Work Text:
“Fuck!”, Puffer screams when the metal pipe sound startles him, his scent spiking first with fright and then annoyment, and he glares at chat, “Stop that!”
Movement from his right makes him look at Grizzy, until now sitting in his bean bag, out of sight from the camera, but now standing up and coming towards him with an angry expression and a low growl. He quickly blocks him from advancing on his computer, “Hey! Chill out. It's ok. I'm ok.”
Grizzy only half heartedly tries to get past him and Puffer stands his ground, letting out some calming pheromones and Grizzy settles for hugging him from behind and burying his nose in his neck, glaring at the PC, growling tuning down to discontent grumbling.
“Chat, I'm cutting this short.”, Puffer says while closing the game, giving the arms around his waist a reassuring pat, “Grizzy's rut is about to start. See ya in a week or so.”
He turns around in Grizzy's arms when his computer is shut off, wrapping his arms around his neck and letting him scent him, purring despite his more rough words, “Dude, overreaction much? You didn't need to square up with my computer.”
“You were scared.”, Grizzy growls, hands briefly growing harsh before going back to gently caressing him and Puffer realizes that he is more gone than he thought, probably just on the edge of recognizing that it was the PC/Chat that scared Puffer and not some other threat he had to fight. He nearly broke the TV one time, when they were watching a horror movie too close to his rut.
He rolls his eyes but leans into Grizzy, purring approvingly, always more indulgent with Grizzy when his ruts hits, “So glad to have you to protect me from scary Chat.” He chuckles to himself when Grizzy’s scent turns pleased.
Grizzy has been in Puffer's room since this morning. He usually seeks him out first when the first symptoms of rut make themselves known, claiming his scent is the most calming of the Pack and makes him hold out longer before succumbing to the instincts.
Seems like he's gonna lose the fight soon. Sonner than they expected. He wasn't due for another day or two but his scent is already starting to turn overwhelming and possessive. Puffer rubs their cheeks together, wanting to ease him a bit, “Wanna go to the nest?”
His inner Omega preens at how pleased and happy his Alpha gets at the suggestion and he lets himself be guided out the door by the hand on the small of his back.
—----
Grizzy takes stock of his pack from the entrance to the pack nest. All three of his Omegas are in the nest. Safe. One of his Betas, Droid, is sitting with them and two are standing with him at the door. All accounted for. Good. His scent is the most dominant one. ‘This pack is claimed and protected. Attack and suffer the consequences.’
He chuffs happily and two of his Omegas answer with a soft purr. Everything is alright. Only Pezzy raises his arms towards him instead, whining at him, “Grizzy~ come back to cuddle.”
He briefly quarrels with himself. His Omega wants him in the nest but he needs to check his territory first. The pout and the saddening of his scent ultimately convince him to at least briefly kneel on the edge and gather him up in a hug, using the opportunity to scent him again.
When he is satisfied once again that his scent is the most prominent one on Pezzy he stands back up and Droid tucks his Pezzy back, dragging him to lie between his other Omegas. Grizzy grumbles pleased. His Betas are so reliable. He doesn't need to worry about the nest with them here.
He goes back to the entrance and pulls Matt closer to scent him too, chin gliding over the top of his head. He does the same for John. His Packmates.
He trusts Matt to guard the Pack while he and John make sure that the territory is safe. His Head Beta follows him out.
—---
“This is the sixth time today that he runs around the house! He's starting to annoy me.”, Smitty grumbles, moodily cuddling into Pezzy, who snorts, “Shut up. He's literally the most chill Alpha ever any other time. You can deal with it once a year.”
Giving an exaggerated groan, Smitty gives in, “I suppoooose.”
“Most chill with you.”, Puffer mumbles under his breath, focused on his phone, and Pezzy hits his arm, “You shut up too! You're a walking danger magnet in denial. Of course he gets all Alpha on you all the time.” Droid laughs, “Do we need to have the talk again?”
Puffer glares at him but doesn't retaliate, choosing instead to turn on his side, away from his packmates, to pout.
They've been in the pack nest for four days now. Which means that Grizzy's rut is in full swing and will be for at least three more days.
Heats and Ruts are very different because they serve different purposes.
Heats are once every month and are for pack bonding with about 1 ½ to 2 days of Preheat and either procreation or attracting a mate in the more or less 10 hours of actual heat. It's very straightforward. Cuddle time then fucking time.
Ruts are only once a year, lasting for about a week, and can serve many different purposes depending on many different factors. Is the Alpha alone or in a pack, do they have a mate or not, are there other Alphas in their pack and how many, the same question with Omegas and/or Betas, is the pack in a safe environment or in danger. If there are other Alphas there could be fights for dominance in the pack pecking order though that's not always necessary if the Alpha feels good with his place in the pack.
Mostly Ruts are for making sure the pack territory, a very old instinct that's not really that applicable to modern live, is safe and that the pack is healthy and running smoothly.
Grizzy is the only Alpha in this pack and has, relatively speaking, a lot of Omegas and Betas to protect so his instincts always run a bit wilder than for other Alphas even though there's no danger. Hence why Grizzy is obsessively checking every door and window multiple times a day and scenting all of them constantly.
All of them always indulge Grizzy's Rut to its fullest. Their sweet, caring Alpha deserves as much and even the most stubborn of them can put away their pride for one week of the year to coo over how good their Alpha is at protecting them and how safe and happy they feel or to follow him around the house for hours on end to make sure no outsider can hurt the pack if it eases his anxiety. It's to their own benefit too. The happier the pack, the happier and more relaxed the Alpha, not just during Rut.
“I need to pee.”, Pezzy says while wiggling out of Smitty's embrace, “Gonna take the chance now. Could be his last round of the day and I don't like when he hovers in the bathroom.”
Smitty makes another show of complaining, making Droid and Matt giggle, which only encourages Smitty's whining.
Groaning, Puffer turns around and pulls Smitty into his arms, rubbing his chin on top of his head, “Quit bitching. You're annoying.” Smitty doesn't even try to keep his facade up, instead starting to purr up a storm as he buries himself into Puffer's chest, close enough to detect Puffer's own scent under the heavy layer of Grizzy's. Puffer rolls his eyes at the happy chirping that follows and raises one arm in offering when met with Droid's big, envious, pleading eyes.
Not wasting any time, the Beta cuddles into Smitty's back, beaming when Puffer closes the hug.
Matt chuckles from his place by the door, taking a deep breath of the mixed scents that only get thicker with contentment.
A growl rips through the happy atmosphere and all heads snap to their Alpha, standing in the open door and taking in the room with narrowed eyes and a ready to attack posture. Aggressive pheromones flood the room as he storms in.
—---
One Omega is missing! Where is Pezzy?! Who took him?! Who took his Omega from his nest in his territory?! He's gonna rip them apart!
He moves forward, aiming to get the scent of the intruder to track them down, coming to a stop in front of the nest. Nothing. His remaining Omegas and Droid only smell like nest and safety when he pulls them closer to sniff them. Ignoring the hands trying to hold him back and not registering their words apart from, “Alpha.”, he starts pacing the room, trying to get a whiff, growling growing deeper.
Where is his Omega? Where is the intruder? What are they doing to his Omega right now? Are they hurting him?
Turning to the door to search for them, his eyes flicker to Matt, still standing next to it and a snarl forces itself out of his throat. Matt was supposed to guard the pack! One Omega got stolen from right under his nose!
Matt immediately bows his head, showing his neck in submission and hands limply by his side. The keen from Smitty when Grizzy walks towards Matt only fuels his instincts. One of his Omegas is scared! Where is the fucking threat?! He doesn't have time to waste. Grabbing Matt's arm, he pulls him to the nest and shoves him in, not as gently as he would normally do. John takes his spot by the door when Grizzy huffs at him.
With the nest as secure as possible, he can't loose even more packmates, he turns back to the door, only to be stopped by Smitty stepping in his way, trying to nestle into his chest and under his chin. Hot, fresh tea floods his nose as calming pheromones permeate the air. It makes Grizzy pause for a moment. Pause even longer when Puffer wraps his arms around his neck and a summer day by the ocean, a scent he is rarely able to withstand, joins the tea. Internally struggling between being calmed down and protective rage.
Snippets of words and sentences make it past his rut addled brain, “Alpha.”, “...bathroom..”, “...safe…”, “Pezzy.”
The word Pezzy rips him back into sharp awarness but before he can do anything about it the door to the packroom adjacent bathroom opens and his missing Omega steps into the room, taking the chaos in with widening eyes.
“What...”, his question gets interrupted when Grizzy barrels towards him, taking his face between his hands and checking for injuries, scenting him profusly.
No foreign scents cling to his Omega, he's fine, he's uninjured! He even smells happy and content, if a bit surprised. Grumbling pleased and happy, Grizzy picks Pezzy up to bring him back into the nest. Smitty and Puffer follow. He takes the time to chuff at Matt in apology, rubbing his wrists onto his neck. A good Alpha needs to admit fault and Matt didn't loose an Omega, didn't deserve to be snarled at. He beams with pride when his apology is accepted with a nuzzle against his hands.
Making sure all of his packmates are safely in the nest, apart from John on guard duty, he turns to do another check of the territory. Nothing happened this time but he's still rattled by the prospect.
He's stopped by an annoyed groan followed by a whine and his head snaps back to the nest. Why are they unhappy? The need to fix it burning through him.
Pezzy raises his arms toward him, another whine leaving his throat and Puffer pulls at him when he steps back closer to the nest. Smitty joins into Pezzy's whine and Grizzy nearly stumbles into the nest. They must have had a fright. He should stay to reassure.
Whining turns into purring as Pezzy climbs into his lap, burying into his chest, and Smitty nestles against his side. The last nail in the coffin is Puffer chirping with happiness when cuddling into his other side and his nose is flooded with the combined scents of all three.
His instincts finally tamper down a bit. All of his Omegas are happy that he is their Alpha. They are safe and happy.
Droid and Matt curl up on either side of them, Matt cuddling Smitty and Droid Puffer and Grizzy looks to the door, gesturing with his chin for John. Closing the door, he joins them without protest. His Betas accept him as head of the Pack. There’s no strife in his pack. No competition or discontentedness
He's a good Alpha. His pack thinks he is a good Alpha.