Chapter Text
Colt was running late. He had everything planned out perfectly. Ryland’s heat would start on the 28th so he would fly in on the 27th, get to Ryland’s place with Court, prepare a bit, then help Ryland out. He had done it plenty of times over the years, both with Court and without, he had been helping his brother since they had presented all those years ago, and neither of them would have it any other way. The problem he ran into? Well, easy, a delayed flight.
He was supposed to fly out at 2 pm, and first it was just a 30 minute delay, but that became an hour, then two, then more, before finally he was landing at 7 am. What the fuck. He swears that Delta must be out to get him or something. He, of course, had texted Ryland and Court and they understood, although the pouty selfie Ryland had responded with did pull at his heart a little.
By the time he landed he was running on fumes, exhausted by what should have realistically been a two hour flight that turned into nearly a twenty four hour ordeal. He just wanted to sleep, but he knew Ryland would likely be in heat by the time he got to his home and there was no way he would be able to deny his sweet omega brother anything, even if their older brother was already helping him.
Realistically he knew he smelled and felt bad for the taxi driver, the stress pheromones probably filled the car and would drive the average person up a wall but he couldn’t help it, not when his precious baby, even if he was only younger by ten minutes, brother was in heat without him there to help.
The first few heats had been awkward, two teenage boys stumbling through a new experience together. It wasn’t bad but it really wasn’t that great either, not until they both learned what the other liked and what was and wasn’t comfortable. Now he knew that Ryland needed to be held after being knotted, that rubbing his stomach would go a long way for the cramps, and that if Colt left his neck unprotected around that bitey mother fucker he would come out looking like he got mauled by a bear, not that he minded.
“Hey, we’re here dude, you need to get out,” the taxi driver snapped him from his thoughts.
“Oh yeah, sorry, what do I owe ya?”
He quickly handed over some cash and stumbled out of the car, far less graceful than what was normal for him. Who cared though? He was just downstairs from his favorite brothers. He didn’t run though, that would both be way too uncool for him and also nearly impossible with the slightly sketchy stairs that led up to Ryland’s apartment. He really wishes Ry would let him pay for a better apartment but that was a fight he had lost too many times.
Finally making it up the stairs he opened the door gently, not wanting to make too much noise in case Ryland, or less likely Court, was asleep, but also just loud enough to alert anyone who was awake. Court was a trained assassin and Ryland had deadly aim with those giant science books of his so no need to spook either of them and risk another black eye.
Inside he was greeted first with the sweet scent of his brother’s heat, and yep, he was definitely in it now. The usual cool peppery lavender was overlaid with a sweet note, like one of those fancy ice creams he didn’t really understand, but when it was dripping from Ry’s scent glands he understood the hype. Colt can admit he had drunk his scent straight from his scent glands on more than one occasion, the rich, oily liquid coating his mouth and leaving his brain devoid of anything else.
Underneath that was Court, also peppery but more earthy than floral. The two together reminded Colt of being in a field if there was a bakery nearby, like that one farm he had visited when filming outside of Portland. It was warm, comforting, and if it wasn’t for the layer of want, heat, need that cut through it he would have fallen right asleep.
Drifting towards the bedroom the scent grew stronger, there was no noise coming from the room so he assumed that one was sleeping, it was rare to find them both asleep during Rylie’s heat as Court became so protective that he was nearly feral with it. He reminded Colt of a particularly well trained guard dog, gnashing his teeth together and growling at any noise, not that he didn’t appreciate the protection.
Colt was an alpha as well, Ryland was the only omega of the brothers, but he wasn’t a very stereotypical alpha. He was protective, yes, but Court? Court was the kind of alpha they wrote about in romance novels. The kind that would drape himself over his omega, snarl, and bite at anything that came near him. Colt was the balance between the two more often than not, reminding them to do simple things like eat, and sleep, and bathe, and well do anything besides have incredibly hot sex.
He wasn’t complaining about the sex. No, he was doing the exact opposite of that, but sometimes he had to be the logical one in the middle of it all. He loved caring for them but dragging a 6 '1 alpha off a nearly 6' 0 omega who was in heat in order to get them to eat enough to survive was a harrowing experience. And when Ryland’s heat overlapped with Court’s rut? Nightmare fuel.
Colt refuses to talk about what happened when both Colt and Court were in rut at the same time as Ryland’s heat. He had never been so hungry or felt so sticky in his life.
He cracked Ryland’s bedroom door open, peaking his head in and nearly getting slammed backwards with the wall of scent that met him. After his initial shock he made eye contact with Court, who was curled around Ryland in his nest. The clarity in his brother’s eyes told him that while Ryland was in heat he hadn’t gotten to the bad part yet.
“Colt?” Ryland asked, eyes still closed.
“Sorry Rylie, my flight got delayed.”
“S’okay, c’mere,” Ryland was making grabby hands at him, cute.
“Alright, lemme just wash up real quick, ok?”
“M’kay, I’ll wait here.”
“I’m sure you will, baby.”
Colt nodded to Court, tilting his head towards the bathroom even though he had just explained what he was doing, but Court nodded back anyways. He hurried off to the bathroom, quickly washing his face and hands before brushing his teeth and changing into the clothing he had brought specifically for the nest.
Ryland had strict rules for what textures came into his nest. Nothing scratchy, no flannel, and absolutely no silk. So he changed into cotton boxers and a cotton shirt, nothing offensive or particularly hard to take off, just something comfortable and easy to discard when the time came.
Now freshened up a bit Colt walked back to the bedroom, still tired but feeling a lot better now that the airport germs had been washed off. Plus the promise of cuddles with his favorite people awaited him. He pushed into the room, a soft smile settled on his face as Ryland moved over just a bit to make room for Colt to lay down in the nest next to him. His twin rolled over as he settled into the nest, burying his face into Colt’s neck.
“Missed you,” Ryland’s breath was warm against his skin.
“Missed you to Ry,” he glanced over Ryland’s head, “you too Court.”
“Yeah, you missed some prime cuddling time Colt, you should have just hijacked that plane and been here sooner,” Court joked but Colt caught the truth in it. The way Court actually sounded like he was sad about missing any time with Colt. It was sweet, the big bad alpha who was really actually just a sap, with bad jokes.
“I’ll remember to commit a federal crime next time I’m slightly inconvenienced, Cory.”
“We can make it a family tradition, just need to find some federal law for Ryland to violate.”
“I’ll rob a train,” Ryland spoke from between them.
Colt laughed in shock. Usually Ryland was super out of it during his heats but here he was saying if he had to break a federal law it would be train robbery.
“Alright Ry, I think it’s time you slept, don’t you agree, love?”
“Mmm, yeah,” Ryland nodded into his pillow, quickly settling back down and closing his eyes.
“He been good so far?” Colt asked.
“Yeah, just cuddly, little crampy but took an ibu and that seemed to help. I imagine when he wakes it’ll really hit him so I’d suggest sleeping now if you can.”
“Yeah, didn’t really get any sleep at the airport, considering, ya know, it was an airport.”
“I know, sleep,” Court gently kissed his forehead, something he wouldn’t let anyone besides him and Ryland do. Colt closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep, surrounded by the scents of the people he loved the most.