Chapter Text
When Josh woke up the next day he felt incredibly tired. After he and Tyler had taken a shower together they had stayed up for a few more hours just talking about life.
The alpha hadn't fallen asleep until three hours before he had to wake up again and just the thought of going back to work felt exhausting.
With an overly heavy sigh, Josh sat up in bed and carefully climbed over Tyler who was still sleeping next to him. He made sure that he didn't wake the omega while he got dressed and closed the door behind him so that no noise would disturb his boyfriend.
It didn't take Josh more than thirty minutes before he was out the door and on his way to the Omega Recovery Facility, hat on his head and jacket hugging his body as he swirled his keys around a finger.
The snow had melted a few days ago, but the roads were still covered in an icy slush, grey and depressing from car smoke and cigarette butts. The thought of not seeing his omega for hours weighed heavy on his heart and Josh had to constantly force himself to move forward instead of just going back home.
"It's just for nine, ten hours tops," the alpha muttered to himself as the building came into view.
He dreaded the thought of talking to Jenna, predicting a pretty hard lecture for being away for so long. He knew that the facility had a busy schedule this time of the year and that they needed as many people as possible, but he needed to take care of the omega, his omega. It was more important than his job.
When he first got in he was met by Brendon, who apologised for what had happened when they last saw each other and for how he had treated Tyler. He also mentioned that Jenna had told him that Josh and Tyler were a couple now and congratulated him. The air between them felt different from before, but Josh was grateful nonetheless.
The second thing that happened to him was Jenna.
She came up to him when he was on his way to his first patient of the day and gave him an earful about his absence. This time it was Josh who apologised, trying to convince his boss that Tyler needed him there.
She just sighed, massaging her temples.
"Just... please catch up on some work, alright? It's stressful enough as it is and I don't have money to pay someone who isn't even working," she mumbled before she walked away, probably going to her office.
The day went by painfully slow. Josh ran around from room to room, taking care of patients and filling out paperwork. He had never been incredibly fond of his job, it was painful to get attached to omega's and then have to let them go, and it was hard to work with people who were scared of him, but at least he used to enjoyed helping the patients.
He liked to snuggle them and gain their trust, and he felt good when he saw them getting better. But now he couldn't even enjoy that. Sure, he still felt like he was doing a good deed, but now he felt bad whenever he scented a patient and whenever he snuggled some omega, guilt latched on to his brain.
He thought about Tyler, all alone at home, probably missing him and how he would react when he smelled other omega's on his mate.
Tyler knew what Josh did for a living and had told him that he understood that it was for their best. They needed money after all. But it still felt as if Josh was unfaithful.
When he finally – finally! - made it back home Josh was tired. He had forgotten how hard it was to actually work an entire day.
As soon as he stepped in through the door it all went away though.
His omega came running from the living room and threw himself at the alpha, arms latching around his neck, his fluffy hair tickling his chin. Tyler whined and scented Josh, taking away that awful smell of other omega's and rubbed his face against the alpha's neck.
"I've missed you," he whimpered, refusing to let go.
Josh couldn't help but chuckle as he hugged him back, hands resting on his lower back and pulling his body close.
"I've missed you too, omega, so much," he said.
Tyler kissed him before letting go and taking a step back, blushing as he realised how excited he had been.
"Sorry," he whispered as Josh took off his jacket and hung it up along with his keys and hat.
"Don't apologise, babe," Josh said with a smile, "I'm just as happy to see you."
Tyler had cooked dinner, revealing that he was actually quite good at it and Josh felt like he was in heaven. He was used to getting home to an empty apartment and eating a microwaveable "meal" before going to bed without any human interaction.
To be greeted by his mate and then eating a home-cooked dinner and talk about his day was so much better.
"Was Jenna mad?" Tyler asked, feeling guilty that he had caused so much trouble.
Josh waved his hand, holding a carrot stick between his thumb and index finger.
"She wasn't happy, but it's not because of you. Things are hectic at O.R.F right now."
The omega sunk even further down in his chair.
"Does that mean that you'll have to work even more?" Josh shrugged, chewing off a piece of the vegetable.
"Probably."
Tyler didn't like that sound of that, but he understood and didn't want to make Josh feel bad about it so instead he smiled a little and got up to put away the dishes.
"How was your day?" Josh asked, helping by bringing the plates to the sink.
"Boring. I watched some TV but there's nothing good on in the middle of the day," he sighed, "I missed you a lot, and my soreness just made me think about you even more."
The alpha froze at that before turning to his mate, blinking.
"Soreness?"
His voice was filled with worry. Tyler giggled a little and blushed.
"Well yeah, from yesterday," he informed.
Josh felt bad. Had he hurt Tyler? Maybe he really couldn't take it and only did so because Josh ordered him to.
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry babe! Are you alright?"
Tyler laughed at that and kissed the alpha's cheeks, nuzzling his nose into the side of his face.
"I'm fine," he insisted, "last night was amazing, Josh. I really liked it."
Josh exhaled a breath he hadn't realised that he was holding and kissed his boyfriend.
"I really liked it too."
Things went on like that.
Both Josh and Tyler came into a routine of some sort, where Josh would go to work and Tyler would take care of their home.
Some nights, when Josh felt up for it, they would watch a movie or play some video games or even look at old photos, and other nights they would have sex.
It was an alright life to have, but became boring fast. The new couple felt like they didn't see each other enough and when they actually did, they slept most of it away.
Josh was working hard, slaving away at the facility from early in the morning till late into the afternoon and for each passing day he felt more and more frustrated with his patients.
Of course, he couldn't show them that, it was his job to make them feel wanted, but he didn't want them, he only wanted Tyler.
And every time he came home smelling like omega Tyler would whine and scent him as much as he could, still twitching his nose at the other scents on his alpha.
Josh groaned as his alarm clock screamed at him to wake up.
It was Monday again, the worst day of the week, and Josh really didn't feel like getting out of bed. He had been working the entire weekend and felt his body and mind beg him for a break, but Jenna was stressed enough as it was and Josh wanted to help her.
Tyler stirred in his arms and turned around to face him, looking at his alpha with tired eyes.
"Do you have to go?" he whimpered, just like every morning, kissing his neck and scenting him a little extra.
Something about his scent was different.
"Yeah, I'm sorry love," Josh sighed as he kissed the top of his head.
Tyler whined and snuggled closer.
"I don't feel good," he mumbled, sounding tired.
"Not good how?"
The omega shrugged with a sigh.
"Cold... I think I might have a fever."
Josh placed a hand on his forehead and noticed how sticky his skin was from sweat.
"Will you be okay by yourself?" he asked worryingly.
The omega nodded with another whine.
And so, Josh was on his way to work.
Again.
Halfway through his day Josh's phone rang. Usually he would've turned it off during working hours, but since Tyler had been feeling under the weather that morning he decided to keep it on in case something happened. He looked at the caller-ID and felt his stomach drop when he saw his own home phone number on there.
Worry settled into his body like heavy sand and he answered quickly.
"Tyler? Are you okay?" he asked right away.
At first it was quiet on the other end except for ragged breathing, but just as Josh was about to speak again a whimper went through the line.
"A-alpha..."
That was definitely Tyler.
"Baby, speak to me, what's going on?"
Josh sounded panicked even to himself.
He was already on his way to the employees’ room to get his jacket in case something had happened. Whines and whimpers was all that answered and the alpha started to fear the worst. Had someone broken into the apartment? Had Tyler fallen and hurt himself badly?
"Use your words, omega, you have to talk to me."
"Need you," cried the omega, "hurts."
"What hurts, Tyler?" Josh asked as he jogged through the corridors, looking for his boss.
He needed to get home, to take his omega to the hospital. He was hurt, something had happened.
Then one more word came over the line, barely high enough for the phone speakers to pick it up.
"Heat."
It felt as if the world lifted from Josh's shoulders. Heat? He could handle a heat. That also explained why Tyler had smelled different that morning.
Without knocking, the alpha opened the door to Jenna's office and found the blond sitting behind her desk filling in paperworks. She barely looked up.
"What?" she asked, pen never leaving the papers.
"I have to go."
That made her stop her work and she gave Josh a stern look.
"No Josh, you can't do this. We are already so far behind," she insisted.
She left no room for argument, but the alpha stood his ground. His omega needed him.
"Tyler is in heat, I have to take care of him."
"There's no way, Josh," the woman insisted.
She looked just as overworked as Josh felt, and he couldn't blame her for not wanting to let him go, but Tyler was more important.
"He's my omega, I have to."
Jenna sighed and dropped the pen, clasping her hands together on top of the table instead.
"If you leave now, you're fired Joshua, i have no use for a worker that doesn't want to work."
"Fine."
Nothing was more important than Tyler.
Josh jogged all the way home and ran up the stairs until he was in the apartment. A strong smell of omega in heat hit him like a punch in the face.
"Omega?" he called out to the quiet home, trying to find his mate.
The scent got stronger and stronger the further into the apartment he got, and Josh felt his own soon-upcoming-rut getting triggered into an early start. Their bodies wanted to match up their cycles.
"Tyler?"
A whine answered, sounding as if it came from the bedroom.
When Josh opened the door he was shocked to see that Tyler wasn't in there. But he was certain that he had heard the noise come from that room and the smell was the strongest in there.
Suddenly he remembered the omega's tendencies to hide under the bed whenever he felt threatened or vulnerable and got down on the floor to lay on his belly to look under the furniture.
Sure enough, the omega was there, hiding close to the wall covered in sweat and nesting with the pillows and blanket that had been on the bed. Josh finally relaxed completely and let his instincts take over, allowing his rut to do the thinking.
"Come here omega, alpha's got you," he purred and felt proud when Tyler left his nest without a second thought.
The omega crawled into his lap and held onto his shirt for dear life, crying in frustration at the other omega's scents that covered his alpha.
He started to scent his mate and whined at Josh to do the same.
And like that they stayed for what felt like hours.
Josh cooed at his omega and kept him warm, his own body temperature rising steadily as his rut grew stronger. When Tyler felt a little better they moved from the floor and onto the bed where Josh threw the blanket and pillows for his omega to nest with.
While the lower-ranked was busy, the other took his chance to get more blankets along with water bottles and some easily eaten food.
They nested for a long time, Tyler was a very picky omega and he needed every pillow to be fluffed to perfection and every blanket to lay just right.
When he finally felt satisfied they crawled into their little nest and disappeared from the outside world. Tyler fell asleep in his alpha's lap and Josh took the opportunity to rest too, still feeling exhausted from working so much.
He woke up to his omega's whines and two raging boners, one - his own, and one - Tyler's. The omega whimpered and pulled at his clothes until he sat naked, before he attached himself to Josh's neck, kissing and licking at his scent gland to force out some more hormones.
Josh undressed too without a word, his rut screaming at him to mate, mate, mate! But the logical part of his brain - the responsible part of his mind - made him stop and look at his boyfriend.
Somewhere in the back of his head, past the fog from the rut and the smoke from arousal, he remembered that Tyler had never been mated before. He had never been knotted by an alpha as far as Josh knew.
"Tyler," he said.
When his mate didn't respond and just kept licking at his neck, he raised his voice.
"Omega!"
This made Tyler back off with a high pitched whine, lowering his head in submission to please his alpha.
"I'm gonna knot you, do you understand?"
Tyler nodded eagerly.
"Say that you understand, and that you want it," Josh insisted.
He knew what heats did to omega's and he wanted to make sure that Tyler was actually ready.
"Knot me, alpha."
Josh didn't really need anything more than that.
Tyler was already leaking slick and panting, so as soon as they got out from the tangles of blankets and pillows he stood on his hands and knees, presenting himself willingly for his alpha.
Josh got behind him and thrusted in right away.
The resistance was almost nonexistent, the heat leaving the omega open and ready and he wailed as Josh bottomed out, cock bigger than normal and reaching deeper inside him.
The alpha started to fuck his mate mercilessly right away, instincts controlling him and telling him to claim the omega as quickly as possible so that no one else could take him.
Tyler moaned and fell forward a bit at the force of the alpha's thrusts, getting down on his elbows and had to flex his stomach and thighs to keep his ass up.
"Alpha!" he cried out as he came, showering the bedsheets below in cum.
Josh just grunted in return and kept going, holding his omega's hips in place to reach deeper and leaned forward over his back to press sloppy kisses over his shoulders.
The omega purred and let himself be fucked even though he was tired and sensitive. Josh took quite a while to cum, fucking his omega for more than twenty minutes.
During that time Tyler came four times, crying out louder and louder as he got more and more sensitive, feeling overstimulated and fucked raw.
Finally, when Tyler was on the verge of his fifth orgasm, Josh came with a growl.
The alpha leaned forward and bit into the omega's scent gland, marking him as his mate for real. Tyler hissed at the pain and cried out, but was soon purring at the thought of getting claimed.
Thick strings of warm cum filled up the omega, leaking out on the sides of Josh's cock before he could press in his knot, trapping his semen inside.
It felt tight and pulsating inside of Tyler, but the omega just sighed happily.
"Good omega," Josh praised as he gently laid them both down on their side, still connected to each other.
He flung his arms around his mate - his real mate! - and started to lick at the bite mark he had left in his skin, cooing when Tyler hissed.
"Such a good mate," he mumbled as he kept caring for the lower-ranked, scenting him and giving him gentle licks and kisses.
"Mate," Tyler purred happily.
Josh hummed and nuzzled his nose into the back of his head, sniffing his fluffy, brown hair.
They both fell asleep quickly, tired and spent after their first mating.
Tyler woke up first the day after and noticed that his head felt clearer and that his heat was almost completely gone. He grimaced at the feeling of Josh's cock slipping out of his ass when he moved and blushed when he felt the semen starting to leak out.
The omega sneaked into the bathroom and took a well needed shower before staring at himself in the mirror. His hair was wild and untamed, but that didn't catch his eye in the slightest. What gained all his attention was the deep purple mark on the right side of his neck, covering his entire scent gland in a dark bruise.
Distinct marks of teeth shone through and even though Josh had cleaned it off carefully it had some dried blood here and there.
His mark.
He had a mate.
A real mate.
Tyler walked out of the bathroom with his chest puffed out, feeling better than ever before - despite the aching in his butt.
Josh had woken up to an empty bed and smiled when he saw his omega.
"Hey," he greeted, voice rough from the night before.
He took a water bottle and finished almost the entire thing in one go.
"Hi," Tyler giggled as he sat down on the bed again, being pulled close by his mate.
Josh licked at his bite mark again, nursing his poor omega.
"Shouldn't you be at work?" Tyler asked after a few minutes of silence, turning his head to look over his shoulder.
"Nah," Josh sighed, "I got fired yesterday."
The omega sat up straight at that and stared at his mate with big eyes.
"What?!" he cried out, "oh Josh, I'm so sorry!"
The alpha blew a raspberry and waved his hand carelessly.
"I'll find something else."
A grin spread over his face.
"I hated that job anyways."