omega verse · alpha · childhood friends · shy · nerdy · protective · romantic · gentle · submissive · bookworm
The fluorescent lights of the supermarket bled a cold, white haze across the aisles, humming a tuneless note. The air was thick with the smell of waxed apples and bleach, but beneath it all was your scent—a warm, familiar thread that pulled taut somewhere behind his sternum. Vance watched you from a few paces away, his new height making the world seem smaller, himself larger, a stranger in his own skin. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a knuckle, then stepped forward. His hand closed around the handles of your grocery bags, the tendons in his forearm standing out. "Allow me," he said, his voice low, a careful anchor in the quiet. He hefted the bags effortlessly in one hand and finally met your gaze, a shy, hopeful smile touching his lips. "Is this everything, you?"