Almost two weeks since Gerard had presented as an alpha, much to everyone's surprise- Even his parents. Donna and Arthur had come home from Aunt Wendy's that night and when they saw him, they instantly knew, although, they could probably smell it permeating from the walls. They had never been so proud of their son. His father was even more proud to find out that his son had also had sex with a girl and was not a 'fairy' - Gerard wanted to keep it that way as long as possible. Donna didn't need to know about it any more than she already did, and Arthur didn't need to know that just because he slept with a girl, that didn't mean he was exclusively into pussy. Gerard liked having a roof over his head, after all.

The one thing he wished he had been told sooner, the one thing that knocked him for a loop, was the one thing that their pack Alpha had neglected to mention until the day before. He had only been informed twenty-four hours prior to the two-week anniversary of his birthday and consequential Alpha status, that he was in for a wild ride. Why his parents had yet to inform him, he had no idea. How he missed this vital information in Biology class, he couldn't give you an answer. He had wondered where Tyler had vanished to when he had also hit that two-week mark, but it didn't seem pertinent to ask at the time.

"Tuh-Two weeks after yuh-you present as an alpha, you...you go into a suh-cycle," Tyler explained as he looked up from the newspaper he was reading that afternoon. The boys were all sitting together without Awsten and Sam who had gone on a date to the movies, and Wayne who was doing chores on the farm.

"I thought it was only omegas." Gerard frowned and looked at Frank with a hand gesture towards him. They were sitting on the long grass in the Springs, just above the hill; they had brought the same plaid blanket from the concert. Tyler and Josh were sitting together on one corner, sharing the daily newspaper. Gerard and Frank were sprawled out lazily over the rest of the blanket, Frank was laying on his back with his knees up, legs over Gerard's lap as the Alpha leaned back and kept himself up with his arms out. The word for the situation itself was 'comfortable'.

"Nuh-Nah. That's a he-heat cycle." Tyler licked his finger and turned the page of the newspaper to continue reading the article he was busy with that was about the Clinton festival, "Alphas have... Whuh-What was it kuh-called again, Josh?" Tyler looked at his boyfriend - secret boyfriend to everyone outside of the group - and Josh looked up from the other page in the newspaper that he was reading about the drought in New Jersey.

"A rut," Josh said idly as he scanned the article with his finger, his brown curls blowing gently in the dry breeze.

"Yeah, exactly, a ruh-rut cycle. It takes a wuh-while for it a-all to hit it's full tuh-tilt one you present and then it huh-hits you like a fuh-fucking wave." Tyler explained, his ears growing pink.

"What happens?" Gerard frowned as a sudden mental image in his head being conjured up of dicks exploding or wolves-gone-mad and fucking rotisserie chickens.

"Imagine the ho-horniest you've ever buh-been..." Tyler started and Gerard nodded, thinking back to when he had started exploring his own right hand and his own asshole, "Then tuh-triple it."

Hang on. Triple?

"Whoa, that sounds awesome." Gerard laughed out loud and a grin spread over his whole mouth at the sheer prospect of the concept that jerking off without being judged is now socially acceptable. He didn't need to hear any more than that.

"It's awful." Tyler shook his head with genuine disagreement and Gerard rolled his eyes. Of course, Tyler would find fault with a full week of jerking off.

"How so?"

"You have an almost constant boner for a week and besides fucking anything that's around, all you wanna do is cry." Tyler looked at whatever Josh was showing him in the newspaper and pursed his lips.

"Sounds like you, Frankie." Gerard grinned and reached out to poke Frank in the ribs playfully.

"Hey!" Frank jumped, a blush on his cheeks as he sat up and punched Gerard on the arm. Frank let out a scoff and took his legs off of Gerard before folding his arms, the blush reaching his ears.

"Ruh-Reason I'm telling you is kuh-cause it's almost two wuh-weeks for you, and I can suh-smell you a lot more. It's kuh-coming." Tyler warned as he pursed his lips and lay his face on his fist.

"As you will be," Josh added in mildly as he turned to lay on his stomach with his sneakers up behind him and continued to read.

"Josh!" Frank's mouth opened in horror, his cheeks turning pink as he turned to look at the usually mild Mr. Dun.

"It's true, isn't it?" Tyler agreed with his boyfriend, a smirk on his face as he looked at Gerard knowingly and clearly speaking from experience. Gerard hoped to get that mental image out of his head.

"He'll be weeping from both ends," Josh added in matter-of-factly and Frank let out a groan, flopping backward and looking like he was going to combust.

"That's disgusting." Frank choked out in the tiniest voice as he tried to digest the current conversation.

"Well, you're no one to talk. You practically leak lube for a week just on the off-chance that you'll be mated, Iero." Gerard interjected and Frank let out a strangled scream and rolled over to bury his face in his hands.

"Fuck off, jerk."

"At least I'm not at school anymore." Gerard sighed happily, kicking his sneakers together absentmindedly, "I can just ride it out at home without that social objection."

"You'll wanna ride any damn thing, trust me." Tyler admitted and Josh let out a snort, "The first rut is always the worst."

"Tyler is right." Josh sat on his knees and closed the newspaper, "I can definitely smell you a lot more. It's stronger. It's like walking around with a large tube of Crest Extra White." Josh leaned in to take a cautionary sniff, his nose immediately wrinkling.

"Really?" Gerard lifted his arm to take a small whiff and frowned, pushing his glasses up, "I don't smell any different."

"You do." Tyler shrugged, "You juh-just don't smell yuh-yourself. Like when Fuh-Frank goes on huh-heat. He just suh-smells his own seh-scent and not whuh-what we smell."

"Oh." Gerard looked at Frank with a thoughtful frown to his brows, watching the smaller omega shift to sit up on the blanket and clutch his knees to his chest, his small hands playing casually with his new inhaler, "I've never experienced an omega on heat when I've been presented."

"It's wuh-wild." Tyler laughed and looked at Frank with a twinkle in his eye, "Like nuh-normally, he just suh-smells like himsuh-self. But when he's in heat, it's duh-different."

"That's why I stay at home." Frank shrugged and then disappeared back into his knees, "I don't like everyone knowing. It's bad enough that I have to go through it every month."

"Well, you were ee-either at ho-home or wuh-with me, Frankie." Tyler ribbed Frank jokingly, making the omega blush and almost curl into himself. Gerard found the entire reaction very interesting, to say the least. The way Frank immediately looked away from them all, the way his blush spread to his ears, it was all so intriguing. It took Gerard's foggy brain to finally understand why Frank had behaved that way, and he was almost ashamed of himself for not realizing it sooner.

"Did you guys fuck more than once?" Gerard sat up properly and looked between them, "I thought it was just that once when Frank presented? Me, oh my, what did I miss here, boys?"

"Well, we suh-spent the entire wuh-week together when Frank pruh-presented. And I also hit my ruh-rut just after that since he presented 'cause of me. So, we had suh-sex a lot in thuh-those two wuh-weeks."

"My God." Gerard's jaw dropped, "Frankie, my boy-o, you're brave."

"Brave and needy." Frank corrected, "You have no idea how it feels. You have no control. It hurts and you know exactly what'll fix it."

"Never been gladder to be a beta." Josh sighed serenely and then looked at Tyler, his expression sombering as he touched the Alpha's gaunt cheek, "Sometimes."

"Don't thuh-think about it, puh-petal." Tyler reminded him before he leaned in to kiss Josh's temple, causing the beta to close his eyes for a few seconds before they opened again and he looked at Gerard.

"It's really strong." Josh sighed and tilted his head to the side, squinting in the bright midday sun, "You should probably go home and sort out what you need before anything happens and you get caught with your pants down." Josh then added, "Literally." Which made Frank snicker brightly at the idea of Gerard in any sort of embarrassing distress or predicament.

"What do I need?" Gerard began to suddenly feel a little anxious, he did have to admit that he had been more on-edge today. His body was littered with unusual goosebumps despite the warm weather, and his brain was on high alert to his surroundings - small sounds actually made him jump.

"Well, an oh-omega is always pruh-preferable." Tyler shrugged and eyed Frank with a grin, earning a middle finger in return, "Or just a muh-mate." Tyler chided but then looked at Gerard seriously, "But a lot of wuh-water, a lot of luh-lube, and whuh-whatever you need to feel suh-safe. You feel really vuh-vuh-vulnerable in a rut. Be-Because you're the kluh-closest to your inner primal wuh-wolf than you ever wuh-will be."

"Sounds wicked." Gerard stated with a heavy breath before he adjusted his glasses and looked to his left, "Care to join me, Frankie?"

"What, so you can rip me in half?" Frank snorted, his cheeks and freckles going pink, "Hard pass."

Josh let out a snort and so did Tyler, laughing quietly. It was when their pack Alpha looked at Gerard, his ears glowing pink. Gerard frowned at the reaction because he had no idea about what they were laughing or discussing. Why would he ever rip Frank in half? He'd never hurt him.

"Juh-Gee?"

"Yeah, Big Ty?"

"Have you ever... I mean I'm sure you have-" Tyler trailed off before he cleared his throat, his big brown eyes looking at Josh and then back at the slow-on-the-uptake Alpha, "-jerked off after you've presented, I mean."

"Oh." Gerard chuckled at the fond memory of discovering his new and improved stamina and arm strength, "Yeah, I did."

"Notice a difference?" Josh pried and leaned in, the action made Gerard frown; he was definitely missing something important here, but he couldn't place exactly what they knew that he did not, or else he would know, right?

"In what?" Gerard adjusted his glasses again and looked at the happy couple who were way too smug, and Frank who seemed both flustered and confused.

"The size." Josh interjected to save Tyler the exasperation of explaining in very lengthy terms, "If your genitals are any bigger than they were."

"Oh..." Gerard looked down at his crotch and then at his hand, trying to remember the ratio between the two as he frowned heavily, "I mean now that you mention it, yeah. I guess it was bigger. There's a usual ratio of how much dick I can fit in my palm and now that I'm thinking about it, the ratio was totally off."

"It's bigger in a rut, too," Tyler added gravely and Gerard's eyes widened, his head snapping up in shock. There was no way he could possibly have a bigger dick. Prayers answered.

"What? Don't fuck with a man's dreams like that, Roberto."

"Don't call him 'Big Ty' for nothing," Frank added in with a grin as he went back to lean on his elbows and Josh acknowledged the comment with a nod of agreement.

"Yeah. Yuh-Your dick is nuh-normal when you're just you, but wuh-when you go into a ruh-rut, it also gets buh-bigger. Your rut is s-supposed to be the time when you buh-breed, when you're nuh-not in a rut, you're shuh-shooting blanks."

"This is fucking wild." Gerard gasped at the idea, looking at them all to make sure they weren't completely fucking with him. But he was met with perfectly straight faces despite the variances of a pink tinge.

Josh sighed, "Did you not pay attention in class?"

"I don't remember any of this." Gerard scratched his head, "I mean, clearly I did remember it then because I didn't fail biology in school. I didn't fail any classes ever."

"A miracle on its own," Frank commented quietly and Gerard gave him a hard shove, clicking his tongue in disdain when Tyler answered him with a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"Puh-Probably because yuh-you're off your muh-meds, you're more fuh-for-forgetful."

"Good point." Josh nodded as he began braiding two pieces of long grass together idly, his head in Tyler's lap, the latter running his fingers through Joshua's curls.

"You guys put me off of having sex for life." Frank muttered with an annoyed scowl, "I'm fucking short as it is and now you're telling me I have to fit something the size of my arm into my body, and it's a biological necessity? That's a fucking load of bullshit."

"I'm sure when you're in heat and you're all needy, you'll be thinking differently, Frankie." Gerard reminded him, "Besides, you've already had Big Ty over here. Anyone after that isn't going to make any sort of impact."

"That's what I'm worried about," Frank scowled and aimed a kick at Tyler, who smacked the bottom of Frank's shoe with the back of his hand and let out a laugh.

"And you, Greaseball, shut up. Am not." Frank added in as he scowled at his best friend, brandishing his inhaler at the Alpha as some sort of threat.

"Someone's a liar," Gerard said idly and heard two small sounds of agreement.

"Am not!" Frank urged and sat up on his knees, "I am not! Guys! Guys, c'mon! I'm not! Josh, tell them I'm not a liar!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, Iero. The day is still young."