Quinton was nearly giddy as he looked at his half-full suitcase. It was finally happening, after much begging and pleading and doing extra chores, and getting attacked on a football team that he really didn't want to be on. But he was sixteen now, and he was going to spend all of his spring break with his mom visiting Brittany. More importantly, he was going to get to see his mate. Nothing could get him down, not today.
He curses himself for even thinking that when the door to his bedroom crashes open and Santana bursts inside. "Can you believe him?"
Quinn rolls his eyes. Ever since their epic fight over football, Charlie and Santana aren't even talking to each other. Instead, he gets to hear Santana bitch and complain over what an idiot Charlie is while Charlie whines and moans about how he doesn't even know why Santana was mad at him. "I. Don't. Care."
But Santana starts pacing, "Doesn't he get that everything he says matters?"
Quinn frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose, he could feel a migraine coming on. He didn't even like Santana most of the time and he barely tolerated Charlie. He didn't understand how he got dragged into this shit. "I think you entered the wrong room, Charlie's room is across the hall and I'm sure he can hear you. So just go talk to him like a normal person. Now go away I'm busy—no wait before you go. Old Spice or Axe?" Quinton asked holding up the body spray.
Santana tilts her head at the question and looks at the bottles and crinkles her nose, "Neither is an option on the table right? I thought you wanted her to think that you're mature, you don't want to go smelling like a teenage boy. Why do you think I banned Charlie from using that shit?"
"Because you're a—"
"Finish that sentence and I'm not going to help," Santana threatens pointing her finger at him. When Quinn looks sufficiently cowed she smiles pleased. "So go ask to borrow the cologne I got him, it makes him see a lot more mature than he actually is. It's the Dolce and Gabbana that's on his desk. Or better yet, go buy your own. You probably won't give it back because once you see how well it works you probably won't give it back and your brother is too cheap to replace it."
Quinn nods, that was surprisingly helpful. "You're still a bitch, though." He grumbles.
Santana smirks at this, "And you're still a dick." Santana shakes her head and frowns turning so she can look at Charlie's bedroom door. "And your brother's an insensitive ass. You know what he said to me?"
"I really don't care?" Quinn repeats rolling his eyes.
"He told me in front of all the Cheerios—"
"I really don't care."
"—that I was basically a shitty alpha and that he didn't want me anymore."
That pulls Quinn up short, it doesn't sound like anything Charlie would ever say about Santana, but based on the fact that Santana is still here instead of making out with Charlie in his room means that she's not lying. "What? He wouldn't say that."
"He did." Santana insists. It would hurt if it didn't piss her off so badly. How dare he.
Quinn frowns deeply for a moment and then sighs, "Okay, what did you do?"
"Me?"
"Yes you, Charlie hasn't thrown a tantrum since he was a kid and they told him that he couldn't be in the same class as you. So obviously you did something to hurt his feelings. Once again, his door is that way." Quinn points to his bedroom door. "Just say sorry and like do that thing that you do to make him not be mad. Or you know, mate. That might fix this."
"You think I haven't tried. I'm not like you where I creepily stalk my Omega. So forgive me if I get pissed off when he insists on acting like we aren't mates. We aren't like everybody else, no matter how much Charlie likes to pretend we are." Santana frowns and tosses some of Quinn's neatly pressed clothes onto the ground so she can sit on his bed. "I don't think he wants to be mates, you think I don't know that he's getting super popular with the other alphas? I knew I should have locked that down the moment he grew up."
Quinn rolls his eyes, but grabs his clothes off the floor, "You know he wants to. It just hasn't worked out."
"Yeah, well I'm done trying. If he wants to mate he's going to have to come to me." Santana sniffed indignantly, "I'm not going to be you."
"You know after Brittany and Mike mated, my parents have ceased caring what goes on. They already know you two are having sex, badly I might add. They've known for a while, and they simply stopped punishing him for it. He's in his room right now, go yell at him. Go threaten to murder him and mess up his stuff. Just leave me out of this."
"That's just it. He is in his room. He knows I'm here. So where the fuck is he?"
Quinn pauses at that, his brow furrowing. It is true, Santana's never been in Quinn's room this long without Charlie interrupting them. He groans and puts his clothes back on his bed and grabs Santana, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her off his bed. Maybe all the insane training his dad forced him to go through was paying off. Then again Santana was short and weighed next to nothing so pulling her across the hall and opening the door to Charlie's room really was nothing. He dumps her unceremoniously on the floor of Charlie's room and looks at his twin who was currently laying on his bed in only a pair of tight boxers. "This is yours."
Charlie flicks his eyes to Santana for a moment and then turns over with a huff. "I thought I told you to leave me alone." He grumbles. It's nice that Santana wants to talk to him now, after she's had Cheerios hanging off her every single day. But he's not going to be her lapdog anymore, not when he has to wait around for scraps. He couldn't even make her jealous because all the alpha's were terrified of Santana. It wasn't fair.
Santana felt her heart beat nearly out of her chest. "No." She crosses her arms over her chest. "I'm not leaving till you tell me what the hell that was. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was? To have your omega tell the world what you're a shitty alpha? The whole school probably thinks we're broken up and that means that all the alpha's are going to start sniffing around, when you belong to me."
"Good! Maybe they won't tell me what to do, and what to wear, and tell me that I can't play sports, or try and control me." Charlie snaps. "Now get out."
"You don't mean that." Santana reasons even though she has her own doubts right now. She's the alpha, she's the one that's supposed to be reasonable.
"I do. So get out and leave me the hell alone."
"No we need to—"
"Quinn," Charlie whines immediately, turning around and flashing Quinton his pout. He doesn't want to deal with Santana right now, or ever again. He was being dramatic and his heart hurt a lot but he was tired of Santana trying to control him or protect him whatever it was that she was trying to do.
Quinton groans and takes a step forward to pull Santana out of Charlie's room when she turns on him quickly. "Touch me Quinton and I will snap your arm in two." She hisses slapping his arm away. Charlie wasn't getting out of this by using his omega charms. She turns back to Charlie. "I'm not leaving, so stop acting like a baby."
Charlie's out of his bed and standing in front of Santana in seconds, he's not really trying to intimidate her with his size even as he towers over her, he just wants her to leave. "I'm mad at you. Go away."
Santana eyed him coolly, he had been acting up for the past few months, and it was getting tiresome. It takes her a moment to realize that he's standing there in only a pair of duck boxers, probably a gift from Brittany and her lips quirk upward for a second. "I'm sorry, it's just impossible to take you seriously in those boxers."
Charlie's brow twitches at that comment and he glances down at himself, these were the only things that were clean that he had found upstairs. He hadn't yet gone to get his laundry. "I don't care I want you to leave and I—"
"And maybe I'm mad at you." Santana interrupts. "You humiliated me in front of the entire school and I'm tired of you resenting me when I'm just trying to be a good alpha."
"Maybe I don't want you to be my alpha anymore!" Charlie snaps before he can stop it. The hurt flashes across Santana's face and he frowns at this and glances away. He hates it. He hates hurting her like this and he needs to actively resist the urge to simply submit to Santana's will, to comfort her when she wanted him to.
Santana knows he doesn't mean it—at least, she thinks he doesn't mean it—but she can't stop herself from retaliating. "Well maybe I don't want you anymore either." It's a lie and she should be doing everything she can to apologize and make this better but she's tired and hurt and all she wants is to curl up with Charlie and watch movies. "Good luck finding someone who can deal with you being a two-pump chump. Maybe I can finally find someone who can satisfy me in bed."
"Good luck finding someone who can deal with you being an uptight bitch."
Santana clenches her jaw and spins on her heels. "Fine!" She spits, slamming Charlie's door shut behind her. She couldn't be here anymore and fuck her if she ever heard the name Charlie Fabray ever again.
"Fine!" Charlie shouts at the closed door, snatching a pillow off the bed and hurling it as hard as he can, trying to ignore the horrible pit in his stomach.
Quinton watched from his bedroom as Santana stormed downstairs and looked at Charlie's door for a moment before turning back to his suitcase and humming. He wasn't going to get involved.
~O~
Charlie exhaled as he quickly tussled his hair in the mirror, making sure that he looked good. He frowns and fixes his hair, he feels like one of those silly omega's who did everything in their power to attract their mate. He had never understood it, he had always had Santana. They had always seemed a bit desperate to him. It was probably why he didn't have many omega friends. They were jealous. It was the only real explanation. He had always had Santana to cuddle up with and play with. He didn't know when things had gotten so complicated between them.
Ever since she had gone through puberty, it had always been about mating. If he was being honest, it had always been about mating with Santana since day one. She had always wanted to claim him as hers. The thought made him happy, even if he wasn't sure if he was ready to mate. Not yet, he was always going to be Santana's mate, he knew that but he never understood the rush. It made him nervous, and when he was nervous it made sex difficult.
But the idea of Santana controlling every aspect of his life, what he ate, what sports he played, how he dressed and his haircuts bothered him. He didn't mind looking sexy for Santana, but he liked the smell of axe, he liked wearing ripped clothes that maybe needed a trip to the washing machine. Maybe he was a bit of a slob sometimes, but sometimes it felt like Santana thought he was just an omega who would follow her every whim and desire, like he didn't have his own thoughts and wants.
But that was behind them, today, they were going to make up. His dad was working late, his mom and Quinton had already touched down in New York. They had the whole house to themselves for once. They could make up. Sometime the best part of fighting was knowing that the two of them would make up. A goofy smile crosses his face for a moment. Making up was the best.
He strides confidently down the hall where all the alphas had their locker assignments. He's almost to Santana's locker when he stops and furrows his brow in confusion. It must be that Santana is distracted, because she hasn't noticed him yet and she's searching through her messy locker for something. He could watch her for hours if it weren't for the omega leaning against the locker beside Santana with a predatory smile on her face. He's noticed her before, but he knows that look and it fills him with an emotion he's not sure he can place. "Santana."
She snaps her head toward him. He sees a flurry of emotions cross her face in a flash before her eyes narrow and her gaze hardens. "What do you want?" She scoffs with a mask of indifference that he's never had directed at him before.
"I—" He gulps, taking a step back.
The omega puts a reassuring hand on Santana's elbow and Charlie feels his blood boil. "I think you should go." She smiles to him politely.
"We're going to be late for practice Santana, you know how Sue gets."
Charlie gritted his teeth, giving Santana a pointed look. "Let's go."
Santana shrugs off random Cheerio number five's hand but returns Charlie's look with one of her own. "You heard her, I have practice." She bites down on the urge to take Charlie to the nearest empty classroom and bond with him right then. He didn't want her, he's made that abundantly clear. Now she'll just have to salvage the protection their popularity has provided to them on her own. She couldn't afford to skip practice, not now that the whole school was talking about them.
"You didn't care that I had practice all last year. You can miss one practice." He dismisses. "Let's go."
Santana arches her brow at his uncharacteristic demand. He's being pretty mouthy for having been such an asshole. "You weren't battling a coup with the Cheerios because your boyfriend told the whole school you were a bad alpha. So shut the hell up and let me try to salvage my life."
"You have been a shitty alpha," Charlie insists watching as Santana scowls at this. "I'm going to trip and fall down, I don't need you padding the ground for me when I fall so I don't scrape my god damn knee. I scraped my knee, I'll live. I break my wrist, again, I'll live. You're not protecting me, you're suffocating me and instead of listening to me, you're getting hurt and letting desperate omega's hang all off you. So you know what, go to your damn practice. I'm going home by myself, and when school starts up after break. I'll stay on my side of the school and you stay on yours. You can have all the desperate omega's you want. I don't care anymore." Charlie turns to the random Cheerio. "Enjoy." With that he turns around and storms off. Of all the times for his mom to leave him alone, now was the worst possible time. Alpha's sucked.
He half expects Santana to follow him, but he's already waiting at the bus stop when he figures out that she's not coming to talk to him. He swallows feeling a lump in his throat, and he shakes his head and decides to skip going home and walk the three miles to his dad's office. Maybe by then, he'll feel better about all of this.
~O~
Russell glances over at his son who is moping in the corner of his office. He finally gives up and dials the number he's been avoiding for the last hour. "Judy, you have to help me." He whispers urgently when his wife answers.
"With what?" Judy smirks. He may have been an idiot by assuring her that he could handle one teenaged boy for a long weekend. Clearly he had been wrong.
"Charlie's here in my office. Just—he's just sitting there. What do I do?"
"First, you should probably remember that he can hear you."
Russell shakes his head, not remembering that Judy can't quite see him. "No, he's wearing his earbuds and looking miserable. But he finished all his homework and he's just—sad."
He can practically feel Judy's frown. She had been worried that by taking Quinn to visit Brittany, Charlie and Santana would be mated before her flight even landed. He had been ready for that, prepared for that. But this? He has no idea. "They must be fighting, then." She concludes.
"Oh." Russell scratches his head and turns to look at Charlie again. Well, Santana and Charlie fought and made up, like clockwork. They were getting at that age where they should be considering becoming mates.
"You should talk to him. He's probably seeking comfort, and you're an alpha who for the most part hasn't let him down. Find out what's going on his life, find out what's going wrong with him and Santana. He's sixteen and Santana's turning sixteen in like three weeks and there is no one at home right now. So it must have been a big fight."
"Maybe you should talk to him, this seems like something you'd be better at than I would," Russell grumbles and sighs when Judy doesn't say anything. Even if she was in New York he could feel the look she was giving him. "Fine I'll talk to him. But if he doesn't want to talk then he doesn't want to talk."
"Then I'll talk to him, but only if he seems reluctant to talk." Judy insists. "But give him some food and he'll probably open up."
"Right." Russell nods. "I can do that." He sighs and hangs up the phone. He opens his desk and pulls out a few used menus and moves towards his son dumping them on his lap. It's enough to get Charlie to pull out his headphones. "Since you're here, why don't you pick out dinner for us to eat."
Charlie fiddles with the menus for a moment before reaching for his phone to switch off the music, noticing that he had fifty missed calls. He ignored them and flipped his phone over before his dad could see. He didn't want to talk to Santana, he didn't even want to think about her right now. "Mom said to tell you that she made us enough food to last for two weeks."
"Your mom isn't here right now and I'm not eating her casserole, your mom is an excellent cook but casseroles are not her thing." Russell said grabbing one of the menus. "I'm in the mood for cheap Chinese food. You?"
Charlie shrugged. "I'm not really hungry."
Russell raised a brow, this really was more Judy's thing. But even he knew that something was clearly eating at Charlie. "Girl troubles?"
"Dad."
"Yeah, we've all been there. You want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Well, your mom thinks I should bribe you with food to get you to talk. Even though this is more your mom's thing."
"It really is," Charlie comments off-handedly. He doesn't want to talk to his dad about this.
Russell grunts at this, he'd show them. "You two have been fighting a lot, it makes sense. You're both becoming individuals and part of the reason that we insisted on the two of you waiting was because you're both still growing as people. You two are an anomaly. No one finds their mate that young and there wasn't much we could do. Keeping you two apart was difficult and irritating, and you both seemed happy so what were we supposed to do?" Charlie looks away for a moment. "It's not as easy as it once was is it?"
Charlie was quiet for a moment, "Santana's a jerk," he finally mutters and picks up the menus.
"Santana has always been a little shit. So has Quinton, in fact most alpha's are basically little shits. Brittany seems to be the exception to that rule and even then she has her moments." This finally brings a smile to Charlie's lips and Russell relaxes. He loved his kids but between the three of them, he had less of a problem with Charlie's attitude then he did with Brittany and Quinton. "You want to tell me why she's a jerk?"
"I called her a shitty alpha, cause that's what she's being." Charlie finally admits turning to look at his father. When he doesn't say anything. "She's not listening to me, and I'm tired of her not caring about what I want to do. She doesn't care if I have something to do because she's the alpha and she gets to boss me around. I don't mind her being bossy, she's always been bossy but she wouldn't even miss one practice for me so we could talk." Charlie waves his hands frustrated. "She used to care about what I wanted to do but now she doesn't and she has all these stupid desperate omega's hanging all over her—and I wanted to make her jealous but all the other alpha's won't go near me because Santana's scary when she's pissed off. So I don't want her to be my alpha anymore."
Russell waits while Charlie takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Well that certainly explained why the two of them had been fighting more and more. "Well, not to take Santana's side on the matter but I am an alpha so I do see where she's coming from, just like I know where you're coming from as well. It's in our nature to protect our omega's. She's doing what she thinks is best and yes it's terribly constricting for most omega's but you've seen Maribel's relationship with Carlos, and you see my relationship with your mother. Your mother doesn't take my shit and Carlos doesn't seem to take Maribel's shit. You've been following Santana around since you were three doing everything she asked without question until you were a teenager. It's likely that Santana doesn't quite know how to react to this hence why she's being more demanding than usual."
"Yeah well that doesn't explain why she's got omega's all over her."
"No, you're right it doesn't," Russell sighed and patted Charlie's shoulder. The words don't seem to make a difference and he sighs. "Come on let's get out of here."
Charlie frowns and looks at his dad. "Where are we going?"
Russell smirks, Judy had said to bribe him. "You'll see."
~O~
Santana resisted the urge to throw her phone against the wall, she had no idea where Charlie was. He wasn't answering his phone, he had changed his password on his account so she couldn't track him. She had walked out to his house and banged on the door for hours, but he simply wasn't home. She had tried to call Quinton to force the issue but Quinton, the dick, was ignoring her to play house with his damn hobbit. They had been apart before, all those times she was in Puerto Rico visiting family, but nothing like this. They had still talked as much as they could.
This was different, she could tell it was different. Charlie was never really the person to stay angry and hold a grudge for more than two days. This had gone on all through spring break. It didn't help that Sue was on a warpath with nationals coming up.
Had she really been such a terrible alpha that he didn't even want to talk to her? She had thought they were just fighting, but maybe Charlie meant it. Maybe he wanted someone better. She fights the burning tears that threaten to pool in her eyes at the thought. She's not going to cry, especially not over this. Charlie had just been her mate, the only person who she ever trusted really loved her.
She rubs her eyes, alpha's didn't cry and she hated babies. She wasn't going to be a baby about this. She took a deep breath and looked in the mirror to reapply her makeup. If Charlie didn't want her anymore, she was just going to have to try harder. Maybe Charlie was right and she was a shitty alpha, but she could fix it. All she had to do was improve herself. She could do it.
She frowns, putting her mascara back on the counter as she ponders thoughtfully. Charlie's favorite part of her was her breasts. She had always been proud of them, but maybe they weren't enough anymore. Her frown fades as an idea strikes her. She can fix this, because maybe she wasn't enough for Charlie anymore but if she fixed this then he wouldn't be able to resist her.
She turns quickly, pulling out her phone to search for the nearest plastic surgeon. She almost books an appointment at Lima General but stops herself. She can't go anywhere that her dad might find out before it happens. Congratulating herself on her plan she searches for the closest plastic surgeon outside of Allen county.
She calls and quickly makes an appointment, using the house phone as her parent's contact information. It's not like they are ever home to check it, and it definitely wouldn't be the first time that she forged her Mom's signature. She would probably have to skip school to make the appointment, it was probably a good thing that she hadn't been to a Spanish class in ages. She'd have to get a taxi or an Uber to take her though. Maybe she could bully Quinton into taking her. He had his license and occasionally was allowed to drive Brittany's car around. Now all she had to do was convince him to pick up his damn phone.
