During this time of the year Genji preferred to embrace what made him human.
Zenyatta knew his student could choose to mellow the reactions in his body, could choose to shut them down completely, but he had never done so. His omnic body when created had been done with the intention on making him a 'beta' for all extents and purposes. Though he had told him before, upon being reconstructed he had pleaded to have his gender intact, in any way it could still be.
It had been years since he had found Genji Shimada, full of rage, ready to pick a fight with the mountains themselves. Years since he had tempered that anger and carefully guided the young man back into gentler waters. Years since he had forgiven his brother(whom now resides within Overwatch) and exactly two years since they had become a 'mated' pair.
Mated pair was not the actual term for what they were.
They could not bond in the traditional way. Zenyatta could not bite and in return nor could he be bitten by organic teeth. Every part on his body was made of the highest grade of steel, originally built as a service robot, one to work hard labor. It took a lot to bend or break any piece of his machinery, and even with all of Genji's strength; both organic and enhanced, he could not break or bend Zenyatta should he ever want to.
Of course, he could cause damage to his wiring, the delicate system which resided between the nuts, bolts, screws, pistons, bearings and all other such materials.
But harming him in any way was not Genji's intent, not anymore, and not during this time of the year. Zenyatta could feel it, almost aware of the bone deep ache Genji exuded, similar to the rage he had felt in him before. Just something he was in tune with, something he could pick up on by just being in the same room as his student.
Genji wanted to mark him, he wanted to experience him as an alpha should.
Zenyatta, for all extents and purposes, was created as a beta.
Originally he didn't have any sexual components. The upgrade came later, when he was certain of Genji's affection, when he was certain he had likewise fallen for his student and wanted to experience all he could with him. He had a similar ache to be close, to give and take whatever he could from the human in which he had fallen so deeply in love.
Despite that upgrade, he still smelled like a machine. Like synthetic oils, something sweet and bitter all at once. Tasted like metal, everywhere except at his core, to which he was certain he merely tasted like whatever lubricant he had refilled. Genji was perversely detailed when telling him things about himself, especially when they were intimate.
Zenyatta loved that open honesty, it made him feel wanted and adored.
But it also brought him to his current plight.
Genji was an alpha.
Each time he went into rut he was never fulfilled. His knot(though he could inflate it by artificial means) would not form from sexual activity, no matter how much he willed it, no matter how much he tried.
His previous rut cycles had ended in an emotional slump.
Genji would take weeks after alone, to mediate, to come back to himself, to remember he was of two bodies now, and the one he had chosen to love didn't have a body at all.
Zenyatta felt he was in pain when Genji was in pain.
They had discussions before, of Genji leaving, of pursuing someone who could fulfill him in the ways Zenyatta could not. Those conversations were short, and only angered Genji more. There were no doubts in his loyalty, nor his love. They hadn't spoke of those matters in a long time. But, after his last failed rut, Genji had decided they should be apart for them.
Zenyatta respected his decision.
This was the first day of Genji's cycle.
He was likely outside the temple, either training or meditating. Anything to take the edge off, as biology tried to take him over.
But, Zenyatta had formulated a new plan, and he wasn't one to sit by while his beloved suffered. He would not force him any which way, but he definitely wanted to try and make this different, to be able to please Genji in all the ways he could.
Unbeknownst to the ninja, Zenyatta had procured concentrated doses of scent. Specifically, omega heat scent. Currently, the monk was sitting in his room, the fading light of the day peering in through the open window. He was kneeling on a woven rug, across the floor in front of him were seven hollowed bolts with smooth capped tops. Inside the bolts was a golden liquid, shimmering faintly where the light caught. To the right of them laid Zenyatta's seven nodes, sensitive 'buttons', these specifically were from the places on his body where scent glands would be. Two from his throat, one from the back of his neck, two under the joints in his arms, and two from his 'thighs'.
Zenyatta didn't know what the scent smelled like. He had only been assured it was the purest on the market, that it would fool even the best nose. Zenyatta's body though advanced, did not come with the ability to smell and taste. He could only perceive through his other senses, the capped nodes on his body, to which he had many, allowed him to touch and feel. These were the most sensitive, the ones he had dug out and placed on the floor, and now he could have them exuding the aroma Genji was looking for during this time of the year.
It was exciting, and terrifying all at once.
There was always a chance the man he had bought the scent from was lying. While he wanted to believe the best of people, he was not ignorant to the reality of the world, and understood that anything on the markets for omnics was expensive and with things such as this, often worthless.
He had never seen Genji really lose himself to his rut. His student never had the trigger before; though the ninja had been explicit in what he used to experience, what he used to expect. He had never gotten the same heightened pleasure with Zenyatta and he knew that he ached for it in the same way Zenyatta ached to provide it.
Zenyatta's fingers did not shake despite the nervousness that started to flutter in his chest as he replaced the nodes with the scent filled ones. One by one he snapped them in place before he picked up his own pieces and set them aside in a box for when they needed to be replaced. He had already filled up his lubricant canister(a thin tube just above his 'pelvis') with a synthetic blend of omega slick(the man had told him it would taste like honeysuckle). Last was the small squirt bottle of his omega heat scent, supposed to be used in the room to which he wanted to be mated in, and possibly as a trail to lure his alpha.
None of the other monks could smell either, so Zenyatta didn't have to worry about anyone catching on to any changes. Everything on Zenyatta's body looked exactly how it should, and despite walking around the monastery now squirting his little bottle of artificial scent, no one really cared to ask him about it.
His excuse, if asked, was just that he wanted to bring a pleasant scent for Genji's nose.
They did use candles and incense in prayer, but obviously not for the smell of it, more the ritual of it. Though Genji often told him the open air temple smelled saturated with it at times.
Wherever his lover was off to, he'd be back, at the least to wait out his rut in his room. He knew Genji would start getting restless, and being out in the open air would only rile his instincts to get back to his den, back into safe territory.
Zenyatta knew Genji wouldn't join him in his room; so that was the reason he had found himself instead to Genji's. He had sprayed the smell there, just inside the doorway, letting the scent hang in the air from the hallway and beyond. Zenyatta could only hope the smell caught and lingered, that Genji would follow the trail to Zenyatta's room(if that is what his mate wanted to do).
His task completed, Zenyatta had retreated back to his quarters, and waited.