Chapter Text
LIKE WE ARE A WORK IN PROGRESS
PROLOGUE, PART I
When Max was a little boy, his father told him he would grow up to become an alpha.
He’d said, pride in his voice, that Max would do all he wanted if he put his head into it, if only he could complete his practices and keep on winning competition after competition, forget the laziness and the days when he simply wanted to be a kid and go play with the others.
At first, he couldn’t understand the importance of it.
Karting was fun.
He liked to drive and he was good at it, so why was his father so adamant on making him keep pushing when no one else was doing it? As he grew older, Max saw the benefits of learning at such a young age, as well as the little things that break illusions and promises he never thought were in his hands.
When he became a man and presented, he’d been thirteen and confused when he woke up with pain in his abdomen, wetness in his shorts, his worried mother telling him everything would be okay, he just needed to take a pill and go back to sleep.
“You’re an omega?” Most people’s reaction to his assignation was the same: shock and/or disbelief. “You?”
“Yeah, me.”
No words came after, most people realizing his irritation right away. Others were simply too shocked to say more, ask him how it had happened or if he was joking. Had they do so, Max wasn’t sure of his own reaction, especially at seventeen and starting in a place where most drivers were alphas and betas.
“Yet, if you notice, the best drivers closer to your generation are omegas.” His father would insist, long forgotten pep talks about being a powerful and perfect alpha like him behind them. “The world is changing and the sport changes with it, even if no one notices it.”
He wasn’t wrong, yet he was.
From the people closer to his age, Charles and George were both alphas. So were every single one of his teammates since he started: Carlos, Daniel, all of them. The only other two omegas on the grid were Lewis and Lando, the first untouchable and unbeatable for years, the second his friend who liked to piss off alphas and have one-sided rivalries that didn’t go well for him.
“This is more on the personal side,” he would get the question often, “why didn’t you opt for not revealing your assignation like some drivers do? Wouldn’t it be easier?”
Would it? Max would arch an eyebrow and give the shittiest answer possible, never actually giving a reason because there was none—why should he hide? It wasn’t a crime to be born like this, he was not the only one, that the rest of the world were surprised at it for his height and body type, it was their problem.
To him, it made no fucking sense.
He showed himself proud of his nature, liked to remind everyone of it when he stood up on the podium, every time he won and it rattled the alphas to see it.
“So fuck it.” He finished, taking the beer glass in front of him and downing the liquid in it. He heard Daniel cheer as he went on, Alonso laughing as only the foam was left on the glass. “I have nothing to hide.”
ITALIAN GP WEEKEND. 2017.
“Yes!” Daniel celebrated, the other two men in the table applauding as Max tried his best not to show how shocking drinking so fast had actually been.
They had played football all together that morning, a charity little game as part of the many activities in Italy as the GP was coming on Sunday. How did the team let them go out with Alonso and Pérez after, he wasn’t sure, but Daniel had assured him it was fine and they could have fun before going back the next morning to free practice and training.
Pérez was looking at him from his seat in front, arms crossed over the table as he watched him pretend he was not dizzy with just one glass when the waitress filled it again and Daniel asked her for snacks.
“Are you okay?” The man asked him, Max looked up and nodded. “Take it easy from here, yes? You don’t want to get drunk.”
He felt his cheeks warm.
Max bit the inside of his cheek, trying to keep himself in place and quiet, not answering his mind because this man was Daniel’s close friend and he didn’t want to cause him more trouble, like a spoiled little brother he has to carry around as told by his parents.
Who the hell did Pérez think he was to tell him what to do, anyway? Betas needed to stop getting their noses where—
“You have the same problem as Checo.” Alonso suddenly said.
Max looked at the man and smiled, it was always cool to be around him.
“Ugh. Cabrón, no.” Pérez said. “No jodas, no.”
Daniel was laughing and he didn’t understand a word of what was said, of what was happening. The older man smiled at his friend, Pérez shook his head but it was too late, whatever Fernando wanted to say was gonna come out anyway.
What did he mean, though? Same problem? Max looked at Pérez, watched him distract himself by looking down at the table where his half-drank tequila stood, and it occurred to him that he was short.
Soft looking.
He could be an omega—
He could be an omega.
Recognition filled him as his eyebrows went up, but before he could ask the man or say anything, Alonso was talking again, signaling Pérez at his side.
“He's an alpha.” He said.
Max frowned right away.
“There it is!”
Daniel chuckled, Pérez shook his head and looked at him for a few seconds, then down again, putting a hand on Alonso’s shoulder.
“See? Same problem. People act stupid when they are told what his assignation is.” The older man said, then gestured with a hand towards him on the table. “No offense, kid. You know what I mean.”
He could feel his face blushing, his cheeks were probably turning red with how hot his entire face was feeling.
Max looked down, ashamed of himself for having fallen onto the same stereotypes he was always rolling his eyes at people for. And before things turned even worse, the waitress came back with Daniel’s fries and Alonso’s onion rings.
“Another one, please.” He heard Pérez say as he gave his glass to the woman, Max looked up. “Make it triple.” And his cheeks went red.
Alonso laughed at that, making a peace offering to him by sliding the rings towards the younger alpha. Pérez took one, shaking his head to his friend.
“ Perdón .” Alonso said, he supposed in Spanish. “Era un buen ejemplo, vamos—así el niño no se siente solo.”
Pérez nodded. Whatever their older pal had said, he understood it. The man sighed and eat his onion ring without bothering to look at Max, which made things a bit easier—yet it was eating him alive, to have been so stupid and not seen it.
For the rest of the night, he watched the man closer and realized it was all there, just like it happened with him: the strong jaw and huge hands, the bunch of hair everywhere, the wide upper body.
In the way he walked and moved, even how he sat, how he spoke to the other alphas on the table, to the beta waitress.
Pérez was an alpha. An uncommon one like he was an uncommon omega.
“Hey.” He poked Pérez's side as they walked out the bar and waited for their ride.
The man looked back, first down to Max’s finger, then up to his face and frowned slightly before facing him fully, putting all his attention to him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Max blinked. “No, I just wanted to… to apologize for acting like that… back there.”
Pérez looked back at the bar after Max had signaled it, then at him and nodded.
“It’s ok, man. You didn’t know.”
“Yeah, but…” He sighed. “I should’ve known better. I know better.”
The alpha looked at him for a second, moving his head to one side as if to observe him better. He chuckled gently after, putting a heavy hand on his shoulder.
“It’s fine.” He said. “It’s nobody’s fault and nothing happened anyway.” He sighed. His hand was still there and now Max could actually smell his scent suddenly surrounding him. “Plus, who cares what assignations we have? It doesn’t matter, we still race each other like Hell is coming for us. Right?”
Max couldn’t help but smile, nodding.
Now that they were this close, he could notice the sparks of stronger scents around him. When they had been playing earlier, he thought it was just them being around Alonso and Daniel, catching their scents for the sweat and the times they would high five or hug when someone made a good move.
But now, the way his hand had felt so warm when they had high fived made a lot of sense.
Sergio Pérez was an alpha.
Not a beta like he had assumed, or an omega like one could think when you look directly at him. An alpha. It was a fascinating thing.
He wondered if this is how people felt when they found out his assignation—embarrassed for being so judgemental, and curious; wanting to ask so many things.
How did he deal with moronic people, especially journalists? How did he get to control his more aggressive instincts, the ones he and every other omega was warned about while growing up?
Pérez didn’t look like the conflictive type.
He didn’t even look like someone who would get mad at all.
The man smiled at him and turned around again, leaving Max with his thoughts and the alpha's scent imprinted on his clothes so strong, his trainer gave him a look and asked him if he had have sex when they saw each other the next morning.
With a laugh, Max said the truth, making the man look at him for long seconds.
"Be careful." He said. "You were smelling like someone else, that can be dangerous."
"Okay…"
"Max." The man insisted, looking serious and sounding worried. "You're an unmated young omega surrounded by alphas… smelling like one you aren’t mated to could spark trouble. Please , be careful."
Pérez had just touched his shoulder.
He blinked, nodding. "Yeah, okay. I'm sorry."
He had just barely touched him.
Why would his scent stay like that? It made no sense…
“Jesus!” Daniel said after entering his driver’s room, Max looked up at him. “Man, I was gonna wish you luck today but ugh—tell your Alpha to calm the fuck down, we get it! You’re taken!”
“I—” His face felt hot. Max looked at himself in the mirror, his cheeks were red. "I don't—I don't have one."
Daniel gasped, keeping his distance from him anyway. "How come? Who did you see last—nooooooo…"
Max turned around to see him, blinking as he saw his pale face, eyes wide, mouth slightly open.
"You smell like—" He made a weird sound, it sounded like disgust or anger. Maybe both. Then, he asked in a lower tone: "Did you hook up with Checo? I'm gonna mess him up if you did, you are too young for him!"
"What? No!" Max frowned. "Don't be ridiculous, he just put his hand on my shoulder and his scent stayed there. I didn't even realize!" He said, the one frowning now was Daniel. "I slept with the same hoodie on and it got… stuck in me or something."
"What the hell?"
"I didn't realize it until my trainer told me!"
Daniel looked at him with wide open eyes, the surprise on his face was almost funny— almost , because a part of him was now scared.
Was the smell really too bad? How did this happen? It was as if the man had scent him but that was impossible. They barely touched—just the one high five and his hand on his shoulder.
His bed must smell like him, too. He hoped the person cleaning his room that day changed the covers and sheets.
"That's weird…" Daniel finally said, he nodded. "Are you sure? Look, if—if you guys were together and it is what you wanted, it's okay… you are an adult."
"God." Max covered his face with both hands, screaming on them in frustration. "No!" He looked up at his teammate again. "Jesus Christ, no. I'm—I'm a virgin, for Christ’s sake! He didn’t touch me that way!”
“You’re a virgin?”
Oh.
Oh, no.
“You can’t tell anyone that!” Max signaled him with a finger. “You hear me? I—I just don’t have time for that or the energy to find someone.”
“Oh-okaaaay…” Daniel said, looking away and trying hard to hide his smile. He was such an idiot sometimes. “Oh, honey… remind me to introduce you to some people during the break…”
“Leave me alone!”
His teammate laughed at least, finally stopping with this whole scene, wishing him luck then leaving to his room.
Max stayed there for a second, he remembered wanting to cry at the frustration of having aired himself and the frustration of his smell melding with Pérez’s at just one tiny touch.
It was all a reminder of how he was inadequate at his own assignation, that he was a bad omega somehow: not knowing how this was possible, letting it happen, being a virgin still.
He grew up convinced he would present as an Alpha, so by the time it came, he didn’t know anything about being an omega. And his mother had done all she could, but his karting career was on the rise, and his father wouldn’t allow him much time at home where he could learn aside from TV and little things he read here and there.
Even school education wasn’t an option, he’d been home schooled for as long as he could remember.
So he googled it that night after the race.
If it was possible for the smell of an unmated alpha to stick into an unmated omega after just one tiny touch.
Alphas can scent possible partners without realizing with a light touch if their scents are compatible . People with compatible scents are not common in modern days as they were a century ago, but people whose scents meld in perfect harmony are usually known as a Match .
Max blinked a couple of times, slowly frowning with every word.
These people tend to be biologically “perfect” for each other, meaning that the possibility of mating and procreating is highly likely between them. Is widely believed a person may find one match only in their lifetime, though newer research have questioned this, no conclusions have been made yet.
He closed the laptop that night, feeling embarrassed and exposed in a way he didn’t want to feel again, no matter how good his hoodie smelled.
Max sighed, opening his eyes to the dark of his hotel room, hoping Pérez would never find out about what had happened that day.
For years, Max carried that and avoided being left alone with the alpha, even when the guy was actually nice, and funny—when he heard he had gotten married, he sighed in relief, thinking it’s over, this embarrassment is finally over…
Only for it to happen again.
“Holy fuck!” Pierre said as he entered the conference room, immediately coughing as he walked slowly. Max looked at him. “Jesus, who are you fucking?”
AZERBAIJAN GP WEEKEND. 2019.
“What?”
“Oh, that’s a strong scent!” Christian said as he walked past him. “I thought your girlfriend was a beta!”
Max frowned, looking at him. “She is a beta. What are you talking about?”
The principal looked up at him with a frown. “Mate, I can smell you from miles.” He said. “You got scented!”
His eyes opened wide, feeling dread until his brain reminded him something: earlier that day, he’d been at lunch with Daniel and Carlos, and then—Checo had joined. They had sat side by side, elbows touching from time to time, Max taking fries from his plate after the man told him it was okay.
It had happened again.
“Fuck.” He murmured, shaking his head. Max looked up at his boss again. “It’s nothing, don’t worry.”
“You smell like alpha.” He insisted, now visibly worried. “You… smell like Geri does when we are together.”
God, shit—Max swallowed and nodded, walking away to sit as far from his alpha teammate and alpha boss by instinct. He was sure none of these men would ever hurt him, but—he was feeling odd, unprotected and exposed, as all eyes were on him and he was being questioned on his scent.
He sat down and stayed there the entire meeting, head up and paying attention, ignoring everybody looking at him and Pierre frowning as he had likely recognized the scent he was wearing by now.
In the middle of the meeting, his phone vibrated, but he wasn’t able to look at it until they were dismissed.
Max stayed there after everyone was gone, just to make sure no one could question him again, and finally looked at his phone: he had a couple of texts—no, several texts—from the alpha, from Sergio.
He blinked, opening the thread.
(14:23 PM) Hello. It’s Checo. Daniel gave me your number, I hope it’s ok but I was worried because I noticed that you accidentally scent me a little bit during lunch.
Max gasped, eyes wide open as he read that over and over again.
He had—what? So was it his smell and not Checo’s? What—he closed his eyes, frowning before opening them again and deciding to keep reading. The man had sent way too many text walls.
(14:25 PM) If you scent me that means I scented you too
There’s a pill that kills scenting, it’s to protect pregnancies and things like that but it will help you with this. I sent it to you and I was told your trainer got it because you were at a meeting or something.
Anyway, he has it.
Take two if you aren’t allergic or have hormonal problems.
And take a hot shower, clean your skin two times and leave your used clothes aside. Maybe put them on a bag and separate it from the rest of your things
It’s just to prevent anything else from getting scented!
Max blinked a couple of times. The river of words still continued.
(14:29 PM) And if you laid down on your bed, ask reception for a change of sheets. It’s not likely for the smell to already be in the mattress but it’s probably on the sheets.
Put your shoes out in the sun
Maybe the clothes too if you think the scent is too strong.
I’m so sorry, Max. I don’t know why this happened, I’m so embarrassed. I hope I didn’t get you in trouble, man. Please take the pills and the shower, maybe stay inside for today? I don’t know if the scent will disappear entirely today but I’m sure it will be gone by tomorrow. Take one pill tomorrow to prevent it anyway!
He was about to try and type some kind of answer, when another text came in.
(14:43 PM) God, kid. Are you okay?
For some reason, the last message made him frown.
(14:45 PM) I’m not a kid.
(14:46 PM) Ok. I’m sorry
Are you okay?
His frown went deeper. He passed his tongue over his front teeth, trying to calm himself—why was he so irritated anyway? The guy had realized immediately what had happened, offered him a way out, was worried about him and felt guilty.
But here he was, mad he was called a kid .
Max shook his head.
(14:48 PM) Whatever, mate
His eyes closed, his stomach dropped as he realized what he had just wrote to the one alpha whose scent meld perfectly with his.
The phone vibrated in his hand.
(14:49 PM) Careful with that word, Max.
Max blinked, feeling embarrassment and something else—something exciting, as if knowing he could pester this man was too good.
(14:51 PM) It's just a word 🙄
I can say whatever I want
(14:52 PM) *write
You are right, kid. Check the pills with your trainer and take them, please
Sorry for the inconvenience!
That was it? Max frowned, writing and deleting an answer for several seconds until minutes had passed.
He sighed and shook his head at himself—this man had done nothing to him, had been nice enough to help him, was worried about him.
Why had he done that?
(14:56 PM) Hey, I'm sorry
No answer came.
Max sighed after a while, tired of waiting.
By the time he made it to his room with his new pills, the sun was on its peak and showering as suggested felt like relief.
Later, Checo answered with a thumbs up emoji and nothing else.
He had no idea if the smell was gone but he saw the man in the paddock the next day.
Usually, Pérez would wave at him; today, he didn't even look up.
For the life of him, he had no idea why it bothered him so—but it did.
It did for so long, he often thought of it when the man would stand with their little group as they talked with Carlos, Daniel and others during drivers’ parade, yet he never spoke to him alone again.
But in the night, when he was asleep, he could swear to smell it again—the scent in his hoodie, in his team wear.
Sometimes he wondered if it meant more than he cared to admit.