The Alpha's Pretend-Boyfriend

The "Boyfriend"

Louie was sure he wasn’t dreaming. He could clearly see the stupefied look on everyone's faces, and he could feel how cold and clammy Dane's usually warm hands were in his nervousness. What he couldn’t wrap his mind around, however, were the words he just heard that came out of Dane's mouth.

“A boyfriend?” Dane’s mother was the first to break the awkward silence. She hurriedly walked up to Louie to fawn over him. “What a kind-looking young man! Omegas are really pretty, aren’t they?”

“Is he an omega?” his father asked, looking quite skeptical. “Which family does he come from?”

“M-mom, dad, please,” Dane nervously chuckled. “This is all overwhelming for the both of us.”

“Well, you should have introduced us sooner!” his mother scolded him. “Anyway, honey, we better get going now,” she told her husband before lovingly looking back at Louie and Dane. “Bring him to the family home soon, alright?”

Dane nodded, tightening his grip on Louie's hand, who still seemed to be in shock. “I will, I will,” he assured her. “I’ll properly introduce him then. You two should get going before the traffic worsens.”

Louie helplessly watched as Dane's parents headed towards the door. His father looked around one more time and to his surprise, nodded approvingly. “Looks like you finally have a handle on your life,” he said, a complete 180 in his mood. “Keep up the good work.”

Dane beamed at the compliment while his mother held Louie's hand and sweetly smiled at the human. “Nice to meet you, Louie. We will see you soon,” she said.

Louie's lips seemed to be sewn shut, but when Dane lightly elbowed him on his side, he perked up, smiled back, and managed to weakly reply, “I-it was a pleasure meeting you too.”

Dane chuckled and put an arm around him. “He's very shy,” he whispered out loud to his mother. “Take care on your way,” he said as the two finally left the building and drove away.

As soon as they were out of sight, it was as if a veil had been lifted and everyone in the restaurant was able to take a breath—everyone except for Dane and especially not for Louie. Dane was just gearing up to say something when Fig appeared behind them and enveloped the two into a hug, squishing the both of them together.

“I didn’t know we have a new happy couple here!” he mockingly rejoiced., obviously finding the entire thing to be amusing.

“W-we're not—” Louie struggled to get out of Fig's embrace. When he was finally able to do so, he said indignantly, “We are not together.” It was the most assertive anyone from Hestia's had seen him to be, and if the timing were different, Dane would’ve gushed over how adorable he was being.

“Ooh, looks like your omega mate isn’t in a good mood,” Fig whispered to Dane, who glared at him for his horrible timing.

“Not now,” he firmly told the demon. Callie, who was still standing silently beside them, pulled Fig away to give the two some space to talk.

“You’re no fun!” They heard him complain as he was dragged into the kitchen where the rest of the staff were hiding.

Finally somewhat alone, Dane turned to Louie looking as sorry as he did just that morning. “Louie,” he called out pleadingly with his palms together in front of him. “I’m so sorry. My parents caught me off-guard, and I panicked and said some things, but now that I think about it—”

It was clear as day to Louie what he was thinking, so before he could continue, Louie said a firm, “No,” that stopped Dane in his tracks. “I understand that you panicked earlier and I forgive you for that, but I will not be lying to your parents.”

Dane's face fell. “B-but, Louie,” he argued, “did you see how my father—”

“I’m sorry, Dane,” Louie shook his head, “but I can’t help you out with this one.” He took his backpack from the werewolf and headed to the staff room. Just before he entered, he saw Germain, Fig and Callie suddenly pretend as if they hadn’t just listened in to the entire conversation, while Gadreel disapprovingly shook his head at them.

Louie had foolishly thought that Dane would let it go. After all, the next few days in the restaurant ran like the usual, aside from Germain trying to get details about what happened when Louie brought Dane home, and Fig mischievously smiling at him whenever their eyes met. Dane was, as Louie expected, somewhat back to his doting-father-and-happy-go-lucky-large-dog self, making sure that Hestia’s ran smoothly while mingling with his employees.

It was by Wednesday when Louie felt a small shift in the air. It began when he found a juice box in his locker with a note that says, “Humans also like this, don’t they?” with Dane's recognizable handwriting. Dane had given him a drink before out of kindness—after Gadreel shouted at him for messing up—so Louie didn’t think much of the juice box. Dane was, after all, the type to perform such gestures. Louie happily drank the juice then, which Dane saw. Little did he know that by doing so, he was digging a hole for himself.

Just an hour later, Dane randomly approached Louie to hand him a snack without saying a word. Because there wasn’t much to do then since it was a slow day, Louie gratefully accepted it and ate. Later that night, just as they were preparing to head home, Dane offered to help out with Louie and Fig's chores, stating, “I’m done with mine anyway.” Louie didn’t see then the knowing smile that Fig had, so he only thanked Dane and thought nothing of it.

It was by Thursday morning when things really kicked up a notch. Louie had just gotten out of his apartment and was ready to head to the bus stop when he saw Dane and his car parked out front. Dane had smiled so widely at him and, to make things worse, handed him a sunflower.

“I read somewhere that humans also like flowers,” Dane had said as he opened the door. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride.”

That rang the alarm in Louie's head, but he got in anyway. It was when the car was already running when he remembered and asked, “Don’t you live somewhere uptown?” finally suspicious.

When Dane shrugged and couldn’t think of an excuse, that’s when it finally struck Louie. “No,” Louie firmly said. “No, no, no! I know what you’re doing.”

“I’m not doing anything!” Dane said in his defense, keeping his eyes on the road as an excuse not to meet his eyes. He was no angel, but at that moment, he looked as if he was trying to grow a glowing halo on his head.

“You,” Louie accusingly exclaimed, “you’re trying to-to sweet-talk me or something! You’re trying to buy me with your little gifts and, uh, and nice gestures!” he pointed at him.

“I'm—” Dane couldn’t continue what he was going to say, and sighed in resign instead. “Okay, you caught me. But Louie, you have to understand. My dad has never properly complimented me until he thought we were together. And my mom looked so happy!”

“Then why don’t you get yourself a real omega werewolf partner?” Louie asked.

“It's not that I haven’t tried,” Dane said, looking embarrassed. “But I just don’t have good luck when it comes to romance. I haven’t been in a relationship for years, Louie. Years! It’s been so long that my father has tried to talk me into an arranged marriage. I don’t want to marry some omega I don’t know,” he lamented. “But he said that if I didn’t find a partner soon, his hand would be forced and it would’ve been I either agree to get arranged, or he takes Hestia's away from me.”

“Your father can’t do that,” Louie said with disbelief.

“Oh,” Dane bitterly scoffed, “trust me, he will.”

Louie stared at him and realized that he was being serious.

“Look, we won’t do anything you’re uncomfortable with,” Dane pleadingly continued. “Everything will be the same at work, and you only need to show up like, once or twice at family events for just five minutes. No, not even five, just one minute would do! Then eventually, I can just tell them that we amicably broke up. That would at least buy me some time.” He parked the car in front of the restaurant and turned to look at Louie with those pitiful childlike brown eyes. “Think about it, at least?”

Louie couldn’t believe it, but he actually found himself considering it. Maybe it was because of his incessant need to help others, or it was because he pitied Dane who seemed to be a pretty decent person. Whatever it was, Louie found himself muttering, “Fine, I’ll think about it.”

Dane's face immediately brightened up. “Really?” he asked, looking so happy as if he had just heard the best news in his life. Louie nodded and removed his seat belt. Dane happily exclaimed then rushed to turn off the engine. “Wait a second, let me open the door for you,” he excitedly said.

“No,” Louie quickly said. “I can open it myself. I’ll think about it, but no more of this… bribery, okay?”

Dane vigorously nodded and smiled from ear to ear. “Got it!”