Chapter Text
You stood at the base of the Avengers compound and looked up nervously, your teeth worrying your lower lip. Today was your first day as the head chef for the Avengers. You were pretty excited, since you were certain Tony had built a kitchen of the highest quality.
However, you were also nervous. The vast majority of the Avengers were Alphas, with one or two Betas. Suppressants and blockers were helpful in your everyday life, and for the most part no one had guessed you weren’t Beta yourself. You just had to be careful not to let anyone find your stash of medications, and to remember to take them every night before bed.
Ugh, why was it so hot? It was supposed to be spring. You waved a hand at your face for a little relief, and sighed as the breeze picked up. The wind blew toward you as you stood there, sending you a mixture of scents that tickled your nose and made you sneeze.
“Bless you,” came a voice from right behind you, making you scream and jump as you turned around. In your hand was the taser you kept on you at all times, but you relaxed minutely when you recognized who it was standing behind you.
The Winter Soldier.
James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes.
Oh, god, you were screwed. Bucky was, with the possible exception of Captain Rogers, quite possibly the most Alpha of the Avengers.
His lips twitched up in a smirk as he held his hands up to show he was unarmed. Ha…unarmed. Great, now your brain was short-circuiting. Fuck, he was even hotter in person…
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Bucky said. “Are you lost?”
“Oh, I, um,” you stuttered as you tried to get your train of thought back on the tracks it had jumped. “I, I’m the new chef.” You somehow managed to squeak your answer. The wind switched directions and as you breathed in your mouth began to water. He smelled so fucking good. Smoked cedar with a slight metallic tinge and an undercurrent of some kind of oil. You could feel your body reacting despite the medications.
“Oh, great!” Bucky said with a smile. “C’mon, I’ll take you inside and show you around.”
You nodded and looked away to put your taser back in its holder, missing the way he leaned in to smell you. When you looked back up, he offered you a smile and gestured for you to follow him inside.
You hesitated for a moment, wanting to keep a couple feet away in the hope that he wouldn’t be able to smell the way he had already affected you.
Meanwhile, Bucky took the opportunity to adjust the bulge in his jeans. Your sweet apple scent was doing a number on him. He could smell the chemicals underneath your scent, a sign that you were taking suppressants and blockers. He was willing to bet that you were an Omega trying to disguise yourself as a Beta. Normal people might be fooled, but Bucky was a super soldier. All of his senses were heightened and he wondered why you wanted to hide your designation. He wondered if Steve had caught on to your scent, or if he had simply taken you at your word.
“So,” he started conversationally. “How did you land the chef job here?” You were too far behind him, he thought. He slowed his pace and turned to you, flashing his most charming smile.
A light blush colored your cheeks and suddenly Bucky had a vision of you red-faced and wrecked beneath him, his designation falling sweetly from your kiss-swollen lips as he buried himself inside you. Fuck, but he wanted that to come true.
“I was working at a restaurant and Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts came in for dinner. They really liked what I had made for them so Mr. Stark offered me the job,” you told him with a smile. It had been your proudest moment to date.
“Lucky girl,” he said with a smile. That smile combined with his heady scent almost had you swooning and you idly wondered if you needed to up the dosage of your meds. You followed him around the compound as he gave you the tour, though you weren’t sure how much information he gave you actually sank in. You were sweating by the time he led you to the kitchen, though no one you had passed seemed bothered by the heat.
The kitchen was as perfect as you had imagined. Black and stainless steel appliances, marble countertops. “It’s gorgeous,” you breathed. Everything was state of the art and brand new looking. You dropped your bag at the door to the kitchen before pulling open every drawer and cabinet. Several excited and happy noises left your lips as you explored in a rush. “It’s perfect!” you said happily, doing a little dance.
You heard a quiet chuckle and froze, your face flaming red as you realized you had somehow completely forgotten the Alpha at the door. “S-sorry! I just… I uh, just got excited,” you said with a sheepish smile. You had even forgotten about how hot it seemed to be in the compound.
Bucky just gave you a crooked smile as he leaned against the frame, his powerful arms crossed over his broad chest. You got a little distracted thinking about his vibranium arm and what it would feel like against your skin, you nearly jumped at the sound of his voice.
“No apologies necessary, doll,” he said, a hint of laughter in his voice. “I thought it was adorable. You’re cute when you’re excited.” You could practically feel his gaze as his eyes tracked over your body. A shiver slid down your spine and you felt slick pool in your panties. Oh, fuck.
You could feel the color drain from your face just before you raced past Bucky and up to the floor Mr. Stark had told you the living quarters would be on. Your name would be on your door and it would open at your presence, he had said.
Footsteps chased after you and as your heart leapt, you remembered that running from an Alpha was a very stupid idea. It had the tendency to kick their primal instincts into overdrive and by the way Bucky was running after you, his scent quickly catching up to you, he had been unable to ignore his inner Alpha when you ran.
At the very last second a door opened and you ducked inside, hands searching the wall for a button to close the door. “Close, close, close, c’mon, c’mon!” you whispered furiously, only relaxing as the door slid closed.
Something very large slammed against the door half a second later and you yelped. You could hear a low growl rumbling on the other side. “Open the door, doll,” Bucky purred. The sound sent another shiver down your spine and goosebumps erupted over your skin.
“Shit, shit fuckity fuck,” you cursed under your breath as you yanked your purse off your arm and dumped the contents out onto the bed. “No no, no no no,” you whined, searching for your pill case. You had to have one of those that were labeled with the days of the week or you would never remember to take the pills.
Your hands shook as you checked the days. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, gone… Thursday was there, and Friday was still there. Oh…oh no. “Today’s Saturday,” you breathed. You had missed two doses. What the fuck was the point of the case if you still couldn’t remember to take your medications!?
“Omega,” you heard from the other side of the door. Oh, shit. He knew. “I can smell you, Omega.” His voice rumbled like thunder on a dark night. “Apples, with honey and caramel, and I bet you taste as good as you smell.”
A whimper left your lips as you were gifted with a fantasy of Bucky’s dark head between your thighs, ice blue eyes looking up at you while his tongue did the most wicked things…
And now your thighs were coated in slick, your jeans showing the stain clearly. You could hear Bucky’s growl from the other side of the door.
“You smell so sweet… Let me in, doll, I’ll help you through your heat.” He sounded so reasonable, and your instincts had you taking a step toward the door before you got a hold of yourself.
“No!” you shouted. “I can’t…we can’t…” You were unable to finish your sentences. It wasn’t that you didn’t want Bucky in your bed, quite the opposite. You just never thought this was how it could happen. You wanted romance, a slow burn building into intense passion and love.
Not circumstances like this. “Such an idiot,” you breathed, a sob breaking past your lips. What had made you think that Bucky Barnes would want someone like you for any reason besides your designation, anyway? He probably had Betas and Omegas throwing themselves at him every time he left the compound.
You slid to the floor as tears spilled over your cheeks. This was nothing like you imagined it would be, working with the Avengers. Sudden silence on the other side of the door had a part of you wondering if Bucky had given up.
“Doll?” he asked, his voice soothing. “I can smell your distress, what’s wrong? Talk to me, beautiful…”
You said nothing, just covered your face with your hands and tried to ignore the way your stomach was beginning to cramp. No wonder you had been hot all day. You cursed under your breath before starting to tear at your clothes, needing them off of you. “Go away, Bucky,” you said tearfully.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere…” Heats were always worse when the Omega came off of their medications. He knew you were going to need an Alpha, and he intended it to be him.
You shook your head though you knew he wouldn’t be able to see it, sniffling as you crawled to your bed and shoved the contents of your purse onto the floor. A nest… You needed a nest. You didn’t have anything here to make a proper nest, and you had left your bag downstairs when you ran. God, this heat was going to be miserable. But you could bear it. You always had before.
Yeah, except before you had a proper nest. Before you had all of your toys to help you through the misery of needing an Alpha’s knot. Now you had a half-assed nest and your hands. Now you had an Alpha lurking outside of your door, just waiting for you to let him in. All you had to do was let him in and the misery would be over…
“No…” you whined to yourself, curling up into a ball as the cramps began in earnest.
“Resist as long as you want, doll, but when you can’t take it anymore, I’ll be right here.”
You couldn’t tell if that was a promise or a threat.