A Lestappen omegaverse AU where drivers are required to take suppressants from childhood, so most drivers keep their designation hidden for their entire careers. The information usually only becomes public after retirement, or when a driver decides to settle down with a partner and no longer sees a reason to keep it secret. Even so, it's common knowledge that the vast majority of the grid consists of alphas, with a few betas mixed in. Omegas are incredibly rare. And whenever one is exposed, they tend to lose sponsors and face absolute hell from the media and the public.
Some drivers keep their designation public, but they're always alphas, with the occasional beta. The omegas who have competed openly were never really given a choice.
On the current grid, there are no known omegas. Not even the drivers know of any. But then rumors start spreading that there's a secret omega on the grid, and that's enough to send the media into a frenzy. Drivers start getting asked about it constantly because after more than ten years without a known omega, everyone is desperate to find out who it is.
Max, despite being an alpha, hates all of it. He knows omegas are always one step away from being pushed out of the sport. Whenever an omega is revealed, they rarely last more than a few seasons afterward. Sponsors disappear, the media becomes obsessed with them, and every single mistake they make gets scrutinized. If they have a bad race, people blame their designation, regardless of whether the car was capable of competing in the first place.
So after a race, when he's asked yet again about the mystery omega, Max finally snaps. Out of a sense of fairness, protectiveness, and sheer frustration, he lies and says that he's the omega everyone is looking for.
The reaction is exactly what you'd expect. The entire world loses its mind.
People are shocked that a four-time world champion, someone so aggressive, dominant, competitive, and seemingly embodying every stereotypical alpha trait, could supposedly be an omega.
Immediately after the interview, Max gets called into an emergency meeting with Red Bull. Unlike the public, the teams always know their drivers' real designations, so everyone is understandably confused about why Max just announced to the world that he's an omega when he's actually an alpha.
Max explains himself. He says he wanted people to stop hunting for the real omega and leave them alone. He admits it was an impulsive decision made in the heat of the moment, but he doesn't regret it.
And so Max ends up taking the full force of the backlash. He faces the media, the speculation, and the criticism while pretending to be an omega. He knows he's in a uniquely privileged position because:
1. He's a four-time world champion. That's enough to make it impossible for people to seriously question his ability based on his designation, and it protects him from losing any truly important sponsors.
2. Red Bull knows the truth, so his seat is never actually in danger.
Without meaning to, Max slowly becomes the public face of omega rights in motorsport.
Meanwhile, Charles, the real secret omega on the grid, is completely stunned when he learns, along with the rest of the world, that Max is an omega too. But that actually works in his favor. As far as Charles is concerned, Max's announcement only makes his own secret safer. Nobody is going to believe there are two omegas on the grid at the same time.
But, for years, Charles has had a crush on Max. He feels embarrassed by how automatically he assumed Max was an alpha. The revelation completely shatters every expectation he had. But after the initial shock fades, Charles realizes something else: he's still attracted to Max. Even though he's never been attracted to another omega before. For the first time in his life, Charles decides to actually do something about his feelings, so he starts with subtle flirting.
The problem is that Max notices almost immediately. And Max thinks Charles is an alpha.
To protect his identity, Charles has spent years wearing artificial alpha scent patches underneath his suppressants. Whenever the suppressants weaken slightly, the fake alpha scent leaks through. It's entirely intentional. He wants people to assume he's an alpha so nobody ever suspects he's actually an omega.
And Max has never been attracted to another alpha before. He's always thought Charles was ridiculously attractive, but he never paid much attention to it. And the little bit of scent he ever picked up from Charles never did anything for him.
So Max doesn't really have a problem with a supposed alpha flirting with him. The problem is the timing. Charles only starts openly flirting after Max publicly claims to be an omega, which leads Max to the completely wrong conclusion: Charles isn't interested in him because he's Max. He's interested because he thinks Max is an omega.
And, much to his own surprise, that disappoints him, he never expected Charles to act like the stereotypical alpha who suddenly starts paying attention to someone after finding out they're an omega.
So a massive misunderstanding develops between them. Charles is too afraid to admit that he's actually an omega and that he's been in love with Max long before the interview. And Max is pretending to the entire world that he's an omega when he's actually an alpha.
