"Where are you?" Noah asked and Quinn was already shaking his head.
"I-I'm at the hotel, but I-"
"Did you turn off the location service that I installed?" A few seconds of silence. "No, you didn't. Okay. I'm on my way, Quinn. What's the room number? Can you text it to me?" Noah, sweet, wonderful Noah was coming and damnit, Quinn felt like an asshole. He'd already seen him suffer so much. He was taking far more than he was giving in this relationship. Why the hell did Noah stay?
"I-I can't see the screen through my tears." Quinn admitted, still lying down, still prone on the bed. Noah's sigh through the phone felt like an attack on Quinn. He winced, opening his mouth to apologise when Noah spoke.
"Okay. Is the hotel room booked under your name? Can you call the front desk and let them know I'm coming and that I need access? You can do that, right Quinn?" His soft voice washed over Quinn as his bottom lip trembled.
"O-Okay. I can do that Noah." Quinn said, before he groaned. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called. I didn't-"
"Quinn." Noah interrupted Quinn's ramble. "Don't. I'm not upset. I would be upset if you didn't call me when something happened like this. If anything, it's good that fucking alpha isn't there so I don't kill him." Noah growled. "What the fuck kind of monster does this to someone?" Quinn's shattered heart ached. It agreed with Noah, while Quinn's mind wanted to defend Michel still.
"At least he gave me a heads up." Quinn couldn't even believe he could say that in this situation. Noah's harsh laugh in response had Quinn dropping his head, burying his face in the pillow below him.
"A heads up? Quinn, what the fuck is he giving you a heads up about? His marriage? What did he say exactly?" Noah asked. Quinn could hear him move around his house. Noah was anything but quiet on a good day, and today was a very, very bad day.
"I don't want to say it." Quinn mumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow. That didn't matter since Noah's hearing was heightened, better than most.
"That's fine. You don't have to tell me right now, but understand that I am very, very angry at Michel right now. Don't defend him because I might decide to do something stupid." Noah warned. The tears soaking the pillow felt warm against Quinn's face, a reminder that he hadn't stopped crying. From shock or anger, Quinn didn't know.
The sound of keys rattling, a door opening and then slamming shut. Hurried, loud footsteps.
"I'm on my way. I'm going to hang up now, Quinn. Call the front desk as soon as we hang up and then call me back, okay? If you don't call back in five minutes I'm calling again." Noah told him sternly and Quinn nodded into the pillow.
"Okay Noah." Quinn whispered, a shell of himself.
"I'll be there soon. Don't panic too much, okay?" Noah asked and Quinn gave a small, hysterical laugh.
"We're past that point, Noah." Noah's sigh followed him long after he'd hung up.
~
Quinn barely remembered calling the front desk, too dazed to keep much in his head. When the sound of the scanner on the hotel door beeped, Quinn turned his head towards the sound. It was only as he realised Noah was coming in that he remembered that he probably should have cleaned himself up at least.
Embarrassment flooded him as not only had he called his friend in the middle of the night, he was now walking in on him butt naked, covered in fluids and crying. That was not a look that Quinn wanted Noah to see him in, but it was far too late.
The door opened and the sound of heavy footsteps marching towards him made Quinn flinch. That was Noah alright. The man didn't know the word quiet.
Noah stormed into the room, fire and fury in his blue eyes as he scanned the room. When his gaze landed on Quinn he took in how the damaged man was trying to tug on the edge of a sheet to cover himself from Noah's gaze. He also took in the disarray the room was in, the sheets haphazardly thrown across the bed, onto the floor. Quinn's clothes neatly folded up and placed carefully on one of the two chairs in the hotel room facing the floor to ceiling windows.
He noticed the two towels left on the floor, discarded without much care, and Noah's jaw tightened. His bright, angry gaze turned to Quinn who was still crying. His eyes felt sore and puffy, but he couldn't stop them from leaking no matter how hard he tried. Noah softened.
He moved towards Quinn, stopping his hand from tugging futilely at the sheets under him and instead placed a hand on his shoulder. He got down onto one knee next to the bed, sighing softly.
"It's alright, Quinn. You don't need to cover yourself up." Noah told him softly and Quinn shook his head.
"No. This isn't-I'm not-no friend should see each other like this." Quinn felt his chest tighten, his vision blurring.
"Quinn, it's okay." Noah told him softly. "It's fine. I would never judge you for this. Did I judge you when you first started this?" Noah asked and Quinn remained quiet for a moment.
"...Yes." Quinn muttered and Noah snorted.
"Okay, maybe not the best example, but you know what I mean, right? You don't have to fake it around me. I don't care what that man did to you, only that he hurt you. Who you sleep with isn't really any of my business. You're my friend, and as my friend, you get some certain special privileges. Like me helping you clean up after the man you've had a crush on since childhood breaks your damn heart after, fuck, did he cum in you? Scumbag." Quinn felt his shoulders begin to shake as Noah's sweet, caring voice switched to one of pure disgust.
He turned his face, pressing it into the pillow as his shoulders shook. He didn't want to laugh, not really, but he was feeling delirious. His aching body reminded him why laughing wasn't a good idea.
"Quinn? You good?" Noah asked, his hand warm on Quinn's back. He wasn't even aware of just how cold he was now that the sweat had dried on him, but now with the comfort of someone familiar in this awful situation, Quinn felt his body begin to shiver.
"I think I'm cold now." Quinn said as he raised his head up from the pillow, turning towards Noah. Noah's blue eyes softened, his dirty blonde hair falling into his face before he pushed it out of the way.
That dirty blonde hair was one of the reasons why he was considered illegitimate. The rest of his siblings had platinum blonde hair. Quinn did think it was a bit foolish to place so much weight on something like hair colour, but he wasn't on Noah's father's side. He was just…Noah's friend.
Noah's face fell as he scanned Quinn's body. It was like he was taking stock of the situation, and after a moment, he nodded. It seemed more to himself than to Quinn as Noah stood again. Before Quinn could say a word, Noah was turning Quinn over onto his back and sliding his arms under him.
Quinn let out a shout of surprise, his hands flailing as Noah picked him up as if he weighed nothing.
"N-Noah! What are you-"
"I'm taking you to the bathroom. This fancy ass place probably has a good soaker tub at least, right? Why not take advantage of it when you're in such a terrible condition. That way your muscles can relax properly and by the time we get that gunk out of you, you'll feel warm and better." Noah nodded as if pleased with himself, and Quinn, even if he was uncomfortable, couldn't help but relax.
"You aren't helping me get it out." Quinn warned and Noah's cheeks warmed. "I can tell by the way you're speaking that that's your intention, but absolutely not. Friends do not get cum out of their friends." Quinn warned. Noah scowled.
"What? What if we're the bestest friends in the world?" Noah asked and Quinn laughed.
"Not even the bestest of friends would do that. Come on Noah, I don't want to owe you more than I already do." That seemed to settle Noah down. He frowned, his eyebrows drawing closer. It said something about Quinn's character that even after everything that had happened and everything that was going on, he couldn't help but notice how attractive Noah was. He was also a good guy, which gave him two marks over Michel.
It just sucked that Quinn hadn't met him first, and that Quinn didn't want to hold Noah back. Like all of the other alphas in his life, Quinn knew that there were some lines that he couldn't cross. One that was becoming terribly apparent was that betas belonged with betas and alphas and omegas belonged together.
Quinn would never put Noah in this kind of position. He would never want Noah to be in this kind of position, so he'd never acted on his feelings. He wouldn't have acted on his feelings for Michel either if Michel hadn't kissed him in the elevator going up to his hotel room the night of the end of the year party almost a year ago.
Just being reminded of that made Quinn's chest tighten, his heart aching.
"Noah, I'm such a fucking fool. I bought him a gift." Quinn admitted, embarrassed anew. Noah sighed.
"It's okay, Quinn. It's not your fault that you're a good person and he's a piece of shit. Come on, let's get you warmed up, cleaned up, and then out of this place. I'll take you home. Do you work tomorrow?" Noah asked an important question, but thankfully Quinn didn't. He'd been able to finish up all of his work. He'd even planned to visit his family for a few days before the end of the year party.
Now? Now he was glad that he hadn't made any concrete plans with his parents.
"I'm done till the new year." Quinn told him quietly and Noah made a soft sound in his throat.
"Good. That way you can get some rest. You aren't going to the party after all this, right?" Noah asked and Quinn sealed his lips. "Quinn." Noah groaned. "Come on, you don't have to go." Noah told him harshly. Quinn flinched.
"H-He asked me to come. So he could…introduce us." Noah tsked loudly, making Quinn flinch harder. He kicked the door open to the bathroom, rough, but still gentle.
"That fucking waste of-no, I'm going to rein it in. Let's focus on getting you cleaned up. After I'll take you home and you get some rest. We can discuss this later." Noah sounded firm in his response and Quinn remained silent. He had nothing to say as Noah placed him gently in the large tub that was in the bathroom. Even less when he turned on the water and began poking around the bathroom before he poured a floral-smelling soap into the water and bubbles formed.
Noah nodded, hands on his hips after, looking pleased with himself. Quinn's heart felt a little lighter at the action, especially as the shivers began to fade away.