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“You don’t have to tell them.” It sounds lame, Stiles can see that as soon as it’s out of his mouth. Besides, Jackson is right. Stiles knows Harrison and Daniel, and he knows perfectly well that the two alphas love Jackson the way you love your own flesh and blood and they would do anything for him.
“Listen to yourself… It’s not just about them! That’s not how I’ve been raised—I could never live with myself.”
“Jackson—” Stiles tries to interrupt him pointlessly.
“Look, I’m not saying that you have to raise him, okay? You just have to have him… Carry him for nine months and after that, you’re free to go on with your life and have this future you’re talking about. He won’t be in your way anymore.”
“You want to give him up for adoption?”
“Adoption? What?" Jackson frowns. "No… I told you... I would never do that. Hell, my parents would never do that either.” He knows that perfectly well.
Jackson may have many questions about relationships that he can’t answer yet. He’s never seen himself in a serious relationship until much later in life but he knows that he wants what his parents have someday. A marriage between two alphas is much better accepted these days than it was when his parents fell in love twenty-two years ago but racism is still very much alive where they live and being an interracial couple has never been easy. He’s seen the way people look at them wherever they go but especially when they hold hands or kiss in public… that’s never changed as long as he can remember.
Besides that, people have always assumed that he’s Daniel’s biological son because they both have blue eyes and fair skin, and he can only imagine that it can’t have been easy for his dad. Their parents managed to adopt him because they had money and connections.
The reality is that two alphas have it much harder to adopt than a normal alpha-omega couple who can’t conceive but his parents didn’t give up. All the adversities they have encountered have never weakened their relationship, on the contrary, it only made it stronger. They overcame all the prejudices on their way and fought for their happiness, and their idea of being a family wasn’t complete without a son and they fought for him; that’s why he knows what his parents would say if he didn’t fight for his own.
“So, what are you saying exactly?” Stiles furrows his brow.
“I’m saying that I can do this. My parents can help and they can hire another omega to help if we need it, but I’m not giving him away. He’s never gonna feel like he wasn’t wanted… or like he was some accident at a party, okay? He’ll feel wanted and loved… I can assure you of that.”
The truth is that if there’s something that Jackson’s parents have is money and the means to hire all the nannies and servants that they need.
“I shouldn’t be surprised.” Stiles snorts. “So typical. You and your money… you Whittemores think that you can buy anything you want.”
“I’m not buying anything! He’s my kid! What else do you want me to do? I’m trying to help you here. I’m offering you a way out because you’ve said you don’t want him. For god’s sake, you’ve brought me the papers to get rid of him!”
“Besides,” Jackson continues, “where is this coming from? You’ve never had a problem with my family or my money before.”
Stiles sighs, looking away before looking back at Jackson. “Fine! I don’t… I don’t have a problem with them. I do like your parents. But you’re pissing me off.”
“Well, you’re pissing me off too, so we’re even.” Jackson shrugs.
“You know, I think I better go. This conversation is obviously going nowhere…”
“I wouldn’t say that. You came here thinking that you knew me and you’re leaving after realizing that you don’t know me at all. I call that getting somewhere,” Jackson says, taking a step further.
“Yeah, you’re right, before I didn’t think you were an asshole.”
“Sure. You’ve always known that, but that’s not everything I am and that’s why you like me,” Jackson takes a step further closer to Stiles and Stiles takes a step behind him.
“Who says I like you?”
“I say it. Because it’s true.” Jackson snorts. “Because you don’t trust yourself being close to me—”
“That’s not—”
“Look, I don’t care what you say. The thing is that I can feel it. It’s fucking weird but I do.”
Stiles is taken aback for a moment. He’s not sure what to make of that statement. Maybe some of the things he’s felt from Jackson were not his imagination.
“Sure. And this thing you can feel… Do you feel it from Isaac too?”
“Isaac? Where is this coming from?”
“Come on… I know there’s something between you two…”
“Yeah, and I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Jackson opens his arms wide.
“So, are you still together?” Stiles insists. “Is that why you didn’t call me?”
Jackson snorts, shaking his head. “I can’t believe this shit. I already told you why I didn’t call you… and Isaac—We’re not together. We've never been. Yes, we fuck sometimes but we’re just friends and he knows that. And so did you when you came to the party and we hooked up. You have nothing to be jealous about.”
“I’m not jealous,” Stiles crosses his arms.
“Sure, then what’s the point of talking about him?” Jackson shrugs.
“I’m just thinking—Hell, you don’t want to sign… You want me to do what you want and you’re not ready to be a father. A kid should have parents who are together—There’s no substitute for that…”
“Yeah, you don’t believe that.” Jackson shakes his head. “You’re just running out of excuses.”
“I’m not running out of anything.” Stiles shakes his head. He’s not sure that he sounds very convincing since he doesn’t believe it himself, but he sure tries his best to sound believable. “That’s exactly what I think.”
“Okay, fine. I respect that. I don’t want to argue with you.” Jackson is being honest. He’s pissed off but he doesn’t want to argue and having Stiles close to him, his scent filling his nostrils is fucking weird. The best way he could describe it is that it is pretty much intoxicating. It is now numbing a part of his brain and making it hard to stay focused and not being focused and aware of everything is the last thing he needs right now.
He’s never been in this situation before but he’s heard the stories and the medical reasoning behind them. Some omegas’ pheromones can be so overwhelming that they might entice an alpha to do something the same way that they can deprive him of the will to do something else; this is usually related to sex and said influence is stronger when the omega is the alpha’s mate, so the fact that Jackson might be feeling any of those symptoms right now doesn’t make any sense.
“This conversation is obviously going nowhere. At least we can agree on that, right?”
“Yeah, we certainly can,” Stiles nods.
“I think we both need to cool off… I need to tell my parents… and you should tell your dad before he finds out from somebody else… and just in case, of course, I’d never tell him.”
Stiles shakes his head and looks away from Jackson. “I know that, but I also don’t need you to tell me what to do, thank you very much.”
“It was friendly advice… but you do what you want.”
“I will, and this is not over, I haven’t agreed to anything,” Stiles insists.
“Neither have I,” Jackson retorts. The truth is that he doesn’t have to and Stiles knows it. The law is on his side and he didn’t need to be a future lawyer to know that, he just had to be an alpha with a minimum knowledge of how things work in the world and the fact that one of his parents is a defense attorney would have helped too.
“Yeah, that’s perfectly clear... as clear as the fact that coming here was a total waste of time”
“You’re saying that, not me,” Jackson crosses his arms.
“Obviously, you’re not the one who has to give this news to someone who most probably will fucking lecture me for hours on end.”
“Oh yeah, like my parents are gonna be thrilled,” Jackson retorts, shaking his head.
“Excuse me, if I don’t give a shit about them right now. I think I’ll see myself out.”
“Whatever,” Jackson gets out of the way as Stiles heads to the door of the room and gets out.
“But text me or call me if you wanna talk or something after you tell your father, okay?” Not that he needs him since he has Scott but it was an honest offer. “I’m here if you need anything.”
Stiles turns around and there’s a mixture of anguish and resignation in his face and the hurt is coming Jackson’s way in waves even before he says a word. “What I really need, you don’t want to give me. So, just save it.”
Stiles turns around and heads downstairs.
“Fuck,” Jackson says, the moment the front door closes, sitting on his bed, elbows on his knees and face buried between his hands.
