Ever since he was a child, Robin wanted to be an alpha.

It was a dream he shared with Jude. This huge fantasy, originating over ten years ago, where he and Jude were both alphas, and they essentially took on the world together. An unstoppable force.

It's what brought he and Jude together. The two of them were having snack time in kindergarten. First they bonded over liking the same peanut butter crackers, then Robin notified Jude about how he was going to be an alpha one day, because that's the kind of sheer randomness children operate on. They talked about it at sleepovers, or over the phone. A dream only a child would have, considering the fact that secondary genders can't be chosen.

Jude presented early-the first in their class, at about 13. It happened when he and Robin were walking to school, and Jude just suddenly got sweaty, face flushing, and he notified Robin he needed to get home now.

It was no surprise to anyone that Jude was an alpha. Honestly, his aura of raw power could make anyone submit. Robin has always looked up to him like some sort of picture of perfection. He was the perfect alpha, from the very start. He had a bit of an anger problem—still does, in fact. People listened to him like his word was gospel. Honestly, sometimes it felt like it was. He was everything Robin wanted to be and more... despite how different their personalities developed.

Where Jude was the top of their class, unyielding to any authority and meeting conflict with his signature wicked grin, Robin just... wasn't. He wanted to be. He'd tried to be. However, he couldn't defy his natural personality. He preferred to blend in, listen to what he was told. Robin was practically incapable of being rude to people, no matter how deserving. He didn't want to be noticed.

Jude got widely popular, the whole school knowing his name, while Robin supported from the background.

Despite being complete polar opposites, the two remained best friends. As if anyone could separate them—Jude would rip them a new one.

Their vastly differing personalities should have been a warning. A sign. Robin should have accepted it while he was young, it would have saved him a lot of heartache when he turned 15 and presented as an omega.

It should have been obvious, yet he was still thrown into a deep depression. His unrealistic dreams of being an alpha—being powerful, standing alongside Jude as equals, came crashing down.

Robin pressured his mother into helping him cover it immediately, buying suppressants and scent blockers. He managed to convince his entire class that he just never presented, and he knew that the lie would only last so long, but he thought it more preferable than coming clean.

The only secret Robin's ever kept from Jude, is his secondary gender.

"You fucking suck at math," Jude remarks.

Robin glances up from where he's sitting with his legs criss-crossed on his bed. He spots Jude across the room on his desk chair, reclined with his feet on the dresser. He's obnoxiously chewing bubble gum, and Robin feels irritated.

"What are you talking about?"

"You can't do simple addition. Or division," Jude replies, and Robin scrunches up his face. He glances back down at his homework. He's in the lowest math class, and they aren't teaching anything that would be difficult for normal people. Except, Robin's not particularly book smart, and he has needed Jude to walk him through every problem.

"If I have a calculator, what's the point?" Robin replies, glancing in the mirror built on top of his dresser. His hair is especially messy today, honey brown eyes betraying his confused frustration. He starts fiddling with the strings on his sweatpants, as he rereads the problem he's been attempting for the past five minutes.

"Yeah? What did you just type on it?"

"6 + 13."

"Exactly."

Robin rolls his eyes, starting to doodle a giraffe in the corner of his notebook paper. Jude finished all his homework a while ago. It's all remarkably easy to him, despite never paying attention in class. Robin finds it annoying.

"I was making sure."

"Yeah, 'cause you suck at math."

Robin looks up to glare at Jude, who grins in response, quirking an eyebrow.

"We can't all be top of the class." Robin responds dismissively, pulling out his phone and changing the song. He hates it when he puts his playlist on shuffle and it decides to play all his sad songs. He doesn't need people to think he's any more of a mess than they already do.

"That's true, I'm pretty awesome."

Robin doesn't even look up, continuing his giraffe sketch. He can already imagine the look present on Jude's face. Cocky as always, aura self assure, icy blue eyes studying Robin. The usual.

"Says you."

"And everyone else."

Robin snorts, turning a 7 on his paper into a weird looking bird. "Not me, you're overrated."

Robin hears Jude get up, and he already knows what's about to happen. Still, he refuses to give the guy any attention.

This is a regular occurrence. Robin waits until the early hours of the morning to finally do his homework, and Jude crawls through his window to annoy him.

When they were kids, nobody would have taken a second look at the two boys playing together, the best of friends. Now, though? Jude is exactly what you'd imagine if told to picture a cocky alpha with a superiority complex, a fan club that feeds into it, and is basically always up to mischief. He dresses like the school delinquents, and ringleads them in his free time. Despite this, adults love him.

Robin? He dyed his blond hair black when he presented and had a mental breakdown. He can't remember the last time he actually bought something with any kind of color on it, or otherwise didn't paint black. He spends half his time lost in his head or playing video games and the other half with Jude. He's gotten enough piercings to earn him the silent treatment from his mother multiple times, he uses almost every dime he makes on tattoos or games, and the dark circles under his eyes complete the entire scene-gamer-delinquent aesthetic.

The two are very different. Still, Jude will fight anyone who says something about it.

Robin doesn't look up, even as he hears Jude approaching him. He continues drawing the bird, until his notebook is stolen from his hands. Robin looks up, already mentally preparing himself for dealing with a dramatic alpha.

"Really?" Jude asks, tone doubtful, standing in front of Robin and towering over him. Jude isn't a small guy-what with being an alpha and his obsession with exercising every day-and he stares down at Robin, who looks back up at him moodily. He just wants to get his math homework done.

Robin hums, grabbing for his notebook. Jude pulls it away in response, and Robin ends up on his knees, sitting back on his heels atop the bed, looking up at Jude. He stares at the alpha, deadpanned.

"Yeah. You're, like, the worst."

Robin grabs for it again, and again, Jude evades him. Robin ends up even closer to him, and he does not feel amused.

"How so?"

Robin abandons the pointless conversation, growing irritated at this notebook theft.

He grabs for it again, and Jude moves it out of the way expertly. Sadly, Robin loses his balance and falls right against the guy. Growling in frustration, he immediately starts to pull away. However, Jude wraps his arms around the omega, trapping him. Robin is no match for this guy's biceps, and he groans in frustration.

"Let me go, I have homework-"

Before he can finish his sentence, Jude turns around, falling backwards onto the bed with Robin on top of him. Robin, who is doing everything possible to get away from him. He hates it when Jude overpowers him like this, for no reason.

"Stop moving."

And that, that right there, is Robin's biggest problem.

The suppressants can delay his heats, the scent blockers can mask his smell, but even he can't deny the primal nature every omega has. Instinctually, he stops moving, even tilting his head a bit, almost baring his neck but stopping himself just in time. Still, he can't help the adrenaline burst and how everything in his body tells him to listen to the alpha, who just gave him an order.

Feeling generally pissed off at his nature, he elbows Jude in his ribs. Immediately, the guy lets go, and Robin sits up, straddling his idiotic best friend.

This guy sucks.

Jude is still holding the stupid damn notebook out of his reach, and Robin starts to climb him. When he finally reaches it, his stomach is level with Jude's face. He snatches the notebook, and sits back, clutching it to his chest. He glares at the stupid alpha under him, who is chuckling.

He sets the notebook on Jude's chest, completely forgetting their position, and begins to smooth out the pages that Jude bent up while being a nuisance.

"You're not gonna finish that tonight." Jude remarks, chest vibrating through the notebook and against Robin's hands. Robin glances up, eyes narrowed.

"Not if you keep messing with me," Robin grumbles back, erasing the mark his pencil made when his notebook was snatched. Honestly, with the shit he tolerates from Jude, he should be given a damn medal. Sometimes he thinks it may have been a good thing he wasn't born an alpha, because if he had that mindset he and Jude probably wouldn't have gotten along as well as they did.

But at the same time, fuck being an omega and fuck the society that made it suck.

Oh, and society really did make it suck. The old ways are dying off and omegas are starting to be seen more as regular people rather than submissive sex objects, but that doesn't make being a male omega any less horrible. Women are treated way better. It changes people's views on you, and Robin hates that.

Jude reaches up, running a hand through Robin's hair, who glances up at the weirdly intimate gesture.

"You need to do your roots."

Robin rolls his eyes, finally climbing off the guy and taking his previous seat, beside him. He goes back to doing his homework, tired of entertaining Jude.

"Do it for me."

Jude grabs Robin's phone and enters the passcode, before scrolling through his music. "Okay. Tomorrow?"

Robin is about to say yes, but then he remembers he has a doctor's appointment. An omega doctor's appointment, at an office that specializes in omegas, where the doctor is going to lecture him about using suppressants and how one day you're gonna forget to take them, Robin, and your heat will hit you and you won't be used to it. This isn't healthy and blah blah blah, Robin wants to shove a sock in the guy's mouth sometimes.

"I have to go to the dentist," Robin lies easily, "how about Monday?"

Robin really loves Jude. They've been best friends since they were four, however there is one character flaw that gets on Robin's nerves more often than not.

The guy always wants specifics, always wants to know where Robin is and why. He wants to know every detail of the omega's life and it's draining to say the least. He had Robin download an app that basically tracks him at all times and even gives weekly reports on the stuff he's done. Also, when he's in a car, it tracks his speed. When Robin has to go places that would give away his secret, he literally has to leave his phone at home or shut it off completely.

"What time?"

"3."

"What office?"

"Birkley Dental on main." Robin lies again.

There's a silence, and Robin thinks that maybe Jude is done questioning him. Honestly, he should have known better.

"Birkley Dental is closed on Sundays."

Fuck.

Robin's eyes snap to Jude's, who is staring at him intently. Goddamn it, Robin can't stand this guy sometimes. Who just knows that?

"Then maybe it's not Birkley Dental, I don't know." Robin tries to brush the whole thing off. No such luck.

"That's the only dentist in Hill Grove."

Feeling impatient-both at his homework and the interrogation-Robin responds; "Maybe I'm driving to Irvine. You don't know."

"I think I do."

Robin huffs. "No chance."

"I think I know that you're hiding something from me."

Robin freezes.

Okay, maybe he's not as good at concealing his omega status as he thought.

Robin stares at Jude, wide eyed, who looks even more sure of himself at Robin's reaction. Crap, this... this is new to him. Jude has accused Robin of lying to him before, of course. However... Robin hiding something? That's never even entered their conversations. Robin doesn't know how to handle this new situation. He's never been accused of hiding something from his best friend, and he's really not a fan of the feeling.

Robin makes things worse, which is typical for when he feels like a cornered cat. "Like you've never hidden anything from me."

What the hell, Robin? At least deny it!

"Actually, I haven't." Jude responds. Robin is finding it very hard to maintain eye contact... although, that's not really unusual. Finally, he decides that the only way out of this is to tell some semblance of the truth.

Robin sighs. "Fine. I'm going to the doctor to talk about why I haven't presented yet."

Jude raises an eyebrow, the look in his eyes seeming to change a bit. Okay, that's a lie that Robin can stick with.

"Good," Jude decides. "You're eighteen, you should have by now."

Robin feels his cheeks flush, embarrassed at the conversation. Keeping lies straight is such a damn chore, why couldn't he have been born an alpha? His life would be so much easier.

"There are people with a delayed presenting condition," Robin defends. "I think the latest was like twenty years old, so."

Jude shrugs, eyes lingering on Robin for a moment, then he looks back at the ceiling. "I guess. Still gonna be an alpha with me?"

The pain that strikes Robin's heart is almost lacerating. He can't even look at Jude as he feels like the wind just got knocked out of him, despite sitting here undisturbed.

Jude can't know. He just can't.

"Obviously."

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