So, this is just completely self-indulgent. I read a great Jess/Dean fic recently, so it made me want to write one, then for some reason I wanted it to be ABO. Characters are out of character, and it's not set at a particular time, but I've pulled things from cannon for the story. Could do a sequel if anyone is interested Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Dean let out a groan as he was practically shoved out of the diner by an irate Luke.
"I didn't even do anything!" he tried to argue, like Luke actually cared what he had to say.
All Luke or anyone seemed to care about was Rory and because they'd broken up it had to of course be his fault! Even though it was Rory who had broken up with him.
All because he'd dared to tell her his secret, one he thought he could trust her with… Unfortunately, the fact that Dean was an omega was a little too much for her to handle. Omega and omega relationships were unusual but not unheard of and male omegas were rare but not a complete oddity, there wasn't one that he was aware of in Stars Hollow, aside from him. But, Rory didn't want an omega, she wanted an alpha. When they had started dating, that's what she thought she was getting. He couldn't exactly blame her, even though he wore suppressants to hide his scent, everyone assumed he was an alpha just from his size. He thought that what they had was deeper than secondary genders, but he'd clearly been wrong. Thankfully, she'd kept her word and not told anybody else.
He let out a weary sigh, ignoring the ache in his chest as he went to Doose's to try and find something for lunch, seeing as how he couldn't get something from the diner.
People stared at him everywhere he went, it made his skin crawl, but he did his best to ignore it. He hadn't done anything wrong, no matter what everyone in this crazy town thought. He was fine, dammit. Even if it had been weeks and it seemed like nothing was getting better.
He turned down an aisle and ran smack bang into a hard chest, he looked up from where he'd been staring at his shoes to find Jess Mariano's annoying smirk looking back at him.
"Well, hello there, Lurch, fancy seeing you here" Jess grinned haughtily, moving to stand in Dean's way as he tried to get past.
"Jess" Deam grumbled, not in the mood for the other at the moment.
"Just picking up a few things for a picnic with Rory" Jess said lightly, clearly trying to rub it in. "You remember Rory, don't you? She's the one who used to spend time with you but now spends time with me."
Dean flinched away, his inner omega howling in misery and loneliness. Other omega has alpha chasing her, why not us?
Maybe Jess could sense something was amiss, because he hesitated.
"Whatever" Dean grumbled, desperate to get out of the situation he barged past Jess, ignoring the scent of leather and lemon grass that clung to the other male. Jess didn't follow him for which he was grateful.
He didn't care if Rory was dating again, fine, whatever. But did it have to be rubbed in his face and did it have to be Jess Mariano of all people.
The cocky alpha had breezed into town turning the place on its head before he immediately set his sights on Rory. They had still been dating at the time, but the pair had been annoyingly close, now it looked like things had gone their natural way and Jess loved taking every opportunity to gloat.
Dean didn't feel like going home, so he walked through the park, finding a shady tree to sit beneath. Maybe he should just come off the suppressants, he thought. It's an idea he'd been playing with for a while but had always decided against it as there was a stigma against omega's in sports even if it was illegal to discriminate against them. Coaches and teams who didn't want omegas playing with them soon found other ways to get rid of them.
He didn't want that, so every time he'd thought about coming out, he'd changed his mind.
He turned his face away as Patty walked past and glared at him, fighting back the small whine that threatened to escape.
He pulled out a book from his bag and began to read, trying to distract himself. Contrary to what most of the town and Jess thought, he wasn't stupid, and he did like to read. Just because he didn't read constantly or have long in-depth discussions about obscure novels didn't mean he didn't enjoy it.
He looked up when he felt eyes on him, groaning as he saw Jess and Rory settling down to their picnic together across the park. Jess was looking at him but thankfully it seemed like Rory hadn't noticed him yet. There was no way he wanted to sit here and deal with that, so with a weary sigh he stood up and chucked his book back in his bag, holding back a sniffle as his stomach rumbled. Today was just not his day. Time to head home.
He didn't look back at Jess and Rory as he left.
Clara gave him lots of cuddles when he got home, helping to soothe the ache of rejection that was snapping at his heels from the behaviour of the whole town. By the time he went to bed he was almost feeling back to normal. Almost.
The next day he had to work, he tied on his apron and plastered on a smile, determined not to let everybody get to him. He worked hard, ignoring customers unless they needed his help with something, the day was looking up until he heard a loud huff from behind him. He slowly turned around to find Lorelai Gilmore facing him, arms crossed and foot tapping.
"What did you do to Rory?"
He turned back to where he was stocking the shelves.
"Nothing" Dean said wearily.
"Well, you clearly did something. She hasn't been herself for weeks and now she's going out on dates with Jess! What did you do!?"
He couldn't believe she had the gall to come in and shout at him at his workplace, of course she did, she's Lorelai Gilmore.
"Like I said, I didn't do anything. Rory broke up with me. Who she now dates is none of my business."
Lorelai stomped her foot.
"You must've done something! This isn't like Rory."
"It's really none of your business" Dean snapped, so bloody tired of this whole situation.
"Rory is my business!" Lorelai snapped.
"You know what" Dean snapped, finally losing his temper. "She was the one with the problem, she broke up with me, not the other way around. I'm getting a little tired of everyone in this town treating me like a pariah when I was literally nothing but good to Rory!"
Lorelai looked taken aback for a moment, but Dean decided not to stick around to find out what she was going to say next.
He pulled off his apron and threw it on the shelf, I'm going on my lunch break he shouted to Taylor as he stormed out of the store and away from all the watching eyes. No doubt this would be the latest topic of gossip for the next week.
Footsteps hurrying behind had him swinging around ready to face down an irate Lorelai but instead he found Jess, looking awkward. He huffed and spun back around not in the mood for any more shit today.
"Hey, Dean, wait up." Jess said, walking along behind him. "I just heard what happened with Lorelai."
Dean snorted, "yeah you and the whole bloody town."
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay" Jess said, reaching out and grabbing hold of Deans arm to prevent any further attempts at escape.
The contact had an involuntary whine slipping out, his emotions heightened from the fight and the weeks of drama. He froze, eyes widening as Jess's mouth fell open in surprise and his hand involuntarily clenched down on his arm.
Dean yanked his arm away, striding away before Jess could say anything else. It was starting to become a thing. He did three laps around the town square before he felt calm enough to return to work. Thankfully Lorelai was gone, and Taylor actually looked mildly concerned.
"Okay, Dean?" he asked, and Dean was oddly touched by the show of concern.
He cleared his throat but then just ended up nodding.
Taylor nodded back at him, and Dean returned to what he'd previously been doing. The shop was quiet, and it helped to calm his nerves.
A knock on his front door that night had him frowning in surprise as he opened it to find Jess standing on the other side. He looked behind him, confused for a moment.
"Yes?"
Jess shuffled his feet, looked at him then looked away.
"Just wanted to check you were alright?" Jess asked and Dean just stared at him, in dumb silence.
"What?" he asked in confusion.
Jess sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
"Look, I know we haven't exactly gotten along" Jess started, and Dean's frown deepened.
"You've gone out of your way to antagonise me from the moment you arrived."
Jess shrugged, "fair. But still I thought it was pretty shit what Lorelai did to you today."
Dean looked away, it had been shit. Clara had come home saying people were already talking about it when she was walking back from her friend's place.
"So, not okay" Jess said quietly. Dean just shrugged.
Jess reached out, pulled his hand back before reaching out again and resting it on Deans shoulder. His omega went wild at the contact, just like it had when Jess had touched him earlier that day. His whole body started to relax, and he slouched a little, leaning into Jess's hand. Another hand reached out and rubbed along his cheek.
"Hey, you're alright" Jess said quietly.
Dean sniffed, leaning back out of Jess's hold, no matter how much he wanted to stay there.
"Yeah, course I am. Thanks for stopping by" he said softly before slowly closing the door.
Dean made his way upstairs, feeling calmer and more relaxed, he crawled under his blankets and tried to ignore the scent that still clung to his skin.
Things got a little better after that. He's not sure if someone told the town to leave him alone, but the blatant hostility eased, and Dean felt like he could breathe a little easier again.
"Don't you ever get tired of being asked to reach for shit off the top shelf?"
Dean turned at the voice and rolled his eyes as he saw a smirking Jess standing next to him.
"You're just jealous cause no one would ask you to."
"Ouch, a height joke. Guess I deserve that after all the times I've called you Lurch."
"Did you need something off the top shelf?" Dean asked with feigned sincerity and Jess grinned.
"Nope. I'm good. Just wanted to make sure Lorelai wasn't starting any fights in the grocery store again."
Dean was oddly touched by the sentiment.
"No more than usual."
Jess snorted. "You hungry?"
"What?" Dean asked, in confusion.
"Are you hungry? Like for food. It's nearly lunch time, thought we could go grab something to eat from Lukes."
Dean looked down. "Luke won't let me in there anymore."
"Come again?" Jess asked, clearly not understanding.
"Luke. He doesn't let me come in the diner anymore since Rory and I broke up. I guess he thinks it will upset her if she sees me there."
Jess blinked.
"Right" he said slowly. "That's pretty messed up. We could go upstairs to eat, problem solved."
Dean still looked reluctant, but Jess had grabbed his hand and was pulling him out of Dooses and towards Lukes. They completely ignored Lukes outraged cry as Jess dragged him through the diner and up the stairs, bursting into laughter as they closed the door behind them.
"Oh, Luke is going to be so pissed at you" Dean laughed, and Jess shrugged his shoulders, pulling things out of the fridge to make something to eat.
"He's always pissed about something."
Dean took a seat, watching as Jess threw together some sandwiches and placed them on the table. He glanced around the room, having never been upstairs at Lukes before. He liked it, it was cosy and had a well-loved feel about it. An overflowing bookshelf caught his eye, and he wondered if it was a recent purchase for Jess or if Luke was a reader as well.
Jess turned to see what he was looking at, a small grin breaking out on his face.
"I saw you at the park reading. I thought you were just there to try to interrupt my picnic with Rory, but you left as soon as you saw us."
Dean shrugged, picking up a sandwich and starting to eat.
"I like to go to the park to read sometimes, it's quiet there and I hadn't been having a good day."
Jess looked down at his own sandwich.
"Look man, I'm sorry… about all that."
"It's fine, no different to how everybody else in the town was treating me" Dean mumbled watching as Jess grimaced at that.
"What were you reading?" Jess asked, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, nothing too interesting" Dean said, his cheeks lighting up in a blush.
"What, was it some lit porn" Jess laughed, and Dean blushed harder.
"No. Just wasn't some fancy book by some obscure author like you like to read."
Jess actually laughed at that, "are you calling me a snob?"
Dean grinned a little, "definitely."
Jess looked at him expectantly.
"It's actually Jurassic Park, I saw the movie and really enjoyed it so thought I would read the book to see how it compares" Dean looked down, knowing Jess would think it was stupid.
"Hey, I'm not actually some book snob," Jess said softly. "Is it any good?"
Dean lit up a bit, "yeah actually, it's really good. Different to the movie though."
"They usually are" Jess laughed.
"I can lend it to you, when I'm done?" Dean said, the felt embarrassment flush through him again, of course someone like Jess wouldn't want to read Jurassic Park.
"Yeah? You'd trust me with your book?"
Dean made a show of thinking about it. "Hmm, you do seem the unsavoury type, maybe not."
Jess rolled his eyes the corner of his lip pulling up.
"Scouts honour, I'll take good care of it."
"I'll think about it."
They continued eating their lunch quietly until the door banged open and an irate Luke stormed in, Dean jumped at the noise but a hand on his wrist had him settling back down in his seat.
"What is he doing here!?" Luke growled, pointing aggressively at Dean.
"What does it look like?" Jess snarked, "we're having lunch."
Luke spluttered.
"He shouldn't be anywhere near here, I banned him!"
"Banned him for what exactly?"
Dean wanted to get up and leave but Jess's hand held him anchored, unable to pull away.
"It might upset Rory if she see's him here!"
Jess rolled his eyes. "Rory's a big girl, she'll be fine."
"Out, I want him out!"
"This is my home too; I'm allowed to have people over" Jess growled.
"People, yes. Not him."
"It's fine Jess, I'll just go" Dean said, starting to feel uncomfortable between the two arguing alphas.
Jess scowled but stood up, releasing Dean so he could do the same.
"Why don't you try growing up!" Jess sneered and Dean thought this was his time to make a quick exit.
"Thanks for lunch" he said quickly, ducking out the door and ignoring the raised voices that echoed behind him.
Strange, he had just had what could be classified as a normal conversation with Jess Mariano. The other had even apologised! He wondered if a head injury had been involved.
It became a semi regular thing over the next few weeks, Jess would drop by to visit him at work, or they'd run into each other in town and walk for a bit, talk. Jess had even stopped by his house again, he didn't come in, but they sat out on the porch and complained about the recent history assignment they'd been given and how they couldn't wait for school to finish soon. It was nice.
This was the first time Dean was reaching out to Jess first though. He had his number but hadn't contacted him, Jess never did, just turned up, so he thought he'd do the same. Jess said Luke had eased up on having Dean in the diner, but he hadn't tried it yet and he really didn't want the embarrassment if Luke tried to kick him out again. He paced the walkway down from Lukes a few times, getting closer and then walking away.
Argh why was he so nervous.
Eventually he realised he was being an idiot and marched into Lukes, head held high and a look of determination on his face. The older man frowned at him when he walked in but didn't yell and didn't try to kick him out. He wondered if he had Jess to thank for that.
"Jess?"
Luke just nodded to the door that led upstairs.
He made his way up, knocking before entering to let Jess know he was there.
No one answered for a moment, so he knocked again. He briefly wondered if Luke had been wrong, and Jess wasn't even home. Footsteps quickly disproved that idea. The door flew open to show a very confused looking Jess.
Confusion giving way to surprise in an instant.
"I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone knock on that door the whole time I've been here" Jess said as he moved to the side to let Dean in.
Dean chuckled, "happy to be the first."
They walked through the apartment, "Luke will be up soon, lets go to my room."
Dean nodded, following Jess until they came to a small, rather spartan room.
The scent of leather and lemon grass hit him in the face as he entered, and he felt himself go weak at the knees at the scent. It was Jess's room, so naturally it would smell like him, but still Dean hadn't been expecting it. His omega whined in happiness, wanting to roll around in the scent until they were covered, marked, claimed, by this alpha.
He stumbled over to the bed and tried to sit normally but basically just collapsed onto the end, fighting the urge to bury his face in the covers. He tried to take a few deep breaths to steady himself but that only made things worse. The intoxicating scent filling his senses, making everything slightly hazy.
Jess sat down on the bed beside him, as Dean blinked several times. "Well, this is an unexpected surprise."
"I finished Jurassic Park" Dean managed to force out, "thought I'd bring it round. You said you wanted to read it when I was done."
Jess took the book, "yeah, thanks. What'd you think of it?"
"Think I preferred it to the movie actually."
Jess nodded like he had expected nothing less.
"I'll give it back when I'm done."
Dean smiled, his eyes drooping a little. "No rush."
Jess sat the book on his nightstand.
"Hey, you got any plans for the weekend?"
"Just working on Saturday during the day, why?"
Jess shrugged, "thought we could go to the movies or something Saturday night, if you weren't busy."
"I'm not busy" Dean said.
"Great, so movies?"
"Sure."
Dean rubbed his hands over his face, he had started to lean closer to Jess.
"I better get going, feeling a bit tired."
"Yeah, of course. Ah, thanks for bringing the book around."
Dean nodded as he slowly shuffled towards the door, breathing a little easier when they were out of Jess' room.
"I'll pick you up at six on Saturday night."
"See you then" Dean said, his heart beating a little faster at the thought.
He spent the next few days wondering if this was a date. He knew logically that it wasn't, Jess and he had formed a somewhat friendship, going to the movies with a friend is what most people do. The compelling argument did nothing to quell the tiny spark inside that wanted it to be a date. That wanted this alpha.
He was therefore very surprised when he opened the door on Saturday night to find not only Jess, but also Rory standing on his doorstep. He took an involuntary step back. What was happening?
"I ran into Rory, and she mentioned really wanting to see this movie, so I invited her along. Hope that's ok?"
Jess looked tense while Rory gave an awkward little wave and Dean felt his insides shrivel into nothing. He realised they were waiting for him to speak.
"Oh, yeah, I guess that's fine."
It wasn't, he wanted to go back inside. He can't believe that any part of him had thought that Jess had been trying to ask him out on a date. Now he was being forced to third wheel it with his ex and… and Jess.
He slowly closed the door behind him, walking down the stairs as he avoided both Rory and Jess' gaze.
"Look, I'm sorry" Rory said before they had even reached the car.
"I kinda sprung this on Jess, forced him to invite me because I wanted to speak to you, and I didn't think you would want to speak to me."
Dean glanced up cautiously, she was probably right.
"So, this was your solution?"
He looked at Jess, who was rolling his shoulders and bunching his fists in agitation.
"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. Sorry about how things ended with us and that I didn't speak up for you when the town was being horrible. I didn't realise how bad it was until Jess told me."
Dean shot a betrayed look at Jess who had the decency to flinch, before he focused back on Rory.
"I've had some time to think, and I know I reacted poorly. I- I just hadn't been expecting it and wasn't sure what I wanted."
"You made it pretty clear that you didn't want me" Dean croaked, why were they going through this again?
"That's it though" Rory said, "I think I might still want you. I mean, I'd still like to give it a go. Us a go."
Dean stared at her blankly.
"No thanks" he said voice rough as he watched Rory recoil in shock. "I want someone who wants to be with me, the fact that I'm an omega should be an afterthought."
"I hadn't ever thought of being with another omega before" Rory said defensively. "I didn't know how to handle the idea."
"That ok" Dean said wearily. "You're allowed to feel that way. And I'm allowed not to want to be with someone who dumped me because I'm an omega."
He spun away from her, catching Jess staring at him with open shock. He turned and hurried back inside his house, slamming and locking the door behind him.
Screw them both.
He half expected the town to have turned on him again by the next morning, what with the towns constant need to come to Rory's aid, but thankfully there was just the usual level of small-town nosiness directed at him.
He let out a small sigh of relief, heading to the hockey fields. He didn't have a game but was keen to run some drills and forget about all the drama over the past few weeks. The cool air on his face had him smiling as he ran some laps to warm up. He got out his stick and a ball and began practising some of the manoeuvres coach had been going through during practice.
He stayed for hours, until he was exhausted and his mind weary, before he made his way back home. Trying to ignore the part of him that was hoping Jess would be waiting for him on his doorstep.
He wasn't.
Of course he wasn't, now he knew that Dean was an omega, he probably didn't even want to be friends with him anymore.
He stomped up to his room, throwing his door open before stopping short at the sight before him. Jess sitting on his bed, reading Jurassic Park.
Dark eyes looked up at him as Dean just stood and stared.
"Your mum let me in."
Dean nodded dumbly slowly entering the room, chucking his hockey stuff down and closing the door behind him.
"I can't believe this Dr Hammond" Jess said, waving the book around and Dean relaxed minutely.
"I know. Talk about the villain of the story."
"Right" Jess exclaimed, eyes trailing over Dean, and he realised what a mess he must look.
Jess hesitated. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't know what Rory was going to do, she just begged me to help."
He shrugged and Jess stood up.
"It made me so… angry, the thought of her even being close to you. Being anywhere near you."
Dean glanced up, staring into fathomless dark eyes as Jess took a step closer.
"Even before I knew you were an omega, and that she'd been stupid enough to break up with you over it."
"She wasn't stupid, I just wasn't what she was looking for."
"I haven't been able to stop looking at you from the moment I arrived."
Dean's eyebrows furrowed, "you mean you couldn't take your eyes off Rory."
"No, I only noticed Rory because of her proximity to you, and only in a she's kinda cool, way."
"Why were you always being so rude to me then?" Deans asked in confusion.
Jess just shrugged and took a step closer, "wanted your attention but didn't think you'd be interested. When I saw Lorelai yelling at you that day in the store, you looked so forlorn I figured I had to try."
Dean's mind was whirring.
"So, what, you like me?"
A small grin tugged up at the corner of Jess's mouth.
"Is that so hard to believe?"
Dean rubbed his hands through his hair, "sorta, yeah. It doesn't bother you that I look like this?"
Jess scowled, "you look gorgeous and fuck anyone who ever made you feel that you weren't."
Dean flushed crimson at that.
"But I'm so much taller than you, way too tall for an omega" Dean stammered as Jess stepped right up into his personal space.
"Perfect for when I need something off the top shelf."
He started to laugh, but then Jess was leaning in and capturing his lips in a soft kiss. Electricity raced through his body, and he reached out, fingers thredding through soft hair as he pulled Jess even closer, deepening the kiss with a small moan. The scent of Jess as intoxicating as he remembered.
"I like you too" Dean said quietly as they pulled away, foreheads pressed together and lips so close they were breathing the same air.
"I kinda figured" Jess laughed, leaning back in for another kiss.