Untitled Part 53
Chapter Fifty Three: Chemical Reactions
Tsukishima~
The library was much too busy for Tsukishima's tastes. Late Friday afternoons were ordinarily quiet, but he had forgotten to account for the upcoming season of final exams. Luckily, he had managed to snag a long oak table near a high wall of bay windows-- he always studied better with lots of natural light. Much to his dismay, he didn't have the table to himself, but the young Alpha seated across the table was quiet and focused on his own notes. That was good enough for him.
He was nearly half way through his third chapter of Organic Chemistry when he heard his phone ding through his cordless headphones, briefly silencing his tranquil music. He ignored the message with ease and continued his work, tapping his blue pen on the wooden table in intense thought. Less than a minute later, his device buzzed again-- and then again...and again. He wasn't sure if it was curiosity or annoyance that got the best of him, but he reached out to the left, feeling for his phone without looking. When his fingers landed on the familiar metal, he pushed the device across the table with a forefinger and glanced down at it.
(4) Message from: Annoying Rooster
What did Kuroo want this time? He stared blankly at the screen, debating whether or not to take the Rooster's bait. Kuroo only ever messaged him for one of three reasons-- to chirp him with a shitty meme, to remind him of an optional team building event, or to beg for the answers to their homework. Tsukishima didn't feel like entertaining any of those things today, he had work to do. Slowly, he pushed the phone back to the side, but stopped when he heard it ding once again. He quietly cursed under his breath, then accidentally caught the challenging eyes of his silent table partner:
If you're not going to get that, then take your damn phone off vibrate.
Slightly embarrassed, but more irritated than anything, Tsukishima snatched the phone up to view the messages in full-- narrowing his eyes at the Alpha across from him as he did so.
(4:47pm) Yo, crisis at Waterfront. Suga went into heat.
(4:47pm) I don't know how so don't ask me.
(4:48pm) Could use the backup of you're not busy, I don't know what the fucks gonna happen or what we're walking into.
(4:50pm) Okay yeah...I'll just assume you're busy. But if you get this then we'll be at the maintenance shed, the one near that weird red bench.
Tsukishima let out an audible sigh, one that was still quiet enough to keep to himself, then stared down at the lit screen with pursed lips. He hated the peer pressure he had been at near-constant odds with since the nest had moved into his residence. He had no desire to get involved in the dangerous affairs of his housemates, but he always seemed to be dragged into them anyways. Admittedly, he had felt the bizarre pack instinct on more than one occasion, and he had fully chosen to ignore it to the best of his abilities. He had zero ambition to be a part of an Alpha pack, but being a member of the University volleyball team had really shot that horse in the face. There was no way he was going to willingly join a strange, hybrid pack that included Omegas as well. Suga wasn't his problem. In fact, from his perspective, Suga wasn't any of his teammates' problem either. Especially now that Daichi was out of the picture.
He sighed again to release the sudden pressure inside his chest, then flipped back to his music when his phone buzzed again. He rolled his eyes and adjusted his glasses before looking back done at his annoyingly chatty device.
(4:51pm) Yamaguchi is with Suga btw. Dunno if you care but I figured you'd want to know.
He read over the newest message four times before its significance finally registered in his brain. His feral nature, however, got the message right away and the tension inside of his chest increased tenfold. He did, in his own warped way, consider the Yamaguchi as a friend. A good friend, even, but his instincts had been known to skew his conscious feelings for the freckled boy from time to time. Just like they were suddenly doing now.
He hated it.
He didn't want his body to feel any measure of attraction towards another person-- family, lover, or otherwise. And he certainly didn't want to have a mate, not ever. He didn't want a life partner. He didn't want to have children. He was an academic-- a man who wanted to excel in the field of science and create new life inside of test tubes, not inside of an Omega. For that reason alone, he had distanced himself from Yamaguchi since the events with Chaki and Kabuto. Well, as much as humanly possible for him to do so. As always, reality was much more difficult than his plans on paper. There was something about Yamaguchi that always seemed to draw him in. Perhaps, it was the Omega's mild, tropical scent, or maybe it was his ability to provide a quiet companionship that Tsukishima found rather amicable. Regardless, Tsukishima was fully frustrated with his instincts' fascination of Yamaguchi, and by extension, frustrated with the entire nest itself. It was fine when they were distracting the other Alpha members in his household, but distracting him? That was where he drew the line.
With that thought in mind, he clicked off his phone and put it back in its non-distracting place, off to the side of the long table. Then, he forcibly shoved all of his frantic thoughts on Yamaguchi to the back of his mind and got back to his studies with renewed vigor. With a lot of vigor-- with the vigor of someone trying to distract themselves from their true feelings. Across from him, his table partner hummed out in frustration and met his steely gaze once more:
For fucks sakes, would you stop pushing out that annoying scent? I'm fucking studying here. Deal with it, or leave.
Tsukishima sucked in a silent breath at the silent accusation, but kept his ever present poise under wraps.
He wasn't giving off a strained scent...was he? He wasn't stressed in the slightest! Yes, Yamaguchi was somewhat fragile, but the kid was smart enough to handle himself.
He began to tap his pen against the table, pretending to ponder the complex chemistry problem before him-- trying to trick himself into believing that everything would work itself out.
Yamaguchi will be fine...where was Suga in heat again? At the park? Wait...what time was it?
He glanced over to his phone, 4:55pm.
See...it's late. There probably wouldn't be a lot of people at the park on a Friday evening anyways. They'll figure out how to get Suga back home to safety. Omegas were smart about this kind of stuff. They'll all be okay.
His hazel eyes darted up to the irritated Alpha seated across from him as if to say, see, I'm fine. Then, he dropped his gaze back down at his well organized notes.
Kuroo was going to be there. Who else? Asahi is out of town with Nishinoya and Tanaka has evening tutoring...but everyone else was around. There's no need for me to get involved. I'm all the way across campus. Kuroo will definitely bring backup and that will keep Yamaguchi and the others safe. It would be illogical to get involved. They probably won't even be there by the time I could get there anyways.
As his absent-minded thoughts strung together, he felt something inside his mind begin to snap. His guarded instincts slithered out of their carefully monitored cage and an uncomfortable heat began to spread throughout his body-- coating his skin with a sticky sweat. He shuddered, banging his back against his oak chair as his instincts began to scratch at the back of his retinas. They were throwing a tantrum against his logical mind-- just as they had a few weeks back when their yellow house was attacked. No, he commanded internally, no, we are not doing this again. He mentally pushed back against them, humming under his breath to the calming song playing through his red headphones. Then, he repeated an internal mantra, one that asserted that Yamaguchi's safety was none to his concern.
Five minutes later, he was shaken back to reality, stopping his body halfway down the front steps of the brick library building. He was nearly blown back in disbelief, but quickly regained his poise once more. Really? How the fuck did he end up outside? When the fuck did he lose control over his instincts? Ordinarily, he could put a finger on the exact moment he lost against his feral nature, but this time, he had just blacked right out. It was more than a little disconcerting for him.
"What the fuck..." He whispered under his breath, growing immensely worried over his lack of conscious control. After a few minutes, frozen in intense thought, he noticed that his instincts had the foresight to grab his backpack. Oh how ironic, he sarcastically mused to himself with an eye roll. Then, he shimmied his bag down from his shoulder and unzipped it to reveal its contents. His perfectly done notes were shoved inside, crumpled up in a ruined mess alongside his expensive pens. "Really? Ruining my goddamn notes...how disrespectful," he muttered again as he aggressively zipped up the main pocket of the bag.
After adjusting the backpack over his shoulders once more, he worked his black frames over his nose and let out a deep sigh of irritation. He wanted to march right back up the library steps and show his feral nature who was boss, but the intelligent side of him knew that it would be futile. They were already a swirling mess of challenging anger and they were clearly in some sort of open rebellion-- threatening to take over his bodily control again if he refused to acknowledge their demands.
He knew that they wanted to find Yamaguchi, no, they needed to find the kid. They needed to fight for the safety of their hybrid-esque pack-- the pack that he wanted nothing to do with in the first place. Had he not made that notion clear enough to them? Did he seriously have no say in the matter anymore?
Fuck, he absolutely hated being an Alpha. He wished that he had be born an Omega. They, at the very least, weren't slaves to their overzealous instincts anymore. There were chemical ways to control their animalistic inhibitions-- the same couldn't be said for Alphas.
Raking his gaze over the sporadic crowds of students, his hazel eyes were drawn to a red bicycle a few feet away. Its owner hadn't even bothered to chain it up to the steel racks near the entrance of the library. Whoever owned the damn thing, they would likely be returning soon. That, or they were an idiot who wanted their bike to be stolen out from under them.
He huffed out a but of air at his overeager instincts and their internal demands, then pushed his conscious mind out to them-- are we really going to steal a bike? You're really going to make me do this? Their reply was heavy inside of his chest, demanding and extremely persistent with their message-- yes. Get to Waterfront. Get there now. Our Omega. Danger. He is ours.
Tsukishima ground his teeth together and fought back against his desire to roll his eyes again-- openly scoffing at his mutinous feral nature. Then, he conceded. He casually walked up to the bicycle, acting as if it was his in the first place, swung his leg over the metal, and took off without a second thought.
As he biked across campus towards the ocean, he let his emotions stew around in his mind. He was absolutely infuriated with his instincts for forcing him into obeying their stupid desires. He was even more angry with himself for being weak against them-- for allowing them to have their way with him so easily. He was annoyed with Kuroo for involving him with the problem in the first place and he was exasperated with the nest for pulling him into the constant stream of terrible situations. But, underneath every petulant thought there remained a deep seated fear. An ever-present anxiety for Yamaguchi's safety. In fact, he was unamused to find himself growing more and more concerned for everyone's safety-- even for Suga and the other Omegas.
He shook his head to reassert his fractured mind as he biked through the residence district. Today, he would help. Tomorrow, he would distance himself again. That was his creed.
Bokuto~
Bokuto was stuck facing down three Alphas to the right side of the shed. The three females were much were closer to harpies in the way that they attacked at him. They were chaotic and wild in their strikes, but crafty as well. They were wise enough to rotate their ranks when one of them became too injured or tired to continue against him. He always hated fighting against female Alphas. They were always more intelligent in their fighting-- aware of their generally smaller stature as women and better able to utilize it to their benefit. In fact, he always considered them to be tougher opponents than male Alphas. Male Alphas were more mindless and brawny. Fuck, he mused with a dramatic eye roll, why couldn't he be facing three of them instead?
He darted his yellow eyes over his colorful opponents-- their pastel hair colours reminded him of sailor moon characters. These women might not be sweet, magical saviors, but their minds were definitely on another planet. None of them retained a single shred of humanity. They were all lost to heat-induced instincts.
Bokuto had landed more than his fair share of hits, but none of them had managed to permanently subdue any of his artful opponents. Luckily for him, he had proven himself as a worthy adversary-- none of the women had tried to skip past him to get to the shed. They, at the very least, viewed him as an obstacle that needed to be overcome first. For that, he was extremely relieved. He was already dancing along the seven meter radius around the shed. A few steps backwards, and he would want to fuck Suga just as much as his opponents did. If they blew past him, he wouldn't be able to chase them down.
Rolling his neck on its axis, he grimaced at his swollen fingers. They had only just healed and he was absolutely certain that many of them were broken again. Just in time for fall volleyball season. Fantastic. He quickly hazarded a glance over his shoulder, internally praying that the shed was still standing resolute-- still protecting the nest, and his precious Omega. Thankfully, it was, but he wasn't sure how much longer it would last. His pack was badly outnumbered by feral Alphas, and feral Alphas were berserkers. They had little regard for injuries, in fact, Bokuto knew from personal experience that a feral Alpha didn't even feel their injuries at all. They were goal oriented creatures, and the goal today was Suga.
He could see that Kuroo was doing everything in his power to keep two male Alphas from prying at the now-rickety door of the shed. Hajime was engaged with a large female, one that Bokuto recognized from the University rowing team, and the pair were rolling around in the grass, growling and clawing at each other with fury. Neither one seemed to have the upper hand, which rattled him to the core. He always considered Hajime to be unmatched when it came to other Alphas. Closer to the right side, Oikawa was kicking into a rather surly opponent and had pulled out a large bottle of Alpha spray to dispatch the man for good.
How long until Campus Security showed up? Or the police? They needed to end things soon.
Before Bokuto had the chance to locate Miyo, or to see how Yuji was fairing on the far left, a harpy with soft green hair jumped him from the side. He barely managed to dodge the quick attack, receiving a deep scratch across his face from her painted nails that was both painful and irritating. He swiftly parried with his own punch, accidentally knocking the woman in the neck with a closed fist. She wailed out from the bizarre strike and clutched at her throat as she fell to her knees, gasping through hoarse vocal cords. As per usual, he didn't have the time to finish her off before another one latched onto him from the back. He clawed over his shoulders, pulling at the woman's long, pink hair as she hooked a sinewy arm around his neck.
He dropped down to his knees and rolled onto his back, slamming her body against the hard earth in an attempt to dislodge her. When he felt her cough loudly against his back and relax her grip, he shot up to a seated position. For a brief moment, frozen on his haunches, he caught Oikawa's frantic eyes. The chestnut Omega stood only a few feet away with a hand clamped around his bottle of Alpha spray, his long fingers white and tense. Bokuto knew exactly what the boy was thinking-- he was debating whether or not to spray at the harpies.
He knew that he would be collateral damage if Oikawa chose to spray, which was likely the source of the Omega's hesitation. However, by this point in time, he was growing desperate. He wasn't sure how long he had been fighting for, but the constant aches in his screaming muscles were very telling. He wouldn't be able to keep up his defense of the shed for much longer and he hadn't even managed to knock out a single opponent-- the shitty harpies he was up against were too organized in their fighting. They were most definitely in a pack and, because of that, they were successfully wearing him down. He knew that it wouldn't be long until one of them incapacitated him, or until they lost interest in him as a threat altogether. Either way, he was screwed. Something needed to be done and Oikawa had the right idea.
Sure, I could be a martyr, he mused to himself with a sly, Bokuto-like smirk-- he had only recently learned the meaning of the word from Keiji. Why the fuck not?
The instant that thought flashed across his mind, he heard the pink haired Alpha clamor to her feet behind him. As he scrambled to his own footing, she launched at him, but this time, her grip around his neck was ironclad. As he renewed his efforts to throw her twisted form off once more, the final harpy, one with startling blue eyes, burst past him on the left-- beelining it towards Oikawa and the shed.
With wide eyes, he rasped at Oikawa and clawed at the solid arms around his neck. "Spray...SPRAY!" He coughed out in with desperate growl. "SP-SPRAY IT OIK-OIKAWA! FUCK, SPRAY IT!"
Oikawa hesitated at first, his chocolate eyes flickering between the wily harpy that was running straight for him at full speed, and to Bokuto's struggles against the pink haired woman. Then, his mouth set in a hard line and he jerked forward a couple steps, then pushed down on the large canister. The air around him burst in a puff of terrible smelling mist that left Bokuto and his attacker in a hacking fit of nausea. Bokuto felt his eyes begin to tear up in their sockets, but he wasn't sure if it was from his lack of airflow, or the spray itself.
For a moment, he was at peace with his fate. Yes, he was likely going to get choked out in a cloud of unpleasant mist, which definitely wouldn't do his poor body any favours, but at least the harpies would go down with him. Then, through blurry vision, he saw the blue-eyed woman shoot through the grey smog, plowing herself directly into Oikawa. He was certain the the chestnut Omega had been expecting the attack, but that readiness didn't stop the large canister of spray from flying through the air at the impact. It landed with a soft clang in the grass a few feet next to Bokuto-- waiting, like a bomb ready to explode.
His yellow eyes widened in fear and he forced himself to ignore his uncomfortably churning stomach. If that Alpha spray made its way into the hands of one of his cunning attackers, it would mean game over for both him and Oikawa-- maybe even their team in general. With it, the three harpies could fully incapacitate him, then claw their way out of the spray's diameter to high-tail it for the shed. He renewed his struggles, reaching behind him with a heavy hand to grab at the pink-haired woman's loose shirt. After adjusting his grip, he swung his arm forward with all his might and brought the woman down on the grass in front of him with a heavy thud. She erupted in a fit of coughing snarls and clawed at the grass as she combated her winded breath, but the misty air wasn't doing her any favours.
Bokuto didn't even spare her another glance. Instead, he began to drag his unsteady feet across the grass, towards the spray. He just needed to get to it and throw it as far away as possible.
Throw it away. Throw it far away. Get it away from them.
Then, something happened that he did not account for. The green haired harpy had recovered from his throat punch. She propelled into his unsuspecting side and the two of them landed on the metal canister. He heard a loud pop ring out around them as the can exploded beneath their weight, coating the two of them in a chemically substance that stung his already scratched up skin.
It took him a few moments to figure out what was going on, he was too disoriented from the smell and high-pitched noise of the burst. He was certain that his eyes were open, but he couldn't see anything beyond a blurry mess of grey and the pastel hair colours of the harpies. His other senses immediately heightened, then shriveled away from the sensory overload of the spray. His world became dull and distorted. He couldn't smell anything but a chemical residue that burned through his nostrils and throat. He could pick up on subtle note of Suga's heat, but he had no idea where it was coming from anymore. His body ached and his open wounds felt like they were be seared with battery acid. He couldn't see anything through his watery eyes and he could feel tears streaming down his cheeks, sliding through the slimy residue that had coated his clawed up face. Somewhere next to him, he could feel one of the harpy woman rolling around in pain and he could hear her growling out her misery.
His own throat was rumbling out, subconsciously releasing sounds of his distress. His instincts were echoing inside his head, retreating back to the deepest recesses of his mind to escape the oppressive Alpha spray. He clawed out at the dry grass and began to drag his body forward. He didn't know what direction he was heading, but it didn't matter. He just needed to find fresh air.
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