Chapter Text
The heavy glass doors of the university athletic complex hissed shut, cutting off the humid summer afternoon. Inside the private weight room, the only sounds were the rhythmic, metallic clangs of iron plates and the heavy breathing of two alphas pushed to their limits.
Maki slammed the barbell back onto the rack, racking a heavy set of chest presses with a resounding crack. He sat up slowly, wiping the sweat from his silver hair with a towel, his dark eyes instantly tracking across the room.
Nicholas was standing by the water cooler, staring blankly out the high window toward the main campus courtyard. He was completely checked out. He hadn’t touched his weights in twenty minutes, his posture uncharacteristically tense, and his usually sharp, vibrant alpha presence was buried deep, locked down under a wall of heavy, unreadable silence.
It had been like this for a week.
At first, Maki thought Nicholas was just stressed about the upcoming finals or dealing with the constant pressure of keeping his relationship with Euijoo hidden from the Wang elders. But it was more than that. Nicholas was dodging his calls, sitting at the opposite end of the table during fraternity meetings, and completely avoiding any conversation that drifted toward their academic projects—or toward a certain scholarship omega.
Maki stood up, tossing his towel onto the bench. The scent of crushed mint and smoky vetiver flared slightly, turning sharp with growing agitation as he walked over to his best friend.
"You're lifting like a ghost today," Maki said, his voice dropping into a low, demanding rumble. "In fact, you've been acting like a ghost all week. What's going on with you, Nicholas?"
Nicholas didn't snap his head around like he usually would. He slowly took a sip from his water bottle, swallowed, and turned his dark eyes toward Maki with a perfectly smooth, manufactured expression of indifference. He had spent his entire life watching his father navigate multi-billion-yen hostile takeovers; lying to his best friend was a dangerous necessity he was fully prepared for.
"Nothing is going on," Nicholas said evenly, his tone completely flat. "Just family stuff. My dad is tracking a new shipping merger in Singapore, and he’s forcing me to review the legal briefs before finals. I'm exhausted."
"Don't give me that corporate corporate script," Maki countered, stepping directly into Nicholas’s space. His dominant alpha stance became rigid, his jaw tightening as he looked down at the Wang heir. "We’ve been friends since we were children. You don't get distant over a shipping merger. You're lying to me."
Nicholas didn't flinch. He let out a short, scoffing laugh, tossing his empty water bottle into the recycling bin. "I'm not lying, Maki. If I'm stressed, it's my own business. Not everything revolves around you."
"Is it about Euijoo?" Maki pushed, his eyes narrowing as he tried to catch any flicker of hesitation in Nicholas's face. "Are his parents finding out? Or is it your family?"
"Euijoo is fine," Nicholas said a little too quickly, his scent spiking with a protective, localized heat for a fraction of a second before he locked it back down. He forced a lazy, arrogant smirk to his lips, leaning back against the wall. "Look, if I'm being distant, it's because you're completely exhausting to be around right now. Your pheromones are constantly sour, you're snapping at everyone on campus, and you've been obsessing over a scholarship kid who explicitly told you he wants nothing to do with you. Maybe I just needed a break from your drama."
The words cut sharp and deep. Maki flinched, his mint scent turning bitter with sudden, stinging embarrassment. He clenched his fists, his chest heaving as he stared at Nicholas, desperately searching for any sign that his friend was hiding something else.
But Nicholas’s lie was seamless. He had perfectly flipped the script, using Maki's own chaotic, protective confusion over Taki against him.
"I'm not obsessing over anyone," Maki hissed through his teeth, his voice laced with venom as he backed away, his pride deeply bruised. "I don't care what Takayama does."
"Good," Nicholas said, his expression softening just enough to look convincing as he grabbed his gym bag from the floor. "Then let's drop it. I'm heading back to the dorms to sleep. I'll see you at the lecture hall tomorrow."
Nicholas turned on his heel and walked out of the weight room, the heavy doors clicking shut behind him.
The moment he was out of Maki's line of sight, Nicholas let out a massive, shaky breath, his shoulders dropping as the intense pressure of the lie finally caught up to him. His phone buzzed in his pocket—a confirmation text from the private, unlinked bank account he had set up for Euijoo's medical transfers for Taki.
Back inside the empty weight room, Maki stood completely alone, his fingers digging into his palms. Nicholas's explanation made sense, but his inner alpha was still pacing standard circles in his chest, entirely unsatisfied. The air felt too quiet, the silence too heavy, and deep down in his gut, Maki couldn't shake the terrifying feeling that the two people he trusted most were keeping him entirely in the dark.