Work Text:
Youx didn’t have any shirts left.
“Or, well, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here” he thought. Maybe he was exaggerating. He had work shirts left.
Only work shirts .
It’d been a couple months since Pearlie had taken a liking to wearing his shirts to sleep, but usually that just meant being down by one shirt. And sure laundry sometimes took longer than usual, but it’s not like he didn’t have a decent amount of t-shirts. The fact that his drawers were now noticeably empty was, in fact, starting to feel a little bit ridiculous.
He had been gone for barely over a week on a business trip per Ember’s request, and it seems that in his haste to take a shower and change into a more comfortable outfit, he hadn’t paid enough attention to things being out of place. Now he’s paying for his carelessness, and forced to try and figure out where his clothes went. He takes a hoodie from the back of his closet. It’s old and he hasn’t worn it in ages but desperate times call for desperate measures and it’s been too cold the past few weeks to go topless.
Youx ventures out of his room and into the corridor. It’s empty and eerily quiet, especially for this time of the night. Looking around everything seems still, as he begins noticing the slim layer of dust that has begun forming over things that usually get shuffled around a lot, such as the chairs in the living room. He’s also begun to realise that he can’t even smell them anymore, only faint traces of Pearlie’s saltwater scent, but that’s to be expected as he’s most attuned to hers.
“Team!” He calls out, maybe a bit too loudly “If you guys are here you have to report for duty immediately - I don’t have the time or energy to deal with this right now”. His voice wavers a little bit. He receives no response. It’s common for some of them to be out sometimes but usually not all of them at once, and especially not without letting him know.
He can feel himself start to unravel so he takes a deep breath.
“ You’re just tired from the mission ”, he thinks “ they’re probably safe there's no need to stress about them ”. He takes his comms out of his pockets and makes a call.
It’s not until the third attempt that Pearlie picks up.
“Youx?” she asks, groggy from sleep “Is there anything wrong?”
“Anything wrong? Like, realising everyone is gone kinda wrong? Or like someone has stolen all my clothes kinda wrong? Because at the moment it’s both and my patience is thinning.” he replies.
“Wait... are you back already?”
“Of course I’m back already!”
“Weren’t you meant to come back on Wednesday?”
“... Pearlie ... it is Wednesday”
“Oh. That explains some things. A lot actually.” she says. “Anyways we’ve all just been staying in the upper floor since the screening room was finished - it’s just like a slumber party! Come on up!”
Youx considers his options but at this point he figures he has nothing else to lose. He takes the elevator two floors up, and taps his keycard into the scanner to let himself in.
He’s not quite sure what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t this. The first thing he notices is, for lack of a better world, a pile of clothes strewn about in the middle of the room. The one that the rest of the team seems to be using as a makeshift bed at the moment. He spots a couple of his shirts and logic tells him the rest are probably there as well; intermingled with everyone else’s outfits. Then, he notices the team. They’re not so much actively cuddling but rather calmly laying on top of each other. Unhelpfully, his mind conjures up an image of kittens in a basket. An action movie plays on the wall projector, and Youx realises they haven’t heard him come in.
“Are you guys... nesting?” he hates how his voice wavers at the end.
It’s not like Youx doesn’t nest. He does whenever life gets too stressful, or before his heats come in. A perfectly natural biological instinct that he has no reason being ashamed of. It’s just that, especially growing up in a more conservative upbringing, nesting was something closer to an open secret. He would do it, no one in his family would mention it, and life would keep on going. It wasn’t until much later in his adult life that he realised not only a surprisingly large amount of the people in his life, not just omegas, nested often - and they nested in groups. Be it with family or close friends, a lot of people rely on it as bonding time. It helps build trust.
So here’s not going to chastise the team for nesting. It’s probably going to do wonders for teamwork if they can rely more on each other. He just feels a teensy tiny bit cut that they’re doing it without him. He hears Pearlie’s voice before his train of thought can keep spiralling out of control.
“Youx! You made it” she beams at him “come join us, we saved you a spot!”
“I... uh...” he falters a bit
“Come on, I promise we don’t bite”
He knows it’s all in jest, but can feel the heat start to rise in his cheeks a little. He pushes past his initial hesitation and makes his way to the clothes pile.
The “spot” Pearlie had saved for him implied a lot more close contact with everyone else than he had expected. His head lay on Pearlie’s stomach, Djinn’s legs on top of his, and Jet leaned his back against Youx’s left side. Alexander was the only one not in direct contact, but he needed only to stretch his arm a tiny bit to reach him. It felt reassuring having them all be in such close contact so he pushed his restlessness back in and tried to focus on the film. Pearlie’s hand made their way to his hair and she gently ran her fingers through it.
He felt at ease.
—————
Youx isn’t completely sure what time it is now. He’s dozed off a couple of times and woken up only to try and focus on whichever film was playing in a sleepy haze. This time, however, it’s not the same. He notices that Pearlie has stopped playing with his hair and that everyone else on the team is awake, looking at him. A million thoughts race through his brain and the movie feels like an afterthought, but he’s still at a loss for words.
He simply settles for “What are y’all looking at?” in the hopes that it doesn’t sound too defensive or antagonistic.
They all stare at him for a couple of seconds longer, until Alexander (bless his soul) takes pity on him.
“Captain...” he says slowly, as to not alarm him “you’re purring”
Pearlie and Djinn try to stifle a laugh.
Youx feels his face flush.
“What?! No! Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t purr” he knows he’s just digging himself a hole here but he’s desperately trying to hold on to the last shreds of his dignity.
“I-It’s not a bad thing! Research shows that over 70% percent of omegas purr when they feel safe and content and if anything we’re glad that you feel so at ease with the team and-“
Pearlie stops Alexander before he ends up rambling more than necessary.
“Personally, I think it’s cute,” she says.
Youx’s face feels like it’s on fire. But, denying it further would be worse, so he takes his losses.
“Damn right it is,” he says, trying to not make eye contact with any of them “Now let me sleep - we have a long hair tomorrow”
“Aye aye captain~” Pearlie replies in what clearly is a lightly mocking tone. The rest of them burst out laughing but Youx waits patiently for them to calm back down and attempts to resume his sleep.
If he starts purring again, they make sure not to mention it.