Beta Bully (M/M) - Chapter 31 (Early Access) (Patreon)

The Last Night

“Welcome to my room, Darce.”

Darcy stepped through the door first and Luca closed it behind them. Darcy listened out for the lock, the words of his dad flickering in the back of his mind. If Luca broke their agreement, he could call him. Darcy could leave any time he wanted. The door didn’t lock, and Luca stepped round him to plop his backpack onto the desk.

“What do you think?”

It was huge, like the bedrooms of teenagers in movies. A double bed took up the centre of the room and it had been made surprisingly well. Built-in wardrobes were tucked into one corner and a desk in the other. The shelves above the desk were filled with old tattered textbooks and notebooks. Luca lounged in a beanbag in front of the long windows. The curtains were drawn back to fill the room with natural light. It gave him a fluffy halo where the sun shone on the back of his head.

“It’s way bigger than my room,” Darcy admitted. “You have so much stuff!”

Luca laughed. “We’ll get a bigger one once you move in.”

Darcy felt his heart flutter. They would be living together after graduation. Once he was officially an adult, moving in with his soul-mate was expected. It made him so deeply happy he wanted to spin around on the carpet like a kid on a sugar high. He ran towards Luca, ready to take a flying leap into his lap, when he noticed a half-open door.

“Is that an en suite bathroom?” he cried. “I’m so jealous!”

Darcy skidded to a halt and threw the door open, inside was a toilet, basin and shower. Luca cackled behind him and he pulled a face at him over his shoulder.

“Don’t laugh at me for being excited!”

“I’m not! It’s really cute.”

Darcy shook his head and jumped on him, doing his best to squash the beta under his much smaller body. Luca howled with more laughter. His arms squeezed Darcy in close and he rolled them back and forth on the bean bag. When he stopped, they were both breathlessly laughing.

Darcy’s tummy gurgled loud enough for them both to hear over their panting, and they laughed harder.

“We’re not allowed to eat anything from the kitchen because it’s for the party tomorrow, and my mother will murder us,” Luca advised gravely. “But I bought us our own snacks and I’ll order pizzas for dinner.”

Darcy beamed. “And where can I find those snacks?”

Luca opened the doors of his wardrobe and pulled free a plastic bag, filled with delights.

“You crack into those and I’ll get the pizza menus,” Luca called over his shoulder as he pulled the door open.

Darcy stuffed his hand inside the bag and helped himself to some peanut butter cups. He used his other hand to wave goodbye to Luca.

While his mate was out of the room, Darcy couldn’t help but snoop around a bit. With his mouth filled with chocolatey goodness at the same time, of course.

It was fairly neat and tidy. Especially for a boy. One of the dominant gender, no less. Darcy had been expecting underpants on the floor and a distinct smell of gym sweat. He was super jealous of the tv, he wasn’t allowed one in his room. The bed was tempting him, he wanted to throw himself on it and see how much it bounced. He had almost convinced himself when Luca burst back into the room. He waved a brochure in the air triumphantly. Darcy grinned and took it from him.

He scanned the menu quickly and picked a small pizza, Luca read over his shoulder and picked a large. He put in orders for a few others in the pack who had messaged him asking to get in on the delivery. Apparently, no one could ever be bothered to walk all the way down the drive to collect the food off pack grounds. If one person was going, everyone wanted to add to the order.

Ten minutes after ordering, he was off to collect. The walk was long, so he told Darcy to stay put.

Darcy jumped on his bed for twenty minutes before he got too tired and flopped onto the bean bag. After another twenty minutes, Luca returned.

The heavenly smell of pizza had Darcy cheering his entrance. Luca grinned and laid two boxes on his desk. Darcy followed him like a puppy, hungry and excited. But first, he needed to get something off his chest. Something that could cause his soul-mate to choke on his cheese if he waited another minute.

“About that thing I needed to tell you-”

“Sorry, babe, bear with me just a minute,” Luca said distractedly. He had popped the lids open and was inspecting both pizzas. “I think I got given the wrong box - you said extra cheese and green peppers, right?”

“Yeah.”

He sighed. “Sorry, let me go sort this out. I’ll be right back and then you can tell me, okay?”

“Sure.”

He hurried off with the pizza and Darcy perched on the edge of the bed awkwardly until he returned.

“Sorted!” Luca yelled from the door and kicked it closed behind him. He handed Darcy the box and took his own from the desk. They sat on the floor to eat and Luca filled the conversation with tales of his fellow beta, Oli, and his many feasting feats. Apparently, the gentle giant of the Pearl Claw could devour more food in one sitting that Darcy did in a week. Tomorrow he would be getting introduced to him, and the alpha. Darcy asked, in a chewing pause, what he was like.

“Nico? He’s tough as nails, but I think he’s fair overall,” Luca answered carefully.

“Should I be worried?”

“Not unless you plan to cross him.”

Darcy shook his head vigorously. Luca laughed and stuffed his face with more cheese and pepperoni.

Once Darcy had cleared all but one piece of his pizza, he pushed the box away and stood up to stretch. He felt uncomfortably full. With a sigh he sunk into the centre of the bean bag. His eyes were half-lidded as he watched Luca polish off every last bite of what had been left on the cardboard. He licked the tips of his fingers and Darcy’s lower tummy clenched. Luca looked over him once he had finished. It did not help with the unwanted arousal.

“Shouldn’t I be the one getting sleepy?” Luca teased.

“Too much food,” he groaned.

“Let’s watch a movie while your stomach settles.”

Darcy nodded happily and put his hands out. Luca pulled him out of the bean bag gently and pushed him towards the bed. Darcy climbed on and bum-shuffled to the side. Luca hopped in next to him with a tiny remote in his hand.

“What do you want to watch?”

Darcy cuddled into him and shrugged. He didn’t care, he just wanted to be close to his soul-mate. And if a movie was playing, it would be bad manners to interrupt it with his confession. Darcy had just earned himself two hours of peace.

By the time the credits rolled, the room had gone dark. Luca flicked on his bedside lamp.

“PJ time?” he asked.

Darcy flushed, but nodded.

Luca gave him full use of the bathroom first and Darcy took his sweet time, nervous to go to bed. Face washed, cream applied, clip removed, hair brushed, clothes off, pjs on, teeth brushed. They traded and Luca was done in five minutes. Darcy would need to get him onto a skin care routine as soon as he moved in to preserve that perfect face of his.

He bounded out and caught Darcy around the waist, forcing giggles from him. He spun him, hugged close to his body, and dove back onto the bed. They tumbled across it together and his minty laughter brushed Darcy’s forehead.

Luca threw up the blankets and they wriggled underneath. He rolled onto his side, his wide shoulders blocked out half the light of the lamp. Darcy mimicked him, pressing the side of his face into the cool pillow.

Luca stared into his eyes for a few moments. His excitement was palpable. It healed and hurt Darcy in equal measure.

“We should do this for your birthday, too!” he said. “Like our special ritual or something. We can move all your stuff in the day before, and it will be our first night living together because we’ll both have graduated by then!”

Darcy opened and closed his mouth a few times before replying, “maybe.”

Luca deflated. “We don’t have to do that,” he offered quietly. “I didn’t mean to come on too strong.”

“It’s not that,” he murmured awkwardly.

“What is it?” He sat up against the headboard. “Are you not having fun?”

“I am!” Darcy followed him upright. “We just can’t…”

He was quick to bounce back. “We can do something different for your birthday, babe. Anything you want.” He was getting himself over-excited again. Darcy’s heart began pounding in his ears. “A big party or a small celebration. It’s less than two months away so we can start planning-”

“My birthday isn’t in August.”