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English
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Part 5 of omegaverse frouse
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Published:
2024-08-03
Completed:
2024-09-14
Words:
2,020
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2/2
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22
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150
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latency

Summary:

Sometimes, a person doesn't perfectly fit into the mold of their secondary gender. They may not exhibit every behavior associated with it. Instead, they may exhibit behaviors associated with other secondary genders—perhaps subtly, perhaps intensely.

Matt stumbles on Droid doing just that.

Chapter 1: subconscious behaviors

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Matt hears it on his way to invade Grizzy’s room. It’s loud enough to stop him in his tracks, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He makes out a rumbling noise when he focuses his hearing, and it’s coming from the living room sofa. Curious, he closes the distance until he’s pressing against the back of it, peering down at what’s making all that noise.

It’s Droid. Droid, who’s curled up on his side, facing away from Matt, with the blanket they keep on the back of the sofa tucked tight around him; the bottom half of his face buried into the fabric. He’s wearing a sweatshirt that definitely belongs to Puffer. Matt remembers when Smitty swiped it, leading Puffer to ask about its whereabouts soon after. Droid probably asked for it, though. He doesn’t wear their clothing nearly as much to just take things.

He hasn’t noticed Matt hovering over him, eyes trained on his phone screen as he scrolls, still rumbling. Matt lets him know peace for another second before asking, “Are you nesting?” Or he tries to. His voice gets drowned out by Droid’s surprised shout as he finally twists around to look at him.

“What the hell, Matt!? Why were you just standing there!?”

“Are you nesting right now?” He repeats with a raised eyebrow, steadfastly ignoring Droid’s questions.

“What? No—No, I’m not nesting. We don’t nest.”

“Sure looks like nesting to me.”

Droid stares at him. “Right. Me laying with this one blanket is totally what nesting looks like. Not the piles of clothes and blankets and pillows that’s in Pezzy’s room.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t, smartass,” Matt counters. “That’s how omegas nest, and you’re not an omega—”

“Exactly, so how can I—”

“If you’d shut up,” Matt pauses to let his words sink in, “then I’d tell you that you’re nesting in your own way. That blanket,” he points to the fabric, “has all our scents on it, and you’re wearing one of Puffer’s shirts.”

Droid scoffs. “You’re reading way too much into this. This is the only blanket we got out here, and I didn’t even know this was Puffer’s. Must’ve gotten mixed up in my laundry or something.”

Matt rolls his eyes. “And the rumbling?” Droid’s face scrunches in confusion. “No way you didn’t know you were making all that noise.”

“Nope, no idea what you’re talking about.”

“So you’re just in denial about the whole thing, then, okay.” Matt nods to himself. “That’s fine, I guess. Your weird secretive feelings about nesting is safe with me. I won’t tell anyone that you do it.”

“Who has weird secretive feelings about nesting?” Puffer calls out.

“No one!”

“Droid.”

Puffer stands next to Matt, fixing his eyes on Droid. “What’s the deal with you and nesting? You’ve hated omegas this whole time or something?”

“He doesn’t want to admit he’s nesting right now,” Matt explains for Droid, ignoring his glare.

“You know what, Puffer, I’m glad you’re here.” Droid pushes himself into a sitting position, blanket pooling around his lap. “You can tell Matt that I’m not nesting, yeah?”

It’s silent as Matt and Droid look expectantly at Puffer, who in turn stares at Droid. As seconds tick by, Droid starts to fidget under his gaze. Even Matt feels a little impatient with his lack of response.

“It’s not textbook nesting,” Puffer finally provides. “But it’s something. You’re wearing my shirt, you were snuggled up in this blanket, and you’re hanging out on the sofa where all our scents are.” He lists off. “Was it soothing?”

“I mean, yeah, of course. This blanket is comfy as hell, and so is this couch.” Droid explains. “Who wouldn’t find it soothing?”

“No, was it, like,” Puffer searches for words, “safe? Calming? That kind of thing.”

Droid is slower to answer. “….Maybe.”

“Congratulations, you were nesting.”

“Isn’t there more to nesting than that!?” Droid asks as Puffer heads to the front door, voice incredulous. “More blankets, pillows, clothes? More—shit, I don’t know—feelings?”

“Not all nesting is the same,” Puffer says, tugging on his shoes. “Some prefer a lot of clothes versus blankets and pillows and vice versa. Or a balance of both. The main thing is that nesting is always supposed to feel safe and secure.” He straightens up, sliding his keys off the hooks by the door. “It’s a comfort. Anyways, I’m going to the store. Text me if you want anything specific.”

The door echoes as Puffers leaves the house, pulling it shut behind him. Matt is unapologetic as he grins smugly at Droid, who looks unamused and still unconvinced. “It’s not the end of the world if you nest every now and then, you know,” he reassures. “I highly doubt you’re gonna wake up one day and start experiencing heats, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“That’s what I should be saying. Now, quit being a whiny baby and come with me to bother Grizzy.”

Notes:

it's been a while! and it's been hard to write, even though i think about this series quite a bit! those half-baked ideas i mentioned last time? yeah, it's hard to get enough out on digital paper to justify posting anything ;;;; even this almost didn't see the light of day.

i think i'm thinking too hard about it all and being too narrow w/ what to explore! that being said, if there's anything specific people may want to see, uh, let me know? i know more exploration into the role of betas was mentioned, and i had an idea w/ droid & grizzy about that i could get back to ;;;

if you read this, a) thank you and b) hope you enjoyed! mayhaps i'll return in a shorter time??? been wanting to write puffer & smitty / grizzy & smitty a lot, so we'll see :')

Chapter 2: sharing beds like little kids

Summary:

Droid thought he could easily brush off being caught "nesting" in the living room, which he's still in denial about. But that proves to be near impossible when he finds himself invited to do so.

Notes:

this is for dimpledingo!! i hope it's enjoyable ;w;

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

When Droid follows Puffer to his room with the promise of a new co-op platformer to play with him, he finds himself blinking in surprise at the sight of Smitty and Pezzy lounging on Puffer’s bed. Pillows are stacked at the headboard and line the edges; articles of clothing are tucked in between pillows, underneath pillows, and just plainly laid across some; a few blankets are bunched around them. The scent and feeling of contentment rolls over him in slow, gentle waves. There’s a slight tug in his gut as he takes in Pezzy sprawled on top of Smitty—legs entangled and head tucked underneath his chin, oozing comfort—while Smitty cards a hand through the back of his hair; his other arm curled loosely around Pezzy’s waist.

Unease is quick to make a subtle home in Droid, rooting him in place on the other side of Puffer’s doorway. It’s not subtle enough as Smitty and Pezzy begin to stir, eyes peeling open to stare confusedly and mouths downturning. Puffer takes that moment to step further into the room, gaining the attention of the nesting omegas. Droid swallows nervously.

“Well, well, well,” Smitty starts, eyeing Puffer disappointedly as he rounds to the far side of the bed, “look who finally decided to come back after Pezzy and I did alllll the work—”

“Droid?” Pezzy cuts in excitedly, ignoring the irritated look thrown his way. He goes to lift off of Smitty, but the omega slides both arms around his waist, tightening his hold with an annoyed huff. Pezzy’s eye roll is fond. “What are you doing here?”

“Why else would he be here?” Puffer answers as he sinks into the bed, careful of the strategically placed pillows. Smitty makes a show of distancing himself, nose raised in the air; Puffer flips him off.

“Uh, no,” Droid spits out, stamping out the immediate guilt as Pezzy practically deflates in Smitty’s arms. “Not here to–to nest with you guys. Puffer told me there was a game he wanted to try out with me.” He shuffles backwards a small step. “But maybe another time, yeah?”

“C’mon, Droid. You know Puffer wouldn’t outright invite you,” Pezzy says, recovering fast from Droid’s denial.

“Yeah, he’s too shy for that, so he does it in a roundabout way,” Smitty tacks on, grinning teasingly in the face of Puffer’s glare. “What, am I wrong?”

“You couldn’t be more fucking wrong,” Puffer deadpans. “Don’t listen to him… Either of them, actually.” His tone is flat, but Droid could pick up the vague feeling of hurt through their bond. If Puffer genuinely wanted to play games and he knew his room was being used for nesting, he would’ve just camped in Droid’s. Probably. Puffer purposely brought him to his room. And Droid isn’t ignorant of the gesture’s importance, especially coming from Puffer who rarely nests with anyone else besides Smitty and Pezzy. 

(Droid has his suspicions that has more to do with the other two omegas than Puffer himself.)

“So, are you coming in? Now that you know?” Pezzy’s voice interrupts his thoughts. “‘Cause there’s no way you’d actually say no, right?” Droid shifts underneath his stare. “Since it’s kind of a big deal, being invited into Puffer’s nest of all people’s.”

Droid wants to mention it’s not just Puffer’s nest, but he knows it’ll backfire on him. And that tug he felt earlier is stronger now, fueled by the expectant looks casted towards him, the faint pheromones coaxing him closer. His skin grows warm with the memory of “nesting” on their living room couch, something he could still plausibly deny. But there’s no gray area for this situation. It’s clear as day that he’d be nesting if he joins his pack. Pezzy’s words bounce around in his head and, with a tense body, he’s crossing into Puffer’s room before he knows it, gently shutting the door behind him.

Elation and relief and, oddly enough, interest washes over him as he steps closer to the bed. He hesitates when he presses against the edge, despite the instinct to let his body sink into the blankets and pillows. Pezzy coos and purrs encouragingly; Droid wants to rumble in response, but getting into the nest is already enough. He’s stiff as he settles on the other side of Smitty and Pezzy, hyper aware of the space around him and determined to not take up too much. He represses the shit out of the urge to turn his head and bury his face in the clothing beside him; the familiar scent of honey and pound cake enticing in a way Droid could only chalk up to whatever caused the initial tugging in his gut.

Pezzy is restless beside him, trying to separate from a pouty Smitty. He manages to leave his hold and eagerly crowds into Droid’s personal space, purring incessantly as he side cuddles him. His happiness is palpable; Droid swears he could taste it. And it proves difficult to stay stiff and self-conscious in the face of an extremely pleased omega. He feels his guard slipping faster than he’d ever be willing to admit as Pezzy noses at his neck. It takes another few moments before he’s finally wiggling his arm out from where it’s trapped between himself and Pezzy, wrapping it around the omega’s shoulders to drag him half on top of his body, reciprocating his cuddle. Rubbing his cheek against Pezzy’s hair, Puffer’s voice rings in his head—“safe”, “calming”.

He had a little bit of a better understanding now.

“Who am I supposed to cuddle with now?” Smitty’s voice interrupts the slight daze Droid finds himself in.

“Puffer is literally right there,” Pezzy says against Droid’s skin. “Any other time you’d jump at the chance to cuddle with him.”

Smitty sighs loudly, ignoring the obvious. “I guess I’ll just hug one of these pillows.”

“I didn’t want to cuddle with you either, bitch,” Puffer insults, and Smitty is immediately thrown into a fit of giggling. “In fact, you could leave for all I care.”

“No, no! Please don’t kick me out!” Smitty pleads through subsiding laughter. “C’mere,” he says after calming down, gesturing for Puffer to come closer. “You know I love cuddling with you.”

Puffer raises an eyebrow. “I’m not being the little spoon.”

Smitty groans. “You never want to be little spoon.” He moves to have Puffer embracing him all the same; Droid snorts at the action.

“And you’ve never complained before.” Smitty nips at his chin in retaliation. “Aye, keep those teeth to yourself! I can still kick you out,” he threatens. Smitty settles with a huff.

It’s still and mostly silent, save for Pezzy’s much lower purring and Droid’s occasional rumble in response. He takes the moment to focus on Puffer, surprised that the omega is already looking at him intently. A grateful smile tugs at his lips, growing when Puffer matches it with one of his own. He reaches out with the arm that was around Pezzy to search and grab at one of Puffer’s hands, squeezing it gently and caressing it with his thumb.

Maybe he could get used to nesting after all.

Notes:

hello, hello! dimpledingo had suggested the omegas + droid nesting together, so i delivered (i think)! i ended up leaning into droid's perspective (which is why this has been added as a chapter 2); my other idea was to have droid & puffer walk in on pezzy & smitty arguing the logistics of how to build the nest. maybe i'll come back to this with just the omegas and write that, who knows?

sharp left turn from a/b/o, i really really really wanna write a pezzy + smitty office au because of the dale & dawson session they had. smitty as a sabotaging assistant that manager pezzy is unaware of so he keeps convincing him to fire good, hardworking people. do y'all see the potential??

anyways, thank you for reading, as always! i hope you enjoyed it :3 i'm, like, permanently open to suggestions for this in between coming up w/ my own ideas, just saying. until next time~! ♡

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