(BL)Alpha Made-Chapter 302: Sleeping beauty wakes up

Richard almost made it the whole night without waking up. Andrew got the panicked, relieved call from Ford around 5 am. Richard had opened his eyes, asked what time it was, and then had gone back to sleep.

That meant nothing. If Richard’s sleeping habits were anything like when they were younger, he’d be up again within a half an hour. Andrew scrambled, waking Maxwell up and letting him know that Richard was awake. Maxwell, bleary-eyed watched as Andrew shoved his glasses on and rushed to get dressed.

Maxwell followed him, still half asleep, going through the motions of getting dressed while he was still trying to wake up. He looked like he was moving in slow motion while Andrew felt a sense of urgency burning under his skin. He tried his best not to rush the other man, but Maxwell could sense it, and with a chuckle and smile, he slid on one of Andrew’s sweaters, drowning Maxwell in fabric before he tucked it into his pants.

"This’ll do. Come on Baby, let’s get you to the company." Maxwell murmured, his voice still deep with sleep as he yawned. He took Andrew’s hand in his own, Andrew fully dressed, and pulled him towards the door.

Andrew couldn’t put his feelings into words, so instead he helped him pull on his shoes and winter coat before he rushed to the garage and opened the door for Maxwell. Maxwell had his hand on Andrew’s thigh, his head leaning against his hand as Andrew tore out of their house and towards the company.

~

Maxwell was like a sleepy companion as he held onto Andrew’s hand, being led around his own company in the early hours of the morning. Andrew felt like he was going to lose his mind, but Maxwell’s calm, if somewhat sleepy presence was helping him remain level headed.

Any time he felt like he was slipping with his pheromones, Maxwell would just quietly remind him. Had been doing so quite a bit in the car ride, and in the elevator ride down to where Richard was being held.

Andrew was jittery, anxious, and Maxwell? He was leaning against Andrew, his man, holding onto his arm as he tried to keep himself awake. Andrew knew this wasn’t an insult to Richard in any sense.

Maxwell had kept them up quite late the night before with his...desires, so it completely made sense to Andrew that he was so exhausted. Andrew couldn’t focus on the fact that he was also wearing his sweater, practically declaring to everyone that he belonged to Andrew. Er, was tied to Andrew.

Maxwell didn’t belong to anyone.

When the elevator doors opened, Andrew tugged Maxwell along, rushing to get into the room with Richard, May, Ford, Rose and Jordan. They had decided to spend the night since this was when Richard could wake up.

Andrew felt his heart stop, his breath catch when he noticed that Richard was already sitting up in the bed, his glasses on, Dr. Spencer chatting to him with Dr. Liu at her side. On the other was Ford, holding onto Richard’s hand like a lifeline, May behind him, her eyes watering and spilling over. Rose was beside her, holding on tightly to her Mom’s hand while Jordan held onto her other one.

Everyone turned to look at them as Andrew came to a halt in the doorway, his chest still before he let out an exhale and Richard’s lips turned up slightly.

"Hey Andy." Richard said and Andrew felt his eyes spill over.

"Oh thank god." Andrew mumbled, practically collapsing in on himself. Maxwell reached for him, pressing his hand, open palm, against his shoulder.

"Andy. Pheromones. He’s a baby." Andrew nodded miserably, trying to stop himself from sobbing but he just couldn’t. Maxwell held him up, understanding in every inch of his body.

"Yeah. I know." Andrew whispered, trying to compose himself. He managed to hold himself together enough to make it to the end of Richard’s bed. Richard stared at him, smiling weakly, like he thought he was in trouble. Andrew just shook his head, fear, worry, everything in his system.

Dr. Liu and Dr. Spencer spoke to Maxwell, moving away from Richard’s side and Andrew slid himself into the spot, looming over the man in the bed.

"You’re a dumbass." The words slipped out of Andrew’s mouth first, before he swallowed. "You’re lucky it was me." Andrew said again and Richard swallowed, the smile warping on his face before he dropped his head.

"I...I don’t work with omegas, Andy." Richard said quietly. No one said anything else for a moment. "I guess I was just...in denial." Richard said. No one had believed him when he spoke the first words. Even if he didn’t work with omegas, he knew enough. More than enough.

"You hid from May, Rose and Ford, didn’t you?" Andrew accused. He couldn’t have hidden from Andrew because he was in his rut. He was preoccupied. Andrew watched as Richard flinched, before he let out a deep sigh.

"I...It wasn’t intentional." He muttered, but it was clear he felt guilty. Andrew felt his eyes water again.

"I don’t want to get mad at you. That isn’t what I want to do. I just want you to know I was so fucking worried about you. I thought I was going to die. Do you know how worried I was? I thought any movement of my pheromones could have hurt you." Andrew whispered. "You have more knowledge about this shit than I do." Andrew whispered quietly and Richard shifted his hand, holding it out, palm up and Andrew slipped his hand into his. He gave it a tight squeeze. Richard let out a deep, shuddering breath.

"Thank you for getting me help. For being strong." Richard’s voice shook, his grip just as tight around Andrew’s hand. Andrew shook his head. He was already crying, he didn’t need to break down. If Richard started crying, it was game over.

Richard, like Maxwell, rarely cried. Andrew would be a goner if he broke the seal. Hell, Rose and May were already doing it.

"You don’t have to thank me for that. We-We’re brothers, Richard. I would never hurt you like that." Andrew promised lowly and Richard let out a soft breath. His hand convulsed, before the tears started falling. All hell broke loose.

May started sobbing more, Ford’s stoic facade shattered, and Rose let out a wail. Even Jordan didn’t have a dry eye. Maxwell returned, placing his hand on top of Andrew’s and Richard’s.

"You never have to go through this alone, Richard. You have our full support, and we don’t blame you. Someone else should have noticed, and for that I’m sorry." Maxwell apologised, partially as the owner, and also as a family member. Richard let out a wet laugh.

"Thank you. I don’t think they’ll let me." Richard made a small face. "I’m not going back to my apartment, am I?" He asked and Ford let out a strangled laugh.

"No way in hell." He told his son and Richard let out a sigh.

"Ah. Damn." Andrew laughed. Of course he would want his privacy. This was an awkward time.

"How are you feeling? Are we overwhelming you? You’ll be fine around Rose and Jordan, since they’re mated, but are the rest of us bothering you?" Andrew asked and watched as Richard took in a deep breath, before releasing.

"I...this is going to sound weird, but I don’t mind? I mean, I think because Andy was there when this all happened I might have...trauma bonded maybe? I don’t know, but holy moly, I didn’t know you could smell so...sweet?" Richard said, speaking to Andrew and Andrew let out a laugh. He glanced at the others, a secret smile on his lips.

"Well, I’m going to tell you something that you’re going to hate." Andrew started and Richard grew uneasy.

"Oh no. What do I smell like?" He asked, knowing where Andrew was going with this. Andrew felt a silly grin split his face.

"Guess." Andrew said and watched as the wheels tried to spin in Richard’s head, but he met nothing. It was like the gears were meeting nothing but air.

"No. There’s too many bad options." Richard told him and Andrew laughed again. Even Maxwell, when Andrew glanced at him had a little smirk on his face.

He doubted that May and Rose could smell him through their snot-filled noses, and that only made the moment even sweeter.

"Ricky, you smell like roses. Thick, cloying perfume roses." Andrew told him and a look of horror crossed his face before Rose let out a loud laugh. It was a sound that even surprised her, and everyone looked at her as she slapped a hand over her mouth, before the giggles spilled over.

"No fucking way. You’re pulling my leg." Rose accused and Maxwell spoke up, smiling softly.

"We’re very serious, and mean it. Andrew’s not wrong. I’m assuming it’s more cloying when he’s in heat, but yeah. It’s there. He kind of smells like a rose garden." Richard’s face was bright red at Maxwell’s words. He looked like he was going to throw up.

"Fuck this shit. I’m changing departments. How the hell can I change scents? Have we looked into that yet?" Richard asked, practically begging as he turned to Maxwell. Maxwell let out a laugh.

"You can try to look into it, but I’m not changing your department if I don’t have to. For now, focus on getting better and adjusting. We can talk job later down the road." Maxwell assured him, before he glanced around. "And don’t worry about where you’ll live. Andrew and I have that sorted." Maxwell said calmly. This time it was Ford and May who looked at them.

"You do? What are you going to do?" Ford asked, curious and Andrew cleared his throat.

"We bought a house. Richard is going to move in with us." Andrew said calmly, or tried to. The whole Gates family was shocked, but surprisingly, Richard was the least so. He was nodding slowly, as if that made perfect sense.

"Who else would I stay with besides the other recently manifested member of the family?" He said, and it almost sounded like a joke until you saw how serious Richard’s gaze was. Andrew was glad that he wasn’t going to have to fight him on this. Maxwell seemed pleased about that too.

They were just going to have to convince the rest of the Gates now.