Yuji stayed in his room longer these days.
Whether it was guilt or just mortifying self-awareness, he couldn't tell. All he knew was that facing Nikolai felt like walking into a trap of his own making. One he'd set himself, first with a stupid joke, and then with those goddamn dreams.
And Fin didn't help.
Every time Yuji passed the fridge, the faint hum sounded like judgment.
"Don't say it," Yuji muttered while grabbing a heat wrap he didn't need.
Fin hummed innocently "I didn't say anything."
Yuji sighed. "You thought it."
Still, despite all his flustered panic, he hadn't actually said no. He hadn't even retracted the idea of "sleeping together."
He just… ran away from it. Emotionally. Physically.
But it was getting harder to pretend.
Literally.
His dreams were spiraling. One had him tangled in bedsheets, panting under Nikolai's weight. Another had him on top, flushed and moving, while Nikolai's hands gripped his hips like they belonged there.
Each time he woke up breathless. Each time his sheets were a mess.
And each time, he whispered "Nope nope nope," while Fin blinked at him in LED judgement.
___
Nikolai was not unaffected.
He was a man of control. Of structure. Of rules.
But that didn't mean he was made of stone.
Not when the omega under his roof smelled like temptation distilled. Not when Yuji's scent started to cling to his furniture, his clothes, his mind.
He hadn't touched him. Not once.
But he remembered every time Yuji rolled his eyes. Every time he pouted or bit into a pastry with a satisfied sigh. Every sarcastic comment that trailed behind him like perfume.
And when Yuji had said, "Maybe we should sleep together" even as a joke, it had taken everything in Nikolai not to stand up and say yes.
Because he would. If Yuji asked. If Yuji wanted.
Even if that want was confused and scared and wrapped in a thousand layers of sarcasm.
He would still say yes.
Why wouldn't he?
He'd been craving Yuji, curious, tempted ever since the first scent clung to his senses. Longing to taste him, to memorize every inch, to finally feel something.
He, who had never once enjoyed mating with an omega.
Not because he couldn't but because he didn't respond the way an Alpha should. Detached. Frustrated. Sometimes even disgusted by the act.
But with Yuji, it was different.
With Yuji, his instincts didn't recoil...they burned.
It was dangerous. Addictive.
And he was already losing control.
___
That night, they both ended up in the kitchen.
By accident.
Yuji in a loose, oversized pajama top and soft cotton sleep pants.. Nikolai in a loose shirt and dark slacks, sleeves rolled halfway, barefoot and tempted.
They paused.
Yuji blinked.
Nikolai arched an eyebrow.
"I was just- tea," Yuji said.
Nikolai stepped aside. "Go ahead."
Yuji brushed past him and instantly regretted it.
Their shoulders nearly touched. Heat licked at his skin.
He could smell him. That ridiculous cedar-and-amber cologne, mixed with something far more primal.
Yuji's fingers fumbled with the electric kettle.
Nikolai leaned back against the counter, watching him quietly. "You've been avoiding me."
"Me?" Yuji laughed- too loud. "No. I've just been... busy."
"Doing what?"
"Comic stuff."
"Such as?"
"Like rewriting the same explosion panel five times, crying over anatomy mistakes and, yeah, crying over pastries in between."
Silence.
The kettle whistled.
Yuji quickly poured his tea, trying not to shake.
Nikolai didn't move.
Yuji dared a glance at him.
Big mistake.
The man's eyes were dark, unreadable. But something simmered just beneath them. Like static.
Then, slowly, Nikolai pushed off the counter and walked toward him.
Yuji froze.
He stopped a foot away. Close enough that Yuji had to tilt his head up, close enough that the scent of expensive cologne and quiet danger made the air feel thick.
Nikolai's gaze dipped slightly, then locked onto Yuji's face.
"Yuji..Are you aware," he said, voice low and far too calm, "that you've been releasing a significant amount of pheromones now?"
Yuji blinked. "Huh?! No! I- I'm not! Am I?!"
He took an instinctive step back, almost sloshing hot tea onto his fingers.
"I would know if I was doing that, right? It's not like I'm leaking scent on purpose or anything- ugh, that sounded weirder than I meant- "
Nikolai didn't laugh. He just tilted his head, studying him like he was a puzzle coming undone.
"Your body knows something you're still denying," he said. "You're nearing it, Yuji. Heat is coming."
Yuji's face went red all the way to his ears.
Nikolai then took a slow step forward, closing the distance between them until Yuji could feel the heat radiating off his body.
Then, without another word, Nikolai leaned down.
His mouth brushed against Yuji's neck...
just a whisper of contact before he latched on, lips pressing to the sensitive skin near the omega gland.
Yuji gasped, sharp and sudden, eyes wide as his knees almost buckled. The sensation was hot and overwhelming, like a jolt of electricity threading straight to his core.
He didn't move.
Couldn't.
Nikolai sucked harder, not cruelly, but with the kind of intent that made Yuji's body burn with awareness. The spot pulsed, heat spreading from that one contact point like a ripple.
A low sound escaped Yuji's throat...
something between a whimper and a curse.
His fingers tightened at his sides.
___
A soft smack echoed throughout the kitchen
Yuji groan as moans and shivers ran down his spine. His skin tingling more than it should be, his heart was racing like a wild animal in a cage.
The feeling of Nikolai's hot breath against his sensitive neck sent shivers cascading down Yuji's spine. The gentle caress of sharp teeth grazing his skin made him gasp and arch into the taller man's touch. They were lost drifting in a field of heat and rising tension, caught between restraint and desire.
___
When Nikolai finally pulled back, there was a faint marks blooming on Yuji's neck, flushed and undeniably there.
Yuji blinked up at him, lips parted, chest rising and falling too fast.
Nikolai's gaze flicked from the blooming mark on Yuji's neck to his eyes.
They stared at each other- too long, too deep like something unseen had taken hold of them, pulling them into a gravity neither could resist.
Their lips inched closer... and closer...
"Nico!!"
Yuji's voice broke the moment.
Nikolai blinked, as if suddenly waking from a trance. His eyes landed on Yuji's flushed face, still catching its breath.
But the look he gave next wasn't soft. It burned, heavy with unspoken want.
"This Saturday," he said, voice low and certain, "don't run."
A quiet pause settled between them.
It wasn't just a warning.
It was a promise.