Chapter Text
The kitchen smelled like vanilla and butter when Chan walked through it, still tying his hair back from his face. Mingyu stood at the counter in his apron with a smudge of flour across one cheek, three trays of muffins cooling in front of him.
"Chan, don't forget your lunch," Mingyu said, grabbing a small insulated bag off the counter and racing for the door at the same time Chan was passing through it. "Here, almost forgot."
"Oh, thank you, Mingyu hyung." Chan took it from the alpha and slung the strap over his shoulder, stretching up to give Mingyu a quick kiss on his floured cheek. Mingyu beamed.
"Hansol should already be on campus. His class lets out the same time as yours, so just meet him in the lobby like usual. Jihoon hyung's going to swing by and pick you both up after." Mingyu was already herding Chan toward the front door so he wouldn't be late for his first lecture. "Go, go."
"Have a good day, hyung."
"You too, baby. Be good."
Chan slipped his shoes on. From the bathroom he could hear Wonwoo running water, and somewhere upstairs Soonyoung was singing loud and off-key to a song Chan half-recognized.
Mingyu working from home was a godsend for the pack on most days. He was always there if anyone forgot something, always there to grab the packages, always there to greet whoever came home first. And with Mingyu being a home baker, the apartment usually smelled like whatever sweet treat the alpha was working on that day. This morning it had been lemon poppyseed, which Chan only knew because he'd watched Mingyu measuring sugar into a bowl while he ate his breakfast.
Chan rode the elevator down to the lobby and stepped out into the bustle of morning traffic. The subway station was at the end of the block, and ten minutes later he was climbing back out into the middle of campus, headphones already in, the morning rush of students moving past him in waves.
The fine and performing arts building was already busy when Chan pushed through the front doors. He climbed to the third floor, where the dance rooms ran the length of the hallway, mirrored doors letting students see into each other's classes. This morning was contemporary. It wasn't Chan's favorite, but it was still better than the ballet class he'd tried exactly once.
He changed in the locker room, pulled his hair into a tighter knot, and went into the practice room. The instructor was already at the front of the room stretching. A few of the other dancers were sitting on the floor along the back wall, half awake, talking quietly. Chan dropped down to start his own warm-up.
The class started quickly. The instructor walked them through the eight count they'd been working on for the recital, and Chan let his body slip into the choreography, the soft strings of the music threading through everything. The piece was about water. About being pulled, about resisting and then giving in. Chan loved the surrender part. Loved the half-second of suspension before he hit the floor.
They were practicing for the campus recital that would take place at the end of the semester. Chan had already bought everyone in the pack tickets to the performance, knowing they would all come to watch him. They were currently being held onto the fridge in the apartment with a magnet so they wouldn't get lost.
Two hours later, sweaty and aching and happy, Chan changed back into his street clothes and headed downstairs.
The omega leaned against the banister at the bottom of the stairs and pulled out his phone, scrolling through the pack chat where someone had posted a photo of the apartment hallway full of Mingyu's failed muffins. Chan was halfway through laughing at Soonyoung's reply when he caught it.
A scent. Sharp, bright. Citrus, and something warmer underneath. Sandalwood, maybe, but smoothed out, like it had been worn for a long time.
Another omega.
Chan looked up just in time to see someone come through the heavy front doors of the building, arms full of textbooks, a folder of papers tucked under one elbow, what looked like a campus map clamped between his teeth. He was older than Chan, a couple of inches taller, with dark hair that looked like he'd been pushing his hands through it all morning. He was wearing a gray sweater that came up high on his neck, the kind that had clearly been chosen on purpose, and a backpack he hadn't quite zipped all the way closed.
He took two steps into the lobby, looked up at the staircase, looked back down at the map, and tripped over his own feet.
The textbooks went one way. The papers went the other. The map fluttered down the steps and landed on Chan's shoe.
"First day of school, and I'm already making a fool of myself," the person muttered, and even though it was English, Chan caught the gist of it. He'd heard Hansol speak enough English over the years to recognize the cadence of someone cursing at himself.
Chan was already moving. He bent down and started gathering up the loose papers, lining them back up by their corners, by the time the person had finished sweeping his books into a stack.
"Oh, thank you very much," the person said as he stood, and then visibly remembered where he was. He switched languages mid-bow, his Korean a little slow but careful. "I am sorry. My name is Joshua. I'm sorry for being a klutz. I'm not usually like this, I promise."
Up close his scent was sharper. Citrus first, then the sandalwood underneath, and Chan, who had grown up surrounded by alphas and a head omega and Seungkwan, who had his own bright cherry-strawberry scent, had never met an omega who smelled like this before. Joshua was older too, in a way that Chan could see now that they were standing close. Faint shadows under his eyes. The kind of tired set to his jaw that didn't come from one bad night.
"You're welcome, my name is Chan," Chan replied in Korean, smiling, hoping he understood. "And no, you're completely fine. I've seen worse messes. My Soonyoung hyung once dropped an entire smoothie down a flight of stairs."
That got a tiny startled laugh out of Joshua. He covered his mouth almost immediately, like he'd surprised himself.
"Thank you. Really." Joshua tugged the folder closer to his chest as if afraid it would explode again. "Was that English you heard me speaking before?"
"Yes." Chan handed back the last of the papers, trying not to stare. "It's fine, there's no need to keep apologizing. One of my hyungs speaks English, so I recognized it." He paused. "Are you a transfer student?"
"That obvious?" Joshua tucked his books back against his chest and looked down at himself. "I knew I shouldn't have brought the map."
"The map gave you away, yeah."
"I have a phone with a perfectly good map app on it, but I didn't trust it to load fast enough." Joshua shifted his grip on the books. "What are you studying?"
"Dance. Performance and choreography." Chan tilted his head. "You?"
"Business," Joshua said, with the kind of tone that suggested he was very used to saying business. He pivoted away from it. "Do you mind me asking what your sub-gender is?"
"Omega." Chan smiled, a little surprised. Most people read him as omega from across a room; nobody usually had to ask. "Do you mind if I ask what yours is?"
He'd half expected Joshua to bristle. Some omegas didn't like being asked, especially in front of strangers, especially before they'd really met. But Joshua just nodded, a small grateful nod, like he'd been bracing for the question and was relieved to have it out of the way. He reached up and pulled the high collar of his sweater down with two fingers.
"Oh, I'm an omega," Joshua said.
The collar was black, with a thick clasp at the back of the neck. There was a faint pink line of irritation against the skin around it, like the leather had been sitting there for a long time without being adjusted. Chan registered it without commenting. He didn't know Joshua well enough to ask.
Before he could say anything else, a pair of arms wound around his waist from behind. Chan didn't flinch, because he knew that scent already.
"Chan, are you causing trouble?" Hansol said, chin resting briefly on the top of Chan's head before he turned to look at Joshua. Chan watched his beta hyung clock the new scent on the air, watched his eyes flick to Joshua's collar, watched Hansol slide easily into his polite smile.
"No, I'm not causing trouble. I'm helping my new friend Joshua pick up his stuff. Joshua, this is my beta hyung Hansol. He's the one that speaks English."
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Joshua," the older said, bowing slightly.
"It's nice to meet you too. But Chan, we should get going. Jihoon hyung is going to be waiting for us." Hansol turned the younger toward the door with a hand at his back, friendly but firm.
"Hang on one minute," Chan said, twisting back. "Joshua, is there any way I can get your number? Just in case you need anything."
He held the phone out before he could overthink the offer. Joshua looked at the phone, looked at Chan, looked at Hansol, and seemed to do a quick mental check that didn't show on his face except for a faint tightening around his mouth. Then he relaxed and took the phone.
"Yeah, sure, I guess." Joshua tapped his number in carefully, double-checking each digit, and handed it back. "Thank you for your help. I appreciate it. And I hope I didn't make your hyung wait too long."
"It's fine, Joshua. I'll text you, okay?" Chan said, smiling.
"Okay."
Hansol was already gently steering him toward the door, but Chan turned back at the last second to wave. Joshua, still standing in the middle of the lobby with his books clutched against his chest, lifted a hand in return.
"How did you meet him?" Hansol asked as he pushed the door open.
"I was waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs when I saw him drop his stuff, so I helped him pick it up. We talked for a minute, and then you showed up." Chan ducked under his hyung's arm. "He started speaking in English though, so I was confused at first."
"He speaks English? That's surprising. He didn't have much of an accent that I could tell. Do you know where he's from?" Hansol asked as the two of them split toward Jihoon's car. Hansol climbed into the passenger seat and Chan into the backseat.
"No, he didn't tell me," Chan answered as he buckled his seatbelt.
"Who are we talking about?" Jihoon asked, setting his phone down and reversing out of the spot.
"This omega I met today," Chan answered.
"Wait, you didn't tell me he was an omega," Hansol said, twisting around to look at his dongsaeng. "I didn't see a marker on him at all."
"He had a collar on under his sweater," Chan answered.
"Do we know how old this omega is?" Jihoon asked as he turned out of the parking lot onto the main street.
"No, I didn't get to ask him any more questions, because Hansol was worried about you having to wait for us for too long," Chan grumbled.
"But you got his phone number. Can't you just text him and ask," Hansol said.
"Joshua says he's from Los Angeles, California, and that he's the same age as Seungcheol hyung and Jeonghan hyung," Chan relayed to the other two in the car.
"Wait, that would make him born in 1995. Why is he still in college then?" Jihoon asked as he pulled into the underground parking lot under their building.
"I don't know, and I'm not going to ask him that question until I get to know him better, hyung," Chan said, scanning the assigned parking spots to see which other hyungs were home. It looked like everyone was already back for the day.
Jihoon parked the car in his spot. The three of them piled out and rode the elevator up to the apartment. Chan kicked his shoes off in the entryway, hung his collar on the row of hooks where the omegas' collars all lived, watched Jihoon do the same. Hansol took Chan's backpack from him to drop in their room, since he was already heading that way. Jihoon disappeared into the kitchen to see what Wonwoo and Mingyu were preparing for supper, and Chan, finally, made it into the main living room.
He didn't even have time to sit down. Jeonghan, sprawled across the long couch with his phone propped against his stomach, took one look at Chan and crooked a finger at him without a word. Chan went, because that was the way it worked, and the second he was within range Jeonghan caught him around the waist and pulled him down across his lap.
"Why do you smell like citrus." Jeonghan buried his nose in the side of Chan's neck and frowned. "Your scent isn't citrus. None of ours is either."
"That's the scent of another omega he met today," Hansol said, coming in behind them and dropping into the spot between Seungcheol and Junhui on the other couch. Junhui made a small protesting sound at being squashed and then tipped sideways without complaint, leaning his shoulder into Hansol's.
"Oh, who's that?" Seungcheol asked from the armchair, looking between his two youngest pack mates.
Chan shifted in Jeonghan's lap. The alpha's scent of shea butter and flowers had already started to settle over him, layering in over the citrus, and he leaned a little further into it on instinct.
"His name is Joshua. He's new. He just moved from Los Angeles last week. He dropped his stuff and I helped him pick it up. We talked for a little while. I waited for Hansol to be done with his class, is all."
"Guess what the most surprising part we learned about today's mystery omega was," Hansol said, sitting up. "He's your age, Cheollie hyung. And Hannie hyung's age."
That got Jeonghan's attention. He stopped scrolling his phone.
"Could you tell if he had a pack at all?" Jeonghan asked, voice carefully neutral, his fingers still moving absently through Chan's hair. He knew, like everyone in the room knew, that an omega Seungcheol's age was almost always tied to a pack.
"Not that I could tell. I didn't even know Joshua was an omega until I asked, and he showed me his collar hidden under his clothing." Chan tipped his head a little to make it easier for Jeonghan's hand. "Are there different standards for omegas in America than we have here?"
"I don't know," Hansol said. He'd been thinking about it the whole car ride; Chan had watched him do it. "I haven't been back to the States since I presented, so I really don't know."
"Chan, you have his number, correct?" Seungcheol asked.
"Yes." Chan straightened a little, away from Jeonghan's hand. "Why, hyung?"
"I want you to keep an eye on Joshua." Seungcheol's voice had dropped into the lower register he used when he was thinking ahead, planning, doing the calculus of what the pack might need. "Being an omega in a new country without a pack or a support group can be very hard. Imagine if you were in a different country without us."
Chan didn't have to imagine. The thought alone made his chest tight.
"Okay," he said. "I can talk to him more, I guess."
"Good. And if anything seems off with Joshua, you contact one of your alphas to come help. You understand me?" Seungcheol's voice was soft but it had the weight of an order under it.
"Yes, I understand, hyung."
"Food is ready, and the table is set," Wonwoo called from the dining room.
All twelve members of the pack made their way to sit around the table. Mingyu had made bibimbap, which meant a center spread of rice and vegetables and bulgogi and gochujang, with a half-dozen banchan dishes radiating out from the main bowls. Wonwoo had already poured everyone water. Soonyoung had already stolen a piece of meat off Junhui's plate and was being whacked on the wrist for it. Across the table Minghao was rearranging the banchan dishes into an arrangement that pleased him aesthetically, and Mingyu was watching him do it with the resigned look of someone who had given up trying to plate things to Minghao's standards.
Chan ended up between Hansol and Seungkwan. Hansol pushed a plate toward him without being asked. Chan filled it and started to eat.
"How was class today, Hansol and Chan?" Soonyoung asked between bites, holding his chopsticks at an angle that should not have worked.
"It was good. I had contemporary today. We worked on the piece for the recital coming up at the end of the semester," Chan answered.
"We have tickets for that, right?" Seokmin questioned, glancing toward the fridge as if to confirm.
"Yes, I put them on the fridge so we wouldn't lose them. I got you all one."
"You're going to be amazing, baby," Soonyoung said, and Chan rolled his eyes but allowed it.
"You always say that," Chan complained.
"Because it's always true."
"And Hansol, how was your day?" Wonwoo asked.
"It was good. The lecture was boring, but that's normal," Hansol answered. He was more preoccupied with eating than with talking; Mingyu had loaded his bowl up to the rim.
"Chan made a new friend," Jihoon said. He didn't look up from his food when he said it.
Chan groaned. "Hyung."
"What. It's true."
"Wait, Channie made a new friend?" Seokmin perked up across the table, fork pausing halfway to his mouth. "A real one? Not like that one boy from your statistics class who turned out to be a creep?"
"He wasn't a creep, Seokmin hyung, he was just weird."
"He kept smelling your hoodies."
"Okay, fine, he was a creep."
"He's not a friend yet. More like an acquaintance," Chan mumbled into his bowl.
"But do you want to become his friend, though?" Seokmin asked, smiling like he already knew the answer.
"So what if I do?" Chan challenged.
"I'm not saying you can't, Chan. I haven't even met the guy yet." Seokmin held his hands up in surrender, chopsticks and all. "You're allowed to make friends without us interrogating you about it."
"Are we, though," Minghao said without looking up.
"Hao."
"What. I'm just saying."
Junhui snorted into his water.
"Do you want to meet Joshua? I can ask if he'd be down to come out to eat with us some night," Chan suggested, looking around the table. The thought made him a little nervous; the pack at full volume was a lot for anyone, let alone an omega in a brand new country.
"Let's let Chan get to know this omega a little bit better before we bombard him with all the chaos that is our pack," Seungcheol said.
"Just so everyone knows," Soonyoung said, "I'm the chaos in this pack. And nobody mentioned that this Joshua guy was an omega."
"No one denied that you were the chaos, Soonie," Wonwoo said into his glass.
"That's because Chan didn't mention it until Hannie had him pinned," Hansol said, and Chan kicked him under the table. Hansol flinched and laughed and kicked him gently back.
"Wait, he's an omega?" Junhui asked, finally tuning into the conversation. "And nobody is babysitting him?"
"That's where we're at, yeah," Jeonghan said.
Seungcheol set down his chopsticks. The conversation lulled the way it always did when he made that small, deliberate sound, not quite a throat-clear, not quite a tap. Chan saw Seungkwan glance up across the table.
"Joshua is a new student at Chan and Hansol's university," Seungcheol said. "He is a transfer from Los Angeles, California. He is the same age as Jeonghan and me, and he's an omega."
A pause. Chan watched the information settle around the table, watched it land on different people in different ways. Seungkwan tipped his head and frowned. Mingyu's chopsticks paused halfway to his mouth. Minghao, finally, looked up.
"I'm surprised his pack let him come all the way over here for school if he's from America," Seungkwan commented.
"I don't think he has a pack," Chan answered before Seungcheol could. "I didn't even know Joshua was an omega until he showed me his collar. It was hidden under his sweater."
"A grown omega without a pack." Mingyu said it slowly, testing the shape of it in his mouth. "In a new country. Not knowing anyone."
"And he showed you his collar in the middle of a public building?" Seungkwan asked. There was no judgment in his voice, just a careful, professional curiosity that was Seungkwan-the-psychologist talking, not Seungkwan-the-pack-mate. "After how many minutes of conversation?"
"Maybe ten," Chan said. "I asked him."
"Hmm."
"What is hmm."
"Just hmm. I'll think about it." Seungkwan went back to his food. "It's not bad, just interesting. Most omegas in a new country wouldn't reveal that to a stranger that quickly. Either he's very trusting, or he's very tired."
"Or both," Jihoon said quietly.
"Or both," Seungkwan agreed.
"Wait, so there is a packless omega who is hyung's age," Mingyu said, circling back. "It's only a matter of time until he ends up in some trouble."
"And that's what I want to prevent." Seungcheol picked his chopsticks back up. "An unmated omega will get himself into trouble even if Joshua doesn't mean to. I want all of you to keep an ear to the ground. If any of you hear anything about Joshua, from anyone, on or off campus, you let me know."
A round of nods. Even Soonyoung looked serious for a moment, before he reached over and stole another piece of meat off Junhui's plate.
"Soonyoung."
"What."
"Your plate is right there."
"Yours tastes better."
"That is the same food."
"Junnie, please."
Chan looked at his bowl. Seungkwan, beside him, knocked their elbows together gently.
"Eat, baby," Seungkwan said. "We'll figure it out."
Chan ate.