The ABO Serum

Sports Camp

With a better understanding of omega heat cycles, Steve was able to collaborate with his fellow coaches to schedule his parts of Sports Camp after his next heat. It should fall about a week after Summer School ends.

They'd get the kids started with units on soccer, basketball, and cheerleading. He'd take the lead for weight training and wrestling when he got out of quarantine, then stick around to support track and field, cross country, football, rugby, swimming, and baseball units as the summer progressed until his next heat. They'd be overlapping skills and cross training with the kids to cover eleven sports in eight weeks, but they had a number of college students stuck in town who were joining them to help.

GenLife sponsored the Sports Camp in full, at Mr. Weisman's insistence (and with his financial backing) since they were responsible for the town's lockdown. Every kid or teenager in town who wanted to try a sport could go for free. And they scheduled it to run right up to the start of the next school term, so the kids in town would be busy and not creating havoc.

The high school boosters club planned to run a snack shack for campers and as a fundraiser. The lack of games bringing in away teams in the spring had prevented them from raising their usual funding. The school lunch crew stayed on to feed the campers, since the whole thing took place at the high school. This 'Sports Camp' was bringing the community together, and Steve felt blessed to be a part of it.

Every morning with breakfast he took his birth control pill and let Lex take his vitals and do a small blood draw. It was a reminder of how his life had permanently changed, but also a reminder that it was getting better and he wasn't fighting alone. He had an alpha that cared about him.

Even though he'd been married to a woman before, his agonizing heats had long since erased any care he had about the primary gender of his partner. It was the secondary gender that mattered. His body craved an alpha, and he had one. A kind generous alpha that kissed his cheek goodbye whenever they parted and hugged him hello whenever they came back together. All he had to do was accept him. Why couldn't he?

"The physical therapist released me today," Lex said at dinner the Friday after Summer School ended. "I'm back to normal, but that's not saying much for a lab geek like me." He chuckled and Steve joined him. He had an idea where this was headed.

"I wondered if I could maybe start working out with you. I know you'd know what I can handle and how to help me get stronger without getting injured...and I'd like to go cheer you on at the sports things. I'm pretty much a blank slate when it comes to sports, but that just means you can mold me into your ideal fanboy."

"You wouldn't get bored?" Steve asked.

"Watching you work your sexy ass, I mean abs, never!" Lex teased. Steve laughed and his laughing face was beautiful.

"Alright, since you're used to physical therapy homework at night with me, how about we shift to alternating some Pilates with strength training in the evenings. Since it's Summer, you can bike most places to build endurance. But you don't have a bike, and I don't have one for that matter. Not sure where it went during the divorce. Anyway, let's go shopping tomorrow for bikes." Steve suggested. Lex smiled, satisfied. Every tiny concession to them doing anything together was progress. "Can we get matching bikes?" He asked.

"Don't push it," Steve replied, but they did get matching bikes in the end.

When his heat hit, not only was it less severe than usual, but the blood tests also confirmed that he did not become fertile. The birth control pills prevented his body from releasing an egg. It worked. He still rode it out quarantined in the GenLife hotel, but this was big news, a breakthrough for all the omegas.

While his mate was in quarantine, Lex hung out by Dr. Martin's lab every day waiting for the results of Steve's blood tests. His further research indicated they wouldn't be able to mass produce birth control this way for omegas; it would have to be customized for each omega after obtaining data from multiple cycles. But it worked. There was hope that they wouldn't have to choose between quarantine and pregnancy with every heat. And they had enough data from the early omegas to provide them with customized birth control right away. More trials were getting underway.

Other types of birth control might cause their heats to cease altogether for a time. There were forms of birth control that stopped women's cycles completely. However, they did have more severe side effects and couldn't be used indefinitely. Still, Lex was delving into the research and Dr. Placer was pushing him to go for his doctorate and make it his thesis. He was too smart to be an assistant forever.

He'd never felt inspired to work hard enough to get a doctorate, but with a mate he wanted to support and the prospect of a family someday, the inspiration was coming. He was nearly the same age as Steve but felt like he was much further behind in adulting levels. While Steve had been chasing his dream to the Olympics and getting married, he'd been dinking around in a lab helping other more ambitious people with their research and waiting for a relationship to find him.

Not anymore. He felt inspired and motivated, and not just in like. He was in love with his strong little omega. Every moment together was precious. Their workouts meant some of those moments were spent touching each other, and Steve no longer hesitated or jumped away at the slightest odd movement from his alpha.

Steve marveled at Lex's progress, and Lex preened for a bit before admitting strength came easier to all the alphas if they bothered to try for it. After that, Steve refused to teach him any wrestling moves. As Lex's strength outgrew the omega's, Steve wanted to keep his advantage of knowledge and technique.

The Sports Camp often delayed their workouts, but when it did, Lex rode his bike over after work to check its progress and got to enjoy riding home following his mate. That ass on a bicycle...yum.

Whenever he got to the school early enough to watch something, he was full of questions. Steve answered patiently, and Lex proved himself an interested and apt pupil.

Steve expected one more heat during the late Summer, and as it drew near, he began to think that maybe it was time to let his alpha hold him. The birth control worked, and he was tired of suffering alone in quarantine. Tired of denying himself and his mate the pleasure their bodies could give them and accepting pain instead. He liked Lex as a person and trusted him as his alpha. He didn't think it was anything so grand as love, but it was enough. The thing was, having sex this way for the first time during his heat scared him. He always felt everything was more intense and out of control during heat. He needed to start before that took over.

Camp was a weekday thing, so Steve made his arrangements for the Saturday morning nearest his heat, but not during it. He bought supplies at the drug store, made meals plans and shopped for staying in all weekend and through his heat, and picked up a cheerful potted plant for the table. Cut flowers were a sad dying thing in a vase. He didn't understand them.

He also told Dr. Placer he wouldn't be going into quarantine this time. She in turn arranged for Lex to have time off the next week, without telling him of course. She wasn't going to ruin his surprise. The poor boy had waited long enough for it.