Page 57 of Shifter Omegaverse AU

First, he needed to eat something, and then maybe they could talk a little more about intimacy, timelines, and—

Rowan’s hawk shrieked, and Rowan stumbled into the wall to avoid slamming into Milo’s back. They’d come to a stop right around the corner, and Rowan hadn’t noticed until it was almost too late.

“Milo, what—”

“Ray?” Milo called, staring down at the small black-haired shifter currently sitting in front of the first door in the hallway.

“Hi,” Ray said, scrambling to his feet. “I was hoping to catch you both, but I couldn’t remember when you were supposed to get back from the farm.”

“You know you have a key, right? Specifically so that you don’t have to sit on my doorstep?” Milo asked, stepping around Ray to slot their key into the door.

Rowan hadn’t known Ray had a key, but it wasn’t surprising. All his siblings and Troy had keys to his apartment.

“I know, but I didn’t want to barge in and interrupt your hangout, so I thought I’d wait just in case you hadn’t gotten home yet.”

Even though Ray was right and this was supposed to be Rowan’s hangout—his date—with Milo, as Ray followed Milo inside, Rowan couldn’t help but feel like he was the one interrupting.

Milo placed their large bag of strawberries on the counter before turning to Ray. “You’re not interrupting. More like…intercepting. What’s up? Why haven’t you answered my texts?”

Ray ducked his head, and his hair twitched like maybe his ears were going to pop out again. “I’m sorry. You know I don’t usually respond when I’m with someone unless it's an emergency.”

Milo peered over Ray and met Rowan’s eyes. “So…”

“Ruben’s still downstairs,” Ray said, and his hair ruffled some more. “We actually wanted to talk to you if you have a few minutes.”

At this point, Milo’s eyes were as big as strawberries. “Oh, well, we—or, I guess, I have something to tell you, too, but without Ruben.”

Ray glanced over his shoulder at Rowan, who was still standing by the door. “Ruben actually really wanted to talk to Rowan, but…I guess Rowan could go talk to Ruben, and I could stay here and talk to you?”

Milo’s frown was such a stark contrast to the toothy grin they’d been wearing all day that Rowan’s hawk shrieked in protest.

“It’s fine. We can all talk together,” Rowan said, following Milo’s lead and toeing off his shoes before padding into the apartment.

The kitchen was barely large enough to hold Ray and Milo, so Rowan took a few steps past it to what looked like a living room. A three-seater couch was crammed in the corner with a TV on the wall across from it. On the other side of the wall, Rowan spotted the corner of a bed, which must be Milo’s room. He hadn’t been in a studio apartment in years, not since college, but Milo had done a lot with the small space. It definitely wasn’t as clean as Rowan’s apartment, but few places were. There was a homeyness and a Milo-ness to the space that immediately made his hawk feel at ease, and by extension, Rowan found his stomach unclenching a fraction.

The kitchen island had three tall chairs shoved underneath. The space was probably only meant to hold two, but maybe Milo needed three in case Ray, Ethel, and now hopefully Rowan came to visit.

Case in point, Rowan pulled out one of the chairs and sat down.

Milo barely waited until his butt had touched the seat to scurry around the counter.

“Are you sure?” Milo whispered, turning their back on Ray. “We don’t have to do a big reveal today if you’re not ready.”

As always, Milo was careful to make sure not even the edge of their jacket brushed Rowan, but he could still smell the strawberries on their breath, and it made his head spin and his hawk shimmy his shoulders.

“I’m sure,” Rowan said.

The chair was just low enough that, for once, he was the one who had to look up at Milo. The angle highlighted the sharp ridges of their cheekbones and the familiar curve of their jaw.

Rowan’s hawk leaned forward and, taking a chance, Rowan did the same, skimming his nose so close to Milo’s throat, he could feel the tiny hairs on their neck. Hawks didn’t scent each other the way many mammal shifters did. In his shifted form, his scent gland was in his tail region, spreading scent to his wings, which his parents and siblings could use to identify and track him when they were flying around. In human form, hawk shifters rubbed their wrists against their partner’s scent glands.

Rowan had never scented anyone before, and he wasn’t sure if Milo would get the significance if he did it now. This, on the other hand, was a more well-recognized sign, so he skimmed his nose down to the base of Milo’s neck, where their scent gland was.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make himself actually press his nose to Milo’s throat, but he took in a big whiff of apples and sun-warmed skin before pulling back.

Milo’s eyes were round and their mouth was slack as they stuttered out, “I… You… Okay.” They blinked several times before turning back to Ray. “Okay. We can all talk. Do you want to bring him up here?”

Not only had Ray’s ears popped out, but whiskers had sprouted from his nose as well. “Uhm…sure, yeah. I’ll go get him. Right now.”