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Will Solace was head combat medic in times of war, head medic at camp in times of peace, head counsellour of the Apollo Cabin, the most gifted healer of his time, and an alpha.
Apparently, all of the above qualified him for two other things. He had a duty at camp, he knew. If it wasn't him, it would be Chiron or Mr D. So really, it was better this way for everyone involved.
Once a year, on the first Friday of every January, Will Solace gave that year's campers between the ages 11 and 14 the sex talk. But no, not just the sex talk. He gave them the secondary gender talk, which, admittedly, was useful for kids in that age range who would be presenting soon. The gods know he wished someone had given him the sex/secondary gender talk when he was that age. No matter how awkward it would be, it could never be worse than those kids suffering through their first heat or rut scared, confused, and alone. And at times, if that weren't enough to convince him to ultimately pull through, the idea of Mr D, of all people, giving the kids that talk was almost enough to make him volunteer to give it twice a year, just to be safe.
Almost.
Will had been in charge of this gig since he was sixteen, and by his third year he was just about a natural. The kids were comfortable with him and it wasn't quite so bad as he'd expected, but there was a catch.
The second thing all of his titles supposedly qualified him for was something that went hand in hand with Talker of Sex and Secondary Genders. Every year when his kids- or any other camper who went through a heat/rut- presented, he was tasked with delivering supplies to their isolation rooms to ensure that they'd be healthy and that their bodies would have all the nutrition they'd need during this time.
It had never been a problem before. Now scent blockers existed, as well as healthy suppressants, pheromone concealers, etc. All Will had to do normally was smear some of the scent blocker paste under his nose, duck in, do a quick two minute checkup to make sure all was well and all the symptoms were normal, and reassure the patient that it was going to be okay, that this was a big step in their journey into adulthood, congratulations on making that huge leap, etc., etc.
As he walked to Nico di Angelo's cabin, arms loaded with supplies, he prepared himself for the situation he'd likely be walking in on. A pre-rut, aggressive, likely territorial alpha. He and Nico had already been given the talks as children by Chiron, so Will knew that Nico knew what to expect, but that didn't make him any less nervous- for his friend, of course- as he paused outside the Hades Cabin to apply some scent blocker.
He pushed in the door, only to find Nico di Angelo visibly stressed and pacing about in the dimly lit cabin.
"Hey," he gave a little wave and tried for a smile.
Nico glanced up, a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his forehead.
"Solace. Hey."
"Now I know this is a bit awkward but... it's protocol. So I brought you some stuff to keep you well-nourished and strong during your rut, as I do with all my patients." Will winked.
Rut? What was Will on? It took Nico a second to realize that Will was under the impression that he was an alpha. He decided to play along- what would Will think if he found out that Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, the Ghost King himself, was an omega?
"Rut? Yeah... yeah, rut."
"Where do I put this stuff down?"
"Uh..." Nico let out a raggedy breath. "Bedside table, second drawer."
He pulled open the drawer to reveal the bare necessities of supplies.
"That's... everything you have? Gods, Nico, you're a disaster. It's a good thing I showed up, isn't it?" he joked.
Nico flinched. Even if he didn't want Will to find out... it hurt that an alpha- an alpha that Nico deemed extremely desirable, mind you- would think he was such a disaster that he couldn't adequately care for himself during a cycle. So he attempted to defend himself.
"Not my fault. I didn't have time. My father told me he was hosting the Olympians for the next few months while Olympus underwent construction and that it would be better if I stayed here during my cycle while there were a few choice gods in the Underworld."
"I was just joking, Neeks," Will said kindly, wondering why Nico was becoming so defensive. His words soothed Nico a little. "I got you some granola bars, cold water bottles, those weird muffins you like from the dining pavilion, juice boxes..." Will continued ticking off various supplies on his fingers. "If there's anything else I can do for you while you're here-"
The idea of Will taking time out to make sure he'd be okay, to provide for him, bringing him food and water and fretting over him made Nico inexplicably happy.
"You've done more than enough. Thank you." He glanced at the clock, a bit feverishly. "You should be leaving soon."
"I guess I should. But before I go, I need to perform a routine checkup to make sure your symptoms are normal. I know you've probably been through this lots of times before, but again, protocol."
Nico gulped, laughing a little nervously. Oh no.
"It's fine, Will. I'm fine. Like you said, I've been through this several times before-"
"Nico, it's protocol. I have to," Will stated again calmly. He'd had kids who were jittery about getting symptoms checked before so he was used to this kind of behavior. "I have my scent blockers on so I can't smell anything at all, alright? It's fine."
That thought calmed Nico down some.
Will reached into his fanny pack and pulled out some tools. He put on his stethoscope and held the end of it up.
"Breathe in, please." He listened to Nico's heartbeat, steadily pumping. Albeit a little quick, but normal for a rut. "Out. In, out... good."
"Temperature?" he asked. Nico stiffened.
"I-"
"It's just a thermometer, Nico, we've done this before. If we don't get a move on your rut is going to hit full force before I leave. Trust me, those scenarios are never good."
Nico opened his mouth and Will stuck the end of the thermometer in, waiting for the beep. He read the temperature off.
"99.94 degrees. A bit higher than the average rut temperature, but I've seen them higher than this so you're fine."
Nico could feel himself sweating. Dear gods, it would only be a matter of time until all the pieces came together...
"Mhm..." Nico dazedly watched Will's eyebrows furrow, the movement of his eyes as he scanned the thermometer. And- oh shit... the way his tongue darted out just briefly to moisten his lips.
"I see. All good here, di Angelo. You see, it wasn't that bad!"
"You're right," Nico said quietly, calmly, gently- what was the word? He spoke in a way that Will had never heard from him before. He was locking eyes with him, head craned up to maintain eye contact. "I'm sorry for being so difficult about it."
"It's really okay, Nico. But you should try and relax, hm? We've done this before. There's no need to be agitated. I like taking care of you anyways," Will smiled his blinding smile.
Will liked taking care of him...
Something felt off. There was something about him that just seemed... too docile for an alpha in pre-rut. Nonetheless, Will smiled and held out his arms- an action that would soon prove itself to be a big mistake.
"See you in three to seven days?"
And gods, against all of Nico's better judgement he obliged. He stepped in a opened his arms to embrace Will, and that was where it all went horribly, horribly wrong.
Because, you see, Nico was short. A lot shorter than Will. Will was 6 feet even, and Nico was 5'4. When he leaned in for that hug, his nose was unceremoniously shoved into Will's scent gland- a fact that Will realized milliseconds before Nico did. But Nico was an alpha, right? So it didn't matter.
Unfortunately, Will would soon find out that he was mistaken.
Once Nico realized his nose was shoved into Will's scent gland, he panicked. But pre-heat, mind-foggy Nico, being the little fucker he is, decided to do the dumbest thing ever and inhale. Against all his better judgement, he fucking inhaled. Immediately, he felt slick gushing out from between his thighs and his knees go weak.
Will felt Nico's body tremor against his and his mind went through one thought process and one thought process only- shit.
Normally, Will had a strict 'if you hug someone always let them let go first' policy, but in this case he decided to override it, gently shoving the smaller man off him.
"Alright, Neeks, you're in pre-rut, I should be going-" Will turned on his heel, only to have Nico grab his shoulder from behind.
"Will... wait."
And like a fucking idiot, Will hesitated. The second he did, Nico took the drastic course of action and molded himself to Will's front, mouth latched to his neck, kissing and nibbling wherever he could reach.
"Oh fuck..." Will mumbled, his panic increasing tenfold.
Nico perked up a little at Will's words. He must have been doing something right then, right? His alpha seemed to like it well enough. He hoped he did.
His alpha. He liked the sound of that. He leaned up, nuzzling Will's neck, arms wrapped around him, and breathed, "Alpha..." in his ear. Alphas liked that, right?
Will froze hearing that. Oh gods. Oh dear gods above, not this, not here, not now, not with this particular person- who was apparently an omega in raging heat.
"You're not an alpha, are you?" Will forced out. "Oh fuck, what does it matter. Listen, Neeks, we're not doing this, okay, I'm not going to take advantage of you while you're apparently in fucking heat. No. Get off of me. This is the hormones talking."
Will sounded angry. Fuck- angry? And distressed? Did he not want to be here, with Nico? What was he doing wrong? He attempted to be more compliant, smaller, as much of a desirable omega as he could possibly be, baring his neck in submission.
"Oh jeez... for the love of fuck- I'm not affected by you, Nico, I can't even smell you! Get off!" Will hissed, more to convince himself than anything, and writhed around, trying to shake Nico from him and get out, get out, get out, because if he went through with this and Nico realized what had happened after the heat then he wouldn't want anything to do with him ever again.
Nico stayed glued to him. Shit... those damn scent blockers. Nico could fix that. He reached up and successfully attempted to wipe the blocker off underneath Will's right nostril. Will's breathing picked up as he took a breath and was met with what seemed to be the most alluring scent in the world. Freshly overturned dirt, the sidewalk after it rained, and just a touch of pomegranates.
He choked. Typical.
Immediately he used one hand to hold his nose, leaving only one hand to attempt to get this omega off of him and into his nest and then get himself out of the Hades Cabin and into an isolation room, because he could feel his own rut beginning to kickstart. He had never had to deal with a situation like this before. No training had prepared him for this. He prayed that Hades would forgive him for doing this whenever he met him in the Underworld before shuddering and glaring down at Nico, darkening his eyes and growling.
"Why do you have to be so stubborn, damn it, Nico- GET OFF OF ME," he barked in his most assertive alpha voice, and like a miracle, it worked. Nico detached himself from Will at once, breathing heavily, neck bared and out in the open. His entire body was rigid, trembling, and Will could see his knees about to buckle. The air tasted sweet in his mouth and fuck fuck fuck he had to get out of here before he lost control-
Vaguely, Nico wondered if he had pushed too far or read the situation wrong. Did Will not want him? He watched as Will softened a little and seemed to think for a second, still holding his nose and breathing through his mouth.
"Come here, Neeks," Will said as he approached Nico. Nico could have cried in relief- it was alright and his alpha was going to give him exactly what he wanted. He was so good to him, so thoughtful and good, he didn't deserve such a good provider, someone who cared so much. He eagerly led Will to his nest, and Will felt like the ultimate piece of shit for what he was about to do. Will allowed him to wipe off the rest of the scent blocker and pretended like he was panting from being overwhelmed with lust- which, in all honesty, he wanted to be could have been if the situation was different- and not from trying to avoid inhaling Nico's scent.
Nico shyly, nervously brought Will over to his nest, comprised of soft blankets and sheets and clothing he'd stolen borrowed from everyone he knew.
"Do- do you like it, alpha?" he asked breathlessly, and Will felt his heart break as he nodded.
"It's a beautiful nest, Nico," he said tenderly, and Nico chirped in delight. His nest was beautiful, his alpha said so.
Gently, very gently, Will manhandled him down into his nest and let his body weight bear down on the omega's.
"Please, please- you said you liked taking care of me, alpha, so please- hurry-" Nico begged.
"Hold on," Will grunted, feeling more and more heated by the minute, pulling off his hoodie and depositing it into Nico's arms. "Take this." He absolutely preened- a gift from his alpha, for his nest? It smelled just like him, too, like a doctor's office, freshly starched linens, and sunshine... how sunshine had a smell, Nico didn't know, but it was unmistakable.
While Nico was preoccupied, Will did what would plague him endlessly in the coming months.
He ran. He tumbled out of that nest, away from the omega who was tangled up in his hoodie, and out the door. The strangled whimper that Nico emitted sucker punched him, but it was for the best.
"Alpha-" he heard Nico beg, banging on the door seconds after he had locked and slammed it behind him. The sobbing on the other side from an omega feeling the ultimate betrayal rang in Will's ears.
What a sight it must have been! Will Solace, tearing across the green and into the Big House, where he found Percy, Jason, and Reyna sitting in a circle, discussing something or the other.
"I- Nico- why the fuck did nobody tell me he was an omega- shit-"
"What happened?" Jason stood up, fear flashing in his eyes.
"He went into heat just as I was leaving- latched onto me and wouldn't let go- I left him in his nest with my hoodie and made a break for it-" Will wheezed, doubled over. "Also I think I might be going into rut right now at this second so if someone could inform the healers that I'll be out of commission for about a week that would be great."
"You'll be out of commission for a lot longer than that if you don't tell me exactly why you were in his cabin, while he was in his pre-heat, without any scent blockers or shit," Reyna snarled. Percy cut her off.
"Will deals with this stuff. He was delivering heat supplies like he does for any camper going into heat or rut and he's undergone training to deal with the hormonal campers. He did what was right," he explained.
"And he wiped my scent blockers off. I'm pretty sure he can testify later but that doesn't matter. Can someone g- go to him please?" Will croaked. "I feel fucking- fucking terrible... I left him there alone... shit..."
Percy was already out the door, Reyna following behind him.
Jason lingered, hesitating.
"Thank you, Will."
Will could only nod, feeling his gut coil. He ran after Percy and Reyna, who were already at the Hades Cabin.
He stumbled off to find an isolation room, feeling like a classic textbook asshole alpha. Fuck.
"Alpha-"
Nico slammed his fist on the door as it slammed shut, sinking down on the floor.
What did he do wrong? Was he not gentle or pretty or compliant enough? Was he just unattractive to his alpha? Did he reek of too much death and darkness to ever be an object of desire to an alpha such as Will?
Did Will just not want him?
He could feel the slick pouring generously from between his legs now, no doubt creating the mess to end all messes as he sat curled up in his little ball, trying to figure out what it was that he had done wrong.
He heard footsteps and the Hades Cabin porch creaking and looked up through his tears, barely daring to believe it. Had Will come back for him?
The door pushed open and Nico all hope was replaced with immeasurable rage at the sight of Jason, Percy, and Reyna- all outside his door. Why were they here, at his door, during his heat?
Jason, upper lip coated with hastily applied scent blockers, looked around confused until he heard the whine that came from Nico at his feet.
"Nico, can we come in?" he asked carefully, like how one would talk to a hurt animal.
"No!" Nico sobbed, feeling even more pathetic than ever. "Bring him back, Jason, bring him back- my alpha... he left me here alone..."
"Oh gods..." Reyna looked at the sky, eyes closed. "It's worse then we thought."
"You're in heat and he didn't want to take advantage of you when you weren't in a position to properly give consent." Jason tried to explain Will's actions, ignoring Reyna. "It was a noble thing to do, and doing that makes Will a good alpha, because he wasn't just going to spend your heat with you when you, already in heat, asked the first alpha you saw."
Nico just sniffled. Jason was right- Will was a good alpha, the best of them, and Nico had been slowly noticing for a long while. Did Jason think he was stupid?! That he would just invite the first alpha he saw into his nest just because he was in heat? More importantly, did Will think he was stupid? Did he not trust Nico? The thought of that made him start crying once more.
"Wow, good going, Jason. You made him cry," Percy muttered.
"Wh- I wasn- I did not-"
"Let's get you in your nest, Nico. Look at you, you're a mess," Reyna sighed, cutting off Jason.
"Don't." Nico had only slapped her hand away but Reyna looked like he'd just slapped her across the face. That made him kind of regret it, but not too much. Who did these alphas think they were, coming into his cabin, attempting to manhandle him into a nest that they weren't invited into?
"Nico," Jason tried for his most calming, soothing voice, "come on. Can you stand?"
Nico wiped his eyes with one hand and attempted to stand, knowing that he had to get back in his nest eventually. Even if it was without his alpha, the sensible part of him said he couldn't spend his whole heat at the door in a fit.
He slumped back down onto the floor. His felt too shaky to support him. He wanted to start crying again- what a fucking pathetic omega!
Percy must have sighted the tears in his eyes before anybody, and he approached him.
"I'm going to pick you up, okay? I'm not an alpha, remember? I'm going to carry you to your nest but I will not enter it. And if you want us to stay after that, then we will stay. Understand?"
Nico nodded, feeling too helpless to do anything but that at that point.
So Percy lifted him up off the floor, not caring that Nico's pants were a mess of slick by that point, and deposited him into the warmth and safety of his nest. There was a time when Nico would have been giddy over the fact that Percy Jackson was carrying him to his nest, but not anymore. He spotted Will's discarded Camp Medic hoodie hanging off the bed and reached for it, resolving to curl up in that hoodie and be miserable.
"You can stay," Nico said flatly. "They need to go."
"Wait, what?"
"Percy stays," Nico repeated. "You two need to go. No alphas are allowed in this cabin right now unless their name is Will Solace."
Jason sighed. "See you later."
Reyna threw back a look of deep betrayal as she, too, left the room.
"I feel like the biggest throwaway since disposable dishes," Nico grumbled, having long since regained his common sense.
"Why's that?"
"He just left, Percy. It was like he didn't even trust my word enough to know I wanted to spend my heat with him!"
"I mean, he technically couldn't. Omegas sometimes say crazy things when they're in heat and-"
"But I wasn't. He just left me with this fucking hoodie and-"
"I mean," Percy said indifferently, "I can take it back to him if you w-"
"No!" Nico paused as Percy smirked at him. "Okay, okay, I get it. I just... wanted this for so long... and I tried to show him that."
"I'm fairly sure he wanted you just as badly, because he came into the Big House nearly in tears and rambling about what a piece of shit he felt like for leaving you here all alone, can someone please go check on you and make sure you're okay, also he thinks he might be having his rut right now tell his siblings he'll be out of commission for a week thanks."
"He's having his rut?"
"Yeah, because he was here with you."
Nico whined a little at the thought of Will in such a state, stuck in an isolation room when he could be with him in his nest.
"Percy, I know what answer I'm going to get but can you please, please bring him to me? Please."
"No can do, Nico. I'm sorry. You have to talk to him when you're not influenced by your hormones and figure this out."
"But I- I need him here..." He trembled and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "He left me with his hoodie, that has to mean something! I want him here, Percy, with me. Can't you understand?"
"I'm just a beta, so not really. But Annabeth probably could, if you asked her. Her alpha instincts kick in a lot during her rut. Or maybe ask Piper. She's an omega, so her and Jason could probably relate."
Nico huffed, ignoring him. He'd been trying to put off his raging instincts for some relief- gods, his hormones were going through the roof!
"Percy, you should go. Thanks for staying but if you don't leave soon this'll just become humiliating."
"Oh- oh. Got it. Bye!" Percy was out the door in seconds, ears burning red.
Nico rolled over in the layers of intricate bedding he had pulled together, already kicking off his clothing. The cool sheets felt nice on his overheated body. He let out a shuddering breath. This was going to be a long, awful heat.