The silence finally began to crush Quinn beneath it.

He plucked an interview question out of the tense air. “Do you have any hobbies?”

“Hobbies, Alpha?” Quiet and polite. Remi was now only picking at his plate.

“Anything you like to do?”

“I like to do well at my chores, Alpha.”

Quinn couldn't keep his sarcasm at bay. “Okay, what about outside of your servitude?”

Remi glanced about the room as though waiting for someone else to answer for him.

“There’s nothing you enjoy?” Quinn pressed. “Nothing you are interested in?”

“An omega can only partake in activities that their alpha orders, Alpha,” Remi answered as though reading from a script.

“Well, your alpha is trying to think of what activities to order you to do.” Maybe not order, but certainly pay for the supplies of. “Tell me what you’d like to try.”

“I don’t know, Alpha.”

“You like sports? Or making things? You look like you would sew stuff.” He didn’t mean the words as a comment on omega stereotypes, but because of his new housemate’s thin fingers.

A small perk to Remi’s posture. “I can sew up holes in clothes if you need me to-”

“I meant as a creative outlet.”

Remi shrugged and his enormous cardigan slid from his shoulders again. It was with almost saintly restraint that Quinn stopped himself from pinching the seams and wrapping the tiny creature back up. Instead, he opened a fresh tab on his screen and searched the name of the local leisure centre. He’d gone to an exercise class there before he found his current gym. They probably had some recreational classes open to beginners. He nodded Remi over to him and the small man obeyed immediately, leaping from his seat like he’d taken a shock to the buttocks.

“Let’s see what’s on offer and book you some activities,” Quinn announced, more to himself. He started clicking on the Autumn schedules for different departments of the centre.

A small figure crept to his shoulder. “Would I go by myself?” Remi whispered.

Of course not, was Quinn’s first instinct. But if Remi wanted the freedom, Quinn was happy to give it. Granted they had a very thorough pep talk on the dangers and intricacies of human society beforehand.

“Do you want me to come with you?” he asked carefully. Keeping any pressure from his tone to push Remi either way. It was up to him.

“I want what you want, Alpha.”

Quinn's fingers curled on the keyboard momentarily as he suppressed a sigh. “I want you to feel comfortable. Would you feel uncomfortable if you were left at the leisure centre alone?”

Remi nodded.

“Okay.” Quinn began opening up every option from the next week’s schedules in a new tab. “We will both go and learn something new.”

Having run through every available class and club on the centre’s schedule, Remi had simply nodded to everything Quinn suggested.

Quinn sighed, no longer able to keep his frustration silent. “How about you pick your top three from the activities we looked at? Take the rest of the day to think about it, write it down for me, and I’ll book in the ones that have space at a time I can take you.”

Remi nodded obediently. "Yes, Alpha."

Quinn didn’t have it in him to argue over the title today. He was about to begin the second half of his work day and he was already exhausted. There had been tardiness, tears and tension that could be touched in the air… It was nothing like a typical day working from home for Quinn.

With Remi agonising over his choices at the other end of the table for the rest of the afternoon, Quinn was free to complete his report. It was all he managed to do with the second half of his day, but he didn’t have the energy to beat himself up about it.

It was only for the sake of Remi’s nervous disposition that Quinn didn’t smack down his laptop when the clock reached four. Instead, he closed it gently, rose from his seat, and announced he would be taking some time to do yoga in his bedroom. Usually he would head to the class he attended a few times a week, but the thought of trying to navigate that situation with Remi stuck to his side like a limpet told Quinn he wouldn’t get the unwinding he needed from the session. A youtube video guided him through a gentle flow for forty-five minutes. Afterwards, he felt fractionally better.

For dinner, they cooked together again. The vegetables were split into a pair of unequal piles to be prepared for soup. They peeled, chopped and boiled in silence and Quinn wondered if Remi was as overstimulated by the day’s events as he was.

The silence continued at the table, where it became uncomfortable once again. After scooping half his bowl down, Quinn decided to make another attempt at getting to know the man at the other end of the table. He really didn't want to discuss any topics that touched on packs or their cultures, but with that ruled out there was nothing they could talk about. Remi had made it clear he had no hobbies, and the only time he had spoken freely was to discuss trade between his pack and another. As much as Quinn hated to admit it, being wolves was all they had in common.

“Did your pack get absorbed into one of the mega packs or split up into the smaller ones?” he asked, not caring for the answer.

Remi dropped his spoon into his bowl with a clatter. “Split up,” he answered hurriedly.

“That's probably for the best, they'll blend into their new communities better.” Quinn nodded to himself as if he knew anything about these things. Remi joined him, bobbing agreeably. “Did you get the pack names of any of your friends before they brought you to me?”

“No, Alpha.”

“That's a shame. You'll make lots of new ones once they find you your new pack, though.”

“Maybe.” The tone had changed, but Quinn didn’t have the right words to ask what it meant. He shrugged it off and finished his dinner.

They separated to bathe and get changed into pyjamas. It had barely reached nine when they met back in the living room with nothing else to do with themselves. And Quinn had dragged his ten-step skincare routine out as long as was physically possible before his skin cracked under the intense attention. He could happily turn in to bed immediately, but it felt like he should entertain his guest, offer something for him to do.

“You can watch TV for a bit if you like, but I’ll be heading to bed soon.” The weariness in his own voice somehow added even more weight on his back. “Please keep the noise down after ten, though.”

Remi shook his head. “I will go to bed too, Alpha.”

“Sure. Before we head to bed I need to show you how to use the assistant, though.”

“Assistant?”

“It’s a device that uses voice commands to take notes or play music or other stuff,” Quinn explained as patiently as his fatigue would allow. He walked to the corner of the living room and pointed to the cylindrical speaker atop the side table beside his sofa. “You can use it to contact me until you get a phone. You need to learn how to use it tonight since you’ll be here alone tomorrow.”

“Voice commands?” Remi repeated.

“It’s always listening for commands, so as long as you are on the ground floor and speak clearly, it should be able to understand you.”

Tiny hands twisted at drooping pyjama sleeves. “You can listen to the house through this while you’re away?” Remi asked, trepidation filling his voice and eyes.

“It’s not like I can just tune in and listen to anything,” Quinn assured him. Not that he thought for a moment that Remi would require spying on anyway. “I get messages or recordings from the assistant when a command is used. So if you said, ‘Assistant! Send a message to Quinn’s phone.’” He paused, awaiting the virtual assistant’s response.

A monotonous voice answered, “what is your message to Quinn’s phone?” It pronounced his name like it was winded.

“Hello Quinn, I have used up all the coffee. End message and send.”

“Message sent to Quinn’s phone.”

Quinn held up his phone to show the message, much to Remi’s wonderment.

“Give it a try. But make sure not to use any wolf-related language, these messages could be seen by humans at my work if my phone is left on my desk.”

Remi glanced nervously between Quinn and the small speaker.

“Hello Assistant,” he said quietly.

“Hello,” the robotic voice replied. “How can I help?”

Remi jumped back a step and laughed nervously. “Please send a message to Al-”

Quinn gave him a warning look.

“-to Quinn’s phone.”

Hearing Remi pronounce his name through his pretty and pouty lips brought a tingle to the back of Quinn’s neck. His name had never been so delicate.

“What is your message to Quinn’s phone?” the virtual assistant enquired.

“Please tell him that… um…” He floundered, eyes darting around as he tried to think of a message.

“Message sent to Quinn’s phone.”

Quinn held up his phone and laughed at the message of ‘Please tell him that yummy.’

Remi flushed.

“And that’s how it works. So if you need me tomorrow, use the assistant to send a message to my phone, okay?”

“Okay.”

As they climbed the stairs, Remi ahead with Quinn taking the rear and turning off the lights on the way, Remi mumbled, “having a robot assistant isn’t so different from having an omega.”

Quinn could only snort in response. He didn’t have the energy to get into a debate about sentient versus non-sentient servants. Maybe he could just recommend Remi watch ‘I, Robot’ while he was at work tomorrow.