OOOOOOH THIS IS SO GOOD, I LOVE THIS IDEA SO MUCH!!!!

I mean it gives various ideas 👀

Like... it could be that Xie Lian usually takes heat suppressants to get through his heats, since hrs not even dating anyone — and he didn't find the person to lose his flower to. But then maybe some malicious colleague at work switches his suppressants for tictac, hoping that he could get into Xie Lian's pants like that — but fortunately Xie Lian manages to slip away. And what now tho? He can't make it to the hospital, because the alphas around him are already sensing his heat. The safest place to go is home but... what is he going to do? It looks like he'll have to ask his roommate for help 🫢

OR OR OR Imagine if it's the kind of scenario where Xie Lian has a relationship before Hua Cheng, but it's a rather toxic and maybe even abusive relationship. He just doesn't realise it because it's his first time dating so he doesn't have anything to compare it with...Even here we could have two different scenarios;

For the first one imagine that Xie Lian has recently broken up with his manipulative bf and this is his first heat since then. Up till now his bf always used Xie Lian's heat to get off. The sex could be... uncomfortable at times. But at least Xie Lian didn't have a heart attack. Now that they broke up Xie Lian was planning to use supressants, but he forgot 😔 ...fortunately he has a very attentive friend who notices in time that something is not right 🥺

OR option 2... (I think this would kinda fit if the other bf was Jun Wu tbh); this would take place while Xie Lian is still in a relationship — his bf is strictly against Xie Lian using supressants so there are none to be found in their household. He likes to have controls over Xie Lian's whole being, so he doesn't take it lightly when Xie Lian doesn't cooperate, and as a means of punishment he leaves Xie Lian to deal with the heat on his own. Tbf, he plans to time it to come back after Xie Lian is desperate and pliant, but what he doesn't expect is Xie Lian fleeing and running to his best friend to ask if he happens to have any supressants.... well... that was the plan at least. In hindsight Xie Lian probably should have expected that as an alpha Hua Cheng probably doesn't have omega heat supressants, but it's rather late to think about that when he's sprawled on Hua Cheng's bed, naked, sweaty and knotted 🫢