Well, this was a situation Din had never expected.

How he had ended up in an alcove with Paz Vizla of all people, pressed up against him with only their helmets and flightsuits on, he wasn’t sure.

And he didn’t want to know as he pressed his helmet plating to the man’s shoulder, curled up in the large lap.

The damn alpha had come out of nowhere, scruffing Din when he had been about to go take a warm shower and try and dispel the uncertainty lingering in his veins with… well anything.

Hell, he had been tempted to get some spotchka, drink himself silly.

Maybe he’d be able to forget the look on the kids face then as he was lead away by the scientist.

Maybe.

His stomach curdled with unease once more at the memory and he squirmed only for Vizla’s hand to suddenly return to the back of Din’s neck, thumb once more pressing on his scent gland.

Instantly, his muscles turned soft again, Din letting out a low, garbled whine of contentment.

Since his father passed, no one had done this to him and Paz was being so respectful, his hands never going too low or trying to find skin.

No, the alpha kept his hands on fabric and kept them out of any intimate zones and while the removal of the gloves had almost gotten Din out of his skin at first, he had relaxed as Paz did something to him that no one else had in years.

Well, except that one time a bounty figured it out and had tried to take advantage of Din, but he’d driven his blade into the fuckers guts for trying, his instincts screaming at him with an unfamiliar alpha touching him.

Paz however was not an unfamiliar alpha.

For all the agitation and the almost fight, Paz was as familiar as the Armorer, a part of the pack, something that had been there since Din was rescued from the droids when his mother and father died, since his buir took him in, since he went into training.

Always steady and always there.

And safe in this moment.

Din was not a small man.

He knew he was lanky and he had muscles to match but compared to the alpha, whose lap he was sitting in, Din actually felt small.

Especially with that hand holding the back of his neck, scruffing him to release hormones and the other hand rubbing up and down Din’s back.

Through their kutes, Din could feel how warm the other was and for a wild moment, he almost wished to take his helmet off to press his cheek to the others chest.

The sensations were almost enough to put Din to sleep.

His rest had not been good, not since he gave up the child to the Imp. His instincts had been clawing and screaming at him, for giving up a child to someone that would hurt him for sure.

But in Paz lap, curled up into the alpha with the slow, gentle touches that had him tensing in the start…

It was different, his body was relaxing and his mind was filling with static.

Eyes blurry he peered at the blue cuirass resting beside them, Paz having removed all his armor to do this. He wondered how many had seen Paz out of his armor like this or at the very least, how many had been curled up into the man without the armor.

Not many Din suspected.

It felt nice to be one of the few, even if he knew that it was because he was an omega and the covet was on edge due to the revelation. No one would of course stop him from being a bounty hunter, but it was harder to let go of an omega alone into the galaxy he knew, when they were so few.

Every member, beta, alpha or omega, hurt them and they could ill afford to loose even one.

But an omega was guaranteed to carry, to give more than one youngling to the covet, loosing someone that could give more members were always worse.

Din remembered someone crudely once putting it as ‘you only need one bull among the cows for calves to be born.’ and while crude, the analog was right.

And Din…

He had wanted, lonely heats with only himself and his pathetic nest in the Razor Crest, he’d imagine sometimes even as he tried not to.

They’d let him go, as he always did, but they’d try to entice him back quicker, to help him find someone to bond to, be it platonic or romantic.

Din got it, he really did, omegas like him weren’t made for lonesomeness, not really, his mind craved the closeness of another person, someone to hold and cuddle as he forced himself forward. But the covet had needed him more.

“Are you still awake, beroya?” Paz rumbled, voice low but soft, cutting through Din’s thoughts.

Closing his eyes, Din just gave a sleepy noise, whining slightly when Paz hand on his spine paused.

There was a quiet chuckle, Paz shifting slightly against the wall as his hand went back to the steady rub.

Just for a little while, Din would let himself have what he craved, some pack contact.

And then he’d do his duty.

This was the way.