『𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡』𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘪 𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘰

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[  ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴇɴ ]
𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃

•••

Isagi was watching a movie in the living room when Nagi arrived. Being the observant man he was, he paused it immediately after giving his friend a once over. Nagi may not be the most expressive guy of the bunch, but his inner alpha was, for once, expressive enough.

"Wow, you smell," Isagi said, stretching his legs over the couch like it was just another Friday. He could sense the sweet tinge of omega on Nagi's scent and also a cocktail of conflicted and elaborate feelings the man was dealing with. "Come here, tell your good friend Isagi what happened out there. Were you still horny after your rut?"

"No," Nagi admitted, taking off his hoodie and acting as natural as he could, though his shoulders were still tense and Isagi could easily tell of his bad mood. "I was with Reo; he got his heat and kicked me out."

"Oh," Isagi mumbled, his brows high with surprise he couldn't exactly conceal. "What an unexpected turn of events."

"What's not to expect?" Nagi said, doing a mediocre job hiding the bitterness in his tone. "He called some service alpha, and I obviously couldn't stay there."

"He called a service alpha?" Isagi blinked, surprised. "I thought he would take the chance to, you know."

"No, I do not know," Nagi deadpanned. Here it was, a big puzzle piece he was missing, which even Isagi seemed to know about. "What's that supposed to mean? You thought what?"

"Alright, I mean no disrespect to any of you," Isagi quickly sat straight, shaking his head and hands as if innocent. His eyes finally found Nagi's. "But I thought he would take the opportunity to jump you, ask you to fuck."

Technically, Reo had done just that. But he did it out of... well, Nagi still didn't fully understand the motive behind Reo's proposal of mating, but it hadn't been premeditated, not like Isagi was suggesting.

"He would what? Why would he?" And Nagi didn't know which to ask first, so both questions slipped past his lips before he could focus on one. What exactly gave Isagi that impression of Reo? Was he talking about the same Reo who would end up mating someone Nagi wouldn't be able to compete with unless he was fucking reborn?

His disbelief made Isagi hesitant in response. "Don't tell me you don't know."

"Don't know what?"

"That you both show clear fucking signs of being into the other, and everyone thinks you're together."

"What?" Bullshit.

Nagi's been teased by teammates, persecuted by tabloids, and no one before has ever suggested he and Reo were an item. No one but Nagi's own mother when he and Reo began scenting each other like seven years ago before she too realized Reo was out of Nagi's league.

"Oh, c'mon!" Isagi complained, "You have to be kidding. You guys scent each other! I thought you were doing some unconventional courting or something! Being discreet!"

"We've never talked about dating," Nagi furrowed his brow. "We're both free to do whatever we want. Reo's never said he liked me."

"Okay, right, but he scents you, borrows your clothes, stays the night regularly, has a spare key to this place...and in the five years I've known him, he's never dated."

"Exactly, nothing wrong with that...." Nagi tried to affirm, although the way Isagi was putting it weakened the assuredness he had in his words. "And nothing weird about our arrangement."

"It's definitely weird," Isagi insisted, shrugging as he stated a simple truth. "You guys are in between being friends and being mates, don't you see?"

"But I do that stuff with others too. I even live with you, which doesn't mean we're dating."

"Nagi, Nagi, Nagi," Isagi chanted as if praying for patience from someone above. "You and I are alphas who like omegas, to start off with. We also don't scent each other. Our scents accidentally mix together because we share a space. And I've only ever borrowed your clothes for going out, not to chill around my house. Can't you see the difference?"

Nagi bit the inside of his cheek and looked away, being purposely obtuse and obstinate.

His alpha roommate went on, "Okay if you need any more evidence, tell me why did he travel to see your debut match in Portugal when not even the rest of us football players were there."

"Isagi," Nagi met his eyes intensely, "don't put ideas in my head that will lead me nowhere."

Because, honestly, Nagi had no will in himself to resist the possibility that Reo might like him back.

And Reo had told him I don't want any alpha, I want you, earlier that day.

"I'm not- I, what the fuck? Lead you nowhere?" Every second that passed, Isagi grew more and more convinced that Nagi and Reo were the biggest idiots on Earth. "I'm telling you he likes you. It's obvious to everyone around you, and there's no chance in hell it isn't true. He likes you more than you like him, so don't worry about-"

"Don't say that," Nagi immediately shut him down, though he was confused trying to put all the dots together. "I adore him, don't say that." That he was sure of.

"Then what's standing in your way? I don't get it."

"We've been friends for more than half our lives. I don't want to let my feelings ruin that. They aren't what he deserves, and we wouldn't last anyway, so what for?" Nagi recited, voicing aloud the same argument he's rationalized with his inner alpha for years.

"Says who? What's with the emo mindset?" Isagi smiled tight-lipped, attempting to ease his worries with a joke. "You guys lasted ten years...."

"Being friends."

"Who liked each other, which must have sucked," Isagi said. "Don't you get it? Things are already ruined. You're in the worst-case scenario, alone and heartbroken while he's with someone else. He's not unapproachable; he wants you. You're sabotaging yourself ."

No, it couldn't be so easy. Nothing in life should be so easy. "So what, I go there and mate him without even dating first?"

"Is that what you want?" Isagi questioned, "There's nothing wrong with fucking first, you know?"

"Reo wouldn't just want to fuck."

Nagi thought of it, the way Reo was, the way Reo loved. Loud and wholeheartedly, and giving, giving far too much. He didn't deserve an alpha that would pound him a few times before calling it quits because being friends was less work. All his teenage years, Nagi's been scared of being that alpha, of not being enough.

Oh, that's what it boiled down to, hasn't it? He was truly sabotaging himself when he could've been happy with his omega for so long. It sounded out of character, depressing and ridiculous.

"I guess I... I don't know. Maybe I expected him to come to me first like he's always done." Nagi shrugged. That would've probably reassured him he was wanted or that he had a chance. "I hate assuming shit. It's a lot of work over nothing."

"Well, thinking he has no feelings for you is also assuming," Isagi pointed out, "So what will you do?"

"What do you think?"

"If you were anyone else? That you'd wait until his heat is over to have a mature conversation at a restaurant or cafe." He sighed, "But because you're you and you don't like planning or waiting, you're probably going to camp outside his apartment until he's ready to see you."

Nagi nodded, standing up with half a grin. "I have a key."

"Well, be nice to the service alpha, I guess," Isagi smirked.

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