Thirteen: Ache

*thanks to B, gelfling65, and michelllle for your support!*

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“Um…”

Vincent rushed to explain himself before Wren could go into cardiac arrest. “I know what you’re thinking. Those old courting rituals are so outdated and cheesy. Unfortunately, my family is outdated and cheesy, and they’ve insisted on going through with it for me.”

He sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. “It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them that I don’t want to get married right now. They want me to at least start an Entanglement period with someone, soon. And I was planning on just ignoring them, but if I don’t choose someone…they’re going to choose for me. I’m not saying you have to marry me. Just go through the Entanglement with me, to appease my family for a moment. We can say things didn’t work out before getting to the Devotion stage.”

There was a strange feeling brewing in Wren’s chest. Whatever it was, Wren didn’t like it. But he swallowed the lump forming in his throat as discreetly as he could and forced himself to respond normally.

“Your family would actually force you to get married to someone?”

Vincent shook his head. “They’re not that hardcore. It’s more like they’ll start setting me up on endless blind dates until I give in and choose someone. If I start an Entanglement of my own volition, they won’t be quite as pushy about it, and you’ll only have to pretend for a month or two at max. Then if we call it off before reaching Devotion, they’ll back off for a year or two out of respect for you and your family.”

That made sense. Entering an Entanglement with someone was considered a formal agreement between two families as well as between two people. In the past, if a couple decided they didn’t want to move forward with the relationship, both parties would wait to start a new Entanglement with someone else for between one and three years. It was considered common courtesy, to avoid offending your former partner’s family. If you broke off one Entanglement just to immediately start another, wouldn’t that seem like you were rejecting them because their prospects weren’t as good as the new person’s?

That’s not to say you couldn’t date someone else after ending an Entanglement. You just couldn’t make it an official Entanglement until the waves calmed from the previous one.

Wren knew all that, and it made perfect sense to him. He understood why Vincent was asking this of him. If he were in a similar situation, Wren might choose to do the same thing. Why not ask a friend to pretend for a while?

The problem was that word. Pretend. Wren kept repeating the word over and over in his head, unsure why he was so stuck on it.

He did know, actually, but he couldn’t bring himself to dive into it with Vincent watching him so intently from across the table.

The waitress returned with their food before Wren could reply, giving him a few minutes to breathe and calm down. His hands were shaking faintly as he grabbed his knife and fork. He stabbed the fork into his chicken violently. He knew how the chicken felt. Because his heart felt a little like it was being stabbed by a fork too.

Vincent was still eyeing him carefully, too distracted watching Wren’s face to eat. His nostrils flared slightly, and Wren cursed mentally. He’d been so busy trying to control his face, he’d forgotten to control his scent. Distressed omega was a displeasing scent to all, but none more so than alphas, who tended to go a little weird if they smelled it.

As expected, Vincent’s pupils shrank and he stiffened in his seat, leaning back a bit, as if he thought it was his proximity that was distressing Wren, and not the fact that he’d been flirting with Wren just to get Wren to fake date him. Not because he actually wanted to date Wren.

“I’m sorry to spring this on you so suddenly,” he said quickly. “You don’t have to give me an answer right away.”

Déjà vu. Wren immediately flashed back. Outside the grocery store, haloed by streetlamps, Vincent had said something very similar.

I just find you very attractive.

Would you like to go out with me?

You don’t have to make a choice right now. I can wait.

Clearly, he couldn’t wait.

Wren stuffed his mouth with chicken to avoid having to say anything. Honestly, why was he surprised? Of course Vincent hadn’t asked him out before just because he actually…liked Wren. Wren was an unmated omega nearing his thirties. He was actually a pretty strategic choice if Vincent wanted to pass him off as a potential partner. Not only did Wren have a stable job, he was also mature and reserved, meaning he wouldn’t be seen as flighty or a gold-digger. And though Vincent probably didn’t know this, Wren’s family was actually pretty well-off, all things considered, which was another point in his favor when it came to the traditional, rich families who still practiced marriage rituals like this.

Wren chewed and swallowed his bite of chicken, but he didn’t really taste it. It slid down his throat more like ash than food. Vincent was pale, still watching Wren like he was a loaded gun because of that distressed scent, and Wren took a deep breath, trying to rein it in. Vincent relaxed minutely, and Wren knew he’d been successful.

How should Wren answer? His first reaction was rejection. Wren still had some self-respect. He didn’t particularly want to be used like this. There was also the issue of Wren’s scent-drunkeness, which could rear its ugly head at any time during the two months he would have to be constantly at Vincent’s side. Plus, Wren would have to live with Vincent and his family during that time according to traditional Entanglement rules, and that was way more out of Wren’s comfort zone than anything else.

But that was the thing: most of Wren’s life had been ruled by his comfort zone. He didn’t step out of it for anything. He’d lived his whole life wrapped in a metaphorical security blanket. He didn’t take risks. And up until recently, he hadn’t really been curious what the world was like outside of his blanket.

…Vincent made him curious. Wren wasn’t sure what it was about him. Maybe it was the way he was so bluntly truthful while still being so mysterious. Maybe it was his dedication to worming his way into Wren’s life, whether that be to ask Wren out legitimately or to pretend for his family.

Maybe it was simpler than that, and Wren was just attracted to him, and wanted to see what it was like to let that attraction blossom.

Or perhaps it was leftover madness from his heat affecting his judgement when he chugged half his glass of water in one go, wiped a hand over his mouth, and said, “…Okay.”

So what if his first ever relationship was fake? It was better this way, actually, because at some point Wren could dig that security blanket out and wrap it around himself just as tightly as before, going right back to the way he was no problem.

The uneasiness in Wren’s gut begged to differ, but he ignored it. Vincent brightened immediately. And Wren’s fate was sealed.