Chapter Text
It’s a random morning in February when Alex wakes up in the brownstone and finds Henry next to him in bed already awake, glaring at a little yellow pill in his hand.
“Everything okay, sweetheart?” Alex asks although the answer is probably no if Henry’s sitting in his bed, staring at his suppressants. Stupid question. Alex already has regrets, but he also hasn’t had any coffee yet, and he’s only been awake for half a minute so he thinks he can be excused. At least he immediately clocked the situation and asked. He can be a good boyfriend.
Henry huffs out a breath. His hair is all sleep-mussed, a few of the thick blond strands falling into his face, but they’re not long enough to obscure his eyes. There’s an angry glint in Henry’s blue eyes and Alex wonders who he has to fight. Considering the pill in Henry’s hand, probably the Queen of England.
“I just—I really want to throw the whole bottle away. Everybody knows now anyway.”
He’s not wrong. It feels like the whole world read their emails and among all the flirting, all the declarations of love, all the conversations about their families, their hopes and fears and dreams, there was the obvious first secret, that Henry is gay, and then later, after the lake house, Henry’s last secret; that Henry is an omega.
After the initial upheaval, the world has—mostly anyway—taken both of these things in stride. There are always going to be bigots and internet trolls, but largely, the response has been supportive; of Henry being gay and Alex being bi, of Alex being an alpha and Henry being an omega.
Alex’s alpha status of course hasn’t been a secret. He presented years ago, right after the Rio Olympics, although he hadn’t realized who triggered it back then. Being an alpha isn’t really anything to hide anymore. There are still people who think people with secondary genders are unnatural on principle, but being an alpha has always been easier than being an omega.
Thankfully a lot has changed in the last hundred years and most people have gotten used to the fact that a small percentage of the population is a little different when it comes to their reproductive biology and that’s fine.
“I have nothing to hide anymore,” Henry says now, which is true, “so why should I keep taking these blasted things?”
Henry’s been on suppressants ever since he presented, also in Rio. In Alex’s defense of his obliviousness, he might have cottoned on faster if Henry hadn’t run from him in Rio before Alex could realize what was going on. Not that Alex blames him, he can only imagine how terrified Henry must have been. Not only gay, already forced into the closet by his grandmother just after his father died and his mother disappeared from his life, but an omega on top of it, something else that couldn’t exist in the royal family but that would be much harder to hide.
“Sweetheart, you can do whatever the fuck you want.”
Henry nods. “One of the palace doctors, he wasn’t around for long for obvious reasons, he wasn’t thrilled with the meds. Said the dosage was too high, that it was dangerous to go on suppressants immediately and never go through a natural heat. And…”
Alex takes Henry’s hand when he breaks off, giving it an encouraging squeeze.
“I get these headaches sometimes and they could be side effects. Never mind the long-term effects. I just—I just want to stop.”
“You want to be free,” Alex says because he knows this isn’t only about the headaches and the possible long-term damage, even if they’d be reason enough.
“Yes.” Henry looks up at Alex and his expression is determined now. “I had a meeting with the new doctor who’s going to volunteer for the shelter, Doctor Martin. She specializes in secondary gender status. We had a good conversation.”
“What did she say?”
“That I should go off the suppressants as fast as possible.”
“Okay. Throw the whole box out.”
Henry’s brow pinches. “It’s unfortunately not that easy. There might be withdrawal symptoms, and my first heat might be… unpredictable.”
Fuck. Alex’s mind runs a mile a minute, listing all the bad things that could account for ‘unpredictable.’
“How bad?”
Henry shrugs. “There’s no way to tell. It might be absolutely fine. It might be terrible. Doctor Martin gave me some reading materials.”
Heat sex is great. It’s intense, and perfect, orgasm after orgasm, two days of absolute sexual bliss. Or that’s how it’s portrayed in Hollywood movies, romance novels, and porn anyway.
With the acceptance of secondary genders also came a fascination with them and like all things, their portrayal in pop culture is often more fantasy than reality.
But the reality is—different.
Heat sex can still be intense, and perfect, orgasm after orgasm, two (or three or four or even five) days of absolute sexual bliss. But…
It’s messy, for one. Unless there are a lot of towels and washcloths handy it can get pretty gross. It’s draining, too. During a heat, alphas and omegas burn double the amount of calories, and that’s when they’re not actively fucking. Energy consumption during heat sex is insane. So it requires lots of food, lots of water, and electrolytes. There are also hormonal responses, mood swings, muscle cramps, soreness, insomnia, etcetera, et-fucking-cetera.
Alex has never spent a heat with anyone—he’s never dated anyone, let alone an omega seriously enough for that before Henry—but he knows that it’s not all sunshine and roses. His mom’s campaign advocated for further protection of omegas, better health care, and mandatory heat leave. Alex has read the leaflets and has heard the speeches.
After the lake house, when Alex finally knew everything that Henry had to hide from the world, Henry told him about the few times when his suppressants failed and sent him into an unplanned heat. Hell, Alex was the catalyst for all of them—and that’s a pile of guilt Henry tells him to bury but Alex will never be able to fully shake—but each time Henry fled fast enough and swallowed enough emergency heat blockers to keep his symptoms short and mild. Well, except for the first time in Rio of course, when even the emergency meds couldn’t stop it altogether, but that’s par for the course for first heats.
When Henry went into heat after the whole cake debacle at the royal wedding, he had quick access to emergency heat suppressants. And when Henry’s suppressants failed him once again in Texas in the lake house, he had an emergency pill with him, and upon his return to London, the palace doctors managed to give him enough meds to keep his heat at bay. None of it had been pleasant, and Alex could tell when Henry told him about it that he was downplaying the side effects. But Alex can use Google. He knows that emergency heat blockers can cause anything from migraines to joint inflammation and a whole host of other unpleasantness in between.
By now, Alex has no trouble believing that Queen Mary never had any qualms about putting her own grandson through this, but he’s still appalled that the palace doctors had gone along with it. They at least should have known better. Alex is pretty sure that they still recite the fucking Hippocratic oath in England too.
Alex drags a hand through his unruly curls and takes a deep breath. Even though thinking about how fucking unfair the crown treated Henry always raises his blood pressure, this is not the time to get sidetracked by righteous anger. “So. What do you want to do?”
“I want to be free,” Henry says, “completely. I want to be myself, my whole self. And I want to be with you, in any way I can.”
“Sweetheart, I appreciate the last point, and of course, I’d be thrilled to have heat sex with you, but just in case there’s even a shred of doubt, if you decided to stay on suppressants forever, I would only ever worry about your health and not about getting heat sex.”
“I know,” Henry says, no doubt in his voice. “And it’s not the most pressing reason, no matter how appealing it might be. But I want to.”
Alex nods and he’s never been shy about sex, always jumping right in, willing to learn what he didn’t know, but this—nothing has ever mattered like this.
“I’ve never done it before,” he says, “spent a heat with someone, I mean,” he explains at Henry’s curious look. Alphas don’t go into heat, not like omegas do. There are a few days of heightened sex drive when they first present and an omega’s heat will affect an alpha, but it’s not the same.
“Why are you nervous, love?” Henry asks. “You’ve never been nervous before and that’s when you didn’t know the mechanics.”
Alex thinks back to his first blowjob and snorts. “Yeah well, the stakes are higher now. You could have a bad heat and I’ll be the one to take care of you. And I want to do that, of course I do, but I want to do it fucking right. I want to make it good for you.”
Henry just smiles at him. “I know you will, darling.”
“You don’t know the future.”
“No. But I know you.”
Alex kisses him. Sometimes there’s really nothing else to do about Henry’s perfect words coming out of his perfect mouth.
“Okay. When do you want to do this?”
“I need to talk to Doctor Martin again. She wanted to do some blood tests, and then suggest a course of action. And we’ll need a free week or two, and since I’ll need to go back to England soon… Maybe in a couple of months, before you start law school?”
“Ready when you are.” Alex waggles his eyebrows, Henry rolls his eyes—very fondly—and then David shuffles into the room, demanding his morning walk with big brown eyes.
So Henry keeps taking his suppressants—for now anyway—and they slowly go back to their lives and into the spotlight; Henry with a long list of royal engagements and Alex at his side for some of them. There are other events they attend in New York, for Henry’s shelter and all the other LGBTQ+ organizations who come knocking now that the Prince of England and the First Son of the United States are officially out and part of the queer community.
In the wake of the email leak and the election, they find their rhythm. Instead of only spending a few nights a week there, Alex moves permanently into the brownstone, and nothing much changes between them, except that Henry complains frequently but fondly about Alex’s chino collection, and in return Alex, less fondly, keeps complaining about Henry’s boring ties. They get to sleep next to each other every night and have somehow even more sex than before. Alex also gets to spend more time with David and becomes much more privy to Henry’s very mixed attempts at cooking. He has hope for the quiches though.
Alex doesn’t think he’s ever been happier in his life.
Once they have their schedule for the summer—which is mostly Henry’s royal engagements—they figure out a plan for Henry’s heat.
Because of the queen and her doctors, Henry never had a real, natural, completely unmedicated heat, so they have no idea what to expect once he stops taking his suppressants. Anything from a two-day, weak, nothing more than a heightened sex drive heat to a five-day, high-fever delirium heat is possible.
If Alex were the praying type, he’d pray that it wouldn’t be the latter. Henry’s new doctor promised him emergency heat dampeners in case the symptoms get too bad and a pack of painkillers specifically designed for heat pain and heat fever—Alex has read about the mixed results online—but he really hopes they won’t need them.
The suppressants Henry took for years by his grandmother’s directive fucked enough with his body, and Henry wants to leave all of that behind. So Alex will do everything in his power to make those meds as unnecessary as possible and give Henry the best heat experience he could ever have.
Which means Alex does his fucking research.
It’s April. Henry is on his last solo trip to Britain before they both have to go to the Trooping of the Colour in June after which they’ll be free for the summer. For now, Alex has the brownstone to himself and David.
Even though Henry misses David terribly—sometimes Alex thinks even more than Alex himself—Henry doesn’t want to drag David through the stress of air travel when he’s gone for only two weeks this time. David might be a therapy dog, but he has anxiety too, so David gets to hang out with Alex. It’s not a hardship for either of them, though David has definitely given Alex a reproachful look when he’d curled up in his dog bed hours ago to sleep instead of getting to sleep upstairs in Alex and Henry’s bed because Alex is not going to bed at an hour David deems reasonable. David is probably right, but Alex refuses to get shamed by a beagle for his unhealthy sleeping habits, especially when he’s using those to do some very pertinent research for his boyfriend’s upcoming heat.
He’s going to be prepared, okay? By the time he’s done, he’ll be able to give a fucking TED talk on heat sex. He starts with the Planned Parenthood info leaflets, takes a detour to Wikipedia, which he already read when he figured out Henry was an omega, then goes back to Planned Parenthood for their practical tips and their page of further resources. And then it spirals from there. Alex clicks through countless omega sites and heat articles.
The twenty best heat foods
Can’t sleep well during a heat? These five tricks will knock you right out!
Fabrics that won’t irritate your skin during your heat
Some of them are clickbait, but many come from reputable sites. Alex takes notes. He makes lists which he collects in a binder. It’s color-coded and sorted by topic. Health, hygiene, nutrition, environment, and sex. That one is hopefully going to be the thickest section.
Alex also browses the heat threads on Reddit. He reads posts by both alphas and omegas. For the most comprehensive research, Alex needs info from both sides.
I (26FO) always get super dry skin during my heat because of the raised temperature. Lotion is really impractical with all the rolling around the sheets, so I’ve been experimenting with super moisturizing shower gel and soap. Anyone else have this problem and have suggestions?
487 comments
Alex has no idea if Henry gets dry skin during his heats—he suspects Henry doesn’t have any idea whether he gets dry skin—but Alex looks up Henry’s preferred brand of body lotion and orders their super moisturizing shower gel just in case. And because that’s not on anyone’s list of best moisturizing soaps, he orders the top three suggestions he finds in the comments as well. Several people also recommend humidifiers and Alex thinks, why not? If there was ever a reason to spend ridiculous amounts of money, it was Henry’s happiness.
I (32MA) have pretty decent stamina for an alpha, but even I get tired after three days. It wasn’t a problem with my previous partners because they had pretty short heats, but my new girlfriend’s (28FO) heats last four, sometimes even five days and by the end, even I can’t get it up again anymore. Any tips?
1,486 comments
Alex blinks for a while. His stamina is pretty good already—he and Henry fuck every day, more than once if they have the time and he doesn’t have a problem making Henry come twice when they take their time—but if Henry has longer heats, that might be a problem even for him. And anyway, there’s really no downside to more stamina. Alex opens the comment thread.
There’s lots of nutritional stuff; loading up on carbs in advance, the most efficient protein bars, energy drinks and powders, super fruits, etc. There’s also the classic blue pill—though there are special heat variants with apparently varying results for different people. And then there’s a whole debate about toys. Alex isn’t surprised to read that lots of especially conservative alphas see toys as a competition or an insult, implying that they’re not alpha enough to satisfy their omega. Alex just snorts. Thankfully lots of omegas online set the record straight.
Yes, a real dick is awesome, but a) I care more about the person attached to it and b) real dicks don’t vibrate. So, like, while getting a real knot during a heat is absolutely amazing, don’t hesitate to switch it up with some toys in between. Variety is the spice in life, plus it gives your alpha some much-needed rest.
Remember that not every omega is into guys and we have great heats with female partners and lots ond lots of toys.
A real alpha is someone who will do anything in his power to get me off, using any means necessary. Dick, hands, mouth, toys, carefully selected household items.
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Amen to that
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Household items???
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I like to get spanked with a wooden serving spoon and what about it?
Dude, I love to sleep with a toy inside of me during my heat, but if you think you can keep it up for eight hours, knock yourself out I guess.
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I think that counts as a medical condition lol
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exactly!
If you’re someone like me who likes to go down on your partner during your heat, it’s nicer to do that with a toy inside you, just saying.
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You could just get two alphas for that
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Well, some of us are in monogamous relationships, so
Well, Alex is absolutely pro-toy—the visuals are pretty fucking inspiring—but he draws the line at getting another alpha in there. He’s definitely of the monogamous variety and he’s pretty sure Henry is too. He has seen Henry’s toy box before though, and has even seen and heard him use them when they were apart, and they’re definitely planning for some fun together-time anyway. Alex makes a note to try that out before the heat (toy test run, underlined three times) and moves on.
There’s an interesting thread about building stamina through edging, and while they’ve experimented with that in the past and Alex is down for more, he doesn’t think he has enough time to really train himself in the next few weeks. But that’s absolutely something to think about for the future.
There’s more sex stuff; posts debating edging versus instant gratification, the dangers of pain play during heats, a whole subsection for practicing BDSM couples concerning bondage and impact play, and Alex skips that because while they like to use Henry’s ties for non-vanilla things they’re not quite that advanced.
Alex almost chokes on his coffee when he stumbles over a picture of him and Henry in a thread about the best exercise for optimal heat performance. Alex was very curious about what kind of exercise people recommended to train for a two to five-day sex marathon, but he’s getting more than he bargained for here.
The picture is the one taken after the polo match in Connecticut, Henry sweaty and perfect in his polo uniform and Alex in his best chinos looking at him with a grin.
Polo. The answer is obviously polo. I mean look at those thighs. I bet you can ride a knot for hours with those.
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You can just do horseback riding then.
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Yes, but imagine the additional hand-eye coordination this sport gives you. And look at those shoulders. ACD certainly is.
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Guys, we already know enough about their sex life, do we really need to speculate about their heat sex too?
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There’s nothing to speculate, you know ACD would drown himself in those thighs and love every second of it.
They’re not exactly wrong, and there are another seven hundred and thirty-six comments under this picture, but Alex knows he doesn’t need to read those. He clicks on them anyway.
There are more pictures, ‘examples’ as the Redditors call them, and speculations about what things Alex might or might not do to those thighs, and if Alex doesn’t stop drooling over pictures of his boyfriend in his white polo pants, he’s going to get seriously sidetracked. So he ignores the throbbing in his sweatpants and moves on to mental health.
He might need a new section in the binder for this. He reads about the interplay between heat hormones and depression and anxiety, between heat hormones and antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds, and coping techniques for that.
But there’s also a lot of mental health issues not tied to any illnesses. A lot of it is just about heat needs that have nothing to do with sex. Alex knows about cuddling and vaguely about the concept of nesting, but he’s never thought about it in depth, so he clicks through articles and Reddit posts.
How to build a cozy nest: Pillows vs blankets
Don’t want to nest in bed? These are the best places in your house to nest instead.
Nesting alone or with your partner: both valid choices!
Alex is already mentally counting all the pillows and blankets in the house and thinks that they might come up short when he comes across a Reddit post that sends him down a whole other rabbit hole.
So, I (21NBO) don’t really like to nest in between sex when I’m in heat. I know that not all omegas like to do the whole nesting thing, but it’s all I ever saw on TV. I know there’s nothing wrong with me, but I haven’t really figured out what makes me feel better in between. I only had three heats so far, so I haven’t really tried out other things but would be grateful for advice.
592 comments
Again, Alex has no idea if Henry would like to nest, so he checks the thread for alternatives. The most upvoted comments talk about taking baths, watching comfort TV, and lying in the sun. The last one is pretty impractical for them, and most people who mention it admit to living in warm, sunny places. Alex makes a note to queue up an endless amount of Bake Off and Return of the Jedi and orders a couple of bath bombs from a site he bookmarked after reading an article about calming scents during a heat. He thinks that buying a tanning bed like someone suggested might be a little excessive before seeing what Henry likes.
So Alex soldiers on.
I (24MO) have a new alpha boyfriend (23MA). We’ve been dating for five months now and I spent my last two heats with him. He’s super sweet and brings me everything I need. He also has a husky (5M) who needs a lot of exercise. I get super clingy during heats and even though I absolutely love his dog, I get really sad and irrationally angry that he takes care of his dog while I need him too. What do I do?
194 comments
“Get a dog walker,” Alex mutters. “Ask a neighbor to walk him. Drop him off with a friend. How is that even a fucking problem?”
The majority of commenters agree with Alex, which really should have occurred to that person, but it does remind Alex that they need to make arrangements for David. That leads him on another research spiral, both on Reddit and a few animal sites (Your pet and your heat: how to take care of your furry family members during your Special Time), but it boils down to Henry deciding on whether he wants David around for cuddles or not. Most pets aren’t bothered by human heat scents—except apparently parakeets who tend to throw quite the ruckus when their owners go into heat—and some omegas find comfort snuggling with their pets, but from what Alex can gather they are mostly people who spend their heat alone. It’ll probably be safer to arrange for someone to take care of David as they have no idea how long and how intense Henry’s heat will be and whether Alex will be able to leave him to walk David. Alex makes a note to text Shaan.
For the more controversial topics, Alex browses the AITA subreddit for heat-related posts. It’s two a.m., and he’s on his fifth coffee, but Henry’s not here, which means Alex can research-spiral guilt-free. David’s fast asleep so there’s not even beagle judgment to deal with anymore.
AITA for asking my omega boyfriend to shower during his heat when he doesn’t like the feeling of water on his skin?
My (35MA) new omega boyfriend (37MO) doesn’t like to shower during his heat. He says the water feels too harsh and unpleasant. I enjoy heat sex smells as much as the next guy, but after a few days, it gets pretty rank. My boyfriend has a special kind of cleaning wipe he uses for come and slick, but apart from that and brushing his teeth, he doesn’t clean himself. By day three, I really struggle to be near him, because the unpleasant smells override the pheromone scent. I’m still able to fuck him, but once I come and the fog lifts, cuddling with him is kind of disgusting. I really like him and his hygiene outside of his heat is great, and I understand that every omega has their unique coping skills, but I feel like this is asking a lot of me. When I asked him to shower, he told me off, said I had no idea what he was going through, and accused me of being an insensitive knothead. I know that I don’t really know what it feels like, but I’ve always prided myself on accommodating my partners’ needs, especially during a heat.
So, am I the asshole for wanting my omega boyfriend to shower during his heat because his body odor gets too strong for me to be able to cuddle with him?
1.3k comments
Not the asshole, Alex thinks. There must be options for compromise here. He thinks back to what he read, water softeners for hard water for baths, special wet wipes for the entire body, and dry shampoo, and wonders if the scent blockers some alphas wear so they don’t go heat-crazy would also block body odor.
He’s pretty pleased with himself when he peruses the comments and most of the solutions people present, he’s already thought of. Maybe he’s ready.
The last comment he reads makes him pause.
So, YNTA, because every heat is a compromise. Yes, as an alpha, you’re much less affected physically than your omega partner, so you should be willing to care for them and satisfy their needs. However, you shouldn’t make yourself uncomfortable or even feel repulsed by what you’re asked to do. Ultimately, a heat is all about communicating and finding out what works for both of you.
Alex stares at the last sentence, stares at his binder full of research, and feels like an absolute idiot. Before he went into his research spiral he hadn’t even asked Henry what he wanted at all.
When they’d talked about it a few weeks ago, Henry had just said that he really didn’t know what to expect since he had no real frame of reference. And Alex had instantly gone into problem-solving, caretaking mode and had completely neglected to ask Henry.
Fuck.
It’s three a.m. now, which means it’s eight a.m. in London and Henry will most definitely be awake. He answers after the third ring.
“Hello, love. Can’t sleep?” Henry’s voice is warm and morning rough like he hasn’t talked to anyone yet.
“I’m an asshole,” Alex blurts out, then immediately bites his tongue.
“All right.” Henry doesn’t miss a beat. “Anything specific that brought this on or is this a general character introspective?”
“Fuck you,” Alex shoots back. “Ugh, look, remember how I promised you that I’d never behave like a knotheaded macho idiot and that you being an omega wouldn’t have any bearing on our relationship at all?”
There’s a worrying pause. “Yes. Alex, what—”
“So, I might have gone on a little research spiral.”
A longer pause. “Okay?”
Alex drags a hand through his hair and hisses when he catches on a knot, pulling sharply on his scalp. This is not the kind of hair-pulling he enjoys.
“Remember when we talked about your heat?”
“Yes.” Henry’s voice is very calm, very even.
Alex takes a deep breath. “Fuck, okay, so I went online, just to figure out how best to approach that, because we don’t really know how it’ll be for you and I just wanted to be prepared, you know?”
“I don’t see—”
“And so I read all these articles and I took notes, and made lists in a binder, but there’s just so much info, so many possible scenarios and I wanted to see what I could do, but then I ordered you new body wash, and started thinking about David—who is your dog!—and—”
“I’d say he’s really becoming our dog,” Henry says, but Alex keeps talking.
“And I thought about all these things without even asking you! And it didn’t even occur to me until I read this am I the asshole post about the guy who hates showers that we need to talk about this together and I swear I just wanted to be prepared, but I bought like ten bath bombs and I don’t even know which flavor of the protein bars you’d want and I just—I’m sorry, I’m like the worst fucking kind of alpha cliche right now.”
“Breathe, Alex.”
Alex doesn’t know why Henry putting all the royal authority into his voice still makes him react instantly, but it’s unfortunately very hot. So Alex shuts up and breathes.
“Okay.” Henry himself sounds like he’s taking a deep breath himself. “Let me see if I understood that correctly. In preparation for my heat, you have gone online to research food and hygiene issues to make it more comfortable for me. In a binder? Which I assume you plan to present me with when I come home next week so that we can best prepare?”
“Yes, but—”
“Furthermore,” Henry interrupts him firmly, “it seems that you are trying to cover all aspects of this, including David’s care, so that I can have the best possible experience and not have to worry about anything while facing a heat I cannot possibly anticipate?”
“Well, yes,” Alex says, stubbornly trying to get his point across because this really feels like Henry is trying to placate him and he won’t be placated. “But I—”
“And you have already bought several items that could alleviate potential problems,” Henry continues, “and now, after spending presumably hours highly caffeinated staring at your laptop without wearing your glasses and without taking a break, you’ve read about a man who detests showers which somehow made you think all of that was a bad thing? Have I got that right?”
Fuck. Alex scrambles for his glasses even though it’s kind of too late now.
“He only doesn’t like showers during his heat, which is not the fucking point. The point is that I didn’t ask you! That I don’t know what you want.”
Henry makes a frustrated sound. “Alex, the whole point of this is that I don’t know what I want, because I don’t know what to expect. The only thing I do know is that I want to spend my heat with you because I love you and I know you’ll take the best possible care of me. Because you prepare for all eventualities. And Alex, I know that you would never force me to do or try any of these things. What makes you think that researching on your own and showing me your findings would be a bad thing?”
Alex blinks at the dark TV across from him. “Well, because it’s about compromise?”
“And what makes you think we won’t be doing that?” Henry asks, almost kindly.
“I—because we should do that together?”
“And we will. When I get back, you will show me what you’ve found and then I can tell you what I think are good or bad ideas and what I think you might have missed. Though it really doesn’t sound like you did. And then, based on that, we’ll make a plan together. Okay?”
“Yeah,” Alex says, feeling a little stupid.
Henry sighs. “Love, you should really drink a glass of water and go to bed.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” Alex replies automatically, even though Henry’s probably right.
“Alex…”
“Yeah, I—” the silence hangs between them for a moment. “I just want this to not suck for you,” Alex says finally. “And there’s really only a limited amount of things I can do, because we have no idea how bad the suppressants fucked with your system, and I just—I feel fucking helpless.”
“It’s not going to suck,” Henry says firmly.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. Because no matter how uncomfortable I might be, I’ll have you. I’ll have you to love me, to hold me, to give me all the comfort I could ever need in the world. And I’ll have you to fuck me however much I might need and I know you will be so, so good for me, love.”
The crass turn at the end sends heat shooting down Alex’s spine. “Oh.”
“Quite.” Alex can hear the smile in Henry’s voice. “Now go to bed. We’ll talk later, when you’re awake again, properly hydrated with something other than coffee, and we are both somewhere alone.”
Alex swallows. “Okay, yeah, we should do that.”
“Good night, love.”
“Night, sweetheart.”
Alex sleepwalks through his bedtime routine because he really is much more tired than he realized. David doesn’t seem much more awake, but he insists on following Alex up the stairs to sleep in bed with him. Alex is more than fine with that. The bed is kind of too big without Henry in it.
When he checks his phone one last time before trying to sleep, there’s a message from Henry.
I love how much you care. Even though I hate that you pushed yourself so hard today, I love that you made lists and a binder and I assume even a spreadsheet to make sure that I can have the best possible experience. Truly, love, no one could ever be as good to me as you are.
Alex sends back an I love you so fucking much, puts his phone on the nightstand, and very maturely screams into his pillow. He can’t wait for his fucking perfect boyfriend to come back to him.
When Henry finally comes back after two weeks of royal engagements, they don’t talk about the heat binder, because they’re busy reacquainting themselves with each other. Not that there’s ever anything about Henry Alex could forget, but he’ll take any excuse to get Henry naked in bed with him.
David, of course, is also very excited to see Henry again. This in turn means that David needs extensive cuddle time with Henry, for David’s sake as much as for Henry’s. Alex will deny to his dying day how absolutely butter soft he goes at seeing Henry passed out on the couch with David curled up happily between his legs, snoring softly in tandem with Henry. Alex might take a picture.
Two days after Henry’s return from England, once he’s recovered from the jet lag and has checked in on the shelter, they make plans. Henry has already been to see Doctor Martin to get his blood drawn, they’re just waiting for the results. That doesn’t mean though that they can’t make plans. Alex has been dying to show Henry his research.
Alex starts by dropping the binder on the coffee table. It lands with a very satisfying thud.
Henry raises his eyebrows. “I should have expected this, but I’m still quite impressed by how thick it is.”
Alex grins. “That’s—no, you know what, that one’s too easy.”
Henry just rolls his eyes, and okay, Alex tried taking the high road here, but, “it really does come remarkably close to what you said the first time I—”
“And I regret it every single day,” Henry cuts him off. “I can only explain this temporary error in judgment by the fact that I was getting something I’d been fantasizing about for years.”
“If you’re trying to deflate my ego, it’s not working, sweetheart.”
Henry lets out a beleaguered sigh and gestures at the binder. “How about you show me the fruits of your labor instead of sending me to an early grave.”
Alex leans over to kiss him and then stays there for a while because kissing Henry will never not be amazing and he’s been gone for two weeks. Eventually, though, they need both oxygen and to get back to serious matters.
“Okay.” Alex reaches for the binder, opens it to the table of contents, and starts going through the headers he wrote down in his neatest handwriting. It’ll never get close to Henry’s beautiful looping script, but Alex also hasn’t learned calligraphy as part of a royal education. “Health, obviously the most important thing. Hygiene, very important to support health and our ability to stay close to each other. Remember shower guy? We’re not doing that.”
Henry just blinks at him. “Er, alright.”
Alex moves on. They’ll go through the contents in detail anyway, he can breeze through this. “Nutrition, obviously super important and also related to health, but I’ve been collecting recipes, so it really needed its own section. Environment, which is kind of a mix of mental health and hygiene, but a very different shopping list.”
“Shopping list?” Henry asks a little faintly.
“Blankets, pillows, humidifier—” Alex breaks off at the alarmed look in Henry’s eyes. He pats his knee. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, it sounds like more than it is. And then, finally, of course, sex.”
“Well,” Henry says drily, “that seems to be the most pertinent section.”
Alex grins. “Sweetheart, you have no idea.”
And then he shows Henry exactly what he found online. After getting distracted pretty quickly by the toy discussion that gets both of them too horny to really concentrate on Alex’s research, they decide to take the edge off and then ignore the sex stuff until they’re through the rest of the binder.
Henry is very impressed with Alex’s work and Alex really tries not to let it get to his head, but he’s feeling pretty damn good about himself.
Henry, it turns out, has also done some research. His contributions are mostly about different teas for different heat symptoms, which really does not come as a surprise. All the other things Alex has already covered. Henry selects a few protein bar and energy drink flavors—“nothing blue, Alex, I don’t care if it’s got the best reviews, I refuse to put a neon blue liquid into my body” “you drink blue curacao, don’t you?” “I most definitely do not” “well, you fucking should”—and they chose a couple of dishes for them to make. Well, for Alex to make. Henry is not advanced enough yet for casseroles.
“I could make a quiche,” Henry says, stubbornly wanting to contribute. “Several articles recommend eating a lot of eggs.”
“I’ve never said I don’t like your quiches,” Alex says, which is technically true, though he definitely thinks Henry could practice a little more. His absolute love for his boyfriend unfortunately does not affect his taste buds when it comes to Henry’s kitchen experiments.
They bicker a little more about food and drinks, and Alex almost has a heart attack when Henry suggests instant coffee for Alex because it’s easier.
“Do you want to poison me?”
Henry rolls his eyes.
“Just imagine I’d suggest heating your tea water in the microwave.”
Henry’s mouth immediately pulls down in pure disgust and Alex stabs a finger in his direction. “See!”
“Fine, no instant coffee.”
They move on to the exercise section.
“It’s a little short notice to really get into it, but I have been working on my planks,” Alex says and Henry’s eyes very gratifyingly immediately go to Alex’s shoulders.
“I’ve noticed.”
Alex smirks.
Then Henry’s face falls. “I haven’t really done anything other than usual.”
“Don’t worry,” Alex says breezily, “I have it on good authority that you’re well prepared.”
“What do you mean?” Henry asks with slight trepidation. He’s probably hoping it’s only something that Pez said. Bless his heart.
“Well, there are over seven hundred people on Reddit who agree that polo is a great sport to prepare for heat sex.” Alex pauses for a beat, letting Henry realize exactly what he’s talking about. “They had a lot of example pictures. And I gotta say, no matter how ridiculous and fucking white this sport is, you’ll never not look hot riding a horse in those pants.”
A faint blush spreads over Henry’s checks, but he says, “please tell me you didn’t read comments on the internet about what people think about our sex life again.”
“In my defense, it was mostly about your thighs.”
Henry sighs.
“And it’s not like they’re wrong. Want me to show you?”
“First,” Henry says tightly, “we need to get through this bloody binder, and then you can show me whatever you want.”
“Stellar plan.”
They get through the rest pretty fast, but Alex is also highly motivated to get Henry naked. Unfortunately, once they get to the last page of Alex’s meticulous research, Henry is looking at the binder with something in his expression that worries Alex. He looks almost unhappy.
“Look, I know we don’t know what to expect, but we’ll figure it out, H. I’ll do whatever you need.”
“Yes, I know. Of course, I know. But in all of this,” Henry gestures at Alex’s research, “there’s nothing about what you need.”
That draws Alex up short. “Me?”
Henry huffs out a breath. “Yes, you.”
“But you’ll be the one in heat. Sure, your scent is going to affect me, and it’ll probably make me a little bit more, I don’t know, needy to take care of you, but this is your heat, H.”
With one of his long arms, Henry picks up Alex’s laptop, types something, and then turns it back around to Alex. The title of the homepage reads “Alpha heat reactions: What to expect from your first time with an omega in heat.”
Seems like Henry researched more than just tea.
“Okay, yes, but—”
“No,” Henry says, “I appreciate that you’ve spent all this time making sure to cover all of my bases, but I want you to be ready too. I want to be ready for you too. So, we are researching the other side as well.”
Alex rolls his eyes, but takes his laptop and positions it on the coffee table so they can both see the screen. “I already read about the physical reaction to your scent and the possible possessive feelings and the need to take care of you. Since I already like cooking for you, I’ll probably try to hand-feed you energy bars or something like that. But that’s nothing I can’t handle.”
Henry smiles. “Well, I did say I wanted to languish fat and sexually conquered in your bed.”
Alex grins. “We are so getting chocolate sauce. Whipped cream. Ready-made frosting out of the can.”
“You’re a menace and American foods are a health hazard,” Henry says, but there’s a slight blush creeping up his cheeks.
Alex leans over to kiss him, then turns back to the laptop to appease Henry by scrolling through the points in the heat reaction article. Most of it is stuff he already saw mentioned elsewhere. Point ten is post-heat drop, which Alex has a page on in the binder because he’s seen it before—but only for omegas.
“What’s a post-heat drop?” Henry asks.
“Oh, it’s that thing where after the heat is over, your energy level just absolutely crashes. Some omegas also get post-heat depression if they spend it with an alpha who leaves too early. I think I called it heat-crash in the binder.”
“Ah yes.” Then Henry raises a pointed eyebrow. “And for alphas?”
With a sigh, Alex starts reading out loud.
For most alphas, taking care of an omega during their heat comes naturally and is one of the most satisfying experiences. As long as you aren’t asked to do things you don’t want to do and get enough rest, you’ll most likely come out of the heat feeling like a hero. But there’s always the danger of a post-heat drop. Focusing on your omega for so long can make you blind to your own needs. Many alphas experience physical reactions like an energy drop due to too little nutrition or sleep. Remember that you burn an excess amount of calories and need to eat and drink accordingly. But there’s also an emotional impact. Carrying the mental load can take a lot out of an alpha. The best way to combat such a drop is to spend lots of time with your omega and let them take care of you a bit after they’ve recovered.
Alex looks over at Henry. Henry is just looking at him, expression so open and kind and understanding, Alex feels cracked open like a breakfast egg. He kind of wants to crawl into Henry’s lap and kiss him, but they still have things to talk about.
“Fine, okay, you have a point. I might die of dehydration by day three if I’m not careful.”
“That’s not the only thing I’m worried about,” Henry says softly. “I know you’ll take such good care of me, darling, and depending on what I need, that’s going to be hard.”
“It won’t,” Alex says, “because it’s you. Nothing is hard if it’s for you.”
Henry gives him a very soft, very earnest smile. “Then let me do the same for you.”
Alex is feeling more like scrambled eggs right now, so he gives into his first impulse and climbs into Henry’s lap to kiss him. “Okay.”
Henry kisses him back, hands gentle but sure on his back, holding him tight.
They stay like that for a long time, research abandoned on the coffee table, just kissing softly until David whines at them because it’s time for his evening walk.