The Alpha's Pretend-Boyfriend

The Lie

Saturdays at Hestia's had always been as busy as Fridays. If creatures of different races had anything in common, it was that they all liked going out on weekends. For Dane, this was bittersweet. He liked that it signified the oncoming rest day (Sunday) and the restaurant was always packed, but the problem was that as well—it was “always" packed.

When Dane opened up Hestia's that morning, he prepared himself for the last hectic day of the week. More importantly, he prepared himself to face Louie. All throughout yesterday, he had thought about how selfish he was being, asking such a thing from Louie. The human was obviously kindhearted—case in point, he helped Dane out when they were still strangers—and this time, Dane was asking more of him.

He was set out on apologizing to Louie yesterday, but they had all been too busy and he just couldn’t get him alone. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep in the staff room and Gadreel and Germain were taking home, where he shortly fell asleep in his couch. The next time he opened his eyes, it was already daytime.

Today, Dane thought, today for sure he was going to talk to Louie, retract what he said, and apologize a million times over.

Gadreel and Germain were the first ones to come in as usual. Callie was next. As more time passed, he became more anxious as he paced back and forth while looking out on the street. When he spotted Louie as he turned the corner from the bus stop, he burst outside of the restaurant and stood by the entrance.

Louie gave him a small smile and an awkward wave as he walked towards him.

“Good morning,” Dane greeted, trying not to let his nervousness show. “The bus ride okay? Were there lots of people?”

Suffice it to say, he was acting odd that even Louie noticed it. “Good morning. It was… fine,” he said with a frown. “But listen, I have to talk to you—”

“We need to talk—” they simultaneously spoke. Surprised, Dane said, “You can go first.”

Louie nodded and looked around to see if any of the staff were nearby. When he saw that the coast was clear, he began, “About the thing you, uh, asked me for.”

Dane felt his lips tightly shut and his heart raise.

“I thought about it and,” Louie continued, looking quite embarrassed. “I’ll do it.”

Dane blinked at him. “You… what?”

“I’ll do it,” Louie said with more courage this time.

“Look, Louie,” Dane rushed to say, “I was just about to tell you that you don’t have to. I know it’s too much to ask, and it’s very selfish of me—"

“N‐no,” Louie interrupted. “I thought about it and you deserve a chance to find and marry someone you love while keeping the restaurant. So, I’ll—I’ll do it. I’ll pretend to be your… you know.”

“A‐are you sure?” Dane asked with his eyes widened.

“But only for a certain period of time,” Louie added, but before he could say something more, Dane exclaimed and wrapped him into a big hug with the sides of their faces pressed together.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Dane screamed as he tightened his arms around Louie.

“W‐wait, I c-can't—” Louie gasped and struggled. Dane had been too excited that he wasn’t able to control his inhuman strength.

“My god, Dane, let the human breathe!” Fig exclaimed, suddenly appearing beside them. “He still has to help me out, you know. It’s a Saturday.”

Dane quickly let go of Louie and, realizing what he'd done, sheepishly said, “Sorry, Louie. Let's um,” he warily glanced at Fig, who looked extremely interested in what he was about to say, “talk later about the… specifics.”

Fig teasingly smiled at them. “Is this something kinky?” he asked.

“Just go in and get ready, Fig,” Dane sighed and began to push him away. He turned back to Louie and mouthed, “Thank you,” again, grinning from ear to ear.

Throughout the day, Dane showed his gratitude without holding back, and everyone noticed. How could they not when even through the endless work they had, he could always be seen smiling at Louie like a happy pup, asking him if he’s alright whenever they passed each other, and often giving him small snacks because, “You need it to replenish your energy!” as he said? When the day finally ended and it was time to pack up, everyone was beat except for Dane who energetically rushed through his closing chores.

Germain, noticing this as he peeked out of the service hatch, frowned. “What's up with Dane?” he thought out loud. From beside him, Gadreel continued to wipe down his station silently. Germain turned his head towards him and raised an eyebrow.

“Would you know something about it?” he curiously asked, knowing how angels have good hearing. It also helped that their kind could “read" energies of living beings—at least  that was how Gadreel put it in a lack of a better explanation. Germain knew that if anyone in the restaurant knew anything about something, it would be Gadreel—even if the angel personally disliked engaging in gossip.

“About what?” Gadreel asked, obviously only pretending not to know what he was talking about.

Germain narrowed his eyes and turned his body towards Gadreel. “You know something, don’t you? Why Dane is suddenly beaming right now when he was sulking just last night,” he continued to prod, but the angel kept his lips shut. “Are you seriously not going to tell me the specifics?” Germain asked, even though the answer was obvious. Gadreel was rarely persuaded, and he knew that better than anyone.

“Finish your work,” was what Gadreel said, sliding a rag towards him.

“Fine,” Germain grunted, but after just a few seconds, he turned to Callie and called out her name. “Hey, come here for a sec,” he said, and Callie did after wiping her hands dry.

“What is it?” she innocently asked.

“You know anything about that?” Germain nodded towards the main hall where Dane and Louie were separately cleaning up. Callie followed his gaze.

“Oh, I don’t know if Louie's decided yet,” she answered in a whisper. “But Dane seems energetic today, doesn’t he? You think Louie agreed?”

“Most likely. Gadreel won’t tell me,” Germain said, glaring at the angel who continued to mind his own business.

“Are we talking about Dane?” Fig suddenly appeared in the middle of Germain and Callie, causing Gadreel to roll his eyes and sigh, and Callie to take a surprised step back. Fig smiled at her, and she was able to manage an awkward smile in return. They hadn’t talked about the time Fig brought her home, and even if the demon continued to act as he usually did as if nothing happened, Callie found it difficult not to shy away from him.

“We are,” Germain nodded. “You know anything about it?”

“I saw them hugging this morning,” Fig shrugged. “Dane's acting a bit weird, huh? Gadreel, you know anything? Are they really going to play pretend with mama and papa Bennett?”

Gadreel let out a disapproving sigh. “For the love of—” he breathed out as he moved on to work farther from them, making Fig snicker.

The three could only guess what really happened, but they knew one thing for sure. Dane was friendly but he rarely liked anyone, and when he did, he had a tendency to fall hard and fast without knowing. They watched as the suspiciously happy Dane occasionally glance at Louie and they all knew what didn’t need saying.

***

By 9 in the evening, Louie found himself sitting on a nice leather sofa in the middle of Dane's uptown apartment. It was the first time he had ever stepped foot in that place, and if he were being honest, he would say that Dane's apartment didn’t feel like it was his. It was spacious, plain, and simple. Louie had imagined Dane's apartment to be quite messy and crowded with decorations, but the only decorative pieces in there were the vases of fresh flowers by the living room and the kitchen.

“You have a nice place,” Louie commented as he looked around while staying where he sat. Dane was busy in the kitchen, getting refreshments for the both of them.

“Really?” Louie heard him say. “Thank you! Do you prefer cold or hot tea?”

“Hot, please.” Louie carefully touched a flower to feel if it was real.

“Alright. Oh, and make yourself at home. I’ll be done in a few,” Dane called out.

Louie stayed where he was and tried to think about what they were about to do. After work, Dane had invited him to his apartment so they could “talk about the specifics,” whatever that meant. Since they had no work the next day, Louie agreed, but not before Fig appeared beside them and tried to get himself invited.

“Here you go,” Dane said as he placed a tray of tea and snacks on the coffee table, which Louie thanked him for. He sat on the other side of the sofa and took out a pen, paper and a photo album from the drawer.

“Alright, are you ready?” Dane asked with an excited smile as he turned to face Louie. Louie wasn’t exactly sure what he should be ready for, but he nodded.

“Okay,” Dane said, opening the photo album first. “So, like I said before, I’ll only ask you to show up a few times at family events, just to prove to them we're together. My parents—actually, no—my sister is the one we have to look out for.” He pointed at a photo of a woman who looked like him, except she looked a bit older and had scary-looking eyes.

“We have to look out for her?” Louie asked, confused at what he meant.

“My older, Sheila is quite intuitive and righteous,” Dane informed him. “She's a nice person and I love her, but there’s a huge chance she’ll tell on me if she ever finds out. After all, she’s a bit like my father when it comes to business.”

Louie gulped. “Sheila, is it?” he clarified.

“Yes, so if you see her, try not to spend too much time with her because she will ask questions,” Dane warned. “And once she gets a whiff that something’s off, she won’t let it go.”

“Don’t approach her, got it.”

“Good,” Dane smiled. “Now, my parents are a bit easy. As long as you seem like a responsible young man—which you are—then there's no trouble. Just make sure you don’t mention that you’re human, and as much as possible, don’t touch anyone or make physical contact.”

“But your mother—” Louie said in a panic, remembering how his mother had held his hand.

“She didn’t notice anything so it’s fine. Werewolves can have cold hands too when they’re nervous, see?” Dane gently placed his hand on top of Louie’s, making the human’s face redden a little. He was telling the truth. His hand was a bit cooler than usual, and for some reason it made Louie feel better. “Another thing you have to watch out for are pheromones,” Dane continued, retracting his hand. “Werewolves usually don’t release theirs willingly since it’s considered to be, uh, rude to other werewolves. Although there are times when they leak out—like when one is in their heat and they don’t take suppressors, and when someone is extremely emotional to the point that they can’t control it. Werewolves can find out what kind of werewolf someone is just based on their pheromones.”

“So,” Louie frowned, “what if they ask me to release mine because they think I’m an omega?”

“They won’t do that,” Dane assured him. “Besides, humans can detect pheromones too, did you know? But only by touch, and they can’t discriminate the different kinds. It’s like that night when…” he trailed off.

Louie understood what he was talking about. After all, he had a first-hand experience with it when he met Dane. It seemed that that memory they shared also came back to the werewolf, making the air around them heavy with embarrassment. “Anyway,” he sheepishly continued, “you know what I mean.”

Louie cleared his throat and awkwardly nodded. “Yup, yup,” he muttered.

Day one of pretending to be the werewolf’s boyfriend, and things were already getting weird. Louie sighed. He hoped that Dane would quickly find a real omega werewolf to fall in love with.