Nineteen: Coward

*thanks to Cool_slippers for your support!!*

In the end, Wren chose to save his asshole. He fled Vincent’s apartment like a rat fleeing a fire, feeling Vincent’s eyes following him like two burning hot coals pressed against his skin. He even had the irrational urge to check his skin for burn marks once he got home because he was still feeling that phantom gaze. He wasn’t sure how he managed to get home without drawing any unwanted attention from alphas along the way. It helped that he took as many back streets as possible and thankfully, he cooled down fairly quickly in the brisk evening air.

By the time Wren fully calmed down, he was mostly just confused and really embarrassed.

Okay. So he could admit that Vincent was, maybe, just a little bit…attracted to Wren. Possibly.

But if he was, why did he ask Wren to enter a fake Entanglement with him? Why did he make it seem like he was only pursuing Wren out of convenience?

Wren didn’t know, and it was driving him up the walls. Part of the problem, he knew, was the unsated heat in his gut after his and Vincent’s altercation. He’d never felt so…

So desperate. So frustrated. Not even in the throes of heat was he usually so agitated. Well, except for his last heat. That frustration and the frustration he was feeling now were pretty damn close. And Vincent was at the root of it all, meaning that things were about to get very difficult.

The worst part of it all, Wren had to admit to himself, was that he didn’t know if this intense attraction he suddenly felt was exclusive to Vincent, or if it would have happened with any alpha. Was there something special about Vincent, or was Wren just losing his goddamn mind from being celibate for too long? Maybe virginity was like a ticking time bomb and when it went off you went off the deep end. Wren should have gotten rid of that hot potato a long time ago, but he hadn’t, and he was paying dearly for it.

Wren took a deep breath, dragging his hands down his face. Well, he decided, no point worrying about it now. All he could do was take as many steps as possible to make the next few months easier.

Starting with going to the doctor. The next morning, Wren made an appointment and somehow managed to get a slot for that afternoon. It helped that his doctor was a specialist dealing with uncommon disorders in omegas, so he had fewer patients than most doctors in the city.

Wren left his doctor’s office that afternoon with a new prescription for his medication that he, surprisingly, hadn’t had to fight much to get. All he really had to say was that his symptoms were flaring up again, and his doctor filled the prescription with very little fuss. The medication itself was relatively harmless and non-addictive, so it’s not like Wren was expecting a fight, but he was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the whole process was.

That took one thing off his checklist. The next thing, however, was going to be a bit more difficult.

Wren called his parents. Vincent had tentatively scheduled for their families to meet at the end of next week, but Wren would need to actually tell his parents about the Entanglement first, which was going to be the most difficult hurdle.

His father picked up on the third ring.

“Hey, kiddo,” he said, his voice crackly, indicating that he was probably on speakerphone, and from the dull thumping sounds on the other end, he was most likely gardening. “Just checking in?”

Wren called his parents once a week. He hadn’t yet this week, so it was natural for his father to assume this was another one of those calls. Wren was almost tempted to say yes and completely chicken out. But no. He had to get this over with, or it was just going to stress him out more.

“Actually,” Wren started quietly, “I have something to tell you. You and dad.”

There was a short pause, then a smacking sound like his father was clapping dirt off his gloved hands. “Alright. Let me track him down. He’s probably fixing something that doesn’t need fixing again.”

Wren’s dad, his omega father, had a terrible case of itchy hands. He just couldn’t stay still. He always had to be doing something. He’d disassembled their washing machine and put it back together at least three different times that Wren could remember with the excuse of making it ‘run better,’ although Wren was pretty sure it worked just that same as it always had no matter what he did to it. Wren had tried to get him into knitting, just to give his hands something to do in his down time, but he had quickly abandoned it because he didn’t like the repetitiveness of it. He didn’t like anything with a pattern. So instead, he settled for deconstructing their household appliances over and over again. Wren thought that was kind of a pattern in and of itself, but whatever made his dad happy, he supposed.

Wren anxiously listened to his father’s footsteps as he entered the house and wandered around in search of his dad. It took several minutes of doors opening and closing before his father made a small ‘aha’ sound and threw a door open loudly.

“Found you!” he declared, and there was a bang, then a groan. Wren frowned, concerned. “Woops – are you okay?”

There was the hissing sound of breath being forced out through clenched teeth. “Fine,” came his dad’s grumpy voice, “but there’s a new bump on the back of my head. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

His father snorted. “I wasn’t sneaking, you just weren’t paying attention. Anyway, our precious gift from above is calling us, you know, if you care.”

Wren’s dad scoffed indignantly, and Wren rolled his eyes.

“You know I care. Give me the phone, let me talk to my baby.”

Rustling, and then a grunt.

“You fucker – you know very well I’ll tackle you if I have to, stop holding the phone over my head and let me talk to my son.”

“Not my fault you’re short.”

A pause. Then –

“Ow, fuck! No biting! Fine, fine, I’m done. He wants to talk to both of us. It’s been on speaker the whole time.”

“Oh, you asshole. Wren, my love, how are you?”

Wren smiled and shook his head softly at their antics, falling backward on his bed so he was staring up at the ceiling fan. Talking to his parents always made him miss home terribly. He could practically see their expressions in his mind’s eye. Their weird flirting was a daily occurrence, but one that Wren found himself missing once he moved away from home.

“Fine,” Wren said. “How have the two of you been?”

“The same as always. So, what’d you have to tell us?”

Wren swallowed thickly, feeling like he was swallowing cement. It was just like ripping off a band-aid. He just had to do it, all at once. Just get it over with.

“I’m in an Entanglement with someone.”