Chapter Text
They didn’t talk much about the bond after that.
Jack knew on some level that he should probably broach the topic again, that Rhys was just avoiding the problem rather than progressing to wholly not being affected by it, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He didn’t need to have a heart-to-heart with Rhys for the omega to know that he cared, as the way he soothed Rhys back to sleep every time the omega had a nightmare or flashback spoke volumes. He didn’t need Rhys to elaborate on the source of his fear, as the hand reflexively curled around his bonding site each time he had a panic attack said more than enough.
Those episodes were growing less frequent, however, especially since Rhys spent each night snuggled in the warm, safe embrace of his boyfriend. He’d been a bit worried about how Vaughn would take the news of him moving in with Jack, but his bro had instead given him a relieved hug.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about me moving in with Leia for months,” the beta had said sheepishly. “I just didn’t want Jack to, y’know, uh, kill me.”
Rhys gave Vaughn his blessing and reassured him that he’d keep Jack in line, although Vaughn’s “yeah right” eye roll was probably more than apropos. So while Rhys’ lanky stature made schlepping all his crap to Jack’s apartment a thoroughly exhausting ordeal, not having to lug stuff back and forth every weekend was far worth the effort. Between the drawer he’d made Jack clear out specifically for his socks and the permission to even hang up one of his geeky posters in the bedroom, Rhys felt even more at home than he had back when he’d lived with Vaughn. More at home than he had back when he’d lived with, well, anyone.
The same things that used to terrify him about sharing a living space had morphed into the very aspects he loved, the concept of which was oddly comforting. Being upfront about his biology, especially his heats, was an impossibility turned into an immense relief; it was exhausting having to speak with professionals (and even Jack) in code all the time. And in that same vain-- having his boyfriend completely and easily at his disposal whenever his annoyingly unpredictable omega hormones desired? Utterly fantastic.
It took Rhys a while to realize it, but the abundance of Jack’s scent lingering throughout the entire apartment was also a strange comfort. In the past, he’d gotten antsy whenever his own citrusy pheromones weren’t at the forefront of his senses. But now, with Jack… with Jack, there was an unusual (yet not at all unpleasant) sense of security. He felt protected on some baser level, and for once he felt safe enough to actually indulge in that peacefulness. For once, he didn’t feel like he needed to be on guard all the time.
The first few heats he shared with Jack while they were living together triggered Rhys’ self-preserving instincts, and Jack was patient as he carefully reassured Rhys that it was okay, he could relax. Jack’s soft words and the dulling effect of the hormonal suppressors eventually helped the message sink in, and the omega slowly readjusted to the feeling of the fever without completely panicking. Jack knew it was hard; it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Rhys’ thoughts returned to his heat with Robert when the omega went quiet and his eyes glazed over. When he pretended to sleep so that Jack wouldn’t catch him crying.
But Jack never pushed, never intruded or made suggestions unless Rhys asked. He’d already almost lost him before, and he’d be damned if he let that happen again. And Rhys made progress. He really, really did. Jack was overjoyed at the way Rhys returned to his confident, albeit dorky, self. He’d frickin’ demolished Atlas, and that alone was definitely an ego boost for the omega. Coupled with Jack’s unbeatable blowjob skills on display each time reports showed Atlas sinking even lower into the ground, Rhys better have been feeling nothing short of ten million bucks.
He’d surprised Rhys one night with a black, official-looking envelope, a smug look on his unmasked face. The omega was wearing one of Jack’s old hoodies that he’d commandeered as his own at some point during the year they’d been living together, the yellow sleeve hanging loosely around his thin wrist as he took the envelope from Jack.
“What is this?” he asked, fumbling with the seal with his single arm before handing the envelope back to Jack with a silent plea for help in his eyes.
“A gift,” Jack said, making quick work of the envelope in a jagged, overly eager way that made Rhys cringe.
The omega gingerly took the enclosed parchment-printed letter from Jack, seriously wishing he hadn’t detached his cybernetic arm yet if only to avoid the stationary carnage. He chewed on his lip as he slowly read over the letter’s contents, scanning it with his ECHOeye to confirm its legitimacy before turning to Jack in wonder. “You’re shitting me.”
Jack grinned. “Nope.”
Rhys reread the words, skimming across the legal jargon in favor of the big picture analysis his subsystems provided him.
Rhys was now the owner of Atlas.
“How did you even--”
“Buy out their entire corporation?” Jack asked, smirking as he began the small speech he’d no doubt been holding in the entire night. “It all started back when you did that intel leak with their guns. Geez, kitten, remember that? Shit was priceless. I had some undercover lackeys buy up some shares, and when you kept kicking Atlas’ ass, we bought up even more. Seriously babe, it was some real scheming shit. Not even violent, you’d be proud of me. Okay, maybe it was somewhat violent, because there was a mole at one point and--”
Jack’s rambling was cut short by the pressure of Rhys’ lips against his. “You’ll have to tell me more later,” Rhys said in a way that meant he didn’t need to hear the rest of that story at any point in time. “But right now you’ve got a job.”
“Hmm,” Jack said, pressing against Rhys and all but forgetting about the conversation they’d been having moments ago (his dick absorbed a lot of his brain power). “What job is that, princess?”
“Fucking the new CEO of Atlas.”
Jack groaned, looping his arms around Rhys and carrying him to the bedroom over his shoulder as the omega giggled.
“Put me down, asshole,” Rhys laughed, both he and Jack unfazed in the derailment of their dirty talk. Sometimes, it was better like this; better when they smiled and laughed, shared sappily long kisses and acted way too endearingly for two people in the midst of fucking. It was a featherlight sort of pleasure, a rare moment of serendipitous playfulness that left them both feeling like lovesick teenagers.
“Jack?” Rhys said breathlessly, his eyes searching for Jack’s as the alpha loomed over him in the sheets soon after. The alpha had been grinning handsomely ever since he’d deposited Rhys on the bed, and the feeling of his lips, fingers and, eventually, dick left Rhys unable to even belittle him for being way too eager and self-absorbed.
“Yeah, kitten?” Jack asked as he gave a particularly hard thrust that had Rhys’ back arching.
“I want,” Rhys paused as a moan was worked out of him. “I want you to--oh fuck just like that.”
Jack smirked, brushing a sweat-dampened curl of hair off the corner of Rhys’ forehead. “Don’t worry, baby. I know just how you like it.”
Rhys let out what might have been a laugh had it not been cut off by a sharp inhale at the feeling of Jack’s fingers wrapping around his cock.
“W-wait,” Rhys stammered, trying to push Jack’s hand away. The alpha paused, withdrawing his hand and looking at Rhys.
Rhys groaned at the stilling of Jack’s hips. “I didn’t say stop, asshole. I just don’t wanna-- not yet.”
He didn’t have to finish his thought for Jack to catch his drift, as the alpha had all but started laughing at his partner’s lack of stamina.
“Y’know, Rhysie, we did order that cock ring last month…just thinking out loud!” he amended as Rhys socked him in the arm.
“Not what I meant,” Rhys said, rolling his eyes. “I wanted to ask you something.”
Rhys tried to push himself up to sit to convey his seriousness, and Jack lifted him the rest of the way so that he was sitting in Jack’s lap.
“I wanted,” Rhys started again before stopping to pepper kisses along Jack’s jaw line. “Wanted to ask you…”
“Mmm, yeah, cupcake, you mentioned that,” Jack said cheekily, his hips starting to thrust lightly upwards.
Rhys groaned, plastering himself impossibly closer to Jack and shuddering at the friction it created on his cock. “Wanted to ask you… to bond with me.”
Jack froze, feeling a chill spread through him despite the warmth of Rhys on top of and literally around him. The omega was still kissing the side of his neck like he hadn’t just dropped a bombshell on Jack, and the alpha was struggling to comprehend. “You want to- to bond?”
“That’s what I said, yeah,” Rhys said, leaving Jack to shudder at the meaning of Rhys’ words and the feeling of his warm breath ghosting across his skin.
Jack didn’t respond at first, prompting Rhys to grind his hips on top of Jack, because he was sure as hell about to get off regardless of whether the alpha accepted his offer. He slowed his motions, however, when he felt Jack’s hand clench on his hip, stilling him.
“Are you- are you sure, pumpkin?”
Rhys took Jack’s face in his one hand, directing the alpha’s gaze to meet his. “I want this, Jack. I- I love you.”
Jack pursed his lips, contemplating, and Rhys began fidgeting in his lap. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked. Maybe Jack didn’t think their relationship was as serious as Rhys considered it to be. Maybe he should just start up a cold shower now since it was clear whatever was happening before was taking a turn for major blue balls.
“Yes.”
Rhys quirked his brow, a bit disoriented from being snapped out of his thoughts of freezing his dick off. “Huh?”
“Yes, idiot,” Jack said, pulling him forward and pressing their lips together. “The answer is yes.”
Rhys felt a thrill run through him, burying his face in the crook of Jack’s neck to stifle his embarrassingly large, dopey smile.
“Gonna need you on your hands and knees, kitten.”
Rhys was pretty sure he’d never been so turned on. He was practically shaking with excitement, the butterflies in his stomach masking the slight pain at pulling off of Jack. The alpha lightly held Rhys’ hips as the omega situated himself on all fours (or three, considering his cybernetic arm was off). He could feel the head of Jack’s cock teasing at him but not pushing in, and he clenched involuntarily.
“Relax, Rhysie,” Jack said as he slowly entered him again. “I’ve got you.”
Rhys hummed in acknowledgement, reveling in the feeling of Jack. Of his scent, his wandering touches, his mouth sucking hickies on his back. Oh yeah, and his dick hitting all the right places inside him.
It was a gentle sort of fucking, passionate but not frenzied. Through the haze of the pleasure Rhys could feel Jack’s mouth inching up his back, his kisses leaving goosebumps trailing in their wake. Jack was nearing his bonding site, he could tell. His entire body thrummed with energy, tensing in excitement at what was about to come-- which, funnily enough, also happened to be Rhys.
“J-Jack!” he shouted, back arching as Jack’s hand was on his dick, stroking him in time with his thrusts. The warmth was building in his gut, his orgasm nearing.
“I love you, Rhysie,” Jack whispered, and this time his lips were pressed against the back of his neck, a soft yet overpowering presence.
This close, Jack was practically intoxicated by the pheromones, drunk on the citrusy smell and the fact that he was about to do it. He was about to bond with Rhys. He could feel Rhys’ pulse racing beneath his lips, and the warm skin beneath his mouth, albeit still baring the scars of past misery, was his to mark. His. Rhys would be his.
Jack took a shaky breath, and then he bit down.
For a moment, it was as if nothing existed but the two of them. The contact between them felt more than just physical, like something surging through the very fiber of his being. Jack was weightless, floating in a strange place of comfort and warmth and safety that he’d never felt before.
He was dragged back down to Earth (technically Helios, if you wanted to get nit-picky) by the feeling of Rhys’ body clenching around him, and a few pumps of his hips left him shuddering as his orgasm washed over him.
He moaned Rhys’ name, the sound loud and low, the places where their skin touched sparking with electric pleasure. It was what he imagined snorting a line of coke felt like (he wasn’t self-loathing enough to actually entertain risking his reputation at the hands of a moronic drug). No, he decided as pleasure continued to course through him: this was what snorting fifty lines of coke felt like.
He vaguely registered that he was no longer physically coming, yet his mind still lingered in that orgasmic cloudspace. He opted to stay there, because it really was quite enjoyable, although his body had some other plans of its own. He slowly lowered himself to his side, pulling Rhys down with him and spooning him with an arm draped over the omega’s chest. And if Jack had seemed out of it… well, that wasn’t shit compared to Rhys.
Jack could feel Rhys’ heart beating out of control underneath his hand, the omega’s entire body lightly trembling. He’d definitely already finished, considering Jack’s hand and the sheets were covered in stickiness. Yet he continued to let out quiet, breathy moans, shifting imperceptibly closer until Jack registered the contact of the back of Rhys’ head on his nose. The alpha inhaled deeply. Oh. Oh.
Rhys smelled good. He smelled really, really fucking good. It was overwhelming, a sort of delicious incense that Jack wanted imprinted on every inch of his body. On his nose, his lips, his tongue. Tentatively, Jack slid to mouth at the lightly bleeding wound on the back of Rhys’ neck. The omega squirmed at the contact, pushing back against Jack and sighing at the pressure. Taking that as a go-ahead, Jack softly began to lick at the bite, tasting the gustatory embodiment of safety and happiness warm on his tongue. Had everything always felt so bright and warm? So secure?
Rhys practically purred as Jack continued to lick at his bonding site, the omega’s small shudders of pleasure mirrored by Jack. Huh. So that was what bonding felt like.
“You feelin’ okay, princess?” Jack was surprised at the rough exhaustion in his voice, although he supposed awesome sex followed by-- holy shit it actually happened hadn’t it-- bonding would be pretty tiring.
Rhys’ only response was to hum and continue to lay there, smiling at the feeling of Jack surrounding him. His body at his back, his lips at his bonding site, his scent surrounding him-- what more could he ever ask for? He was more than content to rest in that blissfulness for the hours it took for him to return to coherency, definitely groggy but feeling more relaxed than he had in a long, long time.
“Jack?” he asked, feeling the warmth of Jack’s on his neck.
“Yeah?” Jack said before returning to kissing Rhys’ bonding spot.
“Thank you.”
Jack snorted. “You’re welcome. Glad to know I can get you high for free.”
Rhys chuckled as he grabbed at Jack’s arm, tugging their bodies closer together. “Not what I meant. Although I am feeling pretty good…”
“You’ve been completely stoned for three hours, cupcake,” Jack said, cheeks flushing as he felt his chest fill with a love-tinted embarrassment that definitely didn’t belong to him. That feeling only heightened as he nuzzled the back of Rhys’ neck, and he smiled after a moment. “Also, are you always such a mushy nerd?”
Rhys made a noise of confusion, and Jack supposed he should probably let his boyfriend rest; bonding was a huge deal for omegas, even more so than for their alpha counterparts. But Jack was, well, Jack, and giving up an opportunity to tease his boyfriend was against whatever twisted moral compass acted as his own self-created religion.
“I can feel you getting all nervous through the bond. It’s adorable.” Another flood of alien yet not unwelcome butterflies whipped through Jack’s body, and he chuckled. “See, just like that!”
Rhys groaned, although he didn’t bother disputing the obvious. “Shut up.”
“Does this mean I can read your mind? Ooh, ooh, will our dicks become, like, connected? If I suck you off, will it be like giving myself a blowjob? Or what if--”
Rhys’ hand uncoordinatedly slapping at Jack’s face in a misguided attempt to cover the alpha’s mouth managed to pause his unfiltered rambling, and Jack responded by teasingly licking Rhys’ fingers. He was met with an elbow to the shoulder, which he probably should have seen coming.
“Stop talking,” Rhys said, his attempt to be commanding not exactly fear-inducing considering how exhausted-sounding it was. “Sleep.”
“You go to bed, Rhysie,” Jack replied, readjusting his hold on Rhys and kissing at his bonding site in a way that had the omega melting in pleasure and serenity. “I’ve got you, don’t worry.”
Jack turned off the bedside lamp with his free hand before pulling the blankets overtop himself and Rhys, listening to the even sounds of Rhys’ slowed, steadied breathing. He continued to whisper reassurances to Rhys as he felt himself nearing sleep as well, and smiled when he felt a small inward twinge near his heart. Rhys’ own promises and assurances floated through Jack, calming him and reminding him over and over that Rhys was his, and that he was Rhys’.
Bonded. He and Rhys were bonded. He mentally tested out the words and tried to quell the surge of pride and excitement inside him lest he wake Rhys and gave the omega a reason to turn the teasing on him. Because, y’know, they were bonded.
Jack grinned-- he definitely liked the sound of that.