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Red looks over his nest one final time.
Nearly every blanket and pillow around the desktop had been snagged and arranged into an enormous pile. Plushies lined the edges and held its form. Various lamps were dimmed so that the lighting was warm and easy on the eyes. Red would pat himself on the back if he weren’t as gone in his mind as he was. Its got almost everything it needs to be the most comfortable nest he’s ever constructed.
Almost.
It’s missing a few things. More specifically, the rest of his packmates bundled in its contents.
Red shook his head. That just won’t do.
Out in the desktop, anything could happen. The shenanigans the gang found themselves in always ended up in more than a couple of injuries, and that was putting it lightly.
Inside Red’s nest was safe and serene. Nothing would be able to harm them there, and there was no trouble they could get into. It was obvious where the rest of his pack ought to be.
Red could purr at the thought alone. Satisfied with his plan, he quickly left the room to put it in motion.
Red comes across Blue as he makes his way downstairs, catching them just as they're about to walk out the entrance.
He wastes no time in bounding towards them, wrapping his arms around their midsection once he reaches them.
"Hm?" Blue hums questioningly, placing their hands over Red's.
Red pulls them back into his arms, nuzzling into their shoulder and rumbling softly. His mind becomes soothed now that he has one of his packmates in his grasp. He breathes in Blue's familiar sweet scent of berries and cream, slightly tinged with the bitterness of nether wart.
Blue giggles at his touch. "Hey, Red. Wanna join me, Green and Orange by the couch? They're going at it right now on some browser game they found."
At the mention of the outside, Red's mood sours a bit. Outside their home meant away from his nest. He shakes his head tersely, before hauling Blue up into a bridal carry and turning back to the stairs.
"Woah!" Blue squeaks at the sudden movement, though they don't resist. "Red?"
Red doesn't slow down, but he does give off a reassuring croon. Blue grabs hold of his upper arms and leans in to sniff at him.
"Ah, it's about that time again, isn't it?" They nod knowingly. As the other omega of their pack, it was easier for Blue to tell when Red was in heat. One whiff of his scent - which had grown more lighter and softer than his usual wild earthly smell - was all the information Blue needed.
Red huffs but shakes off his sheepishness once they come face-to-face with the bedroom door. Once inside, he lowers Blue into the midst of his nest and, a small, pleased noise escapes his throat at the sight. There is the urge to settle in next to Blue and burrow the both of them into the cushions, but there's still his other packmates out there and not here.
He watches as Blue cozies up for a moment. They grab a blanket and wrap it around their shoulders, shifting into a more comfortable position. Appeased, Red takes a step back towards the door.
"Stay," He manages to mutter.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be right here. You go on and get the others."
Red leaves and heads back downstairs. One down, three to go.
Just as Blue said, Green and Orange are down on the couch when Red emerges from the top of their home's tab and out into the desktop.
Orange is right at the window’s surface, hand on his head as he presumably thinks. The website looks to be some sort of guessing game, with certain letters of a few words already input lit up green and yellow. Next to Green is the paint application open, a tally drawn to keep track of her and Orange’s scores. It seems as if they’re neck-and-neck, but Red doesn’t bother to look closer and decipher whoever is winning.
Red slides down the side of the browser window and hops to the ground. He makes a beeline for the closest person, which happens to be Green.
“How are you still stuck on this? I got the word like five minutes ago!”
”Shut it, Green, I’m trying to think.”
Green only laughs, shaking her head as she plants her hands on her hips. Orange begins typing in a word, but he quickly backtracks and deletes it a second later, prompting more teasing from Green.
It's a familiar scene - the happy voices of his packmates, the playful banter, the passionate yet friendly competition. It all stirs a giddy feeling in his gut. It makes him want to forget the way his heat hangs over his head like a thundercloud and brings about unpleasant scenarios in his mind, to seat himself on the couch and simply listen to their bickering and strategizing.
But wouldn't this scene play out so much better in the comfort of the nest?
And of course Red latches onto the thought, sinking back into the haze of his heat and stepping towards Green with purpose once again.
He takes hold of Green's arm with both his hands, making her look over her shoulder and brighten as she sees one of her packmates.
"Red! You should totally take a crack at this game, I'd bet you'd solve it before Orange will. He's been on this round for ages."
"It's been, like, ten minutes! You're just too impatient." Orange calls.
"Or maybe you're just too slow."
Orange groans and turns back to the game. Red feels Green's body shake with the force of her barely contained giggles.
Something in his brain lights up at the sound. The conversation is easily forgotten as Red tugs at her, the urge to gather the both of them in his arms and tuck them securely in his nest, as if he could keep Green’s precious laughter and Orange’s endearing whining for himself.
The action compels Green to finally really look at Red, and she tilts her head in question at his silence.
”Red? You doing okay? Don’t tell me you drunk one of Blue’s mystery potions again.”
The words don’t process in his mind, grazing over the shield of bleariness muffling most of the outside world. He's zeroed in on Green's steady figure that had not budged, and he hears himself whine from the slight distress that it caused. Every moment spent outside the nest was another opportunity for something terrible to occur, another moment without the safety of their home. However, Green is suddenly putting her hands on his shoulders, fully facing him and holding his gaze. Vaguely, he realizes she's speaking, and strains to listen.
"-not really responsive. Hello? Desktop to Red? Anyone home in there? Oh, look, he can hear me."
Red focuses on Green's waving in his face, before she drops her hand to her side. He goes to hold it automatically, wondering when he took his away in the first place.
Green glances down at their fists. "And now he's being weirdly clingy. Something's definitely going on."
"Clingy? Hold on, let me see him."
Then his view is shifted to Orange, and when had he gotten there? He puts a hand over the top of Red's head for a second, before shifting down to his cheek, and then arm.
"Hey Red," he says, calming, "I don't know what's wrong, but I would really appreciate it if you just told us instead of keeping quiet. Are you sick? Feeling nauseous or anything like that? We won't be mad at you, promise!"
"Unless this is another ploy for a prank, then I'd have to kick your ass for making me worry." Green chimes in.
"I don't think he'd act like this for a prank..."
"You weren't there for the picnic he staged. He turned Purple against me, Orange! Purple! I wouldn't put anything past that sneaky rat."
Orange sighs. "I know, you've told this story, like, a million times by now. But I don't think Red would ever play with our feelings like that, even if it was for a prank."
The two alphas stare at him for a moment, and Red could almost see the gears turning in their minds as they thought. He steps back again and tries to pull Green to follow him once more, and she does actually move after him, making him perk up and look over at the top of the window towards their home tab. Orange claps his hands together in realization.
"Oh! Red must be in heat! That's why he's not talking, and he must be trying to bring you to his nest."
Green hums at the explanation. "We really need to come up with some sort of system for this kind of stuff. And maybe actually try tracking it for once."
As Red leads them to the side of the window, Orange glimpses at the game one more time. Green snorts at his last-ditch attempt to solve the puzzle.
"The word was 'agora' by the way."
"What? Agora? That can't be a real word!"
"Yup, look it up. I win again."
"Ugh, there's no way - that's so dumb!"
They bicker all the way back to their home, and Red relishes in his packmates' voices. Once inside, they greet Blue, before throwing themselves into the nest and snuggling up. He watches, as Orange picks up one of his many stuffed animals and Green digs up his red cape, and feels the buzzing ease a bit more.
"Wait, this is where it's been? I was looking for this!" Green says.
Red sees himself out before she can get to her feet. He still has one more packmate to find anyway.
Red nearly goes feral when he can’t immediately find Yellow.
There’s no obvious signs of him anywhere on the desktop, no motion or evidence of his presence around. The only windows open is of their home and the paint application Green and Orange were using, and the Minecraft icon is sitting pliant in its spot in the taskbar, unselected, so he couldn’t have gone there either.
Red can feel himself grow more agitated by the second. His instincts scream at him to find Yellow and make sure he’s safe, bring him back to his nest where he would be properly protected and cared for. Even worse, Yellow’s scent is more faint and subtle as a beta, so Red can’t simply follow his sense of smell.
Logically, Red knows Yellow is probably fine, but his heightened emotions and instinct work hand in hand to steer his line of thinking straight into the recycle bin.
What if one of his experiments goes horrifically wrong? What if something else invades the PC like the VibraBot? What if he’s in danger right now and no one knows? What if he’s injured?!
What if, what if, what if…
He’s nearly about to tear the nearest folder into shreds when he looks up and notices there’s another tab in the window. Red wastes no time in climbing up the side and jumping in to investigate.
That’s how he finds Yellow sitting against a command block, scrolling through paragraphs of text with his laptop open beside him.
The sight eases Red’s anxiety a bit, but it still buzzes at him to ensure Yellow is unharmed and escorted back to his nest as soon as possible.
Yellow waves as he approaches, but Red doesn't reciprocate the greeting, too occupied in scanning his body for any injuries or illness. He seems fine, no deliberately slow movements or visible discomfort. When he doesn't find any, Red feels the tension in his clenched fists bleed away.
Still, Yellow must sense his uneasy feelings, as he cocks his head to the side in question once Red gets close enough.
"Everything okay?"
Now that I've found you.
Red nods and bends down to take Yellow's hand, pulling him into a stand. Yellow begins to follow as Red leads him away from his work, but halts a few meters away and looks back at his laptop.
"Wait, let me clean up before we go.”
Thankfully, Yellow doesn’t ask anything else, just goes along with what Red wants. Perhaps it was the way Red was so eager to return to the nest, or how he wasn’t speaking and wanted to make sure he was okay. Or maybe, Yellow just knew, like the rest of them.
The two are greeted by the rest of their pack once they enter their shared bedroom. They’re huddled closely, talking quietly when Red closes the door behind him, but they all look up and smile once they hear their footsteps.
”Took you guys long enough!” Green calls.
Yellow makes his way over and sets his laptop down next to the nest before falling onto Blue. They yelp, laughing as they flail around in a tangle of limbs together. Green squawks as a stray foot hits her in the gut, and she joins in on the tussle, pulling in Orange as well.
Red watches them wrestle with a familiar fondness squeezing his heart. He’s not worried they’ll accidentally hurt one another, they’re hardy enough it’s practically impossible while in the soft materials, and they do much more dangerous stunts for fun too. Besides, here in the nest, nothing bad could ever happen, especially now that all of his pack has congregated.
Eventually they break apart, laying all outspread with their chests shuddering from laughter and breathlessness. Orange lifts his head slightly to stare at Red.
He gestures with his head for his packmate to join them. 'What are you waiting for?' is what he seems to say.
Red crosses the room in a few large strides, stepping into the nest carefully and lowering himself next to his pack. His gaze sweeps over them and lingers for a moment, taking in the sight of them all relaxed and lounging around. He feels a purr rise in his throat involuntarily.
The buzzing in his brain finally comes to a stop.
As they all settle down into a drowsy haze, Red continues to watch over them, attempting to tidy up parts of the nest that were disheveled during the roughhousing. It doesn’t last for long though, as his packmates take hold of him and bring him down into the blankets with them. Red can’t find it in himself to deny, feeling warm and safe in their arms.
Yellow tries to work on his laptop for a bit, but eventually surrenders to his drooping awareness and puts on a movie for them all to fall asleep to.
Orange, of course, succumbs first. Blue follows close behind, curled up against Yellow’s side. Yellow and Green discuss the movie in low tones, and Red is content to nod along, until Green’s voice begins tapering off and her head drops against Orange’s shoulder.
Once Yellow’s breaths evens out, Red knows it’s just him left, barely clinging to consciousness. Yet, there is no daunting need to stay awake and alert for his pack. Instead he feels the most relaxed he’s ever been in his life, and he lets himself drift off in the comfort of their home.
He can’t think of any other better way to spend his days.