Chapter Text
Catra had had an inkling that the day was not going to go to plan when she realised that the soy latte with salmon flakes tasted wrong. The acidic tang of the caffeine jarred more with the salt on the salmon and the milk felt thick on her tongue. She’d chalked that up to the barista being rushed, given the small coffee shop had been heaving and she was behind schedule, but now that she was in the office things were starting to hint that maybe she had forgotten something. The cold air outside hadn’t managed to jar her as it normally did, with winter starting to settle in.
The fact she’d nearly gotten the wrong train that morning was another, belated, hint, but again she had a reason - she’d overslept.
Which was in itself another hint. Her night owl tendencies often meant her sleep cycle was so busted she was up with the trash-collectors most mornings. And her rage-fuelled obsession with deadlines meant she wouldn’t let herself sleep in.
The fact she was snapping at her team as well wouldn’t normally be a sign, except at the moment she was snapping at them for them reminding her about project points.
She stared at the project planner on her laptop while around her the office buzzed with subdued activity. The place was open plan, perfectly designed to encourage “Collaboration” and probably also reduce any actual productivity. Catra found the noise grating and her ear twitched, while her feline tail lashed from side to side. She glared at the planner, a mess of shaded deadlines, project sprints and noted commentary on progress reports. The phrase “Circle back” and “reinvigorate” were sprinkled liberally throughout and she could feel her soul recoiling from the links to “slide decks” and “KPI” spreadsheets.
The room smelt wrong as well. It always was a bit much, the recycled aircon, the waft of people’s home-made lunches from the break-out area and the intern’s barely-there body-wash all made it a bit hectic. But it was something she’d learned to zone out.
And the aircon didn’t seem to be making a difference, as she felt like she was sweating. Again, the train had been hot, so she’d put it down to just not having a chance to cool down from the commute.
The commute in that had been three hours before.
“Hey, uh, Wildcat… you don’t look so great.”
Catra flinched and looked up, before managing to force a rigid smile onto her face. “Scorp.”
Her colleague and probably-sort-of-best friend watched her worriedly. The woman was physically imposing, standing at over six feet seven inches tall and was stacked like a body-builder, with short cropped nearly-white hair; but she also radiated the sort of concern that could be mistaken for busy-bodyness if you didn’t know someone. Catra had mixed feelings about Scorpia, as she knew the woman carried a bit of a torch for her, which had led Catra to almost cross a professional line during one of her infrequent burnout fuelled outbursts. Normally it involved wine and reminiscing over wanting to be big corporate big-shots, but she’d kissed the woman during one of those a few months back and then run off. They’d only really just started to walk back to friendship and Catra wasn’t 100% sure how to act around the woman a lot of the time, which was difficult as they were both Managers in the company, reporting to the same perfectionist boss.
“Uh, yeah, that’s me.” Scorpia flashed a guileless smile, full of actual, genuine warmth. It morphed back into her worried frown in a micro-second however, “But are you ok?”
“I mean, the light’s a bit bright. I guess.” Catra shifted and leaned back, her eyes noting the curve of Scorpia’s throat for a moment. It was a strange thought, weirdly detached. Like she was watching someone appreciate something else. She liked Scorpia. She found her attractive, but there was something blocking it.
A proverbial elephant in her brain. An unresolved thing. She’d tried resolving it without facing it but, well. That ship had sailed a long time ago. But still it sat there.
“You still there, Catra?” Scorpia waved a pincer, the Scorponi woman’s stinger tail twitching worriedly behind her. Catra blinked and let out a confused groan.
“Uhhh, what?”
“You zoned out there little buddy! Got a bit of, uh… drool going on. You sure you’re ok?”
Catra’s frowned deepend and she waved a hand, her claws glinting in the fluorescent lights of the office. “I’m fine, Scorp. Just these deadlines and we’re behind on the next sprint. The client is going to have a freakin’ breakdown if we don’t hit the next milestone and…”
“Yeah, Lonnie mentioned that you’d not checked the latest round of story-point checkers.”
Catra stared at the woman, deadpan, before she snorted. “Eugh, forgot Hordak had us shift to that terminology. How you can say that shit straight faced I don’t know.”
Scorpia laughed ruefully. “Well, you were all about shifting the paradigm a week ago…”
“Ouch. Sassy, bitch.” Catra tried to glare at her friend but was slightly relieved at the banter. She scratched at her arm and drew a breath.
And froze.
The smells hit at once and the nagging feeling in her brain began to contort into something a bit more like a suspicion. But she was sure it couldn’t be that. She’d taken her pills!
Scorpia was still frowning and the woman leaned forward to press a pincer to Catra’s forehead. She let out a low whistle and Catra shivered at the contact. Part of her wanted to snatch the claw and lick it. Another wanted to shove it away with a shriek of wrongwrongwrong.
Oh hell.
“You’re really warm, Wildcat. Maybe coming down with something. We did have that bout of flu rip through the other offices, so maybe it's our turn!” The woman laughed and twirled a claw. “That or you’ve hit your heat cycle. Oops! Sorry, I know that’s a bit personal. But I know everyone’s good with their suppressants and you never forget those.”
Scorpia’s smile dimmed as she watched Catra. The feline woman had a thousand yard stare as her clawed fingers drummed on the desktop. She let out a breath, then stood abruptly and began to gather her things, her movements nearly frantic. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck….”
Scorpia’s eyes widened and she stepped around the desk to start helping Catra pack things away, her voice hushed and urgent. “Ok, we’ll get you to the elevators, make sure you’re in the segregated car for the metro, ok? I’ll make sure that the Alphas on the floor are out of the way. I know they’re all solid but we don’t want anyone surprised and making a stupid comment out of the blue and I don’t want you getting all angry and, um, maybe disconnecting someone’s nose from their face.”
Catra shot her friend a glare but Scorpia’s shy smile made her relent. She paused and sighed, then turned to Scorpia, her brain fog that she only now realised was actually there, clearing for a moment. “Hey, uh… Scorp. I know as a beta this isn’t your whole… thing to deal with. But thank you. And, uh… I’m sorry.”
Scorpia’s smile seemed a bit melancholy but she nodded. Her mouth twisted as if she were embarrassed. Catra rolled her eyes and gestured impatiently and Scorpia tapped her claws together. “Are you ok? Do you have anyone to help with… this?”
Catra grimaced and shook her head. “If they hit or the suppressants can’t dull it, I just ride it out. Normally it’s not as bad as full blown… well…”
She trailed off and Scorpia nodded slowly. “So this is… full blown?”
The cat-girl groaned. “I don’t know. Not sure if the pills didn’t work or maybe I missed a dose. It’ll be…rough. But I’ll manage.”
She turned back to her bag and just knew Scorpia was aching to ask the dreaded question. The one everyone who had even a passing interest in Omega’s always tended to: the chasers, the fetishists or the eager: “Can I help?”
They were never quite prepared for the reality. Catra shuddered at a particularly bad encounter just as she’d been starting her career. The poor woman who thought she’d had it in the back had fled the apartment after a single day.
She felt weird about the memory - it hadn’t been a good one, and the experience had felt lacking. It was one of many reasons she had ready doses of suppressant to hand and kept to a strict routine. And worked herself to the bone, truth be told. A tired body was not one that wanted much. Oh she had fun. She went out. She drank with the team, went to karaoke and all that. Work-hard-play-hard. More on the work side, of course.
But a heat was not something she was looking forward to. Being stuck in her apartment wasn’t going to be fun, but she was hopeful she’d be cogent enough to get some work done, distractions and feelings be damned.
Her thoughts wavered as she slung the messenger bag over her shoulder and managed to stumble her way out of the office. Her co-workers seemed to be relieved to see her go, but Catra didn’t pay it much mind, not even sure if she should tell Mr Hordak about her departure. Scorpia’s voice had become a low drone at some stage, a bad sign that she hadn’t simply missed a single dose - that maybe the pills for a few days hadn’t been as effective.
That was confirmed by the brightness of the city street outside. Freiburg Business District wasn’t a heavy-traffic area, mostly consisting of brutalist and steel-glass designs around sanitised pedestrian walkways. But the sound of people, all yammering into cell-phones or at each other grated. Catra’s ears flattened against her head as she dashed from the front of her office building into the metro-station. She made it to the cordoned section of platform, a glass cubicle where sprayers puffed out pheromones to soothe. A few other Omegas milled in there, some as haggard as Catra and she exchanged looks with a few, mostly in solidarity. No medication or system was perfect and the world tried to accommodate the 48% of the population who fell into her particular category.
A station attendant steered a few Alphas away, who were drawn subconsciously by the lingering scent of pheromones, the men and women blinking rapidly as they were roused from their near autopilot, their steps leading them towards the sectioned area even as they stared at phones or looked up at the departure ticker.
Mercifully, the train slid into the station after only a few minutes and the Omegas all piled into their cabin. Suppressed omegas mingled elsewhere, but their little carriage had the same seals and sprayers to keep them at least moderately comfortable. However, Catra could see a few of her peers rubbing their thighs together or biting their lips. The nervous energy wasn’t great but she knew for most they only had to make it home, to whatever relief awaited them.
She felt jealous. And a little resentful. Her relief was long gone.
The journey zipped by, her foggy brain kept at bay by the smell in the air, calming her for a bit. Her station seemed to lurch out of nowhere and Catra practically bolted from the carriage, very aware that she had no clue how rapidly she’d go into her potential fugue state.
Heat hit people differently. It wasn’t like the pornos described, not entirely. Oh the drive was there, but it was closer to being ridiculously drunk. Fine motor skills were hampered, the nesting drive kicked in hard and conversation was sometimes tricky due to the heightened emotional reactions. It didn’t make you jump on random people, but it led to some serious confrontations with Alphas and sometimes other Omegas as the baseline drives warred with rationality. Attraction played a huge part. An Alpha might smell you and be interested, but if they weren’t actually attracted to you it was often just a hotbed for frustration and a fight - all that emotion and nowhere to go. Some people just fucked it out anyway, regardless, but it wasn’t a complete abandonment of reason.
Her main problem was that it was worse for Magicats. Mainly because the feline body-form had its own heatcycle that amplified that of the Omega. More emotion, more irritation, more impatience and a higher threshold to relieve the strain.
She was thankful her apartment block was relatively small, her space only being on the third floor of eight. She didn’t take the elevator, not wanting to be stuck in a small space with anyone else, lest she take a swipe at them or make them uncomfortable. She was proud of that - her therapist would say she’d made progress.
She just needed a shower, a chance to steam her body a bit. Then a decent bowl of ramen and fish and then nest She’d pick out the biggest damn toy she could find in her wardrobe and sit on the damn thing until this passed. Brute forcing her way through this was the only way. Work would help. Distractions. She wouldn’t let it beat her.
She was in control. Not anything else.
Her front door slammed, her bag flew onto the couch and Catra practically tore her clothes off as she stumbled into her bathroom. Her apartment was, blissfully, not a studio. She’d saved and scrimped, her job not exactly poorly paid as a lead manager for a consulting firm. She could ford a decent apartment with actual rooms.
She spun the taps and sighed as the shower hissed to life, the high-pressure water steaming out. Catra practically melted into it, the heat of the water boiling through her fur and against her skin, leeching away the slight ache that permeated her body - the sense that she needed to stretch and curl up at the same time. She turned her face into the water and gargled it.
Mouth full, overflowing…
She shuddered and hissed then scrubbed at her body.
Hands roaming.
She yowled plaintively, her hand suddenly between her legs, a finger sliding between her swollen lips. She was boiling and she hadn’t even noticed. She imagined her black suit pants would have a noticeable damp spot on them, the shame of it colliding with the need.
Panting, she planted a foot against the wall of the shower and roughly slid another two fingers inside herself. The fullness made her groan and sigh as her clit throbbed almost painfully. Her thumb toyed with it as she roughly toyed with herself. Water cascaded down her form as her free hand kneaded at her breast. She tugged on a dark nipple and let out another low yowl, her hips bucking, seeking something.
Hand at the nape of her neck, a voice in her ear.
“A….A….” She bit the word back, killing it in her throat. But she knew it, even as she practically dragged the orgasm out of herself. She hunched over and the water sprayed over her back as her tail lashed from side to side. She felt the walls of her pussy clamp around her fingers as a gush of fluid washed out from her to mingle with the shower water. She choked out a relieved sob as the fog cleared for a moment.
And then the shower sputtered and sprayed a full blast of freezing water down onto her.
Catra let out an almighty shriek and flailed about. She practically leapt out of the cubicle and bounced off the sink counter before she sprawled onto the floor. Her post orgasmic glow was gone, blown away and she curled up on the floor with a disgruntled his. Gently, she rose, eyes ear stained and brow creased in irritation.With another hiss she yanked a towel from the rack and began to mop at herself. She could feel the throb beginning to build again, but slower than normal, the suppressants trying to do something. With a glare, she switched the faucets off and the shower stilled. There was a groan from the piping then silence.
Catra eyed the wall, then moved to the sink. She turned the tap.
Nothing.
Another rattle thunked and she could hear a faint hiss from somewhere, which then cut out. She wrapped the towel around herself and walked back down the corridor, across the main living area and into the kitchen. She tried the taps there. Nothing again. Then she moved over to the radiator against a wall. The building had some old-style water-radiators. Normally hers were middling warmth, but these were ice cold.
Which wasn’t good. She moved to her bag and plucked out her cellphone. She ignored the text from Scorpia asking for an update and thumbed the weather app.
Chance of rain and a temperature dip over the afternoon to the evening. And she had no hot water or heating. She wondered if it was just her or the building as a whole, but she was fairly sure each apartment had their own independent heating and water setups, fed from a central mains tank. In which case it was probably down to her to solve this.
Just what she needed - some guy in overalls making small talk while she tried to not combust or tear his throat out. But it was that or sit in a cold apartment with no water. And going out was off the cards; getting to a hotel would be a nightmare and those with vacancies would charge a premium for an Omega in heat - the deep clean of a room afterwards was always the excuse.
With a sigh, Catra thumbed her cell to search for any available plumber options. Not many near her were rated well, but one stuck out.
BFS Maintenance Solutions. 24 hour service. Princess or pauper, we have the power… to help you!
They also did electrics, which Catra was fairly sure shouldn’t mix with plumbing, but right now she rather she covered all her bases. She pondered just sending an email but bit the bullet and called. From her bag, her work phone began to buzz, distracting her momentarily, but she ignored it. She jolted as a voice answered her call, the bored tone almost making her want to hang up.
“BFS Solution. Turning Darkness to Light, We’re Right beside you. How can I, like… help, I guess?”
”Hey, so my water just turned me into an ice block and now it’s shut off.”
“Oh-kay. Freezer burn and now no spray?”
“I suppose?” Catra pulled the phone away from her ear to frown at it, then sighed and returned it to speak. “Look, my water’s all not working. Anywhere. No idea what it is. Can’t see a leak, my floor hasn’t collapsed. So. Can you fix it?”
“Yeah. Probably. Any issues with lighting? Appliances not working?”
“Uh…” Catra looked around and scoffed. “I’m calling about my water.”
The voice on the other end sighed. “Ma’am, if it’s a water leak into the electricals, it may have shorted your pump or blown a fuse. Either way, we don’t want you hurting yourself so please stay clear of any outlets until our maintenance specialist has had chance to assess.”
“Sure, sure. I bet that’ll cost… diagnosing issues already…” Catra winced, knowing she was being snappy. But if anything the voice on the other end seemed amused.
“I mean I could. But then you won’t come back. And the bosses like it when people come back. Me, take it or leave it. BUT if we can’t identify the issue, no charge. That’s Beau’s whole, like, thing. We can’t solve it, then no one can.”
The name tingled something in Catra’s brain but she was distracted by her work phone again. She looked over the messaging and suppressed a groan at another deadline update demand from Hordak. She huffed as the speaker on her own phone chirped again. She frowned, “What was that?”
“Like, I need your address. I can see you’re on a cell, so no landline area code. Can’t believe Beau managed to get that service. Who even has a landline, y’know? Dark ages, man.”
Catra blinked, then rattled off her address.
“Name?”
“What?” Catra was busy typing on her work phone while she cradled her own against her ear, focusing on a problem she could solve. Albeit by mostly CC’ing her whole team in and spamming them with tasks.
“Your name. So we don’t fix your neighbour’s boiler for free and bill you.”
”Oh, uh, Catra Driluth.”
“Cat Druth. Right?”
Catra blinked absently, scanning over the second phone in her free hand, only half hearing, “Yeah that’s right.”
“And anything our engineer needs to be aware of, any safety concerns, safeguarding, accessibility issues, disability access concerns or anything you are not comfortable with including pheromone triggers or preferred identifiers?”
Catra glared at the obtuse question Kyle had added to the Slack channel, about upcoming concerns. “No issues, there’s no issues! Dammit.”
“Ok, just asking! Not like we don’t care, whatever.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry, sure, go ahead.” Catra answered distractedly. “Will you be here soon?”
“Afraid you won’t get me, even if I am awesome. We’ll text you when the engineer is en route, should be there within an hour, barring an overrun at another site.”
“Thanks.” Catra hung up, still fixated on her work emails, confident that her issues both domestic and professional would be solved in short order. She grimaced at another message from Scorpia, all signed off with the usual xoxox. It made her cringe a little, but that reaction was made worse by the flush that pulsed over her skin. Catra shivered and bit her lip before she let out a low growl that was more of a yowl. She stood from the laptop and moved back to the bathroom to idly check her tab of suppressants and noted she’d only missed a single day. She squinted at the tabs and sniffed. She didn’t know why, as she had no idea what good suppressants smelled like, but something was telling her these smelled slightly different; less sharp perhaps? Lacking.
She’d never really indulged in her people’s heritage, doing those culture courses on refining one’s senses, or developing the skills to really investigate scents. But she could normally pick up when things smelled different, like a subconscious act.
And her subconscious was telling her this pack of suppressants were probably defective. As if the fact she could feel the space between her thighs dampening again wasn’t clue enough.
Catra paused and realised she’d wandered back into her bedroom and blinked, noting the fact that, while she’d been reading and studying the packet, her free hand had been moving cushions and pillows on the bed.
“Oh fuuuuuck,” she groaned before she bit her lip again. The urge wasn’t quite as overbearing as it used to be, a dull need to build a sanctuary, to be somewhere safe. Even the main light in her bedroom was starting to bug her. The plus side was that the sensation was muted still, so she could probably ride it out. With a frustrated groan she tossed the tablet packet onto her bedside table and moved back into the kitchen where she went to make some coffee. She stopped again and grimaced, unsure if she had enough water in the coffee maker, but decided to risk it. The sound of her mug clinking onto the dispenser panel made her flinch a little and the button clicks did little to sooth her. The machine made a sound like a clogged drain for a few minutes before it produced a sharp scented drink, which Catra sniffed at tentatively, happy to see there had, indeed, been some water left over. She sipped at the bitter drink and sighed, the smell and heat doing a little to settle her brain for a moment.
She sat down and glowered at her work phone screen before she decided to just set her out of office and then tossed the thing into her messenger bag. She’d crack open the laptop after a nap. She’d need something to do while the damn plumber worked their magic. Or to avoid having to deal with some leering idiot.
Catra flopped onto her couch and checked her personal phone, pausing to only send a message to Scorpia, who had also messaged her there too. She politely but firmly replied to Scorpia’s offer to bring some soup over with a No thank you. Scorpia was a beta, yes, but she didn’t need to make the woman feel awkward. And given the unrequited crush Catra didn’t want to act weird around her and put their recovering friendship back a few steps. Or throw it into the blender entirely.
The buzz of her phone made Catra realise she’d zoned out completely and she rubbed her thighs together as another pulse thrummed through her. It wasn’t overpowering, more like a tooth ache that reminded you it was there: not a constant pain but more a sensation in the background. She let out a breath and glanced at the new message. Her chat function said “likely sender: BFS Solutions”, while the message itself was a very simple, Engineer en route - eta 15 minutes.
Catra blinked as the message seemed to be typing and deleting, as if there was a second one pending. As she stared at the screen there was a loud pop from outside and the lights in the apartment flicked off. Her wifi vanished and so did her signal bars.
A power cut. JUST what she needed. The world seemed to be against her majorly. So, no hot water AND maybe no heating.
A hotel was starting to sound really good now, but that chance of booking was even lower now with a walk in - not many places did that unless it was a real emergency. Duty of care and all that - if it hit as she crossed town, well, she could end up in hospital under heavy suppressants and those knocked you right out. Not fun. And with no signal, no chance of checking in remotely and dashing there quick-like.
Grumbling, Catra stumbled up and headed to her kitchen cupboard, fishing out a set of small tea lights. The pack was half empty as she liked the low light of the things now and then. More fumbling produced matches and she began to set the things up, ready to light them up for the evening. Better to have some light when sunset happened.
Her preparation was rudely interrupted by a thumping on the door. Catra turned and dropped the tea lights on the kitchen counter before she stalked to the apartment entrance. She unlatched the door and swung it open, only registering that her brain was a little foggy as she did so. She looked out into the hallway and began to speak, “Hey…”
Two things hit her as the door opened. Well, three things really.
First, she realised that she was still only wearing a towel, wrapped around herself and held in place by a tuck alone.
Second, the faint, lingering scent of an Alpha hit her nose.
And third, she recognised the Engineer in her hallway. Tall. Athletic. Defined arms. Blonde hair in a ponytail and a poof of hair at the front. Grey-blue eyes with soft crinkles at the corners, caused by the damn near ever present smile on her face, enhanced by the slender face and sharp jaw.
“...Adora?”