The ABO Serum

Coffee and Gossip

His shift ended at one, but Gary hung around for coffee and gossip with Carey and Braedon before his planned walk with Bob. It was too hot in the middle of the day for exercise. Steve usually joined them, but he was taking his wrestlers to a training camp this week. Insanity in Gary's opinion, but he'd never understood athletic types.

"How was the honeymoon?" Gary asked a blushing Braedon.

"How do you think?" Braedon countered.

"Awkward and uncomfortable at times, but mostly sweet," Gary answered frankly. "You waited to have sex, so you had all those awkward firsts on your honeymoon."

Braedon couldn't get any redder. "It wasn't bad though," he said, squirming in his seat. "Trevor was gentle with me." He didn't say the words 'unlike my kidnapper' but they all knew.

"Did you like your gifts?" Carey asked. He knew what Gary left in the room for the boys. Braedon couldn't answer that one. He hid his face in his hands while his friends laughed.

"Don't be too embarrassed," Gary soothed. "Sex is part of a healthy relationship. All these people walking around have their own kinks. They've googled something embarrassing they didn't know and tried some kind of toy or other in their lifetimes. If they haven't yet, they will. Life is long and humans are curious."

The baby started fussing so Carey pulled her out of the stroller. "I can't believe how big she is!" Braedon exclaimed, avoiding responding to Gary's home truths. "I've been so busy with the wedding stuff I haven't seen her in a while."

Carey beamed as he snuggled his baby girl in to breastfeed. It had been a difficult adjustment. In the beginning he wondered how women ever breastfed in public as he juggled baby and blanket and winced from the pain of chapped nipples, but now that he'd figured it out, he thought it was easier than dealing with bottles and big diaper bags to carry them and all the worries about sterilizing them. Though he understood mothers who did all that because nursing had not come easy. He also liked the feeling of closeness. He was glad he could do this for his baby. It wasn't a given when he got pregnant that natural childbirth and breastfeeding would be possible.

While Carey got the baby settled, Gary and Braedon talked about the wedding and the boys' plans for school in the fall. They weren't in a hurry to have kids, but Braedon looked enviously at Carey from time to time.

Gary felt it too. He'd given up on having children when he realized he was gay, but he supposed that wasn't the case anymore. He could have a baby, too. But could he raise one at his age? Carey griped about the lack of sleep and the energy the baby literally sucked out of him. He loved it all, but it was clearly exhausting.

"By the way," Braedon was saying, "I noticed you sitting next to Bob Stacy at the reception. Did you know him before?" Carey's ears perked up.

"I noticed that, too. It was bizarre watching two opposites sit together like that. How did you meet?" Carey asked.

For some reason, he didn't want to tell them the truth. He didn't want them to think badly of Bob. Or worse than they already did. "I met him when he came to visit the pastor in quarantine," Gary hedged.

"Came to give the pastor a piece of his mind, more likely," Carey guessed. "But you get along? Or was he bothering you?"

"We get along," Gary confirmed. "You've lived in town forever. What do you know about him?"

"In my memory he's always been old and cantankerous. But he wasn't horrible when his wife was alive. He was an Eagle Scout himself so even though he didn't have kids he volunteered with the Boy Scouts. He'd take us on survival camp outs and teach us to stay overnight in the woods with nothing but a pocketknife and a Mylar blanket," Carey said. He was grimacing at that memory.

"Trevor talked about those camp outs, too," Braedon added. "His dad was a troop leader with Bob, so the family were friends. That's why he was invited. Half the town was invited, but I'm glad we had a simple wedding that a lot of people could come to because we were really blessed by all the support. I mean, we're young and setting up house from scratch and that's often frowned on these days. We brought all the cards with us on our honeymoon and ended up crying as we opened them."

"I remember doing that with my husband," Gary said.

"We ran off to Hawaii so only close family were there, but we did get some cards that made us cry too," Carey added. "Maybe weddings make us sappy."

"Probably," Gary agreed. The baby dropped off the breast and Carey started adjusting himself to burp her. "May I?" Gary held out his hands.

"Sure." Carey handed her over along with a burp rag and Gary propped her against his shoulder to pat her back.

"She's really precious," Gary cooed. "Makes me want one too and that's a reckless thought."

"Not impossible though," Braedon speculated. "I mean, you'd want to make sure to arrange back up guardians just in case, but you're a healthy guy. You could live another fifty years."

"Not likely," Gary countered. "Maybe eighteen. But is that fair to a child? To live just long enough to get them to adulthood?"

"Are you serious?" Carey asked. Gary's face was serious enough for him to ask, "Would you do this alone or do you have a partner in mind?"

Gary took a deep breath and let it out slowly. These were his friends. If anyone could understand it would be them, and he needed to tell someone. "I think Bob Stacy is my reciprocal alpha."

Across the table, Braedon choked on his drink and started coughing. Carey clapped his hand over his mouth in shock. This was not a good response. "I'm so sorry," Carey managed to say.

"I'm...not," Gary answered. "I mean, I was at first. But he's actually really kind and thoughtful." Both other men wore expressions of incredulity at that.

"How...how do you know?" Carey asked, not sure what to make of this.

"That he's kind and thoughtful?" Gary asked. "The usual way. Because he's being kind and thoughtful toward me."

"That he's your alpha," Carey clarified.

"Oh, the same way Braedon knew. He smells like sex on a stick," Gary grumbled.

"Ewww, I did not need to hear that!" Braedon covered his ears. Carey started laughing and tried to cover it with his hand, but it was impossible.

"This is better than your fanfiction!" Carey said. "It's like the ABO disease is a Greek god being kind or vengeful at random. Mostly being meddlesome with the humans for its own entertainment." His laughter redoubled after he made this observation.

"It seems like that, does it?" Gary said wryly. "You guys are no help."

"No...please...don't be upset," Carey managed between his laughter. "We will help...however we can."

"Just please don't talk about sex and Bob Stacy in the same sentence again," Braedon begged. "I'm too young to hear things like that."