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Most omegas enjoyed their heat immensely, especially those with a mate or mates to spend it with. That doesn’t mean the ones who go through it on their own hate the process. On the contrary, it was still an intense and enjoyable experience. They would have a room or an entire apartment ready for it, packed with soft and fluffy blankets, pillows and stuffed animals, as well as enough food and water to last them a week. That’s not to mention the sex toys, alpha scents and heat porn available to any omega looking to give themselves pleasure.
Having a heat was seen as a beautiful process that was to be respected and enjoyed by all involved. Disrespecting an omega who was near their heat in any way was seen as extremely rude. This included catcalling, groping, or even making any non-positive comment about their scent or hormonal change. Seeing or smelling an omega that just finished a heat was an honour, and people often complimented the omega in question on their ‘new glow’.
Being an omega was rare these days, especially male omegas. The numbers decreased over the years as the human population expanded too rapidly for nature to keep up. Its solution was to breed fewer omegas and more betas who were infertile. No one has yet been able to figure out how nature intentionally influenced this but there seemed to be no other explanation for the sudden and drastic drop in omega numbers. Combine that with the fact that two-thirds of all omegas are born female, and male omegas are even more rare.
This meant that omegas were seen as very important to society and that they should always be treated with the highest regard. This caused other issues to come up, as always tends to happen. Omegas who chose to be on suppressants, the ones who didn’t want to have children or the asexual omegas who weren’t interested in sex at all were treated very differently and often very negatively. Outside of that, beta-beta and alpha-alpha relationships were a lot more common now and no longer seen as “unnatural”. It was a confusing and often contradictive society, as it always is and always will be, but it’s the culture we are living in.
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The avengers are a mixed-gender team, Steve being the only alpha, Clint and Bruce being betas and Nat being a ‘neutralised omega’. It’s a term no one actually uses since it’s a painful reminder of her past but it’s the official term for what she is. She was born an omega but was then forcibly turned into a beta when she was young. The red room removed her reproductive system and gave her black-market drugs that stopped normal hormone production. The only thing that still remained was her scent, she still smelled like an omega because the scent glands were run by a specific hormone that the red room didn’t change. Smelling like an omega but not acting like one was something that Natasha was taught to use to her advantage. She wore temporary scent-blockers now, disguised in a perfume so the rest of the world would always know her as a beta. She couldn’t use permanent scent blockers since they might damage her biology even more and doctors advised her not to risk it.
After the battle of New York, they split up until the Avengers compound was built and Fury was able to convince them to move in together. It was set as a trial period; if any of them decided that they wanted to leave after one month, they could. In the first week or two, it was strange living together. Each member had their own floor with everything they would ever need, so they mostly kept to themselves unless previously agreed to meet up. One night Tony invited them all to the common room for dinner (Gourmet chefs cooking away in the kitchen) to discuss something. They had no idea what he was up to but they agreed and met him on the common floor later that night.
The food was delicious and after some slightly strained small talk, Tony asked for their attention and let them know he got full permission from Fury to redesign and fix any tech problems they had with their gear. He got permission to make weapons or anything necessary and wanted to know their input. This was all true, he had files for each of them full of blueprints and ideas about what they might want or need. The dinner was not exactly necessary but it was an easy excuse to get them all together and hopefully get them all communicating without it being awkward or too formal.
After some tense silence, Clint spoke up and mentioned something about jumping off a building and grappling hook arrows. That started everything; not only did Tony get a bunch of new ideas or specific fixes for their work gear, but it also started a genuine conversation that included stories of past missions and training mistakes. By the end of the main course, they were all falling off their seats laughing as Bruce told the third story of being found naked after hulking out. Tony promised to make him clothes that would stretch and shrink with him and a bet was started to see if it was possible and how quickly Tony could finish it. It continued like that up until the chefs left for the night, leaving them with a table full of empty glasses and a pile of desserts. It was the start of team tradition, family dinner and often movie night if they were up for it. This led to them becoming closer and at the end of the month it was a unanimous decision to all stay at the compound.
Fury was arrogant enough to think it was because of him that the team was functioning the way it is but they knew differently. Steve was the team leader in the field, no one questioned that, not even Tony. His brain was made for battle strategy and as much as every one of them had ignored direct orders once or twice he was still the clear lead. When at the compound, when it came to more personal relationships, Tony was the one who held them all together. They all knew it, except for Tony. It was because of him that Bruce felt comfortable in his own home again. He was the one who helped Steve acclimate to the modern world and never judged him when he had questions, he gave Clint and Natasha a permanent home and a place they felt safe enough to let their guards down. They were grateful for everything he had done, bringing them together to the point where referring to ‘team dinner’ as family dinner felt natural.
Everyone was aware that Natasha was born an omega but ever since she joined SHIELD she wore temporary scent blockers constantly. As the months progressed and they grew closer, she told them that she still scented like an omega and that the entire time they have been living together she’s been wearing blockers. She explained it was an old habit, most people at SHIELD thought she was a beta and she did everything in her power to support that assumption. In reality, she still smelt like an unmated omega.
Of course, the team knew she was born an omega but they all assumed her scent was taken from her as well. After talking about it and making sure she would be comfortable with it, they told her they would be honoured if she shared her scent with them. A few days later she came down for breakfast smelling like roses and chocolate, a deeper smell than most female omegas but the team loved it and now found comfort in it. Betas had no scent, so Clint and Bruce could smell her but they couldn’t be scented themselves.
Steve offered to wear blockers the moment they decided to move in together but they all agreed that there were no issues with him being without, so he never bothered. He smelt like gunpowder and charcoal, a heady scent that apparently people would recoil from before the war. The team had a very opposite response; once they were all comfortable around each other, a mere 4 months after moving in together, they gravitated towards Steve during movie nights. Alphas, betas and omegas would melt into a puppy pile surrounded by the mixed scent of gunpowder and roses.
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This all being said, Tony Stark was known by everyone to be a typical Alpha who constantly wore blockers due to him being a very public figure. In reality, this was not the case. Tony presented as an omega and had very different reasons for wearing the blockers. He often wondered what his scent was like, what it would feel like if it mixed with Steve’s and Natasha’s during those nights. No one ever told him what he smelt like. No one ever had the chance, so it was something he was endlessly curious about since you couldn’t smell your own scent.
When he first presented as an omega, instead of getting a large party, he got a broken jaw and bruises running down his arms. Howard hid him away, put him on suppressants and told the world he had presented as an alpha and will rejoin the public when he was ready. He went to MIT not long after that and was told never to tell anyone or show any signs that he was not an alpha.
His first heat was excruciating, he was still at the Stark house and when he went down for lunch one day he collapsed on his way there. He was on very high-level scent blockers so no one could smell his heat scent but Maria was intelligent enough to understand what was happening. She made the mistake of telling Howard and he locked Tony up in the guest room for an entire week. No one was allowed to enter and it was a miracle he made it out alive. Jarvis nursed him back to full health after, making sure he got enough rest and fluids after going so long without food and drink but he never spoke about heats with Tony.
Jarvis and Ana were the only people who seemed to care about Tony at all, they always made sure he was okay and even asked him questions about his inventions and listened. They loved him in a way his parents never could. Howard was an abusive drunk and Maria was on and off anti-depressants for nearly her entire adult life. The butler and maid took care of him but they were never able to talk to him about what he was. Not because they didn’t think it important or because they were unaware of his gender and how Howard treated him but because they were warned. If they ever attempted to talk to Tony or anyone else about his second gender, they would be fired and asked to leave immediately. They agreed it wasn’t worth the risk.
He left high school too early to learn all about it in science class and only ever heard the rumours or gossip in the boy's locker rooms. After hearing one of them explain in detail what it felt like to pop a knot, he decided not to believe a word they said. At MIT he gained quite a reputation. He acted out, just as any alpha his age would, and every three months he would head home to deal with his heat in the guest room there. He drank, got high, got arrested and had a lot of make-out sessions but never further than that.
The press ate it up, he was labelled a playboy and most people he met believed it so he never denied it. If anything, he helped the rumour grow until it was a well-known fact that Tony Stark was a healthy Alpha with an ever-growing list of conquests. The first to find out was Rhody, as was bound to happen when you live with someone for extended periods of time. He noticed the consistency of Tony’s trips home and also how he never actually brought anyone back to their place. He knew he was on suppressants and blockers and at first, assumed it was because his father made him but later figured out it was for different reasons than simply following legal advice.
He had his suspicions about Tony’s gender and they were confirmed when a storm prevented Tony from returning home on time. Tony prayed that his heat would start a few days later than expected but the odds were not in his favour. He was hiding our his room and by dinner the next day he was practically screaming into his pillows. The door was locked but after two days of hearing him through the walls, Rhodey decided enough was enough and broke through the lock. The site he saw when he opened that door was one he would never forget. The next few days were challenging and Tony refused to speak about what happened after it was over. Rhodes tried and pushed but Tony was stubborn and simply refused to talk about it. Being young and not wanting to lose his best friend over this, he never brought it up again.
The next person to find out was Obie. After being kidnapped and off his suppressants it became clear very soon that Tony was a male, unmated omega. Once he found out, it was just another thing to hold against him. More blackmail to make sure Tony would always do as he asked. It was also another way of ‘reminding him of his place’ as he told Tony the day he stole the arc reactor. He died soon after and was never able to hold it against Tony again.
When Tony experienced a heat now, it was hell. Every three months he went through the same agony for five days, or seven if he was lucky. He had it down to an art at this point. Tell the team that Pepper is making him go to another conference or meeting in a faraway place. Leave on his jet so everyone knew he was gone and wouldn’t be back for a few days. Then take the suit back to the tower in infiltration mode so no one would see. Go to the private landing pad that led to a floor that no one knew existed. Shut it down to all outside communication, make sure there is enough food and water for a week and wait. He would love to say that the waiting was the worst part but he would rather spend 7 days in a complete blackout waiting for nothing than go through another heat.
Years have gone by and Tony still hated every second of his heat. He had done his research since then, he knew how heats should feel like, and he knew what steps he could take to make them as comfortable as possible. He never bothered even trying any of them. His father had been dead for years but he still heard his voice in his head whenever his heats were close:
“Weak and disgusting creatures like you don’t deserve the honour of a real heat”
“Real men don’t need to be pampered or spoilt”
“Crying like the bitch you are is the punishment for your incompetence”
He didn’t believe male omegas should be treated the same as female ones, they were the lowest in the social hierarchy and Howard made sure Tony never forgot it. After the fight with Obidiah, his voice joined his fathers and Tony knew he never deserved to experience a heat as anything but a punishment.
All this meant that eventually, he would be back in his heat room, lying on an uncomfortable mattress with itchy sheets. Just water and granola bars next to it. No pillows, soft blankets or stuffed toys to build a nest with, no sweets or power drinks to get him through without blacking out, and no sex toys or alpha scents to satisfy his needs. He just lay on that mattress or on the floor and suffered through it. He would try to be quiet but as his heat grew the whimpers turned to sobs and occasionally screams as the days went progressed. No one heard them and according to Tony, even if people would hear, no one would care.
-
When the avengers moved into the compound, nothing changed about Tony’s heats. It just meant he had to lie to more people who he cared about. He wasn’t happy about it but it was something he got used to after a while. They never even suspected anything was wrong. Tony went on business trips often so him being gone for a week or more wasn’t unusual. It happened a lot between heats as well so there was no reason not to believe him. When he returned, there never seemed to be anything wrong with him. He was more tired than usual but that could be explained away due to his popularly awful sleeping habits. It wasn’t until a mission went horribly wrong that they found out.
His last heat had been 2 months ago so there was no reason to worry about it hitting him while he was captive. The suit had already sent out his location so he knew the others would be there to get him soon. He wasn’t afraid of his captors. If anything they were afraid of him and engaged with him as little as possible. They did make the mistake of keeping Tony and the suit overground where a clear distress signal could be sent. This meant that there was no actual danger to worry about. What he failed to take into account was the travel time it took for him to be locked in a cell and the two days before he was able to send out the signal were long enough for his scent blockers to start wearing off.
This brings us to where we are now. Tony locked in a small room with nothing but a bucket and a mattress (the less that was said about that the better) waiting for his family to show up and get him out. Not realising that the room was slowly smelling more and more of a lonely and angry omega.