Forget Me, Not Chapter 9

Daou POV

Daou had stopped on the way back to his condo to grab himself and Chance dinner. They were making their way to his condo hand in hand when he saw a familiar face standing at his door leaning against the wall scrolling through his phone.

“Joong?” Daou asked, confused as to why his best friend and coworker was at his door. Joong looked up at him and then his eyes trailed down to Chance.

“You forgot didn’t you?” Joong sighed. Daou winced as he remembered he had made plans with Joong earlier in the day to go with him to grab drinks.

“Sorry, I dropped off Offroad and Chance wanted to spend the night,” Daou said, opening the door to his condo.

“It’s fine,” Joong said, following them inside. “I guess I get to hang out here and finally get to know my nephew,” Joong said, smiling at Chance who was hiding behind his leg.

“It’s okay buddy,” Daou said reassuring his son.

“Can we go swimming now?” Chance asked in a whisper looking up at Daou.

“Let’s eat first and then we will,” Daou said, pulling his son over to the dining table, taking his backpacks and plushies, and dropping them on the couch as he laid his son’s food out for him to eat.

“You hungry? I’ll share,” Daou laughed, asking Joong.

“No, I ate but maybe later after the pool, we can get dessert?” Joong said, joining them at the table sitting directly across from Chance. It warmed Daou’s heart to his best friend attempting so hard to connect with his son. Chance’s ears perked up at the work desert. “Maybe cake?” Joong asked, attempting to figure out what the boy liked. “Or ice cream?” Chance smiled and began nodding eagerly. “Ice cream it is then but you gotta eat all your dinner first.”

“Okay,” Chance whispered quietly as he began to eat his actual chicken nuggets and fries.

“You too, Baby Daddy,” Joong said to Daou laughing.

“What’s a baby daddy?” Chance immediately repeated, causing Daou to groan and glare at Joong. Not even 24 hours of having him he was already messing it up royally.

“My bad,” Joong said, trying to hide his laughter behind his hand.

“It’s a daddy who is tiny,” Daou tried to give the most kid-friendly explanation.

“But you are tall?” Chance asked, looking at him confused. “Is daddy a baby daddy cause he is not tall?” Joong was no longer able to hold in his laughter, throwing his head back.

“Uncle Joong was just playing around,” Daou said, smacking his friend’s arm. “We don’t call people that. Finish your food so we can go swimming,” Daou said, hoping reminding him of the pool would change the subject. Thankfully it did.

They had finished their food, and changed into their swimming gear Daou made a mental note of things he needed to order especially to have at his house so he didn’t have to keep borrowing Offroads. He also needed to get Chance to pick up the theme for his bedroom at his condo so he could get started on that. Daou had a feeling of what he was going to select but didn’t want to mess it up. He was constantly worried that he was going to mess this all up, it loomed over him like a dark cloud and he just couldn’t shake it.

All 3 of them played in the pool with Joong pretending to be a shark chasing after them. They played with the poolside basketball hoop that daou had each of them taking turns to lift Chance up to slam dunk the ball. His home was filling up with his son’s laughter and that filled his heart giving him emotions he never thought he would have. It was nearing dark so as Daou and Chance finished playing Joong stepped out to run to the convenience store to get ice cream for everyone. When he returned Daou closed up the pool wrapping a towel around Chance, drying him off the best he could before plopping him on his kitchen island as they all enjoyed their ice cream.

“Are you sure you didn’t give birth to him,” Joong laughed. “He looks just like you, like a troll,” Joong joked, tickling Chance.  

“I’m not a troll,” Chance laughed, pushing away Joongs hand.

“Are you spending the night?” Daou asked, finishing his ice cream first and tossing the stick into the trash.

“No, I gotta get home,” Joong sighed and checked the time on his phone. “It was nice meeting you squirt, we will have to do this again,” Joong said, rustling Chance’s wet hair. “Get him dry, you don’t want him getting sick,” Joong told Daou before he went to the couch to gather up his clothes. “I’m out of here, I’ll see you at the office. Bye troll,” Joong laughed, waving to Chance as he made his way to the door. Chance smiled around his ice cream and waved bye back.

“Alright buddy, finish your ice cream so we can get you into the bath,” Daou said to Chance, using the towel to dry up the water that was now on his counter.

“If-, if-” Chance said before pausing, making a face like he was trying to find the right words. Daou paused what he was doing and waited patiently. “If daddy is daddy but you’re also my daddy do I call you daddy?” Chance finally asked in a quiet voice. Daou was not prepared for that question.

“Do you want to call me Daddy?” Daou asked his son. Chance made the thinking face again.

“If I called you daddy too, how would you know which one I am talking to?” Chance asked. He had a point.

“You can call me whatever you would like,” Daou said, smiling at his son rustling his hair. Daou paused, noticing how cold his hair had become. “Alright, buddy we need to get you in the bath,” Daou said, grabbing the ice cream from his son that was almost finished and dropping it in the trash. He gathered up Chance and carried him to his bathroom as the guest bathroom only had a shower, not a tub. Daou made a mental note of that too, he also made a mental note of needing more space. Chance was going to be taking over the current guest room he had, and with the number of times his friends stayed over at his condo he needed a guest room. Daou sighed as he got Chance in the tub, ‘Maybe he should also look at new places,’ he thought as Chance began to splash around. “Hey buddy, how would you like to go with me this weekend to pick up some stuff for your new room here?” Daou asked, washing Chance’s hair, and adding kid shampoo to the list of things he needed. Chance paused in his playing, looking up at Daou.

“Are me and Daddy moving here?” He asked. ‘God, I hope so.’ Daou thought to himself.

“No, it’s for when you come over and spend the night when you want to so you have your own bed,” Daou informed his son.

“Can I pick out my bed?” Chance asked him as he gave him a look that said this was turning into negotiations.

“Yes, buddy you can,” Daou laughed, rinsing Chance’s hair.

“Do I get toys?”

“If you would like some yes,” Daou said as he pulled the stopper up allowing the water to start draining.

“But if I get my own bed, where is daddy gonna sleep if he wants to spend the night too?” Chance asked as Daou helped him out of the tub wrapping him once again in a towel.

“He can sleep with me if he wants to,” Daou told him, trying to keep the answer vague like Offroad would have a choice to pick where he slept.

“You sure, ’cause daddy snores, he says he doesn’t but he does,” Chance informed Daou who threw his head back laughing. His kid was absolutely adorable.

“I’m sure,” Daou said as he helped Chance get into his pajamas. They both brushed their teeth, Daou sitting Chance on the counter, adding a step stool to his seemingly never-ending list of things to get, to brush his. Once they were finished they laid down in Daou’s bed with the plushies Chance had brought with him watching Jurassic World until Daou heard Chance’s own snoring. Daou quietly slipped from the bed and proceeded to take his own shower. After he went and located his laptop bringing it back to the bed to get an early start on the work for tomorrow. Realizing Chance may not be one to wake up at 6 am Daou realized he wasn’t going to be able to arrive stupid early in the morning. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and shot off a text to Offroad.

-Did you want me to drop him off in the morning?

-If you don’t mind, or I can meet you at the office to get him.

-Don’t mind at all.

-Thank you. Is he behaving?

Daou laughed and took a quick selfie of his son passed out curled up next to him. And sent it to Offroad.

-Awe looks like he had fun.

-Pool works wonders. Oh, btw Chance agreed to come pick up stuff for his room this weekend, so Friday after the dinner, wanna have a sleepover?

-hahaha we will see, stop working and get some sleep. See you in the morning.

Daou smiled at his phone like a kid with a middle school crush. He put the phone on the charger and placed it back on his nightstand. Promising after he finished with this report he would head to bed as instructed.

——

Offroad POV

Offroad had passed out on the couch with Poon. He had come back from seeing Daou and Chance off to find his friend waiting for him at the door, wanting to know what was going on with them. Poon had grabbed the snacks and Offroad grabbed the wine as they sat on the couch sharing a blanket as Offroad proceeded to tell his best friend all the details.

“In a parking garage?” Poon gasped as Offroad relayed the story of how he had ended up at Daou’s apartment. “You weren’t in heat were you?” Poon asked, now concerned.

“No, at least I don’t think so,” Offroad informed him. He had taken a pregnancy test first thing in the morning today and sighed with relief that it only had one line. A part of him did feel sad about not seeing two lines but it was way too soon for that, as Poon had just told him when he informed him of taking the test.

“I can’t help but want to say I told you so,” Poon sighed, sipping his wine. “I told you 6 years ago that Daou was a good man.”

“I know but you know the reason behind what I did,” Offroad said, kicking him lightly with his foot.

“I’m just saying you could be married, with all the babies, in a huge home living lavishly.” Poon sighed staring up at the ceiling.

“I don’t want to live lavishly, I just want to be happy,” Offroad said, hugging a pillow to his chest.  “I want Chance to be happy.”

“The boy adores Daou,” Poon laughed. “It used to be when I grabbed him from daycare the moment he got into the car, to the moment you finally got home all he talked about was Daou.”

“He is a good dad.” Offroad sighed. Daou hadn’t even hesitated to jump headfirst into fatherhood.

“And a good boyfriend?” Poon asked, giving Offroad a sideways glance. Offroad felt his face flush with heat as he nodded yes burying his face into the pillow. Poon laughed at Offroad’s embarrassment. They continued talking throughout the night finishing off the bottle of wine before Poon passed out using Offroad as a pillow. Offroad didn’t know how long he had also been passed out before he heard his phone ringing. He set up reaching for it on the coffee table groaning as he answered it.

“Hello?”

“Chance is burning up, I don’t know what to do, I don’t even have a thermometer for fucks sake,” Daou said as Offroad finally heard his son cry in the background. Offroad set straight up wide awake causing Poon to roll off the couch.

“What the fuck?!” He shouted, rubbing his head.

“Calm down,” Offroad said to Daou as he rushed to the door, slipping on his shoes, “He will become more upset because you are upset. I’m on my way, just comfort him for now.”

“Okay,” Daou sighed as Offroad disconnected the call racing out of the apartment.

……

“Hi baby,” Offroad said as Daou opened the door holding their son who was whimpering. Daou immediately transferred him to Offroad who felt his son’s head. He had a fever alright but it wasn’t too bad. “Oh you have a fever, let’s get you some medicine,” Offroad said, taking his son into the Kitchen and setting him on the counter. He had stopped at the convenience store on his way here grabbing medicine and fever patches. Offroad opened the fever medicine measuring out the right dose. “Open up baby,” Chance complied quickly. One thing Offroad had thanked the gods for was that his son never fought him on taking medicine. Chance quickly downed the medicine making an eww face. Offroad quickly put a cooling patch on his forehead and gathered Chance up. “Let’s go lay down okay?” Chance nodded burying his head into Offroads neck. He turned to make his way to Daou’s bedroom.

“Wait other daddy,” Chance sniffled, reaching his arms out towards Daou. Offroad paused in his tracks looking back at Daou who couldn’t hide the pure happiness that was spreading across his face, even if he wanted to. Daou quickly caught up to them and grabbed Chance from Offroad continuing to his bedroom. Offroad had been wondering when or if Chance was going to take the step of calling Daou, by anything else. He had been thankful for the fact that Daou didn’t seem to push the matter. Offroad followed them into the bedroom and joined them in the bed with Chance in the middle of them.

“Thank you,” Daou sighed. “He woke up crying and hot. I didn’t know what to do. I’ll add medicine and a thermometer to my never-ending list of things to get.”

“You did great, you are doing great,” Offroad said, rubbing his son’s belly as he started to slowly fall back to sleep. “Don’t worry the first time Chance got a fever around Poon he tried to call an ambulance.” Offroad laughed.

“His scent is lingering all over you,” Daou said, not looking at him but at their son joining in on rubbing his stomach.

“Oh, sorry we fell asleep together,” Offroad informed him, smelling his clothes and trying to figure out what Daou was smelling. Offroad’s head shot up when he heard the growling from Daou. “Knock it off,” Offroad sighed.

“Maybe don’t inform me you were sleeping with another man,” Daou growled in annoyance.

“That man is my best friend and helped raise your son. And besides he is more likely to try something with you before he ever would try something with me!” Offroad said defending Poon.

“For his scent to be that strong still he had to be sleeping practically on top of you,” Daou said finally looking at Offroad. His statement had Offroad shifting his eyes to anywhere else In the room.

“Are you serious right now?” Daou said, raising his voice.

“Shhhh” Offorad hushed him and pointed to a sleeping Chance. “It’s not a big deal,” Offroad said Rolling out of the bed and going back to clean up the mess he had left in the kitchen. It wasn’t a big deal to him. He knew it could potentially give the wrong message to people especially Daou who was one of the most territorial people he had met but Poon was his best friend like a security blanket, a comfort item at this point. Offroad gathered his trash from the countertop and threw it into the trash, placing the medicine in the cabinet next to the fridge and fever patches in the fridge. He smelled Daous pheromones before he heard him. “Keep the medicine stored in a dry cool place but the patches in the fridge,” Offroad said, attempting to change the subject. He was closing the fridge door when it was slammed shut by Daou causing him to jump at the noise.

“You can’t have other men sleeping near you, let alone betas or alphas,” Daou growled.

“Why not?” Offroad asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Because I said so!”

“Sorry you are going to be sadly disappointed, it’s a common occurrence.” Offroad scoffed. He watched Daou’s eyes grow wide. Daou took a deep breath, closing his eyes in an attempt to calm down. When he opened them Offroad could see his eyes were glowing.

“You are my omega, MINE, you are the father of my son, we may not be bonded but my alpha is still extremely territorial over you. So I am asking nicely please,” Daou said in a voice that while calm was seething with anger.

“Look it doesn’t happen all the time,” Offroad sighed. “We were drinking and catching up and Poon is clingy when he drinks.”

“ROAD!” Daou yelled. “For the love of god stop talking,” Daou said, as he scrubbed his hands over his face. “Just promise me okay.”

“I don’t want to make a promise, I can’t keep,” Offroad said, biting his lip. He knew his words were not helping the situation but literally Poon was the only person in the world outside of his family he was like this with and that was because he was more family than most of his actual family.

“Fine,” Daou said, throwing his hands up, spinning, and disappearing into the hall. Before reemerging with linens, a blanket, and a pillow.

“Are you seriously going to sleep on the couch?” Offroad asked, walking around the counter. “Don’t you have a guest room?”

“Oh these aren’t for me,” Daou said in almost mock laughter, thrusting the items into Offroads arms. “And yes I do have a guest room but you aren’t welcome in any of my beds until you can promise me you will keep other people out of yours,” Daou said pointing to him.

“It was a couch and are you serious?” Offroad asked, standing there dumbfounded holding the linens.

“Oh, so even less space than I originally thought. GREAT!” Daou said sarcastically. “How about we invite all my omega friends over for a sleepover?”

“That isn’t the same and you know it!” Offroad said tossing the items onto the couch.

“But it is!” Daou screamed.

“If you wake our son up with this stupid fight, I will take him back home,” Offroad growled. He watched the rage flash across Daou’s face, feeling scared for the first time of Daou.

“If you take my son out of this condo, you better be prepared for the consequences of your actions,” Daou growled, his teeth bared, his pheromones releasing like crazy.

“I’m not going anywhere, please stop.” Offroad whimpered suddenly as he was suddenly what almost felt like being suffocated by them. “Stop, Ou, I can’t breathe,”

“My alpha may consider you its omega, but threaten to take my son away from me again and watch what happens,” Offroad couldn’t even swallow, he heard the shift in Daou’s voice of his alpha coming through. Offroad watched as Daou turned abruptly and walked back to his room, the pheromones in the air dropping as he walked away as Offroad was finally able to take a much-needed breath. He fucked up. He fucked up big time, he knew it. Offroad took a seat on the couch and put his head in his hands, he should have never said anything about taking Chance away. He didn’t know where to begin to fix it. Offroad sat there for a few minutes trying to think of how to apologize when he felt a body flop down next to him on the couch. Daou was there staring straight ahead, arms crossed.

“Ou,” Offroad said, his voice broken on the edge of crying.

“Don’t you dare cry right now,” Daou whispered, quickly glancing at him before looking back straight ahead.

“I’m sorry,” Offroad whispered, trying to hold back his tears. “I just didn’t want Chance to see us arguing,”

“You can’t keep trying to run when things don’t go your way,” Daou said, sighing leaning forward, resting his elbows on his legs. “That’s not fair to anyone, especially our son,”

“I know, I’m sorry I didn’t mean it in the way it sounded. It was a bad choice of words. I would never do that.” Offroad said rambling at this point. Daou was still not looking at him. “I’m sorry,” Offroad said, putting his hands on Daou’s arm. “Ou?” Offroad whispered as Daou still wouldn’t look at him.

“Maybe we rushed into this. If it’s only been a week and we’ve had what? 20 fights?” Daou laughed but he was unable to completely hide the pain in his voice. Offroad let out a sob, he knew the fighting was all his fault.

“God damn it,” Daou said, drawing Offroad into his arms finally. “I said no crying,” Daou said as he stroked his back. He was stubborn; he didn’t want to accept Daou’s help, making everything harder on himself. He didn’t want to compromise, he didn’t want to understand he wanted things his way.

“I’m sorry,” Offroad said again through his tears. “Tell me what to do to fix this.”

“There is nothing to fix,” Daou sighed. “I just think we are on different pages and until we are on the same page maybe we take some space.” Those words had Offroad crying even harder.

“Is it because of Poon? I promise nothing happened.” Offroad sobbed. “He will tell you himself we are like brothers.”

“No, well not completely,” Daou said, pulling back from Offroad and wiping his tears away.

“Is it the condo? I’ll move into it,” Offroad choked the words out.

“No, I don’t want you to do something just because you think it will make me happy,” Daou sighed.

“Then tell me, why- why-you wanna leave me,” Offroad said through his tears.

“I’m not going anywhere, I just think you aren’t ready for this,” Daou said, motioning back and forth between them. “I’ll wait until you are, however long it takes, but until you are we should keep a distance.”

Offroad wrapped his arms around Daous’ neck holding on tightly sobbing. He couldn’t formulate words, he couldn’t think. All he knew was he didn’t want to let go. He ended up falling asleep and curled up on Daou’s lap crying to the point his body was exhausted. He awoke the next morning in Daou’s bed all alone. He could hear Daou’s voice and Chances coming from the kitchen. Offroad quickly jumped and raced to the kitchen.

“Daddy!” Chance yelled sliding off the kitchen counter where he was sitting as Daou washed dishes he assumed were from breakfast. Offroad bent down accepting his son’s hug.

“How are you feeling huh?” Offroad asked as he kept an eye on Daou. Who was now wiping his hands on the dish towel.

“No fever this morning.” Chance smiled

“Good, did you eat breakfast?” Offroad asked, still able to smell food lingering in the air.

“Yeah, papa put yours in the microwave.” Chance said. Offroad paused at the name.

“Papa?” Offroad asked.

“Your daddy and he,” Chance pointed to Daou who had slipped on his suit jacket now. “Is papa so you don’t get confused.”

“Such a smart boy,” Offroad said, standing rustling his son’s hair. “Are you leaving?” Offroad asked Daou trying to mask the sadness in his voice.

“Yeah, I have to go into the office,” Daou said, walking over to them kneeling down in front of Chance. “Okay buddy, I’ll see you Friday okay just 2 days away.” Chance nodded eagerly. “Give me a hug,” Daou said, opening his arms for their son, wrapping him in a hug. “See you later,” Daou stood, Offroad stood there shamelessly waiting for his hug but it never came. “Make sure the door is locked when you head out,” Daou said without even a glance, grabbing his suitcase, and making a beeline to the door disappearing out of it. Offroad felt his heart shatter. He didn’t know why he stupidly thought he was going to wake up and act like the words Daous said last night never happened.

“Daddy?” Chance asked, looking up at him, sadness growing on his face. Offroad realized he was crying. He quickly wiped away his tears.

“I’m okay,” Offroad said, smiling reassuringly at his son.

“Are you sad Papa left? We will see him on Friday.” Chance said in a sweet soothing voice.

“Yeah, you’re right we will.” Offroad smiled at his son but for a reason, he no longer believed the invitation for dinner no longer included him. “Come on let’s get dressed,” Offroad said, taking his son back to the bedroom to change his clothes so they could leave. Offroad wanted to stay and wait for Daou to come home back he didn’t want to upset him anymore. He didn’t want to make this worse. He didn’t want to totally lose him.