Chapter Text
MacCready rolled over and glanced at the wall in the small shack he was inhabiting for the next week, month.... who knew. Grey, also known as Vaultie, had dropped him off at his newly acquired settlement of Sunshine Tidings Co-op late last night, and had run off with Hancock. The settlement was nice, although it was quiet. Grey hadn't set up a radio beacon yet so the only inhabitants that MacCready knew about were himself and Dogmeat. Generally Grey would drop his friends off at Red Rocket Truck stop, but it had been late and MacCready greatly preferred this quiet, larger settlement to the small, crowded Red Rocket.
MacCready sighed and sat up on his bed. A weird wave of heat and nausea flowed through him and he gripped the edge of the bed tightly. After about 30 seconds of slow breathing the nausea subsided leaving behind a subtle heat that warmed the pit of his stomach.
"Fuc- stupid rads." he huffed annoyed and began to dress himself in a light undershirt and jeans. There was no reason to put on anything heavier since he probably wouldn't leave the comfort of small cluster of buildings for a while.
MacCready laced up his boots, whilst making a mental note to collect some leather and rubber to fix the holes next time he was wandering the wasteland with Grey. Shoes were a rare necessity in the wasteland, especially if one was traveling with Grey. That man was an endless fountain of curiosity, and insisted that they explore and loot every single building, cave, or ruins that he could spot. With Grey leading, a one day walk from Diamond City to Goodneighbor could take them a week.
He barely made it to the door of the shack he was holed up in when the heat in his stomach spiked and he collapsed to his knees. Fire tore through his stomach and began to spread lower. MacCready breathed heavily and grabbed a bag of Rad-Away, inserting the needle into the crook of his arm. By the time the bag of Rad-Away was empty, most of the heat in in gut had subsided. The light burn however had spread to his groin.
With a barely audible groan, MacCready pushed himself to his feet and opened the door. "Huh," he muttered, "I'm up early today.... gold star for me." The sun was low in the sky and the air was damp. It was a pleasant morning all together. His thoughts on how pretty the Commonwealth looked were interrupted by a loud growl from his stomach followed by another, less extreme surge of heat.
He clutched his stomach with one hand as he turned to walk to the building that Grey had set up as a Commissary. The garage was in between his shack and his destination so he decided to make a quick stop there and check if Grey had left any spare leather around and not crafted it it all yet. As he got closer to the garage he heard something moving around an a low grumble.
'Dammit, ferals!' MacCready thought as he quietly slunk back to his hut, grabbing his combat shotgun. MacCready had encountered ferals at this settlement before and after the incident with Lucy, he was not going to take any chances. He had seen first hand the atrocities that those abominations would commit.
He neared the garage again, and attempted to be as quiet as possible. He breathed heavily as the heat in his gut was building and small waves of arousal shook through him.
'Why isn't this fuc-ugh, radiation poisoning going away' he thought. The Rad-Away he took should have done the trick, but to his dismay, the sensation was only growing.
With a rather audible noise he cocked his gun. The doorway to the garage was open and less than 5 feet away. MacCready moved slowly and sweat beaded up on his forehead. he wasn't sure if it was from the anticipation of his impending fight or the arousal that was growing increasingly noticeable. As he neared the door he listened attentively and was quite surprised to hear a quiet humming as well as mumbling.
MacCready uncocked his gun and clicked on the safety as he rounded the corner expecting to see Grey huddled over the weapons workbench like he spent so many hours doing.
"Grey! You are back al-." He stopped and bit his tongue as Paladin Danse turned and faced him rather quickly. He must have snuck upon the man despite his breathing which was becoming hard to control because Danse jumped ever so slightly at MacCready's sudden presence.
Both men stood silently staring at one another for a few seconds before MacCready broke the silence.
"Sorry, I thought that maybe Grey had come back..."
Danse continued to star at MacCready with puzzled look on his face.
"You know... generally people respond when someone speaks to them." MacCready spoke through clenched teeth, as another wave of arousal hit him.
Danse continued to look puzzled and sniffed the air, crinkling his nose.
"MacCready, are you.... in heat?" Danse said almost shyly.
"What?!" MacCready nearly shouted. "I'm not a fuc- fricking omega?! I have a kid and had a wife. I'm not some freak of nature male omega! Geez Danse, that's a pretty low blow, even for you!"
"Well, its just that you smell like omega, and as an alpha... I would know." Danse scoffed.
"Well you must be mistaken, since the only... thing that's wrong with... me is I think I have.... a... fever." MacCready barely finished his sentence when a wave of heat, nausea and arousal swept through him, causing him to plop down onto the ground.
Danse quickly walked over to MacCready and helped him onto the sofa. The man was quite agile without his enormous power armor, and surprisingly tender as he helped MacCready up. It was almost as he knew that MacCready's skin was hypersensitive at the moment, MacCready thought.
Once MacCready was seated safely on the couch, Danse hastily grabbed a purified water off of the workbench and handed it to the smaller man, who took small, controlled sips. Danse almost laughed at how dainty the merc was sipping his water. Paladin had seen MacCready down food with the ferocity of a hungry Yao Guai, despite his small size and skinny figure.
Danse stood silently, studying MacCready as he continued to sip his water. He had a worried look on his face and he flinched every few seconds and smelled like a not quite full blown omega heat. MacCready glanced up at Danse and the Paladin could see the faint shimmer of lust in his eyes. The eye contact only lasted for a few seconds before MacCready's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he hung his head in shame. The discomfort that the situation was causing the smaller man was quite visible to Danse despite his habit of being oblivious to other people's feelings most of the time.
After a few short minutes of silence MacCready spoke up. His voice was quiet and he sounded ashamed.
"I-I know I'm not a.... I Can't be.... I'm a beta, I've known that for years...." MacCready croaked.
Danse cleared his throat and shifted on his feet. This was an awkward talk and the merc sitting curled up in front of him was the last person he wanted to talk to about this. Except maybe Hancock.
"Sometimes an... omega male won't present... unless he is around alphas." Danse stated. He tried to sound as comforting as he could but judging by the cold look that MacCready shot him, he must have sounded accusing.
"I Fuc-already told you, I'm. Not. An. Omega." MacCready spat, although he did not sound convinced.
The Paladin sighed and decided it was best to continue.
"If an omega male is not consistently around alpha males, he wont present since it can be an unpleasant ordeal which leaves him unable to fight... or really move around. They will present around alphas because there is protection but it has to be a a situation where there is frequent alpha activity." Danse said, sounding more and more like the sex-ed instructor that all new Brotherhood recruits had to listen to lecture.
Danse spared a quick glance at MacCready and noticed the man was still curled up, but this time was whimpering softly. Sweat had beaded up on the merc's forehead and his face was flushed. The pheromones that he was releasing previously hadn't been strong enough to affect Danse but now it was becoming harder and harder for him to keep his self control. Both the scent of MacCready's heat and this aroused whimpering brought dirty thoughts to the front of Danse's mind.
Before Danse could continue his train of thought, however, MacCready interrupted.
'Thank God' thought Paladin
"But... what about my time with the gunners? There had to be... alphas there? And Lucy! how did we have a kid if I'm...." MacCready bit back a moan as another sharp wave of arousal hit him.
"Well," started the Paladin in a nervous tone, "while it is unlikely, it is possible that an omega male can impregnate a female... especially an omega fema-"
"Lucy was a beta... like me.... we were normal people." MacCready interrupted, "and even then, if I really am an 'omega', tell me Tin Can, why didn't those gunners catch on and fuck my brains out every free minute, huh? I'm fairly certain at least one of them had a sense of smell. Or are synths the only ones who can tell my status?!"
MacCready was growing more and more angry as his heat get stronger and stronger. He knew in his mind that it was wrong to bring up Danse's true identity, but between the growing heat in his abdomen, and the growing arousal, he didn't have the time or patience to think his attack through.
Danse sighed and looked at MacCready with the same disappointed look that a parent might give a pouting child.
"Since you did have a child so early in life, MacCready, the parental drive to guard your child and the drive to protect your wife was powerful enough to cause you to not go into a heat cycle. After 'mating' with a female, you played the alpha role, despite any status that you might have had." Danse spat the words a MacCready like venom, causing the younger man to bow his head in submission.
"And as for the Gunners? If you had any heats at all, you obviously didn't know so they must have been extremely light. The gunners that were alphas could probably smell you, especially if they were in Rut, but it would be like smelling one person in heat, in the entire Diamond City. The scent would have done nothing for them, except possibly improved their overall mood." Danse was still frustrated, but after seeing MacCready in such distress he lowered his voice and attempted to be civil.
The mercenary opened his mouth to speak but before he could get a word out, his whole body shuddered with arousal again and Danse's scent was becoming intoxicating. Nothing left the man's mouth and instead he fell to his side on the couch, now laying the full length of it, exposing his clothed body to Danse as almost a sort of invitation.
The paladin caught on the MacCready's invitation rather quickly and roughly hoisted the small man to his feet.
"For both of our dignities, get out of here and go take care of yourself. I don't want to make a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life." Danse said as he quickly ushered MacCready out the door.
The moment Danse got MacCready to the door, the merc snapped, and the full force of his heat came crashing down on him, sending him to his knees. With a frustrated groan, Danse grabbed MacCready and picked him up bridal style, and began walking to MacCready's shack. The merc's body was warm and he seemed to melt in Danse's arms, which only further aroused the alpha, who bit his lip until he tasted blood.
Without warning, MacCready slung his arm lazily around Danse's neck and tried to pull him close. Of course, Danse resisted, why wouldn't he? But MacCready was determined and kept tugging on the Paladins neck.
Finally with a huff of exasperation, MacCready attempted to explain what he was doing, "Danse.... Danse Danse Danse Danse Danse... I need to tell you.... something..."
"Fire away" Danse replied. The merc had an uncomfortable look on his face and flinched with every step that Danse took.
"Well....first off, you... sound like a sex-ed teacher." MacCready was trying so hard to sound accusatory, but it came out sounding needy and quiet. "Secondly, h-how long... do heats last....generally....?"
Danse could hear the worry in the younger man's voice. He knew that this was going to be an awful experience that MacCready would have to deal with periodically for the rest of his life. "Generally.... omega heats will last about 3 days... but they can be longer or shorter depending on alpha presence. And before you ask, heats happen once every 3-4 months."
MacCready remained silent but nodded his head. His blue eyes stared up at Danse and met with the Paladin's light brown eyes. Sweat was beaded up on both of their foreheads, despite the cool weather, and MacCready's face was flushed.
After a short silence, both men reached MacCready's shack. Danse placed the merc on his feet, but continued to hold him close to his side. He then opened the door to MacCready's shack. MacCready had always been sort of secretive about his living quarters. He never let anyone in, except Dogmeat, and he might have let Grey in a few times. Danse certainly had never even seen the inside, since most of the time, the two argued and avoided one another. While Danse was still with the Brotherhood, MacCready had been rude and insufferable, but after being exiled, MacCready tolerated Danse, and wasn't always a complete jerk. Despite his newfound kindness after Danse's exile, Danse had never expected to be allowed anywhere near MacCready's room.
MacCready sagged into Danse's side and let out a moan, which snapped Danse out of his head. Arousal embedded itself in Danse's gut as he practically dragged MacCready through the door.
The room was simple enough, there was a mattress laying up against the right hand wall, with a tattered blanket and a straw pillow laying haphazardly on it. On the opposite side, there was a tall cabinet with about 50 boxes of ammunition on it, and a couple unopened boxes of dirty water. Danse didn't look through the attached drawers, but judging by the corners of fabric sticking out, that was where MacCready kept his clothing. On the back wall, opposing the door, there were a few pre-war posters over a table that had a well kept sniper rifle laying on it, along with another box of ammo. On the right of the table was a chair, with MacCready's beloved duster hanging on it and on the left of the table there was a magazine rack filled with Grognak the Barbarian comics, and a few Unstoppables comics. The comics were heavily worn, apparently the man now clinging to Danse's arm, whimpering from heat, was a bit of a nerd. Danse chuckled at the thought.
Danse helped MacCready to his bed and set him down gently. MacCready immediately whined at the loss of Danse's arm wrapped tightly around his body, and tried in vain to tug Danse down on the bed with him. It was very difficult for Danse to pull himself away from the omega, since his own body wanted badly to take MacCready and claim him.
Danse stood up and took one last look at the merc. MacCready's eyes were half lidded, and his hair was a mess. He looked rather cute this way, Danse thought.
'Fuck' Danse thought, 'I need to get out of here.' He quickly turned toward the door and walked out, leaving MacCready to himself. The door shut and Danse walked to the garage, where he planed on clearing his head by cleaning his power armor for the second time this morning. He grumbled at the thought.
*****
MacCready laid on his back and stared at the empty space which the handsome Alpha had once inhabited, before he practically ran out of MacCready's room. He was sweaty and uncomfortable, and he couldn't move. MacCready just stared at the roof, whimpering.