Work Text
Age: 15
“I can’t believe you get to skive off maths and physics.”For the life of him, Roger didn’t understand why John didn’t look delighted at the prospect. Or at least, he couldn’t understand why – on closer inspection – John looked positively ill about it all. It was just a doctor’s appointment - perfect reason to skip school. Usually Roger’s mum was annoying and booked them after school was over, or first thing in the morning and then made him go in halfway through first period.“What’s the appointment for, again?” Roger asked.“Just a check-up,” John mumbled, and his voice was strangely quiet, considering it was just the two of them in the reception area. Sure, John was quiet around other people, but usually he let loose a fair bit around Roger.But then again, John had been acting weird ever since he was off sick last week.Far in the back of his mind, he was well-aware that John’s behaviour came down to something related to him being an omega. It was a corner of his mind that Roger didn’t really like to dwell close to.“Rog?” John asked softly, very helpfully allowing Roger to keep his thoughts in the present and away from that unwanted corner of his mind, “D’you think you could come over, after school? We can do whatever you fancy, I don’t mind, so long as we stay in.”Roger really didn’t need persuading, but it was sweet that John tried anyway.“Yeah, ‘course.” It was the first time he’d seen John crack a smile in the past hour.He showed up at John’s place later, only to see the curtains of John’s bedroom window strangely drawn shut. At the door, John’s mum told Roger that John wasn’t in the mood for seeing people, and not-so-nicely shooed him away.
Age: 18 (part 1)
“Letter for you,” Roger announced as he stepped through the front door of their new flat, immediately seeking out John and finding him sat on the bed, just setting down his book and smiling over at Roger.He wondered if John got lonely, stuck doing nothing all day while Roger was out at uni. He probably did, but just didn’t complain about it.“Who’s the letter from?” John asked as he got up from the bed, and Roger was quick to slip an arm around John’s waist and pull him in for a brief kiss.“Return address is for the local council,” Roger replied, far less interested in the letter than he was in stealing another kiss. Unfortunately, John seemed to want to read his post more than he wanted to snog Roger, which was awfully offensive.Roger dumped his bag and shrugged off his coat as John neatly tore into the letter, and sat on the edge of the bed to read it.It didn’t escape Roger’s notice that John’s demeanour rather abruptly changed from happy and breezy to tense and nervous as he read.“What’s it say?” Roger asked as John quickly folded the letter back up and stuffed it in the envelope.“Says I need to register at a local clinic, now I’m not going to my old one anymore,” John mumbled.“I thought you registered us both for the GP already?”John shifted on the bed, looking increasingly uncomfortable.“I did… This one’s different,” John sighed after a moment, “I thought maybe they wouldn’t notice if I just didn’t register. It was silly. I’ll call… I’ll call tomorrow and set something up.”The air was heavy with silence for a moment.“Anything I can do?” Roger asked softly, because although this situation was new, it was still familiar in a way. One of those issues that obviously linked in to John being an omega, that John obviously wasn’t eager to explain in any great detail, so all Roger could really offer was his love and support.“It’s fine, Rog, it’s not really a big deal,” John replied, though he did still step over and press close to Roger again, and Roger was quick to wrap his arms around him. “Tell me how your day was, then.”And the conversation shifted along easily enough, but Roger didn’t miss the way John’s gaze drifted over to the letter than had been left on the bed a few more times over the course of the evening.
Age: 18 (part 2)
“So, I understand that you recently moved away from home?”John nodded at the question, and noticed that the doctor – Dr Rodes, he’d introduced himself as – didn’t note anything down on his clipboard. John wished he wouldn’t waste time asking questions that didn’t officially need asking.“Interesting choice, when you’re still unmated. Are you intending to mate soon?” Dr Rodes pressed.“I moved in with my boyfriend,” John answered vaguely, hoping that the conclusions most people jumped to from that statement would be enough to end the little interrogation.“And are you intending to mate soon?” No such luck, then. John squirmed a little in his seat, and pressed his hands tighter between his thighs.“No,” John supplied, “We can’t.” Dr Rodes raised an eyebrow, and John quickly looked back down at his lap, and clarified further: “Roger’s a beta.”He didn’t look up to see how Dr Rhodes reacted to that.“I see. And you’re sexually active?”John nodded. It was the first time Dr Rodes actually noted his answer down on the clipboard, and he half-wondered if all the other questions were just to make him more uncomfortable.“And this is with your boyfriend?”John felt a little indignant at the question. Of course it was with Roger, why would anything else be assumed? He nodded anyway.“How regularly?”John wanted to sink into the floor. He did a quick count in his head.“Maybe… Maybe four or five times a week?” he ventured. It was a bit of an underestimate, in all honesty, but he couldn’t see how it would make a difference.“Oh, no,” Dr Rodes corrected, laughing a little, “I meant how regular are your heats.” John bit hard on the inside of his cheek to fight against the sudden rush of embarrassment he felt. It was obvious that the question had been intended for John to misinterpret.“Once every three months, for five days. They’re – er – they’ve been very regular since I was about sixteen,” John replied after a terse moment, cheeks still flushed. Dr Rodes scribbled it down on his clipboard, and John hesitated, but this seemed like as good an opportunity as any. “While we’re on the topic of heats, I actually wanted to ask about-““Suppressants?” Dr Rodes asked, cutting John off. John nodded. “I’ll save you the time and tell you I wouldn’t even consider prescribing them to somebody under the age of 21, unless they were severely ill.”John gritted his teeth, but nodded. At least he had his answer, it saved him worrying about asking for the rest of the appointment.“Perhaps you might not be so keen to get on suppressants if you found a more suitable partner to enjoy your heats with.”The advice was rude, and utterly unwelcome, and part of John wanted to angrily storm out at that. But he couldn’t. The letter from the council had threatened fines if John didn’t show up for these appointments, and John knew that he and Roger couldn’t afford that. They could barely afford rent.Seeing that John wasn’t replying, Dr Rodes pressed on.“Well, that’s it for my questions. There’s just a quick pelvic exam we still need to do, and you can be on your way,” he said, and John had known it was coming, but he still felt a little nausea rising in his stomach. “I’m sure you know the procedure from your last clinic. Just take your trousers off, put this on, and lie back on the table.”John took the crinkly hospital gown, and glanced around for somewhere to change. There had been a little privacy curtain at his last place – not great, but it had been something. Dr Rodes’ office was notably free of private spaces, though.“Oh, you can just change here,” Dr Rodes said, apparently seeing John’s confusion, “I don’t see the point of changing areas. It’s not as if there’s anything I won’t be seeing in a minute.”John thought it was a terrible attitude for a doctor to have, but he didn’t say anything. Just reminded himself that it wouldn’t take very long, and Roger was waiting outside for him, and he could spend the rest of the day cuddling up to Roger on the sofa when this was finished.With a shuddery sigh, John began to unfasten his trousers.