Chapter Text
A soft breeze whipped through campus, pulling leaves along with it. As the sky turned from a black to a soft blue, some students were already walking along the paths of the campus, making their way to morning classes. Lee Taeyong was one of them, but instead of rushing to his class, he was rushing back to his dorm.
Coming back from his part time job at the bar down the street from the university, Taeyong ran towards the Omega faculty. As he passed several of his classmates, they all shot him weird looks. Taeyong knew his economics lecture started in fifteen minutes, but he had to go and get changed first.
As he opened the door to his dorm, his roommate Jungwoo was lounging on his bed. He looked up as Taeyong barged in, and frowned. ‘’you reek of alpha, hyung.’’ Taeyong sighed, shrugging off his jacket. He indeed smelled like all sorts of different alpha’s, but working as an omega at a bar, it was to be expected.
‘’good morning to you too, woo.’’ Jungwoo nodded in acknowledgement, and turned back to the magazine he was reading. ‘’doesn’t your class start in fifteen minutes?’’ Taeyong cursed under his breath, quickly ridding himself of his work uniform before putting on some jeans and a hoodie.
Jungwoo threw some perfume at him, and Taeyong thanked him as he sprayed it on. ‘’I’ll see you at lunch!’’ he exclaimed, slinging his backpack over his shoulder before rushing back out.
Slipping into his seat, Taeyong’s cheeks a flushed red and his legs almost collapsing because of the fact that he ran across campus to the lecture hall, he sighed and dropped his bag down to the floor.
‘’I cannot believe that you make it here on time, every single Tuesday.’’ Taeyong shrugged, turning his head to Yuta, who was seated next to him. He sniffled, picking up a different sort of scent than Yuta usually carried with him, and Taeyong smiled.
‘’spent the night at Sicheng’s, huh?’’ Yuta, the proud alpha that he is, nodded and smirked. ‘’can you smell him on me?’’ Taeyong nodded, pinching his nose closed to emphasize his statement. Yuta grinned, ‘’he was kind of rubbing his scent all over me. I think having your scent on me makes him jealous.’’
Taeyong groaned at that. Yuta had been one of his best friends ever since Yuta moved to Seoul when he was eleven, and the older of the duo wasn’t ready to give up his best friend just because Yuta had found his soulmate.
Even though Yuta and Sicheng had been dating for over five months, Sicheng sometimes still got a little bit insecure whenever Yuta would have Taeyong’s scent on him, no matter how much Taeyong told Sicheng that Yuta was his best friend, nothing more.
‘’you think?’’ Taeyong commented.
Yuta snorted, shaking his head. ‘’anyway. Have you found a company yet to do your work placement at?’’ Taeyong his eyes widened, and Yuta chuckled. ‘’from the look on your face, I’m going to take that as a no.’’
‘’when was the deadline again?’’ he asked, rapidly grabbing his laptop and opening google. ‘’the deadline for preferred companies was yesterday at twelve.’’ Taeyong sighed, slouching back in his seat.
He was planning on handing in the document for his preferred company, the fashion magazine Vogue Korea, right before he left for work, but an emergency came up -Baekhyun somehow managed to get his heat triggered by a customer- so Taeyong was forced to come in early, which resulted in him promptly forgetting about the deadline.
‘’Professor Lee will choose a company now.’’ Yuta continued, and Taeyong rolled his eyes.
‘’I am screwed.’’
‘’you could say that.’’
‘’this is the moment where you’re supposed to say: you’ll be fine.’’ Taeyong retorted, and Yuta chuckled.
‘’nah dude, this is all your doing.’’ Taeyong groaned, banging his head down on his desk. He knew that some students were looking at him by now, but he couldn’t bring himself to give a damn. Not being able to put in his preferable company resulted in the professor choosing a company for his work placement, which meant having no control over where he would end up.
He could send him to the depths of hell, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
As Taeyong walked down the stairs of the lecture hall, Yuta right behind him, he tried to find Professor Lee in the crowd. ‘’I’m gonna go and talk to him, see what he can do.’’ Yuta nodded, patting him on the shoulder. ‘’I’ll see you in the cafeteria.’’
Taeyong nodded, waiting for his friend to walk out of the classroom before making his way to the professor. Professor Lee was a well respected professor on campus. Being an alpha male brought some level of respect with you everywhere you went, but the professor also seemed to radiate power, knowledge and an odd sense of comfort, which made him one of the favourites of the economic students.
But, the man could be strict and was still an alpha, so when Taeyong got closer to him he could feel his biological trait scream at him to submit. He bowed his head, waiting for the professor to address him.
‘’Lee Taeyong-ah, what can I do for you?’’
Taeyong looked up, meeting the professor his gaze before sighing. ‘’I didn’t hand in my work placement on time.’’ He said, and the professor simply nodded at that. Taeyong groaned on the inside, he wanted to get this over with.
‘’and I was wondering, can I please hand it in now? I wanted to do it yesterday, but something came up at work.’’ Professor Lee chuckled, and shook his head. ‘’I wish I could help you, because I’ve heard from other professors that your abundance of part time jobs usually get in the way of your grades and such, but I can’t help you. You missed the deadline, and that’s that.’’ Taeyong sighed, bowing his head in acknowledgment.
Other professors had also told Taeyong that having as many part time jobs as he has, he has three, was making his grades drop significantly.
‘’yeah, I understand. Thank you, professor.’’ To his credit, the professor did look conflicted for a second, before smiling at Taeyong. ‘’I’ll try to find you something that’ll help you.’’ Taeyong nodded at that, bowing. ‘’thank you, sir.’’ And with that, Taeyong left the hall.
‘’and?’’ Yuta asked as Taeyong slid into a seat at the crowded table. He shook his head, and Yuta sighed. ‘’I’m sorry, dude.’’
‘’what happened?’’ Doyoung, also one of Taeyong’s good friends, asked. ‘’I missed the work placement deadline. Professor Lee is picking a company for me.’’ Doyoung whistled, shaking his head. ‘’you’re kinda screwed, dude.’’ Taeyong rolled his eyes at the beta, shaking his head.
‘’we figured that out a while ago, Do.’’ The other raised his hands in defence, and with that the subject dropped. Not shortly after Yuta started telling some story of what had happened in one of his classes –‘’No guys, I swear, she literally fell on her face after looking at me.’’- Sicheng and Jungwoo joined their table.
‘’where’s Yukhei, woo?’’ Yuta asked right after the omega sat down, and he shrugged. ‘’he texted me that his coach wanted to see him now, so.’’ Yukhei and Jungwoo had been dating since their second year of high school, soulmates destined to meet when Yukhei moved from China to Jungwoo’s hometown.
Their story was cute, and usually made anyone willing to listen to the entire thing coo, but after hearing it for so long, some people get sick of it. And jealous. Taeyong was one of those people.
Taeyong sighed, it saved him from third wheeling on his own. Doyoung, the only beta in the group, had managed to grasp the attention of Jaehyun, his boyfriend, an alpha, right at the beginning of this year.
‘’hey guys!’’ speaking of the devil, everyone turned their heads to see Jaehyun walking towards them. Immediately, Taeyong picked up on Jaehyun’s scent, and as he turned his head he noticed that Sicheng did, too. Blushing ever so slightly, the strong alpha scent elicited a reaction out of the omega’s at the table who weren’t actually mated.
Yuta and Sicheng hadn’t given each other marks yet, and well, Taeyong had no one to call his, let alone mark himself with. Jungwoo seemed blissfully unaffected, Yukhei’s mark stopping the scent from getting to Jungwoo as forcefully as it did to Taeyong and Sicheng.
‘’jesus, what did he do?’’ Sicheng whispered, leaning towards Taeyong as Jaehyun walked over to Doyoung to greet him with a kiss. ‘’I have no idea, but he reeks.’’
‘’It’s probably his rut coming up.’’ Taeyong blushed at Yuta’s words, and Yuta chuckled. ‘’oh come on, Tae. It’s normal!’’ he shushed Yuta, and turned his attention back onto the table.
While everyone seemed to fall into a pattern of chit chatting, Taeyong lost himself in his thoughts. Now that he had lost the opportunity to do his work placement at Vogue, it was going to be hard to get a job at a fashion magazine as a journalist after college.
Ever since Taeyong was little he loved fashion. He would look at magazines from shops, eye the make-up commercials on television and sometimes, when life treated him kindly, he would be able to get one of those magazines.
Fashion was something he was always interested in. In high school, he’d dress the girls wanting to perform at the annual showcase, designing their matching outfits. He’d design the costumes for the drama club and he’d give fashion advice to those who asked. He lived and breathe fashion, and now he had lost his only chance.
Taeyong could cry.
‘’Hey, Taeyong?’’ He looked up to see Doyoung staring at him intently, and he nodded. ‘’do you have work today?’’ once again, he nodded. His shift at the campus coffee shop started in about three hours.
In that time, he wanted go back to his dorm and take a nap, his classes over for the day. Taeyong was exhausted. The type of exhausted that made your body feel like cement. The bone crushing type of exhaustion that ran through every vessel of your being, and Taeyong knew a three hour nap wasn’t going to make the bags under his eyes go away, or help the exhaustion, but he could try.
‘’yeah. My shift starts in three hours. I’m heading back to the dorms in a few to take a quick nap beforehand.’’
‘’You work too much, Tae.’’ Jaehyun chipped in, and Taeyong rolled his eyes. ‘’I have my college tuition, living fees and food to pay for. I can’t not work.’’ His friends looked at him with worry in their eyes as Taeyong got up.
‘’don’t worry about me guys, I’ll be fine.’’ He plastered a smile on his face and he hoped it was reaching his eyes, but by the looks of Jungwoo and Yuta’s faces, it wasn’t. he turned around, however, and walked off.
The second Taeyong reached his dorm, he plopped into bed. As he laid his face down on the pillow, he plugged in his phone and sighed.
He hated this. He hated having to work and sacrifice his grades. He hated being the only person in their friend group who didn’t have a someone. Yuta had Sicheng, Doyoung had Jaehyun and Jungwoo had Yukhei. Everyone around Taeyong seemed to be happy, living, breathing, while Taeyong was in a constant mode of survival.
Closing his eyes, Taeyong tried to blank out his mind. He tried to slouch his shoulders, tried to let the fatigue that plagued his body take over. Eventually, the comforting scent that Jungwoo seemed to spread everywhere got to him, and lulled him to sleep.
‘’Oi! Taehyung-hyung!’’ Taeyong shook up from his position, leaning against the counter with his head bowed low. He quickly turned his head to look at Donghyuck, one of his co-workers at the café and a college freshman, who was standing on the other side of the counter, his hands on his waist.
‘’There’s customers in your area.’’ He continued, and Taeyong nodded. ‘’thanks hyuckie.’’ Donghyuck smiled at him, a hint of worry hidden in the crook of his lips.
Taeyong ignored it, like he does with literally everyone, and walked towards the few tables in his area that were taken by customers.
He helped the few college students that were seated scattered across the tables, divided into small groups of friends. Laughing, studying and talking. For a split second, Taeyong felt jealous. He wanted to be able to get through his last two years of college as calm as others, without having to balance three part time jobs and school. He forced himself to stop his train of thought as he walked over to two men in suits, because he knew that if he let himself dwell too long, it wouldn’t end well.
Two men in suits was a strange occurrence in a college café, and Taeyong was forced to do a double take. The two men were clad in suits, their ties neatly tied around their necks and dress shoes as shiny as Taeyong’s bathroom floor -which is, according to Doyoung, way too shiny- And to Taeyong, it was weird to see men like this in the café.
Nonetheless, Taeyong walked up to their table, straightening his apron and putting a smile on his face.
‘’Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name is Taeyong and I will be your waiter for today. What can I get you?’’ When they both turned their head towards Taeyong, the small omega was suddenly very glad that scent dampers were installed in the café. The two men radiated alpha status, their long legs and muscular arms a clear sign of their biology.
Taeyong was sure if the dampers hadn’t been there, he’d be a mess on the floor by now.
One of the men gave Taeyong a short look over and a curt smile, and Taeyong choked back a whimper, the sheer look of lust and almost possessiveness almost tripping Taeyong. He had black hair, slicked back carefully and put together by hair gel. His suit fit him perfectly, and for a moment Taeyong felt his inner omega howl at him to sit in the strangers lap.
The other man, who seemed a little older, smiled more kindly at Taeyong. ‘’We’d both like a coffee, black no sugar, and I’d like the sandwich with salmon,’’ Taeyong wrote it down on his small notepad, before turning back to intimidating but extremely attractive man, waiting for his order.
‘’I’d like the sandwich with egg.’’ For some reason, the man his voice sent shivers down Taeyong’s spine, and he hoped it wasn’t too visible as he wrote down the order on the notepad. ‘’thank you, your order will be here soon.’’
Taeyong quickly scurried back to the counter, handing the pieces of paper to Donghyuck so he could help him make the orders. ‘’they ordered black coffee? No sugar? Who does that?’’ The younger asked, making Taeyong chuckle dryly.
‘’adults do, Donghyuck-ah. Adults.’’
‘’what are they even doing here?’’ Donghyuck proceeded to ask, turning around and starting to work on the coffee’s for the two men, and the college students. Taeyong shrugged as he pushed the pieces of paper through the small window toward the kitchen. A hand swept them away, and Taeyong turned his attention back to Donghyuck.
‘’I ha-‘’
‘’They gave a guest lecture during HTML class this morning.’’ The two waiters turned to see who said that, and a smile took over Donghyuck’s features. Mark smiled at him, and Donghyuck walked over to give him a kiss on the cheek.
‘’Oh?’’ Taeyong asked, eyeing the two businessmen seated at their table. ‘’they own the IT company called SeoKim. They’re as successful as anyone could ever get.’’ Mark said, sitting down at one of the barstools.
As Donghyuck got back to work on making the drinks, Taeyong turned to look at Mark. ‘’they look so young, though.’’ Mark nodded at that, ‘’they started their company in freshman year of college.’’ Taeyong raised his eyebrows, kissing his teeth. People that rich made him incredibly envious and angry.
‘’let me guess, hyung, they’re both alpha’s.’’ before Mark could answer Dongyuck’s question, Taeyong butted in.
‘’they are. I could smell them.’’ Mark raised his eyebrows, ‘’even with the dampers in place? Damn.’’ Taeyong nodded at that, and Donghyuck gasped softly.
‘’that means they’re unmated! Go get yourself a rich hubby, hyung!’’ Taeyong gasped, whacking Donghyuck across the head with a dish towel. Mark giggled, and shook his head at his boyfriend.
‘’one of them is unmated. I could only smell one distinct scent.’’ Taeyong continued, and Donghyuck giggled.
‘’I hope it’s the older one, he’s pretty attractive.’’
‘’hey!’’ Mark exclaimed, ‘’I’m right here, y’know.’’
‘’I know, babe. Love ya.’’ Donghyuck emphasized his words by walking over to Mark and kissing him over the counter top. Taeyong gagged. Donghyuck chuckled and handed Taeyong the coffee’s for the two men, a smirk on his face.
‘’I’ll handle the students, you go talk to your future husband.’’ And with a wink, Donghyuck walked off. Taeyong was used to the younger his teasing, but for some reason, this specific comment made the older blush.
‘’go get them, hyung!’’ Mark yelped as Taeyong whacked him with a dish towel too, a fond smile on his face nonetheless.
‘’you eat your cake, asshat.’’ He said, before turning to grab the coffee. As Taeyong walked towards the table, he could smell the scent of one of the men creeping up on him. The scent of hard wood, wet grass that had just been cut and a soft hint of cinnamon enveloped Taeyong’s body. He was sure he wasn’t the only one affected by it, but he didn’t dare look in favour of not dropping the two mugs of coffee.
‘’Here you go, your food is on the way.’’ Taeyong said as he put down the mugs. The two men nodded at him, and as Taeyong bowed and walked off, they continued their conversation that Taeyong had interrupted.
‘’I’m so glad there are dampers in here, because otherwise you’d reek.’’ Was the first thing Donghyuck said as Taeyong stood back at the counter, and the older whacked him across the head once more.
As they bickered, Taeyong’s phone dinged, signalizing a text message.
Woowoo: yukhei, sicheng and yuta are coming over tonight is that ok
Taeyong groaned. Another night of fifth wheeling two couples, what a great way to spend your free evening. Mark chuckled, grabbing Taeyong’s phone and laughing even harder as he read the text.
‘’well, I hope you have a pillow to cuddle ready, hyung.’’ Mark snorted, and Taeyong groaned again. He snatched back his phone, and proceeded to text Jungwoo back with a scowl on his face.
Taeyong: if you guys make sure I can still write my essay for my media class, I’ll be fine.
Taeyong scoffed as he put his phone back in his pocket, and grabbed the sandwiches and the bowl of nachos the other table had ordered. Before Donghyuck could come up with a remark about the two men in suits, Taeyong walked off.