A Tale of Two Omegas

Chapter 15: Gulf's Story

TWs: emotional abuse, graphic implications/mentions of SA, and traumatic miscarriage

CW: mentions of mpreg... If that's not your thing.

-Two years and eight months ago-

"P'Nat? I'm home!" Gulf announced as he haphazardly shut the door and kicked off his shoes.

Clumsily balancing the boxes of takeout in his arms, he turned to kick the door shut and shuffle his way through the apartment toward the kitchen. As he rounded the corner and spotted his boyfriend lounging at the dining table, he smiled salutatiously.

"There you are." He set the takeout boxes down on the table and presented proudly, "I got your favorite: gaeng daeng from Sai's, extra red and yellow peppers, no bamboo shoots."

Nat eyed the boxes with an unreadable expression, then sighed and said, "takeout again?"

Gulf didn't miss the barely-concealed tinge of disappointment in Nat's tone.

"Uh... Yeah," he replied with a puzzled knit in his brow. "Is something wrong with that?"

"Well, it's just... Don't you ever cook?"

Gulf blinked in silence, stunned. He couldn't quite fathom how to respond to such a passive-aggressive question, and something so out-of-the-blue as well.

"Don't you ?" he finally settled to say, punctuated by an expectant raise of the brow. Perhaps it was a little too snappish, but he didn't particularly like the atmosphere draping over them now. Thinly-veiled hostility... And not instigated by him, either.

"That's not the point."

"Oh, then pray-tell, what is the point?" Gulf asked. "You were home first. Have you just been sitting around here waiting for me to come home so I can make you dinner?"

Gulf had always been extremely cautious when it came to dating endeavors with people of 'higher hierarchical rank.' He had always made absolutely certain that any potential dating prospects didn't exhibit any behaviors that suggested they'd feel threatened by an Omega of his manner of... Independence. Liberation, more-like.

He refused to be made to feel like an obedient, little 'housespouse.' He demanded equal standing in all of his relationships and settled for nothing less. And Nat had consistently been incredibly understanding and even welcoming of that value.

So, then... Why did it seem like a switch had suddenly flipped in the man? Why now, after seven months of being together?

Perhaps Gulf was just being paranoid, but at the same time, he couldn't really come up with another logical reason to explain Nat's apparent disappointment in the fact that Gulf had not thought to make him dinner when they both knew Nat would be home long before Gulf would be.

Nothing was adding up.

"Gulf, please, you know that's not what I meant." Except, Nat's tone of voice couldn't have been any less convincing. It was more exasperated and dismissive than anything.

What the fuck was happening?

"Really?" Gulf folded his arms over his chest. "'Cause why else would you have been waiting on me like this? Clearly, you're hungry; you could've made yourself some noodles or eaten the leftovers in the fridge. But instead, you waited for me to come home, and then when it turns out I have no plans of cooking after a twelve-hour dat at the coffee shop and instead opted to get food from your favorite takeout place, you get pissy about it. Care to explain?"