Robin has come to a decision. Jude is the best person he can talk to about his current distressing situation, so that's what he's going to do.

He knows that the guy has an IQ of like 500 or whatever, and one wrong move could ruin everything, but he's truly out of options at this point. The only thing anyone else would have to offer, would be advice or sympathy. If he confided in someone else, it would possibly help him mentally. However, talking to Jude could get something done.

Robin is aware that Jude is suspicious of him. Hell, the guy might even be catching on. However, he's decided that he's willing to take that chance.

So, after work on Wednesday, Jude agrees to pick Robin up. He's not even sure where Jude plans on taking him, but he does know that the two will be alone and Robin can talk. That's all that matters in Robin's books. Due to it being a random Wednesday, Robin gets off fairly early. He leaves his aunt's right as Jude pulls up, and upon sliding into the mustang is greeted with;

"How was work?"

"It was okay," Robin replies, and there's no way Jude can't tell he's nervous. "We were pretty slow, though."

Jude hums, and Robin just stares out the window. From the corner of his eye, Robin can see Jude glancing at him every once in a while. Robin doesn't say anything about it, though, and—surprisingly—neither does Jude.

Before long they arrive outside of Robin's house. Jude parks on the street, next to the sidewalk, and it's been a while since Jude entered the Rose residence through the front door. However, since he's with Robin, he doesn't have much of a choice. Robin hopes his parents either aren't home or are busy. He doesn't want to deal with the awkwardness that accompanies conversations between them and Jude.

See, Robin's parents don't like Jude. They used to, when they were kids, but as Jude grew up and became more rebellious and disrespectful, that sort of faded off. Then, Jude presented as an alpha. Both of Robin's parents are betas, and they never really liked alphas generally. Then, on top of that, their omega son turns out to be best friends with one. Robin is almost positive that they think the two are in some sort of relationship.

Robin and Jude are too young to get mated to anybody and not be looked down upon. Robin's parents have always been suspicious of them, though, and they also don't seem to think Jude is a very good influence anyway.

Also, Jude doesn't like them. He thinks that they are 'judgemental douchebags that don't know how to be parents' which is a direct quote.

Upon entering the house, Robin finds that his wishes were not granted. Actually, his mom is currently cooking dinner in the kitchen—which is the room directly in front of the entrance. Robin's father appears to be helping her, and he doesn't even acknowledge the teenagers.

"You're home early," The woman says, and Robin immediately wants to not be here. He hears Jude come in behind him, and sees both of his parent's expressions darken. They already weren't very thrilled about their son's appearance, so this is an accomplishment.

Neither of them say anything to Jude, thank god.

"Yeah, we were pretty slow."

Robin tries to conceal his surprise when his father speaks up. "Margo notified me that you've practiced cutting hair."

Now Mr. Rose is meeting Robin's eyes, and the omega begins to feel uncomfortable at the man's steely gaze. Yeah, his father gets quite disappointed when Robin is talented at anything deemed feminine. Robin has been practicing on their dummies, though, at the request of the stylists. They want him to be more knowledgeable so he can answer customer's questions better. Also, he thinks it's interesting—though he'd never tell his father that.

"Yeah, I mean, the stylists wanted me to." Robin tries to make it seem like it was totally out of his control. To be honest, though, once the idea was brought up to him... he did not need much convincing.

"Why? Seems unnecessary."

Robin blinks, unsure how to answer that. Because they want him to be able to answer questions better? That's what he was told, but to be honest, it isn't very believable.

"They just thought it would make me better with customers." Robin says, and Mr. Rose frowns. He goes back to rooting through the fridge for something, and Robin averts his gaze to the floor.

"She also said you're having problems with some kid from school," Charlie Rose continues, and his voice sounds strange and echoey due to him talking into the fridge. Robin honestly should have expected Margo to tell his father about that, they're really close—twins, as a matter of fact. It makes him thankful that he never told her anything incriminating.

"Well yeah, I mean someone, uh, found out... something about me—"

Robin's mother immediately meets her son's eyes in alarm. His dad peeks his head out from behind the fridge door, the same expression on his face. They definitely know what Miles found out about him.

"But I have it handled," Robin says quickly, and his parents look at each other. There is a long, weighted pause and Robin holds his breath.

"I'm going to the store," Charlie Rose announces, mostly to his wife. She nods, and the guy walks out the door. It's so sudden, and Robin assumes that they don't have whatever he'd been looking for in the fridge.

Mary Rose appears deep in thought. Robin wonders if she's actually trying to come up with a solution to his problem. It ends up along those lines, because she finally says;

"If it gets any worse tell administration."

Robin nods. He briefly thought about that, but he really doesn't want anyone else knowing—including his teachers. He can't trust them to keep a secret, they all gossip like schoolgirls.

"Okay," he says, and she goes back to cooking. Robin takes that as an opening to escape the grueling conversation, and heads up the stairs to his bedroom. Jude is behind him the entire time, and Robin is surprised the guy didn't say anything.

He starts to get an idea as to why once they enter his bedroom. Jude goes to his normal spot at Robin's desk, crossing his arms. There's a pinch in his brow and he does not appear happy.

"Your parents know?" Jude finally asks, glancing up to drill his gaze into Robin. That's definitely why Jude wasn't his typical smart ass self to Robin's parents, the guy was coming to a realization.

"Well, I mean, yeah—"

"Your parents know and I don't."

Robin runs a hand through his hair, sitting at the edge of his bed as he tries to think on how to get out of this. Jude is well aware of Robin's distant relationship with his parents, and he has every right to be offended right now. He clearly thinks that Robin confided in them instead of him, which is unheard of.

In reality, he had no choice but to tell them. He was too young to cover it on his own. Sometimes he wonders what would have happened if he could have kept it a secret from absolutely everyone. No doctors, no parents, no Miles. He wonders if his life would be different.

"I told you, the other night..." Robin's face flushes at the thought of the bedroom incident. "It made them hate me. I'm not risking that with you too."

"Fuck, Robin, nothing could ever make me hate you. Do you understand that? Nothing." Jude says, and he sounds so unbelievably fed up. Robin just stares at the floor as he begins to feel guilty. "I don't give a shit what it is, I promise it will change absolutely nothing."

Robin sighs, resting his elbows on his knees and burying his face in his hands. He really doesn't know what to do here, because... he wants to tell Jude.

He can't, though, right? He made a promise to himself years ago, and he knows part of it is the paranoia. His entire life he was made to look down on male omegas, then he presented as one. All the societal standards and biases that he grew up with, and still sees every day, won't ever leave him.

He's sick of turning on the news and seeing these horrible stories about male omegas, whether it's suicide, homicide, or just the media trying to sway people a certain way. It feels like a death sentence, and he knows it's not as bad as he thinks. He knows he's being a bit dramatic here, and the only reason he sees so much of that stuff is because his self destructive brain gravitates to it. He knows this.

It doesn't change anything, though. Fear will always outweigh reason. Paranoia will win over his intuition, every time. It's unavoidable.

He's terrified of what this secret would do to he and Jude. Robin quite simply can't take chances. He thinks Jude may be getting an idea, but it doesn't matter. Even if Jude finding out is inevitable, he will procrastinate it until he has no choice.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Jude."

Jude sighs, and Robin glances up to find the guy with his lips pursed, looking quite displeased with the situation. He looks disappointed, and it really hurts. This is not good for Robin's health, that's for sure. He wants to make Jude happy with him again, but he has no idea how to do so. Then, on top of that, he needs to discuss the Miles situation.

"I need to talk about Miles, though." Robin continues, and Jude turns to meet his eyes. He looks curious now, though still unhappy.

"What did he do?" Jude asks, voice a bit deeper. This means that he's already irritated, and Robin hasn't even told him what happened.

"He... well, okay. You know how he's blackmailing me, right?" Robin asks.

"Yes, Robin."

"Well before he was just wanting me to like, keep you from beating him up or something. The other day, though, he started talking about how he didn't realize how much power I have over you? Whatever that means. Anyway, he wants me to get you to fail your exams so he can be valedictorian. Or else he will tell everyone."

Jude appears to be processing this, and as the seconds go by he just looks more and more upset. Robin really has to be careful about this, because Jude is quite hotheaded. If Miles makes him angry enough, he will go pick fights without a second thought, consequences be damned. Robin obviously can't afford that, so he tries to tread lightly.

"I knew I should've just fucking gone to school Monday." Jude grumbles, and leave it to him to find a way to blame this on himself. "From now on you aren't leaving my side."

Robin gets a feeling in his chest at the words, one that makes him a bit flustered. He breaks eye contact, fidgeting a bit. Jude needs to not be possessive with him right now, thank you very much. Robin can't erase his secondary gender if Jude keeps activating those instincts.

"You should not have gone to school Monday, Jude." Robin disagrees quietly, because that would've been a mess. "You were in a rut. You would've... like... wanted to fuck everybody, or something."

Jude tilts his head, and he starts to look amused. This is an improvement from his previous expression, but Robin doesn't know how to feel about being the cause of it. It seems like it's at his expense.

"You really don't know anything about alphas, huh?"

Robin frowns. Uh, yeah he does. He was obsessed with them growing up. Although... he never really looked into the rut topic all that much. He knows a whole lot about every aspect of omegas, though, that's for sure.

"Uh, yeah I do." Robin responds, feeling slightly offended. "I used to want to be one. Ruts are like heats, right?"

Jude ignores the entire second half of that statement, intrigue taking over his features. "Used to? You don't want to be an alpha anymore?"

Robin blinks, before what he said catches up to him. Shit. He forgot. How the hell could he forget? His story is that he hasn't presented yet, and he's spent the better part of his youth obsessed with being an alpha. That was suspicious. Well, it's too late to turn back now.

"Yeah, I mean, now I don't really care." Robin says, feeling like an ant under a magnifying glass.

"Really?" Jude replies, an expression on his face that Robin can't decipher. "I thought we were gonna be alphas together."

Honestly? His tone sounds almost mocking. Robin starts to get pissed off. He doesn't like talking about this, and he really doesn't appreciate the lack of sincerity there. Robin hates feeling like he isn't being taken seriously. Like Jude is messing with him.

"Nope." Robin says, standing up and crossing his arms as his irritation grows. "I actually can't fucking stand alphas, why would I wanna be one?"

Jude raises an eyebrow, leaning back in the chair. "Wow."

"Yeah. Fuck you."

Jude hums, and his facial expression hasn't changed. For some reason this only feeds into Robin's anger. When Robin is mad and nobody else is, he feels like he's overreacting, which makes it worse. To be honest, Robin should really take his medicine soon.

"Ruts don't make me want to fuck everyone," Jude says. "All alphas are different. Typically I get through it by thinking about someone... specific."

Robin blinks, frowning as he processes what Jude just said. Hang on, he gets through his ruts by getting off to one person? Who? What the fuck? How was Robin never told about this?!

"Huh?" Robin asks, and Jude just raises an eyebrow. "Who? How come you never told me?"

Robin thought they were best friends and they tell each other everything, so—wait. This is beginning to feel ironic.

"Tell me your secret and I'll tell you mine."

Robin just straight up glares at him. This is absolutely ridiculous. Is Jude being serious right now?

"That is not the same thing." Robin says, walking towards Jude without even realizing it. "My secret could literally ruin our friendship and make you hate me, so this is not comparable at all—"

"Maybe mine could too."

Robin stops a couple feet from his best friend, who is studying him. Robin scrunches up his face as he tries to understand what the hell that even means.

"What?!" Robin is growing frustrated. Is this how Jude feels? Because the fact that Jude is evidently keeping some sort of crush from him is about to drive him off the deep end. Jude is not allowed to keep secrets! Only Robin can do that. "Who you jack off to is not going to affect anything about our friendship, I fucking promise."

Jude honestly looks like this is the most entertaining thing that's happened all day. It might be. Robin starts to second guess what he said.

"Well. Unless it's my mom."

"It's not your mom."

"Okay." That makes Robin feel better, but... "or Kat."

Jude looks deeply disturbed at that idea. "Isn't she like, 12?"

"Basically," Robin says, because that's close enough. Judging by the look on Jude's face, the nineteen year old man does not have a crush on Robin's thirteen year old sister. Robin doubted it anyway, but he figured he'd cover all his bases.

"It's nobody you're related to." Jude says, and now Robin doesn't see the big deal.

"Okay, then I seriously will not give a shit, just tell me." Robin feels exasperated, and Jude leans back in Robin's desk chair.

"Only if you tell me yours."

"No." Robin snaps, because that's out of the question. Robin groans in frustration, flopping back on his bed and staring at the ceiling. "This is fucking stupid."

"You seem bothered." Jude says, his tone bordering on mock innocent. It only makes Robin's frustration worse. He has no clue what to even do here. He has never wanted to know something so badly in his life.

Jude has never had a crush on anybody. Not a single person on the planet has ever caught this guy's attention. Seriously, Robin can't remember a time the guy even looked at anybody in a different way. This is a big deal, because it's quite literally never fucking happened before.

This will drive Robin crazy, he already knows. If nothing else, this could realistically get him to tell Jude. This could actually break him.

Robin should have expected this, god fucking dammit. Every time Robin thinks he has everything under control, Jude always does or says something to get the upper hand and throw him off rhythm again. It's bullshit.

"You know what? I don't even care." Robin says, standing up and making his way to his bathroom. He needs to take his medicine here pretty quick, because when he starts getting emotional—like now—it's a telltale sign his medicine is wearing off.

"Doesn't bother me," Robin continues, mostly talking to himself. He starts getting out his medicine, grabbing his water bottle on the sink. "I literally could not care any less. Nice try, though."

Robin takes his medicine, before putting the containers back in their hiding places. He turns back to face the room, and finds Jude sitting on his bed. He appears to be starting up Robin's video game system.

"Sounds like it," Jude says, the sarcasm evident.

Robin just growls, walking up to Jude and taking his controller away. He tosses it off to the side, and stands in front of the alpha with his arms crossed. Jude just sits there, at the foot of Robin's bed, looking completely unbothered. "What, you don't wanna play games?"

"I want to talk about Miles and the fact that he's trying to ruin my life. We'll revisit your crush later."

It appears as though Jude totally forgot about that. A frown takes over his face, and he begins thinking. Robin doesn't understand why Jude has to be so tall. Even sitting on Robin's bed, the guy has half a foot on him. Then again, Robin's bed is pretty high up to begin with.

"Could this secret actually ruin your life, or are you being dramatic?"

Robin tries not to feel offended by that. "It will."

"Okay." Jude says, "and this is important to you?"

"Well, yeah." Robin replies. He's lost quite a bit of sleep over this for it to not be important.

"Okay, so I'll just fail my exams."

Robin stares at Jude, as the guy's words begin to process in his brain. Hold the fucking phone. Jude has worked so hard his entire scholastic career to be at the very top. He's so naturally gifted on top of that, he's probably beating Miles by quite a bit—and he's willing to just throw it all away? For Robin?

"No way." Robin shakes his head. "Out of the question, your future is not gonna be fucked up because of me."

Jude raises an eyebrow. "Who cares? Salutatorian is still a pretty big accomplishment."

Robin shakes his head. He can't believe that's Jude's solution to this. Doing what Miles says? Seriously?

"Not happening." Robin says, because Jude is acting like it doesn't bother him, like being second to Miles Novak isn't a big deal, but Robin knows him. That's something Jude seems to forget, Robin knows this guy better than anyone. He can tell that giving up valedictorian would deeply upset Jude. It's out of the question.

"There's got to be another way."

"Robin, it's okay." Jude says. "It's not your fault—"

"Yes it is!" Robin disagrees, the stress and guilt eating away at him. "If I would've been more careful then he never would have found out. Fuck, this is all my fault. I'm sorry. I—"

"Robin." Jude says, and he reaches out to wrap his arms around the omega. He pulls Robin between his legs and flush against him, the embrace catching Robin off guard.

He realizes why Jude is comforting him like this once he notices the way he'd been shaking. His voice was starting to break, and he is clearly upset.

Robin is stiff at first, but after a moment he relaxes into the hug, wrapping his arms around Jude's neck and burying his face in the crevice. Okay, so this is kind of an excuse to smell the guy, but Jude doesn't need to know that.

Robin doesn't expect it, but