It was the weekend after the yacht trip, and he finally had the time to obsess over his decisions. "Or their lack thereof, to be precise," he mumbled, staggering over to the divan by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the cityscape. How could he have been so careless? How could he have allowed himself to pursue Evi with a simple 'I have to start being careful if I want to do this'? He'd always known a relationship with Evi would mean a head-on clash with his father, but he'd completely overlooked the possibility of his father sidestepping him and getting to Evinori himself.

Carol's question echoed in his head yet again. Was Evi worth that kind of trouble? Objectively speaking, he didn't know. He hadn't known Evi long enough for that. Instintively, the answer was a resounding yes. Even though the omega was hiding so much, even though he kept pushing him away, even though he was so closely associated with a rival family, the answer was yes. There was something about the way Evi met his searching gaze unwaveringly, making no attempt to conceal his guilt or his fear, that assured Mircea he wouldn't regret liking him. Of course, Mircea could have taken the time to do his research before throwing in his lot with Evi. But from the moment he'd laid eyes on him, he'd constantly felt like the omega would disappear into the wind if he didn't hold on somehow. If he hadn't done something from the get-go, he'd still be haunting the streets in search of that mind-boggling scent today.

And even if time and knowledge proved Evi to be worth it after all, could Mircea successfully convince his father to let him date a male omega? His father was one of the most overt and infamous omegaphobes of his time. There were semi-verified rumors circulating about Francis Quartz's involvement in the ruin or death of many omegas, prominent omega supporters and pro-omega establishments.

The murder Carol had been referring to was one such 'rumor.' Mircea had been very young at the time, so he had no memory of the incident. The omega in question was actually Mircea's nanny, employed by his father under the impression that she was a beta. She'd concealed her true subsex by taking very strong, very illegal pheromone suppressors in order to secure the job, apparently so she could provide for her young daughter. However, the suppressors eventually took their toll and she collapsed in the middle of giving two-year-old Mircea a bath. According to the Quartz manor's oldest servants, she'd fallen into the bathtub right on top of him and his screaming had alerted a nearby servant, who promptly lost his mind upon inhaling the potent pheromones leaking out the bathroom. That alpha's rampaging had saved Mircea's life: his unhinged roars as he attempted to wrench the door open had attracted the attention of more servants who, upon hearing Mircea's cries, had broken down the door. What they'd found was him hanging precariously over the tub's edge, three of his nanny's shaking fingers gripping his hair and the other two hooked around the tub's rim, and the woman herself face-down in the tub. Her last act had been to use whatever little strength remained in her failed body to hold his head out of the water.

The entire thing had taken maybe a minute to play out, and someone had been doing CPR on the nanny when Quartz senior had arrived on scene and sent everyone away. She was declared to have drowned in a freak accident and was quietly and quickly cremated. That in itself was suspicious enough, but rumor stemmed from the fact that just as Francis Quartz had shut the door behind them, some of the servants who were there that day claimed to have heard a weak, gurgling cough and the employee who had been trying to resuscitate her was never seen again.

 That incident was a taboo topic in the house, so Mircea had never been able to ask his father about it (not that he trusted the bigoted old man to tell the truth). He had witnessed too much of his father's malice against omegas in other forms, however, to not take active steps to defend a future relationship with Evi. Which brought him, for the umpteenth time this week, full circle to the question of whether Evi was worth a life-altering confrontation with his father.

"You should drink water next if you want to be able to stand the sunlight tomorrow."

"FUCK!" Mircea yelled, startled. His glass slipped out his hand and emptied his contents onto his sweatpants as he fumbled to catch it. He glared in the direction of the kitchen once he'd recovered from the mini-heart attack. "How long have you been there?"

His visitor didn't come out of the shadows. "Twenty minutes. You were blacked out when I came in."

"I sincerely regret giving you a key sometimes."

"Coming and going as I please makes my life easier. Although I see the problem once pretty boy starts living here with you."

Mircea jumped again, at her words this time. "How do you - never mind, I don't want to know. Stalker."

Something came flying out of the darkness and hit him square on the forehead, hard. His kitchen timer. "I don't have that much free time," said the woman, with mild distaste. "I saw the cafe's logo on the muffin you were eating last time we met, got curious and went to check it out one day. Happened to see you two talking. I saw the way you two looked at each other."

Mircea knew better than to deny anything. Her intuition was far too sharp for that. "So...what do you think?" he asked, shyly.

There was a contemplative pause. "Like you're the something he's been looking for and running from all his life without knowing what it was."

Mircea had to laugh in disbelieving admiration. She'd somehow known there was no need to tell him about himself: he knew well enough how he felt. "And?" he pressed, eagerly.

"I think the initial signs look good. He's terrified of you."

"...that's a good thing?"

Mircea could hear her shrugging her shoulders. "He knows there's parts of your world he should be afraid of. He's wise. And if he were after your wealth, he wouldn't have any intention to be close enough, long enough to appear on the radar. He'd be too busy seducing you for that."

That relieved some of the anxiety Mircea was feeling, but not by much. "The more time I spend around him, the more afraid I myself become," he admitted, his drunkenness making him more comfortable with exposing his vulnerability. "It's like my world's soaked in gasoline and I've fallen for the match. What if I go up against dad and lose? What if, after all the effort I put in, I do something to ruin my relationship with Evi? What if Evi turns out to be the wrong guy to fight for?"

A tinkling laugh echoed through the open space, followed by a half-amused, half-bitter sigh. "Then you put yourself back together and move on. If you can't pick up the pieces, you live on, broken. And in case of the last scenario, I murder him."

Mircea wondered if Evinori the Wise could somehow sense the lurking danger posed by this psycho as well. "That's not very reassuring," he grumbled. "What's gotten into you today?"

"You and I work so well together because I tell you the truth," she scoffed. "Until now, you've never worried about these what if's, have you? You haven't. Because you went into relationships knowing full well you'd end them. Now that you haven't automatically set an expiry date, you can't see 'the other shore' and you're scared. That's the nature of any relationship you intend to be committed to, you know. Unless you're the Oracle and can see into the future, there is always be a non-zero chance that the other person will destroy you, but you make the gamble anyway."

"I don't like uncertainty."

"Suck it up and deal with it. That's what you have me in here for. Now go drink some water and tell me what you need me to do."

The end of opening hours couldn't come fast enough. It wouldn't be an improvement to the day even if it did. Evi was on closing shift, and the coworker who was supposed to be closing with him had already dipped.

Then again, he'd happily close alone for the rest of the year if it would make his twin brothers leave the cafe and never come back.

He'd already spent all week panicked and frustrated because Mircea had been avoiding him. The jerk hadn't come in or so much as texted him even once. He didn't need this additional aggravation right now. The twins had come in two hours ago with their wives and kids with malevolent smirks on their faces and eyes already set on him. He'd watched with growing dread as they'd insisted to be seated in his section and begun their time with him by snapping their fingers. They'd been grating on his nerves since then: insults, harassment, being difficult while giving their orders, sending back food, the list went on. It wasn't just him, either: they had been making life difficult for everyone. They were noisy and disruptive, the kids were running wild, two waitresses had already run to the back to have a good cry, and the manager was hiding behind the counter tearing her hair out.

Worst of all, they had started harassing the omegas seated at a neighboring table. Watching two omega women hesitantly enter the cafe, practically being pushed by the two betas with them, had been the highlight of Evi's day. He'd been so excited at the sight of them, and they so relieved upon seeing him, that the hostess had immediately seated them in his section. All four were employees at a startup nearby, and the betas had brought their newly hired juniors, Yohanna and Arya, with them to a welcome dinner. The two omegas were timid but responsive to his attempts at conversation, and within the hour he and the two betas had together made them feel comfortable and welcome enough to open up. He'd only just started thinking that he might have made new friends when his idiot brothers had started targeting the omegas and ruined any chance of them ever coming back.

The poor victims and their friends were currently sitting stiff and silent, doing their best to ignore the twins who were loudly humiliating the omegas while looking directly at them. For the hundredth time, Evi went over to their table in an attempt to interfere. "Hello there," he greeted with a cold smile. "Excuse me, we'd appreciate it if you would refrain from harassing other patrons. I can seat you elsewhere if you are uncomfortable."

"And I'd appreciate it if you'd fuck off," Emory crooned, returning Evi's smile with an insolent one of his own. "You're right about one thing, though. We are uncomfortable, so can you please reseat them? Outside, where they belong."

"I'm sorry, but you're creating a scene," Evi retorted through clenched teeth. "If you don't stop, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Elwynn scoffed. "The nerve of these people. As expected from a place that attracts such an unsavory crowd."

"Yeah, the smell is so overpowering I can barely swallow my food," added his wife.

The omegas flinched, and their friends reddened with outrage. Evi whipped around and apologized to them. "Your meals are on the house," he declared, secretly hoping he wouldn't have to use his credit card.

"Oh? How nice. You girls should pay the kindness forward and service your customers on a discount tonight!"

Evi whirled back around and slammed his hand on the table, hard. Nearly everyone at the surrounding tables jumped a foot in the air. "Listen here, you shitheads," he hissed, leaning forward so only the twins could hear him. "You leave them the fuck alone. One more word and I will personally-"

A loud yelp cut him off before several people cried out and the crashing of several heavy dishes shattering filled the air. Evi turned to find Nora trying to scramble off of a little old lady at one of her tables, her large serving tray upside down on the floor, surrounded by spilled food and china shards. Lily stood behind her, guilty and scared, clutching her hands to her chest.

Slowly, body shaking with anger, vein throbbing in his temple, Evi returned his hate-filled eyes to Elwynn. "Rein your spawn in," he ordered him and his wife, "or I will. And I won't be kind."

Before anyone said anything in response and earned themselves a right hook, Evi marched off to help Nora clean up. The elderly customer was shaken but otherwise alright. She was more concerned about Nora, who'd crossed her threshold after being harried constantly by Lily and the other Carter kids on what had already been a bad day, and was now crying hysterically on the floor. "Hey, hey, it's okay," Evi told Nora softly, wiping her tears away. "I got you. C'mon."

"The f-f-food!" Nora blubbered. "And that lady...and the dishes! My paycheck! My tips! I'm so sorry, I don't want to get fired!"

"It was an accident," Evi said, helping her up. Her knees buckled, and Evi had to catch her before she collapsed back into the broken glass. "No, I have to clean it up," Nora sobbed, struggling weakly. "I'm so sorry, ma'am, I'll clean it up right away-"

Evi had to scoop her up into his arms to stop her. "Nora, I got this," he insisted. Shooting a quick apology in the general direction of his spectators, he carried her into the break room and set her down in one of the chairs. "Don't worry about the mess or the guest," he said as he inspected her hands for cuts. "The rest of us are taking care of it. You take it easy."

It took a couple of minutes for Nora to calm down. "Thank you," she mumbled softly. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. The kid pushed you, didn't she? Everyone seems to have seen that. The guest isn't even mad."

"Are the kids okay?"

Evi couldn't care less. "I think so," he replied as he brought her his bottle of tea. "Here you go. It's chamomile."

Nora accepted it without complaint. "Why are you being so nice to me?" she questioned, watching him clean food residue from those parts of her he could respectfully reach. "We don't even see eye to eye."

"Doesn't mean I need to kick you when you're down. I've seen how rough your shift was today. If it were me in your place, I'd have lost my shit too." He paused his wiping to smile tentatively up at her. "Though I'd cry from my eyes with dignity, not ugly-cry from my nose."

Nora laughed weakly and smacked his arm. "Asshole," she teased before releasing a despairing sigh. "Damn it. I was so sure I was bagging a massive tip tonight. Now I'm back to worrying if I can make rent."

Evi felt a huge pang of guilt. His brothers were acting like hooligans only because he was there, and it had gone and hurt someone who had nothing to do it. "I don't think you need to worry about your tip. If you fall short on rent, I can lend you the money. You can pay me back over time."

Nora stared in disbelief, then laughed again. "Thanks, but no thanks," she responded. "God knows you've earned the tips today. Maybe I'll take you up on your offer next month, though." She grinned. "After we've become friends."