Chapter Text
“The first time we met was a coincidence. You surprised me with your answer so I signed your shirt. Nothing more to it.”
“And then?”
“And then I found out who you are.”
“Who I am?”
“Porsche’s brother.”
“...”
“I needed to figure out his intentions, his character. So I called you to offer to tutor you.”
“I never gave you my number.”
“What?”
“I never gave you my number. The first time we met. You signed my shirt. Asked for my name. But I never gave you my number. And I hadn’t filled out the application for the music program yet either. So you had to get it from somewhere else. Always seemed like a lot of trouble to go through just to tutor a stranger. But I was just so happy at getting to spend time with WIK that I pushed it out of my mind. …Why did you go through the trouble?”
“The plan… the plan was to tutor you for a bit, get you to talk about your brother, borrow your phone to see if there was any information in it and then leave. I get the information I’m looking for, you get a tutoring session from your idol. Give and take. End of story.”
“What changed?”
“You did.”
“Me?”
“You grab my arm, demanding I listen to the song I just made you write and you turned out to be good at it. Writing something that held together in just the few moments you had to do it in. You had a good voice too. A bit nervous but good.And I couldn't help it. The melody sparked something in me and it was easy to harmonize with you on the piano. I was hooked. In denial about it but hooked.”
“In denial?”
“Yeah.”
“And after that?”
“I told myself I was gathering more information. I used every excuse I could to justify to myself spending more time with you.”
“When you came over the first time.”
“Yes.”
“You left the door unlocked.”
“What?”
“My bedroom door. I remember locking it when you went to the bathroom. It wasn’t locked when I went to bed after you left.”
“Ah.”
“You know…”
“What?”
“Giving me a guitar could be considered a courting gift…”
“Oh. I…”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“You brought me food. And serenaded me. Who’s courting who?”
“Maybe we both are. Would that be so bad?”
“No… no it wouldn’t.”
“When did you stop using excuses?”
“When I decided I wanted to spend your Rut with you instead of running as far away as I could, the way I always do around Alphas, especially close to their Ruts.”
“You’ve never spent a Rut with someone before?”
“No. Never let anyone knot me before either.”
“...Oh.”
“I have no regrets about spending yours with you, Chay.”
“We’ll have to talk more about why you wanted information on my brother later but right now I want to kiss you.”
“O…”
…
“I forgive you. But promise me no more lies. Whatever it is that’s going on, I can handle it. Ok?”
“I promise. No more lies. No more secrets.”