Mark Me Yours [Omegaverse]

After Midnight

After dinner, Scott's sister Elizabeth brought out what she'd been working on all afternoon. Turns out she and her group had finished their game design project last week, and they now had a playable version of the game. Part maze crawler and part scavenger hunt since they'd abandoned the combat idea, you could play with up to four people on a split screen to see who found all the items first. She wanted Ryan to have a chance to play it since he was here, but figured he'd have a hard time with a keyboard, which is what it was programed for. So, she took it upon herself to rewire a gear shift racing game controller to make it more accessible. It had some bugs, but she got it working eventually.

Thus, they had the traditional Kranston House after dinner family video game tournament. Without Scott.

Ryan wouldn't say it was weird hanging out with Scott's family without Scott around, but it was definitely different. It was easy to tell that they were all making the effort to put him at ease. It was touching. That didn't mean he didn't wish that Scott was out here having fun with them.

As things started winding down, Gail went to go set up the spare guest bedroom while Howard offered to help Ryan get ready for bed. For the record, as much as he was trying to avoid it, and it's not like he could have waited much longer but, having your father-in-law help you use the bathroom was a whole new level of embarrassment. Howard shrugged it off, reminding Ryan that he'd helped raise two kids. It was nothing he hadn't had to deal with before. They settled on a baby wipe bathing, getting only the problem areas since Scott's parents didn't have any accessibility equipment for the shower. At least so long as there wasn't any water involved Ryan could manage cleaning his front bits on his own.

Finally, teeth brushed, hair combed, and clad in a pair of his father-in-law's sweatpants, Ryan consented to being put to bed. Gail was meticulous in trying to make sure he was comfortable. Everything was propped up by pillows trying to get things as close to the foam supports he had at Scott's place as possible. There was a television in the room, so she turned it on for him and left the remote within easy reach, reminding him not to hesitate to call out if he needed anything before leaving him with a goodnight kiss on the forehead.

With it all said and done, Ryan wasn't tired. He put on the news out of curiosity, keeping the volume low so as to not disturb the other house's residents who from the sound of things were getting ready for bed themselves. It struck him how lonely he suddenly felt in this unfamiliar room, with this unfamiliar bed. If Scott were with him, it'd be better. Or, maybe if he had his teddy bear...?

The reporter on the TV was going over crime statistics for the day. It was stuff fairly typical for the city, petty theft, drug busts, and other things like that. Then they started talking about omegas, and how there seemed to be an increase of attacks on omegas ever since the Justice For Omegas movement started trending on social media. There were five reported assaults today alone, one involving a knife with the omega in question being rushed to the hospital and expected to make a full recovery. The newscasters were urging omegas not to travel alone if they could help it, or else to forego wearing their collars to avoid identification, noting that the city council was considering a curfew for omega individuals.

Then they claimed to have footage of one of today's attacks, complete with a daring rescue by a bystander. Ryan knew exactly what it was when the shaky cellphone video started, before it was even centered on the action. They'd censored his face, but it was a video of him. He was news b-footage. The newscaster repeated the warning messages to omegas while the video played, but the camera cut away sharply at the part when Scott came to his rescue, catching the assailant flying into the chairs.

Ryan turned off the television. As if life wasn't hard enough. Maybe counting the textured bits on the ceiling would help him fall asleep faster...