#heats

he spends days in his nest. he’s so out of it and so weak that he can’t feed himself, can’t take medicine for his illness, can barely bring himself to go to the restroom the small times he actually needs to go. his inner omega is no help at all. it’s whining and crying for their pack. it tells him to rebuild his nest, maybe that’s why they haven’t come. or or maybe he could provide food for them and be useful so he can be rewarded for being good. and he gets so frustrated bc nothing he does works and why is he so bad. why does he keep doing this. why does everyone always go away why does he have to be so lonely all the time why can’t he ever be enough why why why

ughhhhhh and and and clark coming back from being off planet and being able to hear bruce’s heart makes him realize something is wrong. he goes to the manor and finds him dissociated, in a ruined nest. hes so flushed w a high fever, his cheeks lightly sunken in since he hasn’t eaten in how many days, and his bottom lip bitten raw whenever he experienced a really painful cramp.

clark accidentally raising his voice at bruce bc he’s so worried abt him and he’s saying “what happened? why didn’t u call anyone? how long have u been sick for? why didn’t u ask for help?? you should’ve called someone and it wouldn’t have gotten this bad!!!!” and he’s not even looking at bruce cause he’s scrambling around trying to gather things to lower his fever down. he doesn’t stop until he hears a sniffle and a whine. When he looks, he sees bruce looking at him, crying softly w shame written all over his face. and then AND THEN bruce bares his neck, tryna appease his alpha bc all he can process is that his alpha was gone, and now he’s here and the nest is a mess, and he’s a mess which must be the reason why his alpha is so mad at him. that he’s such a bad and terrible omega. he shouldn’t have let himself get sick, he shouldn’t have let himself go into heat w/o his alpha, etc. tears are falling down his face, his scent sours, and he’s whispering out sorry over n over again.

hehehe and clark’s heart literally shatters cuz omg bruce really is not feeling good. and he feels so bad too cause it feels like he just kicked a puppy. he rushes over to b and just wraps him in a hug, rubbing his wrist over bruce’s scent glands to cover him in his alpha’s scent. he pulls away to wipe bruce’s tears away n says that its ok, there’s nothing to be sorry for, that he’s sorry, alpha’s so sorry for yelling, alpha is gonna fix it. and clark tries so hard to hold back his own tears cuz he’s a bit of a crybaby when it comes to his mate being in pain and hurt bc of his words UGHHHJ.

and bruce just collapses in his arms, tryna rub his face in clark’s neck and sink into his skin. while he tries to do that, a cramp begins to emerge n he feels so nauseous that he whines again. he grabs clark’s hand and places it over his stomach n says “alpha, i don’t feel good.”

clark shushes him again and says it’s okay, alpha’s gonna make it all better, alpha will take care of you

UPDATE: AO3 is back up but idk for how long so take this beautiful fanfic, I couldn’t figure out how to copy paste the link because I am on mobile so hopefully this works!

I thought it would be fun to apply my degree to the omegaverse to see what it might look like if it were real! Each part will probably cover a different aspect of the omegaverse.

I’m going to propose two hypothetical timelines for the heat cycle of an omega. One is based on the pseudo-monoestrous cycle of dogs, and the other is based on the menstrual cycle of a human. I’ll explain at the end why I didn’t choose wolves.

Dogs: dogs are pseudo-monoestrous, meaning they experience about 2 heats a year. Their cycle repeats every 6ish months, and is not seasonally/photoperiod dependent. So their cycle can occur at any time of the year!

I’ll reblog this with a hypothetical timeline based on if the omega had their first heat at the start of the year in January since tumblr won’t let me attach that here.

Human: humans do not have an estrous cycle (they have a menstrual cycle instead) and so they don’t have heats. If humans did have heats, I think they would be polyestrous. Polyestrous cycles are classified by heats that are uniformly distributed throughout the year, much like a human menstrual cycle. The number of heats depends on the species, but in this instance I think they would be once a month. Or, 12 times a year like in a typical menstrual cycle.

I’ll also reblog with my hypothetical timeline for this scenario too.

Back to wolves: why didn’t I base a timeline off their cycle? Wolves are monoestrous, and experience one heat a year. Unlike dogs, their cycle is seasonally dependent and occurs in late winter. I didn’t think it would make sense for the omegaverse to have all omegas go into heat at the same time.

So, usually in omegaverse there's the idea that only alphas and omegas have ruts or heats (hereon referred to as "cycles") while betas have nothing. Sometimes, in situations of high, prolonged stress, those cycles will either activate prematurely/unnaturally, or cease for as long as the stressful situation lasts (and a bit after that)

My idea was that betas could have something similar!

Betas in packs (that part is very important! It doesn't happen to packless betas) that have been neglecting or ignoring them will suddenly go through a faux-heat/rut. Their scent will change, they will display physical as well as emotional symptoms, and after long enough they may just go into a dissociative or near catatonic state.

It basically acts as the brain/body calling out for the packs "hey! Pay attention to me! I'm unwell and I want love and care :((( !!" It's meant to make the pack come to the beta's aid in order to diminish that feeling of neglect. If the pack doesn't come, there are two possibilities- one, the beta dies- the catatonic state is never undone and the fatal consequences come calling. Two, the beta survives, but they become emotionally/psychologically affected by the experience (as in, it literally changes the way their brain would work and affect areas of the brain) and usually for the worse.

There's also the possibility that a non-pack member may help the beta, in which case the brain will inmediatly develop an intense and nearly codependent bond with that person as a sort of "no one else cares about me except you, therefore making you happy is the best way for me to survive". This can be used for good or for ill

As a last detail, this condition isn't very well known- most healthy packs aren't going to neglect their betas like that, and unhealthy packs are unlikely to notice or may dismiss it as someone else- it's not a formal diagnosis and you have to either be really lucky or know what you're looking for to find information on it. There's also a lot of neglect and dismissal regarding betas because they're considered "not as strong as alphas, not as nurturing as omegas" and generally thought not to have anything to distinguish them which leads to a sort of dismissal of betas as being important- they are, quote literally, the middle child if the trinary, forever ignored.

Writing out all this bc I'm gonna be writing a fic with this concept and I need to talk to someone about it

howdy! love it when I get to hear more about other people's aus! You can talk to me about it anytime :)

Here are some thoughts I had while reading this, op you can disregard these entirely if you want, it's just literally things I would think about if I were considering something like this in one of my aus. But if it helps someone in the peanut gallery rock on!

The purpose of a heat/rut is reproduction first and i guess bonding second. When I read fics that have sudden onset/traumatic situation heat/ruts it normally makes me roll my eyes, because no way! Of course, this is by it's very nature a fantasy world so do whatever yall want, BUT irl people would observe decreased reproductive capability, not increased.

Instead of a faux heat/rut, could it be a unique third thing? This would make betas seem more like their own entity and not a non-option/between option.

In the faux heat/rut situation, who gets which one? Which betas gets heats and which get ruts? Is it based on reproductive capability? If so, in that case how are they fundamentally different from alphas/omegas?

How long does a beta have in this faux-stage before they go catatonic? If they do go catatonic and fall into a coma, how can they ever wake up?

^wouldn't this potentially make the death rate for betas in packs extremely high? At that point, is it worth the risk for betas to join packs at all if they are living happily without one because there would be no risk of this happening?

Are there ways for the individual to "go back to normal" that don't involve sex? Can a person in a coma even consent? What if the individual was underage?

Are there multiple types of packs in your au @not-someone-who-matters? What if the beta was in a non-romantic/non-sexual pack? Would this still happen?

Say a beta finds themselves in an unhealthy pack and knows the risks, can they leave/sever ties so that this condition doesn't happen to them? How does that work?

If the beta doesn't die following the event and finds themself in the second group - living with chronic illness/brain damage/mental illness/etc... who is responsible for this? Could the beta's parents take the entire pack to trial for abusing their child? Is this considered abuse?

If being a beta sucks in this au, and they live as second class citizens, what's the point at all? Are they the minority or the majority? If they are the minority and nobody really cares about them, why don't people just let them die off?

I like the parallel between real life when @not-someone-who-matters mentions that betas may run into the open arms of someone who doesn't have their best interest at heart. May people who have suffered any number of different kinds of abuses do the same thing, and that would be an interesting plot to explore.

Why does this only happen to betas? What happens to alphas/omegas if their heats/ruts aren't satisfied?

Why have betas in packs at all if this isn't something that befalls alphas/omegas?

Can a beta "save" another beta? Is this something that could happen in an all beta pack?

Is there some sort of detriment to the whole pack if a beta came down with this condition, other than the risk of loosing them? Would they feel pain through their pack bonds, all become sick, etc? That might make it more frightful for someone amongst them to contract this.

A variety of ways, but this will focus on sexual reproduction specifically, so:

Cybertronian-Cybertronian

The most common method is the sparklet transfer. This happens when two or more mecha consistently share sparks to splinter off an orb that will eventually form a stable sparklet.

A popular method as there's no mess associated with sticky reproduction.

Doesn't require the carrier to have a gestational chamber or reproductive hardware.

If the carrier lacks a dense spark, then they'll need other mecha's spark energy to ensure the orb will remain stable and their own spark doesn't gutter trying to feed it.

This requires the carrier to have medical intervention as the sparklet will need to be 'snipped' off to transfer to lab-derived sentio metallico to build their frame or in the Newspark Intensive Care and Recovery Unit (NICRU) to keep a close observation for any rejection between a sparklet and a chosen proto-frame.

If the sparklet isn't taken away, the draw would overwhelm the carrier as the sparklet wouldn't receive the code to descend down to build their frame. Instead, keep drawing on more energy until death from spark burnout and chamber calcification occurs.

This is the stage where other mechs that aren't the ignitor can influence the upcoming sparkling and pass on their own code. Enough effort and a third party can completely overwrite the ignitor.

Carriage (or in some circles, true or full carriage) is the specific method where a gestational chamber is used to bring a newspark to term.

The first phase is the same as the sparklet method, and should the carrier have a functional gestational chamber and reproductive hardware, then a matured sparklet will receive a code to immediately snap away from the carrier's spark to descend down through a specialized funnel to stay in the gestational chamber.

With carriage, the carrier uses their valve to take in transfluid to provide construction materials and nanites for the sparklet to use.

Once the sparklet descends, the outside party influence is minimal. Donors can give transfluid without passing direct code to the sparkling.

Heats can occur as a latch-ditch attempt for the carrier to call for donors as their frame can't sufficiently support the carriage.

An active gestational chamber will expand over the course of the newspark's development.

Emergence is similar to a human. Chamber will shift downward, and newspark is born head-first via contractions through the valve (or the primary valve should the carrier have two valves).

Cybertronian-Human

It's all carriage method. However, a very specific kind:

A very rare phenomenon where all stages of sparklet formation takes place in the gestional chamber.

Highly dangerous as the orb still requires energy to feed itself, so it pulls on the peripheral tendrils on their carrier and feeds on the residual energy from transfluid.

An incredibly high-risk carriage in Cybertronians as the danger lurks where the sparklet doesn't receive the code to detach itself from the carrier's spark.

Plus coding and priority tree complications in the carrier as their frame doesn't realize they're carrying.

Human pregnancy doesn't run that risk since they don't have sparks.

In a human carrier, the orb forms in the uterus and nourishes itself via transfluid and the ambient energy from the carrier's bioelectricity.

When the orb matures to a sparklet, it deploys connective tendrils to funnel nutrition to it. The tendrils attach to the womb and cause nanites to create zones of platelets in the organ to efficiently gather materials from their carrier's body and sire(s)' transfluid.

Cybertronian sires will be more defensive over a human carrier since donors can influence the carriage. However, it's a short-lived state as a human carriage happens at an accelerated pace compared in a Cybertronian carrier.

Is it the knot what makes an omega's heat symptoms pass, or is it the scent and hormones exchange?

Also, is it necessary for a beta to turn into an alpha for them to knot? Or could the omega's pheromones be able to make a beta temporarily be able to knot?

Thank u in advance ^^

hello dear anon!

for your first question, don't worry, I don't think there's even a commonly agreed upon answer, so there's no way to actually know haha!

in general, multiple factors contribute to omegas' heat symptoms - time, orgasms, knots, and alpha pheromones. on occasion mating bites, and I've seen getting pregnat as a way to stop a heat early, but that's rather uncommon.

however, which of these influences the symptoms the most or in what way exactly varies a lot. commonly, you see that omegas can get themselves off and it will work okay enough to get through the heat, but still leaves them wanting. the presence of an alpha however changes this. knot toys help, but again can't quite compare. on the other hand, even with an alpha present, sex without getting knotted also often doesn't satisfy the omega.

so logically, it's likely most commonly a combination of the alpha pheromones and knot that abate the omega's symptoms when they cum.

however, that is in no way a hard rule.

for example, with that logic, you could argue a knot toy and some alpha perfume or a scented item should be able to trick the body into believing an alpha is there and calm the heat just as effectively as sex with an alpha would. but you can just as easily argue that while all these things add together to feel good, so long as the omega logically knows they're alone, nothing will be able to trick their bodies into craving a mate.

there's also plenty of wiggle room for other explanations - for example, I've seen it necessary for the alpha to cum into the omega, making heat sex with condoms practically torture for omegas as they feel they get practically everything they need, an alpha, a knot, tons of pleasure, winding them up towards the point of release, but without the pheromones in the semen, their body never gets the memo to calm down.

as for your second question, betas turning into alphas isn't a super popular or explored concept, so really all avenues are open to you.

generally though, betas are physically incapable of knotting. even when around an omega in heat, a beta can't knot. their anatomy is essentially that of a human (male I presume). there is nothing there that could act as a knot. this is generally one of the reasons why omegas are supposed to mate with alphas rather than betas.

now you can definitely turn a beta into an alpha, whether that be through surgery, hormones, studding, magic, or whatever else, and that could give them a knot.

you could also go against the grain and say betas in your story do have the cabability to knot provided they're around an omega in heat - that just means you then have answer what exactly the difference between alphas and betas is, and how the society and characters in your story are influenced by the basic fact that betas can give the satisfaction of a knot to an omega.

ive been doing some verse thinking regarding ruts and heats in my verse.

in my verse, heats are induced by high amounts of arousal in an individual, paired with a favorable environnement for childbearing. individual with heats would then produce a specific pheromones that informs possible mates of their state.

individuals in heat will have an intensely strong scent, high body temperatures and much more aggressive tendencies. they become dangerously territorial and are known to attack packmates and family if boundaries are pushed too far.

ruts would mainly work in a responsive manner - when the individual inhales said pheromones, testosterone levels (regardless of the individual’s first gender) will augment and cause increased aggression (translated into more anxious behaviours in our modern era) and cause urges to display mating behaviours (scenting, offering items for a nest, submission to the individual in heat, possibly even self-marking or self-painting).

individuals experiencing a rut also have high temperature but their scent does not turn as prominent as the scent of an individual experiencing a heat. they mostly act on instinct and may be violent, but more due to a form of stress and worry instead of defense.

both heats and ruts can be caused by stress - anxiety augments until the body releases the tension by forcing the individual to ‘reset’ hormonally (due to how hormones are impacted by stress). stress ruts and stress heats lack the courtship and high scent instincts. scents are actually dimmer than usual during stress heats and ruts and the individuals will look for more of a cuddling / scenting partner instead of a mate.