running øut øf breath
Chapter 1: 1. In which Tyler hits a full heat, and Josh cries about Adore Delano. Again.
"You sure you'll be alright getting home, sweetie? It's no trouble for me, your father or one of the girls to give you a lift."
"Yeah, Mom, I'll be fine. We're not staying up late, alright?"
Josh looked up, and nearly walked into a pole. Shit. He hated trying to simultaneously walk and talk on the phone. He was too clumsy for that junk.
"Well, you just give one of us a call if you need a ride. If not, I'll assume you're either staying at Jesse's place or you found your own way home."
"Yeah, sure, Mom. I'll see you tomorrow morning, alright?"
"Alright. Have fun tonight, Josh!"
"Will do, Mom. Goodnight!"
Josh glanced around; he wasn't far from Jesse's, maybe five minutes.
Jesse had invited him over for video games and cat pats and, well, whatever it was they'd get up to at Jesse's house. Sometimes it was just video games, sometimes they'd put together elaborate Snapchat stories and giggle at fan reactions on Twitter. Sometimes they just drank juice and talked, caught up on each other's lives; it was getting harder and harder to do that these days, with Josh on tour most of the time, and Jesse with his own music projects and occasional touring adventures.
So when he and Tyler got breaks like these, Josh enjoyed just getting to catch up with friends, which included Jesse. And he couldn't say he wasn't looking forward to harassing Jesse's cat.
He was just wondering if Crybaby Lovewonder would let him balance his snapback on his head (that'd make a hilarious Snap), when a figure came lurching around the corner.
Something about the figure was familiar enough that it caught his eye; and if that hadn't picked up his notice, then the figure's erratic, limping pace did.
He watched the figure hurry closer, and his eyes widened.
"Tyler?" he exclaimed, grabbing Tyler's arm when the man came close enough. To his surprise, Tyler hissed and wrenched his arm away, glaring at Josh.
Josh realised that Tyler was covered in blood, horror dropping ice-cold into his stomach.
"Tyler, what happened? Are you okay?" Josh asked.
He had a lot of questions right now – wasn't Tyler meant to be catching up with his ex-girlfriend Jenna, wasn't the cafe where they were gonna meet up on the other side of town, weren't they supposed to go for dinner afterwards and that was why he hadn't been able to come with him to see Jesse – but the main one was about his safety. So Josh asked that first.
"Nothing, I'm fine," Tyler snapped. "Not my blood. Someone else's."
"Why are you covered in someone else's blood?" Josh demanded, and then something that he'd not quite registered yet suddenly answered his question.
He took a step back.
"You're in heat," he realised. "Is – is that an alpha's blood?"
"Yeah, some dickhead tried to drag me into an alleyway," Tyler said, shuddering. "He didn't get the chance to do anything, don't worry. I just – I don't know, self-preservation instincts kicked in or whatever. I just really need to get home, Josh."
Josh decided not to ask what Tyler meant by 'self-preservation instincts'. Whatever the case, he felt relieved nothing had happened.
"Let me walk you," Josh said. "You can't go home by yourself like this."
Tyler glared at him, then sighed, relenting. "Yeah. Fine. Just – please don't touch me, Josh. Not right now."
Josh nodded, and fell into step next to Tyler. He quickly tapped out a message to Jesse apologising for bailing and asking for a raincheck, and walked silently next to Tyler.
He knew he shouldn't have been surprised Tyler wouldn't want physical contact – understandably, Tyler was probably wary of alphas right now, and hell, he'd just been assaulted – but something stung in his chest anyway. He silently told himself not to be so stupid.
It wasn't like he was clueless about Tyler – he'd known his friend was an omega since they'd met. And Tyler had known Josh was an alpha for just as long.
But Tyler usually took suppressants, didn't he? They were a continuous-dose type – most suppressants killed the heat entirely, but the user had to have a full heat every few months. Tyler's suppressants were designed to be not strong enough to suppress it entirely, just enough to make it bearable, because apparently Tyler had really wild heats and a full heat every few months would be too much for him. Half-heats allowed him to take the suppressants continuously, and thus avoid having to go through a full heat at all.
Josh rarely had to be confronted with Tyler in full heat. He knew all about the medicated heats – for about a week, Tyler would be sluggish and feverish, like he had a flu, and frequently slink away for, uh, private time.
But he hadn't dealt with Tyler in a full heat, and he was starting to see why Tyler preferred to avoid them.
Tyler was a mess, and it wasn't just the assailant's blood – he was jumpy and nervous, flinching at every perceived contact. His breathing was ragged, movements forced, and was hunched over in a weird way that made Josh wonder if he was trying to hide a raging boner.
He looked uncomfortably like he was having a panic attack – probably not an attack, just the effects of the heat, but it looked awful all the same. Josh swallowed hard, wishing he could at least rub Tyler's shoulder, something, anything to help.
Meanwhile, Josh was a little amazed he could still think straight. Along with everything else, another sign of Tyler's heat was the incredible scent oozing off him, clouding Josh's head.
He'd been around omegas in heat before, and he knew how to control himself – he was a decent human being, god dammit. Decent human beings, alpha or not, did not use 'base instincts' as an excuse to do awful things. And besides, he was used to it enough that he wasn't usually bothered by the scent of passing omegas.
But Tyler was something else. The scent poured off him, and it was stronger (and sweeter? Headier? Josh wasn't sure, but he liked it) than Josh had encountered.
