The line rang once.

“Hello?”

“I-I’m sorry,” River bleated. “I’ve drunk too much and I-” A whimper slipped out. “I want to go home.”

The puff of a cushion releasing weight and the jangle of keys. “Share your location, I’m on my way.”

“O-okay.”

“And stay on the call with me.”

River nodded to himself. He pulled the phone away from his ear to share his live location and then put it back in place.

“Still with me?” The question was punctuated by the rev of an engine.

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

“Do you feel sick?”

“No. Just… panicky.”

“Okay, I’m two minutes away.”

“’kay.”

“Are you inside?”

“Yeah.” He stood. “But I-”

“I’ll come in and get you.” Someone honked. “Stay where you are if you’re comfortable.”

“I’m… I’m hiding in the bathroom,” he admitted.

“That’s okay.”

River sniffed. Despite the understanding words, he still felt silly.

“I’m parked.” The slam of a car door. “I can smell you.”

Those four words flushed him hot for some reason. Of course he could smell him, everyone could.

There was a knock at the bathroom door, and the distant yelp of a disgruntled partier accusing line-pushing. “It’s me.”

River jumped up and unlocked the door. When he opened it, Elliott blocked anything else from view. He held his hand out, and River took it. He was clammy and shaky but Elliott didn’t retract his fingers in disgust. He pulled him into his side and dropped a dark jacket over his shoulders. It acted as a cape of protection as they exited the party. His claim was staked, visually and through scent.

Crisp, cold air clapped into him as they passed through the front door and his chest rattled a little with his enthusiasm for a deep breath.

“Easy,” Elliott murmured. He tucked the jacket tighter around him.

“S-sorry.”

His car had mounted the curb right outside the building, and a few drunken stragglers were assessing it with comments about horse power and wrapping. River didn’t know what it meant. As long as a car had four wheels and brakes that worked, it was good enough for him.

Elliott unlocked it and the onlookers jerked back, pretending to be interested in the brickwork, or maybe taking a leak up against it. He walked River to the passenger side and opened the door for him, even offering his hand as leverage to lower himself into the seat. River swivelled the jacket to his front and cuddled it like a blanket while Elliott buckled his seatbelt for him. Bent over him, his neck inches from River’s mouth, he wondered what he’d do if he bit him. If he slathered his scent all over him with his tongue. If-

Elliott pulled back and shut the passenger door.

He clapped his cheeks with his hands. When Elliott joined him in the car, he was squishing them between his palms, distracted by their squidginess. He paused, belt half-pulled across him to stare at him.

River dropped his hands. “Sorry. Trying to wake myself up a bit.”

“If you want to nap in here, you can.” Elliott clicked his belt in and settled in his seat. “You’re safe.” He turned the key in the ignition and tapped at a selection of buttons on the console, including, thankfully, the seat warmers. River snuggled down and let his eyes close, amazed at how much more drunk you could feel when you took time to just… stop.

“Thanks,” he slurred.

“Mm.”

The car moved under him, easing off the pavement slowly. His driving was smooth, and River was almost rocked to sleep with each turn and pause. But then a thought popped into his head, a question, and within his alcohol-soaked brain, he couldn’t find a reason not to ask it. He cracked his eyes back open.

“How come I never see you at parties?”

Elliott’s tongue pressed against his cheek through a smirk. For a moment he wasn’t sure if he was even going to answer.

“Wh-”

“You’re an alpha and you’re hot so you must get invited to loads,” River babbled. His mouth was loose under the influence of liquor. That much he was aware of. How to reverse this effect… not so much.

Elliott choked on air and his hands adjusted themselves unnecessarily on the wheel. “Is that right?”

“No.”

“You don’t think I’m hot?” He grinned past the wind shield. “Because I’m definitely an alpha.”

River’s mouth fell open while his brain worked in slow-mo to find something to say that wouldn’t humiliate him further.

“Before you lie, remember that omegas aren’t the only ones with sensitive noses.” He looked pointedly at his crotch before returning his attention to the road.

“I meant- getting invited to parties. Lots. Do you?”

“I’m well-practiced in refusals,” he answered, cryptic.

“You like clubbing instead?”

He huffed a laugh at the lights ahead. They turned red and he slowed to a halt, his face aglow. “No.”

“I saw you.” River rolled to his side in the seat, pressing his cheek to the leather back. The jacket slid off his shoulder a little. He caught the movement with his cobalt eyes. “At Glacier.”

He corrected, “I was dining, not dancing.”

“You danced with me.”

“I should charge you extra for that.”

“How much?”

“What?”

River’s blink was slow as he tried to remember his question in order to repeat it. “How much would you actually charge for your scent mark?”

“Depends who was asking for it.” The lights changed and he returned his focus to driving.

“Me,” River whined, drawing out the ‘ee’ sound for too long.

Elliott sighed. “For you, petal, a ninety-nine percent discount.”

River giggled. “Really?”

“Yep, just a hundred pounds and not a penny more.”

River gasped, then fell back against his seat giggling again.

Elliott swung the wheel and River let the hard turn slide him back towards him. He would happily roll back and forth on the warm seat all night. Safe in his scent.

“I’m glad you called me.”

His words sobered River a little. “I’m glad you don’t drink,” he mumbled in reply.

“Is that why?”

“Why?”

“You called me, instead of someone else.”

River shrugged, shimmying himself further under the jacket. A yawn slipped out and he covered it with his forearm. The arm stayed there, laid over his face, and suddenly the light it was blocking wasn’t stinging his eyes so much. He let them droop closed.

“Hey, stop that.”

River laughed quietly against his arm.

The car slowed to a halt, and this time the engine was silenced.

“I’m home?” he grumbled.

“Yeah.”

River groaned into his arm and rolled back onto his side, back to Elliott, jacket curled tight around him. He just needed to rest his eyes a bit more. Just five more minutes…

Elliott didn’t argue. He didn’t force him awake. He didn’t throw him out of his car.

His seat lowered, almost flat. Maybe another five… Just to be sure he was well enough to be at home alone…

The engine came back on, and so did the seat warmer, but the handbrake wasn’t lifted. River sighed happily and drifted to sleep.

×

River jolted awake and got slapped in the face by the seat belt still stretched over him.

“Ugh!” He shoved it away and clutched his head, eyes squeezed shut. It couldn’t have been the flimsy plastic that had caused the eye-watering headache radiating from inside. No, that was all alcohol.

The seat belt didn’t fling back and hit him again. Confused, he peeled open his eyes to find an enormous hand holding it back from him. Almost like a slingshot readying.

“You know, there’s an easier way to get rid of this.” Elliott pressed the buckle button and let it retract back into his hand. When he opened his palm it zoomed over River’s head back to the holster.

River groaned and let his eyes shut again. He felt like a corpse warmed up in a microwave. He was a zombie craving water instead of brains. He was nothing but a giant heart and skin, since its beat was all he could feel throughout his entire body.

“What time is it?” he grumbled. His voice was gruff, dehydration scratching each word.

“Three.”

“Morning or afternoon?”

Elliott chuckled. “Open your eyes.”

“I did it once already,” he argued.

“And was it light or dark outside?”

“Can’t remember,” he moaned.

His seat rose, curling him upright.

“It’s three in the morning.” The car fell silent. “Time for bed.”

“You go ahead, I’m comfy here.”

The driver-side door opened and shut and River peeked out, surprised that he’d won that battle so easily. Then his door opened.

He gasped, clutching the jacket laid over him. “It’s cold!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be out in three-inch shorts in winter.” Elliott scooped him under the armpits and lifted him from the car.

River pouted. “It’s spring.”

He was plopped back onto his own feet, although he staggered a little as he adjusted to balancing on his heels again. He refused to hand back the jacket when Elliott stretched a hand out for it. The alpha raised a brow and snatched it in one aggressive swipe. River whimpered, startled at the show of strength. Then he held it out, open, for River to wear it properly. He slid his arms in and watched Elliott drag the zip up to his chin. He plucked out the curls caught in the collar with careful flicks of his fingers. River tucked his fingers inside of the sleeves.

“You got your keys?”

River nodded.

“Want me to walk you to the door?”

River hesitated. He had asked enough of Elliott tonight. He shook his head.

“Okay, off you go.”

River tottered for a moment. “Thank you,” he whispered. If he were tall enough that it wouldn’t be awkward, he would have kissed his cheek. Instead, he gave him a sleepy smile and trudged away.

It took a few attempts to get the front door open, because he was still a bit tipsy or he was slowly freezing to death couldn’t be clearly deduced. When he turned to close it behind him, Elliott was watching from his car.