Destiny 2 and other gay stuff

"Doc!" Zephyr, the cheerful and extroverted hawk hyrbid exclaimed, with his arms oustretched as he rushed towards you for a hug. "It's been so longgg, we missed you so much~"

"Hey-" You held out a hand to stop the incoming hybrid but he only used it to pull you into his embrace. His arms wrapped around you tightly and his large wings closed in, effectively cocooning you in his embrace.

"It hasn't even been 24 hours, Zephyr," you huffed, resigned.

"And that is way too-" Before he could finish his sentence, Fenrir pulled him away while Jörmun guided you to his side, saving you.

Ignoring the hawk's protests, you turned to thank the snake hybrid, whose yellow slitted eyes bore into yours. "Apologies for his behaviour Doctor, but Zephyr's words do hold truth to them."

You laughed awkwardly at his admission. "I'm glad to see you guys too, but uh, Jörmun, your tail.."

You pointed at your calf, where a scaly appendage was slowly winding up and curling around it. Only then the snake hybrid backed away, reluctantly releasing his grip on you. He held his hands up in mock surrender, giving you a smile that didn't quite meet his guiltless eyes.

Your attention was brought back to Zephyr being grabbed by the cuff of his shirt by Fenrir, arguably the scariest of the bunch and the unofficial leader of the three. The contrast between Zephyr's pouting and Fenrir's annoyed expression made it hard to hold back a laugh, which immediately lightened the playfully hostile air between them.

"What are you all doing here anyway?" You asked, checking the time on your watch. "It isn't even lunch yet."

The stoic wolf hybrid dropped Zephyr from his hands. "We're leaving early."

"You're always cooped up in this tiny office, so we figured a change of scenery would be nice." Jörmun added, noting the confusion on your face.

"Yeah, you said you've been getting less patients too right? Nobody would even notice if you left a littleee earlier for your lunch break," Zephyr pointed out, readjusting his shirt collar from the earlier scuffle.

You simply shrugged, trying to ignore stinging reminder of how useless you felt.

"Come on love," Jörmun guided you to the door which Zephyr was already holding open. "It's a slow season for everyone right now. Let's enjoy it, hm?"

You cracked a small smile, noticing how Jörmun purposefully phrased his words to bring some comfort to you. "...You're right. Let's go then."

************

Walking out of the medical wing and up to the main lobby was a longer journey than you thought. Acting like you had every right to leave the building when the day just started made you realise you really were a shit actor.

You discreetly glanced at the people in the lobby as you walked, only to realise they weren't looking at you at all.

In fact they seem to actively avoid looking in your direction, some even turning away from you.

This again.

You frowned in confusion. You briefly registered Zephyr's rambling about cherry blossoms and how he was sure you'd love them, but you were too caught up on everyone's strange reaction towards you to reply.

The automatic glass doors slid open as you finally decided to ask. "Is it just me or is everyone-"

Just as you stepped out of the company building, a panicked looking man balancing a full tray of iced coffee turned in.

Your eyes widened at the incoming collision, mirroring the shocked expression of the man in front of you. You watched as the coffee cups swayed dangerously in the holder and braced yourself for impact.

In one swift motion, a hand wrapped around your waist and pulled you backwards. "Woa—!"

Your back was flush against Fenrir's chest. He growled from behind you, baring his fangs at the stranger. "Watch it."

You turned to look up at him. "It was an accident, no need to scare him like that." Your tone light and slightly chastising as you gently tapped his hand that was still curled around your waist. "But thank you, Fenrir." Only then did he slowly remove his hold on you.

You rushed forward to Zephyr and Jörmun who were helping the distressed man up. Jörmun turned to you, his brow furrowed with concern. "Are you alright, sweetheart?"

You nodded before turning towards the empty handed man. "Sorry about your coffee...are you okay?" You asked, glancing at the spilled coffee all over the floor.

Instead of looking at you, he seemed more fixated on what (or who) was behind you. Almost in tears, he gave a hurried apology before scuttling off.

You raised a brow, turning back only to be greeted with the same impassive expression Fenrir always had on his face. What was he looking at?

"That was close." Zephyr sighed in relief. "But looks like he still got you a little."

You glanced down, easily spotting the stain on your sleeve.

"Well...it could've been worse."

********

After a quick pit stop to scrub off the coffee stain with some soap and water, the minor hiccup was soon forgotten. The scenic view of cherry blossoms (the ones Zephyr was so excited about earlier), light conversion and banter brought up the mood again.

In spite of this, you couldn't shrug off a strange feeling. The scenic walk through the park and lunch—everything felt weirdly romantic. With Zephyr leaning in to whisper little jokes and corny pick-up lines to make you laugh, Jörmun constantly calling you various terms of endearment ("dearest", "love", "sweetheart") and how Fenrir's arm never left the back of your chair. Or how they brought you to some high-end restaurant when it was just another lunch. And paid for your share, not even letting the bill touch your hands. "We're the ones who brought you here, of course we're not letting you pay," Jörmun reasoned as you watched Fenrir pass his card to the waiter wordlessly.

The more you noticed, the more you denied it. Ignorance was always the best solution to these awkward situations. Nothing good would come from acknowledging anything. Your job was stable, the benefits were good, and you didn't have to work endless shifts and burn yourself out like your previous stint at the hospital. You weren't going to ruin this for yourself. So, as far as you knew, everything was normal.

After finally convincing them you had to return to your office (even if you had no patients waiting for you), you waved them goodbye at the entrance of the medical wing, practically having to pry Zephyr off your arm in the process.

As the rest of the day dragged by, you were thankful that nobody came to visit your office. It gave you time to process. First, there was still the fact that everyone was avoiding you like the plague. Second, were those three hybrids, acting like... that. Third, was the undeniable fact that the those two ocurrences were connected.

How long could you continue to pretend?

********

Sleep escaped you that night. Even after all those hours of tossing in bed, you had come up with zero solutions. As you dragged yourself out of the house to head to work, an obstruction in front of your door broke you out of your daze.

"What the..."

A plain paper bag sat in front of you. The logical part of your brain screamed about the dangers of approaching any unlabelled, suspicious looking items. You picked up the bag anyway, peeking at its contents.

No way.

Three vinyl records, each as rare as the next. Some collectors could only dream of ever obtaining these and yet, there they were, right in front of you.

There was no delivery address or card. No return address either. You didn't need to guess who it was from.

You mentioned it yesterday during lunch, when the conversation shifted to hobbies, talking about your small vinyl collection at home. It was rare to find people so interested in hearing you ramble about your niche interest, so you found yourself getting carried away and talking about your collector's bucket list. You must have listed at least ten that day, talking about their origins, historical significance, and special facts about the records, and three were already delivered right to your doorstep.

This was too precious for you to accept. Who knew how much the hybrids paid to get their hands on the records in such a short time? Receiving such an expensive gift felt burdensome.

It felt wrong to just leave the records sitting outside your door so you made quick work of safe-keeping it before leaving the house once more. You'd have to speak to them about returning the records soon.

Only when you've made it to the office, did it hit you.

"I never gave them my address..." you muttered.

********

A distraction. You desperately needed something to get your mind off this... situation. You've avoided your office as much as possible in the morning, choosing to make rounds in the lower rank fighting rings, although it still stung when the patients refused to be treated by you.

Defeated, you walked towards the last remaining hope for avoiding the three predators. You held in a breath as you knocked on her door.

A warm response followed. "Come in!"

You entered the office, greeted by a familiar face. Piper, your lunch buddy and fellow practitioner who you've quickly befriended since you started working here. Like the everyone else, she'd been acting all distant with you lately, finding every reason to avoid having lunch with you. The main reason why you've been eating with Fenrir, Jörmun and Zephyr so frequently as of late.

Upon recognising you, the otter hybrid broke into a smile, a polite and distant one that made you miss the old Piper you knew. "What can I do for you?"

"It's uh," you started, feeling awkward all of a sudden. "It's been a while, Pipes, do you wanna grab lunch together?"

Her eyes widened, as if caught off guard. "Uh.. do your mates know you're not eating with them?"

There were rare moments in your life where you've been stunned into silence. Pure speechlessness. You gaped at her like a fish out of water, the words unable to leave your mouth. Piper gave you a confused look.

"M-my mates?" was allyou managed to sputter out. "They're not— I never... what??"

Piper's shock mirrored yours. "They haven't marked you yet?"

You didn't know where to even begin untangling this mess.

"I mean, I figured you were already mates, seeing how you're practically covered in their scent. Anyone with a nose-I mean, any hybrid with a nose would have picked it up. They clearly don't want anyone going near you. If I weren't mated already, I wouldn't even dare to be talking to you like this." Seeing the horror on your face, she winced. "Please don't tell me you didn't know."

The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

A hybrid's sense of smell is a thousand times more sensitive than a humans. You would have never picked up on their pheromones on you, had Piper not mentioned it.

It was no wonder that all the other hybrids were avoiding you. Walking around smelling like those three, anyone who approached you would practically be asking for a death sentence.

"They didn't tell you, huh." Piper sighed. "Scenting someone without their consent..." She trailed off, or maybe you just tuned her out. Everything faded into the background.

All those signs you ignored--a lingering touch here, a longing gaze there...when did everything change? Why you? All three of them? Do hybrids even-

"Pipes, let's... let's do a rain check for lunch." You shook your head, desperately trying to clear your head.

Before hearing her response, you hurried towards the door. You needed to clear your head. Think things through. Find a solution.

You swung the door wide open, only to stumble back at the sight before you.

"There you are."

*******************

a/n: holy shit this was so hard to write. i thought i could get it out one week after part 1 but editing this was trickier than i expected... hoped yall liked part 2 because part 3 is going to take a while seeing how my brain hasn't come up with anything yet LOL