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Jensen was far too old for this.
Far too old to be sitting in a club, surrounded by lithe little things that danced for his attention, to old to be desperate for whatever the bar had that was not fruity and pastel, too old to be looking for a hot one night knotting in some willing omega's hole. This was the game of the young -- alphas just out of school and thrust into the world, eager to fuck and fight and roam wild like their parents would never let them. A place for kids on the verge of adulthood, fooling around and getting away with whatever anyone would let them. Everything in here, from the music to the flashing lights to the ridiculous drinks spoke to exactly what demographic people expected in here, and it certainly wasn't a fully grown alpha, sitting bored and divorced from the action, watching the writhing bodies out on the dance floor -- some using it for actual dancing. Others...not so much.
Jensen had enjoyed it, a few years ago, just like any hot blooded young alpha.
He'd fucked his way through half the state, by the time he was thirty, and he'd loved the hell out it.
The only thing was, he'd always expected to be done with it, by now. Always expected that it was just fun he was having while young, and that by now he'd be settled and mated, not trolling the same old clubs for the same old pleasures.
His hormones had settled down a couple years back, the fury of angry youth finally abating and his urge to chase down an omega in heat lowering. It wasn't like he didn't still want it -- god did he -- it was just that time and age had given him a little more control. The ability to take in the scent and then leave it. The ability to walk away.
Enough that even this den of pheromones didn't push him like it used to, didn't make him go mindless as he rutted against any body willing to stay still for him. Enough that he could sit here at a bar and look out over the sea of bodies and feel nothing but empty.
"Another?" the beta bartender asked, holding up what Jensen assumed to be the only damn bottle of whiskey the man had, given how he was popping little colorful umbrellas left right and center. Jensen considered it, then shook his head, bringing the glass back for another sip. There was no one in here over twenty five, save him and the staff, and it didn't make him feel suave or powerful.
Just sad and old and mateless, and he couldn't help but wonder if maybe wasting his youth in places like this had been the problem.
He'd always blown the whole thing off -- he had time, after all -- why go looking for a life partner right away? He'd been young and having fun and every time his mother asked he'd brushed her concerns aside.
'I'll find a mate when I find one,' he'd said, like it was so simple, so easy.
'You won't find one in those bars you go to. You're wasting your time.'
'Mom,' he'd complained, shifting his grip on the phone. 'They're clubs, not bars, and I'm not there to look for a mate. Besides, what's wrong with omegas?'
She'd made a sound of disgust then, one that Jensen could almost hear echoing delicate and disdainful in his ear.
'Omegas will look for anyone or anything, the desperate little things. They have no attention span, and care for nothing else than breeding. They're fine enough as a distraction, but I want more than that for you, darling. I want you to find a nice beta, one that will settle down with you. Make you happy.'
And maybe his mother had been wrong about omegas, but she hadn't been wrong about him wasting his time. Because here he was, on the verge of turning thirty one, listening to bad, repetitive techno in some poorly lit warehouse, drinking whiskey and watching the show on the dance floor, and it wasn't anything even remotely like he'd imagined for himself.
It didn't make him happy like it used to.
He let out a sound of frustration, and maybe he should just go home. It wasn't like he was getting anything out of this, and the scent of heat and needy omegas was just making his throat feel clogged, the air too thick and cloying. He turned back to the bar, wondering if he should rethink his decision on another drink -- knock one back before he left -- when his eyes caught on some motion to his left, across the side of the bar and over by one of the exits from the building.
He wasn't sure why it caught his attention. After all, the place was teaming with people, all dancing or touching or fucking, a veritable sea of motion, but for some reason, his eyes flicked to that darkened passageway, a short corridor to the exit, and a young omega pressed up against a wall, an alpha leaned over him, arm against the surface at the omega's back. There was nothing unusual about it. Some guy looking to knot up an eager bitch, but something about it struck Jensen wrong anyhow. Made him feel itchy.
It took him almost thirty seconds of watching until he saw it: the omega's hand, pressed to the wall, fingers curling, like he was trying to burrow back into it.
Like he wanted to get away, but couldn't.
Jensen sat up a little straighter.
The way the alpha was leaned over made it hard for the omega to get away, not without acting out -- pushing or shoving or doing something equally unlikely to occur. It wasn't in an omega's instincts to fight like that, especially against an alpha.
Jensen set his glass down and got up, only barely remembering to grab his jacket.
Some people believed that omegas couldn't be raped. That their nature, their need dictated sex so thoroughly that even if they said no, they still wanted it. And Jensen got why people thought that. He'd been in enough situations with one, alternately pushing at him and pulling him close, but heat wasn't the same as consent, not to Jensen, and even in the thick of it, he backed off if he thought his partner wasn't going to like it.
It sucked, and got him all pissed and moody, because he was still an alpha, and there was no amount of platitudes that could calm those aggressive urges, but he still backed off.
And he was old enough now that it was easier to get over.
He walked up to the couple, not asking for permission because the concept didn't occur to him, like it never occurred to any alpha, and stopped only when both the omega and the other alpha were looking at him, questions in both their eyes but different questions all the same.
"Back off," Jensen said simply. It was in their nature for alphas to fight, to push each other around. Jensen didn't know another alpha who hadn't grown up with scrapes and bruises and bite marks from fights with both friends and enemies, and as an adult, they didn't tend to beat around the bush with each other.
They'd either leave each other's space or fight. That was just how it worked.
The other alpha frowned and leaned in close, and the omega froze up, going stiff as the alpha buried his face in the boy's neck, sniffing him before pulling back.
"I don't smell your scent on him. If you wanted him claimed, you should have done a better job."
"He's not mine."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Not yours either."
"Could be -- you can smell how he wants it."
"Just because he wants it doesn't mean he wants it. Now scram."
"The hell I will," the other alpha responded, and it didn't surprise Jensen at all. He'd never have backed down, if he was in the kid's position, confronted by another alpha, even if the other alpha was older and he should know better than to pick a fight with a creature bigger and stronger than him.
Jensen didn't bother wasting any more time with words, head snapping forwards to bite the thick muscle at the base of the other alpha's neck, feeling hot blood spill around his teeth, and the alpha tried to wrench away. Jensen let go -- not because he was giving up, but because the damned fool hadn't learned to go still under a bite. If Jensen hadn't released him, the kid would have torn out his own jugular, like an idiot.
The younger alpha ended up in a sprawl on the floor, clapping a hand to his bleeding neck, growling up at Jensen, and Jensen just stared back down at him, feeling the salty blood on his lips.
"I said scram, kid. Don't make this a thing," and Jensen was grateful for his age for once this evening, the other alpha feeling less shame at ducking his head to an elder, pushing to his feet and moving away -- maybe to look after his wound or maybe to find some other game, Jensen didn't know. Or care.
He lifted one hand to rub the blood from his mouth, turning to look at the omega, who immediately plastered himself back against the wall, and Jensen sighed.
"What're you doing here, if you're not looking for a knot?"
"I--" the omega started, and in the flashing lights of the club Jensen could see a young face, still a teenager, hair shaggy and eyes bright with heat, though it wasn't like Jensen couldn't smell it in the air, mixing and becoming almost indistinguishable with all the others. "I am looking for a knot."
Jensen snorted.
"Yeah? How's that then? Looks like you're halfway to bolting."
"Just because I don't want it doesn't mean I don't want it," the kid responded, parroted Jensen's words and twisted them. Jensen couldn't help the bark of laughter that left him at that response, and the omega seemed to relax a little at the sound, a slow smile breaking out.
"What's your name?" Jensen asked.
"Jared."
"Jensen," he responded, not used to conversation in places like this. If he was in a club, he was usually out on the dance floor, knee deep in hungry omegas. He wasn't exactly used to getting names. Or giving them. "So, why here then?"
"I'm tired of my parents locking me up every time I hit my cycle," the kid pouted, blowing breath up to stir his bangs. "I'm tired of writhing around on my bed trying to get off with my fingers."
"Didn't they at least get you some toys?" Jensen asked, eyebrows raising.
"They think I should wait for the "real thing," " Jared's hands came up to form quotes in the air, and Jensen could see him visibly relaxing as he ranted, his fear of the club and the crowd of alphas lessening as he turned to frustration with his parents. "And that means waiting for a mating ceremony, to them, and I'm tired of it. I'm tired of feeling like I'm going crazy, and it gets worse every cycle so I just--" His hurried words stop for a second, eyes flicking to the side. He shrugged. "I climbed out of my window and I...came here."
"So you could get some alpha to scratch that itch, huh?" Jensen asked, not looking for an answer. It wasn't uncommon, though he didn't know why parents wouldn't at least get their omega kid something to play with. He'd never felt the urge of heat himself, being an alpha, but he'd seen enough omegas go through it to know that it could go from 'wanting to fuck' to 'needing to fuck' to actual pain if care wasn't given. He could understand being protective, but keeping an omega away from alphas and from a false knot just seemed cruel. "C'mere," he beckoned eventually, moving his jacket down from over his shoulder.
Jared hesitated, then stepped forward, obedience automatic even if the omega was curious. Jensen wrapped the jacket around the kid's shoulders, and pulled him in, feeling the smaller body press to his own. It was familiar, and nothing new, the feel of an omega against him -- except he was used to it being in a totally different context.
He wasn't used to feeling a body quiet in his arms, seek him out not to fuck but just to put arms around Jensen's waist and hold on.
"You sure you want this?" he asked quietly, but loud enough to be heard over the music. They both knew where this was heading, where it had been heading since Jared hadn't turned him down flat and left.
"No," Jared replied, and Jensen sighed.
"Are you sure enough?"
"...I think so."
Jensen pushed him back gently, looking him over, the way the fever of heat had paled the kid's skin but flushed his cheeks, left a sheen of sweat that looked gorgeous with the lights flickering off of it, some curls of hair stick to his temples. Jensen was used to seeing needy omegas, loved it, in fact, but tonight it just made him feel a little bit sad.
"Pretty little bitch," he murmured, reaching up to cup one side of the omega's jaw, thumb brushing over the thin lips. He saw Jared flush a little under the attention, and he hadn't seen such a sweet omega in... He didn't actually know. Long before he started sticking his knot in any hole that would have him. "Go home, kid. Steal some money from your mom's purse or something and go buy yourself a false knot. You'll thank yourself in the morning."
It wasn't like Jensen frowned on meaningless sex. Meaningless sex was great. Wonderful, even. It was just that Jensen was tired of it, and for some reason, he didn't like the idea of this kid getting sucked in here, taken by an alpha that may or may not even look at his face, let alone notice his innocence.
He left the jacket on Jared's shoulders and turned to leave, to walk away. He didn't see Jared start in surprise, but he did hear the omega yelp: "Wait!"
Jensen stopped, looked over his shoulder curiously.
"...where are you going?" Jared asked, shoulders hunching up.
"Home," Jensen replied plainly. Jared just stood there for a moment, swallowing once, then spoke again.
"I want you to."
Jensen sighed.
"You don't know what you want."
"I don't always know what I want, but I know I want this."
"Why?"
"Because..." Jared paused, then shrugged. "Because you walked away." His eyes flicked away, paused, then flicked back, meeting Jensen's with more self-awareness than Jensen was used to seeing in kids his age. "Because you would have left."
Jensen's brow furrowed, and he turned back around fully, but didn't reply. Didn't commit. Jared clutched the jacket tighter.
"Because you're not an asshole," he finally finished.
"That's the bar I gotta clear?" Jensen raised an eyebrow.
"No offense, but it seems to be a pretty high bar for alphas, far as I can tell."
For the second time that night, Jensen found himself laughing at the unexpected wit -- quick and purposeful, no filter to stop it. He shook his head, smiling a bit despite himself.
"You sure?" he asked again. He saw Jared roll his eyes, like he wasn't fever thick and nearly begging for it with his scent.
"I'm sure enough," he replied, once again picking up Jensen's words.
Jensen shook his head, but he didn't step away this time, just moved in, uptight and close, his hands reaching for the omega's waist. He looked down at him. He let his gaze wander the landscape of Jared's face once more, took it in, saw the youth there, but also the desire, the two not so much at war as making a potent combination, Jared being led around by more than just his hormones -- being led around by a heart too easily given to falling.
Jensen pursed his lips.
"Heat looks good on you, Jared," he admitted, and Jared's eyelids dipped.
"Call me your bitch again," he requested.
"Never called you my bitch."
"Call me your bitch."
Jensen shoved him back against the wall, crowded up against him, the two of them hidden in the dark of the alcove, the music waning for a second as the DJ switched from one track to another, and Jensen leaned in.
"My bitch," he murmured, low in the unusual and momentary quiet, and then the throb of the bass picked up again, loud and chest rumbling, and the two of them kissed, mouths meeting, parting, spit slick and wet. It was fast and heady, no pausing, Jensen's tongue pressing tight into Jared's mouth as Jared's pushed back, slender hands coming to Jensen's jaw and rubbing against the rough of his stubble. It didn't last long, but it lasted longer than Jensen expected it to, breath moving past lips in desperate movements, trying to claim, trying to consume each other.
And when the tension snapped, Jensen roughly turned Jared around, pushed him so that his front was against the wall and Jensen could swoop in, press up against Jared's back and mouth messily at the back of Jared's neck. The omega under him squirmed, not to get away, but to press back, body possessed of a fit, chemical deep and powerful.
"Stay still," Jensen murmured into the shell of Jared's ear, movements hurried, and the omega quieted, though he was shaking a little, maybe from adrenaline or lust or fear, or all three. "Have you ever--"
"No."
It was a stupid question. Jensen already knew that, after all, after their little conversation, but he asked anyway, and when he felt that old familiar alpha flare he knew exactly why he'd asked, why he'd needed to hear it when he already knew. It made him growl, quickly possessive and needy -- body needing to take that virginity, to own it in a way that no one else ever would be able to. It was stupid and animal, a base instinct that had nothing to do with Jensen's higher brain and everything to do with some creature millions of years ago in his genetic past.
Jensen didn't care.
All he cared about was the perfect bitch trapped between him and the wall, untaken and untouched, and begging for it.
His hands fumbled around to the front of Jared's hips at the same time as the jacket fell from Jared's shoulders. Jensen's fingers finally found the stiff button and zipper of the omega's jeans, scrambling to undo them, until there was enough give for him to reach back, fingers riding the cleft of Jared's backside as he slid in, until the pad of his middle finger found the damp spot, soft and slick -- perfect. Jared's hole wasn't pinched tight but yielding, and the omega moaned when Jensen pushed that finger in, just slightly, feeling Jared angle his hips back, his shaking calming.
Jensen nipped at Jared's shoulder, breathing hard and pausing only to check once more.
"Ready?" he asked, and Jared just groaned, voice deep, and nodded his head, frantic movements that sent his hair flying.
Jensen managed to wrench himself away, detach himself from that incredible heat and that incredible body, hands coming to his own pants to quickly undo them, only to pause with a curse as a thought belatedly entered his mind.
"You on birth control?" he asked, not at all wanting to be responsible for knocking up some teenager at a rave. Jared was obviously over the age of consent for omegas, but that didn't make Jensen anymore eager to ruin the kid's life with an unexpected pregnancy. Jensen still remembered his mother's softly scathing words back when he was a teenager, listening to her talk with her friends from around the neighborhood, talking about the omega that lived a few houses down from them. 'I suspect she doesn't even know who the father is,' and all their heads shaking back and forth, like it was so pitiable.
The world didn't value the children of omegas like it did the children of betas.
It kind of took Jensen a moment to realize that the fact that he would end up being a father hadn't factored into his thoughts about why this would be a bad idea without birth control.
Jared nodded quickly in response.
"Yes, yes," he said, voice desperate -- maybe a little too desperate.
"Jared, don't lie. I can... I can get an alpha condom--" God, he hated those things. Fucking uncomfortable, and it meant he wouldn't be able to knot--
"I am," Jared hissed, insistent. "Bought them from a friend in school. I wasn't going to just come here and-- No way."
Jensen let out a breath, feeling relief flooding through his system, and he stepped back in, warm and close, his hands finding Jared's hips and the pants riding loose there. He pushed them down, down to thighs, enough to bare his ass and his entrance, Jensen's cock jutting up into the warm, overheated air of the club. He pressed up against the line of Jared's back, biting back a moan when his erection touched skin, pushed between Jared's legs and at their apex, and the omega pushed back. Jensen was half tempted to just thrust there, to grind against the friction made for him, but he could already feel the damp slick from Jared's hole wetting the base of his cock, and the idea of not getting more of that, of being in that, was absurd.
"Brace yourself," he warned, watching the boy shift his weight, ready himself, and Jensen pulled back only enough to get his hand around himself, position himself against the omega's entrance, eyes flashing up to tensed shoulders as he pushed in, parted him, and the omega moaned, cheek pressed to the black painted wall. Jared's eyes were shut and sweaty bangs were dangling low, illuminated only every other second in the flickering light.
Jensen forced himself to go slow, to move in until he was fully seated but at an easy pace, letting Jared relax around him. He stayed still once he was all the way in, breathing out shuddery, hands still holding Jared's hips firm and steady.
He felt the alpha in him bright and present, a needful thing that was demanding hard and fast and bruises, and when he was younger, he couldn't have denied that instinct if he'd tried -- which he rarely had. But now he held still, calmed himself even as he shook, a beautiful young bitch under his hands and around his cock, and Jared deserved to be treated special.
It would get rough, inevitably. It always did, until the sexual frenzy of heat died down, but Jensen could at least do this. At least wait and watch until he saw Jared begin to breathe evenly again, nod his head once, and groan out as Jensen pulled out to thrust back in.
The second thrust pushed Jared firmly up against the wall, flat against it, so that Jensen was driving him into it with each thrust, rubbing Jared against the surface. He kept it slow, if still firm, each push a powerful jerk inside of Jared, before a careful withdrawal. The wet heat inside the omega was intense, and the alpha in him kept chanting 'first, virginal, no one else, mine' like it was hungry, like it wanted to consume Jared whole, and maybe it did.
When the pace got faster, needier, Jensen thrust tightly and hard enough to draw Jared to his toes, perched up on them as the omega cried out, little yelps of sound lost in the music and the cacophony of similar noises -- dozens of omegas getting exactly the same satisfaction, getting the exact same spot pressed into over and over again. But Jared sounded sweeter. Clearer. Jensen growled hotly, wanting to draw more such noises out of his bitch, wanting to give Jared everything his body was demanding. Jensen buried his head against the crook of the omega's neck, breathing him in as he fucked him, that wonderful scent, unmarred and unmuddied, filling his nose, filling his every sense and pore until it was all through him, permeating him.
He gave one more lunge, heard Jared keen as the omega tossed his head back, and Jensen's knot pushed inside, the alpha grinding his hips hard against Jared's backside as he forced himself still, waiting those crucial few seconds for the knot to expand, waiting until it locked them together firmly and he started coming, started filling Jared with a steady stream, the omega whimpering under him as his muscles came and clenched and released, only then beginning to go limp.
Jensen managed to support Jared's weight between himself and the wall, holding on to him. He was already coming, but he didn't care, just kept thrusting, liking the feel of it, the jerk of his hips even when he couldn't move his cock even an inch, each jerk only serving to rock their bodies in tandem, pinning Jared against the dark surface.
For a moment, they hung there, the two of them just breathing, the omega whining low in his throat as his heat was slacked, at least for the time being. Finally, though, Jensen managed to move back, pulling Jared with him, and he grumbled when he realized they did this in exactly the wrong place. The club was littered with padded benches and beds of pillows for knotted pairs to settle on while they bred, but not over by the bar, and not over in the alcove to a fire exit. Which meant they really only had the floor.
Thankfully, Jensen's jacket had dropped in a convenient place, and he stiffly, awkwardly, managed to lower them both, hearing only one protracted whimper of pain from the omega, Jensen doing his best to hush and comfort as they settled, his arms coming around Jared as they lay on their sides, most of their clothes still on and uncomfortable. Jensen wished he'd kicked them off before hand, public nudity be damned, but there was nothing to be done about it now, tied as they were, and once they were resting he finally felt the omega begin to settle, muscles loosening as he lay there, accepting Jensen's knot and Jensen's seed.
Jensen was half dozing when he felt the bitch in his arms tense and Jensen started growling before even opening his eyes, until he saw it was the bartender, holding a blanket and pillow in his arms. The man paused, waiting for Jensen's growl to taper off, waiting for permission to approach, knowing better than to approach a tied pair without permission, and Jensen eventually quieted, warily letting the man come over, setting the items down before moving away, Jared still stiff in front of him. Jensen reached over him, grabbing the pillow to place under their heads, then shaking the blanket out to cover to their bodies, to hide Jared's soft, naked length and keep him safe.
"You alright?" Jensen asked as he arranged the blanket, glancing down at the omega's face. Jensen was still coming, pleasure still flowing through him like waves and he grunted as each shift of his body just made it better. When he settled back down, he couldn't help but start humping again, effecting nothing, but it felt good, and Jared moaned.
"Yeah... yeah," the omega replied, spine arching a little as he pressed back against the sensation, and Jensen knew from prior experience that the sex would only abate the heat for awhile. It would go on until Jared conceived or until his estrus ended, and on the birth control, that meant that it would probably be a few more days of fever for the kid. Jensen slowed and settled again, breathing out against the back of Jared's neck.
He shifted his arms, tightened them, and let the euphoric haze of orgasm take him, drifting around in the good place as he slowly emptied himself into his bitch. It wasn't quite like sleep, but wasn't really wakefulness either, and Jensen was used to the sensation, used to the heady high that alphas got from breeding, and he knew the young omega in his arms was safe.
So he just let himself float.
-----
Instead he went about cleaning up. Tucking himself in and tugging his blanket up, the omega still softly sleeping on the pillow. He glanced around, then figured fuck it, and leaned down, wrapping the blanket more securely around Jared before settling his arms under him and tensing all his muscles to lift. The kid was long, almost as tall as Jensen, but he was still skinny and lanky, and alphas were afforded greater strength, enough that Jensen found the weight trying, but not impossible, as he tucked the omega against his chest, one arm around Jared's back, the other under his knees.
Jared stirred, though, as gravity shifted, and Jensen straightened to stand.
"Whu-Wha?" Jared said articulately, and Jensen couldn't help the grin.
"Hey. Was gonna get you out of here."
"Huh? I...have to go home."
"Screw it," Jensen replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders, which was kind of hard to do, carrying Jared as he was. "Your parents left you alone in your heat without a false knot. They can deal with a night of worry. You can go back to them tomorrow."
"I, but--" Jared started, blinking, then his face went lax as he considered the words. His expression shifted to one of somewhat spiteful ambivalence, clearly agreeing that his parents could go through a rough night. "...Screw it. Let's go."
"That's my boy," Jensen replied proudly, setting off across the club towards the main exit, not meaning his words as anything other than a pat on the back, but when he caught the pleased smile on Jared's face, or when the omega leaned in against his shoulder, Jensen couldn't be bothered to correct himself.
Outside the club, he took a couple of minutes to locate his car, his arms beginning to ache a little, but he didn't put Jared down until they were at the passenger's side door. The omega reached under the blanket to properly button his pants while Jensen unlocked the door, and Jared got in.
The drive home felt weird with someone else in his car.
Not that Jensen hadn't taken other omegas or betas home before. And not that he hadn't had relationships or claimed anyone before. It was just he'd never taken home anyone from a goddamned breeding rave before -- because no one bothered to talk to people they met at a breeding rave. It wasn't really the point.
Jensen glanced across the front bench at the boy curled against the window, though, and his hands tightened a little on the steering wheel.
Jared's expression was faint and faraway, everything gone lax except for his eyes, which stared almost blankly out the window. Jensen could still smell the omega's heat -- more clear and distinct now, outside of the club, strangely low and tender, like fresh laundry hung out to dry in the sun, or the scent of ozone just before rain. It wasn't as strong as most heat scents, but Jensen found he liked it.
Liked how subtle it was, a shy caress instead of a long sticky kiss.
He could still smell the omega's heat, sure, but he didn't think that was what was on Jared's mind.
"You certain you're alright?" he asked, still feeling the need to check.
"Hmm?" Jared lifted his head from the window, looking over at Jensen and blinking before he seemed to compute the question. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."
"Because you seem..." Jensen either couldn't find the word, or couldn't be bothered to go looking. Either way, he continued. "I just want to make sure. You know. That I didn't hurt you or anything. Or take you before you were ready. Cause it was your first time, and all. It can be a big deal."
"What? Oh, no. No, that's not it. It was fine. More than fine. Way more than fine. I mean, you know, you read the books they give you at school, but they gloss over everything, and you read them and think you know what it'll feel like, but it doesn't feel like that at all--"
Jensen tensed, hands gripping the wheel.
"--it feels so much better--"
He let out a breath, relaxing again.
"I thought it was going to feel good. Nice. It's way more than that. And I'm...I'm glad I'm going home with you. I mean, that's where we're going, right?" Jared looked over at him, and Jensen nodded.
"Yeah. Back to my place. Somewhere a little more private."
"Good, cause I want--...I was hoping we could do it again. I feel okay now, but later...it'll come back. It always comes back, until the cycle ends. And...uh, if you want..."
"Jared, I'm always going to want a pretty bitch like you." Jensen chuckled, shaking his head. "You don't have to worry about that."
He spared a quick glance to the side in the silence that followed, eager to see if that same faint red had tinged the tips of Jared's ears, and Jensen grinned, pleased to see that it had. His grin faded though, when he remembered his original line of questioning.
"So, what is it, then?" He looked back at the road, turning onto the highway and headed back towards home, glad to have the memory of the bass beat fading from his bones. "You got this...face, going on."
Jared let out a puff of breath, and Jensen almost sort of wished that he'd waited until they were out of the car to talk, because it was hard to gage the omega's thoughts without being able to properly look at his face.
"It's not a big deal, it's just..." There was a faint jolt of movement -- a quick and sharp shrug under the blanket. "My parents. Dealing with them in the morning. It's not going to be fun."
"I could go with you," Jensen offered, before he'd even thought to do so, and he could completely understand the surprise with which Jared reacted.
"You'd do that?"
"...Yeah," he responded, because in for a penny, in for a pound. Besides, there was no sense in sending Jared back in there alone, when he had a claiming alpha out there, and Jensen was at least willing to go that far -- take the kid under his wing, give him a little stability through his cycles -- and he couldn't imagine any parents of an omega turning something like that down. It was no where near a mating ceremony, but it meant that the omega would at least be devoted to one alpha, have someone looking out for him.
Jensen had to admit he like the idea of Jared only coming to him, for the time being. That he'd be the only alpha tying that hole.
He cleared his throat when he realized he hadn't actually mentioned any of this to Jared.
"I'd put a claim on you, if you'd want. Not like your parents can get upset at you for finding a claiming alpha for yourself." Jensen shrugged his shoulders, like he could dismiss it all that easily. He wasn't worried about Jared's parents being displeased with him instead of Jared. Jared was of age, probably seventeen or eighteen, and there was no law against tying an omega in heat. Once they were old enough to hit their cycles, the law saw them as adults -- not that Jensen always agreed with that. He'd seen alphas creeping up to omegas that couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen before, and just the thought made him feel a little sick.
But Jared was no child, only a few inches shy of fully grown and more than on the verge of adulthood, for all that Jensen called him 'kid.'
No, no one would blame Jensen, an alpha and therefore someone who commanded respect. But they may well blame Jared, an omega, and Jensen wasn't about to leave him high and dry on that. Jared looked a little shocked at his offer.
"You'd-- Really?"
"Yeah. Like I said...if you want. You don't have to."
"Do you... Do you have any other claimed omegas? Or a beta?" Jared asked, curious, and Jensen couldn't tell from the side what answer the kid was looking for. Claiming only guaranteed fidelity on the part of the omega. The alpha could keep as many claimed omegas as he could get to agree to it.
Jensen shook his head.
"No omegas, no beta. I've had claimed omegas before, but we always ended up parting -- amicably, by the by. Moving, or a new job. Or just growing apart. I just figure, you know, your parents can't get too mad at you. Not if you come home with a claim on you."
"Oh," Jared said, sounding lower than before, almost disappointed. "That's why."
"Wait, what?" Jensen looked up, blinking.
"You just want to claim me to help me with my parents."
Jensen couldn't help it: he scoffed a little.
"Jared, I like to think I'm a nice guy and all, but trust me, I wouldn't claim some omega I didn't want just to help them out with a family situation. That wouldn't be fair to me or them." He glanced over at the boy. "Look, I like you. I don't know you, but I like you. I'm offering this as...a chance. To get to know you. And for you to get to know me."
"...I'd like that," Jared finally replied, quieter, but the disappointment gone, and Jensen couldn't help but feel a little proud -- the alpha in him pleased to have made his omega happy. There was a pause, then Jared piped up again. "Dunno if it'll actually help with my parents at all, though."
Jensen raised an eyebrow, a little surprised at that, sparing Jared a quick glance.
"Why wouldn't it? Don't they want you to get claimed?"
"They wanted me to wait for a mating ceremony. Like that's ever going to happen." Jared huffed, a sound of disgust. "They keep treating me like a beta. Like if they pretend hard enough it'll be true, like I won't have the gene. People don't mate omegas. People never mate omegas."
"That's not true," Jensen replied, maybe a little too quick.
"Yeah?" Jared asked, bitterness evident in his voice. "When was the last time you heard of an alpha mating an omega?"
"Well," Jensen responded, slower this time, drawing the word out as he considered continuing. "I always wanted to mate an omega."
He was looking at the road, but from the corner of his eye he could see Jared sit up forward a little more, eyebrows raised as he stared at Jensen.
"Really? You did? Why?"
Jensen chuckled a little, amused by the boy's surprise, but still feeling that strange edge of nerves. He glanced over once before looking back at the road.
"I dunno... I guess there's the part where I really like sex. And I like the smell of heat. Betas don't have that. But there's also... I don't know. It's hard to explain to someone who isn't also an alpha." He shrugged once.
Jared paused, tongue darting out to lick his lips, then he pushed, voice a little pleading.
"Please?" he asked, looking for more. Looking for Jensen to define something he'd never really been able to define to anyone -- why he so enjoyed the company of people who were a relatively small percentage of the population, people that were thought of as wild and frivolous, people that were widely regarded to be destined to end up on a pole or on a street corner. People that the respectable folk looked down on as less, as unfortunate birth defects -- a side effect of having betas. People who were considered betas that had been born wrong and twisted.
Jensen struggled, used to people teasing him or asking him, used to his mother frowning at him as he tried to come up with something that would make sense.
"...because you need us," he finally said, and hoped that was enough. Hoped that it made any bit of sense. "Because of the way you need us. I...like that."
The car was silent, lights from the highway passed over them, through them, drifting like flickers over the upholstery and across the skin of Jensen's forearms, extended to the wheel. Under them the road put up its protest, a steady rhythm of quiet thumps and slight jolts from where the cracked asphalt had been filled in, from where sections of road had been welded together. It was quiet enough that Jensen could hear the click of Jared's throat as he swallowed, and then all those long limbs were moving across the bench of the front seat, reaching out to curl slowly against Jensen's side, like he thought Jensen might well push him away.
One hand receded from the steering wheel, moving to cover Jared's form and hold him there, secure.
The omega's arm crossed over Jensen's waist, clutched to cloth on the other side, and the alpha could feel the heat of the boy's breath through the material of his shirt.
"...I don't want to end up like that," Jared said finally, hoarsely, and for a stomach swooping second Jensen thought he meant mated -- thought he meant joined with an alpha, though Jensen testily reminded himself that this wasn't his mate -- until Jared continued. "I don't want to end up just passing myself around from alpha to alpha every time I hit a cycle. I just want... I just want a life, like anyone else. I just want a job, and a house, and a...and a mate. I don't want to just be "an omega," " and the way he said it made it clear that it wasn't the fact that he was an omega that Jared had problems with -- it was the way that other people said it. Like it was a problem. Like it was an unwantable condition that could be summed up with that one phrase: an omega. That omega. Just like an omega. "And I don't want to end up like that."
Jensen felt something in his chest tighten, maybe something instinctive at the sound of distress in Jared's voice, and he pulled him in tighter, hand shifting up from the omega's shoulder to the back of his head, fingers threading through hair and pressing to scalp, his other hand still firmly on the steering wheel.
"You don't have to," Jensen said, leaning down just enough to press a kiss into that thick chestnut hair, hand holding the omega's head against Jensen's upper chest. He wasn't sure exactly what he meant by that, only knew that he meant it. That he didn't want that for Jared either. Cheek still pressed to the top of Jared's head, he murmured different but again:
"You won't have to."