"If you're just going to make fun of me, I think we should end the conversation here." Quinn wasn't certain where he'd gotten the gusto to say that, but here it was. Sure, he'd let Michel walk all over him, but Michel and Noah had a special place in Quinn's heart.
This man, Leo Winters, did not.
Case and point, the man tossed his head back and laughed. At Quinn. That only made the man frown deeper, his brows drawn together as he held onto his mug. He let the man laugh, not wanting to just get up and leave when he still had his sti report so close to his body.
Quinn wanted to snatch it up, shove it into his bag and flee, but just as he was working up the courage to do so, Mr. Winters' dropped his hand on Quinn's arm. It wasn't an authoritative hold, but the touch still surprised Quinn.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Rivers. I didn't mean to tease you or make you think that I was making fun of you. I really wasn't. I'm just…surprised. I never considered that you would…be interested." Quinn raised his eyes towards the dominant alphas once more. His face was softer, his eyes kinder. Quinn didn't fall for it.
"You had other ways of confirming." Quinn pointed out and Mr. Winters grinned.
"True, but you've always been glued to Noah's side. Honestly, I thought you two were dating." Quinn felt his face warm. "Are you?" He asked, leaning in, "because if you are, this is a crazy thing for Noah to ask." Quinn sighed.
"Noah and I have never dated, nor even kissed. We really are just good friends." Quinn said. They still hadn't had time to discuss what Phoebe had suggested, but Mr. Winters didn't need to know that. They were, no matter what, good friends. Mr. Winters smiled at Quinn and Quinn felt a small shiver run down his spine.
"Are you sure about that?" He asked and Quinn swallowed. He dropped his gaze again, staring at the fluffy sweet-smelling drink that was in front of him. He let out a soft sigh, his hand clenching around the warm mug.
"We've never discussed it otherwise." Quinn said, not denying his concerns, but that was still something private. "We're good friends and…" Quinn sighed. "Noah didn't just include me in this because he wanted to sleep with me or something like that." Quinn muttered.
"Oh? Please go on, Mr. Rivers. What do you mean by that?" Quinn hated this. He didn't like being examined like this. He felt like he was under a microscope and the worst part was that he couldn't escape without ruining his chances of being at the party with Noah. He'd told Noah he'd at least try, but it was so uncomfortable.
What was the best way to explain this? To get away in one piece without him prying more into his personal life? It was already shocking to know that this man knew of him from his university days. Quinn hadn't even fully acknowledged that yet.
"I, uh, just had a year-long situationship ended." Quinn muttered. "Against my will and while they didn't consider it messy, Noah and I have differing opinions."
"You and Noah did, or you and this man did?" Quinn's face warmed. Yeah, it made sense that he would pick up on that. After all, Quinn did say he had a type.
"He didn't think that it ended messily." Quinn clarified. There was silence for a few beats.
"May I ask what happened?" Mr. Winters' voice softened. It was clear that he was curious about what Quinn wasn't saying. Anyone would be. No one in his office knew that he'd been going through a hard time outside of his grandma falling. Quinn was doing a very good job at keeping himself together.
Quinn's head pulsed, once, twice, before he let out a heavy, bone-weary sigh and looked up at Mr. Winters. He gave him a bewitching, if not self-deprecating smile.
"It's a tale as old as time. I'm a beta and he can only get engaged to an omega. That's it." Quinn tried to be dismissive but he saw the way that Mr. Winters' smile fell from his face. That hadn't happened the whole time that they had been talking.
Mr. Winters, who still had his hand on Quinn's wrist, gave it a squeeze. His fingers gentled, stroking the soft fabric of Quinn's suit.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Rivers. I was careless." Mr. Winters apologised. Quinn swallowed, nodding.
"It's fine. It happens all the time." Quinn muttered, giving a soft laugh.
"That may be true," Mr. Winters said slowly, "but that doesn't make it easier for the ones going through it." They sat in silence, Mr. Winters' hand stroking Quinn's wrist. Quinn felt conflicted. He was the one who pushed and pushed him to talk about this, and yet he was now apologetic?
Quinn's heart twisted. He wasn't sure what he wanted from him. Why did he need to know this to invite him to a sex party? Did he worry he'd be too messy if he went?
Quinn's phone went off, loud in the quiet of the coffee shop and Quinn jumped. His drink spilled slightly and Quinn cursed, reaching for his phone while also worrying about how to clean up the mess he made.
"I got it." Mr. Winters promised, his voice soothing as Quinn's gaze darted to his. His smile was genuine as he nodded to Quinn. "Is that a phone call? You take it, I'll clean up the table. It seems like the food I ordered should be arriving as well." Quinn nodded, worried that the call might be from his parents or family.
Seeing Patrick's name on his phone when he pulled it out, Quinn pushed his seat back and raised the phone to his ear, moving towards a more quiet corner.
"Pat? What's wrong?" Quinn asked, immediately in his protective, older cousin mode.
"What's wrong? I can't just call you when I want to hear your voice?" He asked, sounding incredulous. Quinn stared at the dark wooden wall, huffing at the strangeness of hearing Patrick's voice in this weird coffee shop. He let out a soft laugh, raising his hand to run it through his hair.
"No, I love hearing from you, but I've normally been working late for the last little bit. I told you that. How did you know that I wasn't working late today?" Quinn asked. He heard the bell of the coffee shop ring but dismissed it.
"Well, I saw a familiar grey suit and a pretty blonde head and assumed it was you. I'm so glad I was right. Turn around, Quinnie." Quinn spun on his heel and felt every single soul in the coffee shop turn to stare at the two forms that had stepped into the coffee shop. One towered over the smaller man who had a mask covering his face while he wore a hood and three winter jackets.
Quinn felt his heart fall to his feet.
Patrick waved wildly while Quinn felt all of the colour leave his face.
Mr. Winters was frozen, half standing as he slowly looked to Quinn, and then to the small snowman that was waving at him. Quinn gulped, shoving his phone into his suit pocket and marched over to Patrick.
"Pat, what in the world? Aren't you busy right now?" Quinn didn't ignore his partner in crime, he just didn't matter to him at the moment. He didn't take offense. Quinn was one of two people that knew Patrick had a boyfriend right now. Patrick pulled down his mask, grinning at the flustered, pale Quinn.
"Awe, come on, Quinnie! We haven't seen each other outside of grandma's scare. Can't you be more excited to see me happy and healthy?" He was completely using his charms, fluttering his eyes, being the sweet youngest child that he was.
Quinn was thankfully immune to him. He instead just wanted to shake him.
"Patrick Rivers, I could shake you! I'm in the middle of-"
"Mr. Rivers, who is this charming young man and his friend?" Quinn felt Mr. Winters come up behind him. His presence alone made Patrick's eyes widened as he tilted his head back and back to meet the grey eyes of Mr. Winters.
"Mr. Rivers? Quinnie, what in the world?" Patrick asked, turning to Quinn who closed his eyes and wanted to slam his head against the window. This couldn't be any better if Noah had walked in while they were talking. All of this was bad.
"Quinnie? That's a rather cute nickname, Mr. Rivers." Mr. Winters said, humour in his voice. Quinn almost laughed. Cute? Yeah, right. Quinn wanted to run away from what was happening, but it was already too late.
He had a feeling that in this moment, Patrick and Mr. Winters were the same. If Quinn tried to brush this off for either of them, he would not hear the end of it. Quinn opened his eyes, sighed and took a step back so that he could see both Mr. Winters' face and Patrick and his partner's.
"Patrick, this is an acquaintance, Mr. Winters. Mr. Winters, this is my youngest cousin, Patrick Rivers along with his best friend, Jordan Thompson." Quinn introduced them the way that Patrick had asked him to when he wasn't sure the other parties would be okay. Patrick was the stronger force of the couple, and so far, Quinn hadn't gotten to know Mr. Winters enough to know if he would be okay with that.
He seemed that he would be, given that he seemed to be inclined to liking betas, but Quinn wouldn't make any judgement calls too quickly. After all, he'd slept with Michel for a year. That was a dark mark against his judgement.
Mr. Winters offered Patrick his hand, and hesitantly, Patrick took it. He relaxed when Mr. Winters didn't have a strange power-play with him and then turned to Jordan who looked tired. He probably was, given he had to keep up with Patrick.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Winters. Don't worry, I don't hear about anyone Quinnie sees. He always keeps everything to himself." Patrick accused. Quinn felt his face warm. It was clear that Patrick was getting the wrong idea. It wasn't…quite the wrong idea, but he certainly wasn't right, either.
Mr. Winters slid his gaze to the flushed Quinn, his eyes curling up at the corners as he chuckled.
"I'm glad to hear that he's good at keeping secrets. Were you two swinging by? What brought you into the neighbourhood?" Mr. Winters asked and Patrick smiled.
"Oh, my training gym is nearby. I honestly just caught a glimpse of what I thought was Quinnie. No one dresses up like him nowadays so he's pretty easy to spot." Patrick said. Quinn wanted to groan. Enough with the Quinnie bit, Pat!
Patrick grabbed Quinn's shoulders, leaning into him and grinning towards Mr. Winters.
"No one is as stylish as Quinnie is, or as handsome. I mean, I'm partial. We get our good looks from our maternal line." He joked and Quinn rolled his eyes.
"Your mother would weep if she heard that." Quinn accused and Patrick laughed.
"No, she'd agree. She adores Mom." Patrick said, chuckling. "Anyways, sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to come in and do this." Patrick turned and buried his face in Quinn's chest, hugging him tightly. Quinn melted at the simple action, hugging his cousin back tightly. After a long moment, Patrick pulled away, his eyes a little watery but he didn't make a big deal of it. "Okay, sorry for interrupting! Text me when you aren't a slave to the office, Quinnie!" And like that, Patrick was gone.
Leaving Quinn alone with Mr. Winters who no doubt had lots of questions.