Chapter Text
“Fuck,” you whispered, “fuck.” You threw open your medicine cabinet and began pulling out bottles. Cold medicine, aspirin, vitamins, ibuprofen, floss, razors, none of it was what you needed. You cursed more fervently this time, abandoning the bathroom to go to your bedroom. Your bed was a mess of jumbled covers and pillows. At the sight of your bed you froze. The pillows were arranged in a loose oval in the top corner of your bed. You hadn’t even thought about it when you did it in the night, seeking out more support for your back, which was achey from hours sitting on a stool in the lab.
“Shit!”You had less time than you thought you had. Progress Day was coming up. You and your partners had been living in the lab to meet deadlines. You’d only recently saw yourself rise from a run-of-the-mill lab assistant to an actual tech alongside the greatest minds in Piltover. You would have been an idiot not to pour yourself into the work . Of all the scientists vying for a shot at changing the world only a select few actually got the chance to do it. This was your chance. This was your dream. So of course that was all that mattered. Not a stupid prescription.
“Goddammit. There has to be…” you trailed off snatching open your night stand drawer. There was nothing to help you in there and you knew it, but maybe you’d be wrong and you’d find one lone sheet of suppressants.
You'd realized after washing your face that all that was left in your sheet were the scent blockers. Of course that’s all that was left. You took the heat blockers last week so you could keep working. The boys needed you and you couldn’t be holed up in your room when there were deadlines to meet. You told yourself you would call your doctor and get a refill. Did you ever do that? Yes, yes you did. But did you pick up the refill? No.
With a defeated sigh you fell on to your bed. The three of you were so close to finishing up for Progress Day. If you took a week off now it would set all of you back and there’s no way you’d finish on time. Well…. it didn’t have to be a whole week. You got back up and went to the bathroom picking up the sheet of pills you’d left on the counter. You counted the empty wells.
As long as you got your refill today you could skip another week then take the week after Progress Day off to deal with the consequences. Sure you’d be a little late going into the lab, but that was better than the alternative. The process once started, could not be stopped without serious repercussions. Nothing had started yet. You grabbed your jacket and jetted out the door to make a mad dash to the pharmacy.
Luck was not on your side.
“It looks like the prescription lapsed.” The woman behind counter said around a wince.
“I’m sorry?”
“It was ready last week,” the pharmacy tech explained, “When you didn’t pick it up the hold expired. We can put in another refill, but it won’t be ready until tomorrow.”
You covered your face with your hands. It was mostly to keep your expression hidden from the poor tech just doing her job. It wasn’t her fault that this was happening. She didn’t deserve your frustration.
You took a deep breath, sliding your hands down your face, “Okay uh, scent-blockers then. The extra strength ones behind the counter. Can I have a sheet of those?”
She nodded quickly, turning to go down the rows and rows of medication behind her. As she looked for the scent-blockers you imagined your schedule. The heat cycle was described as a five day period, however only the last two days made it completely necessary or isolation. The other three were for preparation and the initial hormonal change. You could work through that period. Was it prudent? No. Without scent-blockers you’d make an alpha go a little haywire the moment they perceived the impending change. It was everyone’s responsibility to keep their biological imperatives in check. Alphas took their suppressants so as not trigger omegas, omegas did the same. Not for the first time in your life, you cursed the gods for making you an omega.
The pharmacy tech came back with the scent blockers and rang up the medication. You took it and hurried out of the pharmacy. Okay, so three days to do your part in the lab. You’d have to tell the boys you needed two days off. You frowned at the thought of the conversation.
Jayce was already stretched thin with his place on the council as well as his work in the lab. He hadn’t shaved in a week, hadn’t gotten his hair cut in a month, and while it was impossible for the golden boy to look bad he was decidedly scruffy and tired-eyed. He wouldn’t give you any trouble though. The sweetheart he was, he would tell you to take the week off if you told him your predicament. He had all the humility he should have for the privilege of being born a beta. He’d tell you he could cover for you and probably kill himself trying to do it.
Then there was Viktor. Bless him, he’d try to send you home for the week too, but not for selfless reasons. A chronically ill Alpha who didn’t get enough sleep as it is, with so much work to do could not risk being set off by your pheromones. He’d probably put on a hazmat suit and push you out of the lab with his cane. Then while trying to cover your portion of the work he’d work himself to death as well.
This was the only way. Brilliant as the two were they couldn’t do what you could do. In your little trio Viktor was the brain, the analytics, the drive, the unbridled ambition. Jayce was the heart, the dreamer, the caring force keeping people in the center of all the inventions. You? You were the soul. The one that kept them from going too far, from risking it all in the pursuit of discovery. You were the emergency break, the fail-safe, the damn canary in mines. You shuddered at the idea of leaving the two of them alone in the lab.
You needed to finish everything in three days.
The moment you made it to the academy you stopped at the cafe to grab a drink to take the scent-blockers with. You checked your watch, lingering in the cafe until 15 minutes had past and you were sure the medicine was working.
Your confirmation came the moment you walked into the lab. Jayce was closest to the door when you walked in and you saw his nose crinkle. His gaze snapped up, the guarded expression of one encountering a stranger before his face relaxed.
“Oh, it’s you,” he breathed, “You…” he trailed off. You knew what he wanted to say, but it wasn’t the kind of thing to be brought up in polite conversation.
“Smell different?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.
He looked a bit bashful, “Sorry.”
You shook your head, “No biggie. I think we’re close enough to talk about it.”
“Right I just didn’t-”
“Calm down, big guy,” you chuckled as he got flustered, “Viktor here yet?”
Jayce scratched his stubble, which was actually more of a beard now, “He stepped out. Are you…?”
“I’ve got three more days,” you lied, “Situation at the pharmacy. I’m trying to get it figured out.”
“Are you worried it will uh start early?”
“Nope, that’s why I smell different. Blockers. But I’ll need time off.”
He nodded emphatically, “Of course, what ever you need. I think we’ll be nearly done by then anyway. As far as timing goes, it could be worse.”
You laughed ruefully, “Yeah. Hey, this is between me and you yeah? You know how Viktor gets.”
“He doesn’t mean anything by it. Just ya know.”
“I’d be the same if the roles were reversed.”
“And it’s not that he doesn’t like you.”
“I know.” You laughed again. You actually were pretty sure Viktor liked you just fine. He was grumpy by nature and by virtue of always being in pain… and also just a natural alpha disposition toward defensiveness… That was rude, you berated yourself. Alphas weren’t a monolith. And as far as Alphas go, Viktor was by far the most tolerable. He didn’t go pushing his weight around. At first glance you thought he was beta like Jayce. Too calm. You knew better now.
“Tell me if you need anything,” Jayce said earnestly, putting a hand on yours.
“Wanna take a week with me?” you offered with a salacious smile.
He barked a loud laugh, “I still have deadlines. God a week. My heart would give out.”
You snorted finally going over to your workstation, “Weak, beta.”
“Fuck you,” he laughed, turning back to his work.
Not the kind of thing most colleagues joked about. Actually the kind of thing that could get you a fat lawsuit, but all-nighters in the lab had made you all a bit more tongue-in-cheek with each other. Even Viktor was good for a few jokes.
Viktor came back in just a few minutes, smelling of fresh coffee brewed too strong, and his usual herbaceous yet neutral scent. The smell of an alpha who had taken his meds and was doing his part. Still the smell of him made your stomach twist. It was going to be a long three days.
Luckily work was a more than adequate distraction. Soon your brain was so full of numbers and data sheets that you could forget your body. Systematically running systems to be sure everything was running smoothly. Inevitably running across a hiccup, noting it and sending it back to Viktor to fix. You’d give him your suggestions, he’d take them in account and start his process again. Trouble shooting the gadgets form for user error was another big part of your job. A part that set Jayce’s teeth on edge as he watched your ham-handed treatment of his precious work to be sure it held up. Standing haphazardly on mobility ramp he built, jumping up and down, stomping it. Tossing the expensive rune tablet on the nearby table, smacking it to the floor, introducing everyday stress. When inevitably something broke she’d give it back to him with detailed notes on improvement.
There weren’t many breaks and when the breaks happened they were superficial.
“You’re shit with glass you know that?” she said staring at the fragments of the tablet screen. The inner mechanisms were just fine but the display was as good as ruined.
“Come down to the forge and show me again?” Jayce asked, looking at you with wide pleading eyes.
You sighed thinking about the blazing hot room and going down to pour molten glass and be sure there were no micro-cracks or uneven stress on the sheets, “After lunch. It’s nearly 3, I’ll take orders.” You turned to your desk and grabbed a note pad, “I’m going to Huang’s.”
“I was hoping you’d say Mossa’s,” Jayce frowned.
“Tough. I want Huang. Gimme your order and your fancy card, moneybags.”
Jayce scowled, “Viktor, do you hear how she talks to me?”
“Huang’s sounds fine,” Viktor murmured, “Give her your card, moneybags.”
You gave Jayce a smug smile, “What do you want, Vik?”
You took their orders, writing everything down because even at your best you were prone to forgetting very simple lists. Jayce was a giant and he ate like one. Which meant he was coming with you to transport the food back to the academy. No way you could carry it all back.
On your walk there Jayce was quiet, which wasn’t completely out of character especially considering how much the two of you were working.
“Can I ask you a question? It’s personal.” Jayce said suddenly.
“You can ask me anything you want, sugar.”
He sighed, and you looked up to see the fond look he was giving you, “Would you really spend that week with me?”
You blinked, you didn’t expect that to be his question. Sometimes Jayce had questions about what it was like to be an omega. All of the work the three of you did was for the sake of making people’s lives easier. It made sense that he’d want to know more of your experience. You had an inkling that Viktor was similarly curious but being an alpha he avoided asking those kind of questions though you would have answered him just the same.
“Yeah,” you nodded, “yeah I would. I trust you. I wouldn’t try to tie you to me forever or anything. But yeah. It’s not-” you took a deep breath to gather your thoughts, “I know people make it seem like it’s a five day fuck fest. I mean for some people it is. But for me? The first three days? I’m just really sleepy but I can’t get comfortable enough to rest. And then it’s sort of like having the flu. You know when you feel hot and cold and your skin just hurts. I really just feel like…. bloated, and fragile. And then the last two days… well sex helps? It eases the cramps, but also the emotional closeness helps soothe the anxiety. At least for me. I think I could weather it better if I just had someone to hold me.” You frowned a little at the end of your thought. That was the part you really hated. Feeling sick? That was fine. You’d take meds, but the soul deep loneliness, sitting in your little apartment by yourself while you felt vulnerable and tired that was the harder part.
“That’s why you stay on suppressants year round. Even with the risks.” Jayce concluded.
You nodded, “It’s a mental thing more than a physical one. Hard to get through.”
“You know I really would help… especially since it’s not a five day fuck-fest,” he smiled as he bumped your shoulder, “I can swing by, check in on you. I care about you a lot. You’re not just my colleague you and Viktor… you’re the best friends I have.”
Tears pricked at your eyes as he said that, “Ahh” you complained as you felt your emotions rearing up. You punched him in the arm, “Dammit. You always do this to me. I have a confession.”
You stopped walking and Jayce stopped too. And just like that you were spilling your guts to him. It was hard to lie to Jayce. Not because he was a skeptic; it was the exact opposite actually. He took your word too easily. Some people called him gullible and maybe he was, but you thought he was just… trusting. Willing to believe and do anything for the people he cared about. Lying to a person like that said less about them and more about you. You told him everything. Your lapsed prescription, the scent-blockers, what your actual timeline was.
“You can’t go back to the lab. What about Viktor?”
“He won’t even notice,” you waved off, “you didn’t even notice.”
“Well I’m not an alpha!”
“Jayce, please. We can’t afford to be down a person. Three days. And I’ll leave early on the third day.”
“We should tell Viktor.”
“He’ll flip!” You covered your face, cursing yourself for your weakness. You shouldn’t have said anything, but Jayce was right there being so sweet and maybe if your hormones weren’t already acting up you could have resisted.
“He won’t. Look at me,” he gently pulled at your wrist, “He won’t. You’d do the same for him. You have done the same for him.”
You bit your lip. That situation was different. A new experimental medication to help with his condition. It did help his condition but it had an awful freak interaction with his suppressant sending him into a rut while he was in the lab. Jayce had made sure you had a clear choice in the matter, and Viktor had all but shoved you out of the lab, but you’d chosen to stay, to do what only you could, practically wrapping yourself around him, scenting him until he was calm and he could focus and well the rest of that evening was… But that didn’t mean Viktor owed you anything. It was your choice and you had a soft spot for the quiet alpha. And in one way or another you’d both lost the genetic lottery and had to deal with the biological imperative that kept the human race making babies no matter how inconvenient.
“I didn’t do it so he’d owe me.”
“You should tell him so he can make a choice. He wouldn’t rob you of a choice.”
“Ugh! Oh I can’t stand you! You’re such a good person!” You threw your hands in the air and trudged ahead.
He called after you, walking at a slightly faster pace to catch up to you, “You’ll tell him?”
“Fine!”
You returned to the Academy with your mammoth order. Jayce actually held most of it, you only had the drinks, but it was still cumbersome. Obviously, the three of you didn’t eat in the lab. Instead you all sat in one of the break rooms. It was blessedly empty and with the three of you there it would stay that way. Other academics tended to find the three of you intimidating.
Viktor had to be dragged away from his work. He was frowning as he sat down, and his frown only deepened when Jayce dragged an extra chair over for his leg. Never the less he used it, propping his braced leg up on the chair and stretching it with a quiet groan and wince. Fuck, Jayce was right. You had to tell him.
Jayce stared at you the entire time you ate, waiting for you to say something, but you wanted Viktor to at least eat a little before you ruined everything. In an effort to maintain normalcy you chattered about work, and then about the Progress Day presentation, promising you’d help Jayce with his speech.
Viktor’s eyes slid from Jayce’s stern expression to your face as you spoke. Your eyes were solely focused on your box of takeout. Your voice only stopped so you could chew and swallow.
“What is happening here?” Viktor asked while you were chewing.
Your eyes widened and you spoke around a full mouth, “What do you mean?”
He gestured between you and Jayce with his fork, “What is this?”
Perceptive. You often forgot Viktor wasn’t nearly as aloof as he acted. He was just very good at the act.
“Nothing,” you lied.
Jayce frowned, “You have something to tell him.”
You pouted, “I was going to get to it after lunch. He barely eats as it is and this is going to make him lose his appetite.”
“Speaking as if he is not here will make him lose more than his appetite,”Viktor sassed using the third person.
Jayce gave you a hard glare.
“Fine. I am… starting my heat. I… I took the suppressants in my sheet last week when we had to move up our deadline, and I refilled my prescription but I forgot to pick them up with the share-out happening. So when I looked today…”
“Omega,” Viktor’s tone was dripping with disapproval as he spoke your title.
“Ahhhh don’t call me that. And do not use that tone with me.”
“You think I did not know?” He asked turning his gaze back to his food as if he hadn’t dropped a major bomb.
You blinked, stunned, “Excuse me.”
“I could smell it on you the moment I walked in. The scent-blockers are appreciated, but I knew.”
“How?!”
“I am very familiar with your scent. It is a byproduct of my nature and yours, and our… time together.”
Right. While a heat wasn’t necessarily a five-day fuckfest a rut was certainly a 24 hour one. Or maybe that was just Viktor. Alphas are not a monolith after all. Hours of being entangled, his nose pressed right against your neck, being stuck together after. Of course he knew your scent, probably knew it better than you did.
“You have a few days before you need to be isolated,” he said thoughtfully, “We won’t be done in three days. Even if we stay up for 72 hours straight. And that strain will start it early.”
You put your head in your hands. He was right. It’s not even that you would be completely necessary the whole time. But they would need you at random times when their revisions were finished and then you would troubleshoot again.
Jayce frowned, “What can we do?”
Viktor called your name and did not speak until you looked at him, “I am willing to help.”
“You’re gonna fuck me in the lab in between experiments?” you snapped at him. Jayce inelegantly choked on his food.
He blinked, unbothered, “That is certainly one way. It is not what I was going to suggest.”
“Suggest away.”
“You have roughly,” he pulled in a deep breath, “two more days before you’ll need… relief. If you stay with me in those two days, then you may still be lucid for days 4 and 5.”
“But you-”
“We have deadlines,” Viktor waved off, “You’ll tell me what you need. And if I’m not mistaken Jayce could be of help too, if he’s willing. A neutral scent, and his calming effect on you could be useful.”
“How do you know all of this?” Jayce questioned genuinely fascinated like the nerd he was.
Viktor looked at you a silent question to see how much you minded him sharing. You gestured for him to continue. He might as well share it all.
“She is not the only omega I’ve been around but she is the one I see most often. I know her scent well and upon ovulation there is a fertile window where in which she smells… sweeter to me. And on the days of most likely conception she will smell irresistible. If we were not so acquainted I could be similarly fooled by scent-blockers. But since our incident last spring…” He trailed off and Jayce blushed, realizing what he was referring to.
There wasn’t a place on your body Viktor hadn’t explored.
Viktor continued, “I know you can blunt the effects because you did it for me. During my incident with your scent as a physical barrier between us I was able to think clearly. You could do the same for her.”
Jayce looked to you, “Do you think that will work?”
“Viktor, I don’t want you to do this because you think you owe me or-”
“We have deadlines,” he cut you off. “That is all.”
There was a ringing finality to his tone that kept you from arguing further. You frowned. Now you were the one who had lost their appetite.