you're my missing puzzle piece - Anonymous (2024)

Chapter 1: mark-centric

Chapter Text

it’s an instinct that he’s never quite gotten over.

stemming from even before they debuted as nct dream, mark had taken one look at the younger ones and knew immediately that it was his job to make sure that they were looked after. still just a teenager himself, still possessing the baby fat on his cheeks that his hyungs loved to call cute, he took them under his wing (his wing that still had its fledgling feathers, sure, but his wing all the same), and he hasn’t regretted it for a second.

he loves all of his members (his big, 20-member pack that, if you had told him when he first came to seoul he would have, he would have laughed in your face and told you it would never work. it’s difficult sometimes, and it hurts when he goes for weeks on end without seeing some of them, and the organization when every new member joined was a nightmare, but he would say over and over again that it’s worth it). he really, really does. but the dreamies…

yuta once told him that he gets this special glint in his eyes and this special smile on his lips when he looks at the dreamies. he had stuttered and spluttered, insisting that was an over-exaggeration, but yuta merely smiled understandingly and said, “it’s okay. we get it.” and then, a few seconds later, “they’re the same around you, y’know.”

they’ve been through a lot together, and maybe it is simply a product of that. but mark thinks that if his entire pack are the loves of his life, the dreamies are his soulmates, the people that he would be destined to meet again and again, in every lifetime.

the process of mating began during nct 2018, after many long discussions and text messages and organized meetings to decide how things would work. they all realized that they felt the same spark with the current members, but if sm’s plan was to continue, their numbers would only go up. and that was fine, too; if the new people joined, and everyone felt the same way, they could join the pack as a whole. if only some wanted that, they would work it out. partial matings were rare, but not unheard of, and if it meant that one of their mates could be happier, they would make it work. luckily, they haven’t had to face that yet. when shotaro and sungchan joined them, as much as they all bonded, they had agreed that the same kind of spark wasn't there. as fond as mark remains of their two ex-members, he's happy to see them happy in their new group (which he can predict is beginning to realize some things about their own feelings for each other).

it started with everyone from taeil to jungwoo; they agreed that a person had to have actually presented in order to officially join the pack.

on the morning of his 19th birthday, mark woke up to a stinking room and instincts blaring to make sure that the rest of the members (though not technically part of the pack yet, his brain considered them as good as) smelled like him, too. it was only when he involuntarily growled when taeyong tried to pry a confused jungwoo from his grip that it clicked in his head what was going on. he hadn’t expected to present as an alpha, not today at least—to present exactly on your birthday was almost too perfect. just two weeks later, he officially joined his pack.

it surprised no one (okay, maybe they were a teensy bit surprised) when renjun, jeno, donghyuck, and jaemin all presented in quick succession—two omegas and two alphas, it seemed that they had somehow triggered each other’s presentations in a sort of chain reaction. everyone was excited for them to finally receive their bites—and they had then, only semi-regretfully, informed the rest that they didn’t want to do it without chenle and jisung.

luckily, they didn’t have to wait too long; shortly thereafter, chenle became their baby alpha, and jisung turned out to be their youngest omega. and things, for the time being, felt whole.

and then mark graduated from nct dream, and for almost two years, he was stuck watching from the sidelines as they continued to promote without him. he was happy for them, and proud beyond belief, but the feeling was always soured by the bitter knowledge that he should’ve been there with them.

the day that they’re told he is going to be rejoining dream and that it’s going to be a fixed, seven-member unit, is one of the happiest of his life. he and donghyuck spend that night in the dream dorm, too overjoyed to think of parting from them for one day more. they all sleep in a big puppy pile in the living room after dragging out some mattresses, and it occurs to mark briefly that they could have more easily spent the night on the top floor, where it’s already set up to accommodate large groups of them like this. but that would mean that any one of the members could join them, and as much as mark would love to welcome as many of his mates as possible, tonight he knows that they all need each other’s company more than anything else.

looking back, he supposes that, though he has always been protective of the dreamies, that day is when it doubled-down. that day is when he got reunited with them and realized that he couldn’t let himself get separated again. not in the literal sense; there are some times when he goes weeks without seeing any of them except donghyuck, and those are times when he becomes so entranced in his work that he almost forgets he has a pack at all.

key word being almost.

someone, inevitably, will come down to the studio and drag him out of his practice, be it dancing or rapping or singing, and he will realize just how fast the time slipped by. the person will look at him softly and pull him up by the hand, ask him where he wants to go for the night, and he’ll reply with the top floor or the 127 dorm (where his personal room is) or maybe wherever that someone sleeps (dream or wayv dorm). that someone will brush their lips across his and lead him to the location he requested, and on the journey there, mark will once again feel the mating bond in the back of his head, a comforting and constant presence linking him to the 19 other people that he loves.

so, while he is often physically separated from the dreamies, he resolves that he will never again be forced away from them. he is their leader, their oldest alpha, and it is his job to protect them.

“ew, hyung, you’re stinky,” chenle groans, pushing mark away. he has his arms wrapped around the younger and jokingly presses closer, nuzzling his face into his neck.

“all of us are,” he counters. “we’ve been dancing for the past two hours.”

“yeah, but it’s not just that. you smell like sweat and you smell very alpha-y.”

mark furrows his brows, pulling back. he hadn’t realized he was giving off such strong pheromones. still, he reminds, “you’re an alpha, too, chenle.”

chenle sniffs. “i may be an alpha, but i still make sure i smell tasteful.”

a few feet away, renjun scoffs. “oh, that’s rich.” then he frowns. “you do smell stronger than usual, hyung. are you feeling okay?”

“yeah, i feel fine.” he pulls out his phone to check the pack’s shared heat/rut tracker and makes a mental note that jeno’s heat is due in two weeks. “and my next rut isn’t supposed to be for another month and a half.”

“it’s probably fine,” donghyuck calls from across the room, where he’s currently trying to bully jeno into giving him a piggyback ride back to the dorms. “we had a lot of schedules today; he’s probably just releasing everything the scent blockers held in earlier.”

not happy with the explanation, renjun takes another step forward and brushes mark’s hair out of his face. “that strand was annoying me,” he explains. but they all know that kind of thing doesn’t bother renjun, and it was just his attempt to subtly check for mark’s temperature without letting any of them know he’s worried.

mark shakes his head, reaching out a hand to help jaemin to his feet. “come on, everyone,” he yells. “it’s time for dinner, so let’s get out of here.”

“i’ll make ramen for everyone at the dorm,” jaemin offers, if only to get them all more motivated to get moving. it certainly works, in either case, and they’re all heading for the door.

it opens before they can exit—it’s their manager and a couple other staff members, all with grave looks on their faces and files of paperwork in their hands.

“i’m really sorry to interrupt while you’re about to check out for the day, but i wanted to get this over with,” their manager begins. his voice is solemn, and he noticeably refuses to meet any of their eyes.

mark’s stomach sinks, and by the way the smiles slip off of the others’ faces, they probably feel the same. donghyuck slowly slips off of jeno’s back.

“listen, boys, uh, this isn’t my choice. this comes directly from the higher-ups, and i’m just as shocked.” he scratches his forehead, the hand holding the files landing on his side. one of the staff members adjusts their lapel pin. “after this comeback, they’re going to take mark back out. they want him for a different project, and they think being in nct dream is too much of a distraction. i’m… i’m really sorry about this, boys.”

it takes a second for the words to catch up to mark, but when they finally do, they send him staggering back, hand held over his mouth. his stomach lurches, threatening to send back the small lunch he’d had that day. the ground spins before his eyes. he feels dizzy. he feels like he’s about to throw up. this can’t be happening.

this can’t be happening.

this can’t be happening.

not again. not again. notagainnotagainnotagainnotagainnot—

before he can stop himself, he takes several steps forward and holds his arms out, preventing any of his mates from going in front of him. he makes sure to keep himself between them and the manager, between them and the thing saying it’s going to take them away. he bares his teeth, showing his canines, and growls. the sound rumbles menacingly, not the comforting sound of an alpha’s chest rumble that instinctively calms, but the opposite. it spells out clearly that he won’t hesitate to do whatever he needs to protect his pack.

mark sees that the manager and the staff are all speaking, all holding out their arms, but his ears won’t hear what they’re saying.

arms wrap around him, cradling his head and neck to their chest, and he instantly calms. this is jaemin, and he would rather die than hurt jaemin.

donghyuck comes up on his other side, hugging him. if mark were thinking clearly, he would realize that the younger was simply finding a way to restrain his arms, make sure he wouldn’t lose control and go after the manager. but mark is thinking the opposite of clearly right now, and all he recognizes is that donghyuck is talking to him.

“hyung, calm down, shh,” he soothes. “it’s a prank, hyung. they were pranking us.”

mark falters at that, mind unfogging. when he sees himself in the mirror over jaemin’s shoulder, his pupils are still blown, but he already feels more in-control of his own body.

“it’s—what?”

“it’s a prank,” donghyuck continues, voice shaky. “think about it: why would they do this here instead of calling an actual meeting? look—the papers are blank.”

sure enough, when mark glances down to where the papers had scattered after the staff had dropped the files, it’s just plain, white printer paper. there are no important documents in sight.

“they’re even wearing cameras on them,” jaemin carries on in a soft voice, never ceasing his stroking of mark’s hair. “it’s an awful, not-funny prank, but it’s a prank. it’s not real.”

now that he really looks, the lapel pieces are tiny cameras, meant to be recording a prank for what mark can only assume will go up on sm’s youtube channel. like jaemin said, though, it’s not funny, not at all, and against his will all mark can think is that taeyong is going to raise hell once he finds out.

jeno and renjun have already been talking to the staff, and before mark can say a word, the three are already leaving the room with apologetic glances back at them.

now that mark looks around, finally taking it all in, he can see that every one of them is shaken up. jaemin’s hands tremble on him, renjun and jeno lean on each other for support, donghyuck’s breath quivers with each inhalation, and chenle’s lip bleeds with how hard he’s biting down on it. when his gaze finally lands on the maknae, tears are leaking down jisung’s face. his eyes are wide and glassy with moisture.

instantly, mark wrenches himself out of jaemin’s grip and rushes over to pull jisung into a hug. it really is amazing how jisung, giant that he is, can somehow make himself feel small in mark’s arms, but he’s not going to complain.

“i didn’t mean to scare you,” mark whispers. “i’m sorry, i should’ve been able to control myself.”

jisung shakes his head resolutely. “i wasn’t scared of you, hyung,” he says. “i was scared you were gonna have to leave again.”

despite the way his voice wavers, the way he says it has mark believing him.

“oh, sungie,” mark coos, “i’m never leaving you guys again. never, ever again.”

determined to cover up the smell of distress pouring out of jisung in waves, mark scents him and tries to push all of the love he feels for them all into it.

one by one, they are surrounded by all of the others, until the oldest and the youngest are at the center of one big group hug.

mark has never felt more safe.

when taeyong is notified by the 127 manager what happened with the dreamies, he is furious.

johnny and yuta would go on to say that they’ve never seen him that mad before, but they say that every time he chews out management, so he would take it with a grain of salt. but he feels it this time, though, the anger at the insensitive, downright idiotic “prank” that they pulled, all for what? some content? they could make some of that without putting a whole group through emotional duress.

so, after he gets done scolding at nct dream’s manager and the staff that are responsible, taeyong texts mark to bring them all up to the top floor for a quick meeting with him, taeil, johnny, and yuta, just to check on how all of them are doing. beyond the workplace repercussions he’ll make sure take place for the culprits, his packmates are the most important ones.

he lets everyone else know to give them privacy for the first ten or so minutes; if the dreamies choose to stay after that for company with the others, they’re more than welcome.

he doesn’t know if he should be surprised or not when renjun marches through the door first, followed by jeno, and so on. all of them are a little pink in the face, but they don’t look or smell upset. in fact, every single one of them, now that he thinks about it, smells distinctly like mark. it’s so strong that taeyong would almost think that mark had lined them up in some sort of assembly line to scent them each right before they entered. and then mark walks in like the cat that got the cream, a self-satisfied smile stretching across his lips, and taeyong gets the feeling that that’s exactly what happened.

out of the corner of his eyes, he sees johnny and taeil give each other an amused look. the dreamies’ blushes only grow deeper when they spot that, but donghyuck clears his throat and leans forward, elbows on his knees.

“so, did taeyong-hyung yell at them?”

Chapter 2: yangyang-centric

Chapter Text

yangyang has his favorites.

with a pack as large as his, it’s kind of inevitable that some click with some more than others. all of them have a general understanding of that—what matters is that the love is still there for everyone, that when it comes down to it, all of them are pack and all of them are treated with just as much love as everyone else.

so, yes, yangyang has his favorites.

it is undeniable that ten is at the top of that list.

his wayv members, being the ones that he sees the most often out of everyone, are all near the top, and then his fellow ‘00 liners are probably close seconds. but anyone and everyone, pack or not, can tell that yangyang has a soft spot for ten, not only as an alpha or lover, but also as a friend. and anyone and everyone, pack or not, can tell that the sentiment is mutual.

he doesn’t know, exactly, how it came to be this way. he supposes it’s something along the lines of me and you are the only fluent english speakers here so we get paired for a bunch of activities and, oops, you’re an alpha who just so happens to be both kind and super f*cking attractive.

of course, yangyang soon went through that same process (more or less) with the rest of his mates, so maybe that is not quite the right answer as to how he grew so fond of ten. but it works, it makes sense, and that is all he can ask for.

yangyang is confident enough to be able to realize that ten feels much the same about him, that when ten looks at him it spells out baby and sweetheart and little sh*t all at the same time. the thing is that ten is, at heart, a social butterfly, especially with people that he’s already comfortable being himself around. ten also has his own list of favorites, and nestled right in there with his wayv babies is johnny.

the two of them had instant chemistry when they first met, both funny and witty and able to think on their feet. that dynamic translated seamlessly into being mates in a pack, providing entertainment with their antics to whoever was in the room with them.

more often than not, that ends up being yangyang.

he can’t say he minds it; in fact, it is really the opposite. he knows that, as much as they would like for it to be otherwise, it’s physically impossible for members of different units to see each other as much as those in the same units, living in the same dorms. because yangyang usually goes along when ten (or others, or by himself, though those are different stories) goes to visit the other dorms, and therefore johnny, he gets to see johnny much more often than he would normally. and any chance that yangyang gets to see his mates, he’ll snatch up quicker than one could blink.

still, though, he also can’t deny that he sometimes can’t help but feel like a bit of a third wheel amongst the two of them. don’t get him wrong; he knows that he is loved. the only way that their pack works is communication, no matter how difficult it can be some days. neither ten nor johnny would be stupid enough to let it stew if either lost feelings for him, knowing that it could cause further problems for the pack as a whole. but the two have known each other longer than him, not to mention the fact that he is younger than both of them. the age difference may be inconsequential, especially considering that yangyang only became romantically involved with any of the pack after he became an adult, but going from being born in the mid-90s to 2000, yangyang almost feels like an inexperienced teenager next to any of his older mates when he thinks about it for too long.

fingers snapping in front of his eyes break him out of his spiral. he blinks, planting a smile on his lips, and finds himself face to face with a concerned looking ten.

“you okay, baby?” ten asks, already checking yangyang over from head to toe. as much as ten teases kun for being a mother hen, he can be just as bad, if not worse on the days leading up to his rut—something about alpha instincts and wanting to protect his pack, but yangyang and hendery always bring it up afterwards to get on his nerves.

yangyang swats the hand away and sticks out his tongue. “why wouldn’t i be?”

“you did look like you were spacing out there,” johnny adds from his spot on the armchair.

the three of them are on the top floor, in the communal dorm. meeting each other wasn’t actually planned this time; with nothing better to do, yangyang, ten, and winwin had decided to come up to see if anyone else was there. winwin was soon enough dragged away by yuta to do something or other, leaving yangyang and ten by themselves in the living room.

they aren’t alone in the dorm, however. yangyang can smell jaemin from one of the rooms down the hall; he had sent out a message earlier that week that he would be opting to spend his rut in one of the rooms in the communal dorm, and that anyone could join at any time if they wanted. not everyone has the same preferences for who is with them during their cycle, so they all try to communicate before who they would like. regretfully, he had schedules the entire week, so yangyang was never able to help out, but at this point he’s sure jaemin is at the tail end, probably sleeping the rest of it off. jaemin’s scent is stronger because of his rut, drowning out whoever is surely in there with him. yangyang figures that they’re most likely a beta (though there could be more than one), since he would be able to smell at least some of an omega. with weaker scents than other subgenders, betas can easily become lost in the crowd.

johnny came up just ten minutes ago, pleased to find ten and yangyang already there. just like always, he and ten quickly became enthralled in their own banter, and yangyang was (mostly) content to sit back and watch.

until now. because both of his older mates seem to be needlessly concerned, and now yangyang has to figure out a way to reassure them that he is fine.

“yeah, well, i’m fine,” he says, switching to english because all of a sudden he doesn’t feel like speaking korean anymore. he can’t resist throwing in a jab. “listening to old guys like you two can be boring.”

ten’s face drops from concerned to unimpressed in a second, clearly reassured by the fact that yangyang is messing around. “really? you wanna start this?” he asks, eyebrows raised, but the corners of his mouth twitch with a suppressed smile. “you won’t win, not against us.”

johnny shakes his head sagely. “kids these days,” he sighs, propping his chin up onto his fist, “no respect for their elders.”

yangyang fakes a wince. “ooh, calling one of your mates a kid—not a good look, old man.”

“you know what he meant,” ten laughs.

“i’m not sure i do.” yangyang gives an exaggerated pout, sticking out his bottom lip way too far and fluttering his eyelashes. normally he would hate that, but he knows it’s for the bit—and there are few lengths to which he wouldn’t go in order to tease his hyungs. “is johnny saying that he loves a pretty young omega like me? scandalous.”

ten gasps then, turning to look at johnny with a hand over his mouth. that’s when yangyang knows that ten has switched to his side, and he lets the sickeningly innocent act drop from a mischievous grin.

“are you yangyang’s sugar daddy?” ten asks, and he sounds so serious that yangyang would almost be convinced if he didn’t know him so well. “can you be my sugar daddy, too?”

johnny chuckles, easily playing along. “i think to be a sugar daddy you need to be a lot richer than the baby, and we’re on basically the same level. besides, if anything, you ’re yangyang’s sugar daddy.”

ten looks just about ready to argue back when yangyang groans, dropping his face into his hands. “can we stop talking about this? i think if i hear someone say ‘sugar daddy’ one more time, i’m actually gonna lose my mind.”

“aww, baby,” ten coos, falsely sweet, “if you want us to be your sugar daddies, you can just say it.”

god, he should have known that ten would never stay on his side for long. the alpha enjoys having the upper hand far too much to let anyone be safe from his ridicule.

“it would be an honor,” johnny adds. he’s obviously joking, building off of the foundation that ten has laid to once again make fun of the younger one. but part of yangyang can’t help but wonder—hope, even—that there is some truth to it.

yangyang doesn’t want to be a sugar baby. for one, he already has more money than he thinks he’ll ever need. for two, as much as he knows there are probably ethical ways of going about it, yangyang would loathe to play into the bad-p*rno fantasy of young omega playing sugar baby to older alpha/beta. the part of yangyang that hopes what johnny said is true doesn’t betray the rest of his thoughts on the matter; it just wants to believe that johnny would be happy to love him like that, that yangyang would be able to truly fit in with them in this fictional alternate reality.

“oh, i’m sure,” yangyang replies, shaking that thought out of his head. “i would charge you guys a lot, you know. i’m not doing that for cheap.”

ten and johnny look at each other. “well, we’d pay a lot. it would be worth it for you,” ten says. he switched back to korean, yangyang notes.

johnny nods. “every penny.”

yangyang blushes, pink dusting his cheeks. he wasn’t expecting that response—he had been looking forward to receiving something along the lines of, “we might have to negotiate our prices, then,” and had even been planning his comeback to that. instead, what he got was flattery, quite nice to hear, and even though he knows that there would never arise a scenario where he would actually be their sugar baby, his inner omega preens at the knowledge that his mates value him so much. he can’t control the way his scent blooms and flourishes until anyone in the room could smell his joy. silently, he curses at himself for skipping the scent blockers this morning. he had thought about applying them, but because sm requires them for all outside schedules, it’s been a while since his scent has been allowed to flow freely.

“stop it,” he whines, pulling his hood up over his head and tightening the strings until his face is completely hidden.

“it’s true, baby,” ten murmurs, gently knocking a knuckle against his head. “we love you, you know that, right? i feel like we don’t say it enough, but we do love you.”

“i’m glad you’re here,” johnny says. “even if we don’t talk as much, you mean just as much to me as any of the others.”

yangyang peeks out of the small hole left in the sweatshirt. “you mean that?”

“of course i do.” johnny shrugs. he has a way of making everything he does seem nonchalant, even when it’s something like pouring his heart out. “you’re fun to talk to, and you’re comfortable to be around. what else could i ask for?”

yangyang sniffles, because even if it isn’t exactly a declaration of love in the most apparent way, he knows that’s what it is. johnny isn’t an i love you type of person; he prefers to express it in more subtle ways, like laying a blanket over you when you fall asleep on the couch. yangyang doesn’t mind—he has heard plenty of traditional i love you s in his life, and he’ll hear countless more, so to hear it in this way strikes a special chord within.

“need a minute?” ten whispers. he says it in chinese, allowing yangyang some small sense of privacy, but he finds that he doesn’t need it.

“i’m good,” he assures, emerging from his hood. if his eyes glisten a little more than normal, and his scent is unusually bright, no one mentions it. he leans into the crook of ten’s neck, nose pressed against the alpha’s scent gland, and breaths in deeply, closing his eyes at the instant wave of content that washes over him. ten just hums, pressing a steady hand to his back.

when he looks up, he’s worried that johnny might feel awkward at just watching them embrace. but, it turns out, his fears are unfounded; johnny just looks at the two of them with a soft smile, his light beta scent undeniably happy.

yangyang clears his throat. “this doesn’t mean i’m lowering my prices at all, just so we’re clear. i’m still expensive.”

johnny lets out a full laugh at that, getting up and sitting on yangyang’s other side on the couch. he pulls the omega to sit snugly in his arms. “then it’s a good thing we get to treat you for free, huh?”

and, sitting in between johnny and ten, feeling safe and secure and yet also slightly fearful for when they decide to start teasing again, this time with him directly in the line of fire instead of on the side, yangyang knows for a fact that he fits right in.

Chapter 3: jisung-centric

Chapter Text

jisung makes it a point to be prepared for when his pre-heat sets in. his life is already chaotic as it is; the least he can do to make it a little bit easier for himself is to make sure he's never caught off guard when it happens.

when he was 18, he presented. it was during a weekend when he was home visiting family, and jisung was grateful for that to this day. for one, his hyungs had only presented less than a year before that (chenle just a few months), and as much as he trusts them with his whole being, he doesn't know that any of them would have been able to keep from doing something they would regret. mark wasn't living with them, so he wasn't there to be the responsible oldest, to keep the younger alphas like donghyuck and jaemin and chenle in check. the burden would have fallen to renjun, as the oldest omega of dream, and though jisung knows how scary renjun can be when he means it, he doesn't know if the older omega would have been able to be the voice of reason against three alphas. no, jisung doesn't think they would have forced anything; even in their ruts, none of them are as harsh with him as he's heard alphas typically are. but he doesn't trust that he wouldn't have begged for it until they gave in.

as for the second reason... well, he's just glad they weren't there to see him crying into his mom's stomach, not because of the cramps ot the fever, but because his favorite tv show wasn’t on at that exact moment in time. he trusts his mates to take care of him, but he also knows them well enough to know they would surely make fun of how emotional he was the whole time.

usually their shared heat/rut tracker allows for everyone in the pack to see when cycles are going to hit so they can make sure that no one is alone (unless by request). that's why jisung isn't worried about his next heat at all; set to strike a week after the end of successful comeback promotions, management has no problem at all giving the whole of dream the week off to help out. their manager even promised he would talk to 127's and wayv's managers to see if he could talk them into arranging a day for them to see jisung, too.

so, yes, jisung is prepared for his next pre-heat. his dreamie mates are going to be there the whole time, and his 127 and wayv mates are going to visit him some time. he could ask for nothing more than that. it is all planned out to a t. what possibly go wrong?

of course, adding to jisung's growing list entitled 'why i think my life is an actual sitcom (not a bit anymore?)', that is where it goes wrong.

he wakes up on the day the tracker says his precited two-day pre-heat is supposed to start feeling warm. his stomach is tight—not yet cramping, just beginning to get into position for biology to run its course. his current fever is a low one, he expects, though it's just going to keep building over the course of the next two days. the most striking feeling, of course, is the urge to be next to his mates.

not every omega's pre-heat is the same. jungwoo, jisung knows, gets jittery. he runs around the whole dorm, cleaning and recleaning, tidying and retidying things that have already been cleaned and tidied. in fact, jungwoo often adamantly refuses to be touched until he enters the actual heat stage of the cycle.

jungwoo's tendencies are just about the exact opposite of jisung's own.

it might be that jisung is the maknae and is used to being coddled anyways, but in his pre-heat, he becomes little more than a limp noodle. he can't bring himself to move to do anything other than go to the bathroom or get closer to his mates, which means that they are in charge of the things he forgets about, like feeding him and bringing him water. his inner omega preens at the attention that he would normally push away.

"you're so spoiled," jeno complains, raising a spoonful of soup to his lips.

"we really need to stop babying you," renjun mutters, pressing a kiss to his temple.

"you look really stupid," chenle says, snapping a picture and saving it to his folder called, 'my beautifuls '.

"god, how did we let you become the boss of us?" donghyuck whines, setting down a full platter of food that jisung never asked for.

"you guys just call me when you want something," mark accuses, bringing over the sweatshirt jisung asked for for his nest plus five other items of clothing that he didn't.

jaemin doesn't pretend. he does whatever jisung asks with an adoring smile and a pinch to the cheek. jisung only feels bad for abusing his power sometimes.

but instead of being met that morning with caring touches and loving words, he's confronted with a post-it note on his bedside table in renjun's handwriting that reads,

dear jisung-ah

we're really sorry about this, but we got called in for emergency schedules. i managed to talk them into excusing you, but i couldn't even get one of us to stay with you. we'll be gone until late, so remember to take care of yourself. go to one of the other dorms if you want—anyone would be glad to see you. we love you, jisungie.

your very sorry hyungs

jisung doesn't even consider sticking it out until they get home. the thought of sitting here, all alone, in an empty dorm when he has many other perfectly good and perfectly (probably) available mates is unbearable.

the question is: where to go? he could go to sungchan and shotaro, whose shared dorm with the other riize members is just a couple floors down. they're the closest, the shortest walk for his legs that are already beginning to feel weak. it would be nice to have the company of a fellow omega from sungchan as well.

the only way to go from here is up—literally. he doesn't change out of his pajamas (jeno's sweatshirt and a pair of pants) before he slips on shoes that probably belong to jaemin and is out the door, in the elevator to the next floor.

127 has one side of this floor, wayv has the other. he stands in the hallway, debating which door to knock on first, when his decision is made for him. xiaojun walks out in nothing more than sweatpants and a pair of slides (his glasses and messy hair do something to jisung that he will take to his grave), stopping in his tracks when he catches sight of the omega.

he looks side to side before focusing his gaze. "uhh, jisung? what are you doing here? you smell like pre-heat, shouldn't you be in bed?"

"dream-hyungs are gone," jisung replies, sticking his lip out in a pout that he knows works on everyone. "can i come in?"

xiaojun only takes a moment to blink back his surprise before ushering jisung inside. kun is already sitting on the couch, eating a bowl of cereal as he watches some show on netflix. as soon as he spots the youngest omega, he's on his feet, pressing a hand to his forehead and clucking.

"you're already in pre-heat, baby, you should have called one of us to bring you up here," he admonishes, not sounding upset at all.

"i'm not helpless yet. that won't be for a couple days."

"i'm not saying you are helpless. i'm just saying that you should have let one of us make sure you get up here. who knows what could have happened?"

"like you would ever let someone guide you to the elevator during your pre-heat," xiaojun calls from the kitchen.

kun sniffs. "well, that's a different situation entirely." he shakes his head. "there's no point worrying about it now. do you want to go to one of our rooms, jisung-ah? is there anything we can bring you to help?"

jisung shakes his head. "no, i can stay out here. can—can i have a shirt from each of you? or something that smells like each of you."

kun softens more, if that was even possible in the first place. "of course you can. the others are asleep still, but if they wake up that's on them. you just sit here and i'll get everything you need."

as kun moves into the first bedroom down the hall, xiaojun takes a seat next to jisung on the couch. "you really know how to wrap everyone around your fingers, huh?"

jisung shrugs, the smile on his face toeing the line between innocent and mischievous. "i have no idea what you're talking about."

xiaojun sighs. "you've got me, too." he reaches for the throw blanket and scents it, then settles it so that it's tucked around jisung. jisung brings the edge up to his nose, deeply inhaling the smell of xiaojun's petrichor-scented alpha pheromones. he sinks back into the cushions, already feeling much more comfortable than just fifteen minutes ago.

then xiaojun stands up, stretching his arms in a way that catches the natural sunlight from the window right on his abs. jisung swallows, throat suddenly dry, and has to look away before he's caught staring. he isn't at the point of his heat where he's craving a knot, but he thinks he might request a certain someone this time around.

"there's our sleeping beauty," xiaojun cheers, dragging jisung out of his thoughts. hendery emerges from the hallway carrying a t-shirt which he lobs at jisung's head.

"yeah, yeah," hendery says, waving him off. "you better be glad it's not ten coming to yell for waking him up."

he sits down next to jisung, slinging an arm over his shoulder to pull him in close. he lowers his mouth to jisung's ear and murmurs, "how are you feeling? can i do anything?"

jisung shivers at the feeling, the warm breath gusting his ear. he shakes his head, snuggling in closer to hendery's embrace, somehow contorting his body to be small enough for him to rest his head in the crook of his neck.

"this is good," he mumbles against the smooth skin. "thank you, beta."

hendery chuckles, leaning his own head to sit on top of jisung's. "anything for you," he says, fighting through a yawn.

jisung thinks this is as good a place as any to catch up on his z's, cuddled safely into one of his mates' arms. as he drifts off, he gets the distinct feeling of someone else slotting into place on his other side, and a gentle kiss laid on the top of his head, before he's lost to the world.

he wakes up with stiff joints and a damp forehead.

the latter is explainable by the fever, but the former—where did he fall asleep? he panics for a split second, wondering where he is and why he isn't in his nest, but is shushed by a soothing hand running through his hair and soft humming. he sits long enough to realize that he isn't with some strangers; he recognizes those scents. from hendery's muted yet still detectable cinnamon, to ten's impactful (and ironic) citrusy alpha tang, all the way to yangyang's playful smell of freshly cut grass and summer days.

ten gives him a blinding smile when he finally opens his eyes and looks up to see the alpha on the other side of him, eyes still heavy from sleep but full of care all the same. he doesn't quit his humming—jisung can't quite put a finger on where he's heard it.

he makes to ask what the song is called when he's cut off by hendery, who says, "he tried singing earlier, but he got all the words wrong."

ten slaps him on the shoulder across jisung—and not gently, either. hendery yelps and leans away, but he's still laughing as he rubs the spot.

"i'm not chinese! you can't make fun of me for that!" ten complains.

that has to be it, then; a chinese lullaby that he's heard chenle and renjun sing before.

"stop bothering jisung," kun scolds from the kitchen. he brings out a glass of water and a heating pad and hands both of them to jisung. "this should help with cramps."

"thank you," jisung accepts. "where are everyone else?"

"well, yangyang and xiaojun had vocal lessons today, so they're down at the studio right now. and winwin..."

"i'm here, i'm here," winwin announces as he steps in the door. he takes his mask off his face, throwing it on the counter as he walks by. then he drops a plastic bag on jisung's lap. "i ran down to the convenience store because we ran out of ibuprofen, and i may have also picked up some snacks while i was there."

jisung eagerly digs through the bag, pulling out chips and candies and drinks—all of which, he notes, happen to be his favorites. he has no idea how winwin knew what to get, but he won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

doing awsaz with winwin, looking back, was probably the best thing that could have happened for them. they liked each other before, sure, but that was what got them to go out of their way to message each other and even hang out when their schedules allow. it's what brought jisung into the pool of people who are lucky enough to see the real winwin, underneath the shy exterior, and he's forever grateful for that.

"you're the best, winwin-hyung," jisung says with wide eyes, shoveling a handful of chips into his mouth.

winwin chuckles. "i really am, aren't i?" he pats jisung gently on the head, almost like one would do to a puppy they found cute, and escapes down the hall.

"why would you tell him that?" hendery whines. "he's gonna brag for the next week now."

"his head is too big as it is," kun agrees mildly. "is there anything else i can get you to make it easier, jisung-ah?"

"you've already done enough," jisung says. "thank you for taking care of me."

"you don't need to thank us, baby," ten replies. "let's just go back to sleep now. kun woke me up too early."

and maybe it's the circles ten keeps rubbing into his back, or the warmth from the heating pad, or maybe the wave of calm provided by their pheromones all put together, but jisung thinks that is a wonderful idea.

Chapter 4: renjun, yangyang, chenle-centric

Chapter Text

it is not often that all of them get to get together.

if you ask any of them, that would be the biggest downside to having such a large pack. so many people to love and have love you, yet you hardly ever get to spend time with everyone at once. being split into three different groups within the whole certainly complicates things when everyone has their own schedules to attend, but that just makes it all the richer on the rare occasion where all of their schedules do line up.

the set is large enough to accommodate all of them while they do their typical variety show activities in promotion for nct 2023. the sound stage is set up with 20 chairs set up in rows for all of them to sit, kind of like a bleacher system, plus one for the host a few feet away.

nothing out of the ordinary, renjun notes as he walks in with the other dreamies at his side. well, most of the other dreamies. mark and donghyuck rode with the 127 members, but chenle had met up with he, jeno, jaemin, and jisung for the five of them to ride together.

“aw, are we really the last ones here?” chenle whines, arms wrapping around jeno’s side.

for his part, the omega doesn’t even bat an eye as he responds.

“well, if you wanted to get here earlier, you could have always just come before us in your fancy private car,” jeno teases. “now, go, shoo, i wanna talk to doyoung-hyung.” and he skips off to grab doyoung from behind, prompting the beta to let out a shout of surprise.

chenle just shrugs and makes his way over to talk to hendery and xiaojun. jisung trails behind him, and they all know that where jisung goes, jaemin is never far behind. which leaves renjun alone by the entranc. he looks between all of the groupings that they have broken off into, mingling and taking the opportunity to talk to those that they haven’t in a long time. he stands there wondering which pod to go to first until one of the staff members comes up and clasps him on the back, startling him out of his thoughts.

“you must be renjun. my name is seungwoo. i’m gonna be emcee-ing today’s program,” the man introduces. he seems like a relatively normal guy. renjun does not buy into stereotypes enough to judge at first glance what his subgender is (god knows that plenty of his own mates defy those unfair standards), but the general air in which he carries himself speaks of an alpha. one of the few things renjun is grateful to sm for (the other one being that they are the reason he met all of his loves) is that they require all staff members and idols to wear scent blockers when filming official content. renjun has always had a more sensitive nose than normal, and unfamiliar alpha pheromones tend to give him a headache. of course, the unsavory extension of that is sm’s tendency to have overbearing rules when it comes to their idols, like how they mandate suppressants during promotion periods. renjun swallowed his first dose of suppressant pills this morning, and he doesn’t mind them too much—all they do is make sure that no one has a heat or rut during promotions, and maybe dull their scents a little—but he is a little envious of other companies which he knows are more lenient with that kind of thing.

renjun reaches out to shake seungwoo’s hand, dipping his head into a small bow. “yes, i’m renjun. i look forward to working with you today.”

before seungwoo can respond, he is interrupted by yangyang skipping up to them. he does not appear to notice the stranger’s presence and immediately begins speaking to renjun in mandarin.

“renjunnie,” he coos. “it’s been so long. do you want to go get food after this? we can bring kun-ge, too, and have a chinese-omega-date, just the three of us!”

renjun chuckles even as he sets a hand on his fellow omega’s arm, tilting his head to remind him that they aren’t alone. when he turns back to apologize to seungwoo, though, the man is looking at them with a distant kind of glare that gives him pause. as far as he knows, they have not done anything particularly offensive, aside from maybe accidentally leaving him out by speaking a language he does not understand.

“is anything wrong, sir?”

yangyang looks between them, trying to pick up what is going on.

seungwoo’s voice is terse when he answers, “oh, there’s nothing. i just didn’t realize you two were…” he waves his hand vaguely.

“chinese?” yangyang offers.

he gives an uncomfortable smile, more like a grimace. “something like that.”

but then the camera director calls for them to all get into position to start, and seungwoo escapes with a sigh of relief. renjun and yangyang share a puzzled glance.

“what was that about?”

renjun hesitates; he usually has a very good gut feeling when it comes to other people, and that interaction just gave him a very bad feeling. but he does not want to worry yangyang unnecessarily. if anything more happens, that is when he will speak up. but not now, not when all he has to do is push through a couple hours of this man.

“i’m sure it’s nothing,” he reassures him. “probably just remembered something. now, let’s hurry up before taeyong-hyung yells at us.”

yangyang snorts. “that would never happen. we have kun and ten to be more afraid of than him.”

they quickly hurry up to the sound stage. renjun ends up sitting between yuta and jaehyun while yangyang is on the end next to johnny. while the director goes over the general plan for the day’s recording, renjun can see out of the corner of his eye that seungwoo keeps shooting him that same dirty look as before, and he can’t stop himself from squirming uncomfortably. jaehyung looks over at him, brows furrowed in a silent question: are you good?

renjun nods subtly, and though he’s, like, 90% sure jaehyun does not believe him, the alpha doesn’t call him on the lie, and for that he is grateful. the director is calling action , so any conversations will have to wait for later.

all in all, it starts out like any other recording. they go through and introduce themselves, giving tmi’s that really aren’t all that special, and renjun is half-convinced that seungwoo really is just a normal guy who had a bad day. that is, until they get to chenle’s turn. as he is going through his introduction, he stutters and seems to forget a word in korean, so he turns to jungwoo, seated on his left. jungwoo catches on and responds with a few possible words for chenle to choose from. the moment passes quickly and should not be more than that. with so many people, they all help each other with languages at some point or another. but out of the one eye renjun has kept on seungwoo the entire time, he sees the disdain grow stronger, perhaps, and this time focused on chenle instead. and, well, that just solidifies it—renjun is definitely asking not to work with this man anymore after this. he can deal with that kind of thing directed at himself or even yangyang, but he draws the line when it hits either of his dongsaengs.

after they finish off the introductions, which in and of itself takes them almost 20 minutes, the prompter that lies behind the camera shows that they are supposed to move into a game, splitting them up into four teams of five. imagine everyone’s confusion when, instead of following the scripted segue, seungwoo instead says. “renjun-ssi, chenle-ssi, yangyang-ssi, would you three mind coming to the front?”

they all make noises of surprise, cautiously standing up and going forward. renjun refuses to look at the others still sitting behind them. he has a feeling that, whatever this is, it won’t be good, and he does not want to have to see them while he gets embarrassed like this.

“you three—you’re all chinese, right?”

yangyang frowns. “well, yes, but—”

“they aren’t the only ones,” kun interrupts. “there are a few more of us—”

seungwoo waves him off. “yes, yes. you three are also some of the younger ones of the group, right?”

this time they aren’t even given a chance to answer for themselves when donghyuck blurts out, “i mean, they aren’t even the real maknaes—”

“i think we should do a test,” seungwoo says, and he sounds somehow eager and scornful at the same time. “you know, since you’re in korea and all, we should make sure you know plenty of korean.”

chenle has, at this point, lost any trace of good humor that was present in him. he’s shrinking in his shoulders, no longer the confident (if sometimes annoyingly so) alpha that all of them are used to. it makes renjun narrow his eyes and start planning how to get out of this.

it seems that he is not alone in that feeling. johnny says, “it might just be better for us to get to the planned game. manager-hyung will not be happy if we’re late coming home.” his tone probably sounds playful to everyone who doesn’t know him—everyone who isn’t them.

“what? oh, no, we have plenty of time. this won’t take a few minutes.”

“if you really want to, then you should probably let us other foreigners do it, too. it’s only fair if all of us do it,” ten says, clearly put out. renjun can’t help but be grateful that he is willing to stick his neck out for them like that.

yuta nods his head lazily. his posture is carefully nonchalant, but his teeth toy with his bottom lip and his eyes sharpen. “only fair,” he agrees.

“i’m sure all you older members have this all down already, though. it wouldn’t be any fun for you guys to just get it all right.”

renjun sees hendery and xiaojun come to a silent agreement in the reflection off of one of the lights. he closes his eyes; obviously nothing they say will get seungwoo to abandon his goal. this is just prolonging the inevitable.

“what about me and hendery joining them? we’re still young, too.”

“i sure mess up my korean a lot,” hendery adds.

chenle shakes his head. “let’s just do it, the three of us. we might as well.”

seungwoo claps his hands. “great! this won’t take long at all…”

the “test” is rather simple, really. seungwoo asks increasingly complicated questions revolving korean grammar and tradition and gets increasingly agitated when renjun, yangyang, and chenle do pretty well at it. renjun himself has relaxed somewhat because he knows that all of them are fluent and can answer questions like this, but he can sense the others behind them becoming more bothered. why is seungwoo dragging this out so much? they should have proven themselves by now against whatever standard he is judging them on. he can also see the staff behind the camera talking amongst themselves, wondering when to cut this off so they can get to the real point of the shoot.

then it comes back to chenle’s turn again, and maybe it is because he is so bored he’s starting to zone out, but he accidentally says a similar sounding word instead of the correct one. it isn’t a mistake that anyone else would normally get stuck on, but it seems to be exactly what seungwoo has been looking for. he immediately bursts into laughter, though it sounds more derisive than amused. chenle turns red, shrinking in on himself once again.

“okay, that’s it,” taeyong says. he stands up from his seat and storms over. “you have no right to be treating them like this.”

seungwoo chuckles nervously, obviously not having expected to meet any resistance.

“we have all watched you single out our members for something completely irrelevant and for the life of me i can’t figure out why! but i am telling you right now, it is my job as pack alpha to say that i will not let this go anymore. i should have said something a long time ago…”

taeyong’s rant fades into the background as kun and ten come up and start ushering all of them out of the room.

“oh i never should have let this guy keep going, i had a bed feeling from the very beginning,” kun mutters. “are you guys okay? god, i cannot believe the audacity of some people.”

“i’m fine, hyung,” yangyang says, and it sounds true even as his eyes remain wide.

“and what about you, chenle?” ten asks carefully. kun turns around to make sure everyone else is following them and notes with no small amount of satisfaction that not only has taeyong moved on to letting the camera director hear it as well, but johnny has now joined him in looking as intimidating as ever. yuta gives him a thumbs up from the back of the pack indicating that he has everyone gather and proceeds to give every staff member as dirty of a look as possible as he passes by. kun pulls out his phone to let their manager know that they’ll be needing the vans back to the dorms a little earlier than planned.

qian kun: ending early. be down to garage in ten minutes. bad emcee. do better background checks next time.

he might look back on it in a few hours and feel a little bad for being so blunt; background checks can’t verify everything, after all. but now his inner omega is just screaming that he needs to ensure his own pack is safe before he can worry about anyone else.

“i’ll be good,” chnle answers. “some people are so stupid .”

ten snorts, wrapping an arm around chenle’s shoulders. “you can say that again.”

renjun pauses in his steps and lets the four of them walk ahead. his other mates start passing him by, too, shooting concerned glances as they do so. a hand interlocks itself with his. he looks to the side—doyoung. ever since awsaz, the two of them have been closer than ever, but renjun is still surprised that doyoung, of all people, is the one to stay with him.

“hyung?” he asks. “what’s up?”

“nothing,” the beta replies, and begins tugging them along after the pack. “but i wasn’t the one who was just verbally attacked on camera.”

“please, i wouldn’t go that far. it was more chenle than me that that guy was going for. i just—i could have stopped this. i should have stopped this.”

doyoung hums encouragingly.

“before the shoot started, he heard yangyang talk to be in chinese, and he looked—well, really upset about it.” renjun curses. “sh*t—i knew something was up with him. i should have just said something.”

“ah, renjun-ah,” doyoung sighs, shaking his head. “silly boy.” renjun bristles but is quickly calmed by a thumb rubbing into the back of his hand. “this isn’t you fault, not any more than it is ours for not saying something as soon as he started targeting you guys.”

“you couldn’t have—”

“we’re your hyungs, renjun. we are your hyungs and your pack, and it is our job to make sure you guys are safe. so if it’s not our fault, it can hardly be yours.”

renjun chuckles and valiantly pretends that his eyes aren’t watery. “why are you so good at that?”

doyoung, for his part, doesn’t mention the tears either. “perks of being a beta, i guess. you get used to breaking up arguments and comforting the loser.”

taeyong and johnny arrive back to the dorm later than everyone else, but taeyong can’t bring himself to regret it. they deserved to hear every single thing he said.

they go straight up the pack floor, operating under assumption, and are proven right as soon as they open the door and see a spread of mattresses dragged out onto the living room floor. limbs are sticking out at all angles, twisted into a pile so that they can’t tell what belongs to who. but what they can see clearly is that renjun, yangyang, and chenle are at the center of it, surrounded on all sides by a protective pack. most of them have drifted off into a soft slumber, but there is one person still alert, sitting at the foot of everyone and putting himself in between them and the door.

“taking taeyong’s role as alpha, huh?” johnny teases, ruffling yuta’s hair.

yuta relaxes. “only while he’s gone. did you get the job done?”

taeyong smiles wickedly. “of course. he’s never gonna work with us again.”

“i made sure to step on his foot on the way out,” johnny adds.

yuta grins. “hope you did it extra hard for me.”

“you know it. i wanted to do even worse, but…”

“manager-hyung got there before we could get him good.”

“well,” yuta says, “i’m sure he got the message: don’t mess with ours.”

and they won’t let anyone forget it.