Sweating profusely, Kaiba raced out of the elevator and back to the safety of his office, slamming the glass doors behind him with a heavy thunk!

He tossed his briefcase carelessly onto the floor by his desk and yanked the drawers open fervently, his trembling fingers closing around a tiny, white bottle. Popping the cap open with a furious twist, Kaiba shakily palmed two pills and swallowed them dry. His ears were ringing horribly, and his chest was tight with dread, making it hard to breathe.

Dizzy, he capped the bottle and sank into his chair, willing his pounding heart to calm down.

That meeting…had been an absolute nightmare.

There was nothing more anxiety-inducing than sitting in a room full of Alphas for two hours.
Nothing.
Except for maybe interacting with that one alpha, Atem, who'd been unconsciously been circling him, giving him compliments and occasionally trying to stand way too close to him.

Clenching his fists, Kaiba took deep breaths, steading himself.

He might have to fire that guy, because he wasn't going to take the chance and get himself raped.

He'd had enough of that shit from Alphas and he was taking the control of his life back.

Gozaburo was dead, and since he only had himself to worry about, it was only up from here.

That evil man had had taken way too much from him, and his death had been liberating.

Letting out a tight sigh, Kaiba leaned back to reach into another desk drawer and pulled out a box of scent-neutralizing wipes, making sure to give his desk a few passes before standing to wipe his briefcase and the door handles, inside and outside.

He caught a strange look from his secretary sitting at the front desk, and he ignored her, slamming the door closed again with a heavy thunk!

Cleaning everything he touched was a constant part of his life.

He'd been branded as an OCD neat freak by the entire staff, and the story had even been leaked to the media, but he was taking no chances because he did not want to invite a stray alpha to pick up on his scent.

This was about self-preservation.

The phone rang on his desk, so he tossed the wipes in the trash and hurried to answer it.

"Mr. Kaiba, the Director of Sales and Project Management is on his way up to see you," she said quietly before hanging up.

Shit! Kaiba cursed, pacing around his desk in a full circle, his palms growing damp again with fear. This was the consequence of escaping the meeting room too soon.
The directors all needed to discuss something with him in private.

I'm just inviting danger up to my office, Kaiba thought darkly, straightening up and sitting stiffly back behind his desk, willing himself to appear composed.
Being an Omega in hiding wasn't easy.
It was a struggle every second of the day.
He was hiding in plain sight, at the top of a multi-billion-dollar company selling colognes aimed at Alphas… to attract Betas and Omegas.

The irony was horrible, but this was the company he had inherited from Gozaburo that enabled to him to sit so comfortably above everyone else in society, so here he would stay. It was that nasty old man's fault for thinking a 'filthy Omega' would never be able to surpass him.

Well, look at me suffering now, Kaiba thought dryly, hearing a knock at the door.

"Come in," he said coldly, relieved that his voice didn't shake.

To his ultimate horror, Atem stepped inside and closed the door behind him with a confident click. The Alpha strode forward, the heels of his shoes tapping smartly across the floor while he smiled brightly, with his obnoxious, spiky, tri-colored hair fixed to perfection, as usual.

Great.

The Alpha he dreaded the most.
The Alpha who was currently getting way too close….

Or maybe he's just chasing a promotion? Kaiba thought uncertainly. Paranoia reigned supreme over his entire being and it was hard to differentiate paranoid thoughts from the sensible ones.

"Mr. Kaiba," Atem said warmly, reaching his hand out across the desk for a shake. "There was something I forgot to mention earlier when we were downstairs."

Kaiba fought furiously with himself before he forced himself to shake Atem's hand, and withdrew quickly, his palm burning as he watched Atem take a seat comfortably in front of his desk on one of the two chairs facing him.

"What is it?" Kaiba breathed through gritted teeth, his patience running thin when Atem continued to beam at him. It was sickening, the amount of trust these Alphas had in him, and the way they looked at him with glowing faces made his stomach churn.

If only they knew he was a fucking fraud in a pressed suit….

"I've had an idea," Atem said excitedly, eager to pitch Kaiba on his new project. "I want to promote three people to the head of project management so they can have small teams of their own."

He leaned back into the seat and waited for Kaiba's reply, scanning the CEO with a careful eye, taking in his neat appearance.
His admiration for Kaiba was high.
This man was the epitome of success.
He was tall, attractive, and glowed with confidence every time he walked into the meeting room, and Atem desperately tried to emulate the determination he saw from Kaiba every day.
It was inspiring.
Kaiba was the model Alpha.
No one else could compare.

"Fine. Now leave," Kaiba said callously, waving Atem out the door and wrinkling his nose when he caught a strange scent clinging to his hand, and his stomach curled.

To his irritation, Atem didn't move and continued to sit there, gazing at him with bright eyes.

"I promise to make top charting sales this month," Atem said determinedly, leaning forward in his seat. "So can you let me in on the secret?"

"What secret?" Kaiba felt a headache coming on, and he eyed the door nervously. Why wasn't this guy leaving?!

"The new secret cologne," Atem said, matter-of-factly, lacing his fingers around his knee. "You're wearing it right now, aren't you? It's working fantastically."

Kaiba's blood ran cold.
It seemed…. Atem had caught a whiff of his scent.

Oh fucking shit.
The suppressants were fucking useless.
And he had double-dosed earlier, barely fifteen minutes ago.
Time to head back to the lab and re-formulate.
What the fuck was the point of having all this money when there was no surefire way to keep Alphas from sniffing him out?!

"The scent is designed for Betas," Kaiba said aggressively, glaring into Atem's angular, violet eyes. "It shouldn't appeal to you."

"But it does, so you've done something incredible with the formula," Atem declared, completely unaware of Kaiba's distress. "Several of the other Project Managers were talking about it too. They said they've smelled it on you before, so it must be something you're working hard on."

Kaiba grit his teeth and nodded, his ears ringing unpleasantly.
Great. Perfect.
Just what he wanted to hear.
The other Alphas had already been talking about him like he was juicy piece of flesh.

Atem tapped his foot nervously on the ground as an awkward silence ripened between them.

Crap, I don't want to sound too pushy, Atem thought, breaking out into a cold sweat. How do I warm up to him about this? Let me try again.

"I'm actually headed to a bar tonight with a couple of friends," Atem said casually, watching Kaiba's face closely. "I'm wondering if I could perhaps, take your new cologne out for a test run? I'd love to be included in your new product. I can sell volumes, as you can see."

Satisfied with his pitch, Atem smiled and sat back into the chair again, his heart thundering nervously as he waited for Kaiba's approval. He knew on some level that Kaiba must respect him as well, because he'd climbed the ranks here at Kaiba Corporation with ease in the past year since his arrival.

This guy is…so fucking aggressive, Kaiba thought hatefully, scrambling to find another way to deter Atem from the 'mysterious new scent'.

"Are you a Beta?" Kaiba asked spitefully, seeing Atem's eyes widen at the corners with surprise. "Or an Omega in hiding? The scent fails as a product if it appeals to you."

"What?! No, I just wanted to attract some beautiful Beta women," Atem protested, holding his hand up defensively. "I apologize for your frustration over the new scent…"

Kaiba shut Atem out and panicked internally. Why was he sitting here accusing an Alpha of being an Omega in hiding? Only a suspicious Omega in hiding would accuse another true Alpha of being an Omega in hiding.

Stop saying Omega in hiding! Kaiba thought wildly to himself, gripping his knee with one hand while the other stayed resting casually on his cheek. Atem was still talking, and it was hard to stay focused.

"…Which is how my team is able to sell so many units," Atem continued, looking quite proud of himself. "The women who smell it often times recommend it to their husbands, and their husbands recommend it to their friends, who recommend it to their wives. It a nice model, and the units begin to sell themselves."

"Don't…care," Kaiba growled, growing lightheaded from the stress of Atem's presence. "Get out of my office."

Atem's face fell, and he still didn't budge from the chair.

He's relentless! Kaiba fumed, clenching his jaw so hard, his teeth ached.

"I meant to say, I'll happily test it out for you," Atem said headily, unfazed by the first rejection. "I can sell the first test-batch for you, and it'll help recuperate some of the production costs."

Kaiba let his breath out in a tight hiss and turned the corners of his mouth upwards into what he hoped looked like a smile and said, "I don't know when I'll have it ready. Maybe soon, but I doubt it. Now, leave."

Atem nodded and returned Kaiba's smile heartily.

"Sounds like a plan," Atem beamed and rose out of the seat, giving Kaiba a friendly wave over his shoulder before striding out of the office, leaving the glass doors swinging behind him.

Kaiba waited until he heard the elevator ding, indicating Atem had left the floor before he collapsed forward over his desk, resting his forehead on the surface, his breathing ragged from distress.

Goddammit.
He'd almost been outed.
No.
He'd almost outed himself.

Atem was known to be one of the best managers that ever entered his company. Kaiba had made sure to fire all of Gozaburo's disciples and brought in new blood, making sure to hire well, basing his decisions on the applicant's personality instead of devotion to the product.

Gozaburo had made the cologne out to be a scented aphrodisiac, bosting that it would make any Omega or Beta fall to their knees with lust, and Kaiba detested this type of marketing.

The product was a luxury cologne, not a tool for assault.

He'd made that very clear when he took over the company. The job applications called for virtuous Alphas only, and he personally oversaw the hiring process through the glass wall when Atem had come in for his interview.

He remembered thinking Atem would do extremely well and climb the ranks fast, because he was self-assured, attractive, and charismatic.
Even other Alphas looked up to him.
That was also how he'd managed to be promoted so quickly.
Maybe being sniffed out by Atem was inevitable.
It was not a good feeling either way.

The next step after being sniffed out was physical touching, and whatever followed that was usually absolute torture.

Being an unmarked Omega also made his scent more potent, but Kaiba vowed he would never allow himself to become another Alpha's property, even if it was for the sake of his own safety.

Because fuck Alphas.
They were always brimming with privilege and it showed disgustingly on their faces and in their movements. They ruled the world and they knew it.

Alphas were the only reason Omega children like himself ended up discarded in orphanages, only to be adopted by child-molesting monsters like Gozaburo. Crimes against Omegas were rife in society, even when laws had been put in place protecting Omegas.
The laws only helped if Alphas followed the rules, which they usually didn't.
It only deterred them from being possessive and violent towards Omegas, forcing them to acknowledge that Omegas were people too.
It was shitty.

I might really have to fire him, Kaiba grimaced and drummed his fingers anxiously on the desk, his chest tight with turmoil. Or maybe, there was a way to make Atem think the scent was just something he'd made on a whim but then decided to discontinue.
Whatever.
He'd think about it later.

Author's note:

Womp.

kaiba is head of a cologne company he inherited from child-rapist gozaburo and since gozaburo kept him as a dirty secret, no one knew he existed until he came around to legally inherit the company. After a huge re-org of the entire corporation, Kaiba accidentally hires the one alpha who will sniff him out (atem). Whats he gonna do nowwwwwww

btw this is my FIRST ABO attempt, please be kind, thank you for reading! let me know your thoughts in a comment :D

-Ugli