Chapter Text
It was the summer before their last year of high school, the age when secondary genders stopped being just a line on a birth certificate and started affecting life more. It was the time when alphas and omegas had their first rut or heat, which was like a second stronger puberty. Instincts were more heightened, scents became more vivid, and people started to have sex. Vi was an omega, which wasn’t unusual for a girl. Caitlyn, however, was an alpha, a rarity for females.
They’d been friends since middle school, an odd pairing to anyone on the outside. Vi had grown up in Zaun, Caitlyn in Piltover. Their styles couldn’t have been more different: Vi favored asymmetrical, scrappy outfits patched together from all kinds of fabrics, while Caitlyn wore perfectly tailored blouses and suspenders adorned with small gold emblems. But despite the gap in background, they were both misfits in their own ways, and they understood each other better than anyone else. Neither cared about the stupid, backwards claims that Alphas and Omegas couldn’t “just be friends.”
They lay stretched out on a worn quilt beneath a tree at the local park. The air was thick with the smell of sun-warmed grass. This was their spot—where they came to relax, swap books, or just shoot the shit. And maybe, today, they lay a little closer than usual. Something about Caitlyn’s scent today made Vi feel safe. Warm.
“So,” Vi said, sitting up suddenly. “Did your parents give you the ‘talk’ yet?”
Caitlyn glanced up from her book and side-eyed her. “The gender talk, you mean?”
“Yeah. Vander sat me down for a whole lecture about consent.” Vi flopped back down unceremoniously, spreading her limbs like a starfish. “He basically quizzed me the whole time. It was like a Kahoot for boundaries. ‘Is it okay to hug someone without their consent??’ ‘What about touching someone without asking?’ I expected a leaderboard by the end of it.”
Caitlyn laughed. “Well, I also got the whole consent and responsibility speech. No quiz, though. Just…” Her face scrunched. “They gave me so many condoms and told me to practice with them. And to let them know if I needed more, because ‘safety is important.’” (She had shoved the 36-pack into the back of her nightstand, not feeling like she needed the practice anytime soon.)
Vi laughed. “Well, did you practice? Wait, are there different sizes? What size are you? Have you ever measured it—?”
Caitlyn smacked her lightly with the book. “No, I didn’t practice, and I’m not answering that, you twat.”
They fell quiet again, watching as a dog chased a frisbee across the field. The breeze rustled through the leaves overhead.
“What will you do for your first rut?” Vi asked suddenly.
Caitlyn didn’t answer right away. She pulled at a loose thread on the quilt, thinking. There were really only two options: find someone she trusted enough to ride it out with… or take heavy-duty suppressants. And the first one… felt kind of impossible.
“I’ll probably just take suppressants,” she said finally. “Knock myself out for a week, stay in bed, and binge-watch some shows. I don’t really have anyone I trust like that.”
Vi hummed softly, like she wanted to say something but didn’t.
Then came fall, and the start of school.
Over the summer Caitlyn had grown several inches, outgrowing pretty much her entire wardrobe. She needed all her clothes tailored, and she still felt a little bit awkward and clumsy like she forgot how to move in her own body.
She’d also gone through her first rut. It hadn’t been very eventful really. She’d stocked up on heavy-duty suppressants, holed up in her room for a week, and mostly just slept. No sudden life-changing urges. According to the world she was “officially” really an alpha now, but she didn’t feel much different.
Except, maybe, when she was around Vi.
It wasn’t obvious, not even to Vi, just a handful of small things Caitlyn had noticed. Like wanting to breathe in her scent when they hugged or when she had a mini internal panic attack when Vi fell off her skateboard the other day.
Vi had grown up a bit too, especially in muscle. Her arms and shoulders were extremely well defined, her stance more solid. She was probably stronger than most of the alphas in their year, and she carried herself like she knew it.
Caitlyn caught herself sneaking glances more than once. Her eyes would drift to the curve of Vi’s generous hips. Each time, she’d immediately snap her gaze away and scold herself, blaming it on some unavoidable evolutionary instinct. Alphas were just hard-wired to be drawn to certain physical aspects of omegas, she reasoned.
They walked in together to their human biology class.
Recently, the school board had overhauled the science curriculum so now biology courses were mixed between alphas, omegas, and betas. Officially, it was to be “more progressive” and help students learn to manage their hormones while interacting with all secondary genders from an earlier age. Unofficially, it just made for more awkward lab pairings and a lot of poorly disguised staring contests.
Mr. Brand, their teacher, cleared his throat at the front of the room.
“Alright, class before we begin I have an important announcement.” He picked up a printed memo and adjusted his glasses. “As part of an effort to improve attendance and keep students productive during their cycles, the district is introducing a new voluntary program.”
Caitlyn half-tuned out, absently doodling in the margin of her notebook.
“It’s called the Safe Partner Initiative,” Mr. Brand continued. “Alphas and omegas who choose to participate will be paired together for the duration of a full month—the length of a typical cycle. While ruts and heats themselves only last about a week, the goal is to help you track and manage the early build-up and the cooldown period as well. Instead of relying on the heavy-duty suppressants that keep students home, participants will take a milder suppressant, enough to remain functional in class without completely blocking natural signals. The idea is to help you recognize early signs of your cycle and learn to manage them responsibly, rather than simply avoiding them.”
“You’ll check in daily with your partner, monitor each other’s well-being, and keep a shared log. Those who complete the program will receive—” He paused for effect. “an automatic A in this course, and of course, contribute to the ongoing research into more precise suppressant formulas. It would look on a college application as well,” he added.
Vi perked up. “An A for free?”
Caitlyn looked over at her, “Vi, you’re not actually thinking about signing up for this.” In truth, she’d rather stay home than go to school during a rut.
“Why not? I barely scraped by last year,” Vi said with a shrug.
“You’re smart, Vi. You just need to turn in your assignments and not let your sister blow them up.”
Vi leaned back in her chair, putting her hands behind her head. “Okay, well… she probably will blow them up.”
“So why not? We could just sign up together. Easy pass, no effort. Unless… maybe I’ll let them pair me with someone else instead.”
The thought of Vi paired with some other alpha sparked a totally unnecessary, uncalled-for twist in her chest. She told herself it was nothing.
Caitlyn hesitated. Bed rotting for a week every month was a routine she’d been ready to commit to, but maybe it did feel like more of a waste of time than she was willing to admit.
“Fine,” she said at last.
She couldn’t help but feel like she’d just signed on to something that was going to be far more complicated than it sounded.
Vi hated the heavy-duty suppressants everyone seemed to rely on these days. Sure, they worked—perfectly, in fact. Suppressed scent, suppressed urges, no one would even know you were in heat or rut. But they didn’t just shut down the primal side; they kinda shut down everything else too, leaving you feeling fatigued and rotting away for the week like you’d caught the flu.
Vi wasn’t built for lying in bed. She was restless, she had her crazy siblings to take care of, boxing to keep up with, plus you didn’t get a body like hers by spending a week horizontal.
She’d tried going without suppressants during her first heat, but that had been… difficult. The constant, gnawing ache made it almost impossible to focus on anything else, and her patience ran thin. Overall? It sucked, 0/10 wouldn’t do it again. The only reprieve she could get was from being around an Alpha’s scent. Being around Vander calmed her, though it didn’t help her horniness.
Still, she didn’t entirely trust herself to be around an alpha during heat, not when her carnal needs were heightened. And yet, the thought of missing Caitlyn for up to half a month when their cycles didn’t line up was just as unappealing. She just wasn’t sure she could be around her without acting strange… or doing something she’d regret.
Finding a way to survive a heat without losing a week of her life? That sounded like a good deal. And Caitlyn… well, Caitlyn was practically family. What could go wrong?
By the end of class, they’d signed a stack of consent paperwork and been handed a thick manual with SAFE PARTNER INITIATIVE stamped across the cover in bold, block letters.
Now they sat together in their usual lunch spot by the edge of the quad, trays forgotten between them as Vi flipped the manual open.
“Section One: Morning Check-In”
Partners will meet before first period to assess each other’s scent profile. Early detection of cycle changes is critical for safety and participation credit.
Vi read it aloud, grinning. “So… I get to sniff you every morning, for science.”
Caitlyn gave her a flat look. “That’s not what it says.”
“It’s exactly what it says,” Vi countered, tapping the page. “And you get to sniff me back!” Vi countered, and honestly she thought Caitlyn smelled great all the time, maybe even better these days. Now she had an excuse to get closer without it being too weird. Well… not too weird.
Caitlyn’s ears felt hot. “We describe each other’s scent, not… wallow in it.”
They kept reading.
“Section Two: Daily Monitoring”
Participants will record changes in scent, mood, and physical state. All changes must be documented in detail for accurate data collection.
“So if you start smelling different, I have to write it down,” Vi said, smirking. “Like… Caitlyn smelled extra bitchy today. ”
Caitlyn didn’t look up from the page. “And I’ll put, Violet smelled extra reckless today. ”
“Section Three: Rut/Heat Week Procedures”
During a participant’s active rut or heat, partners will engage in increased scent-check intervals and supervised interaction exercises to test self-control under mild suppressant conditions. This includes shared study sessions, non-contact proximity tasks, and scent-acclimation drills.
Caitlyn’s rut was due in a week, and the thought of having to feel it without completely blocking it out made her uneasy. She had no idea how she would act or what she might do, and the last thing she wanted was to do something really awkward in front of Vi.
The manual explained that the goal wasn’t to eliminate all biological signals, but to train participants to function around each other without giving in to the primal side. Heavy-duty suppressants might keep everyone safe, but they also make it impossible to adapt to real-world situations where a heat or rut might happen unexpectedly. Plus, they usually meant losing an entire week stuck at home.
By gradually acclimating to each other’s presence and scent under controlled conditions, the program aimed to develop a suppressant strong enough to prevent dangerous impulses while still allowing alphas and omegas to coexist freely during cycles.
It also emphasized that participants must not have sex with each other, as doing so was essentially the biological equivalent of taking a heavy-duty suppressant, completely eliminating the side effects of ruts and heats, just without the body fatigue.
“G’morning, partner,” Vi said as they met outside and headed toward the health office.
Inside, the staff walked them through the safety precautions again, had them give verbal consent to each other, and explained that for today’s baseline they only needed to describe each others scent while the assistant recorded it.
“Alright, my turn first,” Vi said, stepping in until Caitlyn could feel the heat of her breath.
She inhaled slowly, letting the scent settle. Caitlyn smelled clean at first—fresh laundry and crisp air—but beneath it was something spicier, like cinnamon. It made Vi think of cozy winter mornings, the kind where you don’t mind staying in just a little longer.
“Hmm… like a pumpkin spice latte,” she said with a grin.
Leaning in, she caught Vi’s scent—warm and sweet. It was familiar, already saved somewhere deep in her mind. Vi smelled like coming home after a long day, like the moment you win without expecting to, like a half-forgotten memory that still makes you smile, and she could go on.
It hit harder up close, wrapping around her senses in a way that made the room feel smaller. She forced herself to step back before she stayed too long, before she let it sink in completely. She swore she felt Vi shudder as she pulled back.
She swallowed hard, saliva had accumulated in her mouth without her realizing, and, settling on something safer, said “sweet… and a bit of floral,”. The research assistant jotted it down without comment.
And just like that, the test was over. They went their separate ways to class, though Caitlyn’s mind stayed stubbornly in that moment far longer than it should have.
Back at home, Caitlyn mulled over Vi’s scent, how charged it felt, and she wasn’t even in a rut yet.
Now the thought of going through a rut without heavy suppressants (especially anywhere near Vi) made Caitlyn feel a little bit unwell.
She lay sprawled on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, the late afternoon light spilling across her sheets. Her mind kept drifting where it shouldn’t, to Vi.
What it would be like to bury her face against Vi’s neck, unrestrained, right over her scent glands. To breathe her heat-enhanced scent in without the muted haze of strong suppressants dulling it. To bite at her neck and let her teeth scrape the skin of her scent glands. The idea sent a slow, heavy heat pooling low in her stomach.
Before she could think better of it, she shoved her shorts down just far enough to free herself, her fingers wrapping around her growing length.
She pictured Vi’s hands, calloused and rough, sliding up her sides. The solid weight of Vi on top of her. That damn smirk softening into something darker.
A soft, involuntary sound escaped her as her hand moved faster.
Her chest tightened, and she spilled into her hand.
A knock on her bedroom door brought her back to reality, and she scrambled to pull her shorts back up.
“Dinner’s ready, dear,” Caitlyn’s father said, opening the door a crack.
Caitlyn yanked the blanket up over her lap, but combined with her flushed face, the lame attempt at casualness only made it more obvious what she’d been doing.
Her father cleared his throat. “Ahem...Or maybe you can take ten more minutes.”
He shut the door before she could say anything.
Caitlyn buried her face in her… available hand, the post-nut-clarity hit hard, shame curling tight in her chest. She couldn’t believe she objectified her best friend like that.
She would have to go to her, drop out of the project, explain that she was no better than some crude alpha man, beg for forgiveness, transfer schools–
No, no, you’re being a little dramatic. She told herself.
She got up to wash her hands; she just needed time to get used to Vi’s scent, and hopefully today had only felt so charged because it was her first time ever getting that close to an omega’s scent glands.