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Mika walks into the Daishou household with her own keys, and immediately she feels the familiar scent of pine and sandalwood, settled heavily in the air of the apartment. She smiles as she’s enveloped by the scent, and she reaches up for the scent patch on her neck to let her own scent loose as well. It’s not nearly as strong as Suguru’s right now when he’s right on the edge of going into heat, but she knows he will appreciate being able to smell her nevertheless.She pushes the door shut with her leg while she puts the patch in the pocket of her jacket, and then she drops her keys in the plastic bowl by the door that is used to store everyone’s house keys. There used to be a porcelain one in its place, until a few months ago when Suguru was hosting a team bonding night here, and Kuguri managed to trip over it the moment he stepped into the apartment and shattered it to such tiny pieces that there was no way of salvaging it.“Hello,” she greets in a singing voice, even though it’s not likely that she’ll get an answer. The apartment is completely empty of its residents, except for Suguru, and while her boyfriend is always there to welcome her with a warm hug whenever she comes over, she doesn’t expect him to keep up with the habit right now. In fact, it’s better this way. She’s been here enough times that she knows her way around the house, and after having spent an immeasurable number of days within the walls of this apartment in the past three years, she’s more than comfortable to make herself at home – after all, this place is truly like a second home to her. And while it is always lovely to arrive here and immediately be embraced by the boy she loves so much, she’d much prefer Suguru to stay in bed and rest. She drops her school bag to the ground and kicks her shoes off. She puts them carefully next to Suguru’s, and it’s weird to see only their footwear on the rack – it’s not often that it’s only them at home. Usually, even if his parents are working or are otherwise busy, Suguru’s brother is almost always at home, so it’s not a common occurrence that they have complete peace here. If they need it to be just the two of them, they’re more likely to use Mika’s place, as her parents often work until the late afternoon hours, and she doesn’t have any siblings to worry about when they’re doing… stuff.
(Since when do I censor the word “sex” in my head? It’s not like I have to worry about Rin overhearing me.)
But this weekend is one of those rare times when the house is only theirs to use. Suguru’s parents and his brother are currently staying in South Korea, visiting the eldest Daishou sibling in her college apartment. And as Mika remembers the trip, she’s also reminded of why Suguru isn’t in Seoul with his family, having the time of his life with Asuke who he hasn’t seen in months and misses so dearly. She quickly sheds down her coat and hangs it on her hanger, then she hastily picks up her bag and turns around to make her way down the hallway, to Suguru’s bedroom. But just as she steps out of the genkan, Suguru’s door opens wide and he emerges from his room. He leans on the doorframe, and it seems like he’s struggling with standing on his legs, but as he sees Mika, a soft, fond smile forms on his lips. “Hi,” he says slightly panting. “Didn’t know you were coming over.”Mika rolls her eyes as she makes her way towards her boyfriend. She’s not happy to see him on his feet, but the fact that he’s wearing clothes and he was able to even get out of his bed fills Mika with relief. She knew he hadn't yet hit his heat the moment she stepped into the apartment, but it’s still great to be reassured of it. She wants to be by his side when he eventually goes into heat, and she would’ve hated it if she had missed its start because she was in school.“Don’t be stupid, Suguru,” she scolds him playfully. “I wanted to come immediately as you texted, but I couldn’t.” She’s pulled into a hug as she reaches her boyfriend, and right when she first touches his skin, she notices that his body heat is a lot higher than it usually is – undoubtedly because of the fever he’s running so close to his heat. “I already skipped a day this semester, my mom would kill me if I skipped another.”Suguru quietly chuckles. “I’m a bad influence on you,” he says, but there’s no sorry in his voice. She shrugs, as much as he can while still hugging Suguru. “It wasn’t our fault that the match was held in school time.” She pulls away from her boyfriend, just a bit to look up into his eyes. She sneaks a hand up to his forehead to check his temperature, and Suguru seems to melt at the coolness of her fingers. “You’re burning up,” she says quietly, even if it’s unnecessary to point out something that Suguru feels even more than she does.He carelessly shrugs. “It’s not that bad yet.”“Did you check it?”“Mhm. It was 39 degrees not long ago.”Mika frowns. While that high of a fever is quite bad when it comes to normal circumstances, she knows that it’s on the lower end of the scale of where Suguru’s temperature usually stays for the majority of his heat. Mika hates it, even if she knows it’s only natural. It’s like bleeding during her period – inevitable, and quite worrisome if it doesn’t happen. But that doesn’t mean that she’s fond of the idea of her boyfriend’s fever stagnating around 42 degrees for days before they can start pulling it down. Until then, there’s nothing for her to do but have the medicine ready in the drawer of the bedside table, have ice cold water at hand at all times, scent his boyfriend while cuddling for comfort, run the fan on the highest setting and keep changing wet clothes on his forehead and wrists to keep him as cool as possible. And still, it’s not enough – there’s no external solution good enough to protect him against his own body, but it’s better than to do nothing. “Why don’t you go back to bed?” She lifts herself up to her tiptoes for a quick kiss. Suguru’s lips are just as warm as the rest of his body, and Mika hates that it’s just going to get worse from now on. “I’ll make us something to eat.”Suguru shakes his head. “I ordered takeout,” he says. “Should be here soon.”“You ordered takeout? Why?”“Well, because I didn’t know you were coming over,” he explains, while playing with a strand of her hair fallen on her shoulder. “And it’s not like my parents can make me food, and I wasn’t gonna try and cook something, either.” His face scrunches, probably recalling the last time he tried to prepare food alone in the middle of his preheat, how he crumbled in pain while he was roasting chicken in a pan. The burning meat was the least of his worries when the whole stove was almost caught on fire, and he was too weak to reach up to turn it off. Mika’s still scared to consider what would’ve happened if she had arrived only a few minutes later. She’s certainly glad that Suguru decided to have something delivered this time and didn’t try his luck in the kitchen again – she doesn’t want another accident like that. “What did you get?” “Rice and fries.”Mika raises her eyebrows. “Rice and fries?”“Listen,” he starts defensively, and his exasperated tone makes Mika chuckle. “I only wanted rice, but they have some anniversary thing going on, so they offered a free serving of fries above a certain prize, so I also got a slice of strawberry cheesecake to reach the limit.” He frowns. “But the thought of it kinda makes me wanna throw up now, so you can have it if you want.” Mika’s not surprised. Suguru tends to lose more of his appetite the closer he gets to his heat, and there’s only certain foods he’s willing to eat. His brother calls him picky, but really it’s just the heat his body produces that overwhelms him so much that he can’t get anything too heavy down on his throat no matter how hard he tries. During his actual heat, it’s only plain rice that Mika can convince him of having a few mouthfuls of, and even that’s a miracle.She reaches up to swipe some loose hairs out of Suguru’s forehead – they’re wet from sweat and they stick to his reddened, feverish skin. “The fries or the cheesecake?”“Both,” Suguru says, and his frown deepens even more. “Fuck, if I knew you were coming over I would’ve gotten you some actual food. The fridge is practically empty.”Mika presses another kiss on his lips. “It’s fine. I had lunch at school, I’m not hungry. I’ll just order something later. And I can always call my mom to get us some groceries and bring them here.”Suguru nods. “Okay, but I’m paying for it.”“For what?”“For your dinner and the groceries.”“I can pay for my dinner,” Mika counters. “But if you want, we can split the groceries.”Suguru remains quiet for a second, contemplating Mika’s offer, and then he says, with finality in his voice, “We can split the groceries,” he agrees, “but I want to pay for your dinner.”Mika rolls her eyes again. “Suguru…,” she says, dragging out the last syllable of his name. “I can-“Uh-uh.” He puts his index finger to her mouth, in a shh movement. “You’re staying because of me. The least I can do is pay for your dinner.”Mika really wants to argue – Suguru is acting like it’s some kind of chore for Mika to spend his heat with him even though it couldn’t be further from the truth. He can’t seem to understand that she’s here because she wants to be here, because it makes her happy that he trusts her enough to share his most vulnerable moments with her, because there’s nothing in this world that she would rather do than take care of him when he needs all the love and support he can get. Just like how Suguru shows up unannounced every single months when she’s on her period, carrying a whole package of her preferred brand and type of pads, several bars of her favorite chocolates, the heating pads she somehow always leaves in his room, medication for her cramps and a whole list of cheesy, disgusting, mindless rom-coms to watch to distract her from the pain, she will always refuse to leave his side when he’s in heat. This comfort they’re able to provide for each other is the very foundation of their relationship, an unspoken, but unbreakable promise to always be there for each other, no matter what. And for that reason, Mika wants to tell Suguru to shut the fuck up and stop thinking that it’s a burden for her to stay with him for a few days to help him through the worst of his heat. But she won’t – she doesn’t want to stress him out even more, not when she’s perfectly aware of how stressful this whole period is for him. Nevertheless, she makes a mental note for herself – once his heat is over, they will have to talk about this. She’ll beat sense into him, if necessary. (Beat into him with kisses, that is. A lot of them.)For now, she just takes a deep breath. She shakes her head but smiles while doing so, and says, “Fine.” Suguru’s victorious smirk makes her roll her eyes, albeit fondly. “Will you go back to bed now?”Suguru pouts and drops his head on Mika’s shoulder. She instinctively raises her hands and buries her fingers in his hair, running them through his locks in a soothing way. He loves when she does this – she knows he would never admit to it out loud, but he can’t deny how his body melts at her touch, every single time. “I wasn’t really in bed to begin with,” he confesses sheepishly. Mika’s hand stops. “You what? Why?”“I promised Coach I would review the practice plans for the next month before tomorrow,” he murmurs. “But it’s really hard to focus with a fever so it’s taking a lot longer than it should.”She sighs. Of course, he would find something to busy himself with when he should be doing nothing but curling up in his bed and resting. The upcoming weekend is, no doubt, going to be a hell of an experience for him, so he really would be doing himself a favor if he just dropped everything and focused on more important things, like his nest or drinking enough water.He does this every single time – he pushes himself to be productive until he can’t physically do anything anymore and then when his heat finally hits, he can barely make his way to his bed without collapsing from exhaustion and pain. For someone who presented years ago, has been dealing with heats since he was thirteen, he’s really horrible at understanding his own body’s signs and listening to it when it says that it’s time to take a step back and take it easy. And in Mika’s humble, humble opinion, a fever of 39 degrees is a clear warning to take a step back and take it easy. “Suguru,” she starts, but she’s immediately interrupted.“I know, I know, but I have to finish it,” he insists. “I can’t ask Takachiho to do it because he’s stupid , and Numai is too busy feeling sorry for himself to care about whether the plan is good for the rest of us or no. If I don’t do it, nobody will.”“And can’t it wait until your heat is over?”Suguru shakes his head and as he exhales, his breath tickles Mika’s skin. “No. We're supposed to start working with this plan next week, and we really can’t afford to slack off right now. The tournament is right up in our asses.”That’s true. After the somewhat disappointing finish of Inter High, when they lost their semi-finals match because of Numai’s injury that caught the entire team off guard, Mika understands why Suguru is so determined to not waste a single minute he could spend preparing for the Spring Tournament. It is, after all, his last chance to make it to the nationals and lead Nohebi to victory. And really, Mika supports him in reaching his goal. She’s been to every match during Inter High, and she is going to continue this habit in the upcoming games as well. She often stays in school until late in the evening to wait for Suguru to finish individual practice, taking residence in the gym and spending time with her good friend and manager of the volleyball club, Hana-chan, while inadvertently consuming knowledge about her boyfriend’s sport. She’s learnt how to put bandages on fingers, wrists, ankles and knees, and she’s learnt the meaning of all the different colors of the analgesic patches. She can follow the course of the ball with her eyes despite it being way too quick for her when she started attending, and she can sometimes even determine how a round is going to end by the way the Nohebi members play. Even more so, she’s familiar with any and all volleyball terms that she hears, whether it’s something official such as rules, techniques and positions, or specific codewords for different formations and strategies to be used in certain situations on the court. And above all, she knows how extremely important this upcoming tournament is for Suguru, how serious he is about his role as the captain, and she’d rather bite her tongue than tell him to give up. And it’s not like he overdoes the whole volleyball thing, he’s overly obsessive or anything. She’d say that Suguru has a healthy way of looking at his sport – he practices a lot, but not so much that it would be considered overworking, he pays attention to what he eats but he doesn’t force himself to keep up with a strict diet, and as a true captain, he encourages all his players to follow his example. Not to mention that when he spends time with Mika, it never feels like she’s only secondary to volleyball – unlike some of the other players’ partners that she sometimes chats with on the bleachers. He doesn’t make time for her in his busy schedule, rather he organizes his schedule in a way that he will always have plenty of time to spend with her. He talks about the team’s progress and complains when he’s in a bad mood, but never to an extent where she would be upset that the topic always has to revolve around volleyball. If he has to cancel a date because of practice, he will always make sure to take Mika somewhere extra special as soon as possible to make up for the lost time. Truly, Suguru knows what balance is and how to navigate his life perfectly even when so many of his thoughts and energy are consumed by volleyball. And Mika knows just how important it is for him, and she also knows that he has a lot of responsibilities to take care of as the captain – responsibilities that he can’t just hand off to someone else to deal with. Therefore, no matter how much she hates the idea of Suguru working so close to his heat’s arrival, she knows that she can’t force him to stop. “Alright,” she agrees, continuing to run her fingers through his hair. “Do you have a lot left?”“No,” he sighs, and she’s relieved to hear the answer. “I’m more than halfway through. Shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes.”She nods. “Okay. When is the takeout arriving?”“Dunno. Maybe twenty minutes or so. Time’s a bit flimsy, I don’t remember when I ordered it.”“So, how about this,” she continues, saving the piece of information in her mind that Suguru can’t really assess the passage of time anymore – another sign of heat being very close to finally hitting. “You finish what you gotta finish, and meanwhile I’ll go and take a shower. When the food gets here, we eat, then you take a shower, too, and then we can get to bed. How does that sound?”Suguru huffs a breathy laugh into her shoulder. “It’ll be a miracle if I’m still not in heat at that point.”Indeed. It’s about an hour until they can be done with everything that Mika’s just listed, and from Suguru’s symptoms, his smell, his rising temperature and the way he’s nuzzling into her shoulder with the need to be close to her and breathe in her scent, she can tell that it probably won’t take much longer for him to fall over the edge. The sooner they can get to bed, the better. “If you are, then we’ll make a new plan.”Suguru whines, and Mika has to smile at the sound. He would never be caught making such noises at any other time, only during his cycle. Not that she blames him – she can be quite whiney when she’s only her period, and she thinks it’s kind of cute that they both get like this when they feel like their body is working against them in every humanly possible way. “Maybe I should shower first,” Suguru suggests. “I’m sweaty and disgusting. I wanna shower while I still can.”“Okay, then why don't you go now?“Will you come with me?” He asks, and Mika can tell he’s trying to sound suggestive – because despite the heat slowly taking over, he’s still Daishou Suguru, the lovely bastard she adores more than anything – and she has enough empathy for him to not call him out on his unsuccessful attempt. Instead, she just chuckles. “No, I’m gonna call my mom. Ask her to get groceries.”“Ah, yeah, okay,” he says, accepting his fate of showering alone faster than he ever would outside of his heat. “Can you ask her to get me a box of that cereal that I always eat when I’m over at yours? Kinda craving it right now.”“The chocolate-chips cookie one?”“No, the pink one.”“Yeah, sure,” she says, even though she knows that there’s a very slim chance that Suguru will actually have a serving of it. He might be craving it at the moment, but it would be surprising if he managed to stomach it now, or any time during the upcoming days. But it’s fine. If he wants that pink cereal, he’ll get that pink cereal – worst case scenario, he’ll eat it once his heat starts passing and he regains his appetite. “Anything else?”He shakes his head. “No, I’m good.”“Alright.”When Mika gets back from the bathroom, covered in nothing but her towel, she finds Suguru sitting on the edge of the bed just like she left him – in nothing but an old pair of barely functional, but comfortable underwear and a loose shirt that Mika got him when they first started dating. His face is buried in his palms, elbows resting on his knees, and he’s taking deep breaths. Taking a quick glance at his desk, she sees that the document on his laptop is open right where it was before, further proving that he hasn’t moved since Mika left to take a shower. If it wasn’t for his scent that still doesn’t have that overly sweet, burnt edge that indicates his heat, she would think that it has already started. “Suguru?” She asks softly as she takes a step into the room. “You okay?”She gets a hum in return. “Yeah,” he pants, like he’s exhausted after a long match. “Peachy. I’m just very hot.”Mika frowns. “Did you check your temperature?”He scoffs. “No, but I can tell you without a thermometer that it’s really fucking high.”That’s no surprise. It was already 39 an hour ago, it must be in the forties by now. Mika doesn’t understand how his heat is still not here. His appetite is completely gone – when the food arrived, she was only able to make him eat a very small amount of rice before he announced that he was full – and his fever is definitely higher than it usually is in preheat. He’s taken a cold shower not long ago, and he already seems to be sweating profusely again. And apparently, his fatigue is building up, if the fact that he hasn’t touched the practice plan is anything to go by. Really, it should’ve hit already. It’s taking way too long – she’s getting a bit concerned, if she wants to be honest. Without another word, she walks towards Suguru’s closet and opens the drawer that has all of her clothes that she keeps here for the times when she spends the night or the weekend at the Daishou household. Where there used to be only a couple items lying around, by now, after years of dating, the drawer is overflowing with her clothes. She’s already discussed it with Suguru that he will try to free some more space for her when he manages to squeeze in some time for a closet-reorganization. As she looks inside, she realizes that for the first time in a while, the drawer is not actually filled up with her clothes. Besides her few sets of underwear and her favorite fluffy sweatpants, everything is missing. She immediately assumes that Suguru must’ve used all of them for his nest, and when she looks over her shoulder to check, her theory is proven to be true. It makes her smile – she doesn’t mind all her clothes being stolen, if anything, it makes her feel all giddy. It’s not only Mika’s things that make up Suguru’s nest, there are quite a few things from his family and closest friends, but she can’t deny how proud and loved it makes her feel that the majority of his nest smells like her. She’s not an alpha, she doesn’t quite feel as possessive and assertive as most of them do when their omega partners surround themselves with things that they scent, but she sure as hell understands what’s the big deal about it. It just feels nice knowing that Suguru feels safe with her scent around – that he wants to surround himself with her honey and chamomile when he’s vulnerable and weak. Gods, she’s so happy that she gets to have him all for herself – she can’t wait for the moment when they can finally be mated and show the whole world that they belong to each other. She shakes her head – it’s not the time to think of things like that. They still have at least a couple years ahead of them until they can mate, or even get married, while Suguru very much needs her in the present, right here and right now. With the thought that she can always daydream about their future later, she turns back to her drawer. She’s glad that Suguru left the sweatpants untouched and it’s safe to assume that he knew that she was going to want to wear them. She’s had them for years – their original white color is long gone, now replaced with a disgusting shade of gray but she wouldn’t get rid of them for as long as they’re in one piece. They’re way too comfortable to throw out. She slides them off the shelf in a smooth motion, and then her glance settles on the sports bra on the other side of the drawer. For a second, she contemplates whether she should put it on or not, but eventually she opts against it – because she would be insane to wear a bra when she plans on spending the whole weekend in Suguru’s nest – and then she reaches for her favorite T-shirt on Suguru’s shelf. It’s a yellow practice shirt, the one he used to wear in their first year, before he went through a sudden growth spurt and had to switch to a larger size. Mika has been wearing it ever since, it’s the thing she likes to wear the most from Suguru’s closet. It’s patterned with holes and random stains that simply just won’t come out, but it’s perfect. Suguru has offered to give it to her, since she’s the only one who wears it anyway, and it would be more practical if it was with her all the time, but she refused. She loves stealing it from him – it wouldn’t be the same if she owned it. He probably knew that she was going to want to wear it, too, that’s why he shamelessly took all of her own shirts. He wasn’t wrong – there’s just something special about wearing this particular T-shirt that she can’t explain. She loves it, she loves the smell of the laundry detergent Suguru’s family uses and she loves knowing that the only reason he hasn’t gotten rid of it yet is because she’s so fond of it. It’s also no secret that Suguru really likes the sight of her when she wears any of his clothes, and this shirt is no exception. He’s mentioned, multiple times, that he thinks it’s cute that it’s so big on her. “You know,” Suguru says after a deep sigh. “I really wouldn’t have any problems with my heat if it didn’t make me feel like I’m boiling in my own sweat in the last circle of hell after playing through seventeen volleyball matches outside when it’s forty degrees.”Mika chuckles. “That’s the whole point of heat, babe,” she says jokingly, hoping to ease his mood a bit. “You don’t say,” Suguru retorts, and while Mika can’t see his face as she’s turned towards the closet, she can still hear the eye roll that accompanies Suguru’s words. It makes her smile. Suguru’s still not out of it enough to lose his snark, thankfully. That’s one of the things she loves most about her boyfriend, and she hates when he gets so deep into the pit of his heat that he loses himself. “Hmm, I do say,” she says, dropping the towel as she gets into her underwear and her sweatpants. She knows Suguru’s not looking, but even if he was, she wouldn’t mind. It’s not like he’s never seen her naked – quite the opposite, actually – and it’s been a long time since she felt shy around him. “You see, I’m smart like that.”A scoff from Suguru, and then, “That you are,” he agrees cheekily. As she ties the string on her pants, she looks over her shoulder, at her lover, right when he lifts his own eyes to glance at her. She smirks at him, and he smirks right back – that goddamn sneer that she first fell in love with years ago. It’s weaker than usually, but it’s just as effective.“Indeed I am,” she nods. She pulls Suguru’s T-shirt over her head. She groans when she realizes that she has already tied the string of the pants even though she wants to tug the hem of her shirt into it, but she can’t be bothered enough to undo it. It’ll do like this. “That’s why you love me.”Suguru hums. “ One of the reasons why I love you,” he corrects her, and Mika feels herself slightly blush upon his words. She should be used to Suguru expressing his love for her, but it still makes her cheeks pink just like the first time he said it. “I would gladly list you all of them but my head feels kinda mushy right now.” He makes grabby hands at her. “Come here,” he asks softly.And well, who is Mika to deny her boyfriend?Suguru gets very clingy when he’s in heat. He’s generally very touchy – he holds her hand when they’re out together, she likes to play with her hair while they watch something or study, he refuses to fall asleep without cuddling her whenever they spend the night together, he keeps hugging her from behind when they cook, and he always presses a quick kiss on her cheek when they meet in the school hallways but have no time to chat. But when it comes to his cycle, his clinginess gets leveled up to the max. It’s almost like he needs to be touching Mika at all times to stay calm, even if the most he’s able to bear is their pinkies being linked. Often during his heat he’s too hot to get as close to her as he wants, his body is burning and her own warmth is just too much to handle. And still, he can’t even phantom the idea of her leaving him – not that she ever would – so they just settle for linking their fingers to stay connected while barely touching. As she grabs his hand and she’s pulled between his knees, it’s clear that it’s not that bad yet. Suguru buries his face in her shirt, breathing in her scent and he folds his free arm around her waist while holding Mika’s hand firmly in the other. Being this close to Suguru, Mika can feel just how hot he is, and she’d lie if she said that it doesn’t concern her, even if it’s nothing unusual or unexpected. From up close, she also sees the angry red flush over his face and down to his neck and shoulders until it’s cut off by the collar of his shirt, but she doesn’t doubt that it continues down to his chest and possibly even further. And the redness won’t disappear until his temperature is gone, and for that his heat needs to be over, but it hasn’t even started yet. She sighs – she, too, hates the fever part the most about Suguru’s heat. She puts her hand back to Suguru’s hair, damp from sweating, and starts running her fingers through it, while she frees the other one from Sugurus grip and reaches for the bedside table to pick up the thermometer. “It’s useless,” he says when he hears the beep signaling that Mika has turned it on. “What does it matter how high is it? I’m burning either way.” She sighs. “I know. But I don’t like how it’s so high already even though you’re still technically in preheat. It never gets to the forties before it hits.”Suguru freezes for a moment, and then he pulls Mika even closer. “You think it’ll be even higher this time?” He asks, with such dread in his voice that it makes Mika’s heart break a little, and she wishes she could save him from his suffering. Not for the first time she hates that she can’t do anything to protect him from his body – a sentiment that she knows he also feels whenever she’s laying helpless in her bed, clutching at her lower abdomen and wishing she could just pass out so she doesn’t have to deal with the cramps. She shakes her head. “I don’t know. It could be.” She doesn’t like the sound of that at all. “Will you check it for me, while I bring the towel back to the bathroom?”Suguru nods and takes the thermometer from Mika’s hand. She presses a light kiss to the middle of his forehead – it’s sweaty and burning hot – and then steps away. She walks back to the closet, picks up the towel she dropped to the ground, and then she makes her way back to the bathroom that is fortunately quite close to Suguru’s room. She hangs her towel on top of Suguru’s.In the perfect silence of the house, she can hear the beeps as the thermometer goes off. She quickly exits the bathroom and goes back to Suguru’s room, where he is still sitting on the edge of the bed, and he’s staring at the small screen of the device in his hands. “So?”He sighs, and instead of answering, he just holds it out for Mika. She closes the distance between the door and the bed, and takes the thermometer from her boyfriend. She frowns as she reads 41.7 degrees. Goddamnit. “Well, that’s surely fucking high,” she says, echoing Suguru’s previous words. She puts the thermometer back to the table and steps back into her boyfriend’s awaiting, warm embrace. “Get in bed.”He shakes his head. “I can’t. I still haven’t finished the-“I don’t care,” she argues. Suguru had his chance to finish his task, but she won’t allow it any further – he needs to rest. “I’ll save the document, email it back to your coach and tell him that you can’t revise it any further, okay?”“But-“Suguru,” she says softly, placing a kiss on the top of his head. “Please. Your fever is almost at 42 degrees. I’m not letting you do anything like this.”Suguru then looks at her, attempting a pair of puppy eyes, but failing miserably. “Mika-chan,” he says in a singing tone, and Mika can’t help but huff at the name. Suguru only ever uses the endearing honorific after when he wants something. Tough luck. It’s not going to work this time. “Nope,” she says firmly. “You can’t even stand, if you could, you would’ve finished it while I was showering.” Suguru looks down but he doesn’t deny anything. She takes it as a confirmation. “They’ll be fine if you don’t micromanage the whole thing. It’s not like you have to do it all by yourself, you’re just revising it, right?” She gets an affirming hum in response. “Great, it’s settled then. Now get into your nest, I’ll take care of everything.”Suguru then reaches around her waist and pulls her closer, once again burying his face in the T-shirt. This time, the hug he envelops Mika in is much stronger, like he doesn’t want to let go, and Mika immediately reaches at the back of his head to hold him close and starts playing with the hair at his nape. “Will you join me soon?” He asks, voice resigning as he realizes that Mika won’t change her mind. She chuckles and leans down for the umpteenth time to kiss Suguru’s head. He seems to be melting a little more every time she does it. “Yes,” she promises. “Just give me a couple minutes.”She doesn’t expect Suguru to let her go immediately, and he doesn’t. She keeps playing with his hair while he breathes heavily into the fabric of the shirt, clutching at the back of it to keep Mika from moving away. Logically, Mika won’t really go away, she will only be a few steps apart from him while she types a quick letter to Coach Oumizu, but even that much of a distance can be too much to Suguru sometimes. The fact that he probably sees it like that right now despite not having any problems with letting her walk out of the room barely two minutes ago, proves further just how close he is to the point of no return. His heat should be here now any moment, she’s sure of it. Eventually, Suguru loosens his grip on Mika and leans aways from her after a deep breath. “Fine,” he murmurs. Mika chuckles as she watches him starting to move to the part of his bed that he’s built into a nest, full of clothes and blankets and stuffed animals that bring him comfort. “I hate this shit,” he says as he throws himself on a big pillow. It’s the blue one – the one that his parents scent for him every time before he goes into heat. “It’s not enough that it makes me suffer, no , it even takes its sweet time to arrive just to make me more miserable.”Already at the desk, Mika quickly logs into her email and starts composing a letter. She uploads the half-revised document, and then she explains shortly why Suguru won’t be able to finish it right now, but he’ll gladly continue checking it once his medical emergency , as they call heats in the school, is over. She thanks the coach for his understanding, and then she exits all open tabs and turns off Suguru’s laptop. “I swear to god,” he pants, hugging the chubby snake plushie that his sister got him when he started attending Nohebi, “my only solace in this misery is knowing that the cat bastard also goes through this shit four times a year. It would be unfair if he didn’t.”Mika laughs as she gets back to Suguru and climbs into the bed. She doesn’t make her way into the nest, of course. She kneels right by the edge of it as she keeps laughing at the comment Suguru’s just made, waiting for permission to enter. “How would it be unfair?”“Because if I must suffer, then he should suffer, too, duh. And he does, thankfully, so everything is fair and just in the world.”One of the most entertaining things in Mika’s entire life has to be the beef between Suguru and Kuroo from Nekoma – or, as Suguru likes to refer to him, the cat bastard . And apparently, as she’s been told by a classmate who has friends in Nekoma, Kuroo also calls Suguru a snake bastard behind his back, so it’s only fair. And it says a lot about their rivalry, too.Well, “rivalry”. Deep down, they’re just very competitive friends who refuse to accept the fact that they don’t hate each other while they both have the other’s number on quick dial in case they’d ever need something, as well as items in their nests scented by the other. But it doesn’t matter, in fact, Mika thinks this is for the best – how they act around and towards each other is extremely amusing and it’d be a shame to never hear them fight or talk shit about the other if they ever gained some emotional maturity and talked through their problems. Is it toxic? A little bit, yeah. But she’d lie if she said she didn’t find it hilarious. Life wouldn’t be the same without the two jumping at each other’s throats every time they meet. How boring would a Nohebi-Nekoma match be, if the two captains didn’t engage in never-ending banter and fights whenever they have the chance?“I hear he has a boyfriend now,” she says, remembering that she heard something very vague from Hana-chan the last time that she visited a practice. She meant to ask Suguru about it, but it slipped her mind. “He does,” Suguru says. “Some first year alpha from Miyagi, I think. But it’s pretty new, as far as I know. They got together after Golden Week or whatever.” Suguru opens his eyes and looks deep into Mika’s eyes. “Are you gonna come in any time soon or do you need an invitation in writing?”Mika chuckles again, and she doesn’t waste another moment before she gets into Suguru’s nest. “I need a formal invitation,” she teases. “Scented paper, a golden envelope, sealed with wax and everything.”She lays down, and immediately there’s an omega snuggling close to her, burying his nose in her scent gland before she could even get in a comfortable position. She’s been aware of Suguru’s scent this whole time, it’s been all over her ever since she stepped into the apartment, but right here in his nest, so close and so open, all her senses are filled with nothing but the lovely mix of pine and sandalwood that radiates from Suguru. She tilts her head a bit so he has better access.“Sure,” he murmurs, and his breath tickles her skin, making her giggle. He wraps his arm around her torso and she continues her previous activity of running his fingers through Suguru’s hair. “Do you want me to use my perfume, flowers, or scent it?”“Scent it,” she says, still grinning widely. “Definitely scent it.”“Ah, like in those stupid historical movies? Do you want me to woo you with my scent, Yamaka-san ?”She laughs. “No, they always take forever to get together in those movies.”Suguru tightens his grip around Mika, and she can hear a smile in his voice when he says, “Good thing I’ve already woo’d you, then.”The answer is on the tip of her tongue, when she smells it. Suddenly it’s everywhere all at once, heavy in the air like smoke and it leaves Mika breathless for a short, insignificant moment. She inhales, slowly, deeply, welcoming the devastatingly sweet smell of burnt pine with barely noticeable, but still lingering touch of sandalwood. She allows herself to get dizzy for a second, bathing in the intensified, heavenly smell that is the best thing she has ever had the experience of tasting– – and then a pained, high-pitched whine of discomfort erupts from Suguru, and she snaps out of it immediately.“Mika,” he whispers into her ear, and the loving hug around her body becomes a desperate grip, like she were some kind of life line while he’s drowning in an ocean. His body heat seems to go even higher, Mika can feel on her own skin where it touches Suguru’s as it gets hotter and hotter, like his fever hasn’t been unbearable enough this whole time. “I know,” she murmurs, pulling Suguru closer and leading one of her hands to his neck to massage his gland. “I know,” she repeats, and she peppers the crown of his head with small kisses. She tries to tug him even closer, as close as it is humanly possible for two people to be to each other, and with her other hand that is stuck awkwardly between their bodies, she reaches down to intertwine her fingers with Suguru’s. The moment he notices her goal, he takes her hand and holds it tight, and Mika squeezes back just as hard to keep him grounded. It only takes a couple seconds until she feels hot tears dropping on her shoulder and neck, and Suguru’s body starts shaking with sobs as the much expected, but still too sudden and intense pain travels through his entire body and makes him feel like all of his bones had been broken all at once – at least, that how he explained the pain back when they were preparing to spend his heat together for the very first time. “Shh,” she tries to comfort him, though Suguru just seems to be crying more and more as the seconds pass. “It’s okay,” she says, even if she knows that her words are empty. It’s okay , but for Suguru it’s no consolation, just worthless solace when his entire body is burning. So, after a moment, she adds, “I’m here,” because that's the only promise she can make and keep right now – she’s here and she won’t leave. She can tell him that he’s doing fine, she can say that everything is going to be okay, but it’s nothing but useless babble. Suguru’s pain will remain unbearable for days, his fever will rise even more, he won’t be able to stomach nearly enough food, and it’ll be a miracle if he won’t be dehydrated by the third day – from crying, from sweating, from not drinking enough water despite Mika’s coaxing – so telling him that it’s okay is just as valuable as a kiss to a dead man outside of the pages of a child's fairytale. But she can promise to stay by his side while he’s suffering through this unbearable pain – and stay by his side she will. No matter what, even if the world goes up in flames tomorrow, she’ll still be here, in this sacred place that the two of them share and she’ll hold Suguru’s hand and play with his hair to ground him in reality and give him some sort of comfort when he can feel nothing but the torment his body is putting him through. “It… hurts,” he grunts through gritted teeth, almost incoherent, like it’s hard to form words and difficult to talk. He’s shaking, from the sobs and from the pain, the hand that Mika is holding is trembling, and his breathing is rigged at her neck. She wishes she could lean down and scent him, maybe that could calm him down a bit, but if she did that, he wouldn’t be able to access her scent gland, which might make him panic. She doesn’t want that – she doesn’t want to add to the list of things that make Suguru feel miserable at the very first minutes of his heat. This initial strong wave will pass eventually, and though the pain won’t go away, there will be moments when it will be reduced to dull aches or small, inconsistent stinging sensations – until then, when he’ll be able to think further than his agony, she’ll let him hold her as tight and as close as he needs, not giving a single fuck about the suffocating warmth that surrounds her. She can take a bit of heat – after all, Suguru is boiling in his own skin right now, and if he can make it through, so can her. For his sake, she can do anything. “I know,” she whispers into his hair, and once again she presses a long, meaningful kiss on his head, full of all the comfort that she can only wish she’s able to deliver to her boyfriend. “I’m here. I got you.” She pulls him even closer, and soon enough their legs are tangled with each other. As more pained sobs wreck Suguru’s body, she keeps trying to sooth him, releasing calming pheromones, letting their scents meet each other in the air in a delicious mix, and murmuring sweet nothings into his hair, hoping that he’ll be able to find comfort in her touch, her voice and her scent even through the scorching pain. “I got you.”