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They were a day into their trip when Ash felt the tell-tale cramping of pre-heat. He’d honestly forgotten about it since Dino had him on heat suppressants and he’d been given an extra shot in prison to “avoid starting a riot.” He’d had heats before but always as an act of rebellion, a sign that he’d been on the streets avoiding Dino for long enough to miss the monthly injection. Although Ash had always made sure to return for the birth control shot every three months. It had already been too long since the last one, which meant that Ash would have to be careful to not get knocked up this time.
The fact that he was currently stuck in a truck with four alphas certainly didn’t help matters. Ash knew that none of them were likely to try anything, but it still made him a bit nervous. The couple heats he’d had were spent in his shitty apartment with only Skip and Alex checking in on him occasionally, his time spent lying on the bed pointedly not touching himself interrupted whenever Griffin needed to eat or use the bathroom or have his teeth brushed. The thought of going through a heat without his brother’s comforting scent, the smell of “home,” surrounding him was more than a little terrifying.
Still though, there was nothing that could be done to prevent it now, he just had to act before he ended up having a full-blown heat.
He turned to look at Max who was at the wheel, apparently worn out enough to have stopped his obnoxious singing.
"Hey, old man, when are we stopping next?”
“I’m thinking the next town,” Max briefly glanced at him. “Do you need something?”
“Yeah,” Ash replied. “Heat repressor. The over-the-counter shit.”
Max blanched and the car swerved, “What?!”
“Jesus christ, Max! Look at the goddamn road!”
Max quickly corrected the wheel’s position and stopped them from having a fiery death in the near future.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Just—I thought that---”
Ash decided to save him from whatever foolish thing he’d been about to say, “The shot from prison has worn off, and I’ve started cramping. I need the stupid repressor before I send you all to boner-ville.”
“God, don’t say it like that, Ash!” Max exclaimed. Then he took a deep breath, “Okay, we’ll go to a drug store in the next town, there’s probably one close to the freeway.”
“Sounds like a plan, daddy-o.”
“Could you stop that, kid?” Max shuddered. “Gives me the creeps.”
That made Ash laugh, “I’ve had lots of men pay good money to hear me call them ‘daddy.’”
“Yeah, okay. You’ve just lost conversation privileges. I’m cranking the radio.”
Max reached over and turned on the radio, classic rock starting to blare out of the shitty truck speakers. Ash didn’t know the band, but he was pretty sure his father had listened to it sometimes which was, well, that didn’t exactly make him like it. Although at least it wasn’t “Clementine.”
The next town they saw was one of those Midwest ones that somehow reminded you of every other small town you’d ever been in while also managing to be completely boring in its own unique way. Right off the freeway was a gas station and a worn-down drug store which were the only places with cars parked in front of them. When everyone had piled out of the car, the attendant in the gas station started glaring at them through the window. Ash couldn’t tell if it was because of Shorter’s bright purple mohawk or if the attendant was just racist. Could’ve been both, too.
Ash checked that his gun was in place and hidden then followed Shorter and Eiji into the drug store. The inside was well lit but somehow still required squinting to see anything on its shelves. Or that could just be that Ash didn’t have his glasses. He left the other boys to look for snacks, only half of which would probably be legally paid for, heading straight for the “Omega Health” section.
He walked past loads of slick pads and bullshit “calming pheromone” candles and rolled his eyes when he saw what he needed.
Of course they’re locked up, he fumed internally. Stupid fucking small towns. He stepped back from the locked case and squinted to read the sign posted above it. Apparently, the store would only sell heat repressors to omegas with alphas present. That wasn’t a legal requirement anywhere, but store chains in some areas had bullshit rules like that. Ash had been too young to need to worry about these things in Cape Cod, and in New York City nobody really cared that he was alone.
Ash glanced over at Shorter and Eiji who were at the register, the cashier not bothering to hide his distaste. Yeah, they probably would not be the best options.
With a sigh, he joined up with the two alphas and exited the drugstore.
“Got everything?” Max called from his place leaning against the truck. He was looking at Ash pointedly.
Shorter and Eiji both answered positively before going to put their loot into the back of the truck. Ash kind of wanted to talk to Max alone, but he figured everyone would be finding out about everything soon and decided to be as frank as possible.
“Not everything,” he forced a grin. He continued before Max could respond, “Do you want to be my dad or my boyfriend?”
“Excuse me?!”
Ash turned to see Shorter looking at him shocked and rolled his eyes.
“I’m in preheat and this stupid town has the omega shit locked up. I need an alpha with me,” he explained.
Shorter almost looked offended, “Well, what about me? I’m an alpha!”
“Yeah, but I’m a pretty white omega and you have a giant purple mohawk. And the gas station attendant already looks like he wants to call the cops on us. So, Max should come with me.”
The older man looked angry and a bit disgusted. Ash was used to that reaction as it was the one decent alphas had when they found out about some form of omega oppression they’d previously been blissfully unaware of. Ash started to walk back to the store and quickly heard Max jog to catch up with him.
“How did you get stuff in New York?” asked Max.
“Dino shelled out for suppressants ‘cuz he was afraid that some random alpha would claim me. And most places in New York City will sell to omegas as long as they smell like an alpha, which was never a problem for me.”
Max made a face but didn’t comment. Ash appreciated the lack of pity that he’d receive whenever he bluntly told Max things. He wasn’t the first adult to tell him that the way he’d been treated wasn’t right, Charlie and Jenkins told him that at almost every available opportunity, but he was probably the first to treat him normally even after Ash mentioned some disturbing detail about how he’d been raped in the past.
Max ended up going with the “dad” option. A picture of his ex-wife, who was apparently a blonde bombshell who didn’t look unlike Ash, was enough to convince the cashier that he was in fact Ash’s father even if they had no legal proof of it, and the repressors were bought along with a giant bottle of scent suppressant.
Getting back into the truck was surprisingly unawkward, no weird looks from anyone, just Shorter handing him a cola to wash down the pills with. Ibe and Eiji were talking softly to each other in Japanese, Ash guessing that they were talking about omegas or heats or something because he caught the accented version of his name that they used. Their conversation wrapped up by the time Max got back into the driver’s seat and started the car, Eiji turning to Ash and giving him a bright smile. Ash figured it was the preheat hormones causing him to be gooey enough to not want to punch him in the face for being annoyingly cheerful.
The preheat hormones also kind of made Ash want to put his head on Shorter’s shoulder next to him, but he refrained. That wasn’t really the kind of friendship that they had with each other.
“You could have told me, you know?” Shorter said.
“I wasn’t keeping it from you or anything. I honestly didn’t even think of it until I started cramping earlier,” Ash protested. “Besides it’s none of your business.”
Shorter sighed, “I know, but still.”
Ash rolled his eyes, “Whatever.”
Shorter laughed, apparently no longer worried, as if Ash sassing him showed that all was right in the world. Ash turned to look at Eiji who’d been silent during the interaction and realized that the older boy had been staring at him.
“What?” he asked, somewhat defensively. Eiji was harmless, but he was still an alpha and something about his gaze made Ash feel uncomfortable. Not scared or in danger, but an odd prickling feeling would erupt under his skin whenever he noticed Eiji’s eyes on him.
Eiji held his gaze, “You are in preheat, yes?” He dragged out the word “preheat” as if it were new to him which, based on the conversation he’d just had with Ibe, it probably was a new addition to his English vocabulary.
“Yeah, that happens when omegas aren’t on suppressants."
Eiji hummed, choosing to ignore Ash's sarcasm, “I’m sorry. Here—” he squirmed around a bit as he took off his jacket then held it out to Ash. “This will help.”
Ash gaped at him, not expecting anything that bold or suggestive from Eiji of all people. He heard Shorter gasp in shock next to him. Ash had had many alphas try to hit on him, but he was really not expecting it from Eiji, or for it to be in such a casual, self-confident way.
Ash had truly no words, “I—what are you---”
Eiji’s gentle expression started to fall, his brows scrunching closer together, “Did I do it wrong?” His voice wasn’t angry, like Ash was worried it would be, like all entitled alphas would be, but it did sound very confused, as if he didn’t understand why his blatant courting display wasn’t going over well with an omega he barely knew. God, Ash shouldn’t have kissed him in prison. Apparently, he’d given him ideas.
The silence carried on long enough that Max called out, “Everything okay back there? You guys suddenly got quiet.”
Ibe was the one who turned back and poked his head into the trunk area. Ash saw him scan the scene, his and Shorter’s shock, Eiji’s guileless face and his hand still outstretched to give Ash a coat with his scent on it.
“Oh god,” he said. “Sorry, Ash. He didn’t mean it like that.” He then turned to Eiji and started speaking to him in rapid Japanese. Ash watched as Eiji looked shocked then turned bright red before his expression landed on something best described as guilty. He groaned and put his face in his hands, curling his body away from Shorter and Ash.
Shorter found his words first, “What just happened?”
“In Japan, letting someone borrow scented clothing doesn’t have the same meaning, especially if it’s just a coat. He didn’t know that in America it’s reserved for close family or courting. He didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Oh,” Ash said. “Okay.” That did explain things. “So he offered his coat because….”
“The fact that you’re an omega and younger than him. It’s what he’d do for a younger classmate if they were in preheat. It’s considered impolite to let unmated omegas smell alone when in preheat. He didn’t mean anything by it.”
That made Ash pause. He thought about when he first met Eiji, the alpha asking if he could hold his gun. Ash wasn’t quite sure why he’d said yes at that moment, but thinking back on it, it was probably Eiji’s earnestness and lack of presumption. He’d just asked with no expectation. He’d done something similar when offering his coat and, just like letting Eiji hold his gun, he wanted to say “yes.”
“Thank you for explaining, Ibe,” Ash said then turned to Eiji. “It’s okay, I’m not mad.”
Eiji peeked at him through a gap in his fingers, starting to uncurl his body, “You’re not?”
“Nope,” Ash said, popping the “p”. Then he reached over and tentatively grabbed the jacket from where Eiji had dropped it.
He carefully pulled it closer and then put it on. It was oversized on Eiji so on Ash it was about perfect length-wise but still a bit wide in the shoulders. It didn’t smell like cologne or anything special like romance books described, it mostly just smelled like alpha boy sweat. It didn’t help his cramps or make him feel safe, but it was comforting in a way similar to how Griffin’s scent in his apartment had been.
Eiji’s eyes stayed on him the whole time he adjusted the coat around him, a tentative smile forming on his face, “Thank you.”
“Thank you?” Ash laughed. “I just stole your fucking coat, what are you thanking me for?”
Eiji shrugged, “I don’t know. Not being mad.”
“Whatever, it’s fine. Now nobody talk to me I’m going to nap until the repressors kick in. Wake me up and you’re dead,” Ash slumped to the side, “accidentally” leaning against Shorter next to him. He ignored his friends’ whispers as he made his body relax. Their droning voices along with Max’s singing in the front mixing into a crude sort of lullaby.
He slept.