Chapter Text
Ace regretted ever opening that door.
They had dared to drop by and check on Yuu, who had called in sick to class, and look at where that got them. Traumatized. Disgusted. Disturbed.
This is why you never do nice things.
Because you will walk into your friend’s dilapidated dorm to make sure they haven't died stupidly and find them smelling one of your shirts.
“Oh, that’s where that shirt went,” Deuce said, numbly.
Yuu didn’t even look embarrassed at having been – caught in the act.
He just stared back at Ace and Deuce, his eyes still hazy from – from –!
“Hey, guys,” Yuu said.
“You don’t just get to ‘hey, guys’ this!” Ace snapped.
Yuu had the audacity to look confused.
Deuce took a hesitant step forward. “Is this… another weird thing from your world?”
Well, that was a generous interpretation of what was going on, for sure.
Yuu slowly lowered his hand, revealing the slight frown on his lips. “‘Weird’? It’s just a heat.”
“... heat?!” repeated Ace.
Because the only time he had ever heard that particular word before was when people talked about animals. About the stray cats that screamed outside his house during the summer.
He tried not to think about what those cats were, supposedly, screaming for.
Yuu looked… confused by the reaction. And then his eyes widened. “Hey, don’t worry, mine is usually pretty – uh – tame, I’m not gonna jump you or anything.”
“I’d hope you wouldn’t try to jump us, you’d lose,” said Deuce.
“Use context clues, dumbass, that’s not what he’s talking about… but you would lose if you tried that,” Ace said, sending a glare Yuu’s way.
Yuu gave a slightly nervous laugh. “Yeah. Um. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Like I said – totally tame, most of the time. I can usually go to school and everything… I just don’t have any suppressants here, and I don’t have enough blankets and pillows for a nest, and I don’t have any of my pack's scents here, either, so it’s kinda… hitting harder than it should.”
It was like he was speaking an entirely different language.
And, listen, Yuu wasn’t exactly normal. He didn’t pick up on literally any nonverbal social cues unless you literally hit him over the head with it, and his face was almost too expressive. He clung to Ace and Deuce constantly. He smelled weirdly good even after working out (actually, Ace could argue that Yuu smelled especially good after working out, and it was unfair). He didn’t really know… anything about this world. Frankly, if he didn’t speak such fluent Common, Ace would have assumed that he was just raised by wolves. Or maybe something weirder. Like a bunch of lizards.
But this was the first time that it hit him that Yuu was actually from another world.
Deuce, slowly, approached Yuu, taking a seat on the opposite end of the couch. “I think… you’re going to have to explain what… all that means.”
Yuu grimaced. “Can it wait until Grim gets back? I feel like I’m going insane.”
“You feel like you’re going insane?” Ace said, incredulously.
“Yeah, it’s kinda hard to… keep up with this conversation, right now.”
Ace and Deuce paused. Looked at each other.
“Are you… in pain?” Ace asked. Not because he was concerned or anything, he just – was surprised. Usually it would show in Yuu’s face, if he was in pain.
Yuu shrugged. “Wouldn’t call it pain, no. I just feel – scrambled.”
Deuce frowned and pressed his hand to Yuu’s forehead.
Yuu leaned into his hand, his eyes slipping closed, but that wasn’t particularly surprising.
What was surprising was the way Deuce’s frown deepened.
“Dude, you’re burning up,” Deuce said, sending a concerned look Ace’s way.
He was right. Yuu was… honestly, probably sporting a 104° fever, at best. Which, from what Ace could remember, was bad.
“Mhmm, that’s where the ‘heat’ comes from,” Yuu said, his hand making an aborted motion when they pulled away, as if he wanted to drag them back.
Ace narrowed his eyes.
He reached out his hand and, carefully, carded his fingers through Yuu’s hair.
Some of the tension in his shoulders faded, and he made a motion not unlike a cat, pushing up into his fingers a little harder.
Hm.
Grim floated into the room, a man on a mission, determined not to drop (or eat) the bowl of soup in his arms if it killed him.
Yuu flashed a smile his way as he set the bowl on a nearby table. And then he breathed a sigh of relief when Grim curled himself around the back of his neck, rubbing his face against Yuu’s cheek.
“Thanks, baby.”
Grim gave a low purr as a response.
He turned to Ace and Deuce, some of the haze in his eyes clearing. “Right… okay. Heat is this… thing I have to deal with once a month –.”
Ace and Deuce immediately looked down.
Yuu flushed red and pulled a pillow into his lap. “Don’t be weird.”
“You just told us you have a – a period and you expect us to not look down?!” Ace said.
“It’s barely related,” Yuu grumbled. “I just… I dunno. It’s basically being sick, but I get way clingier.”
“Is that even possible?” Deuce asked.
Yuu didn’t hear the teasing note in his voice, so he just nodded. “Definitely. Honestly, you guys are lucky you don’t have a scent. I’d be way worse right now.”
Well, that was concerning.
“It's baaaad. When Crowley came by earlier, I thought I was gonna pop, Yuu was squeezing me so hard,” said Grim, not quite complaining, but certainly coming close.
Yuu cringed. “Sorry. My instincts weren’t super happy about someone in my space.”
“But these two losers are fine?” Grim asked.
(Ace was very tempted to fight a cat. But he was more concerned with – more interested in Yuu’s response.)
Yuu nodded slightly. “They’re fine. Helping, honestly.”
“Good. ‘Cause I would have kicked them out if they weren’t,” said Grim, haughtily.
“Thank you, Grim-sama.”
“We’re… helping?” said Deuce, hesitantly reaching out and looping an arm around Yuu’s shoulders, dragging him into a slightly awkward hug.
Awkward, because Yuu immediately went boneless, and it was clearly hard to keep him upright.
Deuce was visibly torn between smiling and frowning. He gave Ace a Look out of the corner of his eyes. “We should call out of class.”
Ace was already pulling out his phone.
“Well, if it gets me out of class…”