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Raising an omega kid was hard. Raising that kid in a brothel was a nightmare, but Chris can proudly say she had managed well.
Being an alpha herself, Chris knew exactly how much trouble they were, and once Roy got himself in the army, keeping him safe became exponentially more difficult, but again, she managed.
Then the kid Roy’d found in some Eastern shithole had the insolence to present as an alpha, and that was concerning, to say the least. The rumors of the People’s Alchemist spread near and far, so Chris decided to investigate.
A few of her girls went to check him out, only to return thoroughly charmed by his manners and courteous behavior. Not a single one of their provocations got a reaction out of him - Fullmetal remained infuriatingly calm and patient, which went against all the information she had about his notorious temper.
Chris has come to grudgingly admit that maybe the Fullmetal runt isn’t that bad for an alpha, until one day he strolls right into her bar and asks for a prostitute.
—-
Roy is a gorgeous omega - anyone with functioning eyes would admit that - and Ed has acknowledged that pretty much right away after his presentation.
So when Roy asks him to be his heat partner after all the excitement of the promised day goes down Ed is elated, at first.
Then his tragic lack of experience dawns on him.
After two days of the panic-fueled research and finding nothing but contradicting information Ed realizes he can’t do this alone and needs the help of a professional.
The brothel is easy enough to find, as Central is full of them, but Ed picks the one he remembers Havoc mentioning that one time. It’s still early enough for the bar to be completely empty.
The woman at the bar counter - a heavily built alpha with a cold, piercing glare - stares at him for a few long moments, probably deciding if he’s old enough, then smirks at him.
“Can I help you, sweetheart?”
Ed feels a drop of sweat gliding down his neck.
“I would- I would like someone experienced, if possible.”
The alpha hums, looking at him calculatingly, then turns around and calls “Vanessa!”
As they both heard footsteps coming closer, the alpha turned back to him.
“That’d be 7000 cenz.”
Out of the side hall comes a pretty young omega, looking not that much older than Ed himself. She perks up at the sight of him, motioning to Ed to follow her.
Ed places the money on the counter and goes after her. Vanessa leads him to a cozy little room on the second floor, sitting on the bed and smiling at him.
“So, what would you like to start with? To get you in the mood?”
Ed closes the door behind himself and sits on one of the chairs facing the bed, setting his bag at his feet.
“Actually, I would like to ask some questions.”
Vanessa’s smile falters for a second. “Yes?”
“I raided the Central library’s reproduction section the other day, but it looks like all of them are written by alphas and the information varies from author to author, so I thought I’d better ask an omega about that.” Ed realizes he’s rambling but he can’t really stop now, not with the way Vanessa looks at him. “I’ve brought some of the books that seem most valid, but I still need to verify some of the points.”
“Books,” the omega repeats blankly.
“Yeah?” Ed pulls out The 100 ways to make your omega come and The heat of the heat . After a brief consideration he grabs his notes on the other 50 books he’s read as well, lest the omega in front of him think he’s come unprepared.
“Right,” Vanessa says, a bit faint. “Right. Would you mind if I bring my friend here? She’d be happy to help with that too.”
“Sure.” Ed’s not going to say no to more sources. Vanessa rushes out, so he uses the time to open both books on the pages that he’d need to check first.
Vanessa returns shortly with an older omega in tow, and both take place on the bed in front of him.
“I’m Elsa,” says the omega. “Ask away, dear.”
So Ed does.
Vanessa listens for a few minutes before she excuses herself and leaves, coming in again with another omega, and soon enough the room is full of omegas of both genders and various ages, chiming in and talking over each other and drowning Ed in data that he meticulously writes down. The advice he gets is far more solid than the books offered, if a bit contradictory as well (Trust me, it’s better to bite before you give him the knot- shut it, Tom, you’re the only one who likes that.) The books he’s brought with him are covered in notes as well, the incorrect information crossed out and the correct one highlighted.
As the hour Ed’s paid for ends, all of them come to see him off, startling the alpha at the counter with the commotion. Vanessa steps behind the counter, fishing for something, and then presses the cenz bills back into Ed’s hand, ignoring both his and the alpha’s protests.
“Please,” she says. “The experience was payment enough for me.”
—
The moment the door closes after the Fullmetal brat Chris turns to her employees. “What in the actual hell was that.”
The omegas sigh, eerily in sync.
“Roy is so lucky, it’s unfair.”
“Gosh he was so adorable!”
“He brought books. He brought books to a brothel and then wrote, like, 15 pages on what we told him.”
“We should’ve kept him for another hour, it’s a pity he refused a practical demonstration.”
“He what.” Chris says.
“And Roy kept complaining about that kid?”
“If he doesn’t mate him I will, just watch me.”
“Screw you, Tom, get in line.”
“He clearly prefers older men, in case you didn’t notice, Vanessa.”
“Roy is not mating that runt,” Chris bites out, although she gets a sinking feeling that he definitely is.
“Roy would be an idiot not to, and we all know he isn’t.” Elsa pours herself a glass and sits down. “Alphas like him don’t just lie around on every corner.”
—
Roy comes in a few days later after his heat ends, looking tired and mussled up and, for the lack of a better word, completely fucked out.
The girls and Tom flock in, eager to know the details.
“How was it?”
“Was he good?”
“Roy-boy, you gotta share.”
Roy Sighs. Chris, again, gets a feeling she knows where this is going.
“He brought food with him," Roy starts. "And some blankets for the nest, and then he didn't let me do anything around the house so I relaxed the entire time."
All the other omegas listen with rapt attention.
“And the heat?”
“A gentleman,” Roy says with great aplomb, which is ruined by his giddy smile, “doesn’t kiss and tell.”
“Yeah, but did he bite you before or after-”
“Tom I swear to-”
Roy pulls the collar of his shirt, revealing a nice, deep bite on the side of his shoulder.
“Holy shit he did!”
“I can’t believe he actually listened to that out of all things.”
That pulls Roy out of his dreamy state. “Wait, what?”
“Your boy came here a few days before your heat and bought an hour with Vanessa.”
“We got in the room and then he pulled out these huge books and asked me to help him with data checking.”
“Then Vanessa ran in and said that I absolutely gotta see that,” Elsa continues. “And I came in and saw this adorable lil’ pup telling me he wanted to ‘make it special for his omega’.” She does the air quotes. There are more sighs in the crowd.
“Then Vanessa just told us all to join in as well so pretty much everyone contributed.”
“He took notes.”
“A lot of them.”
“Oh.” Roy looks a bit floored. “That explains a lot.”
It was Chris’s turn to sigh at this point.
“I suppose he’s more or less decent for an alpha,” she says. “Could’ve been worse.”
“Worse? He’s the sweetest pup I ever met,” Elsa says.
“A shame he’s off the market now, isn’t it, Tom.”
“Oh as if you didn’t want to mate him yourself.”
“He’s definitely off the market,” Roy says. “And you didn’t even offer to demonstrate?”
“Who do you take us for? Of course we did, but he refused.”
“Got all red, it was so cute.”
“You have to bring him here again to introduce everyone properly.”
Before Roy can say anything the bar door opens. Ed walks in, carrying a box of chocolates, sees the group and turns an intriguing shade of red as he tries to blush and pale at the same moment.
All in all, Chris considers her job well done.