Sixteen: Clumsy

*thanks to Entity, Niya, B, gelfling65, GoodbyeMarch, PieForLife, and SonderandWhimsy for your support!!*

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“Anyway, onto the behavior stuff. Most of it you probably don’t have to worry about because you’re literally the quietest, politest person I’ve ever met in my life, but there are a few notable things to keep in mind,” Beau continued after a moment.

Wren sat up straighter and willed his blush away. It’s like Beau was trying to kill him or something.

“The first thing is honestly the weirdest, and it’s one of those things that more modern families might have done away with. Basically, there’s this rule that says when the omega and alpha are out in public together, they need to be touching at all times. I don’t mean he needs to have his hands down your pants every second or anything, but like, holding hands, linking arms – that sort of thing. It’s just a way of showing everyone how together you are or some bullshit. They probably won’t care if you break the rules every now and again. You might want to ask him about what his family is going to expect, though.”

Wren nodded, feeling another spike of anxiety. Holding hands was already more intimate than anything Wren had ever done in his life, so the fact that he would have to do that soon made him overthink it. What if his hand got sweaty and he needed to wipe it off? Would that count as breaking the rules? What if he had to go to the bathroom? Did Vincent have to come with him?

Seeing Wren’s worried expression, Beau patted his shoulder. “It’s probably not that strict. I’ve never done one of these courting things, and all the sources on it are either from a billion years ago, or they’re from weirdo cultists that are really into that whole ‘alpha superior, omega inferior’ bullshit. You’ll be fine, I promise.”

Beau’s reassurance was a bit helpful, but Wren still felt a little like running around the block a few times to get rid of the stuffy feeling growing in his chest. He shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Beau held up two fingers.

“Onto the second thing. Sex.” At this point, Beau apparently couldn’t maintain his serious expression, an evil grin twitching onto his face. Wren blushed, causing Beau’s smile to expand. “While it’s not required to have sex with each other while still in the Entanglement period, everyone’s aware that the couple is probably going to bone anyway. So the books specified that if you’re going to fuck, the alpha absolutely cannot knot the omega until at least the Devotion stage. It also mentioned that you should only fuck at max three times a week, but like, how is anyone going to know how many times you’ve done it? So go wild, bestie.”

Wren focused his gaze off to the side in embarrassment, feeling like his face was on fire. It made sense, though, to prohibit knotting until the Devotion stage, considering that it increased the chances of pregnancy exponentially. Wren was pretty sure he wasn’t going to have to worry about it, nonetheless.

“Another thing, if you happen to go into heat or Vincent goes into rut, you’re absolutely not allowed to spend your cycles together until the Vows stage. Even if your cycles align. Unfortunately, that means the whole stealing his clothes plan might be out the window because if it sends you into heat and he notices you stole his clothes he’s probably going to go into rut and knot you – just a prediction.”

Wren couldn’t help it this time and gave Beau a deadpan look that made the other omega burst into giggles.

“What?” he gasped between laughs. “It could happen, you know it. Especially if you get scent-drunk around him.”

Wren disagreed. Although just in case he was going to get more of his medication from the doctor as soon as possible. Wren didn’t think Vincent would take advantage of him if he did get scent-drunk – but what did Wren actually know about him? Nothing, really. Which should have probably set off more of a warning bell than it did, but the ball on this whole Entanglement thing was already rolling, and Wren didn’t think he could stop it now.

Beau stuck around for another hour, giving him all the details he’d learned about Entanglements and mostly making Wren more anxious, not less. He appreciated Beau’s enthusiasm nonetheless, especially considering they’d only met about a week ago. Beau already seemed incredibly comfortable in Wren’s presence, something that baffled Wren completely.

How did he do that? Wren was a little jealous despite himself.

By the time afternoon rolled around, Wren was even more nervous than before. He’d already managed to spill hot tea on himself, accidentally threw away an important utility bill, and put his shirt on backwards. He was an absentminded mess, and he blamed it mostly on the fact that he was supposed to meet up with Vincent in half an hour.

While the expected content of their conversation was contributing to Wren’s nerves, a large part of it was also the location. They were going to meet at Vincent’s apartment, something that Wren had agreed to only out of a lack of options.

Vincent had offered to talk in a more public place, like a coffee shop or the park, but Wren had immediately dismissed the idea. He really didn’t want to discuss the details of a fake Entanglement where any passersby could hear. Vincent had also suggested Wren’s apartment, and Wren had considered that, but he was incredibly paranoid about Will stopping by at random, and knowing Wren’s luck, he would choose to visit at the only time in his life Wren had an alpha over as a guest.

So finally, they had settled on Vincent’s apartment, which, it turned out, was only a few blocks away from Wren’s. Wren was regretting his decision a little bit, not because he thought Vincent would take advantage of him, but because being alone with an alpha, in that alpha’s personal space, was a little risky. His apartment was his den, essentially, the place where he spent his ruts. An alpha’s den was just as important to them as a nest was to an omega, and while Wren knew Vincent wasn’t currently in rut and it didn’t matter that he was intruding on his den, he still felt unexplainably flustered over the whole idea.

It's fine, Wren told himself. Stop panicking over nothing.

But it wasn’t nothing. Not to Wren, who had never even contemplated the idea of going over to an alpha’s place to spend time with them alone.

Wren got ready and headed out a few moments later so he could take his time walking there. It would give him time to cool down and regain some sense of levelheadedness about the whole situation.

Unfortunately, the walk was a lot quicker than Wren hoped it would be, and soon enough, he was standing in front of Vincent’s apartment building. Steeling himself, Wren found the call button for Vincent’s apartment on the panel by the doors and pressed it.

A few moments later, Wren was buzzed in and was taking the elevator up to the sixth floor. The apartment building itself was actually incredibly nice, with shiny white marble floors in the lobby and black paneled walls. The elevator was roomy, the inside made of some reflective black material that allowed Wren to glimpse his own pale, frowning face, and it barely even made any noise when it started up, unlike the elevator at Wren’s place that smelled like feet and cigarettes and creaked alarmingly as it passed each floor. Wren was also pretty sure he saw a fenced off play area around the back of the building, which meant this was the kind of place families lived, rather than singles.

Getting off the elevator, Wren meandered down the hallway, searching for Vincent’s apartment, and when he found it, he stood in front of the pristine white door with the gold-plated numbers screwed into it, and hesitated, one final moment of anxiety staying his hand as he lifted it to knock. He briefly thought about running away, although that would be silly considering Vincent already knew he was on his way up, but he pushed his cowardice down the way you stomp down the trash to fit more in the bag and stepped forward to knock – at the exact same moment that Vincent opened the door from the other side.

Wren couldn’t stop his momentum in time. He stumbled forward and tried to catch himself, only Vincent was there a second later, grabbing him by the waist to steady him. Wren’s hands planted themselves against Vincent’s chest to steady himself, and then all of a sudden, Vincent was much too close. Wren stared at Vincent’s Adam’s apple from a scant inch away. He could feel warmth radiating from Vincent’s skin, and worse, could smell woodsmoke and mint tangling together, making him inhale deeply before he could stop himself. Odd, he thought somewhere underneath the panic, that Vincent smelled of woodsmoke and not cigarette smoke.

Vincent tilted his head down to look at Wren, smirking in amusement.

“Hello, there.”

Wren swallowed hard and managed a very faint, “Hi.”

Rather than let go of Wren so he could stand straight on his own, Vincent’s smirk grew into a delighted grin, and he stepped back with Wren still in his arms, closing the door with his foot once Wren was all the way through. Wren stumbled along with him, confused but too flustered to pull away, and then, because Wren had shitty luck, he tripped over his own feet again and slammed nose first into Vincent’s pecs, which in turn caused Vincent to bump into a couch behind him with a grunt that – for reasons Wren refused to analyze – made Wren’s stomach heat dangerously.

Vincent laughed once he’d steadied them both again, and goddamn it, Wren was pressed right up against him and could feel that laugh vibrating through him like an electric shock.

And all Wren could think was oh, fuck.