4

As a group they end up agreeing that for their kind of job, a standard work place environment wasn't going to cut it. The alphas in the group kept fighting orders out of instinct, which triggered violence in the few omegas in defense, and it left the betas choking in the stink of all the mixed scents.

Which left only one choice, settle a pack hierarchy via pack bonding. They all got together and made a plan, all with their own little inputs. Diana, Green Lantern, and Batman specially having many words to say. If he personally wanted to scratch out the '(optional)' out of step 3, that was his problem and his problem only.

The pheromone introduction part of the plan left much to be desired. It was a bland incident, painfully neutral with scent blockers corrupting the ambiance. A necessary evil unfortunately, which even he was wearing. It was a key aspect to keeping their identities secret. Scents were too unique a thing, too identifiable if the Bruce Wayne incident was any evidence, oh what he would have done to be one of the reporters for that court hearing. Nonetheless, they benefited from the results, more protection laws and Wayne Enterprises' newly developed independent scent blockers and pheromone suppressants.

And it worked, slowly they got more comfortable with each other, the infighting lessened. What was unexpected, was the soft rut that followed him after. It was still hot, but not unbearably, and he still felt slightly more instinct driven, but not out of control. After running some tests at the fortress, he found out the wide range of pheromones from similarly powerful individuals' was acting as a stabilizer for his own cycle. The fortress AI told him to expect another rut in the standard -by Krypton- 3 months.

So if he wasn't super enthusiastic about pack bonding before, he sure was now. He couldn't wait till they made more progress in the Pack bonding plan. But since they were a large group, their fastest speed was already snail's pace. Despite that, his newly stabilized ruts continued.

He hadn't realized how tense and uncomfortable he was until he had a stable hormonal cycle. It was a beautiful thing. Briefly, he considered getting back together with Lois, but instantly paused that intrusive thought. She was happy with her new partner, and he didn't truly wanted to come back. He'd moved on, he'd gotten over bonding sickness. He just kind of regretted how they finished things, and the stilted state of their current situation. But regret was not the basis for a relationship, they both deserved better, and he respected her, her partner, and himself too much to give in to that passing possibility.

Instead, he refocused his energy to his next one-on-one acclimatization session with Batman. Those were secretly his favorite, the experienced omega having such tight control over his pheromones. It was pure relaxation each time, and if he actively scheduled it so that he'd have session before his ruts, he had approval and consent from both J'onn and Batman.

There was just something about rubbing the soft, sensitive skin of each other's respective skin glands against the other's. It wasn't that he hadn't done scenting sessions with Lois, it was one of the things they could freely indulge in. But neither of them held a candle to Batman in experience. Who would sometimes even regale him with how he got such a tight control. Personal experience with his family, training with his teachers, helping with civilians. The later two just being the pumping of pheromones in the air, nothing quite as close as proper scenting.

He carried that comfort with him all the way to the fortress.

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