It took me no time at all to spot the perfect String of Hearts plant just for Rowan. It had a beautiful pink variation to it, as well—similar to Rin's philodendron, but the pink was a lighter shade. 

Rowan was dragged along by Rin over to a scindapsus plant because, and I quote, "Daddy, this one sparkles! We have to go see it!" 

That left me to go on my own mission, which I happily considered a success. I picked up the plant, the little vines trailing at least four inches past the bottom of the nursery pot, and began heading back toward Rowan and Rin.

Anxiety still coiled in my gut at being—sort of—alone with Rowan, but I was thrilled all the same. I had never seen Rowan open up so much around me, even if it was only because Rin was with us. It made my heart soar to see pure excitement on Rowan's usually closed off face. 

He had always seemed guarded since I met the man. It was refreshing to see a new side of Rowan in full swing. 

The man in question was crouched by Rin, lifting a leaf from the Scindapsus in one hand while holding onto Rin with the other. A smile was on his face, large enough to showcase a small dimple on his right cheek I had never seen before, as he explained why the plant's leaves sparkled. 

I wanted more than anything to sneak a photo of the scene before me, but it felt wrong to take pictures of something that wasn't mine. 

Rowan's eyes met mine and a deep flush rose to my face at being caught staring. I gave a sheepish smile and lifted up the String of Hearts plant in an offering gesture.

The alpha's eyes lit up, showcasing the little specks of green in them, as he stood up to his full height and walked toward my outstretched hands. Rin followed closely behind his father. 

"That's perfect, Alek! Wow, I've yet to actually see a pink variegated one like this in person until now. It's beautiful." My omega preened at the praise and I—honest to the Gods—had to fight back a purr at how happy we made our alpha. 

Not our alpha. . .

"Well then, we definitely should add this to the cart. Anything else we like?" I pointed the last question toward Rin as his eyes grew in wonder at the String of Hearts plant. 

"I don't know. What do you want, Alek?" Rin's little head tilt melted my heart and I chanced a glance at Rowan. The man stood closer to me now, no more than a foot of space between us, in awe. His gaze hadn't left my hands, where the plant was still sitting. 

Although the word wasn't commonly used to describe alphas by any means, Rowan was absolutely adorable. I had never seen the man so happy and awestruck over something before, let alone a little plant. These two were going to kill me by cuteness overload alone.

"Oh, well I guess we could see if they have any Monstera plants, but they can get kind of big. Would that be okay, Rowan? If not, that's perfectly fine! I'm sure I can find something—"

"Whatever you want, Aleksander. I'll get you anything you want." Rowan cut off my rambling and my face went up in flames. That sounded an awful lot like a promise you'd make to a fated mate. 

I swept those thoughts from my head and smiled softly at the alpha. Rowan had a gentle look in his eyes as he gazed at me and I cleared my throat to keep myself from saying something I'd regret. Please never leave me without you.

"Thank you," I started, giving him another smile before I turned my attention back on the little bundle of joy at our sides, "What do you say, Rin, want to go look at some Monsteras? They have little slits in the leaves because of their size. They're so large the leaves need to make a path for the sun to make sure they all get enough light!"

"Yes yes yes! Let's go!" I giggled as Rin gabbled ahold of my hand and started pulling me in a random direction. Rowan huffed a laugh behind me as he, too, began following us toward what I could only hope was the Monsteras. 

The rest of the day went just like that. We spent a lot of time looking through the different plants and teaching Rin all about them. 

It turned out, Rowan and I had more in common than I thought. I almost forgot to be worried he would reject me when he cracked little jokes and made me giggle too hard to remember. 

It was still there, though, lurking in the back of my mind. A part of me grew hopeful with how well the two of us were getting along, but I was afraid to get my hopes too high. I also wondered why Rowan hadn't brought it up at all, but figured it could've been because he didn't want to ruin Rin's day out.

Regardless, I decided to just enjoy it while it lasted. We laughed together as Rin asked silly questions, like how plants could possibly live without being able to eat macaroni?

Eventually, we decided to leave with the three plants we picked out; Rin's philodendron, Rowan's String of Hearts, and my Monstera. I tried to pay, but Rowan insisted on covering the costs himself and we soon found ourselves back in the car. 

Before we headed home, Rowan suggested we grab a bite to eat and the three of us sat down at a fast food restaurant. The booths were slightly torn in some spots, and the brown flooring sticky, but the food smelled delicious. 

We chatted idly as we ate and I was surprised to find out that even the smaller things, like what we enjoyed drinking with our food and how we liked mayonnaise with our fries, were also things Rowan and I had in common. It truly felt like we were meant to be, but all too soon we would return home where Rowan's wife was most likely patiently waiting to hear of our little adventure. 

"Daddy! Did you know that I'm Alek's superhero?!" Rin's little voice interrupted my thoughts and I looked at him with raised brows. 

"Are you now?" Rowan asked, a deep chuckle following that made my heart pound faster than what was probably deemed healthy. 

"Yep! He said that you're a superhero because you protect me. But, Alek don't have a superhero so he said I can be his! I'll protect him from all the bad things, Daddy!" My cheeks flushed in embarrassment, but I couldn't help but to coo at the little cutie. It was endearing how that one comment I made, what felt like ages ago now, stuck with him for so long. 

I didn't have it in me to look at Rowan, so I kept my gaze locked on Rin as I replied, "Sure you will. You're super strong!" I ruffled his hair and reveled in his little giggles. 

"You don't say. Well, if I'm a superhero, I think I can protect you both just fine, hm?" I could hear the smile in Rowan's voice and finally turned to look at him. 

My stomach turned to goo at the smile on his face, but he was looking at me a little sadly, too. 

"Yes! Nothing can happen to Alek if he has two superheroes to protect him! You promise you'll help me, Daddy?" Rin was so pure and so naive, it broke my heart a little to think about how he had no idea just how much his father could actually hurt me if he wanted to. 

"I sure do. It can't hurt to have two superheroes watching his back." It shocked me just how serious Rowan seemed in saying that.

I wanted to cry at how these two seemed to care about me enough to genuinely want to protect me from all evil. It made my heart melt and healed something inside of me that I wasn't aware had broken. 

Sheepishly rubbing the back of my neck, I looked down at my food as I responded with a nervous laugh, "Okay, okay. Enough about that, eat your food you little rascals." 

That got another giggle out of Rin as he began eating his chicken nuggets again. Rowan remained silent, but when I chanced a glance up through my eyelashes, his stern gaze was set on me. 

Just as quickly as I saw those focused eyes, they were gone as he began eating his own food. 

I tried to ignore what I saw, yet I couldn't help but wonder what Rowan was thinking of when he looked at me like that.