Yukihiro laid down on his futon in the darkness of his room, a mischievous glint in his eye as he went through his phone and the school's security monitors.
He smirked. 'Looks like things will go in my favor. With everything else out of the way, how about we give it a try?'
———
Ren was finding it hard to repress his excitement at seeing Masanori again, but also the deep, nerve wracking anxiety. Ever since Yuki told him he would help him see Masanori he'd been slowly growing nervous. Now he was finding it impossible to focus. His pencil shook in his quivering hand as he tried to do his homework in the club room, and Shino asked what was wrong.
"Oh, it's nothing." Ren replied.
Shino hummed in acknowledgement then went back to sipping some tea. Meanwhile Kokichi sat in the corner gaming on some online game, the same as usual.
"Um Shino," Ren spoke again. "Just in a hypothetical, if I were to meet up with someone that I might have wronged, how would be the best way to apologize?"
"If it's someone you've wronged just apologize directly and with sincerity, of course." Shino replied.
"Well yeah, but what if the thing that was wrong was really indirect and hard to explain?" Ren continued. "Like say not listening to their suggestion and getting into trouble that might have forced them to be affected really badly? Like really, really badly?"
Ren was talking about the suggestion that Masanori was mind controlled into attacking him. He definitely deserved one if it really was true, which he was 90% certain it was at this point.
"The answer is the same. Sincerity is all an apology needs," Shino answered. "That and integrity." He added.
"I-I guess… and by the way, what's that thing on your neck there?" He gestured towards the red marks he noticed there.
Shino blanked then his eyes widened and he yanked his collar up over it.
"T-That's nothing." Shino hastily replied.
Kokichi suddenly snickered, though he didn't look up from his game.
"Right…" Ren said, thinking it looked familiar.
Shino cleared his throat. "Anyway, I wanted to ask before you go if you know any omega students that would be interested in joining the club."
"Oh? Are we running low on members?"
"Not exactly. But I think it would be good if it were more lively around here, don't you think so?"
"But the only thing to do here is read. I think kids should go enjoy some more interesting club activities…" Ren replied. What was this club's thing again, people studies? He'd long stopped paying attention to the sign outside the door but maybe he should.
Ren nodded. "I'll try to look. But why omegas specifically?"
"Well a club full of betas and you being the only omega, I thought you might want some company like that around." Shino answered calmly, even as he seemed to bury his eyes behind his cup.
'But that second gender stuff is totally phony,' thought Ren. 'There's no real difference between any of the students here.'
Ren got up to leave for the day, having to move around a sealed box left on the floor by the door.
"When are you going to open this?" He asked, though he could tell it had already been opened, just not unpacked.
"Hm. Never." Shino replied.
Ren left the room, getting an inkling that he was missing something.
Then suddenly, and almost miracuously, he got it. The marks on his neck looked familiar! just like the small marks from when Naoto kissed him the other day!
Ren flushed a warm red, mostly from embarrassment on bringing it up with Shino.
'I should be apologizing to him for bringing up his personal life…' He quickly walked away, forgetting what he was standing out there for. He put his hands in his pocket, thinking while on his way back to his dorm.
'I could ask Chihei maybe, or that kid Hajime…'
Thump!
Ren turned a corner and suddenly bumped into someone.
He stumbled back. 'It's, Akagi Naoto!'
Naoto looked up from his phone absentmindedly. He knew because he when he noticed he did a double take before his expression changed. "Wuh..."
Suddenly a door to a classroom opened and a teacher stepped out, locking the room. Naoto cursed under his breath, but before Ren could ask about it, he was grabbed, shoved him into the club room across from it. The room was empty. When Ren turned around Naoto had blocked the window with his back.
"Sensei! I thought you would have gone to the council room by now." Naoto called out with a unxpectedly upbeat tone.
"Something came up," The teacher responded. "Is there something going on in there?"
Ren remained quiet, despite not knowing why Naoto shoved him in here. But he didn't know what it would mean if he got caught like this.
"Nothing… Important, Sensei." Naoto replied, his tone tense and strange.
"Hm. Well, don't make a mess. And I'm happy to see you trying... Oh, and tell Hirabayashi to stop missing meetings, please. Especially when he rung up my phone asking for favors."
"Sure thing…" Naoto said as the teacher walked away. Naoto smacked his palm against his forehead in frustration. "Ugh. Just great…"
Ren knocked on the door. "Hey! What's going on?" He pulled open the door and crossed his arms. "Why are you hiding me from that teacher?"
Naoto growled. "Shut up. You're in no position to interrogate me."
"I should be able to ask that much." Ren grumbled, trying to work it out himself. Wasn't that the same teacher from sports day? He remembered he was against him messing with him but, why hide him?
"Oh, one more thing Naoto."
The teacher suddenly called out, voice heard approaching back down the hall.
Naoto jolted, trying to push Ren back inside, but Ren held firm on the door frame, stopping him from closing the door. He didn't know what was going on, but he didn't like being pushed around!
Naoto's lips curled into a grimace, then just picked him up and carried him in, shutting them both inside and pulling down the shutter on the window with a scowl.
Ren heard the teacher hum before hearing his footsteps walking away. Ren's eyes flickered towards Naoto and the door and it clicked.
"You're…not supposed to be around me, are you? You'll get in trouble if you do," Ren's eyes narrowed with an understanding. Then, he stood up, grabbing the door and beginning to shout. "Hey, sensei-! Mmphn!!"
Naoto quickly clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him away from the windows. "S-Shut up!"
"Naoto-kun? Do you need something?"
The teacher had returned to the door. Ren grumbled and tried to pull Naoto's hand away. If he could get him in trouble he'll have to stop messing with him!
"Ah, Sensei," Naoto dryly swallowed, eyes focused on the door. "I-I was hoping… you had an extra?"
It was silent. Then the teacher tutted. "Be more prepared at times like this. You couldn't imagine the future expenses…"
The teacher slid something under the door.
Ren sucked in a breath. He wasn't too familiar with things like love bites, but he recognized a wrapped condom when he saw one. Naoto snatched it up and the teacher walked off without another incident. Naoto sighed and released Ren, pulling up the shutter to check if anyone was around, clenching his teeth. "Damn it, I'll need to ask Hirabayashi a favor…"
"Y-You…"
Ren's quivering voice turned Naoto to the back of the room, where Ren had retreated, his body visibly shaking and his skin flushed red all over, holding up a trembling finger at him. "Y-You're g-gonna… w-what are you going to do with th-that?!"
Naoto confusedly blinked then looked at his hand. "Oh, " He then chuckled. "Think this is for you?" He shook his head and snickered. "Man, I mean you're really…"
"W-What do you mean for ME!?" Ren shouted over him. "You… You're trying to do something way worse than before!" His jaw tightened and he lifted his head defiantly, if still in fear. "Whatever it is, go ahead and try it! I've been working out for weeks, I'm no pushover!"
Akagi let out an exasperated grunt. "What are you talking about? I just said it's not for you."
Ren's pupil shrunk. He then covered his eyes. "T-Then it's for you!? B-But then where is it going to go, huh!?!"
Ren didn't realize how squeamish he would be. He just wasn't ready! That kind of thing, it would be pretty gay wouldn't it?!
What Ren thought he was fine with before, became something very different when presented with the idea of doing it himself. Of being forced to do it, when he didn't really know how it worked. He remembered dating girls in school, but he never did anything more than that. Even if he wasn't entirely ignorant of what to do… He just couldn't do it! He'd rather be groped all over again!
Ren sucked in a shaky breath. "I-I this because I ran out of the office before? I'm not- C-Can I, j-just-"
Ren's hands were pulled from his eyes, not noticing Naoto had walked over. Naoto then grabbed Ren by the chin. Naoto lowered his eyes with an intimidating glare, his eyes stomach-droppingly harsh.
"Shut. Up. Whatever interest I have in you doesn't matter a thing when you're the problem plaguing this place. Act like this to someone who cares!"
Ren completely blanked. "You won't…" His eyes widened. "Wuh, I-Interest…?"
Naoto scoffed and turned away. "Is this what you did to make Masa fall all over you? It's damn good I'll give you that. But there's no omega in this school that's clean. But I have my eye on you. I'll figure out what you're-"
Naoto stopped when Ren had suddenly grabbed his arm. He didn't continue when he looked down and did a double take. Ren, somehow, had started shaking more, turned even redder, and big wet tears had started running down his face.
Naoto let go and backed away in shock. This gave Ren a wide berth to run away, rushing out without another word.
Naoto watched him leave with his eyes wide, taken aback.
'W-What the…'
Ren ran and didn't stop. Whatever he just felt, that wasn't normal. It couldn't be normal!
'The mind control! Messing with my mind!! Why can't this place give me a second of peace!?'
…
Masanori's brow furrowed. He sighed. "Yuki, did you just bring me over here to show off?"
Yukihiro grinned. He sat on his dorm couch with a laidback slouch.
"But I never get you for some much free time. Being suspended on the council means we can hang out more, so why don't we?"
"But I'll be back next week. You kept nagging me to come over - is there something you want?"
"Your undivided attention," He grinned. "To ask a question… do you prefer chartreuse or periwinkle?" He held up two cards each one showing a different bright color.
"...What?"
Yuki rolled his eyes. "For the beta dorm's new furniture, of course. For some reason Ruota pushed for some renovations there, can't imagine what got into him to do it and roping Naoto into it. Since I'm being forced how about we make it fun?"
"You're serious? Why the color cards?"
"Well you can't tell how it's going to look online, of course," Yuki proudly asserted. "With my opened up budget and
exceptional taste, we can make an afternoon of it~!"
"Y-Your taste? You have too much control in your position…" Masanori sighed. "Did something good happen? Because you're more lively than usual."
Yukihiro just smiled, not answering. What was good about it? It was more entertaining than that. And he got way more mileage than he anticipated.
'I didn't know he'd try to scream for the teacher! Ha! I was so busy laughing by the time I looked back he'd already run off.'
"I can't believe I'm being roped into this," Masanori went on. "I just dropped by because I, wanted to ask about Takeshita-san's-"
Yukihiro forcefully stuck the folder of color cards into his lap. "If you bring up that omega again you'll be sorry."
Masanori stopped trying to grab the folder before it fell. "Yeah okay! Sorry…"
Yukihiro sighed and leaned back onto the couch with a frown. He didn't get what he actually aimed for though with them. Takeshita had run off before anything could happen this time, but what he got was good enough for his next plan.
Masanori shifted through the cards. "Pick something a little less… bright? Like, this one here." He tapped on one of the red ones.
Yuki stared.
"...you know that's going to become someone's love couch if you choose that?"
Masanori rolled his eyes. "But it's going into their lounge, and it's a normal color for furniture. You're the one with your mind in the gutter…"
"I'm the only one thinking logically. You have too much faith in what goes on around there. You think they stopped messing around after Shouta's party was busted?" Yukihiro leaned more against the couch and yawned.
"That's why the security system exists." Masanori dutifully replied.
'Doesn't really stop them.' Yukihiro thought, but he wouldn't mention that. But he was seriously starting to die not being able to show Masanori what Takeshita Akira had been up to. For now he'd have to keep it all to himself.
A text arrived on his phone, right as anticipated to be Naoto begrudgingly requesting some scrubbed footage, playing it off like it was no big deal.
- Do me a favor and lose the camera footage in the west club hall. Just something Sensei would be mad about, try to delete it before the security guards archive it.
Yukihiro smirked. 'Don't play cute now, you'll give Takeshita a run for his money.'
He paused mid-text. Cute? Hm.
He sighed. 'I'll have to call Nemura in here later I guess.' And he finished texting him. He then pulled up the main monitors again and tried to find Naoto. Instead, he found Takeshita, huddled up in the floor in the hall corner.
It was a little strange. That whole ordeal happened a good half hour ago. Did he fall asleep?
"...." Yuki rolled his eyes and got up. Begrudgingly he got up and walked to the door.
"I have to be somewhere. Better be here when I get back!"
"Don't count on it." Masanori called back.
…
Ren sniffled, burying his head in his knees.
Footsteps approached and Yuki bent down with a look of concern. "What are you doing here Ren-kun?"
Ren didn't look up, didn't speak. Yuki's brow creased and he held in an exasperated breath and was about to speak again when Ren spoke, muffled through his clothes.
"Do you know? Yuki-Senpai, what makes you feel something? Something that you're not sure is normal?"
Tensely, Yukihiro answered, face stiffening. "...I don't think there's very many things that you could call not normal. Everything has a source and it's usually run of the mill, perfectly explainable."
"But, what if it doesn't feel normal?" Ren asked.
"Well, nothing feels normal the first time. That's what the word new is for." He answered. He didn't know what he was talking about so he didn't have the means to work up a great response. But, he could take a guess.
Ren looked up. "But what if-"
"Explainable," Yukihiro interjected. "Without a doubt, you have my word on that much," He leaned down a little more. "Whatever you feel, you won't get anywhere trying to make sense of it as you are right now, so take it slow to figure it out over time. Now are you done crying? Hurry up so I can get you a box of tissues or something. You can't walk around looking like that."
'You'll make Naoto some more enemies.'
Ren dried his tears and tried to sit up, but he was slow, so Yukihiro held out his hand, mostly out of impatience. Masanori wouldn't be occupied with color cards forever.
Yukihiro froze.
He smelled the scent of an omega coming from Ren, hitting him hard and fast. He backed away in shock.
Ren looked up again and his eyes looked a little glazed. "Yuki-Senpai…?"
'This can't be real right now. His heat, right now?' He pursed his lips. 'Actually maybe it makes sense, but… no, focus.'
Yukihiro gripped Ren's arms and yanked him up, making sure not to touch any skin as he pulled him away.
"Y-Yuki-Senpai? S-Stop, I don't feel right…" His words came out thick and throaty and his feet dragged until he was practically dragging him.
'Oh jeez, he's difficult.' Yukihiro adjusted and pulled him up by the back of his jacket until he arrived at the nearest pheromone closet and shoved him inside.
Yukihiro held his nose and winced away. 'Fuck, that's strong. This is what they were talking about: it's thick, like opening a door to someone's that's been releasing for days, but this is coming out all at once.'
Yukihiro shook his head, fought a wave of disorientation and was about to close the door.
But then Ren grabbed the handle, trying to pull himself up.
"Y-Yuki-Senpai, it's my heat again. C…Can you get Masanori-kun for me? He'll help me…"
Yukihiro felt a lump form in his throat and he tried not to scowl. 'Not by a long shot. He'd probably actually help you and hurt himself. What does Masanori see in him? He's nothing special.'
That was a bad thought to have. Because Yukihiro thought then, instead of wondering why not give it a try? A natural response for an Alpha next to an Omega in heat, but he was a little more strong-willed than that.
But that just meant he had more sense to consider it. Even as things were, he knew he wouldn't leave here empty-hearted. The aching growing in his pants informed him that much.
Yukihiro crouched down and leaned in, cupping a hand over his cheek.
He stopped. Then he backed off. He couldn't go that far. He turned to leave.
But then Ren grabbed his arm, trying to pull him closer again with an intense burning set of eyes.
"No, Yuki. Maybe, st-stay...?" His breaths came out heavy and his gaze was alluring, raw spellbinding desire glazed over his features, sultry red.
Yukihiro quietly laughed, a dainty snickering that turned breathless, choking. He leaned in again with a small breath. "Well, if you insist..."
He cupped his cheek and kissed him. A cold sterile peck, then a deeper exploration. Ren's eyes widened, then his eyelids fluttered and he moaned into his mouth, clumsy hands gripping his arms and clothes, trying to hold on like he would fall over otherwise.
The tantalizing thick scent sucked him in and he pressed on. Gentle turned fierce and his fingers dug down. His hand drifted down towards his backside but he stopped, instead feeling the curve of his leg as it crossed between his.
Yukihiro felt a shiver from him, and he felt one go from his arms to his shoulders. A stirring burst inside his chest, his heart exploding and sending tremors snaking down until he felt something else about to burst.
And just like that, he let go and pulled away. Ren loudly gasped and vaguely he mumbled some incoherent words then groaned. "Y-Yuki-Senpai…?"
Yukihiro tilted his head back with a sweet and honeyed sort of grin, but it was smarmy, almost sneering. "Forget that won't you? Or I'll just say the pheromones made me do it." He whispered, before he ripped Ren off of him laughing as he quickly locked the door.
'Not bad. I've got my work cut out for me making Nori move on from that. I think I released some pheromones there by accident, but I don't think he knows how to recognize the difference yet.'
Yukihiro made a few texts to the omega dorm to fetch Takeshita Akira then, had to make an unfortunate secondary one to Masanori.
- Change of plans, you can go back to your room.
Masanori responded soon after.
- I just got into picking fabric colors too. Did you just call me so I can do this work for you?
Y: - Well I don't deny that it wasn't at least half of it.
Masanori didn't respond and Yukihiro guessed he was annoyed and abandoned the conversation. It was only after that did he consider that he should mention this to him eventually. But, not right now. Right now this was all for himself. But he'd have to hold off on his plans, though.
"...Ha!" Yukihiro combed his hair back with his hand. "I think this just got a little too interesting."
...
Meanwhile, Masanori really did continue to sort through color cards, peering meticulously between two very similar shades of brown leather.
'I don't think there is a difference, is there… were we scammed?'