Chapter Text
“Lance,” two heavy hands settled themselves on his shoulders. “You're doing so well today.”
Lance took a deep breath. He rolled his shoulders and coughed, hoping his boss would take the hint. Instead, Lotor's grip only tightened.
Lance never really expected any less.
Sighing, Lance pulled away and walked over to the other side of the counter, pretending to organize the napkins and straws container. Any excuse to get away from the alpha's touch.
“Thanks,” Lance turns his head and offers Lotor a lukewarm grin. “Just doin' my job.”
If only he didn't need to. Hunk kept telling him to quit whenever Lance told him about Lotor's handsiness, that no rent money was worth the unwavering unsolicited attention from his shift manager. But there weren't all that many places that were willing to hire an unmated omega. The Galra had been the only place to get back to Lance during his initial job hunt.
And honestly? The work really wasn't all that difficult. The Galra was a cute cafe and Lance got along swimmingly with his coworkers. Perhaps too swimmingly. Lotor's flirtations started out innocent enough, but lately, his advances were really starting to be a pain in Lance's ass.
“No, you're really going above and beyond what's required of you, Lance. I think you deserve a... reward.”
Lance froze. Scratch that, Lotor was more than just a pain in the ass. He was on his ass as well.
Turning around, Lance slapped Lotor's hand away and narrowed his eyes. His cheeks were burning with an angry mix of indignation and shame.
This couldn't go on.
“Lotor, stop it,” Lance hissed and tried to stare Lotor down. “I'm not interested!”
The alpha only smiled at him.
“You don't need to deny it, Lance. I can tell you want it.”
Lance shook his head in disgust and moved to sidestep Lotor, but the alpha quickly trapped him between his arms. Stuck between the counter and Lotor's chest, Lance's heartbeat quickened.
This wasn't good.
“Lotor, c'mon, don't do this,” Lance decided to try and appeal to Lotor's sense of integrity. He'd seen it before- what happened to that alpha Lance knew who pulled another alpha away from a scared omega patron last month? “I told you I'm not interested. That should be enough.”
Lotor looked at him for a long moment and for a second, Lance thought that it worked. But no sooner did the relief start to kick in than Lotor stepped closer and leaned down, pressing his nose to Lance's neck and scenting him.
Lance's breath caught in his throat. “Your scent doesn't lie, Lance.”
Gritting his teeth, Lance raised his hands and pushed Lotor away with a scowl. Only dicks used an omega's biology against them. Lance was an unmated omega- of course his body would react to an unmated alpha's scent right up and in his personal space. But just because his biology was interested in the match didn't mean that Lance was. Was that so difficult for Lotor to understand?
Why was he being so impossible today? Maybe he should quit. There must be some other establishment in the city that would hire him. Lance just didn't think he could handle Lotor much longer.
But maybe he'll try one last thing before limiting himself to cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner until he found a new job.
“Listen, Lotor,” Lance took a deep breath and met the alpha's eyes. “The truth is, I'm already seeing someone.” Lotor blinked and took half a step back automatically before his brow creased with an accompanying frown.
“No, you're not.”
Lance huffed and crossed his arms. “Yes I am!”
“Why don't I smell any claim on you, then?” Lotor pursed his lips.
“We just started dating a few weeks ago. That's not enough time for a claim,” Lance waved Lotor's words away with as much nonchalance as he could muster.
Lotor still looked doubtful, though.
“I don't believe you. You're lying to get me to stop courting you.”
Lance shrugged. “Then don't believe me. But I wouldn't risk it if I were you. My boyfriend can be pretty territorial, if you know what I mean.”
That seemed enough to make Lotor think twice and back away far enough for Lance to push off the counter and walk over to the coffee machine in the farthest corner from where Lotor was still standing.
It worked. It actually worked. Lance grinned, relief flooding through his system. This absolutely called for a celebratory latte. Now all he had to do was-
Lotor's fingers wrapped around his wrist.
Fuck.
“Lance, I don't think we-”
The bell above the cafe door rang and Lance quickly turned to look at the customer. Tall and broad with black hair and a scar. But what was perhaps more impressive than the scar was the stranger's attire- a policeman uniform. Lance didn't need to step closer to tell what the man was.
Only alphas made it into the police force.
“Carino! You're here!”
“What?”
Without quite thinking it through, Lance yanked his wrist out of Lotor's grasp and rushed towards the alpha, offering him a warm smile and wrapping his arms around his neck.
It was a gamble- as a policeman, the alpha was probably trained to immediately react to any unexpected physical contact. But for whatever reason, the alpha only froze under Lance's touch. It wasn't the most enthusiastic response Lance was hoping for, but at least he wasn't on the floor with a broken limb, right?
“I'm sorry, I think you've-”
“Play along and I'll pay for your drink,” Lance cuts him off and after a moment of uncertainty, he feels the alpha wrap his arms around his hips in a loose hug.
Lance beams as he pulls away from the embrace.
“Come, I want you to meet my boss,” he tells the alpha and grabs his hand. The man allows Lance to drag him over to the counter and extends his arm to Lotor, who shakes it carefully.
“Lotor, this is my boyfriend, uh...”
“Shiro,” the alpha introduces himself. “My name is Shiro. It's a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” Lotor says smoothly, if not a little distractedly. He looks between the two of them before nodding at Lance. “I actually need to go on an errand. Will you be fine on your own?”
“Of course,” Lance salutes with a grin.
“Right..." Lotor nods again and grabs his bag from behind the counter. “I'm off, then. I'll be back soon.”
Lance makes a show of straightening out the menus on the counter as Lotor leaves. Once he hears the door close he turns around and smiles sheepishly at Shiro.
“Hey man, I'm sorry for surprising you like that. Thank you for going along with it, though. You really helped me out!”
Shiro chuckles and leans against the counter. “For a moment there I thought I mated with someone and somehow forgot about it, but it's alright. I'm glad I was able to help you.”
“Wait, is that something you do often?” Lance raised a brow. “Mate with people and forget about them?”
Shiro's cheeks reddened and Lance bit his lip. Fuck, had he gone too far?
“Somehow I don't think I'd be able to forget about you,” Shiro finally said, smiling shyly. “I mean. It's not every day that a strange omega hugs you out of the blue.”
Lance's eyes widened. Was that a compliment?
“Haha, right. Well, it's not every day that a strange alpha agrees to play your boyfriend out of the blue, right?”
“I seem to recall that I was promised a free drink for my cooperation...?” Shiro winked.
“Oh! Yeah, of course,” Lance said quickly, hurrying behind the counter and trying to ignore the weakness in his knees. So a handsome alpha winked at him. Big deal. It wasn't like he was the first alpha to do so.
True. But he was the only alpha in uniform to wink at him.
“What would you like?”
“Hmm,” Shiro tapped the counter idly as he looked at the menu before looking up and meeting Lance's eyes with a smile. “What do you recommend?”
Lance swallowed thickly. He really, really hoped Shiro wasn't close enough to scent what his warm smiles and winking were doing to him.
“I, uh, the caramel macchiato here is pretty good.”
“Then I'll go with that.”
Nodding, Lance prepares the drink, all the while feeling the alpha's heavy gaze on him. Once he was done he quickly handed Shiro the plastic cup with a nervous grin.
“One caramel macchiato, on the house.”
“Thank you.”
Shiro's fingers brushed against Lance's knuckles as he accepted the drink and Lance sucked in his breath. He literally had his arms wrapped around Shiro's neck. Why did something as small as a simple brush of skin against skin affect him so?
“I guess I should get going,” Shiro cut off Lance's train of thought (more like train wreck, really) with an apologetic smile. “It was really nice meeting you- uh. I don't think I got your name?”
“Lance.”
“Lance,” there was something about the way Shiro said his name that send a small thrill up Lance's spine. “That's a nice name.”
“Thanks,” Lance said as he rolled up his sleeves. “Shiro isn't too shabby, either.”
“Thank you, but actually, Shiro is just a-”
The loud noise of vibrations cut Shiro off, startling them both. Blinking, Lance watched as Shiro dug into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone. He frowned once he got a good look at the screen.
“Sorry, I need to get this,” Shiro quickly apologized and turned to go. “It was nice getting to know you, Lance.”
Lance nodded, trying not to let the dejection get the best of him as his eyes followed Shiro's departure.
But just as Shiro pulled the door open, Lance couldn't stop himself.
“My boyfriend gets a free drink and a pastry whenever he visits!”
Lance wasn't sure what possessed him and he was just about ready to crawl into a corner and die when Shiro turned back to look at him. If Shiro hadn't thought he was odd before, he most certainly would want to get the hell away from Lance as fast as he could now.
But maybe Shiro was just as crazy as him, because out of all possible logical reactions, he smiled.
“I guess I know where I'll be eating lunch tomorrow.”
Sirens blared that night, though Shiro saw more than heard them. This job was dangerous, but Shiro's never even thought about leaving it. Sure, it was stressful. Scary even, but he was helping people, and he's always been better at that than taking care of himself.
His scarred face was covered in soot from the fire. He didn't go in himself, but the people bustling out in a panic he had to corral weren't all unscathed from the burning chemical.
Now, he stood with his back leaning on his cop car. His dirty hands mussed his hair as he talked hurriedly into his phone. Shiro's tired eyes laid on the scene in front of him. Several cars lined up in front of the apartment building. Cops, firemen, citizens. The night surrounded him, the only thing lighting up the sky was the flashing red and blue lights and the dimming flames.
He sighed for the thirtieth time that night. His facility operator spoke calmly to him, trying to find out some information to give to the head of his jurisdiction. He gave the start of the fire, room number, and occupants of the room. That’s about all he could say.
He was dismissed after everything settled down. He got in his car and drove home, images of panicked faces and crying children flashing in his mind. But, throughout it all was one face. One pair of sparkling blue eyes.
Lance.
That omega. Shiro still shakes his head in disbelief looking back on it. What are the chances of meeting him that day? He scoffs. If he hadn’t gone into town that day, over heard two betas talking about the café…
He finds himself smiling. The way Lance's face lit up while talking to him. Shiro’s face flushes.
Just one omega with pretty eyes, warm skin, soft hair- what’s he doing!? He was just helping someone out. No big deal! Well, except for the fact that the person he had helped happened to refer to Shiro by boyfriend and invited him back. What will he do with himself?
Go back tomorrow, that’s what.
Shiro can’t argue with that.