#background timbern

Kon stares, dumbstruck, up the length of his own body.

It must be something about the angle, the way his hips are raised up, tilting his torso down into the nest, that looks different than usual.

The harsh lines of his abs are softened into gentle curves, rolling dunes under Bernard's palms instead of the craggy angles he's used to seeing. His pecs, usually rigid plates of muscle, now cave to gravity as well as Bernard's grasp. In fact, the almost liquid way they try to spill across his skin undeniably resembles—

"Absolutely beautiful tits," Bernard murmurs, thumbs dragging inward to press against the undersides, lifting slightly. "Fucking glorious."

Kon watches, stunned, as what doesn't fit into his hands surges to escape between his fingers. The sensation is so unfamiliar, and yet something he's wanted for so long – for as long as he's been aware of what it was supposed to mean, to be an omega.

"Do you like having your chest played with?"

It takes Kon a moment to realize that the question is genuine, not just more sexy talk from Bernard. He nods quickly, because it turns out that, yes, he does like to have his chest play with.

Except…

"Tits," he gasps. "Will you call them tits?"

"Yeah, I can do that," Bernard says easily. Like it's nothing. Like he's happy to have Kon be so picky and demanding. "Are there other words you'd like me to use?"

There are all kinds of words Kon would like him to use, honestly, but none that he'd be willing to admit to out loud.

Pretty. Sweetheart. Perfect. Mine.

"That's okay," Bernard is saying as his thumbs circle each nipple testingly. "If you think of any, you just let me know. Meanwhile, I'll be here, mesmerized by how lush and biteable these tits are."

The suggestion of teeth in his skin gets another inappropriate response from his omega — yes, yes, yes, that! — and both his nipples peak up right under Bernard's thumbs, where there's no way for Kon to pretend he isn't affected.

Bernard smirks.

"Is 'bite' another word you like?" he guesses. "I can talk about it without doing it."

"Yes," Kon rasps.

Because yes.

Bernard couldn't bite him even if he wanted to – not really, not the way he means it – but Kon still wants to hear how much his alpha would want to, how much his alpha wants to claim him and keep him.

"You got it, sweetcheeks," his alpha says with a flirty grin.

Bernard's fingers squeeze briefly around the buds he just encouraged, and Kon jerks as it lances straight from his nipples to his groin. His hands move instinctively, grabbing at his thighs where they're nestled between Kon's own, just to make sure he isn't going anywhere.

The pinching gentles quickly, going back to feather-light strokes. Whispers of pleasure wash out from that tiny spot, and Kon briefly thinks that his nipples might be his new favorite part of his body.

He's had his nipples played with before, but it didn't feel like this. Actually, most of the ways Bernard is touching him didn't feel like this with other alphas, or even by himself.

Is it really all because of his heat?

"Kon, will you look at me?"

Grudgingly, he does. Bernard is knelt as far forward as he can get without moving closer to the nest, his elbows balanced on his knees.

"Couldn't it be possible," the alpha says, so, so gently, "that the reason it doesn't sound like I'm lying is that I'm actually telling you the truth?"

"No."

"No?"

Kon shakes his head with a little hum, and the alpha's eyes turn so sad, he actually feels the urge rising to protect.

"Why not?"

He really hadn't wanted to have to explain this, but Bernard has systematically worn down every other excuse Kon has, until all that's left is the truth.

It would have been so much less painful if the alpha had just left when he gave the out. Now, Kon has to tell him just how super his senses are, and Bernard won't be able to talk his way out of what his endocrine system isn't doing in response to Kon's heat.

"Because I'd be able to tell if you wanted me." He says it too quietly, so quietly he hopes Bernard can't hear it.

But he does hear it, because just as quietly, he asks, "How?"

"I can…" He clears his throat, mostly to hold firm on his decision not to cry anymore. "I can smell things humans can't, part of the whole supersenses thing. If you wanted me, I'd be able to smell you signalling, even from here, even if you were trying to restrain it or wearing blockers."

A look of dawning realization takes over Bernard's face, before dropping into outright defeat and finally, finally dropping that intense gaze at Kon's face.

"Oh, shit," he breathes.

"Yeah, so…" Kon shrugs. It's out in the open now, that Bernard hasn't been fooling anyone. "Your scent has been neutral or less this entire time. So just… stop pretending."

"Fucking hell, Kon, I– I—" Bernard sighs heavily and scrubs his hands aggressively across his face and hair. "I am so fucking sorry. I thought I was helping by—"

"It's fine, man, I get it," he hurries to cut in. It isn't fine and he doesn't get it – has no idea how the alpha thought this would be helpful – but he just cannot deal with having to soothe an alpha's feelings right now. Just— maybe another time he could, but not after all this.

There's a low simmer in his gut that means another peak is going to start soon. He just wants to sleep, and maybe rub one out first, so he can sleep through as much of the wave as possible.

"Just one more way I'm—" Kon has to stop himself from saying 'wrong,' because he's going to lose the battle against crying if he finishes that sentence.

"I am blocking my scent," Bernard interrupts. "But not with blockers."

Bernard lays off on the pinching, instead tracing the tip of one finger around his areola, staring intently at Kon's face with a deliberate sort of attention that makes his whole body burn.

"I wonder if you could come just from this," he says casually. "Something like 12% of omegas can, and this seems to really be doing it for you."

Kon thinks about that, wonders whether these sensations will build and build until his body explodes into pleasure from nothing more than his alpha palming his tits and pinching his nipples.

He doesn't think he could, but also… Well, part of him feels like he could find a way to do anything for his alpha, right now.

Then Bernard blinks and seems to shake himself free of something. "Maybe later," he says, playful grin back in place. "I'll help you catalogue every square inch of this gorgeous body. For the moment, let's focus on a round inch, and what it needs," he adds, raising the hand with the knuckle knot slipped over two fingers.

Kon's breath freezes in this throat as Bernard's hands move lower on his body, his body raising away and reminding Kon of the very exposed position he's in. The fierce blaze in Bernard's eyes as they rove over his body make it clear just what a view the alpha has like this.

A thumb hooks into the shallow dip of his navel, and his hips twitch. Everything his alpha is doing to him seems to make his body do things he's never seen it do before.

"Fuck, you make the nicest sounds," Bernard half-groans and half-sighs. He doesn't remember making any sounds, although he can't seem to keep his body still.

When Bernard's hands find his hips, they pause to grip briefly and trace the notch of his hipbones. Kon has a flash of how his alpha might grip him there, using his unbreakable bones to hold him in place as he's fucked.

Tremors race through Kon's whole body when one of his thumbs drags along the crease of his thigh, just shy of where he's still aching to be filled.

"Yeah? This spot’s good?" Bernard’s smirk is audible. "I'll keep that in mind."

His palm moves in, across Kon's belly, swiping up some of the mess of slick that's been spurting and leaking from his dick, and taking said dick in hand without warning. His grip is loose and unhurried, stroking Kon's length with curiosity more than urgency.

Kon usually can't come from just his dick, because it gets too sensitive, too fast.

But Bernard is apparently out to rewire his entire body, because the gentle rhythm he sets, paired with the way his thumb rubs a tiny circle just under the head on every pass, and the way his blown-out pupils are focused on what he's doing, is all enough that Kon is almost immediately on the edge again.

"Shit, sorry," Bernard says suddenly.

Kon doesn't get what the apology is for until his throbbing dick is released, and yeah, he does feel like maybe he's owed some sympathy for that.

"I'm being selfish," Bernard says, which is ridiculous — he's doing everything Kon asks and then some, and hasn't so much as gotten his cock touched this whole time. "I keep wanting to take my time with you, learn every sweet sound and soft shape of you." He pauses and sort of shakes himself. "There's something you need more right now."

Both sound so good, he's pretty sure he couldn't choose between being being doted on and adored or just getting fucked the way he needs. It's a good thing Bernard is making the calls right now. Kon is very good at letting someone else make the calls.

His thumb traces the ridge of Kon’s knuckles, smoothing away any signs of tension. Kon's brain shorts out again when he ducks down to press a kiss on the back of his hand.

Kon swallows hard, desperate to maintain a facade of self-control. Now that his omega knows what Bernard's lips feel like, pursed into a gentle kiss against his skin, Kon is pretty sure he's never going to stop thinking about it.

"Skin is no problem."

Bernard tries to take off his shirt, but Kon's arms are still wrapped around his middle and in the way. He can tell that Bernard is about to ask him to move, but that's beyond unacceptable.

So, Kon resolves the situation the fastest way he knows how, without really thinking through it.

"Okay, wow," Bernard says, sounding impressed, kind of, his eyes wide as he takes in the shredded fabric fluttering down around them. "New kink unlocked."

"Sorry," Kon squeaks, mortified. He just ripped the guy's shirt off – Tim's shirt, he remembers, so now he owes Tim a new shirt on top of everything else – like some kind of depraved—

"Let me be clear. That was hot as fuck," Bernard replies emphatically. "Jesus, sweetheart, I'll put on new clothes as many times as you want to tear them off me like that."

Kon's ears burn even hotter, but now because the alpha had called him sweetheart. He's always been babe, or baby – or bitch, with some particularly shit-headed alphas – but he really, really likes sweetheart.

At first, Kon is a bit disappointed that he missed his chance to say yes please, take me like this and fuck me until it doesn't hurt anymore.

On the other hand, he's relieved that he doesn't have to choose between presenting while holding back a panic attack, or telling the nicest alpha he's ever fooled around with that his omega doesn't know how to trust him.

Before he can get too lost in his thoughts about any of it, Bernard's hands are in motion, and Kon goes pliant under his gentle touch. Together, they wordlessly arrange pillows and rolled edges of blankets to prop up his hips while Kon stays safely on his back.

Bernard shifts to kneel between Kon’s spread knees, and then he does let his eyes drop to look at the rest of him. The alpha’s gaze rakes over his naked body with so much weight Kon would almost swear he can feel it. Fingers hover, tracing invisible lines in the air just above Kon's skin, as though examining something too sacred to touch.

"You’re un-fucking-real," Bernard mutters, finally making contact to drag both palms up his stomach. His thumbs catch on the ridges of each abdominal muscle.

Kon holds back a squirm, torn between his omega's instinct to preen under his alpha's attention and his own instinct to hide. He doesn't know how to say he doesn't want to be touched there, doesn't want this attention where he's chiseled and gross instead of soft and squishy. His alpha should be able to grip handfuls of soft tummy, watch it jiggle and bounce, but that's not how he's built.

"Look at you," Bernard continues gruffly, and Kon really wishes he wouldn't. "Like someone carved you out of marble and brought you to life." He grins a little wickedly and adds, "But you're not stone, are you omega? Look how fast you melt for me."

His hands finally stop touching his stomach, but it might be worse that they skate higher, following the dip between his pectorals. Kon closes his eyes to avoid seeing the moment when he finds out what this part of his body is like.

Bernard won't be the first or last alpha to be disappointed when they go to cop a feel and find rock-hard muscle instead of plush fat under his skin. He's pretty sure that Bernard will be nice about it, at least.

“I mean, just look at these.” Bernard's voice is thick with so much awe, it's nearly uncomfortable to hear. “Perfect handfuls, aren’t they?”

His palms curve over the swell of Kon’s pectorals, squeezing experimentally, lifting like he’s testing the weight of them, like they’re something soft and yielding.

"Fuck, more than a handful," he groans. “Bet they bounce so pretty.”

Kon flushes hot from his hairline down to the tips of Bernard's fingers when he starts moving rhythmically, kneading with deliberate intent. The way his fingers dig in feels like his body is doing impossible things. Kon would swear he could really feel his body indenting under an alpha's hands, being held the way omegas are supposed to be.

The fantasy feels really good.

"Open those pretty eyes for me, sweetheart," Bernard commands quietly, palming his chest slower, but deeper.

Kon's eyelids flutter against his will as he fights the instinct to obey with the desire to keep them shut. As soon as he sees himself, he'll lose this fantasy of a body that moves the way he wants it to.

"Want to show you how much I like touching you."

So Kon blinks his eyes open, obviously. No matter what he wants to see, he's not going to deny his alpha who wants to show him that. His eyes focus in on where Bernard's hands are on him, and—

"You can't," Kon blurts out, way too fast to sound like a normal person.

"That's alright," Tim says reassuringly. "Which parts are a no? Or is all of it a no?"

"The— It's— You can't give me a mating bite," he says, almost apologetic.

"That's okay, that's a very common boundary," Tim says. "It's one of our boundaries, as well. But I needed to make sure that you would say no to something if it made you uncomfortable."

Kon almost explains that it isn't that he's uncomfortable — it's that they literally couldn't give him a mating bite. The only species strong enough to leave a permanent mating mark on his skin are species without secondary genders, so Kon will never be able to have a real mating bite.

"Um, and the other thing..." Kon flushes so hot, and it's ridiculous — he's literally naked and in heat, but he feels like such a loser when he confesses, "I'm not sure about the knotting. I've never actually, um..."

"You've never taken an alpha's knot?" Tim guesses gently.

"No, I-I have, just not in heat." He looks up when another strange sound comes out of Bernard. "I'm just not sure if that's something that I... I mean, I-I feel like I want it, but I don't want to say yes and change my mind later."

Bernard clears his throat roughly. "That's exactly why we're asking now, Kon. So you can set outside bounds for what happens."

Tim's voice comes through the speaker, softer now, more intimate even across the distance. "We stop at any point, for any reason. Even if you just need a break to breathe. That's not failing, that's taking care of yourself."

"That's helping us take care of you," Bernard adds. "So the best thing you can do is tell us if something changes. What I won't do is go past the boundaries we've already talked about, but you can always pull them farther in as you need to, okay?"

"Okay," Kon agrees, still feeling a bit dazed at the prospect of an alpha asking him to put up more limitations later on. That's just not how sex usually is, in his experience.

"We played with some toys last time," Tim says, and Kon feels himself start to blush again. "I know you didn't care for the silicone knots. Are there any you would like to use again?"

A few minutes ago, he probably would have mumbled his way through an excuse to avoid answering directly. With the way it's going though, Kon blushes but still manages to get out, "The-the clamp things. They made my omega feel settled, or something."

Tim groans deep in his chest, and it almost sounds like a growl even without the modulator. "You're so hot, so— fuck, sorry. Bernard, he's talking about the biters. He took all six for me at his peak. Looked so cute with all those sweet little teeth in his glands, then just rolled up close to ride my fist."

Bernard makes a strangled sort of noise. "Jesus," he mutters, sounding pained. "Yeah, I'll make sure to pull those out for him."

"I want you to enjoy yourself, Kon. Bernard will be so good to you. Won't you, my alpha?" Tim's voice goes a bit gritty, and Kon watches with interest as Bernard begins to flush. "You'll take care of Kon, pamper him and treat him right, just like you do for me? I want my best friend to know what a good, sweet alpha I have."

Kon looks up when Bernard makes a soft little sound of desire. He's biting his lower lip a little bit and has his head ducked, looking at the phone through his eyelashes in a picture of bashful invitation that's altogether very… omegaline.

The phone line crackles with Tim's quiet exhale, and Kon can practically see him rubbing at his temple.

"I have to go," Tim says regretfully. "Both of you, be safe, hydrate, eat, etc. And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do."

Bernard barks out a startled laugh. "Objectively, the worst possible advice," he says warmly. "Have a good flight, love."

His omega shivers at the memory of long hair spilling over his shoulders, hues of orange and red.

Red like fire.

Burning like fire.

Hot, burning humiliation and a voice reminding him of what he isn't and what he'll never be, no matter what—

The hand on his hip releases it's pressure, then glides down his thigh to rest at his knee.

It breaks the spell, because she never gives him a break when he's overwhelmed – actually seems to enjoy the little sounds of instinctive fear when his omega cries for help.

The Kon remembers who the alpha with him actually is.

Bernard isn't— He isn't her, isn't any of the alphas who were so...

Well. He just isn't them, is the point.

This alpha can't hurt him, and wouldn't even if he could. This alpha isn't asking him to present just to get him in an easier position to—

He's not.

And more to the point, Kon really— He's pretty sure he wants to present for Bernard. Wants to feel that broad, toned chest against his back, wants to feel how far around his waist those hands would wrap, wants to arch his back and let Bernard just—