He saw her in her nightshirt, nothing scandalous or scantily clad like part of his imagination wanted, but just a plain oversized and beat up t-shirt that rested at mid-thigh on her. After a moment he realized what he was doing and turned away from peeping on her any further. If his uncles caught him, he'd be in hella big trouble. Having to explain himself was not something he wanted to do since he was the one in the wrong and he would fully have to admit that he was peeping. It was shameful, but he was honest and would confess if confronted about it, especially since he was a terrible liar.
He quickly headed for the room he was sharing with his twin cousins and slipped in, while the two were snoring. He had to chuckle at their sleeping positions. Atreus was draped over his top bunk bed, laying on his stomach with his arm dangling down off the side. Artemis was sleeping on his back, completely exposed in only his boxers and socks, having kicked his blanket off at some point. The two were very similar and even after all these years they were still each other's best friend, unlike his twin sister and he that had drifted apart since they entered middle school.
The last straw of them hanging out and doing the same things ended when they had taken the same ballet course Vivi had. That year was the worst for his cousin, and he hadn't been able to do a thing about it. He had been too young and powerless. Now though, he was determined to protect her with his whole might. He had bulked up and trained under Uncle Shane and planned on entering the EEA as a grunt when he graduated college. He was going to work his way up the ranks and then take over for his mom on the administration side of things.
Noel, on the other hand, wanted to take over their dad's research on biochemistry and also had picked up their mom's old research on the sigma gene. Ever since he took over everything from their great-great-granduncle he had been too busy to pursue his passion much, which was a shame, since he had loved to work alongside their dad and just have fun researching and collaborating on things.
Vivi's birthday came and went, and so too did summer. The holidays came and the holiday's went, and soon spring was upon them. Leon and Noel were sending out invitations to their birthday. In less than a month, they would both be legal adults, even though they had been adults in all but age for several years now.
Leon made up his mind. It was now time to make his move and make sure that his feelings got across clearly to Vivi. He loved her. He didn't exactly know from when, but at some point his love had gone from familial to that of a man. He desired her and knew that his alpha was pining for her as well. He would catch glimpses of her at the college, and then tantalizingly she would almost meet his eye, and then she'd be a million miles away in her head if he did catch it.
The last time he had tried to get her alone and confess, yet again, he had been cornered by his ex-girlfriend who was nothing but a sheer annoyance. He had dated her as an experiment to see if he could forget about Vivi, but that didn't work. His alpha was apathetic for the girl, and he never ever made any moves on her besides to kiss her. Even after he cleanly and honestly broke things off with her, she had continued to pursue him, much to his annoyance. His dad said that it was the Bartley curse of good looks and intelligence. It made other people feel entitled to it, even if it never belonged to them in the first place.
He couldn't stand girls or even the occasional male omega that clung to him. It made him feel disgusted. His heart and his body were for only one person; if only she would look his way long enough to realize their connection. He felt it. He knew what it was. All his parents' research into fated mates said everything he needed to know about this feeling.
Although they had stopped researching it shortly after he and his sister were born, they still had enough information that had caused quite a stir with the government to promote fated mates as a ploy to get young couples having babies again, since his parents' generation had seen an economic downturn before being lifted out and back up into the black with the increased advocacy for protections for secondary genders in the school and workforce.
Leon sent a text to Vivi, hoping that she wasn't too busy today to leave him on 'read'. [Hey, can you make it to N and I's birthday?] It was short and to the point. To his surprise, he got a text back, but it wasn't how Vi texted him or Noel.
[Who dis?] It was not Vivi asking this. So, he immediately composed a counter reply, [What's it to ya, who dis is?] Immediately after sending his reply, his phone rang. It might be Vi, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was whoever had her phone right now.
["Yo, like whoever this is, you're like almost the number one contact in Vivi's phone. Do you know her personally? Cause I think she needs help…"]
This alarmed Leon since he could hear faint moans in the background that worried and alarmingly thrilled him. His alpha was quite attuned to anything to do with Vivi so he did a quick calculation and nearly cursed. It was time for Vivi's heat! He looked around his messy room before grabbing the nearest pair of pants he had and worked them on while trying to get details from the person on the other line.
It was apparently one of Vivi's beta students that she tutored twice a week. He tried not to be jealous of this obvious high schooler, but a part of him was with the time he got to spend with her. He rushed down the stairs as he got the kid's address and grabbed up two of his dad's newest inhibitors that he had designated for Vivi the next time she needed them. As she got older and spent more time away from her family and any other sigmas, her heats had become more unstable.
She oftentimes had to suppress them to get through the day before she could move on and be perfectly fine in a few hours but sometimes it took an entire day. This was her regularly scheduled heat, but her last suppressant hadn't worked very well so she had a tough time of it. He hoped that his dad's research on this phenomenon was enough that one of these two inhibitors would work.
Noel had actually helped make them the last time she had been home, but then she jetted back to her dorm at the state university before he even got word she had visited.
He shook his head as he grabbed his keys, his and Noel's 16th birthday presents had been cars, but they weren't new cars by any means. They were used and fairly beat up, but they ran beautifully thanks to a bit of his own tinkering. Thanks to his Aunt Ra-Ra, she had taught him and Noel how to maintain and care for their cars to make them last as long as possible. His parents had been right to get them older cars since Noel had practically trashed hers the second week. She was careless and didn't pay attention to the sound her car was making. If he hadn't chewed her out, she might have continued to drive it into the ground!
Once he arrived at the house of the kid that Vi was tutoring, he rang the doorbell desperately. He knew he was being annoying, but he was worried about her. After what felt like hours but was only closer to a minute, the door opened, and the pimply faced beta boy answered the door. He was barely a teen from the looks of him, which strangely put him more at ease even though age really didn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things.