Work Text:
It's not every day that Nicholas goes around sporting a bite mark on his neck. This particular day has been a hectic one and covering up a bite mark is seriously the least of his concerns. He had left one of his files in Kei's car when they carpooled home from work sometime that week and he realized that he needed them for his upcoming meeting. Upcoming as in tomorrow.
So yeah, a bite mark on his neck was the least of his problems for now. Not to mention that it wasn't much of a story either. Just the aftermath of Nicholas being on his a-game at basketball and Maki being on a losing streak.
Nicholas rubs over the mark as he rides the elevator up to Kei's floor. Sure, he had won a good six times over Maki— even after letting the younger go on offense first in all their 1v1s— but that didn't mean he deserved to be tackled by a 184cm and counting personification of a puppy onto the asphalt. And he deserved even less the bite mark that he now sported on his neck, a result of tussling with Maki and the alpha trying to show him who was boss. Spoilers: he put the younger into a chokehold after the bite and he had to tap himself out. So really, Nicholas won the war at the end, but still walked out with a nasty battlescar.
When he reaches Kei's door he knocks. He hasn't forgotten or accidentally scared the shit out of Fuma after the first time he broke in. Nicholas didn't want to make himself a repeat offender, especially on his mission to befriend the alpha.
The door swings open and he's dragged in before he can say a word.
"Nichol," Kei's voice curls around the nickname before he brings him to the kitchen. "Be honest, does this taste bad?"
A spoon is immediately in front of his face and there's something suspiciously tteok-like in front of his face. Still, he dodges, prioritizing his stomach's safety first.
"What is this?" Nicholas glances at the pot, which is filled with these...tteok-like beings, floating like fallen leaves against the backdrop of some clear soup.
"Tteokguk," Nicholas stares at Kei long enough for the older to blush. "Stop, it's not...Euijoo-related. Me and Taki are having a competition to recreate this tteokguk that we had once in Korea." Nicholas sticks out his tongue just to be annoying. Kei falls for the bait too easily, going to poke his side.
Kei freezes mid-poke, his eyes latching onto Nicholas' throat, "Woah, is this the thing you told me about before?"
Kei steps closer to poke at the bite. It's a savage looking thing, clamped over the right side of his neck because Maki didn't know how to do things half way. When he saw it in the mirror for the first time, he immediately snapped a picture to send to the groupchat which prompted a bunch of alarmed texts from Kei.
('Did he break skin?' The concerned older wrote. 'You should go to the doctor if he did.'
'Yeah,' Yuma wrote and Nicholas could practically see the smirk on his face. 'What if Maki gives you rabies?'
Harua followed with a joking, 'Is he even vaccinated?' and a thinking emoji.
Maki replies just as expected:
'FOR THE LAST TIME: I DON'T HAVE RABIES! AND I'M UP TO DATE WITH ALL MY VACCINATIONS, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!' Nicholas had snickered at the messages. Maki's too easy to rile up sometimes.)
Kei snorts, and Nicholas hisses when Kei's fingers press down, "It would be sexy, if the circumstances were different."
"Yeah, but it isn't," Nicholas rolls his neck. "Now I'm gonna have to figure out how to cover it up before work tomorrow. I don't think concealer is gonna help, honestly."
"Oh, I have some tips for you...if you try my tteokguk, unless..." Kei wiggles his eyebrows. "Unless you want your co-workers to see."
Nicholas shoves at the omega's shoulder, scowling as he grabs an empty bowl, "Shut up."
"It would be the juiciest office gossip for the whole week," Kei says, making dramatic gestures as he pitches his voice up. "Oh, did you see Nicholas-san today? It isn't that crazy? It's not even a claiming mark!"
"Your girl voice needs work," Nicholas criticizes as he grips the ladle tighter in his hands. He contemplates hitting Kei over the head for two seconds. He refrains from attempting homicide, out of sheer loyalty for their years of friendship.
"Oh, I never thought the cool and calm Nico-senpai would have such an active and scandalous sex li—" Nicholas shoves his elbow into Kei's stomach. The omega makes an affronted noise.
"Let me try your tteokguk in peace," Nicholas turns, making his way to the living room. There, settled onto the couch on his phone, is Fuma.
"Oh, Fuma-san," Nicholas grins, forgetting all about Kei's teasing and sitting on the other end of the couch. A safe distance. "How long have you been here?"
"The whole time," Fuma says, glancing up at Nicholas. "Did he ask you to taste test as well?" Nicholas sees the empty bowl on the table, evidence of Fuma's own tasting.
Nicholas stirs the soup, "If you managed to finish it all, I'm assuming it isn't poisonous."
"Hey!" Kei says from the kitchen. "I can hear that! Don't make me expose you!"
"Expose me for what!" Nicholas shouts back, before shoving a piece of mishapen tteok into his mouth. "Also did you dump the entire thing of fish sauce in here, or what?"
"Nichol!" Kei yells and a kitchen towel launches itself in the beta's direction. He manages to dodge, looking back at Fuma who seems to be focused on...his neck.
Right. Of course Fuma would see.
"You can ask," Nicholas' lips tick into a smile, the beginnings of a plan forming in his mind. "I don't mind."
"Doesn't it...hurt?" Fuma glances back down at his phone like he feels awkward at the question.
Nicholas nods, "There's certainly ways to do it where it doesn't hurt. But yeah, this one did." He keeps his words vague on purpose, laying a trap meant to snare one person and one person only. He cracks his neck. Fuma's eyes follow the movement.
The alpha wets his lip, phone lying abandoned on his lap, "Since it hurts, doesn't it bother you that they...treat you like that?"
Hook. Line. Sinker.
"Is Fuma-san offering to treat me better?" Nicholas feels his grin stretch when Fuma raises an eyebrow at him, clearly unimpressed. "I'm kidding! It's...it could be better, I guess." He lies as he turns to face Fuma fully, bowl of tteokguk abandoned on the table, "What do you think?"
"Well," Fuma clears his throat softly. "I think leaving that kind of...mark on someone is a very...intimate thing. It's uhm, almost like a declaration. I'm in no position to give you advice, but if it hurts that much and bothers you, then isn't that...maybe not the best thing to do? Wouldn't it be better to do something that...both partners agree to and are comfortable with?"
Nicholas nods, trying to keep his scent in line because Fuma is being so damn cute. His words are such a model answer. If this was a debate on "the ethics of leaving bitemarks on your partner" then maybe he would've won. He would probably balk if he learns how much Nicholas likes getting marked up sometimes but that's besides the point. The point was: it has to be impossible for such a big, bulky alpha to be so cute about these kind of things.
Fuma's scent frazzles nervous at Nicholas' silence, "Ah, I don't mean to overstep of course. I'm sure you know that. Sorry, if I..."
Nicholas shakes his head, "You're fine, Fuma-san. If it makes you feel better, you've met the person who bit me so hard." Fuma's brows twitch as Nicholas leans in. He tilts his head to show off the bite, trying to draw out the moment a little more Fuma's eyes flick down and his brows crease he's thinking about Nicholas' words, about who it could be.
Nicholas bites back a smile, "Maki got competitive and bit me after I won six rounds of basketball against him."
Fuma stills. His brow furrows further, disbelief plastering over his face. Nicholas sees the exact moment that his words finally click. That it was Maki who bit him and not something of a sexual nature like the alpha had implied. Fuma's face turns red in an instant. His scent follows, spiking with a cocktail of emotion that Fuma can't control.
Nicholas can't help but laugh slightly, bringing his hands together in a plead, "I'm sorry, Fuma-san. It really was Maki, I knew you were misunderstanding, but—"
"Ah! Nico!" Kei's voice. Nicholas looks up to see the older with his hands on his hips. "Are you teasing Fuma?" Fuma coughs, but his scent stays flustered, singing through the air like a particularly pink colored neon sign.
Nicholas grins, "He actually thought I got it from sleeping with someone. He was super concerned about me and everything, thinking that my paetner did something I didn't like. It's cute."
"Cute?" Fuma says, his tone cracking at the middle in disbelief as if the word is the straw that finally broke the embarrassed camel's back. Kei seems to find that funny, stepping closer to poke Fuma in the cheek. The alpha bats him away and it's so refreshing to see the two squabble.
"Nico is right," Kei coos. "You are very sweet."
"And I agree with what you said earlier," Nicholas says, innocently grinning.
"What did he—"
"Nicholas-san, please don't," Fuma's ears burn an impossible shade of red as he buries his head in his hands.
Nicholas laughs a bit, "Okay, okay, since you said please. But I did appreciate your words, I'm not just trying to tease. I'm sorry if the joke was tasteless, I got carried away so...are we okay?" Fuma ducks his head in a nod— Nicholas is starting to think it's a habit that he does out of embarrassment— and Nicholas takes it as a sign that his message is received.
Nicholas turns to Kei, trying to redirect, "About the tteokguk, did you mean to make all the tteok poop-shaped or is that a stylistic choice?"
"Nichol!" Kei yells out again and he's launching over the back of the couch and crashing right into him. Nicholas laughs as Kei starts prodding him, "How dare you insult my tteok babies! I slaved away to make those by hand!"
The moment passes. Nicholas can see Fuma watching them tussle from the other end of the couch. Nicholas manages a grin over to the alpha when Kei looses steam and Fuma returns it with a shy smile.
It's fun to see Fuma off balance, and Nicholas itches to do more. Maybe next time, when he doesn't have a morning meeting looming over him. Or Kei sitting on top of him and waxing poetic about tteokguk. Next time maybe he could have a more meaningful conversation with the alpha. All in the name of getting to know Fuma better, of course.