The Fragile the Broken and the Brave

18. A Game

8.02.20

Benji's POV

I woke up still in the bushes, and I knew I hadn't been caught since it was light outside. I was being stabbed by about 5 million branches and I didn't know where I was going to go once I did get home. Jack would probably make me go back if he saw me, so I had to make sure he didn't know where I was. I got to the edge of the pack territory, and I slipped in unnoticed by the border guards. It only took me a few seconds to figure out that I was going to go bother Will, and I slid silently towards his home. It's still very early in the morning, so I'm glad that no one was out doing their morning territory patrol.

When I got to his house, I was reminded of the fact that his parents hated my guts, and I scaled the house to his window instead of knocking. He was inside of the room changing, and I was glad that he had already swapped his pants before I got here. However, his shirt was only halfway over his head, and I noticed the firmness of his abs. Instead of dwelling on it for now, I knocked my fist against the glass, and my friend jumped about five feet in the air before spinning around to look at me. His eyes widened, and he opened up his window almost immediately. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't fit in there either..."

"But why my house? My parents are going to kill you!"

"I couldn't think of anywhere else that Jack wouldn't find me and force me back."

"Oh well. I would offer clothes, but you're like a freaking giant over there."

"You're the short one."

"Excuse muah, I am fun sized!"

"Uh huh, sure you are, and I'm the pope."

Will punched my shoulder playfully, and I jumped on him. The action initiated a play fight, and we were rolling around in the floor when Will's parents came in to investigate the noise. "William Black what are you doing!?" When we stopped, we ended up in a less than pg position, and I instantly knew that this would be misconstrued based on what I had seen of his parents before today.

"Baby! Our son is a faggot!"

"What?" Now his dad poked his head into the room, and his eyes widened as soon as he saw us. William finally came back into the front of his mind, and he immediately shot back with... A blush?

"This is not what it looks like!"

"This is why we didn't want you to hang out with... That thing. We knew his fagness would rub off on you!"

"Wait I'm gay?" I asked. Man, even I didn't know that. They must know everything!

Suddenly, William stood up with an eerie calmness around him, and he said something I never expected him to say. "Okay, so I am gay. It isn't anyone's fault; I was born this way. I sincerely apologise that you both still have a mind the size of an oxygen atom, but don't take it out on my friends. I'm still the same me–"

"No, you're disgusting! I don't want to see your face ever again, you fucking faggot fail of a child! Pack a bag and leave!"

"Mama!"

"Get out of my house!" The door was slammed so hard it shook the whole house, and I was shocked at what just happened. Did I cause this?

"Benji, get up, you're coming with me." Will was rapidly shoving everything into a tiny ass bag, and I stood up knowing that what he was having to do was much harder than my current issues. I stood up, and he opened the same window I had just come through before chucking his bag out of it. He pushed me out next, and he turned around one last time before tumbling onto the grass as well. "Run," he commanded, and we both took off into the woods at the same time. We only stopped after a few minutes of running, and he crouched down panting on the grass.

"Will?"

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were gay?"

"Oh that... I didn't tell you I was gay, because then I would have had to finish that thought. Benjamin... Technically this is your fault."

"Excuse me what?"

"Benji, there's something I've hidden from you for a very long time." When I looked at Will, he had an unhealthy tint of red to his cheeks. I wrote it off as the fact we had just been running, but he was also clearly nervous by the way he fidgeted with his hands.

"Will, what's wrong? You aren't usually this scared when you talk to me. You know I wouldn't judge you for anything, right?"

"I know, but this is different. Benji, I–"

"What are you two doing out here together?" We both spun towards the voice, and I saw Connor standing there in the pale morning light. He was all dressed up for school, but for some reason he was in the woods a couple miles away from his territory with us.

"Well you see–"

"Will you were supposed to report to Jack if you saw him. My papa ordered it."

"Well I decided that I wasn't going to listen."

"You're an omega, you can't just decide that you aren't going to listen to your alpha."

"Well I did, so..."

"Damnit, come on Benji."

"I don't wanna go back!"

"I don't want you to blow the entire world up."

"Connor we're friends! Why are you doing this to me!?"

"That weirdo may be able to just disobey the alpha, but I can't. I don't want to do this, but I'm required to by pack law."

"I'm out of the pack's jurisdiction."

"Actually, as the son of someone who's in the pack, no you aren't. We governed you from the second you were born, and we will continue until this disappears." Connor took my arm and flipped it around, and I saw my half moon shaped birthmark.

"What does my birthmark have to do with anything?"

"Oh Benjamin, that's no birth mark, it's a pack mark. It will only go away if you announce you're breaking ties with our pack and take an oath to join another. I wouldn't recommend you do that though considering you know nothing about the warlock world and you could never speak to your family again."

"Please don't take me back! I don't belong there!"

"Benjamin I have no choice–"

"You do have a choice, clearly, or Will wouldn't have made it. You just don't have the mental strength to think about what would happen if you were to make that choice."

"Benji don't test me!"

"Oh I'm testing you, demon boy. Let's play a game to test our strength and if I win I go free."

"If I win?"

"You get to take me back in."

"Deal."