Eugene's first thought was...
What the fuck?
He did wear the same top as the omega, and while it wasn't the same exact color, he had dark hair that looked the same under the bar's light. But, still...no sane people with good visibility would mistake him for that omega.
Or any omega, for that matter.
Even disregarding build, his profile didn't look remotely similar to that omega. In the first place, they had different races, so...
What was this alpha's deal? Was he so disinterested in his partner that he didn't even bother to remember what they looked like? Even the two-timer jerks he knew in college wouldn't go this low.
Eugene stared at the alpha silently without shifting; one arm slung over the armchair, and another on the table, hand fiddling with the almost empty glass. Even just from his unimpressed gaze, the alpha should realize that Eugene wasn't his original tablemate.
Was this alpha perhaps trying to minimize his humiliation by acting like Eugene was his partner in the first place? Knowing how high alphas' pride could be, perhaps he didn't want people to find out he had been ditched by his date.
'Sounds like most alphas I know,' Eugene thought, and decided to just wait for what the alpha would do next. Surely, even if it was a genuine mistake at first, he would have realized that Eugene wasn't his partner.
But the alpha merely looked at him with a blank face, and only after two minutes of amused silence did the man finally speak again.
"Sorry, did I take too long?"
Eugene was impressed with how innocent the alpha sounded, as if he was genuinely confused as to why Eugene hadn't been saying anything. Either a good actor or just a total asshole.
"I don't know," Eugene finally responded in an indifferent tone. "It's not like I've been waiting."
"Oh?"
The alpha looked confused and finally turned around until his gaze landed on his original table. The man tilted his head, looking as innocent as his voice earlier, which was very different from how he had been looking while talking to his date.
The alpha's gaze shifted back to Eugene. "Oh," his brow arched slightly. "Now that I look closely, you're bigger than that one."
Wow. Did this alpha really not bother to remember what his date looked like after sharing a table for an hour? At that point, pretending that Eugene was his original date even looked better than this blatant disinterest.
"No wonder..." Eugene sneered, downing the rest of his gin.
"What?"
The alpha continued to act cluelessly, and Eugene had no intention of humor the man. "Seems like that person left you the bill."
Eugene cocked his head at the approaching waiter and watched with glee as the alpha's face turned dumbfounded at the appearance of the bill. Well...consider it a payment for the emotional damage of your date, Mr. Alpha.
But in every sense of what Eugene thought an alpha usually was, the dumbfounded man just shook his head and laughed. At least he didn't start throwing tantrums and screaming about people disrespecting him.
The bar was low, but, well...
"Oh, well..." the alpha took out his wallet and gave his card to the waiter to settle his table's bill. "Might as well have something."
What?
Eugene arched his brow. "Are you not leaving?"
"Should I?" the alpha tilted his head, curling his lips a little bit as if he deliberately wanted to annoy Eugene. "You've been here long enough to know my date was leaving, yet no one is sitting here."
The corner of Eugene's eyes twitched. "Maybe I want to be alone, dipshit."
The deep brown eyes glanced to the left. "The counter is empty," the alpha said, his voice carrying the trace of a smirk--like a mockery, or a challenge.
Eugene arched his brow high. These few exchanges alone contained more words than the alpha's entire conversation during an hour with his earlier partner.
"Hah," Eugene snickered. "Maybe you should bring half this energy to your real date."
"Huh? Wouldn't they be offended if I did?" the alpha tilted his head.
Eugene was...baffled. So, this alpha considered speaking cynically with a slightly mocking tone as offensive, but not with what he had been doing to his date?
In a dumbfounded tone, Eugene opened his mouth. "Dude, you looked bored."
"I was trying to listen, though?" the alpha said, putting on a confused expression.
Who the fuck would believe that? Eugene still recalled the alpha's unfocused eyes and minimalistic responses that sounded like an automatic chatbot.
But the alpha continued his defense. "He wasn't very comprehensive with his story…"
"You were frowning."
"Oh, ugh…" the alpha's hand shot to his brows, which were actually frowning slightly at that moment, as if by instinct. He massaged the place while grumbling. "His perfume was a bit…it was like he concentrated his pheromone and used it as one..." he paused, glancing at Eugene. "Oh, you probably wouldn't realize it."
The corner of Eugene's eyes twitched as he realized the alpha thought he was a beta. It just added to his annoyance, because...
How could you even mistake me for that omega, then?!
His already complicated mood soured further. It brought him back to the bitter memories of his teenage years, tethering between identities when all of his friends and his peers already found out their designated second genders.
As a hybrid, he didn't have that privilege.
Other people manifested in their early teenage years, and some even found out what they were since birth. Eugene, however, only knew he was a hybrid--someone who could be either an alpha or an omega, with an uncertain time of manifestation.
It wasn't really a problem when he was a child. Since his brothers were alphas, it was expected that he would turn into one in the end. His father even imparted all kinds of 'alpha value' and trained him to be alpha since he was a child, including giving him a lot of growth supplements. Perhaps that was why he ended up built like a common alpha; he was tall, lean, but with muscle.
Even Eugene thought he could only be an alpha.
But because of something, he ended up manifesting as an omega in his senior year. A defective one, even.
All the growth and hormone supplements meant for an alpha that he had to take under his father's 'guidance' ended up hindering the development of his scent gland. He could barely produce pheromone, and even if he did, no one seemed to smell it. Not that Eugene would know, since he couldn't smell pheromones either.
Might as well be a beta if that was the case. But a male beta did not experience heat and periods--which Eugene had--so he couldn't even pretend to be one.
He was just a clusterfuck of confusion, and life was just harder when you didn't even know what you were supposed to be anymore.
Did he ever say the main character of his story was a self-insert? Yeah.
So he got it; he truly got it. It was normal for people to mistake his gender. He shouldn't be offended anymore at this point, but...
But it still stings...
"Humm…" Eugene smiled subtly, feigning bitterness in his response. He shrugged and asked nonchalantly. "Maybe you said something offensive before taking your call earlier?"
"Hmm…ah," the alpha said after thinking about it for a while. "I told him I don't sleep with omegas—oh, thank you."
The drink that the alpha ordered came while Eugene stared at the man, utterly dumbfounded. He had no idea whose head he wanted to smack: the alpha who went to a date with an omega despite not attracted to one, or the omega who insinuated sex during what seemed to be their first date and immediately left when he tanked the chance.
Maybe both of them.
Was that why this alpha conversed normally with him? No frown or clenched jaw, and above all else, complete sentences! Because he thought Eugene was a beta?
Was he so averse to omegas? What would he do when he found out Eugene was one?
Somehow, though, they continued to converse--although it was a blur to Eugene. He remembered the alpha offered to refill his drink as a payment for intruding on his table--even paid for his bill. Against his judgement, Eugene accepted, and they talked until his glass was empty again.
Did they talk about food? It seemed so. There was something in the end that seemed like a pretty serious topic for the alpha, since he seemed to be very focused. Not for Eugene, since he couldn't recall it. But the alpha...thanked him, it seemed?
And then he went out for a smoke alone--since the bar prohibited indoor smoking, and he was essentially kicked out--thinking that the alpha he randomly met was bratty, annoying, but somehow also...rather innocent. Was he only looking constipated when he was with an omega, or was it only reserved for that specific omega? Perhaps he shouldn't cast his judgment so quickly--
"What?!"
And then, Eugene overheard the alpha's voice near the bar's door. He walked to the edge of the brick wall he was leaning on and peeked out the corner, where he could see the bar's front door. The alpha, holding a phone close to his ears, was hissing angrily under the scone iluminating the bar's nameplate.
"What do you mean you'll wait? Just--" he paused, listening to the other person, before spitting a curse. "That fucking omega!"