So, everyone knows about heats. I think the pre-heat is just as entertaining. Your body is about to go through this hormone driven, intense metabolic change for multiple days. So clearly, the body has to prepare to ensure it’s not gonna keel over. Soap and Reader have vastly different needs during their pre-heats, and it drives everyone crazy. Especially when your heats start to align.
I imagine Johnny is needier than usual. He wants to be around his mates, wants them in his nest, wants to steal the clothes off their back, wants to spend his time with them. He’s also constantly hungry. He’s a big guy, and he needs the energy. He’s constantly moving, wants to wrestle and play fight. Needs an excuse to be moving. The others can handle this fairly well. You can throw Johnny on a fighting mat and then feed him anything as long as it’s protein heavy, and he’s perfectly content. He’s verbal and often simply goes after what he wants.
Reader’s pre-heat needs are a little more subtle. Lots of rest and naps. Has specific preferences about what they will and won’t eat. Needs more space from the pack and any interaction needs to be on their terms. And your nesting behaviors look different. Less collecting and more organizing. Ensuring everything is where it needs to be. And you make your displeasure known, snipping and baring teeth if the others push too hard. It takes the pack a lot longer to adjust to this Omega’s needs, after having Johnny as their only responsibility.
John can be a bit heavy-handed at first. His brain keeps telling him to keep his omega comfy, so it feels like he’s hovering. But he prides himself on how well he keeps his pack, and he wants to take care of you just as well. And Gaz is similar where he’s trying to figure out what you need, but it leads to him overthinking. Johnny has a habit of bulldozing them, so there isn’t as much guessing involved. Hilariously, Ghost is probably the best at handling you. He’a simply accepted that if you need something, you’ll come around, and he understands needing boundaries on touch. So if you only came over for a brief hug or only want to sit beside him for a few minutes, that’s more than fine with him. He’s not one for midday naps, but he does like that when you want to take one you’ll curl up near him.
The biggest problem is truly between Reader and Johnny. Their opposing wants create a funny situation where Johnny is fucking annoying and Reader is doing their best to kill him. Nests are off limits but everything else is fair game. Soap’s favorite are surprise attacks where he’ll lay his full weight in them or haul Reader off their feet and refuse to let go. It’s a lot of goading on Johnny’s part and hissing and cursing from Reader. Soap likes being an asshole about it sometimes, likes it even more when he gets to pin Reader down.
Gaz is the most frequent one to break up these little fights. Ghost tends to watch and simply finds it amusing, might drag Johnny off if he notices him getting too excited. John has a habit of reteaching Johnny how to be nice to his fellow omegas.
