The Terms of an Alpha ✔️

e i g h t

[dedicated to TariusD]

Ender woke up feeling refreshed like never before. His body felt loose and flexible, despite sleeping on a hard, twin bed. Rubbing his eyes, he realized where he was. He couldn't remember the last time he woke up in someone else's bed besides Sophia's. He didn't see Saint anywhere, which made him realize he slept in Saint's bed. He did feel a little bad about that. Ender reached for his phone on the nightstand to see a missed call from both his dads and a text from Saint.

Saint: Sorry I had to leave before you were awake. I didn't want to wake you up. I'm in class right now. Do you mind just locking the door before leaving?

Ender saw that the text had been sent more than an hour ago. Damn, had he really been sleeping for that long? He saw that it was past 11 AM already. Ender hadn't slept in like that since he was in high school.

Ender: Hmm. You shouldn't let strangers stay in your room. I'm stealing everything.

Saint replied almost immediately, which Ender didn't expect. He didn't seem like the type to text in class.

Saint: Haha. Trust me, you don't want anything. Plus, I know you're actually a lot nicer than you let on.

Ender: Gross.

He felt his phone vibrate in his hand from an incoming call from Saint.

"Hey," Ender greeted, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Hey. I'm getting out of class. Look, I feel really bad leaving you in my dorm."

"Don't. It's cool. You have shit to do." Of course, Saint felt bad. Saint was too nice.

"Okay. Well, we can get food if you want?" Saint's voice raised when he asked the question. Ender rolled his eyes. He knew Saint was probably too busy to grab food.

"I'm fine. I'm heading out now. I know you're busy." Saint let out a sigh in defeat.

"Okay, well I meant what I said you know. You are actually really cool to hangout with."

"Well, don't act too surprised," Ender joked.

"No wait. I- I didn't mean it like that. I just mean you're actually really cool and fun to hangout with." Ender felt his cheeks heat up.

"Falling in love with me already," Ender teased, knowing Saint probably felt a little embarrassed too. Saint laughed.

"Fuck you."

"Soon." Ender couldn't help his laugh when he heard Saint click his tongue. The call was interrupted by another call from his dad though. "Listen, I got to go. Thanks for last night. It was fun."

"I had fun too. Bye." They both hung up. Ender couldn't help but let a small smile form on his face. He enjoyed their banter. They almost felt like friends, which was something Ender didn't have much of.

Ender left the dorm and locked the room, heading home.

+++

When Ender entered his house, he smelled his parents in the kitchen.

"E! Get in here!" Darius' voice called. He knew he wasn't in trouble since his dad had used his nickname, which Ender hated.

He strolled into the kitchen to see Xavier sitting at the table with a plate of rice and chicken and Darius at the island, making himself a plate.