Much to Mircea's relief, the omega presently stirred with a petulant, drowsy groan. "Mmmh...I'm cold."

Evinori''s bleary eyes landed on the tired, smiling face of Mircea. Last night's events came rushing back to him and he snapped upright, blushing in embarrassment. "Hi," he rasped.

Mircea chuckled. "Hi," he responded, resting his head on his hands as he leaned on the window's edge. "How do you feel?"

"Much better. I'm sorry for involving you in my mess, Mircea. I can't thank you enough."

"Aw, don't look so sad, Evinori." Mircea took in the omega's sleep-mussed hair, drowsy eyes and rumpled clothes, all nestled into his too-large suit jacket. It did funny things to his insides. "...you look so pretty in the morning."

Evinori smiled and blushed, snuggling deeper into the jacket and burying his face in its lapels. "Okay, okay, stop it," he giggled. "If you're feeling okay too, come inside. It's really cold."

Mircea was more than happy to. The car's soft seat felt like heaven after a whole night of sitting on high alert on the cold concrete. Evinori climbed into the passenger seat and fiddled with the controls, turning the heating on and reclining Mircea's seat. With a sigh of appreciation at the comfort of the seat, he curled up on his side with his face towards Mircea. The Alpha turned his head to face Evinori too. For a serene minute, the pair just stayed like that, silently gazing at each other and smiling.

Presently, Mircea stirred. "I like seeing your face first thing in the morning," he said, stroking Evinori's cheek.

"Is that even valid when you've been up all night?"

"I wanna do it everyday. Marry me."

"Again with that!" Evinori chuckled softly, unable to help the blush that tended to follow Mircea's proposals. "I like this one."

Oh, that laugh. It always went and speared Mircea straight through the heart, and the Alpha knew it would quickly become both his panacea and his vice. There was always a cloud of gloom around the omega Mircea hadn't noticed until his reality check last night, but now that he had he could see that grey lift for a while when Evinori laughed. It made Mircea want to make him laugh all the time. "Is that a yes?" he asked.

"No!"

"Aw, man..." Mircea clutched his chest and wiped away imaginary tears. Operatic tragedy on his face, he pocketed his imaginary ring and wiped away his non-existent tears. Evinori snorted. With a huge flourish, Mircea grabbed his water bottle from the cup holder, took a huge swig of his pretend wine and promptly choked on it.

Evinori burst into uncontrollable laughter. "What the hell was that!" he crowed, clutching his stomach.

"Sure, trample over the pieces of my broken heart, why don't you," Mircea grumbled, wiping off the water he'd sprayed all over the dashboard.

"Oh my God, I'm dying," Evinori gasped, wiping very real tears away. "Is this why you're so good at snagging partners?"

"No way. I don't act like this with anyone but you."

Evinori liked the sound of that. Humming contentedly, he settled into a contemplative silence as he watched Mircea clean up the mess he'd made. As a person for whom loving relationships were forever out of reach, being able to call even a part of someone as his felt like a dream. Especially if that someone was Mircea Quartz, the most forbidden fruit of all. With his Mircea, he had for the first time a world of his own where he could laugh and cry and joke and rant just like everyone else got to do. A world where being an omega was just another detail about him instead of an infection in every thought and action.

One day, this world would be lost to him. Mircea would marry someone else, and Evinori would have to cut off all contact with him. He wouldn't even have the privilege to watch Mircea build a family and a career from the sidelines, for rumors would fly even if the two of them were to remain friends.

So he would relish every second while it lasted. He would bask in the light of the fact that this funny, kind, brave, honest Mircea was his and his alone.

"Evinori? Hello? Earth to Evinori."

The omega jumped as Mircea waved a hand in front of his face. "What?"

"Ready to go home?"

Evinori's face fell. Memories of the newest rejection he'd been dealt flashed before his eyes. "No," he mumbled. I don't have a home, and I never will. "But I have to. I'll be in trouble with the Carters if they find me gone."

"Morning shift?"

More like prison sentence, but bless your naive heart. "Attendance," he said, grimacing in distaste.

Mircea frowned, but didn't probe deeper. Evinori was clearly uncomfortable about the topic. It was suspicious: if it was the Quartz-Carter conflict that was making the omega so uneasy, it was unnecessary. The families' personal employees had nothing to do with it. But that was not important right now. What mattered was that the heart-wrenching misery from last night had reappeared on Evinori's face, and that was unacceptable.

"Well, in that case I can't spirit you away," Mircea said, eliciting another grimace. "But we still have some time, so I'd like to take you somewhere if you're okay with it."

"Where?"

"You'll see." Mircea straightened his seat and started the car. "Belt up, let's go."

*

"Um. Mircea."

"Yes?"

"Is this where you wanted to bring me?"

"Yes."

"To the top floor of the garage?"

"Yes."

Evinori raised his eyebrows. They had left the garage only to stop at the nearest gas station. Locking Evinori in the car again, Mircea had disappeared into the store for a few minutes before re-emerging with a full bag and driving right back to the garage again. And here they were now, on the empty rooftop of a parking garage at four in the morning trying their level best not to fall asleep.

"I'm too tired for surprises, Mircea," Evinori complained, glancing at the dashboard clock. 4:20 a.m. "What are we doing here?"

Mircea ignored him and glanced at the sky. It had started to lighten. Bingo. "It's almost time," he said. "Come on."

Evinori watched in utter confusion as Mircea reclaimed his jacket and climbed out of the car with his purchases. He spread his vest on the ground, hurried back to the car and like a true gentleman, opened the door and offered his hand for Evinori to take. The omega, confused but already having fun, smiled crookedly and raised an eyebrow. "What are you up to now?" he asked.

"Just come."

Mircea helped Evinori out of the car, guided him to the spot he'd picked in front of the vehicle and offered him the seat of honor on the jacket. Much to Evinori's surprise, he sat down on the asphalt next to him and proceeded to pull out two to-go cups of coffee, a bag of bagels, little tubs of jam and cream cheese and two tubs of mixed fruit.

"A picnic." Evinori's voice was saturated with childlike wonder. "Oh. Oh."

Mircea was surprised by the overwhelming emotion on Evinori's face. The omega looked like he was about to cry. "Evinori? Is something wrong?" asked the former.

Evinori shook his head hard. "No," he replied thickly. "I've just...I've never been to a picnic before. It's just so... so...I'm sorry." He buried his face in his hands and took a deep breath to try and calm himself. "I don't know why I'm being like this."

Something warm encased him: Mircea's jacket. His arm followed, tucking the omega snugly into his side. Evinori sighed as he leaned his head on Mircea's shoulder, too tired and too happy to keep his guard up. Mircea pushed a coffee cup into his hands and pointed at the sky. "Look," he said simply.

The sunrise.

The buildings to the east of the garage were relatively short, allowing the first rays of sunlight to directly hit the parapet. Peeking above the horizon from between an aquarium and a basketball stadium, the fiery orb washed away the blue of dawn in a blaze of scarlet. The two domed roofs glinted with red as if embedded with a million rubies. A cool morning breeze blew seaward, fresh and untainted by the odors of human activity. Minute by minute, the morning sunlight crept over the sea of silent concrete sentinels, replacing the grim shadows of the previous night with the promise of a new day.

The pair watched in silent companionship, enjoying a peace they had never known before. It wasn't a scenic sunrise in the classical sense. The sun looked like a marble compared to the giant buildings around it, lighting up the unremarkable view of a dreary grey parking lot. Yet there was an undeniable beauty in witnessing what was perhaps mankind's great symbol of hope next to someone who had shared the same pain as them, their separate worlds and differing filters finally intersecting in the same thought: it's so beautiful, and it's because he's next to me.

A weight settled on Evinori's head: Mircea's cheek, grazing his hair with utmost tenderness. Evinori covered Mircea's hand that was resting on his upper arm with his own and squeezed lightly, prompting the Alpha to weave their fingers together. His head settled in the curve between Mircea's neck and shoulder. Mircea ducked his head down - automatically, Evinori raised his forehead to Mircea's lips so he could kiss it.

"I wish time would freeze right here," said Evinori, purring in satisfaction at Mircea's warm embrace.

Mircea chuckled as Evinori winced at his own corny words. "I get it," he reassured him. "But if time froze like this, we'd never get to make more good memories together."

Evinori smiled, albeit uneasily. Sooner or later the wrong person was going to notice them and all hell would break loose. It was Mircea who would be ruined, poor innocent Micrea who was guilty of nothing but kindness. And he'd have no one but himself to blame, hanging around Mircea as he was despite knowing the precise dangers of doing so.

"Let's eat up," Evinori said out loud, trying his best to hide his glumness. "Coffee's getting cold."

Their simple breakfast was short but enjoyable. Evinori was able to push aside his misery as he finally got a glimpse of what his family got to experience every morning. Mircea entertained him with stories of his drunken friends and colleagues, never failing to give the omega a tight, encouraging hug every time tears randomly jumped into his eyes.

The time to go came too soon. Evinori's face fell as the Carter estate drew nearer, resentment and hurt corroding the precious little cheer he had built up. It was going to be a bad day, probably even worse than the last. Today he was going to face off against his parents while sick from his premature heat. So bothered was he that he failed to tell Mircea to drop him off until it was almost too late.

"Is that the big oak - ah! Stop!"

Mircea nearly died of fright at Evinori's sudden shout. "What! What!" He blurted, jerking the car to the side of the road. "What's wrong?"

"Here is fine," Evinori panted. "I'll get out here."

"What the hell? You screamed like I was about to run over a kid!"

The true reason was almost as bad. "Sorry," the omega mumbled. They were on the street corner that turned onto the road passing through the Carters' vast, forested estate - just out of sight of the very first security cameras. It wasn't like his family believed he didn't have friends (they would've been right if they did), but the few Wraith owners in the city would never deign to give him a ride.

"But isn't the mansion a fair walk from here?" Mircea asked, checking his GPS. "Let me drive you to the gates. You shoudn't walk so much in your condition."

"It's best if the cameras don't see you."

There it was again. Why was Evinori so worried about the Carters seeing them together when he had nothing to do with the Quartz-Carter feud? Was Evinori more than a mere servant? Did the Carters have some kind of twisted interest in Evinori's unbelievable beauty? "Evinori," Mircea said, frowning worriedly. "You know, I bear the Carters no ill-will."

"Okay," Evinori answered, his brows furrowing in confusion. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I don't care about the feud. So you can rest assured I'm not looking for excuses to go on a rampage against the Carters."

"That's great, but Mircea, why are you declaring this to me out of nowhere?"

Mircea took both of Evinori's hands in his. "You can tell me if they're doing something bad to you," he said. "I'll do whatever I can to help you."

The expression that came over Evinori's face was an odd mix of relief, hope, disappointment and sadness. "You forgot, didn't you?" he asked, giving Mircea an admonishing look. "You forgot what I told you about my being a toxic pleasure. I've warned you before and I'm warning you again: involving yourself with me will feel amazing, but it will ultimately lead to your ruin."

"Maybe if you stopped being so mysterious about it all and told me what the danger is, I could do something about it."

"Why can't you just take my word for it?"

"Why can't you take mine?"

"I do, and that's the problem!"

Mircea jumped, startled by Evinori's desperate shout. The omega gave a troubled frown, biting his lips as he tried to summon the courage to say some very difficult things. Resolve hardened, he freed his hands and cradled Mircea's face, pressing their foreheads together. "Listen. I've never had anything like this, okay?"

Mircea's breath stalled in his throat at their proximity. Unable to hold himself back completely, he wove his fingers into Evinori's hair. The spece between them crackled with electric desire to get closer. "Anything like what?"

"All...this. Having my existence matter to someone. Being someone's strength and having them be mine. Laughing and bantering and just hanging out. Being one of the few who know how truly amazing they are. And to have that someone be you, who I thought would forever be separated from me by a world and a pane of glass - to have the privilege, in some way, to call you mine - it's beyond my wildest fantasy. One day, the Carters will hurt me badly-"

"-like they did yesterday-"

"-and you'll offer to do something in response-"

"-like I did today-"

"-and I won't be able to say no."

"Like you shouldn't do now."

A half-pleased, half-bitter smile appeared on Evinori's face. "If the Carters learn that I know you, they'll never let me see you again. Worse, they'll blackmail me into honeytrapping you. You make me happy, Mircea. And nothing they do to me now hurts as much as it would to lose you."

The joy at those words overwhelmed Mircea so much he forgot how to speak. All he could manage was a guttural groan before he exploded outwards like a coiled spring. In a single move, he grabbed Evinori by the waist and tugged him into his lap. Evinori moved with equal enthusiasm, gripping the lever to recline Mircea's seat as he settled into his embrace. Mircea whooped in surprise as the seat fell backwards, instinctively gripping Evinori tighter.

"So that's your plan," he panted, tucking a lock of Evinori's hair behind his ear. "You're going to hide me away like a pirate's buried treasure."

"If that's what it takes to keep you," Evinori responded. "That's what you do when you catch a falling star. You put it in your pocket - and you do not let it fade away."