Work was as boring as ever. Normally, Callum didn't mind it so much. But some days were so overwhelmingly dull, he wished he were doing just about anything else. It was meeting after meeting after meeting, and every single one of those meetings could have been an email, and every single one of those meetings that could have been an email came with the same, repetitive paperwork that Callum loathed. Time seemed to move more slowly than usual. He found himself experiencing minutes as if they were full hours. And he didn't even have anything to look forward to outside of work, because work was his entire life. He would go home, crawl into bed, and pass out after downing a carton of takeout—just like he did every night. He had no time for anything else. 

Callum pulled his reading glasses off his face so he could pinch the bridge of his nose, leaning back in his chair. All the words were starting to blend together, giving him a headache. At least he was alone in his office, but there were still two whole hours remaining in the work day. He was almost hoping something would happen, if only to distract him from the torture of listening to the seconds tick by on his office clock. 

On cue, the door swung open, and a husky, sing-song voice drifted into the room. "Bruin!! I've got that printout you wanted!" Beck strolled into the room, letting the door close behind him. 

Callum didn't look up as he slipped his reading glasses back onto his face. "You could have sent your assistant." 

"And miss a chance to visit my best friend?" Beck walked over to Callum's desk and set down the printout, then hopped on the sturdy wood as if it were any old chair, and not Callum's desk. 

Callum huffed, frowning as the paperwork he was working on got pinned underneath his best friend's ass. He set his pen down on the table loudly and glared up at Beck. "Don't you have work to do?" 

Beck hummed. "Finished all that already. Man, it's dull today. Don't you think?" 

Callum huffed. "I'm glad you're finished enough to goof off, but I have to get this to my father by the end of the day. So, if you don't mind..." Callum gestured for Beck to move. 

Which he did, but it left the papers crumpled. "Man, remember when we were first starting in the company? The days went by much faster back then. Now all we do is push around paper." 

Callum shrugged. "It's not all bad. It means we're moving up." 

"I guess that's true." Beck roamed to the other side of Callum's office, examining the books lining his bookshelves. They were mainly practical books on business administration, with a few technical manuals thrown in for good measure. Nothing Beck would find interesting, and he looked rather unimpressed as he browsed the titles. "At least it's Friday." 

Callum hummed, but didn't answer, busying himself with his work. He didn't actually mind Beck's company. They often spent their evenings during their school years together in one of their rooms, scribbling down their homework or distracting themselves with video games. Despite Beck's knack for being a distraction, Callum found the presence of his best friend calming. It helped him focus, strangely enough. 

Suddenly, Beck turned and slapped his hands on Callum's desk. "Hey. Got any plans this weekend?" 

Callum looked up, one eyebrow raised. "I was going to analyze the data from last quarter. We've got that big meeting next month with the board, and I want to be ready." 

Beck laughed. "What? Callum, that's just work. Why are you working on your weekend?" 

Callum shrugged. "Because I have nothing better to do." 

Beck was silent for a long moment, and then shook his head. "Okay, Callum, as your best friend, I cannot let you waste your weekend working. I know I was joking around earlier about you needing to loosen up, but—do you ever do anything for yourself, dude? Name the last time."

Callum had to stop and think about it, which—apparently—was enough of an answer for Beck. 

"Holy shit, Callum." 

Callum sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair to fix Beck with a glare. "And what are your big plans this weekend?" 

Callum didn't mean for Beck to answer, but apparently, Beck missed the memo. He grinned from ear to ear, like he'd been waiting all week for someone to ask. "I've got a date." 

Callum raised an eyebrow. "A date?" 

"Yeah. With this cute little Omega I met on Alph-O." Beck wiggled his eyebrows. 

"Alph-O?" Callum wrinkled his nose. "What the hell is an Alph-O?" 

"It's an app," Beck explained, slipping his phone out of his pocket and unlocking it to show Callum the little icon. "For Alphas and Omegas to meet up. You just set a nickname, pick your second gender, and indicate whether you're looking for Alphas or Omegas—or both, even. It's great for meeting people," Beck explained. 

"So it's a dating app." Callum immediately lost interest. 

Beck shrugged. "Yeah, guess so. But here's the thing—it's all anonymous. Like, blind dates, masks, and costumes. You don't know what the other person looks like unless you agree to meet up—there's this whole system of using signals to indicate who you're waiting for." 

Callum scoffed. "Isn't that kind of dangerous?" 

Beck laughed. "It's mostly used for hookups in dark club bathrooms," he admitted. "Or phone sex." 

Callum rolled his eyes. "Sounds riveting." 

Beck shook his head. "Only you would find such a concept boring." He leaned against Callum's desk again, but this time, he didn't hop on. "You've seriously never heard of it? I bet you'd be popular if you had a profile. Being the heir to the Bruin Throne." 

Callum could not have been less interested. "I thought you said it was anonymous." 

"Well, yeah. It is. For the most part. Until it's time to get down and dirty, anyway." Beck pushed himself off Callum's desk. "Maybe you should join. You spend all your time either here or locked in your apartment. Don't you want to get out there and mingle?" 

"Not particularly." It was too dangerous for Callum to ''mingle." Any relationship he had ever had was either hand-picked by his father or fell apart because Callum couldn't tell them the truth. Besides, it was only a matter of time before Raphael made Callum's engagement to Courtney Hart official. What was the point of mingling when his future was already planned out for him? 

Beck shrugged, making his way to Callum's door. "Suit yourself." He paused, looking over his shoulder at Callum like he wanted to say something. 

Callum gave in with one glance at Beck's big, blue, puppy-dog eyes. "What is it, Caddel?" 

Beck turned around, picking at the cuff of his button-up shirt. "It's just—Callum—don't you ever feel... lonely?" 

The question threw Callum off guard, and he almost didn't know how to respond. He brushed it off and turned his attention back to his paperwork before Beck could notice how his cheeks had started to warm. "What do you mean, lonely?" 

"Just—don't you ever feel like... like something is missing from your life?" 

"Do you feel like that?" Callum didn't look up from his paperwork. 

Beck was silent for a moment. "Sometimes, yeah." 

Callum's eyes widened, and he looked up at Beck with a skeptical expression. Callum had thought the conversation was going to be Beck teasing him about needing a date—but the whole time, Beck just wanted to... open up to a friend? About something he had been feeling? Beck? 

Beck faltered under Callum's gaze and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Just—you know—sometimes. Occasionally. It's whatever." 

Callum didn't know what to say. He was so bad at this part. He never knew the level of comfort necessary. "You know... if you're feeling lonely, I don't think a random date with a stranger is going to help."

Beck smiled a sheepish, lifeless smile. "Yeah, well—it's worth a shot, right?" 

Callum didn't know how to respond to that, either, so he didn't. Silence fell over the office, and Beck rocked back on his feet. 

"Well, I should stop distracting you from your oh so important paperwork. At least try to do something for yourself this weekend, though, okay? Don't just burrow in your room." 

The air in the room lifted just a little, and Callum relaxed slightly. "No promises." 

"I'm watching you, Bruin." Beck playfully made the I’m watching you gesture to Callum as he slipped out the door and—presumably—back to his own office. 

Do something for yourself. Callum rarely ever thought about that. After all, how could he? His whole life, he existed to simply please other people. He wasn't even allowed to be himself anywhere other than the privacy of his own penthouse. Do something for yourself. 

It was a nice thought, if only Callum were someone else.

***

It was late, the day had long since turned to night, and Callum lay awake in his bed, staring at the same spot in the ceiling. He couldn't stop thinking about his conversation with Beck. That feeling that Beck described—the emptiness—Callum knew it all too well. It was an emptiness he had lived with for a long time: the knowledge that no one would ever love him the way he was, the reality that he would always have to hide the truth, the fact that he didn't even have any agency in his own life, and everything was decided for him by other people. 

Beck said Callum needed to loosen up, and maybe that was true. 

Callum sighed and turned on his side in his bed, curling beneath the covers. The far wall of his room was a full window, looking out to a view of the city. Callum usually kept the black out curtains he had closed at night, but he hadn't gotten around to it yet, and he was feeling too lazy to do it now.

He had never really thought about what he wanted from life. He knew he couldn't have it, anyway, so—why bother? Any time he did want something, he usually squashed it down and told himself to forget about it. Because it usually wasn't in the cards. That was what happened to his first-ever dream—and every dream thereafter. 

Callum sighed, finally concluding that sleep was not going to take him any time soon. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. For a while, he scrolled mindlessly—but he wasn't paying attention to anything. He was thinking about Beck, and what he said, and the feeling they both harbored, deep inside. 

Before Callum thought about what he was doing, he pulled up the App Store and searched the app Beck had mentioned. He wasn't planning on using it—he was just curious. What could he have done with it, anyway? Pretend to be an Alpha on another website? 

But—then again—Beck did say the whole thing was anonymous. 

So wouldn't that mean that Callum didn't have to be Callum Bruin, Heir to the Bruin fortune, elite Alpha, eligible bachelor? Couldn't he just be—Callum, a lonely Omega looking for a friend? 

Callum scoffed at his own thought. Right, sure. As if that could ever work. What would he even do? It wasn't like he could actually meet with anyone he met there in person. Anyone he talked to would be doomed to forever be an Internet Friend. Even if Callum could cut loose and be his true self on an anonymous app, what if a taste was enough to make him want more? What if it made him reckless? 

It was a bad idea. 

And yet, the app was already downloading on his phone. 

It was a bad idea. Why was he even listening to Beck, of all people? Sure, the guy was his best friend basically since birth, and probably the only person in the world Callum trusted—but he didn't know everything. He could easily be wrong about this. 

Callum opened the app and was met with a prompt. 

Please enter your email.

He didn't want anything to be traced back to him, so he used an old, throw-away account Beck had created for him as a joke back in high school: bentleywently@gmail.com. 

He set a password, verified his email, and was taken to a page for setting up his profile. It was pretty bare-bones. A nickname, age, a photo selected from some predetermined options, a short bio, general location, what your preference was for matches, gender, and—second gender. Callum's gut twisted as he looked at the profile. It was a bad idea. 

It was a bad idea. 

But that thing that existed deep in his heart reared its ugly head, and it stomped out all reason that previously existed in Callum's mind. At the end of the day, what Callum wanted more than anything was a chance. A chance to be seen, as he really was. 

So, he filled out the profile. He couldn't use his real name—and from what Beck said, that wasn't really the point of the site, anyway.

He picked the first thing he could think of. Entered his nickname, picked a picture of some daisies as his avatar. His bio gave him some trouble, but he figured out something vague and stupid. It wasn't like he expected to match with anyone. When he was finished, all he had to do was click Done, and his profile would go live. He could get matches, meet people, find... a friend. That was all he wanted. He took one last look over his profile, and sucked in a breath. 

Nickname: Bentley

Age: 33

Located in: Central City

Gender: Male

Second Gender: Omega

Interested in: Men

Bio: I don't know what people usually put here. Not looking for anything serious, just hoping for someone to talk to.

It was a bad idea. 

And Callum clicked done.