Deep End

There was only a little over a week left until Zara's wedding and Zach had been pretty busy between classes, work, and the self-defense course. He had only been able to talk to Owen a handful of times. Sometimes he was even too tired to do that and fell asleep with Owen's voice on the other end. He didn't want to count the number of times he had woken to his cell phone under his pillow, on the floor, or clutched in his hand. A text was always waiting for him though when he woke, usually something silly and completely Owen.

Right now he had some rare down time before dinner and so Zach was spending it laying on his stomach in bed, laptop open in front of him and an annoyed expression on his face as he looked at apartment listings. He was trying and failing to find an apartment that was affordable and near his college, work, and his parents house (because moms). He was about to give up and maybe just resign himself to giving in and staying at his parents for a little while longer when his phone's text alert went off next to him.

He grabbed his phone from next to the computer and smiled when he saw he had one new text from Owen. He opened the message and instead of some cheesy one-liner or weird random fact (as Owen was prone to doing whenever he was bored) there was a link to a renter's sight. Zach put the phone in front of him and opened a new tab. He typed the web address in and only had to wait half a second before a beautiful house popped up onto the screen. The Omega's eyes widened in surprise and he scrolled down to look at the details. The house was a two story brick home with a basement. The whole home had been turned into three separate apartments. One of which was open to be seen and available to be rented, fully furnished.

The nineteen year old clicked through some pictures they had posted of the apartment for rent and fell even more in love with it.

The upper floor apartment, with stairs leading to it from the outside and a tough looking security door, was the one for rent. He clicked 'Next' and saw his first full picture of the apartment as a whole. It was an open floor plan with two good sized windows letting in just enough light.

He clicked again.

A picture of the kitchen popped up. It looked small and was off to one side. A new-looking fridge, stove, and a dishwasher took up most of the kitchen. The counter space was gracious as well for a smaller space, but it looked like it was half counter/half island. Two bar stools stood by and were pushed under the rim of the island counter. A microwave was mounted over the stove and next to one of the cabinets.

He could see Owen burning popcorn in this kitchen while he laughed and waited on the sofa with the television playing in background. A smile slowly formed on his face at the thought of Owen waving his hands and trying to clear smoke away as he coughed over the smell of burnt kernels.

Next.

It was a picture from inside the small kitchen. Showing how the living room was set up in relation to the cooking area. You could see the television from the island in the kitchen and see the kitchen from the couch.

Next. A closer picture of the living room.

The couch wasn't huge, but it could fit three people and the television was a good size for the space. A small fluffy looking area rug was on the floor between the two. One of the windows was perpendicular to the couch and TV. The sun making a square pattern on the wood flooring and rug.

An image of two bodies snuggled on the couch came to mind. Zach tucked in under Owens arm and Owen's legs stretched out in front of him. The older man's toes curling in and out of the rug a few times as his hand rubbed up and down Zach's back. Both of them drifting off together on the couch.

There was a partition, directly behind the couch, that blocked off the bed from the rest of the room to give a bit of privacy. So you could move the partition and watch television from bed if you wanted or put it up to separate you from, let's say, an annoying little brother who might be staying over for the night.

Zach chuckled at what Gray might do to annoy him an Owen if he did stay over and unsurprisingly, in his mind, it turned into an impromptu pillow fight.

Next. The bedroom.

It looked like it was bigger than the living area and the kitchen, but only by a a few feet or so. It housed a bed and a dresser. A metal bar, that ran the length of the wall, was mounted above the dresser and had a few hangers hanging off of it. That was nice. A spot for his nicer work shirts and slacks because all his jeans and t-shirts could just be put in the dresser along with Owen's. The bed looked like a Queen size, but with pictures it was hard to tell. It sat near to the other window and you could just see a bit of the view that wasn't being blocked out by a rather large old tree. The picture had been taken during the day to showcase the room and the tree cast a shadow over the blanket on the bed.

Owen's body suddenly manifested, laid out on the bed in nothing but his boxer-briefs and a smirk, his eyebrows waggling. Zach felt his cheeks redden at the thought.

He could see Owen sleeping with him. The morning light casting over them as they lay together, waking them up in the mornings. Maybe Owen would even let Zach finally share his heat with the Alpha. He could see himself above Owen. Riding him until the older man came undone and his knot lodged itself inside him. Collapsing on top of Owens chest and running his fingers through the older man's chest hair. Connected to his Alpha in the most intimate of ways.

'Come and Get Your Love' suddenly started blaring from his phone, causing Zach to jump in surprise. His face was burning as he fumbled to answer the call. Knowing that Owen would be on the other-side of the receiver and considering the thoughts he had just been imagining had him stuttering out a, "Hey."

"Did you get the link?" Owen sounded excited and Zach could just picture the older man's face with a wide smile that lit up his whole face. This had Zach smiling and sitting up so he was now cross-legged in the middle of the bed. He pulled his laptop onto his lap, "I got the link."

"What do you think?"

"It looks small, but I could see myself there."

"I can too and I checked it out. Well, not physically, but it meets your list. It's ten minutes from your work, a half an hour from the College, and about an hour or so from your parent's house."

"Really?!" Zach felt a little embarrassed that he had fallen in love with the place without even checking it out first. He scrolled down and read the location.

It was in the nicer part of town, located near a park and, to Zach's delight, Owen was right. It did meet his requirements for travel time.

He scrolled down a little more and then he saw the cost of rent and groaned. He knew it was too good to be true. "Owen?"

"Yeah Honey-bun?"

Zach rolled his eyes, "That nickname will not fly Cuddle-Bunny. Did you happen to see the cost of rent? It's more than I can afford if I actually plan on eating."

"No it's not."

"Uhm, yes it is."

"No it isn't. Not if I help out."

Zach paused, "Owen. We talked about this. I don't want you to help me pay for an apartment if you aren't going to share it with me."

"Well, see that's the thing...in a few months I might be."

Zach's mind went blank for the second it took to register his Alpha's words and when he did he fell backwards on the bed, his head just barely missing the headboard. His laptop fell off of his lap and flipped back so the screen was facing up, "Are you serious!?"

"Sirius Black." His Alpha said with a smile in his voice.

"Nerd. So does that mean you found them?"

"Found them and are trying to get them settled. My girls put up one hell of a fight. We still have to fix a few loose ends and I'm not officially going to be quitting. I'm just kind of on on-call for when they have serious security problems or need help with new paddocks and crap like that. Claire and Masrani are the only ones allowed to call me when they need my expertise. Barry is going to take over."

"So what you're saying is that in a few months we'll be playing house in that apartment and I'll get to see you all the time?"

"Yup. Granted they don't rent the apartment out before I can make it down. I want us both to see it, make sure we both like it in person before we decide...You know, I plan on being a regular little house-wife. Cooking, cleaning, warming your bed." Owen said with an obvious leer in his voice.

Zach could practically hear the Alpha's eyebrows wiggle, "Finally. I can keep you barefoot and bare-chested in the kitchen where you belong. Baking me pies and making me sandwiches all day."

Owen laughed, "Anything you want."

"I'll bookmark the page and keep track of it until you get here."

"No, that's okay Zach. If I get down there and it's been rented then it wasn't meant to be. We'll just look for something else in the few days I have after we get back from the wedding. Masrani wants me back as soon as possible." He sighed. "Since we found Blue and Delta they've been cracking the whip even more on us to get everything up and ready. I'm only staying till my girls are golden and the predator paddocks are up to par. We are not going to have another I-rex situation."

"You hope."

"Claire and I have already told them off about the hybrid mutations and good thing is Masrani's son agrees. Clearly he has more sense than his dad did."

"He's a Beta, right? They're usually more level-headed about things and don't really have that need to do things better than other Alphas like his father tried to do."

"What are you trying to say about Alphas Zach?"

"Well, not all Alphas do that. Obviously you're the exception to the rule."

"You know it....Just like you're not like any Omega I've ever met."

Zach was glad Owen was thousands of miles away so he couldn't see the blush making it's way over his face.

"You're blushing aren't you."

Zach turned even redder, "Shut up."

The Alpha chuckled over the other end of the line. Another voice, desperate sounding, cut through the receiver and Zach tried to make out who it was but couldn't, "What's wrong?" Owen didn't answer but said something to whomever was with him. Zach waited for a minute before Owen's voice came back on the line, "I have to go Zach. There's some kind of emergency. I'll be there in a few days."

"Okay. Be careful."

"Always."

The line went dead and Zach pulled the phone away from his ear to look at it. A little worried now and wondering what was going on over at the island.

A few hours later, after dinner, as he was loading the dishwasher, his text alert sounded on his phone. Grabbing it from his pocket, he tapped the screen and then the message icon and a text from Owen appeared...

It was just Dementors. It's all cool, I totally took care of it.

Zach face-palmed and smiled, thinking about how in a few months he could be living with that giant nerd.