Allen
Allen’s phone buzzing woke him up. He had fallen asleep with it next to his head again, the low battery blinking at him angrily as he punched in his passcode with bleary eyes. He had a flurry of texts from Robbie.

Annoying Neighbor, 2:53 AM:

WEE WOO WEE WOO! CODE RED! CODE RED!

I may have fucked up fr, I need a huge favor from you

Not gonna go into huge detail but my parents think we’re dating so they’re gonna tell your parents I need you to play along pretty please

I’LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING IN PERSON JUST PLAY ALONG FOR NOW

I’ll owe you forever ong I’ll do whatever you want

Allen stared at the messages, even rubbing his eyes and rereading them to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. He wasn’t. Maybe this was a weird dream? He typed back.

Me, 2:56 AM:

got it

Then he rolled over and went back to sleep.

His alarm went off at six every morning. He rolled over to turn it off, then went through the motions of his morning routine. It wasn’t until he walked downstairs to eat breakfast and the looks his parents were giving him that he remembered Robbie’s texts last night.

“Uhm, morning.” He said, clearing his throat and going to make himself a bowl of fruit loops.

It was when he was pouring the almond milk in that his mother finally asked, “Have you decided on which college you’d like to go to yet?”

“Mom, the school year just started. I haven’t even applied to anywhere yet.”

“You know that Rutherford sent you a full ride just last month. This year can make or break you, Allie. You need to stay focused.”

Finally his sleep fuzzy brain realized what his mother was implying. He picked a spoon out of the tableware drawer and bumped it closed with his hip as he turned to look at her. “Is this about Robbie?”

“He just seems a bit young, don’t you think? He’s only a sophomore this year.” His mother sipped her coffee, “You didn’t even tell us you were dating.”

“Because we knew you’d be weird about it.” He sat down opposite of his parents, cereal in hand, “And it’s only happened like, last week. It’s pretty new.”

“You’ve never shown any interest in him before.”

Allen took a bite of his cereal to save himself some time, trying to come up with something believable. He hadn’t shown interest in Robbie because he wasn’t interested in him. The thought had never crossed his mind really, as Robbie mostly seemed more like the annoying younger brother he never had than an actual Omega.

“I didn’t think he would like me back.” He finally settled with, then shoved his cereal in his face faster. Robbie better have a good explanation for this. “Can we talk about this later? I gotta get to school.”

͙ ͙۪۪̥ ͙ ♡𐡘 𐡘 𐡘 𐡘♡ ͙ ͙۪۪̥ ͙

Scott

“Okay, fess up.” Scott broke the heavy silence in the kitchen. It was just him and Vincent home, but his younger brother was acting weird. Vincent startled at his voice, flinging some of his oatmeal onto the table. “What’s going on? I heard you sneak out last night.”

“Nothing. I was just visiting a friend.”

“Your nose is only red when you’ve been crying and you have bags under your eyes.” And his scent was soured, almost like towels that hadn’t dried properly. There was a hint of something else too, something sweet and fruity that didn’t belong to him. “I’ll find out eventually so you might as well tell me now.”

“I was just upset because of last night, and I went to see a friend.”

“That Omega you’re friends with?” He’d never actually talked to him, but a chubby Omega with an instrument case came to mind when he thought of Vincent’s friend. It was always hard to remember his name.

“Yeah.” He grumbled, still sulking over his apple cinnamon oatmeal.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“With you?” His brother scoffed, moving to get up, “What’s the point? You’re just going to tell me to suck it up anyway.”

“Vincent-“ Scott began, but the younger Alpha’s glare cut him off.

“I don’t want to talk about it with you.”

Robbie

Allen cornered him in the hallway before first period. “You’ve got some explaining to do.” And then pulled him into the bathroom.

Robbie huffed as he was dragged along, “We’ll be late for class.”

“I don’t give a fuck. I want to know why I was telling my parents about my undying love for you this morning.”

“Laying it on thick, huh?” Robbie sighed, unsure of where to even start. He was tired from the lack of sleep he’d gotten last night, and the stress of his parents interrogating him about safe sex until the wee hours of the morning. He wanted to sleep for the next ten years, “Do you know who Vincent is?”

“Scott’s brother? Yeah.”

“He’s like, my best friend but sure. Basically my mom found him in my nest-“

“Whoa, your nest? I haven’t even stepped foot inside your bedroom since you presented and you let this guy in your nest?”

“He’s my best friend!”

“We’ve been friends for years!”

“Not the point.” He shoved Allen’s shoulder, “Anyway, my parents freaked because they thought we were doing gross things- we weren’t by the way- and I couldn’t let them think we were. I have this like, big crush on Scott Wilkey, and if everyone thought I was with his brother then I’d have no chance with him. So I just told them we were dating.”

“But if we’re dating then you have no chance with Scott?”

“We’re not actually dating though?”

“Oh. True.”

“Anyway, so we date for like a week until my parents calm down, and then dramatically break up, and then I can go back to being hopelessly in love in peace. Sound like a deal?” Robbie asked.

Allen didn’t answer immediately. He seemed to be thinking as he leaned against the bathroom wall (gross) with his arms cross over his chest. “What am I getting out of this?”

Robbie shrugged, “I said I would do anything you want?”

“I don’t want anything right now though. I’ll just cash in my favor later.”

“Deal.” They shook on it, and the plan was sealed. Robbie officially had his first (fake) boyfriend, and all it had taken was a five minute talk in a smelly bathroom. He was still late to first period though, and Vincent was giving him a weird look as he took a seat at his desk.

Things started to get weird around second period. For the most part, Robbie was ignored. He had a few solid friends in band, people he could get along with in class, and of course, being friends with Vincent, but he was by no means popular. There wasn’t any reason for people to be staring at him, but maybe he had something in his hair? He didn’t think he smelled weird, either, but maybe he could get someone to do a sniff check soon.

He got his answer when he walked into art class. He sat down in his usual seat beside Allen, who looked as sweaty as he normally did. At least he smelled more of deodorant than body odor today.

The girl who sat in front of them turned around. “Are you two dating?” She asked, looking between them skeptically.

“Why are you asking?” Allen asked, and Robbie was thankful that he said something first.

“I just heard someone saying you were, and you sit together during this class.”

He and Allen shared a look. It was possible people had heard them talking in the bathroom. “Yeah, we’re dating.” Robbie decided to say.

“Oh,” She blinked as if surprised, “Well you two look good together.” Then turned so she was facing forward again.

He could feel Allen glaring at the side of his face.

“Oh, so we’re just telling everyone now that we’re together?” Allen asked as they moved forward in the lunch line. They never ate together at school, but apparently it was important that they discussed the details of their fake relationship before things got too out of hand. Allen grabbed two trays and began filling both of them with various lunch foods. Robbie followed along quietly, not bothering to get anything for himself. He wasn’t very hungry.

“I’m sorry I panicked!” He said, trying to keep a whine out of his voice. Allen scanned his lunch card and they found an empty booth to sit at.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Robbie repeated once they were settled, “I know that we don’t really seem like we would be dating, and I’m not trying to embarrass you or make people think you’re lame or something, but—"

“Wait, wait,” Allen frowned at him as he pushed the second tray across the table to Robbie, “Why would people think I was lame for being with you?”

“I mean… I dunno. I’m not exactly cool.” Robbie shrugged, absentmindedly picking up the fork on the tray to give his hands something to do, “I don’t look like someone you’d date.”

“Because you’re in band?”

“Because I’m chubby and weird and I don’t really act like an Omega.”

Allen paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. He lowered his hand slowly, eyebrows knitting in concern, “Do you think those things about yourself are bad?”

He blinked, unsure of how to respond to that. He didn’t really think they were desirable things about himself, but with the perplexed expression on his lunchmate’s face, he suddenly wasn’t so positive. Allen had always seemed like the opposite of him, when they were kids Allen was always the first to try something new, and wasn’t scared about what might happen. They had been stuck in the same little league baseball team when they were little, and Allen had excelled while Robbie had quit before their first season had ended. He could still remember crying every time they’d made him go up to bat.

“I don’t know.” He stirred his mashed potatoes up. The school always made the instant kind, and they’d added too much water today, so they were soupier than they should have been, “Anyway, we need to make sure our stories match. I’m sure our parents will be grilling us later and then comparing what we said.”

“What’s there to make up? We realized we liked each other and decided to date. The end.” Allen shoved a chicken nugget in his mouth.

“That is the most uninspired story I’ve ever heard.”

“Well have you got any other suggestions?”

“No.”

“Hey.” They both looked up as Vincent slid into the booth beside Robbie. He looked tired, and a little weary as he eyed Allen, but his attention quickly turned to Robbie. “Are you okay? Your parents seemed pretty mad last night.”

“I’m fine. They were just worried,” Robbie glanced between the two Alphas, “but I think I have a better story for how we started “dating”.”