Zandre's hotel was nearer the stadium, a twin room, but that was not going to stop the reuniting pair from filling it with their pheromones as well as other ambiguous scents of the body. The heady mix lingered in the air, a potent remnant of their personal battle of the horizontal nature. Even now, as they gasped for breath after the first release had been realised, Zandre did not climb off of Ichiro's, nor remove the object of desire from the depths hidden between the soft mounds of the other's body. Hazily, Ichiro came to notice that he'd been pressed beneath the Alpha, but he no longer felt unmanned by it, but rather enlightened. Just because he was lying upon his back as Zandre claimed his body, did not make him less at all, in fact he simply had more choices. To lie here and greedily accept the pleasure his man was giving him or become an active participant as they wrestled beneath the sheets. Feeling pleased by the notion, a smile of satisfaction crept across his face. Only, that happened to spurn the man upon him and that buried object began to swell once more... ***** "I grew up to believe that I had to marry a woman," Ichiro curled up upon Zee's chest sometime later, his legs entwined with the other's. A single bed really wasn't big enough for two grown men, but at this time, neither felt it wasn't enough for them. "To be a man, I had to be strong, get a good job and protect my family, my wife and children. This was what my father told me often." Zee stroked Ichiro's soft, blond hair but otherwise just listened. "I used to believe him, but what he wanted really was for me to be an Alpha," Ichiro sighed, then prodded the thick and defined pectoral beneath his cheek. It caused Zee to glance down at him in question. "Basically, if he could have had my mum produce someone like you, he would have been very happy. But my mum..." his voice cracked a little, but after taking a deep breath he continued; "My Mum was the best. She was a warm person, just a little too soft hearted at times, especially when it came to forgiving my father for his sins. She couldn't give him what he wanted, so she used to try and make it up all of the time to him. Even though, it cost her... cost us all so much in the end." Zandre didn't need to ask what the man wanted so badly, Ichiro had already made it clear enough, so he asked instead; "What happened?" "Have you noticed that Jiro doesn't really express any of his feelings?" Ichiro mentioned, thinking of the small child that had been so emotionally neglected back then. "From when I was old enough to realise something wasn't right, he has been this way. My mum blamed herself, but she wasn't the only one at fault. My father refused to acknowledge him due to his gender. So when Saburo was born, knowing he'd receive the same treatment, me, my mum and Jiro probably protected him too much! "And then my mum got pregnant again. The scan said it was likely to be a little girl. Mum was really pleased. Those scans don't check for secondary gender... My father heard that there was a trial for secondary gender checks at the same hospital, so he took my mum... she... it was predicted that the baby was most likely an Omega. "He was so angry. Then a few days later, it was my birthday. I was fifteen. It's a... milestone, I guess, in the life of an Omega boy. After this time, I'd suffer my first heat period. So like a good Omega woman, my mum got me my first collar, so I could be somewhat protected... you know, if I was away from home." It was not unlikely that an Omega engage in sexual relations during a heat, it couldn't always be helped. But the consequences of being claimed by a bite to the neck during that heat was generally unthinkable. "My father completely went mad, swearing at me to take it off, yelling at my mum for being useless and only producing Omega children. He began dragging her out of the house. He was stronger than us... actually, I think I was just in shock, I should have been able to stop him. And then afterwards, I could only blame myself for being stupid and weak. "She died on the operating table of an unlicensed doctor as her baby was aborted under my father's instructions. So I swore to myself that I had to be a better man, that I had to raise and protect my brothers well so no one could hurt them like my mum had been. I couldn't rely on anyone else anymore. I didn't want to!" Zandre didn't know what to say, he really couldn't say anything. How cruel had this world been to the man in his arms? And for him to have pretty much added salt to his wounds after weakening the defences he'd built during those times of hardship. "You aren't weak at all, Ichiro," Zee murmured as he felt water dripping upon his chest and cooling his skin. "You are probably the strongest person I know. I don't think I could have done what you managed to. I doubt I would have ever had to either, being the middle child. Spoilt. Me and my siblings were all spoiled by our parents, we all got pretty much whatever we wanted growing up, we've never had to struggle in hardship. So I never thought of what you might have had to do to survive. Just judged you from my own standards, like a brat." "Zandre..." he wriggled up to face the Alpha honestly, but before he could explain anything about that regretful history, a finger was placed over his lips. "You have a sexual past, but so do I," Zee said, thinking about his ex-girlfriend and the mess he'd made breaking up with her. It might not be comparable exactly to Ichiro's situation, but both 'histories' almost derailed their relationship, so it was not completely wrong to state it that way. "That's over now. Now I just want to talk about us and our future. Can we?" A hint of shyness softened Ichiro's midnight eyes. "En." ***** Two boys settled into a hotel room after promising to view just one movie as they ate a pizza picked up along the way. With a sigh of relief, Olivia closed the door behind her and proceeded to the bar. She needed a drink. The atmosphere at the bar was subdued, likely most of the occupants of the hotel were out seeking other nightlife nearby, so the woman sat on the stood and drank peacefully the first glass of red wine she'd ordered. Once it was empty, she ordered another one. "Make that two," a masculine voice called out, before the owner of the voice sat down two stools down. "Does that mean you are paying?" Livvie asked cheekily, as she looked at man with a slightly mature, but sophisticated air about him as he glanced at her in return. An almost sly smile curved his thin lips. "If you will allow it," he replied, reaching for his wallet and she couldn't help but return his smile with one of her own. A minute later, two glasses clinked together in the quiet of the bar.