"What is wrong with him?" the omega asked, chuckling at Mircea's bewildered expression as he examined himself.

Carol giggled conspiratorially. "His brain had a short-circuit," she replied. "Isn't he adorable? He's like one of those super-eccentric geniuses. Once he gets thinking hard enough, he'll put on an evening gown if that's what you hand to him. Trust me, I know." She winked.

Evinori felt an unpleasant mix of jealousy and nervousness pool in his chest. "Tell me something, Caroline. You and Mircea have chemistry. You get along well. From what I can tell by your stories, you had a great relationship. And you clearly still love him. Then why did you two break up?"

"Because I wasn't interested in sex." She laughed at Evinori's startled expression and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "No, he's not some philandering prick who doesn't like being told no. I'm asexual. Mircea, bless his heart, tried his best to adjust to that but his dissatisfaction eventually began to show. I couldn't bear to see him like that, so I decided to end it before he became utterly miserable. Why do you look so shocked?"

"Because he's Mircea Quartz! Normally, women climb over each other for a mere fling with him and hold on to him like limpets when it ends. I've seen it with his latest ex. But you...you had him for the long run. You had the Man who has Everything, and you let him go. Not just that, you covered up my lie and stopped him from stacking negative points against me."

Carol nodded in agreement. "You're right," she said. "I'll admit, I did consider marrying him despite our incompatibility. But I realized we'd eventually turn into miserable, resentful spouses engaged in betrayal and powerplay, and we'd ruin any children we'd have - not necessarily with each other, mind you - the way our parents ruined us." She shifted onto her side so she was facing Evinori fully. "It might not be that obvious, but Mircea's one of those broken kids too, and my leaving him broke him even further. I was young and stupid and I decided it was a good idea to come out publicly and dump him at the same time, and it turned into an ugly breakup in more ways than one. He's always dated the safe options ever since: sexually compatible, socially acceptable women who like him more than he likes them. And then he met you."

"I don't understand."

"Silly boy. Before you, his girlfriends were all expendable to him. He didn't care one bit whether they stayed or left. No matter what was happening in his relationships, he always had this annoying, cocky confidence: he was the Man who has Everything, the cream of the social crop were climbing over each other to date him and if anything went wrong, the one doing the dumping would be him. Then you come along, and despite you checking all the wrong boxes socially, for the first time in his life he's afraid of losing someone. He's terrified of everything that could go wrong between the two of you, including the way you treat him."

Evinori had to drain his latest sip of margarita back into his glass, or the nervousness and delight swirling in his stomach would've sent it right back up along with his breakfast. Mircea wanted him? Mircea wanted him?! He was thinking of actually pursuing him? "So...you're helping him not be afraid?" he asked, stupidly.

Carol rolled her eyes. "What else? You seem like you're a decent guy, so I'm assuming there's a good reason you told him you and I befriended each other in the cafe. He was so upset about you lying to him he'd begun to lose focus on the bigger elephant in the room: my dad. So I helped out a little. Even if you are a liar, there's no need for it to come out in front of my father and cast aspersions on Mircea's judgement of character."

The yacht dwarfed the quaint little fishing boats docked at the quaint little port of the quaint little tourist town by a long shot. The screaming of seagulls and the ringing of boat bells filled the salty air. Locals chattered merrily while milling about running errands. While the giant yacht was starting to attract a small crowd, its occupants were paid absolutely no mind as they made their way up the pier.

Mircea barely noticed any of it. He was more busy watching Carol and Evinori, both of whom were shaking out their hair from their respective updos. He'd always been distractingly attracted to Evinori, but then Caroline had to go and put all that stuff about love in his head and now every little move the omega made was irresistible. Not once in his life had he imagined he'd get all hot and bothered at the sight of another man running his fingers through his hair.

"Oh, come on," Carol whined loudly, snapping Mircea out of fantasies that would've earned him a fist in the teeth were Evinori able to see them. "How can you not care? The humidity's made your hair all big and snarly too, you know."

"Excuse me? I'm a guy," said Evinori. "We tend not to be bothered by something as miniscule as - okay, I'll talk. Stop looking at me like that." He returned Carol's deadpan stare with a look of annoyance. "It's driving me crazy. I even bought fancy anti-frizz spray, but I think it's making things wor-"

"Nonsense." Mircea stuck his leg between the two before following with the rest of his body. "Your hair looks lovely as usual. Not yours though, Carol. Yours looks like cotton candy drawn by someone high on PCP."

Carol shot out a hand and grabbed Mircea's ear, pulling mercilessly till his ear was level with her mouth. "Watch it, lover boy," she hissed. "I know you have plans to woo Bronze Beauty here and if you push me too far, I'll be wherever you go, third-wheeling. The. Entire. Time."

"Bronze Beauty? Really?"

"You're pushing."

"Yeow! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll behave, I promise!"

Satisfied, Carol let go. The next second, Mircea grabbed her, pinned her to his chest with one arm and began to muss her hair with the other one. The smaller Alpha let out an odd sound that was half-laugh, half angry scream, and struggled in his grasp as the last remaining vestiges of styling in her hair were obliterated.

"That'll teach you!" Mircea cried, and jumped away. "Ah! She's coming for me! Run, Evi, run!"

Before Evinori could get a word out, Mircea grabbed him by the wrist and fled. The former, who'd already been choking on laughter, gasped for breath as he stumbled along behind the alpha while struggling to hold on to both their bags. People on the street stared as the two men whizzed by with a colorfully swearing Caroline in hot pursuit. It was obvious Mircea had been here before: he seemed to know where he was going, and a few shopowners even pointed or called out in recognition as he passed. It was all Evinori could do to keep pace as he wove through winding side streets, leaving him no time to admire the splendid architecture or vibrant colors of the old stone houses they passed.

One final sprint downhill and the two were stumbling onto a small, mostly deserted beach of pristine white sand. Evinori dropped the bags and face-planted into the sand, wheezing. Mircea, equally breathless but high from the chase, whooped in victory when no blue-haired woman came running out from the line of buildings behind them.

"What-the-hell-why-me," the omega gasped, rolling onto his back.

"I don't know," Mircea replied cheerily. "I panicked."

"Carry...your own...damn...stuff!" Weakly, Evinori punched Mircea's shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry." Still chortling, Mircea began to brush sand off Evinori's sweaty face. And what a face it was. Beneath the rough sand was soft, fragrant skin, damp with sweat and red from exertion. Before long, the casual dusting had turned into gentle stroking, and the thrill of the chase had turned into something much more heart-pounding and sweet. Mircea had seen brown eyes a thousand and one times, but never before had they been as enticing as now, set in that lovely face with the sunlight dancing amongst the excitement and fascination and reservation in them.

Evinori tried his best to contain the abashed heat now spreading from his hairline all the way down to his shoulders. He caught Mircea's hand, snapping the alpha out of his trance, but didn't let go. "Tell me," he said, weaving their fingers together and holding up their linked hands to admire. "What was that about?"

"I told you, I'm sorry for dragging you with me. I was just jealous 'coz you and Carol have been joined at the hip since we set off, and-"

"I know you're jealous, you haven't exactly been hiding it. I'm talking about the nickname."

Now it was Mircea's turn to blush. "It just slipped out," he explained. "Don't get me wrong. Your name is beautiful, but it's enough of a mouthful to derail my train of thought when you're on my mind. So I came up with something shorter and before I knew it, calling you by that name became a habit. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," said Evinori with a small smile. "I like it."

"Really?" A delighted grin spread across Mircea's face. "Can I call you that all the time?"

"Except when I'm working."

"Alright." Mircea laid down on his side next to Evinori and propped his head up on his elbow. "Let's do a test run. Hi, Evi."

Evinori couldn't help but chuckle at the Alpha's boyish glee. "Hi, Mircea," he played along.

"Would you like to take a swim with me, Evi?"

"I'd love to, Mircea."

"Would you then have coffee with me, Evi?"

"I'd be sad if we didn't, Mircea."

"Would you marry me, Evi?"

"Nice try, Mircea. Answer's still no."

"Oh, c'mon!" Mircea punched Evinori's shoulder in complaint. "Once! Just once, can't you throw this sad, pathetic, lonely man a bone and say yes? I'm down to the very last shreds of my dignity here."

"In that case," Evi shifted closer to Mircea, who automatically wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him into himself. "Save them for the day you ask the question and actually mean it."

"Be careful what you wish for. I'll come after you, you know. That day will be here before you know it."

That was such a corny line that Evinori had to bury his face in Mircea's chest so he wouldn't see him roll his eyes. Nevertheless, his heart skipped a beat. "That sounds nice," he muttered inaudibly, smiling to himself.

The sweet moment came to an abrupt end when a huge pelican swooped down upon their scattered belongings and made off with Mircea's sunglasses. All Evinori registered was a loud shout before he was bodily tossed into the sand. By the time he rose, spitting and sputtering and very indignant, the alpha was already halfway down the beach, waving his fists and shouting profanities at the bird.

Evinori glared for a few seconds, but then reality him: he was in the middle of a weekend excursion on a yacht, enjoying the sun and the waves and the crisp sand at a lovely beach, in the company of a wonderful man he wanted who by some miracle of God wanted him back. His momentary irritation gone, he sank back onto the ground with a happy sigh to watch Mircea's distant figure scrambling clumsily over rocks, still in pursuit of his sunglasses.

The cool, salty breeze coming off the sea took all the excess heat off his skin so the sunlight felt just right. Seabirds squawked in the distance, bouncing off the cliffs flanking the beach along with the distant drone of other boats out in the bay. Waves broke at the shoreline with musical rhythm, occasionally interrupted by the deep, violent boom of water hitting solid rock. Evinori took a deep breath to soak it all in - he hadn't felt this peaceful in years. Maybe it'll be alright, he thought, looking back at the tolerance and friendship the Brixtons had shown him. Not everyone would be as nice and he knew that, but maybe people weren't as hateful as he thought they were.

The ringing of his phone jolted him out his reverie. He glanced at the screen and rolled his eyes wearily  before taking the call. "Ezra," he greeted coldly.

"Um, hi. How are you?"

"What do you want?"

"Mom wants to know where you are. The butler called you on your house phone, but there was no answer so he went down to the cabin himself and found it empty. And, well, you know how mom gets."

"No, I don't know how mom gets," Evinori mimicked scathingly. "I don't live with her. And where I am is nobody's business. I have the weekend off."

Someone sounding suspiciously like his mother barked something in the background and was hastily shushed by Ezra. Five seconds of heated, hushed conversation ensued and when the latter returned to the call, he sounded extremely contrite. "You can't do this, Nori. You're not just a regular employee. You are a member of this family and you have obligations towards it."

"Go fuck yourselves!" Evinori exploded. "You can't decide I'm family when it's convenient for you!"

"I'm not going to get into that argument with you right now. This isn't about us: don't you care about the dog? You've been AWOL since yesterday so Sundae hasn't been walked, and the poor thing is-"

"Sundae is Lily's dog, so why isn't she walking him?"

"Well, Lily doesn't want-"

"Then return him to the pound and tell her father not to entertain her every tantrum!" Evinori was positively screaming now. "I'm not going to ruin my holiday because that spoiled little brat can't take responsibility!"

His mother, who was obviously listening, said something to Ezra about not letting Evinori talk to him like that and it made the omega see red. "I hate you," he growled, clenching his fists and wishing they were squeezing his mother's neck instead of mere sand. "I can't believe you and mom don't realize how outrageously horrid you are. Like I said, go fuck yourselves-"

"Evi?" Mircea's voice sounded from right behind him. "What-"

Evinori drove his hand into Mircea's mouth to shut him up. "Mom is listening, isn't she? Tell her I hope Sundae chews her face off."

He hung up without bothering to decipher the shrill screaming that issued from the phone in response. Mircea only stared at him, massaging his throbbing lips. "What?!" the omega snapped at him upon noticing.

"First of all, ouch. Second of all, what on earth happened? Why were you yelling like that?"

"With a family like mine, it's a surprise I don't yell more," Evinori retorted, turning his phone off and throwing it into his bag. "May God strike me down if I ever treat my children the way they treated me. And you!"

"Y-y-yes! Sir?"

"If you don't treat your child like they're the center of the universe, I'll personally come after you. Understand?"

"Yes! Sir!"

"Good. Now take me for that swim you promised; I need to cool my head."