Chapter Text
At eleven, Brian Tench was the oldest student in his class, but that one year didn't matter much. They were all at roughly the same place, all still kids not in too much hurry to grow up. That said, they were all coming to the age where they began to wonder and worry about presenting. Statistically most wouldn't. But for those with alphas and omegas in their family trees, there was always a chance. Brian never saw the point in worrying about it. The most common reaction to his nonchalance was surprise and the inevitable question, “but what if you end up omega?”
Brian would always just shrug. “So? My stepdad's omega, and he seems happy.” Holden was a good dad, had a mate (Brian's father), had a biological child, and worked for the FBI. His status didn't seem to slow him down.
However, Brian was one of only two students raised by alpha/omega parents. The other was a girl, and therefor a beta by default. It became obvious to Brian, even at his young age, that most people didn't know much about alphas and omegas. He could pretty much guarantee that the people worrying about presenting as omega weren't going to. They didn't act like omegas. Brian didn't know who or what was lurking in his biological family, but he was pretty sure he would be a beta. The mannerisms he had in common with Holden when he was younger faded as he grew and became less fearful. Holden was Holden all the time. Brian had just been anxious and painfully shy.
He also didn't believe he was likely to be an alpha. When he thought of 'alpha', he thought of his father who was big, strong, and intimidating. Or Brian used to find him intimidating, but that too had passed. It had just taken Brian time to realize that people's outsides didn't always match their insides, but Brian knew that he didn't have the confidence or swagger of an alpha. He was beta, he had to be. Nothing else made sense.
He woke up on Saturday morning feeling slow and sleepy. He glanced at the clock and was surprised to see that it was already eight. Normally once his little sister, the pint sized whirlwind, woke up, the entire house was awake. Despite getting more than enough sleep, he felt fuzzy headed and strange. Not sick exactly, but not well either. He stretched his neck to one side and then the other to relieve the slight ache. I must have slept weird. He thought, getting up and pulling on clothes.
He found Holden sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal while reading. Sounds of Emily giggling and the rise and fall of his dad's lower rougher voice filtered in from the living room. Holden looked up as Brian approached the table and smiled.
“Hi sleepy head. I'm surprised Emily didn't wake you up.”
“I didn't hear her...I feel kinda funny.”
Holden reached out and pressed the back of his hand to Brian's forehead in the manner of parents everywhere when faced with a potentially sick kid. “Hmm, you don't feel warm, Bud. Do you feel sick?”
Brian shrugged. “Not exactly. Just not right.”
He suddenly noticed something he hadn't before. Scent, and not the kind of scent he associated with things like soap or laundry detergent. It was different...warm and sweet. It reminded him of something he couldn't quite recall, like having a word on the tip of your tongue, or a dream you couldn't quite remember.
“I think I can smell you,” Brian said, a little surprised, but mostly curious. He had wondered more than once what it was like to smell other people, as it seemed to be important to his dad and Holden.
“Oh, you are around the right age. Here, you can scent me,” Holden invited, tilting his head to the side to expose his neck. “The scent gland is right here.” He pressed his forefinger to a spot about halfway down the side of his neck.
Brian cautiously brought his face close to Holden and breathed in. It became instantly clear that Holden was the source of the scent. He stepped back. “Is that what omega's smell like? Sweet?”
“Yes.” Holden smiled. “Hello, little alpha.”
“Alpha?” Brian asked, bewildered.
“Uh-huh. Definitely.” He leaned back in his chair and half turned towards the living room. “Bill, come here for a minute,” Holden called out.
A few minutes later Emily's happy squeals and the heavier tread of his father's footsteps could be heard. He appeared carrying Emily upside down, much to her delight. “Holden, your daughter was climbing on the back of the sofa again.” He deposited her gently on the floor, and she ran to Holden who pulled her up on his lap.
“What are we going to do with you, little monkey?” he asked, pushing the remains of his cereal out of her reach. “Bill, smell Brian.”
Brian stood still as his father laid a hand on his shoulder and leaned in to scent his neck the same way Brian had scented Holden. He straightened up looking surprised and pleased. “Congratulations, son.”
“But I don't think I could be an alpha,” Brian protested. “I'm not big or confident enough.” He still couldn't wrap his brain around the idea that he might share the same traits as his adopted father who seemed so different from himself.
Holden looked up from attempting to wrangle Emily's brown hair back into a pony tail. “You're growing like a weed, and you're protective of your sister.”
“Of course. She's so small.” He made a funny face, and she grinned back at him. Brian had seen so many bad things happen when he was little, and he didn't want anything bad to happen to his sister.
“That is one of the main personality traits of alphas,” Bill said, resting a hand affectionately on Holden's shoulder. “The drive to protect those who are smaller and weaker than you, like a mate or child.” Holden huffed a little at the suggestion that he might be smaller or weaker, and Bill just patted his shoulder in response.
Holden set Emily down so he could get up. “Come on, Peanut. Let's get you dressed.” He was forced to scoop her up again when she objected loudly.
“No clothes!” She protested, determined to stick with her pajamas.
“Yes clothes!” He disappeared down the hall, Emily's complaints trailing behind them.
Brian grabbed a bowl of cereal for himself, and he found his father seated at the table waiting for him. “There's two things you need to know about being an alpha – or at least the two most important things. One,” he held up his forefinger. “Always think before you act. You're going to start noticing instinctive urges. They're natural, but you can't let them run your life. Young alphas get themselves in trouble when they act on their instincts without thinking. Two,” he held up his middle finger as well. “Always treat omegas with respect. They're the most different from betas, and they get a lot of crap for it. They don't need alphas hassling them on top of that.”
Brian nodded in agreement as he chewed. He was well aware that betas didn't really understand omegas very well.
“In a few years omegas are going to become very interesting, and you're going to want to spend time with them. No matter what Holden says, they aren't going to be as big and strong as you. Don't take advantage of their instincts or get rough with them.”
Brian wrinkled his nose. “This is about sex, isn't it?”
“In part,” his dad admitted.
Brian of course, knew where babies came from, since he had a three year old sister. And though he had some mild curiosity regarding the act itself, mostly it was just too awkward to talk about. “I'm not interested in anybody like that.”
“Is your dad traumatizing you?” Holden asked with Emily in tow. He was carrying some blank paper, and Emily had crayons clenched in her little fists. He sat back down and lifted Emily onto his lap so she could reach the table and draw.
“It could be worse. Have they given you the talk at school? The one where they describe how everyone's body changes and tell you what kind of diseases you can catch?” Holden shuddered.
“No...I think that's next year.”
“It's terrible, everyone always thinks so. My parents never told me any of this stuff, and it made my life harder than it needed to be. If you ever have questions about anything, you can ask...no matter how embarrassing they are. Everyone goes through something like this, alpha, omega, or beta.”
“Does it change you? Who you are?” This was the worry most on Brian's mind as he wrestled with this new concept of himself.
“No, your personality is your personality. That doesn't change at all.” His father leaned forward, looking thoughtful. “It's really about information. When you present, your scent glands begin working and at the same time, your scent receptors do too. That's why you could detect Holden's pheromones. You'll start being able to tell what strong emotions someone might be feeling, or if they're ill just through scent. Depending on what's going on, your instincts might cause you to want to react a certain way to what you perceive. But, you're the one in control. It's your personality, the thinking part of your brain that decides what you're going to do with that information.”
“That doesn't sound so bad.”
“It's not,” his father said, “but it is some added responsibility. It's not always easy to stop and think when you're young.”
“What are you drawing, Peanut?” Holden asked his daughter, who was busily at work.
“It's a bunny cat,” Emily announced.
“A bunny cat? Is that why it has big ears?”
“Yes, and a long tail and stripes.”
Brian peered over at what his sister was doing. He had a difficult time differentiating what, in fact, were the bunny cat's ears. It was an odd thought that he might have a mate and kids some day, but adulthood felt like an eternity away. Twenty seemed impossibly old to him. Holden's thirty-five years represented a fathomless gulf of time, barely conceivable to a boy of eleven.
Holden looked up at Brian, or sort of looked up, avoiding his direct gaze. “Do you want to get pizza tonight to celebrate?”
“Is it something to celebrate?” Brian asked, still not sure what to think of or do with this new found knowledge about himself.
“Pizza!” His sister squealed in a pitch that made Brian and everyone else at the table wince.
“Of course. It's a milestone,” Bill said. “My boy is growing up.” Brian could tell his father was pleased, and he felt a glow of warmth in his middle that his dad was proud of him.
* * *
Brian wasn't eager to leave when Sunday evening came around. It wasn't that he didn't love his mother, but his dad's house was much more lively with Emily and Holden. His mom's new husband, Eric, was OK, but Brian still had trouble thinking of him as his father. They were polite to each other and mostly stayed out of each others way. His dad dropped him off and walked him to the house.
“I need to have a word with your mother,” he explained. Brian figured that it had something to do with his new alpha status, something that he was still trying to fully wrap his own head around.
“Hi Mom, hi Dad,” he greeted them as he entered the house, 'dad' feeling odd on his tongue in reference to Eric.
“Hi honey.” His mom gave him a hug and Eric smiled. He went to put his things away, mostly as an excuse to avoid listening to his parents talk about him. It was tempting to know what they were saying, but it made him anxious as well. The house wasn't large, and he could hear the rise and fall of their voices. His mother sounded concerned, his dad calm, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.
He sat down on the edge of his bed for a few minutes to give them time before reappearing to say goodbye to his father. He stared at the poster of the solar system that hung over his book shelf as if it held the answers to all the questions he had regarding life. Finally, he hauled himself up and made his way back to the living room.
“You don't need to worry about that right now,” his father was saying. “Omegas don't go into full heat until their mid teens, and alphas Brian's age aren't going to react much anyway. It'll be a few a years before he's physically capable of going into rut.”
Brian ducked behind the door frame, feeling his face flush. This was the stuff he didn't really want to hear about, or rather, he was curious, but he didn't want to hear about it from his parents. If he could just read about it in a book, that would be OK.
“What about Holden?” Eric asked. “He's an omega and not related.”
“He's his father.” His dad's voice was firm, with a warning edge. Brian thought he knew what Eric was suggesting, and anger bubbled up in his stomach.
“Stepfather.” Eric corrected.
“He's my dad.” Brian announced from the doorway. “I know you don't like him, but he's a good dad.”
“We weren't suggesting he isn't.” Eric quickly reassured him. “We're just trying to understand this alpha /omega thing.” He flashed what was meant to be a reassuring smile.
Brian remembered what his father had told him about being nice to omegas, because betas didn't understand them. Eric seemed to be proving him right. “I'm fine, really. My neck is just a little sore and I can smell Dad and Holden. That's it, I promise,” he insisted. He didn't want his mother to worry, and he wanted Eric to stop talking about Holden. Plus, his father was clearly not happy with Eric either. Brian didn't like being in the middle of grownup problems. His mother reached out and laid an arm over his shoulders and pulled him close. Brian sighed inwardly.
“Look, if you have any questions you can always call me,” his father said to his mother. He was now ignoring Eric.
“You aren't always around.” There was something accusatory in his mother's voice.
“If I'm not around, then Holden will be. We don't travel for work at the same time. Someone has to be here with Emily. He knows about this stuff too.”
His mother nodded in response, and his father turned his attention to Brian. “I'll see you soon. Call if you need us.” Brian gave him a hug, wishing it was still Saturday. After he had gone, he turned to his mother.
“I know you don't like Holden and Dad, but that has nothing to do with me,” he reminded her. He was starting to feel stressed, and he tried to keep in mind that it was important to think before acting.
She pulled him into an embrace. “I know you like spending time with them, and I appreciate how much Holden's helped you. It's just adult things you don't need to worry about.” Brian couldn't help but think she was missing the point, but he didn't want to say anything that might make the situation even more uncomfortable than it was already. He rarely argued with his parents – any of his parents, and he was particularly attuned to the fact that his mother had sacrificed a lot for him.
Everything went back to normal that evening, only it hadn't. His mom and Eric just weren't talking about it anymore. He lay in bed that night thinking how different it was at his dad's house. Presenting hadn't been a big deal, it wasn't anything to worry about. Here it was making his mom worry, and Eric was just clueless. He supposed Eric couldn't help it, but he still hadn't fully forgiven him for his comment about Holden. Summer was coming, and he wanted to spend more time at his dad's. During the school year, his mom's house was much closer to his school. But during the summer, that wouldn't matter.
* * *
“An alpha, I never expected it,” Nancy said to Eric as they readied for bed that night.
“It doesn't seem like anything to worry about right now.” Eric sounded unconcerned. “He's still only eleven. Think of it this way, you don't have to worry about him knocking up a girlfriend,” he joked.
Nancy remained unamused. “No, I have to worry about him mating and bonding with some little omega boy instead. That's what they do – they mate for life. They're like...” Nancy floundered for an acceptable comparison, “geese.”
“So? We'll talk to him about it when the time comes. Lay down some ground rules.” Eric patted the spot on the bed next to him, and Nancy slid in beside him, resting her head on his chest. “There's no point in borrowing trouble.”
“You're probably right,” Nancy admitted. “It's just... this is a big deal. I used to think it wasn't, that alphas and betas weren't that different. I ended up in a failed marriage, because of it.”
“Ah, this is different. This is your son, not your husband. I can confirm that I am one hundred percent beta, and Brian will be fine.”