*This is marked mature for mild self harm issue,s please feel free to skip to the bottom if this subject is triggering for you.*

"-Brought that dumb mutt on board!"

"Mate, shut up. Captain will hear you."

Nico frowns, stopping by his crew's quarters. Laughing emits from the room, but a heated argument is the main appeal.

"Dumbass- Just imagine what would've happened if Cap'n wasn't on the damn ship! That kid would've been eaten alive!"

"Bullshit! I'm not attracted to men."

"I'm not trash like you two..."

"Yeah, guys stop, it's disgusting to talk about omegans like that."

"Well its their own damn fault for being naturally goregous... If I had my way with him-"

"You'd what." Nico pushes into the room, growling lowly at two of his men who where sitting on the cot gloating,"Tell me Shane... Tell me Jacques... What?"

They both stare at him wide eyed, hands fidgeting some,"Um... Captain you missunderstand-"

"I do believe I understand completely fine." Nico strides forward, and he sees Lana jump down from her bed, rushing to grab his arm and stop him but he shrugs her off, snarling as he grabs his men and slams them against the wall.

"You listen to me, and you listen good." He hisses, growling deeply as he watches the betas give terrified looks,"If you lay one damn FINGER on that boy-" He shakes them, making then both wince in fear,"I will personally kick you off this ship. He is human just the same as you. To think two of my longest crew members have this kind of mindset!" He shoves them back against the wall as he stands straight. He glares, daggers pointed down at their crumpled forms.

He whirls on the rest of his crew, canines bared,"Omegas are just as himan as ANY of you. I will not allow men that think otherwise on my ship. Omegas aren't fuck toys, they are not baby carriers and they certainly aren't HELPLESS!" He roars at them, and they all stare bewildered, obviously startled by his sudden behaviour,"So-" He spins on Shane and Jacques,"I do believe... That when Luca is in appropriate condition. That you should apologize respectively." He frowns at them, then turns to the rest of his crew,"The next person I hear talking like that about our cabin boy, will certainly get worse than what they did. Understand!"

"Yes sir!"

"G'night." He turns on his heel, striding from the room as goodnights are sent back to him.

He cannot believe-

Ya'know what, he's just not going to think about it. He can't. He's so fucking pissed.

Nico slams his door open, yanking his shirt over his head and tossing it down in rage. Those god damn mother fuckers-

He stops though, as scent hits his nose. It's heady, thick, and its much more sweet than what it was the last time he was in here.

He slowly shifts, turning his body towards his bed.

Well... What used to be his bed. The furs are thrown everywhere, some laying in the floor, others laying haphazardly on the edge.

But there's a select few that are coiled up in a corner, and he can see them moving.

"Oi..." He walks across the room, but he stops when he sees the clothing in the floor.

But it's not a shirt, nor pants.

It's underwear.

He swallows. Fuck, what's so great about underwear, huh? He's seen men and women naked and yet hes never felt this excitement course through him.

He calms himself though, ignoring the fact that those are Luca's UNDERGARMENTS laying in the damn floor, and also ignoring the fact that... Well, the boy is probably butt naked beneath those furs.

"Luca." He says a little louder, and that's when the blankets stop moving, the only thing leaving him any sign of life being the toes that wiggle before shucking beneath the blankets too.

He smiles. That was fucking adorable, he doesn't care what anyone says.

He takes the last few steps then, sitting on the edge of the bed. Perhaps hes becoming lighthearted with this boy, but fuck, who wouldn't with a dude thats mean like a firecracker but lights up like a firework when embarrassed.

"Luca..." He reaches forward, pushing a hand beneath the blankets. His fingers brush against smooth legs, and he numbly remembers that omegas don't grow hair anywhere other than their scalp.

"Kid?" He tries, starting to worry when no reaction is received from his words.

"Don't touch me." The words finally come out, and the blankets move again.

They shift, and slowly Nico watches as the brat rises up, scooting back and away as the blankets fall away from his face and-

Oh.

Oh fuck-

"Hey-" Nico scoots closer, even as Luca flinches away.

He sees the deep red scratches on his cheek, blue eyes hazy from heat. It looks like it hurt, blood dried from dripping down the omegas face. He turns his cheek away from the alpha, shooting a warning glare at the hand that's centimeters away,"Don't. Touch. Me."

"But you're-"

"I did it myself." He says flatly and Nico gawks, hand falling flat against his own lap.

"Why the hell-"

"Because it fucking hurts and I-" He flushes, growling,"I shouldn't have to explain this shit to you. You're an adult, figure it out."

It hurts?

What is he talking about? Is the scatch or-

Oh... He means-

"Then why didn't you just..." Nico swallows, looking away as the omega stares pointedly away from him,"Why didn't you just relieve yourself."

Luca scoofs, teeth clenching,"I'd rather not."

Nico raises a brow, staring at the young kid with a stupid look,"So instead you scratch yourself?"

"Yes." Luca swallows, shifting further away from the alpha. He looks near sickly, if Nico dare say, and if he isn't mistaken, he does look to be in more pain than necessary.

Nico presses his lips together, and he sighs, shaking his head,"Is that how you got the rest of those scars? By scratching yourself-"

"Fuck no!" Luca gives him a dead panned glower, blue eyes infuriated that the alpha had even mentioned it,"These scars..." He clenches his teeth,"...Are none of your damn business."

Nico nods, sighing as he stands,"Ok..." He looks over, finding the plate of fruit that he'd left not even touched,"Will you eat?"

Luca glances at the food, then nods, staying put as Nico grabs the plate and hands it to him. Nico also grabs the first aid kit, walking over and planting his ass right infront of the blue eyed boy.

Luca goes wide eyed, an apple in his mouth as he chews slowly. Then he's glaring the alpha down, baring his teeth as the captain reaches forward,"No-"

"You need that cleaned or it could get infected and I know it will, because we are sailing-"

"No, ok, I'll be fine-"

"Just let me-" Nico presses the rag to the wound, and the brat hisses, jerking away as his face flushes a deep red.

"Stop-!"

"You need- god damnit! Hold still!" Nico pushes him against the wall, their breaths falling heavy against eachothers face. Luca stares daggers into yellow eyes, but the alpha ignores it, reaching forward and pressing the rag to his face.

And slowly, he watches as Luca's pupils dilate, black covering nearly all of his deep blue. He sags in the captains hold, and Nico goes wide eyed, realizing that he'd just accidentally showed the omega dominance, a command had fallen from his lips, making the brat submit like a little puppy.

"Shit um-" Nico panics, but then he swallows, shaking his own head to clear it some.

Fix the scratches, then tell him its ok to not listen.

He presses the rag to the kids cheek slowly, blown eyes watching his every move. If Luca wasn't in heat, he would be screaming so much.

A command can only work one at a time. If you use a command on an omega, and then use another that contridicts the first, then its called competing commands. Competing commands hurt an omegas brain so intensely that they'll writhe in pain or even scratch their own faces off in the agony.

Nico can't imagine that.

So, if the command is "be quiet" and an alpha then commands "Speak" the omega's body cannot do both at the same time, causing a competing command, and causing the said omega too much internal pain.

But, as long as the commands are safe, such as saying "Hold still" and nothing more, the omega can still speak. If Luca wasn't in heat, and he was in his right mind, his eyes wouldn't be so blown, and he wouldn't just sit there and wait for permission to move. He'd probably growl and snarl, yell at Nico for forcing him to hold still.

He ignores the rest of his thoughts as he presses the bandage tight against the kids face.

He then sighs, and nods to himself before looking into those void eyes,"Good boy. You don't have to listen any more."

He watches as Luca's eyes shrink, beautiful blue returning with haste.

The omega blinks, and then he's glaring again.

Always with the glaring.

"You fucking-!" He shoves Nico's arm, but the alpha hardly budges, Luca growling at him lowly,"Stop doing that!"

"I have too or you won't take care of yourself-"

"I take care of myself fine!" Luca yells, flicking his head towards the alpha in an agressive manner as he gets in the larger mans face,"I don't need help from a shitty alpha!"

"If you take such good care of yourself, then what do you call this!?" Nico presses his fingers to the scratches on the omegas cheek harshly. Luca hisses, reaching up to craddle it before smacking the alphas lingering palm away.

"I do that to keep my mind straight!"

"Which you shouldn't have to if you just do what you're supposed to!" Nico snarls back,"This is why you're always so angry at the world and pissed at everything! You can't take care of yourself during a heat! You can't fuck with your own emotions like that, it messes with your mind-"

Luca yells angerly, and Nico goes wide eyed as he's shoved roughly back against the furs of his own bed. It creaks beneath them as Luca leans over him, face scrunched tight in an infuriated look.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME! SO SHUT UP!"

Nico stares up into blue eyes. There's hurt swimming in every feature of them, scars and wrinkles laced into the omegas face that shouldn't be there.

Nico takes a deep breath, and he decides to be the one with mindfulness, calming his own raging scent and giving the dark haired kid a calm look.

Luca looks taken aback, face falling into sincere shock that Nico isn't going to growl or snap back. But then he's grimacing, the glare returning quickly as he removes himself from the larger mans shoulders. He pulls the blankets back over his body, as if to hide it, and he falls silent, seething at his own feet.

Nico sits up, taking another long breath. Luca looks conflicted, face contorting between a sharp grimace and a glare, hurt clouding his squinted eyes.

"...I may not understand what you've been through, but I can tell you, that this is not how you should handle a heat on your own..." He stands slowly, walking over and grabbing his coat,"Perhaps you should reevaluate how you treat yourself in a time like this."

There's no response, and Nico doesn't expect one. He'll take care of Luca, he'll take care of any one of his members on this ship, knowing that, as captain, it is his responsibility that they stay alive, and well, until they leave this place.

But if they don't want that, then he'll leave them be. But he will always leave them with some piece of his own mind, letting them either contemplate it, or forget about it completely.

Either way, he got his word in and he made sure his duty was done.