Vash’s skin has been crawling for a few days now.
He feels the calm before the storm from the way he’s jumpy whenever someone’s near him, which happens a lot in the orphanage when there are a bunch of kids running around, and he's especially jumpy around Wolfwood. Wolfwood's scent is stronger, but frankly, everyone’s scent is overwhelming for his poor sensitive nose. There are too many smells mixing around him that are making his head spin. With his nose becoming too delicate, he's also getting heat flashes and shivering. Maybe he’s coming down with an illness now that he has deleted his Plant powers.
His bed is uncomfortable to lie on. The sudden urge to make it not uncomfortable drives him to grab a spare blanket in the storage closet. And another. A day later, Melanie catches him grabbing pillows. Vash quells her worries with a smile, saying something along the lines of it’ll help me sleep.
Vash grabs more fabrics than any person should need and places them around his bed. His mind buzzes when he fusses over the placement of all the blankets and pillows. When he’s on laundry duty, he takes two shirts belonging to Wolfwood and adds them to his pile on his bed. He’ll give them back once he feels better.
Feel better from what?
Whatever’s happening to him peaks one morning, making him stink up the place.
Vash freezes at the doorway to the kitchen. Everyone’s chatter quiets down when his scent reaches them. The younger kids who haven't presented yet sniff the air in confusion at the unfamiliar smell while the older kids cover their noses. The adults in the room scrunch their faces.
Wolfwood looks over to find the source of the smell, eyes widening when he realizes Vash is the cause of it. Vash’s breath hitches when their eyes meet before he turns his gaze downwards and turns his head. He doesn’t know why he’s baring his neck.
Seeing everyone’s reaction, Vash’s anxiety spikes, and so does his scent.
Miss Melanie is the first to react, telling the kids to continue eating as she grabs a bundle of packages from one of the kitchen cabinets. She walks over to him and presents him with a variety of energy bars and snacks.
“Vash dear, I think you should go rest.”
Vash refuses the snacks but she's persistent, giving him a hard look until he relents and takes them. Then he takes his leave, placing the food on the side table and climbing onto his mess of a bed. He buries himself under the pillows and sheets, taking one of Wolfwood's shirts with him so he can press his nose against it.
Then a fever hits him, making his skin burn. Vash expected it to be a typical sickness, like the kinds of sickness the kids get, but it’s not. His body aches, yes, but it aches for something else entirely.
He’s a beta, so why is he simultaneously running a fever and yearning for the comfort of an alpha? For a hundred and fifty years, he thought he was a beta—he's a beta, so why?
Questions rack through Vash’s brain as he lays in his first nest.
Wolfwood didn’t believe his eyes or nose when Vash walked into the kitchen.
The stench of an omega’s heat was in the air, the bitter kind when the person is anxious. He did a head count at the table and found no one was sick or presenting. Just Vash was absent. Seeing Vash present his neck at the doorway, smelling Vash, made him freeze in confusion. He held back any protective instinct he had by balling his fists, fighting the urge to walk over to Vash and bring Vash back to whatever nest he made.
Vash is a beta—well, was a beta since he’s known him, so why is he in heat?
Miss Melanie is unfazed at the discovery, giving him snacks before shooing him away to his room to rest. When everyone returns to eating their food, Wolfwood sits at the table with questions floating in his mind. After cleaning up breakfast, Melanie pulls him to the side and hands him water and medicine.
“This is Vash's first heat, isn’t it?” Melanie asks.
“Seems like it.” Vash never told him he was a beta or anything. He assumed he was since he never hid away for heats or ruts.
Melanie's expression turns worried. “I saw him grabbing pillows the other day. See if he needs help.”
Don’t need to tell him twice.
Standing outside Vash’s bedroom, the smell wafting confirms Vash is in heat, and stressed. Wolfwood knocks on the door and gets no response as expected. He pushes the door open and finds a mountain of pillows and blankets on the bed. Closing the door behind him causes Vash to emerge from the nest, face red from his heat, clutching a shirt to his chest. Wolfwood notices it’s one of his, the one he thought was eaten by the washing machine.
The silence causes Vash’s scent to turn even more sour.
Wolfwood kicks his head back into gear, releasing pheromones he knows Vash likes. He places the water and medicine on the bedside table and sits at the edge of the nest. Vash looks at him warily while doing so.
“How’re you feeling?” Wolfwood starts.
“I’m—I don’t know what’s happening.” Vash ignores the question, looking into his lap. “I didn’t know. I thought—” He gives Wolfwood a tearful expression with guilt all over it. “Please believe me, I didn’t know. I thought I was a beta.”
“Hey, I believe you. This doesn’t change anything.”
“Yes, it does,” Vash spits. “I don’t know what I’m doing, the nest is a mess, and—”
“Vash," Wolfwood interrupts with a clipped tone.
Vash whines before he clamps his mouth shut at his tone, his scent turns into one of distress with a hint of defiance. Wolfwood feels shitty for being assertive unprovoked, but he needs Vash to listen.
Wolfwood tilts his head and presents his neck to Vash. “Scent me.”
Vash blinks at him, unmoving. Wolfwood waits, ears turning red when Vash stays where he is. Usually, Vash likes scenting him. Maybe he read this wrong. Maybe he should leave.
Before Wolfwood can take back his offer, Vash shuffles on his knees to get closer. Vash presses his nose into his neck and inhales. Wolfwood rests a hand on his back while Vash takes a couple of breaths to drink in his scent. Vash grasps the front of his shirt and moves up towards his jaw, stopping a few seconds before moving again. He rubs his cheek against the side of Wolfwood’s face before dipping back down. His touch leaves goosebumps on Wolfwood's skin as he nuzzles his neck. Both the sour scent and Vash's stress slowly fade away.
Vash slides his nose across Wolfwood’s skin to his other side. Wolfwood tilts his head to give him room and receives a purr for it. Vash busies himself by caressing his face along Wolfwood’s neck and shoulder, making small noises of contentment.
The ministrations soon stop as Vash leans against Wolfwood’s front. Wolfwood drags his hand up to Vash’s nape and squeezes it. His hand drops away when Vash tilts back. The previous stress on his face is replaced with timidness.
“Can you scent me?” Vash asks while avoiding his gaze.
Wolfwood obliges by holding Vash's sides before leaning into his neck. Vash lets out a sigh as Wolfwood rubs his cheek into his skin. He holds onto the back of Wolfwood’s shirt and tilts his head to expose his neck more. Wolfwood mimics what Vash did and rubs on every patch of skin he's offered, receiving more hums from the other.
With his scent clinging to Vash, Wolfwood pulls away to find the other man's expression is calm. They both smell like each other. Vash's scent is unfamiliar, new to him, but he can get used to it.
Wolfwood grabs the medication left on the table, something to help with Vash's fever. He fills a spoon with the medicine and hovers it near Vash's mouth. Vash swallows it and makes a face at the bitter taste.
"Thanks," Vash mumbles.
"Get some rest." Wolfwood ruffles Vash's hair before standing and putting away the medicine. "The first heat is always rough, but you'll have me and Melanie looking after you."
"Yeah," Vash says with a small smile. He looks uncertain but lays back into his nest as Wolfwood leaves him alone to rest.
The rest of the day is rough for Vash. He tenses whenever Wolfwood visits to give him water and medicine for the fever. They do another round of scenting but the smell of anxiety lingers soon after rather than the typical sweetness of an omega's heat, telling Wolfwood that Vash is feeling overwhelmed. He keeps adjusting the nest like he's never happy with it. When Wolfwood visits at night, he finds Vash fast asleep, energy drained. Wolfwood touches Vash's forehead and neck to check his temperature. It's mild.
After checking up on Vash, Wolfwood turns to leave, but he pauses by the door, looking back at Vash and debating whether to stay overnight to make sure Vash's fever doesn't get worse. He's done it for the kids during their first heat to ensure they don't become sick. The first couple of heats for a newly presented omega require monitoring the fever and scenting.
He decides to stay.
Wolfwood climbs on the bed, onto the nest, and lays down, leaving space between him and Vash. A thought comes to his mind before he falls asleep: he shouldn't be in the nest, with Vash no less—only mates do that—but this is Vash’s first heat. It should be fine.
Oh, how wrong he was.
Waking up in the morning with a lap full of Vash wasn't what he expected, much less panting into his neck and calling him alpha with pain in his voice. Wolfwood’s nostrils flare when he smells the sweet but strong scent filling the room.
“It hurts,” Vash pleads into his skin.
Wolfwood closes his eyes, attempting not to give into Vash's—the omega's demands. His body reacts to it anyway, pants tightening and heart racing.
This is bad. He needs to push Vash away or risk ruining what they have.
Deep inside, a selfish part of Wolfwood doesn't want their first time to be like this.
For the second that his hands touch Vash’s waist, he chirps happily, then turns confused when he's pulled away. Wolfwood shifts and lays Vash back on the bed. When he leans away, making no move to give in to the want, he sees the devastated look on Vash’s face just as his scent turns bitter. A rejection from an alpha stings.
Vash's expression flickers from horrified to hurt to scared. “Sorry, I—” A hitch in his breath interrupts him before he can explain himself.
Alarm bells ring in Wolfwood's head as he watches Vash shake in fear, tipping close to a drop. Something inside Wolfwood whines to comfort the omega, so he does the best thing he can do. He stops Vash from spiralling by burying his face into his neck and rubbing his cheek across his skin. “Hey, hey, it's okay.”
Vash trembles while he scents him. Wolfwood sneaks in a few kisses while whispering reassurances until Vash slackens, telling him everything is okay, and that he’s not being rejected. He presses his nose against Vash’s temple until the sour smell dissipates. Vash falls back to sleep a moment later.
Wolfwood leans back to look at Vash's resting face, the hurt look gone as he sleeps. He releases the tension in his body and sighs. No more staying inside the nest.
Wolfwood climbs out of bed and starts an early day, not before tucking a blanket over Vash. He makes coffee and nurses it until the others trickle into the kitchen for breakfast. Livio's nose twitches when he enters, glancing over at him. Right, Vash's scent is all over him. Wolfwood quickly changes his clothes before joining everyone for breakfast.
After the plates are washed, Melanie pulls him aside. "How's he feeling today?"
Wolfwood crosses his arms as he recalls Vash's defeated face from yesterday, followed by today's incident. "He's taking it hard."
Melanie's concern is evident in her expression. "I don't know what will happen when someone presents late into adulthood. We should check that his fever doesn't get too high."
He and Melanie agree to check Vash every hour. Given what happened earlier, he lets Melanie take charge. Thankfully, she doesn't question his reluctance to visit Vash.
Vash is meek the few times he visits, avoiding eye contact as Wolfwood hands him something to eat after he takes a dose of medicine, ashamed of what happened early in the morning. Guilt eats at Wolfwood for overstaying his welcome in his nest. He should know better than to stay inside an omega's nest while they're in heat. He stays with Vash regardless, dragging a chair beside the bed to keep vigil while Vash drifts off to sleep for the night.
Propping his legs on the edge of the bed, Wolfwood opens a book he's been meaning to read since he grabbed it some time ago at a shop in the nearest town. A light novel to pass the time. He gets through two chapters until he decides the book isn't for him, leaving the book on the side table. The kids would like it more. As moonlight shines through the window, Wolfwood attempts to get comfortable in his chair and falls asleep.
The smell of sickness wakes Wolfwood before dawn. He lifts his head, wincing at his sore neck, and looks over Vash. The sight of Vash makes him blink the sleep in his eyes in an instant. Vash's laboured breathing fills the silence while sweat collects on his face. Wolfwood touches his forehead, then his slow pulse. His skin is boiling.
Wolfwood shakes Vash’s shoulder. “Vash, wake up.”
It takes a couple of shakes until Vash’s eyes flutter open. He glances at him with a hazy look. “Wolfwood? What's wrong?”
“Hey.” Wolfwood touches Vash’s cheek. “You’re running a high fever.”
Vash hums before he leans his face into his palm and closes his eyes, letting out shallow breaths. He stays there, unmoving. Wolfwood reluctantly pulls his hand away and Vash's head lies limp on the pillow. Touching his burning forehead again, Wolfwood's concern rises at the uncomfortable heat. He leaves the room to grab a thermometer from the kitchen. Back at Vash's side, he slides the thermometer under his arm and waits. Minutes pass before Wolfwood checks Vash's temperature. It's too high for his liking.
Heading to the bathroom, Wolfwood grabs a towel, folds it, and runs it under cold water. Back to Vash, he places the towel on his forehead. Wolfwood watches Vash's face twitch before stilling.
He has to bring Vash's temperature down.
Wolfwood leaves the room again to grab a basin from the laundry room and fills it up with cool water. He hauls it back to Vash's room, setting it aside on the side table before fetching an extra towel. Dragging the chair next to the bed, Wolfwood gets to work, soaking the towel and wringing it before dabbing Vash's flushed face. He slides the towel down to his neck, wiping the sweat away. The towel is soaked in cool water again once it warms up from Vash's fever.
Wolfwood tugs off the blankets covering Vash's body and tugs up his sleeve to press the towel to his arm. He holds the back of Vash's hand as he draws his arm closer. There's no reaction from Vash, even when he rubs a thumb to his palm, just laboured breathing.
Wolfwood puts Vash's hand down and does the same to his stomach, tugging up his shirt damp with sweat and sliding the towel across his skin and scars. Once he's done wiping Vash's front, Wolfwood restarts the process again, pressing the towel to Vash's face, arm, and torso, hoping to lower the fever. After going through the routine a couple of times, Wolfwood rechecks Vash's temperature—it's still high but down a few points.
Wolfwood does his best to cool down Vash for an hour.
He runs on autopilot while passing the towel across Vash's body. The water in the basin reaches room temperature, so he refills it with cool water and resumes his task. The cloth on Vash's head is also warm, and Wolfwood runs it under cold water before placing it back on his head.
When Wolfwood soaks the towel and moves toward Vash's face, he stills when he notices the other man's eyes are open. He recovers quickly and presses the towel to Vash's cheek.
"Hey, how're you feeling?" Wolfwood whispers.
Vash shuts his eyes again. "Shit," he rasps. "Like I sat outside in the sun for too long."
Wolfwood hums sympathetically, putting away the towel to pass Vash a glass of water. Vash drinks it with some help and lets out a small thanks.
"This sucks," Vash complains after slumping back down on the pillow.
Wolfwood passes the towel across Vash's skin. "It gets better after the first time," he says in an attempt to comfort him.
"As if you had a heat after decades of thinking you're a beta or nothing," Vash scoffs.
Wolfwood gives him an unimpressed look for throwing his frustrations at him.
Vash grimaces. "Sorry." He turns to lie on his side, away from him. "Sorry for keeping you awake. You don't have to deal with all this."
"I'm not gonna let you sulk away your heat," Wolfwood retorts. On his side, Vash's lower back is exposed where his shirt has ridden up. Wolfwood presses the chilled towel to his skin, making Vash release some tension in his body
An idea comes into Wolfwood's mind. "Do you want to take a bath?"
Vash is quiet as he considers the idea.
"You will feel less like shit," Wolfwood reasons.
Vash sighs. "Sure," he says before slowly sitting up. He slides his legs to the edge of the bed. Wolfwood gets up when Vash attempts to stand on shaky legs, hands ready to catch up. Vash grabs his shoulder to keep himself upright.
"Do you need a minute?" Wolfwood asks.
Vash exhales heavily. "No, I'm fine."
Wolfwood slides his hand to Vash's back as they head towards the bathroom with small steps. He helps set Vash down on the edge of the bathtub and turns on the facet. Once the temperature of the water hovers around lukewarm, Wolfwood plugs the drain and turns to Vash to find him taking off his pants with sluggish movements, his shirt already discarded. Under the fluorescent light of the bathroom, his skin is coloured pink from the heat. Wolfwood refrains from staring at his skin too closely and busies himself by helping Vash tug the rest of his clothes off and gently remove his prosthetic. He lets Vash hold on to him as he sits down in half-filled tub. Vash exhales when the cool water touches his fevered skin, tilting his head to rest against the wall and closing his eyes.
Wolfwood pours soap into the water before turning off the faucet when it reaches just below Vash's shoulders. "I'm going to replace the bedsheets while you soak in here, alright?" he asks while swirling the soap into the water with a hand.
Vash opens his mouth, but something stops him. He doesn't respond as he wrestles with himself to answer. Wolfwood saw this coming. Moving an omega's nest is a no-no, a recipe to get your hand chewed off, but Vash's laying back into sheets drenched with his sweat won't be pleasant.
"Yes, just put everything where it was before," Vash finally answers.
"Sure thing."
Wolfwood leaves him alone, grabbing the discarded clothes on the floor before heading to the bedroom to remove the sheets. He pushes the nest of blankets and clothes to one side of the mattress so he can take the sheets off without ruining the nest too much. The bundle of fabrics is then moved to the other side until the bedding is removed. Wolfwood hauls the dirtied clothes and sheets to the laundry room where they are dumped on the floor to be dealt with later. He makes a pit stop to grab fresh sheets from the closet.
In Vash's room, he puts on the new sheets and arranges the nest back to what it was before. He takes a couple of minutes longer than he should, fiddling with it and moving around the extra blankets and the shirts Vash took from him. The instinct to make the nest as perfect as possible manifests, and he tries to push it down. Wolfwood shakes his head, deeming everything is where it belongs, and grabs a fresh pair of clothes for Vash. It's good enough—he hopes it's good enough.
Upon entering the bathroom, Wolfwood notices Vash's scent is sweeter. The sour smell of illness from earlier is gone. Sensing him, Vash opens his eyes and turns his gaze towards him. He stares as Wolfwood sets the clothes on the counter and sits on the tub's edge, transfixed on his movements.
Wolfwood is very much aware that there's a naked omega—Vash—in heat right next to him, whose scent is growing stronger. Vash's subconscious is no doubt screaming about something similar in his mind. Both men turn down the yearning to move closer and break the invisible boundary, to shift away from simple affection born out of camaraderie to something more.
Wolfwood coughs to break the tension. "Feeling better?"
The question brings Vash out of his daze and he looks away. "Yeah," he mumbles. "I think my fever has gone down."
Wolfwood hums in agreement. "Let me wash your hair and get you out."
Vash shifts closer to let Wolfwood wet his hair with handfuls of water. Wolfwood grabs the bottle of shampoo left at the edge of the tub and pours the soap into his hand before rubbing his palms together and carding his fingers into Vash's hair. Vash leans back and pushes his head against Wolfwood's hands, humming when fingers scratch behind his ears. Wolfwood smiles seeing as Vash is feeling much better, a stark contrast to when he first saw him earlier, and continues to massage his head with slow and strong strokes.
With Vash's black hair covered in foam, Wolfwood unclogs the drain and rinses the soap off with the showerhead, covering Vash's eyes with a hand to avoid getting the soapy residue in them. After all the soap is down the drain, Wolfwood helps Vash stand and step out of the tub before grabbing a towel big enough to wrap around his body. He nudges Vash to sit on the toilet lid so he can towel-dry his hair, leaving black locks sticking everywhere. Wolfwood helps put on his prosthetic and new clothes. By the end of it, Vash's head and eyes droop in sleepiness.
Wolfwood makes an effort to tame Vash's mused hair by brushing his fingers through it. "C'mon, let's get you to bed."
Vash yawns whilst standing, body slouching in exhaustion. Wolfwood wraps his arms behind Vash's back and knees, lifting him and carrying him to bed while the man nearly dozes in his arms. He lays Vash down and watches him adjust the nest little by little to get comfortable. No major adjustments are made, except for Vash grabbing one of Wolfwood's white shirts closer as he curls up on his side. Wolfwood looks away before the heat reaches his face. With Vash's fever taken care of, he can leave and grab an early breakfast. The light coming from the window tells him it's morning. He can catch up on sleep later.
"Nick," Vash calls.
Wolfwood is one step towards the door when he stops at hearing his nickname. He turns to look at Vash and sees his tired expression sporting a smile.
"You can sleep here," Vash says while patting the space beside him.
Wolfwood stares at Vash, debating whether that's a good idea. He wills down the joy of an omega offering him to stay inside their nest. Vash looks a lot better and smells a lot better too. The scent of heat is there, but it's calm and not oppressive.
Vash doesn't notice his dilemma, eyes already shutting close.
Fuck it.
Wolfwood lies on his back next to Vash, careful not to move the nest too much, and shuts his eyes to get some rest. They don't stay closed for long when he jumps from Vash touching his arm. Vash moves closer, his face pressing into his shoulder before shifting again, finding his neck and shoving his nose into the scent gland there. Wolfwood holds his breath as Vash rubs his nose into his skin, leaving goosebumps. Vash lets out a small hum when he finishes and settles down.
Wolfwood lets out the breath he was holding. Judging by the warm breaths hitting his skin, Vash is fast asleep. Wolfwood shifts to face Vash and drapes an arm around him. His movements cause Vash to draw closer and bury his face into his neck. Pressing his face into Vash's damp hair, the smell of soap and heat flood his senses. It doesn't take long for Wolfwood to fall asleep.
The sound of purring wakes him up. He feels Vash nuzzling into his neck before he can open his eyes. There's no sign of sickness or anxiety in Vash's scent, only sweetness.
Wolfwood scratches the back of Vash's head, making him sigh happily. "Doin' okay?" he murmurs.
Vash leans up to touch Wolfwood's cheek with his nose. "Mm-hm." He rubs his nose into his cheek. "Thanks for taking such great care of me," he slurs.
"It's the least I can do," Wolfwood scoffs lightheartedly. He tilts his head to press his nose against Vash’s, seeing the other's eyes lit up with fondness. Regardless of what he says, he still rumbles with pride that Vash is feeling and smelling a lot better from his care.
"You can't hide how much of a big softie you are," Vash giggles.
Wolfwood pinches Vash's side to show how much of a softie he really is, earning him a whine that turns into a laugh when he tickles him.
"Alright, let me grab some food." It's late in the morning and his stomach is close to grumbling. Wolfwood sits up but is held back when Vash wraps his limbs around him.
"No," Vash complains, refusing to let him go. "Stay."
It's more of a demand than a whine, so Wolfwood listens, returning to his previous position and wrapping his arms around Vash. He stays until Vash's stomach growls in hunger.
Wolfwood stays in Vash's nest for the remainder of his heat.