Chapter Text
Jack Abbott was a very secure alpha in his masculinity. Due to both his family and military background, he was no stranger to toxic environments where alphas were, subtly or not so subtly, in competition with each other in every aspect: who had the strongest scent, who could growl the scariest, who had the job with most power of decision, who had the most pups (with no regard to how they were treating their mates) and the list goes on. School was his salvation, being in classes full of beta and omega friends that were headstrong and determined, confident in their capabilities, who opened his eyes to his upbringing early on. It completely changed his mindset when his omega homeroom teacher ripped a new one to his alpha PE teacher in front of his class for being irresponsible in front of the students.
Being the night attending in the ER of a learning hospital, his meetings with knothead alphas was a daily occurrence. They could either be patients, too proud of their secondary gender, narcissistic, and many times engaging in criminal behaviour during the night, getting (deservedly) hurt in the process, or students he was mentoring, once again overly-confident of the both their alpha status and being in medical school, feeling untouchable. Rarely were his staff part of that demographic, and if anyone joined his team with the wrong attitude, he would be quick to sort it. Patients were harder to deal with, that’s why security at night always had to be doubled, especially if any holidays were close or the universities around had any parties. With his students, it was easy. The weight of the long shift, lost patients, and unfriendly family members would slap them in the face, and for the first time in their life they would realise they could be treated like the dirt under their nails the same ways they would treat others that way. In a sadistic way, he did enjoy seeing the overly confident alphas get knocked down a peg on his shifts. Just a little. But he never let any of his students get hurt. At the end of the day, they were all his responsibility, there to learn, living for the first time, and he wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt the ones under his protection.
One alpha he didn’t mind though was Michael “Robby” Robbinavich, who he met at university, long before either of them became attendings or even dealt with any patients. The two of them ended up paired up together in their student dorms and spent a lot of their study time together, circling the same friend groups, in the same classes, and sometimes even going out together to hang out. Sometimes easily turned into often, and then everyone started to see them as a pair, always asking Jack where Michael was and vice versa when one of them would turn up alone to an event. While alpha couples were rare and even discouraged in their student years, they didn’t care. They felt happy in each other’s presence, safe, allowed to be vulnerable to each other, and most importantly, in love. His family didn’t expect him to date another alpha, and many of his relatives made comments in the beginning, if not scoff and disagree, but he didn’t care. He was in love with an alpha and he was happy.
He didn’t know many years later Michael and himself would open their hearts and subsequently their home to an omega with sad, blue eyes, a sweet scent and a mousy personality, but he couldn’t be happier to have two gorgeous, handsome men to pour his love into. And if he was being honest, he was also highly enjoying the love he received back.
Today was one of his few occasions when his free day overlapped with his sweet Dennis’ and he couldn’t be more excited. Dennis’ heat was approaching rapidly and it would be his first heat since he moved in with his alphas, so his energy levels were low for the last few days, which combined with multiple chaotic shifts meant that his sleep had to be his first priority. Jack made sure to cook him a nutritious breakfast after letting him sleep-in to his heart’s content, kissed his temple and chaotic curls once Dennis joined him in the kitchen, and then cuddled with him on the couch, barely paying attention to the movie they picked up. Dennis was purring and trilling softly, lying on his chest, the vibrations barely ticking Jack while he played with blonde curls. Once the movie ended and Dennis fell back asleep, Jack reached for his book on the coffee table. After a couple of long chapters, his omega stretched as long as he could, a telltale sign that he was waking up.
“Slept well, pup?” the words were whispered into his skin as Jack laid pecks on his hair.
Dennis hummed, rubbing the sleep on his right eye away. Lifting his head was such a chore so close to his heat, especially when Jack’s chest served such a comfy pillow, but he actually wanted to get some laundry done in order to have everything ready for the grueling next week, when he couldn’t think straight and simply let his inner wolf take what he needed.
“Awe, you’re so cute like this, all soft for me,” the kiss he left on Dennis’ cheek ran hot through the skin, flushing to a bright red. It didn’t matter that he and Michael had been courting Dennis for so long, even had him move in their home, the boy would still get shy in tender moments like this, still unused to such displays of love where he was the receiver of everything. Jack and Michael promised to each other to make this Dennis’ routine, to make sure he knows how loved and treasured he is.
“I need to do the laundry” was all Dennis muttered, flushed and still sleepy, but getting up with little to no trouble.
“Do you want any help?”
“No, it’s ok, it’s not a lot of clothes, plus I like doing the laundry.”
“Ok, sweet boy, if you are sure.” As much as Jack trusted his boyfriend and respected him as a doctor, he couldn’t help but be a bit overbearing when he knew the heat was approaching and he could see the bone deep exhaustion even in some of their lax days. As lax as being an ER doctor could be.
Dennis rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to get hurt while doing laundry, old man.”
“You wound me.”
“You like me calling you that.”
“Also, didn’t you and Mikey have a case last week-”
“That man got his ribs broken because he fell on top of a washing machine, not because he was doing laundry. Big difference!”
“If you say so, pup.”
A small pout appears on the omega’s face. “I know you love to coddle me-”
“And you love me coddling and kissing you.”
“-but remember I was raised on a farm no different than any of my brothers. I can easily lift you and Michael without having to worry I will throw my back out.”
“Ouch. That is such a low blow. Where did my sweet boy from an hour ago go? I miss him.”
“He left to do your stinky laundry” the shout was thrown over Dennis’ shoulder while he left to fetch the laundry basket and prepare the loads. Jack chuckled and stretched as well before finally raising up. ‘Might as well hit the gym and pick up some groceries.’
Packing his bag quickly with his water bottle and a towel, Jack changed into his gym shorts and comfy shirt. He made sure to grab a protein bar from the kitchen, as well as some shopping bags before stopping by the laundry room. Dennis was diligently separating clothes and bedsheets by colour on the floor.
“I’m going to pass by the shops, do you want anything specific beside what we already ordered for your heat, pup?”
Dennis turned around, not listening to what Jack was saying before. First thing his eyes landed on were the expanse of skin of his leg and arms, the muscles fully on show for him to ogle. Jack always loved when his boyfriend got lost in his head when he was wearing his gym gear, Michael himself not being much different and definitely enjoying the way his body grew into his age, still powerful and strong, but soft on the sides. A smirk appeared on Jack’s face as the silence stretched on, Dennis’ imagination busy with memories of being under Jack’s body.
“My eyes are up here, my naughty boy.”
The blue towel that was thrown at Jack’s face didn’t stop his chuckle, the sound almost boyish, and it did nothing to help with Dennis embarrassment, instead deciding to hide his tomato red face in his hands. As much as his attending enjoyed his boyfriend’s embarrassment and how easy it was to tease him these couple of days, he couldn’t resist comforting him all the time, making sure he is happy and loved. Putting the towel back in the colour pile, he stepped in to nuzzle Dennis neck, targeting his scent gland to let him know everything was alright, that just because his mind is getting a bit fuzzy and that he can’t control his drooling when his boyfriend is parading around to get his attention it’s not the end of the world. Not after years of abusing suppressant pills and scent blockers to hide his omega status and make sure he had no heats, especially when he had no place to call his own and no place would be fully safe for a young omega studying and working himself to exhaustion. Jack knew it was partially his heavily religious brought up and mostly out of survival. He was still not a fan of the fact.
“I hate you sometimes.”
“Is that why you were drooling a couple seconds ago?”
“I was not drooling!” Finally taking his face from its hiding place, Dennis locked eyes with Jack, still very embarrassed but not as flushed as a couple of seconds ago. Touching their foreheads together, the older man left soft pecks on his boyfriend’s lips, making sure to pour his love in each one of them.
“Oh you definitely were, but that’s okay my sweet boy. I’m just happy that you’re still finding your old man attractive,” a kiss to the nose, one on each cheek, another on his lips, before simply returning to Dennis’ neck and scenting him, feeling all the tension leaving his omega’s shoulders. His strong hands started tracing small circular patterns over Dennis’ back, feeling up the cotton of the old band shirt that was stolen long ago from Michael’s closet. “I promise I will spend extra time working out the glutes, I know how much you enjoy seeing me in the tightest hot pants.” His hands went under the shirt, his calloused fingers tracing the hot skin and fine hair as Dennis swung his arms over his shoulders, wrists crossed, and whispered more words in his ear. “Just as much as Mikey and I love seeing you in our old college shirts when you stretch and we can see allllllllllll this beautiful blonde hair down here.”
“God, you’re just the worst,” the sound was muffled in Jack’s shoulder, breathing in the woody and spicy scent, leaving Dennis’ ears all the more free for Jack to assault.
“And yet you love me so much.”
“... yeah, yeah I do.”
Jack’s heart did not skip a beat at the words. It simply did not. It just happened that his boyfriend, who had to go through so much before landing in his safe arms, being vulnerable with him and sincere of his feelings made him swoon. He was just a bit soft for his younger, beautiful, smart, strong, sweet, empathic, and bright omega boyfriend to the point that he had to physically hold himself back from just scooping him up in his arms and hiding all three of them away in their safe, warm home from the rest of the world.
Jack knew that he shouldn’t make a big deal out of Dennis’ words (again, like he did the first time his boyfriend told him and his husband he loves them, the way sobs broke out his chest out of happiness and the panic he was met with from both men was not something he wanted to relive). He also knew that if he wouldn’t leave in the next fifteen minutes, he wouldn’t leave at all, and instead would only spend the day marking his boyfriend’s neck and rutting against him on their bed until Michael came back home and joined them and his boyfriend will be mad at them both for not letting him finish the laundry and rest. Sometimes to best show your love for someone, you would have to give them space. Jack didn’t like how true that statement was, but he was mature enough to follow it with minimal grumpling.
He left a last soft kiss on Dennis’ neck and got up, ruffling the curls in the process. “Alright pup, I’ll be back in a couple of hours, if you think of anything you want or crave from the market while I’m gone, text me a list. Love you.”
“Love you too, don’t catch a cold outside. Or a different omega.” Now one thing Jack was shamelessly a fan of was how possessive Dennis would get so close to his heat, one time even forbidding Jack from going to the gym with tears streaming down his cheeks, sobs ripping Jack’s heart, all from the fear that the two alphas would ‘realise you could do better, find someone on your level instead of a miserable lowlife like me’. It took a lot of scenting, nesting intensively for days, and conversations filled with sobs for them to get to the bottom of the source, but all three of them trusted each other. Jack even confessed to Dennis he found his possessiveness hot. Michael sighed and rolled his head deep in his skull and told Dennis how Jack, sadly, found everything about them both hot. Despite Dennis' deep shame at the time over his outburst, they could half joke about it now, all in good fun.
“I only have eyes for my two sweet boys and no one else.”
“I sure hope so. Make sure you don’t bring any stinky scents in our home.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” with an exaggerated salute and a cheesy floating kiss sent Dennis’ way, Jack was out the door, leaving behind an amused boyfriend who was definitely enjoying the scent one of his alphas left behind to comfort him. Meanwhile, Jack was almost skipping down the stairs with a stupid grin on his face. ‘He said our home’ he texted Michael, getting a heart emoji as response almost immediately.