The collar stayed on the floor all night.
Ren didn't touch it. Didn't go near it. But he couldn't stop looking at it either.
It sat there like a line drawn in the sand. Luka hadn't moved from the opposite wall - true to his word - and for hours, the only sounds in the room were Ren's breathing and the quiet mechanical hum of the facility's life support systems, regulating everything but the things he actually needed regulated.
Every time Ren closed his eyes, he felt a wave rising behind his ribs. Not quite pain. Not quite panic. But pressure - deep, building, hormonal pressure. His body was trying to climb toward something it wasn't ready for.
The heat wasn't full-blown yet, but it was close.
Too close.
He wasn't sure when it started, but at some point Ren began counting.
His breaths, his heartbeats, the seconds between the bursts of warmth crawling up his neck. He counted the lights in the ceiling. The panels along the walls. The number of times Luka blinked in ten minutes. Anything to stay ahead of the urge to claw his skin off or scream or-
No.
He wouldn't fall apart. Not in front of him.
Especially not him.
"You don't have to talk to me," Luka said, voice quiet and low. "But you should drink something."
Ren didn't answer.
He hadn't spoken in hours. His lips were dry, cracked. His throat burned.
Luka stood up, slowly. He crossed to the small dispenser slot in the wall - the only luxury in this so-called Pairing Suite - and retrieved a sealed bottle. Then he placed it a few steps from Ren and backed away.
He didn't watch him. Just sat again, gaze fixed somewhere past the wall, posture calm.
Ren eyed the bottle like it might be bait. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't.
His pride held for another ten minutes before his body overruled him.
He grabbed the water and drank it all in one go.
"I didn't lie to you."
Luka's voice again. Soft, almost careful.
Ren glared at him from the floor. "You didn't not lie."
Luka nodded once. "Fair."
A pause.
Ren leaned his head back against the wall, eyes closed. "You shouldn't have come for me."
"I already did."
"That's not a reason."
Luka didn't respond.
"You think I wanted to be claimed?" Ren's voice had an edge now. "By anyone?"
"No."
"You think I wanted this - this room, this heat, this... bond that I didn't ask for?"
"No," Luka repeated.
Ren's jaw tightened. "Then what the fuck are we doing here?"
Luka shifted his weight. "Waiting."
"For what?"
"For you to believe I'm not your enemy."
That stopped Ren cold.
He opened his eyes slowly, stared at Luka across the space between them. "And why do you care if I believe that?"
Luka was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, it wasn't with certainty - more like he was saying something he hadn't admitted out loud before.
"Because I knew it was you. In the game. Long before today. And I stayed."
Ren blinked.
"What?"
"I knew. I didn't want to know. But I did. And I kept logging in."
Something in Ren's chest cracked a little. He didn't let it show. Not on his face.
"I liked who you were there," Luka said. "And I liked who I was when I was with you."
Ren stared at the floor. He hated that his breath caught. Hated that his chest ached in a way that had nothing to do with heat.
"You didn't even say anything when they took me away," he whispered.
"I couldn't."
"You could've tried."
"I didn't want them to know I knew you."
Ren looked up sharply. Luka was watching him now - not cold, not blank. Just real. And it hit Ren suddenly: maybe Luka hadn't been standing still because he didn't care. Maybe he was afraid that showing any reaction would've made things worse.
Maybe he was trying to protect him, even then.
Ren bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. His body was betraying him again - hips aching, stomach tight. A deep, low throb beneath his skin.
"It's getting worse," he admitted.
"I know."
"It's not... panic. It's instinct."
Luka nodded. "That's normal."
Ren let out a breath that sounded too much like a sob.
"I don't know how to stop it."
"You don't have to stop it."
That made his head snap up. "Excuse me?"
"I mean you don't have to fight it alone. That's what the collar is for."
Ren looked away again. "I'm not going to submit. You can forget it."
"I'm not asking you to."
"Then what are you asking me to do?"
Luka didn't answer immediately.
"I'm asking you to survive this," he said finally. "With your dignity. With your sanity. In one piece."
Ren laughed, but it came out hollow. "I'm not going to die."
"People do."
The silence that followed was heavy.
Ren sat forward, elbows on his knees, head in his hands.
"I can't think. I can't breathe. And if I let my body go where it wants to go, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."
"I won't let that happen."
"Stop saying things like that."
"I mean them."
"I know you mean them, that's the problem!"
Luka didn't reply.
The next moment came without warning.
Ren leaned forward too fast, and the world tilted. Heat slammed into him - sudden and full, from the base of his spine to the back of his throat. His body curled in on itself. He made a sound he didn't recognize - somewhere between a gasp and a cry.
He collapsed sideways onto the floor, shaking.
Luka didn't move.
Ren curled tighter, pressing his hands against his stomach like he could hold himself together by force.
"Don't-" he rasped, voice cracking.
"I'm not moving."
"Stay there."
"I will."
Minutes passed. Or maybe an hour. Ren didn't know. Time was a joke now - his body was the only clock, and it was ticking too fast.
The collar sat five feet away.
And Ren couldn't reach it.
When he woke again, his mouth was dry and his limbs were heavy.
The lights had dimmed. He didn't remember when. Luka was still sitting against the far wall, legs folded loosely in front of him, gaze unfocused.
Ren tried to sit up and failed. His head throbbed.
"You passed out," Luka said softly.
"No shit."
"I thought you were going to seize. You were burning up."
Ren looked at the collar.
It was closer now. But still untouched.
"You moved it."
"I didn't touch you."
"I know."
Ren let his head fall back. "I hate this."
"I know."
Ren's voice cracked. "I'm scared."
Luka didn't move.
But this time, his voice did.
"I am too."