Doodling in his sketchbook, Aaron was too distracted to notice his grandmother coming into his room. 

When he heard a knock at the door, he finally turned around and saw the little old lady holding out a package for him. It must be his new paints.

Grabbing the package from her, he went to turn back to his desk but was stopped by her speaking to him. 

“You need to help with the bookshop. It’s been too long and it’s getting dirty. I can’t bend over to clean the books off the floor anymore.”

Aaron started to chew on his cheeks to try to control his anger. He felt fed up with getting ordered around all the time and having to just deal with it. It wasn’t like he could yell at his grandmother like he yells at people in school. 

So, the beta packed up his sketchbook and walked past her, not responding but silently giving in. 

Arriving at the storefront, he went in only to see a raging mess. There were books incorrectly stacked upon shelves. Old coffee cups littered about. Yes, he hadn’t been there in some time, but he expected his grandmother to have at least cleaned the floors and countertops of garbage. It was almost like she was leaving it all for Aaron to do. 

Aaron was a little pissed off at the thought of that.

Letting out a long sigh and slowly doing a second take of the room, he made a plan of where to start. First reaching for the coffee cups, he moved to put them in the kitchen sink at the back of the shop.

It was only after a couple of hours that he had finished cleaning the store. However, playing music in the background surely helped to speed it up. 

With the music still going, he was unable to hear the ring of the doorbell. 

Singing along, he went to the back to fetch a glass of water himself. Just as he turned back around after quenching his thirst, he saw a small body run out the door and heard the clink of change hit the countertop. 

“Hey, stop!” Aaron shouted at the stranger, following after them. He had never had a customer try to run out the door with a book before. Usually, they weren’t that valuable. 

Pulling the stranger back by their shoulder, he first spotted the book in their hand and then looked up to see their face. 

Surprise littered both the boys’ faces as Sol stared back at Aaron. 

“I put the money on the counter.” The omega, quickly coming back to his snarky self, tried to reason with Aaron.

“Not a good enough excuse. You know you have to actually exchange the money for it to count, right?” Aaron looked upon him with disdain.

“Fine. I messed up. Is that good enough for you?” Sol reluctantly responded. 

“Wow. How can you ask for forgiveness and not even say sorry?” It was Aaron’s first time dealing with someone so frustrating. Something about Sol just always sets him off. 

“I’ve already paid my dues. I didn’t even confront you yesterday.” Sol put his hands on his hips, trying to switch the power dynamic of the conversation. 

“And what exactly were you going to confront me about?” Aaron was genuinely curious. He knew that he had already fought with Sol over pushing him.

“About Bo and I. You can’t tell anyone.” Sol started to look bashful, looking down. 

“Oh, so you are together. I couldn’t confirm it until you said it just now.” Aaron let out a smug smile. 

“Damn it!” It was Sol’s own fault that he had said it out loud. 

“Anyways, I won’t tell anyone. I’m not a narc.” Carter was sure of that. Besides, he had his own secrets to hide. It didn’t feel right to expose someone else’s.

Having nodded awkwardly, ending their conversation, Sol moved to walk out of the store. 

“You know I don’t care about that kind of stuff, right? It doesn’t matter to me who you love.” Aaron could recognize that the two omegas were probably pretty close if Bo went to Sol while in heat. He could respect that, that kind of strong love. There was no reason to judge it. He thought most of society’s rules were bullshit anyway.

“...Thanks,” Sol replied, slightly confused. As he left the bookshop, he took a quick look back at Aaron and then walked away. Aaron could guess that he probably had a lot to think about.