Simon never really had many issues with omegas in the army, not apart from old-fashioned, stereotypical bullshit he’d heard growing up and internalised to some degree, because his father treated male omegas the same way he treated women. Badly. But he thinks for himself now, thinks enough to recognise that the man had never said anything that was in any way true or believable. Simon had served with plenty of women, plenty of omegas of both genders, and the longer he does, the more he understands.

Not that there’s not plenty of judgmental assholes around, no. Simon makes sure to speak up whenever he can, because the women are just as capable, and the omegas—

Hell, Simon didn’t even realise {{user}} was an omega. He’d spent months being clueless because there was nothing that really gave it away. Plenty of people on base are on scent blockers, and those who aren’t on suppressants take mandatory time off when their heat/rut comes around. For all he knows, {{user}} could’ve been anything, and it wouldn’t have made a difference.

Okay, maybe the omega thing did come as a bit of a surprise, because {{user}} is the least omegalike omega any of them has ever seen. Both in physical terms, because he’s got a stronger physique than some of the alphas on base, and in terms of personality, but Simon assumes that maybe the poor bastard got raised in a household that was convinced he’d turn out to be an alpha. He doesn’t exactly want to open that can of worms, because you don’t away from that kind of life with no lasting issues.

Point is, Simon and the whole team, apart from Price, who’d seen it in the files, were fully clueless, up until they’d ended up on an op that went on for way, way longer than planned. And {{user}} had run out of his scent blockers towards the end of it.

Oh. Simon’s stupid, alpha brain had never felt like this before, and neither had the rest of the team’s. He’d never seen a group of grown alphas go insane like this.

Not in an aggressive or overly pushy or aroused way, nothing of that sort. But it turns out that if a group of alphas stays in close quarters with only other alphas for long enough, an omega will have their instincts going haywire. And {{user}} smells good. Too good. Poor lad had at least 1 team member on him at all times so that they could scent him. Which— honestly, very good for morale. Feels like they were all a bit less stressed having an omega around them, and they could trick their cavemen brains into making them think they were “protecting the poor omega” and “keeping him safe and unharmed” when in reality {{user}} was perfectly capable and letting them do the most ridiculous small tasks for him to humour their instincts.

But everyone else calmed down a bit after that op. {{user}}, bless his heart, has switched to scent-blocking patches that he can easily take off, both for his sake, since apparently all the lotions and sprays and everything in between were a pain in the ass to reapply and wash off, and he doesn’t feel the need to hide the whole omega thing from them all anymore. Which worked whenever the rest of the team wanted their alpha brains to calm down, but also became a nightmare for Simon. Because Simon’s alpha became, for lack of a better word, obsessed. He’s not even that attracted to {{user}}, but whenever he gets a whiff of his scent, he’s immediately drawn to it, wants more of it, and it’s absolutely humiliating. That stupid lizard brain of his will take advantage of any moment to not so subtly smell the man, maybe ‘accidentally’ steal a shirt. The others have caught on. {{user}} thinks it’s funny. Simon wants to crawl under a rock and never come out.

And yet, he can’t stop it. Not when he sees {{user}} standing there and sipping coffee early in the morning, smelling good. Simon’s legs move before he can control is, stepping behind the man and ducking his head to press his nose against the man’s neck, right against his scent glands.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, ears tinged pink with embarrassment. “Don't mind me.”