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It was starting to really worry Connor, he was biting his nails. They were all at the ice rink already in their gear, some of the guys were already on the ice but still no news of Macklin, he was supposed to be there half an hour ago and he wasn’t the type to be late or without telling someone at least. Connor tried to call him five times already and so did the other people at the training camp but no one managed to get a hold of him, which was really concerning.
Connor had arrived before anyone and skated for half an hour already, doing some exercises by himself, and he was the only one knowing where Macklin was staying so he took it upon himself to pick Mack. He quickly undressed and changed into comfy clothes and let everything in the locker room before reaching his car. He took a deep breath to calm himself because he knew something was wrong, his instincts were always right.
He slammed the car door and made his way to the hotel room. The previous day Mack had jokingly handed him the second pass of his room, “in case anything happened”. Well. Connor quickly made his way to the lift and took out the pass from his wallet. He looked at the numbers on his left and right until he found the right one.
First, he knocked, one, twice, fifth times and, when it was clear that no one was going to open, he let himself in. The whole room being dark was one thing, but the smell in the room was confirmation that something was wrong. It smelt like rotten cookies and sour milk. Connor had to hold his nose because he was going to be sick. He opened the curtains to let some light in the room and opened the windows to ventilate but, as soon as the fresh air reached Macklin, he heard a growl from somewhere under the covers.
The older one sat on the side of the bed, a reassuring hand on top of what he hoped was Mack’s shoulder but there were like five layers in between—he briefly wondered where he could have found so many covers in August though.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked, moving the blankets, digging until he found Mack’s head. His eyelids were tightly closed, 'it’s likely the light' thought Connor. Instinctively, he reached out and moved Mack's damp hair from his forehead. He really didn’t look fine. “Mack, can you hear me?” he asked again when he remained silent. Then, he gently pressed his shoulder and shook it, this time, it got him a groan. “Hey, can you tell me what’s wrong?” he pressed.
“Close the windows” the younger one let out instead, half coughing.
Okay, Connor could do that. He got up without saying anything and closed the windows and dimmed the light a little by pulling the curtains halfway closed. Then, he sat again on the side of the bed, this time closer to the sick pup. He barely had time to sit that Mack had his head on his lap, one of his arms strongly wrapped around Connor’s back to make sure he would stay in place. Connor remained still and gently played with his hair with one hand and rubbed his back with the other one, making the pup purr.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you bud? Are you sick?”
Mack nodded.
“Does it hurt somewhere?”
“Head and-” he sneezed, “on my chest” he whispered, rubbing over his t-shirt with his other hand.
“Okay and when did it start?” Connor asked, voice gentle.
“Don't know” he said, hiding his head a bit more into the older boy's belly, making Connor smile.
“Do you feel nauseous?” he asked again. The younger one shook his head, still purring as gentle fingers were stroking his hair. “Great, anything else?”
“Want you” he pouted against his t-shirt, the arm wrapped around Connor's body held him tighter.
Connor was confused, he tilted his head on the side but remained relaxed, his fingers still on Mack's hair.
“What- How do you want me?” he asked, confused.
Connor was a beta, no one wanted comfort or to be taken care of by a beta, and especially not an omega and even less a sick one. What use could he be? An alpha scent is soothing, they knew how to create the perfect nests for their omegas, they could smell them so much better. What could he do?
Macklin took a deep breath and then another and- No, he was smelling Connor and it made him so self-conscious because he knew that he scent was neither sweet or soothing or anything comforting and-
“You smell so good Con” Mack said, moving even closer.
Well, he was maybe kinda flustered because no one ever really complimented on this before and, given how tight Mack was holding him, he didn't think he could be lying.
“Hey” said Connor, his hand moving from Mack's hair to his shoulder. “Can you let go of me for a minute, just so I can get a thermometer and a few supplies for you? Please?” he asked gently, massaging Mack's shoulder.
“But I'm comfy” protested—weakly—Mack, yawning and making himself more comfortable on Connor's lap.
“Please pup, just one minute, okay?”
“And you'll be back?” Mack asked with his best puppy eyes and Connor nodded. “Promise?”
“Promise” he smiled.
“Hm. It's only because I like your smile” Mack said and it made the older boy blush. People were always saying that his smile wasn't genuine, that it looked fake, awkward or soulless, but apparently Mack liked it.
“Mack” he asked gently after a minute, drawing circles on the top of his back. “Just for a minute”.
When he didn't hear more than a tired “hm”, Connor gently put his hands under Mack so he could rest on his pillow instead of his lap but the arm around him held him tighter, making him giggle softly at the sweet—and kinda possessive—gesture. He carefully untangled the arm from around him and put it back on top of Mack's body. He was clearly pouting.
Connor quickly got up and almost ran to the ensuite bathroom and found a first kit aid with a thermometer. Then, he opened the closet and found a few nesting supplies.
When he was still little, Connor's parents parents thought that he would present as an omega so they taught him how to nest, among all of the other omega-related things. He knew that his dad wanted an alpha but it was clear that he wouldn't be. But, as he was growing and became a teenager, the difference between the alphas, omegas and him was clearly huge, it was clear that he would be a beta. It wasn't bad per se, but it wasn't a good thing either. Being an alpha helped when it came to pick a captain and omegas were the heart of the team. Betas were… there? If they were good enough to keep up they could make it but they didn't usually have the aggressiveness of alphas, the sharp focus of omegas or the power to both trigger and soothe alphas that omegas had. It was an uncomfortable and lonely in-between.
“Here” Connor said, holding three bags of blankets and pillows on top of each other, disappearing behind them, making his way to the bed. When he heard giggles, it was safe to say that he was confused.
“Where are you Con? I can't see you anymore” he giggled even more and it made him smile. He hid himself behind the bags and suddenly revealed himself with a big grin and it made Mack laugh.
“Ohhh there you were” he laughed but it turned into coughing fits, body folded almost in half.
Connor quickly made his way next to him and rubbed his back in what he hoped was comforting, until Mack started to breath again correctly.
“Sorry” said the older boy, “I didn’t mean to”.
“It’s okay Con” Mack smiled. “What are these for?” he asked, pointing at the bags. “I’m not having a heat”.
It made Connor stop on his tracks and blush because of embarrassment. He really thought that it would help.
“I- Uh- I thought that- Um- Being in a nest would help you with your- the fact that you’re sick” he quickly mumbled, taking the bags from the bed to put them back into the closet but he didn’t have time to finish that two warm hands were on top of his to stop him.
“That’s really sweet of you” Mack said with a soft voice. “I would really like that” he added, sounding more vulnerable and genuine. “Help me?”
Connor was taken aback.
“Help you? Mack, I’m a beta…”
“Why are you saying this as if it was a bad thing?” he asked, frowning, looking like an upset puppy.
“Because it- It doesn't matter” he said instead, smiling. “So-” he cleared his voice. “How do you proceed?”
They spent the next twenty minutes folding everything to Mack’s liking, Connor following his instructions. Once they were done, he helped the sick pup to lay in the middle of the nest.
Connor took his temperature, 38,4°C (101,1°F). He had a fever but it wasn’t too high but still worrying. He asked about all of his other symptoms before leaving the room, he promised Mack that he would be back in less than half an hour, he left all of his things behind—except for his wallet and phone—to show him that would need to come back anyway.
Once he reached the streets, Connor called the coach of the camp to let him know that Mack was sick.
“Okay, thank you for checking on him. Can you ask him if he prefers an alpha or an omega to stay with him?”
“What?”
“You’re a beta, Connor, an alpha or an omega would be better suited to take care of him and that way you’ll be able to come back, you left some of your stuff in the locker room” said the voice of the coach through the phone and, well, this one hurt.
“Oh. Yeah- Um- I’m on my way to the pharmacy, I’ll ask Mack when- Um- I see him”.
He quickly hung up after and made his way inside the pharmacy. He explained all of Macklin’s symptoms and went out with a bag full of medicine.
When he entered the hotel room again, he remained frozen for a second, not daring to move, afraid that he might disturb the sleeping pup. Mack was surrounded by blankets, the softest blankets, but out of everything, he had decided to get up and grab Connor’s overshirt from the lovechair and not only to put it in his nest, but to use it as his personal blanket. One of his hands held the fabric firmly, as if he was scared that someone might try to take it from him. As if Connor would.
Connor sat next to the nest, careful not to disturb such a holy space. He grabbed the thermometer and carefully took his fever again on his forehead and was relieved when it didn’t go up. Connor gently shook his shoulder to wake him and Mack made the cutest little sounds when he saw him again.
“You’re back” he smiled, one of his hands reaching to grab him. “Come here” he whispered.
“Told you I would” he smiled instead, not daring to move. “Here, I got you some medicine, just take these, okay?” He handed him two pills for his fever. “Perfect, now some syrup for your cough. Just two spoons, I asked for strawberries, I didn’t know what you wanted”. Connor wanted to give him the spoon but Mack opened his mouth so he fed him the spoons.
“Mhh it tastes nice” Mack smiled.
“Really?” Mack nodded with a cute smile. “How did you manage to catch a cold in summer though?” asked Connor softly laughing.
“Because you think you can only catch a cold when it’s cold outside? That’s very discriminatory for the summer colds, Con” he laughed.
Connor tried to remain serious but he giggled. “Fair point Mack, fair point, I don't want to upset the summer colds. And then the pill for your throat because you keep coughing. You just let it melt, okay?” Mack nodded and took it from Connor's hand. “So, you’ll need to take these pills again, for your fever, in six hours. For the syrup it’s up to six times a day so roughly every four hours and the pills for your throat it’s maximum eigh a day” Connor explained, showing him the boxes everytime.
“Thank you Con, now come here” Mack asked again, rolling over so Connor had more than enough room to fit.
“Um- The- Uh- The coach doesn't want me to take care of you. He want you to pick um- an alpha or an omega” he quickly said, clearing his voice looking at his hands.
“That’s dumb” said Mack, rolling his eyes. “I want you not someone else” that made Connor look up and a nice warmth spread in his chest at being picked.
Before Connor could do anything, Mack was out of his nest, walking with purpose to find his phone. The next moment he was on the phone, making it really clear who he wanted by his side.
“But Mack…” tried to say the coach.
“Macklin.” he replied, sighing. Seemed like the coach just lost his Mack privilege.
“Be reasonable and-”
“I am being reasonable. He’s the one who was worried about me, he took care of me, helped me to make a nest, got me medicine and made sure I’ll be fine. He is good for me. And, I am sick so he had probably already caught what I have, why would you risk him infecting everyone?”
Coach tried to argue some more but no one could prevent Mack from having what he wanted, fever or not.
“It’s all settled” Mack said triumphantly with a grin, putting his phone away. “Come here” he said again, smiling, inviting his long-time friend to his nest.
“How do you want me?”
Connor let Mack manhandle him until he was on his back and Mack could lay on his side against him, his head resting on his chest. The older boy wrapped his arms around him, one hand resting in the middle of his back, the other one gently stroking his hair.
“That’s perfect” mumbled Mack, making himself even more comfortable on his chest.
Connor finally relaxed and, for the first time, he was picked and it felt perfect.
Mack was in good hands.