ABO?-Logince/Moxiety

Chapter One: The Interview

Virgil glanced at Patton anxiously, tapping his foot on the floor. Patton smiled and squeezed his hand. "It's going to be good Virgey. Roman seemed like a good person when I talked to him on the phone."
Today they were going to interview possible roommates for their apartment. The landlord had raised the rent (again) and while they weren't exactly struggling to make ends meet, they had less money for things like going out, and Virgil knew that Patton sorely missed their date nights. So, after a few days of discussion, they decided to take in a couple of roommates to help cover the rent.
Almost as soon as they had posted the notice online, there came a notification that someone was interested. After emailing back and forth for a bit, they had learned that an alpha named Roman was looking for safe rooming for him and his mate, a beta named Logan. Virgil and Patton had background checked them and both Roman and Logan were clean, the worst of it being speeding tickets and the like.
Virgil was skeptical to say the least, someone had responded suspiciously quickly to their notice, with a good but not too good record, and happened to be a mated pair. That on it's own was suspicious enough, but neither of them were omegas? Patton and Virgil had said specifically (and in all caps) that they did not want an omega, since they were both very busy and didn't need the added responsibility of an omega around. Omegas need constant attention and are highly dependent on those around them, which was a burden that Virgil and Patton didn't care to take. So the fact that they were mates and neither was an omega (especially seeing as Roman was an alpha and, while not unheard of, it was rare for an alpha to mate with a beta, though not uncommon for an omega to mate with a beta or betas to mate with each other) was highly suspicious to Virgil. Then, he supposed he couldn't say too much about it, since alpha-alpha pairings were almost as rare.
It was now time for them to interview the two, but they hadn't shown up yet. Virgil cheered internally, if they were really late it would be easier to convince Patton that they would be terrible roommates and they should just keep looking for people who were way less suspicious.
"They might've gotten stuck in traffic?" Patton suggested after a few minutes had passed. Virgil relaxed slightly. Maybe they weren't coming at all. That would be even better than them being late.
A few more minutes passed. "I don't think they're-" As soon as Virgil began speaking, someone knocked on the door. Patton smiled and went to open it, Virgil following him. At the door was a tall male with reddish brown hair and green eyes, smiling full force at them, and a smaller male with hazel hair and blue eyes who was biting his lip and avoiding eye contact.
Virgil closed his eyes for a moment and breathed in. It sounds like a kind of creepy thing to do, but alphas have a strong sense of smell that helps in identifying class, emotion, temperament, personality, and mated status, among other things. Omegas have a slightly worse sense of smell, though it's still incredibly good, while betas have the worst (seeing as from an evolutionary perspective a beta didn't need any of that information, as they could not bear pups nor impregnate omegas).
The taller one smelled faintly of cinnamon and campfire, and the smaller one... had a scent that was hard to place, though it smelled sweet. He opened his eyes and was immediately looking into the shorter one's bright blue eyes. His eyes were wide, and there was something in them that Virgil couldn't quite place.
"Well hello!" Patton smiled and led them into the living room. He sat on the couch and gestured to the seat across from it. Virgil sat next to Patton as the other two sat next to each other.
"Hi." The tall one smiled. "I'm Roman."
Patton nodded. "I'm Patton, this is Virgil." He gestured to Virgil and Virgil waved awkwardly. "And I suppose that makes you Logan?"
The shorter one, Logan, nodded. Roman frowned and took his hand, squeezing it gently. Not unlike how Patton had taken Virgil's hand earlier.
Patton nodded. "So, do you want to take a look around?"
Roman glanced at Logan, who shrugged. "Sure, I can do that." Roman smiled. "I think Logan would rather stay where he is."
Patton smiled. "That's fine. I'll show you around, Virgil can stay with Logan." He left the room with Roman following him close behind.
Virgil looked at Logan, studying him closely. Logan was avoiding eye contact, fiddling with his hands. "Why are you two looking for a new place?" He asked, leaning back.
Logan glanced at him. "We can't afford to continue living independently. Roman was in between jobs for quite a while, though he's just been hired as a cashier, and I have had to leave my job due to personal reasons. We need to pay for medication and food, which hasn't left much over for lodging as you can imagine. However, I assure you we can afford the rent you two are asking for, and will be able to meet it consistently."
Virgil nodded. "What kind of medication?"
Logan fidgeted and glanced at the doorway where Patton and Roman had gone. "I'm sorry, but I'm still not fully comfortable talking about it. Nothing that affects my behavior or mental state though, I assure you."
Virgil frowned. "Okay." He sniffed a bit more. "You're a beta?"
Logan stilled and nodded, his hands resting on his thighs, unmoving. "I am a beta, and Roman is an alpha." His voice was perfectly even.
Virgil's frown deepened. "You smell sweet. A bit of citrus."
Logan nodded again. "I am a beta, however my prior job as a caretaker for pups has influenced my scent quite a bit. I was working in an omega dominated sector. My scent will hopefully return to normal within a month or two, though it is uncertain."
Virgil nodded. "Why did you need to stop caretaking?"
Logan looked at his lap. "Personal reasons, like I said before."
"Care to elaborate?"
Logan shook his head. "I don't." His voice sounded firm for the first time since they'd begun speaking, and if Virgil wasn't suspicious before he certainly was now.
They sat for a moment in silence, then Roman and Patton walked in, chattering away. "It won't be too small, will it?" Roman laughed and shook his head. "It's a good size, I promise."
Virgil narrowed his eyes. "What are you two talking about?"
Patton looked at him. "The room. Roman said he and Logan would prefer to share, but I was worried it would be too small."
Virgil frowned as Patton sat next to him. Patton smiled, oblivious to the tension between Virgil and Logan. Roman seemed to have noticed, however, as he took Logan's hand again and whispered something to him. Logan shook his head slightly and Roman relaxed, kissing his cheek. "So, Virgil and I have this little 'syllabus', if you will, just a few pages of rules and things we'd like you to cooperate with should you live here. We'll talk it over, but you two seem like great candidates for roommates, so I feel confident saying it'll be of use to you." He smiled and handed them the pages. Logan took it and began looking through it. "We'll call you by tomorrow to let you know, okay?"
Roman smiled. "That sounds great! Thank you again for meeting us." Logan nodded. They stood up. "Goodbye." Roman smiled and shook both of their hands, then the two left. Patton sat down after seeing them out. "Well, I'm glad that's settled." He smiled.
Virgil frowned. "What's settled? That there's no way in hell we're living with them?"
Patton frowned. "What? Why? They were great!"
"They're super suspicious Patton! Logan has meds that he needs to take and won't tell me what they're for, and he won't tell me why he left his job! And I thought you said they were mates, they didn't smell like mates." He crossed his arms.
"Roman told me Logan is really shy and likes to keep to himself. He's probably embarrassed about all that. And Roman told me that they consider themselves mates, but Roman hasn't claimed Logan yet because it'll be harder for Logan to get a job outside of caretaking if he's a claimed beta. They seem super nice Virgey, I had a good time talking to Roman." Patton frowned. "We can keep looking if you want, but I thought they seemed perfect for it."
Virgil sighed. "Maybe I'm being paranoid, I just... it's weird how he was dodging some of the questions, you know?"
Patton nodded and hugged him. "We can think about it a little more and then decide, okay?"
Virgil looked at Patton. "No, I'm being silly. We already background checked them, and you're right, they seem nice. It'll be fine." He smiled.
Patton smiled and kissed him softly. "Okay. And if anything goes south we'll just kick them out. We can afford that."
Virgil nodded. "Yeah."