He was born an Omega. Izaya detested his primary instincts to be submissive to any Alpha or Beta that crossed his path, to be expected to open his legs to the next best random mate that felt the urge to breed him. Not that they actually could. The gift of carrying new life to term was reserved for the female Omegas of this world. In his years of life Izaya had heard rumors of male Omegas who were able to carry an Alpha's litter, but they were always stories who were told by a friend who knew someone who had talked to a far relative with an acquaintance who had heard it on the subway.

Naturally, Izaya, always a doubter, did not believe those tales.

Neither did he believe that his only choice in life was to eventually find his "one true Alpha", and take the place of their submissive mate.

No, Izaya was too smart for that.

His arrogance and pride eventually helped him to mask his submissive nature, to overcome his most basic instincts and fool not only himself, but everybody around him. Where Mother Nature wouldn't allow any mind tricks, he helped himself with simple things such as pheromones, easily found by the right people who knew where to look on the black market. Nobody asked or even cared what he needed the subtle vaporizers with the desired concoction for. It would be the first time that Izaya didn't have to explain and excuse his nature. In a strange way, he felt welcomed. With the years, Izaya dove deeper into the manipulative atmosphere of the alleys. He discovered something about himself; a talent. If there had been anyone who knew him well enough to speak about his character, they would have said "Izaya is a brilliant actor". Indeed he was, how else would he be able to fool everybody around him to believe he was a naturally born Alpha.

Nobody ever questioned that. Izaya was very proud of his acting skills.

But there was something he couldn't lie about, even to himself. As he came of age, something in him changed. Whenever the time came around, Izaya would feel a hard to ignore urge inside of him.

The urge to mate.

The heat had arrived.

Izaya was surprised at himself for how long he was able to hold this sadistic turn of nature off, but this was something no pheromones could cover. The first few times were horrific. He would be reduced to a shuddering mess, having to lock himself up in his apartment, away from anyone to see. He would spend days, sometimes a week or two, isolated from society, trying to control his almost unbearable urge to find a mate.

Izaya knew this was a part of his nature he could never fully control, but that didn't stop him from trying to.

It took a few cycles until he understood that he couldn't satisfy these urges himself. He would spend days and nights on his bed, sheets crumpled-up, the smell of sweat and desperation lying heavily in the air, pleasuring himself until his muscles were sore and aching. If anyone were to see, it would have been the most pathetic sight of their lives. This he was sure of.

The thought drove the heat of anger through his bones, and his desperation increased.

With years came experience, as is the way of life, and so Izaya got better at reading the signs his body gave him prior to his next heat. He found strategies to keep the worst off. Although, with none came real satisfaction, of course. But he wasn't out to find satisfaction. All he wanted was control over his life, no matter how hard it was to achieve.

Due to his connections to the black market, Izaya found his way into the dubious underground business world of Ikebukuro. It wasn't really a choice he made purposely.

It just kind of happened.

Gangs, drugs, murder. Izaya grew to be a deciding wheel in the clock that was the information market of Ikebukuro. He found something he was good at, something else to define him apart from what was, in his eyes, a tragic birth defect. He could be charming, he could be tainting. But most of all, Izaya could be dangerous. It was a trait that helped him make a lot of handy connections, next to a considerable amount of enemies.

But Izaya knew how to make himself useful, and so no one would consider him a serious threat.

Eventually, he found his way to the Awakusu group. Compared to other criminal groups their methods involved a greater finesse. Izaya enjoyed working with them. Even though there were a few names who did not simply accept him as another information broker.

They knew, Izaya was the information broker.

He didn't particularly care if someone seemed to have their doubts about him. But when the executive of the Awakusu group voiced his distrust for him, Izaya felt challenged. Not in a way that he wanted to prove his loyalty to the criminal group. No, he didn't value loyalty that much, and he wouldn't be able to stick to it even if he tried. There were too many opportunities to have the people dance for him like puppets on a string, obviously he couldn't let those pass him without making use of his chances.

But, Izaya developed a certain interest for that particular group member. He promised himself, that, one day, he would show Shiki Haruya just why he shouldn't have put even the slightest bit of trust into him.

So far, that day still laid ahead of them. Izaya was in no rush. He enjoyed the man's scrutinizing looks, the way he started to act differently around Izaya, like he was an opponent to be taken seriously.

Yes, Izaya enjoyed the older man's attention.

A while ago Shiki had confronted him with a request to obtain a certain piece of information. It was by no means a difficult task. Izaya quickly found a useful source and gathered what Shiki had asked him to. But he waited with the presentation. He enjoyed the thought of having the Alpha wait patiently for him to arrive with the wanted information, like a dog waiting for its owner to come home again. Shiki was an Alpha, like most in the Awakusu group. Even the underlings of the group consisted of either Alphas or Betas. They had a very archaic view on Omegas. To most of them, Omegas were bitches to breed with.

They wouldn't be the only group to think of Omegas this way.

It filled Izaya with great glee, to have exactly these men basically do as he says, reacting according to the information he hands them. Be it true, or not.

Now, he planned on keeping Shiki on edge a little while more, for his return, but other circumstances, which he had no control over, forced him to the executive earlier. So he delivered the information, as long as it was still correct and valuable.

Because, even though Izaya was the best at what he did, it was not impossible to replace him. He was smart enough to stay aware of his own possible expiration.

That day, when he finally arrived at Shiki's door, he felt different. But just as usual, Izaya shook it off. He would soon find out that he should not have.

As he stood in front of the executive's apartment, he felt for the vaporizer with the Alpha pheromones in his coat pocket. It was a soothing weight against his fingers. Before he could get nervous about the upcoming situation, Izaya cleared his throat and put on the easiest smile he could muster up in this moment.

He lifted his hand and knocked.

It didn't take long until the door was answered. When it swung aside, he was greeted by the man himself, face in an unusually surprised frown.

"Orihara?"

"Hello Shiki! I have that information you wanted. Mind if I come in?"

Izaya managed to keep his nonchalant smile upright, staying put while the older man mustered him. He could see the respectable amount of suspicion in the executive's eyes.

Shiki seemed to turn the words over and over in his mouth. Finally, he settled with a short "Fine" and stepped aside to let the information broker come in. He did hope for this particular information to come in soon after all. But the young man obviously had a different rhythm than him, otherwise he would have showed up at a better time.

"I'm about to leave, actually," Shiki started, absently reaching for the phone on his desk.

The information broker walked into the middle of the room. There was no haste, no insecurity in his steps. He seemed completely comfortable in his place.

"Oh, don't mind me," Izaya said, while letting his eyes wander through the room.

The apartment itself seemed big enough, the right size for a man in Shiki's position. Just like the man himself was the atmosphere of his home cooled down. No personal items. No photos. No books. Nothing that could say anything about his private character.

Izaya hid his disappointment. He had hoped to find out more about the Awakusu's executive. The man held a considerable amount of distrust for him. Should the situation arise, Izaya would rather have something that he could use against Shiki.

He turned around to the older man. Shiki looked him over, his face and posture revealing his disagreement with leaving Izaya alone in his apartment.

"If you rather I'd leave…" he started, but Shiki cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"No," he said. It came out tighter than he had intended, so he rolled his shoulders to relax his posture a bit. "You can stay. Don't touch anything."

Izaya held his hands up as in defense. "I would never!"

The other man muttered something inaudible under his breath, and started to step towards the door.

"It might take a while. I should be back within a few hours. Have a seat, while you wait."

As he reached for the door handle, he paused and turned back around to the information broker.

"If one thing isn't lying in its initial place anymore, Orihara, you will have to endure the consequences."

A light shudder went through Izaya at those words. The dominant undertone sent a spark down his spine, but he quickly hid it behind a lazy hand wave.

"I respect your home, Shiki. Stay safe!"

The older man frowned, but left the situation uncommented. With a little too much force he closed the door behind himself, having Izaya flinch at the bang.

Luckily, the young man mused, he didn't see that.

Silence fell over the foreign environment. Izaya turned a few times, fully taking in the atmosphere of the apartment now that he was undisturbed. Apart from the impersonal nature of the executive's living place the second thing Izaya noticed was the heavy smell of an Alpha. While Shiki was still around, watching him closely, he had to keep his posture. It hadn't been easy. The last weeks had been incredibly busy, and so Izaya forgot about his heat cycle. When he woke up in a light sweat this morning, he cursed himself for letting something as important as his natural cycle slide. It was the one foolproof way for getting himself screwed over.

Or, as another possibility, getting screwed.

Over the years Izaya had managed to teach himself tricks to keep his urges at bay, but lately, things had taken an unfamiliar toll on him. After his uncomfortable waking up he had spent almost an hour under the shower, trying to scrub the scent of heat off his skin, and applying his illegally acquired Alpha pheromones all over himself.

When he took a last look in the mirror, he found doubt in his own face. Izaya wasn't one to doubt himself. He couldn't allow himself that much freedom. With gritty determination, he shook it off, and left for the executive's place.

Now that he was alone, Izaya could feel his determination falter. The Alpha's smell was everywhere. He took a step towards the couch, where Shiki had offered him a seat, but stopped when the smell intensified. The man seemed to have spent more time on the couch, probably for business meetings and the like.

Izaya didn't even bother heading off to the desk.

Instead, he proceeded to stand awkwardly in the middle of the room, not sure as what to do with himself. He regretted having agreed to staying at Shiki's apartment. But if he left now and the man came back, finding Izaya not at his place anymore, he might jump to false, even dangerous, conclusions. The Alpha already treated everything Izaya did with great suspicion. He could as well hand Shiki his knife and ask him to stab him in the kidney.

One way or another, it would have the same outcome.

Standing like this, he grew fidgety. That wasn't like him. Izaya was not someone to fidget or to let himself grow restless in the first place. No, he was one to control the situation completely, to manipulate it to his benefits and score the best possible outcome for himself.

Yet, there he was, having trapped himself in an inconvenient position.

Absently, Izaya opened his coat. It was unnecessarily hot in the apartment. Had it been this warm just minutes prior? He drew a hand over his face. His cheeks felt slightly warmer than usual and his heart had sped up. He groaned, scolding himself for his mistake. Not only was the scent of Shiki affecting him, it would function vice versa. If the Alpha was to come back, and he would eventually return to his own home, he would pick up the scent of an Omega. If Izaya was still around then, it would be easy for him to put two and two together.

A sudden image flashed before Izaya's eyes. The taller figure of the executive over him, pinning him down and having his way with him.

Izaya huffed.

No, he shouldn't – he couldn't! – let it come this far.

He looked around. Maybe he could take care of things as long as he was alone, and then cover up his tracks before the Alpha would return to the crime scene. Izaya felt for the vaporizer in his pocket. If he didn't want to be forced to empty the full flask he had planned for a month within a single day, he needed to act quickly. Now, at best.

He closed his eyes and let himself take in the scent of the absent Alpha. When he opened them again Izaya was sure where to fulfill his scheme.

As he opened the door to the bedroom, his knees went almost weak. He was met with the undeniable smell of sex. So, it seemed, Shiki was an active Alpha.

Izaya slowly let his coat slide down his shoulders and onto the floor. There wasn't much in the bedroom either. A bed, with a nightstand to the right side and a dresser with four drawers. His fingers twitched in curiosity, but he kept himself from looking into the drawers. The less of a connection he had to the Alpha, the better. Just earlier he had hoped to find out something about Shiki, maybe even something to pressure him with at the right time, but Izaya did not trust himself enough to handle the situation with the well needed care, if he didn't want to leave behind any traitorous traces.

So he took another step to the bed. It was a large bed, with white sheets and big, soft-looking pillows. Too big for one man to sleep alone in.

He shuddered as he leaned down on the expensive looking beddings and a whiff of Alpha scent hit his nose. Izaya knees started to tremble, so he quickly kicked off his shoes and crawled into the middle of the bed.

It was amazing. Shiki's scent was amazing.

Somewhere, in the far back of his head, a small voice told him this was a bad idea. That Shiki would find out for sure. But that voice quickly died down when Izaya leaned back and into the soft covers. He glided over the white sheets with his fingers. They were so incredibly soft, like the figural equivalent to Shiki's own cold and distanced character.

The fabric felt so good against his skin.

He needed to feel more of this. More of Shiki.

With lightly trembling fingers Izaya began to unbuckle his belt. It took him a moment to take off his pants, before he could carelessly toss them over the edge of the bed, and to the ground.

As his eyes trailed down his body, Izaya saw the light bulge forming in his briefs. This was in no way an unfamiliar sight to him. When the heat came around, he often had to resort to simple ways to relieve himself off some tension. But sometimes he had the feeling it just made things worse.

Here, surrounded by Shiki's intoxicating smell, those simple ways seemed like a very promising option to him.

Izaya laid back down in the sheets, tilting his head back and taking a deep breath through his mouth. The Alpha was all around him, and it stirred some deeply buried instincts inside of him.

One hand wandered under the waistband of his briefs and unsure fingers closed around his length. Izaya flinched, the touch seemed so much more intense than usually. Lazily, he started to stroke himself, shuddering every time he ran his thumb over the tip of his cock.

While he was busying his right hand with pleasuring himself, his left hand pushed up his dark shirt, exposing pale skin to the cool air of the bedroom.

Nervously, Izaya chewed his lips as he began to caress his chest, fingers lightly brushing over his own nipples. He gasped, and repeated the motion.

It was so easy to imagine it was someone else's hand touching him like this, what with Shiki's heavy scent engulfing him completely. He gripped his cock tighter and gasped. Yeah, it definitely felt different than usually. Izaya thought of the executive's words, that he would need at least a few hours to return to him. So, he could take his time. This chance was far too precious to waste it on a quick, unsatisfying wank. The hand that was playing with his nipples slowly crawled over his belly, past his cock and balls, and between his legs. Izaya whimpered when he felt the wetness between his ass cheeks. As an Omega, even as a male, it was normal to self-lubricate. He had always found this part to be especially embarrassing, and inconvenient. His biggest fear had often been that he might end up soaking his pants, revealing himself as an Omega to strangers.

Even now he worried he might leave a traitorous spot on Shiki's, surely expensive, beddings. But – the thought excited him.

He gasped as he slowly pushed in a finger, feeling himself twitch around the intruder. God, he felt so hot inside. With no effort he could move his finger in and out, barely feeling the glide of it against his wet hole. Izaya took a shaky breath, and pushed in a second finger.

Fuck, he was so wet.

He could feel a tug in his balls, the sign of his approaching orgasm. Quickly he let go of his cock, whining quietly. But, he did not want this to end so soon.

Instead, his right hand gently rubbed his belly. He felt every rib like this, covered by soft skin. His hand explored the perimeters of his own frame, lightly gliding over protruding hip bones and the shaved base of his cock. He shaved every second day, trying to minimize his chances of producing betraying Omega scents. Izaya was of a slim build, and this only served the soft picture of his body.

Not like anybody ever got to see this part of him.

With the next lazy thrust of his fingers, Izaya lifted his hips a bit and pushed down on them. He gasped.

This felt so fucking amazing.

His trance-like state ended abruptly when he heard a voice coming from the bedroom's doorframe.

"What are you doing?"