A/N: This story would not leave me alone, so what started as a ficlet now has several chapters written and characters I love very much. The tags have all the pertinent information for the time being, but I may be adding more/trigger warnings at a later date. Keep in mind this is a high school AU. I wanted to tackle ABO in a way I haven't seen before, and a coming of age story for Emma and Killian felt right to me. For clarity's sake, Killian is eighteen in this story, and is finishing off an abridged senior year. Emma is finishing her sophomore year and is not yet seventeen.
Killian shoved his locker closed, nearly catching his hand as he rushed to jam his books inside and grab his bag from the hook. He was running late, and he'd have to change at work if he was going to make his shift on time. He hated that he was still required to come back to finish his English requirement on-site, that they wouldn't just let him take the summer course at the college. It felt like a waste of time, and certainly didn't give him the flexibility he would have liked to find work in town – not that the pizza parlor was bad, he appreciated he had the job at all, but it would have been nice to try to find something in his field.
He tried to remind himself that even though it didn't make sense, there was nothing to be done about it. He hadn't worked himself to the point of exhaustion for the past four years just to forgo getting his diploma because he was sore about having to attend a high school English class first thing in the morning. Liam had given up so much to keep him on the right path – he wasn't about to let something so petty ruin it.
He hurried toward the back of the building where the pool and locker rooms were housed, a pair of heavy, glass doors leading toward the track and basketball courts. It was faster to cut across the track and behind the insurance dealer to get to work, saving himself the five minutes he would need to get changed into his polo.
Just as he was opening the door, the sound of pounding footsteps caught his attention and he turned just in time to see a wisp of a girl, blonde hair streaming behind her, come barreling past him, her face streaked with tears.
She flew across the asphalt and took off toward the bleachers that lined the track. Something about her was familiar, and he was trying to pin it down when it hit him – the unmistakable scent of an omega entering heat.
Bloody hell.
His fingers curled around the straps of his back pack, jaw tightening as he shoved down that natural instinct to inhale deeply, to suss out each note of her unique scent.
It wasn't uncommon for a new omega or alpha to enter their first cycle at school – it was the prime age range, and spending eight hours a day someplace, it was bound to happen – but there were rules for this already in place. Everyone was aware of them. Why hadn't she reported to the nurse? Why run out the back of the building where it was empty until after school practices, and most definitely not safe for an unmated omega.
Unless something had already happened, something that made her run...
Another surge of instincts burned beneath his skin, both at the scent of her still lingering in the air and the thought that someone may have tried to force themselves on a new omega. He growled low in his chest and changed directions, heading toward the towering bleachers that stood against the old building they used for home game announcements.
He would have to hope his boss forgave him for being late. While his father had been far from an example of an honorable man, Liam had taught him what it was to have good form, and he couldn't simply leave the frightened omega, not until he's made certain she was alright.
He found her easily enough, her pheromones blooming in the air around him. She was tucked away beneath the bleachers, her knees drawn against her body and her head tucked into their peak, the sound of her tears betraying her as she tried to calm herself down.
The air beneath the bleachers was stifling, and her scent hung heavily around her, filling the crowded space. It was enough to rouse his alpha nature – he couldn't deny that – but even being so close to her, it was the need to protect that reared above the desire for anything else.
This was an omega in distress.
He kept his distance, merely ducking his head so her could peer beneath the bleachers and see her more clearly. He wasn't surprised she sought out the shelter of the small, covered space beneath the bleachers – omegas tended to crave that security during their heat, and could often be very defensive of it. Her blonde waves hung in a curtain over her shoulders, the deep frown of her scrunched up brow just visible behind the scuffed knees of her jeans as she curled in on herself. Her sneakers were worn, the tips of them peeling open against the cold gravel. That sense of familiarity stirred in his gut once again, but she didn't seem old enough to be a senior, and most of the underclassmen took their classes in separate wings of the building. To be honest, it had been some time since he'd paid much attention to anything other than his schooling – pretty omegas included. With how everything had changed in the past year, the thought of dating hadn't crossed his mind, his hours filled with working to pay for both his own upkeep and the classes he was enrolled in.
"Are you alright, love?" he called out softly.
She hadn't yet noticed him in her state of distress, and he didn't want to frighten her further. He focused on softening his stance, bowing his shoulders and letting his voice fall into a soft rumble that omegas often found pleasing. Despite being a gentleman, there was nothing he could do about the pheromones and increased musk his body was creating in response to hers. It wasn't normally something he had trouble with in the past, had never reacted to an omega in this way. Perhaps it was something about her flight past him that had triggered such a primal response, his desire to protect her in overdrive.
"Stay back," she hissed, scrambling further against the gravel until her head was pressed against the bottom of a metal row, suddenly looking far less like a frightened omega and more of a fierce, wild thing that had been cornered. Her glare was impressive for staring down an alpha – she was a tough lass. He wondered if she could smell him, if she was even aware yet of what his body was telling her – I'm alpha, I can take care of you, I'm safe – or if her heightened sense of smell hadn't yet kicked in.
Her glare didn't waver, and he found himself entranced by the color of her eyes – beautiful and brilliant and standing out all the more for the redness surrounding them. His gut clenched and he once again had to push down the bristling need to turn and defend her chosen space, digging his fingers painfully into his palm until it settled. That would only frighten her more.
"I'm not going to come any closer, lass, I promise," he reassured her, his words low and rhythmic, nearing a purr in his chest – all of it an instinctual response he couldn't have stemmed even if he wanted to, but she seemed to respond, some of the tension falling from her shoulders as she eyed him suspiciously. "You ran past me back there and I just...I just wanted to make sure no one had caused you to run out here in your...state."
She raised her chin defiantly, and that same feeling of familiarity washed over him again, something about the tight set of her lips and the hardness in her eyes – and then the memory finally found him. She'd been there the day he got the news, the day he'd been called to the principal's office and told that Liam had...that he was gone. She'd been sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room when he'd left, his eyes flickering to her almost unseeingly as he walked in a fog to collect his things, that same defiant tilt to her chin – like it was her against the world.
"No, it's nothing like that," she muttered. "I'm fine, I just...I can't go back in there. I'm having – I think I'm..."
"Aye, I can smell you," he agreed, "but you should head in to the nurse. I can escort you If you'd like. She'll give you all of the information you'll need, and they'll have a beta from the staff escort you home so you can ride it out somewhere safe."
"I can't," she whispered, the defiance in her breaking at the admission. "I can't go back to that place, not like this. The man who's there now...I just can't. I don't know what he'll do."
It didn't escape him that she never once said the words home or father, and he suddenly remembered something else he'd heard about the new girl who'd arrived halfway through the year, the whispers that had traveled the halls as if the labels were something she even had control over – foster kid, orphan, unwanted. Understanding and a need to soothe her tightened his chest and he dropped his gaze, hand digging against the rough edge of the bleacher as he physically restrained himself from moving closer after he'd promised he wouldn't.
He'd been lucky enough to have Liam for a time after their father had abandoned them, but she had no one, and not even, apparently, a safe place to go through her heat. Instead of heeding the urge to scoop her into his arms and make certain she was physically safe, he crouched down at the edge of the gravel, the distance between them no less, but his eyes meeting her on her own level.
"I know what that's like – to not have a safe place," he said, offering words instead of physical comfort. "I lost my mum a long time ago, and then when things became too difficult for my father, he fucked off, so I understand. I can help you, do you trust me?"
He extended a hand towards her, hoping she would take it, that she would allow him to be someone she could depend on, even if it was only this one time. He watched as she studied him carefully, but then the anger fell from her eyes, leaving only fear and exhaustion. She nodded, easing herself free of her tight hideaway and crawling toward him, her hand warm and perfect in his palm for only the briefest of moments before he had pulled her to her feet and took several steps back, gripping the straps of his bag as if they were a life preserver.
"Follow me, love, and I'll take you someplace safe until you can go home."
She just nodded, seeming relieved to have been offered a way out of her situation, following him easily across the track and through the field that ran behind the businesses closest to the school.
"Where are we going?" she finally asked as they wound through the familiar streets of town.
"My place," he replied cautiously. He'd known she would ask sooner or later, the question eventually having to rise through the fog of all the other things her body was focused on.
Her footsteps stilled beside him and he stopped, turning to face her. It was as if she's suddenly caught his scent for the first time, her nature split between running and swaying into him. Her brain telling her that following an alpha to his home while she was in heat wasn't safe, while her body was promising that that was exactly what she needed, that it was exactly where she would be safe.
"Please, don't worry," he sighed, never looking away from where her green eyes were boring into him. "I promise you'll be safe there, and I – "
"I'm not," she cut him off, seeming to have made up her mind, "worried, that is. I don't really know why, but I trust you. I can tell you're not lying."
"I have to go to work," he finished, wanting her to know that before she came with him, " so I won't be there. It's not much space, but it's private. You'll be safe. No one will bother you, and you can stay until you feel ready to go home. Do you...is there anyone there who can help you?"
"It's not home," she sighed, perhaps understand that he knew, "but the woman who runs the house for the second shift will get there at four. That's when he leaves until the next morning. Once he's gone, I should be okay to go back. The woman is...she's fine."
"Well, you're welcome to stay at mine as long as you need."
"No one else lives with you, or is going to mind that you're bringing home a stray omega?" she whispered, the way her own title left her lips – like she hated herself – making him want to wrap her in his and reassure her.
In a way, he understood. She was terrified, and that fear was tainting everything – but hadn't anyone ever explained to her what it was to be an omega, or an alpha, what it was like to fit so perfectly with someone else that – he stopped that thought quickly. She was a young, untried omega, and her life was difficult enough without alphas throwing themselves at her. Being in the system, he knew it was entirely possible that part of her upbringing had been overlooked, that no one had ever thought to explain what being an omega was – and if that was the case, it was no wonder she was resentful and angry.
"There's no one else," he assured her, biting back the sense of loss that never really strayed far from him. "I lost my brother last year, and he was the only family I had left."
She'd found her step beside him as they entered the town proper, and her eyes seemed to carve into him after he spoke those words, looking through the haze of her heat with clarity at who he was and the importance of what he was sharing with her.
"Here we are," he motioned, glad to have something else to say that would distract from the thoughts of Liam. His fingers rose to scratch his ear as he paused in front of a nondescript stoop with a sign hanging over the door that read 'guests only' in fading script.
"Is this Granny's?" she asked, leaning around him to catch a glimpse of the face of the building that everyone in town recognized.
"Aye, she doesn't advertise, but she has a few rooms upstairs that she rents, and she's been kind enough to allow me to stay on after – come on, let's get you inside and then you'll have some privacy."
He could smell her need to find a safe place, the anxiety blooming alongside the rest of her pheromones as they'd walked through town, and the alpha in him was eager to provide.
She followed him through the entrance and up a narrow set of stairs that opened into a hallway, shadowing his steps as he moved confidently toward a homey, wood door near the end of the hall. He wrested his keys from his pocket and unlocked it.
"Make yourself at home," he said, swinging the door inward and gesturing, "and...don't be afraid to use the bed if you need to...you know."
A flush spread across her cheeks as she nodded, knowing he was probably referring to a few different things. Either way, he was certain she hadn't anticipated ever having this conversation with a complete stranger. He watched as she leaned into the doorway, her hair dropping across her neck as she did and stirring the scent rising from her gland. His jaw tightened and he couldn't help but focus on the way she took a tentative step into his home, chin tilted up as she sniffed the air that smelled so strongly of him. Contentment rolled through him as her steps became more eager and she moved fully into his apartment, staring toward the opposite end where the door to his bedroom stood open. The scent of his musk was stronger there – it wasn't as if he had all the time in the world to wash his sheets – but she seemed to find it pleasing, her movements becoming more languid as she inhaled deeply.
"Thank you," she murmured, letting her backpack slip down her arm and drop on the floor, taking a few steps back to him. "I don't even know your name."
"Killian Jones," he smiled, hoping his voice was steady, his body trembling inwardly at the sight of her in his private space, content and displaying no signs of the fear that had plagued her since she first ran by him.
Her lips echoed his smile, a brightness suffusing her cheeks that he hadn't seen before, but knew he wanted to see again and again.
"Emma Swan," she murmured, her tone dropping – and he needed to leave. She wasn't aware of it yet, but he recognized the way her mood was shifting, her body responding to being in a room that smelled so thoroughly of alpha. The warm blush across her cheeks deepened, her pupils widening and nostrils flaring as she breathed in his scent.
He took a step back.
"Well, as I said, Swan – make yourself at home. I won't be back until after five, so you'll have the place to yourself, and you're welcome to it for as long as you need it. I work the same shift in town every day, and I still have English to attend in the morning, so...the place is yours."
"What do you mean?" she asked, his words drawing lucidity from her once again, her arms wrapping around her chest and brow furrowing.
"Your cycle will probably last around a week – it varies with the first, but you won't be able to return to school grounds until it's done, and if you need a safe place during the day, you'll have it here."
"What am I going to do about school?" she rushed, panic rising in her voice as she pushed her palms down her arms, stepping instinctively back into his apartment as her nature urged her to seek comfort in the place that appealed most to her – the room that smelled of alpha. "I can't just disappear, Killian – they'll notify the group home and they'll make me leave, they'll send me to some other state, again. I can't do it anymore, I don't want to."
Killian strode into his apartment, his restraint buckling just enough that he allowed himself to place his hand against her shoulder, fingers stroking her gently as his scent glands released a fresh wave of pheromones in response to her elevated panic – her face calmed, her breathing returning to normal as she watched him, leaning slightly into the warmth he was radiating.
"I'll take care of it – a note from your house parent to the nurse should do, no?"
"I guess so," she breathed, her shoulders visibly relaxing.
"Then I'll write something and drop it off at the office in the morning. At least you'll only have one unexplained absence and not a week – and it will be obvious it wasn't you who wrote it. Sound reasonable?"
"Yeah, thanks, Killian – really, for everything. No one has ever...thank you."
"You're welcome, Swan," he murmured, his fingers tightening on her shoulder as the scent of her in his home seemed to rob him of what little sense he'd been able to cling to. He released her as gently as he could and retreated quickly into the hall. "I have to go."
He was already pulling the door closed as she nodded her understanding, needing something solid between them. Her footsteps moved farther from the door as he dragged in a shuddering breath and took off, hoping his boss would take whatever flimsy excuse he could come up with.
He was late enough that Nemo shot him a stern look when he arrived, reminding him that there were plenty of other students able to get to their shifts on time. Killian nodded and apologized, citing a bad reaction to an issue at the school, and thankfully it was dropped. He changed into his polo in the bathroom and hurried back out front to join Will, the ebb of people coming and going slow this time of day.
"Oi," Will blurted, wrinkling his face dramatically and pulling back from Killian, "you bloody well stink, mate. Thought ya was'n on the schedule till next week."
"I'm not," Killian snapped, his temper flaring now that he was no longer overcome with the need to be a calm, soothing presence, the alpha in him left feeling riled and frustrated that he'd abandoned the omega who had been coming into her heat and in need. "And I don't want to bloody talk about it, so shut up and take the orders – I'll make the pies."
The glaring heat from the pizza oven did little to soothe his temper, but it was a good excuse for the burning flush he couldn't shake and the sweat that collected beneath his visor. He had no idea what would await him when he went home after his shift, but he knew regardless of whether or not the feisty omega was gone, he was in for a rough week.