"Give in Mani. Don't fight it. Eat the frickin' fruit!"

🌕

"So…?"

Mani looks up from his breakfast to see Jojo has sat opposite him with his cup of juice. "So…what?" Mani responds.

"The date, what else?" Jojo leans in closer to Mani, with Mani also leaning in, meeting him halfway. "Was he rough, or smooth?" Mani instantly sits back in his seat, taking the triangle of toast to his mouth, just watching as Jojo waits for the details. "You deliberately did that.'' He huffs. "Come on, tell me. I wanna know how a wolf woos his mate."

Mani chokes on his toast as he quickly leans forwards again, looking around him nervously. He hurriedly swallows down his mouthful. "Shh will you."

"Sorry." Jojo whispers as a reply, " but you need to tell me how it went and then I'll tell you my news." Jojo grins, knowing that this was sure to get Mani to spill the tea.

"Teddy was actually really sweet. We almost had the date of my dreams actually." Mani says with a smile.

"Almost?" Jojo questions, raising an eyebrow with wonder.

Mani reaches for his mug of tea, pulling it towards him, staring at his reflection in the tanned liquid as he speaks. "He went to kiss me…" Mani stops and looks up at Jojo.

"Christ Mani... and what then?" Jojo says impatiently, tightening the grip on his own juice bottle.

"I pulled away." Mani says a little guiltily.

"But why?" Jojo asks again. "You've kissed him before haven't you?"

"Yes, but that was instinct taking over. This was something else." Mani pushes his mug away from him and looks up at Jojo. "I'm so confused right now."

"You're overthinking this Mani. When you get the feels, you get the feels, it doesn't matter if you're a wolf or a human or whatever." Jojo again leans in closer to his friend. "Go with what you feel. That's all you gotta go by."

"That's easy for you to say." Mani complains. "You don't have this sudden urge of attraction thrusted upon you without any say in the matter."

"Who does Mani? We never choose who we fall for. These things are always out of control. Do you think it's in my interest to fall for a bad guy?" Jojo says with a cheeky grin.

"Hey, you were attracted to me when we first met. Am I a bad guy?" Mani wonders. He wasn't sure if he should feel offended or not.

"You are a total scoundrel…kissing me and then running after someone else." Jojo jests, earning him a playful push by the omega.

"You know I couldn't help that."

"And neither can Teddy and that's the thing you wolfkind have over humans." Jojo says knowingly.

"And what is that?" Mani questions.

"You know it's always gonna be reciprocated. There's no danger of unrequited love, unless you are a stubborn fool. Oh….wait. You are!" Jojo lifts his index finger casually pointing across in Mani's direction.

"Your point?" Mani sighs as he stuffs more toast into his mouth.

Jojo grins wickedly. "Give in Mani. Don't fight it. Eat the frickin' fruit!"

Mani shakes his head at Jojo for being so caution to the wind about it. "Anyways, what is your news?"

"My news?" Jojo says, furrowing his brow.

"Yes. You said you had news too." Mani reminds him.

"Oh, yeah." Jojo's grins. "I have no news…ow!"

***

It's late evening and Mani is getting ready for his night in the woods. He looks up at the door. He knows Teddy is approaching. Mani closes his eyes and enjoys the aroma, inhaling deeply into his nostrils, right up unto the point where there is a knock at the door, bringing him back from his sensory pleasure. He lets his bag rest on the bed and goes to let the alpha in. "Hi… I wasn't expecting you to come over." Mani half smiles as he looks up at Teddy.

"It's what a good boyfriend does, right?" Teddy gives off a small wink and Mani feels like he may melt into a puddle by the action. The alpha had definitely cranked it up. His senses were already heightened due to the impending full moon. Teddy now looks over to the vacant bed next to Mani's. "Where's your roommate?"

Mani half glances over his shoulder. "Oh Tyler? He's out sorting family stuff I believe and probably avoiding you."

"What did I do?" Teddy says rather offended.

"Shower blocks ring any bells?" Mani grins as he sees the cogs in Teddy's head turning.

"Oh right." Teddy laughs awkwardly. "Well you know I couldn't help that." He then takes a step closer to Mani, almost towering over him. "But if he's out and we're all alone, we could just lock the doors…stay here…"

"I don't think so." Mani smiles, taking a step back. "Two mated wolves in a bedroom is definitely going to get noticed."

"Why? What do you have planned?" Teddy says with a smirk.

"You know what I mean Teddy. We need room to run. There's no room for that here. How else are we supposed to burn off our energy?"

" I can think of a way…"

"No!"

"We'll see." Teddy again leans in, getting closer to Mani's left ear.

"We…we should get going before the full moon." Mani stammers as he again steps away and grabs his bag, pulling it onto his back. This night was going to be a difficult one for Mani to contain his urges, but in light of his earlier conversation with Jojo, maybe he should just go with the flow, or as Jojo put it, "eat the 'frickin' fruit!"