I do not know why fate insists on crossing our paths. Our lives diverge and reconverge with the rhythmic inevitability of tides, pulling us apart and pushing us together in patterns that defy the probability of coincidence and suggest the intervention of a universe with a specific agenda and a dark sense of humor.
"Thank fuck." I pull back from the hug, gripping his shoulders and holding him at arm's length for a proper inspection. He has grown since I last saw him. Leaner. His dark hair is longer, falling across his forehead in a way that was once a product of neglect and now appears deliberately styled. His jawline has sharpened, shedding the last traces of adolescent softness to reveal angular features that carry the quiet authority of a man comfortable with observation as a lifestyle. "I genuinely thought I was going to be assigned with crazy Alpha fuckers who smell like gym socks marinated in testosterone."
He laughs. The sound is warm, carrying that gentle amusement he deploys when the world does exactly what he expected and he finds the predictability entertaining.
"You would have lost your damn mind if that happened." He shakes his head, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners. "But I guess fate had some sympathy on you for once."
"How are you? Do you need help with your stuff?" He glances toward the open door, already shifting into the practical mode that has always been his default when he senses someone in his orbit requires assistance.
I grin, the relief loosening muscles in my shoulders that have been coiled since the Escalade pulled through the campus gates.
"Nah, I'm good. Jeffrey came along and brought my suitcases. They're stacked right outside."
He whistles. Low. Appreciative. The specific pitch reserved for expressing admiration about things that have remained unchanged despite the passage of time.
"That man is still in your family's life? Insane." He walks to the door and peers into the hallway, where Jeffrey is indeed standing beside a tower of matching luggage with the composed patience of a man who considers waiting an extension of service rather than a burden. "He hasn't aged. At all. He looks like he's thirty-three, tops. Some sort of vampire aging shit going on there."
I laugh, the sound bright and easy in a way it has not been in weeks.
"He is not going anywhere. Jeffrey is a permanent fixture. Like gravity. Or taxes. Immovable forces that the universe cannot function without."
Jace shakes his head, amusement creasing his features.
"Clearly. The man's loyalty is unmatched. I swear he was at your house when we were seven. That means he's been doing this for at least seventeen years and still looks like he could be our older brother." He waves to Jeffrey through the doorway. Jeffrey inclines his head with the dignified acknowledgment of a man who recognizes a familiar face and considers the recognition sufficient greeting.
"So." I drop onto the couch he vacated, claiming the warm indent he left in the cushions with the territorial instinct of an Omega who has found safe ground and intends to defend it. "Why are you here? How did Jace Nakamura end up at Valenridge University's Omega Integration Program?"
He settles into the armchair opposite me, tucking one foot beneath him in that characteristic pose I remember from childhood, half-lotus, like he is perpetually preparing tomeditate if the conversation gets boring enough to warrant spiritual retreat.
"Long story."
I smirk, pulling my legs onto the couch and crossing them beneath me in a mirror of his posture.
"Orientation is not until next week, right? We moved in a whole seven days early for all the preliminary shenanigans. I have got nothing but time, Nakamura."
He chuckles, running one hand through his dark hair with the weary affection of a man about to summarize years of parental harassment into a digestible narrative.
"My parents. That is the short version." He pinches the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger, the gesture carrying the accumulated exhaustion of someone who has been deflecting familial expectations since puberty. "They have been on my case nonstop. Every dinner conversation turns into an episode of The Young and the Restless, except instead of dramatic affairs and corporate espionage, it is my mother asking when I am going to find a pack and my father asking when I am going to move out and both of them asking simultaneously why their only son cannot simply cooperate with the biological imperative that the rest of the world seems to navigate without requiring a seventeen-part lecture series over miso soup."
I laugh so hard my ribs protest.
"Your parents would drill you into that damn show if it made you move faster toward being hitched up with a pack and out of their house."
He groans, the sound carrying genuine suffering.
"Don't fucking remind me of my sad predicament."
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees, letting my smirk soften into genuine warmth.
"Being a male Omega is not a sad predicament, Jace. You should embrace it." The words come out gentler than my usualregister, carrying the specific sincerity I reserve for the handful of people whose feelings I actually prioritize above my own entertainment. "There is nothing wrong with who you are. Your parents are just operating from a playbook that does not have a chapter written for someone like you yet."
He holds my gaze for a beat. Something shifts behind those dark eyes. Gratitude, maybe. Or the recognition of being understood by someone who knows what it feels like to inhabit a body that the world insists should function differently.
"Besides." I straighten, the smirk returning at full power. "Now you are stuck with me for however long we are going to be dorm mates. Which means you have a built-in ally, a training partner, and someone who will absolutely fight anyone who gives you shit about your designation, free of charge, no appointment necessary."
He smiles. Not the polite, measured version he wears in public. A real one, spreading across his angular features with a warmth that transforms him from quietly handsome into genuinely beautiful.
"Grand. At least there is someone I can trust in this place."
