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“Oh, Norman! Isn’t he lovely!?”
Curtis Connors beamed at the doorway that his employer had just walked through. Norman had that familiar scowl sculpted onto his face and the scientist was determined to make him see sense.
Harry had been right to bring Peter to him.
“Did you know he interned for Oscorp? …imagine that. An omega beating all the alphas in his grade for the position! He’s always been such a clever boy.”
Peter smiled meekly at his workstation, his hands frozen around an empty Petri dish. He could tell that Dr. Connors was overdoing the praise, yet he was thankful for it. Norman was the last obstacle to him actually getting this job.
He could feel his alpha’s eyes burning into him and he bit his lip, hoping that faking shyness would at least get him to simmer down. It felt like he and Harry had gone behind his back.
“Yes, I noticed that he’s got a brain in him.” The CEO commented, a little reluctantly. He respected Connors, but that didn’t mean he wanted his omega playing lab during the day. Peter looked like he’d already made himself at home though.
He sighed, his shoulders dropping. “Harry said he offered you a job? Why would you need one of those?” Peter had money. He’d given him a comfortable life. Norman didn’t get it.
Peter spun the Petri dish in his hands, thankful for something to fiddle with. Now was the time to make the best pitch he could.
“I really enjoyed working with Dr. Connors before I graduated school.” He smiled at the scientist who had become his friend. “And I was going to enroll with NYC in the fall to study biophysics before my Aunt got sick.”
“Then I’d say it was fate,” Curtis spoke again, offering backup. “Of all the people to win the auction… and it was you Norman! You really have a prodigy on your hands. I’ve not seen an omega so clever since, well…”
Tony Stark.
They were all thinking it.
A palpable silence hung in the air.
Norman cleared his throat and the wrinkles on his forehead deepened. He looked between the two of them, already feeling defeated. He hadn’t bargained for bidding on such a clever boy. But maybe this was fate.
Maybe this could somehow work in his favor.
Maybe he could get things back to how they should be.
“You’ll work twenty hours a week… at most.” Norman turned towards the door and heaved another sigh. Both hands gripped the doorframe as though he was shielding himself from an imminent earthquake. His fingers dug into the wood and he steadied himself.
He couldn’t believe he was about to give Peter such a privilege but it would be worth it.
“And you can start college in the fall- on two conditions.”
Peter’s eyes widened at that. He felt dizzy, like the very words had flown across the room and slapped him in the face. Norman was allowing him to study? He inhaled, feeling a euphoric high lifting in his chest.
“Anything.”
“You’ll live at home with me still. No dorms.”
Peter nodded. He’d been expecting that. He was still an owned omega after all and it suddenly hit him that he had to start acting like one. Norman was stern but kind. Sleeping with such a man shouldn’t be so difficult.
He was giving him the world.
“Of course. And what’s the other?”
The alpha paused, his mouth twitching as he chose his words carefully.
“Since you are so close with Harry now, you will convince him to enroll too. I want him on a business course. None of that music crap. He’s twenty soon. It’s time he gets his shit together.”
Warring with his son over this had been a constant struggle for the last couple of years and now Norman was about to kill two birds with one stone. Harry was getting a proper education which would enable him to lead Oscorp.
And Peter would warm to him faster than he had been doing.
Peter bit his lip and looked at Dr. Connors for guidance. His mentor offered none, still stunned by the alpha’s quick decision.
“I’ll do my best with Harry but-”
“No buts.” Norman retorted, maybe a little too harshly. “I’ll pay for both of your tuitions. Just make him see sense.”
-
Peter kicked his legs over the edge of the building and smiled at the city beneath him. Oscorp wasn’t far from where he used to meet Wade and he’d dropped the anti-hero a message on his new phone. The merc hadn’t replied, probably cautious about responding to an unfamiliar number.
Wade was smart sometimes.
Sometimes.
Other times he was a total idiot.
“What are you grinning at?”
Peter’s head spun in the direction of the voice, snapping out of his daydream. He hadn’t been Spidey for a whole month now and his senses seemed to be dulling.
“Hey Wade…”
His smile widened as his friend approached and plopped down next to him. The alpha pulled him in for a hug and he let himself sink into the embrace, burying his head into the red material of his suit for a long moment.
Wade smelt of spice and smoke. A warm, comforting campfire, Peter decided.
It was good to see him.
“I take it you missed me?” The alpha joked as they pulled apart. Peter was wearing his civilian clothes. Jeans. A shirt with a science logo. A hooded jacket. He seemed much happier than the last time they’d met.
He looked like he was doing well.
“I started to worry when you stopped replying.”
Peter groaned. “I smashed my phone.”
“Bet Osborn bought you a fancy new one though.” The teasing in Wade’s voice was clear and the omega felt his cheeks flushing. The man wanted to know all the juicy details and he was embarrassed because he didn’t have much to tell.
“Harry did.”
“His son?” Wade tilted his head to the side. He’d done his research the moment he’d found out who had ‘won’ his friend (just in case he had to pop a bullet in anyone’s head). It was strange to hear that Peter was making friends with the whole family.
Then again, who wouldn’t love his baby boy?
“I got a bit high at a party- Norman’s fault. And I just dropped it.” The omega’s smile faded a little and he considered changing the subject. But no. He couldn’t. He needed Wade’s wisdom on this.
“I called you because I need your help.”
“Help?” The man scowled beneath his mask, confused at what his friend was asking. Hearing Peter’s soft-spoken words tugged at his heartstrings. He’d only ever known him as a confident hero.
Peter felt his face heating up again. He had no one else he could turn to. No other alpha would be so understanding about him asking these kinds of questions. He swatted away his nerves.
“Well I need advice, really.” He backtracked. “This is going to sound crazy…”
The boy fell quiet as he stared out at the lights below them. He’d have to be home soon. Norman worried when he was late.
“How do I… seduce an alpha?”
Wade’s mask blinked comically a couple of times. He leaned forward, wanting to look into the younger’s eyes. Peter seemed so fragile right now and he could practically feel his unease.
“Oh baby boy, I don’t think you have to even try. You’re perfect. If he isn’t going for you then maybe you just need to slip some Viagra into his drink.”
Like how he did mine? Peter’s expression darkened as the thought ran through his mind. He shook his head and leaned back until he was laying down, letting his back rest against the stone of the rooftop. The stars in the sky were hidden tonight, the black smog from the city clouding over them.
“He tried to get me in the mood with a drug the other night but it made me too out of it.” He confided. “So I ran away.”
A growl ripped from Wade’s throat. “He what!?”
Peter reached out to grip his bicep, warning him not to fly off the handle. Wade was deadly when pushed and since revealing his omega identity, the man had become even more protective of him. He had to reassure him that what had happened was okay.
“He meant well, Wade,” Peter promised, staring up at the widened lenses of Deadpool’s mask. Once again he wished that he could see his face. Wade still hadn’t revealed himself to him.
He was starting to think that he never would.
“He wanted my first time to be comfortable.” He explained with a ghost of a smile.
First time? Wade almost threw up in his mask. His stomach turned and as he looked down at the boy, he remembered just how young he was.
He shouldn’t be doing this. He shouldn’t be doing this.
He turned to face the city and pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes as he tried to process the new information. He’d loved Spidey for a long time. If he was given a chance- a real chance- who was to say he’d be any better than Norman?
“He’s actually been good to me- with a lot of stuff.” Peter interrupted his thoughts. “He’s stuffy and uptight but I trust him.”
Wade stayed silent, not sure if Peter was just being true to the situation or totally naïve. It wasn’t like he could do anything about it either. Killing the man in cold blood would undoubtedly turn his friend against him.
And Norman was only doing what any other alpha would.
Fuck!
He focused on the hand squeezing his arm. He let it ground him as he cycled through his thoughts. At least the man seemed to care for Peter’s well-being enough to protect him physically.
He swore at the sky.
He fucking agreed with him!
“I hate to say this… but Osborn had the right idea. He just went about it totally wrong.” Wade mused. His shoulders hunched and he tried to silence the arguing voices in his head. Why did one have to be so supportive, yet the other so creepy and perverted, like every other alpha to ever exist?
Serious.He needed to be serious.
“He shouldn’t have drugged you like that- but he was right to try to protect you from the pain. For male omegas… it hurts.”
Or at least it did outside of heats. But what did he know? He’d never actually slept with one. He’d only heard about it through rumors drifting around bars. Alpha men loved to talk about male omegas, like they were a rare breed of unicorn.
Peter nodded along with his words and his mouth twitched.
“Then what should I do?”
“Alcohol.” Wade theorized. “I don’t mean go and get stupid drunk. Just drink enough to… to take the edge off.” It would help him to relax his muscles. It would warm him inside. It might even get him in the mood.
It would be the best bet, even if he didn’t like it.
“So just take a bottle of wine to his bed and drink a glass or two while you wait for him. Put some of those pretty, stupid robes on that old guys like so much and be all purry- if you can switch that shit on.”
Peter rolled his eyes and a grin was once again stretching across his face at the basic advice. He could tell that despite everything, Wade was at war with himself.
He still loved him. That’s why he couldn’t look at him right now.
“That’s the second time you’ve suggested purring and robes now, Wade. Sure that’s just not your thing?”
The alpha huffed and crossed his arms as he stared ahead at the view.
“Tch. You got me.” He feigned a sulk. “Well, it’s pretty fuckin’ hard not to imagine how you’d look in them now, baby boy.” He teased but made no attempt to move closer to Peter.
He wasn’t going to complicate things further, but at the same time he didn’t want to treat him any differently than how he always had. They’d always flirted and bantered. He’d always complimented and annoyed Spidey and that was the backbone of their friendship!
“C’mon! Tell me you don’t look cute in them.”
Peter rolled his eyes and hated how his cheeks reddened, this time unable to hide from Wade’s flirting behind a mask.
“I suppose they’re growing on me.”