Chapter Text
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Kyoko walked up to the school office, clutching the envelope that held the next payment on her tuition. It was a tight month, but she’d managed to make it work. “Hello, Hasegawa-san! I’m here to make my payment.”
“Of course, Mogami-san,” the secretary said, typing on her computer. “Oh… it looks like your parents already paid it.” She pressed a few more keys. “The rest of your time was pre-paid, too.”
“My… parents?” Pine confusion coated the room. I’m emancipated. Mother would never….
“Yes, it says that they paid electronically. Your father left a note. It’s just a smile emoji.”
“Father?” she echoed, before realization hit. Dad. “Okay, thank you. Have a good day, Hasegawa-san.” She bowed and left, whipping out her phone as soon as she was on the sidewalk.
Kyoko: did mom and dad pay for my tuition??????????????????????
Kuon: ah i was wondering when you would find out. I think they also finished paying off your LME acting school debt
Kyoko: wait you KNEW about this???????????????
Kuon: in my defense
Kuon: i explained briefly why you live at the darumaya and mom needed a distraction so she wouldn’t hunt your mother for sport
Kyoko: what
Kuon: she was very angry so i distracted her by providing an easy outlet for her frustration
Kuon: spending money to show parental affection
Kyoko: why didn’t u just SCENT her
Kuon: i did that first so she would even listen
Kyoko: (sobbing emoji, three times) how am i going to repay them
Kuon: as ive said before
Kuon: they won’t want you to
Kyoko: (sobbing emoji, but larger)
Later, she did in fact call to thank them and promise to pay them back. Kuu was rather offended by that suggestion -- after all, it was right for parents to pay for their kids’ educations when situations allowed. Julie argued that it was the least they could do for Kyoko bringing Kuon back to them. So yes, Kyoko lost that argument.
LINE BREAK
Kyoko stretched, preparing for her duel with Kijima. Well, not Kijima. His character, Lance, had insulted Sir Hoppington, the froggy companion and most trusted knight of both Cam and Max. So she’d be dueling him for the frog’s honor. Since frogs can’t really hold human-sized swords.
Kuon, for his part, was trying not to watch Kyoko stretch -- or at least, not be obvious that he was watching her stretch. That failed the instant Kanae offered to help Kyoko stretch. He was pretty sure from the smirk she cut him that she could smell how jealous he was. That only intensified when Kanae placed her hands on the seated Kyoko’s back and pushed gently, helping their alpha touch her stomach to the floor, her legs spread wide.
“Hot damn, how am I supposed to focus on a duel with that going on?” Kijima pretended to fan himself.
Okay, forget the jealousy. Fury had arrived. Because how dare this second-rate alpha even comment on his alpha. How dare he presume to look at her with lust when he wasn’t even pack . Suddenly, Kuon could share Kyoko with Kanae -- at least for the next ten minutes -- as long as it meant that Kijima stayed the hell away from her.
He gave him a razor-sharp smile. “I’d suggest that you find a way. Kyoko’s been studying under Uesugi-sensei, you know. Wouldn’t want to lose anything… important…” his eyes flicked downward for the briefest second, “because you’re distracted.”
Kijima’s face blanched at the mere thought. His resolve lasted until Kyoko arched her back.
Kuon took a deep, steadying breath. Kyoko would win. And then Kijima would be flat on the floor, her sword pointed at his throat. Wait, don’t picture that. He bit back a whine, his mind filling in himself under Kyoko, a very different sword pointed at his throat.
“Ready, everyone?” Director Goto’s voice cut through his thoughts.
Kuon had to fight to find his character, even though he was mainly on the sidelines in this scene. He was holding the velvet pillow with the animatronic Sir Hoppington on it. That’s really all he needed to do. They’d filmed the conversation between himself and the Archive, Kanae’s character, a few minutes earlier -- the one where she told him not to worry about Cam going up against a knight much larger than she was.
The scene began. Lance waffled about actually fighting a woman, but eventually acquiesced. Then he and Cam waited for the signal.
The animatronic Sir Hoppington let out a loud croak.
Kyoko leapt forward, forcing Kijima to raise his sword to block hers. She continued to strike; he went on the defensive, parrying her blows just in time. He scrambled backwards, out of her reach. Not for long, though, as she swiftly closed the distance, and not in the way he preferred women do.
Kuon, watching from the sidelines, was fighting hard to control his face. He didn’t want to be the reason they had to reshoot part of the scene. But watching his alpha duel another alpha… that did something to him. The deepest, most primal part of his brain was being ripped open. His mouth watered. Alphas didn’t tend to physically fight each other anymore, not in dueling conditions. Not in most societies, anyway. It took every ounce of his self-control not to bare his neck, to not beg for Kyoko’s bite.
Kyoko, meanwhile, was having a similar hindbrain moment. Mainly because she was now fighting the alpha who had tried to steal (read: flirt with) her beta and one of her omegas -- the alpha who had tried to interfere with her pack. It wasn’t on script, but she let out a low growl.
The rest of the fight wasn’t on script, either. Instead of sweeping his legs on cue to finish the fight quickly, Kyoko became more aggressive -- slashing and jabbing, forcing Kijima further and further back. Her eyes blazed with a fury that viewers of the show would later attribute to her devotion to Sir Hoppington.
Kijima, nose full of furious pine, knew better. But the alpha in him wouldn’t let him surrender so easily. Wouldn’t let him call out that this wasn’t on script -- that this wasn’t planned. So he fought back in earnest, using his superior height and reach to try to match her blow for blow. But he couldn’t. He had been trained in stage fighting, yes -- but Kyoko had been trained by Uesugi-sensei. Not only that, she had gained his approval.
So it was really not a surprise that Kijima landed in the dirt with Kyoko’s sword pointed at his throat.
Panting, he managed to remember his line. “Yield! I yield! You can’t damage a face like this.”
No one but Kanae, standing next to him, caught the growl that Kuon let out when Kyoko gave Kijima a hand up. She couldn’t blame him. Her hindbrain had been going haywire this whole time, too.
They managed to get through the rest of the scene, and the director called cut. Potato stormed up to Kyoko and chittered at her for changing the artistic vision of the fight, but Goto scooped her up and said that they were going to use that take. That was fortunate for Kuon, who didn’t think he could survive another take without his alpha’s scent.
And speaking of his alpha’s scent… when Kijima walked past, there was the faintest trace of pine left on him from the fight. Kuon’s hackles raised. How dare he -- how dare he smell like alpha. He wasn’t even pack!
Kanae caught Kyoko’s eye and gestured to Ren.
While they waited for the next scene to be set up, Kyoko drifted over to him. Subtly, she rubbed her wrist against his, their scents mingling. He relaxed, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Alpha scented him . Not Kijima, that lesser alpha. Not even Potato. Him.
With his hindbrain sated, he was able to focus on the rest of the shoot. But the image of his alpha in the heat of battle would never be far from his mind on nights alone.
LINE BREAK
Kyoko was in heaven. Her whole pack was in a nest, hanging out and having a great time. Also, she was painting Kanae’s nails. Plus, Ren had managed to make popcorn for all of them without burning it. Granted, it was bagged microwavable popcorn, but still! Chiori even approved of the salt levels, and she was very picky about that. This was a massive improvement.
“Seriously, this is so much better than before,” she said, popping pieces of popcorn into her mouth. “Good job, dude.”
“Ah yes, bagged popcorn. So impressive,” Kanae said, rolling her eyes while Kyoko put the last layer of nail polish on her pinky nail.
“To be fair, this man apparently has burned cold cereal.”
“I’m right here, you know,” Ren grumbled good-naturedly. He was more focused on how cute Kyoko looked when she was focused. Her tongue poked slightly out from between her lips as she used tweezers to set a pine tree decal on Kanae’s middle finger. She had to move quickly before the polish dried, after all.
“Your point?” She raised a perfectly done brow.
“At least try my popcorn before dismissing it.”
“Wet nails.” She wiggled her fingers once Kyoko let her go.
Kyoko’s eyes lit up. “I can feed it to you!”
She considered this for a moment. On one hand, Kyoko would be insufferable if she permitted this. On the other hand, Ren would be hysterical if she did. So it was really no contest. “Sure.”
She squealed with excitement. “Moko!”
“Don’t,” she warned. “You’ll muss my nails.”
Kyoko pouted but toned it down approximately half a notch. “Okay, open wide~!”
Chiori, for her part, was still eating popcorn, enjoying the way the muscle jumped in Ren’s jaw while their alpha fed Kanae. He was getting better at tamping down the jealous cornflower smell, but not by much. In fact, the change was so small that it was frankly impressive that her nose could detect the difference. Which is to say, he was stinking up the room with his jealousy. The only reason Kyoko hadn’t noticed was the sheer ecstasy of being allowed to feed one of her packmates with her own hands.
Ren was doing his best to be so normal about this. He was not succeeding. He wanted to -- well, he didn’t exactly want to shove Kanae out of the way, but he wanted to steal Kyoko’s attention from her. He wanted Kyoko to feed him, instead. To be the one to nearly kiss her fingertips with every kernel of popcorn. To be the one to wonder if the salt he was tasting was from the popcorn packet or from her skin. But he knew he had to behave -- had to share his alpha. After all, she loved her pack.
Then Kanae licked some salt off of Kyoko’s thumb, making smug eye contact, and all higher reasoning failed. “Will you paint mine, too?”
Chiori and Kanae made amused eye contact. Kyoko tilted her head enough to meet his gaze. Something in it made heat rise to her cheeks. “Your nails?”
“Yeah. The little pine tree.” He nodded to his packmates. “They both have it. I want one, too.”
Chiori’s eyes flicked down to the little pine tree on her middle finger. So he was jealous of that, too? Like a mark, because it’s her scent?
“I thought you had a photoshoot tomorrow.”
“They can edit it out if they don’t like it.” Then he used a move he knew she loved, ducking his head so he could look up at her just a little. “Please?”
How can I say no to that face? “Okay, if you’re sure. I’ll do yours next.”
Happy cornflower filled the room, even as Kyoko finished feeding Kanae the admittedly okay popcorn. And then she took one of his large hands in both of hers and began doing his nails, starting with the clear base coat. He hummed, content, and tried to shoot a smug look at Kanae. She didn’t even notice, now editing a photo for her Insta while Chiori gave suggestions.
Instead of dwelling on it, he turned his attention back to Kyoko. He admired the precision with which she applied the polish, her hands unwavering. One of her hands held his steady as she painted, and he relished this small contact. He had memorized the calluses on her hands by now, ones born from years of using knives and, more recently, swords. Yet he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of the sensation of her skin on his.
Kyoko finished applying the first coat, then blew gently on his nails. Finally registering the feeling of his gaze on her, she glanced up -- and found herself caught in his eyes, lips still pursed. She saw his eyes flick down to her lips for a moment, then back up. Heat rose to her cheeks.
“Kyoko, what do you think of this edit?” Chiroi asked, holding up her phone. “Do you like this one or the original better?”
“Eh? Um --” she turned, moment broken, “-- the edit looks good.”
“Cool. Do you need another pine decal?”
“Um, yes. I don’t know if I need it yet, though.” She turned back to Ren. “Did you want a color or just the decal?”
“Decal’s fine,” he managed. He’d forgotten the others were even there.
She nodded, focused once more on his nails. “Then I need it now, Chiorin, please.”
“Catch.”
She did, then hastily affixed it to the fourth finger on his left hand, before mirroring it on the other hand. “There you go!” She beamed up at him. “Once that sets, I’ll do another coat so it doesn’t fall off so easily.”
He nodded, and may have replied, but his hindbrain was far, far more interested in celebrating. Alpha claimed me. He tried to rationalize that he was just given the same mark as the rest of the pack. That shattered the moment he realized that the girls both had their decals on their middle fingers. His was on his ring fingers. With that, all higher reasoning was out the window. Alpha had marked him differently -- better -- than the rest of the pack. Alpha had marked him as hers.
So forgive him if he allowed his hindbrain to ask, “May I have popcorn, too?”
“It’s your house,” Chiori laughed.
He looked up at Kyoko hopefully. “I mean… my nails are wet.”
“Oh, okay!” Kyoko, far too happy that he was willingly eating to be suspicious of the reasons, obliged, scooting over with the popcorn bucket.
She held the piece of popcorn to his lips, and he took it from her slowly, eyes closed. He opened them as she pulled her fingers back to get another piece. This time, he opened wider, using his tongue to pull it from her fingers. If her hand shook as she dipped into the popcorn bucket again, he was not one to notice. He was more focused on the taste of her skin.
On the third piece, he took it from her fingers with his lips again -- and then, before she could move her hand back, dipped his head enough to press a kiss to the scent gland on her wrist, maintaining eye contact the whole time. Then he closed his eyes and did it again, feeling her pulse skyrocket.
Kyoko upset the popcorn bucket. She didn’t mean to, she just panicked. Because she felt all warm and -- and -- she wasn’t anywhere near her rut. But she’d felt that familiar pang low in her gut, the same one she’d had roaring there when she’d put her teeth in his neck in the rage room. And she was starting to understand what it meant.
So she yelped out an apology and started cleaning up the popcorn. Kanae exchanged a look with Chiori before the girls moved forward to help, shooing Ren back when he tried. After all, his nails were still wet.
That night, Ren would hesitate before brushing his teeth, not wanting to lose the taste of the salt from her skin.
The next day, the media would go wild with speculation about his nail decal, mainly because the media has nothing better to do.
