Birds of a Feather

Chapter 43

Cas turns around in Zuho's lap putting herself between his legs as his arms wrap around her. Her inner omega sighs at just how safe it feels to have some almost fully wrapping around her.

"You know..." Zuho starts softly, "If part of your fear is related to not knowing what to do when nesting, we can fix that."

Fighting the instinct to look away, she leans her head back and meets the beta's gaze, "How? How can you fix an instinct that isn't there?"

Zuho keeps his face neutral as he offers, "You haven't met with Pentagon yet, have you?" She shakes her head and he looks up at the ceiling, "Well, 3 of their members already nest pretty aggressively. If I remember correctly, they had to relocate dorms to make sure each had a dedicated nesting room." He looks back at her, "And before you ask, two are betas and the third is unpresented."

"Really?" She asks, eyes wide in disbelief.

Zuho nods, "Yeah. They have some underlaying anxiety issues and nesting helps them. I'm sure if you asked they'd be happy to walk you through nesting."

Unable to continue to force herself to maintain eye contact, she glances away, "They wouldn't be upset that I didn't already know how."

A soft hand cups her chin, pulling her to look back at the beta, "Absolutely not. Cas..." he trails off, eyes scrunching shut and taking a deep breath. He opens them again and pushes forward, "A nesting omega is a huge sign of pride. It means that you feel safe with a pack. Having an omega ask you to build a nest with them is a gift any person would cherish. Not a single one of them would be upset, or angry, or disappointed to do this with you. I promise."

There's a moment of silence as Cas's face flushes, "I... I'll think about it."

Zuho smiles, "That's all I could ask for." He makes a note to send a text to Shinwon about it. Wouldn't do for him to be blindsided and falter if Cas asked, it would just cause her to become more self-conscious.

Cas pulls him from the tangent of thoughts spiraling in his head, "Did you... have anything else you wanted to ask?"

Zuho watches her cringe through the question, realizing she's asking it out of politeness, not because she wants to. Deciding to move on from the subject he looks around, "Yeah, hold on, I gotta find my list."

Cas giggles and watches as Zuho's ears turn red, "You have a list?"

He huffs, "I like to stay organized, okay?"

Cas continues to giggle, "A... list... you....made a.... list."

Zuho huffs a couple times, glancing down, "You seemed like someone that would appreciate conciseness, I just wanted to be prepared..." he rubs the back of his neck, trying not to feel self-conscious himself about her laughter.

Cas giggles for a little while longer, but chokes it down when she sees how much Zuho is hunching in on himself. Reaching forward she presses a quick kiss to his cheek, shocking the man, "I'm sor..." She cuts herself off, clearing her throat and starting again, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Zuho. I was in disbelief. Your pack keeps knocking me off axis with how considerate they are. First Hwiyoung, then Youngbin, now you. I'm just not used to this treatment."

"You should be." He growls lowly.

She shrugs her shoulders, "Well I'm not. Can't really change that past." Leaning back onto her heels she smiles at him, tapping on the edge of the notebook, "Well... lay 'em on me."

"Rapid fire?" He asks with furrowed brows.

She shrugs again, "Sure. I'm gonna treat it like a game of association. First thought that comes to mind, no filter."