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“You can’t do anything without Reo, can you?!” Isagi snarls, pulling Nagi down by the front of his body suit so they can see eye-to-eye. “What are you, a poor little omega without his alpha?”
Nagi’s eyes narrow. This is all so troublesome, Isagi making him feel emotions he’s rarely ever felt before. Frustration, anger.
Curiosity.
His own grip on Isagi’s hair not slackening, Nagi stares down at him. “Well, you can’t do anything without Bachira. What does that make you?”
“…Shut up,” Isagi mutters.
Right on the money, huh?
Pushing Nagi off, Isagi puts some space between them, nose scrunching up at the pheromones Nagi belatedly realizes he’s leaking. Nagi gets a sniff of Isagi’s irritation too, but surprisingly, it doesn’t really smell as bad as the other alphas he has met before.
It was bad enough that Hakuho was mainly comprised of the typical alphas at the top of the pyramid, the reason why he preferred to bury his nose in his arm or hang out on the rooftop, but now he has to be in an all-alpha facility for months. Even worse, they’re aggressive alphas—not the ones who simply have their faces stuck in a book, but the type to literally push people off just to score a goal.
He wanted to leave as soon as possible, but after seeing that light, after learning this curiosity…
“I’ll prove I can fight by myself,” Isagi says before shoving him off.
Nagi staggers back a step, but he still stands tall over Isagi. “You can’t fight by yourself right now. Keep your eyes on me.”
His dreams are on the line too, even if they weren’t his to begin with. But he wants to stay by Isagi’s side and get stronger with him. Whatever that means.
Isagi furrows his brows and opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, the door opens to reveal the king, followed by… who is that again?
The other blob, apparently some guy called Naruhaya, Isagi’s previous teammate in Team Z, tells them about the 24-hour rule, about how they lost and their third member got chosen. About how they could wait for other teams to arrive, not necessarily needing to fight each other.
Nagi smells Isagi loosening up before he sees his shoulder relax, a hint of doubt still lingering in his scent as he sighs. “Let’s just go to our room first, Nagi.”
Nagi doesn’t tear his gaze away, even when the king starts to badger him, but he nonetheless relents. “Fine.” He passes by Isagi, pressing his fingers against his neck where he knows the scent markers are before making his way to their shared room.
There’s a long silence before he begins to hear the sound of hurried footsteps, and a moment later, Isagi falls into step next to him. Nagi gets a whiff of his own scent on the other alpha—it’s faint, but it’s there.
It’s… nice.
“Sorry about earlier,” Isagi says as they enter the room.
“Mhmm. Don’t worry about it.” Nagi climbs up to the top bunk. It’s so high that he can knock the ceiling, and he proceeds to do exactly that. Thud, thud. “It’s like a prison in here, Isagi.”
“There’s also a dining area and a shower. Just some minor changes to the layout we have before.” Isagi pauses, sniffs. And then, “I’ll hit the showers first.”
Nagi continues to tap on the ceiling. As his gaze slides over to Isagi, he briefly wonders if the walls are soundproof.
He also wonders why it’s nice to smell their scents mingling together, and the idea of Isagi washing it off… aggravates him. Which is odd.
Isagi makes him feel a lot of things lately.
“Taking a shower is too much work,” Nagi drawls. “We should take a bath instead.”
“E-eh?!” Isagi’s face reddens. “Like, t-together?”
Nagi blinks as Isagi’s face becomes even redder after he asks the question.
Is he embarrassed? He doesn’t think it’s so unusual; he and Reo bathe together all the time when they’re done with practice. Less hassle that way.
“Mhm. Need help washing my hair.” It’s too much work to do it himself, and Isagi looks the type to know what he’s doing.
Nagi is able to decipher some of the expressions that Isagi makes after hearing his response. At first, there was surprise, then slight annoyance, acceptance, then—
Isagi slaps his forehead and drags the hand down his face, obscuring the last expression before Nagi can pinpoint it.
“Yeah,” Isagi says with a shake of his head. “Clear our minds in the showers first.”
Nagi pumps his fist in the air.
“It’s a good nap place too,” he muses as he climbs off the bed. He’s not too sure why the prospect of bathing with Isagi excites him, but Isagi is bringing many new things into his life anyway that he doesn’t bother questioning it further.
The bathroom is empty when they arrive. Is there no one else in this stage yet aside from the king’s team?
“It’s nice that it’s just us here,” Isagi says as he takes his clothes off. “We should take advantage of it while we can.”
…Huh.
It is nice that it’s just them.
Nagi starts to strip, tossing his clothes anywhere. Not bothering to grab a towel from the shelf, he heads to the bath and sinks into the water up to his nose. It feels good on his aching body, muscles he’s still not used to working.
He misses when he could just game all day.
“Feels good,” Nagi says, causing bubbles in the water. The room is empty. Just him and Isagi.
It feels really, really good.
Isagi sighs, picking up Nagi’s clothes and folding them neatly next to his.
“Nagi, we should be washing here first,” he says. Nagi’s gaze follows him as he walks to one of the stools, tightening the towel around his hips before sitting down.
“This is washing,” Nagi argues, closing his eyes.
He’s close to falling asleep when he hears a moan right after the splash of water. Eyes snapping open, Nagi looks over, curious about the way Isagi washes himself. He must be doing something special to sound so pleased like that.
Strangely enough, Nagi wants to hear more of that, too.
“It’s not,” Isagi replies. He scrubs his arms, down to his wrist, then to his fingers, even making sure to remove the grime under his fingernails. So meticulous. So troublesome. “If you don’t come here before I finish washing myself, I won’t help you wash your hair."
Nagi blows more bubbles in the water before resting his chin on the ledge. After spending a moment to observe Isagi, he rises from the bath and plops down on the floor next to him, ankles crossed.
“Will you wash me too then?”
It’s quick, a blink or you’ll miss it, but Nagi is positive Isagi looked down before meeting his eyes. “I only agreed to wash your hair, you know."
Hmm, interesting. “I know.”
Isagi gives him an ‘I can’t believe you’ look, but he doesn’t say anything else. After finishing up his wash, he moves his stool to sit behind Nagi.
“You need to learn to wash yourself.”
“I do wash myself.”
There’s a pause from behind him, and Nagi isn’t really sure what the problem is, but then Isagi’s fingers are in his hair and he forgets what the conversation was about in the first place.
Isagi’s fingers are gentle as they massage the shampoo onto his scalp. Nagi can fall asleep like this, lulled by the sensation and the heat around them. Just like his own wash, Isagi takes his time, making sure Nagi is all lathered up and every centimeter of his hair is coated.
Nagi lets out a little sigh without realizing, the touch feeling so good it almost has him in a trance.
The air shifts.
Isagi’s hands pull away. When Nagi opens his eyes, there’s water in his view as Isagi dumps the bucket over his head, and he purses his lips as the shampoo gets in his eye.
It’s a quick finish, and Isagi doesn’t say a word as he wraps a towel around his waist before making a beeline for the exit.
Furrowing his brows, Nagi presses a hand on his lower stomach. It’s weird. It feels like something’s swirling inside him, an unknown emotion threatening to explode from within.
How rude of Isagi to suddenly leave. He still hasn’t gotten his wash.
The feeling makes its presence known again when Rin steals Isagi from them.
“This is bad,” Nagi says as the door closes, hands on his stomach before sliding it up to touch his chest. “I don’t like this.”
“You’re both alphas,” Barou spits out; even without specifics, they both know what he’s talking about. “Well, whatever. As long as you do proper courting. Not that I give a shit.”
Chigiri sighs and stretches his legs outward, reaching his toes for a light stretch. “I think I can see where this is going.”
Nagi doesn’t understand why, but his entire being is screaming, demanding, compelling him to— “Claim him. I have to claim him.”
“You can’t do that shit. Again, we’re all fucking alphas, and proper courting—”
“For someone who supposedly doesn’t give a shit, King, you awfully care a lot—”
Nagi ignores them and clutches his shirt tighter, not taking his eyes off the door Isagi just walked through. He’s not going to let him leave again. He’s going to quench this feeling.
He needs to have him.
Mine.