Harry turned the page of the book as slowly and quietly as he could. Although his friend wouldn’t admit to it, he was fairly sure Aki was having micro sleeps. And he’d definitely had a nosebleed last night. Aki had had lots of nosebleeds in the early days at the orphanage, when he struggled to sleep and woke up in the night crying for his parents. He never cried for them during the day. But nosebleeds were always a sign of the stress he hid behind his emotionless face.

It’d been the dream to spend time together. But now that they finally were, it wasn’t best friend fun times. Aki was fraying at the edges and pushing himself too hard.

Harry rubbed his forehead. If he was a proper Alpha, he’d have had a great response when new coach called him names. Or he’d be like Aki and not give a stinking piss what anyone else said. He was trying really hard, and first Coach had given him lots of compliments on his ‘Big Swaying Dick Alpha Energy’, but it still wasn’t enough.

‘If you have a question. Ask me. It’ll go a lot faster than you trying to work things out on your own,’ Aki said.

‘Ummmm, well, yaknow…’

‘Just say it,’ Aki snapped. ‘I do have other things to do in my life other than be your nursery teacher.’

Harry didn’t bother giving the angry top Alpha reply that Harry wanted Aki to focus on his own things and Harry would do just fine on his own rather than have Aki continually glaring at him.

Instead he rubbed the back of his head and started talking in a low voice.

‘I think I’ve kinda got the basics of the big wars I’m supposed to know about. And like how the world government works. And how different regions have different like…cultural expectations. If I’m lucky enough to get chosen to tour with the team, I’ll relook everything up and make sure I don’t do anything wrong. But I’m still like stuck on what I think is the most important thing. How alphas and omegas…work.’

Aki gave a heavy sigh. ‘Fine. We will go from the beginning again.’

Harry raised his hand. ‘No. Please. Something happened. The other day. And I want to tell you about it.’

‘Then pray, don’t keep me in suspense. Tell me.’

‘I was out on my run and this woman just collapsed as I ran by her.’

Aki smirked. ‘An omega overwhelmed by the scent of your sweating body. Congratulations. You’ve reached the top alpha designation you’ve longed for; omegas faint due to your dazzling presence.’

‘No. It wasn’t like that. Well, umm, it was like that. But not like the way you say it. I didn’t get she was an omega. Not at first. I just tried to help her. She was in a real state. But she managed to direct me to her home. Which wasn’t far. And it was a flower shop, so I just guessed that was why she smelled all…flowery. And then, when she was home, she started going on about how much she needed me…’

‘I can’t imagine how you’ve managed to hold onto this story so long. But I feel it is much better shared with your locker buddies.’

‘Aki! Please listen. She was begging for me. Just like omegas do in porn. And films. And on telly. And in everyone’s stories. But I didn’t act like how alphas are supposed to. I tried to settle her down, get her a glass of water, found a blanket, stuff like that. And I tried to ask how to help her, but all she did was keep, yaknow, trying to do sexy things. So I felt bad, but I went through her bag without permission, and found her suppressants and managed to coax her into taking them. They didn’t seem to do much though. So I went more through her stuff and found her address book and phoned the emergency contact at the front. Then I just stayed with her until her sister arrived. And her sister was a beta and really nice, really grateful to me. And she assumed I was a beta too, and kept on going on about how it was lucky no alpha was around when this poor lady fell into an unexpected heat.’

Harry’s shoulders drooped forward and he let his head drop into his hands.

There was silence for a long moment.

Then Aki said, ‘You’re sulking because a stranger mistook you for a beta?’

‘What if it’s not a mistake? What if the mistake was Doctor Smogg diagnosing me as an alpha after saying I was a beta for so long? You’re the one who’s always said that it was the dregs of the dregs who ended up working at the orphanage. And you said Doctor Smogg only did the bare minimum to get whiskey money. It makes more sense he screwed up than anything else. An omega was in heat in front of me for ages. I even picked her up and carried her. We were in a room alone together. And I never once thought of having, yaknow, sex with her. Alphas go mad around omegas. I could smell her, but it didn’t work like it’s supposed to. I didn’t even get a semi. The locker room full of alphas smells nicer to me than she did. I mean, she wasn’t like bad smelling, but it wasn’t like everyone says it is. To me, you, just being ordinary you doing ordinary things, smell way nicer than she did in heat. I think there’s something wrong with me.’

Aki sat next to him. He put his arms around him and pulled Harry’s head down onto his chest. ‘You really are a complete idiot. All the things we have to worry about, and you’re getting your very tiny pants in a twist because you didn’t take advantage of an omega. Way above everything else, all the alpha and omega hormonal shite, you’re a good guy. That’s something to be proud of.’

‘Wash your mouth out, mate! First you call someone dick cheese and now you use shite in a sentence. University is making you talk like the rest of us.’ Harry chuckled.

Then something swirled in his belly. It’d been so long since Aki had held him like this. Not since they were really really little and Aki used to comfort him if the bullying got too bad. If he seemed too happy, too quickly, would Aki just go back to his desk and never hold Harry again?

‘I admit I am tired,’ Aki said in a soft voice. ‘It’s tough keeping everything going. There are people judging me too. It’s not just about being an alpha, they’re used to people from elite backgrounds, they expect everyone else to fail. But it’s fine. We’ll get through it.’ His tone slipped into his teaching mode. But he didn’t let go of Harry. ‘Remember how confused you were when we were talking about the origins of alphas?’

‘I remember being confused by everything.’

Harry risked snuggling his head against Aki’s chest. The other alpha really did smell better than anything else in the world. It was a familiar scent of freshly cut grass and bright berries; a memory of an idyllic childhood he hadn’t ever experienced, but still it made him feel safe and secure.

‘This is one thing, that it’s acceptable to be confused by though. Academics argue constantly about it. Some think it was a natural evolution. Some think that alphas and omegas always existed, and either the records of them have been lost along with so much of the earlier technology. Or previous civilisations didn’t recognise them. Or they remained hidden due to persecution.’

‘I thought that…theory wasn’t very popular anymore. That most respected boffins think that we were made in labs before…um one of the big wars.’

Harry felt proud for being able to join in a conversation with Aki about this and maybe sound like he knew what he was talking about.

But then, Aki asked, ‘Why?’

‘Why what?’

‘If a previous society manufactured a new type of human, why?’

Harry’s brow creased up in concentration. ‘Because they were trying to make some type of super soldier for the predicted war, and that made alphas. And omegas were a kind of other thing that came out of their experiments. No. I got it now. It was…there were like big fertility problems because of…pollution? And they needed to make everyone more fertile, but it only worked on some people? Or was it, no, was it something that happened after the war, a mistake, a fallout from some sort of weird toxic biological weapon thing that one of the sides, I guess the baddies, used?’

‘Exactly.’ Aki stroked Harry’s shoulder.

Harry gulped. He kind of wished he’d obeyed Aki’s many ‘wear clothes’ rules today. It was unfair of Aki to get all nice with him when Harry had no way of hiding what Aki’s touch was doing to him. Although it obviously wasn’t Aki’s touch making him feel things. It was just being tired and having to think about alphas and omegas and talking all about that really sexy omega he could’ve done things with if he was a more developed Alpha. Aki was probably holding him like this as some crafty punishment to trick Harry into thinking Aki’s stupid rules made sense. Even though they were both alphas who should be totally happy and comfortable being absolutely starkers around each other.

‘You get it,’ Aki continued. ‘The cleverest minds who’ve spent lifetimes investigating our history, can find no conclusive proof about the origins of alphas and omegas. You’ve learnt how even though we are supposed to all live under the laws of the world government, many regions twist things so that alphas and omegas are treated differently. We have no past, we have no certain purpose, the future is unknown. We can be who we want to be.’

‘I kinda liked the story in that kids’ book about how the Creator got bored of betas so decided to make everything more interesting by throwing alphas and omegas in the mix.’

‘I’m sure that’s not how the story goes, but I kinda like your version better.’ Aki gave a soft laugh.

It was with a little bit of shock and wonder that Harry realised he couldn’t recall ever having heard adult Aki laugh. It was a gentle warm sound.

Harry’s cheeks flushed hot.

‘There’s like a bit more that I haven’t told you yet. About the whole omega thing.’

‘Yes?’

‘Sherry, that’s the omega’s sister, like saw me out on a run and we got chatting about all sorts. I mentioned how it was a weird coincidence as I’d applied for a job at their flower shop when they were advertising. And then she like started apologising about never getting back to me and then I felt guilty that she was feeling guilty so I like said it wasn’t that much of a weird coincidence as I’ve like spent six months applying everywhere and no one’s got back to me. And she said that was really odd as I was…’

‘You don’t need to replay the whole conversation for me. Get to the point.’

‘Ummm. I guess the point is that, she thought that my application had been a joke because of the pictures and it being all written out in crayon and bubble letters.’

‘What? You’ve been doing applications in crayon? I assumed you had no success because the part time job market is overcrowded with students. Not that you need twenty four hour supervision over every little thing you do!’

‘I thought, yaknow, the forms look so boring that it’d brighten people’s day having a bit of colour and some fun pictures. And I told her that. And she thought that was a cool idea actually, and that if they’d known it was a serious application, she definitely would’ve given me an interview. And so I said, will you give me an interview now then? And she said, yes. And I was really excited. And she said, you’ve passed the interview you’ve got the job. Which was amazing.’

Harry rubbed the back of his head, and continued in a hesitant voice.

‘But then when I went into training and told all my uni friends the great news, they all laughed. They thought it was a joke about me winding up a stupid beta thinking that an alpha would work in a flower shop. And I laughed too like it was a joke. But I really do want to take the job. And I don’t know what to say to the sisters now when Sherry was so kind giving me a chance.’

Aki pulled away from Harry and stood up. ‘I thought you got it. But you don’t. If you’re so worried about what your alpha friends think of your job choice, tell them that you’re taking the job because its ironic. Tell your alpha friends you’re planning to make both sisters fall in love with you, bang them in every conceivable position, then dump them in the cruel manner befitting dumb betas and omegas who dare to offer an alpha a job that’s beneath him. Tell your amazingly close friends who you care so much about, whatever dickcheese shite you want, but never bother me with your non-problems again.’

The brunette walked in steady strides across the lounge, then went into his room shutting the door behind him.

Harry stared at the closed door. After a moment, he realised he’d been stroking the sofa where Aki had just been sitting.

A lump of sadness was forming in his throat. He quickly got up and did an extra fast routine of jumping squats and lunges. There was absolutely nothing to be upset about. His life was going great. He was studying sport at the best university ever, staying in the best flat ever, with his best Alpha friend ever. His eyes strayed to the closed door and then to the pile of notes strewn everywhere that Aki had been helping him work through.

The sadness was getting bigger. Threatening to explode out of his eyes. Even though there was absolutely no reason, absolutely nothing, for him to be upset about.

One day he’d be a proper Alpha who never said the wrong things that made a snuggle turn into a storming off. He just needed to work super hard to make that day come quickly.

He pulled on the workout clothes he’d taken off when he came home. They were still wet with sweat. But somehow he didn’t care. He went out for another run thinking of nothing but improving his fitness and becoming the best Alpha ever. He definitely wasn’t thinking of Aki’s scent, and his fluffy neck hair, and how it felt being held in his arms.