Chapter Text
This was quite possibly the stupidest idea Stiles had ever heard.
A “practice heat” partner? As if he fucking needed someone to guide him through a heat before he even had one. And it wasn’t even really guiding, there were rules to the whole thing–”keep your clothes on at all times” “no biting or bonding marks” “no scent-marking” “this is entirely a theoretical practice and must not actually be used to bond” “if your partner goes into heat during your session, hit the panic button in your room and your adviser will come to help”–all of which were meant to prevent any actual bonding from occurring. This was simply to help the Omegas practice how to handle a heat before they had one, and a guide for Alphas to tell them how to help an Omega through one.
But Stiles really didn’t need to be involved with it. He would be fine once his first heat hit, god knew he’d had enough lessons about it in school, seen enough diagrams and viewed enough videos about anatomy and some that he definitely had not needed to see about the birth process, and really, he was all set. Great, he was an Omega. At some point he was going to go crazy horny and desperate for an Alpha and then that would signal that he could go on suppressants until he found a mate, at which point he was expected to pop out a few babies. Just stellar. Why did he need practice to do that?
This whole process seemed arbitrary anyway. He was certain that Coach directly had it out for him, considering he was one of the organizers of this, the school working with the hospital to organize this whole shindig, and when Stiles had passed him in line he’d whispered something to the nurse next to him, who’d made a note on his clipboard. Unfortunately, Scott’s mom did not appear to be working with the ‘s’ last names, had probably requested to be with the ‘m’s so she could supervise Scott, but then again, maybe she’d rather have nothing to do with her son’s Alpha sex life. That was a definite possibility, considering that Stiles’s dad certainly wanted nothing to do with his, though he still wouldn’t bail Stiles out of doing this. Which meant Stiles was going to be uncooperative as possible about this.
The first Alpha didn’t last very long.
Stiles wasn’t quite sure what it was that made him break, but it was somewhere in between the constant popping of the gum he shouldn’t have had, and the fact that Stiles would laugh every time he touched him, as if he was incredibly ticklish. Only in this case, Stiles was just trying to piss off someone who clearly already had a short temper, and it didn’t take long for the Alpha to snap, hitting the panic button despite the fact that Stiles definitely wasn’t in heat and certainly wasn’t in any danger of going into a premature one due to arousal. The Alpha was an idiot, and Stiles was incredibly turned off by him.
Turned off by most Alphas, actually. The posturing and jealousy just didn’t really do it for him, probably because he’d had to watch Scott slowly come into it and realized that, like Scott, every Alpha was secretly a giant dweeb that happened to be born a gender where they could pretend to not be a giant dweeb. To be something cool, and suave, and ooh, mysterious! But Stiles hadn’t fallen for that ever before, and wouldn’t fall for it now.
The nurse that came running into their room seemed surprised to find them sitting on opposite ends of the bed, the Alpha’s arms crossed as he fumed, and Stiles offered her a big smile and a friendly little wave. She wasn’t quite amused by that.
The second Alpha lasted longer.
He seemed really, really determined to make sure that this exercise went well, despite how much Stiles was clearly trying to derail it. J…John…Jack…Jacob? Yeah. His name was Jacob. Maybe. He really didn’t care enough to remember it after the dude said it, so instead he popped his gum and gave him a grin, hoping that alone would be enough to get the guy to realize what he was messing with. Didn’t seem to work. Instead, the guy resorted to talking to him in a very soft, probably supposed to be calming voice that Stiles found incredibly condescending and immediately wanted to shut up. Forever.
But the guy’s–Jacob’s–idea of getting Stiles to cooperate was using that voice and keeping his movements slow, gentle as they tried to follow the audio and visual instructions they’d been left with. Wasn’t this technically, like, sexual assault, or something? If Stiles didn’t want to be here, and wasn’t interested in a demonstration of something of a sexual nature, didn’t that make everyone who was involved in making him participate complicit in sexual assault? Or maybe not, because he was an Omega and Omegas didn’t have those kinds of rights. Well, okay, that wasn’t entirely fair. They did have rights, and plenty more than they used to. But things were still a little unclear when it came to stuff like this.
And so for a little while, it seemed like Jacob was actually going to be successful in this, and that was a thought that made Stiles more than a little…dismayed. He didn’t want this exercise to be successful at all, and would much rather that the whole thing completely failed so that he didn’t have to go through the full, nearly humiliating process, during which he was reminded of his gender at every turn. Great. Just what he wanted.
So Jacob? Had to go. And this time, Stiles had to be more hands on about it. The last one was easy, a bit younger than Stiles, definitely cocky, and looking to prove something. Jacob, despite his gender, seemed a little bit softer, a little more willing to try to entice Stiles into working with him. He really seemed fixated on making this whole thing work, as if the process wasn’t incredibly simple already. There was a hole. There was also a dick. You put the dick in the hole, and moved it around until you couldn’t anymore. Not rocket science!
But apparently to this kid it was and Stiles decided that fucking with him? Probably the most fun of the options available to him. So every few seconds he’d go, “Ow,” and the kid would look up in complete panic, stopping whatever he was doing to immediately ask if Stiles was okay, and Stiles would give him a thumbs up while making a pained face. Eventually, the kid got so panicked that he hit the button specifically for that purpose, and when the nurse came back in, she was definitely not amused.
Poor, panicked Jacob was led out again, and he winked at her as she left once more, clearly unamused by his antics. But really, what else was he supposed to do? This whole exercise was stupid and he didn’t want to participate, wasn’t interested in being made to basically act out sex with another teenager without the actual benefit of having sex. If he could lose his virginity this way, great, fantastic, Jacob had been pretty good looking, he would have been cool with that.
But no, that wasn’t the point of all this, it was all just a fake shit show that he didn’t want to be involved in anymore. Hadn’t wanted to be involved in in the first place, but it was mandatory for kids his age and he just wanted to get back to Scott and talk about how stupid this all wa–
Oh. Oh no. He was hot.
Stiles looked up as the third Alpha entered the room, and his mouth must have honest to god dropped open a little bit because hot damn. That was one fine-looking man in front of him, and definitely not someone his age. Was this illegal? Did he care right now? No, no, definitely not, not when his new partner was this hot and he had to remember that he was in protest against…the patriarchy, or something. Right. Something like that.
So he grinned at his new partner as the nurse left the room with a light, “Play nice,” and popped his gum as soon as she was out of earshot. “Hey, partner,” he said with false cheer, and noted that the man’s expression didn’t change one iota. Still that sullen, eternal grumpiness like a particularly hairy child that had lost his teddy bear. Stiles would never admit that he was even the least bit intimidated by it, though damn, he was. Hard not to be when this guy was several inches taller than him and also looked like he could kill someone with his bare hands. Or had in the past, already.
The guy definitely didn’t seem amused by him, and Stiles shrank back slightly on instinct as he closed in, wondering if he was going to make this extremely difficult for Stiles to wiggle out of. Probably. But the Alpha just extended a hand out, and when Stiles stared at him blankly, growled out, “Gum.”
Stiles reluctantly spit his gum into the man’s hand, feeling like a student that was being chastised by his particularly hot teacher. Yeah, this guy definitely wasn’t a student at his school, and looked old enough to be an Alpha who had actually helped Omegas through real heats before. No wonder they’d paired them together this time around, Stiles had made it obvious that no ordinary Alpha was going to cut it, not when it came to him, and now they’d sent in someone out of the ordinary for him. Just for him. Shit.
It didn’t help that this particular Alpha smelled incredibly amazing to him, a rich, full, earthy scent with a hint of that musk that came from men naturally, that Stiles usually recoiled from with Alphas because he didn’t need someone who was hyper-masculine who postured and posed to win his affection. Not that there was much of that in his life anyway, mostly because he hadn’t had his first heat yet so his scent wasn’t fully developed. Once it was, he was not looking forward to the attention that would follow, because he wasn’t interested in being hounded after by a bunch of horny teenage Alphas. What he really dreaded was the thought of getting his first heat during school, having to rush to the nurse’s office and lock himself in until he could get a ride home. It’d happened before to other Omegas, and it would be even worse if it happened to him because male Omegas were rare and he’d already started to get noticed a bit by older Alphas. Which was, needless to say, creepy.
But this Alpha…well. It was easy to say that Stiles didn’t mind him so far, only minded that he was being forced to participate in this stupid exercise that didn’t have any point when he was sure that he could handle whatever his heat threw at him. The rest of the world didn’t seem to agree, unfortunately.
“So, uh…come here often?” he asked as the Alpha moved to throw his gum away, getting some hand sanitizer from the dispenser on the wall and rubbing it over his hands before returning to Stiles. He didn’t show any reaction to Stiles’s words, and didn’t bother to answer them, simply staring down Stiles again. Great. This was going just fan-freaking-tastic.
“Lie down,” the Alpha commanded, and yep, he was definitely a fully formed Alpha, not like these awkward teenagers at all because there was a layer of command in his voice that Stiles felt he had to comply with, had to obey because Jesus. It was the first time he’d ever wanted to obey an order in his life. That was an odd new experience.
He was halfway to lying down when he realized what he was doing and stopped himself, sitting up again and swinging his legs, giving the guy a, ‘Sorry, buddy’ smile. Making it clear that he wasn’t going to take this that easily, wasn’t going to obey so simply, despite what tone the Alpha used, and swear to god, the man actually looked surprised for a brief second before he went back to stoicism, clearly intent on keeping his mask up for whatever reason.
Bullshit. The entire act was bullshit, Stiles knew because he could bullshit with the best of them. And this guy wasn’t going to intimidate him, no, he wasn’t going to let that happen. He’d be as difficult as he possibly could because this guy couldn’t do anything to him or Stiles would simply press the panic button and be done with the whole thing. So. They were going to play by his rules, or they weren’t going to play at all.
“Lie down,” the Alpha said again, the words coming out in a commanding near growl this time, and Stiles repressed the shiver that wanted to skitter down his spine.
“No,” he said, crossing his arms against his chest. “This exercise is bullshit, you’re bullshit, and I’m not going to participate.”
Oh no, he was getting closer, and Stiles didn’t move a muscle as the man leaned down, placing his hands on either side of Stiles’s legs on the bed, bringing their faces uncomfortably close together. “You’ve never had a heat before. You don’t know what it’s like.”
“Neither do you,” Stiles said sharply, and there was a flicker of something impressed in the guy’s eyes before it disappeared again.
“No, but I know from experience what it looks like. The desperation, the insatiable need for an Alpha that burns through you and leaves you feeling empty, like nothing can satisfy you. I’ve seen too many unprepared Omegas have their first heat and bond with the first Alpha that decides to take advantage, because they can’t help themselves, don’t know what to do. It doesn’t matter if that Alpha is your classmate, your teacher, or your best friend. You’ll be so delirious that you won’t care until it’s done, and then you’ll regret your bond, hate whoever took advantage of you and forced you into it. I’m doing this for your own goddamn good, Stiles. Now shut up, and lie down.”
Stiles swallowed thickly, those words sending a chill through him because god, that hit home. He didn’t want to be one of those Omegas, didn’t want to bond with the first person he saw during his heat and get trapped in a relationship he didn’t want to be in. He was too young for it, too young to get taken advantage of like that. So, reluctantly, he lay back on the bed, looking at the man with a certain nervousness that he knew was visible.
The man moved to settle in between legs that Stiles reluctantly parted, unsure about all of this and not wanting to do it, but knowing that he really had to, if it was going to help him when he had a real heat. And despite all his bravado and bluff and bluster about being able to handle it on his own, on the inside he was more than a little terrified of it. Of the desperation that would overtake him, each Omega describing it similarly. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t go on heat suppressants ahead of time, avoid this whole mess in the first place. But it would screw with his delicate hormone balance they said, mess him up permanently and even possibly make it so he couldn’t have heats at all. And despite the issues that he may have had with the expectations for his gender, that didn’t mean that he didn’t eventually want to bond with someone.
So he let the man settle between his legs, looking down at him with Bambi brown eyes that were currently steeped in nervousness like tea that’d been left to steep for too long. “Relax,” the Alpha said, and his hands moved to gently stroke Stiles’s sides. Yeah, that definitely wasn’t helping. “The key to all of this is to relax. You can’t handle a heat if you aren’t relaxed. It’ll be difficult, because your whole body will be tense, and natural lubrication can only go so far. You need to calm your body down and remember that you don’t need to bond, don’t need to do anything but ride the heat out. Got it?”
Stiles nodded quickly, nervously, focusing on the fingertips that were gently brushing against his t-shirt. “Good. Now, when you do bond, it’s going to feel strange at first because while you’ll already have had a heat once, it’ll only have been once. So, you’ll feel a lot like you did the first time, but hopefully you’ll be able to take the bond a bit more calmly since you’ll know what to expect.” He paused a moment, looking up at Stiles with eyes that Stiles couldn’t quite decide the color of. “When you do bond, it’ll probably be quick. Almost a frenzy, at least for the first round. First comes sex, then comes the bonding bite. Most likely around here,” he said, and a hand went up to brush the area by where Stiles’s neck met his shoulder. “Got it so far?”
“Yeah,” Stiles answered, swallowing, focused on those gentle hands on him, the Alpha showing a care with him that he hadn’t really expected, considering how this had all started out. How sullen he’d been when he first came in.
“Once the bite is sealed and you two are sealed together by your Alpha’s knot, you’ll be able to think more again, be calmer, and be able to get to scent-marking and just generally solidifying the bond with your Alpha. Scent-marking usually involves a lot of rubbing your faces against each other and against your neck and chest. Something like this.”
The Alpha leaned in close and suddenly his scent was overwhelming, Stiles accidentally taking a deep breath that he definitely shouldn’t have. He felt strange, suddenly a bit flushed, a bit hotter than usual, and he couldn’t think for a moment as the man rubbed his stubble covered cheek against Stiles’s, not actually scent-marking him, but simply miming the motion. God that felt nice. The stubble gently scraping across his cheek, the scent of the Alpha strong around him, the feeling of his body lightly against Stiles, clearly trying to not make him uncomfortable by putting too much pressure on him.
But right now Stiles felt like that, like he needed the contact, and he shifted underneath the man, trying to get comfortable again, but that was making it worse, every accidental brush of their hips together making something like an electric shock run through him; quick, sharp, and definitely not helping the warmth that was spreading through his body.
“After scent-marking, you’ll probably just do a lot of kissing and touching until you can go at it again. After that, it’s all solidifying the bond, trying to get you pregnant, basically, if you’re ready for it. Even if you’re not, that’s the basic goal of this, simple biology.” The man paused for a moment, opening his mouth to speak again, and then stopped, taking a deep inhale. His brow dropped low over his eyes, and he sniffed again before his eyes went wide and he tried to pull away from Stiles, who instinctually grabbed his arm to hold him in place.
“Stiles,” the Alpha said calmly, stopping in his motions but looking at Stiles like he was ready to pull away at a moment’s notice, “your scent changed. I think you’re going into heat.”
No. No. That couldn’t be. A heated blush unfolded over Stiles’s cheeks as he looked up at the man, hoping that he was wrong. That that wasn’t what was happening right now, though honestly, it really could be. He felt wet, a bit sticky, like he was leaking lubrication and he was already so hot and the Alpha smelled amazing and–shit, he was going into heat.
The man reached to press the panic button but Stiles stopped him, hand gripping his arm with just about as much force as he could muster at the moment. “Please,” he said softly, and for a moment the man looked torn before shaking his head.
“No, Stiles, no. I warned you about this, don’t try to bond with the first Alpha you see. You only want to bond with me because this is your first heat and right now, I probably smell amazing to you.”
Yes, but he’d smelled amazing before Stiles went into heat, and he was still in the beginning stages, not a full-blown heat yet. The Alpha tried to pull away again and Stiles wrapped his legs around him, holding him in place and prompting him to look down at Stiles in exasperation.
“Stiles…” he said softly, and Jesus did that do things to Stiles. Shit. He was not prepared for this but the man against him felt so good and he just wanted, wanted, wanted–and then the Alpha kissed him, and Stiles forgot how to breathe.
His legs loosened again, dropping back down onto the bed as the Alpha kissed him avidly, stubble scraping slightly against Stiles’s smooth chin and cheeks, and he made a soft noise, kissing back a little desperately and ignoring the fact that this was only his second kiss ever and it was amazing, he needed it, he needed–
And then he heard the click of a button, and realized the man had just been distracting him long enough that he could press the panic button. He pulled back from Stiles, but oh, there it was. He was just as turned on as Stiles was, and the amount of self-control that this must be taking him was truly incredible. He managed to pull away this time, despite how Stiles tried to cling to him, and Stiles let out a panicked, slightly desperate noise as the Alpha stood away from him, Stiles sitting up on the bed.
“Not now,” the man said, and that caused something to spark in Stiles’s chest, a hope he hadn’t even known existed before and didn’t know what to do with now. “Call me when you’re legal.”
He headed for the door, though he paused in the doorway, and Stiles could hear the nurses running down the hall, headed for their room. “I’m Derek, by the way. Derek Hale,” Derek said, and left.
Stiles flopped back on the bed, waiting for the nurses that were in a second later, his heat starting to intensify, thoughts of Derek and that incredible kiss not helping matters. Fuck. He was so fucked.