i've been searching (i've been hunted)

Grantaire began to shake, his hands trembling. He hated looking so fucking weak in front of these alphas, but he couldn't help it. Grantaire was feeling really touchy recently- he put it down to the amount of alpha scent he was exposed to all of a sudden.

'Can I go somewhere else? Outside? It smells like alpha in here.' R whispered.

Combeferre and Enjolras had a silent conversation before agreeing with a look. Combeferre plied Grantaire from the chair onto his feet and took him towards the door. 

'Wait!' Enjolras said. 'Is it worth telling him not to escape? Use an alpha voice?'

Biting his lip, Combeferre spoke slowly. 'It's against the rules to use alpha voices on omegas once they're in the base, Enj. We'll just have to watch him. I'll get 'Feyrac to come with us.'

The blond alpha sighed a little. Rules were rules, and he couldn't command the omega not to run. But it would make it so much easier.

*****

Combeferre held Grantaire's hand as they walked to a conservatory. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, making the room light and airy. There were some bookcases in the room, the pale oak contrasting with the sunny yellow walls and chocolate trim. A window was open, letting a summer breeze into the room. R took a moment to breathe in the clean air, not tainted with scent. He sat on a comfy sofa as Combeferre made them cups of tea each.

Passing a cup to Grantaire, 'Ferre sat on a seat opposite the omega so as not to crowd him. R looked small, curled up on the sofa with a steaming cup in his pale hands.

'I'm not here to talk about the elephant in the room as such, R. We can talk about whatever you want to, be that the future or what type of music you like. This room is safe for you to express yourself in.'

Grantaire mulled over this for a moment. 

'What's up with that blond alpha? You called him Enj, I think. He's got a rod up his...' Grantaire coughed. 'He's not in a great mood.'

Laughing, 'Ferre agreed. 'Yeah, Enjolras can be moody sometimes. My omega, Courfeyrac gets really pissed with him.'

Becoming more serious, R asked; 'You have an omega?'

Combeferre twigged to the omega's thoughts. 'Yes. We've been together for three years and two months. You can meet him, if you like. And other omegas, too. It must be quite overwhelming to suddenly only be near alphas when you've been by yourself for quite a while.'

Grantaire darkened. 'Quite a while, yeah. About seven years, actually. Running.'

'You don't need to run anymore, R. Another three weeks and you'll have a home and a mate to live and love.'

'What if he's some abusing, psychopathic alpha that beats the shit out of me?' Grantaire spat. 'What happens then?'

Combeferre shut his eyes and sighed. 'Then we pull you out of that situation, R. And you live here until we can find a place for you to live.'

'Bullshit. You lot hate destroying bonds- you'd rather the omega breaks than the bond breaks.' 

Combeferre looked over to the omega, shaking with anger. 'R, I love my omega. And I wouldn't want my mate to be abused, so why would I stand for anyone else's to be? I want to help, R, you just don't see it.'

Luckily for the alpha, his beautiful omega waltzed the door before he could say something else to annoy the small omega.

Courfeyrac could smell the omega. He smelt good, like flowers. He stopped by the sink to make himself a drink, and immediately started talking, cutting off the existing conversation.

'So! You must be R! I'm Courfeyrac, this sorry alpha's omega. Call me Courfeyrac, Courf, 'Feyrac or whatever. Enjolras calls me Curry sometimes, but that's annoying.' 

He looked at R over his glasses.

'Don't call me that. But yeah, that's me. I work here with 'Ferre and Enj. I'm one of the few omegas actually working here, which is a godawful thing. We literally need more omegas here, it's in the company name! Never mind that, tell me about yourself!'

The rambunctious omega plumped down on the sofa next to Grantaire.

'What music do you like? What books do you read? Can you abide ballroom dancing? Because, although I am already a walking gay stereotype, I do enjoy watching two lovers dance their way across a well-lit floor. I'm not helping that cliche disappear. However, Bosseut, who is incredibly macho for a friend of mine, said that he watched Wicked the other day with Joly and 'Chetta-his soulmates- and he cried! So I am not alone in accidentally validating this stereotype. It's like when Jehan asks people to braid his hair. Totally the same thing. But, because I like dancing, suddenly I'm living up to this cliche. Talking of cliche, Combeferre, what are you drinking?'

Courfeyrac stopped for a breath.

Grantaire blinked.

Combeferre looked unsurprised. 

'Courf, how do you get from dancing, Bosseut and cliches to what I'm drinking?' he asked, tilting his head like a confused puppy. 'Also, I'm drinking tea. As are you, which is good. You don't need any more caffeine.'

Courfeyrac looked disappointed. 'Did you buy decaf tea again? I can't function on this, babe!' The omega threw his hands up in the air in mock exasperation.

'Ferre smiled. 'Yes, it's decaf. It's been decaf ever since you decided that caffeine was bad for you.'

The alpha got a pout in return. 'That was a while ago, and I was in a mood. You should never listen to me when I'm in a mood.'

'Yes, dear.' Combeferre replied dryly with a hint of irony. 'Anyway, this is R. Don't smother him, he only just got here.'

Courfeyrac winked at R before turning back to his alpha. 'Omega code, babe. We're already cool with each other.'

Combeferre looked worriedly at R.

'Yeah,' R cleared his throat. 'He smells... friendly.' R blushed a little, not used to talking about scents openly as he had been hiding his own his entire life.

Courfeyrac smiled at R sincerely; 'Can we talk, R? Without Combeferre?' 

Grantaire shifted. 'Why are you asking me?'

'Because I want to know if you're ok with that, R.' 

The dark-haired omega was unsure. So far, the descriptions of Les Amis had seemed pretty accurate: abduction; the domineering alphas; being forced to bond. However, Courfeyrac was throwing Grantaire completely. This was a happy, vibrant (if not very camp) omega who was working with alphas and did not fit with Grantaire's preconceived notions about this place.

'...Sure.' Grantaire replied, not really feeling that sure.

Courfeyrac shooed Combeferre out of the room with an incessant flapping of hands that Grantaire wanted to laugh at, that he would've laughed at, if he wasn't so nervous. 

As soon as the alpha had left, Courfeyrac's demeanour changed; he became a little less flamboyant. and quieted down a little, realising that Combeferre wasn't there to act as a buffer between the two of them is he got too excited.

'Hey, R. How you feeling?'

'Fine.' Grantaire replied woodenly.

'R. We're not English, and therefore allowed to show emotion. How are you doing with all of this?'

'Nervous.'

'About what?'

'Nervous about my birthday.'

'Why?'

'I'll have to bond.'

'What scares you about that?'

'What if my alpha is horrible?'

'He won't be.' Courfeyrac replied. 'You'll have to trust me on that.'

R suddenly felt angry again.

'Trust you? I don't know you! I don't know how to get out of this situation, or even how to get out of this building because I am so trapped!' 

There was a little pause.

'How do you think you would feel if you never met your soulmate, R?' Courfeyrac asked, although unsure exactly where he was headed with this question.

'Happy, I guess. Safe.'

'How do you think your soulmate would feel if they never met you?'

Grantaire blinked, never really having thought about it before.

'Angry, I guess. I mean, alphas want omegas, right? But he could just get another omega or fuck a beta. No loss.'

Raising his eyebrows, Courfeyrac breathed in. 'Do you honestly believe that, R?'

'...Yes?' 

The omegas locked eyes. 

'R, your alpha loves you, and they won't hurt you. They might discipline you, but that is different. That is consensual and you both work through it. Your ideas of abusive relationships do happen, I'm not denying it. However, they happen once every 3000 bonds. And I know that because I just finished a three hundred page report arguing for more omega outreach.'

Grantaire pulled his knees up to his chest.

'I don't wanna talk about this anymore, Courf.'

Whilst the abrupt end to the conversation stung, Courfeyrac was happy there had been one at all.

-----

'Combeferre, there's something weird about him.' Enjolras badgered.

'Enj. He's a scared omega. That's gonna screw around with your biology, just like it does with mine, and every other alphas. You're just more susceptible to it because you're unbonded and so is he. It's a throwback to-'

'I know, Ferre. It's a throwback to times when soulmate tattoos could be more readily ignored. Doesn't change my feeling that he's odd.'

Combeferre was about to make a smart comment when he pointed to a name on the list he was reading.

'Does this look like him?' he pointed to a picture of a dark-haired boy from the list of omegas he had.

'Nope.' Enjolras sighed. 'That's the whole list. Either we've missed him or he's not there.'

Enjolras thought for a moment. 'Or his name doesn't begin with R. What if it's a middle name, or just a nickname that doesn't relate to an initial?'

The two alphas looked at the pile of paperwork.

Ferre sighed. 'How are there this many male omegas? I thought they were rare!'

Enjolras halved the pile and dropped some files on Combeferre's desk.

'Not rare enough, my alpha friend. Now, stop whining and start searching. I want info on this omega.'