35 Sh*t Hits The Fan

The car ride back to Tiza's apartment is filled with pleasant conversation. It's filled with Tiza asking questions about Aosh's parents, the enigma that they are, and Aosh wondering where this Tiza has been all along. A smile has been set to his mouth ever since they left. A stark contrast from earlier that day. Today had been a rollercoaster, and it felt a little bittersweet that it had to come to an end. Aosh parallel parked in front of the building and sighed.

"Today was a great day, all things considered."

"It was," Tiza sighed as well.

He knew the moment he walked through that door his mood was going to sour. Sean would bombard him with questions and demand to know why he was out so late. He knew it and maybe that's why he hasn't unfastened his seatbelt yet.

"Hey," Aosh begins, "About everything I said at my parent's place, I meant every word of it."

"I know you did." Tiza had tarnished the thought that Aosh would lie to him long ago.

Aosh's fingers fiddle with the steering wheel cover as he tries to find what he wants to say. The mood is…weird. It has the same mood in those novels he read, where the first date ends and the main couple kiss goodbye. Aosh knew this wasn't a date by any means but god did he want to kiss Tiza goodbye. Was it wrong that it felt appropriate with how their day went? Instead, he opts for this:

"You have a beautiful smile. I'm glad I got to see some of it today."

Half of him expects the smile to fade as soon as he says it, the other half is surprised that it stays. So he continues.

"I want to keep you smiling, ok? I hope you know by now you can talk to me about anything. I'll be there for you. And, um, just let me know and we can go pick out a plant together." he says a little shyly.

Tiza lets out a content sigh.

"Thank you, Aosh."

Tiza wasn't used to smiling this much, he hasn't done it in a long time, but if Aosh was the one making him smile…well right now he doesn't think he would mind it all that much. The seat belt unbuckles with a 'click'.

"I'll let you know. I'll see you in the morning."

A beat of silence passes between them, each man studying the other in the darkness of the car. Aosh fights the urge to lean over and plant a kiss on the Omega.

"Goodnight, Tiza."

.......................................................................

Tiza braces himself as he enters the apartment. It's late. Way past his 'unspoken curfew' that has been set by Sean. But Tiza felt like he was on cloud nine right now, so Sean could suck it. That's what he repeated to himself as he opens the door, locks it, and makes a beeline towards the back of the apartment. He almost makes it to the hallway too until he gets stopped by none other than his brother, who was sitting in the living room.

"Where the hell have you been!?" Sean hisses through his teeth.

If Sean is making an effort to be quiet then Momo must be asleep. Great. There goes his only lifeline.

Tiza pulls himself out of Sean's grasp and brushes him off as he makes his way towards his room. He knew his mood would deflate as soon as he got home but he wanted to preserve it if just a little.

"It's none of your business."

"If it's concerning you it is my business! You don't answer my calls or my texts, you had Momo worried sick! Now where the hell were you?!"

"I was out Sean. That's it. Sometimes I want to go out without you breathing down my neck every goddamn minute." He says and ignores his brother to open his bedroom door.

"I'm not breathing down your neck, I'm just trying to make sure you don't get into trouble." Sean grits out, pushing Tiza's door closed a little too forcefully.

Tiza huffs and pushes Sean out of the way, "Yea, like that has stopped trouble from finding me in the first place." he mumbles.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Don't be a smart ass with me! At least have the decency to answer your damn phone! What if you were taken by some Alpha? What the hell am I supposed to do then,huh?"

Tiza turns around to face his brother, hands clenched at his sides, " Look I'm fine," he spreads his arms and gestures to his person, "Now stop being paranoid, hell, stop policing my every fucking move and leave me alone!"

"What is that?" Sean questions, and before Tiza can figure out what he's talking about his shorts are being pulled down to expose the rest of his plastic-covered tattooed hip. Apparently, some of the plastic was sticking out from the top of his shorts.

"You got a tattoo?!" Sean says, incredulously.

When he inspects it a second time Sean gasps and his face turns a different shade of red as he backs Tiza into the corner of the hallway.

"You were with an Alpha! That one that keeps stalking you, I recognize those tattoos! Did he force you to get one?! I told you to stay away from him! I swear to god if he did anything else to you I'm going to-"

Tiza pushes Sean away a second time, being more forceful. His face didn't do justice to show how upset he really was.

"You are going to do what Sean? Nothing?! Like you always do?! Fuck! You! Yes, I was with Aosh! That's his name! Aosh! He didn't and would never do a goddamned thing to me and I don't have to ask your permission to go out with him or anyone else!!"

Sean invades his space again, this time with no intention of backing down. He grips Tiza by the collar of his shirt.

"He's an Alpha! Do you forget you're a fucking Omega?! Did you forget all the shit Alpha's have done to you?! Did he brainwash you into thinking that he was different, because they are all the same! God, it's like you never learn! I'm just trying to protect you, stop acting like a little shit!"

Tiza manages to sock Sean right in the nose, sending the Beta reeling back. It takes the Omega a moment to realize what he did, his closed fist shaking visibly. He's so worked up he can barely say:

"Don't talk that way about him…"

Sean, hunched over, wipes the blood that pours from his nose. There's a beat of silence, before the Beta lunges at him.

Tiza's head hits the hard floor with a 'thud' and it makes his vision swim. He tries to get up, but Sean is over him in the next second, hands digging into his shoulders to keep him pinned on the floor. The fluorescent light of the hallway cast's the rest of Sean in shadow, and with Tiza's vision blurred he sees something that makes him stiffen.

His uncle looming over him.

His uncle holding him down by his neck, squeezing the air out of his lungs, telling him to 'shut up', telling him that he's worthless, that he'll never be her , that he'll never be anything.

His uncle leaving him naked and exposed on the floor, leaving him helpless, afraid, and...alone. Always alone.

It doesn't help that Sean is almost the spitting image of the man they both despised. By instinct Tiza feels his body go numb, his arms and legs...he can no longer feel them. Not even to muster the strength to push his brother off of him. It's like the floor has swallowed him whole and all he can do is distantly watch as Sean yells at him from above. Tiza is detached, worthless. Nothing.

"What's going on out here…!?" Momo stands at the end of the hallway and in the next moment is rushing, as fast as a pregnant woman can, to pry her husband off Tiza. Momo's voice grounds him if just a little, only enough to bring Tiza back to the present.

Neither man regards her, but the explosive confrontation dissolves into silence and the silence mingles with the tension in the air.

"You're forbidden to see that Alpha again. Period." Sean bites out, tearing himself out of his wife's grasp and looming over Tiza.

A shiver runs down Tiza's spine, goosebumps prickle at the back of his neck, and any fight he had left in him vanishes. Tiza gulps back the lump that suddenly formed itself in his throat and holding back frustrated tears, pushes himself up to stand. He wobbles as he brushes past Sean and Momo and into his room.

"...fine.." he manages to choke out, if barely.

Tiza can't find it in him to fight anymore, there was no point. It was foolish of him to think he could even for a second. Even if it was for Aosh. In the end he was weak. And always would be.