Chapter Text
SIMON
His magic is always more volatile around his heats. In a way, it’s almost a blessing in disguise; the scorched scent of his magic could help hide the needy stench beneath. If anyone noticed how often Simon got “sick” and had to spend a few days holed up in the nurse’s wing, they didn’t ask. Omegas were rare (a treasure, many said, but Simon didn’t like being seen as a prize) and that meant people assumed his smell and actions were due to his strange magic and not anything else. Most people, mages included, were betas; most of his friends were as well. Except for Penny and Baz, both alphas. Both too smart for their own good (or his).
His heat is only days away and Simon knows it, can feel it in the flush of his skin and the sweat beading along his hairline. There isn’t a single cell in his aching, needy body that doesn’t scream for him to find a mate, to spend mindless days and nights with an alpha to soothe him and take care of him. Simon plans to do no such thing; he’ll be hidden and safe by the Mage until it’s over. Still, he feels like he needs to tell Penny. He knows that she might have already scented the secret on his skin and that she may very well be hurt by the omission. Even if she already suspects what he is, Simon feels that it is better for him to tell her before she’s sure.
Much as he wished his heats could fall over breaks (or at least weekends), he knew his luck would only hold out so long. He’d been lucky, really, that he didn’t start his heats until a year before - even if the delay was because he was underfed in the boys’ homes he’d grown up in. So now, reluctant and uncomfortable and sweating badly enough that he shoved his hands in his pockets to hide sweaty palms, he went to go find his friend.
PENNY
There’s something wrong with Simon. She can smell it on his skin, his scent slightly musky and tinged with guilt and fear that made her stomach roll. He’s flushed, too, skin pale and clammy; he was sick, her brain supplied as a suggestion, or Baz had upset him. By the time he stopped in front of her, sickness seemed more likely; there was something off about his smell that had nothing to do with the sharpness of anger or hurt. “Simon,” She murmured softly, trying to keep her voice calm and soothing since he seemed ready to bolt. “What’s wrong?”
“I-” He began hesitantly, words coming out uncertain and timid, “I wanted to tell you something. I only found out a year ago, and there was so much going on then, but I should have told you. I’m sorry.” Simon was shaking, and Penny just wanted to cast a warming smell on his clothes and lead him back inside, away from the cold of the fall air and the open spaces that could hold listening ears.
“Are you sick?” She asked, brow furrowing. He certainly smelled sick, and any sickness that lasted a year was serious enough that he may be worried about how she would react. How the world of mages would react, really, since he was supposed to be their savior. That didn’t matter right now, though; he was her friend, and he needed her.
“No.” Simon leaned away slightly, and Penny jerked back when she realized she’d stepped forward to sniff at him. Alphas could smell more than betas, but it was incredibly rude to learn people’s secrets that way and she’d actively avoided smelling him throughout their friendship. Simon already had far too little privacy and far too many people invested in his life without caring about him. “It’s not like that; it’s nothing… nothing bad.”
SIMON
She apologized, but it didn’t matter. An instinctual move was nothing compared to a year of lying and hiding. He’d gotten so used to evasion that it was hard to do anything else, so hard to volunteer the secret that would make most alphas circle around him protectively. He had enough people fussing because he was the Chosen One; if alphas found out he was an omega as well, he would never be allowed privacy or space, never be allowed to throw himself into danger. Even when his heroics had saved them all more times than he could count.
Instead of voicing the secret he’d barely admitted to himself the past year, Simon offered a hand silently for her to take, palm up so that she could sniff his wrist, one of the places where his scent was thickest. She took it, raising his skin to her nose with the silent reverence that was due when someone allowed an alpha to read their every secret. Penny froze, and then there was a flurry of motion; the alpha looked up at him sharply, eyes dark and sweeping over his body, assessing how far into his heat he was, and then she let out a low warning growl. “You should have spells on you to hide it.”
“I do.” He kept his tone even, hoping to get the sharp look and the sudden wary tension to subside, “And I’ll be going to the Mage tonight for stronger ones. He helps me with my heats.”
“Helps.” It came out like ice, sharp and cold, and Simon flushed brightly, cheeks going crimson. “How exactly does he help you with your heats, Simon?”
It wouldn’t be the first time an older, experienced alpha took advantage of a young, impressionable omega, and he couldn’t blame her for asking even though she was wrong about the kind of aid the Mage offered him. “Nothing like that!” He protested, taking his hand back from her despite the sharp look she cast his way for doing so. “There’s a room in the school for omegas; he casts spells on me to hide my scent, and he makes sure I eat and stay hydrated while I wait it out. And,” he added sheepishly, “he cleans up the messes my magic makes.”
She frowned but nodded, unwinding her scarf from around her neck to hand it to the omega, alpha instincts urging her to mark and protect the other even though she had no intention of claiming him as her mate. “Put this on, and then we’ll go get some food in you.”
BAZ
Bunce is hovering over Snow today, brushing up against him whenever she can, even spooning more food onto his plate when Snow looks away to talk to Wellbelove. If he notices the new food, he doesn’t comment, doesn’t hesitate, just keeps eating. Which, to be fair, shouldn’t surprise anyone who had seen Snow inhale a plateful of scones as often as Baz had. Still, Bunce seemed protective, and Baz didn’t know why she was hovering; he was Snow’s roommate, and he should know if there was a threat against him (again). The teen frowned, nose wrinkling, and took a quick sniff of the air - before instantly regretting it; as both a vampire and an alpha, his nose was highly sensitive, and the assault of hundreds of scents washing over him made Baz turn away. He’d scent Simon later.
SIMON
It’s almost time to go into hiding for a few days, to leave a note for Baz saying he’s sick; it’s a lie, but he’s never been caught yet. It’s not like Baz bothers to visit him in the infirmary. Now that Penny knows where he’ll be, he knows the alpha will be prowling around that hallway, keeping people clear; she doesn’t have to, but he appreciates it.
He doesn’t need anything but the clothes on his back, clothes that will end up soaked with sweat and slick and torn off as the fabric gets more and more confining, because the nurses and the Mage know how to spell food and water into the room as he twists and writhes on the bed provided to him. Simon’s scent is thick in the air, and he’d already had to ask Penny to leave because she was pacing and irritable at the fact that she couldn’t keep him out of trouble, couldn’t keep him safe on her own.
The door opens, but Simon doesn’t bother to turn towards it. “Penny, I told you to go back to your room.”
“Snow.” Came the response, choked off and male.
BAZ
This isn’t possible. Baz would have smelled it on his skin years ago if Simon were really an omega, would have been drawn to the scent even if he hadn’t known what it was. (Well, he had always been drawn to the other, but so many mages found Snow’s power magnetizing and irresistible.) Unless Simon had come into his omega inheritance later in life, as did happen with omegas who were undernourished or too stressed; just as females could miss periods if they were stressed, omegas could miss heats. “Snow, you…” He felt almost hazy with the scent of the other’s heat, and he basked in the pheromones with a soft groan.
SIMON
This couldn’t be happening. The most dangerous place for an omega to be was trapped in a room with an alpha, especially if the alpha was in rut or the omega was in heat. He was lucky that the anathema protected him in the room, but he also didn’t want Baz expelled for doing something he hadn’t meant to do. He had to get to the Mage, had to get out of here. “Baz, cover your nose; you won’t be able to think clearly if you’re breathing it in.” As if in a daze, the alpha used his tie and palm to cover his nose, breathing shallowly through his mouth. At least he was still capable of listening to him. “I need you to step away from the door so that I can get past you, alright? It’s important that I get to the infirmary.”
Baz’s eyes looked glassy, and Simon hated that his body was a weapon against both of them, cutting deep into them both. “You can’t walk down there by yourself.” The alpha protested, prowling a step closer. “It isn’t safe.” There weren’t many alphas in the school, but there were enough, especially since Simon had such a rocky control over his magic and might not be able to protect himself. “Let me take care of you.”
“Baz.” Simon pleaded softly, wondering if his magic would cooperate long enough for him to use a little bird told me to get Penny to come running. “You don’t even like me. It’s just the pheromones. You don’t want me.”
BAZ
Wrong. Simon was wrong. Baz couldn’t blame him, not really, but that didn’t mean he could let the omega keep thinking he wasn’t wanted. He couldn’t let him go through a heat alone - or worse, with someone else. “Simon.” he crooned softly, using the other’s first name in an attempt to get him to relax slightly. “I do want you. I’ve wanted you since before I knew you were an omega. Just let me take care of you.”
He kept taking short steps closer, trapping Simon in one corner of the room. When the other’s back hit the wall and Baz thought he might bolt, he used a burst of vampiric speed to pin the omega by his shoulders, hands firm but not bruising. “I won’t hurt you. I won’t mate you, Simon; shh, Simon, please, I won’t claim you unless you want it. Just let me take care of you.”
The omega was trembling under his hands, face pale and eyes wet with tears (no, no, this wasn’t supposed to happen, Simon was supposed to want an alpha, want him). “Simon, I won’t hurt you. Would never hurt you.” He slid his palms over the other’s shoulders, pulling him closer and nestling him against his chest. “I’ve got you.” Although Simon thrashed briefly in instinctual panic, the omega collapsed against him a moment later, whining softly against him. “I know, Simon, shh.” Baz continued to soothe as he led the omega to his own bed, easing him down onto it. “I’ll lend you a shirt, alright? An alpha’s scent will help. I’ll send for the nurse, and she’ll be able to escort you down to the infirmary without you getting hurt. Please, Simon, I can’t let someone else take you like that.”
When the nurse arrived shortly after, Simon was curled up in his bed with his face buried in one of Baz’s shirts as the alpha gently stroked his back. He stank of slick and heat, and Baz had a faint shimmer over his face that showed he was using a spell to filter his air. The nurse took him away after casting a spell to replace Simon’s damp sheets, and Baz collapsed on his own bed to wait.
It was two days before he saw Simon again.
When Simon returned, Penny was half carrying him as he stumbled in the door. He still stank of pheromones even though his bright red skin implied that he’d scrubbed himself clean in the shower, and his clothes were torn and spotted with what could only be blood. “Is he safe?” Baz asked sharply when he saw the rusty dots, hating that another alpha’s scent was on the omega’s skin. “What happened?”
“He’s fine.” Penny replied absently as she led Simon to his bed, tucking in the omega and sitting beside him; Simon looked exhausted, and he curled up against her side easily, pressing into her light touches. “He just needs time to recover. His magic went off a few times, and they said that he rested less than normal. That he kept calling for an alpha.” Her eyes hardened as she swept a cutting look over Baz. “A specific alpha. I could smell you on him.”
“I didn’t hurt him.” Anger rippled through his tone and his scent spiked with it, shame following it when Simon groaned softly at the sharp scents clashing in the air. “I didn’t use him, Bunce. I just couldn’t let him walk to the infirmary alone when he was that far into heat. I held him in place, but I didn’t…”
“I know.” She stroked the omega’s hair, touch both possessive and soothing. “I heard. And I should thank you for that, I suppose. Even with the threat of the anathema, that must have been hard. Regardless, he kept your shirt the whole time; his magic went off the first time when they tried to take it from him.”
“Why did they try to take it? Because it was mine?” Baz asked sharply, standing up and crossing over to the pair on Simon’s bed, looking down at the pale teen laying under the covers.
“Because he wouldn’t eat or sleep.” Penny replied softly, sadly. “Because he kept asking when you would come back, and the Mage thought that removing an alpha’s scent would help. It didn’t go over well, so they used it as a bribe instead, told him that he would get it back after he got some food and water down.”
“Where is it now?” Baz asked as mildly as possible, glad he hadn’t drank enough to flush in pleasure at the image.
Penny snorted at that and leaned over to drag a finger along the omega’s neck and shoulder, pushing his shirt aside; underneath his own shirt was Baz’s, its scent now more blended than solely the vampire’s. “He’s wearing it.”
Penny stayed for a few hours, soothing the omega to sleep whenever Simon’s lashes fluttered against his cheeks, reassuring Baz that Simon was okay and watching with a faint smirk as Baz darted forward to help every time Simon so much as turned over in his sleep. When she left, it was with a considering expression on her face.
SIMON
He woke to arms around him and a familiar scent under his nose. “Baz?” He asked groggily, voice hoarse. “What… Did we…?”
“No.” A laugh slipped past his lips, his breath rustling Simon’s curls. “No. We got you to the infirmary in time.” Baz pulled away slightly, making it easier for the omega to twist away if he wanted to. “But you kept calling for me. Figured you’d feel better with an alpha wrapped around you and I knew you would wake up for dinner. Even this couldn’t make you skip a meal.” A pause and then, “You worried me, Snow.”
Simon nuzzled closer when Baz pulled away, yawning against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. Won’t do it again.”
“I’m sure you will.” Baz replied with another laugh, this one more genuine, his lips brushing messy bronze curls with each word, “I think I signed up for that when I fell for the Chosen One. But I hope that I’ll be there to reassure myself about your safety personally during future heats.”
Simon tilted his head back, glancing at the other from the corner of blue eyes. “I think that can be arranged.”