Kairi stared down at the burnt platter of, what was supposed to be, chocolate chip cookies. They looked more like bits of charcoal instead, the bunnies and kittens he’d shaped the cookies into no longer recognizable. It quite literally crumbled the moment he tried to pick one up.

No. He wouldn’t cry. He’d try again. Kairi sniffed, rubbing at his eyes roughly.

All he’d wanted to do was surprise you. You were so nice to him. The first alpha to give him any attention. All the dates you took him out on, the hand holding, the quick kiss in the park. His face flushed just thinking about it. And then you’d proposed to him. Kairi had never been happier.

He hardly cared that you were only doing this because his mom had bribed you. Kairi wasn’t supposed to know that, but he’d done his own digging when you “accidentally” ran into him on one of his very few excursions out of his house. You weren’t even the first alpha (along with a few betas) his mom had attempted to pay off just to date him; you were, however, the first to accept even after seeing him.

Kairi loomed taller than most alphas, built like a brick wall with a scar running across his face, definitely not the omega most wanted. He’d tried to make himself smaller, tried to make himself easier to look at. But bleaching his hair white and getting a tattoo of a cherry blossom tree, he thought it’d make him look prettier, did nothing. He’d been accused of pretending to be an omega just to get into omega only establishments. His scent was too sweet to the point it smelt artificial, they said, like he was wearing one of those scented perfumes. Sure some omegas were tall, but omegas didn’t look like him, they’d say. Kairi learned it was better to stay home and away from people. Eventually, though, he’d become sick from loneliness.

So he went along with the dates. You magically landed a job at his parent’s law firm and he pretended to act shocked. The house the two of you lived in was being paid off by his parents, but again, Kairi acted oblivious to it all. He was desperate for you to see him as a cute omega, the kind you’d wanted to marry and bond with.

Here he was, though, unable to bake something as simple as cookies. Kairi picked up the tray, intent on throwing the mess away, when you rounded the corner into the kitchen. He fumbled the cookies, hiding them behind his back. When had you gotten home from work? He hadn’t heard the front door open.

“Hi,” he said, voice breaking as he went red. “You’re home early.” Except, no, you weren’t. He’d just lost track of time. “I’m sorry.” Why was he even apologizing? To his mortification, his eyes began to gloss over. He quickly rubbed them against his shoulder, keeping the tray hidden behind his back. How many mistakes was he allowed to make before you were tired of him?

“Sorry,” he said again. His throat felt tight, the bridge of his nose burning. Kairi’s mom only wanted the best for him, but maybe he just wasn’t meant to be with anyone. All it took was burning some cookies for reality to come crashing down on him.