Clay curled up in his hammock, cocooned in Sonny's jacket, nervously nibbling his fingernails. After a long talk that morning, Sonny had managed to convince him to tell the rest of Bravo about being an omega. According to Sonny there was no way in hell he was going to be able to stop himself from bragging about their mating. Which was unfortunate, since it meant Clay would have to spill the beans almost immediately.
Leaving Sonny's apartment this morning without the alpha had been impossible. The bond was too new to allow much distance between them. It made Clay feel annoyingly needy when he had wrestled Sonny out of his jacket after they parked. He needed something to help calm his nerves if he was going to do this. The jacket made Clay feel like he was wrapped up secure in his alpha's arms even when he wasn't allowed to be. Truly omega behavior Clay thought, with disgust, he told Sonny as such, earning himself a smack on the head.
"Don't talk nonsense, there is nothing wrong with being an omega or behaving like one. You're one of the strongest people I know. Being an omega just makes it more true, plus, I stole your headband to keep in my pocket so we're pretty even."
Clay had scoffed and called him a sap to deflect from the fact that he really enjoyed the reassurance from his alpha. Sonny saw through it immediately but just smiled silently and herded Clay to his truck. The drive was made in comfortable silence, Sonny reaching over and holding Clay's hand in his, smiling happily. Sadly the drive ended all too soon and they were forced to go their separate ways. Which led to Clay swinging in his hammock, having a small nervous breakdown. Damn Sonny and his demands.
Deep in thought, Clay didn't notice Trent sneaking up on him until it was too late. The violent swing Trent gave him, sent him tumbling to the ground with a loud thunk and a shriek. Snarling in embarrassment, Clay glared up at a snickering Trent.
"Asshole! What the hell was that!" Clay snapped, getting to his feet and brushing dirt off his chest.
"Easy." Trent dodged the swipe Clay threw at him before commenting on Sonny's jacket with a leer. "Noticed your new attire, does that mean what I think it does?"
"Maybe." Clay huffed, face turning bright as a tomato.
Pulling Clay into a side hug, Trent ruffling his hair affectionately, "Congrats, I bet Sonny nearly pissed himself in excitement. Guy has been trailing after you like a love struck fool for the past year."
"Maybe." Clay refused to look at Trent, face still beet red.
"Aw don't be like that! I'm just playing with you. Although I am serious about Sonny obviously loving you, it's sweet and a little embarrassing to watch." The older alpha laughed some more when Clay started pouting.
Face red in embarrassment, Clay stuck his tongue out and crawled back into his hammock. "You're mean."
"No, I'm not. By the way, does this mean the rest of the team gets to be included in your little secret?"
"Ugh," Clay groaned, flopping around dramatically, there were those pesky nervous feelings again. He really hated feelings sometimes."Yes, apparently I don't have a choice in the matter anymore according to Sonny."
"Great." Trent responded smiling. They both heard loud laughter coming from down the hall, signaling the arrival of the rest of Bravo. Clay whined again in dread, this wasn't going to be fun. "Relax, no one is going to think any less of you, you're our brother, we've always got your back. The only thing that will change is how protective they are."
Clay groaned again, ignoring Trent's laughter. His brothers were already over protective, this was only going to turn them into a bunch of nightmares. He started grumbling under his breath as the door opened. "You agreed to this Clay, just rip the bandaid off."
One by one the guys piled into the room, still laughing among themselves. Clay could see Sonny eyeing him with a huge smile. It made Clay's heart melt a little. Choosing to ignore Trent's shit eating grin as he watched the two mates silently communicate, Clay got out of the hammock. Carefully positioning himself behind Sonny and closest to the door, the omega took a deep breath.
"Umm, hey guys, I've got something to say," Clay began. He figured it was best to just say it rather than wait until he was too nervous and had to ask Sonny to do it. Do or die.
Brock stopped putting his gear up, turning to face Clay curiously. He noticed almost immediately how nervous their rookie was, hands tightly gripping Sonny's arm. Scanning the other alpha, Brock noticed Trent was looking quite pleased but not nearly as pleased as Sonny, who looked like he just won the lottery. At this point Brock was pretty sure where this was going and he was almost certain Ray did too. They had previously discussed when they thought Clay would finally admit to being an omega.
Jason, on the other hand, was utterly confused at the situation. Everyone around him seemed to just automatically know what Clay was about to say, if their supportive smiles were anything to go by. Supportive of what though? Examining Clay as he fidgeted around, trying to find the words. The beta looked nervous as he, and had a near death grip on Sonny who looked particularly pleased with himself. Oh. They'd finally gotten together, about time honestly.
Clay was slightly confused why everyone was smiling at him, normally they'd assume he'd done something dangerous and reckless. Sonny should be the only one smiling right now, and maybe Trent. Unfortunately he didn't have time to ponder their behavior.
"You and Sonny finally get together?" Jason asked with a smirk. Teasing Clay was one of the team's favorite past times and this was just too good of a moment to pass up.
Clay narrowed his eyes, "Yes, that's exactly what I was going to say, nothing else."
"Clay," Trent and Sonny warned at the same time.
"Worth a shot," Clay grumbled, sighing with resignation. He gave Sonny a slight glare for forcing him to do this. "While yes, me and Sonny getting together is something I was going to say, it's not the only thing."
Clay bit down his bottom lip, gaze shifting from one teammate to another. It was starting to irritate him with how hard it was to actually say the words. He knew that they wouldn't demand he leave the team or anything but Clay still didn't want this to change anything among them. It would though. There was no way everyone would treat him the same. Sonny was the exception and that was only right now when they weren't in a combat zone. Even Trent started keeping a closer eye on him when he figured out Clay was an omega. He couldn't actually hold it against them though. It was just in their nature to be protective. Doesn't make it any less aggravating though.
Taking a deep breath Clay finally just blurted it out. "I'm an omega." He awkwardly gestured between him and Sonny. "Which means we're not just together, we're mates."
"Took you long enough to admit," Ray said, giving Clay a bright smile. "I guess congratulations are in order."
Clay stared slack jawed at his teammates, eye twitching slightly in disbelief. They were all smiling and laughing. This wasn't quite what he had expected their reactions to be. Only Jason seemed to be shocked, standing there gasping like a fish out of water.
"You mean you knew!" Clay shrieked looking betrayed at Trent.
Trent held his hands up in defense, "Don't look at me like that. I kept my mouth shut."
"To be fair, you do mutter under your breath a lot. Pretty sure you literally said 'being an omega sucks' at one point." Brock pointed out with a shrug.
Ray nodded in agreement with Brock, "We all knew except for Sonny and that's just because he is incredibly dense about that sort of thing." He laughed at Sonny's scowl, nudging Jason in the ribs looking to see what their leader thought. Surprisingly Jason actually seemed genuinely shocked. "Well maybe not all of us. You didn't know, Jace?"
"How could I have known? Why did no one tell me!" Jason howled. Without a doubt, Jason could say he'd never seen this coming and to be honest, he was a little pissed. Pissed at Clay for not telling him, pissed at his command for withholding this information and more importantly pissed at himself for seeing the signs and making Clay feel like he couldn't trust Jason with this information.
Looking over at the omega, Jason notices how he had angled his body towards the door in case he needed to make a quick escape. An escape from them. A ball of stress formed in his stomach at the thought of Clay being afraid of them. Of him. It was a very uncomfortable feeling, his hands started to get clammy and his entire body felt overheated.
"I didn't know either, Boss," Sonny said, chiming in.
"You're not the team lead!" Jason snapped. The more stressed he became the angrier he got. "This isn't something that should have been hidden from me!"
Clay surprised the group by letting out a loud snarl, suddenly furious. "Why? It's not like this changes anything, I don't need you to treat me any differently because I'm an omega."
Sonny moved slightly in front of Clay, when the omega went to take a step forward in anger. He went from being nervous to furious in the blink of an eye. It worried Sonny slightly as normally it took more than that to really piss the omega off.
"Calm down, Bambam, he's not saying that," Sonny tried to soothe his upset mate, shooting Jason an irritated look. "Ain't that right, Boss?"
"Of course not but that doesn't change the fact that I should have been told," Jason huffed, slightly put off by Clay's sudden aggression. "I don't have a problem with you being an omega but I do have a problem with you hiding things from the team."
Clay snorted, "From the team or from you?"
Jason groaned in frustration, hand running across his face. "Stop trying to start a fight, Spenser, this isn't a personal attack. I'm just trying to say that this was important and we should have known. Keep getting an attitude and you'll be running hills for the next week."
"Well now you know." Clay wrenched his arm from Sonny's grasp and stormed out the door and down the hall.
"Where the hell do you think you're going!" Jason hollered after him.
"To the mess hall, I'm hungry!" Clay yelled back not stopping for a second.
Jason gaped open mouth after him, astounded by the audacity the kid had. He wasn't sure how that conversation went so wrong but he was sure of one thing. "He is so screwed when I get a hold of him."
"C'mon, Boss, give him a break. He's got all them hormones running rampant right now. Fresh bond and all." Sonny tried to salvage the situation, which really isn't his strong suit. He was normally the one storming off and causing a scene, not the one trying to fix it. But what kind of alpha would he be if he didn't at least try?
Brock, bless his heart, decided to lend Sonny a helping hand. "Don't be too hard on him, it's got to have put him on edge to admit to all of us he was an omega."
Jason rolled his eyes, holding up a hand when both Ray and Trent went to defend Clay as well. "Alright I get it, I get it. I'll cut him a break this time but he better get control of himself. Even if he's stressed he needs to be able to control himself just like everyone else and yes that includes you, Sonny."
Sonny grinned brightly, "You're the best. Now if everyone will excuse me I have an omega and breakfast to go find."
Snickering to himself, Brock nudged Trent in the side, "With the way Clay's been eating the past few days, Sonny will be lucky if there is any food left." Both alphas started laughing hysterically at the look of horror on Sonny's face, nearly falling over top each other as he stumbled over his own feet trying to run out the door.
"I think he forgot about the bacon incident from the other day," Ray said, watching as the rest of the guys filed out of the room and towards the shooting range. They were supposed to be running some drills in an hour or so but with nothing else to do they might as well head there now and get ready.
Ray noticed that Jason hadn't started following so he turned back. "You coming?"
Jason ran a hand across his face with a sigh, " No, I'll meet up with you in a bit." The day really wasn't going quite how he had expected when waking up that morning.
"This about Clay?" Ray asked.
"Of course it is, he didn't mention he was an omega for almost a whole year. A whole year, Ray." Jason emphasised. "Did he not trust us? He looked damn near ready to bolt until he got so pissed off."
"C'mon you know that isn't true." Ray gave Jason a pat on the back. "You can't take it so personal, this is a big thing for him and he did trust us enough to tell us. It just took a little while and we have to accept that and show him he wasn't wrong when he placed his trust in us."
"Yeah, yeah. I can still wish he'd told us sooner, or that someone else at least mentioned it since apparently I'm the only one who didn't know." Jason shot Ray a glare, who sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"In my defense I honestly thought you knew."
Lisa popped her head through the door before Jason could reply. "Sorry to interrupt but we got a mission, need to head to TOC immediately. Also watch out for Sonny, Clay ate all the bacon again and he hasn't stopped whining since."
Jason smiled, "Of course he did. Any idea what we're going into?"
Lisa shook her head, "No just that everyone needs to report for the briefing immediately. By the way, did you notice Clay was wearing Sonny's jacket? What's that about?"
"Oh, you're in for a surprise," Jason responded cryptically, laughing when Lisa shot him a confused look. At least he wasn't going to the only one actually surprised by Clay's news.