Chapter Text
The only sounds in the room are the swift clacking of their fingers on the controllers, banter, and groans when their words are proven wrong.
Gio’s been at Jude’s house for almost an hour now—the school day had ended, and he could barely get a word out to bid farewell before Jude was asking. No. Demanding he follow him home so they could waste their time playing FIFA rather than worry about the history assignment neither of them had bothered to even take a look at yet.
But that’s always how it’s been, hasn’t it? Gio being weak for Jude—crumbling at the long, dragged-out pleading sound the other boy makes at the end of a sentence—surrendering to a full-lipped pout within minutes. It’s been an incurable thing since the omega burst into his life.
Burst, because that’s probably the best way to describe Jude’s presence in his life. Intimidating. Thrilling. Captivating. Shocking. It all works. They all capture the sickeningly fond look Gio gets in his eyes when Jude is ranting and his slightly obnoxious blabbering gets painted adorable by Gio’s infatuation.
He tries to put on a strong front for the most part. Making sure he doesn’t indulge Jude too much and letting him know just how much he cares. Because he really does care. No matter how many times he rolls his eyes at Jude’s bullshit, he still listens to every word. Makes him feel important like he knows he wants to so badly.
So Gio tries to be measured when it comes to Jude, though it seems today he’s feeling extra generous because the omega has somehow roped him into play fighting on his bed. Their game is long forgotten because Gio simply can’t let Jude get away with that dirty move; he knows tickling his sides is off limits. Dick.
They’ve given up on wrestling now, and Jude’s fingers intertwined with his are more focused on simply gripping onto him rather than pinning them down to gain the upper hand. His face no longer contorted into a playful snarl, now he’s giggling breathlessly into Gio’s neck—dangerously close to the scent gland there—the beta’s entire body twitches when Jude’s lips accidentally brush against the skin. Featherlight and teasing, and Jude doesn’t know how easily he’s unravelling Gio right now.
They’re just about calming down, and Gio’s head is getting lost imagining what it would feel like if Jude pressed his plush lips fully onto his scent gland. He’s wondering how he would even go about asking for such a thing when Jobe marches into the room, swinging the door open. Jude springs off of Gio, and he immediately misses the warmth on top of him. As the omega rushes to where Jobe stands looking mortified, trying to beg for his mercy but it’s too late. Jobe’s already turned down the hallway yelling for his parents. Fuck.
“Sorry, man,” Jude turns around to give Gio an apologetic smile before he chases after Jobe and berates him for being a loud idiot. A bit hypocritical but Gio won’t mention it.
This is another reason Gio hesitates with Jude: his fear of Jude’s alpha family slaughtering him for trying anything funny with their sole omega son. It’s not like Gio acts inappropriately with Jude—he keeps whatever urges he has between his fist and four bedroom walls and suspects it will stay that way for a while—but they do often end up in compromising situations like these.
“They were on top of each other!”
“Play fighting, like I said before, Jobe…”
“Way too close to each other’s scent glands—-“
“I was catching my breath, for fuck's sake,” Jude shoots his dad a mildly apologetic flash of a smile for swearing, “I really was.”
“You guys were on the bed.” Jobe’s voice cracks a number of times during his rant, and if Gio wasn't so startled, he’d find it hilarious.
This is how they all end up in the living room as Jude’s mom gives a long, awkward talk about some boundaries to be set while Gio’s in his room. The door must be open, and avoid being so close together on the bed. All the while Jude’s dad and Jobe nod agreeably behind her, so despite Jude’s insistence that this whole ordeal isn’t that serious, he’s completely outnumbered. Gio is unhelpful beside him in his nervous stupor so he ignores Jude’s knee knocking into his looking for help.
“Gio, I’m not upset at you. I just think as two young people with lots of hormones—“
Jude’s gagging interrupts her.
“We just think you should be careful. We know you’re smart kids.” Mark finishes for her while he shakes his head at Jude’s antics.
“Ok, cool, great. Are we done?” Jude springs up with a grumble from the couch as he grabs Gio’s arms to drag him back to his room. The beta was focusing all his energy on not dying from embarrassment.
“Yes, we’re done, Jude.” Denise assures him with an exasperatedly fond expression, and Jude is finally released from his misery with a clap on the back of his neck from his dad.
On their way back to the room, Jude shoulder-checks Jobe and effectively knocks the self-satisfied smirk off the younger’s face. Gio can feel the glare on his back as he quietly shuffles after Jude. They continue ignoring their schoolwork, and Gio leaves just before the family has dinner.
As Jude walks Gio to the door, cracking jokes about nothing as they both try to forget the incident from earlier. And they're just about to put it all behind them but Jude apparently has other ideas. Gio's just standing up straight after shoving his second shoe on when Jude ignores all sense of personal space again. One hand grips onto Gio’s shoulder as he tilts his head to let his breath fan over Gio’s ear.
And in that moment Gio forgets Jude’s scary alpha parents warnings, Jobe’s glare, and his own hesitance because nothing could be more interesting than the way Jude stands so close he can feel the heat rolling off his body in waves and how he’s near enough now that Gio catches his spicy-sweet scent more clearly.
He wonders if Jude can smell his too. Does he like it? Gio thinks he’d cease to exist if Jude didn't.
“I think next time we should hang out at your place. This house is too noisy.” Jude wrinkles his nose adorably at that, and all Gio can do is nod so hard he’s sure his brain rattles in his head from it.
“Yea, my folks don’t really bother me much. I think it’s a good idea, yeah. You could totally come over—uh, if you want to, that is.”
Gio’s thankful for Jude throwing his arms around his shoulders in a crushing hug before his mouth can embarrass him any further.
“That’s perfect! Make sure you’re free for me next week.” Jude pulls back to blink his curly lashes down at Gio—voice teasingly demanding, but it’s unimportant. Jude could request anything from Gio looking at him like that.
“You know it,” Gio breathes out the weak response as he silently prays Jude doesn’t notice his heart rate has risen again. A small, dopey smile stretches across his face as the omega wrings whatever he wants out of him again; not like he was doing anything that weekend.
Jude shoots Gio one last giddy smile before he shuts the door, and the beta’s form sags in relief as he begins his walk home. He can’t believe Jude was on top of him like that—breathy and pliable—or that he insisted on changing locations so they could be closer. Ok, maybe Jude wasn’t thinking that Gio frowns as his thoughts get ahead of him. Regardless, the way Jude presses against him during the hug goodbye was unseriously hot; he’s grateful he managed to avoid popping a semi this time.
Yeah, Jobe’s going to kill him one day.