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It was weird. Staring at a bedroom so barren. Devoid of furniture and decoration. Lacking the sharp wooden scent of the cross or the metallic undertones of a beating. A blank canvas. A new beginning.
“Hey, Trav,” Sal says as he enters the room holding a large box. “Our new bedframe came in today! You ready to assemble?”
“Wha- oh uh yeah sure, whatever,” Travis says, attempting to recover from his daze.
Sal smiles as he sets the box down. The pair quickly get to work, with Sal reading the instructions and Travis putting the pieces together. Gizmo decides to be a very helpful supervisor and claims the cardboard box his throne. As they continue to work, the faint scent of 'blue' filled the air.
Travis was never good at differentiating scents. When he smelt something, he didn’t smell laundry detergent with a hint of iron, he just smelt blue. Just another reason he was a defective omega. Didn’t nest, didn’t identify scents. Sal always reassured Travis, saying he didn’t care about any of the stuff Travis lacked. That he didn’t really care about Travis’s secondary gender at all. Still, Travis’s insecurities persisted. It was hard for him to wrap his head around why such an amazing alpha like Sal would want to be with an omega like him.
After many mistakes and a few hours, the pair finished assembling the bedframe. “So,” Sal began, “What do you think? Not to shabby for the first peace of furniture of our new apartment huh?”
“It’d be nicer if it had a mattress…” Travis murmurs.
“Yeah, well that’s still at the apartments. I’m waiting to borrow Lisa’s truck tomorrow so I can bring it over, but for tonight it looks like we’re sleeping on the floor.”
“Again. Nothing more romantic than spending the first two nights in our new apartment on the floor.”
“Exactly.”
Travis scoffs, but he can’t fully surprise the fond smile creeping onto his lips. “At least Gizmo will keep us warm.”
“Yeah see? It won’t be all that bad.”
True to Sal’s word, it wasn’t all that bad. Travis quite enjoyed it, not that he’d ever voice that thought. It was nice being so close to Sal. Sure, they cuddled on regular nights, but with the excess warmth a mattress and comforter provided, there’s only so close you can get without overheating. This way, with only a think blanket to keep them warm, the two were encouraged to stay close for not only comfort, but also warmth.
The quiet night faded away, replaced with the chirping of the morning’s birds. Travis woke, cold and lonely. He slowly sat up, wincing as the harsh sun hit his eyes. They really needed to invest in some curtains, the blinds just aren’t cutting it. Travis looks around his new bedroom, running his hands through his hair. “Sal?” he murmurs as he makes his way to the door. “Sal?” he repeats, louder than last time.
Sal was nowhere to be seen, leaving Travis alone in the apartment with a dozen or so half-packed boxes. Something smelled good in the kitchen, so Travis figured that was as good a place as any to start figuring out where his boyfriend was. Upon entering the kitchen, Travis’s gaze falls upon a paper bag with a sticky note attached to it.
The note read: ‘Morning sleepy head! I’m picking up the mattress right now. I wanted to go with you, but I figured you’d rather sleep in! Don’t worry, Larry will help me carry it in your absence. I picked us up some breakfast before I went to the apartments. It’s nothing much, but I figured it was better than starving. Ily <3’
Travis smiles as he opens the bag and pulls out a croissant egg sandwich. He gazes around the space, looking for a place to sit, to no avail. With a weary sigh, Travis makes himself comfortable on the floor.
The food was good. It’s always good from the local sandwich shop. It smelt yellow. Yellow is a good smell. Warm, fuzzy, like a lazy weekend morning watching your father cook breakfast whilst the day’s early light filters through the blinds. Not like Travis had any first hand experience. His weekends always smelled red. Red, like blood. Red like anger. Red like the piercing stare of the churchgoers and their judgmental words.
Travis could still hear their viscous whispers. ‘Such a same he was born an omega.’ ‘He had so much potential’. ‘He could’ve been such a strong alpha. Like his dad.’ ‘What a disappointment.’ ‘What a shame’ ‘What a failure.’ ‘If only…’ ‘If only..” If. If. If. The words plagued Travis’s waking hours. That was until Sal came along.
The boy was also so full of life. Always so confident, so kind. Him and his friends both. It didn’t matter to Sal if he was an alpha with damaged scent glands, incapable of producing the strong musk alpha’s were known for. It didn’t matter to Sal if his friends were betas, or alphas, or omegas. He didn’t even mind when people called him a girl or mean names. It… perplexed Travis. How could someone live so carefree? Travis was jealous. So, he did the only thing an emotionally repressed teen could think of doing. He bullied Sal.
That bulling didn’t last long, as is obvious from his current predicament. Sal refused to dismiss Travis as ‘just another bully’, and after one heart to heart in the bathroom, and many small kindnesses, the two boys become friends. Sal showed Travis the kindness he was never privileged enough to experience. Showed Travis that he was more than his secondary gender. Their friendship bloomed and flourished until the pair became more than just friends. Now, they’re moving in together. Funny how the world works.
Travis finished eating and threw out his trash. He then stands in front of the trashcan, gazing around the room. There was so much to be done, it was almost overwhelming. Almost. Travis had grown up with to-due lists miles long and very little time to complete them. ‘You’re an omega, its your job to be a homemaker.’ His father would say. Travis was used to working under pressure. Failure would only mean one thing, a beating.
Travis straightens his posture as he gets to work. Step one: Unpacking. He chooses a random box in the kitchen and gets to work. It was filled with various pots and pans, not enough to make a full set, seeing as these were only the extras that the Fisher’s could spare, but it was enough to get the couple started. An old blanket was weaved between the pans to prevent scratches.
The blanket was unfamiliar to Travis. It definitely wasn’t from Sal’s room. Nonetheless it must be put away. The bedroom closet seems as good a place as any, so Travis gathers the fabric and moves to the other room. It still feels wrong, but it’s by far the best room in the house. It smells much more like Sal than any other room.
Travis folds the blanket neatly and goes to set it down, but before he can, he can’t help but bring the blanket to his nose. It was an instinct; omega’s explore their world through scent after all. Its scent was like Sal’s, though it was… richer? Deeper?? Maybe smokier? Travis couldn’t quite tell. All he knew was that the scent was a dusky purple.
A sweet, comforting, dusky purple. It smelt like home. Like family. It almost made Travis want to wrap himself in the scent and curl up….
ᯓ★🎸
The door creaks open as Sal enters the apartment, hauling the mattress inside. Larry is not far behind, entering the apartment and shutting the door. “Thanks again for helping me with this, Larry.” Sal says, grabbing two bottled waters from the package sitting atop the fridge.
“Yeah dude, anything for you.” Larry takes the water Sal is handing him and chugs it. “I’m glad you’ve finally found someone you can settle down with. Though we’ll definitely miss having you as a roommate.”
Sal chuckles, lifting his mask just enough to sip on the water. “Yeah, I’ll miss you guys too, but it’s not like you won’t ever see me. We’ll still hang out.”
“Yeah, of course! I know that, it’s just… been a while since we haven’t either lived together or just an elevator ride away.”
Sal nods, which is the closest he can get to showing a smile with his prosthetic, as he glances from the mattress in the living room to the closed bedroom door. It was going to be a pain to get the unruly thing from point A to B, but it’ll be worth it if it meant no more sleeping on the hard floor. As Sal’s gaze continues to sweep across the space, he notices fewer boxes littering the floor. Travis must’ve done some unpacking.
“Speaking of roommates,” Larry continues, “Where’s Travis?”
“Oh, probably in the bedroom.” Sal replies. “He slept in this morning, seems like moving has taken a lot out of him.”
“It’s a shame we’ll have to wake him up to get the mattress in place,” Larry says, readying himself to continue moving the mattress.
“Yeah, I’ll go wake him up.”
ᯓ★🎸
As the door creaks open, Travis tenses, wrapping the blanket tighter around himself. Sal cautiously enters the room, his gaze falling on the curled-up omega. “Hey, Trav, you doing alright?” he asks.
Travis scoffs, scooting further into the closet. “Why wouldn’t I be?” There was a new scent clinging to Sal and wafting through the open door. Green. The smell was faint, but it was unmistakably there. It wasn’t unfamiliar to Travis, but it was unwelcome, nonetheless. The scent belonged to Larry, the resident beta of the friend group.
The pair took quite a while to get along when Travis first joined the group, but Larry came around in time. Now, one could even say Travis and Larry were close friends. Travis has never had a problem with the beta’s scent before, so he wasn’t sure why it was so irritating now.
“Because,” Sal says, crouching down to Travis’s level, “You’re nesting. You’ve never nested before.”
Travis freezes at his mate’s words. Nesting? No, he didn’t nest. That was an instinct trained out of him by his father. Why would he start now? Travis didn’t even know how to nest. Did one blanket really count as a nest? “I- N-no! I don’t nest! You know this! Why would I….” Travis sputtered out.
Sal tilts his head slightly as he inches closer to Travis. “You haven’t nested because of all the stress of your previous environment, but it’s been a few months since you’ve been in that toxic environment. There’s no reason you can’t start nesting now.” Sal gently rests his hand on Travis’s face. “Oh, babe, you’re burning up. I’ll be right back, okay?”
Travis opens his mouth to protest, but Sal is gone before he can form words, leaving Travis is alone to ponder this new epiphany. A nest didn’t seem all that bad, especially when his instincts were screaming at him to make one, but Travis didn’t even know where to begin. He knew they had blankets and clothes and pillows, but what made it so different from any other bed? Is there a special way to arrange them? Maybe a special scenting process? Are there certain secret requirements that only omegas know? Travis’s thoughts were swimming, and the thick haze that settled over his mind wasn’t helping.
“Here,” Sal says, returning with a water bottle, and multiple blankets. He drops the supplies at Travis’s feet before sitting at his side. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t… I don’t know… what if I do make a nest and it’s not good enough? Or… I mess up somehow and… tch! This is all stupid! I don’t want to do this! So why…” Travis adverts his gaze to the floor.
Sal gives a sympathetic nod. “I know it sucks, being a slave to our biology and all, but that’s just the way the world works. If you want, I can bring Larry in here to show you how to nest.”
Travis ponders the offer. Larry was one of the few betas who nested. Travis always assumed this is because Larry was raised by a single omega mother. Travis knew most omegas learned this stuff from their omega parent, but his mom never taught him. Having Larry teach him wouldn’t be all that bad. “Yeah, okay…” Travis mumbles. Sal nods, shifting his prosthetic in favor of placing a gentle kiss on Travis’s forehead before exiting the room.
ᯓ★🎸
Surprisingly, making a nest isn’t as difficult as Travis worried it’d be. Turns out it was a mostly instinctual thing, and though Travis isn’t used to using his instincts, Larry was there to guide him. The nest was built within an hour, and once Larry was confident Travis was comfortable, he took his leave, leaving the couple on their own.
“Hey, baby, Larry told me you finished,” Sal says, entering the room.
“Mhm!” Travis says, moving out of the center of the nest to make room for Sal.
“Can I enter?”
“Uh… yeah…” Travis says blushing. Sal cautiously enters the nest, sitting down next to Travis. His gaze sweeps across the space, examining it. Travis feels a sinking feeling of dread as he watched Sal’s stare. What if he doesn’t like it? What if it’s not good enough?
Sal’s soft words break through the storm in Travis head. “I like it!”
“Really..?” Travis winced at how desperate his voice sounded, “I mean tch-! Whatever… I knew you’d like it.”
Sal hums as he unclips his prosthetic, setting it down on the floor outside the nest. He then wraps his arms around Travis and pulls him close, burying his face into the male’s neck. “It’s a perfect nest, made by a perfect mate!”
The two sit in a comfortable silence for a few moments, Travis on the verge of a nap, before Sal speaks up again. “You’re warm. Warmer than before. You sure you aren’t running a fever or somethin’? Or…” Sal’s words drift off as he pulls away from Travis’s neck momentarily. He purses his lips before reaching over and grabbing the unopened water bottle. “You should drink some water.”
Travis obliges, albeit confused. “Sal, what..?”
“You just smell sweeter… and you’re nesting… I’m sure its nothing though,” Sal lets out a gentle laugh, “Just get some sleep.”
“Mhm,” Travis hums and he clings to Sal. He really did love Sal. Who wouldn’t? Sal was the first person to show Travis kindness. To show Travis that the world is so much more than the red of blood and violence. To show him how colorful the world really is. And there is no person Travis would rather experience this vibrant world with than Sal.