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He could smell it sifting slowly and heavily over the smell of burning wood. It drifted around the campfire in a lazy, smoky haze; a different sort of burning. One of the body, in fact. One Prompto knew well.
“Hey…”
“Don’t say it,” came the cross reply. Prompto went for it anyway.
“You’re in heat.”
The beginnings of heat, actually. She wasn’t full blown into it…yet, but the scent of it was starting to wash over Aranea like a thick perfume. If Prompto had been an alpha, it’d have been mouthwatering. Delectable, even. He’d have wanted her right then and there, and he was sure there were plenty of alphas who’d lost their balls thinking exactly that. However, like Aranea, Prompto was simply an omega. Instead of desire, he felt sympathy and mild second hand embarrassment for the former imperial officer. What a time to go into heat.
“Look, I can see the mopey look on your face. So I’m in heat. Get over it.” Despite her words, her tone and expression belied just how uncomfortable she was with the situation she was in. Heats put omegas in incredibly vulnerable states, especially when they were under stress. And this…?
Very stressful. Prompto did not envy her going into heat in the middle of imperial territory.
Thank the gods his wasn’t for another few weeks. He’d suffered his last one just before they’d left for Altissia, so Mother Nature’d have to have a serious grudge against him to give him another.
“As long as you’re alright…” he trailed off. She gave him a rather annoyed look, but said nothing else. They both fell back into silence and Prompto was left alone with his thoughts. He had a lot to work through now that he knew who…what he was.
-o-
It was right around the time he and Aranea managed to infiltrate another Niff science and technology operations building that Prompto realized it. The steady flow of warmth under his skin, the lightheaded feeling in the back of his mind, the heightened sense of smell, and, worst of all, the slick feeling in his pants.
Goddamn.
He wasn’t in heat, he knew that for a fact. The overwhelming desire to hump the first alpha that crossed his path was missing, and that was pretty key to a heat. Even Aranea seemed cozier with physical contact in general. He’d caught her purring against his back once while he was driving the snowmobile before she’d pulled away and tsked at herself. But Prompto knew that feeling well, and he wasn’t feeling it now. He was in a pseudo-heat, actually. Sympathy heating, some called it. Both he and Aranea were in a pretty sorry state and with her going into heat, his body was empathizing with hers by exhibiting heat symptoms. Which just plain sucked, because now Prompto was going through all of the uncomfortable things that came with heat and couldn’t make up for it with the good things. He didn’t even want sex right now, so the slick especially just made him feel gross.
Gods knew how Aranea was dealing with it so well.
It didn’t affect her fighting ability at all. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised. This was the most badass human being (besides maybe Noct) that Prompto had ever had the fortune of witnessing in a fight. No wonder she was still mowing down battery soldiers like it was no one’s business. Hell, she fought all the harder once they came across the…thing.
He didn’t know what the hell it was supposed to be, and he didn’t want to. He just wanted it dead. Especially once it set itself on fire.
But Immortalis? That was when things got a little…out there.
“Had to be a godsdamned snowmobile. Fuckin…annoys the shit outta me,” she grumbled under her breath. Prompto just barely caught it over the sound of the snowmobile engine and Besithia’s gravelly mechanical voice spitting insults at them, tilting his head to the side slightly as he shouted a very confused ‘huh?’ back at her.
“That maniac’s taking biological warfare to a whole new level,” she shouted louder this time, not even acknowledging what she’d just said before.
Uh. Okay. “Then I wanna be the one to take him down!” Prompto responded, readying the turret to fire the moment that monstrosity reappeared from beneath the snow. He could stay on track. He just had to focus on the giant robot worm that was trying to kill them and not the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his gut that told him his body was acting up.
It really was too. Somehow he was slicking harder and it was freezing against his ass. Again. Gross.
What was more distracting than that, however, was the long string of curses Aranea seemed to let loose without even taking a breath in between. He could hear it whispering over the loud torrent of gun fire and more of Immortalis’ grumping.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck shit fuck godsdammit fuck—”
Maybe it was a good thing she’d chosen to drive instead of shoot. Prompto was at least clearheaded enough to do that, despite the slightly cloying wooziness that nudged at him periodically. It felt like a bad fever, which might have been nice in such a snowy environment except nothing was nice when one sympathy heated.
And Immortalis simply Would. Not. Die.
It was like shooting into the sky and hoping he riddled the sun with bullets. This thing kept following them, brandishing more and more dangerous weaponry at them each time Prompto managed to piss it off more. If he didn’t end this soon, they’d both be a little hotter than just ‘in heat’.
“Is it dead yet?” she shouted back at him.
Immortalis resorted to roaring incoherently.
“No! Not yet!” Prompto shouted back.
“Well fucking kill it already! I can’t handle straddling this thing any longer!”
Prompto couldn’t figure out for the life of him what the snowmobile had done to her—oh wait. Oh.
Oh…
“Tmi,” he whispered under his breath. She heard him, miraculously.
“Shut up, blondie. Just shoot.”
And shoot, he did. Right in the center of that ugly worm’s uglier glowing maw until eventually, finally, it slowed to a halt, recoiling in the resulting explosion before groaning pitifully. It hit the snow with a painful thud, powering down until its metal gleamed a dull gray. It didn’t get back up.
Aranea continued driving some distance away from it, likely on the off-chance it might’ve somehow revived itself and kept chasing them, before finally pulling over. Snow was sent flying in the swerving stop, flecks of it splatting against Prompto’s face, and he found himself sputtering as he launched himself out of his seat, wiping dirty snow off out his cheeks and mouth. Aranea, for her part, practically flew off of the vehicle, clutching at her “pearls” tenderly.
“What the fffffuuuuuck,” she groaned.
“Are you, uh…” was Prompto really about to ask this. “Are you in pain?”
She was silent for a moment, refusing to look at him as she slowly pulled her hands away from her crotch. Eventually, she shot him an annoyed look.
“No.”
Oh. He really hoped it wasn’t the other th—
“I think all those vibrations got me off.”
It was the other thing. Prompto really didn’t need to know that.
“Don’t make that face at me,” she continued. “It’s not like you haven’t gone through it. Hell, from the way you smell, it seems like you are going through it.”
“Not fully. Sympathy heat.”
Aranea grimaced at that.
“Sorry, kid. I know what that feels like.”
And that was all there was to that, it seemed. She didn’t bother elaborating.
“I uh…should probably be heading to Gralea then…” Prompto said, unsure of what else to say. He supposed he should thank her but she’d already turned away from him, a sign that he ought to leave her be.
“Well don’t let me hold you up,” she said, somewhat dismissively. Nodding awkwardly, Prompto turned to go right as she spoke up again.
“Hey.”
“…Hmm?”
“You did good, kid.”
That was…that was a compliment. Wow. Prompto hadn’t even realized she was paying him any mind, what with her own problems to worry about. Grinning at the praise, he shot a pair of finger guns at her.
“Couldn’t have done it without you, gurl.” She answered with a snort and an eyeroll. “Seriously though…”
Prompto had his own…problems to work through, and it was about time he talked to the guys about it.
“Well…I’d better catch up with Noct and the guys. He’s got a lot on his plate,” And how. Prompto could handle himself when it came down to it, but Noctis was grieving and forced to wear a ring that drained his life away. Prompto didn’t want him going through that alone. “I figure he could probably use a hand taking back the crystal, and all that.”
A more mischievous, perky smile met his lips then, bringing a small matching one to Aranea’s face. “And who knows,” he continued. “Maybe I’ll take it back before he does.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” she laughed, a healthy glow on her skin to complement the radiant smile…well okay, that was the heat. But still. It brought a little pep to Prompto’s step, reminded him that he was lucky to have the chance to tell his closest friends the truth about his past. It was scary…and he had no clue if they’d really accept him. But it was worth a shot. Aranea clearly agreed with the sentiment, congratulating him on ‘becoming a man’ before pointing him in the direction of Gralea. Determined now, despite the setbacks and the fighting and the…weird pseudo heat symptoms, he climbed back on the snowmobile and readied for the journey ahead.
“Sure you don’t need a ride?” he asked, nodding his head towards the back of the snowmobile. Aranea shook her head and pulled out a device, something of Niff make that glowed red with magitek. In the middle was a button that she tapped with her thumb.
“Nah, I’m good. You go ahead, I’ve got my men to come pick me up. Besides…” She looked him up and down then. “You don’t have a knot.”
Okay, Prompto was going now.
The sounds of Aranea’s laughter followed Prompto as he sped away. Neither of them heard the quieter tones of a victory fanfare being hummed atop a snowy peak.