Sebastian dragged himself to class the next morning despite his headache, though his notes were a mess afterwards, and he had almost no memory of the lecture by the time he found himself dragging himself back out to his car. He leaned back in the driver's seat trying to work up the energy to actually go on, checking his phone idly. There were eight separate notifications from his mom, probably all lectures about not staying out all night without like six months warning. There would be more of the same if he went home, which was more than his throbbing head could take.

It just seemed easier to go back to Logan's place and lie on his couch some more. Logan had left for work that morning with Sebastian still taking up his couch, so he obviously didn't mind too much if Sebastian camped out there, and besides, he'd told Sebastian where the spare key was hidden ages ago. Who did that unless they wanted you to come hang out?

Coming through the door to Logan's house was an almost immediate relief. Warmth wrapped itself around Sebastian as he kicked off his boots and left his coat in a heap in the hall. The grey winter light filtered dimly through the windows, no longer glinting off the mounds of snow outside, and Sebastian took what felt like the first deep breath he'd had since he'd left for class first thing in the morning. He collapsed onto the couch with a sigh, stretching his legs out as he let the ancient cushions cradle him gently. It was an old couch – Logan had been given it as a hand-me-down when he'd first moved out of his parents' house, and it hadn't been all that young then – with cushions sagging just right for lying down on. Sebastian had spent a lot of time on this couch, which was probably why he found it so soothing. His headache was already almost gone.

A few hours later, Sebastian woke up with his face smashed up against a pillow, the creases in the fabric pressing red welts into his skin. He was too warm now in his sweater, and he pulled it up over his head, scrubbing his hand over his heated face and the lines imprinted against his cheeks. Fuck, he felt weird. Maybe he should have gone home after class, he thought, but the thought of getting back into his car and driving anywhere swept a wave of dizziness over him that pushed him back against the welcoming cushions of the couch.

Lying flat on his back felt okay, except that now he was twitchy and bored. Sebastian pulled out his phone, stared at it blankly, put it away, and pulled it out again. He had notifications, but it seemed like way too much work to actually do anything about them now, and like it would need way more focus than he could muster. The ceiling was also boring, but at least he could stare at it without raising his arms. Across the room, the TV sat peaceful and quiet, but he'd have to find the remote to turn it on, and that meant standing up, which just wasn't going to happen.

He stared at the ceiling some more, letting his mind drift. For a completely blank, cream-colored ceiling, it certainly seemed to be inspiring a weird number of sexy thoughts. Sebastian groaned and put his arm over his eyes. He was feeling too weird to be this horny.

Especially while alone on a friend's couch. He wasn't going to say that this was the first sexy thought he'd ever had on Logan's couch, but usually that scenario involved a late night, a lot of booze, and a lot of drunken staring at his hot friends. The thoughts didn't usually just pop up out of nowhere without so much as a sexy dream to prompt them.

Thrashing around on the couch didn't fix anything. He was still too warm, that was the problem. Hard to imagine how he could be too warm in January in a t-shirt and jeans, but this was a rental house. Maybe the landlords kept the heat jacked up. Whatever the cause, Sebastian could feel it. He took his shirt off. It helped nothing, and then he had to lie down again because he felt too weird to keep sitting up. He was itchy all over too. Not real itches, but like his skin was tingling. He tried scratching at his chest, which only put him more on edge.

He was still trying to catch his breath when the truth fell on him like a hammer from above, and Sebastian had to face up to the incredibly awkward facts of the matter. Namely, that he was sitting on his best friend's couch, and he was about to go into heat. Or he was already going into heat. The distinction didn't seem matter much when his brain was filling with thoughts of exactly how great it would be to get fucked right now, this very instant.

That wasn't going to happen, Sebastian reminded his unruly body sternly. He didn't need an Alpha to help him through this. He didn't need anything. It was a natural physical reaction, and it was just going to happen, and he was going to sit through it until it went away. Being fucked would probably be okay – would be great, the little voice in his head corrected him, it would be perfect – but he didn't need any of the drama that would probably happen afterwards. He didn't need some great honking Alpha thinking that he owned Sebastian or that Sebastian belonged to him just because he'd helped Sebastian through a heat.

All he had to do was wait it out. Sebastian rubbed at his hot cheeks and tried to think about something else. It was very difficult. Despite how warm he was, his nipples were hard and almost throbbing as they responded eagerly to every draft that passed over his body. Sebastian rolled over, pressing his face to the arm of the couch, but that was even worse. All his body wanted to do was to rub down against the couch cushions and grind down until he could come over and over, which Sebastian was definitely not going to do in Logan's house. He rolled onto his back again, his face turned up to the ceiling, and clenched his hands into fists.

Some amount of time passed. It felt like weeks. It probably wasn't weeks. Sebastian's heartbeat was pounding in his ears and his hands were starting to shake when the front door clicked open loudly.

For a split second, Sebastian wanted to run, maybe to hide in the bathroom, but honestly, in that moment of panic all he wanted was to be anywhere but here. The person at the door had to be Logan, and Sebastian didn't want – he couldn't let – Logan see him like this. He had only managed, however, to push himself up on one elbow when Logan walked into the living room, looking mildly surprised.

"Hey, man," he said cheerfully. "You still here?"

"Yeah," Sebastian croaked.

"Any reason you're not wearing a shirt?" Logan asked, sounding both casual and amused, like it didn't matter at all.

"I was hot," Sebastian said. How did Logan not know something was going on? He felt so completely unlike himself. Didn't he look it?

"How warm-blooded are you?" Logan said with a chuckle. "It's always freezing in here." He came over to the couch and patted Sebastian's legs fondly. "Move over, asshole. I want to sit down."

Up close, Sebastian was struck, as he had never been before, by how amazing Logan smelled. He was like sex and power and control all rolled into one, with a heaping spoonful of comfort on top of it. His hand, still resting on Sebastian's leg as he sat down, was warm even through his jeans. Sebastian wanted him like he'd never wanted anything before. He pushed himself upright, watching Logan carefully as he did so. Logan looked relaxed, even carefree.

"Still got that headache?" Logan said, tipping his head back against the couch cushions and glancing over at Sebastian. Was he looking at Sebastian the way Sebastian was looking at him? Or was that just the heat messing with Sebastian's head?

"Sort of," Sebastian admitted. His head was still pounding, though the urgency of his desire was overwhelming the pain.

"You should get that looked at," Logan said. He patted Sebastian's knee again, and even that casual contact was too much right now, his hand a bolt from the blue rather than a normal pat between friends who hugged all the time.

It was only want coursing through Sebastian's veins right now: it wasn't real need. He could get through this without help, without anything. But he wanted Logan now, feeling himself drawn towards his friend like iron to a magnet, and the desire thudding within him told him that, right now, he could have anything he wanted – he should have anything he wanted. Logan wouldn't be the overbearing Alpha after this, Sebastian told himself. He could have this moment, this first crazy, unpredictable heat, exactly the way he wanted it.

Thought turned into action faster than ever before and Sebastian found himself sliding across the couch and depositing himself in Logan's lap, straddling his friend.

Logan looked up at him, into his face, with an expression of pure confusion. "Can I help you out with something?" he said, starting to push Sebastian away.

Sebastian put his hands on Logan's shoulders, staring down at him with all the conviction he could muster as every nerve in his body thrummed at the contact between the two of them. "I'm going into heat," he said. His voice, he thought, was impressively level. "You're going to help me out with that."

Whipping away his hands from where they'd been resting casually on Sebastian's thighs, Logan's jaw dropped. "What?"

"I'm going into heat," Sebastian said. His thighs were shaking now, and he let his hips grind down just a fraction against Logan's lap, much less fervently than he wanted. "Can you help a pal out?"

"You–" Logan swallowed helplessly. "You... Me?" Sebastian stared him down. "Haven't you always said that you don't need an Alpha for this stuff? That you can do it on your own? I can get out of here, if you need to be alone...?"

"I could," Sebastian said, his hands trembling. "But I don't want to do this alone. I want you." Logan was completely still under him as Sebastian leaned down to press their mouths together, but his mouth slid open under the pressure of Sebastian's lips, responding, however reluctantly, to the kiss. Sebastian breathed in the scent that had been driving him crazy since Logan had sat down on the couch, his lips curving up in a smug smile as Logan's hands settled tentatively on his hips.

"Are you sure?" Logan said as they broke apart.

"Very sure," Sebastian said. His breath was coming faster now, every inhale rushing through him like a gale. "Are you going to help me or not?"

Logan's hands loosened their grip on Sebastian's hips for a moment, and then tightened again before he could quite pull away. "Okay," he said, looking almost as dazed as Sebastian felt. "I'm going to help."