Greetings! I know we've had a lot of exposition the last few chapters, so after this one, we can get back into the meat of the story...ie, romance and friendshipppp.
Xoxoxoo
(As always, warning for grammatical errors).
Chapter Twenty One: Pack
Ukai~
When Ukai entered the yellow house from the now quiet back yard, he was irritated, yet unsurprised, to find Daichi and Asahi still engaged in their hearty brawl. He momentarily tuned out their animal-like grumbling and raked his gaze to the front windows. Outside, Tobio and Tsukishima had resumed their argument once more, and from their animated bodies, Ukai could tell that the spat had not lost its intensity. His eyes lingered on the two boys for a moment, suddenly realizing that there was not a single Omega in sight. A fleeting feeling of panic set in until their anxious fragrances swirled down from the staircase and into his searching nostrils. Good, he thought to himself, releasing a subtle sigh of relief, at least they were congregated in a single location- that would make it easy for him to assess the damage.
For a moment, he contemplated checking on the Omegas first, he had promised Miyo that he would do so, after all. However, his motivations quickly shifted when Asahi struggled out of Daichi's stiff grasp and reared himself back for a renewed attack. Before Ukai had the chance to even think about stepping in, the bunned giant bowled into his captain's torso, sending them sprawling into the glass coffee table- their heavy impact shattering it across the hardwood of the living room. The pair made no notice of the sharp edges beneath them, continuing to roll on the floor in a flurry of hostile snarls, fighting for the upper hand.
Ukai hotly growled under his breath and shook his head in exasperation. He was done with the out of control Alphas. Done with it. Unleashing his dominant scent at full force, he hoisted Daichi to his feet, then pulled Asahi forward by the front of his bloody shirt. As the bunned Alpha snarled out in displeasure, he used his mature strength against the giant boy, yanking him upwards to slam him into the wall near the front door.
"SIT DOWN AT THE TABLE. NOW!" He roared into Asahi's contorted face, receiving a small whimper in response. Happy with the verbal relinquishment of power, he dropped the boy to his feet and jerked his head towards the dining room table. "Sit. There," he barked out in command, his yellow eyes beginning to darken as he used his instincts to curb Asahi's feral nature.
The bunned giant hesitated, deciding whether or not to continue his physical engagement with a stronger, more mature Alpha. Then, he sluggishly moved towards the table, his shoulders bristling with unrelenting hostility. Satisfied with the ace's compliance, Ukai pushed through the front door, eager to put Tobio and Tsukishima's unceasing bickering to an end.
"GET INSIDE. NOW!" He abruptly howled into the front yard, his demanding words laced with deafening fury.
When the two Alphas paused their altercation, but remained in place, he emphatically snarled out, altering them that he meant business. Tobio visibly shivered at his vocal dominance and quickly strode towards the house, with Tsukishima lazily following behind- seemingly unaffected by his impervious scent.
"Sit down at the FUCKING table," he growled through gnashed teeth at the slumped figures ahead of him. As they entered the unpleasant confines of the yellow house, he slammed the door behind them, and quickly turned to his captain.
"Daichi, I smell injured Omegas upstairs. Go and figure out who needs medical treatment and report back."
The captain nodded slowly, reaching behind his back to harshly yank a large shard of glass, embedded in his shoulder blade. Jesus Christ, Ukai thought to himself with a visible shudder, the balls on the kid...pulling that out like it was nothing.
"Where is Suga. I don't smell him," Daichi asserted, tossing the bloody shard to the hardwood in front of him.
"Safe. With Miyo. Now go," Ukai growled back in half-command. While he was pleased that his captain held concern for the silver haired Omega, he needed the boy's help- he was the only remaining Alpha with some measure of control over his feral nature, the others had gone with Miyo.
Daichi hesitated, digesting his response, then swiftly turned on his heels and jogged up the narrow staircase, taking them two at a time. Ukai watched the captain disappear into the darkness before raking his attention back to the three remaining teammates- all exuding dominant scents of unchecked rage, unwilling to reign in their primal instincts.
"Asahi," Ukai warned as he approached the table, "don't move a fucking muscle. What the fuck is your problem, anyways?" He hissed through gnashed teeth, doing his best to remain impartial to the overbearing, feral scent of the room.
When his question was greeted with hostile silence, he unleashed another fresh dose of dominance. Asahi shied away from his potent scent, quietly growling in a continuous loop of irritation.
"You have the fucking floor. Say what you need to goddamn say!" Ukai hotly commanded, growing very irritated with the ace's combative scent.
The bunned giant straightened up in his seat and released a low, guttural growl. "Nishinoya was being attacked by those fucking Alphas, and neither of these two fuckers," he paused, pointing aggressively at his teammates across from him, "neither of them did a single fucking thing."
"You weren't fucking there," Tsukishima replied, his tone contentious and challenging. "You have no idea what happened. You left your Omega out to dry. That's your problem, not mine."
Asahi burst up from his seat and leaned over the table, snarling viciously. "YOU LET THEM TOUCH HIM! YOU LET THEM!"
"WE TRIED TO KEEP HIM SAFE!" Tobio exploded back, standing up with such force that his chair was thrown back against the wall behind him. "YOU. WERE. NOT. THERE."
"There were fucking four guys, Asahi," Tsukishima chastised, crossing his long arms over his chest. "Where the fuck were you? Why weren't you there to protect your Omega?"
Ukai couldn't help but be impressed by the the snarky middle blocker, he hadn't flinched so much as an inch at the barbaric roar from his giant teammate.
Asahi paused for a moment, his broad chest rising and falling as he took in sharp breaths of anger. "I couldn't keep up," he stated at last, his tone laced with personal frustration. "I couldn't keep up. I fell behind."
"You what?" Tsukishima questioned in a challenging tone, smirking slightly at his teammate's unwilling confession. "You couldn't keep up with the shrimpy kid?"
"I fell," the bunned giant reiterated, his mouth set in a hard line. "I had too much to fucking drink, so I fucking fell. I couldn't keep up with him, okay? He ran ahead of me. I couldn't keep up."
"Asahi," Tobio growled deeply, his black eyes fixated on the ace's dejected shoulders. "I tried to keep him safe. I couldn't get to him. I'm sorry. I tried, but there were too many. Too many of them," he rambled out, his tone boiling over with renewed anger at his recollection. "Four. Against him and me. We did what we could. What were we supposed to do."
Although Ukai knew that his setter's words were growing choppy from another instinctual flare up, he was nonetheless pleased that he and Asahi, were finally using their words, rather than their violent Alpha urges, to communicate their frustrations with one another. Based on their new fragrances, snaking their way into air, it was abundantly clear that both boys were furious at themselves, not each other, for being so helpless in the situation.
Furious for allowing their...no...that wasn't correct...
Ukai furrowed his brows in confusion, noticing that the unnatural fragrance in the air was similar to what he had smelled when he first arrived at the house. It was almost...familial in nature...as if...their self-deprecating anger was aimed at their own failures to protect each other's Omegas. He shook his head, that was impossible. Unless there was a familial bond involved, Alphas never held mutual care for Omegas. He sniffed the air once more, this time pulling more of the curious scent into his nostrils, only to land himself with the same, unusual conclusion. Pack. Here his team stood, defying all odds, all expectations...blending themselves together into a familial pack of their own volition. He was truly shell shocked by the realization.
"Yeah…" Tsukishima yawned, stretching his arms into the air, slightly wincing in pain as he did so. "I tried, too. Nishinoya was so far away from the other Alphas. We couldn't take on four of them, and believe me, we tried."
As Asahi sluggishly sat back in his dining chair, placing his head in his large hands, Ukai was hit with massive amount of shame. Before he had a chance to interject, to say something that would comfort his ace, Daichi startled him from behind with a jotly report.
"They all need to go. All of them. Some more than others, but they all need to go. If I had to prioritize, it would definitely be Yachi or...Yamaguchi, his arm is in rough shape."
Ukai put a hand on his captain's shoulder, he hadn't even noticed the boy's approach- he had been too fixated on the unusual pack-like scent.
"Take Asahi outside. Talk him through some stuff," he asserted, thankful the the captain had been wise enough to keep the conversation between the two of them. If Tsukishima had heard about the freckled boy, Yamaguchi, all of his efforts to calm the tense situation would have gone down the drain. "I'll call you guys when Miyo gets back and we'll all go to the hospital. Some of you guys need to get checked out too."
"With all due respect, coach, I'd rather prioritize the Omegas," Daichi replied, unable to hide the hostility from his tone at Ukai's decision.
"With all due respect, captain, I am the house advisor here. Everyone is going for treatment. Now, take Asahi outside, and do what you do best, calm him down."
It was not up for debate. Daichi had pulled a large shard of glass from his back leaving a deep laceration that, by the amount of blood stained into his grey shirt, needed stitches. Tsukishima's face was more than a little swollen, and he was tapping his disfigured fingers on the table in front of him, unphased by their broken state. Then, there was Tobio. The bright lighting inside the house illuminated his damaged arm to such a degree that Ukai had to force himself to look at its ghastly mess of raw skin.
Daichi nodded in understanding, his own eyes flickering to Tobio's damaged limb. "Come on, big guy," he growled gently, shuffling his bunned teammate towards the front door. "Let's go get some fresh air. You're always so hard on yourself, come on, cut yourself some slack for once, man."
As the captain's words faded out, Ukai returned his attention to the remaining Alphas. Although they had resolved things with Asahi, the two boys retained their air of hostility. While they normally held nothing but discontent towards each other, this time, it was different. It was amplified. Hostility was one thing, but the emotional state they currently held was an infuriated chaos- close to boiling over to a damaging, physical altercation. Huh, Ukai thought to himself, stifling a chuckle, it was a miracle that they had been able to work together against the intruders. They would hardly work together on the same volleyball team.
"So," he began as he sat down in Asahi's empty chair, eager to diffuse the tense situation. "Who's next? Who's got something they want to say? Tsukishima? You've been your usual, impassive self. Care to start us off?"
The blonde boy clicked his tongue in irritation and looked away with a sly shrug. "Tobio tuned out during the fight. Made me do all the work. Almost let one of them get away with Yamaguchi," he rattled off in an overtly nasty tone that nearly made Ukai flinch back.
"I already fucking told you," Tobio seethed back in frustration, leaning towards the snarky Alpha. "Yamaguchi's scent had me fucking paralyzed. I wanted to move, but I couldn't. It's not my fault."
"What a fucking story!" Tsukishima drawled back with narrow eyes, releasing waves of unbent hatred into the air around them. "You were probably just being your usual, selfish self. If it had been Shoyo, you would have been on the guy in an instant, but no, it was Yamaguchi."
"I WASN'T BEING SELFISH!" Tobio roared out, forcing Ukai to release a warning growl when he made a sudden move to tackle his teammate across the table. "I COULDN'T FUCKING MOVE. I WAS FROZEN."
Paralyzed by the scent of an Omega...Ukai pondered, remembering the previous events with Miyo in the backyard, perhaps, it was something similar?
"What did you feel?" He asked, startling the boys back to silence with his abrupt change of tone- genuinely curious to hear more from the setter.
"I-" Tobio began, his narrow brows furrowed, unsure of what to say. "I don't know. I just felt exhausted and everything just seemed...really far away. It was so...stifling. I could barely see, or hear, or even feel anything at all. I just wanted to...sleep."
"What a fucking convenient story," Tsukishima snapped back, but Ukai silenced him with an admonishing snarl.
"He's telling the truth," he asserted to his blonde middle blocker.
He was knowingly certain of it- Tobio had described, word for word, how he had felt under Miyo's blanketing fragrance. He was definitely going to have a chat with the beautiful woman, after everything was settled back to normal. He had never experienced such a powerful Omega scent. What she aware of what she was doing? Was it by accident?
"The Omega house adviser…" he continued in explanation, directing most it to the skeptical blonde Alpha on his right. "She paralyzed five feral Alphas in the backyard, including me, not fifteen minutes ago. I've never experienced anything like it, but there's no way it's a coincidence...Tsukishima, for christs sake. Would you stop with that critical look? Just because something is previously unheard of, doesn't mean it isn't true. Has Tobio ever lied to you, honestly, has he?"
Tsukishima rolled his eyes, huffing out a puff of frustrated air. "No...but he's still a selfish asshole."
"That is not what I'm trying to reconcile here," Ukai barked, rolling his tense shoulders to ease the muscles. "My point it, Tobio isn't fucking lying. So drop it."
"Fine, but he still broke Yamaguchi's fucking arm. I won't forget that," the blonde Alpha droned back with hostility, cleaning his broken glasses on his dirty shirt.
"I already told you. I'm fucking sorry. I didn't know what to do. Tackling Emon seemed like the best option at the time," Tobio seethed back, releasing a frustrated fragrance that was laced with subtle tones of...shame?
Again with that scent, Ukai thought to himself, subconsciously admiring its power, a pack-like scent that calls out for mutual defense of the Omegas. Strange.
"Okay. That's enough," he growled, wanting to put the entire ordeal to rest- there were injuries to see to. "Drop it. All of it. You both did the best you could against four attackers. No one was killed. Cut yourselves, and each other, some fucking slack," he finished with a heavy sigh, wishing, yet again, that the two boys would come to understand that they were on the same team. Where Tobio and Asahi's mutual pack-like scent had conjoined, his and Tsukishima's were in opposition- combative, like oil and water.
"Fine. It's dropped," Tsukishima stated plainly, pulling himself up, with great effort, from his seated position at the table. "I'm going to check on Yamaguchi."
"No," Ukai interjected, releasing his dominant scent one, final time, to get his way. "Not a single Alpha in this house is going near them. You're all too feral. That is my decision. It is final."
Tsukishima's face flexed beneath its faint purple swelling, but he compliantly lowered himself back to his seat. Ukai ignored the boy's toxic, combative scent. He had learned a lot from Miyo, and there was no way he was going to allow his boy's near the Omegas- not until he was certain that they had fully regained their sanity.
Suga~
As Suga sped down the dimly lit highway in Miyo's black Audi, he clung to the holder on the roof as if his life depended on it. He wasn't the only passenger panicked by her high speed driving- Keiji's scent, radiating out from the seat behind him, was unapologetically anxious and the two Alphas seated beside him, holding an unconscious Oikawa across their laps, maintained stiff, disconcerted facial expressions.
"Suga?" Miyo asked in more statement than question, her emerald eyes fixed on the road ahead. "Can you hold the wheel a second? I need to make a call."
"Um, I don't have a license…" He began in objection, only to be disregarded by his professor with a quick wave of her delicate hand.
"You'll be fine, it's just for a second."
He took in massive breath to calm his nerves and leaned in towards the woman. As he moved closer, her calm, yet resolved, scent swirled into his open nostrils, putting him at ease with its tranquility. He gripped onto the leather steering wheel with white knuckles and fixed his gaze on the highway in front of them- inwardly thankful that traffic was light at such a late hour. She was just making a phone call...couldn't she multitask? Drive and talk, that's what normal people did.
"Hello? Momo? It's Miyo. Hi, good to talk to you…" His professor began, chatting into the device at her ear. "I need a favor...yes...how busy are you guys tonight?" She paused, then let out a hum of understanding and a puff of relieved air. "I see...no more than usual. Listen, my Omegas are all really injured…"
Suga heard the voice on the other line grow louder in panic, babbling back furiously at a high pitch of static.
"They're okay. It's okay," Miyo interjected the panicked chatter, keeping her own voice level and calm. "I'll give you the details when I get there. So, about the favor…remember what I told you the other day? Yeah, when we had coffee. Mhm. Well the Alphas are all pretty injured too…"
The Alphas...Suga thought to himself, gripping the steering wheel harder as a blue car flashed by on his right, what was she planning?
"They're all good boys...I promise. I know it's not exactly protocol, but I don't think it would be a good idea to separate them…" She briefly paused, listening to a response, then continued. "Yeah...exactly. Is there anyway you could swing that? I would be in your debt..." She put a small hand to the mouthpiece of the phone, covering the receiver, and turned to face Suga's tense form. "How many Alphas are there? In your house? No, wait, how many were at the party?"
"Um...nine..." He responded after a quick mental count. Including Bokuto and Yuji...yes, there were nine.
"There are nine of them, all male Alphas," Miyo repeated his words into the phone, glancing out her driver's side window with a forlorn expression. "No...I don't think any of them are mated yet…?" She said with an upwards inflection, glancing back to Suga in question. Careful to keep one hand on the steering wheel, he jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Kuroo and mouthed the word, one.
"Wait," Miyo nodded, chatting into the receiver once more. "One pair is mated...yes, exactly. I promise, Momo. I swear on my honour, they will behave exceptionally. I'll personally see to it…"
Suga could hear the determination behind every word she spoke and a small smile passed over his dry lips at her admirable resolve- she was definitely someone he could look up to...someone he wanted to look up to.
"Perfect. Thank you so much. Yes, we'll be there in a bit. Okay...yes...see you soon, Momo," the professor finished, dropping her phone into her lap with a sigh.
She shooed his hands from the wheel and the group continued the rest of their journey in silence- even the normally talkative Bokuto wasn't in the mood. Suga couldn't blame the Kuroo for his quiet intensity, unlike the owl, the rooster had left his Omega back at the house. A decision which Suga found incredibly admirable, if not unusual- a mated pair willingly separating for the good of their friends? It was unheard of...and he was absolutely certain that it was something to do with the growing pack mentality among the yellow house inhabitants.
As he filed away the puzzle piece, eager to share it with Daichi, his thoughts flickered over the night's events. It had started out so well, so perfect, but the past had caught up to his nest- destroying all of the progress they had worked so hard for...destroyed their safety. However, he pondered, gazing out into the dark night through his closed window, there was one positive that had come out of the mess- his Alpha house mates had more than proven themselves as devoted to his flock. Suddenly, the 1979 article flickered across his mind, alerting him that he needed to get his hands on it again. He knew in his heart that it had answers.
Bokuto~
"Suga, Keiji, take Oikawa into the hospital. Ask for Momo. We'll be right behind you," the female Omega, the terrible driver, commanded, craning her head over her driver's seat. She had pulled the car to an abrupt, very abrupt, stop in front of the emergency entrance of the large, white building. The lighting from the neon hospital sign above illuminated the confines of the vehicle in an ominous red hue- Bokuto didn't like the colour on Oikawa's pale skin, it made the Omega's injuries seem even worse than they already were.
When Kuroo shuffled out of the car, he followed suit, gently pushing Oikawa's limp form out in front of him and into the rooster's awaiting arms. Once the injured boy had been successfully passed off to Suga and Keiji, the female Omega briskly walked around the car to stand in from of he and Kuroo. Based on her previous telephone conversation, he was fairly certain that he had caught her name, Miyo.
Miyo, the terrifying Omega who had paralyzed him with her stifling scent and commanded him to get into the car with such intensity that he wanted nothing more than to comply. After what he experienced, he looked upon her with simultaneous trepidation and veneration.
"I need you both to listen very carefully," the Omega house advisor said sternly, her intimidating gaze flickering between him and Kuroo. "I am putting my reputation on the line here. Ukai and Suga have both tried to convince me that you guys are noble Alphas who have a huge amount of control over your instincts. But, after what I saw in the yard…"
"That's not who we are," Kuroo barked in interruption, releasing an irritated growl at her provoking words.
"Then prove it. I'm giving you guys a chance here. This is an Omega hospital. They normally only allow mated Alphas inside. Calm mated Alphas," she challenged, pointing a delicate finger into their wooden faces.
The blue polish on her long nails definitely suited her personality, Bokuto thought to himself with a subtle nod of approval, she was ambiguous and surprising- just like the color. He suppressed his innate desire to voice the opinion, it was a compliment he would have to sit on, and tuned his attention back to the lecture.
"...so keep your shit together. There are going to be a lot of overwhelming scents inside. Do not let them affect your actions or I'll have you out of there in an instant. There is no second chance here. You're in once, and if you fuck up, you're out," the professor finished, snapping her fingers in front of their faces to emphasize her point.
Her words held nothing but severe honesty, and Bokuto found himself not wanting to disappoint her. However, more than that, he didn't want to be pulled away from Keiji. One slip up inside, and he would be separated from the icy boy- separated from his injured Omega. He internally promised that he was going to keep his shit together, he had no other option if he was going to satisfy his instinct to remain near the boy.
"No problem," Kuroo asserted, nodding his head in understanding. "No fuck ups, or we're out."
"We won't let you down!" Bokuto added in, flashing a toothy grin to ease the heavy situation. He didn't like the deadly serious vibe in the air. In fact, there was never a situation in which he did like it- he thrived in comedic, lighthearted circumstances, not dark, depressing instances like the one he had landed himself in.
"Good," Miyo replied before turning to walk towards the automatic doors of the white building. "I'll go get your escort. Wait here a moment, and for the love of god, please keep it together."
Escort?
"You didn't think that they would just let us waltz right in, did you?" Kuroo chastised him with a sly smirk, smelling his confused fragrance.
"Yeah, I guess I wasn't thinking…" Bokuto replied with a sheepish laugh, running a large hand through his hair in embarrassment.
"Oh fuck!" Kuroo abruptly shouted in a frantic tone, startling him into a flinch. "I forgot to tell Kenma where I was going…that fucked up shit in the yard just...I just got in the car without thinking..."
He watched as the rooster struggled to yank the phone from his sweatpants, his large hands shaking as he furiously typed onto the small screen. Bokuto knew the source of his teammate's upset and he understood the unpleasant feeling, albeit, to a lesser extent- an Alpha unwillingly separated from their Omega. From their mate.
"Yeah…" he said quietly, forcing his thoughts to shift back to the disturbing event. "It was fucking weird. I've never felt like that before. Just...frozen in place, and then suddenly needing to do exactly what she yelled at me...like, needing to, y'know?"
Kuroo finished typing on the device and glanced up, catching his gaze with terrified, knowing eyes. "Mhm...we'll have to ask Suga about it when we get the chance," he agreed before turning his attention to the white building beyond. "Seems like our escort is here. You better fucking stay cool. If I get kicked out 'cause you can't hack it, I'm going to be so pissed."
Bokuto huffed out in irritation and rolled his eyes, he was not going to get kicked out. He raked his eyes over three large men, clad in white scrubs, walking towards them. After sniffing the air, he was shocked to find that they were all Omegas. They certainly didn't have the build, they were much taller, and their muscles more toned. From sight alone, they could easily be mistaken for dominant Alphas. He had never seen Omegas like them before, and he was more than certain that he wouldn't be able to take any of them in a fight- even one-on-one. At that thought, he chuckled to himself, receiving an audible tsk from Kuroo in return. He couldn't deny that his recent friendship with the yellow house Omegas had exposed him to new knowledge and experiences, and for that, he was grateful.
Suga~
Suga sat in the waiting area, lost in thought. Momo, who he quickly found out was the head nurse, had set aside one of the private sections of the hospital to segregate the group. While it was meant as a precaution, the secluded area was better decorated and stocked with amenities that the public areas of the hospital, areas which he was all too familiar with, lacked. Furthermore, the private section was cordoned off from the anxious Omega fragrances that were permeating through the building- helping their Alphas to remain, at least, somewhat calm. He was more than a little grateful, and somewhat shocked, that Momo had been able to convince her senior staff to allow their Alphas into the hospital at all...but this? They were inadvertently being treated like royalty. He and his housemates owed Miyo a debt of gratitude for securing them such wonderful medical care.
His professor had driven back to the house nearly an hour earlier, and had recently returned with Ukai and the remaining house members. Yachi and Yamaguchi were both immediately ushered into separate rooms for treatment, the former still unconscious from her earlier altercation with Chaki, while the latter was taken to have x-rays done on his damaged arm. Shoyo and Nishinoya were called in soon after, both retained deep head wounds that likely needed stitches. Keiji was the only nestmate who remained behind, seated beside him in the waiting room- unwilling to get treatment until the rest of the flock had been examined. Finally, Kenma was with the now at ease Kuroo, perched in his lap across the room in an intoxicated sleep.
Unlike the Omegas, the Alphas were all congregated in the waiting room, some sitting, others leaning against the white walls. While Momo couldn't promise them treatment, explaining that only the staff who willingly volunteered would provide assistance, he was pleased when two female nurses strolled into the area. Suga watched on with growing interest as the blonde nurse quickly analyzed the room- likely trying to ascertain which of the Alphas needed to be prioritized. She was clearly the more experienced of the two nurses, the black haired girl at her side looked more nervous, and much younger.
"You all look like shit!" The blonde woman suddenly chirped into the silent air, successfully lightening the mood of the room.
"Hey!" Tanaka whistled back cheekily, happy to engage in the verbal banter. "You wouldn't look so hot either if you were outnumbered in a crazy, vicious fight!"
"Okay, I concede to your point," the nurse replied, putting her hands out in front of her in playful resignation- they were calloused and dry, overworked from continuous washing. "My name is Saori, and this lovely lady is Kiyoko. If you guys don't mind giving us a second? We need to figure out which of you poor boys needs to be treated first, okay?"
"Thanks so much for your help," Daichi responded with a grateful nod of admiration. "We are absolutely in your debt."
When the captain abruptly rose to his feet and bowed low in respect, Suga looked up at the man standing next to him and nearly died from a sudden rush of fondness for the Alpha. He raked his gaze over the other boys, watching through wide eyes as, one by one, they followed their captain's motion. The sincere gesture prompted the head nurse to unleash a wicked smile and the black haired woman next to her blushed a soft pink.
"Okay, okay! That's enough! You're going to make my heart stop!" The blonde woman pronounced, holding a hand over her chest in feigned stress. "Okay, looking at all you boys together like this...let's take...you," she continued, gesturing to Tobio's exhausted figure. "And...you. The poor kid with the glasses. I mean, what good are your glasses when your face is that swollen!"
The nurse was absolutely right in taking those two first- Tobio was, by far, in the worst shape out of the bunch. He had, what Suga could only describe as road rash, up the entire length of left arm and it had recently started oozing a clear, viscous liquid. Plus, the right side of his pale face was heavily bruised and the opposing eye was swollen shut with crusted blood. Tsukishima was hardly in better shape- his entire face marked up with bruises, inflated from repeated hits to the head. Then there were his gnarled fingers...most of them looked unusable.
Suga watched on with relief as the two nurses shuffled the Alphas down the hallway and into separate rooms. Although he was happy that everyone was at long last receiving much needed medical attention, he was irritated that he hadn't heard any news about the state of his flock- particularly Oikawa. At that sullen thought, he glanced up to find Hajime, his tense figure slumped against a white wall across the room. Suga lightly sniffed the air, picking up on subtle hints of frustration rolling off the boy in small, yet prominent waves. By scent, he was definitely the most panicked of the Alphas, with Yuji coming in at a close second. Both of them needed to be calmed before their upset fragrances devolved further and the hospital kicked them out...
"Daichi…" He leaned in close to the Alpha by his side, whispering quietly into his ear.
Daichi sluggishly squeezed his large hand, already placed on Suga's thigh, and his Alpha scent wafted forward with an intense, protective fragrance.
He wanted to bathe in it, then go to sleep...
"I think I should talk to Hajime…" He continued, shaking off the lingering effects of the lovely scent. After witnessing Hajime's frantic state from earlier that evening, he wanted Daichi to weight in on the decision- he was the captain, after all.
"Yeah…" Daichi responded softly as he swept his lips over Suga's temple, kissing it gently. "Yuji needs a chat, too…"
"It's kind of out of the blue...don't you think?" Suga purred in reply, overly content with the close proximity of his Alpha. His Alpha...
"What is…?" Daichi hummed into the side of the his head, inhaling deeply into his silver hair.
"Yuji...I mean, did you see how frantic he was about Yachi?"
He felt the dark Alpha slightly sigh against his neck, the warm breath sent shivers down his spine. Had he...referred to Daichi as his? Had he done that?
"I was talking with Tanaka about it in the car," Daichi mumbled, nuzzling further into his scent glands. "Apparently, he went absolutely feral over the whole thing. I guess...Yachi got hurt and he just lost all control."
"But...they just met today…? Right…?" Suga furrowed his brows and whispered, more to himself than to Daichi.
"I mean…I was in love with you from the instant I smelled your scent..." The Alpha murmured as he nestled into his delicate shoulder, releasing subtle growls of of unchecked affection. "Maybe, it's something similar? Bokuto's investment in Keiji isn't much different, either."
"Yeah...maybe..." Suga responded in a hushed tone, warmth pooling deep in his abdomen at Daichi's honest words. A small smile flickered across his face as he grew distracted by the Alpha's lustful scent, but he shoved down his lingering feelings of arousal and stood up, filing away Daichi's admission of love- they could talk about it later. "I'll take Hajime, you take Yuji?"
Daichi nodded with a yawn and sluggishly rose to his feet, rolling his neck to relax his tight muscles. It was nearly 3:00am and Suga was equally as exhausted, but there was no chance that either of them would be sleeping anytime soon. As the unofficial matriarch and patriarch of their hybrid pack, they had work to do.