Eddie wakes up gagging for it. Literally. His throat is so full of writhing desire he’s choking on it, so empty it hurts. He opens his mouth to call for Buck, to beg him to make this unique and ugly pain go away, but nothing comes out but a strangled cry.

He pushes his hips back, hoping for purchase from the blind gambit. He’s delirious, far beyond anything but the haze of heat. His skin pebbles even as he’s soaked in sweat, and he’s so slick he must have been leaking for hours. He’s not sure, he doesn’t remember anything past Buck carrying him to the bedroom and tucking them into his nest.

Oh god.

There’s no way he hallucinated all of that, right? Buck brought Eddie home from that call with the other alpha. He was really here, fucking Eddie into a shivering mess and knotting him so good it knocked the heat back down to a dull roar for a while.

There’s no way Eddie made that up. He’s not shameless enough to dream up Buck having a cock the likes of which belong in porn. He’s definitely not delusional enough to imagine Buck shoving Eddie’s face into his scent gland and letting him stay there, or asking to eat Eddie out like it would be a favor to Buck.

Right?

But the bed sheets are cool. Eddie can’t hear the shower running. When he finally pries his eyes open, his bedroom door is open. Then there’s a distant slamming, the front door closing and heavy footfalls, and Buck’s appearing in the doorway.

“Jesus, Eddie.” He says, voice all rough like Eddie’s the one who pulled a disappearing act. “I could smell you from the porch, fuck you gotta be aching baby, I—“

Whatever Buck was going to say gets swallowed by a moan, deep and gravelly and involuntary. It’s just as well, because Eddie’s barely been able to understand a goddamn word he said since he burst in the door. The dark, musky scent of alpha, with Buck’s specific notes of citrus and sharp sweetness— like rum and coke, feels like it’s filling the room setting his blood on fire. Every thought escapes except Buck and alpha and the need to be claimed so fucking badly he’s willing to beg.

“Please,”

Buck’s on him before he can even finish the words, claiming Eddie’s mouth in a filthy kiss. He can feel Buck’s cock through his pants— why the fuck did he put pants back on?— already hard and promising. Eddie gives back as good as he gets, sucking on Buck’s tongue as he grinds up and not even feeling like he’s faking it.

Buck grips Eddie’s hips in his hands, flips him over smoothly like Eddie weighs nothing. It rips a groan from Eddie’s throat, has him getting up on his hands and knees and arching his back. Buck purrs, and Eddie can feel it against his back where Buck is plastered to him.

He reaches past Eddie’s head, drags the disparate pieces of their nest closer and presses his face into them. “Breathe, baby. Breathe us in, I’m here, s’okay, I got you.”

Eddie obeys, breathing in deep and trying to focus on the mix of them he finds there. Buck’s spicy, musky alpha scent, his own satisfied, familiar scent like brown sugar and cardamom, something green.

“M’sorry,” Buck’s saying as he works his pants open, dropping messy kisses against Eddie’s skin. “Had to make sure Chris got to Pepa’s okay. Didn’t–” he groans, desperate and whining as he buries his cock in Eddie’s aching cunt. “Wanna wake you. Eddie.”

The consuming emptiness finally filled, some of those words actually make sense. Of course. Of course Buck didn’t just leave him here. Of course he was taking care of their pup.

It feels good. Oh god, it feels– Eddie has to get a hand on himself, has to shove himself back on Buck’s cock. He could cry, maybe even is crying, because no part of him is waiting for this to be over. His skin doesn’t feel wrong. He wants Buck to spill inside him and knot him and then do it again later.

“Yeah, yes yes,” Buck’s hand finds Eddie’s on his cock, wrapping around it. “Let me, Eddie, please, can I?”

It only takes a few seconds of Buck’s hands on him and his unfailing pace as he fucks Eddie senseless for the orgasm to bloom in his belly. It makes every point of contact burn brighter: the slick friction of their fuck, the fabric of Buck’s open pants rasping against Eddie’s bare skin, Buck’s hand tight around Eddie’s cock as he strokes him through it.

He doesn’t even get the chance to go soft, Buck a seemingly endless pit of energy as he fucks Eddie right through another orgasm, somehow certain of where his sweet spot is and how to hit it on every single thrust. “So good,” Eddie has to slur, has to make sure he knows. “Such a good alpha for me, feels–”

Buck growls through his own orgasm, managing a few stilted half-thrusts as his knot swells. His forehead drops between Eddie’s shoulder blades, sweat sticking them together. “Didn’t leave.” He heaves. “Didn’t leave you.”

“I know,” Eddie promises, sleep already dragging him under. “I know.”

~

Buck knots him again when he wakes up, makes him pick at a protein bar, and then drags him into the shower without giving Eddie the chance to protest that his legs are jelly. He’s always so fucking bossy when he’s taking care of someone, but Eddie has to admit that the warm water does feel good. He leans back against Buck’s chest, letting him soap up a washcloth and start swiping away the evidence of hours of heat fucking. Somehow, it feels more intimate than anything else they’ve done today.

“Next time, we do this at your place.” Eddie decides, a little dreamily with the exhaustion. “Y’r shower’s better.”

“Yeah, well. Don’t be such a stubborn bastard next time and we can plan it all out.”

Eddie snorts a laugh that turns into a happy little noise as Buck starts washing his hair, fingertips scratching at his scalp. The haze is starting to clear, consciousness creeping back in slowly. Although this time, the desire isn’t quite fading like it usually does.

The emptiness is flowing back out to sea, but the stretch of Buck’s cock still sounds good. It’s odd, but this is his first heat in so long, maybe Eddie just doesn’t remember it accurately.

He’s clearer all day on Saturday, Buck knots him twice more before Eddie agrees to eat real food and Buck delights in watching him pick apart a sandwich like a displeased toddler. He peppers Eddie with questions, wanting to know if he’s sore (yes), if Buck was too rough (definitely not), if Eddie will please just try to eat a little more protein (no). Eventually, Eddie tackles him back into the nest and rides him until he shuts up, which takes longer than he honestly expected it to, Buck’s questions still flowing until Eddie stuck two fingers in his mouth and Buck’s eyes rolled back in his head.

They stay wrapped around each other all day. Buck rubs his shoulders as they watch reruns of Great British Bake Off, and Eddie’s present enough to make fun of the way Briony is literally always crying. By the time evening rolls around, he lets Buck feed him some of that lemon orzo, and it’s regrettably delicious and doesn’t even make Eddie want to throw up, a fact that makes Buck absolutely insufferable. (This time, though, it just takes some making out to distract him.)

The sheets that are stained with both of them even start to feel gross instead of warmsafehome, but his heat can’t be over, because Eddie still wants. He wakes up Sunday morning craving Buck, and even though it’s not the same intense thrum telling him he needs to be put on his knees and bred, it’s still present and demanding. “Touch me,” He tells Buck in the still-dark morning between them.

Buck applies himself to the task like his life depends on it.

He kisses down Eddie’s chest, stopping to wrap his lips around one nipple while he teases the other with warm fingers. Eddie would whine at him to get on with it, but the urgency is low this morning, probably the lowest he’s ever felt in heat.

By the time Buck is sucking a bruise into his hip and spreading his legs, Eddie’s so wet it’s starting to make its way down his thighs again, pooling under him. Buck groans when he feels it, tossing one of Eddie’s legs over his shoulder so he can lap at the sticky skin like he did that first time, only now he’s not stopping there.

His tongue is warm, addictive as he follows the slick up to the source, lapping at Eddie’s cunt and purring like it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted. It’s a completely new sensation, and Eddie’s awash in it, Buck’s attention so thorough that he can sink into it, nothing to do but moan his alpha’s name and let him eat like a starving man.

Buck holds him close, stubble strong and rasping after a weekend of not shaving, moaning like it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted, like it’s every bit the favor to him he posed it as to begin with. He adds a few fingers, pressing them against Eddie’s sweet spot and massaging it in tight circles. Even with the hormones dialed down, it feels like every nerve is lighting up, responding to the undulating of Buck’s tongue and calloused fingertips. It’s almost— he’s getting—

“Buck,” urgent on an exhale. “M’close, you gotta—”

Buck groans, tightening his grip on Eddie’s thighs and pulling him harder onto his face. There’s no point in holding in a whimper, he’s already spread out and shaking for his alpha, who’s growling against sensitive skin and lighting Eddie on fire. He spears his tongue, plunging it inside Eddie where the muscle is spasming, his orgasm threatening. He can’t— it’s not—

But Buck isn’t stopping, like he doesn’t give a shit if Eddie’s not hanging off his knot when he comes. Eddie’s mind is swirling with some amalgamation of overheard opinions and pointed innuendos learned over and over still taking up space even after new ideas have taken their place. A good omega comes on his alpha’s cock.

In the end it doesn’t matter if Eddie wants to or not, his orgasm crashes over and pulls him under with the next flick of Buck’s tongue. Buck groans and the vibration sends aftershocks down Eddie’s spine that explode into overwhelming when Buck is suddenly tilting Eddie’s hips up in his hands and shoving inside him in one long push.

Eddie’s body goes taut with the overstimulation, a yelp ripped out of his throat when Buck’s cock starts bullying over his prostate. It’s never felt like this before. He’s never had a refractory period or felt very overstimulated unless he was being touched outside of his heat. Hell, just a day ago he was coming over and over on Buck’s cock, no ability to even try to hold it back. Still, it feels good, better when the rushing in his ears stops he can hear Buck babbling, “yeah, yeah, fuck, so good, Eddie you feel so good and you— god– taste so fucking sweet, can’t get enough—”

This time, when Buck knots him, Eddie feels every millimeter of the stretch. He’s so sore, fucked out. It’s got to be over. Even knowing Buck is the biggest he’s ever taken.

“You okay?” Buck asks, breathless, petting over Eddie’s sides, his thighs, his hands.

Eddie nods, gripping Buck’s hands back so he doesn’t pull them away. It makes Buck’s eyebrows draw together, his birthmark standing out dark with exertion against his pale skin. “Are you sure?”

“Just…” Eddie squeezes his eyes shut, can’t look at Buck’s searching expression. He doesn’t know how he feels, and Buck won’t like that answer. “A little sore. Think it’s over.”

“Mm.” Buck nuzzles into his neck, licks softly over his scent glands. “You smell good. Satisfied.”

The sadness that falls over him is almost unbearable. There’s no relief in this cycle being over. No sense of freedom to the idea of not having to have sex for another month. Buck is still inside him and he’s feeling bereft.

It must be the hormones, the rush of chemicals in his brain after so long, the lack of medication he’s spent the better part of his adulthood on.

That’s all it is.