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Jae is nesting.
Datu had to blink twice and rub his eyes but he still had trouble believing what he was seeing. Jae is nesting.
He fluttered around their bedroom like an anxious hamster-puppy; picking up stray pieces of clothing from the floor and arranging them into the nest slowly building up in their bed. He fusses with the 'walls' constructed from blankets, fluffs the pillows before moving them to a new location on the nest and fills in any gaps with tunics, pants or shirts. Datu's pretty sure he even spotted the towel he used from his workout yesterday in there.
It isn't that Jae doesn't nest. He does… on his heats and then he tears it down and doesn't build one again until the next heat and well, the cycle repeats. It's a familiar cycle that Datu has gotten used to despite the oddity of it. Lan repeatedly teases Jae about his weird nesting habits when her own nest is up 24/7 like every other omega in Ellora probably. Datu knows it's because his boyfriend is a bit (a lot) of a workaholic (said lovingly) and that he gets a little restless and what if he's needed and can't get out of the nest quick enough?
Datu had responded that he could just use his airbending to lift himself out, right?
Jae had answered that doing that would ruin the scent of the nest. Obviously.
So Jae typically saves all his nesting and nesting materials for when his heat arrives. But Datu is pretty sure his heat isn't due yet. He sniffs the air to be sure. The room smells like a mixture of Datu's own woodsy scent and Jae's own, a unique combo of flowers and dew. When Jae's in heat, his scent is overpoweringly sweet, thick and cloying in the way that it overwhelms almost anything else. Which is why Datu prepares to start sacrificing clothing to his mate at least two weeks in advance or else Jae gets upset when he can't sense Datu's scent in the nest when he's away.
Which isn't often or for long. You'd think with the way Jae whines that Datu had left for hours and not minutes to get them something to eat and drink. Jae's still so cute when he gets like that though. His cute, clingy omega.
No Heat in the air though. So Jae's just… nesting? For fun??
Jae must have sensed him standing in the doorway because he snapped his head up in surprise, attention diverted from the pillow he was fluffing into submission.
"Datu!" He said, cheeks flushed. "You're back early."
Datu blinked again. Still processing the fact that Jae was nesting outside his heat and also from how adorable he looks. It took him a second to get an answer out. "Uh, yeah. My shift leader let my squad and I go. But Jae, you're nesting?"
Jae blinked. Then he took a look around and blinked again, as if he just realized that he had, in fact, been nesting outside his heat. "Oh! I… guess I am. I didn't even realize."
Datu had failed to stifle his grin as he stepped further into the room and enveloped himself in Jae's sweet scent. "You must have been pretty deep in your instincts then."
"Heh. Guess so." Jae sat himself in the center of the nest as Datu made it to the edge. He extended his wrist out for Jae, who was clearly still planning the rest of the nest out in his head, and smiled softly when his partner took his wrist and nuzzled it with his cheek, sighing in content.
Datu's heart nearly burst. He's always loved watching Jae build his nest during his heats. It's almost meticulous, a chaotic type of order that only Jae can follow as he constructs his nest with the same single-minded determination that he takes to everything else. Brows furrowed until they make a dip in between his brows, eyes narrowed in concentration and the way he mutters under his breath. No matter how many times he sees it, it never fails to make his heart flutter.
"Can I come into the nest?" Datu asked, leaning forward slightly when Jae tugged his arm to further bury his face in the scent gland on his wrist.
Jae glanced up at him through long strands of brown hair, considering. "Depends. Are you going to knock over the walls again?"
"I didn't mean to do it on purpose!" Datu whined. "And it was one time. I've been super careful since then, haven't I?" It only takes being kicked out of his mate's nest once for Datu to have learned his lesson.
Datu pouted when Jae's lips quirked up in a teasing smile. His mate kisses his knuckles and then the pads of each of his fingers in adoration and Datu melts each time those soft lips touch his fingers.
"Fine. It needs more of your scent anyway. You should get dressed into something more comfortable." Jae says.
Datu was never one to ignore an order. Especially one from his mate.
Sinking into Jae's nest was what he imagined that stepping into a sunny meadow with the scent of flowers and dew on a spring breeze would feel like. Refreshing and calming, soothing away the aches of the day and leaving you content and almost sleepy. Datu settles on his back and his instincts seem to settle the further Jae's scent envelops him. The mattress shifts and Jae's face comes into sight as he leans over him. His hair is loose, spilling over one shoulder as he smiles at him, eyes shining with affection.
Datu cupped Jae's cheek in his hand and Jae nuzzled into it. His heart is so full. How did he get so lucky to have such a wonderful partner?
Datu tugged Jae down and into his arms. Jae went easily, he always did, and let Datu wrap his arms around him as he turned them onto their sides. There was a quiet purr rumbling from Jae's chest and Datu answered in kind.
There was a question he wanted to ask, he thinks. Why Jae had suddenly started to nest all of sudden maybe, but with their combined scents in such a comfortable nest, it felt like Datu's mind was moving like molasses. He'll ask some other time, he decided, eyes slipping closed as he buried his nose in Jae's soft hair. Besides, it's not like he really minds anyway.
Datu would get answers a couple weeks later.
His squad had a late patrol and Datu was just dying to get back home and fall dead asleep with Jae in their nest. The raids the Faceless have started conducting have been taking their toll on everyone and thus equals late night patrol shifts. It was already late when he got home, the majority of Ellora asleep, but as he stepped closer to their bedroom, he stopped. There was something else in the air, a sweeter undertone to Jae's usual scent. He sniffed and Datu frowned, confused.
Because what he smelled was the unmistakable milky scent of a pup. Maybe more than one considering how strong it was.
Carefully wandering inside, he wondered when Jae picked up a pup. Certainly not with how busy they've all been recently with all the raids and upped patrol routes for both the Brigade and the guards. They've been so busy that they've barely been able to spend time with each other. Jae especially.
Wandering close to the nest on the bed, where both Jae and the pups' scent were strongest, Datu peered at the two little figures sleeping in the nest. Two girls, about eight or nine, with dark hair and bronze skin and wearing loose sleeping tunics that Datu didn't know they had. One had her face buried in Jae's neck, a small hand clinging loosely to his nightshirt, and the other practically sprawled atop her sister like a blanket. Jae himself slept just as contentedly, on his side with one protective arm stretched over the both of them.
He recognized them. The quote-on-quote family friends that Jae had introduced them as. They definitely weren't family friends (his mate is a bit of a bad liar. His ears get itchy and he starts to ramble), but Datu didn't push him about at the time. Then Uki had said that Karthik had taken in his nieces and that was that.
(He wonders, as the days go by, if there was more to the story. If all of Jae's excuses of extra patrol and work for Karthik were even true (Jae would tell him if something was wrong, wouldn't he—)).
He didn't know Jae had taken them under his wing like this. Close enough to let them into the nest.
Datu didn't know what it was. Jae's sensitivity to the air as an airbender, his omega instincts sensing danger to the pups, or the extra scent in the room, but Jae reared up and threw himself over the twins like a shield, digging his hands in the sheets. His eyes were narrowed slits, baring omegan fangs as a threat.
Datu stilled.
He recognized a protective omega when he saw one and knew better than to get close when Jae seemed ready to attack at a perceived threat to his(?) pups.
Rather than wondering why Jae perceived him, of all people, as a threat to a pair of pups, Datu raised his hands in clear surrender and took a step back. He released his scent more strongly into the room hoping that the smell of it would bring Jae back to his senses.
"Just me, Jae," Datu says, hushed. "Just me. You can smell it can't you? It's just me."
Jae's nostrils flared, taking a deep breath of the scent that he had wanted in his nest just a couple weeks ago. Datu took a step closer, then another and all the while releasing his scent into the air. With one hand still raised, he cautiously presented his wrist his protective mate as an offering.
"I know. You're doing such a good job protecting them, sweetheart, but it's just me." Datu says, voice still soft and non-threatening. "It's just Datu."
He saw the moment Jae's mind cleared. His snarl faded and his eyes widened and, even in the dim moonlight streaming from the window, could see the blush spreading across Jae's nose.
"Datu! Oh, I-I'm sorry, I didn't even realize it was you." Jae says, leaning back so he was no longer hovering over the twins. "I was just so focused on the girls an—"
"It's okay, it's okay, Jae. I'm not mad," Datu soothed. "You were just following your instincts, that's all. You sensed a th- a threat." He hoped Jae missed his stutter at even being considered a threat to his mate. "So you were protecting them."
"But you're not a—" whatever Jae was going to say was interrupted by one of the twins. The one with her hair in a braid was snuffling, scent beginning to turn sour and brows furrowing. The whine building up in her throat would've alerted her sister if Jae hasn't already swooped in with a comforting murmur.
"It's alright, Pavi. I'm here and so is Nisha, you're safe, I promise. You're okay." As he spoke, Jae gently ran his wrist over her skin gently to cover her in his scent and pressed his head against hers.
Datu watched, slightly entranced, maybe even more in love than he thought possible, as Jae calmed down the restless pup with the experience of a seasoned mother. Datu wondered what he'd be like with their pup.
He paused. Did he want kids with Jae?
… He'll put a pin on that.
"I can sleep on the couch tonight, if you'd want?" Datu said once the pup settled.
His own instincts grumbled at the thought of not sleeping with his mate, especially after a long night, but he ignored them. It was Jae's nest and said nest had two, new, small occupants.
Jae shot him a deadpan look. "I'm not kicking you out of the nest, Datu. It's your bed too."
"Yeah, but…" Datu gestures to the sleeping kids.
"It's fine. These two sleep like the dead sometimes. Plus the nest has enough of your scent in it that they won't notice it." Jae says. "Now go get changed and join us." He ordered.
Datu didn't hesitate to listen. As he got ready for bed, his mind still wandered to the fact that Jae saw him as a threat to a pair of pups and he just… couldn't understand why. He told himself it was just instincts, that any parent would do the same, but was it really? Datu loved being around kids and considered himself good with them. It's a bit of regular occurrence to see a small pack of pups following him during his patrol routes and hearing their giggles when he pretends he can't see them hiding. Jae himself had told him that it was sweet to see how soft and gentle he was with them. So… what made his instincts think differently?
Datu didn't want to think on what must have changed when he wasn't looking.
By the time he got back to their bedroom, Jae had settled back into the nest with the girls. When he saw Datu, he urged him forward with a sleepy smile.
"Datu, alpha, come here."
Datu was more than a little relieved that he was, in fact, welcomed into the nest. Carefully, he made his way inside and making sure he didn't jostle anything or the girls too much. He settled behind the girls so they were cocooned in from both sides and he preened when Jae made a sound of approval. It was a little crowded, their bed not made to accommodate four, but Datu found he didn't mind in the slightest. His alpha brain was pleased to have his mate and the pups so close.
"So, I guess that explains the sudden nesting," Datu says, glancing at the pups. When Jae makes a questioning noise, he clarifies. "I was just wondering what caused you start nesting out of nowhere."
"I'm an omega. Omegas nest!" Jae protested.
"Yeah, but you only nested during your heat and never outside of it." Datu pointed out and Jae huffed, unable to argue. "So I guess this is why. Karthik's nieces, right? You must have gotten close."
Jae fell silent for a moment, glancing at the twins in contemplation. "Yeah, I guess so. At some point I just… started thinking of them as mine and well, pups need a good nest don't they?"
Jae twirled a loose strand of hair from the pup clinging to his shirt, Nisha he assumes, and keeps talking. "And it's not that I don't trust commander Karthik as their guardian, I do, and they've got each other, but they've already gone through so much, Datu. I just- I just—" Jae sighed.
"Hey, it's alright Jae. You don't need to explain yourself." Datu said, reaching over to hold Jae's hand so their hands were interlocked over the girls. "You've decided they're your pups, so they are. It's sweet seeing how much you care and how you want be a safe space they can go to."
Jae practically melted into his pillow as Nisha makes a snuffling sound and presses her face against his neck where Jae's scent is no doubt strongest.
"Thanks," Jae murmured, releasing Datu's hand to stroke her hair. "I know you didn't exactly sign up for your mate adopting two pups."
Datu chuckled. "Of course I don't mind, Jae. They're your pups and you care about them. That's enough for me to care about them too."
"Really? You mean that?"
Datu paused. He sensed that there was a right and wrong answer to that question. The expectant, wide eyed hope in Jae's eyes had something in his heart twist itself into a knot of worry and hurt. Did Jae really think that he wouldn't?
He frowned slightly. "Of course I do. Kind of worrying that you'd ask, but Jae… is there something wrong?"
Jae sighed again, something eating at him so clearly that Datu can practically see the conflict in his eyes. Finally, he steeled himself and he set his jaw determinedly.
"Datu, there's something I need to te—"
A high pitched whine startled them both and Datu instinctively wrinkled his nose against the sour scent of milk in the air.
"You guys are soo looud-uh!" Nisha complained. Her face was scrunched in annoyance even though her eyes were squeezed closed. "Pavi and I trying to sleep. Go be lovey-dovey and gross somewhere else."
"So'where else," Pavi echoed, seemingly more asleep than her sister, before flopping over and burying her face in one of Jae's shirt with a contented chirp. With that contribution, Nisha turned onto her stomach and promptly went back to sleep, scent mellowing out and becoming sweeter again.
Both Datu and Jae were still frozen in surprise before a snort of amusement escaped Datu's lips. He buried his face in his pillow to muffle the sound so he wouldn't wake the girls again.
"Datu!" Jae hissed quietly and Datu peeked at his over Pavi and Nisha's heads to see his lips quirked in up in a smile despite the admonishment.
"Sorry, sorry. Guess it's been a bit of long day." Datu said and Jae nodded.
"You're right. We've both had long shifts recently. We should both get some sleep." He agreed.
It feels like a relief when his body finally relaxes as he melts into the soft bed filled with his scent, his mate's and the pups. Safe. Safe, his instincts purr and Datu is inclined to agree. Everyone is safe and within arm reach. Nothing could hurt them here.
There was still one more thing though…
"Jae? Wasn't there some-something you wante—" Datu is interrupted by a jaw cracking yawn. "—wanted to tell me?"
"… I'll tell you later, Datu. You should get some sleep."
"Mhm, alright." Datu should push. He probably should, right? But he's so tired and the nest is so comfortable and his mate and pups are safe and sound. So really, can you blame him for drifting off? " 'Love you."
"I love you too, Datu."
And with that simple assurance, Datu's eyes slipped close.