As soon as Donghyuck's real heat hit, he was graciously untied from the bed. The nurses kept his room stocked with water and food, and kept the door mostly locked at all times to prevent Donghyuck from wandering out into the hallways in search of the alpha king.
Not that he really could, anyways. His heat had rendered him basically bedridden, curled up into the sheets pathetically as he was consumed with the pain. The warmth in his body didn't subside, coursing through his body and making him sweat through the robes he was wearing and dampening the sheets beneath him. Slick dribbled down his thighs consistently, and the aching need settled hard in his stomach and caused him to writhe in agony, desperate for any kind of friction he could get. He was so used to having access to heat suppressants in his world, that either made his heat more bearable or stopped it from happening entirely, and without them he found that his cycle was pure torture with little to no reprieve. Using suppressants so often must have caused a lot of his most uncomfortable heat symptoms to intensify, and now he was coming to regret using them at all as he was in the fetal position on an unfamiliar bed, in a strange world with absolutely no one to help him.
The nurses popped their heads in to check in on him every hour or so, taking his vitals and forcing him to eat and drink water, before they thankfully left the room and let him handle the more intimate parts of the heat by himself. Without any access to his special toys he had back in his world to help with his heat, he had to resort to burying his face into Mark's coat and desperately fingering himself, rutting down against the mattress and sobbing each time he came, none of his orgasms giving him the relief and satisfaction that he craved.
On the first evening, the nurses came to help him into a bathtub and attempted to wash him as they changed his sheets, but Donghyuck was resistant and miserable, not wanting to be touched by anyone. Still, they shoved him into the water and scrubbed the sweat and slick off of his skin despite his protests, keeping the water ice cold to soothe the burning fever in his body. Even if Donghyuck had cried and screamed and fought the whole time he was bathed, once he put on a clean set of robes and laid down on freshly washed sheets, he had to admit that it felt nice. He was relieved that they had left his nest untouched and rearranged it exactly to how he had it set up before, and he enjoyed the brief moment of feeling clean before he inevitably would get himself dirty once again.
Mark, meanwhile, was going through something similar in his own quarters, although a lot less intense. He still had Donghyuck's travel bag, from when he had helped the omega build the nest, and he shamefully used the lingering scent in Donghyuck's clothing to satisfy his own needs. It was torturous, knowing that his omega was just down the hallway and was in pain, and that there was nothing he could do except jerk himself off pathetically with his cheek pressed to one of Donghyuck's discarded robes.
Between waves of his own arousal, he had the time to stare up at the ceiling and think, wondering if the omega was okay, wondering if he was calling out his name and asking for his help. He imagined what it would be like to take the omega to bed and give him what he wanted, knotting him and breeding him and holding him close as he whispered sweetly into his hair and joined them together as one.
Then he would shove his hand back down into his robes and be right back where he started, miserably consumed by desire and unable to be with the one person his body was craving so desperately.
As the first night settled over the palace, a shadowy figure watched from behind a pillar, gazed trained on the closed door to the omega queen's bedroom. He waited in silence for an opportunity to sneak in, observing the soldiers in the hallway and the servants bustling to accommodate the omega's needs, trying to spot a crack in their system, a flaw in their guard.
The opportunity never arose. The figure retreated back into the darkness, thinking of another plan for another day.
┈ ୨ 👑 ୧ ┈
The four days of Donghyuck's heat passed slowly, agonizingly, like pure torture. He woke up to searing, burning pain, fingered himself to unsatisfactory completion, allowed himself to be bathed by the servants each night, and then had to wake up the next day and do it all over again. He longed for the comfort of his own bed back in his world, the toys he kept in the shoebox in his closet, the cooling packs and pain pills made especially to help omegas through heat. He had never realized how spoiled he had actually been when he went through heats back in his world, but now he was acutely aware of how the advanced technology and booming pharmacy industry had been shielding him from feeling the full impact of the aching pain that came with being in heat. The only thing that soothed him was the scent on Mark's clothing, surrounding him and wrapping him in a cloud of cozy, smoky protection, and he couldn't resist keeping his nose pressed into the collar of Mark's coat during the worst of his waves of heat. He cried and writhed and called out for his alpha over and over as he rutted down against the mattress, coming each time with Mark's scent filling his lungs and the king's name on his tongue.
Finally, after what felt like eons of agony, Donghyuck's heat started to slow and fade, his symptoms gradually getting less intense. His body cooled, his slick had run dry, and all the energy and adrenaline fueling his sex drive dropped away and left behind bone deep exhaustion. On the fifth day, after his heat had fully subsided, Donghyuck slept for the entirety of the day and let his body recover, and then he was finally, finally back to normal.
Donghyuck stuck his head out into the hallway outside of his bedroom on the sixth day and smiled, feeling refreshed and relieved to finally be able to walk around and explore freely without being fussed over. He spotted Jeno keeping watch and bounded over to him cheerfully, wrapping his friend in a warm hug that caught the alpha soldier by surprise.
"Your Highness," Jeno gasped, looking down at Donghyuck's arms circling his waist awkwardly, "I'm thankful to see you're feeling better. Is your heat completely done?"
"Yup! It's all over, thank god," Donghyuck sighed, keeping Jeno in his embrace even as he lifted his head to look at him. "Have you been out here keeping watch for me the whole time?"
"Of course, Your Highness. I wanted to make sure nothing happened to you while you were vulnerable and weak. I'm relieved to report that there were no incidents during the four days, and that you seem to be perfectly safe."
"Awww, you love me sooooo much," Donghyuck giggled, playfully ruffling Jeno's hair, "thank you for protecting me this whole time, puppy."
"Puppy?" Jeno spluttered, equal parts confused and embarrassed, "where on earth did you come up with a nickname like that?"
Donghyuck tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. "Dunno. Your face just kind of reminds me of a puppy, I guess."
Jeno scowled. "Well, don't call me that. You'll undermine my status as a general alpha soldier by making me seem cute and harmless."
"But you are cute and harmless," Donghyuck cooed, squishing Jeno's cheeks obnoxiously as the alpha scoffed and tried to squirm away, "at least to me, you are. You're just my little guard dog."
The sound of someone clearing their throat loudly behind him interrupted their conversation. Jeno immediately stiffened, his face going beet red as he shoved Donghyuck off of him and lowered himself into a bow. The omega furrowed his eyebrows and whipped around, only to see Mark with his jaw clenched and his expression dark, doing a very poor job of concealing his anger.
"Am I interrupting something here?" Mark said, his tone icy and sharp. Jeno flinched, quickly shaking his head and muttering a quiet "no, Your Majesty" under his breath. Donghyuck just rolled his eyes.
"Donghyuck. Would you follow me, please?" Mark hissed, leaving no room for protest as he turned on his heel and walked back towards his own quarters. The omega gave Jeno a light, teasing punch on the arm as a goodbye before quickly trailing behind the alpha king. Mark pulled him into his room and shut the door behind him, turning to Donghyuck with his arms crossed over his chest.
"So, it's Jeno, huh?"
Donghyuck blinked. "Um. What?"
"Don't play dumb. I've already seen it myself, I'm not stupid."
Donghyuck scrunched his nose and looked up at the king in bewilderment. "I seriously have no idea what you mean, Mark. What about Jeno?"
"You're in love with him, aren't you?" Mark said darkly, hands clenched at his sides. Donghyuck's eyes widened immediately, and he startled backwards a step.
"What? In love with him? What the actual hell are you talking about?"
"You're just going to deny it until the very end?" Mark sighed, averting his eyes and scuffing his boots across the wooden floor beneath them, "I see the way you act around him. You're constantly touching him, teasing him, complimenting him... it's obvious, Donghyuck, you're clearly in love with him."
The omega was silent for a long, agonizing moment, before he suddenly broke out into loud laughter. Mark's head snapped up immediately, frowning in confusion.
"Mark... are you jealous?" Donghyuck teased, grin spread across his face. The king blushed red up to his ears immediately, mouthing hanging open silently as he searched for a response.
"Am I not allowed to be upset that my queen is fraternizing and flirting with some other alpha? Do I not have a right to that anger?"
"First of all, I'm not your queen yet," Donghyuck corrected, raising a challenging eyebrow at Mark, "you don't have a right to anything because we're not even dating, I have never once agreed that we were in any kind of romantic relationship."
Mark deflated, his shoulders dropping immediately. "But you agreed to allowing me to court you... I don't know how it works in your world, but here, that indicates a level of exclusivity to our relationship."
"Well, I did not know that... so sorry, I guess," Donghyuck huffed, "but even still, I have zero romantic feelings towards Jeno. He's nice, he's a good friend, and he's fun to tease. That's pretty much it."
Mark pursed his lips, standing still and staring at Donghyuck for a long moment. "...Really?"
Donghyuck huffed out another exasperated laugh. "Yes really. You can relax, alpha, I know you're probably feeling a little possessive and on edge still after the past few days, but don't go around pretending like it's you who's in love with me."
Mark bit his lip and stayed quiet, letting the words sink in. Was he in love with Donghyuck? Is that why he had reacted so strongly to the idea of Donghyuck being romantically involved with Jeno?
Donghyuck thankfully did not notice or mention Mark's incriminating silence.
"Are those my clothes?" Donghyuck suddenly cut in, abruptly shifting the topic of conversation. Mark followed his gaze towards the pile of Donghyuck's clothes that he had used to get him through his mini rut over the past four days. He blushed bright red again, unceremoniously shoving them off the bed and out of Donghyuck's line of sight.
"Well, yeah, I used them to... you know, uh... purge my instincts or whatever. I'll have to wash them before I give them back to you, though, it's probably drenched in my scent."
There were also other reasons why Mark needed to wash them, other substances that were clinging to the fabric. But he preferred that Donghyuck remained ignorant about that part.
The omega blushed a little as well and scratched at the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly. "Oh, yeah, right. I have to wash your clothes before giving them back to you as well... you know, because of the scent and stuff."
Donghyuck also had substances of his own that had ended up all over Mark's clothing. He too omitted that detail, humiliation burning at his cheeks.
"Thank you, by the way... for your help during the heat. Even if it didn't seem like much, I appreciated you letting me use your clothes," Donghyuck murmured, suddenly feeling embarrassed. Mark gave him a shy smile and shrugged.
"Of course. I'm glad I was able to help, and I'm happy to see you feeling better now."
Donghyuck bit his lip and nodded, suddenly remembering the promise Mark had made to him right before his heat.
If you still want me to kiss you after this is all over, then I'll give it to you, okay?
It strangely made him feel hot all over when he thought about actually kissing Mark. He wondered if it was the lingering after effects of his heat.
"Um... I'm sorry for causing so much trouble during my heat. I hope I wasn't too much of an inconvenience." Donghyuck muttered instead of the words lingering on the back of his tongue, the words of hey, remember when you said you'd give me a kiss if I asked for one? Were you being serious about that? Is it weird that I kind of wanna take you up on that offer right now?
"Not at all," Mark replied gently, startling the omega out of his thoughts, "I'm just glad we were able to get you to the palace safely before your real heat set in. I'm relieved you were able to receive the proper care."
"Yes... thank you," Donghyuck coughed, "uh... I hope I didn't delay any important discussions or anything. Have you gotten a chance to meet with the monarchs of this country yet?"
"Not yet," Mark admitted, "but that's alright, it's no big deal. I was waiting for you to recover so that I could take you with me, as you're one of the main reasons we're taking this journey to meet the allies in the first place."
"Oh... right, yeah," Donghyuck hummed, pursing his lips and lowering his gaze. "Well, I'm ready to go with you to speak with them whenever. I would hate to delay it any longer."
"Very well. I'll arrange a meeting with them for early tomorrow morning, if that works for you," Mark smiled gently. Donghyuck nodded and muttered his own approval.
"In that case, I'll come by your quarters tomorrow morning so I can walk you there," Mark said, exhaling heavily as he moved towards the door. Donghyuck quickly took the hint and followed him, so that he could leave the room and give the king his privacy.
"Ah, before you go..." Mark started hesitantly, leaning against the doorway, "what would you say is your favorite flower?"
Donghyuck blinked, clearly taken aback by the question. "Um... I guess I really like roses, sunflowers, or... or daisies, maybe? Why do you ask?"
"I see. Would you like for me to bring you a small bouquet of them tomorrow, then?"
Donghyuck flushed dark red. "Oh my god, no, it's fine. You don't have to do all that."
"Of course I do. I am still courting you, after all. Don't tell me you've already forgotten that I'm trying to win over your heart?" Mark tilted his head to the side, grinning in a way that made Donghyuck's stomach flip. Sometimes he forgot just how attractive the king really was.
"Whatever," he grumbled defensively, looking away in an attempt to hide the blush on his face, "for the record, sunflowers are too much for a small bouquet... just stick with the roses and daises."
"Good to know," Mark chuckled, opening the door for Donghyuck like a gentleman, "then I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning with a bouquet of roses and daises prepared for you."
Donghyuck nodded dismissively before ducking his head and rushing out into the hallway, desperately trying to conceal how flustered he felt from just the idea of Mark showing up at his bedroom door with flowers just for him.
He tried his best to ignore the heat creeping up the back of his neck and the fluttering of his heart and he rushed back over to his own bedroom.