Page 80 of Shifter Omegaverse AU

As if solely to spite them, the morning sun seemed offensively bright today.

Milo dragged themself out of bed and turned off Anabelle's blaring radio. They only had 15 minutes before they had to meet Ray downstairs, and they needed to find an outfit that would take them from work to what was beginning to feel like a very important dinner. Rowan hadn't said as much, but Ray had alluded to the fact that Reuben and Rowan hadn't talked since Saturday afternoon.

“I'm trying not to get in the middle of things, and I’m beginning to suspect they’re both trying to keep us out of it, but I think there might be some tension tomorrow,” Ray had warned Milo the day before.

Milo had no problem being all up in the middle of things…at least, they usually didn’t. Right now, though, their head felt heavy, and they just wanted to get back into bed. The previous night with Rowan had been amazing, but the fog had been there, distracting them during the movie and circling around them as they drove home. They'd been defenseless against it in their sleep, and now they could barely see through it into their closet.

They went with the first items they could find, a pair of black slacks and a white lace top. Their instincts screamed at them to add some color or an exciting print, but it was as if the signal took twice as long to travel from their brain to their body. They ended up leaving their closet with just the shirt and pants. Makeup would have to wait for a quick trip to the office bathroom, or maybe they’d go bare faced today.

There were only five minutes left by the time they stumbled their way to the door. Their chunky red heels were still there from the night before, but the idea of having to balance in them all day made Milo so exhausted, they almost did climb back into bed. Thankfully, there was a pair of navy blue ballet flats stuck under the coat closet door, and they were able to pry them loose with two minutes to spare.

They upended the contents of their red backpack into the black backpack they seldom used. Given that they didn’t even own a black tassel for their wallet, they would just have to go without.

Rowan would understand. He always seemed to understand, even when Milo couldn’t put their needs into words. Like last night, when he’d pressed Milo into the mattress, just when their head was starting to go from steamy to foggy. He’d held them down, grounding them as they had one of the best orgasms of their life.

Hopefully they could touch knees or thighs under the table at dinner. It hadn’t been intentional, but their choice of pants over a skirt seemed fortuitous as Milo hurried into the elevator.

“Sorry, I know I’m late, being fabulous just takes time,” Milo said, skidding across the lobby floor to Ray’s side.

“You’re not even…” Ray trailed off as he looked up from his phone. He took a moment, scanning Milo from head to toe. “Uhm…you’re not even a minute late. It’s fine.”

“Perfect, let’s go then,” Milo said, not giving Ray time to pull his eyes back up to their tired face.

“I had the absolute most perfect date with Rowan last night, and I’m going to spend our entire drive to work telling you about it unless you stop me right now,” Milo said.

When Ray didn’t say anything, Milo did exactly that, going into exorbitant detail about the pizza toppings Rowan picked out for them and the fantastic cheese pull of the cheesy breadsticks.

By the time they arrived at their office, the look of concern had left Ray’s face, and Milo gave themself an exhausted mental high five.

There was nothing for Ray to worry about. He had more than enough to worry about with Ruben, and when they went to grab their Thursday morning coffee, Ray proved that point by fretting the whole time about dinner. This, Milo could handle. In fact, listening to Ray worry about Ruben did more than Milo ever could to hold the fog back.

They didn’t have time to be sad. They had a best friend to comfort, a boyfriend to text, and emails to be answered.

Well, they did their best on the email front, but they definitely spent more time in Ray’s cubicle and texting with Rowan. They even sent Ethel a few texts confirming they would get together on Wednesday for the anniversary.

After that text, they sort of lost track of time, and before they knew it, it was time to go. On the walk over to the restaurant, they had to hold Ray’s hand to keep him from gnawing on his fingernails. His cat got very upset when he shifted and found his claws chewed to the quick.

Did Ruben know about Ray’s bad habits?

They’d literally only been dating for five days, so Milo figured it was unlikely. Then again, Milo had been friends with Rowan for much longer than five days, and he still didn’t know about the fog or the chasm. At least he knew about the nightmares. That seemed rather important, seeing as how they were about to spend the entire weekend together.

They just had to get through this dinner first.

The host led them to their table, and they found Rowan and Ruben sitting in silence, Ruben typing away on his phone as Rowan stared resolutely down at the table, his cheek dimpled and shoulders hunched.

Maybe Milo should have been more concerned about this dinner. It just felt hard to fret or worry when everything in their head was gray.

“Rube?” Ray said tentatively, and both men looked up at them.

The lines around Ruben’s eyes disappeared as he beamed at Ray. “Hi, darling. I missed you.”

To Milo’s utter surprise, Ruben stood up and pulled the chair out for Ray.

Rowan scrambled to his feet, but Milo had already been reaching for their chair, so Rowan ended up awkwardly gesturing at the seat.

“I’m sure you didn’t have time to miss me, since I was texting you all day long,” Milo said.

Rowan ducked his head, but Milo caught the way his cheeks flushed a soft pink. “It’s still really good to see you.”