1.
"Hey, Sam? It's, uh… It's me."
"I know it's you, Buck. I got your number saved in my phone."
Sam studied the contents of his fridge. Somewhere in there was the makings of breakfast. An omelet perhaps. There were a few bell peppers in there that hadn't yet turned. Or maybe he'd indulge in some Nutella-smothered French toast and some sliced strawberries. Not exactly conducive to the Captain America diet, but a man only lived once.
Although in some respects, Sam was on his second life. Snapped out of existence, then brought back. He'd done his best to pick up the pieces, but… Five years. Sometimes it was almost too much for Sam to wrap his head around. He'd missed out on a lot. Being gone wasn't his fault, but he couldn't help carrying around some regret. Mostly around the loss of quality time with his family. Building forts in the living room with his nephews. Giving his sister a hard time, just because he could. They had five years worth of bickering to catch up on. Sam intended on making every moment count.
"You're saved as Optimus Prime," he noted, palming two eggs, "though I could've done worse." Olaf or Elsa were right there for the taking. However, Sam figured any references to Frozen were in poor taste. Especially now that he more than half way liked the guy.
The whine on the other end of the line almost made Sam crush the eggs in his hand. Gingerly, he set them down on the counter. His Alpha senses got kicked into high gear at that familiar sound. It was the whine of an Omega in desperate need. Sam knew that sound well, but he had never heard it coming from that man before.
"Are you busy?" Bucky's labored breathing was cause for concern. Super soldiers didn't get winded easily. So unless he had just run to Baton Rouge and back... "If you are, don't worry about it. I'll deal with it myself."
Sam had a pretty good idea what it was. And there was no way Bucky would be able to deal with it on his own.
Though he would much rather err on the side of caution and not go jumping to conclusions.
"Not busy at all." If they were face to face, Sam could use his Alpha pheromones to talk Bucky down from whatever ledge he was teetering on. Instead he used his voice instead to project safety and security. They were friends. Of a sort. And if Bucky was in trouble, Sam would suit up in a heartbeat.
However, he had a feeling that neither the suit nor the shield would be of any help in this particular instance.
He had a working theory of what Bucky was going through, but he needed to test it.
"I've got nothing on my plate for the rest of the day." Sam tucked the phone between his shoulder and ear, listening closely for any further sounds of distress. "Except for maybe a shower. I just got back from a run, so I stink to high Heaven."
James Buchanan Barnes, reformed assassin and occasional pain in the ass, fucking whimpered at the mention of Alpha's pungent musk.
Oh, yeah, that Omega was down bad.
All Sam could hear on the other end were several, shaky breaths. "You okay over there, man?"
"No," the aggrieved Omega grunted. "I'm fucking nesting, Sam!" He sounded as though his pride had been gravely wounded and he might never recover. "I had to ask Sarah where to get pillows and blankets and all sorts of soft stuff and… Hand to God, Sam, I have never built a nest in my whole life and now I've got one! This makes no damn sense!"
Oh, it made all the sense in the world. Bucky was an Omega. And Omega got to nesting when they were on the verge of Heat. It was totally instinctual. No previous nest building experience necessary. Surely this wasn't Bucky's first time going through this. At his advanced age, even subtracting the years he'd been on ice, the Omega should have been well acquainted with his mating cycle.
This train of thought led Sam to wondering about sex ed in the forties and there were just some things best left not dwelled upon.
Bucky whined again. The desperate sound cutting straight toe Sam's Alpha core. Triggering the instinct of his own to give aid to the Omega in his time of need.
"You gotta help me, man!" Bucky was majorly disgruntled. "It's like I've got ants crawling under my skin! And there's this ache inside me that just won't go away. At first I thought I might've had some bad crawfish…"
"Buck…"
"What with all the cramping and the pain. And I'm used to pain, okay, Sam? But this… This is a whole 'nother beast."
Sam jumped in while the other man paused to take a breath. "You're going into Heat, Buck."
There was a moment of silence.
"Well, thank you for stating the obvious, Samuel."
"I hate you so much."
"But I am not twelve. I know what Heats are like and they dont… They don't make me like this."
Which begged the question of what his Heats were typically like. Sam didn't have the strength to ask. He was doing everything humanly possible to keep the incredibly inappropriate thoughts at bay.
As part of an Omega's biological imperative, the more primitive areas of their brain compelled them to create these soft, safe spaces or nests. And it was into these spaces that the Omega would subsequently invite their Alpha for mating purposes. Then nature took its course. The Alpha mounted the Omega and the two engaged in vigorous intercourse over the next three to five days. In between their bouts of mating, the Omega rested while the Alpha provided both protection and sustenance. By the time their Heat was over, the Omega had received copious amounts of seed and, depending on their level of fertility, had been impregnated by the Alpha.
Sam barely held it together as his mind was inundated with images of a naked Bucky, down on all fours, presenting his wet and waiting hole. It was a lot to handle so early in the morning.
It was only a matter of time before Bucky's Heat fully consumed him. Once his primal Omega brain took the wheel, he would go from Sam's favorite menace to an insatiable cock whore begging for his Alpha's knot. Which was the only thing that would satisfy the ache inside him. He'd plead and cry for his Alpha to fuck him senseless and then pump him so full of cum that it leaked out of his stretched out hole.
Sam's self-preservation instincts kicked in. He yanked open the freezer door and stuck his head inside. The icy cold blast did wonders for clearing the absolute filth that threatened to drown him.
"Sam… Are you there?"
The Alpha had to take a few deep, steadying breaths of his own. "Yeah, I'm here." He pressed his forehead against a carton of butter pecan ice cream. That was better. "Tell me what you need."
He slipped into the Alpha voice without meaning to. Upon hearing it, Bucky would have little choice but to obey. Another one of those biological imperatives. A good Omega always heeded the Alpha's voice.
Buffy huffed and grunted in response to the command. He was clearly fighting against his own inconvenient instincts.
Through gritted teeth, he grumbled, "I need you to make it go away!"
No can do, Buckaroo. Once his Heat started, there was no stopping it. The only way out for the Omega was through.
Sam delivered the unpleasant truth as gently as he could. "Short of putting you back in the deep freeze for the next few days, there's no getting out of this. But maybe it won't be so bad. When was the last time you… ya know… received the attention of an Alpha?"
"Never," said Bucky, bluntly. "The opportunity never presented itself before the war. And then things kinda went sideways, what with the whole brainwashed killing machine thing." He chuckled humorlessly. "See, my previous employer kinda frowned upon their assets too horny to think or shoot straight. Plus, I'd been on suppressants since I enlisted. The U.S. military wasn't too keen on Omegas going into Heat right in the middle of a fire fight. Though leave it Hydra had to take things a step further and remove my mating glands altogether."
It was a wildly outdated stereotype that Alphas were more inherently violent than the other dynamics. They were stronger, yes. And their fuses were, statistically speaking, a little bit shorter. But they were not any more prone to anger than a Beta or an Omega.
However… The forcible removal of an Omega's mating glands was an egregious, heinous offense that should be met with grievous bodily harm. It was, to put it plainly, beyond the pale. And pretty much par for the course for a group of power hungry, genocidal super Nazis.
The rage that threatened to overwhelm Sam was unlike any other. Now, he had been plenty mad through the years but this… This was apocalypse level anger. It was I have a particular set of skills kind of ass kicking wrath.
It took a little while for the red to recede from Sam's vision. He posed his next question very, very delicately. He was wading into some uncharted waters and could, at any moment, find himself in way over his head. "So, you've gone through Heat before, but never been knotted?"
Bucky made this weird choking noise, which caused Sam with great concern. "What the hell, man?! You can't just say shit like that!"
"I am trying to understand your situation."
"And what is so hard to understand?" groused Bucky. "I am going into Heat. You have the equipment to put me out of my misery. So either get your foxy ass over here or I'm going on Amazon to get a specialty dildo and take care of this myself!"
Sam contemplated all of the decisions he had made in life that led him to this moment. He made note of a few poor choices. "Buck, I just want to make sure I have all the facts before I… ya know…"
"Pop my Alpha cherry?" The Omega sighed, sounding as though he was reaching the end of his tether. "Sorry. I know you're just trying to help. And I get that this is a lot to ask. It's just that… I had finally started to get a handle on things. Mostly. And then this happens and… It's like my life is some cosmic joke."
"It's not a joke, Buck. It's just… biology." Though why it suddenly decided to kick in now was a mystery. Sam assumed that Bucky had gone off suppressants since terminating his employment with Hydra. Not unless he got back on while in Wakanda. It would have been incredibly hard to work through his issues while giving in to the mating call.
Bucky's voice got all soft in a way that made Sam's stomach flip like he was doing midair somersaults. "But it wasn't like this before. The horniness, I remember. Back then I would just jerk off a few dozen times or mess around with some Betas. I didn't wanna risk messing around with an Alpha and ending up knocked up. So I either took care of things myself or got a little help from a friend."
"I guess that's kinda what you're doing now," said Sam.
"But this is different," the Omega confessed. "And it's not just the nesting thing. I feel different, Sam. I want… things."
Here came the deep water again.
"Things?" A cautious inquiry. Sam could only venture a guess as to the inner workings of Bucky's mind. Which was a minefield on a good day.
And this was starting out to be less than a good day.
"What kind of things?" Sam simply sought clarification. Nothing more.
"It depends," mumbled Bucky. "Sometimes it's soft, sappy stuff. Like kissing. Cuddling. All that mushy crap."
Sam snorted. "You're a real romantic at heart, James."
"Shut up." There was warmth in the admonishment. A fondness that made Sam's stomach do that spinny maneuver again. "I wanna smell you, Sam."
"Not right now you don't." He sniffed his own armpit loud enough for Bucky to hear. "I reek so bad, I'm starting to offend myself."
He made Bucky laugh. There was something so goddamn special about being able to put a smile on that sour puss.
"Okay, so maybe after you shower." Smart choice. "But there's, umm… other stuff that I want, too. Stuff that's not so mushy., if you get my meaning"
Along with rugged good looks and an empathetic nature, Sam Wilson had been blessed with an impressive imagination. He got Bucky's meaning.
All thoughts of breakfast flew right out of his head.
"Whatever you need, Buck. I'm here for you. And it can be whatever you want it to be. No pressure."
Again came that mirthless little laugh. "Just a couple of guys, right? Lending a hand. Helping each other out. Like pals."
"Yeah," said Sam. "It can be just like back in the day."
Except that he knew as soon as he got his hands on Bucky, there was no way in hell Sam was letting him go. Being Bucky's first Alpha wasn't enough. Sam wanted to be his only Alpha. He wanted to claim the Omega as his mate. Hydra's medical malpractice be damned.
"Sam…"
"I can be there in an hour." He was already on the move, a plan forming as he spoke. "Just gotta pack a bag. Shower, of course. Swing by the grocery store for some provisions."
Bucky grumbled in his ear. "That's really not necessary."
"Of course it is," said Sam. "I'm your Alpha." He caught himself too late. "I mean, I'm the one you picked. So I gotta do this right. It's your first time and I… It's gotta be done right, that's all."
The Omega was quiet. Sam shoved shirts and shorts in his duffel bag to keep his mind off of the million things Bucky could have been thinking. Maybe he was changing his mind about having Sam be the one to help him through this.
"You… really wanna take care of me, huh?"
Sam paused in his packing. "Yeah. I do."
"You wanna…" Bucky sighed in a way that set Sam's blood on fire. "Kiss me? And touch me? All over?"
Sam sensed things were about to take an explicit turn. He understood that the Omega was in a delicate mental state. That Bucky's brain to mouth filter had been unplugged. He was in Heat and, therefore, could not be held responsible for what he said or did while under its influence. Which was why Sam, as a respectable person, should really put a stop to this before it went any further. He'd hate for Bucky to say something that he would later come to regret.
"I'll be there as quick as I can, okay, baby?"
Boy, Bucky must have been really gone for Sam to get away with calling him that. Obviously, he wasn't in his right mind.
"Fuck, Sam…" The Omega moaned. It was filthy and dirty and the Alpha could stand to hear it a few hundred more times. "I like it when you say that. I like it when you…" There was a shuddering gasp. "Say my name."
Oh, there was definitely some jerking off going on over on the other end of the line. Sam Wilson was nobody's fool. He knew when Rosy Palm and her five friendly sisters were going to town.
"Are you… Are you touching yourself, James?"
Being a reasonable adult was overrated. The pay was shit and the dental plan sucked.
The Omega grunted in frustration. "Little bit… Just need to take the edge off."
Well, Sam could help with that, too.
He sat down on the edge of the bed. He unleashed the Alpha voice. "Tell me what you need, baby."