~20~

The hours passed quietly between them, they were long used to working side by side so the atmosphere was peaceful.

At noon, Bryan shut his laptop and shot to his feet. "Time to eat lunch." He announced brightly.

Kieran looked up at him. "Sure." He acknowledged, making a move to go back to work.

"I didn't say, just for me." Bryan pointed out. "Come on, we're going to eat together this time." 

"What?" Kieran furrowed his brows in confusion.

"You heard me." He said, going around the tables to pull Kieran out of his chair. "You need to eat more and now that I know that you actually eat, you're definitely coming with me."

Kieran knew there was no getting out of this, it would be like trying to get his way with Dream.

So he let himself be pulled up, falling forward slightly so that he was in Bryan's personal space, flustering the other.

"We-We should… l-let's get going." Bryan stuttered lightly, making no move to step away even though Kieran was so close to him and he was slowly turning a soft red.

Kieran was the first to break away from the tension slowly growing between them, it was so easy to forget how dangerous Bryan was to him.

Bryan said nothing about this, turning around to lead the way out of his office.

"We're going down to the Kitchens, there's not a lot of people at lunch but we can always eat in my apartment." Bryan remembered quickly enough to say.

He didn't think anything of it but he wasn't sure if Kieran would be comfortable with the crowd at the Kitchens.

"Whatever you want is fine." Kieran shrugged.

For someone who was very careful to maintain a cold and detached demeanor to other people, the startling contrast when it came to Bryan was almost hilarious.

Bryan already knew what he wanted so he didn't hesitate further. "Let's eat at my apartment, just tell me what you want and I'll go get it while you wait at my apart…"

"I'll come with you." Kieran cut him off.

Bryan was surprised by this but he made no protests. They started off for the Kitchens, attracting attention as soon as they got in.

Bryan paid them no mind, they always ignored him anyways and he knew the only reason they noticed him now was because of Kieran hovering over him.

"What would you like?" Bryan asked him, growing warm inside at the way Kieran paid attention to just him.

"I'm not picky." Kieran replied and Bryan anticipated that before he could even get the words out.

He already knew what Kieran's response would be so he was already preparing lunch and packing it up.

As he rounded up, Kieran leaning against the counter with his black eyes fixed up him, he heard footsteps heading in their direction.

Kieran frowned when Bryan stiffened after catching a glance at who it was coming over.

It was some lady who looked like trouble.

"I had no idea you were all chummy with the Head Beta, little Bryan." She started off badly, a sour smile on her face.

"I didn't think it was something I had to report to you, Mrs. Wilson." Bryan said dryly, obviously having no time for her bullshit.

Mrs. Wilson forged ahead though, blatantly ignoring Kieran's presence. "It's no surprise though, considering that your sister was kicked out of the Pack and your mom left, of course you would go against the Alpha…"

"Bridget." Kieran cut her off. "Give it a rest, you seem to be well informed about going against the Alpha which is ironic, considering that you're setting yourself up to be kicked out."

He said the most Bryan had ever heard him say at once but Bridget wasn't backing down.

Bryan knew her, she was upset that his mom was given a higher position in the Pack daycare than her and it was no secret that she was among those who lowkey hated Kieran to get in the Alpha's good graces.

Which no matter what way you looked at it was downright ridiculous. 

"How would you know that huh? Your entire existence goes against the Alpha and we all know that the only reason you were allowed back in the Pack was because Alpha Dale's hand was literally forced…" She started on a rant, not stopping once to take a breath.

The entire occupants of the Kitchen had gone deathly silent and it wasn't because of Bridget's callous words.

"Next thing would be that you would want to tear the Pack apart because you lost power…"

"Baby, what's taking so long?" Dream's voice came in from an entrance.

"Listening in on someone who seems to know me quite well." Dale's voice was quiet and controlled but there was no missing the underlying steel.

Bridget froze in horror at this, slowly spinning around to find the Alpha staring down at her with blazing gold eyes.

Dream took a double take from where he stood. "Excuse me, what?" He blinked in surprise, rolling up his sleeves as he strutted forward.

"Someone knows you 'quite' well." He repeated, an expressive look of disgust on his face. "Who is this someone?"

Dale and Kieran both winced, things were about to get ugly really fast.

Dale was quick on damage control though, hurrying over to his mate to sufficiently calm him down and explain exactly what was going on before he lunged at Bridget with plans to disembowel her.

Bridget just stood haplessly on the fringes of what was going on, terrified.

Bryan paid none of them any mind busying himself with packing up his and Kieran's lunches.

What she did though was no better than trying to hit on Dale, well perhaps less dangerous but still…

Dream popped his head around his husband's side, visible irritation on his face, his cheeks puffy from anger.

"Someone was picking on Kieran?" He demanded, his brows low on his head, his long blond hair framing his face.

Yeah there was no saving Bridget…

"It's nothing serious, Dream…" Kieran started to say but Dream was hardly listening.