Work Text:
Feng Xin hated it in heaven.
Too much talking around what needs to be said and using scents instead. With all the conflicting scents, he felt like shit. So much so, he didn’t notice Mu Qing walking up until the alpha put him in a headlock and started dragging him off.
“Hey! What the fuck?! Let me go!” Feng Xin struggled to get free, but the beta was already thrown off balance and Mu Qing had a firm hold on his neck. That didn’t stop him from fighting every step and cursing up a storm, barely aware of where they were going.
Then he was thrown into a nest.
“Sleep.” Mu Qing says, taking his time getting into the nest with him.
“What?” The beta mumbles, trying to figure out why he was in Xuan Zhen palace’s guest room.
“Has your season made you so stupid that you don’t understand the word sleep?” The alpha rolls his eyes, fluffing a pillow.
“I haven’t! Wait, season? I don’t’ have ruts or heats.” Feng Xin stares at his rival, wondering if the other had forgotten what his secondary sex was.
“I know you don’t, but you do have seasons. You and every other beta have a season, it just doesn’t affect you as noticeably as a heat or rut, but it happens at regular intervals.” Mu Qing reaches over and pokes the beta’s forehead. “You get headaches and smells become overwhelming which makes you even worse than usual to deal with.”
Feng Xin wanted to bite the alpha’s finger off!… which proved his point. The beta sighs, rubbing his head. It hurt less than before. “If its not a heat or rut, what’s it called?”
“I don’t know.”
Feng Xin stared at him in disbelief. “You don’t know?”
“I don’t know.” Mu Qing rolls over. “There’s not records on it, so I don’t have a name for it. The fact you didn’t know you were experiencing one is proof that its not well known. So no, I don’t know what its called.”
“Okay.” The archer sighs. He stares at the alpha’s back for a while, then turned onto his side and scooted so they’d be back to back. He couldn’t hear it, but with them touching, he could feel Mu Qing’s purring. He… wasn’t sure what to do with that. So he asked something maybe unrelated, “I thought only omegas learned how to make nests.”
“In the upper class.” Mu Qing mutters.
“Huh?”
“In the upper class.” He repeats. “That’s what you’re taught, but in the lower class, it’s not that strict.”
“Oh.” Feng Xin whispers. “… Who taught you?”
“My mom. Now go to sleep or I’ll kill you.”
Feng Xin complied, feeling like he stepped into something he didn’t know how to deal with. So, he closed his eyes, willing himself into a nap, unsure if something had changed between them or not.