I gaze out of the kitchen window, across from the island I'm currently sitting at; golden light shining through it as I sip on the warm mug of coffee in my hands. The house is covered in a calming silence as the sun continues to slowly rise. Vic had already left for his morning run, probably before it was even light out. The other house occupants are still asleep upstairs, so for now I'm trying to bask in the calm before the storm.

It's only been two days, and this trip is already confusing and tiring.

Only for you

I hate you

Well then, I STRONGLY dislike your unhelpfulness

Jeez man, could you try too not be so blunt?

The creak of floorboards brings my attention back to the real world, as I look up to see Milo leaning against the upstairs railing. He rubs his eyes a bit and yawns, before noticing me down here with a startled jolt.

"Why the hell are you up this early?" Milo asks, tightening his robe around himself.

"I'm an early riser."

"Ew," he grumbles, scrunching up his face.

"Why are you up?"

"Needed to pee, but I smelt something good," He leans against the railing further, looking into the kitchen. "Did you make breakfast?"

"Nah, that's just coffee you're smelling," I say, taking another sip.

Milo frowns. "I want breakfast."

"There's bread by the toaster, and I think there's eggs in fridge."

His frown deepens. "I'm too tired to cook anything."

I just give him a shrug and turn back to the window. No way am I cooking for anyone. Besides, it's almost nine, I'm sure one of the local cafes is open if he's really that hungry and lazy.

"If I wake up Eli, will you make breakfast for us," Milo asks, sporting a knowing grin as I turn back towards him.

"I definitely refuse now." I still have some dignity. If Eli wants food, there's food in the fridge.

"He would be really happy to wake up to a nice breakfast."

"..."

"He might even smile."

"... how do you like your eggs." I sigh, begrudgingly getting up.

"I like mine sunny side up, and Eli likes them scrambled. Also, we both like our coffees with lots of cream and sugar. Thank you!" Milo chirps, with a wide grin.

"Whatever."

You stay out of this

I'm only doing this so Milo doesn't wake Eli up anyways and uses his anger against me

At least Eli can't say I never did anything nice for him and his friends. I pull out the eggs in question, along with some salt and pepper, and get to work. Throwing on a fresh pot of coffee as I start with Eli's order. Since Vic will be back any time soon, I make a big batch of scrambled eggs for the three of us. Popping in some bread in the toaster to go with them. Once that's done, it's on to Milo's order. His eggs don't take much effort to make, so I pour their coffee as I wait. By the time I was done with everything, Milo had dragged a barely conscious Eli downstairs to the kitchen island.

"See I wasn't lying; he really did make breakfast for us!" Milo says, gesturing to the food laid out. Eli's eyes widen a bit in surprise as he turns towards me with a confused look.

"You did all of this?" he asks, pointing at the meal. "Why?" Milo makes a shush motion behind Eli, giving me a wink. I guess he wants to keep his bribery under wraps.

"Uh, just because?" I say with a shrug.

"Just because?"

"Yerp."

"Oh," Eli says, a slight blush blooms across his cheeks. "Thanks, I guess." He quickly takes a seat and focuses on his food. Which is good because I also feel my face warming up. Not because he said thank you, just.... because. Milo gives me a shit eating grin and I just glare back at him. We eat in awkward silence until the front door bangs open. Vic walks inside shutting it behind him, before turning in surprise to see us all together.

"Sup dude," I say, giving him a small salute.

"Sup," he responds, shrugging off his jacket. "What's all this?"

"Grayson made us all breakfast!" Milo says, grinning from ear to ear.

"Is that so?" Vic raises an eyebrow towards me, but I choose to focus on my coffee instead. Really great blend, I should have this stuff sent back home.

"Yep, and there's still some eggs and toast left for you, big guy," Milo says, shoveling the rest of the food onto a new plate.

"Thanks," Vic says, taking the plate as he settles next to Milo.

"So, I was thinking, we should all go check out the ski area that we saw during the tour," Milo says, finishing up his meal. 

"Today?" Eli asks at the same time I say, "We?"

"Yeah! Well, not today. Since I want to go shopping for the gifts I'm behind on, and I'm still a little jetlagged from the bus ride. So maybe tomorrow," he says to Eli, before turning towards me. "And yes, I said we, as in you guys as well."

"I'm with Gray on this one. I thought we were going to do our own separate things with our own groups during this trip?" Eli says.

"But we all got along so great last night! Why not keep that ball rolling?"

"I don't know..."

"Come on! We're on vacation! A time to let loose and have fun. Do things we don't normally get to do back in our own pack. Which includes hanging out together. Be honest, would you two actually try to hang out back home?" Milo says, pointing to me and Eli. We both share a look before shaking our heads.

"Exactly, so let's try something new. Plus, me and Vic here had a blast last night, and I need an excuse to hang out again," he says, hugging Vic's arm. Vic slightly leans into him too, which surprises me, since it usually takes a while for Vic to warm up to someone. I guess if he's down then it should be okay to try.

"Alright, you've convinced me," I say, raising my hands in surrender.

"What! Whose side are you on?" Eli baulks.

"What can I say, he makes a good point. It wouldn't hurt to call a timeout on our long-lasting feud for a little bit. Besides, was last night really that bad?" I say, smirking as I see his face turn pinker.

After a moment of consideration, he sighs. "Fine. I guess we can continue to hang out together. But let it be known that I did try to prevent any future disasters or arguments."

"Yay! I'm going to go call the others and get dressed," Milo says, as he speeds back upstairs.

Eli rolls his eyes but still smiles as his friend leaves, turning back towards us. "While this is great and all, how are you two going to convince Luke to not be a dick while hanging out with us?" Shit, I didn't think about that. If he couldn't even stomach hanging out for just one night, I'm not confident in him behaving for the entire trip. I turn to Vic who just gives me a shrug, equally stumped. Maybe Jaden can scare him into behaving? Though for something like this, I don't think that it will be enough.

It's not that simple

I'm not ditching my best friend, Onyx!

Onyx, no. Give me a better option

*Sigh* Unhelpful as always

"We'll talk to him," Vic says, interrupting my internal dilemma. Eli gives us a skeptical look but shrugs, and heads upstairs too.

"Yeah, because that will totally go over well," I whisper as I watch Eli disappear into his room.

"Do you have a better plan?" Vic asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Well... no, but still-"

"Then all we can do is talk to him," Vic states, getting up and clearing off the island. I sigh, running a hand through my hair as the stress of what's to come settles in. Is it too late to back out?

*****

It's too late now.

"Are you guys insane?!" Luke shrieks, drawing the attention of a few people passing by in the busy market area. I give them an apologetic look, before I turn back to my exasperated friend. Jaden rolls her eyes and Vic continues to sport his near permanent poker face, as Luke gaps at us like we're aliens or something.

"It's not that big of a deal," Jaden groans, already over this conversation.

"Not that big of a deal?! You're talking about being in proximity to those weird outcasts for an entire two weeks. How does that not sound crazy? Gray, buddy, please tell me this is joke, or that those omegas somehow hypnotized you with their pheromones or, something!"

"I'm not hypnotized dude. I just thought that it would be something interesting to try. That's all," I say, trying to reason with him.

"Oh goddess, did they blackmail with something? I swear I'll beat the shit out of them if-"

"No. They didn't. So don't touch them," I growl, staring him down.

His eyes widen in shock as he shakes his head. "I knew I shouldn't have left you guys with them. Those freaks are going to ruin your reputation and drag you down to their level. Not to mention that this is Elijah Matthews we're talking about! Since when were you buddy, buddy with that arrogant asshole?"

I let out a deep sigh. "It's not like we're best friends or anything. I just thought that it would be easier to be stuck in a cabin with him if we got along better. That's all." Jaden let's out a short laugh and I glare back at her. Can she not make this harder than it already is?

"There's got to be more cabins in this place. Just ask Malachite to move you somewhere else, or to the pack house," Luke says, still not giving in.

"We've already checked any other housing options Luke, and nothing else is available," Jaden lies. "Besides it's your fault that he's in this cabin situation anyways. The least you could do is go along with this plan."

"Assigning housing was literally YOUR job!"

"And double checking the files was yours. So, whose fault is it really that they got the wrong file?"

"Argh! Fuck this! I clearly can't make you guys see reason, so go ahead and circle jerk with those runts for all I care. You can come and find me with your real friends when you're no longer high on omega pheromones and thinking clearly," Luke growls, storming off as his scent sours with anger. Here's to hoping that he calms down before another alpha smells him and sees it as a challenge. 

Jaden rolls her neck, letting out a few worrying cracks, and sighs. "Well, that went better than I thought."

"As opposed to what?" Vic asks.

"Honestly I thought that one of you guys was going to start fighting him if he kept insulting Eli or Milo any further."

"We wouldn't do that, he's our best friend," I say.

"Sure Mr. 'Don't touch them, or I'll rip your arms off'."

"I didn't say all of that!"

"But you did growl at him."

"That's- I- Whatever! Let's go meet up with the others already," I groan leading the way as Vic and Jaden follow; the later laughing her ass off.

We find Eli and his crew with Malachite inside of a store full of bright colors and sparkly things. Plushies, blankets, and many other cutesy things as far as the eye can see. Eli crashes into me in distress. Nearly setting off many protective instincts, but Onyx quickly states that Spark assured him nothing is wrong, so I relax.

"Save us," he gasps, practically clawing at my shirt with a crazed look in his.

"Why, what's wrong?" I ask, barely stifling a laugh.

"I thought we were safe from this horrid place, but apparently a pack in the middle of nowhere still has this blackhole of a shop."

"This place is literally named Sparkle Island how bad could it possibly be?"

Eli violently shakes his head. "You don't get it! This place is a trap for any and all nest builders. You walk in, only wanting to look around or get one thing. Then BAM! You're walking out with twenty things and an empty wallet. No one is immune," he says clinging to my side.

Ignoring the warm feeling that spreads from where we touch, I look around again. Sure enough, Malachite is following Beth around with two baskets full of stuff, Atlantis and Conner are browsing at pastel colored polaroid cameras, and Vic has been dragged away by Milo who has a whole shopping cart full. They don't even have shopping carts in this store, where did he get that? Even Jaden walked off to go look at something! Maybe Eli has a point.

"Well, what about you? Has anything caught your eye?" I ask.

He hesitates, nervously looking towards the ground before tugging on my shirt to follow him. We ended up in front of a giant brown rabbit with floppy ears lying down on a shelf. He gives the stuffed animal a longing look before shaking his head and facing me again. "If I had to choose something, this is the least egregious thing to look at in here. But that's all," he says frowning.

"Hmm, well clearly you must be immune since you haven't already bought it," I say, picking up the rabbit. "But just in case you change your mind, we can ask the workers here to put this item on hold."

"I'm not going to change my mind, Gray. I don't need it."

"I know, but just in case."

"Graaay."

"Just in case."

"...Fine, I'll be waiting by the door," Eli sighs.

Satisfied with the small victory, I head towards the counter where a cheerful worker covered in glitter awaits. I put the rabbit on hold under my name along with some watercolors that I noticed nearby. Eli mentioned that he likes to draw (even though he refused to show me any pictures), so maybe he'll find a use for them. With that done I leave the store, surprised to see Eli waiting with Jaden outside.

"Wow, you actually waited? I'm touched," I say, dramatically placing a hand on my chest.

"Don't flatter yourself, I definitely thought about ditching, but Jaden distracted me," Eli says rolling his eyes.

"What can I say, I'm just so captivating," she says flipping her hair back. Eli and I share a look before bursting into a fit of laughter, much to Jaden's dismay.

"Oh, fuck off, let's go you two," she scoffs heading into the rest of the market.

"What about the rest of our group?" I ask as we both calm down. 

"They're a lost cause. It would take half an hour to get Beth out of there, and with Atlantis distracted by Conner, there's no hope for Milo," Eli says.

"So heartless," I say, shaking my head. That seems to earn a chuckle from him as we explore more of the market area. The town still has some of its decorations up, since the winter competitions are still going on strong. Making the area look like a winter wonderland in the daytime; snow and all. Children run around playing as their parents' pop in and out of shops. Some of our schoolmates mingle with the locals, while others enjoy their own shopping sprees. It's peaceful and cozy here compared to our bigger, more industrialized pack. Which is kind of a shame since maybe if we were smaller, we would be closer as a community. And our problems would be easier to solve.

That train of thought doesn't last long as a snowball hits me square in the face.

There's gasps and silence from the nearby kids, which quickly get replaced by laughter from Eli right next to me. The kids follow soon after, as I wipe the frozen slush from my face. "Oh, it's on!" I shout, gathering some snow from a nearby pile and hurling it at my assailants. A symphony of shrieks and laughter fill the air as the snowball battle begins again. Jaden and I somehow end up on the side of kids with hats, while Eli betrays us for enemy side of scarf-wearers.

The battle is intense as snowballs fly, smacking into anyone who isn't lucky enough to dodge the projectiles. Not to brag but I was able to get some good shots; especially at the friend turned traitor of my group. To which Eli retaliated at full force. Somehow it gets to a point where all the kids and teens in town square are in on the fight. While the adults dodge the flying snow or watch from inside the shops with amusement. However, all good things must come to an end as we all hear a voice boom over the commotion.

Malachite says, as he and the others walk out of the "nightmare" store. Not wanting to upset their Head Alpha the kids and teens of this pack end the battle, with those from my pack following suit as I give them a nod. Probably best to end it here anyways. While my side was winning.

"Sorry to ruin the fun. I just didn't want a window to get broken, or a concussion to happen from a stray ice chunk inside of a snowball," Malachite says with sheepish laugh, as he approaches us.

"No problem man, you did what you had to do. Besides it was still fun while it lasted," I say catching my breath.

Eli jogs up next to me, nudging my shoulder. "He's just saying that because he was losing."

"You couldn't even tell who was on what team near the end, what are you talking about!" I gap, nudging him back and earning a wave of giggles out of him.

"Glad to see you two getting along," Atlantis says.

Which snaps Eli out of his fit, faking a cough as he takes half a step away from me. "Hardly" is all he says, and I won't lie, I don't get the best feeling from seeing him still deny that he enjoys hanging out with me. But it's also a cold reminder of the fact that we shouldn't be getting any closer than we are now. So, I resign myself to shrugging it off and throwing on a smile as we continue our shopping trip.

*****

"Thank goddess the shops closed early for the competitions! I don't think I could have carried this stuff for much longer," Eli groans, dumping his arm load of bags by the stairs as we enter the cabin.

"Well excuse me if I wanted to buy my friends nice things," Milo pouts, munching on the rest of a sugary pastry he bought.

"Seventy percent of this shit is for you!"

"And the rest is for the people I care about, so be careful!" Milo snaps, then turns to me and Vic. "Do you guys' mind carrying these bags upstairs for me," he says, giving the biggest puppy dog eyes, I've ever seen. Maybe it's the round glasses that magnify them or something.

"Sure," Vic says, much to my distress, as he easily picks up Eli's discarded bags and continues up the stairs. Maybe Luke was onto something about the omega pheromones in the air, because we've definitely been acting strange over these past two days. We drop off the bags in Milo's room, but I place a hand on Vic's shoulder to stop him from leaving just yet. Might as well ask him if he's noticed the shift too.

"Hey man, is there something going on between you and Milo?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" he rebuts, giving me a confused look.

"Well, you guys spent one night together and now you're bending over backwards for him."

"Is helping him carry bags that strange of a task?"

"No. Like, I don't know, you both seem close now. And you rarely get close with anyone this quickly."

He shrugs. "I don't know what to tell you. He's just fun to be around. Besides, I'm not the only one warming up to our new roommates." He gives me a knowing look that I can only scoff at.

"Your delusional."

"Or I'm honest."