Work Text:
He woke up with a burning body. He desperately crawled out of his blanket, the cocoon of nocturnal comfort becoming his morning prison. His claws extended beyond what was possible. He scratched everywhere the fire was felt.
“—!”
He knew his Mami was trying hard to stop him. He could smell her warm paws nearing him.
He couldn’t hurt her. He couldn’t.
Nithya Balay woke up to a low whine that eerily resembled her night peony’s spikes….
With a sinking heart she leapt out of bed and ran to the sight of Dae-jung ripping apart newly healed skin with his claws, canine face twisted into something desperate and tortured.
She pushed back the urge to cry and tried to touch him, anything.
He snarled at her.
“Dae-jung, please…”
Her voice cracked as she begged, sitting at the foot of his bed. She reached out a paw, praying that it worked, that her night peony would still be young enough to recognise her as his “pack leader”.
It hadn’t.
She could do nothing but wait until he calmed down, her heartbeat thundering in the silence except for his steadying breaths.
“Mami…”
He never got the chance to continue, as she immediately hugged him, a short white rabbit mother comforting her tall black dog son. The sobs that wracked through him were softly let out by her tender touch, taking care to avoid most of his wounds.
They said nothing until Dae-jung wiped away his snot and looked at his clock.
“It’s five in the morning.”
“We can have an early breakfast,” she replied, “Kimbap, miso soup and dosa?”
He hesitantly smiled at the suggestion. It sounded nice and comforting, they both needed it.
She stopped him from following her outside and looked at him. He spent the next ten minutes cleaning himself and the room before going down to see Mami waiting, all the dishes she promised warm on the table.
They said grace and ate. He avoided the elephant in the room and paid attention to the food, becoming better than the past. He noticed how the portions were intentionally bigger, enough for her to pack into two bentos by his guesstimate. Dae-jung couldn’t help but frown before looking at Mami.
She smiled her sneaky smile at him. He sighed.
“Eri won’t like it…”, he tried to warn her. All he could picture was his favorite human making an exaggeratedly annoyed face before giving her thanks in the form of neat, straightforward notes. It was difficult keeping her from paying something in return for his gifts, but he was making good progress.
He stopped daydreaming when he remembered he was eating breakfast with Mami. Her wide smile was not helping.
“You did it on purpose!” he pointed at her.
“Did what exactly, hmm?”
He blushed as she continued eating. He didn't confirm anything and stubbornly ate instead.
Marguerite di Mateo was well aware that her best friend was wounded horribly by another of his monthly hormonal imbalances, technically the same and different from a woman's menstrual cycle, a “spike” in layman's terms. It was bad enough that she wasn't born an Alpha to stabilize him with her scent alone, Dae-jung had the audacity to treat it like it was normal.
She was ready to punch her dog in the face after she had fed him with the di Mateo's specialty sick soup and wrapped in a blanket. They were walking together for lunch, up on the rooftop that was not allowed during school hours. Couples and friends go there all the time, why couldn't they?
By the last minute she pulled his sleeve, careful not to tug too hard and ruin his bandages. She poked around the school earlier and found a private space for them. She hoped he'd like it.
Dae-jung cautiously followed Eri’s lead, walking until they were in the gym. They walked to the right, in an alley between it and the audio-visual hall.
A metal staircase was built there, probably a fire escape. Weeds and wildflowers were in patches on broken concrete, a rare sight in their school. The rust on the railings added to its unsafe charm.
She sat down on the fourth step and pointed to the third one, where he sat.
He hadn't expected her hands to gently scratch behind his ears. He sighed contentedly and leaned against her, blissfully forgetting the lunch they were supposed to share.
Marguerite could never get used to seeing Dae-jung melt to her touch. It always fired up her instinct to protect her tall, strong dog.
Moments just like what they were doing now made her believe that everything would work out. She ruffled the fur on his head and beamed when he nuzzled her.
The action gave her a glimpse of his neck, lined with thin scratches. She bit her lip in worry.
Grand-père Opa had said that they were lucky to be born as Betas, to never suffer the imbalances Alphas and Omegas lived through because of their genes.
She couldn't bear to see him in pain. The feeling of helplessness kept her saying things that made it awkward for them. She was sure that this petting session lunch was going to be one of them.
But she just couldn't shut up and smile when he probably tried to wound himself to numb the pain. Miss Balay would understand.
From the way Eri slightly stiffened her shoulders, he knew she was about to say something stupid for his sake.
Before he could interrupt her, she began her useless and earnest promise.
“I wish I could've an Alpha.”
The longing in her voice, to free him from the pain he was born in, was twisting his heart. Dae-jung didn't want her wish, although he treasured the love behind it.
He didn't want to think of a life where Eri woke up feeling like everything was burning.
He didn't want to see her worry about using drugs to limit his very body's purpose as a price to pay for a painless life.
The only reason why he bothered with surviving, aside from Mami, was to see Eri free from the natural torture of being an Alpha or Omega.
To hear her wish for him was gut wrenching. He looked up to see her bowing down at him, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. He shifted his position until he was able to wrap her in a hug, tucking her head to the fluffiest corner of his chest just above his heart.
His heartbeat hopefully helped in calming her down. The tables always turned, Eri wanted to comfort but he always comforted her first. It would've been laughable if it wasn't so saddening.