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According to Riddle, tending to the hedgehogs is a very serious yet agreeable task, but if you were to ask the two Heartslabyul freshmen who currently were on hedgehog duty today, only one of them would express a loud and determined “yes!”, and how it was a learning experience! Ace on the other hand wasn’t this happy about it though, he liked the spiky little guys, and they got quite attached to him! It just wasn’t his thing.
Getting bored of this task, Ace called his partner.
“Hey, I heard rodents are very jumpy and always wary, but...” He faced the raven, squinting. “You don’t behave the same, and you don’t even speak mole, how does it feel to see a fox communicate with hedgehogs easier than you? Shouldn’t they feel more at ease with a fellow herbivore?” He kept asking teasingly, lifting one arm to gently remove a sneaky blue hedgehog who kept nuzzling into his neck, this particularly bold individual strangely reminded him of a certain someone. “Oh, but wait! Aren’t you the one who eats eggs for lunch every day-”
Deuce’s long white ears perked up at the senseless words the red fox spouted, “Shut up, Ace. Maybe they don’t feel comfortable around alphas.” He paused for a short while, before side-eyeing the fox. “Who even taught you to speak mole?”
Ace threw him a self-satisfied grin, “Rook taught me, when the hedgehogs escaped their cages a while ago, apparently even calming pheromones aren’t enough to lure them, so he taught me how to communicate without frightening them. Neat, huh?”
“Eh, I guess even your beta pheromones weren’t enough,” the alpha taunted him, never missing a moment to tease him back.
Ace repressed a snort; he had no idea how he fooled Deuce with his faux beta scent patches. The alpha was so naive, Ace had to fake a cough to hide his amused smile. He noted to himself to call his older brother soon to tell him all about it.
The best part was that he was pretty sure everyone knew what his real dynamic was, except Deuce. He had seen Jack send a particularly pointed side-eye to Deuce one day during lunch, a silent message that the latter didn’t seem to receive as he continued addressing Ace as a Beta for the last 3 months they spent together as dormmates.
Epel played his part just as well, except for the part where the Pomefiore chinchilla almost choked on his apple juice as he witnessed Jack’s offended reaction to Deuce unknowingly misgendering Ace for the first time. Apparently, secondary gender was incredibly important in wolf beastman culture, omegas were particularly respected. No wonder Jack admires Riddle so much, his wagging tail usually betraying his enthusiasm towards the strict omega housewarden.
A concept that may also be applied to Merman culture as Ace could vaguely remember smelling Riddle’s frustrated pheromones one day in the hallway as he was speed-walking, most likely trying to escape a grinning Floyd, who was wearing a predatory grin. Perhaps they just had a more aggressive approach towards omegas. Ace vaguely wonders why Riddle hasn’t collared Floyd as punishment yet.
“We should get back to the Mirror Chamber, we have potionology next,” Deuce said, bringing Ace back to reality.
“Yeah, no. I think I’m gonna ditch,” Ace mumbled stifling a yawn, fluffy tail already bristling at the thought of Professor Crewel’s strict behavior. Yeah, no thanks. “Have fun Deucey! Don’t forget to pass me the notes after school, if you’ve taken any that is,” he snickered, doing a mock salute with his hedgehog-less hand. With his teasing, Ace triggered another five minutes of bickering.
After Deuce hurriedly left, fuming, complaining about Ace in general and how he was making him late to class which is in no way model student behavior; Ace was now alone— almost, his spiky companions sniffing around or trying to take a nap on his bushy tail — with his thoughts. He should get going, he had some sleep to catch up on. After putting all the hedgehogs back into their cages, making sure none of them hid or snuck away, he got back to his room. Now that he was standing and walking, he felt a wave of fatigue wash over him, that’s strange, he felt just fine a few moments ago.
Maybe it’s just the beta patches taking a toll on him, he has been wearing them all day without pause. Ace absentmindedly brushed his hand against his scent glands, feeling oil tainting his fingers with a light sheen. He obviously couldn’t smell his own scent, but even he knew that leaking this many pheromones was not right at all.
Letting out a huge sigh, he quickened his steps all the way to his room, looking through his drawer for a very particular medicine.
Heat suppressants.
He swore under his breath, picking up the last, empty bottle of medicine he desperately needs, preferably right the fuck now.
Huh. He pulls out his phone, searching through his contact list for someone he knows will help him in this situation. He pressed the phone symbol a bit harder than usual, it shouldn’t take long for this guy to pick up since he always has his phone glued to—
“Cay-Cay here! What’s up, Acey? Still skipping class I see,” Cater’s cheery voice answered the call.
“Cater I need your help; you busy right now?” He was taking shorter and shorter intakes of breath and began to feel lightheaded.
“Ooh you don’t sound too good, let me guess, it’s that time of the month? I was on my way to flight class, but I can make an exception for you Acey, need me to go to the school store?”
“Yes please, you’re saving my life right now,” Ace breathily answered, relieved that he didn’t have to explain himself.
“Got it, Acey. Cay-Cay will be right back!” Cater ended the call in his usual sing-song voice
Just as Ace hung up the phone, he heard a knock at the door. He could feel a drop of sweat dripping down his temple. Damn it, couldn’t he just be left alone for once? The refreshing musk wafting from under the door indicated the identity and secondary gender of the person behind the door. Shit, it’s not Cater!
“Ace, did you steal another one of the unbirthday party’s tarts? You know it’s gonna be off with your head, right? Anyway, can you open the door? I have your potionology notes, if you don’t want them, I’ll just head over to Ramshackle and give them to Grim. He slept through the whole class and I have no doubt he’ll instantly burn them on sight,” Deuce said, his voice muffled by the door.
“Alright alright I’m coming, just give me a sec, would ya?”
The red-headed fox didn’t hesitate using wind magic to open his window and ventilate the room, he had to do this quickly, or else... Well, he knows Deuce wouldn’t act on it, would he? He’s not the type to do something like that. Sure, behind his fluffy little cotton tail and long straight ears, he’s a tough and determined guy. It's always so entertaining to annoy him and he responds so well to his teasing that Ace couldn’t get enough of his reactions. The redhead recognized that he didn’t hate spending time with him, Grim, and Yu. Not that he likes admitting it, but there were times when he had to stop his tail from wagging or stop himself from chirping or purring around Deuce in particular. He hates it, he hates romance – his body acted on his own, but he loves annoying the hell out of the raven, it may be his love language, who knows? Not Deuce, that’s for sure.
Opening the door to his room and trying to look as unbothered as he could, Ace came face to face with his long-eared roommate, who looked like he was this close to summoning a cauldron on him.
“Hey, what’s up?” Ace greeted him, hand on one hip, trying to seem unbothered despite feeling a drop of sweat trickling down his nape. He could feel Deuce’s sharp eyes judging his every move.
“Here’re your notes—” The alpha rabbit’s nose started twitching rapidly as the door opened wider and wider, and then he squinted. “You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”
Ace scoffed; his tail puffed up defensively. He didn’t want to explain himself; he just wanted his potionology notes. “I’m not hiding anything, now if you could hand over the notes, that would be greatly appreciated,” he forced a smile, feeling irked by the other’s stubbornness.
“I don’t know... I think you’re hiding something from me.” Deuce slowly got closer, his steps echoing through the omega’s brain, Deuce’s alpha pheromones were fogging up his entire thought process, and he felt like he couldn’t think straight anymore. He hated it.
“...Hiding what?” Dread started to conquer Ace, did the oblivious idiot finally expose him?
“The housewarden’s tart for the unbirthday party, I can smell it all over you!”
Ace was speechless, this idiot!
"You gotta be kidding me... I’m telling you once again – since your rabbit ears are probably just for show – that I didn’t steal anything!”
A growl quickly followed Ace’s words, “Then explain why you smell this good—” Deuce’s growling got interrupted halfway by the door to their dorm suddenly bursting open, revealing a smiling Cater, phone in hand ready to take a picture of the two deer caught in headlights.
“Oh, did I interrupt something? I would come back later if it weren’t an emergency but sadly it is, so here is Cay-Cay coming through with your heat suppressants, Acey!” He raised a plastic bag before approaching the two freshmen to give it to Ace.
“H-heat suppressants?” Deuce stuttered, as if the information fried his brain, which it probably did.
“What for...?”
The red fox tightened his grip on the bag. Well, there goes his cover.
Cater snickered at Deuce’s obliviousness, “Come on Deucey, use that alpha nose of yours and tell me what you smell right now,” Following Cater’s advice, Deuce took a deep breath, unknowingly stepping further into Ace’s personal space – lighting his omega brain on fire and forcing him to press a hand against his very built chest to keep him at a reasonable distance. “Hey buddy, not so close. Personal space, remember?”
But Deuce didn’t react, too busy looking for the source of the alluring perfume that floated in the air. “It smells like ripe cherries...” he muttered, looking into the fox’s equally crimson eyes. At this instant anyone present at the scene could have witnessed the exact second the – probably dusty – lightbulb in Deuce’s mind lit up.
“Y-You..!”
“Me?” Smirked Ace, tilting his head, finally letting the cover fall as well as his pure untainted scent, now rid of the past remains of beta patches. “What did I do?”
“You didn’t eat any cherry pie, you’re the whole damn cherry tree itself with how sweet you smell, you beta— er, omega fraud!” Deuce accusingly shouted, pointing his finger at an unbothered-looking Ace. The latter burst into laughter, “Oh man, I still can’t believe you fell for that! Well done, stupid, want a sweet prize for this?” His smirk grew wider as he could see Deuce’s white fur bristle.
“Hah!? Wanna say that again?” The raven-haired alpha cracked his fists and bared his fangs, forcing Cater to intervene, already feeling a mix of furious pheromones before approaching the two and separating them with a smile as well as cutting the tension between them. “Come on Deucey, let’s head to the dorm lounge to cool off a bit,” He drags an unnerved Deuce further away from the fox omega.
“But!—” The white rabbit’s steps faltered, looking back at the red-haired omega, who cheekily stuck his tongue out when their eyes briefly met before returning to his room. Deuce tensed up, frowning.
“No buts, you should know to always be respectful towards an omega in heat, and that includes NOT throwing hands with them, smh,” Cater lightly reprimanded the young alpha.
“But he’s the one who started it!" Said Deuce looking back at his senior with a whine.
“I know, I’ll have a talk with him later, now let’s go to the lounge! I’m pretty sure you have homework to do,” Cater muttered under his breath. “Hormonal teens are such a pain...” At those words, Deuce pouted, ears drooping, his nose still twitching at the pleasant scent that continued to envelop him.
He sighed, if only Deuce could see how he was being played like a fiddle... Surprisingly, he didn’t notice the way the other fancied him – and by fancying, he meant annoying. Cater sees right through Ace most of the time yet his behavior towards a love interest is a special one he must admit.
The diamond card soldier thought about this one study he saw on the web about predator-type omegas and how their courting tactics were... direct, to say the least. Following this, Cater concluded that Ace was possibly riling Deuce up as a way to test their compatibility; maybe to gauge what his reactions would be if anyone hurt his pups or loved ones, how protective he’d be towards his family and mate. Ace, though... is approaching it a bit too harshly while playing hard to get at the same time, essentially delivering to Deuce the following – although a bit confused – message: “C’mon... Try and bite me, loser!” while the other person of interest has no idea they’re being courted. Cater feels like facepalming himself.
Idiots, the two of them. At least, Deuce is the stubborn and determined type, he won’t let himself be overshadowed or overpowered by anyone and the third year could respect that.
“Shoot! I didn’t give Ace his potionology notes!”