantasies, Tiza was a feeling. A feeling of home, someone who accepted him, loved him unconditionally. Tiza gave him warmth and happiness, they made his lungs work and his heart beat. It was a feeling that those boys couldn’t understand, so they ridiculed him as people often do of things they can’t comprehend.

A baseball whizzed past him. Batting practice had been forgotten, the Alpha too lost in these pleasant thoughts to lift the tip of the bat off the ground let alone swing it.

“A lunch date?”

Aosh put his things down, coming into the apartment.

“A lunch date,” he confirms.

“With-“

Aosh nods his head, obviously still a little stunned at this turn of events. It was only days ago that the Omega was screaming at him to get lost and now he was inviting him out to lunch? This guy was making Aosh’s mind run in circles so fast he didn’t know how to process what had just happened.  Quickly he shakes his head and looks at Daniella with a smile.

“I’m sorry we don’t need to talk about this right now. You haven’t eaten anything yet, right? Do you want me to make you something?” Aosh goes to the kitchen and begins to open the fridge. He doesn’t get too far as Daniella uses a hand to close the door and she sends him a look.

“What?”

“Don’t ‘what’ me and talk.” Her eyes narrow, and he feels like a mouse cornered by a cat.

“I just…I feel like it’s not fair to you to talk about these things. Especially with what you’ve been through.” Aosh can’t keep eye contact with her and shifts his gaze to the side.

“It’s fine. You need to talk so I’ll listen. I’d rather have something else to think about anyway.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, I’m just going to tell him I can’t. I don’t like leaving you alone like this.”

“Is that how you really feel or are you using me as an excuse? I don’t need you to watch over me, Aosh. Believe me, that’s the last thing I want right now. I’m not fragile and I don’t need you to sit here with me and hold my hand anymore to get me through this, you getting me out of there was enough. I just want to move on and forget, but to do that I need a distraction. Now just talk, please.”

She tried to be as reassuring as possible and hoped that Aosh would stop being stubborn. The Alpha told her everything that had happened that morning.

“So you still aren’t going to go?”

“No, I want to! God, do I want to. He asked me! That’s progress, right? That has to be progress.”

She contemplated her answer before speaking.

“It’s progress, but you’ve been friend-zoned. Are you ok with that?”

“Being this close to him, even if it’s not what I expected, is enough for now,” Aosh said resolutely.

He had the twinkle of undying dedication in his eyes, akin to a new soldier hell-bent on protecting his homeland. That alone was concerning to the Omega. It seemed like to Aosh this was nothing more than a temporary setback in his plans to woo Tiza, Daniella on the other hand didn’t think that was the case.

“That’s implying that there’s hope for this turning into something else. What are you going to do if it doesn’t go farther than this? What if he finds somebody and falls in love with someone else?” she said leaning back against the counter, arms crossed.

Aosh’s eyes immediately lost their shine and fell to the floor and she could tell she hit a nerve, but it was a reality he might have to face if he went down this path.

“I think it would still be better to stay by his side even then than to give up on this.”

‘This’ encompassed a lot of things; Tiza, the love he’s held onto most of his life, the future he envisioned for himself, the happiness he’s been relentlessly chasing after.

“Do you want me to give you my honest opinion?”

There was no reply so she continued.

“I don’t think you need a fated mate to be happy, speaking from personal experience, it’s possible.”

When she still didn’t receive a reply she shifted forward and touched him, her fingertips brushed his bicep.

“Aosh,” it came out more worried than she would’ve liked.

He looked up at her finally and smiled.

“Well it’s a good thing we aren’t fated mates then, we’re just friends. I’m happy with that.”

Daniella searched his eyes for the truth. She wasn’t convinced but dropped the subject.

“Well, then you should text him back,” she said through a forced smile. The least she could do was be supportive in whatever he decided to do, Daniella just hoped her support wouldn’t bring about disaster.

When Tiza retrieved his phone from the desk in his office he didn’t expect to be bombarded with text notifications. He thought for a second that maybe giving the Alpha his contact info had been the wrong idea if he was just going to spam his phone. Opening the text app he looked at the messages.

Aosh 1:15pm

Ok, that sounds cool.

Aosh 1:15pm

Lunch where exactly?

Aosh 1:25pm

This is Tiza, right?

Aosh 1:40pm

I mean it has to be you right because who else would have my number.

Aosh 3:05pm

Just ignore everything after the lunch text, please.

Tiza rolled his eyes, this guy was just as articulate in his texting as he was with speaking from what he could tell.

Me 7:05pm

Meet me at Donovans’ over off of Lake St. and Gatlin Ave.

He sent the map location for good measure and was about to set his phone down when he got a response.

Aosh 7:06pm

Oh, that’s not too far from my place. [smiling emoji]

Tiza’s eyebrows knitted together. Donovans’ was about a seven-minute walk from his apartment, the Alpha lived that close to him? That was an…unnerving coincidence.

Me 7:08pm

Then you shouldn’t be late then.

Aosh 7:08pm

Well, I will be if you don’t tell me what time.

Me 7:09pm

I said lunch.

Aosh 7:09pm

Lunchtime could be anytime. Example I’m eating lunch right now. [smiling emoji]

Me 7:11pm

That’s dinner moron. Lunch is at noon.

Aosh 7:11pm

It’s all about what you eat not when you eat. I’ll be having dinner later. I’m thinking around midnight.[tongue sticking out emoji]

Was this the conversation they were having right now? Really? Tiza was about to furiously argue that you can’t just eat lunch at dinner time when Sean opened the office door. Quickly Tiza hid his phone in his duffel bag and tried to look unsuspicious.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Yea.”

Walking behind Sean to the car, Tiza stealthily pulled out the phone and saw another new text.

Aosh 7:16pm

So noon?

Me 7:16pm

Noon.