Chapter Text
Love at first scent.
Stede's heard all about it. Teachers brought it up in biology class and students gossiped about who had found their destined mate while he was growing up. Everyone had a destined mate, someone who was made for them by the universe, and you'd know who it was when you smelled them for the first time.
Love at first scent.
Stede longs for it.
The older he gets, the harder it becomes to trust that it will one day happen to him. Maybe his destined mate died. Maybe they decided they didn't want to deal with finding their person and settled down with someone else instead. Maybe Stede's person never existed and he's destined to be alone forever. A lone omega.
Mary nearly shoved him off of her couch when he said that. She’s so sure that Stede’s person is out there, wanting to find Stede just as much as Stede wants to find them. A few weeks ago she brought over journal articles with research and personal testimonies she found online about people who found their mate late in life.
It was meant to be reassuring. Stede knows that. But it just made the longing he feels in his chest for his mate, his beta or alpha, more prominent. It turned into a deep ache on that visit. He cried into his dinner that night, once he was back home and alone in his cold, empty house.
Of course she wouldn't get it. She's found her mate. She has her pups. At this point, even if he does find his destined mate, he’s not sure he’d be able to have biological pups. He’s not sure he’d want to raise one from infancy anyways, being in his late forties. Maybe he’ll find a center that lets single parents, single omegas, foster. He can take care of pups and help them where he can.
Yes.
That’s exactly what he’ll do. Even if he lives the rest of his life without being mated, he can have his pups, even if they’re only in his life for a short amount of time. He can give them a place where they feel safe and hopefully cared for.
Stede grabs his phones and types furiously into Google.
It’s surprisingly easy to go through the process to become a foster parent.
He finds a local pup rescue center and just about falls in love. They encourage all types of people to foster—from lone omegas to couples who have been mates for decades—and advertise a terrific support system at the Center. Counseling for the pups, for the families of the pups, for the foster families of the pups, education programs that cover a wide range of topics, childcare, and so, so much more. Stede is honestly blown away. He desperately wishes he found this place much earlier in his life.
They also have an easy to follow guide on how to become a foster parent. It’s all online, but they say you can come in and have someone help you fill out the forms. They have classes you have to take at the Center to complete the process. He does it all, especially the part about having someone help him with the forms. He wants to make sure he’s got all of his information correct and is as knowledgeable as possible.
Then, after preparing himself and preparing his home and filling out so much paperwork, he opens his home to his first pup.
He’s a teenager, which intimidates Stede just a bit at first because they’re so close to presenting, if they haven’t already, and being an adult and they have so many opinions, but after Stede reminds himself why he’s doing this, that intimidation quickly passes. He’s just a scared pup. Stede’s there to hopefully make him less scared.
It’s a remarkable thing, for his home to not be empty. There’s laughter, small feet running around, and so much noise. Stede revels in it. That first pup was a fucking learning experience, and it taught Stede so much about himself and how to care for others, but it also brought out so much of his own omega instincts. Fostering is stressful and frustrating and so very sad at times, but it also makes Stede the happiest he’s ever been.
After the first boy left, more pups kept coming. The most he’s had at one time so far was three little ones, all under ten years old. A sibling group. They got on great with Mary and Doug’s kids. Stede remembers sitting on Mary’s back porch, watching all five kids run around the yard together, and feeling the urge to cry.
He may not have his mate, but he has this. He’s with his best friend and they’re bonding over their pups together. They’re talking about gentle parenting and what to do when a pup won’t go to sleep and their experiences with how being a beta and omega affect their parenting.
It’s exhilarating. It fills his heart with so much joy and love.
Everything changes when the Center decides to hold a meeting with their foster parents about expanding some of their programs.
It happens nearly two years after Stede had that first teen. There’s six or seven other parent groups around him sitting at the picnic tables that are clustered together in the fenced in outdoors area behind the Center. There are pups in adult’s laps and playing on the playground. Stede is in between fosters currently, so it’s just him and Mary. Mary, who had started volunteering at the Center six months ago after hearing so much about it from Stede. She helps out on the admin side of it.
“As I’m sure most of you are aware, our early literacy program hasn’t been meeting our needs as of late. We wanted to hear from some of the families we serve about ways we can improve this. Now, unfortunately I don’t have the papers we were going to—ah!” The woman who had started the meeting looks back towards the Center doors. “Edward! Thank you. Now I do have the papers we were going to pass around and go through together. Here, everyone take copies.”
The papers are passed around, but Stede isn’t paying attention.
"Do you smell that?"
"Smell what?" Mary asks. She takes enough papers for the both of them and passes them to the next person.
Wood fire, leather, and patchouli. Stede’s head goes a bit fuzzy and he has to take a few deep breaths to keep his breathing normal. The scent rolls through the air around him, blanketing him with comfort and ease. He leans forward, resting his forearms on the table and lets it consume him.
“Stede? Are you alright?”
Oh, Stede is definitely alright. Wood fire, leather, and patchouli. It has to be from one of the people around him. Maybe someone isn’t wearing scent blockers, maybe it’s—Stede could live in this scent. Maybe it’s…
His eyes dart around, going from person to person, trying to see if anyone stands out, trying to find—
“Oh,” Stede whispers.
Stede thinks Mary figures it out because she lets out her own quiet oh, before turning back to the meeting.
Sitting a few picnic tables away, looking directly at Stede, is the man—Edward—that had brought in the papers only moments ago. Wood fire, leather, and patchouli.
It has to be him.
Stede’s destined mate.
Edward’s eyes are wide and—and teary? Stede can’t have that. Stede points over to the back doors of the Center, and when the other man nods, he gets up and starts making his way over there.
Edward’s scent follows him, especially as Edward himself walks behind Stede into the building. He forces himself to find a secluded corner before turning and facing him.
Holy shit.
This close, Stede can properly smell him. Wood fire, leather, and patchouli, and underneath—
“Alpha,” Stede breathes. He can’t look away from this man. He’s breathtakingly gorgeous, especially so up close. Long, graying curls, beautiful brown eyes, and the most gentle smile.
“I thought I wasn’t going to ever meet you.” Edward’s voice is quiet. Reverent. He wipes his hand under his eye, bringing Stede partly out of the fuzzy place his brain had gone.
“Oh, Edward,” Stede reaches out his own hand to wipe away Edward’s tears, but stops only inches away when he realizes he doesn’t want to touch him without permission. Edward leans forward, making their skin touch. Stede finishes what he was going to do.
“How do you know my name? I’m pretty sure that’s not part of the whole love at first scent, destined mates thing.” His brow furrows. “It’s not, right? I didn’t somehow miss that bit?”
“No, you’re right. It’s not. I just heard Anne say it earlier. My name is Stede.”
Edward smiles. He’s still crying a bit and Stede keeps both hands on his cheeks, intercepting his tears and wiping them with his thumbs, like little windshield wipers. He doesn’t want to let go of him. He’s a bit afraid that he’ll disappear if he does.
“Stede. My mate. My omega.” He holds onto Stede’s wrists, tilting his head down so he can scent one of them. “Fuck. I can only imagine how good your neck smells.”
“Not quite proper mates yet, but we’ll get there,” he whispers. Then Edward is pressing his face right where Stede’s scent gland is and inhaling deeply. That is—it’s certainly something. It’s not the first time someone has scented him, but having it be his destined mate, the person that was made for him by the universe, is having its effects. “Oh. Can I—Edward—”
A hand at the back of his head pushes him forward into Edward’s neck.
It’s not the first time Stede has scented someone, but it definitely feels like it. It feels like his whole world is beginning again.
They don’t go back to the meeting. Instead, they go back to Stede’s house. Mary will tell him what he missed and what he can do to help later. Right now, he’s more concerned with Edward, or Ed, as he says.
“I really didn’t think I was ever going to meet you,” Ed says as they cuddle together on Stede’s couch. There’s a toy left out from the most recent pup on the coffee table that Stede has to slide out of the way with his foot so he can rest his feet.
“Me neither. It’s something I had longed for for so long, but eventually I stopped thinking about it all the time. I realized I could actually do something with my life that wasn’t waiting around for something that might take years to happen. If it happened.”
Ed nods. “I know there’s people who don’t meet their destined mate. My mum was one of them. I was so sure I was going to be one of them. It mostly happens by choice. Some people don’t want to meet their mates. Others get into situations and never quite manage to get themselves out of it. Well, maybe not choice. But… circumstance? I don’t know.”
“The universe is supposed to give us our person, but it seems real life gets in the way sometimes.”
“Yeah.”
With Ed’s arm around him, with their bodies pressed so close to one another, Stede is the safest he’s ever felt. He may not know Edward yet, but he will. They have the rest of their lives to get to know each other.
Ed toes the toy that’s on the coffee table. His socks are hot pink. “So you’re a foster carer? Is that what you decided to do with your life?”
“It is. I’ve always wanted pups. Desperately, I’ve wanted pups. But I wanted them with my destined mate. One day I realized that I’ll probably never get that, at least not ones that I’d carry myself. Then I realized that I could foster.”
“You get the fulfillment of having pups while also helping kids in need.”
“Exactly! I love it dearly. I remember every single pup that has stayed here, even if it was just for a few nights. Especially those ones. I could tell you their names, ages, favorite food—would you like to see something?”
“Anything.” Ed’s reply comes quick, as if he was already forming the words before Stede finished his question.
The only people that have seen Stede’s scrapbooks are Stede, Mary, and the pups. The pups helped make them, afterall. At least, the ones who were old enough did.
Inside each scrapbook there’s a page for each child. Their name, a polaroid of them, and a note about each one. For the ones he had for longer than a few days or weeks, there’s also photos of things they did—activities, school dances, when that first teen he cared for got a grade he was proud of at school. Taped drawings from the younger ones. Everything in their favorite colors. Stede’s in a good number of the photos.
As Stede flips through and talks about each pup, Ed listens. He nods along and asks questions and Stede is so, so in love.
“Are you a foster parent, Ed?” They’re still looking through the scrapbooks, but Stede has since brought two plates of dinner into the living room.
“I’m not, but I’ve been working at the Center on and off for about ten years. I mostly do background stuff. Today was rare, me actually being there.” After a short pause, Edward looks up, looking Stede right in the eye. “I actually went there a lot growing up. I’m not quite sure where I’d be if they hadn’t come across me. It makes me really, really happy that I met you there, Stede.”
They stare at each other for a few moments. It’s proper romantic, like something out of one of the romance movies Stede and Mary love so much. Ed really is just so gorgeous. Now that Stede is looking, he can see small smudges of eyeliner around his eyes. His fucking beautiful eyes. Stede lets his own eyes trail down to his mouth. There’s a small smile on his lips.
“Can I kiss you?” He keeps his eyes on his goal. He watches the way they open when Ed gasps.
“What! I can’t believe we haven’t done that yet. We’ve been sitting here for ages and not a single smooch. Of course you can kiss me.”
Stede would laugh, but he’s a bit distracted. A lot distracted, once those lips are actually touching him.
Once Ed’s hands find Stede’s body, Stede is reaching out. He grabs onto any and all parts of Ed that he can reach, who is so warm and firm under his hands. His arms find a resting spot on Ed’s shoulders, one hand holding the back of his head and the other gripping his shirt. Ed’s hands are Stede’s hips, holding and pulling.
“Ed,” Stede gasps.
“My omega,” Ed whispers against his lips.
The rest of the night is… eventful. They kiss more, they fuck, they talk about their lives and their futures.
The warmth in Stede’s house and heart has been growing ever since he started fostering. Taking care of pups feels like what he’s meant to do with his life—in the biological sense, but also as a person. He wants to help others, love others, and care for others. He wants to give pups a safe place to be and make their life just a bit easier. It feels like he’s been living a beautiful dream the past two years.
Now, though? Well…
He has his destined mate. They’re going to be properly mated soon enough.
Stede now has someone to help, love, and care for him. It feels like he’s waking up, just a bit.
They give each other a mating bite two weeks after meeting and Stede has the strongest heat of his life in the days following it. Ed stays with him for every second of it. Well, he does after he makes a trip to his own house to grab some blankets and clothes that smell like him for Stede’s nest.
Stede’s nest.
He’s made a lot of nests over the years, and he’s had heat partners to share them with before, but Stede enjoys this most recent one the most. It’s the most calming, comfortable one he’s ever experienced.
Despite the intensity of the heat, he comes out of it feeling spectacular. Exhausted, but spectacular.
Ed used condoms, because that’s what they agreed on, but there’s a small part of Stede that wishes he could have pups from it. Biological pups that he’d carry and feed and care for their whole lives. He’s finally found his destined mate. He could have his mate’s pups. It’s what he’s wanted ever since he knew it was possible.
But he turns fifty next year.
Stede doesn’t want to be starting right at the beginning this late in his life. He doesn't feel like he could handle that physically or mentally. He’s getting old.
This is why he and Ed agreed to use condoms. It’s why they agreed that Ed would get licensed to foster. When they were talking about moving in together, Stede brought up what Ed mentioned that first day they met.
You get the fulfillment of having pups while also helping kids in need.
Stede has no intention to stop fostering. The more they talked, the more invested Ed seemed in the idea. He wants to be a part of it. He’s never particularly cared whether or not he has pups of his own, but he wants to do this.
So Ed moves in and Stede’s house gets even warmer. Even louder.
They welcome pups into their home and work at the Center and add to the scrapbooks.
They love ferociously.
Love at first scent. Stede’s heart no longer aches when he hears that phrase. Instead, it swells and beats right out of his chest with love.