The Technicality of Teeth

The Passoff

When Eddie and Steve both resurfaced, a full hour had passed. An hour of crying and clinging and silently begging and offering forgiveness. They wound together with fingers and arms and legs, drawn into each other's grasps and bodies by magnetism that they had both so sorely missed, saying nothing with words, but speaking volumes in the way that they touched and held and breathed.

I'm sorry, Eddie said as he ran his fingers along the back of Steve's hand, the tip of his nose running along the ridge of Steve's, lips moving and searching for affection that he knew he was not allowed to have. Not yet. Not until Steve's wrist healed over.

I forgive you. Of course I forgive you, Steve answered, turning his hand over and weaving their fingers together, turning his face to bump Eddie's nose with his own, the closest he would be allowed to get to a kiss, even if his own lips ached and tingled the same way he knew Eddie's did.

I'm going to mess up again, Eddie warned, sliding his hand up the soft, smooth skin of the underside of Steve's forearm. He pressed his forehead into Steve's hard enough to ache, but Steve didn't mind. The pain meant that they'd made it to the other side. And if pain was the price of calming Eddie, then so be it. Steve would endure.

So will I, Steve reminded him, digging his forehead right back into Eddie's until the Beta was forced backwards, smiling. He bumped their noses again, sliding them together like the Eskimo kisses his Nana used to give him because they made him giggle.

They would both stumble over and over again between this moment and the last. That, at least, Steve was certain of. But he also knew that they would apologize and come back together. Eddie was inevitably Steve's. Steve was inevitably Eddie's. As he breathed in the scent of slowly calming, sorrowful jasmine, Steve anchored himself in that simple truth. It didn't matter what his biology was calling out for. Who his biology was calling out for. Eddie was here before Alpha and Eddie will be here after Alpha. And there would be an After Alpha. If there was nothing else to which Steve could anchor himself in, it was those three simple truths. They belonged to one another, Eddie would always be there, and there would be an After.

"Come on up, Sweetheart," Eddie eventually sighed. "Let's get you ready to go to dinner."

Steve keened, half from lingering sorrow and half from his Omega sitting up in the back of his mind at the mention of time spent with the man it called Alpha. Steve wanted to kick that part of his brain in the teeth until little white stones fell from it's lips. Wanted to turn it to strawberry jam on the carpet and smear it into the pile until the fibers were pink and sticky. It was that little bastard's fault they were in this position at all. Smug, clueless thing that it was, it only turned its nose up at Steve's impotent threats and remained fixated on the swift ticking of time that separated them from Alpha.

"No need for that, Sweetheart," Eddie cooed, leading Steve back to their room from behind, his hands firm and strong on Steve's hips. "No need for any of that."

Even if there was every reason for all of that. Every reason to whine and whistle and crackle. Steve, Steve who was Eddie's, was being primped and polished to be passed off to someone else on an honest to god date. They were doing this. Well and truly doing this. They were going to allow someone else to court Steve and they had to make it good enough that his biology would roll over and take it until the mark on his wrist faded and vanished all together. This wasn't a theory. It wasn't an idea being tossed around. It was happening. Right then.

Eddie made sure that Steve was sat comfortably in their nest and pressed his lips to the side of his head in a kiss sweet enough that Steve's biology purred at love of Pack. They were foregoing the shower, Steve noted as Eddie vanished into their closet, muttering to himself. Eddie probably knew that Steve would want to shower when he got home. He knew that Steve throw himself under scalding hot water and scrub until his skin was red to wash away the scent of this stranger. No reason to dry his skin out unnecessarily, Steve guessed.