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Roy was just a day or two out from his rut and he was absolutely miserable.
Hawkeye had taken one look at him in the morning and then sent him back home, telling him that she wasn’t going to put up with his shit until his rut was done. She gave him a handkerchief with her scent on it, the familiarity soothing, and then basically kicked him out of the office.
So, he worked from home and just wallowed in it.
It’s not right, his subvocals grumbled. I’m hurting. Alone. Need mate. Not right.
He continued reading reports, annotating when appropriate or signing off on them, while grumbling and groaning to himself subvocally. It was easier to focus on work when he wasn’t also focusing on shutting up so close to his rut.
Hurts. Tired. Need mate. Lonely. Sad.
And besides, no one was around to hear him be pathetic.
He got through the morning like this, occasionally taking a phone call and forcing himself to quiet down. By lunchtime, he was exhausted, and barely dragged himself to his kitchen to figure out something to eat.
Someone was pounding on his door.
He slipped a glove onto his hand and hid it in his pocket before he answered, preparing for anything.
Roy opened the door and only just recognized Ed before he was pushing his way inside.
“Hawkeye said you were working from home today because of your rut starting soon, and normally I’d just leave you alone because we all know how grumpy you get, but I need my suppressants in three days,” he plopped down across Roy’s couch. “I’d rather pick them up from you now instead of then.”
Roy cleared his throat and forced his subvocals into submission. “I agree,” he said with a nod. He would not even allow himself to imagine Ed in his house while he was actively in a rut because that way led to madness. “I’ll get them for you.”
He kept Edward’s suppressants hidden in a book in his study. When he returned with them, Ed was looking up at him in assessment.
Roy tried to keep himself from reacting. He was pretty sure he was failing. “What is it?”
“You didn’t even try to deny that you get grumpy this close to your rut,” Ed commented lightly. “Must be pretty rough, I’m guessing.”
Ugh. This damn kid and his observations –
Everything hurts, he whined. I’m tired. Alone.
“Oh my god,” Roy breathed out, “Please ignore me.”
Ed was visibly delighted, his whole face breaking into a pleased smile.
Hurts. Need mate.
“Take your suppressants and go, Fullmetal,” Roy said quickly, shoving the medicine into Ed’s hand before withdrawing rapidly.
Not right. Hurts. I’m hurting. Alone.
He turned to flee the room when Ed cleared his throat lightly.
Poor baby, he heard from behind him, a high croon.
Roy turned around with a sharp breath to find Ed standing, staring at him with a small grin on his face.
So strong. So brave, Ed trilled. Safe now. Not alone.
Roy wanted to tell Ed that he didn’t need to be coddled, wanted to growl a warning to get him to stop, but instead -
Mate? Roy called back without thinking, and he immediately winced. My mate. Stay? “Ignore that, please,” he said, almost in a whisper, covering his face with a hand.
Ed huffed a short laugh but still didn’t speak. Hush, he hummed instead. Quiet now.
No, Roy complained sulkily. I’m hurt. Alone.
Not alone, Ed repeated. Rest now. You’re safe.
Safe?
Yes. Hush now.
Roy’s subvocals stuttered out and flipped over into a purr at the reassuring noises of the omega, and Roy needed to stop gawking, stop breathing in so deeply like he could catch Ed’s natural scent somehow, stop imagining Ed staying –
Little baby, Ed chuffed. Then he cleared his throat again and swallowed. “Seemed like you could use it,” he said lightly, and his voice only shook once.
It was a big deal. It was a big deal and they both knew it but were going to pretend that it was fine and Roy was not panicking about it –
Roy forced himself to stop purring. He needed to get himself together. God, how long had it been since he had purred for someone. He nodded once, sharply, “Thank you, Fullmetal.” Perhaps an overcorrection, but they really needed to reinforce some boundaries here.
“Course,” Ed said with a shrug. “This might help too,” he said before taking out a bit of fabric from his pocket and showing it to Roy. “I, uh… it’s from my last heat, or, you know, just after, not during -because that’s when my normal scent is strongest, not the suppressant scent from most of the time.” He dropped it onto the nearest flat surface and turned to leave.
“Thanks for the meds,” he said while walking to the door.
He let himself out. Roy stood, rooted in place, and tried not to think about anything too hard.
---
Thanks to all of that, Roy’s instincts had apparently zeroed in on Edward as his mate and it made the rut unbearable unless he had Ed’s scent pressed to his nose.
So.
That was great.
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