Rated T. A/B/O Dynamics. Drama/Humor.

Jackson is not eavesdropping... but the conversation is about him so it wouldn't be wrong even if he were.

The Real Question

Jackson wasn't eavesdropping.

"And you're sure that's what you smelled?" Danny's voice floated up the stairs from the kitchen through a vent beside which Jackson stood listening to the conversation with a small amount of concentration.

Okay…so, he was kind of eavesdropping.

In his defense, they were talking about him, so he totally had a right to do it.

"Oh yeah!" Jesse snorted. There was some shuffling, some banging pans, and what Jackson thought might be an antacid related curse. "It's more potent now, ever since Michelle brought him back the other day."

"Yeah…" Joey drawled out, his words half-sigh, "We probably should have considered that he might be missing his dad with all this stuff. I mean, I didn't get along well with mine at his age, but I don't know how I would've handled my alpha development without him."

"Pam always said the same thing about her mother," Danny agreed, "Michelle had Becky at least." All three men went quite for a moment and Jackson scowled at the wall.

He was handling all this presentation stuff pretty damn well, thank you very much. He'd only had the one fever and the one fight, there was no way they could blame the Fuller visit and all this Michelle drama on the alpha stuff either.

Even pre-presentation Jackson would have wanted to kick his other grandparents out. The alpha command just made it easier was all.

"DJ says he's been coping okay," Jesse pipped up, voice forceful, "And him smelling like burnt peppers isn't that worrying, just means he's on edge."

Yeah! You tell 'em Uncle Jesse! Jackson was fine. He was just stressed, that was totally understandable!

Joey chuckled, "Seriously Jesse? If it were just me, I'd agree with you, but you're an omega remember?"

"No, really?!" Jesse snapped. Jackson smirked, picturing the eye roll perfectly. "I'd forgotten my own designation there for a minute, Joey, thank you."

"I just mean that alphas *usually* smell bitter to other alphas." Joey huffed, "Aren't we suppose to smell like sunshine and rainbows for omegas?"

Jesse made an exaggerated choking noise, "You wish!" Jackson heard a towel snap before a chorus of laughs filtered up through the vent.

Laughter always echoed off the metal longer than the words. There was probably some poetic reason for that, but it really just meant Jackson had to strain harder to hear the next bit.

"If you can both smell it though, maybe we should talk to DJ about it?" Danny spoke in a hushed sort of whisper and Jackson wrinkled his nose at his grandfather's attempt at subtlety. Very inconvenient.

"It could just be the extra alphas around," Joey said with a hopeful bounce in his voice. "Me, Becky, Michelle. He's use to this being an almost exclusively beta house ya know."

Jackson didn't need to hear them to know that Uncle Jesse and his grandfather were both giving Joey a disbelieving look. He even had to agree with the sentiment.

Not that he'd admit that.

Ramona's presence was only distracting when it was…well…very present. She was in her room now, probably asleep like the rest of the house, and he was only vaguely aware of her breathing pattern and her heart rate and the way her annoyance was giving her scent a more acidic smell and…

Okay. Yeah. Maybe he was a little overaware of Ramona. At all times. It was just because she was an omega, and they had that scent bond thing.

Although… he had zero idea what Uncle Jesse's heart rate was, even as he listened to him tease Joey about his obliviousness.

And Popko's research said that scent marking could be a platonic thing. If he wanted, Jackson could use it to keep track of his brothers too.

Ramona's scent was still lacquered in that honey-like sweetness that made Jackson sweat. He rubbed a hand absently over his neck, felt the heat from his own body.

Two days on from that impulsive kiss, this was the third night he'd woken up sticky with her scent clouding his head.

He'd washed his sheets four times. There was zero chance it had lingered through all of that detergent.

"The real question…" Jesse's voice caught Jackson's attention again, "…is whether this is an alpha issue or just a teenager issue."

Jackson would love to know the answer to that, yeah. He had a sneaking suspicion the two were not completely unrelated though.

"His alpha scent is strong and lingering," Joey said. His voice rang through the vent clearly, "Either way, he's working himself up. It's only a matter of time till he rages. And that's specifically an alpha problem."

Wait... rages? Jackson knew alphas could get aggressive - it was a favored stereotype for a reason - but no one had said a thing about rages.

Jackson checked his phone. It was 4am. Google first, Popko later then.

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