Well, Kade’s probably going to treat him two more times, at least, because it’s not fair that Felix is paying for any of this. He wants to be like his own dad, having enough money to pay for everything his omega wants.
“You kids are bonded?” the old man asks, handing Felix’s vanilla cone over. “That’s unusual.”
Felix smiles shyly, glancing over at Kade. “Yeah. Kade’s my friend. We bonded when I became an omega. He said he’d protect me.”
Kade shoves the coins back into his own pocket, his cheeks prickling with guilt. He wants to be good enough for Felix. “My mom says I’ll be an alpha,” he tells Felix. “So I’m not gonna be an omega.”
“Even if you do turn out to be an omega, I’ll still really like you,” Felix says, licking at his ice cream. “Mm, this is good!”
Kade’s pulse rushes in his ears. Felix likes him. His hand shakes a little when he takes the napkin-wrapped cone from the old man. Maybe Felix only likes him as a friend, but it’s still exciting, and maybe he likes Felix. Maybe he wants them to be closer than what they have now.
“I see the marks,” the old man says, eyeing the matching scar on Kade’s wrist. Kade flushes. Felix’s dad doesn’t like that they’d bonded, and neither do Felix’s bullies. But the bullies stay away now, and Kade’s still trying to impress Felix’s dad.
From the way the old man’s face lights up, at least he doesn’t think the bonding is a bad thing.
“We bonded three months ago,” Kade says, looking at the silvery marks Felix’s teeth left on his wrist. He still looks at his scar every day, wondering when he’s going to get his own scent, and whether Felix will like Kade’s scent when he presents. Kade loves the way Felix smells like lavender, loves the way his clothes still smell like Felix when he gets home.
“Good,” the ice cream man says, his eyes crinkling. “Take care of each other, you two. No more running out of school.”
Felix’s cheeks flush a dark red. He looks warily over his own shoulder, his mouth pinched. Kade sighs. That’ll give them away faster than anything else. “We’re going back,” he tells the ice cream man. “Thanks.”
The ice cream man waves, and Kade trudges back to school with Felix, slipping his fingers between Felix’s sandy ones. Kade’s ice cream melts rich and sweet in his mouth, bursts of chocolate and cold. Next to him, his omega’s ice cream is almost intact, its sticky surface licked into a perfect hemisphere.
“You’re not finishing yours?” Kade asks.
Felix licks off another drip. “I don’t want it to end. It’s so delicious, Kade.”
“Do you want to try mine?” Kade waves his own cone at Felix, and Felix’s eyes brighten.
“Sure.”
Slowly, Felix leans in, licking at the remnants of Kade’s bitten-off ice cream. “Mm. I like yours too. Do you want to try mine?”
Kade nods, even if he’s had a hundred vanilla cones. He’s never had Felix’s ice cream, and when Felix tips his cone over, Kade laps at its carefully-licked surface, tasting its fragrant sweetness. “I like it.”
Felix beams. They slow down under a tree with sweeping branches, watching as the cars purr down the street.
“My mom’s going to beat me if she finds out we ran out of school,” Kade says. “Well, maybe she’ll just have some words. She’s not so bad.”
“We’ll keep it a secret, then.” Felix peers at him earnestly. “I won’t get you into trouble.”
“What about you? You’re not telling your dad?”
Felix shakes his head. “I might tell Taylor. But not my father. He’d just scold me again.”
Kade frowns, squeezing Felix’s hand. It doesn’t sound right, Felix’s dad not allowing him to have ice cream. Felix’s dad doesn’t treat his son well at all, and it’s such a contrast from Kade’s own dad. Then Kade remembers the conversation with his mom, about waiting to have kids with Felix when they grow up.
“Someday, if we ever have kids,” Kade says, “we’ll let them have ice cream whenever they want. Even if they don’t do so great on tests.”
Felix brightens. “Really?”
“Yeah. Really.” Kade squeezes Felix’s hand, tugging him back toward school. “We’ll be really good to our kids.”
“I like that,” Felix says. He stays smiling for the rest of the walk back, and Kade knows he’s done something right for his bondmate. And he will keep his word, too.
2
Bonus scene 2 Felix, 30 years later
“But Toby says his brother’s out of school already. I want to go out and play ball,” Bethy says, looking up at Felix with a pout. “Why does term have to end at different times for everyone?”
Across the dining table, Felix exchanges a look with Kade. “Because all the schools are different. And you need to learn patience, Beth. No running out of school, okay?”
Kade steps through the kitchen doorway, his eyes glinting with humor. He settles into his seat next to Felix, their thighs brushing. “Yeah, listen to him, Beth. We don’t run out of school. Lots to learn, and besides, you can play in the playground.”
When Bethy looks down at her cereal with a frown, Felix elbows his husband. “Speak for yourself,” he whispers, rolling his eyes. “‘We don’t run out of school.’ Right, Kade.”
But Felix leans in anyway, sniffing at Kade’s light cologne, and his cedar-and-pine scent beneath that. They’d woken up together, sleepy-eyed and snug under the covers, and Felix had crawled out early to make sure their daughter woke in time for school.
Kade squeezes Felix’s thigh, dipping his head for a kiss. At forty, he’s handsome as ever. Felix thinks his alpha hasn’t changed much over the last decade—if anything, he looks better, his dark hair spiky, his coppery eyes warm. A few gray hairs peek out at his temple, but he’s still a sturdy rock in Felix’s life, still patient, and still very much in love with Felix.
“I
