CHAPTER 352: AN OMEGA ADVANTAGE

Two weeks passed by in an instant, and before Andrew knew it, the promises that had felt like years ago were upon him.

It felt like forever since Jenny and Thomas had argued about who would get Christmas with him and Maxwell, but it had only been last week when someone had arrived at work to measure him, and then only a few days later a new suit arrived for Andrew, Maxwell, and Richard.

See, in the two weeks since the great drinking night, Richard had really put Andrew to shame. It helped that there were drugs that had been created for omegas while Andrew was the guinea pig for anything related to a true alpha, but still. Richard’s accomplishments were not anything to sniff at.

Richard was able to take inhibitors, leave the house, and spend a few hours at work. Heavily monitored, but he was doing a hell of a lot better than Andrew had when he’d first manifested. Everyone was pleased with his progress.

Everyone but Richard, of course. He was huffing and puffing that he couldn’t go back to the ridiculous hours he had been working before, and that he couldn’t leave Andrew and Maxwell’s house.

Maxwell wasn’t going to allow it, and neither was May. When Richard had first suggested it, while having dinner with everyone at Andrew and Maxwell’s place, May had looked like she was going to lunge at him from across the table and shake him.

She reminded him that just because he was able to take inhibitors, unlike Andrew, just meant he had an upper hand, not that he was actually better. She had even, in her anger at her son, suggested that it might do him some good to suffer like Andrew had done without all of the assistance that he was getting due to who he was connected to.

It had been an awkward dinner after that, but Richard had seemed to understand where his Mom had come from. He had gone quiet, and even Jordan had felt a little awkward about what had been said. Ford was the saviour, bringing that dinner back from the dead, but since that dinner Richard had turned more contemplative.

Andrew felt a little bad about it, and had wanted to confront May about it after dinner, but both Richard and Maxwell stopped him from doing so, at different times. Maxwell got to him while Andrew was coming back from a bathroom break, while Richard had got to him far sooner, telling Andrew that he could fight his own battles. Maxwell had pretty much told him the same thing, and Andrew had to drop it.

So, it was a bit of a surprise that Thomas and Luis had sent Richard a suit as well. Maxwell, however, hadn’t been surprised in the slightest.

"Ah. The charity ball is coming up." Maxwell had said as all three of them had gathered in the dining room where the bags of clothes had laid. The safest place for them to be since the construction crew was back in the house, putting on the finishing touches to Richard’s soon-to-be suite.

If everything went well, it would be done before the end of the year.

"Is it that soon?" Andrew asked, a little surprised that he hadn’t had time to panic about it. Between making sure that Richard was doing okay, regular work, Maxwell’s personal issues that they were working through together, and the updates about the ring from Amir’s Grandmother, Andrew’s plate had been full.

Maxwell nudged Andrew’s shoulder, a smile on his face.

"I can’t believe you forgot about it." He accused, before turning a softer smile to Richard. "You’re invited, of course, but all you need to do is show your face as Andy’s brother, and you can leave whenever you want. Andy and I will probably spend the night, so you can have the house to yourself. Don’t bring home anyone too scandalous, or, if you think you might like someone, point them out to me and I’ll veto them on the spot." Maxwell told him with a wink, and watched as Richard’s face exploded with colour. Maxwell’s smile grew wider and he nudged Andrew again. "He’s more fun to tease than you sometimes." He joked, laughing as he raised his glass of water to his lips and walked away.

Richard had been vibrating at the teasing, his pheromones getting out of whack, before he was able to control himself, taking several deep breaths, and then spoke to Andrew rationally about going to the party.

Honestly, Andrew was worried if he went. He wouldn’t force Richard to go. Would it be nice to have him there? Of course. It would always be nice to have him there, but he was so freshly manifested that Andrew worried he would go into shock or something similar. It was nice that Thomas and Luis included him, and it was a really nice suit. Andrew could tell that Richard thought so from the way he kept looking at it, but it was a risk.

Maxwell didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. He would have scowled at the suit and yelled at his parents if he thought that was the case, but since he’d just scolded his parents, that was practically approval. Andrew was also sure that Maxwell got all of the technical updates as well on Richard’s condition, while Andrew didn’t.

It had been offered, but he didn’t care to know that much about his brother. He was allowed to keep some secrets. Even if Andrew had a guess, that didn’t mean he needed to know in detail. Richard probably felt the same.

So, it was on the table, it was available for Richard to do, but...

"Do what you think is right." Andrew ended up telling him. Not as a cop out, but because he didn’t want to influence Richard one way or the other. "Call your parents, see if they are also going. I don’t even know." Andrew told him and Richard nodded slowly.

"I...kind of want to go." Richard admitted. "But I don’t want to feel like the third to your relationship, no matter what we know is the truth." Richard told him and Andrew clenched his hand. He agreed, but hated that Richard also thought that way. Richard chuckled. "It’s pretty fucked up that just because of two little changes, our whole dynamic to the outside world changes." Richard pointed out and Andrew couldn’t agree more.

"Yeah. Should I wear a sign that points to you and says ’that’s my brother, creep?’" Andrew asked and Richard burst out laughing. He folded in half, he was laughing so hard. He had to hold his glasses onto his face, wiped a tear away, and shook his head, a grin on his face.

"Hmm. I should wear a matching sign that points to you and says the same thing. Do you think Max’s parents would mind if we did that?" He asked sincerely and Andrew chuckled.

"They’d probably get it done for us in fancy font. Match our suits." Andrew said and Richard shook his head, smiling as he turned his gaze back to the suit. He reached out, gently touching the edge of the suit bag.

"Well...I think I might reach out to Mom and Dad and see if they got an invite. Rose and Jordan too." Richard said softly, and Andrew nodded. Richard left shortly after that, and it was about an hour later that he got messages from Rose and May asking about the party.

They had gotten invites, but had kind of thought it was just a customary invite, not that they were actually expected to show up. Andrew had laughed at that, asked Maxwell, and sent back his exact reply.

My parents don’t invite people they don’t want to be there. Do you need help picking out clothing? Just wear something you’re comfortable in. If anyone says anything, I’ll punch their lights out.

Rose had sent several laughing and crying emojis, while May had seemed exasperated, but in a good way.

Richard eventually said he would like to go, but would also like to get some more testing done before he went, with the intention of testing how big of a crowd he could handle before he lost control of himself. Maxwell said that was a wonderful idea, and also couched him through several scenarios where he could be in danger.

Andrew listened in, dropping in a few nuggets of help as a fellow newly manifested, while Richard went through more serious tests when he went into work for those few hours.

Dr. Cox and Dr. Piper had been so happy to see him that they had cried, both of them, and Richard seemed to understand how seriously he had been missed, but now?

Now they ribbed him endlessly over his ’floral’ scent, when neither of them could smell him. Andrew had let it slip ’by accident’ one day, and the two ladies hadn’t let it rest. Richard, of course, had disclosed that Andrew smelled like ’fucking pancakes’ but Andrew was ready for it.

At least he smelled delicious and not like an old lady perfume.

Richard was still pissed he’d gotten that hit in. Andrew found it was his favourite jab, especially when Rose wasn’t around, but was about to be introduced. Andrew was waiting with an almost sick anticipation for the party for that reason alone.

Everything else? The terror was creeping up on him. Andrew hadn’t met that many other true alphas outside of his small circle. There was Kim, Mr. Dalton, and that was pretty much it outside of his support group that he’d joined again for a few sessions after he said he would.

They were also the exception to the rule, and Andrew knew that whoever he was going to meet at this party? It was going to be the classics. The ones that were like his father, or were going to expect him to be like him. He was sure that others were going to recognise who he looked like when he got there, but he also knew he had a support team.

He just worried that there was a chance he was going to be cornered at some point. Cornered by people who wanted to talk to him away from the Beckett’s and Andrew was going to be too nice to refuse them. That was a very real possibility, and he didn’t want to force Maxwell to be with him the whole party. Andrew was sure that there were going to be people he wanted to speak to alone.

Andrew was just working himself up. He knew it, and so did Maxwell.

The little smirk on his face, in his eyes as Andrew got dressed for said party told him everything as they were in the bathroom together, finishing up their hair and teeth.

Andrew, in a rare moment, was actually wearing contacts. He was too worried he was going to break his glasses since he was going to be so nervous, and Maxwell was all smiles one moment, and then pouty the next. He was worried too many fuckers were going to fall in love with his man tonight, and that helped settle Andrew’s nerves.

At the very least, he had to make sure everyone knew Andrew and Maxwell were off the market tonight. That was something Andrew could look forward to, especially as the email update about his ring for Maxwell burned a hole in his pocket.