Work Text:
Will couldn’t really remember the last time he fell asleep and had a good one at that. More than four hours.
It was starting to stick to him, he could just barely keep his eyes open but he felt restless in a way he couldn’t understand.
It felt as if everything was too much and too little at the same time.
More than one scent made his head ache with a dull pain and his eyes sting, his hands would get cold all the time and sometimes he felt as if objects around him were moving even though he could tell that that wasn’t possible.
An unnerving tiredness swept him off his legs every night yet he couldn’t get a wink of quality sleep.
It felt as if nothing was safe.
It reminded him of when he was little.
His chest ached and in this wierd way nothing felt like his, like it was safe, comforting.
One night he gave in to his omega needs and dragged a blanket that Mack accidentally scented to his bed, as if he knew a thing about nests.
He didn’t even remember to shower before he fell asleep in a questionably comfortable position, with his head deep in the blanket and legs hanging down the bed.
After that night he tried it again but the scent faded and he felt too bad to sleep. He was using Mack without his knowledge to sleep. Embarrassment kept him from sleep that night.
But Will was so tired.
He just wanted to sleep.
He wasn’t weak like the other omegas. He doesn’t need a nest. It’s useless.
He kept repeating in his head like it would help and magically figure it all out.
Spoiler: It did not.
The thing was that Will has had this kind of problem for years. Ever since he was a kid and his father figured out the makeshift nests that he would create before he presented. (a few socks that he’d find or literally anything that had a family or friend scent on it. Hell, he’d even bring a water bottle that his friends drank from just to get something. He had no idea why he was doing it.)
His family was a beta one through and through. Nothing and nobody slipped through the beta bloodline. Only him.
Everyone thought that the nesting needs would end once he was around 9.
But they grew stronger and stronger like the unpressented omega in him was starved of comfort and was desperately launching onto every ounce it got.
So Everybody just waved a hand at it, cause it was just a stupid kid thing, right?
Surprisingly it didn’t stop when he was 9, so his father decided the best next thing to do was to destroy his “nests”. He’d force family and his own friends to wear scent patches around him, so he couldn’t drag comfort out of them.
But Will wasn’t a kid anymore. He did not need a nest. Did not need scented socks, water bottles or blankets. He did not need that sort of thing.
It started small, he’d fall asleep in Mack’s presence, in his car, while watching a movie or game recap and Mack let him.
Mack would take an extra route around town so he could sleep longer. How does Will know that? Because the commuting time from the SAP center to the Marleau’s wasn’t over an hour long.
Mack would nudge him to lay on his shoulder, to lean more into him when he would feel that Will was getting sleepy. Will would wake up with his head on Mack’s chest, tucked neatly into a fluffy blanket and some times, especially the times when he was having a bad day, with gentle fingers playing in his hair.
That’s when Will realised that he found a comfort in Mack that he had been trying to find all his life. And he could never tell Mack, they were just friends. Nothing more.
Mack wouldn’t like someone like him as his partner, mate even.
Will was tall and skinny and he had a horrible scent and he wasn’t good or sweet like other omegas.
Mack deserved better. Much better.
There was a honking sound that startled him. He opened his eyes to look around what was going on only to see the mess that he made yesterday. His sour scent still lingered in every corner of the room.
His comforter lay down next to the bed, pillows were scattered around the room where he had thrown them, a blanket - one that he got from Mack - was clenched in his fist to his chest.
Suddenly he felt the pain that had been there yesterday too. The one that started all of this. Tears stung in his eyes, quietly betraying his “I’m fine” status.
He felt weak all over, he was cold he realised.
His phone starts to ring in the farthest corner of the room and he clumsily moves towards it on all fours, not feeling strong enough to stand.
Without looking at the contact he swipes green.
“-ill? What the hell, I’ve been waiting for you for over 10 minutes. Where are you?” Mack’s voice comes in through the line and Will gulps. He completely forgot about practise.
“Oh I’m sorry- I- Just give me a minute? Please?” His voice is hoarse. Like he’s been crying a lot and he instinctively cringes.
He quickly gets to his feet and starts moving, even though he has no idea where. A stray tears runs down his face and he roughly rubs it off with his sleeve.
“Will? Come open the door bud” Mack’s voice immediately softens.
Will didn’t even realise that Mack moved from his car to the door with how much is going through his brain currently.
He doesn’t reply but does as told.
What Will doesn’t realise is that he hasn’t put any scent patches on until it’s too late.
He opens the door and Mack’s eyes go from neutral to wide to dark in a spawn of a second.
Will quickly takes a step back and covers his scent glands with his hands “I’m sorry I forgot to put on scent patches, I know it’s disgusting- just- I’ll go grab a scent patch or-“ Mack takes a few steps forward to gather Will into his arms and then curses at his temperature.
Mack cups the back of his head and tucks it into his neck while rubbing his back.
Will tries to be quiet and good but sobs set a permanent tremble to his body and all he can do is try and will his legs into not giving up.
“You’re scent isn’t disgusting. It’s beautiful but It’s sour now because you’re really stressed, but it doesn’t mean It’s bad, okay?” Mack speaks out softly to Will. Will realises this is the first time Mack is smelling him. “What’s wrong?”
Will doesn’t know where to start, so he just dumps the obvious. “I’m tired,” he hiccups “I’m really tired. I just want to- to sleep and I can’t” his knees buckle and it’s all Mack needs before he’s scooping him up in his arms and carrying him to his car where he places him in the passenger seat.
The next thing he knows Mack is taking off his hoodie and pulling it over Will.
Mack’s comforting thick alpha scent wraps around him like a hug.
It’s sticks to him like honey.
His eyes start dropping as Mack swipes his thumb over Will’s cheek.
He doesn’t know where they’re going but he just hopes that that somewhere includes Mack.
“It’s okay, you’re safe. I’ll take care of you sweetheart, just try to get some sleep.” Mack’s voice is like a lullaby.
When Will opens his eyes, he’s at Jumbo’s. He can barely see around because he’s being mushed against Mack’s chest with tight protective arms around him, keeping him in place. He’s speaking with someone but Will doesn’t feel like listening. So he closes his eyes again, relishing in the new inviting change of slipping easily into sleep.
The next time he wakes up, he’s laying down on top of somebody who’s murmuring sweet nothings to him in a gentle voice that he recognises as Mack’s.
Will’s legs are curled up to his body and his head is placed right under Mack’s, on his sternum.
A thick blanket is seated on him and he can see pillows of all kinds of shapes around them.
There’s a hand coaming his hair tenderly.
He feels better than he has in years. literally.
Safe and protected, like nothing and nobody can ever hurt him ever again.
He feels protected by Mack, even though Mack has no idea what he’s protecting Will from.
“Mack?”
“Yeah bud?”
“Thank you”
“Next time come to me when you need something like this, okay? I don’t care if it’s 3am, or if i’m doing something important, seek me out. Do you understand?”
“okay,” Will hums “I do.”
Mack places a delicate peck into his hair and with that, Will is out again.