Putting together a wood book box to store my pins in and decided to make it a fake "Safety Blanket" hardback. I will post the final product once it's complete!

Realistically, Owen would probably be a beta just because he’s an average sized person and not the least bit dominant, but for the sake of this AU he is an alpha.

Trevor is an omega

Owen comes into his alpha at age 13, a relatively normal age. He’s brought to an alpha clinic and is taken care of through his rut.

Trevor is a very late bloomer.

His mother has been taking him to various specialists to see if something’s wrong. They all agree that he is definitely going to show as an omega due to hormone levels and having both sets of sex organs, but they don’t know why he hasn’t had a heat yet.

Heats are not able to be induced until age 18. Trevor agrees to have his heat induced just to get the whole thing over with because of the discomfort his body experiences, but is clearly very distressed by the whole idea because having a heat means having to take a mating partner for the situation to be fully satisfying to his omega.

As his 18th birthday approaches, Alexis begins to become increasingly concerned about Trevor. He keeps trying to back out of having his heat induced, and she tells him that he definitely can do that but he won’t be able to shake all the aches and discomfort. He’ll have to just learn to live with it. And that only serves to upset him even more.

Alexis goes to Owen and proposes a way to help make Trevor’s first heat a bit more comfortable—Owen can be his first mating partner.

It’s not something that’s exactly recommend. It’s a risk as any person just coming into their second gender are sexually unstable and may lose control and either bite or accept being bitten, and what if their safeguards against pregnancy fail?

But Owen understands that their mom is only suggesting it because they all know Trevor won’t be able to do it if it’s a stranger and there’s no one else. Owen is the only alpha Trevor has ever been close to. Owen is the only alpha who can do it.

Alexis and Owen go to Trevor and explain their idea.

Trevor gets all doe-eyed, asking Owen if he’s sure he’s okay with it. Owen is like, “Of course, I want you to feel secure. Having your first heat is gonna be scary. At least if I’m there, I can make it less so.”

There is no Heat Clinic in Bates, which works perfectly because Alexis has made it VERY clear to the boys that they can’t let Jacob know Owen is going to help Trevor through his first heat. She knows it’ll disgust him to no end and he’ll lose his shit on them.

Alexis books a motel in the closest town with a Heat Clinic and tells Jacob her and Owen are going along to support Trevor through this extremely anxiety-inducing experience.

The night before, Trevor and Owen both have to take pills that will begin the process of triggering their respective heat and rut. It’s recommended for an omega’s heat partner to be in rut as the mating will be more satisfactory.

Alexis goes to take a shower and the two brothers lay down together in the bed they’re going to share. Trevor admits that he’s happy Owen is going to be his first mating partner, and Owen admits he feels the same.

They go to the Heat Clinic. They’re both washed and given their second round of medication to set their heat/rut full steam ahead. They’re then brought into a cozy room with a king-sized bed and the softest looking sheets either of them has ever seen. The bedside table to the left side of the bed has a few items placed upon it; water bottles, protein bars, a bottle of lube, and knotted condoms (even though Trevor’s already been put on the pill).

The attendants who’d helped them through the prep process leave the two, who are now both dressed only in light-weight robes. None of the attendants know the two are brothers, only that Trevor is a late-blooming omega and Owen is an alpha he feels safe with.

When they’re alone, Owen approaches his baby brother, caressing both his cheeks. “Your skin is so glowing, honey,” he comments. “It’s… almost glittering… and you… Trevs, you smell so good… So sweet, baby boy, like cinnamon…”

“You smell,” Trevor breathed, finding himself starting to salivate, “like rain… Well, the smell that comes when it rains—petrichor, it’s called petrichor, it’s not technically rain but—You smell yummy, Owen. Wanna t-taste.”

Owen kisses him and then everything gets set into motion.

They mate for a full day, then they’re kept at the Heat Clinic for two more days as their pheromone levels keep ticking upwards and they’ll start to both become absorbed with need once again. The attendants assure Alexis that it’s normal; triggered heats & ruts can be unpredictable. The boys will return to themselves in no time. (It is actually not normal but the attendants don’t want to worry Alexis—they both take bets on whether or not Trevor will walk out with an alpha’s bite on his neck because the two of them are clearly super into each other. Genuine attraction elevates induced heats and ruts.)

Their second day at the Heat Clinic, Trevor is sprawled across Owen, both of them fully nude, and the lust has subsided for the most part, but it’s still there thrumming softly in the background. They can’t ever seem to shake it all the way off. They both silently think to themselves that that’s not surprising—it’s not like they didn’t want this. And maybe that’s why the want is lingering so long.

Trevor hazards asking Owen what it’ll be like when they leave the clinic. “I don’t know,” he admits. “You’ll… you’ll be a fully realized omega. I’m sure that will be an adjustment.”

Trevor bites the inside of his lip. “Will that change a lot?”

“You’ll be gawked at by more alphas. Your scent’s already a lot more potent, and that’ll attract extra attention. Plus, your body’s in the early stages of a second puberty, and once it’s done, nobody will be able to keep their eyes off you.”

“I don’t want that.”

Owen massages the back of his neck. “I don’t either.”

Trevor clings tighter to Owen. “The only alpha I like looking at me,” he whispers, “is you.”

They’re silent for a moment.

Then Owen leans down and kisses the top of Trevor’s head. “Admittedly, I was against your heat being triggered for that reason. I didn’t want you to be some piece of meat for perverts to look at.” Owen hmphed. “The longer you went without presenting, the safer you’d be.”

Trevor nuzzles against him. “You agreeing to take care of me is the only reason I could go through with it.”

“I’ll always take care of you.” Owen nuzzles back.

Trevor makes a soft, almost desperate sound. “I won’t want anyone else after this. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know. Me neither, honey.”

Omegaverse:

https://www.tumblr.com/rooma237/792365513931128832/safety-blanket-omegaverse-au-part-1?source=share

Model Mate:

1.) https://www.tumblr.com/rooma237/797587743508234240/model-mate-au-1?source=share

2.) https://www.tumblr.com/rooma237/797587812405870592/model-mate-2?source=share

3.) https://www.tumblr.com/rooma237/797982798621310976/model-mate-3?source=share

4.) https://www.tumblr.com/rooma237/803475209371942913/model-mate-epilogue?source=share

What if the accident never happened?

Another six months go by. Alexis starts talking about introducing her boyfriend, Patrick, to the boys, which causes Owen to pull her into the other room.

“Does he… does he know?” Owen asks, nodding his head towards the doorway, towards Trevor.

She hesitates. “Well. No. But I-I was thinking we don’t tell him.”

“Like, not have Trevs be there when he comes over?”

“No. We don’t tell him this Trevor’s not technically flesh and blood.”

Owen blinks. It sounds so simple, and, really, it is. They do that every day already.

Mom went on when he took too long to answer, “I’m scared if I tell him, he won’t wanna see me anymore. Not everyone is exactly for Model Mates, even the counseling ones, and… and I really, really like Patrick, Owen. I like him more than I ever liked your dad, and I know you will get along great with him!”

Owen was already on-board, but her plead really got him on her side. “Okay, Mom. Just give us a time and day.”

Patrick comes over for dinner and gets along very well with the boys, especially Owen. Trevor is shy and sweet as ever, nervously reaching for Owen’s hand under the tale the way Trevor always has, and Owen squeezes his hand back, and everything is so… perfect.

Once Patrick’s left, Owen and Trevor gush to Alexis about how great Patrick seems. She’s relieved and gives them both bear hugs, teasingly asking, “So, if he pops the question, I have your blessings?”

Owen’s breath catches a bit at the thought, so overjoyed for his mom to have someone she’d be willing to give marriage a second go for. “Of course, Mom! You wouldn’t even need our blessings, really, but you have them.”

Alexis periodically spends the night over at Patrick’s.

The day she made the announcement she was planning a little sleepover, Owen notices Trevor acting a bit nervous. He fidgets with his hands and has a hard time making eye-contact, something Model Mate Trevor only ever does when around strangers, never Owen or their mom.

As soon as the two are alone in Owen’s bedroom to get ready for bed, Owen grabs him by the shoulders and asks, “Trevs, what’s bugging you, honey?”

 Trevor swallows, struggling to maintain eye-contact. “Mom’s going to spend the night with Patrick so they can have sex, right?”

Owen startles at his question then laughs awkwardly, internally cringing at the thought of his mother and Patrick being intimate. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s the intention there.”

A beat. Then Trevor states in a soft voice, “You’ve never touched me.”

Owen releases Trevor, unable to respond for a moment. He can’t read Trevor’s face. Is he disappointed? Relieved? Confused? He’s a Model Mate, he can’t help but remind himself. Sure, his programmed purpose is to be therapeutic, but… all Model Mates probably have certain… things built into them. And Trevor’s not just a Model Mate. He feels more, he wants more—he is more.

“I didn’t know if you wanted me to,” Owen finally manages to get out. Trevor lifts his gaze, some of his self-doubt being eased away. His expression causes Owen’s own tension to fade. Still, he hesitates before asking, “So, you… you want me to put my hands on you?”

Trevor nods once again, silent this time.

“Okay.” Owen realizes he doesn’t know how to. He’s wanted Trevor that way before… he’s even wanted this Trevor before, but… but can’t remember what he’s supposed to do with that wanting. How the hell does he give in to the arousal he’s spent the past five years of his life beating off like it were a rabid animal? “Can w-we build up to it? Like, this weekend when Mom goes to Patrick’s, we… we just… try each other?”

Trevor answers quickly, “Yeah, yeah, of course, Owen, of course.”

Owen looks into counseling Model Mates to see if they, like normal MMs, have lube built into their bodies and have skin that stretches and molds without any prep. It’s a no on the lube, but because all Model Mates are basically the same physically (save for the lube, apparently), Trevor won’t need prepped if they go all the way. They can just go right for it if they feel ready.

Friday night when Mom leaves, Owen and Trevor have their first proper date. They eat a light dinner before they go upstairs to Owen’s room. The bed is stripped back and Owen has the lights off, candles lit so everything is hazy and warm.

They start to kiss gently, then Trevor guides Owen’s hands along his hips up his shirt so he can feel his skin. And it hits Owen finally. He shudders, bringing his palms flat against Trevor’s skin so he can take all of it in. He remembers Trevor on his lap when Robert Downey Jr. gets shirtless in the Sherlock Holmes movie, that little tent sprouting in his baby brother’s pants that caused a tent to pop up in Owen’s, and how Trevor felt it poke right into him, and like the absolute sin he was, he started subtly rocking his hips into it, and the way Owen came so close to coming he had to brush his little brother off and lock himself away in his bedroom where he could safely rid himself of all that pent-up need into his right hand, and how he immediately got on his computer to find a therapist afterwards because he was sick, he was so sick, he was a fucking disgusting monster who wanted his fourteen-year-old brother to get him off and he’d done something that made Trevor want to get him off and he hadn’t meant to but—

Owen pushes that pain down. He convinces himself he never ran away. He let his baby brother keep rocking against him until he lost himself, then he slipped his hand inside Trevor’s sleep pants and gently guided him straight to heaven. And that’s why he has his Trevor here now, nipping at his bottom lip and making soft noises that liquify Owen’s insides as he’s touched.

“You’re so perfect,” Owen breathes into him for the millionth time, then he’s got Trevor’s shirt all the way off and he’s kissing all over him and pushing him on the bed and still kissing every inch of skin available to him. Trevor lets him drag down his jeans and boxers, and he continues to drag his mouth everywhere it’s allowed, especially the hard bit in between Trevor’s legs. They’d chosen to make Model Mate Trevor a bit older than he’d been when they lost the real Trevor, just so they wouldn’t have to get updates to age him so soon. Owen is so thankful for that right now as he starts to very gently suck along the insides of Trevor’s thighs. Trevor had been eighteen when they lost him, but no one ever would’ve guessed that. They aged the Model Mate variation of him by a few years to make him actually look his age, and Owen is so grateful. What he’s doing doesn’t feel nearly as evil with a Trevor that looks and feels like the twenty-year-old he’s supposed to be now.

Once Owen starts to touch, he can’t stop, and Trevor doesn’t want him to. They do everything they can. They each swallow each other. Owen discovers he enjoys swallowing Trevs way too much. He likes it more than getting off himself, honestly. Then Owen gets the lube and they make love, and once it’s over with, they just stay tangled up together, Owen bent over him while Trevor has his arms around his neck, their mouths ghosting against one another as they simply enjoy the comedown.

Once they’re both able to form coherent words once again, Owen whispers to him, “We shouldn’t have waited. That was perfect, baby, just so perfect, just like you. Fuck, I don’t know how I’m ever gonna keep my hands to myself now, honey. Just gonna want to have your perfect body under mine every second of every day.”

Trevor shudders. “You don’t have to keep your hands off me. My body is all yours. Whenever you want me, take me. My mouth, my hands, my hole—anything.”

“How long have you been dreaming about it, hm?” Owen can’t stop his babbling; he’s still shaking from his repressed needs being uncorked. “When was the first time you imagined your big brother popping your cute little cherry, baby boy?”

Trevor lets out a stuttering breath that drifts up into Owen’s mouth. “I-I don’t know… as soon as I was able to feel this way, I knew it was you—all my body would accept is you.”

Such a perfect answer. It was what Owen wanted to hear. It was what was true for both Trevors. His illusion wouldn’t have to end.

“You’re so perfect,” Owen repeats, beginning to kiss Trevor again, his body restarting, and they make love for a second, beautiful, perfect time.

A year-and-a-half later, and Patrick has proposed to Alexis. Before the wedding, though, Alexis suggests they give living together a try.

Owen feels a bit of panic at the prospect because Patrick still has no idea Trevor is a Model Mate, and they can’t hide that once Patrick begins living with them and sees the goddamn charging port and all the Model Mate upkeep materials around the house.

When Owen brings the issue up to Alexis, she hesitates for a long moment then suggests they sit down. Trevor is upstairs dumping his food storage, so it’s just the two of them in the living room. “I’ve been thinking,” she says in a voice that sets Owen’s nerves on edge. “I’ve been thinking this for a while now, actually, and… and I haven’t brought it up because I don’t want to upset you, sweet boy, but… Well. It’s been three years.”

Owen doesn’t like the way this conversation was going at all. Three years ago, they lost Trevor and Caroline and Rhea gave him back to them. Why is she acknowledging that?

When Owen just stare sat her, she goes on, “Over the past few months, I’ve been talking to my therapist, and… and I’ve started to realize that I’m at a place where I think I may be ready to say goodbye.”

Owen frowns in confusion. “Goodbye? Goodbye to what?”

Alexis tilts her head back in that way someone does when they want their tears to go back inside them. “Goodbye to Trevor, sweetie.”

It feels as if the ground has opened up beneath his feet and he’s plummeting. “I-I mean, Trevor and I can move out if that’s what you want,” he insists, pretending as if he doesn’t understand. Maybe he can play naïve and talk her into an alternative. “I can take care of him on my own and you focus on your life with Patrick.”

Alexis reaches out to take his hand. “Owen. That’s not—”

“It’s okay, Mom. I understand. You have this beautiful new life ahead of you with Patrick, and keeping everything from him will be so complicated and you—”

“Owen. It’s time for both of us to say goodbye, I think.” She still is staring at the ceiling and Owen gets the abrupt, vicious desire to wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze until she takes it back and apologizes. “My therapist has been talking about s-starting to phase him out of our lives. We got him when we were at our lowest, honey, and he’s done so much to help, he really has, but… but it’s not good for us to hold on the way we are. Keeping him is making it impossible for us to move on—”

“I don’t want to move on,” Owen interrupts her sharply.

“I know you don’t.” Alexis sniffles, squeezing his hand so tightly. “And that’s why you need to. Your whole life revolves around him, Owen. Bringing him into our home was supposed to help us heal and get us back into the world, and that’s exactly what he’s done for me, but you don’t leave his side. You keep him in the room while you work and you sleep with him in your bed. You could’ve gotten in contact with Andrea or anything to help get you back on track, but all you do is live in this little bubble with a synthetic copy of your brother.”

“I didn’t want him to heal myself so I wouldn’t need him anymore. I wanted him b-because I need my Trevs. I needed him then and I need him now.”

“But… but, honey.” Alexis’ voice breaks. “It’s not him. You know it’s not him. Pretending that it is… it’s only making it hurt worse, Owen.”

I’m not pretending. “No, it’s not. Having him here is the only reason I am still here,” he argues, wrenching his hand away and getting off the couch. He glares daggers at her as she lowers her head and looks to him, tears dribbling down her cheeks despite her best efforts. “I can’t believe you’re acting like this! He’s not some fucking meditation tape you can return to the library once it's done its job! He’s our family, Mom!”

Alexis withers. “Owen. He’s an android. He’s… he’s not Trevor. You know that.”

Owen flinches. “He is family.”

“He is a bandage we need to rip off so we can heal all the way, Owen. Life has been moving forward the past three years, and we’ve pretended it hasn’t by keeping him here, by pretending nothing’s changed, but it has. I don’t want us to stay stuck like this anymore, honey. I want us to both find a way to move forward so we might be able to catch up to everyone else eventually.” She shrugs. “We can do our goodbyes. We can make sure to tell him how important he’s been to us. We’re so lucky he gave us the extra time so we’d be ready for the goodbye, but—"

“No.” Owen curls his hands into fists. “My name is on the Model Mate lease too, and I say no. We’re not shutting him down. Maybe you’re ready to say goodbye, but I’m not.”

Alexis withers. “I’m not saying we do it right away. We can take a few months to prepare ourselves for it—”

“I said no.”

“Owen.”

“I’ll call the company and have your name taken off the lease agreement,” Owen insists coldly. “I will pay all the leasing and upkeep fees. He will be entirely my responsibility. You can… wash your hands of him. Patrick will never know.”

“This isn’t just about Patrick, honey. It’s about us. Us needing to move on.”

Owen shook his head dismissively, holding up both hands. “I am not shutting him down. I’ll move us both out, and you won’t have to worry about it.”

“I can’t not worry about it.” Alexis shakes her head. “I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t worry about me. As long as I have Trevor, I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. If you were fine, you’d be willing to let him go, Owen.”

“I am not killing him a second time!”

They both lingered in the silence for a second before Alexis managed to speak, “Owen. Honey, you know it wasn’t—”

He interrupts her with such venom. “It was. You and I both know it was. Don’t fucking sit there and lie to me.”

Alexis stands up, reaching for him, but he recoils from her touch. “Honey.”

They’d never talked about it before. Alexis never said anything to Owen, but he knew she had to blame him. They both knew Trevor never would’ve done it had Owen not gone and fallen in love with Andrea.

“He told me what I needed to do for him n-not to do it, and I ignored him.”

“No, Owen, you didn’t know what he was planning! You just thought he was struggling! You had no way of knowing—”

“I should have!” Owen wipes the frustrated tears that were starting to drip down his cheeks. “He was disappearing, a-and I knew what to do to help him get better and… and I w-was selfish and… I killed him.”

Alexis doesn’t accept it when he tries to push her away. She grabs him by the cheeks and forces eye-contact. “No. No, Owen, you listen to me. I felt the same way. I just went over every way I failed him every day for so long. I should’ve gotten him a better therapist, I should’ve pushed him to try different meds, I should’ve, I should’ve, I should’ve. I whittled away at myself until all that was left was self-loathing because I let my baby die. And I still feel that way. I know I will always feel that way, but I c-can’t let what happened—what he chose to do—ruin my life the way it ruined his.”

Owen can’t believe her. He fights against her hands, his tears turning angry. “He did it because of me! All I had to do was fucking break up with Andrea and he would have stayed! You… you getting him a different therapist or different medications wouldn’t have done anything, you know that! You can move on with fucking Patrick and be happy without him, but I can’t! I can’t move on without him! I can’t live with that sort of gaping hole inside me! If Caro hadn’t burst in and offered to help us, y-you’d have two urns in the hutch right now!”

“Owen—”

“I can’t live without him and you know that!” Owen is yelling now, yelling so loud there’s no way Trevor can’t hear. “Just l-like he couldn’t live without me! Nether of us were built to be on our own, and I had to learn that the hardest fucking way, and you will never understand what that feels like, Mom! You will never wake up and find your… your baby… your baby in your arms without a pulse…”

The stairs creak frantically as Trevor flies down the stairs, eyes wide. “What’s happening?” he begs. His appearance finally gets Alexis to release Owen. He goes to his Trevs and falls against him, face in his neck, just needing the reminder that he’s here and he’s warm and there’s a soft, constant thudding in his chest. Maybe it’s just machinery, a cute detail the Model Mate people thought to include to further the fantasy, but Owen needs it. He needs his Trevs’ pulse in his ear. “Owen, what’s wrong?”

“Not gonna let you go,” is all Owen can say. He digs his hands into Trevor’s sides, stabilizing himself with that promise. There’s nothing Alexis can do to take this away from them. As soon as he can, Owen is getting her name off the Model Mate lease so she can’t try anything, and he’s gonna pack them up and get the fuck out of this house.

(This AU takes place in the same universe as my short story, "Just Forget the World," where a company has prouced a line of human-like androids-- think the movie Companion (2023). This is part one, I got two more parts after this, maybe another one in the future. I'm just posting it here to see if people like it enough for actually write it out on Ao3 one day. Hope you enjoy! ❤️)

Only Jacob dies in the wreck. Alexis, Owen, and Trevor’s lives begin to brighten following his passing.

Owen never initiates in any capacity because in this universe, he is still dating Andrea. Trevor still became suicidal when they began dating, though kept pushing it off in the hopes that it would come to an end and he could have Owen back. He still separated himself from his brother, and their relationship never recovered.

This also means they never had a mutual masturbation session either.

Owen does have feelings for Trevor, but he pushes them way, way, way down. He feels like a creep for having them. He decides to go to therapy to work through those feelings and also ends up working on feeling like a person separate from his mom and Trevor. He begins to untangle himself from the enmeshment.

Around the time Trevor turns 18, Owen knocks on his door. He’s told to come in. They’re awkward with each other, which is so mind-numbingly unbearable to Owen because they’ve never been awkward together. They’ve been best friends their entire lives and… and he doesn’t know what’s happening with them anymore. But he misses Trevor. He misses his Trevs more than anything.

“Hey, what’re you up to?” he asks, even though Trevor is clearly reading. Trevor is sitting with his back against the wall, looking skeletal and sallow. He’d always been skinny, but… god. Trevor gestures wordlessly to the book, irritation dripping off him. “Sorry, yeah, duh.”

Trevor doesn’t respond, just nods.

“I… I had something I needed to talk to you about,” Owen said, deciding to not even bother skirting around the topic. “It’s about Andrea.”

Her name causes Trevor’s jaw to visibly tighten. “Oh.”

Owen swallows, approaching the bed. “Can I sit?”

Trevor doesn’t respond. Owen sits anyways. “So, um, I…” he started. Trevor blinks wordlessly, as if to say ‘get on with it then.’ Owen nods, psyching himself up for it. “I-I am gonna need a best man, and I’d like that to be you.”

That broke Trevor’s impassive marble expression. His eyes became glossy as the panicked expression cracked down his face. “A best man? Isn’t that… I mean, that’s a wedding thing, isn’t it?”

Owen smiles. Or tries to smile. Trevor’s clear horror makes it hard to smile. “Yeah, it is, Trevs. I asked Andie yesterday and—”

“Why?” Trevor’s voice is so small. It’s the voice he used when he’d come to Owen in the middle of the night after a nightmare.

Owen withers, his excitement beginning to fade. “I-I guess I just love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

Trevor tries to open his mouth, tries to formulate some kind of response, but then the tears are coming, and he can’t breathe, and Owen launches himself forward to hold him, but Trevor shoves him away and gets off the bed. He hurries out of the room, embarrassed by his response, and locks himself in the bathroom.

When Owen goes to Alexis, she gets the key to unlock the door but won’t let Owen in. She sits down with Trevor and holds him while he cries, brushing her fingers through his hair and not demanding he speak until he’s ready to.

“He’s loves her more,” Trevor sobs into her shoulder. “I-I never thought… he c-could love someone more…”

Alexis kisses the top of his head. “Oh, baby, he doesn’t love her more.”

“Yes, he does! If he d-didn’t love her more, he wouldn’t do this!”

“Do what, Trevs?”

But Trevor can’t say it. So, he just wraps his arms around her and continues sobbing.

Trevor doesn’t accept the role as Owen’s best man, so Alexis basically gets to be his best ‘man.’ Trevor wants no part in the wedding.

The night before the big day, Owen makes another attempt. The two of them had barely spoken since the night Owen announced his engagement, and he’s so worried about Trevor, but this Owen has been to therapy. He has worked hard at becoming his own person. He won’t keep himself from getting what he wants just because Trevor is upset.

He knocks on the door. Receives no answer. So, he opens the door anyways. Trevor is bundled up under his blankets.

“Hey, honey,” Owen calls gently into the room in case he’s sleeping. The blankets visibly move but Trevor doesn’t respond. So, Owen steps inside, shuts the door, and walks over to the bed. He sits down near Trevor’s feet, laying a hand down to attempt a playful pinch on his ankle. “It’s barely five p.m. What’re you doing in bed already?”

Trevor’s weak voice came from under the blankets, “Tired.”

“Why’re you so tired, baby boy?” Owen’s voice catches at the nickname. My baby. My poor little baby.

A beat, then a heavy sob. “I-I’m tired from missing you.”

Owen blinks hard, thick tears collecting on the rims of his eyes. “Oh, honey, I miss you too,” he admits, unable to keep himself anything resembling composed. “I-I miss you so much I can’t stand it, Trevs.”

Trevor surprises him by sitting up, face pink and puffy and tear stained. Owen cups his cheeks then leans in to press kisses below each of his teary eyes. “Miss you so much, Trevs,” he whispers into his skin. Trevor’s arms go around his neck. “Oh, my baby.”

Trevor leans in, burying his face in Owen’s neck. Owen holds him so tightly and starts to rock him back and forth, back and forth. “I love you, love you,” he promises in a shaky voice. “More than anything.”

Into Owen’s neck, Trevor murmurs, “If that’s true, w-why are you marrying her?”

Owen blinks. “Trevs.”

Trevor doesn’t let up on his grip. “If you love me more than anything, w-why marry her? Why leave me?”

“I’m not leaving you!” Owen tilts his head to the sky in an attempt to push down some of his tears. “Trev baby, I would never leave you!”

“But you are!”

“Trevor—”

Trevor held on even tighter, but his voice rose in volume. “You are marrying her because you love her more than me! You’re gonna go away with her a-and have sex with her and get her pregnant and love her babies and love her a-and I will be nothing to you!”

Owen’s heart plummets. “Trevs.”

Trevor continues to sob. “I’m already nothing to you.”

“Honey, no. No, no, no, why would you think that? Trevor.” Owen clutches his baby brother to his chest and kisses his forehead. “You’re my favorite person. You know that.”

Trevor sounds so empty as he asks in a hoarse voice, “Then why aren’t I enough for you?”

“Oh, baby,” Owen murmurs into his brother’s hair. “That’s different.”

“Why?” He asks it so quietly Owen strains to hear it.

“You and Andrea are both my favorite people in different ways,” he explains gently. “You’re my baby boy and Andrea’s gonna be my wife.”

Trevor lets out the weakest sob, shaking in Owen’s arms. “Don’t… don’t, Owen, please…”

“Don’t what?” Owen asks although he already knows.

Trevor moves so that he’s in Owen’s lap, clutching him for dear life. “You don’t need her,” he insists. “You don’t need her, Owen. You don’t.”

“Trevs—”

“I-I love you more than she ever could,” Trevor says. “You know that, don’t you? Tell me you know that, Owen.”

Owen thinks back to his therapy sessions. So many hours spent deprogramming himself to not think the way Trevor is right now. They’re not the only two people in the world. They’re not each other’s entire worlds. They are their own people with their own needs and they can’t put the other’s persons above their own.

“Trevor.” Owen says his name so, so gently.

 “Just say you know that! I know you know that!”

“Honey—”

“No!” Trevor shoves his palms against Owen’s chest. “Tell me you know that! Don’t lie and pretend that Andrea could ever fucking love you half as much as I do!”

“It’s different, Trevs. It’s a different type of love.”

Trevor balls his hands into fists and hits his chest so hard Owen actually flinches. “No! It’s not!” he hisses. Owen reaches up to grab his fists, curls his fingers tenderly around them. Trevor wheezes with sobs. “Owen, please, please, I’ll do anything… I’ll do anything if y-you just don’t leave me…”

“I’m not leaving you,” Owen repeats, bringing Trevor’s hands up to his mouth to kiss. “I’d never leave you. The day I told you we got engaged, I was also gonna ask you to move with us when we get our own place because… because I knew I didn’t want to leave you behind. I told Andrea we had to get a house with enough room for you. That’s a nonnegotiable for me.”

Trevor wilts. “Owen. I don’t want to live with you and Andrea. I just want you.”

Owen keeps his hands cupped over Trevor’s. “I’m sorry, honey, but Andrea’s part of me now.”

“She doesn’t have to be!”

“I want her to be, Trevs. She makes me happy.”

Trevor pulls his hands away, choking a bit on his own tears. “I used to make you happy.”

“You still do!”

“I don’t make you happy enough though! And I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Owen, I… I’m sorry…” Trevor crumples, and Owen catches him. He holds him so tight. “Please. Please, Owen, j-just tell me that you know I love you most. I need it. It’s all I need right now, please.”

Owen buries his face in Trevor’s hair, flinching when he can’t smell his apple shampoo. He wonders when was the last time Trevs showered. “I know you love me most, Trevs,” he whispers so only his baby brother can hear. “And I love you the most. I’ll always love you the most, baby boy. Okay? I promise.”

Trevor gasps in relief, his shaking hands clutching Owen’s shirt and attempting to pull him closer. “Thank you,” he whimpers. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, I love you, thank you.”

Owen lays down with Trevor, reveling in just being close again, and his brother tangles himself around him, and everything feels right. They don’t talk much. They just enjoy having each other.

When Owen feels Trevor starting to border sleep, he murmurs, “Trevs?”

Trevor is barely audible as he responds, “Hm?”

“You’ll come with me, right? I know you don’t like Andrea, but… but I think it’s best for both of us if you come. That way we’ll still be together every day and maybe you and Andrea can—”

“Can we talk about that later?” Trevor responds. His voice is slightly slurred, and Owen realizes he’d probably taken one of his sleeping pills. He silently worries how often Trevs has been turning to them to sleep now that he never comes to Owen when his insomnia kicks in anymore. “I just want to enjoy being with you.”

Owen kisses the top of his head. “Of course, honey.”

Trevor nuzzles against him. “I love you, love you.”

Owen nods, tears still in his eyes. “I love you, love you more than anything, Trevs.”

In the morning… Owen can’t wake Trevor up. Neither can their mom. And he doesn’t have a pulse. Alexis calls 911 and Owen starts doing chest compressions because he doesn’t know what the fuck else to do, and he’s scream-crying and Alexis is hyperventilating, and Trevor’s eyes stay closed and he’s pale and ignores Owen’s pleas for him to come back, come back to me, honey, oh my god, Trev baby, I need you, don’t do this, don’t leave me, FUCK!

Paramedics arrive, though due to the state of Trevor’s body, they inform Owen and Alexis there is nothing they can do. They contact the police who arrive on the scene to speak with a borderline catatonic Owen and hysterical Alexis.

Obviously, the wedding is put on hold. Andrea insists she’ll come and be with Owen and Alexis, but Owen honestly can’t handle that. Not after the conversation he’d had with Trevor the night before. Especially when they have no idea how Trevor even died, but Owen has suspicions and… and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever to be around Andrea again if he’s right. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to be around himself if he’s right.

It’s eventually determined that Trevor overdosed on an opioid that Alexis had been prescribed after suffering a broken arm in the accident. She’d left the pill bottle in her bedside table, having forgotten about it after she no longer needed them anymore. But Trevor clearly remembered. And he paired them with half a bottle of extra strength Tylenol. The combo… it sent him to sleep.

Alexis breaks down, blaming herself for not being more careful, for leaving the pills out where Trevor could access them.

Owen feels equally guilty because he had been with Trevor that night. He’d had Trevor falling apart in his arms, surely already having taken the majority of if not all of the pills… He could’ve stopped it. He was right there. He could’ve saved his baby but… he didn’t.

They don’t have a funeral. They cremate Trevor and keep the urn in the house. Alexis and Owen find themselves taking turns sleeping with the urn in their rooms. They both stop leaving the house.

Andrea tries reaching out and shows up at the house over and over again, but gets no answer for the first three weeks. A month after Trevor passed away, Owen finally made his decision and invites her over.

Owen tells her he can’t marry her. She deserves better than him. “Owen, you know it wasn’t your fault,” she tries to say, but he cuts her off with, “I knew something was wrong that night. He had been in a bad place for so long, and we all knew it, but that night… that night, I was right there and he… he was falling apart, and I just… I thought holding him would be enough. That’s all I did. I held him. And he died while I held him because I couldn’t do anything else.”

After so long of trying to convince Owen he’s not at fault for what happened, Andrea gives up. She tells him to call her if he needs anything, then leaves.

P.S.