Robin has decided he needs to come up with a plan.
Jude is onto him. He knows Robin is hiding something and he is going to be testing him. This is a problem, because none of the lies Robin has ever told him were bulletproof. He had to figure it out somehow, so now Robin has to be careful. Robin’s never been all that good at being careful.
Jude is also smarter than Robin. Like, a lot smarter than Robin.
This puts the alpha at an advantage. Their whole lives, Jude has always been several steps ahead. The guy is almost never wrong.
Robin sighs, sitting at the front desk of Margo’s shop. They’re pretty slow today, so he’s not expecting to be here much longer. They close in like an hour anyway, he literally has nothing to do but sit here on his phone or think.
Thankfully he doesn’t have any homework tonight, for once. It’s also Friday, which means no school tomorrow. There is only about a month left of school at this point, and he will finally be free. There aren’t words to describe how happy he is about this. The only setback would be the fact that he has no idea what he wants to do with his life.
Jude has already been accepted by a university in Irvine. He will be doing it online, though. Robin? Robin doesn’t even want to go to college. Not even community.
He’s hated school for as long as he can remember. It’s always been so difficult for him, and he’s never really understood why. He’s aware that he’s a bit slow, but it’s honestly embarrassing how much he’s always struggled with his academics.
He doesn’t want to further his education. He’d have dropped out by now if his mom would allow it.
He honestly has no idea what he wants to do, though, and the closer he gets to graduation... the more pressure he feels. Almost every conversation with his parents for the last year or so have been them asking about his future plans, and him avoiding any straight answer.
“You can get out of here pretty soon, if you want.” He hears, and he looks up to find Margo Rose with a bag of hair clips in her hand. They’ve already started closing up.
Margo is his father’s twin sister. She’s always been kind to Robin, and he can confidently say she’s probably his favorite relative. Well, aside from Kat. He can’t really talk to Kat about this sort of thing, though.
The woman has given him advice on many topics, and if he’s being honest... Robin could really use some advice right about now. He has so much going on, most of which he can’t even talk to anyone about. It’s starting to drive him crazy, which is why he asks; “Can I talk to you? Just when you have time.”
Margo had begun to walk away, but she glances over at him. “Okay. Just go wait in my office for a second.”
Robin nods, even though she’s already turned around and begun dealing with another closing task. Robin gathers his things and does as told, making his way to her office and taking a seat. He’s prepared to wait in here for a while, but it’s only a couple more minutes and the door is opening to reveal his aunt.
She walks around the desk and takes a seat, folding her hands. “Please don’t tell me you’re quitting.”
Robin half smiles. Like he could ever quit this place. He gets paid pretty well for a high schooler —twelve dollars hourly. They also work really well with his school schedule and stuff. Also, she’s his aunt. He doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, so until he figures it out, he’s staying here.
“No. It’s kind of a personal matter... I need advice.” Margo looks somewhat relieved at that.
“Alright kid, hit me.” She responds, seeming to relax as she leans back in her chair and starts messing with a fidget toy on her desk.
Wow, Robin really did not think this far ahead. How exactly is he going to word this without giving away his secret?
“Uh... so, I have this friend—”
“Jude?”
“Yeah,” Robin nods. Shit, he forgets sometimes that literally everyone knows who Jude is. Also, that they’re best friends. “Right. So, there’s something that I’ve been keeping from him and he absolutely cannot find out. Like, it’s out of the question.”
Margo nods, seeming curious.
“But there is another guy who recently figured it out, and he’s been threatening to tell Jude, and I don’t know what to do because now I have to keep all my lies straight and Jude is always questioning me and he’s starting to get suspicious and I have to keep him under control now? But I don’t know how to keep him from finding out and it’s scaring me because there’s so much going on and I have a bad memory and he’s way smarter than me so—”
“Robin.” Margo interrupts him, and Robin realizes that he’s out of breath. Wow, this has been stressing him out a lot more than he thought. He went a little off the rails there. “Slow down. Someone found out?”
Robin nods. “Yeah. There’s a guy that hates me and he found out and Jude doesn’t like him and they always fight and he said he’s going to tell Jude if I don’t keep them from fighting. But he could change the conditions at any time because he has this over me so there’s nothing I can do. That’s not the point, though. Jude is really suspicious of me and I have no idea how I’m going to keep this from him because there’s no way I can win against him in anything and he’s actively trying to figure it out. So. I need advice.”
Margo kind of stares at Robin for a few moments. Yeah, that’s a lot to take in at once. Robin tries to take deep breaths in hopes of calming himself and easing his stress. “Well, why exactly can’t Jude find out? The only way I see to solve all these problems would be to just bite the bullet and tell him.”
Robin shakes his head. Did she not hear him? Jude can’t know. “No. Jude can’t find out. It might make him hate me, so no.”
Margo frowns, and Robin can tell she wants to know the secret. It would probably make a lot more sense if he told her, but Miles just found out. That’s enough for now. He does not need the added stress of someone else knowing.
“Why would it make him hate you? Did you do something wrong?”
Robin starts biting his cheek. Well, technically not. Aside from being born, maybe. “I mean, no. It’s more like... something about me.”
“Honey, if he’s really your friend, no secret about you is going to change that.” Margo says, raising an eyebrow at him. Robin blinks, thinking about what she just said.
If Jude is really his friend, Robin being an omega won’t change that. As in, if Jude genuinely loves and cares about him, Robin’s secondary gender won’t ruin their friendship.
Okay, maybe that’s how it works in movies, but in real life? In real life the best relationships can and have been ruined over shit like this. Sorry, but Robin is being realistic. He wishes things were that simple.
“I can’t risk it.” Robin responds, watching as Margo raises an eyebrow.
“Okay.” She says. “Well, that’s my advice. I can’t think of anything else that would help.”
She can’t think of anything else? Well, guess it’s nice to know Robin isn’t just stupid. That this really is a sticky situation he’s in. Still, he was hoping she’d be some help at least.
Robin sighs, staring down at the desk.
“If I were you, though, I’d focus on keeping the two of them apart. You should probably avoid the topic as well, if he’s already suspicious of you. If you really refuse to tell him, try to minimize the conflict altogether.”
Robin blinks. Okay, he never really thought about it that way. So stop the problems before they happen. Keep them apart and don’t acknowledge the secret. He’s been sort of trying to do that, though, but maybe he could try harder?
Okay. Minimize the conflict. He can do that.
“Thanks, Margo.” He thanks the woman, and she smiles. He can tell that she wants him to listen to her actual advice, but he appreciates her working with him on it. He can figure this out.
He shouldn’t admit defeat. Just because Jude is better than him in every way and always wins does not mean that Robin is going to lose this. He... he can figure this out. It will be alright. It will turn out okay.
Please, turn out okay.
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