Chapter Text
“Why is everyone so fucking stupid all the time?” Lee Know said as he entered their dorm room. He dropped his backpack unceremoniously on the floor as if the weight was just too great to withstand anymore and face-planted on his bed, heaving an exhausted sigh.
Hyunjin looked up from the sketch he was working on with a knowing smirk. These kinds of greetings were common from Lee Know. Some might call him a cynic or even a pessimist. Some might even call him an asshole. Actually, there was no might about it. Many did call him an asshole. Not that Lee Know gave a shit. He’d been that way since they were kids.
That was something Hynjin had always admired about him. Even though both of them were alphas, Lee Know’s confident, self-assured demeanor was much more stereotypical. In a good way. Sure, he was brash and said all of the (usually snide) things on his mind. But he was who he was and he was up front about it with everyone.
Hyunjin found it oddly endearing.
Most found it maddening.
To each their own, he supposed.
“Welcome home dear,” Hyunjin teased, twisting around in his chair to smirk at Lee Know. Lee Know just lifted a middle finger in his direction without even deigning to lift his head from where it was buried in his pillow. Hyunjin merely huffed a laugh at his friend, patiently waiting for him to speak.
After a few seconds and another exasperated sigh, Lee Know turned his head to look at Hyunjin across the room.
“First, I woke up late so I was in a rush to get to my calc class. Then, I had the immense pleasure of having Ha-fucking-Yun sit next to me.”
Hyunjin grimaced in sympathy. Ha-Yun was a sheepish girl with a nasty habit of finding an alpha she liked and latching on to them like a leech. Only 6 weeks into the first semester and every alpha already knew to steer clear of her unless you wanted a needy beta simping after you.
“She was trying to chat me up the entire time, even though I was clearly ignoring her. To which she apparently thought perhaps I’d want to talk outside of class so she fucking followed me to my next one WHERE, I found out my physics professor has a degree in Irish literature. Irish. Literature, Hyunjin. How the fuck does that qualify you for literally anything? Why am I paying extortionate amounts of money to take this class?” Lee Know’s voice was rising in volume and pitch and Hyunjin had to keep his lips clamped together to keep from laughing at his friend’s distress.
“And to top it all off, the dumb art history class I’m taking - sorry Hyunjin, but seriously. I’m not you. I’m a STEM kid, why do I need a credit for fucking fine arts?”
“None taken,” Hyunjin - the art major - assured with an amused smile. “Please, continue.”
Lee Know’s face darkened, his over-dramatic rant simmering down into something real and angry. He cleared his throat, starting over. “To top it all off, that rowdy group of alphas in my art history class were whining over the famous first year omega. Talking shit about who was going to fuck him first.” Lee Know’s ever present smirk had soured to a snarl. “I can’t stand alpha’s like that. I swear, they give us all a bad name.”
With that, Hyunjin had to agree. Lee Know may have had the confidence and swagger of
a stereotypical alpha but when it came to the stereotype as a whole, that was as far as it went with him. Hyunjin was even less so. He knew who he was and had a pretty good sense of self but he was quiet. Often being mistaken for a beta or omega until his rich, spiced scent gave him away.
“Like, I really couldn’t give less of a shit about what year Picasso cut off his fucking ear.
However, I care even less about how you want to objectify some guy who you’ve probably never even talked to and sure as fuck don’t have a chance with.”
“Poor guy,” Hyunjin sighed, scratching the back of his head. The famous first year omega had been a huge topic of conversation through-out campus since the start of the semester. It was impossible to leave your dorm and not hear someone yammering on about the un-real beauty of the new omega.
Hyunjin hadn’t met the guy, hell he hadn’t even seen him, but he had to imagine that the sheer amount of attention from every alpha on campus had to be overwhelming. But who knows? Maybe he was one of those omegas who thrived on the attention. Maybe he liked having hoards of alpha’s falling all over themselves just for a chance to talk to him.
Regardless, even if that was the case, he couldn’t imagine that someone wouldn’t be bothered by a group of rowdy strangers talking about how they wanted to fuck him. It really was alphas like that that gave them all a bad rap.
“Yeah,” Lee Know agreed, finally seeming to have concluded his vent session. He sighed and sat up, swinging his feet down to the floor. “Anyways, I’m starving. You want to grab some dinner at the dining hall?”
“I was hoping to get some more work done on my sketch first…” Hyunjin said wistfully before closing his sketchbook and stretching his long arms over his head. “But I guess you had a shitty day so I can grace you with my presence if it’ll cheer you up.”
“Oh fuck off,” Lee Know said with a smirk as he grabbed his keys and headed for the door.
*****
The two of them walked leisurely across campus, bundled into their coats as the sun began to dip down in the sky. It got dark so early nowadays. This season always brought a sort of loneliness to Hyunjin. Maybe it was some dormant part of his alpha that longed to have a mate to snuggle with. He hadn’t heard any of his other alpha friends talk about that sort of feeling before, but Hyunjin had never really been a normal alpha anyways.
He was more soft-spoken. Gentle. Reserved. He was thankful that he had been raised right and wasn’t a domineering asshole like some alpha’s could be but there was a small part of him - a small, hidden, hard to find part of him - that wondered what it would be like to feel more like an alpha. To feel territorial. To feel possessive. To feel like a protector.
His doctor assured him that there was nothing medically or hormonally wrong with him.
Perhaps he just wasn’t as instinctually driven as some others were. Perhaps his alpha recognized that there was no mate to protect yet. Perhaps it was just nurture over nature. Or a combination of these things.Or none of them at all.
Hyunjin signed internally and tilted his head back, looking up at the first stars starting to peek through the dusk. He was who he was and he was okay with that. He had to be.
“Ayyyyyy,” a voice called out from the direction they were heading. Hair the color of honey came into view and he noticed Bang Chan heading toward them.
Bang Chan ran up to them, shoving his way between Hyunjin and Lee Know and throwing his arms around their necks.
“Oh my god, get the fuck off me,” Lee Know whined half-heartedly. Bang Chan just laughed his infectious laugh that always made Hyunjin smile. He smiled over at the older man. “Where are you heading?”
“Just finished dinner at the dining hall and now I’m heading back to the apartment to work on my composition for music theory. Changbin should be back from the gym by now and he promised to help me with it.” He squeezed his eyes shut and crossed his fingers tightly before dissolving into giggles again. “What about you two? Dinner, I assume?”
“Yeah,” Lee Know said, arms crossed but tolerating Bang Chan’s arm around his shoulders. “Finally got the princess to come down from her tower.” He said, smirking at Hyunjin.
Hyunjin flipped him the bird with a fake pout. “Oh come on Minnie. You know I need to sketch before I get to the painting part. It’s-”
“It’s part of your artistic process, yeah, yeah, I know.” Lee Know faked a gag. “And don’t call me Minnie. I’m not a god damn mouse in a dress.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Hyunjin laughed. “You’re more of a…bunny.”
“An angry bunny,” Bang Chan agreed.
“Well you look like a weasel!” Lee Know bit back at Hyunjin, shrugging Bang Chan’s arm off of his shoulder finally.
Hyunjin and Bang Chan just busted out laughing. Bang Chan threw his discarded arm around Hyunjin to hug him tightly. “Don’t worry Hyunnie, you’re a cute weasel. A ferret or something.”
“Thank you Bang Chan. You’re a really good friend.”
“Well, I’m about to move from good friend to great friend when I tell you that if you hurry, you might still be able to catch a glimpse of the famous omega at the dining hall.”
Lee Know scoffed. “Not interested, thanks though. Poor kid’s got enough admirers already.”
“Come on, aren’t you the least bit curious? The guy is unreal. Gorgeous. Stunning. Really.”
“Awww, someone have a crush?” Lee Know cooed.
Bang Chan just smiled kindly. “Naw. Not really my type. But I can objectively say that all the hype does not do him justice.”
Hyunjin squirmed a little under Bang Chan’s loosened hug. He didn’t want to say anything and risk sounding creepy but…well. If he was honest, he was a little curious about this omega that had thrown the campus damn near into a riot with his arrival.
They rounded the final corner before the dining hall and he felt Bang Chan’s arms slide off of him as he came to a stop. He looked up to see a dorky smile plastered onto his face. He quirked an eyebrow at him to which Bang Chan just said, “Looks like my promotion to great friend is guaranteed.” He clapped both Lee Know and Hyunjin on the back. “Anyways, have a good dinner. We all need to hang soon.” And with that, he went back the way they’d come, back to his apartment.
Hyunjin watched his retreating form for a bit and turned back around, ready to follow Lee Know the rest of the way. But Lee Know was rooted in his spot, eyes set on something in front of the dining hall off in the distance. Scratch that. Some one.
A petite blond man was exiting the building, looking adorably small in his sweats and hoodie. His blond hair was on the longer side and messily tucked behind his ears. He was a little bit disheveled and looked tired, like any other college student grabbing some dinner before getting back to their mountain of assignments. Well, he should have looked like any other college student bumming it to the cafeteria but he didn’t. God no, not by a long shot.
Hyunjin felt a deep rumble somewhere in his chest. Almost like a growl was trying to push its way out of him from the deepest part of his soul. Mine. He gasped out loud, shocked at his reaction.
As if he heard the gasp from all the way over by the dining hall, the beautiful omega turned his head to look in Hyunjin’s direction.
Oh fuck.
He had freckles.
Hyunjin could see them so faintly from here but he could see them and he was fucking captivated.
So this was the famous omega. It had to be. It was physically impossible for there to be anyone else on this campus, potentially in the world, who was more gorgeous than this angel.
The omega’s head tilted to the side curiously as his eyes finally caught with Hyunjin’s. They both remained speechless in their spots. The distance between them was too great to allow for any conversation unless they wanted to scream their hellos. A small smile bloomed tentatively on the omega’s lips. Small and gentle and so very genuine.
Hyunjin felt that same small growl start low in his belly again but he squashed it, wondering what had gotten into him. He also felt a warmth spreading through his chest as he returned the smile.
A twitch of the omega’s hand, like he was going to wave. It looked like the angel was about to take a step toward them when an arm shot out and looped around his shoulders, tugging him jovially away from the cafeteria.
“Who was that?” Lee Know asked softly.
Hyunjin shook his head, desperately trying to come out of the fog he’d found himself in. “Umm, I believe that was the famous omega we’ve heard so much about.”
Lee Know snorted. “No, not him. That’s obviously the famous omega. I’m asking who’s his friend?”
Huh...Hyunjin hadn’t even noticed another person with the omega.
Just the beautiful omega.
Only the beautiful omega.
And the growl still lurking deep in his alpha.