Chapter Text
“Apparently we don’t need to worry about the game anymore guys! Turns out Jude here will just throw Haaland off his game with his omega pheromones!” Declan Rice joked, patting Jude on the head as he spoke. The loud laughter of their team mates filled the dressing room in response.
Jude stiffened under the touch. He knew it was all just some fun, just jokes the fans had been making and the team too. But still. As an omega at the highest level of football, he was all too used to his designation being used as a punchline or worse.
When his team was winning, some people would say that he used his omega pheromones to an unfair advantage. When his team was losing, some people would say that omegas were clearly just too weak to be on a professional football team. His alpha and beta colleagues never had to deal with a similar level of scrutiny.
Jude wasn’t the only omega playing, not by a long shot - things had come a long way since the first omega players had started playing a few decades ago. They’d never been formally banned or anything - it had just not been seen as proper for an omega to get involved in professional sports like that. That was better now, but the stupid comments never quite stopped. Jude grit his teeth as he wishes to be somewhere else right about now, drifting off into thoughts.
Why would Haaland of all people be distracted by his scent anyway? They played together before, sure, but things had always been professional…
An image of him on top of Haaland on the pitch flashed through his mind. Well, perhaps not purely professional. But it meant nothing. They were friends. One of the reasons why they could be so close was because of their diligent use of scent patches and blockers, and because, well, of course Erling did not actually want Jude that way.
And Jude of course did not want Erling either. Right?
Jude bit his lip nervously. Of course he did not want Erling. Never had. That would be ridiculous.
He decided to ignore the warm feeling rising in his chest at the thought of being close to Haaland again. Jude suppressed a small sigh.
“Hey, Jude, are you okay?” Harry Kane, apparently concerned for him as the captain of the team, had walked up to Jude and put his hand on his shoulder. Jude shook himself out of his thoughts.
Apparently he had zoned out for the last few minutes, and most of his other teammates were already headed to the showers to wash off the sweat of a long training session to prepare for the game against Norway.
“I’m alright” Bellingham said, trying to sound more
certain than he felt. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t be that fragile omega who needed everyone to look after him.
Harry just raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing Jude’s answer but also not wanting to pry further.
Back in his hotel room later, Jude couldn’t shake the thought of Haaland being affected by his omega pheromones. Had he been before? The internet was going crazy with people posting old videos of them and yes, Jude had to agree that sometimes it looked like Erling was all but inhaling Jude’s scent by burying his face in his neck, right next to
his scent gland. But that was just coincidental, right? It didn’t mean anything. They would usually wear scent blockers anyway, during matches and even during training.
Though, a traitorous voice in the back of his mind suggested, you can still catch a small whiff of someone’s scent if you bury your face in their neck. That’s one reason Jude knew what Haaland smelled like.
Well, that and that one incident back during their Dortmund days.
There was one time, during an away match in a German city that Jude refuses to remember the name of, when his blockers failed. During warm-up, he had suddenly felt flushed and desperate for any alpha.
Well, not any alpha. He had immediately gravitated to Haaland. Which is completely understandable - they were friends, and it was natural to be drawn to those one trusted during pre-heat. Nothing more than that.
Haaland had pulled him back into the locker room and offered to scent him to calm him down temporarily. Jude didn’t know how to respond so after freezing initially, he just buried his nose in the crook of Haaland’s neck, by his scent gland.
Haaland gently pushed him away and peeled off both of their scent patches before pulling Jude’s head back down to his neck. That’s when Jude was first hit by the full force of Haaland’s scent. It had just smelled so… right. Like a long walk through a picturesque winter forest with snow crunching under his feet. Somehow both like adventure and like home. Jude sighed into Erling’s neck.
After a few moments, Haaland leaned over and inhaled Jude’s scent as well, rubbing his scent gland with his face leaving behind his own scent on Jude.
But as soon as it started, it was over. Haaland had recoiled from him as though Jude smelled like rotten fish. He just stormed out, slamming the door behind him, leaving Jude confused and his omega instincts upset by the alpha’s apparent rejection. Haaland then called in the medical team who took him to a discreet heat facility.
They never spoke of the incident again afterwards, they just went back to their regular touches, kisses, and hugs. Jude just made sure to always apply his scent patches and diligently take his blockers - he wouldn’t want Haaland to suffer through his scent if it was so terrible to him. Though… Haaland still buried his face in Jude’s neck a lot for the fact that he seemed to be disgusted by his pre-heat scent. Jude had never made any sense of that.
Before the game, Jude double checked that he applied his scent patches correctly and tightly, and made extra sure to take his blockers. Not that he would ever forget his blockers anyway - but it’s always good to make extra sure. He checked the packaging repeatedly just to make sure he took the right amount at the right time. No one should be able to claim that his scent was distracting anyone during the game.
Not that it would attract Haaland. If anything, he might be repulsed by it, as he was back then in Germany. But Jude wouldn’t let anyone claim that his omega pheromones affected the outcome of the game either way.