Alphas and Oranges

During his three decades of life, Arthur had found himself in a plethora of unbecoming situations. From inopportune heats to eyebrow plucking mishaps, he'd had his fair share of indignities. Crouching behind a crate of oranges in a supermarket to avoid an encounter with an Alpha, however, had to be the cherry on top of the cake.

If Amelia's father would just bloody move, Arthur would be able to flee from the supermarket unnoticed. The man had been hovering around the vegetable section, rooting for the biggest potatoes, for the past five minutes, effectively blockading Arthur's only escape route.

The Alpha turned to his six year old daughter and smiled, earnest and incandescent. At the sight of it, Arthur's blood ignited and insides went warm and gooey.

He was the lowest of human beings for fancying his student's father. Single father, he should add, or unmated at the very least. A hot single dad. What a cliché Arthur was for near salivating whenever he was in close proximity of the man.

Alfred was his name. Mr. Jones to Arthur, no matter how much Alfred had insisted on the fateful parents' evening they'd met. It was bad enough Arthur referred to him as Alfred in his thoughts, it was bad enough Arthur had thoughts about Alfred frequently enough to even remember his name – the parents of students were never particularly memorable, and it was bad enough Arthur couldn't look at the Alpha without recalling the utterly depraved acts he'd imagined Alfred doing to him, with him.

The man was a walking wet dream. It was unjustifiable, Alfred may be young but he was a single father with a full-time job. He should have been greying years in advance and adding inches to his waistline. Not strutting about with rippling stomach muscles, sculpted thighs and figure-hugging jeans. What person in his position had the time to look like that? Arthur had no offspring and he didn't have time to look like that.

What would cute as a button Amelia think of her English teacher if she had any idea how terrible a person he was.

Alfred was led towards the tomatoes by his daughter's tiny hand and as soon as the Alpha had his back to Arthur, Arthur could make a break for it.

"Hey, what if we get some oranges and make our own orange juice? The sounds pretty fun, right?" Alfred suggested to Amelia, his voice closer than Arthur would have liked.

The Omega blundered to his feet to check on Alfred's whereabouts only the find himself face to face with the man.

The entirety of Arthur's body went sticky with a hot sweat.

"Oh, hey, Mr. Kirkland! Didn't see you there." Alfred glanced at the floor then back at the Omega, his lips twitching with amusement. "What were you doing on the floor?"

"Hello, Mr. Jones," Arthur said, any semblance of intelligence scuttling from his brain at Alfred's enquiry. "I dropped my – um, my… my wallet."

Quick thinking, Arthur, well done.

"It's Alfred. And isn't that your wallet there, in your pocket?"

Alfred's eyes danced with laughter. Arthur's sense of smell wasn't nearly as sharp as an Alpha's but he could still smell the laughter tainting Alfred's dizzying Alpha pheromones.

He knew, Alfred knew he had been hiding.

The hot sweat returned, blooming across his body and reddening his face.

"Oh, yes. So it is. Well, I–"

"Mr. Kirkland!" Amelia bounded towards him, her smile revealing two missing teeth. She was a lovely child. Perhaps a tad boisterous, a Beta with Alpha tendencies, but she had a heart of gold. She was one of Arthur's favourites. Not that he had favourites, of course.

"Hello, Amelia," Arthur said, sighing with relief. She'd rescued him from potentially name-changing, moving-out-of-the-country humiliation.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, rocking on the balls of her feet with excitement. Arthur supposed it was always a surreal experience, seeing a teacher outside of school – amongst the world of humans.

"Mr. Kirkland has to go grocery shopping just like everyone else, honey," Alfred said.

"Doesn't your mate come with you?" she asked.

"Hey, don't be rude," the Alpha scolded, voice gentle. Arthur had witnessed very little interaction between Alfred and Amelia but it was easy to deduct he was a good father to his child. And a good father to Arthur's children in the Omega's desperate imaginings.

"Don't worry, it's alright," Arthur interjected. "I don't have a mate, Amelia."

Amelia's forehead scrunched with bemusement. "But you're an Omega. Daddy said that Omegas need Alphas to take care of them and make them smile."

Arthur flattened his lips, his face turning stern with disapproval. "Omegas don't need Alphas, Amelia; we can take care of ourselves."

"I didn't mean it like that, it was just to help explain the difference between Alphas and Omegas," Alfred added hastily. His cheeks had flushed. It was Arthur's turn to grin; seemed like the tables had turned.

"I'm sure it was, Mr. Jones." Arthur arched a brow at the Alpha, unconvinced, and Alfred bustled about, opening his mouth to speak.

Amelia beat him to it. "You're an Alpha, daddy, can't you mate with Mr. Kirkland?"

Arthur choked on lungful of air and Alfred's face glowed with such vibrancy, Arthur was sure he could have been utilised as a beacon of some sort.

"You're supposed to say 'bond', hon, mates bond with each other." Alfred flicked his eyes to Arthur with the reticence of a schoolchild in the headmaster's office. The Alpha scrubbed the back of his neck. "Kids, huh?" he said with staggered laughter. "Uh, we'd better leave you to your shopping. It was nice talking to you, Mr. K."

"Bye bye, Mr. Kirkland!" Amelia waved enthusiastically.

"I'll see you on Monday."

The Omega felt a small smile tug at his lips as he watched Alfred's retreating back.

-/-

Arthur dismissed his class at the sound of the bell, urging them to file out of the classroom sensibly. Once the classroom was empty, he stood and began cleaning the whiteboard.

"Mr. Kirkland."

The Omega turned his head to find the source of the voice.

Just as he thought.

"Yes, Amelia?"

Amelia planted her homework on his desk, gleaming with pride.

"I finished my homework early."

Arthur chuckled with warmth, ditching the ink-blotched cloth to move towards his desk and observe Amelia's homework.

"Are you going to see my daddy again?" she questioned with an unfiltered eagerness that was to be expected from children.

Arthur's eyebrows receded into his hairline. "I will at the next parents' evening, I'm sure."

"Noooooo, I didn't mean that, sir. Don't you want to be his mate?"

"Amelia." Arthur looked at Amelia's expression of optimism, her little blond curls enhancing the overall adorableness. "That is a discussion for grown-ups. It's up to your dad who he wants to be mates with, you shouldn't ask for him."

"Daddy wants to be your mate," she said simply in return. "He said he's too scared to ask."

Arthur didn't know what to say to that.

-/-

"Hey!"

His body started as if it had come into contact with a bolt of electricity and Arthur stumbled into a deliciously hard chest. He heard the sound of the small box that had flew out of his hand collide against the floor nearby.

Arthur didn't seem to be having much luck in supermarkets as of late.

"Shit, sorry," said the stranger.

"Fucking hell! What on earth were you thinking, you utter pillock!" Arthur distanced himself from the mystery idiot and brushed himself down. His tongue burned with the acidity he was about to deliver unto the unfortunate soul that had made him jump out of his skin until he identified who said pillock was. "Mr. Jones. Oh bollocks, I'm sorry, I had no idea–"

The Alpha held his hands up in a gesture of surrender and Arthur tried not to take notice of the way his biceps bulged. To Arthur's surprise, Alfred laughed, low and deep. The sound coiled inside Arthur's stomach making Arthur curl his toes in his shoes. The power this man had over his body was disconcerting.

"Don't be sorry, that was totally my fault. I shouldn't have snuck up behind you when you were reading," Alfred conceded, reaching down to collect the box. "You go like… ten times more British when you're mad though. It's really–"

The Alpha cut himself off and eyed the box Arthur had been holding. His scent spiked with embarrassment and Arthur's must have followed when he remembered what the box had contained.

Alpha pheromone oil. For a satisfying heat.

What Arthur would do for a bottle of Alfred's scent.

"It's for my brother," Arthur supplied feebly.

Yes, for one of his five Alpha brothers. Every single one of them Alphas, even bloody Peter.

Alfred nodded, humouring Arthur. "Oh, cool."

Arthur shoved the box on the shelf closest to him and cleared his throat. "What can I do for you, Mr. Jones?"

"Well…" Alfred's body language became stiff and tense. "I was hoping I'd find you here. I have strict orders from Amelia."

The Omega frowned. "Oh? I sincerely hope you haven't sought me out on the weekend to negotiate homework."

"Nah, Amelia enjoys her homework. She definitely doesn't get that from me," Alfred said with a chuckle. "Amelia's not really the reason I'm here. It's just – I bought loads of oranges last week and I was gonna make orange juice but I don't really know how so I was wondering if you would maybe come round to mine and help me out."

Arthur tilted his head to the side as if he were regarding a dog. He'd overestimated the man's intelligence, clearly. To think Amelia had informed him Alfred was some sort of nuclear scientist or 'new-kle-ear' as she had worded it.

"I don't think it's exceedingly difficult to make orange juice–"

"Yeah, it's not," Alfred interrupted, shaking his head. "That was a really lame way to ask you on a date. I don't even have oranges anymore. I'm sorry, I suck at this. I haven't dated in a long time and my head goes kinda fuzzy whenever you're around."

Oh.

Oh.

The Omega's windpipe constricted and his next words tumbled past his lips with absurd squeakiness.

"You want to go on a date with me?" Arthur was going to need to lie down after this.

"I want to do more than that with you," Alfred said, endearing in his bashfulness. A multitude of filthy images gushed into Arthur's mind and he had to resist opening the collar of his shirt. "But a date is a good start. If you want to. I understand if you don't want to, I know that with Amelia it might be too much. But she really likes you and I'm pretty much the same – in a different way, obviously, so yeah…"

Mustering whatever confidence he had, Arthur approached Alfred, drawing in so close he had to angle his head upwards to see the Alpha. Arthur could almost taste the spicy sweetness of Alpha pheromones.

"I suppose we ought to buy some oranges then?" Arthur breathed against Alfred's lips. Lips that smothered against his, pleasantly startling Arthur. Alfred pulled Arthur against his body; the Alpha's hands eclipsing the circumference of Arthur's waist. Arthur moaned as he was backed into a shelf and his mouth was ravished. Unlike the citrus of oranges, Alfred tasted of brandy-soaked cherries and caramelised apples.

"How about we skip the oranges?"

Tumblr prompt: Teacher/single parent