"Where are you taking me?

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"Jojo, wait!" Mani leaves the dorm room, determined not to look back. He didn't want to see the look on Teddy's face at the result of his words. He knew they were harsh. He knew he may as well have cut Teddy in two because he felt it in his own chest. He was going against the nature of the beast… and it hurt.

He sees Jojo, just a spot in the distance. He looked fretful, jumpy, as if he had just watched back to back Stephen King in the dark, with no sleep. "Jojo, wait." Mani slaps a hand on Jojo's shoulder. It makes him jump and he instantly bats the hand away.

"Don't touch me. He will never leave me alone!" Jojo shouts, his fractious state no better with Mani's presence as he continues to head forwards to nowhere in particular.

"I've told him I don't want to be with him." Mani blurts out. It causes Jojo to stop and look back at the omega.

"What? Can you do that?" Jojo wonders.

"I can do what I want. That's why I'm here." Mani responds, as he straightens up his stance, trying to show a sense of authority. "And I want to be with you."

Jojo smiles at Mani as he stands there trying to look all macho. "Mani, come on. You've only known me for what? A few days?"

"But we kissed! That must mean something." Mani tilts his head a little to the side in confusion. Was there something he was not getting?

Jojo dares to take a step closer. "Yeah we kissed and I enjoyed it. You kiss good…"

"I sense there's a but." Mani sighs heavily as his shoulders slump. He knew what was coming but felt obliged to hear it.

"Mani. I like you. I do but I don't know? I mean…that psycho alpha is too dangerous. I want to go to bed and wake up in the morning without a chunk torn out of my leg. I can't even return to my dorm." Jojo points back to where he came from.

"Come with me." Mani suddenly grabs Jojo's sleeve as he is pulled in a different direction.

Jojo has little choice but to be manhandled as he protests, "Where are you taking me?" As he tries his best not to trip over his own feet in the process.

"Come to my dorm for now, then we'll figure out what to do next when we get there." Mani replies as his hold on the material of Jojo's sleeve stays constant.

"We?" Jojo finds enough strength and balance to pull back from the hold. It causes them both to stop as Mani turns to face him.

"Yes 'we'. This is all my fault Jojo. I need to help you fix it." He reaches out again for Jojo's sleeve, but Jojo is hesitant to let Mani do it at first. Did he need this possible 'threat to life' hanging over him? But there was still that familiarity with Mani which Jojo still felt. That need to be doing right in the eyes of others. It was the same kind of look Jojo gave his own mother too many times. That look of approval was all too familiar.

"I'll come with you now, but I can't stay there." Jojo utters under a defeatist breath. Mani smiles. It was all he needed to hear to know that he still had hope of some kind of relationship with Jojo, even if it were just as friends.

***

"Tyler! I thought you'd be at lectures." Mani enters his dorm room to see Tyler hurriedly closing the drawer on his bedside table. He looks up to see Mani and automatically adopts a nervous laugh.

"Hey Mani! Uh…yeah, I had to come back here. I…I umm, forgot something. He stands up by his bed, now clocking the unfamiliar face standing behind his roommate. "Who's this?"

Mani gives off a weak smile as he steps to one side to reveal a rather dishevelled Jojo. "This is my…" he looks at Jojo, as if unsure as to what to say.

"I'm Jojo, I sit next to Mani in chemistry…well, I've sat next to him once." He laughs as he looks down.

Mani sees the embarrassed smile on Jojo's face, distracted for a moment, at how Jojo's dimples formed on his cheeks, before he remembers why they are here. He looks back at Tyler who seemed to be watching the pair with interest. "Jojo may need to stay here for a while."

"What?"

"What?"

The other two males both say in unison.

"Mani, I'm not staying here with you, are you insane? Teddy will kill me!" It takes everything in Jojo's power to stop himself from hyperventilating.

"Hang on, who's Teddy?" Tyler takes a step forward towards the pair.

"He's a…"

"The guy you told me about Tyler…in the shower room. He's Jojo's roommate." Mani interrupts, looking at Jojo with pleading eyes, he must not tell!

"So you know him? I didn't realise." Tyler subconsciously scratches his head in thought. "I guess that makes sense."

"What do you mean?" Now it was Mani's turn to feel uneasy at what was going to be said.

"He must have seen us together when we were out the first night. He had a things about this shirt." Tyler pulls the shirt in question, from the small airer hanging from the radiator. "You must have a shirt like this one."

Mani takes in the checkered item of clothing. He didn't own shirts like that, but a white lie right now was easier than trying to explain the whole truth. "I guess…"

"Haha but he forgot your average face." Tyler pushes Mani with jest. "He must have only been interested in what happened below the neck. Is that why you went so hot under the collar that night, mmm? Was he looking for you? Did he want more?"

"You're missing the point Tyler. This isn't about me and Teddy, this is about Jojo staying here because Teddy is…Teddy is…" Mani was running out of excuses and fast.

"He smells, he's just so in my face. That's all." Jojo says, placing a hand on Mani's shoulder as a means to calm him. "Plus, Mani has made such an impression on him that he flips when others get close. So I'm not staying here. Not for longer than needed. " Jojo ends the sentence with what he hopes is a convincing smile.

"Well, whatever. I need to get back to my lectures." Tyler proceeds to pick up his bag from his bed and push past the pair by the door.

"Um…Tyler?" Mani says, causing Tyler to stop and look at him.

"What is it?" Tyler sees Mani looking at the neck of his sweater.

"You have blood on your collar…"