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It is uncomfortably warm today. I stare at the cloth ice pack I’d brought into the living room with me to lie on the couch. It didn’t work when I put it on my head or stomach. In fact, it was pretty uncomfortable too. What a bad day off.
By the way, I would rather have rested in my own room, but Cha Eugene’s pheromones mixing with mine drove me crazy, so I’m in the living room now.
“Ugh…”
“M-Moondae? Are you alright?”
I look up to Seon Ahyeon leaning over the back of the couch. Right, he also has the day off. His eyes stare at my face, then the ice pack I was holding above my stomach. “Is the ice pack… D-did it melt?”
“No, it just doesn’t work for me,” I say.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
I wonder if I should tell him. Seon Ahyeon is prone to worrying, but he’ll worry anyway if I don’t tell him since he’s caught me in an odd situation.
“I’m feeling a little hot and thought it’d help.”
“H-hot? How?” Seon Ahyeon asks. A flustered look appears on his face. “I-is it your h-heat?”
I frown. “No, it’s not that.” I was an alpha in my previous life, and now an omega as Park Moondae, so I don’t know how heats usually are, but they can’t be all that different from how ruts feel, right? “At least, I don’t think so. I can’t remember my last one.”
Seon Ahyeon gets a look of determination on his face. “W-we should pre-prepare if it is.”
We? Well, he is also an omega, so he knows what he’s talking about. “Okay. Thank you.”
“N-no! It-it’s what I should d-do! As a fr-riend!” Seon Ahyeon looks happy as he says this. “I-if you have a-any other qu-questions, y-you should tell-l me.”
“Alright,” I say as I move to sit up. I do have a question to ask. “Seon Ahyeon, during your heats, do smells bother you?”
“Smells?”
“Others’ pheromones. When I was in my and Cha Eugene’s room, I felt agitated.”
“H-huh? Agitated?”
“Yes. I don’t know why though.” It felt a little weird confessing all this to Seon Ahyeon, but he only stared at me with bright eyes, so I let myself talk.
“Ah, um… M-Moondae, do you f-feel agitated right now in the l-living room? With me?”
Now that he’s mentioned it, I don’t. I felt less uncomfortable than I was earlier.
“No, I don’t. I feel comfortable right now.”
“Oh… B-but not a lot, r-right?”
Is he psychic? “Yes.” Well, he’s helping me, so it’d be good to be honest.
Seon Ahyeon nods his head. “I-I think you’re in n-nesting period, then.”
Nesting. I’ve heard about it. Omegas tend to nest when stressed or nearing their heat, though it really can happen at any time. I wasn’t particularly stressed about anything at the moment, and I don’t think a heat is coming up. In any case, I should resolve my secondary gender’s instinct before it becomes a problem.
“I see, I didn’t realize since I can’t remember the last time I’d nested. Thank you.” I get up fully from the couch to go to my room and investigate how to get over a nesting period before Seon Ahyeon stops me.
“W-wait! M-Moondae. How d-do you plan t-to nest? D-Do you…?”
I stare at Seon Ahyeon as his face turns red. “What?”
“N-Nesting…d-do you n-need my clothes?”
Oh shit. That’s right. I had heard something like this before, that omegas would gather the items of people they like—mostly clothing—to keep around them inside the nesting place. Seon Ahyeon knows that Park Moondae has no parents or other close family, so his nest…Shit.
“I-If you don’t w-want my c-clothes, then—!”
“I don’t know if I want them or not,” I say. “I don’t know how to build a nest.” I decide to be honest again.
Surprise flickers through Seon Ahyeon’s face before it settles back into his normal hesitant expression. “O-oh. Okay. I u-usually t-take my bedsh-sheets and p-put them wh-where I want.”
Like this, Seon Ahyeon guides me in nest-building. He gets extra blankets and pillows from the hallway closet to lay on the floor at the end of the couch I had sat on. The uncomfortable warmness in my body settles down as I move to sit cross-legged in the nest I had made. More content than I was hours ago, I pick up and knead a pillow with my hands.
“A-are you o-okay now?”
“A little better.” My eyes look at the nest we’ve made. Some of Seon Ahyeon’s scent lingers on the blankets he grabbed for me. Instinctively, my hands tug on one of those blankets to wrap around myself. “Thank you.”
Seon Ahyeon looks at me silently for a second before jumping. “O-of course! I-I’m happy t-to help!” He keeps on looking at me, and before I could prompt him to speak, he says, “Y-you should rest.”
I am feeling a little tired. Did making this nest take that much energy? Maybe it was also the distress from my instincts…
I end up falling asleep to Seon Ahyeon gently adjusting my position and the bedding around me.
“...-idn’t k-know how to ma-ake a nest.”
“Thanks for…leave him…”
Bang! “I got my shirt!”
“Be quiet! Hyung’s sleeping!”
I groan as the noise around me grows louder. A barrage of strong scents surrounds the living room, all of them familiar. My nose scrunches up as my brain slowly picks them apart.
The smell of coconut shampoo and laundry detergent comes closer. The laundry detergent smell is new, but the coconut shampoo smell…
“M-Moondae, are you a-awake?”
“Seon Ahyeon…?” I blink to wake myself up. “It smells.”
“Ah! The o-others came back…”
“Do you want us to leave?” A new voice enters the conversation. I look over Seon Ahyeon’s shoulder at Bae Sejin. He smells of ink and unscented lotion like normal.
The thought of him and everyone else leaving when they just came home makes me uncomfortable. “No, stay.”
I start to sit up in my nest. Did Seon Ahyeon lay me down? “Some of you guys had a late schedule, right? Are you hungry? I’ll make you something.” I was about to step out of my nest before I noticed new colors in it.
“Huh? Who…?” I pick up a baby blue vest that smelled of coconut and lemon.
“Ah! I-it was me!” Seon Ahyeon says. “I w-went through everyone’s laundry…W-with p-permission!”
I couldn’t help rustling through the clothes tucked inside the folds of my nest. Purple, black, orange, green, pink—all sorts of colors and smells hit my senses as I find them.
— (If Moondae had looked up at the members that were loosely crowding him, he would’ve seen happy and smug smiles.)
“When Ahyeon texted everyone that you had started nesting and needed materials, we thought it’d be good to come home early.” Ryu Chungwoo said as he offered a hand to help me stand. I take it.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I say, though inside I was pleased.
“It’s your first nesting period in a while, right? My mom always preferred it I come home early when I went out~” Lee Sejin laughed. I smack his bicep as I walk past him toward the kitchen.
“Are you calling me your mom?”
“What’s the saying? If the shoe fits~”
“You don’t need my shirt anymore?” Cha Eugene asks. I look at his face then down to the white tank top. He looks kind of pitiful.
I click my tongue. “Drop it inside. I’ll put it in somewhere later.” I ignore his happy noises and the sudden spike of saltwater scent in the air.
Kim Raebin follows directly after me, hovering behind me as I take out kitchen utensils. The others chatter about outside as they set the table.
“Hyung, do you need help? My grandparents liked it whenever I helped them with things during their nesting periods. Ah, not that I think hyung is incapable or anything! My grandparents just liked it when I was around during these times.”
I can’t help the subconscious urge to pat Kim Raebin on the head. He looks at me with a funny expression. I smile slightly.
“It’s fine, I can do it. You just sit out there with the others and wait.” He nods at my words and leaves, his scent of herbal tea calming my instincts as I went around the kitchen to make a simple fried rice with leftovers.
Omegan instincts are annoying, but at least they could be easily solved. Simply being around the others seems to make me more comfortable, so maybe it’s something to do with sociability? I make a note to look into nesting and the feelings associated with it later.
“Moondae-Moondae, hurry up! Eugene looks like he’s about to run in there himself to eat it all~”
“Yes! I really will!”
“Hey! Cha Eugene, Hyung just started cooking!”
“You guys…are really too loud!”
“Now now, everyone calm down.”
“Y-yes! Moondae w-will come quick!”
The warmth in my chest stays around for longer than the dining table chatter does.