Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dazai Osamu hates subgenders.

Subgenders, second genders, whatever. He doesn’t understand the point in them; mating, bonds, cycles, needs; none of it makes sense and honestly just seems pointless. He doesn’t want a family. He doesn’t want kids. He doesn’t even plan to be on this earth long enough for either anyway.

Chuuya always tells him that he’s too hard on subgenders, that they’re just biology and it’s no one's fault if they present as one or the other. It’s a normal part of life. Scents aren’t weird and knowing what someone is feeling based on their scent isn’t weird. Dazai disagrees. It’s unnatural; being forced to smell what other people are feeling and losing your mind during a cycle due to instincts is abnormal.

Dazai would rather suffer through years more of living than deal with one of the subgender cycles.

Dazai was overly glad when his 15th birthday came and went and he didn’t present as either an alpha or omega. And the longer he didn’t present, the better he felt. He doesn’t have to deal with those pesky instincts or mating cycles or scents. He was a beta. He was normal. Barely any scent, no cycles, no mating instincts. Just plain old normal.

At least, that’s what he thought.

He thought he was normal.

But instead, Dazai is currently curled up on his single mattress in the shipping container that he calls home as he sweats profusely and struggles through cramps, pains, and the desire to nest. His mattress has a single thin blanket, which apparently does not satisfy the omega instincts trying to claw their way out of his mind. He was so close, too; days away from his 17th birthday, the birthday that would have officially made him a beta.

Hope is a killer disease.

Subgender presentations can occur anytime through the ages of 15-17. No one presents after their 17th birthday, and no one presents before their 15th. Most people actually end up presenting on their 15th birthday, like their subgender was sitting there waiting for the day that it can finally crawl out of the depths of wherever it stays until presentation. Dazai never paid attention when Mori would lecture him on subgenders.

Chuuya did. Chuuya was actually the reason Mori started lecturing them on subgenders. The redhead had presented as an alpha soon after joining the mafia and while Dazai despises everything to do with subgenders, Chuuya has always been proud of it. He says that being able to smell scents is like opening a third eye. Knowing how other people are feeling, smelling other scents; the differences between person to person, knowing how your scent is special to you - there’s something ethereal about it that Chuuya has trouble explaining. Dazai doesn’t get it. Why would he want to smell other people?

The thought of Chuuya, an alpha, sends his new omega instincts spiraling. They want Chuuya. They want to call Chuuya. They want Chuuya to help.

Another sharp pain blooms in the center of Dazai’s lower stomach, and he inhales sharply as it spreads. He turns towards the wall of his container, hoping moving to his other side will alleviate some of the pain.

It doesn’t.

He sniffles as he turns again, the stabbing pain getting worse, making him curl in on himself tighter. Sometimes it’s a stabbing pain that shoots through his abdomen making Dazai feel like he’s on death’s door and sometimes it's just constant pressure, pushing and pulling and making Dazai wonder if his insides are being rearranged.

Maybe his organs are being rearranged. Isn’t he suddenly just able to have children now? Or does it take a little while for his insides to change? Or maybe he was able to have kids this whole time? Or maybe male omegas are infertile and it doesn’t matter? The second Mori uttered the words “attributes of different subgenders” and “it’s important to know them”, Dazai’s brain checked out. He didn’t care to listen, and honestly he still doesn’t care enough to listen…but it would be nice to know if he’s dying. He would like to speed it along.

It doesn’t matter what position Dazai lays in though, his stomach hurts. He tried applying pressure against his belly, but it only helped until Dazai’s muscles got sore and he had to stop. He wishes he had painkillers. Or a blade.

Dazai can feel the pressure of unwanted tears behind his eyes and his instincts keep screaming at him to find a mate. Mate mate mate mate. It’s just being repeated in the back of his mind, making Dazai want to bang his head into his container wall.

This is bullshit. These instincts are stupid and aren’t helping him in the slightest. Wow, he needs a mate. Well guess what. He doesn’t have one. So it would be grand if his instincts would shut up about it. They don’t need to rub it in Dazai’s face that he’s alone and has no one.

Suddenly, there’s a buzzing near his ear and Dazai flinches, shoving his face further into his knees. The noise is loud and it’s ringing through his skull, making his head hurt.

It’s probably his phone; actually it’s most definitely his phone. He left it somewhere in his sheets and since he’s been moving around so much, it’s probably made its way to the top of the bed. He’s not actually sure where it is, but eventually the buzzing stops, making Dazai sigh in relief.

Another cramp ravages his stomach and he bites back a cry of pain. He then feels a wetness in his boxers and Dazai groans. That’s gross.

He should probably tell Mori and get a heat leave so he isn’t expected at work. The idea of that conversation with Mori makes him nauseous and Dazai grits his teeth as he fights the bile that suddenly threatens to come up his throat. Dazai’s body apparently rejects that idea just as much as Dazai himself, so he disregards it. No, telling Mori, an alpha, will not do. He doesn’t trust Mori as far as he can throw him and letting him know about this particular vulnerability is not something Dazai is comfortable with. After his heat is over, he needs to find suppressants. Strong ones. Ones that will prevent his heat from happening again and suppress whatever scent he now has. The scent that is currently engulfing the small area that he’s been laying in. The scent of whiskey and leather mixed in with warm vanilla.

Dazai hates it.

His phone starts buzzing again and Dazai growls, lifting his head up to find it. He’s just going to throw it across the room or turn it off. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone.

He finds it on the edge of his bed, apparently on its way to falling off the bed. Dazai grabs it, quickly glancing at who has the audacity to call him twice. The name doesn’t surprise him in the slightest. Other than Mori, Chuuya is the only one who is gutsy enough to spam call him. He should just ignore it and go back to trying to sleep; even though he’s been trying to sleep for the past three hours with no luck.

But he kind of doesn’t want to ignore it. Maybe Chuuya can help? No. Chuuya will not help. Dazai is not going to ask for help. He can deal with this on his own. He doesn’t need anyone else, much less his stupid mutt. He especially doesn’t need an alpha.

He turns his phone all the way off and then throws it to the other side of the container. He doesn’t want it near him; doesn’t want the constant reminder that he could call Chuuya. His omega instincts keen at the idea, begging and pushing for Dazai to get up and call his partner, but Dazai scoffs, curling back up and subjecting himself to a night of pain and sleeplessness.

-------

Dazai is being weird. Don’t get Chuuya wrong, Dazai is always weird, but he never ignores Chuuya’s calls. Well, he never ignores the second call. The first call is pretty much always ignored.

He’s making his way through shipping containers, hunting down the familiar one that Dazai decided he wanted to live in, grumbling to himself about how stupid it is that Dazai wants to live here. Chuuya tried getting the man to live with him - he has a guest room and his apartment is big enough for both of them - but his partner glared at him and told him he didn’t need help.

Chuuya needs to find him though, so hopefully the idiot is here. Mori apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning because he assigned them an emergency mission less than 30 minutes ago. Despite Dazai not showing up, Mori gave Chuuya the details, telling him he wants Double Black to take care of this rival gang and he wants it done by noon tomorrow. It’s currently 10pm which gives them around 14 hours to take care of it. This was a really bad time for Dazai to go MIA.

Dazai’s container comes into view and Chuuya sighs in relief, knocking on the door once he’s able to. He doesn’t hear anything in response, so he tries opening the door, quickly realizing it’s locked. It’s not locked on the outside which means it’s locked on the inside, so Dazai is in there. To this day, Chuuya doesn't understand why these shipping containers have locks on the inside.

“Shitty Dazai?” Chuuya calls. “Let me in you bastard! Mori gave us a mission that he wants done by noon tomorrow.”

The silence is loud. You could hear a pin drop. There’s no movement or anything that sounds like Dazai is getting up to let him inside.

“Get your ass up and let me in. Otherwise, I’m breaking in,” Chuuya threatens, straining his ear to listen for movement.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

It’s so quiet that Chuuya can hear the faint sounds of cars honking from the city.

Guess he’s breaking in.

Chuuya activates his ability, pressing his hand against the door to feel for the lock on the other side. Right as he finds it, though, his ability deactivates. He stares at the door, an eyebrow raising as his mind races to figure out what just happened. He ends up taking a step back, activating his ability again and touches the door, testing it. The second his hand comes into contact with the door, his ability deactivates again. Is Dazai nullifying the door?!

“STOP NULLIFYING THE DOOR, ASSHOLE,” Chuuya yells, pushing against the door in anger, the metal door rattling loudly.

This time, Chuuya hears something on the other side. A small, soft whine. Did Dazai just whine? Whine? Dazai doesn’t whine.

“Are you okay? Let me in, Mackerel.” That earns him a whimper and some shuffling noises. Chuuya tries to push the door open again, the metal scraping loudly together as it moves, but he instantly stops the second he hears Dazai’s voice.

“Nonono st-op, chibi, stop.” His voice sounds so broken and hurt. He does not sound like Dazai. He sounds like he’s actively in pain and he’s struggling to just stand there. Did he cut too deeply again? Is he actively bleeding out right now as Chuuya just stands here trying to convince Dazai to let him inside?

“Dazai, let me in.”

“No.” It’s a whisper, one that Chuuya barely hears. “Go away stupid slug.”

“I can’t. We have a mission.” He holds his breath, waiting for an answer. When it doesn’t come he sighs, pushing against the door again.

“Chuuya,” the other man whines.

“Please, let me in,” Chuuya pleads, debating on whether or not he’ll just break his way in. Dazai can’t touch all of the walls at once. If Dazai is bleeding out, he needs to get inside. Dazai can find a new container to live in for all Chuuya cares.

It’s silent for a few seconds and Chuuya’s about to speak again when Dazai finally says, “I can’t.”

Chuuya sighs. “Please?”

Dazai has never acted like this. Chuuya has caught him in multiple different stages of killing himself and he’s never straight up refused to let Chuuya in, nevermind whimpered because of the pain. Dazai doesn’t like pain, but his pain tolerance is high. Cutting never manages to reduce him to a whining mess who keeps nullifying Chuuya’s ability through the door because he doesn’t want Chuuya inside.

“I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t,” Dazai repeats, over and over. Chuuya thinks he hears the brunet slide down the door as his voice travels lower to the ground. He crouches down towards the door, setting his hand on it as he actively tries to use his ability again, despite the nullification. The second Dazai so much as steps away from the door and Chuuya gets his ability back, he’s going to unlock that door. Dazai is scaring him.

“You can,” Chuuya whispers back.

Aggressiveness didn’t seem to be working earlier, so he’s going to try a different approach. Their usual bickering might be too much. Dazai is acting differently, so Chuuya will too. “I want to help, please let me in.”

“No,” Dazai wails, sounding like he’s on the verge of crying.

“Dazai.”

“You don’t understand. Just leave you stupid mutt,” the brunet hisses, but his insults fall flat with how he sounds like he’s one misstep away from bursting into tears. Chuuya brushes the insults off, knowing that Dazai is just trying to piss him off.

“Dazai.”

“LEAVE.” The frustrated yell startles Chuuya. “Or are you too much of a dog that you can’t go anywhere without your master?”

Chuuya chooses to ignore the insult, instead focusing on the fact that Dazai never yells. He gets angry, yes, but it’s more of a silent anger than an explosive anger like Chuuya’s own. Chuuya is definitely not leaving until he finds out what’s happening.

“Dazai, let me in,” Chuuya insists.

“No.”

“Then at least tell me what’s wrong,” he tries.

Dazai doesn’t reply for a second, probably contemplating his answer, but then he whispers, “I can’t.”

“Please?”

“No. Fuck off, you stupid brainless slug of a human.”

Chuuya hits the door in sudden hurt frustration and he hears Dazai yelp at the same time that he feels his ability come back to him. He’s quick to unlock the door before Dazai realizes he’s not nullifying it anymore.

The second Chuuya opens the door, he instantly realizes what’s wrong as a scent floods his nostrils, making him instinctively growl as his mind screams omega in heat. The scent - leather and whiskey with a touch of warm vanilla - is everywhere; the whole container is full of it. While whiskey isn’t his preferred drink of choice, he loves the smell of it and he loves leather. The scent is just so… Dazai-like. The same scent is actively changing though, becoming more distressed: less whiskey and leather and more like burnt vanilla. His alpha instincts scream in his mind, telling him to find the source of the distressed scent and soothe them. Knot them. Take care of them.

Chuuya hears a sob and more whimpering and realizes that the source - Dazai - has curled up in the corner of the container, leaning on the back wall, trying to get as far from Chuuya as he can. He’s shaking, a lot, and is watching Chuuya intently but there’s almost no clarity in Dazai’s watery eyes. Eyes as in both. The man isn’t wearing any of his bandages. Even from this distance, Chuuya can see that Dazai’s eyes are dilated and clouded over.

Chuuya takes a step forward, but Dazai instantly whines and tries to shift further away, but is unable to since he’s already against the wall.

“Chibi, go away,” Dazai whispers into his knees, refusing to meet Chuuya's eyes.

“Mackerel…” Chuuya tries to take another step forward, but Dazai wails, trying, again, to push himself into the wall as far as he can.

Chuuya bites his lip, trying to figure out what to do. Dazai obviously is very distressed, and even if his scent didn’t show that, his actions are very telling. He isn’t sure if Dazai doesn’t want him to come closer because Chuuya’s an alpha or if it’s because he’s Chuuya specifically.

Dazai whines, clutching at his stomach as he tries to curl up more, setting his head against his knees. He’s panting a lot and his skin is shining because of the sweat. He’s wearing his work suit, like an idiot. How long has he been here, in heat, without any help? It makes sense now why the man didn’t show up at Mori’s office. He probably doesn’t even know that Mori called him.

Dazai suddenly wails again, turning his head so his cheek is against his knees and he’s facing the wall instead of Chuuya. Chuuya understands why when the scent of slick reaches his nose. It smells good; a mix of rich sweet vanilla with a slight woody note. It reminds Chuuya of an autumn day. His alpha instincts perk up again, telling Chuuya to help the omega who is leaking slick for him, but Chuuya wrestles the thoughts away, logically knowing that Dazai can’t control it. He doesn’t want Chuuya like that, otherwise he wouldn’t be actively trying to get away from Chuuya.

“Dazai,” Chuuya whispers, crouching so he’s eye level with the brunet. Should he release some alpha pheromones? Would that calm Dazai down? They probably would calm Dazai’s omega instincts, but Chuuya doesn’t know how Dazai himself would react.

Dazai doesn’t move at first, but he then slowly meets Chuuya’s gaze. Chuuya studies his partner’s eyes, noting now that he’s eye level with the brunet that the man is definitely not all there. His eyes are cloudy and distant and it looks like he’s looking through Chuuya instead of at him.

“Mackerel, I’m going to help you-” Chuuya starts, but before he could finish, Dazai whimpers, shaking his head and shoving his face against his knees, his scent souring.

“Don’t need help,” Dazai mumbles, muffled slightly because he’s speaking into his legs.

“I’m just going to help take care of you,” Chuuya starts again, but Dazai interrupts, hissing, “No. I don’t need your help. I don’t need an alpha. Go away.”

Okay, so Dazai's refusal is because Chuuya is an alpha. Good to know it isn’t because of Chuuya himself.

“At least let me take you back to my apartment so you have an actual bed. I won’t do any more than that.”

“No.”

“Dazai-”

“I said no,” Dazai growls, lifting his head up to glare at Chuuya, baring his small omega fangs. He's quick to hide them back under his lip once he realizes though. “I don’t need an alpha. I don’t need a knot. I don’t need anything, much less anything from you.”

“I didn’t say you needed a knot or an alpha,” Chuuya points out. “I’m just helping you get somewhere that your omega instincts will appreciate. I bet they’re screaming at you because you don’t have a nest.”

“I don’t care,” Dazai snaps, breathing heavily. “They’re stupid and they want stupid things and I don’t need those things.”

Chuuya sighs. He is well aware of Dazai’s hatred of subgenders. They’ve had hundreds of conversations where Dazai scoffed at the idea of second genders and the instincts that come with them. Every time Chuuya would talk about scents or what someone was feeling based on their scent, Dazai rolled his eyes and told Chuuya he’s such a dog.

If Chuuya’s being honest, even before today, he was pretty sure the brunet was scared of having a subgender which made him angry and apprehensive. The man didn’t want to be an alpha or an omega. He wanted to be a beta - which isn’t even technically normal, no matter how many times Dazai insisted that betas were. Betas have instincts and problems of their own. They don’t have cycles, but Dazai never said that cycles were the only issue he had with subgenders. Chuuya is pretty sure it’s mainly the instincts, instincts that clash with Dazai’s personality.

It doesn’t even matter now because Dazai is an omega. One who is highly against his own subgender along with the desires that come with it. On top of that, Dazai hates asking for help. He would rather suffer in pain and agony than ask anyone to help him. Chuuya’s not even sure if he’s going to be able to convince Dazai to do anything.

Chuuya smirks as an idea crosses his mind. He won’t be able to convince Dazai, but maybe he can convince Dazai’s omega instincts. Dazai is in heat which means that his omega is in charge, no matter how much the man fights it. The subgender always wins during a cycle. And Dazai’s omega does want things; Dazai even said so himself. Dazai is fighting it right now, but the desires will get stronger. Maybe if Chuuya uses the fact that he’s an alpha, so biologically Dazai’s omega instincts will cater to him, he can get Dazai to come back to his apartment where he can show the brunet that he’ll feel better if he at least has a normal bed and blankets.

He definitely shouldn’t use commands though. Dazai’s omega has to agree willingly. Crooning and sweet words should be enough, right?. Maybe scenting? Anything that isn’t sex or commands should show Dazai that Chuuya’s not going to take advantage of his vulnerable state. That’s what Dazai doesn’t like about this, isn’t it?

Dazai is still glaring at him by the time Chuuya comes out of his thoughts.

Here goes nothing.

“Don’t you want a nice, warm, bed though?” Chuuya croons, instantly noticing the effect the crooning has on Dazai. His body becomes more relaxed, his scent improving slightly and his body untensing some. That only lasts for a few seconds though because Dazai instantly tenses up again, narrowing his eyes.

“No, stop doing that,” he growls. At least he’s in touch enough with his subgender to know that Chuuya is doing something. He was a little worried Dazai would ignore everything his instincts were telling him, including anything that made him feel better. While Dazai’s omega will win during a cycle, if Dazai doesn’t relax, his omega isn’t going to either. A stressed omega in heat is not easy to deal with and honestly could end with Chuuya getting bitten or mauled.

“Come on, Mackerel,” Chuuya keeps crooning, smirking as Dazai’s body unwillingly relaxes with the croons. “You don’t want to be here for your whole heat, do you? Wouldn’t it feel better if you had a bed and food?”

Dazai squints his eyes, forcing his body to tense up again. “I said stop doing that. Whatever it is. Stop.” So he doesn’t know what it is. Chuuya bets Dazai didn’t pay attention to Mori’s lectures. He doesn’t know what a croon is or how it can help an omega relax. Of course he doesn’t. The man is a genius in everything but emotions and subgender traits; which actually go hand in hand with each other.

“Why? Because you like it?”

“No,” Dazai hisses, scooting around so his back is turned toward Chuuya and he’s facing the wall. The alpha hears a small whimper that accompanies the movement. His cramps probably don’t feel very good, especially if he hasn’t taken painkillers for it, which Chuuya knows he hasn’t because Mori doesn’t let Dazai have pill bottles. He’s overdosed too many times.

“Come on, Dazai,” Chuuya softly croons, slowly dragging himself towards Dazai. He’s sitting on the ground, and doesn’t want to frighten the other by standing again, so the alpha is just sliding on the dirty container floor. He notices Dazai tense when the brunet realizes that Chuuya is behind him, but he doesn’t turn around. “Let me take you back to my apartment, where there’s a bed, with blankets, and pillows.”

Dazai whines and a shiver racks down his spine. They sit in silence for a brief second before the brunet whispers in a small voice, “Are they soft blankets?”

Chuuya smirks. Dazai’s omega is winning. “Very soft. The softest I could find.”

Dazai whines again, shivering as he shakes his head. “I - Good for you, I don’t need it.”

Well, Dazai’s omega instincts are somewhat winning. Dazai is still fighting against them though.

“You want it though, don’t you? The soft blankets? They’ll make you comfy and will feel good against your skin, which-” Chuuya looks around the container and finds the pile of bandages right next to the small mattress that Dazai sleeps on. “I can see that your omega didn’t appreciate your bandages. I have the softest brand of bandages - ones that won’t irritate your skin - back at the apartment too!”

That perks Dazai up. He slowly turns to look at the alpha, studying Chuuya’s face, gauging on whether he's telling the truth or not.

“The nice brand?” Dazai whispers, his glossy brown eyes making it seem like the omega is on the verge of crying.

“Yes,” Chuuya confirms. “And soft blankets and pillows that you can nest with.”

Dazai tenses up again at those words and shakes his head, turning back towards the wall. “No, no, no, no nest.”

“But don’t you want to make a nest?”

“No!” Dazai hisses.

“Well, then you don’t have to make a nest. You can just have the blankets to keep you comfortable.”

“No.” Dazai snaps, but then he whimpers again, curling into himself more. Another cramp must have hit him. Maybe if Chuuya can get rid of the cramps for a little bit, Dazai would be more willing to follow him home.

Chuuya lifts up his wrist, staring at the scent gland that resides there. Scenting is… intimate, and originally he was going to get Dazai to the apartment before he tried anything like that. It could help though and considering every time Chuuya makes progress, Dazai destroys that progress, maybe he should just jump to trying it. It can make the cramps stop for a little bit and quiet down Dazai’s mind - the omega instincts realizing there’s an alpha and calming down a bit - but it won’t last forever. Chuuya will have to get Dazai to his apartment before his time runs out.

He zeros in on Dazai’s slightly exposed scent gland on his neck. Dazai is facing away from Chuuya, so this will likely surprise him. So many things can go wrong. Especially since Chuuya isn’t warning the brunet.

This is such a bad idea.

It’s now or never.

Chuuya reaches out, angling his wrist so it’ll barely rub against Dazai’s gland. The second it does, Dazai moves. Fast.

Originally, Chuuya thought Dazai was jerking away, trying to get away from Chuuya’s wrist, and honestly Chuuya still thinks that was what the brunet was planning, but Dazai doesn’t finish getting away. Instead, he stiffins, inhaling loudly, and then he grips Chuuya’s wrist to angle it into a better position against his scent gland. He moans, sighing as Chuuya’s wrist rubs against his gland. Their scents are mingling, combining, merging. Chuuya’s burning wood scent with notes of wine mixing in with Dazai’s leather-whiskey scent.

Dazai’s scent is smoothening out; the burnt vanilla almost all gone.

Chuuya breathes out a sigh of relief, glad he didn’t get bitten - he wouldn’t put it past Dazai to bite him - and lets Dazai nuzzle his wrist, holding back moans of his own as his own alpha gleans with the scenting of an omega.

“Dazai, please come back with me. I swear I won’t do anything or hold it against you,” Chuuya promises, whispering to not startle the brunet.

“I can’t,” Dazai whispers, nuzzling Chuuya’s wrist with his nose. He’s not necessarily scenting right now, just inhaling Chuuya’s scent.

“Why not?”

“I- I can’t. I can’t listen to my omega instincts. I won’t,” Dazai groans. There is definitely something deeper than Dazai not liking subgenders going on, but Chuuya won’t be able to get anything decent out of the omega until he isn’t deep into heat.

“At least listen to some of your instincts,” Chuuya pleads. “We won’t fuck. We won’t do anything like that. I can scent you, like this, which will make you feel somewhat better, and then you can sleep it off. Easy enough, right?”

Dazai stops nuzzling Chuuya’s wrist and turns, watching Chuuya’s face. “I don’t want anything. Even if I beg for it. I don’t want it. Do not give it to me.”

“I promise we will not do anything sexual,” Chuuya compromises, unsure of how true that's going to be. Dazai is in heat. All his omega instincts will want to do is mate, but maybe that's why Dazai is making Chuuya promise. Dazai knows that's what he'll want, and he's making sure Chuuya doesn't listen to him.

Chuuya doesn’t want to agree to not giving Dazai anything, though. The brunet needs to nest, to be scented, to feel protected. Dazai doesn’t understand now, but if Chuuya agrees to do none of those things and essentially just locks Dazai in a room, it will be traumatizing, especially during a heat. Omegas need care and comfort during their heats; that’s why Dazai’s instincts are telling him to find care and comfort.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Dazai sighs, closing his eyes as he starts rubbing Chuuya’s wrist against his scent gland again. They both moan, the sensation satisfying for both of them. “I’ll go to Chuuya’s apartment.”

“Thank you.”

The alpha quickly calls a cab while Dazai’s busy with his wrist, deeply sighing with every caress. Eventually though, Chuuya’s wrist starts to get raw so he ends up pulling Dazai into his lap, his partner so lost in scenting that he lets Chuuya manhandle him into half laying on the alpha.

Chuuya takes his wrist back - Dazai whining at the loss - but quickly puts his other wrist against Dazai’s other neck gland, making the brunet halt his whining and instead happily sigh. As the minutes go by, Dazai’s body gets more and more relaxed, his breathing getting heavier too. Chuuya stops scenting him, not wanting to abuse both of their scent glands on the first day.

Chuuya’s phone buzzes and he glances at it. The cab is here.

“Dazai?” Chuuya whispers, nudging the other to wake up. Dazai lets out a choked noise, stretching a little as he looks up at Chuuya. “We have to get up. Cab is here.”

Dazai stares, glassy eyed for a few seconds, before really processing what Chuuya said. The second he does, he tenses, shaking his head.

“No, no one can know,” Dazai frantically whispers, curling up in Chuuya’s lap as he starts to shake. The burnt vanilla scent is returning and Chuuya holds his breath as his own instincts scream at him to soothe the distressed omega.

“We can’t walk, Mackerel. You smell too strongly,” Chuuya reasons, trying to get Dazai to sit up.

The brunet doesn’t budge, pushing into Chuuya’s lap. “No one can know, please,” he whimpers, the shaking getting worse.

Chuuya bites his lip, glancing at his phone and then back to the distressed omega in his lap.
“The cab driver isn’t going to tell-”

“No, no, no, no, no.” Dazai chokes back a sob and tries to pull away, probably wanting to return to his position against the wall. Chuuya doesn’t let him though, forcing Dazai to stay in his lap.

Chuuya sighs and then uses his free hand to dig through his jacket pockets. Sometimes he accidentally leaves scent blockers in his pockets. Chuuya doesn’t usually use them, but sometimes, a situation arises where he needs to block his scent - usually a mission - so he keeps them handy. The only issue with this is that they’re alpha scent blockers.

Chuuya isn’t sure what will happen if an omega uses them. Alphas tend to have stronger scents while omega scents are a bit more subtle, so alpha scent blockers are stronger than omega ones. He’s heard of situations where omegas used alpha scent blockers and it ended with them never getting their scent back. However, Dazai is in heat, so his scent is a lot stronger than usual. Maybe that will help and if it’s able to suppress Dazai’s scent for a little bit so the man is okay with getting in the cab, the alpha scent blockers will have to do. They’ll have to get suppressants for omegas after Dazai’s heat. Maybe Mori will give Dazai some.

The first pocket he searches doesn’t have anything but the second one has four of the patch brands; two for the neck glands and two for the wrist glands. Those scent complications happened with the oil version of alpha scent blockers, so the patches shouldn’t cause any issues.

“I have scent blockers,” Chuuya softly tells the brunet. “Will you get in the cab if your scent is suppressed?”

Dazai slowly looks at him and then at the scent patches he’s holding in his hand. “Aren’t those alpha scent blockers?”

At least Dazai paid attention enough to know there were different blockers for different subgenders.

“They are, but that's all I have. We can get omega ones from Mori after-”

“No,” Dazai hisses, his whole body tensing, his scent dropping.

“No? No on the blockers or no on getting omega ones after your heat?”

“No telling Mori.”

“You don’t want to tell Mori that you’re an omega?” Chuuya asks.

Dazai’s scent pitches, souring past burnt vanilla into this acidic smell of pure fear and anger. “Never tell him, Chuuya.”

Chuuya opens his mouth to tell his partner okay, but the acidic scent invades his senses, causing him to gag first. Once he recovers he mutters out, “Okay. No telling Mori. Got it.”

Dazai's scent evens out at Chuuya's promise, his attention returning to the blockers in Chuuya’s hand.

“Will it hurt?” Dazai asks, watching as Chuuya starts opening one of the blockers.

Chuuya hesitates, the lingering effects of being brutally attacked by an anger-fear scent combo making his brain sluggish. Should he tell Dazai what exactly he’ll feel? It won’t hurt per se, but it most likely will feel like Dazai is suffocating, especially since he’s in heat. “No, it won’t hurt.”

“Okay. Sure, yeah, okay,” Dazai agrees, turning his head into Chuuya’s lap again.

Alright well, here goes nothing.

The second the scent blocker is set on one of Dazai’s neck glands, the man jerks up, slapping his hand against the patch. His eyes are wide as he stares at Chuuya, tearing up. Chuuya pulls his partner back down into his lap, but the brunet claws at the patch, sobbing and whimpering, trying to get it off.

Okay, this is definitely going worse than Chuuya thought it would.

“Shhh, I know, I know. It’s okay,” Chuuya hushes, trying to use one hand to open another patch since his other hand is preoccupied with keeping Dazai in his lap. Maybe he should have started with Dazai’s wrist glands. Those would have felt less suffocating at first.

Dazai sobs in response, continuing to attack the patch. Chuuya can tell how out of it Dazai really is. He’s trying to take the patch off from the center, not the edges.

Chuuya is quick to finish opening the second patch and he manhandles the screaming omega onto his other side, putting the other patch on.

Dazai wails, sobbing and whimpering, trying to take the patches off. Tears have started falling, taking Chuuya by surprise. Dazai never cries. Chuuya has seen him tortured, beaten, wounded, and on death’s door, and yet the brunet never shed a single tear, but as Dazai claws at the scent patches covering his scent glands, tears were streaming down his face.

“I can’t- chibi- Chuuya- I can’t- can’t breathe,” Dazai gasps as he starts to use his finger nails to dig at the patches.

“Dazai, hey, no, stop doing that.” Chuuya grabs the omega’s wrists, holding them down as Dazai cries.

Dazai’s skin is hot, making Chuuya feel like he’s being burnt everywhere Dazai’s skin touches his. At the same time, an icy chill flows through Chuuya’s body as No Longer Human nullifies Tainted, giving Chuuya whiplash. He resists the urge to shiver, knowing how self conscious Dazai is about his ability.

He forces the man’s face into his shoulder, trying to calm Dazai down by using his own scent. It actually seems to somewhat work. The second Dazai realizes that he’s next to Chuuya’s scent glands, he makes a snuffling noise and instantly starts nuzzling into the glands, quieting down. He’s rubbing his cheek and neck on Chuuya’s gland trying to scent, but ends up whimpering because the scent patches prevent him from properly scenting.

Chuuya can feel wetness on his neck as Dazai rubs his face against him, probably a mix between tears and sweat. The brunet’s breathing stutters as he tries to calm down, choking on sobs every once in a while.

“Hurts,” he whispers into Chuuya’s neck. The alpha really hopes the blockers don’t actually hurt and his partner is just overwhelmed. Dazai isn’t used to having a scent or scent glands, so having them suppressed probably feels like he’s drowning. His omega instincts are most likely freaking out especially with how new they are.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Chuuya starts running his fingers through Dazai’s brown curls, the brunet starting to relax into his hold as he does.

Dazai's scent is already less potent as half of his glands are covered, but his whiskey-leather scent is still too strong.

“Mackerel,” Chuuya whispers, nudging Dazai’s hair with his nose. “If you want the rest of your scent to be suppressed, I have to put more patches on your wrists.”

Dazai sobs in response, more tears falling on Chuuya’s neck and shoulder. His body heaves as he takes stuttering breaths, but then he holds up one of his wrists, letting Chuuya know to put the other patches on.

Surprised at Dazai’s acceptance, the alpha opens another scent patch and gently puts it on Dazai’s wrist gland. The brunet doesn’t have as much of a reaction as he did before, but he does whimper and shiver, more tears dripping onto Chuuya’s neck.

When Chuuya is done with that wrist, Dazai pulls it back against his body, then raises his other wrist. The alpha patches that wrist too and Dazai instantly clutches it back when Chuuya is done, whimpering into Chuuya’s neck.

Chuuya’s phone buzzes again; probably the cab. He’s not sure how long it’s been, but with Dazai’s scent fading fast, they should start making their way there before the cab leaves.

“I’m gonna hold you, okay?” While Dazai is taller than Chuuya, his eating habits make it so he weighs basically nothing. Even without his ability, Chuuya can hold the brunet.

“Okay,” Dazai whispers, continuing to attack Chuuya’s neck gland with his nose and cheek.

Chuuya takes off his jacket, and puts it on Dazai’s back, hoping to hide some of his skin. Chuuya knows how much Dazai wants his skin to be wrapped, but they don’t really have time to put the old bandages on. He manhandles Dazai, forcing the brunet to wrap his legs around Chuuya’s waist; and then lifting him, putting his hands under Dazai’s butt so the man doesn’t slide down. The second he does, he feels wetness, instantly realizing it’s slick.

Dazai whimpers, tensing as he notices where Chuuya is touching him.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Chuuya mutters softly. “Can you keep your legs wrapped? Otherwise you’ll fall.”

“Okay,” Dazai nods into the alpha’s neck, turning his head to lay on Chuuya’s shoulder. Chuuya can feel him tighten his legs, securing himself. His arms are still clutched to his chest, and Dazai shivers as Chuuya starts walking. He won’t be able to hold Dazai like this for long, but luckily the cab shouldn't be too far.

Before they leave, Chuuya quickly hunts down Dazai’s phone, noticing it on the complete other side of the container, like the brunet threw it.

“Can you pick your phone up when I kneel down?” Chuuya asks, rubbing his own cheek against Dazai’s hair.

Dazai hums in response, so Chuuya kneels next to the phone, watching as Dazai reaches out with one of his hands, keeping the other arm secure against his chest. The brunet eventually finds his phone, pulling it and his arm back to his chest, letting out another noise of completion.

“Thank you.” Chuuya stands, and walks out of the container, stepping into the cool night air. Dazai shivers, and whines, shifting slightly in Chuuya’s hold. He has calmed down significantly, but Chuuya can still feel tears falling.

The walk is pretty short, but long enough that Dazai’s scent is completely suppressed. In the cab, Dazai lays on Chuuya’s lap, letting Chuuya run his fingers through his hair. The brunet is still sniffling and shivering, but he’s quiet otherwise.

Once the cab drops them off - Chuuya paying extra because of how long the cab had to wait - he brings Dazai up to his apartment. His partner started getting worked up again on the elevator ride up, clawing at scent patches on his neck and crying. Chuuya takes him to his guest room, setting Dazai down on the bed.

The brunet cries as Chuuya pulls away, reaching out to grab the alpha’s arm to pull him back.

“I’m going to take the blockers off,” Chuuya tells him, gently prying Dazai’s fingers off his arm. Dazai whines, but lets Chuuya take his arm back, curling up into the fetal position on the bed as he sobs into his knees.

“Dazai, it’s okay,” Chuuya croons, picking at one of the scent patches on Dazai’s neck. He peels the patch away, and Dazai’s distressed scent explodes out, free from its restraint. Chuuya inhales deeply, the burnt vanilla with hints of leather and whiskey making his eyes water as his instincts rage. They want to soothe the unhappy omega. They want to scent him. They want to knot him. But he promised not to do anything other than scenting, so Chuuya shoves his desires in a box and stores it away for another day. Maybe someday Dazai will accept his omega side. Maybe someday he will let Chuuya knot him, but that is not today or during this heat.

At least it seems like the alpha scent blockers didn’t completely kill Dazai’s scent.

Dazai whimpers as Chuuya turns him onto his other side, exposing the second neck patch. He takes that one off too, the brunet crying into the sheets as his scent is freed. Chuuya bites his lip, resisting the urge to start scenting him again. Patches first, everything else later.

Chuuya turns Dazai back towards him, and pries one of his wrists away from his chest. He uncovers the gland and then lets Dazai pull his arm back, grabbing for the other arm. He uncovers the last gland, throwing the patches away in a nearby trash can.

Dazai curls in on himself more, softly sobbing. Chuuya watches him, not really sure what to do. He promised Dazai soft things, so blankets and different clothes? He didn’t mention the clothes to Dazai earlier, keeping it to himself knowing that the brunet would not like it.

With that in mind, Chuuya quickly heads towards the closet and pulls out some blankets, dropping them on the crying omega.

Dazai makes a muffled noise under the blankets, and starts squirming until he frees his head. He stares at Chuuya and then at the blankets with a confused look.

“I promised you blankets.” Chuuya shrugs, leaving the room. He hears Dazai whimper, but continues on his mission of new clothes. He starts digging through clothes in his drawers and ends up finding a blue sweatshirt and grey sweatpants, both are too big for him, but he still wears them when it’s cold. Anything would be better than Dazai’s work suit. He grabs an extra pair of boxers as well. When he’s walking back to the guest room, Chuuya makes a pit stop in the kitchen, grabbing a painkiller and a bottle of water.

When Chuuya returns to the guest room, he’s surprised to find Dazai actually had tried to build a nest. He has blankets shoved around himself, but the alpha can tell it’s incomplete. Dazai is sitting in the middle, sobbing into his knees as he stares depressingly at his makeshift nest.

“Dazai?”

The brunet looks at Chuuya, his eyes widening as he realizes that Chuuya is in the room again, and he makes a choked noise, jerking his face back into his knees.

“Dazai, what’s wrong?” Is he upset because he realized that he was making a nest? Is there something wrong with the blankets? Are the cramps back? Did Chuuya do something wrong? Was scenting too much?

“I- it- I don’t- some- something’s wrong,” his partner sobs.

“Something’s wrong with the blankets? Are they not soft enough?” Chuuya walks up to the bed, reaching out to feel the blankets. Maybe these blankets weren’t as soft as he thought? He never uses them, so he wouldn’t really know.

“Noooo, something- something else. I don’t- I don’t know,” Dazai shakes his head, grabbing one of the blankets. He shoves his face in it, rubbing it against his cheek and neck, and then snarls, throwing it to the side. “Something’s wrong.”

Chuuya grabs one of the blankets that Dazai hasn’t used yet, sniffing it. It smells a little musty, which makes sense since it’s been in the closet for a while, but it doesn’t smell per se.

Dazai continues to cry into his knees, so Chuuya hands him the clothing and painkiller he brought. “Take this pill, and put these on. I’ll put your suit and boxers in the wash.”

Dazai stares at the clothes that Chuuya has put next to him, nostrils flaring. He then looks up at Chuuya and notices the pill and water bottle he’s holding. He uncurls himself and grabs the pill from Chuuya’s hand, dry swallowing it, making Chuuya cringe. He then grabs the sweatshirt and sweatpants.

“You can take a bath tomorrow, but you should probably get some sleep, ya know?” Chuuya adds.

“Mission?” Dazai mumbles, still staring at the clothes.

Oh, right. The mission. Chuuya might have forgotten about that. He’ll have to grab some more of his scent blockers to cover up Dazai’s heat scent plus they scented each other so his scent probably smells like Dazai anyway - not that anyone knows what the man smells like since he didn’t have a scent before this. On top of that, he’ll have to deal with the mission on his own… that’s fine. It’s fine. Chuuya can do it. He doesn’t need Dazai.

“I’ll handle it,” Chuuya tells him, winking.

The omega looks at him, narrowing his eyes. “Chuuya can’t plan a mission.”

“I can, too!” Chuuya hisses.

“Tell me- tell me the details.” Dazai is not thinking clearly, Chuuya can see it in his eyes.

“I’ll handle it, Mackerel. It’s just a simple low level gang to kill,” Chuuya insists. “So put your clothes on.”

“But-”

“Put your clothes on!”

Dazai stares at him, his eyes glossy and watery, and he sniffles. “Chuuya-”

“I can handle it. You can’t plan a mission in heat. Trust me.”

Dazai's scent sours and he looks away from Chuuya, staring sadly at the bed.

“Okay,” he whispers, getting off the bed and heading to the bathroom.

Chuuya isn’t really sure what he said wrong, if it was related to the fact that he acknowledged Dazai’s omeganess or if it was related to the fact that Chuuya is doing the mission on his own. He’ll talk to Dazai about it later. Right now, the brunet needs to sleep.

Dazai returns from the bathroom fast, wearing Chuuya’s clothes and holding his dirty ones. Chuuya walks over, takes the dirty clothes, and brings them to the laundry room. Once he gets back, Dazai is sitting in the bed again, glaring at the blankets around him. He seems to have calmed down a little, tears dried up on his face. The longer he stares at the blankets, though, the more watery his eyes become, until he’s crying silent tears.

“Mackerel.” Chuuya walks over to the bed, sitting on the edge. “What’s wrong?”

“I DON’T KNOW, CHUUYA,” Dazai snaps, baring his fangs at the alpha. Chuuya’s alpha instincts rage at the defiance of the omega, but Chuuya pushes it away. Dazai is scared and vulnerable and he doesn’t understand what’s wrong. It’s okay.

“Are they soft enough?”

“I- yes, they are,” Dazai mumbles, glaring at the blankets again as tears stream down his face.

“Do you want more blankets?”

“No.”

“Do you want pillows?”

“No.”

“Do they- do the blankets smell wrong?”

“I- um- they… yes,” Dazai whines. “They smell wrong.”

That… actually makes sense. Omegas like to nest with items that smell like either themselves or people they care about. Smells that comfort them. These blankets don’t smell like anything, so they probably aren’t satisfying Dazai’s omega instincts.

“You can scent them if you want,” Chuuya suggests, but Dazai shakes his head.

“No, no, no, I don’t want them to smell like me,” he whispers, staring mourningly at the blankets.

Chuuya bites his lip. “Do you want me to scent them?”

Dazai looks like he’s about to reject Chuuya’s offer, but then he hesitates. He looks at Chuuya and then back down to the blankets and then back at Chuuya.

“Yes,” he whispers, looking down in defeat.

“Okay, I can do that.” Dazai is embarassed. He doesn't want to need an alpha's scent. If Chuuya makes a big deal about it, it might traumatize the brunet, making Dazai feel unsafe and exposed. Oh how Chuuya wants to make a comment considering all the snide things that Dazai has said about instincts, but he holds his tongue.

Chuuya starts grabbing blankets and rubbing them on his scent glands, giving them to Dazai when he’s done. Dazai rubs his own face and neck along them as well, taking in Chuuya’s scent, and then placing the blanket somewhere. Sometimes he moves blankets around, but eventually, he has a completed nest, saved for a few blankets that Chuuya assumes he’s going to curl up into.

“Alright, well,” Chuuya starts, but then Dazai looks up at him. Every time Dazai looks at him, it throws Chuuya off. He’s not used to Dazai looking so broken and vulnerable; his brown eyes glossy and dilated, riding the high of a heat he didn’t want. Right now the man looks like he’s about to start crying again. “I’m gonna-”

“Are you leaving?” His voice is soft and broken. Chuuya might even say he sounds sad.

“Do you… want me to?” Chuuya asks.

Dazai doesn’t answer for a while, glancing between the blankets that make up his nest and his own clasped hands.

“No,” he eventually whispers, poking one of the blankets

Chuuya's mind flashes back to when Dazai made him promise not to do anything his omega instincts wanted… but technically Chuuya had agreed to not doing anything sexual. Lying with his partner to help him fall asleep should be fine… right?

“You better not kill me for this after your heat,” he mutters. “Move over.”

Dazai obliges, moving over to make room for Chuuya. The second Chuuya is laying down, the brunet is on him, nuzzling into his neck gland, scenting him. Chuuya groans his appreciation, the scenting catching him off guard.

“Go to bed,” the alpha grits out, reaching over to turn the lamp off.

Dazai whimpers, but listens, stopping his attack on Chuuya’s glands and instead laying his head on the alpha’s chest. Chuuya starts caressing Dazai’s back, drawing shapes and stroking up and down along Dazai’s spine.

Dazai’s scent is surprisingly pleased, not distressed in the slightest.

Chuuya feels Dazai shift, whimpering a little as he moves. Dazai barely sleeps on a good day. A bad day - like today - he might stay awake for hours. Chuuya’s not sure if Dazai will tell him if the cramps come back either, so the brunet could be in pain. Chuuya starts lowly crooning, hoping it’ll help the omega fall asleep.

And it does. Five minutes later, Dazai’s breathing evens out and his body relaxes against Chuuya’s chest. Chuuya smirks, leaning forward to nuzzle his face in Dazai’s soft hair.

An hour later, when the alpha is sure Dazai is deep enough in sleep that he won’t wake up, Chuuya slips out from under him. Dazai whines at the loss, but Chuuya grabs a few of the blankets that Dazai left out, scenting one again, and putting it next to the omega’s face.

Dazai’s nose twitches and he nuzzles up to the blanket, rubbing his cheek on it. Chuuya then grabs the other blankets, scents those, and wraps the brunet in them, hoping that the warmth they provide will keep him asleep until Chuuya gets back.

Chuuya leaves the room, hunting down new scent blockers and applying the patches to his glands. The second his scent is gone, he changes, throwing his heat infested clothes in the wash with Dazai’s stuff.

He checks on Dazai quickly, watching the lump of blankets that make up Dazai rise and fall as the man sleeps. This heat is going to be hell for him. It’s a presenting heat and on top of experiencing new instincts and senses he isn’t used to, Dazai has always been against subgenders. Dazai’s omega instincts are going to clash with his own opinions; his mind is going to be at war. Chuuya’s not sure what he exactly signed up for, but Dazai is his partner, even if he’s an annoying asshole who made fun of Chuuya’s alpha instincts every chance he got.

Chuuya sighs, closing the guest room door quietly, leaving the brunet to sleep. By the time he leaves his apartment, it’s 3am. He’s about to have a long night.

Chapter Text

Dazai wakes up in pain. The pain is mainly in his lower stomach, but honestly his entire body hurts. He’s sore, and his skin is overly sensitive. His scent glands itch, too. Dazai whimpers as he turns his face into the bed, trying to inhale the scent that calmed him down before, but the scent isn’t there.

Chuuya’s fruity wine scent mixed with burning wood is gone.

Dazai jerks up, looking around the bed, failing to see the alpha. Wasn’t he lying on Chuuya when he fell asleep? He can remember the soft croons that were rumbling in Chuuya’s chest, making his eyelids feel heavy and lulling him to sleep. Dazai has never been good at sleeping, his insomnia making it almost impossible to sleep at a decent time and even more impossible to stay asleep. However, Dazai had also never heard a croon before, or at least had been affected by a croon like that. It made his omega instincts purr, calming them down and quieting Dazai’s frantic mind.

But where is Chuuya?

The brunet sits up, quickly realizing that he’s wrapped in multiple warm blankets that he didn’t remember being wrapped in before. He is also quick to realize that he’s very wet, the slick having leaked through his boxers and probably the sweatpants sometime in the night. He can feel the boxers sticking to his thighs, and he grimaces.

“Chuuya?” Dazai calls, his voice still a little rough from sleep and the crying that happened last night. Was it last night? Dazai isn’t sure what time it is. The room doesn’t have a window since it’s one of the rooms near the center of Chuuya’s apartment. Dazai has slept in here a few times, but definitely not under…these circumstances.

“Chuuya?” he calls again, shifting to try and unwrap himself from the blankets. There’s still no response and Dazai’s omega instincts start getting worried. What if Chuuya left? Where did he go? Why is his scent missing? Did Dazai do something wrong? Did Chuuya get tired of his crying?

Dazai starts to tear up and he instantly snarls, rubbing the palms of his hands against his eyes.

No. He will not cry again just because Chuuya wasn’t there when he woke up. He’s probably somewhere in the apartment. His stupid instincts need to calm the fuck down.

Dazai sits there, staring at the nest he made and resists the urge to whine. He’s lonely. He misses Chuuya and Chuuya’s scent. His stomach hurts and he feels disgusting. This is a horrible way to live. Lying back down and curling up, he hates the way he can feel stickiness with every movement.

He really wants Chuuya… but he refuses to go looking for him. A master doesn’t go looking for their dog. The dog comes when called… But Chuuya didn’t come when he was called. Is he annoyed with Dazai? Did Dazai do something wrong? Is it because he’s an omega? He’s always been mean to Chuuya about his alpha instincts so now that Dazai has omega instincts, is Chuuya going to punish him by ignoring them? That’s fine, Dazai wouldn’t blame him. He is technically a hypocrite now; he has all of those instincts he would make fun of.

Silent tears start streaming down his face and Dazai inhales sharply, whining at the fact that he’s crying. But then he’s whining for a completely different reason as a cramp makes itself known, throbbing in his lower abdomen for a few minutes before it slowly dissipates. Dazai can feel the slick start leaking again and he groans, shivering.

“Chuuya,” he mumbles, rubbing his cheek and neck against one of the blankets.

Why can’t he smell Chuuya? Does scent really fade that fast? Dazai wouldn’t know. Trying to scent the blanket isn’t working and his instincts are still screaming. He just wants them to shut up. His scent glands throb and itch, so Dazai starts scratching them.

Stroking his glands on something that smells like Chuuya is considerably less intimate and satisfying than rubbing his glands on Chuuya’s actual glands. When Chuuya scented him the first time in his container, his senses exploded. Dazai logically really wanted to pull away, and he almost did. He knew what the idea of scenting was even if he didn’t know what it was called and when he felt Chuuya’s wrist against his neck gland, he tried to get away, knowing that his omega instincts would take over, winning the battle in his mind.

But he was too slow.

Or maybe he didn’t have a chance at all.

Either way, the pleasure that steam-rolled through his body was way too overwhelming for Dazai to handle. He’s always been emotionally stunted so his brain short circuited when the wave of emotions flooded through his mind and his omega won.

Scenting really is an ethereal experience. Chuuya used to try to explain it and Dazai would ignore him or make fun of him. But, Chuuya was right. Dazai isn’t even sure how to explain it. His senses were suddenly filled with Chuuya and that was all Dazai could focus on. It smelled so good and made him feel so safe and he wanted to drown in that smell. All of his worries and fears started melting away and he just wanted to sit in Chuuya’s lap and sleep.

Dazai hates it.

He hates that he needs an alpha to feel safe. He doesn’t need an alpha and it was stupid of him to listen to Chuuya just because Chuuya scented him. Dazai wasn’t in control at all. His instincts were telling him to listen to the alpha because the alpha was sharing his scent with him which meant that this alpha is safe and Chuuya wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.

Dazai disagrees.

Why wouldn’t Chuuya take advantage of Dazai’s vulnerable state? Dazai isn’t nice to the redhead and he throws Chuuya into life-threatening situations without telling him all the time. He never tells Chuuya his plans and makes fun of the alpha daily. He treats him like a dog and gets him in trouble with Mori for fun. Chuuya doesn’t owe him anything and if anything Chuuya should take advantage of him. A newly presented omega in heat whose instincts already want to listen to Chuuya… it would just make sense for Chuuya to use this opportunity to put Dazai in his place. There’s no way he doesn’t hate Dazai. Most alphas would take advantage of a situation like this.

A cramp emerges, radiating down his lower back and moving to his thighs, making Dazai yelp and jolt forward. He wants a painkiller. He wants Chuuya, despite how much he feels like he shouldn’t.

Dazai slowly sits back up, letting the blankets fall around him, freeing himself from his warm restraints. He wraps one of them around himself as he gets off the bed, hating how the air feels against his exposed skin. He wants his bandages, but his stupid omega doesn’t like them. If he puts them on, his instincts will convince him he needs to take them off. Be ready for the alpha. Dazai rolls his eyes, as he starts walking. His wet sweatpants and boxers stick to his leg and he tenses, whimpering in disgust.

Slick is gross. Before this stupid heat, he hadn’t really had much experience with slick. He didn’t really fuck around much and when he did, it was with Chuuya, who doesn’t have slick. He’s heard about it, but wasn’t expecting it to be so…gross and sticky. A lot different than lube.

Dazai needs a bath.

The door to his room is closed; Chuuya must have closed it when he left. Is it because he wanted to prevent Dazai’s omega scent from spreading to the rest of the apartment?

A pang of hurt blooms in his chest, but he pushes it down. No, it’s fine if that’s the reason. Dazai didn’t even want to be an omega and he made fun of scent and instincts so Chuuya doesn’t owe him anything. He can’t be upset if Chuuya doesn’t want Dazai’s scent in the rest of his apartment.

Dazai makes his way out, glancing around as he shuffles his way through the penthouse, the blanket dragging behind him.

“Chuuya?” he whimpers, peeking into the living room. His partner isn't there and a whine builds in Dazai’s throat.

He walks over to the windows overlooking the city, using the sun to figure out the time. It’s early in the morning, maybe 6am. The omega sighs, looking down at the specks of people walking around going to their normal jobs to support their normal families where they have no cares in the world. Well, they have worries, but not the same ones.

Not that Dazai's worries are more important, but they aren’t exactly normal.

Actually, Dazai doesn't have worries, what is he talking about? Nothing scares him.

He shivers, his sensitive skin feeling the colder air coming off the window, so he turns around, continuing his hunt for Chuuya.

Dazai ends up waddling into the kitchen, his mouth a little dry. Guess he’ll make a pit stop on the way to Chuuya’s room. He notices a bunch of clean glasses next to the sink and grabs one, filling it with water. The water is tasteless, and makes his stomach stir, so after a few sips, Dazai sets the glass down, smacking his lips in disgust. Whiskey would taste better.

He’s about to continue his search when a slight tugging pain appears in his abdomen. It doesn’t hurt much at first, but Dazai groans as it gets worse, feeling more and more like he’s getting stabbed - and he’s been stabbed before. It feels like there’s a knife lodged in his stomach, ripping through his organs and opening him up for the world to see.

Dazai tries to take a step but cries out as the pain gets worse with his movement. He leans down on the counter, resting his head against the cold marble, trying to breathe through the pain.

It’ll go away. It’s fine. He’s not dying.

Just a few more seconds.

Dazai whines as it throbs, pulsing like the pain is alive.

It doesn’t go away.

It actually gets worse, spreading down to his thighs and up his back, making him feel like the metaphorical knife is slicing through him. He clutches his stomach and slides down to the floor, curling up with his blanket. The pain pulses again, a heat flash flowing through his body, and Dazai cries out, shoving his face into the blanket, trying to find Chuuya’s scent.

It’s not there. Where is it? He wants Chuuya’s scent. He wants to feel protected. Dazai can’t even smell himself.

“Chuuya,” he wails, tears starting to stream down his face, much to Dazai’s dismay, “where are you?”

He wants Chuuya to appear and fix things, just like he did last night. He wants Chuuya to scent him again. He feels so alone and his omega instincts are screaming in his mind to find the alpha but he doesn’t know where Chuuya is and his body hurts a lot and his scent glands are throbbing and itchy and no amount of rubbing against the blankets is making him feel better. Dazai feels so gross and what if Chuuya left him to deal with this alone. What if Chuuya doesn’t come back? What if Chuuya tells Mori?

Dazai is sorry. He shouldn’t have made fun of people who listen to their subgender instincts. He shouldn’t have made fun of subgenders in general. He understands now. It sucks. It’s uncontrollable. It’s not their fault.

But it’s too late to come to that realization. Chuuya won’t care. He won’t forgive him. He’s going to leave Dazai here to suffer alone, giving Dazai the taste of what it feels like to have an alpha helping, and then abandoning him, making it so Dazai suffers more. Dazai deserves it. He wouldn’t blame Chuuya. He would probably do the same if the situation was reversed. He’s not sure if he can do this alone.

Dazai isn’t sure how long he lays there in pain, spiraling in his own mind, but eventually the pain recedes and Dazai is able to haul himself up from the floor, his legs shaking as he stands. Tears are still falling down his face and he sniffles as he looks around the dark kitchen. He sees a pill bottle on the counter that he didn’t notice before and he reaches for it. They’re painkillers. He bites his lip, contemplating on taking the whole bottle, but his instincts start screaming at him. They want to survive. They want to mate. They want Chuuya and Chuuya wouldn’t be happy if he took the entire bottle.

Dazai ends up only taking one pill.

He walks back to the guest room, giving up on his search for the alpha, the pain too much for him to continue standing. He’s halfway on the edge of the bed, in the process of getting in it, when he starts glaring at the nest he made.

Dazai made a nest. Why did he make a nest? He doesn’t need a nest. Nests are stupid, just like the omega instincts that wanted him to make the nest. He snarls at his nest, contemplating taking a blanket and throwing it.

And then he does, grabbing the closest blanket to him and throwing it across the room, breaking part of the nest. His omega instincts cry, and Dazai grins, snatching more blankets and throwing them all over the room, destroying the rest of the nest as tears flow down his face.

His heart hurts. He destroyed his nest. His comfort place. He wants to fix it, but he refuses to. Dazai will not fix his nest. He doesn’t want to. Stupid omega instincts think that they can tell him what to do. He can just suffer in the bed without a nest.

Dazai lays in his ruined nest, wrapping himself tightly with the blanket, before realizing that doing that could be another thing his omega wants since his instincts aren’t crying about it, so he throws that too, sobbing into the leftover sheets. He grabs a pillow and hugs it, shivering as more cramps rack his body.

His scent glands itch, why do they still itch? They feel sore and exposed and Dazai starts scratching them again, hoping it will relieve the pain.

He’s cold.
His body hurts.
He doesn’t feel safe.
He doesn’t feel protected.
He feels exposed.
He wants his blankets back.
He wants his nest back.
He wants Chuuya’s scent back.
He wants Chuuya.
He wants his alpha.
He should look for Chuuya again.

No. He doesn’t want Chuuya. He doesn’t need Chuuya. Chuuya is not his alpha, he is an alpha. He doesn’t need to go looking for his doggy. Dazai’s stupid omega instincts are getting worked up over nothing. Dazai is fine alone, thank you very much…

Dazai ends up in front of Chuuya’s room, nudging the cracked door.

The brunet hesitates, but knocks. “Chibi?” He pushes the door open a little more, walking over to the alpha’s bed. He can’t smell Chuuya in here, making his eyes water as his omega instincts wail. He grabs one of Chuuya’s blankets, trying to smell, scent, anything, but he can’t smell the alpha on those either. Where is Chuuya’s scent?

He wipes the tears away, shuddering as he tries to ignore the omega instincts that are screaming in his mind that his alpha left him. Chuuya is not his alpha. It doesn’t matter if Chuuya left, because he doesn’t need an alpha.

But where is Chuuya?

Where is the alpha’s scent?

Dazai sniffs, climbing into Chuuya’s bed and trying to find anything that smells like the alpha. He wants something: a blanket, a pillow, or clothing. He doesn’t have a nest anymore; the thought makes the omega in him howl and Dazai resists the urge to cry, aggressively rubbing his eyes to make the pressure go away. He shifts through Chuuya’s blankets and pillows trying to find one that has his scent, but there’s nothing.

He wants Chuuya. Chuuya could fix this. Chuuya would know what to do. He wants the alpha’s scent. Chuuya’s scent made him feel better. It made him forget about why he was upset about being an omega. It almost made him okay with being an omega, smelling so safe and protected, feelings that Dazai rarely, if ever, has. But now Chuuya’s scent is gone, just like Chuuya.

He’ll be good. Dazai can be a good omega. He just wants Chuuya’s scent. But he can’t smell the alpha. He can’t smell anything. Where is Chuuya’s scent?

Dazai whimpers, curling in on himself in the bed. Where is his alpha? He’s so lonely and he hurts and his scent glands ache and the scratching isn’t helping but he keeps doing it anyway because maybe it’ll help eventually.

He thinks about the pill bottle on the counter and sobs.

-------

Chuuya is pissed. He wanted to get back to his apartment right after the mission, but even though he took care of the entire gang before 7am, Mori wanted him to come in to give the report. And then he wanted Chuuya to come to an executive meeting, something that confused him considering he isn’t an executive. Mori explained that no one can get in contact with Dazai, so Dazai’s partner gets to fill in, which… is weird because Dazai goes missing all the time and Chuuya has never had to substitute for him, but he didn’t want to give Mori a reason to suspect anything. He still doesn’t know why Dazai’s scent soured so fast when he had mentioned Mori, so it’s probably best to wait until Dazai is lucid to do anything.

The meeting took three long excruciating hours and by the time Chuuya leaves the Port Mafia building, it’s 10:30am. He goes to do some heat shopping and gets some basic omega scent suppressants - which probably wouldn’t be able to suppress Dazai’s heat scent, but just in case - along with heat shakes, regular food, and more painkillers. He also grabs more bandages for Dazai, just in case he wants more.

Chuuya finally gets back to the apartment around 11:30am, grumbling to himself as he unlocks his door.

Right as he opens his door, the scent of pure and utter distress fills his nose and Chuuya gasps, dropping his bags. It’s hard to breathe, the scent of burnt vanilla feels like it’s trying to invade his brain to dig out all of his thoughts to replace them.

“Dazai?” Chuuya gasps, trying to make his voice as loud as he can even though it’s hard to breathe. He closes and locks his door before the scent leaks into the hallway. Leaving the bags at the front door, the alpha walks further into the apartment, the scent continuing to be just as strong. His whole apartment probably smells like burnt vanilla.

Chuuya notices the open guest room door fast, and he’s quick to barge into the room, scanning around for the brunet.

The first thing he notices is that Dazai’s nest is destroyed; blankets are everywhere around the room like the omega had thrown them in a rage.

The second thing he notices is that Dazai is not in the room. Chuuya quickly checks the bathroom, making sure Dazai didn’t try to drown in the tub, but he’s not in there either - which Chuuya doesn’t know if he should be relieved or worried. The cabinets are open though and Chuuya is pretty sure there are missing bandage rolls.

Chuuya leaves the room, hunting through the rest of his apartment and not finding the omega. Where did Dazai go?

He’s storming through his apartment checking a second time, when he notices this his own door is open. He rarely leaves his door open like that, usually closing it or leaving it cracked. Chuuya isn’t sure why, but it’s just a habit he has.

He silently walks over, peeking his head inside. The burnt vanilla is radiating from his room. Dazai has to be in here.

“Dazai?” Chuuya whispers, stepping into the room despite the fact that his instincts are raging at the distressed scent of an omega. He can see a lump on his bed, and he sighs in relief, walking over to check on the omega. Dazai is lying quietly on his side. He doesn’t move or acknowledge that he heard Chuuya, even as Chuuya gets closer.

“Why are you in-”

Chuuya’s heart stops the second he sees the pill bottle in Dazai’s hand. He lunges forward, grabbing the bottle as he shakes his partner, trying to get him to move.

The pill bottle is empty.

“Dazai, did you take all of these?!” Chuuya hisses, cupping the omega’s face in his hands. His lashes are fluttering, his face stained with tear streaks. Dazai's skin is boiling and his breathing is labored. He’s pale and sweaty and he’s not waking up.

Chuuya hauls Dazai up, bridal style, and takes him to his bathroom. Despite his earlier assumption of Dazai putting bandages back on, the omega is bare, his skin free of restraint. He smells off. Something is wrong, something that isn’t the fact that Dazai overdosed. Chuuya isn’t sure exactly what it is, but he pushes it to the back of his mind. It’s not important right now. He needs to get those pills out of Dazai’s system.

Chuuya sets him on the ground near the toilet, positioning the brunet onto his knees and holding his head to keep him from falling forward. He then takes a deep breath and shoves his gloved fingers into Dazai’s throat, aiming for the back of Dazai’s tongue as he tries to activate Dazai’s gag reflex.

The brunet jerks, his eyes opening slightly as he chokes on Chuuya’s fingers. The choked, gagging noises he lets out makes Chuuya internally hate himself, but he needs the omega to throw up. Dazai doesn’t fight much at first, but he starts resisting eventually, trying to grip onto Chuuya’s shirt as he tries to push Chuuya away, but his hold is too weak and he doesn’t have enough strength right now. Tears start welling up in Dazai’s eyes and the brunet whimpers, weakly trying to pull away from Chuuya, but eventually, he throws up.

Chuuya can tell the second Dazai’s about to hurl, pulling his fingers out and pushing the man towards the toilet. The alpha looks away, grimacing at the noises Dazai makes as his body tries to expel the pills he had taken, along with anything else the man had in his stomach, which probably wasn’t much. He doesn’t know how long ago Dazai took the pills, but he does know there weren’t enough pills left in there to kill the man. He’ll just need to make the brunet throw up a second and third time just to make sure what he did swallow gets out.

And he does.

He makes Dazai throw up two more times, the omega starting to gain small functions back by the time he’s dry heaving into the toilet. He’s crying, sobbing as Chuuya tries to calm him down. He tries to scent Dazai, rubbing their wrists together, but nothing happens. The earlier wrongness of before comes back and Chuuya makes a confused noise. The brunet doesn’t notice the scenting and Chuuya didn’t feel anything either; nothing like the ethereal, calming experience scenting should be.

“Mackerel, hey, it’s okay,” Chuuya whispers, deciding to ignore the weird experience and nudging the other man’s leg. He takes his gloves off and throws them in the sink.

Dazai wails, pulling away from the toilet and curling into the fetal position on the bathroom floor. He’s facing away from Chuuya, looking at the bathtub, shaking and shivering as he cries.

“Dazai?”

“G-go away, stupid slug,” Dazai whispers angrily, his voice rough and strangled from the throwing up and crying.

Chuuya ignores him. “No, what happened?”

Dazai is silent, apparently deciding to not grace Chuuya with an answer.

“Why did you do that?” the alpha tries, hoping to get Dazai to say something even if he knows the answer. He reaches out to stroke Dazai’s back, but the brunet tenses the second Chuuya’s hand brushes his back, even with the sweatshirt blocking skin contact. The sweatshirt is soaked from Dazai’s sweat, the heat continuing to boil the man alive.

The brunet doesn’t say anything to Chuuya’s question and instead shakes his head, letting out soft sobs. Chuuya takes a deep breath.

“Dazai-”

“I don’t want to tell you,” Dazai hisses, shoving his head into his knees to hide his face.

“Please?”

“No.”

This is giving Chuuya déjà vu. Is this how each day of Dazai’s heat is going to go? A constant cycle of Dazai saying no when Chuuya asks him things? It’s very in character for Dazai at least, so as much as Chuuya hates this part of Dazai’s personality at least he’s acting like Dazai in spite of the new omega instincts.

“Can I scent you?” he asks, changing the subject. Dazai isn’t going to give him an answer and he wants the brunet to calm down. They can talk about it after Dazai’s heat.

The response he gets is the opposite of what Chuuya hoped for. Dazai wails, his sobs getting more frequent and unstable. He’s breathing heavily into his knees, refusing to look at Chuuya or give himself more air. He’s going to get light-headed soon at this rate.

Chuuya backtracks, unsure of what set his partner off. “I don’t have to-”

“No! It’s not - I don’t - I- I can’t- can’t smell anything, Chuuya. I can’t- can’t smell you or- or me,” Dazai cries. “And-and I don’t know why. I just-just wanted-”

Chuuya can’t make out the rest of what Dazai says, but he’s not worried about that. Fear is building up in his chest and his mind is replaying the events of last night in his head. Is this because of the alpha scent blockers? But Dazai seemed fine last night when they took the blockers off? Did he accidentally scent-blind Dazai? He thought that was for the oils and that it took away an omega’s scent? Dazai still has a scent, Chuuya is drowning in burnt vanilla so distressed that Chuuya’s alpha instincts are fighting against the cage that Chuuya has locked them in.

“You can’t smell anything? Even normal smells?” Chuuya asks.

“I can smell, but I-I can’t smell,” Dazai tries to explain, stumbling on his words. “I can’t - can’t smell scents. I can’t smell you.”

Well shit. Scenting was the only thing that calmed Dazai down. Now that he can’t scent the brunet, Dazai’s omega can’t tell that there’s an alpha so his instincts won’t be able to convince Dazai that he’s fine. Even though Dazai logically knows Chuuya is an alpha, instincts don’t really… work like that. Dazai can’t fight his instincts with logic. His instincts don’t know that Chuuya is here. Pairing that with the fact that Dazai won’t listen to what Chuuya says, he’s never going to get the man to calm down. Crooning seemed to help, but not on its own. Chuuya still ended up having to scent him to calm him down. The only other thing that could let Dazai’s omega instincts know that there’s an alpha is knotting, but Dazai already said no.

Should he call someone? Ane-san knows a lot about omegas because of the brothel. Maybe she’ll know how to calm Dazai down… but if he calls and asks without telling her why, she’ll get suspicious. She’ll want to know why and she’ll want to see the omega, because she’s overprotective with omegas. She’ll force Chuuya to tell him who the omega is because she doesn’t trust alphas - even Chuuya - with an omega’s safety.

And Dazai would not like that. Dazai and Kouyou don’t hate each other, but they aren’t close by any means. Dazai would not want her to know. If he’s not going to ask her how to calm an omega down, maybe he could ask her about the alpha scent blockers and if it’s temporary.

Dazai is still sobbing in the corner, heaving and shivering, his scent so close to that acidic vanilla it had been when Chuuya mentioned Mori. Chuuya is having trouble being in the same room as the omega, but he fights through it, shoving his instincts down and trying to remain present.

There’s a sudden weird wheezing noise that pulls Chuuya's attention back to the brunet. Dazai’s eyes are wide and he’s staring at the bathtub as he takes sudden wheezing breaths. The breaths get quicker and quicker and Dazai ends up clutching at his chest, like he’s trying to help his lungs inhale and exhale air. He turns toward Chuuya, fear rooted deeply in his brown eyes. He’s hyperventilating.

Is he having a panic attack?

Dazai Osamu is having a panic attack?

His partner whimpers, attacking his own chest, trying to get air.

“Mackerel.” Chuuya rushes towards him, gripping the omega’s shoulders and forcing Dazai to straighten and look at him. “You need to breathe. Breathe. Calm down and breathe.”

Dazai’s eyes are panicked and he’s still clutching at his chest, tears streaming down his face.

“Can’t,” the brunet gasps, shaking his head as his breathing worsens. His body is shaking, violent tremors racking through his body.

“Try. Just breathe with me.” Chuuya starts taking deep breaths, trying to get the omega to copy him, but Dazai is panicking too much. He’s shaking his head, grasping at his chest as he lets out loud wheezing sobs.

Chuuya had promised he wouldn’t use a command and he really doesn’t want to do this, but Dazai is going to pass out at this rate. The omega needs to calm down.

“Dazai, breathe with me,” Chuuya commands. The effect is instant, Dazai’s body tensing as his head jerks up to stare at Chuuya. There are tears streaming down his face and he looks so lost and scared. It’s not an expression Chuuya has ever seen on the man. He does start following Chuuya’s breathing though.

“Breathe with me,” Chuuya murmurs, inhaling and exhaling deeply, reaching towards the brunet. Dazai tenses, eyes frightened as he tries to move away from Chuuya, but he continues mimicking the alpha, slowly inhaling and exhaling.

After the fifth round of deep breathing, Chuuya closes the distance between them - despite the reluctance of the omega - and pulls Dazai into his lap, continuing with the deep breathing. Dazai lets himself be manhandled, sitting in Chuuya’s lap and wrapping his long legs around Chuuya’s waist. He rests his head on Chuuya’s shoulder, and Chuuya can feel as Dazai continues following his breathing, unable to fight the command.

Dazai’s forehead is sweaty and he can feel how soaked Dazai’s sweatpants are with slick. He can’t even smell the slick.

Slowly, Dazai starts calming down, his body shaking slightly less and he’s breathing on his own, meaning the command wore off.

This can't keep happening. Dazai's heat is going to be absolute hell if Dazai continues to fight and resist.

“Dazai.” Chuuya pushes the brunet up, forcing his partner to look at him. “You are Dazai fucking Osamu. And you need to get a grip.”

Dazai blinks at him, his eyes widening in shock.

“I understand that you are scared and that you don’t want to be an omega, but you are and now it’s a part of your life. You don’t have to like it, but you need to stop fighting it.”

Dazai’s shocked expression morphs into a glare and he opens his mouth to say something, but Chuuya stops him.

“No, let me finish. You don’t like the omega instincts. Cool. That’s fine. You don’t have to like them, but you are making your first heat hell because you won’t listen to them. Something is up with your scent glands and that’s why it’s so hard right now. Your instincts are already freaking out. You ignoring them is making it worse. I can’t calm your instincts down. I can’t scent you. You’ll need to calm your omega down until we figure out what’s wrong.”

“How?” Dazai asks, continuing to glare at Chuuya.

“Listen to them,” Chuuya tells him.

Dazai’s glare deepens, eyes narrowing. “That’s just what an alpha would want.”

Chuuya sighs. “Dazai, have you ever heard of alpha commands? I could command you if I was going to take advantage of you. You’re an unclaimed omega in heat. Nothing could stop me.”

Dazai’s eyes widen and he flinches back, trying to pull away from Chuuya. “Is that what you did?”

“Hey!” Chuuya grips Dazai's arm, stopping his escape. “No - wait! I only did it then because you were hyperventilating. You couldn’t breathe! I’m not going to do it again. I’m just letting you know that if I was going to do that, I would have already done it.”

“Why aren’t you?” Dazai mumbles, staring at where Chuuya’s hand is gripping his arm, not meeting the alpha’s eyes.

Chuuya stares at him, baffled that he’s even asking…but, it is Dazai. Dazai has trust issues that Chuuya has had the front row seats for ever since he joined the mafia. Dazai trusts no one. He keeps to himself and caters his plans with the knowledge that the people involved weren’t aware they were involved. He respects people, but respect and trust are different. Dazai respects Mori, he respects the other executives, he respects Chuuya, but he doesn’t trust - even though Chuuya ends up having to trust Dazai with his life ever since Corruption. The alpha would say that Dazai trusts him…more…than most, but it’s still not a lot. Dazai’s trust is fragile, and even that little trust he has inside of him isn’t enough for the omega to believe that Chuuya won’t turn on him if he gets the chance.

“Because I wouldn’t do that,” Chuuya replies. “Can you just please stop fighting with your instincts? Nest if you want to nest. Scent if you want to scent. Cuddle if you want to cuddle. Stop fighting against those things. They’re so simple.”

Dazai visibly bites the inside of his cheek, looking away from Chuuya’s face and back down at the ground. His body is still shivering which shifts the sweatshirt slightly, exposing one of Dazai’s scent glands on his neck. It’s puffy and red. Before Chuuya can say anything, Dazai speaks.

“But they want a knot, Chuuya,” the brunet confesses, looking back at Chuuya with watery eyes. “I don’t want one. But they do. They keep screaming and crying and all they want is just a stupid alpha knot.”

Yeah that…sounds about right. One of the only things that can sate an omega in heat is a knot. A heat’s purpose is to mate, so it makes sense that Dazai’s instincts are urging him to get knotted. Chuuya is honestly surprised Dazai has been so…calm about a knot. Don’t get Chuuya wrong, Dazai hasn’t been calm, but it's a different sort of chaos than most omegas. Most omegas would be begging for a knot. Dazai hasn’t begged to be knotted yet, he's just been crying about...everything else. It’s not going to last though, and they need to figure out what’s going on with Dazai’s ability to smell. Maybe it has something to do with Dazai’s scent glands looking like tomatoes.

“You can ignore those instincts…Can I look at your scent glands?” Chuuya asks, nudging Dazai’s sweatshirt slightly to expose the gland more. Dazai shivers, leaning into Chuuya’s touch, but seconds later he pulls away, shaking his head.

“Mmm, why?”

“They look irritated,” Chuuya comments.

“No.”

“Dazai-”

“I said no,” the omega hisses, baring his fangs. He’s glaring at Chuuya again; his eyes look so hazy and unfocused, and Chuuya isn’t even sure if Dazai is present enough to remember this. It’s always hit or miss with omegas in heat. He seems lucid, but he might not be as lucid as Chuuya thought.

“It could be why you can’t smell. If we can figure out what’s happening, then scenting should be enough. Your instincts won’t care as much about a knot,” Chuuya insists.

“What if that’s not why? What if we don’t figure out what’s wrong?” Dazai asks softly, his anger apparently disappearing.

“We will,” Chuuya promises. “Can you work with your instincts? Please?”

Dazai stares at him, contemplating his answer. Chuuya can see the invisible war happening behind his eyes: Dazai’s desire to reject his omega instincts fighting for control against those said omega instincts.

Dazai ends up sighing, taking a deep breath. “I will try…for Chuuya.”

“Thank you.” Chuuya pulls the omega into his lap and Dazai tries to nuzzle with Chuuya’s neck scent gland, rubbing his own scent gland against it. Despite the fact that Chuuya can smell Dazai, nothing happens. There’s no sudden pleasure of scent flooding his senses even though their glands are connected. It feels weird. It feels wrong. It’s nothing that Dazai’s doing - scenting Dazai has to be one of the best experiences he’s ever had in his 10ish years of memories - but knowing that his scent gland is touching another scent gland and expecting something to happen when it doesn’t…it’s just…different.

Chuuya can feel Dazai’s tears dripping off his face and onto the alpha’s neck, probably from the fact that he wants to scent, but can’t.

“I want my scent back,” Dazai whimpers into his neck, confirming Chuuya’s thoughts.

“I know,” Chuuya mumbles as he starts to comb his fingers through Dazai’s curls. “Let’s get you in the bath. I’ll look at your glands there. Maybe that’ll help.”

There’s a moment of silence and then Dazai breathes out an “Okay.”

Dazai’s bath goes better than Chuuya was expecting. Even though Dazai agreed to listen to his instincts, the alpha was expecting him to continue trying to ignore them, but Dazai didn’t, or at least he wasn’t ignoring them as much. He told Chuuya when he wanted the alpha closer which ended with Chuuya getting in the bath - fully clothed - with the naked omega. Dazai rests the top of his head against Chuuya’s chest, staring down at the water and shivering slightly. They’ve fucked before so Chuuya has seen everything that is currently exposed, but Dazai is still tense, trying to shield his scars from Chuuya, probably missing his bandages.

The alpha doesn’t comment on it, instead washing the brunet’s hair and body. When he decides to get a closer look at Dazai’s glands, the washcloth he’s using to wash Dazai’s body ends up too close, and the omega growls at him, baring his fangs. Chuuya slowly pulls the washcloth away and Dazai calms down again, continuing to rest his head against Chuuya’s chest. Guess he’ll look at those in a little bit. He’ll have to check on them when Dazai isn’t so tense. Maybe the man will fall asleep in the tub.

Chuuya makes sure the slick is washed off Dazai’s body, knowing that’s the main reason Dazai agreed to a bath. He’s in the middle of putting conditioner in his hair, when the omega speaks up. “Where did you go?”

Chuuya tilts his head, aggressively scrubbing Dazai’s scalp, trying to make sure the sweat, dirt, and grime are washed away. “What do you mean? The mission?”

Dazai’s scent sours slightly. “Oh.”

Chuuya stares at the top of the omega’s head, pausing in his scrubbing, confused. “Did you forget?”

“...Maybe,” Dazai mumbles. “I couldn’t smell you. I thought you left.” Chuuya can hear the unsaid “me”.

Dazai thought the alpha had left him to deal with his heat on his own. With Dazai’s senses as heightened as they are, it makes sense why leaving impacted the omega. When Dazai woke up and he couldn’t smell Chuuya, he probably thought that Chuuya had been gone for a while, which to Dazai’s omega, meant that Chuuya wasn’t coming back. Dazai isn’t used to scents, so it didn’t strike him as odd that he couldn’t smell his partner. To Dazai, he just woke up alone, with no idea where Chuuya went, and with Chuuya’s scent gone. Kouyou told him once that omegas are sensitive to alpha’s scent during heat. They crave it because it makes them feel protected. Dazai felt unsafe and alone. He probably had a traumatic couple of hours that is making guilt build up deep in Chuuya’s chest. He can feel it in his heart.

He finishes with Dazai’s hair and then pulls the omega toward him. Dazai follows willingly, curling up in Chuuya’s lap and resting his head on Chuuya’s collarbone. His forehead is against Chuuya’s chin and the alpha can feel Dazai’s soft breaths against his chest.

“I won’t leave,” Chuuya whispers as he starts drawing along Dazai’s scars, making the brunet shiver and exhale a deeper breath. His scent is finally somewhat better, but there’s still burnt vanilla in the air, probably because Dazai’s omega instincts are still not happy with the fact that Dazai can’t smell anything.

Eventually, though, he feels Dazai’s body relax, his breathing evening out and becoming deeper. Chuuya sighs, emotionally exhausted. He’s tired. It was a long night of trying to get Dazai to his apartment and then killing a rival gang without Dazai’s plans. The mission wasn’t as bad as he thought, but it still wasn’t easy. There were multiple times where Chuuya almost got caught or lost the files he was supposed to be retrieving. His alpha instincts wouldn’t shut up. He could only think about the omega in his apartment who could wake up at any moment and realize he was alone. Dazai is a flight risk. There’s a lot he could do in the time that Chuuya would be gone.

He was able to finish the mission though and eventually was able to get back here, though he was lucky he wasn’t too late. No more leaving Dazai alone, that’s for sure.

He could take a nap with the omega, he’s tired enough for it…but first he needs to do some research.

Reaching over as slowly as he can so he doesn’t wake Dazai up, he grabs his phone, which was sitting on the toilet seat and opens the search. Time to start looking at ways to sate omegas in heat.

Chuuya ends up massively disappointed.

One site told him that only an alpha knot can help. Amazing, who knew. Duly noted. Another site told him scenting could help. Wow, mind blowing. Duly noted. Most of the other sites told him the same thing the first one did: an alpha knot. Thanks internet.

One of the only other sites that said something other than knotting and scenting told Chuuya that family members who the omega finds comfort in could help. Chuuya is not even sure where Dazai came from, much less if he has family. He thinks Dazai just popped into existence. It makes more sense than thinking about the fact that Dazai was born and had a family at some point. Also Dazai doesn’t find comfort in anyone.

Sighing, he searches up what to do about omegas using alpha scent blockers and comes up with nothing there either. Most cases are with the oil scent blockers and none of the sites mentioned anything about an omega losing the ability to smell and use their scent glands while still having a scent.

Guess it’s time to call Kouyou. He sends a text, asking if she’s free to call, hoping that during this call, Dazai doesn’t wake up. He might kill Chuuya.

While waiting for Kouyou’s reply, he drains some of the tub water and replaces it with new warm water, not wanting to make Dazai’s heat fever worse. He can feel how hot the omega still is even through his clothing. Dazai’s forehead is resting against Chuuya’s chin still, and he can feel the sweat. It’s still weird feeling how hot Dazai is while also feeling the cool rush of No Longer Human.

Dazai whines in his sleep as the new water rises, probably disturbed a little by the feeling of water moving. He curls up more on Chuuya. One of his hands moves to cover his lower stomach. A cramp then. He probably doesn’t have any more painkillers in his system, which is good because that was the whole point of getting the man to throw them up, but now he’s in pain. In a few hours, Chuuya will be more comfortable giving him a pill, but right now, Dazai will have to endure the cramps. He’s sleeping anyway, it’s fine.

Chuuya’s phone buzzes and he realizes that Kouyou didn’t answer, she just called him. Dazai whines, the noise making him stir, but Chuuya starts drawing along his scars again, lulling the man back to sleep.

He accepts the call.

“Chuuya? Are you okay?” she asks, her voice calm, but he can hear the worry. He never calls her, so she’s probably confused.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he whispers, not wanting to wake up Dazai. There’s a pause on the other end, like Kouyou doesn’t believe him.

“Why are you whispering then?” Kouyou questions.

Chuuya sighs, glancing at the sleeping brunet on his shoulder. Dazai is shivering slightly, so Chuuya pulls him closer, hugging the brunet to his chest more. Honestly, he doesn’t really feel like coming up with a lie to tell Kouyou. She won’t believe him - she has this way of knowing if he’s telling the truth or not. So he’ll just ignore her question and get to the point. “What would happen if an omega used alpha scent blockers?”

Kouyou pauses. “Why?” He hears a clink on the other end of the line, probably one of her tea cups.

“I’m just wondering. Say it’s a… sudden curiosity,” Chuuya quietly informs her. The alpha can’t see her but he knows that she’s narrowing her eyes, not believing him in the slightest.

“Why are you asking, Chuuya?” Shit, she’s using that tone of voice; the tone of voice that means she’s not going to give him an answer unless he tells her the truth…or something that she believes is the truth. Guess he’ll try giving her a half-truth.

“I was…out last night at a bar and met an omega. She went into heat unexpectedly and didn’t have any suppressants so I let her use my alpha scent blockers. She couldn’t smell in the morning,” Chuuya tells her.

“Didn’t you have a mission last night?”

Oh shit. “...No?”

“You don’t know?”

“...No.” This is going horribly.

Chuuya hears Kouyou sigh on the other end and he cringes. This is why Dazai is the one who lies to their coworkers. Chuuya is just bad at it. He can lie to strangers and grunts and basically everyone but Dazai, Kouyou, and Mori. Kouyou knows him too well. Mori is his boss and knows things. Dazai is…Dazai. The man could look at Chuuya and tell exactly what he’s going to say at every given moment. Except right now. Normal Dazai can do that but this Dazai - a Dazai deep in heat - probably couldn’t figure out how to get out of a mound of blankets, much less predict what Chuuya might say or do.

“How long were the blockers on… her?”

Fuck, she knows. Chuuya holds back a stressed noise and instead starts counting.

“Close to an hour,” he estimates. Putting the blockers on Dazai had taken a good 20-30 minutes, combined with the walk to the cab and the cab ride, it was probably around an hour that the patches were on Dazai’s glands.

“What type of blockers? Patches or oil?”

“The patch brand.”

Kouyou hums, and Chuuya can hear her clinking her teaspoon against her cup. “It’s just temporary. Patches are used to keep a scent contained, but they also have a small chemical infusion that temporarily makes it so it paralyzes the scent gland for a time. It makes it easier to wear the patches for long periods of time without irritating the glands.”

“But he- she-” fuck “-can’t smell either. And I don’t think it happened right away. And wouldn’t that mean when I used them, I wouldn’t be able to smell?”

Dazai is going to kill him.

“Not being able to smell is probably because she’s an omega. The chemical used to paralyze the scent gland for alphas doesn’t affect their sense of smell. For an omega, that chemical would be different, something that isn’t as strong since omega scents aren’t as potent,” Kouyou explains. “And it didn’t happen right away because the chemicals needed time to work so while your omega could smell before, in the morning, the smell was gone, suppressed by the chemicals. Scent patches aren’t supposed to be used for a short amount of time.”

“But it did suppress her heat scent.”

“That’s what it’s supposed to do. It was in the process of activating, so while the patches were on, her scent was suppressed.”

Chuuya is thoroughly confused, but whatever. Long story short, Dazai will get his sense of smell back.

“How long?”

“As long as the patch would’ve lasted, so 15 hours?”

Chuuya hums, the vibration in his chest making Dazai stir. The omega puffs out a whine, repositioning himself so he’s more on Chuuya’s chest instead of his shoulder. He doesn’t wake up though.

“Chuuya?”

“Thank you for the information, Ane-san. I appre-”

“Are you going to tell me what actually happened?” Fucking shit.

“What do you mean? I already told you-”

“You lied and I would advise not doing it again. Who is the omega, Chuuya?”

Chuuya hesitates, unsure of what to say. “Someone I met at the bar like I said.”

“Do not lie to me again, Nakahara Chuuya.”

Chuuya bites back his next lie, nervous that she might actually kill him through the phone. Maybe she can summon her Golden Demon in Chuuya’s apartment to slice his throat.

When he doesn’t answer Kouyou speaks, “I’ve heard that Dazai is missing and you would never help someone like this unless for him or related to him. He’s days away from being 17, but it’s still possible that he could present. So, is it Dazai?”

“No,” Chuuya hisses a little too fast.

Kouyou is silent. Chuuya can’t even hear her breathing. His mind races. Does she know? What would she do if she knew? Would she tell Mori? Would she insist on Chuuya bringing Dazai to her because she doesn’t trust him to hold himself back during an omega’s heat? What would Dazai do if she knew? Would he kill her? Would he kill Chuuya?

Kouyou’s hum breaks him out of his thoughts. “Who would have thought that demon would be an omega?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chuuya snarls, his scent instantly spiking to a more smokey smell of irritation. He tries to smoothen his scent out even though Dazai won’t be able to smell it. It shouldn’t wake the omega up, but he’s still nervous. She didn’t believe Chuuya, and now she knows it’s Dazai, Dazai who didn’t want anyone to know. Chuuya is going to die.

“Why are you growling at me like a wild animal?” Kouyou chuckles. Chuuya can see her hiding her smile with the sleeve of her kimono as she giggles.

“Kouyou,” Chuuya warns.

She tuts, and he can hear her sipping from her tea. “You shouldn’t spend his heat with him.”

“Why not?” Chuuya hisses, trying to keep his anger in check.

“Mori has that boy on a tight leash. If he finds out that Dazai is an omega and spent his heat with you…” She doesn’t finish her sentence, leaving Chuuya to sit there confused. What would Mori do? Why would Mori care who Dazai spent his heat with? Why would Mori even care about Dazai being an omega? His mind suddenly flashes back to what happened in Dazai's shipping container, when the omega’s scent became that pure unfiltered fear and anger that flooded Chuuya’s mind.

“What would he do, Ane-san?”

“Nothing good I’m afraid. It would be better if you gave the boy to me. I have resources here to help-”

“No,” Chuuya snaps, his voice a little too loud. He glances at the brunet, holding his breath. Dazai doesn’t move though, deep in a slumber that Chuuya isn’t even sure an earthquake could wake him up from.

“Chuuya.” Kouyou’s voice is stern.

“I thought you wanted to protect omegas?” Chuuya growls.

“I am protecting him, but I’m also protecting you.” Kouyou is acting like that explains everything when really it just makes Chuuya more confused.

“Protecting me from who? Dazai?”

“The boss.”

Chuuya narrows his eyes, pissed that Kouyou isn’t explaining anything. She just wants him to give Dazai to her without question? His partner is terrified and honestly Chuuya doesn’t think anyone other than Chuuya could handle the omega’s mood swings. If Dazai was with another alpha, he’d probably kill them. Dazai is pretty much bordering on being a “feral” omega. He lashes out randomly and then sinks into submission periodically. He’s bared his fangs at Chuuya multiple times, something that omegas in heat don’t usually do. If Chuuya had been anyone else, Dazai probably would have shot them.

“I can deal with it.”

Kouyou sighs, clicking her tongue. She doesn’t say anything for a second and then: “Chuuya, please. He would be safe here.”

“This conversation is over.” Chuuya hangs up on her, not wanting to grace her with any sort of goodbyes.

He knows where Kouyou is coming from… kind of. The stuff with Mori doesn’t make sense, but Dazai is an omega. Kouyou runs a brothel and most of the women there are omegas which made Kouyou protective of omega’s rights. She probably half thinks Chuuya is going to take advantage of Dazai. She knows about their rocky start and how they argue and bicker like their lives depend on. Even Dazai thought that it would make sense for Chuuya to take advantage of him, asking him “Why aren’t you?” when he was curled up in the corner of the bathroom, fresh out of a panic attack.

At least Kouyou is thinking of Dazai’s wellbeing, but the brunet is his partner and the alpha isn’t going to let someone else take care of him, even Ane-san.

The stuff with Mori though, Chuuya has no idea. He should probably ask Dazai why he doesn’t want Mori to know, but the memory of Dazai’s fear scent is fresh in his mind, forcing the alpha to decide against asking. He doesn’t want to make Dazai feel that way again right now. He’ll ask later, along with everything else he’s going to ask the man after his heat. He should start writing his questions down. He’ll start forgetting them.

The omega on his chest shudders, whining in his sleep as he tries to shift himself. He’s grasping at his stomach again. The tub makes it so he can’t move around much though, so Dazai doesn’t end up moving much at all, settling back into the position he was already in. He lets out a deep breath, rubbing his scent gland on Chuuya’s chest. Chuuya tilts his head as he watches the omega. He’s not exactly… trying to scent. It’s like he’s trying to scratch an itch almost.

Oh, his red glands.

Chuuya glances at the gland on the other side of Dazai’s neck, the one he isn’t actively attacking Chuuya with. The whole gland is red and even the surrounding skin is red… but don’t omega’s scent glands get a little irritated during their heat? It doesn’t automatically mean that Dazai is scratching his scent glands.

Chuuya looks closer, resisting the urge to touch them. There are longer lines of red that sometimes peek out from the main area of irritation, kind of like…scratches. Dazai has been scratching his scent glands.

Chuuya puts a stop to the brunet’s rubbing immediately, sighing. Scent glands are sensitive. Dazai shouldn’t be scratching them, especially during a heat when scent glands are even more sensitive. He could damage them. They were already exposed to an alpha chemical which is probably why they are itchy. Scratching will make it worse and could extend the time that Dazai’s glands aren’t working. Chuuya’ll have to talk to the brunet about it.

He checks the time on his phone. It’s currently 1pm. Kouyou said 15 hours and they put the patches on around 11pm, so Dazai’s ability to scent should come back within an hour or two. Could be a little sooner since he made the brunet take a bath, but it could also be longer because of the scratching.

Chuuya’s eyelids are heavy, and he closes them, leaning his head on the omega’s. He really wants to sleep. Dazai is so warm and he calms down Chuuya’s alpha instincts that are always raging. His scent is soothing, even if it’s slightly distressed, the burnt vanilla still present despite Dazai’s contentment. The alpha is so tired. A little nap wouldn’t hurt…but Dazai needs to eat and staying wet in the tub could get them sick.

Chuuya groans, opening his eyes begrudgingly and starts draining the tub, nudging Dazai’s hair with his nose. The omega moves a little, letting out small snuffling noises as he slowly looks up at Chuuya; his eyes keep closing though, despite how many times Dazai tries to keep them open. He’s actively falling back asleep.

“Mackerel,” Chuuya whispers playfully, continuing to try nudging the man awake. Dazai grumbles, trying to open his eyes again, but failing, his eyes falling close.

“Mmmm. Tired,” the brunet breathes out, burrowing his head back against Chuuya’s chest.

Chuuya chuckles to himself, grateful that Dazai has calmed down significantly enough to sleep. He feels a little bad forcing the man out of the bath to eat. Chuuya leaves the tub first, wrapping up in a towel to grab Dazai and himself new clothes. He changes in his closet and then goes back to the bathroom, new clothes for the omega in hand.

Dazai is still in the tub, apparently deciding to curl up in the now empty tub and go back to sleep. He’s shivering, but doesn’t really seem to care. The alpha drops a towel on the brunet and lifts him out of the tub, maneuvering Dazai to the toilet. The omega is still half asleep - slumping forward - and Chuuya has to hold him up, talking him through what he’s doing to try and wake the brunet up more. Dazai makes grumbling noises the entire time.

He dresses the omega, shoving a new sweatshirt over his head and helping him put new sweatpants on. Dazai is completely docile - save for his frequent noises - his eyes barely open and fluttering as Chuuya works. He only ends up speaking to very groggily say not to worry about boxers.

Chuuya can tell that Dazai hates his slick. Every time he moved when his pants and boxers were soaked with slick, the brunet grimaced and his scent would briefly drop. It was subtle, but still noticeable.

Chuuya gets it, to an extent.

He, personally, likes Dazai’s slick, something he probably should not tell the omega. The rich sweet vanilla with a slight woody undertone makes his alpha croon in delight. It probably doesn’t feel great for Dazai though, who never had the issue before and now suddenly does. And on top of that they aren’t fucking so the slick doesn’t have a purpose except being an inconvenience for Dazai. The alpha digresses.

Chuuya harasses Dazai’s hair with a towel, aggressively drying it while simultaneously trying to wake the man up more.

It works.

“Chuuuyaaaaa,” his partner whines, pushing the towel away from his head. He’s pouting as he glares at Chuuya, his eyes a bit more lucid than before. “That hurt.”

“Oh, you’re fine,” Chuuya scoffs, setting the towel up to dry. “Time to eat.”

“‘M not hungry,” Dazai mumbles.

“Mackerel, you need to eat something. Your body is in overdrive right now because of the heat.” Chuuya watches Dazai’s face drop and his scent sours briefly.

“I don’t want to eat,” Dazai whispers, looking down at the floor, refusing to meet Chuuya’s eyes.

Chuuya sighs. “Look, I bought heat shakes-”

Dazai’s head jerks up and he makes a disgusted face, his nose scrunching up. “I don’t need heat shakes.”

“Can you stomach normal food?” Chuuya asks, raising an eyebrow.

Dazai bites his lip and returns to looking at the bathroom floor. “Mayybbee?”

“Dazai.”

“...no.”

“Then you get heat shakes. Come on, or…or I’ll command you to eat...” Chuuya awkwardly laughs, realizing the joke he just made. It kind of just came out of his mouth as an ultimatum to get Dazai to eat. It’s something similar to how they normally bicker. Hopefully, Dazai is emotionally stable enough right now to not take the comment literally.

Dazai gasps, looking up in shock. His scent doesn’t sour, though, to the relief of the alpha. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me, asshole.” Chuuya winks and then flicks the light in the bathroom off, leaving the brunet in the dark. Seconds later, he hears the soft pitter-patter of footsteps following him.

And Dazai does end up drinking the heat shake. He hated it, as shown through the various disgusted faces he gave Chuuya, but he finished it. Once he finished, he went to lay on the couch, saying something about being tired of watching Chuuya “clean his doghouse” when the alpha was putting dishes away, including the glass that Dazai apparently had gotten out at some point and filled with water but failed to finish.

Chuuya checks on him 30 minutes later and doesn’t find the omega in the living room. He fondly rolls his eyes, quietly walking to his room.

The brunet is in there.
In a nest.
Made from Chuuya’s bed.

Chuuya chuckles to himself at the form of the passed out man in his bed surrounded by blankets and pillows that he had formed into a nest. At some point in that time that Chuuya thought Dazai was in the living room, the omega had gone back to the guest room, grabbed all the blankets that had been thrown around, and brought them to Chuuya’s room. He then made a nest, shoving Chuuya’s sheets, pillows, and comforter around into something that probably satisfied whatever instinctual desire Dazai’s omega wanted. It looks like a little wall, the blankets being placed in a circle around the omega and Chuuya’s sheets and pillows acting as a cushion on the inside. There are blankets shoved in random places around the nest, places that Chuuya assumes might be holes in the comfy structure.

“Chuuya?”

Dazai's voice makes the alpha jump. He wasn’t expecting the brunet to be awake. Or maybe he accidentally woke him up?

“Heyy, did I wake you?” Chuuya softly asks.

“Mhm. Your scent,” Dazai mumbles, obviously not all present. Chuuya’s scent? Dazai can smell again?

“You can smell me?” Chuuya asks, getting closer to the bed. He would get in, but the omega hasn’t invited him to, despite the fact that it’s Chuuya’s bed that Dazai colonized. Chuuya hasn’t had much experience with nests, but he’s heard things. Nests are an omega’s safe place. It makes them feel protected, shields them from the outside. Chuuya isn’t allowed inside until Dazai lets him in. Otherwise his omega instincts might get pissed. Chuuya could get banned from the nest.

“Mmmm. Want Chuuya’s scent.” Dazai nuzzles into the blankets more, opening his eyes to look at Chuuya pleadingly. His eyes are glossy and tired even though Dazai has had multiple different naps.

“Can I come in then?”

“Yes, you slow slug,” Dazai groans, turning over, facing away from the alpha. Chuuya rolls his eyes and crawls in the bed. It is really cozy in the nest. He’s not sure why since they’re just a bunch of blankets, but his instincts are roaring with happiness. It smells like himself and Dazai: whiskey-wine and warm vanilla with notes of fire and leather. It’s an odd combination, but his instincts don’t care. Chuuya finds that he doesn’t either.

Dazai rolls over again, shoving his face into Chuuya’s neck to inhale his scent, moaning his contentment. Chuuya brings his wrist up to Dazai’s scent gland on his neck and rubs them together, the omega instantly shivering and leaning into the touch.

Chuuya is so unbelievably glad that he didn’t accidentally scent blind Dazai. Scenting is important for omegas and considering that Dazai is an omega who doesn’t want to be knotted, scenting is essential for him. It’s one of the only things that could help him during a heat. If Chuuya had been the reason Dazai had lost the ability to do so, he’s not sure what he would have done. Dazai is a jerk, that’s true, but he wouldn’t wish scentlessness on the man. Dazai already has to deal with heats, and the fact that he’s an omega. Being unable to scent would be a killing blow.

Dazai whines a little, pulling away from the scenting for a second, making Chuuya’s heart jump into his throat. Is something wrong?

“Hurts,” Dazai mumbles, reaching up to scratch his neck glands.

“Woah, woah, no.” Chuuya grips Dazai’s wrist before he’s able to get to his glands, the omega giving him a confused look. “You’re irritating them. You’re not supposed to scratch scent glands.”

Chuuya forgot about the scratching. He should probably talk to the omega about it, especially since Dazai’s ability to smell just came back.

“But they itch,” the brunet whines, trying to pull his wrist out of Chuuya’s hold.

“Dazai, you can’t scratch them.”

His partner scowls at him. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

Chuuya sighs. “Can you please not scratch them?”

“I think I will scratch them!” Dazai hisses. He jerks his arm out of Chuuya’s hold and starts reaching up to scratch his gland.

“Dazai.” Chuuya grabs his wrist again. “You could damage them.”

The omega glares, yanking his wrist out of Chuuya’s hold. Chuuya acts on instinct, growling and lunging towards the omega who is defying him. His angry smokey scent becomes overbearing as he positions himself over his partner, straddling Dazai’s waist. He grabs both of Dazai’s wrists to pin them above the omega’s head. “Stop scratching them.”

He flicks his gaze down to the brunet’s face, checking to see if Dazai plans to fight back, and a deathly cold flows through his body once he sees the brunet’s face. The omega is staring up at him, his brown eyes wide and watery - shocked. He looks terrified, his scent souring significantly, boarding on that acidic vanilla that makes it hard to breathe. Dazai’s body has started shaking, and the man clenches his legs together.

The omega looks away the second Chuuya’s eyes meet his and he bares his neck in an instinctual desire to please the angry alpha.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” the brunet mumbles as he keeps his neck bared, waiting for Chuuya to decide what to do.

Chuuya stares, his anger dissipating fast. He didn’t mean to scare him. He just…he wanted Dazai to listen.

He releases Dazai’s wrists and Dazai is quick to clutch them to his chest, curling into a ball under the alpha. His waist is still under Chuuya, and the alpha can smell the slick that has started wetting Dazai’s sweatpants. The brunet whimpers, trying to curl into a tighter ball. Chuuya is pretty sure Dazai has started crying, soft sobs racking his frame as he tries to be quiet.

“No, no, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Chuuya tells him, climbing off of the crying omega. Dazai doesn’t look at him, instead shaking his head as he chokes on sobs.

Chuuya sucks at this. Maybe Kouyou was right to assume that he’d suck at this. Maybe Dazai should go to the brothel. Then, at least, he would be properly taken care of instead of being abused by Chuuya and his anger issues. This happened at the container, too, when Chuuya was trying to get in, and Dazai wouldn’t let him. Dazai, in heat, is too emotionally fragile to be able to fight back. He’ll accept whatever Chuuya gives him.

Chuuya bites his lip, glancing at his phone that’s resting on the nightstand. He should call Kouyou to pick Dazai up. He starts climbing over to grab his phone, but the omega wails, grabbing the alpha’s arm.

“No, no, no, no, I’m sorry! Please don’t leave. I’m sorry,” Dazai sobs, holding onto Chuuya like a lifeline.

The alpha stares at his partner, confused and wide-eyed. Dazai wants him to stay? Even though he just overpowered the omega and scared him? He’s not sure what exactly Dazai was scared of, but with the context of Dazai closing his legs, he thinks the omega was scared that Chuuya was going to take advantage of him and fuck him because the alpha was mad. Dazai had disobeyed his alpha. He deserved to be punished. That’s what his omega instincts were probably saying.

“Shhh, I’m not. It’s okay,” Chuuya watches Dazai sigh in relief, but he’s still shivering with tears streaming down his face. He’s still frightened. “Can I- can I lay with you?”

Dazai quickly nods, crawling over to the alpha once Chuuya lays down. Dazai sets his head on Chuuya’s chest, curling his body up against the alpha’s. Chuuya holds him with one arm, watching his partner sigh in relief at the contact. He can feel the omega’s tears as they dampen his shirt and the alpha winces. Dazai wants to be with Chuuya so badly that he’s ignoring the fact that the alpha scared him. Dazai is ignoring his own emotions in favor of his instincts.

“Dazai, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Chuuya whispers as he starts to thread his fingers through Dazai’s soft hair.

Dazai shivers at the touch, hiccuping. He nuzzles into Chuuya’s chest. “Made you angry.”

“It’s okay if you make me mad. I won’t punish you for it,” Chuuya murmurs.

Dazai sniffles, shaking his head in disagreement. “Must be good.”

Chuuya stares at the back of Dazai’s head, guilt rising in the pit of his stomach. He told Dazai to listen to his instincts, and that’s what Dazai is doing. If he tells Dazai to ignore them, it’ll be confusing for the omega, but this submissive side of Dazai is off-putting. Dazai would never act like this. His omega instincts are really doing a number on him, but since Chuuya told him to listen to those instincts, the alpha will appease them as well.

“You are being a good omega,” Chuuya burrows his face in Dazai’s hair, inhaling the smell of the peppermint shampoo he had used. Dazai shivers, whining at Chuuya’s praise. “A very good omega. Don’t worry.”

“Mmm, Chuuya,” Dazai hums, sighing into Chuuya’s neck. “Scent?”

Chuuya smiles, happy that Dazai was brave enough to ask. “Of course.”

He caresses their wrist scent glands together, making both Dazai and himself moan; their scents mingle, Dazai’s finally smoothening back to contentment. All Chuuya can feel is Dazai; his whiskey-leather scent feels like it’s flowing through his lungs, like it’s the air that Chuuya is breathing. Ethereal. He never knows how to describe scenting, but scenting with Dazai is ethereal. No one else he’s been with has had a scent the alpha wants to drown in.

Chuuya starts letting out soft croons of happiness while simultaneously trying to lull the omega to sleep. He wonders if Dazai can purr. He’s heard when omegas feel utterly safe, secure, and content, they purr, the omega version of a croon. Sometimes, omegas purr in response to their alpha’s croons. Chuuya has personally never heard a real purr.

Sleep had never been easier as Chuuya lays there in Dazai’s warm nest, scenting and cuddling with the omega he trusts with his life. His eyes close in record time and all his worries wash away as sleep pulls him under.

Chapter Text

Chuuya wakes up an unknown amount of time later to a loud thump.

It’s dark in his room, his window showing a night sky full of stars. Well shit. Their nap lasted a lot longer than Chuuya had planned. He glances at the clock on his nightstand. It’s 1am. He should get Dazai to eat and drink again. They slept half the day away.

There’s a thump and Chuuya is quick to remember that something had woke him up and that something was making noise again.

The alpha glances around the nest, quickly realizing that Dazai isn’t even here.

“Mackerel?” he calls, slowly sitting up. He can still smell the other man, noting that Dazai’s scent is close to being distressed, but isn’t quite there. A small whine comes from the other side of the bed. Chuuya crawls over.

There’s a lump of blankets on the floor that shifts slightly. Brunet hair is poking out on one side. Did Dazai fall off the bed?

“Dazai?” Chuuya whispers, getting off the bed to help the fallen omega. The lump of blankets whimpers as Chuuya gently pulls the blanket off Dazai’s head. He is met with the pained expression of his partner. Dazai whines again and sluggishly meets Chuuya’s eyes.

“Chuuya?” Dazai whimpers. “‘M sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay. What happened?” Chuuya asks softly. The omega cringes and turns away, curling into himself more, even with the blankets in the way.

“Hurts. Was tryin’ to go to the bathroom,” Dazai mumbles. “Figured ‘m banned from pills.”

Chuuya chuckles. At least Dazai is self-aware. “You are banned from taking them alone. I’ll get you one. Do you still want to go to the bathroom?”

Dazai shakes his head, shoving his face into his blanket.

“Are you sure?”

“Chibi.” Dazai’s tone is sharp, a big contrast to how he was earlier, but it’s still followed up with a whimper.

“Fine.” Chuuya helps the omega back onto the bed and leaves the room to grab a pill and another heat shake after having to retrieve the bags he left at the front door when he frantically started looking for the distressed omega.

The heat shake doesn’t go well with Dazai.

“I don’t want another one,” Dazai hisses, glaring at the heat shake in Chuuya’s hand. He’s sitting criss-crossed in the nest, a blanket covering his shoulders and back. His bangs are sticking to his forehead; his heat still boiling him alive and making him sweat. Chuuya should probably have him take another bath later so he doesn’t feel gross.

“I’ll only give you the pill if you drink the shake,” Chuuya replies, shoving the shake into Dazai’s lap and showing the man the painkiller. Dazai narrows his eyes and then tries to snatch the pill from Chuuya’s grip. Chuuya smirks as he pulls it away, putting it in his shirt pocket. Even if Dazai wasn’t in heat, he wouldn’t have been able to get the pill from the alpha.

“Chuuuyaaaa,” Dazai dramatically pouts, his bottom lip sticking out.

“Get to drinking,” Chuuya says, grabbing his TV remote and jumping into the nest, turning the TV on. Dazai whines, flapping his legs as he pleads with Chuuya using his eyes. It’s hard. Chuuya’s not gonna lie. Dazai hides his pain a lot, but like this, deep in heat, his eyes tell Chuuya everything his mouth would never say. He can tell how much pain the omega is in and he wants to help…but first Dazai needs to finish the shake.

Chuuya nods towards the heat shake in Dazai’s lap, raising an eyebrow. Dazai grimaces, looking down at the shake in his lap and scrunching up his nose in disgust; but he starts drinking it. He makes a bunch of unintelligible, complaining noises throughout the entire process, but at least he finishes it.

“Chuuya, these suck,” the omega whines as he dry swallows the pill Chuuya gives him.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think it’s supposed to taste good. If you eat normal food, you probably won’t be able to keep it down, so it’s just there to give you nutrients and protein so your heat doesn’t kill you,” Chuuya retorts.

Dazai gapes at him. “My heat could kill me?”

“It would be painful.”

“...Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Don’t go thinking it’s a new suicide method,” Chuuya scoffs.

“I wasn’ttttt,” Dazai whines, pouting.

“There’s like a 99.9% chance you were,” Chuuya mutters.

“You think so low of me, Chibi.”

Chuuya rolls his eyes, sighing at the omega who had just tried to kill himself hours earlier. “Maybe if you didn’t try to kill yourself every other day, I would think more highly of you.”

“What are you talking about?” Dazai squints. “I try to kill myself every day.”

“I stand by my statement.”

“But, Chibiiiii-”

“Shut up and go back to sleep,” Chuuya pulls the omega towards him. Dazai dramatically whines, but allows himself to be manhandled, shoving himself into Chuuya’s shoulder once he gets the chance. He pulls a blanket over his body and cuddles up to the alpha’s side.

Chuuya is really glad that the omega has… calmed down to an extent. It seems like Dazai is staying true to his word and he’s listening to his omega instincts, but Chuuya can see how much Dazai hates it. His little spurts of rage are evidence of that. He knows that Dazai is struggling. He’s in pain and his emotions are heightened and he doesn’t like his instincts. His instincts are telling him to do things he wouldn’t otherwise do. It’s hard. Chuuya experienced something similar when he presented and had his first rut, but his instincts are a little different than Dazai’s. Chuuya’s alpha instincts tell him to dominate, something Chuuya kind of already does - being the most powerful ability user in the mafia. Dazai’s are telling him to submit, something Dazai never does. He hates listening to other people.

The omega nuzzles his shoulder, letting out a loud sigh.

Despite sleeping for half the day, Chuuya’s eyes are heavy again and he closes them, falling asleep as he listens to Dazai’s breathing and the sounds of the TV.

He wakes up a few hours later to Dazai aggressively cuddling into Chuuya’s side.

It takes a few minutes for Chuuya’s brain to get back online and he quickly realizes the omega is also awake and isn’t just unconsciously moving in his sleep. He’s staring at the TV watching some CSI show that was already playing when Chuuya had turned the TV on. Dazai starts shifting again, possibly trying to get into a better position. He clings more to Chuuya, wrapping his arm around Chuuya’s chest. The omega then settles, taking a deep breath. He stays like that for a few minutes and then whines, shifting his position again.

Chuuya watches him huff and puff for a few more minutes before saying something. “Are you good?”

Dazai whines, turning from his new position of clutching Chuuya’s arm with his back against the alpha to stare at him.

“It hurts,” he whimpers, tears welling up in his eyes, as he starts clutching his stomach.

“Well I can scent you-”

“No, no, no, no, no.” Dazai shakes his head, burrowing into Chuuya’s neck to breathe in his scent instead. The light from the TV illuminates the omega’s face slightly and Chuuya instantly realizes how flushed Dazai is. His breathing is irregular and he’s panting a lot as he inhales Chuuya’s scent like it’s oxygen.

Dazai whimpers, curling more onto Chuuya as he tries to get closer to Chuuya’s scent glands. His body is half on top of the alpha, ringing alarm bells in Chuuya’s mind. Dazai hasn’t been this…touchy yet. They cuddled, and Dazai laid on him, but not like this. This is different. It’s more aggressive, more intimate, more… sexual.

Once Chuuya starts smelling the rich vanilla scent of Dazai’s slick, he knows for sure. The omega is going to start begging for a knot. Dazai doesn’t know it yet, probably resisting it as much as he can, but the omega instincts are fighting hard. His instincts are probably telling him to get knotted over and over. With how touchy Dazai already is, he probably won’t last long.

“Mmm Chuuya, it hurts,” Dazai mumbles into Chuuya’s neck, his breath hot against Chuuya’s scent gland.

“I know, I know,” Chuuya reassures as he starts stroking along Dazai’s spine, trying to distract his partner from the cramps and, hopefully, the thoughts in his mind. Dazai whines, rubbing his scent gland against Chuuya’s. He sighs happily, while Chuuya resists the urge to make noise. He doesn’t want to arouse Dazai’s omega instincts into thinking he’s willing to fuck. The omega’s body is already trying to tempt him.

After a few seconds, the omega yelps, flinching and pulling away from Chuuya’s gland. The utterly agonized look Dazai gives him could kill someone. His partner reaches up, aiming to scratch his gland, but Chuuya stops him, grabbing Dazai’s wrist.

“No scratching, remember?”

“But - mmmghh - Chuuuyaaa. I wanna scentttt,” Dazai groans, stretching his body out.

“You can,” Chuuya insists, bringing his wrist up to the scent gland on Dazai’s neck, rubbing them together. The pleasure that courses through his body is heavenly, and while he resists as much as he can, an accidental croon leaves the alpha’s throat.

Dazai’s omega responds immediately, a forced, choked purr leaving Dazai’s throat as the man snuggles closer, wrapping his leg around Chuuya’s waist and positioning himself on top of the alpha so he’s laying on Chuuya’s chest.

Dazai’s omega is responding to him, forcing purrs out of Dazai to try and coax Chuuya into giving him what he wants.

That is not good.

“Dazai-”

“Chibi,” Dazai whines, pushing himself against Chuuya’s body like he’s trying to fuse with the alpha.

“Dazai…” Chuuya tries to scent him again - tries to distract him - but Dazai mewls instead, leaning into the touch and rutting into the alpha.

Chuuya needs to stop him, but it’s hard. His mind is racing. On one hand, his alpha instincts are delighted. This omega wants him, is willing to listen, is purring in response to his croons. They aren’t real purrs; just forced purrs that his partner’s omega instincts are forcing out to tempt Chuuya, but they still excite Chuuya’s alpha. He can smell Dazai’s slick, the pure rich scent of sweet vanilla with woody undertones. He wants it. He wants to knot Dazai so badly.

But he promised. He promised they wouldn’t do anything sexual and Dazai specifically said he didn’t want a knot.

He’s so tempting though.

Chuuya groans as Dazai latches onto his scent gland, licking and scenting it. He hears Dazai whimper every once in a while, his scent gland probably hurting because of the scratching he did. When Dazai goes to rub his other scent gland against Chuuya’s, the alpha flips them, using one leg to off-balance the omega into falling to the side and rolling with him, ending with the redhead being on top.

Dazai keens, instinctually opening his legs for the alpha. Chuuya bets if Dazai was turned around, he would be trying to present. Chuuya inhales deeply, refusing to acknowledge the thought of Dazai presenting for him. If he thinks about it, there’ll be no going back. He exhales, trying to ground himself.

“Please,” Dazai breathlessly whispers, his scent changing fast. The whiskey and leather part of his scent is barely there, it’s just sweet pure vanilla. It smells so good and so inviting and Chuuya wants to give the omega what he wants…But Dazai said no. No sex. No knots. Nothing like that. Chuuya promised.

“No, no knot. You didn’t want to fuck, remember?” Chuuya tells him.

Dazai’s face falls, and he starts squirming, whining as he tries to get out from under the alpha who refuses to give him a knot.

“Hey, hey, no, it’s fine, you’re fine, we’re just gonna lay like this okay?” Chuuya might be smaller than Dazai, but he’s heavier. Dazai won’t be able to move, much less try to get the alpha to fuck him.

“Chuuyaaaa, please,” Dazai whines, pushing up against the alpha. Chuuya can probably count on one hand the amount of times Dazai has uttered the word “please” and meant it. Hearing him repeat it multiple times is off-putting as hell.

“Mackerel, no.”

The omega does not like that response. He wails, thrashing around to try and get Chuuya off of him. When that doesn’t work he starts hitting the alpha, pushing at his chest and howling.

“Dazai.” Chuuya grabs Dazai’s wrists, forcing them down to the omega’s chest. Dazai cries out, struggling against his new restraints. His eyes are watery and Chuuya watches as tears start falling, the omega too overwhelmed to do anything else.

Since Dazai wasn’t listening to his instincts, it took slightly longer for the man to sink deep into his heat. He was getting the physical symptoms, but the instinctual ones that were fighting for control weren’t in control yet. And now Dazai is letting his instincts have control, so Dazai’s omega is what Chuuya is dealing with right now.

“Chibi,” Dazai whimpers, his scent nearing distress as the sweet vanilla slowly dissipates and a slight burnt smell fills Chuuya’s nose.

“Shhh, Mackerel. You’re okay,” Chuuya leans down and nuzzles Dazai’s scent gland, making the omega moan as Chuuya’s fiery wine scent mingles with his. The brunet relaxes, making it so Chuuya can fully put his weight on his partner so Dazai can’t move. He can feel Dazai’s arms stuck under his stomach and they shift every once in a while like the omega is testing to see if he can get them free.

“We’re just gonna lay like this, okay?” Chuuya mumbles into Dazai’s neck which makes the brunet shiver.

“M’kay,” Dazai breathes out, whining and twitching a little, like he’s resisting the urge to rut up against Chuuya.

Chuuya nuzzles and scents Dazai, trying to get the man’s scent back to calm contentment; no distress, no arousal, no fear, just relaxed happiness. Dazai whines more though, letting out stressed, needy noises. He’s shivering, but Chuuya can feel how hot he is, his neck boiling against the alpha’s as Chuuya rubs their glands together.

“Chuuyaa,” Dazai whimpers. “Please?”

“No,” Chuuya stresses.

Dazai wails, jerking his hips up to try and throw Chuuya off.

“No, no, stop it,” Chuuya frantically murmurs, pushing against Dazai’s body to keep him still. The omega sobs, struggling and wiggling, trying to twist his body out from under Chuuya.

“Dazai, shhhh, you’re okay.”

His partner just cries, and Chuuya can feel his own shirt starting to dampen near his shoulder, where Dazai’s face is.

“Hurts, please - Chuuya - it - it hurts - Alpha?,” Dazai whispers, choking on his words. He's starting to call Chuuya "Alpha". His omega instincts are controlling everything now. Chuuya isn't sure he can bring Dazai back.

“I know, I know, but you don’t want a knot, remember? You said no knot,” Chuuya tries to reason with him, hoping that maybe if the omega under him can see reason, he’ll calm down.

“Noooo - but - I - please. Please, Chuuya? Alpha? Please.”

“No,” Chuuya replies, exasperated. He’s not sure how much more of Dazai’s begging he’ll be able to take. The brunet sounds so broken and hurt and Chuuya knows he can help…but he promised. “I promised, so I can’t.”

Dazai howls, aggressively trying to buck Chuuya off of him, and when that doesn’t work, trying to free his arms. He’s violently shaking and sobbing as he thrashes. Chuuya ends up hugging him, wrapping his arms around the omega as he tries to soothe him through words, crooning, and his scent.

He’s not really sure how to handle this. He doesn’t want to accidentally hurt Dazai, but at this rate, the brunet might end up hurting him. He’s thrashing against the alpha and if he’s able to free his arms, he’ll probably start scratching and using his nails. He could command Dazai again, another necessary command to get his partner to calm down, but he promised himself that he wouldn’t. Dazai did not have a great reaction to being commanded and Chuuya doesn’t want the omega to relapse into not trusting him again.

He could pinch Dazai’s mating gland. It will force Dazai’s body into submission, even if the omega himself isn’t submitting. That might freak Dazai out though. He wouldn’t be in control as his body just relaxes. But it might be a necessary sacrifice.

The mating gland or commands. Which one would be less likely to get Chuuya killed?

Chuuya is quick. He leans back - Dazai taking the opportunity to free his arms and instantly starts scratching at the alpha, trying to push him away - and then reaches for the nape of Dazai’s neck, where the brunet’s mating gland is. He finds it and pinches it, watching Dazai’s eyes widen in surprise as his body probably shifts through momentary pleasure and then forced submission.

The effect is immediate. All the tension in Dazai’s body disappears, the omega melting into the bed, instantly relaxing under Chuuya. The brunet whimpers though, his breath hitching as tears keep falling.

Chuuya collapses on top of him, resting his head on Dazai’s chest as he tries to relax his racing heart. That was nerve wracking. Dazai was uncontrollable; his omega instinct had completely taken over and they wanted a knot. Fighting his own alpha and Dazai was a lot harder than he thought it would be. Dazai’s scent is so alluring and he’s in heat. Dazai’s omega knows exactly what to do to get Chuuya aroused.

He listens to his partner’s quick heartbeats as he keeps Dazai’s mating gland pinched. Dazai is letting out small broken noises as he breathes, sounding a little like a dysfunctioning squeaky-toy. The alpha brings his other wrist to one of Dazai’s scent glands, scenting him. Hopefully it’ll help the brunet mentally relax. Chuuya knows that Dazai won’t be happy when he’s back in his rational mind. He’ll probably be livid. But it was necessary. The omega wasn’t calming down. He was going to hurt one of them.

The scenting seems to help. Eventually, Dazai falls silent, and shivers stop racking his body. His heartbeat slows down, too, making Chuuya lean back to check on him. He keeps hold of Dazai’s mating gland just in case. He softly chuckles at what he sees.

Dazai passed out again, snoring softly as he lays on Chuuya’s arm, drooling.

Chuuya releases Dazai’s gland and slowly gets off the omega, sitting next to him. Dazai’s face is always so relaxed and free of worries when he’s sleeping. His mind is quiet, Chuuya assumes. The brunet doesn’t have hundreds of things he’s thinking about and is instead peacefully dreaming about whatever it is Dazai dreams about. Chuuya also doesn’t have to listen to Dazai’s stupid mouth. He can just watch Dazai, his enemy, his friend, his partner, his omega.

Dazai is shivering slightly, so the alpha snatches a random blanket from the nest and wraps the omega in it. The brunet snuggles into it, letting out a content sigh, and his shivers lessen.

Chuuya can still smell the omega’s slick, but that’s probably because of his sweatpants which are soaked with it. He should probably get Dazai another change of clothes so he doesn’t have to deal with his pants sticking to him.

Not having sex during a heat is…different. Usually he wouldn’t have to worry about clothes or different ways to soothe an omega. He didn’t have to worry about specifically not knotting or being tempted or even his own instincts and losing control. He’s honestly lucky his rut was a few weeks ago. If he went into rut while Dazai was in heat, there’s almost no way there wouldn’t be knotting. Chuuya has control over his instincts, but not that much control.

He glances around the nest again, noticing that some of the blankets were moved out of their original place - probably from the omega thrashing - so he nudges them back, fixing Dazai’s nest. Chuuya then gets up, heading to the kitchen. He glances at the time on the microwave as he prepares a sandwich. 5am.

Chuuya groans as he bites into the sandwich, feeling like he hasn’t eaten in years. He doesn’t actually remember the last time he ate. Was it the night he found Dazai in his container? He had eaten before he went looking for Dazai and then he found Dazai in heat, so he brought him back to his apartment, and then he had that mission, went shopping and came back to Dazai trying to kill himself. He then made Dazai take a bath and forced him to drink a heat shake, and proceeded to pass out in bed with the omega.

Yeah, he’s pretty sure it’s been a few days.

Chuuya makes another sandwich and eats that as well, sighing in relief. He hadn’t realized how fucking hungry he was. It's like his stomach became possessed after the first few bites. It suddenly realized that yeah, he hasn’t fed himself in a day or so. Eat more. After finishing his third sandwich, Chuuya is finally not hungry anymore, so he grabs a heat shake and water bottle from the fridge and heads back to Dazai.

The omega is still asleep, curling into himself as he whimpers in his sleep. He violently twitches, whining. Chuuya sets the heat shake on the nightstand and climbs into the nest, pulling Dazai onto his chest. His partner is deadweight as he’s dragged, letting out a few incomprehensible noises, but quieting down once he’s settled on Chuuya.

But then he twitches again. Chuuya can slightly make out Dazai’s face and it’s scrunched up, like he’s in pain. The brunet twitches again, flinching back and letting out a long exhale. He makes another strained noise, and inhales sharply. He’s probably having a nightmare.

Dazai’s nightmares are bad. He’s had a few around Chuuya before and it always ended with Dazai dissociating for a few hours, refusing to talk to anyone and just sitting, curled in on himself. And that’s just after the nightmare. During it, it’s very hard to wake him up. It’s like he’s so deep in his mind, he can’t dig himself out. Sometimes, Dazai will wake up violently, thrashing and wild, trying to attack anything that’s near him, and sometimes he’ll wake up slowly. The slow version is when he usually dissociates.

Dazai having a nightmare while in heat…Chuuya isn’t sure how this is going to go. The omega’s scent is changing drastically, souring to that acidic vanilla.

Then it all goes to shit.

Dazai jerks back, leaving Chuuya’s chest as he lets out this sad, broken noise. His breath hitches and he’s shaking, full body tremors as he keeps twitching. He lets out another sharp breath and whimpers, trying to curl into himself.

“Mackerel.” Chuuya grabs the omega, pulling him back as he tries to wake him up.

The brunet doesn’t wake up, despite being moved and Chuuya’s voice saying his name. He continues to breath roughly and make choked noises, his eyelashes fluttering as his body shakes.

“Dazai.” Chuuya brushes Dazai’s bangs out of his face and then starts threading his fingers through Dazai’s hair hoping that the touch will help wake the man up.

The brunet lets out a quiet sob, and Chuuya can see tears starting to make their way down Dazai’s face. Chuuya is pretty sure Dazai has cried more in the past 3 days than he has in his entire life. Chuuya had never seen him cry before he found him in his container and now the man won’t stop crying.

The alpha keeps murmuring Dazai’s name, trying to bring him back from wherever his brain shoved him. He rubs along Dazai’s spine through the sweatshirt, avoiding as much skin on skin contact as possible. It doesn’t usually go well with Dazai when he wakes up from a nightmare and is being touched, but it’s one of the only ways to bring him back.

This is one of those nightmares where the omega is slow to wake up, letting out choked, broken noises as his body trembles. Chuuya lifts Dazai's chin slightly, trying to gauge if he’s dissociating or not.

Dazai flinches at the touch. His eyes are half lidded and glazed over in a way that shows that the omega is definitely not present despite not being asleep anymore; his eyes aren’t tracking anything and are just staring in straight ahead.

“Come back to me, Mackerel,” Chuuya whispers, continuing to trace along Dazai’s spine. “You’re okay. You’re alright.”

Dazai blinks, but doesn’t acknowledge that he hears or feels anything that’s happening.

“I missed you on the mission by the way. It was this stupid group who had started stealing our weapons during trades. They were obnoxious as fuck. They had no ability users and were just shooting at me… fucking loud. You probably would’ve made it go smoother. There were a few… situations that I wasn’t really expecting, more men than I thought there would be. I almost got shot from behind.”

When Dazai dissociates normally, speaking helps bring him back from the void of his mind. Chuuya would never usually recount a mission that Dazai wasn't a part of, but he's not sure what else to talk about. Dazai probably isn't really processing what the alpha is saying anyway.

Dazai makes a snuffling noise. He’s slowly coming back, so Chuuya keeps going.

“And then, I had to go to an executive meeting because you weren’t there… which, I have a question. Why do the other executives just fight all the time?”

Dazai’s eyes keep closing, but he quick to open them when he realizes. He’s also started tracking Chuuya’s movements, watching Chuuya’s head move as he talks. Dazai is trying to focus on Chuuya and what Chuuya is saying. He’s slowly coming back.

“That meeting didn’t get anywhere! And I was there for three hours! Ace was complaining about every single point and went on and on about the casinos and their profit. But what he said about the casinos wasn’t helpful. It was so annoying. He doesn’t even manage the casinos himself! He’s just… there! Why is he still an executive?”

Dazai makes a noise. “Mori-” the omega inhales sharply, and Chuuya can tell he’s still trying to ground himself. His eyes are focusing and unfocusing on Chuuya, “- says he’s profit - profitable.”

“But he’s annoying and the opposite of loyal,” Chuuya complains.

Dazai doesn’t reply, instead curling up, letting out a shuddered breath. Chuuya continues combing his fingers through Dazai’s hair, trying to help his partner oriente himself. To come back down to Earth. To breathe.

“Keep talking to me, come on,” Chuuya nudges him.

Dazai hums, looking back up at Chuuya. The alpha can see that Dazai is making his way back, but it’s probably a lot harder with the heat. He was already essentially not lucid, so Chuuya isn’t even sure how much more lucid Dazai is going to be.

“Mackerelll, don’t you want a heat shake?” Chuuya sings, mimicking the tone Dazai usually uses to annoy him.

The omega whines, but doesn’t answer, still staring at Chuuya. He’s…somewhat there, enough to know that he doesn’t want another heat shake. It’s good enough. Maybe the cold shake will help.

Chuuya grabs the heat shake from the nightstand and hands it to Dazai, going back to threading his fingers through Dazai’s hair once the omega takes it. Dazai holds it for a second and then sets it in the gap between his body and Chuuya’s body.

“You better drink that,” Chuuya mumbles.

“I know,” Dazai whispers, as he starts rubbing his neck against Chuuya. The alpha stares at him, confused for a second, but quickly realizes that Dazai is scratching his scent gland. He pushes Dazai head down, forcing the brunet to stop moving. Dazai whines in response.

“Itchy.”

“I know, I know, but no scratching.” Chuuya brings his wrist to Dazai’s other scent gland and grazes it. Dazai moans, his body relaxing. “Now, drink your shake.”

“Mmm, don’t want to,” Dazai grumbles, nuzzling into Chuuya’s side.

“Dazai.”

“Noooo,” Dazai whines.

He then lets out a small gasp and curls in more, probably from a cramp. Chuuya stops combing through Dazai’s hair and moves his hand slowly down to Dazai’s belly. He can feel Dazai tensing and relaxing, his mind probably fighting with itself about what’s happening. He then gently slides his hand under Dazai’s sweatshirt, touching skin. He feels Dazai suck in a breath. He then starts gently kneading at Dazai’s lower belly, trying to help the cramps lessen by massaging it.

Dazai sighs in relief, finally relaxing in Chuuya’s arms and staying relaxed.

“Please drink it?” Chuuya softly asks, nuzzling into Dazai’s hair.

Dazai sighs, apparently very done with Chuuya’s pleading or just so out of it that he doesn’t feel like fighting back, because he picks up the heat shake and starts drinking it. Unlike the last few times, the brunet doesn’t complain once while drinking it, though he only drinks about half before trying to give it back to Chuuya. The alpha accepts the shake and puts it back on the nightstand, deciding that Dazai drank enough. A shiver rolls through Dazai’s body and he nuzzles closer to the alpha as he whimpers.

“Are you here now?” Chuuya prompts, continuing with his massage.

Dazai hums in affirmation.

“Can you say it?”

“Yes,” Dazai grumbles.

“Thank you. Are the cramps bad?”

“They’re mild now,” the brunet answers.

“Good, good.”

Dazai sighs, letting out a long exhale. Then he asks. “What was that thing you did?”

“Huh?”

“When… earlier when I was… um, attacking you,” Dazai specifies, gesturing towards the back of his neck.

“Oh. I pinched your mating gland,” Chuuya replies, surprised that Dazai even remembers that. He feels the omega instantly tense.

“My mating gland?” He sounds confused, like he doesn’t know what a mating gland is. Of course he wouldn’t know. He refused to listen to the lectures and scoffed at everything subgender related. Chuuya thought he’d at least know what a mating gland is.

“I swear if you don’t know what that is-”

“I do. I just…” Dazai opens and closes his mouth a few times before finishing, “I didn’t really process that I had one.”

“You’re an omega. Of course you have one.”

“Yeah, but-” Dazai groans. “Nevermind.” The brunet is silent for a few moments and then: “If you ever bite me, I’ll kill you.”

Chuuya gapes. “Wha - I didn’t - I wouldn’t - I wouldn’t want to mate with you, you dumbass.”

“Good,” Dazai sniffs.

“You’re annoying. You’re insane. You have major problems. You’re mean-”

“Chuuya can’t handle me? I didn’t take you for being such a baby. Guess it makes sense with your height,” Dazai snickers.

“I will pinch your gland again. It makes you shut up too,” Chuuya threatens.

Dazai gasps, slapping his hand over the nape of his neck to protect his mating gland. “You wouldn’t.”

“I completely would. Your voice is grating,” Chuuya smirks at the baffled expression the omega is making, completely taken aback by the fact that Chuuya is threatening his mating gland.

They sit in silence for a few minutes and then Dazai breaks it. “I should have it taken out.”

Chuuya’s mouth drops open. “Your mating gland?”

“Yes,” Dazai states matter-of-factly.

“Do not.”

“Why? It’s not helping me. It’s actually more hindering, being concerned that some stupid alpha is able to just bond with me.” Dazai shrugs. “It would just be easier.”

“You do know it goes both ways, right? A random omega could just claim me,” Chuuya points out.

“Yeah, and that would be your problem, not mine. Get your mating gland taken out for all I care,” Dazai replies.

Chuuya just stares at the omega.

“What?”

“Do you not know how important the mating gland is?”

Dazai shrugs. “How can it be that important? It’s just for mating.”

“It’s connected to your entire body. Taking it out would be like losing a limb. You-”

“Eh, it’ll probably be fine,” Dazai interrupts, dismissing the conversation with a wave of his hand. But Chuuya isn’t done.

“Do not get it removed,” Chuuya growls.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Dazai hisses.

“I’m not-”

“You are.”

“You can’t-”

“I can.”

“Dazai.”

“Chuuya.”

“You can’t.”

“Just because you told me not to, I will.” Dazai pulls away from the alpha with a huff, turning onto his other side so he’s not on Chuuya anymore. He covers his head with a blanket, burrowing into the nest.

“Dazai-”

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Dazai’s tone is similar to the way he talks to mafia grunts. His “Demon Prodigy” voice or whatever. Chuuya has never been scared of that voice.

“Hold on. I just - just talk to me. Why do you want to get it removed?” Chuuya prods.

“Why do you care if I do it or not? You said you wouldn’t mate with me,” Dazai snaps from under the blanket.

Chuuya scoffs, turning his back to the omega and covering up with another blanket.

Dazai removing his mating gland would hurt him more than help him. Chuuya isn’t sure on the specifics, but Dazai’s omega will know and it would not be happy. His heats would be hell; his omega knowing something is missing and not being able to do anything about it. It would be similar to how he felt when he was scent-blind. His instincts would never relax.

Chuuya feels the bed move. Dazai is probably shifting his position…but then suddenly his blanket is taken, exposing his body to the cold. The alpha whirls around, meeting the glare of Dazai who is scrunching up the blanket he had just stolen.

“What the fuck.”

Dazai doesn’t acknowledge that Chuuya said anything and continues balling the blanket up. He then gives the alpha one last glare and aggressively flips around, cuddling up with the stolen blanket and covering up with the blanket he already had.

“Dazai?”

The brunet continues to ignore Chuuya, huffing. Chuuya rolls his eyes and starts searching for another blanket. He touches one of the ones that Dazai had randomly placed in what Chuuya assumes is a hole in the nest and the omega instantly snarls, sitting up like he could sense his nest being messed with. He’s glaring at the alpha, actively trying to kill Chuuya with his eyes. Chuuya sighs, leaving that blanket where it is and going to touch another one…which Dazai growls at him about as well.

“What do you want me to do?! You took my blanket. Why can’t I take one of these random ones?” Chuuya asks, aggressively gesturing at the blankets that are in random places throughout the nest.

“They aren’t random,” Dazai hisses. “They’re specifically placed a foot apart.”

Chuuya feels like he’s losing brain cells. “WHY?!”

“Because you didn’t have enough pillows,” Dazai states.

“Oh my fucking-” Chuuya groans. “How does that - what does that - fucking hell, fine! Fine! Whatever.”

Chuuya gets up, leaving the nest. Dazai makes a noise of stress and confusion. “Where are you going?”

The alpha doesn’t answer, instead invading his closet. Once he finds what he’s looking for, he leaves the closet and throws a pillow at the omega. It hits Dazai in the face, the brunet letting out an “oof” as Chuuya heads back to the closet. He grabs two more pillows, throwing those at Dazai, too. “Can I have a blanket now?”

The omega hums, setting the pillows out around him and examining them, judging them. He starts scenting them, then glances at Chuuya.

“Scent them, then I’ll maybe give you a blanket,” Dazai tells him, looking back down at his nest. Chuuya rolls his eyes, but listens to the omega, getting back in the nest and scenting the pillows. Dazai grins and snatches the pillows once Chuuya finishes, throwing the blanket he had stolen at the alpha and then ignoring him. Chuuya watches the omega work.

Dazai is intently staring at his nest, looking back and forth between the pillow in his hand and the random blankets. He then shoves the pillow in between the blankets, moving the blankets a few inches so the pillow is snug in between two blankets. Chuuya gapes. The brunet does that to the rest of the random blankets and holes in his nest, making an entirely new wall of soft items. Dazai has built two walls of blankets and pillows around them: the one that was already there made up of just blankets and now this new one made up of blankets and pillows.

“You…you told me that you wanted the blankets to be pillows,” Chuuya complains.

“You got your blanket. Shut up,” Dazai replies, fluffing the new wall. He ends up moving around a few blankets and pillows, refluffing them. He then apparently decides he doesn’t like that and repositions them again, squishing and hitting the pillows.

“Why are you staring at me?” he suddenly mumbles without looking at the alpha. Chuuya instantly hears the vulnerability in Dazai’s voice. He doesn’t like that Chuuya is watching and is self conscious. Chuuya reminds himself that Dazai doesn’t like being an omega and doing omega things probably puts a lot of strain on his already deteriorating opinion on his omega instincts.

“I’ve just never seen an omega nest before,” Chuuya comments, hoping that he doesn’t make Dazai feel more self conscious. “It’s interesting.”

Dazai narrows his eyes at Chuuya as he grabs one of the pillows and starts assaulting it. “It’s.” Smack. “Just.” Smack. “Not.” Smack. “Right!” Smack. The omega whines after the last hit, flapping his legs as he bounces in annoyance. The brunet then whimpers, groaning as he curls forward, smooshing his head into the pillow he just beat as he wraps his arms around his belly.

“Cramps?” Chuuya guesses.

“Mhmmmm,” Dazai breathes out, rubbing his face on the pillow. He stills, laying there, just breathing, his body shivering slightly. He shoves the pillow back in the hole in his wall and then lays down, covering his whole body and head with a blanket. Chuuya chuckles, covering himself up with a blanket and then cuddling up to Dazai’s back. Dazai whimpers, turning around and ducking his head into Chuuya’s chest, sighing. The alpha starts massaging his belly again, having a more difficult time with how they are laying.

Chuuya can feel the heat radiating off his partner’s forehead and even his belly. The man’s skin is boiling. The fever isn’t getting better, but the alpha expected that. It won’t get better until his heat is over because Dazai isn’t getting knotted. Chuuya is actually pretty surprised with how lucid the omega is. He was expecting Dazai to be insatiable and whining a lot, especially since his omega instincts did successfully take over, but it’s more like on and off mood swings. Sometimes Dazai is not present, his omega instincts in complete control; other times Dazai is angry, lashing out at everything Chuuya says; sometimes Dazai is pretty normal, though with added omega qualities like beating his nest into submission; and then there are times like this where his omega instincts aren’t exactly in control, but Dazai isn’t in control much either. It’s more of a limbo state. Chuuya likes the limbo state. Dazai’s calm - though whiney - and snuggles with the alpha without making snide comments.

Despite how calm it is right now, though, Chuuya is concerned. Concerned about the brunet and how the rest of his heat is going to go, concerned about Kouyou and what she might do, and concerned about whatever is happening with Mori. He’s at a loss about what the stuff with Mori might be. Kouyou and Dazai both mentioned him and the acidic scent of fear was the most emotion Chuuya has ever gotten out of Dazai…and it scares him. What could Mori do that scares Dazai Osamu?

Does it have to do with the fact that Mori is an alpha? Dazai doesn’t like subgenders in general, but now that he’s an omega and could be susceptible to Mori’s alpha commands, maybe that’s why his partner is so worried?

But something is telling Chuuya that’s only part of it. The pure fear that Dazai’s scent revealed wasn’t something new. It was a fear that Dazai had already. Something he thinks about often and that’s deeply rooted in the omega. Chuuya has been exposed to hundreds of different scents of fear and Dazai’s has been the only one that made him unable to breathe. The strongest.

The omega’s breathing evens out, Chuuya feeling Dazai’s body relax as the tension leaves it. Chuuya burrows his nose in Dazai’s hair, hugging him tighter as he stops kneading his partner’s belly and instantly starts rubbing his wrist gland against Dazai’s neck gland. The brunet’s scent glands are still pretty red and Chuuya isn’t entirely sure how to help with that. He would call Kouyou, but that didn’t go well last time, so he’ll probably ask after Dazai’s heat. He’ll just have to keep an eye on it for now.

Chuuya lets his fiery-wine scent engulf the omega, hopefully adding another protective layer for his partner’s omega instincts to be content about. Dazai sighs, curling up more in the alpha’s hold.

The TV is still on so Chuuya subjects himself to watching some random American CSI show and cuddling with his omega.

-------

Dazai is warm. Overly warm. His heat has been making his internal temperature switch between being boiling hot and freezing cold, but no matter what his body is always shivering. Right now he’s hot though. Once he opens his eyes he realizes why.

Chuuya passed out clutching Dazai to his chest like a stuffed animal. Dazai’s head is curled down towards his body; his neck has this horrible ache that he’s going to regret later. Chuuya’s head is resting on the back of Dazai’s neck; he can feel Chuuya’s breath against his nape. The alpha’s wrist is right next to Dazai’s scent gland which means he was probably scenting Dazai while he was asleep. He’s not really sure how to feel about it happening while he was unconscious, but he doesn’t really care either. The alpha’s fruity scent is surrounding Dazai and he feels safe and protected in Chuuya’s arms.

The omega huffs though, feeling sweat dripping across his forehead because of the position he’s in. He tries to uncurl and peel himself away from the alpha, wanting a new position where he wouldn’t be so condensed and hot, but Chuuya makes a stressed grunting noise and hugs him closer, nuzzling into the back of Dazai’s neck. Dazai ends up closer to his partner than he was before.

“Chuuya,” he mumbles, feeling more sweat trickling down his forehead. He tenses as he feels dripping down his back as well. He feels so gross. His sweatpants are drenched in slick and are sticking to his thighs and his sweatshirt is sticking to his back. He hates it. It’s making his skin itchy. He misses his bandages.

The brunet tries to push away from Chuuya again, but the alpha doesn’t budge - his hold just tightens.

The slight change in position puts Chuuya’s mouth right next to Dazai’s mating gland. Dazai whimpers as Chuuya’s hot breath tickles his hair and caresses his gland. His body reacts instantly. He can feel the slick starting to leak and there’s this warmness swirling in his gut that he can feel over the cramps. The omega whimpers.

His scent has grown into this weird mix between burnt and sweet vanilla. Distress and arousal. Two very different feelings that Dazai doesn’t know how to deal with.

“Chuuya,” he whimpers, fogginess beginning to form at the edges of his mind as his omega instincts start whispering in the back of his mind. His instincts went quiet after his dissociation. He’s not really sure why. Maybe the dissociation restarted his brain and the instincts had to take a backseat for a little bit. Or maybe too much was happening? Or it’s a normal part of heat? Dazai isn’t sure, but he knows they’re back now. Everything is heightened again. His skin itches, his cramps are getting worse, his glands are sore - and itchy - and he can’t get his mind to stop repeating the words “knot” and “mate” over and over.

The alpha who keeps breathing on his mating gland is not helping.

Dazai whimpers, nudging Chuuya to try and wake him up. The cramps are getting worse and it’s getting hard to think. His mind is just thinking about how much he wants a knot to make the pain go away. He’s starting to shiver and tears are starting to slowly fall.

Fucking instincts. So annoying.

“Chibi,” Dazai whispers, trying to free himself again, but Chuuya growls, pulling Dazai closer and then shoving his face into one of the scent glands on Dazai’s neck. Dazai gasps, tensing as the alpha inhales, probably unconsciously smelling the aroused part of Dazai’s scent.

Chuuya’s instincts worry Dazai as much as Dazai’s own instincts. He knows the redhead wouldn’t do anything in his right mind, but what if Chuuya’s instincts start controlling him. Dazai wouldn’t be able to stop him and that frightens the omega.

“Chuuya, stop,” the brunet whimpers, shivering as Chuuya starts licking his glands. Dazai tries to get the alpha away, but it just feels so good. It sends pleasure through his nerves, making him feel like there’s lightning flowing through his veins. The heat that has been building in his gut is growing. He whines, tears falling as he lays there unable to fight against his instincts. He wants to push away. He keeps telling himself to push away. But he can’t.

Then, Chuuya latches onto his glands, nibbling on them and Dazai yelps, letting out a strangled noise as he tries to fight the building arousal. It’s not working. Dazai can feel more slick and the desire for a knot is overtaking any other thought in his brain. He wants a knot. He wants a knot so badly he can’t breathe.

“Chuu - mgh - Chuuya.” Dazai is panting, sweating, and crying. His instincts are telling him to submit. Let the alpha do what he wants. Stop resisting. It’s not that he doesn’t want Chuuya to fuck him. He normally wouldn’t mind if Chuuya fucks him or if he fucks Chuuya. They’ve done both. But Dazai is scared. He’s scared to submit. He’s scared to let Chuuya see him like this. He’s scared to be an omega. He doesn’t want to constantly live in fear of being commanded or bonded or having heats. He just wanted his body to be normal since his mind isn’t.

When Chuuya starts breaking skin, Dazai stills. He can feel the slight sting where Chuuya’s fangs are barely inserted into his scent gland, getting deeper by the second. His omega squeals in happiness, thrilled that he’s getting bitten, even if it’s not on his mating gland. Dazai just sobs, his body heaving as he tries to take in air. He can’t see anymore; his eyesight is blurry. The fog has completely taken over his brain and he’s not really sure what’s happening anymore. He wonders if the fog is his omega instincts taking over.

Dazai hears a grunt next to his ear and the weight near the junction between his neck and shoulder disappears. His gland stings as the air hits it.

“Dazai?”

The omega sobs in response to the voice, violently trembling. He feels the hold that he was in loosen and then something trying to pull him forward. He yelps, jerking back and yanking his arms out of the grip of whatever grabs them. He ends up in a corner of his nest, curling up as small as he can into himself. He shrugs his shoulders up so his scent glands are protected and wraps his arms around his legs, crying into his knees. He’s trying to take in air but his lungs feel like they’re being crushed and he chokes instead.

“Mackerel?”

A scent is getting closer to him. A scent he likes. The scent of fire and wood and wine and safety. A scent that makes him feel protected.

“Dazai?” the voice from before whispers.

Dazai wheezes, still unable to take in air as his eyes act like waterfalls, freeing the small amount of water in his body. The scent is right next to him, but the brunet refuses to look, trying to calm down his racing heart.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t - I don’t know…I’m not sure what happened,” the voice murmurs. They sound nervous. Worried. Someone who was going to hurt Dazai wouldn’t be apologizing to him, would they? But maybe they’re lying, trying to make him feel safe. But their scent smells so safe.

Dazai tries to breathe. He really does. His mind is telling him that all he needs to do is inhale and exhale. He’s done this before. He can sit through long hours of torture without batting an eye.

But he can’t. He physically can’t breathe. Every time he tries, he chokes - on tears or air, it depends.

The omega can sense that something is in front of him and he looks up, planning on briefly looking at it, but then the scent hits him. The scent is coming from this. It’s a wrist. Dazai grabs it, inhaling the scent that’s being emitted from the gland. It makes him feel shielded. It makes him feel secure. It makes him feel like nothing will be able to get to him because there’s a strong alpha here protecting him. His strong alpha.

Dazai hates his instincts.
But he listens to them. They feel safe now. They feel guarded. He would rather feel that than fear.

As he aggressively inhales the wine scent, Dazai’s mind slowly comes back to him, fighting away the fogginess that his instincts were causing. Eventually, he realizes that the scent is Chuuya.

After a few minutes of silence, where the only sound is Dazai sniffling, Chuuya speaks. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Dazai mumbles, not really feeling like talking. He’s not really sure what happened. He’s not sure he wants to know. He has this half-baked theory about it being related to their instincts. It isn’t even really a theory. Just common sense. Chuuya’s alpha instincts were responding to Dazai’s omega pheromones. It’s that simple, and yet Dazai doesn’t want to talk about it.

“It’s not,” Chuuya protests. “You were distressed-”

“I’ll live,” Dazai murmurs. He would rather forget about it. His pants stick to his thighs uncomfortably.

“Dazai-”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Dazai snaps.

“But we need to. It was not okay for me to do that. I just-” Chuuya sighs behind him, finishing by whispering, “I don’t know what happened.”

“Seriously slug, it’s fine,” Dazai reassures, releasing Chuuya's wrist to sit up in the nest. He hugs his legs, laying his head on his knees.

He can feel Chuuya’s stare, watching the omega, probably gauging whether or not he should push.

“Can you at least tell me what happened?” Chuuya asks, his voice tight with concern.

Dazai sighs. Chuuya will keep asking if the omega doesn’t answer. He knows he did something; can probably sense it with how his instincts are acting. But he doesn’t want the alpha to worry. Chuuya is a mother hen. Dazai doesn’t want him to worry. It can be annoying.

“You didn’t really do anything,” Dazai tells him, shrugging.

“Do you think I’m stupid?”

“Yes.”

Chuuya is silent and then he takes a deep breath. “I know something happened, so tell me.”

Dazai shakes his head. He feels the bed shake as Chuuya dramatically throws himself on his back, groaning. Chuuya’s scent is smokey. He’s stressed and worried. Dazai knows he should tell the alpha, but he’s worried that Chuuya might deem them unable to spend Dazai’s heat together and leave him. Dazai doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want to be left alone. He’ll die if he is left alone again.

“Dazai, please. I need to know,” Chuuya pleads.

“You didn’t do anything,” Dazai insists.

“Dazai,” Chuuya growls. The omega’s mind is still half in “omega instincts” mode. The dominant tone that Chuuya used makes his omega shutter, and Dazai shivers. His omega side wants to tell Chuuya. Chuuya is asking and that means that Dazai should tell him. It’s only right. Chuuya is his alpha.

Dazai sniffles, tears welling up in his eyes again. “No, I can’t. You - you didn’t do anything, Chuuya. It’s okay.” His voice is breaking. Chuuya is going to know; not that Dazai was doing a very good job at hiding it in the first place.

Chuuya lets out a noise of frustration and Dazai’s omega cries, telling him to make the alpha happy. Tell the alpha what he wants to know.

But he doesn’t even have to. Dazai hears a quiet gasp, and then he’s being manhandled as Chuuya turns the omega so the neck gland that was facing away from the alpha is now facing towards him.

“You’re bleeding?” Chuuya asks. “Did I bite you?”

“No! It was more like…a nibble,” Dazai says, exasperated, trying to cover his gland with his hand.

“Dazai.”

The brunet whines as Chuuya smacks his hand away and pokes around his scent gland. He feels the alpha check his mating gland as well and hears a sigh of relief as his partner realizes he didn’t bond with Dazai. Dazai’s omega wails at the knowledge that Chuuya doesn’t want to mate with him, but Dazai pushes it down. Who would want to mate with him? He’s barely human. His instincts are being stupid.

“I still bit you enough that you’re bleeding. And it’s on your scent gland.” Chuuya is frantic, his voice wobbling as it sounds like he’s about to cry. “At this rate, your scent glands will be fucked up for the rest of your life. First the blockers, then the scratching, and I bit them.” Chuuya groans.

“I said it’s okay,” Dazai murmurs. “It doesn’t hurt and I can still smell you.”

“But it’s not okay! You were terrified. I woke up because of your scent, Dazai.”

Dazai doesn’t respond, letting Chuuya obsess over the wounds on his scent glands, but then: “Maybe I should call Kouyou.”

Dazai’s heart stops. His scent sours significantly. He’s confused and upset and mad and scared. Kouyou? Does Kouyou know? Why does Chuuya want to call Kouyou? She runs a brothel full of omegas. She helps mafia members with their heats. Is that why? Chuuya wants to get rid of him? Dazai doesn’t want to leave. He doesn’t care if his scent glands are fucked or broken or wounded. He doesn’t care. He’s already broken. Adding one more thing to his already broken mind and body wouldn’t matter.

“Fine. Then do it,” Dazai snaps, his brain going into a defensive mode. He shoves the desire to cry away. Chuuya is rejecting him. He doesn’t want him here. He doesn’t want to spend his heat with him. He’s tired of Dazai. It makes sense, though. Dazai understands, but it still hurts and when Dazai hurts, he hurts others. He let Chuuya get too close.

“Dazai-”

“No, Chuuya, I get it.” Dazai’s body is trembling against his will. He wants it to stop. He’s tired of shaking; of showing weakness. The vulnerability is too much for him. “It’s fine. I get it.”

“Dazai-”

“No. You don’t have to make excuses,” Dazai growls, taking a deep breath to try and regulate his breathing. It’s not working. “It - I just - I’ll just leave.”

The omega starts trying to crawl out of the bed, wanting to leave before he has another breakdown, but Chuuya grabs his leg.

“Chuuya, let go,” Dazai snaps.

“No, we need to talk.” Chuuya pulls on his leg and Dazai growls.

“Are you fucking deaf? Let go.”

“Dazai-”

“LET GO YOU STUPID SLUG!” Something in Dazai’s mind snaps. Pure rage and fear and sadness flows through his veins and he’s unable to control his words, aiming to hurt Chuuya like how he feels hurt. “You’re dumb. Stupid.” He tugs his leg forward, but Chuuya is still holding on. “You always need to be told what to do because you can’t do anything on your own. You’re a dog.”

Chuuya still won’t let go, and Dazai is starting to have trouble breathing.

“An experiment. Lines of code. You aren’t human.”

This time, he feels Chuuya tense, and Dazai’s leg is instantly released. Dazai scrambles out of the nest, running to the closest room he can find, which ends up being the bathroom.

He slams the door closed and then stands there, shivering and processing what he just told Chuuya.

Why did he say that? One of Chuuya’s biggest insecurities and he just threw it in the alpha’s face. Because Chuuya was trying to talk to him. He’s as much of a demon as other people say. The Demon Prodigy. A demon in more ways than one.

Tears stream down his face and he inhales loudly, trying to catch his breath. Now the alpha is definitely going to make him leave. He should kick Dazai out. The omega isn’t sure how he has been allowed to stay so long.

Dazai slowly slides down the door and shoves his head into his knees, silently sobbing. He doesn’t want to be loud. It would be annoying for Chuuya. He feels bad. He feels so bad it’s hurting the heart he thought he didn’t have. These stupid omega instincts are amplifying everything. He feels so bad and wants to apologize but Dazai can’t tell if that’s him or the instincts. The instincts still want a knot. They want Dazai to apologize because they want Chuuya to be happy so he would knot him. But Dazai also feels guilty. He’s not sure if his omega instincts can feel guilt. Everything they want to do is related to mating. So if it’s not his instincts, it’s him; and he’s not sure how to fix it. He’s not used to feeling guilty.

“‘M sorry. ‘M sorry. ‘M sorry. ‘M sorry,” he whispers, over and over. He’s not sure who exactly he’s saying it for. Probably Chuuya. He’s so tired. So unbelievably tired. This is why he ignores his emotions; why he locks them in a box and pretends they don’t exist. They’re exhausting. They hurt. They overwhelm him. He doesn’t…understand. He’s mad and sad and scared all at once. His mind feels like it’s at war.

There’s a soft knock on the door.

“Mackerel…”

Dazai skitters away from the door, curling up next to the toilet, trying to hide. He knows it’s futile. There’s nowhere else to go in here. He didn’t think that far ahead.

The door slowly opens, revealing the alpha. His scent invades the bathroom and more tears make their way down Dazai’s face. Dazai just stares up at Chuuya, barely able to see the man as his blurry form makes his way over to the omega.

“I’m sorry,” Dazai whispers, shoving his face back into his knees. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Chuuya’s voice is soft, quiet, something that the brunet doesn’t usually hear often. “I know you didn’t mean it.”

“I’m sorry,” Dazai repeats, shaking his head against his knees.

“I’m sorry, too,” Chuuya tells him. The omega looks up at Chuuya, shaking his head no because Chuuya has nothing to apologize for. Dazai is the one who has been leeching off of him when he definitely doesn’t deserve it. Dazai is the one who said mean things when all Chuuya was doing was trying to help. Dazai is the asshole.

“I am sorry. What you said wasn’t nice, yeah. We can talk about that later, but I bit you.” Chuuya squats down next to him.

Dazai keeps shaking his head, hiccuping. “That doesn’t - it doesn’t hurt.”

He’s lying. It does hurt. It hurts a lot more than he thought it would. But he’s not going to tell Chuuya that.

“But-”

“Are you going to give me to Kouyou?” Dazai whispers, his bottom lip trembling as he says it. “I don’t want to go to the brothel.”

Chuuya is quiet, making Dazai’s anxiety spike, and he sucks in a breath.

“No, I just… I bit you. I hurt you. You wouldn’t be hurt at Kouyou’s,” Chuuya finally says, his own scent souring.

“Yes, I would be,” Dazai whimpers.

“No, she’s good with omegas. She knows what-”

“She can’t know I’m an omega,” Dazai hisses, glaring at the alpha through tears.

Chuuya is silent.
Too silent.
He stares at Dazai with the most guilty look known to man. Dazai narrows his eyes. “She already knows…doesn’t she?”

“It was an accident, I’m sorry,” Chuuya mumbles. “I needed to know that you weren’t scent-blind and-”

The rest of Chuuya’s sentence is muffled to Dazai’s brain. A cold feeling washes over the omega and his mind numbs. His emotions numb: the fear, sadness, anger, guilt. Everything becomes numb. It feels like he normally does: an emotionless, hollow, shell of a human being. He just blinks at Chuuya, the tears stopping. His breathing slows. He doesn’t think.

“Dazai?”

Chuuya told Kouyou. Kouyou knows about Dazai’s subgender. If she knows, Mori could find out. Kouyou and Dazai don’t have a close relationship like her and Chuuya. She has no obligation to keep Dazai’s secret. She could use it against Dazai. She could blackmail him. She could tell Mori. She can’t tell Mori. Mori can’t know. He can not know.

“Dazai-” Chuuya starts to reach towards him and Dazai snarls, “Don’t touch me.”

Chuuya pulls his hand back, his expression shocked and hurt. Dazai can’t find it in him to care right now.

“Leave me alone,” Dazai whispers, turning his back to the alpha.

“But-”

“GO AWAY,” Dazai growls. All he can feel is a burning rage. Chuuya had no right to tell Kouyou. Dazai is not close to her. He didn’t want anyone to know. “I DON’T WANT YOU HERE. LEAVE ME ALONE.”

Chuuya is silent for a few seconds, but Dazai can smell his smokey anger. Chuuya is trying to apologize and Dazai is still yelling at him. It always pisses the alpha off; his anger issues are unable to handle being yelled at when he’s trying to be nice.

“Fine, asshole,” he hears Chuuya mutter. There’s a pang of hurt in Dazai’s chest that is quickly swallowed up by the numb rage.

And then Chuuya leaves. The door slams behind him, making the floor shake.

And Dazai just stares at his knees.

His cramps are getting worse. He can feel it in his abdomen, stretching around to his back and thighs. It’s pulsing to the rate of his heartbeat, agitating him. He whines, trying to make the pulsing stop by moving, but it doesn’t help. Waves of heat are flowing through his body, making him sweat, but he’s freezing cold. He can feel the goosebumps on his sensitive skin as he trembles. His scent glands itch and the one that Chuuya bit hurts, the stinging getting worse the longer he leaves it unattended.

He’s not sure how long he sits there, huddled next to the toilet. It could’ve been hours or minutes or days; Dazai’s perception of time is fucked with how focused he is on the pain of the cramps. The omega moves eventually, tired of sitting up, and curls up in the bathtub. He probably passes out a few times, groggily waking up with no memory of falling unconscious. He’s not really sure. He’s really tired.

He spirals in his mind, thinking about Chuuya and Kouyou and Mori and himself. The small brief moment of normality that washed over him when Chuuya first told him Kouyou knew is gone. He feels everything now. He feels all of his emotions. He hates it. He should’ve just shot Chuuya and ran for it. But he doesn’t have his gun; it’s in his container…and he would’ve felt bad for shooting the alpha. Chuuya doesn’t deserve that. He didn’t do anything wrong. He just got stuck as Dazai’s partner.

The brunet isn’t sure when he falls asleep, just that at some point, he wakes up with the desire to go back to his container. He’s not sure what Chuuya is doing, but Dazai wouldn’t be surprised if he called Kouyou to take him to the brothel to ride out his heat. He refuses to go with her. He understands it would be better, and he agrees - it’s safer for Chuuya - but he would rather be alone at that point. Chuuya will be safe as long as Dazai isn’t here.

Dazai slowly gets up, struggling to stay on his feet as his legs threaten to give out. He leaves the bathroom, noticing that Chuuya isn’t in his own room. The omega walks over to his nest, and grabs a blanket from it, deciding to see if he can find Chuuya before he makes his departure.

Chuuya is a lot easier to find than Dazai thought he would be. The alpha is passed out on the couch, looking exhausted even in sleep. There are dark bags under his eyes and there’s a lot of tension in his face. His hair is also a mess, which is very unChuuya-like. Dazai has put him through hell the past few days. It just would be better for himself and Chuuya if he dealt with his heat on his own.

Chuuya’s living room windows reveal that it’s night, the moon high in the sky. He’s not sure what time he ended up in the bathroom, but with how deeply Chuuya is sleeping, he’s pretty sure he spent a few hours in there at least.

Dazai covers Chuuya with the blanket he had taken from his nest - making sure that the alpha’s entire body is covered - and then slowly makes his way to the front door. His omega instincts don’t want to leave. Honestly, Dazai doesn’t want to leave. The past 3 days have been exhausting, but the safest Dazai has ever felt in a long time. But it’s for the best.

He takes one last look at the sleeping alpha. He can barely see him from the front door, only his ginger hair that is slightly poking out over the side of the couch.

Dazai then slips out into the night, hoping that after all of this is over, Chuuya will still be his friend and not hate him for the rest of their probably short lives.

Chapter Text

Chuuya did not mean to fall asleep. He wakes up with a start, breathing heavily as his heart races for some unknown reason. Did he have a nightmare? Chuuya doesn’t think he dreams, but occasionally, he’ll wake up sweaty and clammy with his heart pounding. He doesn’t ever remember if he had a nightmare or dream. He can only assume.

It’s silent in his apartment, though, and after looking around and not seeing any immediate threats, he slowly lays back down, staring at the ceiling.

He was trying to clear his head in the living room, away from Dazai’s distressed scent. His instincts were catering towards the omega; wanting to help him, soothe him, make him feel better, but Chuuya was hurt. What Dazai said hurt, and it was hard to ignore. Following Dazai to the bathroom, he tried to make amends, but then the omega found out about Kouyou, and his scent drastically changed. It was that acidic vanilla, except instead of just fear, it was fear and anger. It was this sour, acidic vanilla that Chuuya could taste in his lungs. He tried to calm Dazai down, but with his own anger still present, Dazai yelling at him when he was trying to be nice, and the scent that was making it hard to breathe…he needed to leave. He had only planned to be gone for a few minutes, just enough time to clear his mind and calm the anger and hurt, but apparently, he fell asleep.

Wait, how long has it been?!

Chuuya's eyes open instantly, and he sits up, a blanket falling from lying on top of him to lying in his lap. He looks down at it, trying to remember if he fell asleep with a blanket. He’s pretty sure he didn’t. And then he realizes it smells like Dazai. His whiskey-leather scent radiates from this blanket, meaning it’s one of the blankets the omega scented. Is this from Dazai’s nest? How did it get here? Did Dazai give it to him?

Chuuya stands, bringing the blanket with him as he returns to his room. Dazai must’ve come out of the room looking for him or something. The omega is mad and upset, but he’s still in heat. While Dazai would usually ignore him for days on end for telling Kouyou, Dazai in heat probably couldn’t last a few minutes alone. Everything is heightened for him. Chuuya understands.

But the omega isn’t in the nest. He furrows his brows, confused as to why Dazai would give him a blanket from the nest and then not return to the nest if he decided he wouldn’t lay with Chuuya. Is he back in the bathroom?

“Dazai?” Chuuya checks the bathroom, where he initially had left the omega. The light is still on, and Dazai’s distressed smell is most prominent here. The omega is not in the bathroom, though. What the fuck?

“Mackerel?” He checks his entire room first, making sure Dazai isn’t hiding in a corner or something ridiculous like that, and then hunts through the rest of his apartment, his heart slowly beating faster the more he fails to find the omega.

By the time he checks the apartment twice, he knows.

Dazai isn’t here. He left.

His stomach sinks, and he sprints back to his room, grabbing his phone from the nightstand. The 3am that appears on his screen before opening the phone blinds Chuuya briefly, but he’s quick to ignore it and finds Dazai’s contact. His anxiety grows the longer his phone rings. Halfway through his third try at calling, the alpha hears a faint ringtone coming from somewhere in his apartment and ends up finding Dazai’s phone in the guest room where they had left it a few nights ago.

Dazai left and didn’t grab his phone?

It makes sense. He’s in heat. But still.

Chuuya’s heart is pounding and his blood pressure is skyrocketing. He can feel Corruption under his skin. Dazai is in heat, and he left. He doesn’t know enough about subgenders, is unstable at best, and is unclaimed. He should not be out alone right now. Something could happen. Dazai can’t defend himself right now. He couldn’t get himself out of a paper bag, much less navigate through a populated city without being caught. It’s late at night, too; drunk alphas could be prowling around trying to find an omega to fuck because they’re lonely and have nothing better to do. And with Dazai in heat, they’ll be able to smell him from miles away.

“Dazai, you fucking idiot,” Chuuya growls, his breathing speeding up and becoming erratic.

He’s not even sure where Dazai would go. The shipping container? Dazai would definitely not go to Mori or anywhere near the Port Mafia headquarters, and he probably wouldn’t prefer to stay in the city. At least Chuuya thinks he wouldn’t go to Mori. With how the omega’s scent changed when Chuuya mentioned talking to Mori, the alpha assumes Dazai would stay away despite being in heat. His heat-infested brain still recognizes Dazai’s fear of the man. Mori and Dazai’s relationship is confusing. Chuuya knows the Boss helps the brunet with his…mental health issues, stitching him up, giving him certain medications, keeping an eye on him…but Dazai seems to resent the man.

Either way, with Dazai in heat, he probably won’t make it far. Chuuya doesn’t know when the brunet left. He just hopes that if Dazai isn’t in his container, he’ll find the omega on the way to the container.

After doing another check and still not finding the omega, Chuuya leaves his apartment with fear and worry at the forefront of his mind.

-------

Dazai has made a lot of stupid mistakes in his life.

When he was seven, he accidentally made a mess of the family bookshelves and the maids got mad.

When he was nine, he accidentally left the family dog outside all night and found it mauled to death by some wild animals.

When he was ten, he accidentally forgot to follow his mother to the car when she left and never returned, earning him the punishment of living with his grandfather.

When he was eleven, he accidentally walked into the middle of a meeting his grandfather was having and he was beaten later that night.

When he was twelve, he accidentally made the bathroom too messy during an attempt, and his grandfather forced him to deeply cut his own thighs in front of him while his arms continued to bleed out.

When he was thirteen, he accidentally failed an attempt and ended up meeting Mori.

When he was fourteen, he watched Mori kill his grandfather, the only family he had left, and he didn’t care.

He spends a lot of his time making sure he doesn’t make those mistakes again, making sure he’s in control and he knows every possibility before doing anything.

Leaving Chuuya’s apartment has got to be the worst mistake he’s made in his entire life.

He’s alone, huddled in some random alleyway, sitting on the cold, disgusting ground so his slick scent isn't being broadcasted through the air for some stupid alphas to find. His cramps started soon after leaving Chuuya’s apartment. The omega could resist it for a few blocks, but the second it started spreading, he needed to sit. Luckily, he hadn’t run into anyone, but as he huddles in this random alleyway, he’s beginning to smell himself. Staying on the move makes it harder for his scent to congregate. His stupid whiskey-leather scent. He’s not sure he’ll be able to drink whiskey anymore after this.

He should call Chuuya… or maybe Odasaku. But he doesn’t want anyone else to know, so probably not Oda. He doesn’t want to inconvenience the man anyway. It doesn’t matter, though, because the second Dazai checks his pockets, he realizes that he doesn’t even have his phone. He left it at Chuuya’s. He can’t seem to recall where he left it at Chuuya’s, but that’s fine. He can sit here and wait this cramp out.

Dazai whimpers into his knees as a cramp strengthens, making him feel like there’s a tornado in his stomach.

He needs to leave soon. He’s going to start drawing attention.

Taking a deep breath, he readies himself for sharp pains the moment he starts moving. It’s like his cramps are allergic to moving. They always get worse, shooting through his abdomen and making him feel like he’s getting shot.

And that is exactly what happens. The second Dazai stands, the cramp shoots through his spine, making Dazai cry out and see black. He ends up back on the ground, aggressively blinking his vision back, reminding himself that he’s unfortunately still alive. He’s fighting the darkness that’s trying to take over his mind. He whimpers on his knees, leaning against the wall as he fights the bile that’s threatening to come up as his vision swims.

He really shouldn’t have left Chuuya.

-------

On the way to Dazai’s container, Chuuya checks the omega’s usual bridge jumping spots. Maybe his partner got depressed enough to want to jump. Maybe he got far enough to do so. But every time he doesn’t find the omega, his anxiety grows, and then he’s standing in the shipping container he was in a few days before with Dazai still missing. He didn’t find the brunet on the way there - he checked everywhere - and Dazai isn’t here either.

Chuuya has started shaking, his mind unable to process that he had lost a whole human being who is actively boiling alive and who was barely able to get to the bathroom on his own.

Where did Dazai go? Where could he have gone? He’s in heat, and he’s alone. He can’t think straight, can’t get himself out of situations he usually would be able to escape and he’s in heat. The fucking idiot is in heat. What was he thinking? Is this because of Kouyou? Something could happen.

What should he do?

His mind is so deep into the spiral of thoughts, he doesn't process his phone ringing until the end of his ringtone. The alpha frantically takes his phone out, and his heart sinks. Mori is calling him? Why is Mori calling him?

Chuuya takes a deep breath and answers.

“Boss?” His voice is steady despite how nervous he is. He can’t tip Mori off that something is wrong, especially since that something is Dazai is missing while in heat.

“Chuuya-kun! Apologies for the time of this call, but I am in need of your assistance.” Mori’s voice never reveals anything. It’s calm and monotone, like usual, like he’s just giving regular orders, not like he’s testing Chuuya to find out if Dazai is an omega whom Chuuya has been harboring for the past few days and who is currently missing while in heat.

Everything is fine.

“Right now?”

“Yes.” Short and to the point. Mori doesn’t like extra words. He doesn’t like explaining much unless he’s explaining some complex plan he’s proud of himself for or a mission. Chuuya is expected to listen with no questions asked.

“On my way.”

“I’ll see you then.” Mori then hangs up, leaving Chuuya in silence and complete and utter fear. He can’t go to Mori. Dazai is still out there somewhere, probably curled up in some random alley, in pain. He needs Chuuya right now.

But he can’t ignore Mori’s orders. The boss’ orders are absolute. The alpha could get punished if he ignores them or even killed - they can try to kill him, that is. And if he ignores them, there’s a bigger chance that Mori will find out about Dazai’s presentation.

But Dazai. Dazai is who-knows-where, and Chuuya doesn’t know how long Mori will need his assistance. It could take the entire rest of the day. Yeah, it’s 3am - almost 4am - right now, but everything Mori does takes time, and if he needs Chuuya’s help, it will take more time. And Dazai is by himself in the middle of the city in heat.

The alpha pulls his phone out, clicking on Kouyou’s contact and staring at it for a second. He isn’t sure what else to do. If he can’t be actively looking for Dazai, he needs to at least send someone else. Dazai could be anywhere.

He clicks on her number.

She answers after a few rings, despite it being so early in the morning.

“Chuuy-”

“He’s gone, Ane-san,” Chuuya says, trying to keep the tightness out of his voice. He’s stressed and worried, and he doesn’t know where the omega went and Mori called him to work.

“Chuu-”

“I don’t know - I don’t know where he went. He just - just left, and I can’t - I don’t - I.” Breathing is getting more challenging the more he starts verbalizing his worries. It’s irregular. The air is getting stuck in his throat; all he can do is puff out air. He’s starting to feel light-headed.

“Chuuya-”

“Mori - Mori needs me for something. And I can’t - I don’t - I need to look for Dazai. Where did he go?”

“Chuuya, you need to calm down.”

“I don’t- where- WHERE IS HE?” He knows he’s on the verge of hyperventilating. He knows he needs to calm down. He knows that he should start taking deep breaths to try and control his breathing…but he can’t. His thoughts are erratic, his heart is racing, and he doesn’t know where his omega went.

“Calm down and breathe for a second.”

“I thought - he - he was fine, Ane-san, we were fine - I don’t…understand.” Pressure is building behind his eyes, and Chuuya really wants to cry. He doesn’t understand. Where did the omega go? Where did his partner go? Why now?

“Chuuya, breathe,” Kouyou’s voice is calm as she coaches the alpha to breathe like he had coached Dazai when the omega was having a panic attack.

Her words aren’t making it to Chuuya’s brain. All he can hear is static. His alpha instincts are in chaos, something he doesn’t usually experience outside of a rut. He’s worried about his omega. He’s scared about what might happen.

A few tears start falling, and Chuuya lets out a choked sob, crouching down to the container’s floor to curl up into his knees as he gasps for air. He clutches his head, trying to get himself to calm down, but it’s not working. He’s starting to see black dots along the edges of his vision as his mind threatens to pass out.

“Breathe with me. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale,” Kouyou croons. Croons don’t really work on other alphas, at least not in the same way that they do for omegas, but they still can help to an extent. Her crooned words make it past the static in his brain, and he finally processes them.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Chuuya starts taking deep breaths, tears continuing to make their way down his face. He wipes them away, sniffling. The black dots that were making their way across his vision slowly disappear, and he stops feeling light-headed as he just sits there and breathes.

Kouyou speaks again, the crooning gone from her voice. “Now, tell me what happened.”

“Dazai left,” Chuuya whispers. “I just - he left.”

“And he’s still in heat?” Kouyou asks.

“Yes. Mori called me in. I have to go to work. But Dazai’s still out there. What if he gets hurt? What if something happens? He’s my partner. I shouldn’t-” Chuuya makes a frustrated noise, punching the ground, accidentally denting the floor of Dazai’s container.

“I assume he doesn’t have his phone?” Kouyou asks.

“No, he left it at my apartment.” Chuuya rubs one hand across his face, letting out a stuttering sigh. “What do I do?”

Kouyou is silent on the other end of the phone. It causes Chuuya’s anxiety to heighten, and he opens his mouth to say something else when Kouyou responds, “I’ll look for him while you’re at work.”

Chuuya’s breath hitches, and he hesitates. This is why he called her, isn’t it? He knew she could help… but Dazai won’t like it. The alpha doesn’t exactly know why Dazai left, but it most likely has to do with Kouyou. That’s when his scent changed, and he kicked Chuuya out of the bathroom. But he doesn’t really have much of a choice right now, does he? Mori can’t find out about Dazai, and if Chuuya ignores orders, that will raise suspicions.

“Don’t you have the brothel to take care of?” he settles on asking.

“Dazai-san is a fellow Executive. He’s also an omega who is newly presented, and I don’t wish for him to be assaulted or hurt. I can have one of my girls handle the brothel while looking for him,” Kouyou hums. Chuuya can hear her walking around.

“Will you tell me if you find him?” Chuuya asks.

“Yes-”

“The second you find him?” Chuuya growls, hearing hesitancy in her single answer.

“I will, Chuuya,” Kouyou tries to reassure, but Chuuya’s not sure he fully believes her. He doesn’t have a choice, though. He wants to keep Dazai’s secret, but in doing so, he has to trust someone else to find the omega.

“Thank you, Ane-san,” he whispers, leaving Dazai’s container and hanging up on Kouyou. He needs to take a shower and put on scent blockers. He can smell Dazai’s heat scent on himself. He already misses Dazai. The omega’s scent calms him, excites him, and arouses him all at once. It makes him feel human.

“You better be okay, you fucking idiot Mackerel,” Chuuya murmurs, taking off into the sky.

-------

“You good, omega?”

Dazai snaps his head up, glaring at the unknown person.

A man is blocking the alleyway. He’s wearing a baggy shirt and ripped-up jeans. His shoes are untied, and his grey hair is messy. He looks drunk and smells horrible. Like rotten fruit and vinegar. Dazai cringes back, suppressing a gag.

He hasn’t moved for who knows how long; he is still stuck in the same alleyway he collapsed in after leaving Chuuya’s. The cramps haven’t gotten better, and the omega isn’t sure if the pain will ever leave. Maybe it’s his body’s revenge for him leaving Chuuya, an alpha.

“I’m fine,” he hisses, trying to seem normal and intimidating and not like he’s in the middle of his first heat.

“You don’t smell fine. Are you in heat?” The man takes a wobbly few steps closer, leaning against the wall to balance himself. The alpha dramatically sniffs the air. “You smell good.”

Dazai growls. “Fuck off.”

“Is that any way to talk to an alpha? The alpha who’ll make you feel better?” the man asks, the taunting in his voice pissing Dazai off. His omega instincts haven’t seemed to really process there’s an alpha here yet, despite the man’s scent. Maybe the alcohol is confusing them.

Dazai can see the man smirking in the moonlight. “You aren’t gonna do shit,” Dazai snaps, uncurling himself to stand. His body screams at the movement, stiff from staying in the same position for so long.

“Sit and stay still, omega.”

Dazai’s body goes rigid, instantly responding to the command and plopping back down. His instincts have realized and are shrieking with joy. An alpha. They don’t care what alpha knots him as long as he gets a knot and Dazai is struggling to fight back. His mind is going blank, being replaced with the fog that comes when his instincts take over. He needs to fight it. He will not let this alpha knot him.

He misses Chuuya.

“See? That wasn’t so hard.” The alpha’s scent is getting stronger. Vinegar is filling Dazai’s nose. He doesn’t like the smell. Hates it, actually. It doesn’t smell safe. It doesn’t smell protective. It doesn’t smell like Chuuya. It smells horrible and disgusting, and Dazai would rather get tortured than get scented by this drunkard.

It’s getting hard to think. His instincts are chanting knot knot knot knot so loudly in his brain it’s starting to bleed into his own thoughts.

The man hums, his nose flaring suddenly. “I smell another alpha on you.” He inhales loudly, growling slightly. “Gotta get rid of that before anything else.”

Dazai bares his fangs, snapping at him.

“Oh, stop it,” the alpha grins, his mouth making this ugly smug expression. “You know you want it. You’re a bitch in heat. I’ll just give you a nice knot and then be on my way. Win-win situation.”

The scenting comes out of nowhere, Dazai’s mind too sluggish to see it coming. One second, the man is a few feet away; the next, his wrist is against Dazai’s neck gland. Dazai wails, trying to jerk back, but the command keeps him in place. He can feel the man’s wrist gland rubbing against his neck gland, and he automatically shivers. The scent of rotten fruit and vinegar smell fills his senses, and bile starts rising in his throat as he becomes nauseous. His scent is horrible.
While Chuuya scented him unexpectedly in his container, it was nothing like this. He trusts Chuuya and likes Chuuya’s scent - though he’d never admit that to the alpha. Chuuya makes him feel safe and secure. He doesn’t know this man and doesn’t feel protected. And he hates the man’s scent.

He hates this. He hates it so much. He hates being scented by this stupid alpha. He hates subgenders. He hates being an omega. He hates being alive. He just wants to die, and no one is letting him.

When the man moves to scent his wounded gland, his mind fractures. As he feels the beginning of their glands rubbing together, Dazai thrashes.

And Dazai bites.

He feels his small omega fangs pierce the skin on the man’s hand and the blood that instantly follows. The blood tastes gross. The man howls, immediately pulling his hand back, snarling. Dazai snarls right back at him, glaring daggers.

The alpha’s scent is changing, becoming more rotten and disgusting as he grabs the front of Dazai’s sweatshirt, pulling him up, and twisting him around to shove the omega against the alley wall. Dazai’s face is crushed into it, and he yelps in pain, the brick wall digging into his forehead and nose. He turns his face so his cheek is what’s getting scratched, and he can vaguely see the man behind him.

“You fuckin’ bitch,” he hisses against the back of Dazai’s ear. “Gonna stuff you up unconscious if you bite me again.”

“Fuck off,” Dazai sneers, baring his fangs that are slightly coated in the man’s blood.

The alpha growls, deep in his chest. Dazai can feel the vibrations against his back. “Maybe I’ll take you home. Muzzle you and mate you. Keep you as a pet. Wouldn’t you like that? Being knotted every day for the rest of your life? Being bred?” He grabs Dazai’s wrists and brings them over the omega’s head, using one hand to pin them against the wall as he starts caressing Dazai’s body with the other.

Dazai grunts, pushing back against the man to try to get him to stop, but it only arouses the alpha more. He doesn’t budge; instead, he returns his free wrist to Dazai’s scent gland, scenting him again. Dazai whimpers, his omega instincts keening at the scenting.

Fucking stupid instincts. So dumb.

With his body essentially useless, Dazai tries to bite at the man’s face again, but the man ends up shoving his forehead into Dazai’s neck and pushing his knee against the omega’s ass.

“Don’t do that,” the man croons, sighing into the nap of Dazai’s neck. “You’re so wet for me already…”

Dazai lets out an annoyed noise, unable to form words with how loud his instincts are screaming. He feels so exposed. He’s in heat with only a sweatshirt and sweatpants covering his body. He doesn’t even have bandages. He’s weaponless and is barely able to stand. He misses the safety of his nest. He misses Chuuya’s scent. He misses Chuuya.

Suddenly, the man moves his face into Dazai’s scent gland - the wounded one - and starts licking it. Stinging pain shoots through Dazai’s neck and shoulder, and he automatically tries to jerk away, but that just ends with the alpha tightening his hold. The man has started rubbing his bulge against Dazai’s clothed ass, and Dazai’s legs are feeling like jelly. His stupid instincts are submitting to this dumb alpha. The omega only has a matter of time before things start getting out of his control.

“That alpha bit you here. I can smell it.” The alpha cages him against the wall further, making it hard for Dazai to move. He’s still harassing Dazai’s scent gland, but the brunet can feel the man’s hands making their way down his body, aiming for his pants. “Let me fix it.”

Dazai’s omega is happy. He’s finally going to get a knot.
Dazai is not happy. Dazai doesn’t want this alpha’s knot. He hates his scent, hates his face, hates his existence.

The alpha is drunk; Dazai can tell that much. He’s using most of his strength to keep Dazai still, but if he’s able to off-balance the man, he could get away.

When he feels the alpha’s fangs graze his gland, positioning for a bite, Dazai's eyes widen and with all the strength he has left, he uses his elbows to push. The alpha grunts, surprised by the sudden movement, as he’s pushed away from Dazai’s gland. He growls, pressing against Dazai’s back to get him against the wall again, but he has to move his knee from balancing Dazai up against the wall. Before he can reposition his knee, Dazai moves. Some stupid move that Chuuya taught him once when he decided that Dazai should know at least some combat, saying he was a “useless beanpole who is going to get us killed.”

Dazai puts as much force as he can into kicking his leg back, ramming into the man's knees which off-balances him and makes it so he lets go of Dazai’s wrists. The omega then whirls around and kicks the man’s knees out completely.

The alpha yelps, stumbling backward and falling on the ground. Dazai runs, feeling the fog of his instincts fighting for control, leaving the alpha and his horrible scent behind.

Dazai’s omega is screaming and crying in his mind. He ignores it, maneuvering between alleys and avoiding the main road. His body hurts, the cramps escalating as he runs.

His heart is still racing even blocks away.

-------

When Chuuya arrives at the Port Mafia headquarters, he instantly goes to Mori’s office. On the elevator ride up, he sniffs himself, double and triple-checking that Dazai’s scent isn’t there. He can feel the scent blockers on his glands. He could probably laugh it off and tell Mori he was with some random omega in heat. No one else knows Dazai’s scent. He didn’t have one before. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. Maybe Mori knows that Dazai was going to present as an omega. Maybe he knows that Dazai is in heat. The alpha decided to just pretend he doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t know that Dazai is an omega. He doesn’t know that Dazai is in heat. He doesn’t know that Dazai is missing. He knows nothing.

Once the elevator door opens, Chuuya puts on a neutral expression - his usual annoyed persona - and walks up to the office doors. The guards glance at him as he stops in front of the doors, raising an eyebrow. One talks into his earpiece, murmuring something that Chuuya can’t hear. They then open the doors, letting Chuuya inside.

The alpha strides through, trying to appear confident and all-knowing and not like he’s currently scared shitless that Kouyou might find Dazai hurt.

“Chuuya-kun!” Mori is behind his desk and Elise is lying on the ground in front of his desk, drawing. “Thank you for making it here on such short notice! I was honestly surprised you seemed so… awake.”

Chuuya kneels, bowing his head down in respect to the boss despite every alpha instinct in his body screaming at him to dominate. Mori’s alpha scent is everywhere in the room; Chuuya can taste it in his lungs. Antiseptic, metal, and death. He’s never liked Mori’s scent, but he has to deal with it. He chooses to ignore Mori’s comment.

“Boss. You called?”

“Yes. I have an…issue I need you to take care of relating to Akutagawa-kun,” Mori hums. Chuuya stands, meeting Mori’s gaze.

“Isn’t he Dazai’s problem?” Chuuya mutters.

Mori chuckles. “Yes, but it seems no one has been able to contact him still. I’ll have to start sending out search parties soon.”

“Oh…” Chuuya bites his cheek, trying hard not to reveal anything in his facial expressions. It’s hard to lie to Mori.

“You haven’t happened to hear from him, have you?” Mori questions. The other alpha’s scent changes slightly, becoming more death-like. Chuuya refuses to acknowledge it. It’s anger. Mori is angry, but he’s trying to cover it up, his scent smoothening back to calm neutral antiseptic and metal. Why is Mori angry? Does he know? Is he testing Chuuya?

“I have not.” Chuuya keeps his voice steady. Don’t reveal anything. Don’t reveal anything. Don’t reveal anything. Dazai lies to Mori all the time. How hard could it be?

“A pity,” the boss sighs deeply. “Guess I’ll have to start searching for my lost Executive.” He dramatically groans. “He’s always such a hassle.”

“No kidding,” Chuuya grumbles.

“As his partner, you’d know, wouldn’t you?”

Chuuya stiffens but instantly tries to relax again. Mori’s question could have a double meaning. Most of the boss’ questions do. The first way to take it is that, yes, they’re partners. Double Black. Soukoku. But they’re also partners, as in they fuck around a lot. Lovers or something like that. He and Dazai don’t tend to label it. Would Mori even care about that if he knew?

“That shitty asshole is obnoxious,” Chuuya agrees, trying to cover up his mistake. “Always making my life a living hell.”

Mori hums, tapping his fingers on his desk.

“What would you like me to do with Akutagawa-kun?” Chuuya shifts his weight as he tries to change the subject away from Dazai.

“Ah, yes! He is causing issues at the docks. Dazai-kun assigned him to a trade deal that he would monitor; however, since Dazai-kun is…not around, Akutagawa-kun isn’t being monitored. I got reports from men I sent with him that he’s killing our trade partners. Deal with it.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding. I have to deal with Dazai’s stupid rabid pet?”

“You do,” Mori says tonelessly.

Chuuya sighs, groaning. “Yes, sir.”

Dazai brought in Akutagawa a few months ago. That kid has got to be the most anger-filled being that Chuuya has ever met…and he has Arahabaki living inside of him. Dazai said he would train him into someone who could rival Chuuya’s ability, but that motivation seems to have disappeared in the brunet. Chuuya will admit. Akutagawa’s ability is strong. It could possibly rival him someday…if Chuuya stands there and does nothing. Dazai seems to have realized the same because he trains the kid less and less. Maybe it has to do with the omega’s deteriorating mental health, which was getting worse even before Dazai presented. And now that Dazai has presented and he’s an omega…his mental health is definitely not going to get better. That poor kid.

“You’re dismissed,” Mori tells him, tapping on his desk one last time before standing. He’s heading towards the door in the back of the room. The door to his living quarters. Chuuya has never been inside, but Dazai has told him about it. He had to be there to witness the old boss’ death and all that.

Chuuya is on his way out and at the doors when Mori speaks again. “One more thing, Chuuya-kun.”

“Yes, sir?”

“If you do hear from Dazai-kun, let me know.” And with that, Mori disappears through the door. Elise is still on the ground drawing, but then she stands, smiling and waving at Chuuya. She then pops out of existence, like Dazai had used No Longer Human on her.

“Yes…sir…” Chuuya murmurs to the empty room, slowly turning back around to leave. That didn’t go horribly. Mori didn’t pry too much about Dazai’s whereabouts, and his assignment shouldn’t be too bad.

…So why does Chuuya feel like that was such a simple meeting for him but a very informational meeting for Mori?

-------

Dazai jolts awake with a start. He doesn’t know when he fell asleep. He can’t remember. His head hurts. Everything hurts. He’s groggy and delirious, and even after sitting there for a few seconds, his brain doesn’t catch up. It’s too foggy. Where is he? What is he doing here? What happened? Who is this person in front of him?

Dazai sniffs, catching the scent of cherry blossoms, roses, and cinnamon. An alpha scent. An alpha is sitting in front of him. The alpha tilts her head. Her mouth is moving. Dazai’s vision is blurry, and he can’t seem to make out what she’s saying despite trying to concentrate on it. Her mouth is just opening and closing.

Dazai sluggishly blinks at her, letting out a confused whimper.

There’s pain in his stomach. His barely conscious mind can’t handle it. It’s ripping and tearing and tugging on his insides, making him feel like he’s getting gutted and his organs are being stabbed. Under normal circumstances, he would never reveal pain like this, but he doesn’t care right now. He curls into himself on the cold ground. His pants brush against his thighs, and they’re wet; why are his pants wet? He can feel liquid coming out of him, making him shiver. He’s sweating, but he’s cold. His body is trembling as the pain gets worse.

Something touches his shoulder, and he flinches back. It’s the alpha. He forgot she was there. She’s touching him, and he doesn’t like it. He wants the alpha that smells like burning wood and wine. The scent that makes him feel protected and safe; that makes him feel like he can let go and trust. His alpha.

This is not his alpha, so he growls, baring his teeth at her.

She doesn’t take her hand off his shoulder and instead starts talking again, but Dazai still can’t hear her. It feels like his brain is full of cotton. No matter how much he tries to focus, he can’t. Everything is muffled, even his thoughts.

The alpha moves her hand from his shoulder, and then she pushes into his scent gland. Pain explodes around his sensitive gland, and he jerks back, smacking into the wall behind him. He yelps, covering the scent gland with his hand.

Something changes, though. His mind slowly starts processing things again, even if the fog is still present. He’s in an alley. An alley that he ended up in after a random drunk alpha tried to fuck him. Because he’s in heat. Because he’s an omega. He left Chuuya because he thought the alpha would give him to Kouyou. Kouyou, who is currently in front of him.

“Dazai, can you walk?” Kouyou asks, reaching her hand out.

Dazai snarls, flinching back as she briefly grazes his forehead.

“You’re boiling. Did Chuuya even try to bring your temperature down? Did he knot you?”

Dazai shakes his head, slowly pulling away from her burning touch. “No.”

Kouyou sighs. “What is that boy thinking? Not knotting an omega in heat. No wonder you’re in this state.”

Dazai wants to reply and tell her that he told Chuuya not to knot him and that it isn’t Chuuya’s fault, but his mind is still foggy. It’s hard to form words. Instead, he lets out a small whine, shaking his head.

“I’m taking you to the brothel. It’s not safe here,” Kouyou tells him, standing up. “How would you like to do this?”

Dazai just shivers, trying to hide his face from her. His head hurts. He misses his nest. He misses Chuuya’s scent. He misses Chuuya. He’s so tired.

“You know I can’t leave you here.”

“Please.” The whole reason he left was because he didn’t want to go to the brothel. He didn’t want to go with Kouyou. He’s not going to go with her now.

“Dazai.” Kouyou sighs. “Stand up.”

“No,” Dazai grumbles.

“Stand and come with me,” Kouyou mumbles the alpha command, and Dazai instantly glares at her. The fog in his mind worsens, and his body sluggishly responds, forced up even as Dazai weakly grunts. He’s so tired of being commanded. He tries to resist it every time, but his mind is exhausted. He just wants to sleep.

Kouyou provides her shoulder, and Dazai leans into her, using her as a crutch as his legs threaten to give out despite the command.

The walk to Kouyou’s car is slow. Cramps are clawing at Dazai’s insides, and he has to stop and breathe through them occasionally, cursing his existence. Kouyou uses her kimono to cover him slightly when they walk by people, seemingly understanding Dazai’s hatred of being seen, even by strangers. Maybe his scent is revealing his feelings. Maybe it becomes more burnt when he notices people. Dazai isn’t sure. He can smell Kouyou, and anyone they walk by who doesn’t have blockers on, but the omega can’t seem to smell himself very well. He doesn’t really care.

Dazai is led to the passenger side of the car, and the second the door opens, Dazai whines. There’s a towel on the seat. He pouts at her.

“I don’t want slick all over my car.” Kouyou slowly lowers him on the towel, and Dazai winces in disgust as his sweatpants stick to his butt. It’s cold and gross.

The alpha shuts the door, and Dazai instantly curls up in the seat, laying his head on the armrest console. Kouyou gets into the driver’s seat and starts the car.

“Chuuya is worried about you,” she murmurs. “You shouldn’t be letting him get close.”

“I know,” Dazai breathes out, the humming of the car numbing his mind.

“It’ll end badly for him.”

“I know.” He closes his eyes, listening to the sounds of passing cars.

“Please, Dazai. He’s too good for you.”

“I know,” he whispers. The omega’s chest feels like it’s been stabbed. He knows Chuuya is too good for him, but hearing it said to him makes him feel like he’s falling into an infinite void of pain. He’s selfish. He likes that Chuuya is nice to him. He likes Chuuya taking care of him. He likes that Chuuya is worried for him. He never thought he would. He’s not used to it, not used to being cared about. It scares him.

“There’s another alpha scent on you.”

Dazai hums, bringing his knees closer to his chest.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” he mumbles, turning his face into the armrest. He thinks Kouyou says more, but his brain has shut down. He’s awake but asleep - dazed - as he stares at the darkness his eyelids provide.

He lays the rest of the car ride in that state, only breaking it when Kouyou opens the passenger door. He opens his eyes. He doesn’t remember hearing her getting out. Did he fall asleep?

She helps the omega into the brothel; Dazai still having trouble staying upright the more they walk. The walk does help to wake him up slightly, and his bitterness grows.

When they finally enter a room, Dazai sluggishly rips himself away from her, instantly collapsing onto the floor. He slowly crawls to the closest corner he can find, curling into himself and resting his forehead on his knees.

He hated that. Hated needing help walking. Hated being unable to resist the commands. They make his mind hazy and unfocused. Like he’s high. Except he couldn’t do anything to stop himself.

“I can send for an alpha to knot you-”

“No,” Dazai growls.

“It’s the only way for you to feel-”

“I said no.” It’s hard for him to stay conscious, his hazy mind trying to shut down again. He’s surprised he’s lasted as long as he has in this state. It hurts.

“There’s a bed-”

“Get out,” Dazai hisses, pressure building behind his eyes. He wants to cry. He wants to explode. He wants to let out everything that he’s feeling. He despises the state his brain is in. He can’t figure out a way out of this. He can’t come up with any plan at all. A plan to leave the room. A plan to manipulate Kouyou into letting him go. A plan to get back to Chuuya. He just can’t think. All he knows is that he doesn't want to be here, and he misses Chuuya. He misses him a lot. He doesn’t feel safe or protected, and he can’t cry.

His instincts have been quiet…or maybe his instincts are why he feels like this; a hollow but emotion-filled blob of a creature. His instincts are stupid. Useless and stupid. There’s no point in having them. Or listening to them. Chuuya was wrong. Listening to them makes everything worse.

The omega hears Kouyou sigh, and then the door opens and closes, a lock snapping in place.

He sits there in silence for a few minutes, and when another cramp hits, and he feels slick leaking into his pants, he groans. After the cramp lessens, he starts searching the room for a different set of clothes. He doesn’t want to change out of Chuuya’s clothes, but the sweatshirt is full of sweat and is starting to smell, and the pants are just…full of slick. He ends up finding clothes in the drawers of the nightstand.

After changing, he returns to his corner, setting up Chuuya’s clothes nearby. They still somewhat smell like the alpha. The room is dark as he lays there alone, the loneliness overwhelming for his heat-filled brain. The pressure behind his eyes builds again until he can’t hold them back anymore.

Dazai lets the tears fall.

***

The omega attacks the only alpha Kouyou sends to his room. The alpha, a younger male who seems to be around the same age as Dazai, simply steps into the room, and the omega’s instincts react violently. This alpha is not Chuuya; is not Kouyou - though Dazai wouldn’t be happy to see her either - so he growls. He’s in heat. He’s in pain. And he wants to be left alone unless it’s Chuuya.

Then there’s a scent - a wet scent that reminds Dazai of rainfall and spring air - which instantly calms his instincts, caressing them into submission, telling them that they’re safe and secure. And his omega keens, his body instinctively relaxing. The scent wraps around him like a protective blanket, shielding him against the world.

He’s trembling, though. His instincts have been calmed, but Dazai’s mind hasn’t. He doesn’t want a knot. He doesn’t want to be here. He wants to leave.

“Hey…you’re fine.” The alpha’s voice is soft and non-threatening. Dazai’s omega likes it. Dazai wants to punch him in the face. “Let’s move to the bed, yeah?”

“No,” Dazai whispers, resisting the urge to obey that his instincts are encouraging. “Go away.”

“Let’s move to the bed,” the alpha repeats calmly. He’s probably one of Kouyou’s alphas, specifically trained to help omegas. Dazai could let him help. His instincts are squealing for it. This alpha knows what he’s doing… it would probably be fast, and then Dazai would be left alone again…but Dazai doesn’t want help.

“Leave before I kill you,” Dazai snarls. He can hear the alpha scoff.

“I’m just supposed to knot you.” The alpha steps forward, reaching forward for some reason, and something in Dazai’s brain short circuits. The absolute fear he can feel in his chest makes his body freeze. He feels cornered. He feels exposed. He doesn’t know this alpha; he doesn’t want to be touched by this alpha. Dazai is pissed.

So he uses the only weapon in his arsenal.
He bites.

This alpha isn’t drunk like the one in the alley, so he seems to notice Dazai’s change in demeanor. He’s able to pull his hand back in time, Dazai’s fangs ending up only grazing the alpha’s wrist gland.

“Fucking, ow,” the alpha hisses, clutching his wrist to his chest. “Please don’t do that. I don’t want to be here either.”

“Then go away,” Dazai snarls.

“But… you’re in heat? Don’t you… want a knot?” The alpha sounds genuinely confused like it’s surprising that an omega in heat doesn’t want a knot. Yeah, sure, his instincts want a knot, but Dazai doesn’t.

“No,” he growls.

“But-” the alpha reaches out again, apparently deciding that Dazai was just bluffing earlier.

All the thoughts in Dazai’s brain halt, and it's silent in his mind for once in the omega’s life. He doesn’t feel the cramps. He doesn’t feel emotion. He doesn’t process anything around him. He doesn’t think.

And he bites.
Again.

His fangs sink deep into the alpha’s hand - a lot deeper than they had with that other man - and the alpha yelps, trying to jerk his hand back. “OWowowowow, please let go. I’ll leave. I’ll leave. Please. She told me I can’t hurt or command you, so please.”

Dazai releases the alpha’s hand, tasting the man’s blood on his teeth as he bares his fangs at his retreating form. The alpha speeds out of his room, whimpering the entire way. The door shuts softly behind him.

Dazai rolls his eyes. It’s just a bite. The man was being a little dramatic.

Kouyou comes in soon after, anger evident in how she’s walking. “Seriously? You bit him?”

“I didn’t want him here.” Dazai scowls, ducking into his knees.

“You need a knot,” Kouyou states, her tone unwavering.

“I don’t,” Dazai protests.

Kouyou hums. “Dazai. You are in heat. Your omega wants a knot. Giving your instincts what they want will make your heat easier.”

“I said no.”

Kouyou doesn’t say anything, standing there silently for a few seconds. “You can’t go through your heats like this.”

Dazai just whimpers. “I want Chuuya.”

“Chuuya is not here. He’s busy.” Kouyou sounds exasperated.

“I know,” he whispers, tears slowly dripping down his face. He takes a breath, trying to calm down, but when his breath hitches, he starts crying more. “Go away.”

“Dazai-”

“Go AWAY!” Dazai snaps, his breathing unstable as he tries to take in air.

Kouyou sighs, and the omega can hear her walking away. “I’ll be back soon.”

And then the door closes and Dazai can hear it lock.

He’s locked in here. He’s alone. He’s in pain. His mind is foggy and hazy. People keep telling him he needs to get knotted. And he misses Chuuya.

He really shouldn’t have left.

-------

Chuuya might kill Dazai after his heat ends. He’s not sure how much the brunet has actually trained Akutagawa, but that kid would not listen. Chuuya had to knock the idiot out and take over the whole trade. It was stupid. And long. They had to clean up the bodies that Akutagawa left around and finish the deal…which they had trouble with because the people who were left didn’t want to interact with them anymore because Akutagawa went around and killed their coworkers.

It was annoying. By the time he makes it back to headquarters to report to Mori, it’s 9am.

His phone has been completely silent. Kouyou didn’t call him about Dazai at all. It’s stressing Chuuya out. Dazai has been out there for hours.

When Mori assigns him paperwork due by midnight, Chuuya almost loses his mind. It’s like the boss is testing him, seeing how long it takes for him to fight back. He doesn’t usually act like this. Does he know about Dazai? Mori has a lot of spies… maybe they never had a chance at keeping it a secret. Dazai is good at avoiding the spies, but he’s not all there right now.

After Chuuya sets the paperwork on his desk in the office that he and Dazai share, he calls Kouyou.

She’s fast to answer, like always. “Chuuya.”

“Have you found him?” Please let it be that Dazai is just such a handful that Kouyou forgot to call. Please. Please. Please.

Kouyou is silent for a few seconds, but then, “No, but I’m still looking.”

Chuuya’s heart drops into his stomach. Dazai is still missing? It’s been hours. There’s almost no way Dazai hasn’t been found by someone at this point. Chuuya hasn’t heard if Mori’s people found him, and if Kouyou hasn’t found him either, then someone else might have found him and-

His mind is spiraling. He can’t work like this. “I… I need to look for him.”

“Chuuya, you can’t. Not right now. I’m still looking-” Kouyou’s voice goes in one ear, out the other. The alpha’s mind is on autopilot as he starts collecting his things to leave for the day, not caring about his workload at all. “Chuuya, stop.”

“He’s out there, Ane-san. I can’t-”

“He’s…” Kouyou pauses, “...not…”

Chuuya stops moving halfway through opening the door. “What? What do you mean?”

Kouyou never hesitates. Ever. She’s always calm and collected. She thinks before she says anything, which means that everything is thoroughly thought through when she does speak. He hears Kouyou inhale. “I found him. He’s safe.”

Chuuya stands there, mind blank for a few seconds, and then he growls. “Where is he?” He lets the door slam behind him as he walks back into the office, tempted to destroy everything in sight.

“He’s with me,” Kouyou responds.

“Where are you?” The alpha is pissed. Kouyou lied. Why did she lie to him? She said she would tell him when she found Dazai, but she didn’t. He would understand if she was busy with Dazai and was unable to call. Who knows what happened to the omega while he was on his own. He was tough when it was just Chuuya and him, but Chuuya specifically asked, and she lied to him. Why? Does it have to do with that stupid Mori situation she won’t tell him about? Chuuya had been stressed for hours, worried, because she hadn’t called him. And then she was going to let him believe she hadn’t found his omega. Unbelievable. “Are you at the brothel? I’m coming.”

“I will let you see him once you finish your work.” Chuuya doesn’t even want to know how Kouyou knows about his paperwork. Probably some stupid executive perk. Dazai seems to always know, too.

“Kouyou.”

“You have important things to do. I will take care of him until you leave.” Chuuya can hear shuffling on the other end of the phone, and he wonders if it’s Dazai. He wishes his paperwork would burn in hell. He wants to see the omega.

“I want to talk to him.”

“Chuuya-”

“Let me talk to him now,” Chuuya growls.

“No.”

Chuuya slams his fist onto his desk, denting it. “I will leave now and burn my work if you don’t let me talk to him.”

“Nakahara Chuuya, do not raise your voice at me.”

“Let me talk to him now,” Chuuya sneers. She’s preventing him from talking to Dazai. His instincts are raging. He can feel Corruption thrumming through his veins as he tries to remember not to crush his phone, the only link he has to Dazai right now.

After a few beats of silence, Kouyou responds, “If I let you talk to him, will you finish your work before you come here?”

Chuuya hesitates. He really wants to leave right now, but Kouyou is technically right. He should finish his work…but his alpha instincts are relentless. They want to protect Dazai. They know he’s okay now. They want the omega. But maybe if he talks to Dazai, it'll let his instincts know the brunet is okay. Maybe it’ll calm them down so they aren’t beating against his skull. He wants to make sure the brunet is actually okay.

“Yes.”

“Fine.”

The alpha hears shuffling and then Kouyou’s voice is softly speaking, probably to Dazai. He can’t make out what she says, though.

And then Dazai’s broken voice filters through the phone, “Chuuya?” The alpha almost cries in relief. The omega is okay. He’s alive.

“Dazai, hey, are you okay?”

The omega whines on the other end, and Chuuya hears a choked sob. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Are you hurt?”

“Everything hurts,” Dazai whimpers. “I miss Chuuya.”

“I’ll be there soon…I just - I have paperwork.” Chuuya is unsure how much of this conversation Dazai is taking in. The omega might not even remember this conversation later. He can talk to Dazai about Akutagawa and Mori later. They can talk about everything later. Right now, he just wants to listen to Dazai’s voice, even if it’s breaking his heart into pieces.

“Chibi.” Dazai sounds hoarse like he’s been crying for hours. “I don’t like it here.”

“I know. I know. Ane-san is just there to help, though-”

“She sent an alpha,” Dazai whimpers. “I don’t want a knot.”

Chuuya grits his teeth at the thought of Kouyou sending someone to help Dazai through his heat…like she thought Chuuya wouldn’t find out she had found the omega. Another discussion for another time. “How long have you been there?”

“Uh…” Chuuya hears Dazai inhale sharply and then there’s a bunch of shuffling noises. The alpha hears a distant snarl and a hissed, “Go away”. Then Dazai’s voice gets clearer as he presumably brings the phone back to his ear. “...uh…don’t know…few hours? I can’t - can’t keep track.”

The alpha bites his lip. This conversation is making him want to leave more. Dazai is entirely out of it. The omega doesn’t ever stop using his brain, and it’s frightening to see how much of a toll his heat has taken on his mind. And with Dazai being somewhere he obviously doesn’t want to be…he’ll be stressed the entire time it takes Chuuya to do this paperwork.

But he can’t.

“It’s okay. I’ll be there soon,” Chuuya whispers. “You’ll be okay.”

“Wait, Chuuya, no! Please don’t leave.” Dazai’s sobs hurt the alpha’s heart. He’s probably feeling so lonely and exposed. Kouyou sending him an alpha probably didn’t help… and Chuuya knows how Kouyou’s first way of helping omegas in heat is by getting them knotted, which is fair because it’s true, but she shouldn’t force Dazai to get knotted if he doesn’t want it; even if she knows that Dazai’s instincts do.

Chuuya hears a sudden yelp, and then Dazai wails, his voice growing distant. There’s a lot of shuffling and screaming on the other end. Kouyou must be taking the phone back.

“Dazai, let go,” Kouyou distantly tells him.

“Nonononono, Chuuya, please, I want to talk to Chuuya.” Dazai sounds so hurt and broken. Chuuya’s chest twists, a stray tear falling as he listens to Dazai’s cries. He wants to go to Dazai so badly. He really does. The omega is safe, he knows, but he wants to bring his partner back to his apartment, lay in his nest with him, scent him, and make him feel safe. He wants his own instincts calmed because of the omega’s happiness. He can practically smell Dazai’s distressed scent through the phone, and it makes him feel physical pain.

But he needs to finish the paperwork. Kouyou is right. Mori will get curious. He’ll start asking questions. Pretending everything is normal is the best way to protect the omega.

“Chuuya?” Kouyou's voice comes through the phone. Chuuya can hear Dazai’s wails in the background.

“Please keep him safe,” Chuuya whispers, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

“I will,” Kouyou promises.

“Thank you.”

Dazai’s cries echo in his head as he hangs up. Chuuya wants to cry, too.

The alpha turns toward the stack of papers on his desk and gets to work. It’ll probably be hours before he’s done, and he has an omega to get to.

-------

“Leave me alone,” Dazai hisses, turning his back on Kouyou to face the corner he’s hunched into. He doesn’t want to see the pity in her face. She pities him. She’s tried getting him to let her scent him so he doesn’t smell like that stupid drunk alpha, but he doesn’t want her scent. Dazai wants Chuuya. But Kouyou said Chuuya wanted her to take care of him until he’s done with work…so the omega wants no one.

“Dazai-”

“Go away,” he snaps. He’s more lucid than before; the talk with Chuuya helped bring him back from the floating state his mind had ended up in. He’s mad at Kouyou for taking the phone from him, for taking Chuuya from him…but Chuuya said he was coming soon. So Dazai wants to be left alone.

“You need to eat, boy.” He hears Kouyou shift, presumably setting the heat shake near him.

“No.”

Kouyou sighs, her cherry blossom-cinnamon scent making Dazai’s eyes water. He wants her to leave. He doesn’t want her here. A cramp flares up, and he suppresses a whimper, refusing to let Kouyou see him in pain. He curls up more, shoving his face further into his knees as the cramp spreads.

“Dazai, eat.” Another stupid alpha command. Dazai glares at her and is forced to uncurl himself to grab the shake. She watches him, her face revealing nothing about her opinions on seeing Dazai like this.

A severe cramp hits him, and he ends up crying out, choking on the shake. He’s coughing, trying to catch his breath, when he notices Kouyou reaching out, trying to reach his scent gland.

“NO!” Dazai growls, pulling back. He doesn’t want her scent.

“It’ll make you feel better,” Kouyou tells him. He knows that. He’s not stupid. He just doesn’t want her scent. He doesn’t want to be scented. “You should’ve at least let the alpha I sent here scent you, if you don’t want my scent.”

“Go away,” he whispers.

He hears Kouyou sigh and then leave the room. He sits quietly for a few minutes before reaching up to scratch his scent glands.

***

When Kouyou comes back some unknown amount of time later, she’s pissed.

“You cannot scratch them,” the alpha hisses as she returns from retrieving ointment. Dazai eyes her, continuing to scratch his glands as she gets closer. He bares his teeth when she reaches out, turning his back and curling up as tightly as he can.

“Dazai-” Her fingers brush along the omega’s back, and Dazai feels like he’s being burned. He yelps, jolting forward, his head bumping the wall. He then turns, glaring at Kouyou. When she reaches for him, Dazai snaps, barely missing her hand as she pulls it away.

“Dazai Osamu, do not bite me.” Kouyou grabs his chin, and Dazai instantly yanks himself out of her hold and buries his head between his knees.

“Go away,” he growls.

“I need to put ointment on your glands.”

“No.”

“Dazai-” the alpha reaches for him again, and Dazai snarls, showing her his teeth again.

Kouyou sighs. “I can’t use too many commands on a newly presented omega, so you either need to cooperate, or I’m going to force you to.”

Dazai shoves his head back between his knees. He hears Kouyou take another deep breath, and then she snaps her fingers. Dazai whips his head around when he hears the door open, and four beta men walk into the room. He looks at Kouyou with betrayal written in his features. The alpha just nods, and the betas start walking towards him.

Dazai’s fight-or-flight instincts react. He bolts, managing to surprise them with his quick movement so he’s able to get past them, scrambling under the bed. He can barely fit, but he manages because of how skinny he is.

The omega curls up with his back against the wall, violently shaking as he watches feet moving around the bed. They’re probably saying something, speaking to him. But he can’t hear anything other than his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. Tears are breaking free, dripping down his face as he tries to take in air. Dazai just wants Chuuya. He misses Chuuya’s scent, Chuuya’s croons, his nest. He hates it here. He wants to go home. The cramps are ravaging his stomach. It hurts. It hurts a lot. His omega instincts are screaming in his mind, telling him to find Chuuya, to get knotted, to mate. It’s hurting his head. He can’t think.

Then his feet are grabbed, and he’s pulled out from under the bed. Dazai wails, clawing and scratching at the betas around him.

“Are you sure-” one of the betas murmurs, but he’s interrupted quickly by Kouyou. “Yes, just hold him down so I can help him.”

Dazai’s skin burns where they are touching him, and he cries out, thrashing against the hands that are holding down his arms and legs. When Kouyou gets close, he snaps at her, trying to bite her hand. She flinches back, her mouth morphing into a frown.

“You need to stop. I don’t want to muzzle you,” she tells him, trying to reach his gland again.

Dazai bites at her, almost succeeding this time and grazing her finger. Kouyou sighs, shaking her head. She then leaves the room and returns, holding something in her hand.

Dazai’s eyes widen the second he realizes what it is. She’s actually going to put a muzzle on him?

The omega cries out, trying to free one of his limbs with all his remaining strength, but it’s futile. He’s too weak, his heat stealing all his energy. He’s so hot and cold, and his cramps are flowing through his body, making him nauseous and lightheaded.

Dazai snaps at Kouyou while she tries to get the muzzle on him, but she pushes his head down, forcing him still. Despite his efforts to free himself, she succeeds, snuggly wrapping the muzzle straps around his ears. She tightens it, and the second she releases his head, he whips his head back and forth. The muzzle doesn’t fly off like he had wanted. Dazai cries, weakly trying to pull himself free, and when that fails again, he just starts thrashing around. The betas tighten their grips, forcing him still.

“I’m sorry,” Kouyou murmurs. Dazai hears the cap of the ointment being taken off.

When she starts applying it to one of his glands, it stings; the scratching apparently started creating open wounds. The sting shoots through his nerves, and Dazai wails, tears finally breaking free as he tries to bite at Kouyou’s hand. The muzzle does its job, though.

When she gets to the gland that Chuuya bit, she pauses, brushing her fingers on it, which makes Dazai shiver involuntarily.

“What happened? Who bit you?” she asks, forcing his head forward to look at his mating gland. He hears a sigh of relief, and his head is let back down. “Was it that alpha that you smell of?”

“No,” he hisses. “Let me go.”

Kouyou leans down, sniffing. “Chuuya? Chuuya bit you?”

Dazai sobs. “No.”

“I can smell his scent lingering,” Kouyou mumbles, caressing the gland. Dazai shivers at the foreign touch, whimpering.

“Alpha bites on scent glands during your heat could make it worse,” she softly says, standing up and leaving. She comes back seconds later with a first aid kit.

Dazai whines as she gently cleans the dried blood off his gland, examining it throughout the entire process.

“It doesn’t look deep enough, so it should be fine.” She puts a different ointment on that and then pulls out something that looks like a patch.

Dazai’s eyes widen, his scent becoming acidic at the thought of a scent blocker.

“No, no, no, no, no, no.” Dazai shakes his head, whining as he tries to escape the patch, stretching his neck. It makes the wound on his gland sting.

The omega doesn’t want to feel like he did with those alpha scent blockers. They hurt. He felt like he was drowning despite being nowhere near water.

“It’s not a scent blocker. It’s just a regular bandage patch. I’m putting one on both glands so you can’t scratch them. You won’t feel suffocated by them,” Kouyou tries reassuring him, but Dazai sobs, weakly trying to free himself.

Kouyou gently places the bandage patches on his glands, and while she is right and Dazai doesn’t feel suffocated, he still wails more, trying to snap at her and free his arms.

“Let him go,” Kouyou commands. The men instantly let Dazai go, and the omega scrambles up, pushing his body as far into the corner of the room as he can.

“Dazai, let me take the muzzle off.” Kouyou starts reaching for it, but Dazai growls, snapping at her. He’s tired. He doesn’t want her near him. He doesn’t want her to touch him. He doesn’t want her here anymore. He just wants her to go away. His omega instincts are mad. They’re pissed. They don’t want to be here. Dazai never wanted to agree with his omega instincts, but he does right now. He wants Chuuya. The omega shoves his face into his knees, having a little trouble with the muzzle still on his face. He can get it off later. His hands are free now. He just wants her to go.

He hears Kouyou sigh and then leave, the door softly closing behind her.

He misses Chuuya. He misses Chuuya so much. He feels so nauseous and bad, and he can’t relax because he wants his stupid dog of a partner. He never needed to rely on anyone before. He never wanted to rely on anyone. He never wanted anyone. But he wants Chuuya. He wants the alpha a lot. He misses Chuuya’s scent and croons and how he would soften his voice like he knew Dazai’s instincts were screaming in his mind, and he didn’t want to make it worse.

“Chuuya.”

He whimpers into his knees, fat globs of tears falling down his face. He can feel them dripping through the muzzle. Chuuya wouldn’t have put a muzzle on him like he was some rabid animal.

Dazai starts trying to scratch at his glands but is met with the bandage patch. He tries to scratch using the patch, but it doesn’t satisfy that itch that Dazai is feeling. He cries out, softly banging his head against the wall as he tries to scratch and scratch and scratch and scratch, but it doesn’t help.

He curls up tighter into a ball along the wall, trying to suppress the violent sobs that are leaving his trembling body as he sits in this sterile, scentless room that smells like distressed burnt vanilla.

-------

Chuuya rushes to Kouyou’s brothel the second he’s off the job. The paperwork sucked, and most of it ended up being Dazai’s, which is annoying, but it’s alright. He’s off the job now. It’s around 10pm.

Kouyou is at the front door when he gets there.

“Kouyou.”

“...Chuuya.”

“Where is he?” Chuuya asks, glaring at her.

“He’s not-”

“Where. Is. Dazai.” Chuuya growls, pushing past her and barging into the brothel.

“Nakahara Chuuya,” Kouyou sounds pissed, but Chuuya doesn’t care. He is going to find his omega.

“I will start breaking down doors if you don’t tell me where he is.”

Kouyou’s jaw tenses, and she narrows her eyes at the other alpha. Chuuya’s scent is getting stronger. Angrier. It’s going to start spreading through the brothel.

“Calm down, and then I will take you to him,” Kouyou relents.

Chuuya sneers but starts smoothening his scent, making the smokiness even out into burning wood and wine. Kouyou hums and then starts walking, leading Chuuya through the brothel. She stops in front of a closed door.

“Here,” she murmurs.

Chuuya grunts and then softly knocks on the door. There’s no response. Biting his lip, he slowly opens the door. He’s instantly hit with Dazai’s distressed burnt vanilla scent. It’s so prevalent in the room it feels like Chuuya is walking through water. He’s quick to open and close the door, leaving Kouyou outside.

The room is mainly dark, but there are lamps on. The bed is completely made, meaning Dazai hasn’t touched it. There are extra blankets and pillows like Kouyou had set out items for Dazai to nest with, but the omega didn’t.

The omega himself is in the corner, unmoving and with his back to Chuuya.

“Dazai?”

The brunet jumps, inhaling sharply and letting out a whimper as he curls up more, refusing to turn around. Chuuya slowly walks towards him, reaching out to touch his back. The second he brushes his hand on the omega’s back, Dazai flinches, shoving his face further into his knees.

“Mackerel…”

“I’m sorry,” Dazai whispers, muffled. “I’m sorry - I thought - I don’t - it hurt and I didn’t - I didn’t…didn’t want to leave. But - ”

“Hey, no, no, it’s okay, Mackerel,” Chuuya reaches forward, trying to turn the omega around, but Dazai lets out a squawk and refuses to turn. His body is shaking severely, and Chuuya can tell he’s crying.

“Dazai, come on. Turn-”

And then he sees it. Dazai is obviously trying to hide it, but Chuuya still notices it. A glint of metal that’s reflected from the lamp. Chuuya’s scent drops, and he forces the omega to turn around - Dazai whining the entire time - to reveal a muzzle. Kouyou muzzled him?

“She muzzled you?”

Dazai only whimpers, more tears falling out of his glazed over eyes as Chuuya examines the muzzle. It’s a complicated tie strap that is usually used for omegas in heat because they’re so dazed and in pain that they can’t wrap their head around how to untie it. There’s no way Dazai would’ve been able to get it off while in heat, though Chuuya can tell there were attempts. There are scratch marks near the omega’s ears, indicating that he was trying to pry it off.

Before he could start untying it, Dazai lunges into his arms, sobbing into his neck. He’s shaking so much, and he’s so hot, his skin feeling like it’s burning Chuuya’s.

“Shhh, hey, it’s okay. I’m going to take you home,” Chuuya whispers, bringing one of his hands up to start untying the muzzle. He’s able to get one side free, and he sets to work on the other side, the omega sobbing the entire time.

“She said you shouldn’t help me,” Dazai whimpers.

“What?”

“She - she said that you shouldn’t help me. Which…that’s - that’s fine!” Dazai’s voice cracks. “It’s okay. It makes sense.”

“She’s wrong,” Chuuya says, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. He’s going to scare the omega if he raises his voice. Dazai will take it as Chuuya being mad at him, and while the alpha is confused and hurt that Dazai left in the first place, he’s not mad. Dazai ended up being right. Kouyou’s wasn’t a good place to go. While Chuuya understands that Dazai was probably not very cooperative, she shouldn’t have put a muzzle out of all things on him.

“She’s not,” Dazai whispers.

Chuuya quickly finishes untying the muzzle, and it falls to the ground with a loud metallic noise. Dazai flinches, nuzzling his nose into Chuuya’s scent gland, inhaling his scent. Chuuya takes note of the bandage patches on Dazai’s scent glands, which means he was probably scratching again. Kouyou isn’t the type to be patient when omegas are harming themselves. It’s probably part of the reason why they’re in this situation to begin with.

The alpha brings Dazai’s wrist gland to his own neck gland, but he smells something right before he rubs their glands together.

He brings Dazai’s wrist to his nose inhaling a lungful of vinegar and rotten fruit. The redhead flinches back, not expecting it to be so strong.

It’s another alpha scent.

“Dazai, why does your scent smell like vinegar and rotten fruit?”

At the question, Dazai breaks. He starts letting out choked sobs, inhaling and exhaling short breaths like he can’t get in enough air. His shaking intensifies, and Chuuya instantly regrets asking, so he scents the omega, ignoring the smell that his own scent is starting to cover up. Dazai inhales deeply, his eyes dilating as tears pour out of them, and then he sighs out a half-choked purr, resting his head on Chuuya’s shoulder as he trembles. Chuuya starts crooning, trying to help calm his partner down. He’s not sure what happened, but obviously, Dazai isn’t really in a place to talk about it. He’ll harass the brunet about it later, or maybe Kouyou knows.

When Dazai’s body slowly stops shaking, Chuuya manhandles the omega fully into his lap, positioning his partner’s legs around his own waist.

“Can you hold on?” Chuuya softly asks. Dazai sluggishly nods against his shoulder, letting out a hum. He’s tired. His panic attacks are short-lived compared to how they were the first few days, like Dazai’s mind and body just give up at this point.

Chuuya feels Dazai tighten his legs. Kouyou had apparently given the man new clothes - he needs to remember to ask for his clothes back - so Dazai’s pants aren’t as soaked with slick as he expected when he places his hands on the omega’s butt, balancing him. Dazai hugs the alpha tighter, crying softly, so instead of instantly standing, Chuuya just hugs him back.

“I wasn’t expecting him to listen to you, if I’m being honest,” Kouyou's calm voice comes from behind him. Dazai stiffens in Chuuya’s hold, whimpering as he hides his face in the crook of Chuuya’s neck, his forehead smearing sweat against the alpha’s skin.

Chuuya just grunts, ignoring her. He should ask about what happened. He should. But he’s mad at her right now. He trusted her to find Dazai and tell him, and she didn’t. She took him instead and muzzled him.

“Chuuya-”

“Why did you put a muzzle on him?” Chuuya asks, nosing Dazai’s hair when he starts whining.

Kouyou sighs. “He kept trying to bite me. I put ointment on his glands since he was scratching them.” She pauses, looking at the omega briefly. “He actually did bite one of the alphas I sent.”

Chuuya hums, not really sure what to say. He’s not really surprised that Dazai bit someone. The brunet tends to lash out when he gets cornered, usually shooting people with a gun or two, but his instincts would morph that reaction into biting since he doesn’t have a gun. It makes sense. He’s honestly surprised Dazai hasn’t tried to bite him once.

“And why does he smell like-”

“I don’t know,” Kouyou interrupts. “His scent was like that when I found him, and he wouldn’t tell me what happened. I have theories, though.”

Chuuya tightens his hold on the omega, muttering, “Me too.”

Something happened. There was an alpha who tried to force themself on Dazai, who’s in heat and can’t fight back.

Chuuya’s not gonna lie; Dazai’s scent is…inviting. Whiskey and leather with vanilla. Many people like whiskey and are probably turned on by something that makes them feel free and liberated. Leather smells earthy and woodsy. Like a forest or autumn weather. Something that can rarely be smelled in a city. The vanilla part of his scent is purely because he’s an omega. Omegas have a sweeter tinge to their scents that alphas don’t have, and their heat amplifies that, making their scents welcoming to alphas. If Dazai had presented as an alpha, he would probably only smell like leather and whiskey.

But the fact of the matter is that his scent is inviting. Which is ironic, considering Dazai is not inviting; he’s the opposite of a welcoming, warm, caring person and is probably the furthest thing alphas would want as their omega.

Chuuya shakes his head, interrupting his thoughts. It doesn’t matter. Chuuya has Dazai now, and he’s not letting him go. When the alpha starts standing, trying to lift himself and Dazai up, Kouyou speaks again. “You shouldn’t-”

“I’m leaving, and I’m taking him with me,” Chuuya growls. Dazai whimpers at the tone, starting to slightly shiver again.

“How do you think you’re going to get him back to your apartment without being seen?” Kouyou asks.

“I just will.” He walks past his mentor, clutching his partner to his chest like Kouyou might try to steal the omega from him.

“Chuuya, he smells like heat. He’ll attract attention,” Kouyou protests, swiftly following behind them.

“And I’ll protect him,” Chuuya states, continuing his walk to the front.

“I’ll tell Mori.” Chuuya’s blood runs cold and he feels Dazai violently flinch, breath hitching.

“Do not.”

“You are giving me no choice.”

“How?”

“Chuuya, you don’t understand-”

“You’re right. I don’t. You aren’t telling me. Dazai isn’t telling me. No one is telling me anything, so unless you tell me, I don’t care. I’m taking him with me,” Chuuya hisses, his voice full of venom. He’s so tired of people telling him what to do, and they expect him to obey without explanation.

Dazai is struggling, and it’s barely halfway through his heat. If it keeps going at this rate, Dazai will be terrified of his heats. He’ll find a way to suppress them, get rid of them, something that could kill him in the process. While Chuuya finds his partner annoying and obnoxious, he doesn’t want Dazai to die, no matter how much the stupid brunet wants to die. Maybe it’s instinctual, his alpha instinct latching onto his omega partner… but he’s not sure if he can confidently blame it solely on his alpha.

The weird part is that Kouyou taught him about omegas. Mori lectured him and Dazai about the basics of all subgenders: the different subgenders, scents, glands, and anatomy. But Kouyou is the reason he’s aware of omega behavior and heats. He’s not an omega. He doesn’t actually know what Dazai is going through. But Kouyou beat information into his brain, trying to get him to understand why an omega might be aroused one minute and then in the middle of a panic attack the next. She forced him to suffer through smelling omegas in heat and not fucking them. She wanted him to hone his instincts. He’s grateful. It’s the only reason he’s done so well with Dazai, but it doesn’t make sense. What is so important to her that she is willing to let Dazai suffer?

“It’s not my place to tell,” Kouyou tonelessly replies.

“Then, I’m taking him with me.”

“Chuuya-”

“Kouyou. Stop.” Chuuya's voice is stern and unwavering. She’s not changing his mind. At this point, he doesn’t care what the two executives are hiding from him. He wants to take care of his partner. Dazai took care of him - to the best of Dazai’s ability - after Corruption. He was there when Chuuya woke up. He told the alpha what happened. He forced Chuuya to take the pain medication that Mori prescribed even though Chuuya was depressed and just wanted to die. Knowing that you really could be just a collection of lines of code does a number on your mental state, along with being the reason your friends died.

Dazai kept him alive despite wanting to die himself. He doesn’t deserve to be forced into having a shitty heat just because of some fear of Mori. Mori doesn’t need to know.

Kouyou is silent but then deeply sighs, stopping when they get to the front doors of the brothel. “If you insist…Let me gather some supplies for you.”

“I-”

“I will let this go only if you take the supplies,” Kouyou snaps, turning around and leaving Chuuya holding the shaking omega.

Dazai whimpers, moving his head to rest his forehead on Chuuya’s neck. The omega’s skin is hot to the touch, as expected, and Chuuya feels the rush of No Longer Human as their skin touches. Dazai slowly tries to rub his scent gland on Chuuya’s, but the bandage patches prevent him. Chuuya would take them off, but Dazai does need to stop scratching his glands, and these aren’t blockers. It would be better to just keep them on and scent using their wrist glands.

“I know, Mackerel, but let’s keep the patches on for now,” Chuuya murmurs, resting his chin on Dazai’s head as they wait.

Dazai just depressingly hums in response. Kouyou quickly returns, shoving a bag between Dazai and Chuuya. The omega sluggishly looks down at it, softly grunts, and then rests his head back on Chuuya’s shoulder, turning his face away from Kouyou.

“Thanks,” Chuuya mumbles, turning to leave.

Kouyou lays her hand on Chuuya’s other shoulder, forcing the alpha to a stop. “There’s heavy heat suppressants in there. They will suppress his scent and prevent his heat. He. Can. Not. Abuse. Them. Which means he needs to have a heat once every three months. That is non-negotiable.”

“Kouyou-”

“No. You will listen to me on this. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to inform Mori of Dazai’s subgender. I’ll keep his secret as long as it doesn’t affect the mafia. If Dazai abuses the suppressants, his body will become immune to them. He could go into an unexpected heat. Mori will find out. You must force him to take the suppressants responsibly.” Kouyou’s tone is firm and demanding. She will get what she wants.

Chuuya looks down at Dazai’s form in his hold. The omega is still shivering, probably more to do with the pain and his heat than his mental state. He’s probably half-asleep, but he looks so lost and distressed. Chuuya knows that Dazai won’t want a heat after this. He’ll want to go on suppressants, hiding his scent and preventing his body from going into heat again. Excessive use of suppressants is bad. It could give him so many different medical problems, and the worst-case scenario is death - not that Dazai would care too much about that one. It’ll be hard to get Dazai not to abuse them…but the omega needs to go on them.

“Alright. I’ll make sure he does,” Chuuya replies, meeting Kouyou’s eyes.

“There’s also sedatives.”

Chuuya raises an eyebrow, confused and surprised. Everyone in the upper ranks of the mafia knows not to give Dazai any pills, no matter what. Only Mori is allowed to provide the brunet medication.

“He’s severely stressed. He’s not going to relax for an extended period of time, and I’ve been informed that he doesn’t want a knot. His instincts will not agree with that,” Kouyou sighs. “He’s been so on edge that the second he feels safe and protected, he’s going to be insatiable.”

She nods towards the bag that’s resting in between the two of them. “The sedatives will help calm him. They aren’t strong, but they should be enough. There’s only 10. The second his heat is over, if there are extras, flush them.”

“Thank you, Ane-san.” Chuuya forces a smile, trying to be grateful, which he is, but he’s also still mad.

“I’m not done. There’s a heat collar. I saw the bite. It’s not deep, but I know it was you. Your scent was coming from it.”

Chuuya bites his lip, avoiding her gaze.

“I don’t know the circumstances around how it happened, and I’m assuming you didn’t mean to; however, bites on scent glands are dangerous. If it was any deeper, it could’ve made his heat worse. His instincts would get more demanding, knowing that there’s an alpha. It would’ve been similar to how his heats would be if he was mated.”

“Oh.” Chuuya wasn’t even aware that mated omegas had different reactions to heats.

“So there’s a heat collar that’ll cover his glands - all of them - and I would advise using it.”

“He won’t like it,” Chuuya mumbles. Honestly, Chuuya doesn’t like it. Collaring Dazai just seems wrong. Plus, it’s definitely something Dazai would have a panic attack over.

“Chuuya, dear, he’s in heat. He’s not going to like anything that doesn’t end with him getting a knot. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. He’ll be even more upset when his heat is over, and you’ve accidentally mated him.”

Chuuya wants to protest. Dazai likes cuddling and nesting, and he isn’t as insatiable as Kouyou is making him seem. There was that one time, but other than that, he’s been good. He cries a lot, sure, but he’s good.

Chuuya opens his mouth to respond, but Kouyou interrupts him. “One more thing. Do you…plan on spending your ruts with him? After this?” She’s looking at Dazai’s shivering body in Chuuya’s arms. “I don’t know if he could handle it.”

“I don’t know. We’ll talk about it,” Chuuya replies.

Kouyou clenches her jaw, looking up from Dazai to Chuuya. She has a lot to say and a lot of opinions she wants to give Chuuya. The alpha knows his mentor doesn’t like this. It’s not that she doesn’t like Dazai, but she had always told Chuuya to keep his distance from the brunet. Chuuya ignored her, not understanding why. He still doesn’t. Dazai is an ass, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to be a lonely ass.

Kouyou sighs. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Chuuya.”

Chuuya glances at the omega, who is clutching his chest. He’s not fully asleep, awake enough to keep his legs wrapped tightly around Chuuya’s waist and his arms hugging the alpha like his life depends on it. To Dazai’s omega, maybe it does.

Honestly, Chuuya wouldn’t rather be anywhere else than in the hold of this omega.

“I do.”

Chapter Text

The ride back to Chuuya’s apartment was quiet. Kouyou let Chuuya use her car so the alpha didn’t have to walk back while holding an omega in heat. Chuuya refused to call a cab since Dazai’s scent wouldn’t be suppressed, and having a mafia car drive them would be plain stupid. So Kouyou said he could use her car. He only had to re-promise everything he had already promised: putting Dazai on the heat suppressants, making the brunet use them responsibly, flushing the extra sedatives, etc.

Dazai was quiet the entire ride back, resting his face against the passenger window as he stared sleepily outside. He occasionally made whimpering noises, shifting slightly in his seat like his cramps were making him uncomfortable. He whines when Chuuya lifts him up after arriving in the alpha’s apartment’s parking garage, but he’s quick to nuzzle into Chuuya’s scent gland, breathing a content sigh as he stops squirming.

On the way up to the apartment, Chuuya quickly brushes Dazai’s bangs back, feeling how hot the omega is. He should probably have the brunet take a bath before going to bed. It’ll make him feel better and get rid of that other alpha’s scent that’s still lingering on him despite the amount of scenting they have done.

Once they’re in Chuuya’s apartment, the redhead instantly takes Dazai to the bathroom. Dazai hazily looks at him as the alpha takes his clothes off. His eyes are half-lidded, and he is obviously not really there with Chuuya, but he’s humming quietly like he’s trying to let Chuuya know he’s somewhat present.

The alpha keeps the bandage patches on and leads Dazai into the warm water, making sure Dazai isn’t going to slip in the tub. Once the omega is safely seated inside, he snatches the bag that Kouyou had given them from the ground where he had left it. The alpha rummages through it as Dazai moves around in the tub, taking stock of everything inside. Heat collar, sedatives, heat suppressants… and some extra things that she didn’t mention: more bandage patches, itch cream for scent glands…and… male omega birth control. Of course. Why is he not surprised?

Chuuya rolls his eyes, grabbing the itch cream and bandage patches. He’ll clean Dazai’s scent glands to try and help get that other alpha’s scent to disappear, but he needs to re-patch them. The brunet will definitely start scratching them if he gets the chance. Chuuya is lucky Kouyou thought ahead.

Chuuya sets the cream and patches to the side and then sits right outside the tub; Dazai is resting his head on the side of the tub, breathing softly. Chuuya nudges the brunet’s head with his hand, getting Dazai to sit up so the alpha can wash his hair. The man slouches forward, staring down at his hands in his lap as Chuuya pours water on his hair, blocking it from getting into his partner’s face. Dazai shivers, whimpering and clutching his stomach.

Chuuya makes sure to scrub Dazai’s scalp with shampoo and conditioner to wash away the grease, sweat, and whatever else might be making Dazai feel gross. When he gets to the body soap, he gently takes the bandage patches off, quickly noticing how red the one he bit is. Guilt swirls in his stomach, and he hesitates before carefully caressing the glands with the rainforest body soap.

Dazai flinches but otherwise stays quiet, trembling slightly. Chuuya makes sure to get rid of the other alpha’s scent completely, washing Dazai’s body twice before noticing that the water is getting cool.

When Chuuya stands, Dazai gazes up at him sluggishly. He looks like a tired, depressed, wet cat. He’s probably barely staying awake, his mind still in that fight-or-flight mode, refusing to let him sleep despite how utterly tired the man is.

Chuuya leaves briefly, grabbing clothes for the omega and himself. When he returns, Dazai is still where he left him, but now his head is lying on the tub's edge again like it was at the beginning of his bath. He better not be asleep yet.

“Come on, Mackerel. Let me dry you.” Chuuya nudges the brunet’s head and grabs a towel. Dazai groans, moving around in the tub to get away from Chuuya. He’s now leaning his head on the tub wall, eyes closed as he shivers.

“Come onnnn.” Chuuya starts poking Dazai’s arm, harassing the omega until he finally starts moving again, slowly glaring at Chuuya through glazed eyes while sluggishly getting to his feet. The alpha hands him the towel and helps him to the toilet, pushing him down to sit on it. He dries Dazai and forces him into new sweatpants but keeps the brunet’s shirt off for now. He quickly pushes Dazai’s bangs back to recheck his temperature. His forehead isn’t as hot as before, which is good. He’s still boiling, but just slightly less boiling.

The cream is cold as he squirts some on his fingers. Dazai whines softly as Chuuya gently rubs it on his glands. Since he’s being allowed close to Dazai’s glands, he examines the one he bit. There are two puncture wounds that were made by his fangs right on the edges of Dazai’s gland. The skin around the two wounds is bright red, and the wounds are raised slightly, irritated.

“I’m sorry for biting you,” Chuuya murmurs as he finishes rubbing the cream on Dazai’s scent glands and starts opening the first bandage patch.

“It’s… okay…” Dazai slurs. “...was just a nibble.” Chuuya disagrees that it was “just a nibble,” but fighting with Dazai about that now - or ever - seems futile.

Chuuya glances at the brunet’s face and notices that his eyes are closed, and he’s beginning to lean forward, but then he jerks back, trying to wake himself up. The alpha speeds up, quickly putting both patches on and helping Dazai into the new sweatshirt. He then helps the omega to his nest. Dazai collapses into the nest, moaning as he crawls around it. Chuuya returns to the bathroom, changes his clothes, grabs Kouyou’s bag, and heads back to the nest.

Dazai has wrapped himself in three blankets: two around his body and an extra one around his abdomen. He’s also curled into a few pillows, hugging them tightly as he shoves his face into them. His scent is much more content, whiskey and leather wafting off him in waves. But there are still notes of burnt vanilla. He’s still distressed.

Chuuya glances at the bag and considers the heat collar. He’s probably going to pass out with the omega, and he doesn’t want to wake up to trying to bite Dazai’s gland again. The scent glands on his neck are covered, but the brunet’s mating gland is still exposed… what if the collar makes Dazai more upset.

The alpha bites his lip and pulls the heat collar out of the bag, staring at it. It’s black and small; Kouyou probably chose her smallest one. Even though Dazai is tall, he’s skinny. It would wrap around the base of Dazai’s neck, covering the two scent glands in the juncture where his shoulder and neck meet and the mating gland near the nape of his neck. It would be a little uncomfortable, the collar going far enough up the omega’s neck that he wouldn’t be able to scrunch his shoulders or anything like that. But, it’s for his own good; a way for them to be able to know for sure that nothing will happen as they sleep because apparently Chuuya’s alpha instincts do things while he’s asleep. They can always take it off when they aren’t asleep.

It seems the alpha is taking too long to get in the nest because Dazai turns towards him and reaches his hand out, pleading with his eyes for Chuuya to get in.

“Dazai-”

“Please.” Dazai’s voice sounds so defeated and tired.

“I will, I will. I just… we should put a heat collar on you.” Chuuya climbs into the nest, sitting on his legs with the heat collar in his hands.

Dazai furrows his brows in obvious distaste, glancing at the heat collar and then back at Chuuya. “A heat collar?”

“Yeah, it’ll just… make it so I don’t accidentally bite your glands when we sleep… like last time.” Chuuya picks at his nail in discomfort. They haven’t really talked about what happened, and they definitely should. That cannot happen again, but again, right now isn’t the right time. “It covers your glands.”

“Oh…” Chuuya can see the hurt in the omega’s brown eyes, the betrayal at the suggestion. But then Dazai sits up, whispering an “Okay” and freeing his neck for Chuuya to put the collar on.

Barely any words. No complaints. No crying. Nothing. Just acceptance. It’s very un-Dazai-like.

Hesitantly, the redhead clasps the heat collar around Dazai’s neck, ensuring his glands are covered and safe.

“Is it too tight?” Chuuya asks.

“No,” Dazai mumbles, rolling his shoulders like he’s testing how much movement he has. He looks at his hands, trembling slightly.

Chuuya furrows his brows and quickly maneuvers them so they’re on their sides, having Dazai curl up in his arms so he can nuzzle into the alpha’s neck. With Dazai unable to scent with his neck glands, Chuuya forces one of the omega’s arms out from being clutched to the brunet’s chest, making it so they can scent using their wrists. As Chuuya’s senses fill with whiskey, leather, and sweat, warm vanilla, the omega lets out a happy sigh; his trembling slowly stops, and his scent finally evens out, the burnt vanilla disappearing completely.

The alpha hugs his partner closer, shoving his face in Dazai’s fluffy brown hair. It’s still damp from the bath, but the alpha doesn’t mind. He inhales, reminding himself that Dazai is here. Dazai is safe. Dazai is in his arms and can’t be hurt. Dazai wasn’t physically hurt. Dazai is okay.

Chuuya’s alpha is stressed. He can feel it. This nagging feeling in the center of his chest and the back of his mind. An insistent urge that is just repeating over and over that he can’t let this omega out of his sight.

What if Kouyou hadn’t found Dazai? What if Mori finds out? What if Mori already knows? What if something happens to Dazai after this heat is over? The alpha wants nothing more than to close his eyes and fall asleep with the omega since he woke up at 3am to Dazai missing and hasn’t slept since, but his mind can’t calm down; his instincts are still worried. What if he wakes up and Dazai has left again? What if he tries to bite the omega in his sleep? What if Mori shows up unexpectedly at his apartment or Kouyou decides she doesn’t trust Chuuya to care for Dazai? What if Dazai had been taken? He’s heard about some traffickers who kidnap omegas and then either use them themselves or sell them. Dazai isn’t easily recognizable without his bandages, but even if they don’t find out he’s a high-ranking mafia member, he’s a fresh omega with an ability. As morbid as it is, Dazai would sell well. And he’s unclaimed. Any alpha could claim Dazai, making Chuuya understand why the omega mentioned removing his mating gland…

Chuuya’s mind is spiraling.

The alpha inhales a lungful of Dazai’s hair scent again and scents him simultaneously, trying to ground himself. Whiskey and leather fill his nose, and it helps. His muscles relax, and his eyes feel a lot heavier. His mind stops repeating the hypotheticals over and over. Dazai is safe. Dazai is here. And Dazai is Dazai. Even if he did end up in any of those situations, he’ll be fine.

The alpha accidentally starts crooning softly, his chest rumbling like an earthquake. He feels Dazai move slightly so his head is closer to it, rubbing his cheek on Chuuya’s chest, a phantom scenting. Dazai’s omega instincts are telling him to try scenting the content alpha. Make him happier.

Chuuya starts running his fingers along Dazai’s spine, eventually kneading into his lower back to try and help with the cramps. Dazai has been uncharacteristically quiet about the cramps, but the alpha can feel a few seconds of tension occasionally that the omega seems to be trying to hide.

Dazai’s breathing is soft and short, and it slowly evens out into the long, deep breaths of sleep, the omega completely relaxing.

When Chuuya also tries to close his eyes, his mind flashes back to finding Dazai huddled in the corner of one of Kouyou’s rooms, his red-eyed, tear-stained face looking at him in complete despair. When he tries to think of anything but that, his mind reminds him of how scared and alone Dazai was in his container, or of when Dazai tried to overdose, or his conversations with Mori.

So Chuuya stays awake instead, staring at the ceiling while massaging Dazai’s back and scenting him occasionally.

Dazai is still asleep well past sunrise, twitching and making small snuffling noises. Sweat has started to drip down the omega’s forehead, and Chuuya can see how flushed he is. He’s panting, too; the slow, deep breathing he had before is quick and more wheeze-like now.

Chuuya pushes Dazai’s bangs up, feeling his forehead. His temperature is high again, the omega’s skin feeling like it’s burning Chuuya’s hand.

Dazai whimpers, flinching slightly. One of his arms moves, clutching his abdomen as he curls in Chuuya’s hold, angling his head further into Chuuya’s chest.

The alpha tries to help; he tries massaging Dazai’s back again, but it seems the pain is mainly in his abdomen, his whimpering getting more constant and broken instead of lessening. So Chuuya maneuvers the omega. Even though Dazai is usually a light sleeper and would be woken up when moved, he’s still deep into his heat. Even his cramps aren’t waking him up right now; his body and mind are too exhausted. Chuuya isn’t even sure if Dazai is going to wake up today.

Once Dazai’s back is against the alpha’s chest, he lowers his hands to his partner’s belly, massaging it. He nuzzles the back of Dazai’s ear at the same time, softly crooning.

Dazai quiets down, his body shivering as he returns to his earlier snuffling noises. Chuuya relaxes again, content that Dazai is content.

Later, around 11am, the omega starts shifting and whimpering again. Chuuya tries to lull him back to sleep, scenting and kneading his partner’s stomach, but the brunet’s movements become more aggressive; violent flinches and Dazai’s head ends up slamming into Chuuya’s chest, jolting the omega awake. He’s breathing heavily as he trembles in Chuuya’s arms. He doesn’t do anything for a few minutes, probably trying to reorient himself. Chuuya keeps massaging Dazai’s stomach and crooning softly in his ear. Eventually, his head moves up, meeting Chuuya’s gaze. His brown eyes are hazy and dull. He’s still not all there.

“Mmm, Chibi?” Dazai mumbles.

“Nightmare?”

Dazai shrugs, curling up again, groaning.

“Hold up! Nope! Not yet.” Chuuya forces Dazai to sit up and turn around. “Shake time!”

Dazai sluggishly looks at him, blinking. “But ‘m tiredddd.”

“You can go back to sleep after one heat shake, okay?” Chuuya offers.

Dazai pouts, leaning forward into the alpha’s chest and shaking his head. But then, a soft “okay” is breathed out at the alpha. Chuuya tilts his head, raising an eyebrow. Dazai has been oddly compliant, and it’s starting to freak him out. First the heat collar, and now the shake? It’s unsettling.

He brushes it off and escapes from the omega’s grip, going to the kitchen. He grabs a shake from the fridge and a few snacks for himself, and when he returns to the nest, he gawks at what he sees. Dazai is passed out again, clutching the pillow Chuuya had been laying on.

Chuuya chuckles, climbing into the nest. He nudges the omega until he wakes up again, groaning. Dazai groggily looks at him, and then the heat shake. He sighs and then grabs it, pouting as he begrudgingly starts drinking it.

When he finishes, he hands the plastic cup back to Chuuya, who puts it on the nightstand and then curls up in the blankets. Chuuya drags the omega closer with Dazai’s back against his side. His partner doesn’t seem to want to cuddle, so Chuuya leaves him be, letting Dazai face away from him while he stares at the ceiling. When he thinks Dazai fell back asleep - it shouldn’t take much since Dazai is still so tired - Chuuya tries to fall asleep.

And fails. He counts sheep. He tries to keep his mind blank. He inhales what he can get of Dazai’s scent without harassing the man. He relaxes his body. He thinks about sleeping, and how tired he is, and how much he would love it if he went to sleep…

Chuuya opens his eyes, looking at the clock. It’s only been 20 minutes. He quietly groans and ends up looking at Dazai… who at some point had completely curled into himself, his back not touching Chuuya anymore. He’s clutching the blanket to his chest while his body shivers, which is odd because the man has two blankets and a comforter covering him. He also realizes that Dazai is awake, letting out shuddering breaths like he’s having trouble breathing.

“Cramps?” Chuuya asks, trying to pry Dazai up and out of the curled position. Dazai’s scent isn’t telling him much. Ever since they got back, it’s been bordering on distress and content, mainly distress, and that’s what it is right now.

The brunet aggressively shakes his head, resisting Chuuya’s attempts at getting him to uncurl. “No.”

“Oh. Your instincts then?” the alpha asks. Skin-on-skin contact could help his partner’s omega instincts calm down if that’s troubling him.

Dazai shakes his head again. “No, no, no, no, no - mgh - ” His partner just keeps repeating the word over and over, confusing Chuuya immensely. Dazai’s trembling is making the entire bed wobble.

“Dazai, what’s wrong?” Chuuya forces the omega up and around, too worried that something is happening that he doesn’t understand. Did something happen at Kouyou’s that they didn’t tell him about? Did he get into pills there? Does he want a knot?

When the omega turns to look at him, Chuuya’s breath halts. Dazai’s face is completely pale, and his sweating seems to have gotten worse, multiple beads of sweat dripping down the side of the man’s face. He’s panting, his mouth slightly open as saliva starts dripping down his chin. Chuuya’s eyes widen in realization and he drags the omega up, rushing to the bathroom.

Dazai barely makes it to the toilet before he’s vomiting, whimpering as his body expels whatever is in his stomach.

Was it the heat shake? It’s been a little bit since then, enough time for Dazai’s body to reject it, but heat shakes are supposed to help omegas in heat keep food down. If Dazai’s body can’t keep the shake down, Chuuya isn’t sure how he will get nutrients into his partner. Whatever; that’s a later problem. He can look it up or something.

Chuuya stands, grabbing some wipes as Dazai continues vomiting his lungs out. The alpha can hear the contents becoming less the more Dazai gags until there’s nothing left, and the omega is just dry heaving and sobbing. He collapses onto his legs, staring at the floor in disgust and embarrassment. He’s still pale, and his hair is a mess, greasy and wet like Dazai hadn’t even taken a bath hours earlier. Saliva is dripping into Dazai’s lap and he lets out a disgusted noise.

“Hey, come here,” Chuuya murmurs, crouching beside the brunet. Dazai glances at him, tear streaks running down his face, and his eyes look hazy and even more tired than before. Chuuya starts cleaning his face, wiping away the saliva and puke, then moving to wipe what dripped onto his lap. The omega whimpers, pulling away once Chuuya finishes, wrapping an arm around his stomach.

“Was it the heat shake, you think?” Chuuya decides to ask, throwing away the wipes.

“Mmm, don’t know,” Dazai mumbles, voice rough and wet.

“Do you want a painkiller?” Chuuya asks, flushing the toilet. He’ll clean it later when Dazai isn’t actively dying on his floor.

“No, no, no, no, no-” Dazai sucks in a quick breath, instantly curling forward as he wraps his other arm around his abdomen. His hair falls forward as he leans towards the floor, exposing the heat collar that’s wrapped around his neck. He’s panting a lot, and he’s still shaking.

“But you’re in pain,” Chuuya points out.

“’m okay,” Dazai protests, a tremor flowing through his body as he says it. He shakes his head against the ground.

“Mackerel-”

“‘m fine.” He sounds so tired and broken. So unlike Dazai. Chuuya isn’t sure he’ll ever be able to get this version of Dazai out of his head, this hurting, sad, broken version of the Demon Prodigy. He’s by no means happy that Dazai is like this, but it’s refreshing to see that Dazai isn’t as cold and hostile as he projects himself to be.

Chuuya sits down next to the omega, manhandling him against his will. Dazai whines the entire time, repeating that he’s okay, but Chuuya just puts the brunet on his back and slides him into his lap, forcing his partner’s face to look up at him. Dazai’s head is basically on top of the alpha’s crotch, making Chuuya hesitate with his plan, but once he sees that Dazai’s eyes are filled with tears, threatening to fall, he ignores his worries. Dazai tries to rub the tears away, but Chuuya grabs his partner’s wrists, raising his eyebrows as he and Dazai start staring at each other.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

Dazai’s eyes flick away but quickly return, the watery look in his eyes getting worse. “‘m okay, Chibi.”

“You just threw up. Obviously, you aren’t okay. Are you in pain? Wait, that's a dumb question. I know you’re in pain. Do you want a painkiller?”

“No,” Dazai whispers, a tear starting to fall down the side of Dazai’s face because of how he’s lying.

“Dazai-”

“Don’t worry, Chibi. ‘m okay,” Dazai mumbles.

Chuuya narrows his eyes and opens his mouth to say something, but suddenly, Dazai jerks forward, his forehead hitting Chuuya’s jaw. Chuuya yelps, moving his head back as Dazai whimpers, collapsing and turning on his side to clutch his stomach.

The omega is so obviously in pain that Chuuya is surprised Dazai thinks he’ll be able to convince him into thinking he’s fine.

“You’re getting a painkiller,” Chuuya decides.

“No, no, no, no, Chibi,” Dazai whines, reaching for the alpha once he stands. Chuuya picks him up and returns him to the nest, dropping Dazai inside. He leaves the room, ignoring Dazai’s wails, and grabs a single pill from his secret Dazai-proof hiding spot. He also snatches a water bottle. Dazai should at least drink water if his body can’t keep the shakes down anymore.

When he reaches the nest, Dazai is whimpering and turning, trying to find a comfortable spot to sleep but being in too much pain to do so. He climbs over Dazai’s walls of blankets and pillows and hands the pill to the omega. Dazai frowns at it and it deepens when Chuuya shoves the water in his lap.

“But-”

“Drink the water. I won’t make you drink another heat shake right now, but you need liquid with how much slick and sweat you’re producing. Vomiting probably made your dehydration worse, too.”

“‘m not dehydrated,” Dazai mumbles, staring depressingly at the water bottle that is now in his lap.

“You will be if you don’t drink anything,” Chuuya mutters. “Drink it, and I’ll let you go back to sleep.”

Dazai bites his lip but eventually obliges, swallowing the pill and sipping a little water. Chuuya supposes it’s better than nothing. The omega shoves the water bottle between a pillow and blanket, essentially adding it to his nest, then curls back up, facing away from Chuuya.

The alpha knows something is wrong; something that doesn’t have to do with how badly Dazai is feeling. Dazai had been so resistant to everything that Chuuya had asked from him since the alpha had found him in his container. He fought back on everything; didn’t want help, didn’t want to be scented, didn’t want to nest. But now he is suddenly listening to everything Chuuya says. Even a couple days ago, Dazai would fight back on things, this glint in his eyes showing how much Dazai hates listening to what Chuuya is saying. Now, there’s nothing. No glint in his eyes, no verbal disagreement. He whines but doesn’t really reject Chuuya. The most he says is “no,” but even that is usually broken, and has no willpower behind it.

Chuuya wonders if he suggests knotting if Dazai will comply - not that he’s going to ask. It just… seems like Dazai is not there at all. The alpha figures the change might have to do with Dazai’s omega. At some point, Dazai completely stopped resisting his omega. It could’ve happened when the man was on his own, at Kouyou’s, or even once Chuuya brought him back here…but either way, Chuuya is dealing with Dazai’s omega. Who…is probably on edge and assuming that Chuuya is mad. Dazai wouldn’t normally feel bad about leaving Chuuya, but what his omega instincts see is that Dazai, who is in heat, left the alpha who was taking care of him. Everything that happened to him probably doesn’t matter to the omega side because all the omega side cares about is the sole fact that Dazai left. Dazai was bad. He left the alpha. So he’s being good. He doesn’t want to make Chuuya mad again.

At least, this is Chuuya’s working theory. Dazai is a complex being, both outside of heat and in heat. If Dazai has completely given up control, it’s weird that he isn’t begging for a knot.

The alpha sighs. This isn’t what he wanted. It feels wrong. Yeah, he’s upset that Dazai left, but not enough that he thinks Dazai should submit to him. They can talk about it when the brunet is rational and is able to explain why he left. He’s not going to hold it against him, though.

Dazai’s whimpers bring Chuuya out of his thoughts. The omega is hunching in on himself.

“Dazai, come here.” Chuuya drags the brunet towards him, turning the man around and forcing his face towards Chuuya’s neck. Dazai huffs, his hot breath blowing against Chuuya’s scent gland, making the alpha involuntarily shiver, but after a few minutes, Dazai starts rubbing his face on Chuuya’s scent glands. The alpha starts repositioning his body, shoving his arm under Dazai’s back to wrap around to the man’s belly, hugging him closer. He then kneads at the omega’s stomach, hopefully helping with the cramps. Dazai doesn’t complain; instead, he lets out a sigh as his body stops trembling. Chuuya uses his free hand to reach for one of the blankets Dazai was using earlier, covering Dazai with it and then covering both of them with the comforter.

Burnt vanilla is starting to fill Chuuya’s nose, and he frowns.

“Dazai, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing, I’m…fine,” Dazai mutters, burrowing his face further into Chuuya’s neck.

The distressed scent is increasing, but there’s a sweeter scent; rich, sweet vanilla with a slight woody note. Dazai’s slick. Chuuya doesn’t usually smell it this intensely unless Dazai’s omega is trying to seduce him… meaning that that is what the omega is doing. That is further proved when Dazai thrusts up against Chuuya’s leg. The brunet instantly cries out, jerking back and crawling to the opposite side of the nest as he clutches his stomach.

“Wait-”

“It’s okay, Chibi. I’m okay,” Dazai whimpers out.

“But-”

“It’ll… it’ll go away…”

The omega sobs again but quickly tries to muffle his noises, curling into the edge of the nest and shoving his face into the blankets.

“Your instincts want a knot?” Chuuya asks, leaning over the side of the bed to grab the bag Kouyou gave them.

Dazai’s answering whimper confirms Chuuya’s question.

The alpha pulls out the 10 sedatives. Relying on sedatives probably isn’t the best course of action. Dazai’s heat will burn through them fast, and they only have ten… but it is one of their only ways of fighting against Dazai’s omega. Chuuya doesn’t want to end up on top of his partner again, holding him down, as Dazai cries and begs for a knot to make the pain go away.

Chuuya pulls out one pill and stares at it. Dazai is still making whining noises, hurting much more than he’s letting on.

“Take this,” Chuuya hands it to him. “It’ll-”

Dazai swallows the sedative without a second thought.

“Dazai.”

“What?” Dazai asks, panting.

“You don’t even know what you just took!”

Dazai’s eyes widen slightly, like he just realized that as well, but he quickly shrugs, shivering. “Chuuya gave it to me.”

Chuuya groans. “It’s a sedative.”

Dazai’s entire body tenses, and Chuuya can see that the man has stopped breathing. He is staring blankly at Chuuya, his scent turning acidic fast. “What?”

“It’s… a sedative. Ane-san gave us some to help you…” Chuuya explains. “I was trying to explain that.”

“...oh…okay.” Dazai blinks. His eyes look glossy and far away, different from how he looks when his instincts take over and more along the lines of Dazai dissociating… which isn’t good. And then the omega repeats, “Okay.”

“Mackerel?”

“Okay,” Dazai says again. He continues repeating, “Okay,” his body starts to tremble, and his scent gradually gets increasingly sour. He’s trying to ground himself but failing, and the more his scent worsens, the harder it’s getting for Chuuya to breathe; the scent gets caught in his throat, and he chokes on it.

“‘zai?” Chuuya reaches for him, briefly grazing the omega’s left hand, trying to get to his scent gland, but Dazai jerks back, crying out at the contact. He covers his hand with his other, almost like he’s cradling it as if it were burned. His breathing is erratic and probably bordering the line of making the omega light-headed. He’s taking in so much air through short breaths but hardly breathing it back out. Tears are falling down his face, and he’s looking at Chuuya with such fear. He’s also starting to pull at the heat collar like it’s suffocating him.

Dazai’s having a panic attack because of the sedative?

Chuuya withdraws his hand, watching helplessly as Dazai trembles. He feels utterly useless.

“Dazai.” He could always try grounding him using words. It’s always hit or miss if that’ll work, though. “Can we-”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, Mori-san, no -” Dazai covers his ears and shoves his face into his legs.

Chuuya’s heart stops. Mori? Dazai thinks he’s Mori? In his dissociative state, he’s probably seeing Mori, but why? Why would giving him a sedative trigger a panic attack? “It’s Chuuya, not Mori. Mori isn’t here.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t - I can’t - didn’t know. I’m sorry.” It’s like Dazai didn’t even hear him.

“Dazai. The boss is not here.”

The brunet lets out a wet, shuddering breath, sobbing. “I’m sorry, Mori-san. ‘m sorry. I didn’t know, please.”

“I-”

“Please don’t - I can’t -”

Chuuya isn’t sure what to do. Dazai is completely gone, lost in his own head. He can’t hear Chuuya, or he can, but he isn’t processing it. When Dazai had dissociative episodes or panic attacks before, Chuuya’s first instinct was to touch. Skin contact can help ground him. When Dazai didn’t allow touch, words were the alpha’s next course of action, but right now, Dazai is rejecting both.

He has one more thing to try before he’ll have to look up what else he could do. Dazai once told Chuuya that his first name could ground him. It’s hardly ever used by anyone - which the brunet doesn’t mind - but whenever it is, it’s like a bolt of lightning shoots through his heart, startling him. Chuuya isn’t sure if that will work, but then again, he’s never had Dazai act like touch was physically harming him. Sure, Dazai hasn’t wanted skin-on-skin contact before, but it was like Chuuya’s touch was burning him.

“Osamu.”

Dazai’s voice instantly halts, and his breathing stills.

The omega is still shaking, but he’s slowly uncurling, his teary eyes looking at Chuuya. His eyes look like he’s thousands of miles away. Despite quieting down, Chuuya still needs to help keep him grounded. On top of that, the alpha is pretty sure the sedative is starting to take effect since Dazai is starting to blink rapidly, eyes closing if he doesn’t. He looks like he’s melting.

“Mori is not here,” Chuuya states firmly. “You are not there. You are in my apartment. You are in Chuuya’s apartment.”

Dazai stares at him. He blinks again.

“You are Dazai Osamu. You are in my apartment. Mori is not here.”

Dazai continues watching him, his eyes failing to track Chuuya completely, but awareness is returning to the omega, his eyes ever so slowly sharpening into lucidity.

“You’re in Chuuya’s apartment. It’s only us here, Dazai and Chuuya. No Mori.”

Chuuya keeps repeating that until Dazai’s eyes start tracking him, probably taking around five minutes.

“Repeat it.”

The brunet continues to stare at Chuuya but then opens his mouth. “...’m…in Chuuya’s apartment.”

“And Mori isn’t here,” Chuuya tells him, gesturing for the omega to repeat it.

“And… Mori… isn’t here,” Dazai slowly repeats.

“Where are you?” Chuuya asks.

Dazai stares at him, but then he glances around the bedroom. “Chuuya’s apartment?”

“Yes, and who is here?”

“Chuuya…and me?”

“And who is not here?”

Dazai blinks. “...Mori.”

“Why are you here?” Chuuya hadn’t told Dazai to repeat that, but if Dazai can come up with it on his own, he should be grounded enough for touching.

Dazai takes a few seconds to answer, nibbling at his lip as he thinks. “Heat?”

“Yes, whose heat?”

Dazai scrunches up his face, narrowing his eyes like Chuuya is stupid for asking. “My heat.”

Chuuya hums in confirmation. “Can I touch you now?”

His partner hesitates, eyes darting away from Chuuya’s for a second. But then he nods, reaching for the redhead himself. The alpha helps him into his lap, scooting back to the headboard so he has something to lean on. Before Dazai lays down, Chuuya grabs a pillow and puts it under Dazai’s head, knowing that even if the brunet is accepting touch now, he might wake up later rejecting it. Plus, it’ll be more comfortable for the omega (and Chuuya’s dick) if there’s a barrier.

Dazai settles on the pillow, letting out a sigh.

“I don’t like sedatives,” he mumbles.

Chuuya bites his lip. “I’m sorry…I didn’t know.”

“‘s okay.” Dazai curls up, his body essentially laying on top of Chuuya’s legs. “Scent?”

Chuuya gives him a small smile, reaching forward to grab the brunet’s arm and pulling it up so they can scent each other. Rubbing their wrists together engulfs the alpha in Dazai’s scent, pleasure flowing through his body, and he involuntarily croons. Dazai hums his appreciation, his scent evening out, turning away from that acidic smell of his fear.

Another thing to add to Chuuya’s growing list of things to talk to Dazai about after his heat: why the fuck did he have a panic attack about sedatives and Mori?

The sedative works, though; Dazai is out within minutes; the man probably had been fighting it because of the panic attack. His breathing is low and deep but a little congested since he had been crying. Chuuya starts running his fingers through Dazai’s soft hair, combing out the knots and scratching the omega’s scalp.

He’s tired, but he refuses to sleep.

So Chuuya doesn’t; instead, continuing to guard the omega as he sleeps, his alpha instincts are content enough that Chuuya doesn’t mind.

-------

When Dazai wakes up, he isn’t expecting Chuuya to still be awake. The alpha is in the same spot that he was when Dazai fell asleep. Unlike when he fell asleep, no light is coming through the windows in Chuuya’s room. It’s probably the middle of the night. And he really needs to piss.

Dazai shifts, groaning as pain shoots through his stomach. The sedative is making him groggy, and he can’t seem to orient himself as he blinks around the room. He only knows that Chuuya is still there because he’s still on top of the alpha’s legs.

He hates sedatives. He hates how sedatives make him feel. And he knows Chuuya is never going to let his little episode go. Dazai can’t remember exactly what happened, but with Chuuya using “Mori isn’t here” to ground him, the omega can only assume he probably said the Boss’ name. Which isn’t good.

He does understand why Chuuya gave him a sedative, though. He could barely hear his partner when he was fighting against his instinct’s desire for a knot. It was loud and grating in his head. He couldn’t think, his brain only processing that he was in pain and that a knot could help, and there was an alpha right there. He was seconds away from giving in and asking Chuuya to at least give him an orgasm, hoping that would shut the instincts up, but then he saw the pill in Chuuya’s hand. Despite knowing nothing about it, he assumed Chuuya wouldn’t be trying to hurt him, and if his partner was giving him a pill, it most likely was to help him. That's what his thought process was, at least, when he snatched it and swallowed it.

Then Chuuya told him it was a sedative, and Dazai’s mind went blank. Mori gives him sedatives. When Dazai is given sedatives, he always wakes up in pain. Unimaginable pain that Mori ends up giving him more sedatives for. He didn’t want to be in more pain. His head already hurt, and his abdomen felt like it was getting stabbed for the 30th time on top of being sore from throwing up the little food he had in his stomach. He’s just so tired. He wasn’t mentally prepared.

So his brain checked out. He’s not sure how long he was floating there, dissociating. He couldn’t hear Chuuya, couldn’t hear his own attempts at grounding himself, couldn’t think. He just felt scared and terrified.

But then he heard his name. Not Dazai but Osamu. His first name. Almost no one uses his first name. His mother and father never talked to him, and his grandfather and Mori used it to degrade and scold him. He has never heard it used in the way Chuuya said it - with such concern and worry and care. It brought his awareness back, and from there, Chuuya was able to help him get grounded.

The sedative worked fast, and the panic attack probably helped exhaust his mind, and he ended up falling asleep in Chuuya’s lap fast.

And now he’s awake.

And apparently, so is Chuuya.

“Chibi?”

“Hey, Mackerel. Did the pill wear off?” Chuuya’s voice sounds tired.

Dazai is pretty sure the sedative didn’t wear off with how groggy his mind still is, so he shakes his head. “No.”

“Oh…then you can go back to sleep. It’s-” Chuuya moves a little, Dazai whining at how it moves him, too. “- it’s around 10pm.”

“Mmm, bathroom,” Dazai mumbles, groaning as he lifts himself up. His whole body hurts. His brain hurts, his skin hurts, his glands hurt, everything hurts. His neck feels so heavy with the heat collar on, and while it is doing a good job at protecting his glands from himself, Dazai is really upset that he can’t scent using them. Scenting with his neck glands feels different from his wrist glands; he’s unsure why. Maybe because it's closer to his brain? Or it just feels more intimate?

“Ah, fair. I should probably change the patches on your glands, too. And you need to drink more water.” Chuuya crawls out of the nest, leaving the room. For someone who sounds so tired, how can he move so fast?

Dazai is slow to maneuver himself out of the nest, his instincts - which seem to be muffled, in a way, by the sedative - perking up and crying about leaving the nest, but Dazai ignores them easily. He completes his trip to the bathroom and trudges back to his nest, realizing some parts of the nest are messed up as he crawls back into it, so he quickly fixes it and then shoves himself into the blankets.

Chuuya returns eventually, and Dazai hears him set some stuff on the nightstand. The alpha climbs into the nest, and Dazai sits up, expecting the redhead to finally free his glands…and is met with a bowl of rice.

“Rice should make your stomach feel better,” Chuuya says, shoving the bowl into Dazai’s lap. Dazai glances down at it, his mind a little foggy and slow at figuring out why rice would be any different.

“I don’t wanna throw up again, slug,” Dazai mumbles, picking the chopsticks up and poking the rice. It’s squishy.

“You shouldn’t.” Chuuya leans back towards the nightstand, picking something up off the ground. “You need to eat something.”

“But-” Chuuya reaches for the heat collar around his neck and unclasps it, finally freeing Dazai from the annoying weight that made him feel confined. The patches come off next.

“Dazai, eat the rice,” Chuuya mutters, digging through his bag. Dazai vaguely remembers that bag as the one Kouyou gave them before they left the brothel. She must have put supplies in there.

Dazai stares at the rice in his lap and positions the chopsticks in his hand, ready to take a bite…but he drops the rice. Annoyed, he tries again, picking the rice up and…dropping it, watching it slip through his chopsticks as his hand shakes. He pouts.

“Chuuya, I keep dropping it.”

The alpha stops searching through the bag, turning to look at him. “What?”

“I can’t…pick it up,” Dazai mumbles, showing the redhead how he tries to pick up the rice but keeps inevitably failing.

“Here, I’ll get a spoon.” Chuuya climbs out of bed and leaves the room, leaving Dazai and the rice alone with Kouyou’s bag. Dazai glances at it, curiosity poking along the edges of his mind. It has heat stuff, so he has a right to look…right? He’s in heat.

The omega pokes it with a chopstick and then grabs it since it obviously didn’t attack him, peering inside. It’s dark in the room; the only light source is the lamp on the nightstand, so Dazai has to start pulling the items out of the bag since the limited light makes it hard to see anything. No wonder Chuuya was taking so long to grab whatever he was wanting to grab.

The first thing he pulls out is a bag of pills, probably sedatives. Dazai’s mind flashes to when he tried to overdose on painkillers, and how upset Chuuya was, so he’s quick to put those back inside. He’s already made his alpha mad enough; there's no need to keep doing that. That’s something for regular Dazai when he’s not in heat and highly sensitive to everything.

The second thing he pulls out is high-end suppressants. For how little he knows about subgenders, he’s actually heard of these before… from Mori. A lot of omegas overdose on them, abusing them until their bodies give out. Kouyou knows Dazai doesn’t want Mori to know about his subgender, so she provided the best black market kind out there. Mori complains a lot when grunts die from this and makes comments about creating his own omega suppressant and how Dazai could be his test subject…even if Dazai hadn’t presented yet.

The third thing he pulls out are male omega birth control pills, and he’s quick to throw that back inside. He doesn’t want to think about that, no thank you! He does not like children and will not have children, and it’s stupid that his body decided that it was made to have children, and he’s just going to ignore that! Male omegas don’t even have successful births most of the time.

Chuuya walks in when Dazai gets to the bandage patches and itch cream. He sighs when he sees the omega digging through Kouyou’s bag and gets back into the nest, giving Dazai the spoon.

“Everything better be back in there,” Chuuya grumbles, checking the bag.

“Everything is,” Dazai mutters, staring at his hands as he picks his nails.

“Are you okay?” Chuuya asks, taking out the bandage patches and cream.

“Yeah.” Dazai grabs the spoon and starts poking at the rice again. He’s not hungry, and he really doesn’t feel like throwing up again. Chuuya doesn’t know for sure that he won’t throw it up.

He hears Chuuya sigh. “Can you please tell me what’s wrong?”

Dazai continues looking at the rice, poking it occasionally.

“Mackerel-”

“Why… why is there birth control?” he mumbles.

Chuuya’s breathing hitches. “I… oh. That’s what’s wrong?” His tone isn’t demeaning by any means, but Dazai still flinches, worried that Chuuya is judging him, mocking him. He doesn’t like sharing his feelings. Dazai looks up at him, frowning.

“I think Ane-san just put it in for after your heat, so you can go on both suppressants and birth control.”

“But wouldn’t the suppressants suppress… that, too?”

Chuuya’s brows knit together. “I’m pretty sure they don’t. I mean, I’m no expert on omega blockers and shit, but suppressants just suppress your heat and hormones. You’ll need omega scent blockers for your scent, and then if you wanna fuck, you’ll still need birth control so you don’t get pregnant…” Chuuya bites his lip. “At least I’m pretty sure that’s how it goes.”

“Oh…” Dazai glances back down at his rice and then looks up again. “I thought that only happens during a heat.”

Chuuya blinks. “You really didn’t pay attention to his lectures, did you?”

Dazai shrugs. “It’s stupid.”

“I bet you don’t think it’s as stupid now that you’re living it and know nothing about it,” Chuuya grumbles, snatching up the cream.

Dazai doesn’t say anything, eyes tracking Chuuya’s movement as he squeezes out some of the itch cream on his fingers. Dazai shivers when the cold ointment connects with his gland; the gland is apparently still sensitive. The urge to scratch rises, and Dazai starts rolling his shoulder, trying to stretch his gland in order to get rid of the itch.

“Stop it. Don’t do that.” Chuuya holds Dazai’s shoulder still as he continues rubbing the cream in.

“Itchy,” Dazai pouts.

“I know, but you can’t scratch it.”

“But-”

“Dazai.” Chuuya’s tone is irritable, and the omega clamps his mouth shut, cowering down. Chuuya is mad. Chuuya is angry. Dazai is defying him, and Chuuya is getting annoyed. He will kick Dazai out because he is obnoxious and irritable and doesn’t deserve to be taken care of like this.

Before Chuuya can get back to rubbing the itch cream on his gland, the omega moves the rice, setting it in Chuuya’s lap - earning himself a confused noise from Chuuya - and then snatching the ointment from Chuuya’s hand, turning around so his back is facing the alpha.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t need help. I can do it,” Dazai whispers, glancing at the cream that’s now in his hand.

“I know you can, but let me-”

“No. I’ll do it,” Dazai hisses. He squirts some of the ointment on his fingers and reaches up to the other gland - the wounded one - flinching when it touches the gland. It stings, his nerves all along his shoulder and neck, feeling like they are being stung. He bites back a whimper and aggressively tries to rub the ointment in.

“Hey, don’t be so rough.” Chuuya grabs Dazai’s wrist, earning himself a glare from Dazai. The omega pulls his hand away and continues rubbing his gland, the friction starting to hurt, making it feel like his gland is being burned.

“Dazai,” Chuuya growls, forcing the omega’s hand to stop.

“Let me go. I can do it on my own,” Dazai sneers, yanking his wrist out of Chuuya’s grip to continue “rubbing” the ointment in.

“Would you stop? You’re making it bleed.” Chuuya grabs Dazai’s wrist again, forcing his hand away from Dazai’s scent gland. Dazai growls, baring his fangs at the alpha.

“Dazai,” Chuuya says, exasperated. “Why are you acting like this? You can put the cream on if you want, but stop harassing your gland!”

Dazai sniffles, huffing.

“Here, let me-”

“I want to get them removed,” Dazai states. Chuuya gawks.

“I - this again? Your mating gland? It’s connected to way too many-”

“Everything,” Dazai hisses. “The mating gland, scent glands, the organs, everything.”

Chuuya’s face softens, which is the opposite of what the omega wants. When Chuuya reaches for him, Dazai throws the cream at him, crawling away to lay on his side, back facing the wall of his nest.

Chuuya sighs. “Why are you talking about this right now?”

“Because.”

“Well, why don’t we talk about it later when you aren’t in the middle of your heat?” Chuuya asks.

Dazai grumbles, scrunching up his nose. “Whatever.”

Chuuya looks down at the rice that’s in his lap. “Can you eat this, please?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Oh, come on. You listened to me earlier. Why are you being stubborn now?” Chuuya rolls his eyes, picks the rice up, and puts it on the nightstand. “Come here.”

The alpha grabs Dazai’s arms, dragging him into the middle of the nest. Dazai kicks and snarls the entire way, snapping at Chuuya’s hands. Chuuya growls, suddenly grabbing Dazai’s jaw and forcing the brunet to look at him.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you right now, but I am not in the mood for being bitten.” The tone instantly makes Dazai’s omega whimper, but that’s still being muffled by the sedative.

“Then maybe Chuuya should have left me alone,” Dazai hisses, Chuuya’s grip on his jaw starting to hurt.

Chuuya’s lip twitches. “Would you stop? What’s wrong?”

“Chuuya should have left me alone,” Dazai repeats.

“You were in pain and probably would have died in there if I didn’t find you,” Chuuya protests.

“Should have let me,” Dazai grumbles.

“So what, you wanted me to leave you alone? That’s your problem? Should I remind you what happened every time I left you alone? You were dying inside of your container in a puddle of your own sweat and slick. You overdosed. And then you left and almost got raped.”

Dazai flinches, trying to pull his chin out of Chuuya’s grasp. Looking into the alpha’s eyes is tough. Chuuya’s emotions swirl in there, and Dazai is having trouble handling the anger that he can see emanating from them. Anger that he is causing.

“If Chuuya had left me in my container, I would have been fine.”

“No, you - what the fuck? I’m not talking about this with you right now. You’re trying to make me mad. Why?”

“I am doing no such thing!” Dazai yelps as he’s thrown down onto the bed. Chuuya is now straddling him, growling lowly as the omega squirms.

“Get off. Get off. Get off. Get. Off.”

“Calm down,” Chuuya snarls, his voice edging on an alpha command. Dazai can tell. His omega is getting louder.

He’s not sure what he’s doing. He’s not sure what’s happening. He’s angry. He’s upset. He’s scared. He’s not sure why he’s provoking Chuuya. Maybe he’s trying to test the alpha. See if he’ll take advantage of Dazai’s vulnerable state despite knowing Chuuya won’t. Maybe he’s actually tired of being in pain and just wants Chuuya to get rid of it. Maybe he’s trying to push him away before Chuuya decides Dazai isn’t worth the trouble.

“Fuck me,” Dazai hisses, pushing up against Chuuya.

Chuuya halts, his entire body freezing. “What? No.”

“You know you want to,” Dazai muses.

“Dazai-”

“Do it, Chuuya.” Dazai pushes against the redhead again.

“Mackerel, you’re crying.” Chuuya’s voice is soft. Too soft. And now that the alpha mentions it, Dazai can feel the wet tear trails running down his face. They won’t stop. He whines out a sob.

“You want to,” he whispers, turning his face into his arm, making it so he can’t see Chuuya’s stupid, concerned face. “We’ve fucked before. What’s so different now?”

Chuuya doesn’t say anything, and then Dazai feels a weight on his chest, and arms are pulling him onto his side. He whines, trying to resist, as he curls into a ball, the top of his head ending up against Chuuya’s chest. The alpha wraps his arms around Dazai, hugging him.

“Chuuya, let go,” Dazai whimpers.

“No.”

Dazai can feel the redhead’s voice vibrating through his brain with how his head is against him.

“Please?”

“No.”

Dazai’s head is fuzzy. He can feel the silent tears streaming down his face. Chuuya won’t let him go. Chuuya won’t leave him alone. He deserves it, though. He left. Chuuya didn’t do anything wrong; he didn’t mean to tell Kouyou. He said that, and Dazai still did what Dazai does best. He ran and hurt and was an inconvenience. Chuuya won’t even sleep now. The omega can tell how tired his partner is by looking at him. Chuuya is exhausted.

Dazai didn’t realize how hard he was crying until he felt Chuuya tighten his hold, shushing the omega softly and telling him it’s okay.

“‘M sorry,” Dazai wheezes out, the air failing to reach his lungs as he takes shuddering breaths.

“I’m not mad, Mackerel. I just want to know what’s wrong,” Chuuya whispers, nuzzling Dazai’s head. Dazai exhales another choked sob, whimpering at how much his throat burns and his eyes hurt. His mind has become foggy.

“I just - I’m not - I’m - mmm.” Dazai can’t get the words out. He’s sorry that he left. He was scared. He didn’t want to give Chuuya the chance to abandon him first. Even now, he doesn’t want Chuuya to abandon him first. It’s happened before. They say they’ll help, and then it gets too difficult, too obnoxious. It always happens. Dazai is helping Chuuya by making it so he doesn’t have to make that choice.

“Well, just try to breathe right now, okay?” Chuuya starts caressing his back, running his fingers along Dazai’s spine. “Remember? In and out. Inhale. Exhale.”

The omega listens, slowing down his quick-paced breathing and mimicking Chuuya’s breathing. His mind is still incredibly fuzzy, blurring his thoughts together and confusing him. He’s tired again - he’s always tired - and he wants to sleep, but Dazai knows that Chuuya wants to talk. He should at least give the alpha that.

Dazai can feel the cramps ravaging his abdomen, but he doesn’t really care. Chuuya is warm. Chuuya is safe. Chuuya might kick him out after this, so he’s going to enjoy it while he can.
His glands itch, and when he reaches to start scratching them, Chuuya uses one of his hands to hold Dazai’s wrists. The omega lets him, continuing to follow Chuuya’s breathing.

“Alright, tell me what’s wrong,” Chuuya eventually whispers, rubbing his thumb against Dazai’s pulse on his wrists.

“I…I left Chuuya, and I shouldn’t have,” Dazai murmurs.

“I mean, yeah, you did, and you shouldn’t have, but you’re safe now and won’t be doing that again, right?” Chuuya answers, laying his chin on Dazai’s head.

“Mmm,” Dazai hums, not sure how to answer. He doesn’t want to leave again, but what if Chuuya decides to return him to Kouyou? The omega doesn’t want that and refuses to let himself be treated like that.

“What do you mean ‘mmmmm’?” Chuuya draws out the hum, his tone nearing irritability.

“WhatifyougivemetoKouyou?” Dazai whispers, his voice high and bordering on being at a frequency even Dazai himself can’t hear. Chuuya, apparently, can’t hear for shit, though.

“What?”

“What if yougivemetoKouyou?” His voice goes just as high as before, and Chuuya is just as deaf as before.

“Dazai, please, slow down. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“What. If. You. Give. Me. To. Kouyou.”

Chuuya is silent for a second. “I kind of want to punch you.” When Dazai flinches, Chuuya backtracks. “But I’m not going to. I’m kidding. I’ll punch non-heat Dazai. Anyway-”

Chuuya shifts slightly, forcing the omega’s head up to look at him. Dazai stares into Chuuya’s eyes. How can so much emotion and life come from just looking at Chuuya’s eyes? The alpha is so full of life despite everything that has happened to him. He keeps going no matter what. Keeps trying. Keeps living. Dazai isn’t like that. Dazai goes through every day trying to find out why he should keep living and wishing to be dead instead. He doesn’t see a point. Everyone dies. What’s so wrong in speeding it up? Everything he could possibly do in this lifetime doesn’t matter because, in the end, he will still die. There’s just no point…but Chuuya seems to believe the opposite. Live life to the fullest. No matter what happens, keep living. Live for people instead of for yourself.

Dazai doesn’t have people to live for.

“I’m not giving you to Kouyou,” Chuuya states. “I will admit, I thought about it once, but it wasn’t because you were annoying or too much. I just thought that I wouldn’t be able to handle myself. It’s your first heat, Dazai. I didn’t want to mess everything up.”

“I don’t want to be with her,” Dazai whimpers. “I want to be with you.” The omega’s heart is constricting in on itself with how much he’s sharing. He’s not used to this. He never gives anyone anything, but Chuuya deserves something.

Chuuya's breath hitches and he pauses before stating, “Yes, I know. That’s why I brought you back here. I want you to be here, too, okay? I'm not giving you back to Kouyou.”

“But - but you won’t sleep.”

Chuuya bites his lip, glancing away briefly before looking back into Dazai’s eyes. “I’m worried. I’m worried that Kouyou will try to force you back to the brothel or that Mori will come asking questions. I’m worried that I’ll hurt you while sleeping, like last time.”

“But Chuuya needs sleep, too,” Dazai mumbles. “Wouldn’t staying awake make it so Chuuya has less control over his instincts?”

Chuuya opens his mouth but then closes it again, looking off to the side again. He inhales and then looks back at Dazai. “You’re right; it would. I just can’t sleep right now.”

“I gave Chuuya insomnia?”

“No! I just…my instincts are worried. They won’t shut up. So I kind of… can’t sleep.” Chuuya looks uncomfortable. “I try, and I just end up laying there.”

It makes something deep inside Dazai chuckle, knowing that Chuuya’s instincts are controlling him, but the omega doesn’t let it bubble up to the surface. He feels guilty because his own instincts are controlling him right back.

“I’m sorry I gave Chuuya insomnia,” Dazai mumbles.

“You didn’t. Maybe I'll sleep if I get tired enough, ya know?” Chuuya reassures. He turns around, reaching his arm out to grab something from the nightstand. Then the TV is turned on. It’s a basic action movie, but Chuuya switches it… to a children’s movie.

Dazai grimaces. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I like this movie, and you’re the one going to sleep,” Chuuya remarks. “After you eat the rice.”

Dazai gasps. “Nooo.”

Chuuya shifts them both up, and Dazai ends up sitting crisscrossed, watching Chuuya reach over and place the rice in Dazai’s lap. The brunet can feel that the rice isn’t as hot as before, but he grabs the spoon and shovels rice into his mouth, whimpering.

Chuuya makes a happy noise when he notices that Dazai is eating, and Dazai’s omega rejoices, excited that he is able to make the alpha happy. But eventually, Dazai can’t stomach it anymore, feeling like he will explode and throw up simultaneously. His cramps also come back with a vengeance, probably annoyed with being ignored. Dazai doesn’t acknowledge it though, and is about to curl up next to Chuuya, but the alpha stops him, grabbing the bowl and putting it on the nightstand.

“Gotta finish the bandage patches, too.” The redhead gestures towards Dazai’s still exposed scent glands.

Dazai frowns. “But Chibiiii, I don’t want them covered.”

“Too bad. It’s to prevent scratching.” Chuuya finds the ointment that had apparently gotten hidden in the collection of blankets that make up the nest. He reaches for the bag and pulls out two bandage patches as well.

“Can I not wear the heat collar?” Dazai whispers, staring at his hands as Chuuya reapplies the cream that got wiped away from their little wrestling match earlier. The ointment is just as cold as before, and the omega shivers but stays quiet.

“Hm. I think it would be better if you do, though…”

Dazai's stomach drops and he slouches forward more, pressure building behind his eyes. He doesn’t like the heat collar. It felt weird against his glands - even if it was separated from them by the bandage patch - and made him feel more suffocated than before. It also made it so there was less skin-on-skin contact between him and Chuuya. As much as Dazai normally hates skin contact, his omega loves it. Everything feels better when Chuuya is touching him. His pain lessens to a degree, his mind stops running in circles, his instincts calm down, and he feels safe… but with the heat collar, while Chuuya was still keeping contact, it wasn’t enough.

“I don’t want it,” Dazai whimpers, a tear escaping one of his eyes despite the omega trying to fight it.

Chuuya hums softly, patching Dazai’s scent glands and ensuring they stick.

“Fine, only because I’m probably not gonna sleep,” Chuuya murmurs, pulling Dazai forward. Dazai lights up, curling into the alpha as he shimmies into lying down, a different position than earlier when he was leaning against the headboard. He moves Dazai a bit, the omega ending up lying on the redhead’s shoulder. Dazai turns slightly so he can look at the kid's movie that’s playing. Chuuya starts running his finger through Dazai’s hair, making the brunet let out a groan of appreciation, the scratching feeling heavenly on his scalp. He can feel how sweaty and greasy his hair is, but it doesn’t seem like Chuuya minds as he continues to comb through his hair.

The movie is boring, Dazai’s mind dozing in and out of consciousness as he watches. He’s pretty sure he’s seen this before. Odasaku made him watch a movie with the kids once, and Dazai was thoroughly confused the entire time. Why was everything so happy? Why did everyone sing? Everything was so bright and dandy. The omega pretty much misses the entire middle half of the movie this time, though, and when he wakes up again, there’s another movie playing, and the brunet can feel that Chuuya is still awake. He whines, shifting a little as a wave of heat and pain flows through his body, making him shiver.

Chuuya hushes him, moving from combing through his hair to caressing Dazai’s back, pushing into the soft skin of the omega’s lower back once he gets there to try and massage the cramp away. And then he starts crooning, the vibrations so close to Dazai’s ear that he softly moans, his mind quieting down. While Chuuya caresses his back and abdomen, his croons caress Dazai’s brain. He doesn’t need to think. He just knows that Chuuya will protect him while he sleeps.

He wants to make Chuuya feel that way. Despite the cuddling, the alpha is tense from stress. Dazai is pretty sure there are things Chuuya didn’t tell him about why he won’t sleep, but his mind is too foggy to deduce what it could be. He doesn’t really care right now, though. He just wants Chuuya to feel as safe and protected as Dazai feels.

A memory from one of Mori's lectures surfaces in his half-asleep brain. Even when he wasn’t paying attention, he still listened… to an extent.

Alphas croon when they’re content or trying to soothe a distressed omega - Dazai wouldn’t have remembered that if Chuuya hadn’t been crooning, but he will never tell the alpha that. Omegas have something like that, too… but Dazai can’t remember what Mori said it was called. Omega croon? No, that’s stupid. Hum? Chirp? Growl? Hiss?... Meow? No, but that’s close. His mind keeps thinking about cats. What other sounds do cats make? Yowl? Scream? Snarl? Purr?

PURR!

Dazai inhales sharply the second he remembers the name. It’s a purr. The omega version is called a purr.

Okay, so how does he purr?

Every omega thing he’s done until this point was controlled by his instincts. He followed what they wanted when making the nest and scenting. Is it even something he can do manually? What if it’s something only his instincts can do? Chuuya seems to be able to control his croons. He can speak while crooning. Dazai is pretty sure he purred once a couple days ago…when he was trying to get Chuuya to knot him. There was suddenly a vibration in his chest that didn’t really make him feel any particular way, but he noticed the instant change in Chuuya. His scent had become more aroused, and Dazai could see the war happening in the alpha’s mind. That had to be a purr, right? Those were his instincts, though, and he’s not sure how to do it himself.

He could try mimicking a cat, but if that fails, it would be embarrassing.

So Dazai doesn’t try. He nuzzles closer to Chuuya, breathing in his scent as his foggy mind starts losing to the pull of sleep.

When he’s almost there, seconds away from complete unconsciousness, his body suddenly vibrates. He jumps, slightly more awake than before. He’s vibrating. His chest and throat are vibrating, making Dazai feel like his head is the center of an earthquake. It’s like his phone is buzzing inside his body. The vibrating stutters a bit and then stops entirely, and Dazai stares at nothing in particular, trying to figure out what exactly happened.

The omega can feel Chuuya even more tense than before, so he glances up at the redhead, who is staring at him.

“What?” he asks, groggily.

“Did you just purr, and did that purr scare you?” Chuuya asks, his mouth inching up into a smirk.

Dazai blinks at him. “I don’t know? No?”

“You definitely did.” Chuuya laughs, a loud, cackling laugh he rarely lets out, curling in on himself slightly as he tries to catch his breath. “Your own purr scared you! You scared yourself!”

Dazai pouts, rolling his eyes and huffing as he returns to his earlier position of burrowing into Chuuya’s shoulder. The alpha’s laughter eventually dies down, and he goes back to crooning and caressing Dazai’s back, nuzzling into his hair as small giggles escape occasionally.

And when Dazai starts purring again, deep, emotion-filled purrs of contentment and safety, Chuuya doesn’t laugh at him, instead holding the omega tighter as his own body relaxes and his breathing evens out, following his partner into the depths of sleep.

Chapter Text

If you told Chuuya a few days ago that he would be watching an in-heat Dazai forcibly trying to purr while they both were naked in a bathtub, he would have died laughing. First, the mere idea that Dazai is an omega would be unbelievable, but also that Dazai would be trying to purr. And yet, that’s exactly what’s happening.

They’re both in Chuuya’s bathtub; the omega is slowly eating rice while trying to get his body to purr, and the redhead is munching on his sandwich. Honestly, it’s a funny image in Chuuya’s mind, and he wishes he could take a picture. But Dazai would kill him and Chuuya doesn’t feel like finding his phone.

“I don’t understand,” the brunet whines, flapping his legs. Water splashes and some rice spills out of the bowl, falling into the tub. Dazai exhales a distressed noise. “And now there’s rice in our bath.”

Chuuya chuckles at Dazai’s pout, fishing the rice out and throwing it in the trash he put near the tub in case Dazai needs to throw up. “Purrs just happen, Mackerel. Don’t give yourself an aneurysm trying to figure it out.”

The omega hadn’t wanted to leave the tub earlier when Chuuya told him it was time to eat. He said it was warm and cozy, and he didn't feel like moving, and since he didn’t seem utterly distressed or like he was on the verge of a breakdown, Chuuya obliged, wrapping himself in a towel and making the brunet rice that he brought back to the tub.

Dazai has calmed down significantly since the day before. Well, all the days before. When Chuuya woke up, he wasn’t surprised that the omega was still asleep and ended up letting him sleep for a few more hours just to hear the purrs his partner was exhaling occasionally.

When Dazai first purred, it was like Chuuya’s instincts were blessed. It was hilarious that even half-asleep, the purr scared the omega, but when Dazai started purring again, Chuuya finally understood why people say omegas’ purrs can heal almost anything. It was heavenly. It caressed his mind, his entire body relaxing as all of his worries about Kouyou, Mori, and Dazai evaporated from his brain. The vibrations massaged him to sleep. He was a little concerned about waking up and finding out that he had fallen asleep, instantly checking Dazai to make sure his alpha instincts hadn’t taken control while they were both passed out. They hadn't, which was a huge relief.

When the omega started whimpering instead of purring, Chuuya decided to wake him up, giving him a painkiller and convincing him it was bathtime - he could feel Dazai’s slick leaking through his pants again. Maybe he could get the omega a diaper.
Dazai would definitely kill him.

“But you control your alpha purrs!” Dazai groans, leaning back slightly, water sloshing with his movement. He’s a lot more active during this bath than the last few. Talkative. Maybe Chuuya exposing himself is making the omega more comfortable. The last few times, Dazai was the only one naked, but Chuuya had also wanted a bath, so he’s also naked. Unlike the other times, the brunet isn’t trying to cover his scars or curl in the corner of the tub. It makes the alpha happy, knowing that Dazai is comfortable with him.

Chuuya pauses, finally processing what Dazai said. “You mean croons?”

“No. Alpha purrs.”

Chuuya blinks. He wouldn’t put it past Dazai if he didn’t actually know what they’re called. “Croons.”

Dazai smirks, his face morphing up in one of his signature smiles, showing off his dimples. “Alpha purr.” Yeah, he’s definitely messing with Chuuya.

“Alphas don’t purr. We croon.”

“Purrrrrrr-” Dazai drones on, dramatically elongating the word.

“Fine. Alpha purr. Eat your rice.” Chuuya finishes his sandwich and gets out of the tub, snatching a towel to wrap around himself and leaving the room. He hears the omega whine as he leaves but keeps going, knowing that Dazai will try to keep him there forever.

The redhead gathers all of the clothing that Dazai had been wearing for the past couple of days and takes it to the laundry room, finally starting the wash. Chuuya’s not gonna lie; Dazai's suit might be stained with slick. It’s not machine washable, but he’s going to put it in there anyway and hope for the best. He doesn’t really have hope for it. At least he’ll be able to tell Dazai it was cleaned. Chuuya isn’t sure where the omega’s mafia jacket is, but at least he didn’t accidentally stain that. Dazai wasn’t wearing it when Chuuya found him in his container, so it’s probably still there. He’s always been weird about it, hating on it and letting it get beat up, but then doing a complete 180 and worrying about it. It’s the jacket Mori gave him, so the alpha understands Dazai’s odd reactions concerning it.

Either way, Chuuya doesn’t really mind that his own clothes are stained. He’ll just let the omega keep them. He needs heat clothes anyway and most likely won’t go shopping for it himself.

When he returns to the bathroom after getting dressed, Dazai has not eaten the rice and is purring with his tongue, which is… not how purrs work.

“That’s not a purr,” Chuuya comments, setting new clothes on the toilet.

“I know,” Dazai whines. “I don’t understand how.”

“Well, I don’t know about purring, but when I croon, it’s mainly in my chest and throat. It’s an instinctual thing, too.” Chuuya tries to explain. He’s honestly not really sure how crooning and purring work, but he knows that it took him a few tries before he was able to do it manually.

“But how?” Dazai sets his rice on the tub’s edge and then dramatically lays down, submerging his head. He starts blowing bubbles, letting all the air out. Chuuya rolls his eyes, grabbing his partner’s shoulders and pulling him back up. Dazai pouts when he’s forced up. His face and hair are dripping wet again. Dazai had been trying to purr for 30 minutes and his upper body had pretty much dried, but now he’s soaked again.

The alpha definitely prefers this more bratty version of Dazai than the one constantly on the edge of a panic attack, but it’s still odd. Dazai is in pain - he’s told the alpha as much - so he’s still in heat, but it’s like his need for a knot disappeared. That almost never happens with omegas in heat. They constantly want a knot. It's actually more like Dazai is sick instead of being in heat. Odd.

Dazai whines as Chuuya pulls him up and out of the tub, handing him a towel. The omega stands there making dramatic noises as Chuuya drains the tub.

“Would you dry off already? You’re getting slick on my floor,” Chuuya groans, grabbing another towel to start drying the man off himself. Dazai isn’t actually getting slick on Chuuya’s floor, but he hopes it’ll get the man to start moving.

It does not.

“I thought Chuuya liked my slick,” Dazai snickers.

“For someone who wouldn’t even admit that he had slick a few days ago, you seem awfully confident about it now,” Chuuya mutters.

Dazai flinches back, snapping his mouth closed.

Ah, right.

The banter felt so normal that Chuuya almost forgot that Dazai is, still in heat, still in pain, and still highly sensitive.

Chuuya doesn’t say anything else; instead, he gives Dazai a peace offering by drying the omega off and then handing him the new clothes. Dazai puts them on and then brushes past Chuuya, heading back to his nest. The alpha hangs up the towels and snatches the rice bowl, taking it back to the kitchen. He dumps the extra rice out, noting that Dazai barely ate half of it, and starts rinsing the bowl in the sink.

After a few seconds, Chuuya rests his arms on the counter, ducking his head down and leaning against it. He’s exhausted. The sleep helped a lot, and Dazai being in a more stable state is helping, but Chuuya hasn’t slept for more than 5 hours in the past couple of days. Dazai’s mood swings are a lot to keep up with, and while Chuuya doesn’t mind and knows this is what he signed up for, it’s just a lot. He feels like he’s doing everything wrong. It feels like he’s back in the Sheep again, constantly walking on a tightrope where one wrong move could make him fall. He can’t ask for help because Dazai doesn’t want anyone to know, and Kouyou would just take the opportunity to tell the alpha that she was right the whole time. She’d say that Dazai should be spending his heat at the brothel.

“Chibiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.” Dazai’s muffled whine from his room interrupts his thoughts, and Chuuya quickly finishes washing the dish and sets it out to dry. When he returns to the nest, Dazai has rearranged it and seems to have added more. Chuuya’s head snaps to his closet so fast he’s afraid he gave himself whiplash. His closet door is wide open, and there are shirts that Dazai must have dropped when he raided it. There are probably about ten of Chuuya’s shirts inside Dazai’s nest, piled together with blankets and pillows that Dazai is currently lying on top of.

“You stole my shirts?”

“Chuuya was taking too long, and his scent was vanishing forever,” Dazai whines, his voice muffled since his face is shoved into the nest. He’s curled up under a few blankets,

“You’re being dramatic,” Chuuya scoffs, grabbing the shirts that the omega dropped and bringing them to the nest.

“Am not,” Dazai mumbles, sitting up as Chuuya climbs into the nest. His face brightens when he sees the shirts in Chuuya’s hands, and he snatches them, nuzzling them. He rubs his exposed neck scent glands on them, breathing out a moan.

“You most definitely are being the most dramatic Mackerel I know.” Chuuya grabs Kouyou’s bag from the nightstand and takes out the itch cream and bandage patches. He wanted to let Dazai’s scent glands breathe for a little bit and made his partner promise not to scratch them. While Dazai’s promises are always hit or miss normally, in the middle of heat, the brunet follows through, as shown when he promised to start listening to his instincts. So Chuuya trusted him, and Dazai was good. He didn’t scratch them. There were moments during Dazai’s bath when he looked like he wanted to scratch, but he didn’t.

"'m the only Mackerel," Dazai mumbles, finally stopping with scenting the shirts and noticing what Chuuya is holding. “Nooo, I don’t want more patches." He grabs one of Chuuya’s shirts and wraps it around his glands. “Can’t I just do this? They’re protected or whatever.”

“You need the itch cream, and that’ll just wipe it away,” Chuuya points out, nudging the shirt.

“I don’ttt.” Dazai pouts. “That’s just to make it itch less.”

“It also helps heal them.” Chuuya is pretty sure Dazai knows almost nothing about taking care of himself, so he’s not surprised that the omega isn’t aware.

“They’ll heal on their own. They don’t need helpppp,” Dazai groans, throwing himself into the pile of blankets and shirts. Chuuya scoots over to the omega, removing the shirt from Dazai’s glands as the brunet complains and whines, but he lets Chuuya expose them.

“How’re the cramps?” Chuuya asks, rubbing the cream on the omega’s scent glands. He briefly checks on the puncture wounds from his fangs, noticing they’ve scabbed over. They’re healing. Good.

“Mild,” Dazai mumbles into the shirt mound.

“What about your instincts?”

Dazai is silent for a second and then mutters, “Other than the desire to steal all of Chibi’s shirts, quiet.”

Chuuya hums, finishing with the ointment and opening the patches. Dazai shivers when the alpha covers his glands, sighing out a depressed whimper. Once he finishes, Dazai turns around, collapsing back onto the mound but on his back this time. He reaches out to Chuuya, opening and closing his hands. Chuuya rolls his eyes and quickly puts the itch cream away, pulling out the heat collar. Dazai’s expression drops into a sad frown, but he’s silent as he leans forward, letting the alpha clasp the collar over his glands.

“Sorry… I just don’t want anything to happen,” Chuuya mumbles.

“It’s fine.” Dazai shrugs. He leans back into the blankets and shirts and reaches out for Chuuya again. The redhead smiles and crawls into the omega’s hold, letting Dazai hug his chest and curl into him.

After a few minutes, the omega puffs out a small purr.

“See? A purr,” Chuuya retorts, responding with a croon. He reaches up to Dazai’s damp hair and starts scratching his scalp.

“I don’t know how to do it on my ownnn,” Dazai whines. “It just keeps happening.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Chuuya mumbles. “Go to sleep.”

“But ‘m not tireddddd.” Dazai nuzzles more into Chuuya’s chest, shaking his head. “Scent?”

“Only if you go to sleep after.”

“Why? I’m not tired,” Dazai whimpers. “My instincts aren’t doing much eitherrr. I don’t have the insatiable urge for a knottt. Why can’t I stay awakeee?”

“I’m tired, and even if your instincts are okay right now, your body is still in heat,” Chuuya tells him, quickly feeling his partner’s forehead. Still way too hot, like he expected. “Your heat is taking all of your energy.”

“But I can’t sleep if I’m not tired.”

Chuuya sighs. He doesn’t really want to suggest a sedative since the brunet’s instincts aren’t being a nuisance, but he also really wants to sleep, and even if Dazai is okay right now, he might not be later.

“Where’s my phone?” Dazai suddenly asks.

Chuuya hesitates, biting his lip. He does not think Dazai getting on his phone is the best idea. He’s still in heat and still has heightened emotions. Chuuya knows the omega’s phone is probably on the verge of exploding with how many missed calls he has. “Uhm, why don’t we just watch a movie?”

“I don’t want to watch another kid’s movie, and I need to make sure Mori isn’t messaging me-”

He most definitely is. He’s planning on sending search parties out for you. Maybe he’s already done that.

“Well, you’ve already missed work. What’s a few more days?”

Dazai blinks. “...who are you, and what have you done with Chuuya?”

Chuuya gapes at him. “What?”

“Chuuya is a workaholic. He would never tell me to just miss work without telling anyone,” Dazai gasps, poking Chuuya in the chest. “So you aren’t Chuuya… plus Chuuya would’ve scented me by now, and you’re just using it as blackmail.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“I’m not! It’s a valid question! I want Chibi’s scentttt,” Dazai huffs, dramatically sighing.

“Can you try to sleep then? If I scent you?”

Dazai hums. “Fine.”

At least the brunet stopped asking for his phone. Chuuya isn’t sure if he just gave up or if Dazai genuinely forgot. Chuuya’s just going to assume the omega is letting it go for now but will bring it up later. That’s what Dazai usually does.

The redhead grabs Dazai’s wrist, which is clutched to his chest, and drags it out from in between them. He brings the omega’s wrist gland to his own neck gland and rubs them together slowly. Dazai moans, his whole body relaxing as Chuuya’s senses are filled with Dazai. The omega’s whiskey-leather scent hadn’t dipped into distress since yesterday, and it makes Chuuya’s alpha croon inside his brain. He’s doing it. He’s making the omega feel safe and happy and comfortable without knotting him. He’s not a failure.

Dazai nuzzles closer to Chuuya’s neck, letting out a deep breath. Chuuya smiles and starts crooning, hopefully lulling the omega to sleep.

But then: “I’m bored.”

“Dazai, sleep,” Chuuya demands, smooshing his face into Dazai’s hair.

“How am I supposed to sleep with a slug on my head?”

Chuuya groans. “If I put on a movie, can you just watch it and shut up?”

The brunet hums, debating, but then eventually agrees, snatching the remote from Chuuya. The alpha watches him surf through channels. He clicks on shows, lets out disgusted noises, and then starts searching through channels again. It’s a cycle. Chuuya fondly rolls his eyes and then wraps himself around Dazai, nuzzling back into his partner’s hair as he inhales the shampoo that he had scrubbed into the omega’s scalp not that long ago.

“You’re like a koala,” Dazai mutters.

“Thought I told you to shut up,” Chuuya murmurs into his hair. Dazai grunts but doesn’t say anything else. All that Chuuya can hear is the brunet’s soft breathing and the clicks of the remote.

Sleep isn’t easy. He honestly is content with just laying here clutching Dazai, so he starts watching what the man is doing on the TV. The omega is still scrolling through shows, clicking on one, watching it for a few seconds, and then switching back to the menu, hunting for a new one. Chuuya watches him do this for ten minutes. This is why Chuuya always picks what they watch. Nothing is ever good enough for Dazai and his stupid brain.

Chuuya takes the remote from the omega, which earns him a high-pitched whine.

“Chibiiiiiiiii, you said you were going to sleep.”

“Oops,” the alpha mutters, finding some random romance movie and putting it on. He then throws the remote across the room.

“CHUUYA?!” Dazai cries, trying to get up, but the alpha clutches his body tighter, making it so the omega can’t leave. “I don’t want to watch some stupid rom-com movieeee.”

“Then go to sleep, and you won’t have to,” Chuuya tells him as Dazai squirms. After about five minutes of the omega wiggling and moving and trying to free himself, he stills, apparently subjecting himself to the life of being Chuuya’s stuffed animal.

Chuuya smiles into Dazai’s hair, crooning softly to try and help Dazai sleep. Eventually he is the one to succumb to the vast darkness of sleep.

-------

Chuuya took forever to fall asleep, but Dazai supposes he wasn’t much of a help. The omega only knows he passed out because Chuuya’s croons slowly pittered out, and now there’s just silence in the room, save for the stupid romance movie the alpha turned on because Chuuya knows how much Dazai hates romance movies and by throwing the remote, the brunet can’t change it. So he either can go to sleep or watch this stupid movie.

Dazai has decided to choose neither.

The omega wants his phone. His mind might still be hazy and foggy, but it’s the clearest it’s been since his heat started. He needs to check it, and make sure all his work isn’t going to waste while he lies here being cooked alive.

Dazai listens to the alpha’s breathing, the deep inhaling and exhaling of deep sleep, until he is positive Chuuya won’t wake up when he moves. The redhead is a deep sleeper, anyway.

Dazai’s wrist is still on Chuuya’s scent gland, and as Dazai moves it, wine and burning wood return to his senses, and warmth spreads throughout his body. Dazai involuntarily puffs out a purr at the accidental scenting and freezing as he does so. Chuuya shifts slightly, returning Dazai’s purr with a soft croon, but then remains silent.

Dazai sighs quietly. It’s like his body or maybe his instincts figured out that they can purr and don't want to stop. Dazai still can’t even manually purr.

The brunet lays there, making sure the alpha didn’t wake up and then starts moving again, shimmying his body down and out of Chuuya’s arms. Chuuya lets out a whine in his sleep, and his scent becomes a little more smokey than before, making Dazai smirk. Chuuya’s alpha certainly is needy… not that Dazai has much room to talk because his own omega is just as needy, but it’s still amusing - and relieving - to realize that he’s not the only one.

The brunet quickly scents a pillow and shoves it in Chuuya’s arms, and the alpha’s scent returns to normal as he starts caressing his face on the pillow, clutching it close to his body like his instincts have decided the pillow smells enough like Dazai that it could be Dazai. Dazai fights a smile at seeing the alpha cuddle with a pillow that was drowned in his scent. It makes his omega instincts happy; his alpha likes his scent. The realization of what he just thought dawns on him, and Dazai shakes his head, quietly leaving the nest.

He’s pretty sure his phone is somewhere in the guest room that he stayed in the first night. The omega was so out of it that he kind of forgot Chuuya had him grab it, but since his mind is somewhat clearer, he can focus on his fuzzy memories enough to know the vague idea of where it should be.

It’s not in there once he gets there, though. Dazai pouts, sighs, and then leaves the room. He hunts through Chuuya’s other rooms: a gym, multiple other bathrooms, and another guest room. After searching through almost six rooms, he ends up in the living room, where his phone isn’t either. Why does Chuuya have so many rooms? He’s only one Chibi. What could he possibly need all these rooms for? Dazai only has one room, and he’s doing fine.

The cramps are starting to return with the consistent walking around, and while he’s been able to ignore the mild pain for the past few hours, it’s like his cramps want revenge, turning into sharp stabs that Dazai can’t ignore as easily. It spreads from his abdomen to his thighs, and Dazai gasps, leaning on the couch to balance himself as his legs threaten to give out. He’s hugging himself with one arm, trying to somewhat mimic the way Chuuya messages his lower belly.

Stupid cramps. Stupid body.

He climbs over the couch, lying down to curl up as the cramp feels like it’s spreading everywhere. The heat collar around his neck feels suffocating. It’s like he can’t breathe despite the fact that he is very much inhaling and exhaling air. He wants to take it off. He probably could, but he doesn’t know how to get it back on, and Chuuya might freak out if he wakes up to it being gone.

The omega knows Chuuya is right in the other room and that he was the one who left the room, but he misses him and wishes the redhead was with him. Chuuya tends to massage the omega’s belly when his cramps get bad, and it really does help, but Chuuya is asleep, and Dazai isn’t even in the nest, so he’ll just have to wait it out.

Eventually, it lessens enough that Dazai is able to stand, and he makes his way to the kitchen, on the hunt for water, but then he spots it. His phone. On the kitchen counter. Dazai groans, annoyed that the last place he looked ended up being right, and of course, it’s when he wasn’t even trying to find it.

Dazai grabs it, quickly noticing how close it is to dying: 2%. He sighs, scrolling through the notifications that seem like they’re endless. He expected the emails, executive shit that he usually ignores anyway. He’s not surprised that the executive group chat is active. The other executives made a group chat that they forced him into, and they like to talk to each other in it; actually, “like” is a strong word. They usually fight in it. Dazai is pretty sure he’s said one thing in that group chat. There are around 50+ messages from that chat, and the omega chooses to ignore them all.

There are texts from Akutagawa and Hirotsu about missions Dazai was supposed to be on. Akutgawa’s messages consist of asking if he did something wrong and how he can make up for his mistake, and honestly, Dazai’s not even sure what he’s talking about, but he’ll deal with it later.

Odasaku and Ango also have messaged him, asking about meeting at Lupin and then follow-up messages saying they’ve left. A pang of disappointment flashes through the omega’s heart, but it’s quick to disappear. He doesn’t really feel like drinking right now anyway.

There are 5+ calls from Chuuya that he’s going to assume were from when he ran away.

And then there’s one singular call from Mori. And one singular text.

Report to me when it’s done.

Dazai's heart drops, and his breath hitches. Of course, Mori knows. Why did he ever think he would be able to hide this from him? He made it happen and expected it; he was probably waiting for it. All of those threats about testing omega suppressants on him weren’t just bluffs. Mori lied. Dazai feels so incredibly stupid he could die from it.

Maybe Dazai could still lie about it. Going on scent blockers and suppressants should make it seem like he’s a beta, right?… No, it wouldn’t matter. Mori is confident. He would take samples. He would make sure. He knows and there’s nothing Dazai can do to change it.

Mori lied to him.

Dazai drops his phone back onto the counter, not caring about charging it, and trudges back to Chuuya and his nest. Chuuya is still sleeping, passed out while clutching the pillow Dazai scented. His brow is furrowed, and he’s letting out soft whining noises every once in a while. He seems stressed despite being in a deep sleep. Dazai is pretty sure when the alpha wakes up, he’ll still be tired. He doesn’t think Chuuya is really getting rest. He closes his eyes, falls asleep, and then stresses. And it’s Dazai’s fault, too, since it probably has to do with Chuuya’s alpha instincts. Chuuya doesn’t usually stress like this in his sleep.

Dazai carefully steals the pillow from the alpha - earning himself a growl - and then throws it to the other side of the nest. He crawls back in between Chuuya’s arms, wrapping himself around the redhead’s chest and shoving his face into Chuuya’s partially exposed collarbone. Chuuya’s skin is hot, but not in the same way that Dazai’s is. Chuuya always runs hot, but while Dazai is burning like boiling water, Chuuya is warm like a fire on a cold winter night. It feels nice. The alpha seems to tighten his hold, curling around to shove his face in the omega’s hair again. Dazai can feel Chuuya’s breaths on his head, shivering slightly at the contact.

This heat really has enlightened Dazai about aspects of Chuuya that he didn’t know before. They’ve fallen into bed together before, fucking each other to try and get their minds off how fucked up their lives are. It was a distraction. Neither of them ever really stayed after - sometimes one of them would fall asleep, but they never woke up together - so before Dazai’s heat, they had never technically shared a bed just to sleep. This heat is showing how cuddly and touchy Chuuya is. He likes to run his fingers through Dazai’s hair and likes to draw along his back and scars. Don’t get Dazai wrong; he likes it, but Chuuya never really used to do it before, so it’s a little different.

Even half-lucid as he is, he’s also noticed how Chuuya likes his scent, likes his slick. He’s noticed how the alpha’s eyes dilate like he wants to fuck Dazai, but then he gains control back and doesn’t act upon his alpha’s wishes. Most of it is probably Chuuya’s own instincts reacting to Dazai’s omega, but it’s nice thinking that maybe Chuuya does care for him. Maybe Chuuya wouldn’t just fuck him as a distraction. Maybe there’s something between them other than convenience and forced partnership.

Dazai hasn’t actually slept in the same bed as someone since he still lived with his family, and even that was different from this. It’s warm here. It’s comfortable. It makes Dazai feel like his skin is burning off, but at the same time, he’s being melded back together, all the broken parts being pieced back together slowly. He’s not a broken excuse of a human. He’s not a mafia executive. He doesn’t spend his nights being hurt and cut and harmed just so he can feel something other than nothing. He’s not an omega.

He’s just Dazai.

The omega nuzzles closer to Chuuya’s scent gland, inhaling the alpha’s scent to calm his mind. That’s another thing that Dazai has learned from his heat. Chuuya’s scent quiets his racing brain, even when he’s lucid. It’s nice. It's definitely something that Mori wouldn’t like. He’s not supposed to stop thinking… but Mori lied, so Dazai doesn’t care what he would want. He wants to stop thinking, and he likes Chuuya’s scent.

Noises filter into the omega’s ears, and he glances over at the TV in annoyance. Dazai softly groans, shoving his face into Chuuya’s chest. The alpha grunts but doesn’t wake up with the movement. Dazai should’ve gotten the remote while he was up, but now he doesn’t feel like moving and risking waking Chuuya up.

After listening to the TV for a little bit, Dazai groans again. He’s so bored. He misses talking to Chuuya. Chuuya was making the pain more bearable, and while Dazai is okay now, he wants to talk to the alpha. Their normal bickering made it easy to forget why they were here, and Dazai really doesn’t want to think about what’ll happen after his heat. He wants to talk to Chuuya. But Chuuya is sleepinggggg.

A cramp emerges in his abdomen, and he suppresses a whimper as he hugs Chuuya closer, trying to ignore it and filling his mind with the alpha’s scent. He tries to close his eyes, tries to sleep, but with the pain and his fears, he just lays there in Chuuya’s arms, listening to the obnoxious lovers on the TV go against their families and run away together.

A sudden buzzing on the nightstand makes Dazai jump. And then Chuuya’s piercing ringtone starts playing, instantly making the alpha stir. He grunts, letting out a loud sigh. Dazai looks up, watching as one of Chuuya’s hands starts slapping his nightstand, trying to find his phone. When the alpha does finally find it, he brings it to his face, looking at who’s calling him.

Chuuya’s breath hitches, and he seems instantly more awake than before, his scent souring, burning Dazai’s lungs, and making his omega instincts cower.

“Chibi?”

“Dazai?” The alpha looks from his phone to the brunet and then back to his phone. “I need you to be silent.”

Dazai narrows his eyes. “Why?”

Chuuya’s ringtone is nearing the end, and he quickly accepts the call, bringing his phone to his ear. He raises his eyebrows at Dazai, telling the omega to stay quiet with his stare.

“Boss.”

Dazai’s eyes widen and he tenses, instantly shoving his head back down between himself and Chuuya. Mori is calling? Why is Mori calling? Does he know that Dazai is here? Did he put a tracker on Dazai’s phone? Did he know the second Dazai looked at his message? … No, that's stupid. Dazai has checked his phone over and over. There’s no way Mori could’ve put a tracker on it without Dazai knowing. The omega involuntary shivers anyway, suppressing a whine.

“Uhm… I’m okay. How are… you?”

Dazai slowly lifts his head, narrowing his eyes at the alpha. Chuuya’s expression looks petrified. His eyes are wide, and he's looking around the room sporadically like he’s nervous that Mori is just going to pop into existence. It’s like he’s more nervous than Dazai right now. Maybe he is. He meets Dazai’s eyes, pleading with the omega to stay quiet as he opens his mouth.

“Yeah! Everything is… fine!”

Dazai softly groans, face planting into the blankets.

“No, no, no, no, it’s not a rut. I’ve just been…feeling… sickly?” Why did Chuuya ask that? It should be a statement. Also, Chuuya never gets sick. What is he doing?

He’s horrible at this.

A cramp rises into the pit of Dazai’s stomach, and he ends up curling back into Chuuya’s side, deciding to accept the fate of having to listen to Chuuya’s horrid lying ability. It’s not that he’s bad at lying, but the alpha is unreasonably bad at making up situations on the spot, especially to Mori and Kouyou. It’s like he can’t lie to them because he feels like he owes them.

“No! It’s okay! You don’t need to do that! I think there’s just something… in the air?”

Dazai is in hell, and there’s no escape.

“Yeah, no, I still haven’t heard from him.”

Dazai jerks up. Mori already knows Dazai is an omega. He must know; there’s nothing else that that text could mean. Mori can’t know that Chuuya is helping Dazai with his heat. Chuuya needs to lie better.

The redhead squints his eyes at the omega. “He does this all the time. He’ll turn up eventually. Fucker never dies.”

Dazai keeps shaking his head, trying his best not to whine and whimper from the pain his body and mind are in. Chuuya is giving him a migraine. The alpha in question just blinks at him.

“I’ll report to you as soon as I can.”

Mori must say something else, and then the call - and Dazai’s hell experience - ends. Chuuya moves the phone away from his ear and sets it on the nightstand.

“What was that?” Dazai hisses, clutching his stomach as the cramp moves. A heat wave follows it, and he ends up letting out a small whimper.

“What do you mean?” Chuuya asks, pulling the omega up so he has access to his belly. He starts kneading into Dazai’s abdomen, instantly helping with the cramp and pain. The heat wave is still presently flowing through his body, though, and Dazai can feel his back dripping sweat. It’s cold and gross, like the slick he can still feel leaking.

“You suck at lying,” Dazai groans. “If Mori didn’t know before, he definitely knows now.”

“I think I did a great job,” Chuuya retorts. Dazai gives him a blank stare, and the alpha winces. “Okay, fine. I’m bad at lying because I like to be honest. To the Boss. Sue me.”

“I think I will sue you,” Dazai growls, grabbing one of Chuuya’s hands to move it aggressively towards his side, where the cramp seems to have moved like it was trying to escape. The alpha gets the message and starts massaging where Dazai placed his hand. “He’s going to know.”

“It’s fine, Mackerel. He thinks our relationship is shit. Why would I help you through a heat?” Chuuya mutters.

“He’s not stupid. He’ll figure it out.” The pain strengthens for a brief moment, and Dazai lets out a gasp with a follow-up groan at how dumb he feels. These cramps are dumb. Pain is dumb. Why can’t he just live his sorry life with no pain? He already has to live life.

“It’ll be okay,” Chuuya replies. “When did the cramps start up again? Was it before I woke up?”

Dazai sluggishly nods, having trouble thinking past the constant thought of hurts.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

The brunet shrugs. “Wasn’t important.”

“Dazai.” Chuuya’s voice is stern, and while lucid Dazai is laughing about the fact that Chuuya is trying to scold him, Dazai’s omega instincts are crying. He made the alpha upset. He was bad. Why did he upset the alpha? Now he’s going to kick Dazai out and make him spend the rest of his heat alone. Dazai ends up whimpering in response.

“Dumbass, Mackerel. I’ll get you a pill.” Chuuya climbs out of the nest, leaving the room, and Dazai snatches the blanket the alpha had been lying on. He wraps himself with it, inhaling Chuuya’s scent and curling into himself as the cramps attack him. The cramps had been so mild that Dazai almost forgot he was in heat.

Chuuya comes back quickly, holding a pill and more rice.

“Chibiii,” Dazai whines. “I’m not hungry.”

“It’s been a few hours,” Chuuya shrugs. “You need to eat.”

“It has not.” Dazai turns over, grabbing Chuuya’s phone.

“Hey-” The bright numbers of 2:00 stare back at the omega. It’s 2? In the afternoon? Didn’t Chuuya pass out around 11am? How had hours passed? Dazai didn’t think it had been hours. It didn’t feel like hours. Did Dazai fall asleep, and he didn’t know? What happened? What is this heat doing to his brain? Is he melting? Is he actually boiling alive?

Chuuya holds the bowl of rice out to the omega, and Dazai takes it, throwing Chuuya’s phone to the other side of the nest and turning around to give Chuuya his back. He shovels the rice into his mouth making annoyed and disgruntled noises the entire time as he suppresses the urge to gag from how bland and boring it tastes. He’s not hungry, and this isn’t making him any hungrier. It’s actually doing the opposite…but Dazai eats it, knowing it’ll make Chuuya happy and he’ll get the pill after.

He really has become a dog, hasn’t he?

When he finishes half of the rice, Dazai turns back around and shoves the bowl into Chuuya’s lap.

“I’m done.”

“You ate half of it. Eat it all.”

Dazai glares at him. “No. I’m not hungry.”

“Eat it all.” Chuuya is hiding the pill; Dazai hasn’t been able to spot it as his eyes scan the alpha. He narrows his eyes.

“No.”

“Dazai, you need food. I’ve been letting you eat half of it, but please eat it all this once? Please?” Chuuya’s voice is stern but pleading at the same time. The perfect combination for trying to get Dazai’s omega to listen. Dazai knows exactly what the redhead is doing. And unfortunately for the brunet, it’s working. He pouts and then starts shoveling rice into his mouth, glaring at Chuuya.

The alpha smiles, not the mocking, annoyed smile he usually gives Dazai, but an actual smile, one that reaches his eyes. There’s a sparkle in his eyes that Dazai doesn’t usually see. One side of his mouth is curved up higher than the other, and his lips are slightly parted, exposing one of his fangs. He looks genuinely happy that Dazai is eating. The omega’s ears heat up and he breaks his gaze, quickly staring down at his rice as he continues shoving it into his mouth. It’s the instincts. It’s just the instincts. Dazai doesn’t care that Chuuya’s real smile made him… feel something. It made him feel nothing. It was just his instincts being antsy and catering to an alpha. It was nothing.

By the time Dazai looks up again, Chuuya is staring at the TV, seemingly intently watching the movie he missed most of.

Dazai finishes the rice and throws the bowl at his partner, hitting his arm. Stupid Chibi making weird emotions appear that shouldn’t exist in Dazai’s brain. Stupid heat heightening those stupid emotions. The brunet huffs and wraps himself in Chuuya’s blanket, turning his back to the alpha.

“Don’t you want the pill?” Chuuya asks, leaning over the omega. He holds the pill in front of Dazai’s face like he’s a dog. Dazai narrows his eyes and then lunges, acting like he’s aiming to bite Chuuya’s fingers. The alpha makes a surprised yelp and drops the pill. Dazai is quick to snatch it, popping it into his mouth with a smirk.

“Fucking asshole,” Chuuya grumbles, grabbing the water that Dazai has stashed in between the pillows of the nest and trying to hand it to the omega. Dazai dry swallows the pill instead, giving Chuuya a big, goofy smile as he feels the pill struggle its way through his throat.

“I will shove this water down your throat,” Chuuya deadpans.

“Chuuya wouldn’t.”

The alpha smirks.

Dazai realizes his mistake a second too late, and he instantly tries scrambling away, crawling towards the other side of the nest. He gets nowhere. Chuuya grabs his leg and pulls him back, climbing on top of the omega and sitting on his back. Dazai grunts, trying to free himself, but Chuuya is so heavy. How is he so heavy? He’s tiny. Plus, the cramps aren’t helping with Dazai’s ability to move.

His partner is quick to pin down his arms, leaning down to cover Dazai’s entire back with his body. Dazai tries to push Chuuya away, bucking up, but the alpha doesn’t budge, somehow getting heavier as Chuuya uses all of his weight to hold him down.

“Chuuyaaaaaaa,” Dazai whines, though it’s muffled by how his face is shoved into pillows.

Chuuya doesn’t say anything, instantly manhandling Dazai into turning around instead. The redhead has to sit up a little to allow movement, and when Dazai is moved onto his back, he takes the brief second before Chuuya is able to sit back down to free one of his legs, pulling it up towards his body. He kicks at Chuuya, who ends up releasing one of Dazai’s arms to grab the omega’s shin, pinning his foot down. Dazai instantly shoves his now free hand in Chuuya’s face, pushing the alpha’s head to the side and trying to get him to loosen his grip on Dazai’s other arm.

Chuuya chuckles and nips at Dazai’s hand, his teeth and fangs grazing the omega’s knuckles. Dazai screeches, pulling his hand back and staring, wide-eyed and mouth agape, at the small indention on his hand.

“You TRIED TO BITE ME?”

“I didn’t bite you. Don’t be dramatic,” Chuuya scoffs, and he uses Dazai’s shock to rebalance himself, pinning the omega’s freed leg down with his knee and then shifting over slightly so he’s still straddling Dazai’s waist with most of his weight keeping the omega down despite some of his weight keeping Dazai’s leg down. The alpha then repins Dazai’s free arm back to the bed.

Dazai squirms, trying to free something, but when that proves to be futile, the omega just gives up, staring at Chuuya with a pout.

Chuuya is panting a bit, obviously a little winded, but he recovers fast.

Dazai is exhausted. That was a lot of moving, and he isn’t really fit. Plus, his cramps are making themselves known again, and he’s barely able to suppress the whimpers and whines that want to escape his throat.

“How do you plan on shoving water down my throat now~?” Dazai sings, smirking at the eye roll Chuuya gives him.

The omega lets out a soft yelp of surprise as his arms are moved. Chuuya pins them above Dazai’s head, making it so only one of the alpha’s hands is holding Dazai’s arms down. He’s straining slightly with the size difference. But he’s still stronger, and even in the new position, Dazai can’t free himself. With one of Chuuya’s hands free, he grabs the water bottle that he had thrown off to the side earlier and unscrews the cap with his teeth.

“If you don’t drink it, you’ll choke,” Chuuya informs the omega, and then he shoves the bottle into Dazai’s mouth. The brunet makes a noise of protest, water filling his mouth, but he doesn’t swallow, instead holding it in his mouth.

Chuuya narrows his eyes. “I’ll squeeze it.”

The omega lets out a noise of protest but then starts slowly swallowing, gulping down the water sitting in his mouth and then the water that follows it. He hears Chuuya chuckle, and he makes an annoyed grunt but keeps swallowing.

Eventually, he finishes the entire water bottle, and Chuuya lets him go.

“That was mean,” Dazai whines, shoving his face into the mound of blankets and shirts.

“You needed it,” Chuuya replies, getting off of the bed with the rice bowl and empty water bottle. “I’m getting another water.”

“Another?”

“Dazai, you’re dehydrated and in heat. You’re still sweating and producing slick, even if you’re lucid.”

Dazai pouts, and Chuuya rolls his eyes, leaving the room. The omega groans, sitting up in the nest. He notices a few pillows out of place from their small wrestling match and starts rearranging them, smacking and re-fluffing them until he’s satisfied. Chuuya comes back pretty quickly, and he doesn’t just have water.

“Your gaming console?” Dazai asks as Chuuya throws the water bottle at him. He fails to catch it, and it ends up landing on his lap, so he grabs it and shoves it between some pillows.

“Well, you obviously seem like you don’t want to sleep or watch a movie, so I thought we could just play video games instead,” Chuuya explains. “Plus, I’ll beat you.”

Dazai gawks. “You will not.”

“You can’t think. Of course, I’m gonna win.”

“I can think,” Dazai hisses.

Chuuya looks the omega up and down in a way that shows that he does not believe Dazai. “We’ll see.”

-------

Chuuya did win. Every single race and game they played. For multiple hours, Dazai had to experience losing to the redhead, which Chuuya found hilarious. He knew exactly what he was doing when he suggested playing a game. While Dazai is lucid enough to think, his normal strategy of predicting everything Chuuya does isn’t going to cut it because he can’t strategize; his mind is too foggy and hazy. By their final race, Dazai was in complete last - losing even to the AIs. Chuuya chuckles as Dazai just lets the controller go, turning into the alpha’s side and letting out a tired groan.

“Tired now, aren’tcha?” Chuuya asks, and Dazai just grunts in response. The redhead had hoped it would wear his partner out, trying to strategize when he can’t. Dazai is already exhausted on a normal day. His heat just makes it worse.

Chuuya pulls the omega closer, letting Dazai lay on his arm so he still has access to the alpha’s scent glands. The brunet finds them quickly, rubbing his face and neck on them despite being unable to scent. Chuuya should probably take the heat collar off. Honestly, the second Chuuya woke up, he should’ve taken it off. It’s obviously uncomfortable for Dazai, and his glands need to breathe occasionally. So he does, unclasping the heat collar and setting it on the nightstand.

Dazai sighs, relaxing into Chuuya’s shoulder. “Thanks, Chibi.”

The alpha chuckles. “No problem, Mackerel.”

Dazai drifts in and out of consciousness after that, making snuffling noises as Chuuya continues playing his game.

About an hour later, Chuuya gets bored, so he sets the controller down and just snuggles into his partner. Dazai’s skin is still scalding, and he’s sweating a lot; Chuuya can see the drops of sweat dripping down the brunet’s forehead. Dazai occasionally puffs out a purr or a whimper, shifting slightly like his cramps hurt him, but he settles down soon after.

At one point, Dazai jolts awake, jerking up into sitting and panting a bit. Chuuya watches him, confused about what exactly is happening. The omega sits there for a second, staring off, but then he just turns, repositioning himself so his back is against the alpha’s side as he clutches Chuuya’s arm, nuzzling into it. Dazai hadn’t really shown any indication that he was having a nightmare, so honestly, the movement scared the alpha a little, but his partner seems fine. Dazai’s nightmare usually consists of panic attacks, hyperventilating, and - recently - crying, but the omega isn’t doing either of those things, so Chuuya lets it go, reaching for his phone.

Another hour passes as Chuuya slowly gets through his emails. He hates emails, especially since he was put in charge of the Port Mafia’s jewel trade. Emails are full of information but are so condensed, and honestly, Chuuya likes messages and paper reports better. It’s easier on his eyes. But Mori likes emails and says they are “secure enough,” except the most important missions and reports are kept on paper anyway, so Chuuya doesn’t really get the point in emails, but he digresses.

It’s around 10pm when he gets a message from Kouyou asking if Chuuya can talk. The alpha bites his lip, glancing at Dazai. The omega has been sleeping for a good couple of hours, but Chuuya wants him to sleep more if he can, and moving to take a call would probably wake him up. However, Dazai didn’t wake up the last time he whispered, so it should be fine.

He messages her back: Sure. Not for long.

Kouyou’s call is only a few seconds after Chuuya hits send.

“Ane-san?” he whispers, glancing at Dazai to check that he didn’t instantly wake up. The omega doesn’t budge.

“Is he asleep?” She’s whispering, which is a little funny, considering Dazai can’t hear her.

“Yeah.”

“I see. I can call back another time-”

“No, it’s okay. What did you need?”

Kouyou is silent for a few seconds. “I just wanted to know how it was going.”

“You just wanted to see if I’m failing,” Chuuya rephrases for her, annoyed. Why doesn’t she think he can do this? She’s never been this weird about an omega in heat. Chuuya has helped a few omegas from the brothel through their heats, and Kouyou never doubted him. Yeah, he supposes it’s not just any omega; it’s Dazai, but they’re literally partners. They work together all the time. What makes Kouyou more qualified to help Dazai than Chuuya? Chuuya could argue that she’s not more qualified, considering how the muzzle incident went.

“I didn’t think you would fail. I just wanted to make sure you two are okay-”

“Don’t pretend you care about him,” Chuuya snaps. She doesn’t care about Dazai. She cares about Chuuya, and while he appreciates it, he doesn’t appreciate her telling him what he should be doing with Dazai.

“I do-”

“You don’t.”

“Nakahara Chuuya, don’t assume things of me. I do care about Dazai.”

Chuuya could scoff, but he knows she’ll get stern with him. It’s just bullshit that she sits there and says she cares but then doesn’t. She treats her omegas so much better than she was treating Dazai. Yeah, he wasn’t being very agreeable, but he was scared. Chuuya has seen omegas fight against Kouyou more than Dazai had.

“Then why don’t you show it?”

Kouyou is quiet. Chuuya can hear her soft breaths. “It’s complicated.”

“I’m getting tired of people telling me that,” Chuuya growls, voice raising a little. He quickly glances at Dazai, but the omega seems to still be passed out, his breathing slow and even.

“But it is complicated. There’s a lot to explain-”

“If you want me to understand why you’re treating him like shit, I need more than just ‘it’s complicated.’”

“I’m not treating him-” Kouyou groans. Groans? She never gets frustrated. Instead, she keeps it inside, putting up the mask that she’s calm, collected, and in control. It makes Chuuya even more curious. The alpha hears a long sigh on the other end, and after a few seconds, he hears another sigh. “I do care for Dazai, Chuuya. I do. I…” Chuuya hears her take another breath. “I just do. You need to take my word on it.”

“I don’t.” It’s easy to say you care. It really is. Chuuya would know. He thought the Sheep cared about him. He cared about them, but they didn’t give him the courtesy. Chuuya fought for them, day in and day out, and they still betrayed him. They didn’t trust him. They called him too powerful and stabbed a metaphorical - and physical - knife in his body. They didn’t care about him, just about what he could do. Even recently, Chuuya has talked to Shirase, and they more or less made up, but it still hurts knowing that he wasn’t cared about in the same way that he cared about them.

“I knew his mother.”

Chuuya’s entire thought process stops, and the first thought he has is: Oh, so Dazai didn’t just spawn into existence. He did have a family.

Just the fact of Dazai having a mother being confirmed is the most Chuuya has ever gotten about the brunet’s past. Dazai is stingy and likes to change the subject. Mori just creepily grins and tells him to ask Dazai himself. Hirotsu won’t say anything and just shrugs. No one tells Chuuya anything, and it’s annoying.

He once tried looking it up in the records, but Dazai’s file was never there. Since he’s an executive, it’s probably kept in a more secure location, or at least that’s what Chuuya assumes. Either way, Dazai knows Chuuya’s past… well, some of it. It’s kind of hard to tell someone about your past when you don’t know it. Maybe Dazai looked at that file that Chuuya isn’t allowed to look at yet. Maybe Dazai knows more than him. But… he’s not sure if he should be listening to this anyway. It’s Dazai’s story.

“She was an omega in the brothel, and she… took care of me. I was young. 6 or 7. When I presented at 15, I was the only female alpha. She was so strong, Chuuya. I had never met an omega as opinionated and powerful as her.” Kouyou pauses. “There was a lot of stuff happening that I wasn’t aware of at the time. I still don’t know it. But one day, she left. I was hurt… she was like my older sister, and she left me in the mafia. Alone.” Chuuya can hear the pain in her voice, even all these years later. Is this why she refuses to take care of Dazai? Because she’s still hurt by what his mother did?

“I didn’t see her for years. I honestly thought she had died… but then she caught me leaving a tea shop. She had a toddler with her, probably around 4 or 5.” Kouyou pauses again. “I found out that throughout her time in the mafia, she fell in love with the old Boss’ son. They had children even before she left. She already had two by the time she met me, but she kept them hidden.”

Kouyou pauses again, and Chuuya can hear her taking a sip from what he assumes would be her teacup. “Eventually, the old Boss found out about her and his son. He saw her as unfit, and they had to run if they wanted to be together. They were on the run for ten years. When she talked to me, it had only been five. Dazai was her most recent and most vulnerable. She knew the Boss was getting close, and she wanted to protect her child.”

Kouyou takes another breath, sipping her tea. “But I refused. She had left me and wanted me to take care of a child? I was a child myself.”

“When I heard they were found five years later and that almost all of her children were killed, as well as her mate, I was heartbroken. I should’ve taken the child, but instead, he was being sentenced to die just for being hers.”

“The old Boss had his own son killed?”

“He saw him as unfit. He married and mated a whore. His bloodline was tainted. She and Dazai were the only two left by the time they were brought into headquarters.”

“Oh.” Chuuya bites his lip, looking at the omega in his hold. So, is Dazai technically the heir to the Port Mafia? And if the old Boss was his grandfather, that means Dazai was a witness to his grandfather’s death, which makes sense as to why his testimony was so strong. No wonder people didn’t question Mori more. But wouldn’t that make Dazai a liability? How is he still alive?

Kouyou continues, “Only she was killed. The old Boss decided to keep Dazai alive. I was still just a grunt at the time; had finally gotten out of the brothel life and was trying to make a name for myself in the higher ranks. I saw Dazai periodically but never for long. I felt responsible for him, but I could never corner him for long enough to talk to him.”

Chuuya hears Kouyou set down what sounds like a teacup. “It was only when I looked into his mother’s heritage - so therefore Dazai’s heritage - that I understood why the old Boss kept Dazai alive.”

“Dazai’s heritage?”

“Yes. Mori must have told the old Boss about his mother’s family-”

Chuuya jumps when Dazai suddenly moves, snatching his phone. He hadn’t even realized the omega was awake. Dazai’s eyes are sharp and angry. Nothing like the last few days and everything like his Port Mafia persona. There’s murder in his gaze.

“Dazai doesn’t have a heritage, thank you,” he snarls into the phone, glaring at Chuuya. The brunet then hangs up on Kouyou and throws Chuuya’s phone across the room. It hits the wall with a loud thump and falls to the floor with a crunch. Chuuya gapes.

“Dazai?”

“Don’t go sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, Chuuya. You won’t like what you find,” Dazai growls at him. His scent has pitched, but it’s not exactly his distressed burnt vanilla scent. Instead, there are earthy tones of anger. Dazai is pissed.

“I just-”

“It’s none of your business,” Dazai sneers. His breathing has picked up, and Chuuya can see the tears filling up in his partner’s eyes, making the alpha hesitate to move. “So stop asking.”

“Dazai-”

The omega scoffs, rolling his eyes and grabbing a blanket to wrap himself in it, lying as far away as he can from Chuuya. The redhead’s side is cold now without Dazai there, and he suppresses a shiver.

“Dazai-”

“Shut up, Chuuya,” Dazai hisses. His voice sounds wet. Like tears have started falling. He’s started trembling, too, his body shaking even as he lays there covered in a blanket. Chuuya’s soul hurts at the sight. He didn’t really know that it was Dazai specifically who didn’t want him to know about his past. He thought the omega was just being his usual annoying self. While Chuuya understands having a traumatic past, it hurts a little to know that Dazai doesn’t want him to know.

“Dazai-” the alpha reaches for him, grazing Dazai’s back with his fingers. The omega flinches, jerking forward and then whirling around, hissing, “Don’t.”

Dazai’s face is red, his eyes spilling tears down his cheeks. Chuuya doesn’t know if he even wants to fight with Dazai about this because he understands that he was digging into something Dazai obviously didn’t want to tell him, but he’s concerned.

“Everyone, including yourself, has been implying things, and I don’t like not knowing. I wasn’t trying to invade your privacy. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“There’s nothing to invade,” Dazai snaps, his voice breaking slightly. He’s trying so hard to fight the tears; he’s choking on them.

“Obviously not. You’re just pissed about nothing,” Chuuya mutters sarcastically.

“I’m not pissed.”

“Dazai-”

“Just shut up.”

“No.”

“You don’t actually care,” Dazai cries. The omega is working himself up so much that he might throw up again and Chuuya doesn’t want that. The brunet needs to keep the little amount of food he ate in his body. “You just want to know and will say anything.”

“That is not true-”

“HOW IS THAT NOT TRUE?” Dazai is borderline hysterical as he yells at the alpha. His face is full of tears streaking down his face. His breathing is erratic, and he’s taking short, quick inhales that are probably making him light-headed. “My mother gave me to the mafia. She thought - she thought I was weird and annoying, just like my siblings said, and my parents never cared! My grandfather didn’t care! Mori doesn’t care! Kouyou chose you. No one cares about me. They only care about what I can do.” The omega takes a deep inhale. “Which - which is fine. It - it makes sense and - and you aren’t different. You didn’t even start talking to me until after Corruption. After - after I nullified it. Talking normally. Before, you’d just - you’d just scoff and - and you’d leave. Every time.”

Chuuya opens his mouth to counter that, but he hesitates. Dazai isn’t exactly wrong. The alpha did finally start taking Dazai up on his offers of video games and hanging out after the first time he used Corruption. After a few months of that, he started asking if Dazai wanted to hang out at his apartment afterward, and eventually, that led to sex… but it wasn’t because Dazai was the only one who could nullify Corruption.

Maybe the omega thinks he wasn’t lucid enough to remember how he had spent days in Chuuya’s room, talking to him, taking care of him, bringing him comfort items like his gloves and hat. When Chuuya was finally allowed to leave the hospital, Dazai took him back to the apartment and helped him bathe. Chuuya had never seen that side of Dazai, but he liked it. Now that Chuuya knows he’s an omega, he would say that it’s the most omega-like quality he’s seen from the brunet, not that Dazai would appreciate that comment. The second Dazai realized Chuuya was lucid, he put a mask on, instantly insulting and joking about Chuuya being lazy for days.

Dazai lowers his voice, quietly whispering, “You had just lost your friends. You just wanted to feel less alone.” Dazai stares at the bedsheets, refusing to look the redhead in the eye. “I just wanted to hang out with Chuuya.”

Chuuya is speechless. He had no idea. If Dazai hadn’t been in heat, Chuuya highly doubts he would’ve revealed any of this to the alpha. The omega is lonely. Chuuya figured Dazai was alone, but he thought Dazai chose to be alone and that he was fine with it. He should’ve realized, especially with how fast Dazai’s omega accepted him. He just wanted to be cared about, to be loved, and not just in a sexual way. Maybe that’s why Dazai said no to knots and sex. He didn’t want Chuuya’s help if the alpha was just wanting to knot him. He didn’t want to be cared about if Chuuya was just using him for heat fucks.

“Is that what you wanted to know?” Dazai hisses. “That no one cares about me or loves me, not even my own parents? Well there. You know now. Happy?”

“Dazai-” Before Chuuya even has a chance to finish, the omega whips back around, curling into the wall of his nest as he wraps the blanket around his shaking body. Chuuya’s not sure what to do. He wants to comfort Dazai, but the omega is so furious and miserable that he’s not sure if Dazai will let him.

But… Chuuya doesn’t care what Dazai would prefer. Dazai needs to be touched, so the alpha shuffles forward, pulling Dazai towards him. His partner screams, trying to push and shove Chuuya away, but the alpha ends up pulling him into a hug. Dazai cries, thrashing against Chuuya’s chest despite it being futile. The alpha lays them both down on their sides, shoving his face into Dazai’s hair. He continues to keep the omega in the hug even as Dazai tries to get away, pushing against Chuuya’s chest. He switches to hitting, weakly trying to punch Chuuya as he cries profusely and chokes, sobbing noises leave his throat.

Chuuya clutches him closer, making it really hard for Dazai to continue hitting him, so the omega starts thrashing and pushing again. The alpha nuzzles into Dazai’s hair, trying to calm him down a little.

“I care,” Chuuya whispers. He hopes Dazai can hear it, and he hopes the omega knows it’s genuine since his scent gives it away. “I know you’ll say I’m lying or that it’s my instincts cuz you’re in heat, but I genuinely do care.”

Dazai chokes, stuttering out a hiccuped sob. He shakes his head, and Chuuya hears him try to say something, but all he gets out are incoherent noises.

The brunet tries again. “Don’t -” he coughs, “- don’t lie.”

“I’m not. You can smell it in my scent. I can’t lie with my scent,” Chuuya murmurs.

Dazai sniffs like he wasn’t really processing Chuuya’s scent. The alpha supposes it makes sense. Dazai isn’t used to scents, so he’s not used to checking how someone is feeling using them. But his omega knows. His omega instincts will tell him. The only problem lies in whether Dazai will listen to his instincts.

Dazai is trembling, but the more he inhales Chuuya’s scent, the more he stops trying to escape the hug, instead just crying into Chuuya’s shirt. The anger in Dazai’s scent is gone, and now it’s just burnt vanilla, pure distress.

Despite the events of the last few days, Chuuya still isn’t used to Dazai being so… vulnerable. Usually, Dazai would’ve just gotten mad, pretended he wasn’t mad, and left, but being in heat makes it so he can’t run away from his problems… at least while Chuuya is awake. Dazai can certainly run when he’s asleep, but it just causes more problems.

Maybe he owes Dazai a little bit of vulnerability.

“I didn’t start accepting your offers because you could nullify Corruption… or because I wanted to feel less alone.” Chuuya tells him. He hesitates for a brief moment, wondering if he really should tell Dazai this. But the omega needs it. He needs to know. “After the first time I used Corruption, I was in a lot of pain. Mori had me duped up on painkillers, but it still hurt. Emotionally and physically. I wasn’t ever awake for long, but I saw you. All the time. You didn’t leave me once. You were always there when I woke up.”

Dazai sobs, loud, rough cries leaving his throat. Chuuya can hear that he’s trying to take deep breaths, but it keeps ending with the omega coughing and then sobbing harder.

Chuuya continues, “You talked to me sometimes. I don’t remember what you said, but I remember sitting there and watching you talk. Whatever it was, you were having a great time talking about it. Your eyes were shining. And when I was finally able to stay awake for longer periods of time, you took care of me; forced me to take medicine, eat, and drink. You didn’t complain once… like you thought I wouldn’t remember.”

Chuuya pauses, squeezing the omega closer. “I… wanted to see that version of you again. The real you. So I started accepting your invites to play video games.”

“Not the real me,” Dazai hiccups as he shakes his head.

“I beg to differ,” Chuuya counters.

The brunet keeps shaking his head into Chuuya’s chest, and the alpha lifts one of his hands, still firmly keeping Dazai against his chest, and starts combing his fingers through Dazai’s hair. The omega shivers, letting out a few shuddering breaths.

A few minutes of them just breathing passes.

“I’m sorry,” Chuuya mumbles into Dazai’s hair.

“For what?” Dazai asks quietly, his voice wet and rough but definitely less frantic than before.

“For not being a good partner.”

“Chuuya-”

“No! I was mad. I blamed you for what happened with the Sheep, and while you orchestrated it, they still did it. You knew they would do that the second you met them.” Chuuya bites his lip. “I thought that you were wanting to hang out just to annoy me and be an ass. I didn’t want to give you a chance.”

“It’s my fault-”

“It is, but at the same time, they were supposed to be my friends. They should’ve trusted me. I can’t keep blaming you for breaking a trust that wasn’t even there.” Chuuya exhales. “I trust you, though. I should hate you. I should despise you. You blackmailed me into joining the Port Mafia. You turned my friends on me.” Dazai flinches, trying to pull back, but Chuuya keeps him firmly still. “But I don’t hate you. You’re my partner. I trust you. I care.”

Dazai shivers, curling into Chuuya’s hug. “Chuuya shouldn’t.”

“And yet here we are.”

“Chuuya-”

“I’m also sorry for that… call. I - I didn’t really know that it had to do with your past. I just wanted to know why Kouyou has been being weird,” Chuuya explains.

“Being… weird?” Dazai isn’t really crying anymore, but he’s still sniffing. At least he isn’t actively choking on his tears anymore. He’s calming down.

“Ever since she found out, she’s told me to bring you to her. Something about protecting me from Mori-”

“She’s right,” Dazai states bluntly.

“She… is?”

“Yes.”

Chuuya waits for Dazai to say more, and when the omega doesn’t, he asks, “Why?”

“Just… Mori can’t know.”

“What will happen if he finds out?”

Dazai is quiet. Chuuya listens to his soft, hiccuping breathing as he runs his fingers down the omega’s spine, earning a shiver, but his partner doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t elaborate or indicate that he’s going to explain. They just sit there in silence. Chuuya supposes that he’s pushed the omega enough for the night and can ask tomorrow when Dazai isn’t bordering the line of a panic attack.

Chuuya continues drawing along Dazai’s back, running his fingers down his spine and then drawing shapes at random points. Dazai’s scent is slowly returning to contentment, or at least not distress; the burnt vanilla dissipating and being replaced with whiskey and leather.

The alpha isn’t all that tired, but he can tell Dazai still is. He’s still in heat, and crying always seems to make him tired. So Chuuya starts crooning softly. He would scent, but Dazai hasn’t specifically asked for it and the redhead doesn’t want to do anything that could upset him. He’s on edge.

When broken little purrs sound throughout the room in response to Chuuya’s croons, the alpha stops in surprise. Dazai’s purrs instantly stop, and then a quiet: “Sorry.”

“No, no, no. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Chuuya forces croons out of his throat, making them stronger and louder than before, trying to coax Dazai into purring again. The vibration from the croons is making his body shake a bit, and Chuuya doesn’t think he’s ever really forced croons in this way before, but it works. Dazai’s quiet purrs fill Chuuya’s ears, and his alpha sings in delight. Despite everything, Dazai still feels safe with Chuuya. He still feels protected.

Chuuya knows that they have a lot to talk about, especially concerning the stuff with Mori and Dazai's past, but right now, he’s completely fine with laying in Dazai’s nest with his omega, making him feel safe and content and letting his partner express the emotions he tries so hard to pretend he doesn’t have.

Tomorrow is another day.

Chapter Text

Dazai’s (hopefully) last day of heat starts much worse than Chuuya thought it would.

The alpha wakes up groggy and confused, wondering when he had fallen asleep and why he woke up. Light is barely coming through his windows, meaning it’s probably close to sunrise, and as he sits there, he knows something is wrong. Something woke him.

The redhead is quick to figure it out.

Burnt vanilla hits Chuuya in a big wave, making him gasp out, his lungs suddenly refusing to exhale. He realizes he can hear quiet sobs and bolts upright, desperately looking for the omega. He notices a lump at the other end of the nest, one that is violently shivering. When Chuuya squints, he can make out the omega's curled-up body. He turns on the lamp, and his eyes widen.

Dazai is at the end of the nest, back facing Chuuya. The omega’s skin is exposed, as in Dazai took his shirt off. The omega has a blanket covering his lower half, and Chuuya can see the waistline of the pants peaking out.

So, currently, there’s a half-naked omega in heat in Chuuya’s bed.
Chuuya is so lucky his rut isn’t close.
So unbelievably lucky.

Chuuya can hear Dazai trying to suppress his cries.

“Dazai? What’s wrong? What happened?” Chuuya rubs his eyes, still trying to process everything. He doesn’t remember falling asleep. He doesn’t know what time it is now. He doesn’t know how long Dazai has been awake and clearly upset. He’s still trying to understand what Dazai told him last night and how he’s supposed to beat the rest out of the man. And why did Dazai take his shirt off?

The omega in question doesn’t move, continuing to shake and quietly sob like he hadn’t heard him. Like he’s stuck in his mind.

“Dazai?” Chuuya reaches forward, brushing his fingers along the omega’s back, feeling No Longer Human the second he caresses the brunet’s skin. Dazai instantly flinches forward, crying out and whipping his head around. His eyes are red and puffy, so he must have been crying for a while. His face is covered in tears, and the two stare at each other for a brief moment before Dazai lets out a high-pitched, miserable cry. He starts trembling even more and then turns back into the nest wall.

Chuuya untangles himself from the blankets he seemed to have wrapped himself in during his sleep and crawls over to Dazai.

“NO!” Dazai suddenly wails, jerking up and moving away from Chuuya. “No, Chuuya. Nonononono.”

“What’s wrong?” Chuuya asks, pausing in his mission to get to his partner so he doesn’t upset the omega more. Dazai doesn’t seem hurt, so it’s most likely something with his instincts? He didn’t usually act like this when the cramps and heat waves happened before, though. Does it have to do with his scent glands? Maybe they hurt?

Chuuya glances at the patches still covering Dazai’s glands, suddenly realizing that the omega isn’t wearing the heat collar. Wait, did they even put it back on? Did Chuuya fall asleep with Dazai’s glands exposed? Shit, shit, shit. The alpha is about to ask when Dazai’s voice interrupts him, quiet and timid.

“They’re so loud,” Dazai whispers. “So loud, loud, loud.” The omega has covered his ears; his eyes look a little wild and feral. He slowly leans forward, resting his head on some blankets. “ It hurts, Chuuya. Hurts a lot.”

“Come here,” Chuuya mumbles, reaching his hand out.

“Nononono, they want a knot,” Dazai whimpers. “I don’t - I can’t -” The omega lets out a miserable noise. “Can’t think.”

The alpha watches Dazai curl in on himself, shoving his head between his knees. So he’s fighting his omega instincts. The alpha scooches away and slowly reaches down to grab Kouyou’s bag. He pulls out the sedatives and takes one out, making sure to put the rest back before crawling over to Dazai.

“Hey, here,” Chuuya holds the pill out to the sobbing omega. “It’s a sedative.”

“Can’t. Mori-san told me I can’t,” Dazai whispers.

“He’s not here, Mackerel. It’s just us, and it’s just to calm your instincts down,” Chuuya grits his teeth, hating Mori's hold over the omega.

“He’ll know. He always knows.”

“He won’t,” Chuuya protests. “Please?”

Dazai looks up, his eyes hazy and wet. He glances from Chuuya to the pill and then back to Chuuya. More tears fall.

“Dazai, it’ll be okay. I swear on my life he won’t find out.” Chuuya isn’t sure what else to do. Scenting would make Dazai’s instincts worse. So would cuddling. The sedatives would work the best.

Dazai shakes his head but then takes the pill, slowly putting it in his mouth and swallowing. Chuuya breathes a sigh of relief, even as Dazai curls up again and refuses to move. The alpha leans back, lying down as he waits for the pill to take effect. He knows Dazai won’t lay with him until he’s about to pass out.

Dazai resisting his instincts instead of listening to them is probably what’s making it hurt. His omega is trying to convince him to get knotted. At this point, Chuuya doesn’t think Dazai will ever agree with his instincts. They’re so different from Dazai’s personality; it’s like they have a mind of their own. In Chuuya’s experience, it’s much easier when he agrees with his instincts. Instead of feeling like they’re a different entity inside his brain, it’s more like they’re an extension of himself, another aspect that he sometimes listens to and sometimes ignores. Dazai and his omega will never be on the same page unless Dazai gives up some control during these heats. The instincts would quiet down if Dazai let go. He’s essentially fighting against himself.

After around 20 minutes of Dazai just panting and crying in the corner of the nest and Chuuya patiently waiting, the omega’s eyes start fluttering. He’s quick to jerk awake, though, trying with his last remaining consciousness to fight the pill that’s helping him - typical Dazai.

“Come here,” Chuuya croons, opening his arms and inviting the tired omega to cuddle. Dazai looks at him - well, he tries to look at him; it’s more like he’s looking through Chuuya with hazy and despondent eyes. Dazai eventually uncurls himself and sluggishly drags himself over to Chuuya. He’s not actively crying anymore, but the evidence of the minor breakdown is still present: the tear streaks dried on his face, and his eyes are still red and puffy. With Dazai’s shirt being off, Chuuya can see the excessive amount of sweat on the omega’s skin. It’s reflecting the lamplight slightly, making Dazai’s back and arms look shiny and wet. Chuuya doesn’t care, though, meeting Dazai halfway and pulling him forward and onto the alpha’s chest.

“Better?” Chuuya asks. The skin-on-skin contact is different. Obviously, he’s touched Dazai before; they’ve literally fucked. But the intimate touch is new. The cuddling without a shirt. It’d probably be even more different if Chuuya didn’t have a shirt on, but he doesn’t want to think about that right now. The sweatshirt had probably been irritating Dazai’s skin. The alpha isn’t sure why it’s suddenly annoying the omega’s instincts now, but he can deal with it.

“Yeah,” Dazai breathes. His distressed scent is lessening as his mind slows down, the sedative fighting for control of Dazai’s mind. The omega still seems to be resisting it, though. Guess Chuuya will have to wear him down with questions and distractions.

“Was your shirt bothering you?”

“Itchy,” the brunet replies groggily.

With Dazai’s shirt off, the alpha can feel the omega’s skin boiling. It may be his last day of heat, but it seems like his body isn’t going to make it an easy last day. Typically, omegas would be exhausted at this point, and the last day would be the easiest, their instincts sated and bodies exhausted, but since Dazai hasn’t been knotted once, it probably won’t be like that for the brunet.

“Are you hot?”

Dazai hums in affirmation.

There’s not much he can do about that, so Chuuya starts drawing along Dazai’s scars, trying to help the omega fall asleep. Honestly, Chuuya likes drawing along Dazai’s scars. Sometimes, after a round of sex and before Dazai would wake up - since he would sometimes fall asleep - the alpha would brush his fingers along them. Dazai never knew; Chuuya stopped instantly if his partner showed signs of waking up, but it became something that Chuuya did every time Dazai would fall asleep. He’d look forward to it. Each scar tells a story, as cliché as that sounds. Chuuya knows some of them; he was there when Dazai got them. He helped stitch some up, too.

There are others that Chuuya doesn’t know, though. They just appear on the omega’s body or were there long before they met. He doesn’t know the story of those; the omega never willing to tell Chuuya what happened, or maybe Chuuya was never brave enough to ask. What Chuuya does know is that despite the scars, Dazai is still here. Still breathing. Still alive in Chuuya’s arms despite the desire to die. That’s something.

When Dazai whimpers and tries to curl up, Chuuya moves his hand down, kneading into the brunet’s abdomen. It’s there he feels the tail end of one of Dazai’s longest and thickest scars. Most of Dazai’s scars are skinny or focused in one area, like a gunshot or stab wound. This one is long, starting from Dazai’s left collarbone, going across his chest to the right side of his body, and stopping at the end of his rib cage. It’s thick for a scar since it was a full-on scythe that sliced through the omega’s skin. It was the first time they worked together, when Chuuya was still with the Sheep and just wanted to find out more information about the entity inside of his body.

Now that Chuuya thinks about it, Dazai was fighting against the old boss… who happens to be his grandfather. Chuuya couldn’t even tell based on their interaction. Dazai didn’t say anything, didn’t seem affected, didn’t seem to care. He seemed so indifferent about the whole situation, only shocking Chuuya when he said he found a reason to try living.

Chuuya is having to relearn everything he thought he knew about his partner.

Plus, he has more questions. Dazai told him that his mother gave him to the mafia, but why would his mother give him to the mafia when she was trying so hard to find someone to protect him? Kouyou said that she had asked because she wanted to keep Dazai safe… but maybe it was because Kouyou is part of the mafia? Maybe Dazai’s right, and his mom was trying to give him away… but it just doesn’t sit right with Chuuya. From what Kouyou said, Dazai’s mom seemed to care a lot about her family. Or maybe Kouyou didn’t really know her like she thought?

Dazai cries out suddenly, flinching back. He moves his own hand from being clutched to his chest down to his belly, starting to massage with Chuuya, but it doesn’t seem to help. The omega shoves his head into Chuuya’s shirt.

“Hurts,” Dazai whimpers, his body slowly starting to tremble again. The painkiller probably wore off a few hours ago.

“I’ll get a painkiller,” Chuuya says, starting to move out of Dazai’s hold.

“No, Chuuya!” Dazai wails, tears are starting to stream down his face. “Don’t leave, please.”

“I’m just gonna get you a pain killer,” Chuuya tries to reassure, but the omega starts aggressively shaking his head, repeating “please” over and over. “I’ll be fast, Dazai. It’ll be okay.”

“Chuuya, please don’t. Please, please, please.” Dazai’s cries hurt Chuuya’s heart as he leaves, despite the omega’s wishes. He would bring Dazai with him, but he doesn’t want his partner to know where he’s keeping the pills. They’re in a specific Dazai-proof spot that won’t be a Dazai-proof spot anymore if he figures it out.

After snatching a pill from that said Dazai-proof spot, Chuuya rushes back to his room. Dazai is sobbing into the pillows, his scent purely distressed as he seemingly is trying to drown himself in Chuuya’s smell; the omega has covered himself in Chuuya’s shirts.

“Here. See? I was fast.” Chuuya nudges Dazai’s arm, trying to get his attention. The omega pokes his head out from under Chuuya’s shirts, eyes wet as tears stream down his face. Instead of taking the pill, he lunges into Chuuya’s arms, wrapping himself around the alpha like he’ll die if he doesn’t. The redhead almost falls forward with the sudden weight but is quick to catch his balance, lowering himself and the omega slowly back onto the bed. He can feel Dazai's tears as his partner seems to be trying to hide his face in the crook of Chuuya’s neck.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m back,” Chuuya murmurs, rubbing the omega’s back.

Dazai just sobs more, hiccuping and choking on his cries. All Chuuya can do is murmur and touch him, trying to calm him down.

Eventually, though, the brunet’s noises quiet down, the sedative working and zapping all the energy Dazai is using to cry. Chuuya is honestly surprised that the brunet has lasted this long with the sedative slowly kicking in. Chuuya nudges him back a bit and hands him the painkiller. Dazai stares at it for a few seconds and then dry swallows it like he did with the sedative.

“Tired,” Dazai mumbles, his body going limp in Chuuya’s hold like he doesn’t even have the strength to keep himself up anymore. Chuuya carefully lies down entirely in bed, bringing Dazai - and the shirts he seemed to have brought with him - along.

Dazai nuzzles into Chuuya’s scent gland the second they settle, rubbing his cheek and neck against it despite the patches preventing his own glands from getting stimulation. Chuuya should probably change those and reapply the ointment at some point. Dazai needs a bath, too; the alpha can smell his slick. He can sleep for a few hours since he’s been up for who knows how long, and then Chuuya will force him into a bath.

“Scent,” Dazai mumbles, aggressively trying to rub his covered and patched gland against Chuuya’s.

“Here.” Chuuya grabs one of Dazai’s wrists, but before he can scent him, the omega yanks his wrist back.

“Noooo, neck glands,” Dazai pleads, continuing to try to scent. The friction is starting to burn, so Chuuya holds him still.

“Those need to stay covered-”

“Please,” Dazai whimpers. “Want Chuuya’s scent.”

“But-”

“I won’t scratch. I promise. I just want Chuuya’s scent, please.” Dazai is begging at this point, trying to move against Chuuya’s hold to continue scenting.

Chuuya stops him again, combing his fingers through the omega’s hair as he thinks. Chuuya isn’t really tired, so biting shouldn’t be an issue. Dazai will probably fall asleep so he won’t scratch, and Chuuya can stop him if he does.

“Okay,” Chuuya murmurs, reaching for the first patch. Dazai lets out a high-pitched happy noise and shifts slightly so the alpha has easier access. After he carefully peels the patches away and sets them on the nightstand to be thrown away later, Dazai instantly attacks his neck, scenting and rubbing and purring. Chuuya really likes Dazai’s purrs.

The redhead is surprised at Dazai’s eagerness but lets the omega do as he pleases, relishing at being submerged in whiskey, leather, and warm vanilla. Dazai is purring softly, caressing his face, cheek, and glands on Chuuya’s gland.

Ethereal. Chuuya has always seen scenting as ethereal. While he can smell Dazai’s scent, scenting with their glands just seems to make Dazai a part of him. It makes Dazai’s scent flood his senses. Makes it so all he can think is how happy this scent is making him feel and fills his head with Dazai. It’s like he can feel his partner’s life force. He can feel him breathing. He can feel his heart beating. Sometimes, Chuuya wonders what a bond feels like if this is what scenting feels like.

Dazai’s purrs seem to get louder, and Chuuya instinctively responds, crooning to match the omega’s purrs.

Eventually, Dazai’s purrs quiet down, and he slowly stops rubbing their glands together, his breathing becoming deep and even as sleep takes over. Chuuya continues crooning, quieting it down a little, and keeps combing his fingers through Dazai’s hair, content to help the omega sleep.

He’s proud of Dazai. Despite the brunet’s unwillingness to be helped at the beginning of his heat, he slowly let Chuuya help. Chuuya would venture to say that Dazai even started wanting the help. He’s come a long way from that night in his container. Of course, there’s still a long way for him to go and there’s no guarantee that Dazai wouldn’t have lost progress by the time his next heat hits. He was concerned that Dazai’s entire heat would be like those first few days.

Mori is still an unknown factor, too. Chuuya doesn’t know what’s happening between his partner and their boss, but he assumes it’s not good. Dazai’s fear scent and Kouyou’s reactions proved that. He doesn’t have any clue what it could be, though. Chuuya noticed the first night that Dazai’s fear runs deep. It’s not new, so it most likely doesn’t have to do with the fact that he’s an omega and Mori is an alpha. It probably doesn’t help, but it’s not the main issue.

Is the boss abusing him? Hurting him? Chuuya doesn’t think Mori abuses Dazai. The omega does tend to have a lot of wounds and bruises that he refuses to explain, but he’s Dazai. He tries to kill himself all the time; the wounds have to be from that… and Dazai would never let Mori abuse him… right?

Maybe it’s just that Dazai doesn’t want Mori knowing how close they are? He’s always been a little odd about letting Mori know they fuck sometimes… but Kouyou didn’t know that, and she seemed to be on the same page as the omega about Mori… but then again, she made it seem like it’s something that could affect Chuuya and Mori knowing about their relationship would directly affect Chuuya… but Dazai would never tell her that he doesn’t want Mori to know about their relationship, so it can’t be that… right?

UGH. Chuuya softly groans, sighing in annoyance. How does Dazai do this; thinking of different situations and then just figuring out which one is right? It hurts Chuuya’s brain. Any could be right, or all of them could be wrong. Chuuya doesn’t have enough information. He’s going to attack Dazai later about what’s going on because, as Dazai’s possible-maybe-probably heat partner, he should be aware… right?

When Dazai makes a snuffling noise and shifts a little away, the alpha looks down, quickly realizing that he started gripping the brunet’s hair tightly, which is probably hurting Dazai. Chuuya slowly releases his hold, petting down where he was gripping Dazai’s hair like it would make the pain go away. Dazai stops shifting, sighing back into Chuuya’s arms, and does not wake up.

Dazai’s head has moved back and up slightly with the movement, meaning he’s more on Chuuya’s shoulder than chest, so now Chuuya can see that Dazai’s mouth is slightly open, the omega panting occasionally. The tips of Dazai’s omega fangs are peeking through, catching the alpha’s interest. Chuuya debates whether he should do this in his head for a few minutes and then gives in, gently pushing Dazai’s lip up slightly, giving the redhead a view of Dazai’s entire fang - or what has developed so far. For an omega whose fangs are still growing, Dazai’s are large. By default, omega fangs are smaller than alpha fangs. Right now, Dazai’s might be bigger than the smaller alpha fangs Chuuya has seen, and Dazai’s are still technically growing since he’s still in heat. All the growth has been during this week, which makes Chuuya wonder why Dazai hasn’t complained about his teeth or gums hurting. Isn’t that a thing?

It’s interesting, though. Dazai could probably pass as an alpha once his fangs develop all the way. The only thing that would give him away would be the vanilla part of his scent.

Chuuya watches Dazai’s eyelashes flutter in his sleep, so he lets the omega’s lip go. His partner’s face is pinched but peaceful. He’s still stressed, and Chuuya wishes he could help, but he’s done the most he can without knotting.

A few hours pass of Chuuya just combing his fingers through Dazai’s hair as he checks his phone. He drifts in and out of consciousness, content warm vanilla soothing his mind and lulling him to sleep, but they only end up being thirty-minute power naps. Around noon - which Chuuya found out Dazai had woken him up around 6am - Chuuya figures it’s time to get Dazai to take one last bath so they can clean his glands and reapply the ointment. The sedative most likely isn’t through the omega’s system yet, so he’ll be drowsy and slow. It’s stronger than the basic store kind, so Dazai’s heat can’t burn it off quickly. Smart Kouyou. She really does know omegas well.

The alpha doesn’t bother with trying to wake Dazai up. He slips out from under him, scenting a blanket and then setting it in Dazai’s grip, hoping it’ll keep him asleep until Chuuya can get the tub filled. Once the water is warm and the bathtub is full enough, Chuuya returns to the still-passed-out omega. He picks Dazai up, earning soft grunts in response, and carries him to the bathroom.

When undressing him, the brunet’s eyes flutter open, half-lidded. He watches Chuuya, hazy and distant.

“Mmm, Chuuya?” His voice is rough with sleep, something Chuuya still isn’t used to despite the events of the week.

“Hey, Mackerel. You don’t have to stay awake. I know the pill hasn’t worn off,” Chuuya says softly, picking Dazai up with a grunt.

The brunet doesn’t say anything, just humming quietly as Chuuya lowers him into the tub. He flinches when the water touches his skin but relaxes quickly, leaning his head on Chuuya’s shoulder. It’s an uncomfortable position for the alpha, so he tries nudging the brunet to get him to move his head, but Dazai refuses, nuzzling and turning into Chuuya’s neck gland instead. He’s burning against Chuuya’s skin, but the alpha doesn’t really mind. Chuuya grabs a small cup that he had used during their bath together yesterday. He carefully wets Dazai’s body, deciding to leave his hair for last since he might get wet during that. The omega shivers as the water rushes down his back and arms, burrowing deeper into Chuuya’s neck. He lets out a slightly distressed noise, but his scent isn’t distressed, so it’s probably because the water is uncomfortable.

“Is it warm enough?” Chuuya asks. He had thought it was warm enough. It can’t be too hot because Dazai is already boiling, but the brunet hates cold baths.

“‘S okay,” Dazai murmurs.

Chuuya hums but lets it go, grabbing the body soap, conditioner, and the special hair shampoo that he specifically bought for Dazai ages ago. He’s been avoiding it throughout Dazai’s heat, not wanting to stress the man out more, but it’s the end, and maybe Dazai will start using it if he realizes it works.

Chuuya is well aware Dazai doesn’t give a fuck about his health. He doesn’t eat, doesn’t take care of his wounds, doesn’t care for his body; honestly, Chuuya is surprised he’s alive. The alpha ended up buying shampoo for the man to use when he noticed the horrid brand Dazai usually uses, but he hadn’t found a good time to give it to his partner. Now is a great time to try it.

He washes Dazai’s body first, making sure to gently push the omega back for a little bit in order to access his scent glands. The glands look better, the wounds from Chuuya’s fangs are fully developed scabs, and the skin doesn’t look irritated anymore. With Dazai unable to scratch and the ointments help, the glands aren’t red either. He’ll put the ointment on once Dazai is dry, but for now, he lets the omega return to burying his head in the alpha’s neck.

Washing Dazai’s hair is more manageable than he thought. Chuuya gets a little wet, considering Dazai’s position, but otherwise, the omega doesn’t do much, not even questioning the different scent of shampoo. Ironically, it’s vanilla-scented, something Chuuya didn’t mean to do, but he finds it a little funny regardless.

He leaves Dazai in the bath, the omega, surprisingly, not protesting and just laying his head on the tub’s side. Chuuya tries to hunt down more large clothes, but apparently, they’ve gone through all of his extras. The alpha heads to the laundry, snatching a clean pair. Chuuya honestly forgot that he did the laundry, and he’s glad that he has an all-in-one washer/dryer because otherwise, those clothes would have smelled.

He returns to the omega, setting the clean clothes next to the sink and helping Dazai get out of the bath. It’s when he’s drying his partner off that the man finally speaks again.

“‘M sorry,” Dazai mumbles.

Chuuya pauses, confused at the sudden apology. “What? Why?” The omega is sluggishly blinking at the redhead like he’s trying to fight the pill and ground himself but failing.

“For,” Dazai inhales, his brows pinching together in thought, “- for saying you’re lines of code and aren’t human.”

The alpha freezes. He forgot that even happened. He remembers the hurt and anger from that night, the night Dazai ran, but it had disappeared so quickly because all he wanted was his omega back. He didn’t care what Dazai had said, knowing he had just bit Dazai, and the man was probably scared and on edge.

“It’s okay-”

“You’re the most human person I know,” Dazai continues, practically whispering. He sounds high like he’s not fully present. This is definitely something Dazai wouldn’t usually say; apologizing is not really on his list of skills, but with his heat and heightened emotions, it makes sense that Dazai is willing to actually say something.

“Mackerel, you were upset and didn’t know what else to do. It’s alright-”

“It’s not,” Dazai whines. “It was mean, and I didn’t mean it, so I shouldn’t have said it.”

“You shouldn’t have, but I forgive you.”

Dazai lets out a surprised breath. “Chuuya shouldn’t.”

“Well, I do,” Chuuya states, plopping the towel on Dazai’s head and drying his hair. The omega whines at the movement.

When Chuuya finishes, Dazai speaks up again. “I’m still sorry.”

“Mackerel, I know you’re sorry-”

“Chuuya shouldn’t help me with my heat again.”

The alpha sighs. At least Dazai is aware that he’s going to have a heat again, he supposes. He cups Dazai’s face between his hands, forcing the omega to look at him. Dazai’s eyes widen a little but return to their half-lidded state after he seems to understand what the alpha is doing. The brunet’s eyes do not have their usual sharpness at all, just hazy tiredness. Chuuya wonders if Dazai will even remember this conversation.

“I don’t know what’s happening in your mind right now, but I’m not gonna hold what happens during your heat against you,” Chuuya promises, trying to sound as sincere as he feels. Dazai doesn’t trust easily, though, so he’s not sure if Dazai will believe him.

“Why?” Dazai’s eyes are tearing up again.

Chuuya inhales deeply. “Heats heighten your emotions, and you, specifically, aren’t used to acting on your emotions. What you said hurt, but I know why you said it, and I understand you didn’t mean it.” Dazai starts trying to shake his head, but Chuuya keeps him still. “Would you normally apologize?”

Dazai opens his mouth and then closes it, shaking his head no as a few stray tears make their way down the omega’s cheek.

“And yet you are.”

“The heat-”

“Your heat just heightens what you already feel. That’s why you said what you said, isn’t it? You were scared, so you lashed out. Would you have normally said that?”

Dazai shakes his head again. “Was still mean.”

“It was, but you apologized, and I forgive you,” Chuuya retorts, releasing his partner’s head and reaching for the sweatpants. He hands them to Dazai, who takes them but doesn’t move; just staring at them.

“But if…if my heat heightens my feelings, how do you know I didn’t mean what I said? By your logic, if I normally wouldn’t apologize and I wouldn’t normally say things like that to you, then I mean the things I said since I mean the apology,” the omega protests.

Chuuya's brain hurts.

“There’s no logic behind emotions, Mackerel,” Chuuya says.

“But-”

“Stop thinking so much. I forgive you whether you like it or not. Put your pants on.” Chuuya grabs the itch cream that’s sitting on the sink. Dazai lets out a whimper but obeys, sluggishly standing and stepping into the grey sweatpants.

The omega is quiet as Chuuya rubs the cream on his glands, only shivering occasionally. Chuuya isn’t sure if it’s from the draft or if the cream is cold on Dazai’s glands, but either way, he speeds up.

“Can we skip the patch part?” Dazai quietly asks as he watches Chuuya reach for the patches. The alpha glances at the patches and then looks at Dazai’s glands. He really should put the patches on. It prevents the cream from rubbing off and prevents Dazai from scratching… but… it should be Dazai’s last day of heat, and maybe having one day where the patches aren’t covering his glands would be good.

“Fine, but you have to promise no scratching,” Chuuya says.

Dazai gives the alpha an annoyed look - or as irritated as he can get it, it’s hard for Chuuya to take him seriously when he looks like he might pass out at any given moment - but mumbles, “I promise.”

Chuuya hands him the sweatshirt, and once Dazai has slowly maneuvered the shirt on, the alpha picks him up, taking him back to his nest. The omega immediately curls up into it, sighing out a long breath as he burrows into the shirts and blankets. Chuuya returns to the bathroom, drains the tub, brings the dirty clothes to the laundry room, and then starts preparing some rice for Dazai in the kitchen. Maybe the omega could try a heat shake again? His liquid intake is poor, even with Chuuya constantly pestering him to take sips. All Dazai is really doing is crying and sleeping, which makes Chuuya feel like a shitty alpha, but there’s not much else he can do.

He ends up just making Dazai rice and grabbing another water bottle and painkiller. Despite what Chuuya expected, Dazai isn’t asleep when he walks into the room. The omega is hugging a pillow with a couple of blankets covering his body as well as some of Chuuya’s shirts. There’s another shirt that’s lying on top of the pillow Dazai is clutching. The omega himself looks tired, like he should’ve been sleeping even though he isn’t.

“You can sleep, ya know,” Chuuya tries, setting the rice on the nightstand as well as the water bottle and painkiller.

“Chuuya left,” Dazai murmurs groggily.

Oh. Well, that’s an easy fix. Chuuya slides into the nest, and the second he covers himself with a blanket, Dazai is on him, nuzzling into Chuuya’s glands.

“Can you eat before you go back to sleep?” Chuuya asks, reaching for the rice and showing the omega the bowl. Dazai whines but accepts the bowl. He’s curled up against Chuuya, so he sets it in between them. He seems to stare at it for a little bit and then starts shoveling the rice into his mouth using his hand.

“What are you-”

“It would be awkward to use a spoon in this position,” Dazai explains quietly through a mouthful of rice.

Chuuya gawks at him but decides to let it go, inhaling and exhaling slowly. Dazai obviously doesn’t want to move in order to eat, and the alpha doesn’t really mind that he wants to be close, so it’s okay. If Dazai makes a mess, he’ll just force the omega to clean it.

Chuuya wraps one of his arms around his partner, briefly pushing his bangs up to feel his forehead. Yep, still hot, but not as hot. This heat is really persisting as long as it can. One of the first things Kouyou told him about omega’s heats is that they’re all different. Some last longer than others, some are more intense, and some are almost non-existent; it just depends on the person. She did inform him that male omegas typically have, at minimum, a week-long heat, which is what Chuuya has been assuming this entire time. He’s heard that sometimes omegas’ heat can end early, and sometimes they last longer. Since Dazai isn’t getting knotted, it makes sense why Dazai’s isn’t ending early, but it’s not really abating either, and that’s starting to worry the alpha. Hopefully, it’s not going to last longer.

Dazai’s heat is unique, though. He wants a knot, but he isn’t always insatiable for one like he’s gripping onto a shred of lucidity that most omegas fail to do. It could be Dazai resisting his instincts, or it could just be how Dazai’s heats are. Or maybe once Dazai actually goes through a heat getting knotted, his instincts will be more intense? Chuuya has no idea.

When Dazai finishes half of the rice, he mutters a “done” and then pushes the bowl away. He starts picking up the rice he dropped, cleaning the nest on his own, and then looks up at Chuuya, expecting. The alpha stares at the brunet, blinking, and then grabs the bowl, putting it on the nightstand.

“What?” Dazai asks, curling up against Chuuya more.

“I wasn’t really expecting you to clean the rice, that’s all,” Chuuya admits.

“M’ nest was messy,” Dazai slurs, the sedative obviously winning this battle, even as Dazai tries to hold the conversation. “Needed to clean it.”

“Well, good job,” Chuuya murmurs, nuzzling into the omega’s hair with a sigh. Because of the new shampoo, Dazai’s hair smells similar to his scent; however, his scent is richer than the artificial smell of the shampoo. It still smells good, though, so the alpha inhales deeply.

“Mmm, why are you sniffing my hair?” Dazai asks groggily, but he doesn’t move away like it’s making him uncomfortable.

“Smells good,” Chuuya decides to say, his voice muffled by Dazai’s hair. Maybe knowing that the alpha likes his scent would make him more willing to accept his subgender, even if what Chuuya is inhaling isn’t technically Dazai’s omega scent, though he does really like Dazai’s scent. Either way, Dazai doesn’t know about the shampoo yet, so he’d automatically assume it’s his scent that Chuuya is talking about.

“Oh,” his partner says quietly. “Chibi smells good, too.”

Chuuya has to hold back a laugh, biting his lip hard. He’s not laughing at the omega. He’s well aware that Dazai likes his scent. He’s just surprised Dazai admitted to it. Maybe the brunet doesn’t realize that this isn’t a dream, bordering the line of sleep and wakefulness.

“Well, thank you,” Chuuya manages to puff out, hoping Dazai is too out of it to hear the slight chuckle in his voice. Dazai ends up nuzzling closer, rubbing his cheek against Chuuya’s slightly exposed collarbone. No Longer Human buzzes to life with the skin contact, nullifying Tainted and making Chuuya suppress a shiver.

The alpha raises an eyebrow, realizing that he was touching Dazai’s hair, but No Longer Human only activated when their skin touched. Chuuya knows that the omega can only nullify with skin-on-skin contact, but he hadn’t really thought about what would happen if he touched Dazai’s hair. Guess his hair can’t nullify.

“Dazai?” Chuuya whispers, checking to see if the omega is still awake. It hasn’t been that long. A few minutes at most, but he’s not going to annoy Dazai with this newfound information if he has fallen asleep… of course, he will later, though.

Luckily, he doesn’t need to wait until later.

“Hm?” Dazai hums quietly.

“Did you know that your hair can’t nullify?”

Dazai is quiet for a few seconds, and then he slowly looks up at Chuuya, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Huh?”

“Your hair. It can’t nullify abilities.”

Dazai blinks and then softly hums as he lays his head back down, breathing out, “It’s skin-on-skin contact. Slug’s being stupid.”

“But. If you think about it. Hypothetically. What if someone used their ability on your hair?”

Dazai sighs loudly, slowly replying with, “I can’t even tell if this conversation is actually happening or if I’m high.”

“Why are those your two options?”

The omega seems to try to shrug but gives up halfway through, ending up just sluggishly moving his shoulders and letting out a sigh.

“Well,” Chuuya continues, “I think it’s a crucial aspect of your ability that we should be mindful of!”

“Chibi, it’s stupid.”

“It’s not.”

“It is.”

“Not.”

“Stupid.”

“It’s important,” Chuuya says, mimicking the tone Dazai usually uses when he’s teasing the alpha.

Dazai groans, turning his face into Chuuya’s collarbone like he’s trying to hide. Chuuya smirks. He gets it now; why Dazai finds it fun to annoy and make fun of Chuuya at any given moment. It’s entertaining and makes him feel more alive.

“‘M tired,” the brunet whines. “I don’t - don’t understand.”

“Poor baby,” Chuuya chuckles. “Alright, fine. You can sleep.” He starts drawing along Dazai’s back, hoping his partner accepts the peace offering. The omega does, muttering a quiet “thanks” and moving his face into Chuuya’s scent gland. He isn’t scenting but seems more like he just wants to be next to the alpha’s glands, near his scent.

He falls asleep quickly. Chuuya can feel his partner’s hot breaths against his neck. It tickles, but the redhead can take it. As long as Dazai is safe and content, Chuuya could probably withstand anything.

-------

“You died.”

The death screen is blinking at them, illuminating the dark room every time it lights up. It’s afternoon, so there should’ve been sunlight coming through the windows, but Chuuya put up blackout curtains, telling the omega that it’s to help him sleep. Dazai suspects that Chuuya is trying to get him to sleep, the sedative having been burnt out of his system a few hours ago. Dazai had woken up in pain - the painkiller also wore off - so Chuuya got him another and then forced him to eat more rice and drink more water. While Dazai was shoving rice into his mouth, his partner randomly emerged from his closet with the blackout curtains, and the omega didn’t really care if he put them up or not. So now they are up, and the only light in the room is the TV and the lamp.

Chuuya was right, though; the darkness is more inviting for sleep. Dazai’s still tired despite how much sleep he’s gotten, but he’s not tired enough to sleep. Watching the alpha die over and over is a lot more fun than sleep. Chuuya is funny when he’s angry.

Most of the time.

“I noticed. Thank you for your genius insight,” Chuuya huffs, hurling the controller forward in a rage. It hits the edge of the nest, knocking a blanket out of place, and Dazai glares at his partner, annoyed that he has harmed the wall of his nest. The brunet crawls forward, snatching the controller and throwing it back at Chuuya. The redhead lets out a surprised noise and shields himself with his arms as the controller smacks into him.

“Ow,” Chuuya hisses. “You didn’t have to throw it at me.”

“Don’t ruin my nest,” Dazai growls, turning his back on the ticked-off alpha and starts rearranging his nest. The blanket that was hit by the controller messed up the outside wall, making it so the omega needs to restructure most of it since the blankets were intertwined together.

“Oh, it’ll be fine. You only have one day left,” Chuuya grumbles, dramatically throwing himself back into the pillows.

Dazai flinches, realizing that he’s right. After his heat ends, he will go back to his container. And he will leave his nest here. And since it’s in Chuuya’s bed, where Chuuya sleeps, the alpha will take it apart. He won’t have a nest anymore. The safe place he built will be gone.

Dazai instantly stops fixing his nest, shoulders sagging. He’s upset, even though he shouldn’t be. It’s just a nest. Pressure is building behind his eyes, and he fights the urge to cry, rubbing the palm of his hand against his eyes.

It doesn’t help.

Stupid. He was stupid to build a nest in the first place. He knew from the beginning that he wouldn’t get to keep it since it’s in Chuuya’s apartment, but he wasn’t expecting to get attached. It’s his stupid omega’s fault. Everything that has gone wrong in the past week is his omega’s fault. Stupid instincts. Stupid omega.

Dazai exhales slowly, trying to calm his mind down as it spirals. It’s just a nest. It’s just a nest. It’s just a nest. He’ll be okay. Maybe…maybe if he moves the nest to the guest room, Chuuya will let him keep it? The alpha never uses that room. Dazai always slept there when he would occasionally come over, and they didn’t end up having sex. Chuuya’s scent isn’t as potent there, but that’s okay.

Dazai slowly starts breaking apart the blanket wall, piling them into his arms until he has a mound and can’t hold any more. He then slowly starts scooching forward until he gets to the end of the bed and is able to swing his legs around, standing. The weight is heavy in his arms, and as he takes a step forward, Chuuya lets out a strange noise.

“What are you doing?” Chuuya asks.

Dazai pauses, opening his mouth to answer, but his eyes instantly fill with tears against his will. Stupid omega instincts. He closes his mouth, breathing in a lungful of air through his nose. The tears don’t go away, one escaping, rolling down his cheek. Dazai is not going to be able to give a coherent answer, but he’ll try anyway.

“I - um - I’m move…moving…my nest.”

“Why?” Chuuya sounds exasperated and concerned, but Dazai refuses to look at him. The alpha can’t know he’s on the verge of crying because of a useless nest.

More tears escape his eyes and stream down his face.

“‘cause.” Dazai inhales. Chuuya will think he’s being stupid. Chuuya might not want his nest anywhere. It’s inconvenient. But maybe it’ll at least last longer than it would if it was in Chuuya’s bed.

“What do you mean ‘cause’.” The omega hears movement, like Chuuya is coming closer. He lifts the mound of blankets up more, trying to hide his face.

“I - uh.” His voice is wobbling; Chuuya is going to know.

Dazai is so tired of crying.

“What’s wrong?” Chuuya asks, his voice softening like he knows. He’s going to baby Dazai.

“Nothing,” Dazai whispers.

“Why are you moving those blankets?” Chuuya’s hand suddenly touches Dazai’s arm, and the omega flinches back, letting out a whimper.

“Because,” he whispers, his voice cracking against his will.

“Is it because of what I said? You don’t have to take apart your nest right now.” Dazai’s heart sinks at the implication that he has to take it apart at all, despite the reassuring tone Chuuya is using. More tears fall, and Dazai starts walking, desperate to get away from the alpha. It’s stupid. He's crying because of a silly nest. He was perfectly fine until Chuuya made one comment, and now he’s crying. Being an omega sucks.

“Dazai! Wait!” He hears Chuuya climbing off the bed, so he starts speeding up. “Where are you going?”

Dazai is only able to make it halfway through the living room before Chuuya catches up, rushing in front of the omega to force him to stop. Dazai tries to go around him, but Chuuya is stronger, keeping the brunet and his mound of blankets in place. So, instead, Dazai keeps his head turned away, refusing to look at the worried alpha.

“Hey, talk to me. What’s wrong? Where are you going?” Chuuya starts taking blankets from him, and Dazai wails. “NO! Give them back.”

“I’m just taking them back to the nest,” Chuuya softly says.

“Give them back,” Dazai whimpers, hiccuping as the tears continue to fall. Chuuya doesn’t want him to make a new nest. Chuuya doesn’t want his nests. He wants his blankets back. Dazai’s legs are struggling to stay up, wobbling even as he tries to stand firm.

“Dazai?” Chuuya’s calming voice becomes less calming, instead turning to worry fast. “Are you crying? Wait, why? What happened?” The alpha stops taking blankets, trying to get the brunet to look at him.

Dazai is starting to have trouble breathing, his lungs refusing to take in air even as he tries to. “My - my nest.”

“Your nest? What about it? I said you don’t have to take it apart yet-”

Dazai breaks, his legs refusing to hold him up anymore, and he collapses to the floor, sobbing. He hugs the remaining blankets to his chest, trying to find comfort in them as his heart hurts. His nest. He has to destroy his nest.

“Dazai,” Chuuya falls to the floor with him. “I don’t… I don’t understand. Do you want to take it apart?”

The omega cries, burying his face in the blankets that smell like Chuuya; that smell safe.

“Mackerel-”

“If - if I move it, can I - can I keep it?” Dazai’s voice is muffled from the blankets and he hiccups his way through the words, but at least he was able to ask. At least he’ll know for sure that Chuuya doesn’t want to keep his inconvenient nests. Maybe Chuuya will let him take some blankets back to his container. They won’t smell like the alpha eventually, but at least he could make some form of a nest. At least there could be something.

“Move your nest? Why do you want to move it?”

Dazai looks up, trying to look Chuuya in the eyes but instantly avoiding his gaze. “I - it’s - it’s in your way-”

“It’s okay. Your heat is almost over,” Chuuya tries.

Dazai chokes on a sob. “It - I don’t - can I keep it if I move it?” He’s just repeating what he’s already said. Chuuya didn’t understand it the first time; why would he know now?

But Chuuya always did surprise him.

“You want to keep your nest? After your heat, you mean?” Chuuya asks.

Dazai cries, nodding in the blankets. He’s trembling at this point, and no matter how much his rational mind is telling him he’s being stupid, the omega can’t stop crying. It’s like he’s losing a part of his nonexistent soul when thinking of how his nest will be destroyed. Maybe the nest is the only part of his soul that he has, something that he made instinctually since there’s no way his rational mind could contribute to an empty soul. That would imply that the only way to be normal and have a soul would be to listen to his omega. Dazai doesn’t like that.

“Hey, Dazai, hey,” Chuuya starts petting the omega’s head, running his fingers through Dazai’s hair to try to ground him and help him calm down. “Of course, you can keep it.”

Dazai hiccups, pulling away from the touch but then returning back to it when he feels empty and lonely.

“I didn’t realize you wanted to,” Chuuya murmurs. “You don’t have to move it.”

“But, it’s - it’s in the way,” Dazai whispers. “Chuuya sleeps there.”

“I don’t mind. We can figure something out. Maybe you can start sleeping here instead of in your shitty container,” Chuuya reassures, adding, “I’m not gonna take your nest from you.”

Despite the knowledge that he can keep his nest, Dazai still doesn’t stop crying. He sobs into the blankets before realizing that his alpha is right in front of him, so he abandons them, crawling into Chuuya’s lap instead. He hugs the alpha, and Chuuya hugs him back, letting Dazai’s tears dampen his shirt.

They sit like that for a little while, Chuuya caressing Dazai's back, arms, and hair to try and calm him down. He says something every once in a while, but the omega only whimpers in response, too out of it to form much of an answer. Eventually, he does start calming down, hiccuping quietly as he lays his head on Chuuya’s shoulder, his limp body struggling to keep himself up.

When Chuuya starts moving, Dazai whines, climbing off of him to start picking up the blankets.

“Hey, I was gonna carry you back,” Chuuya protests.

“Slug’s too slow,” Dazai murmurs softly, trying to add the teasing tone he always uses, but he’s pretty sure it failed. He’s tired. Again. Crying is exhausting. Feelings are exhausting. This heat is exhausting. Life is exhausting.

Chuuya sighs and then starts helping Dazai pick up his blankets. He then leads the omega back to his nest. Dazai gingerly climbs inside, still a little nervous that Chuuya will change his mind. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if Chuuya changes his mind.

He fixes the nest, though, weaving the blankets back together to make the outer wall. He ends up having to move some of the second wall in order to get the blankets exactly where he wants them.

“You know, you can tell me when something upsets you,” Chuuya breaks the silence that they ended up in, making Dazai jump slightly.

“It was stupid,” Dazai replies flatly, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. He angrily unwraps two blankets since they are intertwining poorly, and it’s pissing him off. He grabs a different blanket, laying it down on top of the other blanket instead of trying to tie them together. That satisfies him, and he makes a happy noise.

“I don’t think it was stupid. It makes sense. Nests are special,” Chuuya insists.

“I shouldn’t need a nest,” Dazai growls, but his heart hurts even as he says it. He’s lying to himself, but it’s necessary. He likes his nest. A lot. That’s the problem. He shouldn’t get attached to things, especially something as temporary as a nest. Attachments are bad.

“It’s okay if you want one, though,” Chuuya argues.

“It’s not.” Dazai sits back, glaring at the nest wall, finished with the blankets he had and needing the ones Chuuya is holding. He doesn’t look up as Chuuya drops the blankets in front of him. The alpha sighs, and Dazai hears him walk around to his side of the nest to climb in. The brunet finishes fixing his nest, connecting the two sides of his blanket wall and breathing out an instinctually happy purr.

“Was that a manual purr?” Chuuya asks.

“No,” Dazai mumbles. He still doesn’t understand purring.

“You’ll figure it out.” Chuuya pulls Dazai backward, forcing him to lie down in the nest. The omega allows it with a huff, nuzzling into Chuuya’s chest once he gets there.

Dazai wants to scent, but he’s not sure how it would work with the itch cream. Chuuya let him keep the patches off, which he really appreciated, and has been keeping to his promise of not scratching; honestly, it hasn’t been itching, so his promise has been easy to keep.

“Hey, Dazai?” Chuuya asks after a few minutes of silence.

“Hm?”

Chuuya is quiet for a few seconds, making Dazai nervous enough to look up from his spot on the alpha’s chest. Chuuya is staring at him, his blue eyes feeling like they are looking into Dazai’s soul, which he doesn’t have.

The alpha finally asks, “Can we talk?”

Dazai looks away, his heart briefly stopping. He curls closer to Chuuya like the alpha might try to get away, shivering slightly. “‘bout what?”

Chuuya is quiet again, and Dazai holds his breath. There could be so many different things that Chuuya wants to talk about.

He could say that he doesn’t want to help Dazai with his heats, which is fair; Dazai wouldn’t want to help Dazai either. He doesn’t deserve the help Chuuya has given him. Chuuya could’ve been spending this week doing anything else, but instead, he’s been stuck taking care of an unstable omega that he can’t knot. He’s not getting pleasure from this at all.
He could ask about what happened when Dazai ran away or tell the omega that next time, he should spend his heat at the brothel.
He could ask about last night and Dazai’s past.
He could ask about Mori.

Dazai’s not sure he wants to talk now that he thinks about it.

Chuuya inhales, Dazai’s head rising with the alpha’s chest since he’s lying on it. “Last night… I just… I want to tell you what Kouyou said.”

Dazai bites his lip. “Wouldn’t it be better to tell me when I’m not in heat?”

“Are you going to let me tell you if you aren’t in heat?” Chuuya counters. Fair point. Dazai’s entire after-heat plan is to pretend it never happened… except he still wants his nest, so obviously, there’ll be some… acknowledgement. He’s just going to pretend there isn’t.

Dazai’s silence seems to answer Chuuya’s question. “That’s what I thought. You don’t have to say anything. I just… I want to make sure she didn’t lie to me.”

“Ane-san wouldn’t lie to you. You’re Chuuya,” Dazai mumbles.

“She’s been weird. She told me she was going to call me the second she found you when you were in the city, but she didn’t,” Chuuya says, the hurt evident in his voice. “So I don’t want to assume what she told me about your past is right. You don’t have to tell me anything, though, if you really don’t want to.”

Dazai doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like thinking about his past, much less talking about it. Chuuya said he didn’t really have to say anything; just fact-check it. He supposes that isn’t too bad.

“Okay,” Dazai whispers.

Chuuya takes a breath. He seems nervous. “Honestly, she didn’t say that much. She said that your mom was part of the brothel and that at some point, she met your dad, and then they disappeared.”

“They left the mafia,” Dazai mumbles.

“Yeah, they left. Ane-san said that when your mom was part of the brothel, they were very close. When she left, Kouyou didn’t see her for years until one day, your mom caught her leaving a tea shop. She had you with her.”

Dazai doesn’t remember that, but he doesn’t really see the point in lying about that, so it’s probably accurate.

“She wanted Kouyou to protect you because the old boss was hunting your family down-”

“What? No,” Dazai interrupts, furrowing his brows. That can’t be right.

“Which part?”

“Both? The old boss wasn’t hunting them… and she wouldn’t want to protect me. She’s the reason I’m here.”

“Ane-san said that the old boss hunted down and… killed your entire family, except you and your mother. She was executed later,” Chuuya slowly continues.

Dazai is silent, his breathing still. That… that can’t be right. He was given to the mafia; his grandfather said so. Like an object. His parents made a deal: Dazai for freedom. His grandfather said that he was the only family Dazai needed because his parents and siblings didn’t want him anyway. He said that Dazai belongs to the Port Mafia, and that’s all he needs in life. He said Dazai was the furthest thing from a human, and no one would love him, so why bother? Dazai didn’t know anything else. His mother has never shown up again, despite the attempts Dazai made to contact her. He never got anything in response. So that’s the most logical answer: his mother - and the rest of his family - didn’t want him anymore.

Dazai can’t remember his parents ever being loving either. He can’t remember them much at all, just the vague memory of a woman with long brown hair, soft features, and amber eyes. He remembers even less of his father: a tall, broad-shouldered man with black hair and angry eyes. He can remember the woman turning her back on him and leaving him with his grandfather, getting in the car and driving off. If they were loving and cared and wanted to protect him like Chuuya is implying, wouldn’t he remember more? Wouldn’t he remember the care?

Were those memories of a soft voice singing and late-night readings that he crushed and shoved down to the deepest parts of his mind the second he helped Mori kill his grandfather his true memories? They can’t be. Wouldn’t he remember more?

Dazai shakes his head, sitting up to look at Chuuya but only managing a few seconds of eye contact, quickly looking away to the alpha’s chest instead. “That can’t be right.”

“Why?”

“She - she left me here. She never came back. No one from my family came back for me. They wanted me here.”

“Kouyou said most of your family was killed when the mafia found them. Your mother was executed later.”

“That’s… no, she’s not dead.” Dazai’s heart is racing. Why is it racing?

“She’s probably wrong then. Like I said, she’s been lying-”

“My mother isn’t dead,” Dazai whispers again. If that were true… and it is true, why does it feel like the omega’s heart is being crushed under two tons of concrete? He didn’t know his family. They gave him away. Why should he care if they’ve all actually been dead this entire time? It doesn’t change anything. “They’re not dead.”

“Kouyou said… they are… but she might be wrong…”

“They’re not dead,” Dazai repeats.

“Mackerel, she’s probably wrong then-” Chuuya’s voice is getting muffled by the loud static filling Dazai’s mind.

They can’t be dead. There’s no reason for them to be dead. They made a deal, and the Port Mafia honors their deals. Why would his grandfather break the deal and kill most of the mafia bloodline? There’s no logic behind it. They have to still be alive. It makes sense that they didn’t want Dazai. Who would? He was weird as a kid, reading books instead of playing with his siblings, and he’s still weird now. Chuuya didn’t want to hang out with him at first, either. No one does. Not that he blames them, he pushes them away first; tries to hide the fact that he doesn’t understand things like them. He doesn’t understand emotions and feelings which makes him inhuman. It makes sense. His family didn’t want him. How could that be wrong? Kouyou was just told the incorrect information. She doesn’t know anything. She wasn’t there.

So why is Dazai crying? Why are wet globs of tears streaming down his face while Chuuya looks at him like he grew a second head? Why does his chest feel like it’s going to burst, and his head hurts so much that he wants to slam it into a wall? Why is it hard to breathe, and why is the air getting stuck in his throat as he tries inhaling, even though he knows that his family is fine? They have to be fine. Why wouldn’t they be fine?

So why does it hurt so much?

Probably because he knew.
Probably because he accidentally overheard Mori and his grandfather talking about the casualties a few days after his mother supposedly gave him to the mafia.
Probably because they mentioned the exact number of siblings he had and mentioned that the mafia bloodline might end.
Probably because he knew that his mother didn’t hate him, the memories he convinced himself were fake weren’t; her calming and soft voice singing the first notes of a song to help him sleep at night and how upset she looked leaving him the last day he saw her. He had convinced himself that she was upset with him.
Probably because the books he read were from his father. His father liked reading, too. They would spend hours in the study, reading books far too advanced for Dazai’s age, and sometimes when Dazai got tired, he would crawl over to his father and read his book.
Probably because even though his siblings called him weird, they were always fascinated by the random facts he would tell them and the way he could nullify their abilities during combat training.
Probably because he was wrong.

His mother didn’t hate him.

None of them did.

He never brought it up to Mori because he didn’t want to know. He wanted to believe they were alive.

It’s easier to think that they hate him and are alive instead of loving him and are dead.

It’s when the edges of Dazai’s vision start going black that he realizes he’s in Chuuya’s arms. He’s not sure when he got there, but he’s uncontrollably sobbing into the alpha’s chest, his lungs failing at being lungs and his brain feeling so light-headed he can hardly think. His body is trembling, too, wave after wave of uncontrollable shivers.

And he hurts.

His heart hurts. That stupid organ that’s not supposed to feel is hurting. It’s in pain. How can something that’s not actually physically wounded hurt worse than all the injuries that Dazai has ever gotten in his lifetime? He wants to rip it out of his chest just to numb the feeling of anguish and despair coursing through his mind and body.

He doesn’t understand. He’s almost been without them longer than with them. Why does it feel like this? Why does it hurt?

There’s still static in his brain, and despite feeling Chuuya touching him and knowing that the alpha is talking because of the vibration Dazai can feel on his forehead from Chuuya’s chest, Dazai can’t hear him. Just the static and the racing of Dazai’s blood in his ears. Just his failure at breathing and the sharp intakes of air as his body tries to breathe. Just the thoughts that he was stupid for trying to blind himself to this. He was stupid for hoping they were alive. He was stupid for thinking he could handle this heat.

This heat has been the worst experience Dazai has ever had.

But then there’s Chuuya.

Chuuya doesn’t stop touching him, running his hand through Dazai’s hair and moving to his back to draw along his spine, which he eventually moves to Dazai’s arms as well. He holds the omega, his chest vibrating constantly, rocking him as he does it.

Dazai isn’t sure how long he cries. He might have even blacked out at some point. He doesn’t know. His mind can’t seem to sense the time like usual, but eventually, the static goes away. His cries don’t stop, but they become quieter, tears silently falling down his face as he hides in Chuuya’s chest, trying to inhale the alpha’s scent.

The brunet realizes that Chuuya is crooning, not speaking, apparently trying to calm down Dazai’s omega instincts as well as Dazai himself. Maybe his omega instincts were why it was so intense, but even as he thinks about it, his heart hurts. He’s not sure he can say that he wouldn’t have had the same reaction if he wasn’t in heat.

His family is gone.

Chuuya’s croons stop, and he whispers, “You back with me?”

Dazai nods, shivering.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Chuuya murmurs. “I thought you knew… and she could be wrong.”

“She’s not,” Dazai mumbles, voice broken and rough from the crying.

“She isn’t?”

“She’s not.” More tears fall, and Dazai squeezes his eyes shut.

“I’m sorry,” Chuuya says softly.

“Not your fault,” Dazai tries to reassure. He doesn’t want Chuuya to beat himself up. It’s not his fault Dazai decided ignorance was bliss and ignored what was right in front of him.

This heat really does suck.

His scent must change or something - his nose is too full of snot to smell anything - because Chuuya holds him tighter, letting Dazai continue crying his silent tears into the redhead’s shirt. His very soaked shirt. Apparently, Dazai didn’t move much at all during his cry-fest, and the wetness is cold against his face.

“Your shirt is -” Dazai hiccups, “ - is wet.”

“It is,” Chuuya confirms.

“It’s cold.”

“I - would you like me to change?” the redhead asks, a little bit of teasing in his voice. Honestly, Dazai kind of wants Chuuya to take his shirt off completely. The redhead runs warm, and he wants warmth; Dazai feels very cold and hollow and empty, and he wants his alpha.

“Can you take your shirt off?” Dazai quietly asks.

“Do you… want that? Or is it your instincts?”

Dazai isn’t entirely sure, but he doesn’t care at the moment, so he shakes his head. “Not instincts. Want warmth.”

Chuuya hesitates for a second but then, “I mean, yeah, sure. That’s fine. As long as you’re okay with it.” He shifts up, the movement forcing Dazai to sit up as well. The omega stares at his nest while Chuuya takes his shirt off and then he’s pulled back down onto Chuuya’s chest.

It is warm. Like always. A good warm. Fire during a winter storm warm. A hearth warm. A blanket during a cold night warm. Despite Dazai’s body constantly boiling because of the heat, Chuuya’s warmth doesn’t make him any hotter. It feels good. The omega lets out a long sigh, hiccuping as he does. Some extra tears fall.

“Well, now I’m cold,” Chuuya mutters, but it’s lighthearted. “You’re crying on my skin.”

“Oops,” Dazai says, turning his face into Chuuya’s chest so all the tears and wetness on his face touch the redhead’s skin.

“HEY, that’s COLD,” Chuuya shrieks, but he doesn’t force Dazai off and doesn’t make him stop. He just hugs the omega closer.

“Mori never told me,” Dazai whispers.

“You don’t have to talk about it-”

“It’s okay.” It really isn’t, and he doesn’t want to talk about it, but Dazai wants Chuuya to know it’s not his fault. He knows the alpha. Dazai knows that since Chuuya brought it up, the redhead is going to blame himself for the omega’s breakdown, especially since he had just had one about his nest. Chuuya probably feels so bad. “I knew.”

“You knew?”

“I had… suspicions,” Dazai inhales, feeling the pressure of more tears behind his eyes. He hasn’t even drank that much water. How does he have more? “Wasn’t expecting a meltdown, though.”

“Oh.” Chuuya is silent for a few seconds and then runs his fingers through Dazai’s hair. It feels good, the omega melting into the touch. “You didn’t want to believe it though?”

“It was easier,” Dazai mumbles.

“It was easier to assume they hated you?”

“Yes. If they didn’t like me and gave me to the mafia because of a deal, at least they were alive,” Dazai explains, sniffling.

“A deal?”

“My grandfather and Mori told me that my parents gave me to the Port Mafia because they wanted to protect themselves. They made a deal. Me in exchange for leaving them alone,” Dazai whispers.

He feels Chuuya tense, a growl building in his throat. “I’ll kill him,” Chuuya hisses.

“You can’t kill Mori, Chibi,” Dazai sighs. “It’ll imbalance the city, and he’s the most reasonable boss we’ve had in years.” He’s quiet to add: “And I would have to take over.”

“Why?”

“I’m the heir and Mori’s right hand.”

“Oh.”

“It’s… okay. It’ll be fine once the heat isn’t heightening my emotions,” Dazai says.

“That’s not healthy,” Chuuya points out.

“Is anything I do healthy?” Dazai counters.

“Dazai.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it. They’re already dead. There’s no point in killing Mori.” Dazai can hear Chuuya’s heart racing as he lays on the redhead’s chest, the only thing other than the alpha’s words that indicate how mad he is. “Please, Chuuya.”

Chuuya is still tense, so Dazai grabs the hand that’s currently combing through his hair and rubs their glands together. He’s not good with the whole instincts thing. He doesn’t understand them, doesn’t like them, but the omega knows that Chuuya likes scenting. It calms him just as much as it calms Dazai.

The effect is immediate, the alpha’s body relaxing as their scents intertwine. Dazai sighs into it, clutching Chuuya’s wrist tighter as his senses fill with the alpha’s wine and burning wood scent.

“That’s… unfair,” Chuuya gasps.

“Please don’t do anything stupid,” Dazai pleads. He doesn’t want to be the boss. He really doesn’t. It scares him almost as much as living does. And the Port Mafia is Chuuya’s home. He’s noticed how the alpha is friends with almost all of his subordinates. He goes out to drink with the higher-ranking officers who report to him. He knows the names of all the grunts who work under him and knows about their families because they tell the alpha about them. He’s close with Kouyou and Hirotsu and is even on more friendly terms with the other executives than Dazai is. Killing Mori would ruin that. Dazai doesn’t want Chuuya to lose another family because of him.

Chuuya lets out a long sigh. “Fine. I promise.”

The brunet lets out a content noise.

“But if he does anything else, I’ll kill him,” Chuuya growls.

“Chuuya.”

The alpha ignores him, reaching for something and then dropping a controller in Dazai’s lap. “Come on, let’s play a few rounds.”

Dazai sighs, but decides to accept the change in subject.

He won’t be able to tell Chuuya then. He’s had his suspicions about how this unexpected heat happened when he knows it shouldn’t have. He knows… and he can’t tell his alpha. But it’ll be okay. As long as Mori doesn’t know about Chuuya and Chuuya doesn’t know about Mori, it should be fine. Even if Mori did know about Chuuya, it should be okay. It’s not preferred, but Mori wouldn’t do anything to such a powerful ability user. It’d weaken the mafia.

And Dazai could make a deal with him despite how horribly their last deal went. Mori is always willing to make a deal.

Everything will be fine.

Dazai would pay any price to keep Chuuya safe.

Chapter Text

Dazai wakes up suspiciously warm and comfortable. The most prominent thing he notices, though, is that he feels somewhat normal. Don’t get him wrong, he still feels like shit, his head hurts, and his body feels overly sore, but something is different. It’s like… he’s much more present in his own mind. He can think clearly without the added aspect of his instincts screaming at him. Also, his emotions are more numb, not as strong. This entire week has felt like one giant fever dream.

“You're awake.” Chuuya’s chest vibrates as he speaks, startling the omega, but he’s able to suppress the urge to flinch. He seems to be lying on the alpha’s chest. Chuuya is like a furnace, radiating heat even as he just lays there, breathing. Dazai can’t really remember if this was how he fell asleep.

Dazai hums in response, sitting up and slouching forward, rubbing his head with his palms. He might be more clear-headed now, but he’s still so tired; the desire to close his eyes and go back to sleep is prominent in the back of his mind.

“Your scent isn’t nearly as strong as it’s been. How do you feel? Think it’s over?” Chuuya asks.

“I think so,” Dazai mumbles. “Still tired, though.”

“Yeah, you probably will be for the next couple of days. Heats use a lot of energy.”

Dazai groans, his limbs popping and cracking as he stretches. He then collapses back into the pillows, lounging against them. “How fun.”

The brunet feels Chuuya move, and then the alpha slides out of the nest, heading to the blackout curtains to take them down; light floods into the room, and Dazai whines.

“Bright! Chibi, it’s too bright!”

“Oh, shut up. You’re an omega, not a vampire,” Chuuya grumbles. Dazai snickers.

The alpha leaves the room, muttering something about getting the laundry and Dazai sighs, turning onto his stomach and shoving his face into the blankets and pillows of his nest. His instincts are still there, annoyingly. He can feel them, this unnatural happiness, when inhaling Chuuya’s scent and lying in his nest. There’s also this urge to please Chuuya, the redhead’s earlier comment sending his omega in a spiral, worried that he had pissed Chuuya off. So, he guesses his instincts aren’t going to… go away.

How annoying.

He’s blaming the events of last night for the fact that he’s still… sensitive. The omega doesn’t actually remember too much of the night; just the revelation and Chuuya. He doesn’t know when he fell asleep, how long they laid there, or if anything else happened, but Dazai is pretty sure he doesn’t want to know. It feels like a dream. Despite the fact that he knew, despite the fact that all the evidence pointed towards it, he wasn’t expecting to be so affected.

Even now, not in heat, Dazai’s heart hurts. He was hoping. He really was. He never liked hope. Hope is an illusion, a false reality. Hope prolongs the inevitable pain of life. A life that he doesn’t really care to live.

Dazai hates hope - he has never had a good relationship with it. He hoped his mother would come back for him. He hoped his grandfather wouldn’t hurt him. He hoped he was a beta. He hoped Mori didn’t lie. He hoped his family was alive. Nothing he has ever hoped for has gone his way. Nothing. Hope is stupid. Hope kills people.

The omega curls into the nest more, inhaling Chuuya’s scent to calm down. He’s not crying and doesn’t have the urge to, but he knows when his mind is spiraling. So, he just lays there, waiting.

Chuuya comes back half an hour later with laundry and eggs in hand. His ability is keeping the laundry floating, and Dazai is too busy thinking about how to get the alpha to accidentally drop it; he doesn’t notice Chuuya handing him his phone. The redhead sighs, dropping the omega’s phone in his lap.

“It’s dead, but there’s a charger on the nightstand,” Chuuya informs him, waving his free hand in the general direction of the nightstand. Dazai glances at his phone, testing its deadness and determining that, yes, Chuuya’s right, it’s very dead.

As he crawls over to the nightstand, the brunet hears a grunt and turns around to see Chuuya position the laundry over the bed and then drop it right smack in the middle of Dazai’s nest.

Dazai lets out a stressed noise. “Chuuya.”

“What?”

“My nest,” Dazai whines, pouting and poking at the clothing that smells like detergent and not like Chuuya. “You’re making it smell like laundry.”

Chuuya gawks. “Where else am I supposed to put it?”

“The floor.”

Chuuya blinks at him, lifts the clothes back up, and then drops them on the floor.

“Perfect! Thank you.” Dazai finishes crawling over to the nightstand, ignoring Chuuya's sigh of defeat and plugs his phone in. When he turns around to burrow back into his nest, a plate of eggs is shoved into his lap.

The omega stares at them. They’re scrambled eggs, easy for Dazai to pick at.

“Figured you wanted something other than rice,” Chuuya offers, shrugging.

“Thanks,” the brunet murmurs, shoveling the eggs into his mouth with his hand.

An unintelligible noise from Chuuya makes Dazai look up, eggs and hand in his mouth. Chuuya’s mouth is open in disgust, and he’s looking between meeting Dazai’s gaze and his mouth. “Your hands? Again?”

Dazai grins, a couple of eggs falling out of his mouth. Chuuya grimaces at the sight, making the brunet chuckle. Slug is such a clean freak.

“Your work suit is… probably ruined, by the way. I tried washing it, but-”

“Slick?” Some more eggs fall out as Dazai speaks, but the stricken expression Chuuya makes as he watches the eggs fall into the nest is worth it.

The alpha blinks, tensing his jaw. “Yeah.”

“Figures,” Dazai swallows. “I have another. I’ll burn that one.”

“Burn?”

“Yeah?” the omega tilts his head. “I’m not gonna use it again, and I’d rather not have evidence of the past week.”

“You can’t go pretending your heat didn’t happen.”

“Watch me.”

Chuuya exhales, bending down next to the bed. Dazai is pretty sure that’s where Chuuya kept the bag Kouyou gave them: the one with suppressants, omega birth control, itch cream, and patches. The alpha groans when he straightens his spine. “We can talk about it later. Right now, we need to talk about this.” He sets the bottle of heat suppressants on the nightstand along with the bottle of male omega birth control.

Dazai narrows his eyes, shoving more eggs into his mouth as he gazes at the alpha. “What about it?”

“You need to have a heat every three months.”

The brunet clenches his jaw, almost choking on the eggs. “No.”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t three months the usual cycle for omegas? What’s the point in taking suppressants if it’s just the natural cycle?” Dazai pokes at the remaining eggs, not really hungry anymore.

“How do you know that? I thought you never paid attention?”

“I know things,” the omega retorts. Dazai actually didn’t know that until he looked it up on the first night in the container. He then proceeded to forget that he looked it up and couldn’t seem to remember random facts like “how often a male omega has heats” during his heat, and yeah, that really sucked. He missed pissing Chuuya off with random facts.

Dazai puts down his plate of half-eaten eggs in the middle of the nest, turns to grab the nearest blanket, and collapses into the bed while hugging it. Chuuya rushes to grab the plate of eggs.

“You can’t go from presenting right into using the strong suppressants. These will suppress almost everything the strong ones do. They dull down your sensitivity to other scents, dull down your scent for others, and will make your pre-heat less painful. You have to get on the stronger ones slowly; get your body used to suppressants and cycles. Otherwise, you might hurt yourself. They’re strong enough that no one will know you’re an omega. They just don’t fully prevent your heat or make you resistant to commands,” Chuuya explains, setting the plate on the nightstand.

The omega’s head shoots up, his brain slowly registering the last part. Resistant to commands? He needs that. “I want the strong ones.”

“Dazai.”

“I want the good suppressants,” Dazai hisses. He doesn’t want to be controlled by alphas. He doesn’t want another heat. He can’t handle going through a week like this every three months. He can’t. He clutches the blanket closer to his chest, turning his back to the alpha.

“You can, but not yet. You just presented, Mackerel. Your body needs to adjust.”

What does Chuuya know? He’s an alpha; maybe it’s different for omegas. Dazai can handle it. His body can handle it. It’ll be fine. He’ll probably indulge Chuuya and tell the redhead that he’ll take these suppressants but switch later. All he needs to do is find a dealer.

The omega doesn’t say anything, shoving his face further into the blanket. He can smell himself and Chuuya’s burning wood and wine scent. He ignores the fact that it makes his heart beat faster. It means nothing.

He hears Chuuya’s annoyed sigh behind him, and then he’s being turned over, the alpha forcing his partner to face him. The redhead squints at him. “Dazai.”

“What?”

“You aren’t getting out of this. I’m not above commanding you to listen,” Chuuya growls, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Do commands even work like that?” Dazai asks. He doesn’t know that much about commands, but don’t they wear off eventually? Dazai will just wait until it wears off if Chuuya commands him. “Plus, that’s just another reason to go right to the strong ones. Dogs don’t command their masters!”

Chuuya narrows his eyes. “If I make it strong enough, they can last awhile, and I’ll just re-command it whenever it starts wearing off.”

Dazai scoffs. “Then I'll hide from you.”

“You can’t hide forever. Your nest is here.”

“I'll take it with me.”

“I’ll destroy it before you can.”

Dazai flinches, not really expecting that threat. Guilt instantly takes over Chuuya’s features, his brows furrowing. “Okay, I won’t actually destroy your nest. But you need to follow the plan. You can switch to stronger suppressants eventually, but you need to ease into them, which means there will be a few heats before you get to the point of no heats.”

“I don’t want another heat.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I can help you through it again, and we can plan for it the next few times.”

“I can’t have another heat.”

Chuuya sighs, and Dazai continues, “What if it happens during a mission? Or you’re gone? Or you get mad at me because, let’s face it, you probably will at some point, and then you refuse to help me, so I’m just stuck alone during a heat, and I don’t think I can go through one alone and I refuse to have another heat.”

“I won’t let that happen. If it’s during a mission, we’ll leave. If I’m gone, I’ll come back. If I’m mad at you, I'll get over it. I want to help you, Dazai,” Chuuya protests.

“You can’t promise that you’ll feel the same then or that something won’t come up, and you physically can’t help.”

Chuuya bites his lip. He looks stressed. If Dazai is being honest, as much as he doesn’t want to go through another heat, that’s not his main concern. He’s not worried that Chuuya will break his promise. Chibi is ridiculously loyal, and Dazai is starting to learn that the sharp note of flames he can pick out from Chuuya’s scent is determination. He can smell the honesty from the alpha. He’s just not sure what Mori wants.

Obviously, the boss did this.

Obviously, he knows.

But Dazai isn’t sure how much he knows. He seems to know about the heat, but how? Dazai skips work all the time, so it couldn’t be because of that… was he being watched? The brunet was so out of it that the thought to check didn’t even cross his mind until it was way too late. Chuuya has never excelled at ensuring he’s not being followed, believing in For the Tainted Sorrow to protect him. Does that mean Mori knows about Chuuya, then? Chuuya lied and protected him. Mori is not going to like that. Dazai would have to strike a deal.

It’s always a game with the older alpha. If the boss knows their relationship is more than that of reluctant partners, he will try to break them. He likes playing with people and emotions; with relationships. He likes to test them - see how much it takes to destroy them. He always tells Dazai that emotions are tedious and that having relationships built on them is set up to fail.

Dazai isn’t worried for himself; he’s used to Mori’s thinking and manipulative techniques. However, what if the boss turns his attention to Chuuya? What if he manipulates the redhead and tells Chuuya he can’t help Dazai through his heat… would the alpha listen? What if Mori threatens Chuuya’s subordinates?

Chuuya starts speaking again, jolting Dazai out of his thoughts. “If I break my promise, you can have my motorcycle.”

Dazai blinks. “What am I going to do with your pink motorcycle?”

Chuuya groans. “It’s not pink, and you can do whatever you want if I go back on my word. By promising that you can have it if I break my promise, you know I mean it because I don’t want to give you my bike.” Chuuya does look like he’s in physical pain as he states this.

“I don’t see how that benefits me,” Dazai sniffs.

“Dazai.”

“Chuuya.”

“Either you trust me, or I command you.”

Dazai narrows his eyes. “Do not command me.”

“Then trust me. You’ll get the suppressants you want eventually, but not yet.”

The omega shoves his face back into the blanket he’s holding, groaning into it. Dazai doesn’t want to put Chuuya in a position where he is required to choose between the omega and his subordinates. His partner has already dealt with a lot and is in the Port Mafia because of Dazai. It’s only right that he tries to make the alpha’s life easier, and worrying about Mori manipulating him wouldn’t do that.

“Please?”

Dazai opens his mouth to tell Chuuya he should beg more, but a loud, repetitive buzzing interrupts him, and he snaps his mouth shut.

It’s his phone.

He knows it’s his phone.

He also knows it’s probably Mori wanting to talk to him. How does he know Dazai’s heat is over? The brunet has no idea. It implies that he knows when Dazai’s heat started…

He really never had a chance at hiding this, did he?

“Your phone is ringing,” Chuuya stupidly states.

“Is it? I thought it was your nagging voice trying to force me into using useless suppressants,” Dazai hisses.

The alpha sighs, his scent becoming a little harsher and more difficult to inhale, making Dazai push further into his blankets. Dazai hears him grab the plate of eggs and then the soft pitter-patter of the alpha leaving the room. His omega instincts perk up, upset that Chuuya isn’t near him anymore and that he’s probably not happy with Dazai. The brunet squeezes his eyes shut, trying to ignore the annoying urges to make Chuuya happy and the persistent sound of his phone vibrating. He should have left it dead.

When the buzzing goes quiet, and silence fills the room, Dazai sighs in relief… until the phone vibrates again. Mori is calling him twice? He rarely does that.

Dazai uncurls himself from the blanket he’s clutching and crawls over to the nightstand, picking his phone up. The glowing letters of “Boss” shine back at him, and Dazai grimaces as he answers.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asks nonchalantly. Maybe if Mori thinks he’s unaffected by the events of his heat, he won’t be as interested in finding out what happened. It’s a stupid thought, Dazai knows. Mori wants something. Why else would he lie to the brunet?

“Is it over?” The boss doesn’t sound the least bit uninterested. He sounds fascinated.

“No, it’s not,” Dazai replies, voice monotone and mocking. “I am… in utter pain and suffering.” The omega turns around to sneak a peek at Chuuya’s bedroom door. It’s still open, and he can hear the alpha in the kitchen washing the plate.

“It’s been a week. I gave you time,” Mori says like he had been kind to Dazai.

To be fair, it could’ve been worse. The second Mori realized, he could have found Dazai and forced the omega to come with him. Mori is an alpha and, therefore, can use commands on him. He wouldn’t respect Dazai’s “omega rights” like Chuuya and Kouyou did. Dazai might not know much about the biological aspect of subgenders, but he knows the societal views. Omegas are not favored, that’s for sure.

“I shouldn’t have needed the time,” Dazai snaps.

“I know you’re upset-”

“We had a deal.”

“I am aware of our deal, Dazai-kun-”

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I went back on my end of it?” Dazai’s voice is dripping with venom. Most people would be terrified if he spoke to them in this way. It strikes fear into many; the Demon Prodigy is angry. But Mori has never been one to back down, especially to Dazai.

“It wouldn’t matter if you did, Dazai-kun. It’s too late.” Dazai can hear the smile in his voice. The omega scoffs.

“I know my grandfather’s people are still around,” Dazai threatens. It’s a stupid threat, he knows.

“Go ahead.” Mori sounds so casual at calling Dazai’s bluff, it pisses the brunet off. “It’d be entertaining to see who Chuuya-kun picks; a good test of his loyalty. You or his subordinates. The brat who manipulated him into the mafia or the people he befriended himself.”

Dazai bites his lip and then quickly stops, forcing his face into a blank expression. He was bluffing when talking about his grandfather’s people. He doesn’t actually know where most of the survivors went, and he wouldn't want to expose the ones he is aware of to Mori. The alpha had gone through and murdered most of the remaining people who supported the mafia bloodline, who supported Dazai. And with Chuuya being threatened in the usual Mori fashion, Dazai should probably drop it and let the alpha do what he’s apparently been planning for five years.

Mori is somewhat aware of Dazai’s fascination with Chuuya. The omega isn’t sure how much Mori knows, but he knows enough that threatening the redhead would work. He’s using his partner against him. Mori doesn’t know about Chuuya’s willingness to deal with Dazai, though; if he did, that would cause problems. In Mori’s eyes, it’s a one-way street, and Dazai needs to keep it that way.

Dazai is silent. He hears the alpha chuckle on the other end, recognizing his win.

“That’s what I thought. Report to me before the end of the day, little omega.” Mori then hangs up, leaving Dazai back in the silence of the room again. The brunet snarls, dropping his phone back onto the nightstand and returning to the blanket he left, wrapping himself in it and crashing into the pile of pillows and shirts.

He’s annoyed.
Mori is annoying.
This heat was annoying.
Being an omega is annoying.
His instincts are annoying.

All he wants to do is tell Chuuya, but he can’t. His omega is being stupid and emotional. Chuuya knowing would be dangerous and Dazai can take whatever Mori wants. He can take it. It’s probably some… medical things. It always is with Mori, a doctor. Chuuya can be safe and sound with Kouyou. The alpha has already been experimented on and played with. Dazai can take this.

He can.

Chuuya returns soon after Dazai hangs up, an eyebrow raising at the omega burying himself under blankets.

“What’d he want?”

“Meeting.”

Chuuya’s scent sours. “That’s oddly timed.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think he knows?”

Yes. Yes, he does know. But Chuuya isn’t supposed to know. Chuuya would be on Mori’s radar even more. Probably. Dazai still isn’t sure what exactly the boss wants and the phone call didn’t help. Either way, Chuuya can’t know that Mori knows.

“I’ll take your suppressants,” Dazai states instead, returning the subject to their earlier fight. Chuuya’s breath hitches.

“What? You will?”

“Is Chuuya deaf? Do I need to repeat it? I said: I. Will. Take. The. Suppress-”

“OKAY! I get it! You don’t have to be an ass about it,” Chuuya snaps, picking up the suppressant bottle. He glances down at it, reading the label, and then looks back at Dazai, narrowing his eyes. “Just so I know you aren’t lying to me, I’ll give you your pill every day.”

Dazai’s jaw drops. “What? No! I don’t need to be babysat.”

“You tried to overdose on painkillers the second day of your heat. You’re not going anywhere near this bottle alone,” Chuuya smirks.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t take pills,” Dazai sniffs.

“Dazai,” Chuuya takes a pill out, handing it to the omega. Dazai snatches it, snarling. “I will literally shove these pills down your throat.”

“I’d like to see you try.” Dazai glances from the pill, then back up to Chuuya, quickly realizing his mistake. His mistake of calling Chuuya’s bluff, just like he did when Chuuya threatened to force water down his throat.

Despite not being in heat anymore, he’s still too slow to get away from the alpha, who is quick to take the pill out of Dazai’s hand and pin him down. It didn’t help that Dazai was already wrapped in blankets that he couldn’t kick off. The omega whines as Chuuya sits on his chest, keeping Dazai’s arms down with his feet. The brunet can barely move his lower body, with it being trapped in a sea of blankets. He pouts.

“Unfair.”

“How was that unfair?” Chuuya smirks, showing the omega the suppressant in his hand. He pries Dazai’s mouth open, squeezing his jaw until it’s uncomfortable, and then pops the pill inside, forcing Dazai to close his mouth afterward.

“Do I need to check to make sure you swallowed like a good boy?” Chuuya snickers, forcing Dazai’s mouth open to check anyway.

The omega groans, unable to say anything with Chuuya’s fingers in his mouth, checking. He starts to close his mouth slowly, watching Chuuya’s expression.

The alpha doesn’t falter, continuing to poke around Dazai’s mouth like he owns him. “If you bite me, you’ll regret it.”

Dazai lets out an unintelligible noise and continues slowly closing his mouth until Chuuya’s other hand snatches his jaw, squeezing it painfully. “I said you’ll regret it.”

When Chuuya releases his jaw, Dazai instantly opens his mouth back up. Chuuya smiles. “Good boy.”

The omega glares at him but lets the redhead continue making sure he swallowed the suppressant. He did swallow it, for once, but Chuuya wouldn’t believe him no matter what Dazai said, so it was easier to let the alpha manhandle him. He needs the suppressant if he’s going to be visiting Mori after this. Dazai doesn’t know how long suppressants take to work, but hopefully, he’ll start feeling the effects by the time he leaves.

His emotions are still way too heightened for his liking. The suppressants better make that easier, too.

Dazai doesn’t know what he’s going to do otherwise.

-------

After Dazai leaves Chuuya’s apartment for his suspicious meeting with Mori, the alpha calls Kouyou. He’s flushing the sedatives when Kouyou picks up, her voice sounding surprised and confused. “Chuuya?”

“I want to talk. Over tea. Just us, Ane-san.” He listens to her breathing on the other end, trying to pinpoint any indication that she may never want to talk to him again because he didn’t listen, and she’s tired of protecting him. He doesn’t really think she would do that, but he’s never gone against her so severely before. There are no regrets, but Chuuya doesn’t want to lose his relationship with her. “Please?”

“Of course, we can talk. How does an hour from now sound?” The confusion in her voice is gone, replaced with her usual graceful tone of care that she tends to use with Chuuya and her girls. The alpha sighs in relief.

“I’ll be there.”

An hour later, Chuuya pulls up to the brothel in Kouyou’s car. He would have to return it eventually, so now is a great time. It’s also a perfect excuse to give to the girls or anyone who asks why he’s here. When Chuuya first got in the car, he could still faintly smell whiskey and leather, so he used the drive over to cover Dazai’s scent with his own smokey, angry scent, thinking of everything that had ever made him angry.

He knows it worked when he opens the car door, and Kouyou’s nostrils flare.

“Is everything okay?” Kouyou asks, raising an eyebrow. “Did Dazai run off?”

“I mean, he did, but I did that because I could still smell his scent,” Chuuya shrugs.

Kouyou lets out a small “ah” and nods in understanding. She then turns around to walk back to the brothel. Chuuya follows close behind.

“I don’t think I ever really realized how much you care about him,” Kouyou murmurs once they’re in the safety of her office, the door locked behind them and tea brewing on the older alpha’s table.

Chuuya scoffs. “I didn’t know.”

“Do you think it was instinctual, then?” Kouyou asks, handing the younger alpha a cup of tea and sitting across from him.

“Originally, I thought it was,” Chuuya pauses, thinking about his fear and worry when he first found Dazai in his container alone and in pain. He instantly wanted to make him feel better, wanted to help him… but how does he know that it wasn’t just an instinctual desire that ignited because there was an omega in heat in front of him? “He didn’t want my help, but I forced him to accept it.”

“Do you think it’s instinctual now?” Kouyou asks, quietly taking a sip of tea.

Chuuya just stares at his own. There’s a slightly green tinge to the tea, probably indicating that she made green tea. “I don’t know.”

“Now that he isn’t in heat, do you want to care for him like you did when he was?” Kouyou rephrases, setting her tea down. It makes a quiet noise, but Chuuya still flinches, the question hitting him in the face.

He does. He wants to hunt Dazai down from wherever the man went off to, wrap him up in a blanket, and forever keep him safe in his nest. He doesn’t want Dazai to go to his meetings with Mori alone; he still doesn’t know what’s happening between them. He doesn’t want Dazai to feel the grief he’s probably been feeling most of his life. He wants to make Dazai happy. He wants Dazai to feel loved. He wants…

But that’s just instinctual, isn’t it?

He didn’t necessarily want this before Dazai’s heat. He liked hanging out with his partner and enjoyed the sex. Giving pleasure to Dazai or being pleasured by Dazai felt like an entirely different experience than other hookups… He thought it was because he liked seeing someone as mean and backhanded as Dazai in a position like that, but maybe it was different because it was Dazai, and he cared for Dazai then, too? But maybe that was just his alpha instincts latching onto someone he knows doesn’t have others protecting him… right?

Kouyou is quiet as the war rages on in Chuuya’s mind. Eventually, the alpha mutters, “I don’t know.”

“I think you do, Chuuya,” Kouyou offers softly, and Chuuya slowly looks at her. She’s sadly smiling in a way that the younger alpha knows she understands how he’s feeling. She had a lover once, one that the old boss killed. She rarely talks about him, but sometimes Chuuya catches her staring off, lost in thought. She looks peaceful when she does that, almost happy.

“I do,” Chuuya admits. “But I don’t understand. Even if I want to help him after, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t instinctual. How do I separate my actual feelings and the instinctual ones that are probably there because Dazai’s an omega?”

“Sometimes they are interchangeable, but you aren’t currently being affected by his scent or heat pheromones. It’s less likely that it’s because he’s an omega if you still feel the same way even after he has left.” Kouyou explains. “It happens a lot. An alpha and an omega spend a cycle together, and after, they believe they’re in love, but after the cycle ends, they realize they aren’t actually in love. It’s one of the downfalls of society, but once you know about it, it’s easy to recognize.”

“I’m not in love with him,” Chuuya scoffs, setting his full cup of tea on the table. He’s not very thirsty anymore.

“Maybe not, but you care about him,” Kouyou points out. “A lot.”

Chuuya shakes his head, and Kouyou raises an eyebrow. “Chuuya, dear, you were about to kill me when you found out he was here.”

“Wasn’t gonna kill you,” Chuuya mutters.

Kouyou raises her eyebrows, not believing the younger alpha for a second.

Chuuya sighs, running his hands down his face in defeat. “Can we talk about something else?”

Kouyou smiles, chuckling quietly. “Of course. I assumed this visit was because you wanted me to finish my explanation that Dazai so rudely interrupted.”

“To be fair, your explanation was about him,” Chuuya mumbles.

“Maybe you should have left the room then, hm?”

Chuuya groans. “Last time we talked, he didn’t wake up. He was so tired the entire week, I thought he’d stay asleep.”

Kouyou hums, not gracing him with an answer. The younger alpha scoffs. “Can you just finish what you were saying? About Dazai’s heritage or whatever?”

The older alpha stares at him, looking him up and down. She then sighs. “I don’t actually know a lot. I just know that Dazai’s mother came from an alpha family.”

Chuuya hasn’t heard too much about alpha families since joining the mafia, but when he was still in the Sheep, they were a pain in his ass. They are wealthy, influential, and entitled assholes. They see themselves as superior to others because their entire family tends to be alphas, the “superior” subgender. Sometimes, some of them with government positions would show up in Suribachi City with the intent to arrest him and his friends. They never succeeded, but it was annoying. They’re like nats.

Chuuya bites his lip. “His mother is from a family like that?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t alpha lines usually… alphas?”

“Typically, yes, but subgender genetics can’t always guarantee a specific second gender since omegas have to birth the children, so sometimes omegas are born, like Dazai’s mother.” Kouyou pauses, staring at her tea for a second before meeting Chuuya’s gaze again. “She left her family and ended up in the Port Mafia. I don’t think she told anyone where she was from-”

Chuuya rolls his eyes, muttering, “Sounds familiar.”

“- but I do know that the mafia bloodline works similarly to those wealthy families,” Kouyou continues, either ignoring Chuuya’s comment or not hearing it. “They took pride in their alphas. Seeing her as being from a brothel, the old boss felt she was ill-suited for his son, and that’s why he had them hunted down and killed.”

“But not Dazai?”

“My running theory is that somehow, the old boss found out about Dazai’s mother’s heritage. That information showed that Dazai and the rest of his siblings weren’t born from an ‘inferior’ omega family as the old boss assumed.” Kouyou sighs, her face twisting into a grim expression. “Since Dazai was the last one alive… I think the boy was kept to continue the mafia bloodline.”

Chuuya stares at her, mouth open, his mind whirling. The old boss kept Dazai alive because he could continue the mafia bloodline? But that was when the man was still kicking. Wouldn’t Dazai be a threat to Mori now? Dazai is the rightful heir. He could take the mafia throne away from Mori, and if he continues the bloodline, that would add more variables for Mori to worry about. It doesn’t make sense. Why did Mori decide to keep Dazai alive?

“Why is-”

“I don’t know why Mori kept him alive,” Kouyou murmurs. “Maybe he saw promise in him as a mafia member. He was certainly born for it. It’s in his blood. Maybe the boss decided that the pros outweigh the cons.”

“How would Dazai working well in the mafia outweigh the fact that, technically, the mafia belongs to him? Wouldn’t that give Mori more of a reason to have him killed?”

“I don’t know, Chuuya,” Kouyou sighs. “That’s why I told you to stay away. I don’t know what’s happening between them. I don’t know why Mori kept Dazai alive. He could be biding his time, waiting for a situation where the mafia would benefit from Dazai’s death. I don’t want you to get stuck in the crossfire.”

“Kouyou!” Chuuya growls.

“Chuuya.” Kouyou returns his sharp tone with her own, her eyes stern. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“What about Dazai?”

She sighs. “If I have to save one of you, it would be you-”

“That’s bullshit!” Chuuya pushes the table as he stands, his tea spilling. “You didn’t take him when his mom asked you to, and you said you regret it! Now that he might need your help again, you’re still not gonna help him?”

“Don’t raise your voice-”

“I can protect myself. I have an offensive ability. He doesn’t-”

“Chuuya, that’s not-”

“What? That’s not what you’re saying?” Chuuya’s voice is rising, and his heart is racing. He hates yelling at Kouyou. Even now, he knows the situation is complicated. He knows that she doesn’t really want Dazai hurt. But that doesn’t change anything. Even if she can’t do anything to protect him from Mori, she can still try to support him from afar. She didn’t need to treat him like an inconvenience or just another omega in heat. She shouldn’t have muzzled him or tried to force an alpha on him when he clearly stated he didn’t want to be knotted. It’s like she doesn’t see him as someone needing the care of listening. She didn’t care about what he had to say. She just wanted him to be dealt with.

“I know he doesn’t have an offensive ability, Chuuya. He’s perfectly capable of protecting himself-”

“But-”

“No. You will listen,” Kouyou hisses, the first signs of anger entering her voice. “Mori might not have wanted to kill Dazai because he was waiting for someone like you.”

“What?”

“He may want you two to mate-”

“How would he have known? What about before I joined?”

Kouyou sighs. “I don’t know. Maybe he was going to have Dazai killed, but then you showed up. You didn’t join too long after Mori became boss.”

Chuuya’s eyes widen slightly, realizing that that does make sense. Mori still needed Dazai because he had witnessed the old boss’s death. Maybe Chuuya showing up gave Mori another reason to keep the omega around… but that implies that Mori knew Dazai would be an omega. Dazai didn’t seem to know, so how would Mori?

“But he didn’t know Dazai was going to be an omega,” Chuuya points out, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Dazai was almost guaranteed to present as either an omega or alpha. Maybe the boss was just hoping.” Kouyou stands, walking over to a cabinet and opening it. She says nothing as she digs through it, pulling out a file and returning to her seat. She sets the file on the table. “That’s everything I could find on his mother. There are also letters she wrote me when she was still here. She taught me how to read and write by having us write letters to each other.”

The older alpha smiles longingly at the memory. “You can give it to him.”

Chuuya stares at the file, curiosity telling him to open it, but he knows he should let Dazai look at it first. It’s his mother… who he had thought was alive and hated him. He deserves to look at it first.

“Ane-san… if she was so important to you, why do you distance yourself from Dazai? Why do you act like he’s an inconvenience? I thought you said you cared.”

Kouyou glances at Chuuya. “He represents everything I failed to do. I wouldn’t help him out of jealousy. She left me and had him and his siblings. She then died, and he lived.” Kouyou sounds so hesitant, so… regretful. To her, Dazai is a breathing embodiment of Kouyou failing to be human. She had looked at a child and rejected him because she was jealous that he got to be with her mother figure… who was his mother. She took her anger out on a child - is still taking her anger out on him, and it’s eating her up inside.

“And I could tell how much he hated it here. A boy too young being exposed to so much violence. There were multiple times that I witnessed the old boss’ bodyguards dragging Dazai through the building, crying and screaming as he tried to get away. He usually had a book with him, so I assumed he was hiding somewhere, reading.” Kouyou sighs. “Tane-sama liked to read, so I always assumed Dazai might, too. However, I’ve heard that Gen’emon-sama liked to read as well. Maybe he was just bound to like reading.”

She seems so lost in thought now that Chuuya’s not sure if he should say anything. He’s assuming Tane and Gen’emon were Dazai’s parents’ names. Despite being in the Port Mafia for a few years, he’s never heard about either, even if just in passing and not necessarily as Dazai’s parents. Gen’emon was the heir to the mafia at one point… but Chuuya did join after Mori became boss, and it’s probably taboo to talk about past heirs… or any heirs.

Dazai really never told him anything. He really had a family with names, personalities, and interests. Dazai apparently likes reading. Chuuya doesn’t think he’s ever seen Dazai with a book that wasn’t that stupid suicide book. The fact that the man had to go through his first heat to even cry around Chuuya really… hurts. But at the same time, it’s Chuuya’s fault, too. He thought that Dazai was an annoying, arrogant bastard who really needed to be put in his place, which he does, but the alpha is pretty sure that’s what Dazai wants people to assume. It’s his way of protecting himself.

But Dazai cares. He tries hard to hide it, but when Corruption happened, Chuuya saw that side of his partner; the caring side, the side that Chuuya is pretty sure he got to spend the brunet’s heat week with, the side that sounds like this child who only wanted to hide and read books; the side that is probably the real Dazai and not one of his stupid masks.

And Chuuya isn’t sure what to do with this information. Dazai has been hiding all of this for years, and the only information that Dazai shared with him was that he thought his parents gave him to the mafia. He didn’t tell the redhead anything about them… Maybe Chuuya should ask. He doesn’t want to pry, but Dazai will probably not tell him anything if he doesn’t ask, and using Dazai’s heat against him probably wouldn’t go well. Maybe he could open himself up to the omega and show him that he doesn’t have to hide himself from Chuuya.

He wants Dazai to trust him. He wants to get to know his omega.

“I digress,” Kouyou whispers, snapping Chuuya out of his mind. “I can’t control what you do, Chuuya. But please, be careful.”

“I appreciate the concern, Ane-san, but I’ll be okay,” Chuuya tells her reassuringly, grabbing the file Kouyou set on the table. Kouyou watches him, and he bows, letting her know he’s leaving.

The older alpha sighs, her expression sad. “I hope so. I don’t want to lose another person I care about.”

Chuuya clutches the file closer to his chest as he leaves, muttering once Kouyou is out of earshot: “I don’t want to lose someone I care about either.”

-------

“Dazai-kun!” Mori’s voice is as grating as ever. Dazai always hates how it makes him feel. It unearths this fear that’s buried deep inside him. It’s annoying.

Spending the week with both eyes uncovered to now being subjected to having one eye covered again is proving to be annoying to get used to despite the years he spent having it covered. After forcing Dazai to shower, Chuuya helped him re-wrap his body in the soft bandages he bought. He wanted Dazai to stay another day, and while the brunet wanted to, Mori called for him, and he needs to listen to keep Chuuya safe.

The redhead also showed him how to use omega scent blockers - apparently, they’re slightly different than alpha ones. He has to use six at a time: two on his neck glands, two on his wrist glands, and two on his thighs. Dazai didn’t want to ask Chuuya why, so he didn’t, squirming until the alpha had finished placing them.

After he left, he made a quick stop at his container to grab a suit and then headed to the Port Mafia building.

Dazai has also learned that he’s highly uncomfortable being out in public with his new omega development, specifically, scents. The scents that Dazai couldn’t really smell before are everywhere. Everyone smells. Different combinations of every smell known to man constantly invade his nostrils, and while the scents are slightly more muted than he remembers Chuuya’s being, he hates it. Plus, no one smells as good as Chuuya.

“Mori-san,” Dazai greets, stopping at his mentor’s desk. Mori’s scent fills his nose: blood, antiseptic, and metal, a rustic scent that is definitely an alpha’s scent with how heavy it is. Dazai’s instincts are keening and desperate to please, but he’s not in heat anymore, so he can ignore it easily; plus, its disgustingness helps.

“Come with me,” Mori says, wasting no time. He stands up from his desk and heads towards the back, not even waiting for Dazai to follow.

Dazai stands in front of Mori’s desk for a second, hesitating, but then follows.

There are multiple different rooms behind the boss’ office. Dazai’s grandfather had mainly used them as his home. From Dazai’s spotty memory of the time, he can remember a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen that they never used, and the room that Dazai was allowed to use. Mori had initially let him keep it, but Dazai wanted nothing to do with it - isolation can really make someone hate a place - so he moved out.

Mori ended up changing one of the other rooms into a medical room, a medical room Dazai is very familiar with.

He watches the ground as he follows Mori through the hallways, and once they enter the room, Mori closes the door.

“Shirt and bandages off, please,” Mori states, walking over to his equipment table. Dazai complies slowly, sliding off his mafia jacket and setting it on the procedure table. He starts unbuttoning his shirt as Mori plays around with his tools, the metal clinking making Dazai suppress a shiver. He rolls his eyes at himself, angry for needing to shiver at all. Despite not being in heat anymore, the heightened emotions still seem to be lingering. Everything is setting him off.

The omega finishes unbuttoning his shirt, and then it’s just the soft bandages that Chuuya gave him. He hesitates, not really wanting to expose his skin to Mori.

“Dazai-kun.” The brunet’s heart stops. “The bandages.”

Dazai glances at Mori, whose back is still turned to him. He slowly unpins the end of his bandages and starts unrolling them, watching the goosebumps appear on his skin as the cold air of the medical room hits him. Mori always keeps these rooms cold. Dazai hates it.

Mori turns to face him, nodding at the procedure table. “Thank you. Sit down.”

Dazai mechanically sits down, going back to staring at the ground. He does not want to be here. He would rather be doing anything else. He would even rather be in heat. But it’s for Chuuya. Mori will threaten Chuuya if Dazai doesn’t listen. He already did once.

The omega hears Mori collect a few tools, and then the boss walks over to him, stepping behind the table. Dazai is instantly tense, not liking that. He doesn’t like Mori behind him. He can’t see him, can’t see what he’s doing.

“How was it?” Mori asks, his scent getting closer. Dazai can almost feel the alpha’s body heat inching closer and closer. He suppresses another shiver, biting his cheek to keep from whimpering out. Stupid instincts. Why do they want to submit to this alpha? It’s dumb.

“Terrible.”

“How so?”

“It hurt. I don’t like pain.”

“It’s a heat, Dazai-kun,” Mori mutters, and before Dazai can retort that it’s Mori’s fault, the alpha continues speaking. “You have scent blockers on.” Dazai opens his mouth to confirm that, but Mori is faster, peeling away the scent blocker patch. The omega grunts, shifting slightly but inevitably allowing Mori to free his scent. Whiskey and leather fill the room, with slight notes of warm vanilla that aren’t as strong now that he isn’t in heat. Mori is silent as he works, taking the other patch off and then moving to Dazai’s wrists, forcing those patches off as well.

Eventually, it’s like Dazai’s scent had never been hidden and is wrapping around the whole room, seemingly fighting with Mori’s on whose is more prevalent.

“Good, you have a scent.”

Dazai remains quiet, but when something cold and very metal touches Dazai’s scent gland, he’s unable to prevent his body from tensing and jerking away. He turns to look at what Mori is holding, covering his gland with his hand.

Mori is holding a scalpel, and his eyebrows are raised in surprise before he sighs, his expression returning to a disappointed gaze. “Let me look at them.”

Dazai keeps his hand on his gland as he hesitates. He really doesn’t want Mori to touch his scent glands. But he should. He needs to let Mori do what he wants. There’ll be less pain that way, and it’s for Chuuya…

So why is he shaking his head, physically unable to move his hand? The fear that is gripping his heart feels unreal. It’s like he’s underwater and can’t swim up, constantly trying to bring his head above water and failing to. He’s not sure what Mori wants, even now in the man's presence. He can’t get his hand to move. He wants it to move and is trying to will it, but it’s not.

Mori seems to see the omega’s internal crisis, and he sighs. “Are you really not stronger than your instincts? I thought I taught you better than that.”

Dazai struggles to inhale, trying to come up with a snarky response, but all he can feel is a pounding headache forming, making it harder to think.

“Remove your hand, little omega.”

Dazai’s body instantly reacts to the command, forcing his hand away from his gland. Dazai bites back a whimper. He wanted to get through this like he usually does: emotionless. He always was able to before. It’s like his heat and his instincts have made him lose all of his progress on his masks and personas. It’s annoying.

Mori softly chuckles. “Well, commands work. That’s a good sign.”

“Good sign of what?” Dazai grumbles, glaring at the alpha as he returns to caressing and poking the omega’s glands. Mori doesn’t answer, and Dazai looks away, refusing to watch the boss examine him like a specimen.

He tries retreating into his mind like he always does during visits like these but quickly realizes he’s unable to because the alpha is touching his scent glands. It’s keeping his omega instincts - therefore him - involuntarily alert.

“They’re red and a little irritated. Why?” Mori asks.

“Scratched them,” Dazai mumbles. He feels the scalpel tense, pushing into his gland enough that it hurts a bit.

“Don’t scratch them again,” Mori states and the omega feels the cold metal gently move from his scent gland to the nape of his neck, where his mating gland is. Dazai tenses and then forces his body to relax again, trying hard to fight the instinctual responses.

The alpha seemingly moves the metal tool away, but then Dazai’s mating gland is being pinched, and his body instantly goes numb and relaxes, ending with him in Mori’s arms, despite the innate desire not to be.

“Your mating gland developed perfectly.”

Every time Mori speaks, Dazai wants to punch him. Mori releases his gland, and after a few seconds of being unable to move, Dazai can finally lean away from Mori’s arms, albeit sluggishly.

“Open your mouth,” Mori mutters, and Dazai does, not wanting to be commanded again. The alpha pokes at the omega’s fangs, humming to himself. When he pulls away, he says, “Interesting. They’re large for an omega and still developing. Fascinating.”

Dazai resists the urge to roll his eyes.

“Everything seems to be working perfectly!” Mori says, excited.

“Why wouldn’t it? You knew,” Dazai grumbles.

“Oh, come on now, Dazai-kun, don’t tell me you had no idea,” Mori hums. “I’d be disappointed if you really didn’t know.”

When Dazai feels the tip of Mori’s scalpel against his gland, he scolds himself. He should have expected this. Why else would Mori be caressing his gland with a scalpel? For fun? Dazai has grown used to the sharp pain that cuts provide on his arms, legs, thighs, and stomach. Mori has given him most of the scars that adorn his body. Dazai is used to the pain. Most of the time, when Dazai does it to himself, it’s a stress relief, a way to release emotions he doesn’t want. Even when Mori does it, it relieves Dazai from his emotions; from thinking and feeling.

But his scent gland… it’s different. It’s new and sensitive, and there are so many nerves there. Dazai’s not stupid. He knows why he can’t logically take out scent glands and mating glands. When he suggested it to Chuuya, it was more of a heat-ailed mind trying to express how upset he was with the whole situation. But he knows. He can tell how connected his glands are to the rest of his body.

So when Mori cuts into his gland, Dazai wails.

“Stay still, little omega,” Mori murmurs the command, and before Dazai can even think about jolting away, the numbing sensation of losing control of his own body flows through him. It freezes, and Dazai can feel everything as Mori slices deeper into his right neck gland. It hurts. A different kind of hurt. A hurt that truly makes Dazai despise pain. A whimper claws its way up Dazai’s throat, and Mori quietly shushes him. The omega feels the pain everywhere, all along his nervous system and down to his toes.

It’s illogical. Cutting his gland is illogical. It doesn’t benefit Mori. And it hurts - a lot. Dazai has been tortured countless times and has been through numerous sessions with Mori, and yet nothing compares to the pain he’s currently in. His eyes are tearing up, and his mind is growing fuzzy as black dots appear on the edges of his vision. He lets out another choked whimper, trying to let Mori know that it hurts and that he wants the alpha to stop.

“Relax, Dazai-kun. I’m not taking it out.”

Dazai is barely able to think, much less form words. But he’s able to grunt out a small: “Hurts.”

“I know. It’ll be over soon.” Dazai feels something else touching his skin near his gland. He tries to fight the command pinning him down. He tries forcing his body to move slightly, but that makes his headache and vision worse - the omega whimpers, unable to hold the noises back. The boss shushes him, telling him he’ll be okay and it’ll be quick.

Mori’s blood scent fills Dazai’s lungs, and he can’t breathe. It’s heavy and stuck in his throat. His eyes are watering from both the pain and the inability to take in air. Black spots crowd his vision, and he starts leaning to the side, his body slowly giving out despite the command to stay still. He’s tired and wants to close his eyes so badly. He loses his small hold on his scent, which plummets, turning acidic and sour. He can tell the effect it has on Mori since he doesn’t instantly react, instead standing there, freezing in his movements.

Dazai hears the alpha sigh, and the weight on his shoulder moves, disappearing. Mori’s scent grows stronger, and Dazai’s gland stings. He can feel something - that he assumes is blood - dripping down his collarbone. The omega has started violently shaking, feeling really hot and sweaty despite the shivers rolling through his body. He’s cold, but hot. Different from his heat. It's much worse than his heat. Pain has never caused this type of reaction from him; he would never show this much emotion in front of Mori usually.

The brunet never thought he’d rather be in heat again, but he misses his nest and Chuuya and being in his nest with Chuuya. He misses the kind words and the care. He wants Chuuya. He wants his alpha.

Relief floods through Dazai when the darkness finally takes over, and the pain washes away.

***

Dazai is cold when he jolts up. He’s slow to orient himself, feeling like he just came out of a dissociative episode. The brunet blinks, looking around a room that is too bright for him. The omega shivers, looking down at his chest, when he realizes something is touching him. There are bandages wrapped crossbodied around him, stretching from his neck across most of his chest. His mind is hazy, and he’s sluggish. The brunet hates the feeling.

Dazai tries to shift, and suddenly, his neck stings. He can feel it through his whole body, the burning and sharp pain. Everything comes back after that. The meeting, going to the medical room, Mori’s scent, Mori’s commands, so much pain, Chuuya…

Dazai tries to sit up, quickly noticing his wrists are tied down to the medical table with leather straps. His wrists have bandages wrapping around them, and he can feel the sting of his wrist glands, meaning Mori went after those, too. He’s also connected to an IV, assumingly getting fluids… hopefully getting fluids. He’s not sure what he’d do if Mori is giving him drugs again.

“Ah! You’re awake!” The omega suppresses a flinch as Mori walks in front of him, carrying multiple vials filled with clear liquid… or maybe nothing at all. Dazai can’t tell; his vision is still a little spotty.

“That hurt,” Dazai mutters, his mind hazy and disoriented, even as he tries to focus on the alpha.

“I know. I do greatly apologize since I did not intend to cause you pain,” Mori hands the omega one of the vials. “Do you know what scent glands do?”

“Scent?” Dazai grumbles, holding the vial in his lap, too sore to lift it. Now that it’s closer, he can definitely tell that there is a clear liquid in it.

“Scent glands hold and release scent pheromones,” Mori explains, holding up a vial. “The pheromones released through the gland are… hm, how do I put this… it’s not a liquid or solid, but it’s not quite gas either. It's a scent. A smell. Something that cannot exactly be contained or studied.”

Mori smiles, turning the vial around as he watches the clear liquid inside move.

“The inside of a scent gland holds a liquid pheromone or essentially a ‘pure pheromone.’” Mori opens the vial, and Dazai instantly becomes engulfed by his own scent. It’s a lot stronger and instantly makes the omega light-headed with how strong it is. What would this do to an alpha?

Mori’s eyes dilate as he continues talking. “Since you hadn’t presented, I was patiently waiting. I needed pure omega pheromones to start any of the tests I’ve been curious about.”

Dazai sags further into the medical table, staring at the vial in his hands. Is he just scentless now? An omega that doesn’t smell like anything. He hadn’t realized he couldn’t smell himself until his own scent from a vial smacked him in the face. But does he care? He didn’t want to be an omega and doesn’t really care if he has a scent or not… but what if that means he can’t scent anymore? Or if he can get scented and can’t scent back. What if Chuuya doesn’t want to scent him anymore because Dazai’s scent is nonexistent, and Chuuya wouldn’t get anything out of it?

Why does Dazai care? He wouldn’t have cared before. The omega inside his brain is crying, whimpering, distressed at the idea of possibly losing Chuuya because he doesn’t have a scent.

This could’ve all been avoided if Mori had held up his end of the deal.

“Your gland is fine if you were wondering. I didn’t want to ruin what I worked so hard for,” Mori informs him. Dazai ignores the implication that Mori thought he would care if he had a scent because he most definitely doesn’t care.

“You didn’t hold up your end of the deal,” Dazai whispers, turning the vial to watch the liquid inside move.

“I needed an omega.”

“There are others.” Dazai squeezes the glass vial, essentially threatening to break it. Mori’s lip twitches but is quick to smooth back out.

“I wanted you,” he simply states. The alpha reaches forward, forcing the brunet to give him the vial. He walks away, returning to his equipment table.

“You said I would be normal. You promised,” Dazai growls.

“I couldn’t let the opportunity pass. It’s beneficial to the Port Mafia if I can create my own omega suppressants and blockers and such, so if I had to lie to you to get you to cooperate, I will.”

Dazai glares at the alpha, trying to ignore the constant pain in every one of his glands. It’s pulsing.

“There are still others,” he snaps. It’s not that Dazai wants other omegas to take his place. Just why him? It doesn’t make sense. Keeping him alive just for this purpose doesn’t make sense. Dazai isn’t stupid. He knows it’s in Mori’s best interest to kill him, but the alpha hasn’t. Dazai has been trying to figure out why for years. If the reason is just because he’s an omega… it doesn’t make sense.

“You are fine, little omega. I cut precisely next to the gland and used a syringe to extract the liquid form of your scent.”

“Stop calling me that.”

Mori sighs. “I won’t cut into it again. Extracting pure pheromones doesn’t require an open wound. I was just curious about what would happen. Now I have my answer.”

“What answer is that? That it makes someone pass out?”

“Yes.”

Dazai glares at the boss. Mori grins as he returns to Dazai’s side, releasing his arms and legs from their restraints and taking out the IV. The omega slowly climbs off the table, retrieving his shirt and coat from the ground. Everything hurts; moving hurts.

“Let’s make another deal.”

“No.”

“Dazai-kun.” Mori seems to be losing his patience. Good.

“I said no.”

“You’ll want to reconsider.”

“I think not.”

“Let me take what I want: pure pheromones, blood, tissues, slick, anything your body can make more of, and I won’t force you to bond.”

Dazai freezes, his hand instantly slapping towards his mating gland on the nape of his neck as he turns to face Mori.

“What?”

“If you disagree, it’s no problem. Omegas are useless in the mafia, though, so you’ll be demoted and probably sold off for breeding.”

“Excuse me?”

“That is unless you bond to someone here. You can stay then, but of course, as someone else’s omega.”

Out of everything he thought Mori would do, threatening demotion was not one. Mori has never made it seem like he bought into the “omegas are inferior” stereotype. When the boss would lecture Dazai and Chuuya about subgenders, he told them the pros and cons of both and sometimes would talk about how valuable omegas are. Dazai had assumed Mori doesn’t care about stereotypes. It was stupid for him to have assumed.

Bonding is out of the question.

“No.”

“Dazai-kun. There’s no place for an omega here.”

The brunet bares his fangs, scoffing and turning around to finish buttoning his shirt. Stupid body. Stupid subgenders. Why did he have to be an omega? Being an omega is even more useless than Dazai thought it’d be. Not only does he have heats, but now he has to make this deal with Mori to stay in the mafia.

He should leave. Nothing has filled the emptiness he feels. Nothing has convinced him that life is worth living. If anything, it’s all getting worse. His family is dead. He’s an omega. He’s alone. At least, when his grandfather was alive, he had some family. At least he wasn’t alone, even if that meant being hurt.

Leaving would be easy. Dazai knows Mori’s tactics and the tricks the boss would use because he’s aware that the omega knows his tactics. He could disappear easily…

But what about Odasaku and Ango? They wouldn’t know where he went, and Dazai couldn’t contact them. It would put them in danger.

What about Chuuya? He wants to protect Chuuya from the parts of the mafia the redhead hasn’t been exposed to, and he won’t be able to do that if he runs. It’d probably get worse. Mori would punish Chuuya, and he would take it, given how loyal Chuuya is.

No, he can’t leave. He has people here. He’s going to have to agree to being Mori’s test subject.

“If I agree to let you do what you want, I can hide my subgender? And you won’t tell anyone?” Dazai raises an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly.

“Correct.”

He doesn’t want to get bonded or sold. He can’t run away. He’s stuck.

“Fine.”

“Perfect!” Mori claps, making Dazai jump a little with the sudden noise. He quickly puts on a mask and pretends everything is fine.

He is fine.

He’s not an omega who just had a heat and is still reeling from the aftershocks of it, making him overly sensitive to everything.

He’s not an omega who just had four of his most sensitive glands cut into “just to see what would happen.”

He’s not an omega who just made a deal that will probably destroy his friendship with Chuuya, but at least he will keep the redhead safe.

“Since your glands are covered, your scent shouldn’t linger. Move quickly, and you shouldn’t run into any trouble.” Mori is back at his equipment table, seemingly playing with the vials full of Dazai’s scent pheromones.

The brunet says nothing as he sluggishly forces his body to start walking, his nerves shot and achy and his mind tired and foggy. This is definitely worse than any of the sessions they’ve had. Even the surgeries hurt less than this.

“Oh, and Dazai-kun?” Mori’s voice filtering into his ears makes the omega’s heart stop. What else does he want?

“Happy birthday.”

Dazai grimaces. Oh. Yeah. He forgot about that minor detail: his birthday. The day he would have officially been a beta - or not. Mori didn’t hold up his side of the deal, which means Dazai was always going to present as an omega. He should have done the surgery himself instead of trusting Mori.

The brunet doesn’t speak, instead sluggishly leaving the medical room. The hallway to the main office is short, but Dazai’s body hurts and is slow. It feels like years before he’s finally back in the office. He stumbles as he walks, almost falling multiple times, but he keeps going.

When he leaves the office, he can act like he hasn’t just gotten sensitive parts of his body cut into. He doesn’t stumble as he passes the two guards outside Mori’s office, hoping they don’t notice his pain. Dazai is quick to halt, though, a particular and familiar rotten scent invading his nose. He squints, trying to place it.

Rotten fruit.
Vinegar.

A brief flashback to the alley invades his mind. The feeling of helplessness and pain. The scent of an alpha commanding and pinning him to a wall. He knew that had happened but almost forgot, his mind trying to suppress it.

Smirking, the omega quietly chuckles and keeps walking to the elevator, turning around as it closes to glimpse the two guards. One has dark brown hair, and the other has grey hair. While the dark brown-haired alpha watches Dazai leave, the grey alpha won’t look at him. Once the elevator doors close, Dazai grins, shooting a text off to Chuuya.

Dazai knows he needs to distance himself from Chuuya to protect him, but they’re still Double Black; they can still have some fun before that happens.

-------

Mori watches the bustling city of Yokohama from his office on the topmost floor of the Port Mafia building. It’s night. The moon is full. The weather is perfect. Everything is perfect. Mori grins. He turns, heading back towards his desk to the four vials that are lying there. Dazai’s pure pheromones. His pure omega pheromones.

Mori was getting a little worried. He had worked so hard to keep Dazai in the dark about his subgender; years upon years of manipulating him, distracting him, working him to the bone, preventing him from finding out that he’ll present as an omega. Dazai is a prodigy; if he had put his mind to it, he would’ve been able to figure it out, but he refused to acknowledge subgenders, working in Mori’s favor. The closest Dazai got to finding out was when Chuuya presented, and Mori had to lecture them. The young alpha asked so many questions, but Dazai never paid attention. His ignorance is probably the only reason he didn’t figure it out.

Dazai was getting really close to his 17th birthday without a subgender presentation, and while his pupil was ecstatic about it, Mori was concerned.

The mafia boss picks up his scalpel, poking it into the wood of his desk and spinning it as he takes one of the vials in hand.

Mori probably knows more about Dazai’s family than Dazai himself. The old mafia boss wanted to keep Dazai on a tight leash, refusing to inform the boy of his family and, therefore, confining him to knowledge that only he could provide.

Dazai knows that his family led the Port Mafia for generations. He knows his father had been in the mafia, and he knows that his father met his mother during a rut; she was assigned to him from the brothel. He knows that his grandfather disapproved of their relationship, which ended with them leaving the Port Mafia together.

Dazai doesn’t know that his parents were able to keep themselves and their eight children hidden from the mafia for years.

Dazai doesn’t know that when his family was eventually hunted down, his father and most of his siblings were killed. Dazai was young - probably around 9 or 10. He was found with his mother and one of his older sisters.

Dazai doesn’t know that his mother sacrificed herself to keep him alive, striking a deal with Mori before being executed.

Dazai doesn’t know that she also tried to apply that deal to his older sister.

Dazai believes that his parents gave him to the mafia. It’s what his grandfather wanted him to think, and the boy was too young to realize otherwise, especially when Mori kept up the lie, convincing Dazai that he didn’t have anyone.

Mori was able to persuade the old boss to keep Dazai alive. Dazai’s mother informed the doctor where she was from, knowing it could help keep her child alive. It was quite intriguing. She told him she’s from a strong alpha bloodline, and her family is wealthy and influential in the government.

The wealthy and influential part interested Mori; he could hold Dazai for ransom and gain some strong allies, but the wealthy alpha bloodlines fascinated Mori even more. Most children born in them end up being alphas - the desired subgender - however, a rare omega will present occasionally. Omegas from alpha bloodlines generally have alpha children, so they’re actually more sought after than people would think. It’s an interesting and rare quality to have.

Mori noticed in his research of the concept that the rich bloodlines typically force their omega and alpha children to mate, keeping the traits within the wealthy and making it so their families continue having strong alpha genes… until Tane Tsushima. Of course, other children probably ran away from their strict and demanding alpha families, but Dazai’s mother left her family and ended up here. She also mated with another alpha bloodline.

Mori doesn’t care too much about the whole pure alpha bloodline nonsense. Alphas are alphas. They aren’t new or interesting. But omegas from alpha bloodlines are exciting. They’re different. They have alpha traits. He’s read that their instincts are slightly different, that some might be more feral, while others don’t really have heats. Mori has many questions. They’re fascinating.

Tane’s seven children, excluding Dazai, presented as alphas. That proved her claim, along with looking into the Tsushima name, but the old boss had already killed his son, and most of his grandchildren, and the old man wasn’t able to have more children either. Finding out that the woman his son ran off with wasn’t just a random whore from the brothel gave the old boss a new pep in his step. He had one of the children remaining. The mafia bloodline wasn’t lost.

Being from two alpha families, Dazai was almost guaranteed to present as either an alpha or an omega. His grandfather wanted him to present as an alpha, keeping up the front of the mafia family being alphas; however, he was fine if Dazai presented as an omega since he could also continue the mafia bloodline that way.

Dazai had other ideas.

Even as a child, Dazai was smart. He eventually figured out a vague idea of what his grandfather had planned for him if he presented - despite not knowing much about his heritage - and decided to plan against it. Mori was required to do checkups on him when he started trying to kill himself, making sure that despite his frequent suicide attempts, he was healthy. During one of those checkups, Dazai proposed a deal to Mori, which gave the alpha déjà vu of Tane. Dazai knew about Mori’s desire to be the boss; he had been watching. He was also aware of his grandfather’s deteriorating mental state. The boy said he was willing to witness his grandfather “succumbing” to his illness and naming Mori as the next boss if the alpha made him a beta. His testimony would be strong; he’s the heir of the mafia.

So Mori agreed to it.

The mafia boss sets his scalpel down, resting his chin on his clasped hands, glancing at Dazai’s medical record that’s on the table. It has his entire medical history - save for anything that may have happened before the mafia got their hands on him. Dazai isn’t very forthcoming with the information - Mori has a theory that the teen doesn’t remember it very well - so as a result, it’s a half-finished file. The boy’s family lines are there; Mori researched Tane’s line and the mafia bloodline.

When Mori put Dazai under for their agreed-upon surgery, fully intending to fulfill his side of the deal, he found developing scent glands and decided to check. If Dazai’s body had started developing omega organs, it would change things. If Dazai didn’t want to be an alpha, Mori didn’t really care, but if he’s an omega… Mori had some curiosities. What makes an omega from a primarily alpha line different? Why could Tane have so many alpha children while other omegas have trouble having at least one? Luck? Genetics? What about the genetics made them different? The alpha had heard once that omega commands were a thing, but is it true? Tane was dead, and Dazai was the only surviving child, so he needed Dazai to be an omega; Dazai would be the only way he could find the answers to his questions.

So when he did find developing omega organs, he stitched Dazai up and told the boy he made him a beta.

And Dazai believed him, too focused on the idea of not wanting to have a subgender to consider that his mentor might be lying to him. Mori is aware that Dazai most likely knew, but he didn’t want to believe it. The alpha has noticed that little coping mechanism of his; he should probably do something about it.

So life went on.

Mori killed Dazai’s grandfather, became boss, and eventually was able to convince Dazai to officially join the mafia using Chuuya. Chuuya was like a breath of fresh air, apparently helping Dazai decide to try. Mori had no idea that the two would hate each other so much - though he’s interested in the fascination Dazai has with Chuuya that isn’t reciprocated - and found it even more entertaining to find out how well they worked together, considering how different they are apart. Separately, Dazai is cold and angry; no one likes working with him, and someone always ends up dead. Chuuya is cooperative and dependable; grunts like working with him, and the boy tends to try his absolute best to make sure no one dies. They are complete opposites. And yet, they work so well together.

When Chuuya presented, Mori thought that maybe Dazai would soon. The two were getting closer; he could see that much, but it seemed to be more of a forced relationship as Double Black than anything else. They fought constantly, and the mafia boss’ spies never reported that they were hanging out outside of work, so Mori stopped wondering if Chuuya’s presentation would spark Dazai’s.

He’s been patiently waiting for Dazai to present. Six months after Dazai turned 16 and he still hadn’t presented, the mafia boss started worrying. Why was Dazai taking so long to present? Was it because of the environment? Did Dazai’s frequent attempts on his life make it so his body couldn’t present? Did Dazai take something without telling Mori?

Mori was doing periodic checks, forcing sedatives into the boy, and checking on his developing omega organs and glands. He should’ve been presenting. Was it because of the surgeries? He never touched anything during those times; he simply opened the boy up.

He was worried his hard work would go to waste.

Dazai not coming into work was a frequent occurrence, but Dazai missing sessions was not. So when Dazai didn’t come to Mori’s office for their session days before his 17th birthday and wasn’t answering his phone, Mori knew. He quickly assigned a mission to Double Black, testing Dazai, and when Chuuya was the only one to report, it confirmed his suspicions. Dazai was in heat.

Or he was dead, but the little omega never seems to be able to succeed in that.

The alpha who found Dazai, Mori’s own personal guard, confirmed Mori's thoughts. It was an off-chance encounter, Tamaki running into Dazai by accident after leaving a bar. The boy was passed out in an alley, and the other alpha had instantly called Mori. The mafia boss had contemplated having the man bring Dazai to him, but he was curious. What would Dazai do? How much control did Dazai have right now?

So he told his guard to assault the omega. An omega in heat shouldn’t have been out alone anyway; it was Dazai’s fault.

The grunt ended up reporting that Dazai got away, fighting back, which… intrigued Mori even more. The omega was lucid enough to defend himself? To fight off his instinctual urges? Fascinating.

Mori hums, opening one of the vials to inhale Dazai’s pure omega pheromone. Dazai blacking out during the procedure wasn’t unexpected; glands are sensitive, after all, but his scent becoming and staying acidic even after he passed out was unexpected. Mori’s own alpha instincts were starting to stir, something that rarely, if ever, happens. Distressed omega is always the most challenging smell to ignore, and Dazai’s seems to be particularly strong. He’ll have to train Dazai to control his scent despite the teen’s desire to stay on blockers and suppressants. He’ll let the boy remain on the suppressants for now, but eventually, he’ll prescribe a different suppressant to the little omega, forcing him into a heat. Dazai would most likely never let Mori have slick, but a heat would provide the perfect excuse. Plus, he wants to study the boy during his heat. He’s heard they’re different. He wants to test it.

Mori closes the vial, collecting all four in his hand.

His new deal with the little omega is perfect. If Dazai picked either option, Mori would win. If Dazai didn’t agree to let Mori use him, the mafia boss wouldn’t get rid of him. He’s a valuable asset with his nullifying ability and mind. It would not have been in Mori’s best interest to demote him, but the little omega didn’t know that. Dazai just came out of a heat. He’s not thinking clearly. He probably didn’t consider that demoting and forcing him to get bonded wouldn’t have been the most logical choice. He’s too focused on not wanting to be an omega and trying to control himself. His heat left his emotions heightened. His emotions were entirely in control, which is what Mori was hoping for. Dazai will let Mori do as he pleases because he doesn’t want to be bonded against his will - the only natural reaction of a defiant omega.

If Dazai had chosen to get demoted and bonded, Mori would have just bonded with him or forced Chuuya to. In the best-case scenario, he would bond Dazai so the omega is bound to him and, therefore, the mafia, but he’s pretty sure Dazai’s omega would reject him. It’s not something he can force, and while his bite might have been accepted at one point, with Dazai’s trust in him faltering, Mori doubts his body would accept the alpha now, bitter little omega.

Chuuya would’ve been the better option, which would’ve worked in Mori’s favor. The alpha has grown blindly loyal to Mori and the Port Mafia, so, therefore, Dazai would still be bound to Mori and the mafia. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best he would’ve gotten, considering who he’s dealing with.

Either way, Dazai chose the better option, and Mori gets to play around with a willing test subject.

He’ll have to keep watch of Dazai and Chuuya’s relationship, though. The mafia boss still has no proof that Chuuya helped Dazai with his heat; just Chuuya’s odd phone call and Dazai still being alive. Dazai being alive doesn’t entirely mean that Chuuya helped him, though. Isn’t the little omega friends with some lower-level grunts?

Oda Sakunosuke?

Sakaguchi Ango?

One of them might have helped Dazai through it. Tamaki did report that there was another alpha’s scent on Dazai, one who had apparently bit one of the little omega’s glands. He couldn’t place the scent, but he did mention it was familiar. Sakunosuke is an alpha, right? To Mori, that makes more sense than Chuuya, considering every time the two teens are together, they almost blow Yokohama up. There’s a very low chance that Chuuya would’ve helped Dazai and scented him.

So it’s probably that grunt who doesn’t kill. Mori really needs to do something about him. He might give the little omega ideas. Mori will have to get the answer out of Dazai. Usually, sessions do well with getting that kind of information out of the boy.

Mori smiles menacingly, glee filling his mind and rushing through his veins at the thought of a session. He stares at the pure pheromones in his hand, clutching them tightly.

A tight leash.
Dazai’s always been on a tight leash.
It’s not changing now.

-------

Tamaki Eiji didn’t want to work for the Port Mafia. He just wanted a standard no-risk office job, mindlessly clicking through emails, yelling at incompetent coworkers, and typical 9-5 hours. Yet here he is, a personal guard for the mafia boss, Mori Ougai. He certainly wasn’t expecting to climb up to where he is in such a short amount of time either, his expert sniping skills catching the boss's attention (he’s not even an expert sniper, just lucky). He wasn’t expecting the boss to ask for him to join his guard personally. Wasn’t expecting to accept. Wasn’t expecting to like it.

He also wasn’t expecting to get drunk a few nights ago when he and some friends went out for a birthday party. He definitely wasn’t expecting to run into one of the boss’ executives passed out in an alley and very much in heat.

Dazai Osamu. The Demon Prodigy. He’s heard plenty about the kid; sees him around from time to time. Tamaki had assumed he was a beta with his scentlessness and being on the older side of presenting, but there he was, curled up on the ground in visible distress and pain. Even in his drunken state, Tamaki instantly called the boss, having to hold his nose in the process and probably sounding fucking stupid as he told Mori that Dazai was in heat and in a random alley in the middle of the city.

Mori didn’t seem all that phased, asking simple questions. What alley? Is he alone? Is he lucid? Is he wounded or in a state that seemed like he was assaulted? What does he smell like? Tamaki answered every question the boss asked, except the one about his smell, because the alpha was concerned that if he inhaled the boy’s scent, he would do some… things. He figured assaulting an executive of the Port Mafia would not go well for him, even if that executive is an omega.

So when the boss told him to assault the executive, the alpha had to pause.

Tamaki wouldn’t say he’s a horrible person. Sure, he works for the mafia, protects one of the most dangerous men in the country, and kills people from time to time, but he’s not a rapist. He didn’t want to hurt the kid… but when the boss insisted, saying it was Dazai’s punishment for being stupid, what can a man do? An omega in heat, ripe for the taking. Once Tamaki really got a whiff of the executive’s scent, he was done for. He had no issues with his orders; every instinct in his body wanted to fuck the distressed omega. His scent was so… inviting.

It’s only instincts, Tamaki told himself as he forced a command on the kid and pinned him to a wall, the inviting and welcoming heat scent growing stronger as he stimulated Dazai’s scent glands. Dazai was growling at him, trying his best to fight the commands and his own instincts, but at the end of the day, he’s an omega. Weak and submissive. Tamaki just wanted to take and take and take.

He did hesitate though for a second though, especially right after the bitch bit him. Dazai didn’t smell like just an omega. There was an alpha scent surrounding him. One that was familiar and that he couldn’t place his finger on in his drunken state. It gave him a pause, his instincts growing alarmed.

The man also seemed a lot more present than most in-heat omegas Tamaki has been around.

Dazai got away, though, kicking Tamaki’s knees out and sprinting. The alpha considered following the teen, but the fact that Dazai was lucid enough to fight off an alpha made him think. He would be hard to handle, and… what if he remembers? Omegas in heat hardly ever remember their heats, and even the boss told him he’d be fine when he reported the next day, but the thought still lingered despite the reassurance.

The boss wouldn’t lie to him, though… right?

Tamaki didn’t follow Dazai that night, slowly returning home in a depressed haze.

The young executive was back at work a few days later. His sweet scent that Tamaki vaguely remembers was nonexistent, though, and no one was talking about Dazai’s status as an omega despite Tamaki expecting them to. In the mafia, alphas are favored. An alpha bloodline ran the mafia until Mori-sama took over, and even still, there are hardly any omegas. Tamaki assumed Dazai would be talked about - of course, no one would do anything as the kid is an executive, and being an omega doesn’t really change the fact that everyone is scared of him… but no one seems to know. There’s no rumors, no whispering, no talking. It’s quiet.

The fear from before ended up returning, and instead of making Tamaki feel superior to others since he knows the young executive’s subgender, he’s on edge. Dazai doesn’t want people to know; that much is obvious. Why else would no one know? But Tamaki knows, and as each day passed, worry gnawed at Tamaki’s mind - even if he didn’t see Dazai the entire day. Dazai is too smart. There’s a low chance he forgot. What if he can smell Tamaki? But wait, no, the boy is on suppressants. He has to be. He couldn’t get rid of his scent so quickly… right? The suppressants would make it hard for the omega to catch Tamaki’s scent. He probably doesn’t know yet.

Yet.

Yet.

Yet.

Tamaki decided to go on scent blockers a couple of days after Dazai came back, the fear eating him alive. No one seemed to notice, and his mind relaxed, the fear that the Demon Prodigy would figure him out waning a little.

Until he walks into his apartment, and the fucking kid is lounging at his kitchen table, looking bored and uninterested. Tamaki will forever refuse to acknowledge the high-pitched yelp that came out of his mouth the second he noticed the boy, his body instantly freezing. Dazai doesn’t flinch in the slightest, instantly grinning as if he’s greeting an old friend. He’s not wearing scent blockers like he has been at work, his scent flowing around them freely. It’s a similar scent to that night, whiskey and leather; however, the sweeter scent of vanilla isn’t as present anymore. It’s not distressed either, more neutral and calm. Omega scents usually turn Tamaki on, but Dazai’s scent is striking fear into his heart. Why is Dazai letting him smell his scent? Tamaki can only hold his breath as Dazai opens his mouth to speak.

“Tamaki! I’ve been waiting!” The executive stands, and Tamaki instinctively takes a step back. There is maliciousness in Dazai’s expression despite the smile the boy has plastered there. His one visible eye looks like a bottomless pit of an endless void. He wants to cause pain. He looks mad. He’s mad at Tamaki.

“D - Dazai-sama. I wasn’t… expecting you,” Tamaki stutters, his throat tightening. He tries to bow to show respect, but his body won’t move. He’s completely frozen in the presence of this omega. Tamaki had no idea that an omega could strike fear like this just by being in the same room and flaunting his scent. Dazai hasn’t even done anything. Maybe it’s the fact that Tamaki could smell the kid’s emotions so well during his heat; it’s unsettling that he can’t smell anything except completely relaxed calmness.

“Oh, come now. I doubt you weren’t expecting me at all,” the boy grins, his happy smile not matching the murder in his eye. “You had to have known I’d figure it out. How's the bite? Your blood tastes horrible, by the way.”

Tamaki hesitates, trying to take another step back.

“Come onnn. We’re talking! Stop trying to back uppp,” Dazai whines, continuing to lean on Tamaki’s kitchen table like he knows the alpha can’t get anywhere. “What do you know, Tamaki?”

The guard freezes, stopping midway through taking another step back. “What- what do you mean?”

“You smelled the alpha. Did you figure out who?” Dazai’s tone is ice cold, utterly different from his earlier whining. Tamaki’s answer matters to him. It’s life or death… and Tamaki is pretty sure no matter what, it’s death. Dazai is going to kill him. Dazai’s tone does another 180, completely changing back to whining. “Don’t go spacing out on me. I don’t have all day~”

Tamaki's eyes snap to meet the omega’s. He does know. He does know the scent that he could smell on Dazai that night. It took him a little bit, and honestly, his first instinct was to tell the boss, but… if he’s being honest… he’s more scared of that other alpha than of the Port Mafia boss. It was one of the people he least expected to be helping the kid: his partner. Nakahara Chuuya.

Tamaki figured it out only because of how prominent the scent was. Nakahara’s alpha scent is strong; Tamaki noticed it every time the kid met with Mori. His scent always lingered. Nakahara’s scent completely engulfed the omega. He was thoroughly scented, which is probably why he was left alone up until Tamaki found him. Tamaki was just stupid enough to do something.

“I haven’t told anyone,” Tamaki quickly says, waving his hands in submission. “I swear. I’ll never tell anyone. Please.”

“Tell me~” Dazai states, again, his voice casual, but there’s an edge to it that Tamaki knows means that the executive is losing his patience.

“Nakahara-san,” the alpha whispers. His legs are starting to shake against his will.

The omega sighs, straightening to walk over to Tamaki. The alpha cowers, forcing his head into a bow to try and appease the angry omega. He’s never felt like this with an omega. Omegas don’t strike fear. They’re inferior. And yet here Tamaki is, submitting to one. One whose scent is clouding Tamaki’s mind and body - not in a good way. It’s whiskey and leather, but not. Metalish. No vanilla. Kind of like blood, but with a sweeter note. Either way, his instincts are telling him not to piss this man off more. They’re screaming at him.

Despite being an omega, Dazai has the presence of an alpha. A strong alpha with so much blood on his hands that he could fill an ocean with it.

“Dazai-san, I-”

“No, no, no,” Dazai holds up his hand to stop the apologies. “I don’t want to hear it. I understand. It was a heat. You couldn’t control yourself. I am quite wonderful, aren’t I?”

Tamaki knows gaslighting when he hears it, but he finds himself nodding along with the executive.

“Hmm, yes? I thought so~” Dazai grins. “I mean, can I really blame you? We’re all just subjected to our instinctual desires. Prey in the face of them? You were just prey to your instincts? Did you tell the boss, then? About the scent?”

Tamaki nods, agreeing to Dazai’s earlier statement, but then aggressively starts shaking his head no, disagreeing with the last statement. When they talked, Tamaki didn’t tell the boss about Nakahara’s scent being on Dazai. He knew there would be problems, and the boss didn’t seem to care all that much. He thinks he would rather die by a gun than be crushed by gravity… at least he has a chance to survive being shot.

“Are you sure? You better not be lying to me~” The omega’s tone is cold again, making Tamaki shiver. He aggressively nods, praying and hoping the executive believes him. Dazai is slowly stepping closer, his scent getting stronger, whiskey, leather, burning wood, wine… wait…

The alpha’s eyes widen, his brain finally registering the other scent.

“Do you smell him now?” Dazai whispers but slowly returns to a normal calm level the more he speaks. “He’s a little angry. I told him to stay put-” The omega emphasizes the word in a way that tells the mafia guard that he’s not exactly only talking to him anymore. “-but he’s terrible at obeying orders and probably thinks I’m taking a while. I should really get him trained.”

“I am not your dog,” another voice joins in from behind Tamaki, and the alpha lets out a weak sound of fear, flinching. “You’re just taking too long. I was getting bored.”

“Come on, Chuuyaaaa. He was so close to having a heart attack! Maybe he would have died! I’ve always wanted to kill someone with just my wonderful presence.” The tone shift from calm and collected to whiney and childish almost gives Tamaki whiplash. Dazai is looking behind Tamaki towards the front door, which the guard is now realizing he left open.

“He would not have died from a heart attack,” Nakahara growls, his scent getting stronger as his voice gets closer. “And you don’t have a ‘wonderful presence.’ You were just babbling about scents and instincts and-”

“Well, I think he definitely could have died from a heart attack, but now we’re never gonna know,” the executive interrupts, squinting at the other boy.

Nakahara sighs. “You’re an idiot.”

“That’s rude. I think I’m nothing short of a genius.”

“And that’s why you’re an idiot.”

The two boys keep bickering, and Tamaki slowly starts moving towards his kitchen, where his knives are. It’s stupid, he knows, but he feels exposed and vulnerable. He doesn’t even know where Nakahara is; he just hears his voice from behind.

He needs something.

Anything.

“Chibi’s brain is too small inside his big head! You just have empty space for a brain.” Dazai retorts.

“BIG HEAD? I do not have a big head,” Nakahara hisses back.

“But you do! Honestly, it’s too big; doesn’t fit your small body. You’re not symmetrical.”

“Symmetrical? Is that even the right word?”

“Of course it is! Because I am a genius.”

“I BEG TO DIFFER!”

Dazai and Nakahara don’t seem to notice Tamaki moving. He reaches his drawers.

“Why are you complaining? You asked me to be here.”

“Chuuya should leave! He’s not needed anymore.”

“Like hell. And leave you with an alpha who can command you?”

“I don’t need your protection.” Dazai’s tone is sharp, different from the earlier teasing tone. Tamaki freezes, his instincts sending out alerts in his brain.

Nakahara inhales sharply. “Okay, I wasn’t saying that, and you know it.”

Dazai only lets out a grunt.

“Would you kill the asshole already? We’ve been here long enough,” Nakahara grumbles. Tamaki’s eyes widen, and he spins around, facing the two teens, the infamous Double Black, who are both watching him with amused expressions, though Nakahara looks angrier than Dazai.

The omega has a gun, and he’s pointing it lazily at Tamaki, who sees his life flash before his eyes, even before the trigger is pulled. Dazai waits, watching the alpha, who watches him, pleading. He knows voicing his apologies wouldn’t work with the boy. They never usually do. Dazai is ruthless. Dazai is soulless. Dazai is not human. He doesn’t feel bad taking the life of another person.

Nakahara isn’t much better, rolling his eyes as Dazai stares at Tamaki.

“Would you just-”

The trigger is pulled. A bullet goes through Tamaki’s head, perfectly aimed in the middle of his forehead.

Yeah, he really shouldn’t have taken that mafia job.

-------

“What about the body?” Chuuya asks, closing the front door of the guard’s apartment.

“Someone will find it,” Dazai replies, waving his hand dismissively. “Or not. It’s not really my problem.”

“Dazai-”

“What?”

“Why are you not wearing your scent blockers? What if he lived or got away?”

“He wasn’t going to get away-”

“Maybe not, but what if he did? If you’re trying to hide your subgender, you're doing a shit job!” Chuuya snaps.

Dazai rolls his eyes. Yes. He’s not wearing scent blockers. He’s aware. Mori wanted more pure pheromones earlier today, and it hurts to put scent blockers back on after one of those sessions, so the omega had hoped his bandages would suppress his scent for the rest of the day. Guess not.

“I’ll put some more on tomorrow. I want to go to Chuuya’s apartment.”

“You mean you want your nest.”

“Nope! What’s a nest? I don’t have a nest!” Dazai skips down the steps.

Tamaki’s apartment is on the third floor of a random complex in the middle of mafia territory. It was easy to find - only taking Dazai a few hours of research, though it still took a couple of days to do anything about it. The brunet needed time to… regain energy. Dazai is blaming his heat. Why else would he suddenly lose the energy to do anything? The omega was just lying in his container the entire time, passed out. It felt even worse than his heat. He was groggy and exhausted. When Chuuya said he might be tired the next few days after his heat, the omega wasn’t expecting that.

Eventually, he got some energy back and sent Chuuya to scope the place, ensuring none of Mori’s spies were watching. Chuuya doesn’t know that’s what he was doing, but Dazai digresses. Chuuya was back up in case this alpha tried to use commands. Dazai couldn’t tell him that this man was one of Mori’s personal guards. The redhead would know too much then. He would know that the alpha who tried to fuck him was one of Mori’s people, meaning Mori told them to, and that means the boss knows that Dazai is an omega. That puts Chuuya at risk. It’s better if he doesn’t know.

“If you don’t have a nest, then you don’t mind if I remake my bed?”

“Are you just going to threaten my nest whenever you don’t get your way?” Dazai grumbles.

“I’m not threatening it-”

“Then what do you call it?”

“Kindly… hostage… situation…”

Dazai turns to face the redhead, squinting. “You’re… kindly keeping my nest as a hostage?”

“Yes.”

“Chibiiiii,” the omega pouts. “That’s mean.”

“You’re the one who said you ‘don’t have a nest.’” Chuuya shrugs. “It’s not my fault you won’t give your nest the attention it deserves.”

Dazai groans, turning back around to walk towards Chuuya’s stupid motorcycle. He told the idiot to bring his car, but the alpha didn’t listen, showing up at Dazai’s container with his pink motorcycle.

“It’s a nest. It’ll live.”

“You’re gonna hurt its feelings.” Dazai can hear the smirk in Chuuya’s voice.

“The horror,” the brunet drawls.

“Ass,” Chuuya mutters, sliding onto his motorcycle. Dazai crawls on behind him, wrapping himself around the alpha’s body like a koala before Chuuya can protest. Chuuya doesn’t say anything; his scent shifts to a more intense wine scent that Dazai is slowly learning means Chuuya is content.

The alpha’s scent had been smokey most of their trip. The alpha hadn’t wanted to help Dazai confront the man who tried to fuck him and refused to help Dazai unless the omega told him who they were going after, so the brunet told him a half-truth: this was the guy who tried to assault him and Dazai just so happened to see him at a bar. It was dumb luck.

Obviously, Chuuya didn’t believe him, but the omega convinced him after mentioning that the alpha commanded him. Dazai still refuses to tell Chuuya precisely what happened, and he honestly doesn’t really feel like much happened anyway. He was just scented by someone he didn’t know.

The banter is fun, though. Familiar.

Dazai hums, burrowing into Chuuya’s shoulder blades, inhaling the alpha’s scent. His body hurts, his head hurts, and his instincts are still very prominent. They are definitely catering to the alpha, but he can handle them. Dazai won’t fall prey to his instincts like that stupid grunt did. He will control them. He will master them. Maybe he can figure out how to manipulate them.

His deal with Mori will keep Chuuya safe for the time being. The alpha doesn’t need to know what’s going on, and as long as that continues, he’ll be safe. Mori won’t be interested in him. Dazai will have to distance himself. Chuuya tends to start prying when he realizes something is happening, but it’ll be okay; Dazai has distanced himself before. He can do it again.

But that’s something for the future. Right now, Dazai is okay with just inhaling the alpha’s scent as they ride on Chuuya’s pink motorcycle, heading back to the apartment to Dazai’s nest, where they will cuddle and pretend nothing else matters.

They don’t work for the mafia.
They didn’t just murder someone.
They don’t have an undercover mission tomorrow requiring them to get up at an ungodly hour.
There’s nothing to worry about.

Dazai didn’t just sell his body to Mori to protect Chuuya or experience his first heat, which he had convinced himself wouldn’t happen. He didn’t just unintentionally go through most of his trauma because his emotions were way more intense than usual, and now Chuuya knows about Dazai’s family and technical mafia status.

No. In Dazai’s nest, they can pretend it’s just them and the nest with nothing and no one else. At least, that’s what Dazai does. Dazai likes to pretend it’s just them. He’s unsure what Chuuya does, but the alpha doesn’t complain.

Once they get up tomorrow, they’ll return to pretending their cuddling didn’t happen. It’ll be fine.
Everything will be fine.

After all, Dazai has a plan.