Chapter 223

"You should take the rest of the day off, boss." Jennie suggests with a wide smile, leaning over the counter.

Hayden quirks a small smile at this. "Shouldn't I be telling you that?"

"Well, I'm not the one recently engaged, you should go surprise Virgil or something." She grins wider.

Hayden averts his face, laughing at how blunt she was. "Fine, I wanted to give you a spare key anyway, I feel like you deserve it." He agrees, knowing she wasn't going to let off unless she's had her way.

They were having a slow day anyway, nothing the bubbly Werewolves couldn't handle, and the thought of going to a quiet house and possibly getting Virgil to spend more time together was really enticing.

He could also visit Shana down at the clinic, they barely had time for each other again.

Even Dale coming over had been a pleasant surprise which was ridiculous considering how long he had waited for them to come home from college only to not see them as often as he'd like.

He grabs Apple off the counter and waves his goodbye to Jenny, reminding her to not forget to lock up and that she was absolutely forbidden from spending the night on the couch in the bookstore.

He decides to get a box of cupcakes, maybe he'll gift them to Jaxie, he really liked them.

On a spur of the moment he decides to call Dream to check up on him, he wonders why the other man had to take sporadic days off.

As the phone rings while he's sitting in the car and trying to stop Apple from settling on his legs - which he fails horribly at anyway and just lets her do what she wants - he realized he never asked Dream what kind of Werewolf he was.

It wasn't important because that didn't even matter to him, he wonders if Dream would be interested in a get-together, the Werewolf did like to keep to himself, a lot.

"Hey." Dream's voice comes through the phone sounding off.

"Hi, Dream, are you okay?" He asks immediately, cheery voice lilting with concern.

He just sits in the car which is still parked just beside the bookstore with a frown on his face, pushing his hair away from his eyes.

"Eh." Dream shrugs, rolling to his stomach on his bed, a call from Hayden was nice but he didn't think it would be right to tattle to him about what happened with Dale, they were friends after all. "Sorta, how about you? How's the bookstore going?"

Hayden frowns, even more worried about how down Dream sounds. "I'm fine, Jennie chased me home early saying I get the rest of the day off and she's handling the bookstore just fine but you don't sound too good, that's it! I'm coming over!" He huffs with determination.

"What?" Dream splutters, sitting up instantly. "N-no! You don't have to..."

"Too late." Hayden cuts him off, turning the key in the ignition to prove his point. "What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"

"Chocolate but..."

"See you in a bit." Hayden says cheerily, hanging up before Dream can get his protests out.

Dream just stares at his phone in wonder, a small smile growing on his face. It was just like Hayden to be an aggressive day of sunshine, he sighs and drags himself out of bed.

He had thrown all his clothes off and threw them in the shower, wishing he could do more than that and burn them because the soothing smell of mint kept haunting him.

He had taken a shower and thrown a robe on, flopping on the bed with his sad playlist on, just existing.

But now that Hayden was coming over, he had to get dressed, he didn't bother with his scent suppressants because it wasn't like the other could smell him. Humans sometimes could, if they had sensitive noses but it was usually faintly and they always chalked it up to fancy perfume.

Hayden worried at his bottom lip as he makes his way quickly to the closest store to grab the ice cream, Dream hadn't sounded sick, at least not physically but he could tell there was something wrong with the other.

Dream was usually so cheery that he could feel his presence through texts so the depressing vibe that he had gotten was really worrisome and he drives faster than he's had to in a while.

It's been a while since he's been on his old street which is ridiculous because he just moved out like under two weeks ago, he hadn't had any reason to come over though because his mom was usually over at the pack house although she was planning to go stay at the city for a while to help out with her sister.

Mae usually came over to the bookstore, Dream too, he noticed that he missed Shana but she had been so busy at the Clinic there was barely any time to spend.

Which was why the get together was so important, they were drifting apart which was wrong on so many levels.

He just parks along the street, it wasn't like he would be obstructing traffic anyway, and manages to gather Apple and the ice cream into his arms, making his way through the opened gate.

Dream is already waiting for him said the door swings open before he even has to knock and the slightly shorter blonde is immediately taking Apple from his arms, cooing at and petting the cat.

"Nice to see you've got your priorities in order." Hayden mutters dryly, following after Dream who ignores the package in his hands to carry a cat that has legs that work quite well.

Dream shrugs. "Cats over ice cream, any day."

Hayden laughs at this. "I'm surprised you haven't gotten a cat yet." He notes, settling down on the couch.

"My mom is allergic to cat fur." He informs, curling up his legs under him.

Apple has no qualms with this position, the human was always the right temperature of warm so she burrows into Dream's torso, purring lightly.

"Really?" Hayden asks with wide eyes, arranging the ice cream on the table and walking into the kitchen to get spoons.

"Yeah."

"It's good it's not fur in general." Hayden notes when he comes back. "That would have been uncomfortable."

Dream considers this. "True." He hums, making grabby hands at the ice cream. 

Shifting would be a pain if his mom was allergic to fur, he should tease her about that sometime.

"I just realized I never asked what kind of Werewolf you are, I mean it fine if you don't want to say." Hayden says kindly, sitting beside Dream, legs crossed as well.

Dream flinches slightly at this, knowing Hayden means well and maybe it's the stress of his day but he wants to share at the moment.

"I'm an Omega." He says quietly.

"That's so cool, I know only one other Omega, her name is Nina, she's literally the sweetest thing." Hayden says immediately, acceptance and openness on his face.

Dream flinches, thrown aback by his reaction. Although Hayden wasn't a Werewolf, he knew about them so there was no doubt he was also aware of how weird it is for a male to be an Omega.

He remembers discussing this one day with a customer, she had been human and was also a Werewolf fan, her reaction to the idea of male Omegas only goes so far as to show that even humans weren't welcome to the idea.

Hayden just keeps on rambling about his good friend Nina whose mom owns a restaurant, unaware of how close to tears his reaction brought Dream.

"What is it like having siblings?" Hayden asks after a small lapse in their conversation, it was filled up with ice cream and Apple's soft snoring so it was more relaxing and peaceful than awkward.

Dream glances at him, surprised at the odd question. "Hmm? I've never thought much about it." He takes a bite of his ice cream. "They can be annoying on their good days but I think their way of showing that they love you is really deep and moving, it's mostly in the little things like how my mom makes me stay home even though she needs my help over at the bakery, how Deidre would buy me marshmallows even though she knows I'll probably eat too much and get sick and she'll have a lot of work cut out for her and how Darian makes me pay him a dime for having to leave the house whenever I get pre-heat signs so that I don't feel bad about it."

Hayden listens intently, stars in his eyes. 

He hasn't thought about it much but he feels like he missed out on a lot by not having a brother or a sister, he was glad he didn't pressure his mom about it though and he's starting to think that maybe it's because he wants a child now that it's hitting really hard.