"What am I going to do?" Eli panics, shoving his phone in Jason's face.

Jason heaves a long sigh and cranes his neck to look around Eli's hand as he continues to finely chop onions for tonight's main dish. "Tell him you don't have an omega."

"But why does he think I have an omega?"

In a monotone and rather bored voice, Jason asks, "Did you tell him you didn't have one?"

"I told him...I didn't feel comfortable talking about it via text." Once Eli utters those words, it's as if the entire kitchen comes to a halt.

"You didn't?" gasps one of the servers.

Eli rubs a hand along the back of his neck as he shrugs his shoulders. "I kinda did..."

Jason gently places his knife down and wipes his hands on his apron. He turns to Eli and stares at him, unblinking, as he asks, "Do you have another omega?"

"No!" Eli protests loudly. He yelps as Jason strikes, lightning fast, flicking the center of his forehead as he hisses,

"Then why the fuck wouldn't you just say that over text, Elias?!"

"Because there's a long explanation as to why I don't have one and it's not easy to—,"Jason's snores cut him off.

"Oh. Sorry," Jason makes a show of yawning loudly, smacking his lips together, and rubbing his eyes. "Were you done launching into the world's longest way of just saying 'No, man I won't stop talking about, even to my friends who don't know you, I don't have an omega'? Or were you still waxing philosophical about how detrimental societal pressures have been to you due to your upbringing?"

Eli mumbles, "You attend therapy one time, Jay, and you come out with a degree."

Jason taps a forefinger to his temple. "I retain what's important."

"Anyway," Eli rolls his eyes and commences panicking again, "What am I going to do?"

"Tell him the truth." Jason returns to dicing vegetables, believing the conversation to be done.

"The truth is..." Eli trails off grimacing. "What if he thinks it's odd?"

Jason mumbles under his breath, "Guess I'm not getting prep done today." He turns to face Eli, gently questioning, "Do you think it's odd?"

"I didn't, I mean I still don't. But how do I explain to him that it started as a rebellious phase?"

Jason squints, the pitch in his voice creeping up insanely high as he asks, "Was it though? You've always been attracted to any presentation—betas, alphas, omega's even—so where was the phase, Eli?"

"I can't tell him that. Not yet." Eli stares at his phone again, a soft smile beginning to bloom on his lips as he mutters, "I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know who I am. And that's nice for a change." Once again, all of the activity in the kitchen comes to a screeching halt. He looks up to see all of the staff staring at him, eyes wide with incredulity.

Jason is the one to break the silence. "What do you mean, Elias?"

Fuck.

"I mean, he doesn't seem to know who I am. But maybe he's playing dumb?"

"Does he strike you as the type?"

"No..." Eli trails off.

"So, let us" —Jason gestures between himself and the mostly quiet, but highly nosey staff—"get this straight. You meet an omega, for the first time you date an omega, really take him on a date, sleep with said omega, but you haven't told him who you are?! What do you think life is? A drama?!"

"If it's a drama, the OST sucks," one of the waiters gripes, breaking the tension.

Eli and his staff chuckle loudly as they slowly get back to work. He avoids Jason's gaze as he responds, "You know how this goes. You've seen it. Every time I like someone and they find out who I am, it's no longer about me as a person. It's about my family lineage and what I can do for them. Is it so wrong to pretend for a little while?"

"Omitting the truth is a lie."

"Not when they've never asked to know the truth."

Jason uses his knife to point at Eli's phone. "He's asking for a simple truth now. Either give it to him or ghost him."

Eli weighs telling a half truth against leaving Delaney in the dark and decides a half truth is better than a lie. At least he can keep track of the truth much easier. "Can you manage on your own for a while?"

Jason flippantly replies, "I always do."

Eli ignores the petulant attitude from one of his best friends and heads through the kitchen and into his office. He paces the floor as he tries to decide what's acceptable to tell Delaney and what's better left unsaid. Ultimately, he still doesn't feel comfortable telling him a partial truth over text, but he concludes that Jason is right. Answering now and offering to explain in detail later would be best.

[Eli: I don't want to explain over text but the least I can do is answer your question.]

[Delaney: Okay...]

[Eli: No, I don't have another omega.]

[Delaney: Why was that so hard to tell me over a text, Eli?]

Eli pinches the bridge of his nose as he exhales a thin breath. He takes a few seconds to carefully craft a response.

[Eli: Because there's a more in-depth explanation.]

Admittedly, that response didn't need to be carefully crafted.

[Delaney: So. Are you going to share with the class or...?]

[Eli: I can take about an hour, maybe two, away from work. Can I meet you?]

Delaney sends him an address and Eli quickly changes out of his work uniform. As he's dashing through the restaurant, he yells out instructions to his highly capable staff, feeling no qualms at leaving them alone for the next couple of hours. Luckily, the address Delaney sent him isn't too far from his restaurant. A parking structure is adjacent to the office buildings and as he pulls in, he texts that he's there. Within minutes there's a knock at his window and Eli's unlocking the door to allow Delaney to sit in the passenger seat.

The man looks devastatingly beautiful. His hair is swept up into a high ponytail with a few carefully placed rogue curls framing his face which, coupled with the light dust of shimmer, makes his cheekbones a bit more prominent. Thin winged eyeliner makes his golden eyes glow and smolder, reminding Eli of an evening sunset. His attire, while all black with a pop of color, is very chic; a long-sleeved, high-necked lace shirt with a blood red ribbon tied loosely at the collar, skintight black jeans, and suede black loafers with gold accents.

"How do you constantly look like you've stepped out of a fashion magazine?" Awe fills Eli voice as he takes in Delaney.

Delaney turns in the seat and levels Eli with an icy glare. "Flattery will get you nowhere until you tell me the truth, Eli."

"Straight to the point, I see."

"I don't intend on wasting your time. I would appreciate you not wasting mine."

"You're right." Eli inhales slowly and as he exhales, he explains, "I've—never actually been with an omega."

Delaney's eyes narrow as he stares at Eli. "That wasn't— that couldn't have been your first—,"

Eli shakes his head vigorously, interrupting, "No, no. It wasn't my first time. Just my first time with an omega." He's aware of the swift shift in Delaney's scent, but instead of immediately launching into a long-winded explanation based on the growing sour note of suspicion, he waits for Delaney to say something first, recalling how upset he was at the hospital when Eli pointed out his mood.

"So, what was all of that? Something to cross off your bucket list? I thought all alpha's only fucked omegas."

"I'm not like other alpha's," Eli stresses.

"No, you're not. And I don't understand why," Delaney fires back. "You desperately try to hide your scent, you aren't so assertive that it borders on aggression, and you didn't kn—," he pauses mid-sentence, shaking his head. "Never mind."

Feeling slightly defensive, Eli observes aloud, "You aren't like other omega's, Delaney. You don't scent either. You don't beg to be knotted and bred during sex—,"

"Who in their right mind does that?!" Delaney snaps, voice rising as suspicion gives way to a stormy, cloying anger.

"Why are you upset?"

"Because" —Delaney pushes open the car door— "what alpha, typical or atypical, would want to be with an omega who doesn't scent properly? Or doesn't beg to be knotted and pumped so full of alpha cum that they can whelp an entire fucking litter?"

"I don't under—,"

Delaney interrupts him, shouting, "Of course you don't! No one will ever understand!" He slams the car door and takes long, purposeful strides towards the elevator.

Eli hurries to unbuckle his seatbelt and exits the vehicle calling after him. "Wait! Delaney! Wait!" He catches up to Delaney and grabs his arm, stopping him. "Let me explain."

"Explain what? That I'm not enough of an omega for you?"

"Jesus...No!" Exasperation has Eli's tone sounding a bit harsher than he intended, but it causes both of them to slow down as he works to control his frustration. Delaney appears to be working against his desire to strangle Eli where he stands. "I don't care if you're not the stereotypical omega. I just...don't want you to be disappointed that I'm not the typical alpha."

"How can you actively choose to go against your nature?"

"Because I didn't actively choose for this to be my nature. Why does my biology have to define who I am? The actions that I take? The people that I want to love? Isn't that limiting?"

Delaney's voice is soft, yet heavy with emotion as he asks, "Why wouldn't you want to be who you're supposed to be? And do the things you're made to do?"

Eli can sense that somehow this conversation is no longer about him. He drops his hand from Delaney's arm, squeezing it softly before he releases it. He does pick his words carefully, running them through several filters before he answers. "We are so much more than biology dictates. I want to be the person that I choose to be, not who everyone tells me I need to be because I have a few additional chromosomes. If you can accept me as an atypical alpha, then I'd love to stick around. If not, then I won't bother you anymore."

Delaney's exhalation of breath shudders under the weight of whatever he feels the need to carry on his own, his shoulders dropping as he seeks an answer to a question he hasn't fully phrased yet. "And me?" He turns his face up to stare at Eli.

Eli reaches out to gently cup Delaney's face. "I already like you and you're quite the handful. Sarcastic, a bit rude, loud. Hey!" He exclaims loudly as Delaney playfully punches him in the middle of his chest.

"I am not loud. I resent that."

Eli lowers his voice, "You're loud for me." He smiles as Delaney's cheeks redden under his implication.

"Shut up. And go back to work." Delaney pushes him away, mumbling, "Skulking around the parking garage like some creep." He turns to head back to the elevators, but before he gets too far, Eli grabs his bicep again and pulls the omega flush against his body.

He concentrates on the feel of Delaney in his arms; the warmth of a svelte body pressed against his muscular one, and how after a few seconds of being held, he can feel Delaney slowly letting go of his tension as he relaxes into the hug. He focuses on the way Delaney smells, like a spring meadow, and how that scent brings him more comfort than he's ever known. He finds himself giving voice to his thoughts as he presses his lips to the crown of Delaney's head, "You fit so perfectly in my arms."

"God you're such a sap," Delaney mumbles, but he doesn't pull away.