To say that I was pissed would be an understatement. I could practically feel the steam coming out of my ears as I drove over to my best friend's house.
Milo has always been too trusting, too easily saw the good in people. Hell, that's how we became friends in the first place. While he had just silently suffered through the alphas' leers during middle school, I had fumed at him for letting them talk to him that way. But Milo had just given me the smallest smile, the one I now know he only does when he is upset, and had shrugged his shoulders.
"It doesn't bother me what they say," he had told me while I had proceeded to glare at the assholes. "Just as long as I have you by my side, Ollie."
His words then still manage to creep into my mind rather frequently. He was the one out of the two of us who was the bravest, defying his parents by going to college while I had been too chicken shit to do the same. But then it got lonely with my best friend being away, so I had enrolled in the same college, only a semester behind him.
It is only because of him that I managed to get my degree in Child and Family Studies and then a Master's in Early Childhood Education.
Well, Grandmother might have pushed a bit, but it took Milo being over two hundred miles away for me to realize that I needed to push past the stereotypes and pursue my passion.
And then Milo met Aaron, the biggest asshole to ever live. He treated Milo like shit ever since they first got together. But he had been Milo's first love, and my best friend could be a little blind sometimes.
I knew this would be coming some day, so I have been prepared. Too bad it was Aaron who left and not the other way around. Milo doesn't deserve to be hurt that way.
The Thai food delivery guy is just getting out of the car when I pull up into the drive way. He looks a little spooked to see me come up behind him but lets me take the food from him anyway. The heavy tip might have helped too.
With my overnight bag slung over my shoulder and the Thai food in hand, I make my way up the porch steps, putting the key that Milo had given to me years ago into the lock.
Milo is just where I expected him to be: on the couch with his blanket wrapped around him. He looks up when he sees me, his lips turning up into a small smile. It clashes against his red rimmed eyes, and I have to restrain myself from leaving to go and try to find Aaron.
"Hey, you made it," Milo says, pushing himself up from the couch. The blanket is draped over his shoulders like a cape before he wraps it tighter around himself.
"Told you I would be here," I say, dropping my overnight bag against the couch and setting the Thai food on the coffee table. "Now come here and let me love you."
He lets out a strained laugh but walks into my outstretched arms anyway. Pulling him close, I lean down to press a kiss onto the top of his hair as he buries his face in my neck, small sniffles coming from him.
"He just left," he says, voice a little muffled as he speaks against my skin. "All because I'm infertile, Ollie. He said that he has had enough of me not being a proper omega and that he wanted a- a divorce."
My arms tighten around him, hands running up and down the length of his back. "He's an asshole, love," I murmur, pulling him over to the couch so that we can both sit down. "He can't see how amazing you are."
"Not amazing," he mumbles, and his words make my heart ache.
Because my best friend truly is amazing. He was the omega that all the rest of us hoped to be: intelligent, patient, and parental. It isn't fair that he can't have his own children when he is the one who deserves them the most. Aaron is an asshole for leaving because of this, but knowing him, he is just using this as an excuse.
"Yes, you are. No arguing with me when I am always right."
That draws a chuckle out of him, and he pulls away from me, enough so that he can rest his head on my shoulder instead of hiding away.
"Now, let's eat. They were having their salad roll discount, so I made sure to get a serving for each of us."
Milo lets out a small hum of delight pulling away from me so that he can dig through the bag of food. His hands still though, and he looks back at me, his blue eyes wide in apology.
"Today's Friday, isn't it?" he asks.
Shrugging my shoulders, I push him gently out of the way so that I can rifle through the bag. "Yeah, but don't worry about it."
His hand falls on my arm, giving it a small squeeze. "Ollie, I'm sorry. I-I completely forgot. You can leave now and be able to meet him over at the bar before you become too late."
Letting out a soft sigh, I pull out the container of Pad Thai, handing it over to Milo. He takes it easily enough, but it is easy to see the guilt in his eyes.
"It's alright, Milo. Really." I pull out my container of salad rolls, unrolling them carefully. "We weren't working out anyway, and we both knew it wasn't something serious."
Milo bites his lip, looking like he wants to protest, but just gives a small nod of his head before taking a bit of his pad thai. He always worries about me, especially since I haven't had a serious relationship in years.
But every relationship I have tried has just felt wrong. So, now I have stuck to just having some fun with other willing people. Milo doesn't like it, wants me to try to settle down and be happy. No one has felt quite right, though.
So, friendly sex is good enough for now.
"Jason hated being seen in public with me anyway, so it's good that I stand him up for once."
"Why do you put up with him if he is so ashamed of being gay?" Milo says, grabbing the Thai ice tea that I got us to share and taking a sip. "You shouldn't be with someone who is ashamed of you. You're too good for that."
I raise my eyebrow at him giving him a skeptical look. "Are you really trying to have this talk with me? You have been with an alpha who hasn't appreciated your worth for years. You're the one who deserves someone better."
He just lets out a small hum going back to eating. I let him eat in silence for a few minutes before going back to the questioning. "What did the doctor say?"
His brows scrunch together and he looks down at his food, refusing to meet my eyes. "She told me that I should stop the hormones for a while, try to let my body get back to normal."
"You can just try again soon, love. We can find you a donor and everything."
He looks up then, giving his head a small shake. "I don't know if I can go through that pain anymore. Every negative pregnancy test made it all hurt so much worse." He shrugs his shoulders, taking another drink of the tea. "Maybe I'm just not meant to be a parent."
Setting down my food, I reach over to grab his hand, entwining his fingers with mine. "Don't say that. You're the most deserving omega out there, and children love you just as much as you love them."
He chuckles a little, sounding pained. "You're the one who's the preschool teacher. I'll just live vicariously through you when you have your own children."
He leans back on the couch, grabbing the remote to turn on the television. "Now, let's watch some of the cheesy reality shows and enjoy the food. No more depressing talk tonight."
Not wanting to push Milo when he is obviously hurting, I focus on the wedding dress show on the television.
Sometime later, after too many episodes of that dress show, I look over to see that Milo is fast asleep. The blanket is falling off of him, and his lips are parted as he dreams. The grandfather clock in the corner tells me that it is a little after midnight.
My exhaustion is catching up with me, making it difficult for me to find the will to draw myself up from the couch. It is easy enough to clean up our food mess. The hard part is dragging Milo to bed. He mumbles something when I pull him up from the couch but trails after me anyways.
Pulling off everything but his briefs, I tuck him into bed, watching as his brows crinkle in displeasure. His hand reaching out to grab mine startles me a bit since I thought he was mostly asleep.
"Stay?" he says, eyes cracking open slightly. "I don't want to be alone."
His words sound so cliché, but hearing it from him causes my heart to ache. "Alright," I whisper, walking over to the other side of the bed.
He pulls back the covers but drifts off as I slip off my pants. As I go to place them on the dresser, something catches my sight in the trash can. The light from the moon outside gives me just enough to see the glossiness of magazines in the trash bin.
Looking over my shoulder, I see that Milo is completely asleep. The magazines crinkle slightly as I pick them up, and when I finally realize what they are, my breath catches in my throat.
It's a couple of dog eared copies of baby magazines. The kind with all the newest furniture and clothing. Glancing through, I see that Milo has gone through and circled a few different things, obviously excited at the prospect of having a baby.
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I set them underneath my folded up pants. It hurts too much to think about Milo giving up on something so important to him. He defied the odds and went to a top notch university, where he got a double major in Business and Accounting, all on scholarship.
If he has thrown these away, he really has given up on being a parent. Walking back over to the bed, I climb under the covers, pulling them back over me. Milo is faced towards me, his blond hair falling over his forehead. Reaching over, I brush it away, smiling when Milo mumbles in his sleep.
He deserves to be happy, to have everything he wants. A plan starts to form in my head as I stare at the ceiling. He helped me become who I am today, so I'll help him become what he has been dreaming about for years.
*****
Just a quick note that I forgot to mention earlier. When someone makes a mention of being gay in this universe, they mean they are attracted to a person of the same orientation as them (Alpha, Omega, Beta).