Written for the @stmarchmm prompts “pack dynamics” and “heats/ruts” | wc: 1,417 | rated: T | cw: none | tags: Steve & Wayne, background Steddie, Omega Steve, Omega Wayne, Alpha Eddie, hurt/comfort, non-sexual heat assistance, Wayne is going to help the shit out of Steve because he’s PACK dammit
———
Wayne wakes with a start, heart racing as he tries to orient himself in the early-morning gloom. He can’t figure out what woke him until the phone starts ringing again. After only two hours of sleep following a late shift, the piercing tone shoots right through Wayne’s cottony head.
He stumbles out of bed and into the kitchen, almost fumbling the receiver with sleep-clumsy fingers when he picks it up.
“Munson,” he answers gruffly.
“Wayne?” It sounds like Steve on the other end of the phone, his voice warbling out of him, thick with tears.
Wayne is suddenly wide awake. “Steve? What’s wrong, is Eddie okay?”
“He’s not here.” He’s nearly hyperventilating, each inhale a gasp that immediately gets punched out of him. “Not ‘til Monday, but I’m–” The sob that bursts out of Steve is abruptly muffled, almost like the boy slapped a hand over his own mouth to muffle the noise.
It sets Wayne’s teeth on edge. He knows Eddie is out of town, visiting Chicago with the other Corroded Coffin boys to meet with some record executives, but the lack of context behind Steve’s distress makes everything feel more ominous. Is Eddie hurt and Steve can feel it through their bond? Is Steve hurt? “Son, I need you to tell me what’s going on. You’re scarin’ me.”
“My heat started,” he whines miserably. “It wasn’t supposed to come yet and Eddie isn’t here, and I…” He takes another wet, shuddering breath.
If Wayne had to guess, he’d say that Steve hasn’t spent a heat alone since he and Eddie got together over two years ago. To suddenly be missing that emotional support, on top of dealing with the physical effects of not having his mate to temper his heat… Wayne’s Omega wants to howl just thinking about how much Steve must be hurting right now.
Steve sniffles. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t’ve woken you up for this. I’m being stupid.”
He softens his voice when he tells Steve, “Don’t be sorry. Don’t ever be sorry for leanin’ on your pack when you need it.” Steve stifles another mournful noise and Wayne’s heart breaks for him, knowing how much of Steve’s life was spent without any pack to speak of. “What can I do to help?”
“Wayne–” Steve starts to protest.
“Let me help you. Please.”
He swallows so hard Wayne can hear it. “I don’t know how.”
Wayne isn’t sure what Steve means. He doesn’t know how Wayne can help? How to let Wayne help? He decides not to push while Steve is so upset. “Why don’t I pick up some groceries and bring them over?” he suggests. “You can decide when I get there whether you want some company or not.”
“Okay.” Steve sniffs, then quietly repeats, as if to himself, “Okay.”
“I can be there in thirty minutes,” Wayne promises. “You just sit tight. I’ll see you soon.”
He hates to hang up but Steve needs him there, not over the phone. Wayne makes another quick call to the plant, warning them that a family emergency will keep him away from his shift tonight, and leaves a message at Eddie's hotel before he begins to strategize.
Pack members tend to smell alike, Wayne knows. Experts on secondary gender theorize that it had evolutionary benefits— promoting pack cohesion, discouraging incest among relatives to limit inbreeding, preventing Alphas and Omegas from perceiving their mate’s family as a threat. Even packs not joined by blood could find their scents shifting to become more similar over time.
From the day Eddie had presented, his and Wayne’s scents have been in perfect harmony. They smell like an apple orchard, though Eddie’s aroma is more woodsy and green compared to Wayne’s more fruity and floral notes. Steve himself had noted more than once how soothing he found Wayne’s scent, so similar to that of his Alpha’s but with the reassuring warmth of an Omega packmate.
Wayne can’t help with the physical aspects of Steve’s heat, would never dream of touching him that way. But he can comfort him, can make sure he’s safe and surrounded by someone that smells familiar enough to keep him from going feral. He dresses quickly in his oldest flannel and a t-shirt he wore earlier in the week, both saturated with his scent, hoping it will be enough to help Steve.
—---
When he arrives at Steve and Eddie’s apartment, arms full of grocery bags, Wayne can smell distressed Omega as soon as he opens the front door.
“Eddie?” Steve calls from the bedroom. There’s a terrible mix of hope and despair in his voice, knowing that his mate is hundreds of miles away but unwilling to truly believe it.
When Wayne comes down the hallway, he can see the moment Steve realizes Eddie still isn’t there. His face, already flushed and sweaty, crumples. He tucks one of Eddie’s blankets more tightly around himself, buries his face in the nearest pillow– probably also Eddie’s– and shakes.
“I know, kid, I’m sorry. I left a message at the hotel for him, but he probably won’t be able to get here until tomorrow at the earliest.” Wayne kicks off his boots next to the abandoned bags of sports drinks and snacks. When Steve doesn’t respond, he asks, “Can I come into your nest, Omega?”
“I want Eddie.” His brow furrows in pain. Cramps, if Wayne had to guess, plus the emotional anguish of not having his mate nearby. “Why isn’t he here?”
Wayne kneels at the side of the bed, careful not to touch any of the fabric that makes up the border of Steve’s nest. “He’ll be here as soon as he can. I’m gonna stay with you until then, okay? You don’t have to let me in your nest, but I’m not leavin’ you alone right now.”
Steve blinks at him for a moment before he processes Wayne’s scent. His lip quivers. “Sorry, I didn’t… Of course you can come in.”
He does, carefully climbing into the bed beside Steve. The younger Omega is on him immediately, cuddling into his side and burying his face in his scent gland. Steve lets out a shuddering breath, hot against Wayne’s neck, but the tension gradually leaves his body with each inhale. He definitely seems calmer than he’d sounded on the phone earlier.
“You holdin’ up okay?” Wayne asks softly.
“Not really,” he admits. “Feels like I’m on the verge of losing it completely. I dunno what I’d do without you here.”
Wayne wraps an arm around Steve’s shoulders. “It wouldn’t be fun but you’d be fine, I’m sure. You spent heats alone before you and Eddie got together, right?”
“Yeah, and they sucked.” His exhale might have been a laugh if he had more energy.
“Believe me, I know. I’ve been there, too.”
Steve is quiet for so long that Wayne thinks he’s fallen asleep, until he asks, “Did you ever…?”
The thought is unfinished but easy enough to guess. “There were a few heats I had company for, but nothin’ ever lasted. Not like you and Ed.”
“Oh. Sorry.” He nuzzles his cheek against Wayne’s neck, mixing their scents. Steve smells like carrot cake, all sweet and lightly spiced. It’s nice, normally, but it currently has an edge of burnt sugar from Steve’s heat and resulting anxiety.
“No need to be sorry,” Wayne reassures him. He doesn’t feel like he’s missed out on much– he has more of a pack now than he had ever dreamed of as a pup, and he’d never been much for romance anyway. Bachelorhood suits him. “I just got Ed out of the house, I don’t need someone else bothering me now.”
His joke lands, and Steve chuckles despite his misery. “Yeah, you deserve some peace and quiet.”
“Not from you and Ed, you hear me? You’re never bothering me.” Wayne emphasizes the declaration with a gentle shake of Steve’s shoulders.
“Okay.” Steve takes another breath, then another, slower and slower as he starts to drift off. Wayne’s presence, combined with Eddie’s scent lingering in the nest, seems to have worked well enough to relax him. He’ll probably sleep through the worst of it today, then Wayne can leave him in Eddie’s capable care when he inevitably rushes home tonight or tomorrow.
Until then, Wayne will settle in for a nap with Steve, probably pester him into eating something later, and let the younger Omega scent him to his heart’s content.
He’ll do it all happily, because that’s what pack does.
I bet you guys did not know that Diabetes type 1 is actually an AUTOIMMUNE disease (I didn’t know before medical school !! ). We also see Kyle Broflovski losing his kidneys in one episode. So this tells me that he has a fucked up immune system which doesn’t stop attacking him.
Henoch Schönlein Purpura is common for children (which makes more sense) but I will headcanon him as a Lupus patient because HSP resolves within weeks and isn’t lifelong. However childhood-onset Lupus is a more aggressive disease.
I imagine him:
Cartman: All this pills are bullshit because big pharma is trying to control us.
Kyle: If it wasn’t for the “big pharma” I wouldn’t be fucking ALIVE, CARTMAN.
Cartman: Just cut the fucking bitch pill Kyle you wouldn’t die.
Kyle: NO I ABSOLUTELY WOULD my body HATES me.
Cartman: You’re brainwashed by doctors, they are SUPPRESSING your IMMUNE SYSTEM so you can rely on the pills YOUR WHOLE LIFE Kyle. Open your eyes 👁️
Kyle: I fucking— can’t. I can’t Stan. Take me before I punch this fucking asshole’s shit face—
Coming In So Strong, the sequel to You're on The Other Side of The Storm is finally here for all you Greatwise fans.
Will plans to lead into it for her, but instead he finds himself saying, “I kissed Gareth.”
El’s mouth falls open. “He is your boyfriend now?”
Will nods, smiling shyly. He doesn’t tell her that when it was time for Gareth to leave, Will walked him to the door and leaned in for one more kiss. It’s not that Will doesn’t want to tell her. It’s just that he hasn’t ever had this kind of thing to be able to keep to himself before.
