Paired With Fate

Chapter Fourteen

Ichiro paused and stared at the screen for a bit, his heart racing before he'd even took a step beyond the hall's boundaries.  He licked his dry lips for a second, in thought, before popping the phone into his inside pocket and starting on his run.  The sky had been dark for sometime, not only due to the currently lengthy nights, but the heavy clouds blanketing it, blocking out the smattering of stars and the cold moon.  With only dim light from the streetlights that had not yet been smashed to light the way, he didn't want to hang around in this neighbourhood any longer than necessary.

But, the message on the phone...

His mobile felt heavy in his pocket as if it no longer weighed a few ounces, but rather several stones.  It burned against his chest and after five minutes of running, Ichiro's legs began to slow and his run became a walk, his walk ground to a halt.  He reached inside his pocket and reread the text.

It's Zandre. Call me when you are free.

It wasn't a command, per say, but it still had the flavour of a message demanding attention.  With an undertone of 'ignore at your own risk.'  Not that Ichiro planned to ignore it, but it was just that, he didn't know if he planned to answer it either. 

Pfft, he suddenly laughed at himself.  "What am I getting all flustered over?"  Didn't he figure out that Zandre could be classed as a friend?  Zandre was actually a good guy, had been Ichiro's impression of him over dinner.  In fact, his only fault, apart from filching the last onion ring that night, was the whole pursuit thing and insistence that they were soulmates, a fated pair or whatever.  Zandre was originally straight, same as him, so once the man got over this 'dating' thing, they both could relax and hopefully hang out as buddies.

He'd not had a male friend since the awkwardness of revealing openly that he was an Omega in his teens.  Before that, his friends had assumed he was an Alpha, like his old man and there'd been no drama, although they'd teased him for liking his little brothers too much.  When they'd all drawn away from him, stopped talking to him and began treating him as if he was some disgusting mess on the bottom of their cheap trainers, he'd wished he had been born an Alpha.  But if he had been one, would he have been as insufferable as his father in the end?

Zandre was an Alpha and to him, still had some of those arrogant, insufferable traits of the gender... at least, he thought he had.  Hearing a bit about the man's family life, the messes he got up to with his brothers, how protective those brothers were when it came to their sisters, he sort of could relate and those traits no longer seemed so bad.

Ichiro glanced at the text once more and his thumb slid over to the call button.  However, before he could press down, the heavens decided it was not the time and chilly water rained down him, instantly drenching him and the ground all about him.  He gave an unmanly squeak, before sprinting towards the apartment block.

Despite the heat in his legs and chest, he was still shivering from the deluge when he arrived at the entrance to the block and groaned pitifully when he realised that the lift was out again.  Without any other option, he began jogging up the stairwell.  His phone began to chime as he reached the second floor.

"H-hello?" He stuttered slightly from the cold.

"....Ichiro, are you alright?" The sultry tone of his... his new friend came through the receiver and tingled along his lobes. 

"P-peachy," Ichiro chuckled through chattering teeth.  "G-got c-caught in the r-rain on the w-way home!"

"Go take a hot shower," Zandre ordered, but it was a command that Ichiro didn't mind him making, he had planned to shower anyway.  "I'll call you back in a while."