Mate

“Oh, hello, Handsome. Have we met? Because you look a lot like someone I’d like to be mates with.”

At the sound of his voice, I immediately turn around to see my mate approach the entrance to the cinema. I step forward to catch him in a kiss.

Dex wraps his arms around my waist while I have to remind myself we’re in public and I can’t devour him right here. I still can’t hold back the urge to deepen the kiss until I have to hold Dex up by the waist because his knees have turned weak.

We’re on a date. It’s the one time it’s perfectly questionably understandable if I taste the inside of his mouth and exchange saliva in public as a greeting. I at least have the decency not to suck on his lips.

He fans himself with one hand when I finally can stand pulling away. I still hold him up and he leans on me for support as well.

“Whew. You know how to make someone feel desired, Leo.”

“It’s because you are, sweetheart.”

We stand like this for a while, before Dex takes a step back.

“Time goes by so fast. It’s already our fifth anniversary since we officially started dating.”

“It’s only our fifth anniversary. We have dozens more together waiting for us,” I say as I escort my mate to up the stairs to the cinema by the hand.

I treat him like a prince. All the time. My prince, my mate, my wonderful second half, who I can’t live without.

“Did you finish moving?” I ask.

Dex shakes his head. “Miguel had to run off midway. When I asked why, he said ‘company matters’.”

I hum thoughtfully. It sounds a lot like me. I’ll say it’s a medical emergency I need to attend to as soon as Dex calls me.

Maybe that’s just me.

But it really does feel suspiciously similar.

A staff member opens the door to the cinema for us.

They bring us to the snacks counter, opening up a new register, just for us. There’s even a sign to make sure no one queues up behind us.

They really went all out.

Or I did. Depends on how one sees it.

A pup queued up with their parent, looks at us with big eyes as Dex gets a big bag of wine gums. I am reminded of my some of my niblings the same age as the child. And the ones who are not longer that age, such as Ruff. Which inevitably also makes me think of the newborn and the infant.

The irony when the beta couple has six children and the alpha-omega one only manage to have two despite being together for over fifteen years.

No one knows why Amandine and her alpha have such a hard time conceiving. I personally don’t care why. She has two beautiful daughters now. She can probably not feel luckier, whether or not she has any more children. She’s never been more beautiful, that’s for sure. Motherhood truly does suit her.

The staff member is preparing my spicy popcorn and I lean over to the person holding the hand of the child. “Excuse me. I was just wondering, is this visit a special occasion or just a regular visit to watch a film?”

The omega flushes when I address him.

“Um, it’s my child’s birthday.”

“Oh, really? What a coincidence! My mate and I are having a special day too. Does your child have any food restrictions?” 

The omega looks confused.

“My mate’s wine gums were eyed rather hungrily,” I explain. “So I wondered if I could give a couple.”

The omega glances at Dex and then nods. Dex doesn’t really mind that I just promised two of his candies to a child.

When the attendant bring my popcorn, I lean over and whisper something.

The staff member looks surprised, then smiles, before turning to quietly talk to the person at the open register.

Dex gives me a look. “What’s that about?”

“Making someone happy,” I say as I begin to escort my mate toward the halls with the theatres. The staff member soon catches up. As we are let past ahead of anyone else, we hear a surprised, “Really?”

Dex looks back, so I do as well. The omega in the line looks around until the two of us are spotted. I wave before I continue to walk with Dex.

“I gave them free snacks. They deserve it.”

“You’re in an unusually good mood. Should I be worried?”

“It’s our fifth anniversary — of course I’m in a good mood.”

Dex shrugs with a soft laugh. “You’re so helplessly in love.”

“I have a mate worth loving helplessly.”

We are brought to an empty theatre. I reserved the entire thing to watch a film Dex wants to watch.

When he asks me why I had to book a whole theatre, I just say that I disappointed Edmond during our first date by not doing so. Now it’s an equally important event, since it’s our fifth anniversary, so it was worth doing.

I only watched Dex watch the film. I don’t know what it was about. Dex doesn’t ask me what I like about it. He knows that I lose focus after a while. He’s too distracting.

He just tells me the summarised version. I soak up every word.

He turns to go to the bus stop to go home.

“Let’s have dinner out today,” I say, and take his hand to kiss it. “There’s a good restaurant not far from here. It’ll be a pleasant walk.”

Dex blushes and nods his agreement.

He’s so easy to convince. A kiss on the palm and the next I know, he’s willing to do anything I ask.

We head to a park and walk at a leisurely pace.

As we stroll, I notice a lone snowflake float down from the sky. I remove the coat resting on my shoulders and place it over Dexter’s.

I am wearing a warm wool cardigan over a thick cotton button-up with a warm turtleneck shirt underneath, specifically because there was a low chance of snow tonight.

With my hand on the small of his back, I continue to escort him to the restaurant.

I tell the server welcoming us my name is Olivier, and we are brought to a table on a balcony over the main floor. It gives us a view over the restaurant below as well as the stage that exists, but also has a beautiful view out through floor-to-ceiling windows. The lights on the other side of the river look rather romantic in this setting. There are bouquets of fragrant flowers on all tables around us, hiding some of the scents coming from downstairs.

I excuse myself to enter the restroom. I stare myself in the mirror.

I reach to my neck and slowly remove the patch covering up my scent. I toss it in the bin.

I then wash my hands and wall back to the table. Dexter is looking through the menu and I sit down to look through it as well. I already know what I’d like to order.

With a casual tone, I make a few suggestions. He knows I must have been here before. He’s still not used to the fact I sometimes take him to fancy places, even if I usually don’t.

A cheap pizzeria or a high-end restaurant where eating is a performance is all the same. I prefer places that serve food over aesthetics, though, so I tend to opt for places that actually offer decent meals.

What alpha doesn’t?

“Caesar salad sounds like a good starter,” Dex agrees. “How’s the pasta here?”

“It’s pretty decent,” I say. “I’ll take you to an Italian place for pasta this weekend if you have a pasta craving.”

“Let’s do that,” he says as he continues to study the menu.

When the server returns, we place our orders. I am quick to only order water. For some reason, Dex blushes when I do. I’m not sure why.

After we finish eating our main dishes, the server soon brings up dessert. At the same time, live musicians begin to play on the stage.

Unplanned, but I feel that’s still pleasing. Even the music is suitably romantic.

We eat vastly different desserts. I have a rather bitter dark chocolate dark roast coffee cake with a low sugar content. Perfect for an alpha. Dex has picked a sponge cake based dessert of some sort with lots of cream and berries. Looks cloying enough to almost feel nauseous. At least to me.

After a few bites, I can’t wait anymore. I stand up and walk around the table. I kneel by him and take his hand. I kiss it reverently.

“Dexter, when I met you, I didn’t notice you at first. But as time passed, I began to find your scent the most enticing scent I have ever encountered. I imprinted onto you, in a sense, and I bonded to you one-sidedly.

Today it’s been over five and a half years since that day and you’ve had plenty of time to grow a deep and stable one to me, too.

So I would like to make a suggestion. A proposal if you will.”

Dex turns red, and he rubs his cheeks with his free hand.

“Your scent,” he mutters.

“It’s still overwhelming when I’m this close, I know. So, I’ll be quick.” I’m silent for a moment before I continue. “I would like to suggest how to solve the problem.”

I can tell he must have an inkling of where this is going.

“Dexter, sweetheart, my boyfriend, my love. Would you like to have my scent on you, always, till the end of our days?”

I’m quiet for a beat. I remember how nervous I was on our first date. I’m as nervous now.

“Tell me, sweetheart, how would you feel about a bond bite?”

He turns even redder, and I can smell his thoughts clearly. His desire is palpable. That’s not helping me keeping my most primal needs under control.

The hand I hold shifts in mine and I prepare to let go, but he intertwines our fingers and squeezes.

I need no other answer from him.

I place a kiss on the palm of my bonded mate, my beloved husband.

We’re done, we’re done, we’re done. Next time we meet Leo will be from the perspective of an entirely different Olivier.

The next Olivier, though, we’ll be Emmy. He’s story will be very different. I will post his story here after it’s been completed on AO3 first and I’ve started posting the next one there.