I got my first bingo!! I would love something that is either historical or a/b/o (or even both!) any ship that you feel is interesting
Thank you for participating in the fest!! I hope this hits the spot 💜
Larsdunn, historical 1920s, omegaverse, rated t
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, quiet enough that the patrons didn't look up, but Adam watched the doorway anyway. The young man who slipped into the room was unfamiliar, but he must've known the password for Daccord to let him in. He looked a little nervous, coat pulled tight up to his throat, hat pulled low over his forehead, gaze jumping around as he took in the bar. When nobody seemed to pay him any attention, he settled a little and made his way towards Adam at the bar.
"One, please," he murmured, voice barely audible over the tinny music from the radio in the corner.
"One what?" Adam asked, letting a smile curl the corners of his lips. "This your first time at a speakeasy, friend?"
"No," he answered, pulling his coat tighter about himself. "One, uh… bee's knees."
His voice went up at the end, like it was a question, but Adam smiled and nodded encouragingly. It was a good drink to order most places: easy enough to make, the honey and lemon covering up the taste of cheaper gin. But the bootleggers supplying Adam had better liquor than many establishments, and he could suggest something a little nicer for the kid for his first drink here.
Adam leaned towards the newcomer conspiratorially, ready to make a few suggestions, when he got a whiff of his scent.
Under the smoke of the cigarettes and the wool of his coat was an unmistakable sweetness. He was an omega, and a newly presented one at that. Adam looked him over more carefully: he was pale—though whether that was from nerves or something else, Adam couldn't quite determine—with prominent freckles skattered across his nose and cheeks, soft green-grey eyes framed by long lashes, and full pink lips pressed together in a determined sort of pout.
"Where's your Alpha?" Adam asked at last, leaning even closer and keeping his voice low so no one else in the bar could hear. "Pretty thing like you shouldn't be out alone."
"Haven't got one, sir," said the omega, and his gaze didn't waver. He rested his forearms on the bar and smiled, same as a nervous Alpha might. Adam didn't think he was lying. "Just here for a drink, same as anyone. "
Adam nodded thoughtfully and stood up straight to make the drink, pouring in the gin, the honey, and the lemon juice into a shaker. He wanted to ask the omega more, like who told him the password?, or where'd he come from?, or why was he unattended after presenting? but his musing and drink making were both interrupted by the sudden cacophony of Daccord yelling above them and the tromp of several sets of heavy boots down the stairs.
"Shit, police!" someone shouted, and the place was pandemonium. Half the patrons rushed for the side door to the alley, while half tried to climb out the small basement hopper windows along the far wall.
The omega in front of him went even paler and froze, eyes darting around like he couldn't quite figure where to go. Or maybe… maybe like he was feeling guilty, like he'd been the one to give the info to the fuzz?
With a growl, Adam grabbed him by the back of his neck, practically scruffing him, and pulled him through a door covered by a bookshelf into the hidden room behind the bar.
"What are you," the omega started, but Adam cut him off with a hand over his mouth.
"There's another way out, here." Adam whispered. "You're going to follow me, and you're going to keep quiet, and then you're going to tell me everything you know about the raid."
Adam glared expectantly until the omega nodded, his head moving in an awkward jerk between Adam's hands. With a little shake for emphasis, Adam released him and grabbed his hand instead, then towed him along down the dark hall, through another hidden door, and up a narrow set of stairs to an exit farther along the alley. Adam could hear sirens back by the bar, and yelling, but there was no one visible in the alley when he peered out.
"We're going to run, now.”
The omega nodded, and then they were off, dashing down the rest of the block to the mouth of the alley. The ever-present clouds opened up and it started to rain, prematurely darkening the city from afternoon evening, and the streets were emptying fast as everyone tried to get out of the weather. Adam kept peering behind them, but as far as he could see, they weren't followed. In the gloom, they hurried across an empty street, splashing through puddles down a block, then turned and ran and another three blocks farther down to Adam's apartment building.
Once they were safe inside with the door locked behind them, Adam took stock. They were both soaked through, coats sodden and dripping onto his wood floor. The omega had lost his hat at some point, too, and the rain had washed the pomade out of his hair, leaving it curling around his ears and down across the collar of his shirt. He panted there in Adam's little entryway, looking winded, and scared, and tired from their run. But Adam wasn't so sure he looked guilty anymore.
With a sigh, Adam took their coats to dry in the bathroom. When he returned, the omega was shivering on his couch, wrapped up in the crocheted afghan that had hung across the back. Adam settled across from him in the sagging armchair, but then he hesitated, unsure how exactly to start. They looked at each other, both still wet and cold and flooded with adrenaline, breaths gradually slowing to normal in the quiet of his living room.
"I'm not the one who gave your bar up to the police," the omega said at last, breaking the silence. "But I know who did."