Page 50 of Shifter Omegaverse AU

Because Milo was gorgeous, even in Rowan’s wrinkled shirt.

“Good morning,” Milo chirped, a wide grin on their face that could mean absolutely nothing but trouble. “Should I assume you calling me ‘baby’ means I have the go ahead to keep calling you ‘sweetheart’? Because I have to be honest, my pony has already adopted the term, and when that happens, it’s a bit of a losing battle, but for you, I would fight the good fight and try to win.”

Rowan’s hawk shook his tail feathers so hard his entire butt shimmied. It was quite an embarrassing display. So much so, Rowan gripped the edges of his pillow and flipped it over on top of his face.

“I’m going to take that as a strong maybe. Do you have a dustbin somewhere?”

“Why?” Rowan asked into the cool side of his pillow.

“No reason whatsoever. I just thought I would get better acquainted with the contents of your apartment.”

Rowan’s hawk was quite amused by this. While Rowan wasn’t usually one to sleep in, this particular morning he felt like he could probably do with another six, maybe seven hours of sleep.

“Find it myself, got it!” Milo said, their soft, rapid footfalls leading away from the bedroom.

It was probably too late to blame Ruben and his mother for this, wasn’t it. He was just as much to blame now.

Speaking of Ruben, Rowan rolled over and reached for his phone, only to realize it was probably out in the living room with the rest of his clothes.

Because he’d shifted in front of his friend-turned-fated-mate, made their lap into a nest, and then flashed them.

Gods, his siblings were going to get a kick out of this.

He should probably talk to Milo about it all first, though, which meant he needed to do the adult thing and get up, take a shower, and face the music. Given Milo’s attire, he assumed they hadn’t taken a shower that morning. Rowan didn’t have much in the way of pants to offer them, but he could probably find them another clean shirt if he dug around his closet.

With a herculean level of effort, Rowan rolled out of bed and poked his head out of the bedroom. From there, he could see the whole living room and part of the kitchen, which is where he found Milo on their knees sweeping up what looked like an entire bag's worth of tea with their hands.

“The dustbin and broom are in the front hall closet,” Rowan said.

Milo jerked their head up, a blush mottling their cheeks. “Oh. Okay, thanks. And just so you know, I have this same apple tea at home, so I’ll totally replace your box later. I can even buy you a fresh one—or two fresh ones!”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. What was…” He wasn’t really sure he wanted to finish that sentence, but it was probably better to know. “The, uh, second crash?”

Milo grimaced. “I owe you a new mug as well. Slipped right out of my hand, which made me panic and swipe the tea off the counter.”

Rowan’s hawk jumped to his feet, but Rowan was already on it. He rushed across the room and knelt down in front of Milo. “You’re not scooping up a broken mug with your hands, are you?”

Milo leaned forward, as if drawn towards Rowan by a magnet. Before they touched him, they caught themself and rocked back onto their heels. Rowan felt the same pull he’d always felt, but now he finally had the words to explain it. Milo was his dear, sweet, slightly chaotic fated mate.

“I used a wet rag to pick up the small bits that broke,” Milo said, staring down at the pile of spilled tea. “I’m being careful, I promise. Or, I mean, now I’m being careful.”

“What were you trying to do? You could have woken me up if you needed something.”

Milo’s wide grin was gone, replaced by a tight-lipped line. “I wanted to surprise you with tea in bed.”

“Oh,” Rowan said, rather at a loss. No one had ever woken him up with anything in bed, other than frustrated words or demands he couldn’t meet. “That’s real sweet, baby, but I think we’ve probably had enough surprises for one weekend.”

With the shirt tucked in, it wasn’t as easy for Milo to shrink into it, but they did their best impression of a turtle as Rowan’s hawk shrieked in displeasure.

“I just meant, there were a lot of surprises yesterday,” Rowan tried again, but that only made Milo shrink even further back.

Rowan took a sharp breath in and let it out through his nose. If last night had taught him anything, it was that inaction was just as bad as taking the wrong action. That probably meant saying nothing was just as bad as saying the wrong thing, so he might as well keep trying until he got it right.

His hawk fluttered his wings in agreement.

“They weren’t all bad surprises, though,” Rowan said, and Milo looked up at him. “The best surprise, quite possibly of my entire life, was finding out we were fated to meet, and to be…whatever it is we’re going to be. I don’t need any surprise tea after that, baby. Just you.”

Milo popped back out of the t-shirt like one of the colorful jack-in-the-box toys of Rowan’s youth. His alpha ma had hated the things, which had only made his omega mom buy more of them. They’d come in all colors and sizes, with creatures ranging from dinosaurs to monkeys and kangaroos. Rowan’s least favorite had been a demonic-looking clown that Ruben had loved to wind up and leave at the foot of Rowan’s bed.