Work Text:
Fennel Fields, was the best Italian restaurant in Evergreen if you didn’t count any of the five pizza places within easy drive or the gas station that served lukewarm meatballs. According to Chris at least.
It had once been part of a large chain that had all but gone bust along with blockbusters in between one or other attempted alien invasions in the early two-thousands and was now one of the few remaining franchises in America. Like much of Evergreen the exterior of the building was past its best.
A square shabby building next to a dead strip mall, the nicest thing about the location was the ample parking.
The interior was not much better. The dim lighting did its best to mask the tired décor, but unfortunately nothing to mask the strong smell of garlic.
Even so it was one of the few places in town that hired omegas without asking them to take their clothes off.
Limited job options aside, Adrian usually loved going to work and hanging with his work friends. He enjoyed folding napkins and hearing about his co-workers strange love lives. Betas were so weird, they obsessed about sex and who topped.
But this afternoon Adrian had found it difficult to get out of bed.
His Alpha Chris had been really, really clingy. In fact he had been ever since they bonded three days ago.
He and Adrian had made love in every room in their tiny trailer. They were efficient and the trailer was small so that took hardly any time at all.
Adrian had read about the nesting period in magazines. Changes to a bonded Alpha’s hormones made them more affectionate. Adrian knew his Alpha couldn’t help it, but he was still a little mad that Chris had almost made him late for his shift.
Adrian had barely clocked in with two minutes to spare meaning he had to abandon his pre-work routine of eating a lightly glazed doughnut and milky coffee with six sugars. He’d taken a shot of expresso instead and his mouth still felt funny, all dark and bitter.
He’d probably have to start getting ready for work earlier, especially if Chris intended to make out with him in the shower.
Adrian looked up from the table he was wiping, over to the booth Chris was currently sitting at. He couldn’t help but blush as Chris caught his eye and gave him a wink.
As much as Adrian liked Chris hanging out at his work, today Chris was all dressed up in his peacemaker uniform waiting for his new team to come meet him at the restaurant.
Adrian was pleased that Chris had a paying job, a criminal record made it difficult for most Alphas to find work, but he didn’t like Chris working for the government. The government had taken Chris away from him and nearly gotten Chris killed by a giant alien starfish.
Adrian didn’t know what Chris would be doing for the government, since they hadn’t told Chris yet. But it was probably nothing good.
Pushing complicated feelings aside, feelings that made his head and heart hurt, Adrian admired Chris from where he sat across the restaurant.
Chris was always so handsome and cool but especially so when he was in his nicely pressed uniform. Chris was pretty handy with a steam iron. Chris had always been a beefcake but he’d bulked up even more in prison. His red shirt was nice and tight. In fact all his shirts were a little tight. But Chris didn’t seem to mind.
Chris had been sitting there at booth number five since six thirty when Adrian’s shift had started. They didn’t officially open until seven but Chris was polite and kept out of the way.
Adrian’s manager Karen had given Chris a free light beer and briefly interrogated him regarding his intentions towards Adrian. She didn’t care about superhero stuff.
Chris must have done really well because she said he could use Adrian’s employee discount too.
It was technically against company policy but Karen was being nice. It made Adrian happy that she approved of Chris. Karen was a little like his work mom.
Adrian watched Chris drink his beer, his lips pressed against the rim of the bottle. Just that morning Chris’ wonderful lips had been pressed all over his body. Adrian felt a little dizzy just thinking about his big burly Alpha and his lovely mouth.
He should probably be a little bit more careful not to inhale any of the blue cleaning spray.
Putting his cleaning cloth down for a moment, Adrian tested the table lamp flicking it on and off. It was his special job to make sure all the lights were working before service started properly.
“Guys over here! I got us the best booth.” Chris says from where he is sitting all alone in the empty restaurant.
Adrian looks over at the gaggle of secret agents slowly making their way over to Chris. He counts one, two, three people total. They look average, like regular people almost. That was probably why they were such good secret agents.
Still it was probably a good idea for Adrian to stay close and keep an eye on Chris. His last government team had tried to murder him after all.
Turning away from the group Adrian finds some laminated menus to clean.
If it wasn’t so big and bulky he’d have brought his listening device, the one he uses on steak outs with Peacemaker. Thankfully he doesn’t really need it because it seems his Alpha’s new co-workers have never heard of using inside voices before.
“Who dude.” Says the one with a weirdly coloured beard. “You stink of omega aroma. What did you do? Trip and fall in a whorehouse the moment you got out of hospital?”
The others around them laugh at Chris like it’s a joke. Jokes are funny.
Adrian frowns and surreptitiously tries to smell himself. He’d never been to a whorehouse. Did he really smell like one? He’d showered earlier. They both had. Chris liked the way he smelled. He’d told him so, telling him he smelt like candy.
“That’s offensive. Omegas can’t help the way they smell.” Chris replies taking the words personally. Bonded alphas and omegas scents changed so they always smelt like the other. Newly bonded their scent was still in the process of settling. “You’re just jealous cause you’re all single.”
“Just because you get a discount on a blowie doesn’t mean you’re dating.” Says the skinny blonde high fiving the guy with a beard.
“Behave guys, we’ve a lot of work to do. It would be nice if we could try and be civil.” Says Murn sounding stern. Adrian recognised the mercenary from his old wanted posters. Adrian liked to look up bad guys in case he ever ran into one. That way he knew who to shoot. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that Chris was on a team with such an expert killer.
A part of Adrian wants to go over there and tell them all off. Chris is his alpha and even Adrian can tell they’re being rude and inappropriate. He thought they were meant to be professionals. Instead they remind Adrian of bullies on the school playground.
Adrian feels something. Protective maybe? Chris belongs to him. If they were anywhere else he might be tempted to use his knives. But he doesn’t want to make trouble for Chris, not when he’s only just got him back.
From the corner of his eye, Adrian spots a fourth agent removing her puffer jacket over by the coat rack at the entrance. He can tell she’s a new agent looking at her shiny shoes. She walks past Adrian and he passes her a menu.
“Thanks.” She says ignoring him. Adrian’s used to being ignored in his busboy outfit so he doesn’t take it personally.
The straggler joins the table to a loud cheer of “Adebayo!”
Adrian supposes that’s her name. She seems popular, she must be really nice.
“Sorry I’m late. This place is really far from my hotel. You know I passed an Applebee’s on the way here right?” She adds sliding into the booth and sitting next to Chris or rather Peacemaker. Adrian smiles. Peacemaker could do with some black friends. It would be good for his superhero image.
“Did you get us gifts?” Asks Adebayo looking at the shiny teal gift bag to the right of Chris, the one that Adrian’s co-workers had surprised them with earlier. Adrian wasn’t supposed to know, it was meant to be a surprise, but there was a brand new waffle maker in the bag, because they knew he liked waffles.
“Cause that’s like a really nice gesture if you did.” She says sounding hopeful.
Some gifts would have been a great idea, Adrian thinks wishing he’d thought of it. They could have bought some guns. But then again secret agents probably had plenty of weapons.
Chris shakes his head and pulls the bag closer to his side. “No. I didn’t. This is mine.”
“You come straight from a birthday party or something Peacemaker?” Murn asks aloud staring at the words congratulations written on the side of the bag. Murn sounds a little odd when he talks, like one of the kids in Adrian’s old after school club. They’d sat in a circle in the gym and talked. It had been called group therapy and was really dull.
“Don’t tell me you were the clown.” Says the other guy being rude again.
“He does look the part with that ridiculous helmet on his head.” The blonde says.
Chris flips them both off using both hands and removes his helmet.
If Karen wasn’t standing nearby on the hostess stand, Adrian might have flipped them off too.
Chris is great at birthday parties. He had taken Adrian to the roller rink once, before Chris went to prison, and they’d eaten hot dogs until they were both sick. The roller skating had been great too, Chris holding his hand and spinning him about.
Back in there here and now Adebayo looks torn, stuck with the choice of fitting in with the bullies or defending Chris.
“Chill out guys. Let’s order some drinks.” Says Adebayo deciding to use beer as a distraction. She flags down their waitress and gets them a round of beer.
“So what did I miss?” She asks putting her foot in it, unknowingly reigniting the dumpster fire from earlier.
“Chris has been fucking omegas.” The blonde tells her sounding like a gossipy cheerleader.
“That’s not in his file.” Adebayo replies sounding surprised.
“That’s cause you’re bad at your jobs. And it’s just the one omega.” Chris tells them folding his arms and leaning back in his seat. Chris has a point. None of them have even noticed the fresh bond mark on Peacemaker’s neck.
They settle down for five minutes or so as the waitress comes back with a tray of drinks and takes their food order.
“What’s she like?” Adebayo asks Chris, once the waitress has gone. Chris looks back at her confused.
“What’s who like?” He asks looking around the table. “Harcourt?” He asks pointing at the blonde with his beer. He shrugs. “I barely know her ask Economos, they’re great pals.”
Adebayo shakes her head. “No. Your omega. The one who left all those marks on you.” She clarifies pointing to his neck.
So maybe Adrian had been a little too enthusiastic in bed last night. It wasn’t a crime. Chris had consented.
“Oh.” Chris looks surprised to be asked. “Great ass. Really hot. Fantastic kisser.”
Adrian feels himself blushing at the compliment. He makes a mental note to give Chris an extra special blow job later tonight.
“She sounds real imaginary.” Harcourt says rolling her eyes.
“Oh he’s real.” Chris swears crossing a hand over his heart.
Dye-Beard spills his beer all over the table at Peacemakers words.
“Economos! Don’t be gross.” Murn yells, throwing napkins at the spill making a mess on the table. Chris takes the gift bag off the table and puts it on top of the booth out of danger.
“What??!” Economos gasps. “Are we all just going to ignore that Peacemaker is fucking a dude?”
“It’s the twenty first century. I can marry whoever I like.” Chris says looking like he might flip the table over. It’s really cool when he does that. Except for the part where Adrian would have to clean up the mess.
“Wait. Marriage? Chris did you get married?” Adebayo asks rubbing her forehead.
“Married, bonded. It’s the same thing.” Chris says casually, like he hadn’t dragged Adrian down to the license office the very next morning to make their bonding all official.
“You've been out of hospital for two days and you married some random omega?” Murn asks also rubbing his forehead.
The garlic smell of the restaurant gives a lot of people headaches. It’s the most mentioned thing on their comment cards.
“It’s been three days, and why do you guys care about my personal life so much?” Chris asks finishing his second beer. At this rate Adrian was going to have to drive them home.
“You are meant to be keeping a low profile!” Harcourt hisses loudly.
The beer on the table is starting to drip onto the carpet. Once it’s in the carpet the floor gets all sticky.
His feet on autopilot, Adrian walks over and wipes up the spill without thinking.
Chris smiles at him. "Thanks sweetheart." He says briefly reaching over and squeezing his hand.
Adrian nods, blushing at the endearment, and walks off to get a clean cloth.
“Did you seriously just hit on that high schooler?!” Harcourt asks.
Adrian feels her eyes on him as he walks away.
Adebayo shakes her head again. “I feel sorry for your husband.” She says knowing nothing practically about their relationship.
“He's not a high schooler! Adrian’s thirty one.” Chris says rebuking the inaccuracy.
“Oh my god. You know his name?!” Harcourt asks looking back and forth at Chris and the busboy.
“Are you fucking the busboy?” Economos asks sounding appalled.
“Are you friends with the busboy?” Adebayo asks almost at the same time as Economos.
“So what if I married the busboy?” Chris replies slamming his hands on the table making them all jump.
“I wouldn’t expect betas like you to understand.” Chris says standing up grabbing the case file from Murn and stuffing it in the gift bag. Adebayo has to get up to let him get out of the tiny booth, which she does awkwardly.
For a minute no one says anything. They just look at each other.
“So that’s why you chose this place.” Murn says finishing his beer. “I just thought you liked the pasta.”
“Who doesn’t like zoodles! They’re Zucchini noodles!” Adrian interjects remembering what Karen had told him about upselling.
“Hey Karen can you make my food to go? I’ve got better things to do then sit here with these assholes.” Chris says dropping some money on the table.
“You guys are so fucking rude. Adrian’s colleagues got us a waffle maker.” Chris adds putting his helmet back on.
He glances over at Adrian. “Let’s go home babe. I’ll see the rest of you at work. Don’t call me unless its world ending apocalypse shit.”