She had learned to anticipate it by the roll of her belly, the slight downfall of the ache, and of course, by dizzying concepts that clung to her sense of reality.
Marinette never could think straight whenever it seized her in its cold, icy grip though that couldn't describe it perfectly.
It ached and pulsed like a drumbeat or as if it had its own heart, the pain lingered everywhere excrutiatingly for days, and naturally her mind got lost in the heat somewhere as she longed to reach out for just any Alpha near her.
She had come to know an Alpha by what they acted like, the cruel race of their eyes in adrenaline inducing situations or whenever an Omega in her class went into heat or even on the street whenever one did.
Mari wasn't perfect at distinguishing Alphas from non-Alphas, and if someone was a Beta, it was pure guesswork on her part.
The issue only truly arose when she couldn't go to school that week, too half hung over herself in desperate heat, and definitely too aware of how her class would take it; she may not know all of their 'classes', but they knew hers.
She knew that her best friend was a Beta that she'd look out for her and already had; she knew that her best friend's boyfriend was a Beta too, because when they first got together, Alya wouldn't shut up about it or stop talking about how great it was to be with someone of her class.
Marinette didn't quite consider what happened today as her fault, because she didn't know that he was an Alpha, that it would only complicate and confuse things more.
She had a duty to the civillians of Paris anyway, and probably would have went out anyway had she known, just to protect them.
Marinette found herself trying to sit up, get a breath of fresh air or at least not remain in the same spot on her bed when the alert happened, and Tikki was at her side, "I don't think that you should go."
The Omega'd been lucky that she didn't have any Akuma attacks around her heat before today; she'd snuck in scent distortion medicine for pre-Heat days in case of Akumas, but even then, there rarely were days that she had to fight crime during her preheat day.
Marinette stared resolutely ahead at her little guardian, "I have to, Tikki. Cat Noir needs me." She shrugged, pushing off the heavy ache that clung to her of what if she just stayed in bed, "He can't purify the Akuma by himself."
Tikki sighed though she'd been rather lucky, as a Kwami, she didn't have a particular class that she belonged to which meant no ruts, no heats, or anything of the like; Kwami tended to bear the most similarities to Betas though they didn't have a particular class like smell, not that her current holder could tell that particular fact right away.
Marinette tried to smile past the grimace of pain on her lips as she stumbled to her feet, trying to ignore the way her body just told her to find an Alpha, and spoke up among the quickly fading conversation, "Tikki, spots on."
Her transformation always left her in awe as strength pooled in her veins that reminded her of what an Alpha probably felt like and for just a moment, quickly cooled the desire and intensity of her heat though she knew when it was time to transform back that she'll have to dive right in to her bedroom and then transform, preferably on her bed as with her preheats before even with dulling medicine came on with sudden intensity as soon as she was Marinette again.
Tikki never could find the words to tell her Miraculous holder that Marinette had a breathtaking smell that clung to her or the fact while heat symptoms went down, her scent magnified further, becoming more irresistable and much stronger, giving it almost Alpha like properties to help calm down civillians.
Ladybug hopped out of her room, swinging towards where the Akuma was at and then touching down beside her partner in fighting crime; Tikki cringed when she could see from right here, merged with Marinette, the way that Cat Noir's tail curled around behind him, and the way that his eyes dilated slightly in delight.
While Marinette couldn't smell anything, her partner could smell just fine.
Cat Noir slipped closer to her as if dazed by her smell due to her ongoing heat and just took another whiff of the air before Ladybug pushed away from him and moved to her own spot on the building, eyeing him warily as she turned towards the Akuma, "Do you know where the Akuma is hiding yet?" She hoped that Cat Noir would just calm down and stop just staring at her and breathing her scent in.
She only now realized that her partner wasn't a Beta, but rather an Alpha, and it made her stomach drop to her feet.
Ladybug just had to get through this and go home and sleep off as much of the heat as she could and not at all focus on the way that her partner kept glancing over to her, tail wagging, not unlike a playful cat.
She gulped, trying to focus on the Akuma terrorizing the city, screaming something about how if they couldn't have their Omega right now, no one could.
Ladybug sighed; this just sounded like a hassle on top of everything else.
Heat Stabilizer as the Akuma was called was one to immediately try to induce heat like symptoms on random people even ones that weren't Omegas and to reduce heat like symptoms in those that were already in heat as if he could chase away the temptation of those in Paris.
Ladybug sighed as she shifted, trying to think past the slight haze in her thoughts, the slight tug against reality, and the fact that suddenly the fact that her partner in fighting crime was an Alpha and therefore her mind wanted to draw up all sorts of conclusions, pushing the heat to the forefront of her mind, though she did her best to push it off.
Her eyes were sharp however, and she turned to stare down at his ridiculously, pink outfit; pink was her favorite color, but his outfit floofed up in a way that had her wondering what Hawkmoth was thinking at all when he Akumatized the random Alpha.
She couldn't smell him or the scent of heats flickering on and off like lightbulbs, but she knew that he was an Alpha by his attitude and the fact that he wanted 'his' Omega during her heat.
Ladybug's eyes wandered to the necklace around his neck, not too obvious or over the top ridiculous, just a green gem on a thin, metal chain. She couldn't help but focus on other parts of his attire, a bag filled to the brim with his heat causing gun, a small letter tucked carefully low in the bag.
"It's in his letter, right?" Ladybug asked her superhero partner before instantly regretting turning to him; his eyes were still dilating, tail forming a slow, litte heart before twisting back into a random circuit of movements and then coming back into another. She realized belatedly that her scent tended to wash over him, dominating the air whenever she moved.
Her belly rolled in nervousness, almost feeling sick, while a part of her mind raced off; could he soothe the heat if she just transformed into ordinary, little Marinette.
Ladybug pushed her mental flurry out of the way and turned back to the villian, hoping that her partner would come to his senses soon.
"Y-Yeah, pawsibly." Cat Noir shifted, and Ladybug faintly wondered what he smelled like now or what he always smelled like; did his scent wash over the area in a sudden burst of strength or was it more subdued like a quiet and playful kitten?
"Alright," Ladybug shifted before using her power, "Lucky Charm."
She blinked as a little mask plopped into her hand or at least what looked like one as Cat Noir leaned slightly closer to her to see what she was holding while trying to stop from just pressing closer against her when it only brought her scent into more focus for him.
Ladybug twisted the mask distractedly in her hands as she eyed the villian and the surrounding area before realizing that Cat Noir probably needed it so that he could focus; he was an Alpha and the strange mixture of heats in the air and her own had to be driving him crazy.
He'd focus better with the mask on rather than the way that he was now; instinctively she moved closer, ignoring the soft, weak hearted protest of Cat's, and pressing the mask on his face, lacing it on as if she'd done this everyday for years.
He blinked as he adjusted to not being able to smell the air; thankfully, his face smoothed out, and slowly, he seemed to become much more coherent.
Cat Noir righted himself by her side and turned back to the villian that was facing off against them, "It's clawfully disappointing that I can't smell your ameowzing scent anymore."
She rolled her eyes, half tempted to ask him just what she smelled like to him.
"If you're on your heat, why aren't any of the Alphas making you go insane?" Cat Noir looked more curious than disappointed at this fact.
"That doesn't matter right now." Ladybug's face turned a slight shade of pink as she heard his question.
She'd always avoided bringing anything of the sort up, always skipped away from the mere mention of why she didn't react to Alpha's scents, or why she could sometimes mess up the class of a few people.
Only a select few knew that she couldn't smell anything; Alya and her parents. Marinette had never felt the need to tell anyone else that she really couldn't smell scents at all. She knew that in a society that scents were awfully important that it would always seem much more as a disability than it seemed to her most of the time.
Heat Stabilizer seemed to be on a roll as he seemed to cause mass chaos and confusion by just altering a small, little thing. Ladybug was just glad that she was relatively immune to the confusion, though sometimes her mind seemed a tad on the hazy side instead of clear and ready to focus. Akumas were not a laughing matter despite how often on long patrols during extremely cold nights, she and Cat would joke about some of the stranger or just plain bizarre Akumas that they'd had to face.
Ladybug trailed Heat Stabilizer as she tried to ignore how fried her brain somehow was during the confusion; the scents could never trigger a reaction from her since she'd never been able to smell a single one her whole life, but the reactions or attitudes somehow never failed to miss her.
She'd always been more visual than scent focused, and thus sometimes her mind wandered to just the way that was supposed to got rid of cloudy minds and short attention spans. As far as she was aware of anyway, she'd never been stupid enough to let a Heat control her life when she'd always planned to have a happy and stable marriage like her parents.
"So how do we get to him?" Ladybug murmured to herself. Heat Stabilizer seemed content to run away and just generally avoid anything to do with the two superheroes and so far, he'd been relatively successful. It was probably just a matter of time until Hawkmoth intervened and demanded that he do something to get their Miraculouses as that always seemed to be the case for them up to this point when there was a single minded Akuma that couldn't seemingly care any less about Miraculouses, let alone Hawkmoth's agenda, whatever it may be.
"We could go up close? We could try distracting him and give the other a chance to counter strike while he tries to confuse one of us." Cat Noir piped up, and Ladybug was grateful for the times when he felt comfortable or confident enough to suggest a plan of action. Sometimes her mind was not cooperating with new ideas and successful input anyway. Her Heat today despite not being quite as urgent transformed as it was when she wasn't, still managed to fog her brain up and sometimes wander to very unhelpful ideas to pass the time.
Ladybug refused to get distracted enough that an Akuma wreaked havoc on Paris for several days as she waited for her mind to clear and her body to feel a little bit more ready to fight. Time was often not what a superhero had when a villian was out and about.
"That's a good idea." She murmured, both eager to get this fight over with and dreading the idea of going home and laying in bed all day, left stewing over what she'd just discovered about Cat Noir. Already, she knew her mind was going to be a disaster, despite how little it likely would matter later on, other than making her a little more cautious with how close she got to him. Scents could be distracting especially right now.
"Do you want to distract him?" Ladybug asked, despite her mind already offering up the suggestion of being a distraction. Cat Noir could make it much easier to his bag to Cataclysm the letter and Ladybug was an Omega which might distract Heat Stabilizer for at least a second as he tried to reroute his focus. He hadn't yet hit them to change their symptoms, and if he hit her, it would work out a lot better in the long run than it would if he hit Cat. Cat likely wouldn't want to deal with a Heat, and Ladybug could probably focus better not being affected by a Heat at all, likely would Cat Noir who really was affected by her despite all that she'd tried to help him focus better.
"I'm sorry to say this, but you'd probably be a better distraction though please don't get hurt or let him touch you, or..." Cat Noir began to ramble a little in worry, and she wondered if he'd really ever known or considered the fact that she was an Omega before today.
"I realize that. You get that letter. I'll stay safe. I'm a lot tougher Omega than it may seem." She smiled, hoping to reassure him and kind of hoping to be hit by the beam from Heat Stabilizer's gun if it would remove her foggy mind and allow her to focus much better, anyway.
"Okay." Cat Noir smiled back at her, and Ladybug took that as her cue to hop down and call out the Akuma's name. Her partner may have usually been the distraction for an Akuma, but Ladybug was pretty sure that she had to have at least learned a thing or two from him in the mean time.
Heat Stabilizer, since he never shot himself, and since he just got a new person to shoot and change into a member of a different class and not push Hawkmoth's patience too much further seemed excited to handle the situation though he was quick to mumble, "You're an Omega!? I thought you were an Alpha. I'll have to change you into one then. That goes against my original plan..."
Ladybug felt a little grateful for her days as a superhero stopping him up short as he looked more distracted and might prove easier to disengage though he immediately went back to his bag, stopping Cat short, and making Ladybug groan in frustration. "How about you just go with your original plan?" Buy Cat some more time, buy Cat some more time... Think!
"It will do nothing unless you're telling me that you're not on your Heat right now?" Heat Stabilizer gave her a look that told her that he saw right through her, that it was likely that anyone that was close enough to smell her realized that she was already on her Heat.
"It can't hurt, can it? Why don't you give it a try and see if it affects me?" She really hoped that she wasn't playing a dangerous game and about to make her Heat a hundred times worse. Cat Noir didn't need that as eventually she'd have to send her Lucky Charm into the air to purify the city, and she, herself, definitely didn't need that either, not if it made her stumble more or have even less focus. But Cat Noir was stuck waiting for Heat Stabilizer to move his arm, to give him just enough room to snatch and tear through that letter.
"It probably wouldn't hurt and maybe, just maybe, I can steal your earrings while you're down. That's what Hawkmoth wants, right? Then he'll shut up and be happy, and Paris will be the way that both of us want." Heat Stabilizer moved his hand, away from his bag, once again, and just as he aimed his gun at her to fire, Cat Noir moved quick. Rolling closer, silent as a, well, a cat, and yanked the letter from the bag. He was Cataclysming it when the beam shot out and hit Ladybug, and as the little Akuma fluttered into the air, Heat Stabilizer lost his form, Ladybug stumbled on weakened knees and barely managed to swing her yoyo out and capture the Akuma.
Her legs shook and trembled as she repeated the words that usually entered her mind so much easier than they did now. They felt weak as she managed to purify the Akuma and stumble closer to her partner as she sent a now purified and 'innocent' Akuma off. "Cat, the Lucky Charm!" She called out, feeling weaker than she allowed herself to appear.
"M'lady?" He was concerned as he always seemed to be. Cat Noir always cared for her too much, and she'd just made it close when he handed her the mask from shaky claws. It hit her all at once just how hard he was trying to be good for her, trying to respect her, and be the best partner for her that he could be, the one that she needed.
She smiled a shaky smile as she shook her head clear, as she threw the mask up, and stumbled through two words, "Lucky Charm!" Ladybugs filled the air at her words and purified the once chaos of Paris, restoring it back to its normal level of order, swirling around her as if they belonged there, making once shaky legs steady and a once racing and anxious heart slower and making it much easier to breathe.
With it, came her normal Heat symptoms while transformed, calm though a little disoriented, and with that, came a realization that her partner as brave and strong as he was, was the best partner for her. Ladybug stood much steadier, much stronger as they went through their post-fight routine, "Pound it!" And she found the courage, what little she felt like she had on reserve for the moment, to lean forward and kiss her partner's cheek with a heartfelt, barely muttered, "Thank you," left on his skin as almost the right end of the cheek kiss.
Ladybug pulled away with a smile, as nervous as she still felt, as she looked into her partner's dazed green eyes and realized that they'd get through this realization from this Akuma filled afternoon, from Heat dazed minds, sudden realizations, and the difficulty of an Omega having an Alpha partner while fighting crime, especially when her partner loved her better than she'd ever realized before. He fought temptation to protect her, to fight alongside her, and loved her better through keeping his actions pure than she'd ever realized. It took effort, a whole lot of effort, on his part to be a partner that she could trust. A kind of effort that she could only just understand in other ways.
No matter how difficult, the future may be with sort of confused feelings on her part and stronger self will on his, she knew that her partner really was the best support system that she had, the best fighter to fight alongside her, and sometimes even the clarity that she needs. If he can support her through this when they both had to fight to remain in control of their actions and to focus, then truly he had her back through temptation, through trial, through difficulty, and more.
She'd just have to sort out her feelings by the next time that she saw him.